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#it does resemble the Broadway musical even more this way though
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Update on TwstJP fandom: Abs. That is all.
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Yup, I saw 😅 Exposed arms too??
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cnsbsjwbskwnsa I’m laughing because Leona told Kalim to keep him substituting for Jack in Catch the Tail a secret from Jamil 😂 Lilia and Vil agree, Jamil would lose his shit if he found out Kalim was participating.
Imagine being Jamil, accompanying Kalim to watch this culturally significant annual event, thinking, “Damn, this is going surprisingly well and uneventfully”. Then the next second Jamil looks at the fighting ring, he sees Kalim there smiling, midriff exposed, surrounded by a bunch of skilled warriors and about to brawl for a coveted title. Kalim spots Jamil in the audience and waves with both hands, calling out a greeting to him. Jamil makes eye contact with Leona and suddenly it all clicks. Yeah, I think I would have a heart attack right on the spot too.
Side note: missed opportunity, Rook should have been there as a competitor so we can finally see what he’s hiding under his long sleeves…
AYO AnD NEW RIBBon FOR GRIM????? (I’m way more excited about this than the actual tournament) 👀 Love it when he gets new looks to go with the event!
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princesssarisa · 1 year
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A Christmas Carol Holiday Season: "The Stingiest Man in Town" (1978 animated musical)
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Even though the original 1956 telecast of the musical The Stingiest Man in Town went unseen for decades after its original airing, the musical itself wasn't lost to the public. Rankin/Bass, the company behind such classic Christmas specials as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and more, produced this animated remake in 1978. While not very well-known today, it still has the appeal of childhood nostalgia for me: in the '90s, it used to air on The Disney Channel, and I remember watching it.
This cartoon special features the same tuneful lineup of Broadway-style songs by Fred Spielman and Janice Torre as the original 1956 musical: "Holly-Ho," "An Old-Fashioned Christmas," "The Stingiest Man in Town," "I Wear a Chain," "Golden Dreams," "It Might Have Been," "The Christmas Spirit," "Yes, There Is a Santa Claus," "One Little Boy," "The Birthday Party of the King," and "Mankind Should Be My Business." But in place of Janice Torre's original script is a new teleplay by Rankin/Bass mainstay writer Romeo Muller. He introduces one major change, clearly meant to appeal to children. The story is now told by a chubby Jiminy Cricket-like insect named B.A.H. Humbug (voiced by Tom Bosley), who not only narrates, often using Dickens's original words, but plays a semi-interactive role throughout the action. I suspect that he helped to inspire the similar role played by Gonzo-as-Charles Dickens in The Muppet Christmas Carol fourteen years later.
As a whole, this production might be too much aimed at children for many Dickens lovers. Especially because Scrooge (voiced by and drawn to resemble Walter Matthau) is less of the hard, sharp businessman Dickens wrote and more of a cartoon bully at first. Rankin/Bass's signature animation style, with its lumpy, large-headed character designs, certainly won't suit all tastes either, though it does have a warm, innocent appeal; nor will the American accents of the starry voice cast. But all the same, there's charm. The story is told in a way that's easy for children to understand, yet hits all the emotional beats. The scenes involving Marley's Ghost (Theodore Bikel) are genuinely spooky; the doomed romance of Young Scrooge (Robert Morse) and Belle (Shelby Flint) is genuinely poignant. All the voice actors – who also include Dennis Day as Fred and Paul Frees as the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present – give solid performances, and the songs are just as memorable as they were in 1956.
A definitive Christmas Carol this isn't, but it would be a fine introduction to the story for children. As far as I'm concerned, it's a worthwhile addition to the cartoon Christmas special lineup.
@ariel-seagull-wings, @thealmightyemprex, @faintingheroine, @reds-revenge, @thatscarletflycatcher
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bloodpacks-archive · 3 years
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saeyoung and ‘smiling while kissing’ ma’am. please and thanks. i’ll sob.
hey everyone i love saeyoung choi send tweet. 
radiance | saeyoung choi
warnings: idk man they be driving. vroom vroom y’know. they be uh. goin. and saeyoung gets sad for a moment but aye no worries whoop
word count: like 2k or smth idk
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His hand curls around her waist late into the night. It’s been hours since she pulled him from his chair, her hands delicate as they traced over the curves of his face and when she asked him to please, come to bed.
Yet as the sun dipped further under the horizon and as the stars grew brighter in the sky, he continued to listen to her breathing. He tried to stay still as he laid next to her, tried to stop his fingers from tracing the divots of her skin as his hand fell beneath the loose shirt that hung off her body.
But he knows it’s the stiffness in his body that gives it away. The way his torso refuses to melt into hers, the way his fingers itch to tap at her skin. She can feel it as he lays next her, he knows. He feels the way she tenses to bring her hand down to his whenever his fingers give in to press against her.
She’s the one who gives in eventually, allowing her hand to drift down to where his head lays against her chest. She runs her fingers through his hair and his eyes slip shut—but it’s never enough for him to slip into a rest.
“Can’t sleep either?” She asks, her voice quiet even against the silence of their bedroom. It’s at the sound of her voice that he finally allows himself to move, shifting so his hand travels from her hip to beneath the curve of her back, turning his head so it burrows into her chest.
“No,” He breathes, and part of him wants to say I never can, or to explain that the reason I work so long is to avoid moments like this. So I don’t have to deal with the silence that comes before sleep. Yet when he opens his mouth to speak again, nothing of the like leaves his lips. “Wanna go for a drive?” He asks instead.
When she agrees, it’s in silence. He moves so they can both stand, and then he pulls her through their house. She moves closer to him in the chill of their air conditioner, and he wraps an arm around her—noticing that she’s only wearing a t-shirt and shorts. When they reach the garage, she’s light on her feet, barely letting them touch the cold ground before she moves to the next step.
So Saeyoung’s quick to choose a car, opening a passenger-side door for one of the non-convertibles—he figures they wouldn’t want the top down on a night like this anyway—and allows her to climb inside before he gets in on the driver’s side.
She relaxes into the heat from the car as he pulls onto the driveway and she slowly begins to unfurl from how she’d curled into the seat next to him. Her hand moves up so her fingers delicately rub against his shoulder as he drives—he had leaned into the touch before it ever arrived to him, had known the motion before she had begun it.
The tires hum against the asphalt as he hits the main road. Trees surround both sides of the two lanes, but overhead the sky peaks out. He can see the stars so clearly from out here, catches sight of the moon’s soft glow through the leaves of the trees.
“Music?” He asks, hoping to find some solace in something other than silence. She hums in agreement, and then reaches over to dip her hand into the front pocket of his sweats. She pulls his phone out between soft fingers, plugging it in and scrolling through his music before settling on one of his playlists.
Soft beats settle into the frame of his car, the leather seats shaking with the bass. He moves to turn down the volume, but she beats him to it, allowing the music fall into the background. Then her touch returns to his shoulder, and he continues to stare ahead at the empty road.
He catches her lean onto the center console out of the corner of his eye, notices the way she twists in her seat. Though her touch remains on his shoulder, she balances her chin in the palm of her hand so her gaze can settle on him. He arrives at a stop sign and glances over to her, his brows furrowed at the way she looks at him.
He only catches her for a second, but the sole streetlight that lays above them seems to have decided to settle upon her features. Her hair’s falling into her face, her lips are upturned but her eyes are half-lidded. Not tired, it seems, not by the way she taps her fingers into his shoulder. She seems relaxed, he decides.
“Sitting like that can’t be safe,” He says as he turns back to the road, moving past the stop sign.
“I trust you,” She replies simply. He huffs a breath of laughter through his nose.
“I’m glad,” He begins, but moves a hand away from the steering wheel so he can guide her back to her seat. “But please, sit normally.” She laughs as she sits back, a bright yet quiet thing, and grabs his hand before he can move it away from her. She twines their fingers together, and although she doesn’t twist in her seat again, she leans against the console with his hand in both of hers.
“You’re concentrated tonight,” She notes, and then brings his hand up to press her lips against his knuckles. “Any particular reason?”
“No,” He says, and it’s a lie. It’s so easy to fall back into that habit, to ignore his emotions until he breaks. But he knows that isn’t what she wants, so when she doesn’t speak, and instead presses her lips to the middle of his wrist, he speaks again, “Yes, there is. I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize,” She mumbles against his skin. He allows her to move him as she wishes—he wouldn’t be sure of how to move anyway. He doesn’t know how to comfort like she does, doesn’t know that he ever will. He scrambles for gifts and spends hours looking for solutions to whatever problem leaves her curled in their bed.
But she’ll just press her lips to his knuckles. She’ll run her fingers through his hair and pull him in and just let him be. He doesn’t know how to, sometimes. She’ll have to coax things out of him until he’s mumbling answers into the skin of her neck, curling around her until he’s sure he can feel every part of her against him.
“Are you happy?” He asks, with no prior warning to even himself. She pauses where her hands hold his, both of their elbows leaning against the console. He doesn’t look at her for her response, even as they come to a stop at another sign. He hears her sigh, feels her breath against his skin, and sees her move to look out the window out of the corner of his eye.
“Can you pull over?” Her voice is quiet, and when he glances over she’s looking ahead. She points to a small clearing between the trees. “Just up there.”
So he does as asked, moving the car to the side of the road. As soon as he’s come to a stop, she steps out of the car. He feels the chill of the night air crawl through the opened door and he curses for not bringing blankets or a jacket for her.
She closes the door then and leans back against the car. When she doesn’t move, he gets out as well, walking around the car so he can stand next to her. As he gets closer, he can see the chills that raise across her arms and wraps his arms around her. She leans into the touch of his warm hands, closing her eyes and letting her head fall until it’s against his shoulder.
“It’s been awhile since I’ve looked at the stars,” She says simply. He doesn’t know what to say, so he hums, rubbing his hands into the exposed skin on her arms. “Do you remember what I said to you on the phone? It must’ve been one of the first times I heard you talk about the night sky.”
He does, of course. He remembers nearly every word she’d said to him back then. He’d hung onto the syllables as they passed her breath as though they were the only thing keeping him alive. He’d repeat them far past when he’d hit the “end call” button. He’d whisper them to himself as he worked—mindlessly.
And now his hands shake as they trace against her skin. He knows she could have so much more, knows that, if she ever asked, she could be living a life of grandeur that he can’t offer her. He can’t offer her vineyards, or Broadway shows, or art of his own creation. He’s hardly a person, more a jumble of code than anything that could resemble something so beautiful—could hardly compare to the work of marble and satin and silk that he could only ever imagine her as.
“I told you that I’d give every star to you,” She continues. She cranes her neck so she can face him, and though he wishes that he could make her more comfortable, he’s hesitant to take his hands away from the cool touch of her arms. He doubts he could do it gracefully, he’s sure he would shake and she’d catch his hand in the air. She’d smile and press a kiss to his hand, and though he’d continue to shake, it’d be under her delicate hands. He could hardly complain about that.
“I wish I’d-“ He begins, but she shushes him, shaking her head and closing her eyes.
“Nothing for you to wish. It was my wish to give you every star I could find in the night sky. I still wish for it. You can wish for the rivers, or the moons, or the clouds, but the stars are my gift to you.” Now, she turns so he releases his grip on her arms. She brings her hands up to his face, the pads of her thumbs soft against his cheekbones. His hands rest on her hips without another thought, feeling the way her shirt slips under his touch.
“Does that answer your question, my dear?” She asks. He doesn’t dare speak, not when he can feel every consonant she speaks against his skin. He doesn’t dare move to change the moment—would never dream of it. He’s kissed her before, he’s loved her and loved her and loved her—yet the shake in his hands won’t go, yet the way his chest tightens is a familiar feeling and one he’s grown to enjoy.
“No,” He breathes, finally. A smile pulls at her lips, and she lets soft laughter fall into his chest.
“Then let me say it clearly,” She replies. “Yes. I am happy.” She doesn’t let him reply, already pulling him the small distance that lays between them until his lips finally meet hers. He feels the way she smiles into the kiss, and he can’t help but follow, his lips tugging until he matches her. They both laugh, breath mixing with the night air. She pulls away, burying her face into the crook of his neck and he pulls her closer, wrapping his arms around her until he’s sure he’s covered enough of her bare skin.
They stand together, arms wrapped around each other, and finally he begins to feel that pull to sleep—he can feel the stars above them, and he can feel her heartbeat against his chest. Hers, hers, hers.
taglist: @drketim @kimjihyun
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chidoroki · 3 years
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TPN - “Dreams Come True”
What better way to cheer up the TPN fandom after the second season’s final episode than with the special exhibition chapter finally being fully translated. I caught glimpses of a few pages here and there over the past couple months but seeing all the children live happily together in the human world in their own little village that they made close to Emma and Alex warms my heart. Of course I would’ve loved if we got to see more of the GP Resistance (because the anime denied us of them) but following the GF kids around the world as they experience their dreams is fair enough. We started the series alongside them so might as well finish strong with them too. I really loved seeing everyone grow up but no matter how old they get or how much time passes, I’ll probably never get used to seeing Emma without her iconic “63194.” It’s a bittersweet feeling for me, but her smiles bring me so much joy and I’m beyond happy that she accepted everyone into her life as they accepted her without her memories.
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I haven’t a clue on how much time passed since everyone found Emma in ch181 to now, but seeing her call out everyone’s names is a little detail that I love so much considering she had no idea who anyone was at first. Trying to remember 60+ names doesn’t seem like an easy task to me. No doubt I was just as shocked as our girl upon learning these mere children bought a goddamn plane! We learn in a couple pages that it’s because of Norman’s company that they can afford it, but still, he’s like 15 or 16 now? He’s still a child! And I’m impressed! Not only at him, but that Oliver and Violet became pilots as well! It’s especially cute when you remember that Lucas gave Oliver a little toy plane during their time at Goldy Pond.
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Speaking of GP, is it just me or does Emma’s current outfit resemble her GP one just a little bit? Sure we have no idea what color scheme this one has but come on, the short jacket, the dark shirt and jeans.. just imagine it! Jemima, Yvette, Alicia and Mark remade Gillian’s original GP outfit sometime before the Grace Field Raid arc (ch137 extra page) so I don’t doubt they could’ve done the same for Emma. Of course that’s just me being completely hopeful and missing the Goldy Pond arc to death but yeah! I’m also so happy to see Chris up and moving again! Seeing him wake up briefly in ch181 was nice but this is so much better. I imagine he and Emma have a lot to catch up on in terms of stories, with him being unconscious since ch105 and Emma not remembering anything.
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But here we go, the original 15 escapees plus Norman, Phil, Sherry, I believe I saw Carol somewhere and a couple other random kiddos ready to see the entire world. They get to accomplish so much.. and in a single day too I believe? At least that’s what Phil and Alicia say a bit later about everyone’s wishes, but aahh what a lucky bunch. Hell, I’ll say we’re lucky readers too to be able to see such a great story. Can’t thank Shirai and Demizu enough y’all. I wish we got to see more of Alex though. He’s such a kind soul but I’m sure he’ll be just fine staying behind with everyone else.
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This entire page where we learn about Norman as a CEO is gold. I still can’t believe this child successfully built up an entire multipurpose company not only to help their search for Emma but also because he didn’t want to live off the Ratri clan. I wish I knew about this last week when writing out Norman’s birthday post because hell yeah this deserves some praise! AND he managed to graduate school as well during all that! Well, by skipping grades which totally makes sense. I mean, if he managed to pass all the Grace Field and Lambda tests effortlessly I’m sure normal human world school was a piece of cake for him. Holy shit dude, keep on impressing me why don’t ya. Not only him but Nigel and Sonya too! I’m not surprised that Vincent helped out but I’m glad those two got a tiny moment to shine as well! Ray is another obvious choice when it comes to helping Norman, as they’re best friends and he’s always been good with machines.. but boy, I can’t take you seriously when you’re just sitting there unamused and eating chips! Hahah I love him so much! And the fact he replies to Norman’s idea with just a simple “kay” is an eternal mood.
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Okay boys aside, can we talk about our fabulous girls now? Because oh my god, they’re so darn beautiful! They’re more fashionable than I’ll ever be and it’s so cute how they drag Emma along to take advantage of the 3-for-1 deal. But our girl pulls off that sporty look so well! (r.i.p. goldy pond outfit ver2.0). I’m not at all surprised that Nat wanted to go see the opera. That's perfect for him and I’d like to think the anime did something similar with that one shot we see of him in the human world. We don’t see him in a theater like this but to me it looks like he’s on the streets of Broadway? At least that’s the vibe I get from it. I’m sure there was something music related on one of those signs.
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I can’t get over how adorable all the children look and how happy they are fulfilling their wishes, even if some of them aren’t as extravagant as others. Like eating a fluffy pancake and a ton of ice cream? We can do that whenever we want. But for these kids, it means everything and they absolutely deserve to experience such simple joys like that after all the harsh nonsense they’ve been through. I also love how Ray continues to be such a great older brother by still looking out for them too. The fact he remains completely unfazed by the haunted house is perfect. This boy has been haunted by his own nightmares and demons his entire life, there’s no way a couple of lousy jump scares are gonna spook him. Though I do find it funny that Alicia and Rossi still manage to get scared while Yvette is having the time of her life. I can’t help but laugh at Thoma’s “Shirai face” as well.
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I find it interesting that out of all the different kinds of exhibits they could’ve shown us while Rossi visits a museum, they give us dinosaurs.. like that seems so silly to me. Y’all have seen several demons in your young lives already and yet dinosaurs manage to amaze you too? God these kids are precious. And then our boy Phil finally gets to see and ride a train! Just look how happy he is! The poor kid can’t even sit still he’s so darn excited and I can’t help but smile with him! Thankfully the anime showed us this too.
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We eventually get to Ray’s wish and guys.. oh my fucking god. Tell me that this is not the absolute best and prettiest smile we get to see from him!! It honestly leaves me speechless okay? Ray never imagined he would ever get to see the outside world, let alone live past the age of 12, and yet here he is, seeing such a beautiful sight such as this, right in front of him instead of from inside a book. You can’t believe how happy and proud of him I am right now. Did you see how ecstatic I was when the anime kept Isabella alive? Multiply that feeling by ten and there ya go. That’s my level of happiness upon seeing my favorite boy smile like THAT! AAHHH!! That panel is gonna live rent free in my head until the end of time. I can’t get over how damn perfect it is. His smile is so pure and how he looks like he’s in complete awe is beautiful. He’s about to burst into tears and I swear I might do the same because I’m making myself emotional over this fantastic boy. Someone hold me.
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No seriously, hold me because we’re about to get into some angst as we move onto to Emma’s wish. We all know that ever since 2039 her one dream was to ride a giraffe once they got outside, so here we are, about ten years later and the animals in question are within reach. Our girl should be totally excited, right? Ha, not quite.
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That wish was something the old Emma wanted, but since demon god had to be such a bastard, this Emma doesn’t know what to think, let alone what to even feel. She hasn’t experienced the same hardships as her family. She hasn’t gone through hell and back while holding onto that one wish that would make all the suffering worth it. The amount of joy everyone else felt upon living out their dreams, she wonders if she would be able to feel it too.
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They brought her here to make her happy, but is this truly want she wants as well? This is old Emma’s wish after all. What about her and what she wants? Could this wish make her just as happy as her old self? She knows her family is only trying to help, but seeing her doubt herself does a number on my heart. Even without her memories, she’s still the same Emma deep down, as she doesn’t want to disappoint her family. She spends so much time worrying about living up to her family’s expectations, to try and be that Emma they all love so dearly.
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Little does she know that she acts the exact same as usual, almost as if nothing has changed when she finally expresses how much she wants to ride a giraffe. And that’s great considering when they first arrived at the giraffes, no on had even mentioned riding them. She came across that feeling all on her own and everyone else can’t help but laugh and feel relieved. Her mind may have forgotten but her heart remembers everything. There is no “old Emma” and “new Emma” to her family, just “Emma” and words can’t express how wholesome that is because they love her regardless. All that matters to them is Emma’s happiness because if anyone deserves to feel and experience that, it’s her.
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I just made myself tear up, damn it. I started this series with season one okay? I heard about this precious girl’s dream within the first minute of the first episode and here I am, a little bit over two years later, finally reading about it coming true and seeing that bright as hell smile on her face. Do you know how amazing it is to come full circle like that? My heart feels so full right now. I’m beyond proud of her and love her to death. Say what you want but I believe this to be the true manga ending in my eyes.
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(damn this series for always getting me emotional)
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thenightling · 3 years
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In defense of Tom Sturridge (Already!?)
Apparently Tom Sturridge needs defending from our own meager fandom... already...
Disclaimer:  Though it is looking more and more likely that Tom Sturridge has the role of Morpheus in Netflix’s Adaptation of The Sandman this has still NOT been confirmed.   We are still riding on pure speculation.  However, I will defend the man.
Though it is not officially confirmed that Tom Sturridge will be playing Morpheus in The Sandman there are already people in the fandom complaining about the casting. (See the Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Facebook group.  The one with over three-thousand-members that I left.)  
In this post I will be addressing each and every complaint that I have seen thus far.   
And you wonder why they’re keeping the cast a secret from us for so long?  This.  This behavior would actually be worse if you knew for certain who was in the cast.  
When these negative reactions are in regard to who “might” be playing Morpheus, without any actual footage, or even images of him in character, they were wise to keep it a secret from us.
Now, let us begin.
1.   “He looks too much like Robert Pattinson.”  The hatred of Robert Pattinson is bizarre and irrational.  It is as if a great deal of the population cannot separate him from a character they despise.  The irony is Robert Pattinson never liked playing Edward Cullen anyway.  He did it strictly for the money.  And as far as vampire fiction goes, there is far, far, worse out there than Twilight.  Twilight is not good but there is worse out there.  It seems the hatred of Twilight is almost a knee-jerk reaction- a compulsive raw contempt against anything that appeals to teenage girls.  I do not like Twilight but I do not irrationally hate an actor just because he was in the films.  So what if Tom Sturridge resembles Robert Pattinson a bit?  You’ll condemn an actor because of his bone structure?  Because he “Kind of” reminds you of a man who played a character you don’t like?  Really?  I thought most of this fandom were grown ups.
2. “He’s too young to play Morpheus.”    The casting call was for men between the ages of twenty six and thirty six.  Tom Sturridge turns thirty-six this year.   It’s true that a man in his forties or even a youthful fifties could probably play Morpheus perfectly well and Morpheus did have crows-feet wrinkles in the first issue but to condemn an actor based on his age is merely ageism.  In this day and age a man can look any age with the right makeup.  Look at the lead in the silent film of Faust, directed by F. W. Murnau (Director of Nosferatu).   It’s impressive to know a thirty-six-year-old played elderly and youthful Faust in that film, and that was back in 1926.
3.   “He’s too old to play Morpheus.”  ...Seriously?   What did you want?  A CW teenager or early twenty-something college kid as the ten-billion-year-old dream lord?  Yet again, I know a man can pretty much play any age with the right makeup.  All else is ageism, even my cynical statement about the CW, that’s ageism.  
When Lestat the musical was on Broadway the actor who played Lestat was forty, the woman playing his mother was only about two years older than him.  
The actor playing Barnabas in the original Dark Shadows was in his forties.  The character was (According to Dan Curtis) only twenty-five when he became a vampire.  The woman playing his mother was only five-years-older than him.  
Tom Welling was still in Smallville as pre-Superman Clark Kent and he was older than the actor who played Superman in Superman Returns.  With good acting and makeup age doesn’t really matter.        
4.   “He’s a terrible actor.”    The man has about ten acting credits in total according to IMDB.  Most are bit parts and two are from when he was ten and eleven-years-old respectively.  
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Are you judging him on roles he had before he hit puberty!? 
I have my doubts you ever saw him act in anything yet.  You’re probably leaping to conclusions because the pictures you found of him are a stoic pretty boy with beard stubble.
5.  “If he’s playing Morpheus that’s automatically a deal breaker.  I’m not watching.”   Okay.  Okay, fine. Don’t watch it.   You don’t have to.  No one is making you watch it.  However, you should be aware that Neil Gaiman watched the auditions.  He had a say in the casting.  If Tom Sturridge is playing him than this is the man HE chose. If Neil Gaiman doesn’t know who should play Morpheus, than no one does.  I thought James McAvoy did an excellent job in The Sandman audio drama and I will not automatically assume Tom Sturridge is a bad actor just because there are people pre-determined to hate this.
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6.  “He shouldn’t be played by a white man.  It indicates that The Endless are all white and white people rule the universe.”   Morpheus likely will still have his bone-white (not human-white) skin from the comics (and I hope, the black void eyes with star pupils).  This was pulled off successfully with the Frankenstein monster in Penny Dreadful, with his own inhuman skin and yellow eyes.   
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Morpheus’ bone-white skin, improbably thin build, and black void eyes are supposed to be without distinct race.  He’s not a human being. He’s not Caucasian.   He might be played by a white man, yes, but the actor was chosen based on talent, not racial background.  
I saw the casting description. Race was not a factor.  Since actual non-human / humanoid entities devoid of distinct racial background were unavailable, the show simply had to make do with a human being, instead.  The real Endless were unavailable or refuse to act.  You know how temperamental anthropomorphic personifications can be.    
7.   “He’s not thin enough.”   Okay, look. A lot can be done with CG.   I don’t want an actor killing himself for this role. 
Back in 1976 David Bowie was close to ninety-pounds when playing Thomas Jerome Newton in The Man who fell to Earth.  He was so under-weight that the wardrobe department had to buy his clothes in the children’s department of a store.  Yes, the character was really that thin in the Walter Tevis novel that the movie was based on.  But in the book Newton had hollow bones, like a bird, David Bowie, however, is a human being, not an alien.  And Tom Sturridge is a human being, not an anthropomorphic personification.  
When David Bowie played Newton he was on a diet mostly consisting of cocaine...  He could have easily died.  Thankfully Bowie cleaned up later, but he was not in a healthy state when he was in The man who fell to Earth.  We do not need a return of The Thin White Duke.  Not like that.
For a human to reach Morpheus’ comic book weight- that might require very unhealthy behavior, it would potentially be dangerous.  This is something they can adjust with camera tricks and computer effects.  He does not need to look like he’s dying. 
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8.   “They should find an actor whose cheekbones stand out.”   See above...
9.    “He doesn’t look anything like Morpheus.”   I am certain you have not seen him in costume yet.  Neil Gaiman has (hypothetically speaking).   Let us trust the author and believe that his character looks the way he intended.    Remember how Henry Cavill went from Superman to The Witcher.
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 10.   “I wanted Henry Cavill to play him.”   ... What?   
Have you... have you read Sandman?   Henry Cavill is under contract to do The Witcher.   He needs to stay buff for that role, and you want him to play “rake thin” Morpheus?  Yeah, a lot can be done with CG but Henry is an action hero actor.  He can act.  He’s a good actor.   But this is probably not the right role for Henry Cavill.
11.   “He looks like an American Youtuber.” He’s not either of those things.  Stop judging by appearances.   
12.  “He’s too pretty to play Morpheus.”   Stop judging by appearances.
13.  “He’s not attractive enough to play Morpheus.”  See above... 
14.  “He’s too short to play Morpheus.”  / “I heard he’s only five foot three.” / “I read that he’s just five foot eight.”    According to Google and IMDB he’s 5′10.  That’s the same height David Bowie was.  That’s average adult male height.  If they want him to look taller that’s easily done. Remember, Tom Cruise was The Vampire Lestat.  
It’s just lather, rinse, repeat, when it comes to fans.  Every adaptation the same thing.   “Tom Cruise can’t play Lestat.” (Anne Rice apologized for leading that charge, when she saw him in action).   Or “Michael Keaton is too wholesome to play Batman.”  or even “Ryan Reynolds should never play Deadpool after what he did in Wolverine.”  
People never learn.
Just give Tom Sturridge a chance. The casting isn’t even official yet.   And if he is Morpheus- try and wait to actually see how he plays the role before you decide he’s the worst thing to happen to The Sandman.  A few publicity photos don’t tell you what he is capable of as an actor.   You might be pleasantly surprised. 
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Survey #459
“i wanted you to know that i love the way you laugh  /  i wanna hold you high and steal your pain away”
Does the person you like have any flaws? He's never seemed very expressive of what he feels. Has anyone ever given you a ring? Why? Yes. Because it was our anniversary and he wanted to, ig. If you ruled your own country, what type of government would it have? I'm not educated enough to answer this. Creation theory, Evolution or the Big Bang theory? I really don't know what I believe about the origins of the universe, but I do believe in evolution. Describe one of your most emotional farewells. The last time I saw Jason and we talked for a long time, and I finally got my closure. It was all so heavy. It started so stiffly, but it ended with us just chatting and smiling and, to my absolute shock, a hug from him. I'm getting emotional so NEXT QUESTION. What was your last serious conversation about? I was reassuring and comforting Sara about some stuff. Is there a city that you have a particular fondness for? If so, what city is it and why? No. Are there any gnomes in your yard? No. When was the last time you were stung by a bee? What kind was it? Years ago. A bumblebee. Are you gonna buy lottery tickets when you’re old enough? I am old enough, and no. The odds are way, way too small, and I don't really dabble in addictive behavior. Have you ever been into a real cave? No. :( That's a life goal, though. Have you ever posted mean comments on YouTube? I know I did once as a kid. It was regarding Meerkat Manor and I thought it was really disrespectful to Flower just because of the music chosen lmao. The drama. What color is your digital camera, if you have one? Black. If you had to spend one day in any movie storyline, which one would it be? Alice in Wonderland, I suppose? Name the strangest game you’ve ever played (video game or real game): Oh man, I've played waaaaay too many video games. I suppose Silent Hill with how confused it left me at first. Its concept is definitely wild. Parasite Eve is high on the list, too. In your opinion, what is the saddest movie you’ve ever seen? Boy in the Striped Pajamas destroys me. What is the best song to make out to? I could answer this but I'm not gonna lmfao Is there anyone right now that you are simply/overly infatuated with? story of my life ayyyyeeeee Who was the last person to play with your hair? Are they cute? Not a clue. Who was the last person close to you that died? Did you cry? Jason's mom. I sobbed on-and-off for days. Do you consider yourself a healthy person? Physically and mentally? No, in either way. Do you know anyone who owns a boat? My dad does. I'm sure others, too, with how popular fishing out on a boat is here. Do you know anyone who uses medical marijuana? I don't know. Even for medicinal purposes, it's not legal here. Do you know anyone who’s died in childbirth? No. What did you do for your 21st birthday? I was in the psych hospital, so... lmao. Therapy, reading, and coloring. Lots of reading and coloring. Because they did NOT fill your schedule enough there. We only had two group therapy sessions a day, and the rest was just... blankness. If dinosaurs could be tamed, would you want one as a pet? I know I'd be one of the dumb ones that absolutely wanted a tiny raptor, lol. Do you own more than one copy or edition of a book? No. If you could see any musical on Broadway right now, what would it be? Not interested. Do you eat soup when you’re sick? I don't like soup. If you read, which book or series did you enjoy most as a child? My first real series that I read religiously was Hank the Cowdog. Then it was Warriors. Do you buy Halloween candy when it’s on sale after the holiday? No. I really don't need candy available to me. Do you agree with the “they’re just being kids” excuse? It depends on what they're doing. In a lot of cases, no. Do you ever watch talk shows? No. Do you have a/any hero(s)? Mark Fischbach, Steve Irwin, my mom... Have you told your parents all of your secrets from when you were a teen? No. Though Mom has playfully once told me that she knows a lot of things I don't think she does, and that's terrifying lmao. You’re getting married. Who’s your maid of honor and best man? M.o.H.: Mom or Sara. Best man isn't my choice. Would you rather get highlights or dye your whole head? DYE IT ALLLLLLL. Are you wearing anything of any sentimental value? Describe? My friendship ring w/ Sara. It has a heart carved on the outside and "bitch" engraved inside so no one can see when you have it on, lol. She has one that says "jerk." It's a Supernatural reference. Who challenges you the most? In what way? My therapist and psychiatrist. They just help ensure I pursue my goals and give me little nudges forward to reassure me. Who seems to hold you back? In what way? PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT ME. I listen to my anxiety WAY too much. What was the last opportunity that you passed up, and why? Going up to Lake Gaston w/ Mom to visit Ash and her fam. They go there all the time, and it's a real nice place. I just didn't want to go because of the heat. Should there be an application process for having children? Hunny, that would not stop people from fuckin lmfao Name one thing that you think defines you as a person? m e e r k a t s What is a fear you have about living on your own? That depression would get the better of me and I'd neglect taking good care of my house. One of the many reasons I'll never live alone. Not at all saying I'd leave the responsibilities to my partner, but they'd be motivation for me to get stuff done. What’s the worst name your mom has ever called you? I don't know. Nothing that bad. What’s your stance on spooning? It helps me feel safe and loved and alsdkfjalwe I just love cuddling in all sorts lmao What’s your most recent obsession? Violet Orlandi & Melodicka Bros' cover of "Somebody That I Used to Know." Have you ever been scammed? Ha ha, yes. I once wanted to get Jason a Joker and Harley Quinn pillow from deviantART; talked to the artist, paid 'em, never got it. :^) Have you ever fostered an animal? No. I would get WAY too attached to foster. I wouldn't be able to give them up without breaking down, probs. Do you know anyone who acts way younger than what they are? I'm sure I do, but no one is coming to mind atm. Would you say you’re a pretty independent person? God no. Does the last song you listened to, remind you of someone? JASON. Do you currently want a new computer? Yes, actually. I want a desktop PC for better gaming quality, honestly. Also, the "escape" key doesn't work on this laptop, one key is missing so I have to hit the sensor JUST right, and it restarts randomly sometimes. I want a PC mainly because I want to get out of the habit of being on my laptop in bed all damn day. How would your parents react if you got a tattoo? I already have like six or seven, so they wouldn't be surprised. Is there anyone you can picture yourself being with forever right now? Maybe. Who is your truest friend? Sara. What is the strangest thing you’ve ever seen outside of your house? THIS house? Idk. Nothing that I'd consider odd. What bug frightens you most? STAG BEETLES lkadjslkfja;lwekjawl;kejrlawer Who is your oldest friend? That would be Sam, and he's in his mid-30s. How long have you known them? Many years. We met via WoW, which I've been playing since '14. I don't really remember how far into it we met, though. Where are they right now? lol I wouldn't know, he's all the way in Jersey. Plus we haven't talked in a while. Have you ever dated a friend of one of your siblings? God no, that would be so weird. What is the best gift someone can give you? An ear to listen without it feeling like a chore to them. Have you ever dated someone who had a child? No. I don't think I could do it. What is the last movie that made you cry? The The Lion King remake made me tear up. Have you ever played in a waterfall? No. Ugh, that sounds like a blast. In your life who has meant the most to you? Let's not get into this. What has been your biggest failure in life? Letting depression and my other conditions take away my identity, becoming my new identity. Do you trust yourself? No. I second-guess EVERYTHING and never know what I should listen to: my heart, my head, my gut... or which voice is what. Would you ever consider getting an abortion, under any circumstances? Yes. What was the last bug you killed? Some kind in the bathroom. Idk what it was. Just a little thing that sort of resembled an earwig, but not completely. Do you prefer profile pictures by yourself of with someone else? By myself, since it's my page. Do you know anyone who has written a book? I don't think so? Do you drink milk/juice from the carton if no one is around? Ew, no. I live with another person, and even if I didn't, what if I had guests? Has anyone ever told you they liked you in a realllly sweet way? Maybe? Has a member of the opposite sex ever given you jewlery? Jason has. Do you find sleeping in cars easy? NOOOOOOOOOO. I'm too scared to let my eyes close and not see what's going on on the road. Has a boyfriend’s/girlfriend’s parents ever gotten mad at you? Why? I don't believe so, no. What is the funniest thing a child has ever said to you. Definitely something my niece has said, but idr what it was. What’s been on your mind lately? Y'all know, lol. Do you feel like you need to get something off your chest? No. Sara was recently there for that. ♥ How would you react if someone told you they had feelings for you? Be very very excited if it was from a certain person.
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lena-in-a-red-dress · 4 years
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Supercorp Anastasia AU #1
I have more than one Anastasia supercorp AU, of varying levels of historical accuracy, but this one is mirrored against the Broadway musical, and casts Kara as the youngest and much celebrated daughter of the ruling family, though her much younger cousin Kal is the heir.
Lena is the bastard daughter of a disgraced count, who died shortly after her birth, leaving behind a disgraced wife and son who soon spearheads the communist movement. Though the family’s disgrace was a reasonable response to the unethical and horrific experiments Lionel conducted, his heir Lex holds a grudge against the royal family for his sudden change in circumstances. He calls for their removal, with violence if necessary, and is brilliant and charismatic enough to soon rise through the ranks until he is the head and face of the revolution.
After her mother dies in Lena’s early childhood, Lena grows up on the streets, hungry but smart and resourceful, causing no harm but taking no shit. She doesn’t know her half-brother, but Lex recognizes her easily– she is the spitting image of the family’s former chambermaid, and what parts of Lena are not her mother are all Lionel.
But Lex keeps the knowledge to himself, and remains a mysterious and ominous figure in Lena’s life, the majority of which sees the societal and cultural upheaval following the abdication and eventual execution of the royal family, which plays out much like the Romanoff’s. It’s presumed that most of the family perished, save for the Grand Duchess Astra and her husband Non, who were abroad at the time of the coup, and now remain in exile.
But one child survived– Kara.
With no memory and no clue to her past save for a pendant around her neck and the jagged scars left by the bullets that nearly killed her, Kara works relentlessly to survive a treacherous regime until she can cross a border– any border– and find a new life elsewhere.
In her journey she meets Lena, now a woman endeavoring to escape Russia for Paris, where she and her best friend Jack Spheer hope to attend a prestigious university and study science. They earn money by facilitating forged papers and visas, constantly vigilant of the Red Army and the threat of being outed by neighbors just as desperate to survive.
Kara goes to them in the hopes of finally escaping the country, only to learn that the army has recently updated their visas to be counterfeit-proof– Jack and Lena no longer have the means or technology to manufacture fakes. The only way to get visas now would be to bribe an official into giving them blank ones, which Lena and Jack aren’t averse to, but would leave them too destitute to enroll in university once they reached Paris.
But Lena and Jack are both giant softies, and when Kara tells them her tale, they search for a way to help. Then Jack gets an idea: the Grand Duchess Astra has long offered a reward for the return of her niece. If they can pass Kara off as the lost princess, the reward would more than make up for the cost of the visas, and would get them all out of the country.
Lena is hesitant at first– it’s too risky, and–
“There’s no proof that she isn’t! Look at her! She is the spitting image!”
There’s no denying that. Lena often finds herself staring at their new friend, as though she’d somehow recognize her if she gives just one more look.
“And you know everything there is to know about court life,” Jack continues, sensing Lena’s imminent relent. “And honestly-- even if we don’t have the money to go to university, at least we’ll be out of here.”
Ultimately, Lena agrees to the plan, out of desperation more than anything else. So does Kara. The next year passes in a blur of working/stealing for enough money to cover the extra visa fee, and an endless stream of memorization of names, faces, and etiquettes.
Somewhere in the mix, Lex gets wind that Lena is in the final push to leave– he starts to take an interest, and offers her a job. Lena resists at first, but accepts when Lex’s offer turns dangerous and the money he offers is enough to get them out in half the time. Lex doesn’t know about Kara or their ultimate plan to abscond with her, and believes that he has Lena under control.
It’s not until Lena fails to show up to work one day that Lex learns the truth about everything– that Lena had been using him as deftly as he’d believed he used her, that she’d found a claimant to the throne, and that she intended to return her to her rightful place. He goes after them himself, enraged by Lena’s gall and the risk Kara poses to his position and that of his regime. He strikes out with the intention of bringing Lena home-- and to kill the imposter who would be princess.
Meanwhile, as the trio travels out of Russia towards France, Jack starts to suspect two things: that Kara is more than she seems, and that Lena is entirely taken with her. Kara remembers things– not true memories, but she draws on information she shouldn’t know. Names and details that no one has told her.
By the time they reach Paris, it’s easy to convince Astra’s lady-in-waiting Cat Grant of their suspected truth.
“Not just because of your uncanny resemblance and exhaustive knowledge, which we all know can be fabricated,” the sharp woman delivers, eyeing Kara with a cool gaze before turning her gaze on Lena. “But because of you.”
Lena stiffens abruptly. “W-what do you mean?”
Cat lifts an arch brow, but ultimately obfuscates. “That’s a conversation for another time,” she says. “Astra no longer receives prospective claimants, but should a cultured party such as yourselves wishes to meet her, she will be found at the ballet in two nights’ time. Should you also find yourselves there, I can arrange an introduction.”
That night, Kara suffers a violent nightmare, one wakes her abruptly and sends her sobbing into Lena’s arms, who comes to check on her. It takes several long minutes for her anguish to pass, but when she calms, Kara diverts attention from her tears by asking if Lena ever met the princess.
“No,” Lena says softly. “Not exactly. But I did see her, once.”
When Kara prods, desperate for a distraction, Lena explains how once, when she was nine, there had been a grand parade to celebrate the Tsar’s birthday. The entire royal family had ridden by in a motorcade, and Lena had taken one glimpse at the youngest princess before darting forward with a nicked flower in her hand. She’d dodged between guards and called out the princess’ name, and when their eyes met, the princess gave her the most radiant smile Lena had ever seen before or since.
She confesses, then, that some nights she still dreams of that day, and the smile she received.
Kara swears Lena tells her story so well she can almost feel herself there too. When Lena urges her to lean into it, to add the memory to her own story, Kara begins to tell it again, from her own perspective.
How it had been too hot, and her dress collar too tight. It made her itch, but she’d only waved to the crowds as expected. She talks of catching sight of a ragged girl almost her age– how even dirty and threadbare, she’d envied freedom of the girl’s trousers.
How to her surprise the girl had darted forward, a flower in her hand appearing from nowhere, and dodged between vigilant guards nearly unseen, until she’d gotten almost close enough to catch up with the car. But instead of reaching out to climb aboard, as Kara assumed she might, the girl had stopped short, and bent into a deep bow, presenting Kara with a plain but perfect daisy.
Kara had smiled, and pulled an equally dazzling grin to the lips of the urchin girl. The car had pulled away to be swallowed by the crowds further ahead, but she had kept her eyes on that girl until she was out of sight, and had hoped against hope that they would one day meet again.
When she finishes, Lena is stunned and silent. Under the shocked stare, Kara realizes the details she’d echoed that Lena hadn’t shared– the trousers, the bow, the flowers… the lingering gaze that had filled Lena’s belly with butterflies.
Certainty hits them both at the same time. Kara can barely breathe under the weight of it, and almost bursts into tears when Lena shoots to her feet.
“Lena, wait! I swear I–”
But Lena doesn’t leave. She steps in front of Kara, staring with wide eyes before lowering onto one knee, head bowed and hand clasped against her heart.
“Your Majesty.”
—-
The next morning, Cat Grant visits them for tea. As they sit, Kara learns what happened after the parade traveled on that day. How Kara’s mother, Alura, had seen the exchange between the two girls, and how wide her daughter’s smile had been. How Alura had asked her lady-in-waiting, Cat, to locate the girl, and bring her to the palace to be Kara’s handmaiden and playmate.
Of course Lena would need training and lessons before she could be presented, so she had lived some time with tutors at the Grant Manor, meeting Cat only rarely, accounting for Lena’s lack of recollection (she remembers her tutors, but not Cat Grant). But the coup and the family’s execution had ended those prospects for Lena before they could begin. Lena had returned to the streets, head full of new knowledge and personal experience that the ruling class weren’t all heartless monsters.
“It seems you two found your way back together after all,” Cat remarks with a final sip of her tea. “If you should still desire to study, Lena, I will sponsor your tuition to any university you desire.”
For now, Cat simply takes them shopping. She sets Jack up with suits and a tuxedo for the ballet. Kara accepts any dress that Cat thrusts at her, but Lena seems out of her element. It’s too opulent, too rich, and the dresses are so light against her skin she feels naked.
In the end, she too walks out with trousers and blouses, which Jack teases her about mercilessly. She earns stares on the street, but Kara doesn’t know if it’s because the sight of a woman in trousers is so uncommon, or because Lena is simply breathtaking.
When it comes time for the ballet, Kara expects to find Lena waiting in a tuxedo as sharp as Jack’s, but Kara finds herself the first of them to be ready. Jack joins her minutes later, and they watch in simultaneous stunned silence as Lena descends the stairs in a beautiful gown, a rich green velvet that makes her look regal and imposing. But her features are uncertain until she catches Kara’s eye, and finds a dazzled smile staring up at her, at which point her chest and neck blooms in a crimson blush.
They spend the ballet sitting too close together, hands clasped tightly together as they sit in Cat’s box and stare at the Grand Duchess Astra. Neither of them are aware of the dark glower of a familiar face staring up from the orchestra below.
Astra recognizes Kara immediately the moment Cat announces her, confirmed by the necklace Astra had once given her twin sister, now hanging around Kara’s neck. They both fall together in a cloud of tears and embraces. Lena and Cat slip away to grant them privacy, and Cat watches as Lena’s features slowly fall.
“She’s gone,” Lena remarks softly.
“Don’t be absurd,” Cat chides. “She’s just on the other side of the curtain.”
“She’s a princess. And I– I’m just…” Lena’s mind fills with the curses and shouts that had dogged her entire life. Trash. Gutter rat. Thief. Bastard. Whorespawn.
Cat regards her carefully, and then slips Lena an old creased letter from her purse. “It took me some time to track this down. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I visited Astra when I did, before the coup.”
“What is it?” Lena asks.
Cat scoffs. “I’m certain the tutors I hired informed me you’d learned to read in three languages before you disappeared into the wind. Why don’t you take a stab at that.”
Lena unfolds it, and begins to read the contents of the letter. It’s a mix of situational reports, mindless gossip, and speculation, but the final paragraph catches Lena’s eye.
In her final letter to me, Elizabeta has written that she has delivered of me a daughter. I am told the girl has dark hair and green eyes, and has a smile like the sun. In the year since, I have received no further word, and I fear the worst. I have dispatched men to search for them both, but to no avail. How could there be, when we have no details to search with but her name:
Lena.
She shakes her head. “I don’t understand.”
“This letter was written by Count Lionel, to a cohort in the imperial army. It, and the birth records I tracked down before the fall, confirms that you are the daughter of Count Lionel Luthor. The search he details here constitutes his claim on you.”
Lena blinks as the paper starts to tremble in her shaking fingers. “What does this mean?”
“It means you are of noble blood,” Cat tells her plainly, “and that while a commoner may no longer associate with the princess… You can.”
—-
Cat’s prediction holds true: Lena and Kara barely spend a moment out of each other’s sight. Astra is more than agreeable to formalizing Lena’s position and her inheritance of Lionel’s rights and titles, and Kara insists that Lena be presented to the world alongside her.
A press conference is arranged in short order, and during the chaos on the day of, Lex finds his opening. He slips into the decadent townhome, blending easily with the mix of staff and reporters and security. He finds Lena and Kara sharing a quiet moment together in the solarium, calming each other’s nerves before they face the press.
Lena bolts to her feet in recognition and fear, planting herself between him and Kara, who rises more slowly with confusion in her features. Her hand touches softly against the small of Lena’s back; Lena’s arm extends to one side, corralling Kara to stay behind her.
“What are you doing here?” Lena demands.
“I’ve come to bring you home, comrade,” Lex returns smoothly. “You have been sorely missed in the motherland.”
Lena shakes her head. “I am home.”
She doesn’t mean the opulent house around them, or even Paris– wherever Kara is, Lena is home.
Lex doesn’t intend to give her a choice. He grabs her by the arm and pulls her to him. Lena knows how to take care of herself, but the skirts make it hard for her to move, and when a gun cocks in Lex’s hand, Lena freezes.
He aims directly at Kara’s head where she’s frozen mid-stride in an effort to help Lena. Her eyes go wide and glassy at the dark barrel bearing down on her. Her breath comes quicker and quicker, shortening with every inhale.
On the other side of the trigger, Lex smirks at her. “The false princess… Although, I admit you do resemble her.”
“Stop!” Lena cries. “Don’t hurt her please. I’ll go with you, just let her go, she won’t stop you.”
“Lena--” Kara gasps. “No!”
“I have no interest in bargains,” Lex says. “I cannot suffer the princess to live.”
Lena shakes her head. “Why? She hasn’t done anything!”
“Not yet. Nor did she or her family do anything to help our people while we starved and died in the streets!”
Lena scowls. “Yeah? And what’s changed there?” She wrenches herself free, almost. Lex manages to keep hold of her wrist, but Lena glares at him without fear. “My belly didn’t fill when the Tsars were murdered. I was just as cold as I was the night before and the night after.”
“You know nothing--”
“Face it, Lex! Russia is no better than it was. She traded one autocracy for another-- the only thing that’s changed is that now YOU’RE in power. That’s all you ever cared about.”
Lex’s grip turns bruising, causing Lena to gasp in pain. “I see you learned much from those pretentious scholars.”
Lena blinks. “How do you know about that.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t keep track of my bastard baby sister?” Lex pulls Lena closer. “Did you think I would stand by and watch as she was welcomed to the court that cast my family to the streets?”
“You’re…?”
“Yes,” Lex hisses. “Our father died in disgrace, and yet they would take you, a bastard from the gutter into their arms. It was unconscionable. That was when I knew it was time to strike.”
Fighting tears, Lena renews her struggle. “You murdered an entire family-- started a war-- because you were jealous?”
“They believed themselves gods!” Lex shouts. “They would have seen Russia wither to nothing if it meant keeping their grip on our throats! I have liberated us!”
“You’re insane-- augh!” Lena’s growl stops with a sharp cry, as Lex whips the butt of his pistol against her skull. The cry snaps Kara out of her fear, and the world refocuses around her. She sees Lena sag, staggering when Lex tugs her into his chest and traps her there with an arm of steel tight around her shoulders.
Kara takes a step forward, but pulls back when the gun returns to aim directly at her forehead. Heart pounding, she forces herself to look away from the barrel, instead locking her gaze on Lena, still struggling to regain her senses.
She swallows thickly.
“I know my family made mistakes,” Kara pleads, lifting her hands placatingly. “I don’t intend on repeating them. I am no threat to you or to Russia, and Lena certainly isn’t. Please-- you don’t have to do this.”
Lex pauses, his frame relaxing slightly. “I don’t have to do this,” he echoes. “Funny.”
His finger settles on the trigger.
“That’s what you said the first time I killed you.”
Lena launches herself at the gun before he can fire, sending his shot wide. Kara’s entire body flinches from the flash of combustion, the zing of the bullet that sinks into a wooden beam off to her right. But Lena folds hers around the gun itself, controlling its line of fire as she struggles to take possession of it.
The struggle ceases entirely when a second gunshot cracks through the solarium.
Kara screams.
Lena staggers.
“No!” Lex cries. Drawn by the first gunshot, guards finally spill into the solarium, wresting Lex away from Lena. The gun clatters to the ground at Lena's feet, its muzzle glistening with blood.
Lena collapses, and Kara drops to her knees beside her, giving no thought to their finery even as blood pools beneath them both.
Kara can barely breathe through the flashbacks pressing against her eyelids: suddenly Lena has joined her in Yekaterinburg, and Kara watches as her lifeblood joins that of Kal, her mother, her father… even her dog, Krypto.
But when Lena lifts a trembling hand to Kara’s cheek, the warm gloss of blood grounding her in the present.
“We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?” Lena coughs. “Kara–”
“Save your breath, Lena, please. There are doctors, they can help you…”
Lena smiles with paling lips. “You’ve become a part of my story. I– I’m so glad it ended this way.”
Kara tightens her grip sharply, scoldingly. “It’s not over. Not by a long shot. We still have happily ever after.”
“I– found you. Think– that qualifies.”
“Lena–”
“Kara!” Astra rushes into the room, entourage in tow.
Kara looks up with streaming eyes, hand clamped tight around Lena's slackening fingers.
“Please, Aunt Astra. We have to help her, there must be something--” Her voice cracks, and a sob heaves from her chest. “I can’t lose her too!”
Hope doesn't return for days. Lena lingers on the brink of life, stubborn even at death’s door. Doctors attend to her day and night, and Kara doesn't leave her side but for the time it takes to refresh herself. But then, finally, the doctors give their final prognosis: Lena will survive.
The damage is great, but Lena is stronger, and motivated--Kara suspects-- by spite and sheer cussedness. After all, if the streets of St. Petersburg weren't enough to kill her, a lousy bullet sure isn't.
It's several days more before Lena opens her eyes, but when she finally does, green eyes blink blearily at Kara as she leans forward intently. She gathers Lena's cool hand in both of her own.
“You’re going to be okay,” Kara promises.
Lena’s brow crinkles with muddled confusion.
“Who…. are you?”
The breath freezes in Kara’s chest as the world slows around her. No… no, no, no not this. Anything but this!
Lena’s features crease into an exhausted smile.
“Too soon?”
Kara chokes on her relief, and punches Lena’s arm indignantly. “Don’t you ever do that to me again! You sick, perverted–!”
“Marry me.”
Kara blinks. “What?”
“Marry me,” Lena rasps again. “Please. I had a whole plan to ask, after the press conference, but I don’t want to risk being interrupted again. Kara Zor-el, Grand Duchess of Russia and queen of my heart– will you marry me?”
Tears burning in her eyes, Kara nods. “Yes, you big dummy. You didn’t think you’d get rid of me so easily did you?”
Lena laughs, then winces in pain. Kara kisses away her grimace, and in a matter of moments they’re both a mess of tears and laughter.
Their happily ever afters surpass that of any fairytale to come before.
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nessafms · 4 years
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new  york’s  very  own  NESSA  LOCKE  was  spotted  on  broadway  street  in  𝓳𝓲𝓶𝓶𝔂  𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓸  𝓿𝓲𝓸𝓵𝓪  𝓯𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻  𝓽𝓪𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓵  𝓱𝓮𝓮𝓵𝓼  .  your  resemblance  to  kylie  jenner  is  unreal  .  according  to  tmz  ,  you  just  have  your  twenty  two  birthday  bash  .  while  living  in  nyc  ,  you’ve  been  labeled  as  being  finicky  ,  but  also  alluring  .  i  guess  being  a  scorpio  explains  that  .  3  things  that  would  paint  a  better  picture  of  you  would  be  expensive  diamonds  clinging  to  delicate  fingers  ,  makeup  swatches  on  tan  skin , &  wine  induced  giggles  .
GREETINGS  ,   cuties  .   i’m  gi  ,  9teen  ,  and  go  by  she  and  her  pronouns  .  i  kind  of  suck  at  introductions  ?  so  please  excuse  all  of  the  rambling  and  unnecessary  comments  that  are  throughout  this  .   nessa  is  kind  of  my  baby  ?  so  im  super  super  excited  to  bring  her  into  this  group  and  play  her  once  again  and  even  more  excited  to  write  with  all  of  you  !!!!!!   everything  you  need  to  know  about  her  is  under  the  cut  ,  and  if  you  want  to  plot  please  give  this  a  heart  and  we  can  do  so  (  or  message  me  on  discord  ,  𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐛𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐲#1776  )
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*  basics 
FULL  NAME.  nessa  ryan  locke  .
NAME  MEANING.   pure  ,  holy  ;  butterfly  . 
REASONING.   it  was  suppose  to  be  vanessa  but  somehow  ended  up  being  just  nessa  by  the  time  she  was  actually  born  .
NICKNAMES.   ness  ,  nessy  .
PREFERRED  NAME.  ness  and/or  nessa  .
BIRTH  DATE.   november  third  ,  nineteen  ninety  eight  .
AGE.  twenty  two  .
ZODIAC.  scorpio  .
GENDER.  cis  female  .
PRONOUNS.  she  and  her  .
SEXUAL  ORIENTATION.  heterosexual  .
CURRENT  LOCATION.   moved  to  new  york  city  at  the  age  of  nineteen  ,  (  click  here  to  see  her  residence  ) .
PLACE  OF  BIRTH.  los  angeles   ,  california  .
HOMETOWN.   los  angeles  ,  california  .
FATHER.  jared  locke  ,  actor  .
MOTHER.   jillian  locke  ,  former  model  .
SIBLINGS.   nirvana  locke  ,  emerson  locke  .
BIRTH  ORDER.  youngest  .
PETS.  wolfie  ,  husky  .
HAIR  COLOR.   originally  a  black  color  ,  though  it  tends  to  go  from  black  to  a  light  brown  and/or  a  blonde  color  . 
EYE  COLOR.  brown  ,  but  she  takes  pride  in  the  small  specks  of  green  .
DOMINANT  HAND.  right  .
HEIGHT.  five  ft  six  .
TATTOOS.   nessa  has  five  tattoo’s  all  together  ,  the  first  one  being  something  that  resembles  the  fire  emoji  on  her  right  inner  hip  she  got  with  her  group  of  friends  .   she  has  a  rose  on  the  left  side  of  her  boob  ,  which  she  got  strictly  because  she  thought  it  was  pretty  .   she  has  two  butterflies  behind  her  left  ear  ,  a  smiley  face  on  her  right  upper  butt  cheek  ,  and  finally  the  words  ,  ‘  take  care  ‘  tattooed  on  her  right  arm .  
PIERCINGS.   she  has  five  holes  on  her  right  ear  and  seven  holes  on  her  left  ear  .  
DRUGS  /  ALCOHOL  /  SMOKING.  no  (  beside  smoking  weed  here  and  there )    ,  yes  ,  no  .  
SOUNDTRACK.   self  care  ,  mac  miller  .   angel  ,  the  weeknd  .  fetish  ,  selena  gomez  .  bitter  ,  fletcher  .  july  ,  noah  cyrus  .  bad  news  ,  kehlani  .   after  hours  ,  the  weeknd  .   needy  ,  ariana  grande  .   save  myself  ,  ed  sheeran .  p*$$y  fairy  ,  jhene  aiko  .  girls  in  the  hood  ,  megan  thee  stallion  .  
AESTHETICS.   emerald  hues  forming  into  a  distant  memory  ,   soft  laughter  in  the  dead  of  the  night  ,  luxurious  material  clinging  to  honeyed  skin  ,   tired  hues  ,   the  glow  of  neon  lights  lightening  up  a  dark  room  .  
LINKS.  here’s  her  pinterest  !! 
FUN  FACTS.   she  has  a  three  year  old  husky  ,  whom  she  treats  as  though  she  carried  him  around  for  nine  months  .  she  has  a  obsession  with  acrylic  nails  ,  you  will  always  find  her  with  something  different  every  two  weeks  .  she  always  has  her  toes  painted  ,  usually  baby  something          baby  pink  ,  baby  blue  .   she  enjoys  switching  up  her  look  which  includes  hair  changes  whether  it  be  sporting  a  wig  or  actually  dyeing  it  .  has  a  talent  of  painting  but  normally  doesn’t  have  the  time  or  inspiration  to  do  so  .  a  music  bug  ,  she  has  to  be  listening  to  tunes  if  she’s  cleaning  ,  cooking  ,  bathing  ...  hates  the  gym  more  then  anything  but  has  a  personal  trainer  (  she  spends  most  of  the  time  avoiding  )  to  kick  her  ass  in  shape  .  rarely  diets  and  with  this  she  has  a  bad  habit  of  eating  whatever  her  body  craves  .  she  loves  waffle  fries  ,  and  prefers  a  burger  over  a  chicken  sandwich  .   she  hates  neon  green  ,  don’t  fight  her  on  this  .  she’s  a  bit  of  a  car  junkie  and  constantly  purchases  them  despite  not  needing  to  .  her  worst  habit  is  online  shopping  ,  she  will  spend  thousand  of  dollars  at  ONE  store  .
*  background .
stranded at  the  age  of  five  ,  a  stuffed  elephant  in  hand  and  confusion  lingering  on  skin  .  only  small  glimpses  of  heart  felt  moments  to  ease  the  tears  .  one  moment  she  was  there  ,  and  the  next  she  somehow  slipped  through  the  cracks  .  not  even  the  power  of  hollywood  being  able  to  track  down  the  angelic  emerald  hued  model  .  instead  ,  her  father  had  to  wrap  his  arms  around  his  three  children  and  fabricate  a  story  that  would  not  shatter  their  delicate  hearts  .  but  the  damage  was  already  done  .
drenched  in  sovereignty  and  affluence  ,  the  privilege  of  being  privilege  had  always  been  a  reality  ,  even  before  the  disappearance  of  her  mother  .  a  celebrity  child  ,  grew  up  in  the  spotlight  and  had  ears  filled  with  comments  from  millions  who  did  not  know  her  .   not  a  sob  story  ,  unless  you  considered  her  mommy  issues  .  inherited  her  father’s  ambition  and  her  mom’s  trust  issues .  started  branding  herself  at  the  age  of  seventeen  ,  a  trend  setter  .  the  title  of  social  media  personality  was  granted  to  nessa  before  it  was  even  a  thing  ,  and  she  did  not  stop  there .   ventured  into  the  beauty  industry  ,  building  an  empire  from  top  to  bottom  .  and  eventually  even  created  a  fashion  line  with  her  older  sister  ,  even  after  all  the  red  warnings  .
but  the  finer  things  in  life  did  not  come  with  all  blessings  .   her  delicate  hands  drenched  in  cold  glue  ,  shattered  pieces  clinging  for  their  lives  with  expectations  of  being  put  back  together  again  .  adored  and  envied  by  the  world  ,  but  the  outside  looking  in  did  not  see  bent  back  constantly  picking  up  pieces  of  her  sisters  who  crumbled  with  even  the  softest  poke  .  addiction  controlling  every  aspect   of  her  sisters  lives  ,  and  the  relationship  she  shared  with  them  .  it’s  never  been  pretty  to  watch  the  ones  you  love  self  destruct  and  take  everything  you  love  and  trust  down  with  them  ..  hard  to  look  them  in  the  eyes  as  anger  and  heartache  consumes   you  .  and  even  harder  to  forgive  .  
forever  fighting  the  demons  her  mother  instored  in  her  ,  and  the  demons  her  sister’s  stir  up  .  her  only  breath  of  fresh  air  being  her  daddy  ,  and  the  way  he  always  has  her  back  (  no  favorites  are  played  but  we  all  know  )  ,  and  the  life  she  helped  build  for  herself  .  wants  to  be  rid  of  hands  that  hold  her  back  and  take  and  take  until  she  has  nothing  left  ,  and  instead  plunge  into  the  world  of  living  for  herself  and  new  york  city  granted  the  brunette  that  opportunity  .  
*  personality .
affection  sings  to  her  in  the  form  of  a  love  song  ,  her  love  language  .  digits  itch  to  hold  friends  hands  ,  and  lean  on  lovers  shoulders  .  uses  pet  names  like  her  vocabulary  only  consists  of  the  word  angel  and  baby  .  a  chatter  bug  that  hides  vulnerability  with  ebullience  and  teasing  manners  .  impulsiveness  that  jumps  out  at  all  the  wrong  times  ,  and  a  carelessness  that  teams  up  with  her  pettiness  to  make  all  the  wrong  choices  .  feels  replaceable  and  easily  disposable  ,  makes  her  fear  of  ever  letting  anyone  get  too  close  .  finicky  ,  hard  to  please  and  even  harder  to  totally  figure  out  ,  some  would  say  she’s  hot  and  cold  .  tries  to  stay  out  of  her  head  with  burying  herself  in  work  .  knows  how  it  feels  to  feel  like  you  are  nothing  ,  and  fills  that  whole  with  giving  back  as  much  as  she  can  .  silly  and  sometimes  ditzy  .  loves  too  hard  for  her  own  good  ,  and  has  a  bad  habit  of  letting  people  back  in  even  when  they  do  not  deserve  it  or  her  ..  has  a  softness that’s  desperate  to  escape  .   hates  love  because  she  understands  what  it  can  do  to  you  and  loves  just  as  much  for  the  same  reason  .  built  a  wall  around  her  heart  to  avoid  adding  any  more  scars  ,  and  will  save  you  before  she  saves  herself  .  holds  on  to  people  a  little  too  tight  ,  because  she  hates  going  through  the  process  of  letting  people  in  all  over  again  .  a  twenty  something  year  old  who  craves  a  mother’s  touch  but  holds  a  grudge  that  sometimes  causes  her  to  miss  out  on  people  .   always  just  wants  to  feel  like  she’s  worth  making  sacrifices  for  .
* career . 
kylie    cosmetics  ?  nessa  cosmetics  ,  a  brand  built  at  seventeen  years  old  and  has  only  grown  from  there  .   collections  that  consist  of  collabs  with  close  friends  and  family  (  when  she’s  talking  to  them  )  ,   and  season  /  holiday  collections  .  does  something  for  her  birthday  ,  november  third  ,  every  year  .  has  a  collection  dedicated  to  her  zodiac  sign  , scorpio  .   constantly  changing  her  formula  to  better  her  brand  ,  and  does  everything  hands  on  .  does  most  of  her  work  from  her  office  .   can  find  her  instagram  stories  to  be  her  swatching  her  latest  products  .  favorite  thing  of  hers  being  her  eye shadows   (  applaud  for  the  pigmented  ) .  good  quality  ,  inclusive  and  diverse  (  more  then  actual  kylie  cosmetics  )  is  the  most  important  thing  when  it  comes  to  her  brand  . 
launched  nessa  skin  a  single  year  ago  ,  and  has  worked  on  it  for  the  last  three  years  .  her  latest  child  ,  and  plans  to  only  grow  it  .  skin  has  always  been  super  important  to  nessa  ,  and  delivering  her  supporters  with  products  that  will  actually  work  is  her  main  priority  .  
a  youtube  channel  with  ten  million  subscribers  ,  youtuber  as  a  second  job .  it  starting  as  a  hobby  and  a  way  of  connecting  with  supporters  to  becoming  something  she  cannot  imagine  not  doing  .   her  channel  consists  of  mixed  content  such  from  fashion  hauls  to  makeup  videos  to  even  vlogs  that  involved  her  friends  (  and  family  )  doing  stupid  things  .  
em  &  ness  ,  a  clothing  brand  her  and  her  sister  are  developing  .   features  trendy  street  wear  ,  more  to  come  soon  . 
* connections
the  childhood  friend  that  reminds  her  of  simpler  times  ,   mud  pies  in  the  back  yard  and  riding  their  bikes  around  the  neighborhood  .  secrets  and  promises  of  being  friends  forever  that  felt  secure  but  feel  short  .  bonded  forever  maybe  ,  but  constantly  feeling  like  strangers  .   (  or   they  could  still  be  close  friends  )
the  family  friend  that  their  parent(s)  swore  were  going  to  end  up  together  ,  though  if  the  two  caught  any  talk  of  that  would  scrunch  their  nose  ups  and  shake  their  head  .  or  at  least  they  did  for  a  while  ,  until  lines  started  to  fade  and  the  comfortableness  felt  like  something  more  ..  not  together  now  ,  but  constantly  a  what  if  ,  the  idea  still  runs  in  their  minds  but  is  a  friendship  worth  something  that  might  not  work  out 
a  friendship  or  more  so  platonic  soulmates  ,  if  you  see  one  you  know  the  other  is  not  far  behind  .  they  are  somewhat  extensions  of  one  another  ,  swear  they  cannot  survive  without  one  another  .  the  one  person  nessa  trusts  the  most  ,  someone  who  has  never  hurt  her  or  left  her  .  her  person  .
the  bad  influence  that  plays  on  her  impulsiveness  .  talks  her  head  up  to  get  even  or  take  that  tenth  shot  because  why  the  fuck  not  .  anytime  something  bad  almost  happened  ,  like  that  time  we  almost  got  a  fine  ,  she  was  with  this  person  .  and  while  she  adores  them  ,  she  knows  they  aren’t  exactly  the  best  for  her  .
the  friend  group  you  cannot  help  but  envy  ,  constantly  plastered  on  one  anothers  instragram  feeds  .  has  their  own  groupchat  that  does  nothing  but  blow  up  .  shopping  trips  in  italy  and  vacations  in  greece  .  do  not  always  get  along  but  there  is  always  love  in  between  them  .  they  are  constantly  in  her  vlogs  ,  and  would  kind  of  be  like  her  very  own  vlog  squad  .
the  friends  with  benefits  who  swear  they  are  just  friends  ,  and  the  sex  means  nothing  .  despite  the  fact  that  they  linger  a  little  too  long  in  one  another’s  bed    .  and  the  promises  of  this  will  not  ruin  anything  become  blurry  when  they  connect  on  a  deeper  level  .  and    it  gets  confusing  when  their  affectionate  comes  to  surface  ,  but  regardless  they  are  just  friends  .
a  trio  of  three  friends  who  are  always  seen  together  ,  best  friends  could  be  the  world  to  use  to  describe  them  (  bonus  points  if  its  all  girls  )  .
the heart  breaker  ,  the  person  that  fucked  her  up  for  good  .  ruined  the  way  she  loved  and  left  her  with  a  lot  of  regret  and  heart  ache  .  she  swear  she  hates  them  ,  but  she  hates  how  much  she  loved  them  and  how  close  they  got  to  her  .  hates  how  they  went  from  knowing  her  more  then  anyone  to  being  someone  she  cannot  even  look  in  the  eyes  anymore  (  bonus  points  if  it  involves  them  cheating  on  her  ,  extra  bonus  points  if  it’s  angsty  as  hell  )  
the  drinking  buddy  she  confides  in   ,  a  glass  of  wine  and  a  lot  of  shit  talking  that   always  end  up  in  talking  about  personal  matters  .  they  are  a  ear  and  someone  to  lean  on  .
the  on  and  off  fling  ,  their  back  and  forth  being  nessa  and  her  refusal  to  let  them  in  completely  .  her  feelings  for  them  scare  her  ,  and  she’s  not  ready  to  walk  down  the  road  of  being  with  someone  again  .
other  things  i  want  include  ;  unlikely  friends  ,  enemies  to  friends  ,  friends  to  enemies  ,  lovers  to  friends  ,  friends  to  lover  ,  ex  best  friend  ,  ex  friends  in  general  ,  ex  friends  who  miss  each  other  terribly  ,  other  youtubers  she  collabs  with  ,  other  ceo’s  of  makeup  brands  /  skin  brands  she  has  a  rivalry  with  because  the  media  made  it  seem  like  they  hated  one  another  .
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I watched Broadway’s Dance of the Vampires so you don’t have to
Ever wondered how bad the broadway version actually is? Now’s your chance to find out, my friend...
So about a month ago, I came across a bootleg of the broadway show and, because it was late and I am a Certified Idiot, I decided to watch it and write down my thoughts. Having heard how bad it was, I knew to expect a train wreck, but I had no idea just how much of a train wreck it was going to be until I pressed play and witnessed something that truly cannot be described in words.
I was originally just going to post my whole list of thoughts but it ended up being over 5000 words (many of which were me screaming NO and wHYYY) so I’ve put it in a separate post, so click that link if you want to read it in its entirety!
Instead, I’ve decided to do a (slightly) shorter summary of ‘highlights’, if they can really be called that, with a kind of silly score for each ‘category’. A review, if you will. I’m sure I’ll have missed some things, but this should hopefully at least give you an idea of what exactly they did to poor Tanz der Vampire. Still, I apologise for the length of this in advance - I just had a lot of thoughts, okay?
A quick disclaimer: While I have seen clips of producations of Tanz from various countries, I’ve only seen the whole production once - the Berlin bootleg from somewhere around 2009-11 - so I’ll mostly be comparing with that!
I know the broadway musical is a big taboo subject, so I’m not expecting many, if any, to actually read any of this. But if you ever wondered how bad it was and didn’t want to have to actually watch it, this post is for you!
So, without further ado…
The Characters: -7/10
Let me begin by saying that many of the characters bear almost no resemblance to the originals. The worst case, of course, is with Giovanni von Krolock. A cringeworthy caricature, his awful faux-Italian accent, terrible jokes and horrifying bat form make him the polar opposite of what Krolock is supposed to be. In my notes, I actually referred to him as Giovanni rather than Krolock, because this is not Krolock; where Krolock is mysterious, aloof, powerful, and occasionally slightly sarcastic, Giovanni is silly, makes puns in nearly every line, and commands no respect or fear whatsoever. I resent that I began to ironically enjoy mocking him by the time I’d finished watching it.
Alfred is absurdly confident and confrontational, and narrates everything he writes in his journal (and tbh is probably a closeted bi). Sarah now apparently has friends and is allowed to leave her room. Koukol doesn’t exist, and is replaced by a man that Krolock hypnotises, who sometimes acts like a dog. Herbert is French, ridiculously stereotypical, and there is a very poor attempt from Krolock at pronouncing his name in a French accent. The other characters are fortunately mostly the same as the originals, although not entirely.
The Music: 2.5/10
Oh, the music… how do I begin?
Long story short, it was generally horrible. Multiple songs were cut entirely, and others were mashed together into strange frankensongs. The opening song, for instance, is completely different (and was what immediately made me realise I’d made a terrible mistake in deciding to watch it). The lyrics were mostly not as interesting as the original German lyrics, and often had less syllables, so the songs often felt empty and drawn out.
Many of the songs had slightly different overall meanings/purposes to their German counterparts, and I though that songs like Total Eclipse and Invitation to the Ball were way too sappy and romantic, lacking any of the drama and tension of Totale Finsternis and Einladung zum Ball. Krolock had been so ridiculous the whole time that Die Unstillbare Gier sadly could never have worked, even if the lyrics had been better. The singing itself was actually pretty good from what I remember, which was the only thing that saved the music, but Krolock’s horrible accent ruined many of the songs he was in. There was so much potential for it to be good if they’d just done a faithful adaption…...
I could go on forever about the music (as I do in my full commentary) but that would probably need a whole new post! So instead let’s move on to…
The Costumes: 2/10
Boring. Sarah’s red ball gown is nice enough, but all of the other vampires’ costumes are painfully simple and poorly designed. Krolock lacks a cape for most of the musical (which is a crime), Herbert is dressed in a hideous bright blue coat and an aggressively yellow wig, and the finale costumes are just simple black leather coats. It all lacks any of the detail or, in Herbert’s case, sparkle, of any of the other versions of the costumes that I’ve seen. While I should probably note that this was in 2002, it is still noticeably simpler than other productions of Tanz around the same time. Krolock also lacks his usual makeup, and Herbert’s is just ugly. And Krolock’s top hat in the opening? Why???
The Staging: -5/10
When they aren’t dancing, most of the ‘staging’ is just the characters at opposite sides of the stage facing each other. It doesn’t matter what is supposed to be happening in the scene, or the message of the song; they just... stand there. Occasionally, if you’re lucky, the characters might stand next to each other, but such close proximity is a rare occurrence in Dance of the Vampires, saved mostly for Alfred or Krolock with Sarah or Herbert and, in a strange duet about books, Krolock and Professor Ambronsius.
Krolock does pretty much nothing in Die Unstillbare Gier, and the staging for Einladung zum Ball was very confusing, at least when they weren’t just standing still. Sarah’s bedroom inexplicably becomes a cloudy place with no floor, and it was never quite clear whether the scene was a dream or not. Considering the rest of the musical, either possibility is honestly equally likely. At one point at the start of the first act, Krolock literally rises out of the ground in a huge coffin. I could go on. Also the sponge Krolock gives Sarah is a fraction of the size of the one he gives her in the original, which I like to think is a metaphor for the broadway production itself.
The Sets: 3/10
While not accurate to any other versions at the time or since, a couple of the sets were admittedly quite pretty (though still not quite on Kentaur’s level). However, there was no inn structure for the first act, and some of the sets were quite limited. One of the most popular (and nicest) sets in the second act is a huge stairway covered in a frankly impractical number of candles.
In the finale, despite the characters on multiple occasions declaring that the story takes place in Transylvania in “18something”, the background is for some reason Times Square with all of its neon signs (which I’m pretty sure did most certainly not exist in the 1800s). Whether a huge location change and time skip of a couple hundred years has taken place or whether the directors and set designers finally gave up trying to make the story make sense, I have no idea.
Worst Moments:
I just had to include this section! These are only a few of the worst and/or most bizarre moments I could pick out. I’m sure there’s more that I forgot but here are some (read: quite a few) of my favourites:
Krolock, wearing a top hat, rising from the ground in a giant coffin before saying, “God has left the building”
Krolock appearing as a hideous animated bat thing
Sarah and her friends getting high on mushrooms in the opening
The fact that Sarah’s birthday is on Halloween at midnight during the total eclipse of the moon
Krolock offering Alfred a sponge shaped like a penis then slowly tilting it down when Alfred says no
Ambronsius decorating Sarah’s room in Halloween decorations to scare off Krolock
Krolock genuinely being convinced that Sarah is a literal princess until he visits her room
Krolock and Ambronsius harmonising about books together
The big grey winged gargoyle demons dancing on the bed during Carpe Noctem
Krolock repeatedly dressing in a big grey dress and pretending to be his own mother/wife/who even knows what
Alfred angrily threatening Krolock, followed by Krolock physically attacking Alfred (this happens on more than one occasion)
The nonsense ‘prophecy’ they randomly introduce
“I use my body as a bandage, I use my body as a wound” (and this is instead of “Ich will frei und freier werden, und werde meine Ketten nicht los”) WHAT DOES IT MEAN
Koukol-replacement saying, “Okay, here he is, the man you’ve all been waiting for, his excellency… the Count von Krolock!) and Krolock waving and pointing like a rockstar as he kisses people walking down the stairs to the ball
Krolock dramatically dying on the stairs at the end of the ball for a solid minute
The Good Parts
Surprisingly, there were a few redeeming features!
Firstly, the couple of songs where they kept things very similar to the source material (such as Knoblauch) were actually quite good at times. Unfortunately, this isn’t to say that they were necessarily good, but compared to the less faithful parts they were a nice surprise, even if Knoblauch was never my favourite song from Tanz.
The singing itself was generally pretty good too! I also hate to admit that I did at times find myself laughing a little at the awful jokes.
And... uhh...
...yeah, that’s about it...
Some Highlights From My Notes:
And finally, here are some out of context quotes from my notes that I feel sum up the musical quite well:
It sounds like he’s about to start a really sad rave
I was gonna roast the lyrics some more but I’m gonna be honest I’m not sure what he’s saying
This feels on the same level of what kind of acid trip hallucination parallel universe have I landed in as seeing the Cats film in the cinema
Is this actually Deadpool in disguise with all the fourth wall breaking
Crawford looks like he regrets everything and can I just say Michael so does everybody else
He looks like a potato or a rock or that neutral nicolas cage face that people put on the sequin cushion
This sounds like a poorly written Krolock/reader wattpad fanfic
Giovanni would highkey be like lol arent i so random rawr xd on myspace
He might as well have said, “Itsa me, Mario”
They’re just stood there like two pigeons aimlessly squawking at each other
Alfred is like a chihuahua with small dog syndrome barking at a bigger dog, except Giovanni is barely bigger and is a flea-infested Chinese Crested dressed in a cheap Halloween costume
The throne glides like a magic carpet only it doesn’t leave the ground so I suppose it’s actually more like a chair with wheels, which is much less exciting
He just stands there like a poorly-dressed rock
-22/10 would not listen again
Final Comments:
So, if you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading and I hope that was somewhat informative and/or entertaining for you! It took me weeks to get through the whole musical because I couldn’t stand watching it for too long at a time, and maybe you can see why! Like I said at the start of this monster of a post, there’s probably a lot that I’ve forgotten to mention, so if you’re unfortunate enough to have seen any of this car crash of a musical, feel free to add your thoughts! :D
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dweemeister · 3 years
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Flower Drum Song (1961)
M*A*S*H and Star Trek: The Next Generation have long been television favorites of mine. My parents introduced me to both shows – fixtures in American entertainment as Vietnamese refugee families fled to and renewed their lives in the United States. The writers of M*A*S*H, a show set during the Korean War, did not make it a secret that the show mirrored American involvement in the Vietnam War. M*A*S*H understandably focused its attention on its mostly white doctors, nurses, and non-coms. But from time to time, the show railed against war’s horrible effects on the local populace, on whose land such bloodshed is waged. In these episodes, M*A*S*H always cast Asian-American actors of varying ethnicities to play the Koreans (the value of these depictions of Koreans varies, but it is evident the all-white writing staff gave their best effort to portray Koreans in their full humanity). For a show that aired from 1971-1983, this was a radical decision as yellowface was still a widely-accepted practice in Hollywood. Star Trek, in its various incarnations, has espoused “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations” from its inception. Numerous Asian-American recurring actors and guest stars of these shows have appeared in these shows I cherish (and many others) for decades. My memory flows with many of their faces and voices, even if I do not recall their names.
Adapted from C.Y. Lee’s novel of the same name, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s musical Flower Drum Song debuted on Broadway in 1958. The musical resembled nothing currently on the Great White Way, with an almost entirely all-Asian cast. Yet this musical still caused consternation. Some Asian-Americans expressed their rightful disapproval towards Rodgers and Hammerstein’s patronizing dialogue and racially insensitive characterizations. For this film adaptation by Universal (this is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein film adaptation without 20th Century Fox’s involvement), screenwriter Joseph Fields – who collaborated with Hammerstein on Flower Drum Song’s book – made major adjustments in order to stem controversy. Fields rearranged the plot and soundtrack and, most importantly, rewrote more than half of Flower Drum Song’s dialogue in order to accomplish a more respectful (if still imperfect) portrayal of all the musical’s characters.
The reworked Flower Drum Song attracted a star-studded Asian-American cast. So many in this cast are actors and actresses I have known only through their guest or recurring television roles, maybe the odd extra in a movie. To see them act in non-denigrating roles, sing, and dance in a major Hollywood studio feature film was revelatory. I admit, while viewing Flower Drum Song, feeling pangs of frustration over how Hollywood’s structural racism precluded too many in this cast from stardom. But that frustration was overcome by joy – a joy in seeing these Asian-American actors display their talents in a fashion I, even in 2020, long to witness. Though still constrained by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s stereotypical views towards people of Asian descent, Flower Drum Song is a unique cinematic experience.
Mei Li (Miyoshi Umeki) and her father, Dr. Han Li (Kam Tong) have stowed away on a ship carrying them from their home in China to San Francisco. The Lis are here to complete Sammy Fong’s (Jack Soo) request for a mail-order bride. Sammy is the slick-talking owner of the Celestial Gardens nightclub, who just so happens to be in a relationship with his principal showgirl, Linda Low (Nancy Kwan). So when the Lis arrive at the nightclub, Sammy realizes the pickle he has put himself in. In his attempts to dissolve the marriage contract, he has the Lis take up residence with the Wang family – including patriarch Wang Chi-Yang (Benson Fong), Master Wang’s sister-in-law Madame Liang (Juanita Hall, a mixed-race actor of African-American and Irish descent, in yellowface), eldest son Wang Ta (James Shigeta), and younger son Wang San (Patrick Adiarte). Secretly, Sammy has convinced Madame Liang to allow Mei Li to fall naturally in love with Wang Ta. Meanwhile, Linda is flustered with Sammy after learning of his mail-order bride plans. They separate, and she soon begins to start dating Wang Ta. Wang Ta is also the object of affection of childhood friend and seamstress, Helen Chao (Reiko Sato). If you could not guess by now, the plot of Flower Drum Song revolves around complicated relationship polygons.
Actors also appearing in this film are Victor Sen Yung as the Celestial Gardens’ emcee, Soo Yong as Madame Yen Fong (Sammy’s mother; this role was to be played Anna May Wong, but she died before production began), and James Hong as the head waiter at the Celestial Gardens. Virginia Ann Lee and Cherylene Lee play Wang San’s girlfriend and the Wang family’s youngest daughter, respectively.
In this rewriting of Flower Drum Song, screenwriter Joseph Fields, there is a greater focus on generational conflict. This film adaptation is unclear when the story takes place. But by looking at some of the technology and mannerisms, I will guess sometime after World War II, probably the 1950s. In this rendition of San Francisco’s Chinatown, first-generation Chinese immigrants live alongside the second and third generations. This mix creates a tension that permeates across the film – from how characters dress, behave in public (if they even go out in public) and private settings, and most notably romantic expectations.
The depiction of this tension is simplistic: those are not American-born uphold as many traditions as they can; those who are American-born are “Chinese” to some extent, but mostly do not think much about Chinese traditions. You are either assimilated into American society or not, says Flower Drum Song – a troublesome generalization that persists in Asian-American subgroups whose history in the U.S. is not as long as Chinese-Americans. But, in a rare instance for a Golden Age Hollywood film, Fields assures that this adaptation does not mock the first generation for not being as “American” as they could possibly be. Assimilation is on the terms of the characters, not contrived societal norms. Another anomaly in Flower Drum Song: the younger generations are assertively American, rather than offshoots of their elders. The younger generations’ unaccented English, wide range of characterizations, and their incidental Asianness (in that they do not feel the need to announce their Asian or Chinese heritage to others or to the audience) is unusual for the time in which this film was released. At the very minimum, Flower Drum Song tries to normalize Asian-American personhood. When the film fails to uphold that, it is mostly because of preexisting issues. In those instances, Fields cannot write his way outside how Rodgers and Hammerstein had already presented Flower Drum Song on the Broadway stage without compromising the duo’s artistic intent.
Many of the actors involved are not Chinese-American, but the performances are sincere, whether comedic or dramatic*. Having seen only a few of his works, I now wonder whether James Shigeta was just so naturally charming. As the go-to Asian-American romantic lead in Hollywood (not that he was cast in such a role often), his performance is seamless, appearing almost effortless. The same could also be said for Nancy Kwan, fresh off her well-publicized cinematic debut in The World of Suzie Wong (1960). An alumnus of the Royal Ballet School in London, Kwan also shows off her fancy footwork multiple times. Kwan’s dancing mastery is without question and, paired with choreographer Hermes Pan (best remembered as Fred Astaire’s principal choreographic collaborator), showcases her talents. As Mei Li, Miyoshi Umeki is slightly hamstrung by her role’s characterization. Yet as one of two actors who reprised the role they originated on the Broadway stage (along with Juanita Hall as Madame Liang; Jack Soo also appeared on Broadway, but switched roles), I was convinced by Umeki’s emotional fragility and shyness – all this for a character who has just arrived in a foreign land, bewildered by what she sees.
For the M*A*S*H fan in me, there is a special delight seeing Jack Soo and Patrick Adiarte here. Soo, best known as Det. Nick Yemana in the sitcom Barney Miller and for his distinctive face, is the natural comedian in the cast. His delivery – physically, verbally – is fantastic in this film. Adiarte, who also starred as Prince Chulalongkorn in The King and I (1956; I had not made the M*A*S*H connection when I watched that film four years ago) has a solo dance number (“The Other Generation”) in Flower Drum Song that I was floored by due to his athleticism.
As lead choreographer on Flower Drum Song, Hermes Pan directs several dancing segments for the film, each one markedly different from the other. The three most notable dance numbers are “Grant Avenue”; “Fan Tan Fannie”, “Love, Look Away” (the first two include Nancy Kwan; the other includes Reiko Sato and James Shigeta). Alongside the production design by Alexander Golitzen (1940’s Foreign Correspondent, 1960’s Spartacus); Joseph C. Wright (1942’s My Gal Sal, 1953’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes); and Howard Bristol (1940’s Rebecca, 1959’s Anatomy of a Murder) and the costume design by Irene Sharaff (1951’s An American in Paris, The King and I), the dances are built for Technicolor – even though the film’s Chinatown looks too obviously like a soundstage construction. The abstractions in “Love, Look Away” offer the best example of this choreographic-production design-costuming collaboration. The use of empty space, props suggesting physical divisions and other people, and the enormous dreamlike atmosphere position the scene to be a cinematic manifestation of Helen’s unrequited love for Wang Ta (notably, the dancing segment uses the melody of a song not sung for Helen, but for another). In its ethereal beauty, “Love, Look Away” is a marvelous several minutes of cinematic dance – appearing in a decade where such scenes would only become more rare.
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The order of the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs has been rearranged drastically from the original Broadway production; one song (“Like a God”) was dropped entirely because Universal’s executives, “feared that a number in which a Chinese American man compares himself to a god might offend audiences in the American South.” Whatever. The exclusion of “Like a God” does not affect the film much, as this adaptation of Flower Drum Song is a substantially different creature than the stage version. Owing to the performances, the two most notable songs of the musical carry over to the movie. The self-assured anthem “I Enjoy Being a Girl” (Nancy Kwan dubbed by B.J. Baker; Kwan did not protest the dubbing, despite the fact she could sing) may not contain Kwan’s singing voice, but it does boast her charismatic performance.  In the film’s second half, “You Are Beautiful” has Shigeta’s and Umeki’s acting complement the former’s tender singing. But most of the songs – including two of the dance numbers when not considering the choreography (“Grant Avenue” and “Fan Tan Fannie”) – fail to leave an impression. Having Juanita Hall sing “Chop Suey” (an American Chinese dish) underlines the irony of having a non-white actor play someone of Asian descent.
In the Rodgers and Hammerstein repertoire, Flower Drum Song is among the least performed of their musicals. A 2002 revival with copious revisions remains the only production outside the musical’s Broadway and West End debuts – Flower Drum Song has not been on tour since the 1960s. It may not compare well musically, lyrically, and dramatically to Carousel, The King and I, or South Pacific, but it is miles better than the likes of State Fair. But the original production of Flower Drum Song, as written, is now considered offensive to contemporary sensibilities. As the preeminent musical theater compositional duo of their day (I would argue that they are the best in the medium’s history), Rodgers and Hammerstein – through The King and I and South Pacific and Flower Drum Song – intended through their stage musicals to break down the racial barriers that they abhorred. All three of these musicals incorporate ethnic and racial stereotypes that can never be stricken entirely from their film adaptations and subsequent musical revivals. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s intentions are well-meaning in their advocacy for cross-racial understanding, but their messages are muddled. Their work reflects a lack of racial sensitivity, at best.
The 1961 film adaptation of Flower Drum Song is the first major Hollywood studio movie to have a significant number of Asian-Americans as credited cast members since Go for Broke! (1951; a WWII film dramatizing the service of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team). Flower Drum Song ups the ante over Go for Broke! as it has an almost all-Asian cast – a feat not replicated again until The Joy Luck Club (1993) and then Crazy Rich Asians (2018). The environment in 1950s and ‘60s Hollywood excluded Asian-Americans in front of and behind the camera, so I can understand why there are only two films from that era with a majority-Asian cast. But I grade on a temporal curve. There is no excuse in modern Hollywood for the twenty-five-year separation between almost all-Asian casts. Are we to expect that the only Hollywood movies with nearly all-Asian casts/majority Asian casts in the future will be the sequels to Crazy Rich Asians?
For the longest time, Flower Drum Song was the one major Rodgers and Hammerstein musical I knew least about. I suspect, of the duo’s musicals that have been revived, it is the one in their repertoire that even self-professed theater buffs are least aware of. Being the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical not distributed by 20th Century Fox does not help. Nor does the fact that its last home media release was on DVD in the 2000s. In 2008, Henry Koster’s Flower Drum Song was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. That honor marks the film as integral to the history of American cinema. As the constant writing of American cinematic history continues, as audiences become attuned to the history of non-white individuals in Hollywood, perhaps more people will see the importance of this movie. What would have happened if James Shigeta, Nancy Kwan, Miyoshi Umeki, Jack Soo, and their other co-stars were offered the same quality of opportunities of their white colleagues? We will never know. But Flower Drum Song can help the viewer envision the answer.
My rating: 7/10
^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).
For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.
* My sister will tell you that she does not believe that anyone in this film’s love polygon has a genuine mutual love. I agree. Mei Li’s love for Wang Ta appears genuine, but that is the extent of it.
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madiiko12 · 4 years
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new york’s very own madison ‘madi’ ko was spotted on broadway street in chanel sneakers . your resemblance to kim chungha is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your twenty-first birthday bash . while living in nyc , you’ve been labeled as being obsessive , but also ambitious . i guess being a virgo explains that . 3 things that would paint a better picture of you would be glittery eyes, dangling earrings, & chanel draped in pearls.  ( cisfemale & she/her) + ( kale, 20 , she/her , est. )
hi honeybuns !! im back and with child. there is a brief mention of an ed under the cut but i block it off with a tw start & end.    if you’d like to plot pls leave a like and i can dm you or hit you up on discord !! my discord is kale#3079  
BACKSTORY
haneul madison ko was born september 18, 1999 to two immigrant parents from S.K. her birth name is haneul, but she went by the name madison since it was easier to pronounce + madi began to almost detest her culture??
it was just that growing up she would sometimes get bullied for looking different at her school, for the way her packed lunches smelled/looked, the way people would stare if she spoke korean to her parents, how other kids would make fun of her english since she didn’t pick up on vocab/grammar as quickly since she didn’t practice at home with her parents. she just became SO insecure about it that she rejected her culture. she wouldn’t bring her mom’s food to school, if her mom ever forced her to take it she’d throw it away  and choose to starve instead. she wouldn’t speak korean back to her parents in public, barely even in private (which reeaaallly upset her parents). this also REALLY destroyed her korean language skills. she can understand still, but she can barely hold a basic conversation anymore.
as she grew up, and continued this sense of distancing herself from her culture, she ultimately distanced herself from her family. which left her feeling -  - alone often, even though it was all due to her own choices. in this loneliness, she found her escape in music. she would wear headphones constantly through the halls, in car rides, in her room when her parents yelled at her to turn the music down. she just loved music. she saved up the money her parents gave her whenever she worked at the nail salon (her parents owned it!!) to thrift an old keyboard. she became self-taught by trying to copy melodies of songs she’d listen to, thrifting piano lesson books, staying after school with the music teacher learning to play. sometimes she’d even skip lunch to sit in the chorus room with her choir director and play.
it’s not that she had a LACK of friends growing up, maybe just that she lacked a best friend. she had a lot of friends, but no one that she felt so connected to in the way she felt connected to music. perhaps, she was addicted to her loneliness.
she spent a lot of time playing the piano and dabbling in writing music that her grades started to fall (not that she was ever the BEST student) and her parents literally took away her piano. they said it was a waste of time because they wanted her to focus on doing well, so she could get into a good university, and then live a good life. music was just a distraction
but that didnt work
she would sneak out into the city to go to concerts and poetry readings. she’d sneak out and go to indie songwriters scenes while her parents thought she was at the library with one of her school friends
This underground scene had her full heart!! she was surrounded by likeminded people who just lived for music. she was hearing all of these incredible people who were all looking for their start. maybe not looking for anything at than just to sing their songs. tbh i think this was the point she was happiest. she was completely enveloped in music, just for the sake of music. There wasn’t any pressure, just music. Just the songs. she was wide eyed looking at this whole underground scene of artists. So maybe some plots from these underground charas?!
she’d perform some songs at karaoke nights and the indie sessions, and a producer took a keen interest in one of her songs. basically im kind of stealing halsey’s career start, but she posted a song Came in Close on SoundCloud and just blew up overnight. in the morning, she woke up to a record label asking her to fly to LA for a meeting.
and thus, Madison Ko began a career as Madi Ko where she’d release her debut album, Honey, a few months later. (DISCOGRAPHY HERE). her music is very 80s synth inspired!
new album that is most definitely CRJ’S EMOTION is coming soon...
PERSONALITY
right off the bat, madi is an absolute firecracker!! she’s loud, bursting with personality, has a lack of inhibitions that CHAOTICALLY mixes with her spontaneity
part of this is projecting her insecurities. she felt lonely as a child but doesn’t want to be seen as that to the world. it’s not so much a persona but an exaggeration of who she was. 
she likes to show off her glam bc it, once again, hides her insecurities. 
she just kind of is dramatic anymore
like everything about her
her persona as Madi Ko, upcoming popstar underdog, is like DUNKED in glitter, over the top stages and sets, draped in couture. basically her stages/outfits/dances/mvs are like Chungha’s but with Pale Waves and Carly Rae Jepsen VC. ex: 1, 2, 3, 4
also bc im obsessed with chungha’s famous diamond wink, IT’S GONNA BE MADI’S THING TOO. so basically madi has trended on twt a few times bc of her signature diamond wink bc she effing glues rhinestones and glitter under her eyes for performances !! she said fuck corneas !! ex: 1, 2, 3      ....god chungha is magical
so while madi is like a brand hypebeast n never shuts up, she can also get,,, easily annoyed. and heavily perceives ppl on first impressions despite that being the reason she felt misunderstood a lot growing up. 
definitely argumentative!!! will blow up arguments for no reason n then later questions why she made it such a big deal but cant own up to her mistakes
when she decides she doesnt like you, SHE DOESNT LIKE YOU. it’s done. bridge is burned, she’s not keen on second chances
fame has definitely given her a bit of an ego problem --- she’s a bit more aggressive, self-obsessed while intrinsically insecure, is too busy flaunting her material possessions and trendy life that she can...lose touch of reality. basically most of her high school friends cant stand her. HC that her high school bf broke up with her bc she was no longer was the madison ko he knew!!! so if anyone wants to be that ex lmk !!! she’s written songs about them!!!
definitely the type of girl who is so hype at a party, dancing in fallen confetti, standing on the fireplace mantle, but then midway realizes she’s lonely. sad at a party. 
ED TW STARTS!!!!!
....
she kind of always had body image issues growing up, but it was very off and on, but once she got signed and being by surrounded by cameras became normal she formed a full fledged ED. she’s passed out at concerts a few times bc of her ED, but they always brush it off as “not enough rest” or “she wasnt feeling well that day but pushed to perform anyway as to not disappoint the fans”
so feel free for ur muses to point it out !! she’ll get really defensive like “i eat i just work out a lot” and yeah it’s true she works out a lot but she...doesn’t really eat
it’s also one of the causes of her irritability ...
.....
END ED TW!!!!
idk why this is so long
always up for mischief! 
does love a good prank. asks weird hypotheticals 
is not scared of an ouija board
will get wasted off a few shots and drunk madi is UNSTOPPABLE 
one time drunk madi cried bc her siamese cat (MOCHI !!!) wouldn’t ever get to go to school and would never know chemistry..... the dramatics.....
she is sensitive and despises it. she does everything she can to not come across as sensitive
however, she’s so obsessive. so deep in feeling. when she feels something she FEELS it. when she is mad it boils through her. when she is in love it is all she knows. when she is sad it covers her like sweaters and blankets on rainy days. she doesn’t know how to half-feel. everything she feels stops her in her tracks.
HOWEVER she’s the most obsessive with her own insecurities — so in relationships she’s kind of known for tapping out early. she just gets scared and the fleetingness of her career and that she’s at her very core, lonely and disappointed in herself, makes her want to run away thinking that letting down her walls and being vulnerable could only be disappointing for her SO. so maybe she ghosted ur chara or gave some lame excuse
Kind of obsessed with how she’s perceived
terrified that at any moment her career could be thrown away, her deemed irrelevant, and she goes back to being Madison Ko, daughter of nail techs in Koreatown. and then her parents would have been right all along, music was a waste of time.
she’s just my little fallen angel who flew to the sun (fame) and it constantly eats away at her girlhood, at her heart.
anyways this is all i got rn <3 come love me sorry i kind of didn’t shut up this is long
WANTED CONNECTIONS
an ex from before she was famous who broke up with her because of how she changed!! PLEASE i have ideas for this. plus,,, you get a lot of songs about ur chara!!! could be from high school, maybe someone in the music scene she frequented before she was signed, anything!!
anothr ex/fwb/undefined relationship i’d love is one when she was first famous who just introduced her to everything. something like a whirlwind that was exciting and magical. she’s written songs about this person.
exes in general. 
hookups/fwb
romantic plots. pls i have songs who need meaning. friends to lovers, one sided (either way), slowburn, ANYTHING. love cruel summer plots, anything lover by tswift
PR relationships -- would LOVE one where she falls in love with the other despite how clearly defined they made their relationship
love triangles in general just get me going
best friend!!!! the one’s who know how the other feels just by looking at each other. they have countless sleepovers. tell each other everything. cry together on bathroom floors. pregame together. 
ex friends. for whatever reason -- maybe madi did smth shitty, maybe they did. maybe there was backstabbing, maybe madi sacrificed friendship for a career, maybe she made moves on their romantic partner/interest despite being fully aware. idk. gimme
People she knew from the underground/indie scene before they were famous!! they’d have bonded over their love for music, little indie dreams kind of vibe. just imagine a group of dreamers !! Would love if they made some kind of pact!!!
party friends
collabs !!
pranks. mischief. gimme
enemies. gotta cook up some drama, yknow
GIRL GANG. god i just want this so bad like make a girls dream come true
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fmstevie · 4 years
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              *    ╰              waddup   y’all   ruby’s   back   2   annoy   u   all   w   a   lil   british   fuckboi   action   .   here’s   stevie   ,   inspired   by   matty   healy   n   thinkin   she’s   a   god   among   men   .   i   don’t   recommend   u   read   on   but   in   case   u   do   i   pray   u   forgive   me   enough   2   want   plots   w   that   like   button   .   🤡
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                new   york’s   very   own      𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄   ‘   𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐘   ’   𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐄            was   spotted   on   broadway   street   in   doc   marten   smooth   leather   chelsea   boots      .   your   resemblance   to   diana   silvers   is   unreal   .   according   to   tmz   ,   you   just   had   your   twenty   -   second      birthday   bash   .   while   living   in   nyc   ,   you’ve   been   labeled   as   being         𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐬   ,   but   also   𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞   .   i   guess   being   a   cancer      explains   that   .   3   things   that   would   paint   a   better   picture   of   you   would   be      erudite   inclinations   informed   by   a   god   complex   ,      melodrama   as   your   magnum   opus   ,   &   the   world’s   most   secretive   love   life         .               (   i   had   a   secret   marriage   that   lasted   6   months   but   ended   due   to   my   fear   of   my   family’s   mafia   ties   getting   in   the   way   .         )      &      (   cis   female   &   she   /   her      )
𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆      :      stephanie   charlotte   greystone 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔      :            primarily   stevie   ,   although   her   stage   name   is   ‘   grey   ‘   which   has   caught   on   as   a   go-to   nickname   .   takes   little   to   nothing   else   wilingly 𝒂𝒈𝒆      :            twenty   -   two 𝒛𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒄      :      cancer    𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏      :      professional   musician   with   a   voiceclaim   of   lorde   ,   on   temporary   hiatus   to   write   grey3   .   casual   photographer 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓      𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚      /      𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒔      :      cis      female      /      she      her      hers 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏      :      pansexual   w   strong   female   pref   but   tbh   if   u   can   handle   her   energy   she’ll   b   down   WKERWJER 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕      :      5’10  🤤 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒔      :      the   hedonist   ,         the      aesthete      ,      the      opaque   ,      the      vainglorious      ,      the      prodigy      ,      the      intangible   concept       𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈      𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒔      :      rhiannon      -      fleetwood   mac      /      WHAT   U   CALL   THAT      -      chase   atlantic    /      iceberg      -      borns      /      UGH      -         the      1975     /      boss   bitch      -      doja   cat      /      elephant      -      tame   impala     /      black   hole   sun      -      soundgarden      /      black   madonna      -      cage   the   elephant      /         this   charming   man      -      the   smiths     /      swim      -      chase   atlantic      /      1999   WILDFIRE         -      brockhampton
tw      drug   mention
𝒊.  𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.
there   is   perhaps   no   more   a   formidable   surname   in   the   organized   crime   circuit   in   all   of   europe   than   greystone   ,   a   name   risen   to   fame   through   countless   court   cases   and   highly   publicized   trials   .   dubbed   ‘   el   chapo   of   the   old   world   ,   ‘   liam   greystone   makes   his   reputation   known   as   a   ruthless   and   conniving   leader   of   a   million   dollar   cartel   business   ,   distributing   to   most   of   the   UK   and   eastern   europe   .   it’s   perhaps   an   even   greater   shock   to   find   even   as   public   enemy   #1   ,   he   takes   a   welsh   wife   by   the   name   of   marissa   and   weds   her   in   a   lavish   and   very   public   ceremony   ,   surmounting   crowds   not   unlike   those   of   the   royal   weddings   .   such   a   decision   is   a   clear   power   move   on   his   part   ,   flexing   the   pure   influence   it   would   require   to   have   such   a   public   family   life   with   no   fear   of   repercussion   from   rivals   or   enemies   .   
it’s   several   months   following   their   wedding   that   james   is   born   ,   with   nicholas   taking   a   few   years   after   .   elite   prep   schools   in   the   most   posh   london   neighborhoods   were   abuzz   with   equal   parts   curiosity   and   concern   to   be   sharing   streets   with   the   most   feared   mafia   family   in   their   whole   country   ,   though   the   elite   nature   of   liam’s   new   societal   presence   meant   he   took   to   his   ‘   dealings   ‘   with   a   but   more   subtlety   than   before   his   rise   to   power   .   something   of   a   media   frenzy   ,   it’s   the   talk   of   the   town   when   marissa   falls   pregnant   another   time   ,   nearly   a   decade   after   nicholas’s   birth   ,   this   time   with   a   baby   girl   ,   something   that’s   all   the   sun   and   mirror   can   seem   to   post   about   in   their   celebrity   tabloids   section   for   weeks   on   end   .   her   birth   raises   questions   of   immense   speculation   :   what   will   the   world   do   with   a   greystone   girl   ?
as   it   would   result   ,   they’d   worship   her   .   stevie   found   herself   raised   in   a   world   that   sought   her   out   at   every   turn   ,   cameras   pointed   towards   her   at   every   outing   .   james   and   nick   ,   now   teens   by   the   time   she   enters   primary   and   just   as   big   of   terrors   as   their   father   ,   view   their   lavish   lifestyle   as   the   result   of   some   bigger   destiny   for   greatness   ,   as   their   father   had   always   fed   to   them   ,   something   they   passed   on   to   their   baby   sister   who   took   it   as   her   mantra   .   one   of   the   earliest   manifestations   of   a   rather   intense   personality   ,   stevie   takes   this   to   an   extreme   ,   turning   her   unwanted   stardom   into   a   fuel   for   an   ever-increasing   god   complex   to   develop   .   the   apple   of   her   father’s   eye   and   every   bit   as   quick   ,   her   instructors   note   a   dedication   to   perfection   and   an   obsession   with   accomplishment   ,   along   with   a   natural   intelligence   that   leads   her   to   blast   through   her   studies   with   relative   ease   .   
she’s   just   16   when   she   completes   her   schooling   and   already   has   a   reputation   that   will   precede   her   ,   just   as   her   surname   had   before   .   relaxed   and   observant   ,   her   voice   never   peaks   higher   than   a   low   alto   with   her   charming   londoner   drawl   ,   a   facade   never   cracking   from   her   knowing   poker   face   .   there’s   something   about   being   so   above   everyone   (   even   if   it   is   a   self-imposed   superiority   )   that   leads   stevie   all   but   to   the   brink   of   isolation   ,   finding   solace   only   in   the   words   of   a   self-deluded   father   and   her   own   scribings   in   a   leather   bound   notebook   .   piano   lessons   since   early   childhood   lend   themselves   to   melodies   following   melodies   ,   and   before   she’s   even   able   to   legally   drink   ,   she’s   released   her   first   album   under   the   moniker   ‘   grey   ’   titling   it   pure   heroine   as   a   cheeky   nod   to   the   inevitable   accusations   of   it   being   her   family   ties   that   got   her   a   record   deal   .   but   as   streams   of   the   melancholy   tunes   begin   to   pick   up   fans   worldwide   ,   the   album’s   themes   of   isolation   ,   abandonment   ,   and   wasted   youth   hit   harder   than   ever   anticipated   from   the   youngest   greystone   .   she   leaves   home   to   tour   the   world   with   the   album   reaching   #1   in   countless   countries   ,   forging   her   own   path   with   a   maturity   beyond   her   years   and   a   vision   beyond   this   world   .   
    the   tour   ends   and   she’s   smitten   by   the   charm   of   new   york   ,   opting   to   move   to   continue   to   pursue   her   music   away   from   the   tangled   complications   of   family   life   in   england   .   barely   18   and   perhaps   intoxicated   with   the   loneliness   of   a   life   spent   in   the   watching   eye   of   others   ,   the   semblance   of   privacy   is   something   she   takes   to   like   an   addict   ,   exasperating   prying   paparazzi   with   her   notorious   refusal   to   comment   on   details   of   her   personal   life   .   she   builds   a   wall   between   herself   and   the   world   ,   keeping   out   prying   eyes   with   a   tight   -   lipped   grin   .   its   at   this   time   that   she   lets   the   first   person   into   her   life   perhaps   ever   ,   a   whirlwind   romance   so   intoxicating   it   results   in   a   courthouse   marriage   done   in   secret   .   never   to   be   seen   together   ,   never   a   word   spoken   to   anyone   else   ,   stevie   relishes   in   the   secret   which   is   soon   to   sour   upon   the   passing   of   their   honeymoon   phase   .   with   her   brothers   expanding   their   reach   into   the   US   for   their   unsavory   dealings   ,   it’s   not   long   after   her   marriage   begins   that   the   conflicts   reach   a   breaking   point   ,   an   annulment   following   barely   6   months   after   they   had   traded   ‘   i   do’s   .   ’
she   takes   to   the   studio   with   a   new   resentment   of   the   concept   of   love   and   even   more   sequestered   heart   ,   producing   melodrama   which   takes   the   world   by   storm   ,   snagging   her   a   grammy   win   for   album   of   the   year   .   fatigued   from   the   constant   go-around   of   keeping   her   secrets   her   own   except   for   when   they’re   taken   to   radio   streams   ,   she   does   a   limited   tour   for   melodrama   and   lands   herself   right   back   in   new   york   at   20   ,   putting   grey3   on   the   backburner   as   she   takes   to   all   the   hedonistic   engagements   she   had   indulged   herself   in   during   her   time   on   tour   .   she’s   kept   herself   busy   between   mindless   flings   and   days-long   benders   with   hobbies   such   as   photography   and   writing   ,   the   former   of   which   is   building   her   a   rather   impressive   reputation   in   the   arts   world   .   
𝒊𝒊.  𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 .
if   y’all   ain’t   tired   of   me   yet   god   bless   u   .   ..   .   bc   i   straight   up   b   tired   of   myself   :/
anyways   dis   is   stevie   ,   also   accepts   grey   the   same   way   ppl   talk   abt   lorde   n   switch   between   ella   n   lorde   !   she’s   not   picky   :~)
major   inspos   are   matty   healy   from   the   1975   n   hayley   kiyoko   if   she   was   less   of   a   try   hard   .   little   bit   of   kristen   stewart   in   there   ,   big   2016   ruby   rose   energy   n   brie   larson   top   me   tomfoolery   as   well   !   
basically   da   fuckboi   of   ur   dreams   ..      ..   .   lil   devilish   londoner   who   stays   thinkin   she’s   the   closest   thing   to   a   god   on   this   green   earth   !
notably   ,   she’s   incredibly   intelligent   and   profound   ,   tends   to   take   on   a   rather   patronizing   and   condescending   tone   bc   she   straight   up   b   thinkin   she’s   usually   the   smartest   person   in   the   room   (   how   annoying   )
so   laid   back   n   observant   ,   rlly   has   no   need   to   raise   her   voice   ever   bc   her   arguments   b   runnin   circles   around   ppl   !   imagine   the   way   harry   styles   talks   low   n   slow   n   calculated.   .   .   .   .   cameron   from   love   is   blind   ,.   ..   .      kristen   stewart   lowkey   sometimes   ..   ..   ..   das   grey   .    sexy   ass   alto   monotone  🤤🤤
i   dont   wanna   use   chaotic   bc   she   rlly   isnt   the   WILDEST   bitch   but   that   god   complex   means   she   deadass   thinks   she   can   get   away   w   what   she   wants   n   she   usually   does   ?   less   of   a   chaotic   evil   n   more   like   a   neutral   evil   lmao   she   can   follow   rules   just   fine   she   jsut   prefers   whatever   suits   her   better
on   that   note   —   OBSCENELY   self   obsessed   .   follows   her   own   natural   whims   n   impulses   bc   that’s   just   what   appeals   to   her   .   is   inclined   to   follow   rules   if   she   calculates   itll   work   in   her   favor   bc   she   also   doesn’t   like   to   look   sloppy   !
super   secretive   and   OBSESSED   w   her   presentation   .   every   movement   is   calculated   n   she   doesnt   want   anyone   seeing   a   side   of   her   that   she   hasn’t   designated   for   them   !   she   doesn’t   care   what   other   ppl   think   but   she   DOES   care   abt   what   she   sees   herself   doing   n   her   vision   .   doesnt   fit   the   vision   ?   will   NOT   happen   in   her   book   .
straight   up   a   WHORRE   lmao   she   likes   2   fill   the   void   left   by   a   lack   of   human   connection   w   sexual   intimacy   n   then   is   like   nice   imma   have   u   leave   now   love   LMAO   .   does   not   discriminate   and   is   rlly   inclined   to   follow   any   sexual   impulse
this   was   implied   but   her   relationships   are   super   messy   ?   does   the   leonardo   dicaprio   thing   where   she   will   never   fuckin   discuss   her   love   life   in   interviews   or   anything   so   ppl   just   gotta   SPECULATE   .   she   lets   ppl   post   all   they   want   abt   her   but   she   wont   say   a   WORD   abt   them   JWHEKJWH   her   socials   r   basically   just   abt   her   n   her   music   we   said   SELFISH   lads   .   she’s   bad   @   bein   tied   down   n   is   probs   polyamorous   as   it   stands   but   im   p   sure   she   has   cheated   on   every   single   person   she   has   ever   been   with   lmao
lowkey   a   shit   friend   most   of   the   time   lMAO   she   can   b   really   unreliable   bc   u   guys   can   have   plans   n   then   she   takes   someone   home   n   misses   yalls   plans   n   then   texts   u   4   hours   later   after   all   ur   missed   calls   n   is   like   my   bad   bruv   i   got   tied   up   AS   IF   THAT   FIXES   IT   KWEJKWJEKWE
chain   smoker   n   its   nastie   but   lowkey   sexy   somehow   :/  ,   will   ONLY   wear   outfits   that   r   equal   parts   thrifted   n   designer   ,   always   has   her   hands   in   her   pockets   n   if   her   jacket   has   a   hood   its   UP   like   a   big   ole   homo   ,   is   rlly   annoying   bc   shes   good   looking   n   KNOWS   it   so   she   uses   it   to   her   advantage   ,   wants   2   get   her   motorcycle   license   ,   judges   u   based   off   the   music   u   play   in   the   car   ,   judges   u   on   everything   tbh.
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eldritchsurveys · 4 years
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790.
Have your parents ever tried to control your relationship? >> ---
Have you ever had to give someone directions before? >> Yeah, I gave them a lot when I lived in New York.
Speaking of which, are you good at understanding driving directions? >> I don’t drive, so it’s irrelevant. Also, if I need directions somewhere these days I just use Google Maps. (I don’t always use the GPS itself because I enjoy figuring it out on my own as if the app were a paper map.)
How many people do you text daily? >> One at most, but usually zero.
Do you have an iPod or an MP3 player? Which brand? >> No, I use my phone as a music player.
What was your favorite television show as a child? >> I don’t recall having one.
Do you play any instruments? Which instruments do you play? >> No.
Is there anyone who you call by their last name? >> No.
What did you do on your last birthday? >> I don’t remember. I don’t think we went to Chicago on that weekend, mostly because we did two Chicago day-trips last year to get my suit and couldn’t really budget in a third.
Which of the Seven Deadly Sins do you commit the most? >> Sloth.
Has anyone ever told you that you're incapable of whispering? >> No, but I’ve known a fair few people that fit that description.
What is your least favorite subject in school? >> ---
Have you ever been involved in a custody battle before? >> No. I was technically the subject of one as a baby, but it really isn’t much of a battle if one party doesn’t even bother showing up to fight...
Do you know a couple who constantly sucks on each other's face? >> That’s... such a disgusting turn of phrase, please spare me.
Who was the best kisser you've ever dated? >> ---
When was the last time you watched a YouTube video? >> This morning, with my breakfast. Watched Wisecrack’s new video about comedy news, which got me interested in Patriot Act (which I think is on Netflix?).
Have you ever babysat a newborn baby before? >> No.
How many times a week do you usually see the person you love? >> I see the important people in my life every day.
When was the last time you held someone's hand? >> ---
How many meals have you eaten today, so far? >> I ate one actual meal. Nothing else I ate today would qualify as a full meal to me.
Do you think it's stupid for people to call others "hot?" >> Uh, no?
Do you personally think Wikipedia is a reliable source? >> No, it’s a reliable springboard. The sources in the References section, on the other hand, can often be really useful.
Are you someone who listens to more girl or guy bands? >> Most of the artists I listen to are male.
Have you ever shopped at Wet Seal before? Did you like it? >> I know I’ve been inside one, back when there was one on Bleecker and Broadway, but I don’t remember if I bought anything.
Do you care about spending money if it's someone else's money? >> Of course I do.
What is your favorite Disney movie of all time? >> Lilo and Stitch, probably. I want to rewatch that soon, but I’m guessing everything Disney is on Disney+ right now (and streaming from torrents is an incredible pain in the ass in my experience).
When you were a child, did you ever want to become a wizard/witch? >> I don’t recall that ever coming up in my daydreams.
What are the color of your walls? Do you want to repaint? >> Off-white. They’re not my walls to paint (it’s an apartment complex).
Would you rather have hardwood floors or carpet? >> Hardwood, absolutely.
Do you have any siblings you neglect you? >> ---
Who would you say is the most selfish person you know? >> I wouldn’t say that about anyone I know.
Who was the last person you yelled at? Why? >> ---
As a kid, did you ever go to camp? >> Once, to church camp. I’ve gone to camp far more as an adult.
What were the last three movies you watched in theaters? >> Birds of Prey, uhh... fuck. Oh, right, Jojo Rabbit. Don’t remember anything beyond that.
Have you ever made out in a movie theater before? >> Yeah.
Are you currently trying to learn to play any instrument? >> No.
Do you believe in ghosts, spirits or demons? >> I’m open to the experience.
When was the last time you went somewhere you thought was haunted? >> I don’t usually think that about places. I don’t think I have much of a sense for that kind of phenomena.
What is your favorite breakfast meal? >> Veggie burger and chips, apparently, since that’s what I eat every day.
What does the lead singer of your favorite band look like? >> ---
Who was the last person to compliment you? >> I don’t remember the last compliment I got.
How old were you when you got to go on your first date? >> I was eighteen the first time I went on a date.
Would you call your parents over-protective or under-protective? >> ---
Did your parents ever let you play in the pits of those multicolored balls? >> No. I also just don’t think I encountered any of those.
What is the best movie you've seen in the last five years? >> I’ve seen at least like 60 movies in the past five years, how could I possibly choose.
Has anyone ever called you a good kisser before? >> Maybe.
Have any of your siblings ever had a crush on your significant other? >> ---
Are you the jealous type? >> Not at all.
Does life ever seem overly ironic to you? >> Not... really?
When was the last time you felt like you were high on life? >> I’m not familiar with that feeling.
Do you know someone who cares about themselves more than their child? >> I’m sure I do, somewhere. There are a lot of people in this world that behave in ways that suggest this. I mean, my own mother was one.
Do you still watch cartoons on television? >> I watch them on streaming services, but yeah.
What do you usually order at Taco Bell, if you go there? >> I don’t usually go there. I do sometimes like that caramel empanada thing they sell, though.
Is there anyone currently annoying you? >> No.
What's your favorite hairstyle you've had so far? >> ---
Do you have freckles? >> No.
How many dogs do you have, if any at all? >> Zero.
Have you ever witnessed someone being beaten up? >> Yep.
Do you think biting is weird or sexy? >> Depends on the context, don’t it? It’d be weird as fuck if a stranger came up and bit me, for example.
Would you rather be called hot or beautiful? >> No.
Have you ever had a pet turtle before? >> Nope.
Do you still sleep with your parents when you're scared sometimes? >> ---
Have you ever met someone with two different color eyes? >> No.
Have you ever felt like someone was following you? >> Probably.
How many surveys on average would you say you've done in your lifetime? >> Oh, god. Like... a couple thousand at least.
What color shirt are you wearing at the moment? >> Black.
Do you enjoy going school shopping? >> ---
Do you think Pug dogs are adorable or just plain ugly? >> I think they’re a pretty disturbing mutation of dogness, but I wouldn’t treat them poorly because of it. It ain’t their fault humans are weird.
Have you ever met someone who completely resembled their pet? >> No, but I’ve seen listicles like that, lol. They’re always funny.
Has anyone ever knitted you something before? >> No.
What was the worst substance you've spilled on yourself before? >> I don’t recall ever spilling anything heinous on myself. Alcohol can be bad because then you smell like booze and that’s just not a good look.
Have you ever made out with more than one person in one night? >> Yeah.
What three words would describe the person you love? >> ---
Do you think their is a soulmate out there for everyone? >> I don’t find the concept of soulmates useful at all. I guess you could use that word for how I feel about Can Calah, but there are too many awkward (for me) connotations attached to that word by now and I would just rather not.
Do you like short or long surveys the best? >> Longish. This is kind of too long for me, tbh, but I soldier on.
Do you think hairspray is more helpful or annoying? >> I don’t use hairspray.
Have you ever bought fake money and tried to make it pass for real? >> No.
Are your siblings nice the majority of the time? >> ---
How many uncles do you have? >> ---
What would you say is the worst movie you've ever seen? >> All of the movies I really didn’t like, I didn’t finish, so I can’t remember them now.
Do you freak out when a thunderstorm comes along? >> I freak out in excitement, lol. I did freak out pretty badly when I was a child, though. And then one day in adolescence the switch flipped. *shrug*
What is something you'd consider yourself obsessed with? >> Mythology.
How often do you shower? >> Every couple of days.
Have you ever had to sell something for a school fundraiser? >> No.
What is the absolute worst thing about high school? >> What isn’t.
How many sodas do you usually drink in one day? >> Zero.
What kind of cheese do you like the most? >> Pepper jack. Also goat cheese.
Have you ever met someone who was completely weird all-around? >> I wouldn’t describe anyone like that, it doesn’t convey any actual information.
Have you ever met an annorexic pregnant woman? >> What the fuck. What is your favorite lyric of all time? >> ---
Do you know someone who has made their Xbox their best friend basically? >> No???
Do you ever watch any soap operas? >> I mean, I watch Grey’s Anatomy.
Have you ever met someone who was mean to everyone? >> Sure.
If you had to get a tattoo, what would it be? >> I would love to get another tattoo, but seeing as that’s not going to happen any time soon, I don’t have any ideas firmly in mind right now.
If you have any piercings, who did them? >> I don’t remember where I got my nose piercing. Probably at that one spot on St Marks Place. (My ears were done as a baby.)
Do you usually have a low tolerance for pain or high tolerance? >> I have a pretty decent tolerance for most physical aches, but not any kind of abdominal cramp.
Do you give into peer pressure easily? >> That’s not really an issue for me.
Have you ever simply looked at someone & could tell they were homosexual? >> Not unless they were wearing gay pride attire at the Pride parade, or something. Even then they could just be a really exciteable ally, lol (or an otherwise not-cishet person but not necessarily a gay person).
Do you have the ability to read someone without even knowing them? >> No.
Would you rather eat or sleep? >> Er... whichever one I needed at the time?
Are you one of those die hard Twilight or Harry Potter fans? >> No.
Have you ever cried while watching a movie trailor? >> Yeah, they do shit with the music that gets to be painfully identifiable after a while but my brain is still a sucker for it.
When was the last time you changed your hairstyle? >> I don’t remember. I’ve been buzzing my head for years.
Do your parents ever force you to talk to your grandparents? >> ---
If you were a crayon, what color would you be? >> Meh.
Do you think long surveys are broing or entertaining? >> Well, most of them are boring because the questions start to flag in quality. Do I still take them? Yeah. You do what you gotta do.
Have you ever learned that someone had lied to you all along? >> Yup.
When was the last time you had a physical injury? >> I don’t remember.
Have you ever wanted to be a lawyer? >> Not at all.
Have you ever had to bail someone out of jail before? >> No. I don’t even have that kind of money.
Is there anyone in your imediate family who was adopted? >> ---
Do you know anyone who doesn't have any common sense? >> I don’t think common sense is a thing. There are people I know who are not experienced in the same ways I’m experienced; when they are clueless about a thing I’m intimately familiar with, then it sometimes strikes me as odd, yeah. But that doesn’t mean my sense is “common” or that they’re stupid, it just means I’m used to knowing what I know and I often assume other people do too (which is what I get for assuming).
When was the last time you bought something? >> Saturday, at the farmers’ market.
Do you think you look anything like your parents? >> ---
Who is the skinniest person you know? Is it because of a disease? >> I don’t know, man, I’m not keeping track.
Do you know someone who is discustingly obese who wears G-strings? >> Wow.
Do you know someone who insults themselves to get attention? >> I know a lot of self-deprecating people, but far be it from me to assume that they’re doing it for attention. Some might be, but that’s not up to me to determine.
Is this year the best one you've had so far? >> LOL
What are your plans for this weekend? >> This coming weekend? I have no idea.
What color is your significant other's hair? >> Sparrow’s hair is currently a burgundy-type red. Can Calah’s hair is white. King Crimson’s hair is kind of the same colour as Sparrow’s, incidentally.
Have you ever applied for a job at Walmart before? >> Maybe.
Do you know anyone who does drugs currently? >> Sure.
Would you ever become a foster parent? >> No.
Are you ashamed of anyone in your family? >> ---
What jobs do your parents have? >> ---
Would rather talk to someone on a landline or a cell phone? >> I’d rather not talk to anyone on a phone, period.
Have you ever had a Tumblr account? Are you devoted to it? >> What’s tumblr? (I don’t know if “devoted” is the word I’d use, but I’m pretty fond of my blogs and the fun I have putting stuff on them.)
Has anyone ever given you a psychiatric assessment? >> Yes.
If you got pregnant right now, would you abort the baby? >> Of course, but see, I avoid that situation entirely by just not doing anything that could possibly get me pregnant.
Speaking of which, are you for or against abortion? >> Take a wild guess.
What is your favorite amusement park? >> I don’t have one. Well, does Luna Park at Coney Island count? Lot of good times there.
What was the best Christmas gift you've ever gotten? >> ---
Has anyone ever called you jealous of them before? >> Sure.
Did you ever have braces? >> Nope.
Who is your favorite actor or actress? >> It varies.
What is the most important date in your life so far? >> ---
How many people your age do you know who are pregnant? >> Zero.
What is cuter: kisses on the forehead of the cheek? >> ---
Do you believe in evolution or creation? >> I stand pretty firmly on the side of evolution. I do love a good creation myth, though.
Would you rather take a bath or a shower? Why or why not? >> I will never take a bath if I can help it. I just have a strong aversion to them, take it up with my neuroatypical brain matter.
What group would you say you'd normally fit into the most? >> Bold of you to assume etc etc
As a child, what game did you want to play the most? >> ---
Does it bother you when people touch your personal items? >> It really does. Unless I’ve given express permission, of course, but that doesn’t really happen with anyone except Sparrow.
When was the last time you did something sexual? >> Er... about a week ago? Something like that?
Where was the last place you went on vacation? >> Texas. Kind of a vacation. Mostly a day-and-a-half trip for the purpose of attending a wedding.
Do you collect anything? What? >> No.
What kind of Pringles do you like the most? >> I don’t.
Are you better at hand-drawing things or painting? >> I assume I’m slightly better at drawing than at painting, simply because I actually have a background in drawing (although my muscle memory is pretty atrophied).
Have either of your parents ever called you a failure before? >> Not in so many words.
What do you think is the grossest taste in the world? >> Oh, I don’t know.
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Survey #227
“it’s my party, and i’ll die when i want to.”
Where do you hang your towel to dry after showering? On the rack that's on the bathroom door. What kind of mouse pad do you have? It's just a simple black one. Do you brush your hair with a comb or a brush? A comb. If you had a choice to be a unicorn or mermaid which would it be? Probably a unicorn? Idk. I think unicorns are cooler, but I guess being a mermaid (as depicted in the media, however) would be fun. Can you do a hand stand? No. If you were the opposite sex, how would you style your hair? Fuck man emo hair is the way to go don't even try to change my mind. What movie are you embarrassed to admit you’ve watched? None, really. Would you rather spin upside down going 30 miles or drop 400 ft. into water? Well, dropping 400 ft. into water would literally result in your body exploding upon impact with the water; at that height (I'm pretty sure that's high enough, anyway), the water's surface would be like concrete at the velocity you land. Soooo, the former. I'd like to live. What's your favorite shape? "I don’t really have one. I guess the shape of women’s bodies? Like, all kinds of them? Whooooopsie gaysie!" <<<< HAHAHA YOOOOOOOOO THIS. If you were put in a room with nothing except for a pencil and paper, what would you write? Doodle meerkats or write poetry. Do you use deodorant? Does anyone who can afford it and in America not? I'm ignorant to if that's a societal standard in other places in the world. Do you think you’ve grown as a person since this time last year? I honestly don't know. If you could change one physical trait about yourself, what would it be? Can I PLEASE weigh around 120 again??? Have you ever gone out with someone you didn’t like? Well, I didn't not like him. I kinda had a crush on him in high school for a brief period, but we lost communication throughout school. When he asked me out a few years ago, I only agreed to it as a test, I guess. He was a good person, and again, I had liked him. It was a "get to know one another (again)" thing. It was still very, very unlike me, though; I usually date people only when I know I'm into them. Looking back, it really was mostly an "I don't want to hurt his feelings" thing. What are some of your morals? "I wouldn’t say I have any unique morals or things like that. I just…don’t do harm and treat people like I’d want them to treat me." <<<< Pretty much this. I don't see my morals as unordinary. Just hopefully the usual good person. Would you ever take a bullet for your significant other? I wouldn't even fucking hesitate. Do you like your smile, or are you unhappy with it? I hate it. I look high when I smile. My eyes squint too much. If you were starving on a freezing mountain, would you eat your friend? No. Some things aren't worth living after. Out of all your friends, who can you count on the most? Sara. Do people who say they’re depressed bother you? I actually don't think any other survey question I have EVER come across boils my blood like this one. Fuck no they don't. Depression isn't a goddamn choice. Rot the fuck in Hell if depressed people "bother" you. Their mental illness is far, far, far fucking more an inconvenience to the victim than to you. What do you think of hunting? By this point in my animal/wildlife conservation and welfare eruption, I'm perfectly open in calling you a goddamn asshole if you hunt for any reason other than survival. There is something seriously wrong in your head if you get fucking pleasure out of ending a life without reasonable cause. Damn man, this surveys getting me fired up, lmao. White lies aren’t dangerous; true or false? They can be. Do you pretend your crush is with you when you’re home alone? I mean, I can daydream? But I don't actually like, pretend they're present. How many times do you go behind your parents’ back weekly? Never. Do you tend to go for people older or younger than you? Older or the same age. I don't mind if they're slightly younger though, so long as they're of legal age of course. If you became a doctor, would you help your patients kill themselves? I am 110% in favor of assisted suicide when a patient is diagnosed with a terminal malady. Forcing a human being to suffer 'til their inexorable death via the hands of their illness is, to me, torture. I genuinely do think I'm a very compassionate and gentle person, so while it would be ABSOLUTELY heartbreaking and probably scarring, I actually feel I'd be a good option for a doctor euthanizing a qualified patient. Are you good at haunted houses, or do you scream your head off? I haven't been to very many at all, actually. The one I remember that I've attended a few times, I handled just fine. They're fun to me. If you’ve seen it, what did you think of the Twilight movie? I didn't watch it, so I really can't make a fair judgment, but from what I've seen and heard (so take this with a grain of salt), the acting is horrid and the romance is very poorly composed. Would you rather be called babe or darling? The latter. Does the movie Titanic make you cry? Oh Lord, yes. We (surprisingly) watched it during one of my psych hospital stays, and even some of the guys were teary-eyed. What is your favorite thing to do on your phone? Play PokemonGO when I'm in enough of an urban area to be able to lmao. Which Disney princess resembles you the most? *shrugs* Which fairytale seems closest to your life story? Rapunzel being trapped in her home, lmao. What color was your first phone? Hm... I believe it was blue? Was your first phone a flip phone? I don't believe so; it slid upwards. What is your favorite pizza parlor? I'm a basic bitch that finds Domino's to be the bomb diggity. What is an old website that closed down that you miss? Hm... I'm not sure. Well, the site itself didn't close down, the Animal Planet's Meerkat Manor forum and games are dearly missed by me. Have you ever had an embarrassing period story? If so, what happened? Not that I recall, thankfully. What was your worst experience in high school? My depression. How much did your senior prom dress cost you? I don't remember, but I know it wouldn't have been all that expensive. Did you cry at your high school graduation? I only teared up very slightly. Did you cry at your college graduation (if applicable)? N/A, but I'm sure I will out of so much pride and joy. Do your parents try to stop you from chasing your dreams? Hell no. My parents are so, so supportive Who is a former friend that you wish would come back into your life? I miss Megan so, so much. Have you ever been in a serious romantic relationship? Two. What instrument did you play in the marching band? I wasn't in the marching band, but rather the normal one. I played the flute. Who got kicked off of your favorite talent show that you were mad about? Okay, so I remember one year, there was this very quiet, shy, and darkly-styled young man with a love for metal on America's Got Talent. Everyone was expecting a screamo mess, and then he belts out FUCKING BEAUTIFUL opera. Everyone lost it, myself included, and the sweetheart started crying. Sadly, he was eliminated the next round because his nerves got to him, poor thing. Do you own the entire series on DVD of any TV show? If so, what? Meerkat Manor. What show did you always want to be on when you were a kid? None, really. Can you tell the difference between Mary-Kate and Ashley? I think I could as a kid? I haven't seen them in forever and half. Who is your favorite set of twins? *shrugs* What is the grossest thing you have ever vomited up? Idk? Have you ever thrown up in public, in front of someone else? If yes, was it embarrassing? Yes, but I was in kindergarten, so it wasn't too embarrassing. I was just surprised. Did you ever take your dog to school? Whoa... this brought back memories. I believe I did bring Teddy to school one day in elementary school... 5th grade, maybe? I can't recall what the occasion was, though. Name one person you know who had a baby in high school. I don't remember her name. Describe your dream wedding in three words. Autumnal, personal, memorable. What do you hate the most about summer? The fucking heat. What is your favorite thing to do in a swimming pool? Just swim around. Which part of your body is the most muscular? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA BOY I couldn't even GUESS. My legs are recovering from muscle atrophy, so OBVIOUSLY not them. My arms aren't impressive. Neither is my stomach at all. I honestly don't know. What was the last race you ran called? Brittany??????????????? running a?????????????????? r a c e??????????????????????????????? Which major holiday is closest to your birthday? Valentine's Day. Do you find kite flying boring? I haven't done that since I was a kid, but BOY did I LOOOOOVE it back then! I'd probably still find it kinda fun. What is your favorite musical? Musicals make me cringe. Have you ever seen a Broadway show? No. What is the best summer camp you have ever been to? Well, I remember as a kid, one of the vacation Bible schools I went to was pretty fun. It was Hawaiian-themed. Have you ever ran a cash register? Never. Ever. Fucking. Again. Do you like the feeling in your stomach on a big drop on a roller coaster? I've never been on one, but I hate even just the sensation you get when the elevator goes up or down. I immediately get dizzy and nauseous. It's so bad that I even experience this in video games if you have to jump from a large height. What is your favorite roller coaster? N/A How and when were you baptized, if applicable? Hell if I remember. Have you been baptized more than once? No. Would you rather paint or carve a pumpkin? Carve it. Have you decorated for fall yet this year? No. Do you own pumpkin earrings? No, but now I want some. That sounds so cute. Have you ever asked someone to be your Valentine? I mean, not really? I've had s/os on Valentine's Days, so being each other's is kinda just... a given. What was your favorite video game to play with your brother? My older half-bro, when he lived with us anyway, used to play this mercenary game (I don't remember the name) that I LOVED watching him play. Idk why. Really when he played anything I would sit right beside him and watch. What computer game did you used to play all the time? Amazon Trail 3 was my cocaine, hunny. Do you like the name Ellery? I guess it's kinda cute... but it reminds me of celery. Do you find cemeteries pretty? "Pretty" isn't the word I'd use, but I find them aesthetically pleasing. They're more like... mysterious, enchanting. Does your phone screen freeze a lot? Often enough... Who is the better cook in your household? My mom. What by your definition is the naughtiest thing you have done? I guess the time I was entirely naked and him just in boxers going the fuck at each other on the chaise in the living room when we were home alone one night. Or maybe when we "slept" in my sister's room one night (can't remember exactly why) and we just fooled around the entire night instead. He came on her bed multiple times, hence why I guess it fits "naughtiest." (Yes, yes, he cleaned it up, calm down.) I honestly haven't done anything too wild. What is one thing you’d never want your parents to find out? The Joel situation I've told before. Which room of your house are you in? Mine. How many blankets do you sleep under? One thick one. I miss my school lunch menu.. what’s the fave thing on yours? Okay real talk, my high school chicken sandwiches were The Good Shit. Do you like your best friend's parents? Could you even tell me their names? I love them, and I could, but it's not my business to share that online. Anything silly that annoys you? (I hate hearing nails being clipped) I really hate people going in/out the opposite door. Why are you where you are right now? I absolutely have to take a mental health day from school, so I'm home in my room. Did you used to watch Blues Clues? Of course. What's your opinion on people wearing high heels to school? I feel very sorry for your feet, aha. But I don't care if you do, go for it. What difficulty do you play on Guitar Hero? I used to play like, everything on expert, but now if I do, I can barely manage expert on most and have to do hard. Do you stutter when you get nervous? BADLY. You’re at the grocery store, what 3 fruits do you get? Strawberries, apples, grapes. If you died next week, what would be the cause of death? Sleep deprivation lmao. Love these night terrors + nightmares. What do you think about dating websites? Whatever. I definitely think there are better, safer ways, but it's not a huge deal. Just go into it with a genuine heart and mind of wanting to find love. There's nothing wrong with wanting a partner to enjoy life with. Do you wear contacts or glasses? I wear glasses. I wish I could do contacts, but noooo sir. I had them very briefly again earlier this year, but I just couldn't; all I could do was feel them there, mainly the weighted one in my left eye because my vision is so bad in it. They just bugged me too much. What is one memory you have from elementary school? Making our own butter in 4th grade came to me first. We walked through school singing this annoying song while we shook our jars. Do you own a pair of converses? A few. How many fridges are in your house? One. Are you easy to get along with? I hope so, but idk. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you? She's over 800 miles away lmao. What kind of people are you attracted to? Platonically or romantically? Well, with either, I'm drawn to compassion, a tranquil mind, empathy, gentleness, romance if we're talking romantic attraction, a deep thinker, wisdom, creativity, uniqueness/individuality, just, funny, thoughtful, charitable, concerned with nature/love and kindness to animals, intelligence... There's a lot. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? I don't see why I wouldn't be. Do you like it when people play with your hair? My hair's too short now for that. It'd feel weird. I used to like it, though. Do you think there is life on other planets? Probably. Do you like bubble baths? I don't enjoy baths period. Who are you most comfortable around? My mom, or Sara. Depends on the subject matter. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up? No. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with? I wouldn't. I'm strictly monogamous and to me would feel like cheating. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? Yeah. What do you say during awkward silences? Nothing, but I panic inside. What are you paranoid about? My loved ones secretly hating me or leaving me, being raped, people thinking I'm weird (and not in a good way), stuff like that. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? I don't think so. Been suspended/expelled? For what? No. Been arrested? For what? No. Craving something? What? Nothing. What color are your towels? They're varied. How many pillows do you sleep with? Two. Favorite animal? MEERKATS. Opossums are #2. Favorite character from Mean Girls? I don't remember the characters at all. Favorite actress? Betty White. Favorite actor? BITCH Markiplier, lmao. But okay if you mean a "real" actor, probably Johnny Depp. Last time you were in an elevator? Thursday when I had to go upstairs to my Writing class. It's absolutely humiliating, but I can't make it up two flights of stairs due to my muscle atrophy without people asking if I'm okay. Even going down is dangerous for me because my legs ABSOLUTELY QUAKE and I have to go extremely slow. I go down via stairs anyway though for practice. I'm going to fall one day, I know it. I’m sure we all know what your name is… so, tell us what your boss’ name is? N/A Do you actually read your friend’s surveys, or do you just copy paste them and fill them out yourself? Yes; I love learning about my friends. When you were a kid, which comic strip was your favorite? I didn't care for them. Would you feel guilty about cheating on your taxes if you got away with it? Well yeah. Have you ever thought about getting your lip pierced? It is pierced. What woke you up this morning? A nightmare that resulted in me screaming almost the loudest I ever have in my life. My throat hurt for quite a while. What was your favorite sweet as a child? Reese's cups. Still are. Do you own a lunch box? Yeah. How many times a day do you brush your teeth? Once, oops. If there was a fire, what would you take with you? The very first thing I'd grab would be Teddy, then Roman, Venus, and then my laptop, probably. How many people have the same middle name as you? The majority of the white female population lmao. Does your house have a white picket fence? The backyard does. Have you ever needed to call the police? 911 when we thought my mom was having a heart attack. What are you best at? Writing, I guess.
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wydmariana · 5 years
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well hellooooo beautiful people !!  my name’s dani, i’m one of the admins on the main! i’m 20, i’m from toronto & i also play the hailey fc alanna !! i’m so fkn excited to have wealthy back up & running and to bring my baby mariana back ! she’s the same old girl and if you don’t know anything about her...everything u need is under the read more ! i rly need all the connections rn so like this & i’ll hit you up for plots !!!!
❛ new york’s very own mariana cavello was spotted on broadway street in  christian louboutin’s. your resemblance to selena gomez is unreal. according to tmz, you just had your twenty-third birthday bash. while living in new york, you’ve been labeled as being reticent, but also quixotic. i guess being a gemini explains that. three things that would paint a better picture of you would be fishnets, tequila shots, notebooks filled with lyrics. & ( cisfemale & she/her ) + ( dani, 20, she/her, est )
☇   ❪    ˚・゚ ❛ STATISTICS :
full name: mariana marisol cavello
nickname(s): mari
age: twenty three
date of birth: june 4th
hometown: new york city
current location: upper east side, new york city
ethnicity: half mexican
nationality: american
gender: cisfemale
pronouns: she/her
parents names: tanner hastings, liliana cavello
orientation: pansexual but she doesn’t like labels
religion: grew up catholic, undecided
political affiliation: democrat
occupation: singer/songwriter
living arrangements: lives in her own mansion in the upper east side
language(s) spoken: english, spanish
accent: american
face claim: selena gomez
hair colour: x (most basic/accurate/but it changes)
eye colour: brown
height: 5″5
weight: 120lbs
build: petite
tattoos: mostly selena’s canon, but x instead of the music note
piercings: x (both ears)
drugs/alcohol/sex: yes/yes/yes
pets: one cat, 5 years old, named sergio - x
astrological chart: gemini sun, cancer moon, scorpio rising
☇   ❪    ˚・゚ ❛  BACKSTORY/CURRENT :
mariana was born to tanner cavello (famous hotel owner, entrepreneur, multimillionaire, been on forbes, think bart bass) & lilliana cavello (hispanic model/socialite)
her parents marriage was very much settling, the two of them cared about each other & were excited to start their life together in effort to please their parents and keep their images pristine
they were quick to fall out of love though, if you could say they were even ever in it
once mariana and her brother became teenagers, their dad started having affairs with his employes, the hot, young ones of course. & their mom found out, but confided in a 16 year old mariana about her father’s actions
( sexual abuse tw ) this infuriated mariana, especially considering the hours she would spend waiting outside her father’s office doing homework while his business partners molested her in the empty conference room starting at the age of 14
she never told anyone about it, although she knew her father had known the whole time, remembering how many times he’d interrupt it by summoning his partners for work or a meeting
mariana began absolutely hating her father, while still yearning for his approval, & this went on for 4 years until she turned 18 and got revenge by sleeping with one of her dad’s business partners & allowing his wife to find out
so his wife threatened to tell the media about this little scandal, unless mari’s dad paid them off, which is exactly what he did but not before taking his anger out on mariana & blaming her for the whole mess
she has barely talked to her dad since & moved out right as that whole situation went down. she does her best to avoid family gatherings, doesn’t visit the house to see her parents too often. she does have weekly phone calls with her mom & tries to see her as often as she can, no matter how much she resents her
she got into the party scene around 17/18 as well, and became new york’s resident “wild child rich kid/socialite” in her teen years, so she has that reputation in the media still to this day
her parents have been rich as fuck since the day she was born, so she’s definitely a spoiled brat, never worked a day in her life, had daddy’s credit card whenever she needed it
music had always been a passion of hers though, being her favorite class in school(on days when she would actually attend)
so when she was 20, she started getting back into writing, sold a couple of her songs to artists like zendaya, the weeknd, etc
when she turned 21 she released her first single & album within the same year, began touring, and got to the top of the charts almost right away & gained a huge fanbase, whom she loves
she’s now 23 and has two studio albums out !! she’s v successful and happy w her music <3 she releases things very sporadically & im probs gonna  release random selena songs along with other voice claims maybe IDKDKKD hope yall dont mind  my  messy ass kskffsk
she works hard though, & loves writing and releasing music now and never wants to stop. it’s truly the thing that makes her most happy in the entire world and keeps her sane
☇   ❪    ˚・゚ ❛  PERSONALITY  :
mariana can be a brat, to put it simply. she thinks she’s always right about everything & it’s rare you’re ever gonna get an apology from her when she’s done something wrong (unless she really cares about you which….)
she’s lowkey a softie, bc of her cancer moon tbh. she tends to get herself into relationships and then mess them up for the sake of it or because she stops trusting herself to be in the relationship at all
but when she loves someone, she LOVES them, like w every fibre in her body u know?
and she cares fiercely about people, it ends up being a problem for her a lot of the time
she hasn’t worked through her trauma & probably never will, she bottles that shit up tight & doesn’t let anybody know it’s there. the only way she’s ever opening up is if she’s writing, cause she wants that shit to be real
but she’s still gonna hoe it up, catch her in the club trying to get some dick for the night, u know what i mean?
super depressed if we’re being real here. she’s sad, and she has abandonment issues because of her dad. so her mindset is- there’s no forming attachments, because everyone leaves me anyway
( drugs tw ) she loves cocaine, is most definitely an addict (but who isn’t in this city), tequila is her alcohol of choice, but she’ll drink anything you give her & weed is her creative saving grace
she started popping pain pills on her 21st birthday, opioids occasionally & mostly xanax, stuff like that, is most definitely also addicted to those
we love a bitch who doesn’t care about her health!
her management team frowns upon it, but she does smoke cigarettes pretty often, but mostly only when she’s stressed
mariana’s the type of bitch to call the paparazzi on herself, she loves attention. but with her music career now it’s been 10x harder for her to keep her life private, not that she cares. but at least she doesn’t have to call the paps on herself anymore lol
she thinks it’s important to treat people w kindness and respect, but no doubt she’ll be ready to fight a b*tch if she has to…
catch her at any protest that involves saying “fuck you trump”
her instagram is a big mix of stories of her cat, dumb selfies, ig model posts, her friends, career stuff & political posts. she’s very active on the gram & snapchat lol
honestly thank U for reading this trash if u didnt…i understand. catch her pinterest board for more here & i have a wanted connections page here ! ok bye i love u, plot w me <3
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gdelgiproducer · 5 years
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What’s been your favorite staged version of JCS? (Non-concert)
First, a list of the staged (non-concert) versions of JCS I’ve seen: two high school productions (about which you’ll hear nothing in this post; it’s unfair to judge them in competition with pros), the closing performance of the 2000 Broadway revival, two performances of the national tour that followed said revival (one of which featured Carl Anderson as Judas and Barry Dennen – Pilate on the original album, Broadway, and in the 1973 film – as Herod), and four performances of a national tour initially billed as Ted Neeley’s “farewell” engagement in the role of Jesus. In total, discounting the number of performances of each, five productions, only three of which we will consider here.
The 2000 Broadway revival had basically all the problems of the video of the same production: I’m sure Gale Edwards is a fine director of other shows, but she missed the boat with this particular iteration of JCS. (Not having seen her original production at the Lyceum Theatre in 1996, which unfortunately never left that venue and was reportedly far better than the one that went wide, I can only comment on this version.) Her direction and the production design that accompanied it were full of the kinds of blatant, offensively obvious attempts at symbolism and subtlety that appeal only to pseudo-intellectual theater kids. In real life, there’s no such thing as obvious good vs. obvious evil (things just ain’t black and white, people), and any attempt to portray this concept on stage or in a film usually results in a hokey “comic book” product, which is kind of what the 2000 production was. 
The first thing Edwards did was draw her line in the sand. “These are the good guys, and these are the bad guys.” The overall production design played into this ‘line in the sand’ feel as well, being so plain in its intentions as to almost beat you over the head with them. There may have been some good concepts mixed in, but for a show that runs on moral ambiguity, they were very poorly executed and did damage to the piece. Some examples:
Annas and Caiaphas were devoutly “evil,” seemingly designed to inspire fear.  It’s easy to see good as so very good, and bad as so very bad; to want to have the evil in a nice little box. But it’s not that simple. As Captain Jean-Luc Picard (and now you know where my Star Trek loyalties lie, curse you!) once said, “…villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those that clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged.”  Evil isn’t always a clear and recognizable stereotype. Evil could be lurking inside anyone, maybe even in you, and you would never know. People aren’t inherently evil. Like good, it’s a role they grow and live into. And since history is basically a story of the developments and actions of humans over the ages, maybe it’s a mistake to view the characters who’ve played their parts in it so one-dimensionally. It doesn’t dismiss the evil they did, but it does allow one to understand that this potential to be good or to be evil is in everyone, and that it’s not always as simple as just doing the right thing.
Judas was an almost thoroughly unlikable prick (though Tony Vincent played him a tiny bit more sympathetically than Jerome Pradon in the video); in beating Jesus over the head with his cynicism and curt remarks, any sense of a fully three dimensional person was lost, leaving us with a total, utter dickhead. If the audience is to truly feel for Judas, and appreciate his fall, it’s imperative for them to see his positive relationship with Jesus. More importantly, it has to be readily apparent. It shouldn’t be the audience’s responsibility to assume as much. I never once saw any love, or even a hint of friendship, between Jesus and Judas in the 2000 production. Judas’ interactions with Jesus were a constant barrage of either completely in-your-face aggression, or more restrained (but still fully palpable) aggression. No hint of a conflict in him, or at least none the audience could see, and what use is a conflict or emotion if the audience isn’t privy to it?
And when not telegraphing an ultra-specific view of the story’s events, everything else about the design would’ve left a first-time viewer befogged. Young me liked the industrial, post-apocalyptic, pseudo-Gotham City atmosphere of the set. Older me still likes it (though I am firm in my opinion it works best on stage), but realizes what a mess the rest of it was. We’ve got Jesus and the apostles straight out of Rent, Roman guards that looked (with the choice of riot gear) like an army of Darth Vader clones with nightsticks substituting for light sabers, priests that practically stepped off the screen from The Matrix, a Pilate in generic neo-Nazi regalia, a Herod with showgirls and chorus boys that seemed to have visited from a flash-and-trash third-rate Vegas spectacular, a Temple full of ethnic stereotypes and a mish-mosh of dime-store criminals, and a creepy mob with a striking resemblance to The Addams Family that only popped up in the show’s darker moments. Lots of interesting ideas which might work (operative word being “might”) decently in productions of their own, all tossed in to spice up a rather bland soup. The solution to having a bunch of conflicting ideas is not to throw all of them at the wall at once; you look for a pattern to present itself, and follow it. If no pattern emerges from the ideas you have, it’s a sign you should start over.
You can see what my basic issue was: where other productions at least explored motivation, examining possibilities and presenting conflicting viewpoints for consideration, the 2000 production (when not utterly confused in its storytelling thanks to conflicting design) blatantly stated what it thought the motivation was without any room for interpretation – this is who they are, what they did, why they did it, so switch off your brain and accept what we put in front of you. Which, to me, is the total opposite of what JCS is about; it didn’t get famous for espousing that view, but for going totally against the grain of that.
The national tour at least had Carl and Barry to recommend for it the first time around, but for all the mistakes it corrected about the 2000 revival (swapping out the shady market in the Temple for a scene where stockbrokers worshiped the almighty dollar, with an electronic ticker broadcasting then-topical references to Enron, ImClone, and Viagra, among others, was a fun twist, and, for me, Barry Dennen gave the definitive performance of Herod), it introduced some confusing new ones as well:
For one, Carl – and, later, his replacement, Lawrence Clayton – looked twice the age of the other actors onstage. Granted, Christ was only 33 when this happened, but next to both Carl and Clayton, Eric Kunze (I thankfully never caught his predecessor) looked almost like a teenager. When Ted and Carl did the show in the Nineties and both were in their fifties, they were past the correct ages for their characters, but it worked – in addition to their being terrific performers and friends in real life whose chemistry was reflected onstage – because they were around the same age, so it wasn’t so glaring. Without that dynamic, the way Jesus and Judas looked together just seemed weird, and it didn’t help anyone accept their relationship.
Speaking of looking weird together, the performer playing Caiaphas – who was bald, and so unfortunately resembled a member of the Blue Man Group thanks to the color of lighting frequently focused on the priests – was enormously big and tall, while the actor in the role of Annas was extremely short. Basically, Big Guy, Little Guy in action. Every time I saw them onstage, I had to stifle the urge to laugh out loud. I’ve written a great deal about how Caiaphas and Annas are not (supposed to be) the show’s villains, but that’s still not the reaction I should have to them.
The relentlessness of pace was ridiculous. It was so fast that the show, which started at 1:40 PM, was down by 3:30 PM – and that included a 20-minute intermission. What time does that leave for any moments to be taken at all? A scene barely even ended before the next began. At the end of the Temple scene, Jesus threw all the lepers out, rolled over, and there was Mary singing the “Everything’s Alright” reprise already. How about a second to breathe for Mary to get there? Nope. How about giving Judas and Jesus two seconds’ break in the betrayal scene at Gethsemane? The guards were already grabbing Christ the minute he was kissed. I was so absolutely exhausted towards the end of the show that I was tempted to holler at the stage to please slow down for a minute. The pace didn’t allow for any moment in the show to be completed, if it was ever begun; it was just too fast to really take advantage of subtle touches and moments the actors could’ve had, and as a result, I think they were unable to build even a general emotional connection, because one certainly didn’t come across.
The cast was uniformly talented singing-wise, with excellent ranges and very accomplished voices. (In fact, the second time around, the woman understudying Mary, Darlesia Cearcy, walked away with the whole show in my opinion, and I am incredibly glad to have seen her career take off since then.) But, in addition to some being more concerned with singing the notes on the page just because they were there than imbuing them with emotion and motivation, the cast was undercut by the choices that production made with the music. For one, there’s a huge difference between singing “words and notes” and singing “lyrics and phrases.” When you have a phrase like “Ah, gentlemen, you know why we are here / We’ve not much time, and quite a problem here…” you sing the sentence, and if sometimes a word needs to be spoken, you do that. You don’t make sure you hit every single note by treating each like a “money note” (which you hit and hold as long as you can to make sure everyone hears it), dragging out the tempo to hang on to each note as long as you can. Generally, the actors were so busy making sure every note was sung – and worse, sung like a money note – that they missed the point of singing a phrase, and how to use one to their advantage. Caiaphas and Pilate were particularly egregious offenders. (I’ve never understood some of these conductors who are so concerned that every note written has to be sung. The result suffers from it.) 
And then there’s Ted’s production. Of the three, it’s the one I liked the most, but that’s not saying much when it was better by default. 
The production design was stripped-down, the set basically limited to a bridge, some steps, a stage deck with some levels, and a couple of drops (and a noose) that were “flown in.” The costumes were simple, the sound was very well-balanced, and the lighting was the icing on the cake. Combined, the story they told was clear.
The music sounded very full, considering the pit consisted of a five-piece band relying in part on orchestral samples.
Ted, for being of advanced age, was in terrific form vocally, if his acting fell back a little much on huge, obvious, emotive gestures and choices. (I love him and all, but his attempts at acting were kind of like a “Mr. Jesus” pageant, striking all the appropriate Renaissance poses. The film, through editing and close-ups, allows him a subtlety he just ain’t got onstage.)
And there were some beautiful stage pictures; for example, there was a drop with an image of a coin with Caesar’s head on it in the Temple scene, and it fell on the crowd when Jesus cleared out the riff-raff. In the leper sequence that followed, the chorus’ heads popped out of holes in the cloth, under which they undulated, pulsing to the beat, and rather than being treated as a literal mob scene, the sequence had a very dream-like effect, a mass of lost souls reaching out to Christ. It was rather like a Blake painting, with a creepy vibe in a different manner from the typical “physically overwhelm him” approach. He didn’t interact with them, didn’t even turn to look at them, until finally he whipped around with a banishing thrust of his arm, hollering “Heal yourselves!” Sometimes it was over-acted with annoying character voices (remember, I saw this four times), but when it wasn’t, the effect was chilling.
My main beef with the show was, oddly enough, on a similar line to my beef with Gale Edwards’ production: it drew lines in the sand. But in this case, it drew them with respect to Jesus’ divinity. 
As written, JCS deals with Jesus as if he were only a man, and not the Son of God. The show never suggests that Jesus isn’t divine, but neither does it reinforce the view that he is. Portrayed in detail in JCS is the mostly-unexplored human side: ecstasy and depression, trial and error, success and regret. He agonizes over his fate, is often unsure of his divinity, and rails at God. Not so in this production. Aside from “The Temple” and “Gethsemane,” there was never any room for doubt that Jesus was the mystical, magic man portrayed in the Gospels.
At the top of the show, after a fight between his followers and the Romans during the overture (a popular staging choice I’m not a real fan of, but you’ve got to do something during that moment in a fully staged version, and I understand why it’s an easy choice to make for exposition purposes), Jesus made his majestic entrance, spotlit in robes that looked whiter than Clorox bleach could produce, and raised a man from the dead. Well, where’s the room for Judas to doubt? Clearly “this talk of God is true,” we just saw it! If this guy is actually capable of performing miracles, and more than that specializes in necromancy, good luck telling him that fame has gone to his head at the expense of the message and he’s losing sight of the consequences! Try explaining to anyone that that person is “just a man”!
If that weren’t enough, Jesus went on to have a constant connection with God throughout the show, speaking to a spotlight that focused only on him and often served to distract him from anything else happening onstage, and at the end, during “John 19:41,” his body separated from the cross, which fell back into the stage, and he ascended to heaven. 
Now, though the former was admittedly played to excess (some reviewers unkindly compared Neeley to a homeless man with Bluetooth), there are arguments to be made in favor of both of these choices: a Jesus who constantly seeks a connection with God that isn’t reciprocated, searching for guidance or at least a friggin’ clue, is great foreshadowing for his eruption – and acceptance – in “Gethsemane.” As for the ascension, depending on how it’s staged, there’s room for argument that it could be interpreted more metaphorically than literally, as the moment when Jesus’ spirit is born, as Carl Anderson once put it (meaning, to me, that his message is given life and strength when his body fails him). But this production didn’t have that level of shading and layers to it, and coupled with the resurrection at the start, it defeated the rest of the story.
None of ‘em’s perfect, and I don’t think I could create the perfect one. Thus, concert.
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