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chirpsythismorning · 3 days

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Fun fact: In the original pitch for Stranger Things, El had a little brother.

After being rejected by almost 20 studios for the Montauk pilot, the Duffers were finally green-lit by Netflix. It was at this time that they began casting and then writing the first season officially, which included reworking a lot of that first episode.

This led to the removal of the brother reference, and with it, removing any sort of arc El could have had about her apparent brother.

But the thing about this moment, is that it might not have been scrapped entirely...

Going into the final season, no one can explain why or how El recognized Will back in 1x02. And while there are plenty of things on the show that are left unexplained, with a small portion likely left that way with the intention to uncover it later, what sets this moment apart from the rest is that there are very few possibilities here.

Because for starters, the story presents El's ability to see people in the void in s1 as requiring either a picture of that person for reference, or having met that person before.

But when El see's this picture of Will, she's never met him before. Or maybe she has, but we wouldn't know because they never showed us. They could have just not done this scene at all, given that it's clearly a copy/paste/edit of something scrapped from the pitch. Or they could have even still included it, but explained it.

One explanation could be that the lab had shown El a picture of Will before, similar to what they did with the Russian agent they wanted to spy on. But then that begs to question, why would the lab show El a picture of Will? Why would they want to see what he was doing? That alone is incriminating in and of itself, implying that Will is more connected to the lab than we realize.

The only other, and frankly most likely explanation, would be that El stumbled across Will at some point on her journey between escaping the lab and Will going missing. This is actually something that happens in The Other Side comic, which explores all the things Will may have experienced during his time in the Upside Down.

Though it’s worth noting the comics aren’t technically canon, and I highly doubt they would outright spoil everything in relation to Will’s time there, years before it was intended to be revealed. But still, let's humor this for a moment given that I do think Will's time in the UD is going to be very relevant in s5, which means it's highly likely they will finally address how exactly El saw him.

Basically, in the comic, Will see’s El walking through the woods, almost apparition like, glowing as she passes by, while also sporting the Benny’s burgers shirt. This means they would have crossed passed within a short span of time, between when El escaped Benny’s when the agents arrived, but before she was found by the boys.

Though it’s worth noting that we’re seeing this all from Will’s perspective. This means from the UD, Will was capable of seeing El on the other side, despite them being on different sides. And not only that, but she also looks back at him.

What confuses me about this, is that it doesn’t make sense for El to be in the woods, only to randomly decide to pop in to the void for a moment. She was trying to escape the lab and everything that came with it. I doubt she had any desire to lurk back there for some reason, not until someone encouraged her to. Not to mention, it would make no sense for her to go there and see Will if she wasn't even looking for him in the first place. And so this would mean Will and El could see each other, with Will being in the UD, and El being on the other side.

While it does seem pretty far off, given that you would think Will and El wouldn't be able to see each other from different sides, it is true in the story that El not only recognizes Will, but knows that he is in danger. She mentions that he is hiding specifically.

Which means she has likely seen him within the last 24 hours regardless.

This, in combination with Will being able to respond to El in the void at the end of the season in Castle Byers, when no one else outside of Terry and flayed-Billy have been able to, seems to imply that there is indeed something special about Will that makes him capable of communicating with El from the UD. Not only that, but El also seems to have an ability to be in this constant knowing state of how Will is doing, without even checking again to confirm. She's just certain of it. And she seems terrified about it.

Going forward, El never uses a picture of Will to find him. She never did. And more often than not, they don’t show us what she see’s either, not until the very end. And that’s the moment they reveal that he was able to communicate with her.

Again, there was really no reason to have El recognize Will. If anything it complicates things. But the fact that they chose to introduce this concept, with a scene from the original pitch that was related to El’s younger brother, with her pointing at his name cryptically, startling Benny, only to revamp it and have El not say anything at all while pointing at the picture of Will, startling Mike… It just really makes you stop and think.

Which brings me to the other aspect of this that might have people doubting, which is that El’s brother was originally younger than her.

We know Will is not younger than El, so how could this apply to him?

Well, it might be helpful to consider that in the original script, El was actually 10 years old, while the boys were always 12. Meaning that for some reason, they decided to age her up to the age of the boys, aka the same age as Will…

Ever since @erikiara80 shared this brother discovery with me, I have been sort of reeling. It then led to other little discoveries of changes they made between Montauk and Stranger Things.

It’s important to understand that the Montauk bible and the original script precedes what we ended up with in the final product, with it finally changing and evolving months, maybe even a year since that original vision. Even casting occurred before writing started for the first season. We know this because casting announcements were made in June and August of 2015, with writing not starting until August going into early 2016, simultaneously while they were filming.

And believe it or not, what I've discovered is that a lot of the changes they made between their original plans and what we see in the final product, have to do with not only Willel, but also Byler.

If you've read the original script for Montauk, you'll know that Mike's crush on Jennifer Hayes was focused on right from the jump, along with the birthmark on his face being focused on, which was the main cause of the bullying he experienced.

This has actually been talked about recently, and some of the claims people make do fit with what I am genuinely starting to consider here, which is that the initial plan for what makes Mike an outcast shifted.

I think when they completed casting, and started actually deep diving into what they wanted this world to look like, both from a short-term and long-term standpoint, they were presented with some pretty interesting discoveries, arguably already hiding in their initial plans without realizing it.

And this is where it sort of becomes a 'chicken or the egg' situation. Because which one came first? Byler or Willel?

I can't say for certain, because obviously this is all just speculation. But in the case that Willel came first, I think Byler would come very naturally after that.

The Duffers themselves are twins. Then they hire Noah, who is a twin. Then they're thinking and planning for El's past and how her family all fits into this, and they're thinking... wait a damn minute... We could totally Star Wars this bitch!

And then when they think it couldn't get any better, they uncover another layer that they hadn't planned or really considered in their initial plans.

While Will was always going to have sexual identity issues according to the Montauk bible, meaning that the writing process for him likely involved sitting down imagining scenarios that encapsulated this arc for Will from the beginning, they were simultaneously now finding very interesting aspects of Mike's character that made it hard not to at least consider the possiblity that Mike is not exactly straight.

Just think about it. The Byers and Wheelers are basically polar opposites on the spectrum of what a family looks like. While Will's discovery and acceptance of his queerness is interesting to explore because he comes from a low-income, single-mom household, all while having been bullied for years based on his perceived queerness, he also has a mother and brother constantly reinforcing that they will accept him no matter what. They've been sort of hitting us over the head with it for years, and so it wouldn't be very satisfying for his entire arc to merely lead up to something we've known all along. It's pretty much a given at this point.

On the other side of the spectrum, Mike comes from a more upper-middle class family at the end of a cul-de-sac, more aligned with what a nuclear family looks like. Mike's family is also presented as being more conservative, and while Karen does give that very queer-coded speech to Mike in s1 (I'm convinced they only wrote this after deciding to explore queer-coding more heavily with Mike), it also comes with comments from Ted and even still Karen that hint that they are probably not as open-minded and accepting as Will's family is to him. Which means Mike's arc would be a lot more about acceptance around him from his loved ones who we have been led to believe might not be as accepting of his queerness in contrast to Will.

And so as they're putting this story together, and they're being presented with something very interesting. Two similar experiences that play out in different ways because of the characters circumstances.

Will goes missing, and his twin sister with a buzzcut pops up and has the ability to help them find Will.

This leads to several moments where El is being compared to as not only a boy, but Will as well.

Now suddenly, their initial plans to have Mike's arc be about having a girl be interested in him and to hopefully have his first kiss and feel like less of a loser, starts to look a lot like what the experience a queer kid in his position might encounter growing up in the environment that he did.

And if you don't want to take my word for it, just hear the Duffer's themselves hinting at what they initially planned for Mike and the fact that it changed.

The changes don't stop there.

Believe it or not, 'It was a seven', did not exist in the initial pitch. When the boys went outside bickering over Nancy, they leave right after that.

Another thing that changed from the first script, was Scott Clarke's introduction:

And so you might be thinking, who cares? What does that have to do with anything?

Well, it's interesting because the line we end up with on the show is arguably one of the most on the nose Twelvegate proofs to date. Mind you, this is from the first episode:

Why chuck the original version, which was arguably more interesting and fascinating in terms of it hinting at the mysteriousness surrounding this story, only to replace it with him listing off tips about their upcoming test?

Well, I think it's the irony of it all. Here Mr. Clarke is practically telling us where to look to figure stuff out for ourselves what is going on, with all the kids filing out and ignoring him...

I relate to Scott a litttle too much in this shot here, any time I try to drop Willel evidence.

And the changes go on, as they obviously would.

Things like Terry Ives not even being El's mom, but actually a man who more so aligns with the characterization of Murray.

And one very interesting one I almost overlooked was in Hopper's introduction, where instead of a kids drawing done by who we assume to be Sarah, we actually see a picture on the wall of him and his wife and daughter... Interesting that they decided to switch it something that is a lot less definitive in presenting what Hopper's past looked like...

If you've made it this far, congratulations.

If you still think I'm out of my mind, just remember that El was going to have a brother in the original script, but they scrapped the scene and gave a near identical one to introduce her connection to Will instead 😘

#byler #stranger things #willel twins #twelvegate #montauk #as you can see #i am out of my mind #and i'm okay with that #i've spent the last couple months trying to make a video going over all the willel twin evidence #and i can't decide if it's even possible to do without going over an hour #like there is just so much shit that fits too perfectly into this family being ripped apart by mind control and time shenanigans #i hope to have it done soon #trying to make it less than 20 minutes #but it's probably going to end up being closer to an hour #especially with this stuff from the montauk pitch being added to the mix now #anyways #willel and byler are the curtain behind the curtain #if you are open to one of them #you are bound to stumble across the other #and they don't want that to happen #stay tuned for the inevitable twin imagery to continue in s5 related to willel leading up to the big reveal #bc it's arguably the most consistent thing about this damn show #and tbh this all just makes the queer-coding for mike in s1 a lot more concrete to me #them exploring will's queerness through his dad's expectations for him to do more 'manly' things like play baseball #and jonathan saying he shouldn't like things just bc people telll him he's supposed to #how they connect that narratively with the boys being at a baseball field when mike's being pressured about his supposed feelings for el #with the bullies showing up and literally being homophobic seconds later #the fact that jennifer hayes did in fact exist in the original pilot and was the girl mike had a crush on #only for them to scrap that and just make it about her having a crush on will...#never once introducing this idea of mike liking her...

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spacebubblehomebase · 1 month

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Without colors or context, this simple and stupid comic of mine feels so, so tense; It's ominous. The difference from the tone of my last doodle is low-key hilarious though. But please, *insert ace joke here* cause I swear this is nothing serious. I don't even know why I gave in so much effort or show ya'll my progress before finishing, yet here we are. -Bubbly💙

#hazbin hotel #husk #alastor #spacebubblearts #doodles #wip #current wip #I have sooo many art wips like you guys have no idea #plus the backlog of stuff I have to draw #this is why I use too much dialogue #hazbin #fanart #my art #work in progress #amazon prime #I usually never sketch as well #why am I even putting so much effort into this???#ah well practice is practice #and since you're reading the tags still anyway for some reason #might as well let you know some stuff about me #my favorite power of friendship trio here are Alastor Husk and Niffty #I want them to vibe so much I know Husk is on a leash #but as the calmest out of the three it's like he ties down the feral murderers he's bound too at times lmao #he's so tired #same husk... same #wow I've been very active online recently what's happening to me #and yet I have so much homework to draw for school ugggghhhhhhh #can't I just pass my fanart??? ugggghhh why do I have to animate my original characters #okay I think I'm straying too far from the post #once again why did I do this???

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skitskatdacat63 · 4 months

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More matador!Fernando! Ferrari this time :D (I can't help myself.....)

- facial hair

+ closeups

I really wanted the vibe of this Nando pic, I think I did pretty well??

#GUYS THE BULL DO YOU NOTICE WHAT BULL DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE SUBTEXT DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY IMPLICATION #lmao tho i mostly put it there cause i saw this rly cool pic w the shadow of a bull on a matador's cape #i dont understand how i ended up making this one more intensive and detailed than the other #but im not mad cause i really like it aaahhhhhh #but i think this one took more than 6 hours and the other one was 5½?#and both i ended up working until an absolutely horrible time. dont ask me what time i wrote this post #okay btw i didnt draw that embroidery. thank you medibang pattern brush now beloved 🙏#i think it suits him!!!! i was thinking of doing stars anyways so I'm glad it worked out #two people id like to blame:#thank you 005 for accidentally reminding me of the sword!! im glad his other hand is not just idle :)#and thank you suzuki-ecstar for asking me at some point if id ever draw facial hair on nando #^ particularly the 3 Musketeers look. so thanks. i suddenly remembered and i had to draw it 😭#it kept shocking me how baby faced i drew him every time i took that layer off #also every time i worked on the suit red genuinely ceased being an actual color to me #its bright red right?? like very fluorescent?? but my brain kept going: is this too orange?? this isnt red right????#anyways happy with this!!!!! there were a lot more roadblocks than the other but it all worked out #but wow wish i had this level of diligence for yknow. schoolwork.#i can spend 6+ hours on a drawing straight but school? nah i give up every 20 mins or less fjfkkfl #also not abandoning my other aus or anything but i have a lot more ideas for this honestly #i think the ref pics are a lot easier and more interesting to find than for my other AUs #<- cause its so much more modern lmao. so i have a lot more inspo than trying to find ultra specific 18th century paintings #i wanna draw 3 things rn:#nando w the ceremonial cape. seb in a matador suit. and of course some silly vett//onso in this AU #f1 #formula 1 #fernando alonso #catie.art.#fa14 #matador au

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beanghostprincess · 2 months

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Let's say chocolate is a metaphor for traditional relationships that happen to appear good but are too sickly sweet for Sanji to handle and after WCI he ends up not liking chocolate. At least for a while. He needs to move on from what happened first. But he wants to force himself to like it because he should like chocolate. It is one of the most basic ingredients when making sweets and it is also everywhere.

So what if it makes him want to throw up? What if his stomach betrays him when cooking? What if he needs to stop every two seconds to breathe because his lungs don't work properly when he smells chocolate? He will keep trying and trying to make it work. Everybody loves chocolate, after all, he should too.

But then, one day, Usopp sees everything he has around the kitchen. Like. That's an awful lot of sweets and a disgusting amount of chocolate and he doesn't seem like he has slept in a week. So of course he is concerned. "Why- What's all of this about, Sanji?" He tries to hide his nervousness with a laugh.

Sanji grips the counter tighter. So much his knuckles turn white. "I- I don't know. I guess I was just. In the mood for chocolate." But he doesn't sound sure at all. In fact, he looks like he's about to cry.

"Well." He looks around the room without wanting to touch anything but approaching Sanji a bit to check on him. "Luffy can have all of my portions because I kind of... Not like chocolate?"

"You don't- You don't like chocolate?"

"No? Too sweet. I actually pretty much hate it? The smell already makes me ill."

"Me too."

"You what?"

"I think I don't- I don't think I like chocolate anymore. Is that- I don't know if I ever did. Is that alright?"

"Why wouldn't it be alright, Sanji? It's just chocolate. Nobody can force you to eat it. Or cook it if you really don't want to."

And Sanji realizes that maybe... Maybe it is alright for him to not want chocolate, and a wave of relief takes over him for a solid second.

#sometimes i think about sanji and his internalized homophobia #he's a bit too much like me it's scary-- anyway #i don't like chocolate that much either like. talking literally here #so maybe sanji looks a little gayer and less bi in this post but have you considered that i needed to make it like this bc i'm projecting #i have no idea where i wanted to go with this. chocolate in theory are like. just the concept of traditional m/f relationships #but it ended up looking more like girls in general and look. look. maybe. maybe it's okay for sanji to be a little gay in this one #usopp has absolutely no idea what's going on but he just knows sanji is very very fucked up and needs help rn #also something something usopp doesn't like chocolate and sanji forces himself to like it until he realizes he doesn't have to #idk i don't think he hates chocolate in this one maybe he just needs a little more time to like. eat chocolate #what the fuck am i saying this doesn't make any sense i just woke up i am so sorry #black leg sanji #usopp #sanuso #one piece #whole cake island

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bruhstation · 1 year

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the journey of gordon juniperus gresley (and still ongoing)

#thomas the tank engine #thomas and friends #ttte gordon #senjart #casa tidmouth #casa tidmouth act 2 #my everything. godddd I love him so so much #he's like. objectively the best character in the whole series #also I think he and scott were really close as kids #esp. with only one year age difference and how scott continuously supported him despite their family's situation #(imo their rivalry in tgr was one sided from gordon's part. scott's just balling while gordon still wants to overpass him)#like ok. I know this is a post about gordon but I think scott needs some appreciation with how he prioritizes his brother over himself #bro's probably emotionally devastated too with losing his siblings and father. but he still has his little brother #gordon probably felt like he owes scott a lot. but he's bad at words (ALL gresleys are) and he has his own set of problems SOOOOOO #and gordon. even though he lost so many people in his life he still keeps on going. he never gives up because-#-despite how much he complaints and boasts about himself he firmly believes that things will eventually turn out okay for him #aggresive optimist. something like that? you get what I'm trying to say #like a coworker would say ''this is hopeless'' and gordon would just say ''you're being ridiculous''#anyways enough of me talking. I wanna draw scott's and gordon's railway show designs BUT WHEN? LET'S SEE #(crying at little gordon. it shows from his eyes that he has no idea what's about to happen to him)

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brown-little-robin · 2 months

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How self-insert-y do I want to get with this new oc 🤔

#okay SO she's a former priestess (read: beaurocrat) in training #but then she gets irreversibly possessed by a mild-mannered raccoon monster and they have to coexist while their #shared body is breaking down under the strain of trying to keep up with its two inhabitants (human and monster)#the question is: what do they latch onto as a diversion #a way to expend the new excessive energy that is literally slow-cooking them alive (they get fevers & they have insomnia)#(and the only way for them to survive long-term is to find SOMETHING TO DO that will burn that energy)#my original idea was to have them get into a board game and I had a whole plan for that. but it didn't feel quite right #and now I'm eyeing the idea that they might..... do pottery #would that be self-indulgent?? probably?? but also it's so cool and it would be perfect for themmmm #what plot would work with that though?? HMMMM #PONDERING #MUSING #ET CETERA #Robin speaks #new oc is already so much like me. do I Really want to make her a potter too

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abutterflyscribbles · 5 months

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when a character says 'I can't live without you' I often think it would be more powerful to say, 'I don't want to live without you'. Life will go on, the world will turn, but a light has gone out of it that cannot be replaced even if new ones are lit. I want to be with you, I'm choosing to be with you, I could live without you but I would be losing something incredibly precious that brings a certain richness that nothing else ever will.

'I can't live without you' sounds kind of coercive to me. I can't live without you I don't have a choice so you don't have a choice unless you want to destroy me, do you want to destroy me? Without each other we have nothing, are nothing.

#a butterfly scribbles #ideas #prompt #prompts #someone else please say this better #I mean if you want to write about characters that can't live without each other that's your prerogative #I get tired of how it's supposed to be the ultimate romance or even normal and healthy and just thrown into stories willy-nilly #like in pride and prejudice darcy is all 'I'm in love with you against my will and better judgement' like there's no choice involved #elizabeth is unimpressed 'too bad so sad'#and guess what? his life goes on. in some ways it gets better as he improves himself #it wasn't a plan to win her back. whether or not they ended up together I think he would have ultimately been okay #I think that's great #my life is good but you would make it so much better please be a part of it #I shouldn't write when it's past my bed time

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terrainofheartfelt · 1 year

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Gossip Girl Appreciation Week | Day 6: AU

The Grossly Indulgent Pop Music AU I will never write:

Inspired by one of the only Jonerys fics I like.

Not quite a fic, but not not a fic, here’s an unhinged idea that grabbed hold and wouldn’t let me go. The music is a loose jumping off point of inspiration, in that all the characters have one or two artist equivalents. I use their music as the characters’ work in this universe. So it’s like an AU of pop musicians’ lives, but not really, since I don’t know their biographies, just their music. It’s fanfic, you know how it is.

Enclosed beneath the cut you shall find: dairfair, negatively painted jenny/damien & chair, some positive jenate, and a inkling at my newest ot3 vanessa/aaron/serena. And lots of opaque music references.

image sources: (x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Blair and Serena come up in a lab-grown pop girl group in their teens (sample track here), but break off for their own solo acts after a few years. They have a friend breakup after that. Diss tracks are written. (Inspo: Honey & Bad Blood) the final (supposedly) proverbial nail in the coffin of their friendship is when Blair marries record label exec Chuck Bass.

(Needless to say, Chuck is a piece of shit. Living off family money and power, using his title to back young women artists into a corner. Blair thinks she conquered the beast by putting a ring on it but, well, you know.) (While Jenny Humphrey is coming up she’s one of the artists Chuck harasses. She refuses to sign with his label and tells him to fuck off.)

The rumors as to why their girl group break up run wild, and they mutate with each tabloid run, growing more and more ridiculous, but, like many rumors, they did spring from a small seed of truth.

Blair was ambitious, and always used the act as an opportunity to set herself up for a solo career. Serena was her best friend, but whereas Blair had to work hard at everything that came with this job, it was like Serena didn’t have to try at all. She was the darling of the interviews, of the fans. The favorite on the covers of magazines and music videos. Serena was getting solo offers since their debut, but turned them down, until she didn’t.

Their group toured with a team of dancers, also all carefully selected by the label. Nate Archibald was one of the fan favorites, and the label quickly paired him and Blair together for publicity. Blair was always just a little more invested than Nate was. He wasn’t even sure if this career, this lifestyle was what he wanted, but Blair was more than sure, was constantly working to get ahead. But the label kept them together, until they figured they could pair Nate with Serena instead. (And Nate didn’t fight it, because he’d always carried a torch for Serena anyway).

It wasn’t the first fight between the friends, nor the last, but it was the big frisson that they couldn’t come back from. The group held on for another album, but it was clear that they couldn’t go on. Blair and Serena signed solo contracts, and Blair got close with Chuck Bass, and that was the final straw for Serena.

Nate tried to stay friends with both of them through it, but he was also coming to the conclusion that he didn’t want to keep up this lifestyle. He quit performing to go to school, and he found his niche teaching dance to kids—not at a university level, not with the intention to make future professionals, but just to young people looking for something to love. It suits him, and he becomes a reality check for his two high profile best friends. Or he tries to be, but their lives keep pulling them away from New York, so he sees them less and less.

(The other two members of the group move on to other adjacent things. Kati founds her own fashion label—available in Targets everywhere!—and Iz becomes a judge on one of those America’s Got It Factor Talent Shows).

Post girlgroup, Serena runs a Kesha-like life, pop hits made for club dancing. Her character is much more glittering and reckless than Serena might prefer to be, but she’s in the game so long that it sort of – becomes her from time to time.

Serena works tirelessly, keeps trying to break out of her brand of the out of control party girl, but her label, the one she was brought up on, founded by her maternal grandfather, wants her to keep making what sells. Her brother Eric tries to fight her corner, but he’s only a junior employee. After a handful of solo albums and years of endless touring, she burns out. Eric gives her a place to be and rest, and she tries to figure out what the hell she’s going to do. She wants to make more music, but of what?

Blair is taylor-esque, clinging to her brand of The Good Girl from her teen career into adulthood. The reputation and her general effervescence add sparkle to the Bass brand, clean it up a little. It’s a symbiotic business relationship, until it isn’t.

Chuck progressively tries to exercise more control over the music she puts out, to the point that Blair just…doesn’t. Her last album under the Bass label is the one she released with tracks that allude to their relationship, her victory lap for landing the billionaire bachelor whale, as it were (Style, Wildest Dreams, Wonderland, I Know Places). She’s more clever than some give her credit. For example, the tongue-in-cheek “Blank Space” belies an artistic self-awareness. Which is why, even though they aren’t in the same genres, Jenny Humphrey respects her.

Speaking of Jenny: the Humphreys!

Rufus Humphrey, frontrunner of the early 90s outfit Lincoln Hawk, enjoyed a good run when his kids were little, then a less lucrative run as a solo artist, before he finally settled into producing. He runs a small, proud independent label with his old bandmate, and they pride themselves on supporting talent that the bigger corporate labels pass over. Both his kids, Dan and Jenny, make music with him.

They grew up playing piano, then graduated to guitar, then spiraled on from there. Dan joins his first band when he’s sixteen, playing keys for his best friend’s big sister’s band. Ruby Abrams and her bandmates affectionately call him an honorary lesbian, and after gigging with them for about a year, Dan comes out as bi. (his three sisters: Jenny, Vanessa, and Ruby, are already out)

His best friend Vanessa is also a musician. She tries to go the classical route, wanting to usurp her parents’ and her sister’s expectations, but ultimately finds her happy in the indie folk niche that Rufus curates. (Think Lucy Daucus & Maya Hawke) Vanessa’s favorite instrument is bass, but she can find her way around a keyboard or guitar.

Jenny is the real prodigy, though. She has her guitars and piano and even a mandolin, but she’s restless at sticking to just one sound, so she experiments with them all. Fulfilling, absolutely, but it’s a long time before she puts out a full length record.

Dan and Jenny’s parents break up while the kids are in college. With Rufus touring as much as he was when they were young, Alison did the heavy lifting raising them, and now that they’re grown she kind of – has a Mom Drop. She moves back home to the Bay Area, and Dan ends up following her to California, needing to get out of New York and get some distance from his dad.

Jenny stays in New York, taking classes, making music. She starts dating a much older artist—he’s not on her dad’s label (which is part of the appeal) —but he has a complimentary sound. After the mess that was her model gf Agnes, Jenny is hoping for something steadier, but that’s not what it becomes. Being with Damien Dalgaard, darling of the Guy with Guitar genre, ends up being more of a mindfuck. (John Mayer. Damien’s basically John Mayer.)

Rufus tries to put his foot down (even though Jenny’s an adult) and Vanessa tries to help, but it’s one of those things where the toxic relationship just has to run its course, even if it puts Jenny into major spotlight for the first time. It’s rough on her, but she makes it through and out of the relationship. And, at least she comes out of it with enough material to graduate from EPs and make for her first full length album: Badlands.

Jenny starts out this au Halsey-like, but evolves her sound back to her rock folk indie origins, a sound like Julien Baker.

Meanwhile, Dan tries his luck as a musician on the West Coast, immersing himself in the scene there. He joins the roster of another band, and has enough skill to make income as a session musician to cover the difference, which leads him to another band. He still tries writing, but he’s so busy making other people’s music come alive that he doesn’t get far.

At one concert or another he bumps into Serena van der Woodsen. She’s fun, and smart, and stupid hot, and more miraculously, she is into him. They date for a while, but her life in the spotlight as a partying popstar gets more and more chaotic, and Dan can’t keep up, and he’s not really sure he wants to. The break up amicably, but it still stings enough to generate some songs, ones he doesn’t have time to record.

He keeps dating around. Serena sets him up with one of her friends, an actor, Carter Baizen, but he works so much too that it doesn’t go anywhere at the time. And then, there’s Georgina,

At the beginning, Georgina the heiress from Bel-Air just seems like another in a line of innocuous bad decisions Dan’s made since moving to LA. She’s crazy, but she’s hot, and fun, and it’s a good time until it fizzles out.

Then, months later, when Dan’s offered a spot in a backup band for someone, Georgina shows up at his door, pregnant.

The Milo plot unfolds, Dan steps away from his music, works only on what will pay bills and keep life stable for the baby. Georgina flakes, and flakes, until she doesn’t, until she decides to tell Dan the truth about Milo’s paternity and take him with her, all the way back to her parent’s mansion in Connecticut.

After everything, his parents, Serena, Georgina, everything going on with Jenny, Dan just kind of…breaks. He deflates, struggles, holes up in his crummy apartment on the eastside of Los Angeles until Vanessa bullies him into coming back to New York.

Being around each other again helps the Humphrey siblings reset. Jenny is already promoting Badlands, and Dan becomes her roadie, proudly cheering her on from the sidelines, even while the contents of her lyrics are absolutely gutting.

He keeps trying and failing to write, until both V and Jen tell him that he’s trying too hard to “make it into something.” Jenny just tells him to write and see what comes out, and however it sounds, it sounds.

So he does. It’s not quite the folk his mother raised them on, or the 90s rock of their dad, or the punk that Dan’s been a support player in all these years. It’s softer than that, but more jagged too. But he plays a demo for Jenny and Vanessa and keeps on going.

Jenny is a big believer in using songwriting as some sort of “exorcist.” Spit out all the bad shit, pour it into a song, put it into a vessel that doesn’t hurt you anymore. Dan’s style is a little bit different from his sister’s. She’s braver than he is – is okay to take her emotion and throw it out into her singing, but Dan thinks he might not be that tough.

For example, the stuff about Milo, Dan can’t even say it directly. He writes about it sure, but it comes out a mess, until he’s not sure if he’s talking about himself, or Milo, or even Georgina. He can’t even bring himself to mention either of them by name, just names a song after an approximation. Georgia. He also writes his first of many storytelling songs: You Missed My Heart.

He gets enough positivity from the demo for a record deal, and the leading single, Motion Sickness, does better than Dan thought it would. He says it has to be because there’s more residual interest in one of Serena van der Woodsen’s exes than he thought. Jenny and Vanessa share a look, because he really is that good though.

And after years of work behind the curtain, Dan Humphrey is getting vested interest in his own songs, and what’s more, he’s written something worth singing. Stranger in the Alps launches an entirely new phase of his career, and, as it turns out, his personal life.

Blair doesn’t travel in the circles of the mid-level artist, but at a festival, purely by chance, she ends up in Dan Humphrey’s car.

It’s not Dan’s first festival gig, but this is definitely the biggest, and the best spot he’s ever gotten in a lineup. The true sign that he’s on the up and up, though, is that he’s provided transportation.

After sound check before his gig, he’s herded back to his car, to go back to his hotel before he goes on later tonight.

But then this girl gets in with him.

Blair had had it with her handler (her husband’s goon), and paparazzi were starting to catch the scent—as far as the public knew, she still had the perfect fairytale dream marriage—so she co-opted this nobody indie guy’s ride as her getaway car.

Dan’s bewildered, and irritated, but also kind of charmed. It’s a nice break in the routine, accidentally kidnapping a princess of pop.

He invites her to see his set, which she scoffs at, but she googles him as soon as she’s back in her hotel room. And then, she pulls strings so she can watch his set from backstage. (He covers “I’m on Fire,” and she absolutely does not think that it’s hot).

They have a drink in the green room after, and don’t stop talking until a festival staff person kicks them out because the venue’s shutting down for the night.

AND SO IT BEGINS.

She arranges for him to see her headlining set, and then after, she asks him what he thought, and he tells her. Like, actually tells her. She’s a good artist, with talent, but she keeps dumbing it down, and why?

He essentially says she’s better than this, and she tells him to fuck off, and tells him that just because not every single one of my songs is about angsting alone on the bedroom floor doesn’t make me shallow, Humphrey. (and that’s his Moment.)

She’d been after compliments, some vague idea that he’d be blown away by how good she is, and she’d get a positive review for once. Which is so stupid, why should she even care what a nobody like Dan Humphrey thinks?

But he is not a nobody, not anymore.

She looks him up after the festival. His star is definitely rising. A child of nepotism, his father was in a popular band in the late 80s and early 90s, and so Dan and his little sister grew up close to the business. Humphrey’s been in a couple bands since he was sixteen (started young like her), but after those broke up, and a couple lost years that google can’t account for, he released a solo album and just like that, people are paying attention, beyond just the indie bubble.

Blair recognizes his sister, Jenny Humphrey, and even has one of her albums saved in her library. Not something Blair would make, but it’s decent.

She digs a little more, trying to figure out those lost years, but comes up empty. She does find, however, that Humphrey famously dated Serena a few years back, Google is rife with paparazzi photos of them in LA. And he accused her of making shallow music? Serena’s solo work is nothing but her belting about parties and drugs and sex to heavy beats. Club music. Music to have parties, drugs, and sex, too.

Finding out his history with Serena is enough for Blair to write off Dan Humphrey as a hack, an aberration. A way to pass the time at a festival gig and distract herself from her own life.

But, Blair finds Dan Humphrey is becoming increasingly unavoidable. He’s doing one talk show appearance while she’s at another studio a few floors up. He’s moved back to New York, he tells her, just until he goes on tour again. He invites her to a show, at some dive in Brooklyn she’s never heard of. For that, she nearly doesn’t even go.

But then, she does.

For security reasons, she sneaks in the back, aided by her assistant Epperly, and watches from the closet that counts as a backstage. It’s an acoustic set, and Dan plays arrangements of his solo album (that she absolutely did NOT listen to), plus some covers. In fact, he covers one of her songs. “Blank Space,” mashed up with “Stand by Me.” He introduces it by saying, “I really love the melodies in this song, I think it’s just really good melody writing.” And it feels like…an apology.

They keep meeting up, but now, it’s on purpose, not accidental. They’re both in New York for the time being anyways, Dan is getting some rest before the European leg of his album tour, and Blair is supposed to be working on a new album before her own, but she’s got…nothing. Less than nothing. And Chuck knows that, which means it’s harder and harder to have him around.

Besides, there’s no rule that she can’t have friends. Honestly, with how her career is, she doesn’t really have any. There’s Epperly, and Dorota, maybe Nate. She’s married, but she’s not sure she would call Chuck her friend.

She and Dan though, they have a real connection. And they can be just friends.

Since she has absolutely no new songs to record, she leaves for Europe a couple weeks early, she tells Chuck it’s to visit her parents in Paris and get inspired, but then, at the last minute, she changes her itinerary, and goes to Dublin instead, where Dan’s first gig is.

Blair’s been letting herself and this friendship live in plausible deniability, but as she’s learned more about Dan, about the kind of person and artist that he is, she knows that isn’t really his thing, and when she appears at his show in Dublin, he refuses to let it go, and Blair, worn thin by…literally everything else, can’t keep up the denial anymore, and tells him to bring her back to his hotel.

It’s a mistake, it’s such a mistake. Blair’s life is already precarious enough as it is. Chuck’s label owns her contracts, her catalog, and basically her. She’s been over and over it, and can’t see a way out. She wanted to be on top, and that was the price.

But, Dan.

Being with him feels like waking up after spending her entire adult life asleep. She’s excited about music again, about making something. She writes, then hides it all away, because she can’t record songs about being in love with someone else on her husband’s dime.

She has her tour, and Dan has his, but they meet on every overlapping date. Sometimes she’s so tired after a concert all she has energy to do is sleep in his arms, but even that stolen time feels sacred.

When their tour legs end, Dan tentatively asks if it’s the end, but she really doesn’t want it to be.

He’s back in New York City at first, so that’s easier, and harder, because Chuck is there too. Thankfully, Blair’s sales were high enough that she’s in his good graces, and when she slips away it’s easy enough to say she’s working on something new. She practically sees cartoon dollar signs flash in Chuck’s eyes when she does. How she ever thought that this could be her happily ever after, she’ll never know.

She and Dan talk about that, about living in stories and wanting fairytales but being smacked down by real life. She tells him that she doesn’t feel like she belongs to herself anymore, how she doesn’t want to write anymore if it means that Chuck will profit off it, but if she walks away, all those things she believed, promised, sung, was all of it for nothing?

She wrote love songs about Chuck, for Chuck. Her life’s work is tangled up in him, and she’s not sure she wants to pull away from all of that, much less if she even could.

Dan tells her about Milo, about loss, about the shadow his father cast and how hiding in it was safe so he didn’t try to break out of it, but now he’s out. He talks about loving his parents but resenting them for not staying in love, and resents himself for falling out of love in the past.

“What did you do about it?” she asks him.

He waggles his eyebrows at her, and reaches behind him to grab his guitar.

It’s unfair, she knows it’s unfair. Blair comes to rely on Dan too much, to center her, to hold her, to love her even when it’s not his place. But she keeps going to him, and he’s always there, arms open.

He’s writing about her. She knows before he even tells her. She can sense it sometimes, when he’s looking at her, and she just knows he has lyrics running in his head.

But it’s unfair. He’s bicoastal, going to and from LA for gigs and appearances. When he’s gone, Blair does her own, always beginning and ending with paparazzi shots of her on Chuck’s arm, smiling like she’s still in love with him. Her heart belongs to someone else now, but she’s afraid she’s in too deep to break away.

In the meantime, Dan, Jenny, and Vanessa come back to their roots: each other, and decide to do a project together, write an EP (boygenius. It’s boygenius). They have a fair mix of songs, and all of Dan’s lyrics are fed by his relationship to BLair, that he’s told no one about, but it bleeds out of everything he writes. They’re approaching an impasse, he can feel it, but selfishly, he wants to avoid it as long as possible, to keep her as long as possible.

In addition to his EP with Jenny and Vanessa, Dan has a deal for a next record, and a handful of songs to put on it already. When he’s in LA, he’s working on his own music, and when he’s in New York, he’s either working with Jen and Vanessa, or he’s with Blair.

But it can’t last. Blair is feeling the pressure from Bass Records, and if she were to get caught in an affair, or separate from Chuck, Chuck would hold her catalog hostage. Her entire life’s work wouldn’t be hers anymore. And maybe Dan’s right when he says that she can’t stay with her husband, but she’s right when she says she can’t leave him either.

She can’t even record new music for the label either, because everything new she’s written is covered in Dan. She even wrote a song about that. She is covered in him.

But Dan has his own wounds, and they make him push, and push, and self sabotage, and after one gruesome, draining fight, Blair calls it off.

In the meantime, Jenny and Vanessa are doing work of their own, on their music and on themselves.

Vanessa plays her solos up and down the east coast, through the Midwest, and back in New York. Through Rufus, she meets Aaron Rose, a jack-of-all-trades of sorts. Like Rufus, he was a musician first, but mostly works now as a producer. They hit it off, and after working on a thing or two, they start dating, but only casually. After several years and multiple musical acts, Aaron’s star as a producer is rising, and he’s working with bigger and bigger names.

Jenny is still healing from all her garbage (Agnes, Damien, etc.), and the music helps, and the project with Dan and Vanessa does too—it’s an excuse to reconnect with each other, and she becomes close to two of her favorite people again. It helps. As does the therapy, and all the other things she does.

One such thing, recommended by her therapist and her parents, is to do creative things that are outside of her purview as a musician. She’s always sort of been into fashion, so she gets into sewing, into designing her own looks. And when that’s not active enough, she puts in time at the dance studio in Brooklyn where her mom used to teach, where she took classes once upon a time.

She isn’t interested in lessons, or classes with other people, but the owners still know her, and love Alison, so they’ll give her solo studio time when she asks for it, and one afternoon, one of their new staff walks into the wrong studio.

Jenny kind of bites his head off, but he kind of likes that. He says his name is Nate, he’s the new hire to take over the beginner classes. And — he’s hot, obviously, but Jenny is on permanent hiatus in that department. Not that that stops her from looking.

But after that first meeting, Nate is just always around, and Jenny doesn’t really want to deal with all the shit that having him around kicks up within her, but she likes hanging out with him, so she tells him – firmly – that she only wants to be friends, and he respects that. What a thing, to have a guy respect her boundaries.

She keeps putting it all in her music, Turn Out the Lights doesn’t make the same splash as Badlands, apparently people care less the more distance she puts between herself and Damien, but Jen decides she’s okay with that.

Reeling from another heartbreak that Dan can’t really talk about, he puts it into his music, in the EP with Jen and V and in his new album. His sophomore solo album, Punisher, comes out to a great reception. Well, great within the small circle of people who actually know who he is.

The gigs that began with his debut keep rolling in, late night shows, radio appearances, festivals, and now mixed in with those are engagements for his act with Jen and Vanessa. To his surprise, people are interested in that music because of him. He doesn’t know how to feel about that. If you ask him, Jenny and Vanessa are way better at what they do than he is.

Dan’s public profile grows bigger and bigger, but Blair can’t be happy for him, because it makes him increasingly unavoidable. She refuses to listen to the new music he releases, she’s afraid it’s too cruel towards her, or worse, it’s too kind.

But, just like their accidental first meeting, she stumbles across a single he put out after the new album. Typical Humphrey. A goddamn overachiever, kept on writing even after the album was done. She didn’t mean to see it, but she was scrolling through All Songs Considered, and there he was, talking about Audrey Hepburn, of all things.

There’s this line in the movie Sabrina, where she says “I have learned to be in the world and of the world, and not just stand aside and watch.” And that’s really what this song’s about, about falling in love with a person because they’ve taught you how to live, how to appreciate everything the world has to offer. And there’s – there’s a tremendous amount of joy in that, but there’s also fear, because gaining that now means that it’s possible to lose it too. So – I guess this is sort of trying to reconcile those ideas within a song.

Blair listens to “Sidelines,” and it makes her so angry that she scribbles off a song idea of her own, because he still doesn’t get it. He meant her while she was in the middle of running away, so why won’t he just let her run?

She worries fleetingly about getting caught, because Audrey is her thing, and Dan knows that, but Audrey is a ubiquitous enough icon that no one but she would ever make the connection. He’s good at that, Dan is, of coding a message to her that only she could understand. It’s the same skill that makes him such a good writer.

Blair writes songs because she can’t help it, but she won’t record them. A new album would mean adding to Chuck’s empire, and the thought of Chuck owning these songs too, the only things of Dan she’s allowed herself to keep…she can’t stomach the thought of it.

She’s stayed with him to protect her work, but now her work is dead on arrival because of him, and that’s really what drives her decision to divorce Chuck.

She has to do it carefully, of course. She sets up a place of her own to go to in New York, moves in all the things that mean the most to her. Puts her notebooks in a safety deposit box—just to be sure. And, finally, she reaches out to her mother, to get a recommendation for a divorce attorney familiar with entertainment law.

On a first impression, Cyrus Rose doesn’t look like much beyond a short, ebullient, overly cheery middle-aged man, but Blair quickly learns that when he’s practicing law, he turns into a bulldog. He fights for her and for her work so fiercely that for a little while, Blair lets herself believe that it will all come out her way.

But there’s all the media coverage, and it paints her out as a bitter, gold-digging, ungrateful woman, villainizing a man who doesn’t deserve it. It pisses her off to no end, but Cyrus tells her to hold her silence, and she trusts him, so she does.

In the end, Cyrus is able to get her out of her marriage and most of her contract with Bass Records. She’s not destitute, she still has her family money, and a comfortable settlement, but Cyrus is ultimately unable to save her music. Bass will still own her masters, and the residuals from those masters. It’s that that breaks her heart the most—more than how quickly Chuck turned the media cycle against her, more than how many people followed his lead, more than the evidence Cyrus discovered of his multiple affairs, of his mismanagement of the company—but that her work cannot belong to her, that hurts the most.

But, bulldog that he is, Cyrus digs out a loophole. Since going solo, Blair has been the prime writer of all her songs, which gives her the legal right to rerecord her masters. So while she can’t stop Chuck from doing whatever he wants with her old work, anything she makes now can be entirely within her control.

She just has to find someone willing to work with her. And who she trusts enough to work with.

Worn out, Blair retreats from the public eye, it’s lonely, but thankfully, not too lonely.

The divorce process set Blair to looking back at lots of her life, at things and people she wishes she had handled differently. After she privately filed her petition, she reached out to Serena, and, miraculously, Serena answered.

Before anything else is fixed, Blair and Serena’s friendship is fixed. They reconnect, because everything they’ve been through, together and apart, has made them want to focus on what matters, and what matters is each other.

They talk all the shit through, Blair’s marriage, Serena’s struggles, their respective creative blocks. They start appearing in public together, and the tabloids gobble that shit UP.

Serena is working on a comeback record of her own, her first since burning out with her grandfather’s label. It’s zany, and bright, but doesn’t shy away from the heartache she’s been through. It’s so incredibly her, that Blair can’t help but love it. She loves it, no matter that the liner notes give credit to a Dan Humphrey on a few tracks

Free from Bass Records, Blair wants to work on a new album, but she’s unsure of where to begin. Serena offers to introduce her to this producer she’s been dating (out of the public eye for a change), Aaron Rose.

Blair doesn’t quite know what to make of Aaron, of his music, of his open relationship with her newly restored best friend, but she looks up his previous acts and thinks…maybe working with him could be the change her sound needs.

Dan is moving in—if not the same—adjacent circles to her. Enough so that she can’t get him out of her head, can’t get over wanting him. She spills the whole thing to Serena, who she knew was also Dan’s ex, but didn’t know that they were still friends. Serena tells her to stay optimistic, Blair says Serena just thinks that because she’s okay sharing a boyfriend.

Her engagements have been sparse, she’s not wanted many, and not many have wanted her, but Austin City Limits is still on her calendar. In the promotional materials, they highlight her on one stage, and Dan’s band with Jenny and Vanessa on another.

She doesn’t intend to seek him out, but fate conspires against her, and they end up thrown into the same green room. Again.

Dan doesn’t want to want her anymore. His career has forward movement and even if the music he makes is about her, the people who like it don’t know that, nor do they care. They care that it’s good. His career is good, he’s been dating Netflix Original darling Carter Baizen for months now, happily and uncomplicatedly. (Serena put them in touch, then one dm led to another, and it’s nice). Not that Carter doesn’t have his own damage—no one in LA is without damage, but they can forget about their damage with each other. It’s not love, but it’s not not love.

Dan doesn’t want to want her anymore, But, oh, he does.

They nearly miss their calls—his set, her soundcheck—while talking (well, talking, fighting, kissing, then talking some more). But they fulfill their contracts, and just like it started three years ago, they end up backstage after their shows, drinking, and talking, and talking until a harrowed stage manager is begging them to leave.

Dan sets a limit, makes himself go back to Jen and Vanessa, instead of going home with her, but he says he’s going straight to New York after this, and asks if she’ll be around.

Blair says yes.

After the divorce, Blair sold off the real estate she’d kept from her marriage. It was all too haunted, too high up, too far from reality. While looking for a new place, Epperly showed her a listing for a remodeled carriage house in the West Village; Blair would have bought it sight unseen if anyone but Epperly had been there.

Back in New York, Dan invites her to a secret acoustic show he’s playing near NYU. She goes, of course, and this time, when she asks him to come home with her, he says yes.

It takes time. For them to trust each other, and reconnect. But they do, and Blair feels like her life is finally making sense.

She and Dan take one day, one step at a time, in secret, for both their sakes, and meanwhile, she, Epperly, Cyrus, and Aaron negotiate a new contract with Rose Records.

Her best-friendship, record deal, and love life all fall into place, and then Blair is writing like never before.

Aaron is….unconventional, and doesn’t let her push him around, which she finds infuriating, not for least of which is the direction he wants to take this album. She fights it at first, but if she really does want to make a departure from the pop princess songs she was generating, maybe following down his path is not the worst idea. And if she hates it, then she can just walk.

It’s still pop, but it’s bigger, less bubbly and more….glittering. It’s….darker isn’t exactly the right word, but like she’s not trying to be the Good Girl anymore. It’s just crafting a record that’s hers, one song at a time.

She offers Dan the option to co-write, more than once, but he turns her down. Not because he doesn’t care, but because this is the first time the music she’s making entirely belongs to her, and he doesn’t want to get in the way of that.

“Church and state,” he says one late night in her cozy house on Cornelia Street.

“And which one’s this?”

“Church,” he answers immediately before kissing her. “Obviously.”

Speaking of church and state, and despite their expectations, they’re able to keep them out of the public eye. Blair’s friends know, and Dan’s family knows, but no one else does. By some miracle, they keep out of the tabloids. Blair keeps working on her album, Dan keeps working with his sister and best friend. They go out into the world and make music and go home to each other at the end of the night.

Blair and Aaron Rose make a surprisingly good time. They finish the album fast, and nine months after Blair’s divorce from Chuck and Bass Records, reputation drops.

She has a whole slew of promotions to do for the release, but that midnight, she and Dan open a bottle of wine and listen to the whole thing start to finish. (“Church and State, honey, I’ll listen when it’s done,” he’d said). He’s a fan.

She and Aaron were both intent on it not being a “divorce record,” but it is about her, exploring who she is as a person and an artist after her carefully constructed life fell apart, and about the love and truth she found in the wreckage. It's not a divorce record; she never point blank references Chuck, or their marriage, but the argument could be made that there’s a rebuke against him in every track. Even in the love songs she wrote about Dan, her writing of him is an antithesis of who Chuck was as a partner. The most pointed tracks are even able to claim plausible deniability. There are some people on the internet, though, who criticize the single “Look What You Made Me Do,” as a phrase habitually used by abusers, to which Blair says (in private, of course): “Yeah, that was the whole fucking point.”

The album doesn’t out perform her Bass releases immediately, but no one denies that the Queen B is back, she charms on late night shows, radio spots, and a months-long tour kicks off with high sales. There’s another legal fight about her having to pay for the right to perform her own songs on the tour, and as infuriating as that is, Blair is restored at having herself as an artist back.

Of course, to the public, the addressee in many of the songs is a mystery. Who is “Gorgeous” about? Or “Dress”? Or “Call It What You Want”? Many a pop culture think-piece is written on the topic, but no one guesses right. The most popular theory though, since they appear in public so often nowadays, is that Blair is dating Serena. It turns out to be a pretty good cover for keeping their real relationships private, so they play it up.

(sidebar: in the effort to hold of the Divorce Record allegations, Aaron had her tweak the bridge in Gorgeous, the original lines she demo’ed for him were: you make me so happy it turns back to sad / there’s nothing I hate more than what I can’t have / guess I’ll just stumble on back to my man / unless you want to take me home)

(It’s actually a testament to the loyalty and restraint of the people around them, because Blair and Dan are shit at being subtle while they’re together. )

Speaking of the people around them, it’s a bit hilarious how their lives all intertwine and overlap. There’s Dan’s sister, who’s hated Blair’s ex-husband for years, and who’s now decidedly not dating Blair’s ex-boyfriend. (“Just friends,” she and Nate insist to anyone who even comes close to asking, but Blair thinks they doth protest too much). And there’s Blair's best friend who was her former nemesis and Dan’s ex but is now dating Blair’s colleague and producer. Speaking of her colleague and producer, Aaron—who just so happens to be her lawyer’s son—he’s also in a poly-relationship with Dan’s best friend and bandmate, Vanessa Abrams. Vanessa who, on more than one occasion, Blair has caught giving Serena the eye, and vice versa.

They are all kind of a mess, but Blair finds she loves it that way. Her supposedly pristine life had been fake anyway. She much prefers this.

She and Dan keep their relationship a secret through her stadium tour and into awards season, when they decide to finally come out of the shadows.

“I’ve never really come out before,” Dan jokes, “everybody just already kinda knew.”

They pick the American Music Awards as the event. Blair gives him one last out in the limo ride over, but he doesn’t want to take it. He’s not ignorant of the public attention and pressure she lives with, but he loves her more than he’s afraid of that.

He gets out of the car first on his side, then comes around to open her door and help her out onto the red carpet. She kisses him as soon as she’s on her feet, limo door still open, cameras flashing in front of them.

The internet loses its collective mind. Intrigue suddenly sprouts up around this unassuming sad boi indie artist. Streams of Punisher and Strangers in the Alps hit all time highs. Dan’s been represented by his dad this whole time, but now Rufus jokes, “I think I can’t afford you.”

To ask him if his life has changed is stupid, of course it has, but his focus doesn’t. Dan’s attention is always only on the music. On the music, and on Blair.

Every year, Vanessa orchestrates a benefit show at one of their old favorite clubs in Brooklyn. It’s usually just Vanessa, Jenny, and Dan, but once she’s earned the trust of Dan’s sisters, Blair appears too. People go feral for a bootleg when they hear through the grapevine that she covered “A Case of You,” with Dan on the dulcimer.

For two people who love playing music, and love playing music together, they don’t do it in public very often. It becomes something that they save for just each other, and only occasionally will they perform together in public. Dan plays on Blair’s NPR TIny Desk once, and once for WFUV, they do a cover of “Dust to Dust.” it’s OBSCENE. sex in the studio amirite

The dark corners of the internet (fangirls) start looking a little too closely at their lyrics, and it’s only a matter of time before a fan tweet theorizes that Blair Waldorf had an affair with sad boi indie guy while she was married.

Chuck jumps on the rumor, plays it up in an attempt to smack Blair down after the success of her latest record. He calls her a cheater, a gold-digger, all the accusations he floated during the divorce and more.

In response, Blair releases a single. She wrote it while she and Dan were first together all those years ago, and kept it for her. At the time, she never planned on letting it see the light of day, she wasn’t even sure she would share it with Dan. But where she is now, she feels happy and safe in sharing this piece of her soul.

When she drops “ivy,” it's a confirmation of the rumors, but unapologetic. Comedians applaud her gall on late night shows. She was accused of having an affair, and she said, yeah I fucked him, and I wrote this ballad about it.

It isn’t pristine, or the most graceful thing to admit, but Blair is happy, and she won’t pretend to be sorry for being happy. She releases another album (Loneliest Time), then another (Lover), as does Dan (the more rockabilly Sleepwalkers). And three years after her divorce, they marry in a private ceremony with only their nearest and dearest in attendance. They keep the marriage quiet for six months after the fact. And, in the meantime, Blair sits down with Aaron to strategize re-recording her masters.

She starts with a single from her last record under the Bass umbrella. She’d written “This Love” about her and Chuck’s on-again, off-again relationship before he finally gave in and married her. On touring, she’d grown increasingly tired of it, she’d hated it for a while there. But her life and heart have come full circle, and now she can sing it with a new perspective.

When “This Love (B’s Version)” drops, she posts a set of photos on instagram:

The cover of the new single, which is a close up of her face, eyes closed, lips red, another set of lips kissing her cheek

The original photo used for the cover, zoomed out to see Dan kissing Blair’s cheek.

Another photo of Blair and Dan in their home at the West Village, forehead to forehead, facing each other.

A candid shot of Blair in the studio, wiping her eyes after tearing up while recording vocals.

Another candid of Blair and Aaron hugging once they wrapped.

Blair writes the caption of the post herself, which reads:

It’s funny how the meanings of songs can change as you change. When I first recorded “This Love,” I hadn’t even met the love of my life yet. I thought my big, magical, cyclical love story was done. Then, when I learned it wasn’t that magical at all, I couldn’t bring myself to sing the song anymore, its meaning had become tainted, hurtful. But then, after enough time, and with the right person, something amazing happened. I found a new meaning in it, deeper, happier, and it was like my life had finally caught up to what I had written all those years ago. These hands had to let it go free, but “This Love” has finally come back to me, and now I share it with you. xoxo, B

And CURTAIN

PS: this is how they announce Blair’s pregnancy when it happens

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obeymeow · 11 months

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nightbringer lesson 14 FUCKED ME UP in several ways but primarily I've spent the last 48 hours making myself sad over the solomon backstory we got. specifically I have, for no reason, latched onto that one chapter in the Kids event where baby solomon cried because he felt so guilty over being responsible for that spell. and that just feels a touch more depressing in context

#nightbringer spoilers #obey me on side #went back and unlocked the event again because i could not get this out of my brain i know it's probably not that deep #but it is that deep TO ME. okay #baby solomon has been on my brain since thirteen told that story so that's probably why it's sticking in my brain so hard but whatever #in case anyone was wondering the other things to make me sad are:#he has such a deeply excessive amount of lights in his room in purgatory hall there are SEVERAL chandeliers and lamps #there's a good handful in his room in cocytus hall too (his horror dg showed it) if a more normal amount #but that with the 'dim and gloomy' detail. ☹️#i've also always thought that solomon's loneliness wasn't all about the immortal angst but like.#having it confirmed that he's had reason to be lonely since he was a child- before he was old enough to know he was using magic-#totally crushed me girl why can't I be wrong #had emotions about lesson 14 in general but solomon backstory steals the show every time for me so i haven't gotten around to the rest #i'm enjoying the nightbringer story so much (not talking about the game design. that's a different thing entirely) but man #the pacing is WILD it feels like every lesson could be a whole lesson block at the least. it's giving me a lot of room to speculate #which I always love! but i do wish they would slow down a little and expand on some of these concepts they're bringing up #because the basic idea of the game alone is REALLY INTRIGUING and it'd be a shame if they raced back to the present imo #what was i even talking about. sorry my brain fast forwards as soon as i get into the tags there is not one sequitur to be seen #so curious about solomon's friend now too. like my guess is it's going to be lilith (and hopefully not in a popular fan theory kind of way)#because it's more than a little suspicious that they expanded on lilith's views on humans the way they did #in a way that SO PERFECTLY lines up with the expansion on solomon's views on humans #WHICH I HAVEN'T TALKED ABOUT YET BY THE WAY BUT LIKE. HE IS SO RIGHT AND REAL FOR THAT #it's beyond stressful to me that I think solomon is completely justified in his views and being completely reasonable about it #but that it would also mean war between the worlds presumably while the brothers are still recovering from THEIRS #you cannot give me that choice man. not even sure that the human world would be ABLE to win that fight if we're being real #solomon's 72 pacts are a lot yes but he's still only one guy who is NOT on good terms with the sorcerer's society #and mc is powerful but so so inexperienced. and that's IF they choose to side with the human world which #really i don't think the canon mc is likely to do. but anyway i guess solomon's friend could also be adam maybe?#that could be wishful thinking because i like adam though. even if his hair SUUUCKS #deeply offended by everyone thinking solomon got the fucked up hair when all signs point to adam be NICE TO HIM he's ugly already

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kanerallels · 6 months

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The Waystation

Finally finished my story for @inklings-challenge, and I figured I'd post it today!! (I'm also gonna tag @laughingphoenixleader cause she showed interest when I mentioned it to her!)

Link to my playlist for it here, just for fun! I'm in love with the profile pic @accidental-spice made for it, so feel free to admire that at the very least

Our tale begins on one of the main roads in the region. Bricked with gray-brown stone, it strode through the forest with a confidence that didn’t stop for anything, let alone a tiny dirt path that split off from it, winding through the whispering trees in a far more subdued manner.

Most that passed didn’t even notice the side path, too busy on their errands and quests to stop. But there were some who stopped, who’s gaze wandered to the side for just a heartbeat long enough that they spotted the path. There were even a few who came looking for this path in particular— but they are not who this tale is about.

This tale is about a chilly autumn day, the kind where the sun only occasionally dares to peek from behind the clouds, with golden and red leaves spilling across the path and mounding up along the edges. It is about a girl wearing a cloak riddled with holes and stained with travel. The wind fluttered the ragged edges as she walked along the main road. Her face was weary and set with a determination that was almost as worn out as the cloak she wore.

But she kept walking, and would not have stopped if she hadn’t tripped over an uneven stone. Flying forward, she went face down in a pile of leaves with a gasp and a tiny yelp of pain.

She didn’t get up right away, but instead let out a long, long sigh, and didn’t move. If one were close enough, one could hear the sounds of sniffling, like someone very, very close to tears fighting off the beginning of them.

There was no telling how long she would have stayed there if not for a brisk breeze. Rattling the branches above, it sent the leaves around her swirling into frothing crimson and ochre waves. And finally, with a burst, it yanked her cloak away from her. One of the two ties, already badly worn, came free, and the battered garment went flying into a nearby bush.

Jerking upright with an undignified scramble, the girl looked around, her face twisted with frustration and misery. She spotted the cloak, and pushed herself to her feet, moving off the road and towards it.

And then she saw it. The tiny, unassuming path, winding through the woods and away from the main road.

Hand closing around the fabric of the cloak, the girl stared down the path a little uncertainly. There was no sign of anyone down it— well, any humans. As she watched, a squirrel scuttled across the path and up one of the nearby trees, sending a spray of leaves in his wake.

For a moment longer she looked. And then the wind shifted, bringing with it the smell of woodsmoke and something so savory and delicious that the girl’s stomach growled audibly. She flushed with embarrassment, despite being alone— other than the squirrel, of course, who paid her no mind.

Picking up her cloak, she pulled it around her shoulders, shooting another longing glance towards the path. Another burst of wind brought an even stronger whiff of the smell, and she wavered.

“Maybe,” she whispered to herself. “Maybe I can just go look— just to see what it is.”

Slowly, she stepped out onto the smaller, narrower path, heading away from the main road. Holding her cloak closed with one hand, she started walking, the drifts of leaves at her feet crunching pleasantly.

The woods around her glowed with color. Autumn was in full swing, and every tree was ablaze with scarlet and copper and gold, bare branches threading between the fiery masses. The path and the grassy banks on either side were covered in the leaves. Here and there the dying brown grass appeared from beneath it, tiny spikes of green still living in spots.

The musty but pleasant smell of the fallen leaves floated up on the breeze, not quite overpowering the smell the girl was following. She pulled her cloak a little closer, shivering at the crisp, cool air. Her limbs ached, and it was an effort to take every step. But curiosity pushed her onwards.

Following a bend in the path, she came to an abrupt stop, eyes widening at the sight before her. Settled in the middle of the forest, shrouded with trees, was a small cottage.

The peaked, grass thatched roof pointed towards the sky, speckled with bright fallen leaves. A chimney sat on one side, steady plumes of gray smoke smelling of pine floating out and up through the branches. The walls were painted a cheerfully bright shade of yellow, and the girl knew almost instantly that this was the source of the wonderful smell she’d been following.

She hesitated for a moment, staring at it, wondering what she should do. And then, before she could make her decision, the door swung open.

Out stepped a tall man, with messy gray-brown hair. His gaze landed on the girl, and she almost stepped back, nervousness spreading through her.

But then he smiled— a warm, open smile that seemed to glow on his face like the last rays of the sun on a chilly autumn day. “Hello there, miss,” he said. “I take it my fire caught your attention.”

“I— I’m sorry,” the girl stammered. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”

“Not at all,” he assured her, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he smiled. “It was quite expected. I was wondering when I’d see my next visitor, in fact.”

“What do you mean, next visitor?” the girl asked shyly.

Gesturing towards the cottage, the man said, “This is a waystation. People find it when they need it, and with all I’ve heard from the rest of the world of late, I knew I’d have a visitor soon. Would you like to come in? Dinner is almost ready.”

The girl hesitated, knowing it was most likely unwise. Even in fantasy worlds, not all people had one’s best interest at heart, and it probably wasn’t wise to go into the house of a random stranger.

But her travels had not been kind to her, and the house looked warm and inviting. So she stepped forward, heading after the man into the house.

As the door swung shut behind them, the girl looked around with wide eyes. The house was nothing fancy— they’d stepped into a wide room that seemed to be both a dining room and a parlor. A large table sat to her left, surrounded by several chairs, although it was mostly blocked from view by an immense couch that sat facing the fireplace, which was crackling pleasantly. Four arm chairs filled the rest of the space, a pair flanking each side of the couch.

Off to her right was a kitchen area, with a stove and oven emanating warmth and delicious smells. Dried herbs hung from hooks around and near the window, interspersed with a few frying pans. The counter nearby was scattered with bowls and implements. Clearly she’d caught the man right in the middle of making dinner.

“May I take your cloak?” the man asked, and the girl nodded quickly. She flushed a little as she handed him the tattered garment, but he didn’t seem to pay it much attention as he hung it up on the rack next to him. “Please, have a seat,” he said. “I’ll have dinner ready in a few minutes— and bless me, where are my manners? I’m Donnie, and you are, miss?”

“Claire,” she said, taking a few hesitant steps into the parlor. After a moment of wavering, she sank into the couch. The soft cushions seemed to swallow her up, and the warmth of the fire washed over her. Closing her eyes, she let out a little sigh of relief that felt a little too similar to a sob.

But she wouldn’t start crying, she told herself. Not now. Instead, she took a few steadying breaths as Donnie, who was working in the kitchen, spoke up. “I assume this is your first encounter with a waystation, Miss Claire?”

“This has been my first encounter with a lot of things,” Claire admitted, and he let out an understanding noise

“You’re a portal hopper, then?”

“I… don’t think so? I came here by accident,” she told him. “One minute I was walking through the woods, then I heard this strange sound, and when I tried to follow it, I ended up… here. In this world.”

She shot a glance at him, to where he was stirring the pot sitting out the stove. Nodding sympathetically, Donnie said, “I’ve heard stories like it before. You’re trying to find your way home?”

“Trying.” Claire’s voice wobbled a little, and she cleared her throat before continuing. “But… I’m supposed to do something first. Deliver something to… to someone.” Flushing self consciously, she said, “I can’t say who or what. I’m sorry.”

“No apology necessary,” Donnie assured her, adding a few spices to the pot before him. Scooping up a spoonful of what seemed to be soup, he tasted it before responding. “Missions like that will need a bit of secrecy now and then. Waystations aren’t about interrogating you anyhow.”

As he went to one of the nearby cupboards and started rummaging through it, Claire asked, “What are waystations about, then? If I can ask, sir.”

“Oh, I’m no sir,” Donnie said, taking out a pair of bowls painted deep orange. “But I’ll answer your question nonetheless. Waystations are here to help travelers and wayfarers when they need it most. Anyone who comes to my door is tired and broken-down, in need of help. They’re on their last legs and need a hot drink, a bite to eat, and a word of encouragement or wisdom before we send them on their way.”

“How do they find you?” Claire asked.

“Same way you did, miss,” Donnie said matter of factly. “They needed us, and there we were. Waystations draw in the people who need them most when they need them most.”

Ladling soup into the two bowls, he added, “That, or they’re door to door salesmen. I usually get them a bite to eat too, though. Ready for a bit of soup?”

Reluctant as she was to stir herself from her position next to the fire, Claire’s hunger drove her to her feet and over to the table, where Donnie set a bowl and spoon before her.

“Let me know if you want any bread to go with that,” he told her, setting his own place at the end of the table nearest to Claire’s chair. “I believe we have a bit of that around here somewhere.”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Claire said politely, taking her seat and picking up her spoon. Taking a bite, she closed her eyes reflexively at the warm, rich flavor of cream and salt and potatoes and onions and cheese all swirling together. Tiny pieces of bacon had been sprinkled over the top of the soup, adding a savory crunch, and Claire could almost cry with joy at the combination. Hungrily, she applied herself to the bowl.

By the time she finished it, she was properly warm for the first time in days. As she dragged her spoon along the bottom, collecting the dregs to make sure she’d truly finished it, Donnie chuckled. “You needed that, didn’t you, miss?”

“I did,” Claire admitted. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Do you want some more?”

“I— I wouldn’t want to impose—”

Smiling, Donnie picked up her bowl and headed for the pot. “Not at all. It’s just me around here at the moment, until my wife gets home.”

“Oh— you have a wife?” Claire asked, surprised. Now that she said the words aloud, she spotted the ring on Donnie’s left hand.

“I do,” he said, his smile turning soft and fond as he slid her the filled up bowl. “Her name’s Lara. She’s off doing the other half of our work. Waystations are sometimes about waiting, and sometimes they’re about going out to find the people who need help, and helping them out there. Some people can’t afford to wait.”

“I’m sorry,” Claire said. “You must miss her.”

Nodding, Donnie said, “I do, a little. But she’ll be back before the first snow falls, and with many a tale to share.”

“Are you worried about her?” Claire asked as she started on her bowl of soup. This time, she went a little slower, savoring each bite.

Donnie looked thoughtful as he stirred his bowl of soup. “A little— the way anyone would be. But before we did this work, we fought side by side, and I’ve never known such a formidable warrior. She’ll come home safe soon, and with plenty of stories, too.”

Taking a bite of his soup, he swallowed before adding, “Besides, we each take our own turn out there. She just gets restless when the leaves start to turn.”

The two of them ate in surprisingly comfortable silence for a while, until Claire’s bowl was empty again. Setting down her spoon, she said, “Thank you very much, sir. For the food.”

“Of course, miss,” Donnie said. “If you’ve got room for it, I have an apple cider loaf cake in the oven that’ll be out shortly.”

“That sounds lovely,” Claire said gratefully. As Donnie collected her bowl and spoon, heading for the sink, she hesitated before saying, “Why are you doing this? I mean, you don’t have to help me. I’m a random stranger who just showed up at your house.”

Setting down the bowls, Donnie turned to face her. “Because,” he said, “it’s what we do. There are plenty of people who turn their backs on those who need help. Those who work in waystations are called to be different. To change the way the world works, if you will.”

“But why? Who calls them?”

“That’s a little more complicated,” Donnie said thoughtfully, “and I’m not sure I could answer it properly. But know this much— the waystations were created, same as us. They help people because they were meant to, to give people hope and peace. Their creator surely has the same intentions.”

“I think I know what you mean,” Claire said, memories of her past journey flickering through her mind.

“Good,” Donnie said, a look of approval crossing his face. “I can tell your journey’s been hard on you, if you don’t mind me saying so, miss. But you haven’t lost hope, and that’s what matters. Hope is more important than anything else— except maybe love. It’ll keep you going in the darkest night, and warm you when you need it most. Don’t forget that, alright?”

Claire nodded obediently, and Donnie smiled. “Good. Now, let’s check on that cake.”

Grabbing a pair of oven mitts, he tugged them on before opening the oven. It let out a wave of sweet and cinnamony smells as he pulled out a bread pan lined with crisp brown paper. Setting it down on the counter, he tugged off his mitts, and gingerly grasped the edges of the paper, using it to pull the brown loaf free of the pan.

As he set it on a nearby rack, Claire asked, “Um, is there anything I can do to help?”

Glancing at her, Donnie said, “With this? I’ve got it handled— thank you, though, miss. You’re very kind to offer. Shouldn’t be more than a few minutes before it’s ready!”

As Claire looked on, he fetched a considerable amount of butter from the container nearby and put it into a small bowl. After putting that into the still warm oven, he began mixing together cinnamon and white sugar.

When he finished that, he pulled the butter, now melted, out of the oven, and began spreading it over the loaf, soaking it with the salty butter. Claire felt her mouth begin to water as he finished, then started to sprinkle the top and sides with hefty amounts of cinnamon sugar.

“The perfect dessert for a fall day like this,” he told her, dusting off his hands to shake loose grains of sugar. “May I interest you in a slice?”

“Yes, please,” Claire said gratefully, and he cut two slices, one for each of them, and they both settled down to eat it. The loaf cake was lightly sweet and warm, the sugar forming a delicious crust around the top.

By the time she’d finished, Claire was full, in the most satisfying, warm way where you’ve eaten just enough to make you a little sleepy, but happy. The cold misery of the outdoors had been all but forgotten, and Claire found herself more at ease than she had been in days.

“Thank you,” she told Donnie. “For everything. I— I should probably get going.”

“You’re more than welcome to stay the night,” Donnie said, and Claire cast a longing look at the warm couch next to the fire.

But she shook her head. “I can’t. I have to keep going— if I don’t do this, no one will.”

Nodding seriously, Donnie said, “And right there, you’ve hit upon the most important part about the waystations. They’re for people who are doing what no one else will. Well, if you can’t stay, wait here a moment.”

Hurrying into the kitchen, he filled a metal container with soup. That, along with a few wrapped up slices of the cake, some bread, and a few other packets, went into a satchel, which he handed to Claire. “That should keep you for a little while,” he said, handing her a flask of water. “Now, then, let’s do something about that cloak of yours.”

Holding up a hand, he disappeared down a hallway. A few moments later, he came back around the corner, holding a blue cloak. “It’s Lara’s,” he told her, holding it out. “But she won’t mind if you take it.”

“Oh— oh, I couldn’t,” Claire stammered. “If it’s hers—”

“She has others. And she’d want me to do everything I could to help you, trust me,” Donnie told her. “The least we can do is give you something to stay a little warmer.”

So Claire accepted the cloak— a sturdy, warm garment woven of wool. It would keep the rain out and the warmth in, and she already knew it would be better than her old threadbare one. Pulling it around her shoulders, she smiled at Donnie. “Thank you. For everything.”

His returning smile was as warm as the fire. “You’re welcome, miss. One last thing before you go. May I give you the waystation’s blessing? It doesn’t seem like much, but it’ll steer you on paths to those who’ll feed you and give you a safe place to stay, and give you light when you need it most.”

“Alright,” Claire said, and was surprised when Donnie reached out, placing a hand on her head.

The words he spoke were in an unfamiliar language, odd and rhythmic to her ears. But they sank in, lifting her heart just a little as he spoke. Removing his hand, Donnie gave her a nod. “Safe travels, miss. Keep your eyes on the path ahead of you, and never forget that hope will warm you when there’s no fire.”

“Thank you,” Claire said, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat. But the food and the words, little though she understood them, gave her just enough energy to step towards the door and pull it open, stepping out into the cold day.

The sun was far lower in the sky, shrouded by clouds— it wouldn’t be long before it was dark. Squaring her shoulders, Claire cast one last look over her shoulder at the cottage behind her, Donnie standing in the doorway. He raised a hand in farewell, and Claire did the same.

Then she turned and headed back the way she’d come, towards the bigger path.

As she walked, the first few flakes of snow began to fall.

#inklingschallenge #team lewis #genre: portal fantasy #(much though i loved the idea of space travel)#theme: food #theme: clothing #story: complete #i really really hope i did this right! i'm not as familiar with the acts of mercy #but i get the gist of it and i think i translated it well #hazel's inklings experience #original writing #i picture this as like. a snapshot in the middle of a journey #there's more to the story but we don't get to see it #and that's okay!#writing stories is a kind of magic too

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