#'wheres our father bitch' is still one of the best one liners

[xxisxxisxxis]

Gateway Drug | Part Seventy-Eight

Words: 3k

Warning(s): explicit language, violence, substance abuse

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"H-Hi." Deana tries to keep her composure upon the sight of Nikki freshly off-stage. 

He looks more pale than he was before heading to play, his sweat cloaked body shaking slightly. 

His mother, her dark hair curled and bright red lips tugging into a sappy smile as tears bubble in her eyes.

Even without probably knowing the whole story, Axl and the guys know Nikki doesn't have a relationship with his mom, and the nightmare about to take place has them slowly leaning against the wall of the hallway, quietly looking down, uncomfortable with getting caught in the middle of this. 

"What are you doing here?" Nikki asks, confused, more than likely questioning if its a hallucination from mixing too many drugs or not. 

"I made the arrangement." Doc states chipperly, stupidly thinking Nikki would be happy. "An early Christmas present." He adds. 

"I wanted to see you," She tells her son, taking a few steps closer, "I wanted to see both of you...I've already missed out on so much." She explains, looking at me. "I-I know the timing is off, but I really wanted to talk to you." 

"No, the timing isn't off--" I try to assure her. 

"--Don't waste your breath, Viv, she's just gonna ask for money and then disappear for another ten years." Nikki scoffs, brushing past her. 

"Frank--"

"--That's not my name." He snaps to her. 

"It's the name on your birth certificate, Frankie. Frank Ferana. It might not be as glamorous as 'Nikki Sixx' but--" 

"--It's Nikki. Legally. It's Sixx. Legally. It's her last name. Legally." He refers to me and she clenches her jaw. "And any kids I have are gonna have that last name. Legally. I'm not 'Frank', or 'Frankie', and I'm certainly not a fucking 'Ferana' so don't even start that shit."

"You're still my baby." She tells him, trying not to cry. "I came all this way to see you." She adds, wrapping her arms around him. 

I see the glimmer of a little boy in his eyes, for a split second, then it's quickly pushed aside and replaced with that of an angry, abused, hurt, scorned, abandoned dog. 

And he's going for the throat in a moment the second she says:

"Oh, my Frankie." 

He's shoving her off of him so hard she nearly goes to the floor. 

"That's not my fucking name!" He screams at her, throwing his bottle of Jack at the ground at her heeled-boot covered feet. 

He's storming off, Doc following after him, and Fred takes a breath and goes to Deana, to politely usher her out. 

"That's fucked." Izzy mumbles, shaking his head slightly, going to their dressing room and I walk behind them. 

"Nikki--"

"--Who the fuck do you think you are?! Huh?! Who the hell are you to bring my personal life front and center for every God damn body to see?!" 

"I didn't realize you and your mother weren't on good terms." Doc tells him, honestly. 

"You think I'm this fucked up for the hell of it?! You think I'm this way after growing up with parents who gave a shit?! Really?!" Nikki laughs humorlessly.

"Nikki, I'm sorry, alright?" 

"No, you're not, you don't give a shit and you never have, you're just another greedy fuck getting his rocks off from the money in my pocket but I'm done!" He yells, turning to walk away. "You don't know what's fucking best for me, you don't care about me, you don't care about the band, you're not my fucking father and you sure as shit aren't my manager anymore so just go get fucked, Doc, you're fucking fired!" He calls. 

"You're not fired." I assure Doc, wanting to go after him, but not able to bring myself to. 

He doesn't want to talk to me about it. 

I am surprised to see Axl rub his forehead and roll his jaw before stalking past me, Nikki's way. 

"Where you going?" I ask him. 

"I fucking hate my mom." Is all he says as he goes by. 

I didn't know what exact issue Axl had with his own mother, but I'd later find out it was because her horrible judgment in men and what abuse she'd allow him and his siblings to endure from those men, along with her forceful hand in religion that she and Axl's stepfather enforced brutally on their kids.

"Did Doc really not mean to set that up?" Steven asks me when I get into their dressing room. 

"No, he didn't." I reply. 

"Is Nikki gonna be okay?" Tansy asks quietly. 

"I don't know, Tansy." I roll my eyes and she furrows her brows, slightly. 

"Do you even care?" She asks me and I look at her. 

"Tans--" Duff starts. 

"--No, I mean, really, Vivian. Do you even care?" She cuts him off. 

"Excuse me?" I ask, practically seeing the dullness in her eyes of a mixed-drug high.

Without a doubt coke and smack.

"Of course I care, Tansy. Just because he and I are separated doesn't mean I want him to suffer."

"Way to take one for the team by sleeping with Duff, then, because surely that is the one thing that has to be done to prevent Nikki's suffering." She states. 

"What I do and who I do it with is my business, Tansy." I tell her, crossing my arms. 

"Sure doesn't sound that way when everybody on the same floor as you can hear nothing but, 'ahh, ahh, Duff, ahh!'" She mimics moaning. 

"Maybe I'm staying under Duff so much because if I don't, you'll take it as an open invitation, and there really are some people you don't have to try to sleep with mandatorily based on their wallet size, Tansy." 

"Just like there are some people you don't have to sleep with based on whether or not they're gonna be big rockstars or not." She shoots back. 

"Wanna be the pot or the kettle?" I ask. 

"I want you to stop adding fuel to the fire and then acting like your hands are clean while smiting all of us." She outbursts. 

"Smite you for adding to his problems? Offering him drugs when he's already going down hill? Letting him think screwing another woman is okay--not even screwing her, having an entire relationship with her." I correct myself. 

"Given the circumstances of your marriage, he needed an escape." She says next. 

"Given the circumstances of your new-found smack-induced courage, you act like you need my fist to knock your teeth out." 

"Viv--"

"--Then you'll really be laying on your back to get work." 

"But at least I do work. What do you do? Aside from spend Nikki's money and sleep with his friends?" 

"I'm not killing him like you and Sparkie have been with your junkie bullshit." I manage to keep myself from having an outburst, more concerned with Nikki's crisis with his mom. 

"Not yet, at least." She mumbles as I'm walking out. 

"Where you guys going?" Tommy asks as we head to leave for the bus. 

"Um… about to pack our stuff up and head out?" Izzy replies.

"No, no, no, just because Nikki's parade's been pissed on doesn't mean ours has to be." Tommy suggests to them. 

"Yeah, c'mon it's our last night hangin' out for a while." Vince points out, two groupies already under each arm. 

"I was gonna check on Sixx." Slash explains. 

"I'm fine." Nikki shows up, his hands on Slash's shoulders, tightly in an aggravating manner, making Slash chuckle as he twists away from him. 

Axl isn't far behind, he and Izzy looking at the invitation to hangout with the guys one last time on this tour, hesitantly. 

"What the hell," Izzy shrugs. 

"So glad you said that, man, because we have a special surprise." Nikki grins, beckoning them with his finger. 

"Stevie, c'mon!" Duff exclaims from behind me, Steven exiting their dressing room with Tansy behind him. 

"You good?" He asks Nikki. 

"Yeah." Nikki assures him. "I have a present." He adds, leading the guys to the double doors of what I assume is a bigger room. 

Sure enough, he opens the door, and at least ten girls are lined up, naked, asses up, thick lines of coke down their spines. 

Nausea nestles it's way into my stomach, but Tommy, Vince and Nikki look as if this is their promised land. 

Even Steven looks slightly off-put by the brazen display. 

Complete disinterest cascades off of Duff, a heavy puff of cigarette smoke leaving his nostrils with the huff of his unamused breath. 

"Who's first?" Nikki asks. 

Naturally, the guys look to their "leader," and Axl reluctantly rolls his eyes and walks over to the first girl. 

It's like he refuses to acknowledge she's naked, his main focus is the line of coke on her back. 

He snorts one-eighth of the line before deciding that's enough. 

I don't blame him--the way his fingers hold at the bridge of his nose makes me wince because I know it probably burns like a bitch. 

"Boo!" Tommy disappointedly calls to Axl as he walks out. 

He's had his party. 

Izzy follows. 

"More for us." Nikki shrugs, smirking. 

He looks at me directly in the eyes, heavy black liner sharpening the contrast of his hazel eyes as he keeps my gaze, spitefully unbuckling his belt and he starts unlacing his pants, making his way to the girl Axl was at earlier. 

He is not…

Duff's snatching me out of the room only milliseconds before Nikki enters the girl in sync with snorting the line up her skin.

That was that.

It's a bittersweet draw to an end, "thank you" and "damn, I'm gonna miss you" seeming to be on everyone's lips as hugs and high-fives go around between all the boys once we get back to L.A.

I rub my lips together and smile softly as I hand Fred my purse to put in the car, sighing softly, smiling when he looks down at me. 

"See ya later, kid." He tells me and tears swell in my eyes as I wrap hug him tightly, taking him off guard a little. "Don't kill each other...not even over that dumb shit he pulled tonight." He says, referring to the groupie cocaine platter. 

"I'll try." I mumble, wiping my eyes quickly before stepping up to say bye to the guys. 

Steven and Slash are pretty easy, but Axl just stares at me for a moment before reluctantly wrapping his arms around me and hugging me tightly. 

"I'm sorry I was an asshole this entire trip." He mumbles lowly in my ear. 

"I'm sorry I almost got you kicked off." I reply in the same low tone. 

"You're one of the reasons they took us in the first place." He states, pulling away to look at me, cupping my face in his hands, grinning. "You're gonna keep up my lie that we're siblings, right?" He asks and I chuckle. 

"You guys are gonna make it big and I need a meal ticket so of course." I shrug and his smile grows wider. "I love you." I tell him. 

"I love you, too." He assures me, kissing me on the cheek, giving me one last squeezing hug before heading to their bus. 

Izzy looks at me for a moment. 

"Izzy." I say to him. 

"Viv." He acknowledges me and steps to the bus. 

Just before Duff can tell me 'bye', arms are locking around my waist, and pulling me against the person they belong to. 

"Izzy?" I ask after a moment. 

"We're not friends." He says, pulling away to leave, leaving me and Duff. 

"Um, I'll see you later?" I offer and he rubs his lips together, his eyes over my shoulder, and I look to see Nikki and a woman that we'd picked up from the airport, getting into the car. 

I turn back to face Duff, biting my tongue to keep my tears back. 

"You can stay with me tonight." Duff offers. 

"Really?" 

He just smiles down at me. 

I inhale the familiarly comforting scent of cigarette smoke as we walk into Duff's apartment, dropping my bags and running to the bedroom, face planting into the mattress, exhausted. 

The weight of Duff's body laying on top of me making me laugh, his own chuckle further making me grin. 

"I'm so tired." I tell him.

"Me too." He replies, and I turn over underneath him, wrinkling my nose.

"You stink." I say. 

"I think I smell pretty sexy." He grins, teasingly. 

"No." I shake my head a little, scrunching my face to my shoulder when he tries to kiss my neck. "Go shower." I giggle when he tries again. 

"Come shower with me." He counters. 

"I don't feel like it and I don't stink, so--ew, Duff!" I squeal as he takes his shirt off that reeks of sweat and rubs it all over my face and hair. 

"What about now?" He asks and I pick up the pillow above my head and start hitting at him with it.

After a few hits are gotten in, he's getting off the bed, stretching. 

"You coming?" He asks when he walks to the bathroom. 

"I guess." I reply, following after him. 

Once I get out and have one of Duff's shirts on, I go to the kitchen to grab some water before bed, the quietness of the apartment allowing different thoughts to invade my mind. 

I can't help but wonder what Nikki's doing. Is he high? Is he drunk? Is he even still alive? They leave in a few days for Japan but I honestly don't believe they should go. They need help. 

I think at this moment everyone's just trying to see if they can get away with pressing at them a little more without anybody snapping. 

But by the looks of it, Nikki is pretty damn close to snapping, and Tommy anf Vince and Mick aren't far behind at all. 

Nikki. 

My heart tightens in my chest, remembering last Christmas, how he sat curled under our tree, shooting up. 

He'd get strung out, then lay underneath the tree and stare up at the lights for hours. 

"Are we gonna buy a Christmas  tree?" I ask, looking at the empty living area. 

"If you want to." He calls to me from the bedroom.

"I want to." I reply, going into the room and getting in bed while he follows. 

"Yeah?" 

"Yeah. You know, homey-ness and stuff." I add. "Especially if I'm gonna be here longer." I add and he falls beside me. 

"I'll get a tree tomorrow." He assures me, kissing me chastely before yawning and getting comfortable, and I turn off the lamp and lay down, too. 

He goes to sleep in no time, but two hours later, in the early hours of morning, I smile to myself in the dark room, Christmas lights from the street shining into the window, lighting up the room and cascading a comforting dim light over Duff's sleeping body next to me. 

Reaching over, I run my fingertips softly against his cheek, pushing blonde strands of his hair out of the way, his eyes slowly blinking open slightly before a small tug of a smile pulls his lips slightly. 

"Sorry." I whisper, not meaning to have woken him up. 

"It's okay." He says quietly, closing his eyes again. "I love you, Vivian." He adds, his eyes staying closed, but he grabs my hand that's on his cheek, and presses a kiss to my palm, holding my hand when he's done. 

I snuggle closer to him, laying still and closing my eyes, too, while I reply, "I love you, too," the way I wish I would have done to Nikki all these years. 

Years later, while on what I presumed to be his deathbed, he told me that simple moment was what made him feel sure that I was the one. I took everything he had done up to that point with stride. But thinking he was going to die, reflecting on everything that could have been between us but never got to be, and hearing him tell me, "there's a ring I got you years ago when we thought we were gonna be together, but I never gave it to you. Mandy never knew about it. Linda doesn't know about it, but it's on my closet shelf and I don't want to go without giving it to you," broke my heart more than anything he could've done up to that point.

NIKKI

I turn over, seeing the silhouette of the brunette I picked up at the airport, her sheet-covered chest rising and falling with each breath. 

A part of me feels irritated because her perfume is contaminating Vivian's side of the bed that still smells like her. 

I've been reduced to plucking Viv's clothing from drawers or from in the closet and smelling it. That makes me sound like a fucking stalking creep, but it's the truth. 

How the fuck did we get here, again? 

Oh, right, me not able to keep my dick in my pants, and the woman I didn't keep my dick in my pants for, didn't keep her mouth shut.

I sit up, walking to the bathroom to piss. When I'm done I look at myself in the mirror and feel a little impressed. 

I don't look as bad as I thought. 

Well, kinda. 

I splash water on my face, wincing at the dark circles under my eyes. 

I end up staring at myself for God knows how long, remembering how Vivian would wake up and come in here to get me back in bed if I left her for too long because she didn't like sleeping by herself. 

I smile a little, slowly closing my eyes, feeling her touch across my back, the softness of her lips pressing to the skin of my spine before her cheek presses to the same place before she sleepily mumbles out, "come back to bed." 

Opening my eyes, for a split second, I see her. Standing behind me, green eyes peering at me over my shoulder, the feeling of her holding me...it's gone in a flash. She's gone in a flash. 

My nose burns with the oncoming tears cooking up in my eyes, and I erase them quickly with another splash of water to thr face. 

#nikki sixx #nikki sixx x oc #nikki sixx fanfiction #gateway drug #mötley crüe

[zuzallove]

Destiel and LGBTQ+ REP: a rant

When I was 18, fresh from graduation, my best friend sent me a text. It was clearly not meant for me, as he called me “love” several times, something he had never done in 16 years (we met when we were two: best friend doesn’t really cover it, it’s more like brother). I replied “???” and he said “sorry, it was meant for a (girl)friend of mine”. I found it weird, but didn’t push. Except a minute later I get another text. “It’s ok, X, I think she bought it.” Where X is the name of my other best friend.

A guy.

I didn’t know what to do. I had no idea beforehand, and I couldn’t really believe it. After a few minutes, the third text.

“Mind if X and I come over tonight? There’s something we’d like to tell you.”

OK. So they come over, we sit in the car (they’re in the front seats, I’m behind them). They make zero eye contact. They’re nervous.

Eventually, it’s me who has to say it.

“You love each other.”

They share a nervous glance.

“Yes, but in a way that…”

“You’re in love with each other.”

I was so afraid of saying the wrong thing, of being offensive, that I didn’t say much else. Years later, we’d laugh about how for a moment there they thought I had a problem with it, because I was so still, and silent.

I was casually homophobic back then, but the idea of being an ass to my best friends in the world had never even crossed my mind. When I say casual homophobe, I mean, I didn’t know any better. I had been raised in a catholic country with zero representation, zero family members who explained this stuff to me and all I knew about being gay was that they were effeminate, they fucked like rabbits and generally speaking it was always a good topic for a booming laugh.

They forced me out of that mentality. I began reading. Talking to them. Educating myself. I still remember my father shouting when I tentatively said that I was thinking about joining an LGBTQ+ association, screaming that “I wasn’t one of them”. My friends’ coming out was an eye-opener for me, as I slowly realised everything that sounds so natural, so obvious now.

I was able to grow and watch from an outsider’s perspective, and to this day, I honestly think I’m more involved in LGBTQ+ activism than they are, especially since they’re not out-out yet, ten years later.

From the outside, certain things hit me in a particular manner. I realised one day as I proposed a movie title (“It’s LGBTQ+ themed, you’ll love it”) that apart from sub-genres and niche fiction, there wasn’t a lot of it. And thus began my interest in LGBTQ+ representation in fiction, to the point that I’ve written Uni papers on it and that I became known in my Uni circle as the “gay girl”, despite the fact that I was straight.

Now, I’ve always had a deep and profound conviction: Destiel was an accident.

Take two actors with surprising, unpredictable chemistry, put in a few awesome one-liners, a dash of innuendo, a touch of double-entendre and voila. You have accidentally created an epic romance that makes most romance novels and tv shows blush in comparison.

Destiel – I think – was never supposed to be ‘a serious thing’. They played with it, they toyed with the possibility, because in truth, the phenomenon quickly got out of hand. They found it weird, unsettling, how much the fans were involved in this, and tried their best to squash it before it could take life.

It didn’t work. They pushed, and pushed, and pushed, and now this is the breaking point.

Because with Destiel, it’s not a matter of shipping: it’s a matter of being slapped in the face for believing two men could love each other in such a simple, pure manner. They called us crazy. Visionaries. Insane. Creepy. Obsessed. But at the same time, they couldn’t resist pushing a little bit more, because we were such good fans, buying DVDs, flying miles and miles to attend conventions, filling our houses with merch. “Just a tiny bit more,” they probably thought. “Let’s exploit the crazies. Throw in a line here, a line there, give them something to hang on to.”

And then 15x18. And then 15x19. And then 15x20.

They drew us back in, only to punch us in the face so swiftly that it took a moment to realise.

I was on a discord chat the night 15x20 aired. Since I’m a spoiler hungry bitch, I went into the Canadian chatroom, where they already knew what was going to happen. So, I had the dubious privilege of watching how – in the other chats – people went from perplexed, to disbelieving, to heartbroken as the episode progressed. I saw their hope being shattered. It’s still a memory that makes me shudder, especially as I was nursing my own grief at the time.

I’m fresh out of grief, now, though. I’m angry. I’m angry for my friends, who never get to see characters like them in a proper TV show or movie without it being labelled as “gay stuff”, I’m angry for that idealistic, slightly homophobic 18-year-old who still had hope things could change, and I’m angry that people still believe you can exploit LGBTQ+ people in an attempt to grab some cash. Not anymore. Not in 2020.

I don’t care what they claim, they knew this was going to happen, but they also believed it would blow over quickly. Let’s prove them wrong.  

#destiel #deancas #casdean #lgbtq #lgbtqia #representation #supernatural spoilers #supernatural #misha collins #jensen ackles

[drtwit]

RWBY and the Shades of EEEEEEVIL!

Villains aren’t exactly uncommon, in fact, you could say they’re a constant thorn in the side of reality that only exist to make a story complicated. They hurt our favorite characters, monologue a second too long, spout threatening one-liners they probably spent weeks in front of the mirror preparing, and sometimes they even have the audacity to have sympathetic qualities just to mess with us even more. In short, they’re a bit rude. However, we’re not here to talk about the sympathetic and redeemable qualities of our nefarious opposition. No comebacks here. No, we’re here to discuss the bushy mustache twirlers, the little Hitler youths, whiny brats and the candy thieves who have a pronounced hatred of puppies.

With pure evil characters who are there to break the story over their knees and practice their maniacal laughter, it’s often that writers forget to incorporate the character’s motivation, or at least fear the mention of that motivation. See, I find that many people find it hard to recognize that even for the most insane and cartoony of bastards, there is a reasoning, however twisted, behind their actions. The Joker commits crimes to spark chaos, push Batman to question his moral code and prove life is just one big joke. Darth Sidious wants to control the entire Galaxy and believe that nothing can be allowed to surpass him, not even his legacy. Zamasu wants to fulfill his image of a perfect universe and see’s Mortals as a stain upon reality. Prince Lacroix wants a bigger dick... Oh yeah, and something about fearing super powered Asians and the apocalypse, but I think he’s just racist. They have motivations and their actions are fueled by how they reason they can achieve their goals.

In RWBY, we have our fair share of evil ice cream flavors. Power hungry Fem Fatal? Darwin’s Edgy Fangirl? Sinster Overlord shrouded in mystery? Extremist swallowed by his hatred? Mustaches? We have them all, so feel free to choose your poison. But the one I want to talk about to illustrate this trend is the most pure evil of the bunch: Jac-ass Schnee.

This blight upon the good name of a bitching stache has been a point of apathy for me in the show, both as a character who always managed to feel like a background character forced to be an antagonist and as poorly done part of Weiss’s arc. He’s the best example of what happen when you need a character to always be a villain, no matter the scene, no matter the context, he always has to be hatable and pathetic to make sure you still hate him. This leads to a rather inconsistent character.

There’s a previous point of contention the fandom had with his post-volume 3 portrayal, where both in the way Weiss acts and how he’s mentioned prior to volume 4, there seems to be a disconnect to the abusive corporate worm we’d eventually meet. In the first three seasons, he and his company is something that Weiss clearly tried to emulate, something Weiss seemed to take enough pride in to be such a snob about it, something that Weiss goes out of her way to defend against accusations from Blake. You get the idea that Weiss’s father is harsh, distant and negligent, but that he’s still someone Weiss seems to hold a little affection for. Go to volume 4 and the way the two interact make it suddenly makes prior Weiss moments rather questionable, she seems suddenly very clear about how much she doesn’t like him, he’s very obvious with how much of a dirt bag he is and the everything we learn about the SDC and Atlas elite in general make it hard to think Weiss wouldn’t have agreed with Blake back in volume 1. Hell, I found it odd how Winter back in volume 3 cared about Weiss not returning her abusive father’s calls, you’d think Winter would be like “Yeah, fuck ‘em.”

But okay, maybe it’s just some subtleties missed, Jacques is the straight up corporate sleazebag, doing anything he can to get that payday. He has money, and he knows how to use it, dominating the market and knowing which shortcuts to take to move things in his favor. Now, let’s strip away these elements to the concrete core of the the type of evil Jac is. His evil is one of apathy towards morals in the face of greed. He wants money and power, and doesn’t care what he has to do to get it. He’s a good business man who’s worked his way up the ladder. This worked for volume 4, he uses Weiss as a symbol of sympathy towards future buyers at a party, he pretends to care about the fall of Beacon to look good and slaps Weiss when she starts to threaten that with her antics.

And then here comes volume 7 to take him down in the lamest way possible. We have the build up: Weiss running away, the songs about her wanting to break free, the whole motivation of bringing the SDC back to it’s former glory, the fear of having to return to Atlas on her own, ect. He’s her personal villain and as such you’d expect her returning home after he’s had two volumes to build up his already substantial power during a crisis where his business is needed more than ever, he’d take on a rather daunting role as secondary antagonist to Watts and Tyrian. Our first scene with him in volume 7 tells us the answer.

He storms in, easily loses his cool, is revealed that no one really likes him, Ironwood makes it clear he has very little power here, he’s unable to do anything other than throw petty insults at Weiss and immediately he’s stopped being the corporate bastard he’s supposed to be. This continues with the rest of the volume with him, where the writing seems to make him multiple villains at the same time and reduce him to Watts’s mindless flunkie who could have been replaced by any character. His actions don’t connect to his motivation and situation, there’s nothing that makes me believe that he actually reasoned that this would advance his goals.

He’s a ruthless business man who brought the SDC from poultry earnings to a global monopoly. But he doesn’t have one lick of charisma or cunning to the point he thinks taking away people’s jobs will get them to support him rather than hate him.

His company is constantly facing controversies, accusations and attacks with apparently everyone hating him. But he has shit security and isn’t the least bit paranoid of bugs from potential journalists in his house.

He wants money, power and security. But goes along with Watt’s plans that clearly weaken Atlas’s defenses and isn’t suspicious at all at Watts wanting admin access to Mantle’s entire system with no attempt at insurance in case the clearly suspicious mad man doesn’t stab him in the back.

He doesn’t care about Weiss at all, she’s simply a means to an end, even disowning Winter for joining the military. But he still let Weiss attend Beacon, went back to get Weiss from Beacon when he had Jac 2.0 on standby to be his heir.

He’s a man who’s been in the game of feeding people bullshit for years to justify his bad deeds. But he immediately crumbles the moment he’s accused of anything.

He wants to sweep all accusations of unfair labor practices under the rug so they don’t damage his business. But apparently he allowed faunus to get branded with his logo.

On and on it goes, where his motivation is thrown away because “He’s evil, he doesn’t need a reason to do bad things.”. Joker wants to push Batman over the edge, thus he creates a situation that fucks with Batman’s moral code. Sidious wants to crush the Galaxy’s hope, so he constructs a symbol of fear big enough that it can be seen looming overhead from the planet below. Zamasu wants to purge the universe, so he takes the body of the man who embodies the ‘sins’ of mortals and travels to another timeline to make sure the much more powerful Gods and Zeno can’t interfere with his plans. La Fuckwad knows that everyone is looking for an excuse to get rid of him and knows the apocalypse might be coming, so he manipulates a fledgling vampire to get him the sarcophagus of an ancient vampire so he can absorb that refine ‘87 vintage blood wine and become powerful enough to survive.

You can see how they reason they need to do the things they do to achieve their goal. What connects A to B. The only way Jac’s action sync up with his motivation is if he is such a profound moron that Weiss besting him means nothing. “Wow, you beat the illiterate kid at reading, well done.”

As I stated earlier, Jac is viewed strictly as a bastard, strictly as Weiss’s antagonist, in every scene the show has to push in our faces that he’s the bad guy and that Weiss is superior to him. He never gains an advantage over Weiss, or puts Weiss in a difficult situation, he never has a real chance in this story. He is there to be arrested by Weiss. Every scene changes him to be the villain it needs for him to be for us to hate him the most. So, in some he will be calm and composed to frustrate us, while others he’ll be made to yell like a petulant child to make him pathetic and other’s he’ll just be stroking his mustache. His first confrontation with her ends with him getting slapped down and humiliated, then he’s just a yes man who does what Watts tells him to do with no thought or agency, then Weiss just walks into his party, get’s handed victory on a silver platter and arrests him.

That’s it. You got your ice cream flavors, and all of them can be pretty good on their own. However, if you get a bunch of them, stick them in a bowl and then just take a few bites and leave ‘em out in the sun, all you’re gonna get is regular intervals of a muddy looking puddle that eventually becomes grey sludge.

#rwby #rwde #analysis

[miasswier]

miasswier’s ultimate glee ranking: no 5

5: Theatricality

Written by: Ryan Murphy Directed by: Ryan Murphy

Overall Thoughts: For a really, really long time this was my absolute favourite episode of all time. It’s still high up there, but unlike most people I actually really enjoyed the last two seasons of Glee, so this episode got bumped down a bit. Still, there is very little I don’t like about this episode. It manages to give several characters’ stories while still focusing on the main two stories of the episode. Unlike “Dream On”, I didn’t feel like I was watching a show about Finn, Rachel, Kurt, and Shelby. I felt like I was watching Glee.

What I Like:

Figgins thinking vampires are real and talking about how they need to keep vampirism out of McKinley.

Tina looking interested when Puck says “Catholic school girl”

“Happy meal, no onions. Or a chicken”

Kurt getting so excited over Lady Gaga. Oh, honey <3

“You don’t need an appointment at super-cuts. They love walk-in’s” CLAPBACK OF THE CENTURY LADIES AND GENTLEMEN (this line makes me die of laughter every fucking time like oh my god Karofksy you are so genuinely stupid)

The Lady Gaga outfits!!!! Even Rachel’s original one, which I find hilarious and way more fitting for her personality than the one she gets later

“You look terrible. I look awesome”

“You want to name our daughter Jack Daniels? She’s a girl!” “Okay, fine, Jackie Daniels”

Shelby being honest with Rachel when she realized that she made a mistake by contacting her and that this wasn’t what she really wanted. I appreciate when characters can be honest when they mess up, even if it hurts them and other people.

Rachel being honest as well and admitting that she doesn’t feel that mother-daughter bond she always dreamed of with Shelby. I wish they’d gone a little deeper into this, but I’m still glad they mentioned it at all. Especially when Shelby says that it was when Rachel told her about her dad’s and how they would bring her water when she was sad. Shelby isn’t her mom, and it was silly for both of them to expect that. Rachel doesn’t have a mom – she has two dads. While I’m glad they explored the “where I come from” aspect of this, I’m also glad that they didn’t turn it into “I feel more connected to you because of biology than I do to my fathers who raised me”.

THAT WHOLE SCENE WITH KURT AND FINN AND BURT IN THE BASEMENT. There is so much I love about that scene. I could write an essay on that scene and how important it is. That scene literally defined Glee for me for so long. I’m so glad they did that scene.

Okay, I know it’s an insult and homophobic and gross but when Azimio says “being in football and being in Glee doesn’t make you versatile – it makes you bisexual” I always burst out laughing like oh my god I don’t know why I find that so funny.

Finn standing up for Kurt at the end. I will say though that, while I enjoy this, there are some things that I wish had been included as well, which I’ll talk more about later.

Artie and Mike being lil cuties and actually cheering for the girls and being super encouraging in their performance. Considering Artie was always portrayed as the most misogynistic of the guys, he actually is one of the few that openly and genuinely encourages the girls in their performances every fucking time.

Finn actually getting to react to seeing Puck and Quinn talk about the baby!!!!! That’s always been my biggest pet peeve – Finn literally thought he was going to be a father and that got ripped away from him, and he wasn’t ever shown to be angry about that. It was always just “oh boo-hoo Quinn cheated on me and Puck is my best friend woe is me” when really he should be mourning the loss of a child he thought was his, but then learnt was not. Like… I don’t know. Seeing him awkwardly look away reminds everyone that he genuinely thought that baby was his, and now he can’t go through this with Quinn. He’s obviously upset about it. Even though he’s a dink in this episode I still feel bad for him about this.

Will going to the effort to look into Lady Gaga and actually getting excited about her.

What I Don’t:

I already said this, but Finn is a dink in this episode. He’s getting bullied by Karofksy and Azimio, and instead of calling them out on being homophobic and sexist and engaging in toxic masculinity, he just falls into it. He turns that abuse onto Kurt, who he clearly thinks is the one who deserves the abuse. And like, I don’t get why he’s so freaked out around Kurt. Yeah, it’s obvious that Kurt has a crush on him, but when has he ever tried to make a blatant, obvious move (kiss him, touch him, grab him, etc)? When has he given Finn any reason to be worried about changing around him, or even just sharing a room with him? It’s homophobia and toxic masculinity at it’s finest. Add the whole “I don’t wanna do Gaga cause I’m a Man” bullshit that’s thrown into this episode and it’s just a mess. While I’m happy they had Finn stand up for Kurt at the end and wear the Lady Gaga outfit, it still took him being told by an older, straight man that he was being a piece of shit and homophobic and offensive and gross for him to realize what was happening. Plus, I don’t think they gave Finn enough of a chance to really redeem himself. I mean, come on, it’s really easy to say sorry and put on an outfit; actually changing your attitude is more of an uphill battle. I wish they’d re-visited this more at a later date (though not in the way they did in “Duets” when Kurt brings it up and it somehow turns on Kurt and makes Finn look like the victim which……. Fuck off)

Will being the one to tell Shelby what she needs to do with Rachel.

Will agreeing with Finn about how they always do what the girls want when the girls literally always get sidelined. Literally fuck off. I can’t stand this “boo hoo my masculinity is too fragile to perform a song by a theatrical woman I need to perform a manly song instead” “you’re right, I’ve been turning this Boys Club into a Girls Club. Time to take our manhood back!” Ew.

Finn, Puck and Matt not being supportive of the girls when they performed their awesome Gaga number. I feel like this show did that a lot – the guys don’t understand a performer, so they don’t encourage their teammates. Then, when they do a number, the girls are super supportive and encouraging. It’s annoying.

Okay, even though Finn is a dink in this episode, I still think that they shouldn’t have told him about moving in with Burt and Kurt like that. This decision affects him too – Carole should have sat him down and asked him what he wanted to do, and if they disagreed then figured out how they could come up with a compromise.

Also, yet another missed opportunity for bi!Finn! This whole episode could have been an awesome way to show internalized homophobia, especially with that line at the end where Finn is like “I am different”. But whatever.

“My dad’s can’t sow. I really need a mom right now” I mean, not every woman knows how to sow, Rachel. You clearly don’t know how to sow. Why would you assume that just because she’s technically a mother that Shelby knows how to sow?

Songs:

Funny Girl: While Idina Menzel sounds amazing in this, I find it boring and too long. It’s emotional because of Rachel, but whenever Rachel isn’t on screen I lose interest.

Bad Romance: An amazing number!!! I love when they do actual group numbers, where a bunch of them get solo lines. I think everyone except Rachel and Brittany sing in this one, which is amazing! Plus the costumes and the choreography is awesome! My only gripe is changing “I’m a free bitch, baby” to “I’m a freak, baby”, which I don’t understand cause they say the word “bitch” on Glee all the time (they literally sing a song titled “Bitch” like come on).

Shout It out Loud: An entertaining performance that is all too forgettable. I honestly can’t remember most of what happened in it, and I literally just watched it.

Beth: This song always brings tears to my eyes. It’s such an emotional moment, and the song is so melancholy. Plus Puck sounds amazing (and while I understand why the put Finn’s verse in there I still lowkey wish it had been a Puck solo).

Poker Face: I have never liked this version of the song, and I probably never will. I don’t think it transfers well to acoustic at all. I honestly cringe a little listening to it because the lyrics and the melody just don’t match up. I strongly dislike this song. No thanks.

Final Thoughts: While I wish they had gone further on a few elements, overall this episode is really strong. It’s funny (a lot of great one-liners), it’s emotional, and (with a few exceptions) has really good music. It’s definitely my favourite episode of season one, and I’ve watched it as a stand-alone more times than I can count. I really, really like this episode.

#ultimate glee ranking

[all-the-love-harold]

Chapter 10 - A Little Prince

Master Post 

Chapter 9 

June 13th 2017 – 9 weeks

“HARRY!” Poppy yelled from the bathroom of her London flat, looking down at her blood stained panties “FUCK, HARRY!” He was lying on the couch in her living room and jumped up quickly when he heard Poppy yell his name in panic.

“Poppy” he said in a panic “what’s going on love?” he was knocking on the door now “Let me in Pop”

She stood and pulled her panties back up after placing a liner in there for safety and opened the door “Fuck Harry I’m bleeding”

Panic set in on his face “Fuck” he said, voice shaking “Ok fuck, we’ve got to get you to a Hospital”

“What if this is it Harry?” the tears started streaming down her face “What if we lose the little spud?”

“Hey hey hey, don’t be thinking like that” he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a hug “everything’s going to be okay, I promise” he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and let go of the hug “come on love, we’ve got to go to the hospital”

Poppy wiped the tears away from her eyes and grabbed Harry’s waist, moving him out of the doorway, so that she could exit the bathroom. Her whole body was numb, she couldn’t face the idea of losing this baby, but she was positive that that was what was happening right now. Harry followed her out of the bathroom and in into the kitchen grabbing his car keys and wallet off the counter.

“What do you need to bring love?” he picked her hand bag off it’s hook and held it up to her “just this?” She nodded, unable to form any words, “Alright, let’s go”

She followed him down stairs to his range rover and he helped her get in on the passenger side before running to the driver side and hoping in himself. Neither of them said a word the entire drive, letting the radio fill the silence. Poppy could feel her stomach cramping and she was getting more and more worried the longer that they sat in the busy London traffic. Half an hour later, Harry pulled into the hospital carpark, finding a space close to the entrance of the A & E and pulled the keys out of the ignition. He paused for a moment with the keys in his lap, watching as Poppy looked out the window

“Everything’s going to be ok Pop” he leant over and placed a kiss to her cheek “I promise”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep Harry” she opened the door and got out of the car, making her way inside while Harry tried to catch up.

When they got inside they were greeted by a man, who Poppy assumed was a nurse by the way he was dressed “Good afternoon Miss, what’s brought you into A&E today?”

“Uhh, I’m pregnant, and I’ve had some bleeding tonight”

He gave her a sympathetic smile “I’ll page someone from the early pregnancy unit and we’ll get you checked out as soon as possible, just take a seat and someone will call you through soon”

“Thank you” Harry said as they turned and found a seat in the corner away from the old man that was coughing and spluttering everywhere. Poppy leant her head against Harry’s shoulder and waited for her name to be called.

“Miss Thomas” a friendly looking nurse called herr name ten minutes later and both Poppy and Harry stood making their way over to her “I’m sorry Sir” she said looking at Harry “You’ll have to stay out here, there’s just not enough room in there” Poppy gave him a worried look and he smiled reassuringly, squeezing her hand

“I’ll be right out here the whole-time love”

“We’ll keep you posted” the nurse smiled at him and lead Poppy into consultation room

“Ok Lovey, so I’ve been told you’re experiencing some bleeding, how far along are you?” she gestured towards the chair, inviting her to sit down

“Almost 10 weeks”

She nodded, taking a look at her notes “right, well it is quite normal to experience light bleeding in these early stages of pregnancy, so I don’t want you to worry yourself, but since your condition makes you high risk, we’ll do a quick scan today and make sure everything’s ok”

“Thank you” Poppy nodded

“You’re welcome lovey, come through this way with me and we’ll go and find a free ultrasound machine”

Poppy followed her down the long hallway as she popped her head in a few doors before finally turning the lights on in one room and ushered Poppy inside.

“Bingo!” she laughed, trying to lighten the mood “alright, you lie down on that bed there, and get comfortable, and I’ll be back in a few minutes with Tony our radiographer”

“Great” Poppy smiled, and true to her word, a few minutes later she walked back in with a scrawny man, who would have been in his mid-fifties with a beard that kind of reminded Poppy of her dads.

“Miss Thomas” he held his hand out and shook hers “I’m Tony, we’re going to check that little bub in there is doing alright” he sat down on the stool that sat next to the machine and searched for the bottle of gel “Have you had a scan yet?” he asked

“I’ve had two”

“Two! Already!” he laughed “well you know the drill then” he smiled “I’ll try and get an image externally, but this early on it’s hard to see what’s going on so we might have to have a little look inside” he shook the bottle of gel and lifted bottom of her shirt “this might be a little cold”

He squeezed the gel onto her stomach and used the probe to move it around a little before turning the machine on. Poppy closed her eyes, because she knew that looking at the screen would freak her out and waited for the sound of the heartbeat, but it never came.

“Everything’s looking good Miss Thomas” Tony said and she opened her eyes

“But the heartbeat?” she questioned shyly

He smiled “it can be a little hard to hear this early on externally, but if you have a look at the screen here, you can see it’s little heart beating” she moved her head to have a look at the screen and saw the slight flashing where Tony was pointing, and a big smile spread across her face. She’d never been so happy to see a tiny flashing blob in her life, tears filled her eyes and she let out a little laugh at how silly she felt for crying.

After cleaning the gel off her belly and helping her sit up Tony walked out of the room and left her with her nurse.

“Alright Miss Thomas, so now that we all know you’re not having a miscarriage you can relax a little, but we’d still like to know what’s causing the bleeding so I’m going to page our on call obstetrician to have a look at these and we’ll go from there” she smiled at her “I’ll take you back out to the waiting room and you can tell Dad the good news, he was white as a ghost when I came out to get you”

“Yeah” she laughed “he gets worried easily.” She didn’t bother to correct her when she called Harry the baby’s Dad, he was the closest thing that this baby had to a father and she knew he didn’t care if people thought it was his.

The nurse walked her back out to the waiting room, where Harry was still sitting in the corner, staring intensely at his phone. He heard the doors open and saw Poppy walk out, standing up and making his way quickly towards her, a worried expression on his face.  

“Everything ok?” he asked, panic evident in his voice

“I’ve got a little trooper in there H” she said walking back to the chair in the corner and patting the seat next to her, telling Harry to come and sit down again.

“So everything’s ok?” he said softly, aware that everyone was listening to them, and taking his seat next to Poppy.

“I’m not having a miscarriage” she whispered back “but they don’t know why I’m bleeding, so we have to wait for the obstetrician to have a look at my scan”

He nodded and grabbed her hand “I told you everything would be okay, didn’t I?”

She giggled “You did, I’m sorry for being a bitch to you in the car, I know you were trying to help” She leant her head on his shoulder and put her hand on her belly

“It’s ok love, I didn’t take it to heart”

“Thank you” she closed her eyes for a brief second, glad that Harry was around when she started bleeding, knowing that without him to force her out the door she would have turned completely numb. “You don’t have to stay H, I know you had things to do tonight” with his tour coming up, he rarely had a free night, with rehearsals and meetings to make sure that everything was perfect from the very first show, so she felt guilty for making him sit here with her when everything was fine.

“I already called everyone and cancelled tonight’s rehearsal, you can’t get rid of me that easily love”

“Thank You” she smiled at him “Don’t know what I’d do without you.” He smiled back, rubbing his thumb against her forearm in a comforting manner.

The wait this time wasn’t short, they saw a few patients come in and out while they sat patiently reading through magazines that sat on the coffee table.  It was getting late and Poppy had had a busy day at work, filled with meetings and conference calls trying to make the schedule for the Live Lounge Month work for as many people as possible. Herr eyes were getting heavy and she leant her head on Harry’s shoulder trying her best to stay awake.

“Close your eyes love” he whispered “I’ll wake you up when they call your name”. She gave in as Harry began stroking her hair, letting herself drift off to sleep right there on his shoulder.

“Poppy” she heard Harry whisper into her ear what felt like minutes later “Poppy, the doctor’s ready to see you now” she blinked a few times adjusting to the harsh lighting of the A&E waiting room and lifted her head seeing the obstetrician standing next to the doors to the consulting room. She looked at her phone as she stood up and made her way over to the doctor, and saw that it was 10:30pm now and she’d been asleep for two hours.

“I’m Dr Marshall” he said with his arm outstretched “Sorry about the wait, I had a few labouring mothers”

“That’s ok” she smiled

“Dad can come in too this time” he pointed at Harry who was looking at something on his phone

Poppy smiled and turned around, looking at Harry trying to gain his attention without calling his name across the room filled with people who might recognise him. “H” she said loud enough for him to hear her but not so loud that the entire room would hear as well. He looked up and saw her calling him over and immediately stood up from his seat, putting his phone in his back pocket and making his way over to her. He took her hand and they both followed the doctor into the consulting room where he invited them both to take a seat.

“Now” he said, taking a seat himself “I took a look at your scan and reviewed your previous bloodwork and you’ve got absolutely nothing to worry about”

“That’s a relief” Harry said

“It looks like your bleeding is simply a result of your heart shaped uterus, the right side, where the baby isn’t sitting, appears to be shedding some of it’s lining, which is normal, but we don’t want to happen to the other side, so I’m going to prescribe you something to stop the bleeding”

“And that’s safe, for the baby?” Poppy asked

“Of course” he nodded, writing something on his prescription pad, and handing it to her “I’ll add all this to your notes and make sure that your regular obstetrician gets them”

“Thank you” she nodded, taking the script from him

“It might take a few days for the bleeding to stop, but if it gets any heavier, please come back in”

“Ok, thanks” she said standing up from her chair as he opened the door for them

“Thanks for all your help tonight” Harry said shaking his hand as he walked out the door. They both made their way out to Harry’s car joking about how serious Dr Marshall had seemed in the few minutes that they’d seen him. The drive home was much more relaxed and without the busy evening traffic it was much shorter too and they’d made it home before Poppy knew it. Harry pulled up right outside her building, something he only did when he wasn’t going to be staying long.

“Not staying tonight H?” she asked, a little disappointed

“Course I am, just don’t want you walking too far” he smiled at her and stepped out of the range rover jogging over to her side to help her out

“I can get out of the car myself you know” she giggled as he shut the door behind her

“I know, but you’re fragile tonight” he walked her into the apartment, carrying her handbag for her as she unlocked the door revealing the mess they’d left, “I’ll clean up” Harry said looking around at all the dirty dishes left from their dinner “you go and make yourself comfortable”

Poppy took a shower and washed away the stress of the day, taking herr time and letting the hot water brush over her skin. When she finally finished she put on an old pair of pyjama shorts and a t-shirt and made her way back into the kitchen, finding that Harry had washed all the dishes and was currently making them both a cup of tea.

“Feel better now?” he asked, pouring the boiling water in the cups

“A little” she nodded, looking through her bag for the pills the doctor had prescribed for her putting one in her mouth and swallowing it. They both sat down to drink the tea that Harry had made and talked for a little while longer, before they got too tired to stay awake.

“I’m sorry H, I’ve got to go bed”

“Me too” he yawned and followed her into the bedroom. The faint sound of Harry breathing against the pillow lulled Poppy to sleep quickly. Being pregnant was exhausting and on top of the day she’d had, she felt like she needed three days of sleep, but tomorrow was another day and she still had a job to get to in the morning.

***

Poppy was sitting at her desk the next day, a cup of tea next to her laptop and a blueberry and cream cheese cronut to go with it. She’d only been at work for a few hours and she’d already had two meetings with Big Boss Ben about who they would be inviting for the live lounge month and how they were going to work out the schedule, he was adamant that all the performances should happen live as they air and she couldn’t seem to convince him of the scheduling nightmare that that would be. He’d asked her to put together a rough draft of a timetable with the artists that had already confirmed their availability and that’s what she was doing when her phone rang. It wasn’t a number that she had saved in her phone, and usually she didn’t answer numbers she didn’t know, but considering the events of last night, she picked up, just in case.

“Hello” she said, into the phone

“Hi is this Poppy Thomas?”

“Yes, speaking”

“Hi Miss Thomas, I’m calling with the results of your harmony test” she’d had the harmony test done a few days after Harry had told her not to worry about the money side of things, and she was told that they would call her with the results in a few weeks, but if she was honest, after last night, she’d forgotten all about it.

“Oh great” she said cheerfully “is everything ok?”

“Your pregnancy is low risk for genetic abnormalities”

A huge wave of relief washed over her “that’s great news” she breathed

“And you’ll be welcoming a baby boy into the world”

“It’s a boy!” she exclaimed, a little louder than she meant, causing Ella to turn around and look at her, raising her eyebrows

“It’s a boy Miss Thomas, congratulations”

She cleared her throat, trying to choke back the tears “Thank you for your call.”

“You’re welcome, good luck with everything” she ended the call and turned back to her scheduling nightmare, trying to ignore Ella’s sharp stares. After a few minutes of radio silence, she stood up from her chair and walked around to the front of Poppy’s desk, kneeling and placing her face in her hands, with elbows resting on the desk, batting her eyelids like a child that wants something from their parents.

“You’re pregnant” she said matter-of-factly, in an angelic tone.

Poppy looked up from her laptop, trying to hold back a smile “I’m not”

“Shut up Poppy” she stood up “you can’t deny it, you’re having a baby” she was walking back to her desk and talking very loudly “and it’s a boy”

“Ok fine” Poppy whispered, letting herself smile “I’m pregnant, but don’t tell anyone, it’s still early”

If Ella was bad at anything it was keeping things a secret, so Poppy didn’t have high hopes for her pregnancy remaining between herself and Harry. Just as she sat down in her chair again Grimmy walked out of the hallway, just having finished his show.

“Grim!” she exclaimed “Poppy’s pregnant”

Poppy rolled her eyes and watched the expression on his face go from shock to excitement in a matter of seconds “What! Now way” he walked over to where she was sitting “Congratulations”

“And it’s a boy” Ella chimed in as Grimmy hugged her

“Ella” Poppy said, slightly annoyed “remember when I said not to tell anyone”

“It’s Grimmy, he doesn’t count” she shrugged

“I won’t tell” he chimed in “promise”

Poppy rolled her eyes at both of them, knowing that Grimmy had a louder mouth than Ella and by this afternoon the entirety of Radio 1 would know her secret.

“So, who’s the baby daddy?” Ella asked

“Oh please, it’s Harry” Grimmy said, looking at Poppy, like he knew her entire life story

“It is not Harry!” she exclaimed, gently pushing him

“Oh it’s definitely Harry, you haven’t stopped talking about him this past month”

“Whatever” she rolled her eyes again “You two can go ahead believing that it’s Harry and I’ll get on with my work and keep the details of my wild night to myself” she turned back to her laptop and stared at the empty schedule, her mind a little blurry with excitement from finding out that the little spud was going to be a boy.

“Don’t want to know about your wild night with Harry thanks, I already know too much about that kids sex life” Grimmy laughed

“Hey you might not, but I do, dude’s an Adonis” Ella said, shutting Poppy’s laptop slightly

“Oh My God” she sighed “Don’t you two have work to do?”

“Yes boss” they both said in unison, Ella turning back to her desk and Grimmy walking back to his studio, waving as he left.

The rest of the day ran smoothly, Poppy was able to get a rough schedule completed and convince Ben that some artists would need to pre-record their performances, handing him a list of the artists that weren’t available during September to perform live. By the time 5pm rolled around, she finished writing the announcement for the website and drafted the script for each radio host that would be advertising it. As she was packing up her desk for the day, she sent Harry a text, excited to tell him the news.

“You free for dinner tonight? I’ve got some news”

She was in the lift heading out of the office, when she ran into big boss Ben.

“I heard a little rumour today” he said to her pressing the button to go to the ground floor “Grimmy seems to be under the impression that you’re having a baby”

“He’s got the right impression” she admitted

“Well congratulations Poppy” Ben smiled at her “I’m very happy for you”

“Thanks” she said smiling as the elevator doors opened “See you tomorrow”

Poppy climbed into her car and put her keys into the ignition, hearing her phone buzz just before she turned the car on.

“Making up for last night’s missed rehearsal, can’t do dinner, but I’ll make it in time for pudding. Is it good news?”

“Great News. I’ll see you later x”

***

The kitchen was tidy, and Poppy was seated at her kitchen counter reading her pregnancy apps after finishing her dinner. According to the app, Little Spud was the size of a cumquat, his vital organs were forming and functional and his fingers had probably separated with fingernails starting to form. She held onto her belly while she read, feeling tears well up in her eyes. She’d always assumed that pregnancy was something that she’d never get to experience and for the last few years, she’d found herself jealous of every pregnant woman ’d known. These tears that were now falling freely from her eyes, weren’t tears of sadness, they were tears of joy. This little boy was everything that she’d ever wanted, the way he came into existence was far from how she’d imagined it, but he was going to be the most loved little prince on the planet, even without a real dad, he was going to have Harry and Poppy couldn’t be more grateful to have him as her best friend.

A knock on the door brought her out of her trance and she stepped down off the bar stool and answered the door, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Hiya” Harry smiled holding up a bag of groceries

“Hiya! How’d your rehearsals go?”

“They were good” he looked at her “have you been crying?”

“Yeah,” Poppy laughed “The baby’s the size of a cumquat and I got a little emotional when I found out it has finger nails”

He chuckled at her, taking the bag of groceries to her counter and pulling out two tubs of ben and Jerry’s ice cream “I got us some pudding”

“It’s called dessert” she corrected him and rolled his eyes

“Whatever you want to call it, it’s still ice-cream”

“Good point” she said picking up the tub of cookie dough ice cream

“So, you said you had news?”  he asked, shovelling his spoon into the tub of ice-cream and bringing it to his lips

“Oh yeah” she said remembering that Harry didn’t know the sex of the baby yet “Open the box” she pointed to the small yellow box on the counter. He looked at her quizzically, and took the lid off the box revealing a blue pacifier

“It’s a dummy?” he asked a little confused by the gesture

“What colour is it?”

“Blue?” he asked, voice a little higher than usual. She waited a second before responding, hoping that he’d piece it together himself, watching his face as he tried to work it out.

“It’s a boy Harry” she said bluntly, losing patience with him

“Ohhhhhh” he said, smiling “You’re having a boy”

“I didn’t want to get something big because it’s still early, but I wanted to get something to tell you with” she said, pointing at the dummy

“It would have been better if I wasn’t so thick” he laughed, placing a hand on her belly “That’s my God Son in there”

“That’s your God Son H” she said, tears forming in her eyes

“Heyy” he said wiping the tears from her eyes “None o’ that” he picked the dummy out of it’s box and handed it to Poppy “I think you might need this more than he does right now”

She laughed, taking the dummy from his hand “I hate you”

“No you don’t” he smiled, flashing his dimple at her

****

How are we liking it so far? For the most part the last few chapters have been almost the same as the original, but after this one things are going to change slightly, which means there will be bigger gaps between updates so that I can get a chance to write it properly and juggle uni, work and life in general. I hope you understand. That being said, I’ve been thinking about creating a pinterest board to share with you guys about the series, I have a personal one already but I was thinking of making a public one and posting to it more often, kinda like the instagrams I’ve been making but a little less time consuming. Let me know what you think! 

#harry #styles #Harry Styles #imagine #imagines #harry styles imagine #one direction imagines #harry imagine #blurb #harry styles blurb #harry styles blurbs #niall horan blurb #one direction blurbs #harry styles x ofc #ofc imagine #harry ofc #ofc fan fiction #fan fiction #fanfic #Harry Styles Fan Fiction #harry styles fanfiction #one direction fanfiction #fluff #one direction fluff #harry styles fluff #drabble #harry styles drabble #one direction drabbles #harry styles drabbles #best friend harry styles

[chwrpg]

Mom! I'll be right behind you in the hearse!

A NOTE FROM ADMIN R: Again, we had quite the battle of the CHW all stars for this character but in the end, I had to give Arden to miss Tiff. You put everything into this application and I loved that. I have such a clear vision of who this character is going to be in your hands and I am so excited for everyone to get to interact with this incredible being you’re putting onto our dash. Thank you Tiff for this application.

OOC NAME/ALIAS, PREFERRED PRONOUNS, AGE & TIMEZONE:

It’s Britney bitch, she/her, 25, CST

DESIRED CHARACTER:

Arden Atkins

HOW ACTIVE WILL YOU BE?

7-8

SECONDARY CHOICE:

DESCRIBE THE CHARACTER:

From the very second she entered the world the odds had always been stacked against Arden. Unlike most of the people she rubbed elbows with on the streets of Rosewood she hadn’t been graced with the good fortune of being born into wealth or power. There was no trust fund for her to fall back on or family business to take over. No, all Arden had to look forward to inheriting somewhere down the line was a pile of clothes from Goodwill and a beat up old trailer home that barely fit one person, much less the three women who currently lived in it; that was if they managed to even pay it off. Though who knew how long that would take since they could barely afford it as it was; based on her grandma’s disability checks, her paycheck from her job at Mallrats, and her mom working as a hair dresser. Still, for as unfortunate a hand as she was dealt, Arden never once showed or expressed dissatisfaction about having less than others. The way she saw it there was always someone out in the world who had it worse than her. Someone with even less privilege than her. And besides what was the point in wasting time whining about things when she could go out there and make it happen for herself? Some would attest her outlook on life to naivety, they liked to write her positivity off on the fact that she was still a child who hadn’t yet had a chance to see the world for what it really was. While others just believed she was a stereotypical blonde airhead who never had a care in the world. But in actuality it was because of the things she had grown up seeing, the hardships her family had lived through, that Arden chose to always bear a smile instead of putting up a wall or having her fists held up to the world. She just preferred to believe that all of her trials and tribulations could be turned into positive experiences; lessons to be learned, things that would help mold her into a stronger and more intelligent person. No, her life wasn’t perfect by any means, even when her family was whole. But she would be damned if she let herself become a victim of circumstances.

Just because she was content with what she had didn’t mean she was willing to settle. As much as she appreciated everything her mom had done and overcome to get their family out of the hole her dad had dragged them into she didn’t want to follow in the woman’s foot steps. Because she grew up with practically nothing that she wanted everything. In an ironic turn of events, that she didn’t like to dwell on too much, her drive for more sometimes even mirrored her fathers gambling habit. Except instead of placing everything she had on risky hands she chose to play them all. Odds were that the more doors she opened the more chances at success she would have. Arden didn’t believe in dumb luck, that went out the door the same day her dad and his bullshit did. What she believed in was creating her own luck. After all, as the great Oprah Winfrey herself said “luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.” And she was more than prepared to do whatever it took in order to achieve her dreams. While other doors were closed to her others opened and she came to soon understand that the pageant circuit was somewhere she could get a foot in the door to propel not only her career but herself personally.

SAMPLE WRITING:

It’s lonely at the top…

It was something she had heard a couple of times in those melodramatic teen dramas growing up. One of those lame one liners that she would always find herself snorting over because from the outside looking in the solutions to their problems were literally right in front of them. But as cheesy as it felt quoting and comparing herself to a CW protagonist it seemed that what her life had started to become since beginning her pageant reign. The more titles she racked up the less and less it seemed like people wanted to be around her. And everyone seemed to have an opinion. Some welcomed her with open arms. Mostly the judges and sponsors who were looking to mold her into their ideal spokeswoman for whatever flat tummy tea or hair care vitamin they were trying to push on Instagram. Her competitors though? Not so much. She wasn’t from their world. As far as they were concerned she didn’t belong.

The blonde had come from nothing. Her family had no connections, they had no money, they barely even had a home to call their own. It probably didn’t help that to this day, with several competitions under her belt, she still showed up with handmade evening gowns and press on nails from Target. Others had been entered in pageants from the moment they could walk. They paid thousands of dollars for pageant coaching, and dance classes, hair pieces, spray tans, make up, and even fake teeth. While the most experience she had was binging a couple of seasons of Toddlers and Tiaras and watching Miss Congeniality with her mom at least once a month growing up. Walking in like a dollar store Barbie was a slap in the face. How dare she think she could just waltz in and act like she was hot shit?

Those were some of the nicer things that were said about her.

Yes, Arden was aware of the murmurs behind the scenes about her. There wasn’t any gossip around town that her mom’s best friend Loretta wasn’t in the know about. So it didn’t take very long for them to find just how vicious not only the fellow contests, but also surprisingly their mothers, could get with just their words. They were like vultures who searched for any scraps of their prey they could find to dish out. And she was an easy target for them. A hot topic that had spread like wildfire backstage was her family’s past. Her father’s history of unsavory habits wasn’t hard to track. The man had racked up a debt so large and conned so many people in Rosewood out of money that he saw no other choice than to run from his problems before they caught up to him, effectively leaving herself and her mother caught in the crossfire.

But Arden wasn’t one to sit back and concede because things got tough for her. No, she was the girl who made dream boards and hung them up on her walls so every morning she could be reminded of what she was working for. She was the girl who not only made goals but came up with a game plan on how she could achieve them. And made back up plans and back up plans for her back up plans. People could say whatever they wanted about her all that mattered was that she stayed true to herself, that her family would be proud of her, and that she put her all into everything she did. Maybe that was why she excelled at pageants from the minute she first stepped onto the stage. The way her mother recalled the moment it was like a hurricane storming her way through the rest of the competition.

There was, however, a tougher hurdle to cross and that came in the form of Beverly Leon and her mother. If Arden was a hurricane then Beverly was a whole damn tsunami. She wasn’t sure what she had done to get on their shit list but ever since she had walked in to first compete they had gone out of their way to knock her down at every turn. And . their fire only seemed to be further fueled the night of the Miss Windy City pageant. The night she finally managed to ‘snatch’ the first place title from Beverly’s hands, the rightful owner as the girl’s mother had so eloquently told her in that sickly polite tone she used in front of the other moms and even some judges when she was letting them know she wasn’t pleased. How someone could manage to make underhanded threats sound like simple backhanded compliments kinda scared her. But in a weird way also excited her. If the top of the food chain thought of her as a threat that meant she had to be doing something right.

The Q&A portion had gone smoothly. They always asked the same questions like where the girls saw themselves in ten years or what they would do if they were President for the day. And as she was still learning the answers never really strayed far from ending world hunger or ensuring world peace. There was a specific set of do’s and don'ts. Things the judges like and don’t like to hear. It was this portion of the competition that Arden felt she truly played it. She felt like she knew what the judges were looking for. They were looking for someone who could become America’s next angel. The poster girl for what it meant to be all American. Or at least their old school version of America. That much they made clear when they announced the theme cor the pageant would be Land of the Free. While they tried to be progressive in some respects there were clearly other aspects of pageantry that were behind on the times. Still. it was somewhere Arden felt like she could make a difference. It was where she could flex that 4.0 GPA that she had worked her ass off to maintain. Where she could show that she was as well spoken as Diane Sawyer and as insightful as Oprah. Where she could prove that yes she had the looks but there were brains behind those looks as well.

Her question that night? Who was her greatest inspiration?

“My greatest inspiration would have to be my mother. A God fearing woman who has learned to bring herself and her family out of less than favorable circumstances with hard work. Her strength to work full time but still be a diligent homemaker is what is a true testament of what women can accomplish if we truly set our minds to it. I hope to inspire people the same way she has inspired me be it with a child of my own or any child in need…” There was more to her answer but she could barely remember all the fluff she spewed.

What she didn’t mention in her response was that while her mom inspired her it wasn’t only through her hard work. But in the way that Arden was constantly reminding herself not to walk down the same path as her. Her mother gave up on her dreams for a man. She let herself be defined by his words and actions. And when she had been left with nothing but broken pieces of a family she had to pick up and glue back together on her own. She loved her family more than anything, she was proud of where they had ended up after everything. But she didn’t want to have to go through anything like what they went through ever again. It was exactly why she had cut off communication with her dad all those years ago. It took a while but she got past

Afterwards, while she was fixing her dollar store lashes from falling off she was caught off guard when a soft voice called to her from a couple of feet over. “Hey. I really liked your answer up there. You know, about your mom being your inspiration. I especially like how you added in the part about the children in need, total tearjerker.”

“Thanks. I almost went with Black Widow because you know, everything now a days is an Avengers reference.“ She teased, flashing a sincere smile at Luna. Though by now she knew that talk of her family had spread around the pageant circuit. Those who didn’t look down on her like she was garbage looked at her with pity. And she couldn’t help but reactively defend her mom and grandma. “I meant what I said up there though. It isn’t easy to rise back up from nothing. I believe that those who make something out of nothing are the real heroes.”

“Hey, girl, you go out there and live your truth. Personally I’m more of an X-Men gal. At least you didn’t get stuck with a shitty question like what’s your favorite season. They say there’s no such thing as wrong answers. But you know they’re deducting points if you don’t automatically say summer. Because, you know, independence and what not.” She shrugged coolly.

“You know, when I started I heard a rumor there was a frontrunner for a pageant who got all of the top scores. And the only reason she didn’t win was because she was an Aries. Is that for real?“ Arden asked.

“She was a Gemini actually.” Luna retorted jokingly.

Arden chuckled, happy she was able to talk to someone who didn’t seem like her life only revolved around the competition or winning.“So what about you? Who would you have said your greatest inspiration was?” She knew that Luna was probably just making small talk, maybe even trying to judge her competition. But Arden was genuinely curious about this girl. Luna was beautiful, seemed lively, and had the same air of determination she recognized in herself.

For the next twenty minutes until they had to go back on stage they sat there and chatted. It had just started out as small talk but the longer it kept on the more they divulged with each other. Each others reasoning for entering the pageants, their lives, their interests. It was just so easy to talk to Luna. She even told Arden about her brothers move to New York and how she wanted to someday follow in his foot steps. Talking to her was almost comforting. It felt like they had been friends all their lives.

That was the same night Beverly had “accidentally” tripped her on their way backstage to change into their outfits for the talent portion of the show. The same night she began to realize just how vicious these competitions could truly get.

ANYTHING ELSE?

1985

#accepted #submission

[californiadreaminghq]

SPOTLIGHT

NAME: Rosalie Kang; “Amethyst” FACE CLAIM: Im Jinah AGE: 26 TITLE: The Fame OCCUPATION: Lead Singer of The Gemstones

INTERVIEW

                            𝐁𝐔𝐁𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐔𝐌, 𝐁𝐔𝐁𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐔𝐌, 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐘 𝐏𝐎𝐏!                   𝐀𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐄𝐌𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑,                                                    𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐊𝐀𝐍𝐆

     𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚜 𝚓𝚘𝚋𝚜, 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚚𝚞𝚎!

The Gemstones aren’t strangers to having their day in the sun. Known for their sweeter-than-sugar pop attitudes, but notorious for their ever-changing roster, and for those that remember, their abrupt rebranding from rock to pop, one of the lone constants remains their lead vocalist, Amethyst, or Rosalie, as she would introduce herself as. It’s almost inconceivable that she was the former front-liner of rock band, Bitch Frenzy, as she sits, legs crossed primly, in the media room of Fusetone with her shimmery little dress and her picture perfect smile; it’s hard to see her as anything but the All-American gemstone sweetheart she is now, and I’m sure that’s the way Fusetone and the band prefer it.

But following that train of thought makes me curious about whether or not she has any lingering regrets, so I ask, “If you could do anything in the world for a living, what would it be?”

“Anything in the world?” She answers, looking genuinely pensive for a moment before it fades. “Well, it would still be this, wouldn’t it? What more could I ask for? The girls in the Gemstones are my family,” she continues, brows furrowing for a moment, a minute drop of her smile, like a wisp of cloud just passing by clear skies. “Being able to work with all of them and share our music with the world is already the best way to make a living. I wouldn’t change anything. Why? Not a fan of our work?” She teases.

“No, not at all,” I backtrack quickly, and truthfully, I am a fan, both pre- and post-rebranding. “But it must get tiring, so I imagine you would like to go on vacation. So, if you could travel anywhere, where would you go?”

“I think I should like to go to New York City,” she muses. “I’ve been a city girl all my life. Put me anywhere other than a city and I don’t think I’d know left from right. Going abroad is probably too big a wish right now, isn’t it?” She asks, looking wistful. “A girl can certainly dream.”

“I’m sure you could go abroad somewhere,” I prompt, trying for an encouraging smile, thinking it may brighten her mood.

Instead, she purses her lips in a nervous frown. “No,” she says with a surprising amount of conviction, shaking her head. “Better stay where I’m safe and sound. Stay home, where it’s familiar, comfortable... Bit of a homebody, me,” she jokes weakly, as if suddenly aware of the heavy tone of her words.

“Okay,” I relent. “What is one thing that makes you different than anyone else?”

“Is it presumptuous to say my voice? I think every singer wants to say their voice makes them different from everyone else.” She grins. “I had my rock days, and now I get to sing pop songs, so I feel like being able to dabble in both genres is pretty unique. Other than that,” she trails off, thinking hard but looking the most relaxed she’s been this whole interview. “Oh,” she exclaims after a beat. “I’m a great whistler; a lot of people say I’m just like a little songbird.”

BACKSTAGE

Here is the retelling of Little Red Riding Hood that is devoid of lies:

The Wolf comes into Little Red’s life wearing a suit and tie, and she ushers him indoors, and he says, “My, my, what big eyes you have. My, my, what a pretty face you have.” 

And she says, “Why thank you sir, but what of my hair? What of my lips? What of my body? Are they good enough to eat?”

The Wolf answers, “Well, yes, they are! But...”

“But what?” asks she.

“But there’s something not quite right,” he says, sitting himself in the living room and thinking quite hard.

“What if I do this?” she asks, changing this way and that. “Or this? Or this?”

“Ah, that’s just right,” he says, and gobbles her right up.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rosalie is born and raised in the heart of Los Angeles, and is altogether dissimilar and exactly the same as some of her peers from small podunk towns who come to LA to try and become somebody.  Her mother was a singer in her prime, and Rose reads an old interview with her mother. It goes like this: 

INTERVIEWER: You have a daughter now; what do you hope she inherits from you? Well, surely your voice. What sort of wishes do you have for her since it’s her birthday today?

JUHYUN: I hope she doesn’t get my voice.

INTERVIEWER: Why?

JUHYUN: Otherwise she might want to be a singer too one day.

She is dissimilar from her peers in this aspect: she never once experiences the disillusionment after the industry shows its true colors — she is exactly the same in this: she still lets herself get swallowed up.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite her mother’s hopes, she does inherit musicality from her, but it sees little more exposure than daily performances by the dinner table, stirring renditions of An Itsy Bitsy Spider. She lives a sheltered if not restricted life for the first portion of her childhood, fiercely sheltered from all aspects of fame. It doesn’t bother her; she hadn’t developed an appetite for it then, content with simply basking in her parents’ love. That changes, though, when her mother passes away on her 19th birthday, and the paparazzi follow her and her father all the way to the memorial. There are more waiting when they arrive, and her father tries to shield her from them as best he can, wrapping an arm around her and lifting his jacket with the other, but the flashes still ingrain themselves on the backs of her eyelids, nauseatingly bright.

It keeps going: the shouting, the flashing, the lens jutting into her space, and like a melancholy ocean churning out tempestuous  waves, her sadness crashes into anger. She springs out of her father’s embrace before he can think to hold her back, and shoves a camera out of her face. The paparazzo advances, and she shoves him too, shattering the camera, yelling some incoherent half sentence, tears flowing, unbidden though they are. Her father comes to his senses and yells at them to back away before redoubling his efforts to see them safely in. By the time the service is over and she leaves the church, the photos are already developed and spreading.

And suddenly it feels as if the world knows who she is.

And she can’t get enough.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

She starts Bitch Frenzy soon after, and part of her is in it for the music, because that’s all she has left of her mother, but part of her, deny it though she might, is in it for the fame. For the glitz, and the glamour, and for the taste of her name as it slips off people’s tongues.

Bitch Frenzy is a hit — well, it’s a hit in the sense that people don’t ignore them and don’t hate them, a hit in the sense that they attract the attention of Fusetone. It’s the beginning of the end the moment suited executives come out to see them and to sign them, wolf fangs hiding behind their greasy grins, assuring them that if you sign, the world will know you. She certainly doesn’t know it then, but she certainly can’t say that if she were allowed to do it all over again, knowing what she knows now, she wouldn’t sign on that little dotted line.

She pushes the group into signing, wheedling that this is what they’ve been playing shitty venues for: a platform in which they get to spread their music farther than they could ever dream of reaching by themselves, and one by one, the members agree.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

First, it’s small things like makeup and hair, and her members grin and bear it. Then it’s things like dresses and public appearances, and then, and then, and then. It’s a slow overtake of everything that made Bitch Frenzy, well, bitch frenzy, and one day, she wakes up and they’re The Gemstones, and she’s got a little shimmery dress on, surrounded by faces she doesn’t know, and Pearl and Amber are paying life and limb for breaking their contract. Little sacrifices that she’s slowly acclimated to making, hoops she’s all too eager to jump through.

And for what?

Why, for the fame of it all, of course.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are restrictions on where she goes and who she goes with and how big she smiles and what she says and what she wears, bars and bars and bars on a gilded cage. And yet, she knows, as long as she never strays, people will come to coo over her, to love her, to adore her.

The guilt will be temporary, will die with her, she reasons; the silver screen her image will live on in is forever.

The flashes go off when she leaves her house, and she takes a deep breath and smiles for the cameras.

#rosalie kang #the fame

[not-just-any-fangirl]

Days Of Summer CH 8

A/N; Hey y’all! Ready for some fun dumb summer camp au? Cus we are!! Go shout some love at @hannah-nobody and feel free to drop by my inbox with song ideas/recs! I maaaaaaaaaaay have have Waving Through A Window on repeat for the last lmao whoops

Here’s the updated playlist!

Summer has arrived, and with it the start of the two month long music camp; Fairy Tail! Full of new songs, friends, and adventures, the campers learn things they never knew about themselves and one another. And just how easy it is to sneak booze and a full sized karaoke machine out into the middle of the woods.

Camp Rock!AU

Pairing: Nalu, Gajevy, Gruvia, others mentioned; Fairy Tail

Words: 4956

Rating: T

Parts: Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight: Warm Blood

And I can not control it

The way you're making me feel

And you have got me going

Spinning in circles 'round your warm blood

For the first time since arriving at camp, Natsu didn’t feel like a bundle of butterflies were trying to escape his gut. He was still pretty sure his friends were only being nice out of pity, but at least he was confident in the fact that they didn’t hate him. Well, Gray might still but Natsu was fine with that, seeing as the feeling was mutual.

Okay, so Natsu didn’t hate him, but Gray sure as fuck pissed him off.

“For the last time, it’d be way worse to have a monster live under the bed than to run across a monster in the woods.”

Natsu turned on his heel, walking backwards so he could more properly shout at Gray’s stupid opinions. “Honestly, a monster that lives under your bed could kill you at anytime! Just grab your ankle and bam! Monster late night snack.”

“If you can’t successfully run from something in the woods that’s your own fault for going out there.” Levy added, arm linked with Cana’s. “What are you going to do if it’s in your house? Move?”

Cana balked at Levy, clearly affronted by her side. “I can’t believe my bed mate could be so blind.”

“We don’t have to be bedmates, you know,” Cana waved off her wry comment, nose in the air as she continued to speak.

“Who said the monster under your bed is mean? Maybe they just want to be nice and dry. Now, a monster in the woods is a mean son of a bitch who wants to skin you and suck the marrow from your bones.”

“This is blatant mothman erasure and I will not stand for it.” Loke gasped, holding his phone to his chest, pausing in his texting to perform the dramatic action.

“We get it, you’re gay,” Cana rolled her eyes, sharing a cheeky grin with Juvia who at least had the courtesy to cover her snort with her hand. Natsu and Gray shared their own snigger at Loke’s offended gasp, hands placed on his hips while he lectured Cana.

“Firstly, a proper love of cryptids is LGBTQ culture, not just gay culture, and secondly,” Loke cocked an eyebrow, dragging his hand along his body as though he were showing off a trophy, “I’m bi, I don’t deny anyone the opportunity to get a piece of this.”

“I wish you would,” Gajeel grunted, face relaxed as he glared at innocent leaves caught in the light breeze along the path. Natsu threw his head back, howling. The rest of the group followed suit, Loke’s sputters drowned out by their raucous laughter.

“Juvia is deeply saddened to betray Gray, but she must agree with Natsu and Levy. How are we sure the wooded monster is the unkind one? Juvia would much rather face a beast in the wild than where she is supposed to be safe.” Juvia shuddered, arms wrapped around herself. Natsu couldn’t understand how she was even close to cold, long jeans and long sleeved black shirt with an ankle length fur-lined vest both confusing him and making him sweat just by looking at her.

“Juvia!” Gray gasped. Natsu blinked, chortling at his betrayed expression and Juvia’s following plea of forgiveness. Gajeel slung his arm over Juvia's shoulders, rolling his eyes at her squeak. Natsu grinned as he watched his cousin, the beast of a teenager looking as though he’d rather shove someone through a plane glass window before hugging them, when in actuality if you gave him a kitten he’d kill for you. Natsu would know. Lily is what made Gajeel give Juvia the spare bedroom all those years ago.

“I hope I get paired with someone cute,” Loke sighed. Natsu rolled his eyes at his friend’s comment, turning back to face the front and kicking a stray pebble.

“We know,” he groaned, falling back into the group between Levy and Gray. “You want someone to run away with into the night and live your rockstar dream. It’s all you’ve been talkin’ ‘bout since breakfast!”

Loke snorted, making a face at Natsu before turning back to his phone.

“I just hope I don’t get paired with someone I hate,” Gray said flatly. Natsu pulled down an eyelid at Gray’s pointed look, sneering at the pale boy’s middle finger in return.

“Feeling’s mutual, dickhead.”

“Oh be civil, you two twats,” Cana glared over Levy’s head, eerily reminding Natsu of Erza for a second. “Besides, despite as tight lipped as Mr. Only-Drummers-Are-Emo-Enough-For-Me has been about his second talent, I can guarantee you all it won’t be guitar. Boy has two left thumbs.”

“Oi, I'mma lefty.” Gajeel grunted, easily ignored by the group as they neared the surrounding crowd that swarmed the announcement board.

From his pretty average 5”7’ standpoint, Natsu couldn’t see over the heads of the crowd, but Gajeel most definitely could, and he had stopped dead in his tracks.

“What’s up metalhead?” Natsu turned back to ask.

“The photo.”

“What?”

“The application form photo. I didn’t think anyone else would see it.”

Natsu frowned, remembering taking his own photo. The form had said to include a photo of yourself that accurately describes you, but still showed your face. His own was just a photo of him standing against a white wall. It was pretty much the same as a passport photo, except he wasn’t looking at the camera.

“What’s wrong with your application photo?” Levy asked, leaving the group behind to say with Natsu and Gajeel.

Gajeel avoided looking at her. Instead, his eyes slid to Natsu, cringing as he revealed precisely what was wrong with it.

“The suit.”

Natsu’s chest swelled with joy.

“You fucking idiot.”

He ran towards the crowd, ignoring Gajeel’s groans of shame behind him. He pushed Gray out of the way- the other boy landing on his backside with a very satisfying thud- and shoved through the rest of the mass of bodies, desperate to get to the board and see his cousin’s embarrassment on show for all to see.

Once at the front, Natsu’s eyes went straight to the photo of his cousin. It wasn’t hard to miss. It was awful. Not only was Gajeel wearing the hideous white suit purchased for him by his father, but he also wore sunglasses and a fucking fedora. An honest-to-god white brimmed m’lady fedora. Natsu let out a howl of laughter, not caring about the people around him looking at him strangely. It wasn’t until after he’d gotten over his cousins wide-legged, rock signs in the air like he just didn’t care stance, that he realized that Gajeel has been paired with none other than Levy.

Oh ho ho, Gajeel was going to love that.

Natsu’s eyes slid over the rest of the announcement sheet, snorting over Gray’s own heavily eye-linered photo. The snort turned into a laugh when he noticed the moron was paired with Juvia.

It wasn’t until his eyes reached the bottom of the list that he found his own partner. His eyes fixed on her photo, all his laughter dying out.

Fuck.

Sitting next to his own photo was a candid of Lucy, smiling and reaching for the camera, obviously just discovering she was being photographed and unable to hide her laughter even as she reached for the person. Her eyes danced, clear and bright, her hair swirling around her as if the breeze had known just when to blow to make her golden hair catch the afternoon sun. She was so pretty. She was so good.

She was breathtaking.

Natsu’s fingers itched to grab his guitar and a notepad and find a little nook with a bean bag and an amp so he could lose himself in the music. The crowd milled and brushed against him, their own excited chatter swelling as they looked at their assigned partners.

“Juvia is so happy!”

“Aw fuck.”

Natsu turned at the familiar voices, Juvia latched onto Gray’s arm and swooning, Gray trying to lean away as respectfully as he could and looking as comfortable as Natsu would feel in a tutu and pointe shoes. And he’d know, considering all the things Juvia had managed to trick Natsu into when Gajeel absolutely refused. Two boys Natsu didn’t know were wailing beside them, Levy trying her best to console them with an apologetic smile.

“Levy why,” the dark haired one wailed. The ginger one was hugging her, kids around them casting the trio a wary look before pushing by, and Levy increasingly getting flustered by all the attention.

Natsu was saved from having to abandon the melody playing in the back of his head by Cana appearing from the ether and pushing herself between Levy and the taller boy, her arm slung carelessly over Levy’s shoulder and her grin lazy and purposefully relaxed.

“Now, now boys,” she cooed, “there’s enough of our little Levy to share. You’ll still have down time to steal her away from Gajeel to your hearts’ content.”

Natsu didn’t laugh. He was too busy wondering if Lucy had seen the announcement yet. What did she think? Had she asked to be switched yet? Natsu didn’t know if they were even allowed to do that, but he figured if there’d be an exemption it would be for Lucy to not have to deal with him for hours on end everyday.

“Natsu shouldn’t worry,” Juvia said from behind him, her hand comforting on his shoulder. “Juvia knows how silly that is to say, and she may have only known Lucy for a few days, but Juvia knows that Lucy enjoys spending time with her friends, and Natsu, Lucy has already decided you are her friend. Even if you doubt Juvia and the other’s thoughts on being more, please do not doubt your friendship with Bunny Girl.”

“That’s going to be a thing now, isn’t it?”

Natsu stiffened at the voice behind him, light and sweet and bouncy like a giggle was just begging to break free. Natsu had made her giggle at breakfast. A fuck ton. Or maybe she had just been laughing at him.

“Lucy!” Juvia exclaimed happily before a sudden shyness was stealing her voice pushing her to put Natsu between her and Lucy. Natsu cocked his head in confusion as he looked at his cousin’s best friend, seeing as how once Juvia had decided some one was her friend she lived up to her talent in musical theatre and the drama of the stage, as Juvia liked to put it. Natsu called it batshit crazy. He looked over his shoulder, avoiding Lucy’s warm grin as he realized who she was standing arm in arm with. Juvia cast him a kind smile before slipping away, murmuring to herself about finding her beloved once more.

“Yo, Mira. What’re you doing with Luce, shouldn’t ya be rounding up all the brats for a rave or something?” Natsu asked, relaxing at the familiar face.

“Natsu, you know Laxus and his friends are older than you.” Mira Jane smiled at him, a mix of fond and exasperated that was one of her more honest expressions. Natsu knew how hard being the face of the camp was on her, and how she fell back into the persona if she wasn’t careful. “Besides, do you really think Ever would risk getting sweat in her hair at a rave?”

Natsu barked out a laugh, picturing the stuck up brunette screaming at a crowd of uncaring people. He wasn’t as close with Ever, Bickslow, and Freed as Mira was, her main connection being her friendship with Laxus while Natsu was closer with Mira’s little sister, Lisanna.

His joy at picturing Ever’s disgust melted away as he thought of his friend. Natsu hadn’t seen her in a year or two, not since she had been accepted into Edolas’ advanced medical program, her dream of being a vet snowballing with her talent in school and easy to love personality propelling her two years ahead so she had already graduated and was on her first year of university. He knew he’d only have held her back, but he missed his best friend so much it hurt sometimes. Natsu had never opened up to someone like he had with her, and there were days that a certain feeling nagging in his gut told him he had annoyed her so much that she decided to throw herself into her education and run to a new continent.

Just like how Lucy would probably run away after a week of being forced to work with him.

“So,” Natsu said, forcing a grin and his thoughts away from Lisanna and how much fun she was having without him around, “You decide Lucy’ll be your new protégée?”

Mira gave him a knowing grin that reminded Natsu far too much of her earlier years in the She Devils, pulling Lucy closer to her side and speaking sweetly. “Of course! Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, Natsu, and Erza has been keeping me updated on all the happenings of the campers.”

“Snitch,” Natsu hissed under his breath. Mira continued speaking as if she hadn’t heard anything at all.

“So you’ll be seeing me much more often, can’t let all you babies have all the fun you know.” Natsu cringed, tucking into his scarf to hide his frown. Mira was speaking in the same sweet voice, but Natsu could hear her words for what they really were; a threat. If there was something Mira loved more than her music it was meddling in people’s lives, particularly in the affairs of the heart. Which meant Natsu didn’t even want to imagine the horrific and scarring things that might happen if she decided to ‘help’ Natsu woo Lucy, which would not only be a futile effort but might actually ruin Lucy’s time at camp, which was the absolute worst thing Natsu could imagine. “And you know how much I love helping out new talent, especially one with as much raw potential as Lucy.”

“You think I have talent?” Lucy awed. Mira giggled and nodded, either unaware of Lucy’s adoration or simply used to it. Natsu felt a pang as he watched Lucy make heart eyes at Mira. She would definitely have preferred to have the silver haired girl as her partner. That would make her entire time at camp, let alone week.

Natsu jolted when Lucy turned to look at him, still giddy off of Mira’s praise as she smiled at him.

“So have you seen the names for who’s being partnered?” she asked.

“Erm,” Natsu replied, tucking deeper into his scarf.

“You think your partner will be that bad?” Lucy asked sympathetically. She gave him a reassuring smile, Natsu losing himself in how pretty her eyes were and the way the noon sun lit them up. “Whoever they are, they won’t be as hopeless with the guitar as I am, I can guarantee you that much.”

Natsu smiled awkwardly before turning on his heel and disappearing into the crowd, both to stop himself from saying something stupid like ‘The only hopeless you are is hopelessly cute’ or other dumb shit, and to save himself from having to see the disappointment on Lucy’s face when she found out he was her partner.

Lucy blinked in shock as she watched Natsu’s back. She turned to Mira Jane, worrying her lower lip.

“Did I say something wrong?”

Mira Jane patted her arm before leading her to the board, shaking her head ruefully and making the silver hair framing her face bounce. It was so pretty and shiney. Lucy would have to ask her her shower routine to get it so soft and healthy.

“Natsu is just a little shy sometimes. He’ll get a thought in his head and honestly, it’s easier to convince Erza of something than Natsu.” Mira Jane gave her another smile, kind but a little strained. “He’s best friends with my little sister, Lisanna, have been since they were children, but I still can’t read him. It's quite annoying.”

Lucy laughed awkwardly, unsure of how Mira Jane’s sweet tone lined up with her words. “I don’t think I’ve seen her at camp.” Lucy said, diverting the topic away from a certain pink haired boy who had given Lucy the cold shoulder. Just after they had agreed to be friends. “What talent does she focus on?”

“Oh, no no no. Lisanna is in Edolas for her veterinary degree. She skipped the last two grades and got accepted early. You should hear Elfman go on about how proud he is of our genius sister. ” Mira Jane grinned, easily maneuvering through the crowd until they stood in front of the board, only a few feet from where they had been talking with Natsu. Lucy half heartedly scanned the pictures in front of her, looking for herself. So Natsu’s best friend was a genius going to school in a different country to save animal lives. Okay. Not like he had high standards for who he hung out with then. Of course, he seemed to be as thick as thieves with Gajeel, so maybe Lucy wasn’t too out of her depth. She frowned, feeling a headache growing behind her eyes. Hard to read indeed.

“Oh,” Lucy breathed, finally finding her own picture. Right beside Natsu’s.

They were partners.

“Do you think he’s upset?” Lucy asked Mira Jane, tearing her gaze away from the candid photo Natsu had submitted that looked like it belonged on a magazine or album cover.

“Yes, but not for the reasons you’re thinking of,” Mira Jane soothed. “Natsu’s always been a little nervous of what people think of him, and from what I understand, your opinion is ranked very high on that list. You just need to give him time to get used to the idea that you wouldn’t actually prefer to die than spend an hour or two with him, and then it will be smooth sailing for you too.”

Lucy felt her cheeks heat as Mira Jane spoke, looking at the ground and tightening her arm on the one Mira Jane had looped through. She didn’t know why, but the thought of Natsu caring that much about what she thought made her both nervous and a little happy. Which was ridiculous. Because Lucy was here to learn music theory and how to improve herself as a musician, not to find a summer love.

But oh, Lucy didn’t think it would be all that bad to have Natsu come and sweep her off her feet. Especially if he were shirtless again...

Lucy squeaked as she tore herself from her thoughts. She ignored Mira Jane’s curious look, and distracted herself by waving to where Juvia stood with Cana and Loke and a shorter girl with long blue pigtails and a nervous look in her eye.

“C’mon, Lucy, why don’t you introduce me to your friends!” Mira suggested. Lucy blinked at her, already being pulled forward by a giggling and excited Mira Jane before she had the chance to form any words. Thoughts of maybe-shirtless Natsu’s drifted away as Lucy went back to aweing over how she was linked arms with her idol, and about to introduce her to Lucy’s friends. God, if Loke tried to hit on her Lucy would throw his damn phone in the lake. See how much he’d call her his sunshine then.

If there was one thing Gray was thankful for, it was the privacy of his cabin. And noise cancelling headphones. But he had left those in the jacket he had accidentally stripped out of at Lucy’s cabin, so he was stuck simply ignoring his two mentally imploding bunkmates as he dealt with his own, actual, catastrophe.

He couldn’t believe there was no one else at camp who played the violin. What was worse, was he couldn’t believe he had actually been stupid enough to put down violin as his second talent. He should have put costume design like Loke, or bullshitted and put piano like Cana. But no, he had decided to be a complete dumbass and be open and vulnerable and honest.

And now. Now Gray was going to have to dance.

“I’m so fucked.”

“You’re fucked?” Natsu squeaked, pausing in his spot where he had been pacing for the last three minutes. “I’m paired with Lucy and she’s going to hate me? What if I can’t teach her how to play guitar? What if she can’t teach me how to sing? I’m going to make a fucking fool out myself, holy shit.”

“Yeah, you are,” Gray said flatly. He had more important things to do than coddle Natsu right now. Like planning how to fake his death, which frankly would be easier than turning down Juvia. He hadn’t known the girl very long, but he already had an inkling that she was even more stubborn than Cana. It didn’t help that every time she looked at him it was with adoration. His friends might call him emotionless, but even he couldn’t crush her so flatly. Also, saying no to people he didn’t hate made him break out in hives.

A pair of flying pillows pulled him from his thoughts, both nailing him in the face.

“Oi!”

“Don’t be a dick, Strawberry’s got enough issues without ya agreeing with the voice in his head.” Gajeel grunted, going back to petting Lily obsessively.

“I don’t have a voice in my head,” Natsu scowled. He resumed pacing, sending Gray a middle finger at his disgruntled noise. Gray watched Natsu walk, changing his step mid stride as Happy wound around his ankles, eager for the muffin Natsu had shoved in his pocket at breakfast that the moron had forgotten about. “And I’m not the only one hiding in here. Juvia was searching for ya high and low when I was heading back.”

“Fleeing from Bunny Girl,” Gajeel interjected, still glaring at the wall under Gray’s bunk and above Loke’s. Gray was seriously considering the idea that Gajeel was trying to burn down the cabin with his mind. Natsu ignored his cousin, turning on his heel and pacing back towards the door.

“You don’t have to worry about screwin’ up in front of her like we all know you will, you could sneeze in her face and she’d still basically worship you,” Natsu scoffed. Happy meowed, tiring with his chase and batting at Natsu’s ankle. He slowed, allowing Happy to crawl up his leg and his body so he could perch on his human’s shoulder.

Gray groaned, claiming all three of what were now his pillows, burying his face in them. Maybe if he was lucky he’d suffocate and this conversation would end.

“Is she like this with everyone she meets?” he asked, not really caring if Gajeel or Natsu heard him.

“Nope,” Gajeel said flatly, shattering all of Gray’s hopes.

“Whyyy,” he complained, smothering his whine into his pillows. Great. He was going to act like a dipshit in front of a girl who had an apparently massive and unique crush on him. He didn’t know why that thought bothered him, but it did, which meant Gray was not looking forward to these next three weeks.

“Trust us when we say we have no fuckin’ idea what she sees in you, dude,” Natsu said, helpful as always.

“Go jack off to your fantasies of Lucy telling you she hates you,” Gray snapped.

“Why, you wanna listen in or something, you pervert?” Natsu snarled back. Gray threw Gajeel’s pillow at him, cursing to himself when he almost hit Natsu’s dumb cat. Fucking cheater had an adorable built in shield that stopped Gray from maiming him. Natsu sneered at him, lips twitching between a frown and a smile at their fighting. Why were his friends so weird.

Shit.

Natsu wasn’t his friend and he definitely didn’t think that. He was getting cabin-fever was all. Or the stress of mentally preparing himself to do a musical number from Cats was getting to him. Yeah, that made more sense.

Gray looked back at Gajeel.

“Why the fuck are you so catatonic?”

“Shove it,” Gajeel grunted. Lily sat in his arms, not minding the heavy pets his human was using on him, obviously used to being Gajeel’s comfort in times of stress. What the giant had to be stressed about that Gajeel couldn’t punch into submittance was beyond him, but Gray wasn’t about to risk being said punching bag.

“Nah, pervert here has a point,” Natsu agreed, crossing his arms over his chest. Happy chirped in agreement, a strange ‘aye’ sound that made Gray think he’d choked on a kernel of food as a kitten and had done some damage that Natsu was too oblivious to notice. “What’s your issue? Levy seems nice enough to wait at least three sessions before laughing at your horrible singing.”

“How the fuck am I gonna teach her how to play guitar?” Gajeel asked, more like he was talking to himself than answering Natsu’s question. “She’s the same fucking size as it!”

Gray wondered if Gajeel knew how often he said ‘fuck’.

“I’m more worried about how she’s going to teach you how to sing,” Gray said instead of answering his question.

Natsu held up his hand for a high five from Gray.

Gray threw Natsu’s pillow back at him, hitting him in the face. Happy meowed angrily as his perch was disturbed, jumping from a sputtering Natsu. Gray blinked in surprise as the cat was suddenly on his bunk, having scaled the bed. He curled on Gray’s shins, purring as the fluffball pinned Gray to his bed.

“Oi!” Natsu spat, glowering up at Gray. He ignored how the yellow was still noticeable on Natsu’s jaw, and the following twinge in his gut, scowling at Natsu before a smug grin broke out and he began to pet Happy. “Don’t steal my cat!”

“He chose me. Blame Fluffy here.” He mocked. Gajeel remained impassive as he pet his own cat and muttered to himself about breakable girls and guitar scales. Natsu sneered at him, hands shoved in his hoodie pockets as he stopped pacing the room, finally.

“His name’s Happy and ya know it!”

Gray snorted, looking back at the cat curled into a tight ball on him. He didn’t know that many cats, and as he scratched behind an ear and pulled deeper purrs he wondered if they were all clingy like Happy seemed to be. Then his mind drifted to other cute, clingy, blue creatures and he flopped back into the bed with a groan. How the fuck was he going to deal with Juvia? What if he was weak to her wide eyes? Would he snap at her and make her cry? God, he hated when girls cried. What the fuck was he supposed to do with his hands? What if she tried to touch him while they danced? Gray didn’t do casual touching.

“Do you really think Lucy will hate me?”

Gray whipped his head back at Natsu, the dumbass having lowered his gaze and worrying his lip after asking his question. He pulled on the edge of his beanie, dragging the dark gray fabric down so no part of his hair escaped it. Gray scowled as he thought about how it looked like Natsu was trying to hide in the damn fabric.

“Of course not,” he spat, huffing as he looked away from Natsu while sitting up. Because he didn’t want to look at him. Not because he looked like a fucking puppy with hopeful and wide eyes as he gave his full attention to Gray. His hair might be natural but Gray was adamant that he wore coloured contacts. “I don’t know why but she’s decided she likes you, and once Lucy has decided you're her friend literally nothing you could do can change that. Trust me.”

“She’s not just being nice and pitying me?” Natsu asked, hope gone from his expression as he looked over Gray warily.

“Oh definitely,” Gray yawned. He scratched under Happy’s chin, smiling to himself at the loud purrs he pulled from the odd coloured cat. He sensed Natsu’s mood drop, his smile slipping from his face slightly. “But that’s just because I can’t fathom a reason as to why I’d hang out with you outside of being bunkmates, and in case you haven’t noticed, Lucy’s a bit better at not being a horrible person to other people than I am. Actually likes most people too, that freak.” Gray snorted. Happy rolled into his back and batted at Gray’s hand, both offering his white tummy for belly rubs and threatening Gray’s wrist. He decided it was worth it and rubbed the softness of Happy’s stomach.

“Okay,” Natsu said. Gray looked away from Happy, quickly turning back to the cat when he saw Natsu’s small smile. It was a little shy, a little soft. It was sickening.

Happy meowed once before slinking away from Gray and abandoning him. He curled onto Gajeel’s lap next to Lily and Gray couldn’t help but feel betrayed.

“Juvia means well,” Natsu called suddenly. “She can be a bit crazy, and weird, but nothing she ever does is fake or half hearted. You don’t have to worry about what she thinks of ya, Numbnuts.”

That wasn't what he was freaking out about, but Gray nodded anyway, appreciating Natsu’s attempt. “Ok, no need to worry.”

“But are you sure Lucy doesn’t hate me.”

Gray groaned, loudly and trying to convey all of his annoyance through a single sound.

“Oi,” Gajeel called. Gray looked at him, ignoring Natsu’s resumed pacing and wringing of Gajeel’s pillow in his hands. “You hurt Juvia and I’ll kill you.”

Gray let his head fall back into his pillow. He really fucking should have put ‘more drums’ as his second talent.

#ftfanfics #nalu #gruvia #gajevy #fairy tail #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #juvia lockser #gray fullbuster #gajeel redfox #levy mcgarden #Cana alberona #loke #mira jane strauss #fairy tail guild #dos #days of summer #summer camp au #au #song fic #just any writing #not just any nobody collab #sooty for the lateness! #hope you enjoy the dumb boi angst!

[zimmerdouche]

This is something I’ve had saved on my computer since like June but I still have a lot of thoughts about the Poindexter family.

I forget where it was I read this, and whether it was actually canon or not, but effectively it said that the entire Samwell Hockey Team came from a place of privilege because hockey is an expensive sport.

Consider: Dex is a multiple. More specifically, a triplet. Three kids going to college at once? And that money related stress, piled on since birth? Save your money, Poindexter, because even though you aren’t that bad off you aren’t the only one that needs tuition and equipment.

I know Ngozi tweeted about Dex only having an older brother but let me have this.

Let’s talk more about the Poindexter triplets.

Wyatt Joseph Poindexter

The youngest triplet. Laid back, big thinker, just wants everyone to get along.

He grew a beard after high school because he was so. Fucking. Tired. Of being mistaken for his older brother. He’s only an inch shorter and everyone called them the Weasley twins, there needed to be a change.

Poster Boy for the rustic hipster aesthetic. Plaid shirts with the sleeves rolled up, ripped jeans, knit beanie, Timbs, occasionally suspenders? Plus a beard? Actual Lumberjack Wyatt Poindexter.

At the University of Maine majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in music. He’d like to focus on music education for the hard of hearing.

Fluent in American Sign Language. (He is the Number One Fan of Holly Maniatty, interpreter at hip hop concerts.) Can also stumble his way through casual conversation in French.

L o v e s music and will listen to any genre. Literally any, but he especially loves stuff that he can play on his guitar, and artists like John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Brett Dennen, Counting Crows, so on and so forth. He loves listening to lyrics and dissecting meaning and context, and will write his own lyrics on occasion.

He was a sprinter in high school and was pretty good but chose not to continue in college even though a few schools showed interest.

Gay and demisexual. He came out after his freshman year, after a lot of soul searching, meditation, and GSA meetings, to his siblings, whose collective response was “oh shit me too, thank God.”

Drives a truck older than he is with a bench seat and a paint job that’s mostly rust. He hot boxes it regularly and honestly? A big Triplet Bonding Event, especially after the Poindexters start college, is driving out to the middle of nowhere at midnight with snacks and drinks and weed and smoking in the bed of the truck, looking at the stars, and talking about life.

Group chat: has it on Do Not Disturb because his siblings never shut up. Will occasionally interject with one liners. Sends Snapchat screenshots of himself looking Bored as Fuck in any lecture that isn’t directly related to his career path and also plaid related memes.

Winona Jane “Ryder” Poindexter

The second oldest/middle triplet and the only girl. Fiercely protective and stubborn. Will kick your ass. Will kick everyone’s ass. Will kick her own ass.

Everyone calls her Ryder (like, Winona Ryder, the actress) because she absolutely despises the name Winona. The number one way to piss her off is to call her Winona, or God forbid, Winnie (Will does it when he wants her attention. She threatens murder).

Also at UMaine, studying bioengineering. Her ultimate goal is to lead a research team focused on artificial organs, but she has also considered becoming a professor. She’d be a great lecturer because she tends to ramble.

A thrift store fiend with a need to look like she came straight from the nineties. She likes mom jeans, denim in general, crop tops, Chuck Taylors, and UMaine athletic wear. She also steals her brothers’ flannel shirts.

She was on the color guard in high school and continues to be on the color guard in college. She’s damn good at it too. Can do some basic gymnastics/tumbling, but the back handspring is about as fancy as she can go. Damn good at dancing in general. She also loves to swing dance, and while she couldn’t get Wyatt into it she managed to get Will to dance with her and he enjoys it much more than he’ll ever let on.

Her freshman spring semester she took a video editing class and part of the class was start a YouTube channel so that she could upload assignments to it. She chose to do a vlog channel and she titled it “Ryder Die,” and she just kinda stuck with it after the class ended. Will and Wyatt make regular guest appearances.

Lives for Spongebob related memes. It’s a problem. Wyatt had to ban her from showing Spongebob memes in the car because she would try to show him like one every three minutes while he was driving.

Bisexual as fuck and... uncomfortably open about her sex life. Ryder, your brothers do not want to know about that. Stahp.

Group chat: Ryder’s contact names from both of her brothers are just various Winona Ryder characters. She’ll purposely call Wyatt Will and Will Wyatt. “Guys how does this outfit look?” (30 seconds later) “Why am I asking you two I look fantastic”

William Jacob “Will” “Dex” Poindexter

The oldest triplet. High strung, reserved, very loyal and very protective, even more so than his sister.

His siblings call him Will, Samwell Men’s Hockey calls him Dex. His siblings will probably never call him Dex, it’s just weird. Do you call your brother by his last name? Why would you? You have the same last name!

Studying computer science/engineering at Samwell University.

Does the guy own anything that ISN’T plaid? Yes, he does, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at him. God, does he look like his brother.

Can stumble his way through a few songs on the guitar and can carry a tune better than his brother, (“Fuck you, Will! You’re not even going into music!”) but refuses to sing in public. He may hum, if you’re lucky.

Defensemen on the Samwell Men’s Hockey team.

Left handed so, basically, if Wyatt didn’t have a beard, they’d be completely mirrored. They are identical, after all.

Bisexual with a pretty strong male preference.

Group chat: Bickers with Ryder a lot, usually if he instigates conversation it’s to complain about his defense partner Derek Nurse. He does this often enough that Ryder suspects they’re dating. Once, when they were actually getting along, he sent a selfie and Ryder’s response was, of course, a Spongebob meme – “OH NO HE’S HOT!”

These three together? Oh boy

This bit is more about their parents but is required for context: Papa Marcus Poindexter is a Baptist worship pastor. Mama Cara Poindexter was Irish Catholic but converted after she started dating Marcus. They are… extremely conservative, more so than the rest of their extended family, and it’s not exactly a healthy environment for the triplets. They’ve all set off firecrackers in the baptismal pool though.

All three of them have like, three different personalities, depending on who is around them. There’s the “I’m with my parents” personality, which will always prevail in any situation and is very submissive and agreeable, the “I’m with my siblings but not my parents” personality, which will prevail provided their parents are not around and is very loud and laughter filled, and then “I’m with anyone else but not my siblings” personality, which is at any other time and shifts based on who they’re talking to.

Their group chat is. A mess. The name changes constantly and most of the time it’s just them bitching about everyone they know.

Favorite GC Names include:

Those Damn Poindexter Kids

Poindexter Meme Team

Will/Ryder/Wyatt is the Hot One

Which one are you again?

Fluent in American Sex Language

God Nerfed Us

Our Hair is Red because the Devil is Our Father

Mad 4 Plaid

Summer after their freshman year of college, some guy named Jake Nichols made a bet with his buddy that he could hook up with all three of them at least once. He did it, the madman, and they don’t figure it out until MONTHS later and it’s the best story to tell at parties, but only when all three of them are there together.

Wyatt and Will run in the mornings when they’re together, Will and Ryder will do dexterity training together, and Ryder and Wyatt will do your Everyday Gym Trip together (where Ryder does strength training and Wyatt general Fitness Upkeep).

Ryder and Wyatt visit The Haus when the Frogs are juniors:

So damn polite, oh my god, Bitty LOVES them because they all want to help in the kitchen like Dex does, and they brought even MORE food, bless their hearts. 

Wyatt gets along with Nursey like a house on fire. Ryder won’t stop doing eyebrow waggles at Dex every time he and Nursey say anything to each other.

Graduates are visiting bc plot and Ryder is well on her way to hook up with Ransom when he realizes that he doesn’t live there anymore and there’s no room to go to, whoops. He tried to ask Dex if he could flirt with his sister and Dex r e f u s e d to broach the topic with him. “If she wants to it’s fine.” “But-” “IF SHE WANTS TO IT IS F I N E.”

Wyatt brings his guitar and there’s a jam session in the front yard, somehow he convinces Will to sing. It’s an exciting time, Nursey brings out a ukulele and everyone’s humming along and somehow there’s a firepit is this even legal? The music is great though, even though it’s 3 AM and the Lax bros are pissed.

IDK how but they’d get Nursey and Dex together. They conspire with Chowder and maybe Bitty and just. Make it happen. Witchcraft.

Fin.

#omgcp #omg check please #will poindexter #william dex poindexter #nurseydex #omgcp hc #ok 2 reblog #in fact please do! #and add on if you want! #lynny text

[antemortem-rp-blog]

WELCOME, Ness !! You’ve been accepted for the role of Faye Chamberlain. We’re so excited to have you join the ante mortem family. Please look over the checklist and make sure to send in your account within 48 hours. We look forward to seeing you on our dash.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Name / Alias: Ness.

Age: twenty.

Pronouns: she/her.

Timezone: GMT.

Anything Else?: just that I want to worship the ground you walk on for making this roleplay.

IN CHARACTER

Desired Character: Faye Chamberlain.

Why?:  I’m gonna preface this by saying the second I stumbled this roleplay I screeched. I love every single show incorporated in the plot and I’m in awe at how you’ve managed to merge all the shows and the characters so seamlessly. I actually don’t even know where to begin expressing my love for Faye. Honestly I hadn’t heard of TSC until about 2 years after it aired. My main reason for watching it was because I had a character with a Phoebe FC at the time and I kept stumbling upon gifs from the show. I remember watching the very first episode and I’m not gonna lie at first I hated Faye with a passion. But as the season progressed, my adoration for her blossomed. With her mischievous nature and offhanded one-liners, she easily became one of my favorite characters. Faye is such an intriguing character in the sense that there’s so much more to her beneath the steely glareand sharp tongue—she’s not the one-dimensional bitch character we’ve seen portrayed so many times. There are so many layers and complexities to her with so much potential for development to the point where I simply couldn’t dream of applying for anyone else. It would be an honour to undertake Faye’s role and bring her character back to life.

Character Pronouns: she/her.

Sexuality & Ships: Bisexual. I’d be absolutely honored to plot with anyone in regards to ships whether it be as a friendship, a romantic setting, pure unadulterated hatred or anything else in-between. I’m a huge advocate for ships based on chemistry. I never want to rule out any ships because from my experience it’s always the ships I don’t expect that I have the fondest memories of.

Occupation: After dropping out of college, Faye is focusing on herself and trying to get back into a positive headspace before even thinking about enrolling again. Although her mother supports her financially, Faye works as a nanny a few days a week. She has a soft spot for kids and she’s a child at heart so I can easily see her keeping the kids entertained with her exuberant nature.

Headcanons:

Faye has always been someone who fails to be described in few words. She is the definition of a free spirit—she’s super adventurous and audacious but also soooo reckless to the point where you’d think she constantly has a death wish. She has a mindset of ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’. This is the main excuse for her reckless behavior because the repercussions of her actions never cross her mind. She’s one of those people who would do literally anything for someone she cares about and wouldn’t give it a second thought. Even if it meant running into a burning building with a survival rate of 0%, she would do it.  And when everyone is saying ‘Faye no’, her brain would be screaming ‘FAYE YES’.

What most people fail to notice is that Faye has a softness within her, a brokenness that does not prevail outwardly—one she deals with alone. Consequently, she is possibly one of the most guarded people you could find on the planet. There is a void in her heart, one filled with pain, grief, and trauma. It is a void so profound it that remains with her every single day of her life, no matter how much she would prefer to disregard it. She views emotions as a form of weakness and has developed an ability to mask her feelings so nobody can look past the facade and see how truly broken she is. She’s a walking contradiction: a girl who feels everything so intensely so she pretends not to have any feelings at all. It’s her defence mechanism. Peel back those layers, however, and you’ll find a scared, insecure little girl who wants nothing but to feel loved. Not that she would ever admit it, though.

Faye and her grandfather shared a bond like no other. Both a father figure and best friend rolled into one, he played a vital role in his granddaughter’s life and Faye loved him dearly. Some of her fondest childhood memories were spent at her grandfather’s lake house. But Pine Lake was also the setting of two traumatic events Faye can only dream of permanently eradicating from the crevices of her mind. The first being her near drowning incident. And the second was gazing into the darkened eyes of her grandfather in that very same spot. She often finds herself awakening in the middle of the night, screaming, reliving the memories in her subconscious. To the extent where it’s a rare occurrence for her not wake up to nightmares stricken by these memories.

Powerlessness is one of her greatest fears. When the circle was bound, Faye was left to her own devices which landed her in multiple life-threatening situations where she was left defenceless. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands by learning how to protect herself. She enrolled in martial arts and self-defence classes so she’d be able to hold her own in a fight without her magic.

Although she isn’t psychic per say, I see Faye having some kind of precognitive ability. On more than one occasion, she has made jokes or assumptions that have turned out to be true. For instance when she had her suspicions about Jake when he returned to Chance Falls and that Eva was lying about Lee skipping town. She also guessed that John Blackwell was really evil, and that the curse on the Conant and Blake families wasn’t real. Long before Faye discovered her magic, I can imagine her blurting out random things and making predictions which ended up really freaking people out, including herself. But at the time, she blamed it on intuition or a simple coincidence.

‘Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive’ sums Faye up. All of the events throughout her life; all of the trauma and heartache, has hardened her and made her resilient. She has learned the true value of independence and how the only person she can truly rely on in any situation is herself. Pair that with her determination and her magical abilities. She’s a force to be reckoned with and is one of the last people you’d want as an enemy.

Para Sample:

The last few days had been torturous for Faye. Nothing could have prepared her for her grandfather’s passing. It was a concept she couldn’t seem to comprehend—her grandfather was dead. Just like that. The person she had known since she was born was gone and she would never see him again. There were so many things she didn’t have the chance to tell him—things she will never be able to tell him. She would give anything to see him again, even for a fleeting moment. Just so she could say goodbye.

Sleep had become a foreign notion. The vivid memory of seeing her grandfather’s body still remained deeply ingrained in Faye’s subconscious thoughts. No matter how hard she tried, the girl just couldn’t seem to forget. Images of that night never faltered to flash in her mind, over and over again, on a seemingly never-ending loop. She would awaken in the middle of the night so many times—to the point where she could no longer she remember what it felt like to have a full night’s sleep. Sometimes she would even reach a point where she could no longer distinguish her dreams from reality. She felt broken—beyond broken. All Faye could feel was the numbness swarming around her heart and the unbearable guilt whenever she remembered she lost the chance to tell her grandfather just how much she loved him before his death. The smile on her face had long since faded and she just wanted to forget. Forget about being a witch. Forget about all of the drama in Chance Falls. Forget everything. She didn’t just want to—she had to. It hurt too much. But, much to her dismay, it was easier said than done.

Now even the image of her grandfather’s face was slowly erasing itself from her mind, as if he was gradually becoming nothing but a distant memory. Sunken eyes and a tear-stained face had seemed to become permanent features of Faye Chamberlain. Everything was taking its toll on her and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep herself together. She had grown weary of all the apologetic glances and supposed words of ‘comfort’. With each passing day, more and more texts and phone calls from her friends and family went unanswered. For a girl who spent a fair chunk of her life glued to her phone, it was completely out of character. But she didn’t even have the energy to care anymore. She had shut herself off entirely from the world, even from her own mother. Probably one of the most baffling things was that Faye never saw her mother grieve. It was as if she was entirely devoid of emotion. As if she didn’t even care about Faye’s grandfather at all. All she could feel was this overwhelming sensation of rage towards her mother that only seemed to heighten as the days went by. She was the reason her grandfather rarely ventured away from his home to Chance Falls. The reason Faye and her grandfather’s relationship suffered throughout her teenage years. And Faye would never forgive her mother for that.

Her fingertips drummed on the porcelain of the bathtub to the beat of the music that was playing faintly in the background. Though she wasn’t really listening, certainly not amidst the seemingly never-ending array of thoughts that were circulating around her mind. She descended into the water, feeling the warm liquid cling to every inch of her skin. Faye’s throat felt dry and chest felt heavy, as if boulders had been squeezed through the small little bronchial tubes and straight into her lungs. A shiver travelled down her spine and she felt her breath catching in the back of her throat. Breathe, she told herself. But it was easier said than done. It was something so simple yet so difficult—but it felt as if she couldn’t quite remember how. Faye finally emitted a tremulous breath as she diverted her gaze to the ceiling. All she could feel was the dull, nauseating ache resonating in her chest and the quickened thrum of her throat. So, she screwed her eyes shut.

Then the memories came flooding back.

A bolt of lightning crackled across the blackened sky and the sound thunder boomed through the air. Sky-fallen trickles were plummeting downward relentlessly and the wind battered through the late autumn air. The brunette’s entire frame was drenched, the coldness seeping through her clothes onto her skin. But Faye hardly took any notice. The weather was the last thing on her mind.

Panic ripped through her as she scrambled towards Cassie. Her chest had tightened until it felt as if she wasn’t even breathing—which she was, rather laboriously, in fact. Her feet skidded to a halt as she reached the edge of the wooden dock. And that’s when she saw him. Her grandpa. At that very moment, Faye could have sworn she felt her heart disintegrating into tiny fragments. She remained entirely motionless as her mind attempted to process the sight that beheld her.  

“That’s my grandpa,” she rasped out, the words not quite registering in her mind. She felt her legs collapsing beneath her body and instantly clung onto Cassie in an attempt to stabilise herself. “No” was the only word she could muster the inner strength to say. “No, no, no—” she repeated as her normally pleasant demeanor gradually altered and her face crumbled, consuming nothing else but heartbreak. Faye could hear her own voice crack as every wall of composure collapsed and tears began cascading down her cheeks. Her breath hitched and her entire body convulsed as a sequence of sobs wracked through her frame. She inhaled deeply, attempting to regain her composure to some extent, but only seemed to fail. She screwed her eyes shut as she remained enveloped in Cassie’s embrace.

Faye’s eyes snapped open, her vision blurred by the fogginess of the water surrounding her. She shot upwards almost instantly,  gasping for air, as her hands clutched the edges of the bathtub. Her forehead crinkled in desperation and she strained her eyes, frantically analysing her surroundings. A breathy exhale fell from her lips just then. Her hazel orbs lifted upward for a few moments and she pursed her lips into a line, as the liquid clinging to her eyelashes began to glide along her skin. “I love you, grandpa,” she muttered in a barely audible tone. Those few words brought her an instant sense of relief, knowing that in a world that can be so bleak and cruel, she could find solace in speaking to her grandfather. But that still didn’t change the harsh reality that he was gone and was never coming back.

Now all Faye had left was an unbearable ache in her chest, tearing her to shreds every single time her thoughts lingered on her grandfather. She would have to learn how to live in a world without him by her side—a world without him there to hold her afloat.

Anything Else?: I threw together a pinterest board HERE and I have an old account HERE I’ve repurposed over the years for an original character who is very reminiscent of Faye personality-wise.

#tsc rp #witch rp #supernatural rp #crossover rp #rp #accepted #c: faye

[efnewsservice]

Highlights from the Lana Parrilla and Sean Maguire panel at Storytelling Con, Barcelona, April 22, 2017

Lana came in first.....

Did she prank someone on set:  “Well I stole Rebecca’s dog.  She was not happy about that.  But she stole my chocolates so I thought it was fair to steal her puppy.  It was my Wicked Witch moment.  I stole her Toto.”

Which Meryl Streep movie would you like to have been in:  Mama Mia, the Deer Hunter, the Devil Wear’s Prada.  

FMK:  F Emma, M Zelena, K Rumple.  “I would sleep with myself, I’d marry the Evil Queen, and I’d kill my mother.  Nooooo.  That doesn’t make anyone happy.”

Favorite con activities:  “I love the meet and greets because they’re really intimate and you get to learn a little bit more about my people.  Those are my favorite moment.  Also just hearing people’s stories.  These are fun.  I like the panels because I like the energy.  And it’s just fun because I get to see everyone and hear everyone, feel your energy and hear your voices and your shouting, your cheering, it’s electrifying.”

What was it like meeting Johnny Depp:  She was seven all over again, and she had a crush on Johnny Depp during 21 Jump Street.  She was starstruck and fangirled and looked stupid in that picture.

What has she learned from Regina or the Evil Queen:  “I’ve learned a lot of lessons.  And a lot of similar lessons that a lot of you have learned from these characters because they are very inspiring women.  One a little bit more than the other.  But even the Evil Queen I’ve learned lessons from her in what not to do.  And with Regina just always striving to be the best me I could be for myself and others.  That’s probably the biggest lesson.  Sounds cheesy but it’s not.”

What is it like to live with four boys:  Fun, loud, energetic, with a lot going on.

Best advise to give to your fans:  “Be kind to one another.  No more segregation, no more separation, no more hate, no more bullshit, I mean there is a lot of that happening in the world.  Why would you want to be part of that?  So especially in social media I see all the negative banters back and forth and it’s just... I just recommend if you get the impulse to want to say something really shitty to someone ... go do something else.”

Sean Maguire joined at this point....

What is your favorite one liner:  “I love fillet the bitch.  I just think it’s so fun to say.”

They took a picture with an OQ banner presented to them by fans.

What would they as their characters use to describe the other...

Lana:  “Chivalrous, Smells like Forest, Handsome, Father, Loving...”

Sean:  “Dynamic, Stunning, Courageous, Beautiful, Powerful.”

What do you think the EQ and Robin are up to in the wish realm?  “I know what they’re up to but we can’t say. [...] I think they’re having a really good time.”

Question about how Robin and Regina never said I love you on the show:  They both seem surprised that they did not.  

Sean:  “Well if that’s the case it’s an oversight on our part or the writers part or they’re really holding out to do that line.  He’s already dead and you are still holding out?”

Lana:  “I feel like they had to have said it...”

Sean:  “I think you’re right... [...] it’s because Robin and Regina are really shy...  But did you get the sense that we both felt that?  [Audience affirmative]  Well then we did our job.”

Lana:  “I’m here to tell you all that Regina and Robin Hood loved each other.”

Sean:  “We certainly did.”

Lana declines to sing again... which ... she does a lot at cons.

First impressions:  

Sean:  “Lana was the one on my first day, Lana was one of the first actors on the show to say hi to me and welcome me to the show.  So I was really ... it’s like the first day at school and when someone who has been there a while welcomes you it makes you feel really relaxed.  So I was very, I loved her straight off the bat, I was like ‘oh she’s nice.  We’ll get along well.’ not knowing we’d end up working together.

Lana:  “I saw Sean before he saw me and I felt a warmth and a kindness and a sensitive sweet soul and you can see it.  And I thought that’s my Robin Hood.  So I went and introduced myself.  And I knew we’d get along.  And Sean knows this I’ve told him this a million times he’s been like an angel for me on the show and I love him so much.  And I couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful, beautiful, love interest, co-star, friend, we really enjoy working with each other and I was so glad he came back this season.  Honestly when Sean’s not there it’s weird.  He brings so much light and laughter, he is, he makes everyone, the crew smile, everyone laugh, he’s missed.”

Does Regina think Emma is too good for Hook:

Lana:  “Ahhh I mean I feel like Regina ... I feel like I’m going to say yes for them but honestly I think that Hook has come a long way ...”

[At this point the audience starts making noise...]

Lana:  “Shhhhh do you want to answer the question or do you want me to answer the question?  You may not like my answers but that’s okay, it’s still my answer.”

[Moderator/Translator:  “Drop the mic.”]  

Lana:  “So I think that Hook has come a long way.  I don’t think that Regina necessarily likes him very much.  She tolerates him.  And she supports her friend.  All the Swan Queens are going ...”

[Moderator/Translator goes ‘Swan Queens chill’]

Lana:  “I have to look at the story as it’s written so I’m answering the question as the character and what is written.  And I don’t think she really cares for Hook.  She’s always sarcastic, she’s always belittling him, she puts up with him, and if he makes Emma happy she’s happy.  Now I’ve lost all those fans...”

[Moderator/Translator :  “No you haven’t.”]

Lana:  “I’m just kidding.  I know I haven’t.”

Future projects:  

Lana:  “Well we don’t know if there is a season seven.  So we don’t know what is going to happen but we’ll see.  In the meantime there is a lot to catch up on in life.  We’ve been working on Once for six years so ... it’s important to take time for yourself and to try and try to reconnect and try to get some things done on a personal level.  Who knows what lies ahead.”

Sean:  “The show finishes filming around April ... and those going back go back in July and Lana and I and a lot of the cast in that time travel around the world.  We go to Brazil we go to Paris which we love and we’ve had an amazing time meeting all the wonderful fans.  But it sometimes doesn’t leave us a lot of time to do the personal things that we want to do...”

Lana:  “No rest for the wicked.  But we’ll see.  I hope you follow us no matter where we go.”

Best day of your life:

Lana:  Being born.  

Sean:  When his son was born.  Lana and Ginny told the assistant director to send him home when he showed up to work the day after his son was born.

#lana parrilla #regina mills #lana parrilla convention panel #sean maguire #robin hood #sean maguire convention panel #ouat spoilers #april 2017 #convention panel

[funnythingshere0-blog]

[Horror Queers] Talking Troma, “Bad Movies” and Juvenile Humor In 'Rabid Grannies'

New Post has been published on https://funnythingshere.xyz/horror-queers-talking-troma-bad-movies-and-juvenile-humor-in-rabid-grannies/

[Horror Queers] Talking Troma, “Bad Movies” and Juvenile Humor In 'Rabid Grannies'

Each month in Horror Queers, Joe and Trace tackle a horror film with LGBTQ+ themes, a high camp quotient or both. For lifelong queer horror fans like us, there’s as much value in serious discussions about representation as there is in reading a ridiculously silly/fun horror film with a YAS KWEEN mentality. Just know that at no point will we be getting Babashook.

As two gay men, we have opted to use the moniker “Horror Queers” for this series of articles. It is a word that has a complicated history due to its derogatory use by bullies and hateful people, but has increasingly been adopted as a term of empowerment and a unifying term that recognizes the many complex identities that make up the LGBTIQQ community. Queer has become commonplace in academia, politics and pop culture over the past three decades. We understand and recognize that the term is still very hurtful for some people, but we believe that the more people that proudly reclaim it, the more the wounds and stigma surrounding the term are reduced. Using the word “queer” is intensely personal, but it is a decision that we are committed to. Please don’t be an asshole when using it and we’ll get along fine.

***SPOILERS for Rabid Grannies to follow.***

Synopsis for Rabid Grannies: When given a demonic present by their black sheep nephew, two kindly old grannies are transformed into demons who proceed to gorily knock-off their greedy relatives.

Queer Aspect: Surprisingly enough there is one! Eldest niece Erika (Bobette Jouret) is a lesbian…which just means that she literally dies first.

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Joe

Trace, of all of the “off-cycle” picks on our list, Rabid Grannies is probably the oddest of the bunch. This film first came to my attention when I was watching the 2016 documentary Forgotten Scares: An In-depth Look at Flemish Horror Cinema last year; Rabid Grannies is featured prominently in both the trailer and the promotional stills for its practical effects and gory execution. Part of the attraction, for me at least, is that it looks like a Flemish version of Peter Jackson’s Dead/Alive, which is one of my all time favourite horror films.

It looked absolutely insane and immediately vaulted up my “Must See” list. I knew — despite the fact that it isn’t a queer cult film per se — that I wanted to check it out for this series.

Now that we’ve screened it, I have to say that I’m a little sad because it’s much more of a mixed bag than I had hoped.

The opening of the film actually reminds a bit of your last pick, Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives, because it’s essentially just an extended bitch session. The frenzied series of car rides featuring a diverse group of relatives jockeying for position en route to Grannies Elizabeth (Danielle Daven) and Victoria (Anne-Marie Fox)’s mansion has a kinetic energy, even if it is also confusing as hell. The fact that every single one of these people is reprehensible and money-grubbing establishes an odd relationship with the audience: you either find them comedically amusing in a terrible way or you abhor them and just have to wait patiently for them to start dropping like flies.

Rabid Grannies feels like it was inspired by a deep appreciation of low-budget American horror films, particularly Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead films. There’s also a Clue-esque vibe in the gathering of a group of characters who don’t particularly care for each other who are separated in a desolate mansion and picked off. While Rabid Grannies can’t quite replicate or sustain the high camp energy of Rami’s or Lynn’s films, it does share a similar madcap sensibility that, particularly early on, makes it a strong horror-comedy entry.

Part of where the film begins to falter for me is its unorthodox choice of survivors. I will confess that I was delighted to see a sharp-tongued older lesbian among the relatives, particularly since her barbs are among the best aside from rotund Fred (Guy Van Riet). I was looking forward to watching Erika fall apart or leer at Fred’s new wife Jessica (Françoise Lamoureux), so it was extremely disappointing when Erika was the first to go. Sure her death is one of the best of the film — dragged (literally!) across the table and straight into the unhinged jaws of Grannie Elizabeth — but why kill her and leave dull as dishwater father John (Elie Lison), warmonger Harvey (Jacques Mayar) or, worst of all, family virgin Bertha (Florine Elslande)? There really is no rhyme or reason why someone survives longer than anyone else, but it feels like the more outlandish and entertaining the personality, the sooner they perish. Perhaps this says more about my appetite for drama and bitchy one-liners, but I’ll admit that I was perplexed by some of these narrative decisions.

The screenplay is arguably the film’s weakest link. While it hardly takes any time to transform the Grannies into their rabid demonic state, there’s not much narrative ground left to explore afterwards. The guest list is extensive enough that there are plenty of bodies to pile up, but everything after the dinner is a variation of the same repetitive development: a small group of survivors hide, the Grannies discover them and at least one person is attacked, mutilated or killed. It’s not dissimilar to a slasher film, but Rabid Grannies also feels more slight (possibly due to the comedy, which lands more often than not, but still makes parts of the film read as shallow).

Perhaps this is a good point to turn it over to you, Trace: did you like Rabid Grannies? Which characters did you prefer? Were you surprised by any of the deaths or gore? And is this film a perfect acquisition for Troma, who wound up releasing the film to cult status in North America?

Trace

Jesus, Joe. I know you weren’t crazy about Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives but did I really deserve this? I’m glad you brought up Dead Alive, though, because all I could think of the entire time was that Rabid Grannies was a mixture of that and Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre. I dislike one of those things, and it isn’t Faerie Tale Theatre. I imagine it must come as a shock to you that I am not a fan of Dead Alive, but I’ve just never been able to get behind the film. Other than the outstanding gore, nothing in that film works for me. Some laughs throughout, but I roll my eyes. The poor production value (and terrible dubbing) didn’t make this experience any less painful. So to answer your question: no, I did not like Rabid Grannies.

I actually found the first 30 minutes of the film pretty difficult to sit through. It draaaaaaaaagged. Not only were none of the characters interesting (or likeable), but none of their jokes were funny! For a first act that goes through the motions of setting up the characters and their relationships, none of it was particularly memorable. Seriously, I’d be hard-pressed to tell you any of their names (the only one that stuck with me was Robert Du Bois’ Percival). So put me in the “abhor them and just have to wait patiently for them to start dropping like flies” camp.

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Alas, you are correct in that Erika was the most fun to watch, so I suppose she would be my “favorite” character. That’s sort of like picking the prettiest turd in the pile, though. Making a lesbian one of the protagonists is a progressive move, especially for a film made in 1988. I was shocked that there was only one joke made at her expense, and it was from the odious Fred. But of course, Erika dies first. Does the good cancel out the bad here?

The one bright spot in the film, much like Dead Alive, is the gore and make-up effects. They are pretty outstanding, especially for a Troma film. Admittedly, I don’t know much about Troma (this is actually the first film of the studio’s that I’ve seen), but to my understanding they specialize in low-budget films (usually horror) that feature lots of jokes made in poor taste. Nevertheless, all of the money clearly went to the effects, because they certainly didn’t go to the actors. The design of the “grannies” (aunties?) reminded me a lot of Anjelica Huston’s makeup in The Witches (though The Witches was released a full two years after Rabid Grannies).

As you mentioned, the script is the weakest link and because of that none of the jokes really land. The gallows humor present in most of the death scenes are played for laughs, the funniest of which is that woman (again, I couldn’t even tell you her name) getting hit by the car before crashing face-first into a wrought iron fence. The bit right before her death scene in which she is forced to sing “Happy Birthday To You” is one of the film’s few highlights. Rabid Grannies really embraces its ridiculousness so I’ve got to give it that.

Joe, why do you think this film was such a hit in North America? Which version of the film did you watch? Upon doing some research, it seems that the Blu-Ray cut has additional gore scenes that the Troma DVD had removed (they were relegated to the deleted scenes in the special features). The version I watched (on Amazon Prime) was 88 minutes, and it looks like there is a 91-minute cut, so maybe I saw the edited version. Would I have liked it more had I seen the uncut version? I doubt it, but one can hope.

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Joe

Oh Trace, I can’t believe you didn’t find some of those ridiculous line readings and sight gags funny! Yes, Jessica’s vehicular/gate crashing death is delightful, but didn’t you find some humour in Fred getting a bite taken out of his ass? Or cringe when John yells at Erika’s younger lover, “Listen lesbian, shut the hell up!” Or when distraught mother Helen (Catherine Aymerie) threatens Percival with a blade to the balls and the line: “I’ll knife those two holy orbs you have so little use for”?

Bueller? Bueller? No, just me?

Your point about the different versions prompted me to investigate which edit I watched. Looks like I also watched the 88 min version – not that I think any additional amount of gore would change your opinion of this film if it’s not up your alley.

Circling back: the question of why it was a hit for Troma is interesting. I imagine that the short answer is because it’s a silly, ridiculous film with some pretty decent special effects. The larger question, however, is what I’d rather we discuss: the appeal of “bad” horror films. I find this topic fascinating because – as we’ve discussed over the past two installments of this series – films that fall into these categories are very polarizing.

Did we disagree on Sorority Row? Yes, but there’s no denying that that film has merit. Contrast that with a film like Rabid Grannies, which is pretty threadbare in terms of plot, acting, direction, etc and there’s a huge distinction. I bet that if we look at the numbers for this post and the Trannies post, they’ll be among our lowest because there is a whole population of horror fans who will simply never watch horror movies that are quote/unquote “this bad”.

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Back when I was in university, I did a bunch of research on the subject, which is sometimes captured under the label paracinema (Sidebar: there’s even a magazine based out of Austin entitled Paracinema). It is an umbrella term used to describe exploitation films (like Trannies), as well as cult and camp films. Both of the latter terms have factored into our decision-making process when we’ve been selecting these off-cycle picks.

There’s a fascinating, contentious history of paracinema films being banned or edited by film boards and government censors at various times in history (a lot of the films that were classified as video nasties in the UK that have since been “rescued” would have classified as paracinema back in the day). Part of the claim for shelving, trimming or destroying prints of these films is that they do not have a perceived “value”, which is actually an inappropriate use of the term. What critics and censors are really talking about is a matter of taste.

What does any of this have to do with Rabid Grannies? Well, it’s not hard to make the argument that the Flemish film falls into both cult and camp categories, or that its multiple edits (and release under the Troma brand) reinforces its classification as paracinema. It’s unsurprising that neither of us had seen this because it was deliberately made for a very specific niche audience (which clearly isn’t us!).

While I’m actually more in line with you in that I didn’t really like the film that much (I certainly won’t be strongly recommending it to anyone in the near future), I’m also strangely happy that this weird little oddity exists in the world. If nothing else, I’m glad that Horror Queers has given us an outlet to shine a light on underseen, undervalued and – in this case – strange little outliers of the horror canon. Even more importantly, it has enabled us to have a discussion about these films. We don’t have to like everything we see, but paracinema makes the argument that some people’s trash is other people’s treasure.

Trace: what have you taken away from the low-budget, exploitation, camp films we’ve watched these last two cycles? Will you seek out any other Troma films or has this soured your opinion on the brand? And do you have any final hot takes on Rabid Grannies?

Trace

I don’t want to say that Rabid Grannies has soured my opinion on the Troma brand. It pretty much is exactly what I expected it to be; I just didn’t find this particular film to be entertaining. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy bad movies! I think our discussions here have made this very clear. But this was…..not for me (also, how dare you compare something as immaculate as Sorority Row to this trash). And no, none of those “jokes” landed for me. Truthfully, I probably won’t seek out any Troma films in the future, but if someone brings one to movie night I’ll give it a chance. I’ve had a friend who has tried to make me watch Luther the Geek for almost a full year now and I keep avoiding it.

I would love to get into what exactly constitutes a “hit” for Troma though. I had never heard of this movie before you forced me to watch it so I just wonder what measurements we’re looking at, here. This is simply going off of the film’s Wikipedia page, but the exact quote reads “Due to its unusual subject and title and its graphic scenes of gore, Rabid Grannies is one of the most infamous titles in the Troma library.” Yes, I am a journalist referencing Wikipedia as a legitimate source, but there aren’t a lot of articles that have been written about this movie!

Like you said, we probably won’t get a lot of readers on this article because some people just aren’t going to watch this movie, even if it’s free (which it is)! One of our goals as journalists (besides inspiring lively discussions) is to help the site we write for get clicks, but I don’t think this will accomplish that particular goal (and to be quite honest, I thought our Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives piece would get clicks if only because of the word “tranny” but I was wrong about that). That being said, I am thankful you introduced me to the world of Troma and that we have a platform like Bloody-Disgusting to bring attention to films like this one.

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Even after having a few days to sit on it, I just don’t have a ton to say about Rabid Grannies. I can certainly see why some people enjoy it, but other than the impressive practical effects it doesn’t have much going for it. It’s just an incredibly off-putting film. It’s a shame that Emmanuel Kervyn never went on to direct anything else (though he did have a small role in Kickboxer 2: The Road Back). He shows some talent behind the camera that could have been honed into something a bit better than Rabid Grannies.

So no, Joe, Rabid Grannies was not to my liking. I’m glad you got some enjoyment out of it, though! Maybe we can cover the sequel when it gets released next year (God help me). One of my favorite things about these articles is that A) not only are we becoming closer friends despite not having met in person but B) we’re also learning so much about the different things people find funny. I realize this is a bit odd considering this is a horror column on a horror website, but you get what I mean. What people find funny and what people find scary are both extremely subjective, so it’s enjoyable to read why you find parts of this doo-doo feces movie so funny. I’ll get you back for this one, Joe!

Next time on Horror Queers: We are giving you what you’ve been clamouring for nearly a year: A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (aka the gayest horror film ever made!)

Rabid Grannies is available to watch FOR FREE (with terrible dubbing) on YouTube and Amazon Prime.

And don’t forget to catch up on our previous Horror Queers articles right here!

Source: https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3529209/horror-queers-talking-troma-bad-movies-juvenile-humor-rabid-grannies/

[ugdigital]

[FEATURE] NASHIEM MYRICK [ @TheProducerNash ]: LIFE AFTER DEATH [THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. TRIBUTE]

For as much as we felt we already knew about The Notorious B.I.G. and the classic double LP, Life After Death, the process of completing the various features we have has been quite eye opening. It’s been an opportunity to look deeper into the lyrics that he truly lived, and the words that have lived posthumously for 20 years now. 

In this particular feature, we connect with Nashiem Myrick, who was an intricate part of Bad Boy’s Hitmen, the in-house production team that ultimately crafted a majority of the songs we all knew an loved, not just from Biggie, but from many other artists on the booming roster. Myrick has been lauded for his work through the year, especially the personal touch he added to Life After Death. Having developed a relationship with B.I.G. that began during the “Ready to Die” days, it wasn’t difficult for him to know exactly what the King wanted. Myrick definitely delivered with four of the album’s most revered tracks: “Somebody’s Gotta Die”, “Niggas Bleed”, “My Downfall”, and “What’s Beef”. We talk to Myrick not only about these powerful tracks, but also the legacy that has lived now for two decades, and continues to grow with each passing day. He also gives us a glimpse into what he has going on right now, and what we can be on the lookout for. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: I’m immensely grateful to you for your time man. As someone who religiously read album credits, I've wanted to connect with you definitely this entire 20 years. This is really awesome to talk so someone I feel was majorly vital for the overall creativity in this project. Clearly we're honoring the legacy of Biggie in Life After Death, but you're responsible for a bulk of the album in terms of production. What was that like at the time, knowing you would contribute, and then what's it like now, looking at how inspirational it's been to so many people?

  Nashiem Myrick: Well, you know, it was the hitmen, and we got a chance to do a bulk of the album. Me and B.I.G. were in tune, and we had a connection when it came to music. He liked the stuff that I liked. With Somebody’s Gotta Die,  I got that to him well before the album started. We were still working Ready to Die, and I have him the track. It pretty much started the direction of the new album. Not to say that it was the maiden fact for the album, which it is on the album, it’s the first track, but he got into that new vibe at that time when he started to wrote to that song. If you listen to Life After Death, and then you go back to the first album, you can tell his rhyme style changed a little. 

 U.G. Digital Magazine: Oh it changed a whole lot. 

 Nashiem Myrick: Right. It got way more intricate and sophisticated. I got a head start before everyone else. I had an opportunity to do way more tracks for him. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: I felt like there was something in I’m that, while not trying to be like anyone else or prove anything, it’s like he was saying “look, I can roll with the best of ‘em, no matter who It is”. Coming from Cleveland, People here really looked out for Notorious Thugs featuring Bone Thugs, and he clearly switched his entire flow. He did stuff many were scared to do. 

 Nashiem Myrick: Right, and it’s like, if you wasn’t from the midwest, you wasn’t doing that Bone Thugs n Harmony record. At that time, he surprised everybody, but we knew he had it in him. Him and Jay were just on another level at that time. I can’t explain it, and no one can, but they was just on another level when it came to the rhymes, it was like out of this world. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: My own interpretation with Life After Death was that you had the most introspective tracks on the album. Not really any of the uptempos, but the more gritty cuts. Was that a conscious move? How would it be determined what you worked on versus what everyone else in the hitmen worked on?

 Nashiem Myrick: We all had different styles, and that was the beauty of it. It was never a case of us having to preplan anything. I had linked up with a guy names Carlos Broady a little before the album started. He and I collaborated on those songs, and we had the same ear, and the same style. When it came to the rest of the hitmen, D-Dot, Stevie, Ron Lawrence, you know, we were just different. Even though Ron Lawrence and D-Dot were a team, basically everybody had their own style. When it came to making the album, B.I.G. and Puff pretty much knew what each element; the elements being Me, Carlos, and Stevie, they knew what each one of us individually would bring. That would make a more broader album as far as music was concerned. You gotta understand; we was new at the time. I had a track record from Who Shot Ya, and a couple other joints floating out there like Queen Bitch. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: It’s crazy because a lot of people really don’t know, and I look at how big some names have gotten in production. There’s so many songs you’ve done out there, from Queen Bitch, and Who Shot Ya, and you’ve worked with Mary, Jay-Z, Scarface, and a lot of people don’t recognize. You brought something to the table with B.I.G. that so many people fell in love with. Even looking at the samples you used, You figure the Isley brothers, Al Green, Richard Evans, The Dramatics, Run DMC, you introduced a lot of people to music before that time. Today, many artists don’t know about the predecessors, let alone even having respect for the predecessors. I talked to DMC last week about “My Downfall”, and we talked about the fact that musicians today don’t know those before them. 

 Nashiem Myrick: I know, and that behooves me because I grew up on music since I was so little, and I was always interested in the credits, even before I was really making music, I always understood it was a process to make these songs. I was reading the sleeves at such an early age that I knew this guys also played in Funkadelic, and Bootsy Collins, or they derived from James Brown’s era. I always put it all together. My father was a big music fan, and he was also a DJ, and had a record collection that would blow your mind. That’s all I did was gain knowledge, and he was into every type of music. If it had soul, he introduced it to me. I don’t understand these kids. You’re not going to last if you don’t know your past. Period! Everything on earth relied on the elements that came before. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: I appreciate hearing that from you because I was somebody that read the liner notes to see who was involved, where the sample came from, and everything. You speak of Carlos, and that was my introduction to him; reading the liner notes for the album. I remember listening to “Anotha”, and learning ti came from Barbara Mason. Before reading that, I had no clue. It’s good to hear this from you. Also, the people you sample, my son picks it up, even at 10. He knows “Stay With Me” by El Debarge was sampled for One More Chance; He knows Al Green, and so on. 

 Nashiem Myrick: I had an advantage that these young kids don’t have today. I was born in 1970, so I was born when hip-hop was created. I lived through it, so I don’t really have to go back in time. I didn’t have to do too much history because it was right there for me, and since we as a culture, our music comes from what we have around us. We’re not band players. We actually developed through technology, so we relied on old records that were already done. You have to know your history. I was a guy who always knew the break beats. I collected break beats. Since I grew up around music, I always knew the samples as people were coming out with them. I always knew it, and if I didn’t, I went back into my record collection, or I would read the notes. I used to know, down to the drum loop, what songs were used. Even if they used a snare and a kick, I could name the snare kick when I was young, and it was crazy. I was a buff, and people would be amazed. That’s one thing Puff loved about me when we met. I met Puff when we was at Howard. He was DJ’ing and hosting parties. When he got his job at Uptown, he would call me over for studio setups. I would sit with him and go through break beats all night. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: It had to be a good feeling in your heart to be involved from the very beginning of Uptown with him. 

 Nashiem Myrick: Yea, when he got the job interning, I can remember he was still going to Howard. I knew like, I know this guy so somehow we’ll connect. Plus, I was in the group with one of his friends, one of my beats friends, Harve Pierre, and our friend Davie, we had the connection, and he was trying to get into the music business. We already had the record deal. He was promoting parties, and we was always in cahoots with each other. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: How did you end up being production them?

 Nashiem Myrick: Well, the record deal that me, Harve, and Dave had, Sticks and Stones was the name of our group, they dropped us. We was on Pay Day Records, and was managed by Empire management. That’s Group Home and Gangstarr, they was down with them also. They dropped us on my birthday and I’ll never forget. I got the call on my birthday, so from there, Puff had gotten fired from Uptown, and started shopping Bad Boy. He had already asked me to work for him when he was at Uptown, but it was more clerical stuff. I knew that could open doors for me, but I didn’t know nothing about clerical work. When he got his deal at Bad Boy, Mark Pitts was working for him. He invited Harve up there, and Harve was working for him. He didn’t really have a staff at the time. He had a studio in the crib, and needed an intern. I was interning under Poke of the Trackmasters. They were taking care of the studio and I worked under them, but two weeks later, I guess they had a break-up over something, and Puff wanted me to take a bigger part in this. He wanted me to step up, and I said let’s do it. He already knew I wanted to be a producer, and I knew the street essence of the hip-hop game as far as music was concerned. I was already heavy into the samples, and he already knew that from me being a DJ. Gradually it formed. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: Of all the songs you worked with, you had “Somebody’s Gotta Die”, “What’s Beef”, “Niggas Bleed”, and “My Downfall”. What did those songs specifically do for the album to lend it the credibility it has maintained for 20 years now?

 Nashiem Myrick: I think they were the glue for certain moments in the album. You could tell a couple of them were storytelling joints, which B.I.G. was incredible out. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: Exactly. 

 Nashiem Myrick: He had to display that. They were the glue. It’s like, you make a dish and you need something to keep the certain ingredients together. Those tracks gave it that grit. That’s where I came in at. It was to hold the album together. having an album with just video joints, there’s no depth involved. You need something to take with you. You need legs to an album to where it keeps with you for a while. If you have all radio joints, it gets exploited on the radio and in the club, and then you’re through with the album. This is so you can have something to take you into the future. They keep the album together and make it do beautiful. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: It’s funny, though, how you speak of the radio tracks. You have “Hypnotize”, ‘Going Back to Cali”, “Mo Money, Mo Problems”, and by far, they took the album to the next level, but when you look at even “My Downfall” specifically, it has carried the album for this time. You had the more introspective joints where you could listen to what he was saying and relate it to your own life. Theycarried the album. 

 Nashiem Myrick: Yea, and that’s the basis of a classic album. You gotta have a joint that’s not going to be exploited on the radio. it’s just for the album. You have to buy the album to get certain cuts. A lot of times, it can be worthy of a single, but let’s keep it on the album. That’s a trick I guess they learned long ago. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: It’s definitely dope though. When you look at hip-hop today, how has this album aided the evolution of hip-hop? 

 Nashiem Myrick: Wow, first of all the production on that album is fucking ridiculous. People wasn’t taking the time and effort to put into the production what we were doing, you know, we were taking sample based records but making them so orchestra-like, and bigger than they could be. You go back to like Dre would do it. He would get people to come in and play the parts of the sample and take it into a live form. What we were doing was the same, keeping the sample there, and creating on top of that. We added new material, new tracks, and new instrumentation on top of that sample, making it extraordinary. That’s where it took a shift, as far as I’m concerned as a producer. Hip-Hop took a shift, and if they didn’t learn from Dre that you had to do more with the music, and make it more extraordinary, they saw it with the Hitmen and how we did it on that album, and the Mary album prior to that. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: I agree. I know for a fact that people were sampled who only cleared the samples because of who you were and what they knew your track record to be. 

 Nashiem Myrick: Right. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: I look at “Rise” from Here Alpert, and I know so many artists were trying to clear that, and nobody could, but he immediately cleared it for the Hitmen and for B.I.G., which was amazing. 

 Nashiem Myrick: We thought we wasn’t gonna clear it too. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: Angela Winbush, the joint with her was absolutely amazing. 

 Nashiem Myrick: And we had her come in and sing. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: I know. That’s just what I mean. It’s a sample, but she sang on top of it, and killed it. Til’ this day, it’s one of the dopest. 

 Nashiem Myrick: Took her song, and wrote a version just for that sample. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: You won’t get that with anyone else man. 

 Nashiem Myrick: No! Especially not anyone with her credibility. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: So yea, there’s a lot of people who appreciate that. Where does the legacy go in the years to come? People are still buying?

 Nashiem Myrick: It’s going to be there forever because of the untimely death of my man. That’s just going to grow the legacy more because it’s the last offering he had. He didn’t even get to hear the album. He didn’t get to hear “Somebody’s Gotta Die” in it’s latest form. 60% of that song was produced after he had passed. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: Wow. 

 Nashiem Myrick: It’s a lot of songs on there like that. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: I would have thought he had finished it all before, seeing as how it released two weeks after he passed. It speaks volumes in terms of the connection everyone had. Now, going back a little, everybody knows you were behind “Who Shot Ya”. The song made people think so much. Was there ever any though just of any drama that could come from what people thought?

 Nashiem Myrick: Not at all. We never thought that. I mean, emcees were going at each other unknown, subliminally, but he wasn’t. I was there during the session as it came out. It was never that. it was all fantasy-based. You never thought about drama. His lyrical skills were so amazing that it would make you believe that. But that never entered our minds. We just thought we had a dope record. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: I really want people to know the many things you’ve done production-wise. Mary J, Scarface, Nas, Lil’ Kim, Jay-Z, Push T, Mariah Carey, and the list goes on. 

 Nashiem Myrick: I worked with Mobb Deep. It’s a blessing. it was one point where people didn’t know my name. Then one record, and everybody wanted to work with me. That was cool. I wanted to produce for as many of these great artists as I could. I went from being an in-house producer to being one of the hottest producers in the industry. 

 U.G. Digital Mag: What is there for everyone to see and follow right now?

 Nashiem Myrick: I’m trying to put together a Hitmen album. I have a few artists I’m recording now who I will be putting out. it may take a couple years to get it out there, but I’m still working with artists. You just have to look out for it. I will be promoting it. I’ll be out there. 

[all-the-love-harold]

It’s a Sign of the Times - Part #4

Find all previous parts here 

 June 13th 2017 – 9 weeks

“HARRY!” you yelled from the bathroom of your London flat, looking down at your blood stained panties “FUCK, HARRY!” He was lying on the couch in your living room and jumped up quickly when he heard you yell his name in panic.

“Y/N” he said in a panic “what’s going on love?” he was knocking on the door now “Let me in Y/N”

You stood and pulled your panties back up after placing a liner in there for safety and opened the door “Fuck Harry I’m bleeding”

Panic set in on his face “Fuck” he said, voice shaking “Ok fuck, we’ve got to get you to a Hospital”

“What if this is it Harry?” the tears started streaming down your face “What if we lose the little spud?”

“Hey hey hey, don’t be thinking like that” he wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you in for a hug “everything’s going to be okay, I promise” he placed a gentle kiss on your forehead and let go of the hug “come on love, we’ve got to go to the hospital”

You wiped the tears away from your eyes and grabbed Harry’s waist, moving him out of the doorway, so that you could exit the bathroom. Your whole body was numb, you couldn’t face the idea of losing this baby, but you were positive that that was what was happening right now. Harry followed you out of the bathroom and in into the kitchen grabbing his car keys and wallet off your counter.

“What do you need to bring love?” he picked your hand bag off it’s hook and held it up to you “just this?” You nodded, unable to form any words, “Alright, let’s go”

You followed him down stairs to his range rover and he helped you get in on the passenger side before running to the driver side and hoping in himself. Neither of you said a word the entire drive, letting the radio fill the silence. You could feel your stomach cramping and you were getting more and more worried the longer you were sitting in the busy London traffic. Half an hour later, Harry pulled into the hospital carpark, finding a space close to the entrance of the A & E and pulled the keys out of the ignition. He paused for a moment with the keys in his lap, watching as you looked out the window

“Everything’s going to be ok Y/N” he leant over and placed a kiss to your cheek “I promise”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep Harry” you opened your door and got out of the car, making your way inside while Harry tried to catch up.

When you got inside you were greeted by a man, who you assumed was a nurse by the way he was dressed “Good afternoon Miss, what’s brought you into A&E today?”

“Uhh, I’m pregnant, and I’ve had some bleeding tonight”

He gave you a sympathetic smile “I’ll page someone from the early pregnancy unit and we’ll get you checked out as soon as possible, just take a seat and someone will call you through soon”  

“Thank you” Harry said as you turned and found a seat in the corner away from the old man that was coughing and spluttering everywhere. You leant your head against Harry’s shoulder and waited for your name to be called.

“Miss Y/L/N” a friendly looking nurse called your name ten minutes later and both you and Harry stood making your way over to her “I’m sorry Sir” she said looking at Harry “You’ll have to stay out here, there’s just not enough room in there” you gave him a worried look and he smiled reassuringly, squeezing your hand

“I’ll be right out here the whole-time love”

“We’ll keep you posted” the nurse smiled at him and lead you into consultation room

“Ok Lovey, so I’ve been told you’re experiencing some bleeding, how far along are you?” she gestured towards the chair, inviting you to sit down

“Almost 10 weeks”

She nodded, taking a look at your notes “right, well it is quite normal to experience light bleeding in these early stages of pregnancy, so I don’t want you to worry yourself, but since your condition makes you high risk, we’ll do a quick scan today and make sure everything’s ok”

“Thank you” you nodded

“You’re welcome lovey, come through this way with me and we’ll go and find a free ultrasound machine”

You followed her down the long hallway as she popped her head in a few doors before finally turning the lights on in one room and ushered you inside.

“Bingo!” she laughed, trying to lighten the mood “alright, you lie down on that bed there, and get comfortable, and I’ll be back in a few minutes with Tony our radiographer”

“Great” you smiled, and true to her word, a few minutes later she walked back in with a scrawny man, who would have been in his mid-fifties with a beard that kind of reminded you of your dads.

“Miss Y/L/N” he held his hand out and shook yours “I’m Tony, we’re going to check that little bub in there is doing alright” he sat down on the stool that sat next to the machine and searched for the bottle of gel “Have you had a scan yet?” he asked you

“I’ve had two”

“Two! Already!” he laughed “well you know the drill then” he smiled “I’ll try and get an image externally, but this early on it’s hard to see what’s going on so we might have to have a little look inside” he shook the bottle of gel and lifted bottom of your shirt “this might be a little cold”

He squeezed the gel onto your stomach and used the probe to move it around a little before turning the machine on. You closed your eyes, because you knew that looking at the screen would freak you out and waited for the sound of the heartbeat, but it never came.

“Everything’s looking good Miss Y/L/N” Tony said and you opened your eyes

“But the heartbeat?” you questioned shyly

He smiled “it can be a little hard to hear this early on externally, but if you have a look at the screen here, you can see it’s little heart beating” you moved your head to have a look at the screen and saw the slight flashing where Tony was pointing, and a big smile spread across your face. You’d never been so happy to see a tiny flashing blob in your life, tears filled your eyes and you let out a little laugh at how silly you felt for crying.

After cleaning the gel off your belly and helping you sit up Tony walked out of the room and left you with your nurse.

“Alright Miss Y/L/N, so now that we all know you’re not having a miscarriage you can relax a little, but we’d still like to know what’s causing the bleeding so I’m going to page our on call obstetrician to have a look at these and we’ll go from there” she smiled at you “I’ll take you back out to the waiting room and you can tell Dad the good news, he was white as a ghost when I came out to get you”

“Yeah” you laughed “he gets worried easily.” You didn’t bother to correct her when she called Harry the baby’s Dad, he was the closest thing that this baby had to a father and you knew he didn’t care if people thought it was his.

Your nurse walked you back out to the waiting room, where Harry was still sitting in the corner, staring intensely at his phone. He heard the doors open and saw you walk out, standing up and making his way quickly towards you, a worried expression on his face.  

“Everything ok?” he asked, panic evident in his voice

“I’ve got a little trooper in there H” you said walking back to the chair in the corner and patting the seat next to you, telling Harry to come and sit with you

“So everything’s ok?” he said softly, aware that everyone was listening to you, and taking his seat next to you.

“I’m not having a miscarriage” you whispered back “but they don’t know why I’m bleeding, so we have to wait for the obstetrician to have a look at my scan”

He nodded and grabbed your hand “I told you everything would be okay, didn’t I?”

You giggled “You did, I’m sorry for being a bitch to you in the car, I know you were trying to help” you leant your head on his shoulder and put your hand on your belly

“It’s ok love, I didn’t take it to heart”

“Thank you” you closed your eyes for a brief second, glad that Harry was around when you started bleeding, knowing that without him to force you out the door you would have turned completely numb. “You don’t have to stay H, I know you had things to do tonight” with his tour coming up, he rarely had a free night, with rehearsals and meetings to make sure that everything was perfect from the very first show, so you felt guilty for making him sit here with you when everything was fine.

“I already called everyone and cancelled tonight’s rehearsal, you can’t get rid of me that easily love”

“Thank You” you smiled at him “Don’t know what I’d do without you.” He smiled back, rubbing his thumb against your forearm in a comforting manner.

The wait this time wasn’t short, you saw a few patients come in and out while you sat patiently reading through magazines that sat on the coffee table.  It was getting late and you’d had a busy day at work, filled with meetings and conference calls trying to make the schedule for the Live Lounge Month work for as many people as possible. Your eyes were getting heavy and you leant your head on Harry’s shoulder trying your best to stay awake.

“Close your eyes love” he whispered “I’ll wake you up when they call your name”. You gave in as Harry began stroking your hair, letting yourself drift off to sleep right there on his shoulder.

“Y/N” you heard Harry whisper into your what felt like minutes later “Y/N, the doctor’s ready to see you now” you blinked a few times adjusting to the harsh lighting of the A&E waiting room and lifted your head seeing the obstetrician standing next to the doors to the consulting room. You looked at your phone as you stood up and made your way over to your doctor, and saw that it was 10:30pm now and you’d been asleep for two hours.

“I’m Dr Marshall” he said with his arm out stretched “Sorry about the wait, I had a few labouring mothers”

“That’s ok” you smiled

“Dad can come in too this time” he pointed at Harry who was looking at something on his phone

You smiled and turned around, looking at Harry trying to gain his attention without calling his name across the room filled with people who might recognise him. “H” you said loud enough for him to hear you but not so loud that the entire room would hear as well. He looked up and saw you calling him over and immediately stood up from his seat, putting his phone in his back pocket and making his way over to you. He took your hand and you both followed your doctor into the consulting room where he invited you both to take a seat.

“Now” he said, taking a seat himself “I took a look at your scan and reviewed your previous bloodwork and you’ve got absolutely nothing to worry about”

“That’s a relief” Harry said

“It looks like your bleeding is simply a result of your heart shaped uterus, the right side, where the baby isn’t sitting, appears to be shedding some of it’s lining, which is normal, but we don’t want to happen to the other side, so I’m going to prescribe you something to stop the bleeding”

“And that’s safe, for the baby?” you asked

“Of course” he nodded, writing something on his prescription pad, and handing it to you “I’ll add all this to your notes and make sure that your regular obstetrician gets them”

“Thank you” you nodded, taking the script from him

“It might take a few days for the bleeding to stop, but if it gets any heavier, please come back in”

“Ok, thanks” you said standing up from your chair as he opened the door for you.

“Thanks for all your help tonight” Harry said shaking his hand as he walked out the door. You both made your way out to his car joking about how serious Dr Marshall had seemed in the few minutes that you’d seen him. The drive home was much more relaxed and without the busy evening traffic it was much shorter too and you’d made it home before you knew it. Harry pulled up right outside your building, something he only did when he wasn’t going to be staying long.

“Not staying tonight H?” you asked, a little disappointed

“Course I am, just don’t want you walking too far” he smiled at you and stepped out of the range rover jogging over to your side to help you out

“I can get out of the car myself you know” you giggled as he shut the door behind you

“I know, but you’re fragile tonight” he walked you into the apartment, carrying your handbag for you as you unlocked the door revealing the mess you’d left, “I’ll clean up” Harry said looking around at all the dirty dishes left from your dinner “you go and make yourself comfortable”

You took a shower and washed away the stress of the day, taking your time and letting the hot water brush over your skin. When you finally finished you put on an old pair of pyjama shorts and a t-shirt and made your way back into the kitchen, finding that Harry had washed all the dishes and was currently making you both a cup of tea.

“Feel better now?” he asked, pouring the boiling water in the cups

“A little” you nodded, looking through your bag for the pills your doctor had prescribed for you putting one in your mouth and swallowing it. You both sat down to drink the tea that Harry had made and talked for a little while longer, before you got too tired to stay awake.

“I’m sorry H, I’ve got to go bed”

“Me too” he yawned and followed you into your bedroom. The faint sound of Harry breathing against the pillow lulled you to sleep quickly. Being pregnant was exhausting and on top of the day you’d had, you felt like you needed three days of sleep, but tomorrow was another day and you still had a job to get to in the morning.

***

You were sitting at your desk the next day, a cup of tea next to your laptop and a blueberry and cream cheese cronut to go with it. You’d only been at work for a few hours and you’d already had two meetings with Big Boss Ben about who you would be inviting for the live lounge month and how you were going to work out the schedule, he was adamant that all the performances should happen live as they air and you couldn’t seem to convince him of the scheduling nightmare that that would be. He’d asked you to put together a rough draft of a timetable with the artists that had already confirmed their availability and that’s what you were doing when your phone rang. It wasn’t a number that you had saved in your phone, and usually you didn’t answer numbers you didn’t know, but considering the events of last night, you picked up, just in case.

“Hello” you said, into the phone

“Hi is this Y/N Y/L/N?”

“Yes, speaking”

“Hi Miss Y/L/N, I’m calling with the results of your harmony test” you’d had the harmony test done a few days after Harry had told you not to worry about the money side of things, and you were told that they would call you with the results in a few weeks, but if you were honest, after last night, you’d forgotten all about it.

“Oh great” you said cheerfully “is everything ok?”

“Your pregnancy is low risk for genetic abnormalities”

You smiled to yourself “that’s great news”

“And you’ll be welcoming a baby boy into the world”

“It’s a boy!” you exclaimed, a little louder than you meant, causing Ella to turn around and look at you, raising her eyebrows

“It’s a boy Miss Y/L/N, congratulations”

You cleared your throat, trying to choke back the tears “Thank you for your call.”

“You’re welcome, good luck with everything” you ended the call and turned back to your scheduling nightmare, trying to ignore Ella’s sharp stares. After a few minutes of radio silence, she stood up from her chair and walked around to the front of your desk, kneeling and placing her face in her hands, with elbows resting on your desk, batting her eyelids like a child that wants something from their parents.

“You’re pregnant” she said matter-of-factly, in an angelic tone.

You looked up from your laptop, trying to hold back a smile “I’m not”

“Shut up Y/N” she stood up “you can’t deny it, you’re having a baby” she was walking back to her desk and talking very loudly “and it’s a boy”

“Ok fine” you whispered, letting yourself smile “I’m pregnant, but don’t tell anyone, it’s still early”

If Ella was bad at anything it was keeping things a secret, so you didn’t have high hopes for your pregnancy remaining between you and Harry. Just as she sat down in her chair again Grimmy walked out of the hallway, just having finished his show.

“Grim!” she exclaimed “Y/N’s pregnant”

You rolled your eyes and watched the expression on his face go from shock to excitement in a matter of seconds “What! Now way” he walked over to where you were sitting “Congratulations”

“And it’s a boy” Ella chimed in as Grimmy hugged you

“Ella” you said, slightly annoyed “remember when I said not to tell anyone”

“It’s Grimmy, he doesn’t count” she shrugged

“I won’t tell” he chimed in “promise”

You rolled your eyes at both of them, knowing that Grimmy had a louder mouth than Ella and by this afternoon the entirety of Radio 1 would know your secret.

“So, who’s the baby daddy?” Ella asked

“Oh please, it’s Harry” Grimmy said, looking at you

“It is not Harry!” you exclaimed, gently pushing him

“Oh it’s definitely Harry, you haven’t stopped talking about him this past month”

“Whatever” you rolled your eyes again “You two can go ahead believing that it’s Harry and I’ll get on with my work and keep the details of my wild night to myself” you turned back to your laptop and stared at your empty schedule, your mind a little blurry with excitement from finding out that you’re having a baby boy.

“Don’t want to know about your wild night with Harry thanks, I already know too much about that kids sex life” Grimmy laughed

“Hey you might not, but I do, dude’s an Adonis”

“Oh My God” you sighed “Don’t you two have work to do?”

“Yes boss” they both said in unison, Ella turning back to her desk and Grimmy walking back to his studio, waving as he left.

The rest of your day ran smoothly, you were able to get a rough schedule completed and convince Ben that some artists would need to pre-record their performances, handing him a list of the artists that weren’t available during September to perform live. By the time 5pm rolled around, you finished writing the announcement for the website and drafted the script for each radio host that would be advertising it. As you were packing up your desk for the day, you sent Harry a text, excited to tell him your news.

“You free for dinner tonight? I’ve got some news”

You were in the lift heading out of the office, when you ran into big boss Ben.

“I heard a little rumour today” he said to you pressing the button to go to the ground floor “Grimmy seems to be under the impression that you’re having a baby”

“He’s got the right impression” you admitted

“Well congratulations Y/N” Ben smile at you “I’m very happy for you”

“Thanks” you said smiling as the elevator doors opened “See you tomorrow”

You climbed into your car and put your keys into the ignition, hearing your phone buzz just before you turned the car on.

“Making up for last night’s missed rehearsal, can’t do dinner, but I’ll make it in time for pudding. Is it good news?”

“Great News. I’ll see you later x”

***

The kitchen was tidy, and you were seated at your kitchen counter reading your pregnancy apps after finishing your dinner. According to your app, your baby was the size of a cumquat, his vital organs were forming and functional and his fingers had probably separated with fingernails starting to form. You held onto your belly while you read, feeling tears well up in your eyes. You’d always assumed that pregnancy was something that you’d never get to experience and for the last few years, you’d found yourself jealous of every pregnant woman you’d known. These tears that were now falling freely from your eyes, weren’t tears of sadness, they were tears of joy. This little boy was everything that you’d ever wanted, the way he came into existence was far from how you’d imagined it, but he was going to be the most loved little prince on the planet, even without a real dad, he was going to have Harry and you couldn’t be more grateful to have him as your best friend.

A knock on your door brought you out of your trance and you stepped down off your bar stool and answered the door, wiping the tears from your eyes.

“Hiya” Harry smiled holding up a bag of groceries

“Hiya! How’d your rehearsals go?”

“They were good” he looked at you “have you been crying?”

“Yeah,” you laughed “The baby’s the size of a cumquat and I got a little emotional when I found out it has finger nails”

He chuckled at you, taking the bag of groceries to your counter and pulling out two tubs of ben and Jerry’s ice cream “I got us some pudding”

“It’s called dessert” you corrected him and rolled his eyes

“Whatever you want to call it, it’s still ice-cream”

“Good point” you said picking up the tub of cookie dough ice cream

“So, you said you had news?”  he asked, shovelling his spoon into the tub of ice-cream and bringing it to his lips

“Oh yeah” you said remembering that Harry didn’t know the sex of the baby yet “Open the box” you pointed to the small yellow box on the counter. He looked at you quizzically, and took the lid off the box revealing a blue pacifier

“It’s a dummy?” he asked a little confused by the gesture

“What colour is it?”  

“Blue?” he asked, voice a little higher than usual. You waited a second before responding, hoping that he’d piece it together himself, watching his face as he tried to work it out.

“It’s a boy Harry” you said bluntly, losing patience with him

“Ohhhhhh” he said, smiling “You’re having a boy”

“I didn’t want to get something big because it’s still early, but I wanted to get something to tell you with” you said, pointing at the dummy

“It would have been better if I wasn’t so thick” he laughed, placing a hand on your belly “That’s my God Son in there”

“That’s your God Son H” you said, tears forming in your eyes

“Heyy” he said wiping the tears from your eyes “None o’ that” he picked the dummy out of it’s box and handed it to you “I think you might need this more than he does right now”

You laughed, taking the dummy from his hand “I hate you”

“No you don’t” he smiled, flashing his dimple at you.

And that’s part 4! I hope your’re all enjoying this series, I’m certainly having a lot of fun writing it and if someone was to go through my internet history right now they would definitely think I’m pregnant. I would love to hear what you guys think of this series, so please don’t hesitate to send me your thoughts! 

Requests for this series are open too, so if there’s anything you’d like to see, including, texts, tweets, Instagram’s etc let me know! 

All the love, Lyss xx 

#Harry Styles #series fic #harry styles series #pregnancy series #its a sign of the times #harry imagine #one direction imagines #harry styles imagine #best friend harry fic #best friend harry #best friend harry styles #blurb #harry styles blurbs #harry styles blurb #one direction blurbs #nick grimshaw #gryles #fan fiction #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles au #harry styles request #request #send in requests #anonymous

[californiadreaminghq]

Oh good, you made it!

Did you guys know Becky was coming? She brought Rosalie Kang, The Fame! And just on time! Grab a drink, find a spot, and make sure you finish everything on the checklist. The band is just getting started – you have 24 hours to send in your account! We’re so glad you’re here!

I. OUT OF THE STUDIO

NAME/ALIAS: Becky

AGE: 21

PRONOUNS: she/her

II. ON STAGE

DESIRED SKELETON: The Fame

NAME: Rosalie Kang

FACE CLAIM: Im Jinah 

AGE: 26

OCCUPATION: Lead singer of The Gemstones

III. INTERVIEW

BUBBLEGUM, BUBBLEGUM, CANDY POP! AN INTERVIEW WITH THE GEMSTONES LEAD SINGER, ROSALIE KANG The young singer talks jobs, travelling and what makes her unique!

The Gemstones aren’t strangers to having their day in the sun. Known for their sweeter-than-sugar pop attitudes, but notorious for their ever-changing roster, and for those that remember, their abrupt rebranding from rock to pop, one of the lone constants remains their lead vocalist, Amethyst, or Rosalie, as she would introduce herself as. It’s almost inconceivable that she was the former front-liner of rock band, Bitch Frenzy, as she sits, legs crossed primly, in the media room of Fusetone with her shimmery little dress and her picture perfect smile; it’s hard to see her as anything but the All-American gemstone sweetheart she is now, and I’m sure that’s the way Fusetone and the band prefer it.

But following that train of thought makes me curious about whether or not she has any lingering regrets, so I ask, “If you could do anything in the world for a living, what would it be?”

“Anything in the world?” She answers, looking genuinely pensive for a moment before it fades. “Well, it would still be this, wouldn’t it? What more could I ask for? The girls in the Gemstones are my family,” she continues, brows furrowing for a moment, a minute drop of her smile, like a wisp of cloud just passing by clear skies. “Being able to work with all of them and share our music with the world is already the best way to make a living. I wouldn’t change anything. Why? Not a fan of our work?” She teases.

“No, not at all,” I backtrack quickly, and truthfully, I am a fan, both pre- and post-rebranding. “But it must get tiring, so I imagine you would like to go on vacation. So, if you could travel anywhere, where would you go?”

“I think I should like to go to New York City,” she muses. “I’ve been a city girl all my life. Put me anywhere other than a city and I don’t think I’d know left from right. Going abroad is probably too big a wish right now, isn’t it?” She asks, looking wistful. “A girl can certainly dream.”

“I’m sure you could go abroad somewhere,” I prompt, trying for an encouraging smile, thinking it may brighten her mood.

Instead, she purses her lips in a nervous frown. “No,” she says with a surprising amount of conviction, shaking her head. “Better stay where I’m safe and sound. Stay home, where it’s familiar, comfortable... Bit of a homebody, me,” she jokes weakly, as if suddenly aware of the heavy tone of her words.

“Okay,” I relent. “What is one thing that makes you different than anyone else?”

“Is it presumptuous to say my voice? I think every singer wants to say their voice makes them different from everyone else.” She grins. “I had my rock days, and now I get to sing pop songs, so I feel like being able to dabble in both genres is pretty unique. Other than that,” she trails off, thinking hard but looking the most relaxed she’s been this whole interview. “Oh,” she exclaims after a beat. “I’m a great whistler; a lot of people say I’m just like a little songbird.”

IV. BACKSTAGE

Here is the retelling of Little Red Riding Hood that is devoid of lies:

The Wolf comes into Little Red’s life wearing a suit and tie, and she ushers him indoors, and he says, “My, my, what big eyes you have. My, my, what a pretty face you have.” 

And she says, “Why thank you sir, but what of my hair? What of my lips? What of my body? Are they good enough to eat?”

The Wolf answers, “Well, yes, they are! But...”

“But what?” asks she.

“But there’s something not quite right,” he says, sitting himself in the living room and thinking quite hard.

“What if I do this?” she asks, changing this way and that. “Or this? Or this?”

“Ah, that’s just right,” he says, and gobbles her right up.

Rosalie is born and raised in the heart of Los Angeles, and is altogether dissimilar and exactly the same as some of her peers from small podunk towns who come to LA to try and become somebody.  Her mother was a singer in her prime, and Rose reads an old interview with her mother. It goes like this: 

INTERVIEWER: You have a daughter now; what do you hope she inherits from you? Well, surely your voice. What sort of wishes do you have for her since it’s her birthday today?

JUHYUN: I hope she doesn’t get my voice.

INTERVIEWER: Why?

JUHYUN: Otherwise she might want to be a singer too one day.

She is dissimilar from her peers in this aspect: she never once experiences the disillusionment after the industry shows its true colors — she is exactly the same in this: she still lets herself get swallowed up.

Despite her mother’s hopes, she does inherit musicality from her, but it sees little more exposure than daily performances by the dinner table, stirring renditions of An Itsy Bitsy Spider. She lives a sheltered if not restricted life for the first portion of her childhood, fiercely sheltered from all aspects of fame. It doesn’t bother her; she hadn’t developed an appetite for it then, content with simply basking in her parents’ love. That changes, though, when her mother passes away on her 19th birthday, and the paparazzi follow her and her father all the way to the memorial. There are more waiting when they arrive, and her father tries to shield her from them as best he can, wrapping an arm around her and lifting his jacket with the other, but the flashes still ingrain themselves on the backs of her eyelids, nauseatingly bright.

It keeps going: the shouting, the flashing, the lens jutting into her space, and like a melancholy ocean churning out tempestuous  waves, her sadness crashes into anger. She springs out of her father’s embrace before he can think to hold her back, and shoves a camera out of her face. The paparazzo advances, and she shoves him too, shattering the camera, yelling some incoherent half sentence, tears flowing, unbidden though they are. Her father comes to his senses and yells at them to back away before redoubling his efforts to see them safely in. By the time the service is over and she leaves the church, the photos are already developed and spreading.

And suddenly it feels as if the world knows who she is.

And she can’t get enough.

She starts Bitch Frenzy soon after, and part of her is in it for the music, because that’s all she has left of her mother, but part of her, deny it though she might, is in it for the fame. For the glitz, and the glamour, and for the taste of her name as it slips off people’s tongues.

Bitch Frenzy is a hit — well, it’s a hit in the sense that people don’t ignore them and don’t hate them, a hit in the sense that they attract the attention of Fusetone. It’s the beginning of the end the moment suited executives come out to see them and to sign them, wolf fangs hiding behind their greasy grins, assuring them that if you sign, the world will know you. She certainly doesn’t know it then, but she certainly can’t say that if she were allowed to do it all over again, knowing what she knows now, she wouldn’t sign on that little dotted line.

She pushes the group into signing, wheedling that this is what they’ve been playing shitty venues for: a platform in which they get to spread their music farther than they could ever dream of reaching by themselves, and one by one, the members agree.

First, it’s small things like makeup and hair, and her members grin and bear it. Then it’s things like dresses and public appearances, and then, and then, and then. It’s a slow overtake of everything that made Bitch Frenzy, well, bitch frenzy, and one day, she wakes up and they’re The Gemstones, and she’s got a little shimmery dress on, surrounded by faces she doesn’t know, and Pearl and Amber are paying life and limb for breaking their contract. Little sacrifices that she’s slowly acclimated to making, hoops she’s all too eager to jump through.

And for what?

Why, for the fame of it all, of course.

There are restrictions on where she goes and who she goes with and how big she smiles and what she says and what she wears, bars and bars and bars on a gilded cage. And yet, she knows, as long as she never strays, people will come to coo over her, to love her, to adore her.

The guilt will be temporary, will die with her, she reasons; the silver screen her image will live on in is forever.

The flashes go off when she leaves her house, and she takes a deep breath and smiles for the cameras.

V. ENCORE

Here’s her pinboard: https://www.pinterest.com/mockmade/songbird/

#accepted