#pibe fanwork 2025

[gayforjessmckenna]

My contribution to PIBE fan work week day 3! The prompt was “crime”, and as we all know, staying the night at the mall?

[leek-e]

Play It By Ear Fanwork Week day 1 - Song Lyric :)

I love Elevator Pitch and all the nonsense that Rashawn and Zach come up with in the discotheque song. Rashawn’s distant stare after the line "looking underneath my eyeball and seeing my mother" makes me lose it every time.

[wheelsupin-azarathmetrionzinthos]

ATTENTION PLAY IT BY EAR AND OFF BOOK FANS!!!

Last year, @incorrect-play-it-by-ear ran a PIBE Fic Week, which kickstarted an entire year of fandom ridiculousness, and we (myself and @fatestitcherr ) have decided to run PIBE FANWORK WEEK 2025. A week to celebrate Play It By Ear/Off Book with anything you'd like to create, be it art, a fic, music, or whatever. PIBE Fanwork Week 2025 will be running from February 17th-23rd with themes and explanations below!

Post work under the tag #PIBE Fanwork 2025

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me or @fatestitcherr and above I hope this is just as fun and as ridiculous as Play It By Ear

[mossterious]

For Play It By Ear fan work week day 3, the prompt I went with was Animals!!!

I was inspired by vintage science posters, and so I drew a whole variety of the animals we ‘see’ on PIBE. Also included a legend/guide to all the references!

[starstruckodysseys]

profiles for the sweetest cup of chai social media au. if u even care

[lucy-frostblades]

full versions of the smau profiles!!!

taglist: @whoopswopswiddlywops @wheelsupin-azarathmetrionzinthos @capvers-my-love @blueskiesandstarrynights @starstruckodysseys @thisisverypoggers

[sammbou]

it ends happy, remember ?

pibe fanwork week day 7 - play it by ear

had to do something for my favorite episode for today, inspired by one of my favorite musicals (which inspired this episode)

this week has been such a blast i had so much fun and everyone is so incredibly talented!!!

it’s been such a joy seeing everyone’s work!

thank you zoie and cj for making this happen y’all are the coolest <3

[capvers-my-love]

didn’t originally have a plan or motivation to draw anything for today

but here y’all can have an alexa mcgovern!

[sapphic-squid]

PIBE Fanwork Week 2025: Play it By Ear

My contribution to the "free space" of PIBE, closing us off. My recording quality still sucks cause I just use my phone but I hope you can see the vision

[socialtomcat]

the sun and the moon

play it by ear fanwork week day 5/6 - night and day, fantasy au

been super busy and accidentally worked on the wrong piece yesterday like a big dumb idiot so i thought id combine them. anyway carcarp as farcille !!!<3

[shrimptacodaniels]

overheard by the hickory tree

Nothing is as it should be. 

At that thought, she can’t save her heart from shattering. Tears are flowing freely now, stinging her face as they fall. 

This is the fifth suitor arranged to be married to her. The first was a “man on the inside” for an enemy kingdom, the second a criminal, the third died of disease before their wedding ceremony, the fourth a greedy and old man. She knew none of them would work. She did not want to spend any more of her life waiting on them. 

But he was different. 

Prince number five had arrived eager and bright. There was something about the way he greeted her, with so much life in his eyes, that struck her to her core.

They had spent the days courting, flirting turned to banter and small talk to heartfelt words. It was all seamless. 

Which is why it broke her so much. 

Katrina loved Joshua. But not in the way he needed her to. Not in the way her people needed her to. 

She hasn’t loved a single suitor, really. But that made it easy. 

Joshua, dear, delightful Joshua, was her friend. 

Joshua, dear, delightful Joshua, knew exactly where to find her. 

He meets her in the brush, under the hickory tree. The little alcove looks over a lake which glimmers in the penultimate rays of sunlight. 

“This is my favorite spot in the kingdom.” 

Katrina shrinks into herself. She doesn’t want to. “You came after me.” 

“It would be foolish for me not to seek you out,” he murmurs, kneeling by her side. “May I ask what is troubling you?” 

She presses her palms to her eyes. How could someone be so caring, so gentle, so suitable?

How could she break his heart? 

But how could you lie to him? a voice argues, when he’s been so kind, so charitable? 

“You’re troubling me, Your Highness.” The truth chokes its way out of her, clawing mercilessly at her throat. She can’t do this. But it’s been done. 

“I’m dearly sorry,” he says. He sounds perplexed. “Any offense I have committed, I’ll see to it that I reverse its impact however you may see fit-“

“No. Joshua-“ her voice catches. Why is this so hard? “You have done nothing wrong. I swear it. If anything, I am in the wrong.” 

The confession rings into the courtyard, sticking to the blades of grass like morning dew. Weighty. 

“Elaborate for me,” he prompts. She hears a small grunt of effort as he shifts his weight. She feels his leg press against hers.

 “Say as little or as much as you want. But I can assure you, I have not suffered by your hand. Not once. You cannot be in the wrong.” 

“That’s what makes this all the more difficult!” Waves of desperation crash over her, each more powerful than the last. The turbulent current inside matches that which is outside. 

She’s sobbing now, embarrassingly unabashed. Disgusting. Just like her and her wayward heart. This was the mess she hid behind brushstrokes and corsets and etiquette class. The mess her mother hid behind closed doors. The stains on young Katrina’s dresses and the scrapes on her knees. 

She used to love climbing trees when she was young. Feeling free as a bird, fit to chase the sun all day and nestle in a home of her choosing through the night. Safe and hidden. All she felt within the palace walls was insane. Was wrong. 

Was disgusting. 

And yet, Joshua moves to hold her as though she was a delicate rose. 

“My dear, it grieves me to see your heart this burdened.” He tucks his chin atop her head. “Enlighten me and lighten your own load by it. That is why I am here.” 

“We cannot be married,” she whispers. It takes every fiber of her resolve not to burrow herself in his chest. The secret is terrible. And now he knows. 

“Katrina.” He pulls back. Pries her hands away from her face until they rest in their laps, tangled with his. “Tell me more.” 

“I love you,” she starts, forcing herself to look him in the eye. He needs that much, at least. “I cannot bear a future in which you do not know that. We have known each other for hardly a fortnight, but my love for you is certain. Powerful. You are brilliant and fierce, yet gentle as they come. You wish to speak with me and not at me. You understand me and my heart in a way I thought very near impossible. My affection for you transcends my capacity for it. 

But I am not able to bear you children. To carry your legacy as your parents should like me to. As you deserve.” She breathes shakily. No escaping it now. 

“Joshua, I am in love with a woman. And I cannot bring myself to break your heart. So you must know - I have nothing to offer you.” 

Watching her words play out on his face is agonizing. There is a muddle of emotion there - something sorrowful and sweet. 

Without a word, she’s back in his arms. The silence lingers for a moment as he pulls her impossibly close.

“Can I tell you a secret? Something I cannot tell anyone?” he whispers into her hair. He doesn’t wait for a response before prattling on. 

“I am devastatingly in love with a woman in the village closest to the castle. She is a midwife. And a married woman. And-“ he sighs deeply, “-she is to bear my child.

Her husband does not know, nor does he suspect. But when the babe grows, there will be nowhere to hide. 

Katrina, I love you too. You are dearer to me than I could have ever imagined. I want you to sit at my side, to govern my kingdom with me. I need you to. Your counsel is honest and your heart is true. You are strong and determined and all-together wonderful. 

But I too have romantic entanglements. And though I love you, I do not love you the way I love her. I cannot commit myself to you in that manner.

Do you know, though,” he murmurs thoughtfully, “we are in an excellent position.” 

Katrina lets her head rest over his shoulder. Staring at the sunset in deep concentration. 

“We can help one another, can we not?” she realizes. She shifts for them to break apart. “Joshua, if we are to be married and you are to have a child-“

“-we can find a way to raise the babe as our own,” he finishes. “You know my secret and I yours. This marriage could serve as protection. For us, for our loves, and-“

“-yes,” she breathes. “For our kingdom. We would have to discuss the logistics at a considerable length, but-“ 

“Perhaps later,” he suggests teasingly. “I believe we have an engagement to announce.” 

The victory is blindingly brilliant. 

Katrina tackles him in a hug, holding him tightly. “Thank you,” she whispers. “Thank you thank you thank you-“ 

“My dear, thank you,” Joshua whispers back, squeezing her around the middle. “In your bravery and your confession, you have saved my life and legacy.” 

“And you have saved mine.” She is euphoric. Shimmering like sunlight. Like gold. This life that seemed so unattainable was to be hers. 

To be theirs. 

“We are the two most brilliant people alive,” he laughs into her shoulder. 

“Do you know, dear? I believe we are.” She rolls off of him, extending a hand to help him up. She threads her arm through his. 

“Now let’s be gone,” she declares. “To tell the King the good news.” 

“As you wish, my betrothed.” He kisses her temple proudly. 

They stumble their way across the path, arm in arm, backlit by the blazing sun. 

Their engagement lasts five months, full of late nights and early mornings scheming. The togetherness only strengthens their bond until their minds work in tandem as easily as breathing. Civilians are abuzz about their synchronous nature.

The wedding is far more a spectacle than they would have chosen, but they’re royals. 

There is merriment and dancing, grandeur and gifts. It’s fun to be celebrated for a while. But it’s the small details that matter most to them. The sprig of clematis fastened to his lapel. The belladonna hidden in her hair, obscured by her veil. The flowers sing a joyful song in their own language, not for the untrained eye. They are rejoicing in their secret. In their discretion. 

Privately, the couple is congratulating themselves on a plan well-executed. On information well-kept. 

Under the cover of nightfall, husband and wife stroll through the corridor leading to their room. The servants regard them cordially. But there’s something sly in the way they look at the couple. As if they know what’s about to happen. Katrina almost laughs at the sight of it. 

The staff’s assumptions could not be more wrong. 

Joshua shuts the door behind them, locking it from the inside. Katrina is ready when he turns, throwing his rucksack at him with a smile on her face. 

“Go,” she whispers. “Consummate your marriage.” 

“Vulgar woman, why phrase it like that?” he hisses back dramatically. There’s a fond, teasing lilt to his voice. He perches on their window, cracking it open the least he can. Leaving just a sliver for him to shimmy through. 

“That is the nature of your leave, is it not?” 

“None of your business.” Of course it is. They had discussed this part mere days ago. 

“Have fun,” she laughs, shooing him with her hand. “Your love awaits.” 

“It saddens me yours does not,” he counters. 

“It shouldn’t, my dear. She and I will reunite given time. And it will be glorious.” 

The word holds some undertone he would rather not consider now. So he does not. 

“Goodnight, my darling.” 

“Farewell, dear heart.” She blows him a kiss. “Be back by morning.” 

He “catches” the kiss midair, pressing it over his heart. 

“Yes, Your Majesty.” 

And with that, he steals off into the night. She settles into bed. 

All things are as they should be. 

[gayforjessmckenna]

SIKE I actually did two drawings for day 3 of PIBE fanwork week!

Prompt: animals

[leek-e]

Play It By Ear Fanwork Week day 4 - Darren Vapes !!

Happy Darren Vapes Thursday <3 Here is my water colour pencil drawing of Zach Reino as Darren Vapes of The Missing Member.

[wheelsupin-azarathmetrionzinthos]

PIBE Fanwork Week Day 7: Play It By Ear

whisperings on the wind -

Rachel hadn’t understood why no one else could hear the whispers in the wind or could see the future in their dreams. Rachel was different, not like anyone else, and it was a truth she embraced by the time she was nine years old.

How Rachel found her way home.

---

I will get sappy about fan week tommorrow probably, but I just wanted to write something that felt....like me. I put a lot of myself into this, and I'll be forever grateful to this fandom for being so accepting and good about the way I write Rachel, about the identity I've allowed myself to give her. This is a love letter to finding your community and well...found y'all.

[mossterious]

Day 6 of PIBE fan work week! This is def the day I had the hardest choosing something to draw, between the prompts of social media au and fantasy. Mostly because I was going to do a massive like 10 drawing thing for social media, and then this migraine hit. So I just had no idea what to do, jumping from ideas of Romeo and Juliet, to the muppets, to Ancient Greek pottery…

And somehow I ended up at the fantasy prompt, but specifically inspired by Arthurian legend???

This is Windella as- well, the lady of the lake. It’s specifically inspired by this 1912 drawing by Lancelot Speed in The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights. I don’t ever digitally paint and also I still have this migraine and am very loopy, so it’s not the best it could be, but it exists!!!

If I wasn’t totally dead I’d also draw the campfire crew as Arthur and his knights but- nope I am so dead. Curse you migraine.

[starstruckodysseys]

PLAY IT BY EAR FANWORK WEEK DAY SIX: SOCIAL MEDIA AU —

returning to the like the sweetest cup of chai semi tie in social media series <3 i love them ur honor

profiles coming in another part bc image limit exists </3 / click the images for. full images. tumblr cropping wants me dead