#it is 100% the fault of the makeup and hair department

[i-like-rocks22]

I now understand the meaning of the term "iPhone face" based on Francesca in S3 of Bridgerton.

[juicycoutureheaux]

When It's Over

Chapter 5: Wouldn't you like to know?

Anna woke up extra early the day she was supposed to meet Captain Redfield in his office. 

She was officially off of suspension and was excited to get back to work.

She decided to put on some makeup and do her hair to calm her down and bide time. When she finished getting ready, Lavish was up, drinking coffee in their living room. 

“Oh don’t you look pretty! Are we meeting daddy today?” 

Ever since Chris had visited her at the club, all her friends referred to him as daddy. She couldn’t stop them so she just embraced it. 

“Something like that.” Anna replied as she was getting her things ready.

“Don’t leave me behind when he proposes, make sure your mansion has a mother-in-law suite for me! I couldn’t imagine having to live with someone else; who will help me get my costumes together?” 

Anna just rolled her eyes and hugged Lavish goodbye and said “I love you’s” They started this tradition when Anna joined the BSAA. She never knew if she would make it home and always wanted to cover her bases.

When she arrived at the BSAA office main reception area, all her old coworkers rushed in to meet her. 

Apparently Anna was missed a lot more than she had anticipated.

“Anna! I’m so glad to see you! The clinic hasn’t been the same without you girl!” One of the girls said.

Anna smiled at her and thanked her. 

“Is it true you’re moving departments though?” Another coworker inquired.

“Yes, I will no longer be in the clinic with y’all, but I’ll still be here!” Anna tried to be as enthusiastic as possible. She was nervous herself, but there was no sense in also worrying the clinic staff. 

“I heard you’ll be working on Hound Wolf and were scouted by Chris Redfield himself!”

Anna’s face paled, so everyone did know. Great.

Anna forced a smile and answered with a “yup.” 

The room filled with “oohs.” She also heard comments about how cute Chris & the squad were. 

“We’ll, I gotta go y’all, I’ll see you around!”

The girls all bid their goodbyes and Anna rushed to Captain Redfield’s office on the administrative floor, before being stopped by anyone else. 

When she arrived, his door was open, but she stayed in the doorway until acknowledged & invited in.

“Damn, are you always this polite Connolly?” He laughed out. 

Anna blushed. “I can’t help it, it’s how I was raised. My mom would be rolling over in her grave if she knew I just walked in and plopped myself down.” 

Chris just smiled and walked over to the door to close it.

“So, I know you’re just absolutely excited to get back in the action.” Chris half teased.

“Totally.” 

“Before you meet the team, I have to brief you on, well, a lot actually.” 

Anna must have made a confused face because Chris just chuckled.

“I want to explain why we were in Dulvey in the first place. Eveline should never been there, and that was my own fault.” The mood in the room had changed.

Anna adjusted herself in her chair and looked into Redfield’s eyes intensely.

Chris continued. “You were right, the BSAA was 100% at fault for what happened to Zoe’s family. I personally take the blame, but the BSAA decided the best plan of action was to cover up the incident entirely.” 

Anna played with the end of her cardigan uncomfortably, she didn’t know what to say.

“The BSAA has…changed since its founding.”

She could tell he was being very careful with his word choice.

“Unfortunately, becoming a bigger organization with more bureaucracy involved, there’s always some things that get lost in translation.”

“So you mean like not adopting actual morals.” Oh shit. That slipped out of Anna’s mouth.

“You get the idea, Connolly.”

Anna was silent for a minute.

“Why do you want me on your team so bad?”

“I don’t need to tell you this, because I know you know already. I know you’re starting to doubt the BSAA, otherwise you wouldn’t have brought Zoe back to the Baker Ranch. I’m also aware of your looking into the mutamycete and the effects it has on survivors.”

Anna opened her mouth to reply but nothing came out.

Chris smirked. “Didn’t think I was keeping tabs on you Connolly? I knew you were valuable in that mine, the way you handled yourself like a professional. You remind me of a younger version of myself in some ways.” 

“You’re flattering me.”

“Believe it or not, I rarely give compliments these days. You earned the praise.”

“You’re such a suck up.” Anna laughed and so did Redfield.

“Ouch,” Chris feigned injury. “I’ll never recover emotionally, Anna.”

Suddenly Chris’s phone rang and he picked it up quickly.

“OKay, will do.” He said finally and put the phone back on the receiver. 

“I’ve got to go to a meeting, but take the rest of the day off. I’ll get you acquainted with the rest of the team later.” 

Anna thanked him and made her way to her old office to pick up her things from her old cubicle.

When she finally collected her things and made her way to exit the medical offices one final time she was met by her old supervisor, Walden.

Walden was an older man that had served in the Marines before coming to the BSAA. He took Anna under his wing and treated her like a daughter. 

“Hey there Anna, I didn’t think I’d see you again, since you were promoted.” 

Anna set down her box of belongings. She went and gave him a hug.

“You know I’d never forget about you Wally!” She teased.

Walden smiled sadly. “You were a great asset down here, I only knew it was a matter of time before the commanders wanted you for themselves.”

Anna returned his smile.

“I just wanted to warn you though, be careful of Captain Redfield.” He whispered harshly.

“What-“

“There’s been some whispering about him, I think he’s finally off his rocker. He’s always been a good guy but I finally think the years of being in this business have got to him. Please be careful, Anna. We’re a family in this department and you’re always welcome back home if things get rocky.” He said as he patted her arm.

All Anna could do was just stand in silence. She was trying to absorb what Walden had just admitted to her. 

Walden was never the type for office gossip, so if he said something, he meant it.

“Love ya girl, can’t wait to hear all the stories when you get back from your first mission. Boy, do I miss those days.” And he walked off. 

Anna just stared as he left.

Was she making a mistake?

XXX///XXX///XXX///XXX///XXX///XXX///XXX///XXX///XXX//

She was helping Lavish finish the stoning on an evening gown for an upcoming performance when they heard a soft knock on the door.

The two friends looked at eachother confused because neither one of them were expecting a visitor or delivery.

“I’ll go check.” Anna said as she got up off the floor.

She looked through the peephole and was confused when she saw Captain Redfield standing outside of her door. She quickly unlatched and opened the door.

“I almost thought you were going to leave me out here in the cold!” Chris joked.

“You need to get your iron levels checked then, it’s June!” She laughed. 

She loved how he was always so casual around her. It was very comfortable.

“I gotta ask though, how do you know where I live? I also would have preferred a text so I could get dressed in real clothes first.” 

Chris smiled. “I know, it was spontaneous, I’m sorry. I just finished up with some business and thought I could take you to meet your team.”

Lavish soon appeared at the door upon hearing Christopher’s voice. 

“Heyyy!” Lavish said with surprise. “Anna-Cate, I didn’t know you had a date tonight!” Lavish turned to Chris. “I’m sorry for what she’s wearing, if I had known you were coming, I would have made sure she was presentable.”

Anna felt her eyes roll in the back of her head.

Lavish and Chris shared a laugh at her expense. 

“I guess I should get dressed if we’re going out,” Anna said looking down at her old tank top and shorts. She had a great talent of being scantily clad when Chris showed up.

“Would you like to come in? You can keep me company while I finish this dress.” Lavish invited.

“Of course.” 

Anna scurried into her room before she could hear anymore of their conversation. She was going to get dressed as quickly as she could. 

She didn’t want Chris stuck with Lavish too long, for her own privacy’s sake. 

Anna picked out her favorite Lilly Pulitzer dress, a Jane shift dress with lace on the front.

 No one could deny that Anna was a girly-girl, she loved color and knew she looked great in it. The dress was comfy, but looked dressy enough to make a good impression-or so she hoped. 

She paired the dress with some gold jewelry she always had laying around, put on some sandals and ran out of her room in record time. 

When she entered the room Lavish was showing the details of the evening gown they were working on to a genuinely interested Chris.

“So we started focusing on the details of the bodice first since that’s where we wanted the crowd’s eyes to hit, can you believe our dear Anna constructed the gown itself? We’re just getting the bling on now, which is my favorite part of course.” Lavish said pointing to the small rhinestone details on the dress.

“Lavish, I don’t think he really cares as much as we do.” Anna said entering the room.

Lavish ignored her comment and instead gasped dramatically, “Oh my, don't you look beautiful! It’s like day & night, we don’t have to look at you in those awful rags you insist on wearing.” 

Anna rolled her eyes and Chris just smiled. “That dress looks like it was made for you Anna.” 

Anna couldn’t help but blush and squirm. 

“I wish I had this on camera, the girls at the club would just eat this shit up.” Lavish teased.

“I’m so glad you don’t.” Anna said as she walked next to Chris. 

“Are you ready to go?” 

“Absolutely.” Anna went to grab the door but Chris was too fast and opened it for her.

“After you.”

Anna decided she would give him shit. 

“Oh Chris you’re such a gentleman, what would I ever do without you!” She said in an over exaggerated southern accent and placed a hand on his bicep.

It was Chris’s turn to be embarrassed now.

“Y’all better use protection! I’m too young to be an Auntie, Anna Cate!” Lavish called after them. “Don’t let her convince you she’s on the pi-“ 

“THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE INFORMATION.” Anna screamed and all the blood left her face. She grabbed Christopher’s hand and ran out of the apartment.

She wanted to disappear, she was so irrevocably embarrassed that she almost wanted to go back inside the apartment and hide.

Chris opened the passenger door of the truck open for her and held out his hand to help her into the slightly lifted vehicle. 

“Thank you.” She said silently.

Chris definitely sensed her embarrassment.

“Your friends care a lot about you.” He said as he cranked the vehicle. “They wouldn’t give you so much shit if they didn’t.”

“I wished they wouldn’t do it so much.” She groaned with the back of her hand over her eyes.

“Well the fact that they still vet everyone that talks to you despite you being more than capable of handling yourself, speaks volumes on how much they love you.” Chris said. 

“I know you’re right, but can we pretend that those comments that Lavish made back there were never said?”

“The comments about us using protection?” He teased her. “Your new teammates will say worse, don’t worry.”

She was so thrown off by Lavish’s comments she forgot she was going to meet her new team. 

“Wonderful.” Was all she could manage out.

XX///XXX///XXX///XXX///XXX///XXX///XXX///XXX///XXX//

They arrived at what looked like an empty dive bar with a couple of cars out front. She suddenly felt overdressed even though she wasn’t wearing makeup or anything. 

“I’m so sorry if this is rude, but I thought we were going to meet on base…?” She trailed off.

“Connolly, Rule 1.” Chris looked her in the eye and held up his index finger. “Stop being so damn polite.” 

“You knew I was this polite when you asked me to join, asshole.”

“That’s more like it!”

She rolled her eyes again and hopped out of the car.

“To answer your question though, we like to keep things informal. You’ll understand when you meet the rest of Hound Wolf.” 

They walked into the bar together and almost immediately, wolf whistles sounded throughout the bar. She would have normally felt out of place, but she felt safe next to Chris.

She thought it was funny the way his jaw tensed up at the whistles. 

“I think those were meant for you, Captain.” She joked.

“I don’t think so, I’m not an attractive woman in a short dress.” 

They walked down the stairs to an almost empty pool table room.

 Two young men were arguing about the rules of pool while a beautiful woman with dirty blonde hair looked on, shaking her head. On the other side of the hazy room were two older men laughing at the exchange taking place at the pool table. 

Everyone stopped what they were doing when they heard Chris’s heavy boots making their way down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, Anna felt the weight of everyone’s eyes.

“Team, I'd like you to meet our newest recruit, Anna Connolly.”

The room was silent until one of the young men, who was arguing over the pool table started laughing. 

This was her worst case scenario. Anna wanted to run out of the basement and tell Chris she couldn’t do it. That she belonged stateside and the fact she survived Dulvey was an act of God. 

“This has got to be the funniest joke you have ever played on us, Alpha. Seriously!” He couldn’t catch his breath. Everyone else in the room was dead silent, the beautiful woman shot the young man a nasty look. 

The young man stopped immediately. “Oh shit, you’re serious aren’t you? She looks 18!”

“I’m sure you meant that as a compliment, Canine.” Chris said pointedly.

She couldn’t help but instinctively step back, rejection made her feel uncomfortable at best. 

The woman was the first to introduce herself. “Hi Anna, I'd like to apologize for my teammates' lack of manners.” She shot Canine with a paralyzing look. “I’m Emily, but everyone here calls me Tundra.” She stuck out her hand for Anna to shake.

“Thank you, Tundra,” Anna tried to say as comfortably and warmly as possible. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Team, Connolly was my partner in the Abercrombie Mines during the Dulvey incident. I hope from this point on you make her feel welcome.” 

Chris introduced the rest of the Team by their “Real names” and then their codenames.

“Hey, who gets to name the Newbie this time?” the man known as Night Howl asks the group.

“Name the Newbie?” Anna questioned.

“It’s a tradition we started when Tundra joined.” Umber eyes said.

“We’ve been choosing the other members' names since!” Lobo said excitedly.

Everyone broke out in conversation about who & how they got to pick Anna’s name. Somebody said rock paper, scissors; somebody else mentioned an arm wrestle. 

That's when “Alpha” spoke up.

“I’ve already picked out Connolly’s name.” The room silenced again.

“Seriously?” Anna, Night howl & Canine said shocked. The other members muttered “Of course.”

“Well what’s her name, Alpha?” Tundra asked genuinely curious.

“Bambi.” 

“No FUCKING way!” Canine started to laugh until there were tears in his eyes. Night Howl joined in the laughter. “It’s perfect!”

Anna just sighed and glared at Chris. 

He just winked at her.

Damn him, he looked so handsome when he was smug. 

Lobo put his arm around Anna’s shoulders gently and held up his drink.

“Welcome to the team Bambi!” Everyone cheered and she couldn’t help but smile.

The rest of the night Anna was socializing with the rest of the team. 

She learned Canine worked as a former dog handler & Tundra was a DEA agent. Night Howl, Umber Eyes and Lobo, were BSAA agents that worked at various different branches when they were scouted for Hound Wolf.

The group kept asking her questions about herself and getting her more drinks to “open up.”

“Is that a southern accent I hear?” Lobo teased. “Where are you from exactly?”

“I’m from Southeast Georgia.” She said, her face flushed. The alcohol was hitting her faster than she anticipated.

He seemed to notice the charm on her gold bracelet. “What Saint is on your bracelet Bambi?” 

Night Howl chimed in. “Lobo talking about Saints? I’ve seen what kind of texts you send to the ladies, you’re a  straight sinner!”

Lobo & the rest of the group  laughed, “Yes, but I was raised in the Catholic church before I came to the states.” He turned to Anna to show he was listening again.

“Umm, this is Saint Cecilia. She’s the saint I chose for confirmation actually.” She examined the bracelet mindlessly. “I honestly didn’t realize I had grabbed this bracelet when I left my apartment. My Grandad gave it to me.” 

The room filled with awws and laughter, while she felt her face get hot.

“I’m glad to see you have another Saint, Bambi.” Chris spoke up. “I’ve still got St. Barbara to keep me safe.”

“Alpha you’re full of shit, you’re not religious.” Canine said.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Alpha pulled out the medallion of St.Barbara Anna had given him in Dulvey.

“Bambi gave it to me herself, so of course I keep it for good luck.” He winked at her.

“Wow, Alpha is going to get us all killed because he has a little crush.” Night Howl said mindlessly.

“Hey, you haven’t seen her in action yet,” Alpha chided him. “I bet she’ll kick your ass in training wednesday.”

The room echoed with resounding “ooohs.” 

It started to get late and the team decided to go their separate ways. 

Anna had managed to receive Tundra & Lobo’s numbers, even though she thought Lobo was definitely flirting with her.

 It didn’t matter if he was or not; she was just happy to have some of her new teammates on her side. 

She definitely wasn’t sure about the other three. Night Howl and Canine seemed annoyed with her & Umber eyes just seemed indifferent.

“It’s your first time meeting them.” Anna reminded herself. “Everything takes time.”

She was quiet the entire ride home and when they arrived she thanked “Alpha.”

“Do you prefer I call you Alpha?” She asked him before exiting the vehicle. 

“It’s whatever you prefer, Bambi.” Alpha winked at her.

“Duly noted, have a good night, and thanks…for everything.” She hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her. 

“It’s really lame and kind of childish.” 

“I promise you it’s not, I think I know what you’re already going to say.”

She sucked in a deep breath. “I’m worried about not fitting in or being good enough for this team. I don’t know if you know this, but everyone has been reminding me about how elite of a squad this is.”

“Remember what I told you about compliments, Bambi?”

“Yessir.”

Chris rolled down his window and pulled out a box of cigarettes from the center console. He offered her one and she declined.

He chuckled. “I should’ve known you didn’t smoke.” He lit the cigarette, took a drag and blew the smoke out of the window. 

“I would have never even let you go into that mine if I wasn’t confident in your abilities, your actions down there just exceeded my expectations. Collecting those samples during active combat, thinking ahead; I even saw your notes on the mutamycete. Well done.”

She just stared at him.

“You think I'm bullshitting, but you had a great reputation before they called you to deploy. I think the biggest obstacle is yourself, Bambi.” 

God that sent a shiver up her spine. Why the hell was he doing this to her? 

“Thank you Alpha. I’ll do better next time.”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry, you’ll learn.” he took another drag. “I’ll see you bright and early on Wednesday, don’t be late Rookie.” 

She smiled and got out of the car. “Yes Sir, Alpha.”

[maulish]

Rings of Power: Episodes 1 & 2

I honestly couldn’t find it in me to simply sit through it as if I wasn’t compiling a mental checklist of all of the offences. And the offences are many. It’s just my first watch so I’m sure I missed a lot of finer details. It’s hard comparing certain things to anything because it’s all just made up by the showrunners and the timeline is at this point irrelevant because this whole thing is some weird AU.

I also mostly don’t comment on the acting because although it’s of exceptionally inconsistent quality from actor to actor, and it’s obvious that some of them have not managed to get into character, I find more fault with the writing. Had the writing been better I’m sure that the actors’ deliveries would have felt more natural. With that said...

Episode 1:

Even the opening scenes of baby Galadriel playing with other children like a bunch of little gremlins who appear of accurate age to their physical development doesn’t sit right with me. Elves mature much slower than Humans physically, but develop much faster mentally. According to The Nature of Middle-earth they reach puberty only at over 200 years old. Which means that an Elven child that looks 7 might instead be over 100 years old and has lived for what would be for a Human a whole lifetime or more. To portray Elven children as comparable to Humans in their speech and manners is absurd.

In the first few minutes of the episode Galadriel is portrayed consecutively by two actresses whose accents are cardinally different and it stands out.

The timeline is such a disaster, that much is obvious before the first 10 minutes.

Galadriel’s history lesson in the beginning could have had a much better effect if they took any notes from the prologue to The Fellowship of the Ring. Controlling the pace and emphasis, even modifying Cate Blanchett’s voice achieved an effect that has been carved into our minds permanently. Morfydd Clark’s delivery falls face first into mud. It’s just dull, monotone and unfeeling.

Obvious makeup. Very meh.

I honestly think the use of this weird font to mark location on screen looks really cheap and like as if their graphics department couldn’t find the original font so they just used the papyrus one instead. Like what is that? (I know I’m a design snob but seriously.)

The dialogue is just stiff, awkward and unelegant.

The fight scene with the troll is just terrible. Galadriel singlehandedly takes down a massive troll with almost no help and without a hair out of place. Complete with entirely unnecessary sword flourishes. It’s embarrassing to watch honestly. Seems also like Galadriel’s entire company is purely decorative as she does all the fighting, is always right and does everything on her own while others try to keep up with her. Mary Sue down to a T.

The Harfoots are a travesty. Irish cosplay, but make it primitive. The moment you take a closer look at their setup it’s hard to believe they’re nomadic. So much seems decorative, rather than functional to them. And that’s before we get to the characters. They’re just made to look pointedly primitive. 

They’ve also deisgned the Lindon set without being able to decide whether it’s fall or summer. Because it’s both at the same time. It’s seemingly fall where they walk among yellow trees (canonically there are NO mellyrn outside of Lorien; Gil-Galad had the seeds, but none grew in Lindon) and on layers of fallen, yellowed leaves. At the same time the surrounding hills are in full greenery as are all the other plants surrounding them. Like there’s no biological consistency to the living environment and the result is that Elves almost look removed from nature, rather than in utter harmony with their environment as they’re meant to be.

And what the hell is it with those Roman civic crowns everywhere.

The dialogue is... it’s to Tolkien what Aliexpress is to haute couture.

And speaking of the costumes. Aliexpress sale bin.

They’re importing present-day social issues into Middle-earth as if it didn’t have enough of to go around already. On top of that it feels forced and shoehorned, which it didn’t have to be if they had chosen to make the xenophobia contextually authentic to Middle-earth. Like fear of the unknown peoples and lands, which wouldn’t be much of a stretch. Rather than synthesising anti-Elf racism to show how one black Elf in particular is the victim of this, as if this then wouldn’t apply to all the other Elves somehow. So is it about the ears or is it about his skin color because there are no other black Elves on record and none appear in the series besides him? Make it make sense.

The short hair on Elven men is so weird. WTF is this? The Witcher?

Also the way Galadriel’s memory of her conversation with her brother is overlayed the scene feels terrible because the audio is too similar to those speaking on screen and there’s not enough of an echo or some other sound effct to distinguish it. So it sounds like director’s commentary.

They are all way too unphased by a giant fireball falling from the skies. Plus the way everything is on fire, but somehow his loincloth is unharmed. Right. There would have been so many other ways of dealing with that for the sake of modesty which would have been a lot less laughable.

Episode 2:

The Harfoots are supposed to be way more archaic than their Hobbit descendants. And they are made to look the part visually, but their dialogue has been bothering me since the beginning because it’s way more contemporary than that of Hobbits in LOTR, and it stood out since episode 1. It’s only stylized to the extent of using ‘unrefined’ language so to speak. The manner of speaking doesn’t feel authentic to bygone times. And neither does their acting, manners etc. Which again makes it feel even more like Irish cosplay.

Looking at the set decorations in Eregion reveals that apparently they just went thrift-shopping in Camden market or something. It’s more of an eclectic mix of 19th century European furniture and neo-styles with some accent decorations from Italy and Morocco than anything I’d associate with Elves of any Age. It’s not even Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts dominant. And I swear one of those lanterns is painted plastic and not even made of metal. WTF is this Disneyland giftshop shit? I’m not seeing the millions in anything but VFX.

All of the Dwarven costumes are a massive downgrade. I feel like all of the effort was put into prosthetic noses and that’s the extent of it. Meanwhile the culture is shown to be brutish above everything else, to the point that it makes me question how they could possibly create such fine things. There’s a major disconnect there. 

Plus this one sure feels like Scottish cosplay. Remember groundskeeper Willie from The Simposons. Yeah.

Also I feel like everything to do with Durin is essentially everything criticized about the Hobbit trilogy and more. Plus this domestic scenery (which is pulled out of their asses) completely breaks the decorum characteristic to Tolkien. It’s just awkward to watch.

The breaking of decorum gets its own bulltepoint. Because it’s just that big of an offence. Would Elrond really call a Dwarven princess by her first name even though they just met? Really?

With all the gold, mithril and jewels under the mountains. And they still made Disa’s jewelry out of old hubcaps. 

Galadriel still remains a foot too short. She’s towered over by literally everyone and she’s supposed to be the TALLEST WOMAN IN ALL OF ARDA.

[schmergo]

Regarding your very interesting and thorough post on the Jane Eyre films and unconventional beauty... I'm curious as to whether you believe the casting is at fault or the makeup/costume department? I think we could place some blame on both, but casting should be first & foremost about choosing the best performance not necessarily the appearance. If I were to choose the best representation so far, I agree with you 100% that the 2006 version came the closest to the novel's authenticity.

I actually think the makeup/costume team did a great job OTHER THAN they coulda made Rochester look WAY MORE INJURED at the end!

Some other versions of Jane Eyre have Jane in obvious eye makeup and stuff. In this one, she had a real clean, fresh-faced look even though I’m sure she must have been wearing makeup. Her dresses were very appropriate for the character, too (and I loved her cute simple wedding dress).

The hair extensions/dye for Toby Stephens and darkening his eyebrows were very well done. The dark hair also kinda washed him out in a way that made his freckled complexion look more rough and weathered rather than just typical fair-ginger-guy-freckles. His costuming was EXCELLENT- I really think his styling, his hair and facial hair, his physicality, his stupid hat, were all perfect for the character. The guy in them was just way too naturally pretty for the role.

All that said, I don’t want to necessarily complain that the casting team did a bad job. Like I said before, I think the actors really gave good performances and I enjoyed their chemistry very much. I don’t want to erase this movie from movie history or replace the actors. This is my favorite adaptation of the book I’ve seen.

But I feel like the next time this book is adapted to screen, I’d like to see them cast the net a little wider in casting. I’d love to see more plus-sized men playing romantic leads. I’d love to see more young women with visible acne and eye bags unhidden by makeup onscreen. I’d love to see more asymmetrical faces, imperfect teeth, scars, blotchy skin, all the little flaws that many people have and certainly had back then in the 19th century.

(Also, if I were directing or writing the 2006 movie, if I found that handsome Toby Stephens was the best choice for the role, I might have cut one or two of the lines about how ugly Rochester is or at least toned them down, though I would have kept that “Am I hideous, Jane?” “Very, sir. You always were, you know” exchange because it’s A++++)

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 30 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Dramaaaa tonight, enjoy! Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Willam finally got into Fame’s office, and Pearl got back on track with Violet--or so she thought.  

This Chapter: Courtney and Pearl are both in for a very rude awakening, but someone is in the right place at the right time.  

***

Courtney hurried out of Fame’s office, shutting the door firmly behind her.

“Oh, hey.” Alaska looked up from her desk, where she was writing a note. “I thought you’d stepped out, so I was...is everything okay? You look like you’ve been running.”

Courtney hated to lie, and especially to Alaska, who’d been so wonderful to her, but she didn’t know what else to do.

“Oh, yeah, I was just, um, doing some deep cleaning so that everything will be nice when Miss Fame comes back. More strenuous work than I expected…” She gave a nervous laugh.

“Okay…” Alaska pressed her lips together, clearly not 100% convinced, but thankfully willing to let it drop for now. “I came to talk about Miss Fame’s schedule, because we’re starting that campaign and she’s the most important part of it.”

“Right, of course.” Courtney scurried into her desk chair, trying not to worry about Willam, trapped in Fame’s office, just hoping he’d stay quiet until Alaska’s business was through, when she’d hurry him out.

It was a terrible idea, inviting him here, and she already regretted it. When they spoke this morning, she thought that having him come by would be a nice break in the day, something that would make her feel good, but instead the whole thing was just an anxious nightmare, completely not worth it.

Alaska dragged over a seat and pulled out her notebook as Courtney opened her calendar. It took them a few minutes, but finally, she seemed satisfied with the tentative dates that Courtney provided.

“I think we can make it work,” she sighed, sitting back. “I didn’t think about what a logistical nightmare this would be when I pitched the idea.”

Courtney smiled. “It’s a good idea, though. I mean, that’s why people are buying Galactica makeup, right? So that they can pretend, even just for a little while, that they’re as glamorous as Miss Fame?”

“Exactly.” Alaska smiled at her. “So…I believe we owe ourselves a tea party, don’t we?”

“Oh, um…” Courtney’s gaze shifted to Miss Fame’s office, where she knew Willam was still waiting.

“Come on, you can take a little break. After all, it’s almost 9 pm in Paris, right?”

“Yeah, true.” Courtney sighed. Willam would be fine, he’d just have to wait. “I’ll go turn on the kettle.”

She rose and walked towards the little kitchenette, Alaska following her to assist, helping her get cups and saucers down from the shelf, putting everything on a tray. Alaska was truly different than the other executives at this company, who always expected to be served. It wasn’t that Courtney minded doing it--after all, that was her job--it was just that some people had the tendency to look right through her, barely acknowledging her as a person. It got a little tedious after awhile.

Alaska was different, despite being a department head. She always looked right into her eyes when they spoke, always said thank you when anyone gave her anything, and lent a hand whenever she could.

“So...how’s it been going? You’re been here for awhile, are you settling in okay?” Alaska asked.

“Yeah, it’s been...I think I’m starting to get the hang of things.”

“I bet you’re enjoying the freedom of having the boss lady out of town, huh?” Alaska’s brown eyes twinkled conspiratorially.

“Well, uh...actually, it’ll be nice to have them back,” Courtney said honestly. “I mean, I’ll definitely be super relieved when Violet’s back.”

“Yeah, I imagine that running the office on your own is a handful,” Alaska said, stirring her tea thoughtfully.

“Mmhmm…” Courtney took a sip of her tea, wishing once again that she worked for Alaska. She was so kind and understanding.

The sound of muffled, distant clattering made Alaska’s head snap up sharply, and Courtney cringed inwardly.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Courtney asked, twirling a lock of blonde hair in her fingers.

“It sounded like it was coming from inside Miss Fame’s office,” Alaska said.

“Oh, um, I don’t think that’s…” It was no use. The bright pink flush creeping into her cheeks was a dead giveaway, and as Courtney trailed off, Alaska put her hands on her hips.

“Who’s in there, Courtney?”

Courtney gulped, admitting, “My boyfriend…”

“Ugh, Courtney…” Alaska clucked disapprovingly, walking over to the door, using the key card clipped to Courtney’s skirt to open the door. “You!”

She pointed at Willam, who was busily cleaning up papers he’d somehow knocked off Miss Fame’s desk.

“Playtime’s over. Say goodbye and be on your way.” Alaska snapped her fingers and Willam hurried out of the office.

“I’m sorry, Alaska, I know it was stupid, please don’t tell-” Courtney began, but Alaska was scrutizing Willam with narrowed eyes.

“What’s your name?” she asked, and he blanched, but Courtney quickly stood in front of him.

“It’s not his fault. I’m the one who suggested we go into the office. I just wanted a few minutes of privacy, but I know it was dumb.” She turned to Willam, saying, “You should go. I’ll call you later.”

Willam nodded, bolting from the office quickly, practically running to get to the elevators. Even though that’s what Courtney had asked him to do, she couldn’t help be a little annoyed at how eagerly he’d gone, a strange spring in his step, not looking the slightest bit regretful. But there wasn’t time to dwell on that right now.

Courtney faced Alaska again, steeling her shoulders, prepared for the worst.

“Are you gonna tell on me?”

Alaska tapped her long nails against Courtney’s desk, thinking.

“I know that kid.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, but I just can’t remember how…” She squinted, trying to place him.

“Well, maybe you-”

“Oh, shit.” Alaska pulled up her phone, tapping away on the screen, making Courtney grow agitated.

“What are you doing?”

“Hoping I’m wrong, for your sake…” Alaska finally found what she’s looking for, heaving a deep sigh. “Here.”

She slid the phone across the desk, over to where Courtney stood.

“I knew I’d seen him around. His husband is an accountant, he does my taxes.”

“Husband?” A terrible, terrible feeling began to creep into Courtney’s stomach. Willam was married? To a man?

“Yeah.”

Courtney picked the phone up slowly. That was Willam, alright. Willam with his arms wrapped around a handsome older man, Willam with the same man and a group of other guys on the beach, Willam with the man and a huge Saint Bernard.

A million confusing thoughts swirled in Courtney’s head, and she sat down heavily, trying to make heads or tails of them. Was Willam cheating on his husband with her? And if he was, why the slow, chaste, Victorian courtship? Even today, in Miss Fame’s office, she was the one who took things to the next level. She was the one grinding against him, trying desperately to feel something, to prove to herself that this was more than just a platonic relationship.

She’d known, of course, that their (lack of) chemistry was weird. But she thought it was due to Willam being respectful, and to her own hang-ups about guys. She swallowed down the lump in her throat.

“I think you better ask your boyfriend some questions, Courtney,” Alaska said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah.”

What she really needed was to talk to someone about this. Someone who understood her, someone who could help her sort through her confusion. After Alaska left the office, she immediately went to her purse to pull out her personal cell, calling the one person she knew could help her feel less alone.

***

“And this one,” Pearl grinned. She was showing Violet the photos she had taken that day, their legs pressed together.  “Matches her dog perfectly.”

“What?” Violet looked up from her vodka cranberry, a smile on her lips, and Pearl couldn’t get over how sweet she was, how beautiful she looked.

They were sitting at the bar at an overly fancy cocktail hour, both of them waiting for Fame. They were on the outskirts of the party, everyone else rubbing elbows and kissing ass, but Pearl didn’t care about any of that, not when she had Violet’s attention.

It felt great to finally be okay again, to be them. Pearl flirted with a lot of different women, and had slept with quite a few since that fateful night at the Fashion Fund party, but this was something else, something special.

“I’m serious.” Pearl smiled, and Violet reached out, trying to grab the phone, her chest bumping against her arm.

Pearl didn’t want to be too forward in her advances, they had a week in the city of love after all, but if the way Violet’s eyes shone was any indication, if the giggle in her voice held any promise at all, they’d be curled up in bed together soon enough.

“Damn pumpkin, getting frisky huh?” Pearl raised an eyebrow, making sure that Violet saw that she was attempting to look down her top.

“Pearl-” Violet groaned, sitting up straight, holding a hand in front of herself to make sure Pearl couldn’t see anything at all.

“Just wanted to check if you were wearing a bra.” Pearl grinned, the fact that Violet was blushing the exact reaction she had gunned for.

It felt great to be back on track, to be able to play Violet again, the other woman so perfectly easy once Pearl wormed her way under her skin.

“You do know that Galactica has a strict policy about appropriate public behavior.” Pearl reached for her drink, making sure that her leg was glued to Violet’s. She couldn’t remember much from when Violet had fixed her up, but she did remember the other woman nagging her about the company guidelines.

“Please.” Violet rolled her eyes, but Pearl could see the smile lurking in the corner of her mouth. “Like you ever cared for a policy in your life.”

“Oh I care, Violet.” Pearl smirked. “I care very, very deeply.”

Violet snorted, a short laugh leaving her. “Show me the photo.”

“Ask nicely.”

“You’re so annoying.” Violet went for the phone again, but Pearl put an arm around her back, her hand resting on her hip.

“You love me.” Pearl grinned as she tilted her phone, showing Violet the photo of a woman who was wearing an outfit entirely with black and white polkadots, a dalmatian sitting by her side.

“Oh my god.” Violet looked up, a gigantic smile on her lips. “This is amazing!”

Pearl grinned, turning slightly so she could rest her cheek against Violet’s head, the smell of her hair in her nose. It was incredibly intimate, Violet flicking through her phone.

She could stay here forever, Violet commenting on everyone’s outfits, fashion a subject she could discuss endlessly.

“So,” Pearl used her free hand to reach up, gently touching Violet’s hair as she tucked it behind her ear.

“Hey,” Violet giggled, trying to twist away , but Pearl held her close, “that tickles-”

“Violet,” Pearl twisted her upper body, Violet looking straight at her. “Do you want to-”

In that exact moment, Violet’s phone started vibrating, and Pearl groaned.

Violet raised a brow, clearly not understanding why Pearl was acting that way as she reached for her phone.

“You don’t have to take the call.” Pearl tried to put her hand on top of Violet’s, “We’re having fun, right?”

“Pearl,” Violet sighed, evading her hand. “Please.”

Violet took her phone, turning the screen. Pearl had expected it to be Fame, for Violet to look exasperated, but instead, her entire face lit up as she accepted the call.

“Hello?” Violet smiled.

“Who are you talking to?”

Violet ignored Pearl, not answering her question.

“Mmh. Yes. Yes, I’m at the bar. Where are you?”

She stood up, shaking Pearl’s hand off before she turned around.

“Ah!” Violet grinned. “I see you.”

Without as much as looking at her, Violet left, not even giving Pearl the chance to say anything else.

Pearl turned, confused and annoyed at what could possibly have captured Violet’s attention so thoroughly.

Violet was making a beeline towards Sutan Amrull, stopping in front of him, eyes bright as she eagerly chatted. Pearl had no idea they even knew each other, and Violet never talked like that to anybody, barely even her.

Sutan was Raja’s twin though, so Pearl decided to let it go, the two of them probably discussing something boring and business related.

She had decided not to watch, when Sutan placed an arm around Violet's waist, pulling her in, and Pearl felt her body light on fire.

She was ready to get up, willing to make it a fight if she had to, no one else allowed to touch her Violet like that, good reputations be damned, but then, insteading of struggling to get away, Violet leaned in, placing a sweet but quick kiss against Sutan’s lips, causing Sutan to laugh.

Pearl felt her jaw drop, her fingers tightening around her glas.

What the fuck? Was Violet with Sutan?

Pearl bit her lip, hurt rushing over her, her stomach clenching.

Had she been acting a fool?

Pearl Liaison always got what she wanted, but as she watched Violet, a sense of dread settled over her.

Sutan had to have been the man at the bar. There was no other way around it, all the puzzle pieces falling into place.

Pearl emptied her drink in one big gulp, the alcohol burning on its way down. She flagged the bartender, ordering another drink, determined to drown her sorrows.

She had decided on alcohol, had figured that would be the quickest way to forget how humiliated she felt, but as Pearl made her way through her third cocktail, she spotted Adore from across the bar, the other woman in deep conversation with Raven.

***

Adore was in ecstasy, finally getting the attention from Pearl that she’d been craving, not even caring that it was happening pressed against the sinks in a club bathroom. Her mind was empty of everything except Pearl’s fingers expertly working her into a quivering mess, those sleepy, knowing eyes raking over her body as she arched into Pearl’s touch.

It was so hot, the way Pearl had caught her eye and then marched over, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her roughly into the nearby restroom. The dominant, brooding energy she was exuding right now was everything Adore wanted, made her heart pound with excitement and just a perfect hint of fear.

“Someone’s obsessed with you,” Pearl murmured into her ear, making her shiver.

“Mmm?”

“You’re buzzing out of control,” Pearl clarified, gesturing to the phone in Adore’s jacket pocket.

“Oh...sorry.”

Adore pulled the phone out, quickly shutting it off and stuffing it back into her pocket just as Pearl’s fingers curled against her g-spot, making her cry out. Whoever was trying to reach her would just have to understand.

“Omigod, Pearl, yes! Right there…” Adore moaned.

“Come for me, baby,” Pearl husked into her ear, then sank her teeth into a particularly tender spot on her neck.

Adore gasped, hips rolling, fingers tangled in Pearl’s hair.

“I’m coming, I’m coming...oh gooood…”

***

Willam was so screwed. On the subway, he’d gleefully clicked through all of the pictures, only to have his heart fall further and further with every one. The whole mission had been absolutely futile. Page after page of design ideas, marketing notes. The only thing remotely scandalous was a vibrator in the bottom drawer of her desk, a locked part he had to jimmy open with a paperclip, but even that amounted to a big Who Cares.

Certainly not groundbreaking journalism.

But he couldn’t give up. Not when he’d come so far. There had to be something. So he took a deep breath and fired off a few texts to Courtney.

WILLAM: Hey beautiful, so sorry for racing out like that

WILLAM: I hope I didn’t get you in trouble

WILLAM: Are you okay, baby?

The response had been entirely unlike her. ‘Meet me at Radicchio. 7.’

No emojis, no exclamation points - nothing cute or flirty to tell him that things were still good. Which meant that they probably weren’t. That this wasn’t gonna be a nice, normal date, but in fact a Serious Talk, which was just not something Willam had prepared for in this plan.

Part of Willam thought he should just ignore it. Cut ties, walk away, be done with the whole thing. File this one as a loss and move on. But the stubborn part still didn’t want to give up. He’d lost his fucking job over this story, how could he just drop it without a second thought? So she might be mad, he might need to do a little damage control. He could handle that, right?

When Courtney entered the restaurant, he was already sitting at a booth waiting, hands folded in front of him. He jumped up, moving to give her a hug, but she avoided him and instead sat down, stone-faced.

Courtney didn’t remove her jacket or take her purse off her shoulder. More very bad signs.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Willam asked carefully, reaching for her hand. “I’m sorry for leaving you, I didn’t think it would help you to make a scene, I just-”

“Are you married?”

Willam flinched. He’d been so incredibly careful to mask his personal life. He’d deleted his Facebook account, only communicating through that fake Instagram he’d set up to talk to her. How could she possibly have found out?

“Why would you...why would you ask that?” he ventured.

“Oh god.” Courtney closed her eyes briefly. “It’s true, isn’t it? You’re married. To a man.”

“Well, I-listen. It’s not a traditional marriage, we have an open-”

“Then why not tell me?” Courtney demanded, then answered her own question, shaking her head. “Are you even attracted to me? You’re obviously not. I guess I knew, but I just wanted so badly for this to be real, I’m such an idiot-”

“Courtney, listen-”

“No! I don’t get it, is this just some kind of sick game? Why? Why all the lies? Why pretend that you like me?”

Willam shut his eyes. A million excuses were on the tip of his tongue, lies to cover up lies, but none of them would work. None of them would satisfy her. He could see that clear as day.

“I’m sorry. Okay? Really. I didn’t mean for it to go on this long, I thought I’d get something I could use much quicker-”

“Something you could use?” Courtney’s eyes suddenly widened as she put the pieces together, and that’s when Willam understood, until that moment she wasn’t even thinking about his job, about the fact that he was a journalist, about how much she’d told him.

“I would probably have dropped it, but then I got fired, and I needed something, Court, I really-”

“So all of this...all of this was for a story?” she spit out.  

“I...yeah.” Willam swallowed, looking at the horrified expression on her face, the single tear that slid down her cheek. God, what a mess. There was nothing he could say now to win back her trust, so he might as well unburden himself.

“I really thought there was something, something big that Fame was hiding, especially after Detox got so angry, and-”

“Oh god.” Courtney covered her mouth. “And I left you in there, alone. I’m not even supposed to be in there alone. What did you do? What did you find? Oh god, I’m gonna be fired.”

She was starting to panic, gripping the edge of the table, breathing growing shallow. Willam shook his head vigorously.

“Nothing! Okay? I found nothing. Here, look for yourself…” Willam opened his photos and shoved his phone across the table. “It’s just fucking fabric samples and design notes and marketing plans. That’s it. I can delete it right now if you want.”

“And how do I know this is everything? How do I know you’re not gonna fuck me over?” Courtney asked, green eyes red and watery.

Willam hung his head for a moment. He didn’t mean for this to happen. She was just a nice kid, maybe a little too trusting, maybe a little over her head, and seeing her brokenhearted face made him feel more wretched than he ever had.

“You don’t,” he finally said, looking directly into her eyes for the first time that night. “You don’t, you just have my word, which...I guess you already know is worth jack shit.”

Courtney handed Willam’s phone back to him, shaking his head.

“It would serve me right if I did get fired,” she said, voice breaking. “Because I was stupid enough to think you were a nice guy.”

“Courtney-”

“Goodbye, Willam.”

She stood up abruptly and walked quickly to the door, leaving Willam with nothing but his own guilt.

***

Courtney stood in her tiny studio apartment, looking at her face in the old, scratched-up mirror. She couldn’t remember ever being this humiliated. She felt like an absolute idiot. A grade-A fucking moron. And the worse part, the worst part was that she’d known all along that something wasn’t right.

She’d known it, from the beginning, but she’d gone ahead and trusted him anyway, because he said all the right things and told her everything she wanted to hear. That she was beautiful, she was talented, she was going somewhere.

All of it had been a lie.

And now, she was back to square one, but it was even worse, because she’d allowed herself to voice her deepest fears, about what if she really didn’t have what it takes, what if she’d never make it, what if she was doomed to be a mediocre girl in a mediocre job for her whole life? She’d allowed those thoughts, the ones that used to be buried deep, to come to the surface and rear their ugly heads and now she had to face all of it.

She wasn’t an aspiring actress, or on a path to becoming a musician. She wasn’t anything but an assistant, and even that wasn’t guaranteed, if anyone at Galactica even got a whiff of how majorly she’d fucked up by allowing Willam to get so close. Or if he’d been lying, if he really had gotten something to use and publish--it would immediately be traced back to her. So there was something to keep her awake at night, as if she didn’t have enough.

She closed her eyes, hot tears burning down her cheeks, feeling more alone than she ever had. She was lucky, actually, that Adore didn’t answer earlier, because once she found out Willam’s real reason for playing her, she realized that she could never ever tell Adore, or their other mutual friends, for fear that it would get back to Miss Fame somehow.

That was when Courtney made a promise. She would do whatever it took to make this job work. So she wasn’t Violet, she wasn’t some robotically perfect assistant. Well, she wanted to be an actress, so she’d act like the perfect assistant. She’d show all of them that she could do this job, that she was valuable, and if she really took it seriously, maybe there was a snowball’s chance in hell that she wouldn’t be fired, deported, and sent back to Brisbane a miserable failure.  

[thegirlygeek-blog1]

SCD Week 6 - Halloween!

I always love a theme week on SCD as it really shows off the creativity of the costume/hair/makeup/props departments even more than usual. I do feel this year that some of the couples got overwhelmed by the concepts of their dances and therefore couldn't perform at their best.

Graeme and Oti, Cha-cha, 21 points:

Thriller is a BIG number and if you're gonna do it, its gotta be good. Graeme’s Thriller moves were okay but his Cha-cha wasn't great. I’m not entirely sure that the two dances meshed together very well and that’s not Graeme’s fault. Everyone’s really struggling with the Cha-cha this year so I'm not surprised he was in the bottom two. The bottom of the leaderboard was also very close and the dance-off was a close call. Tomorrow is a Waltz and I’m a bit worried as Graeme’s Ballroom isn't as good as his Latin. But he's just so likeable that I do want him to do well.

Stacey and Kevin, Tango, 35 points:

OMGGGGGGGGGGGG. I mean I love DW so I'm a tad biased but that was a bloody good Tango!! UNDER-MARKED. I don't think that Stacey got enough credit for swapping gender roles halfway through the dance. Particularly in Ballroom the men’s and women’s holds are very different plus she had to lead the dance which she did brilliantly. *whispers* dark horse 😏.  Stacey’s had some sort of rib injury this week which we’ll know more about on tonight’s It Takes Two but I'm hoping that she can do Street to her full potential because this girl is good.

Dr. Ranj and Janette, Jive, 20 points:

Oh Ranj. It went sooooooooo wrong! I had a lot of faith in this Jive but I think that he got overwhelmed by the concept and certainly that fluffy, fluffy costume. I almost wanted him to be in the dance-off so he could do it again properly but he had a very narrow escape. I think that there are a lot of Ranj fans out there who kept him in but I don't know how much longer he's going to stay. Tomorrow is the Samba which although is very difficult, I think he has the right personality to perform it well. His Salsa was so entertaining even thought the technique was just okay and he might so the same tomorrow.

Kate and Aljaž, Rumba, 20 points:

I have to say that this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Rumba is very hard and it can easily look pretty bad but Kate’s didn't. Okay it wasn't the best Rumba in the world but she did okay. I think being in character really helps her and they should do that every week. She looked stunning as an ice queen but she stayed a little stiff. It was a little boring but I find most Rumbas boring to be honest. Tomorrow she is doing the first Argentine Tango of the series. She looked pretty good in training so I’m optimistic at the moment but I don't know how long she will stay in the competition. 

Danny and Amy, American Smooth, 30 points:

It was fine. It was a but boring for me. Where some others were overwhelmed by their concepts, I think Danny’s dance didn't have enough of a concept and therefore was lacking in story. It was fine, it was just a bit of a comedown after his Jive. Tomorrow is a Quickstep and we know that he can move across that floor, I’m just hoping for a bit more character. 

Ashley and Paaaaaaaasha, Charleston, 39 points:

I can't. Of course she got 39. Charleston is really easy to make look good. I can't even talk about her. I’m so furious every time she pops up on my screen. Tomorrow is a Foxtrot and she’ll probably get 100 points. GET OFF ME SODDING SHOW.

Charles and Karen, Jive, 25 (back again) points:

Well after last week’s breakthrough he's gonna do an amazing Jive isn't he? Charles WTF mate?!? 25 again!!! But he wasn't in the bottom two which was a surprise. The Jive was pretty bad with a lot of mistakes. I don't know how he's still here!?!  Tomorrow is a Viennese Waltz and who knows how he's gonna do?!? If it’s 25 again then he and Karen may just lose the plot. I don't know how long he can keep staying...

Faye and Giovanni, Theatre/Jazz, 39 points:

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS AMAZING! SO STYLISH AND COOL! Can I just say that she got the same score as Ashley but seems to be getting less credit and acknowledgement for it. Especially as it was a brand new dance for both Faye and Giovanni. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!! Okay calm down now. But tomorrow is a Tango and it could be fierce! Her Tango style VW was so good so I have high hopes for tomorrow.

Joe and Diane, Foxtrot, 35 points:

The boy’s good at Ballroom as well!!! Who knew?? It was a very good Foxtrot and was so nice to see some proper chunks of dance amongst all the Halloween craziness. That’s how you combine the concept but still manage to do a proper dance. *whispers* another dark horse. Tomorrow is a Paso Doble and I’m not convinced yet. He just seems a but too lanky to be able to do the Paso shaping properly. He also seems too boyish (he looks 12) to be a fierce matador but I am really interested to see if can pull it off.

Lauren and AJ, Paso Doble, 29 points:

Meh. That’s how I feel about Lauren. She’s fine. She’s not terrible but she's not amazing. I feel her Charleston in week 2 was her WOW Dance and it’s all been a bit boring since. Her scores are a bit all over the place as well, she needs to be a bit more consistent. I just don't get any acting or storytelling from her and her Paso wasn't fierce enough for me. Tomorrow is a Jive and I think that she will be able to do the technique and the shear pace of it as she's an athlete. Jive’s are super animated and bouncy which I'm not sure she will be able to do, I’m waiting to be proved wrong.

Eliminated couple - Seann and Katya, Viennese Waltz, 20 points:

It was a matter of time wasn't it? I loved the concept of the dance and they acted it really well. SEANN, LISTEN TO THE MUSIC, IS THAT SO HARD? The timing was unbelievably obvious in that song and he was still off time! He spent the whole competition off time and it just never improved. It was his time to go though. We’ll always have the Matrix Paso. 

[pdnxm]

Oh, Romeo

> You are an art major who is passionate about theatre and acting. One day you get cast as the female lead and the guy you have a crush on gets cast as the male lead.

> Fluff, mature content (pg-13?)

|| next (soonish)

Acting is your passion. An actor is someone who can be someone completely different while still being themselves. It was incredibly beautiful but extremely difficult. To immerse yourself in a role, to become someone completely new was an art. You loved it. So naturally, you were an Art Major who specified in acting.

Your school was well known, people from all over the world came here to study. All faculties had outstanding teachers and classes that could be as big as 400 students per class,  but there was nothing quite like the Arts Faculty. It was hard to get into. Not only do your grades have to be good, but you have to have immense talent and a background of performing or lessons. Luckily for you, you had parents that expected good grades and a drive to be the best.

Each year, the theatre department would put on a play and you’ usually get a secondary role, but this year you vowed to change that. This year was the year of Romeo and Juliet, and you were going to get Juliet or you were going to die trying.

For your audition, you did Juliet’s monologue and with the finishing the lines, “There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.” You spoke with a melancholy tone, trying to resonate with the character. The directors stared at you for a moment, but their gazes had no emotion. You uttered a small, “thank you”, before grabbing your things and leaving.

The directors usually didn’t show much emotion, but this was ridiculous! It was like staring at a stone wall. You let out a quiet sigh before suddenly being bumped into, causing you to drop your things.

“Goddamnit..” You muttered, crouching down to get your things. “I’m so sorry!” You exclaimed, bowing your head as an apology.

“It was my fault. Are you hurt?” Glancing up when you recognized the voice, you froze momentarily. In front of you was the best actor in the entire theatre department and there he was helping you pick up your things. Jin was a god to the younger students, yourself included. He was voted most likely to become a famous actor, and he was already on the way, having nabbed small roles in Hollywood scale films. It should also be mentioned you have a huge crush on him.

“J-Jin! I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” You gave a shy smile, thanking him before getting back up. “Are you on your way to audition?” He nodded with a smile and you practically melted. “I’m trying out for Romeo.” “I just auditioned for Juliet.” You blushed, wondering what would happen if you both got the parts. Well, it was mostly you wishing you’d get the role because Jin was 100% going to be Romeo.

“I hope you do.” He paused, giving a sly smile. “Maybe I’ll finally get to kiss you.” His comment made your jaw drop. Once again, you were frozen. “Anyways, I’ll see you around, (y/n).” And with that, he was gone.

“He.. Wants to kiss me… He knows my name…” You practically ran to your apartment to get the chance to call your friend.

“Seulgi, you wouldn’t believe what just happened!” And you relayed the events that had just occurred, your friend interjecting with excited squeals every now and then.

“So do you think you’ll get it? Do you think he’s hoping you’ll get it?” Seulgi asked. You didn’t have an answer to either question and she seemed to understand. “I think you will, (y/n). You’re super talented.” She assured you, thank god for Seulgi.

“What would I do without you?” You sighed. “I’ll see you later.” And with that, you hung up.

The next few days you anxiously awaited for the cast list to be posted, your heart racing each time you approached the drama room. Finally, the day had arrived. Your classmates were gathered around a piece of paper taped to the wall, all talking amongst themselves. You heard them calling out their roles, “Lady Capulet”, “Tybalt” and so on. But no one had claimed the leads.

With a few nervous steps, your eyes found the word ‘JULIET’ and beside it, ‘(Y/N)’ in bold letters. After a moment of shock, you let out a happy noise. Your castmates patted you on the back and congratulated you before leaving to rehearse. You were left with your Romeo, Jin.

“Congratulations, (y/n). You deserve it.” He gave you a warm smile, not even a flirtatious one.

“Thank you! And you too! It’s such an honour, we all look up to you and to be your counterpart in a production is.. Amazing.” You couldn’t help yourself, but he seemed to appreciate it and his warm smile turned mischievous.

“We’ll be spending a lot of time together. I hope you’ll stop being so shy around me.” You felt your cheeks warm and he chuckled at the sight. “Anyways, I brought you the script book. We should start rehearsing together, even during our free time.” He paused, handing you the book. “I wrote my number on a sticky note, text me when you want to rehearse. Or if you just want to talk.”

Unable to find the words, you nodded gratefully. “I will.” You murmured contently. Am I dreaming?

Sure enough, there it was. A sticky note on the first page with a phone number and the name ‘Jin’ written in all caps with a smiley face beside it. Never have you ever been so ecstatic to see a smiley face. As he walked away to greet his friends and congratulate them for their role, you found yourself staring at the book, still shocked about getting the lead female role. Settling down, you grabbed a highlighter from your bag and began highlighting your lines.

Rehearsing for a play can be described many ways. You prefer the word ‘hell’ when referring to it. Every day until late into the night everyone had to stay and run the show multiple times. You had to get measured, test hair and makeup, redoing certain scenes to perfect them. You never experienced this much stress in such a way, mostly because you were never this important in a show.

The best part was that you spent a lot of time with Jin. You’d rehearse in your free time, mornings and evenings too. Because practice would go so late, he always offered to give you a ride home but for some reason, you always declined and took the bus instead. Stupid.

But today was different.

Today was the first day that you’d be practicing kissing and you were completely and utterly nervous. You had texted Seulgi asking for support, but she was busy in the dancing department preparing for their own show. With a sigh, you put your phone away and went on.

Jin seemed calm, which baffled you for a moment. Oh but he’s Jin. He’s probably done this thousands of times. You’ve kissed before, but never in front of an audience. He seemed to sense this and gave you a comforting glance before the two of you began speaking your lines.

It was in Act 1, Scene 5 where you two kissed. And that’s where you to were right now.

You said your line, “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.” And you could have sworn you were visibly shaking, but Jin continued anyways with his line.

“Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.” And he moved towards you, leaning in slowly with his hands grasping your jaw. You let your eyes flutter before closing them, waiting for his lips to press against yours. And when they did, you felt as if you were in heaven. His lips were so soft and he was so gentle that when he pulled away, you barely even heard his next line.

The two of you shared more lines before the next kiss came up, “Give me my sin again,” He murmured, kissing you again but this time with more force. You almost squealed but managed to keep it in, but then he pulled away - a cue that another character was coming in.

At the end of rehearsal, the cast gathered around to get notes from the directors and you patiently awaited yours.

“(y/n), good job. You play a very convincing Juliet and the chemistry with Romeo is definitely there. Just work a bit more on putting more emotion in the final scenes and work on the kissing - I know it’s the first time but it was a little awkward on your part.” You nodded, writing down what you need to improve on but almost choking at the words “work on” and “kissing”.

After everyone got their notes and began packing up, Jin approached you with a smirk-like smile. “So you always say no, but I think we’re close enough for me to give you a ride home.” You giggled softly at his words before nodding slowly.

“Sure. I’d like that.”

The first half of the car ride was silent, mostly because you couldn’t gather the courage to say anything. But luckily, Jin was able to do so. He looked at you for a moment before returning his gaze to the road. “I wanted to say, you’re a really good actress.”

The compliment was a complete surprise, “Oh! Thank you. You’re an amazing actor, but you probably hear that a lot.” You both laughed, the awkwardness slowly melting away. “But thank you.” The two of you continued talking, mostly gossiping about castmates and crew and who you would think would be a good couple. There was plenty of romance in the drama room, but most of the people were too shy to admit it (you were one of them).

“Personally, I think Joy and Sungjae would be really cute together.” You stated confidently. Before Jin could respond, he reached your apartment complex. “Here you go.” He smiled at you with a raised brow.

“Thanks, Jin. I don’t know why I always said no.” You admitted, wishing that this happened more often.

“Hey, I’m always there if you need a ride home. It’s pretty late, but maybe next time we could practice some more.” He paused, a smirk growing on his lips. “Maybe focus on what you need to improve on.” Flustered, you stared at him for a moment before nodding. “I.. would really like that.” You murmured in response, brushing your hair behind your ear. “Thanks again, Jin. I’ll see you later.” Gently closing his car door and waving as he drove off, you couldn’t help but smile on your way up to your apartment.

Life was good, and with the show coming up, it was about to get better.

– – –

AU: welcome to a new story, unfortunately, I don’t have much time throughout the week so this won’t be updated very quickly but I’m hoping there will be a chapter a week! (no promises but i’ll try my best) While you’re waiting, why don’t you check out my other stuff?

[starship-squidlet]

[Story time--feel free to ignore]

So I need to get something off my chest, and I can’t do it anywhere else because people who know the people I’m going to talk about will see it and I don’t want to harm these people’s reputations. However, the only one of them who has a tumblr has already blocked me, as far as I can tell, so I’m not too worried about them seeing it here.

So my senior year of college sucked. I hate to admit it, but it did--basically the whole year, but especially the end.

It started off well enough. I spent two weeks in London and Edinburgh for a class, moved into an apartment with all of my best friends, had (mostly) great classes, and quickly started forming/strengthening friendships with people I had met in the theatre department the year before. For the first time in my life, I was starting to feel like a normal person, socially. I wasn’t having trouble with anxiety or depression. I was getting along really well with just about everyone in my life. I had finally cut out my toxic father for good (or so I thought). My relationships were just so healthy, and so was I. I felt happier than I ever had in my life, surrounded by amazing people, and doing what I loved in the theatre department.

But it very quickly started to go downhill. The closer I grew to people in the theatre department (the only people I still talk to from school), the further I felt from my apartmentmates. Then, my great-aunt died. After a few panic attacks, I threw myself into my work in the theatre, painting our production of Translations. I did my best to juggle painting, work, classes, homework, and life in my apartment, and I felt like I was doing pretty well--passing all my classes, handing homework in on time, wowing the director with my work, getting really close with the TD and carpenters, and still managing to take my roommates on weekly trips to the grocery store--but I soon realized that things were getting worse in my apartment. My roommates stopped including me in apartment life. It felt like they were criticizing my every move: I spent too much time in the theatre and not enough on homework, my growing love for technical theatre was wrong, I didn’t sleep enough, I wasn’t focusing enough on my classes. When I announced my intentions to pursue a career in technical theatre, they all mocked me, even my theatre MAJOR (I was only a minor) roommates; they said I’d never make it, that I should stick with my majors (English and Linguistics), theatre was too hard of an industry to get into so I shouldn’t even try.

The growing stress from my worsening home life, a really bad professor who I could never get anything right for, the impending deadline of the fall show, and the fact that I didn’t have enough chapel credits to meet the quota for the semester got me to the point where I started cutting for the first time in my life. I felt less healthy than I ever had, including when I was a child and being beaten by my narcissistic asshole of a father. I realize that there were many factors contributing to this, but at the time, I didn’t know what to do. I coped by focusing as little as possible on the class I was having trouble with and abandoned everything else to throw myself into my work in the theatre.

In the theatre, I was happy. In the theatre, I was safe. Even my interactions with my roommates there were fine. We were still friends. It was when I got home that things would get bad again. First, they stopped asking me to take them to the store. Then, they started ignoring me. After that, they started getting quiet when I walked into the apartment; conversations would stop or clearly abruptly change topic to something harmless, and anything I attempted to contribute to discussions was either brushed off or ignored.

Finally, opening weekend of Translations, I was done. After opening night, I spent the night in a friend’s apartment, and sent my roommates an email outlining the issues I had with them and informing them that I was planning to search for different housing. They responded with another email begging me not to move out and promising to respect me more and not exclude me. I wanted to believe them so badly that I fell for it and decided to stay. This lasted for about a week before things got even worse than they had been before.

The cycle of disrespect, outright rudeness, and stress continued. Every time I would protest the way I was treated, my roommates would promise to stop, before getting worse. I was told that the way I felt was wrong, that I was exaggerating or misunderstanding or just plain wrong.

I completely recognize that I was also a part of this cycle. I let my stress get the best of me and reacted poorly to situations that arose. Instead of confronting my roommates when things happen, I let them fester because I didn’t want to cause conflict. Sometimes, I did things knowing full well that they would bother my roommates and not caring.

Finally, the week before opening of the spring production, things blew up. I had gotten into a fight with my roommate the week before, but we had talked, I had apologized, and we had made amends. Some of the other girls responded to this with a poorly-disguised “wellness check”: they came to the theatre to “see the pieces I had made for the show”, but spent the entire time asking me how I was doing, if anything was wrong, and other, incredibly patronizing, questions. Then, opening week, I reacted to a form of disrespect that had been going on all year: during our start-of-year apartment contract meeting (mandatory in all dorms on our campus), I had asked that we not use bleach-based cleaner, because I believe that bleach is a harmful chemical and don’t want it anywhere near my body. They agreed to use vinegar-based cleaners instead once we used up the other cleaners their mothers had bought for us, and I agreed--I also offered to buy the more natural/vinegar-based cleaners, as I was aware that they can be more expensive. However, all four of them continued to buy bleach-based cleaners, despite this agreement, and I let it slide. Finally, over spring break, I bought a new natural cleaner and, when everyone returned, asked that they use it multiple times (admittedly, not necessarily in the kindest manner), and was repeatedly ignored--to the extent that they discussed in front of me the purchasing of new bleach-based cleaner. I finally got fed up with it, left the apartment for my work in the theatre (I was backstage supervisor for hair and makeup on this show), and used a few minutes of spare time that I had to write a facebook post in our private group about my frustration (again, I realize that this wasn’t the best way to respond, but between the theatre, classes, homework, and work, I was spending literally no time in the apartment during waking hours and had no opportunities to talk to my roommates). 

Within half an hour, two of the girls showed up backstage at the theatre. This was an hour and a half (or less) before opening; my team and I had an hour to get 20 people ready for the show, and we were running very late. Also, anyone who has any association with theatre (as these girls did, although they weren’t my theatre major roommates) knows not to just walk backstage. They asked one of the ASMs to find me, tracked me down in a dressing room, and demanded to see me. When I explained that I was busy, they reluctantly agreed to wait until after the show opened. However, within 15 minutes, they tracked me down again and once again demanded that I stop what I was doing and talk to them. Despite me, my assistant, and the stage manager all repeatedly explaining that I had literally no time to talk to them, they continued to insist, growing more and more belligerent, before finally storming away and leaving me to explain to half the cast and crew why my roommates were so rude. I found out that they had left the theatre entirely, apparently giving up on talking to me, and spent the show relieved that I hadn’t had to deal with them after all, but wondering what they wanted.

After the show, I was still angry about the disrespect and rudeness they had shown, and my anger and frustration only grew as I walked home. I finally burst into the apartment and demanded what they had been thinking in doing and acting the way that they had (which I fully 100% acknowledge was totally not the right way to handle things), but got no answer. I received blank stares, as they had clearly justified themselves in their minds, and finally accusations that I hadn’t taken the time to talk to them. After a lot of skirting the issue, they finally explained that they had come because my roommate was sick. This stopped me in my tracks; why did my roommate being sick entitle the others to invade my sanctuary (because this was how I had come to think of the theatre by this point) and disrespect me in front of everyone I worked and spent time with? Then they dropped the bomb: not only was my roommate sick, it was her anxiety flaring up, and it was all my fault.

Through the discussion, their circumventing of my questions had only made me angrier, and at this point, I left, mostly to avoid doing or saying anything else harmful to our relationships--at this point, I still wanted to salvage our friendship. I spent the night at a friend’s, texted my roommate asking why she was blaming me for her anxiety and apologizing for whatever I had done to cause it, and went back to the apartment early in the morning when I knew none of them would be awake to shower and get ready for the day, and packed the things I would need for the day. I found a note on my pillow and grabbed it to read later; I ran into a few of the other girls on my way out, and got dirty glares from all of them. On my way down the stairs, I read the note. It continued to blame me for my roommate’s anxiety, but also forbid me from speaking to her, and claimed that I was the cause of the conflict and strife in the apartment. Before I got to the ground floor, I was in tears. Instead of going to class, I went straight to the theatre, to my TD’s office, and spent the next hour sobbing and explaining what was wrong and what had happened. He calmed me down, gave me some advice, and I spent the rest of the day curled up in a chair downstairs; I was in no state for class. 

Halfway through the day, I saw my roommates enter the theatre. Assuming they had tracked me down there again, I rushed upstairs to hide in the little-used bathroom there, not mentally ready to deal with them, only to see them going into the head of department’s office. I didn’t pay it much mind, just went downstairs and hid from them, then went on with my day. Instead of going home after work that night, I planned to wait in the costume shop until very late, when everyone would be in bed, and sneaking in to sleep for a few hours then. At this point, I was terrified of my roommates and being in my apartment; I had no idea what they might do or say, and didn’t think I could handle any of it without breaking down completely. I called my mom and told her what was going on, sobbing again, and she convinced me to tell my RD what was happening and ask to be moved to a new room. I pulled up my email only to find one waiting from my RD. My roommates had gone to her and told lies about me--that I was unstable, that I was causing conflict, that I was an issue.

I spent that night on another friend’s couch, after going back to my room and taking everything I would need for the next few days. The next day, I found out from a friend in the theatre department that my roommates had told the same lies to the head of the department that they had told to me RD (later, they would also tell them to people in student life and the housing department), and he was furious, claiming that I needed counseling and couldn’t resolve conflict, all without actually knowing me as a person beyond a little interaction during the aforementioned trip to London and Edinburgh. My RD informed me that they would try to find me a new room, although she couldn’t make any promises with only a month left in the school year, and that someone from housing would contact me to hear my side of the story (spoiler alert: they never did).

I spent the rest of the weekend on friends’ couches and floors until Sunday, when I was told that I had been found a room. A few amazing friends kindly helped me move (a process of throwing things randomly in boxes and bags and haphazardly jamming as much as possible into my car), and I settled into my new single room, confident that I would be okay now.

But I wasn’t. I felt more alone than I had during my entire college career; I didn’t have the best friends that I had grown to love over the past four years, or any of our other friends, all of whom took my roommates’ side. I had my new friends, sure, and they were beyond amazing--far better than I could have asked for--but it wasn’t the same. I would find myself scrolling through my feeds on social media and thinking “Sarah would love this!” and starting to send it to her in a message before remembering that I couldn’t. Or I’d hear a funny joke or story and think “Wow, Karli would find this hilarious!” and go to text it to her, only to remember that I had been forbidden by the others to speak to her.

What was almost worse was that I still had class with Molly, the one who had been most demanding and belligerent to me during that “surprise visit” to the theatre, and who had written me the note I found on my pillow the next morning, and had to sit next to her for an hour and a half two days a week. I tried to act normal, but felt myself breaking inside every time we talked.

As for the theatre, I lost my second home and sanctuary. I thought I would be fine spending time there, instead of painfully alone in my room, but the first time I heard Annika’s voice around a corner, I froze. In a moment of panic, I started hyperventilating and dove for the nearest door, the bathroom, where I hid until I was sure she was long gone. As a matter of fact, she wasn’t, and when I heard her again, I bolted for the door, only starting to relax when I was free, halfway back to my new dorm.

I began failing my classes. I could no longer focus on homework, much less lectures, and did poorly everywhere. I spent all of my time not in class in my room, to scared of running into my ex-roommates if I left. I spiraled further and further downwards, until one weekend, I gave up. Laying on my floor and sobbing, unable to do anything else, I sent a paragraphs-long text to the only person I still trusted, my TD. I don’t know how to describe it besides a suicide note, except that I couldn’t even kill myself at this point--I didn’t even have the ability to function to that extent. He promised that we would talk the next day, Monday, and I reluctantly made my way to the theatre then, unwilling to talk but knowing that I had to. Most of the time, I think that he was the only person who got me through that last month; I couldn’t talk to my mom, and didn’t trust any of my newer friends enough to burden them with this. I don’t even know how I was able to trust him this much, but I’m so grateful that he was there for me when no-one else was. I don’t know if I’d be here today if he hadn’t responded to that text.

One of the things he kept encouraging me to do was reach out to my roommates and see if it would be possible to patch things up. I finally did this the week before finals; I asked Molly to talk with me after class, and we sat down in an empty classroom to do so. During the course of that conversation, I came to the realization that there would be no “making up”, because none of them had any desire to do so. Not only that, Molly continued to insist that everything was my fault, even the fact that they didn’t want to speak to me ever again. I left that meeting knowing that I would never speak to my closest friends again. I would never send Sarah stupid memes or fangirl with Karli over Markiplier. I would never talk theatre with Annika or literature with Molly. I would never reminisce about our London/Edinburgh trip with Mariah or talk shop about writing with Michaela. I would never see any of my closest friends after we graduated. Sarah wouldn’t be my maid of honor, and Karli and Molly and Annika wouldn’t be my bridesmaids. I would never see them walk down the aisle, and my children wouldn’t call them “aunt”.

I feel robbed of my senior year. I was so scared of my former friends that I couldn’t leave my room, or spend time in the only place I had been happy all year, the theatre. I couldn’t go on the senior trip to the Red Sox game at Fenway because not only might I run into them, I had no-one to go with. I didn’t go to the senior breakfast because my only remaining senior friend was planning to sit at the theatre table, and there was a chance that Karli and Annika would sit there too. I didn’t go to baccalaureate, and almost didn’t go to graduation, because I didn’t care anymore (the only reason I did was because my mom had a hotel reservation)

Now, I should be okay, but I’m not. I have been for most of the summer, but that’s gone now. I’m looking back on posts from the last four years that all of my friends are tagged in, and realizing that I’ll never speak to them again. If I even start to think about the past years, I can feel my heart breaking again. I’m crying even now. All I want is to freak out to Sarah about the Game of Thrones finale even though she doesn’t watch the show, or tell Molly about the last book I read. I want to be able to listen to Africa by Toto (Karli’s favorite song) or the Undertale soundtrack (a game that me and Karli and Sarah played together) without having to turn it off after a few seconds because it hurts too much. I want to be able to watch Sarah and Duck (an adorable British cartoon about a girl named Sarah and her friend/pet Duck that Sarah and I watched together) or any cartoon about Robin or Nightwing (my and Karli’s favorite cartoon/comic character) without my heart breaking as soon as I see it.

I just want my friends back.

Is that really so much to ask?

[muachronicle]

Sustainable Beauty

Another Earth Day (April 22) has come and gone but the effects of climate change is still around us.

We all try to do our part: recycle based on the photo guides, not waste water, maybe you even drive an electrical car. One of the greatest contributors to waste on our planet, however, is the beauty industry. In 2018, it was reported that 120 billion units of packaging are produced every year by the global cosmetics industry. Many of these are not recyclable! That means that when you’re done with it, the tube/bottle/jar sits in a landfill pretty much forever.

“Excuse me,” you say, “I am super diligent about recycling all of my used beauty products.” It’s not necessarily your fault. While some bottles might be recyclable, their labels might not be. Perhaps your glass foundation bottle can be recycled but the plastic pump in it can’t! So much of the packaging for beauty and self-care products are hybridized with materials that can be recycled or composted and those that can’t. This means that they get picked over and end up in a landfill regardless of your great intentions.

Don’t get us wrong, we’re guilty of it too. “It” meaning not being educated about what truly can help mitigate waste in our cabinets. No blame and no shame. If you are down to learn about how you can contribute to a more sustainable Earth (we are!) then check out this dope article in Self Magazine by our girl Jessica Cruel.

If you have a product that is gently used or brand new, check out some of your local women’s shelters that might accept donations!

If you want the quick and dirty (no pun intended), check out our guide below for the brands that are kicking ass at helping us save the planet.

The Hair Heroes

There are a few things to love about Love Beauty and Planet: their hair and body products are sustainably sourced and come in fully recyclable bottles. The company is also focused on reducing their carbon footprint in production and created products that rinse out super quickly so you use less water. The best part? THEY REALLY WORK. Trust us, this is an accessible brand with an affordable price tag that feels like luxury. The best part is that they have three types of dry shampoos ($9 each) for all of us lazy girls. Another favorite from the line are the volumizing shampoo ($9) and conditioner ($9). The line is available at Ulta as well as your local drugstores. #getit

Other brands we love: Seed Phytonutrients (compostable packaging), Rahua (sustainable farming and 100% recyclable packaging), Briogeo (great for all hair textures), Davines (sustainable since 1983).

The Skin Saviors

The product design is not the only genius thing about Tata Harper’s line of skincare. Beauty lovers know can spot a green bottle in a department store lineup and know that the ingredients will deliver extreme results for their skin concerns, whatever they may be. The duo behind the brand met and started the line on their farm in Vermont. They strive to provide the most naturally sourced elements in their products with nothing artificial, no GMOs, and no fillers. The glass packaging is reusable or recyclable and their pumps are made using corn rather than petroleum to lessen the carbon footprint. The paper? Recycled and printed on with soy ink. The entire line is pretty special but our favorites continue to be the Regenerating Cleanser ($42-$82), Resurfacing Serum ($88), and the Restorative Eye Crème ($98).

Other brands we love: Kora Organics (Miranda Kerr’s go-to), REN Skincare (great for sensitive or irritated skin), Acure (affordable), Kypris Beauty (sustainable biotech).

The Color Commanders

RMS beauty is so transparent with their ingredients and practices that they have a published guide to everything they use in their products. Our skin is the largest organ on the human body and everything we put on it gets absorbed into our bodies. It was with this mentality that Rose-Marie Swift, amid health concerns of her own, set out to discover a better alternative to the makeup we use every day. She would know, being an OG in the industry as a makeup artist with many years of work under her belt. All of the packaging in the line is either reusable or recyclable, prompting us to reconsider how we approach our empties. Cult classics in the line include the well known Un Cover-Up ($36) the concealer that comes in 14 shades, Lip2Cheek ($36), and Living Luminizer ($38).

Other brands we love: Kjaer Weis (products are refillable), ILIA (great color range), lilah b. (send back empties), Besame Cosmetics (cake mascara).

The Body Badasses

We bet you didn’t know that the cult classic perfume brand Le Labo is sustainable! We sure didn’t when we started researching for this article. Perfume is one of the most toxic things to the body and to the environment. Sometimes the items on your vanity cost a lot more than the price tag at the store. Le Labo is shattering that with it’s formulations and packaging. The brand uses sustainably sourced and naturally derived ingredients and all of its bottles are recyclable. Bring back an empty to have it filled at any boutique where Le Labo is sold. Sure the cult classic is the Santal 33 fragrance but with a full line of body creams, scrubs, oils, and laundry detergent why not just swap out your bathroom?

Other favorites by category:

Deodorant - Agent Nateur 

Sunscreen - Soleil Toujours

Body Oil - African Botanics

Body Cream - Grown Alchemist

The Upcycle Unicorns

While some of the more established companies may not have it in their operations to overhaul all of their packaging, there are some that are trying to practice more sustainability. They do this by encouraging beauty junkies to bring their empty containers back to a nearby retailer and get rewarded. Kiehl’s is using the punchcard method (image above). Similar to that free latte, every time you bring an empty to Kiehl’s you get a stamp. Once you have ten stamps you can redeem your punchcard for a full sized product. MAC Cosmetics have been in the recycling game for a minute with their Back to MAC program. Every six empty containers you bring, you can receive a full sized lipstick of your choice. Empties here include everything (glass, plastic - even mascaras)! Department stores with MAC counters also participate. Pacifica accepts your empty containers in partnership with Preserve to re-manufacture that plastic into toothbrushes and razors!

If you often buy online or can’t get to a shop, check out the brands’ websites. A lot of brands and retailers that recycle products will give you free shipping label to encourage you to send empties back to them. When in doubt, reach out to the companies via email to see if this is something they are doing or plan to do in the future.

[ghozt1ng-blog]

Mysteries of the Q Files

Chapter 1: Unwanted Fieldtrip

Getting a private tour of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's headquarters in Washington D.C. would be a treat for a anyone, unless you happened to be Trick and the person giving you the tour was your own mother. Trick’s forehead stuck to the passenger window as he stared drearily at the trees and buildings zipping by. His mother spoke up in a clipped tone.

“Don’t do that Patrick! You’ll get smudges all over the window. Do you want to give the car a thorough cleaning tonight?”

Trick grunted and pulled back from the window, using the sleeve of his shirt to try and wipe away the foggy grease stain. He did not want to look at his mother right now. She was, after all, the one who was dragging him to work with her. It was her fault that he was in the car! She shouldn’t be allowed to complain!

Well… That wasn’t entirely true. He had just gotten himself suspended for the second time this year. It was seventh since he had been in high school, and he was just a junior. He was going for the record! Trick grinned a little at his reflection in the window. This last stunt had been beautifully complex and they couldn’t even 100% pin it on him this time. The look of the principle with a plunger glued to his face had been priceless!

Trick had fed his friend Joel a nasty concoction of chili, military grade cheese, and some sugar free gummy bears before he went to his teacher’s assistant job at the front office. There he had unloaded the ultimate payload in the office bathroom. After Joel was hauled out by the nurse, the principal had tried in vain to unclog the toilet. Trick had just happened on by and seeing the right state of the situation and the poor state of the plunger had volunteered to grab another. The second one he borrowed from the janitor he coated with Gorilla Glue and then “tripped” as he had handed it to the principal. How was he supposed to know it would seal to his face that quickly? Or that it was just about as nasty as the one Joel’s payload had sullied so spectacularly?

They had never figured out that Joel’s food and explosive diarrhea was part of the plan. The added assault on a student might have earned him an expulsion. But what did he really care anyway? High school was a boring game of popularity and trying to beat everyone out with the best grades. Everyone always said it was so complicated and that no one could ever understand. Nonsense. It was merely a game with simple rules, but hundreds of ways to implement said rules. Once Trick had learned that, it was a matter of observation and the right kind of devil-may-care grin to navigate the whole mess.

The absurdity of the whole situation, school, the plunger, and the suspension caused Trick to chuckle a little. It was not lost on his mother however. She gave him a sharp look and said, “I know that you find all of this very funny Patrick, but seriously! There are consequences for your actions! If you have any sense whatsoever, you will see that when we get to the office.”

Trick didn’t say a thing, but just reclined his seat and looked up dully at the gray roof of the car. His mother hoped against all hope that seeing brilliant men and women like himself incarcerated for their mischief would help him to straighten up. Fat chance of that happening. His games and pranks were all that gave him excitement and meaning in his otherwise mundane life. If high school was the apex to life, it was a boring and pointless one. The game had lost its savor half way through his sophomore year and had not gotten any better.

“Please put your seat back. We’re almost there, and I don’t want you getting flagged for looking suspicious.”

Trick threw his mother an angry look and she responded with a withering one of her own. He sighed and put up his chair.

“Honestly, mom, I don’t know why you are doing this.”

“You know very well,” she snapped. “Your father can’t watch you and maybe coming with me might just get some sense into that thick skull of yours! Think about your future for once and that getting suspended does not help!”

Trick knew she was right on that account, but he didn’t want to agree with her at the moment. She gave his mom a sideways glance of contempt. Agent Susan Brown, Trick’s mother, was a well built, towering woman with her blonde hair trimmed into a neat pixie cut. Very utilitarian for her work. She was a top marksman and savvy field agent. One thing Trick knew he got from his mother was her sense of awareness and quick thinking. He probably also got his athleticism from her. She would have been out in the field right now busting up some cartel guys, serial killers, or domestic terrorists had it not been for some vicious Bureau politics a year back that stuck with her the Q Files.

Now Agent Brown languished in a joke of a department that worked on unexplainable cases and basically dabbled in conspiracy theories. She almost never left headquarters these days, but Trick was certain she was still as skillful an agent as she ever was. He could admire her perseverance. Personally, he would have made the lives of those who tried to screw him over a living hell.

They approached the J. Edgar Hoover building and attempted to find some parking. The giant, off white building did not look like the kind of place that housed some of the nation’s top minds and agents, but that was probably a good thing. Trick had learned that most people thought that the FBI was stationed at Langley, which by contrast seemed to invite attacks and intrigue so that they could keep cranking out more Bourne movies.  

Trick’s mother quickly located a parking spot and he followed his mother into the large building. Once they got past security, Agent Brown led her son through a veritable maze of cubicles and pillars to corridor somewhat to the back of the building. This took them to another maze of cubicles and eventually set of offices stuffed in a corner, almost like an afterthought. On a fading plaque, placed as though someone wanted people to miss it, read the title Office of the Q Files. Little comics and stickers that all made fun of conspiracies and dumb government officials adorned the rest of the doors and the thresholds.

As they entered a door at the very corner, Trick entered a squashed office, overflowing with papers and haphazard filing cabinets. There at two of three desks sat Agents Miles and Conturbatio, the latter usually referred to as the Sphinx. Stacey Miles was an attractive, young agent with her brown hair in elaborate braid and stylish glasses on her face. Howard “Sphinx” Conturbatio was a taller, middle aged man with a proud nose and piercing green eyes. The rest of his face though gave off the impression that he was perpetually bored.

“Susan, good to see you this morning,” Agent Miles beamed.

“Another exhilarating day of rifling through papers and files,” Sphinx said. “I left a pile on your desk to sort through. We have to determine whether or not the new pesticides used in Wisconsin are causing people to act more erratically than usual. Oh, hello there Patrick.”

“Susan, is that your son? He’s a handsome boy,” Miles gushed.

Trick felt himself go a little hot around the collar, despite himself. He had seen the Sphinx before,the man had joined his family for dinner once. The guy was like Fox Mulder come to life, obsessed with the paranormal and determined to prove it. Trick’s father thought him insane. Stacey Miles wasn’t much better; she was an avid conspiracy theorist and a bit of an airhead. Trick’s mother was essentially there to keep these two grounded in reality as best she could. A task she rarely complained about.

The Sphinx reached for some extra files and said, “Patrick, how about you help us out? If we get done quickly, maybe we’ll find some good place to eat out for lunch. What do you say?”

Trick backed away a step and said, “That’s sounds fantastic. Uh… I need to get a drink and go to the bathroom first. Can you point the way?”

His mom shot him a look that said if he was not back in five minutes he was a dead man, as Stacey pointed and said, “By the hallway where you came in is the bathroom and a coffee table is not too far from there, too.”

“Thanks,” Trick said hurriedly as he almost dashed away. Crap! I did not want to come here! And now on top of makeup work they are going to have me sifting through boring paperwork as well? Nice going mom...

He was so caught up in his disgruntled thoughts that he was not paying attention to where he was going and collided head on with two somethings.

[valerybrennan]

How to Never Have a Bad Haircut Again

Before I forget, have you entered to win this hair haul from me and Sally Beauty? It’s super easy! (Seriously it takes about ten seconds to enter…enter here!

Happy belated Valentine’s Day, boos!  I’ve got a special treat for you today – a GIVEAWAY! On my blog I’m sharing my favorite products for color treated hair available at @sallybeauty and I’ve teamed up with them to give away a set to one of you lucky followers! It’s super easy to enter and win everything you see here (except the bag!) ① Like this post ② Follow me – @valerybrennan ③ Follow @sallybeauty ④ Leave an emoji here in the comments that tells me how you feel about your hair right now! Good luck! Giveaway closes next Wednesday Feb 22 and is open to US residents only. Not affiliated with Instagram in any way.

A post shared by Edgy Blogger🦄 Valery Brennan (@valerybrennan) on Feb 15, 2017 at 1:26pm PST

If there’s one thing I excel at…it’s having great hair appointments. Is this a skill? I say it is! How many times have you left the salon disappointed or upset? I can tell you honestly that in the last five years, I haven’t had a single bad hair appointment. No tears shed over these locks! I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve to help you make sure you have an amazing appointment every single time you go get your hair done, whether you’re getting a trim or a full blown platinum blonde pixie.

For my most recent hair appointment, I was going in with some ROUGH roots and scraggly hair. I’m almost embarrassed to post the photo but I’ll do it because I love you guys. Thankfully Toni and Guy was kind enough to treat me to a fresh cut and color! I went to the Galleria Dallas location and it was so lovely, the staff was extremely kind and accommodating, even when I changed my mind about what I wanted to do to my color. I ended up cutting off quite a bit of length to even up my layers and went with a subtle “half and half” color, cobalt on one side and teal on the other.

Before the appointment:

Do your research. This goes without saying, but don’t book someone without seeing their portfolio first. If you want short hair, don’t go to someone who only has long cuts on their Instagram. If you’re looking for someone to do rainbow hair, look for someone who specializes in that. Know what you want and find someone who excels at that!

Feel your very best. My number one secret for having a great hair appointment – look your best. Don’t dress like a slob, show up in something you feel great in! If you like to wear makeup, do that too! The lighting in salons is always awful so you want to look nice so when they spin you around to show you your new “do,” you know you look amazing. This is crucial if you’re getting something drastic done like a big chop or color change.

Eat beforehand. No one wants to be hangry during an appointment. This is especially important if you’re getting more than one thing done – a cut and color is going to take HOURS! Eat before and/or bring snacks!

At the salon:

Trust your stylist. You chose them for a reason, don’t be nervous. They want you to look your best too!

Don’t show up empty handed. Even if you aren’t 100% sure what you want, show up with some sort of inspiration photos or an idea of what you’re interested in. It’s hard to leave the salon happy if you’re completely surprised.

Tell the stylist about your hair past and what you want to achieve. For a long time, I’ve been growing out my hair. I always make sure to tell the stylist what my hair was previously and what I want to have eventually. Even if my hair isn’t quite long enough for what I want, telling the stylist what I want eventually will help make sure I don’t end up taking off extra length or adding layers where there shouldn’t be any.

Have the right expectations. Know that your hair might not look EXACTLY like the picture you bring in. That will depend on hair texture, health and (honestly) photoshop. You can even ask your stylist if they think your hair will work for that style!

Be open to suggestions. I’m not saying you have to do everything the stylist tells you to do, but if they have suggestions, definitely consider them. They’re the professional!

Ask what products they’re using on your hair. Products are EVERYTHING! If you need some help in that department, just communicate! They’ll probably try to sell you the products they sell in the salon, and if you really don’t know what you’re doing it’s probably not a bad idea to buy them. If you’re more experienced, you can probably do some research and/or supplement with products you already have.

If things go wrong….SAY SOMETHING. Now, don’t be rude about it, but if you want a little extra length taken off, tell your stylist! They aren’t mind readers and like I said earlier, they want you to look and feel your best!

Don’t freak out if they don’t style it like you prefer. No offense to anyone who has ever cut my hair, but I usually don’t like how it’s styled when I walk about of the salon. This is no fault of anyone but my own…I’m really picky about how my hair looks. I know that when I walk out of the salon, I might not *love* how my hair looks but it’s probably because of how it’s styled. When I get home, I usually make a few changes and it looks perfect! (Well, perfect to me.)

I know it sounds weird, but I truly believe that you can have an amazing hair appointment EVERY time if you follow the above steps.

Do you usually prep for your hair appointments or wing it?

Do you get hair appointment anxiety like I used to?

xoxo Valery

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