#looking at my teen kyle next to his show design is so funny

[retemeris]

what fucking show did i watch damn!!!

[justgotham]

Fox’s GOTHAM is now in the midst of its fifth and final season on Thursday nights. The series, developed by Bruno Heller from DC Comics, chronicles the rise of Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) from troubled, orphaned pre-teen to the adult Batman. It also shows the development of some of his allies, like detective-turned-police-captain (and one day police commissioner) Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie), frenemies like Selena Kyle/Catwoman (Camren Bicondova), and foes like Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) and the Riddler (Cory Michael Smith).

Executive producers Danny Cannon and John Stephens have both been with GOTHAM for its entire run. Cannon directed the series pilot and has been supervising the directors ever since; Stephens has been part of the writing staff since the inception and has been show runner, with Cannon, since the beginning of Season 3. The duo have created METROPOLIS for DC’s online streaming network. Cannon will also be working with GOTHAM creator Heller on the new Epix series PENNYWORTH, which examines the adventures of the young Alfred Pennyworth.

Cannon sits down in a quiet area of Pasadena’s Langham Hotel for a discussion of what makes GOTHAM all that it is; Stephens joins the conversation partway through.

ASSIGNMENT X: Did you know at the beginning that you would be with GOTHAM for its entire run, because it’s a little unusual for a directing producer to stay with a series for so long …

DANNY CANNON: It is, yeah. There are so many things that are unusual about producing and directing, but I think I’m the only director writing on shows, which I find very strange sometimes. But I think you stick with something when you know how hard it is to maintain the integrity. That is the only way to protect the integrity, visually and tonally, and casting-wise, on a show, is to stick with it. And sometimes that’s a little hard, but on this occasion, it was just such a fun job that I didn’t want to leave, because if you’re gone for a certain amount of time, you do notice things that wouldn’t have happened if you’d been there. It was such a hard world to maintain, and the standard of the acting was so high, that I just wanted to maintain that by being around. There is only me and John. There was Bruno at the beginning, but there was only me and John, and with him stuck writing, a lot of post-production and production and first-hand contact on set was really down to me.

AX: With the other directors who came in to do episodes, were you instructing them, “This is GOTHAM, that is not GOTHAM”?

CANNON: Constantly. And that’s why you’ll see so many of our directors repeat, because once it is lodged in their mind what world they were in, then we had to keep ahold of them, because you don’t want to reeducate somebody. And they became real fans of the show. What was amazing was how many directors wanted to return, because compared to the other things they were directing, this just visually had a lot more going on. The palette was bigger and the scope was bigger.

AX: What did you find that the biggest thing that the other directors needed to know – don’t be afraid to let the actors get big, or, please shoot the sets in a certain way, or, please use these kinds of shots?

CANNON: Right from the beginning of me doing television, even at C.S.I., when [other] directors came in, they would be very complimentary of the pilot and everything, but I would always say, “Well, great, now we’ve seen that. Now kick my ass. That’s your job. I want to watch your episode and come back next week and say, ‘I just got schooled, I have to up my game’.” And I think that friendly competition [was helpful]. We did it with d.p.s [directors of photography], too, we did it with production designers, editors. Everybody was trying to get the best episode, everybody was trying to do that thing that nobody had done before. Sometimes, though, we had to stop people going over the top. Sometimes that was not right for that story. When we brought directors on, we’d always talk about the theme of that [episode], and who to concentrate on, and who not to. But I always find you get the best out of people when you set them free, and you encourage them, and you love them, and you want them to love what you have as much as you do. I don’t think it makes a show better to restrict people and tell them, “We don’t do that, we don’t like that.” It just makes everybody feel a little – it’s the opposite of creativity, isn’t it?

AX: How would you describe GOTHAM’s visual style?

CANNON: I think when we were doing the pilot, nobody really understood what we were doing. I did a visual effect off my own back [on my own] and I did many drawings I did myself, and my designer did some to try and sell the world, but still, that wasn’t getting it across. I was like, “On the pilot, it was Dickensian, circa 1979 New York City, un-gentrified, if the cops were all corrupt, and the gangs had taken over.” There was that, but that felt political. The look of it that I kept going to was that Dickensian thing, that I knew that if I drew, and my production designer helped me with the GCPD [Gotham City Police Department headquarters], if we got that right, that was the [core]. So we took it upon ourselves those first few weeks, before anybody came along, while Bruno is still pitching. He brought me on very early, because he just didn’t want to do a project like this alone. The kind of stuff I do, the kind of stuff he does, are completely different. So he wanted the world being imagined while he wrote, so he could be inspired by what I was doing. It was a nice way to work. And when we got that GCPD right, it straightaway – and it’s funny, I drew one, and Doug Kraner [the initial GOTHAM production designer] drew one, and they were almost identical. But his staircases were better.

[John Stephens laughs.]

CANNON: It was based on St. Pancras Station, a Victorian building, in London. And all of a sudden, that, with the different look of the wardrobe, which was the other thing I was drawing at the same time, was what got us over the edge.

AX: When did you take over entirely from Bruno Heller?

JOHN STEPHENS: Well, I would never say I took over entirely from Bruno Heller. They say the term “show runner,” but really, Danny and I were doing it together these past three years after Bruno kind of took a step back. It’s really at the end of Season 2 that Bruno took a step back, and then Danny and I – it was a great partnership, I felt like, because we complimented each other’s strengths. We were talking about the look of the show, and to me, one of the things I found so appealing about the show is, I think a lot of people can do grim. I think what Danny and Doug, and Richard [Berg] afterwards, were able to do, I mean, everybody, [current GOTHAM production designer] Dan Novotny as well, is to make it look scary and dirty and grim, but also romantic in a way. I still want to be in that world, as downtrodden as it seems. And that’s a very secret little bull’s-eye that’s very hard to hit.

CANNON: As English people, myself and Bruno both wanted to visit New York and see SERPICO New York, THE WARRIORS New York. I wanted to see MEAN STREETS, I wanted to see TAXI DRIVER. It was all gone by the time I got there, but it was the poem of New York, it was the idea of New York. So that’s what GOTHAMbecame, and “romantic” is a good word. We were making this romantic poem to a city where Batman will be necessary one day.

AX: It’s sort of like GOTHAM is a dream of New York that’s on the verge of being a nightmare?

CANNON: Right, right.

STEPHENS: It’s like those opening scenes of TAXI DRIVER, when that Bernard Herrmann score is playing, and those bright, garish lights are moving, and it feels like Hell, but it also feels very suffused with sex and violence, and it’s really exciting.

CANNON: It [TAXI DRIVER] is one of my favorite films of all time, and Bernard Herrmann was such a strange choice for them to make, but Scorsese knew what he was doing, because he aged the film down by putting Bernard Herrmann’s score in. They say he was old-fashioned. That’s exactly why he did it. We wanted old-fashioned music. When we had to put pop music into the show, we went back to the ‘80s, and to the ‘70s, to the Stooges, to Alice Cooper, and to the Sex Pistols, because music now is too polished and refined and wouldn’t work.

AX: You mentioned the word “grim,” but if I may say, GOTHAM doesn’t feel grim. How do you keep it feeling maybe dark but somehow ecstatic …?

STEPHENS: “Gritty” I think is probably a better word than “grim” in many ways. We speak about these things, particularly in terms of metaphor. It’s like when people talk. I just recently saw this documentary about World War I [THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD] that Peter Jackson made. It was incredible. And at the beginning, they have all these voices of soldiers who were there. And they say, “Four years, it was horrific, I never would have traded it for anything. I felt more alive during those four years than I did in the next fifty years of my life.” And I feel like life in GOTHAM may be cheap in many ways, but it feels very alive to the people who are there. And that was always our point. You want to feel the beating heart of the people who are there, and that they’re living life right on the edge. I always think of that line – I’m [approximating], I apologize – there’s a beat in HEAT, where Al Pacino is talking to his wife, and he says, “I need to be on the edge, it’s where I’ve got to be.” And you always want the characters to be right there on that edge.

CANNON: We watch plays, John more than me, but when you’re doing a Broadway play, and you need to introduce a character, they will always do something with the scenery, they’ll always do something with the lighting. I think what doesn’t happen enough with movies and television right now is, they don’t give characters a good platform. How do we stop it being grim? I think everybody in the show gets a visual introduction. I remember talking about seeing Episode 2, when I had the confidence of the pilot behind me, about the body language, with every cast member. “We should know you’re coming in silhouette.” And I said the same thing to the directors. “Give everybody an intro. Give them that moment where that guy walks in, in CABARET. Give them that moment where you realize the king is entering.” You start to think about things on a grand scale, and all the writers ended up coming around and asking for those little visual tidbits, because they had the story down, and they knew where it needed to go, but everybody just needed a push to show people the cinema of this moment.

STEPHENS: You did that in the first Alfred [played by Sean Pertwee] appearance, when he’s walking down the alley, and there’s crime tape there, and Sean doesn’t slow down. Because he just knows they’re going to raise it up for him because of the authority that he carries. He tilts his head, just a tiny bit. I was, “Oh, he’s in command.”

AX: Now, what are some of the things that have surprised you about the way the characters have turned out? I think one of them would probably be Barbara Keane, played by Erin Richards. She started out as Jim Gordon’s fiancée and then went to some astonishing places …

STEPHENS: Yeah. Erin as an actress continually surprises us. We took her so dark. [Barbara] killed her parents, she became a gang lord, she was completely psychotic, and it became the question, “Can we bring this person back?” One of the themes of the show is transformation. A person changes into another thing. “Can you take someone that dark and still bring them back again? Is there any hope in them?” She does. She finds that way back, and that was so surprising to us.

AX: And Morena Baccarin’s character, Dr. Lee Thompkins, as well?

CANNON: Oh, my God. Amazing. And when Morena showed up, it’s funny how, from that first show she did, you know you want to do some things with a great actress. That’s it. That’s simply it. She can do the same thing over, or she can keep testing you. GAME OF THRONES is the only other show I can think of that has characters do terrible, awful things and you love them the next time they’re punished. The back and forth – we love to hate everybody in the show.

AX: And what would you most like people to know about the rest of GOTHAM? We know there will be a ten-years-forward time jump episode in the finale …

STEPHENS: I think they need to watch every episode, because I think in every single episode, an enormous bomb drops, both for the characters as they live right there, and also things that are going to play out not just ten years, but twenty years in the future, because we all know where those characters are going to end up, and we plant things that real fans of the material are going to go, “Oh, that’s what they were doing. I thought they weren’t going to do that, but they are going to do that.”

CANNON: Everything we’ve done for five years pays off in the last episode.

[wingsporkhalo]

“Fate’s Flawed Design”: an old original story by MysticDelphox97-- Chapter 2

I know, I know, I should be putting up chapters 6 and 7 of Evva: Agent of Shield, but I didn’t want to put those up until I had more of it recorded. It is totally coming soon though.

Also, just as a note to everyone, starting May 8th, I’ll be taking some summer classes (three of them, although only one of them starts May 8th; the others start in June), so I may not post as much! Or who knows; maybe I’ll post MORE because I need the stress relief that only laughing at bad stories can provide. Either way, I hope you’ll be patient with me! C:

All right, let’s delve into Chapter 2 of “Fate’s Flawed Design,” otherwise known to @mysticdelphox97 and me as “The Cringe.” In this chapter, Remy writes a story even stupider than this one and spends entire paragraphs talking about how beautiful her dog’s eyes are, and also discusses Leaf’s “hoe-craving father.”

If you missed Chapter 1, it’s over here.

Fate’s Flawed Design

With me, disaster finds a play field. Love seems to draw dark twisted pleasure tearing at me, Cause I can't let you go. Mercy, like water in the desert, shines through my memory, like jewelry in the sun. Where are you now?

~Lyrics from Dreaming Wide Awake, by Poets of the Fall

Wing: those angsty lyrics doe

Mystic: they're in every. single. fucking. chapter

Chapter 2: Back Story

“Seriously? Leaf got jumpy like that on you?”

I nodded, looking at the laptop screen that portrayed Kyle and his room.

Wing: Portrayed It was just like, a fanart of it, I guess

We were currently chatting on VideLog 2.0, which is sort of like the Skype that people used when it came out in 2003, nearly 22 years ago.

Wing: Wait, this story is supposed to take place 25 (or so) years in the future?

Mystic: from the looks of it, apparently?

Wing: Come to think of it, I think you did give a year in the last chapter. But I didn't see any descriptions of new/invented technology, so I totally forgot.

I sat on my bed, resting against my pillows and the headboard. The Instant Messaging icon kept blinking, meaning someone was trying to contact me, but I ignored it. Right now I was in the middle of an important conversation with Kyle.

“The incident with the Populars shook her up. You know how they treat her,” I said.

Wing: Yeah, how dare they want to ask a question

“Yeah, no kidding. I saw what they did last year, when I had her in my class. God, it was terrible, I’m surprised they never got in trouble.”

“That’s because they had built a sympathy relationship with the teachers. I think the only teacher that cracked them was Mr. Lockwood, before he was replaced by Mrs. Brightly after he got a job in California.”

Wing: A “sympathy relationship”? Is that a relationship formed only because of sympathy? Like, you just saw a girl get viciously and publicly dumped so you walk over and say “So uh...he was a jerk, right? Do you want a cupcake, my treat?” (I would totally do that.)

Kyle grunted in agreement. “It’s too bad she won’t be in the same high school as us though. She’s going to some specialty school, right?”

“Yup. She’s going to The Learning Clinic,

Wing: “Clinic”? That doesn’t sound like a school...

which is near the town of Pomfret. So, she’s going to be moving…” My voice cracked slightly. The thought of Leaf moving away was… unbearable.

“Well, at least she’ll be going to a good place. And Pomfret isn’t that far away, because some of the students there go to the same high school as we will be,” Kyle stated, trying to reassure me. It wasn’t exactly working.

“Come on, Remy. I know you’re upset about this, but it isn’t like Leaf’s moving across the continent! Christ, I don’t think her family can afford that.

Wing: You don’t have to tell Christ. He already knows.

And from what Leaf told me, her mother is going to get her a cell-phone for graduation, so when you get yours, you can still be in contact with each other.”

“Wait… Leaf’s getting a cell phone?” I asked. Leaf never mentioned anything like that to me…

“She didn’t tell you? Well, that’s weird. I thought you knew, since you’d be one of the first to know,” Kyle said. Then his eyebrows furrowed. “She really didn’t say anything?”

I shook my head.

“Not even a hint?”

Again.

“That is totally freaky.”

I sighed. “Well, it’s not like I would have cared anyways.”

“Why not?”

“Because, isn’t it more convenient to use a regular docked phone?”

Wing: LOL, and this is supposed to be in the future. Adorable.

Mystic: pffffffttt

“Leafsters

Wing: Stop that.

would’ve wanted you to care, Remy, because unlike us, she doesn’t have a laptop to use, and you know how her mom feels about her using the docked phone constantly. Who knows, maybe you’ll get one by graduation too. That way you’ll never lose each other.” There was a brief noise from Kyle’s end. He turned around, answered it, and then focused back on me. “Sorry, Rems—I have to leave now. My grandma wants me to help her cook dinner.”

“Its fine, Kyle. You know where to find me.”

Wing: Next to a docked phone?

He smiled and then disconnected. I stared at the empty screen, with a blinking banner across it that read: “Your conversation ended. To reconnect, click on the refresh button at the bottom of the window.” I didn’t need to though, because Kyle was done talking to me.

Wing: Oh, thank goodness you reminded me. I was beginning to forget that, since it said Kyle had to go a whole two paragraphs ago.

He had a point though. If Leaf was getting a cell phone for graduation, then if I got one, we’d always be in touch. And yes, I did care that she was getting one. I was supposed to two months ago, on my birthday in March, but we were very tight on money then. My dad said he would make it up to me, but I don’t want to get it by High School, because what if I can’t get a hold of Leaf then?

Wing: ...Uh...what? Wing: You...don't want to get it by Strangely Capitalized High School? But wouldn't it be good if you got it by then??

I know I sound all defensive and possessive of her… but after seeing what she had to go through, and having to stick up for her for nearly eight years… who wouldn’t be?

Wing: Look, buddy, just because you “had to stick up for her for nearly eight years” doesn’t mean you get to decide how she conducts her social life. She’s not a freaking sculpture that you’ve spent eight years molding. Also, you don’t sound like a very nice friend. Your wording makes it sound like you resent having defended her and stuck by her. What a jerk

I got up and placed my laptop on my desk, closing the lid. My cat clock started mewling, signaling five o’ clock. I had done my Science and Social Studies already. My English assignment I haven’t even looked at.

I dug around in my backpack to find my English folder. We weren’t using the books at the moment because we covered all the material for the year. I checked my planner for what was due: my story plot for the Creative Writing project. I grabbed my purple notebook, which held a lot of crucial details for my story. I had the characters narrowed down except for their names, but it was the plot I needed help with.

I looked at my first main character, a round teenage girl

Wing: "a round teenage girl" omfg ROUND REALLY  BWAHA

Mystic: SHES SPHERICAL

Wing: JUST ROLL HER DOWN A FREAKIN HILL

who has low self-esteem and is often picked on by her peers. She has a crush on a “hot” guy, who is dating some snob.

Wing: I like how "hot" is in quotation marks, like Remy can't really see how guys could be "hot" :3c

The guy is my second main. He’s a jock who is a major flirt and doesn’t care which girl he dates, as long as he is never bored. My third main is a geeky boy who has a crush on the main girl, but has an odd way of showing it. I personally like the geek because not only is he funny to admire, he has guts for trying to prove his worth. I have secondary characters as well, but it mainly focuses on those three, because of the love triangle.

Wing: Pick a teen-oriented rom-com movie. Any of them. Bam. you wrote a summary for it.

How exactly I was going to incorporate my horror theme to this angsty thing, I have no clue.

I ran it over my head. Self-conscious girl who isn’t skinny but certainly not obese,

Wing: Well of course not. Obese people can’t be sympathetic characters./sarcasm

dealing with peer pressure and feelings for the hottest guy in school. Said hot guy who isn’t into serious relationships and is a bit of a jerk. A geeky boy who loves the girl, but no matter how hard he tries to show her, she doesn’t seem to notice.

Geeky boy actually has some potential…possibly for a murder? But it wasn’t just Geekster that has it—Insecure Girl does too. And Too-Hot-To-Be-Cool Guy.

Wing: Wha?

It hit me like a bull.

Wing: At least it wasn't like a car t-boning you [boos and OHHHHHHs heard from audience. I shrug and give a smirk.] I know, I know, I'm awful. Poor Charlie. Also, all of this is hitting me like a lot of bull too. [more booing] Tough crowd.

Mystic: PFFFFFFF

I began to scribble down plot ideas that could include an angsty-romance, as well as horror. Gore counted, right?

Wing: No.

Well, that’s what I put down.

The plot was that there was no definite plot.

Wing: Seinfeld: The Novel

That each arc has its own story. Arc 1 will have the girl, who turns emo

Wing: OMFG

and takes her classroom hostage, fed up with the insults and the fear of her school, and plans to eliminate the sources. Arc 2 is Geeky, who gets tired of trying to please Insecurity, so he kills her, then kills Hotsauce because he’s the reason why she never fell in love with him, then he goes insane from it and commits suicide. Arc 3 is about Hotsauce, who tries to find love but never does, so after he starts dating the snob, he starts to go insane and decides to kill the snob, because he felt that all she wanted was the drama and to vacuum his wallet dry, and she wanted to be the first to get laid by him, so he “loved” her then slowly tortures her to death. I’m thinking of a fourth arc too, but I’m not that far yet.

Mystic: I was so appalled by the whole "the plot is that there is no plot!" like????? doesn't a story need a plot??? Whhhh???

Wing: what the fuck even with the story tho Wing: I would never feel okay with turning something like that in to a MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER

Mystic: I KNOW Mystic: honestly wtf was eighth-grade me thinking???

I think Arc 3 might be a bit M-Rated,

Wing: Okay, 1) What, all the killing wasn’t M-rated enough for you?! and 2) JUST WHEN I THOUGHT THIS HYPOTHETICAL STORY COULD NOT GET ANY WORSE, THE MIDDLE SCHOOL AUTHOR DECIDES TO PUT PORN IN IT. GREAT

but there’s a good chance that the Creative Writing project won’t be finished by school’s end.

And there’s a very good chance that Mrs. Llaydeu would butcher it anyways, if she ever found out.

Wing: YO, SHE'S NOT THE ONE DOING THE BUTCHERING HERE, APPARENTLY

Mystic: yeesh its a good thing i got therapy like shit

Wing: At least you were writing about someone else writing about another person doing it, and not doing it yourself LOL

Mystic: AND YET THIS EXISTS

Wing: IT WAS YOUR SELF-THERAPY Wing: WHICH PROBABLY ACTUALLY WASN'T HELPFUL FOR ANYTHING MORE THAN FRUSTRATION-RELIEF, BUT STILL Mystic: well at least it proved successful at times. there's about six of these chapters lol

So I think I need to make a back-up plot just in case. I decided to make it a classic teenage angst-story where Insecurity realizes that Hotsauce isn’t all that she thought he was and instead goes to Geeky. I honestly liked my original much more.

Wing: Go back to watching Higurashi, Remy

The backup has a cheesy setting, yeah, I know, but it’s better than no plot, and it’s just in case I get caught by Mrs. Llaydeu.

Wing: "Just in case I get caught by Mrs Llaydeu"?? YOU KNOW, YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT ON YOUR OWN TIME. HOW SHE GONNA "CATCH" YOU WRITING STUFF YOU WRITE AS A HOBBY?? WTF, REMY?? JUST WRITE YOUR MURDERFEST FOR YOURSELF AND WRITE SOMETHING ELSE FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT. THIS IS NOT A DIFFICULT PROBLEM TO SOLVE

I might actually continue with the original if I really wanted to. Or it just might as well end up as one of those stories you’re so into, but then you just drop it and lose inspiration.

Wing: Ouch that hits a little close to home Mystic: oof yeah

Yeah, I know, I have a very horrific side when it comes to stories. I’m sort of like the next Stephen King, a bit.

Wing: I'm sorry, is your ego Santa's list? because you need to CHECK IT. TWICE.

Mystic: remy dear you aint Stephen king YOU FUCKIN NUTS

But hey, who knows, right? You definitely won’t catch me writing some chic-fic or whatever though,

Wing: Because of the way "chic" is actually pronounced, I'm pronouncing that "sheek feek"

because I’m just as girly as Kyle is gay, which he isn’t.

Wing: [narrows eyes] I find your specific denial highly suspicious...

I could smell my mom’s broccoli potato soup cooking downstairs. So, soup tonight with just me in the house and Rocky, because Dad is living with his brother in Massachusetts, while I’m stuck in Connecticut at the moment. But last I heard, Dad was planning on buying a house closer to where I’ll going to High School next year. I’ve seen the school, the only thing I haven’t done was shadow, because I was too fucking lazy to.

Wing: a) How do you shadow a fucking school and b) calm the fuck down with your language, young lady

Mystic: oh that's actually a thing Mystic: see eighth graders could "shadow" a freshman at my high school for a day to see how a typical day on campus was like

Wing: oh okay you didn't say shadow a student tho Wing: it sounds like she wants to shadow the school, not shadow AT the school LOL

Well, at least there’s summer to take a tour around the school. The only thing I’m insecure about is transportation, because I don’t know if the bus that picks up my neighbor will pick me up at the same time or whatever. We’ll see though.

“Remeleen, supper’s just about ready. Can you come and set the table?” Mom asked from the first floor.

“Coming, mom!” I called.

I leapt from my bed and went down the flight of stairs, taking a turn into the living room and then through to the kitchen. The dining room was a small area, with a simple table that could fit four people, and it had cabinets for the plates, bowls, eating utensils, and cups. I set it for two before hitting the couch to look for some television series. I found one of haunted houses and watched that for fifteen minutes, with Rocky cuddled up on my lap.

After Mom placed the food on the table, I nudged Rocky off and headed to my usual seat, which was across from Mom. We ate our supper quietly, which was the broccoli potato soup, salad with dressing and fixings, and pieces of oven-bread to dip in our soup.

Wing: "Oven-bread"? Is that bread that only lives in ovens? Is it like, homemade bread??

Mystic: ...bread that's made in the oven i guess?

Wing: So like... ...bread, then.

When I finished, I grabbed Rocky’s leash, clipped it to his collar, and took him for a walk.

Walking Rocky was probably the best thing to do at my mom’s, because she doesn’t take us out to eat or does anything fun with us, in fact. The only fun things we ever did was always involved with Dad, who arranged most of the activities.

Wing: Cringing at "does" and "was" in those sentences

Mom only went with us if she found someone to watch the house, even for just a few hours. I know it may sound harsh, especially to my mom, but I kind of agree with my dad; she does need some sort of therapy help. Obsessing over a house isn’t healthy, and we live on one of the safest neighborhoods, because it’s not as packed with residents as the huge estates, like where Marybeth lives, at Grey Hound’s Landing. Her house has been robbed, broken into, and damaged so many times for her whole life, that it’s hard to keep track of the exact number.

Wing: Jfc. Maybe she should move?? Also I don't really think huge estates get broken into??? Wing: Huge estates can generally afford security???

Mystic: very unrealistic i agree

So compare that to our homely situation

Wing: Remy obvs doesn't know that "homely" means "plain" or "ugly"

(which hasn’t been robbed before, thanks to Mom), and you can tell that she needs to lighten up. Even just a bit.

Rocky pulled a little on the leash, and I gave it a sharp, quick tug to pull him back. He looked up at me with those beautiful blue eyes that remind me of storm clouds. It’s like they could just pull you into a dream, a small fantasy, which had helped me calm down before. When I imagined being in a calm, relaxed state, Rocky’s magnificent irises appear. They give you a sense of dreaming, but it’s not considered day-dreaming. It’s more than that. It’s like you’re dreaming with your eyes wide open, visioning things that you’ve never imagined of before. It’s a very comforting experience.

Wing: Jfc. Remy spends a whole paragraph talking about how beautiful her dog's eyes are. Should I be worried

Mystic: obviously remy is a furry

Wing: ROFLLLLL

If only Rocky were around when Dad and Mom were first arguing, when I was only seven years old. It was two years after that when my dad left, but he bought Rocky as Charlie’s, Amy’s, and my present before departing in November. That was the worst Thanksgiving ever, because Mom didn’t let him come, worried he might bring home a girlfriend. He never called that day either. And then Christmas, he dropped off presents, two for each of his kids … none for Mom.

Then, right before Amy’s birthday in April, he says that he has been living with a woman he met on the internet. And that he broke up with her. Then, a week later, he called the house phone. I was only nine then, but I still loved my dad.

Wing: ...Because...everyone knows that people stop loving their dads at age 8?...

I picked up the phone since Mom was putting Amy to bed. I knew something was wrong right away; his voice was slurred and hard to understand. He said awful names that he thought were being directed to Mom… but it was me. I cried, telling Dad to stop, I wasn’t Mom. He said something I’ll never forget:

“Oh, I’m sorry (hiccup) sweetie. Can ya tell your (hiccup) your Mom what I said? She needs to kno-(hiccup)-ow what a true bitch she is, and how much Hannah (his now ex-girlfriend) loves me.”

Wing: I like how her dad takes the time to pronounce "hiccup" in (somehow) verbal parentheses, and also reminds Remy of who Hannah is

Mystic: wait who's hannah

Wing: According to the story: “Oh, I’m sorry (hiccup) sweetie. Can ya tell your (hiccup) your Mom what I said? She needs to kno-(hiccup)-ow what a true bitch she is, and how much Hannah (his now ex-girlfriend) loves me.”

Mystic: OHHHH

Wing: I guess you needed Remy's dad to parenthetically explain to you.

Mystic: Pfft it's not very memorable xD

Wing: Shrug. It's a palindrome, at least. Wing: Also, I don't think he's drunk. If he's hiccupping that much, he probably just has hiccups.

That was the first time I swore at my father. I pulled the ones I knew that Mom and Dad would say sometimes, but rarely in front of us. I threw the phone to the ground and ran to Mom, crying, sobbing, and yelling about what happened.

I refused to speak on the phone with him since.

When my dad realized what had happened, he tried desperately to earn my trust back, so far as breaking up with his ‘girlfriend’ again (at least, as far as I know) and moving in with his brother. I’m happy that he’s trying, but… I still can’t get over it. How can I, a typical Daddy’s-Little-Girl figure, who was part of something that should have never, ever have happened? I still have a grudge, knowing that it’s gonna happen again, knowing that that was the bullshit my mom had to go through.

Both of them are neither right nor wrong. My dad’s not the perfect husband, but he jumps right back and tried to mend the pieces instead of finding another slut to knock up again.

Wing: Jfc. How is the nameless hypothetical woman who only exists to demonstrate a point in this specific sentence STILL being blamed here??

My mom has always been there emotionally for us, but her possessive behavior can get overwhelming. But sometimes, they both can have their moments where they just lash out. Mom did that to me when she thought I was defending Dad about something (I was only stating what happened!). Even Dad, who would compare me to my mom, mostly for mistakes and when I get obsessed and stressed over something he considers ‘stupid.’

The two of them are not perfect, but they’re not messed up like Leaf’s hoe-craving father.

Wing: "Leaf's hoe-craving father" I'm cracking up omg spelling it like that just makes it sound like he's REALLY into gardening ROFLLLL seriously though hoe-craving HE CRAVES THEM HOS

"How ya feelin, dad?" "Well, if I'm being honest, I have a bit of a craving right now." "Oh, really? For what?" "FOR A NICE HOT JUICY HO. THIS HO CRAVING WILL NOT BE SUPPRESSED"

Mystic: OH MY GOD

I just … only wish … we could be a real family again. I wish that Charlie was walking with me, instead of bruised, battered and broken at the hospital. I wish Amy was here too, because she’s an amazing conversationalist and knows how to brighten my spirit. I wish that Dad hadn’t been drunk that night nearly four years ago, and that Mom wasn’t obsessive over everything and more enjoyable to be around. I wish everything was different! I want my dad back, like the father I knew six years ago, instead of someone who’s trying to be that same dad but isn’t; and I want a mom who acts like she cares and isn’t obsessed over some god-fucking-damned house! I just… I just…!

Jesus Christ!

Wing: Aww, the writing here is very raw and emotional, though. I can tell it came from real emotions you felt and I wanna hug you :C <33 Mystic: Oh gosh senpai ;; it's ok that was a long time ago! Wing: I knowww, but like, I'd feel just... AWFUL if I continued trampling all over this thing you wrote without acknowledging that you were undoubtedly very sincere about it at the time and it is a reflection of who you were emotionally back then. Y'know? So, Younger!Mystic, just, keep trying, you're awesome, and I love you ;-; Mystic: SENPAAAIIIIIIIIIIII ;A; Wing: KOUHAAAAAAAAI ;n;

I broke down right then and there, collapsing on the curb and crying, no, sobbing my emotions out. I was surprised later on that the neighbors didn’t hear me, even though I swear I was loud enough for somebody to notice. I felt Rocky brush up against me, sitting on his haunches and nuzzling me. His pitiful whimper brings my head up, which he takes advantage of and licks my face.

I sort of laughed, trying to lighten myself up, but the tears didn’t stop. My face was heated uncomfortably, even though the night was much cooler than at dismissal earlier today. My eyes stung from crying so hard.

Then those piercing, gentle canine eyes met mine, and the negative feelings start to simmer down. Rocky tilted his head and whined in concern. I stroked his head, feeling the soft fur on top.

“Oh Rocky, what a mess this has become,” I said, choked by the hurt, anger, and sadness that began to bubble again. But Rocky’s intense gaze kept them from overflowing. “I know it’s nothing like Leaf’s dad, or her mom or whatever … but … it hurts … it--” I spurted out a sob,

Wing: Aaaaand then the mood was broken at the sentence "I spurted out a sob" Like, just spewed that sob everywhere It got on the pavement and everything

Mystic: JUST SPURT THAT SPIT EVERYWHERE REMY Mystic: JUST LIKE AUDREY

sniffled, then continued, “it’s like what she said. Life never works the way you want it for anyone. Instead … it challenges you, sees how much you’ll try to make the best, until you do crack from the pressure and shut down.” There was silence for a few moments before I asked: “Do you know if that’s right?”

Rocky only barks.

Wing: Suddenly in the present tense.

I laughed shortly. “Course you didn’t,” I muttered. I then turned my body to face the husky and Akita mix, who has a smile on his muzzle, and wrapped my arms around his neck.

Wing: omg, the dog is smiling Wing: the DOG is SMILING

Mystic: SMILING DOGGO

Wing: it reminds me of when I was doing the first spork that I ever did for tumblr, which was more in the format of reviews/summaries for every chapter, and I got SO MAD about the introduction of a fucking husky into the story for NO REASON and it was magically intelligent and could do really cool stuff and NODDED WHEN THE MARY SUE SAID THINGS

Mystic: pffffff omg xD

“You’ll be there for all of us, right? Not just me; I’m sure Amy and Charlie will need you as well … especially Mom. I know she doesn’t really like you, but … I’m sure she’ll want someone with her in her time of need.”

He moaned in that cute, doggish way of his,

Wing: "He moaned in that cute, doggish way of his" The Remy x Rocky is real/I'M GOING TO HELL

Mystic: BRUH Mystic: REMY CONFIRNED TO BE INTO BESTALITY

Wing: CAN'T SPELL BESTIALITY WITHOUT "BEST"/SATAN IS CALLING FOR ME

Mystic: OH MY GOFD

and placed his head on my shoulder. After I collected myself and found the strength to carry my own weight, I got up and walked Rocky back home, even though we didn’t get out too far.

We got back home at around 7:30. Mom asked what I was doing coming back so early, but I ignored her. Although I vented to Rocky, I knew I needed a person to talk to. I haven’t the guts to tell Mom, and I’m sure Kyle is busy with his Grandma and talking to Marybeth. Leaf is very limited to talking on the phone, but she’s one of the few I knew would understand.

The one person I never would have thought of came to mind instantly.

I grabbed the home phone and retreated to my room. I looked thoroughly in a small box that I kept under my bed, looking for that number. I found it, the simple, pink-heart sticky note, with a carefully handwritten cell number and the name of the contact. I smiled when I recognized it.

Erika.

She was one of my best friends, but she moved to Killingly last year.

Wing: Killingly??? THAT'S not a horrible name for a place or anything

Mystic: That's a real place lol Mystic: my community college is actually in Kilingly

Wing: omg, that's, whoa, I. I mean I knew there were places called that, but geez, just. What a horrible name LOL

I always kept in touch with her though, because she is the best girl ever,

Wing: Add another stone reading "gay" to the pile I've made for Remy

and I used to always have heart-to-heart conversations with her. She was close to Leaf as well, and part of our CSI games that we played when we were younger. Erika also had a thing for sassing things up with the popular group; she was a bit of a Mary Sue when standing up to bullies,

Wing: ????????????what??????????

Mystic: remy don't know what a mary-sue is apparently

Wing: like if anyone's the Mary Sue here, sweetie...

Mystic: PFFFFF EXACTLY

but she was targeted because of one thing: she was an orphan. I met her foster parents, and they were very nice, despite the obvious differences in their appearance when compared to their child, who had Puerto Rican characteristics. But Erika was very happy to have a doting family, and to just have one at all, because she saw what the orphans at the orphanages had to go through. Some had given up hope for finding a family, since many were rejected because they were teenagers and not cute babies or adorable little kids.

Wing: You make them sound like dogs and cats at the pound.

Erika’s real parents gave her up because they didn’t want the responsibility (they were teenage parents, by the way)

Wing: ...And this was necessary to mention why?

to take care of a baby. So, Erika was brought up by the Nuns

Wing: They were very important Nuns that required capitalization.

that ran the orphanage that she was put into. She grew up inside there until she was ten years old, and then attended my middle school. I loved her because of her spunk, despite her past, and she was patient enough to listen to even a Popular’s angsty story. And she gave pretty good advice, too. She was the most natural mediator I have ever seen. Why else would Mrs. Jillian have picked her as one of the Peer Mediator Officers at our school?

We haven’t spoken to each other in a while, which, now that I think about it, makes me nervous. Please, don’t let her forget about me already, I thought desperately. Then, taking a deep breath, I dialed the number into the phone.

As I listened to the connecting rings, I reminisced about the good times I had with Erika, even though for a short while. I missed her, I really did. She was a second Leaf, in a way, but she could control her mad personality, and (I hate to point this out) she didn’t have any disorders that I knew about. But that didn’t make her any more of a person than Leaf. I would never think of replacing Leaf for someone else. That’s why I really don’t have a single best friend that I liked more.

Wing: Uh, what I'm hearing here is "except really good at being a person and basically psychosis-free! Basically she's like the finished product while Leaf is more like the prototype! Erika's just all around better!"

Mystic: oof youre right Mystic: that's pretty shitty tbh

Wing: Like, just in general, the whole "a second Leaf" thing was...pretty bad LOL

Mystic: yeeahh, especially since the two characters are nothing alike at all

Wing: And then she actually goes further to explain that "oh yeah, Erika doesn't have Leaf's PROBLEMS, though. Oh, but that doesn't make her better than Leaf! It's just that she's better at a lot of...shit!"

Mystic: remy hun u a piece of trash

Wing: Rofl!

My heart jumped as a familiar voice answered the other end.

Wing: Erika makes Remy's kokoro go doki-doki.

“Hello? Who is this?” Erika.

“Hi Erika … its Remeleen,” I said.

“Remy? Is that really you? Oh my god, we haven’t talked in weeks! How are ya, what’s happenin’ how’s Leafsters, Kay-Kay and Marybeth?” Erika asked.

“They’re fine,” I reassured, giggling at Erika’s nickname for Kyle. Then I remembered the reason why I called. “Actually, I was hoping … that I could talk to you.”

She got what I meant. “Fire away, girl. I’m listening.”

I smiled, and the rush of emotions start to brew in my stomach again as I shakily began to speak. But Rocky jumps on the bed and lays down next to me,

Wing: That inconsistent tense tho

and as I’m pouring out my feeling, I glimpse those blue eyes, and I feel complete again.

Wing: I'm not saying she's in love with her dog or anything...but she totally appears to be in love with her dog

Mystic: PFFFFFFFF Mystic: did i have like a thing for dogs or something what the fuck

They remind me that I’m not alone, that there are other people out there feeling the exact same way as I am.

Wing: Rocky is Remy’s religion. He brings her comfort and solace and a sense of community

And it calmed me down.

Time to leave the past behind me.

This is the last night you'll spend alone. Look me in the eyes so I know you know. I'm everywhere you want me to be. The last night you'll spend alone, I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go. I'm everything you need me to be. The night is so long when everything's wrong. If you give me your hand I will help you hold on, tonight,

Tonight.

~Lyrics from The Last Night, by Skillet

Wing: the fucking song lyrics Wing: are obviously about Wing: Remy and Rocky Wing: I just Wing: can Wing: 't

Mystic: ASLKJEODHGD Mystic: DID I JUST WRITE A FURRY ROMANCE Mystic: HOLY SHIT

Wing: NO SERIOUSLY READ THEM AGAIN; IT IS ABOUT THEM I SWEAR

Mystic: AHHHHHHHH IT TOTALLY IS Mystic: HOLY CRAP

Wing: IT'S NOT EVEN FURRY ROMANCE THOUGH. LIKE, FURRY ROMANCE IS ARGUABLY MORE ACCEPTABLE BECAUSE FURRIES ARE ANTHROPOMORPHIC. AND THINK WITH HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, BUT...! Wing: THIS Wing: I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY Wing: ...EXCEPT MAYBE “ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER!”

Next part up soon!