#i need something to help me survive the weeks so. i drew these dummies to make me feel a little happy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

all-the-love-harold · 4 years

Text

Chapter 2 - I’m Having your Baby

Master Post

Word Count: 3.6k

Warnings: None

***

December 21st 2019

Poppy was late. 3 days late. Or maybe it was 4. She couldn’t quite remember, but she knew that she was late. She also knew that she was stressed with Christmas coming up, and that when she got stressed her period tended to stay away for a while, so she wasn’t getting her hopes up. Nonetheless, when she was out getting herself and Harry a coffee she ducked into the pharmacy nearby and bought a few home pregnancy tests, just to be sure. She was in no rush to take them though and if she was honest, she didn’t really have a spare second to think about it once she got home. Between making sure Oli got his lunch and preparing things for his 2nd birthday party which they were crazy enough to be having just three days before Christmas. Oh and did she mention that her and Harry were hosting Christmas lunch this year for his family AND hers.

The pregnancy test crossed her mind again when she was giving Oli his bath that night and Oli picked up his doll that they kept as a bath toy.

“Bubba” he said, dunking it’s head in the water “wash hair bubba”

Poppy couldn’t help but giggle “You’re gonna a great big brother buddy.”

She was glad that he was too young to really understand what that meant, if he was any older she’d be getting a thousand questions about a baby she doesn’t even know that she had yet.

“Pop, I’m going to pick up your family from the airport now” Harry called from downstairs “Need anything while I’m out?”

“No, we’re all good H, good luck” Poppy called back “Love you”

“Love you too” he said and she heard the door shut behind him.

“Alright Ol, let’s hop out now, get you dressed”

“Love you Mum” he smiled up at her as she helped him to stand up and wrapped his tiny toddler towel around him. Her heart melted and she placed a gentle kiss on his head.

“I love you too Oli.”

She helped him to get dressed into his pyjamas, encouraged him to use the toilet (he wasn’t quite ready to be out of nappies yet, but he was getting close) and brushed his hair so that he was all ready for bed. Since dropping his afternoon nap, it had been much easier to get him to sleep at night, which Harry and Poppy were both pleased about.

“Right” Poppy said to Oli once he was all tucked up in bed “Have you got Itchy?”

He nodded holding on tightly to his toy.

“And Pippy?” she asked and he pulled his dummy out of his mouth, showed it to her and put it back

“And a big kiss from mummy” she kissed his forehead and pulled the side of the cot up so that he couldn’t perform some kind of gymnastics and escape from his bed in the middle of the night.

“Sleep tight my big boy”

“Night night Mum” he said as Poppy closed the door to his bedroom.

She went straight to the bathroom and pulled out the pregnancy test, feeling more broody than ever knowing that her first baby turns two tomorrow. She remembered what it had been like taking the test when she thought she was having Oli, she was scared then because she wasn’t sure that she was ready to be a mum and now she was scared because she wasn’t sure she could face not becoming a mum again. Her heart pounded as she waited for the results to show. 3 minutes had never felt so long.

“Poppy, dear - we’re here” she heard the sound of her mother’s voice walking in the front door.

“Shit” she whispered to herself as she left the bathroom, making sure to close the door behind her. She made a mental note to come back to it as soon as she could but she couldn’t leave her family waiting, not after they’d been on a twenty four hour flight.

“Hi Mum, Hi Dad” she said, half running down the stairs to give them a hug “Good flight?”

“Awful” her dad, John, shook his head “Can’t smoke on planes these days, did you know that?” he began pulling a packet of cigarettes from his pocket

“Can’t smoke in my house either Dad” Poppy said sternly “Follow the stairs all the way up and you’ll find a garden and be quiet, Oli’s just gone to bed”

“It’s freezing out there Pop” he huffed but started climbing the stairs anyway.

“Don’t I get a hello?” Her sister Addison said from next to Harry.

“Of course you do” Poppy side stepped her mum and wrapped her sister in the biggest hug of them all “God you’re getting so adult, can you stop please?”

“I’m as old as you were when you moved here” Addie added “And I still live with mum dad”

“It’s much cheaper that way” Poppy smiled

“Yeah, you spent so much money in that first year didn’t you love” Harry said sarcastically

“Enough outta you” Poppy squeezed his cheek making him giggle.

“Can I get anyone tea or coffee or anything?” Harry asked trying to get them all out of the entryway

“I’d love to see my grandson” Linda said, turning towards the stairs

“I’ve just put him to bed Mum, you’ll see him in the morning, he’ll be up bright and early”

“Right, well in that case, I’d love a glass of wine” she smiled at Harry.

“Of course” Harry nodded tentatively, not entirely sure he had any wine to give her “Addie, wine? Tea?”

Addie shook her head “No thanks Harry”

“Vodka?” he asked

“I’m fine” she giggled, although a shot or two of vodka was temping after being on a plane with her parents for 24 hours.

“I’ll show you both around while Harry does that” Poppy added and started going upstairs. Linda and Addie followed, with their bags still in their hands.

“Leave those” Poppy said “Your rooms are downstairs anyway”

They dropped the bags and followed Poppy. A grimace already evident on Linda’s face

“So this is mine and Harry’s room” she said when they got upstairs pointing to their bedroom door “It’s a mess so we won’t go in there”

“Never have been able to keep your room clean have you Poppy” Linda added, peering in anyway

“It’s so nice to have you here Mum” Poppy said, unable to hold her tongue. “And that room there is Oli’s so let’s be a little quiet”

“Is he a good sleeper” Addie asked. She knew a lot about babies, she worked in a nursery back home, very similar to the one Oli goes to.

“He’s been much better since we stopped the day sleep”

“His teachers must hate that” she laughed

“They don’t seem to mind” Poppy shrugged and continued the tour down the hallway towards the next staircase

“This is where Harry’s mum sleeps when she stays, so we’re keeping that for her and you guys will all be downstairs

“How many bedrooms is this place?” Linda asked, looking up the staircase

“6 or 7” Poppy said “That’s Harry’s office up there and there’s a studio downstairs, but he never uses it”

“I accidentally told him I loved the album like 6 times on the way here” Addie giggled “he probably thinks I’m weirdly into him”

“He wouldn’t think that much of it Addie” Poppy smiled “Shall we go downstairs?”

“Shouldn’t we go up?” Linda asked

“We can” Poppy nodded “There’s not much to see up there though, it’s just a desk and the garden which I’ll show you in the morning”

“Oh alright” Linda sighed and turned around on her heel with a huff in her breath . Poppy was starting to remember exactly why she’s decided to move to the other side of the world at just 18. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her mother, she just found her selfishness intolerable.

“Not giving a tour without me are you Pop?” John bellowed as he walked down the stairs, lips blue from the cold.

“There’s not much to see dear, just a few oversized bedrooms” Linda drew her lips into a sharp line “That haven’t been cleaned. You know with Harry’s salary you could afford a cleaner”

Poppy and Addie shared a knowing look and Addie turned away from her parents and walked down the hallway towards the stairs.

“I’m going to find that vodka Harry mentioned” she called, waving her hand for them to follow. And they did, without saying a word. Poppy had always admired how easily Addie could read people and turn a situation around in seconds without offending anyone and she smiled to herself because that hadn’t changed.

In the Kitchen, Harry had two glasses of red wine sitting on the bench waiting for them and he had his head stuck in the fridge searching for something that seemed to be buried in the depths.

“What are you looking for H?” Poppy said as she made herself comfortable on one of the bar stools.

“All that cheese we bought the other day,” he said, head still in the fridge “and the dip”

“That’s in the butler’s fridge” she said quietly, suddenly realising that somehow she was living a life very different from the she left behind.

“You have a butler?” Addie said, shocked “and he has his own fridge?”

“No” Poppy laughed “there’s a mini kitchen in that little room over there” she pointed to the door that harry was opening “they call it a butler’s pantry, so we call the fridge the butlers fridge”

“Oh Harry you’ll have to get me something else, I don’t drink red wine” Linda said before Addie had the chance to respond to Poppy.

Harry, who was safley hidden away in the butlers pantry rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. If this was how he felt after an hour with Poppy’s family, how was he going to spend a whole two weeks with them. He did, however, take comfort in knowing that Poppy was feeling the same way.

“I want to tip the wine over her head” Poppy whispered walking into the pantry with the glass in her hand. Harry took the glass, put it on the bench next to him and wrapped his arms around Poppy.

“We could probably survive off the food in here for the next two weeks if you want to lock the door?” he whispered back

“Believe me, if I could I would” Poppy said with her head still pressed against his chest. He placed a kiss on the top of her head and pulled away from the hug.

“Guess I’ll go pull some white wine out of my ass then” he said, only half joking.

“There’s some in the bar fridge in your man cave, I think sarah left it here” she called after him as he walked out again.

The rest of the evening passed by slowly, Addie, John and Linda filled Poppy and Harry in on what was going on back in Australia, it was nothing to really write home about, just the usual kinds of things that happen in a tiny coastal town, known for being home to quite a few Great White Sharks, that somehow never made an appearance on the beaches. Poppy was not at all surprised by her Mother’s lack of interest in anything about her life in London, if it wasn’t for Addie, all they would have talked about would be when Poppy was going to move back home again. She always thought that would happen when she had children, she wanted them to have the childhood that she did, but now that she’s here in London with Oli she couldn’t imagine anything else for him, because their life was here, with Harry. Linda thought that was ludicrous though and with every opportunity, she found a reason to tell Poppy that a child shouldn’t grow up in a city, especially a city without a beach. But, just like she had upstairs, Addie managed to turn the conversation around every time without offending anyone, until she mentioned the possibility of moving to London too.

“There’s plenty of spare rooms here Addie” Harry said to her before linda could shut her down “We’d love to have you”

“I might just not leave” she laughed and stood up from the table “I am going to go to bed though”

“I’ll show you to your room” Poppy stood up too and chauffeured her out of the room towards the living room, which lead onto the bedrooms.

“You’re in this one Addie, and Mum and Dad are next door”

“Thanks Pop” she smiled “I’m not joking about moving to London, I’ve been thinking about it for a while now”

Poppy hugged her “Like Harry said, you’re always welcome here, this room can be all yours”

“Was this your room when you first arrived?”

Poppy shook her head “No I was always upstairs, in Oli’s room”

“Right next door to Harry” Addie giggled “makes sense”

“Good night Addie” Poppy said, putting an end to that conversation before it even started.

Poppy didn’t go back into the kitchen, she slipped straight into her bedroom and into bed. Who knew working full time and being a mother would be so exhausting. Her heavy eyes fell closed and she only stirred when Harry came into the room an hour later and wrapped his arms around her.

December 22nd 2019

Poppy rolled over in her bed, exposing her upper arm to the cold morning air and saw that Harry was still fast asleep next to her. She reached for her phone to check the time, wondering why she’d not yet been woken by Oli’s cries to be taken out of the crib.

7:03. He was usually awake by now, but she shrugged it off, because he did go to sleep late last night and rolled back over to face Harry, placing a kiss on the tip of his nose to wake him. He blinked a few times and scrunched up his face as she giggled

“Morning love” he smiled, finally opening his eyes and wrapping his arms around her “Oli not up yet?”

“Nope” she emphasized the end of the word, burying her head in his chest “either that or my mother got up to him”

Harry scoffed “Seems unlikely, your sister, maybe”

“That sounds more possible”

He let a content sigh “This time two years ago, we were sitting in that hospital room, waiting for him to arrive”

Poppy sat up “Harry, today’s his second birthday”

He furrowed his brow at her “Yeah” he said, sounding confused “I was just sayin’ that”

“And we haven’t heard a thing from Danny”

The realisation dawned on him and a huge smile spread across his face “We haven’t heard anything from Danny- shit Pop I can adopt him”

“You can adopt him H” she smiled kissing his puffy morning lips “You’ll have to give the lawyers a call tomorrow, but it should be a pretty simple process, they should still have all the paperwork we filled out before the hearing, we’ll just have to sign it”

“Easy” he kissed her again “He could be mine by Christmas”

“I doubt it, red tape takes time and there’s only three days to go” she heard the faint sounds of Oli stirring next door “I’ll go” she smiled, throwing the blankets off and shivering at the cold December air. She wrapped her big fluffy dressing gown around her and walked out of the room to go and get Oli out of bed, leaving Harry there, smile spread across his face.

“Happy Birthday big boy” she said walking into his room

“Mumma” he smiled at her throwing his dummy out of the cot “Pippy” he tried to reach for the dummy that was now on the floor.

“Pippy’s on the ground bub”she leaned down and picked it up “mummy get it for you”

“Ta” he took it from her and stuck it back in his mouth.

Poppy reached into the cot and unzipped his sleeping bag as she picked him up “Where’s itchy?” she said. Oli had become quite attached to it when they took him on tour with Harry last year and after seeing Mitch playing the guitar at one of the shows he’d started calling it ‘itchy’ unable to say the ‘m’ sound in his name, and he couldn’t go anywhere without it.

“Itchy’s gone mum” he frowned shrugging his shoulders and looked around the room.

“He can’t be gone bub” Poppy giggled searching behind the cot and spotted him on the floor behind it “there he is! He’s hiding from you Oli” she put him down and moved the cot out from the wall, so she could lean down and pick the toy up. “Silly itchy” she said handing it to him.

“itchy silly mummy” he giggled giving the toy a big cuddle

“Shall we go see Daddy?” she ruffled his hair

“Yeah” he said, nodding his head

“Come on then” she walked out of the room and he followed her.

“DADDY!” he burst into their bedroom and climbed into the bed next to harry.

“There’s my big two-year-old!” Harry said, and Oli snuggled into his side “Happy birthday little man” he kissed the top of his head. Poppy stood in the doorway watching their interaction, heart filled with more love than she’d ever thought possible.

Oli handed Harry itchy “Daddy, itchy hiding”

Harry furrowed his brow “Was itchy hiding from you bub?” he chuckled, turning to look at Poppy “what’s mummy doing all the way over there?” he asked, “There’s room for one more in here”

“Why don’t we all go downstairs for some breakfast, Mummy’s hungry”

“Breakfast!” Oli nodded and jumped down from the bed, toddling out of the room and downstairs. She followed him closely behind, making sure he didn’t slip and helped him into his high chair.

“What would you like today birthday boy?”

“Toast” he said enthusiastically, which made Poppy and Harry both giggle

“Daddy can make you pancakes if you want little man?” Harry offered, searching the pantry for all the ingredients

“No, toast” he nodded

“Fine” Harry huffed pulling the jar of strawberry jam from the shelf in front of him “Jam toast it is”

“No Daddy, Mite toast”

Poppy giggled to herself, handing Harry the Jar of vegemite “the kid knows what he wants”

“You’re a bad influence on him,” he said, putting a piece of bread in the toaster, shaking his head at her

“I’ll do this” Poppy said, taking the butter knife off him “you go get the presents”

He placed a kiss on her cheek and walked off, upstairs to get Oli’s birthday presents. Once the toast was ready she spread the vegemite lightly across its surface and cut it into four triangles, placing it onto a Winnie the Pooh plate that Grimmers had given them when he first started eating solids.

“Vegemite toast for the Birthday boy” Poppy smiled, pinching his cheeks as she laid the plate in front of him.

“Thanks Mumma” he smiled.

“Good Morning” Linda yawned, walking into the kitchen in a very light cotton dressing gown “It’s freezing here”

“It’s London” Poppy admitted “I’ve turned the heating on”

“Good” Linda smiled “Now where’s my grandson”

“He’s eating his birthday breakfast” Poppy said excitedly while pointing to the high chair “Oli, say hi to nanna”

She wasn’t quite sure how he would react to linda, he’d really only met her through facetime and part of her was convinced that he thought she was just the lady that existed in the phone. He turned in his high chair and looked at Linda. He was puzzled at first but his expression soon changed and a big toothy smile grew on his face.

“Nanna” he said, taking a bite of his toast.

“Hi Big Boy” Linda smiled back, placing a big sloppy kiss on his cheek “Happy Birthday”

“Do you want anything Mum? Tea, Coffee, Breakfast?”

“I wouldn’t mind a tea and some eggs” she said and sat down next to Oli. “Is that vegemite you’ve got there?” she said to him

“Mite” he smiled and held the toast up to her

“You’re a real little Aussie then, just have to get your mum to bring you home”

Poppy filled a pot with water and put it on the stove so that she could poach some eggs for everyone when they eventually woke up and she heard her phone ringing on the bench behind her. Seeing Harry’s name on the screen, she answered it, confused.

“Did you forget where we hid the presents?” she giggled into the phone as Oli sat in his high chair giggling away at Linda as she pulled faces at him.

“No” he said flatly “Can you come here for a sec, need your help with the big one”

“I think it’s time you started those personal training sessions again then Styles” Poppy said standing up from her chair “I’ll be right up” she hung up the phone and turned to Linda and Oli

“Oli, Mummy’s just going to help daddy for a few minutes, I’ll be right back” she kissed his head and walked upstairs into her bedroom where she found Harry standing in the bathroom doorway holding what like a pregnancy test.

“What’s this love?” he asked, handing it to her

“Shit” she said, not looking at it “I took this last night and left it to do it’s thing when you got home from the airport and I kinda forgot about it with all the chaos”

“It’s positive love”

Poppy turned it over in her hand and saw the same two blue lines that she’d seen almost three years ago when she found out she was having Oli, and a few tears formed in her eyes as she looked up at Harry “It’s positive H”

He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her in close to his chest, “We’re having a baby Poppy.”

200 notes · View notes

fictionfromgames · 4 years

Text

Routine Concerns (ATLA/LOK fluff)

“Gran, you’re not gonna get arrested!”

Hiyara balled her fists as her grandmother continued packing a bag. The elder didn’t stop.

“Soon enough,” she stated matter-of-factly, “Remember a few years ago when I ‘went to the North’ for a week? When the Avatar was visiting?”

“Yeah,” Hiyara looked skeptical, “Your first vacation in two years at that point. Are you saying you went to jail?”

“Yep,” gran smiled, “Well, sort of a house arrest, wherein they lent me a lush mansion on the other side of the world while Avatar Weiyong was in Harbor City.”

“What could they possibly have against you, gran? You’re a healer.”

Gran turned and looked at Hiyara with a professional smile. She was always good at dealing with belligerent people, patients or otherwise, so she was practiced well enough by the time she had a family. Still, it annoyed Hiyara.

“You know my illustrious career, of course, but do you know much about history?” gran asked. At least she’d stopped packing.

“History is a broad term, gran, what kind of history?”

Gran shrugged, “Oh, like Avatar Korra, Amon. Bloodbending?”

“Some, iittle, and none, in descending according to the legality of each subject,” Hiyara started to frown, “You’re not a bloodbender, are you?”

“Not really?” gran shrugged, though she sounded unsure, “But my thesis on Amon’s ability to take away people’s bending is the theoretical foundation of my practice today.”

“You’re a bloodbender,” Hiyara was stunned.

“No, not really, I promise!” Gran moved closer, “I just... I was fascinated with Avatar Korra since I was little, all the things she achieved and survived even by your age now. But one of the things we’d always hear about in the healing huts was Amon. born Noatak in the Northern Tribe. Bloodbender, bending stealer, everyone knows that part, But no doctor, and no waterbender had figured out exactly how he’d stolen people’s powers. The standing, unimpeachable answer was always “vascular and/or neurological damage caused by bloodbending,” and was not subject to question due to the ethics and, yeah, legality involved. It was generally supported by head wounds that rendered much more than bending unusable, and wasn’t to be investigated otherwise.”

“Can you take bending away??” Hiyara was starting to feel a little horrified.

“Only theoretically!” Gran pointed enthusiastically, “There are a lot of things I wanted to avoid-- being stuck in the healing huts with all the old women back home, being called a ‘guru’, or a ‘mad scientist,’ and most definitely charges of bloodblending. I wanted nothing except to be Doctor Kayada. But... for as much as I wanted to get away from home, I remembered two things. The way Amon would access bending through the forehead, and the old healing dummies I was started on. He was using the meridians we used for water healing, just as conduits to the appropriate chakras through the Light chakra itself!”

“Gran you still haven’t said how this isn’t bloodbending!”

“Oh, that’s easy, I used a saline solution and sort of push that around,” Gran continued, almost ignoring the conflict in the conversation, “It somehow satisfies their strictures. But chakras, Hiyara, they’re opened and closed through emotion, and what emotions govern the Light chakra?”

Gran pointed again, waiting for the answer, but Hiyara just shook her head. She wasn’t in school for religious studies or medicine.

“Insight and illusion!” Gran cried, “Amon created illusory wounds to those areas through the chakra most susceptible to them, which is why no one but the Avatar figured out how to fix them! Lies they and their bodies believed! And he used water healing principles to accomplish it!”

At this point gran’s arms were in the air, as if reliving the revelatory moment. Hiyara just looked at her normally reserved grandmother with confusion and a little fear.

“But why would they arrest you?” she asked quietly.

“Oh, the White Lotus just thinks your genius gran could be a threat to the current Avatar because of the one time I stopped him.”

Kayada returned to packing. It was maybe a bit too hopeful to assume she could have gone to see the rocket launch if Weiyong was going to be there.

“Stopped him from what, gran?!”

******************

Kayada M.D.

Kayada’s theory is not mine, I stole it in whatever form I internalized it from Hello Future Me’s video in this link, but I wanted to have someone in the setting to realize that, as a potential conflict from either Kayada herself or an a new external threat. I imagine Kayada as generally genial, well-meaning, and not as invested in mysticism UNTIL it intersects with medical science. She has a practice in Shaomen, a newer United Republic City in the Hu Xin provinces. Shaomen is not canon except to this setting, and because I am running out of United Republic place names. Kayada’s clinic is like, 1/3 general practice (water healing is generally very useful), 1/3 sports medicine (pro-benders seek her out in particular because what if their loss was bending related rather than injury or skill related????? Big money there), and 1/3 “psychiatry” (because manipulating positive emotions through waterbending is at least palliative therapy, and at best, an actual ATLA-unique version of psychiatric medicine).

Kayada vs. Weiyong

Why would someone who’s only ever trying to help cross the Avatar and be subsequently banned from any and all contact within a number of miles?

Political Differences

In one scenario, I think of Kayada as having been a witness to some massive infrastructural damage to Shaomen, and going out personally to close off some bending to make it stop, getting mixed up about who’s who and accidentally closing off some of Weiyong’s bending until things are cleared up. This one incident meshes with her standard do-gooding persona, and explains why her family doesn’t always know why she keeps avoiding the Avatar (willingly or by state order). The realization of her abilities by the White Lotus with regards to Weiyong have placed her on a watchlist.

Trade Secrets

A colleague or academic rival has learned Kayada’s methods and has used it to profitable and definitely unethical ends. I am leaving a lot of details ambiguous in this scenario, just because a new bending-stealer could easily be used in “present day.” You could still have Kayada and Weiyong’s now-genial relationship as a background distance between them, and calling off the minimum distance order she has to keep in order to help hunt down your new antagonist. However. I envision this as being Kayada’s “real” backstory. Tesroq, a water bender and Kayada’s number one at her practice, was taught how to heal her way and fill in for her while she was on Team Avatar during the Deep Spirit crises. And rather than open abuse, he’d covertly mess with pro-benders in order to help fix matches, which drew the considerable attention of Boss Shai and the Agni Kai Triad. The technical prowess of Kayada being passed on to someone less incorruptible also drew notice from the Dai Li, who had hoped to recruit Tesroq for some super shady shit regarding the situation of the Earth States, but Tesroq himself was enamored with the metropolitan lifestyle in the United Republic, and refused. Of course, the Deep Spirits crises weren’t constant or all at once, and Team Avatar started heading home, first visiting Shaomen, since Kayada was less combat oriented than the rest. The timing for Tesroq couldn’t have gone better-- with the Dai Li sending alternating offers and threats, the Agni Kais thoroughly pissed regarding an undefeated pro bending team, and Kayada starting to wonder what was amiss, his escape was provided by the threeway battle over his capture. Even with help from the White Lotus, Tesroq was never caught. Weiyong did get some of his bending blocked, but the White Lotus arranged a cover story and confiscated all scholastic papers regarding Kayada’s methods. She was still allowed to practice on the condition that she would be portrayed as the danger to the Avatar, avoiding all mention of Tesroq. She and Weiyong still correspond though, since they were close as comrades and confidants, and Weiyong always sends photos of an event related to his latest obligations. She’s Definitely a Mad Scientist

In this scenario, I kind of see her as morally ambivalent and always chasing the goal of learning more, kinda like Entrapta in She Ra, where the sides don’t matter as long as she keeps Doing the Thing, that maybe she’ll finally unlock something amazing. Her practice is more or less a front for capital, and while she may only take willing subjects, it’s still fucking sketchy, and requires a stronger synthesis between bloodbending and water healing. Perhaps here she’s looking for a way to actually produce bending in subjects that never had it, or add new elements to existing benders, since they already possess energy bending of any kind and it’s just easier or something. I like Kayada as a friend and ally but there are seeds for so much mischief.

Mechanically Speaking

No player character should have the ability to block bending beyond Ty Lee levels, which exists in the game already. But, should your characters have their bending blocked, it should be a several Chi-cost adventure to regain it. It’s also hard to manage since you don’t need bending to access every move in a playbook, so it’s more of a GM fiat move than systematic usage.

You can check out Legend of the Elements on DriveThru RPG and their page full of extra resources, Actual Play links, and essays at the Logbook Project!

#atla #lok #Avatar The Last Airbender #legend of korra #legend of the elements #Legend of Korra rpg #atla rpg #avatar rpg #korra rpg #rpg fluff

1 note · View note

lunarmadison · 7 years

Text

deep in this sleeplessness | self-para | 5.20.17

WHO: Madison McCarthy, ft. Éabha WHEN: Saturday, May 20, 2017 | (November 2009) WHERE: ??? WHAT: Madison hasn’t felt right. She hasn’t felt right for a long time. Something is missing, and she isn’t going to find it on campus, so she goes to a forest near her heart to search. WARNINGS: Violence, violent thoughts, child endangerment, animal death (hunting). (Also, it’s long, so strap in and bring a snack.)

Training in the private rooms at Undique had not helped Madison. The practice dummies she battled would always remain practice dummies; even when they were enchanted to move across the gym, she could predict too easily what those movements would be.

She had gone to the marketplace, searching for an item that would create illusions for her, since she lacked the ability herself. Madison had found something close to what she wanted in the form of enchanted goggles, which could recreate several types of terrain in the gym. The next day, she watched as the bare walls of the room shimmered and morphed into a thick forest, the floor becoming a lush carpet of grass and earth, true sounds dimmed by the din of wildlife surrounding her. It'd do.

The moving targets became cloaked in guises of creatures pulled from the pages of her cryptozoology text -- some benign, some dangerous, and it was up to her to determine the difference.

The goggles had helped for a few days, a week at most. She'd cycled through forest, plains, mountain, and jungle, but nothing felt right. It didn't feel like she was anywhere but the gym, and her targets were always predictable, gliding along the paths that she'd planned for them. Frustrated, she pulled the goggles off her head and stuffed them into her bag before hitting the showers and heading back to her dorm.

The next morning, she booked a portal, claiming she needed a vacation. It wasn't a total lie. With Éabha perched lazily on her shoulder, she carried only what she needed through the portal. It opened into a dense green place, heavy with humidity and foliage, with tall trees looming overhead to cast long shadows on the ground below, with moist, dark earth that clung to her boots. It was a world not unlike what the enchanted goggles promised and completely failed to deliver, because most importantly, she could feel the life teeming in the hidden corners of the forest, the way the trees soared towards the sky, the way the place seemed to sing with Aether energy. The forest was alive, and in that moment, so was Madison.

Without knowing the lay of the land before heading in, Madison could not have formulated a specific plan, and so began her hike along the closest thing to a trail that she could find. Éabha took to the air, her dark wings spread wide under bright green leaves, and watchful eyes scouting ahead to keep Madison apprised of danger that the witch herself might not notice.

But there was little that Madison didn't notice. Back on campus, her hyperawareness of the chatter and footsteps that surrounded her stymied her attempts at meditation, but here, in the woods, each background noise meant something important. Everything she saw and heard, each last flicker of movement in the brush and each chirp or shuffle along the ground signaled to Madison that she was not alone. Her training told her what to be aware of, to filter out the steady sounds of life in the forest and hone in on what was unusual or different, what could most easily pose a threat to her safety.

She kept walking.

Morning turned to noon. The summer canopy blocked out most of the sun's light, but the heat still radiated through the air. So far, Madison hadn't found any sources of water, but she'd packed plenty, so she signalled to Éabha to descend, and the raven glided down to her witch to land on her shoulder with pinpoint accuracy. "Time for a break," Madison stated, and sat on the ground with her back against a thick tree.

'So you do talk,' Éabha teased, hopping onto the ground. 'I was starting to wonder how long you would stay in that head of yours.'

Madison sighed, but pulled her grimoire out of her bag and turned to a page with images of plastic water bottles marching across in rows. After lifting one bottle out, she stowed the book and took a long drink, pleased to find the water still cold. "Yes, I talk," she countered. Looking up and across, the forest seemed to stretch into forever, greens and browns fading to blues and greys as the plants grew more distant. "I haven't had a lot to say."

'I'd noticed.' Éabha strutted in a slow, small circle, stopping when she stood in front of Madison to peer at her curiously. 'I'd ask why we're here, I know that you know that I already know.' A beaky smile. 'You're looking for something, aren't you?'

Madison nodded, pulled a Madame Jason's EverEnergy bar from her bag, and took a bite. "I haven't felt ... right," she confessed. "I feel like something's missing."

'And you think you'll find it here?'

It was a genuine question, not an accusation, and for that Madison was grateful. "I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe. Probably."

'In the woods where you did your survival test.'

Madison pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them to herself with one arm. She couldn't even fully articulate what it was that she was looking for, only that a part of herself was no longer, well ... part of her, and she wasn't even sure how long it had been missing. "Yes," she confirmed. It was a complete sentence. Wordlessly, she polished off the energy bar, then sat in continued silence as she drank her water.

She had been barely thirteen years old when she'd done her test. Thin and small, she looked frail, but her frame belied her tenacity when faced with a challenge. Steely eyes glinted with her determination to succeed, and her eager mind was full of knowledge that would keep her alive and whole over the two weeks she was to remain in the forest, alone. She hadn't looked back when her dad dropped her off. Only ahead. Only towards victory, and the words of praise that would follow when she proved herself.

Madison stood and dusted the dirt off of her jeans. "We can keep going."

'And here I thought we'd stay right here forever,' came Éabha's sarcastic reply, as dark wings took her to the space above and just behind Madison.

Madison didn't answer, but kept walking, pressing on through the woods, one foot after another, eyes scanning between the trees for movement and flashes of color, constantly listening for the sound of nigh-silent footsteps over ground.

She hadn't touched her rations. She knew she wouldn't need them, after all, since she was the best Slayer in her whole age group, and she could easily hunt for her dinner. Touching rations meant giving up, and she wasn't going to give up on the first day. Of course, Madison had only the simplest bow, one that wasn't built to her specifications, and rudimentary arrows. She needed to restring it, and check the fletchings on her arrows, had to sharpen the arrow heads against rocks. By the time her equipment was ready to go, the sun had set, leaving only the quarter of a moon hanging in the sky to light her way. The shadows were dark and many, but Madison was determined to be just one more of them, one more long shadow looming in the night, ready to strike.

Madison pushed on through the forest, over trails and under brush, her custom bow in hand, with arrow nocked and ready for her draw. A flash of cottony white caught her eye. She drew back. Released. The arrow sailed ahead of the rabbit, hitting were she knew it would be by the time it got there. Perfect.

She stalked through the foliage to retrieve her kill. The ground felt a little steadier beneath her feet. Her hands had done this. It was what they were trained to do, and it had been done without the use of magic.

Magic was a tool, Madison mused, as she paused to clean the rabbit with the knife she'd brought along. Slaying magic, in particular, was used when conventional weapons were either unnecessary or would not subdue the target. Slayers were brought in as big guns, to contain big threats. McCarthy magic was kind. Madison's quiver contained more arrows bearing the sigil for 'sleep' than for 'explode,' after all, because they were compassionate people. They cared for the well being of their targets. They wove nets of magic to contain, and built great walls together that protected their clan.

Most importantly, McCarthy slayers were not bloodthirsty. They were not Puckermans. They did not charge willy-nilly into the field, spells blazing. They did not engage unless absolutely necessary. They were control and finesse. They had plans.

Bow abandoned, young Madison sank her knife into her moving target. The kill was easy -- an easy win that flooded her young mind with the thrill of victory. And of course, the meat would sate her hunger when it was roasted over a fire.

At dusk, Madison started scanning the ground for the remains of camp sites past, since it was best to use one that was established, rather than disturb more natural terrain than she had to. She found the pale scorch marks and scattered ashes of a fire that had once roared, and gathered enough dry wood to build a new one.

'Did you bring enough for me?' Éabha asked, breaking the silence while the rabbit cooked.

"You don't eat," Madison pointed out.

'I could if I wanted to. If you brought something for me.'

Madison sighed. "You're a hunter, too. Go hunt for something."

'I'm a scavenger,' Éabha reminded her, hopping in a little closer to the warm orange glow of the small fire.

"Then go scavenge," Madison said.

The fire crackled quietly, and Éabha stayed put.

'Did you find it yet? The thing you were looking for?'

Madison watched the flames dancing in front of her, licking the meat until it was safe enough for her to eat. It was tough and chewy, and not her first choice all told, but it fed her. "I think so," she replied, barely above a whisper, but she knew Éabha heard her. Her familiar heard everything.

'You sound disappointed.'

Madison collected handfuls of dirt to pour over the dancing flames. Earth covered fire. At best, it nurtured the heat, warming it radiantly. At worst, the same life-giving soil smothered the bright, blazing heat that illuminated all it touched.

"I tried so hard to do everything right," she said. She pursed her lips and looked down at her hands, streaked dark with dirt. "I wanted everyone to like me, and that sounds so stupid now. I can't keep changing myself for every different person. That's bonkers." She shook her head. Her eyes focused on the ground, instead of on Éabha. "I didn't want to f--"

'You can say it,' Éabha prompted.

"I can't f- I can't fuck it up," Madison said in a rush, her tongue skating over the expletive like it was still something that didn't belong in her mouth. "And I'm going to. Aether, I'm going to, I'm going to he-- I'm going to fuck it up again, somehow, in some way. And I'm the heir! I'm the heir of the McCarthy clan and I am not allowed to be anything other than responsible for my own family and the way people see us, and -- and the very first thing that happens, that I do, is I let my own brother get all caught up in dating a fae. A fae! That's weird, Éabha!"

'Isn't Marley your friend?'

"I still wouldn't date her. It's ... it's just weird, okay?" She sighed. "And then I stole the very next person he was interested in right out from underneath him, and why? So I could prove something to myself? I'm a horrible sister. The whole semester goes like that. I lose the election, I fail at making friends AND alliances, I lose my virginity to a gay guy, who --" Another hesitation, a pause, a word on the tip of her tongue that she hadn't allowed herself to say. Here in the woods, though, with night falling on her and her familiar, there is only truth. "I wasn't even a good girlfriend. I was selfish and weird and nutty and trying to be -- I don't know -- what I thought a good Bloodline girl was supposed to be. And I loved him, you know? I really did."

'You weren't honest.'

The simple statement seemed to sink into Madison's bones, right into the depths of her marrow. It wound itself around her skeleton, wriggled into her heart, fused to her DNA. "No," she agreed. "I wasn't."

'That's why you fail, Madison Laurel.' Éabha fluttered in even closer, and poked her beak in Madison's face. 'Slayer Madison Laurel McCarthy. If you speak and walk your truth, will it matter if everyone likes you? Will it matter if you beat your brother?' A pause. 'Won't it be easier to fulfill your destiny if you accept all of it, instead of only the pretty parts? Don't answer - that's a lot of questions, and we're both tired. Sleep, Madison. I'll keep watch.'

Madison was fairly sure that it was the most that her familiar has ever said to her in one go. She rolled the sleeping bag out of her grimoire and settled in for the night. The stars shone through the gaps in the canopy, like pieces of a great constellation puzzle, and they gave her no real answers, either. It was like the answers to those questions just didn’t exist; if she knew them, then she’d be living them right now, wouldn’t she? Instead of coming all the way out here to try and find what she still needed?

She never felt more disconnected from the concepts of destiny or truth than in that moment.

[to be continued]

#para: self #para: all

6 notes · View notes

gilmoregirlsbigbrother · 5 years

Text

EPISODE #1

As the cast get settled into the Dragonfly Inn, tensions arise between a few guests. Personalities don’t always mesh and alliances are formed quickly in the first few days of the game. Let’s check in on the houseguests as we begin our journey on Gilmore Girlssssss Bigggggg Brother!

Andrew

Lov it is lit rally 6 hours ahead of est in italy and like my dummy dum dum ass was like oooooo lets play this fuckin game that starts in the middle of my italy trip?? so i love that for my brain. i saw the post, saw clash and dan got the twist thingy, talked to some people for a little bit, and then went the fuck to bed

Isaac

This cast fucking blows.

Randy

5 of the cast are women, 16 are bitches ding ding is it bad that i dont see myself not making it late game like i thought i had an uphill battle but these bitches accepted me so easily so this is gonna be easy

Chelsea

Hi everyone! I'm gonna try to stay on top of my shit but no promises. There are a lot of people that I don't know at all in this game, but so far Randy, Clash, Nick, and Dani have been the people to message me. Dani and I played Guyana together and did well, so it's nice to have her as someone to talk to this early on.

I don't really see any obstacles yet, it's all a matter of how i bring my game to the table and who i learn does it better. This is my second BB game so I have a little bit of learning to do since the gameplay is a bit different than Survivor.

I love the idea of going to Friday night dinner. Not only do i love dinner and Friday nights, but i think it's completely fair and chill. Your decisions may or may not help you and that's what I like. I enjoy seeing how advantages work for different people and how people make weaker ones work in their favor.

I joined this game last minute when I wasn't planning on playing for a while, so I'm still trying to get mentally prepared for the conversations and challenges ahead. I hope that doesn't put a target on my back.

Nick

https://youtu.be/KKrQn3xNd1A

( a little while later)

Still no reply from Karen but according to Randy, Karen has a premade that she plans on sticking with all game. Randy also told me he wants me to win hoh but I don’t know if I really want it.

(a little while after that)

Karen messaged me which is a yay! I’m hoping he was just busy and didn’t see my message but who knows... can’t wait to play this first hoh and get last in it probably!

Andrew

at this point with the people left who can still win hoh.....i think theres a chance that dani or madison could put me up just bc idk them and im having very boring, fake conversation with them lmao. i love being a meninist! anyway-- i think id be fine with everyone else? i hope. so likeee fuck this hoh ig. i dont need it. if i somehow get it, ill just put up the people that ive talked to the least? also im lowkey worried JG would put me up just bc we arent talking a lot. i should talk to him more huh.. anyway i would hope im good w everyone else. nick - who i was worried about - even told me im good with him if he wins hoh and i told him same. so wow oh wow ive made my first deal of the game

Head of Household commences and Clash is the Head of Household after a water balloon fight. Alliances begin to form as a obvious friendship of Karen, Isaac, Ricky and Andrew is spotted by another emerging friendship of Nick, Madison and Randy. But, is everything as it seems?

Liana

Hi first confessional here. I've been struggling with playing 2 games at the same time it's hard to keep up. Now i get some quiet time to catch up this lovely morning. This cast is fun and varied. I was excited to see some people I've played with in the past (Drew, Karen, Isaac, Andrew, Dan, and Ricky) and meet some new people. I'm finding it hard to message people because I hate the awkward small talk in the beginning but I don't want to get targeted. While I know those people from the past, they're also obstacles because I know, according to timestamps, Karen and Isaac targeted me in the HOH and they're probs definitely working together. I'm hoping I can stay under the radar for now and let large groups go after each other until I get a chance to build more relationships.

Madison

Let's review

In the past 24 hours I have: -implied f2 with Dan -implied f2 with Nick -f2 with Clash -Alliance with Nick and Randy -implied alliance with Bobby and Nick -alliance with Randy Adrian JG Clash

Nick

Clash winning HOH is acceptable! I think he trusts and likes me and he wanted me to win hoh when I was still in which shows something. On top of that we both had the same sorta idea to put Isaac and Karen up which I’m just here like “bye bye bitches” and these inactive players will hopefully learn how to speak some English.

Dan

Clash winning hoh is like a damn Hawaiian vacation for me. I don’t have to worry about being nominated, I still don’t have to talk to these crackheads, and I can maybe get noms how I want them. I love being pretty

Ricky

My first night in the Dragonfly Inn was riddled with terrible associative experiences in my real life, .org life, and romantic life. So....not great.

Adrian

im here and im ready to dominate

Drew

Right now i don't have a game, Andrew and I keep talking about maybe deciding to start playing but then everyone else who's like old school PI type people that we could tap (Ricky, Isaac, Karen) keep sucking massive ass

so the plan is to be just barely known enough to survive and then we'll reassess in like three rounds when i start wanting to win challenges

aka when the cast gets normal sized

Andrew

i mean im gonna work with isaac and ricky for sure i think bc we're a power trio and can fuck shit up when we put each of our single brain cells together. i like also wanna work with karen and/or drew and/or sammy bc they all me friends. i usually dont trust karen or drew for too long in games but like this is bb and not survivor and i play these 2 games v differently so we'll see what happens. madison and nick were really giving me nothing to work with night one even tho i wanted to have more indpeth convo with them. dan and jg i wanna try working with. clash..... we're gonna manipulate xoxo

clash has been involved with a lot of drama in this community and to be real i still dunno how i feel about him cuz like,,,,,ive only hosted him? and hes kinda immature but like also ig i can work close with him in an actual game and get better bearings on who he is.. maybe he can be a good ally? maybe i can just manipulate the fuck out of him and get him to say he loves me after knowing me for 6 days?

(a little while later)

me to dani: yeah it’s hard being in everyone’s pms haha Also me: rapid fire texting every single houseguest all the way from the homeland

(a little while later)

I'm tryna talk to everyone just so I'm not nominated because for whatever reason I have a bad track record of getting nommed week one? I only wanna win veto comps if I'm actually on the block. HOH rn is dumb and I'm just gonna do the bare minimum to keep myself from being nominated lol

(a little LATER after that)

okay so im gonna make a list from 1 being who i wanna mcshoot to 11 being no pls i dont wanna pull the trigger piglet

1. Madison ew smelly 2. Dani kinda smelly dont trust it 3. JG i like dunno where i stand w him 4. Clash i think he trusts me but that would be crackhead hour 5. Randy same with Clash but less hormonal(?) 6. Liana dont think she'd put me up.. 7. Karen same with Liana but im better fwiends w her uwu 8. Nick we made a deal so like? stick to it?? 9. Adrian a cool man that I wanna get closer to 10. Isaac we tryna power trio w him and Ricky 11. Ricky I think he'd have a better chance at beating Isucc

1 is take em out chief and 11 is sweet bb boi owo

(jesus take the wheel the cameraman gets super tired but Andrew keeps speaking)

Dear diary, clash won hoh today, and I hope he doesn’t put me up. If he does, then I’ll just bully him by constantly posting the screenshots of him confessing his love to Madison kimrey in the house chat. Till next time! Andrew <3

also yikes I guess dani assumes I’m the one who took her out in the challenge but like there were 8(?) of us left and lit rally lov we’ve talked for like 5 minutes so I could not give less of a shit lol

I could use Dani’s passive aggression to fuel a nuclear power plant

After the nomination ceremony where Isaac and Liana are nominated, tensions brew between Bobby and Isaac (which makes Isaac concoct a lie to make Bobby feel bad for being mean). The houseguests start to form alliances on late night calls, notably Madison’s two alliances Weiner Hard and The Chipettes.

Nick

VL Cast Assessment/Opinions:

Adrian - We don’t exactly talk often but I feel quite safe with him... he gives me laying low type player vibes and I’m gonna let him do his thing! Overall like him a lot and there’s potential with him as an ally in the game.

Andrew - He’s quite chill! He and I talk a lot and I personally really like him and his attitude. I think he doesn’t scream threat but late game he may be the main social player and threat to win. I consider him a worthy ally

Bobby- I LOVE BOBBY! He’s overall really fun and has a great personality. We are definitely close in this game! The one issue is he makes it very clear he hates Ricky and that could put a target on him and possibly me if they think we are close. He’s someone who I will 100% have their back in the game

Chelsea - She’s sweet... nice personality and doesn’t seem to have any enemies. I think she’s a super nice person and there’s really nothing negative to say about them at the moment besides I wish we connected more sooner.

Clash - CLASH IS AMAZING! We knew each other way before this and we already had the bond but we never worked together... hopefully this time it will be different and we can work with each other long term!

Dan - I love him but the house thinks otherwise... people see him as a kind of a crazy over the top player based on past games... but in my opinion it’s better to have those types of people on your side rather than against you in these types of games... sadly he might be a common target in this game.

Dani - Dani is so kind and I love her so much! We talk all the time and the only issue I have with her is that she’s after Madison who I also like and trust. Their feud might ruin my game long term!

Drew - I like drew but I feel like he automatically thinks I’m with him because we know each other... we haven’t talked a ton but when we do I enjoy the talks a lot as he’s genuinely a good and funny guy!

JG - Same a Clash where I knew him before this and I trust him but we never played together! I think everyone likes him and he is someone who I gotta trust or I’ll fall out of the loop.

Karen - Rocky start but we actually talked a bit and connected a bit. I’m hoping for more but as of now I don’t trust Karen that much.

Liana - Chips wife omg I love you. they are nominated right now and I’m worried people will evict her because if she “puts the baby down” as some say, she may be really threatening long term in the game.

Madison - Hate this bitch... obviously joking but she can be trouble long term if I don’t keep an eye out for her... she’s going to create and be in drama and I gotta be ready to deal with the aftermath. Trust and love her but she can ruin everything for me in one day if she wasn’t in the right head space

Randy - This bitch is so funny! I want to work so bad with randy and I think it may actually happen! He is someone I hope I can count on long term in the game!

Sammy - We are slowly making connections and he reaches out to me very often so I’m happy to see someone is reaching out to make a bond with me rather the other way around! I’m excited for what’s to come!

Isaac - He might as well not talk to anyone at all because he’s basically inactive... he didn’t even speak to the hoh when they made nominations then got mad when they went up... it’s annoying that you think you deserve to stay over Liana who’s putting work in.

Ricky - I like him! He talks with me which is nice and I’m just overall looking forward to more conversations because I find him funny and interesting!

Andrew

I wasn’t nominated which was lit and clash said I’m one of his closest allies.. dunno if that’s true or not but I’ll run with it for now. Liana being nominated im neutral about but isaac could be an issue bc I’m supposed to be working with him. But sometimes he’ll go inactive in games? And idk why. I guess his aunts in the hospital which is a yikes but also he shouldn’t be surprised if he’s on the block. Also calling clash an incel and Bobby a dick in the chat is a look but also Bobby kinda WAS being a dick so like understandable. PS - who has the social tact now miss isaac? ... ily

Madison

Idk if I could trust Nick fully because he's already backstabbed Randiddy and my keeping things from both him and Bobby is just easier for me. I'm gonna keep my mouth shut this time and not cause too many fights but I also wanna fight most of these people. The noms are also sexy as hell and I hope Liana goes because she has a child to take care of and she should go back to that

Randy

https://youtu.be/QZC4skhewkg

The veto commences, and Sammy reigns victorious in the Word Ladder challenge. Isaac and Liana remain final nominees. But will rumors of the “premade” on a house call seal Isaac’s fate?

Ricky

literally not one single person has spoken to me today except sammy and he said hello and nothing else so i’m not doing shit until i am told anything

Randy

youtube

Andrew

so i think isaac is dying and people are coming to me like "i know hes ur fwiend uwu" and im like well im obviously not gonna be a dumb dumb bubblegum lookin ass bitch and rock any vote when im tryna play this UTR friendly to everyone game. my game rn is based purely on conformity and being a wallflower. so if isaac has to get sent down the river then bring me a boat bitch

Madison

i can't wait to evict all these boring ass people

0 notes

jurassicparkpodcast · 5 years

Text

On the Set of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | Part One | Becoming A Production Designer

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk to one of the members of the crew who worked on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Now I am sure that some of you may already be familiar with this person – as he has created an absolute storm on Instagram by sharing some fantastic behind the scenes pictures from the production of the film. I am of course, referencing Andy Nicholson – the Production Designer on Fallen Kingdom.

Andy was kind enough to lend me some of his time on a Friday night to talk about his work in the film industry, and his work on the set of FK. What follows will be some highlights from the conversation we had – offering some interesting insight into the movie making magic that goes into a Hollywood blockbuster like FK.

Now we started off talking a little bit about Social Media – which was cool. When talking about how Social Media and how our fan base influenced the production, Andy mentioned how: “Colin and JA are great at engaging with the fans and maintaining an online presence.”

Andy also discussed how the presence of fans, both on Social Media, and online, influenced the decision-making process for Fallen Kingdom. Small details were considered in great length as the production team knew fans would pick up on them: “When it came to the Ceratopsian Skull which takes centre stage in Lockwood Manor, we were quite conscious that it couldn’t be a Triceratops because it wouldn’t have been big enough to kill the Indoraptor. With that in mind, we created a new genus which was an amalgamation of 2 different Ceratopsians. In the film, all of the other skeletons in the Diorama have name plaques. We never showed one for our new-genus just to keep the online audiences guessing.”

Andy then touched on the piece of Set Design which took the internet by storm. Many of you may remember that when Main Street was first built Pua'ena Point in Hawaii, there was some discussion about the fact that the orange glass of the souvenir shop was still intact. Well, Andy touched on this during our discussion, saying that: “We had built the main street in Hawaii using the same construction team who had built main street in the first Jurassic World. I hadn’t arrived yet as I was still with the crew in the in the UK and they had built the souvenir tower intact as that was how they had left the set when it was filmed in 2015. The tower was never actually destroyed on set; it was destroyed in post-production. I remember getting an email from Colin letting me know that fans had noticed on this on some leaked photos! It was a while before we would be filming yet so we had plenty of time to fix it!

The tower was never actually destroyed on set; it was destroyed in post-production. I remember getting an email from Colin letting me know that fans had noticed on this on some leaked photos!

At this point we touched a little bit on the culture of people photographing while they were filming. Andy explained that while security was tight in the UK, the popular filming locations in Hawaii are easily accessible by the public and productions in Hawaii often have set photos leaked and shared on the internet. Drones especially can be real issue. Andy touched on the presence Jurassic had – particularly when shooting in Hawaii: “People knew we were coming months before we arrived. There are several, well-known & frequently used filming locations on Oahu, so people usually know when something is going on. Especially when you’re building something big - our Main Street was 115M/375ft long!”

We then discussed my visit to some film locations – mentioning an article I had shared with Andy a few weeks beforehand about my time visiting the FK locations in the UK. He shared some interesting insight into the filming at Pyestock, and how that area had to be transformed for filming: “We had quite an unusual problem at that location. If you look back in the film, all the Palm trees which feature in that sequence are quite short. In the UK, you can hire Palm trees, which is what we did with a lot of greenery and plants. You can’t, however, hire loads of big Palm trees. To get around this we would usually import long Palm fronds from Morocco or Spain. They get shipped in, and you dress the tops of fiberglass tree-trunks to create Palms. When we were, filming Fallen Kingdom, however, there was a ban on importing Palm Trees due to a disease that was going around. All we could get were different, much shorter fronds which weren’t ideal.

Things like that can often happen on shoots though – and we had to do a lot for this sequence because we were building part of Main Street which hadn’t heavily featured in Jurassic World while also showing parts you were familiar with. We also adapted that whole section and worked with vfx as it would be to extended in CG afterwards. We shot the whole things using both a real helicopter and a dummy helicopter ‘buck’ on a crane – allowing us to get some tracking shots of the real helicopter. Our Special Effects department used a massive 15 metre by 15 metre scaffold water-sprinkler rig suspended from a crane in that sequence to create the rain, a lot of rain – Film rain has to be much more prominent than real rain so that you can see it on camera.”

Andy then welcomed me to ask him a few of my nagging questions about his time as the Production Designer on the film. As someone who has a passionate interest in the film industry and the different ways people can get into the roles they find a love for, I wanted to first ask Andy a little bit about how he got into the film industry – particularly in the artistic roles he finds himself in today.

“I studied Architecture at Brighton, and couldn’t decide what I wanted to do. I started by working for a small boutique design company on fairly exclusive houses, then I went into the other end of the industry in Canada, working for a big much more commercial company, working on multi story buildings and large scale land development schemes. I did this for a couple of years but ultimately decided that it wasn’t for me. Large buildings can take years to design and build and that just wasn’t a speed that worked for me!

In the early nineties there was also a real turn down in the Architectural industry. I came back from Canada and decided that I’d take a look at a career that I’d always been Interested in. I had some friends from College who had gone on to take a 1 year Production Design course at Kingston Polytechnic and I went to see their end-of year show – I loved what I saw! I was aware at this point, however, that I didn’t want to go back to College for another year! I found out that a lot of the group had been doing voluntary work at the National Film & Television School in Beaconsfield. It’s one of the only film schools in the world where you can go and study specific areas of filmcraft. So, when you receive an interview, you’ll be interviewed based upon an area which you are interested in – which can be anything from editing, directing or production design.

I turned up and looked around, not wanting to go back to college – but it wasn’t like that. They were making a lot of films, so they were always looking for a crew members to support the projects. I decided to put my name down on one of the crew volunteer sheets, and about a week later I got a phone call saying, ‘One of our films is going up to Scotland for two months – are you free?’. I was! I tried out the camera at first but the Art Dept looked much more fun so I switched. It was an amazing introduction to the industry especially as we were staying on location on the Isle of Mull. For a Student film, we built a lot of sets (19th Century Crofts, props and even improvised salmon ladders and diverted streams). It was October and the weather was brutal and Production notorious (two Film school vans were written-off and our Salmon ladder was washed out to sea by a cloudburst, never to be seen again) but we survived – with the help of Whisky!...I was hooked.

I came back and basically slept on the school film floor for six months, often staying overnight, working on whatever project needed a crew. They were all small projects, but I was learning a lot about what an art department does and I got a lot of hands-on experience which was beneficial. Through some of the established film-industry ‘mentors’ (who were regularly involved in projects). I made good contacts in the industry and was able to get work on smaller-scale productions like commercials and music videos, getting more experience with each job. It was really a case of building a portfolio, gaining experience and making contacts. My Architectural degree had given me a decent training in Architectural drafting, which is a lot of what an Art Department produces & meant that when someone asked me to draw something in an art department I could just get on with it. I think the first thing I ever drew for a movie was a set of wooden gallows. Eventually, I phoned the right person at the right time and became part the Art Dept for the 1994 production ‘Restoration’. I just carried on working in film after that. Once you start working, it’s very much about your quality of work and being recognised by other individuals within the industry. I worked my way up through the Art dept on different productions and different films. On Sleepy Hollow, I got my first opportunity to work as an Art Director. From there I worked on other big US Studio films until I was asked by Director Alphonso Cuaron to work as the Production Designer on Gravity, which was my big break, I even got an Oscar Nomination for my work, which was amazing!

I’ve been designing since 2010, and I spent about fifteen years getting there. I was lucky – I got there fast, but there is no easy way of doing it. It’s really all about the contacts you make and making sure that the work you do is memorable. And, of course – there is an element of luck to it too! The key thing to note is there is no direct in – there are new people who come from all different backgrounds but can come into the industry. The industry is incredibly welcoming of new people – as long as you’re talented, enthusiastic, listen and take a hands on approach to learning.”

So, that’s a look at how Andy got to where he is today – and it provides a lot of interesting insight into how the film industry works and how Production Designers work their way up from the roles of Draughtsman all the way up to those more senior roles. Make sure you come back and join us for the second part of our chat with Andy – where we will take a deeper dive into the world of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Whilst you wait for the second part – make sure to check out Andy’s website, and follow him on Instagram for more behind the scenes insight.

Written by: Tom Fishenden

#article #andy nicholson #andy nicholson jurassic world #jurassic world fallen kingdom set design #tom fishenden #andy nicholson production designer #production design #fallen kingdom production design #andy nicholson interview #on the set of jurassic world fallen kingdom #part one interview #andy nicholson set photos #jurassic world set photos #falle kingdom set photos

0 notes