#lily and dara sure are something.

[oc-cinematic-universe]

taps microphone. clears throat. has anyone else noticed the weird tension between dara and lily and how they have a complex dynamic that could so easily fall into some damn romantic tropes- *i dont get booed off the stage but i leave of my own accord as if i had anyways*

[youranxiousnerd]

Showtime Thoughts

bc i am in love with julia lester

spoilers below

First off, why is this episode so short?

ngl i forgot mazzara was a regular

ricky ded besties

awww nina and the letters 

she looks very good in her dress

ashlyn and ricky look so good

“We’re screwed!”

ash and ricky are too funny like where were they this season?

chaotic and pretty best friends

sidenote, why did they go see north high’s production? 

oh my god ricky and nina are talking

SEBLOS IN THE BACKGROUND

i am taking what i can get

RICKYS FACE WITH THE CARD!!!!!!!!

my favorite part of the episode

his makeup looks very good

he looks very good

as @organic-guacamole said, he is very pretty

its been like three minutes and it already is so chaotic

yessss kourtney’s mom!!!

so howie and kourt are fine? gah since when?

“look for the shortest fork” mood

I CANNOT TAKE EJ SERIOUSLY HE LOOKS LIKE AN ANGRY BIRD

big bird ej comin at you

oh

PORTWELL DATE

wait isnt this ejs last show? is he going to miss his last afterparty for a date?

true love bitches

GINA MY LOVE

“Is he with us?”

NORTH HIGH SET OUR BEST BOI ANTOINE ON FIRE APS GET READY

seb being a supportive boyfriend is everything i needed

jenny is frazzled

i love how all the techie turned actors are nervous at some point during the episode

REDLYN CONTENT

awww thats so cute love the callback!!!

ooo howie is here

love how the writers leave a cliffhanger and then close the book before it turns to tragedy with one line

mazzara and ej, thats it

jenn what

why is mike there?

that was so unnecessary like aren’t mike and jenn over?

LILY

“did we forget to build a moat around the school” 

let ricky be single challenge

she just said “lol” i cant

props to ricky for keeping calm during the show after he saw mike and jenn

ah so lily is a child of divorce?

“lily scram”

RICKY AFTER THE CURTAIN OPENS WHY IS THIS FUNNY

STOP MAZZARA IS THE VOICE OVER

HE SOUNDS REALLY GOOD

how did ricky do that so fast-

put on gloves over the cast, makeup, and a mask?

i dont work with costumes 

AMERICA EXPLAIN

The one scene we get from the show...

Yay Steph!!!!

“Big Red has not thrown up in twenty minutes” ashlyn’s little smile

“she heard wrong”

someone please explain how spotlighting the judge is a good idea it makes it seem like things went wrong

“Carlos is a seasoned professional” honey carlos is on the verge of a mental breakdown

“He says help

Communication

Seb translating for Carlos is beautiful dramatic, yes, but im right. 

im so proud of them. they go from not talking for a week to seb being able to tell how carlos is feeling based off a stoic expression.

SOULMATE SHIT

IM SORRY NO BOP TO THE TOP CALLBACK

LIKE NONE

WHO WANTS TO RIOT WITH ME?!?!

wait so carlos goes from on the verge of a mental breakdown to full on performing and speaking?!?!?!? Speaking well too, not stumbling.

he looks so comfortable on stage when not even ten minutes ago he looked like he was going to vomit?

h e l p

ashlyn’s little laugh!

NINI IS A FORK IM LAUGHING THIS IS GREAT

big red lookin’ at his girl

ricky what are you doing?

ASHLYN AND GINA

I QUIT THEY’RE ADORABLE

GET IT KOURTNEY

howie’s little mouth drop

i cant with sebs costume i should not be laughing how is he able to do a kick line

ASHLYN MY LOVE

be our guest was enjoyable. it had a lot of moving parts. frankie and dara sounded really good. it’ll probably grow on me the more i listen to it.

is it just me or did be our guest lack some energy?

NATIALIE IS SO AGGRESSIVE

awww gina bb

portwell!!

“my mom sent me jordan fisher”

big red and ricky!!!

...what is big red doing? has he been faking sick?

“PLEASE EVERYONE REMAIN IN THE SAME ROLE YOU STARTED IN” 

BEST LINE OF THE SEASON OMFG 

alright what the hell is up with howie?!?

kourtney is so excited and then downer howie comes to ruin it

nina just write “thanks for being the best bro and glad youre not dead”

btw kourtney and gina look really good in their costumes

ASHLYN!!!!

SHES SO PRETTY THANK YOU

redlyn!!

gina and jamie!!! 

he looks so proud

glad gina gets to see her family!

cute scene, jordan is a nice addition!

RICKY AND THE BOWL

julia lester is killing it with the vocals

big red is so in love

seb bouncing in the costume 

“she’s never looked at me that way before” evil smirk

PORTWELL GLANCES

my heart fricking stopped when carlos went on stage 

being early on your cue/missing is awful would highly not recommend

a bop to the top callback after this would have been perfect

those harmonies!!

THEYRE SO IN LOVE

ummm phone call?

CHIPS BIG SCENE

...why wasn’t seb cogsworth? 

alright that was really good. everyone (even the backup) sounded really good. portwell rights! ashlyn rights! kowie rights! acting rights! 

so mazzara and jamie?

Ashlyn is the perfect Belle fight me

“Eat it Zackey Roy!” how about “yay kiddos, nice job!”

ej’s little dance

“bc you’re ginas brother” 

he is enamored by her it is adorable

EJ CASWELL RIGHTS

“hey, jordan fisher, would you like to f up one of three stableish ships in hsmtmts?” “sure, im in!”

ej!!!

aww hopefully he doesnt take the conversation too heart. they both like each other so much.

Portwell is so enjoyable to watch.

return of the bro

ej go get your girl dont worry about her brother please

SOMEONE TOUCHED THE PROPS

all hands on deck

“Can you just jump off something high”

I seem to remember Ricky falling from something high last episode, is that correct? 

She tells this to one of her most UNSTABLE kids

Oh shit

Miss. Jenn

Wtf

like what the actually hell

look at the kids faces they’re heartbroken

Miss. Jenn why. You’re stressed about the show, but you’re not performing it. They are. They have to worry about lines and cues and pitches, not you. Miss. Jenn has literally gone at the kids this season. Opening night speech too Ash and Ricky, shutting Seb down, that comment. She has become obsessed with the Menkies and North High. It has gotten really bad. These kids have put everything into this show, even their relationships (both platonic and romantic) and that is how you repay them? 

I didn’t think they would address this, I lost hope after last week but I am so glad they’re going too.

Someone send Seb after Miss. Jenn please, let him rip into her, he would do very well.

Miss. Jenn is supposed to be the role model and she just told a kid to jump off something high.

nina has been a godsend this episode, props to her!

haven’t been the biggest nini fan this season (off and on for me), but she was very behaved this episode. 

if there is anything the east high kids are good at, it’s bullshitting their way out.

“aim for my face” character growth

I KNEW IT

LILY WHY HOW WHEN WHY 

WTF THEY END THERE I CANNOT WITH CLIFF HANGERS

I liked the episode. Didn’t love it, but liked it. I really wish we got to see more acting, like we didn’t even see Big Red and E.J go on stage. Not even the iconic yellow dress. Some of the drama is so unnecessary, like why Mike and Jenn? What is with the Kourtney and Howie drama the writers insist on having, can’t they just be happy?

Besides the whole harness incident (burn that harness and mask it is causing so many problems) the production went very well, too well. This is East High we’re talking about.

Promo thoughts because what

oo they’re sneaking, maybe Big Red’s thingy

YES ASHLYN GETTING THE LOVE SHE DESERVES

oo Kowie confession?

portwell please be okay

what is up with carlos’ hair?

so seb, miss. jenn, and carlos scene? this has the potential to be very beautiful.

“It’s not over” not this again... 

i’m thinking carlos and seb are going to talk to miss jenn.

Sidenote, if we do not get a good seblos scene I will riot.

Hopefully Miss. Jenn apologizes with a billion sorrys

rini you just broke up please dont get back together 

im scared

if it is a scene where they close the book i will be very happy

Are we getting a flash forward scene? I’m pretty sure Miss. Jenn said Menkies aren’t till two plus weeks after the show.

We know based off the promo pics Ej and Gina are at the cast party, what went wrong?

Wait do we not get to see the finale of the show?

We better see the goddamn transformation

how does lily home and core four song fit in? im more curious about the lily one.

In conclusion, I am not ready for this to be over and the transformation needs to be sent to hell.

[lxlipetals]

every breath you take.

TAGGING: Lili.

LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA.

TIMEFRAME: May 14th, 2018.

NOTES: There’s many downsides to fame, and this might be the biggest.

“Good morning!” Lili chirped to the receptionist for her manager. “Is Dara in? She sent me a text saying I had some mail to pick up.” The receptionist, a harried looking woman about Lili’s age, was busy trying to press the hold button on her phone and scribble something down in her notebook. It was a sign of extreme frazzle that she barely glanced up at Lili, just waved the blonde in and Lili shrugged her shoulders as she was on her way. She had been here since she was a teenager and she knew her way around the office so no tour guide would be needed but it was a little strange not having someone to chat with as she walked. It was a busy Monday morning and people were flitting in and out of their offices, standing by the coffee machine with dead looks in their eyes, and a few waved to Lili who waved back. There seemed to be a buzz in the air and officially on hiatus, Lili was just grateful she could grab her letters and go back home to get into her pajamas.

“Dara?” Lili knocked on her door, patiently waiting for a response, but there was no answer. She twisted the knob and opened it, seeing that the black leather chair her manager usually was in was empty. Biting her lip, Lili looked around. She didn’t know if it was okay to just go in or if she’d have to go back down and wait or..Her green eyes zeroed in on a box sitting on the floor with her name written in a flourish and a post it reading ‘HAVE NOT GONE THROUGH’. It was up to Dara to go through each piece of fan mail and pick out the really creepy ones - Lili had never been able to read them but apparently she had once gotten a very interesting proposal from a man in prison.

Unable to help her curiosity and knowing it might be minutes before Dara got back, Lili pulled the box up onto the desk and uncovered it. There was a whole stack just waiting to be read and not for the first time in her life, Lili felt slightly overwhelmed by the physical evidence of just how many people in this world knew who she was. To her, she’d forever be the girl from Ohio who just wanted to act. She just wanted to make people feel something. The paparazzi, the press tours, the Instagram comments flooding her pictures every time she posted..it wasn’t what she expected and sometimes, it made her feel so dizzy with panic and sick with anxiety that she had to sit completely still and remind herself that she was still Lili. She was still just that girl from Ohio who had a dream and had no qualms about how much she wanted them. Taco Bell obsessed, dog loving, meme postin’ Lili.

Lili carried on through the letters, smiling as she caught sight of sentences that made her whole body feel as if it were aglow. There could be terrible trolls in the world who liked to make her feel small, make her feel insignificant - and then there were these angels who pushed her to be the best she could be, who praised her honesty and ingenuity, the ones who loved her for just being exactly who she was. Her manicured fingers pawed through them, looking forward to reading each and every single one when one sliced through the skin on her finger.

“Fuck!” She mumbled, taking her finger and pressing the flesh to her lips. She wasn’t bleeding but it had stung. Pulling out the letter, Lili’s eyes scanned through it and she felt that familiar sense of dread creep up over her. This was probably why her letters were screened.

Dear Lili,

I am writing you this letter because time is running out. I feel it enclosing in on me. The seconds, the minutes, the hours, they’re all trickling down like sand in a hourglass. Can you feel it too? The exact time we’re fated to meet? The moment that will make or break us?

This is the first letter I am sending you but I have been watching you forever. I wish I could come up and introduce myself but I have always been too nervous. You look so beautiful when you are out and about and I wish I could send you the many love letters and poems I’ve created for you.

 We will meet one day. I’ll make sure of it. One day, I will get the bravery to approach you because Lili, I love you so much. I’ll always love you.

I wish I could get rid of the obstacles. The people standing in our way. They don’t deserve you, I don’t deserve you, but I believe I am the closest one. I will find a way to win your heart and show you that all you need is me.

One day I will impress you! One day you will notice me and everything I sacrifice for you will be worth it. I’m writing this letter for you, Lili. For our love story to begin. 

Just give me a chance. One day I will approach you and I hope you will be ready. Just like the lilies that bloom with tender loving care.

I love you forever,

J

Lili threw the letter onto the desk as if it had burned her. She tried to calm down, knowing that many celebrities in their highest point of fame had gotten letters like these from crazies. Most of them were harmless and never did anything, just became over exuberant in writing out their admiration. But there were points in the letter that made Lili feel sick - the mention of getting rid of obstacles. The insistence that they would meet. The I love yous thrown carelessly about. The -

The lilies.

Lili had received lilies in her hotel lobby the night after the Met Gala. She had assumed they were from Cole, and he had shrugged, joked that maybe he ordered them while drunk. If they weren’t from Cole, it was easy to assume the hotel had left them for her or her agent or H&M or anyone who had a business contact with her. There was no note and Lili had stuffed them in a vase to rest on her dining room table. They were beautiful lilies.

Lilies that bloomed.

He had known the hotel she was staying at.

Standing up, Lili realized she was shaking and she stuffed the letter into her purse. The door opened and it wasn’t until Dara’s head popped in that Lili realized she had been tensed, waiting to fight some faceless opponent. “Lili, I’m sorry - Lili, are you alright? You look very pale,” Her manager noted with concern. Lili nodded in a jerky fashion and shouldered her bag, heading towards the door. She had to get home. She had to throw away the lilies and burn the letter and pretend this whole incident hadn’t occurred and then suck it the hell up.

“I’m fine,” she smiled weakly at Dara and brushed past her. She knew there was still mail to collect but suddenly, Lili was terrified of what else laid there for her. She didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to see. So ignoring her manager’s calls, Lili moved out of the room and didn’t stop walking until she was home and watching in slight satisfaction as one of her favorite flowers lay in shredded petals in her garbage can.

every breath you take every move you make every bond you break every step you take i’ll be watching you..

[likorys-shimenawa]

You should not really be laughing here, because this is not an actual issue that exists. As a Pole - this is beyond reaching. And I would really like it if you could not support manufacturing an issue here.

If you don’t like pet-names, it’s fine. Your personal choice. Trying to make it about some weird ‘disrespectful west’ or ‘no following slavic rules’? Really not cool and pretty weird, because that is not what is happening here.

First of all, about traditional Polish, nobody would really call their child Jaskier. We don’t do ‘meaningful’ names here like some other countries do. I know of maybe a couple meaning-names period and they are mostly religion-related. No Sakura or Lily here.

So the issue with ‘Jaskier’s name wouldn’t be shortened like that’ is actually ‘Jaskier wouldn’t normally be a name (so it won’t follow rules)’. It could be a nickname, or something fake like a stage-name or pseudonym, but it is not a proper name, so it doesn’t really follow ‘proper rules’ - which I will show below are not even real if you look at actual names?

Second, we do pet names and we do the weirdest ones. We do ones that make absolutely no sense and Jask (beside being a tad harder to pronounce due to ending on a sharp double consonant, is not really even close to weird - a lot of names end on vowel-consonant, actually, and plenty of male names end on -k in particular). It might not be to your personal liking, sure, but it doesn’t make it weird or ‘wrong’ to use.

Aleksander is Olek, but I’ve seen boys use Olo. Oluś can be both feminine and masculine pet name. Bartłomiej becomes Bartek, but I’ve seen it turn into Bartol and even Bart, because it ‘sounds cooler’ due to how it sounds, I guess. WE have Nikofor and Maksymilian, which I both seen shrtened to ‘westersn’ sounding Nik and Maks. Bibianna becomes Bianka. I’ve seen Bożydara become Dara/Darka/Daria (the last one being completely separate, different name). My mother calls her male friend Miruś, cause he’s Mirosław.

If we’re gonna go ‘proper rules’, Jaskier might be Julek (which is existing pet name for his actual name), Jaskierek, or something along Jaskuś-line. Jaskuń/Jaskuniek too, if someone is really close to him, but some people like lengthening names and some don’t. So some people will go with Jaskierek and some with Jask.

Some people call me Madzieńka and not Magda and some call my mother Aleksandra and not Ola. It depends on the person and their personal likes.

It’s kinda free-for-all so I’m really weirded out with the way you support trying to make it an issue about ‘respecting Slavic language’. If you live in Poland, maybe it’s regional that you don’t do pet names. If you live in another Slavic country, it might be different tradition. Either way, it’s definitely not a rule and I would again appreciate it if you could not support this manufactured narrative about fandom shortening Jaskier to Jask being a ‘cultural issue’.

It’s fine if you dislike the Netflix adaptation, but stop trying to give it some Deep Meaning. You can just no like something without manufacturing some weird issue that doesn’t exists.

Thirdly, I take issue with you trying to police how fandom works, to be honest? I’m sure you didn’t mean to come off as acting as a censor of the fandom or that you genuinely love the source material.

But it comes off as really disrespectful gate-keeping and will only result in you scaring people away from the books you love so much - because present yourself as a fan who turns a fandom pet name into An Issue About Slavic Tradition and try to control what people call their characters. In fanfiction, because let’s not kid ourselves this is somehow about what the show did.

Because Jaskier calls himself ‘Jask’ once, to himself, as he’s going onto that wooden path where Borch Happens. I’ve not came upon other instances. So it’s not reinventing anything, it’s a silly character giving himself a pep-talk under his breath before he does something that terrifies him. Nobody probably hears it and nobody acknowledges it.

So this whole issue comes off as an honestly weird reach to somehow put down the Netflix-fandom as one that is somehow lesser or less true fans because they don’t know ‘proper names’ or ‘proper tradition’.

If you don’t like what some fans do, don’t read it. Pour love into the part of fandom you love. But please, do not try and manufacture an issue where there is none.

oooh i feel you on the nickname thing. it's such an american thing to take a non-english name and just slap their own rules of how nicknames should work on it, regardless of the source and the rules in the original language. it's also super common in the anime fandoms, and i find it pretty disrespectful. but what else is new with americans and their approach to non-english speaking source material...