#the part where jeremy sings ‘i will save the day’ is just-

[slozhnos]

those little vocal moments that just tickle your brain right >>>>

[woah-uhuh-uhuh-uhuh]

BAC: SECOND VIEWING NOTES!

Yeah i went again on sunday and really wanted to cry after because it's over forever Q_Q i am inconsolable but for the fact that there may be a halloween party... but uhhhhhhh anyway here's what I noticed this time!!

(also here's the notes from my first time for reference [x])

Ad libs:

Final show energy & lots of ad libs! Which were apparently real unscripted ad libs!! A lot of them were just little things (so I can't recount most of them) but they were very very good. the blorbos became real people for a second there

When Rich is looking for Mountain Dew Red at the party, Jenna appears and says "I have Mountain Dew Blue?" and he explodes at her (possibly "Not now, Jenna!")

When Christine and Jeremy talk together at the party, they're sitting on beanbags; after they get scared off by the skeleton guy, they're laughing and crawling back to their seats - Christine, through laughter: "oh where's the beanbag...."

Changes (?)

VIMH: Rich: "The ladies are gonna get to know the real Richard Goranski... And the dudes." Then he stares into the distance for like 30 seconds (a very long time), making calculating gestures in the air (like the woman with math meme) before going "Oh. My god............... I am totally bi!"

Maybe wrong, but I swear there was a wind part added to the middle of Michael in the Bathroom??? I thought it might be a flute or digital flute..... but as a flautist I might be projecting.....

The Play: Multiple thin green lights flickered down on people as they got squipped, with a cute video game chime sound. But fairly certain this was always there and I just noticed it this time lmao

Smartphone Hour: Background acting on the little platform at the very back of the stage: a scooby-doo esque chase sequence where a firefighter rushes on from SR and disappears SL (implied Jake's house is SL); the fireman reappears with Jake in his arms and runs back SR to safety. Then Jake runs back across to get something from his house and the fireman is trying to stop him. Then Jake runs back out of the house holding a teddy bear he saved from the fire; the fireman is chasing him back out of the house. It was fucking hilarious 10/10 especially because I couldn't be sure if it was a new addition or if I just completely filtered it out last time like a basketball gorilla dslfjdslfk

Also on Jake: between the teddy bear and the Upgrade scene (also detailed by Dani) where he's talking about archery while holding a plush duck - unsure dramaturgically if it's supposed to be a real dead duck or a toy, but anyway.... Jake who likes stuffies??? IDK if I buy it but I don't know enough about Jake to NOT buy it and its also a very fun headcanon I think so it's going on the pile for me. he can collect plushies with jeremy as far as im concerned dsljfsdkfjs

Oh yeah Jeremy also had a big white duck plush on his bed. edit: this is actually a seagull plush! Its name is Katie and it belongs to stage crew member Anya!

More details I saw this time

General

Christine actor was actually amazing she has this giggly honk voice she uses when being like obnoxiously loud and silly and idk how to describe it but such intense LOUD SILLYGIRL ENERGY. A little different than the chris im used to and it was fun to see another version of her!!

Maybe I'm insane but I think Christine also pronounced Jeremy kinda like 2 syllables (Jare - me). This extremely slight difference somehow led to me perceiving her singing "Is he worth it? Germyyyyyyy!" IDK Sorry Jaclyn if you are reading this ldksfjdlsk

Lots of times when Jeremy is talking about becoming cool he does little hip gyrations (think Rich at the urinal i guess but more subtle)

Jeremy does this thing where he holds his hand bent stiff with his fingers all together and taps hard on his right temple to express some kind of frustration with the SQUIP- e.g. when he's trying to get the SQUIP to turn on after the first day; during the end of the Halloween party, etc. Actually it very much has the same conceptual energy as "C'c'c'come on....." now that I think about it

Michael blows a cloud of smoke during a few of his entrances (MTS and maybe Halloween - or that was Dustin maybe)

He also uses a vape pen I think? When he says 'we gotta get stoned in my basement'

Preshow montage

Before the show, there's a montage of screenshots from the teens' lives on the back wall --- that is, their selfies and their text convos. Pretty sure the texts were that gossip submitted by fans? I only remember two:

"i heard that guy who wears hoodies all the time only listens to weezer" <- (I only noticed this one 'cause it KILLED ME honestly I feel like Jeremy would love Weezer and Michael would hate it sdjkfljdsf ) edit: this text was submitted by @/thesquirrelqueer!

I don't remember who was on which side, but Brooke or Chloe sending Chloe or Brooke a big comforting text after her breakup and making plans to go get ice cream I think?

MTS

"Dad haven't you ever heard of privacy?" He says this while putting on his belt after the opening.

Jeremy's actually gesturing towards his locker for like the entire conversation between Brooke, Chloe, Jenna; when they notice him finally it kinda looks like he's just pointing at them and that's part of why they think he's weird I think?

M: "Humanity has stopped evolving!" Jeremy then takes like 20 seconds of looking confused before going (approximately) "is that supposed to be good...?"

"Christiiiiiine Canigula!" Each Christine section he eventually (around 3rd time) starts using this fanboy totally-losing-his-mind-over-this voice which is REALLY hard to describe but i'll try: like lower & less articulate, like how it sounds when you raise your soft palate (?), and going up at the end kind of laugh-like like he's really excited. (For a bmc reference maybe sounds a little like will roland's tone in i even got some blood flowing / with no computer screen around). Anyway i'm not gonna lie it did make him sound really lame jsdlkfjdsf

"Why can't someone just help me out?" As Jeremy sings this bridge it's all dark except for a light on him. Students line up chairs behind him and sit down. At this line, two guys walk forwards on either side and touch his shoulders (looking kind of solemn / sympathetic) , and guide him back to sit in the chair in the middle. Then the lights come up on everyone and more group choreo wheeee

Post-ILPR MTS reprise

Christine: "Sorry, Jeremy, did you say something?" -> after this scene, she runs off giggling loudly, apparently glad to not be interrupted and VERY visibly excited about Jake asking her out

Jeremy sings "I don't wanna be special / Don't even want to survive...." (Instead of usual "Don't even need to survive.") Not sure if it was intentional but it happened at both shows I saw and made me sad both times noooooo........... guy...........

Squip song

Rich actually rubs his hands all over Jeremy's face (in addition to his arms)

"Top secret can't even look it up on the internet type shit": Rich looks to the side and mimes a rectangle (computer screen) then mimes typing where the keyboard would be

2PG

"I don't want that to be my future! Sad, and alone, and ... " - The music cuts out at "sad" instead of at the beginning of this line.

On their relationship in general, I think Michael irritates Jeremy more than fanon typically has it lol. Very excitable Michael who kinda lacks volume control (in several scenes - including VIMH even after Jeremy tells him to be quieter). Constructive interference of autism etc etc

(Again fun to see this!! as a jeremy stan i am definitely guilty of making michael a godlike perfect friend to jeremy and like.. no... they don't actually mesh that well even just in the script!! Often times Jeremy doesn't understand or care about the things Michael says. So yeah absorbing this into my headcanons now thank you)

Also back wall was this like vaporwave looking low-poly 2 person first person shooter game footage (think wolfenstein but with a very different aesthetic - purple and blue, and i think with some objects depicted in mesh).

BMC P1

When Jeremy's spasming on the ground (last time I thought he looked mostly in pain - this time he was vibrating a bit more like he lost muscle control) - local build-a-bear employee Jared Kleinman (JARED KLEINMAN...) and some other people start filming him.

Jared keeps filming him through the scene until SQUIP: "All they see is you having an animated conversation... with yourself." Jeremy turns and notices him; Jared doesn't stop filming but just waves at him nonchalantly (in a mocking way like hey buddy welcome back to reality)

Jared also has a BaB apron and BaB backpack on (or a bear sticking out of his backpack i dont remember). Pretty sure he also had a bear with him in another scene, probably Halloween?

"Lookin pretty sexy, brooke" -- says it in like a low Elvisy voice (like will connolly)

BMC P2

"Everything about you is going to be wonderful" -- Jeremy rolls up his cardigan sleeves so they're just below the elbow. (One of them slipped back down and he put it up again but I didnt think it was intentional lol). I was surprised how much instantly cooler that made him look but maybe that's just because my older brother wears his sleeves like that ljdsfkdsfklsfdlk

......also note that MICHAEL usually wears his sleeves rolled up like that in this production.... inch resting.....

MTS reprise

When the lights first come up, Jeremy is snoring with his head hanging off the side of the bed. He stops breathing for a second, then jerks awake.

GTIKBI

Chris: "I know you and Jake used to date...." Chloe and Brooke simultaneously go "Oh my god, no!!!" --- Chloe to Christine (mockingly), meanwhile Brooke is unrelatedly browsing her phone and says it in distress because she (implied) has just seen that Eminem died. As convo continues, Brooke sits next to another student (Leo Collins?) and shows them the article. (She still says 'yeah jake is so gross' to Chloe, just sounding upset)

Upgrade

I ALREADY SAID THIS BUT JEREMY AND BROOKE WERE SO CUTE TOGETHER JLKSDFLDFSJ. I decided to only watch them during this song (/ _ \) Based on their acting when they walked near the stage stairs, they had climbed to the back of the bleachers and were walking precariously on the outside of the railing - specifically, they went over the stair railings - first Brooke and she teeters a bit and jokingly pretends like she's gonna fall off; Jeremy goes under the rail, comes up on the other side and does a gesture like *tada!*. Then they sit down together and are talking and its just really cute. making me ship puppy love over here jdsifojdslkfdjsflk

Halloween

Michael was at the dance in costume - during a certain point (I think right before Rich starts losing it) Michael gets lost out of the group choreo, seems to be stressed out and runs off stage (presumably to the bathroom)

One of the guys is dressed up like Guy Fieri and it's really good. Like I remember last time I even had a moment where I realized I was interpreting this actor as playing The Real Guy Fieri At Jake's Halloween Party. Also in MITB he uses his hat (which is a combo of visor and fake hair) to knock on the door.

DYWH

Chloe: "...rock this baby fast asleep" then, laughing: "Goo goo ga ga!!" and she kinda topples onto him. The actress said she got this from the West End production!

When Jeremy says "I can't stand up." It was kind of implied it's because he has an erection not because his legs are frozen; right before this line he stands up then sits down and puts a pillow in his lap. Either way though ig it was still the SQUIP stopping him (S: "you're welcome.")

GTIKBI reprise

as Dani pointed out, Christine was sitting kinda numbly on the beanbag with headphones on; she takes them off when Jeremy starts talking to her.

Voices in my Head

Jeremy's wearing an X-Men shirt!

Re: expensive headphones - Michael's rubbing Rich's shoulders (???) when he says "I'm sure someone would be lucky to have you" (and then of course he still says but not meeeee while sending him flying)

"Throw you a rope home slice if you need some dope advice" Jake fist bumps with Jeremy (or equivalent gesture i dont remember)

Stagedorks kiss: after C says yes, they walk to the center of the stage. Jeremy rushes forwards and puts his hands on her cheeks (i think?) to pull her into a kiss. They separate, beat, then Christine goes forwards again and they have a long slow kiss while the ensemble keeps dancing and singing around them.

Not intentional i dont think but Patrick the Jeremy actor was crying a bit at the end /( T_ T \ )

OK YEAH i might add more to this if I remember and/or edit it back into the first post...... but hope that was fun to read????

[ginnyrules27]

Okay so I saw 'Once Upon a Studio' yesterday and I mean...I did not ask to be punched in the gut with emotions Disney! Spoilers under the cut in case you haven't seen it yet

-First off, just the concept of the animation studio almost being like Night at the Musem where the pictures come alive was so much fun.

-TREASURE PLANET GOT ACKNOWLEDGED! I GOT TO SEE JIM IN HIS JACKET ON HIS SOLAR SURFER!

-Dodger with Vanellope in the candy racer was adorable!

-Hearing Peter Pan say 'Here we go!' felt so weird when it wasn't followed by Jack Sparrow saying 'We have our heading', those commercials were the pinnacle of my childhood

-Did I mention Treasure Planet?!

-The 2D and the 3D animations really melded well together, especially the scene where Moana's holding Flounder!

-There's an elevator gag that made me burst out laughing when I first saw it

-ROBIN WILLIAMS' VOICE AS GENIE! And no, it's not AI! Disney got permission from Robin Williams' estate to use outtakes from Aladdin for this.

-Milo Thatch getting ready in the men's bathroom with Gaston, Chicken Little, Prince John, the Headless Horseman, Thomas O'Malley, and Doc! Oh, and the Cheshire Cat!

-Antonio Madrigal happily making his way to the photo with Pascal, Cri-ki, Pua, and Meeko and saving Jaq and Gus from being eaten by a lizard-type thing (okay I haven't seen the Rescuers Down Under so I don't know all the characters by name lol) with some help from Pluto!

-Kristoff and Sven hanging out with Ryder!

-"Come on puppies, you're going to get nightmares" is Kristoff's only line and it's to the 15 Dalmatian puppies watching Night on Bald Mountain and yet I feel that's peek Akiho energy and it may find itself into one of my fics

-ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN STEALING MONEY FROM SCROOGE AFTER THE PUPPIES KNOCKED HIM OVER!

-Pat Caroll's voice is the voice of Ursula and I'm loving the thought that the original voice actors stay the voices of these characters after their deaths

-Also what movie is the blue blobby thing from that's following Ursula?

-Also also why did Flounder need water but Ursula can walk around in her half octopus form?

-Can't have a Cinderella cameo without someone losing a shoe

-CINDERELLA HAS THE CORRECT COLOR FOR HER DRESS!

-"Eric, get your dog!" You can pry the fact that the princes are friends out of my cold dead hands!

-"Go Max go!" Aww, I love the fact that Cinderella can be goofy when she's not living with her abusive step family!

-The moment with Mickey and Walt's photo and 'Feed the Birds' in the background...yeah it's okay, I didn't need to do anything but cry for the next seven days

-Jeremy Irons as Scar!!

-"Make it pink" "Make it blue" was such a good bit

-The classic Goofy scream!

-STITCH!

-All of them coming to sing When You Wish Upon a Star...Mirabel playing with Scat Cat, Belle singing with Beast, James Woods as Hades' voice, Jodie Benson reprising the voice of Ariel...just all of it!

-Snow White bringing Asha from Wish to stand next to her with Mulan on the other side and characters from Disney's 'Dark Age' on either side in the background

-Speaking of the Dark Age characters, how do you think they were treated during all this at the time? Especially Black Cauldron since that almost saw Disney Animation close its doors but it was nice to see all the characters be part of the short

Safe to say I loved every second!

[ohc-and-the-music-tapes-archive]

Press note about the apel from Julian Koster and Neutral Milk Hotel's to save The Paragon Carousel. The Village Voice, 30th April 2009

press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 30, 2009

The Paragon Carousel is a beautiful machine that has been my dear neighbor for many moons. Now 81 years old, it is in need of a little love and attention in order for it to survive.

It is my sincere wish for the Paragon Carousel to be a part of the magic of long seaside summer afternoons for many years to come. But it might not get to.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where the great whirling contraptions of mechanical music and light are not as profitable to operate as other things, and carousels are worth much more taken apart and sold in pieces to museums, where one must pay to look at them behind glass, rather than having them simply existing in the world that we now all share.

I spoke with Jeff and Scott and Jeremy about this and they agreed that I should, on behalf of Neutral Milk Hotel, make an appeal to the good people who might have enjoyed the music made over the years, because we think you’d understand especially, and want to help.

We humbly ask you to vote!

The Paragon Carousel is competing with 24 other historic Massachussettes buildings for a grant of $100,000. The historic site with the most votes wins, and anyone anywhere can vote. We would love it if by our collective effort we could ensure the continuation of this grand place. It only takes a moment and you can do so here.

You are allowed to vote once a day untill May 17th . Your vote means a great deal to all of us at Elephant Six. Places like this are so special. They deserve to exist in the same world that we do. So we can visit them with our bodies, not just our memories and dreams.

We’d like to thank you for your help and for spreading the word.

~Julian Koster with Jeff Mangum on behalf of Neutral Milk Hotel

[mlobsters]

supernatural s10e1 black (w. jeremy carver)

this show started airing when i was 25 and i wonder how i would have received it then. anyway, was appreciating that i don't have to wait to find out what the demon!dean fallout will be. ...actually i don't think i'm up for this today. tbc

the sam that dean was expecting while he was in purgatory

so is this a padalecki injury or a sam injury? he (jared) seems pretty accident prone. i'm in a rather dismal mood, might need to push this off to day 3.

all right we're back, third time's a charm! with a worse-than-usual migraine. i think that's part of why i was feeling so irritable and shitty yesterday evening. prodromal situation

.asp made me giggle. first job doing web development stuff, i did asp back in 2000/2001.

Active Server Pages (ASP) is Microsoft's first server-side scripting language and engine for dynamic web pages. It was first released in December 1996, before being superseded in January 2002 by ASP.NET.

okay, drama

CASTIEL I can help. SAM Cas...we tried that. CASTIEL Sam...you can't blame what that demon did to your shoulder on me; you were out of... SAM I'm not, I'm not blaming anything on you. What happened, happened, and...you need to be worrying about yourself. I really shouldn't have bothered you.

cas has got the heavenly tuberculosis now too. if tumblr's search wasn't broken i'd link to my post where i think i called the... trials that? maybe

SAM Good. I'm alright. I'm just...tired, you know. Be better when we get him back...after...after I kick his butt. CASTIEL I miss him.

this is where you say "me too", sam. also

CASTIEL Well then, who wrote the note? If there's any chance...any chance at all that Dean is still... SAM Still...even remotely Dean?

and then he just hangs up? i laughed. were you raised in a barn, sam??? (i mean.) say goodbye :p

oh no. nonono. i cannot deal with dean singing badly. i really dislike this tonal whiplash that seems more common in these later seasons. big serious feelings then straight into ha ha bad singing, witty banter with the lady and crowley, extremely cheesy western standoff music and acting over foosball.

is this what crowley wants to do with dean? replace sam? definitely isn't going to be beating the simp charges if that is actually the case. please be slightly more complicated in motivation, crowley, i know you have it in you

is demon!dean's voice even lower?

she reminds me of a mix between samantha smith (mary winchester) and katie cassidy (og ruby, my fave). maybe this is the same problem i have with blond guys. all occupy the same spot in the brain

funny how parting his hair makes him look so different. it's a good look on him with it ruffled up

sam of course has a new haircut, not my favorite. kind of a weird bob in the back

i know they're committed to the classic car bit, but that yacht cas is driving must get like 5mpg. lol this site where you can report actual usage, only 2 people with similar models - one person getting around 8mpg, other 10

laughed out loud. handy they put the little hashtag viva abaddon on their message to have sam conveniently stumble upon

CROWLEY Moose. Took you long enough. Your brother and I were beginning to wonder if you'd hit another dog. You know?

ooh burn

SAM I don't know how you did this, what kind of... Black-magic stunt you pulled, but hear me --I will save my brother or die trying. CROWLEY You know what tickles me about all this? It's what's really eating you up. You don't care that he's a demon. Heck, you've been a demon. We've all been demons. No, it's that he's with me and he's having the time of his life. You can't stand the fact that he's mine.

um, ok

SAM He's not your pet. CROWLEY My pet? He's my best friend, my partner in crime. They'll write songs about us, graphic novels. “The Misadventures of Growley and Squirrel." Dean Winchester completes me, and that's what makes you lose your chickens.

tough but fair

boop boop tracking

oh nic, you thought the heavenly politics plotline was done, sweet summer child

DEAN Okay, see, the deal was we howl at the moon -- no time stamp, no expiration date. CROWLEY We've howled. We've bayed. We've done extraordinary things to triplets, all of which have been massively entertaining. I will treasure our Flickr albums forever.

porn of dean with crowley and triplets, okay. that's... a lot

CROWLEY Think of it --the king of hell, Dean Winchester by his side. Together we rule. Together we create the perfect hell. And all of this that's bloomed between us never ends. We're not ending the party. We're just moving the party. Out with the club circuit, in with the stadium tour.

all right so he's tolerating dean's hot demon summer earthly antics but really just wants dean to be his knight in hell

DEAN He traced the call. CROWLEY My bad. I guess he'll be here by morning -- the latest. DEAN You sold me out. Well, that's just lovely. CROWLEY I don't know what's going on with you. I truly don't. But I've had just about enough of it. Sold you out? Try “doing you a favor.” everything I've done for you for the past six months -- the mark, the First Blade, midwifing you back to life, offering you a seat by my side -- has been a favor, a gift, whether you see it or you don't. Take the night. Decide. You know where to find me.

midwifing mhmm.

i'm vaguely aware of some stuff that happens between sam and demon!dean but i don't know the timeline per usual. though i did sneak a look at something so i know when it ends episode-wise

feel like we (i) need a comparison chart of soulless vs moc!demonization

more karaoke? please. 😩 this little drama with the woman from the roadhouse, i guess they're trying to show facets of how he's different and how he's not? like there must be part of him still in there if he suggests they go somewhere together?

and sam's kidnapped, okay. insert me complaining about too much shit happening. there's some little guitar riffs in this scene that remind me of twilight, hard. i thought it was in the scene where edward comes racing in to save bella from getting assaulted with his fancy volvo moves, but wasn't. not worth trying to dig up i'm sure

DEAN No, you listen to me. There's no trade. There's no meet-up. There's no nothing -- except the 100% guarantee that, somewhere down the road, I will find you, and I will kill you. COLE Well, that'll be a cold comfort to your dead brother. DEAN I told him to let me go. So whatever jam he's in now, that is his problem. COLE Yeah, well, I'll be sure to pass that on to him as I'm slitting his throat. DEAN Yeah, you do that, 'cause he knows me. And he knows damn sure that if I am one thing, I am a man of my word.

i dunno. i can see how this should be fun, in theory. i am not feeling it and it feels like a pacing plus the couldn't-care-less angel stuff being wedged in issue. and/or i'm extra weary of inter(intra)brother stress

almost prolonged this to 4 days because i can't shut up and it's late

[bananaphone---t]

I just rewatched Be Very Afraid, and while there are some really good parts that I still enjoy, there are others that left me unsatisfied. (Under the cut)

To start, I'll say the parts that I can give credit where credit is due.

They did a really good job showing just how overwhelming and draining fear can be.

Fear really can stop you in your tracks, and can take over if you allow it to become you (as seen with the "frozen permanently" suggests, at least to me).

As someone who suffers from chronic anxiety (to the point of being treated and in therapy for it), the message of this episode hit me hard.

Speaking of this...

I love how the writers handled Varian.

I love that they showed the fact that he's still struggling with what happened to his father and the fact it made him turn evil. And that despite the fact it's all in the past and that everyone has seemingly forgiven him, the fear will remain, especially if he doesn't face it head-on.

On another note; LANCE. GETTING. A FUCKING. SOLO.

James Monroe Iglehart getting to show off his singing chops is one of my absolute favorite parts of this episode.

Whenever I watch this one and he begins singing, I'm just screaming happily that they finally just let him go off and show everyone why he belongs not only on this show but also as a freaking Broadway actor (*cough* kinda like Jeremy Jordan *cough*).

Okay... So here's where we run into where I was, and still am, dissatisfied with this episode...

While I enjoy most of this episode, I wasn't really happy with both Rapunzel and Eugene's fears... Specifically, Rapunzel's, as I've slowly started to make a bit more logical sense of Eugene's.

Throughout the entire episode (both watching it the first time and recently), I was expecting her fear to be of Gothel's return, sort of similar to her dream in What The Hair?!. Or her seeing Eugene's death again. Or some sad, heart-crushing combination of both.

Unfortunately for me, it was none of the above, and, instead, it was her losing Cass and seeing Corona in flames...

While I can see that to be a valid fear of Rapunzel's, I just can't see it as her worst fear.

This may just be me nitpicking at this point (and could also come across as me not liking Cass as a character, but that's a post for another time), but I also didn't like that they copied a lot of things from the movie, to be mirrored into being with Cass, in Rapunzel Day One.

Events like that, what happens in BVA, and her holding Cass in her arms while a tear falls in Plus Est En Vous, kind of annoy me... I feel like it affects the impact of what Eugene did for her, and the fact that those moments were supposed to be sort of... special between them, I guess?

With Flynnposter I can let it slide (sounds biased since I love said episode), because of the obvious implications of not only the name of the episode but the actual happenings in it as well; Brock is pretending to be Flynn Rider (and, in turn, pretending to be Eugene).

I just think that using Cass as Rapunzel's worst fear just because of their relationship at that point, and the fact that Cass essentially had the same fear, was just a cheap way of showing that Cass could still be saved.

Overall, despite all my nitpicking and dislike of certain parts, this episode is still one of my favorites. And even though I don't like certain parts, in a way, that's kind of a good thing. It leaves more room for freeform with fics. 💕

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Ineffable Con 2020 Fun Facts

Fun facts from the Ineffable Con 2 (2020) guest panels :): 

Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon and Rob Wilkins

David G. Arnold (the music composer)

Claire Anderson (the costume designer)

Peter Anderson (Peter Anderson Studio created the opening title animation and in-show graphics)

Paul Adeyefa (Disposable Demon)

Jeremy Marshall-Roberts (the owner of Mary the Bentley)

1. Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon and Rob Wilkins

What do they have from Good Omens:

Rob has the statue from St. Beryls, all four motorbikes from the four horsemen, Crowley’s Devon watch, box signed by David Tennant with Crowley’s sunglasses and Aziraphale’s cocoa mug with Michael Sheen’s DNA :).

Douglas has the playing cards from Episode 1 and heavily annotated Good Omens book they used for filming with inscription by Neil: ‘For Douglas, make us love, make us cry, 3rd August 2017’.

Neil has Aziraphale’s chair from the bookshop that he bought from the BBC and he uses it for Zoom meetings.

What is their favourite thing that was not in the book and was added to the TV show:

Neil: all of the first half of Episode 3 - an absolute joy.

Rob: also the beginning of Episode 3.

Douglas: David Arnold’s music and Peter Anderson’s front titles.

Could Aziraphale get out of the Bastille easily if he wanted to?

Neil: if he could: absolutely. Did he have any conception of the mess he was in: probably not. It’s one of Neil’s favourite pieces of acting - the absolute delight on Aziraphale’s face when he realizes that Crowley’s there and then he turns around and rather petulantly, grumpily goes oh it’s you - that moment of joy on Aziraphale’s face when he realizes that he’s been rescued is one of Neil’s favourite things. 

Neil and yoghurt starter: I had this slightly mad thing where I would explain to everybody that fans were yoghurt starter. And I said, ‘Basically you start out with yoghurt starter and you put it into your warm milk and you leave it, and the yoghurt starter goes off and turns the entire thing into yoghurt. 

Neil realized that there was a cat in his house (Neil doesn’t have a cat :)). After the panel Neil said that he was going to look for the cat with a can of sardines and Douglas joked that he would find Michael Sheen in a cat costume.

What was the best and worst about making the series:

Douglas: the best - the camaraderie, getting to know the people, the cast and crew. 

Rob: the best - realizing that the book could be translated to the screen and watching it happen. The worst - coming to the end of the shoot and saying goodbye to everybody.

Neil: the best - the amount of love from everybody, the worst - fighting budget battles (producers wanted gone all of the cold opening and the death of Agnes Nutter).

Did they expect that Good Omens would attract so many LBGTQ+ people and how they feel about that:

Neil: Yes, absolutely. There are definitely people out there who seem to think that I accidentally wrote a love story with all of the beats of a love story including a break-up halfway through, without somehow noticing that I’d written a love story. And I may not be the brightest candle on the candelabra, but as an author who’s been doing it for a long time, I’m very well aware of when I’m writing a love story, thank you very much. And so from my perspective I knew that the love story would be one of the driving things that would get us from the beginning to the end. And I also made a bunch of decisions about our angels and our demons in terms of casting, in terms of gender that everybody backed me up on, which I loved. You know, the idea that the archangel Michael is played by Doon [Mackichan] is something that is... or Beelzebub is Anna Maxwell Martin, whatever, there’s... it’s not like we are going: these are women, there are men, we are going: these are demons, these are angels. They... this is not a thing. And also doing something like Pollution, where you go in and go: okay  well if we were doing this in... if 1989 was now, if there were they pronouns, we probably would have done that. We didn’t think of it at the time but that’s no reason why we can’t do it now. And we did and I remember having a... not exactly a battle, but a... my very tiny skirmish with one of our execs who was very nice and very bright and was like: ‘Why are you saying they?’, and I’m like... and I... explaining, and he’s like: ‘Well I’ve never heard of that before.’, and I’m like: ‘Oh, okay, but trust me, just trust me, it’s all fine, just trust me.’

Douglas: And you know I have to say, just following on what Neil’s saying, I’ve been directing for quite a while, and I tend to notice if characters are falling in love, I tend to notice a love story happening in front of me, and I think it’s there, and everything is meant, guys, everything is meant.

Neil added: I would just say, there are some things that you do while you’re writing a script intentionally. The fact that... I wanted to do this, well, it was a thing I did that I really enjoyed doing... where whenever people accuse them of being a couple: they don’t deny it, they don’t argue, there’s no flustering on their part. They absolutely… you know, everybody… what I’m trying to say is:  yes, other people in the story are perceiving them as a couple too. And here is Uriel perceiving them as a couple, here is wonderful Dan [Starkey, playing the passerby] …and you know, you do scenes like that because that’s... you are trying to make a point here and you’re trying to make a point on how people are perceived.

Season 2, yes or no [fiends, all three of them!]:

Douglas: What’s that?

Neil: Of what?

Rob: Is it muted for me as is for everyone else?

Neil confirmed that they are going to be Funko Pops. [yay!]

2. David G. Arnold (the music composer)

He didn’t read the book before he was approached to do the music. He was asked to do it by Douglas Mackinnon he knew from the Victorian episode of Sherlock and he said yes before even knowing what it was about because he wanted to work with Douglas again.  

The first piece of music he wrote for the show was the brass band doing the Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon [Episode 6, in the park before the kidnapping].

The second piece of music he wrote was the lullaby that Crowley sings to Warlock. He always liked the lullabies like in Mary Poppins so he said to Neil: Why don’t we do it like Walt Disney, but if Walt Disney was possessed by Satan? That was about 7 months before he needed to write anything again while they were shooting and it kept going round his head the whole time - the melody stuck with him and when it came to the Opening Title of the show, this became the middle bit.

The original opening title was Everyday by Buddy Holly and each episode was supposed to be closed with a different version of it: a death metal version, an angelic choir version, a carmina burana version... and he actually made all those. But he likes to find the musical identity of the show and put it in the opening titles because it’s important and it tells you: ‘This is the word you’re going to experience’, so he wrote his own opening title with the lullaby in the middle and played it to them [probably Neil and Douglas] with Buddy Holly as the backup and: Neil just turned around in his chair and said, ‘That’s Good Omens.’. From that point the instructions were with no rules, just to create whatever he wanted: the further you can go the better, the weirder and the stranger you can think the better. It’s a rare thing to be shown a world like Good Omens and be let free to run around in it. 

His favourite ending title is the Queen one in Episode 1.

One of the reasons he didn’t do a theme for Crowley and a theme for Aziraphale is that the theme of the show is theirs - it’s theirs and they share it and it’s both of theirs and there is no separating in that regard. 

About Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship reflected in the music score: It’s interesting isn’t it, because the relationship changed in a way slightly frequently and majorly infrequently. It seemed right from the start that their relationship was somehow seeded and planted and had begun by the time we saw them even though they may not have realised it themselves, you know, with the pair of them on the wall, considering one is a demon in the Garden of Eden and one is an angel. They act very charitably towards each other and they act with a lot of things you might not expect. And underneath that there is a sort of sense of togetherness and support even though they both know that their paths are going to diverge and they have different responsibilities. So I always felt like, right from that moment, when the wing came up on the wall, that there was something special about their relationship. Three moments that stuck with him: in Episode 3 saving the books in the church when they completely rely on the other for survival in the way that they were very open about, one in the car outside the nightclub in 60s Soho - the Holy Water, you go too fast for me, that genuinely tearing, that there was reluctance in those words that he spoke and that sort of things as a composer is gold, it’s about making those moments more, and in the last episode in a scene they’re not event in when we see Adam and Dog in the fields and Anathema that music there which celebrates Crowley and Aziraphale’s music which is the theme of the show - their shadow has passed over everyone’s emotional journey, and everyone’s emotional journey is theirs as well. The argument in the bandstand was important as well.

His favourite leitmotif from the series is the lullaby.

About the scene in the car in episode 2 when Thomas Tallis changes into Queen: Terry’s favourite piece of classical music was the Thomas Tallis piece [Spem in Alium] so Neil asked if they can go from Thomas Tallis - a choral piece from 16th century - to We Will Rock You, and: ‘You never say no. You don’t say that you can’t do it. What you have to do is to be the first person who solves the problem.’ In the end it was a two-days work just for this little bit and he mentioned that he never had these sorts of challenges anywhere else before.

His favourite non-musical detail in the show - the crucifixion, how the scene was shot, how it was upsetting, and how it was made more effective by Aziraphale and Crowley’s inability to stop it, that they had to observe and watch it, that it had to happen. I remember seeing that at the time and thinking, I wasn’t expecting that level of brutal honesty, in terms of the pictures that I was looking at and what they chose to show. And I think all the more effective for it. 

3. Claire Anderson (the costume designer)

When creating the costumes for the characters she started with mood boards. 

Aziraphale - she knew that he needed to have something winglike in his collar so that’s why there are sweeping lapels very often. Using velvet [for the waistcoat] because that was nice and soft and had all the appropriate qualities. His watch and fob that has little gold wings hanging from it and other tiny bits of symbolism. Tartan bow tie. Beautiful cashmere checkered trousers - not quite tartan but a nod to it. A mid to late Victorian coat, Michael only made his decision on the coat a couple of days before the filming. Aziraphale in the present settled on a ring with angelic symbol and harp cufflinks, earlier his ring in ancient times has got a much more roughly hewn set of wings on it, so before jewellery making became sophisticated he modernised slightly - he magicked it up to be a bit more modern, more gentleman signet type of ring, but he never modernises entirely. His heart is much more in the past.

After they began to define Aziraphale they started to look at how the Heaven army of angels might look - the element of tartan came sort of from Aziraphale and the angels have a not-tartan kilt with a semi military type jacket and a military band across that might hold arms or not, because they are not really violent. She used spats to make them look quite neutral and genderless so hiding fastenings and concealing little details like that seemed a way to do that.

Gabriel doesn’t wear spats because he’s on Earth such a lot. His shoe has a cover with two buckles on the side giving the same neutral element. He wears a cashmere light-as-air suit.

The other angels are all in bastardized versions of what era they may have died in, so they could have died in the 1930s or the 1800s and the costume would have an element of that era about it - though of course as an angel you can change things.

The Quartermaster Angel - the costume is a combination of slightly Indian type military, maharaja pants, longer spats from another era, all combined pieces of military tailored to be magical and slightly nonsensical, as Heaven might be.

Crowley - she felt that he wrapped around like a snake sheds its skin so she wanted something double breasted because that seemed to envelope his snakey charm. David wanted to be more casual than wearing a suit. Under his collar he always has a flash of red like the snake that he comes from - the red belly. They put a red seam into the sole of his boots so always there is a hint of where he came from. The red tie in the blitz. He was more rock and roll than Aziraphale and modernised more to a snakehipped rock and roll star really. His present jacket - the fabric there is quilted, they found an 80s jacket that had elements of things they enjoyed - part of that was that it had a slightly quilted quality to the fabric which was like a textured snakeskin. It took quite a long time to create the fabric and then to make the jacket from that - they quilted some fabric and washed and whooshed it repeatedly to create a bit of puckering in it. He has a snakey scarf around his neck like a chain mail linked scales of skin scarf that he wore that complemented his neck chain. The trousers he wore in Victorian times are the same he wore in the 60s when he meets young Shadwell. His present trousers - slightly waxy denim - we just were looking for a slithery finish. Crowley’s neck chain - there is only one in the world - her tailor has a Gothic church full of interesting stuff like busts and drapes with old things, this chain mail scarf was there and David was looking for something to complete his costume and liked it. 

Hastur and Ligur are her favourite characters - they were so enjoyable to create. She had an amazing book of 1920s and 30s criminals and they used that as a starting point, because they were all quite worn out and bedraggled and poverty stricken and like hell might be ideally. They burnt and decayed the bottom of them as if they were rotting from the Earth and rotting back into the ground - all demons have sort of gators as if they were rotting from the ground up.

One of the most difficult things was the demons - when they realized they had a few days to create hundreds of demons in South Africa (4-5 days for almost 200 demons). It was as if I had been dissolved in holy water when they asked me for another 150 costumes.

The sleeves of Anathema’s coat have been inspired by a Victorian cycling coat. 

The historical costume that Newt’s ancestor wore influenced his and Shadwell’s costumes - they used elements of the historical costume to put a little cape on Newt and Shadwell and their wax coats to give them the quality of that look. Newt's costume has a lot of mustard to make him feel a bit awkward and uncomfortable - it's not the most flattering colour on a northern European complexion.

The nuns’ headdress needed to look a little bit demonic - she bought a whole book on nuns’ headdresses for research. They also used the V in the nurse's apron because that was nicely demonic. The nurses' watch has got this Satanic symbol at the top - a little take on the medical since old nurses’ uniforms used to have watches.

For Madame Tracy she went back into the 70s, slightly Biba-esque makeup and a cape. They had only one pair of her goggles so it was always a nightmare to find them.

Which part of the cold opening is her favourite: I love ancient Rome because there is at least 6 to 12 metre of fabric in a toga and that was quite fun wrapping that around the boys and creating those., and her favourite was the Globe.

The lapels represent wings in every way and every shape and every form. Wings are very important.

4. Peter Anderson (Peter Anderson Studio created the opening title animation and in-show graphics)

The first thing that the director Douglas Mackinnon (with whom he worked on Doctor Who and Sherlock) said to him was: for all the graphics, for all the title sequence, for everything, I want you to promise me one thing, and that is very, very simple, promise that you send me emails that say: ‘this might be absolutely nuts, but my idea is...’.

The opening title it’s full of easter eggs - it’s a type of sequence that’s been designed to watch a thousand times, for example: on the escalator down to Hell there is one character running up deciding that he doesn’t want to go to Hell or the sea is full of plastic bags because we don’t look after the planet.

Every single face in the title sequence is either Crowley’s or Azriphale’s, they are repeated all the way through - inspired by Neil saying that there’s good and evil in all of us, so there is a grand procession of people of all the characters from the story - marching towards Armageddon - but all the characters have been taken over by good or evil. And along the way our two heroes are kind of playing tricks on each other, doing good, doing evil

The opening title combines multiple elements - two dimensional animation elements, three dimensional animation elements, CGI and live action (the people in the procession were created by live action on a travelator). So the result is a kind of strangeness - such as 3D figures with 2D animated tracked heads - which makes it unique.

Their first idea and version of the opening title was based on tapestries of old, subverting them, but then they wanted something more new and fresh.

Both Douglas and Neil were an important part of the opening title creation process.

The opening title sequence took about a year to make from the creative start with four intensive months towards the end.

One of things that inspired him was a Bauhaus theatre image from 1930s.

Question if the hand-drawn font for the graphics will be a purchasable font: no, because it was original and it’s unique and it was created just for this - it was for the love of the show and the story and it will be kept there.

In the scene where there are three photos of witchfinders - Neil and Douglas revealed in the DVD commentaries that two of them are their grandfathers - the third one is Peter’s great uncle.

Originally the signs telling us things like ‘Thursday’ or ‘Mesopotamia’ - were done as if somebody (who was living inside the television screen) ran up close to the screen and showed us the sign. In the end they simplified it, only showing the signs. The one time that it was sort of left in the show was when in Episode 5 a little demon in the video game shows a sign ‘GAME OVER’.

Outside of his work on it, what was his favourite thing on Good Omens: spending time with Douglas and Neil, and also working with Milk VFX - I think I can honestly say it's the best job I've ever worked on with the nicest people. 

5. Paul Adeyefa (Disposable Demon)

He first read the book when preparing for the audition - the character wasn’t in the book but he got into it, loved it and couldn’t put it down.

He didn’t know about the name Eric until the script was published and people started calling the demon that, he really likes the name and thinks it fits.

There was a version of the script where the demon was going to be dressed in different costumes each time he was discorporated (for example one in long hair wearing a dress) - they would be all the same but different incarnations, in one version they had different accents. 

The first scene he shot was the one where the demon goes to Heaven to deliver the Hellfire (and also wants to hit ‘Aziraphale’ which was cut). That first day was also his favourite moment of shooting because there was an immediate welcoming atmosphere and everyone was lovely and in love with the production.

Disposable Demon is like a permanent intern, running errands for the higher ups in Hell.

His favourite part of the costume were the eyelashes (though he loved the whole costume).

If he could change anything about the costume he would also want cool contact lenses - some brightly coloured ones.

Question what animal (like other demons have on their heads) comes to mind when we see the Disposable Demon: he didn’t think about it at the time, but later he saw people talking about his horns as bunny ears and found it interesting, and also the facts that there are so many of him and that he is quite happy and friendly for a demon so the bunny makes sense, so he might be a sort of a rabbit. Or perhaps something goat type because of the horns.

Question if there is another role in Good Omens he would have liked to have played: he always thought that the four horsemen were very cool and Pollution was his favourite so probably Pollution (also was the most jealous of Pollution’s contact lenses). 

If there were a season 2, he would be there in a heartbeat.

Question about Eric’s feelings on Crowley, if he’s a bit of a Crowley fan: I think he might be. There is something about Crowley and how he is somehow a little bit different from the rest of the demons. - and the Disposable Demon has, much like Crowley, interest in the human world. He could well be 6,000 how many years old, the same as everyone else, but he seems to have this younger vibe and I think he thinks that Crowley is quite cool.

Good Omens fandom is his first experience with a fandom of this scale. It speaks a lot, the fact that this kind of very, this minor character, a character who is only on screen for a very short amount of time gets any kind of attention at all, it's quite amazing really, it goes to show how big and enthusiastic the fans are. I never experienced anything like that.

6. Jeremy Marshall-Roberts (the owner of Mary the Bentley)

When Crowley used a miracle to switch off the Bentley lights in Episode 1 at nuns manor it was done by: there was actually a very small guy called Louis turning on and off the switches quickly.

David Tennant was allowed to wear the snake eye contacts for only 3 hours a day otherwise they could damage his eyesight.

For Mary, the Bentley, it was the second time she was ‘blown up’ on film - first being in the Endeavour with Inspector Morse about three years earlier.

He was a bit nervous during filming the bookshop fire scene because the Bentley was so close to a real fire - not wanting the paint to blister. The car was moved off after a few minutes of filming but still.

About the damage to Mary: Unfortunately, we overran, and Rob my stunt driver had already booked a holiday and off he went and so when he returned in January, on the 10th of January, I had this new driver who really had no clue how to drive old cars, so I showed him around, I showed him to go around corners. He came around the corner, the door was not closed properly for some reason and the door flew open as he went around. And instead of slamming on the brakes which is extremely efficient and would stop him straight away he kept on going, hit another car and really smashed the door quite badly. It did take the car off the roads for 10 months. The door was completely remade because of this accident and it cost the total of  £24 000 to rebuild the car to get it back to running as it is today.

The Bentley’s part most difficult to maintain and service is the engine. 

Would Mary be available for a potential season 2: definitely!

[mrs-harkness]

Ocean Eyes (Part 2)

Ocean Eyes (Part 1)

Pairing: Tammy x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.8K

Parts: Part 1

Taglist: @peggycarter-steverogers @imgayandmymomdoesntknow​ @millysmango​

A/n: Glad you guys are liking Tammy. She’s fun to write for, because I imagine her having a bit of a wild side ;) I’m thinking there will probably only be 5 parts, because I would like to get started on Delia’s, but things are just really busy with my new job! Always, thanks for the patience and love!

"I'm gonna kinda miss having you at the apartment everyday."

Sarah's voice ripped you away from the window, lost in your own empty thoughts. You smiled at her.

"I will miss seeing you every day, but I will not miss sleeping on your couch. It's lumpy. You really need a new one dude," you said, snickering.

"No way! My couch has got character, thank you."

"Sarah, I found a pack of fun dip from 1967 in the cushions."

Sarah opened her mouth to argue, but shut it. She gave you a side glare, trying to keep her eyes on the road while letting you see her wrath, as she called it. You laughed, it filling the car.

"Don't worry Sarah-Bee, I'll come visit you on my off days," you said, patting her leg.

You guys pulled into Tammy's huge driveway to find her and the kids waiting for you on the doorstep, standing there like a Home and Garden's ad. Tammy smiled and waved as well as her two smallest children. The oldest boy was obviously forced to stand there and looked like he was ready to be released.

You stepped out of the car and the family walked towards you. The little girl ran ahead of them all, nearly leaping to you.

"Hi! My name is Keri! You wanna play?" she asked, immediately taking your hand and tugging on it.

Tammy reached forward and put her hand on Keri's shoulder, giggling.

"Hold on sweetheart. She just got here and needs to get settled. You guys will have plenty of time to play. She lives here with us now," she said, never breaking eye contact with you.

You felt the blush creep onto your face. You weren't positive, but there seemed to be  a glint in Tammy's eyes, as if she saw it. You tore your eyes away from hers and looked back down at the little girl, smiling. She smiled back, grabbing onto her mothers hand to hold it and bring it close to her face.

Tammy cleared her throat and pushed the two boys forward. The little one had a mischievous look about him and the older one was just uninterested completely.

"These are my two men, Derek and Jeremy," Tammy said.

"I'm Derek! I'm named after my dad. He doesn't live here anymore!" the younger one chirped.

Everyone shot him a look, but he remained blissfully unaware at the fact of his oversharing. The oldest though, seemed more than angry, and reached over and slapped his younger brother in the ear.

"Stupid! You don't say that shit!"

"Jeremy! Watch your mouth and leave your brother alone," Tammy said, moving him to where he  was looking her in the face. He seemed to growl and jerk away. He sulked off towards the house.

You saw the concern on Tammy's face. He must not have been handling the divorce so well. Your heart ached for the boy, even though he seemed a little bit like a dick. Tammy sighed and turned back to you.

"Kids," she said, trying to chuckle and brush it off.

"Well! How about we get Y/n and her stuff inside and get her welcomed home?" Tammy asked the two little ones.

They both cheered with the excitement only small children seemed to have and ran to Sarah's car to help grab the boxes and suitcases that were in the back. Tammy came up behind you, placing her hand on the small of your back. You jumped a bit, feeling heat spread out through your body. Tammy leaned forward to whisper in your ear, but all you could manage to think was how good she smelled.

"Don't worry about Jeremy, give him time to warm up to you. He misses his dad, but he's a good kid," she whispered, her breath hot on the shell of your ear.

You swallowed and nodded, forcing a smile. She brought her face into your view, just inches from yours. She smiled and winked and her fingers seemed to drag as she brushed her hand from your back and walked to the car to help get your things.

Get your shit together Y/N. She was talking about her kids emotional state and all you could think of was her perfume!

You scolded yourself and went to help the family unload your old life to officially start your new one.

When Tammy had said you would have the entire attic and your own bathroom, you thought you would have a maybe enough room for a twin bed and a dresser, maybe a desk and a bathroom that probably had a shower and not much else. You were very wrong.

Your new bedroom was bigger than Sarah's entire apartment, with lush carpet and crown molding. The bed was big and plush with a down comforter that felt like a cloud and smelled like cherry blossom. You not only had a 8 drawer dresser, but a walk in closet that could hold your entire wardrobe and still have 98% of it be completely empty. There were shelves filled with books and free space that Tammy said you could put whatever you like on.

The desk was a solid piece of white wood that seemed like it would cost the same as a down payment on a car. Your bathroom felt straight out of a high class suite with a huge tub, amazing walk in shower, and not just one sink, but two. There was even a wall length mirror. But your favorite part of the whole house was the balcony. You had your own balcony. A set of french doors lead out to it and you knew you would have the perfect view to watch the sun rise over the trees in the morning.

This morning you were waking up on a smelly, yellow polyester couch to the sound of street construction and Sarah singing Taylor Swift as she burnt breakfast. Now, you were overlooking an amazing view of a beautiful, quiet neighborhood from your very own penthouse with an amazing job and the most beautiful boss you could have ever imagined.

You took a deep breath of the crisp night air. You were exhausted from unpacking and getting to know the kids and were looking forward to just laying in your new bed and dosing off when you heard a knock at your door. You had to jog from outside and across the room to reach the door, expecting to see one of the kids. Instead Tammy stood in front of you, smiling.

"Getting settled in okay?" she asked.

You smile and nodded, stepping aside to welcome her in. She walked in and looked around. There wasn't much difference, but you had put out some of your personal items and pictures. It would take some time, but it did feel a little bit more like yours after a couple of hours of work.

"Looks nice. More lived in than it has ever been. You've made it homey," she said, her voice warm.

"I hope that is okay," you said, unsure why you felt so insecure about her opinion. She whipped around to look at you.

"Of course! That's what I want more than anything. For you to make this your home. I know this is your job, but I want you to like it here," she said, stepping closer.

Your breath got caught in your throat again, and you forced yourself to breathe normally. You saw the corner of Tammy's mouth twitch, a tiny smirk showing for just a second. You brushed your hair away from your face and cleared your throat. It was becoming your signature.

"I definitely like it here. Don't worry. You and the kids are great. The room is amazing, I've never lived somewhere so nice before. And dinner was great. Its been a really long time since I sat down and got to eat together with a family."

Tammy's face softened a bit at the last bit, and while you could see curiosity in her eyes, she didn't ask any further. There was a moment of silence before Tammy got the conversation back on track.

"Well I'm glad you liked dinner and are getting settled. I got the kids in bed already and was actually wondering if you would like to come down stairs and have a glass of wine with me? Just you and I, so we could get to know each other more as friends rather than boss and employee."

You stood there, smiling, just staring at her. You must have been standing there for longer than you realized in silence because Tammy cocked an eyebrow, confused by your silence. You tried to recover like you were thinking, but you really couldn't save yourself here.

"Oh! Yeah! Sure! I'd love to!" you said, your voice a little too high pitched. Tammy giggled and nodded, heading back towards the door.

"Get in your jammies and meet me down stairs. I'll be waiting," she said as she closed the door behind her.

You released the breath you had been holding, your whole body relaxing. You didn't realize how tense you were. You were going to have to learn how to function around Tammy or you probably wouldn't have this job for long. Tammy seemed to find it cute for the time being, but once it stopped just seeming like you were awkward and nervous about a new job, it would be pretty obvious it was a bit more. The nanny crushing on her boss was so cliché to begin with, never mind how problematic it would be in this situation.

You got dressed in your nice pair of pajamas, not wanting to walk down stairs in a ratty t-shirt and shorts. It was mainly dark in the house, but the kitchen was completely lit, guiding you down the stairs and towards Tammy who worked on a wine cork.

Her pajamas were silk and red, hanging off her frame in a way that showed a bit of skin depending how she moved. The shorts barely covered her butt and you felt like you were being tested. You would make sure to keep your eyes either on Tammy's face or at the wall behind her because you were not going to make things weird.

Tammy smiled when she saw you and you swore she looked you up and down, but you just kept your eyes forward.

"Don't you look cute," Tammy said, popping the cork out of the wine bottle.

You sat on the stool at the kitchen island and watched as Tammy poured two glasses and handed one to you. You took a sip and were taken back by how strong it was. You were going to have to be careful or you would be gone rather quickly.

Tammy took a big sip of hers and smiled, licking the red liquid off her lips. You felt yourself cry on the inside. You wanted nothing more to spend alone time with Tammy, but you really wished you had gone to bed.

"So, tell me about the tree branch," she said, taking a smaller sip this time.

You looked up at her, confused.

"Huh?"

Tammy laughed, pointing to your hair.

"You said this afternoon you would tell me how you got the twig stuck in your hair. You also mentioned something about promising you bathed?" she said, raising her eye brows up as she twirled her wine glass with a smile that spread across her face.

You laughed and felt some of the tension leave your body. This was just a normal conversation and your boss really was just trying to get to know you and make it a more comfortable situation for the both of you.

"See what happened was, I got an Uber into the neighborhood but asked the driver to drop me off at the gate so that way you wouldn't see me get out of this particular car because it looked like it drove straight out of 'Dude, Where's My Car' and I honestly didn't want you to associate me with weed and old pizza."

"First impressions are important," she said, extending her wine glass towards you.

"Exactly. So I started walking but because I have never been here before, I got lost. So I called Sarah and she told me the way to your house, but if I took that way I would be late. So she told me, if I cut through the backyard of the house I was in front of and walked through the trees, I would actually be at the back of your house, so I found the houses fence."

"You snuck onto their property?" Tammy asked, her eyes lighting up. She leaned onto the counter and her pajamas moved, revealing her bra. You kept your eyes on hers though.

"I don't think its considered sneaking if the old woman who lives there sends her yappy dog after you for disrupting her yoga session as she swears at you. I ran to the picnic table at the edge of the fence and threw myself over it as I tried to convince her I really was a nice girl before complimenting the home I had just trespassed into, and dropped into the woods and ran so fast I'm surprised I didn't die."

At this point, Tammy was doubled over, cackling.

"I'm gonna pee," she muttered, crossing her legs as she laughed. You laughed along with her, Tammy's giddiness being contagious. You looked at her as she met your eyes and just looked at you as you both came down from your laughter. You smiled as you took a sip of your wine. You were glad you hadn't gone to bed.

It felt like minutes, but you and Tammy stayed up for four hours talking about life, your interests, your childhood. Everything seemed fuzzy and warm because you were both on your fourth glass and you couldn't remember exactly when you both had moved to the couch, but that is where you both found yourself.

"So when I had Keri, I was utterly exhausted. My husband was home with me for the first four days after we brought her home, but he left on a two week work trip after that and I was alone with three kids, two of which were under two."

You shook your head. Her husband sucked. You didn't like him. You didn't know him, but you didn't like him.

"So when Keri was 9 days old, I had to take Derek to the doctor for an ear infection. Jeremy was five at the time so he was literally everywhere, Derek was screaming, and Keri was just sleeping in her car seat. We got Derek looked at, got the prescription and left. We were halfway to the pharmacy when I felt like I had forgot something."

You covered your mouth, stifling the drunk giggle starting to come from your mouth. Tammy hit you on your shoulder.

"I would like to remind you I was basically a single mother of three kids and sleep was not a thing. But I forgot Keri, in the doctors office. Just left without her! Right when I noticed, a nurse from the office called me and I was just crying on the phone all the way there. The nurses tried to console me but that was definitely one of my worst mom moment so far. She still doesn't know that happened. Not sure she ever will."

You both laughed that kind of deep laugh that if you weren't careful, would choke you. You laughed and bent over, accidentally falling over and right into Tammy's lap. It took you a moment to realize you had done it, but Tammy noticed immediately.

She stared at you, but not with a look of discomfort on her face, but something else. You immediately pushed yourself back into a sitting position, your flush ten times worse due to the wine it your system. Tammy smiled and looked away, sighing.

"You know Y/N, I'm so happy you get to be here, with us. Not just for the kids, but for me too."

You looked at her, unsure what to say. You watched as she scooted closer to you, frozen. She brushed the hair that had fallen in your face to behind your ear. Her hand lingered on your cheek and you felt her thumb run against the edge of your jaw. You were sure it was visible how hard you swallowed and how you chest rose and fell rapidly.

She smiled and her eyes flicked down. She looked you over and hummed before pulling back.

"We are going to feel like shit in the morning if we don't get to bed. Especially because Keri and Derrek like to wake up at the ass crack of dawn."

You smiled at that and it caused Tammy to chuckle. You helped one another up and walked up the stairs. Tammy stopped at her door, but didn't go in. You climbed the stairs to the third floor, but felt Tammy starring at you. You turned around to see her leaning against her doorframe, her face dreamy.

"Goodnight Y/N. I'm happy you're here."

With that Tammy winked, and pushed open her door, stepped into the dark room, and closed it slowly behind her. You seemed to float up the stairs and straight into your bed, the soft plush mattress welcoming you. You drifted off to sleep with that warm fuzzy feeling of wine tingling through out your body and Tammy's smiling floating around in your head.

[speckle-meow-meow]

Deku hearing his s/o who has a big part in a musical practicing a song that they sing. Like im talking Santa Fe by Jeremy Jordan that kinda song

I was listening to Santa Fe while typing this so I could get the emotion out of it~ 'Newsies' doesn't belong to me nor does Y/N

(Your role is Jack kelly)

When Deku heard you sing so song for the first time he kinda cried because of how much emotion was in your voice and on your face

When you practice he brings treats for you so you can be happy after singing

When you told him that you got the part he was as exited as you were you gave him free tickets and everyone else in your class (even the teachers)

When you saw all of them it made you happy because you had people who had you back....

after the part before the song you got up and...

*STOMP*

Folks, we finally got our headline. "Newsies Crushed as Bulls Attack"

everyone was watching you....

Crutchie's calling me, Dumb crip's just too damn slow. Guys are fightin', bleedin' fallin' Captain Jack just wants to close his eyes and go. Let me go.

everyone saw that you were crying so much emotion imputed in this song they felt it and they cried with you...

Far away. Somewhere they won't ever find me, And tomorrow won't remind me of today. And the city's finally sleepin'. And the moon looks old and grey. I get on a train thats bound for Santa Fe. And I'm gone. And I'm done.

No more running. No more lying. No more fat old man denying me my pay. Just a moon so big and yellow, it turns night right into day. Dreams come true. Yeah they do. In Santa Fe. Where does it say you gotta live and die here? Where does it say a guy can't catch a break? Why should you only take what you're given? Why should you spend your whole life Living trapped where there ain't no future.

Deku looked into your eyes and saw how determined you were.....

Even at 17. Breaking your back for someone else's sake. If the life don't seem to suit you, how about a change of scene? Far from the lousy headlines and the deadlines in between. Santa Fe, my old friend. I can't spend my whole life dreaming. Though I know thats all I seem inclined to do. I ain't getting any younger. And I wanna start brand new. I need space. And fresh air.

Let them laugh in my face. I don't care. Save my place. I'll be there. Just be real is all I'm asking. Not some painting in my head. 'Cause I'm dead if I can't count on you today. I got nothing if I ain't got Santa Fe. them laugh in my face. I don't care. Save my place. I'll be there. Just be real is all I'm asking. Not some painting in my head. 'Cause I'm dead if I can't count on you today. I got nothing if I ain't got Santa Fe.~~~~~

After the play ended everyone was waiting for you, and when you came out they praised you and took you out to dinner, after everyone left you and Deku took a walk while talking

"You did great Y/N"

"Thank you Deku.. I love you"

"......I love you to♥"

[deanandthephantoms]

Perfect Harmony Pt.1 - Reader x Charlie

Soo.. This is my first attempt at writing a story. This story is, in a very short summary gonna be about how the reader and Charlie Gillespie met, became best friends, drifted apart, and found each other again. Thank you @happinessinthedarkesttimes for giving me the idea to write this. I hope you’ll enjoy! This is chapter one of.. who knows how many, it might become a long one. Oh and all feedback is welcome :). You can read chapter 2 here and chapter 3 here !

Start of something new

When Y/N was 16 years old her mom thought it was a good idea to send her to a summer camp for teenagers to young adults. Now that may sounds like a fun thing, but Y/N was always very shy and very insecure at first, I guess that’s what 10 long years of being bullied on the regular does to a person.. As you can imagine going out and meeting a insanely large group of new people was a pretty terrifying thing to her. So when she was on her way in a bus to the summer camp surrounded by other camp-goers she was in full panic mode thinking things like; WHAT AM I DOING? I DON’T WANT TO GO! WHAT IF THEY’RE ALL GONNA BE MEAN TO ME?! there however was no turning back now.. Luckily it was only a week, she would survive.. Right?

When the bus arrived at her home for the coming week y/n was overwhelmed by the amount of people that were already there.  Luckily a camp staff member came up to her soon enough and told her she was placed into a smaller group with 8 other people from around her age. Still scary but focusing on meeting 8 new people sure was a lot less scary than having to meet at least 100 people all at once. The counselor also showed Y/N where her room for the week was.

When Y/N stepped into her bedroom for the week she saw 3 pairs of eyes looking at her. One of the girls jumped up from her bed and said; “Hey! I don’t think we’ve met yet? I’m Madison! That’s Savannah” she said while pointing towards the blonde girl sitting on one of the beds, Savannah gave you a smile and a small wave. “And that’s Jadah” she said while gesturing towards the girl making her bed. “hi!” Jadah said with a big smile. I took Madison’s held out hand and shook it. “Hey nice to meet you all.” You smiled shyly. “You’re right it’s my first time here so I haven’t really met anyone yet.. My name is Y/N by the way.” “ Nice to meet you too Y/N!”Madison said. “So since you’re sleeping in our room I bet that means you’re also in our group, right?” “Oh.. eh.. I’m not sure..?” “I replied. Is that usually how this works? Have you 3 been here before?” I asked while claiming my bed for the week. “Yeah!” They all said at the same time, sounding very excited. This time it was Savannah who continued to speak; “I’ve been coming here every summer since I was 13. That was also the year I met Madison and Jadah and the rest of our group, who you will meet soon enough. We actually have become really close friends over the years so we keep coming back here to see each other. You’re gonna love our group!” I smiled at her excitement. “I sure hope so.” “So.. Jadah began, how did you end up coming here?” “Honestly? I said, my mom thought it would be a brilliant idea to send me here, to meet some new people..” “You don’t sound very excited about it”Jadah noticed. “You picked up on that huh? You’re right..” I quickly explained to the girls that I’m very shy and insecure at first which makes meeting new people a hard and scary thing. They all nodded understandingly. “Hey, Madison said, we got you okay? no need to feel scared or anything.” The 3 girls smiled at me and for some reason I felt they meant it. “Thank you I said, that really does mean a lot. So.. while we’re on the topic of meeting new people, when will we be meeting the rest of our group?” I asked nervously. “In 30 minutes or so Madison replied, our first group activity starts at 3pm”.  “Group activity?” I asked with a nervous look on my face. Savannah laughed,”don’t worry they call it a activity but it’s basically just some time to meet everyone in your group and the leaders of your group.”  “oh, that doesn’t sound tooo bad” I replied, still feeling very nervous but at least I had those 3 girls who genuinely seemed nice.

3pm came sooner than I wanted and before I knew it Jadah was dragging me along to my first group activity. When we got there the rest of our group and our two older leaders we’re already there. Jadah sat me down next to this boy with brown hair and hazel eyes the boy greeted Jadah and gave me a smile. I soon would learn that his name was Charlie. He came to camp with two of his friends, Owen and Jeremy who were also in our group. Then there was this boy called Taylor and another girl called Tori and last but not least our leaders, a man called Ray, who seemed super chill and laid back and a woman named Rose who seemed to be the sweetest person. During that first time meeting everyone I actually started to feel more comfortable, they all seemed pretty nice. Maybe this week wouldn’t be so bad after all.. Soon after meeting your group it was time for dinner with the entire camp. Madison gestured for you to come sit with her, an invitation you happily accepted you had met enough new people for the day. During the dinner the head camp counselors asked for everybody’s attention. They introduced themselves to us and told us some crazy story about how we were gonna play ‘glow in the dark paintball’. Madison laughed at my confused face. “I hate to break the fun but this all just means we’re having a dropping later tonight. they try this every year. They try to prepare us for an intense, active night without actually saying they’re dropping us in the middle of nowhere.” She whispered to me. “Oohhh” I simply replied, actually feeling a bit disappointed.

-Later that night y/n found out Madison was right, the group and their two leaders got dropped in the middle of nowhere and as we speak were trying to find their way back “home”.- 

I found myself walking next to Charlie, he was chatting away about all kinds of things I learned all about his family and about his girlfriend who apparently was a staff member on this camp and he promised me, he would introduce me to her. I had to admit, I had the worst experience with boys I had kind of decided that I hated all of them, but this Charlie dude was very easy to talk to, he has this energy that just makes you feel at ease and the other boys seem very nice too.. Charlie ripped me away from my own thoughts, “Sooo Y/N what kind of music do you like? Please tell me you like music..” I couldn’t help but laugh, “If I like music? nah”. I left a short silence before continuing;  “I love music!” even though it was dark I could tell he smiled at that answer. “What kind of music is a hard question though. I literally listen to all kinds of things from rock to silly boybands.. I enjoy it all.” It was that moment a song of  the band Linkin park popped into my head and I softly started singing it “When my time comes Forget the wrong that I've done. Help me leave behind some reasons to be missed.” Realizing what I was doing I quickly shut up again. “Y/N, were you just singing a Linkin park song?” Charlie asked me. “Yeah..” I replied half ashamed, “they’re one of my favorite bands actually.” I said. “NO WAY!”He replied all excited. “I love them too!” And without any warning he continued singing the song I started singing. – this boy can sinnnng I thought to myself before joining him and singing along, it only took Owen, Jeremy and Taylor 5 seconds to join us and before I knew it we were walking through the woods at night just singing apparently this entire group really loved music and i was not complaining. After a good while of singing all kinds of songs we quieted down and just had many conversations about everything. And after a few hours of being lost we found our way back. Me and the girls wished the boys a goodnight which apparently goes along with a lot of hugs, this is where I learned Charlie gives the best hugs. They’re some of the tightest hugs I’ve ever had, but at the same time the most comfortable and save feeling ones as well.. I went to sleep as a happy girl that night, so glad all of those people were so nice to me I actually may have found myself some new good friends here.

When I stepped out of my room the next morning I saw Charlie talking to a girl. “Y/N!” He motioned for me to come over, so I did. “Morning Charlie” I said. “Good morning” he replied ,sounding a lot more alive than I felt. “I promised you I would introduce you to my girlfriend didn’t i? So Y/N this is Emma. Emma meet Y/N it’s her first time here and she’s part of our group now!” “Ohh,” Emma replied. “It’s so nice to meet you! I hope you’ll have a lovely time here” she smiled at me. “It’s nice to meet you too, Charlie has told me quite a bit about you” I told her with a smile. “Only good things I hope”, she said more to the boy than to me. “Anyway breakfast is about to start so I should go and meet my fellow staff members”. She gave Charlie a quick kiss and gave us a ‘I’ll see you soon’ before running off. “So that was Emma, she seems nice” I told Charlie. Charlie smiled, “She is! She came into my life when I was feeling very low. In some way she really saved me you know.” “Well I’m glad she did” I told him. I couldn’t imagine this happy, social, excited boy being depressed.. this Emma girl sure did something right.  “Yeah me too” Charlie replied, “should we go get some breakfast?” And before I could even say anything Charlie was already on his way.

The rest of the day was filled with playing games with our group against other groups. Not gonna lie, we were the worst we lost every single game but boy did we have fun. We were cheering each other on, Tori thought us some cheerleader dance, we were laughing at our own failure and singing random songs trough out the day. After dinner there was this thing called “Family time” which i learned, basically meant getting together with your own small group and talking about a more serious topic. Ray and Rose , our older leaders, were talking to us about believing in yourself and knowing that you’re good enough just the way you are. And while the others were saying things here and there, I was quiet. Veeery quiet. I never really believed in myself, all I had been hearing for 10 years is how ugly I was, how I failed at a most things, people laughed at me when I did something wrong, boys told me I didn’t deserve to be loved.. and i could go on..  I did not like myself at all and I sure didn’t think I was good enough for anything or anyone. Rose ended our night by reading us a little poem she wrote about how loved we were. As soon as we were allowed to go I walked off quickly I felt the tears burning in my eyes. I couldn’t cry, not in front of my new friends.. So I sat down in a somewhat hidden spot and just silently cried with my head in my hands.

After a minute or so I felt someone sit down beside me and putting an arm around my shoulder pulling me a little closer. Then I heard a voice ask me “Y/N are you okay? What’s wrong?” It was Charlie genuinely sounding concerned, he slowly rubbed my back trying to calm me down. This entire thing he did was new to me, I wasn’t used to people noticing something was wrong or asking me if I was doing okay and I was definitely not used to a boy comforting me. I-I , I began but the sobs made it impossible to speak. Charlie pulled me into a hug and kept telling me it was okay. After a few minutes of sobbing into his shirt I calmed down a bit and Charlie let go of me. I smiled at him with a tear stained face, “thank you for that and sorry about your shirt..” “don’t worry about it”he replied “Now do you wanna tell me what was wrong?” “ I uhh.. I guess I’m not really used to people telling me I’m loved or people telling me I’m good enough. I’m actually more used to the opposite of that.. so hearing those things just really overwhelmed me and apparently broke me..”I could see in Charlie’s face that he felt bad for me. “I’m so sorry”he said, “you’re such a cool person Y/N! We all happen to think that so you better believe it.” “Stop!” I said slapping his arm playfully “or you’ll make me cry all over again.” He laughed, “I’m sorry. But it’s true.” Not really knowing how to deal with that compliment I just smiled at him. Charlie continued ;” hey listen, if you.. you know ever need someone to talk to. I’m here okay?” “Thanks Charlie, that means a lot.” Charlie smiled at me and got up from the ground holding his hand out for me, “Come on. We’re gonna go back to the others, they were planning on playing some boardgames tonight. Are you in?”  “Yeah I’m in,” I replied while taking his hand he pulled me up from the ground. When me and Charlie got to our friends Madison Savannah and Jadah immediately stood up and pulled me in for a hug. “Are you okay?” Madi asked. “Yeah I am now. Thanks” I replied with a smile. “So I heard we were playing games I’m in!” I said changing the subject. “Heck yeah!” Sav replied “you’re on my team Y/N! we’re playing against the boys.” “ Alright, Let’s show ‘em what we got!” I replied. And so we ended the night on a very competitive but good note.

Part 2 // Part 3

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Epilogue -- Perfect Harmony | Charlie Gillespie

Summary: Emily Fox is a talented 17-year-old with a passion for all things music. Her dream is to become a successful singer-songwriter one day. But to achieve that dream, she needs to get into one of the most prestigious music schools in her district – it’s all been part of her plan since she was six. Sadly enough, those schools cost a ton of money that her parents don’t want to invest. They don’t even want her to pursue her dream. So, now Emily’s hustling, working at the music store to save up to get into college. That’s until she meets Charlie, an annoying seventeen-year-old boy with the same dream as her. The only difference is, he’s just doing it. He doesn’t need a fancy college to pursue his dream to become famous with his band. He just writes his songs and books small gigs here, there and everywhere. Will meeting Charlie defer her from her dream college, or will he actually help her achieve the dream?

Pairing: Charlie Gillespie x OC (Emily Fox)

Warnings: mentions of death, sexual assault

Important note: the characters of Charlie, Owen, Jeremy and Madison are based on the characters they play on the show and i do not own their names, only OC are mine. The songs aren’t mine either, they’re all from the show except for one.

~|Charlie Gillespie|~

Ever since our gig at the Orpheum, the band has only prospered and grown. We went from playing one local gig a month, to playing around California every week. We’ve found ourselves a manager, Andi Parker. She’s been the driving force behind our band, making sure we got the best gigs, the best album and the best summer tour. 

All four of us even graduated high school. We somehow found the time to rehearse, play gigs and study. It’s been tough, but we just about managed. Enough to throw that cap into the air by the end of the year. And now, in September of the year after high school, the boys, Emily and I are moving into our own, shared house in downtown Los Angeles. Andi had set us up with it and we couldn’t say no to the four-bedroom house near Sunset Boulevard. “Hey, baby?” I hear Emily’s voice from behind me. A smile appears on my face as if on automatic, being reminded everyday of our gig at the Orpheum where she kissed me has that effect on someone. “Where do you want this box?” she shows me the box labeled ‘clothes Charlie’. I smile and take it over from her instead, kissing her on the lips over the cardboard. “I’ll take them up the stairs, you grab another one,” I tell her and start making my way up. By the end of the day, we’re all moved in. Mostly. We don’t have a lot of furniture yet, but Mitch is going to help us with that tomorrow. So, for now, we sit on the floor in front of Emily’s laptop, watching a movie together. “You know what?” Emily starts from beside me. I have my arm slung around her shoulders while Owen’s head lies in her lap and Jeremy is resting his head on my shoulder. “I’m really glad you stalked me in the store two years ago,” she tells me with a wide, teasing smile. The same smile she used to give me at that time. “I did not stalk you,” I object and kiss her temple anyway because I can’t stop touching her. “You totally did, bro,” Jeremy chimes in. I shake my shoulder to annoy him into sitting up straight. “You were completely pining for her.” I bite my lip in annoyance. Mostly because they’re right. I was pining for Emily. I’d just met the most beautiful girl with an angelic voice, I couldn’t stay away from her. “It wasn’t my fault. Emily shouldn’t have been so beautiful,” she looks up at me with a blush on her face. “So, I’m glad I stalked you back then.” I kiss her forehead. “We did get a great band out of it,” Owen then says, looking up from Emily’s lap. “Woah, oh, oh, oh,” Jeremy softly sings, putting his head back on my shoulders. “This band is back,” Emily continues. “Woah, oh, oh, oh,” Owen and I now join in. “This band is back!” “Forever my favorite song of ours,” Jere mumbles before sighing contently. “Eh, you know which is my favorite?” Emily asks with a smirk. “Perfect Harmony?” I guess, giving her the romantic eyes. It definitely is my favorite song. It reminds me of the first time we kissed in the Music Store. “No, The Other Side of Hollywood,” she replies teasingly before leaning up and kissing my cheek. “But also Perfect Harmony… Or Unsaid Emily.” She offers me a wink, and then kisses me on the lips. Which earns groans from the other boys. “Get a room!” It sounds simultaneously. This is going to be an interesting dynamic, living with these three idiots. My three idiots. Living in perfect harmony.

Taglist: @parkeret​​ @lukeys-giggle​ @gingerxarmy​ @lovesanimals​ @hannahhistorian92​ @marinettepotterandplagg​ @thequirkybookaholic​ @ashleyleblancx​ @calamitykaty​ @lolychu​ @bookdealer5​ @tenaciousperfectionunknown​ @hemmingsness​ @siennanoelle01​ @iainttakingshitfromnobody​ @ifilwtmfc​ @luckylouiebug​ @kiss-themoongoodbye​ @camiladelrio98​ @myfriendscallmebeans​ @caitsymichelle13​ @thedarkqueenofavalon​

[galaxina-the-pyro]

How would you improve the episode AYA?

...wait...you’re asking me?

I...I didn’t expect this...

The thing is is that I don’t think I could possibly come up with ideas for this better than, say, @authenticcadence18 or @springsfordays because their ideas are just too good (seriously, check them out, they have the literal best ideas for a rewrite of AYA, holy crap).

But if I were to rewrite it...hm...let’s make a checklist for stuff about AYA that just miffed me:

1. Plot B is fine. Plot B was probably the best part of AYA - Doof’s dilemma made sense for his character (and is hilarious), tied in with the name of the episode, and involved fun little shenanigans. My only gripe is that they didn’t go MONDO insane with it at the end, and said ending felt really abrupt.

(I also wish that, somehow, even Doof was involved with that “everyone knew” bit, but we’re gonna be scrapping that joke for this story - that joke is FUNNY, but it’s also degrading to Phineas, and is sorta a nice way of saying “yeah, you’re stupid for not noticing her feelings even though she’s not entitled to them - you’re the problem. It’s not like the episode is trying to hint at you two having switched roles, no, you’re the only one who was being oblivious and stupid.”)

2. We cut out Plot C entirely. Everyone trying to get Phineas and Isabella together was just...ugh. Why? And they had the audacity to compare what they were doing to all the AMAZING things they did when they were younger, like, guys - you set up some tables, decorations, and cooked them what I can assume to be a run-of-the-mill restaurant dinner - that has NOTHING on a rollercoaster through downtown. And their applause at that sweet but ultimately lackluster confession? Hurt. So much. Now that I think about it, it felt condescending, it unintentionally emphasized HOW uninspired this confession (as much as I love it) was, and it felt like they were taking credit for something they didn’t do.

And if we’re NOT gonna cut out Plot C...have Plot C be about FERB? Leaving for COLLEGE? Out of COUNTRY? Cuz I have a hard time believing that Phineas and Ferb are just OKAY with separating at such a long distance - heck, in “Candace Gets Busted”, FERB is the one who assumes that one day he and his brother are gonna own their own place together. It should at least be BROUGHT UP, don’t you think? (I’m conflicted on whether or not I’d keep Montessa in the ring or at least SHOW US how Ferbnessa happened, because I think what’s weirding people out is that they’re assuming that Vanessa literally waited for Ferb to turn 18 to start dating him - when I think it’s more likely that they kinda JUST started dating during the beginning of Summer? But I think stuff like that really SHOULD be explained because even though I don’t think it’s that weird, I understand why OTHER PEOPLE wouldn’t like the idea)

3. I kinda feel like this should have had more songs? I dunno why, I feel like this all could have been improved if we got a fullblown musical out of this (and...this may be me wanting a “What Might Have Been” reprise, lol) - like, make fun of HSM or something, you can’t tell me you wouldn’t have.

4. I kinda wanted to see more of the “where are they now”. Like, Jeremy, Stacey, Little Suzie Johnson, even that one couple with the lady who’s always like “what did you think, an anniversary dinner was just going to fall from the sky?” - I like stuff like that, it’s so much fun to think about. Also...I legit have so much anxiety over Perry never interacting with him owners ONCE in that episode, and even more anxiety over Pinky never making an appearance at all. Heck, if there was a good time to show us what the HECK happened to Django, now would be a great time.

5. I would have given the episode a unique intro, ala “Night of the Living Pharmacists” and “Last Day of Summer” - like, AYA is as much of a status quo shifter as those two episodes, why was it given the “Phineas and Ferb Get Busted” treatment?

6. Here’s a brilliant thought - NO ONE tells Phineas about Isabella’s crush? How about instead Phineas goes and wants to check in on her, because he really misses her and doesn’t understand why they don’t talk anymore (and he’s tried before, and they’ve nearly had conversations, but Isabella’s just too busy) - did he do something wrong? Is Isabella just too busy now? He needs to know. That should have been his priority, none of this “FrIeNd ZoNe” nonsense.

7. I would have made this into a near movie-length special. With all the topics that this episode brought up, particularly the whole “manipulating the situation” thing, I feel like a longer episode would have given them more time to talk about how stuff like that is...not okay.

[READ THE ACTUAL REWRITE OF THE EPISODE (well, my take at least) UNDER THE CUT!]

Okay, with those out of the way, how I would have written Phinabella the Movie...I mean...Act Your Age (I warn you, it’s not gonna be as good as @authenticcadence18′s or @springsfordays‘s ideas, so if you want quality stuff and not just mushy fanfiction fodder I’d check their stuff out):

I would have sorta made this entire thing take place during the “What Might Have Been” song - what that means is that it’s a collage of memories. How Isabella and Phineas met, how Isabella first got her “crush” (if you can really call it that, girl was full out in love lol), them building stuff with the gang during their canon ages, them going into highschool, Isabella ultimately choosing to give up her crush to maintain her friendship with Phineas (because her choosing to not be as close to Phineas because of a crush isn’t an option), Isabella’s first boyfriend (which probably’s gonna hurt a lot of fans, cuz I envision that to NOT be Phineas; but it’s Phinabella endgame, so relax); the episode just centers on the gang (mainly Isabella since it’s from her perspective) growing up.

Like, yes, all of the memories are gonna be Phinabella centered, but we gotta have SOME side-stories and junk, like maybe how Baljeet gets together with Ginger (and...how they break up...please don’t kill me), what ultimately leads Ferb to want to go back to England for studies (maybe it’s him wanting to be his own person and not wanting people to think he and his brother are just “a pair”), Buford...uh...something with Buford definitely, because I love him and he deserves it. Heck, maybe even the Fireside Girls can have their own arc with a graduation ceremony for their ranks (...what? I’m not linking stuff to the best fanfic ever, noooooo...why would-why would I do that?).

And maybe in this case Plot B SHOULD be different - maybe it should focus on how Doofenshmirtz first got to America, how he first met Charlene, what exactly led him to being evil in the first place, all that good stuff. Though, ultimately, that might be a little angsty - maybe there’s a reason why we don’t see exactly HOW Doof and Charlene divorced, because that could very well be the saddest scene ever, and it’s hard to put that kinda comedic spin on something so tragic (I mean, obviously there are comedies CENTERED on divorce, but like...they always SKIP the divorce part from what I’ve seen). Not to mention that this is a kid’s show, so...I doubt they’d actually show HOW it happened. This is just my thoughts. X’D

Back to the Phinabella.

Phineas and Isabella would have their confession during THIS part of the special rather than the very end (so, like...they’re still in highschool, and Isabella’s already broken up with that other dude in the story, and maybe Phineas had a girlfriend he just wasn’t happy with) - Phineas tries to do something big for Isabella, but it ultimately falls through because of Perry’s current nemesis (we never see who that is, lol), so he settles for something simple (at first he’s scared about it not “being enough” for someone like Isabella, but Ferb’s able to slap that nonsense out of him pretty quickly). He and Isabella spend the ENTIRE DAY together alone, leading to Phineas eventually singing a song he wrote for her to her, and the two have a cute little duet as a result (that has the opposite energy of “What Might Have Been”, so it’s important that somewhere in this episode that “What Might Have Been” is still a thing, it just doesn’t involve Phineas being aware of Isabella’s feelings, and it doesn’t involve Isabella trying to leave somewhere without saying goodbye, this would be more about Isabella, after trying to get over her crush, realizing that she still LIKES Phineas that way). They almost kiss, but they’re ultimately interrupted by Buford being Buford or something, but it implies that Phineas and Isabella are now a couple onwards from here.

Eventually it leads to a small party in the middle of Summer with the gang, with them playing some games and talking about how by the end of Summer, they won’t be seeing each other as much anymore because of college and stuff. They all remanence about the simple times - with Isabella eventually leaving (saying it’s because she needs to check on something, but really it’s because she’s sad that things are ending so quickly and she’s gonna miss everyone especially Phineas), and Phineas going after her to see if she’s alright (he’s oblivious, but he’s always been able to tell if she’s sad for the most part, save for maybe a few instances - but he’s older now, so he’s probably better at telling).

The two go for a stroll outside, and discuss the changes and stuff, how he and Isabella are ultimately going to have to work on a long-distance relationship and how Phineas is going to miss Ferb when he leaves the country, and how he’s gonna miss Isabella. And then they both realize that everything is gonna be okay, because they’ve literally dealt with worse situations and came out stronger for it - Isabella nor Phineas have any doubts in their minds that their relationship with each other or anyone else is going to sever just because of long distance.

Time moves onward, and there are a lot of changes (mainly talking about couples and other stuff - if it were me, there’d be endgame Buford/Gretchen and Ferb/Ginger of all people, and of course Candace and Jeremy would be married by this time). Phineas and Isabella are about to go into their last year of college, and decide to spend one more day together before they, once again, go their separate ways. The gang surprises Isabella by having made an ACTUALLY GOOD AND CREATIVE BACKYARD DINNER for the two per Phineas’ planning (the idea wasn’t bad, the execution was just lame imo), and long story short, Phineas proposes to Isabella. She obviously accepts, and everyone cheers for them as Isabella inner monologues about how change can be scary but it’s okay some mushy stuff about loved ones being there for you when you need them or something.

And finally, we cut to many years later, with Isabella as an adult now, looking out at the backyard of her current home, drinking some tea - this whole movie/special has taken place in this Isabella’s memories (if that makes sense), as she thinks on how she got there. The story ends with a child (we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl) calling to her and calling her “mom”, and Isabella leaving to check on her kid.

And...that’s how I would have written “Act Your Age”. Again, I recommend this and this over my idea (because again, their takes on this episode are perfect, I don’t think anyone can top them), but if you like it then great. This was still fun to write out and stuff, and I hope you enjoyed it regardless. ^^;

[shebeafancyflapjack]

King Takes Knight (Part 5)

Shawn gets just what he hoped for.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

(TW: Torture, captivity, ‘nails’)

This was a glorious day. Victory Day. Maybe he’ll make it a national holiday to commemorate the occasion. Every employee will have a microsecond less work to do than usual. He can be generous like that.

Shawn watches from the stage as a Bad Janet enters, bending the arm of that pesky mutated Good Janet in front of her as she marches her down the steps. Behind them are some generic demon guards who he will have to learn the names of, if only so he can reward them for grabbing a human each between them. The four irritating losers who are behind this whole mess. 

He can’t help but laugh! How stupid can they be to have all come at once? Now there’s no one left to run their ridiculous experiment.

“Good evening, dickweeds!” He greets them cheerily, amused by the defeated looks on all of their faces - though Mendoza looks as gormless as ever; “So glad you could attend the show.”

“Oooh, what show? Is it Shrek the Musical?” Jason asks, lifting his chin up.

The large guard holding him gives his arm a painful tug, making the dumbass yelp like a cat with its tail caught in the door.

“I’m afraid not. But I’ll definitely be keen on making you sing soprano when I have them saw your balls off.” He gloats.

With a wave of his hand, he instructs the guards to walk the four of them forward, up the steps, and then force them to their knees at the front of the stage. The Bad Janet struts to stand next to him and Shawn allows her to give him a low five at his side in celebration.

Not that it took much effort.

“I applaud you for trying. But that really was a pathetic attempt to save Michael. You really thought we wouldn’t have Molotov-proofed the doors after last time?” 

Tahani turns to tut at Jason; “Told you!”

“Well I told you guys it was a trap but none of you listened!” Eleanor hisses.

Oh, this is wonderful. He would be happy to simply lock them in a room and watch them blame and scrap with each other, just as Michael originally intended, rather than all this wholesome chummy crap that ended up happening. How ironic.

“Such a shame that Chidi couldn’t be here to join you all. I guess he’s busy getting all loved up with his fellow nerd Simone, right Eleanor?”

He grins as that hits a nerve and Shellstrop darts forward, looking to go for him, before the guard grabs her hair and yanks her back down.

“Don’t worry. I have to keep my word to the Judge, after all. So I’ll be happy to let the experiment carry on, with Chidi and the others under the ‘safe’ guardianship of my employees wearing your skin suits.” He taunts them, “They won’t even notice you’re gone...especially as they will, literally, be the same skin torn from your bodies!”

“You twisted wanker.” Tahani glares at him, the British brat suddenly baring fangs; “Where is Michael?!”

“Y’know, she’s so right...Michael should be here to watch us slowly slice that fat skin off of them, shouldn’t he.” Bad Janet sways her hips, looking knowingly to Shawn with that glint in her eye; “Want me to go fetch him and give him the front row seat?”

This Bad Janet must not have got the memo.

“Oh I wasn’t foolish enough to have Michael be here. I just needed these filthy rats to think that’s where he was by the video.” He brags, watching the shock quickly drain the anger on their faces into hopelessness; “I had Michael moved a nice, cosy location far, far away. You weren’t even close to getting to him, idiots!”

“FUCK!” Eleanor swears, not even looking as though she can enjoy the opportunity to curse; “I told you all, it was too easy!!”

“No biggie.” Bad Janet rolls her eyes; “I can still stream him the footage to wherever that dingus is, can’t I? I sooo want him to see us cut Tahani’s hair into an uneven bob.”

“No! No! NOOOO!” The wannabe princess screams until the guard gives her a slap.

The Bad Janet has a point though. It wouldn’t be worth torturing Michael’s precious humans unless he was there to watch it, even if the plan with the Michael-suit fell through. Damn Vicky and Glenn both being blown up meant he had no duplicate to use, especially as he forgot to share the design with other skinsuit manufacturers (shut up, Glenn!). 

He’s certain there is very little of Michael’s awareness left after how much they’ve inflicted on him over the past few...well, it was only a handful of months but, thanks to Jeremy Bearimy, he’s endured a lifetimes worth of restraints, freezing, impalement, whipping, electrocuting, bad Adam Sandler movies, and soo much worse. There had been a time when he’d looked into those blue eyes and seen so much raw hatred. Now, whenever he took a glance at his wretch of a former employee, the light was flickering out, as if he’s conscious of nothing except the constant pain and loneliness. 

Just like the humans he adores so much that end up here, where they belong. Because they’re terrible and that’s all that needs to be known. He should have left well enough alone. 

At least now, finally, Shawn gets to have some entertainment.

“You’re right, Bad Janet. Set up a connection to the Tenth Circle, Sector B. I left one Bad Janet on duty there with Nicole who’s currently ‘taking care’ of Michael. And by that I mean making him very miserable.” Just in case the humans are too dumb to get the expression.

Bad Janet texts on her phone, popping another piece of gum.

“Tenth Circle...Sector B....Got it.” She raises her head, an oddly pleasant smile spreading across it, eyes suddenly bright and pleasant; “Thanks for that!”

“What-?”

The not-so-Bad Janet karate chops him in the side of the head and knocks him to the floor. He hears her make a shout, the theatre spinning around him, unable to find his feet quick enough before the humans get to their feet and surround him.

Shawn blinks, rapidly, as they proceed to take out some rope and tie his wrists and ankles together.

“What is the meaning of this?! GUARDS! DON’T JUST STAND THERE! GET THESE STINKING HUMANS OFF OF ME!” He rages, trying his best to break out of their puny hold but they’re, for some reason, freakishly strong.

The Bad Janet continues to smile at him.

“Oh they’re not your guards...and these aren’t the humans. You were being so smug that you didn’t see what’s right in front of you, did you?” She says.

Shawn frowns. What is she talking about?!

He glances up at Tahani leaning over his head, trying to spot the....Oh. Farts.

They’ve fooled him again. That’s no Bad Janet. And these humans have no auras. They don’t even smell! They’re the same as her. They’re...

“Meet my Janet Babies. I produced a bunch more to come with me. We just needed to know where Michael was really being kept and now we do. And I’ve forwarded that to our Team Two so, thanks!”

She gives Shawn a kick in the teeth before her group stand back at her command.

He spits, wriggling, bound and prone on the wooden floor.

The fake Jason stuffs a green stress ball into his mouth to gag him before all of them leave him there, muffled curses being hurled at them, before they lock the door and leave him in the empty theatre. He fucking hates Good Janets!

*

*

*

She likes to use the metal hooks to dig into his flesh and give them a tug, eager to get a reaction out of him despite his near frozen state. Every now and then she’ll manage to hit somewhere extra tender and a whimper will break out of his lips. 

She has a schoolgirl's giggle.

“This is like ice fishing. And you’re my big piece of frozen shrimp.” She teases him as they sit in the inside of a giant glacier. 

She doesn’t seem to be affected by the code, only wearing a pink slip dress. There’s not even any goosebumps on the arms of her suit.. 

The new one they’ve left with him is one he hasn’t seen before. She seems new to torture, possibly even new to the slim skinsuit she’s been given, still fascinated by the way her own fingers move. The way she caresses his face and sticks her tongue out makes him suspect she’s some kind of giant leech monster. The kind they used to let suck humans brains out with straws. Or cut their skulls open and lick them out like a kid with a bowl of cake mix.

Definitely not a fire squid, whatever she was.

“I bet Shawn’s almost finished making your buddies feel at home here. If you’re really good to me, Mikey...I might ask him to bring you their heads as a treat.” Nicole, as she said was her name, informs him.

He’s beyond attempting to beg for them to be left alone anymore. He’s beyond expecting any sort of mercy.

Everything he had tried for so long....everything he had hoped to avoid.

All of his efforts for the past few years were for nothing.

I’m sorry, I’m so sorry... He thinks as more tiny crystallised tears sting from the corners of his eyes.

A loud bang outside makes him start.

Nicole turns to the Bad Janet at the door; “What was that? Go check on it, will you!” she orders like a spoiled brat to her butler.

The Bad Janet rolls her eyes, flipping the bird and then doing as she’s told.

Nicole turns back to kneel in front of Michael.

He tries to escape into his hallucinations but she wants his focus on her. Her hand grips his cheek and squeezes tight.

“I dunno what you did to get the Boss to hate you so much, I don’t really give a toss about current affairs...But m’just glad I get this as my first job! Punishing a dirty traitor...” She runs the tip of an ice pick up his face, towards his nostril; “...And all the other dirty things I hear about you...My mate Kath said you had the hots for one of them humans...You creeps should keep that fetish on the internet where it belongs! Look where it’s got you now...”

She takes a small hammer out from her pocket and puts it to the bottom of the ice pick, shoving it up Michael’s nose.

“I wish you had a brain in there so this could get the same effect it does with those creatures...But the simulation is good enough.”

He wishes he could laugh through the binding in his lips. He wishes that her wish could come true. Give him a lobotomy? Take away his memories of constant failure? Make him oblivious to how he’d loved for nothing and lost everything? She would be doing him the greatest favour.

As it is, he’ll just sit there and take the pain of a nail through his fake skull. He’ll let her have her fix until she gets her reprieve and he’s left alone to his own personal inner torment. His guilt. His regrets.

Just let go, Michael. Just...forget.

Nicole leans in close, ready to fiercely tap; “Hold still. This will only hurt a-.”

She doesn’t get a chance to finish her taunting before her skin suit explodes, sending a wave of pink goo across Michael’s face. 

He blinks. Something happened.

The ice pick and the hammer clatter to the floor.

Wha...

Eleanor Shellstrop stands at the door, clutching a Bad Janet marble in one hand, pointing Janet’s demon exploder in the other. 

[the-dc-killjoy]

4x10 - Life Turned Her That Way

I’m probably not gonna make this an official thing that I do every week, but this episode came for my head, and I need to talk about it!

Obviously, spoilers for the most recent episode and earlier seasons of Wynonna Earp. I went full character/episode meta- this is long.

After the silly, not-very-plot heavy vibes of the last few episodes, I knew that the writers would have to ramp it up especially considering that we only have two more episodes until the end, but this was a lot. 

Starting off on a lighter note: Cleo!

She is delightful, and when (if, that terrifying, factual voice in my head says) we get a fifth season, I want to see her as the sexy, slighty evil anti-hero we deserve! Glad she’s back, red’s still her colour, my soul belongs to Savannah Basely.

Martina was spectacular. I’m gonna sing her praises no matter what she does. It comes with the territory of watching her sing the national anthem at Leaf’s games since I was a kid, but we can just ignore my bias for now. 

Rachel is the classic moody teen, but this episode really showed that she was just a kid. She spent a long time in situations where her life was constantly at risk and people were dying, and Rachel wanted to prove that she was just as tough as the adults. In some ways, she is. Rachel is quick on her feet and marches unflinchingly into challenges, and she remains composed when the people she cares about are in danger. Being surrounded by death and pain (even though she’s far too used to that condition) still rattled her, though. She is far too adult for her age, but she still isn’t the lone warrior that she wants to be seen as. 

-

The intro/intervention felt a little hamfisted and didn’t really fit with the tone of the show, but it was necessary and they couldn’t keep sweeping Wynonna’s alcoholism under the rug. I just felt like it was an excuse to get Peacemaker out of her hands for the episode. Maybe it’s because the last few episodes were really goofy that a serious plot felt like a massive tonal change. On a rewatch, I appreciate the scene a whole lot more. Wynonna, Whisky-soaked and Reckless, Earp has had a drink in her hand since episode one, and it was almost always played for laughs. She had fun, but it never seemed to affect her seriously (until it did). After her kidnapping/Jack, she got so drunk that she attacked some random dude thinking he was a demon and got kicked out of Shorty’s. That bar has had weird/slighty illegal/very illegal shit happen in there and no one bats an eye. But, she came into work the next morning sober and snapped out of her week long funk. Her trauma-fueled alcohol binges were always fundamentally different from her usual behavior and resulted in paranoia and (more than typical) recklessness.

Now, however, she’s been spiraling since Holt’s shooting, and it’s only gotten worse. Wynonna wakes up, drunkely hunts demons in the forest, gets even more drunk, and passes out just to repeat that cycle for days on end. It makes sense that the people who care about her are worried, and the intervention set up the it’s time to deal with serious shit plot that permeated the episode. Waverly’s mean drunk comment really cut Wynonna to her core. Yes, she’s spiralling and needs help, but to be compared to a man who caused so much pain was harsh. If they had a few hours to cool off, maybe there would have been a productive conversaion, but nooo, demons and creepy fog cant take one day off. 

-

I’ve always felt slightly off about the Angel!Waverly plotline. It just felt a little lackluster. Yay the nicest person in town is a literal angel. no one could have possibly seen this coming! The season 3 wardrobe department had her in that fluffy white coat for the entire year. Waverly was looking hella angelic long before the big reaveal.

The anxiety that she felt about possibly being half-Revenant was so important to her development in season 2, and played into the much older, much deeper anxieties she has about being unwanted or unloved. It felt a little awkward (to me) that they skirted over all of that and just went: she’s perfect because her genes are perfect!

Jolene (the episode not the character) was so powerful because it tore her down. That episode showed Waverly when she felt the worst about herself and it was heartbreaking. She saved herself from Jolene mentally. Demons threating to kill characters is just a day to day thing. Really hammering into her insecurities to the point of suicidal ideation- that was a whole different ballpark. Waverly talking herself away from the metaphorical ledge and saying that she does have people who love her and people who will fight for her (compounded by Dom’s phenomenal acting); it was one of the best scenes I’ve ever watched in pretty much anything really.

Having Jolene (talking about the character now) come back, and really sink into Waverly in a way that paralleled the original episode, in dialogue and in aesthetic, seemed a bit like a copy at first. I thought that the writers were trying to call back to the season 3 episode really obviously, but I couldn’t figure out how they were going to subvert it. It’s not like they could write the same exact scenario, twice?

Boy, they didn’t fail me! This show has gore (I know this feels like tangent, but trust me!). It has a lot of gore, but that’s fine. There is not a body part nor animal that hasn’t been chopped off, torn out, or put in a blender. We signed up for the gratuitious violence. The Waverly and Jolene fight/dark angel conversion and the aftermath was something different. This was pain. It wasn’t violence just for the sake of it. It was just watching a character that’s wormed her way into our hearts in pain, and it fucked me up. I can’t watch that again! The dynamic that Dom and Zoie bring to these characters is magnetic and horrifying and a complete masterpiece!

-

Waverly’s far from the only supernatural being on the show, but now she’s the most important. Dolls, Doc, Rosita, Casey, and even Kate were demons that Wynonna cared about (or was vaguely friendly to), but they didn’t hold the power that Fallen Angel!Waverly does. Wynonna has made it incredibly clear that Waverly is her person, the one person that she’d damn the whole world to save, and now Waverly’s potentially the threat to the world. Wynonna had to kill one sister in the season 1 finale, and that nearly broke her. What happens now, all these years later, when she’s a lot more trigger happy but the person on the other end of the barrel matters to her more than anything in the world? Emily tweeted that the next episode was gonna hit even harder, and I’m still so perplexed that this shitshow/masterpiece is ending.

Side notes:

R.I.P Casey. You were the best stoner demon buddy.

Mercedes Gardner has been through too much shit to die at the hands of random BBD agent #4. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Is Billy perma-dead now? There was a thing in the promo with Rachel and the Clanton stone. Is she gonna try to re-resurect him?

Poor Doc, Jeremy, and Nicole. Hopefully they’re a bit less sidelined next week. Although, as I type that I realize that being sidelined means that they’re safe, and more screentime means more risk...

[loverdrew]

Promise, You Won’t Fall In Love With Me

He never knew love. He never understood relationships. He never imagined his life after high school or outside of his fame. She was the opposite. She deeply loved her family, she had ambition, intelligence and drive. They were the complete opposite, but together, they wouldn’t know what to do without each other.

Inspired by the movie A Walk To Remember.

Senior year. The year all the students turn 18, throw the wildest parties, the lifelong dreams of getting acceptance letters from their dream college. However, the Ethan Dolan didn’t have to worry about that one bit. He already had a future. He would continue making video comedy content online for his millions of girl fans that adored his soft eyes and bright smile. After this year he would move to California to pursue even bigger dreams, leaving his heart in New Jersey. 

The hallways and outside the school yard filled with laughter, hugs, girls wearing close to nothing, and the guys drooling over them. Ethan walked in holding his football, jersey on full display, taking in the last first day of any schooling he’d ever get. 

“My boys!” One of his friends, Jason, exclaimed. He hugged both Grayson and Ethan and put both arms around them walking into school. “This going to be the best year yet?”

“Oh you know it! The parties, the easy classes, the girls!” Grayson rubbed his hands together and laughed.

Ethan’s laughed along with his friends walking into the building, when the most unexpected girl caught his eye at her locker. It was Y/N. He had known her since kindergarten, she always wore the same type of outfit: a pastel skirt to her knees and a blouse with the same beige knitted sweater. Her hair always out of her face either in a ponytail or behind her ears, and she wore a brown shoulder bag to carry her books. They never particularly talked or even hung out together, but he somehow knew everything superficial about her. She never paid him any attention, except in class when he tried to be disruptive on purpose. He weirdly wished she would pay attention then. But he’s hooked up with prettier girls than her, so she wasn’t one to be upset over, right?

“Ethan Dolan, to the principals office. Ethan Grant Dolan, please come to the principals office.” They all heard, even Y/N. Their eyes met for a split second, before she closed her locker and headed to home period. 

“Damn dude, trouble on the first day?” Jason joked.

“Shut up man. You know I’m the model student.” He smirked, shaking hands with his friends before headed to the office, which happened to be right across from Y/N’s home period, not like he noticed. He swiftly walked into the office and sat in the chair in front of principle Henderson, who closed the door with a stern look on his face.

“Ethan, what did I tell you about getting into trouble again.” He crossed his arms.

“Principle Henderson, I don’t know what you mean but I have been an angel since last semester, haven’t I?” He flashed that boyish smile of his that got him out of every situation, just not this one. 

The principle proceeds to pull out 5 beer bottles and 2 bitter nubs of used joints. Ethan stiffened, his mouth running dry.

“I have no idea what those are.” He said quietly.

“Cut the act Dolan. Along with drinking and smoking on school property, you’re on the verge of not graduating. You have a combined GPA of 2.3. You need at least a 2.9 to graduate. Now I could expel you and kick you off the football team now...” Ethan begins to worry sit up straight, trying not to believe this could be true. “But I won’t.” Ethan looked up at him with a big sigh, eyes falling shut.

“Thank you, thank you so much Mr.Henderson I promise I’ll be even better-”

“You didn’t let me finish. Instead of doing all that, you’re going to be doing something for me. You will get a tutor which I will assign to you, and you’ll be spending time after school participating in our schools fall play.”

“Oh cmon Mr. Henderson you can’t be serious. I can’t act, at all.”

“You acted like you didn’t know where that bottle came from. And now you’ll act as the prince in our schools production of Beauty and the Beast.” Ethan struggled with the principles decisions, but if he didn’t do it he would’ve been destroyed having to give up his friends and football. 

“When do rehearsals start.” He said plainly.

______

At lunch, instead of being in the lunchroom with his group of friends laughing and being dorks together, he was stuck in the library for the next 45 minutes, waiting for whoever his new tutor is. He tapped his pencil impatiently. All he had to do was pass English and Government/Economics with at least a 75% and he’d be golden, but even he didn’t know how he could manage that. He looked around, and heard the library door open in front of him, revealing the golden eyed girl walking in with such ease. Her eyes found his and slightly pulled at her bag strings nervously. He sighed in disbelief, of course the girl with straight A’s, captain of the science club and the church singer was his tutor. 

“Hi Ethan. I’m Y/N, your tutor for this semester.” She said in a soft voice just above a whisper. “Today we’re just going over basics explained in the syllabus but it won’t take long, maybe 25 minutes so you’ll be able to run off with your friends.” She took a seat in front of him, opening up the Government textbook and her notebook with the classes syllabus laid out.

“I don’t need you to do me any favors okay, I just need to pass. I would think you’d want me here considering Ms. I’m-so-holy doesn’t have many friends.” He spat at her. Partially because he felt embarrassed, partially because he didn’t want to give her any impression that he in any way cared about her. It didn’t even phase her, being that her whole life was filled with constant ridicule and bullying. She stayed calm amidst his venomous words.

“The teachers are my friends, my church choir are my friends, my father is my friend. Please don’t pretend like you know me, Ethan. You haven’t even spoken to me ever.”

“But I’ve been going to school with you and living in the same neighborhood as you since we were 5. Your father is a prodigious doctor that always goes to church to watch you sing. You’ve lived in the same white house with the pink flowers surrounding the white painted porch. You always wear pastel colors because you like to be girly but don’t want attention. You started putting your hand back in middle school because it always got in your face when you were studying. I know you Y/N. Don’t act like you don’t know me either.”

“I know you Ethan. Which means I know you’re capable of doing greater things than being the stereotypical jock. You’re successful and talented and smart, learn to use it. Now let’s get started.” She said without even looking at him, and staring daggers into her book. 

_____

After school, Ethan trudged his way to the schools theatre, where everyone would be meeting up for the parts and the production of the play. No surprise that Y/N was there, script in hand near the piano, while someone playing ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and she hummed along. The stage lights somehow made her skin shine brighter, and her hair glisten. He scoffed, and sat in the 3rd row, seeing all of the theatre nerds gather with smiling faces ready to start production.

“Alright everyone settle down. We are going to cast roles right now so listen up!” Ms. Davida clapped her hands and stood in front of the stage. 

“For the role of Lumiere and Cogsworth, Louis and Jeremy! Mrs. Potts goes to Claira, Gaston goes to Derrick, Belle goes to of course, Y/N, and The Beast is played by the newest member to theatre Mr. Ethan Dolan.” Ethan knew he would get the lead, but Y/N did not. Her eyes spread wide, whites fully visible as her grip on her script tightened just slightly, the realization that she’d have to play his princess. She could barely handle his demeanor during tutoring, but in something that she loves to do she would only hope he wouldn’t ruin it for her. 

“Opening night is in exactly 3 months just before Christmas break, so that means you’ll all need to work hard and together to make this production amazing but I believe in you all. So let’s get right to it! Ethan, Y/N on the stage please we will be starting with the scene when Belle and the Beast argue, right after he saves her from the wolves. Feel the anger, feel the frustration.” She had that typical musical theatre teacher ‘passion voice’, really trying to emphasize the feelings within the scene. Ethan couldn’t take her seriously, laughing as he jumped onto stage and grabbing ahold of a script. 

“Y/N, you start and pretend that you’re cleaning up his wound.”

Y/N slightly rolled her eyes and put her hand out signaling Ethan to give her his arm. He sighed and slammed his arm into her palm, she then yanked it closer to her not caring if it hurt him, and pretended with her other hand to be patting it.

“If you’d hold still it wouldn’t hurt it as much!” She yelled her first line. Ethan could tell some of that frustration was real. So he decided to do the same.

“Well if you wouldn’t have run away, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“If you wouldn’t have frightened me I wouldn’t have run away!”

“Well you shouldn’t have been in the West Wing!”

“Well you should learn to control your temper.” She said plainly, as if it was an actual piece of advice.

“Now hold still. This might sting a little.” In the script it says for Ethan to wince in pain, so he did, just not well at all. It was forced, and painfully bad to watch his face squint uncomfortably. Y/N sighed, turning to the teacher.

“Ms. Davida he needs to take this seriously, some of us really want this play to go well.”

“I don’t even want to be here, I was forced to join the play, I could’ve gone my entire life without acting in a play.”

“Then leave.” She stepped forward in his face, quickly walking away towards backstage to get some air. He made her so angry. His cocky attitude, his rude tone of voice, the way he could get under her skin over and over again yet she still wanted to see good in him because she truly believed he had some left. Ethan looked off with a surprised face to see all the cast looking at him, and the principle standing at the edge of the theatre, arms crossed. He got nervous, making his way backstage to catch Y/N drinking some water.

“Y/N, hey Y/N, please listen to me.” He grabbed her hand but she angrily pulled it back.

“What.”

“Help me okay. I’m sorry, I really need to do great in this play or else I get expelled. I’m sorry for being so mean and always in your face. I just-this is all new to me.”

“Being nice to someone trying to genuinely help you is ‘new to you’?” she used air quotes, rolling her eyes taking another sip of water. 

“No, trying new things. Trying to be good. I’ve always acted tough on purpose because I thought that’s how it should be. People give you more respect.”

“Your act only works on an audience.” Y/N saw through it since first day of kindergarten when he stole her crayons and snored next to her ear during nap time to annoy her. But she paid no mind, there were more important things to worry about than a little boy. 

“Ethan, if you promise me you try, like really try, in all aspects, I won’t be opposed to helping you.” She said calmly, with her normal soft voice.

“I won’t say I’ll be perfect, but I’ll do the best I can.”

“That’s all I ask.” She started walking back onto the stage where they were already rehearsing another scene, but she quickly turned back around to say one last minor detail.

“Oh yea and Ethan, one more thing. You have to promise not to fall in love with me.” 

A chuckle came from his mouth as he looked her up and down. 

“Without a doubt, that is a promise I can keep.”

[daisiesforlacey]

clouds - chapter 4 : altostratus

Pair : Julie x Alive!Luke

Summary : After her mother’s death, Julie Molina moved away from Hollywood, across the country, to Ithaca, New York. She’s left behind her two loves in life: her best friend, Luke, and her music. There, she finds new friends and enemies, new experiences and joys, she might even find herself. Every night, Luke calls Julie to talk about the clouds. But what if Luke is hiding something?

Word Court : 4,148

Warnings : N/A (Unless you see any, if so please notify me!)

Notes : This is really just fluff!! I love Alex and Willie, absolute babies. Please please leave feedback, I love knowing my writing is appreciated!!

Masterlist

Taglist

---

Julie didn’t hate English. In fact, it was quite the opposite. She was good with words, they came naturally to her. She seemed to think in sentences, which made writing essays one of the easiest things for her to do in school. Her favorite thing to do was to write songs, and they seemed to be everywhere, in every part of literature: poems were songs without a backing track, metaphors described heartbreak and being alive and feeling free just the way lyrics do, sentences were structured with a sort of reading rhythm, a pulse. She really did enjoy English. 

It was just sometimes, English could be a bore. 

Her teacher was going on and on about the importance of how authors write their stories or tales, and yeah, Julie could get behind that. But right now, as she drew shapes with her eraser on her desk, the monologue was putting her to sleep.

She pushed her loose curls back from where they were casting a curtain over her eyes and looked across the classroom until her mind wandered far enough away to where she couldn’t hear the teacher.

Last night, Luke had seemed weird. Weirder than normal. She wasn’t used to having to pry information out of the boy, he was usually an open book. Her brow furrowed; he had seemed so reluctant to tell her about Reggie and Alex, people she had already met last year. 

And why hadn’t he told her about his family? Emily and Mitch had treated her like their own daughter, always inviting her to stay for dinner and to ‘stop by whenever, you’re no burden,’ and they treated Luke like he had hung the moon. The last thing she had heard about them was a few months ago, when Luke had ranted about how they just didn’t understand them sometimes, but Julie had figured that that was pretty normal. She pursed her lips and thought maybe it had just slipped his mind; she didn’t tell him too much about Carlos’ ghost hunting, or her father’s new photography excursions. 

But she couldn’t help but worry. She and Luke were thick as thieves, they would talk for hours, although that had been cut short as of late, about everything. What if he was hiding something big from her? What had happened to one of his parents? Julie would totally understand his aversion of the topic. 

But what if he and his friends were in trouble? What if they had gotten arrested? What if he was locked away in some juvenile institute where he only had one call a day, and he had used that to call her? What if he had tripped, or fell off of a ladder, or got hit by a car, or done something so completely Luke that he had landed himself in the ICU?

Oh god, what if he was doing drugs! Julie didn’t know if she could handle it if Luke had gone off the deep end. 

“Partners?”

Julie stopped her doodling to look up to her left at the blond. She smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, of course.”

Nick was in two of her classes, music and English, and so far, had proved to be nothing like his girlfriend. He was sweet and smart and all around helpful; he had been her tour guide on the first day of school. She just didn’t understand how someone as nice as him, could end up with such a foil of himself as Carrie. See, she did pay attention. 

“I’m not going to lie, I completely zoned out. What are we doing?” She looked down to see that she had an assignment on her desk.

Nick laughed as he explained the assignment to her, having to do with last night's reading. As they completed it, they chatted.

“Your guitar solo yesterday was pretty killer,” Julie winced, she was yet again picking up more traits of Luke’s, “Did you write that yourself?,”

“Thanks! Yep, I tried to make it Brian May-esque with a hint of Jeremy Spencer. I don’t know if that had translated, though.”

To be honest, Julie didn’t know either. She knew some names here and there, she certainly knew Brian May, but this was more Luke’s territory. And even if she did, she wasn’t exactly paying close attention to it. So she played it safe.

“I think you definitely achieved the vibe you wanted.” Julie scribbled down an answer. She knew he wouldn’t bring up her lack of a performance.

Nick hummed, changing the subject, “You go to the park a lot.” Her eyebrows shot up as his eyes widened. “Oh, um, not to be creepy or anying. Although that really did sound creepy, it’s not like I watch you or where you go. I barely notice you! I mean, no, not like that, well I mean I do notice you, we have classes together. We’re talking, we work on projects, but I guess you know that.” He hadn’t looked up from his paper, if anything, his shoulder seemed to shrink in on themselves. 

“What I meant to say is that I have workouts out there sometimes, and you always seem to be there.” He ran a hand over his face before shooting her a lopsided grin. 

Julie huffed, “Yeah I like to look at the sky a lot. Or sometimes I just go there to clear my head.” She sent a sideways glance his way, she had never heard him rant like that, “Are you okay?”

“For sure. Me? Tip-top shape.” He nodded before flicking his hair back. 

While she didn’t particularly like small talk, yet she somehow felt obligated to continue, “How’s practice been going?”

Nick launched into a full fledged word dump of phrases she didn’t know the meanings of, and didn’t want to interrupt to ask. He became enthusiastically animated, forgetting his work and talking with his hands, seeming to bounce out of the seat. His face shone like the sun in the dreary classroom as he went on to talk about strategies and game plays and how they would win this year's championship if only so and so would tighten up here. She didn’t comprehend half of what he was saying, but she couldn’t help but listen. 

She wondered if that’s what she looked like talking about music.

---

Julie sat down at the piano bench with a sigh. Mrs. Harrison, thankfully, had let her redo her piano piece today, which would hopefully save her spot in the music program. Her class stared at her with disinterest, she knew that they didn’t expect anything, but she was ready to prove them wrong. She had copied down Luke’s song onto sheet music and had set it on the piano, then looked to Flynn. She shot her an ear splitting grin and a rigid thumbs up.

Julie could do this.

She played the opening chords of the song, hearing a few gasps from her classmates. Julie moved her hands up, then down, down, down, then back up. The chord progression was nothing revolutionary, but for her, it was everything. This was Luke’s song. She could see Nick smiling from the corner of her eye. 

“‘Sometimes I think, I’m falling down. I wanna cry, I’m calling out, for one more try to come alive.’” Her voice was strong, and had yet to fail her. Julie had worked on the song before the school day with Flynn’s support. She could feel a smile carving onto her face.

“‘And when I feel lost and alone, I know that I can make it home. Fight through the dark and find the spark.” She could feel pure joy fill her soul, “‘Life is a risk, but I will take it, close my eyes and jump. Together, I think that we can make it. C’mon let’s run!’”

Julie threw her head back, “‘And rise, through the night, you and I, we will fight to shine together, bright forever. And rise, through the night, you and I, we will fight to shine together, bright forever.” These were Luke’s lyrics, about the two of them, about their friendship. She could almost hear him singing along with her. 

Julie could hear Carrie whisper to Nick, “Is this really happening?”

Nick nodded, not taking his eyes off of Julie, “Just go with it.”

“‘In times that I doubted myself, I felt like I needed somе help, stuck in my head with nothing left. I feel somеthing around me now, so unclear, lifting me out. I found the ground I'm marching on!’” Julie nodded her head along with her fingers running across the keys. Luke had been there for her through all of this; her mother’s death, her moving away, her finding new friends. This was their song. 

As she finished playing, she didn’t register what was happening. She stood up and Flynn raced to tackle her in a hug. Her class clapped politely, but she could hear Nick over them all. Maybe she shouldn’t have played such a song like that in front of all of her classmates, but she couldn’t take it back now. Anyway, it seemed like she had done a pretty good job.

Mrs. Harrison set a hand on her shoulder, “That was wonderful! I’m so glad that you have decided to share that with us, what a song!” She spoke in a quieter tone only for Julie to hear, “I’ll email your father later.”

At lunch, Flynn showed her the video that she had taken. It was grainy and a backpack was covering half of the screen, but you could hear her voice ring out. She had Flynn send it to her, to which she then texted it to Luke.

“That was Luke’s song?” Flynn screeched. “All about you two; your friendship, you supporting each other? Where can I order friends like that, because it’s not on Amazon!”

Julie blushed, “Luke and I used to write songs all of the time. And, hey! I’m your supporting friend! You didn’t even have to order me, I was delivered from L.A just for you.”

“True, true. You also have unparalleled math skills.”

“Try telling that to Pythagoras.” 

Julie almost choked on her chicken nuggets as Nick walked over to their table, having to go out of his way to get to their part of the cafeteria. Carrie and the rest of her friends had yet to show up, and Nick had already set his lunch box at his own table. He slid into the seat across from Flynn and Julie. 

“That was amazing! Your performance in music class! If you have a talent like that, why haven’t you used it beforehand!” He unknowingly echoed Luke’s words.

Julie tried to act casual and shrugged stiffly, “I don’t know. It just hasn’t been the right time.” That wasn’t completely a lie. 

“You have to perform at the dance! Literally, you belong on stage. That was pure magic.” Nick’s eyes were wide in disbelief and he had a stunned smile on his face.

Julie froze, “Oh, I don’t know, that was only in front of the other kids in music class-”

“That’s perfect!” Flynn cut Julie off, “You have to!”

Julie gave Flynn the most withering glare she could muster, “I don’t think I’ll be able to come up with a whole set in two weeks. Although, thanks for thinking so. Anyway, they probably already have a band booked and everything.”

Nick shook his head, “Nope, they were just going to get the computer teacher to jerry rig a playlist, or at least that’s what I overheard. And Dirty Candi will also be performing, so I’m sure Carrie wouldn’t mind sharing the stage for a song or two.”

Julie and Flynn shared a glance. There was no way that Carrie would do such a thing. 

But Julie nodded, knowing that she definitely wouldn’t play at the dance, “I’ll think about it.”

---

Alex had had a pretty rough day so far. He had woken up late for school, smashing his hand on his alarm in frustration. The sky was way too light for him to have not slept in. When he saw the time, he quickly moved to put on clothes, hopping into his shorts as he ran to his bathroom to brush his teeth. His hair was a wreck, his eyes were bloodshot, and he had dried drool on his cheek, but before he could fix anything, he heard Reggie’s blaring car horn and a muffled shout.

“Alex! Your friends are here!” His mother yelled from the kitchen. 

He grabbed his jean jacket and an apple from the kitchen, before kissing his mom on the cheek and dashing out the door. He got into the passenger's seat of the blue Honda Civic, taking a bite.

“Wow, you look absolutely terrible.” Reggie said with a low whistle.

Luke punched his shoulder from the back seat, but then ruefully nodded. “You’re not exactly prime Alex right now.”

He glared at the two of them, grumbling around his apple.

Reggie raised an eyebrow, not taking his eyes off of the road because he was a safe driver, thank you very much. “What was that?”

“I said, at least my bad days look better than you guys’ good days.”

Luke let out a hearty laugh, “Sure, like you didn’t just find out how to dress yourself.” Alex had had a… difficult time figuring out what his personal style was. As they moved out of middle school and into high school, everyone seemed to find their signature thing except for him: Luke barely knew what sleeves were, and Reggie wouldn’t be caught dead out of his leather jacket-flannel combo. Alex had tried a few different things but nothing seemed to feel like him. After a few years, he decidedly settled on a few signature items; a pale pink hoodie, a denim jacket, and his fanny pack, which carried around his EpiPen and inhaler along with a few first aid supplies. He quickly found out that Luke’s sudden growth spurt over the summer before junior year came with it’s fair share of clumsiness. 

Alex went to reach for his fanny pack before realizing that he forgot it at his house. “We have to turn around. I left my fanny pack at home.”

Reggie tapped his finger on the steering wheel, “If we do we’ll be late. Again.” He shot a look through his mirror at Luke who gave a timid smile. 

“Please,” Alex whined, drawing out the ‘e,’ “I’ll go pick up a pizza for practice if we do! I promise.”

Reggie mulled it over in his head before swinging a uey, “Fine. But you better not get pineapple on it. That shit’s nasty.”

“It is not!” Luke placed a hand over his heart as if he was Caesar on the Ides of March. “Pineapple on pizza is a gift!”

“No! What’s a gift is my country songs, especially Home is Where My Horse Is. Pineapple is unnecessary and an unholy offense.”

“Puh-leeze, your country songs are the unholy offenses! Don’t even try it!”

Alex just rolled his eyes at them.

Now, Alex was walking downtown to pick up said pizza; half ham and pineapple, half pepperoni. The pizza shop was only a few minutes from his house, and yeah, he could’ve borrowed Reggie’s car, but he needed to clear his head. Twilight was setting in like a blanket over the world. Or at least, his part of the world. There was a slight chill in the air as he gripped his fanny pack slung across his chest with two hands.

The day just kept getting worse. He had failed a Physics test, even after Reggie had helped him study. He spilt chili from his hot dog on his hoodie, leading him to steal one of Luke’s extra shirts he kept in the car, surprisingly one with sleeves. He then proceeded to choke on that same hotdog in front of the whole cafeteria, forcing Luke to perform the Heimlich. And after all of that, his hair still wasn’t even remotely tamed, sticking up in every direction. 

His terrible day wasn’t helped by being crashed into. 

He fell to the ground with a yelp, and so did the skateboarder. The wind was knocked out of him as he tumbled and coughed, before standing up.

“Aw man, you dinged my board.” The other boy said, inspecting his skateboard. 

Alex couldn’t believe him and scoffed. The nerve on some people. “I dinged your board? Dude, you ran me over! You’re lucky I didn’t-”

The skateboarder took off his helmet to reveal locks of soft looking brown hair. Time seemed to slow down, or maybe stop, Alex couldn’t be sure. What he was sure about was that he was one of the most handsome people he had ever seen. He had high cheekbones and warm looking brown eyes and the softest looking lips. Alex was going to hyperventilate if he would ever remember to breathe. 

He swallowed as the boy's eyes softened, “Hey, sorry I ran into you. I thought you could hear me coming.”

Alex let out a nervous laugh, “Yeah, sometimes I just get wrapped up in my head.”

They stared at each other, and he was sure that the skater’s eyes traced him up and down as he stuck his hand out, “I’m, uh, I’m Willie.”

Alex grabbed his hand to shake. Could a handshake really be that attractive? “Oh, uh, Alex.”

“So, um, what brings you to downtown, man? You sightseeing?” Willie gestured up to the brick buildings lining the street.

Alex nodded before letting out a humorless chuckle, “Yeah, actually I was having a minor crisis. I came to pick up a pizza for my friends, but my day has not been too great. I was just trying to clear my head before you tried to crack it open.” He wanted to facepalm, his attempt at small talk was abominable. And why the hell was he telling a complete stranger all of this information? For all he knew, Willie could be a secret spy looking to murder him in a back alley for some reason unbeknownst to him. 

Willie laughed, his eyes crinkling, “I did pancake you, huh?” Alex nodded at the ground, before he heard his laugh die. “Uh sorry, minor crisis?”

“I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, literally. And my day hasn’t gotten any better, it’s just been mishap after mishap. Shouldn’t we catch a break?”

Willie tilted his head, “Who’s we?”

“Oh, uh, me and my band mates. We all seem to have the worst luck in the world.” Alex shoved his hands in his pockets and chuckled. “Yeah, I almost died eating a hotdog.”

“Woah! No way! Weirdly,” Willie gave him a lopsided smile, “Mozart died eating a hotdog.”

Alex nodded, “Wow, that’s actually comforting. Thank you.” He smiled at Willie, “Hey do you mind if I ask you to tag along to come pick up this pizza? I mean, if you’re busy then obviously don’t, or like, if you have someplace to be. But I mean it’s almost dinner, and you can have some of it, I mean I didn’t pay for it, as long as you like ham and pineapple, because only one of my bandmates like it-”

“Yeah, totally. I don’t have anything on my schedule.” Willie smiled, and Alex knew then that his day had gotten exponentially better.

---

“I love my family, I really do, but I’m so glad that I can come over to your house.” Flynn had flopped on Julie's made up bed, scrolling on her phone, as Julie finished up her homework at her desk. “Like three screaming brothers? No thanks.”

Julie nodded as her phone dinged, “Well you’re always welcome here, you know Dad loves having someone to rant to about his photography.” She checked the message, it was from Luke.

Luke : You killed it! Stabbed-it-in-the-heart killed it! Knew you would :D

Julie rolled her eyes and shot him back a message.

Julie : Thanks for the song! I won’t be able to talk today, Flynn’s spending the night and I don’t want to be rude :(

The three little dots showed up, then disappeared. She frowned. It’s not like they haven’t missed a call before, so she sent him another text.

Julie : Maybe we could facetime and write some songs tomorrow???

When she didn’t get a response she set her phone down and finished the English assignment from earlier. When she finished, she pulled up their favorite show on her laptop, then joined Flynn on her bed. “I thought we could catch up, I missed Sunday’s episode.”

Flynn’s eyes bugged out of her head, as she whipped her neck so hard Julie thought she had gotten whiplash. “You missed it? Oh my god! You know I’m not one for spoilers, but shit went down. Like seriously. You’re going to blow a fuse. We are totally watching it.”

And they did. And Flynn was right. Shit did go down. And Julie totally blew a fuse. Turns out, her favorite ghost boy band characters had gotten themselves trapped in a deal with some other evil ghost: either they play at his club forever or they disappear from existence. It was a lot more emotional baggage than Flynn and Julie had signed up for when they first started watching, but now they were hooked.

“Oh my god, that was such a cliffhanger. How could they do that?” Julie wailed as she threaded her fingers through her hair. “They deserve so much better than this cruel world!”

Flynn nodded solemnly, “And we have to wait until Sunday to see what happens next. Life just isn’t fair.”

Julie hadn’t noticed Luke had texted her back until she got up to use the restroom.

Luke : Ok

Julie scoffed. The response was totally unlike Luke. No, it was totally like Luke when he was in a bad mood that he knew, deep down, was just him being overdramatic. She rolled her eyes and she knew she shouldn’t take it personally, but it still stung. They had told each other everything, even something as menial as a bad day. Whatever, his bad mood wasn’t going to stop her from having a fun night with her friends.

Her father called from downstairs for the two girls to come and eat dinner, and as she raced downstairs, she could smell the microwaved spaghetti. 

They made their way to the set dinner table, before they prayed and dug in.

“I think we’re being haunted.” Carlos started. 

Flynn rolled her eyes, “Nobody has died in this house or mine. It’s nothing like Kira and her Hologram Band.”

Carlos wagged his piece of garlic bread at her, “No, we’re definitely being haunted. By a ghost chef who never got to achieve his dream of making the best French Dip in the world. I have definitive proof.”

“Oh really? And where is this proof?”

“On my iPad.” Carlos made the move to get up from his seat.

“Mijo, eat your salad.” Ray said, then turned to the girl, “How was your day Flynn?”

“Pretty good, Mr.Molina. Julie performed that song that she was working on this morning, and let me tell you, it was amazing!” Flynn gushed.

“I saw the email. I’m glad that we don’t have to go through the options of choosing another elective for you. What were the options? Hospitality and Tourism and Marketing?”

“Yeah, nothing I am remotely interested in.” Julie picked the tomatoes out of her salad. “I think Mrs.Harrison and the class really liked the song, or at least my friends did.”

Flynn nodded, “Especially Nick.”:

Julie paled and fought the urge to elbow her friend. She looked down at her lap.

Carlos’ eyebrows shot up, “Lacrosse Nick?”

Flynn looked skeptical, “...Yes? How do you know about Lacrosse Nick? Floppy hair? Dating a demon?”

“Yeah, he’s an assistant coach for my baseball team. Something about community service and all of that. There’s another Nick on my team, but we call that one Lacrosse Nick. Because, well, that’s all that he talks about.” Carlos explained.

“Yes, it does make you wonder why he doesn’t coach a Lacrosse team, but nevertheless. Julie, how was your day?”

Julie looked up at her father, “About the same. I guess there's a dance in a couple weeks and I was wondering if I could go with Flynn.” She didn’t dare mention the part of her playing. She didn’t want her father as well and Flynn to egg her on. She wasn’t ready to go onstage, by herself, in front of the entire school.

“Of course, as long as it’s alright with her parents.” 

Flynn nodded, responding with a mouthful of spaghetti, making Ray cringe, “Yep, as long as I babysit the next day, they’re totally cool with it.” Flynn looked to Julie, but said nothing of playing the dance. 

--

Taglist: @siennanoelle01, @ scootermccall, @roses-and-ponds-and-bowties​