#shane's like one of my favorite persons ever you guys have no idea

[tomwambsgays]

happy birthday shane madej! 🎂🎉🍿

#shane madej #the professor #watcher entertainment #watcher #my art #happy birthday taurus king!!!!!!! #shane's like one of my favorite persons ever you guys have no idea #hope he's having a blast rn

[reji-z]

Alright, finally I was able to write something after a long time of a writers block, also this is the first time I upload my stuff to tumblr so yeagh.

For a little of context this is in the spirit's eve of the second year.

It's also up on Ao3 here

First night

The meet-up at the saloon after the spirit’s eve festival is your favorite part of the holiday, everyone is in a good mood, belly full of Gus’s food and some are even slightly drunk already, some as in Shane and you.

You started getting closer to him this past month mostly because of your regular stops at Marnie’s ranch regarding your animals, although it’s hard to say if at some point they were more for catching up with Shane than anything else.

In the beginning it was just about the chickens and whatnot, but eventually you started to talk more, about other stuff, hanging out once or twice and just getting to know each other, and the more you knew him there was this weird feeling about him swelling up deep inside you, a feeling you were trying to hold back as much as you could.

But none of that matters right now, you are sitting next to him at the bar with a couple of empty glasses between you, in silence, just enjoying each other's company.

“So… today was fun, spending it with you, I mean” You break the silence, looking at your finger as you trace it on the rim of your empty glass and rest your head on your free hand “I … kinda have to go now, it’s getting late and i have to get up early tomorrow you know”

Shane turns his head at you way too fast, almost as if your words activated a directive on him “Can I go with you” As soon as the words leave his mouth he realizes what he just said and turns his head away, looking in front of him, at the shelves filled with bottles “I-I mean, if you want to… ”

Was the blush on his cheeks from embarrassment of asking if he could walk with you or just because the saloon was warm from all the people in it, probably the second one, right?

“Uuhhhh… Yeah, why not” you try to not make it obvious that the idea of walking with him late at night excites you, but it feels like your tone betrays you, and if he was more sober, he probably would have noticed.

It takes a while of sitting in silence before any of you finally gets up to actually get out of the establishment, he did first, and you followed him behind only standing by his side once you were both outside.

“So, your place first?, since it’s closer” You ask while turning your head to look at him.

“Sure” He turns to look at you too, and you can’t help but to stare at him, those weirdly charming green eyes draw you in, sitting above eye bags that seem to be permanently glued to him and below some of the prettiest eyebrows you’ve ever seen, and the way the light of the saloon windows lights up his whole face is close to divine, of course he noticed you were staring, and lifted his right eyebrow curiously, breaking you out of your trance and making you whip your head away, feeling your cheeks warm up as soon as he lets out a chuckle “Let’s go”

It was nice, really nice, not only because of the pleasing night breeze, nor the euphoria of the alcohol, but also because of him, walking by your side, it just made you feel happy, somehow, for some reason, a reason that honestly you didn’t want to get into right now.

It… was a short walk, way shorter than you expected, or wanted, now both of you under the ranch’s doorway, lingering, looking at each other, hoping to make these few seconds last an eternity, hoping to burn them in your mind to be able to recall them late at night, hugging a pillow on your bed that felt a little bit too big and too lonely for just one person.

At least that was your reason to stay there, leaving you wondering about why he was still there, why isn’t he turning the doorknob and entering his home to call it a night, why is he also looking at you, into your eyes, maybe he is also—no, that’s a dumb idea, he’s not into you like that, you guys are just friends and—

“Uuhhmm…. do you want to hang out a while more?” What? “I mean, if it’s not too late for you” What? “We can go to the pond right here or something” WHAT? Why is he asking to spend more time with you, and why does he sound nervous, and is he blushing? “Actually never mind, forget I said anything” shit, you are taking too long to answer and he’s backing up, it’s now or never.

“NonoIwanttodothat” shit, too eager.

He smiles, he doesn’t do that a lot, especially if it’s for other people, his smile gets bigger, you feel your heart skip a beat.

“Sooooo, to the pond it is” he says while still keeping eye contact.

“Actually I know a place” Do you?... Oh yeah you do “It’s this small part of the forest with a pond that’s hidden away, it’s pretty nice” 

“Really? That sounds perfect, lead the way” another smile, you can feel your insides stirring around from the mere fact of him smiling because of you, wait, perfect? Why would he say that? No time to think about that though, he said yes, and soon enough you were walking to the secret woods, trying to not make too much noise, as if worrying about the critters noticing you.

Once you reached the path leading to the pond (and certain primate statue that you forgot to tell Shane about) you heard him gasp.

“Wow… I’m surprised I didn’t know about this place” He says while looking around.

“Nah, not really, it used to be blocked by this huge log of hardwood”

“And you cleared the path yourself?” 

“Y–yeah” for some reason it’s kinda embarrassing to admit that, you don’t really know why

“Heh, you must be pretty strong then” huh? Is he… flirting? Probably not, ignore it.

It didn’t really matter that you didn’t answer, you were already standing in the entryway to the clearing, not really being able to see much in the dark.

“Wait here” you said before walking towards the torches you’ve left around the pond to light them up and returning to his side “So? What do you think”

The torches themselves reflected on the clear waters of the pond, the images flickering from time to time thanks to the movement of the fishes below, their light shining into it and making a faint glow all along the shore, and in turn, reflecting into Shane’s eyes, making their color shine brightly, pairing well with the greenery around you.

He turns around to look at you, his eyes still glistening, open more than usual “It’s really pretty” your heart skips a beat once again, you feel your cheeks start to burn up, he’s got to be flirting, right?

“I-I know right” you start walking towards the east side of the pond, hoping he didn’t notice your reaction “Come, let’s sit”

He followed behind you and placed himself to your left, as you lowered to start untying your shoes you hear him let out a scream and jump in place.

“FUCK! What IS that!” he points to your right, into the dark, and you don’t even have to look to know what he saw to start laughing at him, making him turn his head to you with a puzzled face “Why are you laughing?”

“Sorry…” It’s hard to stop the giggles to form a sentence “…It’s just an old statue of a monkey, i forgot to tell you about it”

He drops his arm and relaxes, lowering to untie his own shoes “God, it scared the shit out of me”

Now both of you had your feet inside the pond, swaying them back and forth, sitting next to each other, your hands so close together yet not touching, keeping just enough distance to not make things too awkward.

“So, what’s that statue doing here?” He asks while looking at the woodskips swim circles in the middle of the pond.

“No idea, it has a plate saying something about a search for something sweet” now you are looking in the direction of the statue, just barely being able to make out its shape, no wonder he got scared, it really looks like a monster from here.

“Huh” It’s all he says back, now both of you fall silent again, still the nice kind of silence, the one where the mere fact of you sharing this moment encompass any words anyone might be able to muster, the kind of silence you didn’t realize you were yearning for, the kind of silence that feels just right. “You know…” he breaks it, making you turn your head to him “… It used to be boring around here…” now he’s looking at you “…but you managed to change that”

“Y-yeah, well, I kinda need a change from my old life and…” now his fingertips are touching yours “…t-the whole farm in a small town seemed like that change”

His fingers are getting closer and closer to yours, getting on top of them, moving around playfully and so are yours, sort of intertwining them in a dance without rhythm, it feels nice.

Once again you find yourself staring at his eyes, and by god they looked even better now, you feel like you could just stare at them all day, stare at him all day, his eyes, his eyebrows, his hair, his nose, his cheeks, his… lips, at this point it was pretty much clear that you liked him, there’s no point in trying to shove down those feelings anymore, at least not now, not when his hand is on top of yours, his eyes fixated into yours, his whole body turning to face you as his left hand raised to hold your cheek.

Wait, you quickly glance at his hand with your eyes and then back at him, he’s still looking at you, and gives you a little smile, what is going on, weren’t you supposed to just hang out, what happened, when did this happened, how did it happened, does he really like you as well? If he didn’t then why would he be—

Your train of thought ends the instant his lips meet yours, you didn’t even notice him getting closer, fuck it, it feels nice, you close your eyes to properly enjoy it, his lips are soft, more than you’d expect from someone that is always drinking at least, they are also warm, sharing their heat with you, spreading it trough your whole body and converging in your chest, warming up a body you didn’t even notice was cold.

It really couldn’t get better than this right?, the guy you like kissing you in a secluded spot in the forest away from prying eyes and only both of you to bear witness to a thousand years old demonstration of one’s affection for someone else, wrong, it could get better, and it did when you felt his tongue poking at your lips, asking for permission to explore further, to feel more of you, and who are you to deny such kind request.

His tongue was slow, careful, maybe he was nervous, how couldn’t he, he’s been making all the moves since the beginning and you just can’t have that now, can you? So you took the lead this time, pushing your tongue into his to make it retreat into his own mouth to let you move around, faster, more aggressive, more needy, as if you’ve been craving for this since the very first time you arrived in town, which you may or may not have.

Your tongues were not the only thing moving around, you feel his right hand move from on top of yours to land at your knee, slowly moving up, gripping your leg at times, making you get more into the kiss, but this feels a little bit too much, too far, especially when he reaches your thigh and gets dangerously close to your crotch, a feeling that makes you break the kiss abruptly and lean back, both of your eyes opening as soon as the contact breaks, and what you see is Shane with a worried expression in his face, an expression that makes your heart sink, you hate that look on him and you hate even more that it’s because of you.

“I–I…” you finally open your mouth to say something “…sorry, It’s just–too much”

“Shit, sorry…” he looks so guilty “…of course I would go and ruin things right? God I’m so stupid”

“Nonono, It’s…” the words seem to be harder to come up with now, the whole build up of the feelings and alcohol catching up with you “…I like it, but not right now, not here” it kills you to say no but you really don’t want that “It’s fine, really”

You move closer to him, making him look in front of him once again so you can lean on him, your head falling slightly on top of his, trying to really show him that it’s okay and you are not mad.

He sighs, leaning more into you and, once again, sharing each other's heat, your bodies taking part of this give and take of energy.

“I guess we feel the same way then” you whisper, not looking at him.

He chuckles “I hope so, it would be really awkward if we didn’t” his comment making you chuckle too, this guy, you swear to god, but that managed to ease the mood, now both of you reveling in the comfort of knowing that your feelings were reciprocated.

But alas, no matter how sweet new love may be, it is still not sweet enough for a certain someone in a quest that didn’t seem to be any closer to end.

#reji writes #Shane sdv #i actually had fun writing this #wrote most of it between yesterday and today after having like one page of it laying around for at least since december #also if shane is out of character no hes not i just get him better than you /j #if there are grammar errors or such im gonna use the good old english isnt my first language to not worry about them #i did proofread it tho #also i dont really know if i actually did but i kinda try to make the farmers gender as ambiguous as possible #idk why i just like doing that ig #maybe to make it easier for the reader to immerse themselves or something #whatever #sdv shane #shane stardew valley #stardew shane #stardew valley shane #thats gotta be enough shane tags right?

[fuckyeah-jessicabiel]

Jessica Biel for CosmoGirl October/November 1999 by Jodi Bryson 

Find out why this 7th Heaven star is the coolest friend a girl could have!  

"I'm definitely weird," Jessica Biel confesses as she digs  through the knick-knacks in her bedroom.   "I have some really wild  stuff."  She points out her collection of vintage sunglasses, a bunch of  so-bright-they're-blinding wigs, dozens of phone numbers taped to the  wall, and her favorite Abercrombie & Fitch ad.  "He is the hottest  Abercrombie model ever," she says.  

The 17 year old star of 7th Heaven just finished her third season  on the show and aced her junior year of high school.  Now she's  flinging clothes around her bedroom to prep for a European vacation with  two of her closest friends.  "I want to go someplace I've never been  with people I really love hanging out with," she says.  "I want to see  some amazing things."  

Jessie has that I'll-try-anything-once outlook down pat.  She  started her career as a model, but at 14 decided to give acting a whirl.   Like in a Hollywood fairy tale, she flew to L.A. and had just a few  auditions before scoring the primo role of Mary Camden.  

Jessie works on 7th Heaven six days a week, nine months a year.   But as soon as she steps off the set, straight-arrow Mary vanishes and  the real Jessie charms everyone around her with warp-speed chitchat  about her big plans for the future (a backpacking trip with her best  friend, college, and maybe a second career as a photographer).  Clearly,  Jessie is ready to take on the world.  First stop, Europe!  

The Big Trip 

"I have no idea what to expect," Jessie says of her European  vacation, "but I just can't wait to eat that good food!"  Is she worried  about travelling to strange countries where she doesn't know a soul?   "No, I'm very excited.  My mom has a checklist of things for me to do  before I go:  Make copies of my passport, driver's license, and credit  cards; pack these things close to my body but separate from my wallet.   My mother has planed it all out -- I just gotta do it."  

Jessie makes a surprisingly small pile of clothes at the bottom  of her bed, then crams it into a backpack.  "I'm honestly taking one  pair of pants, a T-shirt, a couple pairs of shorts, a few tank tops, a  sweatshirt, a bathing suit, and two pairs of underwear that I'll keep  throwing in the sink.  My camera is the most important thing."  

In addition to taking tons of snaps, Jessie has dreamed up the  coolest way to keep track of her European adventures.  "Instead of a  private diary, I'm going to take a big book, like a communal journal,  and anyone can write in it," she says.  "If someone says, 'Can I see  your journal and write a little entry?' that's cool.  It will be nice to  look back and read what we all did and what we felt together."  Bon  voyage!  

Best Friends  

Her travelling companions are her friends Shane Nelson and Light  Dreamer Eternity.  "Light rocks so hard," Jessie says.  And even though  she lives in L.A. now, Jessie is still supertight with her best friend  from her hometown of Boulder, Colorado, who's also named Jessie.  "I  have pictures of Jessie and me stuck all over my room," she says.   What's her secret for maintaining such strong friendships?  "There's  never the silent treatment," Jessie explains. "If I was in a fight with a  friend, I would just call and be like, What is the deal?  What did I  do?  What do we need to talk about?  How can we get it over with?"   Jessie's the kind of friend who wouldn't let you stay mad at her.  

A Special Guy  

Will her absence make anyone's heart grow fonder?  Jessie let it  slip that she has a long-distance boyfriend, but then she wouldn't spill  a single detail! (And believe us, we begged!)   But she did share her  sure-fire hook-up advice.  "I'm pretty forward with guys," she says.   "I'll just walk up to somebody and I'll be really blunt and say, 'What a  great-looking person you are!  Have an awesome day.'"   Does that  really work?  "Well, I don't say that to a guy because I want him to be  my boyfriend," she says.  "I just want to tell him."   What guy could  resist?  

Prom Night  

Unfortunately, Jessie didn't get to take her secret boyfriend to  her junior prom.  "I promised Beverley Mitchell [who plays her younger  sister Lucy on 7th Heaven] that I'd go to her friend's prom.  And she  made me promise that I wouldn't back out.  I found out a week later that  my prom was the exact same day!  So I missed my prom to go to another  prom with this kid who didn't have a date," she says.  She didn't skimp  on glamour for her first prom experience: She wore an elegant white  cami-and-skirt combo with superhigh-heeled sandals.  "It turned out that  we had a good time, but Bev totally owes me!"  

Bad Behavior  

Jessie doesn't always play it so straight and narrow.  There's a  sneaky story about the pink flamingo hanging from her bedroom ceiling.  

"We had just sold our house in Boulder, Colorado, and I loved  that house," she says.  "I wanted to see it one more time.   When my  best friend Jessie and I drove up to it, my eyes welled up -- there was a  pink flamingo sticking out of my front yard!  It was the chessiest  thing I'd ever seen.  I was not happy with that flamingo.  I thought,  This has to go.  So I ran and ripped it out of the ground.  I busted to  the car and yelled, 'Go, Jessie, go!' and we just took off.  I pulled  out the stick and put the flamingo in my suitcase, and took it home with  me," she says.  "I don't think the family even knew it was missing."  Um, Jessie...they do now.  

BRIGHT FUTURE  

Even though Jessie's a totally fearless adventurer, she still  gets homesick for Boulder.  "I miss the people, I miss the mountains.   It is so laid-back there," she explains.   Does she ever see herself  going back to settle down in the Rocky Mountain foothills?  "I have one  more year of high school, which seems like it's going to take forever --  and then I'm on my own!  I can be wherever I want to be!"   Look out  world -- here she comes!"  

#jessica biel #cover #cosmo girl #articles #1999 #james dean #jimmi hendrix #magazines

[ieatsmallorphansnamedtom]

Okay I stumbled across your blog and I love it! 💖💖 I was reading your Isekaied farmer headcannons and it reminded me of an idea thats been living rent free in my head for too long now! Isekaied farmer but the world they are from is the bachelor(ette)'s favorite TV show?? Like they are the bachelor(ette)'s favorite fictional character kinda thing?? Idk do with it what you like I just needed to share!!

Bachelor(ette)s x Isekaied Character from Their Favourite TV Show

Firstly, I'm so sorry for the wait! Secondly, SKJHDSF thank you!!! Such a cool idea, I'd love to write for it! <3

Bachelors:

Sam

Somehow isn't freaking out. He's way to focused on the fact that his favourite character is standing right in front of him! He immediately takes you to his place and explains everything he can about how your reality is supposed to be purely fictional in this universe. He wants to hear everything!

Elliott

At first, he thinks you're just an amazing cosplayer and actor. But once you explain to him what's going on, he has a bit of a crisis. The directors of the show created something and clearly it became real, so does what he creates become real too? All the battles, deaths, heartaches - did it all really happen to someone, somewhere? Is he at fault?

Sebastian

Spits out his coffee when he sees you. Absolutely dumbfounded. For the first time in ten years, he goes up to a stranger and invites them to talk. He explains everything in perfect detail. You guys are well on track to finding out what's up. To be honest, he gets over it pretty quickly and learns to like you for who you are here, not there!

Harvey

Spits Out His Coffee Two: Electric Boogaloo. This guy also has a crisis, but not for the same reason as Elliott. His is more because this proves the existence of the multiverse, the ability to travel between them, and probably some cosmic entity that brought you here (or a truck). Super on edge around you, but he doesn't dislike you in any way. He's just nervous on how to get close to you.

Shane

He's super interested in what you have to say about your world. There's only so much a set can provide for worldbuilding. You two get drunk and talk about how different it must be living here now. I HC this man is too drunk/sleep deprived/annoyed to care about anything. He's just like 'alright. Well, that's gonna give me a crisis,' and goes about his day.

Alex

His brain is overloaded with information. He can barely comprehend letters in math. What is this? Why is the cute character from my favourite show moving into town? Am I dreaming? Probably! He becomes sort of protective of you. I mean, if you came here enemies might have as well!

Bachelorettes:

Penny

She's super flustered to see you. You're definitely from an obscure book from an even obscurer library so nobody but her recognises you. You'd certainly have to be the one to approach her. She's very cautious in helping you with your isekai issue, fearing it may mess things up even further.

Leah

Sweet Yoba, it's Bob Ross you! She walks up to you immediately pretending to not notice that you're her favourite character. She waits until you confide in her to admit she's known the whole time. She knows it must be pretty confusing for you, and she wants to give you time.

Abigail

Long, giddy stares from across the room. Everybody thinks she has a thing for you, when in reality she's just so excited to have the coolest person ever in the same room as her! A person who, frankly, shouldn't even exist! Very open with the isekai thing, talking about it in public (and getting confused stares as she does).

Maru

Before she says hello, she takes a few weeks to try and figure out why and how this has happened. When she eventually comes to the conclusion that she doesn't know, she invites you over and shows you the episodes you're featured in, explaining all the knowledge she has on the situation. Although she'd like to, she knows she can't risk just letting you stay.

Emily

She screams with delight at seeing you. A few others probably recognise you as well, so they're not as judgmental when she runs to you with open arms and wraps you in a big hug. Gives you a big tour of town and explains everything you need to know, even how to do a handshake.

Haley

She will NEVER approach you. It's just lots of confused staring from across the fountain or room. Is that really them? It can't be! When you talk to her, she's really awkward and flustered. I mean, who wouldn't be? It's you! Despite never talking to you however, she does make an active effort to be near you.

-~-~-

Once again, sorry for the wait! I really like this prompt. Thank you for the ask! <33

#stardew valley #sdv #sdv headcanons #stardew valley headcanons #sdv sam #sdv elliott #sdv sebastian #sdv harvey #sdv shane #sdv alex #sdv penny #sdv leah #sdv abigail #sdv maru #sdv emily #sdv haley #ieatsmallorphansnamedtom

[biggerbetterbat]

[18] GLENN's DAY 

Daryl Dixon x OC!Charlie Reed

Summary: Charlie is left alone on the farm with Glenn, who isn't sure about his relation wit Maggie. Daryl get shot. A friend spills the secrets.

Warnings: language

Song: Lost Boy Ruth B

A/N: Hello :) I think it’s my favorite chapter in Act 2. This song is probably summary of Charlie x Glenn and because it’s a lot of their interactions now, there’s the song. Please like, comment, share, so I have a feedback. ENJOY AND SEE YOU TUESDAY!

Rick's: Morning, guys. Let's get going. Was the first thing she heard as she opened her eyes. She groaned and rubbed her eyes because this one time the night passed too quickly. Charlie changed her pajama pants to jeans and walked out of the tent, still working on putting on shoes.

"All right, everyone's getting new search grids today," Rick said. "If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found with Charlie, she might have to hone further east than we've been so far."

"I'd like to help, I know the area pretty well and stuff." interrupted Jimmy, a boy who was walking around after Hershel's second daughter, Beth.

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked immediately.

"Yeah," Jimmy nodded immediately. "He said I should ask you."

Well, that was something Charlie didn't believe. Hershel let them stay, but he made it crystal clear that they could stay only on his terms, so there were absolutely no guns on his property and not using his people for anything.

But Rick just nodded. "Alright then. Thanks."

"Nothing about what they found screams Sophia to me." said an annoyed Shane. "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse."

She looked at him with narrowed eyes. Shane changed since they came to the farm. He became nervous and easily irritated, spending his time alone and avoiding Hershel's family at all costs. Charlie suspected that it was probably due to the loss of the leadership and everything he knew from the past time.

"Anybody includes her, right?" Charlie asked.

"Well, whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than Yay High," Daryl said, showing to everyone that the person hidden in the cupboard was to his shoulder.

"Good lead." Andrea nodded.

"Maybe we will pick up her trail again," Rick said.

"No maybe about it." Charlie shook her head.

Daryl nodded and leaned in, pointing at some places on a map. "I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge here, get a bird's eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her."

"Good idea," T-Dog said. "Maybe you will see your Chupacabra up there too.

"Chupacabra?" Rick furrowed his eyebrows.

"You've never heard this?" asked Dale and placed a bag with guns on a hood. "The first night at the camp, Daryl told us that the whole thing reminds him of the time when he went squirrel hunting and saw a Chupacabra."

Jimmy snorted, which was met with furrowed eyebrows of Daryl. "What are you braying at, jackass?"

"So you believe in a blood-sucking dog?" the young boy asked.

"Do you believe dead people walking around?" Dixon asked.

Jimmy used the moment and reached for a shotgun, but was quickly stopped by Grimes. "Hey, hey. Ever fire one before?"

"Well, if I'm going out, I want one."

"Yeah, people in hell want Slurpees." Daryl retorted and walked away from the car, preparing for his departure.

Charlie chuckled and followed him, also ready to go with Daryl in the woods. "I'm going with you."

"No. I'm going alone," he said without looking at her.

She furrowed her eyebrows, stopping suddenly as his words hit her."What?"

"You slowing me down. I won't find even a squirrel with you."

Charlie watched as Daryl walked away, his attention elsewhere, feeling a pang of disappointment. She shifted uncomfortably, crossing her arms over her chest, her expression clouding with frustration. Her annoyance only grew, once she heard a male voice: "Charlie."

"Yes?"

"You wanna pair up for the search? Two heads are better than one out there."

Charlie's annoyance simmered beneath the surface as Shane suddenly seemed keen to be around her. She shot him a sidelong glance, her irritation evident in the way her jaw clenched and her posture stiffened. It felt disingenuous, his sudden interest, especially after he had been so aloof before. Suppressing a sigh, she forced a polite smile.

"No, Shane," she turned to him. "Actually, I'm not going today. I'll help Patricia in the kitchen."

"Right," he placed hands on hip. "I'll see you around when I'm back?"

"Yeah. Of course."

The day was slow and lazy. There was not much to do and not much going on, anyway. It was a long time since they could just sit and do nothing and it was nice, but she couldn't just chill out as she was still thinking about Daryl. His words touched her...in a bad way. She didn't know why he changed his behavior towards her.

"Nice guitar." said the voice and made Glenn stop his melody.

Maggie was looking at the boy with a soft smile. Once she realized there was a girl behind him, she waved her hand and Charlie did the same, but she could observe that her smile fell. So she decided to turn her eyes away and not look in their direction.

"Dale found it on the highway," Glenn said and stood up. Then he made a couple steps and stopped right in front of her figure. "You know...we still have 11 condoms."

Charlie furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Glenn in disbelief.

"You see 11 condoms, I see 11 minutes of my life I'm never getting back." Charlie snorted at the girl's comment and Maggie looked at her with not-so-welcoming eyes.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" Glenn asked in a weak voice.

"Look," Maggie said. "I don't even know if I like you."

"But you're thinking about it." Asian boy leaned in, which brought their faces closer. "You should."

"That was horrible," Charlie said and burst out laughing when Maggie was far away and all they could see was her back.

Cooking wasn't her strong side, that's why she marched out of the kitchen as soon as she could. She wanted to help, but Charlie had a feeling that she was just interrupting everyone there. As there was nothing else to do, she entered the RV and stopped immediately. Glenn was already inside, looking out the window.

"You're not cooking?"

"I was thrown out of the kitchen," she answered. "And your girlfriend almost stabbed me in the face."

"She's not my girlfriend." Glenn sighed.

"Oh, I've already seen it," Charlie smirked and nodded her head.

"Uhm...Charles," he said with a strange look in his eyes after a moment of silence. "Can I ask you a question?"

She looked at him with a terrified expression. "I'm not having sex with you to check if you were good back in town."

"What? No...I...What?" he became red. "Are you on your period?"

"Woah," she said.

"I'm only asking 'cause it's like all the women are acting really weird," he said. Charlie raised her eyebrow at that. "And I read somewhere that when women spend a lot of time together, their cycles line up and they all get super crazy hormonal at the same time."

"You should keep that theory to yourself," she said.

"Yeah."

"And who is acting weird? Because I don't think it's me," she asked, pointing at herself.

"Maggie."

"Ah, Maggie." she smiled. "Because she doesn't want to have sex with you?"

"She started off being mean to me. Then she wanted to have sex with me. And now she's being mean to me again." he sighed."And I don't even want to know what's going on with Lori."

"You should talk with her. Maggie. I mean." Charlie advised him. "But please like a normal person. Lori is Rick's problem right?"

"Oh, man it sucks!" he groaned and they walked out of the RV.

Charlie followed him with a smile, patting his back to cheer him up somehow. The weather that day was nice, and she felt a warm rise on her cheeks. It seemed that the sun was shining brighter than any other previous day.

The happy moment was interrupted by Andrea's voice: "Walker! Walker!"

It would be the first one that they saw since they came on the farm. The Walkers seemed to avoid this place as if it were protected by an invisible shield. Glenn ran quickly to get his gun that was leaning on the tree.

"Just the one?" asked Rick.

"I bet I can nail it from here," Andrea asked and tried to target the head.

"No," Rick said in a stern voice. "No, Andrea. Put the gun down."

Out of nowhere Charlie turned her head and saw Shane moving towards them. His shirt was opened and his abs were glistening with sweat, showing his tattoos. He wasn't shy at all, he just marched towards them confidently. "You'd best let us handle this."

"Shane holds up," Rick said. "Hershel wants to deal with Walkers."

"What for, man?" Shane rolled his eyes and turned his steps towards the field this time with T-Dog following him closely. "We got it covered."

Rick cursed under his breath and quickly entered the RV to get his gun and as fast as he stepped into he walked out and started running to the Walker. But before he did he turned to Charlie. "You stay here."

She furrowed her eyebrows but decided to be the only person who actually listened to him. She listened to Shane when he was the leader and Rick seemed to be a bit better in this whole follow me I will lead you thing.

However, she didn't understand the men in the camp. They all thought she was like a porcelain, unable to defend even herself. And she agrees, she was afraid not so long ago, and even more, she was petrified, unable to move. But now...After those two walkers were taken down absolutely by herself, she felt more comfortable. She could take care of herself.

Click.

"Andrea don't!" Charlie said in a warning tone.

"Back off, Charlie," she said.

Reed looked in the direction from where the Walker was coming and her eyes went wide. It wasn't a Walker, it was a person they all knew. He was covered in blood and dirt, he could barely walk and around his neck was proudly hanging a necklace from...ears? "Andrea, please. No. NO!"

Bang.

"No! No! No!" they could hear screams.

"Rick!" Charlie suddenly heard Lori.

"What on earth's going on out here?" Hershel asked angrily.

She ran after them to the house, looking at Daryl's lifeless body- well he was just unconscious. Charlie wanted to know what the hell happened out there in that woods, but for now was too angry at the girl who was walking right behind her.

That's why when they reached the doors, Charlie stopped and turned around to face Andrea. When the woman wanted to enter the house she pushed her a little."No."

"Charlie, come on." she scoffed.

"Are you dumb or are you deaf?" she asked her, grabbing the front of her shirt. "We screamed not to shoot. I begged you, but no...you had to prove yourself."

"Charlie, it's okay." Lori touched her arm.

"No, it's not okay!" she snapped. "She ignored our words. She's been doing this since the highway. She's been pouting and stomping her feet like a little girl. And now Daryl is shot. One more time you get in my way and I swear to God..."

She pushed Andrea and shut the door behind her.

She was looking at Lori as they were waiting for Hershel to end whatever he was doing inside. The older woman was caressing Charlie's legs, waiting for Rick and Shane to leave the room. She was whispering nothing to her, to make the girl feel better.

When doors opened, Charlie was on her legs peaking behind the door, to see Daryl. But all she saw was Shane's body and white sheet.

"He'll be alright," said Rick as he hugged his wife. Then he looked at worried Charlie and touched her forearm, squeezing lightly. "He'll be alright. Now he needs rest."

Charlie swallowed and nodded. "I'll go tell the others."

Dinner passed in the most awkward atmosphere imaginable. So with relief announced her willingness to take a trace of food to Daryl. Carol also said she wanted to go and check on him, so that's how they found each other knocking on the door and entering the small room.

"Hey." she smiled entering the bedroom, Daryl was staying the night in.

"How are you feeling?" Carol asked as she followed Charlie closely.

The man made sure that he was well covered by the thin blanket, almost as if he was shy. "About as good as I look."

"We brought you some dinner," Charlie said. "You must be starving."

Out of the blue, Carol just leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Her lips barely touched his skin. Charlie's heart dropped to the floor as a wave of guilt was washing over her. What if Carol wanted to bring him food, so she could be alone with him? Oh, God. Charlie was third-wheeling. Also, what if Carol felt uncomfortable with how much she spent with Daryl over these past few days? How stupid she was...

"Watch out," Daryl groaned. "I got stitches."

Before Carol could say anything more, Charlie decided to end this carousel of disappointment and embarrassment. "So...Good to see you're alive. I'm gonna leave you."

Daryl looked after her as she was walking to the doors.

"Oh...Daryl?" she turned to him and immediately met his eyes. "I just think you're brave and amazing for what you did." she smiled lightly. "Good night."

With that, she left the room.

"You sleep, Charlie?" His quiet question made her realize that sleep was the last thing on her mind at that moment. Probably hours she spent looking intently at the material of the roof in their tent. Almost as if she could see the answer to all the questions in the world. Or at least all question she had.

"No."

"I think I have something to tell you," Glenn whispered. Charlie turned to her left side and tried to find him in the darkness. "The barn...The barn is full of Walkers. And Lori is pregnant."

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#daryl dixon #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl x reader #daryl fanfiction #daryl twd #daryl dixon twd #daryl the walking dead #daryl dixon series

[themagichour]

1, 11, and 16!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS thank you my darlin

1.

Who is your favorite character to write for and is this the character you find easiest to write for?

I am not answering with just one character, because I don't have just one, and because I can never stop talking. (Just came back to this sentence to add I went through my entire fanfic history.)

This is hard to answer, because beyond my SpongeBob fic where his pineapple was haunted not in an R.L. Stine way, but in a Shining way, my first real foray into fanfic was............... Radiohead RPF. It was 2005, and I was sixteen.

I'm............................. so conflicted over RPF, and admitting to writing Radiohead fanfic is..... UUUHHHMMMM.

So, for over a decade, my favorite character to write was an obviously heavily-fictionalized version of a real person, Thom Yorke. :| My idea of him was very easy to write. This. I. It's-- I am. Uh. This is a painful confession.

All my RH fic is lost to a Power Mac G4 Cube, time, and the eventual expiration of a 2000s archive. We were a small group, and we called it "cheesecake". I almost exclusively wrote Thom/Jonny, but the only surviving fic is a novel-length collab between myself and a friend. I.......... did not want to write Thom Yorke/Michael Stipe. It's ultimately Thom/Jonny, but. Yo. I had an unbalanced relationship with my friend, and I didn't want to write about Michael Stipe, and it wasn't a great time in my life. It's the only collab I've ever done, and I wasn't very happy doing that. I typically find reading collabs jarring, and I find writing under those circumstances more jarring.

Still, I'm proud of it. It's good writing, and we did a lot of research. Everything that sounds like the prose of someone tripped and burnt out on Red Bull while working at a pumpkin patch in Culver City is written by me. Here it is shruggy guy emoji shruggy guy emoji shruggy guy emoji I can't believe I wrote fucking Thom Yorke/Michael Stipe smut.

What else. I remember that as a young teen I wrote Mulder/Scully and Han/Leia fic that I never published because I was fourteen and I'm p. sure fanfiction.net existed but all I can think is, what, angelfire????? I wrote one House/Wilson fic that I published to livejournal. Someone copied it and posted it elsewhere and claimed it as their own. Flattered!!!!!

Then there was like.......... one Sherlock fic that never saw the light of day. I was nineteen. Forgive me. Fuk Sherlock.

Uh so BEYOND THAT, I really didn't write fic again till Hannibal. I found Will very easy to write, and I found Hannibal easy to write through Will's POV. Which I felt worked, considering his supernatural empathy. It put enough of Hannibal's mindset into it. It almost feels to me that Hannibal doesn't have an inner monologue. But in terms of understanding him as a character, here is EVIDENCE!!!!:

I swear to FUCKING GOD this is real. When the episode in which Bedelia asks Hannibal what he sees in Will aired, I said aloud, to a college friend who was watching with me live, "An opportunity for friendship." And then Hannibal fucking said, word for word, "An opportunity for friendship." It sounds like I am bullshitting beyond belief, but I swear on my favorite cat's grave. I wish I knew where that college friend is now, so they could corroborate this. They're probably married with a baby and a great career.

I have an abandoned WIP and two short fics or something, idk, but I like this one. This was before S3 and before we knew who was playing Molly. I based her upon the character in Red Dragon, and in my mind she was played by Rose Byrne. And their son was named Willy in the book, so he's named Willy there.

Then I FUCKIN committed the RPF crime again with this lil' romantic friendship Buzzfeed Unsolved fic. It got popular! I feel like I can write Shane really well. End me. anyway

MASH!

I can't believe I've barely written MASH fic. I feel Hawkeye so much, but it's very difficult for me to do his POV for some reason. Which really doesn't make sense. My headcanon is that Hawk is bipolar, and I'm bipolar II, but I just can't get into his head. I can observe him well as an outsider through BJ. This is pretty much the only complete thing I've written. Though I did write a Hawk childhood fic from his mother's point of view, which I quite like. Oh and there was that time I accidentally made either Potter or Mildred eat ass when I meant cunnilingus.

NOW......... now, my friends. My most recent and most favorite character to write is Tom Wambsgans. He's so easy to write, and I don't know what this GODDAMN says about me. But this is what I'm working on.

11.

What perspective do you write from most and/or least and why? (1st, 3rd limited, 3rd omniscient, deep pov, etc)

I write exclusively from third limited POV. I don't think I've ever written first person. I've never really thought about it before, but I think I don't write first person because I approach writing cinematically, if that makes sense? And while I empathize very much with characters, it doesn't feel at all natural to me to approach them in an "I" sense.

I write third limited because I naturally gravitate towards it, but because it also allows for an outsider's/audience's POV and for a deeply unreliable narrator, which I love. And if I'm goin REAL DEEP, I think I'm not even comfortable enough with writing a personal diary to write anyone else going "HEY I'M SAD AND/OR HORNY and here is why in poetry"

16.

Do you have a method for getting characters to sound/feel in character?

Too much empathy and a lifelong experience of being autistic and studying people in order to understand and act like them. I also find people FASCINATING. In terms of "skill", that's what it is. But what drives the desire to use that skill is becoming obsessed with the characters and having fun with them, especially with friends! I know many find obsession with any subject that doesn't result in a successful career unhealthy -- lord knows many in my life have told me my fixations are just that -- but that's how I'm wired. And I like it. And it makes me creative, happy, and social. I met my best friends and my sister through Radiohead nearly twenty years ago. So I think fandom and fanfiction's great.

[thimbil]

Having some thoughts about the references and inspirations used for the Bad Batch’s designs.

So Boba Fett is my absolute favorite character and Temeura Morrison was perfect casting. I went to see the 2008 TCW movie in theaters because I was so excited to see him again, even if he was animated. You can imagine my disappointment. Whoever was on screen was not Temeura Morrison. You could sort of see a resemblance if you squinted and didn’t think too hard about it. They replaced Temeura with Racially Ambiguous G.I. Joe. If I didn’t know better and someone told me the animated clones are space Italians from the moon of New Jersey I would buy it. One Million Brothers Pizzeria and Italian Bistro. Not that there’s something wrong with being space Italian, I just don’t think it’s the right choice for the Fetts. The design got slightly improved by season 7 but it still bugs the hell out of me.

I did eventually get into the show later and (of course) got invested in the clones. Unfortunately, they were largely sidelined by the Jedi storylines. Out of the two new main characters created for TCW, Ahsoka definitely got more development and focus than Rex. When they announced The Bad Batch, I was excited to see a show specifically devoted to the clones… at least that’s what it said on the tin. We have all seen what lurks beneath those stylish helmets.

Jango Fett, you are NOT the father.

So who is?

Based on interviews with Filoni, it sounds like the Bad Batch was a George Lucas idea. And like all his ideas, it’s super derivative. The original trilogy directly lifted elements from sci fi serials, westerns, and samurai movies, more specifically Kurosawa films like The Hidden Fortress. For The Bad Batch character designs, the influence is obviously American action and adventure movies.

Now let’s get specific. Bad Batch, who’s your daddy?

Hunter

Sylvester Stallone as Rambo in First Blood 1982. That bandana has become an integral part of the iconic action hero look. You see a character wearing one and it’s a visual shorthand for either “this character is a tough guy” like Billy played by Sonny Landham in Predator 1987, or “this character thinks he is/wants to be a tough guy” like Brand played by Josh Brolin in The Goonies 1985 or Edward Frog played by Corey Feldman in The Lost Boys 1987.

Hunter’s model is closest to the original clone base. If you look closely you will see the eyebrows are straighter with a much lower angle to the arch. His nose is also not the same shape as a standard clone like Rex, including a narrower bridge. It’s certainly not Temeura Morrison’s nose. Remember what I said about space Italians? It didn’t take much to push the existing clone design to resemble an specific Italian man instead of a specific Māori man. The 23&Me came back, and Hunter inherited more than the bandana from Sylvester.

Crosshair

The long narrow nose, the sharp cheekbones, the scowl. That’s no clone, that’s just animated Clint Eastwood. Not even Young and Hot Clint Eastwood from Rawhide 1959-1965. With that hair, I’m talking Gran Torino 2008. The man of few words schtick and family friendly toothpick in lieu of cigar are pure Eastwood as The Man With No Name from Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns A Fist Full of Dollars 1964, For a Few Dollars More 1965, and The Good the Bad and the Ugly 1966.

In a way, this is full circle because the actor Jeremy Bulloch took inspiration from Clint Eastwood for his performance as Boba Fett in ESB.

Wrecker

In an interview Filoni lists the Hulk as an (obvious) inspiration for Wrecker. Ever seen the old Hulk tv show from 1978? Well take a look at the actor who played him, Lou Ferrigno. Would you look at that. Even has his papa’s nose.

You could make the argument that Wrecker was influenced by The Rock, an appropriately buff ‘n bald Polynesian (Samoan, not Maori) man. But look at him next his Fast and Furious costar Vin Diesel and tell me which one resembles Wrecker’s character model more.

Tech

Tech is a little trickier for me to place. If he has a more direct inspiration it must be something I haven’t seen. That said, his hairline is very Bruce Willis as John McClane in Die Hard 1988. His quippiness and large glasses remind me of Shane Black as Hawkins from Predator 1987. In terms of his face, he looks a but like the result of McClane and Hawkins deciding to settle down and start a family. Although, Tech’s biggest contributors are probably just everyone on TV Trope’s list for Smart People Wear Glasses.

And finally,

Echo

Oh Echo. Considering he wasn’t created for the Bad Batch, he probably wasn’t based on a particular character or movie. But if I had to guess, his situation and appearance remind me a lot of Alex Murphy played by Peter Weller in Robocop 1987. However, Robocop explored the Man or Machine Identity Crisis with more nuance, depth, and dignity. Yikes.

The exact tropes and references used in The Bad Batch have been done successfully with characters who aren’t even human. Gizmo from Gremlins 2: The New Batch 1990 had a brief stint with the Rambo bandana. I could have picked any number of characters for Defining Feature Is Glasses but here is the most cursed version of Simon of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Suffer as I have. Marc Antony with his beloved Pussyfoot from Looney Tunes has the same tough guy with a soft center vibe as Wrecker and his Lula (also a kind of cat). Hell, in the same show we have Cad Bane sharing Cowboy Clint Eastwood with Crosshair. I actually think Bane makes a better Eastwood which is wild considering Crosshair has Eastwood’s entire face and Bane is blue.

So we’ve established you don’t need your characters to look exactly like their inspirations to match their vibe. So why go through the trouble and cost of creating completely new character designs instead of recycling and altering assets they already had on hand? Just slap on a bandana, toothpick, goggles, and make Wrecker bigger than the others while he does a Hulk pose and you’re done. Based on the general reaction to Howzer it would have been a low effort slam dunk crowd pleaser.

But they didn’t do that.

So here’s the thing. I like the tropes used in The Bad Batch. I am a fan of action adventure movies from the 80s-90s, the sillier the better. I am part of the Bad Batch’s target audience. Considering what I know about Disney and Lucasfilm, I went in with low expectations. I genuinely don’t hate the idea of seeing references to these actors and media in The Bad Batch. I don’t think basing these characters on tropes was a bad idea. If anything it’s a solid starting point for building the characters.

The trouble is nothing got built on the foundation. The plot is directionless, the pacing is wacky, and the characters have nearly no emotional depth or defining character arcs. They just sort of exist without reacting much while the story happens around them. But I can excuse all of that. You don’t stay a fan of Star Wars as long as I have not being able to cherrypick and fill in the gaps. This show has a deeper issue that shouldn’t be ignored.

Why do the animated clones bear at best only a passing resemblance to their live action actor? In interviews, Filoni wouldn’t shut up but the technological advancements in the animation for season 7. So if they are updating things, why not try to make the clones a closer match to their source material? Why did they have to look like completely different people in The Bad Batch to be “unique”? Looking like Temeura Morrison would have no bearing on their special abilities and TCW proved you can have identical looking characters and still have them be distinct. In fact, that’s a powerful theme and the source of tragedy for the clones’ narrative overall.

Here’s Filoni’s early concept art of Crosshair, Wrecker, Tech, and Hunter. (Interesting but irrelevant: Wrecker seems to have a cog tattoo similar to Jesse’s instead of a scar. Wouldn’t it have been funny if they kept that so when they met in season 7 one if them could say something like “Hey we’re twins!” That’s a little clone humor. Just for you guys 😘)

None of these drawings look like the clones in TCW, much less Temeura Morrison. Let’s be generous. Maybe Filoni struggles with drawing a real person’s likeness, as many people do. But he had to hand this off to other artists down the line whose job specifically involves making a stylized character resemble their actor. Yet the final designs missed the mark almost as much as this initial concept. Starting to seem as if the clones looking more like Temeura Morrison was never even on the table. It wasn’t a lack of creativity, skill or technical limitations on the part of the creative team. I don’t think there is an innocent explanation. They went out of their way to make the final product exactly how we got it.

This goes beyond homage. They could have made the same pop culture references and character tropes without completely stripping Temeura Morrison from the role he originated. It was a very purposeful choice to replace him with more immediately familiar actors from established franchises and films. It wouldn’t shock me if Filoni, Lucas, and anyone else calling the shots didn’t even think hard or care enough about the decision to immediately recognize a problem. And I don’t think they believed anyone else would either. At least no one whose opinion they cared about. Those faces are comfortingly familiar and proven bankable. They are what we’re all used to seeing after all. They’re white.

Lack of imagination, bad intentions, or simple ignorance doesn’t really matter in the end. The result is the same. Call it what it is. They replaced a man of color with a bunch of white guys. That’s by the book garden variety run of the mill whitewashing. There’s no debate worth having about it. For a fanbase that loves to nitpick things like whether or not it’s in character for Han to shoot first or Jeans Guy in the Mandalorian, we sure are quick to find excuses for clones who look nothing like their template. Why is that? If you don’t see the problem, congratulations. Your ass is showing. Pull your jeans up.

#star wars #the bad batch #unwhitewashtbb #wrecker #crosshair #tech #hunter #echo

[sdvharveybby]

How the Bachelors and Bachlorettes surprise the farmer on Valentines Day!

So, my friend @soft-bois-make-me-simp and I decided we wanted to collab for something on Valentines Day!! As this was our first time doing a collab with another person, we actually had a ton of fun throwing around ideas and getting stuff together! Not to mention that they had so many ideas that my mind was swimming, it was honestly so cool. I have a hard time writing about the bachelorettes, but they just blew me out of the water. I couldn’t have done this post without them and it was totally worth it. We had a ton of fun so we hope you enjoy this!!! All the Bachelors and Bachelorettes are below, thanks and WE LOVE Y’ALL. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!

I did all the bachelors! @soft-bois-make-me-simp did all the bachelorettes!

Bachelors~

Harvey

Oh, he spends a lot of time trying to present you with the best Valentine's Day present. He researches ideas on how to do that. In the end, he decides he wants to surprise you with dinner at his place and he is prepared. Throughout the day he spends it gifting you different presents like flowers, little love notes, and even a box of chocolates! Then, he calls you up and invites you over. Opening the door to the clinic, rose petals line the floor leading up to his door upstairs. Stepping into his room, the lighting is low with candles and jazz quietly breaking up the silence in the background. There’s a table set up in the middle of the room with a lacy pink tablecloth, dinner is set up, and rose petals decorate the floor. “H-hey!” He says nervously to you, “I-I wanted to surprise you, d-do you like it?” Even without the room completely lit up you know he’s blushing, but you can see that he’s wearing a nice undershirt like he always wears, but without his long green coat, and he’s wearing dark dress pants. He approaches you and softly gives you a kiss on the cheek, he then pulls you into a big hug. The dinner was delicious and you two spend the time complimenting each other and being in each other’s company. After dinner you help him clean up, you then see that he had been researching on how to be romantic… by watching romance movies. His efforts to show you how much he appreciates and loves you shows no bounds. He walks you home and before you walk through the door he says, “I love you, you know? I really do love you.”

Elliott

You wake up at your usual time and head outside to do your daily chores. You head towards the mail box and it’s stuffed to the brim with letters! Eyes wide, every single one is addressed from Elliott, you carry the stack of letters inside and as you open them they’re all love notes with various dates on them. By checking each date you realize he had been writing love notes, with you mind, for an entire month! You check the one for today’s date and it’s the shortest letter within the stack. He explains that he wants you to meet him at his place around 8pm but he doesn’t explain why (his signature has many red hearts around it.) Arriving at his place at 8pm he greets with a big hug and a tender kiss, “I could hardly wait for you, my love!” In his small shack he put together a wonderful dinner for you two to enjoy. During the meal he explains his love for you the only way a poet would, it goes from him desiring your beauty over the sun to how excited he gets whenever you’re in view. After dinner he gestures for you to sit and relax on his bed. The evening ends with him playing the piano, he wrote a piece (for the first time) completely inspired by you and the love he holds for you… and only you.

Alex

He is up and ready at 6am. With groggy eyes you open the door to see Alex with a big goofy smile holding flowers. “Good morning! I just wanted to say that I love you!” He says this all in one breath and thrusts the flowers to you, “I’ll come pick you up at 6pm. I love you, bye!” It seemed over in a flash once you accepted the flowers, but he seemed confident and happy- you couldn’t deny his puppy dog eyes. At 6pm he strolls up the path, and linking your arm with his, you both begin to walk to the beach. Nervously scratching the back of his neck, he blushes and says, “You’ve been there for me a lot. I know I’m not book smart or anything, but you’ve been my-” he reaches in his pocket to pull out a scribbled note, “-light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve never loved anyone more than I’ve loved you,” He awkwardly laughs, and with the sun setting behind him he stops and holds both your hands in his. His eyes are full of love and devotion, “I found these in Zuzu City, I hope you like them,” He pulls out matching necklaces giving you the one with ‘A’ on it. “See, this one has your letter on it! I hope you like it,” You couldn’t say no and he helped you put the necklace on. With his large and goofy smile you two end the evening in each other’s company, holding hands and watching the sun set.

Sebastian

Sebastian gets really excited to show you a new DND adventure that he’s compiled for you two to play. He explains that he’s thought about this for a while and through a slew of note writing and trial and error, he is convinced that he has made you the best gift for Valentines Day. It’s an odd adventure that asks you to find Sebastian his one true love- you laugh thinking it’s just Sebastian being goofy but you play along. Through fighting and exploration you begin to gather clues as to who his true love is supposed to be, the clues are subtle but explain the personality and appearance of the one he wants to be with. At the end of the campaign you smile because all along, through all the notes you’ve gathered throughout the adventure, they all describe you. You are his one true love and the only one he wants to be with.

Sam

Sending you a letter in the mail, Sam explains he wants for you to be home around 8pm. Course you comply, a bit curious considering you had no idea what he had planned. Coming up the path, carrying his guitar, he gives you an awkward smile. He seems nervous and his voice sounds shaky when he greets you, “I wasn’t sure what to give you for Valentines Day, so I did what I know best,” he says, unlocking his guitar case. He gestures for you to sit and with a shaky voice begins to play the guitar and sing you a love song that he created himself. Sam avoids eye contact with you for a bit as he plays, unsure of how you feel about it, but as time went he grew more confident. When he locks eyes with you it’s filled with appreciation, love, and admiration. After finishing his song he gives you a hug and a kiss on the cheek- he didn’t want to be with anyone else.

Shane

Shane decides that he wants to take you out to the Stardrop Saloon for Valentines Day. He opens the door for you and as you two sit he gives you a peck on the cheek. You can tell he’s certainly trying as you see he has gel in his hair and he’s wearing clean clothes. “I… Look, I don’t do sappy stuff, b-but you know, I really enjoy your company and I-uh I wanted to try and do something special for you.” He explains as a blushy mess, he avoids eye contact with you as he says this, but you can tell by the sound of his voice that he really means it. Without ever ordering, Gus approaches the table with a big smile and sets down a pizza that’s in the shape of a heart! “I-uh… I really like you, you know. I’m not good with this stuff, but you mean a lot to me so let’s enjoy some pizza!” He remarks trying to divert the conversation from anything sappy. Through the rest of the night he spends it trying to make you laugh, and you didn’t know how late it had gotten until Gus had kicked you guys out. When he walks you home you see him noticeably get sadder, you realize that he never wanted the night to end.

Bachelorettes~

Abigail

Abigail wants to take you for an adventure. One where it’s quiet and a place only she knows about, or so she thinks. Telling you to clear your schedule that day and to meet near the wizard tower she’ll blindfold you. It’s a secret she wants to share with you, but when she reveals the secret forest you smile at her. Hesitating for a second to tell her that you’ve been here often though when she’s about to lead you to a dead end and you tell her; she knows it wasn’t a secret to you. She asks you to lead the way to the pond where she has a blanket prepared and asks you to sit down. Once you are settled she plays you a piece on her flute that you haven’t heard before. It’s calming and beautiful, you would even describe it as enchanting. After she finished she tells you it was an original piece inspired by you. 

Emily

Waking up you find Emily gone from her side of the bed. In her place was a wrapped up box tied together with a bow and a note saying Open. Inside was an outfit that was absolutely stunning in your favorite color. It was a more formal attire then what you both normally wear but that wasn’t all that was in the box. Another note attached to it saying she hopes you get a positive energy from the outfit as it was made with love. For another surprise please wear it and meet at the bus stop at 7pm. Wearing your new glamorous outfit that fits like a glove you see Emily dressed up and waiting for you. She takes you to ZuZu City where to your surprise the bus stops in front of a ballroom studio. Emily tells you she’s been taking a class on the “Dances of Love” and wanted to show you what she’s learned. You spend the rest of the night dancing, both getting lost in the music and each other. 

Haley

Haley didn’t mention to keep your schedule open or to come at a certain time but you knew Valentine’s Day was important to her. It was a day she looked forward too each year and you were excited to spend it with her. After the chores around the farm were done you headed to her house with a pink cake you made yourself and a sunflower pouch Emily helped you make. You put the cake in the kitchen and head to her room. She was standing in front of the vanity, but when you walked in you heard a closing noise, almost like a book being closed. She is holding something behind her back when you approach she shoves something into your hands. It’s a scrapbook decorated in pink and sunflowers with both your names on the cover in a heart. Opening it, it's a collage of photos she’s taken over the time you’ve spent together. Polaroids of the first gift you gave her, your date with the cows, some of the mornings you’ve spent together and all the events you’ve been to together. She goes over how special each moment is to her and tears up saying how much of a better person you made her. Thanking you for coming into her life and showing how beautiful a photo can truly be when you’re in it. 

Maru

Waking up you were excited as Maru asked you to meet her tonight. A special viewing of the stars with you space girl is something that always makes you happy. Though walking out you see all your crops have been waterd, in fact next to your crops were sprinklers. Confused, you walk to the mailbox where you find a letter from Maru telling you she built some sprinklers for you and if they are something you liked she’s happy to make more. She also reminds you about tonight and to dress warm! When the time arrives you head to the mountain and enjoy hearing her talk about space. That is until she mentions one star that you’ve never noticed before. She asks if you know the name but it’s one you are unfamiliar with. Maru smiles at your confusion. Telling you that for Valentine’s day her present besides the sprinklers, was getting you a star. A way that if you ever need to be reminded of her love just look up and know that she loves you more than all the stars in the sky. 

Leah

Everyone in town was buzzing about a big Valentine’s event happening this year. It was something that was kept a big secret and nobody in town knew what was happening just what time to go. Leah was not one to usually express extreme interest in going to town events but she seemed very excited for this one. If not to find out what was the big event you decided to go for Leah. She mentions having to finish up some work and she’ll meet you at the event so heading alone you’re floored when you see it’s an art show. Not just any art show but one Leah is putting on! It’s a Valentine’s day art show with each piece centered around the theme of love. She tells you how you inspired these pieces and how you are her muse. Not just for today but forever. 

Penny

Ever since the chili incident you have been trying your best to avoid Penny’s cooking. You love her, you really do and want to support her but cooking was just not a strong point. So when she asks you to a Valentine’s day picnic where she plans on cooking the food you’re a little hesitant but seeing her eyes light up talking about it you tell her of course. Walking into the forest you see her and a large basket next to her. She starts talking out dish after dish and encouraging you to try them all. You take a pepper popper and eat it. It was really good! You try all the different dishes from the stuffing to fish stew all delicious. She tells you she’s been practicing with Gus and is very happy to see you eating her cooking. Penny tells you she has one more surprise and gives you a book. It was your favorite book, looking inside you noticed a message. It was a message from the author, she got your book signed by your favorite author. Penny tells you to look on the last page as well where she wrote a note, although this book may be your favorite, our story will always be mine.

#stardew valley #elliot stardew valley #stardew valley sebastian #harvey stardew valley #stardew valley bachelors #stardew sam #stardew shane #stardew emily #stardew harvey #stardew elliott #stardew alex #stardew haley #stardew leah #stardew bachelorettes #stardew maru #stardew penny #stardew abigail #haley stardew valley #emily stardew valley #maru stardew valley #abigail stardew valley #leah stardew valley #stardew valley harvey #sdv harvey #sdv elliot #sdv shane #sdv maru #sdv elliott #sdv emily #sdv haley

[theonetheycallhannah]

The Treatment of Captain Syverson-Chapter 19: Debridement

Characters: Captain Logan “Sy” Syverson, Shane Benton (OFC), various other original supporting/secondary characters

Summary: Shane begins to process life after her trauma, and Sy delivers the news of her safety to the people that matter most to her…but there is pushback on a few aspects of his report.

Romance and Smut Abound HERE!

Word Count: 4.1k

Warnings: Mostly fluff, but with mention of Shane’s trauma in the cellar. Not graphic. 

Author’s Note: My darling readers! Thank you so much for your patience as I deal with seasonal stress, fatigue, anxiety, and some depression. It was my goal to have all chapters of this story done by the end of this year. I don’t think I’ll accomplish it, but I’ll do my very best to get at least one more chapter up by the 31st. 2020 has been a totally shit year, but I will forever owe it some remarkable things. This story, which has been an amazing escape from real life, the friends I’ve made from all over my country and the world, many of them because of this story, and a long overdue shift in my work hours starting next week. I’ll be glad to see the back of it, but the year has really opened me up to new ideas and some major soul-searching. I think, mentally, I’m actually more myself than I’ve ever been, despite some blue times. You can all take some credit for that improvement, because many of my moments of clarity have arisen from brilliant and profound posts here.

The title of this chapter seemed appropriate for a few reasons. Wounds are cleaned and cleared of damaged tissue during debridement. This is one of the steps usually required for a large and/or traumatic wound to heal. We see Shane beginning this process here in this chapter, and in a sense, Sy, as well. The cleansing of Shane in both the literal and figurative sense was so interesting and satisfying to write. And Sy’s bit at the end was a fun puzzle in which I had to figure out how to have Sy give the same news to four different recipients without sounding repetitive. I hope that landed, and if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, Henry is not mine, le sigh, and all mention of him, his characters, any characters from his films, or his precious doggy, Kal, are strictly for transformative and recreational use. I neither ask for, nor accept payment for the work I post on Tumblr or AO3. Unbeta’d because this is for fun and escapism. This is an original work by me, Hannah. Please reblog if you wish to share. Please do not repost either in whole or part, as the work of anyone but myself. Thanks so much for reading!

Tags:

@onlyhenrys @cavillryarchive​ @summersong69​ @titty-teetee​ @bloodyinspiredfuck​ @agniavateira@oddsnendsfanfics​ @omgkatinka​ @thisismysecretthirstblog​ @speakerforthedead0​ @tumblnewby  @suavechops​ @radkesgirl83​ @wheretheriversrunintothesea​ @heartfelt-pen​ @auds24  @geekycanuck @lunarstarknight​ @wilma-g  @coldmuffinbanditshoe @feralrunaway​  @sugarpenchant​ @bichibibi @mzchievous-blog @shesakillerkween @madbadidc7ed @foodieforthoughts @toomanyfandomsshreya

If you want to be notified when I post a new chapter or work, I’ll be happy to add you to my tag list! Stricken blogs are getting personal messages from me when a new chapter is uploaded because Tumblr’s faulty tagging system will not stand in the way of me delivering what the people want!(?) lol! (Although…their lackadaisical notification system might…sorry for that. I have no control. lol!)

X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@

Shane still felt as if her head was floating above her body, like a balloon on a long string. The combination of meds in her system had helped many of her symptoms. The pain she felt, the physical pain, had been alleviated. Her troubled mind had been put at ease, more or less. But that was a long time ago. And unfortunately, the side effects weren't wearing off at the rapid rate of the intended ones.

As she sat in the SUV--the escape vehicle-- parked outside a large building the size of a small airplane hangar, she tried not to think about what Sy and his pals were discussing just outside the vehicle. She tried not to reflect on the past few days that she had convinced herself would be her last. She tried not to think about what -- or, really, who -- was inside that building.

She thought about seeing Elliott again. The man who had planned to kill her, and almost succeeded. A part of her wished he had, because she wasn't sure she knew who she was anymore. She was a stranger to herself. And living like this seemed so much more difficult than a quick painless death. She couldn't bear the thought of being in view of him.

But another part of her wanted to go in there and end his life herself. That part of her could pull the trigger on a gun aimed at his head. That part of her could bury a knife in his kidney, or sever an artery. Her anatomy and physiology courses could serve her well here. She had dangerous knowledge. Maybe that's why doctors often seem so full of themselves. They possess the knowledge to end life, and yet they choose to save it. It sort of puts things into perspective. Maybe they're justified in their hubris.

Still one more part simply wanted to go home, clean up, and lay naked in her soft sheets with Sy wrapped around her. Warmer and more comforting than any blanket had ever been. She had remembered missing him so much. She thought now about his gentle, loving hands on her, his mouth tasting her so delicately, his…

But then her mind was ripped from the sensual thoughts of Sy and back to her horrific memories from that cellar. The hands of strangers, rough and hateful, their mouths full of words like bile or the grunts of their own violent fulfillment.

Her nightmare of a daydream was abruptly interrupted by the opening of the back passenger door. She jumped, and looked at the source of the noise with wide-eyed terror. It was only Sy, but she couldn't school her face into a softer expression, even after realizing she was safe.

"Oh, Sunshine, I'm so sorry I startled ya! You okay?"

She said nothing, just let out her held breath woefully.

"Let's head home. I'll get your purse and bag of clothes here."

"I don't want those clothes. Throw them away. And these shoes are going in the trash as soon as possible, too."

"Okay. I'll toss it. You sure?"

"I never want to see that bag again. I'm positive."

He nodded, grabbed her purse, and went around to help her out of the vehicle.

One of Sy's friends approached them from the building.

"You guys okay? You'll make it home alright?"

"Yeah, Matt, we'll be okay. I'll be in touch soon about next steps."

"You got it, Captain. Anything you need, let us know."

"Will do. Thanks for everything you've already done. I owe ya."

"You don't owe me a thing, brother. You don't owe any of us. Not after everything you've done for all of us…for everyone."

Sy just nodded at Matt, and turned toward his truck, steadying Shane all the way to the passenger door.

The drive to Shane's house was quiet. Sy kept one hand on the wheel, holding hers in the other. She felt safe, but she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling inside her. Like the other shoe would soon drop, and her love would be taken away again.

When they were safely parked in her driveway, Sy took her keys out of his pocket, apparently having gotten them from his friend who'd drove her car from Elliott's to the airplane hangar place. He walked around to get her, and helped her to her door. She kicked off her shoes immediately when she stepped inside her shadowy living room. She had left the same lamp on that she always did, but it was dimmer now, having been on almost a whole week.

"Bath?" Sy asked. Shane nodded slowly. She would need a long soak to erase this feeling.

Sy got the bath water ready while she found some clothes to put on after. She laid her comfiest lounge pants and her favorite sweat shirt on the bed and walked toward the bathroom. She was soon hit with the comforting aroma of lavender, chamomile, and vanilla as soon as she stepped through the doorway. He had used her favorite bubble bath and salts.

"Check that water temp. I think it's about right." he requested. It was perfect. She started to peel off the stiff paper scrubs she was still wearing, but he insisted on helping her. As she stood before him, even though he'd seen every inch of her body before, she felt more naked and exposed than ever. She looked at him, noticed tears welling in his eyes, and dropped her gaze to the bath mat under her feet. Her skin, typically immaculately clear, olive perfection, was now peppered with dozens of bruises. She felt like a dalmatian, covered in spots. She chuckled inside herself at the thought of one of her favorite Disney films featuring the breed most heavily.

Sy's strong, but gentle hands landed softly on her upper arms. His lips lit tenderly on her forehead. "Ready?" he asked. She nodded and stepped into the large, garden tub full of steaming water. It stung her feet, ankles, and calves, but she still bent to sit, wincing as her tender petals and behind met the medicinal broth. Sy held her hand as she stepped in and guided her down. She closed her eyes at the soothing pain of the hot water and did not open them until she felt the water level rise. Sy had stepped in with her, wearing just his boxer-briefs, and was sitting on the side of the tub. He reached for the hand shower, and turned the water back on, slightly less warm, but still soothing and soaked her hair, directing the water away from her face. He had thought to grab her shampoo from the shower, as well, and was lathering some up in his hands to apply to her wet strands. It felt like heaven to have his fingers in her hair like this. Relaxing and soporific. He kept at it until she was certain he must be getting pruney, not to mention tired.

After carefully rinsing her hair of the coconut-scented lather, he grabbed the lavender foam bath she loved, and worked it up in one of the wash cloths he'd brought from the linen caddy between the sink and shower. He massaged the suds into her tired and injured skin over her back, then requested each leg in turn, kneading her calves and feet as she took another of the cloths and washed her face with the rich cleanser she kept by the bath, typically using it only on her "spa days" but feeling that it would nourish her battered cheeks and nose better than anything else. Sy's ministrations filled her with a kind of blissful contentment. She couldn't help but wonder if she deserved him. She always had thought she deserved the best things in life, even though her romantic past didn't tend to pan out that way. She'd worked very hard and often allowed herself to invest in quality. But now…she felt broken, in spite of herself. She'd have to tell Sy all that happened to her one day, and when that day came, he'd probably realize how damaged she really was, and he'd leave. Just like everyone else always did. She knew the conversation needed to come sooner rather than later, but couldn't bring herself to break the spell yet.

Sy let her soak for as long as she was comfortable until the water grew tepid. She looked up to him, sitting on the side of the tub, legs now outside, his gaze like twin seas met hers. He had been watching her, it seemed. As if worried that she would dematerialize if he looked away. Her bath robe was draped across his lap, as was a large bath towel. She moved to stand from the now chilled bath water, and Sy was immediately up to aid her rising. He held her hand as she stepped out of the tub and dried her top half before helping her don the robe, then continued to dry her bottom half.

"Go on in there and get comfortable, Sunshine. I have a few phone calls to make. I wanna let your folks know you're okay and I wanna tell Detective Clarkson you've been found. Anyone else you want me to get in touch with?"

"Umm, do you know if my brother and sister know what's happened to me?"

"They do. They should both be at your parent's house by now from what I gathered when I visited."

"Okay, so mom or dad will let them know. I guess you should call Susan, and let her know that I'm alive but won't be in this week. On my fridge, there's a phone directory for everyone in my department. But first, call Heather. I don't want her to worry any longer. Call her right after mom and dad. And tell them all I'll have them over tomorrow, but I can't tonight. I'm…"

She didn't even know what she was. Tired, sore, depressed, hopeless, and angry. A combination of so many feelings and emotions coursed through her.

"I'll work it out. You get in bed, and I'll be back in when I'm done with these calls, okay?" she nodded. He continued, "I love you, darlin.'" and wrapped his arms around her, making her feel almost whole again.

"I love you." she replied. Holding back tears until he had left the room.

~~~~~~

Shane realized she hadn't brushed her teeth in…far too long. She donned her sleeping clothes and went into the bathroom again to complete a comprehensive oral hygiene routine.  Sy had been gone for about a half hour, during which time, his absence felt like a noose around her neck. Or an anvil on her chest. It made it feel like hours had passed rather than mere minutes. She was fidgety. When he finally re-entered, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you need anything, sweet pea?"

"Just you."

Sy crawled under the covers with Shane to spoon her, arm laying over her rib cage. She winced, as the bruises on her torso were disturbed at the contact, but she didn't ask him to adjust. Despite the dull pain, this was what she needed. Sy's protecting arm around her.

"Did you get a hold of everyone?" She asked, sleepily.

"I did. Your family are eager to see you, but they understand your need for rest. Heather says that you better let her come over soon, because she's holding your phone hostage until you pay her in hugs. They all send their love."

"And Susan?"

"Yeah, that woman is a piece of work, I know, but I think she's going to come through for you. She's going to have them hold off on scheduling patients with you until you're better, and put both weeks in as vacation. She said you have plenty of it. But also, if you need more time, she can work out some…family medical leave…thing? She said she'd get the ball rolling on that, and will let you know what you need to do on your end."

"Oh, good. Yeah, she can be an asshole, but sometimes she does right by her employees. What about the detective?"

Sy paused there. "I, uh, I talked to him for quite a while and he said a lot of things. Let's go over the finer points tomorrow at breakfast. Or, rather, today." He said, looking at the blue numbers on the glowing digital clock on Shane's nightstand that indicated the wee hours of the morning were running out. "I'm sure we're both tired enough to grab a few winks, ain't we?" He asked, and she hummed her ascent as she tucked herself closer to his warm, monolithic chest.

As Shane drifted off, she thought she felt a warm kiss, and a whisper at her temple. It sounded like a tearful prayer. She was too far into her sleep to comprehend the words being said.

"Thank you God," Sy whispered. "I know I'm not your most faithful servant, but I am truly grateful that you've kept this treasure of mine alive and brought her back to me. Thank you for reuniting me with the woman I mean to spend the rest of my days with, if she'll agree to it. Thank you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About Thirty Minutes Ago-

Sy left the bedroom and began scrolling through his phone for the Benton's number. He pressed the call button with joy.

"Sy?" John answered frantically, just as he did the first time Sy spoke to him.

"John, is everyone there?"

"Yeah, we're all just watching a movie in the family room. Do you have news?"

"I do. You may want to put me on speaker, because everybody's going to want to hear this."

"Okay." and after a brief struggle with the speaker button and help from two younger people Sy presumed were Ethan and Gabby, John was back with the whole family. "Okay, Sy, we can all hear you. What's the word?"

"Oh, it's a very good word, guys. I found Shane and she is alive, and now safe." Cheering from what sounded like a stadium full of fanatics resounded from the ear piece of his cell phone.

"Sy, this is Gabby, Shane's sister. Can we come see her now?" Gabby's tears were evident in her voice. He wished he could tell them yes. But Shane needed her rest.

"I know she would love to see you, Gabby, she'd love to see all of you, but I think what she needs right now is rest. She's been through…a terrible ordeal. I took her to the Emergency Room to get checked out, and she just had a bath and is about to go to bed. She'll want to see you all tomorrow, though. Maybe around lunch time?"

"That sounds good, Sy. We'll bring some of this food over." John said.

"Are you sure we can't come over tonight? I…I want to see my daughter with my own eyes." Margaret said, weepily.

"I truly wish I could tell you yes, Peg, but she's hardly slept the last week, and just had her first full meal since she was taken this evening at the hospital. I really think it's best for everyone if you guys wait until tomorrow when she's more herself and rested." Sy reiterated.

"What about the people who did this to her?" a male voice he didn't recognize asked, assured to be Ethan. "Any leads on them?" He wanted to tell them that most of the men had been dealt with using lethal or nearly lethal force, and that the perpetrator of Shane's misery was locked up in Matt's shop bathroom until they decided just how to take care of him. But he needed to disclose what he knew to as few people as possible.

"The less y'all know, the better. For your own good. At least right now. Just know that whatever justice has not yet been served, it will be very soon."

"That's good enough for me." John offered, in an apparent attempt to bring Ethan on side.

"Thanks, John. I'll take care of her tonight. I won't leave her side. I promise."

"Thank you, son." John replied. Sy appreciated the tender address, but wondered how Ethan felt about his father referring to someone else as his son. Probably not that great. He couldn't worry about that now.

"It's my sincerest pleasure. I want you to know that. She's my world now. I won't let anything else happen to her."

"We know, dear." Peg added.

"Good night. And we'll see y'all tomorrow."

Four incoherent replies rang out before he ended the call. Next was Heather.

"Hello?" she answered in sleepy confusion.

"Heather?"

"Who'sis?"

"It's Logan Syverson. Sy? From PT. Shane's boyfriend."

"Sy! Oh, it's good to hear from you! Any news?"

"The best news, darlin.' Our girl is alive, and home safe." he smiled ear to ear saying the words, but it quickly turned into a wince when Heather shouted for joy in his ear. It was fine. Not like he didn't already have mild tinnitus.

"Oh my GOD! I'm coming over right now!"

"No, Heather, she's resting. She told me she'll see people tomorrow, but I don't think anyone but you and her family should be allowed in right now. She's…well, she's been through seven levels of Hell, and when I look into her eyes, I can still see the fire."

"Shit. Anything I can do?"

"She'll be thrilled to see ya. But tomorrow."

"She better. I have her phone and the ransom is a thousand hugs."

"That's a steep debt." Sy chuckled.

"She can owe me for a while." Heather laughed. "Is she okay?"

What a loaded question. Physically, she was injured, but would heal. Emotionally, that would be more of a journey.

"Honestly, Heather? Not really. The physical stuff is more or less superficial, but…I'm worried about her mental state."

"Poor thing. Please let me know if I can do anything. Anything at all. She's like a sister to me."

"I will. For now, keep the news and the details quiet. I'm gonna call Susan next, and I don't think she'll like it if you know before she does. Just a hunch."

"An accurate one. She'd be furious. I'll keep mum. Thanks so much for putting my mind at ease, Sy. Take care of her."

"I'll do my best. See ya."

He was dreading talking to Susan the most. More than Clarkson. He couldn't quite pinpoint why, but she'd really pissed him off every other time he'd talked to her, and he really didn't think too much of her.

"Hello, this is Susan."

"Hey, Susan, it's Logan Syverson. Shane's boyfriend." He made sure to put the label in there. Remind her that her policy had not been enough to keep them apart.

"Mr. Syverson. Hello. What can I do for you?" her haughty tone was softened a measure with concern for her employee. Even though she didn't ask about her in so many words, he knew that she was wondering.

"Nothing. I just wanted to let ya know, Shane's okay. She's been hurt, and won't be in this coming week, at least. She's in some pain right now, of both a physical and emotional nature."

"What happened?"

"She, uh, hasn't given me a lot of details." Not a lie. "She just escaped from her captor and we found each other." Misleading, but mostly true. "We just got home from the ER." Perhaps a lie by omission of the stop off at Matt's. "They said she'd be okay, but to follow up with her primary for more tests."

"Okay, I'll make sure her schedule is cleared. She has plenty of PTO for these two weeks, but I'll call the FMLA office in charge of family medical leave and short term disability and let them know she'll need some more time off, and see if we can get that going. I'll get with her about the details, and what she'll need to do. I'll text her sometime this week. How's she doing?" Sy thought he heard genuine concern from this dragon woman.

"About as well as someone who's been kidnapped, tortured, and assaulted for a straight week can possibly be, I'd say." Sy's words were civil, but tinged with venom. Even though she was being decent right now, he knew the kind of person she could be.

"Dear God." Susan gasped, shocked at the statement, and Sy wasn't sure whether it was due to the events themselves, or the blunt way he'd told her about them. "Well, I'll do anything I can to help her though this on my end. She's one of my best. I can't…I really don't think I could replace her."

"I'm glad you don't have to try, Susan. Have a nice evenin.'"

"Thanks, Sy, you too."

Sy took a deep breath as he pulled up Clarkson's number and called him. He honestly wasn't completely certain how he was going to explain things, but he'd figure it out. He was good at flyin' by the seat of his pants.

A gruff voice came from the ear piece. "Clarkson."

"Detective, this is Captain Syverson. We spoke about the Benton case a few days ago?"

"I remember you, Sy. What's up?"

"Oh, uh, well, wanted to tell ya you could close the case. I found her." It was the coming conversation in which he would really have to bend the truth or lie altogether.

"Really?! Oh, that's great, man. Where'd ya find 'er."

"I's drivin' 'round, hopin' to come across some lead or sign of her. I was a few miles down highway 100 when I saw a slumped form in one of the ditches. I pulled off at the next drive and went back to check, and it was her. She was hurt, but once she recognized me…I dunno, everything's kind of a blur after that. But I got her checked out at the ER, and brought her home now." Most of that statement was false…but not the recount of them seeing each other for the first time. That was a very real and true fact.

"Highway 100?"

"That's right. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I heard about a terrible, two-vehicle accident on Highway D tonight. No survivors."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." He wasn't. "I hope there weren't any kids involved." He knew there weren't.

"Nope. All adult males, aged 30-40. Couple of SUVs. One ran off the road, and another…well, it's almost like it was blown up on purpose. Happened just a few miles from town."

"That sounds horrible, but what does an accident on Highway E--"

"It was D. Highway D." Sy knew it was, and had said the wrong thing on purpose.

"My mistake. My question though, is what does that…tragedy have to do with my finding Shane on Highway 100?"

"That's what I'm wondering, myself, Syverson. See, there was some…evidence that suggests military involvement in this incident."

"Well, I'm retired."

"Are you though?  Is anyone ever really retired from the armed forces. No veteran I've ever talked to can seem to shake off the war shackles."

"Well, I ain't shackeled, detective. I'm proud of my time serving my country, but I got no cause to relive it or hang on to it. Especially now that I have Shane. She's my life now. That part of it’s over."

"I guess I have to take you at your word, captain. Got no evidence so far that ties you to the scene. Just…be careful. If you do anything retaliatory to Miss Benton's captor or captors, I won't be able to protect you, no matter how I feel about your actions. Or how justified they might be."

"Understood. I will keep that in mind should I decide to take matters into my own hands." he tried not to let the smile on his face show in his voice.

"Right, well…is she okay?"

"I, uh…I think she will be…eventually. She hasn't said much to me about what happened, but I know it was torture, or akin to it. "

"Well, I hope she recovers quickly. I'll want a statement from her before I close the case."

"Sure thing. As soon as she's ready to talk."

"Great. Thanks for the call, Sy. I'm glad she's safe now. That's all that matters, really."

"Agree. Have a good night, Clarkson."

He ended the call and rubbed his face as head in frustration with his free hand. They'd have to come up with a story. A good one. Close enough to the truth that Shane could feel comfortable telling it, but far enough of a departure that they weren't incriminated in any kidnapping, murder, or manslaughter charges.

But for tonight, they’d rest. And just be glad to be together again.

Up Next: Chapter 20-Second Assist

#Sand Castle #netflix sand castle #captain syverson #Captain Syverson x OFC #sigh for sy #henry cavill #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill x ofc

[dirt-cup-draco]

Bucky x Reader-Holding You

@wreckofawriter‘s cliche month

“What are you two doing here?” Bucky seethed, grabbing Rebecca’s arm as you two sauntered about the junkyard, drinks in hand and inhibitions slipping away. 

“Same as you,” Becca sneered, ripping her arm from her brother’s grasp. “Having a good time. It looks like you need to try harder,” 

Bucky growled, a noise low in his throat that only meant trouble but it made your stomach twist in knots and your heart rate rise to dangerous levels. 

“H-Hi Bucky,” You stammered, trying to distract from the tension and get a word in between the two large personalities you were stuck between. Being a Barnes meant being brash, stubborn and the life of the party and Becca and Bucky had those traits in spades. 

Bucky’s attention was drawn to you and he let out a groan. “Why you trying to get into trouble Becs?”

“God, you sound just like dad! Besides, Y/N is here and you’re not yelling at her!” Becca pouted. At nineteen, her teenage rebellion phase was going stronger than ever. Steve saw Bucky in her and you wondered if it was part of the reason the boys you were both so protective of her, keeping her from Bucky’s mistakes in the fear she would repeat history. 

“That’s because she can take care of herself!” Bucky argued and you were halfway between laughing at Becca’s put out look and fainting from the praise aimed at you from Bucky.

“She” You cut in, waving your hand between the two. “Can speak for herself. She is also going to go get another drink while you two argue. Where’s Steve?” You asked Bucky and you tried to keep the nerves from causing you to waver. You always got so nervous around him. Tonight, you refused. You would be as cool as a cucumber, damn it. 

“Oh um, check all the dark corners. Or just look for a lone shadow I guess,” Bucky said, his attention still focused on berating his baby sister for following him to a party that was very much not meant for the company of two young girls like yourself. Becca always hated that. She would be damned if she let anyone else tell her what to do or how to live her life. You could tell Bucky admired it as much as he hated it. 

She really was just like him. Yet, you could pick the two of them apart so easily. Bucky was surprisingly, not as rough around the edges as his sister. She had ideas, always had, and they drove her to being the person she wanted to be without apology. Bucky was the same in many aspects, but he could be who he wanted to be because he was a man. Becca had to fight her way to be accepted as the loud and proud woman she was. There wasn’t a submissive bone in her body. 

Bucky eye’s were lighter in color, sharp and observant but mingled in was the childish splendor that never seemed to leave. His cheeks were adorably rounded and his hair cropped short but it only accentuated his best features. You smiled into you drink thinking about the shape of his nose, the rosiness of his lips. To say you had a crush would be a devastating understatement. 

Grabbing a lukewarm drink from the bin a few feet from the fire pit you watched as people mingled, some sitting and chatting while others danced about. A few even ducked and darted behind and between the junked cars in a tipsy game of hide and seek. You shook the water from the bottom of the bin off your hand and noted that the ice had been long since melted, a shame. 

Your eyes were peeled, searching for Steve but it seemed like he was nowhere to be seen. He liked to stick close when Bucky was getting up to all that Bucky did but he wasn’t a fan of cheap thrills or getting his hopes crushed by another shallow dame. It made sense that he was somewhere further in the background, uninterested. You wanted to be spending your time with Bucky, but you feared he would grow weary of you following him around like a love sick puppy. Steve made good company and you were growing used to avoiding Bucky at the blonde’s side. 

Your search for Steve however was cut short as a tall man with boyish features approached you. His red hair curled around his ears and it bounced as he jogged to you. His cheeks were round, fair skin covered in freckles. It seemed his entire body was as you connected the dots that trailed down his neck and underneath the collar of his shirt that hung from his willowy form. His eyes were a dazzling shade of emerald and his smile turned golden and blinding from the firelight. “Care to dance?” The stranger asked, hand extended. 

You peered around you, determining that it was in fact you who he was talking to. You considered politely turning him down but then you caught sight of Bucky chatting up some pretty blonde. You sighed, but put on a smile. “I would love that,” 

He took your hand and swept you into the crowd with a celebratory “I told you boys she’d say yes!” that made you giggle. 

--

Three (or for, or five) drinks later and an hour of dancing and you were feeling absolutely dead on your feet, head floating on your shoulders as you tried to focus. You were on the grass, earth spinning about but your hand was clasped with another’s and your back was supported by a sturdy chest. “Hmm, when did we stop dancin’?” You wondered aloud, not quite remembering how you ended up on the ground. 

“Oh you sweet thing,” Shane, that was the pretty boy’s name, laughed warmly in your ear before pressing an affectionate kiss to your temple. “You really are a lightweight,” It seemed you had stopped some time ago as you focused on the embers of the bonfire, the flame burning lower than you remembered as the junkyard grew darker. You remembered feeling light, Shane spinning you around and sweeping you off your feet and now, your feet were resting. 

“Shhh, that’s a secret,” You mumbled to Shane, peering at him in the dying light of the fire. “I’m supposed to look impressive,” You muttered as he grinned, nudging his nose against yours. His hands were large against your hips, trailing up your sides. 

“Impressive for who?” He whispered, hand against your cheek as he nudged you to angle yourself towards him. You shifted then, moving in the handsome stranger’s lap so that you were facing him, elbows on his shoulders and nose against his. 

“Someone who doesn’t want me,” You pouted then, lip wobbling as you thought about how nice Shane was, how he made you feel special and wanted, but how it all felt wrong. You wanted it to be right, you had thought that since the moment he’d asked you to dance. He was sweet, fun, respectful. What was to stop you from wanting more with him? 

“Is it that guy you were lookin’ at before we danced?”

You nodded slowly, mind catching up as your tumultuous feelings and Shane rubbing your back helped you sober up. “Bucky. My stupid, lovely Bucky. Except he isn’t mine, he likes everyone else and I’m just Becca’s friend,” 

Shane didn’t know Becca but just smiled as you rambled on. “He’s a handsome fella, good guy too from what I know. We run into each other every so often. Steve’s a doll, been lucky enough to spend a night with him,” 

“You like Steve?” You gasped, eyes bright. “I love Steve! He’s so good, isn’t he so good? You should date Steve!” 

Shane laughed warm and hearty, reclining back as you stayed put. “I wouldn’t mind it but I don’t think that’s gonna work out, he’s steered clear of me since then... You’re pretty cute too, wouldn’t mind taking you out,” 

--

Bucky cursed as he stubbed his toe against an engine that had been left to collect dust in the yard. Hopping on one foot he surveyed the area through squinted eyes. The party had died down significantly and he had found Becca and Steve on the hood of a rusted car, watching the stars and talking about nothing in particular.

That was the sign that they were both thoroughly tired and his cue to go and search for you. He hadn’t seen you all night long and now as he couldn’t find you, he was growing worried. Bucky had been hoping to dance with you at least once tonight but then he had gotten into it was Rebecca and the chance had left with you when you’d gone to search for Steve.

What worried him more was that Steve told him that you’d never found him. What had you been up to all night? He skirted around the form of some passed out fool and walked closer to the dying firelight, taking long looks at the shadows in it’s vicinity and hoping that one of them had the white blouse you’d worn that night. 

That was his favorite top. It was well fitting and simple. The rosy colored buds of flowers made up the patter of the shirt and it brought out the tone of your skin and the warmth of your smile. You were as pretty as any flower he’d ever seen, prettier even. It hadn’t been until two years ago that he’d really taken notice. It had been a hot summer’s day and Becca was wanting to celebrate her birthday with him, Steve and you. You’d all gone for a swim. 

You had glowed in the sunlight as you ran around with his sister, splashing playfully in the water. “When did Y/N get so pretty?” He’d muttered, accidentally catching Steve’s ear. Bucky hadn’t heard the end of it yet, and it didn’t help that his eyes always seemed to be following you. So why couldn’t he find you now? 

He was about to call your name but was interrupted by two people speaking in low voices. Bucky could make out the frilled edge of your blouse. Your hands were planted on someone’s chest and your hair hung around your face as you giggled. 

“...You’re pretty cute too, wouldn’t mind taking you out,” The soft slur of the man’s voice floated up into the night air and Bucky sighed. He knew that voice. 

“Come on Y/N! Time to get out of here,” Bucky interrupted, hands finding your underarms as he hauled you up from Shane’s lap. The redhead darted up, a frown on his face.

“Jesus, Barnes. Give a guy, and girl-” He added, nodding to you as you pulled yourself from Bucky’s grasp. “-some warning next time,” 

“Yeah,” You said indignantly, fighting the urge to crawl under Bucky’s arm because it was what you wanted or go back to Shane’s side to make a point. Instead, you remained between the two. Your time spent talking to Shane had let you sober up and your mind was clear again and all was well despite the pounding that begun in your temples. “We were busy talkin’” 

“Right.” Bucky laughed. “Talking,” 

Shane opened his mouth, a bashful expression on his face but you cut in sooner. “We were! And so what if we weren’t? You’re Becca’s older brother, not mine,” 

Bucky felt like the wind had been knocked from his lungs and Shane let out a whoop of laughter. 

“Oh buddy! She got you there!” 

“Can it, Murphy,” Bucky blushed. Was that all he was to you? Becca’s brother? He understood if you didn’t feel the same, but he had at least hoped you two were friends. Even when you were all kids and he used to grab Steve and book it down the street so you and Becca couldn’t follow the pair of them to their “Super Secret Boy’s Only Hide Out”, which had only been an alley that didn’t get much traffic from trouble or citizens alike. The name had needed work. Despite his childishness, he’d always come back with Steve after they’d gotten bored and you’d all eat ice pops on the porch as friends. 

“Yeah, Murphy,” You giggled and Shane rolled his eyes at his last name, tucking you under his arm and ruffling your hair. 

“Whatever, kid,” He scoffed.

Bucky felt that familiar jealousy rise up and he glared. “I was just coming to see if you were coming back home with us all, but if you’d rather stay here then I don’t care,” He did care. 

You looked between Shane and Bucky for a minute before you pat Shane’s cheek. “Tonight was fun, don’t forget me, yeah?” 

“Never, ever, sweetheart,” Shane winked. “I’m sure I’ll see you around,” He said pointedly, glancing at Bucky before strolling off himself. 

“Lets go,” Bucky muttered, already four strides ahead of you before you could even process his words. You had to jog the last few steps to get to him. You grabbed his arm, digging your heels in as you brought him to a stop. 

“Why’re you so pissed?” You asked, eyebrow shooting up to your hairline as Bucky grunted. 

“I’m not pissed.” 

“Riiight,” You rolled your eyes in disbelief, trying to ignore how he hooked his arm in yours as you began walking again. You didn’t mind the proximity to him, even if he was being a bristly jerk. “Or did you forget the part where you pulled me off of Shane?” 

“You got me there,” Bucky winced. He’d been jealous, what could he say? “I’m just tired?” 

The suggestion fell flat however and you laughed softly. “You’re a miserable liar even after all of these years. You should’ve learned when you tried to convince me that it wasn’t you who had cut my ponytail while I’d been sleeping over” 

“You might’ve believed me if I hadn’t been holding the scissors,” 

“Maybe, but I’ve come to notice you sound like you’re asking a question every time you lie, like you can’t quite believe it yourself,” 

“You’re drunk?” 

You laughed as Bucky tried to wiggle his way out of the conversation, only now noticing his quite obvious tell. 

“I’m plenty sober now, thank you. But, for a moment there I could barely remember my own name let alone what Shane and I were doing on the ground,” You laughed lightheartedly but Bucky tensed up. 

“What do you have against him.” 

“Nothing?” 

“The truth, Bucky,” You sighed. “Please? I’m not interrogating you, I just hoped we were beyond lies,” Thankfully, the pleasant buzz was still in your system and your fun with Shane had given you the confidence to speak openly and honestly with Bucky. You hadn’t stuttered yet!

“You like each other,” Bucky stated and you paused in your steps. 

“I barely know him,” You pointed out. “We had fun, he’s a friend. I can tell you right now that we weren’t serious about a thing all night- we didn’t even kiss. He’s a nice guy, we were just talking.” 

Bucky just shrugged. 

“Look,” You sighed. “I know you’re protective over Becca and I can see why you see me the same way, but I meant what I said earlier. You’re not my big brother Bucky and-” 

“You really think thats what this is about?” Bucky gaped at you, nearly tripping over his own two feet as you both dodged a spare tire laying around. 

“What else could it be?” You asked, exasperated. You stood beneath the moonlight, arms crossed tight over your chest as you glanced at Bucky. There was a lonesomeness in your eyes that he found he could understand. It was the look of someone who had lost hope for something different from the ordinary. But what was unchanging in your life that troubled you? He couldn’t recall Rebecca mentioning anything. 

“I- You- You really don’t know?” Bucky stammered. 

“Don’t know what?” You asked, feeling a bit frustrated. You didn’t like being out of the loop especially when it came to Bucky. Had you messed up somehow? Did he think you a fool?

“Oh, doll,” Bucky laughed. “You’re going to be the death of me,” 

“Buck, just tell me!” 

Bucky just laughed harder and smiled wider, his hand easily finding yours as he pulled you against him. “What I have against Shane Murphy, is that he got to hold you all night long and I didn’t and I’d have kissed his ass if he kissed you because I didn’t have the guts to do it,” 

Your surprised gasp was swallowed as Bucky brushed his lips against yours, an experiment that left you weak in the knees. He pulled away to gauge your reaction but you chased his lips, gripping the back of his neck as you brought him to you again. “The night isn’t over yet,” You sighed as he trailed desperate, open mouth kisses against your jaw and neck. “He’s not here, and you’ve got me all to yourself,” 

Bucky’s arms were comfortably tight around your waist and you ran your fingers through his hair, wanting to memorize as many sensations as you could before this moment was over. Bucky was paying particular attention to a spot on your neck that had you gasping softly, hot breath coming from parted lips, when he heard a strangled noise and a boisterous laugh. 

“Fuck,” Bucky cursed on a panted breath, head falling to rest on your shoulder. 

“You owe me three bucks and some gum,” Becca beamed at Steve and he rolled his eyes. 

“Rather owe it to you then cheat you out of it,” He muttered with pink cheeks, embarrassed at finding you and Bucky in the middle of something but glad you two were finally realizing what had been between you for the past couple years. 

“You were taking so long, we got worried,” She explained. “You both have the terrible habit of waiting forever. I swear, all I hear from Y/N is how she would kill to be one of those girls you take to dances and Steve only ever hears how pretty you think she is.” 

Bucky grinned, looking down at you as you hid your face. “You had a crush on me?” 

“You had one on me?” You countered back and his smug look turned sheepish. 

“Glad that’s settled,” Becca chimed in again and you giggled as she looped her arm through yours, tugging you forward. “Now lets go home,” 

Bucky wanted to steal you from his sister’s side but he held back as he strolled behind the both of you, Steve elbowing his side in congratulations as he followed after you. You looked over your shoulder, shooting him a smile and a playful roll of your eyes as Becca whispered rapid-fire about something he couldn't make out. It made his heart skip a beat. 

Take that Shane, she’s mine. Bucky thought proudly as he followed Steve, having fallen a few steps behind. Bucky couldn’t get the thought of you out of his head, nor could he forget the feel of your lips against his. And god knows I’m her’s.

Bucky realized that the night truly was over as he dropped you off at home, wishing it didn’t have to end so soon after you two had only begun. Yet, when you kissed him for a long moment before racing indoors he knew that it wouldn’t be for long that you two would be parted and he would be holding you again. 

tag list: @angelinathebook @thehumanistsdiary @cleopatera

#bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #winter soldier x reader #fluff #cliche month #week 1 #best friend's brother #rough age timeline thing blegh #idk how i feel about this one #R O U G H TIMELINE

[redhoodssweetheart]

Legally Dead

Genre: Idk honestly

Relationship: No romantic relations

Requested: No, but it is based on this post that @idkmanicantenglish​ sent me (MY REQUESTS ARE CLOSED)

Word Count: 2K

Warnings: Little bit of angst, fluff, mentions of character death (it’s undone)

Description:  Jason died nearly two years ago.  People that knew and loved him mourned and moved on.  Now he’s back after being resurrected and trying to get the courts to declare him not dead.

Jason had technically died.  The joker had killed him and there had been a funeral and a grave site for him.  His friends and family had mourned and slowly moved on with their lives.  His death had made headlines in Gotham.  Front page news articles in all caps shouting about how the second adopted son of Bruce Wayne had passed away.

Then Jason had come back.

He had been in limbo for a while, on his own traveling, being a vigilante.  He wasn’t sure what he should do with his life.  What could he do?  He was dead.

Talia al Ghoul had taken him in after he had been resurrected and trained him, helped him.  She helped him harness some of the anger that he felt towards Bruce and Joker and himself.  He wasn’t the same as he was before he died, but then again who would be?

Now he was back in Gotham, back with Bruce and the others.  He now had two new brothers.  Tim and Damian.  Both of whom had taken over the Robin role.  There was also Cassandra and Duke.  Coming back to Gotham had been hard especially when the others hadn’t known who he was.  It had taken them a while to warm up to the idea that he was still alive.  For the most part, he stayed out of the limelight.  He didn’t do much or go anywhere during daylight hours.

Bruce had asked him if he wanted to come back, but Jason wasn’t ready for that just yet.  He wasn’t sure if he ever would if he were being honest.

One day Tim had dragged him out of the manor to go get some software upgrades for his computers and someone had seen Jason and Tim together.  Soon a photo was circulating around the internet with the captions “Is Jason Todd, long thought dead son of Bruce Wayne, still alive?”.  

Jason had wanted to bang his head against a wall after seeing the semi-blurry image of him and Tim together.

Soon there were conspiracy theories going around saying that Jason had faked his death, that he had been kidnapped and presumed dead, or that - and this was his favorite - he had been abducted by aliens.

“I think that was one of the theories Ryan presented on your episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved,” Dick said as he was scrolling through his Twitter feed which was going crazy with memes and theories galore about Jason.  “Damian rolled his eyes and asked why any alien would want to abducted you.”

Jason shot a look at his younger brother, “I will have you know I am a delight to be around.”

Damian, unruffled by Jason’s glare, merely arched an eyebrow, “Keep telling yourself that, Todd.”

Bruce sauntered into the room and threw a Gotham Times down onto the table.  In big, bold letters read JASON TODD HAS RETURNED.  The boys all looked at Bruce who now had his arms crossed against his chest.  “So are we confirming that you’re still alive or claiming that this is just someone that looks a lot like you?”

Jason read over the article.  All it said was that someone had managed to capture and image of the supposed Jason Todd who had died early two years prior in a horrible, undisclosed accident.  It also went into all the theories behind his disappearance - sans the alien abduction.  He thought over his options and what he wanted to do from here.  “Maybe it is time I come out of the shadows,” his gaze met Bruce’s.  “There’s no way the people of the internet are gonna let this go.  Especially if we say that it’s just someone who looks a lot like me.”

“I’ll set up a press release then,” Bruce said as he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone and make a few calls.  He knew that this would be huge news and put a lot of pressure on Bruce.  He also knew that he was going to have to get himself declared not dead with the courts which was going to be fun.

He just hoped that this would blow over rather quickly and he could get back to his life.

A few days later Jason was standing beside Bruce inside of Wayne Enterprises where a press conference was about to be held.  It seemed like every reporter in Gotham and from all over the country had shown up to squeeze inside the tiny room that was meant for press releases just like this one.  Suddenly Jason wondered if this was such a good idea.

The story was the Jason had been kidnapped by an unknown person and he had managed to escape back to Gotham.  It was flimsy at best but what else could they say?  Yeah he died, but somehow the timeline got screwed up and now he was back?  That wouldn’t go over well with the public and then they would have a whole new set of questions to deal with.

Bruce stepped up to the podium and smiled at the crowd, “I know you all are anxious to ask your questions about Jason and where he’s been all this time.  Please know that he’s had a very traumatic experience and we’re just happy to have him home.  He’s safe and healthy and I’m grateful that he was able to make his way home.  Please ask your questions one at a time and we’ll try to get to everyone before our time is up.”

Bruce motion for Jason to step up to the podium and stepped aside to allow him room.  Jason stared out over the sea of faces and took a deep breath before choosing the first reporter to ask their question.  All was going well until one asked, “So Mr. Todd are you going to have the courts declare you no longer legally dead?”

Jason gripped the sides of the podium and contemplated his answer, “I guess I should.  I mean I’m clearly not dead.  Bruce and I have been discussing it for some time now,” that was a lie, “but his main priority before subjecting me to that was just letting me get back into a normal routine.”

More hands shot up but Bruce came to the rescue and claimed that they were out of time for the day.  He ushered Jason away some of the reporters shouting their questions at Jason in a last-ditch effort to get the answers they wanted.

“Well Shane this is a first for us,” Ryan was saying.  Dick, Damian, and Tim were huddled around a laptop a week after the press release.  Apparently Buzzfeed Unsolved had decided to add a continuation for Jason’s story on their show.  “One of our unsolved cases has been semi-solved.”

“To be honest I didn’t ever think this was going to happen,” Shane said as he leaned back in his chair.  “I mean come on.  How did this guy survive so long in captivity?”

“I know!”  Ryan shouted.  “I mean yeah he’s home safe now, but who had him?  Where was he?  How did he escape?  The answers at the press conference the Waynes held was flimsy at best.”

Jason closed the laptop effectively shutting Ryan and Shane up.  “Hey!”  Tim protested.  “We were watching that.”

“And now you’re not,” Jason smirked at his younger brother.  “Come on and get dressed.  We have court in an hour and Bruce wants all of you looking your best.”

The three of them got up, grumbling about how they wanted to see Ryan’s new theories on Jason’s disappearance and if the alien story was going to come back up again.  Bruce had been watching from the doorway, fixing his cufflinks.  “Are you nervous?”

Jason looked at his adoptive father and shrugged, “Maybe a little?  I didn’t think I would be going through this if I’m being honest.  I hadn’t ever really planned to let people know that I was still alive.  I liked the fact that I was ghost of some sort.”

“The boys and I will be there with you, Jason,” Bruce assured him.  “And I know that these last few years have been hard on you.  I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you and I’m sorry that I let you down.  There were many times when I wished I could go back and do that whole night over again.”

Jason felt a lump in his throat at Bruce’s words, “Listen it is what it is and it can’t be helped.  We both made choices and now we’re here.  Let’s just get this court hearing over with and try to move on with our lives.”

Reporters were swarming the courthouse when the Waynes’ car pulled up in front of the steps leading inside.  They shouted Jason’s and Bruce’s names trying to get more for their stories.  The whole city had been on the edges of their seats waiting for this day to come.  Jason looked around and saw some people with signs saying “WELCOME BACK JASON”, “I LOVE YOU JASON”, “I KNEW YOU WERE ALIVE”.  He chuckled and ducked his head trying to keep the photographers from seeing his smile.

Inside was much calmer but there were still people there to see the outcome of this court case today.  The judge came and began reviewing the details of what had happened.  She looked at Jason with an arched eyebrow, “Mr. Todd, is it true that you were held against your will and believed to be dead for the past two years?”

“Yes, your Honor,” Jason replied.

“And you wish to be declared no dead?”

“Yes, your Honor,” he said again.

The judge was quiet for a moment looking from her papers to Jason and back to her papers once again.  She seemed to be mulling this over and Jason wondered why she had to think about this.  Clearly he was alive so what was the problem?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Todd.  You will remain legally dead,” the judge pounded the gavel and Jason and Bruce shared a wide-eyed bewildered look with one another.  Even Jason’s brothers shot out of their seats to protest, but the judge was already leaving the room.  A hush fell over the room as everyone stared at each other in confusion.

“So does this mean that if I commit a crime that I can’t actually be charged with it because I’m not technically alive in the eyes of the court?”  Jason asked causing Bruce to facepalm and the room to break out into laughter.

And from that day forward, despite the fact that he was very much alive, Jason was legally dead.

#Jason Todd #Jason Todd fanfic #Jason Todd fanfiction #Jason Todd angst #Jason Todd fluff #DC Comics #DC Comics fanfic #DC Comics fanfiction #DC Comics angst #DC Comics fluff

[shanie-the-toyaddict]

A, B, D, E and O.

(Also R) FOR THE FANFIC ASK! (Thanks, Zaynee!) A: Of the fanfic you’ve written, which is your favorite and why? - Well, honestly, I’m partial to the dang *book* I’m working on now, but if we’re going with completed works,,, Oh heavens this is like picking my favorite child. Umm, Ok, I’m gonna go with my Earthquake fic. (To Earthquakes, Lovers, and Newfound Friends.) I’m picking that one because I feel like it’s the only time I’ve ever gotten the balance of OFC to Canon correct in a story. So dang many of my stories are Mary Sue by default nature of them being my dreams and in that story, it was more of a straight Zowens story with my blind ass being along for the ride. So yeah, going with that one.

B:  What was the first fandom you read fic in?  Which was the first you wrote fic for? 

- I first started reading fanfic way back on the wee baby interweb in about 96 or so. My first fanfics were about Xena: Warrior Princess and were usually Gabrielle/Joxer because for some idiot reason I thought Xena and Gabby were straight. (I was very naive and very silly.) The first ever fanfic I wrote was, surprise surprise, a Based-On-A-Dream WWE(F) Fanfic. It was around 1999, was called Last Man Living, and involved Vince McMahon forcing the WWF Superstars into a Hunger Games style fight to the death in Titan Tower. It was extremely disturbing (for the era anyway), painfully Mary Sue, and never got further than a printed out copy, which I later threw away. I will say that, for some ungodly reason, I wrote two free-writing sequels that were even worst than the first one, and I had a fourth one planned that revealed the entire saga was a dream, but my college roomate (who I kept convincing to look at them) begged me to stop.

D. What’s the most personal fanfic you’ve written?

- Um, I’d have to say the entire “That’s What Friends Are For” saga is extremely personal to me. Yes, the first part is on AO3, but that’s only because I haven’t orphaned/deleted it yet. I want to. Writing that entire saga was far less about putting out a story and more about me channeling my inner BPD monster into a therapeutic outlet. Of all the OFCs I’ve written? Ren Humphries is the closest to my heart and the most like me. That one is straight up self indulgent, self insert fic that was written to satisfy my own needs. Like I said, I really want to just purge it, especially as I have no intentions of publishing the rest of the saga.

E: What character do you identify with most?  Is there a certain fic of yours that captures these qualities particularly well? - Well, like I said, Ren Humphries is straight up self-insert, so there’s that. Outside of OFCs... Well, I’d have to go with a WIP here and say Joxer from my “Planeswalking Like A Grecian” story. It features Joxer (from Xena) after he’s grown old and is killed, but he still has his youthful appearance on the astral plane. And his characterization is a mixture of “Surprisingly Wise Adult” and “Useless fool.” It’s the opposite of the Mad Scientist trope, Joxer has High WISDOM, Low Intelligence, and that’s straight up Shanie to a T. I can give remarkably good advice on a wide variety of topics, but if you asked me to add fractions or do most basic math, I’d probably start crying.

R: Which writers (fanfic or otherwise) do you consider the biggest influence on you and your writing?

- Back in THA DAY, there was a McMahon Family fanfic author who had written a slew of fanfics and put them on the old geocities fan sites. Her name was (and forgive me if I’m getting this wrong) Catherine Semerjain and she had a style of writing the McMahon’s in a blended Kayfabe/IRL setting. Like, the settings and situations they got into were sometimes wrestling related, but their personas were usually equal parts of the gimmick characters and the real people. Like, Shane in one story had a attitude problem and hated X-Pac. But he also was a nice guy at his core and happily helped the guy out when shit got dangerous because, regardless of their bitter feud, Shane didn’t want to see him get legitimately hurt. Trust me, it worked better in the story than I’m making it sound. That blended approach is EXACTLY the same one I take when writing most of my WWE fanfics to this day, and it’s why I have such a fudding hard time figuring out “Is this Kayfabe Compliant or not???”

Regarding recent stuff, I’d have to say @Mithen and @coloursflyaway are my biggest Zowens influences, but dammit Zaynee if you haven’t given me some brilliant ideas to work with! You were the one who lit the fire first, so honestly, any past, current, and future Zowens fanfics are your fault because of you.

Wheeee, that was fun (and a lot of writing!) Keep em coming!

[brendanmccahey]

Choosing Your Wedding Song To Walk Down The Aisle

The Choice is yours

Walking down the aisle is just one of the most unique parts of the big day. Anticipate a few tears as your partner sees you for the very first time in your dress as well as having your Father on your side only contributes to the emotion. We recommend taking a look below at our best wedding event songs of perpetuity as well as this curated list of tracks to walk down the aisle to find your motivation-- the track really has to talk to you.

A Sense Of Calm

You'll have 2 significant entrances throughout your big day: the bride's entrance and also your wedding reception entrance as couples (and also we have actually obtained plenty of wedding entrance songs to aid you choose that!) Yet the new bride's entry is the real start to the wedding day. While you'll have chosen prelude songs while your guests show up, as well as processional music as your bridesmaids stroll down ahead of you, the moment every person is waiting for is your arrival. All eyes on you can be fairly scary, as well as having wedding tracks or songs that you actually love can be calming-- along with aid you established the pace for your stroll!

Just how to Pick Your Bridal Entrance Song

Usually couples make a decision of the wedding entrance track with each other. There's a couple of key points to think about.First of all, the speed: you do not desire something too quickly as you wish to walk at a somewhat slower than normal pace. If your picked track is a little up-tempo, see if there's a slowed-down acoustic version offered. Secondly, make a decision whether you desire an item of classical music, a tune with lyrics or an important version of a tune. You'll need to work out when you desire the music to fade (if it's not a real-time band) so time your walk to stay clear of arriving at the front mid-verse or upsurge.

Something a little different ?                                                                  

If you prefer to have the song you walk down the aisle to be a surprise, that can be a great idea. We know of bride that selected a crucial variation of the Marvel Movie Theme as it was her other half's favorite movies! Your guests will enjoy to see your partner's response, and it'll be a terrific shot for your photographer to catch.

We have actually got lots of ideas for tunes to stroll down the aisle to. Many of these bridal entry tracks you understand, but some will be brand-new to you. Take a pay attention to our playlist or scroll to the full listing as well as you could discover one you both love.

Songbird-- Fleetwood Mac  

Here Comes The Sun-- The Beatles

Thinking Out Loud-- Ed Sheeran                                                                          

Lucky-- Jason Mraz ft. Colbie Caillat                                                                    

A Thousand Years-- Christina Perri                                                                

Canon in D Major (Pachelbel's Canon)-- J.S. Bach Orchestra                          

Your Song-- Ellie Goulding                                                                                  

I'm Kissing You-- Des' ree.                                                                                  

She Moved Through the fair - TRAD                                                                         

Your song -- Elton John

From This Moment On-- Shania Twain 

What A Wonderful World-- Louis Armstrong.

The Secret Wedding (From "Braveheart")-- David Arkenstone including Kathleen Fisher.

Marry You-- Bruno Mars.

Make You Feel My Love-- Adele.

Just the Way You Are-- Bruno Mars.

Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World-- Israel Kamakawiwo'ol

Glasgow Love Theme-- Craig Armstrong.

Air On the G String, from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068-- J.S. Bach Orchestra.

Iris-- The Goo Dolls.

Wonderful Tonight-- Eric Clapton.

Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from "Solomon"-- Bela Banafalvi & Budapest Strings.

Paradise-- Coldplay.

Tale As Old As Time (Instrumental)-- Beauty and the Beast.

How Long Will I Love You-- Ellie Goulding.

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face-- Roberta Flack.

This I Promise You-- Ronan Keating.

Air-- Handel.

Kiss from a Rose-- Seal.

Amazing Day-- Coldplay.                                                                                    

You Had Me From Hello -- Bon Jovi.                                                              

Come Away With Me-- Norah Jones                                                                      

A Whiter Shade of Pale-- Procol Harum.                                                       

Falling In Love With You Again-- Imelda May                                                         

I'll Be There-- Jackson 5.                                                                                 

Halo-- Beyoncé.                                                                                                    

At Last-- Etta James                                                                                          

The Rose-- Bette Midler.                                                                                      

I'm Yours-- Jason Mraz                                                                                    

Chapel of Love-- The Dixie Cups.                                                                

Romeo & Juliet: Act I, Scene XVIII, Gavotte-- Valery Gergiev & London Symphony Orchestra.                                                                                          

Crazy Love-- Van Morrisson

Love Of My Life -- Queen

The One-- Kodaline.

La Vie En Rose-- Edith Piaf.                                                                                  

A Million Love Songs-- Take That.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight-- Elton John.

Celebration-- Kool & the Gang.

Could I Have This Dance-- Anne Murray.

(Everything I Do) I Do It For You-- Bryan Adams.

Gabriel's Oboe-- Ennio Morricone.

She-- Elvis Costello

Young Hearts Run Free-- Kym Mazelle.

Beneath Your Beautiful-- Labrinth & Emeli Sandé.

The Luckiest-- Ben Folds

Can't help Falling In Love-- Elvis Presley.

Chasing Cars-- Snow Patrol.

Latch-- Sam Smith.

Nothing's gonna to Stop Us Now-- Starship.

Wind Beneath My Wings-- Bette Midler.

Beautiful in White-- Shane Filan

Come Rain Or Come Shine-- Ray Charles.

Endless Love (From "The Endless Love" Soundtrack)-- Lionel Richie & Diana Ross.

Hey There Delilah-- Level White T's.

Love Me Like You Do-- Ellie Goulding.

The Book of Love-- Peter Gabriel.

And I Love Her-- Beatles                                                                             

Songbird-- Oasis.    

Earned It-- The Weeknd.

Here and Now-- Luther Vandross.

Linger-- The Cranberries.

Sweet Disposition-- The Temper Trap.

Till There Was You-- The Beatles.

Truly Madly Deeply-- Savage Garden.

Unchained Melody-- The Righteous Brothers.

All About That Bass-- Meghan Trainor.

Budapest-- George Ezra.

Have I Told You Lately?-- Van Morrisson

Isn't She Lovely-- Stevie Wonder.

Moon River-- Frank Sinatra.

One Day Like This-- Elbow.

Tenerife Sea-- Ed Sheeran.

Grow Old With Me-- Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Haven't Met You Yet-- Michael Bublé.

Here Comes the Bride (Wedding Version)-- Dannie Marie.

This Guy's In Love with You-- Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass.

Click Here to listen to all these songs on our spotify Playlist

for more information on choosing your wedding song contact 

Brendan McCahey Band

#brendanmccahey #choosing your wedding song to walk down the aisle wedding song wedding ceremony wedding in ireland

[levyfiles]

helloooo!!!! since you are my fave blog about shyan content, i must ask: what are your favorite fics???

AHhh! I–OK well, Lately I’ve been finding more and more fics that fill my heart right up with every gorgeous headcanon there is, but If we’re talking all-time favourites, I have finally compiled a List from the moment I started reading shyan fic in 2018 of fics that have ruined my life; all of them here in no particular order.

Be All My Sins Remembered by spoopyy

Summary: In every lifetime, they find each other.

Review: This fic manages to take you on a long journey through what feels like a series of AUs and they all weave in and out of the wealth of their relationship with some vivid descriptions of the historical settings their journey takes them through. As someone who grew up reading Anne Rice’s epics through historical events, this fic is right up my alley. A vampire Shane passing through the wave of human society’s climb searching for a reincarnated Ryan again and again, trying to hold on to him and keep him through great tragedies and timeframes that just don’t let them be together. This was one of the first fics I read when I was only a lurker and to be quite honest, I need to give this one a nice re-read, maybe for the book club which would be loads of fun. Either way, 10/10. Would be Hurt in the heart again.

Perfect Fit by @beaniegara

Summary: There’s a legend that says anyone able to take all of statue Shane’s cock will summon the god to the mortal realm. Given the statue’s excessive size, no one has ever succeeded to prove or disprove the story.Until Ryan that is.

Review: Listen. You wanna talk actual fandom legends. This fic is one of them and it pulls out all the stops on being delicious and evocative. Also features one of my favourite incarnations of size queen bergara. Good stuff and you’re really rooting for Ryan in this lol. 

Everything’s Weird and We’re Always in Danger by the beethechange

Summary: Ryan perches on the edge of the bed, an indistinct shape that Shane can only just make out in the dark, so he turns the lamp back on. He wants to see Ryan’s face, wants to know that he is alright. Ryan’s cheeks are damp, his hands fisted in the hideous flowered duvet.

“It won’t go away,” Ryan says miserably. “I’ve been like this since we got here, basically, and it won’t fucking—”

“Ah,” Shane says. “Well, you know, sometimes fear…adrenaline…they can affect people. Physically.” He waves his hands indistinctly crotchward. “It’s a, a scientifically known phenomenon.” Shane feels a little better staying in the realm of scientifically known phenomena.

Review: Word of advice. You see a fic is authored by beethechange, run don’t walk because you’re absolutely always going to be treated to the best of banter, the best of prose, chemistry, organic execution and feels right up the bottom end of your heart. This fic, this changed everything I thought I knew I wanted out of a bed-sharing fic. It’s got a little bit of two treats here. You got a sex-pollen-esque situation mixed with bed-sharing and holy fucking damn that is more than you think you deserve, but read this because you do deserve the best of the best. The build up, the dialogue, the surprisingly hilarity of it, the hotness woah, and The Aftermath. When you think you know what you’re in for, you’re wrong and you’re most pleasantly surprised. Get this fic in your life and honestly? while you’re at it, you could do a clean sweep of every fic in her list of works and while my less than adequate reading time management may still be short on some of her most well-recommended pieces, I have an adamant faith that Bee doesn’t disappoint. Go get y’all juice.

Maelstrom by thewindupbird

Summary: Here’s the thing about driving halfway across the country to see someone. You can’t really deny, after that, that you’re pretty much head over heels for them.

Review: Listen. One morning on a day off, I just laid in bed and read this– all 40k+ words– while lying there clutching my pillows, hurting and loving every moment of it. The descriptions of Americana, the slow steady metronome rhythm of Ryan’s feelings as frightened and helpless as they feel when you’re relating deeply to them juxtaposed with the deep-seated struggle of understanding what it is to be with someone you love so much but your mental health is burning quiet holes in your ability to express it in a way that can be understand. Ryan’s fierce determination, breaking through the silence of their non communication is really Everything to me in this fic. i think I really left my heart in the scene in Shane’s parents kitchen. That finished me. Read this fic and understand the deep relief you get when you’ve finished a fight with someone you fiercely care about and they understand you and you understand them and it’s OK; it’s gonna be all right. Augh. 

A Burial on Box Hill by InkStainsOnMyHands

Summary: The Celtics believed that the yew flower symbolized both immortality and death. Meanwhile, for centuries, the buxus flower was seen as a symbol for safe passage into the afterlife.

Or,Shane and Ryan were never the same after investigating the Black Forest of Germany alone.

Review: Let me just quote my bookmark comment here. Usually I flee from tragedy like a cat spotting a cucumber but the brevity and the prose dragged me in and now I’m a functioning mess. Bless this fic. Oh my god it’s short and reads like one of those quick horror stories you’ll read to your friends just as the scary stories are transitioning from the urban legends to the ones that feel real. Big warning for main character death but still read it if you appreciate a good story told.

Body Farming by shiphitsthefan

Summary: Failed suppressants and a surprise heat: the worst of cliches, and here Ryan stands, living the trope on location with the alpha he’s hopelessly in love with. Even worse, they’re spending the night in the famous Bell Witch Cave, completely alone and with no way to contact the outside world.

Ryan knows he can survive and keep his preheat a secret, as long as Shane will stop being so protective and concerned. After all, it’s not like Shane wants to bond with him.

Right?

Review: Now judging from the reactions of many people I’ve spoken to, big heavy ABO kink is not popular here but guys, GUYS. This one. Let this one in I promise it is not what you think it is. The dynamic is organic and the worst side of the trope is subverted in all the best ways and lord help us, the smut is hot, like swelteringly smoking. It’ll stay with you. 

Believer by cellard00rs

Summary: Some demons and otherworldly creatures love climbing up the power ladder. Shane is not one of these. He likes where he is (thank you very much) and has no interest in moving up. All he wants is to give his friend Ryan a nice birthday gift. So, naturally, everything goes to hell.

Review: This fic is another fandom legend. When I think demon!Shane. It’s this and one other one that always pops right into my mind. This was my first exposure to the bureaucracy meets the supernatural!Shane trope and I was sold from the get-go. The Shane in this fic is everything I imagine a demon!Shane is and his ginger care for Ryan, the concept of their bond and how even though Shane is a demon and responsible for keeping the supernatural a firm secret from Ryan and the rest of the world, his skepticism is relayed through his status as a demon. I want to talk more about it but I think so much of the enjoyment comes from the surprises as the plot unfurls. 

Heartbeat by quackers

Summary: So the guy Ryan sits next to at work is a vampire. That’s no big deal, right?

Review: I could talk your literal ear off about this fic. Vampires, man. I love the trope; you don’t know me as a person if you don’t know this at least. And this fic kept me fed all damn year. It was a readable garden. If there is one thing I can guarantee about quackers’ work, it’s that their world-building is a festival of detail. The realms and alternate universes they work with while still managing to keep Shane and Ryan’s voices so familiar and real is a talent not attributed to your everyday author. This fic propelled me into wanting to write more and more because quackers makes stories so much fun! Reading their work is, to me, not unlike the feeling I got when I was younger and finding series that speak to my need to escape this crummy existence, made me want to believe in fun spicy things like a vampire that lived through centuries, cynical but still searching, navigating a world where people are still people, adjusting to differences and prejudices, finding comfort in a guy that understands that and more. I’ve talked about this fic in more than a few different posts so I’d just be reiterating a lot of things I loved about the more historical aspects of Shane’s journey, the way Ryan is so firmly curious and inventive in ways to connect with Shane. Look, even if vampires aren’t your thing, I can promise that if you visit quackers list of work, you will find something for your supernatural-lovin’ palate that speaks to a gentler side of your own curiosity about monsters and the jocks that love them. lol.

I’ll Crawl Home by carrieonfighting

Summary: “Shane was almost unnerved by how quickly he’d settled into this body, this name, this life - his friendship with Ryan was the most time he’d spent with any human before, and yet the man fascinated him.”

Review: This is the second fic I think of when someone says the words ‘demon!Shane’ to me because ohhhh my word, this fic is a masterpiece. I really am hard pressed to find anything better than the feeling I get when I think of demon!Shane headcanons interwoven with the irl Buzzfeed reality and the idea of the Ryan as we know him being protected and watched and loved so deeply by a demon that found him so long ago and wanted nothing but to protect him. I feel an almost vicious glee reliving that moment when Ryan and Shane are on goatman’s bridge and man, I just really love canonical fic mixed with a slight twist. The writing in this makes it work so well with lines that still haunt my heart and soul like “Ryan liked popcorn. So did the demon. Genuinely, not just out of a desire to please the human – he liked the way it crunched between his vessel’s teeth. There were some aspects of taking a corporeal form that were…nice; laughing, coffee, feeling warm. Ryan made him laugh.” FUCK! The beautiful agony of it, watching the demon fall in love with Ryan through the eyes of his vessel. Just stark with pain and unspoken, well-written angst and pain with a perfect ending, I wouldn’t change for anything. I love this for us as a fandom and will always love that author crafted this piece and shared it with us. (Also every time I hear Work Song by Hozier, I think of this fic again and sigh).

Like I said at the beginning, thanks to @skepticbeliever-bookclub I’ve been discovering and re-discovering some fics I hadn’t had the chance to read and or have never even heard of before and my bookmarks list is growing with each new week. So if you get through this list and need more in your life, here you go. Every fic in my bookmarks deserves the community’s attention. If I can just make one special request of you guys? If you do happen to click any of these and enjoy what you read, please take the time and tell the author what you loved about it. It really changes the game out here for fanworks and fan-creators like you wouldn’t even believe and the people who shared these works with us worked hard to make the stories what they are and put a great deal of emotional investment in sharing it. Share more than your silence in return. 

Hope you find something you like here, nonnybabe.. 

#shyan fic #shyan #skeptic believer #recs #love tag #Anonybae

[makemadej]

So today two of my worlds collided in the best way: Ryan and Shane were guests on one of my favorite podcasts. I was totally blindsided by this since there was no promo for it whatsoever (who knows why, maybe they forgot when the release date was, maybe they’ve been taken captive by skeletons, maybe they’re just terrible at promoting themselves), and it killed me that I couldn't listen to the whole thing until after work. It's over two hours long and podcasts aren't everyone's cup of tea, so I'm capturing the ghoul boy highlights here for anyone who wants them.

Wine and Crime is a weekly podcast hosted by three ladies who are feminist as fuck and pair a different crime with a different wine each episode. This time, the theme was Pandora's Box crimes, aka "crimes that were only supposed to be minimal but ended up being a shitshow." Inevitably, they paired it with boxed wine.

Enter the ghoul boys.

Ryan, on Franzia: I do enjoy slappin' a bag Shane: I've seen Ryan slap some bags in my day. [...] Ryan: Shane has to tell me to stop slapping the bag sometimes Ryan: I used to do this thing in college called Tour de Franzia. It was like a drinking game, but it was an obstacle course, and at every checkpoint you had to slap the bag. [beat] I made great decisions in college.

Ryan: You say "nice stream" to the sound of liquid being poured into something, it maybe is not the best...it may not communicate well over audio. Shane: Hey, nice stream Ryan: Nice stream. That's what I say every time I go up to a urinal. To any guy. Tap him on the shoulder. Shane: Men in public bathrooms, we all compliment each other's streams. Ryan: Yeah. It's best if you whisper it. At close proximity. I get really close so he can smell the Popeye's on my breath that I just got at the terminal and I whisper "nice stream."

Ryan: We're drinking the 14% Four Lokos seltzer over here [borderline unintelligible banter about playing Edward Four Lokos hands]

Ryan, on the description of himself on a "which BFU guy are you" quiz: That sounds like the description of a golden retriever.

Shane: I know there's one quiz that was popular where the description [of me] was entirely wrong.

Ryan, increasingly high pitched: A fan sent you all these goat parts?

[What is your favorite wine varietal?] Ryan: Hmmmmmm... [Do you know what a varietal is?] Shane, with gusto: No!

Ryan: Wine to me is just wine at this point. I'm not that far on my wine journey. I was a beer guy that's transitioning over into wine. Shane: Well, it sounds like you're not doing a very good job. Ryan: You know what, I said I am LEARNING, Shane. So why don't you get off your high horse and tell them what kind of wine you like? Shane: I don't even know! Ryan: Mr. "I don't know what a wine varietal is" Shane: Yeah. But I don't call myself a wine guy Ryan: I never said I was a wine guy! I said I was-- Shane: You were like, "Oh, have you see that Netflix documentary, Sommelier?" Ryan: First off, I didn't say it like Elmo from Sesame Street, but I also said I was transitioning!

Shane: I like some red wines and some white wines Ryan, imitating him: I like the stuff with the alcohol in it...and sometimes it has bubbles and makes my tummy feel good and uhhhh, yeah Shane: Yeah, I don't really know... Ryan: Sick answer Shane: There's a kind my girlfriend always gets that's really good but I don't...I can't remember the name of it Ryan: That's a long name. That's actually a good name for a wine! The Kind My Girlfriend Gets, ever had it? They sell it at Trader Joe's. Shane: I'm not even trying to do like a...*weird cowboy voice* "I'm a man, so I don't drink wine. Only my girlfriend does." I like wine, I've just...I've never been good at wine. And wine makes me real sleepy, so I almost never have it. Ryan: That's why I don't drink red wine...and it also makes me look like I've been chewing on mud clots or something.

[What is one "unsolved" case that you're pretty sure you've solved?] Ryan: What was that one where I was like, I think I've pretty much solved this one? The Black Dahlia I'm pretty sure was George Hodel. I'm almost positive of it. Shane: Wasn't there like a missing child one that we thought we had sorta gotten? Bobby Dunbar Ryan: Bobby Dunbar. I think we had solved that one. Uh... Shane: We can never concretely say that we've solved it. Ryan: No, we can't legally, but I'm pretty sure D.B. Cooper's bones are an ornament in some pine tree out there in the Pacific Northwest [...] Shane: The case is pretty closed on Amelia Earhart, too. Ryan: I don't think so. Shane: Yeah, she got eaten by crabs. Ryan: I think it's closed in your mind. That's what you'd like to have happened. Shane: That's what happened. Ryan: Giant, man-eating crabs. It's amazing that those exist. I saw one dragging a coconut. Not hard to imagine that coconut being a head. Shane: Yeah. Of an aviatrix. Ryan: Of an aviatrix, yeah. The most famous aviatrix of all time!

Ryan: Fun fact, shaking my bones is what I call dancing.

Shane: I'll say that Ryan is 100% that bitch. Ryan: I'd say 0% actually. Shane: See, that's what makes you that bitch. Ryan, cracking up: What about you, Shane? Shane: Mm. 45.

Ryan: I don't know if people would like me walking into a room trumpeting "I'm 100% that bitch!" every time I walk in a room. I think there's nuance to it. You can't always be 100% that bitch. [...] Or if I'm trying to make an omelet and I can't make the flip...not 100% that bitch in that moment. I'll tell you, it's the bane of my existence Shane: You can't make an omelet? Ryan: It's impossible! Shane: It's not. Ryan: It's really hard! I don't think I have the proper pan. Shane: It sounds like you don't. Do you have a good spatula? Ryan: Maybe, I dunno... Shane: WHAT DO YOU MEAN MAYBE? DO YOU HAVE A GOOD SPATULA OR NOT? It’s a yes or no question! Ryan: I think it might be, I don't know! I have no idea where it came from, I got it from my mom. Maybe she bought it from Sur la Table? Shane: I was gonna say, go to *French accent* Sur la Table, get a little free espresso... [degenerates into arguing about French pronunciation]

Shane on working at Abercrombie: I was in the stock room, they didn't let me up front. Not my beat. [...] Me and my friends...would just hang out in the back and listen to music and eat cookie dough. And they'd be like "we need you to fold this box of girly shirts" and we'd be like "ah, okay!" and then we'd just take the box and be like "this is too many shirts." And we'd just throw it...this was the area like a loft area where you couldn't see anything. We'd just throw the boxes so we wouldn't have to fold the shirts. They're probably still there. Ryan: Sounds like you were a great employee.

Shane: I started as Buzzfeed as an intern. Ryan had started a month or two before me. So we came up in the same intern class together.

Ryan: I did grip and electric work for two years, which is basically like lifting heavy gear essentially on set and I realized I didn't want to do that for ten years before I even had the chance to sniff a camera.

Ryan: I filmed powerpoints for doctors...I did feel like a prisoner at times when I was there, listening to a doctor from USC's Keck medical school talk about irritable bowel syndrome for two straight hours...I was a couple days away from joining the union...That was concurrent with the irritable bowel syndrome filmings.

Ryan: I chose the internship at Buzzfeed not knowing what it was, met the Shaniac over here, and then, um...we went through that program, which was kind of like the Hunger Games. We saw all of our fellow interns die. [...] We worked our way up, I eventually made Unsolved.I made unsolved actually with a different host, Brent Bennett. He left the show because he didn't like...I believe the quote was "I don't like these stories anymore." Shane: *dies laughing* Ryan: And I turned to my right and was like, "hey Shane, wanna do this instead?" and he was like "sure" and that's that. And from then on I guess we never looked back.

[Shane, how do you feel about being the second choice?] Shane: I'm fine with it. Really, there was so little fanfare to him asking me. Ryan: No ceremony at all. Shane: 'Cause we were just making stuff left and right at that point and series were not really an established thing at Buzzfeed [...] Even when Ryan had asked me "hey, would you like to be in this?" uh...I was like "yeah, lemme..." Ryan says I checked my calendar. Ryan: Yeah, Shane looked over at his google calendar, saw that next week was open, and was like "yeah, looks like I've got some time" and I was like "sweet, lock it in" and he was like "cool." And then we both put our headphones back on 'cause we sat next to each other at a desk and worked on other things and that was that.

[What is some of the silliest feedback you've gotten about your show?] Ryan: Luckily the fan base is pretty nice. There's plenty of fun, positive comments out there, however, this is one that tickled me the most. A guy somehow found my personal email address and emailed me to let me know. He's like "hey man, love the videos, excellent content to get stoned to. Keep it up, cheers!" I don't know who this man was.

Shane: I do have some hope that Bigfoot is real. A little unlikely. The other one I always root for is Champ in Lake Champlain. Ryan: I don't know why you have such an obsession with Champ. [...] Shane: Champ...there seems to be something fishy going on there. There's something going on in that lake. Ryan: Good pun Shane: Not even. There's something going on there and I've seen that lake and I've looked out at that lake and I've felt something inside me just looking out at it. Ryan: You sure it wasn't just IBS? Shane: We've established that you're the one with IBS Ryan: I'm not the one with IBS! Shane: You joined the union! Ryan: You were the one who almost pooed your pants on an investigation Shane: That's a different story! Ryan: You ate two hot dogs that were served at the baggage claim in Philadelphia Shane: We. Were. Hungry.

Ryan on Dyatlov Pass: I'm gonna double down here. I think it was a yeti. Or, not a yeti. I think it was an abdominal snowman. Shane: Abominable. 

[borderline unintelligible banter about an incredibly ripped yeti doing crunches]

Shane: I'm very content with the mysteries of the universe never being uncovered. It's fine. Ryan: It's frustrating. Shane: You're gonna go to the grave not knowing so many things, so you might as well just give up on them. Ryan: Such a nihilistic way to look at everything.

Shane: If you know anyone who's traveling and they're your enemy, you just call the FBI and say "oh, they're up to no good up there." Ryan: If Shane was flying somewhere I could just say "yeah, I think he's dangerous. I know him. He's the guy who couldn't fit a hat on his big head."

[interlude where they decide to name an anonymous suspect Shane Ryanson]

Shane: It would be funny if this was like the highest escalation of a prank war between two friends Ryan: That'd be a hilarious prank, getting someone thrown into federal prison. Super funny. Gotcha!

Shane: If you're the kind of person who is likely to call in a threat to the FBI solely as a way to get a dig in at your friend, that probably stays with you for life. That's pretty hard-coded into who you are. Ryan: That's true. Especially when you look like an out of work Batman villain [...] If this dude walked into a 7-11, I would drop my Slurpee immediately and run to my car. He's a scary man. I'm out. Slurpee's on the floor.

Shane: I'll tell you this in defense of dolphins, they do have funny little smiles.

Shane, on breaking into Sea World: That seems like an extremely Australian thing to do.

Shane, googling fairy penguins: Yes, it's a wonderful little penguin! He's so small! Ryan: This is great, this is like a dark gritty reboot of Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Shane: Just...to meet someone, get along so well that you each drink a half a liter of vodka together and then go swimming with dolphins and blast some sharks with a fire extinguisher Ryan: ...and then decide, let's top off the night by bringing home a fuzzy little friend Shane: I mean, by that point you've got a winning streak going. You're like, "yeah, we didn't get eaten by sharks! we did swim with the dolphins! Of course we'll steal a penguin!”

Ryan: I bet the penguin actually helped the hangover, to be fair. If I was hungover, I normally just see my blinds shuttered in my room, my shoes are somewhere in the house, but if I found a penguin I'd be like "okay, maybe this isn't so bad." Shane: A rehabilitation penguin. He just hopes on your bed in the morning. Ryan: Just starts smacking me in the face with his little fins. It's great, I love it.

Shane: I think she shouldn't have killed her husband. Have a little faith in his worm farm.

#long post #buzzfeed unsolved #wine and crime #ryan bergara #shane madej #sometimes i write

[let-me-make-you-proud]

Tangled: The Series Q&A with Kait.

This is a recapitulation from today’s (September 14, 2019) Questions and Answers session with Kait on the Tangled Discord Server.

Q: Which Disney princesses outside of Tangled the series can you see Varian being friends with? Nonfranchise ones included.

A: I think Belle is the first one who comes to mind!! She’s super studious and goes against the grain…not to mention her father is an inventor who’s a little off-base! 🙂 I think he’d be super comfortable experimenting with Belle and her dad and reading awesome stories! (Maybe even sharing the Tales of Flynn Rider with her! …Assuming she hasn’t read it! Haha. ) He could also eat ham sandwiches with Anna. Sorry. Second thought. Lol!!

Q: So Kait, as a storyboard artist on the show what kind of little details, quirks or creative touches did you or any other artists put into Varian scenes you or others storyboarded?

A: Ha!! Any acting scene with Varian I had…I pretty much based off of Anna Lencioni (my best friend/ another board artist on the show.) Anna makes these very specific expressions and she gestures to herself a lot and closes her eyes and creases her brows and says things like “A-huh! Actually…” or “Um!!” Before making a point and it’s always reminded me of him.

She kept a “flynnolium” prop from Halloween with green goo in a vial in her cubicle at work so long it grew mold. She said she was studying it. She found scrap metal in her boot one day. She has a basement lab for her experiments and crafts. She befriended two raccoons at her last apartment. She is the most accident-prone person with freckles I’ve ever met…she’s pretty much him.

Jeremy Jordan’s reads give you so much to work with…and I love that character so much I feel a natural sort of understanding of how he might say something or do something…but Anna would always do these specifically Anna things that I had to use for Varian.

Q: Do you have any specific advice for aspiring storyboard artists or people who aspire to work in animation?

A: Gestural drawings help you learn to draw fast…which is a very important part of storyboarding. I would say storyboarding‘ s biggest requirements are clarity and speed. Lots of productions have different requirements in terms of what they look for from story artists. Tangled‘s leadership cared a lot about drawing skill, animation, layout, etc. because it more strongly informed the animation studio to have those things. The show I’m working on now (Monsters at Work) is a 3D show…so for our production, the emphasis is more on story and speed. We pitch ideas more than we pitch drawings…so clarity is important and acting is too, but we’re far less precious about tying down drawings and animating since we shift into the 3D production pipeline after story. The boards are still very important…but the more technical aspects are a *little* less so. The focus is just more on story and character and what the board artists can bring to their scenes.

So I’d say just practice drawing…maybe try and give someone a prompt or ask a friend for one. Choose a theme! Maybe vampires? What’s the worst thing that could happen to a vampire? What’s the best thing? What’s the funniest thing? What if they were also an alien? Or fused with a werewolf? Or chained to one? What would happen? Giving yourself a starting point for an idea will inspire you to explore all the possibilities for humor, drama, etc. in that idea. If you’re struggling to give yourself a prompt, try looking online…or maybe choosing a song you like or a passage from a book for inspiration.

There’s also this really fun thing you can do to study cinematography and shot composition called a “three tone” exercise. Basically…put on your favorite (live action) film, grab a sketchbook, grab a black and grey marker, and use the white of the page for your third tone. What you wanna do is (as you’re watching or while pausing) sketch a small thumbnail using only three grey tones of what you see on the screen. Draw the shot- where the characters are, try and duplicate the lighting…it teaches you a lot! 🙂 (Phew!)

Q: Do you have any fun non-spoiler head canons about Varian?

A: I think his favorite dessert is apple pie and I think he bakes recreationally very often! He’s probably a good cook. (Though he may have one or two minor accidents……a burnt thing here and there. Minor oil splatters….haha!!)

Q: What’ve been your favorite episodes, both to storyboard and in general? Of course, no specifics if it’s S3

A: Haha! Well…What The Hair and Queen for A Day have special places in my heart because they were such big moments for my favorite character…(Varian, haha.) But I’d say the episodes I had the most fun boarding are all in season 3!!! Which is exciting! I have to start compiling some work to post! 🙂 I think the episode I had the most fun with is one you guys will really enjoy.

Q: Will we get some interesting surprises (In Season 3)?

A: Without any spoilers- absolutely!! The show is always full of those.

Q: So We’ve heard many fans express why they love Varian as a charcter before, I’d love to know what drew you and Anna to Varian as well and why you guys personally found him to be a great character.

A: When Shane Prigmore originally pitched the character to me, he was much younger. He was like 11 or so, I think? Maybe 12? He’s still pretty young…but what Shane said was that he wanted him to go from this wide-eyed kid to this dark, angry person whose bangs fell over those wide, bright eyes…just full of rage. That idea was super interesting to me…it just hit on something in character development that I felt like I’d never exactly seen before? He was so young and it was such an interesting idea to me to make a child the villain and to give that child a strong reason to be angry? It felt like it was taking this child very seriously, which I appreciate. It felt very real and very dark.

The thing that threw me through a loop but also evolved my fascination with the character was Jeremy Jordan’s casting. I listened to a lot of the auditions they had for various actors and I had seen a ton of Shane’s concept art of the character…a lot of them were VERY different than what we have now. One version Ricky Roxburgh (writer) contributed to had Varian cast as an adult in the story. But when I heard Jeremy I felt like I totally understood who Varian really was.

He was a well-intentioned disaster with unchecked emotions. That. Is me! Haha!! I see myself in his imperfections, his emotionality in spite of his creative and often intellectual thinking. He wants to ascend to these levels he may not be ready to ascend to…he feels this need to prove himself and seek validation. I don’t know, I guess I relate to that! And I’m just a sucker for good guys gone bad. The other half of this, of course, is that he’s very charming and cute and super reminds me of my best friend, Anna Lencioni.

Q: Which character do you most like seeing interacting with Varian?

A: It’s a little spoilery for me to reveal that……..but I think you guys are gonna know when it happens! Haha!

I can’t wait to post THOSE boards

That’s actually right out of the episode I think I liked boarding the most, haha.

Q: If there was one prop (furniture, object, the like) from the Tangled series that could be made real and you could keep, what would it be..?

A: I think it’d have to be those little alchemy orbs that Varian throws? They just suddenly clean the whole castle hallway somehow and like…could use me some of that. He also has the one that removes stains from tablecloths, so. I’m sloppy. That’d be a big help. Haha!

Also his staff is pretty cool 😉, I boarded/created that staff…David Lee (prop designer) did its final design…haha

Q: I have a question about a scene in season 1. When Varian got back the first part of the scroll he mentioned that it took him a while to translate it. Has he really been able to read it or has it been a bluff?

A: Varian can indeed translate what’s on the scroll. 😉

Q: Do you have any networking advice for those trying to get into the animation industry?

A: Post your work!! Make it easily accessible, tag it well, just show what you’ve got online! Upload boards, animatics, drawings, etc. Creating an online presence can really help put your name out there. Apply for internships, jobs. I know it’s hard to network because a lot of industry professionals don’t have time to answer specific questions or give portfolio reviews…so it’s sort of important to take some initiative on that and be self-motivated.

For me, I studied the portfolios of Disney feature story artists, CalArts students, etc. and tried to structure the presentation of my work based on that. Also, it helped me get a sense of what pieces of work would best showcase where I was trying to go and what I was trying to do. I’d ask yourself those questions as you develop a portfolio and artistic voice online! 🙂

My first feature job after a trainee program in New York at Blue Sky happened because Doug Sweetland (Pixar animator, feature director, awesome dude) found my work online and liked it. He just reached out based on that!

Shane Prigmore actually reached out to me for Tangled similarly.

Q: Besides Varian, do you have a favorite character that you’ve boarded?

A: I always love Eugene. He’s the second character I think I’m most like. His acting was really fun to play with and I felt like I could push his expressions a lot because he’s so funny. I loved boarding Lance too (I boarded a lot of Lance in S3!!) but MAN was he hard to draw, haha! His face shape is just really hard to draw at certain angles.

Q: With Varian cosplay that is going on, what Disney character would you like to see Varian dress up as next?

A: Jack Skellington! Halloween is afoot. Jack is another well-intentioned disaster. Guess I have a type!

Q: What’s Varian’s opinion on raccoons, are they his favourite animal?

A: I imagine it’s because Ruddiger is always finding interesting things in the trash and giving them to Varian to use in his experiments. Also, they’re fat and cute.

Q: There’s a bit of an argument going on over how many freckles Varian has. Can you confirm how many he has?

A: Ha!!! Yes…one second… 14!!

Q: How big do you think Corona is? Like Vatican City small or Arendelle big?

A: You know, with the wall and all, it actually feels a little on the smaller side to me? I’m sure there’s a little bit of discrepancy between the movie’s version of Corona and our version…but based on where we went within Corona on the show, I’d say it feels on the smaller side.

Q: Are there any non-spoiler Varian scenes or moments that didn’t make the cut that you can share?

A: MAN. Yes. There is one scene that changed after I rolled off the episode and I’m very sad about it. I’ll post it after the episode airs! There was also a line of Varian’s that I boarded to a specific read from Jeremy Jordan and that read was not chosen in editorial later so…I’ll post that one too, haha!

Q: What is your favourite song from the first two seasons so far?

A: All my favorite songs are in season threeeeee…hahahaha!! I think Let Me Make You Proud or the Buddy Song are my favorites. Buddy Song still gets stuck in my head now and then.

Q: What do you think Varian would order at a drive-thru? Specifically at chipotle 😂

A: Chipotle isn’t a drive thru!! Hahaha He’d get the kid’s quesadilla from chipotle. I think Varian is a fries/chips kind of person…something to snack on while he works! He probably also likes milkshakes.

Q: (Continuation from the question above) Chocolate or vanilla?

A: He’d revolutionize by combining them both. FOR SCIENCE!

Q: What is, in your opinion, the most challenging part of varian’s design to draw?

A: His goggles, hahaha. Or just his…hair in general.

Well it’s funny too because when you board these guys, you get used to doing a shorthand for them and then when you go to draw them FOR REAL you realize how complicated that actually is and how wrong your shorthand actually was? Hahahaha

Q: is Varian ticklish at all?

A: I feel like Varian, Eugene, and Lance are all equally ticklish. To the point of absurdity. Cass would fight it as long as she could…but when it finally got to her, she’d laugh uncontrollably. Rapunzel, she’s the TICKLER.

Q: What do you think Varian opinion and belief on magic is now that he’s seen it with his own eyes?

A: I imagine that he certainly believes in it now and no longer underestimates its powers…but I imagine he’s ultimately more comfortable staying in his own lane and working with worldly properties!

Q: If Varian would have been able to meet Demanitus…how would their conversation had looked like?

A: I feel like Varian would have had a TON of questions about his legendary device and whether or not he truly traveled dimensions.

Q: Did Varian have any other friends in old Corona before he met rapunzel?

A: Probably not many…he’s a bit of a hermit. I think Ruddiger is his best friend……. It’s sad but I also think that’s kind of why it hurt so bad when Rapunzel wasn’t able to help him. Also why he was SO excited to have Rapunzel, Cass, and Eugene come visit.

I think the village looked at Varian as a little unstable or worrisome. I’m sure everyone knew he was very nice…but they were likely very unnerved by his inventions.

Q: Do you think Varian ever tried to synthesise gold or the elixir of life like a real alchemist?

A: I’ve wondered that myself!! I think his alchemy has proven to be more about other people…helping others, making people proud. Maybe if someone he cared about was in need.

Q: If you were to meet Varian in real life, what would you say to him?

A: What elixir did you make to get THAT kind of volume? His hair’s so POOFY! Honestly, I’d probably just give him a hug.

Q: How much does Varian know or remember about his mom?

A: I’d say about as much as the photo of her on the wall.

Q: Is there spoiler about his hair streak? Or is it just by design?

A: It’s totally by design. I think it’s safe to assume it’s probably the result of some lab accident!

Q: In what ways is Jeremy Jordan like Varian?

A: I don’t know Jeremy Jordan personally, haha! But I think a lot of these inflections he adds to Varian sort of off the cuff probably come very naturally to him. I know he often wants to do his own pass at the musical arrangement Alan Menken writes…like he’ll want to do something a little different, in his own way, and it will change the song completely!! In an awesome way. That’s a little Varian-esque. In the “Let Me Make You Proud” reprise…Alan Menken had sung that “they are going to pay…they…will…pay” all in a low, downward tone. Jeremy wanted to scream it and make it powerful and angry and loud when he said “PAY” and you could just hear the spite in his voice for the “they will pay.” Genius!

Q: What was the most shocking moment/revelation of the series to you (minus anything season 3)?

A: It’s hard to say because I knew most of what was going to happen long, long ago. I think one of the things that made me go “oh dang!” was something Tom Canfield boarded. It’s that part in Destinies Collide where Lance slices the entire statue down the middle with a sword. What a BAMF!

Q: What were your thoughts on the early concept of Varian having an apple orchard and being a farm kid instead of a young alchemist?

A: He still kinda has those things! Quirin is a farmer as well as the village leader and there are apples on their little farm estate! 🙂 I think that makes Varian very unassuming as a mad little scientist. I’m sure that’s how (Ruddiger and Varian) met! Remember, he used his purple tacky goo stuff to catch raccoons so they wouldn’t eat the crops! And Ruddiger’s favorite snack is apples. 😉

Q: What is his official height and weight?

A: Smol.

Q: How did you guys come up with Varian’s name? And was there any other name suggestions for him before the name ‘Varian’ was chosen?

A: I’m not sure who came up with that name, actually! I’m sure it has something to do with the meaning of the word “variant” which means something that varies, changes in form.

Q: What’s his last name?

A: His last name!! I have NO idea and it bothers me!!! A Disney magazine referred to Varian, Ruddiger, and Quirin as “The Ruddiger Family” and I still haven’t stopped laughing about that.

Q: What sad Disney movie moments would make him cry?

A: Oof. Lion King.

Q: What musicals do think Varian would enjoy?

A: Little Shop of Horrors! I think he’d see himself in Seymour! Or Wicked…you know, that villain arc.

Q: How did Arianna and Fred meet?

A: I actually don’t know off the top of my head!

Q: Would Varian enjoy rollercoasters?

A: I think he’d enjoy how they’re MADE and then scream his head off while riding one, throw up his cotton candy and corndog, and go play carnival games instead. Then get mad that they’re rigged.

Q: So what comes next for you now that the series is almost over? Any big plans?

A: Well the series wrapped for production a while ago! I’ve been on another show for almost a year now! 🙂 I’m working on the new Disney+ show Monsters at Work as a director! It’s an awesome, awesome show…totally next-level…I’m shocked that I’m getting to be apart of something like this. It’s a direct sequel to the movie that serves as an office comedy (a la The Office, Parks and Rec) and has so many characters that fit immediately into the Monsters Inc world. Monsters Inc is my favorite Pixar movie…so I literally come to work and leave work on the same high! It’s an awesome, awesome show with a great crew! 🙂 It’s also just really exciting to be apart of the first original animated property for D+!

Q: How would you compare working as a director to working as a storyboard artist?

A: It’s hard work, just as hard, but in a different way! For me personally, I’m a little easily fatigued by drawing? I get a little creatively frustrated because my thoughts move quicker than my hand. Or because I don’t always feel like I can execute in a drawing what I’m thinking in the way that I want? Part of that is just being an artist…and it’s not ALL the time that I feel that way…but I think I have a certain stamina for drawing that I found challenging to increase.

Directing is just different! It has a lot more to do with managing a team, communication, coordinating, listening, speaking up, problem-solving, being very aware of story as it applies to ALL parts of a production. I don’t draw as often anymore. You have to consider a lot more…more people, more constraints, more difficulties, more opinions, more solutions…it’s just MORE. And you also still have to draw! 🙂 It’s very busy work, but it’s AMAZING and I love it. I feel like I’m contributing to animated storytelling a lot more in this role, actually. I love working with people, I love workshopping, and I love helping! I’m also just spoiled to be working with some great people right now. It’s a blast.

Q: Are any Tangled: The Series crew joining you on that show?

A: Yes!! Tom Caufield and Wendy Sullivan were on it for a minute, but they’ve both moved on to Dreamworks recently! James Suhr (board artist), Isabelle Gedigk (season 3 board artist), Naomi Hicks and Casey Coffey (revisionists), David Lee (props), Ricky Roxburgh (writer), and I are all working together again! It’s awesome.

Q: Does Varian, deep down, blame himself for the amber?

A: I believe he does.

Q: How do you deal with artist’s block?

A: I try to think about the intention behind what I’m doing. Why is the scene I’m working on very important to the story? If it feels unimportant or boring, how can I make it interesting? What can I do on my end to make it more inspiring or fun without going too far off the rails and still serving the scene’s purpose?

If it’s not work-related, I try and start with some fan art or something familiar for me to draw. I have a lot of scribbly Varians in the margins of a lot of my sketch documents. I use him as a warm-up a lot. It helps build my confidence to draw something familiar/ that I think I can draw pretty well.

Q: What’s the hardest scene you’ve ever had to board?

A: Oh God. ANYTHING with action. I’m not an action gal. Lots of stuff in S3. I was board partners with Wendy Sullivan and ended up getting a lot of action to board even though she’s WAY better at it than me!! It was an interesting challenge…but it was very, very challenging. Ben (Co-EP) was a great mentor to me in the scene I did for the mid season. He was very patient with me, despite my shortcomings as an action board artist, haha. I enjoy boarding for comedy much more.

Kait: Anyways, I should probably head off now! Thank you guys so much for all the questions!!!! You’re awesome! I hope you’re all super excited for S3! It’s a great one.

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #varian #Q&A #Tangled crew #Question & Answers #Kait #ruddiger #Rapunzel #Eugene #Lance #Cassandra