#we move in seven days so today i'm determined to start packing

[thatfriendlyanon]

living with a sibling in your 20s :)

[jgroffdaily]

In the late 1950s, a wave of handsome, heavily Brylcreemed white men named Bobby became teen idols: Bobby Denton, Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton. The most talented, by far, was Bobby Darin. Darin first burst onto the scene with “Splish Splash,” a teen-pop ode to bathtime, but soon, with his wryly smooth crooning style, he was rivaling Sinatra as the swingingest of swingin’ lovers. Later he reinvented himself as a folk singer, renaming himself Bob Darin in homage to Dylan.

It was a career marked by an overwhelming creative restlessness and success in diverse fields. He "could move with magical agility, he could do great impressions, he could rock, he was a swift and brilliant comedian, he could play seven instruments, he could write songs—167 of them," wrote biographer David Evanier. “He wanted to be a songwriter, actor, singer, and musician, and he became all of these.”

Tony winner Jonathan Groff first fell for Darin’s artistry while preparing to play him in the Lyrics & Lyricists series at the 92nd Street Y in 2018. “[Those performances were] so thrilling and so exciting,” he told Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek. An obsession was sparked. “I'm so grateful for YouTube. I started watching clips of him, and it's a hole I just keep going deeper and deeper into.”

Groff was speaking in a well-appointed ninth-floor room in the Brill Building—Darin’s former office—during a break from rehearsals for Just in Time, the Bobby Darin Broadway biomusical that evolved from the Lyrics & Lyricists show. From March 31 at the Circle in the Square Theatre, Groff will be channeling Darin in a show that’s part concert, part theater, setting out to capture Darin’s genre-spanning, shape-shifting brilliance

“I really connected with his ambition—pushing himself into different genres and styles, finding a connection to all of them musically,” Groff continued. “But most of all, I connect with his passion, his love for the audience, and his need to perform.”

Determined to push himself in his preparations for the role, Groff is taking drum and piano lessons and being put through his paces for what he says will be the most dance-heavy role of his career. All this less than a year after winning a Tony Award for his lead performance in Merrily We Roll Along: the very definition of not resting on laurels. "To feel those pathways in the brain grow and to feel that kind of expansion is so thrilling."

In fact, Groff will be in tech rehearsals for Just in Time during the week of his 40th birthday. “I'm such a specific person in that, if I could have anything for my 40th birthday, it would be teching a Broadway musical," he said. "I remember during Merrily, when we were doing the holiday Thanksgiving schedule—multiple shows, the whole schedule packed—I remember coming off stage, getting water from Hayley, who was dressing me, and saying, ‘I would so much rather be in the theater all day today than sitting on the couch.’ And she was like, ‘You're f**king crazy.’ But that's just who I am. I think I connect with Bobby Darin in that way. There’s a real, primal need to perform.”

Darin’s own momentum was fueled by a sense of urgency that likely stemmed from a weak heart, the result of a childhood illness. After a bout of rheumatic fever at eight, he overheard a doctor telling his mother he wouldn’t live past 16. “He was living on borrowed time,” Groff said. “And so he had this ambition to make it as fast as he possibly could and do as much as he possibly could before the clock ran out. It was constantly at the front of his brain.”

The show will cover the major beats of Darin’s life—his marriage to Sandra Dee, his relationship with Connie Francis, and a major family revelation (which won’t be spoiled here) that triggered a nervous breakdown and, later, what Groff calls a “truly spiritual awakening.”

That arc is reflected in the show’s musical journey—including Darin’s electrifying rendition of the Brecht-Weill classic “Mack the Knife”—all performed with a live band on stage. “It feels kind of like the Copacabana, but another essential purpose for having the band there is you feel the thrust of his life expressed through his musical journey. You really get the breadth of who he was as a person and an artist. Even just from listening to the music alone, that arc and that story are there.”

During the conversation, Groff also opened up about the late Gavin Creel, who passed away in 2024. “He changed my life,” said Groff. It was Creel, Groff shared, who inspired him to come out publicly. “We were dating, and he was so out. It was 2009. Coming out… it was sort of an unspoken or sometimes spoken thing that you were sacrificing something in your career if you did it. And I remember looking at him and thinking, I would rather feel this feeling than ever be on a TV show or in a movie. This is so much more meaningful to me. And so I owe him that.”

Ultimately, Groff said, there’s inspiration to be found in a life like Darin’s—or Creel’s—fully lived. “We're all here on borrowed time. This body is ours while we're here. And then it's not when we're gone. And so what I hope, and what I feel when I am inside of the material, is this deep, profound passion for life,” he said. “It makes me feel alive and makes me feel grateful to be alive.”

[rensoneshots]

the kill princess 1

One I Rayna or Ray for short am a pirate's daughter. We are known for theft and murder all across the grate Briton. My full name is Rayna Sia Sculler and my father, Sebastian Bulger Sculler; the worst of the worst, the one called 'the kill king'.

With many targets on him, we never stopped moving and I was trained to kill people from a young age. Though many people tried to get us the only person I knew who was killed by what we call the hunters was some crew members and my mother.

Soon after her death, the training started. Most days I spent getting beat up but after a while, the masters were getting their asses handed to them. By the time I was 11 I was begging my father to let me compete, but I was never allowed to. Now that I am older I have realized why he kept me on board at all times.

Today I am packing up a few things to go to a ship that will set out tomorrow and stay at sea for a year. The boat is going to have many noble girls my age. This sort of this is to keep them safe but seeing as I am In constant danger I will be boarding too.

Two

Today is the first day I have been on the boat. With me I brought some makeup to cover the mark on my shoulder, a few nice dresses, some sleep clothes, a knife to protect myself or just to have some fun, and my hat. Now because my hat is such a dead giveaway about who exactly I am I also have a bag that fits it perfectly.

A girl came up to me earlier and asked about my family, luckily it was time to eat so all of the girls went to the dining hall. Oh and the activities they have here are overwhelming. The first thing in the morning is breakfast and then there is a play, later we can do whatever we want. At noon is lunch and then swimming, plays, or crafts. After dinner, we are able to go to bed or play table games.

Three

It's been a couple of days now and one girl has died. She was the one I talked of in my last entire. Lists of the other girls are scared of who may be next but no investigation has been held.

Most of us were out on the deck when a girl came up to me "hi I'm Emerald or M" she said "Oh I'm Marry" I lied "Well marry you have something on your shoulder" Oh shit. The makeup must have rubbed off I thought "oh I should go to the restroom to check on that then I guess" I replied quickly rushing off to my room.

Emerald was a little odd. Like me, she wore a shorter dress than the others but unlike me, she had on no corset and no heels on her shoes. I had meant to ask about it but never got to before having to fix my shoulder.

Four

Last night M died. She was the only one who had seen my mark, and whether she knew what it was or not she was not going to be allowed to live.

As I stabbed her she told me "I thought I recognized the small piece of your mark that I saw. You must have killed the other girl too" "Yes in fact though they did not tell you, I carved her finger with the Sculler cross" "Rayna Sai Sculler, wow even saying your name gives me the chills. My father will never tell anyone but I killed someone once. I was a little girl and I was playing with my doll. I dropped it so I told the maid next to me to go get it, but when she said no I pushed her off the 5 story balcony. I never stopped to think, later that day it was determined that I was unable to feel empathy." She told me "Emerald is not your name much like how my name is not Marry, is it? No, you're the O'laze kid. I thought the shoes were odd but now I see why" was all I said before delivering the final blow.

She and I were not too different after all I was a sociopath too.

Five

Somehow and this time it was not me, three more people have died. The only way for me to be safe is to kill more people until one of us killers is dead.

Six

Seven

Eight

Eight people have been killed five of them were my victims, and for each one, I felt nothing. Honestly, it was quite easy to do and no investigations have happened. At this point, only five murders have been announced.

Nine

The other killer has killed again.

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

No one is safe! She is ruthless! I am hiding in my closet as Elizabeth is trying to find me. I thought she seemed nice but not long ago she picked the lock on my door. There was a knife in her hand.

This may be my last entire. She has just opened the closet and will find me behind the clothing soon.

My final wish is to...

AN: The end. I really hope you like this and tell me in the comments what you think Ray's final wish is. I know this was not long but I got inspired by a pirate thing we did at my summer camp today.

[artlessictoan]

Lovely work for Kiba/Chouji! I'm a chouji hoe so if you could do something were it's basically a ouran highschool host club cliche and everyone is trying to win his heart and the poor boy is oblivious to it all (take your pick of a few chars to add would love to see sasuke tho!)

okok I haven’t watched ouran in yonks so I don’t remembermuch about it, but I am all kinds of intocho being Everybody’s Not So Secret Crush

---

“Hey, Chouji!”

The call stopped him in his tracks, halfway through lockinghis front door. Hand still hanging in the air, he twisted round to see the ballof yellow and orange bounding towards him. “Hey Naruto,” he said with a smile,as he finished turning the key and stepped back to properly greet his friend,“you sound happy today.”

“Super happy! Sakura handed my ass to me in trainingyesterday, gave me a concussion and everything!”

He blinked, frowned and then blinked again. “And that’s… agood thing?”

The blond chuckled, awkwardly rubbing his neck. “Well notthe getting injured bit, that hurt,but after she healed me she got really panicky – even though I’m fine! – andforbade me from training and missions for at least three days, doctors’ ordersso Kakashi-sensei can’t complain.” Suddenly an arm was draped across hisshoulders, pulling him into Naruto’s side. “Sooo, I figured that since I’ve gotthe day off anyway I should spend it having some fun, so whaddya say, wannahang out? All day, just you and me?”

His warm, friendly grin was as inviting as always and helooked so genuinely excited at the prospect, even waggling his eyebrows at him,which made what Chouji had to say next all the more difficult.

“Sorry Naruto, I’ve got stuff to take care of today-” blueeyes started to look far too watery for his liking, so he rushed to comfort him“-but we should totally do something soon! Maybe get lunch tomorrow?”

The grin was instantly back on his face. “Really?”

Chouji smiled and clapped a hand on his shoulder as hedisentangled himself and started walking backwards down the street.“Definitely,” he called out as the distance between them grew wider, “we shouldinvite Ino and Shikamaru too! And your team, let’s get everyone together!”

Whatever Naruto’s reply was, it got lost to the breeze asChouji jogged into town to make up lost time. He was already looking forwardsto tomorrow, it was always nice to hang out with friends.

---

When he got there, the market crowds were at the perfectdensity; not so tightly packed that you couldn’t move without touching sevenother people, but not so empty as to feel vaguely creepy. He always lovedcoming here on days like these, just to take the time to casually browse thestores, maybe pick out things to tell his friends and family about the nexttime he saw them, but today he had a packed schedule, so he headed to the foodstalls with determined steps.

The shopkeeper called a greeting the second he steppedinside, as he always did for his regular customers, before ducking into thestore-room with the promise of returning with some produce he’d kept backespecially for him.

As he waited for the elderly man to return, Chouji glancedaround the shop, planning to pick up a few vegetables, when he noticed afamiliar head of dark hair.

“Hinata!” he said cheerfully, as he stepped up beside her,apparently catching her off guard with how high he jumped. “Sorry, didn’t meanto scare you, how are you doing?”

She quickly caught her breath, though it took her a fewmoments to stop staring at him with wide eyes. “O-oh, I’m fine, thank you,” shesaid, stumbling over her words until she dropped her head to focus on herfingers twisting along the handles of her shopping basket, “how are you?”

“I’m great thanks, you out doing a little shopping?” heasked, more to give her a gentle opening to a real conversation than out of anyactual doubt.

Her long, straight hair bobbed up and down with her slightnod, before she nervously glanced up at him from under her fringe. “A-a-a-” herlips pulled into a thin line at the word stubbornly sticking in her throat, buthe just smiled encouragingly and waited for her to collect herself; she hatedwhen people tried to guess what she wanted to say. “…You also?”

He grinned at her, turning to look through the displays,picking up onions and giving them a critical inspection “Yup, Ino and Shikamaruare coming over for dinner and I feel like making something I’ve never triedbefore, Karui sent me some Kumo recipes I’ve been itching to try out!”

She smiled softly at him, though didn’t make eye contact.“That sounds lovely.”

“If there’s any leftovers I’ll remember to bring you sometomorrow so you can try it out too,” he said, finally deciding which was themost delicious-looking vegetable. He handed it to his friend and took thesecond-best one for himself.

Neck snapping, she turned to him with wide eyes and wavinghands. “O-o-oh, n-no, that’s n-ot, n-n-n-”

“It’s no problem, I’m happy to share!” The creak of a dooropening drew his attention back to the grocer trundling back in with a cratepacked full of bright greens and reds and yellows, he gave the man a thumbs-upbefore turning back to Hinata, ready to quickly say their goodbyes when henoticed something off. Leaning down to get a better look at her face, hefrowned. “You’re looking a little red, are you feeling ok?”

“I-I-I-”

He pressed a hand to her burning forehead. “It’s pretty hottoday, maybe you should sit down for a while-”

“I will be fine thank you!” Having practically screamed inhis face, she stiffly turned around, flew to the checkout counter, dropped ahandful of coins and ran out of the store before Chouji could even think tostop her.

Walking over to the shopkeeper, he gave him a sheepish grin.“Sorry, I think the weather must be getting to her.”

The man shook his head, idly poking at the coins on thecounter. “Well, next time you see her tell her she’s got over five-hundred ryōin change waiting for her.”

---

Finished with the markets and all his shopping carefullypacked away in a sealing scroll, his next destination was the academy.

He’d only recently taken up teaching and he was still alittle overwhelmed by it at times, but he had to admit that he loved hisoccasional guest lessons, they were a good way to get in some practice dealingwith children before he got a genin team of his own one day; the most importantlesson he’d learned thus far being neverlet sticky-fingered kids chewing bubble gum play with his hair, no matter howbig and watery they could make their eyes go.

His head felt so naked with it cut short.

“Ah, Akimichi-sensei,” the receptionist said as he steppedthrough the academy doors, “your lesson starts in fifteen minutes, your TA isalready in classroom five-B waiting for you.”

He frowned, he was getting a teaching assistant? Since when?Walking the familiar halls, feet knowing the exact path to take even withouthis mind’s input. By the time he gingerly peaked through the door, he’d cookedup at least seven awful scenarios in his head, but they all flew out the windowonce he saw who it was in there.

“Neji?”

The other man started and turned to face him, giving one ofhis slight smiles when he saw him. “Hello Chouji, I was beginning to wonder ifyou were coming.”

“I try not to get here too early,” he said, walking fullyinto the room and marching over to the huge blackboard covering one wall, “lesstime to get anxious, y’know? What are you doing here anyway, when thereceptionist said there would be a TA, I kinda figured it would be someone toevaluate me or something…” He trailed off at a sudden horrible thought. “That’snot why you’re here, is it?”

Neji shook his head, observing closely as he started writingthe lesson-plan up on the board. “Nothing like that, it was just… suggested tome that I should take up teaching. To improve my people skills.”

He frowned, pausing his scribbling long enough to look overhis shoulder. “Suggested?”

“Tenten’s idea-” the man grimaced “-the busybody found outthat you were giving classes and thought it would be a good opportunity for me.”

Finishing off his sentence, Chouji nodded and grinned wideas he replied, “That’s awesome! It’s definitely a learning experience, but Ibet you’ll be great at it once you’ve spent some time with the kids, though I reallydon’t see how you’re bad at talking to people, you’re always so nice when wemeet up.”

“…I need to… find… someone, please excuse me.” Neji was outof the door before he’d even finished his sentence.

---

His class went well, even though his new assistant had spentmost of it standing in the furthest corner of the room staring at the walls.

Chouji never would’ve guessed the guy got stage-fright sobad.

The next port of call was the Hokage tower, where he wasexpected to assist with some new international treaties being worked out.Politics wasn’t exactly his area of expertise, but he’d made many friendsduring the war, from all over the five nations; at some point he’d become avaluable advisor to the Hokage, as he could offer insight into the way the commonfolk of other nations thought and how they might be affected by big policy changes.

He hadn’t been expecting to bump into the Kazekage and hissiblings on their way out.

Temari was the first to see him, waving and jogging over. “Heythere stranger, it’s been too long!” she said, grinning and giving him a tighthug.

“It has,” he agreed, returning the embrace before pullingback to smile at the two men wandering over, “what’re you guys doing here? Ihadn’t heard of any big diplomatic summits coming up.”

The younger brother nodded, giving him that same intensestare he always gave his closest friends – it was a little weird, but once he’dbeen assured that it was just him trying to be friendly in his own awkward wayhe’d found the attention mush easier to bear. “There aren’t, this is aninformal visit, to catch up with friends. Like you.”

He smiled, hiding a tiny blush beneath his hand. “Aww, that’snice of you to say, you must have a lot of people you want to see.”

Gaara’s stare didn’t waver in the slightest. “I suppose.”

A heavy hand clapped down onto his shoulder, Temari shookhim lightly. “Who’s got time for those other losers? You’re the best bit ofKonoha, everyone knows that!”

Several steps behind his siblings, Kankuro slapped a hand tohis face.

He laughed, nudging the tall blonde back. “You’re too kind.”

“No, she is correct, any time spent with you is a true pleasure,”Gaara said, face blank but voice earnest and as happy-sounding as he ever got.

Temari glared at him, her grip on Chouji’s shouldertightening slightly. “Yes, which is why I said it. First.”

In the background, Kankuro groaned.

The Kazekage sniffed, drawing himself up as high as he could– which wasn’t much, but he was trying his best. “Why don’t you go and trackdown Shikamaru, oneesan? I’m sure he’dlove to see you again.”

Nails were digging through his shirt. “Why don’t you go andfind Naruto, otouto?”

Kankuro had an expression of pure despair. “Guys, please,just stop.”

“Because Chouji is here now and I would like to spend timewith him.” Gaara’s glare was deadly enough to make him start to worry, just a little.

“And you think I don’t?”

“I swear to-”

“No,” the redhead said, cutting off his brother and steppingcloser to glare up at his big sister, “I think that you monopolise his timeevery time we come here, oneesan and would like the opportunity to spend timewith my friends too.”

He risked a nervous cough, but no one seemed to notice. Was shestarting to break skin with her tight grip?

Temari scoffed, finally retracting her arm to cross themover her chest, leaning down to stare her little brother dead in the eye. “Areyou gonna stop me?”

Chouji coughed again, holding up a hand and weakly saying, “Excuseme,” but it made little-to-no impact.

“If you two don’t stop I’m disowning the pair of you.”Kankuro’s input went unnoticed too.

“No, because I am a good brother, who wouldn’t jeopardise mysiblings’ relationships for personal gain.”

The cold fury in Temari’s grin sent a chill down his spine. “Youlittle-”

“Oookay!” Chouji shouted, quickly sidestepping the argumentand pointing intently at the tower. “I’ve got a meeting to get to, it was, uh… funseeing you guys again!”

Kankuro’s loud cackle followed him, ever after the doorsslammed shut behind him.

He snickered to himself as he rushed to the meeting he wasprobably now late for; weird as they were, he was fond of the three and their intense,but ultimately affectionate bickering. It must be nice to have siblings.

---

It had been a long day for Chouji and it would be longer stillby the time he’d gotten home and prepared dinner for his teammates.

He decided to take a detour through the nearby park anyway,he’d always liked seeing the flowers.

They looked especially beautiful the evening, turned shadesof gold and red under the setting sun, a lone bee still roaming even with nightrapidly falling. And it was pleasantly quiet, most people home with theirfamilies by now – he felt like he had the entire park to himself.

A sharp crack to his left caught his attention, he turnedcautiously, but wasn’t expecting an actual enemy attack, not in the middle ofthe village.

When he saw who it was lurking in the shadows, he completelyrelaxed and waved a greeting. “Sasuke, how are you?”

The man muttered something under his breath, but he didn’tlook distressed, so Chouji decided that he was probably fine. “You out for a walk to?” he asked, slowly restartinghis walk, as his friend matched his pace. “It’s a lovely evening for it.”

“Yeah.”

Ok then, Sasuke didn’t feel like talking today – not surprising,he rarely did – but that was fine with him, it was just as nice to have someoneto quietly wander through the park with sometimes.

They walked together slowly, Chouji humming a song that hadbeen stuck in his head recently, his friend zigzagging as they followed thewinding paths, sometimes drifting close enough that their swinging arms couldalmost touch, before rapidly veering away until they could easily be mistaken fortwo strangers who just happened to be walking in the same direction. He alwaysended up closing the distance again after a few minutes though.

As the sky was beginning to turn purple above them, Choujisuddenly frowned and slowed to a halt, Sasuke following his lead a few steps later.

He stared back at him with a question in his dark eyes.

“Wait, isn’t your place back over that way?” Chouji said,pointing at when the path had branched in two directions several feet ago.

Sasuke looked a little surprised, though whether it was atChouji’s knowledge of where he lived or himself forgetting was unclear. “…Yeah.”

He smiled and started walking again, giving his friend ashort wave as he passed, saying, “Well, guess this is where we split up then,it was nice seeing you, hope you have a good evening!” before he finally turnedaway to rush to his own home; he’d spent a lot of the day dallying, now he hadto rush home and get ready to see his best friends!

---

“Damn, that was delicious, Karui really knows her food, huh?”

Ino scoffed, flipping her long hair dramatically inShikamaru’s face. “Of course she does, any girlfriend of mine must have impeccable taste.”

He grinned at his two friends childishly swatting at eachother as he gathered up the dishes and depositing them in the sink. He leftthem to soak in some hot water – Ino had drawn washing-up duty tonight andShikamaru would be in charge of drying and putting away – before returning tothe table and flopping back down in his chair, taking a long sip of his tea.

“Long day?” Shikamaru asked, finally disentangling himselffrom Ino’s long, crushing arms.

Chouji nodded. “Yup, though it’s weird, I ran into loads offriends today, but everyone was acting kinda… strange.”

Ino cocked a fine brow, asking, “Strange how?”

“All sorts of ways, Naruto wanted to hang out even though hewas injured, Hinata looked really feverish, Neji was all nervous about observingmy class, Temari and Gaara were bickering and Sasuke was being all spacy,” hesaid, shrugging his shoulders as he thought about it harder, “maybe the hotweather we’ve been having is just getting to people.”

There was a long, heavy silence, prompting him to glance upat his friends. They were sharing an unreadable look, identical crooked smirks ontheir faces as they rolled their eyes in perfect unison.

“Wait, do you two know something? Seriously- why are youlaughing, what’s so funny, is this some prank I’m not in on? Guys-”

---