#singing in sync where we first saw how she wanted to be relied on and ended up babying kohane

[sylhea-raemi]

can the next an event please come closer i want her to realize RIGHT NOW it's been three events i'm going to cry

[samwrights]

Team Karasuno as dads [hc]

For a married woman that doesn’t want kids, I sure do fantasize about my boys being dads a lot.

Asahi;

He definitely cried when he found out you were pregnant.

When your daughter was born, he couldn’t even be in the room because he was so overwhelmed with you being in pain and the fact he was about to bE A DAD

He doesn’t even remember how you started dating because he was so blown away by your beauty or so he claims but the fact that y’all were married?? And having a kid?? When did he get so bold??

Eventually he got over it cause he felt bad that he wasn’t in the room holding your hand while you literally pushed a whole ass human out ya cooch.

He fainted

The first time he held his daughter was the first time he had felt complete, more complete than when he rejoined the volleyball team in his third year. It felt amazingly right. He tries to deny the fact and say your wedding was just as wholesome but you can tell. Fatherhood is something entirely different for him

“She takes after momma’s beauty.” A simp through and through.

Asahi is a parental HOG. Which is kinda nice cause he loves doting on your child but also HI I AM MOM AND WOULD LIKE TO HOLD MY BABY???

He tells YOU how to hold her and feed her and little ticks about her personality like you aren’t on maternity leave and are with the baby ALL DAY (although he is REALLY pushing for you to just be a stay-at-home mom)

Because he is soooo doting, it’s very rare that you wake in the middle of the night to feed or change her—Asahi is ALL over it. But he is human and there are days he’s too tired to wake up from dead sleep. It’s ok, he’s your human. Daddy deserves rest too.

Asahi would totally be a co-sleeper, or at least nap with the baby as much as he possibly could.

Definitely bought her multiple onesies that say “daddy’s little princess”.

She gonna be a spoiled brat when she’s older 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Daichi Dadchi;

I mean he’s a literal running joke in the fandom

After being elected as the unofficial dad of the VBC in his high school days, it was no wonder that he was such a natural with your three munchkins.

Having three slightly older boys of varying ages, you relied heavily on Daichi to get through to them when you couldn’t.

He’s definitely the strict parent; your sons all try to take advantage of you 💀 demons

Your boys saw you as a pushover most of the time because you were just so tired.

“Just keep trying for a girl, they said. There’s a 50/50 chance, they said.” Was something Daichi would find you chanting to yourself often while you cooked dinner and the boys were playing soccer in the house and breaking something.

Even though Daichi is strict, he really tries to emphasize to the boys to treat you with kindness to make it a bit easier on you.

“Guys, please don’t make your mother rip her hair out.”

“We’re just playin’!” They would sing in flawed harmony

“One day, you guys are going to be all grown up with your own special person with your own kids, and you’re gonna love them so much that you’ll understand why I’m telling you to calm down and listen to your mom.” Asjdfkhlek.

“Ewwww, daddy loves mommy.”

“I sure do.”

Sugawara;

On god, Suga would be the most patient parent. He treats your toddlers like mini adults and not your insane nine year old girl or six year old boy.

He listens thoroughly when they are upset about something, cautiously listening to the deeper truths about why they’re upset and takes great care in making sure his children feel validated.

Super dad 🥰

But it’s not a random event; after being married to you for the last decade, he had so much practice with conflict resolution and genuinely listening to you that it was a natural tendency at this point.

For the most part, your children are incredibly well behaved. Sure, there’s an occasional incident because, well they’re kids. Your daughter, being the older of the two and nearly finished with primary school, was entering her phase of discovering boys and constantly writing in her diary.

Suga may be super dad, but he is not perfect, and for some reason I totally see him reading her diary.

“Koushi, put it back. Now.” He was just going to pretend that you using your mom voice on him didn’t turn him on and prepare him to fill you with another baby.

While he may be an expert on conflict resolution, you enforced respecting their privacy; quite a dynamic between the two of you in terms of validating your children as individuals.

“But honey, our daughter is starting to like boys.”

“At least one of the females in this house does.” 💀💀💀 with angels for children, someone had to be the clown of the Sugawara family and it was certainly you.

Tanaka;

You and Tanaka had your first baby in your guys’ third year of high school, which you would be lying if you said it wasn’t hell.

Tanaka fought tooth and nail to try to do everything from makin dinner, working, making sure you were getting rest, and of course still playing volleyball. Everything except actually trying to graduate.

“I don’t have time to study babe, I have practice and then we gotta put this squirt to bed.”

There was a constant argument about Tanaka continuing with volleyball that nearly forced you two to split. While you knew how important it was to him, there was no way he was going to graduate from Karasuno while he was trying to care for you, a child, work, and play volleyball.

“Ryuu, please. I know you don’t wanna quit but if you can’t pass your classes, you won’t be able to participate anyway.” He did not take well to that.

It took him time to come to his senses and in that time, you had kept you and your son away from him to allow him his space.

Apparently that was also a wrong move on your part.

He was so angry and frustrated being away from his mini me that he had easily conceded to retiring from volleyball if it meant being able to watch his little nugget learn how to sit up and crawl.

Yes, he goes HAM on the nicknames. Squirt, nugget, mini me, beanie baby, tyke, and all of the above. He pretty much calls your son everything but his actual name.

“I’m sorry for being stubborn.” He says one night while you help him study for his finals, your sleeping son swaddled in your arms.

“I’m sorry for making you give up something you love.”

“Nah, I got you and the munchkin. That’s all I need.”

Noya;

I love Noya 🥺 but at first, he is a chaotic parent. Granted y’all had your first child when you were still in college and he hadn’t the faintest clue on how to be a dad.

To be perfectly honest, you weren’t quite sure how to parent either.

Neither of you knew how to change diapers

Noya definitely got peed on more times than he wishes to admit

When your son was still a newborn, just around finals time, neither of you could figure out for the life of you why your baby was crying in the middle of the night. Which inherently made you cry because you had an 8am final and you had finished studying 5 hours prior 🙃

“Try to get some sleep, babe. I’ll take care of him.” Nishinoya’s voice was thick with exhaustion, but he knew how little you’d been sleeping since giving birth.

When you went to leave for your final, Noya was asleep in your living room rocking chair, baby safely in his arms with the both of them just snoozing away.

It was a struggle but the two of you faced the challenge together, one step at a time with your energetic four-year-old son as you graduated university. By the time you had all settled into a larger apartment together as a family, Noya had yet to pop the question. He was too busy having fun with his little man.

Sometimes it scared you how in sync he was with his child probably because he was still a child himself but it was sweet and endearing.

“Hey babe?” He asks softly after the two of you tucked away your boy for the evening. You raised in eyebrow at him, silently goading for him to continue. “Do you want to have another?” Needless to say, he sure as shit impregnated you that night asjckglpwm

Hinata;

With Hinata being an older brother, I actually see him being a wonderful dad. However, homie’s got a one-track mind and with him playing professionally, you’re usually left to do the parenting.

Your kids definitely like you more than Shoyo, not that anyone blamed anyone; they just never see daddy :(

BUT when he is in dad mode and home, you suddenly remember why you were eager as shit to have more kids with him 🥴 which explains ya you’ve got your third on the way

When he does come home, he automatically greets his older, 8 year old son with noogies and a brief wrestling session. For some reason, Hinata felt the need to compete with his own child 💀

Headass.

But when he sees his daughter, his world stops because he has favorites and EVERYONE in the Hinata house knows it

Always asking your 6 year old girl how her day was, asking how she was doing ruling over her imaginary kingdom and if she found her Prince Charming yet.

“Pffft I don’t need Prince Charming, daddy, he’s icky!!! Mommy says I don’t need a man!”

Where is the lie

“Your mom is absolutely right and you should totally listen to her, she’s the best queen in the whole world.”

Because of his one-track mind, he is engaged fully with your kids when he is actually home. Your son had naturally gotten into volleyball which, even after a long day’s practice, Shoyo spends hours training him.

“Do you think this one’s finally gonna like me more than you?” He asks one night while he’s doing the dishes after dinner, while you’re right beside him drying them off.

“Sho, our kids love you. But mom is home with them allllll day and has been since birth.”

“Can we keep trying until one of them finally likes me more?” 💀💀💀 “or until we have enough to make our own volleyball team?”

Kageyama;

How this socially inept clown got ANYONE pregnant was unthinkable. Of course, to anyone but you. After being with him all throughout high school, it was more of a wonder how you didn’t get pregnant sooner

This dude dirty. His one track mind, if not on volleyball, was entirely on you. Nearly every night was date night which ALWAYS ended with bow chicka wow wow 😏 you horny mfers yalll moved in together as soon as you graduated from Karasuno.

Clothing at home was nonexistent.

With the two of you in your second year of college, living in your apartment, and being 8 months pregnant, the air had dramatically shifted.

Kageyama’s once still high sex drive had been channeled into school work, working, and of course, volleyball. You were planning on at least completing your semester before taking time off to care for the baby. It seemed one of you would have to really step up, and from what it seems, it wasn’t going to be Tobio.

When he was home, which was very few and far between with how much he had going on, he had tried to dote on you as much as he could physically muster. Kisses here and there, bathing together, and lots of snuggles.

Kageyama is in charge of the nursery and there’s no room for argument on this. With him not being as present at home, he sets up the nursery as a way to communicate with his child that he’s never going to see because of volleyball

I love Kags, but he is nowhere near ready to even think about parenting 💀 which you tried to be patient with, but with the due date approaching very rapidly, you kinda needed him to step it up.

“I’ve helped.” He tries using the nursery as an argument and he had gone to every doctors appointment but homeboy still doesn’t know how to make a bottle or change a diaper

Was he prepared to have to clean up baby shit and vomit? Absolutely not. Was he going to anyway? Lmao, absolutely not. This boy only wants to be daddy, not dad.

Tsukishima;

It shook everyone and their mother when people found out that Kei not only had a girlfriend that he met in college, but that his girlfriend was a milf according to Kuroo and Bokuto

When you and Kei had first started dating, your daughter was already five. And while you obviously didn’t bring her to classes with you, she was always with the two of you for date nights. Oddly enough, he really didn’t mind.

His patience for kids, now that’s he’s older and kids are actually kids and NOT his peers, rivals that of Sugawara’s.

“Hey Tsukki,” your spawn asks at dinner one day. “When are you and mommy gonna get married? People keep making fun of me cause I call my parents mommy and Tsukki.”

“Making fun of people isn’t cool, it’s so lame. They’re just jealous cause they don’t get to call their parents mommy and Tsukki.”

👁—

That same night, Kei offers to read your daughter to sleep as if to reinforce the notion that mommy and Tsukki was cooler than mommy and daddy. Of course, he was pushing for this to hide that he was upset that children were making fun of her.

After that Tsukishima really gets into his dad role—walking your daughter to school with you or without you everyday, picking her up and giving her grandiose hugs. He made sure to lock eyes with every spectator, his height towering over many at the kindergarten. Silently telling them all “do not fuck with her, or you answer to me.”

He’s sosososo protective, I can’t. He ain’t scared to fight a toddler.

Even well after you and Tsukishima introduce a child of your own, your daughter still insists on calling him Tsukki and adamantly tries to teach her sister to say Tsukki instead of dada.

“You’re okay with the kids not calling you ‘Daddy’, Kei?”

“The only one I want calling me daddy is you.”

Yamaguchi;

This poor bean 💀 not only was he not prepared for fatherhood in the slightest, but twins?!

You both swore up and down they were evil. If one was hungry, the other one would refuse to eat until the other finished their meal. This applied to using their diapers as well.

Imagine the energy of Hinata and Nishinoya as baby twin boys, and lo and behold, yours and Tadashi’s kids.

While you had slightly more patience with them, knowing they were going to grow up eventually and become their own independent humans. Tadashi was not handling this well at all.

Low key, he felt like he was doing a horrible job as a parent and, after the boys had finally gone to sleep for the night, you’d spent a lot of time consoling Tadashi.

“Why can’t I be like—“

“Baby, you’ve got to stop comparing yourself to all of your friends. None of them have twin boys that are less than a year old.”

“Yeah but Hinata has three of them, so does Daichi—“

“Honey, you aren’t them. You’re you, so please, just be you.”

He’s ambitious when it comes to parenting—he wants to be the best dad ever, and he only gets better with practice.

That doesn’t make him wanna tear out his hair any less, but as the boys get older, it does get easier. We pretend their toddler years didn’t exist, it was a nightmare that Tadashi does NOT want to relive

[rejectedusername-trashfics]

Haywoodstown: Chapter 7- If It’s True

Summary: It’s a sad story. It’s a sad tale, it’s a tragedy. It’s a sad story, but I’ll tell it anyway.

It had been almost a century since the apocalypse, Geoff and his boyfriend, Jack, were struggling to make ends meet. But somehow, Haywoodstown mines was a thriving business, despite the fact that no one was ever seen leaving the mines. Geoff heard the legends of the mines and was curious to see how much was true. He takes Jack with him one night to go searching for answers. On their search, they run into a young man in a well-tailored suit. The man offers to tell them a different story from mines.

It’s a love story, it’s a tale of a love that never dies. It’s a love story, about someone who tried. And there was a railroad line on the road to Hell. There was a young man down on bended knee. And brothers, thus begins the tale of Michael and Lindsay!

Chapter: 7/10

Word Count: 2,314

Pairings: Michael/Lindsay, Ryan/Gavin, Geoff/Jack 

Songs: If It’s True, Chant II, Epic III

First / Previous / Next / AO3

Jack smiled when Michael and Lindsay reunited. Then he thought about it and shook his head his head. “Okay, so Michael found Lindsay, but there’s gotta be a catch,” he said.

“’Well, I’m not quit done with the story, yet. So, you might be onto something,” Jeremy replied.

“I wanna know what this catch is,” Geoff said.

Jeremy gave the two of them a smile. “Well…”

Michael and Lindsay released their holds on each other. “I can’t wait for you to come home with me, again,” Michael said, cheerfully.

Lindsay smiled. Then, she remembered why she had left home in the first place. She immediately frowned and turned away from Michael. “Only so you can ignore me, again,” she bitterly said.

“Lindsay…”

“You were focused on writing your music and you relied on ME to pay for our living necessities. Then, I lost my job and you just told me I need to find a new one!” she yelled.

“Lindsay, I-”

“Well guess what, I DID find a new job! One that gives me all the wealth I could ever want! One where I’m not ignored!”

“Lindsay, no,” Gavin said in dismay.

“I finished my so-” Michael started.

“So, you finished your goddamn song?! SO, WHAT?!” Lindsay screamed as she interrupted Michael. “What’s gonna happen to me next time you need to write a song?! You’re gonna make we work while you play!”

“Linds-”

“NO!!!! I’M NOT DOING THIS, AGAIN! I’M GOING TO STAY DOWN HERE AND WORK MY ASS OFF! YOU CAN GO HOME AND DO WHATEVER YOU FUCKING WANT!!!!!!!” she screamed. Michael stood in silence. Lindsay took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m going to bed,” she said as she began to walk away.

Michael was absolutely heartbroken. Gavin reached over and pat Michael on the shoulder. “Sorry, buddy,” he offered. Michael continued to stand in silence.

“We probably need to get out of here before Ryan come to…” Jeremy said, but he trailed off as he saw Michael pulling his guitar off his back. “Michael, what are you trying to do?” he asked.

Michael readied his guitar to play. He took a deep breath, sighed, and begun strumming his guitar. “If it’s true what they say. If my love is gone for good,” he started to sing.

“Michael?”

“They can take this heart away. They can take this flesh and blood. Take my mouth that kissed her mouth. Take my tongue that sung her praise,” he continued to sing. Lindsay paused her walk. “Take my arms that used to reach out in the dark to where she lay. If it’s true what they say, I’ll be on my way.”

Lindsay turned around to face Michael. “If it’s true what they say. If there’s nothing to be done.  If there’s no part to be played. If there’s no song to be sung,” he sang. Lindsay started to walk back towards him. “Take this voice, take these hands, I can’t use them anyway. Take this music and the memory of the muse from which it came. If it’s true what they say, I’ll be on my way. We can all be on our way, if it’s true what they say.”

Lindsay reached Michael and stood in front of him. “Always say it is the last, and no answer will be heard to the question no one asks. So, I ask you as a brother, and I ask you as a friend, and I ask you as a lover. And I ask you once again, is it true what they say?” he finished singing.

“Michael…” she said in awe.

“It was a song I wrote during my creative episode. I wrote it for you,” Michael explained.

A smile crept onto Lindsay’s face. “Michael… come here,” she said as she leaned into Michael.

Michael leaned into Lindsay and their faces met in the middle. They began kissing with the same amount of passion that they had when they first got together. Their lip moved in sync and the love between them could be felt from miles away. Gavin and Jeremy smiled at the loving sight. The kiss soon broke and Michael opened his mouth, again. “So, come home with me, again?” he asked.

“I-” Lindsay started.

“YYYYYOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!” a booming voice interrupted.

  “Oh shit,” Geoff said.

“I should have known Lindsay’s fit wasn’t going to be the only drama,” Jack said.

Jeremy nodded and started the story, again.

  The group jumped and turned to face where the voice was coming from. They saw a very angry Ryan standing in front of them, scowling at them. “Ryan!” Gavin and Lindsay yelped.

Ryan angrily marched over to Michael. “You have the nerve to break into my mines AND you have the audacity to try and steal my new second-in-command?!” he demanded.

“’New second-in-command?” Michael asked. Then he looked over to Lindsay. “Is it true?” he asked.

“Is it true?” the mine echoed.

“Well… yeah…” Lindsay said, confused.

“You kicked me out and replaced me with Lindsay?! WHAT KIND OF BLOODY HUSBAND ARE YOU?!” Gavin screeched.

“Wait…” Lindsay said as she looked back and forth between Ryan and Gavin. “You two are married?!”

“Is it true?” the mines echoed again, starting to draw the attention of the mine workers.

“What is going on?” Michael asked.

“Now, everybody knows the walls have ears,” Jeremy explained.

“Is it true?” the mines continued to echo.

“And the walls have heard what you were saying.”

Ryan gave a wicked laugh. “When I was a young man like you, son, I held a lover too. Held him in my naked hands, when I was a young man. Now you know how it feels--partners are as slick as eels. Lover, quicker than the asp, always slipping from your grasp,” he started. Then he picked Michael up by the collar of his shirt. “Take it from a man no longer young. If you want to hold a woman, son, hang a chain around her throat, made of many carat gold.  Shackle her from wrist to wrist with sterling silver bracelets. Fill her pockets full of stones, precious ones, diamonds. Bind her with a golden band, take it from an old man.”

“Low, keep your head, keep your head low. Oh, you gotta keep your head low, if you wanna keep your head,” the mine workers started. “Oh, he said he’d shelter us. He said he’d harbor me. He said we'd build them up, and then the walls would set us free. I’m gonna count to three, and then I’ll raise my head singing, one, two, is it true? Is it true, what he said?” they chanted. Ryan scowled when he heard this.

Gavin quickly jogged over to Lindsay. He put his hand on her shoulder and she looked over to him. “When I was young like you, sister, I was hungry too. Hungry for the mining world, when I was a young boy. Now, you know how it tastes, the fruit of Mr. Haywood’s ways. Sister, it’s a bitter wine-" he paused to grab both of her shoulders and hake her. “Spit it out while you still have time!” he shouted.

“Gavin, I-” she started.

“Love is not a gilded cage. All the wealth within these walls will never buy the thing called love,” he started. “Love was when he came to me, begging on his bended knees, to please have pity on his heart and let him lay me in the dirt... I felt his arms around me then. We didn’t need a wedding bed. Dark seeds scattered on the ground, the wild birds were flying around. That’s when I became his husband, but that was in another life,” he fondly remembered. The he shook his head and scowled. “That was in another world, when I was a young boy!” he yelled.

“Oh, he said he’d shelter us. He said he’d harbor me. He said we’d soldier on, and then the war would bring us peace. We’re gonna count to three, and then we'll raise our heads, singing, one, two, is it true? Is it true, what he said?” the workers chanted, again.

Ryan growled and threw Michael on the ground. “Young man, I was young once too, I once sang the young man’s blues. Lovers come and lovers go, get you high and get you low. One day they’re hot, the next they’re cold, partners are so seasonal. They will leave again and again! Take it from an old man!” he yelled.

“I…” Michael stuttered.

“Now I sing a different song, one I can depend upon. The simple tune, the steady beat, the music of machinery. Do you hear that heavy metal sound? The symphony of Haywoodtown. And in this symphony of mine of power chords and power lines. Young man, you can strum your guitar, I have strung the world in wire. Young man, you can sing your ditty, I CONDUCT THE ELECTRIC CITY!” he yelled.

Ryan took a deep breath to regain his composure. “I’ll tell you what, young man, since my husband is such a fan, and since I’m going to count to three, and put you out of your misery. One! -- give me one more song, one more song before I send you. Two! -- to the great beyond where nobody can hear you singing. Three! -- sing a song for me,” he demanded. A chromium throne grew out of the ground. “Make me laugh, make me weep. Make the king feel young again. Sing for an old man!”” he said as he took a seat on his throne.

Michael quickly got up and scurried over to his guitar, he knew exactly what other song to play. As he picked up his guitar, he heard Gavin grown, loudly. “Oh, come off it, Ryan! You’re not old! You’re not wise! So, stop acting all high and mighty!” Gavin yelled.

Ryan’s eyes flashed bright red. “One more word out of you and I’ll-” Ryan started to yell.

Michael decided that it was now or never and started strumming his guitar. “Heavy and hard is the heart of the king,” he started to sing. “King of iron, king of steel. The heart of the king loves everything like the hammer loves the nail.”

Ryan smirked in interest as Michael continued to sing. “But the heart of a man is a simple one, small and soft, flesh and blood. And all that it loves is a man, a man is all that it loves.” Ryan raised his eyebrow at that.

“And Haywood is King of the scythe and the sword,” Michael continued. Ryan’s eyebrows furrowed at the sudden change in the song topic. “He covers the world in the color of rust. He scrapes the sky and scars the earth and he comes down heavy and hard on us.” Ryan couldn’t quite figure out where Michael was going with the lyrics, but he was curious to see where they were going.

“But even that hardest of hearts unhardened suddenly, when he saw him there. Gavin Free in his mother’s garden, sun on his shoulders, wind in his hair. The smell of the flowers he held in his hand, and the pollen that fell from her fingertips. And suddenly Haywood was only a man with a taste of nectar upon his lips, singing: La la la la la la la…”

Ryan’s face softened as he lyrics made him think about his love for Gavin. “And what has become of the heart of that man, now that the man is King? What has become of the heart of that man, now that he has everything?” Michael sang.

Gavin took a deep breath and looked at Ryan. Did Ryan ever really try to hurt him? “The more he has, the more he holds, the greater the weight of the world on his shoulders. See how he labors beneath that load; afraid to look up, and afraid to let go. And he keeps his head low, and he keeps his back bending, he grows so afraid that he'll lose what he owns,” Michael sang. Ryan and Gavin looked over at each other. “But what he doesn't know is that what he's defending is already gone.”

Ryan and Gavin looked longingly at each other. Was their love gone? “Where is the treasure inside your chest? Where is your pleasure? Where is your youth? Where is the man with his hat in his hands? Who stands in the garden with nothing to lose, singing: La la la la la la la…” Michael finished singing.

Ryan stood up from his thrown. “La la la la la la la…” he sang as he began to walk towards Gavin.

Gavin began walking towards Ryan, as well. “La la la la la la la…” he sang.

The two of them met each other in the middle. “La la la la la la la…” they sang together and grabbed each other’s hands.

They both gazed, lovingly, into each other’s eyes. Ryan bit his lip and sighed. “Gavin, I am so sorry. I was an utter fool,” he said. “I stole you away before you had to come down. And I threw you away when you weren’t happy down here. and…”

Gavin rolled his eyes. He let go of Ryan’s hands, grabbed his face, and pulled him into a deep kiss. Ryan blinked in surprise for a second, then closed his eyes to kiss back just as passionately. Their tongues entered each other’s mouths like it was the first time they kissed. The tongues danced around with each other with the amount of passion they had years ago.

After a few minutes, they finished their kiss. They immediately squeezed each other tight, as though they never wanted to let go. Michael, Lindsay, and Jeremy all smiled at the loving site. Michael knew he had just saved his best friend’s marriage.

[kuuxkat]

[EN]Lisani Vol. 27.1 Interview with Tokui Sora

Translated by: @kuuxkat​ / Additional TL from: tenno

Typeset by: @kuuxkat​ / QC by: @yujachachacha​ @ #teamonibe

Originally TL by: 端木靖雨_Forever

Sourced from: 端木靖雨_Forever

Images from: @emitsunosaurus-rex​

DO NOT USE THE SUBS FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES!

Contents under the Cut!

Typeset images can be found: here

Projects will continue spreading from word of mouth, so I hope that the number of “Love Live! fans” will continue increasing day by day.

Q: It has already been half a year since “μ’s Final LoveLive” ended, so how do you feel about it now? Soramaru: It was just half a year ago, but it feels like it was something even further back. As Final Live passed by just like a hurricane, when I’m watching the Live footage that was being peddled, there would be a situation similar to: “I did something like this huh---” (laughs). As I am busy with my other jobs every day, without realizing it, half a year has already passed by. Q: What was your initial reaction when you first heard that you would be performing for two days at Tokyo Dome? Soramaru: Although before this we had lives at other large stages, (in comparison with Tokyo Dome) the scale was something completely different... I totally could not imagine what a live hosted at such a big stage would be like. In any case, I carried with me strong feelings of wanting to go down that stage without any regrets, as I wanted this live to be the mother of all lives. Q: What was the atmosphere like for the preparatory work and the rehearsals for the live? Soramaru: The schedule for the rehearsals was done in the same vein as the Fan Meeting Tour, as the atmosphere where all the members gathered together was very natural and relaxing. It was akin to club members gathering after school for very enjoyable club activities, so it was really a very remarkable feeling indeed. In the time frame when everyone gathered together, I thought of leaving behind some memories, so I took many photos of everyone. Q: On the other hand, did you have any sense of nervousness towards Tokyo Dome? Soramaru: There would naturally be a sense of nervousness, but as everyone was waiting for us (there), I felt that the feelings of the members were all in sync, so in summary we wanted to express the feelings that we had. In contrast to the tranquil times we spent during our breaks, the rehearsals were distinctively done with our full focus, and the atmosphere was really great. We carried with us the anticipation for the live with its ups and downs, knowing that we had to do our best because it was the Final Live, after all. Q: On the day of the live, what was your experience like when you stood on the stage and saw the large audience? Soramaru: At first, the stage was simply just too wide, so rather than say that I saw everyone in the audience, why not say that I saw a single beautiful body...although we frequently do describe cyalumes as an ocean or universe, it truly did feel just like that. But when the performance officially began, I could clearly see everyone’s faces. As I sung, I held with me the thanks I had for every single one of the fans. It is as if the audience was a single beautiful body, like a sea of penlights Q: Recapping the two days of the live, what was the most memorable moment then? Soramaru: At the rehearsal before the actual performance, we watched the entirety of the opening animated sequence for the first time. When we saw the sequence with the passing of the heart shaped balloon, everyone was shedding tears and the first song was performed while we cried. I said: “It would have been bad if we saw that for the first time during the actual performance, right?” (laughs). I felt that it was great to be able to be in a state of full mental preparation to welcome the coming of the first day. Q: As it was such a huge live, the live performance would have to be done to the limit too, right? Soramaru: In summary, in order to achieve the goal that we had set, the dance moves within the the dance performances were decided on by discussing them with the staff. So, I was eagerly awaiting that very instant when we would be performing in front of everyone. The enthusiasm and calls from everyone totally blew my expectations out of the park. While it shocked me, at the same time it made me really happy too. Q: Even if it was a long awaited live, did you still feel loneliness towards the end? Soramaru: On the second day, as I performed each song one by one, I was doing so with the thoughts of: “I will never perform this song again”. It felt like each and every song was the last song that would be sung at a graduation ceremony. Even though I had resolved to definitely not cry after all the songs are done, in the end all of the members did shed tears. Of course, in the heart of all the members as well as the audience, we all wished to convey the feelings of “Thank you very much”, but I do feel that It was really great that at the end, every one of the members could gather together to form the circle formation. Q: So with the live being over, what are your feelings as you go over all the activities that you have done over the past six years? Soramaru: I received support from many people, and it felt like I was able to do a large variety of things in one go. The time that I spent with everyone was just so long, to the point that the thoughts of “Is it really over?” would still occur to me even now. A TV anime where I can gain growth together with Yazawa Nico. Q: Recapping the activities at the start of the entire project, what were your initial impressions of Yazawa Nico? Soramaru: I felt that appearance-wise, she was very cute, and at the very beginning there was the line “Nico~ Nico~ Ni-” - she really was a very remarkably energetic child, huh (laughs)? At that time, I did not think even once that this particular line would become a line that would be used for such a long time. Q: Before the TV anime began, did you think about how would you portray Nico? Soramaru: As “Love Live!” was my second or third project that I had worked in as a voice actress, at that time, I had yet to think of a detailed plan on how to perform. I believe Nico was someone who, although in the initial design her expression was one of maturity, internally was more aware that, “I am cute you know?”, so she gave an impression of being brazen. In summary, for my performance I went with the momentum of going with my cutest expression and voice. Q: What were your thoughts when going through the recording process for the first few songs? Soramaru: The memory of the time for “Snow halation” is still very impressionable...at that time I had not gotten used to recording, too. When I set foot in the recording studio, as I heard my own voice from the earphones, my thoughts were, “It is different from karaoke, huh?” (laughs). At that time I was totally clueless, regardless of whether it was the method used to sing or the kind of voices used for very specific times. I had to rely on the staff members to be able to continue the recording smoothly. Until the time for the 3rd single, I guess I was charging ahead with my mentality fixed on how it would be bad if I did not do my best. Q: In your struggles, was there a song where you “grasped” something? Soramaru: Starting from the song “Mogyutto ‘love’ de Sekkin Chuu!”, Nico’s part in the drama CDs started to increase, and gradually I was able to understand her personality and traits. It was during the 4th single that I became able to put emotions together with my singing style. Q: So Nico’s personality and traits were gradually being developed, but was it all exposed in one shot during the TV anime? Soramaru: We were slowly establishing what kind of girl she was, and I felt that our two hearts were slowly getting closer, to the extent that I was able to perform very naturally for her. Rather than say that I thought of how I was going to perform, I would say that it was akin to Nico possessing me and borrowing my voice (laughs). Q: Your hearts were in sync to this level, huh? In TV anime season 1, Nico-chan was akin to a popular mascot for “Love Live!”, and she became a very good entry point for first time viewers of the project. Soramaru: The process in which I performed was very fun, too. Before the TV anime began, I was very touched when I heard from the animation director, “It is finally time to add corresponding actions to “Nico-Nico-Ni--” (laughs). As there wasn’t a set pose before the TV anime, I felt that the pose from the cover of “Natsuiro Egao de 1,2,Jump!” was great. I do have a memory of mentioning these particular words. Q: Besides having a very fashionable side, the TV anime did reveal a side of her that shows her blending in together with the other members collectively. Soramaru: Even if up until now she had always worked on Idol Research Club activities by herself, she had always been looking forward to holding lives and dance practices with comrades. As I too am the type with very little friends, it was as if I synchronized with Nico, emphasizing with her as I did dance practice at the same time. It did feel like we were growing hand in hand with each other. A grand affair created between μ’s and their supporters as the anime and reality crisscrossed with each other. Q: Just like the script, the popularity of the real members of μ’s rose greatly as well. What were your feelings with regards to the first ever live that was held in Yokohama BLITZ in the year 2012? Soramaru: At that time, we had to perform and reenact the exact same actions as the full animated PV. We totally could not imagine what kind of emotions would be going through the audience who would be watching that. On the actual day itself, we heard the cheers from everyone, and we could clearly feel that many people were having fun together with us. I felt that all the hard work that we put in had finally blossomed, and we were enjoying the fruits of our labor. Q: When you first took the stage in Animelo Summer Live, the cheers were very loud and clear, too. Soramaru: It was all due to how the PV of “Natsuiro Egao de 1,2,Jump!”, which was played at Animelo Summer Live, was very cute, and how the synchronization of the songs was done to a very high level. We stood on the stage performing while praying that we would get more people interested in μ’s with this opportunity. Q: Following that, on June of 2013 at PACIFICO YOKOHAMA, you announced the second season of the TV anime and the mobile game, as well as the decision to host a live at Saitama Super Arena; it feels like everyone got fired up in one go. Soramaru: Even though the “NicoRinPana” broadcast had the three members always using, “In any case let’s increase the number of fans for Love Live!” as our tagline, we totally did not expect the number to increase so drastically in these few years. It was simply jaw-dropping. It was the same with regards to the performance at Saitama Super Arena the following year. As it was a stage where very famous performers from Animelo Summer Live had gathered together, we couldn’t imagine at that time if our oneman show could carry the atmosphere for the entire arena. Q: For such a large venue, would there be any changes in the performance style on stage? Soramaru: That’s right. As the stage became larger, I would wish to make everyone experience even more joy. There's a strong desire to make everyone have more fun. I feel the same for new fans too, and so for the fans that had supported us from the start, we do not wish to let them feel that “μ’s had become an existence that was far away”. These were the feelings that we wished to convey to everyone. Despite how the members had previously always discussed many different things together, in order to prepare for the live at Saitama Super Arena, the things that we would have to discuss for the performance did increase significantly. Q: In the year 2015, besides the movie, there was the organizing of the Fan Meeting Tour, appearing in “Music Station” and “Kōhaku Uta Gassen”, and so on - it was an attention grabbing year, right? Soramaru: As I had never once imagined that we would be able to appear on a TV program in the role of a singer, I was very shocked that it happened just like the story in the TV anime. I had never once considered us appearing on that kind of music program. But from the perspective of the fans, they see it as, “μ’s is after all one of the top ranking idols in the Oricon chart, so why couldn’t they appear in the program?” - opinions like that were conveyed to us (laughs). Knowing that the fans had merged the anime with real life to cheer us on, it truly made us feel that the line between the anime and reality had been blurred. Q: So you welcomed the performance at Tokyo Dome in such an unprecedented and grand fashion? Soramaru: Before Final Live, there were lots of jobs like the practice for Kōhaku Uta Gassen, interviews, and song recordings. For that stretch of time, every day was very hectic. From now on, I hope that the number of fans will continue to grow. Q: What were your reactions and thoughts after Final Live ended? Soramaru: Although afterwards I did continue doing other jobs same as before, of course there were opportunities where we would speak of things regarding μ’s. Even now, I can still hear from fans who say, “Final Live really was great.” I feel very happy that even at the end, they are still looking over me. Q: What would the situation be like when you meet with the other members on the set of different jobs? Soramaru: Previously, we had always regularly met with everyone in the “NicoRinPana” program, so I guess it was something like, “Ah, good afternoon”? If we meet at a worksite now, the mood would be similar to, “Oh, you’re here, huh?” (laughs). Q: We can say that you have very deep camaraderie with the other members whom you have walked with for these past six years? Soramaru: I have some things I'm bad with in socialization. Honestly, I didn't have any bond with anyone that I could call a friend until now. I had the opportunity to realize the importance of having companions when I met with everyone in μ’s. Finding a place where I am needed, and where I belong, is something really huge to my life. Working hard for the sake of my friends, and wanting to give them something - I started to think like that. Q: Do you have something to say to the comrade that walked hand in hand with you, Yazawa Nico? Soramaru: I would say words like: “Today, you are very cute too!” (laughs). I would be thinking,“I hope you could always be as cute as ever,” and the feelings of liking her would never ever change. Rather than say “reminisce” or “It has been a long time”, I would say that even now, it feels like she has always been by my side, and that will never change. Q: Finally, please say something to the readers and the fans. Soramaru: To everyone who has supported us, really, thank you very much. I myself have always thought that μ’s really is something that would make people feel happiness. It has an uncountable number of shining points, and the songs are full of charm, too; isn’t it an existence that will continue shining on forever and ever? From now on, regardless of how things will change, I hope that you will be able to continue supporting it. Rather, I’d say that from now on, I wish for there to be even more fans of μ’s. Even now, I still would like to let people who like anime know about this project called “Love Live!”, and I hope they could fall in love with it. I hope that “Love Live!” fans would always continue to increase!

[survivor-algonquin-blog]

IMMUNITY RESULTS #1

Hope everyone got their groove on!!! Let's get to the results,,,

But first let's meet our lovely JUDGES!!!!

Zach!!

Hey! Zach here. A couple of main seasons under my belt and lucky enough to have played with all of the hosts. I've done this challenge and work in entertainment, so I'll be bringing a critical eye to the table and have no reservations about not holding back. Good luck!

Sarah!!

Hi my name is Sarah. Ive played 7 main ts seasons so I am officially qualified to judge now. I cant wait to see what yall did.

Vilma!!

Hi I'm Vilma and all you need to know about me is that I have a burning love for music videos so I hope y'all put in your best effort tonight <3

Now let's get to some music videos!

Castor's Music Video & Explanation

This is the official submission for the Castor Tribe. We choose to do the music video “Bring me to Life” by Evanescence. This song has a strong theme of Duality throughout the lyrics, and we chose to represent that by only using two tribemates for the lip-syncing portion of this challenge. The video focuses on Bobby, crying out for help, but being shut down by his inner thoughts, portrayed by Bryan. At the beginning of the video, you can clearly see the inner turmoil going on, shown through the colour colour changes and spinning screen. Throughout this portion, it is clear he is listening to Bryan, and letting it hold him back, keeping all these negative emotions inside. About half way through the video, there is a clear tone change, with the scarf starting to come off, signifying an opening up, of Bobby starting to let his thoughts out in a healthy way, and his inner voice becoming quieter and less relevant as time goes on. The video ends on a dark room, lit by a single light, showing that as dark as things may seem, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel, you just must keep moving forward. We felt that this was a good representation for survivor for several reasons. Firstly, in order to progress far in the game, you must be able to rely on other people to keep you sane. One of the Key elements of survivor is the ability to outlast the other players, and that requires you to mentally outlast them as well. You can clearly see that on the Edge of Extinction season, where it is only the mental fortitude of these voted off contestants giving them a chance now. Secondly, there have been several survivor Contestants that have struggled with the ideas of self-doubt, and depression both during and after the show, most notably, Sugar, after Survivor Heroes Vs Villains, as well as Spencer Bledsoe, after Game Changers. Finally, no matter how dark you may think your prospects in survivor are, if you believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and keep pushing through, you will always be able to make an impact. We chose to make the video focus on only two of our tribemates because most submissions for these types of challenges tend to include almost all the tribe members, and we wanted to create something that stands out. All of us contributed to the final product in several different ways. Firstly, we had Lilly, who was the Creative Director, and Task Manager. She came up with the narrative and focused on creating a realistic schedule in order to get everything done on time, and to a good quality. Bobby and Bryan, you saw in the music video, as our lead lip-syncers. Aaliyah was the editor of this video, putting to use her skill in a way much better than anyone else on our tribe could have accomplished. Finally, Michael and Jack created the write up, in order to communicate our thoughts to the judges, to show the amount of effort we put into this project.

Zach:

Creativity:6

The explanation for idea of the music video was strong and well intentioned, if not wholly originally, but I’m not sure it is entirely reflected in what got with the video. I appreciate the deliberate choice to use only two members of the cast to support that idea, so I can’t ding for points there, but I don’t think what we got was what we were promised in the explanation.

Effort: 7

Going off of the intro text, I’ll take it in good faith that everyone contributed as much as was mentioned, and despite execution, I cannot fault their efforts if they all tried.

Composition: 5

Any time there’s a vertical video, it’s going to hurt a little, but I won’t dwell on that too much. I will say that the video ending before the song ends does not help its case. Also, the idea behind the colors and the black and white to show emotional change was a good thought, but did not have the payoff that it should have had. The rationale behind it feels more film school interpretation of something after the fact than intended execution.

Theme: 7

The theme as explained was a solid one, and definitely can see tones of it in the performances and set dress of the actors. Nice job. Bryan will haunt my dreams.

All-in-all, I think this was a good effort and it’s obvious that this team works together well and has lofty ideas. I think the technical skill might be lacking, and it seems like everyone here is very structured in their thinking. I prefer that way of thought so I’m with them, but they needed a little more creative flair here to pull it off.

Sarah:Creativity: 5/10

Effort: 5/10

Composition (editing): 7/10

Theme: 8/10

I wish I saw everyone from the tribe in this but I get your reasoning behind it. It was still just overall ok

Vilma:

Creativity: 4/10

You made a creative decision to include only two people of your tribe in the lip sync and while I appreciate the ballsy move I can’t help but feel I would’ve enjoyed the video more if more people were included in it.

Effort: 5/10

Bobby was the king of the show and really put his soul into it.

Composition: 4/10

Rule number one in music videos: film horizontally! Overall I wasn’t a huge fan of the constant use of cheap looking effects but otherwise the editing was fine.

Theme: 6/10

I think the duality theme in your video was nice an well thought-out but it would be a bit hard to understand without your thorough explanation of it.

Castor Total: 69/120

Elan's Music Video & Explanation

She walks! She talks! She twerks! She's BARBIE! Jump, dance, and sing with your very own customizable doll! Dress her up and take her out. Barbie is your BEST FRIEND! You can be a Barbie Girl too! SHE'S BARBIE! (batteries not included)

Zach:

Creativity: 7

The idea of using Barbie girl for the song was a strong and out of the blue choice, making it look like a commercial really took it over the top. I can’t go higher than 8 because they used a lot of the original music video to cover gaps, but overall, more creative an idea than I’ve seen in a while, and the execution was beautiful which leads me to:

Effort: 8

To put what they put together as quickly as they did takes a lot of coordination from whomever was putting it together, but the fact that most people went so far as to dress as “Barbies” shows that almost everyone was committed to the gag. There were a couple of people who obviously didn’t have as much time to give to this, but substituting them as the Ken was a nice save.

Composition: 9

Obviously when working with iPhones and computer cameras, the visual leaves something to be lacking, but that is more than made up for here with the various superpositions, graphics, texts, crawls, and cuts. It felt like I was watching a bizarro QVC commercial that was as fun to watch as Barbies are to play with, keeping them right on mark for their:

Theme: 9

The fact that this is basically a weird commercial for Barbies is as fantastic as they are plastic. Every inch of it was filled with something to reinforce the theme, whether it was ordering details, people playing with the toys, warnings, calls to actions, or disclaimers (the bottom Mattel crawl was a brilliant example of all three categories of judgement coalescing to reinforce the them.

I wasn’t planning on rating anyone high, but this was weird, original, well done, and fun. Nice job. It was visual candy, high energy, and all surface, which I wouldn’t typically go for, but that’s what Barbie is about.

Sarah:Creativity: 9/10

Effort: 10/10

Composition (editing): 10/10

Theme: 8/10

You guys impressed the fuck out of me and made me literally LOL.

Vilma:

Creativity: 8/10

Cute outfits, cute barbie nicknames, cute editing, cute CuTe CUTE I want these slutty barbies to myself

Effort: 9/10

The barbie QUEENS and the editor guy did a phenomenal job. It looks like most of your tribe participated, although the Barbies outshined the Ken’s a bit. But overall you guys really put yourself out there and put in the most effort.

Composition: 10/10

The editing was ON POINT. Great job ten out of ten.

Theme: 8/10.

I stan the barbie theme and song choice btw Aqua is a Danish band so I love me some nordic representation <3 My only complaint is I wish you introduced us to the handsome Kens too.

Elan Total: 105/120

Hibou's Music Video & Explanation

We lip synced Survivor by Destiny's Child. Due to time constraints Gavin couldn't be in the video, but it doesn't matter since Sammy stole the show. :) The editing got a little weird at the end. Some of the file types were different and that causes playback issues. Also the deadline was fast approaching so the sequences towards the end are a little longer. :p

Zach:

Creativity: 2

Hate to be harsh, but going for Survivor for Survivor is a little too on the nose. Listen, it’s a great song, and some people have some great energy, but creatively, this was low hanging fruit. On top of that, the video is literally just lip-syncing, which is basically like playing a Borneo Game in 2019. Given that they’d be given plenty of examples of other ways this can be done well, I can’t rate this high. To paraphrase the song “you’re better than that.”

Effort: 4

To the people that contributed to this, I appreciate your attempt. The one guy who really embraced the challenge, got a mic, light-up glasses, the hat, et al, if this was based on just your effort, I could go much higher. It’s as high as it is because of you. Unfortunately, it’s a team challenge, and for the brief moments that we saw most of the other players, you can see them reading the words on the screen as they capture their performance. I hope everyone enjoyed it more than it shows, but again, to the point of the song “you’ve gotta work harder.”

Composition: 2

Vertical videos really just need to be turned 90 degrees and it would feel like we’re watching a movie. Or if you’re given vertical videos, copy the layer, move it to the back, enlarge, and blur. It will make it instantly more watchable. This grade isn’t solely because of that though (3 vertical videos don’t help though). The titles screen is cute, but assembled poorly. Some of the text is covered some of the pictures. There’s no real pace to guide us through the song. The cuts seem arbitrary. Editing is very hard and never appreciated, so to whomever put this together, if you did your best, nice job and I encourage to stick with it, but kinda feels like “I’m not gonna give up” was something you were saying to yourself over and over again when trying to make this work.

Theme: 2

Picking this song was a bold choice since it’s so obvious, but you can’t lose points in this category based on choice alone. But given that choice, you have to really knock it out of the park, and I don’t think the bat even touched the ball with this one. There’s nothing here that screams either Survivor nor what Destiny Child was singing about, I don’t know if we’d be weaker without this song in our life.

Look, I hate to be critical, especially since it’s obvious some people put it in a lot more work with this than others, but to be honest, this wasn’t a shining example of what you’re all capable of. It’s hard putting these together, and maybe it just wasn’t worth it this time. Making music videos can be fun or terrible depending on with whom you work. I wish you the best, but I feel like because of this, for one of you “I’m gonna make it, here on Survivor” just isn’t true.

Sarah: Creativity: 4/10

Effort: 3/10

Composition (editing): 6/10

Theme: 4/10

You tried.

Vilma:

Creativity: 4/10

I feel like you guys could’ve been more creative with your Survivor theme. I like that you introduced everyone in the beginning but other than that the video was very simple.

Effort: 6/10

Most of your tribe seemed to participate and that’s always nice to see. Some of you guys were really feeling it too so big props to that!

Composition: 3/10

Again, gotta deduct some points for not filming horizontally. Plus the lip syncing was VERY off most of the time, such a simple thing to fix and the video would’ve seemed much more professional!

Theme: 5/10

Your song choice is literally perfect, you GUYS are survivors and you know it but I wish you would’ve included little skits or something to emphasize the theme.

Hibou Total: 45/120

Congratulations to Castor and Elan for winning immunity!! which unfortunately means Hibou you will be heading to tribal council, where you will be voting off the first person in Tumblr Survivor Algonquin. Tribal will be live over Google Hangouts, and we plan to start at 9:00 EST. please let the hosts know beforehand if you will be able to attend tribal council or not.

[5hfanfiction]

2 Broke girls - Two

Lauren made her way into the busy dinner half an hour late after an argument with her now ex-roommate who had moved out and left Lauren in the lurch without so much as a warning, meaning Lauren now had to make up half of the rent for her apartment.

Rushing past Dinah and who was sat at the booking booth to grab her apron and notepad from the back, only to bump into the same rich girl from last night, except now she looked well…less rich. Maybe it was the uniform.

��Ugh…watch it, will you?” Lauren snapped already not in the mood for people’s bullshit today.

“I’m so sorry.” The girl apologised, “You’re Lauren right?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Lauren said grabbing the plates of food Ty had placed onto the side to be taken to the desired tables.

“Oh..well Ally said you’d show be the ropes?” Camila she’s more than stated, feeling intimidated by the other girl who seemed so…in her element. Camila had never waitresses a day in her life, despite what she had told Ally. The truth is her dad paid for most of her things or she used the money from her trust fund, which had now been taken away from her as a repercussion of Alejandro’s failed business plans.

Setting the plates on the correct table Lauren huffed at the new girl, who was apparently insistent on annoying the heck out of Lauren with her annoying upper east side voice. “It’s not hard.” Lauren said walking behind the side bar. “This is Ty. Ty gives you the food,” Lauren said picking up more of the plates the new waitress obviously hadn’t decided to deliver and let pile up. “And you take them to the tables. My section,” Lauren said walking over to the furthest tables and setting the two plates down in front of an elderly couple. “Is tables one to eight and your’s is tables nine to eighteen.” She said secretly giving Camila a few extra tables from her own section to decrease her work load.

“Okay.” The Latina nodded in understanding.

“Once the tables are cleared out your job is to wash them. Or don’t, what they don’t know can’t hurt.” Lauren shrugged unbothered as Camila gasped in horror. “This is DJ.” Lauren gestured to her friend at at her station. “DJ books all the tables and shoves people our way. She’s also in control of all the crappy music we play here. Hence the name DJ. ” Lauren spoke as Dinah looked up from her tiny docking station and giving a small wave and a laugh. Though Camila didn’t know what was funny.

“Where the hell did Smallz find this one?” The DJ asked in a loud hushed tone to Lauren allowing Camila to hear.

“I can hear you! You know?!” Camila stepped forward, not liking everyone’s attitude hear. She had had enough from the chef earlier on when Lauren wasn’t hear to help here and Ally left her stranded in the kitchen inhaling the toxic fumes the guy was astonishingly smoking in the kitchen.

“We know.” Lauren said harshly, walking back towards the kitchen leaving Camila to chase after her. “So that’s about it. Oh! And we split the tips.” Lauren said shaking the empty jar that read tips.

“Alright, I think I’ve got it.” Camila nodded stressed as she tried to remember everything she had to do. It was a lot for her, but she needed this job. “I’m Camila by the way.” The young girl introduced herself.

“What kind of name is Camila?” Lauren scoffed, flipping open her notepad and pulling a small pencil from her bra.

“It’s Latin, I was actually named after-”

“Don’t care.” Lauren interrupted and disappeared through the kitchen doors, leaving a shocked and offended Camila alone out front, but Camila wasn’t having it so she stalked after her. Only to be met by Lauren sat on the work surface, near the food, smoking an illegal substance.

“Omg! What are you doing?!” Camila exclaimed.

“Blazing up, you want some?” Lauren offered much to Camila’s dismay.

“No! I don’t not want some. Do you know how dangerous that is? Not to mention the many health and safety regulations you are probably breaking right now.” Camila feuded in her squeaky voice.

“I’m sorry, have you seen this Diner?!” Lauren said jumping of the counter rolling her eyes. “Health and safety is put exactly our main priority.”

“Well it should be! Good people eat here and rely on you to provide them with good food. Safe food. That’s not surrounded by narcotics.”

“Is she for real?” Ty asked Lauren as Camila got increasingly wound up.

“Apparently so.” Lauren said stubbing out the joint in her hand. “Look, I don’t know where you’re from Princess but you need to dial it down, Kay?” Lauren said mocking Camila with the stupid nickname, because Camila wasn’t a princess. Sure she had tea with once, but that didn’t make her a princess,  just a friend of one.

“I’m not a-” Camila’s defence was interrupted by Ally marching into the kitchen.

“What are you guys doing back here?! This diner isn’t going to run itself!” She exclaimed placing both hands on her hips as she attempted to stare everyone down.

“With the amount of mould growing in this place I wouldn’t be surprised if it grew legs and ran away.” Lauren deadpanned with a hint of seriousness and causing Camila’s jaw to drop in shock horror. This place really was disgusting.

“We don’t have mould…anymore.” Ally smiled falsely shooting Lauren a dirty look that screamed ‘shut up’. “Now get out there before I fire you.”

“Please…” Lauren scoffed, “if you fire us this place will be closed down in a day.” And with that Lauren grabbed hold of Camila’s arm and dragged her out into the Diner to finish the rest of their shift.

Camila slowly got the hang of things, but the customers were another story. The were all so…rude.

“Look sir, this is what you ordered. I can go and change it, but it will cost more.” Camila tried to reason with the bald headed man who was in the wrong.

“No. I want what I ordered.” He yelled threateningly.

“Hey!” Lauren came up stepping in front of Camila and latching onto the guy with her menacing stare, as Camila breathed a sigh of relief having never of had to work with actual people before, other than her personal shopper and assistants. “Don’t be yelling a Canola like that. If you don’t like what you ordered that’s not her fault. So you can either order another meal and apologise to Cornflake over here or leave.” Lauren sassed letting her full Cuban accent takeover as she gave the now quiet man ultimatum.

“Um- sorry miss, I’ll just have a hotdog with mustard.” The big guy mumbled, avoiding Lauren’s gaze.

“Better.” Lauren said, grabbing his plate and walking away without so much of a second glance whilst Camila looked on at her in complete awe. Maybe this girl wasn’t so bad after all Camila thought, she did come over just to defend her.

Camila debated going over to Lauren and thanking her, but for some reason she didn’t think Lauren would take kindly to that. She didn’t seem like a 'feelings’ type of person and quite frankly Camila was scared that if she did go to hug her Lauren would shank her and steal her diamond earrings that her daddy had brought her from Paris. They were the only thing of real value she actually had left, well that and her designer shoes and matching bag.

So Camila opted otherwise and continued onto her other tables. Lauren didn’t really say much to her for the rest of the evening, Ty did occasionally but that was only to desperately flirt with her and Ally mostly kept to herself in the small office, whilst Dinah booked tables, played music and bantered with Lauren.

At 8pm Dinah dragged out a mic stand and began setting up the small stage at the front of the Diner that Camila hadn’t even noticed before, seeing as she had been to preoccupied with angry customers and an overwhelming amount of orders.

Once it hit 8:20pm Lauren stood upon the stage and tapped the microphone to check it was all synced up before speaking into the mic.  “Hey, so I’m gonna sing a song for you guys if you don’t mind.” Lauren spoke and for the first time since Camila had meant her she actually saw a flicker of emotion- nerves, she thought it was.

Lauren gave Dinah a thumbs up and the girl cued the music and the intro to Amy Winehouse’s Valarie started playing though the speakers before Lauren started singing the opening verse, flawlessly, Camila might add.

The brunette voice filled the Diner and gave it a new found life and even though Camila had double the amount of tables to wait on she could stop watching the girl singing soulfully through the mic with her eyes shut tight and hips swaying to the music.

It was inevitably the people walking up to the front of the stage pouring coins into Lauren’s upside down grey beanie that caused Camila to tear her eyes away from the girl on the stage and pay attention to her surroundings and an idea to spring up into her head. So Camila quickly walked over to where Dinah was sat in her booth. “DJ?”

“What’s up newb?” Dinah said not looking up from her laptop.

“Do we charge people for live performances at all?” Camila asked as her brain ticked away at ways to make money.

“No, why would we? Lauren just does it because she wants too.” Dinah shrugged finally looking up at the petite brunette hovering around her booth. “…and for tips, obviously.” Dinah added.

“Hmm…that’s interesting. She’s really good.” Camila commended.

“She almost had a record deal, ya know?” Dinah said looking at the girl belting notes on the stage.

“She did?” Camila asked shocked. Lauren didn’t seem the pop-star type.

“Yep. Hey, do me a favour and watch my booth? I need to pee.” Dinah said shuffling out, before Camila could give her an answer. So the new girl moved to sit in Dinah’s seat overlooking the Diner and waited for the girl to come back, praying that Lauren didn’t finish the song to soon and leave Camila with the job of cueing new music.

So, Camila sat tapping her fingers nervously waiting for Dinah to return but she never did and soon enough a customer wandered through the door looking for a table.

“Table for one.” The man in a business suit said obliviously with a phone to his ear and Camila tapped desperately at the computer trying to figure out what to do, but eventually gave up and just picked an empty table from the room.

“Um- table 11 is free.” Camila said and the man nodded continuing his phone call. “Listen, its loud in here so I’m going to have to call you back later.” He spoke, bringing Camila’s attention back to the live music and sparking up and idea in the young girl’s head.  “And that’ll be ten dollars as well, as its live music night.” Camila spoke confidently just like she was taught to in business school. The man pulled out his wallet and handed Camila the ten dollar bill before shuffling off to his table, without even so much of a second thought. So Camila pocketed the money with a smirk on her face just as Dinah appeared to take back over the booth.

“I put someone at that table,” Camila pointed, “I didn’t know how to work your thingy so I just chose an empty table.” Camila explained.

“That’s pretty much what I do anyway.” Dinah shrugged as Lauren finished her song and stepped of the stage handing Dinah the microphone clutched in her hand. “You killed it babe.”

“Thanks DJ.” Lauren smiled.

“Yeah, that was…AMAZING.” Camila agreed. “You should-”

“Whatever.” Lauren cut her off and walked away to the back of the kitchen, leaving a very confused Camila standing in her wake. She only congratulated her, it’s not like she even did anything wrong. “What’s her problem?” Camila asked Dinah feeling slightly annoyed.

“Lauren doesn’t do compliments…especially about her singing.” Dinah explained.

“But you just-” Camila stated baffled.

“It’s different with me.” Dinah shrugged, not even bothering to look at Camila as she spoke. Why was everyone here so rude?

“Then why does she even sing in the first place?” Camila pushed, trying to figure the angsty waitress out.

“Money. We’re not all rich like you.” Dinah said pointedly, like she knew something Camila obviously didn’t want anyone to know.

“How did you-?”

“Please Karla,” Dinah shattered Camilas facade by using her first name. “Your father’s face is plastered over every newspaper article in New York. Did you really think we wouldn’t figure it out?” Dinah said with complete distaste towards Camila.

“I didn’t- So Lauren knows?” Camila questioned. It would explain why she was treating her so badly.

“Yeah, she found it quite hilarious actually.” Dinah bemused. “Look to be honest I don’t care. Just don’t fuck with us okay? We’re broke as it is.”

“I would never.” Camila assured, nodding her head profusely.

“Good.” Dinah said. Camila began to walk away but turned back again when she heard Dinah speak. “Don’t stress over Lauren. She’s like this with everyone. It’s her M.O.”

-

Finally the last of the customers filtered out of the door and Lauren quickly slammed the door shut and flipped the open sign to read Closed, to prevent anymore stragglers from wondering in.

Ally, TY and Dinah had all left, leaving Lauren to close the Diner and Camila to…well Lauren didn’t quite know what it was that Camila was doing, other than wondering around trying to appear as though she was doing something, which she clearly wasn’t.

Lauren moved to grab her jacket from being sprawled across the bar, before turning to Camila. “Are you planning on leaving anytime soon? Because I have to lock up.”

“Oh.” Camila spoke dejectedly, but made no move to leave the shelter the Diner provided.

“So….are you going to go or what?” Lauren huffed after waiting a few beats for the new waitresses response.

“Um- yeah.” Camila mumbled nervously, grabbing her leather jacket and following Lauren outside onto the cold streets of Brooklyn. Lauren quickly locked the doors to the Diner, before turning to a hovering Camila.

Both girls just stared at each other waiting for the other to make a move, but neither did. Instead Camila found herself noticing Lauren’s striking green eyes for the fist time they had met. They provided at stark contrast against everything regarding Lauren’s appearance where her hair fell messily to one side and her skin was slightly blotchy and free from make up. Camila could even recommend a good concealer for her to use.

“Well…see ya.” Lauren blurted out, breaking the silence and turning to walk away.

“Wait!” Camila practically yelled after her.

“What?” Lauren said turning around annoyed, but making no effort to move any closer.

“I have no where to go.” Camila confessed in a whisper barely audible for Lauren to hear.

“…okay?” Lauren shrugged unbothered. “Do what I did when stepdad number 33 came along and kicked me out. Grab a card board box split it open and sleep on a doorstep until someone comes and pours a bucket of water on you.”

“Are you serious?” Camila questioned, astonished that the girl would suggest such a thing. Camila didn’t sleep anywhere less than four stars, so she wasn’t as picky most people on the upper east side, but sleeping on the ground was a ridiculous idea.

“No, come on.” Lauren instructed turning and walking back down the street.

“Where are we going?” Camila asked, quickly following after Lauren, scared of being left alone on the streets of Brooklyn.

“To a drug den.” Lauren rolled her eyes, but Camila couldn’t see because she was slightly behind the older girl.

“WHAT?! LAUREN, NO!” Camila panicked.

“Chillout, you’re staying at my apartment.” Lauren said monotonously.

“Omg! Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Camila squeaked with relief at not having to sleep on the streets.

“This doesn’t mean I like.” Lauren said bluntly.

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Jeff York on The Establishing Shot: “CATS”, QUITE SIMPLY, IS A DOG

If you saw the trailer, you had a good idea of just how badly conceived the filmed adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical CATS was going to be. But after seeing the 110-minute, $95 million mess, bad is too small of a word. This film is a dog.

Seldom has an adaptation been as blundered at every level as this one. One could readily list a hundred mistakes in it, and I’m sure the makers of those “Everything Wrong With” videos on YouTube will go to town in exactly that way. Me? I’ll list nine, an appropriate number given the number of lives felines are supposed to have. This CATS, however, and all of its screw-ups, arrives in the cineplex DOA.

1.) The source material has aged badly

When he wrote the musical in 1981, Webber kept faithfully true to the T.S. Eliot source material – the book of poems entitled “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.” Eliot’s musings about felines were equally nonsensical and whimsical. He coined the term “Jellicle cat” to signify scruffy, black and white cats, which he had a fondness for. By the time you’ve heard the cast sing that gibberish word for the hundredth time, you’ll wish he had just used a term like “domesticated cat” or “pet.” The lyrics sound creaky, dated, and not particularly charming or funny, like a lot of Eliot’s misguided take on cats. (Cats aren’t supposed to drink milk or dream, for example. Need I go on?) The odd poetry really doesn’t play in 2019, especially when the one song that is crystal clear in meaning and intent is a new song written by Taylor Swift for this adaptation. There’s quaint, and then there’s irritating and worn, and too much of the jellicleness falls into the latter category here.

2.) The look of the cat/human hybrids is ugly and inconsistent

The form-fitting fur costumes for the big screen accentuate human anatomy more than suggest our four-legged friends. The film is supposed to be family-friendly, but the look of the characters is far too sexualized, too Dr. Moreau. Rebel Wilson’s Jennyanydots portrayal is the most egregious, as she rubs her loins and holds her tail between her legs as if it’s an erection. Why they simply didn’t ape the stage costumes is a puzzler as John Napier’s award-winning designs mixed dancewear with tasteful fur trimming and some human clothing, but nothing about it conjured the feel of a “furry” fetishist.

Also, the attempts to look like real cats are inconsistent. Sure, the ears move, as do the whiskers, but what good is any of that when all the cats have human hands and feet, and often left flesh-colored at that. Couldn’t such appendages have been painted or covered with gloves or socks? And why aren’t any of the cats’ noses painted here? Cats’ noses are pink, brown, and almost always a different color than the yap surrounding them. To a cat lover, it’s inexplicable.

3.) The special effects aren’t very special

The cat dancers here do a lot of wonderfully slinky moves, just like they did on stage, but the movie wants them to be able to leap about too and that requires wirework. Granted, the wires were removed in post-production, but when the dancers jump high in the sky here, it looks like crappy stuntwork. The movements are slow and rickety.

The effect of removing the human ears in post-production looks wrong too. Not enough hair fills out the edges of the face, giving some cast members the look of a burn victim or plastic surgery gone amuck. Placing human faces on the mice and cockroach characters is ugly and cheap-looking as well, but then so is the whole grotesque concept of Busby Berkeley dancing vermin.

4.) The acting soars…over-the-top

On Broadway, you can be as big as you want because you’re playing to the balcony. Movies are a whole other matter. Close-ups on film don’t require the same large efforts. Director Tom Hooper failed to learn from his mistakes in the movie version of LES MISERABLES that he directed. He shoved the camera right up into the actors’ faces to prove that they weren’t lip-syncing. Unfortunately, it showed off too much spittle and spray too. The same happens here. Jennifer Hudson’s Grizabella is so screechy, melodramatic, and moist, it makes a sympathetic character into a shrill one.

As for most of the rest of the cast, they either mug shamelessly or overdo the cat clichés. James Corden is slyly funny until he starts hacking up hairballs. Ian McKellen creates some pathos as Gus the Theater Cat, but then he vamps through his solo number and the heart-tugging moment almost becomes laughable. At least Judi Dench attempts to underplay throughout, but she’s not helped by a costume that makes her look more like Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion than a dignified Old Deuteronomy.

5.) If you’re going to write dialogue, resist hoary cat puns

Webber’s original stage production was a sung-thru musical. Adding dialogue now, with cheap puns like, “Cat got your tongue?” and “Cat’s out of the bag” should’ve given the filmmakers pause. (Not paws.)  There are too many cat behavioral clichés on display too, with the cast leaning hard on traits like hissing, preening, and lip-licking. They’re like students in a freshman improv class – “Okay, everyone, now you’re all cats!”

6.) Taylor Swift is wasted in a nothing role

She looks quite good in her “Josie and the Pussycats” kind of way, but her role as Bombalurina is virtually a throwaway. For starters, she doesn’t appear onscreen until the last 30 minutes, and then all she does basically is sing about what a badass Macavity is. We already know that as Idris Alba’s character is clearly the villain of this piece as evidenced by his every insidious action and all the snide lines he utters. Where’s Bombalurina been the whole time?

7.) The scale is all wrong

The cats here are too small in the context of many of the film’s settings, particularly its human homes. The scale isn’t properly proportioned as almost everything is too oversized, reminiscent of the fantasy sequences in ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. Such satirical scale worked there because it was a spoof of childhood. Here, it just looks wrong.

8.) Are we in a human world or a cat world?

The opening scene has a high-heeled woman step out of a car and throw her bagged pet away in a dirty alley. Additionally, Gus sings about appearing on stage with Shakespearean actors. But then the city marquees, billboards, and hotel names all are ‘cat-ified.’ So, are we in the human world or a modified cat one? Such inconsistencies should have been taken care of in the first pass through Final Draft.

9.) Tom Hooper is not a natural for such material

The Oscar-winning director for THE KING’S SPEECH tends to do well with character-driven pieces, like JOHN ADAMS on HBO and PRIME SUSPECT on Granada Television for the UK. Musicals are different though, requiring a sophisticated blend of the extroverted and the intimate. Too much of LES MIZ felt histrionic and broad, and the same goes here. He’s also not a natural at moving the camera and relies far too much on actors moving in and out of frame to give his film action.

Casting principal dancer Francesca Hayward of the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden as the lead cat Victoria here was his one inspired choice. She’s got expressive eyes and entrancing moves, and she makes her audience conduit character the calm in all the storm around her.

Alternately, Hooper badly botches the presentation of magical Mr. Mistoffelees, letting actor Laurie Edwards play him as far too irritating. The “Skimbleshanks” number not only feels extraneous here, but the character comes off as completely lackluster in the way Steven McRae performs the part. And the estimable Ray Winstone is given little to do but growl as Captain Growltiger, another throwaway role. So much for Hooper being such “an actor’s director.”

Perhaps the simple, stage-bound show should have remained so. Doing an adaptation of it almost 40 years after the fact is crazy late too, not helped by the fact that playwright John Guare satirized the notion of a CATS movie musical in his award-winning play SIX DEGREES OF SEPERATION way back in 1990. CATS is not a great musical onstage, anyway, but it’s been an enormous success for decades and should have garnered a better adaptation.  And cats, as a superior species, certainly deserve a lot better than this effort too.

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[googleyfish]

Squirrel Meets World

[A/N: funny story, that baby that delayed the posting of Chapter 3 is 2 months old now…. thats how long its been since I’ve updated. I’m so sorry! please forgive me! theres a lot of reasons why, not the least of which is just i had no good ideas for what happens in this chapter, so i just decided to fake it until i can get to where I have good ideas.]

Chapter 4: Wrap It Up

You couldn't believe that filming had wrapped up already— this had definitely been a whirlwind couple of months for you. You stood by the door in your apartment, nervously chewing on a fingernail, thinking about how things were going to get even crazier after this. You had a few months off before filming started before the fourth Avengers movie, but you would be busy training with Tom, traveling with your family, and giving interviews before and after the Spiderman: Alma Mater premiere.

Your phone buzzing startled you out of your thoughts. Zendaya, Tom and Jacob were meeting you to take you to your very first wrap party.

“Are you ready?” Jacob asked as you made your way over to them.

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” you replied biting your lip. “I mean, I am kinda nervous, but like… it’s just a party, right?”

“Just a super awesome party!” Tom said, wrapping an arm around your shoulder. “Like the first little bit is boring, cause it’s just the director thanking everybody and stuff— but then afterwards there’s food and drinking and games and… y’know… party stuff. But with the best people you know!” At that he gestured to himself, Jacob and Zendaya.

“Yeah, ok,” you laughed, putting an arm around his shoulders as well. “Let’s go!”

* * *

The first part of the party was just as Tom had described, though you were a little embarrassed that the director had taken the time to compliment you during his speech. Apparently he was really impressed with how you handled yourself during your first ever filming, particularly since this was such a big budget production. You blushed, not sure how to take the attention until the cast and crew started clapping for you. You stood up and waved awkwardly, until Tom shouted “That’s our girl!” which got you to laugh and smile before you sat down. The director finished up his remarks, and the party really started.

* * *

You knew this day was coming, and you had prepared for it. Some people thought you were crazy, but you knew this dark knowledge would come in handy one day. Even though you knew this, you were hesitant and hoping you could get out of this without participating. You weren’t much of a singer if there was a crowd involved, and you would be relying on your comedy and enthusiasm to carry your plan to success.

“C’mon, Y/N!” Zendaya called, laughing as Robert handed her his microphone. “You gotta sing a song for karaoke!!” You waved your hands at her, signaling that you would rather not, but she kept heckling you. “Don’t be such a chicken! Even Robert did it, and he’s Robert Downey Jr!” Robert turned and shrugged helplessly at you. It was true, and a very good argument. You sighed heavily and got out of your seat.

“Y/N!!!” Tom roared excitedly as you walked up and took the microphone from Zendaya. You paused and whispered in her ear. She nodded and grabbed a second microphone.

“Alright,” you said into the microphone, taking a deep breath. “Before we begin, don’t forget— you asked for this!” you said, pointing out at the crowd. “Hit it!”

The beat dropped, and Tom and Jacob were already on their feet. “Oh my god, no way,” Jacob gasped, grabbing at Tom, who was trying to shush him.

“First things first, I’m the realest,” you rapped in a great impression of Iggy Azalea, Zendaya echoing you. “Drop this down and let the whole world feel it.”

As you continued through the first verse, you kept your eyes on your two friends who looked like they were gonna lose their minds. Tom was pulling at his hair, his mouth hanging open in shock, and Jacob was laughing so hard he was crying. As you dropped it low and picked it up, just like this, you saw Robert clap a hand over his mouth as his shoulders shook with laughter.

Zendaya came in with the chorus— “I’m so fancy, you already know”— and you took the time to catch your breath and glance out at the rest of the crowd. By this time, everyone on the cast and crew knew you had pulled a fast one on them. You winked at them, and committed to making the rest of the song as over the top as you could.

When you finished rapping, the crowd went wild. Tom and Jacob came over and jumped on top of you, while Zendaya announced, “THAT. JUST. HAPPENED. Our Y/N, our very own innocent Y/N Y/L/N, rapped Iggy Azalea’s Fancy flawlessly. I think we may be done with karaoke, does anyone even want to try to follow THAT?”

After that, karaoke just devolved down into everyone drinking and shouting along to popular and classic songs like Africa by Toto together. And you were very thankful— Fancy was the only song you knew that was ridiculous enough to distract everyone away from how awful at singing in front of crowds you were. If they had asked for a repeat performance, you’re not sure you could’ve done it.

* * * As the night slowed down, you found yourself sitting at a small table drinking and talking with Tom, Zendaya and Jacob. Swallowing some of your wine down, you took a breath and said, “Hey guys, not to be that person who gets all emotional while drinking, but thanks so much for these past few months. You guys coulda been, like, dicks to me since I was new, and you weren’t, you were all so helpful and awesome and like… and like, yeah, you’ve been my best friends. Thanks.”

“Awww no, stop, Y/N!” Zendaya said, throwing her hands in front of her face. “If you start crying, I’m gonna start crying and I do NOT wanna do that!”

“But, like, I just don’t know what I’m gonna do when we film Avengers 4,” you continued anyways, getting a little choked up. “Like, you’re not gonna be there and neither is Jacob!”

“Hey, Y/N, I’ll be there!” Tom started to comfort you. “I might be there… for like a day,” Jacob butted in, earning a look from Tom. “Well I might be!”

“And the whole Avengers cast is so cool, you’ll have plenty of friends in no time,” Tom continued.

“Yeah, look, Tom is always texting me about all the nonsense he’s getting up to on set with them. But this time I’ll be getting texts from both of you!” Zendaya said, rubbing your back.

“So we’ll still be friends even though we’re not working together?” you sniffled.

“Oh my god, YES, Y/N, of course! Girl, what has gotten into you?” she asked wiping at her own eyes.

“You guys,” you whined pathetically, “I might be wine drunk…”

“I hate you, Y/N, making me cry just cause you get sad drinking wine,” Zendaya laughed, hitting your shoulder lightly. “I’ll go get her some water,” Tom sighed.

[A/N: You guys. I get so emotional when I’m wine drunk. It’s an issue. So I had the karaoke scene with Fancy planned since before Alicia Silverstone did it on Lip Sync Battle and I’m bummed that i didn't get this chapter out before it cause like, THAT WAS MY IDEA! But it was a hilarious idea so i get it, Alicia, I get it. Anyways, the next chapter should be up within a couple days!! instead of a couple months!! and I promise Sebastian Stan shows up in the next one!]