#yea it really does change so much…. thanks for losing your mind with me… staged duo is killing me

[bleue-flora]

In exile, c!Dream spoke about immortalisation once I’m pretty sure unless it was a joke the cc made about killing and reviving again and foreshadowed it but it’s possible c!Dream either had used the book around the time or was just knew that it could revive and kill people but wow does it change a lot of c!staged only tested the book after prison arc and I believe it for the most part. Except in finale when c!tommy tells c!punz about how he tried offing himself, c!dresm tells him that he could have revived him. Doesn’t this imply c!dream knew about how the book worked around that time or is he telling him he would have tested the book on him even without knowing it worked, or revived him later on after the lazar vikk experiments. What do you think ?

[context]

I mean he had the revival book and even if he didn’t know 100% if it worked he could still be thinking about immortality and such… though hard to say much about the scene without knowing the context and I don’t feel like going on a hunt for it at the moment, but I’ve not seen that moment used as evidence for people’s opinions on the revival book experiment timeline so I’m gonna probably say it’s not of super importance…

As far as the finale goes, firstly I like to as always point out that Dream is saying something to Tommy so already we should put our speculation hats on, because if there’s one person he’s especially know for lying to, it’s Tommy. Secondly, context is super key. In this instance [clip], Tommy is trying to play at Punz’s humanity with his sob story, hoping to make him see how much of an evil monster Dream is [clip]. So, Dream is coming to his own defense of like - Are we supposed to feel bad for you? Does that really make me a bad person if I can bring you back and undo it? (as an aside, here’s that logical vs. emotional reasoning again btw for all those who read my essay)… but anyways, the point isn’t really about whether he could or would have brought him back then or later, it’s more so him highlighting that Tommy is being over dramatic and it wasn’t that big of a deal… if that makes sense. It’s about minimizing Tommy’s feelings, while also adding defense to his own actions. Notice he doesn’t tell Tommy about how he knew he screwed up and went back to check on him [clip], it’s not about what actually happened but about how in the grand scheme of things it’s inconsequential, a theme he and Punz continue to highlight in these streams.

Later, Dream brings up the tower again, this time saying more so almost like the opposite, “You had your—your tower moment right? But—let’s say… that it happened…What you would have been in your limbo—forever? You would have been fine with that? You would have been fine with leaving—Tubbo behind and all of your friends and… You keep saying ‘oh yeah—you know, you can enjoy the moments’ you can enjoy the moments while still being Alive...” [clip]. Notice it’s not about the actual event but using that event to highlight a larger point. Tubbo and Tommy keep berating Dream the whole time for messing with the natural order and playing with death - what’s dead should stay dead… yada yada. And Dream, just like how he called out how inconsequential Tommy and his gripes are, now uses that same things to highlight clingy duo’s hypocrisy… I’m really hoping that makes sense. In other words, it doesn’t matter - it was never about whether he did or didn’t actually have the book or ability back in Exile, it was about using it as a point of reference for Tommy to understand his reasoning…….

Hypothetically speaking though, if we just imagine for a moment Tommy did go through with the pillar: I think Dream might have tried to use the revive book on him whether it had been pre-tested or not. Not only because I think, Dream isn’t heartless and might feel bad about it. But also I think it’d be a great opportunity to gain favor with Tommy as his savior and the rest of the server… huh there’s another AU idea: Dream tries to drive Tommy to suicide in Exile so he can resurrect him and become loved by Tommy and the server again… (I’m sure that wouldn’t backfire or anything…)

[rainbows-fanfics]

Two Dearest Friends (Chapter 3)

Summary:

Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, meets Sally, a ragdoll created by Dr. Finklestein. A friendship blossoms between them as he introduces her to the world outside of her tower. Sally is falling for him as their relationship grows into something more, and Jack finds the same is happening to him.

A story where the Christmas incident never happens, and Jack and Sally find their happiness on their own.

Pairings: Jack Skellington/Sally

Her plan is to visit the shop and find the things she promised for the Doctor. But when she sees the citizens rushing to gather into the Town Hall, she has second thoughts. If nearly everyone is going to attend the meeting, it's probably important. And important means Jack... A clown riding a unicycle suddenly bumps into Sally, turning to give her a menacing laugh as he passes by. She jumps at the sound -- so dark and malevolent - and finds herself looking at the other creatures who surround her. They are all diverse, ranging from vampires to ghosts and witches. They all have certain aspects to themselves that make them scary. One man is even modeled after Satan himself, with horns protruding from his forehead and a sharp goatee. Sally tries to distance herself before she eventually reaches the stairs. Safe to say, she is the last one in and nearly collapses trying to keep the door open. When she turns around, she notices that all of the benches are full, and people are starting to crowd around the seats. "Hello there, miss!" She finds a tall tree smiling down at her, his face consisting of whirls and his eyes black sockets. 5 skeletons are hanging from his branches with rope tied around their necks. Like the tree, they were all smiling down at her politely. She goes to reply but is overwhelmed by more people coming into the room. She takes a step towards the stranger as to not get pulled in and lose a limb again. The tree notices the issue right away. "Oh! You're probably looking for a seat, aren't you? Please, feel free to sit on one of my branches if you have to! I have two of them, you see..." "While I do appreciate the offer..." She hangs the basket in her hands low. "How will I reach it?" "We'll help you!" One of the skeletons offers. They all nod in unison at this suggestion. The skeleton who offered extends his hands to her and cups them down. "Here! Step on my hands and climb on!" She accepts the offer and does as she is told. She's hoisted upwards and has only a second to grab onto one of the stems. She sits herself comfortably on the bark and looks around. There was nothing obstructing her view and she very well may have had the best seat in the house. Looking down at the stranger, she says, "Thank you! I don't believe I caught your name?" "Folks just call me the hanging tree!" He replies. "And these here are my hanging men. I've heard of you myself....you're Finklestein's new creation. Sally, right?" "That's right. Have you heard of me?" "Oh, trust me! Word gets passed along fast. You stick out like a sore claw in these parts."

It makes her feel nervous that she stands out. Attention is not something she wants - nor does the Doctor, for that matter. Her thoughts are interrupted when the lights suddenly dim, grabbing the audience's attention as a spotlight illuminates the stage. All conversations cease as they hear footsteps. She feels slightly disappointed as a stumbling Mayor reveals himself from the curtains. He climbs up the steps and approaches the podium. It's clear that the light bothers him and he is looking around blindly, struggling to keep the papers in his hands together. "Horrible day, everyone!" He greets. "Thank you for attending today's meeting. I wanted to discuss with you all about this year's Halloween." She leans forward in fascination. Jack may not be here like she had hoped, but she can at least learn something new about this 'Halloween'. He likes it very much, and since it seems so important to everyone, the least she can do is learn what it is about. The Doctor has never told her anything about it before, so she might as well take this chance to listen and see if she can understand it. "As hopefully none of you know, progress is going very slow this year. We have had a run-in with officials for some of the ideas this year, and we are going to need changes if we can make an excellent Halloween happen! I called this meeting for any suggestions that are more appropriate than what we have gotten this year. If you have any ideas, please, feel free to shout them ou-" "Let's replace all the lampposts with snakes! That'll keep them on their paws!" "How about we smear blood all over the windows?" "-Fake blood?" "-Sure, whatever." "We could have everyone howl from the rooftops!" The Mayor is quickly writing all of these suggestions down as they're being yelled. Sally feels very much like the outlier - she doesn't understand what is being sad. Blood? Fake blood? What did those mean? Has she ever seen a snake before? She recalls learning about them but she can't remember a thing. As the ragdoll is furrowing her eyebrows trying to keep up, the Mayor brings everyone to a stop by slamming a small hammer on the podium. "-Settle down, settle down, everyone!" They all quiet down. "I appreciate everyone's enthusiasm and I will most certainly have these ideas under review, but we have to get to more important matters now! I've had several conversations undergoing our renovations for the town's library. If anyone has any concerns-" By this point Sally stops listening. Her head hurts thinking about all these things and trying to listen to every voice at once. This town meeting isn't at all as enjoyable as she thought it'd be. She thought Jack would be here, and instead of the Mayor's voice, she'd be listening to his. His soft, melodic voice echoing about the room...sending wonderful chills along her spine, putting her in a relaxing trance-- "Miss? Everyone's leaving now." When she looks up, she finds people are leaving their seats. The tree must have pulled her from her thoughts. She climbs off with the help of the skeletons and gives a polite nod to her new friend as soon as she is down. She corrects her posture and stiffens herself, a habit the Doctor has given her. "Thank you, again." "It's no problem." The tree smiles. "If you ever need a seat, just go ahead and hop on. I attend every meeting there is." He uproots himself from the ground and walks out of the Town Hall. She cringes as she sees the hanging men swing by their neck. That must cause a lot of pain! They don't seem to mind it as they wave goodbye to her. She's left to leave through the door and find her way back into the market, specifically the store Jack recommended to her. When she approaches the building, she finds a large sign placed in the window. "OUT FOR LUNCH". Was she...too late? Oh, how horrible! She's going to get a brash scolding when she gets home. She can't explain where she has been for the past hour without mentioning the meeting. She suddenly feels so foolish for going to that meeting in the first place. She trusted herself to go into town, but here she is getting too involved in Halloween. Maybe the Doctor is right...she shouldn't meddle with the town's affairs and just focus on what he wants from her. And right now, she needs to find those spices! Jack's words suddenly ring through her head. "...Between you and me, you can get the same stuff very easily for no cost in the graveyard..." So she may not get grounded after all...She sighs in relief and leaves the market, wandering around in search for this graveyard. She realizes, after a good half hour of walking ,that she has absolutely no idea where she's going. Perhaps she hasn't thought this as through as she thinks she did-- "Lookin' a little lost again, dollie." When she turns around, she finds James standing across from her. His band members are nowhere to be found and he isn't holding his usual saxophone at the moment. She steps forward politely and bows her head. He might know where it is, being in town longer than she has. And she really needs the help! "Do you know where the graveyard is, by any chance?" She asks. "Graveyard? Yea...keep walkin' this way n' you'll find it." He points behind him, and she mouths 'thank you' as she passes him. Her basket is empty now, but she needs it full before sundown. Otherwise she will be in deep, deep trouble. --- She only has to walk a minute or two until she finds a pair of gates open in front of her. She steps right through them and blinks. It is awfully foggy here. She sees a hundred-or-so tombstones in front of her and a large spiral hill with a pumpkin patch underneath it. Black gates encircle the graveyard with sharp tips. Everything is completely silent.   She shivers at the cold that roams the fog. She walks through the graves slowly, listening to the unsettling noises as she passes by. The large pumpkin sun is burning brightly just past the spiral hill, but it does nothing to soothe the nerves creeping up her spine. She doesn't see the many thorns and bushes in between the graves. One of her seams catches onto one and trips the ragdoll. She falls harshly on the ground and hears one of her legs come off. The impact from the fall also causes one of her hands to fly off. When she sits up, she easily sees the two limbs beside her. She places the basket to the side to thread her usual needle. Stuff like this happens all the time; she was getting used to it. "Arf!" When she looks up, she sees an apparition staring back at her. It is a blanket that resembles the shape of a dog. Black, hollow eyes stare back at hers as the body levitates. The dog's sheets are constantly moving and she sees a spiral tall at the end of his body. On the tip of his muzzle is a miniature pumpkin nose that shines brightly within the fog. Sally drops the thread and needle in surprise. "A dog..?" The ghost comes forward cautiously. He uses his nose to sniff her dress and hair. She's very unsure of what to do. She hasn't encountered any animal like this before. The dog circles around before stopping in front of her. He opens his mouth to pant and that is when she notices his insides are completely transparent. "Woof! Woof!" Slowly, she outstretches her arm. Her hand comes into contact with the texture of a blanket. She's shocked. How could a ghost dog like this...exist? She's touching him! She runs her hand along his body and feels him lean into her touch. He nuzzles the side of her arm and ushers her to pet the rest of his body. A giggle escapes her mouth. "How adorable..." When he tilts his head upwards, she notices the collar around his neck. A golden, circular tag hangs down from it. There is a name engraved on the surface. She takes a hold of the tag and leans forward to read it closely. It reads: "ZERO". "Zero? Is that your name?" The dog puffs out his transparent chest in pride. She scratches behind his ear and refrains from cooing when he sticks his tongue out. This may be the cutest dog I have ever seen...She thinks to herself. That is, until he suddenly hovers away and takes her leg in his mouth. He wags his tail before flying off. A couple of leaves fall from the open hole as sheattempts to stop him. "H-Hey! Give it back!" The dog stops in alarm and slowly hovers back to her. Relieved, she goes to take it until Zero snatches it again. He motions forwards and backwards with his head, then opens his mouth and pants again. She finally understands the message. Or, at least she thinks she does. "Oh!" She picks up the leg. "You want to play fetch..?" "Arf!" Zero, clearly happy that this message got across, spins in a circle. She understands this. She once read a book telling her all about pets(while the Doctor repeatedly insists they have no use for any). In this game, all you have to do is throw something and the dog will get it. So that's what she does - making sure to secure the leaves before tossing her arm as far as she can. He goes after it and retrieves it for her. She throws it again and watches as Zero leaps for the leg. He comes back with it in his mouth and places it back down on the ground patiently. The two of them continue this until she decides to stop. She picks up her thread and needle and sews her leg back into its proper place. Zero whines before eying her curiously, hovering by her side as he watches. She props herself up with the help of a nearby tombstone and begins to search for the ingredients, looking at the tombstones she passes. Zero follows behind her. She stops in her tracks and jumps when the dog goes right through her. She shakes and mutters, "Witch hazel..." Zero barks to catch her attention. The dog nudges her side before leading her the other way. She follows and finds that he directs her to another set of gravestones. On these are several names of ingredients, including both Witch Hazel and Deadly Nightshade. The ghost wags his tail as he waits for her reaction. "Why, Zero! Thank you!" She starts gathering the spices in her basket. She stops collecting them once it's full and turns to face Zero. He tilts his head and gives a confused 'rrr?' She leans down and pats the top of his head. He wags his tail at the affection. She feels warm around this dog. He helped her find what she was looking for, and they even played a game together. Regardless how short a time it was, she's becoming a little attached to him. She runs a hand along his coat before heading back to the gates. He whines and floats backwards when they come to the exit. She turns to scratch the back of his sheet and catches the smile growing on his muzzle. "I have a funny feeling I'm going to be seeing you again, huh?" She asks. "Arf!" He agrees. "Are you my new friend?" "Woof!" "If I come back tomorrow, will you want to play?" "Arf! Arf! Arf!" Zero's tail wags vigorously. She places a hand in front of her lips and giggles, finally bidding the dog goodbye. His subtle whines echo down the alleyway but the ragdoll moves on. She has to return to the tower before it gets dark.

[cs-discourse]

here we go

https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179953845684/uuuuwuu-every1-whos-concerned-abt-biased-judging

ok this attitude has been pissing me off long enough that it's time for one of my Big Ole Posts (tm) about how shitty this is! thanks. 

uuuuwuu every1 whos concerned abt biased judging in comps is just soooow entitled !!!1 i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11 bc artists Never weigh in on other artist's comps, so obviously thes ppl just want fwee merc designs !!!1!!1 also my last braincell just died pleas h

so here's the og post in question for quick reference

i honestly have no idea why people keep bringing up this idea of bias in judging competitions because, while i do think there is a type of bias that certainly exists, i think a lot of so-called "bias" that people have is ... not whatsoever like what people think it is lol. artists are people and there's always going to be SOME kind of bias no matter what you do, because it's literally fuckin impossible to NOT be biased. by that i mean:

your taste in plots/types of characters/medias influence your judging

quality of writing or art can influence your judging

the person who's applying for the adopt you may have previous judgement about

even if you say you aren't biased, you STILL have preferences and tastes in things that you prefer more than others, which in of itself is a kind of bias

people who know you (friends for example) will naturally know what your taste is. 

a competition is judged based on what form the artist thinks is best, right? 

NEWSFLASH EVERYONE'S IDEA OF "WHAT'S BEST" IS DIFFERENT FROM PERSON TO PERSON ..... "BEST" is literally the most subjective thing there is, and while i agree that there are certain aspects of art and writing that you can use as objective measurements of tangible skill, it's... still subjective. what people think is "best" will vary from person to person because we all have different tastes. so, essentially, this boils down to the idea that the winner of an adopt competition will ALWAYS be the form the artist liked best, because that is what the artist perceives as best. so like. when people appear biased in adopt competitions towards friends or certain circles, it's probably because they're literally friends because they have similar tastes in things, and therefore the form the artist likes best is naturally going to be from someone who shares similar tastes. 

so whenever i hear about """bias""" in competitions i just kind of roll my eyes tbqh because it's usually followed by complaints of "BUT I PUT IN SO MUCH EFFORT" or "I WROTE SO MUCH MORE THAN THE WINNER" uhhhh. if adopt contests were won by effort alone it wouldn't be a contest, it'd be an endurance test lol. literally just "who has the most time to waste writing out 60000k words of absolute meaningless fluff"... because, i hate to break it to you, but ANYONE can write 5000 words of mindless drivel that has literally no substance to it. 

now in caps for emphasis. takes a deep breath

THERE IS NO SKILL NEEDED TO BLOAT YOUR WORD COUNT. 

YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW HOW TO WRITE WELL TO WRITE 5000 WORDS.

YOU JUST NEED TO KNOW HOW TO TYPE AND PUT SENTENCES TOGETHER.

quality > quantity, always. like, i'm sorry you put in so many hours of effort but, those people who win with MUCH smaller wordcounts... did they not work to get as good as they did with writing? you put in 5 hours into one tryout. but others, take me for example: i have been writing for over 10 bloody years. i've worked hard to improve my writing, so you can't tell me i "didn't put in as much effort" as you because i did. i put in YEARS of work to get better so doing simple things would take me LESS time now. inb4 IT'S UNFAIR! dude, the literal definition of a contest is for the best to win. it wouldn't be a contest if it wasn't like that lol. it'd just be charity. what you should be doing instead of complaining about it is ASKING FOR CRIT and WORKING TO IMPROVE like a good sport? i get that it's discouraging but you should be prepared to lose when you join a contest. it's valid to be upset about but the moment you say you deserve it more than others JUST because of your effort, then i have a problem. 

and you know, there's gonna be times where i think a comp winner is objectively less skilled than other tryouts. honestly i just kind of shrug that off on account of different taste lol. sometimes that's just how it be, bc of those predetermined biases i mentioned before, and maybe a judge and i are just in completely stages of life so what i call quality might not appeal to the judge. that's also fine. anyway this really got off on a tangent but i'm leaving it in bc i think it needs saying. back to the og post

 > i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11

wtf didn't i address this in a different post

here let me link it for you

https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179841459154/post179838988303-the-difference-is-that-you-have

which was replying to this: https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179838988303/179837734509-idk-anon-i-kinda-agree-with-the

i said it once but i'll say it again: artist entries aren't main adopts lol. people don't work for artist entries. all you fucking do is post on one like "can i have this pls" .. there is... no effort put into that lol. main adopts you WORK for. it's a CONTEST. claiming an artist entry is NOT a contest. if a bunch of little nasty gremlins come running up to me like a hungry horde trying to be the first one to claim my design, i think giving friends first pick is COMPLETELY FINE, BECAUSE WHAT DID ANYONE ELSE DO TO "DESERVE" THAT DESIGN? nothing. you did. nothing. you're literally coming here with this attitude that NOT GIVING THINGS AWAY TO STRANGERS FOR FREE SOMEHOW EQUALS BIAS? i literally do not understand your logic whatsoever. like. i'm trying really fucking hard. at least with main adopts the "payment" is the effort you put in trying to answer the artist's prompt. i know i sound super dumb repeating myself but i don't know how much simpler i can make this concept tbh

and this is EXACTLY why i say ya'll are fucking entitled because merc and any of the kal artists could be making REAL $$$$ selling their own designs and adoptables and art and NOT deal with all the bs ya'll throw at them. they're literally here because the ENJOY MAKING ((( FREE ))) CONTENT for you, and they're not obligated to do this. they can stop whenever they want. if you had to pay per hour for the length of time collectively worked by ANY species artist staff, the lot of you would be fucking broke. i'm actually constantly shocked that species artists work like, 8 hours or more on some of these gorgeous designs just to give them away for free in a contest. 

so, yeah, as someone who hasn't spent my entire life on CS (i've only been here for a year and a half), ya'll seem pretty fucking entitled to me lol. the world outside CS rarely gives out such gorgeous designs in write-to-adopt contests so i'm honestly baffled at the amount of bloody entitlement i see

>bc artists Never weigh in on other artist's comps, so obviously thes ppl just want fwee merc designs !!!1!!1 

this part i don't actually understand what you mean. do you mean they... help judge other comps? or like, enter them? i don't get what you mean by "weigh in" but listen, lol. just because something DOES happen doesn't mean it gives you a good reason to assume the worst. i mean... of course it happens. it's statistically impossible for skewed contests and bias to NOT happen, because there's always going to be cases of it happening. but like, what proof do you have that merc will be biased lol? like, real proof? because your main point i've basically debunked and don't believe in at all. do better than "i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11" because this doesn't make any sense to me for the reasons i already listed above lmao. if artist entries were supposed to be contests they'd be contests. what the hell makes you important enough to get first dibs on a stranger's work. ARTIST ENTRIES AREN'T EVEN MADE TO BE GIVEN AWAY, THEY'RE MADE AS ARTIST ENTRIES.... LIKE.... JESUS i struggle to understand ya'll

anyway im done here, if you wanna actually talk and debate this hmu on discord at lysander#9229 bc if you actually talk to me instead of spew this hot mess on the blog i might actually listen to you and change my mind and be nice about it instead of being a condescending bitch. 

wait one more thing

>also my last braincell just died pleas h

yea clearly

p.s., why do you ppl keep going to the blog to give critique on merc's designs when on literally every other design merc makes there's this:

https://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3950980

here i even linked it for you. idk why it's so hard for yall to give constructive crit like decent human beings

[queen-of-hearts92]

Revue Starlight 6: Take me baby, or leave me.

Futaba and Kaoruko know the lesbian hand hold confirmed!

For the previous episode go here!

To go to the start of these posts, go to the Prelude!

Here we go again with theater gays and oooo this was good! Our local lesbian couple is so good! ;w;

Important note! This meta/write up was written before I saw episode 7! Ok? Ok!

The title of this post is the name of a song from the musical Rent. I honestly have mixed feelings on that musical but the songs are still great. And the song is sung by the local lesbian couple in that musical! Uwu

(Tho they have much bigger issues than our local lesbian couple lol.)

>And if you give a damn, take this summary or leave me!

(Yeah that was a lame joke lol)

The episode starts in the past with a baby Kaoruko and Futaba! Baby Kaoruko has run off so  Baby Futaba goes to find her, and find her she does. Baby Kaoruko is posing for photos for people saying how cute she is. Baby Futaba picks her up with her bike and the two stop at a river so Baby Kaoruko can eat. Baby Kaoruko complains about her frequent dance lessons and declares she’ll join another family to get praised more, she looks excitedly at Baby Futaba. Baby Futaba is not amused. After asking if she has money to ride trains, Baby Futaba is like “oh well, guess I gotta leave without you and tell your folks you’re leaving. Too bad, really liked your dancing.” Baby Kaoruko quickly changes her mind, gathers her things and hops onto the back of Baby Futaba’s bike saying let’s go home, and lists off things she wants her future girlfriend to do for her. In exchange, she’ll show her the most sparkly place in the world. We then jump to the present, Futaba and Kaoruko are getting ready to fight a duel. And now, we find out how we got here. Er, after the opening of course.

Look!! At!! The babies!! So cute!

We go to Mahiru scolding Hikari over being messy and that she needs to put things away if she lives in this room. Hikari is embarrassed. Karen comments that Mahiru is like a big sister and she’s like, well. I am one. We then go to the three walking to school, local lesbian couple pulls up on the motorcycle. Futaba wakes Kaoruko up via taking off her helmet, this surprises her for sure. It also surprises Karen!

Karen relates to people so easily she even feels the eyebrow pain.

Kaoruko complains about how Futaba wakes her up and Futaba is like then wake yourself up. The group is joined by Nana and Junna, Junna is like “wow you guys have been early lately!” Futaba says they aren’t gonna lose to the other sleepyhead (Karen) and Karen is like YEA-wait what?! Next we go to tap dancing class, which is a thing they do at this school (wow they going for ALL the theater arts here), and Claudine and Futaba are partners in that. The two seemed pleased with their routine. Kaoruko stands next to Maya and is suprised Futaba was doing really well and Maya waxes poetically for a moment about that and then is like “well we can’t fall behind can we.” And Kaoruko is like wha.

SHE! TINY! SHORT! BLESS!

We then go to everyone lined up in the classroom, the first round of casting for the main characters has been done. There will be more rounds so this isn’t the final casting. They post it and, every girl we know makes it BUT Kaoruko. She’s pissed. Futaba tries to reassure her that she’ll get another chance but nope, Kaoruko goes straight to the stage crew to complain. She yells at the head writer, Sanai, and Sanai is like “ERM. Well uh.”. Luckily the director, Ameniya, steps in and bluntly tells Kaoruko off saying Kaoruko’s acting sucks and she’d be no use to this play. We cut to Futaba and Kaoruko chilling in a practice room, Kaoruko complains about the rejection while laying on her girlfriend’s lap. She then asks Futaba if she doesn’t get into the play if she could have her part. Futaba doesn’t give an answer and instead keeps drinking her juice box.

We then go to later that night, Kaoruko exits the bath area and is like “honey I’m ready for a foot massage!” but Futaba isn’t in the room. She’s outside practicing her tap dancing routine with Claudine. Claudine tells Futaba she’s improved a lot, then Kaoruko comes in like “yOU’RE HIDING FROM ME?!” and Claudine and Futaba are like oh shit. Kaoruko is like this is why you’ve improved so much?? An Futaba says she training with Claudine because she wants to keep improving, Kaoruko accuses Futaba of stealing her spot on the cast list. Claudine is like whoa whoa hey. But Futaba snaps and tells Kaoruko off, saying she isn’t going to give up her role cause it’s HERS and she earned it! Kaoruko is like fINE IF YOU THINK CLAUDINE IS SO GREAT WHY DON’T YOU JUST BE WITH HER! And Futaba is like FINE I WILL. And we cut to Futaba rolling to Claudine’s room and says “I’M SAYING HERE FROM NOW ON!” to the shock of the crowd that gathered after hearing the two of them arguing. Kaoruko stomps away pissed.

I saw you with Kuro-han last night! K-Kaoruko it’s not what you think! I won’t hesitate bitch!

The next morning Futaba is riding her motorcycle to school alone. Kaoruko on the other hand hasn’t made it past the front porch, luckily Nana and Junna are here to look out for her. We see throughout the day Futaba is doing just fine but Kaoruko is struggling. In the evening she complains to herself about her day. She grumbles saying “Futaba I’ll make you speechless!” she then recalls the duels, she goes oh yeah I can be a star that way! But then she remembers she has gotten her ass kicked, a lot. She instinctively calls Futaba’s name but then she remembers her girlfriend isn’t here. So, she. Hatches a plan.

The next day Kaoruko has told the other girls she’s leaving the school, much to Karen’s distress. Karen cries and begs her not to go. The other girls also try to talk her out of it but to no success. It isn’t their attention she wants after all.

Later that evening Kaoruko is packing, Futaba has come to the room and asks if Kaoruko is serious about leaving. Kaoruko is like yup I sure am have fun with Claudine and shit. Futaba asks if she has train money and if she knows how to ride the trains, she says yes and then Futaba says ok, bye then and leaves the room. Kaoruko is annoyed.

Futaba is now in Claudine’s room and plops onto the bed sighing, Claudine is like welp I guess she’s serious about leaving. This could be a good opportunity to bloom on your own. She says that Futaba is good enough alone to keep improving and get on the main cast list. We then have a flashback to middle schoolers Futaba and Kaoruko, Kaoruko is like hey we going to this fancy academy and Futaba goes what. We go back to the present and see both Futaba and Kaoruko in bed looking troubled. The next morning, Kaoruko is leaving and the other girls are here to see her off. Karen clings to her legs and cries, still begging her not to leave. Kaoruko is like, nope sorry I’m leaving. Then Maya suddenly approaches her and drops some needed advise, saying that someone who has people looking up to them or people who chase after them so to speak should strive to be their best for their sakes. Maya wishes her safe travels and Kaoruko leaves, Karen is still crying while Mahiru hugs her.

Kaoruko is then at the train station and dwells on Maya’s words. Hopes Futaba will come and stop her. For quite sometime, she doesn’t come. The train arrives and then ta dah Futaba is there. Kaoruko is happy at first but jumps back into anger being like HMPF what are you doing here? Futaba is like, cut this crap out I know you too well for this leaving thing to work! The two start arguing and then, their phones go off. It’s dueling time!

We arrive on stage and Futaba and Kaoruko give their introductions. The set is traditional Japanese style inspired, this is the Revue of Promise. In a dojo, while Kaoruko is in front of a dragon and Futaba is in front of a tiger, the two argue again. Giraffe comments that the revues have gotten increasingly personal. The two start physically fighting. Futaba reveals that the reason why she wants to improve is to catch up to her, to go to the place that shines like she promised when they were kids. They stop fighting and Futaba says that the other Stage Girls have been doing their best to keep improving no matter what, and that’s what she’s doing too. Kaoruko is effected by her words, she laments that she didn’t get Maya’s words til it was too late. She says Futaba deserves to be on the main cast list and decides to use her weapon to cut her cape off much to Futaba’s alarm. Kaoruko says Futaba is blooming and she isn’t. As she tries to do so, Futaba runs to stop her but. Kaoruko misses, on purpose. She’s happy Futaba finally tried stopping her, she thanks her and the set falls away to a new very pretty one. Kaoruko repeats Maya’s words and her and Futaba have one final charge. They clash, Kaoruko wins and flowers explode everywhere. With their relationship patched up, the two hold hands and the audition duels ends.

FUCK YEAH FLOWERS! FLOWERS MEAN GAY! HELL YEAH!

The next day, Kaoruko sits by Futaba’s bed all ready for school including helmet as Futaba wakes up. This startles Futaba, I would’ve screamed lol. We see the other girls waking up and that Futaba left a thank you gift for Claudine, which is a bunch of candy and Kaoruko left one for Maya which is...one candy. Well Maya seemed to like it anyways. Then the two girlfriends ride off to class on the motercycle, Kaoruko is like let’s be number one in the world together! Futaba is like sounds good and then the episode ends.

I for one accept our new lesbian overlords.

Or....That’s where this episode would normally end. But. Not this time. Not at all.

After the credits, odd circus like music plays. We go down to the underground stage and, Nana is there. Chilling on the stage, with a script right next to her. Giraffe is in the audience. Nana says that things are pretty different this time, and this needs to go back on script. The episode ends on this creepyass end card.

JUST NANA. JUST NANA. JUST NANA.

>Let’s go lesbians! It’s discussion time!

-I liked the Dragon Tiger thing, shows yin and yang with Kaoruko and Futaba!

-Mahiru scolding Hikari omg, she’s right though. Hikari is very messy! We can see that in episode one! Though not picking up after yourself is also a sign of depression….welp.

-Karen was a fucking treasure this episode, adorable. The eyebrows screencap is still funny.

-Maya made a friend omg. I hope her and Kaoruko hang out after this episode, their dynamic seems fun!

-I love that Maya got so excited over getting the one candy like she’s such a dork I can’t handle it!

-Kuro is such a fucking good sport, she let Futaba stay in her room while the spat was going on like what a good friend.

-Maya saying that someone who has followers or people who look up to them or people who chase after them so to speak should strive to be their best for the sake of those who follow. With Maya having Claudine always wanting to chase after and eventually pass her, this basically confirmed that Maya strives to be the best for Claudine's sake! Fuck my heart oh my god, Maya you romantic motherfucker gdi.

-I liked Kaoruko and Futaba’s progression a lot. A type of relationship like theirs is a tough one to balance. Kaoruko is a spoiled princess and Futaba has been happy with spoiling her and doing what she asks. But as time goes on Kaoruko has come to depend on Futaba so much that any of Futaba’s dreams and ambitions get stamped out. It was only a matter of time this sort of lovers quarrel happened.

Futaba has discovered she has a passion for the theater and seeks to improve herself and forms a friendship with Kuro who has tons of drive to want to do better and so Futaba learns from her. As a result Futaba has started changing herself for the better but Kaoruko hasn’t changed at all and still expected Futaba to do whatever she asks. Hence a conflict develops when Kaoruko notices the change.

What kicked everything off really is Kaoruko not getting a role in the play for the first audition round, but Futaba did. Kaoruko not changing lead her to fall behind pretty much, and that makes her mad and frustrated. So when Futaba isn’t in their room like she normally is and instead practicing and hanging around another girl, it’s the last straw. An argument ensues, it seems like it lasted all the way to the dorms cause there's a whole crowd of other girls in the hallway so the arguing was so loud it disrupted the entire dorm. And I imagine all the other girls are like ??? cause Futaba and Kaoruko never have fought like that before.

So then theres a separation period, Futaba camps out in Kuro’s room and the two don’t speak to each other. Unsurprisingly, Kaoruko is struggling greatly without her girlfriend to help her all the time. This makes Kaoruko even more frustrated and she very stubbornly refuses to change still because at this point she doesn’t understand that Futaba was tired of being in her shadow. Being the drama queen that she is though, she decides to dramatically leave so Futaba would chase after her. It doesn’t really work cause Futaba knows her girlfriend too well. And then they used the audition duels to talk it out basically (or fight it out same thing lol). The conclusion was basically them having a more balanced relationship and it was all very very sweet.

-Change is quite a common theme in the show. This episode, Nana’s issues, feeling stuck in life, the need to change the theater system, etc. I’m excited to see where this theme takes us!

-Futaba is so short it’s adorable! Like! So smoll! I love her.

-Futaba and Kaoruko very cute, I’m happy they worked out the issues in their relationship. Such sweet girlfriends.

-The duel arena was lovely!! Fucking awesome!

-Hey recall the crew members who talked with Nana last episode? Well that’s the script writer and the director! The one I called Crew member two is Kiriko Sanai, she’s the director. The one I called Crew member one is Shion Ameniya! They are called by their last names so I will also be referring to them by last name. Are they dating? Maybe, we just don’t know.

-Junna: Wait so I’m in a magical stage arena where physics don’t matter right?….I’m gonna pull off some real arrow bullshit hell yeah.

Listen, I love Junna lol.

-So saw repeat stages, does that mean any girl can use any kind of stage? Hm.

-That paper for the Starlight play, it said the Starlight Gatherer again! What’s the deal with that?! WHO IS IT?! Why are they gathering Starlight?! What the fuckkkk?! Also! Now we know the other roles are goddesses too! Still! Fuck!

-There’s something wrong with Nana Daiba, very wrong. After the credits rolled we not only got an after the credits scene but a bizarre end card on top of it. Our past six end cards have all been white but this one was not only yellow but had Nana’s name written everywhere! And it looked like the writing was written or drawn, like in her notebook. Her just chilling on the underground stage was also weird, especially the music playing while she was there. It was, a bizarre creepy circus tune that we’ve never heard before and when a show plays something they’ve never done before then that means they were saving that for a reason. There’s also the fact that on the OST cd that just came out there are seven different versions with different girls singing of Fly me to The Star, but number seven has no one singing. It’s just instrumental. Um. Anyways, Nana then talked about changing the script, getting it back on track. And that, is scary. What does she mean by that? I’m nervous...I’ll talk about the giraffe stuff in the speculation section.

>*Ominous giraffe shaped cloud rumbling in the distance* Ahaha what the fuck.

-For awhile there's been people speculating that Nana is really Giraffe, I dismissed it as something silly at first. But now, there's edvenice mounting up that Nana is at least connected with Giraffe in some way! So, here's how I see it.

While I don’t think that Nana IS the giraffe (that’s a bit out there for this show methinks) I think it’s very possible that they have a connection.

So I’m still very convinced that Giraffe is a Qilin or a Kirin as it’s said in Japanese (kirin is used both to describe an actual giraffe and the mythical animal). And the important thing to recall about them here is that Qilins/Kirins are sometimes shown to be familiars to gods. Now I’m not saying Nana is a god or anything but it’s possible why Giraffe is here is because he is here for Nana. He is her familiar, that’s why they have visual similarities. If he does belong to her that would explain the little pink bow on his tail. Also Nana uses two katanas which can be representative of a Kirin’s antlers.

I theorized a while ago that Giraffe, with Qilins/Kirins being protectors, is here to protect the girls from whatever is really going on with the Top Star/Heavenly Tiara but maybe he only came in the first place because Nana asked him to or that just Nana is here so he is here. He sits with Junna because Giraffe knows she’s important to Nana.

I also believe that Nana’s real role in the auditions is an enforcer of the system. In the stage version Hikari is working with the antagonists as their spy/instigator, maybe in the anime it’s Nana who is allied with the system hence she can come and go into the stage freely. Maya may be a symbol of the system but Nana makes sure people “stick to the script” and Karen has disrupted this script for too long. I don’t think Nana does this out of malice, it’s because she’s so scared of change and wants to preserve the past so badly that she is willing to do whatever it takes to push the Starlight play back where she wants it. Even if that means knocking down whoever is in the way of that or having her familiar around.

I know it sounds weird guessing that Nana has a pet mythological animal but, I find that the most likely explanation that isn’t Nana and Giraffe having similarities is purely symbolic but that could also be the case too.

And I gotta mention, so Nana’s color is yellow and giraffe’s are yellow and brown and bananas have those colors too right? Well Nana does have brown on her, in her stage outfit her boots are brown and she’s the only Stage Girl with brown boots. Ex: Mahiru, Maya, Junna. That’s…pretty wild man.

-As for Nana’s role with the auditions, here’s what I’m thinking. In the stage musical Hikari is working for the antagonist/the system at the start. I'm wondering then if in the anime Nana is the one alined with the system? That's why she can go to the underground stage whenever. She's its enforcer so to speak, and she doesn't do this out of malice but because she's so scared of change and wants to preserve the past so badly that she is willing to do whatever it takes to push the Starlight play back where she wants it. Even if that means knocking down whoever is in the way of that.

For quite sometime now, Karen has been openly defying the system and in this episode it was legit used by Futaba and Kaoruko to vent and sort out their relationship. But that's not how its supposed to go, so Nana is here to set it back on course. She'll be fighting Karen to do just that cause it really did all start with her, take Karen down and bam problem solved. I was wondering when the system will start getting tired of Karen's open rebelling and I think that time is very very soon. Ah poor Nana, hope she'll be ok by the end.

-We are halfway through this show and we’ve established a solid status quo, we know all the girls pretty well. We've seen them happy, understand their relationships and all. So when a show does this you know what that means? It means it’s time to break the status quo! Most shows/storied have a tipping point, where everything goes to hell in a handbasket. And I think for revue starlight, episode 7 is that tipping point! The odd end credits, the odd end card, the Fly me to the Stars thing, and the fact that the Japanese Revue Starlight twitter didn’t post a preview video is what is telling me this. If I were writing this then I’d chose episode 7 or 8 as the tipping point. The build up leading to this has been very excellent! I’m very nervous/excited because since episode one there has always been a ominous feeling, like there's something dark and nasty lurking behind the scenes and we’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I think it’s dropping next episode. Are we ready for it? Uh, I dunno. I’m flipping man, I haven’t felt this energized about an anime in awhile! Like, man. Dude. Omg.

>*Jaws theme intensifies*

Loved the episode! It was lovely in every way! But, this post is shorter than usual because of the incoming episode. I can’t get my mind off of it, gdi I want it to air asap! But, gotta wait. Soon!

See you on the Banana stage in episode 7!

[vigilantdistressed-pretendwriter]

School!AU - Part 4 (Final Part)

A/N: This is the final part in this mini-series. I’m sorry its taken so long to post. I’ve been a bit scared to post this as I don’t feel it is as good as the rest of the story. The ending is a bit odd to me but I don’t know how else to write it without it being even worse than what it currently is. Also. Thank you to all those who just recently started following me and those who have noticed the start of this series. It really means a lot to me. It isn’t much compared to other blogs but to me, it means the world. All those who asked to be tagged will be at the bottom. If you want to be added to a general tag list, please let me know. I’m not a mind reader. If anyone is interested in sharing this series with friends or other fans, I will be making a master post for all my stories soon and I will tag anyone who wants to be tagged on that as well.

Word count: 2319

Warnings: This part has a lot of time jumps. A lot of death mention. Sadness. Loss. (If I’ve missed any, please let me know.)

MasterPost

“Fine. Take him. You’ll find in a few weeks that you won’t want him.”

Those words haunted Roman for months. He was worried that Patton might decide that he didn’t want Roman after all. Who would want a troubled teenager? But Patton never wanted to lose Roman. 

Every Saturday was Movie day. They would build a fort in the lounge and watch Disney movies every Saturday. Then Sundays would be a work day. They would clean the house in the mornings then Roman would do homework in the afternoons while Patton searched for a job. Then once Patton found a Job, He had school hours and Sunday afternoon at work. It fit them perfectly. Then Virgil joined them. Turns out, Patton and Virgil had been crushing on each other for a while and Patton had spoken to Virgil about his feeling one afternoon and Virgil admitted that he felt the same way. They were happy. But Roman was still haunted by his past. He tried to never mess up. He tried so hard to be perfect. He knew Patton and Virgil would never hurt him but he couldn’t help it.

It was noticeable that Roman was getting better. He participated in school. He didn't stay after school as much. (He stayed when Virgil had a meeting or some work to do at the school.) He had started wearing short sleeved tops. It was so different from the Roman that Patton had first met. But Patton loved Roman no matter who he was. Patton was proud of Roman. Roman was strong when Patton would’ve crumpled. Roman was brave when Patton would’ve hidden. Patton was proud of Roman.

Virgil proposed to Patton while the family was away on holiday 4 years later. Patton had immediately accepted. Roman had seen the whole thing. He was happy for his dads but was worried about what would happen. 

He had seen old pictures of his real parents. They were so happy before they got married. Then they started living together and got married. they had changed. you could see it in their photos. He didn’t want his new family to be like that. Although he was eighteen and it had been four years, it still scared him. He still woke during the night, crying from phantom pains where he had been hit. He still had nights where, no matter what, he couldn’t sleep for fear that something would hurt him in his sleep. No matter how much time passed and no matter how safe he felt he was still scared. Snuggle parties usually helped and Patton was always happy to snuggle with Roman. But those nights, up late in his room, looking through his old things. He would cry. He was a silent crier but Virgil always knew when Roman was upset. Virgil would go into Romans room and hold him, whispering reassuring words into his ear. At nineteen, Roman moved away from home to go to college. He seemed to be doing a lot better at that time but Patton and Virgil still worried that he could relapse and he wouldn't tell them. They knew Roman didn't always want to tell them when he was having a bad day as he had grown up now and didn't need hugs as much. But he always craved hugs from his dads. 

College was scary for Roman. Everyone seemed to know each other. Roman didn’t know anyone. He found out his Roommate had dropped out a few days before he got there. that left him in a room alone. He hated being alone. Whenever Roman left his dorm room, he had headphones on so no one would talk to him. But there was something about his mathematics teacher that seemed familiar. Mr Sanders. It was one afternoon a couple months after that start of school when he finally figured it out.

“Roman. Could you stay behind after class please.” He had called out one lesson. Roman was working himself up all class. Was he in trouble? was he failing the class? had something happened to his dads? He was just getting more and more worried during the class. Soon enough, the class ended and Roman stayed in his seat as everyone else left. Roman slowly made his way to the front of the class.

“It’s nice to see you again, Roman. I suppose Patton managed to steal you from those people?”

The confusion must have been obvious on his face as the teacher then explained himself.

“I am Mr Sanders or Mr L from your last school.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry sir. I didn’t recognise you. I haven’t seen you in years.” Roman clicked.

“It’s quite alright, Roman. I didn’t expect you to remember me. I left a few years ago.”

“Yea. Oh. And Patton did manage to steal me. Along with Virgil. Or dad and pa.” Roman informed.

“Oh. They finally realised they both felt the same way. That’s good. Their relationship doesn’t bother you at all does it, Roman?”

“No, Sir. Anyway. I’ve been falling behind in some of my classes. I must go back to my room and study. Nice seeing you again, Sir.” Roman said before walking out the door.

When he got back to his dorm, he messaged Patton, as he did every afternoon after classes. 

***

“We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Patton Sanders. A beloved father, husband, son and friend to many.”

Roman couldn’t hear anything else that was being said. He gripped onto his boyfriend’s arm tightly and cried silently into his shoulder. Roman knew he would have to say goodbye to his dad one day but he wasn’t ready. He hadn’t gotten married yet. They still had to watch the new Disney movies together on Saturdays. He couldn’t be gone.

Roman cried harder and his boyfriend, Thomas, wrapped his arms around him.

“It’s okay, Babe. Just breathe. I’m here for you.” Thomas whispered little comments in his ear and it calmed Roman a little bit.

Roman had chosen not to say anything at the funeral as he knew he wouldn’t be able to but he had written a speech. Thomas had offered to read it for Roman and, after much debating with himself, Roman agreed. Thomas moved to get up and Roman, not wanting to let go, went up with him.

Thomas read the speech on Roman’s behalf while Roman stood there, still crying. When they left the stage, Roman didn’t go back to his seat. He walked out the side door. Thomas made a move to follow but Virgil held him back.

“Just let him have a few minutes alone. He needs it. Trust me.” Virgil whispered. 

Five minutes passed. Then Ten. Then Thirty. Roman still hadn’t come back in. The ceremony was coming to a close. Logan, who was sitting near the young boys, got up, ignored Virgil’s urgent whispering, and went into the side room to see Roman as a complete wreck. He was crying, his hands were bloody as if he had been punching the stone walls. Roman was now just a lump on the floor. He shook with silent sobs. Logan neared the boy and placed a gentle hand on his back. Roman looked up at Logan. 

“You don’t have to say anything. I understand how you are feeling, Roman. The ceremony is almost over so you will have to leave this room soon.  Would you like me to stay with you?” Logan had lowered his teacher wall and treated Roman as more than a student now. All Roman could do was nod at his former teacher. Logan wrapped Roman in his arms and held the crying boy, finally letting his own tears out too. 

Logan was listening to what was going on in the main church area so he knew when to go back out. Hearing the final words of the ceremony, he got up. Roman had stopped crying by now. It looked almost as if he had stopped trying to feel anything. 

“The ceremony is over now, Roman. We have to go back out. Are you ready?”

“Yea. I guess.” Roman said.

Logan led Roman back into the church and over to Thomas. Thomas held Roman close as he thanked Logan.

“Thank you.” was all Thomas could say. Thomas gently led Roman out of the church with Virgil in tow.

“Virgil. I apologise for ignoring your calls but he was hurting in there. He needed someone there.”

“it’s alright. I was just worried that something would go wrong. Like he would attack you or something." 

Logan offered a small smile to Virgil to which Virgil couldn’t give back. 

"It’s ok to break, Virgil. You don’t have to hide your tears because of Roman. I can look after the boys if you need some time alone?” Logan offered.

“I need them. I’m sorry Logan but I need them. Without them, I might just go insane.” Virgil responded.

“Okay. Well. You know I’m here, always. I’ll help in whatever way I can.” Those words coming from Logan meant so much more than those words coming from anyone else right now.

“Thank you,” Virgil said before walking off after the young boys.

Roman was sitting on his bed, not moving. Thomas had gone out for work a couple hours before and had left Roman home alone. It had been a few years and Roman was doing okay. But today was the day. On this day, four years ago, Roman got a phone call from Virgil.

*Flashback*

“Roman. Please. Stay calm. Breathe. Sit down somewhere if you can. Remember that we both love you.”

“What’s going on, Pa?” Roman laughed a bit at how his Pa was acting.

“There’s someone in the house. I’m not sure where Dad is. I know that he’s in the house somewhere. I think the person has a weapon. Just remember that we both love you so much. I’m sorry for the urgent call. But we love you, Roman.”

“I love you too, Pa. Oh, God. I love you so much. Please don’t leave me, Pa.” Roman was trying not to cry at this point. He had left the class to answer his phone and was now sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, in the hallway.

“I’ll stay on the line, Roman. I promise.”

A scream came through the line but was quickly cut off.

“Patton! Patton! Are you ok!?” Virgil was yelling now. 

“Pa. What’s going on?”

“That was Patton’s scream. Patton!” Virgil had found Patton, bleeding, on the floor in the living room. He threw his phone down and tried to find the source of the bleeding.

“Is tha… that Roman? ‘n the phone?” He breathed out.

“Yea. It is. Do you want to talk to him?” Virgil knew Patton wasn’t going to make it. 

“Yea,” Patton whispered. Virgil grabbed the phone and held it to Patton’s ear.

“Dad. I love you so much. I love you.” Roman sobbed through the phone.

“I love you too, Kiddo. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that this is ho- Ahhh- This is how I say goodbye.”

“Please, Dad. Hold on. Please. You can’t die."  Roman cried through the phone.

"I’m sorry, Kiddo.” Virgil moved the phone away from Patton’s ear, knowing Patton didn’t want Roman to hear him die through the phone.

“I’ll call you when I can Roman. I’m going to hang up now. I love you.” He didn’t wait for Roman to reply before he hung up. Virgil turned to Patton on the floor.

“I love you so much, Virgil. Remember that. Please.”

“I love you too, Patton. I will.” Tears were running down both men’s faces now. Patton smiled up at Virgil the closed his eyes and let out one final breath.

*End of flashback*

Roman glanced over at the picture on his bedside table. It was taken on the first Disney marathon Saturday after the wedding. Patton and Virgil were holding each other while Roman sat on their laps. Thomas had taken the picture as he was at their house for the weekend. Thomas and Roman were not going out at that time.

Roman let the tears fall as he stared at the image. After a few minutes of just staring and crying, he lied down. He had accepted that he wasn’t going to be productive today. His phone ringing filled the silence of the room. Looking at his phone, Virgil’s image appeared on the screen. Roman answered.

“Hey.” He didn’t try to hide the sadness in his voice. He knew Virgil was feeling down today as well.

“You want me there with you today? or do you just want to be alone?” He asked.

“Can you come over, please? I can’t be alone today." 

"On my way, Hun,” Virgil replied before hanging up. Virgil was pulling up in Romans driveway a few minutes later. Roman didn’t bother getting up to open the door. He knew Virgil had a key. 

“Hey,” Virgil said as he walked into the bedroom.

“Hi, Pa.” Roman sounded like a little kid again.

“Come here.” Virgil sat down on the bed and opened his arms. Roman crawled onto his father’s lap and cried. They both cried together over their lost family member. 

“I miss him, Pa,” Roman said.

“I miss him too, son,” Virgil whispered. 

The two men cried for hours until they heard a door opening. Finally looking at the time, they realised they had spent the whole day like that. Thomas walked into the bedroom to see Virgil and Roman sitting on the bed. Without saying anything, Thomas walked over. He hugged Virgil from behind and then placed a kiss on Romans head. He then left the two men as he went to go make dinner. Thomas knew what today was. He tried to understand how Roman was feeling. He knew he had to be careful with everything as Roman was a bit delicate this week. 

Tag-list:

@imasmallchild  @cryingbecauseilovethesides  @dreamsshadowwashere  @ruuworld  @fandersfic-logicality 

[fatesinthenight]

The Egos and a Baby (part 5)

"There you go nice and clean now. Much better." Katherine rinsed off the last of the soap from Lil Bub. She lifted her up in a soft towel. As she dried her up Amy came in the bathroom with a clean onesie. "Good as new. And I got this cute pink onesie with bunny feet." Amy smiled and waited for Katherine to finish drying the baby. "I can't believe this sweetheart was left alone. And who in the right mind thought this was the best house to leave her in." Katherine pondered. Lil Bub began to snuggle the towel. "Well I'm just glad the boys didn't do anything dangerous with her... Yet that is." Amy was so grateful for that. "True. At least I stopped Willford from coming in the bathroom. Once he heard there will be bubbles the wanted to take a bath too." Katherine sighed. "You know it was coming he loves bubbles." Amy put Lil Bub in the onesie. "Awwwwww she is so cute in this. It has a lil hood with bunny ears." There was a knock on the door. "You can come in." Amy said. "Ummm is everyone decent." Bim poked his head in the bathroom with his hand covering his eyes. "Yes Bim it's ok." Katherine chuckles. Bim uncovers his eyes and instantly melts. "Awwwwwww she is so cute!!! Amy where did get it?" "Well when Dark called I didnt believe him until I got a picture of everyone with the baby. Since I was home With Katherine we went out to but some baby stuff. BabiesRUs has really cute clothes." "I can't believe he called you." Bim said. "His exact words were ' Get over here now they decided to adopt a baby and I don't want to deal with it' so yea we had to get here fast." Amy stood up bouncing Lil Bub. "If anything we trust you more to take care of a baby than the others." Katherine patted Bim's head. "We all tried but well you know it is in here." Bim scratched his head. The three of them walked out the bathroom to the living room. There the Egos were all sitting around. Dark however was still in shock and decided to stay in his room. "Is that a pink little bunny!!! Gimme Gimme!!!" Willford stood up and held out his hands wanting to hold Lil Bub. "O no you don't. Only if you unarm yourself." Katherine gave Will a look. "Fine..." Willford tossed out 3 guns and 2 blades. "Is that everything." Katherine stared Will down. Willford tossed out 5 hidden guns and 10 blades. "Ok I'm clean. Please please please!!!" Amy gave Lil Bub to Willford. Lil Bub looked back at Amy and started to speak. "Mm..mmmm. Mamma." Lil Bub smiled. "What?" Amy blushed. "Dadda" Lil Bub looked up at Willford. "Awwwwww look we are parents. Isn't that great Amy." Willford put and arm around Amy. "Willford Warfstache if you make any moves toward me I will hurt you" Amy gave Will a look that said yea no. "Amy!! You shouldn't break up a family." Willford made a pouty face. "Last I remember Amy's only child is Chica." Katherine said. "And she called me mamma too when I gave her a bath. I guess she calls everyone mamma and Dadda. Don't you lil cutie." Katherine tickled Lil Bub's belly. She giggles and saids "mamma" to Katherine. "Now Katherine is in the family!" Will put his arm around Katherine. "If I'm going to be a parent with someone I chose Bim." Katherine said. "That hurts me Katherine.." Willford makes a sad face. "Really?" Bim blushes. "Your a cinnamon roll and the most sane in the house." Katherine said. Bim smiled brightly. Then Lil Bub made a pouty face. "What's wrong lil bunny." Willford lifted her up. Lil Bub's pouty face lasted a while then she stopped. It was then that Amy realize what happened. "Someone needs a change." Amy said. "Ummm then here you go." Willford gave Lil Bub to Amy. "Really? What happened to being a good parent Will." Amy said sarcastically. "Well I ummm... Doesn't the mom usually do that part?" Willford takes a step back hands up. "Men have changed a diaper before. It looks simple enough." Google's eyes glows as he does a fast search. "Then you do it." Willford looks at Google. "No thank you." Google saids instantly. "I'm not brave enough for this kind of mission..." Silver saids. "Don't look at me! I ain't know how to do that." Ed turned away. "Have Host do it." "The Host reminds Ed that he is blind and cannot do so even if he tried." Host sighed. "I will help if you need it." Bim volunteers. "See this is why Bim gets to play dad. Ok come on let's go change her." Katherine, Amy, and Bim leave to change Lil Bub. "Bim upstaging me!" Willford picked up his blade and threw it at the wall. It got stuck. "No one upstages me. Let me at it!" Willford cracks his neck and storms off after them. "Well that's one way to get him to do something." Ed watches Will storm off. " Willford is a showman. If he feels someone is better than him then he acts out to become the better one." Host saids. "It has always been like this when Bim gets a time to shine on stage." "True that." Ed leans in his seat. Then someone began to knock hard at the door. "I got it!!" Silver zooms to the door. "Where are they!!" Mark brushes past Silver and walks into the main room. Tyler and Ethan trail behind him. "Mark don't you think of something bad was happening they would let us know?" Tyler saids trying to be rational. "Mark had received a message from Miss Amy that she is here. Mark only focusing on the fact that Dark called her her makes him angry and more so that Katherine was taken to. Am I right?" Host saids facing Tyler. "That sums it up." Tyler saids. "What did he do to them!" Mark yells angrily. " Nothin has been done to the ladies Mark." Ed stands up. "They are fine." "Why were they called here then!" Mark is too mad. "The Host will tell you of the events before you came here." Host tells Mark about how Bim found Lil Bub and the events of losing her then finding her. When he said what happens to Dark that got Mark to snap out of his anger and snicker. "He did." Mark was snickering. "It was quite the sight." Host smiles. "I got some good pictures of it. Make a good price off of these jewels." Ed said holding his phone out with a picture of a still Dark and Lil Bub smiling at him. "Ooo I want one!!!" Ethan jumped. "Wait hold up here. So you guys have been taking care of a baby this whole time." Mark looks at all of them in shock. "We have been going our duty." Silver makes a proud pose. "This baby is going to have issues growing up..." Tyler shakes his head. "You never know. Maybe it with build character?" Ethan tried to be hopeful. "Ok so Amy and Katherine are ok. Then where are they now." Mark looks around the room. "They are doing a dangerous mission currently that requires great strength..." Silver said dramatically. "They are changing the baby's diaper. With the assistance of Bim Trimmer and Willford Warfstache." Host saids. "Willford is helping... I understand Bim but Willford really?" Mark was surprised. "Not that's a picture I need too." Ethan laughed. The door opens again and Dr.iplier walks in. "O we have guests." "Doc where the hell have you been this whole time!" Ed asks. "If you must know as a responsible doctor I am I went to get some tools so I can do an exam on the baby." The doctor held out a bag. "Wait you know about Lil Bub?" Silver asks. "Lil Bub?" Dr.iplier looks confused. "It was Willford's idea." Google said. "Like Chica?" Mark questioned. "Anyway Dark came into my room and told me of a child in the house. He told me I should check on it so we don't have child protective services running here. I came into the living room to find Will, Bim, Google, and the baby asleep. I carefully left without disturbing you and went to get baby approved tools to examine her. Took longer than I thought." The doctor said. Then the others walled in the room after changing Lil Bub. "Mark, Ethan, Tyler wha are you doing here?" Amy said holding the baby. "Amy I was worried something was going to happen to you and Katherine." Mark walked up to Amy and then looks down at Lil Bun in her arms. Lil Bub looks up at him and smiles. "Dadda." "Hu?" Mark looks up at Amy. "Ummm I don't remember becoming a father unless your hiding a secret baby from me." "Mark no. She has been calling all the guys that. She calls Katherine and I mamma too." Amy said. "Really? Well someone has a lot of dads hu?" Mark gives Lil Bun his hand and she takes his finger and holds it. She smiles up at Mark. "Dadda. Mamma." She giggles. Mark and Amy look up at each other and blush. Ed takes many pictures of them. "This is gold." Ed smiles. "Sorry lil baby we technically have a child together but she runs on all fours and is very fluffy." Mark laughs. "Well now that's settled I need to take the baby and give her a check up." Dr.iplier saids professionally. Amy hands Lil Bub to him and he blushed for a second when Lil Bub called him Dadda. Bim goes with them with Willford on his heels. Katherine makes her was there to keep an eye on the Egos. "Willford is trying to win best dad. It's kind of cute. He tried to change Lil Bub but once he took the diaper off he gagged and Bim did it." Amy laughed. "I would pay good money to have seen that." Mark said. "I knew you would say that so I took a video of it when he wasn't looking." Amy took out her phone and did a cute evil laugh. "That's my girl." Mark held Amy playfully. Back in Dr.ipliers office he was finishing the last of the check up. "Is she ok Doc?" Willford asked. "She seems to be healthy. But she does require a shot." Dr.iplier said as he took notes on a clipboard. "A shot?" Bim looked worried. "Can a baby get a shot?" "Bim all babies get shots. It's normal." Katherine said. "I'm going to need someone to hold her." Dr.iplier already prepared the shot. "Your not going to poke her with that." Willford had a blade out. "Will she needs it. Don't worry I know what I'm doing. I will be fast." The doctor said calmly. Katherine held Lil Bub and the doctor gave her a shot. Lil Bub started to cry afterword a little loud. Dr.iplier got out a band-aid and placed it on the spot. "See all done." The doctor kisses the spot he placed the shot at on her foot. "All better now ok." He brushes Lil Bub's tears with his thumb gently. Lil Bub whimpers for a little then stops. She looks at the Doc and holds her arms out to him. He picks her up and softly rubs her back while rocking side to side hushing her. "There there you did a good job. I would give you a lollipop but your not big yet for one." He looks up to find Katherine,Bim, and Willford staring at him. "What?" The doctor asks. "Wow I didn't know this side of you." Katherine said smiling. "Well she is a baby and it's only right that she should be felt comfortable afterword. Any great doctor as myself would know this. Part of the job." The doctor tried to hide a blush. "Bim I might change my answer to the doctor here." Katherine said. "Awwww man really." Bim pouted. "First Bim and now Doc... What's a guy got to do around here to be best dad!" Willford said falling to his knees dramatically. "You can be the fun dad. That counts right?" Bim pats Willford's shoulder. "Of course!! Bim you smart scamp!" Will stands up and smacks Bim's back. "Why do you encourage him... Ok Then let's get this little girl back." Katherine heads out the door with the others behind. Once they get there Mark looks annoyed. "Something wrong Mark?" Bim walks up to Mark. "Well it just so happens a thunderstorm just started and the rain is coming down hard. That means we are all stuck here. Chica is alone at home though..." Mark looks out the window and it is completely dark and the rain is coming fast. "I don't want Chica alone too..." Amy worries. "I got this!!" Willford jumps into his pink portal and comes back in a flash with a tail wagging Chica in his arms. "Looks like we are having a super mega sleepover!!'" Willford saids enthusiastically.

[sakaisgf]

A Tag Game

Tagged by @jaywalkingmylifeaway yes im FINALLY getting to this and thank you~!!!

LAST TEXT SENT: “Did you guys get a late start again?” to my dad hehe.

LIST THREE FAVOURITE COLOURS: Black, gray, and blue. WHAT TIME DID YOU WAKE UP TODAY: I have no clue because my phone was dead. WHAT WERE YOU DOING LAST NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT: playing games. NAME SOMETHING YOU CAN’T WAIT FOR: The day I’m free of my high school.  WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAW YOUR MOTHER: About... two hours ago?

ONE THING YOU WISH YOU COULD CHANGE ABOUT YOUR LIFE: I wanna eat better and be happier. WHAT’S GETTING ON YOUR NERVES RN: Nothing at the moment... FAVORITE TV SHOWS: I haven’t watched tv in a while soo. FIRST BEST FRIEND: Juliet. I lost contact with her. LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW: I paused on ‘Interlude: Wings’ by BTS 3 FEARS: The dark, being alone, and death 4 TURN ON’S: a nice smile, pretty eyes, sense of humor, having a passion for something <-- same 4 TURN OFF’S: Arrogance, being judgemental, constant negativity, being an asshole/dick in general <-- truth. SEXUAL ORIENTATION: never thought about it. SENIOR YEAR QUOTE IN MY YEAR BOOK: Not a senior yet... but I;d probably  put “We’re free” or somethin FIRST THING I NOTICE IN A NEW PERSON: Their face and eyes (i feel so bad aghd) SHOE SIZE: ... I still fit in childrens’ EYE COLOR: Brown HAIR COLOR: Dark brown but it kinda looks black. FAVORITE ITEM OF CLOTHING: Don’t really have one because I have a boring af wardrobe thanks to my school. WHAT COLOR UNDERWEAR I’M WEARING RN: black ULTIMATE BIAS: Uh. Don’t have one. ULTIMATE BIAS GROUP: VIXX (If savi sees this pls dont yell at me (she’d say its DMTN which isnt a lie haha)) FAVORITE SEASON: Fall or Spring <-- saaame HOW MUCH TIME I SPENT ON DESIGNING MY BLOG: Can’t remember it was SO long ago... I gotta change it. THE REASON I JOINED TUMBLR: I wanted to see what it was like to have one. <--- same but also just because. DO I EVER GET “GOOD MORNING” OR “GOODNIGHT “ TEXTS: Nop #foreveralone (if im talking to my friend we say ‘night’ does that count?) WHEN DID I LAST HOLD HANDS?: Erm. I think last Friday.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE ME TO GET READY IN THE MORNING?: On a good day it takes me 20 minutes. If we’re talking about getting to school and stuff its like 30-45 minutes.

HAVE I SHAVED MY LEGS IN THE PAST THREE DAYS?: I don’t have to soo... WHERE AM I RIGHT NOW?: my bedroom <--- 

DO I LIKE MUSIC LOUD OR AT A REASONABLE LEVEL?: Define loud. my friends say that I have my music loud and I normally hear it at that level soo. 3 THINGS I LOVE: My friends, music, and food (im kidding about the last one. I really mean animals.) HOW I FEEL RIGHT NOW: tired <-- same SOMETHING I REALLY, REALLY WANT: Final Fantasy XV (no joke that game is hella prettyy)

3 THINGS THAT UPSET ME: Bossiness, ... I cant think of any others right now. WHAT I FIND ATTRACTIVE IN OTHER PEOPLE: Their smile, how well they treat their love ones, their fashion sense (also same…lol) <-- same. Also find it attractive when a guy smells super good (just me?) <-- no you arent alone,  3 HABITS I HAVE: cracking my knuckles, i dont know honestly.... SOMETHING I FANTASIZE ABOUT: being on stage with got7 playing a game.. (same). Meeting any of my bias and actually holding a conversation with them, hanging out with any of my bias…you know normal fangirl stuff lmao. <-- same. SOMETHING I’M TALENTED AT: Dancing THE BLOG I GIVE THE MOST NOTES TO: I have no clue... THE LAST PERSON THAT RE-BLOGGED SOMETHING FROM ME: I’ve been gone too long and the person who did doesn’t really use tumblr anymore sooo DO I SMOKE/DRINK?: no. MY FAVORITE FOOD: Mac n Cheese, Pasta, Cheeseburgers, Ramen, I just like food okay? MY FAVORITE DESSERT: Ice cream, mochi ice cream, shakes (does this count) (limited because I can’t really handle a lot of sweets at once), anything with ice cream. WHAT I DID YESTERDAY: Typed a 5 par. essay that was due wednesday, did nothing in class, I went to dance where we added on more stuff to our recital dance.... and I slept. Oh I also added more songs to my phone heheee NUMBER OF KIDS I WANT: No clue. NUMBER OF SIBLINGS I HAVE: I don’t know if I have any biological siblings. SOMETHING THAT’S CONSTANTLY ON MY MIND: How to survive school, scenarios, my friends. LAST PERSON I MESSAGED ON TUMBLR: A person I don’t wanna tag. CAN I DRIVE: yaas WHAT STATE OR PART OF THE WORLD DO I LIVE IN?: America <-- specifically a desert. AM I IN SCHOOL? yep, junior in high school/duel enrollment student in college. DO I GET GROSSED OUT EASILY? It depends. SOMEWHERE I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT FOR A WEEK: South Korea, Japan, other states in America, Europe in general. If I could I would travel to a lot of places. <-- same. I just wanna travel the world guys. I’LL LOVE YOU IF…: you’re there for me, you don’t push things onto me, you give me space when I need it. LAST SHOW I BINGE-WATCHED: Uh. KNK TV. I’m thinking about binge-watching Shopping King Louis over break tho....

WHAT WORDS UPSET ME THE MOST: I don’t really know................ WHAT WORDS MAKE ME FEEL THE BEST ABOUT MYSELF: “you’re pretty” “you’re a great friend” “thanks for being there for me” “I love you” <--- THIS. A WISH THAT I’VE WISHED FOR REPEATEDLY ON 11:11: This is a thing? Never knew. WHO I WOULD SWITCH LIVES WITH FOR A DAY: got7′s stylist noonas <— girl me too, I didn’t even think about this but yas lol <--- tbh thooo.

MY FAVORITE ICE CREAM: Mint and vanilla. ALLERGIES: None that I know of. SEXIEST PERSON TO COME TO MY MIND IMMEDIATELY: All of my biases. MY CHILDHOOD CAREER CHOICE: A dancer. ONE OF MY INSECURITIES: My body. HOW MANY BLOGS AM I FOLLOWING: 147

HOW MANY TABS/DIFFERENT WINDOWS DO I HAVE OPEN AT THIS VERY MOMENT: 11 ._. COKE OR PEPSI?: I don’t like either of em....... TEA OR COFFEE?: Tea. Coffee is poison. MOVIE OR BOOK?: Book. A SENSE I WOULD BE WILLING TO LOSE: Speech <-- same. QUOTE I LIVE BY: “Don’t give attention to what people say about you. They probably want a quality that you have.” TYPE OF ACCESSORY I WEAR THE MOST: Nothing right now.... I love bracelets tho! LAST AWKWARD SITUATION I FOUND MYSELF IN: Can’t remember WHAT TIME IS IT RIGHT NOW: 10:11PM A SONG THAT’S MADE ME CRY: The song translates to ‘How Much Love Do You Have In Your Wallet’ by Park Yoochun from JYJ  FIRST SONG I EVER SUNG AT KARAOKE: Never done karaoke.

I won’t be tagging anyone. As always feel free to do this!

[esther-aria]

The Incendiary Destruction of Cynthia Jameson

AMY MULLINS A woman in her early 30s. Her dark hair is cut into a sleek, fashionable bob. She has an aura of put-togetherness and always appears to be in control of her actions and responses.

MEHGHA RAO Amy’s co-worker.. Slightly younger than Amy, she has wild waves that are almost contained into a low ponytail. Her personality is much more spastic than Amy’s. She is full of an unending energy and is never really able to sit still.

STELLA CONROY A woman in her late 40s. She has a slight Irish accent. Her hair is graying and tied up in a furiously high bun. She has severe spectacles perched on the edge of her nose and appears to be in a constant state of complaint.

SCENE 1

(Lights up on a living room. The room is a simple tri-fold, with a large back wall. There are two doorways which are simply large rectangles cut into the wall, no doors or doorframes. One doorway is along the stage right wall and the other is on the stage left side of the back wall. There is a short couch against the stage left wall and a simple table and two straight-backed chairs along the back wall on stage right. Amy is standing center stage, facing the audience)

AMY

Cynthia Jameson’s job was her entire life. And I do mean that, her entire life. She always kept an extra set of clothes at the office in case she ended up staying the night working. She kept more of her personal items at work than she did at her apartment. We always would joke about the fact that if the office went up in flames, everyone would lose a few personal affects, but Jameson would lose her life. At last year’s Christmas party, some of the secretaries on the third floor got a bit too tipsy and tried getting into her office, you should’ve seen her spitting flames. And what happened to those secretaries. Marion Agyeman is the only one who still has a job here. And that’s because her uncle’s one of the higher-ups and Jameson wouldn’t dare touch her.

There’s not a person in our office without some degree of fear towards Jameson. She blackmails, threatens, ruins lives, all in the name of making our company better. Of protecting the reputation of this firm. Well, she’d screwed with enough lives in my opinion. And I decided it was time for something to be done about it.

SCENE 2

(Lights up on the living room. AMY and MEHGHA are sitting, cross-legged on the floor in center stage playing a game of Yahtzee. They are both in business clothes and a large briefcase lies downstage of AMY.)

AMY

Your turn.

MEHGHA

(She rolls the dice)

Dang it! I already got the full house.

AMY

You can try going for 5s, you haven’t done that yet.

(Pause)

So what do you think?

MEHGHA

May as well, right? No point in going for 2s again…

AMY

No! Not that. The other thing.

MEHGHA

(Laughs)

Amy. Please. I’m not nearly drunk enough for us to talk about that.

AMY

We’re not drinking.

MEHGHA

Exactly! Could you remind me why that is again?

AMY

(Grabs the dice and shakes them)

Because, if we decide to torch Jameson’s office, I want the decision to have been made when we’re both completely sober. I would want to remember every glorious detail of it.

MEHGHA

If we torch Jameson’s office—and granted that’s a big if since we haven’t even begun to talk logistics yet—I want to be completely smashed. Out of my mind. Eyes rolling back. Mouth drooling. The whole ugly affair.

AMY

(Rolls)

Well that’s just rotten luck.

(Grabs all of them back to roll again)

MEHGHA

Yeah, once you’ve used up all your straights, it’s just pathetic hopping from one number to the next, you know?

Anyways. Say we’re able to get all the supplies, right? Even get transportation up to the building. Even buy some sick ninja night gear and black paint to smear on our faces. There’s still the matter of getting IN to the office! I think you’re missing the big problem with security here.

AMY

Stella will cover that.

STELLA

(Yelling from off-stage)

Like hell I will! There’s not a bleeding chance in Maine of my helping the two of you with this mad plan you’ve got.

MEHGHA

Oh stuff it, Stella! We know you hate Jameson just as much as we do.

STELLA

(Enters through the doorway on the back wall. Still in her work clothes as well, she’s holding some computer cords in her hands and occasionally waves them around to emphasize her points)

Look here. I hate Cynthia Jameson with every fiber of my being. That woman’s had something coming to her since she stepped off that train from Hicksville, Wyoming. But if you think for a hot second that I’m gonna stick my neck out there to help you, then you have another think coming.

AMY

You’ll help us, Stella.

(Passes the dice to Mehgha who begins to roll)

STELLA

Yes, Miss Amy? And why would that be?

And Mehgha, for goodness sake, don’t go for a large straight! You haven’t a prayer.

MEHGHA

Well then which?

STELLA

Shoot for the threes I guess. They don’t matter a lot in the top count anyways.

MEHGHA

Of course they matter! I got a crappy 10 on my 5s, I need a good 3 to get the bonus!

STELLA

Whatever, lady. It’s your funeral.

Now, Amy. Enlighten me, please, about whatever ethereal force it is that will cause me to help you.

AMY

Steven.

STELLA

(Hard)

Leave him out of this.

MEHGHA

What? What about Steven?

STELLA

It’s none of your business. Either of you.

MEHGHA

Come on! Tell me! It can’t be th—

STELLA

I said it’s none of your business. Look, I just came over here to snag an HDMI cord since I can’t seem to find mine anywhere and, now I’m gonna be on my merry way. It was a mistake coming here in the first place. I should’ve seen through you offering to lend me yours.

AMY

Stella don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t invite you here to trap you into anything.

(STELLA snorts)

I mean it. If you’re not comfortable with this, I don’t want to pressure you into anything. It just… it seemed to me that you had more reason to want to dethrone Jameson than any of us. I know Stev—

STELLA

That’s enoug—

MEHGHA

Please just tell me!

(A beat. The three look at each other, tense)

AMY

I know Steven is important. I know you don’t want to do anything to jeopardize your job or put him at risk. But isn’t what Jameson did… didn’t—wasn’t that worse than anything a backlash from this could cause? I mean, I have a lot less incentive than you do—I mean I only would have lost my job if she’d managed to convince Liu that I’d actually messed up those tax forms—and I can’t bear the thought of sitting here and letting her continue on without any backlash for the things she does!

STELLA

Not going to pressure me, huh?

AMY

You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry. I just want you to realize that you’re not alone in this. She’s hurt everyone. Me, Mehgha, even Mehgha’s family… I just want—

STELLA

I’ll think about it. I’ll bring you your cord at work tomorrow, yea?

AMY

That would be wonderful. Thank you, Stella.

(Stella exits)

MEHGHA

Well I still don’t get it.

AMY

The point is, Mehgha, that Jameson’s office won’t be standing for much longer. Now come on, three more rolls then we’re heading to Lowe’s for supplies.

MEHGHA

Alright, alright. But after that can we buy booze?

(Lights)

SCENE 3

(Dim lighting in the living room, it’s clearly nighttime. The room is empty until we hear a heavy pounding on the door. There’s a pause and then more pounding. Mehgha enters nervously, wearing pajamas, through the backstage door, baseball bat in hand)

MEHGHA

(Quietly. The person pounding clearly would not be able to hear her)

Wh--- who’s there?

(More pounding)

I said who’s there?

(Pound pound)

Who is it!

(Amy enters—also in pajamas--and briskly walks past Mehgha towards the door)

AMY

Don’t be ridiculous, Mehgha. It’s only Stella.

MEHGHA

Huh? How do you—

(The sound of a door opening. Then Amy reenters with Stella behind her. Stella is still in her business clothes from earlier that day, though her hair has fallen out of her bun slightly from hard thinking)

AMY

So you’ve decided? [STELLA nods]  You’re sure about this Stella? I mean it’s a big risk we’re taking.

STELLA

Oh stuff it, Mullins. You knew you’d get me in on this the second you mentioned Steven. So now you’ve won. You’ve got me in. What exactly do you need from me?

AMY

Well mostly just getting us past the security measures, like Mehgha said. I’m hopeless at technology and, well, as head of the technology department I figured you’d be able to handle that.

STELLA

I could figure something out pretty quickly. And Gregor and I had a thing a couple years ago. He showed off a lot of the equipment to me when he found out I was such a tech junkie.

AMY

Perfect. That’s better than anything we could have hoped for. And really, Stella, you don’t have to do any of the actual dirty work. I wouldn’t want to get you any more involved than you need to be.

STELLA

Oh no, don’t try that. I said I’m in and I mean it, I’m all in. All the way down to lighting the match.

MEHGHA

(She’s been standing throughout this entire conversation in the same position, baseball bat raised, mouth slightly open in confusion. She’s attempted entering the conversation several times, unable to get a word in until--)

Now—just—hold on! Wait just a second!

AMY

What?

MEHGHA

Ok, now I understand why Amy is doing this. The Tax Form Incident nearly lost her her career. And I know why I’m doing this. Jameson dug up that information about my family’s citizenship problems a few months ago when we had that disagreement over the Millington Files. She got my aunt and uncle deported. But Stella, you’re Jameson’s right hand. She sneezes and you’re there with a tissue to wipe up the mess. And all the five years I’ve been working here, I’ve never seen an iota of dissent from you. What’s changed? Why now?

AMY

Mehgha, Stella doesn’t need to explain her—

STELLA

No, no. You’re right, Mehgha. I probably owe you something of an explanation.

(Beat. Readying herself)

Steven was not always in a mental hospital. He used to live with me, at home, where he belongs. He was never a threat to anyone… he wouldn’t have hurt a fly even if it’d flown into his eye. But, you know, I couldn’t very well leave him home alone. I hired a nanny for him, but every once in a while I’d give her the day off and bring him into work with me. He’d find something to entertain himself and sit on the couch in my office or watch me work. And we’d take lunch together on the lawn out front. He loved watching the cars go around the roundabout, you know? Tried to make a game of it.

You know Jameson had been there for… maybe a year before you joined the company. [To MEHGHA. MEHGHA starts to interrupt but is silenced by a look from AMY] Well, she—she was set against Steven from the minute she met him. Prejudiced wanker. It was one of the days he was there with me in the office and she came in to meet me… He was just being friendly but he got up real close to her and drooled a bit onto her suit jacket and I pulled him away right away, but, I saw it in her eyes. That disgust.

A few more months went by and, well, she tried so hard to stop me from ever being able to bring him in. Tried telling Liu and a few other higher ups that he was a threat or that it was inappropriate for him to be there or some other crap. They came in to talk with me and I assured them that Steven, well like I said, he’d never hurt a fly. I just liked bringing him in to work every once in awhile to give him a change of scenery. And Liu agreed, said it wasn’t a big deal and—like a fool—I thought that’d be the end of it.

MEHGHA

I don’t underst—

AMY

Shh!

STELLA

(Plows on)

One day I left Steven in my office for a meeting. We were just wrapping up when Marion came sprinting into the room telling me that security was coming upstairs to escort Steven away. That he’d apparently had some sort of episode and had attacked Jameson when she came into my office to drop off some papers, stabbed her in the arm with some scissors…

The judge took one look at his history and wouldn’t accept a word I said. It was all “Cynthia Jameson attested to this” “His school records say that” “Your neighbor submitted a complaint about this” and nothing about the circumstances! Nothing about me! Nothing about how taking my son away from me would destroy me! Would leave me empty! Would leave me crying myself to sleep at night every day since!

(Heavy silence. The bat hangs limply at Mehgha’s side. Stella has turned away from them, but neither feel like they should approach her, knowing any comfort they offer is superficial)

So, Mehgha, in answer to your question: Nothing has changed. And to the other, well. I guess I’ve finally found people with the desire and ability to repay Jameson for the hell she’s created in our lives.

MEHGHA

Stella, I—

STELLA

Don’t say you’re sorry. If anything, don’t say you’re sorry.

MEHGHA

No. No not sorry. I was going to say—Stella, I think it’s time we sent that demon of a woman straight to the hell she came from.

STELLA

(Beat)

I’d say there’s little else I’d like more in the world.

AMY

Then why don’t you come in for a cup of tea. And let’s find out how much a one way ticket to Hell is going to cost us.

(There’s a moment. The three of them form an impressive tableau and you can feel in that instance that they will accomplish this incendiary destruction. And Mehgha swings the bat over her shoulder and an arm around Stella and they walk through the back doorway into the kitchen. Amy turns to follow them and pauses, and then with a smirk--)

AMY

Yahtzee.

(Lights)