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madisonbeersource · 1 year ago

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HIIII 💙💙💙 how are you, beautiful angel?

I'm finally here again, I've missed it and I feel like it's been a while since I've posted here although I really don't think it was that long ago. I don't know hahaha but what I do know is that there is a lot to talk about.

To start with we have to talk about Spinnin and OH MY GOD where do I start? I am simply IN LOVE AND OBSESSED WITH EVERYTHING RELATED TO THIS SONG. I think it's one of my favorite Madison songs of my life and right now it's my favorite song. I feel like spinnin is one of those songs that touches your soul, you know what I mean? I think it's a deep song that you can relate to in different ways and it's SO SO precious..... THE BRIDGE OF THE SONG... HELLO? I'm still obsessed MADISON HAS AN AWESOME VOICE and I don't understand how she doesn't get more recognition, because wow just wooow. this song shows perfectly how talented she is.

And the mv? God, I LOVE IT I think it's also one of my favorites, not only of Mads songs, but of all music videos in general. It is a piece of art, every scene, the aesthetics, the drama and madison's performance.... I could talk for hours about this song

The scene where Madison puts clothes in the washer and of course, spins around like Spinnin is how Madison is a genius. The scene where she runs through the corn field and the birds standing still in the sky is too cute, and then when she is on her knees with the spotlight pointed at her in front of the cars WHAT EMOTION, WHAT FEELING I literally had goose bumps

In fact, bringing up the subject of the scene of Madison running in the cornfield I like this image better as the album cover than the other one that was there. Don't get me wrong, the other cover was great and she looked super cute, but the new album cover... I love it. I think it fits really well with the album

And another super important thing, THE SNIPPETS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I'm super super super excited. Sweet relief I really like it, I love the vibes it has and I can't wait to listen to the whole thing, Envy the leaves (which if I'm not mistaken was one of the songs you were claiming, no?) I thought it was super nice, it's going to be a GREAT song and 17 seems to me a very interesting one. The first time I listened to it I didn't love it, but now that I've listened to it a couple of times I really like it too, I think it's original and very cool . Which one did you like the most?

I'm looking forward to listen to the rest

Aaand before I say goodbye, (although I know, I'm back to writing a lot again but there was so much to say) I wanted to tell you that lately I'm obsessed with some Taylor Swift songs. I remember you like her a lot and I happened to be listening to Enchanted and I love this song, it's just too beautiful. And then I rediscovered her song Wildest dreams and it IS A VERY GOOD SONG, I adore it. And finally I discovered two days ago her song This love which I find super super super beautiful, I would say it transports me.

Now with these three songs I feel like falling in love with someone very deeply. I would also like you to tell me what are your favorite Taylor's songs, I'm looking forward to discover or rediscover more of her music.

Now that I've written the equivalent of the Bible... I assure you that very soon I'll write you again, probably with another huge text hahaha

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH 💗 you are the person I like to fangirl with the most, I feel you understand me very well

HI MY LOVE!! <3 I'm doing good babes wbuuu??

OMG i'm still so hyped about your trip that u took this is SO F-ING cool

she punched me right in the guts w spinnin ngl...dear society's music video was MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE until spinnin it IS SO FKING CLOSE to be my ultimate favorite and omg THE LYRICS???????????? HELLO MISS BEER CAN U NOT JUST STAB ME IN THE THROAT W A LYRICAL PARADISE??? I WAS LIKE.....UGH NO WORDS. the way everything stops but her dog (CUTE?) and the moments she runs through the tall grass??? A FEELING OF FREEDOM I was like tearing up when i watched it, and in the end you don't know if it went back to normal or not i felt like in Interstellar it was ....JUST PERFECT!! <3 the way she started w "Did the world stop spinnin'? Nothin' seems to change, I'm stuck at the beginnin' and I'm in pain" and ends it w "I'm still in pain" LIKE?????????????????????? IM BAWLING

CAN WE APPLAUSE HER MIND?? the music video makes the song that is already so pretty 100 times better!! YES ENVY THE LEAVES!! but sweet relief SOUNDS SO GOOD OMG THIS ALBUMMMM WILL B THE DEATH OF ME!!!! but i'm in love w envy the leaves already i know it's gonna b one of the fave!! i think i liked envy the leaves and sweet relief the most but 17 sounds gut punching !!! cause we know that 17 wasn't an easy age for her ://

ME TOO!!!

OMG taytay you remember me loving her marry me. istg she became one of my pioneer artist ??? like I never thought she would but ever since her reputation album that was my main album during a time i was in hospital ...........i've taken time to dive into her genius and i understand her hype now and i am so mad at me for not recognizing that sooner cause ALL TOO WELL???? THE 10 MINUTE VERSION?? OMG AND THEN HER MIDNIGHTS ALBUM???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? COULD'VE WOULD'VE SHOULD'VE & THE GREAT WAR????? AAAAAAAAAAAAAH THOSE SONGS I CANT but enchanted is so pretty and enchanting and soooo her idk she is one of our best female artist ever I'm so glad she is killing her and omg sabrina carpenter is doing her first part hell i would LOVE TO FEEL IT LIVE

hm so all too well (10 minutes version), the great war, carolina, lavender haze, snow on the beach, vigilante shit, the great war, would've could've should've, (ALL HER MIDNIGHTS ALBUM TBH), evile, august, invisible strings i think on top of my head those are the ones i listen on a daily!!

sdefghgfds i missed our session omg imagine if we called each other i think we'd spend the day on the phone sdfgbhgfds but please keep writting ur bibles i love it

I LOVE YOU SO FREAKING MUCCHHHHHHH

#ask

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bittersweetformula · 1 year ago

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...of course. I leave Unova for a vacation to Paldea, and none other than mother- f***ing N and his bloody Zekrom show up as well... Stupid team plasma...

Ah...I-see you're another one. It-does surprise me how many of you are from Unova! I'm glad so many talented trainers are coming from there, it-..makes me happy. To know that what 'father' tried to achieve will NEVER come to fruition. I heard about your injuries-is there anything I can do?

#pokemon au #pokeblogging #pokemon irl #area zero survey corps #the mystery of area zero #rotumblr #pokeblog rp #pokémon irl

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agentnico · 2 years ago

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Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023) Review

If there is anyone who can say the word “f***ing” so eloquently it is Jason Statham. It’s like Samuel L. Jackson’s signature “motherf***er” line - it just works!

Plot: Elite spy Orson Fortune must track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology wielded by billionaire arms broker Greg Simmonds. Reluctantly teamed up with some of the world's best operatives, Fortune and his crew recruit Hollywood's biggest movie star, Danny Francesco, to help them on their globe-trotting mission to save the world.

Yet again our dear fellow British filmmaker Guy Ritchie attempts to kickstart another spy espionage franchise, and once again it seems his attempt is faltered, in this case with Operation Fortune suffering a year long delay of its release due to its distribution company going into administration, as well as the little fact of that little war between Russia and Ukraine making it kind of awkward to release a movie where Ukrainians are the bad guys. I mean, how was Guy Ritchie supposed to predict that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was gonna happen?? It was so unexpected. It wasn’t as if this conflict was going on since 2014 or anything. Regardless, we finally see the release of this film, to which I myself am really happy about, as personally I really do enjoy Guy Ritchie’s movies. From his stylish direction to an almost poetically Shakespearian way he manages to write swear words as if they were song lyrics; his movies have always been really enjoyable. So now another spy espionage with Jason Statham in the lead? Why the heck now, let’s gooo!

Immediately what I can say I really admired about Operation Fortune is that it doesn’t set out to be another massive action blockbuster on the level of those Fast & Furious flicks or even the more recent James Bond outings. Instead it happily exists on a much more smaller scale, and much better for it. Here in the UK this film bypassed cinemas and went for a straight to streaming release via Prime Video, and that works for the movie’s benefit as this is the kind of simple easy-watch entertainment one can relax to on a weekend evening, with some good laughs, a decent amount of action thrills and a very likeable game cast. My dear fiancée even observed that she found this movie to be absolutely “delightful”. I get what she means - this crime caper really breezes through its content with Guy Ritchie’s trademark sharp wit in the dialogue, and all the talent involved seem to all be having an utterly splendid time.

Jason Statham is always a safe bet when it comes to having an action star in your movie. He’s charming, elegant, yet got that enough brutishness to make him feel like the one in control of the room. And his passive delivery of lines make for some very amusing moments. Aubrey Plaza is as sarcastic as ever, and Cary Elwes has such a deep yet wonderful sounding voice. Like this man could read me an audiobook any day of the week - just saying! Hugh Grant is highly entertaining as the eccentric billionaire, and shows that the recent partnership between him and Guy Ritchie working together is so far a solid 100% success.

Overall Operation Fortune is very much for the fans of Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham. If you like them then this is a safe bet of an entertaining if forgettable watch, but at the end of the day Ruse de Guerre works as a wonderful light popcorn flick.

Overall score: 6/10

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cherryblossomshadow · 9 days ago

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[Image ID and source: Tweet from Simon Rosenberg (@/SimonWDC) reading: Red wave 2024 update:

70+ polls in the averages, 31 right-aligned groups have released polls since August

Polymarket, Elon 2024 escalations

Late last week they worked the natl polling average, moved it down, started spinning early vote hard 👇 1/

Part of their new efforts to drive the natl polling average down is addition of a TIPP daily tracking poll. Predictably, and perhaps comically, it showed the race - all of a sudden! - breaking to Trump after 6 weeks of a remarkably stable race and a bad media week for Trump 2/

/end ID]

More tweets from the thread:

Last Wed I did a polling roundup. Polling continued to be remarkably stable. 538 natl average actually ticked up for us that week. We were +4 and stable in Econ/YouGov, +5 in Marist, +4 in Morning Consult, NYT, +3 CBS, ABC. Steady as she goes. 3/

Yes, some state polls had moved a bit towards Trump. But things were all within margin of error, things bounce around and Rs had been pounding the state averages, particularly NC and PA. Majority of recent polls in those 2 states R-aligned 👇4/

Even after "movement towards Trump" here is the @/WashingtonPost battleground state polling averages this morning. The Post has a tighter screen on what polls they accept. It shows Harris at 270+ and winning. 5/

Then last Wed a switch turned on and right aligned polls started flooding the natl polling average - Emerson, Fox News, Quantas, RMG, TIPP's daily tracker. Senate Rs dropped a natl poll to help out, as did whatever ActiVote and Atlas are. 538 moved from 2.6 to 1.8 Harris. 6/

To be clear - the independent polls last week were +3 to +5 Harris. A steady, stable race. Then boom - red wavers dropped series of polls 2 to 5 points to the right of indep. polling and the averages moved.

This is exactly what they did in 2022. 7/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/us/politics/polling-election-2022-red-wave.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20240929092855/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/us/politics/polling-election-2022-red-wave.html

Since TIPP is now the tip of the red wave 2024 spear, let's take a look. "Talent on loan from God" - Rush Limbaugh's catchphrase. Here's a fun story from their site: "Harris’s Fiery Campaign of Rage Exposes Her Unpresidential Temperament" 8/

Some other recent TIPP goodies:

"The Left Is Still Obsessed With 2020 Election Deniers"

"U.S. Government Pushing Climate Lies On Schoolchildren"

"Night And Day: Trump’s Command Of Economy Exposes Harris’s Novice Approach" 9/

The American right hacked the polling averages in 2022 and are doing it again. 538 told us that even a bad PA TIPP poll should be included in the averages, and that it only moved PA 1/10th of a point. No biggie - except Rs have released 16 polls in PA this month. 10/

The simple fix is to create a new category of polls, R-aligned, and keep these polls separate from legit, independent polls.

Rs have exploited the "throw it in the averages" approach again - 70+ polls, 31 different orgs.

We have to do better 👇11/

Another explanation for flood of natl polls last week - Rs started seeing movement from Trump due to his deranged behavior.

When a bad video for Moreno dropped RMG rushed into OH with his best poll of the cycle.

They flooded NC in days leading up to Robinson implosion. 12/

Perhaps the most important point of all - Rs would not be spending so much time and effort working the polling averages if they believed they were winning. 13/

Could Rs really be doing this?

Rs have been lying about last election for 4 years

They tried to overturn the election in 2020-2021 and attacked the f-ing Capitol

Fox News is a right wing political org that has fraudulently pretended to be a news org for decades Yes /14

On cue, a high-quality independent poll drops this morning with data consistent with other recent independent polls, showing Harris ahead, no slippage, and far more likely to win. 15/

If you're wondering why polling averages are suddenly showing Trump winning despite all the bad news he's gotten lately- it might have something to do with this:

Basically, Republicans are ratfucking the polling averages by churning out huge numbers of partisan polls, and the polling aggregators/analysts like 538 aren't doing due diligence to compensate for it.

Now, what is the purpose of this?

Well, in the immediate-term, it creates a narrative that Trump is winning, boosting morale of his supporters while demoralizing support for Democrats and Harris.

Beyond that, if polling averages show that Trump is winning ahead of election day-which we can pretty much guarantee they will, because see above-then they will use that as "proof" of fraud if Democrats subsequently win.

Basically, they are engineering a pretext for their next coup attempt in front of us.

The only numbers that decide anything are actual votes. So ignore the polls, and VOTE.

#us politics #election polls #red wave #i describe images #i link #twitter #simonwdc #simon rosenberg #hopium chronicles

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lyssahlyssah · 3 years ago

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Obey Me! Lucifer's Dream

a/n: This is a piece for the lead-up to Kinktober. I wanted to bring the unevolved, evil, and dangerous Lucifer out in a safe environment where no one actually ends up getting hurt. The timeframe is just after MC arrives in the devildom and meets everyone, but hasn't had time to get close and develop relationships. Thanks to @theinariakuma for beta-ing.

Trigger warnings: fantasy violence, implied fantasy murder, implied fantasy rape, sadism, anger, dark themes.

Pairing: F!MC x Lucifer

Category: not suitable for work, dark fantasy

Midnight rolled around again and Lucifer rubbed his temples with gloved fingers. With no sun, day and night had little meaning here, but even so, he had been awake for five straight days, a full two days longer than his normal and it was starting to show.

Irritably, he signed his name to the latest document in front of him and with a scowl, snapped the pen in two between his fingers. I mean, how much was a demon supposed to take?

First, there was helping Diavolo with his extra paperwork since Barbatos was on vacation, then overseeing the RAD student council... Mammon playing the fool... and now babysitting the new human exchange student. The last one took an enormous amount of his resources because she was just so damn fragile. He was always having to watch over her, keep lesser demons from devouring her, creating special education for her, and most of all, controlling his own temper so he wouldn't kill or frighten her. She obviously didn't belong here, but Diavolo was firm with his instructions regarding the human, she was to be treated as gently as if she was back in her own world.

He scoffed, irritation sliding into anger. Something about interworld relations. Really, who cares at all about that. If his time in the Celestial Realm had taught him anything, it was that humans were weak, unworthy of his time, and invited trouble. Trouble was already something they had plenty of, thanks to Mammon.

And he certainly didn't care about maintaining relations with the Celestial Realm, he didn't want to see another angel for the rest of his life.

He resented the extra intrusion on his time. Solomon was a different story, he could take care of himself and required very little attention, and as far as Lucifer cared, could stay as long as he liked, so long as he didn't try to cook.

Uninvited, her face floated into his mind and he angrily stuffed the thought away. MC... What kind of a name is MC anyway, he thought.

He got up and walked to the piano, sitting down in front of the keys, hoping some music could help clear and calm his head. Playing a few bars of his favorite composer, De La Lordo, he closed his eyes and leaned into the music. However, his anger continued to throb and as it did so, his fingers tripped over one another causing a shriek of dissonance that cut through the silence of his office like a knife.

Irritation exploding, he slammed down the lid to the keys. Even his favorite classical music couldn't cool him down. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw HER face. HER body. HER skin. He didn't understand. He was the chosen one of his father's creations, the strongest, the most beautiful, the most talented, the most intelligent. His burgeoning attraction to something so unremarkable sent waves of revulsion and confusion tumbling through him.

Unable to control his anger and disgust, he rampaged through his office; and only after his curtains and furniture were hanging in shreds with several new vase-shaped holes in the walls did he finally sit down hard in the armchair by his fireplace, leather creaking to accommodate his weight. He hadn't lost his temper like this for a long time, but he knew his brothers wouldn't dare approach his door after hearing his wrath. Spent, he pushed his sweaty hair out of his face and leaned his head back against the soft surface, eyes closing.

...squeals in the dark.

Everything was fuzzy. He shook his head roughly to clear it, but the cloudiness stubbornly held on. Hazily, he pushed through long-limbed bushes that grasped at his hair and clothes into a woody clearing and there she was. Small, perfect, tearful eyes wide, gag tightening into the sides of her mouth, hands tied in front of her. She's naked. A fire to one side, casting flickering shadows that danced across her terrified face.

His heart started to race and his breathing quickened. This is a dream, he thought.

Touching his tongue to his upper lip, and then dragging it across the top of his lower teeth, he continued to watch her struggle. He felt dark urges bubbling up within him...he wanted to hurt her. Use her. Feed off her fear. The longer he watched, the stronger the urges became.

His fingers curled up in tight fists at his side. How good it would feel to let go...stop controlling himself for once. Stop doing what everyone expected of him. Just be free. Free to hate. Free to rage. Free to destroy.

The passion was too intoxicating to resist. With eyes closed, he let the anger take him. Roaring, he exploded into fire, white-hot flames threatening to sear his bones to ash. His handsome face melted into a horrific ghastly caricature of its former self. Pain as blackened wing tips burst through the taut skin of his back leaving bloody and ragged holes around them, pain as one curled horn ground its way free of the top of his head, then the other. Pain as his bones stretched to make him larger, thicker, new muscles pulsating with power. Pain as his claws burst from his fingertips impaling themselves on his palms as he ground his fists with rage.

All was pain and he drank it in like a man dying of thirst. His transformation complete, he throbbed with energy, heat, and rage.

The poor girl had yet to see him emerge from the darkness, but emerge he did, at last, a red glow upon the ground and an earth-shaking tremor heralding his arrival. Her already widened eyes, bulged from their sockets. Too scared to make a noise, strangled whimpers were all that emerged from around the gag.

Standing tall in all his terrible glory before her, her fear increases his desire.

He frees himself from his pants and masturbates furiously. He can't remember how long it's been since he touched himself like this, with an anger and intent. Or at all, for that matter. Passion had all but dried up for him after his fall from grace. Life had become controlling his brothers and the mundane of Diavolo's paperwork. It felt good just to feel anything again.

Sadistically, he chuckled lowly. His beautiful, terrible eyes narrowing, he lets loose his enormous hard cock, where it hangs heavily erect against his leg, waiting. Her eyes follow its movements and he revels in her horror. She knows what's going to happen and that she has absolutely no way to stop it.

Even through her fear and almost as a betrayal to herself, she can't help but feel a supernatural attraction to him, his power, his beauty. He can sense it as well, and it increases his contempt for her.

It's only too easy, he thinks arrogantly. She can't help but want me, even like this. I can smell it all over her. She wants to get fucked by a monster.

It confirms all of his previously-held beliefs that humans are inferior. He sneers, face contorting. Pitiful. So weak...so insignificant. Utterly disposable.

That last thought ignited his lust to new levels. Here was a toy he could abuse with no repercussions to his conscience. She wasn't worth consideration or care. Since she was beneath his respect, he could be himself completely.

Dark excitement pushing him forward, he took a quick step towards her, and she cringed backward against her restraints, desperate to flee.

He smiles. "It's no use trying to escape, little one," he said cruelly, his soft words contradicted by his harsh tone."Escape doesn't exist for you anymore. You're mine. "

Her screams echo throughout the woods, full of terror and ecstasy.

Hours later, the screams fade as a long howl rises. The girl's mangled body lies still on the ground, every orifice stuffed full and dripping, blood on the ground. Her face is quiet, eyes glassy with rapture, expression frozen in terror. He'd never seen anything so beautiful.

His violence finally sated, Lucifer stands with his bloody cock dripping, drenched in sweat and other fluids, parts of himself slipping back into human form. An unexpected warm rush fills him as he looks at her, and impulsively, he leans down and tenderly kisses her cooling cheek.

At the touch of her flesh, his eyes open and he is back in his office chair. His grandfather clock lets him know morning has come.

The chair lies in ruins around his outline, he had transformed outside of his dream as well. He shifts in the chair and his pants catch against him uncomfortably, sticky, full of his cum several times over. He feels an overwhelming sense of release, of a long-overdue itch scratched, a boiling tea kettle that has let off its steam. Feeling powerful and confident, he rises to clean himself and get ready for the day.

Later

"Once again, Lucifer will be providing you with your lessons and general protection this week," Diavolo said conversationally to the girl. All three of them were sitting in Diavolo's office, sipping tea kept at the perfect temperature by Barbatos's careful attentions. The girl hesitantly looked over her teacup towards Lucifer, remembering the handsome demon's obvious irritation the week before.

"I'm at your command," Lucifer said silkily, cooly polite. He showed none of the irritation from before, and in fact...looked perfectly content with his extra duties.

For a second, she thought she heard something odd in his tone...what, she wasn't sure.

She glanced his way again, and shivered as she saw he was watching her...a faint smile on his lips, red eyes glowing.

#obey me #obey me!#obey me smut #obey me swd #obey me shall we date #obey me lucifer #lucifer x mc #obey me reader insert #lucifer obey me #obey me diavolo #obey me lucifer smut #obey me dark

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the-beautiful-worl · 3 years ago

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…Could we have a promo…please?

'Stand by…' was what the Tv said. Confused, you looked carefully at it, and then suddenly, you hear the sound of a camera being hit.

"COME ON, YOU F***ING CAMERA!!" A masculine voice said, annoyed. He must’ve been the one bashing onto the camera. "Shozo-kun, please bro, stop! I REALLY don't wanna have to get another camera, this one was *really* expensive!"

Eventually, the camera finally starts to work and shows a *huge* group of studnets.

Finally, after a few moments, a woman who had short brown hair and was wearing a lime-green dress that had a thick red stripe on the stomach area of it emerged from the group. She had a computer with her.

The girl sat the computer down at what resembled a coffee table, and pressed play on it before she went back to the couch and sat down, with a boy with short, dark-blue hair, almost black colored hair and had pinkish-orange colored eyes nyooming over to sit next to her almost immediately after. The boy was holding a soft, plain-white colored blanket he used to cover himself at, he was also holding with him a fennekin plush toy.

Suddenly, the computer began speaking.

Hello, people of this site. My name is Shizukoto Hayashi, but everyone just calls me Yoshi. According to the teachers here at Heavenly skies talent training Academy or HSTTA for short, I’m known…as the SHSL Virtual Therapist. The blue-haired boy you see beside me is my friend, named Watanabe Kazuki, it's actually our 2nd day here, and everyone else here are our classmates. Anywho…can we get a promo…please?

The brown-haired girl, known as Shizukoto, seemed shy, but she looked very calm and sweet too. This should be interesting.

Tags:

@morals-and-florals @ask-timid-makoto-naegi @chaoticblogofmuses (Mikado, pls) @theultimatemoralcompass @askasheranything @oddblogfullofoddmuses (Do Gintoko, if you don't mind) @human-monokuma @yui-samidare-returns @shsl-mycologist @unknown-ultimates (Rp with me, pls) @werewolf-makoto-naegi @iroha-painter-missing + Anybody else!

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paralleljulieverse · 3 years ago

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This Week in Julie-history: The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe airs on NBC, 11 February 1962

1962 was a year of significant changes in the life and career of Julie Andrews. It was the year she gave birth to her daughter and became a parent for the first time, something she frequently cites as her ‘greatest achievement’ (Andrews, 254). It was the year she bowed out from Broadway and took leave for what would prove to be a three-decade hiatus (Downing 8). And it was the year she was signed by Walt Disney for Mary Poppins and the start of a meteoric film career (Skolsky, 8).

1962 was also an important year for Julie Andrews on television (Hull 1962). She was certainly no stranger to the small screen, having appeared in numerous variety shows, as well two gala tele-musicals, High Tor (1956) and Cinderella (1957). But in 1962 Julie appeared in a pair of TV spectaculars that showcased her versatility like never before. Most memorably, in June of that year, she co-starred with chum Carol Burnett in Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, a concept special that emerged out of the pair’s charismatic teaming on The Garry Moore Show. It proved a landmark event with ‘audience[s] clamor[ing] for more [and] critics dust[ing] off their most glowing verbal bouquets’ (Julie & Carol 7). The Julie and Carol show proved so popular that it launched a multi-decade series of reunion specials.

While it was inevitably eclipsed by the success of the Carnegie Hall special, there was another earlier TV gala that showcased the manifold talents of Julie Andrews for the TV-viewing public of 1962: The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe. As its name would suggest, the show was a tribute to the famed composer-lyricist team and their most popular musicals of the preceding fifteen years: Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, Gigi, and Camelot. It was also a showcase for some of Lerner and Loewe’s greatest star performers who had been given ‘an opportunity to shine at his (or her) best’ in their shows: namely, in order of appearance, Maurice Chevalier, Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet, and Stanley Holloway (Color special 9-F).

That Julie was the (only) leading lady in the line-up was as fitting as it was complimentary. Not only was she was the star of two of Lerner and Loewe’s biggest Broadway hits, My Fair Lady and Camelot, but her marathon runs in these shows meant that, as Lerner himself noted, ‘Julie has been playing for us nearly one fifth of her life!’ (Downing 8).

There was added contextual significance to putting Julie firmly in the limelight in The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe. Jack Warner had only just secured the film rights for My Fair Lady and casting for the film version was the hottest topic in town (Archer 1). It is now a matter of historical record that Audrey Hepburn was Warner’s first -- and, as it transpired, only-- pick for the plum role of Eliza, but press reports at the time suggested Julie was still in potential consideration (Scott 6). Certainly, Julie held out hope. Not long after the decision was made to go with Hepburn, Julie related in interview:

‘[N]aturally I thought about myself for the movie role. But although I’m an optimist, and secretly hoped it would be I, I knew that I was a second or third choice. There were three of us in the race -- Audrey, Shirley Jones and myself. And if they didn’t get Audrey, I felt I had a chance. I know the part so well, and I did think it would be fun taking a crack at it again’ (Shearer 7).

As such, there was a lot riding on The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe and the special worked to showcase Julie to strong effect: giving her an opportunity to sing, dance, and emote in a series of both solo and ensemble set pieces including the explosive ‘Show Me’ from My Fair Lady. In addition, publicity for The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe played up the angle of Julie as star with profiles in major publications including a pictorial spread in Life magazine that twinned Julie with Lucille Ball as dual ‘queens’ of TV (Thompson 1962).

The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe was conceived and developed by Norman Rosemont, executive vice president and general manager of the Lerner-Loewe organisation. He spent almost three years pre-planning the project and securing a very lavish production budget of $350,000 (Bryant 3-D). To helm the production, Rosemont brought on board the talented young Canadian director, Norman Jewison. Today Jewison is best remembered as the award-winning film director of major Hollywood hits such as In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and Moonstruck (1987), but the versatile director cut his professional teeth in TV. During the 50s and early-60s, Jewison helmed a series of big variety specials for major stars of the era including Harry Belafonte, Danny Kaye, Andy Williams and Judy Garland that saw him become ‘the highest-priced director of the highest-priced musical variety shows in all television’ (Krantz 21). Jewison had previously worked with Julie on The Fabulous Fifties (1960) and the pair had a very sympathetic professional and personal relationship (Stern 10).

A true creative, Jewison felt that a TV ‘show should have something to say...there must be a reason for a show to be on the air’. In the Lerner and Loewe special, Jewison described his approach as wanting to ‘take a look at the modern American musical theatre’:

‘It’s a magical thing, the stage. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s magic. On the show we’re letting several of our stars do numbers they’re not associated with, even though they were in the shows the numbers came from’ (Stern 10)

To this end, Jewison included several surprise twists such as Julie doing a jazz version of ‘A Little Bit of Luck’, Chevalier singing a jaunty ‘Camelot’, Burton performing the title song from Gigi, and Chevalier and Holloway singing a music-hall duet of ‘Almost Like Being in Love’ from Brigadoon. Jewison also included several big set pieces from these shows such as the throne room scene from Camelot and a grand ensemble finale of ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ (Gaver 1962a 12).

Helping Jewison and his stars bring the production to life was a support team of major theatrical and TV talent (Messina 50). The show’s musical director and conductor was Franz Allers who had performed similar musical duties for most of Lerner and Loewe’s Broadway shows. The choreography was by Carol Haney, longtime associate of Gene Kelly in Hollywood and a major Broadway choreographer in her own right. To supplement the star power in front of the camera, memorable cameos were provided by Charles Nelson Reilly and Frances Sternhagen in a comic sketch interlude (Bryant 3-D).

The show itself was pre-taped at NBC’s New York studios in December 1961 (Ashby 1). Organising the production around the performers’ busy schedules was a major logistical challenge. Burton had to fly in from Rome where he was filming Cleopatra, Chevalier jetted in from the London set of Disney’s In Search of the Castaways, and Stanley Holloway came from taping a TV pilot in Los Angeles (Hull 5). Julie and Goulet were both still appearing in Camelot, so filming had to fit around their theatre commitments. In interview at the time, Julie described the taping of the show as ‘utterly crazy’:

‘We rehearsed for three weeks. They started taping about 7a.m. on a Saturday and finished Monday night about 6. And I had to break away for two Broadway shows on Saturday, and I was back taping at 8 a.m. Sunday and worked till 11 p.m., and the same arrival Monday and I finished at 2 p.m. and then to the theatre for the show on Monday night. Tuesday? I collapsed’ (Quigg 6E).

A full-colour broadcast of The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe was scheduled by NBC for Sunday 11 February from 7:30-8:30p.m. -- a primetime slot usually occupied by Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (Ashby 1). With sponsorship from Chrysler, it was given ‘one of the biggest publicity campaigns of the year’ (Smith 1962a C-12). The broadcast proved a major winner for both the network and the sponsor, attracting ‘big ratings’ and a favourable ‘letter response’ (Gaver 1962b 3).

Critical reception of the show was equally positive. There were a few dissenting voices -- the critic for The New York Times felt ‘the cumbersome injection of static commercials and other episodic intrusions’ meant that ‘the lilt and captivation of Broadway were realised only sparingly’ (Gould 36) -- but, for the most part, reviews were little short of laudatory:

Los Angeles Times: ‘[A] buoyant, bouncing, glittering color extravangaza...the show as a whole was a most pleasant hour...The soaring voices of Robert Goulet and Julie Andrews gave wings to the show [and] Norman Jewison staged the action with imagination’ (Smith 1962b C-12).

Chicago Tribune: ‘Rarely were so many performers of great musical and dramatic gifts assembled for television and never have they performed with more enchantment...Last night, TV was a musical paradise, an Eden of color and shining melody...Chevalier, at 73, gave a great performance as the host, and as a singer and dancer, Julie Andrews was in fine fettle’ (Wolters F-7).

Boston Globe: ‘It was a stirring, glittering presentation that in an hour caught much of the essence and magic of the Lerner-Loewe life “book”....It was a show to be treasured throughout...with Holloway tripping so delightfully through the rhythms of “Get Me to the Church on Time”, the adorable Miss Andrews taking her frustration out on dancer Johnny Harmon so prettily in “Show Me”, and Burton reciting his throne speech from “Camelot” so affectingly’ (Shain 12).

The Herald-Journal: ‘A more tuneful, professional folic through the wonderful song world of one of history’s most successful collaborations would be hard to imagine...Miss Andrews was never better on TV. She looked radiant’ (Danzig 8).

Daily Herald: ‘Take the product of song-writing team which has churned out such shows as “My Fair Lady”, “Gigi” and “Brigadoon”. Cast their finest moments with talent like Julie Andrews and Maurice Chevalier. Let a director of taste and imagination pull it all together. The result is a joy and a delight...Altogether it was a bright, warm and beautiful show’ (Lowry 8).

Cincinatti Enquirer: ‘[I] was almost overwhelmed by The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe...one of the gayest, most beautiful shows of the season. Staging and production of this song-fest of five fine Lerner-Loewe shows was most impressive. It was as colorful as the NBC peacock--in fact it was probably the best TV colorcast I’ve ever seen’ (Feck 10)

Valley Times: ‘Last night’s special production of The Broadway of Lerner of Loewe on NBC was unquestionably one of the highlights of the season and constituted a shining example of television production at its very best...Miss Andrews was never better, and that sentimental favourite, Chevalier, perfectly complemented the younger male stars of the cast...Add beautiful sets, superb production, lavish costumes and the overall director of Norman Jewison and you come up with a package that simply exudes class’ (Rich 9).

Detroit Free Press: ‘At least once a TV season amid the mountains of mediocrity, there appears one shining peak, a show to be treasured. Sunday’s The Broadway and Lerner and Loewe on NBC-TV, was one of those: an hour to rank...among TV’s greatest programs’ (Peterson 22).

Happily, because The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe was taped, it remains in existence and archival quality copies are stored in several repositories including the NBCUniversal Archives and the Paley Center for Media. The programme has never been given an official video release and, with copyright constraints, likely never will. However, multiple-generation fan copies of the show have circulated for years and can even be viewed on YouTube. Though not the greatest quality, it gives a sense of the colourful musical magic that TV audiences were treated to sixty years ago this week in The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe.

Sources

Andrews J (2008) Proust questionnaire. Vanity Fair. 572, April : 254.

Archer E (1961) 5 million film offer made for ‘Fair Lady’. New York Times, 27 September 27: 1, 78-79.

Ashby B (1961) Five top stars in February’s NBC ‘Broadway of Lerner and Loewe’. The Herald-Mail Video Viewer, 2-8 December: 1.

Bryant J (1962) ‘Lerner & Loewe’ extra-special. ShowTime. 9 February: 3-D.

Color special to be salute to Broadway (1963) The Shreveport Times. 11 February: 9-F.

Danzig F (1962) TV in review. The Herald-Journal. 12 February: 8.

Delatiner B (1962) Songs by Lerner and Loewe- ’nough said. Newsday. 12 February: C-2.

Downing R (1962) Cast honors M’el Dowd, Julie Andrews. The Cedar Rapids Gazette. 17 April: 8.

Feck L (1962) TV and radio: Weekend watching. The Cincinatti Enquirer. 13 February: 10.

Gaver J (1962a) Norman Jewison produces imaginative specials. TV Week. 28 January-3 February: 12.

_______ (1962b) The fall TV ‘special’ lineup is still up in the air waves. Oakland-Tribune TV and Radio. 10 June: 3.

Glenn NR (1962) This is NBC. Sponsor. 2 April: 16-17.

Gould J (1962) TV: 'Broadway of Lerner and Loewe'. The New York Times. 12 February:

Gross B (1962) Lerner & Loewe lead us down a magical street. Daily News. 12 February: 41.

Hull B (1962) Julie Andrews finds time for TV: Broadway star in Lerner and Loewe special tonight. Los Angeles Herald-Examiner TV Week, 11-17 February: 4-5, 12.

Krantz, J (1963) Norman Jewison: the stars' status symbol. MacLeans. 76(1) 5 January: 20-21, 30-32.

Lass B (1962) Starring Julie Andrews. The Courier-Journal Magazine: 36-37.

Julie & Carol renew magic with Carnegie Hall smasher (1963) TeleVues, 9-16 June: 7.

Lowry C (1962) ‘Radio/TV: “Broadway of Lerner and Loewe” good show’. The Daily Herald. 12 February: 8.

Messina M (1961) Stars set for musical spec. Daily News. 27 November: 50.

Peterson B (1962) Lerner and Loewe special: show to rank with TV’s great. Detroit Free Press. 13 February: 22.

Quigg D (1962) TV, Broadway and interviews keep Julie hopping. Chicago Tribune. 11 February: 4.

Rich, A (1962) Chrysler special called smash hit. Valley Times. 12 February: 9.

Rose. (1962) Television reviews: ‘The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe’. Variety. 14 February: 36.

Royal D (1962) Extremes meet at Carnegie Hall: Julie, Carol. Ithaca Journal: Showtime. 9-15 June: A5.

Scott V (1962) Big question in Hollywood: who will be ‘My Fair Lady’? The Herald-Journal. 19 April: 10.

Shain P (1962) Night watch: Lerner-Loewe showpiece -- need you say more? The Boston Globe. 12 February: 12

Shearer L (1963) Julie Andrews, Audrey Hepburn: Is there a five-million dollar difference between these two girls? Parade: The Sunday Newspaper Magazine. 4 August: 6-7.

Skolsky S (1962) Hollywood: Gossipel truth. Los Angeles Evening Citizen. 19 June: 8.

Smith C (1962a) The TV scene: Jewison makes Lerner-Loewe go. Los Angeles Times. 9 February: D-12.

_______ (1962b) The TV scene: Rare kudos for a rare sponsor. Los Angeles Times. 12 February: C-12.

Stern, H (1962) Norman Jewison directs 2 star-studded TV specials. News-Journal Weekend Magazine, 4 February: 10.

Thompson EK (1962) Spotlight: A lusty return by Lucy, a tuneful romp for Julie: two queen prepare for TV shows. Life. 52(1) 5 January: 74-79.

Wolters L (1962) Theater a madness and critic is happy. Chicago Tribune. 12 February: F-7.

#julie andrews #the broadway of lerner and loewe #classic television #Lerner and Loewe #Broadway #musical theatre #richard burton #maurice chevalier #robert goulet #stanley holloway #my fair lady #camelot #nbc #the parallel julieverse

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intoxicatingimmediacy · 3 years ago

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Rafael Casal Explains Why He And Daveed Diggs Just Hosted Their Second Screenwriters’ Salon For Bay Area Artists

[...] How would you describe the screenwriter’s salon and how did you and Daveed come up with it?

Rafael Casal: This is our second one; we did one back in August just for TV writers. I’ve never found a way to get other writers in the Bay that are doing a similar thing. When I was working on film stuff early on in my 20s, I didn’t know anyone else who was even seriously attempting scripts like that because I mean, who gets to make a movie? It’s such a big, wild dream to have. And now that we made a movie, and now we’re making a TV show, I recognize that it’s significantly more real for me. But I was certainly raised in a community where you don’t let the screen door slam behind you.

The big thing for us was we should probably make a space where people can get together and, even if it’s just to see the other people that are trying and have those conversations, you can exchange some information you can talk about the challenges, the hurdles, and feel in community with other folks. We did this with TV writers earlier in the year and now we’re doing it with film writers. I think we’ll keep doing it. But it’s been a really beautiful experience, and every time, you know, you’re just surrounded by other like-minded people that want to tell stories about this place.

[...] What do you hope participants get out of it? Is this the start of a series?

Casal: I think three or four times a year, to have a destination for people, for writers. I was doing this interview with some high school kids, and they were like, “What’s your advice for somebody who wants to get in the door?”

The reality is, I never know how to answer that question. Because it’s a hack. There’s no way to get there. It’s like a f–ing trash shoot: You have to climb down. The industry doesn’t have doors. So I think it’s just trying to create a door that gets other people in the community around a thing.

I take a lot of inspiration from Franklin Leonard, who created The Black List, who’s a friend, in watching what he’s built. He’s created a thing that the industry has to look at. You’re hoping that you’re creating a space where people can launch off and go into their careers; we can’t just do it once. We have to keep doing it so that people find out about it and that it’s useful.

We also turn a bunch of people away every time, and we only advertise it a few days before it starts. Hopefully, as we build it, we’ll be able to make something bigger and bigger and bigger, and in creating that, we can get some brands to come in and contribute software that we need for writers and spaces that people can write in, screening rooms that people can check out.

We’ve had a few people just this time around, who are from production companies in LA be like, “Hey, if you ever have writers in the salon that you think are really good I’m always trying to have a meeting.” amazing. So I think the more we promote not only to writers in the Bay, but [also to Hollywood] people who see what we’re doing back home, [they] will want to have the direct line to emerging talent. We’re trying to create a little bit of excitement around that and see if we can create another pipeline for people getting to get their work made.

What have you and Daveed gotten out of it, artists who others might say have “made it”?

Casal: I’m just gonna say all the cliches, but you learn that there is no making it, and that you don’t know anything. There are no there are no master filmmakers, there’s just people who have gotten really lucky and people who haven’t. There’s always talent, and there’s always craft and the mastering of the thing, and by the time you master anything in storytelling, the medium changes.

This second season of “Blindspotting,” we changed the way that lighting worked, because the industry, the bulbs and the technology around lighting has fundamentally changed. There’s always a new approach, a new method of leadership. Stay hungry and curious and studious, and lead with a sense that you couldn’t possibly know what’s coming next. It’s the same hunger as when you start. I think sometimes we’re trying to get to a place where it’s not going to feel like that, and the faster everyone realizes that it will always feel like that and that’s actually the fuel in your tank to do a good job, the less you‘ll fight against it, and the more you’ll chase that feeling.

In terms of success, there’s no success. It’s an industry that’s freelance, so nothing’s promised. We’re just trying to be really thankful for the things that we’ve gotten to do. And if it’s over tomorrow, great; it’s more than most people get to do. And if we get to do another one even more thankful, and again, you know, let the guilt that it got to be you and not someone else fuel you into creating opportunities for other people.

It’s humbling. [You] see how few people get to create art in this way. How can you chip away at the fact that only a few people get to do it, and make it a little bit more equitable? Because when we talk about wanting more stories, we are inherently saying we want more storytellers. It starts with writing. It starts with somebody saying “I have an idea,” and then working through it for a decade. You know, without much thank you or money.

#rafael casal #daveed diggs

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jaeminzie · 4 years ago

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helping hand | l.jn

↳ lee jeno x gender neutral!reader

synopsis: being a transfer student in hogwarts, you felt the need to prove yourself and live up to the rumors of you being the best seeker in your previous school. though, in hogwarts, you had the lee jeno to compete against with. thankfully, he didn’t see you as a rival.

genre: fluff

word count: 1,959

part of ‘the dreamies in hogwarts’ series

everyone in hogwarts hears the name ‘lee jeno’ so frequently that it’s as if he’s professor snape who every student gossip over and try to keep an eye on. though unlike the notorious professor, the person who possesses the name ‘lee jeno’ has a pile of students from each of the different houses trying to score a date with him like how he scores the golden snitch every single quidditch match that he’s played. jeno — the sixth year hufflepuff who has struck everyone (even the professors) with his perfect manners, annoyingly good looks, and even more infuriatingly amazing abilities in everything he participates in. one of the many natural talents the boy has is making the people around him seem inferior.

being a new transfer student from ilvermorny school of witchcraft and wizardry, you weren’t aware of the man’s skill at first. heck, even if you did, that wouldn’t make you second guess joining your house’s team — slytherin which is the equivalent to your old house in ilvermorny, thunderbird. it only took a couple days for you to know random facts about the hufflepuff after constantly hearing about him in classes, the loo, the great hall, and even in the slytherin common room. still, you didn’t feel threatened since you were confident in your abilities, hogwarts was already starting to feel like a home to you. you navigate through the halls like you know every crevice of the campus. for some, it’s hard to believe that it’s only your first year in hogwarts since your name is the second most frequently talked about around campus.

everyone knew you of course, they were all curious on how wizarding school was like in the states. everyone, including jeno. although he heard many rumors about you being the best seeker in your old school, just like you, jeno didn’t feel threatened one bit, though, for different reasons. unlike everyone else, he honestly didn’t care about winning. he played for the fun of it, not for winning a piece of metal that’ll be eventually left for the dust. you, on the other hand, believe that the joy of playing quidditch is winning and you assumed every athlete thought the same.

the first game of the season is today and you have been practicing after school each day for the past three weeks. and never once, have you seen jeno practice in his own leisure time. the only times you did see him was during his weekly team practices that only lasted an hour and a half maximum. he must be that confident, huh? you were ready to teach him.

“we’re going out in three.” your captain yelled out in your little shared tent.

you straighten your green robe and flew out with your team on your broomsticks, forming a straight line. you flew in the air with a perfect posture and chin titled up, but not too high or that’d be trying too hard. your team halted when you all reached the middle of the field and met face to face with your opposing team dressed in yellow.

you and jeno floated directly across from each other and you slightly grimace at the smile he shot at you. a person with a functioning pair of eyes can recognize that jeno is indeed a handsome man with amazing body proportions, yet you would never admit it out loud. you are sure not to feed his ego further when he already has a crowd praising his every action each millisecond.

unaware of your opinions on him, jeno keeps the smile on his lips and eyes for you to see, hoping that you’ll reciprocate. before you could do so, you got into starting position with your full attention on the shaking case placed on the grass below your hovering bodies that held the golden snitch inside.

madam hooch opens the case and the snitch shoots up, flying around your heads in a mocking manner. everyone’s diverts their attention to the commentor in the stands, waiting for them to say the words as madam hooch throws the quaffle straight up into the air.

“the quaffle is released, and the game begins!”

everyone’s robes instantly flapped in the wind as people rushed to acquire the balls. you repeatedly hear the commentor yelling out various numbers as points for team hufflepuff which fueled you even more so.

everything and everyone surrounding your floating figure became a blur the second you get a glimpse of a tiny golden shine from afar. immediately, you fastened your pace to the ball.

jeno was amazed at how determined you are in catching the snitch, he followed suit right behind you, making you to see a hint of yellow at the corner of your eyes.

after many sharp turns and circles, you finally manage to catch up to the snitch, only having a finger length distance between you and the object while jeno seems to be too close by your side.

“lee jeno and y/l/n y/f/n are head to head!” the cheers and booing boomed louder. “who will be able to catch the snitch for their team!” all you heard were various yelled responses clashed together, almost making both your ears ring.

if you could just lean in a tiny bit more, you’d bring your house to victory. you scoot closer and closer to the tip of your broom in order to get be in reach with the shiny object. finally, you felt the cold metal brush your fingertips and it slinked into your palms. along with the feeling of coldness in your hand, you feel your entire body running cold as you plummeted down when you got too carried away with acquiring the snitch, causing you to lose balance on the tip of your broom.

“y/l/n has fallen from their broom!” there is a collective noise of the audience standing up from the benches and their gasps.

you look up to see your broomstick still floating in place, cursing at it and wishing you had upgraded the stick before transferring schools. what you can also see is jeno making his way towards you, seeming to get closer and closer every second as he went at a inhuman speed. instinctively, your grip on the snitch became tighter. his hair pulled back due to the power of the wind and his eyes wide open in panic as he approached you faster.

you look over your shoulder and realize how near the grass is, making you shut your eyes closed and hold the snitch to your chest since that is truly the only thing that mattered in your mind.

jeno inches closer to your falling body, forcing all his power to accelerate faster. he could feel his veins nearly popping from all the pressure and the wind, but he didn’t stop until he felt you secure in his arms.

everyone goes silent. “lee has caught y/l/n!” cheers erupt. you hesitantly opened your eyes as you could hear people ‘aww-ing’ and some praising jeno for the kind act toward his own opponent, only to make direct eye contact with the boy instantly. this is the first time you guys aren’t at a few feet distance from one another. previously, jeno would only be able to see you from afar, he didn’t get to see the marks and dots that splattered randomly on your cheeks, forehead, chin, and neck. nor was he able to see how adorably quick you are to get red whenever he’d step into the same room as you prior to this moment — you weren’t completely sure if it was out of frustration or timidness due to his overbearing presence — jeno made himself believe that it was out of coyness, that he was affecting you like this.

“you okay?” his arms are still holding you up bridal style. with his naturally moon crescent shaped eyes boring into yours, all you were able to do was nod into submission. now finally recognizing the reason why students and professors have only good words to say about the boy after he had just saved you from critical pain despite not been given the best treatment from you. surely, if it were you in jeno’s position, you would’ve sat there and enjoyed the show of your opponent falling to their doom. or the only reason you would go after him is the snitch in his hands. but he caught you and isn’t putting any effort in trying to get the ball from you.

you mumbled a ‘thank you.’ then you begin to feel the stiff wings attached to the golden snitch in your hands that you had shortly forgotten flickering against your palm. immediately, you get off jeno’s arms and placed each of your legs on both sides of his sturdy broom, facing his body and getting a better angle of his face. though, you are convinced that there isn’t any angle he didn’t look good in.

you shake away your thoughts and raised your hand up proudly with your back shot straight and the biggest smirk.

“y/n has gotten the snitch!” loud roars erupted from your house’s tower. “150 points to slytherin!” the smirk laid on your face turn into a smile which later turned into fits of laughter. you admired how your house cheered for you, almost too invested to catch the boy sitting in front of you staring shamelessly at you.

feeling as confident as ever, you joked, “enjoying the view?”

“actually, yeah. very much so.” you smirk at the smiling boy’s response. something about his smile right now was different from the previous pure ones he’s given you, he seems hungry. “the rumors were true, i’m impressed.”

you take off your gloves and clap your hands to dust them off, then shoving your gloves into the pocket of your robe. jeno maintained the eye contact. “yeah, you could put some more work, though.”

the boy dropped his head and shook it as he chuckled, tongue poking the inside on his right cheek. “maybe i could use some lessons.”

you quirk an eyebrow and hummed, waiting for him to continue. “possibly lessons from the best seeker in hogwarts, y/n.”

“so you admit that i’m the best?”

his lips turned up. “only if you agree to teach me and spend some time with me to build a bond, you know, so when we play, it’ll be easier-“

“we aren’t even in the same team.” your hands rested on your thighs and tilted your head while his hands came up to ruffle his own hair and waver them around as he tried to explain.

“well, it’s still nice to hav-“

you shake your head at his great reasoning. “deal but buy me a new broomstick.” jeno’s face relaxed and nodded firmly, his hands copied yours and found place on his thighs. he began to lower both of you down toward the grass without either of you speaking a word, just staring and smiling slightly.

you both hop of his broom, never leaving your sight on each other. you spoke first, “we practice everyday after school. we start on monday, don’t be late and don’t make me regret saying yes.” you point a finger at him and look him up and down to get a mental image of the boy’s figure for your own pleasure before walking away.

jeno took note of your last sentence as he stood there bashfully. now that you couldn’t see his face, he could let out the breath he’s been holding and his face heating — and for the first time, he wishes for monday to come sooner. smiling to yourself as you strutted back to your tent, you already knew you wouldn’t regret a single thing with lee jeno.

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peppermint2d · 3 years ago

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F#$%ing uh, Calm after the Storm cuz the Storm Thing

It's 2D's birthday today, so enjoy another chapter!

Ch.1 in case you missed it

Chapter 2:

When you come to again, you see that the movie was indeed paused from what you last remember. Since he is in the basement, it was still dark inside 2D's room. You could see his sleeping form on his bed, lightly snoring with each inhale. It was still cold, but you promised to give the jacket back, so you gently lay it on top of him. You leave his room, hearing Noodle giggle far away.

There were no windows in the hallway, so you again relied on the walls for help and tried to follow the noises of Noodle in the kitchen. Climbing two flights of stairs in the dark is easier than it sounds, especially since as you reached the upper floor, the windows helped a little. It was still storming outside, but at least outside was brighter, even if by only a small amount.

As you walk into the kitchen, you hear the hiss of the stove releasing gas and see Noodle with a pack of matches. As she strikes one, you tackle her, and the air above you catches fire, burning your arm that you put up the shield both of you. "Ah fuck!" Tears well up in your eyes.

Noodle quickly squirms out from your grasp and puts a pan on the now lit stove. All that for breakfast? You check your arm and see a blister forming. There is no ice in the fridge since it all melted, so you wet a towel and hold it on the burn. Noodle shoos you away from the sink and fridge, removing butter, potatoes, and pancake mix from the cabinets. "Batā daijōbu? Bīgandesu ka?" She asked, holding up the butter.

"Sure, anything is fine."

She nods and quickly whips up breakfast for both of you and enough extras for the rest of the band. She sits on the island counter next to you. "Thank you for breakfast." You push the food around as you attempt to eat with one hand.

She hums questioningly and points to her left arm, your injured one.

You show her the burn. "It will heal, thanks for asking."

"What will heal?" Russel enters and starts getting his plate of food.

"My arm. Burnt it just now."

He sets a water kettle on the still-lit stove. "How bad?"

"Second degree, I think." You remove the towel to show him.

He grimaces. "Great way to wake up in the morning. Joe?"

"Who's Joe?"

Russel broke out into a sly grin. "Joe Mama. But a cup of joe, coffee?"

"BOO! Russel, boo. I can't believe I fell for that." You accept his consolation prize and he makes coffee for both of you. Noodle reaches for one, but Russel lightly smacks her hand away. "None 'til you're older."

Noodle lets out a quick string of angry Japanese.

"Say all you want but ain't getting none of this 'til you're at least 15."

"I can't believe she is so young. She's the one who made breakfast. Plus, she already is so talented with the guitar!"

"And vocals." As soon as Russel says that, he blushes. "Pretend I never said that."

"She does vocals on the new album? Come on, Russel! You can't just let that slip and not answer my questions!!"

"Can and will. Ey Noodle, Where's your napkin?"

Noodle paused in the middle of wiping her maple syrup on her sleeve. Russel sighed and got her a napkin. "You were saying about her maturity?"

You both share a laugh. "When do you think this storm will end?" You ask Russel.

"Dunno. It's always storming over Kong, at least."

"Do you like it here?"

"Don't hate it. I do enjoy makin music, but the whole kidnapped thing wasn't ideal." You both chuckled again.

"Yeah, I bet. I'm going to be having nightmares of Murdoc kidnapping me now."

"Murdoc doing anything is highly unlikely" Russel's deep laughter boomed throughout the room.

"Oi! I do stuff! I do lots of stuff." Murdoc wiggled his eyebrows. He takes the rest of the food.

"Hey! Leave some for 2D!" You protest.

"If the faceache wanted some, he should have woken up earlier." He sneered back, drenching his plate of pancakes in syrup and fried potatoes with ketchup. He poured the rest of the coffee for himself. There was too much for one cup, so he got out two mugs, filled both, and drank from both. What an asshole.

You looked at your own plate. You were too busy tending to your arm and talking to Russel to really eat anything, aside from a piece of potato. You were starving from not having any dinner. But you were the reason 2D stayed up and therefore didn't get up on time. You sighed and took your plate downstairs. "Thanks again for breakfast, Noodle!" You call behind you.

You set the food on the floor so you could knock on the door. Like a poor replay of last night, you had to knock again louder. Frustrated, you shout "2D!" You hear movement on the other side of the door and pick up the food.

"Ah!" A loud thump proceeds the opening of his door and you see him rubbing his chin as he opens it for you.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I jus tripped. Can't really see well at night. Although I guess it mornin now innit?" He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stepped out of the way for you to join him, relighting the candle from last night. "Oh! Yew brought me breakfast? I'm starvin. Wouldda fought that Murdoc ate it all before I got any."

"He kinda did" You admit sheepishly.

"But then how'd yew get dis?" He sat on his bright yellow chair and started to eat vigorously.

"A magician never reveals their secrets."

"YEW DO MAGIC?"

"No D, it's an idiom." He looked confused. "Like raining cats and dogs?"

He swallowed his bite before speaking: "That doesn seem safe."

As you're about to laugh, your stomach starts to growl, causing you to turn bright red.

2D frowns. "This was yours?" You nod. "Well, now yew gotta take some. Yew didn efen 'ave dinna!"

"Nah, 2D it's yours, come on you said you were starving!"

"Eh, don tell 'er I said so, but Noodle's cookin can be off. I don like fese potatoes anyway, would yew-"

"Yes." You sit on the ground by him and he hands you what's left of them. You both sit in companionable silence. Normally, you observe everything as information for your articles, but here, there is nothing to record. Eating is a very intimate act. It's private. It leaves you vulnerable. One does not eat comfortably with strangers. There is an inherent agreement made when eating, a promise of safety and companionship. You don't think 2D values this moment as much as you do, you were waxing poetic while he sticks his tongue out as he struggles to cut a part of his pancake. Even though his struggles may suggest otherwise, he is meticulous while eating, taking extra caution to not allow any syrup to drip while he eats.

"Yew still 'ungry?" He nodded towards your empty plate. "Cuz yew'fe been lookin at me eat, and there's plenty pancake left."

"No, uh, I'll live." You flush, you keep forgetting about his eyes.

"Good! Wouldn't want yew dyin." He grins, showing off his missing teeth. You look around his room while he finishes. It wasn't exactly a mess, but it was not orderly. Clothes littered the floor, but the room felt lived in and as homey as a basement could get.

"Do you like living in the basement?" You ask him as he collects the plates into a stack.

"Didn't 'ave much of a choice. Murdoc put me 'ere before Russ n Noodle showed up. Gets a bit drafty fough."

This would be nice for your article. "Was this even a room initially? Or did Murdoc just put up a wall?"

"I dunno. I fink 'e jus put somefin up since I can see ofer dis wall 'ere if I get up 'igh enough." He opens his door and takes the plates with him. "Can yew blow out the candle? I don wanna bring it upstairs since Murdoc would probably take it for 'imself. Yew can grab onto the back of me shirt if you need 'elp navigatin. Not that I can see where I'm goin eifer."

You do ask he asks and grab onto his yellow tee. "I would offa yew me 'and, but..."

"They're full. Don't worry, this is helping loads."

He just hums in response as he leads you up the stairs, through the carpark, and up more stairs to the kitchen. When you finally reach the kitchen, your hand still holding the warm material of 2D's shirt. Russel hears you two enter and looks above the book he was reading --Wuthering Heights-- to raise an eyebrow at your position which must have looked a lot more suggestive than it actually was. You were in the basement alone with 2D for an hour at least and as an investigative journalist, you could understand better than anyone why it looked suspicious. You deeply flush, feeling the heat reach the tips of your ears. 2D apparently did not catch Russel's expression, leading you to the sink, where he washed the plates while you still held onto him. You didn't need to, you could see just fine now.

Russel sniggered, "I guess your arm's feeling better now, huh?" His sly smile hinting that he thinks he knows, incorrectly as it may be, why you are suddenly so close to 2D.

"Your arm's 'urtin?! Why didn yew say anyfin last night?" 2D turns towards you frantically, grabbing the arm that was holding his shirt, turning it around, trying to find the injury.

"Last night? Damn." Russel is chuckling on the couch, shaking his head. "2D, you have been ploughing through too many girls recently."

This piqued your interest. A new development for your article.

"I'm- I'm- I'm strugglin Russ, yew know dis. Besides, we didn efen do anyfin! We jus watched Dawn of the Dead!" He shakes his head vigorously, waving his arms.

"It starts with Dawn of the Dead..."

"ANYWAY! 'ow did yew 'urt your arm?" 2D harshly changes the subject, Russel fully laughing at this point.

You barely manage to mumble: "Burnt it." Russel's teasing really embarrassed you.

"On the candle?" He still looked so concerned, as if he was the one to hurt you.

"This morning. Not your fault, D." He visibly relaxed at that.

"Plus, it's this arm." You held up your left arm, the angry, sickly yellow blister facing him.

"'ow could I 'ave missed this! Oi, love, why 'aven't yew bandaged this? Does it 'urt still? Did yew put ointment on it?"

"Yo, 2D, chill, let her breathe!" Russel shouted from across the room.

2D flinched in surprise. "Sorry."

You smile and giggle, their concern for you was so cute. "I'm fine. It hurts to move and if anything touches it, it's agony, but really no need to fret."

"We keep a first aid kit in the studio because of, uh, Murdoc. I can patch yew up." He takes your uninjured hand and leads you down to the ground floor and into a cluttered studio. You grimaced at the pelt on the floor.

2D noticed your refusal to step on it. "Yeah, 'm not a big fan of it meself." He digs through a discarded box. "'ere's the kit! Come 'ere, I'll make yew feel be'er."

He rifles through the extensive kit, packed with anything an EMT team may need, including a mini lamp, which he turns on. "Oh! 'ere it is! Alooe Veera soofin cream!" He terribly mispronounces the name. "'ere are some bandages too, I'll wrap yew up afta."

You sat by his side on the floor as he tenderly took your injured arm and inspected it. "I fink dis may scar."

"If it does, then I'll always have something to remember this by. Plus, Noodle would feel so guilty, I'd probably get tickets to all of your concerts." You joke, but 2D's concern didn't seem to waver.

He laid it on his lap while he put some cream on his fingers. "Dis may 'urt a wee bit." He started on the outside of your burn, gently rubbing in the cream, the soothing lotion and soft touches caused you to sigh and relax into 2D's shoulder. Again, he smelled of cigarettes and cedar and his vanilla-scented candle still lingered in his shirt. He was bony so that you could feel his shoulder blade and clavicle, but it was not uncomfortable in the slightest. You could feel his muscles move as he tended to you and if this continued any longer, you would have fallen asleep.

He brushes against the blister unexpectedly and you yelp, yanking back your arm. "I need you to stay still, love." You grumble and tuck your head back into his shoulder, relaxing into him again. He continues with the cream, taking extra care with the blister, pausing when you sharply inhale. "I'll bandage yew up right proper, I will." He whispers, mainly to himself.

As soon as the rough gauze touches your blister, you whimper. "Jus stay good for a few more minutes, yeah?"

"This is hurting more than the actual burn."

"Sorry, love. Uh, lemme know if dis is too tight or loose." He begins to wrap the bandage around your forearm.

"Tighter, please." He pauses and tries again.

"Tighter." He tugs on them even harder.

"Tighter."

"Yew sure? I fink your fingers are turnin red." He was right, they were showing signs of lack of blood flow.

"Please, D? I don't want it to come undone and have to do this again."

He follows your wishes and finishes tieing it up with a bow. "There, all done! If it still 'urts bad, I could give yew some of me painkillers?"

"I could do with some ibuprofen maybe. What do you have?"

"Perscriptions. Nefer wifout em!" His smile didn't quite reach his eyes and you could tell that it was just a cover. You give him a sympathetic smile, you couldn't blame him for being addicted. His smile falls. "Yew won't put that in your article, will yew?"

"Of course not, D! Nothing without your permission gets published, I'll even send you my rough draft for you to OK." You stand up and reach out your good arm to help him up too.

He is lighter than you expected as you yank him up beside you. "Yew don 'ave to do that. I doubt I could efen understand what yew write."

"Oh please, you're very intelligent!"

"Not since I fell on me 'ead, I 'aven't been." He deeply sighs. Then, he shakes his head. "Well, dis is where the magic 'appens! I could give yew a tour?"

You follow his lead and decide to stop talking about his past, but that doesn't mean you have to stop wondering what made this ray of sunshine so sad. He takes you around the space, explaining what each machine does and how it was used on the EP, sometimes complaining how one of them didn't work properly or how it didn't make it into the final versions of the songs. When you reach the keyboards, he practically glows when talking about them, their names (yes, he named his keyboards), which sounds are unique to each, and which ones are the stubborn ones. "Dis one 'as a very stiff F4, could nefer play that note." He pulls down his favourite from the shelf and plays "The Entertainer" beautifully. It would have rude to not applaud.

"And that's the recording boof. I don quite like 'ow claustrophobic it makes me. The sound spikes are scary, too. No good memories in there." He takes the lamp with him as he walks to the door. He holds out his hand for you to take, even though you can see where you are going now. But who are you to say no?

You reach out to take his hand, his being quite a bit bigger than yours. He leads you out the door and through the winding hallways of Kong. Even with his lamp, the place still reminds you a bit of a maze. You hear Russel's deep timbre coming down the kitchen's stairs and you remembered your interaction with him earlier and wondered how it would have been if he'd seen how you still held 2D's hand. 2D led you back down the stairs, through the car park, and down the stairs again. with each step the two of you took down, the darker the space around you got. That was the cons of a basement, you supposed. Once you were both back in his room, he placed the lamp over on a desk.

"Okay, ibuprofen right? I fink I got somethin like tha."

He let go of your hand to open the drawer at his desk, revealing many, many, bottles of pills. You tried to pretend you weren't looking over his shoulder at them all, but you were pretty sure he knew you were. He didn't address it, instead pulling out a specific bottle and pushing the door shut. He held it up close in front of his face, and you watched as he squinted just slightly to read the label.

"'ere we go! Dis should work."

He popped the top of the bottle and dumped quite a large amount on his hand before holding it out to you. You stared for a moment at the pile of pills in his hand before reaching out and grabbing just 2. He blinked, and slowly put the rest of the pills back in the bottle, then dropped it back in the drawer.

"Thanks, 2D. This'll help loads." You smiled up at him. He just smiled back.

You took both pills, faced with the fact you had no water to swallow them down with. It wasn't the biggest deal, but you never were good at swallowing pills, so the bitter medicine dissolved slightly on your tongue before it was gone.

"Blegh." you stuck your tongue out and scrunched your face up, that bitter taste causing you to cringe. You heard 2D laugh at your reaction. "Hey! Rude." You said, but you were smiling too.

"Sorry," he laughed a little again, "Les go get you somfin to drink, yeah?"

"Um, yeah. please."

He starts to lead you back to the kitchen. Your whole time at Kong has been dealing with these blasted stairs. "What yew want to drink?" 2D asks as you reach the car park.

"Got any more soda from last night?"

"No, fresh out, Noodle finished it while yew were asleep."

"Juice?"

"Yeah! We may 'ave some Orange Juice left."

"If it was in the fridge it would have gone bad by now because of the power."

2D sighed. "Then all we gots is water and Murdoc's alcohol supply." You were about to go up the stairs to the kitchen and pause.

"You know any good cocktails, D?" You smiled slyly. Sure, it may only be after lunchtime, but with the clocks out, who really knows what time it is.

"I normally jus drink straight from the bottle." His smile returns your energy, so you turn around and start heading to the Winnebago.

The air starts to turn sour, and you could feel it sticking to your face. When you inhale, it burns your nose and stays in the back of your throat. The stench of death and rot. Of alcohol, sweat, weed, and sex. Of an overuse of Axe bodyspray. You didn't think you would see a grown man cry today, but as you two approached the Winnebago, 2D's eyes watered in a way that could only be described as a constant stream of tears.

"What happened here? Do you think Murdoc's okay?" As you open your mouth to speak, you could feel the stench seep in and can almost taste the putridness.

2D coughed "'e's probably more than okay." He knocked on the flimsy door.

The opening of the door unleashed a plume of stank upon you and 2D. You were expecting Murdoc to greet you, but your eyes lowered until they saw what you could only describe as a zombie in a maid outfit. That was definitely making the article. It gurgled and turned away. A second later, Murdoc appeared, topless. "Hey, Love! Finally come to your sense, eh?" He saw 2D and grumbled, "Ah, why'd you bring dents for eyes? I promised myself I wouldn't make that dream a reality. Besides, my bed's only got room for two." Murdoc leered at you, outlining your body with his eyes. 2D coughed and stood in front of you, causing Murdoc to lean back and cross his arms. "You're blocking her view of all this." He gestured to himself.

"Not to dis one, Murdoc. Not again. We're only 'ere for your booze." His hands balled into fists. You didn't need 2D to speak to Murdoc for you, but you sense something deeper going on here.

Murdoc turned for a sec and grabbed a bottle behind him. "Here you go, Face Ache. It's weak enough for you to stomach, lightweight. And if she," He points at you, "comes to me begging for a shag, later on, then we will both know that you're the issue."

2D takes the bottle and mumbles bastard under his breath. Murdoc leans against the doorframe and grins, cockily, watching you leave. The farther you get away from the Winnebago, the clearer the air looks. "Ah, I can feel my nose again! That stank, right D?"

"Yeah, wha'ever." He didn't look at you, his head tilted down so you guessed he was looking at the floor. He was hunched over and held the alcohol with white knuckles.

"You okay, 2D?" You put your hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged you off. "I jus wanna down dis bottle and forget everyfin 'til tomorrow at least."

You follow him silently back to his room, straying behind so that you were barely within the light from 2D's lamp. He disappeared through the door, leaving you in the dark as you fumbled down the last steps. You find him flopped face down onto the bed, his arms and legs splayed across the whole mattress. You gingerly pick up one of his legs and move it so you can sit on the bed beside him.

"You know I would never sleep with Murdoc, right?"

2D grumbled and opened the bottle, taking a huge swing, not fazed at all. He passed it over to you and you read the label. It was named Satan's Piss and had a cartoon devil on the front. Its main feature was its ABV of 50%, 10% more than vodka. You take a considerably smaller sip and cough, cringing at the strength, causing 2D to snort. At least one of you is getting something out of this.

"Wouldn't be the first time someone's left me for 'im." 2D pulled his limbs in a rolled over so that his stomach was touching your back, his legs close to your side. He leaned on one elbow, purposefully not looking at you. You turned slightly so you could watch him. "I don fink I could efer forgive Murdoc for what 'e did. I 'ad a bird and she and I were togefer efen before I lost me eyes, which I also 'ate Murdoc for, but that's a different story. Dis bird 'elped me frough me recovery and efen joined the band after I became the singer. The guitarist before Noodle." He paused and reached out for the bottle, which you handed to him. He took another huge drink and use wiping his mouth as an excuse to rub his eyes as well. "Well, anyway, Russ found 'er one day in the toilets wif Murdoc, givin 'im a blow job. 'e broke Murdoc's nose, that's why it looks so screwed up." He chuckled a little at that and took another drink. "After that, I tried to use other girls as a way of lessenin the pain. It's what Russel was talkin about in the kitchen. I actually 'ad plans wif a bird for this weekend, but well." He sheepishly looked up at you. "I 'ad dated Rachel Stevens for a bit, but Murdoc scared 'er off. Not the first time it's 'appened eifer. 'e's ruined everyfin for me recently." He ended his speech by finishing half of the bottle and handing it back to you.

"Oh, D. I'm so sorry. Paula, she didn't deserve you." You put your uninjured hand on his shoulder and he looked up at you. From the light of the lantern, you could see that his face was wet.

"She said it was me fault she got wif Murdoc. That she was tired of dealin wif me in me comatose state and that I was too fick efen after I came too. And I know I should blame 'er, but I just can't bring meself to 'ating 'er. I loved 'er, you know? Loved 'er proper." As he was speaking, staring at his hands, you drank some of the alcohol, it really starting to affect you.

Your hand started to move up from his shoulder to his hair, slowly running your fingers through the blue. It looked so pointy, you expected it to be brittle with hair gel or something, but his hair was so smooth and soft, albeit a bit messy. When you touched it, he flinched, but as you continued to brush your hand through, he relaxed and moved into the touch. You didn't stop combing through his hair, loving the way the blue fluff would part on your behalf. As you pet his hair, you could feel him begin to cry, his face in his hands, his shoulders heaving, his breathing unsteady. You heard sniffles and choked whimpers, so you made an effort to prevent any stray hairs from falling onto his face, lest it gets wet. You tasted alcohol as you drank some more to distract you from crying too: 2D didn't need that right now. All you saw was a defeated, broken boy who needed so much more love than anyone could give him.

You put the bottle on the floor and lifted 2D by his shoulders with your good arm, pulling him up into a sitting position with you. He didn't complain, only removed his hands from his black eyes, revealing them to be overflowing with tears and had a vague look of confusion. Then you hugged him, pulling his body close, feeling the heat of him through his clothes, hurting when his ribs would expand only to push out the air as a muffled cry. As if you two had done this a thousand times before, he tucked his head into your neck and it fits perfectly. His hair tickled your face and you continued to run your fingers through it. "It's alright. I'm here. I won't let you go." You whispered repeatedly while your friend conveyed every once of his devastation in tears.

After he calmed a little, he lifted his face from your neck. You could feel how wet it was from his tears and snot, but you didn't really mind. You stopped touching his hair, instead you cupped his cheek with your hand, brushing away stray tears with your thumb.

"S-sorry," He hiccuped, "for crying on yew." He looked up at you, his empty eyes rimmed red and you lost some part of yourself to him then.

You continued to stroke his cheek. "Sh, don't apologize, you're perfect."

His arm that used to lay limply over your shoulder while you were comforting him moved slowly, until it rested at the nape of your neck, tangling itself into your hair. He searched your face for any signs of opposition, but upon receiving none, he pulled your lips to his.

You have never had a worse headache or case of cottonmouth. Luckily it was still night, the noises of nocturnal life just outside, so you didn't have to bother with bright lights. You started to stir, but couldn't move half of your body. Looking over, you saw that 2D had wrapped his arms around your unburnt arm and that one of his long legs hooked around you, essentially trapping you. Had you fallen asleep like this? "Please be wearing clothes, please," You whisper. You saw that you were both fully clothed and let out a sigh of relief. You couldn't remember for the life of you what may have caused this. The last thing you could recall was Paula, the bitch.

#2d gorillaz #2d stuart pot #2d x reader #gorillaz #2d fanfiction #gorillaz fanfiction #gorillaz fandom #stuart pot x reader

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blackaquokat · 5 years ago

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Reasons You Should Listen to All the Episode Commentaries for Leverage

--John Rogers is always drinking some kind of alcoholic beverage while doing so. He introduces himself at the beginning, pops the can/bottle open, and it begins.

--The writers/directors/producers freaking LOVED just about every part of the show. They are always heaping love onto the actors/the crew/the writers/the locations they filmed.

--Aldis Hodge starts joining in during Season 3 and always introduces himself as either, “DJ Chocolate Skittles,” “Cookie,” or, with a very specific vocal inflection that I don’t know how to describe, “SEXUAL CHOCOLATE!!” He also always has very interesting tidbits about approaching moments he’s improvised (which is almost all the best moments on the show) and about how he views Hardison.

--The creators also always talk about the Portland actors they worked with, because that’s where they filmed just about the whole show, and how talented those actors were. Very rarely did they bring up L.A. actors because they kept finding incredible talent in Portland, such as Detective Bonanno, Peggy, the Irish Mob actors in Boy’s Night Out, almost all of the clients and security guards, etc.

--Speaking of, they also keep talking about how they could imagine entirely other shows surrounding various characters they didn’t have enough time to dedicate to, such Sophie and Tara grifting together or the FBI Agent in the Radio Job having his own story. They wanted to bring back SO MANY different actors and characters who only appeared for brief times during the show.

--They talk about lots of lore that they couldn’t fit into the show. They say that the assassins from the Reunion Job and the Morning After Job are married, that the cop lady (they named her Officer Rose, specifically for fanfic references, because they hadn’t given her a name in the script and greatly regretted that because they loved this actor) that Eliot flirted with/distracted in Boy’s Night Out dated Rizzoli in the past (John Rogers was apparently very bitter that the writers hadn’t committed to Rizzolie and Isles being lesbians, he talks about it in the commentary twice), John Rogers even outright says that he believes that Maggie and Sophie were involved with each other in canon at one point.

--They encourage so much fanfiction ideas, both about the main cast and about minor characters. John says, and I quote, about the Girl’s Night Out scene where Sophie and Tara are searching that hotel bedroom together, “If this scene does not inspire some very raunchy fanfiction, we have failed our audience.”

--They respect their actors and characters. So much. They made a rule during the first two seasons to NOT sexualize Parker’s character unless she was on the grift and in control of the situation. They realized that the way Sophie and Nate were in S1, they hadn’t developed enough as characters be together during that season, so they changed it up because it was what the characters needed. They were very adamant about giving Parker and Hardison the lovely, slowburn romance they deserved, especially with how broken Parker was. So often, the writers said that the actors were so in-tune with their characters that all the directors did was point the camera at the actors and let them do their thing, because often the actors ad-libbed something in-character that ended up in the show., like Eliot and Sophie’s conversation about what’s under Nate’s bed in the Beantown Bailout Job.

--The big reason Aldis Hodge was casted to be Hardison was because he was the only actor who made about eight pages worth of story exposition sound fun and interesting and enjoyable, and most of Hardison’s dialogue involves exposition. Also, his improv game was STRONG.

--One of my favorite lines in the entire commentary involves John Rogers talking about the Girl’s Night Out Job: “DON’T DISEMPOWER YOUR FEMALE LEADS.”

--They talk about HILARIOUS scenes they wanted to include in the show but couldn’t: Parker’s first introduction to chocolate involving her almost eating through the table, Eliot’s flashback scene in the beginning of S5 involving him coming through Stargate, or Eliot appearing covered in green goo in a flashback in the First-Contact Job.

--There’s also a LOT of really good lessons and ideas about camerawork and set design and costume design and how they write the episodes which I imagine will be very helpful for burgeoning filmmakers.

--Another big rule was to treat every season like it would be the last one, because Dean and John HATED when show pulled that awful cliffhanger trick to get people to come back and watch more, both for Season Finales and from episode to episode. To quote John, “GIVE THE FANS THEIR F***ING ENDING!!”

--Competence Porn. The creators’ favorite term to use, because they know all fans have a competence kink, and Leverage is a show FULL of Competence Porn. They know what the fans want and they deliver.

--Basically, if you’re looking to write Leverage fanfiction and want to enjoy hearing from creators who actually respected and loved the show they created along with the actors and crews who helped make it happen, I highly recommend the Leverage commentary, it’s so enjoyable, they are all so animated the entire time they talk about it, it makes you excited just listening.

#leverage #kat rants

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depressedhatakekakashi · 3 years ago

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Side characters think were done the most dirty (not in order)

* Shino: There was literally an entire joke revolving on why he gets almost no screentime and how he misses out on most arcs, instead of the writers fixing the issue. Also people heavily underestimate how strong his clan and he is. They are part of the four strongest clan branches of Hyugas, Uchiha's Nara's AND Aburame's!!

*‎‏‏‎ ‎‎‏‏‎Tenten: She had an interesting goal for her in the beginning of the series, but they for some reason just forget her most of the time. They had another chance for her to become a strong ninja by using WEAPONS MADE BY GODS. SHE COULD'VE BEEN SO DAMN OP BUT NAWWWW TEAM 7 NEEDED EVEN MORE SPOTLIGHT-- She was legit useless for the entire time she was on the show. Even a PIG got more screentime than her!! The only time she really appeared was in filler which isn't canon!

*‎‏‏‎ Yamato: he literally. HAD ONE OF THE MOST, IF NOT LITERALLY THE STRONGEST KEKKEI GENKAI IN THE ENITRE SERIES YET THEY TREATED HIM LIKE A JOKE-- LIKE??? AS SOON AS NARUTO CONTROLLED KURAMA THEY BASICALLY SAID " i don't wanna use you anymore " AND HE WAS GONE FOR NEARLY 200 EPISODES AND RETURNED TO ONLY BE FORGOTTEN????

Sai: Had an incredibly interesting story of growth and escape, only to get swatted off to the side (literally) during the war arc because ‘omg Sasuke’s back and Team Seven is together again!!!’

Neji: killed for legit no good reason and never allowed to achieve his dream of changing his clan for the better.

Anko: has a really cool talent and a skill no one else had (no poison could affect her) but the. SURPRISE KABUTO MADE A POISON THAT AFFECTED HER AND BEAT HER IN A FIGHT IN 0.5 SECOND CUZ F*** strong female characters i guess

Choji: the fat jokes were so f***ing unneccessary. We knew why he had his weight, there’s no way others didn’t know why he had his weight when his clan is huge in konoha and well known. CUTE THAT SHIT OUT AND STOP DOING IT TO CHOCHO TOO

Lee: boy had such a good entrance into the series and then got turned into a joke. Seriously, wtf

Kurenai: you’re telling me the only time i get to see her skills in action is against Uchiha f**ing Itachi!? RIGGED

Konan: every single Akatsuki member got a bad ass fight they won before ultinatly falling, except Konan. She only fought one person and she died… i just… the way she died too was so disrespectful

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thedeaditeslayer · 4 years ago

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Greg Nicotero Talks ‘Creepshow’ Season Two, His ‘Evil Dead’ Love Letter And Exploring More Iconic Horror IPs.

This interview with Greg Nictorero covers the season premiere episode that is a homage to Evil Dead. Recommended reading below!

The first season of Creepshow was a monster hit for AMC’s horror streamer, Shudder.

Becoming the most-watched program in the platform’s history, it smashed several records in terms of viewership, total minutes streamed, and new subscriber sign-ups. The show’s second season is about to drop, and a third has already been confirmed.

I caught up with horror legend and Creepshow’s showrunner, Greg Nicotero, to discuss the show’s killer formula for success, paying tribute to iconic multimillion-dollar franchises and what stands in the way of a new Creepshow movie.

Simon Thompson: How does making season two compare to your experience on the first season?

Greg Nicotero: Well, we got the green light to do Creepshow while I was shooting The Walking Dead, so we had to develop the stories, get the scripts written, prep in six weeks, so the entirety of season one was done between January and April. It was fast and furious. I’ve been in The Walking Dead world for ten years, so I was like, ‘How hard can it be? You build a bunch of sets, get some cameras, you get a bunch of great actors and a good script, and you shoot it.’ Man, I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. You’re creating an entirely new universe, all new sets, all new cast and crew every three and a half days. I felt like it was grabbing the horns of a bucking bull and just holding on for dear life. We made it through by sheer will. I had to deliver something that stayed true to the spirit of George A. Romero and Creepshow. If I screwed it up, I wasn’t going to get another chance. So, I don’t know if I had any fun on season one.

Thompson: Season one of Creepshow was a massive success for Shudder in so many ways, from viewership to subscriptions as well as critically. Did you soak that in?

Nicotero: I didn’t read many reviews because I didn’t want my heart to be broken. I’m a sensitive guy. I would probably find the one sh***y one and just be devastated. However, one thing that people saw across the board was that I had a passion for the material and put my heart into it. That gave me a lot of confidence to go into season two, stand up straight, grab those horns and control the show and fight for the stories I wanted to tell. I also wanted to have fun with it. I feel like season two has got that heart and passion, but it’s fun and pays tribute to everything important to me and my upbringing, from building monster models and watching TV horror hosts to the loving nod to Sam Raimi. These stories all meant something to me. I feel like I’ve matured 100 years between season one and season two.

Thompson: That’s the Public Television of the Dead story in the first episode of season two. It blew my mind a little bit.

Nicotero: That makes me so happy to hear that. I worked so closely with Sam on Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. When I read the script, I loved that it was a nod, but it became something else when we got into making it. There’s a bit where Ted Raimi starts to float on the Appraisers Road Trip set; I put that in, and the camera work with the evil force going down the hallway; they weren’t in the script. I was like, ‘If I’m going to do this, I’m going to go all the f***ing way.’ I even adjusted some of the dialogue, like when Ted Raimi talks about the book being in his family for years and gathering dust in the fruit cellar. Any opportunity I had to buy into the fact that maybe the Necronomicon is a real thing and that Sam and his brothers went off and made this movie with his book, I took it. Sam was shooting the Dr. Strange movie, but I reached out to him right before shooting it. Without a doubt, it’s probably the most respectful send-up of the Evil Dead universe. Every one of the actors was like, ‘F**k, man, I love Evil Dead II. This is so much fun.’ It was always intended to be a love letter to Sam and Evil Dead. Creepshow is all about paying tribute, little love letters, to the likes of EC Comics, Stephen King, George A. Romero, and so many other things. We got to change the Necronomicon just a little bit. We still wanted it to feel like the original, but we also don’t want anyone to feel like we’d infringed copyright. Even the appraiser’s name, Goodman Tapert, is a tribute. David M. Goodman was the transportation coordinator on Evil Dead, and Rob Tapert was the producer. If only I could have got Bruce Campbell down there, steal him out of retirement, to do something on Creepshow, that would have been awesome.

Thompson: You got a great cast together for the first season, and you have raised the bar.

Nicotero: I feel fortunate that we were able to get the caliber of talent we did. Kevin Dillon, Justin Long, D’Arcy Carden, C. Thomas Howell, Ali Larter, the list of great people who jumped on board for season two goes on. Every one of them did a great job. They all showed up, were prepared, and knew their lines, and they were excited to be back to work. It’s always funny when you bring actors into your world. They show up, work for three days, and leave. And I remember in season one, I went through my phone, and I convinced Adrienne Barbeau and Giancarlo Esposito to do it because they all knew me, and I had worked with them on different projects. When they walked onto the set, they saw how fast we were moving and how immersive it was, and they had a really good time. Many actors find a tremendous amount of freedom in immersing themselves in a role that will take up their life for just three or four days.

Thompson: Going back to you paying homage to Evil Dead in an episode this season, would you like to do that with more iconic horror IPs or pick up on previous Creepshow stories?

Nicotero: The freedom is the greatest part about it. We talked about potentially revisiting stories from the first Creepshow movie, but that is convoluted in terms of the rights. You can’t clear it. There are stories that I guarantee you, especially after you see season two and season three, that we would love to revisit and pay tribute to those genres that we love. If I had a way to intertwine a Jason Voorhees story, a Michael Myers story, or a Freddy Krueger story without having the people that own the rights to those franchises jumping up and down and screaming, I would do it in a minute. For me, it’s really fun to be able to take a story and look at it from a different vantage point like we did with Evil Dead. So often now, the world is about taking material you think you know everything about and giving it to you from a different perspective. I think Wicked was probably the first piece of material that did that. It took The Wizard of Oz, a story that everybody knows and loves, and looked at it from the witch’s perspective. I read the screenplay before there was a show because I think the writers wanted it to be a movie first. I remember reading it and thinking, ‘Oh my God, it changes how we do look at everything related to The Wizard of Oz.’ The idea that we can take the horror genre and tell it from a perspective that gives us a completely new take is exciting and allows people to pay tribute to the original material and put a new spin on it. It gives fans something exciting that they can’t get from the original material.

Thompson: It was great to hear that there will be a third season but what’s the latest on a potential new Creepshow feature film?

Nicotero: I would love that. We’ve talked about it. When you do a show like this, you do it for the amount of money that we do it for, it becomes successful, and people want more, to get someone to turn around and give you more money to do a movie, they’re like, ‘Why would we do that when we’ve got a great show right here?’ I would love to do a Creepshow movie and expand the world with bigger stories and a little bit more money. I’m sure that down the road, that will become a reality, but right now, part of the beauty of Creepshow is that it gives you these bite-sized meals, these little appetizers. With today’s short attention span, you can watch 20 minutes and then go back later and watch another 20 minutes. I think that is very much in tune with how today’s society devours content. The beauty of Creepshow is that every story is so different, and every theme is so different that you’re getting an entirely new experience with each story.

The second season of Creepshow lands on Shudder on Thursday, April 1, 2021.

#Greg Nicotero #Evil Dead #Ted Raimi #Creepshow

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