#the bright sessions adam

[monster-gut]

The bright sessions cast part 1

I absolutely love this podcast❤️

[jenijro]

I’m never going to forget how Adam’s first line in the bright sessions was “what the fuck is that supposed to mean???”

[jashiethh]

"Together we make green"💚

Bright sessions holds a super special place in my heart, and I can't believe it's been over two years since I first listened to it :(,,,, Additionally, Adam and Caleb changed my brain chemistry, I can't explain the feelings I felt when I finished the College Tapes😭I love all of them dearly <33(Even Damien...he makes me sad though) I want to put more bright sessions art after finals too agghhhh

[soggycroutons04]

"You keep me green." -Caleb Michaels (The Bright Sessions)

[chickwiththepurpleguitar]

I Did It!!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who sent me prompts to help me reach my 2024 writing goal. As of about five minutes ago, I completed it!!! I wrote an average of 500 words every day for 366 days, and you guys were SO great and helpful in me getting there. To celebrate, my final writing of the year is 5 snippets about some of our favorite blorbos celebrating New Year's Eve together. I asked five friends to pick the pairings, so I'll tag them next to their snippet. If you're still waiting on a prompt to be filled, I do plan to get to them in the New Year, but probably with way less haste. You guys are awesome, thank you so much for reading my work!

Julie & Flynn: for @joyandthephantoms

“Okay!” Julie says decisively, settling herself up against the headboard of her bed with her notebook poised in her lap. “Who wants to go first?”

Flynn, lying on her stomach down the bed from her, feet kicked in the air as she taps her pen against her own notepad, says, “You, cause I’m still working through some of mine.”

“Well, hurry up cause it’s almost midnight.” Julie holds her notebook up like a hymn book and begins to read. “First of all, my word for the year is!” Pause for dramatic effect. “Ease.”

“Ooh, love it. Very Eat, Pray, Love. Go on.”

Damien & Mark: for @starchemist

“So, uh,” Damien says, voice low and gruff in the dark of the hotel room. They’re lying tucked up against each other, Mark’s back to Damien’s chest, Damien’s arm wrapped around him. The Ball Drop, still about forty minutes away, is playing softly on the TV, but they’ve been much more focused on each other than Times Square.

“Yeah?” Mark says when he doesn’t go on, barely a whisper.

“New year usually means, like. New you, and all that bullshit. Resolutions. Airing your grievances and whatever.”

Mark turns his head to look at him. “I’m not telling anyone about us.”

“Oh, thank God.”

Willie & Alex: for @skeletaltoad

Their friends started counting down about a minute and a half ago, because Reggie gave a whole speech on December 23rd about how “it’s really not fair that the last ten seconds of the year are the only ones that get recognized, when really we’ve been counting down since midnight on last New Year’s Eve” etc etc and wouldn’t shut up until they agreed to start the vocal countdown at 90.

Willie and Alex haven’t been counting with them. They’ve been sitting on the floor of the Molinas’ living room, holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes, preparing themselves for their first New Year’s Kiss.

Nick & Carrie: for @queenofthequillandink

At 10:00, her dad goes to bed, so Carrie sets Nick up on the couch in the den with about fourteen blankets and The Holiday on streaming.

At 11:00, she paints his nails a festive shade of pink and orders a large pizza with everything for them to share.

At 11:30, they make twin hot fudge sundaes with about a million toppings each. 

At 11:45, Carrie puts the Ball Drop on and makes fun of Ryan Seacrest, as per tradition.

At midnight, they ring in the new year. A year of healing, of friendship, of peace. Still by each other’s sides.

Caleb & Adam: for @staystrange

“How’s the party?” Adam says on the screen, a red solo cup in his hand.

“Loud,” Caleb says, rubbing absently at his chest, and they both know he doesn’t just mean the volume. “I wish you were here.”

“I know, me too. We’ll ring in next year together.” Adam glances over his shoulder, and Caleb can hear someone (probably Caitlin) shouting from the next room. “I’m being summoned for the count down.”

“You’ll come back to kiss me, won’t you?”

Adam smiles at him— the tiniest smile ever, which means it’s the most real. “Of course I will. Happy New Year, babe.”

“Happy New Year.”

--

Taglist:

@pandoradeloeste

@genericgirl420

@sizzlingjudgebanditpaper

@ziggy-st4dust

@flibbertigibbety-jibber-jabber

@friendlyfishboy

@bakugouuuwu

@alexacat57

@jaytheunique

@mercale

@teammightypen

@wr0temyway0ut

@phantomwriter95

@littlepetbee

@secondhand-sunlight

@ddaxnggirl

@trustworthytoast

@interestinglittlerelationship

@fangirl17-07

@manualamadrugada

@easybugboy

@moonlit-asthers

[gollancz]

Happy North American publication day to HIGH VAULTAGE, by @victoriocity! And many thanks to @terribleminds for the boost. (not least to my ego since I get a shout-out)

It's available through all good bookstores, AND you can get signed copies here!

OTHER NICE THINGS PEOPLE HAVE SAID:

'Hilarious' - Matt Young, co-creator of Hello from the Magic Tavern

'A joyous, delightful romp...filled to the brim with clever jokes - perfect for anyone looking for a Pratchett fix' - Caitlin Schneiderhan, screenwriter, Stranger Things

'More please' - SFX

‘High Vaultage is exactly what I've come to expect from the Sugdens - inventive, imaginative, and hilarious’ – Lauren Shippen, creator of The Bright Sessions

‘There are some very big concepts in this novel, ambitious settings, and amazing new discoveries. The satire is even more smart, the wit even more sharp’ – @skyfullofpods

'Absolutely overflowing with imagination and creativity . . . I also loved how witty and clever the writing and dialogue was and I found myself genuinely laughing' - @foreverlostinliterature

'High Vaultage is endlessly entertaining - a classic mystery adventure with 10,000 volts of mad science put right through it. It's not just the type of story I wish I could read every day, it's the type of story I wish I could write. Reading it would make me furious with envy if it didn't keep me so busy grinning from ear to ear' - Gabriel Urbina, creator of Wolf 359

[thelaurenshippen]

what was the casting process like for the bright sessions? :O

initially, there was hardly any process to speak of! every cast member in the original run of TBS (seasons 1-4) were people I met in acting class or friends of friends. here's the breakdown -

Julia Morizawa - met in an acting class at BGB Studio Briggon Snow - BGB Anna Lore - met in improv 101 at UCB Charlie Ian - BGB Andrew Nowak - BGB Alex Gallner - friend of Briggon's Ian McQuown - friend of Anna's Alex Marshall-Brown - friend of Anna's and Ian's Phillip Jordan - BGB Alanna Fox - BGB Reyn Beeler - part of the ars paradoxica cast! aka friend of Mischa's

as you can see, that weekly class at BGB Studio in North Hollywood was the place for TBS casting lol - there were so many great actors that moved through that Sunday night class, but all of us were in class with each other at one point or another, and having that experience of acting together really helped I think.

when I started the show, I knew I wanted to act in it and I wanted to write a role for Anna, my best friend. but I actually didn't know Julia or Briggon that well - I just admired their acting and took a swing in asking them. that worked so well that then it was like....okay, well BGB is my actor pool now (I remember vividly the moment that Charlie was doing a scene in class and Julia and I looked at each other and had a silent conversation of "oh THERE'S our Damien").

season 5 (the bright sides - the bonus episodes) was similar. Michael Felix (who plays Austin) was someone we found through auditions, but everyone else was an actor either I knew or the writer of the episode knew, including folks from other podcasts! then, for seasons 6 and 7, the spin-offs, we just did a very traditional casting process, including in person auditions for season 6 (we recorded season 7 in 2020).

[innocuous-gnome]

so i read the infinite noise last week

(to clarify i fucking loved it i just had a lot of emotions)

[jellywizard01]

redraw of this post

i am re obsessed with tbs and the old line up was bothering me.......

[imgonnagetkilledbynutstink]

I love the college tapes cause the important gist of it is that it's about two stupid men who are incredibly in love with their gorgeous perfect boyfriends and it's awesome

[maircries]

In traditional mair fashion, I’m joining another podcast fandom 800 years late so who knows if anyone out in the ether will see this but. I’ve been listening to the bright sessions and Caleb has very much become my Favorite which translates to “I want to put him through the Horrors,” but I’m honestly so surprised no one has really beat me to it?

Like, listening to safe house part ii and:

I heard these and I was sooooo ready to find and read all the fics in which he tortured himself and self flagellates. So I was pretty shocked when there wasn’t much?? And like there’s bits and some fics with ptsd and panic attacks, but (maybe I’m just projecting) these little bits (ESPECIALLY the “like I want to be dead”) had me hoping some people had written about him and depression, especially as an empath. And I know Adam has depression and I definitely see that addressed in fics and how it affects Caleb receiving it, but I just think it’d be Neat to see him deal with it coming from himself

Anyways we’re having a great time

[monster-gut]

❗️Spoilers for the bright sessions (safe house part 1)❗️

Been obsessed with this podcast for awhile now, literally can't get enough of it

[thegaycousin-upgrade]

I was relistening to The Bright Sessions and Adam’s FIRST LINE on the whole show is “what the FUCK is that supposed to mean” ICONIC! That’s iconic as hell. Also him going “oh well that’s good” after Caleb says he likes him.

Adam is gold. The green boys are gold. This episode is gold. This season is gold. The bright sessions is gold. The atypical universe is gold. Lauren Shippen is gold. I love it here.

[arkhangelssky]

For Cringetober day 7, I have crafted the ultimate crossover... Adam x Saw....

[sol-draws-sometimes]

Am I late to the trend? Hell yah! Do I care? No!!

Adam’s freckles are in the drawing, open/tap the drawing for higher res

[chickwiththepurpleguitar]

I'm going to give you a prompt my brain gave me but that I haven't made any progress writing. My idea is that Adam from The Bright Sessions is Atypical and his ability is fusing with other people like the gems in Steven Universe. Because this requires some degree of physical, emotional, and cognitive synchronicity, he probably wouldn't discover it until one of the many moments he and Caleb almost kissed before they started dating. Then Adam has to deal with becoming a new person sometimes when he's with Caleb, figuring out who that person is and their name, whether Adam wants to tell his parents about this, how Wadsworth would react, and a slew of other issues. I imagine that Adam's fusion with Caleb would get to experience the world on the stakeouts. The College Tapes would also definitely happen differently, since I'm not sure Caleb could hide his pokemon evolution from Adam if they fused and Adam being Atypical himself deals with many of the problems that caused them to break up in the first place

Me, who's seen zero (0) episodes of Steven Universe, looking at this prompt: hmm... I don't really know what to do with this... but I bet I could get 750 words out of this concept somehow.

Me, 2000 words later:

No but for real, this prompt ended up bringing me SO much joy to write. Once I figured out the general idea I was going for, I really hit the ground running, and wrote the whole thing in just a couple hours! I really hope you enjoy what I came up with!

(and as always with prompts, if I didn't end up writing your idea exactly how you envisioned it, you are of course so allowed to write your own fic with the same idea! Or a continuation of my version! Or you can always request that I write my own continuation! Two cakes, etc!)

This takes place vaguely post-season four. CW for references to Safe House, kidnapping, depression, PTSD, etc. Canon-compliant angst :)

Send me prompts to help me finish my 2024 writing goal!

By this point in his life, Adam Hayes feels like he’s pretty much got a handle on how all the atypical stuff works. There are specifics that keep crawling out of the woodwork to shock him– Damien, for example, as Adam’s recent brush with kidnapping proved, as well as his Aunt Annabelle’s evil villain arc, which Adam is admittedly still getting used to– but the general gist of it all, he’s got down.

The gist being: there are people with superpowers. And there are people like Adam. Normal. Boring. Safe, until they’re not anymore.

He’s not worried about it. Not consciously, anyway. He trusts, for reasons he can’t even explain, that Damien really is gone for good, and that even if he weren’t, Caleb’s beating has officially moved him from the “superpower” category to the “boring” one, leaving him no more threatening than any other asshole white guy.

(He does not let himself think about the fact that Damien was as good as powerless when he hit Chloe with a lamp, or how six months later she’s still dealing with the effects of the resulting concussion he gave her. Adam will simply keep a can of pepper spray in his backpack and continue to convince himself that he will never let his guard down around Damien like Chloe did, should their paths ever cross again).

He has enough other things, better things, to focus on– his Yale application, and then finals, and then preparing to live away from home for the first time ever, and on top of all that, his boyfriend– that for six months, he manages to think about the safehouse incident as little as humanly possible (nightmares notwithstanding). And not once does it occur to him to make the connection between almost being kidnapped by a whackjob mind manipulator and something his mom said to him almost a year ago when he first got her to sit down and talk about atypicals with him: Sometimes abilities start to manifest after instances of trauma.

After all, making said connection would require Adam to admit (even just to himself) that he experienced a trauma, which he has no intention of doing because that would mean he’s even more fucked up now that he already was.

Besides. There are two kinds of people in the world. People like Caleb. And people like Adam. An atypical ability “starting to manifest” is just something that was never going to happen to him.

Until today.

He’s at Caleb’s house, which is always a little bit complicated because Caleb’s parents (not to mention his nosy little sister) are way more likely to be home and “interested in what you boys are up to” than Adam’s. They try not to complain about it, because it’s sort of a miracle that the Michaelses’ only reaction to Caleb’s endangerment at the safehouse was “no more therapy” and not “no more boyfriend,” and the last thing Adam wants to do is give them any reason to change their minds on that, but it is annoying. They’ve learned to be quiet.

Caleb’s sitting up against the headboard of his bed, facing the “just ajar enough to be plausibly called open” door, while Adam straddles his lap, poised purposefully on his knees to be able to roll off and into the desk chair placed strategically next to the bed at the slightest sign of someone approaching.

Like I said. They’ve got a system.

Adam usually enjoys kissing Caleb more than he enjoys just about anything, but he’s not feeling it today. Not even in a “his depression is bad so every sensation is muted and foggy, much less his libido” kind of way, but just like… he’s preoccupied by something.

Caleb must notice, because he breaks the kiss and takes Adam’s face in both his hands so he can look him in the eye. “Hey. You all right?”

Adam opens his mouth to lie, but if he tells Caleb he’s fine then they’ll go back to making out, and he’s not sure he actually wants to do that. So instead, he says, “What am I feeling right now?”

Caleb gets the little crease between his eyebrows that Adam loves and hates in equal measure that means he’s really focusing in on his empath ability. Adam knows him well enough by now to be able to track the turning gears behind his eyes– he can see the moment when Caleb separates his own feelings in his chest from Adam’s and starts to analyze them.

But then his frown deepens, and he says, “I… don’t… know.” His eyes meet Adam’s. “Purple. And like… stretchy. It’s not an Adam feeling I’ve ever felt before.”

Adam sits back in surprise, hands falling away from where they’d been looped around Caleb’s neck. “Wha– seriously? We’ve known each other over a year. I thought you’d have felt all the Adam feelings by now.”

“So did I,” Caleb says, frowning into the distance again. “It’s weird.” Adam’s stomach flips, just as Caleb adds, “Oh, shit, now you’re– sorry, I didn’t mean to make you, like. Feel bad. New feelings are probably super normal.”

Adam rolls his eyes, trying to brush away the guilt eating at him, and whatever he’d been feeling before– the purple, stretchy distraction– intensifies.

“So, uh… what is that feeling?” Caleb asks, rubbing absently at his chest, like Adam’s emotion is causing him some kind of physical discomfort, which does not help much on the “Adam not feeling like a burden” front.

“I don’t know,” he admits, climbing all the way off Caleb’s lap to sit cross-legged in front of him instead. His feet were starting to fall asleep, and his hands feel a little numb– he wrings them, trying to rub feeling back into his fingers.

“Is something on your mind?” Caleb asks, laying a comforting hand on Adam’s knee.

“No,” he starts to say, because there isn’t really except for the fact that he feels a little weird all of a sudden, cold like there’s a draft and a little unsteady, but somehow what comes out of his mouth is, “Damien.”

“What?” Caleb says, voice sharp and close in Adam’s ear in a way it wasn’t before, even though neither of them has moved. “You were thinking about Damien?”

“No!” Adam says, for real this time, and then winces, knowing Caleb can feel the untruth, and amends, “I mean, not– I guess, not consciously, just… I guess maybe I’m always thinking about him? In the back of my mind?”

The purple, stretchy feeling inside him– and damn Caleb’s stupid emotion color metaphors, but that is a good way to describe it– expands even further, pressing tight against his ribs like it’s trying to break out of him, and maybe Caleb can feel that too, because he takes Adam’s hands in both of his.

“I think, sometimes,” Adam continues, words flowing out of his mouth almost without his permission, “I just hate that he got away with it. Like, okay, he spent, what, four months? In a basement cell that Mark was trapped in for the better part of five years? Oh, so his only consequence was having to leave town and be normal like the rest of us? Like that’s so fucking bad? Chloe still gets headaches and you’ve got all this guilt to deal with and Damien just has to be normal?”

The more he talks, the more the purple feeling fills him up, and red hot anger right alongside it, and a distant tiny part of himself knows that he should calm down before he says or does something he’ll regret, and that he’s probably freaking Caleb the fuck out right now, but his vision is starting to white out around the edges, and the purple and red warring for dominance in his stomach are making him feel sick, and for a moment or two, the only thing Adam can focus on is the warm, rough sensation of Caleb’s hands in his his.

Adam blinks, and the world turns upside down.

Or, no, wait– not upside down. Backwards. He’s facing the door now– sitting where Caleb was just a second ago. His anger has dissipated, but the purple stretchy feeling is still there, if settled, somehow, like it’s filled him up enough that he can mostly ignore it.

But something’s still wrong.

Maybe it’s that he feels bigger now. Taller. He brings his hands in front of his face and they’re hands he’s never seen before– big, with thick fingers and skin a lighter shade of brown.

Maybe it’s that Caleb’s gone– nowhere to be seen, the room totally empty, the spot on the bed in front of him already growing cold– or that Adam is too.

Because he’s not… quite… Adam anymore. He’s not Caleb, either.

The thing that’s wrong is that he’s someone new.

He scrambles off the bed, stumbling a little on new big feet, and rushes over to the full-length mirror hanging on the back of Caleb’s bedroom door. He touches his face, and those big hands cup Caleb’s stubbled cheeks. He touches his head, and thick fingers tangle in Adam’s messy curls. He’s wearing Caleb’s jeans, tight around the waist, and Adam’s Black Keys t-shirt, hanging just above his belly button like it’s been cropped. He’s gotta be at least six and a half feet tall.

“Holy shit,” he breathes in two voices, and the purple thing inside him snaps.

Adam hits the floor with a shout, curling protectively around himself out of instinct. Next to him, there’s a twin cry and thud as Caleb is thrown to the ground with equal force. Adma pats himself down, feeling his skinny arms and pianist fingers, the shirt that fits and his hair on his own head.

“Holy shit,” he says again, voice high with panic but purely his.

“What the hell!” Caleb agrees, scrambling back away from him. Adam backs up against the opposite wall, giving Caleb as much space as he can without leaving the room– Caleb doesn’t need Adam’s alarm in his chest on top of his own.

Plus maybe Adam feels like something you shouldn’t get too close to at the moment.

“What was that?” Caleb gasps, staring at him with big, wide eyes.

Adam shakes his head. “I don’t know?”

“But that was– that was you, wasn’t it?” Caleb pats his chest, like he’s still trying to convince himself he’s real and solid– Adam knows the feeling. “How did you do that?”

“I don’t know!”

Footsteps pound up the stairs, and Mrs. Michaels calls, “Caleb? Adam?” She raps perfunctorily twice on the half-open door before sticking her head in and sizing them up: Adam cowered against one wall, Caleb still on the floor and huddled up against the other, both of them looking disheveled and wild, like they’ve been up to who knows what. “I heard a thud, are you boys all right?”

Caleb looks from Adam to his mom, and hurriedly gets to his feet. “Yeah! Yeah, Mom, sorry, we’re– we’re fine.” He takes a calming breath, like he’s gotta prove it, and gives Adam a charged look. “Right, Adam? We’re okay?”

But Adma can’t imagine lying right now, not even just to get the adult out of the room so that he and Caleb can debrief in private. He feels wrong still, and monstrous, and so far from normal it hurts.

“I don’t know,” he whispers, and can’t help the first dark thought that springs to his mind:

Is this how Damien felt?

--

TBS tag list (lmk if you want to be added!)

@pandoradeloeste

@genericgirl420

@sizzlingjudgebanditpaper

@ziggy-st4dust

@flibbertigibbety-jibber-jabber

@friendlyfishboy

@bakugouuuwu

@alexacat57

@jaytheunique

@mercale