#there was also a seating area three times bigger next to the theatre called the spotlight. so of course we called it the spotshite

[exquisiteagony]

fuck it here’s what i’ve been working on for the past day or so. it’s 2912 words long

Free periods sucked, regardless of whether there was work to be done or not. They called for extra creativity to alleviate boredom, and they were even worse right after lunch, when they were all full enough they didn’t want to think. Half the time, they’d sit around coming up with stupid dares or bets, especially if the day had been dull, too lazy to come up with anything more interesting and less troublesome.

Joel picked at the vinyl covering the flat surface of the table in the rejectory, yawning and staring longingly at his too-hot coffee. He, Joonas, and Niko always had first class as free periods on Wednesdays, but that didn’t mean their parents let them enjoy lie-ins. Instead, all three of them made their ways to their nearest bus stops, yawning and bleary eyed, and tried not to fall asleep before they could get off and stumble past the school gates. Then it was a short zombie-like shuffle to the rejectory, Joel trying hard not to let he brisk cold wind wake him up properly, and five minutes later he’d be seated at a table with the rest of the gang, tearing apart a blueberry muffin as he waited for his coffee to cool to drinking temperatures. Somehow, he was always the last one to arrive.

Tommi was always first. By the time Joel arrived he was always sipping his drink leisurely - protein shake if he had first period free to go to the gym and coffee when it was regular class - patiently helping Olli with some last-minute homework so his maths teacher didn’t direct him to after school detention again.

Niko was always second to arrive. He was the newest to their little group, and therefore he was still a bit self conscious of his place amongst them, so he’d be chewing on a hash brown like he still thought he might be kicked off their table and pointed in the direction of the music students he’d hung out with only a year ago.

Joonas was third. He was always peppy and cheerful in the mornings, like the sun to Joel’s moon, and Joel never knew how to not be jealous of him for it. Joel didn’t know how to not feel guilty over that, too.

But he did guilt and jealousy well, knew how to wear them like a second skin.

Olli made it just minutes before Joel did, always in a rush to get his beloved coffee and crack open a textbook so he could just skate by the deadline of his various assignments. Joel never knew how he managed to get anything done in the constant drone of voices, but then again it took Joel medication to even have the chance of keeping up, so he chose not to think about it.

Joel was last. He liked it that way. The others had their designated seats they liked on their table facing the little terrace, and they always let him have the same seat, one facing the wall instead of facing the rest of the rejectory, so he wasn’t tempted to glance up at the radio booth looming above them, where Aleksi Fucking Kaunisvesi presided like a bored god as he read out school notices.

Once it became clear that the vinyl on the table wasn’t going to budge despite Joel’s best efforts, he sighed, turning his attention to his blueberry muffin.

There hadn’t been any when he’d come in, too late to get anything sweet and halfway decent, but Joonas had swiped one for him as he usually did and had handed it over with a conspiratorial wink. Guilt stirred itself within Joel, so he’d put off picking at it, stomach clenching and unclenching. Joonas was always going out of his way to do such things for him, and each one stacked up like a debt Joel didn’t know how to repay. But now he was hungry, stomach growling because he hadn’t bothered to eat back home, so he couldn’t ignore the muffin any longer. He picked at the top of it, peeling off the little greasy crust studded with chunks of fruit like he was peeling off the seal of a can of pringles but with less violence. Once it was torn free of the rest of the muffin, still encased in a cheerful yellow cupcake case, he poked the individual blueberry chunks out, letting them fall onto the table so he could devour the plain muffin.

He reached for his coffee, but it was still too hot. Dejectedly, he set it down again and carried on picking away at the muffin, drowning out the conversation around him. Tommi was still explaining algebra to Olli, and Joel was determined to not accidentally learn anything.

Niko caught his eye, his smile a little bit shy. Joel returned it, then started picking the visible blueberry chunks out of the remainder of his muffin. Niko reached across the table to take one, slipping it into his mouth. Joel let him, then reached across to Niko’s plate to swipe a leftover crumb of his hash browns. Then he went back to his methodical muffin demolition.

He was about halfway through his task when Joonas let out the vilest burp from across the table, next to Niko. It was loud enough that a couple of people on the table next to them turned round in disgust, but Joonas looked more proud of himself than anything. Joel screwed his face up and flicked a soggy chunk of blueberry at him.

Once he’d excavated the whole muffin, leaving blueberries in one wet pile and plain muffin in another dryer one, he began to eat the blueberries one by one. It wasn’t a particularly interesting task, but it passed the time amply enough as he waited for his coffee to cool down, and that was about as much as he could hope for.

The school’s PA system crackled to life not a minute later. Joel glanced at the clock on the wall as Olli swore and began to pack his textbooks and pencil case away. 8:55 AM. Olli had five minutes to get to his maths class.

Olli was serenaded by the rush of other students in similar predicaments and the cheesy jingle of Oulu High Radio. Tommi was more leisurely, simply passing Olli the pen he’d forgotten to pack away before he picked up his rucksack, standing. Joel grimaced, but that was more directed at the PA than it was by them.

The new school year had brought many things, but the biggest change had been the announcement that Oulu High School was combining with Oulu College, the high school aimed at setting its students on the high road to world-rated universities so they could be snobby assholes in worldwide leadership positions. Something about structural damage or frailties to the old college building across the city meaning the academy full of chronic overachievers had to find another location, and Oulu High had the space to accommodate them and the excuse they’d been waiting for to upgrade the science department and the sports building. They even had a swimming pool now, though Joel had aged out of mandatory swimming classes so he’d never used it.

Most of the differences were relatively small. Slightly bigger classes, and less empty classrooms. New teachers who were used to bright-eyed nerds, not disinterested class clowns. A phased lunchtime complete with an extra half hour so those on last lunch didn’t have to miss out on a post-lunch break. A better library that Joel avoided like the plague. The renaming of the cafeteria to the refectory, a change that had had Joonas snort and promptly christen it the ‘rejectory’. That sort of thing.

And a radio station.

Thing was, Joel had tried out for it. Since his basketball dreams had gone down the toilet he’d found himself with more free time, and as his mom had told him, it would look good on his university application.

How she hadn’t lost faith in that dream despite his best efforts, he didn’t know. Music and gym class produced the best grades, but even a music course would be unwilling to take anyone with grades like his. They preferred their students to be more rounded.

Still, he’d tried anyway, and found he actually wanted to do it. He could do it, he was sure, and hey, if his music career followed his basketball one then he’d have something to fall back on. So he’d gathered in the principal's office with twenty or so other hopefuls, reading out notices about the various sports teams and the chess club - something else that was new - into an unplugged mic.

He’d wanted it, but in the end, he hadn’t got it. No one had. The whole thing had been the idea of Aleksi Kaunisvesi - the snooty kid from the college whose dad was some kinda bigwig in the music industry. The tryout had been just for show, and now the whole school was forced to listen to Aleksi’s lofty voice every morning and lunchtime, reading out various notices as if he thought he was above it all.

It’s probably to pad out his university application, Joonas had said when Joel announced his loss with gritted teeth.

As if he needs it, Tommi had snorted. He’s the captain of the debate society, and he’s a prefect.

Don’t forget the school council, Niko had added glumly. He’d tried out for that, curious, but Kaunisvesi had snatched the last spot.

Bet his dad bribed the school, Joonas said, unnaturally acerbic for once.

Does he need to? Olli asked. Aleksi is the eldest of six. That’s the promise of a lot of school fees.

Sure enough, Aleksi’s snooty tones began reading out notices. Joel felt his breakfast turn to stone in his stomach.

Niko saw the look on his face and shot him a rueful smile. Joonas pulled a face like he was constipated and echoed Aleksi’s reminder about the importance of punctuality in a near-perfect imitation. It buoyed Joel’s mood a little, and a smile tugged at the corners of his own mouth.

It died with the arrival of two more students at the rejectory’s food station, always under the hawk eye of a dinner lady.

Aleksi, you see, was pretty much untouchable. He had no friends, as far as Joel could tell, and he was the perfect little teacher’s pet, but he was never harassed or picked on. He just skated on with his head firmly lodged up the principal’s ass, and everyone seemed resigned to the fact.

Apart from in Joel’s lit class. Then he was constantly going head to head with Robin Packalen, another former College student who headed the book club. They always seemed to arrive early, sat at the front of the classroom so Joel would always have to squeeze by them as the late bell chimed, trying to ignore whatever topic was the flavour of the week. The arguments were always fraught with underlying tension, and Joel got the feeling like they weren’t really arguing about Milton or Shakespeare or whatever. It made watching the arguments feel painfully voyeuristic, and Joel found himself idly sympathising with their poor teacher as she waited to begin the class.

With a jolt, Joel realised that he’d seen Robin at the radio tryouts. His stomach twisted. Yeah, there was something between him and Aleksi.

Right now, though, Robin was calm and collected as he selected a water bottle from the refrigerated cabinet. With him was his boyfriend, Joonas Parkkonen - or Johnny, to his friends and pretty much everyone apart from Aleksi. Johnny was in Joel’s gym class, and he seemed to live and breathe for the sports department. He was the head of the hockey team and the basketball team, something that made Joel so jealous he felt sick, and he had started a little tennis club.

He was, of course, from the College, not Oulu High.

Not that Oulu High was bad or anything. It was fine. Average. Comfortably so, to the point where Joel hadn’t ever felt especially self conscious about his subpar grades. But then the amalgamation happened, and Joel hated it all.

Niko followed his gaze. “Good luck with that,” he said, clapping Joel across the shoulder. Joel flicked a blueberry at him then went back to sourly ogling Robin and Johnny.

The pair chose a table for two fairly near the food station. Neither of them must have a class first period, which was a weird thought. Robin was the exact sort of nerd Joel thought lived in the library, and Johnny seemed like he should be in the gym, not sipping an apparently expensive protein shake from his water bottle as he waited for Robin to eat his apple.

Something tepid and soggy landed on Joel’s hand, drawing him from his reverie. He turned and scowled at Joonas, then licked up the bit of blueberry. The sweetness exploded on his tongue, and he washed it down with his coffee, finally drinkable.

“Johnny’s in my gym class,” he said eventually. “I don’t want to go against him in track again.” He’d lost, and badly, and it was like all the individual failures of his sports ability had come together to snowball into one big neon sign, blinking failure at him.

“And you’ve got your front row seat to the Aleksi-Robin wars in lit,” Joonas said lightly. Niko shrugged like it didn’t matter. But he only had art class with Robin, and he seemed to outshine him. He wasn’t in Joel’s lost and bewildered shoes.

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Joel grumbled. On the PA, Aleksi read out a notice about last night’s rain waterlogging the grass too badly for the evening’s football practice to go ahead. A couple of boos sounded out from the other side of the rejectory, and then Aleksi told them all that that was all. The trite jingle rang out, and then afterwards clanged the school bell. Nine AM, and class was beginning. Joel sighed.

Silence reigned for a few minutes. Joonas was staring out of the window, fiddling with the keyring on his rucksack, and Niko was still trying to skin the surface of the table. Joel sipped his coffee and ate the individual bits of his muffin before he decided that enough was enough and tipped the final remnants into his coffee dregs. He stole Tommi’s abandoned plastic spoon to mix the muffin and coffee into a sludgy mess, fighting the urge to yawn.

“What if we gave it a go?” Joonas said abruptly not long later.

Joel jumped, meeting Niko’s eye. He’d been enjoying the quiet. It felt like the calm before the storm of lit class, where he’d be doodling on his desk and staring glumly ahead as Robin and Aleksi snipped and sniped at each other in the bored tones of know-it-alls. “You what?” he grunted. Opposite him, Niko stopped his peeling.

Joonas gave the room a once over before leaning in, eyes feverish with something that looked horrible like gope. “Give Kaunisvesi a run for his money.”

Niko screwed his face up in confusion to match Joel’s. “You want to start a pirate radio station, even though Järvy’s got such a stick up his ass he’d suspend us on the spot for it?” Principal Järvinen had always been a hardass, like he would much rather run a military operation than a school, but since the amalgamation he’d become fanatical. Joel had spent the semester so far barely avoiding detention, if only to keep up the thinnest veneer of his mother’s hopes for him. Her hope was based on a foundation as fragile as the first hints of winter ice on a lake, and suspension would destroy her wistful thinking like a misplaced football. Joel really didn’t want to do that to her.

Joonas screwed his face up in thought for a few moments. “We can have nicknames and use a voice modulator or something,” he said. “And we can do it from my dad’s old warehouse, so we’re not disturbing our families or whatever.”

Niko caught Joel’s eye for the second time in fifteen minutes, cautious amusement on his face. Joel knew what he was thinking. This is a dumb idea. This is just a fantasy that Joonas will forget by lunchtime. It’s not going to happen.

Except Joel realised he did want it. Oulu High Radio had been a glittering, tantalising thing, even if it had always been empty, and Joel had wanted it, like he never usually wanted any such extracurricular activity. This could be real, and it would be fun, even if it didn’t last. “Let’s speak to Tommi and Olli about it before we do anything,” he said. “But we could give it a go.”

Traitor, Niko mouthed, but there was no heat to it. Joel shrugged. He wasn’t sorry.

Joonas kicked him under the table to get his attention and beamed. “It’ll be fine. It’ll be more than fine,” he said. “Everyone thinks Aleksi’s a twat anyway, so we’ll do so well!”

His enthusiasm proved to be infectious. Niko cracked a smile, and Joel found himself almost giddy at the prospect.

And, he reflected as Joonas changed the subject to the fact that his sister had detention for being caught with her boyfriend in a cleaning supplies closet by an unimpressed janitor, if it all goes to shit, at least it won’t be my fault.

#i speak! #wip #extract #blind channel fanfiction #fun fact! my college (uk college not uni) called the cafeteria the refectory #and one our first day the girl i sat next to in psychology named it the rejectory #there was also a seating area three times bigger next to the theatre called the spotlight. so of course we called it the spotshite

[teawaffles]

There’s No Business Like Show Business: Chapter 3

“Fred. How’s their acting like to you?” Jack asked in a low voice.

They were seated at the edge of the stalls. They could also see Bond from where they were, completely focused on the stage.

“I’m not an actor myself, so this is just my personal opinion — but I think they’re awfully good,” Fred replied.

Jack gazed at the stage with a serious look in his eyes.

“I think so too. I won’t discount the fact that their sets and props look a little homemade, maybe due to a lack of budget; but when it comes to acting, each one of them is highly skilled. I can tell that the performers are all deeply familiar with the intent of the script.”

They were no theatre professionals for sure, but they possessed an eye for the true essence of their art.

The creases near Jack's eyes deepened as he quietly groaned.

“And best of all is that lady.”

“Yeah, I thought so too,” Moran agreed. With Fred included, all of them were focused on the lone person on the stage.

As Jack had pointed out, Maya, the chairwoman, was the standout actress even among the highly-skilled members of her own company.

Although she only held the lead role in “The Little Match Girl”, and was relegated to supporting roles for the other stories, the delivery of her lines, the movements of her body and hands, and even the slight shifts in her gaze — each and every one of her actions was perfectly under her control. They had seen a glimpse of this when she’d stood before her fellow company members previously, but this person on stage was completely different from the one who'd spoken to them at the entrance.

Even accounting for the fact that she had written the script herself, this level of sophistication in acting was not one which could be achieved by some run-of-the-mill actress. Moreover, the lines and pauses in the script had been carefully crafted to make it easy for the audience to relate to the stories.

From then on, the three of them enjoyed the rest of the play in silence, marvelling at her exceptional talent. Eventually, the rehearsal came to an end.

“——That concludes our performance. Thank you very much for coming.”

After her closing words, the company lined up on stage, silently waiting for Bond’s comments. While there had not been any flashy moments during the performance, almost all of them had sweat on their foreheads. Each breath they took revealed the depth of their concentration.

“…………”

For a short while, Bond stared at the stage without saying a word. Growing uneasy at the silence, the company members lowered their gazes slightly.

After what seemed like an eternity, Bond cleared his throat, and adjusted his posture. Seeing that, the company members straightened their backs.

“——If I were to summarise my thoughts, I think your acting has already reached a high standard. I’m sure all of you have put in much time and effort to achieve this.”

Their faces beamed at his compliment. But Bond would not allow them to be satisfied with that alone.

He rose from his seat.

“But that’s also why some bad habits have stood out to me. For example, the witch in ‘The Little Mermaid’: there were times when your movements were too exaggerated. I know that you wanted to emphasise her sinister nature, but the way you did so may turn off the audience.”

“Y-Yes……”

The actress who’d been singled out hung her head, perhaps out of shock. But Bond ignored this, and pointed to another woman.

“Now, you played the main character in ‘The Red Shoes’. I watched your steps after putting on the shoes — have you properly studied dance? It’s true that even some stage professionals may think that it’s alright to just mimic the real thing, but if you really want to make your performance more authentic, you must take the time to learn how to do it properly. Your audience will not be satisfied unless you show them a level of skill that will astonish even people in that profession.”

“Understood!” she responded with vigour.

“Next up is you: the way you project your voice——”

Then Bond singled out each of the performers in turn, highlighting in detail what they needed to work on. He only needed to watch their play once to spot areas for improvement at such a fine level of detail — his eye for the arts gave them all a sense of the former professional’s brilliance.

At last, Bond finished addressing every member of the company. But he then swept his gaze over the entire theatre.

“In addition…… this isn’t your fault at all, but your success today was only possible due to the small size of this theatre,” he said, with some distress. “If we were in a bigger venue, the hall would be wider and deeper to accommodate the larger audience. In other words, I’m afraid that with your current performance, your voices simply would not reach the entire audience.”

Maya paled.

“So, in order to accommodate the size of the venue……”

“Yes. The worst-case scenario would be that you have to rework the entire play. By the way, when is the opening night?”

“T—Two weeks later.”

The entire room was enveloped in silence. Even from where they were seated, Moran and the others felt the weight of their despair: all the hard work they had put in thus far, might just have amounted to nothing.

Even Bond, who had revealed this harsh reality, dropped his gaze and grimaced.

“Well, there are a fair number of productions that focus only on the stage, and do not account for the size of the audience, so you may not have to change——”

“——No, we’ll do it.”

Maya sharply interrupted his proposal.

“You’ve seen how I am; I’ve always been timid and hesitant…… but theatre is the one thing I will never compromise on. Especially now — this is a rare opportunity for us. For my fellow company members, for the people who’ve supported us this far, I want to show them something I’ve put every effort into making.”

“…………”

At her words, the rest of the company nodded in silence.

Even with the actual performance only two weeks away, Maya and her company had steeled their hearts and chosen to start again from scratch. That stubborn determination surprised Bond, and even Moran and the rest.

“U—Um…… Mr Bond, I actually have something I wish to discuss with you……”

Out of the blue, Maya’s voice had grown soft.

“U—Um, if it is alright with you, just for the next two weeks, could you sit in during our rehearsals? A—Ah, actually, just whenever you have the time would be fine……”

Bond chuckled.

Even after being told about all those problems, they refused to stand down, and even continued to ask for help. Their mental fortitude sparked hope in him, and he couldn’t help but let out a grin.

Bond shot the party in the stalls a questioning look. Moran looked to Jack and Fred in turn, before giving him a thumbs-up.

With that, the former flames of passion within Bond burned even hotter. He faced the company members with a determined grin.

“——Okay. But I will be especially tough on you all, so be prepared.”

Then, he called out to Fred.

“Fred-kun. I would like your help as well — is that alright with you?”

“Understood,” he replied, standing up.

“Bond, I’m always happy to teach knife-wielding.”

“And you can always ask me about gun handling.”

“Now that would be helpful,” Bond smiled at Jack and Moran’s jests, then turned back to the stage.

“Well then, everyone — for the next two weeks, let’s do our best together.”

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

“During a performance, you must be always be aware of three things: the audience, the other actors, and yourself. If the feeling of being ‘watched’ becomes too strong for you, first direct your attention within yourself. Then, you will be able to focus on your acting once again.”

“I don’t advocate the idea of getting into a role. In the end, acting is just a skill: what you should focus on instead is how you are moving.”

“Although an effective way of bringing out emotions is to dredge up your past memories, I would advise you to avoid that. Recent memories are too concrete and vivid — if you must do so, use memories from your distant past. And be careful: if you frequently immerse yourself in negative emotions, you will hurt yourself on a spiritual level too.”

In a small theatre in Whitechapel, Bond’s instructions came forth ceaselessly.

He stood on stage together with the company members: carefully reviewing their movements, even acting them out himself as an example on occasion, and putting in every effort to raise the level of their production.

The remaining two weeks were short, but with their foundations already strong to begin with, Maya and her company steadily honed their acting skills to perfection.

One week left until the show. His work as an instructor had finally ended for the day, and he let out a sigh as he sat in the stalls to catch his breath.

“Good work today — fancy a sip?”

Having watched the proceedings from the stalls, Moran handed him a bottle of water. It was a beer bottle — very Moran-like — and Bond accepted it with a smile.

“Thanks, Moran-kun.”

Bond gulped down a single mouthful of water.

“So, how’s the play going?”

“At first I thought we would be hard-pressed for time, but they truly exceeded my expectations. I think we might just make it. ……Scratch that, we will make it.”

Moran nodded.

“That’s right. And they seem to be well-liked by the residents around here. I really hope they can pull it off.”

As Moran gazed off into the distance, a thought just occurred to Bond. He cocked his head.

“Come to think of it, you really didn’t have to tag along with me all this time, you know?”

Ever since the day Bond had agreed to lend his support to the company, his other colleagues had stopped over from time to time to cheer him on. However, Moran had made it a point to come to the theatre every day without fail.

Moran scratched his cheek in embarrassment.


“……Well, it’s not like I have anything else to do when there aren’t any missions. As a senior member of this organisation, I’m just here to see how my junior works.”

“Even though you’ve been skipping out on chores at the mansion?”

“D—Dammit, I told you before: I always do my share of the work, you know.”

Bond had said that half-jokingly, but his words flustered Moran nevertheless. It seemed he had not been entirely wrong about that.

Bond returned his gaze to the stage.

“……Thank you, Moran-kun,” he said quietly.

“Hmm? Didn’t you already say that earlier?”

“This one means something different,” he said, with a hint of mischief in his voice. Moran raised an eyebrow in bemusement, but the presence of a caring senior alone warmed Bond’s heart.

Just then, they heard the sound of the theatre doors opening.

As the two men turned to look, they saw a portly middle-aged man with a magnificent moustache standing at the entrance.

Maya hurriedly bowed in his direction. “T—Thank you so much for your help thus far! What brings you all the way here?”

From her formal manner, it seemed this was the very noble who had asked them to stage the opening act for his theatre.

“Ah, you’ve been working hard, I see,” he said as he stroked his moustache, a big smile on his face.

“Yes; with your assistance, we’ve been able to prepare for the performance in time. I’m sure the audience will be satisfied with——”

“Well, about that.”

The man interrupted Maya, still all smiles.

“——Your performance has been cancelled.”

“What?”

No one could believe their ears.

Her expression brimmed with confusion.

“U-Um, what do you mean……?”

“What does it mean? Just pretend our conversation back then didn’t happen. That’s all.”

The man made another simple pronouncement, then smiled as if nothing was wrong.

“Honestly, it’s just as well that this has happened, since I’ve also been troubled over your debut. So what I’m saying is, your company doesn’t have to turn up. That’s alright with you, isn’t it?”

The entire company was still in a state of shock. Then, Bond addressed the man directly.

“Now hold on just a moment. What do you mean, you were troubled? Then why did you ask them to perform? What’s more, isn’t it a little late to cancel the performance at this juncture?”

Hearing that, the man sighed in displeasure.

“Who are you, anyway? Someone connected to this company? I’m not happy to be asked so many questions at once.”

“Then I’ll summarise it for you. If you were going to cancel the performance so easily, why bother requesting Maya and her company to perform anyway?”

At Bond’s question, the nobleman shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, that’s simple. I just felt like it.”

“……What?”

Those shocking words froze him to the core.

“I’d heard about a reputable theatre company in the slums. Since there’s this notion of noblesse oblige anyway, I thought a performance would be a good topic for conversation and approached them. But then I grew to realise that the thought of poor people stepping onto the sacred stage of an official theatre just didn’t sit well with me. So yesterday, I finally decided to put an end to this madness.”

“How could you……”

He had asked Maya’s company to perform on a whim, and then cancelled their act on a selfish whim as well. And this was all decided just ‘yesterday’. Even though they had been putting in every effort into their play.

The nobleman continued.

“That’s all I had to say. You poor folk are living off the graces of the nobility, so be grateful that I even bothered to come all this way to talk to you. Now that I’m finished here, I’ll be leaving. The smell here is simply an assault on my senses.”

Right before he walked out, the man spat out one last line.

“Well, at least you all had a nice dream, didn’t you?”

“………!”

A violent rage surged within Bond. Somehow, he managed to grit his teeth and hold himself back. If he were to retaliate right now, he would be inviting unnecessary reprisal on Maya and her company rather than himself. So all he could do was look daggers at the nobleman’s back as he left.

The theatre was enveloped in a mournful silence. Everyone seemed to have lost their verve, and no one uttered a word. Bond was shaking with frustration.

Amidst the heavy atmosphere, just one man — Moran — gazed upon the situation with composure.

Finally, Maya, the chairwoman, mumbled in a thin voice.

“Um, I’m so sorry. I think, I’m not feeling too well……”

Then, with a hollow expression, she headed to the dressing room, her footsteps shaky.

#moriarty the patriot #yuukoku no moriarty #yuumori #english translation #forbidden games

[artificialqueens]

All I’ve Got To Keep Myself Sane, 3/8 (Jackie/Widow) - Juno

Chapter Summary: They reach Atlantic City, but more bizarre coincidences mean Jackie and Widow remain in each others’ pockets.

CW: References to homophobia, one drug use reference.

A/N: This chapter is still angsty, but also fluffy, still slow burn. There is also some POV change within the chapter. I hope you like chapter three. Thank you for your support so far with this fic!

It was almost six thirty as the sea came into view on the horizon, Atlantic City ahead of it. The sun was setting behind them, casting the sea into a million different colours, the sky on the horizon turning a faded blue.

Jackie had asked for energetic music to keep out her own thoughts for the rest of the drive. Widow had put on a band Jackie didn’t know called Glass Cloud, which had turned out to be heavy metal, and then had promptly fallen asleep again. How Widow slept with this cacophony going on was anyone’s guess.

Still, the heavy guitar and growls was better than thinking about Jan.

The smirk on her face as she’d answered the door this morning. Cheeks still flushed, pupils still dilated, hair still dishevelled. While that bitch scurried on the stairs behind her before sprinting into the kitchen, still pulling on her sweater.

Not an iota of shame for what Jan had been doing behind Jackie’s back – just an easy lie.

She’s just a friend. Just on my soccer team. Just having a sleepover.

Almost an exact repeat of what Jan had told her in New York, six months ago. Just a sleepover with a friend from theatre.

It had been the last straw. Jackie had screamed at Jan that it was over, for goodthis time, before driving herself to that same Wal-Mart she’d just slept in, and had spent the next hour sobbing and wondering if she was delusional, if she’d done the right thing.

She’d thought she was done crying. Widow had already proven her wrong there. Just saying Jan’s name had felt like a millstone dropping from her neck, as if she’d been carrying it too long. Now, she was simply mentally exhausted, not to mention physically from all this driving.

Jackie chanced a glance at Widow as they started on the winding streets of Atlantic City itself. She was turned away from Jackie to the passenger window, but her breathing told Jackie that she was still asleep.

Widow had slept almost the entire journey, come to think about it, only waking up when they had pulled into a stop. A good six hours. Why was she sleeping this much? Jackie wasn’t sure, and she didn’t want to chance waking her while the car was moving. Best to keep things as they were.

But Widow in sleep was no longer as peaceful as earlier. She’d twist, thrash against her seatbelt, making the occasional high-pitched whimpering noise at the top of her throat before settling, and then ten minutes later starting the same thing again.

Even now she was starting to protest again, noise starting again in her throat.

A stark contrast to the soothing persona who had pulled Jackie to her chest in a comforting hug when she’d broken down at revealing Jan’s name only about an hour ago.

Jackie pulled into a side street, right near the ocean, with a group of what looked like retirement apartments, and found a space to park. She turned off the engine, her limbs aching from driving for so long, and sighed at the view.

It was time to wake up her passenger, but it was getting harder and harder each time; Widow was definitely fast asleep, and Jackie had to properly shake her to make her flinch at all.

“Come on, wake up.”

Widow looked confused for a moment, then turned out the front window, her eyes widening as she took it in.

“The sea,” she murmured. “I can’t – I don’t think I’ve seen the sea since I was in senior year.”

Widow seemed utterly enraptured by the vast expanse of the Atlantic on the horizon, something Jackie couldn’t fathom having lived near it for so long. Jackie watched her stare silently out to it, an awed expression on her face.

“Where does your friend Crystal live?”

“She always says somewhere in Pleasantville. Hang on.” Widow reached into her bag, pulled out her phone, and tapped at the screen for her messages, swiping left on a missed-call notification as she did.

She read the message and let out a sigh.

“Shit.”

Widow closed the screen and leaned back in the seat, closing her eyes frustratedly.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Widow muttered, “I just need to get a hotel. She’s out of town.”

“Where’s she gone?”

“Miami. Her girlfriend lives there. Some college skater girl she met when she went down in spring. Last weekend before class starts, right? Said she’s back tomorrow evening. I just need to stay somewhere for one night. Where are there hotels here? Any nearby?” Widow asked.

Jackie swallowed. “I’m sure there’s plenty around here.”

“I thought you’d know where things are in Atlantic City, since your grandma is here. You’re coming to visit her, right?”

“She – she lives up in Pleasantville too. Somewhere. I have her details on my phone.”

“What time is she expecting you?” Widow asked, fixing her eyes on Jackie’s, that same penetrating stare she seemed to put on at every turn.

She seemed to know when Jackie wasn’t saying everything, and it was becoming unnerving. Jackie sighed, scrabbling in her brain for an excuse, but finding that none came to the forefront of her mind. Widow saw straight through her, and Jackie was tired of hiding. Tired of keeping this up.

“She isn’t expecting me.”

Widow nodded. “I didn’t think she was.”

Jackie opened her mouth to reply, but found that her mind refused to conjure anything for her any more. She turned back to the horizon, looking out at the Atlantic stretching all around them. They were both silent for a few moments.

“Alright,” Widow sighed eventually, “well, if you don’t know any hotels in the area, I’ll look one up.” She opened up her phone again.

Jackie fought with what she was about to say, but there wasn’t really any point in hiding it now. She confessed, “I have a room already booked for the night.”

This time, Widow turned sharply to her, frowning.

“You’ve booked a hotel?” She asked Jackie.

“Yeah.”

Jackie had booked a Holiday Inn, right on the sea front. But I hadn’t expected to be alone.

Jackie held her tongue on that thought. She couldn’t think about that without Jan’s face swirling in front of her.

Widow’s expression flattened again, and she nodded. “Alright. You booked a room. Do you mind me being, you know, in the same hotel as you? Are you gonna tell me where it is, and then I can book myself a room too?”

“We can go now, if you want.”

“Sure.”

Widow’s eyes got bigger and bigger as Jackie drove, the Atlantic coming nearer to them, and honestly, Jackie was enjoying her marvelling at the sea.

The sound of seagulls overhead, the rushing noise of the waves, it was starting to come back to Jackie, even though this time she wouldn’t have anyone to share it with.

Parking at the hotel was pretty busy, but Jackie managed to find a space eventually. Looking out the front, the hotel overlooked the boardwalk, with the beach only a few metres beyond that. The boardwalk was still crawling with people, even though it was after seven o’ clock by now.

Jackie turned to her left, the northern side of the strip, watching the lighthouse in the distance turning slowly, the lights of the pier below stretching out from the land and towards the sea. On the right, tourists, students, and everyone else was gathered on the strip, coming off the beach as the sun dipped lower behind them, the first partygoers coming out, pre-drinking before hitting one of the clubs further inland, off the strip.

The sea was always a place Jackie associated with happiness. It reminded her of childhood, not because she ever came here as a kid; but because of the sense of fun and freedom it instilled in her.

Driving down from New York first thing this morning, Jackie had had visions in her head of sunrise over the Atlantic, foam lapping over her toes as she stretched her legs out on the sand. Jan’s head on her shoulder.

No. Can’t think about Jan.

It would have been utopia, if Jan had been in a position to come with her.

Honestly, Jackie didn’t want to think about what kind of position Jan had been in first thing this morning. But it certainly hadn’t been one where she could ditch, hop in the car and drive down to AC with her.

Instead of calm, clear waters and idyllic sandy scenes, now she was faced with a cold dip in the seas of reality.

Nothing was going as planned.

But nothing mattered any more.

Jackie’s thoughts were interrupted by Widow’s phone ringing. The inside of the car flooding back to her, Jackie watched as Widow picked the phone up, glanced at the number, and pressed it to her ear. “Hello.”

Widow’s eyes became glassy as she sat for a few seconds. Her posture stiffened, and she bit her lip.

“Hello, Uncle Richard.”

Jackie watched, silently, her heart aching for Widow as her face gradually changed from glassy to fearful, nodding, putting a knuckle to her mouth to chew.

“Okay. …. I said, okay. I’m totally fine.”

Another pause. Her eyes were filling with tears, but her voice somehow remained steady.

“I’m at Dahlia’s.”

What was going on?

Widow was now screwing her eyes shut tightly, her lip quivering, waving her free hand in front of her eyes, but it still didn’t stop a tear escaping her.

“No, she’s not. She’s straight.”

Her voice was quaking with emotion. Jackie’s hands shook as she watched Widow try to hold it together in front of her, the longest pause yet as she listened to her phone, gulping back her sadness.

“Okay. No, I’m fine.”

A choked gasp.

“Yeah. Yeah, I love you too.”

Widow’s voice trembled, but she put the phone down, and brushed her hands over her face, and took two or three deep breaths in, steadying herself.

“Widow,” Jackie wondered how to approach this, “I don’t think I’m the only person who needs to get something off their chest here.”

“It’s nothing.”

Widow’s face was obstinate, her jaw tensing, but Jackie refused to let this lie.

“You were just speaking to your uncle. You told him you were with Dahlia. Who I know is in Pennsylvania because you told me.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Don’t say it’s nothing! Come on, Widow. You don’t know me, so I can’t judge you.” Jackie repeated Widow’s own words to her, putting a hand on Widow’s shoulder, hoping for some sort of response.

But Widow barely noticed her words. Her lip trembled, her eyes filled with tears, staring out ahead.

“I thought he didn’t want to see me again!”

——

Widow’s heart thumped. The last twenty four hours, or mainly the first twelve of those, kept repeating round and round her head.

She hated being upset, especially in front of people she didn’t know well. But she hadn’t expected Uncle Richard to call her so soon. In fact, a small part of her hadn’t even expected to hear from him ever again.

And the words that he’d said to her reverberated round her head, echoing over and over again. Kind words. Apologetic words. Accepting words. The vague panic and dread she’d felt ever since she’d stormed out late last night, had come straight to the surface and were now falling away from her.

Was she doing the wrong thing?

“Widow?”

“What?” Widow came to with a start, the scene in front of her flooding back. The Atlantic City beach, just off the boardwalk. The vague sound of waves in the near distance. Jackie’s earnest face, full of concern, watching her every move.

The last thing Widow had expected when she’d first set foot in Jackie’s car was to be here on the beach with her in the evening, but some twists of fate seemed determined for them to remain in each others’ company, at least for now.

First, Crystal’s abysmal texting response. If she’d told Widow earlier that she was in Miami for the week, Widow could have booked a room earlier that day. But Crystal took at least three hours to reply; probably enjoying some weed and being with her girlfriend a bit too much to notice anything else. Not that Widow could blame her.

Then the hotel. It was almost fully booked – last weekend of summer, go figure – but once Widow was set up in her room, she’d come out to find Jackie locking up the room next to her. How had they ended up next to each other? Jackie had slipped out of her jeans into a skirt and a fresh shirt; Widow had finally gotten out of her stupid uniform altogether and opted for a pair of shorts and a band shirt (Metallica, she thought, but the label had faded so she couldn’t tell).

It had been Jackie’s idea to go to the beach (“The waves will carry our problems away!” Jackie had said with an ironic eyeroll), and although Widow had scoffed at Jackie’s somewhat sarcastic thought process, she’d always found the sea oddly mesmerising.

It was eight by the time they got there, and there were still plenty of people on the sand, but Jackie had found a quieter corner, and here they sat, leaning on their elbows on a towel Jackie had grabbed from the hotel room. Jackie hitched her skirt up, hoping for a little extra tan on her legs for the end of summer.

The ocean was as an immersive experience as Widow remembered. The hiss and roar of the ebb and flow of the tide, rushing away from them. The feeling of sand under her toes, and the tiny little grains getting stuck in the palms of her hands. The salty scent in the air, mingling with a vague lavender which she recognised by now as Jackie’s perfume.

“It’s peaceful,” Widow said, half to herself.

“What is?”

“The sea.”

Jackie snorted. “No it isn’t!”

It was Widow’s turn to roll her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

Jackie nudged her gently with her elbow. Widow gave her a nudge back. Suddenly they were both nudging each other over and over, like children.

The mood was slowly lightening between them; Widow feeling they weren’t quite strangers any more. They weren’t quite friends either, but when you’d comforted a twenty-six year old Canadian woman having a breakdown in the middle of nowhere on Route 76, some sort of sentimentality lingered.

“Widow, can you tell me why you told me you don’t have a home?” Jackie asked her suddenly, studying her face. “I get that you wanted to come here over that fortune, and your friend being here, but you must have lived somewhere before – this,” Jackie said, gesturing at them both, a huge simplification of what they were doing.

Jackie looked sincere, caring. If there was one thing Widow had learned, it was that Jackie wore her heart on her sleeve, and couldn’t have concealed an ulterior motive if she tried.

Damnit. Widow felt herself beginning to open at the seams at her sincerity.

“I moved to Pittsburgh to be with my uncle last year, after my mom passed away. He has a spare room, I paid him rent money, and he let me do my own thing. Only thing was …”

She sighed. “He knew I was gay; I told him back when I was nineteen. So he knows, and he says he’s fine with it. But he doesn’t want to know any more than that. If I mentioned it, there was some tension. Like he didn’t know what to say.”

Jackie nodded slowly, chewing her lip.

“My friend, Dahlia – she’s like, poker-straight, but when she was round my house last night … I dunno, maybe we were hugging a bit more or something. He told her she had to leave. He’s never told her that before.”

Widow took a shaky breath. “I guess all the tension got too much. I’m not proud of it, but I lost my temper. Called him every name I could think of. Dahlia ran away, back to her own house I guess. She wouldn’t reply to my messages. And I just – I just went upstairs, packed a bag, and went to my shift. At midnight. And after my shift, well, I didn’t really have a plan, except to get out of there.”

“Did he tell you to leave?” Jackie put a hand to her throat.

“He … actually, he didn’t. He was just,” Widow frowned, trying to remember his face. “He was totally silent, the whole time I yelled at him. Shocked, I guess. And he – he called me earlier because I didn’t come home. I just told him I was at Dahlia’s. That’s where I am anyway, normally.”

Jackie resumed her slow nod, her eyes glassy, thinking about something.

A lump had formed in Widow’s throat. She still felt ashamed for letting her temper go, but talking about it with Jackie now, she was starting to feel that she’d made the wrong decision altogether.

“He said he loved me,” she said, again the words seeming to come from her mouth without her having the chance to process them. “On the phone, I mean. And that he accepted me and we could talk later on it.”

Damnit. She was fighting back tears again. She looked up to the sky trying to stop herself crying.

“What was he like to live with?”

“He was …” Widow swallowed. “Other than that tension, he was okay. He always said how proud he was of me studying, and that an accounting qualification would mean I’d never be out of work again. He’s even got in touch with his accounts contacts, trying to get me a working placement for my final year of study.”

“It sounds as if he cares,” Jackie said gently. “Maybe he was still coming to terms with it. Some people take a bit longer. Maybe having that argument cleared the air. Made him realise how upset it made you, that he didn’t want to acknowledge your sexuality.”

Widow’s head had already made a similar connection. She knew she had a quick temper, but she also knew she had a quick cool down too. She’d cooled down almost instantly once she’d yelled at him, and now she felt a pang of remorse at everything she’d called him.

“Do you want to have a relationship with him, if he wants to?”

“I think so,” Widow muttered, “but I think we need to talk about it. Clear the air.”

“It’s your choice of course, but I think that’s a great step,” Jackie said gently.

She wore such a caring smile that it was all Widow could do to hold back her own emotion. Her head throbbed with exhaustion. She reached a hand into her bag, pulling out her cigarettes and extracting one.

Jackie wrapped an arm round Widow’s shoulder, gently pulling her towards her, and Widow leant her head onto Jackie, letting Jackie rub circles onto her arm. Her simple actions were making Widow feel oddly peaceful, her shoulder was warm and Jackie smelt faintly of lavender and some fruit-scented shampoo.

Eventually Widow had to sit forward, wipe her tears, take another drag at her cigarette. She felt like she was falling asleep again, Jackie making her feel like she was dreaming a little, and the beach was not the place to sleep.

“So, as you’ve sat on it for so long: tell me about Jan.” Widow prompted, blowing a smoke ring.

Jackie’s face switched almost instantly from concern to anger; her lips pursing into a thin line.

“Jan is – was – my girlfriend.”

Jackie surprised Widow when she reached her hand across her, taking the cigarette, and putting it to her lips, the tip glowing orange and crimson as Jackie took a drag.

“Was,” Widow nodded. “How long has she been a was, and not an is?”

Jackie exhaled a cloud of smoke, passed the cigarette back to Widow, and looked at her watch. “Oh, about ten hours.”

“Ten hours?” Widow cried, her jaw dropping. “Is that it? Holy shit.”

“I got three for the price of one this week,” Jackie spat, a sudden injection of vitriol in her voice as she held up her fingers, counting them down. “On Wednesday, I get told that my role is no longer being continued due to ‘restructuring’. Every sales rep’s favourite word.”

“Oh, God, Jackie –“

“Second,” Jackie said louder, putting another finger down, “my best friend Chelsea ditched me on Thursday, said she was sick, then she gets tagged in our friend Michelle’s insta story. She went out with Michelle all night, looking for men.”

“No!” Widow exclaimed.

“I confronted her on Friday morning. Said she can’t pull dudes with a lesbian hanging off her arm.” Jackie laughed bitterly.

Widow’s heart ached for her. “That sucks –“

“So, I told her where to go, and decided I’m gonna drive down to Pittsburgh on Saturday morning. Surprise my girlfriend, who I haven’t seen in three weeks, take her on a spontaneous trip. Booked us a hotel in AC. Planned a dirty weekend. I dunno,” Jackie continued her bitter laugh, “I thought that maybe a little bit of love would have helped, after this – fucking shit show of a week.”

The air was thick. Widow didn’t dare to shatter the tension with words. Jackie was barrelling through it, anyway, unable to stop more words spilling out of her.

“I drove through the night last night. I drove from New York to Pittsburgh. I got to Pittsburgh at half past five this morning. I slept in a fucking car park in my car for three hours. I turned up at her house. And all I can hear through the open window is – is –“

Jackie stopped, her mouth open, speechless, before putting her hands over her face. Despair wracked her body and Widow laid a hand on her back.

“I don’t know who she was, but I saw her in the back when Jan came to the door. Some tiny, muscular jock girl. And I heard Jan. She was fucking her. Behind my back, while I’m oblivious in New York.” Jackie’s tone rose in anger the longer she talked, until she was spitting the last few words like a cobra.

Widow simply rubbed Jackie’s back as she spoke, her whole body shaking with rage. But Jackie couldn’t keep it up for long, letting out a sigh and slumping forwards, her anger spent.

“I saw her in the back,” Jackie mumbled, her voice suddenly thick with sadness. “She was so pretty. Prettier than me.”

“That’s unlikely,” Widow scoffed, before feeling her face flushing with heat. Where had that come from?

But Jackie hadn’t noticed, staring into space. “What’s wrong with me?” She whispered, her voice cracking.

Widow leant her head onto Jackie’s shoulder, still rubbing her back. Jackie rested her head on top of Widow’s, hearing Jackie’s quiet sobs coming and then fading after a few minutes.

“So, Atlantic City was the end of the line,” Jackie whispered finally, raising her head with a sigh.

“You said you were visiting your grandma,” Widow muttered, lifting her head to face Jackie. “I thought the grandma was a cover up, for why you were really coming here.”

Jackie turned her face away, fixed her gaze on the line of the horizon.

“Why did you continue the trip here?” Widow pressed.

Jackie pursed her lips, pondering the question. “I guess I just … I didn’t want to go back just yet. I don’t want to get back to reality. Reality is painful right now. I mean,” she added with another bitter chuckle, “when I get back to New York, reality will mean that I’ll have no job in three months, my best friend is a bitch, and my girlfriend was cheating on me.”

Jackie gave a shrug. “Maybe seeing my grandma would cheer me up.”

All this talking was painful, but somehow, Widow found her head was feeling a little lighter, the black fog she always seemed to be in was letting her go. She lay back, resting on her head on the towel. A handful of clouds passed over them now against the slowly dying light of the sky, as the sun slowly set behind them.

Jackie lay beside her, tilting her head to one side. The scent of lavender and some fruity shampoo was making Widow feel like she was starting to dream again.

Widow sighed. “It’s been a weird fucking day,” she said eventually.

“Yeah, for sure,” Jackie murmured dreamily next to her.

Widow realised with a start that Jackie had slipped a hand into hers as they lay on the sand, interlacing their fingers, and that Widow had spent the last couple minutes running a thumb along Jackie’s.

When she stopped, Jackie hooked her own thumb over Widow’s and did the same thing in turn.

Such simple, peaceful intimacy.

Widow certainly felt like she was dreaming now, her skin tingling but her mind starting to float away.

The beach was starting to clear of people now as the air turned even colder. A few dog-walkers came here and there, and a few teenagers enjoying the last weekend of summer break before class started again. Other people around them simply minding their own business, letting Jackie and Widow float in their own hazy world.

Finally, Jackie rolled over onto her side to face Widow. “I’m getting a bit hungry. You want food?”

#rpdr fanfiction #jackie cox #widow von du #jackie x widow #angst #fluff #slow burn #lesbian au #black girl magic fic #diversity fic #all i’ve got to keep myself sane #aigtkms #s12 #juno #rare pair #tw homophobia #submission #tw drug use

[rndyounghowze]

An Interview With John D. Smitherman (Part 1/2)

By: Ricky Young-Howze

When you first walk up to the Broadway Theatre of Pitman in Pitman, NJ you look like you've gone back in time. Built in 1926 the palatial performance space looks like it should be either the home of flappers and men in suits dancing the Charleston or mothballs and cobwebs. Lovingly looked after by the owner and staff of the BTP (with the addition of all the new technical bells and whistles of a modern theater) this lovely building is the crown jewel of Pitman's downtown. But this wasn't always the case. Just seven years ago the theatre was on a much different path. They were looking for new leadership and they needed someone with a theatre pedigree almost as varied, if not as long as their venue, to take the helm. That just so happens to be the man who came up the stairs into the lobby to meet Dana and me. John D. Smitherman has done a little bit of everything in the theatre almost everywhere. We were graciously given the opportunity to meet with him to talk about his experience as Artistic Director over the past seven years and “My Broadway” his one man show debuting in three weeks.

The one thing I've learned over three years as a reviewer here is that there are two kinds of theatre people in New Jersey: the kind that you can never get to talk to you and the kind that can talk your ear off about anything you would ever want to know about theatre, local gossip, and the last show they saw. John happened to be part of the latter group but very quickly he honed in on one central theme: his tenure as a veteran of the stage and how he brought that experience to bear running a theatre company. The interview that follows took place across from a table in an upstairs rehearsal room down the street from the theater. It has been edited for clarity.

The first thing John talked about was a very personal subject: how his family reacted to him catching the acting bug. We could see him lean into us and this is where the next hour would disappear as he started to tell one story after another.

“I was still living at home during undergrad, my dad other than polite conversation did not talk to me for a solid year after I changed my degree. because you know he was concerned about you know ‘a music degree?!? What the? What are you going to do with that? You know a performance? What are you going to do?’ But then I started working for the local opera company and symphonies and stuff like that. My dad was a purchasing director at Memorial medical center and so I would go by there if I had a rehearsal in town. I would go by and visit him but basically eat free lunch at the hospital because the food was actually good at the cafeteria. And I remember walking in one day and this was after a year of my dad being obviously angry with my decision and a doctor came up to me a [said] ‘Hey aren't you Frank's boy’ I said ‘Yeah’. He goes ‘I hear you're uh doing Pagliacci this weekend.’ And that's how I knew that my dad was talking about it and was happy about it. Because it took me actually doing it. I know that makes sense as a parent…[I mean] I don't know if I want my kids to go into it because it's so much of a difficult and demanding and iffy profession.”

But he never stopped at just acting. Pretty soon he found he liked branching out.

“I always liked doing multiple things. I always liked just singing like in a concert or in a Cabaret type show like this coming up (His upcoming show, My Broadway). But I also liked playing characters. I liked comedy. And I eventually started liking directing and just things like that. A lot of different interests gave me more opportunities because you know the more you do the more you can do.”

This is how he describes an acting career that has taken him from Florida, Philly, the high seas of a cruise ship, and even Manhattan, to a home in Collingswood where he lives with his wife and two boys. Each thing he's done was a new interest that led to a new skill that led him further down the road. Later on he elaborates how he got to Pitman seven years ago. As he was trying to settle down into a nice neighborhood he got a call from a local theater he had never heard of even though it was really close by.

“When I got here it certainly was not like that (the way the theater is run today). When I got here it was basically a community theatre that was just friends family. Like the artistic director’s son was in all of the shows, or the daughter sometimes. And that’s why they brought me in. They wanted to improve the productions and become a professional theatre and so that’s where things went and changed. And the first thing I did was let people in Philadelphia know about the theatre. I didn’t know about it and I lived in Philly for a handful of years. And then we were going to have Asher so we decided to move to Collingswood which is right around the corner so we were there for about a year when they approached me about taking over. Well it started out as performing a show that was very similar to this [My Broadway] and during that it was to take over. And I mean that was the biggest thing. I never heard of it, my wife never heard of this place, and look at this place! Everyone and their brother should know about it.”

Dana chimed in that it seems so crazy that a lot of theater companies in NJ want to isolate themselves from these Metropolises around them. He latched right onto that.

“You draw from them. I remember working an outdoor theater in Beckley, West Virginia (see I told you he's been everywhere! I swore I was the only other person who’d heard of Beckley) , there’s nothing else around it and that was a 1,500 seat outdoor theatre and we were always packed for every show and I was thinking ‘Where are all these people coming from?’ They come in. You can get things from these other cities and Philadelphia is right there. People literally tell me that they prefer coming here because they would rather come here and park for free. They’ll pay that five dollars to come over the bridge but they get to park for free and they have these nice little restaurants and whatever and the shows, well they say they’re the same as at Walnut Street. We’re not. I can say that because our budget is a quarter of what Walnut Street’s budget is, they have a $50,000 dollar budget for the set alone and our entire production will be $50,000 but we try.

After trying as hard as he could to draw from the Philly crowd and let people know about this great area he started to see an effect on the downtown area.

“In the last five or so years I saw this town turn around, nothing against tattoo parlors and thrift stores because I like a good thrift store, but those kinda switched out and became boutiques and restaurants and that’s the sign of a good city that's starting to develop. I saw that happen over these last four or five years.”

But a theater company doesn't live on its audience alone. John had to also get actors into the area.

“I definitely dove right into the Philadelphia Theatre Alliance, which was even bigger than it is now than when I first got into it. They used to do all kinds of things and now they’re just kind of a bulletin board. But I would always put notices about auditions. ‘These are our shows’, ‘The largest professional regional theater in the area’, etc. And the actors slowly and surely started to come to the auditions and they would get cast and those people had the experience of their life and in a production that they were extremely proud of. And so then that person talked to this person and that person came to audition, etc. And after about five or six years, it took a long time, we now have this wonderful reputation and people like to come out here. We don’t pay well in comparison to some of these other theaters but they’re proud to be in the production. It’s something that they know is going to be a fun process. We try to make it as stress free as possible. I’m a fond believer of theater can be stress free as long as your production team is ahead of the game then you don’t have to have these last minute things that happen in tech week.

And the actors he gets can come from all over. But John is quick to emphasize that while they do have a small house that can house actors that come all they way from New York or across the country ninety percent of his casts come from Philadelphia and New Jersey.

That does mean that his most meaningful relationship isn't with the audience One of the biggest responsibilities of the artistic director is to be a mediator between the audience and the production team and even the owner. He’s noticed a key difference between the audiences of today and then dinner theater crowds of yesteryear.

And you'll have to wait until Part 2 to find out what it is. Check in tomorrow. But make sure you get your tickets for his one man show "My Broadway" now!

[onemuseleft]

This is my @stevetonysecretsanta gift for @notevenwinded. Happy New Year!

****

The cab driver craned his neck a little to get a better view of the house as they drove up. “Looks like a nice place to spend the holiday,” he said. His tone was admiring. Steve supposed that a cabbie who normally worked in his neighborhood didn’t take a lot of fares to Fifth Avenue mansions. Or maybe it was just the elaborate Christmas decorations that made him sound so impressed.

“There will be some good friends to spend it with. That’s all that matters.” Steve tried to project a little confidence into his tone, but he was pretty sure he failed, significantly. “Anyway, at least I won’t have to sleep on the couch.”

“In a place like this?” the cabbie pulled to a stop in front of the house. “Bet they have an entire guest suite.”

Knowing Tony as he did, Steve half suspected it would be more like a guest wing, but he didn’t say that out loud.  He grabbed his overnight bag – a battered old knapsack that had been in his room at Stark Tower when he moved in and looked to be US Army surplus – and slid out of the seat. He slammed the door and leaned down to speak to the driver through the window. “Thanks for the ride, Jamal. Cash all right?”

“You know it is,” Jamal said easily. He flashed Steve a grin, his breath fogging slightly in the cold air. “With the holiday, the damn machines don’t pay out for nearly a week anyway. Cash is instant.”

Steve had never had to deal with credit card machines when he’d been younger and poorer, but he remembered having to take a check to the bank and have it cleared before he could eat, so he understood perfectly. “What do I owe you?”

“Forty-two fifty, but there’s a veterans’ discount.”

“Tell you what, save it for the next fare who really needs it.” Steve pulled three fifty dollar bills out of his wallet and passed them through the window. “Keep the change, buddy. Merry Christmas.”

Jamal took the bills with a big grin. “Merry Christmas to you, too.  Thanks man, you sure?” He deliberately fanned the bills a little, like he wanted to make sure Steve hadn’t given him the extras by mistake.

“I’m sure. Thanks for coming out in the snow.” Steve hefted his bag and returned Jamal’s wave as the cab pulled away down the drive. Then he turned to view the Mansion up close.

He’d seen it in pictures and on the news, though never in person. Avengers business tended to be dealt with out of the Tower or through SHIELD, and while Tony would host the occasional charity event at his family home, he didn’t tend to spend much time there otherwise.

In person it was bigger than he’d thought, appearing to take up most, if not all, of the block. There was a stone wall around the property, taller than Steve was, topped with wrought-iron decorative bars. There had been gates, too, though they’d been open when the cab drove up. The front yard was huge, for the city, and though there was a thin layer of snow covering everything, Steve could see bushes and trees and some kind of ceramic water fountain, though there was no water at the moment. The house itself really was a mansion, at least three stories high with tall, decorative windows and what looked like a porch or balcony running the length of the top floor. The whole house was trimmed in white Christmas lights, and the trees along the drive were light up in twinkling multi-colored lights. A single candle burned in every single window that Steve could see, too steady to be flame. On the roof, a mechanical Santa was perched on top of one of the chimneys, one arm waving to the pedestrians below.  With the snow falling around it in thick flakes, it looked like something out of a movie or an advertisement.

Steve was pretty sure that back in the day he wouldn’t have even been allowed to linger on the sidewalk and admire a place like this, let alone ring the doorbell and expect to be invited inside. He felt awkward and out of place, in a very familiar way that – for once – had nothing to do with what year it was.

But living with Tony Stark over the last half year had taught him nothing if not how to adapt, so Steve slung his bag over his shoulder and pushed the doorbell.

Instead of the familiar face of Edwin Jarvis, a very pretty, very short, woman answered the door. She had her hair pulled back in a bun, and was dressed in simple shoes, slacks, and a bright red sweater with a Christmas tree on the front. The tree was decorated with sequins and pom-poms and bows and was, overall, one of the gaudiest things Steve had seen since the last time he wandered through Times Square. “Welcome to Stark Mansion, Captain Rogers. Mister Stark has been expecting you. Can I take your bag?”

“No, it’s fine,” he said, caught briefly off-guard by such a petite woman offering to carry a bag for a big guy like him.

“Come right in.” She caught him staring at the sweater and her smiled curved a little wider. “Mister Stark gave the entire staff these lovely sweaters just this morning.”

“Was he very angry with you at the time?” Steve asked. He couldn’t quite resist the urge to smile, but fortunately she didn’t seem to mind.

“I won’t tell him you said that,” she said with a wink. “It’d just hurt his feelings. My name is Lainie and I’ll be here all weekend, so if you need anything at all, just ask for me. Now, come this way and I’ll show you to your rooms.”

Plural. Steve nodded a little glumly. Just as Jamal had thought.

Steve’s rooms turned out to be a fairly modest suite made up of a small sitting area, two huge closets, what was possibly a second sitting room or might be a third, even huger closet, Steve honestly wasn’t sure, and a bathroom only half the size of Steve’s Brooklyn apartment. The bedroom itself wasn’t unreasonably extravagant, though a family of six could have lived in it easily back in Steve’s day. The decorations were simple and modern and done in rich shades of blue and cream, with watercolor landscapes on the walls in tastefully expensive frames.

There were also extra blankets folded at the foot of the bed, including an electric one, a fresh sketchpad and an unopened pack of Steve’s favorite monochrome graphite pencils on the bedside table, and instead of a digital clock with bright red or yellow numbers, there was an old analog model that had to be wound by hand and had an actual bell to wake you with. Steve lifted the cover of the sketchpad and ran a finger over the crisp, fresh paper and had to smile. Tony did plenty of big, ridiculous things for his friends but it was the little things like that always made Steve’s heart ache. The little gestures that said he’d been paying attention and wanted Steve to be comfortable. Extra blankets because Steve hated to be cold, an alarm clock that wouldn’t startle him with its electronic beeping. Steve’s favorite art supplies so he could have an excuse to distance himself from the festivities if he felt overwhelmed.

Steve wondered sometimes what kind of life he’d be living if he hadn’t met Tony and the Avengers when he did. He suspected it would be sadder and lonelier than he wanted to consider.

“Mister Stark is right across the hall,” Lainie told him from her position by the door. “Colonel Rhodes and Colonel Danvers are down the hall and Ms. Potts and Mr. Hogan will be staying in their rooms on the second floor. A maid will be in to freshen the room twice a day and she’ll collect any laundry you leave in the hamper. If you need anything else, there’s a housekeeping app on the television that we keep an eye on at all times. Midnight snacks, extra bedding, toiletries, anything at all.”

“What if I want a sweater?” Steve asked.

Lainie gave him a smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes. “Maybe if you’re very good, there will be one under the tree for you. Now I’ll let you get settled in. Mister Stark and his guests are in the game room on the first floor whenever you feel like joining them. Dinner is served promptly at seven tonight. Mister Stark asked me to let you know that we do not dress for dinner on Christmas Eve, so please make sure you’re comfortable.” She gave him a little nod and another smile and left, closing the door behind her with a soft click.

Steve unpacked quickly and checked his reflection in the bathroom mirror before heading for the massive staircase that led down to the front foyer. He hesitated at the bottom, wishing briefly for a map, then decided if Tony didn’t want him poking around he’d hardly have left him to his own devices like this. He took his time looking around, looking at the extensive holiday decorations and admiring the artwork on the walls and the pieces on display. Someone had had excellent taste, in Steve’s opinion. Pepper, maybe, or Tony’s mother. Howard hadn’t had much of an eye for art as far as Steve remembered. But then it had been a long time and he’d changed in a lot of other ways.

Everything had. Including Steve.

There was a thunderously loud explosion of noise from down the hall that faded out into a rumble, only to be drowned out by laughter and yelling. Steve recognized Colonel Rhodes’ voice alongside Tony’s and a woman’s voice that he was almost certain was Carol.

He followed the shouting to a room at the back of the house that looked like someone had put a movie theatre inside a living room. There were plush looking chairs and couches arranged around a massive screen that looked like it descended from the ceiling, walls lined with framed movie posters, and shelves with what Steve assumed were collectibles of some kind – action figures maybe? He wasn’t sure if that was the right word, and calling them toys would probably get him an indignant glower from Tony, even if they looked like it.

Pepper and Happy were cuddled up together in an armchair that could easily have held at least one more person. They were both wearing casual clothes and Pepper had kicked her shoes off so she could tuck her feet up into the cushions. They were watching Jim, who appeared to be engaged in some sort of computer game on the screen involving a stick figure and a cow that was also a stick figure, and Tony and Carol who were trying to grab the controller from him. Steve didn’t recognize it as one of the ones Clint had shown him; there was no gratuitous gunfire for one.

Tony spotted him in the doorway before he could announce himself and his eyes lit up in a way that made Steve’s stomach clench a little. “Cap!” He abandoned his efforts to annoy Jim and climbed over the back of the couch. “Hey, you made it! We weren’t sure if the snow would scare you off.”

“I managed to flag down the one cab in Brooklyn willing to risk it.” The snow hadn’t been that bad when Steve had left his apartment, but it was getting heavier. “Do I even dare ask what you’ve been up to?”

“Shenanigans,” Tony said cheerfully. He was grinning and rocking up and down slightly on the balls of his feet. He was barefoot, and his hair was tousled and his eyes were bright. He looked warm and happy and Steve had to put his hands in his pockets because the urge to reach out and touch was so strong.

“Rhodey’s sucking all the fun out of this game,” Tony said. “But Carol and I are trying to fix it for him before he dies shamefully.”

“Yes,” Jim said in a voice as dry as desert sand. “That is exactly the scenario that is happening here. Hey, Cap.”

“Colonel,” Steve said. “Merry Christmas, it’s good to see you again. And you, Carol, it’s been too long.”

Carol Danvers wiggled her fingers at him in a hello. “We were all really glad to hear you’d accepted Tony’s invitation.”

Pepper and Happy echoed the sentiments and Tony looped his hand through Steve’s arm to drag him toward the couch. Steve didn’t resist and if his stomach got a little tighter when Tony dragged him down onto the couch so their knees were touching. Well.

Jim did not die shamefully, despite Carol’s and Tony’s best attempts to distract him. Tony ended up sulking against Steve’s shoulder because Jim wouldn’t take his advice. He shivered a little and Steve – feeling a little brave and more than a little fond – wrapped an arm around his shoulders and tugged Tony against his side. Tony took the invitation and burrowed in, his head on Steve’s shoulder.

It was loud and he had no idea what was going on in the game, and every five minutes one of them would start laughing about something that had happened before he arrived. It should have made him feel out of place, but he didn’t. Everyone was talking over each other and enjoying themselves, and Carol kept insisting that Steve agreed with her every time she disagreed with Jim. Pepper was tossing mini candy canes at Tony’s head and missing more often than not, and Tony was scooping them up and pelting them back at her. Happy met Steve’s eyes over Pepper’s head and just shook his head with a grin.

Tony was warm, and his head fit perfectly on Steve’s shoulder and his hip fit perfectly under Steve’s hand. His smile was easy and comfortable when he looked at Steve. He’d asked Steve to come, asked Steve to stay.

Tony had given him a home, clothing, food and art. He’d given Steve trust, and friendship and a loyalty so deep it sometimes felt like they’d always been like this, that they’d worked together before in another time or place.

Outside it was snowing and the sky was going dark. There was a coldness in the air that promised a storm to come.

Tony threw back his head to laugh at something Pepper said and Steve felt nothing but warm.

****

Dinner was just as casual as promised. The six of them and Jarvis ate around a table in what Tony called “the little dining room”. There was a fire roaring a few feet away, and a sidebar with bottled drinks. No servants, which Steve felt a little relieved about. 

Pepper and Tony were carrying on their food fight, pelting each other with bits of bread and the occasional carrot when they thought no one was watching. Jim and Happy were arguing about a sports game of some sort and Carol was talking to Jarvis about a television show they both liked.

“I am quite pleased you could join us, Captain,” Jarvis said after Carol was drawn into the discussion to emphatically argue that someone was a terrible coach and someone else was a terrible quarterback.

Steve almost hadn’t, to be honest. When Tony had extended the invitation to join him for Christmas, he’d hesitated. This was Tony’s family, and their Christmas celebration was a tradition for them. He’d been afraid of intruding and ruining their time together. “I was a little surprised to be invited, to be honest. I hope Tony didn’t feel pressured to include me.” Pity wouldn’t be the worst reason why Tony had chosen to invite him, but it certainly wasn’t what Steve hoped for either.

Jarvis scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. Sir was quite excited by the possibility that you would be part of this year’s celebrations. I will say, just between us, that if you had taken much longer to accept I was half convinced he’d do something over-the-top to convince you.”

Steve tried to imagine what that could have been and very, very firmly did not let himself imagine anything scandalous while under Jarvis’s knowling gaze. “Let’s be honest with ourselves, Jarvis, Tony doesn’t need any encouragement to go over-the-top.”

“Quite true. Still. It means alot to him that you are here celebrating with us this year.” Jarvis glanced across the table at Tony. “Ours is a small and poorly behaved family, but we hope you feel at home here.”

“I do,” Steve said. “Thank you.”

“And remember that this invitation does not expire on the New Year, Captain. I know I speak for Sir when I say you are welcome here at any time.”

Steve glanced over at Tony, who met his gaze with a grin that Steve couldn’t help but return. “That means a lot to me, especially coming from you, Jarvis.”

“Nonsense, it’s only the truth.” Jarvis rested a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Thank you. For everything you’ve done for Anthony since you came into his life. He is happier than he has been in a very long time. And I confess, I do sleep a bit easier knowing that a man of your calibre is watching his back.”

“Always,” Steve said in a low voice.

“I know it. Now.” Jarvis raised his voice. “Let’s get a picture. Captain, Sir, in the center here, by the fireplace. Ms Potts, Happy - yes very nice. Everyone in a little closer now.”

Tony slipped an arm around Steve’s waist and leaned in a bit. Steve wrapped his arm around Tony’s shoulders, as the others pressed in around them.

“Lovely, you all look very charming.” Jarvis held his phone up and took several shots. “My goodness, if I didn’t know you all I’d think you were quite respectable. Do pray I never reveal the truth.”

“Literally no one would be surprised by any of it,” Tony said. “Except about Cap, they’d think you were making it up for the scandal rags. And Pepper, no one thinks anything bad about Pepper.”

“No one dares,” Jim said cheerfully. “Jarvis, send me that photo when you’re done.”

“I have done you one better, Colonel.” Jarvis finished tapping at his phone and turned it so they could see.

It was the picture of the six of them with a caption that read “Merry Christmas from our family to all of yours” posted to a Twitter account belonging to EdwinTheGreat.

“Nice handle,” Steve said.

“Thank you,” Jarvis said. “I had to veto more than two dozen of Sir’s suggestion before we struck upon the compromise.”

Steve had had to wrestle the phone away from Tony to avoid getting a Twitter account titled “CaptainWingHead” or “SexySuperSoldier” set up in his name. “I can imagine.”

“I demand dessert,” Pepper said. “Tony, if there’s no chocolate cake, I quit.”

“You always threaten to quit over dessert, I can’t take you seriously anymore,” Tony said. “Besides, Jarvis made us a trifle.”

“Is it a chocolate trifle?” Pepper asked.

“Triple chocolate, my dear,” Jarvis said.

“I take back my resignation. Tony, bring me chocolate.”

Jim nudged Steve with his shoulder. “You see what I have to put up with?”

“Yes,” Steve said dryly. “I can tell you’ve been suffering.”

“Oh dear,” Jarvis said. “I’m afraid I made a bit of a miscalculation…”

Tony plopped the trifle down in the center of the table. “It’s fine if there’s not enough, we can share.”

“No, not the dessert. The photograph. I did not intend - well it seems I may have misjudged... Oh dear.” Jarvis held out his phone again, showing the same Twitter page.

Steve scanned it quickly, not entirely sure what he was supposed to be seeing.

“How does this have almost a thousand retweets already?” Tony asked. “Holy shit, Jarvis, how many followers do you have?”

“Thirty-four,” Jarvis said. “Mostly Avengers and the occasional member of my chess club. It appears Ms. Romanoff retweeted the picture and it seem to be… well. Is “blowing up” the proper phrase to use?”

“Not when you say it so the quotation marks are audible,” Tony said. “Why is it “blowing up” anyway?”

Pepper laughed suddenly, a sputtering snicker that she quickly stifled. “Oh no. No. Tony are you reading the comments?”

“I don’t usually bother. There’s rarely anything good to be found in any internet comments section.”

“You should read these,” Pepper said. She had one hand pressed against her mouth, trying to hide a grin. “No seriously. Read them.”

Tony gave her a sideways look, which just made her grin harder, and pulled out his own phone. “Called it, best Christmas present ever, holy shit I can’t believe they did it, lots of exclamation points - why are we gay icons? Were we gay icons before this? Does having your picture taken in front of a fireplace make you a gay icon now? Quick, Jarvis, upload that old photo of Dad posing with the gun in front of the front fireplace. Maybe someone will call him a gay icon and he’ll spin right out of his grave.”

“Tony,” Steve said.

“Right, sorry.” Tony made some surreptitious motions at Jarvis that the older man soundly ignored. “Seriously, what am I missing he- I can’t believe Cap and Iron Man just came out of the closet. What. What?”

“We didn’t though?” Steve was aware that there were parts of the culture he wasn’t up to date on, but he was ninety percent positive he knew what “coming out of the closet meant” and at least seventy percent certain that he’d done no such thing.

“It’s the picture,” Jim said. “Two well-known couples posing with their arms around each other and there’s the two of you… posing with your arms around each other. I mean, if I didn’t know you weren’t dating, I might have made that assumption.”

Steve looked at the image in dismay. It did, now that Jim had put that out there, look a bit like three couples. The poses were even the same, and he and Tony were standing very close together. “Oh.” He let his eyes linger on the image of the two of them, Tony’s arm around his waist. Tony was looking at him, not the camera, and he was smiling like there wasn’t anything in the world for him outside of Steve.

It wasn’t true, of course. Just Steve seeing what he wanted to see in an otherwise meaningless image. Just like the hundreds of other people seeing what wasn’t there. Steve made himself hand the phone back to Jarvis, carefully loosening his grip on the case. He hadn’t cracked it, but it had been a close thing.

Tony looked at him, and this time his mouth was pressed into a thin line. “It’s fine, Cap. Jarvis will delete it and if we just ignore it, the whole thing will go away overnight. People have better things to do on Christmas than gossip about celebrities.”

Steve had only been in the twenty-first century for a year, but he was pretty sure Tony was wrong about that.

“It’s been retweeted by the local new stations,” Carol said. She was sitting crossed-legged in front of the fire, scrolling through her phone so fast she couldn’t possibly be reading every word. “We’re almost to five thousand retweets. Damn. How come my selfies never take off like this?”

Steve shook his head. “I think deleting it now would just be closing the barn door after the horse runs off.”

“The gay horse,” Jim said.

Tony shot him an irritated look. “It’ll be fine,” he said, so fiercely that Steve could tell he didn’t believe it himself. “It’s late, tomorrow’s a big holiday. A Kardashian will get pregnant or Brangelina will get back together and this will be old news. I promise, Cap. It’s going to turn out to be nothing.”

Steve nodded slowly, and tried not to think about what it meant that Tony was so clearly upset about this.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it either way,” Steve said. “And it’s not like this is the worst thing that they could be saying about us. Just ignore it, and if anyone asks we can set the record straight.”

“I’m going to be on the phone with public relations all day tomorrow aren’t I?” Pepper sighed. “Pass the trifle.”

****

After trifle - thick layers of chocolate custard, fudgy brownies and chocolate cream topped with chocolate chips and bits of smashed up candy canes in a dessert that would have given pre-serum Steve at least six cavities - Tony herded them all back to the game room and literally threw presents at them before flopping down on the couch with his feet in Jim’s lap.

“We agreed no presents,” Carol said. “You shit, you do this to me every year.”

“After the third year in a row it’s kind of on you,” Jim said. “Sorry, babe. I don’t make the rules.”

“Wait, so you brought presents too?”

Jim pointed to a duffel bag sitting by the fireplace. “Of course. I’m no fool. He does this every year you know.”

Carol smacked him with a pillow.

“I brought presents too,” Pepper said, bouncing up and down on the couch. “Happy, would you-?”

Steve coughed a little. “I -uh…”

“You too?” Carol said. “Come on, I thought at least Captain America would have stuck to our agreement.”

“It’s rude not to bring your host a gift,” Steve said. He didn’t quite smirk at Carol, or at least not when anyone else could see him do it. “I left them upstairs. Let me go grab my bag and we can open them together.”

“Grab the LL Bean bag sitting on our bed on your way back down, would you?” Carol asked.

Rhodey made a disbelieving sound. “Wait, you remembered?”

Carol nodded. “Of course. Every year Tony makes us promise not to exchange gifts and then every year he gives us something and every year you let me look like a jackass. This year I came prepared. With gifts for everyone but you.” She smiled sweetly and smacked him with the pillow again while Tony burst out laughing.

“I’ll be right back,” Steve said. He jogged up the stairs to the third floor and grabbed a small stack of gifts out of his bag, then detoured down the hall to Carol and Jim’s room to grab the giant LL Bean shopping bag sitting at the foot of the bed. When he reached the stairs again, Tony was waiting for him at the bottom of the staircase.

He offered Steve a quick, tight smile that didn’t entirely reach his eyes. “Hey I just wanted to check in. Are we okay?”

“Yes?” Steve shifted his grip on Carol’s bag. “I- why wouldn’t we be?”

Tony shrugged. “I saw your face when you saw those comments people were making. I know we were laughing about it, but - we’ve all had this happen to us so many times, I think we forget how violating it can be to have the press telling lies and making up stories about who we are.”

“It’s not the same,” Steve said. “This is just a misunderstanding - people are just jumping to conclusions. This is nothing like what the paparazzi do.” Steve believed firmly in a free press, but he’d never wanted to sock a reporter in the jaw more than he did when they started in on Tony.

“It’s not that different, though.” Tony didn’t quite meet Steve’s eye and he was fidgeting with his phone. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, that’s all. If I could have kept them from going after you, I would have.”

“It’s hardly slander,” Steve said. “And it’s not your fault even if it were, you didn’t post the picture.”

“No but I-” Tony stopped himself. “I just want you to have a nice Christmas,” he said finally.

“I am,” Steve said. “I’m really glad to be here. This twitter stuff is just… noise. It’s not anything that can ruin this.”

“You say that now,” Tony said, and his voice was low and tired. “But if that story gains any traction at all, the papers will start calling and the talk show hosts will start gossiping. You’ll feel differently when you can’t walk down the street without someone shouting at you or politicians condemning you for what they think you’ve been doing. It happens to everyone around me, sooner or later.”

“Tony.” Steve set the gifts down carefully and reached out to take Tony’s shoulders. For a long moment, Tony didn’t look up at him, eyes downcast, the light from the reactor making him look pale in the darkened foyer. “You’re right. They probably will say things, but anyone who feels the need to shout at me on the street for for being gay is not someone whose opinion I could ever respect. They don’t have the power to hurt me, Tony, or the power to affect our friendship.”

“It’s not the gay rumors that will be the worst,” Tony said. He finally met Steve’s gaze, mouth turned up in a cynical smirk. “Dating a whore like me though? That’ll do some really damage to your credibility.”

“Never call yourself that again,” Steve said. The words came out harder than he’d intended them to, but still too easy to match the fury Tony’s casual disdain had kindled in him. “I don’t have the slightest scrap of respect for anyone who has ever called you that, and I won’t stand for you echoing them, understand?”

Tony shook his head. “No, Steve, you don’t get it. I have a reputation and getting mixed up with that is going to taint you by association.”

“I would be damned lucky to be associated with you,” Steve said. “You’re brave, you’re smart-”

“I’m a drunk and a slut and people used my weapons to murder children.” Tony took a step back until Steve had to either hold him in place or let go. He let go, his hands falling to his sides, awkward and empty. “I saw the look on your face,” Tony said. “I know what was going through your head, all right? I know. I’m not mad, or - hell, I don’t love my reputation, I sure as hell can’t blame you for not wanting to get painted with the same brush.”

“I don’t know what you thought you saw on my face back there, but it wasn’t what you seem to think it was.”

“Don’t lie, I know what I saw. I just wish I could have stopped it from happening-”

“I wasn’t angry, Tony, would you listen to me-”

“- you have to believe me I wouldn’t have let Jarvis post it if I’d realized the trouble it would cause. I would have just - kept my fucking hands to myself or -” Tony’s voice lowered, thick with anger and self-disgust, “-or not stood there gaping at you like some kind of idiot-”

“I was disappointed!” Steve’s voice came out louder than he’d intended, sharper and it nearly echoed in the vast foyer. He bit back his next words, not entirely sure what they were going to be even as they pressed against the inside of his lips. “Tony. I wasn’t angry. I liked what I saw in that picture. I like what everyone else thinks they’re seeing. I like it when you don’t keep your hands to yourself and I like it when you smile at me like I make you happy. I want you to smile at me like that all the time. I want to stop keeping my hands to myself. I want to post that stupid picture again, but on purpose this time and I know I can’t. That’s what you saw on my face. Not anger. Just… wishful thinking.”

Tony stared at him. He had his shoulders squared and his feet were in a fighting stance that Steve had taught him, the one you take when you were supposed to brace for a blow. His hands hovered briefly in the air between them. “What?”

“We should get back,” Steve said gently. “Everyone’s waiting to open their gifts.”

“Why can’t you?” Tony asked.

“What?”

“You said-” Tony hesitated a moment, then took a step closer. “You do make me happy, you know. Just seeing you. Being near you. Knowing you’re alive in the world. I mean - look, you didn’t know me three years ago so maybe you don’t understand but you make me happy, okay?

“Tony.”

“And you don’t have to keep your hands to yourself if you don’t want to. I’m certainly terrible at it, so I could hardly judge and anyway I like it. I like when you put your arm around my shoulders and I like it when give me that condescending pat on the back when you think you’ve won an argument and I really like the way your arms feel around me when we fly into a fight. So, you can do all of that more, if you want. Or other things entirely, if you want that.”

Steve’s heart was beating faster than it should have been outside of a firefight. He hadn’t had an asthma attack since 1943 but his chest and throat felt impossible tight. “If I want-”

Tony didn’t stop long enough for him to get the rest of the sentence out. “Because I love you. I really, really love you, like in the way all those people on the internet think I love you. I think I’ve loved you from the first fucking day and I just get pulled in deeper and deeper the better I get to know you and there’s no getting out for me now. I’m just in love with you, permanently. Completely.” Tony held his hands out to his sides. “So. You can, if you want.” He sucked in a deep breath and flashed a smile that Steve had seen a million times on camera. “Or not, in case I misheard you. We can just pretend I never said any of that, in that case.”

He paused and waited, eyes fixed on Steve with an intensity that always made the hairs on the back of Steve’s neck stand on end. Steve could always feel when he had Tony’s attention, as if the sheer force of Tony’s regard was electric or - or magnetic. Now that force was aimed at him, intense, patient. Waiting for Steve to decide where they went next.

Steve had never intended to fall in love with anyone in this century. He’d left everyone and everything he’d ever loved decades behind him and he’d quietly closed the door on that want, that need. It wasn’t a conscious thought, not at first, but Steve knew there was a part of himself that had decided he couldn’t get hurt if he never took the risk of letting anyone close.

The Avengers had ended that, of course. Tony, first, and Natasha, Clint, Thor, even Hulk. There had been Jan and Hank, and now Sam. And in the next room over there was Jim and Carol, and the rest of Tony’s family who had, somewhere along the line, all become Steve’s friends and family. People to be protected and whose friendship he valued. Lifelines in the twenty-first century. Sandbags against the storm of time that Steve sometimes still felt battering at him.

He’d never, never intended to fall in love with Tony Stark. All stinging wit and sharp edges, bright lights with no substance.

But the wit could be gentled and the edges may have been sharp but Tony only wielded them in self-defense. He was bright and loud and flashy but if you took even a few minutes you could see the kindness Tony tried to hide and the generosity that he wouldn’t let you acknowledge. And beneath all of that a core as bright as the sun, determined to be better, to work harder, striving toward something instead of railing against the world.

Steve had found himself drawn to that. His first weeks out of the ice all he’d wanted to do was hit something, to scream at the unfairness of it all. He’d wanted to close his eyes and let the ice have him again rather than face a world that was cruel and cold and in some ways more alien than a completely different world would have been. But Stark had been there, so proud of what humanity had accomplished and so determined to show Steve all of it. So determined to convince Steve that there was something in the future worth living for, but never realizing that somewhere along the line he’d become the living embodiment of what he wanted Steve to love about the future.

He’d never thought about falling in love with Tony Stark, not until it was far, far too late to do anything about it. But he’d never gotten around to thinking about Tony Stark loving him back. Somehow that had never even entered the equation.

Steve remembered the way Tony had been smiling at him in the picture, the easy way Tony leaned into Steve’s side, Jarvis’s quiet insistence that Tony wanted Steve to be a part of the family gathering, and thought he really wasn’t half as smart as he’d thought he was.

Then he took a long step forward, curled one hand around the back of Tony’s neck, pressed the other against the small of his back and pulled him into a kiss.

It was soft, just a press of mouths together. Tony’s lips were softer than Steve had expected, and the bottom one a little swollen from Tony’s habit of biting at it when he was nervous. His lips parted slightly as he drew in a startled breath but Steve didn’t press for more. He brushed their mouths together, softly, and pulled back.

Tony stared up at him with eyes as bright as the reactor. He was tense beneath Steve’s hands, all coiled energy, every line and angle of his body waiting for the right moment to move. “Steve?”

“I want,” Steve said. He let himself smile a little and when Tony’s mouth curved into a matching grin, Steve couldn’t resist the urge to lean down and kiss it again. “I have wanted for as long as I’ve known you, Tony. Known the real you. You didn’t make it easy, but it was worth it every stubborn, irritating step of the way.”

“I’m getting mixed messages,” Tony said, but he was smiling still. He lifted his hands and set them carefully on Steve’s waist, almost as if he was waiting for Steve to object. “Can I-?”

“Yes,” Steve said.

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“Doesn’t matter. I want anything you have to give me. Anything you want to say to me, anything you want to do to me.” Steve realized how that was going to sound a second before the words left his mouth but he didn’t bother editing himself. It was true anyway.

“Why, Captain.” Tony tried for a leer but failed when his voice broke on the final vowel. His eyes were too bright, and he pulled back abruptly to scrub at them roughly. “”Are you sure?” he asked suddenly. “You know what I’m like. There are so many people who love you, you could-”

“It’s very flattering that people care about me,” Steve said. “Or find me attractive at least, but I think you’re projecting a little. Outside of our team very few people actually know me. And it doesn’t matter, because you’re the only person I want to love me back.”

“I do,” Tony said thickly. “I’m not - you shouldn’t want me to, but I do.”

They could have this conversation for hours - would, at some point, need to. But it was nearing midnight on Christmas Eve and the one thing Steve had never thought he’d have was within arm’s reach.

He wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist and kissed him again. And again. Tony held him back, hands gripping Steve’s waist so tightly it was like he expected a supervillain to pull Steve away any moment. He pressed in even closer, the reactor pressed against Steve’s shirt, the light going dark between them, his heartbeat pounding against Steve’s chest. He kissed Steve like he thought he’d never get to do it again.

He tasted like candy canes.

“I love you,” Steve said softly. He pressed the words against Tony’s mouth, willed him to take them in, to swallow them down and keep them.

“Awwwww,” Carol said from somewhere in the vicinity of their knees.

They both jumped and nearly bashed their skulls together. “Carol, what the hell?” Tony demanded.

She was crouched on her toes and had one hand stretched out toward the pile of gifts Steve had abandoned earlier. “Look, you went up stairs like, an hour ago and I want presents!”

Jim’s voice came from the opposite side of the staircase. “Tony wants his present too, that’s the problem.” He gave them both a stern look and shook his head. “Tones. You couldn’t wait to unwrap him for a couple more hours, huh?”

“I hate you,” Tony said. “All of you, get out of my house.”

“I have a key,” Jim said. “Anyway, Jarvis wouldn’t let you kick us out on Christmas.” He scooped up Steve’s little stack of gifts and followed Carol back to the game room. “Come on, lovebirds. Have your drama later. My girl has the right idea.”

“Your what now?” Carol asked sweetly.

“My woman,” Jim called back. “My brilliant, badass woman who got me a present even if she says she didn’t.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

Steve took Tony’s hand and tugged him along toward the game room. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s not keep your family waiting. Besides, I want to give you your present. And I want to see the look on Rhodey’s face when he realizes Carol really didn’t buy him anything.”

Tony licked his lips. “How do you know - “

“There are five pairs of LL Bean slippers in that bag and nothing else.” Steve grinned. “I peeked.”

“I love it when you’re naughty.” Tony tucked himself against Steve’s side. “This is - I didn’t expect this when I came out here but… this is good, right? We’re okay?”

“We’re going to be great,” Steve said.

****

The second picture got even more notes than the first and made it to the front page of CNN by breakfast. Posted to Tony’s public twitter right on the stroke of midnight, it was just Steve and Tony, sitting in a heap of torn and wadded up wrapping paper. Steve had nearly a dozen sticky bows stuck to his shirt. Tony had been aggressively decorated with tinsel and ribbons and there were what looked like a dozen candy canes hooked onto the collar of his shirt. Tony was straddling Steve’s lap, his forehead pressed to Steve’s. They were both smiling.

The caption read “Thank you, Santa.”

#stevetonysecretsanta #stevetony #stony #notevenwinded #superhusbands #my fic #nightwalker writes

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

The Misadventures of Prince Kim - chapter 14

(aka the royalty AU story)

Not sure how I’ve managed to keep up with this for two whole weeks in a row so far...

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13] [AO3]

It was the start of the winter holidays, and most of the students would be going home to their families for these few weeks while the school was shut for renovations and upkeeping. Kim had been asked by his parents to come back home, but he instead wrote them a quick letter informing them that he would be going to stay with Max instead, and left before he could receive a reply. He knew they wouldn’t be happy, but so what? As a prince, surely it was his duty to visit other countries and learn about new places, getting to know other leaders in the meantime!

The journey to Kanté only took two days, unlike the slow week’s travel time it took to get to Lê Chiến. First there was a short trip on an ocean liner, then an overnight maglev train. It was the smoothest kind of train Kim had ever been on in his life.

“Maglev stands for magnetic levitation,” Max informed him while Kim was looking around the sparkly clean insides of the train in wonder. “The train is actually suspended slightly above the tracks using magnetic repulsion, leading to less friction and therefore much faster speeds and smoother travel.”

“Wait a second – do you mean to tell me this train is flying?”

“Well, hovering, yes.”

“That is the coolest thing ever! We need these cool train things in my kingdom too!” Kim ran up to the window and pressed his face against it, looking at the blur of green and yellow outside, passing by too quickly to focus on properly. “How fast are we even going?”

“300 km/h, though there are trains that have exceeded those speeds before.”

“Do you think it’s possible for a human to run that fast too? If they practised really, really hard?”

Max laughed. “Definitely not, Kim, though I know you can certainly run very fast by human standards.”

Reaching the capital city the next morning, Kim was first of all stunned at how tall the buildings were. Not only that, but they seemed to be made out of all sorts of shiny metals and glass, giving a very unique and unconventionally beautiful skyline.

As the train slowed down and made its way through the vast city on little suspended monorails, Kim was able to see that these were not the only types of buildings. There were smaller ones with beautiful architecture, painted in bright colours with mosaic patterns all over them. Max pointed them out and talked about them as they passed.

“That one is the Kubdel Embassy, it has a very stylistic design. That one over there is the National Theatre House, where you can see all sorts of traditional plays and shows. On your left you’ll see the Museum of Modern Art, it’s a very interesting place though I feel like you’re not the sort of person who would be enthusiastic about going there…”

Kim looked down at the street below, which the monorail tracks towered over like a long bridge, and saw that there were cars. Endless rows of cars, in all sorts of bright colours, and people walking around in bright, clear, patterned clothing. He had never seen anything like it. A group of small children looked up at the train and waved, so Kim happily waved back.

“Dude, your kingdom is awesome,” he said to Max. “Like, it’s actually the coolest place I’ve been to, and I thought Bourgeois was nice.”

“You’ve barely even seen this place yet!”

“But it’s so futuristic! You’ve got all these huge skyscrapers, and these magic flying trains, and so many cars there’s traffic, and a city this big it would take days to walk around, and…”

“If you think this is advanced, wait until you see Alix’s kingdom. They’ve got plants growing up the sides of their skyscrapers there. Which is impressive considering that most of her kingdom is desert.”

“You two are the luckiest ever.”

“Not necessarily, I mean, everyone’s kingdom has something special about it. I’m sure your kingdom is a lovely place too. You just like it here because it’s different.”

“Nah, it’s not just that. It looks so… you know, clean. Organized. Like a really nice place to live. Whereas sometimes back home when I’m travelling around by horse carriage I see places that don’t look so good, like I wouldn’t want to live there if my life depended on it. And I want to do something about it, because everyone deserves to live in a cool place like this country.”

“Yes, everyone deserves a nice place to live. Unfortunately this kingdom isn’t without its problems too. Poverty exists everywhere, though we can do our best to help lift as many people out of it as possible. Crime exists everywhere too, and all we can do is try to stop it and prevent it.”

“You seem to be doing a much better job than most other places I’ve been to. Everyone here looks rich.”

“Well, I suppose the city is quite affluent, though I’d say the vast majority of the population are just middle-class…”

The train pulled into the station and slowed to a halt. Kim and Max were ushered down a long red carpet from the train to a waiting vehicle, while porters carried their luggage for them.

“This is such a cool car,” Kim muttered in awe as the chauffeur opened the back door to let them in.

“It’s a limousine, or limo for short,” Max said. “They’re longer than usual cars. As royalty, we get to ride in these by default.”

“Whoa… neat…”

The ride from the station to the palace was fairly short. Stepping out of the limo and into proper daylight, Kim realized that the temperature here was incredibly warm for December, despite being well into the northern hemisphere. He rolled up his sleeves, regretting packing a lot of warm clothes. He wouldn’t need them.

The palace itself was big and painted mostly white to keep it as cool as possible, and the inside was huge and filled with marble pillars, with tiled marble flooring everywhere too. Kim was immediately introduced to Max’s family (who he had met a few times before), then shown to the guest quarters where he would be staying.

Wow… not only did this big, airy room have a brilliant view overlooking this incredible city, but it had an electric ceiling fan. An actual, adjustable, spinning fan that could be controlled by a dial on the wall. Kim spent at least 15 minutes playing around with it, watching as the blades moved quicker and quicker until they were an undistinguishable blur.

Wait, there was a microwave oven in here too??? He had only ever seen pictures of those! He pulled a half-melted chocolate bar out of his pocket, put it in, then closed the door and pressed a few numbers. It started making a whirring noise, and after some seconds it beeped. Opening the microwave door again, the chocolate bar was now a sticky puddle. How awesome!

Over the next few days, it was like living a dream. Max showed Kim all sorts of incredible things that could be seen in this kingdom – electric refrigerators and freezers, sunglasses, clothes made from a strange material called “nylon” (which was somehow a type of plastic, supposedly), and of course, helicopters. There was a helicopter pad on the roof and Max took Kim up to show him this magnificent machine, though they weren’t permitted to fly in it.

It wasn’t just all the modern inventions that made this country interesting. Max also made sure to take Kim sightseeing, though with an armed guard to keep an eye on them and make sure the paparazzi and fans didn’t get too close.

The city had some of the most splendid architecture Kim had ever seen. Many of the more historic buildings, especially the mosques and other places of worship, were so stunning that Kim was tempted to spend all his money on a camera just so he could take pictures of everything and remember it forever. Not just any camera either, but a colour camera, since everything here was so colourful, especially the beautiful robes most people wore.

Max explained while showing Kim around that although most people here spoke French, there were so many other languages spoken too that most people knew at least two or three different ones quite fluently. He also told Kim about how most of this country was either arid or semi-arid, but the rainier areas to the south were used to grow cotton and collect water, while the other areas focused more on scientific research and technology advancements, often collaborating on projects with Kubdel to the northeast.

A few days into the holiday, when Kim was finally getting used to being here, Max sent for him to be woken up fairly early.

“I have a surprise for you today,” he said, as a butler led them to the limousine. “You’ll get to see something really, really cool today.”

“What is it?”

“If I told you then it wouldn’t be a surprise!”

Kim watched out of the tinted windows as the limo set off. They seemed to be heading away from the city, as there were fewer buildings around here and the roads were wide with cars going at high speeds over multiple lanes.

He observed the signs on the sides of the road, and… wait a second, did that one say “airport”?

“You’re taking me to the airport!” Kim gasped. “Oh my gosh, you’re gonna show me what real aeroplanes look like!”

“Yep, that’s it,” Max said, grinning. “You’ll get to see them taking off and landing and I could even show you inside one if you want. And there’s another surprise in store too.”

“I can’t wait!” Kim could barely sit still anymore, bouncing around on his seat and fiddling with the seat belt impatiently.

They arrived at the airport and were immediately taken to the VIP lounge, where there were comfy sofas and a big bar to get drinks and snacks from. Kim, however, ran straight over to the window and stared out of it in amazement.

Those were planes. Those were real planes, right there, parked outside, the ones that flew through the sky like birds. They were huge, way bigger than he had imagined. They had big noses and wings and tails, and hundreds of little round windows dotted across the side, and colourful logos painted onto them…

He watched as one of the planes on a distant runway suddenly accelerated forwards, going faster and faster, tilting upwards slightly, until –

“Max! Max look! That one over there! It just started flying! It’s actually flying oh my gosh –”

“Magical, isn’t it?” Max said, coming to stand beside Kim.

“Yeah! It didn’t even need to flap its wings or anything, it just went WHOOSH and then zoom and then… MAX THAT ONE OVER THERE IS LANDING, ARE YOU SEEING THIS, IT’S LANDING ON TINY WHEELS –”

He couldn’t even express in words how incredible it was. These huge, bulky machines, could actually carry people through the sky! Wasn’t that just the most amazing thing ever? He could stand here for hours, his breath misting up the window, watching the planes going up and down the runway, defying gravity in the most magnificent way possible…

Not too long later, Max tapped him on the shoulder saying, “It’s time for the other surprise now. And, I guess, if you want to see the inside of a plane – a private jet, to be precise – you’ll get a chance to, since it’s just landed.”

“That would be awesome.”

Kim and Max followed one of the airport staff members down a few corridors and then outside. There was a smaller plane here now, with the side of it opened up to reveal cargo crates that were being carried out and put onto transport wagons by staff members.

A portable set of steps had been wheeled over to the door of the plane, providing a pathway to the ground. The door opened and out walked Pharaoh Alix and her pet snake. She quickly waved at Kim and Max and then ran down the steps to see them.

“What are you doing here?” Kim spluttered, suddenly wondering if his hair was okay, was he wearing something sensible, did he have any spots, oh wait of course she wouldn’t care about any of that, but still…

“I flew over with a trade shipment!” she said. “I’m always doing that, I love planes and it means I get to meet up with Max. And you too, this time.”

“Good to see you, Alix!” Max said. “Is your brother here too?”

“Yeah, he fell asleep even though it was only about an hour flight. It takes him like a year to wake up. I mean same, but like, how can you fall asleep on a one hour plane journey?”

Sure enough, Alix’s older brother was just exiting the plane and walking down the steps. He had plastic glasses too, just like Max, and for some reason was wearing a scarf despite the heat.

“This is Jalil,” Alix said. “And Jalil, this is Kim. Kim the Second, I mean.”

“Oh yes,” Jalil muttered, “the one who lost the race.”

“Oh come on, that was ages ago! Give him a break… Anyway Kim, have you ever seen the inside of a plane before?”

Kim shook his head. “Never even seen one in person before today.”

“Seriously?” said Jalil. “Wow Alix, you were right, they are really backwards…”

Alix elbowed him. “Shush, be nice to my best friend!” She started climbing back up the stairs. “Come on, Kim! Take a look at our private jet! Not that all planes look like this on the inside, but the good ones do at least.”

Kim followed her up the steps and into the plane. The inside looked like a modern lounge, with comfortable seats and tables that could be pulled out or stowed away. There were cabinets overhead to store things in and some kind of music was playing, though Kim couldn’t figure out where from. There must be speakers hidden away somewhere.

“Whoa, this is so cool!” he said, looking around at everything. “And what does it feel like when the plane is actually flying? Does it feel like you’re going really fast?”

“Nah, it just feels like normal,” Alix replied. “Unless you get turbulence and it’s a bumpy journey, but otherwise you forget you’re even on a plane.”

“Turbulence?”

“Yeah, like when you’re flying over mountains and stuff and the air is weird and it makes the plane ride bumpy… I don’t know the science, ask Max about that. Or Jalil, he’s an absolute nerd, by the way.”

Kim was barely listening, too busy messing around with the reclining settings on the chair. “Oh yeah, okay. Hey, what sort of trade shipment things were you transporting?”

“Just raw materials this time, nothing too interesting. The good stuff usually goes by train. Speaking of good stuff, they’re working on getting actual televisions installed on aeroplanes next so you can watch movies while you’re flying!”

“What? That’s so cool, and also so unfair.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get televisions to the rest of the world someday too, okay?”

“I hope so…”

Once Kim had finished having a good look around the plane, they went back outside. Alix and Jalil were accompanying them back to the palace for lunch, and leaving to go back home later on in the day. The limousine was easily big enough to fit them all for the ride back to the city.

“So, do you think you ever want to fly in a plane someday?” Max asked Kim.

“Heck yeah! It looks so fun! When will I get to do that?”

“You could always come to visit my kingdom next holiday, you’ll get to fly in a plane then,” Alix said. “I usually just take the ocean liner from Bourgeois to the northern port and then catch a short flight from there back to where my palace is. If you came along I could show you.”

“Wait, you mean in the spring holidays? Stay? With you?”

“Yeah, if you don’t have to go back home, that is.”

Kim tried not to read too much into that. She was asking him to stay with her for the holidays, it totally wasn’t like that meant anything, of course…

He put on his most casual tone and said, “Sure, that might be, like, a cool idea or something, I guess… whatever…”

“Awesome!”

“Not awesome,” Jalil corrected. “Do you really think dad’s going to be okay with you randomly inviting a friend over for several weeks? He barely let Max stay for two days that one time, remember?”

“It’s fine, he’s warming up to Max so he’ll warm up to Kim too. And plus, that last time was before I was crowned pharaoh. Now I’m in charge so I can do whatever I want.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“Yeah, but I like to pretend it’s true.”

“Are you annoyed that the throne went to your little sister instead of you?” Kim asked Jalil suddenly, but then regretted it the second he’d said it. How tactless was it to ask something like that? Ugh, why did his brain just not work whenever Alix was around?

Luckily Jalil did not seem annoyed at the question. “No, it’s better like this. Ruling a country is a stressful job. At least this way I can choose to pursue careers I’m actually interested in instead. Like studying ancient history.”

Ah, yes. That did sound nerdy. Was that why Alix always got along so well with Max? Did he remind her of her brother somehow? That would explain things.

It was already lunchtime when they reached the palace, so they had lunch together, and then it was time for Alix and Jalil to go back to the airport to catch their flight. Apparently the planes all ran on strict schedules and if someone didn’t turn up in time, they would simply miss the flight. Of course, since Alix and Jalil were royalty their flight would just end up delayed if they weren’t there on time, but it was better not to let that happen or it would mess up the timetable completely. And there was always the possibility of getting caught in traffic in a kingdom like this. It was better to leave early rather than late.

“It was nice to meet you,” Jalil said to Kim. “I guess if you’re coming to stay in spring then I’ll see you then.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too,” Kim said, though Jalil was already walking off out of the room.

“See you at school, Kim!” Alix gave him a light punch on the arm (or rather, she thought it had been light – it actually did hurt, though Kim would never admit that) and started to leave too.

Kim suddenly remembered something. Was anyone else in here? No, it was just the two of them… well, and that snake on her arm, but Kim the First didn’t seem so scary these days…

“Alix, wait a second,” he said, taking her hand and trying to ignore how flustered he suddenly felt. “I just remembered, um… well you told me to remind you, so… Wait, you don’t still have a cold, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Okay good… so um, remember at the winter party? When there was that mistletoe, and you were ill so we didn’t kiss? I mean, since there’s no one else around I guess we could just do that now… if you want…”

She looked up at him, frowning. Kim started wondering if he had been too obvious that he liked her. What if she was annoyed or something? What could she possibly be thinking about?

“You’re too tall,” she said finally.

Oh, was that it? That wasn’t a big deal, Ivan and Mylène had a height difference too. “I could just–”

Before he could even react, she had somehow hooked her foot round and tripped him over backwards, catching him just before he landed on the floor.

“There we go, that’s better. Now I get to be the tall one for once.”

Kim lay perfectly still, barely even daring to breathe. She was literally holding him in her arms, her face barely a few inches above his own, strands of her pink fringe dangling over his forehead…

She leaned down to kiss him –

– and promptly dropped him just a millimetre away.

“Hey, what was that for?” Kim said, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head where it hit the floor. But then he heard footsteps. Oh, no wonder she had suddenly stopped, but come on! Did someone really have to come along and ruin this right now?

It was Jalil. He popped his head around the door and said, “Come on Alix, what are you waiting for? We have a flight to catch!”

“Yeah, I know, sorry,” she said quickly. “I was just, uh… fighting Kim. And I totally won.”

“That’s not true!” Kim said, jumping to his feet.

“Anyway Kim I’ve really gotta go now so goodbye, I’ll see you at school, just remind me about that other thing some other time, okay?”

“Okay…”

She hurried out of the room and Jalil closed the door.

Kim sighed. He had been so close. He was so sure it was going to happen that time. But still, he just couldn’t figure out her opinion on all this. Did she even want to kiss him? She didn’t exactly seem enthusiastic, but she didn’t seem annoyed either, just… apathetic. Almost as if she didn’t even care one way or another. But how?

He was still thinking about it when Max came to visit him in his room later.

“Max, I was this close to kissing her,” Kim said straightaway, holding his fingers up just a tiny bit apart. “But then her brother interrupted us, so she had to leave…” He lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling fan. “Maybe this was what Master Fu meant when he told me not to get my hopes up. That it’ll take a hundred years for it to finally happen.”

Max sat down on the bed beside him. “Kim… why don’t you just tell her how you feel? Ask her out?”

“I still don’t really feel like asking anyone out, Max. Not after Chloé. And anyway, it’s okay, Alix is my friend and I like it that way. I don’t mind. I’m just glad she likes hanging out with me.”

“Trust me, I can definitely understand that feeling,” Max said, chuckling a little. “That’s fair enough. Anyway, I was going to ask… do you want to go bowling? We have plastic skittles.”

“Plastic skittles!” Kim sat up so fast the blood rushed out of his head. “Yes please, that sounds so awesome!”

“Alright then, let’s go!”

#royalty au #i'm sorry this entire story so far has been one long geography lesson hasn't it #anyway listen. heartrate is still a good ship and i still like it #so don't think this is over yet #miraculous ladybug #le chien kim #max kante #alix kubdel #random stuff #the misadventures of prince kim #aish writes

[locomote04]

Amritsar- The Holy Sikh City

This city for me is one of the brightest memories of Indian trips. The reasons are First great for the budget. Second, cultural aspect, unique atmosphere and different religion compare to the rest of the country. Third, political aspect, the border between Pakistan and India is nearby so every day you can witness interesting performance at Wagah border point.

So let’s just go for a very beautiful journey of this very beautiful city.

About the city:

Amritsar is located in Punjab state, near Indian-Pakistani border, in the north-west of the country. Amritsar is a holy city for the Sikhs. Sikhism was founded in the Punjab area in the 16th century by Guru Nanak. It’s monotheistic religion based on Guru Nanak’s teachings. Now a days there are about 20 million Sikhs in the world, it is the 8th biggest religion.

This city is home to the Harmandir Sahib (commonly known as the Golden Temple). In the history of the Muslim League War on the Hindus and Sikhs of the Punjab in 1947, Amritsar occupies an outstanding position. It was in this city, along with Lahore, though with an intensity even greater than in the latter town, that the most sustained war, lasting for over five months was waged on the Hindus and Sikhs.

During my trip i want you to accompany me for the following three very famous destinations.

Ø  WAGAH BORDER

Ø  The Great Golden Temple.

Ø  The Jallianwala Bagh

I reached Amritsar morning 8 o’clock followed by an overnight journey from Delhi. My hotel named Hong Kong Inn was precooked from Dubai, and i can recommend it to my fellows.  

After check-in I took shower  and headed my way to Wagaah border with Mr. Avtaar Singh (My pre-booked taxi’ driver) He was a very nice man , aging almost 55-60 years old and an amazing source to know the history and all hidden stories of the city .

In our way my first priority was to look for a Desi Dhaba so I can enjoy the original  Punjab’ rich taste   As Avtar ji was a local from Phagwara (A nearby village) was aware of all the highway side good Dhabas .

After a 30 Km run, we stopped at “Lucky Da Dhaba”. This place was crowded which assured me about the quality of food. And I had the world’s best “ Lassi” with Aloo prantha . The serving is enough to keep you full for long time as parantha is coming with a number of side dishes and a butter cube. See here:

 So after heaving this heavy meal around 1 o'clock , I literally wanted to sleep but the greenery on the way and that smell of soil of the Punjab did not allow me to do so . I was enjoying the scenic beauty both side of the road from the window of  my car.

As it was the Month of March the whole land was covered with a combination of yellow and green color of the “Sarso crop”. Which will give you a feel of acctuall incredible, productive & beautiful India. See through my below frame.

 It took almost one hour to reach The Wagah Border.  

On the entrance of Wagah border, there is a very interesting restaurant named “Sarhad Choubara”. Pakistani and Indian food is served at this Punjab style brick building near the border. So if you guys are planning this route, do try the amazing “ lehsuni paneer “with “makka roti”, and thank me later for this :P. Let me share some of the captures with you :

      Before we head towards Wagah Border ceremony, let’s just do a short round up for the history behind it:

Background at the Wagah Border:

In 1947 the immensely controversial ‘Radcliffe Line’ was drawn between India and Pakistan as the result of India’s independence from British control. The border sliced through densely populated areas instead of being drawn between them, leading to an unfortunate series of bloody border conflicts.

One of the most affected areas was Wagah, a largely populated village now divided into two, and in some extreme cases, even homes were split by the border. Mass departures occurred during the partition of the border, resulting in conflict and significant bloodshed. Today the eastern half of the village remains in the India while the western half belongs to Pakistan and every evening a symbolic border closing ceremony take place at the gates between the two states on Grand Trunk Road, which was once the only link between the two countries.

So after finishing the photo session and the Yummy food of Sarhad , we headed towards the Border gate , it’s not far from there . Within 15 minutes we entered in the gate of Wagah village.

Car parking is concentrated to particular areas. So we parked our can. One thing I need to inform you on order to avoid the inconvenience that No covered bags (including ladies purses & handbags) are allowed inside the visitor areas. However, border personnel allow carrying of clear plastic bags with few snacks, water, children's food etc.

As there is no sign boards for this information and” I have to walk again all the way from security check to keep my bag in car “

There are two types of sitting areas VIP Sitting areas & General Sitting areas.

VIP seating - closest to the gates and requires a special pass which can be made from the BSF station near the Amritsar bypass road a couple of days in advance.

General seating - tends to get very crowded and congested during rush days. Depending on gender distribution two of these areas (north and south of the road) may be assigned accordingly

As I have planned it from a long time back, I got this special pass from BSF . Visitors from both sexes are kept together in the same area after going through the separated security lines.

As I get in the main area there was sitting arrangements on the both side of the road, patriotic song were playing on a high volume. Soldiers were receiving the visitors and helping them to sit both side of the road.  It was such a proud feeling that we are belonging of this great country.

It left me surprised to see the craze out there!!

People were dancing out of excitement and happiness, to see this fun I decided to move and sit on the common sitting area so I can also dive in the ocean of that excitement.

As the sun started to set, Wagah Border comes alive with an incredible zeal and an unmistakable nationalist energy on both sides. The show started off with the playing of patriotic songs and remembering the brave soldiers who laid down their lives for the country. The crowd cheers on by calling out ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Vande Mataram’, reciprocated with cries of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ from the opposite side.

This ceremony starts with a stiff-marching parade by the soldiers from both the sides. Soon after, the heavy gates at the Wagah Border are flung open; the soldiers approach each other by exchange fierce looks, give out mimicked threats, and show anger. At this point the noise in the open-air theatre transforms into pin drop silence. After this two flags are lowered and carefully folded before the gates close once more and the ceremony is complete.

Here I want to witness this feeling through my Photo Gallery Down.

        There is a Milestone near Exit gate for Lahore!! And I did not miss this chance and took this capture.

 That’s how I was finished with the ceremony and rushed to my hotel so I can head towards my next day’s plans. I was quite tired so as soon as I reached my hotel I went to sleep so I can wake up early next day.

Day 2

I was very excited about my next destinations for the day.

You simply can’t miss visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar if you want to travel India and feel the beauty and essence of this country.

So my first destination for the day was Golden Temple. Its official name is actually Harmandir Sahib but the Golden Temple name is commonly used by tourists due to the temple being covered in real gold.

My planning was to spent quite good time here so I left early from the hotel and, This Holy place was not so far from my hotel, within 15 minutes’ drive I was there.

After a walk of 10 Minutes , I was there in front of the Great Golden temple , and trust me it  is simply one of the most beautiful sights I’ve seen in my life.

 Just Wow! My first glimpse of the beautiful Golden Temple!

The Golden Temple is open to everyone but all visitors must remove their shoes, wash their hands and feet and cover their heads before entering. If you don’t have a scarf there are little orange headscarves that you can borrow at the entrance and the water you walk through to cleanse your feet is lovely and refreshing on a hot day!

The Golden Temple is the jewel of a much bigger complex called Harmandir Sahib that contains more shrines and monuments, a museum, dining hall (langar) and pilgrims’ accommodation.

  It has four entrances in the North, East, South and west, to demonstrate that people from all four corners of the earth are welcome here.

The main building of the Golden Temple is surrounded by a lake, known as Amrit Sarovar .People of all religions come here in huge numbers to offer prayers and take a dip in this supposedly holy lake.

This pond has a number of fishes inside it, and these are a big excitement to children (and to adults such as myself) when they are seen. And you will not believe they are not scared of humans, they come closer to get their offerings.

   Inside there is asmall temple the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, takes pride of place while priests and musicians chant continuously and quite mesmerizingly.

Due to the small space devotees have to move through quite quickly. Photography was prohibited inside the main temple.

Another one of the things I loved and found really inspiring about the Golden Temple was the way in which an army of volunteers keeps the place sparkling clean and serves up to 100,000 vegetarian meals free every day, all day and to everyone who visits.  

 The local devotees doesn’t even allowed me to leave without having the langar bhoj, And trust me the taste of that thali was so yummy and very satisfactory.

  There is a ceremony every morning and night when the book is moved from the temple and then put to bed in the “Akal Takhat” which also contains a collection of sacred Sikh weapons.  The ceremony is really interesting to watch, it happens at 5 am and 9.40 pm in winter or at 4 am and 10.30 pm in summer. But I was late in the morning and could not stay long as I have to catch my flight. But next time whenever I visit this amazing lace I’ll make sure I’ll attend the ceremony and will write you guys the experience.

So like this I have covered this beautiful place by enjoying and feeling the every bit of it. And I managed to click some of the other corners of this shrine.

       There is a small market on the walk way to Golden temple with a pure essence of Punjab .

You can find the pair of lovely juttis or that beautiful Patiala salwar kurti easily girls !!

    At about 2 pm I finally left the Golden Temple after spending over 6 hours here.

I hope I’ll be back one day.

After leaving from The Great Golden Temple, the nearby place is                 “The Jallianwala Bagh”. We’ll write another post for the great memory of this sad event.

So Friends this is another destination, make sure you backpack soon for this place on nearby future. And there must be so many friends who have already visited this place, do let me know if my words did justice to this wonderful destination!!

“Do not forget to write me your stories for the destination”

 Your’s

Richa Gujaria.

[phoebeboard]

DSA: Act 3, Scene 1

RADA Preliminary Audition

Starting with RADA was, in the end, probably a good idea. However, I did come out of it feeling as though it would have been nice to do my first audition there with a clearer idea of what I was doing. Just because I like it there so much.

Everything I did on the audition day was deliberately planned, to avoid getting too stressed. A combination of planning my outfit the night before, getting to London two hours early, knowing where to go (pretty much), strategic timing of my anxiety meds, eating wisely, leaving problems at home, and not rehearsing were all meant to limit the chances of last-minute nerves. On the whole, this was successful.

I took my mum with me, because London alone is pretty scary, and she insisted on killing time by going to the British Library so she could do something or other, so I busied myself with their museum of all the really impressive stuff they have there like a book of Jane Austen’s own writing and a Shakespeare first edition and Bach’s hand-written well-tempered clavier. They had some sort of event on, to do with Harry Potter and mythology or something, and there were images of Fawkes the phoenix everywhere. Since Phoenix is a nickname I use, and so far have associated it with good luck, I took that as a sign that things would go well. I mean, a kid was even walking around with a stuffed phoenix toy, and even though there was a bunch of HP merchandise, that was the only thing I actually saw anyone with.

Co-incidence? I think not.

Anyway, we finally got there, and CAN I JUST SAY there is one entrance to RADA on one street, then you follow that street up and round the corner there is a giant Waterstones, and then turn the corner again and there is another entrance to RADA. I mean, I might be able to study somewhere that close to loads of books? Yes please.

So, first of all, I went in the wrong door. We weren’t sure which side was where we were supposed to go in, and we chose the bigger door. Apparently, it was the smaller door. So a lovely person at the café area told me to basically walk right through the middle of the building and use a button to ask the reception guy to let me in. Fortunately, this meant I didn’t actually have to introduce myself to the guy at reception face to face, he just asked what my name was and handed me a sticker with “RADA Audtions” on it which flat out refused to stick to my jumper.

There was one other girl in the waiting area and THANK GOODNESS I actually went over and had the guts to sit next to her, because we talked for a fair majority of the 1/2hr I was waiting there. She, and another girl that sat with us, had both auditioned at RADA once before and were both working in a planned gap year now after being at school the year before. We talked about other schools and what we were doing at the moment and secondary schools and all kinds of things.

One thing I discovered was that if you talk about some of the things you might need to bring up in the audition with other auditionees, it actually helps you loosen up about the interview questions. Don’t try to intimidate them, but the kinds of responses you get from them about stuff you’re doing or stuff you want to tell the panel kinda helps you feel more confident about saying them later.

Eventually, when everyone had arrived, we were lead off to a room I swear I’d already seen in a picture during my research (this is why looking for pictures of the school helps!) only there was an unexplained bed at one end of the room, and a big table in the middle for us to sit round. The woman who brought us there said her name really fast, so I missed it, but I think she would probably have been the person who sent out the emails. Anyway, she talked for a while about the audition process, handed us our forms, got us to write our audition pieces on the sheet added to the back, and got us to check everything on the forms was in order. Then she seperated them into two piles and said each group would be in a different building for their audition.

The number of people we had was pretty unusually small. There were four in one group (including the two girls I’d been chatting with), and three in the other (including me). The first group were wisked away by a runner (a graduate of the school) pretty quickly but it was about half an hour before myself and the other two remaining auditionees were picked up. This was another talking opportunity, which I lapped up. Any chance to make friends before the audition starts is 100% worthwhile. We made jokes, discussed pieces, auditioning in general, where we lived… etc. I was pretty glad they thought I was older than 17, when we discussed concerns about being called “too young”, because at least if I seem older to them then that’s one more point towards having enough maturity to be considered for the course. Again, these chats build confidence, because everyone is just like you. In fact, they were ALL younger than I expected, and just as excited and nervous as me.

When we were FINALLY brought to the Chenies St building, we were brought upstairs and into a long narrow corridor with a couple of fold-out seats (which I went for straight away, as my audition was going to be the third and last one). We were there for a good half-hour again, partly because there were only three of us so the panel was taking their time. Another girl came out of her audition pretty soon after we arrived, and she was buzzing about how nice they are (just as everyone else was). Loads of students of the school were also in and out of the door at the other end of the corridor and many of them said “good luck”.

My favourite experience of that was this one guy who came right up to us and said, “They’ve seen a lot of shit people today, and they are tired. They don’t want to see shit people. Just don’t be shit, and you’ll be fine. You’ll do great.” Whoever that guy was, he has given me the advice on which lies the foundations of every audition I do from now on. Thank you, kind stranger.

The first audition of the three of us was a really lovely bubbly girl with short black hair, and she seemed excited but that familiar expression of “what the hell am I doing” was most definitely in her eyes. We waited patiently for it to be over, and when it was, she came out smiling and proud of herself. She was another one of the many who said how lovely the panel were (one of whom had actually come down the corridor earlier) and she wished us luck, so I wished her luck on her results and before I knew it, the next person had gone and I was the only one left.

Being alone for a moment helped a lot because I was able to focus in peace, not worry about what anyone else thinks, and just make sure I was confident and ready to go. The wife of the guy on the panel came up to me while I was standing there, actually, and she told me her husband would be really nice to me which was nice of her. I was called in soon after, and the confidence in my walk was really unexpected.

The panel reached out to shake my hand, and so I shook theirs and smiled as they introduced themselves. There was a woman and a man, both of whom were very attentive and kind. They offered me a seat in front of them and I can’t for the life of me remember what they asked but they asked a couple of questions before I started as well as after the monologues. 

The monologues were fine, although there were obviously things I couldn’t do as well as I wanted to. I was un-nerved by how much my Leah monologue dragged after a while, and so I made a little more of some of the pauses just to try to regain interest. I’m not sure if it worked though. I am proud of what I did, but I know it wasn’t my best, and yet I also know I was fully immersed in the characters and that is the most important thing.

Afterwards, I sat back down to answer more interview questions at their request, and touched on the fact that I was going to Hamilton (which was absolutely amazing), I was able to talk about Tartuffe and the theatre I performed at which was certainly beautiful and one of the panel seemed familiar with the village it was in so we discussed that. I said my A Levels were going well, without a second thought, but I realised I wasn’t being completely honest so I explained that it’s still possible to get an A* or something but that it’s not my priority anymore. I think they understood that. I also said I was applying for RCS and LAMDA, and I got the dreaded “what actors are your favourite?” question, to which I had prepared a pretty well-thought-out response with a few examples of actors whose kind of work impresses me and has impacted me as an actor but pointed out that they don’t on their own represent the variety of actors I admire. They mentioned the fact that the Leah monologue was “dangerously long” and advised me to actually cut it down for future auditions. They actually said they chose not to stop me part way through because they understand how helpful it is to get to the emotional end of the piece but warned me I won’t always get that treatment. I thanked them, and will definitely be taking that advice now that I have a bit of time before I’ll be using it again.

I can only hope that my answers reflected how much work I put into researching possible interview questions, and how much I want and perhaps even deserve a place. I also hope that the feeling I got of being firm and confident in everything I said was actually something that they saw, and that it actually benefitted the success of the audition.

I left smiling, feeling confident and prepared to face whatever comes next. My other auditions are still pretty far off, but I may hear back from RADA quite soon. Whatever happens, this has been a really useful experience, one that I will make use of regardless of whether I get a rejection or recall this year.

#rada #rada audition #audition #audition experience #royal academy of dramatic art #so much to talk about #such a busy day #london #british library #lamda #rcs #waterstones #learning through experience #waiting for word #hoping it went well #but i can wait #might need to be another few years #no worries #i can do that

[kristinhelgamagnusdottir]

My first week in India !

So, I’ve packed all my stuff into a locket closet in Manhattan, said goodbye to the rooftop bars and have arrived in Bangalore, India !

I live on the campus of Infosys in Bangalore, and it’s like living in a botanical garden, this is my home (and office) garden for the next 10 weeks:

I arrived on a Saturday morning (super jet lagged since it’s 9.5 hour time difference), 2. June 2018, and spent the Saturday wandering around campus and admiring this place. The weather here is perfect (had heard horror stories about the heat in India and the monsoon rain season). It rains usually in the evenings but the days are beautiful and very nice to sit outside.

In the afternoon I found another intern wandering around, so we wandered together and found all the activities inside the campus. We went bowling, but there is also a swimming pool, tennis courts, badminton courts, ping pong, billiard and other activities.

Then I was added to a Whatsapp group for interns and after falling asleep at 5pm on Saturday (and waking up at 1am on Sunday) I joined a few interns (who had been here for 2 weeks) for a walk around the campus and inside the city.

We live in a area in Bangalore called Electronic City. We took a walk outside of outside of campus and, well... pictures say more than a thousand words. We also took a cab to the city and walked around Cubbon park and around the shopping area there.

The first thing you will notice in Bangalore is the traffic. There are cars and motorbikes everywhere and there seems to be no order, everybody honks constantly and I’m sure all the people on the motorbikes must have some kind of a death wish.

The second thing that comes to mind is my favorite: wild cows ! Everywhere you can find wild cows, just roaming around, hanging out, eating trash, chillin’ at the middle of heavy traffic road and blocking all traffic. Super calm. They are adorable. (There are also a lot of wild dogs which are not as adorable and we saw a wild goat standing on a motor cycle, I’m still sad I didn’t get a picture of that)

As you may know, cows are holy in hinduism. So the cows just get to hang out wherever.

The third thing you will notice is the cutest thing - the head nod. Indians nod their head to the left and right. First I thought it was super confusing since this nod can mean around 100 different things. Usually it means yes. Sometimes it means maybe. I’m still getting confused and just hoping that I’m guessing the meaning correctly.

Enough of that for now...

On Monday it was first day of work. So now I can cover what I’m doing here :)

I’m doing a internship at one of the major Indian tech companies, Infosys. The program is called Instep and my internship is 10 weeks. My project is on “Internet of Me” where I will be a full stack developer creating a recommendation system.

The first day was not exactly workday, but an induction day. We had a tour around campus and then lectures about the program and the company. We also had to go do more administrative work like opening a bank account, getting a sim card, laptop etc.

But after the day everything was set up !

On Tuesday I met my co-mentor. My actual mentor is located in Bhubaneswar in the east of India, but his coworker is more than ready to help me with anything. We talked about the project and I saw my office and the next few days at the office I spent looking at what the intern from last year had been coding. I wish I could show you photos from my office but it is forbidden.

That same evening I took a 2 hour taxi to the city (only 20 km but the traffic here is insane during rush hour) with three other interns - to go to the movies and see a Bollywood movie! I watched a few Bollywood movies before I came here but I was excited to experience it in a movie theatre.

A few things are different from the movie theaters back home:

1. You walk through a metal gate and body search - the purpose is not only for weapons but to find the candy you thought you could smuggle in! The girls had bought doughnuts to take home after the movies, but had to eat it by the entrance of the movie theatre because the doughnuts were not allowed in.

2. Before the movie starts, guests are asked to stand up from their seats while India’s national anthem is played.

3. In the case that there is any scene where someone smokes a cigarette in the movie, then you will see a horribly scary clip of cancer before the movie starts (and during the smoking scene there will be a big text in the corner saying that smoking kills).

But the movie was good (although I was still so jet lagged that I slept through most of it). I can’t wait to learn some Bollywood dances.

[khmagnusdottir-blog]

My first week in India !

So, I’ve packed all my stuff into a locket closet in Manhattan, said goodbye to the rooftop bars and have arrived in Bangalore, India !

(hmm I can’t control the size of the photos on this blog so I guess you just have to see huge photos)

So this is gonna be my new home for the next 10 weeks:

(Still can’t believe I live in a hotel room, it’s gonna be hard to go back to cleaning my room after this, and yeah I get two beds woho)

But the best thing about my new home is my garden. (Ok, maybe not “my garden” but eyhh...)

I live on the campus of Infosys in Bangalore, and it’s like living in a botanical garden !

So I arrived on a Saturday morning (super jet lagged since it’s 9.5 hour time difference), 2. June 2018, and spent the Saturday wandering around campus and admiring this place. The weather here is perfect (had heard horror stories about the heat in India and the monsoon rain season). It rains usually in the evenings but the days are beautiful and very nice to sit outside.

In the afternoon I found another lost intern wandering, so we wandered together and found all the activities inside the campus. We went bowling, but there is also a swimming pool, tennis courts, badminton courts, ping pong, billiard and other activities.

Then I was added to a Whatsapp group for interns and after falling asleep at 5pm on Saturday (and waking up at 1am on Sunday) I joined a few interns (who had been here for 2 weeks) for a walk around the campus and inside the city.

We live in a area in Bangalore called Electronic City. We took a walk outside of outside of campus and, well... pictures say more than a thousand words. We also took a cab to the city and walked around Cubbon park and around the shopping area there.

The first thing you will notice in Bangalore is the traffic. There are cars and motorbikes everywhere and there seems to be no order, everybody honks constantly and I’m sure all the people on the motorbikes must have some kind of a death wish.

Another thing you will notice is that if you go to the park or somewhere outside of the main business area, you will feel like a celebrity.

At one point in the park, after we agreed to one picture, we had a group of 10 people all taking selfies with us at once and a line forming to get photos. 

The third thing that comes to mind is my favorite: wild cows ! Everywhere you can find wild cows, just roaming around, hanging out, eating trash, chillin’ at the middle of heavy traffic road and blocking all traffic. Super calm. They are adorable. (There are also a lot of wild dogs which are not as adorable and we saw a wild goat standing on a motor cycle, I’m still sad I didn’t get a picture of that)

As you may know, then cows are holy in hinduism. So the cows just get to hang out wherever.

 This guy was just taking out the trash, no problem:

Enough of that for now...

On Monday it was first day of work. So now I can cover what I’m doing here :)

I’m doing a internship at one of the major Indian tech companies, Infosys. The program is called Instep and my internship is 10 weeks. My project is on “Internet of Me” where I will be a full stack developer creating a recommendation system. I will probably go more into the details in another blog (also the project is still being defined in details so I don’t want to say too much).

The first day was not exactly workday, but an induction day. We had a tour around campus and then lectures about the program and the company. We also had to go do more administrative work like opening a bank account, getting a sim card, laptop etc.

But after the day everything was set up !

On Tuesday I met my co-mentor. My actual mentor is located in Bhubaneswar in the east of India, but his coworker is more than ready to help me with anything. We talked about the project and I saw my office and the next few days at the office I spent looking at what the intern from last year had been coding. I wish I could show you photos from my office but it is forbidden.

That same evening I took a 2 hour taxi to the city (only 20 km but the traffic here is insane during rush hour) with three other interns - to go to the movies and see a Bollywood movie! I watched a few Bollywood movies before I came here but I was excited to experience it in a movie theatre.

A few things are different from the movie theaters back home:

1. You walk through a metal gate and body search - the purpose is not only for weapons but to find the candy you thought you could smuggle in! The girls had bought doughnuts to take home after the movies, but had to eat it by the entrance of the movie theatre because the doughnuts were not allowed in.

2. Before the movie starts, guests are asked to stand up from their seats while India’s national anthem is played.

3. In the case that there is any scene where someone smokes a cigarette in the movie, then you will see a horribly scary clip of cancer before the movie starts (and during the smoking scene there will be a big text in the corner saying that smoking kills).

But the movie was good (although I was still so jet lagged that I slept through most of it). I can’t wait to learn some Bollywood dances.

Back to the work culture, then the first thing I noticed at my office was that the guy sitting next to me kept on taking all his phone calls on speaker from his desk phone. I looked around me, saw that no one minded and thought to myself why no one said anything since I found this super interrupting for everyone around... quickly I learned that this is what everyone does. People are working in remote teams and spend a lot of time on the phone, and then this seems to be the best way (I still vote for headsets though).

One of my favorite thing (at least the cutest thing) about the culture is the way Indians nod their head to the left and right. First I thought it was super confusing since this nod can mean around 100 different things. Usually it means yes. Sometimes it means maybe. I’m still getting confused and just hoping that I’m guessing the meaning correctly. 

-----

I told one of the coordinators of the internship program that I was interested in hiking, and he recommended a hiking company called Plan the Unplanned. I contacted them on Thursday and got the last spot on the Kudremukh Trek over the weekend.

What a great decision.

We left at 5am on Saturday to go to Kudremukh, which is around 8 hours drive away from Bangalore. I was the only non-Indian on the hike but everyone were super thoughtful and always making sure that I was fitting in and understanding the culture haha. I was super lucky.

The bus trip started with introductions, icebreakers and Indian dance party (at that time I wondered what I had signed up for)

I learned how to eat rice with my hands

When we finally got to Kudremukh we hiked up to a waterfall there in the monsoon rain

Then we went to our accommodation, a homestay where we had to save the electricity (only lights when going to the toilet) and the hot water for the shower was scarce. 

These were our beds for the night:

I must say this reminded me of my trips with the Icelandic Rescue team when I was in training there, but this was a more luxurious version of that. I honestly enjoy this simpleness at times, it makes you really appreciate warm soft bed, clean, dry clothes and showers. 

My most confused moment in this trip was this evening when it was my turn to get the shower. I walk in - and there is no shower. Only this bucket in the middle of the restroom:

With a little help from my new friends on the trip I learned that this is the way to shower in India. You fill up the big bucket with water, and then use the cup to pour over yourself. It was really not bad. (But not saying I would love to switch my shower for a bucket).

We had home cooked Indian meals (yeah I could have had a very bad stomach on the hike, but I took my chances and had amazing food).

We played games, shared experiences and had a very nice night.

The next day we woke up again at 5am and went out to the monsoon rain to start the real trek.

The total hike is around 20 km. This photo is taken at the first milestone (of many), next to the peace tree:

By that time I was already wet through each and every garment. The rain was just like a regular shower and the hike took around hours. I’ve never been as wet in my life.

We crossed countless rivers

And the scenery was breathtaking

And finally we reached the top !

This rain is no joke. Most of the time we were walking in a river.

Which also lead to a bigger problem - leeches !

There were leeches everywhere... people had tens of them on their legs, some on their neck, stomach and even the face. That was probably the least favorite part haha. I’ve never seen a leech before and now I’ve seen enough for a lifetime. No pictures of that because some people were really traumatized and it wasn’t exactly the photo time...

In stead I’ll post a pic of one leach we saw crawling in our bedroom on the Saturday morning, fat and happy after a good night with us in our beds :)

We arrived back in Bangalore at 4am on Monday after an authentic experience with a bus in India... no seat belts and the roads are super bumpy. I flew out of my seat completely to the floor 3 times wohooo...

Now I’m excited for next week, there is a 3 day weekend and I’m going on a trip to Jaipur, Agra (to see Taj Mahal) and Delhi. Also next week I’ll write more about my work and the work culture.

[patticakespinup]

In case I haven’t mentioned it before, a lot of you may not know I grew up in Scotland. My ‘hometown’ is a small village called Strathkinness, in the Kingdom of Fife, very close to the famous home of golf, St Andrews. I grew up surrounded by picturesque fishing harbours, lush fields and farms, rich American tourists and fiercely patriotic Scotsmen and women. It is truly is a beautiful part of the east coast of Scotland, hugged by the North Sea and still featuring traditional trades and architecture. I can’t wait to introduce my future spouse/children to the area, when the time comes!

I did spend most of my teenage years dreaming of bigger and better things, and always felt more comfortable and alive in a city environment. Much to my mother’s dismay, I knew that village life wasn’t for me, and focused on less rural areas when I began applying for University. In 2007/08, there were very few options for music and theatre degrees in Scotland, so much so that I was forced to look further afield. I settled in Preston, north-west England, and attended the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). I achieved my BA (Hons) in Music Theatre with a 2:1 in 2011. As I was with my (now ex) fiancé at the time, I stayed in Preston to seek full-time work, focusing on building a loving and cosy home.

I think my mother always thought at some point I would move back to Scotland, but I’m very happy with where I live. I have easy and quick links to all the major cities in England, and Preston itself is extremely affordable to live in. I have friends that are like family here, and opportunities galore, so I don’t plan on leaving any time soon. As my birthday is at the end of this month, and I couldn’t make it home for Christmas due to work’s rotas and the cost of public transport, this mid-January period was a perfect time to make the trip to see my family.

I was hoping to see some snow, as I adore winter and feel I’ve been cheated with the weather so far this season! There were snow-capped mountains in the distance when I arrived, but nothing on the ground yet. When I woke up on the second morning however, I was greeted with this gorgeous little fluffy blanket!

Yes, I wasn’t prepared with my choice of footwear, but it didn’t stop me stomping around in my parent’s lovely big garden!

Don’t get me wrong, I love my family home, but the village has limited transport links and I don’t drive (yet), so I’m pretty stuck when I go home for more than a few days. My mum wasn’t very well with a bad cold, so she wasn’t up for exerting herself this time (she usually spends her time doing various forms of outdoor activities, including hill-walking, rowing, and sailing!). Luckily, mum has a new distraction in the form of her Audi TT Roadster. When she offered to go for a drive, I knew is wasn’t exactly going to look like this:

However, with the way she was discussing what the car was capable of, I was expecting something a little more exciting and different from her old Corsa. Before I arrived, she promised me we could drive with the top down, but as she was unwell and it was quite cold outside, my dreams were shattered. Still, you can tell how much she loves her new baby. I documented the journey with Facebook Live, and this gave me some hilarious footage of my mum and her understanding of modern technology! Check out my instagram for her commentary! We had a nice lunch under the winter sun, in the fishing town of Anstruther.

My second day in Fife was spent taking a lovely walk along the east beach and harbour in St Andrews while it was still daylight. The cathedral creates quite a famous skyline, and the harbour itself was engulfed in a high tide. Still, the ice and snow made it a very slow walk round a short distance, and I got to make friends with lots of lovely puppers and doggos on their daily stroll!

I was really looking forward to the late afternoon though, as mum had booked me and dad on to the Gin Tasting Tour at the Eden Mill Brewery and Distillery. A bit of time with my dad was exactly what I needed, and a sophisticated tipple. Plus, I love gin, it’s been my chosen spirit since I was 18. I also love a good gin cocktail, especially if there is another botanical flavour involved like rose or violet! Eden Mill specialise in beers and gin, as well as working on a whisky line which I’m sure will be very popular. Before the tour began, we were ushered out of the cold and served the Eden Mill Original Gin with Fentimans pink grapefruit tonic and a slice of fresh grapefruit. Wow! It was gorgeous, and truly got my taste buds going.

Yes, I look a lot like my dad!

After a brief history lesson and a walk around the mechanics of the warehouse, we were settled in a rustic bar area towards the end of the tour. Our guide had prepped us nicely for the tasting, and we had a good background knowledge of the samples we were about to swill.

From the back, we had the Eden Mill Hops Gin with Fentimans Ginger Ale and a sliver of green chilli pepper. This was quite a strong, spicy taste, and my dad’s favourite. Next was the Eden Mill Oak Gin with Fentimans Botanical Tonic and a smidge of orange. This was my favourite, with a super fresh, almost grassy taste. Finally, the extremely popular Eden Mill Love Gin with Fentimans Rose Lemonade and a frozen Raspberry. This was like dessert, a heavenly alcoholic Turkish Delight to finish the trio.

We were truly spoilt, with several more tasters of Eden Mill’s brewery offerings. I ended up purchasing several bottles of the Seggie Porter, which is a dark and rich beer with flavours of coffee, liquorice and hints of chocolate. I’ve already had one bottle, so I don’t see it lasting long in my cupboard! Another product Eden Mill have been selling is their Mixology Gin Cocktails. These pre-mixed concoctions make the most of the complex gin ingredients, and are now for sale in a lot of popular supermarkets. I opted for the Basil Smash Hop Gin Cocktail, with watermelon, basil and lime, and the Roasted Martini Oak Gin Cocktail, made with coffee beans and vanilla pods. I’m saving these for a special evening, but I just know they will be divine, and probably create a long-term obsession!

My only sibling, Amy, is 18 months younger than I am. She stayed in Scotland for her studies, and lived in Perth for a while after graduating with a BA (Hons) in Popular Music. She has now settled in Edinburgh, which is one of the most beautiful cities in Scotland. I’ve always had an affinity with Edinburgh’s architecture and rich history, and we used to take day trips as a family to attend an attraction or see a show at the beautiful Edinburgh Playhouse. After night three at my parents, we drove to Edinburgh to drop me off and have a nice family lunch. I had a lovely traditional veggie pizza, and opted to have vegetarian haggis sprinkled on top. It’s a great mix, honest!

Mum and dad left us after lunch, and I finally got to spend time with the newest member of the family: Amy’s kitten, Buffy. She was typically hyper, then sleepy, then hyper, then sleepy, and made me grateful that Delilah has grown out of that phase a little!

She’s bloody adorable though, and warmed to me in no time. Amy and I had planned to go out into Edinburgh that evening, as we’ve never had a proper drink in the city together before. After a lazy afternoon, we got ready to get the bus to the city centre, winter coats over our nice outfits! Amy and I are different in many ways. Physically, we are the opposite of each other. Not many people realise we are even related, our only similarity is how pale we are!

We began in a gorgeous bar called Hoot the Redeemer, just off Princes Street. Amy had talked about their infamous alcoholic slushies and ice creams, as well as the beautiful decor. We each had a Corpse Reviver Number Blue (Tanqueray Gin, Lillet Blanc, Blue Curacao and Lemon juice) which was absolutely gorgeous. As I have sensitive teeth, the frozen slushie mix took a while to drink, which was just as well, as it was bloody strong.

Warmed up, we trudged out through the rain to the other side of town, and headed to The Banshee Labyrinth. Famed as ‘Scotland’s most haunted pub’, it is actually set into the original underground vaults of Edinburgh’s old town. These eerie caves host many a ghost tour, and the layout of the bar/club meant I probably wouldn’t want to be left there alone after closing! With various sized rooms and plenty of metal and rock music, it’s certainly a place I wouldn’t mind heading back to. We had another cocktail, taking in the rest of the building which features a creepy underground free cinema that regularly shows horror and sci-fi films! Definitely another must when I’m back in Scotland.

I wanted to end the night in The Jazz Bar. Having experienced it last time I was in Edinburgh, I was utterly enchanted with whole concept. Every Saturday, a different hand-picked selection of five jazz musicians meets on stage for the first time and plays with no rehearsal, and not even a set list! Amy had said she started to feel unwell, and didn’t want to pay to get in when she wouldn’t last an hour. I was a bit gutted, as this was going to be the highlight of my night, but I didn’t want to push her. We decided to just have one more drink in a bar on the way back to the bus stops, and passed a converted church and live music venue called Stramash.

I was happy to just have a soft drink then go, but as we walked past the bouncer and through the doors, I was welcomed with the sweet sound of ska music! The band that night were none other than a soul, ska, swing and pop cover band called Porkpie, and the room was full of smiling faces and skanking feet. I was in heaven! We had walked in just as they finished their first set, so we headed to the bar for a drink while they had a break. Finding ourselves a seat, I got to appreciate how lovely the venue is, and how great it would be to hire for a function. The stage is pride of place, with a large dance floor and a lovely balcony surrounding the venue. It wasn’t long before the band set up once more, and I begged Amy to come to the dancefloor with me. I could tell she was flagging now, but I was so ready to dance after a night of sitting down. She let me skank my feet off (while holding onto my flailing boobs) for a few numbers, before basically dragging me out of there! I would love to go Stramash again, especially with that kind of band playing.

For Sunday, our only plan was to go to the beautiful Dominion Cinema later in the day to see La La Land, something I had been really looking forward to. I had already offered to take Amy shopping for her Christmas presents, so we decided to take the drive up to the Fort Kinnaird retail park in the afternoon. I had promised to get Amy some better makeup, as her small collection was lacking, and not great quality. After whizzing round Boots, Superdrug and The Body Shop, I noticed with glee that there was an actual Simply Be shop on the retail park, complete with huge sale section! I informed Amy that they often stocked down to size 10’s and 12’s, and she joked it would be the only shop where we could potentially buy matching outfits. We headed in for a rummage, before I recognised a beautifully familiar face which I spend many a day at work internet stalking – the lovely  Amanda Apparel! I knew she worked for Simply Be, but it was a lovely surprise to see her. Cue picture taking, of course:

Next time I head back to Scotland, you can be sure you’ll see some more pictures of me and this absolute babely babe!

We then only just had time to get to the cinema and buy a drink. Luckily, Amy had reserved us some rather special seats, so we didn’t have to fight for a good spot. We were directly in the middle of the front row, in deluxe leather recliners! Amy shared a two seater sofa with her boyfriend, and I had a big individual squishy recliner to myself! It was absolute bliss after an afternoon of walking round the shops, and I got super comfy by taking my boots off and snuggling into my cardi. I thought the angle of the screen on the front row would be an issue, but once I was basically horizontal in the chair it didn’t matter!

La La Land was breathtaking. I appreciate it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was for me. Romantic, heartbreaking, musical, whimsical, and full of jazz music. I could talk about it all day, but I’m aware of how long this post is! Put it this way, I’ve not stopped listening to the soundtrack. I’m in love with La La Land.

So my little darlings, that’s a roundup of my time in Scotland! I’m glad I got to see a little more of Edinburgh, and witness my mum getting Fast and Furious (ish). And I got a little snow! All in all, a good trip. I was really happy to get back to my own bed though, and snuggle with Darwin and Delilah. See you soon, Scotland!

Bonnie Scotland: January 2017