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uwua3 · 4 years

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Hello! Sorry to spring another request at you so soon, but those jealousy headcanons you wrote for me have got me hooked! Would it be possible to write a redemption/forgiveness focused "part 2" to those 3 HCs but years later, showing that they've both grown as people and wind up with happy endings together? (And heal my bruised ego, j/k 😆) If you would rather not revisit those stories, I completely understand + will think of something else 😁 TY once more for your immaculate creations 🙌🙏

yes! this will be the pt. 2 set years later from the first jealousy hc~ i know everyone’s a sucker for happy endings so i’ll try my best! aLSO YOU KNOW WHAT’S FUNNY!!! i remember when i got sent this ask and i just wrote immaculate in one of my writings omg!!! we are Connected

summary: time heals and people move on, for better or for worse

author’s note: this was less redemption, but more for forgiveness. sometimes, you can’t forget what someone did but forgive them after becoming changed people. being the bigger person, moving on, and being the best version of yourself is the sweetest revenge possible + taichi’s was the longest, i am the most proud of his!

there are some situations where it’s best to leave a person out of your life if they hurt you more than anything ♡ don’t feel like you are missing a part of yourself without them, you’re more than someone’s s/o; you’re you!

word count: 4,042 (total) — 1,297 (kazunari), 868 (tenma), 1,877 (taichi)

music: i don’t want you back – aj mitchell (kazunari), you could have been the one – coasts (tenma), wish u the best – blackbear (taichi)

jealousy (pt.2)

🌻🎨 miyoshi kazunari

it kept raining, but kazunari refused to let that stop him anymore

kazunari stood drenched for so long but his umbrella was by his side this entire time (he covered himself and watched the stormy clouds part to reveal streams of the sun)

kazunari wanted to love himself first, and then maybe he could come back to loving you

so he attended therapy. learned how to openly commuicate his feelings without constantly seeking attention. made real friends with a theatre company named mankai. found passion in another art form: acting!

kazunari grew as a person, developing into his full identity and he finally knew who he was. kazunari stopped forming unhealthy attachments onto people who showed any form of interest on him and even had a few successful relationships because of his mindset

(all of them ended maturely, respectfully, and without any of the drama being a teen had. it felt nice to be an adult for once)

kazunari was content with his own body, for once. he practiced taking breaks and understood his own limits (not weaknesses, his therapist reminded him, just boundaries). kazunari even started posting online again, making enthusiatic blog posts that were genuine this time

kazunari stopped obsessively checking comments left on his selfies and just deleted any that were negative. but most times, he didn’t even see them because he was proud of how far he came. it could only go up from here

kazunari was happy!

but, you weren’t. you lost your best friend who eventually stopped sending random late–night texts. the one who always had an adventure up his sleeve and always made you laugh. where did he go?

it wasn’t until you spotted an advertisement that had his name in the bottom part of the cast. you didn’t even know kazunari was interested in drama, though he did have the flair for it

(you were too busy with your partner to even come to his water me! debut)

when you attended the summer troupe’s second opening night, you couldn’t recognize the man standing before you on stage

kazunari wasn’t that meek barista who shut down every time he made a mistake. now, when he flubbed the script, he simply did improv and didn’t let his mistake hold him back. he matured to be an accomplished young man with the talent to boot and all the charisma in the world

when kazunari’s sight glanced past you, he barely noticed your presence. he just nodded and spared no more attention towards you, focusing on the play and giving it his all

to you, kazunari was a stranger. to kazunari, you were just somebody he used to have good times with, that’s all

after that, you left and didn’t bother seeking contact with him again besides the occassional congratulations to be civil. he didn’t need you anymore, it was painfully obvious how happy he was now

(much happier than when he was best friends with you)

kazunari didn’t notice and put his energy into becoming someone he was proud of, gaining popularity online for his infectious happiness and wonderful, creative edits

kazunari stopped trying to love himself so you could love him. he did everything for him because he wanted to

after seeing you in the crowd, kazunari accepted you weren’t the same person he became best friends with and that was okay. he had 20 best friends who he shared a house with, what more could he ask for?

(even when he saw your long instagram post about your engagement, he liked it and left a happy comment. there was no jealousy over what could have been, just complimenting the ring without any hard feelings)

kazunari knew he would never see you again, that you were intimidated by his self–love. kazunari wasn’t too sad, just posted a group photo with the caption: “my best friends ✨”

kazunari moved on easily, knowing there was no point to get hung up if you were happy. who was he to get in the way of a happy relationship?

so when you sent him an e–mail asking him to be the best man at your wedding, it didn’t phase him as bad as he thought it would. maybe, just a little surprise. kazunari didn’t hesitate to request practice off and click to confirm his rsvp

(maybe, this could have been his last opportunty to be your best friend)

if it was possible to outdress the couple, he did. kazunari showed up to the wedding in his best suit, gladly chatting up the party

(he knew he looked good, and because of that, he didn’t flinch every time he was mistaken as the groom)

(he didn’t want to be, anyways)

kazunari met up with you in your dressing room, watching you pace as you had pre–marriage jitters. but you looked pretty, beautiful even, but you didn’t look like his bride. that didn’t hurt him, he just smiled and offered his arm

“you ready, best friend?” kazunari asked and the smile on your face reflected his: hollow, but somewhat sad. you both knew you guys weren’t close like before, the same people before. you two were almost unrecognizable, but the love as friends was still there

kazunari couldn’t deny you made his life better at some point, people just change and that was that. he couldn’t fault you for that

he couldn’t blame you for his fear of confessing his feelings, his avoidance of any type of serious relationship. that was on him, and he accepted that a long, long time ago

he was gonna walk the first love of his life down the aisle to another person, and kazunari smiled, knowing this was for the best

kazunari was happy the person you met all those years ago was your soulmate, you deserved that

as the double doors opened, you two gracefully walked down the aisle as he noticed the person at the end was crying tears of joy. they were so in love with you, and you had the same look on your face

kazunari didn’t even react like that, just smiled and gave you a thumbs up

this was definitely for the best

as the room stood for you, you glanced at kazunari and whispered something that had no effect on him whatsoever

“i liked you, before all of this.”

kazunari just looked forward, feeling the rain finally come to an end as a sunny, summer blue sky was shining with puffy white clouds

the rain was gone for good, and 19–year–old kazunari finally had his closure

“i did, too.” kazunari simply said and you didn’t react. it was clear, you both moved on

before giving you away, kazunari smiled, making some joke about being careful with his “daughter”

the room laughed, and he did, too (he meant it)

kazunari was happy for you as he watched you two exchange vows. maybe his past self would’ve selfishly wished that was him, object when the officiant asked, and steal you away

but kazunari knew you were happy

(best man kazunari stood up at the dining banquet to deliver his speech, holding the mic up to his mouth and he shared happy memories between the two of you)

(kazunari almost talked about how gorgeous you looked in golden hour back then, but stopped. that was a memory only his teen self should have, and instead made a toast)

(“for forgiveness, moving on, and best friends!”)

kazunari watched you have your first dance and looked outside. it was golden hour, and you were just as gorgeous as before

but, kazunari didn’t have to be your #1 anymore. because in his heart, he was his own #1, and that would never become a joke

the rain ended, and wouldn’t come back as long as he lived in the sun

🌻☀️ sumeragi tenma

you and tenma were cast in the same movie years after your public break–up

it was an easy job and guarenteed summer blockbuster for best lead actor, tenma

he was entering university now for acting, keeping a clean image as the media slowly forgot about his playboy past as he shifted his efforts to more time with his true friends and being a regular, casual teen

(even previous co–stars admitted his personality did a full 180 and it was refreshing to see the young actor turn over a new leaf)

tenma decided after you, he deserved real love that wasn’t fabricated by a company

he left his label with a rip to the contract, flipped them off with both his fingers, and became an independent star that rose to popularity due to his honest and brash interviews on the industry

he took on projects he loved and tenma’s parents slowly came to respect him as an actor, giving him the freedom to do whatever mattered to him

(tenma even started reclaiming back his missed childhood, lowering the expectations he forced upon himself and letting himself make mistakes. he started trying again and again, refusing to give up for the sake of his team)

tenma expanded his talents to both on screen and stage, and found himself becoming more of a team–player who was confident in his abilities to lead and be taken seriously

mankai taught him love wasn’t just romantic. he received love everyday from his close friends and pushed himself out of his comfort zone to express his feelings and appreciation without feeling uncomfortable

as a result, tenma was loved for who he was, not some idol image

tenma loved himself all because of his love for acting, and knew he wouldn’t have been able to do it if it wasn’t for you, weirdly enough

you were the breaking point. you set off the chain of events that let him take back his own life and pursue real, authentic things. tenma was still a kid at heart, but he grew up

the next time he saw you on set after providing food for the cast to practice showing apprecistion, he towered over you and had to look down

this time, it seemed like he was the one who ruffled your hair and treated you like his younger sibling

you hadn’t realized it, but tenma wasn’t the little kid you liked making fun of. now he was a strong, independent, opiniated firecracker who wasn’t afraid of telling it how it is

tenma wasn’t scared to tell you when you messed up, but this time, he offered advice. he was a natural leader who provided multiple effective solutions and was interested in working with the directors and producers to make the best possible cut

tenma wasn’t some egotistical, self–centered jock his company portrayed him out to be. he was a childish, fun–loving, aggressive firework who was unapologetic about his true self and put his entire self into acting

it was a particular scene that involved romance, and you had to act as a couple with tenma, having a practice read as you went through the lines

“i’m sorry, i loved you so much, it would have killed me if i didn’t say something.” tenma recited, emotionally looking into your eyes as he made his voice shake. it almost felt too authentic, and you cleared your throat, continuing the line

“i did too... but you,” you glanced up at him, and suddenly you realized tenma wasn’t that young brother you thought he was. you regretted ever treating him like some dumb kid, he had grown so much

“you were so young... i judged you too quickly and never let you have a chance. i’m sorry, tenma.”

tenma didn’t break character, but he just shook his head and put his hand out, knowing you didn’t follow the script

“it’s okay. it is what it is.”

you shook his hand, and you never realized how well his hand fit in yours

from that moment forward, you two had easy chemistry and became friends again. but as you began to see him as a man, he always reminded you that it was never going to work out even if he forgave you

he made it especially clear when you guys came back to that one arcade. its games never changing and it felt like you went back in time. when he caught you giving him the same look 16–year–old tenma gave you back then, he sighed and stared at you with firm determination

“i get it, i’m different now. but you gotta give up, don’t even think about it. i forgive you, but we’re friends. that’s all we’ll ever be.”

tenma was older now, and he was grateful for all you did for him, but he already had real love

he didn’t need fake love, especially from you

after playing games in the arcade, it was tenma this time who commented how fun it was and you could call him up any time for acting advice. he saw you as a younger sibling

you watched tenma grow up, but didn’t realize maybe you were the one who was still stuck in the past

🍁🛹 nanao taichi

taichi, grew up

he refused to ever let anyone hurt him the same way for the rest of his life. he couldn’t believe he was so desperate for love that it blinded his view on common sense. taichi never wanted to feel like he was used, kicked, and abandoned ever again

taichi never wanted to see you again, you didn’t deserve to see him after all this time

taichi began to build up his self–esteem, knowing whatever happened, wasn’t his fault anymore. he loved himself, he was the best you ever had and you left him for someone you ditched later that week

in a way, he won. taichi was happy, confident, and grew up to the best actor possible as he was surrounded by the mankai boys who supported him to be content with life

so taichi forced himself to stand taller, started looking people in the eye, and being direct with his boundaries. taichi learned more about what he could handle, and it was amazing to see how having self–respect meant people backed off, knowing he wasn’t a victim anymore

taichi learned his self worth and moved on, his love for himself was greater than anything he felt for you

(during times when he relapsed, sometimes he re–read the love letters he wrote you. you would leave them behind, not even opening them. they were so honest, so vulnerable, it physically hurt him to know he exposed his heart to the public like this)

(he’d read but at the end, he’d always laugh at his stupidity. you didn’t deserve to have such nice things like his heart)

taichi became even more extroverted, making countless friends as he realized making lasting relationships was meant to be double–sided and not just an one–way effort. as a result, he made contact with people who actually liked him and valued him as a friend

taichi put out good energy into life, and he got it back in the form of fun, friends, and his family

taichi liked making connections with people in theatre troupes on veludo way, always staying back to applaud at street acts and exchange contact information

one day, he came across a recently up and coming troupe that nearly fainted when they caught sight of the bright red hair that distinguished taichi

(amongst troupes, taichi was even better than god troupe. taichi was a resident star that was so nice that everyone loved him)

now, they were his closest friend group outside of the mankai boys and noticed their street act, rushing over to congratulate them

“you guys did amazing! i’m so proud!” taichi fake–sobbed, running over and throwing himself onto one of them with a tight hug as the group of friends released a tight laugh after the nervewrecking performance

“ah taichi~ you have to stop before i fall in love with you!” someone said, pushing taichi off jokingly as he pouted like a puppy.

taichi was older now, less naive and innocent to the dating game, his heart didn’t flutter like it would’ve before when he was 16

taichi just laughed it off, and it didn’t affect him like before. he didn’t fall in love, he learned to tell the difference between friendly affection and true love

(but sometimes, taichi closed himself off in a room, listening to the playlists he made for you on loop for hours. but in his moments of weakness, taichi listened and listened and listened. he scoffed, you never even liked the songs to begin with. he felt silly for wasting his favorites on you)

(slowly, eventually, the songs sounded less like you. he began to enjoy them on the radio and sang along freely, your existence blocked from his train of thought)

taichi added to the conversation, putting in funny jokes everyone laughed at and it felt nice to be involved in other groups. they didn’t ignore him, or try to take advantage of his obvious need to be popular

(it was funny how taichi naturally became popular the moment he loved himself, like being happy was all it took)

he wasn’t clinging for the validation anymore, taichi knew he was funny. he was worth it. he was the best version of himself possible

the topic changed to the troupe’s show being premiered this weekend. taichi gladly accepted the ticket, promising to come and cheer on the cast the loudest he could

(he knew they’d do the same when autumn troupe performed. in fact, they did. it was so cool to see all the troupes on veludo way band together and support creativity)

taichi received a promotional poster, thanking the group as he headed back to the dorms. taichi glanced down at the names, nearing the door before skidding to a stop

your name was in bold, big letters. taichi almost didn’t recognize it, he nearly repressed you in his memory

taichi thought back on the love letters he stayed awake to write, nearly falling asleep as he forced himself to share his feelings honestly. remembered how you didn’t even look at them, how it looked like you’d rather do anything than try to understand him

taichi heard the playlists in his ears all at once, his favorite songs being dedicated to you and you hated them

taichi nearly opened his notebook to pen a letter for you, was about to start shuffling through the playlist before he stopped

he read your name. said it aloud. but that was it, taichi just stuffed the poster in his bag as he strolled in after his first year of university

you didn’t deserve any space in his mind after what you did, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t come support his friends

taichi refused to ever let you have the privilege of controlling any aspect of his life anymore, he was going to that damn show and would yell as loud as possible

taichi knew he wasn’t coming for you, but for people who actually liked him

when taichi went inside, he smiled as his friends greeted him enthusiastically. he was so lucky to be who he was today

on saturday night, taichi was on the edge of his seat as the play reached its climax. your acting, he hated to admit it, was almost on par with his. you were dominating the stage and then some, your energy easily bouncing off your cast mates. it’s like you were born for the stage

16–year–old taichi would have been insecure over his own abilities, sunk into his seat and reconsidered everything he did. maybe would have thought he should practice more, get advice, fix who he was

but 19–year–old taichi was older, wiser, better. just because you were good, didn’t mean he wasn’t any good. in fact, taichi smiled contently, he was sure he was just a bit better

(just a little, and his ego actually believed it)

taichi jumped to his feet to applaud rambunctiously when the cast came out to have a bow, whooping as he swung his arms around to get his friends’ attention

they all turned and waved, sending comedic air kisses as you finally recognized him, your face paling and hands shaking as you didn’t do anything

taichi just smiled, waiting as the audience cleared out and he was let into backstage only to be embraced by the sweaty, hyped cast

“taichi~ you made it!” they cheered and taichi grinned, ruffling the younger actor’s hair as his heart soared due to being seen as a mentor to the rookies. he noticed the way they admired him, wanted to be like him

(and for once in his life, taichi liked being his own person, too)

“of course! anything for my friends!” taichi returned the hug, being the last person to pull away as he individually greeted everyone with just as much excitement. backstage buzz was real and got everyone in the best mood ever

except, you

when taichi reached you, your face was nervous. almost, fearful. you looked wary, ready to bolt at any moment he opened his mouth

(and taichi realized he had the power. he could’ve exposed you right then and there. tell everyone what a manipulative, toxic, evil person you were for breaking his heart. for cheating on him when he did nothing but be loyal to you. you were trash, the gum at the bottom of shoe, and he could easily destroy your career if he just told everyone. they would trust him, you’d be over)

(if he was 16, he would’ve ended you. he would’ve shared all the awful, terrible, low things you did and you wouldn’t be anything anymore. the revenge was almost too good, he would actually win)

but... the hurt that was in him before, the pain that would’ve pushed him to have the upper hand, it wasn’t there. he didn’t feel anything towards you except he was sorry you weren’t with him anymore

(he was the best you ever had, he knew that)

instead, taichi smiled even bigger. he pulled a boquet of flowers from behind his back, the flowers he remembered were your favorite

“hey! long time no see!” taichi quickly pulled you in for a hug, your rigid posture against his chest as you awkwardly put your hands around him. taichi realized it was the first time you actually hugged him back, but he didn’t feel anything

taichi pretended that you stepped on his foot, pulling away with a dramatic “ouch!” as you widened your eyes, about to profusely say sorry before he waved it off

“come on, you don’t have to apologize for what happened! i forgive you, you know. we’re good.” taichi pretended to be talking about the minor issue, gesturing to his shoe as he handed you the flowers. but you understood he meant much more than that, and your eyes were brimmed with tears

“hey~ don’t cry! it was just a little boo boo, nothing time won’t fix.” taichi sympathetically pat your shoulder, knowng you didn’t deserve it. you were the one who wasn’t worthy this time, even you couldn’t believe taichi forgived you for all you done

but one smile and you knew he wasn’t lying

(even after all this time, he couldn’t hide his emotions. his heart was on his sleeve, but it was protected. it recovered. it healed)

taichi stood tall. stared you in the eye. stopped trailing after you like a lost puppy. you stepped back as the crowd took him back, inviting him to the afterparty as he happily agreed, knowing he was the life of the party

taichi didn’t even look back at you, like he completely forgot all about you

taichi didn’t talk to you for the rest of the night, but when he did, he was always the bigger person, acting like nothing ever happened

he really moved on, and he felt so sorry for you he had to forgive you

(you had texted him later that night, wanting to meet up to talk. taichi opened the message, almost laughed, and closed his phone. he left you on read, he deleted your number again)

taichi was his own person now; he wasn’t in love with you anymore, he was in love with himself

and he was enjoying himself

taichi didn’t look back, not anymore

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hopevalley · 3 years

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Finally!!

Today’s the big day! At 9/8C the new season will start airing. I hope all of you who are able to watch will do so! I’ll be excited to see your opinions.

I don’t expect too much from the first episode this season; it’d be silly to hope for something mindblowing. On the plus side, I imagine it will be a better/more cohesive bit of entertainment than the holiday films usually are. I’m kind of curious to see how they approach just jumping into a new season vs. having a film length “episode” to break the ice between seasons.

I took a pretty big step back this year and didn’t stay on top of all of the promos or sneak-peek scenes. I know the basics, but that’s it. I hope allowing some things to be a surprise will work for the better for me.

As to hopes and dreams for the season, well, more of the usual you’ve probably come to expect of me, I guess. Here’s a little list just for giggles.

I’m still holding out for AJ to make an appearance this season, though at this point I’d be happy if she even got a mention. Is this really silly of me? Probably. But Frank was mentioned last season, so it stands to reason that they are aiming for more cohesive storytelling. Even if all that was said was that they’d had a letter from her, it would be enough to tie up the storyline in a way that feels less bad than, you know, she just went to prison for the rest of her life and nobody cares about it.

I think we’re going to get a “washed up old man” character arc for Bill. Based on the short scene of him putting on a red serge jacket, though, it may be much more nuanced than that; after all, even when Bill was working for the mounties last, he was a forensic investigator wearing plainclothes. Maybe this is more about aging and missing youthful capabilities? Either way, Bill is one of my favorite characters, and those sorts of plotlines would suit him. I have some faith that this sort of narrative will be approached with respect not only to the character, but also to the audience members who might relate to the situation.

No matter how the triangle resolves, I hope it feels satisfying to everyone involved. I think my biggest concern is actually with regards to insensitivity in the narrative. For example, Elizabeth chooses Lucas and in two episodes Nathan’s on a date with someone else.

I think it could be argued that Lucas might be the type to try courting someone else as a means to forget about Elizabeth, but he and Nathan have been invested in her for a couple of literal years at this point... I hope the writers don’t forget that heartache like that won’t leave easily.

Also, regarding the triangle... Most of you know I haven’t been a big fan of it. I still feel the same: splitting the fanbase was a huge mistake.

Their attempts at saving face (all those interview comments about how deeply they thought about the choice and everything) were... I don’t know. They had to say something about it, and I’d hope they’d actually consider the character and what would continue to make interesting storyline bits down the road, but...they probably shouldn’t have admitted to the “what will make a good story” bit, even though it’s true and as a writer I know exactly where they’re coming from.

To clarify, they are probably considering Elizabeth as a character and her most likely choice, and coming up with plot ideas for down the road well in advance to make sure they can continue the story seamlessly with that choice in mind. Like, “we made sure that with the choice we made, we could still continue the story for many seasons to come. The thing is, this is the default mode: the audience already believes in this. Calling attention to it just makes people question whether or not the writers bothered to think about who the character of Elizabeth would choose.

Nathan is my pick for Elizabeth, but I don’t love Elizabeth enough as a character to stop watching if she chooses Lucas.

Nathan seems like the better/easier choice because “interesting future plots” with Lucas will have to rely on being mostly internal issues (he failed to tell her some big information about himself that is important now, discussion about having more children, how to be a parent/if he has a right to discipline Jack/etc), whereas Nathan plots can be internal when the storyline fits the characters, but due to the nature of his career it’s very easy to make plots stem from an external source without it seeming goofy or forced.

One last point about the triangle: so far they’ve done a really good job of making Lucas and Nathan appeal to pretty much opposite types of people. Lucas is the type of guy you root for if you like bold men who are not only confident, but secure in understanding their own emotions as well as declaring them. If you’re taking him at face value, you know exactly where you stand with him without ever really having to ask. Nathan is the kind of guy you root for if you like the more shy/sensitive men who are capable of emotion but do so awkwardly. It can be hard to tell where you stand with him until you learn to read him, or better yet...learn how to put him at ease.

I hope this trend continues but does what it was intended to do all along. I feel like both men got the short end of the stick at various points in the story just due to how the narrative portrayed things.

I’ll be honest, I used to really like Jesse and Clara, but I think their story isn’t interesting anymore, and I’m worried that they’ll try to force some marital discord just to give them more screentime, when it might actually be better to let them fade to the background, or add them to scenes with other characters who are around a lot. I’m not sure what would get me invested in these two again, but there has to be something the writers could do...

Like many others I’m hoping Rosemary and Lee decide to either live the childfree lifestyle or adopt an older child who needs a home if they’re set on being parents.

I hope more of the side characters get good quality scenes this season. I feel like they will, but I’ll say it anyway. We have some really great actors on board, and it’s a waste of talent not to use that talent.

By this I mean: I don’t want to see Molly, Hickam, Florence, and Ned used only as funny bit characters. The last season or two were particularly bad for that.

I feel like I’m forgetting a few things, but this is long and I’ve got other things to do. :) Hope to see y’all around later today!

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lopez-richter-fangirl · 5 years

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So. Homecoming. Holy fuck. It’s taken me this long to even start to get my thoughts together. Very spoilery post under the cut. Like, as much as I can possibly remember of the show spoilery. Also rambly. And long. Ridiculously long. So you’ve been warned.

Also disclaimer, this is just homecoming to the best of my recollection and it might not be 100% accurate. So first of all the setlist (this was everything they sang but the order of songs in act 2 is a bit hazy, I think it’s about half right. Also I don’t think hardly anyone at the show could tell you exactly because it was just so overwhelming). They did medleys for all the non-Potter shows in act 1 in reverse chronological order, act 2 they did full songs from all the Potter musicals.

Act 1 TGWDLM, Join Us And Die, Show Stoppin Number We Got Work To Do, Make The Most Of It Ani, With My Own Eyes, Back On Top Gone To Oregon, Naked In A Lake, Speedrun No One Remembers Achmed, A Thousand And One Nights, Happy Ending Holy Musical B@man, Rogues Are We, Superfriends Status Quo, Kick It Up A Notch, I Wanna Be Me And My Dick, Listen To Your Heart, Ready To Go Act 2 Going Back To Hogwarts Harry Freaking Potter To Have A Home Different As Can Be (and reprise) Coolest Girl Cho’s Song Hey Dragon Granger Danger Guys Like Potter Wizard Of The Year To Dance Again Sidekick Voldemort Is Going Down Everything Ends Not Alone Days Of Summer Not Alone (reprise)

Thursday 25th The more I think about it the more I realise I really had no idea what I was expecting from the show. We’d been planning before they even announced what it was to fly out for it, but we had very few details. I didn’t even know they had an orchestra until like two hours before. I’d barely been able to watch any of their rehearsal stories. But I don’t think I’d ever been more excited for anything in my life. I was super excited for AVPW but also, it was my first time seeing any of them, the whole thing felt like a dream, and I had no idea how much it was gonna mean to me so it didn’t even hit me properly until the last night. Whereas I already knew exactly how special this would be, it was entirely once in a lifetime and I was nearly shaking.

Outside the theatre I’ve said it before but genuinely my favourite place in the world to be is surrounded by Starkid fans. Seeing people in cosplay, in merch, talking about the same shows and people I love, I just get such a sense of ‘this is home’. There was the classic waiting-in-line going back to hogwarts singalong. And some la dee da da day thrown in for good measure. Liam was walking along the line filming and doing interviews for the bts. Tessa got out of a car right next to us, we saw Jade and Traci and their friend Bella. They’re all gorgeous it’s insane and unfair.

Inside the theatre Spent over $100 on merch but honestly could have spent so much more, really I showed a lot of self restraint. They didn’t have the programmes though which I’m still heartbroken over. Saw Denise Richter which I was maybe too excited about. Didn’t speak to her or anything but even just to see her she exudes kindness she’s the best. Then we were hanging out in the lobby and Tessa was talking to everyone and hugging them and taking selfies and jumping in people’s group pics and I love her. Like she made my night even without me talking to her because she was SO sweet to everyone she spoke to and I was stood there falling in love with her by the second. Also, let’s talk about how cool the venue was? It looked unbelievable and they had a bunch of posters up with AVPM quotes. And the stage? Y’all have seen by now but they made it look like an actual homecoming dance and it was amazing. Considering how far back our seats were it was actually a very good view, it helped that I had an aisle seat so had a clear view of the entire stage. I’ve posted the pre-show playlist here, it was perfect, especially the JATP like, hell yeah to celebrating all their various projects. At this point I literally thought I was gonna die of excitement. AJ and Clark came on stage and as much as I was having great fun freaking out with the groupchat about how soon the show was I couldn’t wait to put my phone away cause that meant the show was starting. And then the lights went down.

Darren Very pleased to say it was not the Darren show, even though he did give the opening and closing speech. And as much as I have opinions about him, when he walked out for the first time it was a pretty special moment because it’s like, this is it this is really happening. The amount of energy in that room when he came on stage my god. You would not have believed there were only 1600 people there. The whole show people could barely get a sentence out without cheering, which in hindsight was probably annoying but it just shows how incredibly loved they are, and we were as grateful to them as they were to us. I loved the atmosphere in both shows, it was completely different both times and I’ll obviously get to the Friday night show, but there was something special about being in a room of majority backers, all of us seeing these show for the very first time, it was totally new. Again, literally no idea what to expect and it was the most exhilarating feeling. Darren did a little ‘look for your exits pretend we’re at Disney’ which was cute after being at Disney for two days beforehand. Classic starkid fashion, he told us they had no idea how long the show would run for. He made a G.L.E.E. joke so it’s nice to know he’s still on our side at the end of the day. I don’t know if it was him that talked about Starkid performing with a 13 piece orchestra for the first time, but I’m gonna bring it up here anyway. I’m so grateful they were overfunded and that they were able to have the orchestra, because it’s probably something they really wanted and it’s also something they 100% deserve. I’d sell my soul to hear every starkid song with that orchestra, it was magnificent. I really hope we do get an album because it all sounded SO GOOD. Unsurprisingly don’t remember much else of what Darren said because I was just so excited for the show to start.

TGWDLM medley So as soon as the opening started playing even as Darren was still introducing people went insane, literally within two seconds I knew undoubtedly that this was gonna be the best two hours of my life (also the fastest. Often watching theatre shows I lose attention a little bit but there wasn’t a single second of this show that I wasn’t 100% in the moment they’re completely captivating, and it went by way too fast). Oh wow this is where we got to see Joey and Lauren for the first time. Fuck. I cannot describe to you how good they looked. Pictures do not do it justice. Thank god the mustache was gone. Thank god Lauren didn’t wear the boots. She was wearing my favourite hairstyle. Joey’s hair looked great. Their outfits were incredible. They literally could not have been more perfect looks for me and I’m so grateful. I could have cried happy tears at seeing them. This in itself could go on for five pages so I’ll leave it there. They all did the whole iconic zombie pose entrance. Corey sang Joey’s astronomical line which was kinda a shame cause I love the way he sings that line however I’m glad they did it like that cause Joey got to sing a lot in the show (still not enough for my liking but then again my liking is Joey and Lauren singing the whole show so I’m good). Wish they did Lauren’s ‘pines after a cute lil barista’ bit. Also kinda wish they did inevitable so Jon could sing because I love him and he deserves better @ starkid when are you going to hire me. However they made up for that when Jaime went ‘it is time’ and the room was absolutely electric because everyone knew exactly what was coming. That note had me shook from the moment I heard it on the digital ticket and I feel honoured to have heard it in person. Jeff was still her hype man. Jaime’s voice is honestly out of this world, she’s the person I’d most heard sing live but it was still mind blowing. She’s incredible I love her so much. Then Robert came on stage so like, room exploded again. Joey and Lauren should have been on stage doing their bit for show stopping number but again, what do I know? This song was 100% pandering but as much as it’s overhyped it is a good song and Robert fucking killed it, he actually impresses me so much. His voice? He did the hip wiggles, maybe even more than were in the show, and people went absolutely wild for it. He did the working boys bit and of course everyone lost their minds. And I loved it, I loved that atmosphere of everyone being entirely obsessed with every tiny thing these people do because that’s what connects us all. Jon did get to be a working boy (as did Mariah) and sounded great. They actually sang so much of this song holy shit definitely pandering. But they really were giving Hamilton some competition.

Firebringer medley Lauren Walker introduced this one, do I remember what she said? No, I was too busy wondering if they were going to sing Climate Change. They didn’t. You sang three songs from every other show but two from firebringer and one of them wasn’t climate change? Okay sure. This sounds like I’m complaining I’m not this section was still gorgeous and I loved every second of it. Hearing music from firebringer was amazing because it has some of my favourite music from all the starkid shows, and also because apart from TGWDLM which was so recent it’s the only show we hadn’t heard anything from since. They sang we got work to do which again, pandering and not even to what most people actually wanted if we’re being honest. But I’m happy about it because hearing Lauren sing that first line was a spiritual experience. Her voice? No words. So good. Can’t believe I got to hear it live? Properly?!? Also Joey got to be in this bless his heart and I couldn’t stop watching him doing the choreography. Lauren’s little expressions throughout the whole thing are adorable god I love her. Meredith sounded so good. Rachael got so much of a cheer when she sang her bit. Joey comforted Joe after the shadow bit. Then they sang from the proposal bit of the finale. Brian was pretending to be jealous when Meredith was singing to Lauren which made my life, p.s. Joey step up your game. The first time hearing Lauren sing ‘this is the dawn’ literally took my breath away. And with that orchestra!? (Will I ever shut up about the orchestra? The answer is no). The CHEERS for ‘we are womankind’. Hell yeah. And then Lauren did the arm thing like way to literally flex on us Lo. Not okay. They did the little Molag dialogue bit and Denise did the being-blessed-with-knowledge face. Watching Denise off to the side was honestly one of the highlights of the whole show.

TTO medley

Now I’m questioning my memory but I think Jaime went offstage after Firebringer when she wasn’t supposed to because I’m sure I remember her not being on stage for this at first. Like everyone else was there and there was a moment where I was like ‘I feel like someone’s missing...’ and then Jaime walked on late. She did mention Julia having to remind her of her cues. Anyway. Gone to oregon was first and I was reminded what an actually good performer Jeff is. He’s great in that show. Corey got the cheers he deserved at his ‘wisconsin’ bit. Lauren singing Naked in a lake was beautiful. Even if not enough people sang with her when she asked for help (spoiler, we stepped up Friday). She was definitely trying to get us to sing the high bits cause her voice was tired and she didn’t want to but that’s fine. This was one of the songs from that show I really wanted them to sing and I’m glad they did, it’s so much fun. Also Lauren does kinda steal the show but watching everyone else in this song is great. Shoutout to the sax guy, I’m glad we as a fandom always appreciate the band/orchestra. I still can’t believe everyone just lets Lauren sing a whole song about skinny dipping but I’m here for it. Then they did speedrun which was. An experience. Still think Joey should have sung wagon on fire but would I have passed out most likely yes so maybe it was better off this way. I’m glad Rachael got a moment. The ‘faster’ bit was fucking insane I don’t know how they had the breath for it. Everyone clapped pace and I’m pretty sure we clapped faster than the song ever goes so, sorry guys that you had to go through that? I think I have a newfound appreciation for this song. It was either in this or possibly in Naked in a lake that Joey did something stupid and Lo looked at him and shook her head. There were a lot of little looks throughout the show and trying to catch each other’s eye across the stage and it was very cute and probably won’t make the cut even though it should it’s the best part of the show.

Ani medley Moses introduced it and he was wearing like the jacket that’s one of his costumes and he wore in the final SK10 livestream idk you guys I’ve seen that show twice. The Ani band is fucking great, they had Mark, Nick Gage (?? idk there was definitely a fourth person I was mostly watching Meredith let’s be real here), Clark and Meredith all sing. Meredith had the biggest smile on her face at all times it was a joy. Ani is such a fun song so many starkid songs are so fun. Also they added a key change (was it even a key change? I’ve never studied music whatever they did it sounded good.) Actually the whole arrangement of this medley I loved, I hope it makes the people who don’t appreciate the music in this show appreciate it. With my own eyes is my favourite song in that show and I’m very happy they did it. They should have had Denise do her choreo when they did Back on top tbh. I love Meredith in this song though.

Twisted medley Joe came out to introduce it but kept hyping everyone up about Ani first. I really miss Joe he has so much onstage energy. I knew they were doing No one remembers achmed but I was still so excited about it. It’s such a good song. And the whole ‘you ooze sex’ bit in the flesh? That’s all. Obviously the best part was everyone yelling tigerfucker. Experiencing that in person is unbeatable. Then they had Britney and Carlos sing their version of 1001 nights and it was beautiful, I very rarely listen to that version of the song but I should, Britney is unbelievable and I love her so much. I can’t believe she’d just flown in and had such a rough time right before the show, you wouldn’t have known it. Dylan walked out and I kinda thought they were gonna have him and Meredith do a quartet (starkid when are you gonna hire me??) but then he sang ‘and with my wife beside me’ and I was like :’) this is good. That part of the song always gets me and Dylan’s voice is a goddamn gift. I love the overlapping parts at the end of Happy ending too so it’s always a good choice. But why they didn’t sing dream a little harder when Alex was right there I do not know.

HMB medley Pretty sure they had Julia introduce it? Guys it’s been a week gimme a break. Either way she definitely introduced something at some point and I’m glad everyone cheered so much for her because she was the glue of Starkid for a while. Nick Gage sang HMB and they had a reverb (again, is that the right term? not a clue) and he looked so pleased with himself every time we laughed. Then they sang rogues are we (rogues medley would have been better but in fairness that would have ruined the whole thing they had going). I do love Lauren singing we are the harlots and the hussies. A lot. But Denise does it so well. And Jaime’s ‘we’re rising up from the underground’?? I don’t think I have a single thing to say about any of the men in this song and I’m not sorry. Superfriends sounded very cool. It doesn’t matter how many times I see it, I always love the matching tattoos bit, and seeing Meredith’s story afterwards about how she was directing hers at Jade made it even better. I don’t even remember who sang Robin’s lines because I was too busy watching Lauren do the dance, she’s adorable. It was funny watching like five of them doing it cause they were the only ones who had learned it before and the rest not knowing it. Also, I don’t know which makes me happier, when they point into the audience for ‘I wanna be your friend forever’, or when they point at each other. Both are good.

Starship medley Denise introduced the show and um hi I love Denise she’s so cute. She said the thing about her mom calling Starship a show for dreamers and I still think that’s the most adorable thing. I will say for the rest of time that having Alex and Mariah sing Status quo was a weird choice. Also made me pissed that basically no one cheered for Alex but of course everyone went fucking crazy for Mariah. Not even that Mariah didn’t deserve it, but she didn’t deserve it more than Alex. Just saying. It did sound very good with the orchestra and they both have good voices, but I still think we deserved it sounding good with JOEY and the orchestra. I would have died to hear Joey sing that song. Moving on though. Kick it up a notch is always better in rogues medley but I do adore the Jim Brian and Jaime trio anyway. And it’s SUCH a good song. Then they sang I wanna be which I was psyched about I love that song (it was straight from Brant’s verse though like hello what happened to Joey rights). Hearing the older songs makes me wish so much they’d remount them because they all sound so good now it would be amazing. Joey’s voice is legitimately a blessing from the gods.

MAMD medley Brian introduced the show and walked away from the mic before he said dick, which was funny but also reminded me of how they said this would be the most PG show starkid had done which is laughable. Joey did a whole bit in the beginning that reminded me a lot of his jekyll and hyde performance in shitty broadway. I love that man. Again, we deserve a remount of this show if only for Joey’s voice. Then we have maybe the most iconic moment of the thursday show which is when Joe had way too much excitement for his entrance, fucking sprinted on stage, knocked over the mic stand and had to rescue it, spraining his ankle in the process. And recovered BADLY, he was trying to figure out what to say to pull it back and Joey basically had to tell him to just sing already. I feel a little guilty now because it looked pretty bad, but it was really fucking funny. And then the cheer at the head tilt, why do we all love it so much??!? Then Joey sang Listen to your heart with AJ (him and Brian are a better duo fight me). I loved their little added dialogue, with Joey being like ‘do I smell?’ and AJ being like ‘so bad’. I always always love the little dance break Joey is the sweetest boy. I think I remember something like ‘am I doing it?’ ‘not even close Joey’. Then Alle Faye and Ali came out for ready to go and it went from their bit. It was really nice seeing them back together again. It wasn’t like nearly ten years had gone by at all. God it’s weird how nostalgic I was/am for something I wasn’t even there for. The ‘we’re finally ready’ bit sounded so gorgeous with the orchestra, I had it stuck in my head for days. They slowed it down, and we had everyone on stage, and it was just beautiful. The perfect way to end the act, which was over way too soon, and I was already feeling sad about the show nearly being over even though there was so much good to come. Wait how could I forget to mention the ‘my hormones are freaking out’ bit. Fuck all of them for that. Even if I pretty much just watched Lauren with a quick glance at Joey, which is an accurate description of what I did for a lot of the show.

Intermission First quick thing to say, as much as I wish we’d heard some more full songs from the non-Potter shows, I think I like that they kept it separate. The first half was celebrating everything they achieved since where it all started for them, and the second half was pure nostalgia. And even though I wish it wasn’t the case, more people know the potter shows so it was kinda nice that everyone was even more united than they had been for the first half. Secondly, what I should have done during intermission was used the time to recover, because the show was a whole lot of excitement and emotions and I knew it was only going to get worse in the second half. But instead I yelled to the groupchat and met @starkidmelly. More JATP was played, everyone was buzzing, I couldn’t believe I was there. I think it was a long intermission but it did not feel it, Nick came out on stage and it’s like oh shit here we go again.

Nick’s speech He worried me because he said he wanted to take a minute to get sentimental, and I’d already cried a couple of times it was too early in the show to do it again. But then he just talked about the movie Starkid and how it was a bad movie and made us all laugh which I appreciated. What I really did love was how much people cheered for him when he came out, and also for Matt in the audience when Nick shouted him out. Especially on that first night the happiness on Nick’s face at everyone cheering made me want to cry it was so special and he deserves every bit of it and you could tell it still comes as a surprise even now. Also I’ll tag it on now because I don’t remember exactly at what point it was, but at some point in the second act Corey was telling people to stop filming, which kinda made me mad cause they’d asked people not to film and he looked so mad, but was also kinda funny because like, it’s one thing being stopped from filming by an usher but it’s a whole other thing being stopped by Corey Lubowich himself. I probably would have volunteered to leave the theatre if I disappointed Corey like that tbh. But anyway back to Nick, he introduced GBTH with the original cast of AVPM and everyone fucking lost it.

GBTH So you already know what you’re about to be blessed with and then you hear that opening note and people are impossibly screaming even louder and Darren comes onstage and crouches down and it’s like nothing has really changed at all. I’ve been in a room of people singing this song before and it was magical, but this was even more people and even more special. This is where it all started, and there we were ten years later. And it was so surreal actually hearing them sing this in person. Darren put the glasses on and people went insane. The amount of anticipation I felt for Joey’s entrance was ridiculous, and he got the cheers he deserved (almost. he always deserves more). And no matter how many times we see it or how long it’s been it always makes me feel a lot of feelings seeing Darren and Joey on stage singing this together. Joey messed up the floo powder a bit and it was cute. Still iconic. It was deafening when Bonnie came out, which I guess was to be expected we haven’t seen her in nine years. I will say that she did look genuinely happy to be there, and they looked genuinely happy to have her there. Plus the line ‘why do you have to be such a buzzkill’ was so much more funny with the irony of her pretty much bringing the house down. The nostalgia factor ramped up even more here and it was pretty awesome to have that original trio back on stage after so long. Again, so much but simultaneously so little had changed in ten years and trying to articulate those feelings would require a hundred page essay. I didn’t expect them to change the original but I still think they should have kept Lauren’s altered ‘that would be cool’ line. It’s better. But I digress. Jaime got to do her bit and it was a masterpiece. But rest in peace to the whole Cho Chang and Cedric bit, you were deeply missed. Lauren’s entrance, do I even need to say more? Fucking iconic as ever. One of the best moments in all of history. I’m glad they kept in most of the dialogue-y bits although I do not remember what her accent was like. People delivered on ‘whatever I say’ and I love how that’s become our thing. The train bit always makes me emotional, even more so this time with so many people old and new onstage. I always think of Lauren saying she hates the train move but she should have told her face that. Dylan did his entrance from the back of the theatre aka right by us and it was magnificent, he held the note all the way down to the front. They added in the lines about sorting here so Tyler got to do ‘hufflepuffs are particularly good finders’ which was a good choice they did good on that one, Dylan’s ‘what the hell is a hufflepuff’ was drowned out by people still cheering for Tyler, it was a pretty great moment. I may have cried a bit at ‘it’s all that I love and it’s all that I need’. Just a bit. I loved so much that they got everyone to be a part of this song.

Harry Freaking Potter Have I lost all my memories of this song? Maybe. I remember it being amazing. Predictably I watched Lauren a lot, it’s very hard not to she’s so cute when she’s dancing. It’s funny to me how they hold out the mics for the last ‘harry freaking potter’ but most people are already cheering so they get nothing. They should have learned by now.

To Have A Home Was possibly next? I know I got teary again pretty early on in the act (saved the full crying at this song for Friday though stay tuned). I know I’m very far from being the only person who felt the most at home I’ve ever felt. How can you not, surrounded by so much support and mutual love for these incredible people who’ve done so much for us. Starkid is a huge family and it’s tangible in moments like that. And ‘to know this is real’ hits hard. Especially because you can really feel it from Darren, as famous as he is now being on stage with his friends is truly home.

Different As Can Be There’s just something about this song that brings so much energy and Joe and Brian are an iconic duo. And they brought the Quirrelmort vibes strong. Loved everyone shouting ‘prevails’. I’m super glad they did the reprise too. The reaction when they go back to back is incredible. Also, Joe’s ‘Quirrell’ was impeccable.

Coolest Girl I will say to Bonnie’s credit that she did a very good job opening this song, considering how many people were there and how much pressure there must have been seeing as she’s suddenly making a reappearance after so many years. And she did get a lot of love for it. But Meredith coming out to duet with her actually made me cry, she looked so happy and they did a cute little ‘hi’ and I really truly consider this Meredith’s song, even if she didn’t originally sing it, so I’m glad she got to do it. It was a special moment having them sing it together with no resentment or jealousy. And then Meredith confirmed that Bonnie was pregnant again at the end of the song.

Cho Chang Of course Darren sang this. Of course. What would a starkid show be without Darren playing his dumb songs on guitar. But nothing beats a room full of people shout-singing ‘that’s in canada’ (side note, why did this stick so much? every time I saw it on the map when I flew to Canada it’s all I could think of). But also, idk why Darren introduced this song by saying he wanted to test if we knew the words like buddy pretty sure we know the words to your songs better than you do but sure.

Hey Dragon More of Darren playing dumb songs on guitar but this is also a pretty fun song so we’re letting it slide. Also he did say that he didn’t want to do this song and said they should cut it to make time for better songs but that everyone else made him do it, which does not surprise me. He obviously had to call out his own songwriting abilities from ten years ago, it makes me laugh every time he does it but this time he really came for himself with how bad the rhyming was and how the lyrics are dumb. I love that he can’t get through the song without laughing because it is pretty stupid but we love it anyway. They trusted us on the ‘la la la’s and I think we came through.

Granger Danger Okay. OKAY. So after all that Darren was like ‘let’s take it to a school dance’ which did not register for me at all because that song has gone way beyond that and now it’s just Joey and Lauren’s song. But then Darren’s playing it (which I found ??? sweet?? for some reason? idk it was good) and Joey and Lauren are on stage and I’m like here we fucking go. This is what I’m here for. Cannot begin to describe how happy I was to hear this song. I literally had said I refused to die before I heard them sing this live and now it will forever be one of the highlights of my life. The amount of power on that stage. Also the amount of attractiveness. They honestly are a power couple. The most iconic duo singing one of the most iconic songs. Their stage presence just blows me away. And it always makes me feel things too because they’ve done this song so many times and when they were first performing it they had no idea where they’d end up and now they’re fucking living the dream together and I can’t believe how far they’ve come. This is a hole we don’t need to go down though. It absolutely is a crime that they haven’t had more songs together but it does make this one particularly special because it’s fucking THEIR song and there’s no doubt they love performing together and their chemistry is so good anyway anyway I swear I’ll get back on track. This song with the orchestra??!? Holy shit you guys it sounded so good. They managed to take a song I love with every inch of me and make me love it even more. They came out and did a handshake because they’re fucking dorks. My heart genuinely felt like it was about to pump out of my chest, the adrenaline rush from seeing this live was crazy it’s a fucking experience. Joey was remarkably in character when it got to Lauren’s bit but she could not be in character for the life of her when he was singing my god she just did not give a fuck. Her heart eyes were off the charts I swear to god I couldn’t believe that dumb girl. Also Lauren was practically making love to her mic stand half the song which was honestly unnecessary but I love her. And her looking at her crotch murdered me. And then Joey was looking at her for most of the ending and she didn’t look at him once so she sucks. As always the last note was heavenly. When do we get a two hour concert version of this song??

Guys Like Potter Maybe came next? I love the apocalyptour arrangement of this song but it was nice to throw it back to the original and Tyler’s great. Joe tried? We’ll leave it at that.

Wizard Of The Year I think this followed after purely because of AJ saying something like ‘that’s enough about that Potter boy’?? And then he only went and did the whole fucking mouse monologue. And the entire time I was sat there having an internal conflict between ‘this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed’ and ‘they could have used this time to do climate change’. Honestly hearing him pull that out was wild. But then he sang the song and some of the girls came out to do the ‘gilderoy’ bit (which was the best part duh).

To Dance Again The beginning of this song is always iconic. Most important thing to say here is how I’m even more impressed now with Joe’s dancing after seeing what his ankle looked like. Also, hearing all the tapping (thudding) from the audience brings me inexplicable joy. Lauren ran on stage before her cue when Darren came off and had to book it back off and I feel a bit bad immortalising it because I’m sure she’s glad they weren’t filming that night. While we’re on the subject, the Thursday show was a little messy but like, there were no HUGE fuck ups apart from maybe Joe’s in MAMD and it was all surprisingly well rehearsed considering they’d had barely two days of rehearsal and they’re all so so impressive. Still think they should have had a 40 person kickline but the three person Joe Darren and Brosenthal kickline was still pretty good. Also, I remember someone doing a very cool harmony? It maybe sounded like Holden? His voice is underrated.

Sidekick I cannot remember for the life of me if this is actually where this song goes?? I don’t remember if Joey went offstage or not. I just know that he ended up alone on stage and I damn near lost my mind. I know I’ve said it before but Joey’s performance of sidekick genuinely is a show stealer and I never in a million years thought I’d get to see it live so I feel extremely privileged that I did. God bless whoever included this in the setlist you have my eternal thanks. It’s what Joey deserves (and what I deserve). His voice!?! The high notes?!? Still love the irony of Joey singing this song. Classic cheering at ‘am I the hottest’ because yes you fucking are. He messed up a bit and sang ‘am I the one who takes you home’ twice but we love him. He absolutely killed it and being reminded that they’d not long got back from SDCC and finding out he had a fever made me even more impressed because you literally wouldn’t have known it.

Voldemort Is Going Down More on Joey continuing to kill it (but maybe not in this order). It was good to hear this song again, it slaps. And they all sounded so good too. And there was a super cool little piano riff at one point. This song makes everyone so hype I love it so much.

Everything Ends Haha tear time (jk just about managed to save them for Friday). But it is very much when things get sad because you can feel that the show’s coming to a close. This was Robert’s duet with a person he’d never sung with before and it sounded beautiful. We got the return of Joe’s snape voice or am I imagining that? I don’t remember what he said but I’m sure he said something and it probably made me sad. Literally the whole end of the show is just a blur because I couldn’t believe it was almost over so quickly.

Not Alone Jaime. Just, Jaime. Incredible every time she sings this song. Also, so many AVPW feelings because this is what they came out and sang and this song has been extra special to me since. So I was in tears from the get go tbh. God I’m really really really missing AVPW today so this is a lot just thinking about it. And personal feelings about Bonnie and also how much I love newer arrangements of not alone aside, it was unimaginably special to see the original four singing this together again.

Days Of Summer We knew they’d save this to the end (or at least so we thought) but it was still a bit of an asshole move ngl. Like, do you enjoy our suffering? Seeing everyone on stage together singing this song that’s at the heart of starkid, if there was anyone who didn’t cry I applaud them. Darren gave a closing speech where he didn’t thank half the people he needed to because he hadn’t rehearsed. I wish I remembered more of what he said because it wasn’t exactly the same as Friday, it also didn’t make me cry half as much which I guess was a bonus. They did the little going back to hogwarts reprise probably partly to make us all feel a bit better and got everyone on their feet for it and as much as I never know which house to say I still love that moment of everyone yelling their house. Then they had “curtain call”, except they faked us out because Brian stayed on stage with his fist in the air and I’m like okay what are these idiots up to now. And Nick came out to tell him they sang all the songs and Voldemort’s dead, which of course meant ‘dead?! *skips stone*’ and we all needed that laugh. And then Joe came out and they did the ‘okay is good’ bit so I was sad again and god they really messed with our emotions. And everyone came back out and did the not alone reprise and literally stomped all over my heart because ten years ago they did the exact same thing, except now they were on a bigger stage with a bigger audience and a bigger family and they’ve all grown so much and achieved so many amazing things in their careers and their personal lives and they’ve grown up a lot but they’re still these college kids at heart who love performing with their friends and making people laugh and I didn’t want to leave my seat after they all walked offstage because it really felt like my soul had left my body and I was just completely emotionally drained. And unbelievably happy that I was getting to experience it all again the next day.

Friday 26th The one thing I have to say about the line this time round is shoutout to the kid handing out red vines, I don’t know how many people actually wanted one but it made me smile. As we were waiting in the lobby we saw Denise x2 (Joey’s mom still looked like the embodiment of kindness and Denise always seems so happy to be there I love them both).

Anyway when we got to our seats I just sat down and was internally screaming because we were So Close to the stage and I was like how on earth am I going to survive seeing this much beauty. Also I knew that some people had different outfits and I was trying to figure out if Lauren and Joey were wearing the same thing cause that was the most important thing so it was an anxious wait. Then when they came out being that close to the crop top nearly killed me and Joey looked even hotter in that red shirt than he did on Thursday so like, I want that image tattooed on my eyelids.

Oh and we saw MK, Sean, Sarah and Whitney up in the balcony before the show started. This is how the conversation went down... Sophie: is that MK up there? Me: I think so, that looks like Sean Sophie: it doesn’t look like Sean? (spoiler alert, it was Sean)

Also to quickly go back to the live atmosphere, Friday night was INSANE oh my god. Whether it was that it was the last show or whether it was being closer to the stage but the room was absolutely electric, it seemed like so many more people - including me this time - were singing and fucking reciting all the lines like it makes me so happy that we’re all fucking nerds who love these other nerds to death and memorise all their shows. As was my plan, the first night I took everything in and then the second night I just got to enjoy it and make the most of it. So the Thursday show it was kind of like I was observing everything but Friday I was LIVING it, and I really was living. It was a fucking party. And I could anticipate what was coming and it somehow made it even more exciting than witnessing everything fresh for the first time. I was literally sat there having the time of my life for two hours and I hope they all saw it, they would have just seen me with a huge fucking grin the whole time (apart from when I was crying we’re not talking about that rn). Maybe the most fun I’ve ever had. It made all the money I’d spent to get there 10000% worth it because as amazing as the DVD is going to be and you bet I’m getting it (well the digital download shipping’s an outrage), you can’t buy the atmosphere in the room and it was incredible to be there.

Okay y’all know the drill now so this is gonna be quickfire:

Act 1

Seeing everyone doing their crazy eyes in TGWDLM up close was an EXPERIENCE. Jon was a stand out. Also Jaime. Being so much closer the energy was so much higher for Join us and die. I think that was really my main thing about Friday, aside from how emotions were even higher, was how crazy the energy was it was SO MUCH FUN. And Robert is pretty great.

Have I mentioned Lauren’s look nearly killing me? Yes? Good. The gay came out full force in Firebringer. Lo’s talent is out of this world and I feel so lucky to have witnessed it live.

So many more people sang for Lauren in Naked in a lake and she looked so happy my baby. I made eye contact with her at one of the points she was holding the out mic for the audience to sing so I’m glad she saw me (quietly but extremely enthusiastically) singing my heart out for her. Joey made Lauren laugh when they were dancing during speedrun and it’s the most adorable shit I’ve ever seen. Those two are genuinely in their own world half the time they’re on stage together and I live for it.

Carlos wasn’t there this night so I think Dylan should have filled in for his verse of 1001 nights but my ideas are worthless right? Oh have I mentioned how much I live for over a thousand people yelling tigerfucker? And Robert smashed ‘he fucked a tiger’. Also I’m sure they did it the first night too but I noticed even more Denise and Meredith encouraging everyone to cheer when Joe was doing the dialogue bit I adore them.

Brant got so out of time on I wanna be my god Joey looked like he was trying to telepathically tell him to slow down but he never really recovered. But the chaotic energy felt appropriate? It’s not a starkid show without a mess up.

Joe’s MAMD entrance was more controlled this time but honestly it’s a shame the fuck up won’t be on the filmed version because it was definitely a highlight (I hope you’re okay Joe). Mere and Brian had their arms round each other when they were singing ready to go and I was hit with the ‘oh my god they’re getting MARRIED’ feels. Look how far they’ve come. They were also making faces at each other during one song, I don’t remember which one, and giving Joey and Lauren a run for their money for being in their own world. Still not nearly as bad though.

Intermission

I remember even less of this intermission than the first one. I was just in total shock. Also when we came back from the intermission Nick went ‘two people just got engaged’ and almost literally stopped my heart like I KNOW that’s not how it’s gonna happen but where did he expect me to go with it. And then he wanted to be reminded of their names but someone shouted ‘Joe and Traci’ so he had to be like ‘no I’m not talking about them’ which made me laugh a lot.

Act 2

GBTH was somehow even better this time round. It’s actually a spiritual experience. 100% my happy place. Also Joey didn’t have the headband the first night and I didn’t know I needed it until he came out wearing one on Friday, it was weirdly emotional.

To have a home was worse this time around because I had to come to the realisation that I was gonna leave this home behind. That’s always the worst part, it was the same with AVPW, it’s not just that I miss it it’s also that it’s this happy, safe little bubble where everything feels okay and it’s so sad to lose that. So yeah, cried a lot this time. Also Darren went offstage on Thursday too in the instrumental but this time he went offstage and ran round to the other side to come back on which was so much better good job Darren.

When Lo and Joey shook hands for granger danger they both had such cute smiles my HEART. Lauren still had heart eyes for Joey singing, she was just stood there grinning at him the whole time she loves him so much jesus christ. Also she was staring at him when they were both singing the ‘falling in love’ bit just saying. And they got super close to each other for the end but kept alternating looking at the other person and the audience so they were never actually looking at each other and it KILLED me I hate them. I also didn’t even think twice about singing Lauren’s part during granger danger until halfway through oops and now I kind of want to apologise, Mr Joey Richter I love you.

You could tell there were a fair few people in the audience who’d seen one or both of the other shows and knew what was coming so actually shouted out ‘what’s your fantasy’ when AJ was working up to the mouse monologue which made it even better. It was just as insane and funny the second time, but I still couldn’t believe they actually put it in there.

Back to Mr Joey Richter, he brought the house down with sidekick even more than on Thursday. He’s so talented y’all. You’d expect more cheering for ‘am I the one who takes you home’ but the urge for everyone to yell ‘definitely not’ is too much and it cracks me up. And he pointed at the very least in my direction when he sang the last ‘I love being at your side’ so I’ll take it for SURE.

They got everyone standing even earlier on in the show (during voldemort is going down) and I just felt a sense of elation, the whole show but at this point in particular, because everyone was there having a fucking amazing time and pouring out so much love, from our direction and from theirs, and I feel like that song really does do what it’s supposed to and make us feel united.

Everything ends made me cry a lot because it actually was the end this time, and starkid have some fucking heart wrenching goodbye songs that are supposed to make you feel better but really don’t at all. Not alone made me cry more, obviously. Days of summer was so much worse because it really was goodbye, me having to say goodbye to seeing them and one of the best experiences of my life, them having to say goodbye to each other. SO. MANY. TEARS.

Random point, Lauren looked so fucking cute when she came out in her varsity jacket with the sleeves pushed up because it was too big for her I just wanted to hug her.

Joey and Lauren kept looking at each other during Darren’s speech, Joey in particular kept trying to catch Lo’s eye which killed me he’s too soft. And Lauren pulled a face at the mention of a twenty year reunion like she felt way too old for that and he was smiling at her I hate them.

There were a lot of tears, Joey and Tiffany especially and Lauren pulled her trying not to cry face. In the speech Darren said something about starkid bringing about this group of friends and Joey’s wide eyed already-crying-but-trying-not-to-cry-even-more-face was both heartbreaking and funny and I hope it makes it onto the DVD. I don’t remember much else of the speech other than that it was incredibly emotional and it very well summed up a lot of what we were all feeling about the show and how special starkid was. Also I made eye contact with Joey when we were both crying and we smiled at each other (tried to) and honestly that was a bonding moment for us.

And we saw Bob and Denise on our way out which caused a whole lot more feelings because those are their kids up there performing with all their other honorary kids and yep we’re done here.

I don’t really know how to bring this all to a neat end. I don’t really think there is one. It’s an experience that can’t fully be put into words, the emotions it brought up aren’t ones that I can properly label, and it’s going to stick with me forever. But it was a reminder of how special starkid is. Watching their shows at home, scrolling through their social media, of course it brings me so much joy it’s my reason for living. But getting to see them live and feel the impact they’ve had on so many people? Getting to do it with a friend I made because of them? I just wish I had the words or the time to give them the thanks I wish I could. I really hope they felt the sheer, deep love we all feel for them over those two days.

Anyway, I know this was way too long and half of it wasn’t information people care about but I’m done now. And I’m so excited for the DVD and (hopefully) album so I can experience it all again!

#homecoming spoilers

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maylovexhs · 5 years

Text

everytime - BETTER BY MYSELF(Chp. 8)

Author’s Note: Listen to Hey Violet’s Better By Myself while reading this. I included it in this chapter(hence the title). To catch up on everytime, click here. As always I love your feedback and hope you enjoy! Love, M.

June 10, 2019. LA.

“There may be something in the water over here in California's got me feeling like I'm better off alone” I sang. “Maybe it's the way you used me, watered down my love, abused me and you always criticized me on the phone”

Ooh, ah

I turned my head to the right side. I opened my eyes, taking a glimpse of Harry laying down on the lounge chair next to me. He looked glowing through my orange sunglasses and with the sun shining down on him.

Harry turned on his side, looking back at me. He squinted his eyes, smirking at me.

Would you kill me if I told you that I never wanna speak to you ‘cause when I'm on my own, I feel alive

“Hi” I said to him, smiling.

“Hi” Harry smiled at me. “How’s your sun tan?”

“Going well” I told him. “Got distracted by you though”

And there's nothing wrong with crying

But my empathy is dying

'Cause we never were that good, we'd always fight

“Me?” Harry asked. “Why’s that?”

“Because you look pretty” I said.

I'm better by myself

Harry closed his eyes, smiling and blushing.

I'm better when there's no you in my life. I'm better by myself

Harry laid back on the chair.

Yup, I was spending the day with Harry. Ever since my fight with Ali over the phone, her and I were no longer speaking. Sure, last week I may have missed talking to her during interviews but now, I felt happy that she was out of my life. She and her negative attitude was out of my life and now I could move forward with mine. I finally could spend it with people who made me feel great and wouldn’t rain on my parade, unlike her.

“Who sings this?” Harry asked, changing topics.

“Hey Violet” I told him. “They’re opening for me for my UK leg”

“They are?” Harry asked me. “Even for Wembley?”

“No, no” I shook my head. “After Wembley, they are”

I sat up in the chair. I took my sunglasses off and placed them next to me. I looked to Harry.

“Are you coming to Wembley?” I asked him. “Or are you still going to be here?”

Harry turned his head to me, squinting his eyes at me.

“Of course, I’m coming” Harry smiled at me.

“What kind of friend would I be if I missed your opening show?”

“Worse than Ali” I told him.

Harry raised his eyebrow at me.

“Alright, maybe worse than Ali” I said.

Harry sat up in his chair.

“Listen, I’m only asking because I don’t want to get my hopes up for nothing” I explained. “I know you are probably going to busy with your new album to come – which is absolutely fine by the way, but I don’t-“

“I’m coming, Y/N” Harry said, cutting me off. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world”

I raised my eyebrow at him.

“You’re not coming to Radio City, are you?” I asked him.

Harry looked down, smiling. He looked back up to me.

“I told you before” Harry said. “It’s a maybe”

I rolled my eyes at his answer. I stood up from the chair and walked to the edge of the pool. I sat down on the edge of the pool before jumping in. The water reached up to beneath my breasts. I moved in the water to grab a pool noodle.

“Are you going to talk to Ali?” Harry asked me.

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

I turned to Harry while rested my arms on the noodle.

“I mean,” Harry began to speak, looking at me. “Do you want to talk to her? She’s your best friend”

“Was my best friend” I corrected him. “And why would I talk to her when all she does is bring me down? Besides, I have other friends”

“Which are?” Harry asked, raising his eyebrow at me.

“I have Adam” I said. “I have you, Adrian, Sophia, Isabella, Jie Lin, Lily, Jess, Rosé and Ezra. I have more friends than her”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows at me.

“Y/N. . .I only met half of those people” Harry said.

“Maybe because I didn’t want you to meet the other half” I said to him.

Harry smirked at me. He stood up from the chair and sat down on the edge of the pool, dipping his feet in only. The bottom end of his shorts touched the water for a second.

“Why not?” Harry asked me. “Did Ali meet all of them?”

“Yeah” I answered them. “And you would too if you stuck around in Brooklyn more often with me. All my close friends are in Brooklyn”

Harry grinned at me. I squinted my eyes at him, suspected he had got an idea.

“What are you thinking of?” I asked him.

“Nothing” Harry said, shaking his head. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

I raised my eyebrow at him as he changed topics again.

“Adam’s coming tomorrow” I answered him. “And I also have my photo shoot for Paper Magazine”

Harry smiled at me, in surprise.

“Paper Magazine?” Harry asked me. “Right after doing Vogue? You really are pulling out all the stops you can”

“Just wait until my episode of lip sync battle airs” I teased him. “Performed Gaga’s Paparazzi and had fake blood on me. Kinda liked it though”

Harry leaned back, resting his hands on the concrete.

“Well, I’ll be in the studio” Harry said. “Finishing my album“

“Speaking of your album,” I said. “When is it coming by the way? It’s been like, what, two years?”

“It’s coming” Harry said. “Soon”

“Soon can mean anything, H” I told him. “Is it coming July? August?”

“September” Harry answered me. “September or October”

“After the Grammy deadline?” I asked him. “Are you releasing the single before though?”

“Maybe” Harry said.

I stared at him, raising my eyebrow at him.

“Maybe?” I said. “It’s a yes or no question”

“Yes” Harry said. “Happy?”

I smiled, nodding my head at him.

“Yup” I said. “Can’t wait to hear it.”

“Can’t wait for you to hear it” Harry said. “You’re my most honest critic”

“Probably because I’m your only honest critic” I said to him.

Harry smiled at me.

“Exactly”

. . .

“Can you move your head back a bit?” The photographer asked me.

I leaned my head back more on the wall, showing more of my neck.

“Perfect” He said. “Keep the pose. Can you bat your eyes again?”

I blinked, batting my eyes at the camera above me. I softly pulled on the phone’s cord as I puckered my lips. The camera flashed at me.

“Good” He said. “Look to the side and gasp”

I titled my head a little to the side, trying not to hide the side of my face. I parted my lips and pulled more on the cord. The camera flashed at me again.

Despite never doing a provocative photo shoot before, I had to admit it was fun doing one. Not that I never wanted to do a controversial photoshoot before – I definitely wanted to do a crazy photoshoot at several points during my ten year career, it’s just I never had the chance to. Well, I had the chance to but I never took because everyone on my team thought it would clash with my image or at least with my album aesthetic. For example, for my first album, I was seen as the girl next door to everyone. For my second album, I was a music darling and for my last and third album, I was the golden girl. In the last ten years, no one would let me pose in a swimsuit and a leather jacket as a camera shot me. But now, I could.

“Turn your head back to the camera” The photographer said. “But keep the same facial expression”

I turned my head back to the camera. I batted my eyes as shots were taken of me.

No one could tell me what to do now. Ever since I started writing my album, I didn’t care about what others taught of me. All I cared was doing what I loved and what I wanted to put out to the world. No one’s opinion mattered to me anymore. Besides, my paper magazine photoshoot seemed less controversial than my upcoming single. I mean, I was releasing a political song next week. I officially reached my tolerance for anyone else’s thoughts.

“Y/N” Lisa called my name.

I turned my head to the side to see her standing between some producers. I saw my phone was ringing in her hands.

“What?” I asked her.

“It’s Adam” Lisa said. “It’s the third time he’s calling. It seems important”

I sat up and placed the prop phone on the ground.

“It will take a moment” I said to the photographer.

I walked over to Lisa and took my phone from her. I answered it and held it to my ear. I slowly walked away from the set.

“Hey” I said into the phone. “I was in the middle of a photoshoot”

“Yeah, I know” Adam said. “I needed to tell you I can’t come tomorrow”

“What? Why?” I asked him. “Did anything happen?”

“Yeah” Adam said. “AJ has a fever. Alicia and I think it’s better if I stayed here in case he gets worse”

“Okay” I said, nodding. “It’s no problem. Family comes first”

“You’re not mad?” Adam asked me. “You were excited for me to come”

“I was” I said. “But you’re a sad. Your first priority is supposed to be your son. I know that’s going to get in the way of us spending time together sometimes”

“Sometimes it sucks” Adam said.

“But it’s worth it” I said back. “I’ll just see you in New York”

“Yeah” Adam said. “In New York. I’ll definitely make it up to you”

I blushed.

“I have to get back to the shoot” I said to him. “I’ll call you later”

“Okay” Adam said. “Bye Y/N”

“Bye” I said.

I moved the phone from my ear and ended my phone call with Adam. I looked down at my screen. I unlocked my phone and went to my recent calls. I pressed on Harry’s name. I held my phone back to my ear. I heard some ringing before Harry picked up the call.

“H,” I said. “What are you doing tonight?”

#hs fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #hs imagines #hs imagine #hs au #harrystyles au #harry styles au #everytime HS

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mklljhnn-blog · 4 years

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MIKAELLA JOHANNA J. CUNANAN

POCKET BOOK

Performance Task

HOPE

There was a girl named Marga who dreamt to represent the Philippines in competing Taekwondo. She is 18 years old and in freshman years of college. Her life is simple just like any normal student. She is jolly that people around her aren't aware of her condition. Marga has depression and her family does not know about it, only her best friend and her boy friend. She didn’t even bother to tell her condition to her parents since her parents are always busy managing their business. When they are together in their house house, her parents are always arguing. It affected her a lot since she is a soft person. Despite being depressed, she never let it affect her grades and always do her best to excel academically.

She has a best friend named Erika which she knew since high school. She also has boy friend named Aj. They are the ones who knew the condition of Marga. They are the ones who make Marga calm when her depression is attacking her.

Sir Kevin taught the students basic self defense to protect themselves whenever they feel the need to do so.

The session ended swiftly. The whole class was tired but their faces tells that they enjoyed every bit of the lesson.

"So guys, thank you for cooperation, I hope you learned a lot from me, I’m glad that I teach you guys" Sir Kevin gladly said.

"Thank you sir Kevin!" the whole class shouted out of joy and excitement.

"That’s all for today class, see you next meeting, class dismiss"

"bye sir!” The class ended with a bliss. Shortly after the class was dismissed, most of the students are leaving the gym. Before Marga’s group could leave, Sir Ivan approached her in a polite manner,"Marga? Can we talk to you for a while?"

"sure sir” Marga replied. She turned to her friend and his boyfriend, "Erika and Aj just wait for me in a bench near in gate”. The two said okay and proceeded outside the gym. As the two walk away, Marga watched them walk together. It is not a big deal for her but she notice that they are too close to each other. She had a gut feeling but ignored it and focused on what Sir Ivan and Sir Kevin saying.

"Marga, Sir Kevin need to tell you something" Sir Ivan told her with a pleasing smile. Marga cannot help but become nervous. ‘What could it be?’ she asked herself.

"What is it sir?" she asked to them looking clueless.

"I noticed that you have a potential in taekwondo and I need a student like you" Sir Kevin uttered with a smile. The instructor was amazed by Marga’s overflowing potential in the sport. He cannot help but ask "Would you like to be part of my team?"

Marga was shocked and flattered at the same time. It was the first time she was recognized by her own skill. Due to the unexplainable feelings towards the instructor’s praise, she replied "Sir, can I think about it first?" She does not know where to start and how will she evaluate herself. ‘Will I be okay if I accept it now? Can I do it?’ some of the questions she asked herself.

"Sure, I’m not rushing you, here’s my calling card, call me if you have an answer okay?" Sir Kevin replied with a reassuring smile. He handed her his calling card before leaving Marga’s astonished face.

After that short conversation, Marga went to the bench where Erika and Aj were waiting. She was planning to surprise them not knowing she would be the one to be surprised by what she is going to hear. “Until when will we hide this?" Erika asked Aj, full of confusion and pain in her voice. “Not now Erika. You know that Marga is not okay, I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. My conscience will kill me if something happens to her because of us" Aj replied in a calm yet aggressive tone.

After hearing those words, Marga ran as fast as she could, away from the two people who betrayed her. She reached a place where no one else is around. She cried. She didn’t know what to do. Her depression is attacking her and nothing seems to be right at that moment. Shortly after, she reached for the cutter in her bag. She started cutting herself. It was painful yet it brings her unexplainable enjoyment and calmness. It is as if by doing it, the emotional pain gradually disappears. Physical pain is really nothing compared to emotional and mental pain every one is suffering. She was overthinking. It began to rain. She has no umbrella. She is alone in a space of sadness and helplessness. After the rain stopped pouring, she went home.

When she reached her house she heard her parents arguing. She immediately went to her room and locked herself. She stayed there for two weeks. She did not go to school nor talk to her parents or anyone. She thinks her life is a mess. One day, her parents visited her to her room and talked to her "Marga? Are you okay sweetie?" her mom worriedly asked.

Marga did not respond. The whole room was filled with deafening silence. Her father broke the silence and asked her "What’s wrong? Your prof called us and told us you’re absent for two weeks" Her parents were worried. They cannot figure out what was wrong with their beloved daughter.

"Mom, dad sorry" Marga suddenly burst out, crying. "What happened?" her mom asked, becoming more worried. Marga opened everything to her parents. She told them the reason why she became distant, as well as her suicidal tendencies. Her parents cannot help but feel sad and disappointed in their self. They thought they were a failure as Marga’s parents.

"Sorry sweetie, we did not know that you’re suffering right now" her mom uttered in an almost inaudible voice. Marga’s mom is so close to crying.

"Sorry for not noticing. Don’t worry, your mom and I are okay now, we already talked about it" her dad reassured her and hugged them both. The hug made them cry. They cried and cried until the pain was gone.

"So what’s you plan?" her mom asked her. Marga sighed, “To be honest, I don’t know, I want to forget everything, I trusted them but they betrayed me".

"Why don’t you focus on other things?" her mom suggested. She looked at them, confused, “like what?” she asked.

"Sports?" Once she heard that from her father, she remembered the offer of Sir Kevin. After further consultation from her parents and their heartwarming drama, she immediately called Sir Kevin.

Marga spoke as soon as she heard Sir Kevin said hello

"Good evening sir, this is Marga, I was thinking of accepting your offer. Is it still available?"

After that night, she continued to study at the same time training in High Power. Her life was back to normal but unlike before, her bestfriend and boyfriend are now strangers.

Two long years after accepting Sir Kevin’s offer, Marga is now proudly representing the Philippines in a match in Korea. In two years of training, she became an official part of High Power and was held as the best student of Sir Kevin. She won numerous times and she had overcome all of her struggles.

"Marga, just enjoy the match okay? Goodluck" Sir Kevin cheered before the competition starts.

"Thank you coach" Marga replied with a smile, hiding her nervousness.

The competition was fierce but as the buzzer beats, the whole room was filled with shouts and overflowing joy.

“I won! Coach! I won!" Marga said happily. She was never this happy. The sense of fulfillment crippled throughout her body. The crowd happily cheered for her especially her team, "Good job Marga, we, the team and your supporters is so proud of you" sir Kevin shouted enough for her to hear.

After the competition in Korea, they went back in the Philippines to celebrate with their families. Upon their arrival at the airport, various media outlets were waiting for them.

"Marga, the press wants to have an interview with you, be prepared okay?" Sir Kevin told Marga. Marga was the main talk of the country when she won the title for the first time in history of the Philippines. She was a Filipino pride. She nodded in response.

During the interview, she cannot help but feel uneasy. The uneasiness subsided when the team smiled and cheered for her.

"Good morning Ms. Marga"

"Good morning" she replied with her brightest smile.

"How are you feeling today?" the interviewer asked. She started to evaluate herself, was she good? Was she happy? A smile formed on her lips. “I’m good” she replied.

"Can you tell us your experience in competing in Korea? What you feel while you’re feeling before, during and after the match?" the interviewer asked, intrigued by Marga’s success.

"To be honest I was nervous before the competition started because this is my first time to represent the Philippines. It was a big opportunity for me and I know that many Filipino are watching but that nervousness slowly faded because I remembered what my coach has been telling me, to enjoy the match. I pit in my mind that it’s not a competition but rather a friendly match. After the match when they announce the winner, I will always be shocked because they will call my name. It never came to me that I will win" marga said happily and with pride in her voice.

"So what can you say to your supporters Marga?"

"I just want to thank them for praying and supporting me, im so blessed to have them" she said with a bliss. She recalled the times when she thought she has no one but in reality, she has undying support from her number one supporters, her parents.

"What is your message to those people who idolizing you?" another interviewer asked.

Marga offered a slight smile and uttered, "I want you guys to believe in yourself even if it impossible. In this world nothing is impossible. Before I’m also a simple student who dream to represent my country and now here I am, I represent and got the gold medal for the country. Don’t give up, be brave to face the challenges in your life because it can makes you a better and strong person, that’s all"

The press were moved by her message. The interview session ended and they thanked Marga for her time. Likewise, Marga thanked them and offered them a big smile before bidding good bye.

Pre Test

1. Is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act.

A. Depression B.Anxiety C. Bipolar

2. Is one of the most systematic and scientific Korean traditional martial arts, that teaches more than physical fighting skills.

A. Judo B.Taekwondo C. Karate

3. In a way that shows intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval.

A.Enthusiastically B.Eagerly C.Inwillingly

4. Surprise or impress someone greatly.

A. Impassive B. Incurious C.Astonish

5. The achievement of something desired, promised, or predicted.

A. Delinquency B.Fulfillment C. Neglect

Post Test

1.Who is the main character in the story? 2. What is Marga’s condition?

3. Why Marga couldn’t talk to her parents about her condition? 4. Who is Marga’s bestfriend and boyfriend?

5. What sport that Sir Kevin offered to her? 6. What happen to Marga when the time she knew that her bestfriend and boyfriend betrayed her? 7. Who is the person that Marga told everything? 8. What advice did her parents told to her? 9. What happen to her after she talk to her parents? 10. What can you say about the story?

04-21-20

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queen-scribbles · 4 years

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Character Interview-Mallory

Tagged by @haledamage, who wants to see one of my Wayhaven girls specifically. I’m all too happy to oblige(actually was planning on doing it with at least AJ and Mallory at some point anyway, so being tagged just bumped it up the priority list ;D) Fabulous new art courtesy of lovonne

1. What is your name?

“Mallory Denney.” She gives a slight nod and sits with her hands folded on her desk. “Nice to meet you, I suppose.” While the words sound true enough, she looks less than entirely comfortable with the prospect of being interviewed.

2. Do you know why are you named that?

She smiles slightly, fondly, the stiffness fading from her shoulders. “I think Mum just liked the name Mallory, and Dad was so in love with her and excited to be starting a family he agreed. My middle name’s for his mum, though. I do know that for sure.” The smile shifts more toward wry. “Of course, given… some recent events, having a name that means unlucky seems more than a tad ironic.”

3. Are you single or taken?

The stiffness is back and she shifts ever so slightly in her chair, gaze dropping to her hands as one thumb picks at the other. “I… That doesn’t seem relevant. But, to humor you, I’ll say work is important, and I have a lot on my plate, especially as liaison to the Agency, so there’s not really time for anyone outside that.” She glances at her computer screen. “Which I suppose would make my answer that I am single.”

4. Have any abilities or powers?

She almost seems relieved at the change in topic. “I know a couple different martial arts, so I can handle myself quite well in a fight. I’m a bloody good shot, very determined, and quite good at deductive reasoning.” She snorts softly. “Much as I wanted to join the army, I do have to admit to being well-suited to my current career.”

5. Stop being a Mary Sue.

She cocks her head, arching one brow, and laughs. “If you think I’m lacking in flaws, I can give you the names of several people who will be all too happy to change your mind.”

6. What’s your eye color?

“Hazel.” She gestures vaguely toward her face. “They trend toward the green end of the spectrum most days, but under certain conditions I’m told they’re more golden-brown.” A wistful look flashes through her eyes, there and gone so fast it would be easy to miss. “Mum says they remind her of Dad’s.”

7. How about your hair color?

“Black.” She runs one hand through the loose, silky waves that hang down her back, gathering them forward over her shoulder with a half-twist. “That I got from Mum.”

8. Have any family members?

“There’s Mum, but she’s the only one I’m close to, however tricky that’s been with her job.” She rolls her eyes. “A few relatives from Dad’s side who’ve stayed just enough in touch they felt free to make their opinions known when I started planning to join the army….” A snort. “Probably why I don’t talk to them much any more.”

9. Oh? How about pets?

She shakes her head. “I’ve thought about it a couple times, but I work such long hours it wouldn’t be fair to a dog, I’m allergic to cats, and my immediate neighbors are not the type to enjoy knowing there’s a rodent or snake living next door, so those are out in consideration of them.” She absently gathers her hair in a loose ponytail, which she leaves hanging over her shoulder. “I did come rather close to getting a bearded dragon, but they grow enough to require a tank larger than I’ve room for.”

10. That’s cool, I guess. Now, tell me something you don’t like?

“Being lied to. Being used. My authority and/or competence being questioned.” A wry smile twists her lips. “Being treated like a bloody child, usually just b’cause I’m shorter than most.”

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?

“The martial arts I mentioned are both for self defense and enjoyment.” She cracks her knuckles, thinks moment. “People watching, camping, sports or exercise of any kind, really, but particularly swimming.”

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?

“Certainly,” she shrugs. “Both professionally and personally. Some I regret, others” --she smirks--”Others I do not.”

13. Ever… killed anyone before?

“Not so far, though I have come close on a couple occasions.” There’s a flicker in her eye that hints at this not strictly applying to the line of duty.

14. What kind of animal are you?

“I have been informed on many occasions that I remind people of a wolf. It’s not always meant in a complimentary fashion.” She shrugs. “If that’s the case, I I would like to further clarify that I am either a lone wolf or an alpha; fine working on my own or with a team, but in the latter case, definitely prefer being in charge.”

15. Name your worst habits?

“I’m too stubborn by half, short tempered besides, and competitive enough for it to be my undoing someday” She smirks. “There’s more, but those are the worst.”

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

“Mum, obviously. Her job’s not easy, but she does it to keep people safe. And she’s done her best to keep in touch with me despite it keeping her busy and being a massive bloody secret.” She runs her finger over a slender ring that circles her pinkie. “We’re not always as successful at keeping in touch as we’d like to be, but it’s enough. I know she cares, and she’s doing a damn hard job. Can’t help but admire that.” She thinks for a second. “I also admire Tina’s optimism and Felix’s cheerfulness, even if I can’t quite share them.”

She leans back in her chair, staring at the ceiling and clearly biting the inside of her cheek as she wrestles internally with something, before sitting forward again with a groan. “Never, ever tell him I said this--and I mean EVER--but….. despite how arrogant and condescending he can be, Adam’s commitment to protecting people no matter how low his personal opinion of them is extremely admirable.” She groans again and tugs on her ponytail. “I’ve had to do that before, just once and for only a couple days. It’s hard, especially when the person you’re protecting validates your opinion.”

17. Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

“Straight.” She arches a mildly judgmental brow. “Not that I see why it matters.”

18. Did you attend school?

“I did. University was a struggle, if I’m honest; I’m more of a hands-on learner than a classroom type, so voluntarily doing the latter was… not the most enjoyable experience.”

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?

“It’s not something I’ve ever really thought about, if I’m honest.” She purses her lips. “I don’t have a problem with the idea of a family, but I would be worried about putting any children through the experience of losing a parent in the line of duty, having been through that myself. I suppose you could say I haven’t ruled it out, but it would require a lot of careful consideration before I actually did it.”

20. Do you have any fangirls/fanboys?

Her gaze narrows and darts toward the front desk, specifically the young officer slouching in the chair to play some sort of game on his phone. “Unfortunately.”

21. What are you most afraid of?

Her expression closes off, face going rigidly neutral, save the dark look in her eyes. “Failing at my job. I’m supposed to protect people.” She rubs her arms, gaze going distant as she murmurs, “and there is no feeling in this world more awful than not being able to do that.”

22. What do you usually wear?

She shrugs, relieved at the lighter topic, but something still lingers in her eyes. “Something practical and comfortable. Usually that means something like this”--she gestures at her t-shirt and cargo trousers-- “with Old Faithful there and a pair of sturdy boots.” She nods toward the beat-up and clearly well-loved leather jacket hanging on a hook by the office door.

23. What’s one food that tempts you?

“Anything from Haley’s Bakery,” she says with a wry smile. “I realize that’s far more than one food, but, really, that woman is entirely too good at what she does. I suppose if I had to pick just one, though…. Strawberry rhubarb pie.”

24. Am I annoying you?

She presses her lips together and arches a brow. “No comment. Captain Sung thinks this is a good idea for PR, so it doesn’t really matter what I think about it, does it?””

25. Well, it’s still not over!

She flicks one wrist in a semi-dismissive gesture. “Then let’s keep going.”

26. What class are you (low/middle/high)?

Her brow furrows in thought. “I believe we would count as middle? Not scrambling to make ends meet or anything, but I’m not exactly rolling in money, either.”

27. How many friends do you have?

“Not many.” That wry smile is back again. “I’m not particularly social, and not the easiest person to get along with, both of which are rather significant obstacles to a large circle of friends.” She pauses, lips moving as she silently counts. “At least four, though.”

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

“Pie?” She cocks her head. “Depends on who made it. If it’s one of Haley’s, I’ll eat the entire thing myself, regardless of type.”

29. Favorite drink?

“Tea, particularly a good strong cinnamon chai black tea.”

30. What’s your favorite place?

“The gym.” She cracks her knuckles. “Working out’s my preferred method for handling stress, thinking through problems, things like that.”

31. Are you interested in anyone?

Her expression locks down again, but her ears are going red under her hair. “I… We already established that I’m single and too busy to change that, didn’t we? That I don’t have bloody time for anything outside detective work and the Agency.” The fingers of one hand curl against the opposite bicep and a muscle in her jaw twitches. She shakes her head to pull out of the encroaching memory and arches a brow. “Who would you imagine I’m interested in, anyway?”

32. That was a stupid question…

“I wouldn’t call it stupid,” she says carefully. “Perhaps redundant. I know personal details are a large part of what interests people in interviews and articles.”

33. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

“A lake, I suppose,” she replies after a moment’s thought. “Riptides are bloody terrifying, and they’re not a threat in a lake. Unless it’s a very large lake.”

34. What’s your type?

She clears her throat and glances toward her computer screen as if hoping for a distraction. “You’re really determined to get something about my love life out of me, aren’t you?” She sighs. “My type… Honest. Stands by his convictions, willing to protect people, no matter how thankless a job it can be at times. Y’know the saying about actions speaking louder than words? Someone like that, who’s more interested in doing the right thing than just saying the right thing.” She makes a face. “I dated a sweet talker at university; pretty words do not a good relationship make. Trust me. Other than that… Green eyes are nice. Unless they belong to arrogant, condescending blonds who think they belong in charge by default and refuse to let anyone get a word in edgewise.” Despite her scowl and the tight set of her jaw, there’s no real heat behind the words.

35. Any fetishes?

She smiles, gives a small shake of her head. “Sorry if that disappoints you.”

36. Camping or outdoors?

“Both are quite fun, though I’m confused by that ‘or’ as camping usually takes place outdoors, doesn’t it?” she says playfully. “I do enjoy outdoor activities like hiking and such. The woods around here are quite lovely and peaceful, for the most part. And I love camping.”

Her computer chimes and she glances toward the screen. Her expression turns serious at whatever she reads. “Unfortunately, I have some important, time sensitive information I need to discuss with our pathologist, so we’ll have to end things there. I hope what we got through is sufficient, and I trust you can see yourself out.”

Without waiting for confirmation or farewell pleasantries, she closes out her email, grabs a file from her desk and her jacket from its hook by the door, and is gone toward the basement steps.

#tagged #character interview #mallory denney #twc #the wayhaven chronicles #this is either between book one and two or very early book two #how many different ways can she attempt to skirt admitting she *likes* the 'arrogant condescending blond?' :D #the answer may surprise you #there was some other note i wanted to add but i can't remember now shoot #oh well

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hqhaleyluhoo-archive · 5 years

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the big day.

TAGGING: Cole @hqcolem, Haley.

LOCATION: Sedona, AZ.

TIMEFRAME: June 8th, 2019.

NOTES: Haley and Cole catch up on her big day and dance with Maiya and Maxwell.

Haley was wiping at her eyes as AJ finished up her speech right after Keegan's. She took a sip from her champagne flute and pressed a kiss to Brett's cheek before standing up to hug AJ. When they pulled away from the hug and AJ went over to hug Brett, Haley decided it was a good time to make her rounds at the reception. There were so many people here and she wanted to be sure she was able to talk to just about everyone but still enjoy herself. After visiting with some of her family members she spotted Cole standing at the bar, probably getting another drink for himself and Lili. "Hey buddy," she exclaimed excitedly, stepping up right next to him with a big smile on her face. "Having fun?" she asked.

Cole Seated at the table, Cole had been having a lot of fun at Haley and Brett's wedding. The ceremony had been beautiful, the speeches at the reception had been funny and honest. Cole couldn't have thought of a more Haley/Brett celebration if he had tried. He'd spent a lot of night with the other groomsmen, Keegan and himself bonding over their shared love of photography and the cameras they'd both bought, his which was hanging from his neck. Standing at the bar, Cole was just waiting there when he heard Haley and turned around to face her, moving his camera so he could hug her. He hadn't really had much time to actually talk to her yet, wanting to wait a bit so she wasn't overwhelmed. "Hey! Congratulations! You look amazing" he told her "I'm having a great time actually!" He replied. "How are you? Are you having fun?

Haley smiled, leaning forward to hug Cole. She took a breath as they pulled away from each other, feeling like this was the first moment she had had to relax all day. She wouldn't have traded any part of this day for anything and she was having so much fun, but it was also all just a bit exhausting. Sure, she had sat for the speeches but still, everyone's eyes were on her and it felt like she wasn't truly able to relax. She knew Brett could sense this which is why he had held onto her hand and brushed his thumb against it to help her relax when they had been sitting there. Now though, she had talked to most of their guests and could finally catch her breath. "Thanks, bud!" she replied with a smile, looking down at her dress when he complimented her, "Oh, this old thing? Yeah, I look pretty good," she teased with a laugh. "Glad to hear it! Yeah, I'm having fun! It's all a bit exhausting, but I'm ready to eat and then get my butt out on that dance floor."

Cole "You're welcome" Cole responded, watching Haley for a moment. She seemed a bit dazed and Cole couldn't really blame her. He'd only been a groomsmen and yet the whole day had been one thing after another. It was fun and Cole was glad that Haley was having a good time but he was glad that everyone seemed able to relax more at the reception and have a enjoy themselves. "Which is really all the best bits of the wedding. The food and the dancing?" He asked her, turning to the bartender for a second and procuring two glasses of champagne. "I feel like we just had a dozen of these, toasting you guys, but I figure one more doesn't hurt right? Are you keeping count of how many you've had or?" Cole took a sip of the sweet champagne, it wasn't something he usually drank, except at events like these so it was always really nice to have something different "I talked to your grandma too like I said I would. She's great"

Haley "It honestly is, I'm just glad we kept the ceremony short and sweet, any longer and I would've been all antsy," she replied with a giggle. "One more definitely doesn't hurt," she assured him, taking a sip of the glass that he handed her. "Not really... we had some champagne before the ceremony and I also took a shot just for the heck of it," she laughed. "I'll probably be feeling it soon, but I'll be sure to stay hydrated and stuff myself with food so I'm not a sloppy mess right away," Haley added, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Aw, I bet she loved that," she replied with a grin. "What did you two talk about?" she asked.

Cole "I'm proud of you, you didn't get distracted once" Cole teased. It was actually one of the things that Cole loved best about Haley. Her ability to have a hundred thoughts going through her head at once, it always made for a really fun time because you never knew what she was thinking about. The ceremony being a little shorter was nice too, some weddings went on forever and sort of lost the magic. "I think taking a shot is probably a good idea, it'll have calmed your nerves a little bit at least" He took another sip from his glass before setting it to the side. "Well, I was going to give her the speech I promised you I was going to tell her but mostly we just ended up talking about you. You're a lot more alike than I thought. She's really interesting too actually"

Haley grinned, “I just stayed focused on Brett, that kept me from being distracted,” she answered honestly. For the first time in her whole life, she had only been thinking about one thing all day and that was Brett. He was what mattered the most today. “Yeah, it definitely helped, I’d recommend it on your wedding day,” she added with a smile. Haley took a second sip from her champagne and smiled as a Cole spoke of her grandma. “She’s a wonderful lady,” Haley responded with a nod. “Are you going to give /me/ the speech?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Cole: "That's probably a smart decision honestly. Besides, it's your wedding day, you can be as selfish as you like" Cole spoke. So far, in his opinion, the wedding and the reception was going well. Everyone else seemed to be having a good time, people were mingling and dancing, the atmosphere was fun and light. "No" he grinned, sipping coyly from his glass. "I never actually wrote one. I was just going to make it up on the spot. Would it have gone well? Probably not" he joked. Cole was good at thinking on his feet but he didn't really want to bet on that at someone's wedding. Especially friends as special as Haley and Brett.

Haley “Exactly,” she replied with a smile. “Well, if you ever feel led to tell me how great you think my love with Brett is, I won’t complain. You know I love hearing nice things about myself,” she teased, taking another sip of her drink. At that moment she spotted Maiya rushing over to them with Maxwell toddling behind. “Auntie Haley, Auntie Haley will you dance with me?” the four-year-old asked, a big smile lighting up her face. “Only if Uncle Cole and Maxwell join us,” she whispered to the little girl who’s eyes immediately found Cole’s. “Please...” the four-year-old started. “There’s no way you can say no to that face,” Haley replied with a laugh. Dinner was starting to be served but it could wait, Haley would drop anything for Maiya and Maxwell.

Cole: "Doesn't everyone? It's so validating, especially during interviews or press tours, good time to eat that up" He set his now empty glass down beside himself, watching as Maiya and Maxwell made their way over. Dancing was not something Cole was particularly fond of, or good at but it was hard to resist the two children with their innocence and playful energy. "It's just UnCole, you gotta use that wordplay Haley" He teased "Alright, I'll join you just for a song" He spoke, walking out with them and taking the young girls to hand so they could dance. It was refreshing to be able to let loose a little bit, the music was playing and the champagne was starting to kick in, making dancing with the kids a fun time.

Haley “That’s true, I really eat that sh-stuff up,” she laughed, correcting herself around young ears. Haley took Maxwell’s hand and rolled her eyes at Cole’s pun as she laughed. “That was actually funny,” she teased. “Just one song? You’re laaaame,” she added with a smile. Haley had a feeling Maiya could get him to stick around for at least two. Haley let Maxwell slowly lead her onto the dance floor as she took his hands and began to dance. At one point she just picked him up so they could spin around and his laughter became almost contagious. Sometimes she couldn’t believe she had known these kids their whole lives. Looking over at Brett while she danced she couldn’t help but think about what their own kids would look like someday. Shaking the thought out of her head she looked over at Maiya and Cole. The song was fading out but she could tell Maiya was bargaining for one more dance and as she watched Maiya’s eyes grow bigger she knew he wouldn’t be able to say no.

#p002: the big day.#THIS IS SO LATE #BUT I WANT IT ON MY BLOG

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earthnashes · 6 years

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Rock’n’Royal!AU Brainstorm 1: Roles

Alrighty so I still don’t quite have a name for the band but meh, I guess we’ll figure it out as we go! Wanna talk about some of the characters anyhow. C:

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The Band: Goes by the name of Rock’n’Royal, I decided that the band that Twi leads is almost entirely indie, in which they don’t have a record label or anything of the sort and make their own way through the industry. Since starting, the band has reached a staggering amount of success and has been approached several times with the offer of a label, but those offers are ultimately turned down in favor of doing things their way. The genre of music they play is generally classified as “rock” or perhaps “alternative rock”, but the band is too experimental and collaborative for it to be stuck in one specific niche.

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Twilight Sparkle: The cute dork who somehow managed to elevate herself into rock stardom, Twilight is the lead singer, guitarist, and what’s essentially the manager of the band. Twilight in this AU is far more confident in her abilities, sometimes to the point of being borderline cocky, but when she isn’t on stage she’s still the same bookworm who gets flustered at some of the sweetest gestures and will gladly talk your ear off about the newest scientific discovery: the fans eat it all up. She’s known as “The Princess” or “Your Highness” to her fans; not something she came up with, but she goes along with it.

Trixie Lulamoon: The loudmouth of the group and every bit the showoff, Trixie plays the keytar and is the secondary vocalist. She’s also the primary lyricist of the band: Twilight can sing and can write the general tune of the song, but when it comes to lyrics she’s... pretty bad. Given her talent for talking up hype, Trixie’s often in charge of promoting the band however she can, whether that be blogging about their tours or making posters or bragging: the band has skill, but if it weren’t for Trixie’s constant promoting and networking they wouldn’t be as well known as they currently are. Twi might be the leader, but Trixie’s often the one who is in the limelight and in front of cameras as the voice of the band (Twi’s still a bit camera shy). She’s referred to as “The Great and Powerful” by their fans. Yes, she is definitely the source of it.

Big Macintosh: The big, big, big boi of the group and the only stallion of the band, Big Mac provides his talents in the form of drumming. Sometimes the group does acapella, in which he provides the bass and even sometimes lead vocals. Mac rarely speaks and is known as the silent one of the group, but give him a pair of drum sticks and he’ll go wild. Like his sister, he can play one hell of a banjo. He’s often referred to as “The Gentle Knight” of the band: looming, silent, protective presence, there’s no real need for a bodyguard with him around.

Fluttershy: The newest member of the band, Fluttershy brings to the group her talent with the bass guitar, violin, and piano. Fluttershy’s known Twilight for most of her life and her inclusion into the band started when Twi asked Shy to play the violin for one of their tracks. The song went viral and, when it came time to feature it in a concert, Twi asked Fluttershy if she’d be willing to be the one to play her own part: it wouldn’t be the same if they got some random player to do it. She agreed, and despite her nervousness of being on stage, once she got to playing all of it momentarily disappears. The crowd ate it up and kept asking about the “quiet little fae” playing the violin, and it eventually escalated to Fluttershy becoming a part of the band officially. Nervousness aside, Shy does like the attention she gets but in small doses, so while she’s willing to play on stage she often opts out of interviews or, when she does go, she’s seen clinging to one of her bandmates (most often Twilight or Big Mac). She’s known to the fans as “The Fae” or “The Maiden”.

Applejack: Despite being best buds with Twi and the sister of Big Mac, AJ isn’t actually a part of the band. Well... at least officially. She often acts as the band’s tour-bus driver and, when Twi freaks out a bit, the band manager. She’s the one who helps keep everyone in line and focused on the task at hand, so I guess that makes her more of the manager than it does Twily (who mostly focuses on scheduling and making sure they make appointments on time). She may not be an official member but she has played with the band some, able to take up bass and one hell of a banjo and even vocals. As far as the fans are concerned, she’s as much a part of the band’s official lineup as anyone else. Known for her sincerity and honesty, she’s sometimes called “The Honest Knight” or the “Noble Mare”. There’s also, of course, “Country Beef”, of which both Apple siblings are referred to as. The fans love them some muscular Apple farmers.

Spike: Young roadie of the band and near constant companion to Twilight, Spike helps set up and tear down the equipment for the band’s shows and to keep the band on schedule. He’s resourceful and reliable and takes after Twi’s need to keep everything on schedule, but unlike Twi he’s able to roll with the punches more and, if something does go off schedule, figure out a way to remain on task on the fly. Spike also handles the mail the group gets, ranging from fanmail to inquiries to bills, so on. I’m also considering making him the band’s merch artist: I can see Spike being talented at art for his age and they allowed him to design some of their merch. Spikey works more behind the scenes but he gets his fair share of attention; Twi isn’t afraid to brag about him.

Rarity: Upcoming fashionista fresh out of college, Rarity’s the mare who has the skill and dedication to make it, now she just needs the chance. She runs her own online boutique that has been fairly successful, but she wants to aim higher, to work in the fashion industry and hopefully alongside some of her idols. When she lands an interview with one of the biggest name-brand boutiques in Equestria, she hits a creative block that lasts for weeks and leaves her stressed and nearly pulling her mane out. Rainbow brings her to a concert that helps her out of that block, but when the interview ends badly thanks to some stuffy stuck up unwilling to give her a chance, she finds her start in a way she didn’t anticipate: she becomes Twi’s band’s costume designer for their upcoming tour.

Rainbow Dash: An aspiring athlete pursuing a career in professional sports (and to join her dream team, The Wonderbolts), Dash is Rarity’s roommate and best friend since childhood. She works at a weather factory to make ends meet but trains and practices as often as she can to keep in tip-top shape in hopes of scoring a place on the Wonderbolt’s armature team the next coming annual tryout session. She also has a surprisingly entrenched grasp on painting, so much so that she has a decent online following for her work and even offers commissions as a sort of side-hustle for some extra cash. RD is supportive of Rarity’s endeavors into her career (and vice versa) and often acts as a creative buff for Rarity, helping her out when the stress gets to be too much. Her latest success of pulling Rarebear out of a funk is bringing her to her favorite indie band, but she didn’t exactly expect it to go the way it did! That’s alright though: that just equates to a road trip, so of course she tags along.

Pinkie Pie: Works at the bakery Rarity and Rainbow frequent, Pinkie’s as sweet and as excitable as she always has been. She’s known the pair for about 4 years now, providing cupcakes and coffee all throughout college, and they’ve been good friends ever since with the bakery being the unofficial “hangout spot” for them. When Rarity snags the job as the band’s costume designer and asks if Rainbow and Pinkie want to come, Pinkie is almost forced to go by Donut Joe; of the four years she’s worked for him, not once has she taken any vacation days and it’s about time she takes some time away from work. I’m thinking in this AU Pinkie might be a bit of a workaholic, if only because she might be one of the main sources of income for her family ever since her father fell ill. This is subject to change but we’ll see.

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Celestia: A retired music icon who has taken up politics and opened up her own school, Celestia was once known (and still is) as the Queen of Rock. Celestia’s school is well known for their stellar Magi-science program and their arts program (including music), and while she no longer personally teaches there she still does visit the school often and offers workshops and mentoring. She is one of the sources of Twilight’s desire to become a rockstar, the others being Shining Armor (who had his own indie band before ultimately disbanding for the military) and Luna. She doesn’t have any official say in what the band does, but she is a source of advice and wisdom who’s willing to offer a tip or two to help the band succeed.

Luna: Retired music icon who’s settled more into the musical world than Celestia has, Luna was once (and still is) hailed as one of the best drummers in Equestria. She and Celestia were a trio-band with Discord back in their hay-day, with Celly as the vocalist and guitarist, Luna as the drummer and songwriter, and Discord as bass guitarist. While both have ultimately stepped away from the limelight, Luna found her own calling in being a professional songwriter and lyricist. Like Celestia, Luna holds workshops and mentorship programs at Celly’s school. Whereas Twilight became Celestia’s star pupil, Trixie became Luna’s, and the two’s friendship and eventual collaboration into a band was born out of a friendly rivalry from it.

Discord: Retired music icon who has found his calling in musical management, Discord was once part of Celly and Lulu’s band (called LCD). He was primarily the bass guitarist but he’s well-known for being able to play almost any instrument in existence. No one really knows how he managed that, but there ya go: due to his talent he’s often hailed as the “Lord of music”. When the band ultimately disbanded in favor of retirement and pursuing their own careers in other areas, Discord remained interested in having some part in a band and, surprisingly, became a professional band manager and head of his own record label company. Given how spontaneous and chaotic he is, one would think this wouldn’t really work in the music industry... but to everyone’s surprise, it has. He isn’t quite mentor material like Luna and Celestia, but his own methods of teaching and guiding seem to have an overall positive effect, even if sometimes there’s controversy when he’s near.

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Apple Bloom: The youngest member of the esteemed Apple family, AB is just as enthusiastic about music as she is apple bucking. More over, she’s far more interested in how the technology of music works than actually playing it, though she has quite the soft spot for the banjo and its simplicity (thanks to her older siblings). Apple Bloom often is made to stay home with Granny Smith when her older sibs strike out on tour, but this time she really, really wants to go. And by george she’s gonna make it happen!

Sweetie Belle: The young sister of Rarity with an affinity for music, Sweetie Belle swears that one day she’ll be a rockstar. She got hooked onto this notion after seeing a Rock’n’Royal concert on TV, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the lead singer as she shred on the guitar, or the very pretty blue mare playing some sort of piano-like guitar and flipping her mane like it was an art. And in that moment, Sweetie knew exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up. In this AU I’m thinking Rarity’s parents are a bit more... neglectful, than they actually are in canon (or in my headcanon), so Sweetie lives with Rarity. That means wherever Rarebear goes, Sweetie goes, and because of it she’ll soon get to meet a couple of kids who’ll become her bestest friends.

Scootaloo: Young little spitfire who’s actually related to Rainbow Dash in this AU: they’re cousins! Scootaloo looks up to big cuz’ RD and mimics just about anything she does, and that includes listening to the music she’s into. Scoots is admittedly not that big of a fan of Rock’n’Royal, if only because their music isn’t exactly “punk” enough for her, but she likes their music well enough and she has to admit, they all look super cool. And hey, RD likes them a lot, so clearly there has to be something great about them, yeah? Fan or nah, she’ll get a surprise of her life when Rainbow Dash invites little cuzo on a long road-trip with her and her friends.... with the freakin’ band themselves. And of course she’s gonna go... if her moms say yes, of course.

#Rock'n'Royal!AU #RnR!AU #au

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grocerylines · 3 years

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Interview with Author fic tag!

‘Twas tagged by @wonderbatwayne ! thanks bestie :)

1. Your favourite fic you’ve written (or just want to give a shoutout to)

my favourite fic i’ve written is actually one i haven’t released yet!! don’t want to give away too many details since i’m an indecisive bunny and am constantly changing things us as i write, but to tease a little bit: time travel :) :)

if i were to choose one i’ve posted though, i’d have to say my most recent one - crash course on good decison-making. i just loved the family element and the humour and getting to write gar who’s very quickly becoming my favourite of season three. it was such an interesting dynamic and i spent the full week between episodes just wondering how that conversation was going to play out, so i just had to write it!!

2. Your favourite fic title that you’ve come up with

fic titles aren’t really my fave thing, i typically just use song lyrics, but i also love when i can use a line from a fic as a title so. she can’t have ‘em both really worked for me :)

3. How do you get inspiration to write?

it varies to be honest. watching a good movie or good show always gets me inspired. i love using concepts from other media and applying it to what i’m currently obsessed with. i’ve done something like that with an upcoming season one au im writing - spoiler alert: rachel and gar are trained, mind-controlled assassins, kory is the agent trying to free them, and dick grayson is just living that detroit detective life and trying his damndest not to be robin again when rachel comes in and throws him off balance.

4. Your favourite genre/subgenre of fic to write

i’m not too particular and sort of just go with the flow when it comes to what type of fic im writing, but i do love my angst with a happy ending. especially when it comes to found family. there’s just so much potential with a group of broken people trying to create a home together and sort of learning how to be partners/parents/siblings together.

5. Do you have other hobbies?

i am a music FREAK and have been since i was a baby. i never go more than an hour without listening to a song unless i’m working or in a lecture. i took guitar lessons for a few years but never got good - i was a teenager in high school who had a very short attention span - but i’ve started to pick it back up!

6. A fun fact about you that a lot of people may not know

i’m currently studying law at uni!

7. Pick one character to self project onto

i have a few honestly. my best friend always calls me the b.davis to her p.sawyer from one tree hill (hello, fave show of all time), i genuinely relate so very much to jake peralta from brooklyn nine nine on a personality level, and i think i also really relate to callie adams foster from the fosters. I grew up in an abusive household and i think we have similar worldviews because of that, similar coping mechanisms and we place the same value on particular relationships in our lives.

8. Favourite genre of music

like i said before, music junkie here! so this is suuuuper hard. i love pop, rock, pop punk, alternative, folk and i can even handle some GOOD country!! but really, if it sounds good or if the lyrics are excellent, it’s for me :)

9. Favourite singer/band

again, DIFFICULT! to name a few: Taylor Swift, 5SOS, Chase Atlantic, Lorde, Aly & AJ, ABBA, The Pretty Reckless, Betcha, The Neighbourhood - and many more!!

10. How has your experience in fandom been?

Titans fandom? EXCELLENT! there’s definitely a few shows i love that the fandoms are kind of wacky and everyone’s super opinionated in the sense that they think only they can be right, which is definitely not the case with the people i’ve gotten to know on here that just love Titans!! it’s great to share the love of something with other people, even if there are definitely aspects of it that get on your nerves or don’t deliver the way you’d like them to.

This was so fun!! thanks again @wonderbatwayne

#dc titans

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hopevalley · 5 years

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WCTH Write-Ups: 1.4, “Secrets and Lies”

Hello, and welcome to another episode write-up!

I wanted to do a lot of these before the S6 premier, but it’s been hard to find the time to sit down for literal hours to put together each post. So, this episode begins a new version of my episode write-ups, reserved specifically for the older seasons. The goal is to have a format that allows me to post these more frequently, or at least more easily, so you can expect less rambling about the plot (because we’ve all seen the episode before and know how it goes) and more rambling about little things I’ve noticed, timelines, odd mentions, character bits, and so on.

Let me know what you think!

All right. Last time we dealt with a couple of different kinds of grief (Rosaleen’s and Mr. Backus’s), Reverend Anderson requested an investigation into the church-fire before he quit working for the mining company, and Cat Montgomery ended up number one on Jack’s church-fire suspect list...due to circumstantial evidence: whale oil.

But hey, Jack’s no fool! He asks Cat about it right away...

And she’s very compliant, of course, and tells Jack that she has to special order it to use to make candles--a side business she started when her husband died. “I still have three mouths to feed,” she tells him. “His death pension, it only goes so far.” The implausibility of a real death pension aside, this makes sense. These people haven’t really been given a real chance to mourn...or at least, most of them haven’t. Cat, and likely many others, can’t afford to just wait for things to happen; with the welfare of three children to keep in mind, she wasn’t given the luxury of time.

Jack gets a little pushy after this, suggesting that having to care for three children alone might make a person angry, and when Cat doesn’t understand where he’s going with it, he mentions the vigil, which was six weeks ago, and casually drops the fact that Cat wasn’t in attendance, to which she says, “I chose to grieve my husband privately.”

Jack comes clean about Cat’s place on the suspect list, more or less, and leaves her nervous and flustered in her garden.

Tiny Thoughts:

I like the attention to having a garden here; it’s too small to be of any real use, but I can dig it; at least there was an attempt made, and they’re utilizing the small backyard space as best as they can. I guess it could also be a bit of a glimpse into Cat’s life, or even just her husband’s; not everyone has a shed in their backyard! Heck, not everyone even has a fence.

The time frame even at this point is a little whack. You’ll see what I mean later.

I’m not sure how I feel about this scene, or this plot, in hindsight, but I’ll talk more about that soon.

“The children are my pupils, but they are also my instructors.” This was something I really enjoyed about the novel version of Elizabeth: she tried to keep an open mind and let learning happen on both sides of the classroom. This Elizabeth learns how to teach the students through getting to know her students, which isn’t quite as good, but, you know, I’ll take it.

This episode introduces us to Albert “Pockets” Bickley and gives us the first real glimpse at Elizabeth, The Hardened School-teacher. Honestly, seeing her act strictly to a misbehaving, bullying student was pure gold. She doesn’t hit anyone with a switch or do anything too crazy, but she’s In Charge and she acts it.

“I’ll make sure cleaning is extra fun for you.” I mean the raw power in her voice and stance is something to behold. I’m sure we all wished we had a teacher like this sticking up for us when we were children. I know I did.

And the way she just turns that attitude completely around to be peaceful and sweet to the bullied student? I dig it. This is a side of Elizabeth I really want to see more of. It’s no wonder Albert gets a little crush on her.

Tiny Thoughts:

I think they do an okay job of showcasing Albert as a character in this episode, but I really wish more of an effort was made to flesh him out as a person. The nickname of “Pockets” does a lot to explain what he does, but it doesn’t tell us much about where he comes from. I would like to assume Albert and his family are poor, and he’s had to make his own fun for most of his life thus far, hence him picking up pretty or interesting things he sees. Unfortunately he’s often dressed quite nicely, so we have to just assume they slapped a Quirky Trait on him for Plot Reasons. Most people might think these things are junk, but every now and then he finds something good. And hey, if you lost something, he’s the kid to go to; maybe he’ll be able to find it for you, if he hasn’t already picked it up. ;)

“I’ll admit, after what happened at the mine, I was angry enough at God to want to burn down a church, but I swear I didn’t do it.”

I really appreciate Cat’s character, but more than that, something missing in the later seasons is, well, what this scene gives us: Elizabeth socializing with the parents of her students...and better yet, taking their side in a way that lets us feel that they’re on friendly terms.

It’s never really made clear why Cat invited Elizabeth over. I guess we’re meant to assume that it was a vaguely subtle way of asking Elizabeth to talk to Jack about it while also looking for support and/or a second (educated) opinion.

Tiny Thoughts:

I appreciate that Cat and Emily share a bed while Gabe and his brother share a space. It’s definitely not ideal but it makes the most sense.

Gabe up late reading is sweet.

Seeing the children supporting each other is another thing that... Well, I won’t say it’s missing in later seasons, but it lacks the punch that it did early on. Gabe holding Emily to comfort her about her fears feels genuine in a way a lot of the later stuff just doesn’t.

Mr. Spurlock and Mr. Gowen go to Jack to ask about the reopening of the church fire investigation, which...seems repetitive because I’m pretty sure they already knew about it; maybe the intention behind their visit is to confirm that even after Reverend Anderson dropped the need to investigate, that Jack was still looking into it?

Anyway, Gabe’s timing is beyond atrocious, but I can really appreciate this kid as an actor. He was good. I think the scripting could be better, but he’s a teenager and he’s angry, and I love how that’s handled.

“If you try to take her from us, I swear to God I’ll fight you.” What a line! You can laugh about it if you want to, but it’s honestly really sad. You know this kid can’t fight Jack; he doesn’t have the training, doesn’t have the strength. But he would, for his mama. Gabe loves his family and he wants to protect his mom--and that’s part of what makes him such a good character.

Tiny Thoughts:

Mr. Spurlock was in training to become a Mountie and instead turned to the Pinkerton Agency, which he calls “a real job”--implying that being a Mountie is not.

Mr. Gowen says that the church fire, and therefore the vigil, occurred a month after the mining accident.

“This is a company town, and I need to maintain order or the entire system falls apart. We can’t have citizens running around, doling out their own sense of warped justice. On that we can agree, can we not?”

This is a small example of what makes Mr. Gowen such a great character. He plays an amazing antagonist, and it won’t be much longer before we’re into episodes that let him shine in that role, but for now he’s not quite there. This is insight into his character that is easily overlooked; he might be a jerk sometimes, but he knows what matters to him.

The scene with Reverend Anderson is short, but I’d like to just mention it really quick because I can appreciate the awkward small talk between Cat and the Rev.--and how that small talk actually is just them discussing, very briefly, the plotline from the last episode.

Which segues nicely into the next scene, where Elizabeth kneels down to talk to Rosaleen and again hearkens back to the previous episode. “It’s beautiful. Like the sound of your voice.”

It’s a bit heavy-handed for my taste, especially back to back like that, but at least it’s making an effort to tie the episodes together.

Jack and Elizabeth’s relationship in this episode makes them interesting to watch. You can tell there’s something there, but the situation with the church fire investigation keeps them apart and interferes in their ability to effectively communicate. Something I really appreciate about their interaction in this scene is how both characters are frustrated for very different, but no less believable, reasons.

Elizabeth wants to help Cat, and finds it hard to believe that Jack’s inquiries come from an honest, noble place. Jack wants to help Cat, too, but is finding it difficult to do so considering, well, the evidence and lack of an alibi on Cat’s part.

His suggestion to talk to the kids is a bold one, but I understand both his desire to try it and Elizabeth’s horror. The children shouldn’t have to be exposed to this kind of a thing, and it seems Jack would normally agree with her on that, but sometimes circumstances... Well, they’re not ideal, you know?

And this is a theme they carry into some of the later seasons with the counterfeit money plot, or even AJ’s perjury plot. The law isn’t always fair and just. In fact, it can and will be used to sentence people regardless of extenuating circumstances (in the case of AJ) , or it can be abused to protect bad people (as in the counterfeit plot).

Tiny Thoughts:

The little bird Albert made for Elizabeth really is sweet, isn’t it?

Jack’s interviews with the children are... Well, interesting. I like that Gabe doesn’t say “Mrs. Stanton” but rather, “Abigail Stanton” and then, later, he says, “Abigail stayed with us until [Ma] got there.”

I like the implication that Abigail is a Trusted Person that Cat felt she could turn to. And also, we know that not only was Abigail at the vigil, but Cat’s children know her very well, and either Gabe knows her well enough to be allowed to call her Abigail, or he’s being rebellious by doing it. Either could be interesting to think about.

Jack’s interaction with young children is showcased well here. He doesn’t treat Emily the same way he treats Gabe, and she responds to it well. I like that a lot.

Tiny Thoughts:

Cat didn’t come home until morning, and when she did get home, she crawled into bed with Emily. So if Abigail stayed the night, where did she sleep? Maybe just in a chair downstairs...

“The truth is always right, Emily. You did just fine.”

Something that always really got to me in this episode was Gabe’s relationship with Cat. A lot of shows flop when it comes to showcasing a believably sweet mother/son relationship, especially where a teenage boy is involved (he’s either completely disinterested/disengaged or holding onto the apron strings), but Gabe and Cat are a perfect balance.

When Jack tries to take Cat in to answer some questions, Gabe’s reaction--and then Cat’s reaction to Gabe’s reaction--are just so good. Heartfelt. They don’t feel scripted so much as felt.

“Stop! I need you to listen to me!”

“No, Ma! You didn’t do anything! Don’t go with him!”

“I know, I just... I just have to answer some of his questions, all right? And right now I need for you to be a grown-up. To be strong, okay?”

AND THEN THAT HUG.

It hits me hard literally every time I’ve seen it. It’s fast and tight and scared and it’s amazing.

Gabe as a character is just the perfect age for this kind of story. He’s so close to being an adult while still not being there, and there’s something to be said for those years, if you remember them. You feel grown up even though you know you’re not, and you know you’re limited. Gabe does, too, and it’s frustrating and scary for him. I won’t say he still needs his mom in the traditional sense (someone to take care of him), but he needs her emotionally; he needs that connection.

Tiny Thoughts:

I will always be upset that Gabe never made it past the first season. There was a lot of potential for his character and he offered a unique perspective due to his age.

It’s hilarious to think about how the jail cell has been the same this entire time.

Anyway, Cat in jail is unpleasant, but I like Jack’s explanation to Elizabeth: “Because I have a responsibility to treat everyone equally, whether it be Catherine Montgomery or...Henry Gowen.”

“Just...let me do my job.”

Jack’s an interesting character in that he is the law, abides by the law, and tries to stick by the books. Comparing him to later-seasons Bill makes for an interesting experience. Is Bill the product of 30 years of Mountie work? Is Jack just an ideal youth? I don’t think a person can claim there’s only one factor. As we know, the character of Bill is the product of 30 years of Mountie work plus many of those years being in a high-stress position plus his marriage of convenience to Nora and any in-law drama that might bring plus the experience of losing his son and Nora leaving him plus... The list goes on.

Jack is still young, comparatively, but he’s not fresh in this field, and I really like that his character is wrapped up in this loyalty not only to his job, but to doing his job The Right Way. We don’t really get that from anyone else, and more importantly, Jack isn’t painted as a jerk for it, at least not objectively. (Elizabeth’s opinion is, of course, very subjective & completely biased!)

Tiny Thoughts:

I also really like what Jack says here: “But you’d be surprised at what people are capable of when they’re hurting Or when they’re angry.” It alludes to a history of experience that helps tie in his irritation at being assigned to Coal Valley when he ought to have been given a more important posting. He’s definitely seen some things.

Albert is such a sweet kid.

I like the implication that Mr. Spurlock has been around a reasonably long amount of time--long enough to know the kids in town, and to know to ask Albert to keep his eyes open for the necklace.

Tiny Thoughts:

I really dig Elizabeth’s high-collared dresses.

“Girls don’t care if a gift is fancy, not even girls who used to be rich.” This was cute.

Again Gabe is a ball of terrible teen energy. After he overhears Dottie and another woman gossiping about his ma, he runs to the jail to confront her and suddenly he’s on the other side of the argument: he thinks she might have done it because she won’t just be open and honest and tell the truth.

I wouldn’t say it’s OOC; it makes sense. The kid is scared, he’s feeling a lot of things, and his mother is lying--has lied about things in the past, too. That probably added up in his head and he doesn’t know what to think of her anymore. It’s a shame, really, because Cat hasn’t done anything wrong, but Gabe is old enough that he feels he should be trusted with the truth.

And...he’s not.

Reverend Anderson’s awkward visit to talk to Elizabeth about the kids... Yikes.

“What’s an 11-year-old need a bear for?” Well, we have an age for Miles at least. And Gabe’s starting trouble but at least we know why. You know he doesn’t want to feel like the only one “being strong” right now.

And then we find out that Mr. Spurlock wanted to marry Cat. You know, he’s not a bad-lookin’ guy. Too bad he’s so smug.

Cat and Elizabeth’s jail discussion is so wonderful. Elizabeth is hurt that she defended Cat even though Cat chose to hide things, and it’s about this point that Cat makes the choice to come clean to Elizabeth.

I really like the concept of Cat in this situation: a woman who has something to hide for her own reasons, who wants to keep it a secret even at the risk to her relationship with her oldest son & her neighbors. It doesn’t matter what the secret is so much that it is a secret, and in a small town...you know there are none--not for long, anyway!

And I think my favorite part of this scene is how Cat talks about her husband: “My husband, Joe, was a....good man, Elizabeth. He was a wonderful father... But he made...mistakes. He had a weakness, one that he was terribly ashamed of... One that the children didn’t know about. No one knew about it... He liked to, uh...gamble.”

In the novel, the role of “mother of three, gambling husband” was given to the character of Abigail Stanton, and Abigail’s motherly/mentor role was taken by a boarding house owner named Molly. The novel never goes into detail about the gambling husband (or the wife character) the way the television show does (even though it does take time to showcase the three children). Something the WCtH series did really well is show different types of relationships. Obviously in e4 we aren’t really far enough in to know that this is the case, but something that helped keep people invested were scenes like this: scenes that showcase and sympathize with, I don’t know, the human condition.

There’s nothing bad about this plotline! In fact, Cat’s role is so well-acted, it’s easy to get invested and feel horrified right along with her. Nowadays we might scoff at the “gambling” thing, but it’s not really anything to laugh at. Most of us know when to stop buying lottery or raffle tickets, or when to walk away from a casino slot machine, but addiction in general is a very real issue (see: modern casual alcoholism, loot box gambling in video games, et cetera), and in 1910 gambling was a different kind of issue. Women didn’t work outside the home much, particularly married women (men would consider it an insult to their ability to provide for their family), so debts incurred by a man would be shouldered by the whole family...even after his death, and with no means to repay lost money. And a man who didn’t have self-control to know when to quit was often shunned by his neighbors...and his wife and children suffered a similar fate though usually with a side of pity thrown in.

Cat’s humiliation and shame over her husband’s gambling addiction aren’t even remotely amusing. Worse, she didn’t even get a week to mourn her husband before a debt collector came calling.

“I couldn’t go to my friends--I was too ashamed. And Joe was a good man. There was no way I was gonna let this town think poorly of him.” I love these lines because it leaves things just open enough to be interesting. We’ve seen how gossipy this town can get (Dottie and the other woman in the mercantile), so we understand Cat’s situation a little better. Joe might have done bad things, but he never hurt her or the kids, and we can assume that most of the time, he was good to be around. It’s one of those situations where we, the audience, aren’t given a complete picture of Cat’s relationship to Joe, at least not outside of, well, this. She obviously cared about him, and though upset about his addiction, didn’t want others’ memories of him, especially her children’s, to be sullied by his one great weakness.

Mr. Spurlock fits into this equation, of course, because he played cards with Joe, knew Cat and her family were in trouble, and jumped in to offer to help... “If I would just be...friendly to him.” Yikes! We all know what that really means. And anyway, this is where the conversation gets a little iffy, starts to sound more scripted... I get that Mr. Spurlock is the bad guy here, but I think the important takeaway from his involvement in Cat’s issue is that he wanted, and was willing, to take advantage of her situation. He didn’t actually care about her; he was just attracted to her.

On the plus side, Cat knew what he was doing and it made her angry, which was what she needed to rebuke him; I feel like if she’d had enough time, and was genuinely worried about she and her children being homeless, she might have felt forced into accepting his offer.

Elizabeth: “Why not just tell the truth and avoid all this?”

Cat: “Because I’m not the only one who adored my husband, Elizabeth. My children... My children had already lost so much. I could not let them lose their good memory of their father, too.”

Powerful stuff right there. She wanted to protect her children’s memory of Joe, but in the process might have made things worse for them, if, indeed, there was an issue with Jack finding the card shark/getting him to verify Cat’s story. Elizabeth knows just a little too much, and on one hand..I find it annoying. On the other, as a relative outsider, she has a unique perspective. She’s not married, she has no children; she probably can’t understand Cat’s dilemma even though she sympathizes with it. She’s not emotionally invested in it or in Joe, and can’t be because, well, she never met him. This helps her see the longer-lasting consequences of Cat’s choices far easier than Cat herself can. (And it’s not just Elizabeth who sees this! Jack does, too, hence his frantic insistence that Cat just admit whatever it is she’s hiding. It’s just that Elizabeth is the one we get to see voice her concerns.)

Tiny Thoughts:

Worth considering: Cat’s friends didn’t have money either. Most of them lost their husbands right along with Cat, or in Abigail’s case, lost a child, too. Even if she turned to her friends, it’s not as if they could help financially. Telling them her situation would just open her and her family up to hurtful gossip.

Mr. Spurlock’s, uh, guilt in these things is...meh. The charred remnants where he burned the whale oil container are so fresh there’s no way they’re even a handful of days old, but I guess I can let that slide.

“You took that can from her shed and burned it right here.” I mean, I doubt this, considering he has candles hanging up. He seems to make his own and therefore I have to assume just had his own oil.

I’m extremely meh on the “Jack rides in to save the day” bit, too. The scene was... Let’s just say it was overdramatic and overacted considering Mr. Spurlock’s only legal crimes were framing Cat and threatening Elizabeth, and the latter would be a shaky accusation/wouldn’t get him any time in jail.

Also, and this is really nitpicky, but giving a man with the last name of Spurlock the line “and she spurns me?” was just silly. C’mon.

The Cat-and-Kids reunion scene was sweet. I like all the hugging. This show could use more hugs.

And I love the Reverend and Cat’s interaction. Watching him humble himself and apologize sincerely... That was so nice... And it wasn’t just to Cat, either; it was to his former congregation, too. Reverend Anderson had a lot of potential to be an interesting and engaging character. I should also note that the actor is surprisingly good. His soft, moved, “It would be my joy,” when asked to lead the service was delivered perfectly for that moment.

Tiny Thoughts:

“Over this past many months...” Timeline inconsistency. He implies with this statement that he’s talking about the time post-accident, so...three months at best at this point?

You know, if Cat and Reverend Anderson were around a lot longer, I’d probably have started shipping them? Oops.

The last scene...is cute. I mostly just can’t get over the spider. It was a big guy. I’d probably die a little too if I were Elizabeth, and I’m generally not spooked by spiders. ;)

But Jack’s delivery of some lines in the scene are genuinely funny, so it’s a nice way to end the episode.

And now, for some further thoughts!

Timeline: Boy do I hate the timeline. I’ve probably said this before, because, like Reverend Anderson, keeping things brief goes against my nature, but the timeline here just doesn’t work for me. Here’s the basics of what this episode lined up for us:

The Mining Disaster

1 month later: Vigil, church burned.

1.5 months after the vigil: Jack comes to town.

I mean, this is...two and a half months. Everyone would still be deeply grieving, there’s no way Cat could pay off the debt that fast (she could make candles, sure, who is going to buy them all?), and a lot of the early issues just haven’t had the time, I think, to fester enough to warrant the plotlines that we’ve seen.

It’s not all bad, though. I mean, a month after the accident is a good time to have a vigil. It’s that point where you know nobody is left alive. Like, even if they haven’t suffocated in the mine, even if they had their lunches with them and access to water, after a month they’d be dead. So the vigil feels like it takes place at a good time.

My issue is mostly with, you know, everything else. And sure, sometimes disaster hits one thing after another, a veritable shit-storm, but when you’re looking at the narrative power of storytelling, it’s just not really necessary to cram everything in there so tightly.

My personal opinion? The vigil should have been further out-- a 3 or 6-month mark. Like a funeral--at a point when they’re worried or even convinced that the bodies won’t be recoverable. This is something that happened a lot in mining accidents, so it’s not unbelievable, and it brings with it its own special brand of grief. It would also make Cat’s not being there especially odd, and would give her enough time to believably pay off her husband’s debt. (And when looking at the first few episode plots, it gives the children time to grieve and for the recovery of bodies to re-open the wounds.)

The Spurlock Plot: Mr. Spurlock was really smug from the start, so I was happy to see him go, but I feel like he could have been a better antagonist character. Men acting out because a woman told them no isn’t a new thing; men have literally killed women for their no. So I’m sold on him framing Cat as a petty act of revenge, especially because he probably genuinely feels like he made her a good offer. (And again, if the plotline allowed for more time, he would come off a little less nasty for approaching her. As it is, it seems he was on her doorstep making an offer before Joe was cold in the ground.)

The worst part of this subplot is definitely that he pulls a gun on Elizabeth. First of all, he doesn’t need a gun to threaten her with; he has his fists, and secondly, it’s just...ridiculous. As if nobody would notice she was missing? As if she didn’t tell someone where she went? Please. Mr. Spurlock might be a bit of a scumbag, but he’s not an idiot. At the very least he’d try to find out if anyone knew she was there before he did something as crazy as make an effort to kill her.

The Church Fire: Hey, it was probably an accident after all!!! Which means of course that Mr. Spurlock’s only crime was framing Cat for it, and not really in a conniving, cunning way, either.

It’s just kind of an aside that ceases to matter, I guess.

The General Overall Episode: This is a good episode with a lot of heart! There are a few things I don’t quite care for, but for the most part it holds up really well and delivers a wholesome, satisfying story.

And guess what?

It’s another episode that doesn’t even have a glimpse of Abigail in it. Can you believe it? I had no idea she was missing from so many early episodes! I think I just got used to her being around pretty much all the time, and forgot her lack of plot focus at the beginning. This story started off about Elizabeth, and I feel like, at least for the first half of s1, maintained that stance.

Which brings me to my next thought/consideration/whatever: the early episodes were episodic in a way that the later ones were/are not.

All right, so a television series is generally either episodic or a serial. Serials usually have long-term plots, and episodic television relies on a lot of single-episode events.

WCtH is a little like The X-Files in that it sometimes utilizes both. TXF started out episodic, but with time tried to implement really large overarching plot themes (called “the mytharc”). WCtH did the opposite! It started out with that overarching plot, and with time...resolved it and never really tried it again--at least not to the same extent. I guess Bill Avery’s counterfeit money plot was as close as we ever got to a primary overarching plot again, but the mining accident and eventual trial were the original season-wide plot, and they were what got the show started.

Anyway, even though the series had an overarching plot that it slowly worked to resolve through the first season (and part of the second), it also tossed a lot of episodic content at the viewers, which is to say, standalone plots that found themselves mostly resolved in a single episode. For example, the Rosaleen plot in e3, or the “forgive me” sign in e1.

The early episodes let these subplots take over the episode, at least mostly, and the showrunners didn’t let the cast dictate who received screentime--that is to say, characters like Abigail were allowed to fade into the background while the plot focused on someone else, without them feeling pressured to either involve her or include her in the background for the sake of just...giving her screentime. Now, Lori Loughlin is a pretty big name, and I totally understand why she gets so many mini-plots in recent episodes, but I think something the early writers got right was this ability, or perhaps desire, to dedicate episodes to the plots they wanted people to see--without distraction.

So, in this episode, we get a lot of conclusions, but they’re almost all part of an interlocking plot. Mr. Spurlock’s actions are related to Cat’s actions, which of course are related to Gabe’s actions, and were a catalyst for Elizabeth and Jack’s interactions. Even Albert’s plot isn’t entirely standalone; his crush on Elizabeth is what prompts him to give her the necklace that Mr. Spurlock originally presented to Cat, and this allowed for the mystery to be solved.

Now, I know that as a series progresses, doing plots like this get exponentially harder: the characters at the point of s6 have established themselves quite thoroughly, so it’s not as easy to find someone to fit a role; the roles really have to be written with the characters in mind and not the other way around.

Which leads me to my original statement: the early episodic content was, yes, episodic, but most of the individual plotlines were actually akin to a rope: a lot of threads carefully braided together to make something much stronger than those individual strands could ever be on their own.

Newer episodes are pretty much just those individual strands, though. Pick any episode from s5, and you’ll see what I mean. In Weather the Storm, for example, the four main plots (lazy kid, brain surgery, investor’s son, & rattlesnake) had nothing whatsoever to do with one another--and this seems to hold true through most of s5. I guess you could argue that AJ returning had something to do with the investor plot, but it definitely reads as “they wrote the plot and put AJ into the role” more than “this plot was written for AJ.” Anyway, my point is that, in later seasons, there’s not a lot of interwoven, or at least well-woven, plotlines.

But again, and I can’t stress this enough, as characters start to stand on their own, doing these complex interwoven plots gets much more difficult, and the writers want to try and keep things as fresh as they can, so... It’s unfortunately a problem of the show’s age, I think, more than anything.

That said, here in s1, Abigail being allowed to just not be there for a couple of episodes was nice. It made me really root for her character when I did see her, and gave me time to miss her. In current WCtH, she’s around...all the time. Literally everywhere all at once. You can’t escape her, and even in episodes where she has no role, you’ll see her involved anyway, oftentimes in ways that don’t work very well for the character.

I thought it was an interesting thing to think about; we’ve always had several plotlines going at once--it’s just that in the first season they’re all related to one another, and in later seasons they’re just...completely separate plots happening all at once, which has the unfortunate side effect of splitting our attention between too many characters at once, and rather than getting one plot with many threads that hold it together, we just get flimsy strands of plot that can’t really stand and be interesting all on their own.

Just some food for thought!

#when calls the heart #season 1 #analysis and meta discussion #character studies and information #long post #jack thornton #elizabeth thatcher #cat montgomery #reverend anderson #mr spurlock #henry gowen #gabe montgomery

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multifandom-kpop-scenarios · 6 years

Text

Mafia Fighter Pt.3

Hello readers!! This is the third part of the of the Jun mafia scenario. Thank you for your support and waiting this long!! N’Joy!!

I’d also like to especially thank @minwooslover and @ewkihyunlookssohandsome for their support on the last chapter!!

Part 1 | Part 2

PAR T_T IME

Admin AJ

You were walking through the hall quickly, eager to get to your destination. You spot Joshua in front of you, sitting on a chair next to the lounge doors, “Hey, what's going on?” you ask.

He gets up from sitting, “I don't really know much myself other than Seungkwan asked for everyone to gather up for a meeting.” Joshua grabs the handle of the door holding it open for you.

“Thank you.” Joshua smiles following your lead through the door. The door quietly close behind you and you look around the room full of familiar people. You see that most of the seats are filled with the other members of your syndicate, with your Boss at the head of the table.

You and Joshua take the closest available seats and sit in, the seats closest to the door.

You glance in front of you, taking notice of the man sitting across from you. Seungcheol sat in the chair, bandages and bruises still covering his face. His left arm was crossing over his right as he tries to hide his sling. His movements are stiff and he’s unable to move without wincing in pain. He tries hard to conceal the pain he was experiencing, but he failed most of the time as you watched as his chin would clench whenever he would ajust in his seat. He takes notices of your stare and makes a small smile at you, mouthing ‘I’m Okay,’ before you could ask how he was doing your Boss stands from his chair immediately calling for silence and attention.

“Since we are still waiting for Seungkwan and Vernon. I would like to discuss about the outcome of our last match.” He places his hands on the table palms faced down, “I'm sure you can seen by his condition, Seungcheol suffered greatly.” His eyes meet Seungcheol’s, guilt reflecting in his eyes. “Meaning he will not be able to participate for a few months and we might have to forfeit what we have acquired to keep the peace. I do not want things to revert back to how they were before.”

“Please Sir, just give me a few weeks and I’ll be back in there,” Seungcheol said, his voice desperate. His own guilt and determination fueling his words.

Knowing that waiting for Seungcheol to heal was out of the question your Boss answered with a quick and firm “No.”

The high tension in the room was evident to those who filled the room. Everyone wanted a solution, but no one was really prepared to make a reasonable one. No one was given the chance to speak as the double doors burst open, revealing Seungkwan, Vernon, and a man you had never seen.

You couldn’t help but move your eyes to and from the familiar boys, trying to figure out what they were doing.

“Seungkwan who is that?” you spoke first, asking the question that was on everybody's mind. Seungkwan looks between you and the man in question, a confident smile on his face,“He is the solution to our problem.”

The lounge erupts, it was a rule that no outsiders were to be brought to the family estate without prior permission.

“You brought someone here. To the estate!” Jihoon, our intelligence documentor, says sharply, his voice couldn’t hide the disapproval he felt for the youngsters actions.

“Seungkwan you know better!” Seungcheol, exclaims.

In a quick attempt to gain the rooms understanding he says, “I was only trying to help. You sent us to the Dongdaemun-gu and we saw Jun.”

“Who's Jun?” Jeonghan, the medic, asks, finally getting to the question you first asked.

“Him!” Seungkwan points through the door, “We saw him take down two of Gong’s goons. And he said he would help.”

Your Boss raises his hand and the lounge quiets down immediately,“It’s fine.” Your boss’s eyes meet your own,“Y/N, Joshua take care of things. As for now this meeting is over.”

You and Joshua stand at your boss’s instructions, getting up from the chairs to leave. Your heart aches a little as you see Seungkwan looking sad. Knowing that his heart was in the right place, you attempt to comfort him, placing a reassuring hand on Seungkwan’s shoulder. At your touch he looks at you, eyes sincere, as he says, “I was just trying to help.”

You reply, offering a small smile, “I know.”

You and Joshua open the door to a startled Vernon. He was there with two other people, one of which you presumed was Jun.

Joshua puts on one of his gentlemen smiles leading the way to their destination, “Follow me please.”

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

Following beside Joshua and Jun, you notice that Jun keeps his eyes on you, clearly trying to figure you out. As you approach your destination, you leave behind Vernon and, Jun’s close friend, Minghao.

You arrive in front of a room, opening the door for Jun “You can take a seat in there.” Without any words, Jun nods, going into the room.

Before you make a move to follow Jun into the room, Joshua grabs your wrist keeping you in place.

“Do you want me to go in with you?” Joshua asks.

You look in the room finding Jun sitting in a chair like you asked, you shake your head,“I think I'll be okay.”

Joshua nods his head “Ok, I'll wait here. Come get me if he causes any trouble, kay?”

“Thanks Josh.”

Joshua nods, you catch a glimpse of a reassuring smile, as the door closes behind you.

You approach the table that Jun is seated at, taking a seat across from him. He nervously looks, avoiding your gaze by around the room. The only noise you can hear at the moment is the drumming of his hands on the table.You take a minute to observe him. His dark hair was unkempt and windswept, obviously due to the scuffle with Gong’s men. His eyes are dark and, almost, innocent, but the fatigue was clearly there masking his features. You turn your eyes to his ever moving hands, taking notice of the scuffs and cuts on his knuckles.

You look back up to his face looking for any wounds and take notice of the scuffs on his face, the bruise darkening on his cheeks, as well as the cut on his bottom lip.

You pull out your phone messaging Seungkwan to get you an ice pack.

The drumming stops, taking notice immediately at the absence of noise, you raise your eyes from your phone.

He smiles nervously at you.

‘Well,’ you think, ‘It’s now or never.’

“Can you tell me what happened tonight?” you ask, getting the interview started.

He gives you his account of the events that took place, from the moment he arrived at Minghao’s workplace to when they crossed paths with Seungkwan and Vernon.

“Can I ask you another thing?” You ask.

Jun nods as he locks eyes with you, anticipating the question.

“Why do you want to join? This is not something you can leave easily, once you are in, you are in for life.” You ask. You believed that his reasoning was important, and he needed to know what, exactly, he should expect. This life was not easy, and if you could help it, you would keep the numbers of good people getting involved as small as possible.

He looked down at the table in front of him for a second, gathering his thoughts before looking up at you, “To be honest I don't really understand what's going on, but there are people in Dongdaemun-gu that I care about. They attacked Minghao and if I didn't show up, I don't know what could of happened to him.” He pulled his hands in front of him, clasping them together as he continued “When I moved here, I left my family and everyone I cared for behind. In the time that I have lived here the list of people I care for has only grown. At the market, Mrs Jung and Mrs.Yoon said that your group can be trusted. I respect their opinions enough to believe that your group protects those I have grown to care about. I want to protect them to. This is the only way that I can think of right now, In a way that they need now.”

You were stunned by his honesty. You looked at him, shocked to see that someone could wear their heart on their sleeve. This discovery made you want to protect him, push him out the door and tell him to never come back. He was too good. On the other hand, you didn’t want to be the one to tell him he couldn’t help protect the people he cared about. His goodness can make a good guardian.

You hear knocking on the door and see Joshua peeking in, “Hey y/n can you come here for a sec.”

You step outside and see Jihoon beside Joshua, “I ran a background check on him and he's clean.”

Jihoon hands you the information and you flip through it trying to absorb everything.

“What do you think?” Joshua asks, curious about what you really thought.

You continue to look through the file, hoping that there be a reason for not letting him join, you sigh, honestly saying, “I don't know.”

You look down the hallway a little way to see Vernon with Minghao nearby. Minghao was sat in a chair with Jeonghan positioned in front of him, patching him up. Minghao’s eyes meet yours, the concern he held for his friend reminded you of your group. You hear hurried footsteps and turn to see Seungkwan approaching with an ice pack in hand, “Here's the ice pack you wanted.”

You give Seungkwan a small smile,“Thank you.”

You walk back into the room, your mind still telling you to refuse his help.

“Here, this is for that bruise on your cheek.” Jun is surprised but takes it with a quiet thank you placing the ice pack over his cheek.

“I'm still unsure about this whole situation and I'm not sure if you are fit for this but we can't exactly let you guys walk out the door.”

Jun looks up to you, saying, “If you are worried about me and Minghao telling other gangs about you guys…”

You cut him off at that thought, telling him, “I'm more worried about what could happen to the both of you. Mister Gong is the type to put a hit on anyone that does him wrong.”

He looks down, resembling a scolded child, saying a quite, “Oh.”

You glance at the clock seeing that it's late, way past what is ‘normal bedtime’, “Plus, it's late you guys should just stay the night.”

Jun relaxes visibly, leaning back into the seat.

You open the door, propping it as wide as you could and say, “I'll call Jeonghan in to patch you up and have him show you to one of the extra rooms.”

You turn to leave out the door, but feel a hand grab your own. You look at the large hand gripping your own, making your appeare smaller than you thought. You move your eyes to the pair of eyes trained on your own, “Thank you.” He says simply and sincerely.

You didn’t deserve his thanks, at least that is what you think. If he joins he won’t be thanking you for long, he deserved a normal life. Not a life filled with the never ending war that those in the mafia experience.

You leave out the door to see Joshua, Jihoon, and Minghao waiting on the hall.

You turn to Minghao and look away,“You can go in there.”

You look to Joshua and Jihoon, “Can you tell the Boss that we need more time before we can make a decision.”

With that you walk down the hall toward your room, a sleepless night with thoughts awaiting you in your room.

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

Minghao enters the room where Jun is waiting,“What happened?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Jun looks at Minghao, “We are staying here for tonight but I'm not sure what's going to happen after that.”

There's a quick knock on the door opens up without receiving a reply.

A man pokes his head in, “Someone needed a medic?”

Minghao points at Jun having already received treatment, at the same time, Jun slowly raises his hand.

Jeonghan pulls out one of the chairs and sits in front of Jun.

He places his medical kit on the table and opens it before taking a look at the injured man.

“Ah that's a nasty one,” Jeonghan proceeds to go through his kit.

Bringing a cotton swab to Jun’s cheek, “I’m Jeonghan by the way.”

Jun flinched back from the pain of the disinfectant.

Jeonghan continues with fixing Jun up. “I hear that y/n is being difficult. What did you do to them?”

Jun shrugged his shoulders bring the ice pack over his lip “I'm not sure…”

Jeonghan nods his head, “Well I'm sure they'll have things figured out in the morning.”

“Alright, you good to go.” Placing the final bandage over his cheek. Jeonghan puts his supplies back in his kit and gets up. “I'll take you guys to your room”

Jeonghan leads Jun and Minghao through the estate arriving at a room that was at the end of the hall.

“Unfortunately this room is the only one available” Jeonghan opens the door, to a rather plain room. It unuse was clear as there was some dust on the furniture. There was one large bed in the center of the room with a large ceiling light, brightening the room, “So you guys are going to have to share.” Jeonghan pointed at the large roll in the chair, “I had Vernon grab a mat since there's only one bed here at the moment.”

“Thank you.” Jun and Minghao said with a bow.

“Oh and y/n is just next door, so if you need anything just ask them. Night.” Jeonghan says as he turns to leaves.

Minghao and Jun are left in the room, silent as they take in the situation.

“You can take the bed,” Jun says as he grabs the mat and starts to roll it out.

“Thanks.” Minghao groans in pain getting into bed.

Jun is sore as well, but Minghao got the worst of it.

“Night” he calls quietly.

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

You awoke to soft knocks on the other side of your door.

You look to your phone seeing that it's earlier than what you set your alarm to.

Groaning while rubbing your eyes, you lift yourself out of your bed, dragging your feet to your door.

You open the door catching Jun with his knuckles in the air, mid-knock.

“Hi, i didn't know you were still sleeping… uhm… Jeonghan told me this was your room...and he didn't tell me where everyone else was at...”

You just stayed silent, your body leaning against the door frame with your eyebrow raised trying to figure out what he was going on about.

“And he said if we needed anything we could ask you.”

You cursed inwardly at Jeonghan, “He did now.”

Jun just nodded,

Yawning with a small stretch, “What do you need?”

“Do you guys have a kitchen?” he simply asked.

Tilting your head curiously you answer, “Yes…”

“Well… after what happened last night, we didn't eat so...” Jun trails off, not finishing his sentence.

“So you're hungry?”You ask, feeling your own hunger.

Jun just nods again

“Give me a sec,” you say, you need to make yourself more presentable.

You open the door, ready to head to the kitchens.

“Thank you” Jun asks, a new kind of life in his eyes.

“Its no problem, it's my day to make breakfast anyway.” you answer.

Jun quietly follows your lead to the kitchen, eager for food.

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

“Is there anything that you like.” You ask, wanting his opinion.

“I can eat anything,”came his reply.

You walk to the fridge grabbing the eggs and bacon,“Ok, can you get the bread in the top right cupboard and a couple of frying pans in the that bottom cupboard.” You watch him being the pans to the stove and the bread on the counter, waiting for your next task.

You start on the bacon and eggs, Jun gets closer, watching you.

“Can you make the toast?” You ask, trying to give him a job because his watchfulness was making you nervous.

Jun nods and turns on the stove, placing a few slices of bread on the frying pan.

“Oh you are making breakfast already.” A new voice says and you turn to see Mingyu walking into the kitchen taking a seat by the counter

“You lucked out today Mingyu. But can you wake up the others, Chan was suppose to be up already.” You called to the tall boy before he had a chance to sit down.

Groaning, Mingyu gets up, heading out of the kitchen to do what you asked him to do, leaving you and Jun in the kitchen again.

“How much should I make?” Jun asks opening the second loaf.

“We’re going to have to make enough for fourteen people now.”

“Fourteen!?” He exclaimed, shocked by what was normal to you.

You nod your head to answer, turning back and continuing making breakfast.

Slowly everyone starts piling into the kitchen and dining area with their breakfast.

With every body that entered the kitchen, the noise volume of the room gradually increased.

Jun takes a seat between you and Minghao around the counter area as he tries to name each person that occupies the room, “So it's you, Seungkwan, Vernon, Joshua, and Jeonghan,” he points to each person as he names them.

He quietly eyes the other people in the room, waiting for someone to speak, and you stepped in,“There's Mingyu who you saw earlier, then Wonwoo” pointing to the two near the end of the table.“Then it goes Jihoon, Soonyoung, and Chan in the center.” You continue naming everyone“Seokmin is next to Seungkwan.” And lastly, “And then there's Seungcheol.”

After pointing at the fighter, you turn to face Jun and poke his chest, “You're supposed to be his replacement.”

You turn to see Chan smiling beside you, you frown, “But it hasn't been decided yet and Chan you're not old enough to be involved in the business yet.”

Chan pouts as he washed his plate.

“So when is it going to be decided then?” Jihoon asks. “We need someone or we are going to have to forfeit what territory we have.”

All eyes turn to you waiting for your input.

You feel the frustration inside you and pinch the bridge of your nose,“Look I've been thinking about this throughout the night and I am still unsure about dragging some outsider into this.”

“Other than Chan, we were all outsiders at one point in time.” Soonyoung says, reminding you of some of the members origins.

You take in Soonyoung's words and you look at Jun “But I'm willing to give him a chance. I'll show him how we do things and what he's up against.” You turn your gaze away from Jun and look at the others, “If he sticks around, he's in.”

“Minghao too?” Jun asks, always concerned with everyone else.

A small smile appears on your face as you nod “Yea, Minghao can stay too. We'll find him something to do.”

#seventeen #seventeen scenarios #seventeen scenario #jun #junhui #wen junhui #moon junhui #junhui scenarios #kpop scenarios #kpop scenario #aj

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