#anyways whether he's still filming or not; if any cast members were to remember will exists & give us Any info w/acknowledgments we might

[rosemarydisaster]

So, about Bi Caleb

Warning: very long post, discussing bi representation and biphobia.

*Sorry for spelling errors, English ain’t my firts language.

I can’t believe I have to tell you guys, but anyways: Caleb is bi whether he ends with a male character, a female character on a non binary character. That’s what bi people do, you know? they experience atraction for all genders. Saying that a bi character that ends with someone of the opposite gender is straight and queerbaiting is incredibly biphobic.

Yes, Vax was bisexual. Yes, he ended up with Kiki. Get fucking over it.

Now, I can understand why LGBT+ fans may feel disappointed when they tease a “gay couple” but the “straigth” couple ends up being endgame. Notice the quotation marks because there’s not such thing as a straight or gay couple for a bi person. They are bisexual in both situations, but I can see where the problem comes from. I’ve been queerbaited to hell and back by a lot of shows and it really hurts. It feels like they are laughting at you for caring. But I want those fans (whose feelings are totally valid, don’t get me wrong) to consider a few things when it comes to Critical Role, the first one being: it’s a D&D game.

Let me explain, because I know a lot of CR fans haven’t experienced what D&D is like in real life (and that’s absolutely valid, you don’t need to play D&D to enjoy CR). This is an improvisation game, not an scripted TV show. In a Tv show you can plan ahead of time what ship is going to be endgame, what themes are gonna come up for each character and it’s easier to deeply explore sexuality and gender as different planned arcs. In D&D you character’s sexuality may or may not come up depending on how you play it. Take for instance how other CR character’s have stated their sexuality:

Beau: overtly. Very *In your face* kind of lesbian. Marisha said “fuck it, I really just want to romance girls and be bad ass”

Yasha: openly, but not as in your face. Ashley Jhonson wanted to drink from that WLW cup while also being a shy disaster. Seafood market is her favored terrain.

Caduceus: Our Ace king has never hidden his sexuality, and yet he didn’t mention anything about it until chapter 114. He didn’t had the need to either hide it or state it. He was simply vibing.

I think Liam is going that route with Caleb. He’s flustered by Essek and Edwulf (Come on you guys, he always asks Matthew if he’s still hot). He also had/has a thing for Astrid and a think he might have feels for our favorite Tiefling gal. I know we are all too used to characters being teased as gay/bi only to have execs pull a “haha jk they be straight”. But this is not Sherlock or Supernatural. This is a show that not only has queer rep, but also supports queer organizations and creators. Hell, I’m sure some of the cast members are LGBT (but I’m not here to speculate on real people’s sexuality). If Caleb shows attraction to men he is not just queerbaiting, doing it for fanservicing or tricking the fans in any way shape or form: he’s just portraying a bi character. The thing is, since this is not a TV show, he is not doing it por woke points or to send a message. He’s doing it because he wants to play a bi wizard with depression.

So maybe there will be a point in which he can explores his sexuality more deeply, but remember he is playing a game. And his character is one that has a lot of trouble opening up to his feelings. Caleb is not someone that makes sexual jokes or flirty remarks. He is shy, awkward and has developed a really fucked up sense of love that he is now slowly fixing. Hell, in the same Talks episode Liam explained that Caleb was trained on Honey-pot tactics. Which, for those of you who can’t stand Bond films, means seducing your enemy/target to get information, manipulate them or assassinate them. WHICH IS A REALLY FUCKED UP THING! Let’s remember how he was the one to push Fjord to sleep with Advantica so they could spy on her. That boy has Issues when it comes to relationships. So if we don’t see him being as overtly gay as Beau, Molly or Yasha, well maybe it’s because that’s the way Caleb is. Bi people don’t owe you flamboyance, or dating both guys and gals for your approval. I wouldn’t make a post if it was only that, because I do feel the people who are aching for good bi rep and would love some more explicit confirmation. But Vax exists, so I know we can’t have good things down here.

VAX EXPLICITELY SHOWED ATTRACTION TO GILMORE. AS EXPLICIT AS IT GETS. HE FUCKING KISSED HIM. THEY WERE PRACTICALLY DATING. AND YET SOME OF YOU FUCKERS CALL HIM QUEERBAITING. AND I SAY: NOT ON MY WATCH! NOT ON MY FUCKING WATCH!!

How come a character can have canonically kissed another character in a romantic/sensual context and still be called straight? I know fucking Sherlock traumaticed y’all into having trust issues but believe me when I tell you: I’ts not that deep. This is not a “Haha I love u but in a no homo way bro”. It’s a “full homo darling, but also we’re gonna break up because I like someone else”. This is the opposite of queerbaiting. Instead of keeping a charade he was honest with Gilmore because he valued his feelings and realized that he couldn’t reciprocate them at that moment. And if you try to tell me that Vaxleth was forced and didn’t have a reason to exist except queerbaiting, let me tell you: you are wrong.

Vax saw Gilmore once or twice monthly while he spent a heck ton of time with Kiki. Sure, they didn’t had the kind of camera chemistry Gilmore and Vax had because Keyleth is not charismatic. She’s really awkward, and her relationship with Vax was more on the adorable and dorky side of things. I bring this up because I’m predicting something similar may happen to Shadowgast.

Trust me, I ship the hot wizards as much as any other critter (even though I’m a multishipper). But they haven’t talked to Essek in centuries. I think it may have been almost a month in rol and quite a few outside. And you have to take into account out-rol time to because they are humans (except Tal) playing a game and they forget about stuff (except Marisha and Matt). So Shadowgast may not happen because sure, they had really good chemistry for a month a month ago. People have crushes that die down over time All The Time. So maybe don’t be so butthurt about your ship not being canon that you accuse an ally of homophobia. 

The cast of CR put forward such an amazing representation for the LGBT+ community and it really hurts me that you gets stuck on the one thing that isn’t canon. Matt has created a world in which coming out is not necessary because no one assumes your sexuality. A world in which people respect pronouns and orientations (except Tary’s father, who is a villain). A world in which Cad or Caleb don’t need to explicitly say “I’m ace/bi” unless it comes up in conversation. A world in which his friends can be whatever they want to be without pressure or reprecusions. A world in which they get to explore different gender identities and sexual orientations with full freedom. Let’s not interfere with that (unless there’s missrepresentation), and let them play their game. If you really need mlm or wlw canon couples or more outwardly LGBT+ people you have plenty examples among NPCs and other cast members (Allura and kima, Yasha, Beau, Dairon, Keg, Reani, Tary, Molly and Vax among others).

There’s way worst shows taking LGBT+ cred for barely doing nothing. Fucking Supernatural is the most recent example! Critical Role works towards showing an honest portrayal of LGBT+ folk and accepts valid criticism from their fans on the subject (when they changed J’Mon Sa Ord pronouns from it to they/them). They don’t owe you making your ship canon or portraying their characters the way you want them to (again, unless when it’s constructive criticism). Stop being so Fucking entitled and enjoy the show for what it is

,Respectfully~

*Edit: I´m tagging Caleb’s ships into the post because most hate comes from shipping wars. Most Shadowgast fans are respectful of the cast’s decisions, even if it disappoints them. But since I’ve already seen people accusing Liam of biphobia in that tag and since I’ve already seen this shit with Vaxmore I’m tagging the ship. If you want to read my long ass post do it, if not, ignore it. I’m not forcing you to read it. I’ve also tagged it with biphobia so people can avoid it if it’s triggering. I’m sorry if it makes you mad that your ship is not canon, but that’s not an excuse to be toxic to the cast. Those of you getting mad are the ones that need to read this the most. Like I’ve said in the post: you’re allowed to be disappointed, you are allowed to want more, but you can’t force the cast to give you exactly what you want. And most certainly, you can’t accuse them of  some very serious stuff like biphobia and queerbaiting when it’s not the case..  

#Critical Role #Critical Role Rant #Bi Caleb #Shadowgast #Shadowulf #I swear to good #widofjord #I swear to Melora #Widowjest #Talks Machina #lgbt discourse #Rant #Jesus this is long #Vax #vax'ildan #Vaxmore #I'm so fucking done with this fandom sometimes #Vaxleth #How to be biphobic while asking for bi representation #liam o'brien #trigger warning biphobia #tw biphobia #Critical role discourse #queerbaiting

[poptod]

In the Heart of Atlas (Rami Malek x Reader)

Description: He doesn’t fear you––who thought such a simple thing would win your affections?

Notes: this is my first time writing for Rami himself! anyway, this is for the rami week. happy birthday rami!!! this is a bit of a strange story but i hope yall like it anyway. WC: 5.6k

+

His body twitched slightly before his eyes opened, slow and dry across his grey irises. A deep dehydration had seized his bones, as though his blood was drudging through his veins and muscles, losing water by the second. Still, he sat up, his head a weight upon his shoulders.

To his surprise, he found himself in the middle of an empty parking lot, the highway beside him mostly vacant. He looked around, finding a large but abandoned mall to his right, the lights long shattered and broken. Tension welled in his brow as he tried to piece together just how he got here.

"Most people don't get knocked out after they get ejected from their bodies," said a voice from behind him. He whirled around, scratching his pants on the rough pavement.

"Who are you?" He asked, scanning you.

For the most part, you looked normal. The only thing that stuck out was the massive katana strapped to your back and the darkness swarming around your eyes. He could barely see your face beneath the hood of your black sweatshirt, but that didn't matter all too much to him––there were more pressing, more important questions that required answers.

"Demons and angels call me (Y/N), but people call me the Reaper," you said as you offered him your hand.

He gingerly raised his hand to accept your help, faltering when your sleeve pulled back to reveal prominent bones and veins in the back of your hand. The bones poked out of the skin, glowing a faint white, while your veins remained a simple shade darker than your skin. Looking back up to you, he found no malice in what little expression he could see. With that he accepted your aid, pulling himself to his feet.

"The Reaper?"

"I go by a good many names. In the north alone I am called Gwyn ap Nudd, Cù Sith, the banshee, the Ankou, and more simply... death. Most of the time I have others collect souls, but.. you're an interesting case."

You reached forward, and though he instinctively flinched back, he soon regained control of himself and allowed you to cup his cheek. Even with that allowance, however, there was a decent amount of discomfort within him.

"I'm dead?"

"Not quite yet. That's where the interesting part comes in. Come––let's find a place away from the sun," you said, drifting past him and heading towards the abandoned mall.

Looking upwards, he found a blistering sun. He hadn't felt the heat, and looking back at the black pavement, he realized he hadn't felt that astonishing heat because he was, as you said, dead. No longer in his body. With that realization, he jogged back over to walk at your side.

"I'm a little confused, here. How did I die?" He asked.

"Again, not dead yet. Just out of your body. It's quite interesting, really," you said, opening the creaking door.

He entered gingerly, turning and waiting for you before wandering in any further. When he turned back to scan the building, he found instead a drawing room with a Victorian rug spread out across a hardwood floor, and red velvet couches filled to the brim with pillows and blankets. Paintings from all cultures covered the walls, nailed into place alongside maps of different eras. He hardly noticed his gaping mouth till you passed by and closed his jaw.

"Well... what happened to me?"

"Take a seat, Malek. I need to ask you some questions," you deflected, herding him to sit on one of the chaise lounges.

A clipboard materialized in your hands, a pen following as you sat down opposite of him.

"Now, what's your name?"

"You just said my name."

"And?" You said, quirking your brow.

He let out an exasperated sigh before answering with, "Rami Malek."

"What do you spend most of your time doing?"

"Work, mostly. I'm an actor."

"I'm aware. Most of your alternate reality personas look exactly like you. That usually only happens with actors," you said, scribbling down words with a harsh pressure on your pen. "You are given one million dollars. What do you do with it?"

"Um... I'd put it into my savings, let it collect interest until I die, and then donate it," he said after a moment's contemplation.

"Calculated. Nice. Significant others?"

"Not right now."

"Family members?"

"I've got a twin brother and an older sister. And my parents, of course."

"Are you religious?"

"Yes, sort of. My parents raised me Coptic Orthodox but I don't really interact with it much in my life."

"Is there a heaven and a hell?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He asked.

"Answer the question, Malek."

"I don't think there's a heaven or hell."

"Good choice. Alright," you said, straightening your back after hunching over your clipboard. In a quick flash both the clipboard and pen were gone, and you were back on your feet. "Do you have any questions for me before we try to fix this dilemma?"

"Yes, lots," he chuckled humorlessly, watching you circle over to a liquor cabinet. "How did I die? Or – how did I get 'ejected' from my body?"

"Remember the movie you were just working on?"

"Yeah, James Bond."

"You tried to do your own stunts since your double was missing. You missed the catching net, landed on the ground, and your essence was accidentally absorbed by the earth. The earth decided you would be safer here––in Thailand."

"Thailand?? I have to finish filming. I can't be in Thailand," he said, jumping to his feet.

"Calm down, pretty boy. I'll take you to your body in due time, and from there we can decide how to move next. This is a rare opportunity for you," you said as you poured two glasses of sherry. "People don't usually get to see me. If they do, it's pretty much assured they won't interact with me. You're very lucky. I could also just reap you and get rid of the problem, but you're not supposed to die. Not yet."

"What, do I have something to do on earth yet?"

"Yes," you said, handing him the glass in your left hand. You sat back down, sipping from your own cup.

"Then what happens if people accidentally die?"

"The world goes on. We correct our calculations and figure out the fate of the earth again. It happens very rarely, thank everything. Our I.T. would be in hell if it happened a lot."

"What affect do I have on the world?"

"I'm not really allowed to tell you that," you said, eyeing him.

"Oh, sorry."

"I'm just kidding. I rule this universe. You're going to have a fan at one point who is very suicidal. They meet you on the street, get the will to live again, and their daughter will write a mystery novel that both furthers space-travel technology and surgical technology. Happy?" You took another sip from your cup.

"... I guess."

It was certainly, if anything, an interesting time to find out your entire existence was being protected by the embodiment of death just so a woman you didn't know could further technology just slightly. He didn't feel fantastic about it.

"It's not your only purpose, if you're worried about that," you said, noticing his fallen expression. "You inspire a lot of art and a lot of stories. Everything you do and inspire adds to the color of the world. Humans are one big organism and they can't seem to see that––I hope you, and others, will realize that soon."

"I hope we do as well," he said with a sigh, leaning back into the velvet. "I'm quite sick of people getting angry at each other all the time for useless shit."

"Yes, well..." you swirled the mixture in your cup, "the human condition, and all that."

"Were you ever once human?" He asked quietly.

"No. I am not truly a being. I am what you imagine me to be, a mirage of what you expect from death," you said in a low voice. "I will be here to kill God, and in the end of time I will be all that remains. The representation of all that ever existed, and its' inevitable demise."

"... comforting."

"Isn't it?" You said with a sardonic smile. "Are you ready to see your body yet?"

"I think so," he said. "What kinda state am I in?"

"I don't know. The state of destruction your physical form is in will dictate whether or not I can return you to yourself or take you into the unknown."

"Okay," he said, taking a deep breath in hopes of calming himself. "Take me to myself."

"Very well," you said as you stood, setting your cup aside and offering him your hand once more. He took it and rose to his feet.

In a single blink, and without warning, he was in a hospital––an American one, or at least one where the signs were all in English, and the nurses were speaking that same language. Fluorescent white light filled the room, mixed with the dreary daylight of a bright but cloudy day. The shades were open to the city outside, but what first caught his eye was the centerpiece of the room––him.

Gauze, linen, and casts covered more than half his body, cradling his leg, chest, head, and both arms. His eyes remained blissfully shut, not even fluttering from the bruises and cleaned scars circling his face.

"You look good," you said, unable to tear your eyes away from the body.

"Wow, thanks," he said sarcastically.

"I'm serious. You fell, like, 35 feet. Not a lot of people survive that, much less still have one of their legs."

"So does that mean I can go back to living?" He asked, sudden excitement filling his words.

"I suppose so. You've been out for a while, though, so be careful when you get back in. Listen to your doctors. Keep safe, and let professionals do stunts," you said.

He chuckled, turning to you before saying, "I thought Death would want me to die, not live."

"It doesn't matter. I will reap all. For now I can let society grow, let lives multiply to greater heights, as in the end you will all join my kingdom. I'm old as the universe. I can wait."

"Your kingdom?"

"Me. I carry the souls of the dead in my memory. They all live within me."

"And that's what happens when we die?"

"When you die, you become one with the universe. I become part of you just as much as you become part of me. Is that a comfort to you?"

"... yes, actually," he said softly, looking back to his body. "I think I'm ready to go back to living now."

"Very well, Malek. Take my hand," you said as you offered your see-through hand.

The moment he touched you, he noticed that he, too, became see through, and he wondered if that had always been happening and he simply hadn't noticed it. He had little time to think about it before you were leading him forward, taking him to the side of his hospital bed. From there you helped him into the bed, lining his soul up with his physical body, and telling him in a soft murmur to close his eyes.

The very next moment he remembered was opening his eyes to blistering hospital lights shining down on him. His memory of you was vague and blurred, but nonetheless present in a way that tested his image of the world, questioning if he was truly living his life.

Doctors, nurses, and friends rushed to his side once they noticed his consciousness, hurriedly asking questions and preparing tests on him. His bruised eye was swollen shut, but the other one could see alright, and it was a blessing to be able to see his mother above him. It took a good deal of time, but he returned to health and was luckily not disabled by the fall.

Years later the incident came to him in a dream, in a perfect clarity that he hadn't ever had as a waking person. He bolted awake, heavy breaths emphasizing the thin sheen of sweat that now covered his chest. You had explained to him the way the world worked––his purpose in life, the inevitability of humans and of the universe, and the beauty in that. The happy ending in that unavoidable death.

Never in any other time had he desired to see you again more than he did at that moment, stuck awake in the middle of a night plagued by rain and thunder. Wide eyes stared straight ahead, to the twisted sheets covering him, to the closet on the other side of his bedroom.

Shaken to his core, he slowly moved to his feet, the cold floor shocking him awake further. As he walked towards the kitchen, he attempted at calming himself with slow breaths. Once there he grabbed a glass of water, chugging the entire glass, and slamming it back down on the counter as though he'd done a shot, which it might as well have been this late at night.

Would it be possible to summon death? he thought hypothetically, before realizing the incredible stupidity of that statement. Who would want to summon death? Also, summoning death would probably involve putting himself in a dangerous situation, which you had specifically advised him against.

"Jesus Christ," he muttered to himself, leaning against the counter as he rubbed his face.

"His name is Yeshua, and he can't help you right now."

He jumped, spinning around in his kitchen to find you sitting on the counter across from him.

"Death!"

"People aren't usually that excited to see me, but yes," you said, looking down to scan your fingernails before looking back up at him with a smile.

"How did you know I was thinking about you?"

"You had one of my true forms in your thoughts. I remembered you from a little bit ago. How long has it been again?"

"11... maybe 12 years? I haven't thought all that much about the incident, but... I had a dream tonight. I remembered –"

"I know. You're not supposed to remember me while you're still living, so I had to come back and fix that," you said, jumping off the counter and approaching him with determined resolve.

"Wait, no!" He tried to back up, but he was already pressed against the kitchen island.

"We will meet again, quite shortly, you'll see," you said with a smile, a weak attempt to calm him as you raised your hand to his forehead.

"I don't want to forget you," he pleaded, fingers dug into his palm.

"That's awfully unfair to all the other people whose memory I had to fix. Makes their sacrifice a little silly if I allow you to go and tell the world how it'll all end just because you're pretty."

"I won't tell anyone. They'll think I'm crazy."

"You're a celebrity. Someone is going to believe you."

You pressed your thumb to his forehead, and in that moment he lost all control, leading him to make the first action he could think of, the one thing that might deter your work. He grabbed you by your sweatshirt, balling the material in his fists and pulling you till your chests met. With that he smashed his lips into yours, feeling your hand slip away as you weakened, shocked into stillness.

He wasn't quite sure whether you were actually enjoying yourself or if you were just shellshocked, but he continued to kiss and move against you for a moment before releasing you. When he let go of you and drew away, he watched your unmoving expression, staring at him with parted lips and wide eyes.

"What the fuck was that?"

"... a kiss?" He answered meekly.

"What does it do?"

"You don't know what a kiss is?"

"Malek, I have two trillion different planets that I reap from, all with multiple different societies and beliefs. I'm not going to memorize each of your customs."

"Oh," he said. He would have to devote some time, later on, to let the fact that there were aliens (and a lot of them) truly sink in. "It's a show of affection. It's kind of personal."

"So it is a gift," you said with deep concentration.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"What for?"

"I like you. You're knowledgeable, and kind, and... I think you're pretty," he admitted, almost sheepishly in his low, rough voice.

Flirting with what could essentially be labelled as an eldritch monstrosity was a tad difficult, especially since you were millions of years older than him. From that point of view, he felt more like a child speaking with you, admitting to some silly, meaningless crush.

"You think I'm pretty?" You asked, your voice high pitched and coming out in almost a squeak. He nearly gawked at your reaction.

"Of course I do. Do people not tell you that?"

"I don't really talk to consciousnesses much, Malek. And most people don't find my bipedal form very nice to look at," you said quietly, looking down to the floor with fidgeting fingers.

He reached forward, pulling off your sweatshirt's hood, and allowing the warm light of his kitchen to finally show him the whole of your face. The skin around your eyes still retained that mystical darkness, like the ink of space, surrounding the cosmos of your eyes. It was quite clear now that you were not human, which explained the reasoning of hiding the whole of your whole form. 'Bi-pedal,' you called it––you had to fit in with alien worlds as well as his human world, and thus hiding many parts of yourself was required.

Now he would be the first person, the first creature, the first consciousness, the first life, to see your entirety. No one else had thought to flirt with death, but apparently that was how to avoid it. Ironic, considering the earth phrase 'flirting with death'.

You had gone into such a fluster by his words and actions that you stuttered out instructions for him to stay safe, and promptly disappeared in a cloud of smoke. He wouldn't see you again for three years, which saddened him greatly, but he made sure to remind himself that ten years for him was the blink of an eye for you. 2 trillion planets with life on them needed your attention.

In 3 years he found himself victim of yet another incident. He had been sitting in a donut shop for a little while, enjoying himself on his phone, before another customer entered and began to make a fuss. The man started yelling and he rose to the occasion, stepping over and attempting to take some of the stress off the poor teenager working on the till. Before he knew what was happening, he had a gun in his face, staring down a dark barrel of metal.

"You move and I'll slit your fucking throat," you said, appearing in a flash with your katana pressed against the stranger's throat. "Your gun's on safety mode. It'll take more than one move for you to kill this guy. Want to take that chance?"

The man faltered, and with that you nodded to the cashier, who quickly dialed up the police.

"Put it down, Michael," you said. The man, apparently Michael, slowly looked to you with wide, horrified eyes.

Rami could almost laugh at the incident, but his heart was far too full of fearful adrenaline for him to smile, much less laugh. It all happened so fast. The little bout was won the moment Michael met your eyes. He set the gun on the floor, turning to you with contempt and raised hands.

You waited until the police arrived for the sake of the cashier, but before anyone could question you, you were off again with Rami on your tail. Disappearing in a puff in front of mortals would do you no well, thus you had to start off with walking––something he could certainly follow. 3 years since he'd last seen you––grey had pervaded his hair more and more, skin more freckled and imperfect. You remained as you always were, even 15 years ago.

"Met anyone interesting lately?" He asked when he caught up with you.

Ideas of what creatures you were meeting, the types of things you got yourself into had been a decent source of inspiration for his daydreams. Such was his interest in what you wouldn't tell him that he wrote a screenplay, directed it, and shown it to the world. People often commented on the creativity of his imagination, but he always believed you to be the true source of actual creativity.

Of course, he hadn't ever actually heard about anything that you did. It was purely what he hypothesized.

"I met creatures that reproduced by stringing together DNA by hand. They are new consciousnesses in the cosmos, only recently earned souls... or what you would call, self-awareness," you said, staring ahead to the empty streets lined with cars.

"That's what gives something a soul? Self-awareness?"

"Not quite that simple, but for the most part, yes."

"How long ago did humans earn souls, then?"

"Longer back than you'd imagine. Remember, it's represented as more than self-awareness. It's societies, too, and ants have societies. I can't quite remember, but it was back when you were living in the trees," you said, taking moments to pause and correctly recall the facts.

He continued to walk alongside you for a moment more, pondering upon that information.

"Anyway. That's enough questions from you. What the hell were you doing?!" You said once you were out of sight from the cops, balling his shirt in your fists and forcing him up against a wall. Rami spluttered.

"What the hell were you doing? Aren't you not supposed to interfere with that kind of shit?" He asked, rattled from the sudden movement, and feeling bruises already building in his back. His skin and muscles had become more prone to injury over the years.

"I can do whatever I want. I don't have to worry about losing my mortal body. You're still tethered to this plane!"

"Who cares if I die? Everyone has to at some point, and helping others seems like a good way to die," he said, trying to ignore the aching in his body.

"Don't you have a wife? Kids? Family or friends? You're really ready to leave that all behind at the drop of a hat?" You scanned him.

"I was helping others," he hissed. "And I don't have a wife. Or kids. I've had more important things on my mind."

You watched him for a little while, trying to gauge his thoughts from his eyes. Eventually you released him, letting him drop to the ground, and watching carefully as he brushed off his clothes.

"Why do you want me alive now if I'm going to die soon anyway?"

"You're not going to die soon –"

"Relative to your sense of time, I'm going to die very soon," he interrupted, satisfied when you had no rebuttal. "Why do this? It's not even helping me. I know I won't really disappear when I die."

"Yes, you will. Gods, I shouldn't have told you about anything," you sighed, rubbing your face tiredly. "You misunderstand the concept of death. You, as you are, will not survive. You will disappear. I will carry your memories, but I will not be you. You will not be inside me, your memories will. I'm like a library, not some sort of vacation resort. Are you getting this?"

The blank look on his face told you everything you needed to know.

"There is no heaven or hell and I am not a substitute for their nonexistence! When you die, that's it. You're gone. Forever."

"I became a soul on earth. What about that?"

"Because you weren't fully dead, just separated from your body, like astral projecting. You either return to your body or you really die within a year. And if you try to astral project for that long, even if you do return to your body, you'll lose more and more control of it because you can't remember what it's like to have a physical form. It’s complicated, just – just stop getting in dangerous situations!" You practically yelled, clasping his head in your hands and talking quite loudly right in his face.

"There are a lot of technicalities to death," he said, putting his hands over yours and gently leading them down.

"There are a lot of technicalities to life. Why would I be any different?"

"I know, I just – I guess I don't know. Death, I... is it.. you're the only... consciousness I've ever.. loved," he admitted with a broken voice, unsure of his every word.

Your eyes widened, and you almost stumbled backwards with your own surprise. He kept you from doing so by keeping his grip on your hands.

"You want to know if you can stay with me," you said in an instant, soft realization.

He nodded.

"I don't understand," you murmured, suddenly shy. "I've tried to erase your memory so many times. Why do I keep failing?"

"You said none of your other victims ever spoke with you. I remember you because you're unforgettable, Death. I couldn't let go of you."

No one had ever thought of wooing you. You'd met creatures who tried to seduce you, yes, or to pay you off, but never romantically seek after. This would be the first time in your 14 billion years of being alive that someone did this––spoke sweet words and used your name without fear. Without shame. As though you were something to be honored.

Living things fought you so valiantly, and you loved them for that. Their desire to stay alive, to continue existing even when existing was more painful than simply facing you, to thrive in environments you yourself would've given up in. People were terrified of you. They hated you. Rightfully so––you were an easy scapegoat, something to pin blame on, like the actions of Kings weren't what actually killed them, but were the fault of the one who had to clean up the mess of souls left in an army's wake.

People also romanticized you. Thought of you as something to beat. Something to find beauty in, bliss in that nonexistence. People who hated being alive, who found their worlds too dull, or their minds too plagued with thoughts they couldn't help. It was not a true love––it was a desire to escape what they believed to be an inescapable life.

But people did not honor you. You were not a thing to give gifts to. You were not some sort of god of death––you were death. The essence of it. The misery and grief left in the wake of a taken friend.

Tears welled in your eyes, burning a bright white that trailed down your face like melted silver. The streaks were clear against the shadowed skin of your eyes. Instantly Rami thought he had done something wrong, said something to upset you, but he had no chance to apologize before you disappeared in a puff of smoke. In your wake you had left two tiny little puddles of silver teardrops on the pavement, reflecting sunlight like a mirror.

Years later, when he died, he expected to see you. He crawled out of his body, leaving behind the prolonged ringing of the heart monitor, and drifting away from his family. Long had he expected this, awaited this almost eagerly. But when he died, he was met by a man named Jynq, who went on a long spiel about death and the true meaning of the universe.

"Where is Death?" He asked once Jynq gave him a moment to speak.

"I am Death," he said with a confused frown.

"No, you're one of it's workers. I want to see the real Death," Rami stated firmly.

Jynq's expression fell into seriousness, the polite exterior of a worker making way for his true personality.

"It's on the other side of the universe right now. Several planets have been having a war for a while now, and the deathcount has kept them there for many years now," Jynq answered truthfully.

"Can you take me to them?"

"How do you remember Death?" He rebutted instead.

"They spoke to me. On several occassions. They tried to wipe my memory but it didn't work," he explained.

"You spoke to Death on several occasions?" Jynq asked, his mouth falling open.

"... yes?"

"Alright. I'll take you to it, but the journey will take a while. I hope your soul is resilient," the reaper said.

"Doesn't it take a year for a soul outside the body to die out?"

"Hm. You really did talk to it. But yes," he offered his hand, which Rami took, and they began to ascend towards the heavens, "it takes a year for the average soul to die. This journey will take several years. Are you ready for that kind of commitment?"

"Yes."

There was no spaceship in which to find a home, nor any set spot for rest or food. Neither he nor Jynq required any food or water, and certainly not any sleep, so the method of travel was a long, straight line towards the edge of the universe, unbreaking and unmoving.

Cosmos passed him by, and he became a part of them, leaving behind parts of his essence in the form of star dust that trailed after him. The further and faster he travelled, the more of himself he left behind, till he became a translucent outline of who he used to be. Jynq remained the same, just as you did. He couldn't calculate just how much time had passed, but as more of it did, he got a sense that he was experiencing time at a much faster rate than he imagined. Still, he remained oblivious to how much time was left in the journey.

At times he would go through solar systems, beside stars with planets that certainly carried life. Worlds made of diamonds, suns bigger than the whole of his home solar system, clusters of stardust reforming into young stars. Each of these worlds was one you had met––one you had left your mark on, no matter how young or old.

Life on earth didn't seem quite real when he reached the warring planets. There was so much going on in the universe––things humans would never know about. Worlds full of people that would never be found.

Jynq stopped Rami on the moon of a green planet, keeping him there while he went to go find you. He took the opportunity to sit, to rest after years of drifting through space, and to wonder which thought of his many collected thoughts he should first tell you.

"How in all the fucking WORLDS alive do you keep managing to endanger yourself, even after you die?!" You screamed, appearing in front of him in a millisecond and grasping his face tight again. "Are you insane or something?! Like clinically insane??"

"You've clearly never met someone who's in love with you," he chuckled, taking your hands and, again, gently pulling them away from their tight clutch on his face.

"Ohh, Malek," you said, anger falling away to the aching sorrow in your tone. "Look at you. You're so thin... does it hurt?"

"I feel weak, but I also feel light. I am okay," he assured you. "I left a trail of myself all across the universe. I've given myself back to the stars. Now I want to give what remains of me to you, but I had to talk to you again. Just once more."

"You speak like you’re old," you said with a weak laugh.

"I am old."

"How old do humans live to be?"

"The oldest was around 120 years, I think."

"Oh. Well, then I guess you're a little old. Not to me though," you said, flipping his sheer hands and taking them in yours.

"I'm old enough that I have accepted my own fate. I'm ready for you, Death," he said, his smile only visible in the bits of glittering stardust that made up the frame of his face.

Your smile fell.

"No," you said.

"... no?"

"No. I'm not going to do it," you stated.

"Can you do that? Like, legally?" He asked, quirking a brow.

"Who's going to stop me? I'm Death."

"Good point."

"I just wish I could heal you," you murmured, reaching up to stroke his cheek only to have your thumb fall through his face.

"I don't mind it," he said softly.

"Hmm," you said, taking a moment to think critically. "I think I know how to help you."

You found him a home in the heart of a star––Atlas, a part of the Pleiades that shone bright beside its' sister, Pleione. The intense pressure was lost on both of you as you entered, making your way to the heart, where the elements of matter and life were formed in overbearing heat. As was the nature of space, the center of Atlas was dead silent, leaving you and Rami in a white, detail-less expanse.

Slowly, over the years, parts of his body returned to him, building off the star-lit frame of his soul. As you suspected, the workers of the dead and afterlife were extremely dissatisfied with you, but could do nothing. You were older than all of them, and you decided you could allow yourself this one indulgence––this one moment of straying from the rules that Gods had so often broken.

They allowed you this one comfort: a home in the heart of Atlas, in the arms of a man who had given himself to the world, and then to the universe. The one Death who had taken so much from the universe, who would eventually take everything in the universe, wrapped in the embrace of the one who had given every part of himself to the world he lived in.

#rami malek x reader #rami malek #rami malek x male reader #rami malek x female reader #rami40

[perksofhs]

‘So... the weather?’

This is a little AU piece that was requested! The prompt: Hey could you do a one shot where harry and famous reader are in a talk show and he has a crush on her. Maybe he accidentally hurts her while playing a game and he feels awful about it orrr maybe the host put a video where harry says that the reader is his crush and he gets nervous and embarrassed.

Promoting a movie was all but glamourous. It was a constant string of 14 hour days, 5am wake up calls and repetitive questions about working with this person or that person with very little time spent discussing the actual plot of the film. The savior of press tours was any interview where you werent alone, whether it was a joint interview with cast mates or a full couch talk show.

You’d been on the Late Late Show once in the past and you had to be honest, it was so much fun. Your first appearance included a 7 minute long musical medley involving fifteen quick changes and you very nearly faceplanting the floor.

By this point you were sitting in the dressing room, your hair being tugged one way or another by David your hairdresser, with your make up artist Cam working his magic on your noticabley exhausted face. “Who am I on with tonight Maggie?” you ask your manager, realising no one had actually told you. Maggie looked up from her laptop, a smirk on her lips. “James told me not to tell you so you’ll have to wait!” she said smugly. You rolled your eyes, “Of course he said that, that man has to stop trying to set me up”. James was a good friend, the two of you having met a number of times through industry parties award shows. He’d always try and find the mosyty eligible bachelor in the room and push you towards them just to shit you. Suffice to say none of them worked out.

Once your hair and makeup were done and you were dressed in a cute but entirely impractical and kind of uncortable outfit, a crew member came to get you and walk you down to the stage. “Ok so once we get to the stage, you’ll hear James announce your name, walk down the steps through the audience, wave or high five whatever you feel like. Then greet James and take a seat, then he’ll then announce the next guest”. You nodded along politely, already knowing the drill. “By chance, do you know who the other guest is?” you say shooting Maggie a smug look. “Yeah its Harry Styles” with that your heart skipped a beat, you’d always found him attractive and incredibly charming which is something you had stupidly mentioned to James once or twice. “That bastard” you say under your breath, you didnt have much time to think about it though because not even 30 seconds later you rounded a corner and there he was.

He was a gorgeous as ever, wearing what you could only assume with a gucci knitted jumper with a delicate lacy collared shirt beneath it, his signature pearls hanging perfectly around his neck, and a pair of cream flared pants. The outfit was quintessentially Harry. He was chatting to another random crew member who seemed to be giving him the same speech. You could hear James wrapping up whatever he was talking about, you were too distracted to follow it, you couldnt look away from the man 8 feet away from you. “You good?” Maggie says, pulls you from your bewildered state, Maggie’s words also caught the attention of Harry who finally looked in your direction.

Harry’s eyes landed on you and unbeknownst to you he was just as taken by the sight of you. Realising his gaze was lingering, Harry snapped himself out of it “Hey i’m Harry, nice to meet you” he said, taking a few steps towards you, his hand awkwardly out for a hand shake, something Harry was already kicking himself for doing. You took his ring clad hand in yours briefly “Hey I’m-” before you could finish you could hear James announce your name, you let out a laugh “that’s my queue”. It was probably a good thing that James has inadvertently introduced you, who knows whether you could have actually remebered your own name in that moment.

You descend the stairs, meeting James at the bottom with a friendly hug before taking your place on the couch. “Can you also put your hands together for the incredible Harry Styles!” James proclaims, the audience erupting once more, you watch Harry interact with the audience effortlessly as he makes his way down the stairs, having a bromance moment with James before he plops down next to you, sitting closer than you had expected him to. “So have you guys met before?” James says, knowing full well the answer is “No we haven’t, we met briefly backstage” Harry says. He couldnt stop thinking about how awkward he’d made the initial encounter but he couldnt help it.

Throughout the interview it was all too clear that sparks were flying bewteen the two of you. Harry had talked about his new music, you’d talked about your new film, an anecdote or two thrown in from the both of you. all was going smoothly until about 15 minutes in when James began to look very smug. “Now Harry, I know you two hadn’t met before but from what I hear you have quite the crush huh?” Harry’s cheek went bright red knowing exactly what was about to happen. You on the other hand had zero idea what was going on. “And how would you know that James?” Harry says trying to pretend he has no clue what James was referring to. “Funny you should ask my friend, this clip might just answer that for you!”

Your eyes darted to the nearest screen as the clip rolled, it was an interview from the press tour of the movie Harry had been in last year. The interviewer had asked the cast who they’d love to work with on future projects and to your surprise, Harry’s pick was you. The interviewer then asked why you were his choice, Harry’s response was “she’s just so talented, every time I watch her in something I’m just profoundly captivated. Her on screen presence is incredible.” One of his castmates laughed, playfully poking Harry in the shoulder adding "If it wasn’t already obvious he’s got quite the crush! He made us watch like 4 of her films during our set downtime” before the clip ended.

Harry dramtically buried his head in his hands out of sheer embarrassment as the audience let out a series of ‘oooohs’ and whistles and James burst out laughing. You let out an laugh as you awkwardly fiddled with your fingers, not entirely sure what you were menat to say or do in that moment. "Well then Harold, go on, ask her out. Nows your chance!” James goaded. Harry was utterly mortified but wasnt the least bit surprised. “So... the weather?” the audience laughed at Harry’s miserable attempt at changing the subject. “Alright alright i’l drop it but you can’t say I didnt try! Just remember this moment when you get married ok?” James said, throwing his hands up in defeat as he got in one last playful jab.

The rest of the interview went awkwardly by, although you were a little distracted. Did he really have a crush on you? How could he have a crush on you? You’re the one who had the crush on him, surely he didn’t feel the same?  James wrapped up the interview and once the cameras had cut both you and Harry made your way backstage.

“Well that was sufficiently awkward and I apologise for how uncomfortable I’m sure that made you. I’m honestly gonna fucking kill James for that” Harry said, you could only giggle in response. “He has no idea what’s coming the next time we catch up. In all fairness, despite how uncomfortable that whole ordeal was, it was lovely to meet you” the two of you smiled at each other. “It was lovely meeting you too Harry, no need to apologise, I bloody knew he was up to something. anyway, I have to head back to my dressing room, I’ll see you around” you say before starting to walk away. You only make it a few steps before Harry stops you “Hey wait! What are you doing this afternoon? This was my last interview for the day and I was gonna head from here to get some food. Wanna come along?” You pause for a moment to think about what the rest your day looked like before smiling back at him “Well, I had planned to go home and eat some left over chinese in front of a film... but I like your idea better. Swing by my dressing room on your way out?” Harry could conseal his happiness with your response, a giddy grin now plastered on his face “It’s a date, but we have to make a deal that neither of us tell James ok? You know how smug he’d be. Deal?” Harry said with a wink, reaching his hand out to seal the deal. You laughed as you shook his hand once more, this time a little less awkard than the first encounter. “My lips are sealed. Now you better not take too long, I’m starving!” you say as you walk away with a smirk and as they say, the rest was history.

Hey lovelies, I hope you enjoyed this one! And I hope the anon who requested it thinks I did an ok job! I havent done many request pieces. Also I know its not super long but I still think its pretty adorable.  Requests are open, just shoot me a message and I’ll see what I can do! xx

#imagine harry styles #harry styles x reader #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #harry fic #harry styles fic #harry styles imagine #harry styles #one direction #harry fluff #harry smut #harry imagine #imagine harry #harry oneshot #harry styles onseshot

[m0e-ru]

eight months in somebody actually asked me abt visualive instead of me immediately annoying ppl about it without former notice. I might actually write properly for once 😳😳😳

OK OK!!!!! In this essay I will.... I will.... Visualive Adachi.... Visu/BURSTS INTO TEARS/

OKAY OKAY for real I just care Visualive so much (as someone who can’t fully understand Japanese AHAHA)

First I’ll add some foundation about what Visualive really is, then I talk abt Adachi in the latter parts of it because this is technically the first time I’m properly talking about this hehe 🐿

T....table of contents???

Visualive

Visualive the Evolution

Masami Itou

Visualive Adachi

Visualive the Evolution Adachi

Terms and Legend

VL - Visualive

VLE - Visualive the Evolution

stage - shortened for “stageplay”

面白い - omoshiroi (it’s just that specific)

Yuuya - VL Hero name

Hayato - VLE Hero name

Baba - Hero

Masami - Adachi

Taniguchi - Dojima

Saotome - Daisuke

Mamiya - Izanami

I add honorifics but sometimes I forget the hyphen intentionally or unintentionally I’m sorry if it makes it hard to read lol

all links have automatic timestamps for easy viewing. i mean. i hope the timestamps work

VISUALIVE “Persona 4.” A stage adaptation of SMT: Persona 4 by Atlus. It adapts the first part of the story, from the hero’s arrival to after recovering Mitsuo Kubo from the TV world. It also ends on a cliff hanger, showing a teaser of Shadow Naoto being projected on the screen.

It takes up a speedy recapitulation of the hero’s spring life, before slowing down and showing in depth his school life in summer. A day before Morooka-sensei’s death, there is a little skit with Kou, Daisuke and Adachi. The hero walks into the conversation before the two other boys leaving, and Morooka-sensei walking in on the student and detective. The next day follow’s the teacher’s death and the Investigation Team (IT) begin investigating their new lead.

From the words “visual” and “alive,” the niche of this stage was meant to be the fusion of live acting and visual digital projections. All seen from the stageplay with the colorful cast of actors and CG animations being projected on the screen. This offers an opportunity for characters to summon their personas, perform cool visual effects, change the backdrop, or even confront their own Shadows.

Performed in Sunshine Theater from the 15th to the 20th of March 2012. The screenplay was written and directed by Shintaro Asanuma from the theatrical group “bpm.” The video production produced by Shutaro Oku, a film director and visual planner. He later takes over as director for VISUALIVE THE EVOLUTION, the sequel stage. The stage music was produced by Shunsuke Wada, with a special show exclusive vocal track sung by Shihoko Hirata.

On this note, I haven’t seen any sort of original soundtrack released for any of the stages and I’m SO SAD. The last song in Mitsuo’s boss fight was such a BANGER and literally EVERYTHING ELSE Marvelous, Wadasan please take my MONEY

Regarding the cast, there were some special accommodations for Teddie, Rise, and Nanako, all of which did not have live actors at the time. During the casting, actors for the three characters could not be found or simply left the directors unsatisfied they couldn’t cast anybody. An exception for Rise, who was able to have a live actor in the sequel stage. It has been stated that there weren’t any “pretty boy” actors that fit the “Teddie Criteria.” While there weren’t any child actors that were believed to portray Nanako well.

Teddie was only ever seen in his bear costume while Rise was busy talking through a call, all voiced by their video game cast. Nanako has never appeared on stage, only being scarcely mentioned in the script. Again, this is different in the sequel stage where her role was extremely important and was shown as a screen projection.

VISUALIVE “Persona 4” THE EVOLUTION. A sequel stage. Beginning abruptly in the middle of Shadow Naoto’s boss fight, the story continues from there until the “true end” of the game’s original story. *Certain characters are introduced while others have been reintroduced. And on a personal note, when it’s all comedic in the beginning, it’s all for what’s coming right after.

I don’t know if I’m salty or just find it really funny AHAHA I might go talk abt it some other day with more context ehehe

Performed in The Galaxy Theater from the 3rd to the 9th of October 2012, only a few months after the PSVITA Persona 4 Golden release, which is July 2012. The screenplay was now written by Jun Kumagi while directed by Shutaro Oku. And music production finally taken over by Shoji Meguro himself.

---

HAHAHA this is starting to look like a wiki page. moving on. I might start rambling rn

(warning LONG !!!! aaa,,)

My thoughts on the stage adaptations. For the first Visualive (VL) I believe it’s pretty close to canon! I enjoy the characterization and how much love and care was present when handling the entire production.

Actors were busy playing the game itself, wherein a PS2 was present in the practice room. Along with magazines and game guides explaining the game’s story and the characters itself. Actors performing together and even improv acting together to get a grasp of their characters. All of them knowing well of Persona 4 as a well loved game, delicately handling their characters and hopefully performing them right while making the audience happy.

The staff taking care of each other while the director and video producer, Asanuma-san and Oku-san, working together well to make their vision into a reality.

The same thing happened with VL the Evolution (VLE) and literally every other good stage. Except... I feel the script kinda got out of hand with too much liberty where it feels a bit more disconnected from canon. But! It makes up for it in its content, whether comedic or (INCREDIBLY) dramatic! It’s great as its own story at that point. So in this case, I like to take the first VL and get to connect it canon, while I don’t know what the hell happened in VLE to the point I’ll just enjoy it as its own content.

These opinions deserve its own essay, post whatever bc I have SO much to say abt this. ANYWAY. VL ADACHI

---

Tohru Adachi is portrayed by Masami Itou (伊��マサミ), a screenplay writer, director and an stage actor himself. He does have a single character voice role along with a fellow troupe member in the same franchise, but mostly works as the former three. He is part of Asanuma-san’s entertainment group “bpm.” On a similar note, Masashi Taniguchi, Dojima’s actor, was also part of their group from 2011 to 2016, which may explain their good synergy as the boss and the bumbling fool dynamic. I mean, somebody’s gotta get hit in the head every few skits.

With Masami-san being an important part of the cast, he doesn’t appear as often as Taniguchi-san in backstage content like the VL bonus disk or the official blog. Mentioned in his own personal blog, he had been busy with his roles as assistant director (I am assuming also for VL).

Also fun to note, because his role is mainly comic relief, he has been using his liberty to change up the material almost everyday making each performance exciting. This also leaves some other actors jealous of his freedom in his role, such as Saotome-san, Daisuke’s actor.

---

VL Adachi really has a... how do I say this? an adorable speech pattern (THE SAME SPEECH PATTERN THAT DROVE ME MAD TRYING TO DECIPHER I THOUGHT YOU WERE A CITY BOY OSSU OSSU MY ASS /shakes you violently/). Overall, he really fits the loose lipped bumbling fool, and his accent really makes him seem more casual and invested. What I’m saying is... VL Adachi either actually has genuine empathy or he actually has more energy to fake it (compared to some other edgelord. i mean you saw my p4ga analysis. I’m sick of him lol ahaha).

One of my favorite ways to explain this (OTHER THAN CHAIR CAR ADVENTURE MY BELOVED WE’LL GET TO THAT LATER) is the rice field scene with him and Dojima. It’s overanalyzation time 🎉

(43:04)

While investigating, Adachi whines about being tired while Dojima smacks him in the head. In this case, it’s established that Adachi doesn’t want to be there, yes? It’s the country, it’s hot and it smells like green.

"Ah... Dojima-san..! Why don't we take a break? (...) There really is nothing out here... Is the criminal still even here at all? (...) I wonder if I've passed being a rookie yet. Haha, but this city doesn't even have convenient transportation. I can't go to leisure lands (recreation, amusement parks, arcades, ect.) and head home at all."

Adachi then tries to tell Dojima a story. “when I got to this city after being newly assigned, I met an interesting guy (...) Yeah, I remember that the cherry blossoms haven't bloomed yet. So, I was driving my car and got near the station and--” Dojima gets a phone call.

Adachi politely puts his hands down waiting for his boss to finish so he can finish the story. Again and again, Adachi attempts to talk to Dojima about a story he’s so persistent trying to tell someone about. It was so 面白い that he would find someone to talk to about it. Even being polite and patient enough to wait for a chance to speak. He even gets fed up with it and blows up in front of his boss, clearly irritated he’s not given a chance to talk.

Sure, it could be Adachi feeling fed up like a normal person where someone agreed he to listen to him, before being constantly ignored. Or Adachi trying to be a more annoying whiny brat, depending on where you look at it.

If the story wasn’t too “interesting” to Adachi, he would’ve just brushed it off and stopped talking to Dojima entirely, or start up new small talk, or even complain some more. But no, he had a story he wanted to voice out so bad that he got irritated that the one person in the vicinity couldn’t listen to him.

Only after Dojima told him to continue their investigation elsewhere did Adachi finally stop and focus on something else. Maybe that story was for another day, or maybe it was never meant to be told.

What if it was just original (game) Adachi? He’d find a way to squirrel out of the investigation as usual, or push Dojima to “investigate” elsewhere. “Hey boss, don’t you think it’s hot? Why don’t we go elsewhere? We’ve seen this place too many times to count and I doubt anything new’ll turn up. How about we take a break at Junes, y’know? Where it’s cool? C’mon boss,” something like that.

og Adachi is just really annoying and silly to me. Some grown man thinking he can freeload because he never gets anything out of putting in more energy and effort? I don’t care how tall he is, I will smack him in the head.

Yeah VL Adachi whines, too, but at least it doesn’t look like he’s going to escape and waste his time somewhere else. He just sucks it up stops trying to leave the situation.

Or maybe I’m getting this all wrong and VL is exactly the same and my rage just gets dampened because of Masamisan’s execution of character hmm...

SO. What was his story about anyway? The one he really wanted to share to Dojima?

I mean... it’s obvious enough

First day in town? Spring? Actually mentioned driving a car when literally out of every single persona 4 media at the time was there not a SINGLE mention of Adachi having a car OTHER THAN the same stageplay it’s being mentioned in?

A story, from somewhere around uhh four? five months ago? was something that he remembered so dearly and was willing to share despite it obviously embarrassing him even if he puts the blame on a certain somebody in the same story?

Or maybe it’s because he really had nothing to talk about ever since he realized all his stories from the city weren’t actually that funny or interesting in the first place.

BUT then that would mean out of all the things he could talk about—more whining, complaining, complimenting, small talk—he insisted about talking about this story in particular.

Okay, look. I’m just. Just. As someone who talks too much, of course I have things I actually want people to hear out of all the bullshit that comes out of my mouth. And if the thing I actually want people to listen to doesn’t even get heard, I’d go mad.

Sure, Adachi’d be fine when his complaints or intentionally unfunny jokes get brushed off. But a story of a guy that he thought was so funny, interesting, 面白い gets ignored, he really blew up, even just for a split second, maybe.

And ALL the things that happened in that story—on his first day in Inaba! His car got dented, he had to deal with a weirdo dumbass employee that knew zero personal space, yelled in his ear, who didn’t know how to do their job, got his station reputation messed up on the first day, got his ass grabbed, got (unintentionally?) mocked for his lame stories, and got his car dented for the SECOND time. Probably MORE

And he STILL wanted to talk about it /punches through concrete wall/

yes I’m overthinking about this of course i am

This little tidbit of VL Adachi kinda makes me go insane sometimes—his entire characterization in VL in particular. It was really refreshing to see and how they included both of his characters in it, his facade and how irritated he is of a lot of things underneath. And how flexible his character is immediately working with other characters when there’s sudden improv to balance the situation. Like him and Dojima, Morooka, the attendant, or even Yuuya (hero) himself.

I’ll take Taniguchi-san’s messing around in the VL bonus backstage disc in place of Masami-san being so busy he couldn’t appear in it as often as other characters.

For stagetime that lasted for fifteen minutes or less, my appreciation for VL Adachi, even if he was just comic relief, really rocketed. I say VL, bc Adachi the edgelord he’s supposed to be in literally every other media is something I analyze separately.

I haven’t even gotten to VLE oh my GODDDDD

Like I said, I don’t really regard VLE close to canon but as something to be appreciated for what it is by itself. But the way Adachi was characterized there, in or out of character, still struck me.

---

Yes, there was his strange fan-agreed-canon which is,,, now canon obsession with cabbages (not that that’s a bad thing lmao). There was also him being a lot more jumpy and intimate in a clowny way, patting people on the shoulder or even downright hugging them just to mess around. Even FORGETTING who the same goddam loser who grabbed his ass almost a year ago is. But like, can’t blame him they literally changed their actor (and screenplay writer) AHAHAHA

ha... no more comedy, only dorky sword fights now

(speaking of sword fights I think it’s a fun thought how Mamiya-san [Izanami, also one of the youngest in the cast] admitted it was his first time doing sword fight choreography and even thanked Masami-san and other staff members for guiding him)

One thing unintentionally in character was Adachi accidentally nabbing the sushi overdosed in wasabi. Masami-san didn’t actually account for a joke sushi and didn’t immediately eat it—until Taniguchi-san (who also made Dojima go off his shits compared to VL) jokingly yelled at him and even riled up the audience for him to eat it. He even went off stage to get water just for him to eat the goddam sushi.

And Masami-san did! (kinda choked, but he’s fine).

Continuing from the same scene, while being overly giddy about sushi dinner (and I mean overly--he was singing about it while hopping to the Dojima residence), he tried to remind the two, Dojima and Hayato (hero), that Nanako was sleeping. Probably where she was sick if the scene was translated from the game.

(30:07)

And... the dramatic parts of VLE

Adachi was the one who reported to the IT that Dojima was chasing Namatame in the rain. While Naoto was discussing Namatame’s journal entries, Adachi, as giddy as he is, took it from Naoto’s hands and reveled in the discovery of evidence so childishly(?). He even ran to Dojima when he began regaining consciousness and immediately called the nurses to help him wheel Dojima to the ER.

Then, The Hospital Scene™️, right after Nanako flatlines.

(1:02:02)

Adachi, who recently walked into the scene, immediately worries about Dojima and IT who were ALL crying. He looks down, devastated—before yelling how Dojima’s heading to Namatame’s room.

He yells in terror and the same grief at his injured boss, all while running past and even jumping over children, who fell to the ground sobbing, to get to him. He continues yelling in a pained fashion while immediately reprimanding Dojima to stop. He gets carried by the collar before being tossed to the ground at Hayato’s feet, all while being pat by the same boy.

Dojima makes his speech about how unfair it is for the ‘killer’ to be alive when his daughter isn’t. When he finally falls to his knees, Adachi rises from the ground, humbly saying he’ll do his best to take care of Dojima (or something like that I’m in tears I literally can’t do VLE’s hospital scene i h8 this). He finally starts crying along with everyone else, being pushed away again but still tries again, trying to usher his boss away from the door.

With the help of the guard in front of the door, they all disappear off stage

please... I know this scene doesn’t need that much translation because of how important this scene is in the entire story. and I know my narratives aren’t enough so just,,,, just watch it please it’s so much more than this. everyone’s acting was just spectacular

(1:08:47)

So, after the IT (YOSUKE. JUST YOSUKE. good job Mae-chan) stop themselves from k wording Namatame, it was ADACHI who reported Nanako’s miracle recovery. He ran to the same corridor where they all cried in, even panting and falling to the ground in relief trying to report the good news. Then he pats Hayato on the shoulder and says he’s going to Dojima.

With this... /slaps roof of half of VLE/ ALL of this....adachi.... adachisan.... he Cares™️..... holy shit.....

now. comparing to the game. do you even remember what og Adachi did? did he.. even do anything?????

(56:39)

NO!!! he just stood there!!!! being a bumbling fool but.... inappropriately!!! man. he didn’t act concerned enough.

adachi: /walks into a bunch of kids crying outside a hospital room/ “lmao why tf are y’all crying? did uhhh what’s her face uhhh nanako. did she d word or something? rip, I guess lol” LIKE????? CAN YOU IMPLY FASTER

and then he’s like “wgat hmm Where’s Dojima-san Heading Because That’s Not The Way To His Room 🤔” and only when he’s asked he actually mentions he’s heading to Namatame’s room and still needs to get choked by a first year for the room number like..... zero consideration

and his boss??? where his daughter he loves so much just??? di*s???? and he’s so devastated he’s doing what he can that very moment while he’s so numbed of thinking of the consequences???? And adachi goes “uhh boss that’s illegal” LIKE. BITCH. /punches through a concrete wall but harder/

---

And??? His confrontation scene??? Like, I know they mashed it up w his tv confession scene to save stagetime for other scenes BUT IT WAS SO MMBMBMBMMGN /gestures in a good way/

(1:15:56)

UM?? guy behind everything??? in a vulnerable area where he could easily get physically assaulted bc hes not in the tv world w his persona?? Trash talks women like he absolute misogynist he is??? getting yelled at by a bunch of kids and YELLING BACK IN THE SAME AGITATED MANNER even TAUNTING THEM then and there to GET HIS ASS?????

og Adachi was such a pussy he got caught and just scurried off into the TV world where he ended up having powers like...ok....scared of getting beat down by a bunch of highschoolers unless you have powers...ok....

he only taunted them to get him when he was in the tv world too.....he rlly couldn’t say shit in the real world huh... lol

(yeah yeah this shows how VLE Adachi knew abt his TV world powers which would make you think if he ever went into the tv world and came back out alive. Or he’s really just a badass who doesnt give a shit abt anyone’s opinions and CAN beat anyone’s ass. i have a separate thing abt this but bc i like to laught at vle rather than overthink its own lore i might. not. idk lol)

and ??? VLE Adachi can??? He can swordfight??? he doesn’t even NEED a gun—he even reflects bullets w his blade (but apparently he can still get slapped by a flying fan more often than any other attack). His fight choreo was just...so poggers. He’s like short villains done good—like??? he’s short compared to everyone else!!! but he makes up for it for stuffing all the energy inside him while is bursts out making him him the over energetic gremlin he is!!! go VL adachi!!!!

(am I low key making fun of Madono-san in the TUUSH stageplay I’ve seen four minutes of? maybe)

OK!!! Yes I was gushing abt Masami-san again back to Adachi.

It’s portrayed that while not being afraid to admit his crimes, he also goes out of his way to be a bastard and have the gall to get a bunch of kids to fight him, one on eight. He can use a katana, probably a narrative dark reflection of the hero, Hayato which I thought was nice—and he can fight!!! It also shows his persona, yes, but...it doesn’t make it clear if he’s overwhelmed by his Shadow like in the game, where his eyes were yellow and he was emitting a dark aura.

But it gets interesting how he sees he’s getting overwhelmed and starting to lose his edge towards a bunch of kids. He falls to the ground even banging the floor like a whiny brat while literally the IT tries to tell him to turn himself in. Again, like a brat he tells everyone to shut up—before getting incapacitated. While some of the IT rejoice, he bolts up unaccepting of his defeat—before getting hit in the stomach.

(1:23:54)

And his words from when he drops his katana, “Why..?” He grabs the foldable chair against his stomach, and with a remorseful look in his eyes, he says “I’m sorry..!”

THEN HE BACKFLIPS—then Hayato slashes him.

In a tone of disbelief, he goes “no way...” and collapses to the ground, being possessed by Ame-no-Sagiri.

Blah blah blah then Teddie rockets himself into the eyeball spy cam and then they both explode aaaaa

Teddie survives but I really don’t know where Adachi went. Not even a mention by Dojima if he turned himself in or was ever found—or I need to review VLE for the 48274827482nd time hehe

WHOO then the whole cast appears for the dance number at the end of show YAHOO

#long post #persona 4 #persona 4 visualive #persona 4 visualive the evolution #tohru adachi #sulululat #pagsususuri #p4 #p4v #p4ve #//HAPPY 4K WORDS VL ANON #// if theres anything u want to ask... im right here /collapses/ #// i almost went ham over actor relationships like. talking abt bpm was ENOUGHHH we're talking about the character not the assistant direct #// aaa this took so long... i literally mashed up so many other idea documents into one.. man.

[one-boring-person]

You're Back!

The Lost Boys x reader

Warnings: vague mentions of death

Context: This is supposed to be a kind of crossover between Top Gun and The Lost Boys (because they are my favourite films) but it is only minorly so. The reader is a naval fighter pilot who is good friends with the boys and spends most of her free time in Santa Carla with them.

A/N: This hasn't turned out too well, because I'm ridiculously sleep deprived tired, so I will revisit it at some point, whether to rewrite it completely or to add to it, I'm not sure, but I will improve it. For now, I hope this is acceptable.💛😊

**contains some spoilers for Top Gun, but only vague ones**

Masterlist

I roll my eyes as yet another person stares at me as they pass, keeping eye contact with them until they stop looking, turning their gaze away awkwardly, carrying on with their night without watching me for the entirety of it. By now, I've had to sit through about a score of curious people in the last two hours, my tolerance for them quickly wearing thin as they continue to eye the uniformed stranger leaning against a motorcycle. Chewing on my lip, a habit I've never managed to kick, I carefully roll up the sleeves of my military uniform shirt, careful not to crease it too much, even though I will likely iron it before I wear it again, the hard-learnt instincts reminding me to stay smart and neat, even if I'm currently not in the presence of any commanders I need to report to.

In the stifling heat, my shirt sticks to my skin a bit, sweat coating my brow as I watch the crowd, my hair starting to become less styled and more dishevelled with each passing minute, the journey from the aircraft carrier I was deployed at to the airport in Miramar, followed by the gruelling motorcycle ride down to Santa Carla having that effect in me. I didn't have time to stop off anywhere on the way to get changed into my own clothes, seeing as I wanted to get to the little seaside town before sundown, choosing instead to stay in my uncomfortable uniform, knowing it may well curry me some favours here and there along the way - bartenders are only too happy to serve a member of the naval air force, especially a Top Gun graduate. Absentmindedly I feel my lips quirk up into a smile, recalling the time my friend, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, used this fact to his advantage when in Miramar, charming a poor waitress into giving us all free food and drinks, though I'm pretty sure he promised her something in return, something which kept him out of the bunk rooms that night. Ironically, he never used that trick again.

Shaking my head, I cast my gaze over the crowd again, searching for a particular group of people, a sense of excitement rising in me when I hear the tell tale sound of their motorcycles cutting through the horde of people, my eyes swiftly finding the approaching people as they park their vehicles a little way away from me. Making a split second decision, I choose to stay by my own bike, waiting for them to either notice me, or walk past, a small smirk plastered across my lips, my eyes fixed on them: David, Dwayne, Paul and Marko.

Eventually, they push off their bikes and start making their way through the crowd, having missed my presence completely, the four of them easily moving amongst the people lining the Boardwalk, most sane locals knowing the group's notorious reputation. David and Dwayne walk ahead of Paul and Marko, who are pushing and shoving each other around, giggling and laughing to themselves as a band of girls squeals when the smaller of the two is thrown straight into their midst, drawing some attention from the people around them, though they have yet to notice me. Crossing my arms over my chest, I just watch as they move together, eyeing them as they come into range before looking around for something, quickly finding a discarded newspaper on the wall behind my motorbike. Smirking wider, I take it and tear off three pages, screwing them into a tight ball, my gaze returning to the approaching bikers, guaging the distance between me and them, knowing I have a very good aim, having practiced it a lot before and during training. Winding back my arm, I take aim and throw the ball, giving it some force so that the intended target will manage to feel it under his mess of hair, trying mg hardest to contain my laughter when the projectile connects with the back of his head.

Paul instantly looks around, irritation and confusion rife in his face as he searches the crowd for his assailant, still missing me, even as I throw another ball of paper, though this one is aimed for Marko, who also receives it as a blow to the back of the head. Disgruntled, the two vampires stop, looking around for the source, drawing David and Dwayne's attention as they realise their friends are no longer following them. Biting my lip, I throw another two, hitting both of the quieter boys square in the back, trying my hardest to hold back my laughter, though I am unsuccessful as they continue to search around, heads whipping to and fro as they try to work out where I am, the crowd of people around them starting to leave a berth around them, leaving their view of me unblocked and clear. Finally, I decide to put them put of their misery.

"Damn, I thought you guys were observant." I call out to them, tossing another ball of newspaper from hand to hand to show who the culprit was. Surprised, and somewhat shocked, the four of them spin around, their faces lighting up when they catch sight of me, Paul and Marko instantly racing over and engulfing me in a tight hug.

"(Y/n)! You're back!" The latter exclaims happily, pulling away briefly to look me in the eye before he buries his face into my clothes again.

"I am. It's good to see you all!" I respond, laughing as I wrap my arms around them, glad to finally get to see them again after so long. Over their heads, Dwayne and David shoot me equally glad smiles, the former ready to step in once the other two have released me.

"Not nearly as good as it is to see you again! I hate it when you leave!" Paul mumbles into my shirt, Marko agreeing with him as they continue to crush me.

"I hate leaving, too, but I always come back." I remind them, patting them on the back so that they'll release me, smiling at both of them as they grudgingly step away, allowing Dwayne to step in and pull me into a softer embrace, his long arms pressing me into his bare chest, his face burying itself into my hairline. Happily, I wrap my own arms around his waist, enjoying the sensation of his cool skin against my heated body, jealous of his pleasant temperature.

After a few minutes, I pull away again, looking to David, who just smiles (genuinely for once) at me, his intimidating reputation preventing him from showing any affection in public, though he isn't really one for hugs in private, either. Or, at least not with me. Instead, he gives my body a once over with his icy blue eyes, the gesture drawing a blush to my cheeks, especially when I feel the others do the same, some more discreetly than others - unfortunately, I'd managed to develop a crush on all four of them, so the idea of them blatantly checking me out is not one I dismiss too easily.

"It's good to see you again, (Y/n)." He greets, chuckling as he watches Marko and Paul fight over who gets to put their arm around my waist, only for the both of them to whine when Dwayne beats them to it, the taller brunette pulling me into his side with an intimacy he's never had before.

"Yeah, it's good to be back." I agree, smiling at them all, "What're we gonna do tonight? I have three weeks this time round."

"Three weeks? That's much longer than last time!" Paul comments, slipping in on my other side, slinging his arm around my shoulders so that I'm now sandwiched between two tall vampires.

"I don't have to stay that long." I point out, jokingly, sending Marko an apologetic look when he notices that Paul has managed to get his arm around me.

"That's not what I meant, it means that we can do so much more together!" The tall, blonde vampire explains, most likely already thinking up ways to spend the next three weeks, "We should go swimming in the sea, and go on all the rides on the Boardwalk, and go to concerts-"

"Take it easy, I only just got here!" I cut him off, grinning as David and Dwayne chuckle at their friend's antics.

"Speaking of which, have you eaten yet?" The platinum blonde interjects, lifting an eyebrow at me in curiosity.

"No, I don't have any money on me, actually. I think I left it back on the carrier, which is annoying." I frown, thinking for a minute before remembering something, "No, that's not true. I brought some of it with me. It's in the seat compartment of the bike, hang on."

Swiftly, I retrieve the money, returning to the two vampires who had their arms around me, both of them only to eager to repeat the gestures.

"You should know by now that you don't have to pay for food when you're with us." David reminds me, lifting an eyebrow at me as he watches me put the notes into a secure pocket under my belt.

"I know, but I like having it with me anyway." I supply, only too happy to start walking towards the food stalls of the Boardwalk, my stomach growling audibly as the scents of the different types reach me.

"Fair enough." Dwayne says, squeezing my waist gently.

In no time, we've bought some food and eaten it, continuing to roam the Boardwalk as the night goes on, the five of us having a good time together as we always do, falling straight back into our usual habits and patterns, the friendship as strong as ever, though I've noticed that their touches are often more lingering than before, and that they're stares are less innocent than they used to be. I try to ignore it, but it becomes increasingly harder as Paul and Marko continue to fight over who gets to wrap their arm around me, eventually just agreeing to swap every half and hour or so, Dwayne never leaving my side as David leads us around, the vampire smirking at me every now and then.

After a few hours or so, I feel myself starting to get tired, having had very little rest in the time between travelling and meeting the boys, so I ask them if I can join them at the cave, seeing as I have no other accommodation, to which they all wholeheartedly agree. Leading me back to the motorcycles, the four vampires quickly decide whether to take the road or the beach back to the sunken hotel, swiftly deciding on the road seeing as it is the most direct, and therefore the quickest, though David does promise that we'll ride along the beach at some point.

As we leave the Boardwalk, I ride towards the back, between Marko and Dwayne, easily keeping up as we thunder along one of the motorways, shrieks and whoops of exhilaration leaving us from the thrill, our speed dangerously high until we hit the dirt paths leading up to the Bluff, at which point I slow my bike down so that it can grip the dusty surface better. Ahead of me, Paul tries to goad me on, encouraging me to live a little, though my heightened survival instincts are telling me to be careful along the steep cliff edge. Coming to a halt at the top, we dismount and hide the motorbikes, the four of them swiftly taking me down into their abode, though I do collect a bag from the compartment under my seat before following, sitting it down on the sofa beside me as I collapse onto one, routing around in it briefly.

I pull out a slightly scuffed book, throwing it to David as he comes to sit opposite me on his wheelchair, the others crowding around him to look at it in curiosity.

"Got you guys a little something." I tell them, gesturing to him to open it.

Upon doing so, their eyes widen, Marko's breath hitching as he sees what it is, the young vampire obviously fascinated by it.

"When did you get these?" Dwayne finally manages, unable to tear his eyes from the photo album in David's hands, admiring the Polaroids I stuck into it, thinking they'd be happy to look at them.

"Well, I had my RIO* bring a camera up with him one time when we were on patrol, but I took the pictures. I thought you'd like to have some pictures of the sky in the daytime and at sunset and sunrise to look at, seeing as you can't see them in person anymore." I explain nervously, hoping they like it, suddenly feeling a bit unsure of whether they'd like to be reminded of this fact.

For near enough ten minutes, the four vampires are silent, flicking through the book with wide eyes, David tracing a finger over one in particular.

"How the hell are we supposed to thank you for this, kitten?" He finally says, the nickname making me blush a little, though I'm not entirely sure how to respond.

"You don't have to thank me for that, it's not that great of a gift, on the scale of things-" I start, only to be cut off by Marko.

""Not that great of a gift"? Are you serious? This is the best thing we've ever gotten!" He exclaims, tearing his eyes away from the photos so that he can come over and drown me in a hug again, crushing me into his chest. Laughing, I wrap my arms around him, holding him tightly, inhaling the comforting scent of his jacket as I do so.

Across from us, Paul also manages to look away from the Polaroids, coming over and joining us on the sofa, a grin on his face as he plonks himself on top of Marko, a grunt escaping me from the sudden weight.

"You're the best, (Y/n), you really are!" He praises me, leaning down to press a swift kiss on my cheek, smirking when I blush in response.

"I'm not sure about that, but thank you anyway." I wheeze out, their weight starting to become a bit too much for be to bear. Tapping on Marko's back, I wait for him to throw Paul off before pushing him off of my lap, taking a deep breath as I look over at Dwayne and David, who are still enraptured by the photo album.

"Who's that?" The latter suddenly asks, pointing to a certain picture.

Frowning, I get up and come over, looking down at the picture in question, smiling as I recognise it immediately, the image holding a lot of sad and happy memories for me.

"Those are my friends Maverick and Goose before..." My voice trails off, an old surge of grief gnawing at my heart as I recall the exact moment that photo was taken, remembering the aviators as they joked around with me and my RIO, Hawk, all four of us only staying still for that one photo.

"Before?" Dwayne pushes gently, dark eyes boring into mine with curiosity.

Clenching my jaw, I let out a sigh before I reply.

"Before the accident. The accident where Goose...died..." I manage to get out, my eyes now fixed on the miniature version of my friend's face, still wishing he were still alive and kicking.

"I'm sorry, (Y/n), I didn't mean to bring it up. If I had known, I wouldn't have said anything." David apologises, placing a gloved hand on mine in comfort, blue eyes sympathetic.

"No, don't worry about it. It's what happens in the military, and it just so happens to be that my friend got it in the neck. There's nothing that can be done." I tell him, grateful that they haven't pursued the subject, though the reminder has made me feel a lot more tired than before, for whatever reason, "I think I'm gonna go get some sleep now, if you don't mind. It's been a long day."

The four of them agree, Paul, Marko and Dwayne all pressing quick kisses on my cheek as I pass them, David following me to the little nest that they provided for me the last time I was here, the vampire watching as I settle in. I only take off my boots, socks and belt, unpinning my Wings from my chest as I go, briefly debating with myself about whether or not to unbutton my shirt and just sleep in my underwear, until I remember that David is still there, his blue eyes tracing my form as I move around.

Finally slipping into the makeshift bed, I notice that the vampire still hasn't moved away, watching me as if asking for permission to do something, my mind struggling to comprehend what he means until I see him look at the blankets questioningly.

"Do you want to join me?" I ask, surprise lacing my voice.

"If you don't mind."

I can't refuse him, so I simply move over and let him slide in beside me, feeling even more surprised when he pulls me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me and rubbing circles into my skin with one thumb. A small gasp escapes me when I feel his hand slip under my shirt, his skin icy cold against mine, the sensation pleasant as starts to trace patterns into my sides, his eyes boring into mine as I watch him, still confused.

"What's gotten into you?" I question him, laying my head on his chest, my hands coming up to rest just on his collarbone, my fingers running over the line of the bone.

"Nothing, I just need to tell you something which might not be the greatest news you've ever heard." He tries to reassure me, his deep voice resonating though his chest and into me as he watches my facial expressions change.

"What is it?" I ask him hesitantly, dread biting at the back of my throat.

"Well, I don't suppose you remember us telling you about the whole idea of vampires having a mate?"

"...Yeah?" I frown slightly, briefly remembering the conversation.

"It turns out that the four of us have a mate, and it's taken us far too long to feel the connection." David confirms, swallowing at the confession.

"Oh really? Who is it?' I can't help but feel a bit disappointed, knowing that the mating bond makes the four of them off-limits to anyone else.

"You. You're our mate."

*RIO = Radar Intercept Officer

Part Two

#the lost boys #joel schumacher #vampire #david(thelostboys) #paul(the lost boys) #dwayne(the lost boys) #kiefer sutherland #marko(the lost boys) #santa carla #star(the lost boys) #top gun #crossover #slight crossover #bit sad #maverick

[busterkeatonfanfic]

Chapter 11

Filming for Steamboat had wrapped by the first Saturday in September. Weeks of cutting still remained on the horizon, but Buster could do that from the comfort of his production room at the Villa. The cutting was precisely why he was now knocking on Joe’s office door. If he had anything to say about it, the words ‘Supervised by Harry Brand’ would not appear anywhere in the credits. Once was more than enough. 

“Come in,” said Joe. 

Buster walked in and seated himself in the chair in front of Schenck’s desk. 

“What’s on your mind?” said Joe. He was drinking coffee.

“The picture. What’s on anyone’s mind right now?” said Buster affably.

“Sure,” said Joe. “Still on track to finish tomorrow?”

“That’s the plan,” said Buster. 

Joe wasn’t stupid and Buster could see that he was trying to figure out what the visit was about. He seemed a little uneasy as he sipped his coffee.

“So,” said Joe. 

“Sew buttons,” Buster said, the witticism lame and off-handed, before getting down to business. “Anyway, I was thinking about how we’re going to cut the picture and that got me to thinking about the credits. About how we’re doing things in general.”

Joe looked at him, waiting for him to go on.

“So you’ve got a picture. Say it’s a Doug Fairbanks picture. For example, Doug comes on and you say, ‘Douglas Fairbanks supervised by Joe Doakes.’ It’s bad on the face of it. You’re belittling Fairbanks. Fairbanks, not Doakes, is what you’re selling.” Buster leaned forward and knit his hands on the desk. 

“I’m listening,” said Joe. A frown was creeping onto his face. 

“When you’re talking about a picture, what do you really need? Three things. One man writes it, another man directs it, and a star acts it. Those three people are responsible for every great picture that was ever made. In some cases one man is all three—Chaplin,” said Buster.

“I see where you’re going with this and I disagree,” said Joe, giving a frown. “Supervisors are the big thing. All the big studios are using them.”

“Maybe they are,” he said. “But they can be wrong. It’s not going to last long. The whole damned thing’s a bad joke.”

Joe shook his head, looking displeased.

Buster laid the trump card on the table, poker-faced but confident. “There’ll be no more supervisors in the pictures Buster Keaton makes.”

He waited for Joe to reply. As the seconds ticked by in silence, he began to wonder if he was in for a real fight. He’d said he was taking the pot, but maybe Joe didn’t know that he wasn’t bluffing.

At last, Joe cleared his throat and said something. Buster had to lean forward to catch it. His brain grappled with the words, not comprehending.

Buster Keaton isn’t going to make any more pictures.

That’s what Joe had said. 

He sat back in stunned silence as Joe continued. 

“No, no,” said Joe. “That didn’t come out right. What I mean, Buster, is that you’re not going to make any more pictures for me. I’m dissolving the studio.”

“Why?” Buster managed to say. His lips felt tight and dry. 

“Now I don’t want you to worry,” Joe said, holding up a hand in a benevolent way. “I’ve gotten it all straightened out. You’re going over to M-G-M. That’s where Nick is. He’ll take great care of you. Look, I know it’s not what you want, but just think about it for a minute. You’ll have ten times the opportunities. A whole staff of writers working for you, helping you with cutting and production and stories. The money’s bigger. The pictures will be better. You can’t lose, it’s a chance of a lifetime.”

Buster couldn’t make his mouth work. Joe was now waxing poetic about the settlement Buster would be getting for his interests in the studio. The studio? His studio. Buster Keaton Productions. Five thousand dollars for eight years of making millions for Joe, and now he was finding out in the worst possible that he didn’t have the power in his own enterprise that he thought he did.

“Nick will treat you just like his own son. I’m telling you, you’ve got nothing to worry about.” Joe was more animated now as he reviewed the details. It was clear that he had been chewing on this decision for a while now and there was no appealing it.  

Buster listened on in disbelief. An image was crystalizing in his mind of a theater trunk sitting in an alley, left behind and forgotten. He’d felt exactly the same way the day he’d split up The Three Keatons. 

He didn’t remember what he said to Joe before leaving the office. He didn’t even remember leaving the office. He just found himself walking east on Romaine Street toward 1025 Lillian Way. His thoughts couldn’t seem to coalesce. He supposed he was in shock. Part of him wanted to think that it was all a dirty joke, but Joe—Joe, who attended the Sunday barbecues at the Villa faithfully, who had been so worried for Buster when he’d returned from France that he’d emptied his wallet for him, who’d lent Buster money to buy his first house—had never been that kind of man when it came to serious matters. Buster was torn between wanting a stiff drink and wanting to jump off a bridge. 

He did neither, of course. Back at Lillian Way, there was a film to finish. He now knew what the crowning gag would be. Tomorrow, the Saphead Would Face Down Certain Death. Whether he survived, he didn’t much care at the moment. *** Nelly had never worked on a Sunday before, but the Sunday before Labor Day was the final day of shooting and she couldn’t object even if she wanted to. Of course she didn’t want to. She’d been with the picture from almost the first and couldn’t think of a greater honor than finishing it out. The other actors and much of the crew had departed since they’d left Sacramento, and now it was just her, Bert, Buster, and a skeleton crew. A small set had been built on the United Artists lot and she was presently furnishing a small two-story house. The second story needed only to be filled with boxes, but the main floor required homey touches, so she and Bert arranged a rug, a sofa, a chair, and pictures on the wall. She set a lamp on a table in the center of the room. The house had a breakaway facade that was lying face-down in the dirt, but had hinges enabling it to be drawn up. 

As she decided whether a fringed floor lamp should go to the left or right of the sofa, Buster and one of the crew walked up. They both got on top of the flat facade and she watched, pretending to be busy with the lamp, as Buster stood in the frame of an open second-story window and looked to the top of the house. She positioned the lamp to the left of the sofa and slid the cord under it and out of sight. When she glanced at Buster again, he was hammering a nail into the dirt inside the window frame. She couldn’t imagine what he was doing. Plumping one of the throw pillows on the sofa, she looked again. He was hammering a second nail. “This’ll do it,” he said to the crewmember.

Bert came through the back door of the house with an armful of curtains as Buster and the crewmember walked away. 

“What’s he doing?” Nelly said to him under her breath.

“Buster?” said Bert, sounding a little out of breath as he dumped the curtains on the sofa. “Figuring out where to stand. The facade’s gonna come down right on top of him. Except he ends up in the window and doesn’t get hurt.”

“On top of him?” said Nelly, her innards seeming to go cold. The breakaway facades weighed a ton. The crew and cast had been warned to stay well away from them when the previous breakaway scenes were filmed, since getting caught underneath one would spell catastrophe.

“That’s right,” said Bert. “It was just supposed to fall down near him, scare him a little bit, then he’d run toward another building and it would fall down too, but he got the idea to have the window pass over him last night he said.” Bert didn’t seem to be at all perturbed by the nature of the stunt as he set to hanging a curtain.

“He’s going to get killed!” Nelly said, rooted to the spot. “That facade has to weigh at least a ton.”

“Two tons,” Bert said, walking across the room and pulling down another curtain rod. He eased a curtain onto it.

Nelly felt panicked. “He’s crazy. He’ll get killed. Has anyone tried talking him out of it?”

Bert laughed. “You think anyone has ever talked Buster Keaton out of anything once he’s got an idea in his head?”

“He’ll be killed,” she said. She was starting to feel almost hysterical. 

“Trust Buster,” Bert said, stretching up to hang the curtain on his tiptoes. “He’s always fine.” Nelly sat down on the couch, trying to calm her thoughts. Bert was probably right, but suppose …

All of her supposes, like the hinges failing or a wind machine shifting the facade just inches in either direction, ended up with Buster crushed to death. Bert walked back out the back door and she barely noticed. She tried to think of some way to stop the maddening act, but couldn’t. She didn’t know Buster as well as Bert, but she knew Bert was right. Nothing stopped Buster once he was set on something.

“Better move, sweetheart, we don’t want you in the scene.” She looked up and Buster was at the corner of the house peering in at her. 

It was her chance to beg him to reconsider, to throw herself on him, scream, and rend his clothes. Instead, she apologized and let herself out the back door. There was nothing that causing a ruckus would do except delay filming and possibly get her kicked off the set, spoiling her future chances of working for the Buster Keaton Studios. The facade gave a titanic creaking as it was eased back into place. Outside of the set, a couple crew members were wetting the dirt in front of the house with a hose so that it was slick and muddy as if from a cyclone. Nelly made her way toward some other crew members clustered off-camera to the right of the house. As she got closer, she noticed they were huddled in a funny way. 

“...hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.”

They were praying. The realization almost made her sick to her stomach. She didn’t go in for religion, but as she stopped in their midst, she made the decision to join them. If there was any chance the prayer would spare Buster, it was worth it. The ending lines had a foreboding potency they’d never had before.

“But deliver us from evil

Now and at the hour of our death.”

The hour of our death. She looked up and saw Buster a few feet from them, looking placid in his baggy pants and suspenders. Was she seeing a man in the final hour of his life? If she had any sense, she’d leave. There was no reason to watch this. Yet she felt duty-bound to stay. A superstition said that maybe it would help preserve him from the stunt going wrong. 

She watched Buster helplessly as the minutes went by and the final preparations were made to the set and the cameras. The wind machines were turned on and Buster walked in front of the house. He went down to his knees and sprawled out flat onto his chest in the mud.

“What’s he doing?” she said to one of the electricians.

“Continuity,” the electrician replied. “He was muddy in the scene we shot yesterday.”

The cameraman yelled something she didn’t hear and Buster walked in front of the house. He faced one of the cameras. Nelly felt almost light-headed. What if the wind had blown the nails out of place? What if—

Buster rubbed the back of his neck and rolled his jaw. The house’s machinery groaned and the facade heaved forward. At the last second, she turned her head. There was a gut-wrenching thud as the facade landed. Tears sprang into her eyes. 

After an interminable second or so, a roar went up from the men around her and they began to clap. She looked back. Through the glaze of her tears, she could just make out Buster, still rubbing his neck and rolling his jaw nonchalantly. A great cloud of dust had sprung up. Buster pretended to suddenly realize what had just happened and dashed out of the ruined facade, stopping once at a safe distance to stare at the house in terror. 

“Cut!” shouted the cameraman over the wind.

The group of men headed toward Buster at a clip. There were hoots and handshakes and claps on the back, and Buster was grinning. Nelly shielded her face with her hand and cried, overcome with relief. She still felt weak and sick. 

“Why are you crying?” said Buster.

He had crept up without her noticing. She turned her face away quickly, shaking her head. “Because you’re a damned idiot!” she said, not caring now whether speaking her mind would ruin her chances of staying on with him. “You had no business doing that.”

Buster touched her shoulder. “Look, I’m okay, ain’t I?”

She shied away. “No gag is worth your life,” she said. 

Buster looked surprised. His hand fell from her shoulder. “Okay.”

He left to go talk to the second cameraman and Nelly stole away, tears still coming, feeling downright dreadful. She wished she hadn’t stayed on for the final day of filming. It hadn’t been the celebratory end she’d expected. It had been awful, like seeing a man trying to commit suicide but by a miracle failing. Note: The dialogue with Joe Schenck is adapted from Rudi Blesh’s biography.

#Buster Keaton #Fan fiction #Fan fic #RPF #Actor RPF #Silent films #Golden Age Hollywood

[karel010]

A missed opportunity: William Dey on Supergirl

Disclaimer: this essay is entirely my own opinion. I do not claim to have any knowledge on how a tv show is being run. A character is not his actor and an actor is not his character. I do not recommend nor encourage hate to anyone, fictional or not. Everyone has his right to his own opinion. Also, spoilers for season 5 and 6.

Before I start, I have to say that I came into this fandom quite late. This was when the pandemic just started, Supergirl season 5 was still airing and I had no idea what kind of show it was. All I know was that Dr. Lexi Grey, Marley Rose and Morgana were on that show. So like most people getting bored being stuck at home, I started watching. It took me a couple of days to get through season 1 to 4 and in the mean time I found people of the fandom on Twitter and Tumblr. I was aware of how underwhelming season 5 was (at this point episode 15 was going to air), but I remember thinking “it can’t be worse than season 2, right?”

Oh boy, was I wrong.

Let’s start with the big elephant in the room: Kara’s love interests.

(Honestly this can be a whole essay by itself)

I actually liked that in season 4, Kara had no love interest and was flying solo for a while. She kind of been defined by guys (even with James in season 1) and finally there was a season where her love life wasn’t the centre of attention. Season 4 ends with Lena finally knowing that Supergirl and Kara are one and the same and so season 5 was set up. (Lena and Kara in season 5 is a whole different rant but that is for another time)

We first meet William Dey in episode 1 of season 5. Catco was bought by Andrea Rojas (Lena being the previous owner) and she brought in a new journalist to help build Catco the way Andrea wants. I have to admit that I did not mind William (and Andrea) in the beginning. I actually liked that Kara had some competition at her work and that her boss is not a friend, so she will be having a harder time slipping away to do Supergirl stuff. I mean, William was a huge ass but then again sometimes in life you will have to deal with those kind of people, especially at work. But then slowly they started to give him a story (too generous to call it that actually). As they gave him more screen time, he became worse and worse.

Apparently, William was this huge dick because he was actually undercover, investigating Andrea Rojas and her family because his friend went missing after dating her. Although in order to be undercover, don’t you have to work for someone? What was he going to do with that information? Anyway, he wanted to keep people at arms’ length. As far as I can remember (I didn’t bother rewatching) he didn’t really have any evidence supporting his theory that Andrea had something to do with his friend Russell’s disappearance, just that his friend didn’t like her family (we see that Andrea does care a lot for Russell and did anything she needed to make sure he was okay).

Then Crisis happened and William is still there for some reason? In this timeline, Andrea never met Russell, which means he never disappeared, which means William never had to go “undercover” to investigate Andrea. And this is were the writers made the terrible decision of keeping him on the show and made an even worse choice to try to pair him up with Kara.

William Dey had the potential to be a good character. Not a great one, but good enough.

Beside the choice the writers make, I think there were 2 other scenario’s that they could have gone with him:

Scenario 1: William leaves after Crisis

This would have been the best choice they could have made. By the time they started filming the episodes after Crisis, the show must have known how bad of a reception William got. It didn’t help that the actor did an interview for 5x04 where he hinted to Kara and William getting closer. Like I said before, William had no reason to be around anymore after his “original” reason for being at CatCo didn’t exist in this timeline. This would have been the perfect way to send this character away (I am aware that there a rumours that the actor got a contract to stay on the show for at least 2 seasons). His whole storyline of investigating Lex Luthor should have gone to Nia, who is also a journalist but I completely forgot because she actually doesn’t really do anything with it?

Scenario 2: William is a villain

As mentioned before, when I first met William, I thought he would be a problem for Kara (and maybe even Nia). I thought that this was a guy that would do anything to get the biggest story and doesn’t care if he comes across as a dick. Think of Spider-Man 3, where Peter had trouble with his job. This would have been a great opportunity for a storyline similar to that of Spider-Man 3, where Kara has conflict at work. They did it in the beginning, not sure which episode but Kara didn’t have time to write an article that Andrea had assigned her because she was busy being Supergirl and William used that to take over her article and write it. William could have been a great problem for Kara in her work place.

If they had to keep him around for after Crisis as well, they could have gone with the route that William was a member of Leviathan or even a hench of Lex Luthor. They could have made him friendly with the Superfriends, but only because he has alternative motives.

Honestly, there are so many ways they could have made William a better character and it’s obvious that this character only exists to be a “no homo” love interest for Kara and that the writers really don’t care beyond that point.

And then there is the actor that portrays the character.

I don’t know him personally and I can only judge on what he is willing to show through social media but man, does this guy need a lesson in PR. This fandom can already be very toxic with the different shipping wars going on. He really threw gas on a fire by that incident (even though he denies that he said it was towards certain shippers)

As an actor, you open yourself up to people forming an opinion on you. Doesn’t an actor get a job based off of someone’s opinion on whether you fit the show and the cast?

It is obvious that the actor is not experienced in being a series regular. He thinks that hate towards his character means that people hate him as well. Look, he is not the first actor on this show that gets hate. Chris Wood, Amy Jackson, Mehcad Brooks, Nicole Maines, Katie McGrath and even Melissa Benoist got/get their fair share of it. But they knew to never engage with it, since there is no point to it. Everybody will meet people who will like you and people who won’t. It’s literally a part of life.

If you came this far, thank you for reading! I really needed to vent about this since it’s been stuck in my head for a long time. Sorry if there are any spelling mistakes, English is not my first language.

How would you have written William Dey if you had the chance? (And yes, he has to be part of season 5)

#supergirl #supergirl season 5 #supergirl s5 #supergirl season 6 #supergirl s6 #supergirl spoilers #kara danvers #andrea rojas #william dey #awful writing #no hate #all good fun #ranting #anti William Dey #not anti actor #superforced #super forced #anti wara #anti superdey

[clevelandstate]

Film Students and Safe Sets

Written by Lauren Koleszar // The Vindicator

*This story has been edited slightly for length*

Film & Media Arts is one of the most hands-on majors at Cleveland State. It relies on massive collaboration and in-person filming that normally requires between ten and thirty cast and crew members for upperclassmen producing junior- and senior-level professional content. New COVID-19 guidelines require a “Safe Sets” certification, and students have been limited to crews of ten people or less on a set at one time. Camera departments that normally run on four to five students are being managed by two if they’re lucky. Students are choosing to produce scripts that need only a few actors and can be filmed at safe, easily accessible locations. Students are desperately working on pre-production and editing from home; and when on set, they’re filling multiple crew positions to make up for the absence of the much larger number of students who are normally able to work on one set together.

In spite of these challenges, film students at CSU are producing impressive creative content and becoming multi-faceted filmmakers as they take on many new responsibilities that are ultimately shaping them into better equipped professionals who will have a wide range of skills and experience.

We talked to film major Davis Chu, whose freshman year at CSU coincided with the opening of the university’s new film school in the fall of 2018. The initial lockdown hit during Davis’s second sophomore semester, and he took us through his personal experience and observation of the evolution of student filmmaking at CSU over the course of the last year.

LAUREN KOLESZAR: Elevator pitch. Who are you, what do you do and what interests you? DAVIS CHU: Hello there, my name is Davis. I’m a third-year film major, concentration in post-production, with a minor in graphic design. I am also in the Honors college. My passions include: writing, comedy, animation, editing, music, screenwriting, acting, and television. To clarify, when I say “television,” I mean watching it. Although I’m also working on an original pilot for school.

LK: Why are you studying film, and what are some of your favorite films, creatives or influences? DC: I think if life is a circus, then studying film is a trampoline. It may not have the safety net of other more stable fields, but it’s a great launching pad for someone who wants to pursue the arts. 

I’m a film major, but I don’t consume as much film as I do comedy and TV. My comedy influences include the Marx Brothers, Monty Python, Mel Brooks, Larry David, Dave Chappele, Ricky Gervais, Dana Carvey, Marc Maron, Conan O’Brien, John Mulaney, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert...

For TV shows: VEEP, Barry, Fleabag, Atlanta, Master of None, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Succession, Girls, Seinfeld, Game of Thrones, Rick and Morty...

LK: Film is so hands-on, and most classes changed dramatically with the switch to Zoom. Describe the impact of the March 2020 lockdown on your film classes and projects. What kinds of things unique to film students had to change? DC: The period of January to March was a very slow, then exponential realization that the world was falling apart. I was supposed to edit a student short. My assistant editor was my dear friend Alex Maytin. They were yet to shoot, but the production was underway, and Alex and I were preparing to tackle the footage. It was an ambitious project and it honestly seemed monumental. Little did we know that the lockdown would dwarf our problems completely.

When school announced it was going virtual, Alex and I started brainstorming a potential remote workflow. He was gonna merge and organize the footage, mail it on a USB and I would edit. Like, we really thought the production was still happening. Needless to say, it didn’t.

Everyone in the school had to take on their own projects and oversee it from start to finish. People chose to make documentaries, short narrative films, I decided to make a small series of sketches titled Under Quarantine.

LK: What has filmmaking been like in the era of COVID-19? DC: I think the lasting impact on the film industry will be distribution. We were already moving in the direction of streaming services. But I think the presence of COVID-19 has accelerated the process. My prediction is that studios and creatives will probably lean away from film and into miniseries. I don’t really mind that. Storytelling is storytelling, whether it’s a 120-minute movie or a three-episode hour-long miniseries.

LK: How has your personal approach to creating and studying changed over the past year? DC: I’m definitely not alone in saying I’ve grown a lot in the past year. What changed the most is my approach to learning and creating. I’ve come to the conclusion that almost every skill is learnable. If you want to get good at something, all you have to do is take the time to do it. Last semester, I had a lot more time I could dedicate to my schoolwork (just by removing the time it takes to walk to and from class). I made some stuff I was really proud of. I found a love for animation. I think I have more patience for overcoming learning curves now.

LK: What has changed for the better? For the worse? DC: There are a couple super small silver linings if you look close enough. One of them is the accessibility and flexibility of education. For most of the classes I was taking, the transition was rather smooth. If I’m taking an animation class, and we’re all using our computers anyway, why don’t we take advantage of this great technology and just meet virtually?  

LK: How has the transition been for professors and faculty? In what ways have they helped make accommodations for students? DC: The professors have been incredibly accommodating. Earlier this semester, I tested positive for COVID and [it] wiped me out. I emailed all of my teachers and within a day, every one of them responded with empathy and get-well wishes. Through extensions and exemptions, I was able to catch up and now I’m back! It’s also cool that the faculty are conscious enough that not everyone has access to the same level of technology.

LK: Has there been anything you've learned or had the opportunity to experience because of the impact of COVID-19? Personal or film-related? DC: I don’t know how much of this is related to COVID-19 but I have been pretty introspective lately. I’ve been slowly coming to terms with the Asian-American experience and how race has affected me. With this topic in mind, I started writing a TV pilot for my class. I guess that is one of the benefits of being an arts major. Be it COVID-19 or racism or any problem, we have the luxury of being forced to process our emotions. 

LK: Finally, what inspires you and how do you work to overcome the weight of the pandemic on your college and creative experience? DC: I take everything one step at a time. And I try to remember that so long as I’m doing my part to keep other people safe, that’s all that really matters. Control what you can, set a good example for others, and let go of the rest. And creatively, so long as I have access to tools I can use to make stuff, I’m satisfied.

*To read this article in it’s original, full-length format or to check out other great Vindicator content, visit thevindi.com/post/film-students-and-safe-sets.

#TheVindi #the vindicator #film and media #Engaged Learning #Cleveland State University #cleveland state

[b-e-h-o-l-d-e-r]

Ghost in the Shell (2017) review

I came into this movie with an open mind. Despite every fibre of my fanboy teenage ghost rejecting this alien reincarnation. I even set aside the whitewashing criticisms to just see if the movie can achieve something significant in spite of it.

Within roughly 5 minutes, this movie assured me I was going to be treated like a lobotomised baby. I shit you not, within seconds of a beautifully rendered manufacture sequence we watch two introduced characters in a room blatantly tell us what "ghost in the shell" means in the most uninspired way imaginable.

I wish I could tell you that this was just me getting off on the wrong foot but throughout, the movie is so uncertain in how to portray the themes, symbolisms and spiritual/ religious references that make up the brain in GitS' cyberpunk action body. The script just glitches between lame exposition by talking heads and still reflection in its precise composition but the two hardly work together.

It's like the film can't find its centre and as a result is neither a compelling action sci-fi or a meditative exploration of its philosophies. If this were Aaronofsky/ Gilliam or Bay/ Snyder perhaps (for better or worse) at least this movie would have a distinct direction to go in but instead it sits in the middle and suffers at both.

Hell, I'm sure many fans would be happy if this just took the Dredd approach. If they just accepted that the fans know the backstory and the non fans don't need it and made this simply about the Section 9 anti cyber crimes team doing their job, kicking ass n taking names, it would at least have a better chance of success amongst its primary demographic.

Instead Hollywood thinks big and wants to initiate a new franchise, origin story and all, n crams so much bullshit to try and get new audiences into it that Section 9 itself gets pushed way back in the corner. Audiences spend more time getting to know the Majors mum/s than they do with any her team.

They ditch the cerebral plot of the '95 anime whereby Major Motoko Kusanagi working within Section 9 are tracking a hacker who turns out not only to be an AI secretly created by the government to assassinate political targets but has become sentient, claims asylum and ends up merging consciousness with Major Kusanagi by the end.

Here we get Major Motoko Kusanagi of Section 9, pissed that many innocent people were murdered in experiments to create her and super shitty that her entire identity was a lie and she's actually a bratty anti establishment punk.

After all is said and done, what we get is Robocop-Lite (and thats the reboot mind you). All the nuance, intrigue and head scratching ideology that we got in the shorter length '95 anime is reduced here to identity theft and yet another unremarkable corporate business villain to cover it up. We've seen this shit SO often. I'm beginning to think Hollywood just doesn't know how to do it any other way. They weren't all bad mind you, Robocop, Total Recall, The Matrix, these are all great films but GitS in its initial reception really broke the mould and here to see it put back in the cage of "been here, done that" is so incredibly disappointing.

As far as anime/manga Hollywood adaptations are concerned, the bar is INCREDIBLY low. I'd argue the only good one amongst them is Edge of Tomorrow/ Live Die Repeat. Aside from that, every otaku since the 90's is used to being made fun of in the result of America trying to morph them into something that works amongst their style of cinema. Japan has made some great adaptations partly because they don't feel the need to repackage the story.

This GitS remake tries desperately to be on the fans side by copying much of the '95 movies look (with varying degrees of success, some scenes are very accurate in their reproduction but the hair in this film is more reminiscent of X-men (2000) and seems cosplay-ish at times).

There are few scenes lifted from the original but most get twisted to accommodate the new storyline, at which point I ask why bother? Half measures don't tend to turn many heads and whilst paying homage by really making the effort to be exact duplications in some ways is applaudable, you're giving yourself less room to do your version of it. At least then, whether the film turns out to be shit or not, I'll respect that you tried to do your own thing.

ok, casting. this argument has already been done to death and I've just about run outta energy already on the whole Scarlett Johanson thing but a few things that never seem to come up: first of all, acting wise, I gotta say it's all much of a fucking muchness isn't it? Kusanagi does not outwardly express much so its mostly a headgame for an actress with the chance to throw in some subtleties in the voice acting.

I don't really like Scarlet Johansson's performances but that its preposterous for anyone to come to the conclusion that her resume would land her this gig is a bit of a stretch. Do people realise how rare it is to find an A-list celebrity that has an extensive list of both highly demanding physical action blockbusters and subtle minimalist detail performances? Of course they are going to cast her. Before anyone throws ME personally into somehow being against ethnic minorities in blockbuster films (which would be absurd for anyone who knows me) '95 GitS director Mamoru Oshii also gave his stamp of approval.

They really tried with the marketing to dodge the bullet by just not bringing it up but it's really not dealt with well in the film and leads to some pretty fucking awkward moments for a racial debate charged audience to watch.

I would have preferred the role to go to a Japanese actress but remember, this is Hollywood and if a studio is gonna push bringing THIS film out, you bet your bottom dollar that they're going with someone that is a household name in America.

The only internationally known Japanese name out there right now is Rinko Kikuchi (who to date has 2 American films out there, both not big successes). I love most of her films and there ARE a few other Japanese actresses I would love to see in the role but Hollywood studios are not gonna bank on the success of Japanese films. Hell, the fact that they put Takeshi Kitano in bit part in this movie is as far as they are willing go to get in on that market. Few seem to point at his casting as some kind of justification and I laugh quite hard. Seriously, you're gonna give this guy (who's acted AND directed in over 20 brilliant films) a few minutes of screen time and applaud that as some kind of cultural milestone?

Which brings me to the big casting shame that NO ONE is fucking talking about because they're so caught up with the Johansson shit. Aside from Kusanagi, there are 6 Japanese members of the Section 9 taskforce. How many are Japanese? Kitano, yes. Who else? Saito. Did you remember him? He's the guy that snipes the helicopter at the very end of the film. You see his face for like 10 seconds. Pretty big step in casting mulitculturally, right? Don't get me wrong, the cast IS incredibly multicultural. We got actors from all over the world pretending to be Japanese:

A Danish guy as Batou A Chinese guy as Togusa An Australian as Ishikawa A Zimbabwean as Borma

Why keep the names?! Just call them whatever, it doesn't matter. You don't give them anything important to do anyway. Have a mulit-ethnic team but when they're all speaking clearly in their national accents and supposed to be portraying Japanese characters, THAT'S what should really piss people off because THESE roles could have gone out to Japanese people and it would not have even been a risk for the studio.

Ultimately, the one real positive thing I have to say is a great job for the WETA production team on some fantastic animatronics and moulds...that's pretty much it. Shame it couldn't be in a better film.

- dug out from the depths of https://letterboxd.com/Do_oM/

#ghostintheshell #gits #moviereview #movies #anime adaptation #hollywood

[deesdiaries]

eryWARNING: Spoilers ahead! Do not proceed if you haven't seen Season 6, episode 6 of Vikings, "Death and the Serpent."

The Seer's prophecy was fulfilled on Wednesday night's heartbreaking episode of Vikings.

Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) met her end -- and the gods -- at the hands of Ragnar's son, Hvitserk (Marco Ilsø), in a violent, devastating match after the wounded shield-maiden had just saved her community in a battle against the bandits.

The episode, titled "Death and the Serpent," marks the end of an era for Vikings; Winnick was the last remaining original cast member on the show. The Canadian actress thus saw her time as Lagertha coming to a close, and as Vikings creator Michael Hirst tells ET, he wanted to give her an "incredible" send-off.

"She owns that storyline," Hirst says of Lagertha's journey this season, in which she returned to her farming roots and tried to put her life of struggle behind her. "Almost for the first time, she's not involved in someone else's storyline, where she's the wife of Ragnar, or she's the mother of Bjorn. This is her storyline, and her last fight with the leader of the bandits is one of the most powerful fights I've ever seen on TV. I mean, it's incredible."

"Her death is a huge tragedy. I even cried when I was writing it, for Pete's sake. But I wanted it elevated as well," he explains. That "elevated" component came in the form of a Polish singing group he brought in to sing Lagertha goodbye.

"They came to the studio. They were singing in this ancient language no one understood and it was just the crew and the cameras and a few actors. I didn't tell them what was happening. They didn't really know what the song was about, but by the time the song was over, everybody in the building was crying. Me and the camera crew and the crew, everybody was weeping, and that's the music you'll hear when you see the death of Lagertha," Hirst continues.

"It is heartbreaking. It is astonishing, and I think it does huge justice to what Katheryn has given to this show, and I'm so pleased that it's made her a star. I mean, she deserves everything," he declares.

Winnick feels that same affection for Hirst -- and for the character she's spent so long embodying.

"I don't know if I've actually said goodbye to her," she confesses. "I'm still looking at her shield and sword right now in my living room, so she's definitely a big part of my life right now."

In an emotional conversation with ET, Winnick opens up about the years she's spent playing Lagertha, her intense last day of filming, and shares a message to the fans who have been so inspired by her work and the character.

ET: You've played Lagertha for so long -- how did you prepare for her to no longer be a part of your life?

Katheryn Winnick: It was a long time coming. I think I'm the only cast member from day one that's been there for that long, and it was nice to say goodbye to a character that's so dear to my heart and finally close that chapter. As hard as it was emotionally, it also felt the timing was right. I felt definitely fulfilled as an actor and I felt I pushed her storyline as far as I can possibly take her. She is, after all, a granny at this point. And I definitely feel I've been put under the ringer and so many circumstances throughout six seasons that it felt it was a good time to say goodbye to such an iconic character.

When did you find out when -- and how -- Lagertha was going to die? What was that conversation like?

I have a very strong and close relationship with Michael Hirst. It was always a conversation together of when we're going to let go of Lagertha, and I originally didn't think I was going to stay on for as many years as I did. I've been lucky enough and blessed enough to have such loyal fans that they didn't want to let me go or let Lagertha go, but after six seasons, I felt that it was the right time.

I told Michael Hirst, as long he'd give me a really epic death, something that people won't forget, I would be happy to be able to say goodbye to her. As hard as it was, and also it was important that we say goodbye to Lagertha in the right way and proper way, and I feel that Michael Hirst has done that with her death and her funeral and also getting a chance to get behind the camera and direct for the first time. That was my way of really saying goodbye as well.

Michael spoke a lot about bidding farewell to Lagertha with that beautiful song.

I do remember the song very well. Michael sent it to me and played it first at a dinner, and then he came on set, he was there on set on the day of my death as well, and he played it for me again. I was so overwhelmed to have a song made and named after Lagertha. It was so moving and so powerful, and to have that on set and hear it before my death, it was just -- overwhelming. And I actually remember that day really well, shooting and chronologically. Usually, we don't shoot things in order, but it happened to be my very last day shooting as well as Lagertha, it happened to be my death.

Lagertha's last scene alive is incredibly violent -- what was it like filming that day?

It was a freezing cold day. It was below zero temperatures. We had a rain machine. We were soaking wet, all on the ground crawling. It was physically extremely demanding, and to be able to try to stop your body from shaking because of the cold [is difficult] and obviously it's a very emotional scene, and very powerful. We had a medic on set too, because I remember having to go in and out of the hot box. They created a little hot box to keep us warm and go in and out of the rain. We were trying to prevent our body from going into shock, just because physically, to have your body go through such hypothermia and extreme conditions was tough.

So, I'm not sure if I really let go. I don't feel like -- at the end of it, after Lagertha got killed, I just wanted to get warm, so I left quickly. It wasn't as much of a goodbye as I would have imagined. But for me, the real goodbye was coming back after my death and seeing the funeral and coming back to really direct. That was my way of giving back to the seven years I was on the show.

You've been with Lagertha through so much, from overcoming domestic abuse to losing a child -- is there a moment in her storyline that has stuck out to you?

Most people don't have the opportunity even once in their lifetime to have such a role like I got with Lagertha. The priviledge to play her for almsot seven years, and that's such blessing. Most people get maybe one chance to be able to get that. I've had the opportunity to dive into such an iconic, moral character that people look up to and make tattoos from her and dress up like her on Halloween and name their cats and dogs after Lagertha. So anyway, it's just been overwhelming but amazing to see.

And I don't think -- to answer your question, I don't think it's really one particular scene. She's gone from being a farmer to shield-maiden to dealing with domestic violence. She's dealt with having to kill a few husbands or wannabe husbands. She's made her own way and really stuck to what she believes in that I feel that it's hard to sum her up in just a few moments. ... But all those moments make her who she is, really. If it's losing a baby or if it's divorcing her husband, or becoming a queen or now retiring or believing in the fates of the gods and accepting her death, there's -- she's just such a tycoon and such an iconic character. I don't know if I've actually said goodbye to her. I'm still looking at her shield and sword right now in my living room, so she's definitely a big part of my life right now.

Lagertha's death is going to be hard for those viewers you've mentioned that have grown so attached to her and were so inspired by her. Do you have a message for those fans?

Oh, now you're going to make me cry [voice cracks]. It's hard to say. I hope that Lagertha lives on for many years to come and on our TVs and people rewatch and she's an inspiration to all the young girls out there from around the world. The most gratifying thing I have as an actor is when I've had the pleasure to travel to India and the Philippines, and Spain and all around the world, and to have fans from these remote, tiny villages that watch Vikings on their iPhone, without necessarily having running water, and to hear how Lagertha has been an inspiration for them. Whether it's finding their own strength internally or leaving an abusive relationship or really getting the equality they deserve in the workforce as powerful women -- it's just been remarkable how Lagertha has touched so many people around the world, and I hope she continues to do so.

The Vikings spinoff, Vikings: Valhalla, has been picked up by Netflix -- and Michael Hirst has spoken about possibly incorporating some Vikings characters into the show in some way. Any chance fans could see you make a cameo or come back for that series in any way?

I'm a huge fan of Michael Hirst, and I always will be. I consider him family and we've been in touch since [Vikings], and of course, I would love to work with him in one form or another. It doesn't have to be as an actor, it could be as a director or just have him in my life, even as a mentor, he's family to me, and I'm excited for Valhalla to get on Netflix and to live on. It obviously won't be the same original castmembers as Vikings, but I'm glad that there's such a need for it, and there's going to be another spinoff.

Vikings airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History. Winnick will direct season 6, episode 8, "Valhalla Can Wait," airing on Jan. 22. Circle back to ETonline for more on her directorial debut.

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

I have not “let go” of Lagertha yet.  It would have been nice to see her reunited with Ragnar in Valhalla.  😭😭😭

#ET #Vikings #Lagertha #Katheryn Winnick #olaedit

[peterstanslizzie]

Lizzie Mcguire (2020): My Thoughts On The New Photos

25 OCT 2019: The Lizzie Mcguire fandom has had a field day today. After the release of the B+W Mcguire family dinner photo by Terri Minsky on Instagram a couple of days ago, we are treated once again with a number of photos released by the cast members themselves on their social media handles.

Photo #1: Jake Thomas as Matt Mcguire in the re-creation of the original show’s intro

- Jake confirmed on his Instagram that this photo is ‘official’. By official, I think he means that this shot was taken from the actual opening credits of the new series. 

- His long-sleeved shirt looks almost identical to the one he originally wore when he was 10. There are a couple of differences. One, the tiger print on his shirt looks more orangey-gold as well as the rings that go around both his upper arms. Plus, his shirt is a zip-shirt that seems to layer over a plain, white one. 

- It seems like the producers are trying to re-create the original opening credits or at least modernise it? In the original opening, Matt was busy chasing the red ball away from Lizzie and her friends or trying to steal it from them. In this photo, he is getting hit in the head by the red ball. I wonder what will the rest of them be doing?

Photo #2: The Mcguire Family Photo (in colour)

- This photo shows Hallie Todd (Jo), Jake Thomas (Matt), Hilary Duff (Lizzie) and Robert Carradine (Sam) all standing in the middle of the Mcguires’ living room, that is currently under construction. Given that the end of October marks the start of production of the new show, all the main sets are currently being built at the moment. 

- In the original series, the main sets were the Mcguires’ family home, Hillridge Junior High, Hillridge Elementary and the Digital Bean. I’m curious to find out what the main locations will be for this new series.

- I also wonder if this house of theirs is the same home as the one in the original series or maybe it could be a different home that the Mcguire family had moved into? Whatever it is, the house is gonna look incredible. 

- Also, notice how Hilary is holding a blue document in her left hand? I believe that’s the script for the first episode, episode #101. And if we zoom in, we are able to see that the name of the first episode is: ‘13 Going On 30′. There is no other title perfect for this episode since we already know that Lizzie is celebrating her 30th birthday in the first episode. It’s also an homage paid to the movie of the same title, which starred Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo. 

- I’ve gotten a few comments on my Instagram about Robert Carradine’s hair and they were asking whether or not he is going to cut his hair short. Personally, I don’t have an opinion on how his hair should look. As long as he is in this show, I’m all good. And we also need to remember that Robert is now in his 60s. So, any mean comments about his looks should just go away. 

Photo #3: Hallie’s Todd Ren-Mar Studios ID Pass

- I did some research on Ren-Mar Studios online and it’s actually the same studio in Hollywood where the original Lizzie Mcguire series was filmed and produced. So, the new 2020 show is in good hands in terms of set design and overall production. 

- In comparison, Raven’s Home is produced by ‘It’s a Laugh’ productions and That’s So Raven was produced by ‘Brookwell McNamara Entertainment’, which also produced Hilary’s 2004 movie, Raise Your Voice. I made this comparison because I feel like there is a difference in production quality between That’s So Raven and Raven’s Home. But that could be due to budget allocation and things like that. Anyways, I am really happy the producers of Lizzie Mcguire decided to use the same studio again. 

- Other shows that were filmed here include Ally McBeal, Seinfeld and The Golden Girls. Hilary Duff also had some of her music videos filmed in this particular studio as well!

Photo #4: Last but not least, Lalaine’s teaser of Adam Lamberg

- Lalaine seems to be one of the ones who likes to give us fans discrete clues. First of all, after the announcement of the new revival series in Disney Expo 2019 back in August, she edited her Instagram profile description and changed it to ‘Re-boot(s)’, which indicates that she’s coming back to reprise her role as Miranda Sanchez.

- And now, she posted this screenshot of her phone, which shows a message that was sent to her by Adam Lamberg (Gordo). If this doesn’t tell us that Gordo isn’t coming back, I don’t know what will. I don’t think Lalaine would tease us like that for no reason. 

- I really think that they are saving a photo of Adam Lamberg till later on. I predict that a group photo of Hilary, Adam and Lalaine will surface sooner or later. We gotta keep our eyes peeled for that.

Closing Thoughts

- Basically, production has started and sets are being built for the new 2020 series. Once that is all completed, filming will start henceforth. We still haven’t gotten any sort of official statement from Disney or Disney Plus about the confirmed cast. But, getting info/updates from the cast and writers themselves on social media is good enough for me. That’s the power of being connected through social media. 

- But we can pretty much guarantee that Lizzie’s brother and parents are returning. Miranda and Ethan are both hinted to be coming back as both their actors are currently being followed by Hilary Duff and the writers on Instagram. Of course, with Adam, it’s tricky because he doesn’t have Instagram but judging from the screenshot posted by Lalaine, I am 90% sure he is returning.

- That leaves us with Kate, Larry, Melina and Lanny. I have a feeling they might not be coming back, at least maybe for the first season. But there is always the possibility that they can work out some deal with Disney in the future, where they will get to guest star in later seasons. 

- That’s my take on all of this. Thank you for reading this long post and have a great day ahead!

#lizzie mcguire #lizzie mcguire reboot #lizzie mcguire revival #disney #disney channel #disney plus #ren mar studios #hilary duff #jake thomas #robert carradine #lalaine #adam lamberg #hallie todd #clayton snyder #teen comedy show #old disney #disney nostalgia #early 2000s #childhood nostalgia #disney channel shows

[theexecutionerssong]

Recap of EIL3 under the cut :)

Skam OG

Skam Italia

Skam France

Skam France/Italia/(OG)

The opening ceremony gave the tone for the day, aka starting late but with a lot of chaotic, happy-to-be-here energy with a member of each cast saying a couple of words of gratitude.

I was whisked away to the autographs with the OG skam cast just after. It was pretty great because it was the beginning of the day so everyone was still very chill. I first got to talk with Simo and Adam. and I thanked Simo for coming to the screening the other day, I asked if it was not too uncomfortable for him not being able to understand everything that was going on and I apologised that we didn't have a translator but he was very very happy to be here, some people were translating for him anyway, he said he really enjoyed the energy that we were giving off and for welcoming him with such a warm welcome. He actually loves Paris, he’s been here a few times, he was here 2 weeks ago then went back to Oslo then came back for the convention, he really loves it here :’) Then I went to Adam, who told me his whole life story azertghjk like how he had slept the night before, what he ate, everything it was so funny. Thomas was extremely chill, he took his time with everyone, really talking with us, he said he didn't have a lot of sleep either the night before because he was really excited. it's not the first time he’s doing the convention and he had loved it the last time but this time it was even better because Josefine was there with him.

Just as I was going up to Ulrikke, the staff came to tell me I had to leave and do my duo photoshoot with Maxence and Axel. I knew it had started already because I could hear them being their chaotic self a room over. When I got to the room, the energy was indeed through the roof. The trio Leo/Robin/Paul was happening at the same time and Axel kept going over to them to photobomb them, like every time one of them would shout in the room CHECK DE GANG, he would leave the photoshoot with Maxence and go with the guys, it was a mess but he was unstoppable. I know the bodyguard (I’ve been to other cons before and he handles the security on all of them), I was talking with him while queueing and he said that he didn’t know if Axel was either the best or worst person he had had to deal with. He was this close to strangle him or put a leash on him azerfghj. The girl before me didn't have any idea what kind of pose she wanted to do, and Maxence said “wait, is it my turn then?” to Axel, and just like that did a headstand like actually on his head not even on his hands, on his HEAD, what even azedfghjkl then it was my turn, they asked if I had already done other things already. I told them I had been doing my autographs with OG and Axel went “oh that’s AWESOME” and then to Maxence “wait who is OG, have we met him?”  and Maxence looked at him all fondly like he was the dumbest person on earth “OG as in originaleuuuuh”, I burst out laughing at Axel’s face. Anyway, I told them I loved their shirts, you must have seen them, they were wearing the ones with half a rainbow heart on each, Maxence explained it was designed by a friend of his :’) we took our picture, I got a hug, they squished me so hard, and then I went back to finish my autographs with OG Skam.

Josefine was the sweetest, I didn't know what to say to her just that I was really really grateful that she was here and her nails were amazing (GREAT CONVERSATION GAELLE HERE, WOW) but she actually lit up because they change colour depending on whether it's hot or cold, she was really excited about it, she threw her arms up over her head and shouted “SCIENCE!!!”. I didn't want to hold up the line for nothing so I went to Ulrikke. I thanked her for pouring out so much positivity, about bodies, genders, feminism ect on social media, it really makes a difference to me, and she said that she actually needs to do it for herself before doing it for anybody else because she needs to hear the words, she needs to think positively, she needs to give back, and publishing her thoughts actually helps her a lot, and getting positive feedback is a very appreciated bonus.

The Skam France panel was supposed to start then but let me tell you, it was not happening. I was not in the same room as the guys when I was doing the autographs with OG but I could still hear them screaming their heads off and cheering and chanting that damn oui-oui song, they were being so fucking chaotic so of course they were running very late. 

I had to wait around a bit and I was annoyed because I completely missed the Skam Italia panel that was happening during my autographs and shoots. I also missed the beginning of the Skam France panel when it finally started because I was sent to do my autographs with the Skam Italia cast.

I tried to speak my best Italian, I was a bit rusty, but they were so kind anyway. Bea actually knew the town my family is from in Sicily, I thanked her for her portrayal of Sana because I can’t begin to imagine the impact a character like her could have in my tiny Sicilian village. Rocco was very sweet and focused on what you’re telling him, he didn’t even glance at my notebook at first, I told him that his character is always such an important character to me personally in every remake but I especially enjoyed the Skam Italia portrayal because it was the first one, there must have been a lot of pressure and expectations but he nailed it. He said if he could help even one person, that would be enough for him, it was important to him too, he’s hoping he could continue portraying this kind of characters. I was supposed to take selfies with the actors as well but I hate pictures (photoshoots are okay because it’s a more ~professional setting) but he insisted like “why, why don't you want to?” I was just “I'm way more comfortable behind a camera than in front of it, nothing against you, so sorry”, for real I felt so bad, but Bea heard us talking and she said “don't push her if she doesn't want a picture” and he apologized, which made me feel worse azerfghjk I was like dude you're fine don't worry, thank you, ciao.

After that I had  to wait a while for the next thing to happen because they were so so late that's when I got to meet some of you and I'm very very very happy to have met you, thanks for the love you gave me, for giving me a hug :’)

Then I went to my duo photoshoot with Assa and Lais, they were so sweet and kind but I couldn't say much to them, we had to hurry because we were running so late and we were supposed to be doing the Skam France panel already. It should have had started over an hour before. Assa and Lais left quickly after and started the panel with the others while Maxence was busy doing his duo shoot with Rocco.  I had to miss the beginning  because I was queuing for that. When it was my turn, Rocco said “this one speaks Italian!” and Maxence said “no, I know her, she speaks French” and my brain completely froze because I was not expecting them to remember me at all so I went “I speak both” in ENGLISH azerfghjkl i’m a dumbass but they laughed so it’s fine i guess

I went back running to the main room for the Skam France panel, I had missed 25 minutes already but you can thank Manon for filming what I had missed. The whole panel is on my YouTube channel so I won't repeat everything that was said here, I will be translating it but please give me time, it's a very long and very tedious process so please be patient with me, it might take me a few days, sorry about that.

I just want to point out, and I've said it before because it’s so obvious every time I see them together, I want to say that the friendship between Axel and Maxence is so beautiful to see in person. I think you all saw the videos but when Maxence got there after his duo photoshoot with Rocco, he just went straight to Axel and sat down at his feet, Axel was rubbing his shoulders and being very supportive. I think the day was a bit hard on Maxence, I’ll talk about it more later but he was stressed out, very happy sure, but you could see he was a bit overwhelmed. While he was in the photoshoots with Axel or Rocco it was fine, when he was with Coline it was fine, during the panel with the others it was fine, but when he was by himself you could see he was a bit anxious.

The staff really did their best to not lose more time, as in stop the cast from taking questions once they were out of time. we were supposed to have been eating  lunch already over an hour and a half earlier but Axel just flat out refused. He got up, took the mic for himself, went to the line of fans who were waiting for their questions and said “don't worry I’ll do the translation myself, be quick, be quick but we're doing everyone's questions, as long as there are people in the queue then we are not stopping and we will eat later.”  just my input here but I think he needs to learn to stop. He wants to do good, but he is going to exhaust himself. The rest of the cast didn't complain either.

Then we were able to eat very quickly. The afternoon started with the Skam France groupe photoshoot. At first they were doing crazy poses, they were being their chaotic selves, they were impossible to manage but the staff had to be a bit strict and tell them to stop, no pose, no moving around just stay where you are and let the fan go in the middle of all of you because otherwise we would lose way too much time again. Everyone was getting between Maxence and Axel and I could see the girls who were sitting on the floor were starting to get tired, I think, so when it was my turn, I went “I want the girls, I want the girls, sorry guys” and I knelt in the middle of them, they looked so happy like Marilyn and Anne Sophie cheered so loud, Zoe went “ahAH SUCK IT” while Axel behind me pretended to be upset but I don't regret it for one second ahah.

I then did all the solo photoshoots with all the cast from OG and the OG group picture, and a duo with Ulrikke and Josefine, so that took me a while even if I tried to be as fast as possible.

In the afternoon I had a meeting with Josefine but since we were late the staff decided to do a group meeting with Josefine and Thomas instead of two separate ones, so I ended up having also a meeting with Thomas that I didn't pay for. The more the merrier I guess but still a bit meh for them (I mean they seemed happy to be together but still, especially since the staff came to pick me up in the middle of it to do my group photoshoot with the Skam Italia cast - Bea went “ahhhh la mezza italiana!!” when she saw me, cute cute cute).

The meet and greet with Josefine and Tomas was pretty sweet. Thomas’s mum called in the middle of it and we talked with her, it was funny. They were asked very interesting questions such as what is on their bucket list. Thomas said he wanted to learn to be a plane pilot and Josefine said “no you don't you're gonna DIE”. Josefine said she didn't really have a bucket list because she was really trying to live in the present and not spend her life looking forward to something because otherwise she wouldn't appreciate the present to the fullest and we got into talking about the minute by minute concept and the “life is now” line in OG, it was very inspirational. somebody also asked about how they were cast and I don't know if the story had been told before, I hadn't heard it, but basically they were both told separately that the person they were doing the casting with was in love with them and they had to tell them that they didn't feel the same way and let them down gently. It ended up being an hour long very awkward moment, they remember it fondly though. They both have projects coming up but Thomas  cannot say anything about it at all, we cannot even know if it's a movie or video clip or music or theatre, nothing. Josefine has a movie coming out in theatres in a few months and she is very excited and weird out about it because it's her face on the big screen and she's not sure she's ready for that. Josefine was cold so Thomas gave her his jacket, she was swimming in it. They were both very grateful the other was there, it actually what made them decide to come to the convention. When they learned that the other had been invited, they called each other and said “are you going? if you're going then I'm going.” Josefine was also asked how she had been approached about the storyline in season 2. Julie met with her to talk about the sexual harassment storyline beforehand, even before actually writing it, because she wanted to make sure Josefine was comfortable playing something like that but Josefine was really on board with it because it's such an important topic that is not discussed or shown on TV enough.

I got to see the panel with Josefine and Thomas but I missed the one with Ulrikke, Adam and Simo but I gave the camera to my friends Manon and Louise so it's on YouTube thank you friends!

We then started the autographs with the whole Skam France cast and that was a mess, that was the biggest mess, I think because Dream It oversold the passes and there were way too many people queuing. It was getting late, it was already 6:30 when that's when the conventions should have ended,  the cast was tired but also the fans were tired and cranky and some of them had panic attacks because they were anxious they wouldn't get their autographs before they had to leave to get a train home for exemple. I started with Assa, then Laïs, then Moussa, then Leo. The notebook I get all my autographs in is just a pretty paper blank notebook in which I write all my favourite quotes, inspirational lines from shows or songs or poems and Leo went through it and was like “oh I've got a nice one” and wrote and I quote “Gaëlle, the best revolution is to make love”  and then said please “don't #BalanceTonPorc me” (the French equivalent of #MeToo) well alright then I guess azerfghjkl.  

We then had to leave the autographs because the closing ceremony was about to start, since the other actors from Italia and OG were done for the day.  the closing ceremony was emotional because that's when everyone thanks everyone and cries, especially since so much money was raised for organisations like SOS Homophobie, SOS Autisme, project Rescue Ocean, another association for deaf people that I unfortunately didn’t get the name of and the gay centre in Italy.  in total €18,000 was raised. the heads of the organisations were there to receive the checks, it was really emotional, Marilyn was asked to be the godmother of the rescue ocean project branch in Paris and she cried so Coline and Anne Sophie cried too, Maxence was crying too, some fans had raised money by themselves and got on stage too to make a little speech and he hugged them so tight, he was really touched and so were they. Dream It convention thanked everyone for coming especially the OG cast because without them there wouldn't be anything, Skam was their first convention and it will always have a special place in their hearts. Then they announced that there would be a fourth edition of the Everything Is Love convention but it will be over 2 days, thank God. that's when What Makes You Beautiful started blasting through the speakers and everyone lost it, everyone was hugging each other and dancing and singing and taking pictures and videos, I think you all saw the videos by now, it was such a glorious mess, and I lost all sense of composure. it looked like the Skam France cast was the only one with energy still left though.

That should have been the end of the convention, we were so late, it was I think around 7pm by then but the Skam France cast and the fans who had the proper pass all had to go back to the autographs. And I think that's when it got too much for real. I know we paid for it and I know the cast doesn't want to disappoint us but that should have been the end of it. We stayed for autographs and the selfies but it was so disorganized, people kept cutting the queues, a lot of girls - mainly not French, gotta admit - were not respecting the rules and I don’t know if they just didn’t care or if they had not understood the translation but they had zero respect for others :( some people would monopolize the cast for so long and were slowing everything down, and I know you want to talk with them, I know it might be your only chance because you came from across the world but please be respectful of the people around you and of the cast. Leo had to leave because he couldn't take it anymore, he had a headache. I’m thinking of Assa who was graceful until the end, and who had been fasting all day. I think I saw Lais drink something at some point but Assa didn't drink or eat anything all day, I saw her drink for the first time when it was already after 9.

I went through my autographs as quickly as I could, I didn't ask for selfies at all. Lula was even upset about it because she recognised me, she said something like “oh thank you for the beautiful pictures, do you want a selfie?” and I repeated I don't like selfies and she tried to convince me I was pretty lmao.

I thanked Robin for raising money for the deaf and HOH community because I’ve got a couple deaf friends and I can see how they struggle sometimes. He said one of his best friends as a kid was deaf and he remembers how he got bullied, and he himself got bullied because he skipped two classes, he was younger and shorter and smarter than everyone so he knows what it feels like to be isolated and he wants to help.

Coline has music projects coming up which is exciting. Marilyn was still crying when I got to her so I couldn't talk with her or else I would have cried too and Coline next to her was ready to burst too.  

I said to Maxence that I was really excited for the House of Gaunt short film to come out and that I loved being an extra on set for the day and his head snapped up to me “oh my god I'm so sorry I hadn’t recognised you” and I just went “azerfghjk dude stop apologizing, I’m not remarkable”, he got angry I would say that, gave me a hug and scolded me, what a sweetheart :’) Someone had given him a Slytherin scarf, a wand and a hood (I think they gave a Griffyndor scarf to Axel too) earlier and we joked about how frustrating it is that we can’t talk about his actual Voldemort costume.

Axel was the last one I got to talk to because there were so many people for him, it was insane. I didn't catch what he was saying to the girl before me, what they were talking about, but I heard him shout “WELL AN ASSHOLE IS NEVER GOING TO TURN INTO A VAGINA NOW IS IT”  and then he went on a rant about how some straight guys would want to have anal sex with their girlfriend but God forbid two guys have anal sex together, which, you know what, that’s very true and a very blunt Axel thing to say.

After that I was done so I waited around for my friends to be done too and I just observed everything that was happening. Coline had to leave because she had a dance lesson at 10 p.m., can you believe she had a dance lesson after such a long day??  Maxence was very jumpy, he kept going outside (with Lula sometimes) to smoke, you could see by the end of the evening he was stressed out. He even sat on the table crossed legged because he couldn't sit on the chair properly anymore. But he would still hug and listen to everyone.  Axel’s voice was fucked completely again but he didn’t seem to care. The staff of the Dream It convention and of the hotel kept pressing them and the fans because it was 9:30 and the hotel should have been closed already but Axel, Maxence, Lula, Robin and Paul wouldn’t leave as long as fans were still there.

I left around 9:40pm, I was fine if only tired, but I genuinely don’t know how the cast was still standing. I really hope they are better organized next time, it’s already a good thing they will be doing the next convention over two days instead of just one because that was too much. I had an amazing time and I would do it all over again, and it seems the cast feels the same (I apologized to all of them for how late it was during autographs but they wouldn’t hear it) but still. More time, less people, would have been way easier to manage.

#skam italia #skam france #skam #eil3 #this is the longrst thing ever #congrats to anyone who's read it all #i might not make sense so ask away if needed #gaelle parle #im 99% sure i'm forgetting a ton of things #skam france event

[angrylizardjacket]

’cos i don’t believe in ghosts {Joe Mazzello}

1. Salem

Chapter Summary: SUPERNATURAL CREATURES AU; In which Joe (a demon) agrees to go on a ghost hunt with you (an oblivious human) in Salem because it seems like a good idea, and Lucy (a witch) also comes along because it actually seems like a terrible idea, and knows Joe’s nature far to well to leave him with you unsupervised in this sort of situation.

A/N: Concepts at play; Lucy is a witch and works with sigils and can set up telepathic links between herself and others. Joe is a demon. Gwil, Rami, and Ben, are all also supernatural creatures, but we’ll find out more about them later. Possible Lucy/Reader as well in some chapters maybe. feedback would be appreciated!!

“Text presented like this is a telepathic conversation.”

--

After a long day of sight seeing and interviews, all you wanted to do was flop onto your nice, comfortable hotel bed and watch tacky ghost-hunting shows. Socks and shoes off, snuggled under the covers with a waterbottle on your bedside table and the overhead lights off, you plugged in your laptop and opened up Netflix, scrolling through your recommendations. There was a surprising wealth of conspiracy theory documentaries, ghost-hunting shows, and sensationalised pieces on proof of supernatural creatures all over the world. You, of course, held your own beliefs about this sort of thing, but even though you were travelling all over America for work, and had ample days off to explore the sights that so intrigued you, you knew you were too nervous to go on your own. 

Except that Salem was only half an hour away from your next tour stop, and you had a full day free while there, and yes the witch trials were awful, but part of you feels like it’s the perfect ‘first haunting’ location to visit. 

“What are you watching?” On a break between interviews, it’s Joe who spots you staring at your phone, completely invested in whatever’s going on on-screen, one headphone in.

“Oh, I-” quickly, you remove the headphone, a little flustered at being caught, “it’s just Buzzfeed thing I sometimes watch.” You’d been mentally preparing yourself for going to the Witch House the following day, and had tried to go the lighthearted route of video research; somehow the duo who ran Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural managed to ease your nerves more than any straight-laced documentary would ever manage.

Joe smiles a little at that, at your sudden fluster, and he raises his eyebrows at you, moving to your other side to pick from the plate of sandwiches that had been provided for them.

“Anything interesting?” He asks, his voice surprisingly casual, and you hum for a moment, deliberating on whether or not to tell him what exactly you were watching.

It wasn’t that you didn’t like him, quite the opposite in fact, as assistant to the PR Manager you’d managed to form quite a solid friendship with the cast on this leg of the Press Tour for Bohemian Rhapsody.

“Depends on what you find interesting,” you give a small smile back, and Joe raises his eyebrows, perhaps in challenge, perhaps in amusement, but you conceded after only a few moments, tilting your phone to show him where the two hosts of the show were trooping towards the Witch House. “They’re, like, semi-professional paranormal investigators.” Is how you chose to describe it. Joe couldn’t hear the audio, since it was still feeding through your earphones, but his lips quirked in a grin. After a moment, the video has a close up of the taller of the two hosts, Shane, and Joe makes an indecipherable noise in the back of his throat that edges on amused. 

“Salem?” He asks finally, and looks up from the phone to meet your gaze, “spooky.” He’s holding back a laugh, you just know it, and you rolled your eyes.

“Yeah, well, it’s nearby, I thought I might check it out tomorrow.”

“Extra spooky, a little solo field trip?” He’s grinning like he’s genuinely intrigued, like he’s invested in the idea of your ghost hunt. You tip your head from side to side, deliberating for a moment, before nodding. 

“I mean, you’re always welcome to tag along,” you find yourself offering, and Joe’s eyebrows rise in both surprise and amusement, “I just never pictured it as your scene.”

“If you’re offering, I’d rather come along than have you possibly get haunted on your own.”

“You’ll protect me from the ghosts?” You half smirked, and Joe snickered.

“And anything else that might be lurking in the shadows,” it sounds like a joke, and you laugh it off easily, a little bit flustered that he’d agreed to come along so easily. 

By the time the cast had reset for the next interview, you were back by the PR Manager’s side, and Joe was sitting on the edge of a sofa, though his expression had gone strange, his smile a little tight.

Unbeknownst to you, there was a voice that was not his own filtering through in his mind.

"You shouldn’t play with her like that.”

“And you should know better than to be in my mind like this right before an interview.”

“What? Are you begging to be caught?”

“Are you? At least look at the camera. Anyways, she’s a fan of the supernatural.”

“She’s a fan of ghosts. You’re not a ghost, Joe, incase you forgot.”

“Yeah, I’m painfully aware of being corporeal- I’m hungry.”

“Focus. You can’t go ghost hunting with her, it’s a recipe for disaster.”

“I thought Rami would be much more likely to lecture me.”

“Rami’s not telepathic.”

“Fair point. Listen, if you’re so worried, you can come along too. It’ll be a fun little field trip, team bonding!”

Joe looks over to Lucy, whose eyes have glazed over. She’s got her hands clasped in her lap, but he can see the subtle way her index finger was tracing patterns in the air repeatedly. Though the minute he catches sight of her, Lucy’s attention snaps to Joe, and she gives an eye roll.

“Ghost hunting and team bonding don’t exactly go hand in hand, but fine.”

Joe could almost hear her sigh, despite the smile she wore, and after a beat, she chimed in again.

“You know I hate Salem.”

--

You’d take any opportunity to hang out with the cast, you adored them all individually, so when Lucy made mention that she’d heard you and Joe were going to Salem to do some ghost hunting, you were eager to invite her along. In fact, you’re fully intending to extend the offer to the rest of the cast, but without prompting, Lucy makes mention that the others probably wouldn’t be into it.

“Ben’s afraid of ghosts,” Joe adds, slotting himself into the conversation, and the idea alone of Ben’s weakness being the concept of ghosts is funny enough that you don’t care if it’s real or not. 

But then it’s settled; you, Joe, and Lucy were going to head to Salem the following evening. You didn’t really have anything planned, you were just going to bring your camera and just go exploring, not really expecting to find anything. You’re also not quite sure if either of the cast members are going to show up, but you’d cleared the excursion with your boss, and now it was edging on twilight and you were sitting in the lobby of the hotel you were all staying at, nervously jangling the keys of one of the rental cars the studio had outfitted you all with.

But, just as the sun was sinking below the horizon, both Joe and Lucy step out from the elevator, quietly arguing with each other, though that quickly comes to an end once they spot you. Both of them smile, and you feel the relief course through you, and you lead the way to the parking garage.

“You expecting to find anything?” Joe asks during the drive, leaning forward from the back middle seat where he’d been annexed at Lucy’s insistence, while she took the front passenger seat.

“Not sure,” you replied honestly, “I don’t think I’ll catch anything on film, but I’m hoping something spooky might happen.” Laughing a little, you keep your eyes on the road, though you hear Joe snort. “What about you guys? You fans of this supernatural sort of stuff, or just along for a joy ride and to make sure I don’t get mugged while on my lonesome?”

“Honestly, can’t say I’m not a fan of a bit of supernatural shenanigans, but I’ve never held much stock in ghosts,” Joe’s voice has a surprising air of authority on the subject, and Lucy actually has to hide her laughter behind her hand.

“Just because you’ve never seen a ghost,” she snips back at him, and Joe shakes his head.

“If ghosts were real I definitely would have seen one,” he says, voice lofty, and you can’t help but laugh.

“Well maybe they just run whenever they see your face,” Lucy teases, and reaches back to pinch Joe’s cheek. You’re still laughing, but Joe’s gone quiet, contemplative. “Cheer up,” Lucy adds, “maybe tonight’s your night.” But there’s a strange quality to her voice that you can’t quite identify, and before you can even try, she reaches over to turn on the radio.

Salem is quiet as a grave. Bring the car to a stop a few blocks away from The Witch House, and it finally hits you where you are, and how strangely dark it’s already managed to get. Your grip is white knuckled on the steering wheel, and it’s all you can do to sit in silence for almost three full minutes.

“If you’re not up for this, we can go back,” Lucy’s voice is gentle, but Joe’s already unbuckling and practically pitching himself from the car.

“This place has such a weird energy, you know?” He announces, hands on his hips, looking down at the street towards the House itself.

“Are you- are you for real? Or are you taking the piss?” You call out the door that he’s left open, and he spins, grinning.

“No, I’m like, being for-real. You know in like, ah, fuck I can’t remember which movie it is, but like, the guy leans down and he touches the dirt,” Joe bends at the knee, kneeling on the soil, his fingertips brushing the ground, “and he’s like, ‘something terrible happened here’,” he grins, looking far chipper than he had any right to, given the circumstance, “you know, it’s like that.”

“Maybe we should go home,” your brow creases in concern, and you shift your grip on the steering wheel nervously. Lucy rests a hand on your shoulder, and you can feel her thumb gently brushing against your jacket, though it goes a considerable ways to calming you down.

“You’ll be fine,” Joe calls back, and his smile is bright and yet reassuring, “I was kidding; I told you ghosts aren’t real.” He hums as you unbuckle your seatbelt, “and what are they gonna do anyways? Be mostly see-through and wiggle at us? Tell us to get out? Joke’s on them, I have selective hearing and I can’t hear ghosts.”

The two of them walk either side of you, Joe with his hands in his pockets as he observes the scenery with a smile, and Lucy with her arm tucked into yours, absentmindedly tracing patterns on the palm of your hand as the two of you chatted. Neither of them really looked at you, though you were feeling relatively calm and secure. The surprise comes when you finally realise how tense and on edge Lucy was. When you ask, she gives a tight smile, and says something about how she can’t stop thinking about the atrocities committed here.

“Fair.” You agree, but try not to think about it.

“You see anything?”

“You mean anything extra spooky? No; I told you, ghosts aren’t real.”

“Joe, I know they are; I genuinely think you scare them off. Witch-spirits especially are very aware of vibes-”

“Are you saying I have bad vibes?”

“I’m saying a demon like yourself isn’t one to be messed with, and everything less than corporeal sped off the minute we arrived.”

“Was that a compliment I heard?”

“It was just a statement.”

“You think I’m spooky.”

“I think you’re going a good ways to scaring off Y/N.”

“She’s fine, she’s a champ, and it’s not like she has anything to worry about with us around, even if there was something that wasn’t scared off by my ‘bad vibes’ or whatever you called it, we could take them.”

“I still hate this place.”

“You see any old friends floating around?”

“Shut up. No.”

The tense set of Lucy’s shoulders doesn’t get better, in fact, she glances over at Joe after the two of them had been quite for a very long time, and her jaw clenches. Her grip on you gets just a little bit tighter.

“Anyone specific we’re looking for?” Joe asks out loud, as if it’s a normal conversation to have, while the three of you stood at the gate of The Witch House.

“Tituba,” Lucy answers automatically, much to your surprise, and you extract yourself from her grip gently, stepping down the stairs and into the trench where the house once was.

“You’ve done your research,” you say, a little preoccupied as you move through the space, phone camera held out in front of you.

“What about Hecuba?” Joe asks, sitting himself by the edge of the fence, while Lucy perched herself on the railing itself, the two of them sitting sentinel, like guard dogs against anything that might try it’s luck against your sweet, human soul.

“Hecuba was just a person, I think you’re thinking of Hecate;” Lucy corrects, and Joe nods, thoughtful. However, a moment passes where Lucy turns as white as a sheet, not that anyone else notices, at the idea of Hecate herself appearing in this glorified grave yard. But then again, the Goddess of Witchcraft did both adore and abhor this little town, she had no time for tourists, this Lucy knew. Even tourists with a spicy companion such as a demon.

For a few moments, they just watch you, sitting as still as possible to not interfere with your work, watching how fascinated you get with each little sound and movement. There’s nothing there, not really, but your nervous faith is so enthralling.

“You see anything?” Joe calls, and you tell him you haven’t. He repeats the question to Lucy and is met with a hum of hesitation; when he looks at her with his true sight, he sees her tracing sigils into the air, quiet, disciplined movements. To the natural eye, the sigils are invisible, but when he looks at her like this, he can see them glowing bright in precise shapes and symbols, beautiful in their own way. She’s watching you intently, and when Joe follows her gaze, he sees a translucent dome glowing around you, somehow managing to radiate ‘don’t fuck with me’ vibes. Even Joe feels his skin itch just being in close proximity to it.

“No.” Lucy answers, though her hesitation had given you cause for concern, she’s quick to cover, “but it’s pitch black out here, I can’t exactly see anything.” And you have to agree.

It’s been, well, interesting to say the least. You drive back, and thank god Lucy seems to get more relaxed with each mile that you put between yourselves and that town.

“Do you plan on doing this sort of thing again?” Lucy asks as the three of you ride the elevator from the parking garage to the lobby. You hesitate for a moment.

“I mean, yeah, if I get the opportunity,” you say, a little tentatively, “you guys don’t have to come along, I can-”

“Nah, this was fun,” Joe grins, cutting you off before you can finish your sentence, your attempt to unburden them of your presence, your little side project, “now I wanna see a ghost by the time the tour’s up.” 

Lucy raises her eyebrows at him. Joe shrugs helplessly, still smiling. 

And you, you sweet, oblivious human, don’t know why but you feel safer knowing they’re coming along with you on your supernatural side quest.

#joe mazzello #joe mazzello x reader #joe mazzello imagine #Lucy Boynton #lucy boyton x reader #lucy boynton x reader #lucy boynton imagine #queen #bohemian rhapsody #bohemian rhapsody imagine #BoRhap #BoRhap cast #borhap cast imagine #the angry lizard writes

[hellyeahomeland]

An HYH Exclusive Interview with Dominic Mainl

[Over the last six seasons, Dominic Mainl has worked in the camera department on Homeland, working to get the shots you see in each episode onto your screens. For our “On the Record with…” series, Dom graciously answered our questions about what the Homeland experience has been like, including how he got started, what it’s like to work with cast and crew, and his most vivid memories. Thank you Dom for answering our questions! –the HYH team]

Hell Yeah Homeland: Your first Homeland episode was “Tin Man Is Down” in season three. How did the German guy become a part of the production?

Dom Mainl: Haha, pure luck? In 1998 I moved from tiny Bad Dürrheim, Germany, to Los Angeles because I wanted to work in Hollywood. I was already in the film industry in Germany and wanted to work with the best of the best and that meant moving to Los Angeles. It took a few years and a lot of hard work to “break into Hollywood” and yet another few years and even harder work to become established, but in the end it all worked out. I worked on the HBO show True Blood and met David Klein, ASC there. I really enjoy working with him and over the years we have become a good team, business partners and most importantly, very good friends. One day my phone rings and Dave said, “Hey man, I’m taking over as the Director of Photography on Homeland. Are you interested? I would love to have you on the crew” …. and I had no idea what Homeland even was! I had never heard of it! I said yes anyway because I love working with Dave and looked up the show online. So on my way out to Charlotte (where we shot season three) I started watching the first season and really, really liked it. So I was hyped about being part of the project after becoming part of the project. 

HYH: What do you remember from your first day at set? 

DM: Every project, whether it’s film, tv or commercials, I have butterflies in my stomach the night before day one. David Klein says, “if you’re not nervous before day one you are phoning it in,” and he’s right. We love what we do and there are so many things that can go wrong, so even after 20+ years I still get nervous. The first day on Homeland was really easy though because all the actors are sooo unbelievably nice. As a focus puller I am quite immersed in all technical things to make sure nothing goes wrong (especially on day one!), so Homeland was no different from other shows in that respect.

HYH: We know you can’t talk about season eight yet, but looking back at previous seasons, what scenes still stick with you? Why?

DM: This is going to explain a lot about why I love working with Dave Klein: there’s a shot in season three when Brody is brought back to the US and it's the first time Carrie and Brody meet since he was shipped off to Caracas. He’s laying on the bed and the camera is right in his face. Carrie steps into the background and has an emotional monologue directed at the sleeping Brody. Remember that? 

So, my job as a focus puller is to adjust focus during the shot. And I felt strongly about keeping Damian sharp in the foreground although the #1 star of the show just entered our shot and she was the only person talking! General rule of thumb for focus pullers: make sure the person talking is sharp. If a lot of people talk, make sure the star of the show is sharp... So here I was, new to the show, and breaking all the rules at once. But, to me, it felt so damn powerful to stay on Brody’s face to see his reaction as he slowly wakes to Carrie’s words, until he opens his eyes and (eventually) turns around. So I discussed this with Dave and he brought this idea up with director Lesli Linka Glatter and the producer/creator Alex Gansa and we ended up shooting two versions of this scene, one with the focus shifting to Carrie as she enters the frame and one that stayed with Brody. To Dave's credit he fought for my idea and in the end they used my version. That shows you how amazing it is to work with Dave Klein--you’re truly a part of the team.

HYH: Thinking of some iconic Homeland scenes (pretty much all the scenes which left us heartbroken)--like Brody‘s death scene, Quinn driving into a lethal hail of bullets--how much time did you have to prepare these scenes? How do you in the camera and photography department plan for these scenes? How many times do you shoot them before you got the material we see in the final and aired cut?

DM: Brody’s death was rather emotional for the crew as well because that was the very last shooting day of the season. We were shooting all night in Morocco and we had to bid Damian adieu after we wrapped. It was almost the same with Quinn, although we had a few days of shooting left after we killed off Rupert’s character… But Rupert served the crew champagne after the day ended, still bloodied from the scene, which was very sweet…. plus the bubbly was rather good so I didn’t mind killing him off, haha. As far as preparation for these scenes go, it's the same as for any other shot--for me, anyways. I prepare the gear the same way I would for any other scene as reliability is key. The most important part is that the equipment is functioning flawlessly because, in the end, if the camera doesn’t record what’s in front of it… why are we there?

HYH: Homeland’s main cinematographer is David Klein, and you two have worked together on many episodes over the years. Can you describe the working relationship between the two of you? 

DM: I was asked the same questions a few years ago and I have the same answer: it’s a privilege to work with David Klein because you get to work with him and not just for him. There is a fundamental difference. Of course, he’s the boss and all departmental decisions are his to make but he actively involves the camera operators and the focus pullers in the process and that’s what makes it so much fun! Sure, it really does take a while to establish such a good rapport and a working relationship like ours, because it is 100% built on trust. The example I mentioned [earlier] shows that we have each other’s back and that’s when you can get really creative…

HYH: Speaking of the art of cinematography and photography, how would you describe Homeland’s visual/photographic DNA?

DM: That’s a question for David Klein, haha. Of course I have my 2 cents but that’s not for me to answer…

HYH: What's your secret about taking the perfect shot?

DM: Generally speaking, preparation. Hard work beats talent unless talent works hard. The perfect shot is when all the elements come together in synchronized harmony. Think of it as choreography - the actors, the frame, focus and camera platform (hand-held, dolly or Steadicam, etc.)… everything that moves, everything needs to be perfectly in sync to achieve what the director or the DP had in mind and there is a lot that can go wrong. But when it all goes right, it seems effortless. What’s my secret? Easy: Don’t fuck it up. Don’t be the one element that blows the shot.

HYH: You’ve traveled with the Homeland production all over the world -- to South Africa, Germany, Morocco, and several locations in the US. Which trip did you enjoy the most and which one was the hardest work? Why?

DM: I really enjoyed Morocco. And I really disliked Morocco. For clarification, I met my wife in Morocco while shooting the finale for season three there and I will always have fond memories of that time. And I disliked season eight in Morocco, because even though my wife had become a member of the crew by then (she is the script supervisor for season eight), shooting there the second time around was unnecessarily complicated and frustrating for reasons I will not go into detail at this point…. but it really wasn’t much fun.

We loved South Africa a lot, too. That was probably one of my favorite seasons. Not necessarily the scripts but the location.

HYH: Compared to other jobs you did before, what’s different about working on Homeland?

DM: After 7 years (well, on and off) of True Blood I was happy I didn’t have to work with vampires and at night anymore. The spy game turned out to be fun and intriguing but you pay the price for getting to see the world. The biggest challenge was the constant shifts in location. One, because we ship a lot of camera gear around the world which adds a ton of work and stress (carnets, inventory, maintenance, etc.). Two, it’s really hard to find and keep a good crew around and given we were on the road for six years we had to start over almost everywhere we went and train the team to the workflow that Dave and I have had established. I admit, I am quite demanding and finding a crew that could do the job to my expectations in all those locations was not easy. But we ended up making some life-long friends… and probably a handful of enemies too, haha.

HYH: From what we were able to follow on social media, we got the impression that filming season eight has been a long and tough journey, much harder than previous seasons. Is there anything you can share about the reasons why?

DM: Well, if you go into Africa expecting you can shoot an American TV schedule with an international crew within the same time frame and on the same budget... you have to be crazy! But there isn't just one party to blame for the exhausting Moroccan portion of season eight but rather a combination of unfortunate misunderstandings paired with inexperience and a healthy dose of negligence. As they say, “everything that could go wrong, did.”

HYH: Was there ever a scene for which you had just one take to get it right? Which one?

DM: Let’s just say there is going to be an explosion in season eight and we only had one try at it. And we nailed it.

HYH: For the tech nerds among us, what's your favorite camera and objective and which scene you shot with it comes to your mind?

DM: Hands down, the ARRI Alexa Mini. Homeland is a predominantly handheld show in order to keep the tensions high while (subconsciously) keeping the audience always on the edge of [their] seat. If the cameras are handheld the image constantly moves. You can even see/feel the breathing of the camera operators. The Alexa Mini is lightweight yet robust and the sensor is the best money can buy. We used ARRI Master Primes for added sharpness for seasons five, six, seven, and eight, but sprinkled in a few Zeiss Supreme Primes this year to take off a little bit of weight. We also like to use Canon Cinema Zooms for their high quality.

HYH: Butter bei die Fische (Now’s the time for straight talk), why is Homeland still filmed in HD?

DM: Because Showtime wants it that way. I would’ve loved to shoot 4K or with a different aspect ratio or utilize a different sensor size but the people at the helm want to keep it “the way it was.”

HYH: Homeland’s eighth and final season is wrapping up and now airing. How does it feel that the show is coming to an end soon?

DM: It’s bittersweet. I have had some of the best and some of the worst moments of my career on the set of Homeland and I know I will miss it down the road but right now I’m happy that Carrie finally gets to…. Never mind, can’t tell you that, haha. I know I’ll miss it but we’re just exhausted right now.

HYH: What other projects are you working on after Homeland? Any plans yet?

DM: Vacation. No more jobs in 2019 and hopefully a good movie with a good script in 2020. I think after six years of spy TV I want to take a break from the small screen, if possible.

#homeland #homelandedit #on the record with #dominic mainl #dom mainl #interview #david klein #*

[sapphireglyphs]

(secrets of an) opaque romance

➵ pairing: do kyungsoo x lalisa manoban ➵ rating: PG-15 / T+ ➵ genre: modern arrange marriage!au-ish, romance, slice-of-life ➵ chapter word count: ~ 38K  ➵ summary: Back by popular demand, MBC brought back “We Got Married” for its 5th season and it looks like the K-pop world was going to get turned on its head when BlackPink’s Lead Dancer gets paired with EXO’s Legendary Lead Vocalist. Between award shows, drama shoots, TV show tapings, dance practices, album promotions, and potential fan riots, these two mega stars will have to juggle their demanding careers and a burgeoning relationship - even of the artificial variety.   ➵ a/n: I remember thinking when I posted episode 1, that there would be absolutely no one who would actually be interested in read this. Thank you so much for the likes and follows! You cannot imagine how much every single one of those mean to me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you and please continue to follow Kyungsoo and Lisa’s journey through this story. I hope that it doesn’t disappoint! ♡

Episode 1

Episode #2 - First impressions

Sweat was stinging the corners of his eyes by the time Kyungsoo was about to suggest they take a break rather than just collapse right there in the middle of the practice studio (like Chanyeol was) at the exact moment when the door to the studio opened and two cameramen and the director of “We Got Married” walked in. 

“Ah!” Baekhyun’s face split into a mischievous grin, knowing exactly who they were here for, as the group had been informed earlier that day that the crew from WGM would be in to collect Kyungsoo for the filming of the second episode, “BOOMBAYAH! DAHN-DA-DA-DAHN DA-DA-DAHN-DAHN-DAHH-DA-DA-DAHN! Yeah-yeah-BOOMBAYAH!”

The studio then erupted into chaos as the other members leapt at the opportunity to tease their quietest member. Chanyeol and Jongdae joined Baekhyun in unison, singing the chorus at the top of their lungs, making sure to scream “Oppa!” right at Kyungsoo in high definition surround sound while  Kyungsoo buried his heated face in his hands, trying to get his growing embarrassment under control. Sehun was on the ground laughing uncontrollably as Jongin and Minseok were dancing in the background, way too focused on getting the choreography just right, rather than rag on the main vocalist. Suho tried to bring some semblance of decorum to the room but realizing it was a losing battle, he simply shook his head and went to crouch next to Kyungsoo. The guardian of EXO placed a supportive arm around the younger member’s shoulders, reassuring him that the guys were just being idiots and not to take their teasing seriously. 

By the time, the “Beagle Line” got to the second round of the chorus, Kyungsoo had had quite enough of all of this nonsense and attacked the closest member to him. As it so happens to be Baekyun, who was trying to hair-flip his short locks right into Kyungsoo’s face, he got the full force of the fellow vocalist’s fist in his solar plexus. Kyungsoo sighed in satisfaction at the look of the older man doubled over on the ground, groaning in pain. He stepped over his fallen member and properly greeted the director before he was handed a new brown envelope with that day’s challenge. 

He read it to himself first before he was prompted to read it aloud. The other members listened intently for the reveal of the challenge but Kyungsoo simply tucked the thick paper back into the envelope and suggested to the crew, “Shall we get going?”

As expected, all the members started to whine and heckle at him as he walked over to retrieve his backpack and half empty water bottle. “Come on, man!” Chanyeol cajoled. “Just read the prompt out loud, like you’re supposed to!” A chorus of approval from the other members echoed across the dance studio. 

“No,” Kyungsoo said firmly as he walked towards the door, “Just watch it when it airs, like everybody else.” 

As the rest of them shook their heads in disappointment, Chanyeol turned his back to the door and scoffed over his shoulder, “He’s just wants to quickly run off to see his wife. That’s why he’s in such a ru-OOF!”

The rapper never saw the water bottle fly at him before it made contact with the back of his head. 

- ❥ -

“Can I see it again?” 

Lisa rolled her eyes but still smiled shyly and placed her hand into Rosé’s outstretched palms. She squealed in delight and ogled at the pretty ring, to heck with her dignity! Lisa was sure it would have been like this anyway, even if the cameras weren’t there at the salon. She had arrived there with the girls in-tow straight from morning workout and was currently getting her hair done for the wedding photo shoot before the ceremony later that night. Just the thought of it made Lisa’s palms start to sweat and her heart race in her chest. 

She had regaled the first meeting with the girls in excruciating details over french fries and soju that first night, complete with squeals over the ring and reveal of who had been cast to be her “husband”. 

Lisa looked over at Jennie and then Rosé the moment she said his name. Jennie’s poker face was on a little too tightly as she poured herself another shot. Lisa tried not to read too much into it when Rosé gave her a strange look. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” the other maknae asked. 

Lisa blinked, “Well, aren’t you close to his band mate?”

Rosé tilted her head questioningly, “Who? Chanyeol?” She gave a cackle, “What are you implying? We did one collaboration together, nearly 5 years ago, and he was nothing but polite and professional.”

Jisoo started to laugh, “Why so defensive? She’s just asking if you were close because of the collab.”

“Um, excuse you! You seem to be leaving out the crucial detail that there were two other artists there too! It wasn’t just Park Chanyeol and myself.” Rosé rebutted. 

“You mean, no matter how much you had wished it was?” Lisa said cheekily, with a suggestive wag of her eyebrows. 

The action garnered her a Rilakkuma pillow to the face. 

“Ow! I was just joking.” Lisa muttered in a cute baby voice, rubbing her offended nose. 

“So, what was he like?” Jennie asked as she finished her shot in one go. “Was he ‘award-winning-actor’-like?”

“I’m not sure what means but… hmm…” Lisa chewed thoughtfully on a limp french fry before saying, “He’s quiet… but also rather easy-going. I can tell that he’s very kind… a bit… reserved… and very respectful. He opened every door for me and walked on the street side when we were going to the jewelry shop.”

The girls were the perfect audience members, “aww”-ing and “yah”-ing at all the right moments. It made her less nervous when the episode actually aired that Saturday night and they watched it together over fried chicken. 

They were all commenting how good Lisa and Kyungsoo looked together when the camera shot them walking side by side. It was right when she was mentally scolding herself for not paying attention to him that he had simultaneously asked whether she was listening. Experiencing that moment again from another perspective felt odd, like an out of body experience. The woman on the TV screen that had Lisa’s face was laughing in a charming manner, even grabbing onto his arm while she begged him to repeat himself. Lisa didn’t even remember doing that. She had been so nervous trying not to offend him, she completely went into “adorable defense mode”! 

She watched as Kyungsoo became flustered and couldn’t help it when her heart fluttered at the bashful look on his face. 

“Oh my gosh!” Rosé exclaimed in English, “He’s adorable! And you were there in person? How are your retinas even functioning from all that cute?” 

The other two girls chimed in agreement, teasing her mercilessly when she started to cover her face in embarrassment. 

“Don’t look now, but it seems a celebrity has entered the building.” Jisoo’s stage whisper brought Lisa back to the present and she couldn’t help but look in her periphery at the man who was walking in the door of the salon. 

His cap was low on his face so she couldn’t see his eyes but she could have picked his lips out of a line-up. Plump and perfectly shaped, she watched in rapture as his tongue peeked out to wet those lips and she couldn’t help but mirror the action.  

Oh, how was she supposed to make it through this day with him looking like that! 

The other members of Blackpink cheered and welcomed him warmly, bowing in respect and introducing themselves one at a time. 

“Good afternoon,” Kyungsoo greeted the other members, “It’s nice to formally meet you all.”

Jisoo touched his arm in compassion as she said, “Oppa, as the oldest member, I feel the need to apologize on behalf of Blackpink for our sister’s spaztic tendencies.”

“UNNIE!” Lisa protested with a pout from the makeup chair. 

Ignoring her whining, Jennie nodded, “She’s is a spaztic princess, but she’s our spaztic princess.” She then stepped into his personal space and pointed a finger at him, his eyes crossed trying to follow it’s tip. “So please continue to look after her.” Her blessing seemed to be laced with an undertone of a threat and they watched as a soft smile stretched across his handsome features. 

“There is no need for apologies,” Kyungsoo insisted. He looked up at Lisa then, their eyes locked as he continued just loud enough for her to hear, “I like her just the way she is.”

“Oooohhh!” The girls’ approval rang across the salon, Jisoo even turned around and gave a thumbs up at Lisa. The youngest member acknowledged the praise with a smug look, wagging her eyebrows as though she had any decision in the matter. 

Kyungsoo strode up to Lisa’s makeup chair and greeted her properly. “Good afternoon, princess.”

Her shoulders shook slightly from her repressed giggles, as she was getting her lip color applied at the moment. She greeted him in return with a muffled “an nyeong” while cutely waving both of her hands. 

He returned her double handed wave before asking the dreaded question. “How are you feeling?”

Lisa began to nervously laugh and held up her hand, which was shaking slightly. Kyungsoo chuckled and took her hand in both of his. “Why are you so nervous?”

“Aren’t you? I would take a debut stage 100x over this any day!” Lisa whined, doing everything in her power to focus on her words rather than the soothing way his thumb was rubbing light circles into the top of her hand. His hands were warm and she scowled her heart as it twinged at how right this felt. As if them touching each other came second nature to the both of them. 

“Do you know if they’ll be served drinks at this thing?” Lisa asked abruptly. He burst out laughing, the sound rumbling from deep in his chest as she turned to the film crew asking if there will be soju served at the ceremony. “It’s a party right? There should be drinks!” she insisted.

Kyungsoo shook his head and patted her hand supportively, “Don’t worry. I’ll be right there beside you.” 

“Says the man in the same sinking boat as me.” Lisa muttered dejectedly, retreating her hand back into her lap.

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened slightly. “You don’t know if this boat is going to sink. We haven’t even left the dock yet!”

It was Lisa’s turn to laugh and this time she caught herself grabbing his arm. He laid his hand atop hers as he reassured her that it was going to be ‘just fine’ before he leaned in. She felt her breath catch as he whispered, “I’ll run to the store and pick up some champagne for us.” 

Lisa truly felt bad for her makeup artist since it was taking twice as long to do her makeup - she couldn’t help it though. She pushed him away to cover her growing blush, blaming Kyungsoo for making her laugh so much and ordered for him to go get prepped for his hair and makeup.

- ❥ -

Even though Kyungsoo got there after Lisa, he finished hair, makeup, and “costume” before her and was sitting patiently in the waiting area. He was so sure that it would be uncomfortable meeting up again after last week’s episode aired. Kyungsoo had cringed watching himself awkwardly navigate through the episode while she made the whole affair look so effortless. He told himself that this time around, he would relax more and give himself over to the role. It would be just like any other acting job and, if in the process, he got the opportunity to work with a beautiful and sweet woman in the process, well then it’ll be like icing on a cake. 

So far, it wasn’t bad at all. He had managed to carry a short conversation, even made her laugh and found an excuse to hold her hand (twice!). That was huge for him. He credited it to the fact that she had made it feel as though he wasn’t pressured to be anything but himself. And though most of the time, he was a nervous wreck of a man, Kyungsoo blocked out every anxious thought in his head and allowed himself the skinship he knew will bring in viewers. 

He was sure she could hear his heart beating wildly in his chest especially when he leaned in to whisper in her ear. He wanted to act as natural as possible - as though he was with his group members. But the moment he breathed in that faint fresh strawberry scent, his heart began pounding against his ribs. Kyungsoo was glad when she pushed him away - it gave him the opportunity to save himself from doing something reprehensible… like lean in to nuzzle behind her ear, just to see if she would smell just as good up close. 

A squeal brought him out of his revelry. Kyungsoo stood up as the other girls walked out excitedly towards him. “Wow! You look so handsome!” 

He shyly smiled and waved off their compliments. “Is she coming out right now too?”

Jennie wore a dangerous smirk. “Oh! Someone is anxious to see the blushing bride!”

“Wait! Have you seen the dress she’s going to be wearing?” Rosé asked. 

Kyungsoo shook his head which prompted a chorus of squeals. 

“She looks soooo pretty!” Rosé dreamily sighed.

Jisoo nodded, “You are going to be shocked.”

“She looks like an actual modern day princess!” Rosé exclaimed. Jennie and Jisoo nodded vigorously in agreement. 

“Unnie ~ Don’t get his expectations hyped up over nothing!” protested the woman in question, her voice filtering out from behind the curtain. Kyungsoo thought he might have caught a slight tremble in her voice and made a mental note to work harder at making sure she felt comfortable with him. 

The moment the plush velvet fabric was pulled back, all thoughts completely flew out of Kyungsoo’s mind as he stood there forgetting how to breathe. 

He would never consider himself a man of fashion but he could not have imagined a more fitting dress for her. She walked out like an ethereal goddess, the pearl white silk hugging her lithe form like a glove, designed so it would accentuate her figure in a tempting silhouette. The opaque rhinestones and milky grey crystals in the intricate patterns along her waist sparkled and winked with every sway of her hips as she strutted out of the changing room. Her look was even complete with a simple crystal tiara, tiny rose gold leaves woven into the metal headband atop her expertly curled hair. She was truly a sight to behold. 

Lisa stopped just in front of him and took him in with a slight tinge of a blush on her perfectly made up cheeks. She must have been wearing heels because he noticed that she was the same height as him. He thanked the heavens that the rest of EXO weren’t going to be there at the ceremony or else he would never hear the end of it. 

“Yah, oppa! You’re gonna catch flies if your mouth stays open any longer!” Jisoo teased. 

Kyungsoo burst out in an embarrassed laugh, covering his heated face as the rest of the girls giggled uncontrollably. Once he got his nerves under control, Kyungsoo boldly met Lisa’s gaze and said the first thing that came into his mind, “You’re right, noona, she does look like a princess.”

Lisa look away and smiled shyly. Kyungsoo leaned in then, his heart stuttering once again as his senses tingled at the scent of her sweet perfume. “And just for the record, my expectations were far from met.”

She looked up at him then and watched as he smiled coyly, “They were exceeded - in every sense of the word.”

- ❥ -

Soon after, the pair were rushed off to the site where they were going to take the “wedding photos” and, even as they were saying their goodbyes, Lisa had hoped that the rest of the girls would accompany them to the photo shoot. The moment she entered the large SUV and was once again alone with Kyungsoo, she felt her nerves return with a vengeance. The drive to the site wasn’t long but it felt like a lifetime as they sat there silently, both of them too nervous to actually make small talk. 

Finally remembering the advice one of her seniors at YG had said about needing to talk a lot on variety shows, she figured this was not the greatest content for the viewers to have her just nervously sit there so she decided to once again swallow her nerves and say something to fill the void. 

“You look really nice too, by the way,” she offered. Kyungsoo turned to her with his large, round eyes and blinked at her sudden proclamation. She tucked a stray curl behind her ear, taking extra care to not loosen the bobby pins that held down her headband in place, before continuing, “I didn’t get the opportunity to say that you look very nice as well.”

His eyes soften. “I could be wearing a hot pink suit made from rice sacks and yellow rain boots and no one would notice me.”

Lisa snorted at that image and then offered, “I’m not sure hot pink is really your color. I would think a... mint green suit with like a bright orange tie and orange loafers would be better.”

“Mm. And a top hat that lights up.” He added casually.

“Oh! And one of those obnoxiously big diamond encrusted necklaces with a huge dollar sign on it.”  

“And a cane made of gold and jade.” 

They were both still laughing at the ridiculousness of the ensemble they had conjured up for him when the SUV pulled into a visitor parking spot and the side door opened. Kyungsoo climbed out of vehicle first and turned around to offer his hand to her. She took it graciously and carefully stepped down, her heels hitting the pavement with two small clicks.

As she stood up straight, Lisa was very conscious of the fact that he had yet to let go of her hand. Kyungsoo must have noticed her look down to where their hands were still linked and simply said, “The asphalt in this parking lot is a bit uneven. I just want to make sure you make it there in one piece.”

She bit the inside of her cheek to make sure she wouldn’t swoon out loud at how gentlemanly he was acting when her heart began to squeeze uncomfortably. 

‘Fool. Have you forgotten that this isn’t real? Get yourself together.’ Lisa thought bitterly before she quickly shook her head and said nonchalantly to him, “I wasn’t complaining,” and gave his hand a squeeze. 

He smiled, satisfied with her answer before he turned away with a nod. “Good. Let’s get this show on the road.”

They walked hand in hand for a few minutes, the site was some kind of park with cobblestone pathways, not ideal for strolling in heels, but Kyungsoo made sure she didn’t lose her balance even once. Eventually, they came to a nicely groomed wall completely made of deep green ivy from top to bottom. They were directed to stand in front of the wall of greenery and Lisa looked down nervously at the wood chips that filled the entire area in front of the wall. She wished there were sandals for her to wear because she was sure the fancy little heels were going to sink into the ground with every step she took. 

As if sensing her disquiet, Kyungsoo squeezed her hand to get her attention. When she finally looked up at him, his eyes were filled with quiet determination. “We’ll take it slowly. Just lean on me, okay?”

Lisa was sure her heart could only take so much more of this type of abuse before it simply gave up in protest. How did he always know what she was thinking? How could he make it look so easy to be so considerate? She decided that it would be safer not to dwell on that thought for too long as she simply nodded and gave a shaky “okay” as they took their first step towards the ivy-covered wall. 

She would take a step and then pause, trying to get her balance as Kyungsoo patiently stood by her, never complaining, even when she gripped his arm like a vice. He softly muttered words of encouragement as they approached the wall and Lisa felt herself become hypnotized by the deep timbre of his voice that they ended up arriving at their destination before she even noticed. 

They both let out a giggle of relief as they positioned themselves for the photo shoot. Lisa was handed a bouquet of white peonies and grey berries to hold. She brought them to her nose and was disappointed that they smelled mostly of dust and plastic as they were silk flowers but the craftsmanship on the details were so intricate, she could have sworn they were real.

She then brought the bouquet up for Kyungsoo to smell and his blank expression when he sniffed it made her chuckle. Lisa could see the gears whirling in his head and burst out into an all out laugh when he pulled the bouquet back for another sniff. 

“They aren’t real, right? Or is that how this flower normally smells like?” Kyungsoo asked just to make sure he wasn’t mistaken and she shook her head, confirming that he had not been. 

“Aish…” he softly scoffed under his breath before he very playfully poked her side. She yelped in surprise and nearly tipped over on the uneven ground. Kyungsoo’s arm shot out and pulled her flush against him, taking most her weight so she wouldn’t fall. They both began to laugh nervously, as they stiffly tried to get their balance back. 

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered breathlessly between chuckles, “I shouldn’t have done that. Are you okay?”

His voice came out even but Lisa could tell that he must have been nervous too. Even under the three piece suit he was wearing, she could feel his heart thump wildly under her palm that had landed on his chest. It made her feel better knowing that she wasn’t the only one affected by all of this. 

“I’m fine now… just keep your fingers to yourself, mister.” she said cheekily. 

Kyungsoo chuckled, “Deal,” and she thought the sound was slowly becoming her new favorite thing to listen to. 

#exo fanfiction #do kyungsoo #blackpink fanfic #lisa manoban #exo fanfic #lalisa monaban #lisa blackpink #d.o. exo #kyungsoo fanfic #my writing #my edits

[metaphoricallyroger]

When I’m Sixty Four [R.T.]

Summary: You and Roger have been married for what seems a lifetime. You share memories through photographs with the main cast of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Words: 3,280

Warning: Swearing.

Note: Title taken from The Beatles song of the same name. Also, I feel like the flow of reading this is a bit off? But I hope you still enjoy!

Request: For @rrrogah-tayluhh . 

--

At the completion of filming Bohemian Rhapsody, Roger and Brian thought it would be a good idea to have the main cast over for a dinner party.

You, having become something akin to a part of the props on set considering you went to watch the filming whenever you could, also think it is a good idea. Perhaps now would be a good time to finally share some of the safe-for-work questions the cast have been asking you for months now that you’ve gotten to know them better.

After dinner, the drinks began to flow, so naturally, the promised stories of the heydays have begun and your numerous photo albums collected over the years have been pulled off the bookshelf in the lounge room.

“The first time I saw him I thought he was a woman.”

“Did you really? Is that how you two met?” Ben looks between you and Roger, trying to figure out if you’re joking or not.

“I thought a girl had dropped her study notes so I chased after her to give them back, and turns out, that lovely ladies name was Roger.”

“I can’t believe you’re telling this story,” Roger groans.

“Shush, you were cute. Look!” You hold up a blurry looking polaroid, “got the photo here to go with the moment and everything.”

~~

“Miss, excuse me, Miss! You’ve dropped your papers!” The person who turned around certainly wasn’t a woman, but a very attractive man with a cigarette stuck to the dryness of his lips.

“Did you just call me miss?”

“I apologise, but we’ve got the same coat on and your hair it’s, well …” You gestured towards the blonde mane on his head and tried to ignore the fact that you both wore the same fur coat.

“It’s what?”

“Sorry, I- Um, it’s very nice, that’s all.” You were slightly intimidated by the man in front of you.

The flash of the camera that hung from your shoulder interrupted whatever the man was going to say next.

“Do I have a personal photographer now?”

“I am so sorry, I swear I didn’t mean to take a photo of you, I was just running my finger over the button which I do when I get nervous. Sorry, again. For you know.” He bent down and grabbed the polaroid where it lay discarded on the floor.

“You also talk a lot when you’re nervous?”

“Guess so.” He handed the photo back which had developed during your rant to show only the subjects midsection and thighs, which could have been passed off as your own photograph with the same coat you both wore.

“What’s your name?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“So I can find where you live, obviously,” you rolled your eyes, “I’d like to write it under the photo. Memories and all.” You raised your eyebrows.

“It’s Roger Taylor,” he grinned, and seemingly took pleasure at your newfound bravado.

--

“I didn’t see Roger for a couple of years after that. I was friends with John. That’s how I met him for the second time.”

“Did you go to one of their gigs?” Gwilym enquiries.

“I introduced John to the band because I knew Roger’s girlfriend at the time and she told me that he needed a bass player. I had to practically drag him to their rehearsal one day,” you smile fondly at the memory of John, hoping he also looks back on the time as a period of happiness.

~~

“What do you study?” You looked up from your textbook to see the drummer you’d accidentally taken a photograph of however long ago, which you still had, buried in a box underneath your bed. You sometimes took the castaway polaroid out and looked at it, wondering whether the sandy-haired man still had the coat, much like you kept yours.

“I’m becoming a nurse, what about you?”

“Biology, but I studied to become a dentist, for a while.”

You chuckled and Roger squinted at you, eyebrows drawn together.

“Sorry,” you paused, “I just can’t picture you pulling someone’s teeth out.”

“Me neither. Music’s where it’s at for me.”

“I can picture that,” you smiled timidly.

The silence that hung itself over your heads was comfortable, and Roger smiled down at his splayed fingers.

“So,” he broke the silence, “what pictures did you take of me this time, my personal photographer?”

“This one’s my favourite.” You show him the one where he was looking over to Brian, lips pursed, ready to sing into the microphone next to him, his left hand hit the snare whilst his right was poised, ready to hit the smaller tom-tom.

Roger ended up keeping the photo after you reluctantly handed it over. It would come back to you at a later date, hidden amongst Roger’s tchotchke-filled cardboard boxes after you moved in together.

--

“How drunk are you guys in this photo?” Joe, whose sense of humour never fails to make you laugh grins as he holds up a very specific photo of a very specific night you no longer can remember.

“Oh, we might’ve been flying at that point,” Brian chuckles reaching up to rub his chin with a hint of embarrassment.

~~

“We’re going places, Baby!” You grinned at the very drunk Roger in front of you with his wild hair and glassy eyes that almost spilled over with happiness.

Drinks and all other sorts of substances flowed amongst the partygoers after the New Orleans concert of Queen’s Jazz tour, fans, strangers and family all united under the one cause if only for one night. Tomorrow, you’d go your separate ways, only to do it all over again the next tour.

The room had become hazy with copious amounts of cigarette smoke as Roger dragged you, half stumbling, half running to the middle of the room to get you to take a photo of the band.

“You’re not all going to fit!” You called, quite drunk yourself, as the four men tried to squeeze themselves together on the smallest lounge in the room.

“Hold on! I’ve got an idea.”

John took it upon himself and attempted to rearrange the limbs of the other members so that they all ended up piled on top of one another. They had laughed boisterously at their ‘Queen Pretzel’ they’d made, but they eventually fit themselves into the frame.  

“Stay there. John that’s perfect,” you called, and took the photo that was distributed to all four band members after it collectively became their ‘favourite photo ever’.

--

“Darling, do you want more?” Roger nods his head towards the glass of wine you’d been sipping the entire night. You don’t particularly enjoy the drink, much preferring G&T’s if you are going to drink so you decline, choosing to focus on Brian who’s begun talking about the script changes that had been made after the first draft.

“I didn’t know that he called you Darling that young, Y/N.”

“He only started to call me Darling once he got his first grey hair.” You run your fingers through Roger’s now silver locks and he grumbles as he pulls your hand from his hair and intertwines your fingers.

“I don’t recall that.”

“Okay,” you faux agree, “we all believe you.”

~~

The high pitched screech you heard from the bathroom sent you up the stairs, worried your daughter had hurt herself.

“What’s wrong?” You burst inside, only to find Roger, who stared pitifully at himself in the mirror, almost nose-to-nose with his reflection.

“I’m going grey!”

“So?”

“‘So?’ What do you mean ‘so?’ I’m Roger Taylor, I can’t just be going grey Darling!”

“Oh, good Lord.” You dug your fingernails into the bridge of your nose.

You watched as he continued to go through his hair, almost inspecting every strand before you perked up and remembered the camera on the table outside the door.

When you returned, you tried to be discreet about taking the photo, but the mirror, unfortunately, alerted Roger to your presence.

“No, no, absolutely not.”

“Hold still!” You cried, trying to get Roger in the corner to be able to document the moment. Backed into the corner, Roger pouted and allowed you to take the photo.

The photo came out blurry and to Roger’s joy, you could not see a trace of grey hair.

--

“Do you have any funny pictures of you two when you were younger?” Joe’s eyes light up when you pull out the album you saw Brian discreetly trying to hide when the photos began to be passed from person to person.

“Actually-”

“No!” Roger interrupts, “she doesn’t.”

Brian, thinking he’s spared from being the butt of a joke laughs at his friends face as Roger gets a good look at it.

“I thought you got rid of that album?” Roger’s eyebrows furrow as you begin flicking through the album, trying to find one of the better photos.

You smirk and shrug.

“I lied. But don’t worry, you aren’t going to be alone in your humiliation. Should we talk about the time Roger and Brian spilt cake batter all over their pants and Freddie made them walk home in their underwear because he didn’t want them to ruin his clothes?”

“Please do!” Lucy grins.

“So, we all went round to Freddie and Mary’s flat …”

~~

“This is ridiculous. Why couldn’t we have bought a cake from a bakery instead of having to make it here?” Roger had not stopped his complaints since the idea had come to fruition the week prior.

“I think that’s the whole idea behind a baking evening, Roger. You know, to bake.”

“C’mon Rog, you don’t want to be able to cook for your missus here?” You glanced at Brian whose eyes widened when he saw the look you gave him. You didn’t have high hopes for Roger’s baking skills, especially when he couldn’t work out how to help Freddie boil an egg.

“We aren’t married.”

“Not yet anyway,” you heard Roger mumble under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing. Are we going in?” He seemed eager to get inside after Brian brought up marriage and almost tripped over the doorway when Mary opened the door in an effort to get away from the conversation.

~~

“I can’t believe he’s done this. This is so embarrassing! What if someone we know sees us?” Roger stomped, in your opinion, like a spoilt toddler down the street, even to the point where his lower lip stuck out in a petulant pout. It didn’t help that his shirt was covered with the remnants of what was supposed to be a cake, crusted into the fine stitching.

“I’m fine. I’m not the one who seems to be wearing women’s underwear,” Brian goads.

The two men walked ahead of you as you trailed behind, and tried not to let the noise of you opening your camera bag alert them to your motive.

“This is a Kodak moment! Move your little arses so I can take a picture of you both.”

“This isn’t funny, Y/N,” Roger grumbled. But still, the men walked on and attempted to look unaffected by the cool breeze that had begun to permeate the air despite the warmth Spring had provided earlier in the day.

“No, you’re right, it’s freaking hilarious,” you cackle.

--

“Was this a fancy dress?” Rami looks slightly mortified if the wide, blinking of his eyes is anything to go by.

When you look at the photo his index finger rests on, you understand, creased brow relaxing.

“That was our wedding day. God,” you laugh, “it was a disaster.”

“That’s your wedding day?”

“Doesn’t look like it, does it?” The corner of your mouth quirks up at his attempt of trying to hide his shock. If asked in the few years following your wedding to Roger, you would have at least wanted to fix a few things, but these days, the memory doesn’t do anything but make you smile.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you wear or who gets drunk and does what with the celebrant but the person you vow to spend the rest of your life with.

~~

“We aren’t supposed to see each other! It’s a tradition!” Everything that could have possibly gone wrong the day of your wedding happened. Things that you meticulously had plans X, Y, and Z for were thrown out the window and to top it off, the groom kept trying to break into your room.

“Babe, we’ve already got a kid together, I think we’re a bit far past traditional at the moment.”

Roger waited for the sound of the door to unlock before he opened the door to the bedroom.

“Oh, Y/N,” he whispered.

Your lower lip trembled and your eyes stung as you tried to keep your tears at bay. What little makeup you had put on was streaked from tears, your hair and veil askew and Roger thought he’d never seen a bride more beautiful.

“I just wanted everything to be perfect,” you snivelled and pulled the veil from your head, tossing it to the bed. You plonked yourself on the bed, head in your hands.

The bed creaked as Roger sat next to you, resting a comforting hand against your back, which helped release some of the tension in your shoulders.

“You look handsome.” You glanced up at Roger in his suit and almost started crying again when you think about your wedding dress too destroyed to try to fix moments before the ceremony.

“Are we going to get married or what? I’ve been waiting to marry you since you called me a girl, let’s go,” he tugged on your arm gently after a heavy silence fell over the room.

“Married? Like this?”

“Why not?”

“Uh, because I don’t have a dress and look like a right bellend whilst you look handsome and like you actually belong in a wedding party.” You had no other formal-wear with you, only the tracksuit and shirt you wore (which was Roger’s), your suitcase for the honeymoon sat in your own bedroom, hours away from the venue you were going to get married at.

“Do you really think I’m going to let you be the only one to get married in tracksuit bottoms? I want to be comfortable too, Babe, it’s only fair.”

As the pair of you walked into the after party, Roger swept you into his arms, one under your knees, the other behind your back as the photographer stood before you.

The pair of you grinned at the camera, content that you had finally gotten to marry each other, and once the initial panic of having to get married in your veil, tracksuit bottoms and Converse ebbed, you found that nothing could bring your mood down.

--

“I think I’m a bit too old for you, sorry bud,” you smile as your daughter fends off Ben’s innocent flirting. The pair sits shoulder-to-shoulder over the album that features another chapter of your lives when the kids came along.

“Oh, I remember this one, look how cute we were!” Maia uncovers the photo and pulls it out to show you and Roger, and it’s true, brother and sister were very cute, still are, despite them both being grown adults. They are your babies, no matter how old they get.

“‘Were?’ You still are, Pumpkin.”

“Dad, stop,” she laughs, shaking him off, “you’re embarrassing me.”

“Hey, I am nowhere near as embarrassing as I could be. I haven’t brought out the ones of you with your fingers up your nose yet.”

“No! No more baby pictures.”

You stroke your hand down Maia’s hair to calm her down, trying not to chuckle at her flushing cheeks.

“Who says they’re of you when you’re a baby,” Roger says with a raise of an eyebrow.

“Could we just get to talking about this picture please?” She huffs, sounding so much like her father you can’t help but roll your eyes, ever the dramatic.

~~

“Look at Mummy, Finn!”

Roger had both kids balanced on either knee and whilst five-year-old Maia was eager to pose for the camera, one-year-old Finn was more interested in what the drumstick tasted of.

Roger controlled the bass drum pedal and the opening and closing of the hi-hat and grinned whenever Finn or Maia hit one of the drums, even if it hadn’t worked with what he did.

The noise the kids made was less a rhythmic fill but a ruckus of noise as they attempted to emulate what they’d seen their father do.

“Finn, look here!” You clicked your fingers, and the blonde toddler looked up at you with a grin that curved around the tip of the stick.

The click of the camera sounded in the momentarily silent room and the moment was frozen in time and memory. Roger would carry that around with him on tours in years to come, still to the day he carried around a new copy so the original stayed, worn and creased from tender touches of love inside the album.

--

“You’ve got a lot of pictures, do you have a favourite? Of just you two?” Rami wonders as his eyes flit eagerly across the album he’s reopened. He seems drawn to the earlier photos, the ones taken candidly before Queen shot to fame which feature some of the greatest times you’ve all had. Even the bad memories, when things didn’t go right, are looked back upon with fondness.

“Oh, yes, there’s one that Freddie took of us, but it’s starting to fade now so I don’t look at it as much. Here,” you flip to the beginning of the album, “this one.”

“I love that shirt Roger’s wearing!” Lucy adds as she sees mirth glow in your eyes.

“That’s actually my shirt.”

“How cute,” she coos, “when was this one taken?”

“Right when we first got together, if I recall.” Roger’s nose and upper lip crinkle as he remembers your early romance reverently.  

“That’s right,” you nod.

~~

You pressed against each other, Roger sat on the curb, an arm wrapped around the curve of your thigh and his head rested on your hip where you stood next to him. The stifling heat inside the venue meant you sat far apart in the dressing room, but the coolness of the nighttime air meant you were as close to each other as possible.

You didn’t pay attention to anyone but one another, lost under the haze of new romance. It wasn’t like you to believe in romance clichés, but everything truly seemed to slow down whenever you looked into Roger’s ridiculously blue eyes.

The sound of Brian’s complaints that the van was getting too small with the entourage they’d begun to pick up fell on deaf ears, John and Freddie were too busy looking at the pair of you, all loved up.

The flash of the camera didn’t even halt your hushed murmurs to each other, only Freddie’s excited yell elicited any reaction.

“Darlings, come look at this photo I took of you! Isn’t it wonderful?”

You both inspected the photo once Freddie stopped waving it around. It developed to show you from the torso down and Roger, cuddled up to your legs, with a reserved smile that made him look sleepy and content, which was exactly the pace of the night.

“It’s very nice, Fred,” he grabbed the photo and gently rubbed his finger across your torso, also mimicking the motions on the photo.

He passed the photo off to you and you placed it in your blazer pocket and held your hand out to him.

“You ready to go?”

“Ready for anything.”

#roger taylor imagine #roger taylor x reader #ben hardy imagine #bohemian rhapsody imagine