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hanibalistic · 3 years

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#AE5B75 | LEE DONGHYUCK.

genre | fluff

word count | 1602

warning | none

note | two characters who dance with each other>>>>>>

you were surprised to see haechan at prom.

albeit, you only saw him when the party was done and over, and all that was left of the grand school hall were fallen balloons, a bunch of scattered confetti, and the abandoned moonlight cascading through the seeps of the red curtains. you were still intrigued to see him at the school prom, or at least the end of it.

"what are you doing here?" you called out to him who stood alone in the center of the stage, staring up at the painted prom banner lonesomely. when he turned around and saw you, you gestured toward the vacant room. "everyone already left. what are you still doing here, lee haechan?"

haechan furrowed his brows for a moment when you spoke his name, finding it alarming that he has no recollection of ever seeing you before. but just as he was about to accidentally humble himself and ask how you knew him, the memory of his past three successful comebacks flooded into his head.

right. he debuted in nct already so of course you knew him.

being trapped within the unfamiliar school walls and having supervised fun amongst the classmates he could barely name strangely made him forget he was a million-dollar selling worldwide idol.

"that's not a complicated question, lee haechan," you chimed in the thoughts inside his head and promptly stopped the train on its tracks.

slowly feeling his element come back to his body—he had somehow lost his usual self during the suffocating party, haechan relaxed his muscles and shifted his position to appear more lenient and suave rather than confused and shrunken. that was who he is, truly, after all.

charming, witty, confident, and famous—those were who he is.

"i can ask the same about you," he said as he placed his hands behind him and leaned his torso forward, a pointed smirk on his face. "the party is over, what are you doing here?"

you rolled your eyes at him. how great to see him regain his instincts! you liked it better when he appeared lost and, if you could admit, adorable. "i am here to clean up this mess. now you! what are you doing here?"

"just..." haechan hummed after he nodded at your answer, and he kept quiet for a while because he wasn't so sure why he stayed behind.

he could have left when everyone else was piling out those double doors, waiting to go home or to take after-prom pictures out in the schoolyard. his friends at the dorm were probably worried about him, his manager probably wanted him to head to practice for the upcoming dream comeback rather than attending a stupid prom party, and the group's driver probably fell asleep waiting for him outside in the van. all the odds went against him staying behind, but he did anyway, and he wasn't so sure why.

"you needed a breather?"

he met your gaze. you were staring at him with indifference, or even boredom, if he could ever hurt his ego enough to admit anyone is bored within his presence. it was a problem he rarely had to face, though. he was a very interesting, and attractive, boy! even if his antics and humor aren't appreciated, his face and voice usually are!

yet, somehow, you looked at him like he was just some commoner. the juxtaposition of your indifference toward his charms and calling him by his idol name irked him on—how do you feel about him? why should he care how you feel?

"oh god, the idol life really got you a little suffocated up here, huh?" you chuckled humorlessly as you twirled your index finger near your temple in a circular motion.

haechan pressed his lips together with inward frustration, one he was trained either not to show or only show it attractively. he was fading away, he could feel it. his confidence and egotism were leaving him the more you looked to him as a madman for never continuing the conversation.

but how could he not? you were hitting all the right spots! appearing at the right time, asking the right questions, and suggesting the right answers.

most importantly, you looked to him like a boy. a strange boy who stayed behind at the end of a high school prom party, a weird boy who couldn't answer a simple question, an awkward boy who furrowed his brows too much on the first encounter. you looked to him like he was just a normal boy; no sparks, no admiration, no love. just indifference and polite kindness.

haechan hasn't felt like a normal boy in a while. he needed that.

"you're being too tense, we need to let you breathe a little."

you dropped your phone in a solo cup you found near the edge of the wall before you put it on the stage. music played from the speaker and echoed through the plastic cup, spreading a catchy english song he has never heard before through the empty hall.

taking a few steps back, you placed your hands on your hips and nudged toward where he stood. you beckoned him down the stage after a brief moment, clearly inviting him to join your one-person party.

"come on, don't be shy!" you said, waving him down again. "i used to be bad at dancing too, but you get better as you get into it!"

the confusion that once riddled through him vanished the second you verbally assumed his inability to dance. he flashed you a visibly offended look—wrinkles appeared between his eyes, his brows once again pulled together, and his lips quirking upward into a false smile.

him? being bad at dancing—being shy about dancing? never! not once!

"excuse me but i am not bad at dancing!" he exclaimed defensively as he hopped down the stage.

you raised your brow in faint disbelief, and when he went ahead to prove his point by free-styling, you tilted your head and watched quietly. impressive musicality and non-recycled moves, a hint of swagger and the perfect expressions—haechan moved to the music as he would in the practice room. he moved flawlessly and routinely.

and that, he has yet to know, is not dancing.

"you're not dancing, lee haechan." you stopped him softly with a shake of your head. "you're performing, showing off. that's not dancing."

"i don't know what the hell you are talking about," he argued.

"there is literally nobody but me here!" you yelled as you threw your arms up. you were beginning to kick your feet and twirl to the beat of the music. "those idol dancing has got you so robotic, you forgot what dancing is really about!"

he hasn't forgotten. he never really knew in the first place what you claimed dancing was truly about, and therefore it warranted his disbelief and slight anger in you seemingly belittling his entire career. he was planning to stay stubborn about it for the rest of his life until you, suddenly and boldly, dove near him with a twirl and took his hands in yours.

"dance with me, haechan!" you said with a hearty giggle, possibly feeling joyous from seeing his widened eyes.

donghyuck followed your erratic movements, feeling shy and rather invasive at first but slowly easing into touching you after a while. he has one hand daintily at your waist and the other holding yours, and you two turned and stepped across the hall in a rhythm that occasionally went with the song and occasionally went against it. you stepped on him, multiple times, and he tripped over your feet, multiple times.

it was disastrous, dancing like this was like raising hell from heaven. but oh, oh lord, it felt like he was falling in love.

moving his hand above your head, bringing yours along with his, he spun you and watched you laugh when he pulled you close to him. you two stepped from side to side, jumped and skipped, spun in circles, and glided across the hall.

donghyuck only grinned at you with unnoticed affection pouring out of his eyes like a flood, and you would never see it dancing under the dim moonlight.

then he realized. he realized what dancing is all about.

it was never about being synchronized, or being flawless, or memorizing all your moves and executing them perfectly. it was about feeling free and being silly, it was about expressing the good and the bad inside you, it was about breathing through your limbs and letting the air take over your body.

"isn't this great?" you asked between pants. "this is dancing, haechan!"

donghyuck licked his lower lip and glanced down at yours for a brief moment. his heart grew spikes that threatened him, but your laughter told him it was okay. he could fall in love, he was allowed to fall in love, he could be in love like the movies—with dancing or with you.

he could fall in love. he could just breathe.

"donghyuck," he said once, and he squeezed your hand to keep you a little closer. "you can call me donghyuck."

stomping on the ground, spinning until your head drowns, and holding onto each other to share the joy through your veins. a new song played and donghyuck hummed along as he guided you across the dance hall, and that was all there is to this night.

it was just about letting a stranger you met after midnight teach you how to dance, and realizing that dancing felt like falling in love with said stranger.

128 notes · View notes

dweetwise · 3 years

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some fluffy adamkate for @neilusgrey because this ship is adorable <3 i used some prompts from this post while writing. it fit them too well!

word count: 3320

Adam X Kate: Turn your face to the sun

“So? What do you think?” Kate asked.

Adam looked around their surroundings. They were attending a folk concert held in Kate’s hometown, and even though it wasn’t Adam’s usual scene, he’d been quick to accept when Kate had invited him.

The sun was shining bright in the sky and nearly everyone was smiling, the sound of music getting louder but nowhere near unbearable as they approached the small stage in the middle of the park. There weren’t as many people as Adam had feared, only a small crowd forming in front of the stage.

“It looks nice,” Adam said. “I’m glad you asked me to come.”

“Of course!” Kate said. “It’s about time we—”

“Kate! Over here!” someone shouted from behind them, effectively interrupting their conversation.

Adam watched as Kate turned around to face a group of people, her face cracking into a brilliant smile once she seemed to recognize them.

“Hey, y’all!” Kate beamed, hugging one of the women. “Long time, no see.”

It was strange to see Kate so in her element. Just walking across the park and to the event area, they’d been stopped several times as people wanted to catch up with Kate and a few even asked for her autograph.

“It’s so good to see you! Where have you been?” one of Kate’s current admirers asked.

“Oh, I did a bit of soul-searching,” Kate explained. “Kinda needed to drop off the grid for a while.”

Adam could tell Kate was struggling with the lie. It had been a couple months since their escape from the Entity and they were only just now getting used to the normalcy of the real world. Standing here, being alive and well and surrounded by happy people with the sun shining down on them was almost too good to be true.

“This is my date, Adam!” Kate introduced him.

But the best thing about the situation was that Adam was here with the most incredible woman he’d ever had the pleasure of knowing.

“Nice to meet you,” Adam said, giving a polite nod to the group.

“Likewise!” one of Kate’s friends said. “We’ll leave you to it, but let’s catch up sometime, okay?”

“That sounds lovely!” Kate agreed, before turning to Adam. “Come on, let’s find a good spot!”

Adam followed Kate closer to the stage, almost transfixed on the way her long dress swayed in the gentle breeze. With her flowy sundress and the daisies in her hair, Kate looked like a personification of summer, and Adam was honored to be allowed to bask in her warmth.

It also reminded Adam how overdressed he was for the occasion. He’d chosen to wear a suffocating button-up and stiff chinos that already felt too warm for the weather. Hopefully he’d manage a few hours in the Pennsylvanian summer.

“You wanna stay farther away from the stage?” Kate asked.

“Yes, please,” Adam said with a grateful smile.

Kate knew how much of an introvert he was and she had never appeared to see it as a big deal. The concert was already out of Adam’s comfort zone, so getting some relative privacy would be very welcome.

They found a spot away from the commotion but with a relatively unobstructed view of the stage and Adam pulled out the picnic blanket he’d packed earlier and spread it over the soft grass. All the while Kate kept looking at him in intrigue, making Adam wonder whether he’d done something wrong.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“You have a really good smile, you know that?” Kate said, making Adam realize he’d been smiling the entire time.

“Oh. Thank you,” Adam said, scratching at his neck self-consciously. “I guess I don’t tend to smile that much. Especially after…”

He didn’t need to explain further. Kate nodded in understanding, knowing they all had their own demons to battle after their capture and subsequent escape from the creature that still haunted their nightmares.

“Let’s make some better memories together,” Kate said with an adorable, soft smile.

Adam felt his face heat up and he merely offered a stiff “yes” as they started unpacking their bags.

They’d never officially decided what this was between them. For what felt like years, they’d been closer than friends but not quite lovers. None of the other survivors had batted an eye when Kate sought comfort in Adam’s arms by the campfire every time the trials became too much. There were jokes about them being a couple, sure, but to this day nothing had actually happened between them. Adam had never wanted to push and regardless, a world of violence and death wasn’t exactly the best setting for romance.

But now they were free and Kate had wasted no time in asking him on a date. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but he was certain that it had to mean something.

“I brought snacks!” Kate's triumphant grin snapped Adam out of his thoughts.

Adam watched as she retrieved a small box of strawberries as well as a packet of cookies from her beach bag.

“I wanted to have a picnic but didn’t know what you liked, so…” Kate explained.

“That was very thoughtful of you,” Adam said. “I didn’t realize to bring anything…”

“And I didn’t expect you to!” Kate reassured. “Come on, have some!”

They sat down to enjoy the snacks together, catching up on the brief period of time they’d been apart. Adam had been busy with a pile of paperwork about his disappearance in Japan and Kate had temporarily moved in with her parents. It became clear that neither of them were certain what the future would bring.

“There’s so many opportunities!” Kate said. “We can do whatever we want. The freedom is amazing.”

“It is,” Adam agreed. “But also a little overwhelming.”

He had no idea what he would do or where he would even go. All he knew was that he wanted to be near Kate; she was his rock and no matter what happened, he was sure he’d be okay as long as they were together.

Of course, he couldn’t say that out loud. They weren’t a couple and it was a little too intense to place so much importance on their friendship.

“We’ll figure something out,” Kate said, and just her smile was almost enough to reassure Adam.

They sat together and finished the snacks while enjoying the music, until the crowd seemed to get even more invigorated as people got up to dance. Adam watched a small group form in front of the stage with people twirling, jumping and laughing as they danced to the upbeat music.

"Let's join them!" Kate suggested almost immediately.

Adam shouldn’t have been surprised. Kate’s love for music knew no bounds, and even now she was nearly shaking with the boundless energy she always seemed to possess.

"We can't just leave our things," Adam tried to reason. "You go on, I'll stay here."

"Aw, you can’t get rid of me that easily! I wanna dance with you!” Kate said. “Nobody's gonna take anything.”

"I'm not much of a dancer," Adam protested, abruptly feeling the nervousness start to kick in.

"You'll be fine, hun—I promise!" Kate smiled at him and extended her bracelet-clad hand.

Before the fog had swallowed him all those years ago, Adam would have declined in a heartbeat. But he wanted to believe he had changed. During the last few years, he’d learned he was much more capable than he could have ever imagined—a little dancing surely wouldn’t kill him.

So he grabbed Kate’s hand and let himself be briefly pulled into her world of sunshine and spontaneity.

While they approached the stage, Adam tried his best to learn the choreography by observing people dancing. To his mortification, there didn’t seem to be choreography, all of the dancers seemingly able to effortlessly improvise a professional-looking routine.

By the time they reached their destination, Adam’s hand was sweating where it was holding Kate’s. She didn’t seem to care, only turning to him with a bright smile before settling closer to him in a dance position.

"Don't worry hun, just follow my lead!" Kate said.

Kate started leading him into a dance and Adam followed the best he could. He stared at her feet to try to get the hang of her movements, focusing too hard and completely ignoring the beat—

It was only a matter of time before his foot landed on Kate’s much smaller sandal-covered one.

"Sorry!" Adam apologized, embarrassed over his mistake. “Did I hurt you?”

"Don't worry so much," Kate said. "Look at me and just go with the flow."

Adam lifted his gaze to Kate's face and some of his tension melted away under her familiar smile.

Gradually, he got the hang of it. The song changed but the rhythm of Kate's movements stayed the same, and eventually Adam's clumsy steps got more confident and mirrored the spring in Kate's. He learned to read her ques, changing directions when she did and twirling her around when she wanted to. Kate laughed and giggled while they danced, the smile never leaving her face, like this is what she was made to do.

Adam realized she might not have gotten the chance to dance with anyone before this, not since their escape. Kate was never meant for the dull grey world of the Entity; she was meant for this, sun and music and dancing without a care in the world. And Adam was honored to be able to give it to her.

He lost count of how many songs they danced to. Previously, he might have been embarrassed of letting Kate lead, but any worries about arbitrary gender roles had disappeared during the years where their lives were nothing but survival.

Worrying about the past was the last thing on Adam’s mind as he followed his ray of sunshine into another dance. He was sweating something fierce but he didn't care, absently popping a few buttons on his shirt and rolling up the sleeves to try to cool down. Kate seemingly didn’t tire of dancing, but Adam spotted the redness on her cheeks and the more pronounced breaths she took as they picked up the pace and the exertion started to kick in.

At some point, people started forming a ring in some sort of group dance, and Kate didn’t hesitate to guide them to join in. The choreography was easy to understand this time, Adam effortlessly keeping up as everyone danced in a ring, before partnering up and switching every so often. Even though he stumbled a few times, Adam had always prided himself on being a fast learner.

When Kate twirled herself into being his partner for the finale, Adam found himself laughing. He was having fun.

"See? I knew you'd like it!" Kate said.

“Only you could convince me to do something like this,” Adam said.

Kate laughed with him, the sound radiant and inviting. She was beautiful and so full of light, turning heads even on the makeshift dance floor. He didn’t think he’d ever quite understand what she saw in a nerd like him.

Once the song ended, Kate let out a sigh.

"Whew, I'm beat!" she said.

Adam couldn't agree more. No matter how much he enjoyed the dancing, he was starting to get winded and his shirt was now drenched in sweat.

"Let's go drink some water," Adam suggested.

They returned to their spot and, to Adam's surprise, everything seemed to be exactly the way they left it. He'd completely forgotten about his worries while they danced.

Adam got out his water bottle from his backpack, when Kate's voice interrupted him.

"Aww, no!" Kate said, clearly disappointed when she peered into her bag.

"What's wrong?" Adam asked.

"I didn't close my bottle properly," Kate said, pulling out her wet, empty water bottle. "It's leaked all over."

She showed her bag that contained some now-soaked cookie crumbs and her keys bathing in water.

"I'm so sorry," Adam said. "We should hang it to dry somewhere—"

"It's not a big deal," Kate said with a smile. "It's just gonna smell like soggy cookies for a bit. That's what I get for being a klutz."

Adam's full water bottle felt heavy in his hands.

"Here, have some of mine," he said, extending the item.

"Are you sure?" Kate asked.

"Absolutely," Adam said. "We need to stay hydrated in this weather."

"You're the sweetest," Kate said and Adam felt his face heat up from the compliment.

Kate accepted the bottle, and only took one prim, small sip before holding it out for him.

"Come on, take a proper drink," Adam encouraged. "We’ll split it in half."

Kate gave him a sheepish smile, before tipping her head back and taking big gulps of the beverage, drinking nearly half of the bottle.

"Whew, that was refreshing," Kate said with a happy sigh. "Thanks, doll."

"My pleasure," Adam said.

He followed Kate's lead and emptied the bottle with similar gusto. The water felt heavenly in his dry throat and overheated body.

Afterwards, Adam insisted on setting up Kate's bag to dry in the sun.

"It should dry in no time," Adam said. "It's really hot today. I wish I was dressed for the weather."

"But you look so snazzy," Kate smiled. "Feels like I'm with royalty."

"I don't know about that. You look incredible today. I mean—err, you always do, but..." Adam floundered. "Your dress is beautiful."

"Thank you," Kate said with a shy smile, doing a little twirl. "It's good for dancing."

"I still can't believe you got me to dance," Adam said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Admit it. You had fun back there!” Kate was positively beaming at him.

"I did," Adam admitted. "And I never would have tried it on my own. Thank you."

"Thank you for doing it for me," Kate said. “I know this ain’t your thing, and I didn’t wanna push too hard. But I knew you’d be great, and…”

Kate trailed off, and Adam followed her gaze to an ice cream booth at the foot of the hill.

"Do you want to get ice cream?" Adam asked.

"I was just about to ask!" Kate grinned.

They walked to the kiosk, only standing in a short line as most people were still busy dancing. Adam took some time to browse the list of available flavors while they waited.

"Do you know what you're getting?" Adam asked.

"Not yet—there's so many to choose from!" Kate said, almost as in awe.

Adam hummed in agreement and focused back on the list. He was a little disappointed to not find matcha flavor on the menu, as it was his favorite from his time in Japan. Most of the options looked sickly sweet, and Adam skimmed over the cookie and candy flavors until eventually settling onto pistachio.

He glanced over at Kate who was still staring at the menu. If Adam had to guess, she was choosing between some of the more strange flavors—maybe even thinking about mixing them into a daring combination.

"Okay, I'm done!" Kate said once it was their turn to order. "You go first."

"One pistachio, please," Adam said.

"And for the lady?" the vendor asked.

"Chocolate," Kate said.

Adam turned to look at Kate in surprise.

"I ain't that adventurous with food," Kate explained with a sheepish grin.

After Kate's usual spontaneity and boldness, it was incredibly endearing to find out that she was a picky eater. Adam was suddenly eager for an opportunity to introduce her to Japanese and Jamaican flavors in the future.

"You can't go wrong with the classics," Adam assured.

"Here you go," the vendor said, handing over their orders. "That’s $3 a piece."

Kate started fishing out her wallet, but Adam beat her to it.

"It's on me," Adam said, already paying for their orders. “I owe you for the snacks.”

"Well, ain't you a gentleman," Kate said with a mischievous smirk.

Rather than stay closer to the stage, they returned to their spot to enjoy their ice creams.

"How is it?" Adam asked.

"Love it!" Kate beamed. "Do you wanna try?"

Butterflies danced in Adam's gut when Kate extended the treat to him. He nodded and carefully took a bite out of the ice cream. The chocolate flavor was not as rich as he'd normally like, but the texture was creamy and it didn’t taste too sweet.

"It's really good," Adam said. "Do you want to try mine?"

Kate regarded his green ice cream skeptically.

"Sure!" she eventually decided.

Kate hesitantly tasted the ice cream with the very tip of her tongue, before her face twisted into a grimace and Adam found himself laughing.

"Not for you, huh?" he teased.

"No, sorry, it's…" Kate said. "It tastes weird. Why is it salty?"

"Different strokes, I suppose," Adam smiled, digging back into his strange-tasting dessert.

They ate in companionable silence, watching the music performance and the people dancing to it.

"Thanks for coming with me today," Kate broke the silence.

"Thank you for inviting me," Adam said. "It's not my usual type of event, so I hope I didn't make too much of a fool of myself."

"What are you talking about? If anything, you're too cool for a place like this," Kate said.

"That's definitely not true," Adam protested. "I am not ‘cool’ in the slightest."

"Yeah you are," Kate insisted with a smile. "You're always so calm and polite and know exactly what to do. It feels like I'm just a dumb country girl in the presence of a prince or something."

Adam couldn't believe his ears. All this time, he’d thought Kate was too good for him, and she’d felt the exact same way about him?

"You are anything but dumb, Kate," Adam said. "To be honest, your charisma and talent sometimes overwhelms me. I often wonder what you see in me."

Kate laughed; not a mocking one, but a laugh that told Adam he was being absurd.

"Guess we're both kinda dumb, then," Kate smiled.

Adam returned the smile, feeling immense relief. He now knew that—for some crazy reason—Kate was just as fond of him as he was of her. Neither of them broke eye contact, and for a while they merely looked into each other’s eyes while their ice creams slowly melted.

"Can I kiss you?" Adam found himself asking.

It was barely above a whisper, finally having the courage to ask the words he hadn’t been able to during all these years.

"Thought you'd never ask," Kate said just as softly.

They both leaned into the kiss, and feelings of affection for this woman bloomed in Adam's chest when their lips met. Kate's lips were chilly from the ice cream but there was an underlying warmth in them that spread through Adam's body, like he was basking in the glow of the sun.

Their lips moved slowly against each other’s, hesitant at first and then finding a shared rhythm; just like when they danced together earlier.

When they pulled away, Adam was breathless, but it wasn’t not from a lack of air; it was from everything that was Kate.

"Hmm," Kate said conversationally.

"Hmm?” Adam repeated.

"Guess I don't mind pistachio flavor when it's mixed with Adam flavor," Kate smirked.

Adam threw his head back and laughed, and Kate did too.

They finished their half-melted ice creams while listening to the last songs of the concert. They talked about anything and everything, Adam no longer feeling like he had to hold back or keep up appearances. He placed his hand on Kate's and Kate insisted on trying some more ice cream from his lips.

It was the best date of Adam's life and he couldn't wait to see what their future might bring, knowing that Kate would be right by his side.

#adam francis #kate denson #adamkate #dbd fanfic #dweetwrites #dbd #dead by daylight

35 notes · View notes

fruitysoupy · 3 years

Note

Lenny!! because I'm annoying and I love random facts I'll send you 6 words <3

Drinks

Holiday

Snow

Clothes

Movies

Writing

Myle you don't even know how much I love you right now

Drinks

Funfact! Chris' favorite (alcoholic) drink is a frozen strawberry margarita (hope I spelled that right)

During the snixxmas livestream he was actually drinking three separate drinks at the same time. Diet coke from a standard glass, red wine from an appropriate wine glass, and mulled wine (made by Will) from a mug.

In 2011 when he was nominated for his Golden Globe he was so sure he wouldn't win that he had planned to use the announcement as a distraction to sneakily drink some champagne.

Holiday

His favorite holiday is Halloween, he calls it gay Christmas. We're all familiar with his Halloween costumes that he handmakes every year.

During his periscope livestream he jokingly said that his favorite part of Thanksgiving with his family is arguing about politics.

During the snixxmas livestream he mentioned having 6 Christmas trees in his house, one of which he showed on his Instagram. It was decorated with a variety of Broadway playbills, printed and laminated (shows such as Kinky Boots, Dear Evan Hansen, Annie, Wicked, and more) and in place of a star was an Elphaba figurine on a broomstick.

Snow

This one was a little trickier, but the first thing I thought of was the Snow Queen, one of the villains from his Land of Stories series. When he got asked (on periscope) which villain he'd spent a day in our world with he said he wouldn't choose the Snow Queen because she would melt. He also doesn't seem to like the Snow Queen adaptation in form of Disney's Frozen a lot, based on his comment during an online quiz thing ("What fairytale is the Disney Hit Frozen based on?" "The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. Which I'm still mad about.")

Clothes

After Struck by Lightning was filmed he kept all of Carson's clothes because they're the type that he'd wear at home.

He often pokes fun at the clothes he had to wear as Kurt, saying that the pants were so tight his legs turned blue.

He was very uncomfortable with the gold lamé pants he had to wear for Not The Boy Next Door. He had two fittings for them and they were altered a lot. He was very proud of the number and his performance until he saw on film just how tight and revealing those pants were.

In an interview in 2009 during season 1 he said that he would never wear skinny jeans outside of the show. Oh how things have changed.

Also in an early interview he said his favorite Kurt outfit so far was the see-through raincoat.

In 2010 while watching the Pilot with some of the cast for an extra on the DVD set he mentioned that one of the questions he got asked the most during that time (by relatives and friends) was what he was wearing in the scene towards the end, when Finn comes back with Artie to get the group back together (that weird blue crochet thing). He himself doesn't even know what to call it.

On the show he regularly needed help putting on his costumes for the day, simply because of the layers and confusingly complicated design elements.

Movies

Here's the obvious one: Struck By Lightning came out in 2012, written by him and he also starred in it as the main character Carson Phillips. The original script he wrote in 7th grade, the idea came to him one day when he was walking to his car after school. It looked like it was about to rain and for some reason he thought that if he got struck by lightning right now it would take a few days until anyone found him, since it was a Friday and his parents were out of town for the weekend.

He was supposed to play Noel Coward in an independent Biopic, but production got delayed due to funding issues and he unfortunately aged out of the role.

He was supposed to voice two characters in two separate animated movies. No one knows what happened to the projects. In Robodog he was the main character, and in an animated Musical called the Potters he was the main character's brother (with NINE SONGS!!!!!!!!!). @ the producers and creative teams of those movies: please come back, we need this.

The Land of Stories movie is currently in production. The script is written, all we're waiting for is Ms Rona allowing us to have fun again.

Writing

Obvious answer: he's been writing since he was 8. He used to write one page chapters and bring them to his grandmother to read and spell check. If she liked it she'd keep it in a pile, if she didn't she'd crumble it up in front of him and tell him he could do better. One day he cried about it and she told him he should wait until he finished elementary school before he called himself a failed writer. The first Land of Stories book follows the exact same plot he came up with when he was little.

When he got asked for his autograph for the first time he was so nervous he spelled his own name wrong, so he crossed it out and wrote it again.

He holds the pen weird when he writes. He holds it with three fingers, resting it between his middle finger and ring finger. When signing books he puts a bandaid on his ring finger to prevent blisters.

The Land of Stories the Wishing Spell was written on the set of Glee and underneath the stage of the Glee Live Tour. Post Glee Chris wrote the remaining books in what he calls his nerd room. A room filled with superhero figurines and whatnot, and also a batman leg lamp as mentioned on a radio/podcast interview.

#myle<3 #ilysm #Chris Colfer #Long post #This is my true calling

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chalkrevelations · 3 years

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Street Dance of China S3, Ep 3. It sounds like maybe I should step up my pace on these, as they’ve announced the captains for S4 now? (Yibo back, Lay Zhang back, plus a couple of new guys I don’t actually recognize yet.) When is this going to air because it is just LAUGHABLE that I can keep up with 3+ hours of this a week. Particularly if I’m going to keep obsessively re-watching Word of Honor AND try to finally finish Killer & Healer in the miniscule free time I actually have for teevee. There’s certainly no way I can watch and dither on about 3+ hours/week worth of dance show in realtime before January, at least.

ANYWAY, this ep, we get a recap of everyone falling out after the captains’ cypher, and we learn who got the final extra towels and passed through to the next round: Lu Jiao Ni, who we barely see, on Team Jackson Wang; Yuan Ye (as promised) and A Li (who we barely see) on Team Lay Zhang (ETA: Wait, we find out later that A Li isn’t even on Lay’s team, she’s on Yibo’s - he wouldn’t move her on, and she gets one of Lay’s towels instead); Bullet (as promised) on Team Wang Yibo; and Xiao Ming (as promised? maybe? as we’ve barely seen this guy?) on Team Wallace Chung.

This week: Out of 400 people, we’re down to 105. Not all of these faces are familiar, and I suspect I don’t really need to learn 90 percent of the unfamiliar faces. I … am going to go out on a limb and make a guess that one of the dancers whose name has been bolded in one of the past two episode recaps is going to be the ultimate winner, because I have umpty SYTYCD episode reactions on my LJ, and I suspect I know how this works. I wouldn’t even put money on any of those five bolded names in the previous paragraph, quite honestly. Anyway, now it’s time to start culling down to 60. We bring out the team captains, and my first reaction is “MY EYES” because wth are some of you wearing? Wow. Yibo’s shoelaces are all over his jacket. Wallace looks like he rolled a flasher on the street for his trenchcoat. Lay Zhang is wearing a baggy pink jumpsuit, and I guess, OK, it’s easier to maneuver bathroom breaks in one of those when you have a dick, but that’s definitely a fashion trend that should have stayed back in the ‘80s. I guess questionable fashion is an international phenomenon.

There’s also an empty chair for the promised Mystery Guest, and there’s a game with clues, and a lot of guesses from our captains about who the Mystery Guest will be, and Jackson does A Bit through the whole thing. I don’t know whether to be entertained or annoyed by him. He’s the only one without some egregiously questionable fashion choices (so far) this episode, so maybe he gets a pass. Anyway, I don’t have the pop cultural context to understand the guesses, and I also don’t have either the pop cultural context or the knowledge of this area of dance to grok the Mystery Guest’s identity, but he’s Huang Bo, and apparently he had more than 1000 dance performances in the 1990s, so he must be at least as old as me and Wallace, if not older. Yibo takes the opportunity to make the – very NON-politic – remark that maybe HE wasn’t even born yet at the time? That … is not the way to win friends and influence people, Infant. Also, the Mystery Guest is NOT the person Jackson kept doing A Bit about. The reveal is all very dramatic, and he does a lil’ bit of choreography from of each of the four Extant Captains’ videos before he takes off his mask, and they act appropriately impressed, and there are some girls with short shorts among his backup dancers, so that all happened. The show obviously wants me to be very impressed by him. Show also tells us he’ll have a special skill that will be very important and at least leads us to believe that he’s going to be the “life-saver,” so the audience immediately curries favor, or at least plays at it.

Next up: Rules. Eliminations this week involve contestants self-selecting into groups of anywhere from one to five people and performing for a panel of all the captains. Teams pull a number out of a hat for performance order. Thumbs up from all four captains, you go to the next round. Abstentions from all captains, you go home. Thumbs up from some and abstentions from others, you face the possibility of a call-out from other contestants, whereupon you have to dance for your life battle to find out which of you stays and which of you goes. Oh, and we’re only going to keep going until the 60 available seats are filled, and then we’re done. If you’re number 35, you’d better be prepared to battle someone earlier and kick their ass, or you’re fucked, you don’t even get to dance. I’ve said it before: Audentes Fortuna adiuvat. Only wait, ETA: There will be some last minute BS rules fuckery, in a way that is clearly intended to save someone in particular, which I feel some kind of way about - and it is not really the way that almost everyone on the show seems to feel - but I guess we’ll get to that later.

And cue ridiculously long nattering, so we’re going to cut here.

First group is Lin Meng (Team Wallace), Teng Zai (Team Lay), Bing - of the infamous motorbike flirtation - and Dian Men (both Team Yibo), along with a dude we haven’t actually seen yet, Tang Qian (also Team Yibo). Your lack of even B-roll so far is concerning re: your chances in this competition, Tang Qian. I’m just sayin’. Anyway, this is a powerhouse group, and at least Lin Meng and Teng Zai are familiar with each other because they’re from the same crew, and Xiao Bao remarks from the audience of contestants that these guys are going to go through, no matter what. They’re going to do a totally popping routine. My sound drops out at the beginning which … yeah, makes them look even more like a boyband at the beginning, in their matching baseball uniform shirts. So, here’s the thing, they’re a little muddled, they don’t move smoothly around each other on stage - their dance moves are coordinated, but they’re not moving in space like a group that understands each other. (Somewhere in here, my sound comes back, and Yibo already can’t hold still to the music.) The other thing is, though - all of these guys are very good at what they do, they finally hit their stride a minute or so in, and when they do, they hit it hard. I’m frankly surprised they don’t get passed right through to the next round, but Jackson abstains on the vote, and when called upon to explain himself, it turns out he just wants to see them battle. I can understand the impulse, Jackson, but this is already super stressful on all the dancers, and it doesn’t escape my notice that you’re the only one of the four captains without a dog in this particular fight, so a little bit you look like you’re doing this just because you can. Remember this, because it will set a bad example for an 11th -hour vote. Anyway, there’s the chance for a callout, which no one takes because the entire audience is convinced this group is too good to beat. Five of 60 seats taken.

Group two is Shen Kai Xiang – the Jack Ma lookin’ dude. He’s flying solo. He gets to stand around uncomfortably for a while onstage while Special Guest Huang Bo does A Bit making fun of all of the captains’ speech patterns and accents and pronunciation, except Yibo’s, because Yibo apparently never talks. Ha ha. (I’m also wondering if there’s some socio-cultural stuff underlying some of this that I’m not cued in enough to fully understand.) Huang Bo then tells the contestant that Jackson has probably fucked him over by praising him too effusively (he came from Jackson’s team, and Jackson already is displaying a tendency to rhapsodize about how everything is “ART”), so all the captains now will have inflated expectations that Shen Kai Xiang is surely only going to fail to meet. I’m beginning to suspect that Huang Bo’s Special Guest Superpower is not “lifesaver” but “kind of annoying asshole.” Maybe it’s to take that particular spotlight off of Chick. ANYWAY, Shen Kai Xiang FINALLY gets to perform, and he gets a little bit of a slow start, but he packs in a lot of elements and gets a LOT of good air in his moves once he gets wound up. He’s lyrical and super emo about it. I’m kind of “eh” on him – technically, he’s good, but I’m not particularly connecting with him, which I’m willing to admit could be a me thing, as everyone else seems super-impressed. Three captains pass him through. Yibo does not and explains this decision as personal preference – he likes more “underground” styles, more battle styles. Huang Bo brings back the issue of too-high expectations to help explain why Shen Kai Xiang isn’t being passed directly to the next round, even though Yibo just explained his decision and that is literally not the reason he explicitly gave. Anyway, Shen Kai Xiang gets no call outs, which seems to surprise Yibo, and we’re at six of 60 seats taken.

In quick succession, we move through Liang Hua Jie – we don’t see much of him, but we learn that while Wallace likes his musicality, Yibo doesn’t like his face (OK, doesn’t like his facial expressions, which, what can I say? I get this. If I’d had the power to unilaterally send home Lacey Schwimmer on her season of SYTYCD, I’d have done it, that’s how fucking annoying I found the way she’d mug for the camera the entire time she danced. Like I couldn’t even watch her dancing, because I was too distracted by what she was doing with her FACE the whole time.); Jian De Chao (wait, is this Chao from the first episode?) & Chen Zui – who, from what we get to see of them have some good flow and move pretty well together, but can get a little bit mushy in their moves, and Yibo likes their skills, but Lay thinks they don’t feel like a group, which what? Incorrect; and a group that’s dubbed themselves Purple Storm Show, which includes Alex from Jackson’s team and four other people who I can’t even catch – we barely see their performance, and Lay likes them, but Jackson thinks they’re flat. I can’t tell if any or all of these guys were sent through to the next round or sent home, but if they didn’t make it, then :( because I liked Alex, and he got hit in the eye for this, he deserves better than to get sent home because his team can’t get it together. We still have no group that’s been passed through by all four captains.

And then, next up is another powerhouse team: Gongsu Wu Ming and Hei Zai (Team Lay), George and Xiao Ming (Team Wallace), and (Xiao) Bai (Team Jackson). Yibo is skeptical about an all B-boy group, and don’t make me fight you, Yibo, because an all B-boy group is like my dream come true (sorry, poppers; sorry, lockers; my heart truly belongs to the B-boys, they are my favorite). We learn they added a flip at the last minute – an assisted flip, with a couple of them flinging George into the air over the other two of them. Wu Ming thinks that George is the only one of all the competitors who could do it, but George – who has a little more skin in the game than anyone else, as the guy who could potentially land on his head wrong - is a bit concerned about whether they’re going to pull it off. They start, and they’re all good, a little bit muddled before they hit their stride, but the slo-mo cartwheel is great, and from there, they’re off and running. This is why I like the B-boys – I know it takes a lot out of you to do this, but there is nothing – nothing – like the magnetic energy they can generate when they’re in their performance headspace and everything is flowing. This is a performance, and Wu Ming has talked a little bit about wanting to step up breaking, and if this is the sort of thing he wants to do, I’m all for it – give him the platform now. I’m going to take just a minute to single out Bai and say that he’s better when he’s not doing A Bit like he did in his initial performance for Lay Zhang – he’s much more electric here, and someone else’s choreography may make the difference. Jackson, Yibo, Lay – they’re all out of their seats, none of them can hold still in the face of this. We get to the end, and unfortunately, everyone else is kind of cluttered and mushy moving into position for the flip – that is not a way to go out guys, DO NOT DO THAT at the last minute – but then George f’kn NAILS the flip, so that’s thankfully the last impression they leave. The captain’s faces are a picture. (Except Wallace, who’s suddenly too cool to give us anything, apparently.) FIRST ALL-PASS. George’s assessment: “Not bad.” :facepalm: OK, Mr. Cool Guy. They also cut in a post-interview bit with Bai about the performance, and he notes that they all know each other, they’ve been battling each other for like, a decade, now. Dance together more, guys.

Moving on, we fortunately have another very strong group to follow them: Gai Gai, Wang Tao and Huang Xiao, all from Jackson’s team, and you can tell he badly, badly wants to start in on the ART! bit but he (loudly) keeps his mouth shut about this group until after the performance. The only one of these three we’ve seen so far this season has been Gai Gai, but they all dance in the same group together, and they seem to be well-known by a lot of the other competitors, particularly Huang Xiao, both as a dancer and a choreographer. They say they’re doing jazz, although I’d be more likely to call this contemporary, if I was going to put them in a box. They are gorgeous – lyrical, fantastic dance vocabulary, amazing choreography, beautiful musicality, and the way they move together as a unit is … :chef’s kiss: I think Huang Xiao may be the best of the three, technically, but there’s something ineffably charismatic about Gai Gai that’s pulling focus a bit – just a bit – more than the other two in this performance. If there’s a weak link, it’s Wang Tao, and really, that’s only by comparison with the other two, which is a really high bar. We get some shots of the audience of competitors worrying about Yibo’s reaction, given his preference for the old-school battle dancers and an apparent “strictness” with urban dancers and related genres, but these three also get an All-Pass to the next round, and Yibo talks to them a little bit about the choreography and his (complimentary) reactions to the performance before they leave the stage.

And then. Oh, dear. Then we get a group of three – Da Mao, A Li and Tall(? Maybe? It looked like he was going to get out of this anonymously – probably lucky for him – but then the subtitles threw up this name on him at the last minute) – who are the only krumpers who’ve made it this far. Lay Zhang is really promoting them, because he really wants to see a bigger krump presence, and he’s really nervous about their performance, and he really, really should not have pinned his hopes on these three, because I hate to say it but they are a hot fk’n mess. They are … not good. I can’t believe any of the three made it this far, and in fact, we learn after their performance, while everyone is sitting in a kind of stunned horror (and y’all, I am not exaggerating for effect there), that Yibo did not pass A Li on from his team, that she got one of Lay Zhang’s final extra battle towels. I mean, there’s an obvious gap in the quality of this performance compared to everyone else we’ve seen. There’s also a lot of pacing around and standing around instead of dancing. They’re trying for the attitude, but they’re not managing it. They do manage to get an embarrassed reaction from Chick, which says something all on its own, as I wasn’t aware that he had any shame. Other competitors also are doing the embarrassment-squick cringe in the audience. Lay Zhang is literally hiding behind his clipboard. This is the first All-Out we get, where they’re directly eliminated – not even Lay can bring himself to vote “yes” on them. Now, all the krumpers are gone, and Lay is visibly sad and frustrated, but as we appear to move to a little bit of a break, Yibo displays the most emotional intelligence of anyone there and asks Lay to teach him how to krump, to distract him and get him actually doing the dancing he enjoys for a little bit. It’s also a chance for Yibo to learn a new thing, and he talks about his chance to improve in a little interview bit from later on that’s cut in here. I mean, yes, that actually was kind of a sad attempt at krump during the cypher, my dude, so this can only help you, but you also are being an extremely good guy, giving your fellow captain some emotional support right now. Thumbs up.

Next up, we have AK Dong (Team Wallace), also flying solo, and they give us a little heart-tugging B-roll about how he doesn’t have a team with him there, so he’s going it alone. He’s fantastic right out of the gate - good musicality, clean and precise, and he’s got a nice texture to his performance, it feels … full even though it doesn’t feel as big and expansive as some of the other dancers. Unfortunately, Lay doesn’t agree with me (incorrect), says he wants a performance that’s more elegant and “balanced,” and is the single holdout vote, which opens my dude up to a call-out challenge. This is the guy who looks like comedian Hank Chen, which has overshadowed his dancing twice now, because he had to listen to it from Haung Bo when he came out to dance, and he CANNOT catch a break, because now he gets challenged by three teams, including Bouboo’s team, which also includes Klash, Bullet and Colin (all Team Yibo), plus Boris (Team Lay), who we’ve only seen B-roll of so far although he speaks good Chinese, despite being from … I’m not sure where, but not China? AK Dong complains about how Boris looks at him with innocent eyes and tells him that they have no option other than to challenge, which is true (ETA: insofar as we know at this point), because they’re #36, and the 60 slots would almost certainly fill up before they even get a chance to dance. This team wins the bottle spin against the other two challengers, and I mean. :hands: This is a slaughter. They’re five-on-one, and they’re all really good at what they do, they make it look effortless, and AK Dong’s face is going to kill me. Wallace actually does vote for him, but the other three vote for the team, and that’s five more seats filled, and AK Dong eliminated, and I’m annoyed (although not as much as I’m gonna be) because I liked him, and I would have liked for him to get a chance to dance without having to listen to the Hank Chen nonsense at least once.

Next, we have Li Yue & Sha Sha, who appear to dance together on the regular. They have a kind of sultry number put together as the Green Snake and the White Snake that is … hm. I don’t know if we’re classifying this as urban or jazz for the purposes of the show, but it’s another piece that fits more into my contemporary box, if we were classifying them for most of the Western dance spaces I’ve seen. They’re good, as befits this stage of the competition, but a little inconsistent, technically. Also, I don’t find them particularly exciting to watch – I feel like something’s missing, although I can’t quite put my finger on what. I’m not sure their flow is consistent, and they’re probably not helped by following Gai Gai, Huang Xiao and Wang Tao. They get three yes votes from Lay, Yibo and Jackson, although they are … enough to maybe make Yibo a slight bit uncomfortable, being the shy and fragile homosocial forest creature that he may be, or that he may be getting edited as, who knows. Huang Bo pokes at Lay Zhang about his reaction to and vote for them. He also basically says that Wallace didn’t vote for them because Wallace wasn’t turned on by them, because Wallace is still doing his imperturbable cool-as-a-cucumber routine. Wallace’s hold-out vote opens them up to a call-out, and several groups come down to challenge, including – bad luck for Li Yue and Sha Sha – TI, who win the bottle spin. This group includes choreographer Zheng Jian Peng, as well as Su Lianya, who I didn’t realize was a TI member, both Team Wallace, along with … oh my god, Wei Ming, who’s the “Sir, what are you doing?” guy from Episode 2 when Wallace was giving out towels to poppers like candy, and I’m kind of pleased he’s made it this far, just based on that moment, alone, never mind any dancing skills. Rounding out the group are Long Long and Wei Lin, both from Team Yibo, and I think we got B-roll of Wei Lin at some point during Yibo’s eliminations in the first couple of eps. I know nothing about Long Long at this point. At any rate, everybody in this group is so good, I can finally see how they got their rep – fantastic musicality, and a great job of working as a unit. They feel like a team, even when they don’t manage to be quiiiiite synchronized. I’m not really feeling their costumes. Su Lianya continues to be a standout, even in a group that sets the bar this high. Wallace’s composure finally breaks when the other team captains evince interest in poaching her, and oh my god, he still has the hair elastic that he held for her at her initial performance, that they said would be a token of their vow to go all the way in the competition together. OK, I give Wallace a lot of shit, but this is actually kind of adorable. He literally pulls it out of his pocket to tell the other captains they can’t have her and to plead with her to remember their promise to each other. TI gets three votes and moves on. (Lay, still apparently captivated by the snake ladies although not enough to bald-facedly vote for them in the wake of TI’s performance, abstains.)

Next up are Tao and CiCi, and OK. I’m going to be honest here. I think they’re leveraging the “couple” schtick for all it’s worth, and good for them, it looks like they can pull it off, because I think some of the amazed reaction we get from the captains and from the audience is influenced a lot by their coupleness, but at the same time, I think some of the amazed reaction we get from the captains and from the audience is actually influenced by their coupleness rather than their dancing. I mean, Su Lianya and Wei Lin are in the audience of competitors clutching each other’s hands and crying, and it seems to be just as much about Tao telling CiCi out loud that he loves her just before the music starts and the fact that they kiss as part of the piece, if not more than it’s about their actual dancing. The show is also really pushing me on this, because whereas, with everyone else, it tosses up closed captions that tell me what moves are happening (in addition to dialogue subs), now I’m getting things like “heaven-made match.” They’re good, but I think they actually also suffer a bit from following the Gai Gai/Huang Xiao/Wang Tao powerhouse, because I think we’re unlikely to get anything on the lyrical side of things that’s going to match up to that for the rest of the day. Tao and CiCi are better than Li Yue and Sha Sha were, and it is pretty badass the way she manages to make herself so small and compact she literally disappears behind him for that last little bit, and if they’d won the bottle spin on the last callout, they would have won the challenge, I have no doubt. But. :hands: I think the show has actually done that thing Huang Bo accused Jackson of earlier and set my expectations too high. I’m’a sound like Yibo – or like Yibo normally would, because he also seems to get suckered into the overwhelmed reaction for this – and say that I think Tao was better in the less lyrical style when he danced with Yibo and Bing in the Ep 2 towel battle. They get an All-Pass from the captains and talk about their inspiration for the piece, which apparently is a couple who confessed their love to each other the day before the girl had to go into COVID quarantine, and well, now I guess I feel like just a little bit of an asshole for not appreciating the COVID love story properly? Anyway, the captains then keep asking them intrusive questions about their relationship, and Huang Bo mocks Lay for apparently never being in love so he won’t understand what it’s like, and I’m cringing in my seat a little before Jackson gets us back on track and Tao and CiCi finally go sit down.

Then Huang Bo takes the chance to go over to the contestants who haven’t performed yet and stress them out about how few of the 60 available seats are left. I mean, I guess it’s part of competition, but come on, dude.

ANYWAY, next up, we have a group calling themselves Team Wake Up – it’s the waackers, and this group includes Xiao Bao and San Jin from Team Lay, along with a guy we haven’t seen yet, Tu Zi; Meng Di from Team Yibo; and Gao Shi Yu, who we also haven’t seen, from Team Wallace. They start working it, and I’m like, oh wait … and then they hit the Cat Walk, and I’m like, oh shit, and a light bulb finally goes off, because I’ve been super-fk’n slow, but now they’ve shown me what this genre is about, and I’m interested to see what they do here, because a lot of this performance could be straight off the floors of the ball scene. The entire group is pretty good, although I do think Gao Shi Yu is the weak link, she’s not quiiiiite up to the standard of the rest of them. They move well as a group, though, good coordination, sharp and clean, fantastic musicality, high energy all the way through, with EXCELLENT attitude, which is half the battle, because if you’re not confident for this kind of thing – or if you can’t at least fake it flawlessly – you might as well not even be out there. They all do lose a little bit of focus when they’re in the background as they break out for their individual moves, and they fall apart a tiny bit near the end. Also, Meng Di’s belt is off-center, and I know that sounds super picky, but it kept distracting me, so I wish that hadn’t been the case. Xiao Bao is definitely still the standout here – he takes the lead from the minute they come out, with the mic, and never really relinquishes it. We finally get to see San Jin perform, and his extension could be better. Tu Zi must be lacking in the charisma department to not have shown up before this, because he’s better than I expected. Before they started, the group that Xiao Jie and Yang Kai are in together – who still haven’t performed – were debating if they should challenge this group, but Xiao Jie advised waiting to see how good they were, and then after the performance is all, “nooo, we should not challenge,” and props to you for not just writing off the waackers, my man, because they get an All-Pass, and there’s not even a chance for a callout. Before we move on, Wallace clams he’s learned some waacking during the show, and the other captains (led by Jackson, who calls him gege) make him demonstrate, and the contestants, who know what side their bread is buttered on, applaud.

Available seat check. Yibo participates in further stressing out the contestants by saying “Like, a dozen?” All y’all need to be challenging whatever chance you get. Now I bet you’re sorry you didn’t challenge Shen Kai Xiang back at the beginning, aren’t you?

Next up is our group of X-Crew representatives, hop-hop, and Yibo is excited. I almost expect him to do a little dance in his seat. Yang Kai helpfully lets me know that this group is from the top hip-hop crew in China. Oh, hey, that’s Qin Yu, from Team Wallace, the guy who Gongsu Wu Ming immediately recognized as the weak link in one of the towel battles and got up on; the guy who subsequently got taken out by Teng Zai, My Beloved. Qin Yu, the guy we hadn’t even had B-roll on, and still don’t. I wonder if I’m reading too much into that. He’s joined by Flea (which I’m assuming is a direct translation, as it doesn’t sound like “flea” when he says his name?) and Ding, also from Team Wallace - neither of whom we’ve seen before, I think - along with Ting and Lei Xiao Yang from Team Jackson. This is also the first time we’ve seen Lei Xiao Yang. I … feel weirdly unconfident about the famed X-Crew, given we haven’t seen more of them before this. Then again, we’d only seen Gai Gai from her group, so maybe this is a BigSurprise!edit … Ting comes out hard and heavy, and I actually think this is the best performance we’ve seen from her so far. She spends a lot of time out in front on this one, and I don’t think I got from her initial appearance or from her towel battle performances just how good she actually is. Overall though … I am … not that impressed with this group. They start out strong, but then they get sloppy. They have trouble working as a unit, which is surprising from people who supposedly have experience dancing together. They’re all very good, but they’re not synchronized. A lot of their solo showcase bits lack complexity, and that is an understatement. Qin Yu still has some of that nice fluidity along with his pretty face, but he’s not balanced, and he absolutely does not have the finesse he needs to pull this off. They all do move into the end strong, together again, hard, power behind their moves - almost everything from the slo-mo move is good - but … it’s a little late, y’all. That took way too long to get back together. And then, they inexplicably descend into … it’s not even sloppiness, it’s an utter hot mess during, like, the last 15 seconds of the performance, which is absolutely not the final impression you want to leave. And … wow. Shit. There are captains who actually agree with me on this. Sometimes you see the expected top dancers allowed to slide some in these early rounds of competition shows, but not this time – Wallace and Yibo both vote yes, but Jackson and Lay both abstain, and Jackson … wow. Wow. Is disappointed in them and expected more. Despite the fact that he’s like, 12, and that he’s done this to past groups just because he wanted to see them battle, a little bit this actually has a vague feeling of your dad telling you how much you’ve let him down. The audience is shocked, but I’m glad to hear someone say it. It was a good - if spotty - performance but certainly not the best we’ve seen.

So, we have a callout, and the group with Xiao Jie and Yang Kai, which also includes some guys named Shen Zi Hao, Xiao Zhi Bin and Oscar, pounces. And that is a very deliberate word choice, because these guys are on X-Crew like a lion on the trailing gazelle. They’re in their Men In Black suits (ETA: Wait, no, I think maybe they’re Agent Smith suits), and the audience of other competitors is losing it. Xiao Bao is very excited about Xiao Jie. Both Yibo and Jackson look like they’re in actual physical pain, to be forced to make the choice that’s coming up. Ting looks like she’s getting ready to throw up – she’s accepting this with less equanimity than she did the possible results of her initial performance, at least on the surface. I … am dreading losing her, actually, because I suspect that’s what’s getting ready to happen, and I am so so sorry, baby, that you worked so hard to carry your crew like that and they couldn’t keep their shit together. On the one hand, I’m impressed they’re pitting this level of competition against each other so early. On the other, I feel Jackson’s and Yibo’s pain. God. God. The Xiao Jie-Yang Kai group is here to f’kn battle. This is shaping up to be a slaughter. They are fast, clean, precise, great musicality, complex moves, super performance. They’re synchronized, high energy, fantastic animation – which could be a little cheesy, but they’re confident and fearless enough to pull it off - fun and interesting. They are maybe a little bit too gimmicky to be perfect for my taste, but I’m not the one voting them through, and what they’ve come up with is perfect for the audience that matters – the captains, the majority of which are 20-something-year-old boys – and knowing your audience, and performing for them, is a skill, too. BIGGEST (and frankly, only) ISSUE: Somebody fucked up a move, right at the beginning … I think maybe Yang Kai? (ETA: Yah, it was Yang Kai, ugh, what a time for that to happen.) If you’re going to fuck up, best to do it at the very beginning, I guess, and then give this performance afterward, to mitigate it as much as possible, but that one misstep gives the captains enough excuse put off a decision they really don’t want to make, like it’s not just going to make it worse to kick the can down the road a few minutes. Split vote, 2-2 (I thiiink, Yibo and Jackson for X-Crew, Lay and Wallace for the challengers?), which throws it to a further battle. Ting and Xiao Jie, one-on-one, and both of them are feeling the pressure of competing for their entire team instead of just themselves. Two rounds, hiphop and locking. So, each of them is better in their specialty. Ting’s got some fantastic, precise moves for the hiphop round. Xiao Jie is not as good in this round; I do notice he’s got a more directly confrontational style when he’s battling. I feel like she’s doing more waacking than locking in the locking round. Overall, she’s cleaner, more precise, he’s got a little bit more energy. I wouldn’t want to make this decision, frankly. I think Ting was better technically, but Xiao Jie might be the better performer – better at all that other stuff that adds up to stage presence. I do wonder how much of the captains’ decision is influenced by the groups, and who the captains are or aren’t willing to lose, even though it’s supposed to be based on this 1x1 battle. Just looking at who the show has put emphasis on already, we’ve got Ting vs. Xiao Jie AND Yang Kai, and I don’t know that they’re going to want to let that one-two punch go. Wallace votes Ting and X-Crew. Yibo and Lay vote Xiao Jie and the challengers. Jackson, the coward, abstains. Looks like Ting and X-Crew are going home, and this is the first cut that I’m genuinely upset about seeing. Ting feels bad for letting her crew down, but they let you down first, baby, or you wouldn’t even have been in that position.

Available seat check: 12. Dancers left: 27. Well.

We’re coming up on two hours now, and there’s clearly some kind of drama we want to get to, because we whip through the next few performances – few names, limited time spent on them. The ones who do make it through are likely cannon fodder in the next couple of rounds. There’s a group of four in khakis that gets sent through to the next round; Yibo liked their moves. Guy named Zhan Ke in a suit goes through to the next round. We’ve turned into a clip show now, and the screen literally says “ … ” at one point as each group of competitors gets 3 seconds of airtime. Cut to three seats left out of the 60. There’s about seven people left, and … that includes Chick. I have a sinking feeling this guy is going to be the real focus, at this point. He’s paired up with some dude named Long, and they have lost the bottle spin on callout after callout after callout, so they’ve never had a chance to challenge, and now, look at these morose motherfuckers, still sitting in the bleachers. I almost feel bad for them.

So, three seats left, and the next group is three people: Yang Qi aka “Apple” from Team Jackson, Lin from Team Lay and Bobo from Team Wallace. Urban dancers. I lose sound on them right at the beginning, but they’ve got some nice sharp moves, good choreography, they work well as a unit. Solid performance, if not the best we’ve seen. Apple’s got the best technique, I think. Audience likes them a lot. We get a cut to Chick and the other competitors who haven’t danced yet as we count down for the vote, and they are all dying. Three votes yes. Yibo abstains. Huang Bo is so prepared for this group to be sent right through that he starts clapping and congratulating them, and Yibo has to be all, “Wait, no. Not yet.” The captains give their reasoning: Jackson says that he felt their power, emotion, speed all deserved full marks. Yibo agrees.

Yibo agrees.

…

...

…

Their faces in response, y’all. Their little WTF faces as he explains that he really just wants to see the other dancers, too. Oh my god, Yibo. You can’t just say that out loud. Are you serious with this, you can’t even make up a thing to fake critique them on? Cut to a later interview with Bobo, who’s been the least able to school his face journey in response to this: “Wang Yibo, I won’t forget.” Also, Bobo says, you’re not even hot. (lol) Joking aside, the group goes on to make all the correct noises about sure, it’s a competition, you face competitors, it’s what happens, because what are you gonna say? Meanwhile, to be completely honest, I’m probably the person who’s been least able to school their face journey in response to this, because come on, Yibo. It’d be one thing if you were making some kind of statement about the way they set this up from the beginning, with all competitors unable to participate, but I’m pretty sure you’re actually doing this to give Chick another chance, because you have been inexplicably all up on his jock since he showed up, what is it about this guy? I don’t get it. At all.

So, we get a callout, and everyone left challenges, of course, because this is probably the last chance. The audience is rooting for Chick. I still don’t get it. Bottle spin ends up on … Zhao Hai Jie, from Team Wallace, who we’ve never yet seen perform. Here’s the thing: If he can win this battle, then he only takes one seat, leaving another two seats available. However, he is NOT going to win this battle, not without ripping off any figleaf of fair competition that the show may have, because he’s just not that great. If he wins, there’s no way around the fact, right in your face, that it’s a strategic vote. He does not win. Four votes for Apple, Lin and Bobo. Sixty seats filled.

HOWEVER, just in case you were worried there may be any integrity here, director Lu Wei comes ambling out to say, hey, you know those rules we have in place? Well, fuck ‘em. Who cares. Let everybody left battle, and whoever wins that battle can have a seat along with the 60 other people. I’m going to translate this one, because despite the limitations of my Level 1 Duolingo Mandarin, I have umpty SYTYCD episode reactions on my LJ and I feel like I’m pretty fluent in Dance Show BS: “We really want to keep somebody who’s left, so there’s going to be some chicanery on our part.” They really do not want Chick to go home, y’all. I know it’s him. It’s super extra obvious they’re desperately trying to save him, at this point. And I am here to tell you that if Chick ends up on this show and Ting goes home, there will be nothing on this earth that could possibly resurrect Chick from the Pit of My Dislike.

Anyway, we get Dai Dai from Team Lay, who describes herself as a fusion dancer and is pretty good for the first 40 seconds or so of her music and then completely loses the thread and kind of falls apart. The captains do not seem impressed. Possibly they also know we’re just killing time until we get to Chick. Up next is Su, who is Very Dramatic. He doesn’t say what team he’s from, but given Wallace’s reactions, I suspect he’s from Team Wallace. I suspect Yibo’s not going to like his face. His performance goes increasingly off the rails as he goes on. He’s got a lot of goodwill from the audience of competitors, but no. This is not a winning performance. And then we get Chick & Long, literally the last to perform. Chick spends the entire time doing A Bit. Long, who anyone barely remembers is even there, does 2/3+ of the dancing. Everyone – everyone – is apparently vastly entertained by Chick, and I just … :hands: Fine. He’s a character, but I have yet to see anything in three episodes, across, like, 7 hours, that lets me see whether he can really dance or not. Yibo literally tells Jackson, “He doesn’t have many tricks, but he’s got a ton of ideas” and later says he’s a B-boy without a power move. Anyway, one vote for Su (Wallace), three votes for Chick and Long. We’re at 62 dancers, and I cannot believe I’m going to be subjected to Chick’s continued clownery when Ting has to go home.

Thank GOD we’re activating the Special Guest Host Powers, the first of which is “REVIVE,” i.e., bring someone back who was eliminated. Yibo is immediately like, omg, the hip-hop group. Then we do Yet Another Bit where the captains cater to Huang Bo so that he’ll take their advice on who to revive, and it goes on too long when we are, my god, two hours and fourteen minutes into this. Meanwhile, Yibo reiterates, the hip-hop group. Yeah, Yibo, this I approve of - if I gotta watch you fall all over yourself over Chick, you need to get Ting back for me. So, we’re finally getting the captains’ actual recommendations: Jackson says the hip-hop group, possibly feeling bad about the fact that he’s the one who spiked their chance the first time around? Yibo is all, me too! Yes! That one! It’s kind of adorable. Also, yes, Yibo, you need to get Ting back for me. Lay says Li Yue and Sha Sha, the white and green snakes. Wallace recommends a popping group that I don’t even know if we saw perform? At any point in the past 7+ hours of three episodes? Wallace, are you high? Anyway, THANK GOD, Huang Bo brings back the X-Crew group. We’re at 67 dancers.

Second Special Guest Host Power is … “battle?” So, we’re setting up Qiang Qi Da Zhan, aka Seven to Smoke, which they’ve apparently done in past seasons? Each captain picks two people – eight total – to participate. Twenty minutes total. Increments of 30 seconds each to battle. And I guess you have to accumulate seven points in various battles. We don’t get to hear the captains’ picks, but I can see that AK Dong is called back for this one. Also, I spot one of the krumpers. (:eyeroll: Really, Lay? Because I know that was you.) We see some clips of this. We see AK Dong get to six points. He … maybe gets his seventh point? Anyway, he says in the last interview clip that he’s here. I guess we officially find out the Seven to Smoke results next ep?

Also next episode: Divided into two groups and battling by genre for the next elimination. Five rounds. Also looks like captains might get a chance to poach from other teams. Also some wacky fuckery with the dancers’ heads that looks like it’s going to be stomping all over my embarrassment squick, argh.

Finally, we get a peek at hotpot, and it sounds like they ended up with 70 dancers, so three people managed to get seven points in Seven to Smoke? And somebody’s mom is apparently coming to hotpot, but I’d have to watch the actual hotpot show to find out whose mom, and we’re out.

#wang yibo #jackson wang #lay zhang #zhang yixing #wallace chung #street dance of china #sdoc episode reax

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swan--writes · 3 years

Text

Beetlejuice’s Big Halloween Party

I thought about writing a Dewey Halloween, but let’s be real, there ain’t room for the both of these boys in this here holiday.

And listen, it is 2:30 AM and I just finished writing this. I wrote it all in one go. I’m not editing it. Please reblog though! Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain!

Warnings: elements of horror, blood mention, eyeball mention

Words: 3,070

You screamed.

“Beetlejuice!”

Your demon laughed at you from the rafters of your barn. Ever since you had moved out to your farmhouse, Beetlejuice had been hanging around. Sometimes literally. Normally you found you didn’t mind the demon’s antics – he kept things lively when there wasn’t much going on out where you lived. Sometimes he donned an old sheet and floated around the house. Sometimes he went out into your backyard and howled at the tree line. And sometimes he dropped live bats from the rafters of the barn, directly onto your unsuspecting head.

Frantically, you waved away the little menace. All you could see were glimpses of a wrinkled snout and long teeth. It seemed to be flapping its wings as fast as you were flapping your hands, and by the time it managed to fly off, Beetlejuice was hanging upside-down in midair and cackling.

“Wow, what a jumpy breather,” he said, wiping a thick black tear from his eye. You thought you heard it sizzle as it fell to the worn wooden floor.

“Knock it off, Beej.”

“Yeah, sure I will.”

“Seriously!” You shook your head, fighting off a shiver. “There’s gonna be screaming hordes of children here in, like, an hour. I cannot still be cleaning up your messes when they get here. So, lose the bats and the bugs and the…whatever else you’ve got.” You narrowed your eyes at his tattered suit jacket.

“Relax, babes, I got it all under control.”

Without thinking, you took a step back as he righted himself in the air. “I don’t like the way you said that.”

“Hey, take the help or don’t. I’ll be here all night.” With that, he zoomed up to the rafters, dropping beetle carcasses in his wake. You shrieked and leaped back. “Beetlejuice!” you complained, only to hear his laughter.

It had been less than a year since you moved into your creepy old farmhouse. You still weren’t entirely sure if the creepy old dead guy had come with the property, or if he had followed you there. But when you found his name traced over and over again in the dust of every reflective surface in the house on the first night, you had almost left.

In the end, it was one of the movers who had summoned him. You had had two burly men helping you move your things inside. One of them had remarked on the odd name, Betelgeuse. The other had just happened to be an amateur astronomer. Before any of you knew what was happening, lightening was striking, thunder was rolling, wind was blowing, and the two big, strong movers were scrambling back to their truck. Thoughtfully, they did hurl the last of your furniture from the vehicle as they peeled out of your shaded, and winding driveway. Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse…

“Okay, Beetlejuice, fine! Yes! I do need help.” You grumbled the last to yourself, trying and failing once more to move a heavy wooden table. It had been half an hour since the bat incident, and almost all of it had been spent on this table.

“Well, I don’t know…”

“Beetlejuice.”

“I’m getting kinda tired, y’know…”

“Beetlejuice!”

“A’right, a’right, fine! Taskmaster, jeez.” The demon floated down from the rafters, snapped his fingers, and the table you had been struggling with walked itself over to where you had been trying to move it – against the wall, centered under a window.

The barn was a decent size. Average by northeastern standards, but tall as hell. Or, the Netherworld, you supposed. The structure of the thing was entirely wood, worn down and lightened with time. The posts were a richer color than the floor, which was covered in scratches and the occasional hay straw. There were windows all around, installed sometime within the last half-century, and the sun shone in brilliantly when it was up.

Now it was dark, even at 5:00 PM. As you watched, the decorations you had strewn haphazardly across the space leapt to attention. Miniature pumpkin lights snaked their way around the rafters and posts, along with actual snakes. A layer of fog coated the floor so thickly you could no longer see your own feet. What looked to be a hundred flaming tealights sprung up from every table – some with black flames, others green. The overhead iron-wrapped pendant lights dimmed and aged noticeably, some flakes of rust falling to the floor and becoming lost in the low gloom.

The jack-o’-lanterns you and Beetlejuice had carved the day before lit up abruptly. Paper bats and bloody eyeballs on strings dropped down to hang from the rafters. A soft, eerie music began floating through the room, and when you looked up you saw a greenish gray skeleton manning the DJ setup on a slightly raised section of the floor. It gave you and Beetlejuice a thumbs-up, its other decayed hand on a headphone positioned just a few degrees south of where its ear might have been.

“Thank you, I think--whoa!” Before you could finish thanking your demon, you heard a loud BANG. All the window shutters slammed shut.

“No problem, babes, but what are you gonna do for me?” Beetlejuice waggled his eyebrows at you.

You rolled your eyes. “Politely ask you to open the shutters back up, please? It’s a full moon, we should be able to see it.”

Beetlejuice bent backwards unnaturally far and groaned. “Fine.” A flick of his wrist and the shutters swung open meekly. A few thick, black tentacles with a faint green sheen slithered in at the corners of each window, not breaking the glass but rather bending it open around themselves. The demon dusted off his hands and fixed his tie. “Happy?”

“Very.”

“How’d you get roped into doing this, anyway? I thought you hated kids.”

“I don’t hate them, I just don’t like them. One of the community theater guys asked me to.” You started for the barn door. Beetlejuice followed you, the tips of his shoes dragging the fog.

“Why?” He wrinkled his nose.

“Because the new, mysterious stage manager has a big, scary house in the middle of nowhere that no-one’s ever seen, that’s why.”

“Huh. Is he gonna be here too?” You didn’t have to look at Beetlejuice to know he was grinning.

Before you could warn him not to do anything dangerous, you opened the barn door to find your first chaperone. You weren’t sure if it was a state rule that a gathering of kids under a certain age needed adult chaperones, but knowing Beetlejuice, you were happy to have the help. This one was a theater mom. You barely knew her, but she said she would bring cupcakes, so you had shrugged and given her your address.

“Stephanie, hi,” you said, only mildly startled to see her so early.

“H--oh. Uh, hi,” she replied, now openly staring at Beetlejuice.

“Hi.” Still grinning.

“Um, who is this?” she asked, barely containing her horror.

“I’m–”

“Oh, this is, uh–”

“I’m her, uh–”

“Lawrence!” you said rigidly. “Lawrence…Beetleman.” You pulled at the demon’s arm and he dropped to his feet, stumbling to your side. You knew you should have rehearsed this.

Beetlejuice held out his left hand stiffly. “Nice to meet ya.” You elbowed him as surreptitiously as you could, and he dropped the hand, holding out his right instead.

Stephanie cautiously met his hand, then dropped it immediately. “Oh, I uh…you too, Mr. Beetleman?” Beetlejuice flinched and gagged noticeably.

There was a long silence.

“So…” you tried.

“Right! Yes, I, um…well, I came to help you decorate, but it seems like you have it all taken care of?” Stephanie glanced around you, coming away looking somehow even more horrified.

“Oh yeah, we got it covered, Stevie.” You tried to elbow Beetlejuice again, but he dodged. Moving forward, he took Stephanie’s arm at the elbow and led her into the barn. “Here, lemme show you where to put those cupcakes.” He nodded to the box she was carrying.

“Oh, okay. It’s Stephanie, by the way,” she said nervously.

“Sure.”

“Beetleman,” you cautioned haltingly, frowning at him.

“Don’t worry about it, babes. Don’t you gotta go put on your costume?”

You opened your mouth to argue, but Stephanie spoke first. “It’s fine, I’ll just, um…”

“Yeah, she’ll just um. Go on,” Beetlejuice cajoled. Tightlipped and wide-eyed, you turned and stalked out of the barn, leaving the door open behind you just in case.

Surprising yourself, you managed to get into your costume in under thirty seconds. The makeup, on the other hand, was more of a challenge. There was something about the creaky sounds of wood settling and the draft through the second floor of your house that was making it more difficult than usual to keep your hands steady. But then, you had never been much of an artist.

So, you headed back to the barn in your broken shoes and your torn clothes, perfecting your shamble as you went. The door was still open. Stephanie had her back to you and seemed to be sizing up the tentacles on the far window, but Beetlejuice caught your movement as you tentatively stuck your head into the barn. You motioned for him to come towards you. He followed your lead.

Once you were both just outside the barn door, you turned fully to face him. “Hey,” you whispered.

“What’s up, babes?”

“I’m having a little trouble with my prosthetics. Could you do anything to make me look a little more…” You searched for the right word. “…horrifying?” Seeing Beetlejuice’s eyes light up, you held out a hand. “Without killing and/or maiming me.” You paused. “Or making the children cry.”

The demon gave you a look. “What, on Halloween? Huge cliché, what do you take me for?” You raised your eyebrows, but said nothing. He snapped his fingers and within an instant, you could feel your face and sections of your clothing stiffen with what you hoped was fake blood. “There: instant zombification.”

“Great, lemme just go check–”

“Sweetheart, trust me, you could strike terror into the hearts of any ghoul.”

“Do ghouls have hearts?”

“Whatever you do, never ask a ghoul that.”

You gave him a small smile. “Thanks, Mr. Beetleman.” Almost compulsively, Beetlejuice gagged again. You laughed and led him back into the barn. Stephanie turned to greet you, then turned away again. Your demon gave you a sidelong, self-satisfied look. You shook your head at him, but couldn’t force the smile off of your face.

The kids started showing up minutes later. Stephanie’s wife brought their two sons, then the community theater director came with his daughter, and on and on. Before 6:00, the barn was full. Nearly half of the children had entered the costume contest, which you had begrudgingly appointed Beetlejuice head judge of.

It wasn’t so much that you had invited Beetlejuice as it was that you knew you wouldn’t be able to keep him from staying. Short of banishing him, he would not be left out of your Halloween activities, and the last thing you wanted to do was banish the demon. He could be awfully cranky when he felt ignored, worse when he felt betrayed. Best to keep a close eye on him and leave it there. Shockingly, though, he seemed to be on his best behavior.

That wasn’t saying much, but you appreciated the effort.

He kept the live animals to a minimum, only ate one of the eyeballs hanging from the ceiling, and judged the costume contest as fairly as he could. Fortunately, there was a clear winner: a young zombie whose costume rivalled your own. The judge committee gave him a small skeleton trophy and a candy medal, took some photos with him, and you privately wondered if he had his own ghost-zombie at home to help him with his makeup. Then you shrugged it off and watched – half-mortified, half-impressed – as Beetlejuice summoned a few dead cheerleaders to sing a surprisingly smooth rendition of Time Warp. You were fairly certain a few of his bones came loose during the dance, but you let it slide. The kids were duly impressed, the parents were a suitable distance that they hardly noticed.

It wasn’t until 11:00 PM that all of the adults in the room realized that Beetlejuice had removed the clock that had previously hung on the wall opposite the barn’s door. It took the better part of a half hour to corral the kids to their parents’ respective vehicles, and most of them insisted on hugging you. Warily as ever, you eyed the ones who tried to hug ‘Mr. Beetleman,’ but he somehow managed to turn all of their affections into a high five. Despite yourself, you found yourself smiling.

Once everyone was gone, you turned from the door to assess the barn. It was a disaster. The jack-o’-lanterns had remained lit, as had the candles, but those were the only decorations at thirteen-and-under year old level that had remained undisturbed. The bottles you had placed on the tables, with their faded potion ingredient labels, were toppled over. There were drink puddles and food stains on the floor and half the fog had dissipated. Some of the eyes and bats had come down, others were tangled with the lights on the posts. Somehow, even the pendant lights were flickering slightly.

Beetlejuice did not need sleep. Maybe he could get tired, maybe he couldn’t. You certainly could, and by the time the party was over, you had maxed out your entire energy reserve. So, when your demon told you he’d clean up the next day, you agreed and gave no thought to the fact that it would take him all of two seconds to clean up that night.

Once you had seen off the last of the kids and all of the parents, you trudged back up to your big, scary house. All the light in the barn went out behind you, but you paid it no mind.

Somewhere between the barn and the house, Beetlejuice disappeared. Again, you ignored it. It wasn’t uncommon for Beetlejuice to vanish without telling you, and on Halloween night you imagined there were a hundred more fun things for him to be off doing than watching you get ready for bed. Especially when you caught sight of yourself in your entryway mirror. It was the first time that night that you had seen yourself fully zombified beyond a brief glance at your dim reflection in a darkened, tentacled window.

Your face alone had several large patches of what looked like gaping wounds, and you could see more peeking out from your formerly white collar. You had been going for Proper Academic Zombie, and you looked like you would need a degree in showering to get all this gunk off of yourself. At least you could reuse the costume, maybe disrupt a seminar or two.

Shaking your head, you flicked the light switch beside the front door to turn off the overhead light. Instead of just that light going out, however, the table lamp under the mirror went out as well. So did the hall light over the stairs to your left, the kitchen down the short hallway in front of you, and the living room light beyond that. You tried flicking the switch again. Nothing.

Suddenly, a slam. Several slams all at once. All the shutters you could see swung closed forcefully. From the sound of it, all the shutters on the house closed.

You cleared your throat hesitantly. “Okay, very funny. Beej, that’s you, right?”

Silence.

“Beej?” Though you couldn’t yet hear your heart, you could feel it struggling against the walls of your chest. There was a slight ringing in your ears – the ever-present remnants of your teenaged years. Outside of that: nothing. You took a step, and the creaking of the wood seemed to echo through the whole house. For a brief, crazy moment, you thought about going out to your car. But it seemed the porch light was out too, and being inside a dark house was better than being outside on a dark night.

So, you took another step. Then another. You cursed your shortsightedness in leaving your phone in your room. You reached the stairs. You climbed them, you turned the corner. The wood settle beneath your feet with a deafening creak each step of the way.

There must be a short circuit. There had to be, somewhere. There was no reason for you to have simply lost power. When you reached your room, you saw that your alarm clock was still lit and showing the time, and it was plugged into the same wall outlet as your dark lamp. The box was in your basement.

No way were you going into the basement.

You reached out for your phone. It was dead. You looked over to one of your windows. Of all the windows you’d passed, this seemed to be the only one whose shutters hadn’t closed. Slowly – more slowly than you had moved all night, you crossed the room to look outside. You could see the full moon in all her red-orange beauty. Then, you let out the breath you had been holding. The moon wasn’t going anywhere, even if all the other light was gone.

You should have known better.

A shadow dashed across the moon then, but not at the surface. Through the air. Close to your window. Very, very close.

There was a muffled thud somewhere behind you. You jumped and whirled around to look. When you noticed the light from the moon fading, you slowly turned your head back and saw the shutters swinging closed. Before you could reach out to even open the window, they were completely shut.

Another noise, closer this time.

You couldn’t move. Your heart was racing. You couldn’t speak, you couldn’t breathe. You thought about jumping for your bed, some childish thought of pulling the covers over your head before the whatever-it-was could reach you running through your head, but even in your fear you knew it was foolish. It was too late – too close. Your stomach dropped, your hands shook, your legs felt like splintering wood.

Yet another noise. You heard the hinges of your bedroom door waver. It was pitch dark in the room. All at once, a ragged breathing rushed at you across the squeaking floor.

You screamed.

“Beetlejuice!”

Seriously, please reblog.

Tags List: @skiddyyo @a-okay-rj @geeky-marie @darkblueeyedperson @hannah-de-lioncourt @ironmansuucks @missihart23 @ballerinafairyprincess @thewolfisapartofmysoul

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promptsausandshit · 3 years

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Picture this; #399

A Month of Horror Prompts;

(Note; While the goal is to do one a day, please go at your own pace, this is for fun after all!)

1. Coffin maker personalises each creation according to the instructions of the dead, often leaving some kind of message that leaves at least one funeral goer uneasy.

2. “Offering your heart and soul to gain love is very unwise in these parts.”

3. They had successfully removed the robots power source only to find that there was a completely different and far too organic source of energy keeping it alive.

4. The cabin crew were all polite and attentive, however their strange shift between elegant or jerky movements and unmoving smiles were troubling. Even more so when the flight continued past the estimated time of arrival.

5. Wherever the scarecrow was placed, it ended up surrounded by dead birds but no one knew why.

6. Change one element in Pride and Prejudice to shift it into the horror genre.

7. Every time they studied the skeleton it seemed to be bigger and have new spines they hadn’t noticed before, but stress caused errors all the time. Then the night staff pointed out the scratches on the door.

8. They had been getting texts from an unknown number for weeks now and all they ever said was ‘it’s coming’. Until today.

9. “Oh, if you spot any footprints during your walk, don’t talk to anyone and start running. Trust me.”

10. One older sibling is starting to see their little sibling’s imaginary friend and it isn’t happy about it.

11. It was over, they had faced the tricksters challenges and won before the sun set, they were free! So why wouldn’t it stop laughing?

12. They had gone out to the balcony to admire the stars and the quiet only to look down and see something quickly climbing toward them.

13. When the artist set out their easel and brushes for the portrait their muse was confused to see no paint, yet within the first stroke to the canvas the brush dripped red and the muse gradually began to weaken.

14. “Mother liked lavender, said it hid the smell of rotten things. She kept bunches of it in every room.”

15. They had assumed they were hunting a stag until the first shot hit and a noise unlike any they had heard rang out across the land.

16. Sirens are vengeful creatures, slight one and they and all their brethren will hunt you, they will claw their way into your home, call out to your blood, drown those that shared your food, until you surrender.

17. All the crew were present in the control room so why was the computer insisting that someone was missing?

18. They could have sworn that there was a masked being in the peculiar painting the night before, but now there was only the mask.

19. To bring life to their creation they had made a deal with the reaper, should their creation be killed they would be at the mercy of the souls of those used to create it.

20. It had been a strange yet pleasant enough dinner until the host began eating the bones of their finished meal, leaving the guests silent and shaken.

21. Take inspiration from a childhood boogieman that seems silly now, make it as serious and disturbing as you can.

22. Breath caught in your throat, you watch as the stranger on the opposite side of the street slowly splits in half.

23. Aphrodite granted life to Galatea, however she did not grant the statue a death nor humanity.

24. “We’re expecting a visitor at eleven, don’t let them in.”

25. They couldn’t understand why their colleagues were so horrified to learn of their promotion until they saw the corpse they were replacing.

26. Every night a young person begged and screamed to be let in, the same one they had let in the first time, the one that kept swearing they were real.

27. Scientists discover a crystal that when light shone through it reveals what cannot be seen, and quickly realise that it allows the unseen to see them too.

28. They had found the child at the edge of the forest, cold and hungry. After taking them in they found that no matter how much food they gave them the child’s stomach continued to growl and no warmth stopped their shaking.

29. The play seemed to have incredible effects until an actor attempted to dive off the stage to flee the puppets jaws.

30. It didn’t make sense, the game kept playing dangerous music at strange times no matter if it was in the middle of a cute cutscene or on the menu screen, as if it was warning of an enemy outside its control.

31. “Wow, that’s loud! I thought you said your neighbour didn’t have a dog?“

Completion Bonus!;

Do a one shot or a sketch for something you love that you haven’t had the chance to do for a while! Or read one chapter of an unfinished story! Or watch one episode or movie of that thing you like! Satisfy whatever urge you have right now, you have all the time in the world for this so relax and treat yourself, you did great!

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marziblogsworld · 4 years

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I sat down, strap myself, hold my emotions and watched Hamilton. A story of America then told by the America now in a mix of hip hop, jazz, and classical music. A screen play written by the amazing Lin Manuel Miranda about a man who made history and whats his name man!

'ALEXANDER HAMILTON'

I lost my shit with the intro and then the emotions kept piling up and up. Heres my review.

I havent watched that much musical before because i dont have the courtesy to go to broadway otherwise that would have been my second home, such is my sad life 😔 but wherever i had a chance and a good musical graced my screen, i always invest myself into it. Les Miserables was the last musical that i watched then Disney blessed us with Hamilton and i have say i was literally blown away. I was left speechless and in awe all the damn time. Every music, every lyrics, every scene was spot on. The direction, the choreography, it was so smooth and in a flow that not even for a second i thought that this is a theatre performance. I stood up with the audience, i clapped with them, i shed my tears with them, i screamed and cheered. I didnt felt left out. It was soo beautiful. A clear cut masterpiece.

The intro song 'Alexander Hamilton' gives you a tiny heart attack because it tells you the whole story and i loved how it was added into the lyrics 'we were his friends', 'i trusted him', 'we loved him' and then the bomb shell 'and i am that damn fool who shot him' *gasp* *gasp* *gasp*. I dont know how many in the audience just fainted right at the moment (well if they dont know all of his history).

I like how they were bold enough to show that there own hero or the maker of their history 'Hamilton' wasnt all perfect, he had flaws and he made mistake because he is not God, he is human and a human always go power hungry, they often make choices in their life they regret. They were true in telling in their story and i loved that soo much and it felt reality.

Every song was amazing, every lyrics hits you in a different way, each has there own element but for me there were a few songs that are imprinted on my mind and i just want to listen to it in repeat. 'Helpless' is by far my favourite after 'Satisfied'. 'Stay Alive' and those 'Cabinet Battles' that was like a unique take to talk about politics I LOVED THAT!!!!. i wish all our cabinet meetings held that way, wouldn't it be fun to watch. I would definitely watch all those meetings 😂

Can i just say JONATHAN GROFFS as King George the third and DAVID DEEEGS as Marques and then as Thomas Jefferson were the highlight of the series. The way that man showed his aura as King George and with passion he spoke was amazing. David Deegs bring out the fun side in all of this. I have a strong feelings that most scenes or dialogues were improvised on the stage at the moment but it didn't felt out sync but it did gave a little oooooh factor to the story.

Eliza Hamilton deserves better there i said it and if you look closely coming out from Lin protection squad. Aaron Burr wasnt wrong, i could understand his perspective and his angre towards all of this. He felt left out and I felt that when he sang ' I wanna be in that room when it happened' it was clearly shown that he wants to be in all of this, he wants to be on the front line and to be heard but his only problem was that he wasnt outspoken and a risk taker like Hamilton so noone persude him but that is like my point of you from what i watch. Not passing any judgement just my opinion.

I have to watch it on repeat. It was that amazing also Lin i wanna ask how did this idea came into your mind?.where did it all began uuuuggghhhh now i wanna be in that room when it happened....room when it happened..... room when it happened! 😂😂😂😂😂😂. Definitely going to hear these songs on repeat.

Follow me guys for more amazing reviews on your favourite movies, tvshows and books. Open for all and any recommendations 😉

My Beautiful Eliza Hamilton😍

#alexander hamilton #hamilton #eliza hamilton #king george hamilton #lin manuel miranda #aaron burr #marquis de lafayette #thomas jefferson #angelica schuyler #john laurens #philip hamilton #disney+#disney #broadway

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smolbeandrabbles · 4 years

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Le Bien Qui Fait Mal - Dave x Reader (Lost River)

GIF Credit: X

@mandy23b @wltz-bby @happyskywhale #mendotagsquad

Dave + 27 - “No. Regrets.” Requested by @sufferthesea

Author’s Note: Special mention to @crawlingmist for building on my plot. It’s with great pleasure that I get to bring you this, with a song from my favourite musical! 😏😁

I barely needed to edit this one either. Sometimes, sometimes I get it just right... The translated lyrics to the song are below, but really you need the song. No matter that it’s in French. It’s very Dave. The whole Aesthetic.

Le Bien Qui Fait Mal - Mozart L’Opera Rock Disclaimer: MoR lyrics not mine / Lost River and all associated things not mine / gif not mine / some direct quoting from ‘Lost River’ used 😅

Premise: You’re the first singer that Dave has employed at his club, you also have a ‘je ne sais quoi’ that floods his thoughts. His curiosity can only be sated one way...

Words: 2530

Warnings: Sexual Connotations/Pre-Amble / Swearing

--- Where is this strange feeling coming from? It fascinates me as much as it unsettles me I shiver, pieced by beauty It’s like a knife in my soul The wound goes through my heart And I take joy in the pain Intoxicated by this poison Until I lose my mind! It’s so good it hurts When you love, your hatred is perfectly normal Take Pleasure It’s so good to suffer Succumb to the spell Shed your tears It’s so good it hurts (hurts me) When you love, your sorrow is perfectly banal (it’s so good it hurts) True delights Come from torture Lower your weapons Shed your tears I feel violent urges It seems like I’m slipping into the depths If I ignore the source of this curse I love letting it under my skin Bewitched by mad ideas Suddenly my urges arise Desire becomes my prison Until I lose my mind!

---

The world was spinning. Like he was drunk, or maybe high. Or maybe he was something else...

Whatever he was, Dave was out of his head. He was going crazy; he was confused. Because he didn’t know why. You? The sound of your voice? What you were wearing? All of it? All of that in this setting? He wanted so badly to look away but Dave couldn’t tear his eyes from you. The pleasure was insane, but it almost hurt just as bad. Wasn’t that the point, after all. Wasn’t that why this club existed?

Dave didn’t have a singer at his club. He didn’t see himself as counting, he didn’t sing every night. It was a rarity; his treat and gift to everyone. Until you. And Dave wasn’t here every night to listen to you sing - but right now he felt that was going to change. He had heard you sing before - your voice sweet and pretty, gently melodic. One that - in his opinion - would sound good mixed with his (no matter what way that would be). But a short one song audition for him and a voice he liked wasn’t this.

This was a culmination of all of that. Yet your voice tonight? Oooh... this was deeper, richer, sultry. With the music and lyrics too? Dave thought about loosening buttons. He relaxed the way he was sitting and tried to take a calming deep breath. It helped nothing. He wondered if you’d been nervous before - a job you desperately needed? - now you were in your element; but it couldn’t have been him that had made you nervous. Because, as if feeling like this wasn’t enough, your eyes hadn’t moved from staring at him.

Usually Dave would love to have a gorgeous woman stare at him like this. He was a typical ‘love them and leave them.’ People didn’t steal his heart - the only relationship Dave was ever really after was physical. And yes, yes, you were affecting him like that. He’d make sure you knew you didn’t get to give him such a stare without being pinned up against something, somewhere. Still, his heart. His pulse was running wild - Dave didn’t blush, but if he thought he was capable… He didn’t know what was happening, but he felt sick. Dave shifted again, finally able to prize his eyes away from you. He squeezed them tightly shut, feeling lightheaded once more. Rob leant over, “You okay?” “Yeah...” Dave counted himself lucky that his voice managed to be that steady, then he nodded “Yeah.” Then waved towards the stage, “After she’s done. Send her to me.” He cleared his throat, eyes drawn back to you. “I think we need a little talk...”

** The club was emptying by the time you got a chance to go to him. That was mostly because Rob, with his own duties, was delayed in getting the message to you, and you had a few things you had to attend to yourself before you heeded Dave’s call. By that time it was getting late anyway, so you preferred to wait until the club was quiet to go to him. Dave found the waiting time more agony than he could possibly imagine. He was supposed to be enjoying everyone else’s performances, but he simply couldn’t. His mind stirred and always sent him back to you – the way it felt like those eyes of yours were reaching into his very soul and uncovering the darkest secrets he held, it was more than just seeing through him – you were undoing him, piece by piece. And sitting here waiting for you, Dave was forced to relive it. He closed his eyes trying to block you out, somehow, but you were already in his head. You weren’t about to let go. With realisation, Dave knew that he wouldn’t let you go either. Not until he had what you had him aching for. When you walked smoothly back out onto the stage, Dave was still sitting at his top table. One leg crossed over the other he was tipping his chair back – taking long, slow drags from his cigarette. His blue eyes flicked to you as soon as he noticed your presence. Even without the lights and the ambiance, you were still striking standing up there. He couldn’t ignore that; it clearly wasn’t the club, it was just you – and you were setting him on fire. Dave kept his eyes on you as he placed his cigarette to his lips once more and you swallowed hard, you weren’t sure that you could trust him. You weren’t sure about a lot of things, this job and the people that worked here. But you were sure that you wanted him, and nearly just as sure that he felt the same. Even from way up here, it wasn’t hard to see your effect on him considering you’d been watching him for your entire set. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise- Would you like me to come and sit with you?” You were gentle and polite, and moved towards the steps down onto the floor. Dave stilled you as he set his chair back on all four legs and rose, taking one last drag before he stubbed out his cigarette. “Stay.” He walked across the room, not breaking your eye contact. Dangerous. Yet, you were attracted to that danger. Dave joined you on stage, wasting no time; “Pick a song.” “Sorry?” “A song. Pick one.” It was more of a demand than anything, yet it still left you confused. “May I ask why?” He wasn’t sure if he was impressed with you or annoyed. Why would you not just do as he asked? And yet he admired that you weren’t shying away from him with a timid stammer. “Sing with me.” Your face flushed, but your nerve held; “You sing?” Then before he could respond, which meant Dave was reduced to nodding, “Why ask me to perform if you can sing?” “Why wear out my talents every evening?” Dave turned his eyes to the empty room and flashed a smirk, “No. I’ll only sing on occasion, my dear – not everyone out there deserves to hear me.” You dared to look away from him to find some kind of music player – the lack of one would mean he wanted to sing with you acapella. You regarded him again, wondering what his singing voice was like. What it might feel like to hear it for the first time – if he’d be able to harmonize with you. What if it was you that couldn’t harmonize with him? He stared at you again, curiously, awaiting your answer. “What if you don’t know it?” “You’d be surprised. What’s your choice?” “There’s no music.” “You best not be trying to get out of this…” He walked forward to the microphones, beckoning you with him – and you followed. Unnervingly eager to hear this for yourself. “With a voice as intoxicating as yours, you hardly need musical accompaniment.” Dave’s eyes flashed and your lips parted – but you realised he was daring you to retaliate to such a seemingly forbidden piece of information. “Now come on.” He placed his hand to the shell of his ear, “I still haven’t heard a name…” You gave him one and for a moment you wondered if you had found something he didn’t know, as Dave stood in silence staring at the ceiling. You nearly jumped as the eerie silence was suddenly filled with a hummed melody at his recollection. The smirk returned as his gaze fell back to your face. “Am I right?” “…Yes…” You breathed, stepping to the mic. He took a step away and nodded, indicating that the floor was yours. Convinced that none of this could have been for a good reason, you took a deep breath and closed your eyes; imagining the opening notes in your head, imagining there was really a band behind you and crowd in front. All here for you, but also him. You opened your eyes again and with your confidence, incredibly, sky-high you began singing. Dave lost it almost immediately. You were still dressed as you had been when you’d performed; to be honest with the level of attraction he was still feeling towards you – whether that be purely lust, or something more, he didn’t know – it would have been enough. But when there was no music to focus on, when it was just your voice, it was almost worse. Beautiful and haunting, as you hit every note; Dave didn’t even think you’d have needed a microphone what with the way it echoed around the deserted building. You had no pressure here, no one was focusing on you, you didn’t have to be the source of entertainment – just to sing whatever you wanted. Then he joined you, and were you not in the zone, you would have tripped on your notes – you certainly nearly lost key as he brought his up to yours. His voice was smooth and rich, a little different to that semi-raspy tone he usually talked with. And as you continued to sing together, playfully pushing him into high and low sections, between softer sequences and real power notes you couldn’t help but be shocked at the range he had. A voice that was persuasive, seductive, but, like him, not quite true and trustworthy. A voice that didn’t ask you to do something, but gently implied you should do it – until it was all you could think about. Until you wanted to do it for him. Not ‘will you?’; ‘You will.’. You weren’t sure what that thing was either, but it certainly had a hold of you – and you had a distinct feeling you were now looking at each other in exactly the same way. You were both asking for trouble. As the song and your voices faded out, and the room lapsed back into silence, your ears were ringing. The tension you felt in your body surrounded you, it was in the very air you were breathing – and Dave crossed the stage with purpose before grabbing you. You expected it, the way he pulled you into him, and your fingers dug into his arms as his kiss engulfed you. It felt better than the sound of his voice insisted that it would, and you were sure you were going insane at the feel of him this close to you. His pull back was quick and violent – and although his blue eyes were dark and telling you exactly what he wanted, his glare was also hard. But you were smirking; because you had Dave right where you wanted him. “Who are you?” “Too much for you to handle.” You stepped back into him, letting him know that you were hardly afraid of him – nor to admit what you wanted. His intake of breath was sharp and he shook his head, eyes searching yours for a sign that you were teasing. You best not be – you best mean it. “Y/N. Let me tell you something, right now. I like to fuck and when I meet a bad bitch, it drives me crazy. But you drive me crazier than any other fucking woman I’ve ever known. And I want you NOW.” He wasn’t sure what he would see in you as he gripped you a little tighter, but your smile was not it. It didn’t look like it belonged on your face, sinfully wicked, to accompany your small laugh. You very nearly took Dave’s breath away. Your eyes ran his body as you replied, drawing up slowly, the lip bite was teasing – but the kind he wanted to tolerate; “I’ve been here enough times to have seen you sitting on your little table. And you drive me crazy.” You pulled him closer to your body, wrapping your arms around his neck and locked your intense stare with his; “Coincidentally - you’re the only man in this club I’m here for, and the only one I’d let put his hands all over me.” Dave bit his lip, this hum not of notes but of satisfaction. You meant business. You craved him as much as he did you. With your arms around his neck the decision was already made, he hoisted you off the floor and walked you from the stage to the first table he saw. Though the patrons had vacated the premises, drinks glasses and bottles still adorned nearly all the tables. But with your body pressed up against his, and the feel of your heart beat – erratic in anticipation – Dave couldn’t care less about that. Holding you strong in one arm he cleared the table with one sweep of his other, before laying you back on it. The crash of breaking glass deterred neither one of you. But he paused for just a second as his hands found either side of your waist. “Promise me something.” You tilted your head to the side, wondering what exactly Dave – of all people – would want you to promise now. Why he’d want you to promise anything. You weren’t exactly sure you cared if this was a one-time thing. “What is it you want me to promise?” “That you won’t regret this.” You raised an eyebrow, wondering if that was something he should be saying. Did women often regret sleeping with him? Instead you simply smiled, pulling him down to kiss you. “No. Regrets.” His eyes fluttered closed for a moment as he accepted your kiss, and then he straightened. Hooking your legs around himself Dave held you there, gaze locking with yours again. It was clear he wanted you to know exactly what you were doing to him with the way he pushed himself against you. You didn’t see the point in holding back your groan – Dave already knew you craved him. His fingertips grazing along your skin, taking your dress with them, was something else altogether – and as he rolled his hips over yours, your eyes fluttered closed. “Oh… Dave…” Your voice was soft, whispered just for him. His fingers brushed down your thighs as your dress climbed higher up your body. Dave paused again, with a delicious little smirk before he bent to kiss you once more – liking the feel of your fingers running through his hair to mess it up. He figured he’d quite like you to be pulling it, but Dave would save that for later. “You are so fucking beautiful.” He placed his hands on your hips, and had the audacity to wink at you. He got the feeling you’d be feisty. He liked that. Dave hooked his fingers under your lingerie, and pushing them to one side. His blue eyes flashed once more, darkening as they flicked back to your face. All he wished to know then was if your sex was as torturous as your presence. What that gorgeous voice of yours would sound like now. So good it hurts… You bit your lip, moving your hips eagerly in anticipation. You got the feeling by the look on his face, that regret wasn’t even going to remotely factor into this.

---

8/16 - We are half way there!

Thank you for reading! 😁🙏

#Dave #Lost River #Ben Mendelsohn #/Sven Voice/ Oh! David!#Linzi Writes #Linzi Writes Requests #Smol Bean Drabbles #I love this man toooo much #OH! MoR songs! I need to use a bunch more #There's one I want to use for Martin that translates as /solos beneath the sheets/#(but is definitely NOT about being solo!)#Dave is fic 160! Woo!#160 #Add this one to the: fics I wrote with lines that blow me away #i have so much inconsistency with the way I post these oh my god...

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for-his-dream-xciii · 4 years

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New Happiness (F)

Pairing: sf9 chani x reader.

Genre: fluff, one shot.

Warnings: none.

Word count: 3k.

A/N: Hello there, if anyone is reading this, I hope you can enjoy this story a lot. This is my first time writing a thing like this so, I’m sorry for all my mistakes. Also, english is not my first language so again sorry, hehe. I noticed that there aren’t many sf9 scenarios and since I craved for a chani scenario a lot because he’s my baby, I got inspired by a dream I had so I wrote this, also adding more elements to make it more interesting. Fantasies, I love y’all.♡

Also a big thank you to Guille who helped me a lot with this and for being the only one who is always there for me when I cry about chani.~

As you were arriving to the venue you still couldn’t believe how your sister had managed to convince your mother into letting her go to this concert and by all means drag you with her as well. You were trying to concentrate all your energies into the upcoming exams you had to prepare for this semester so, dealing with this stuff right now felt like a waste of time and got a little bit on your nerves. Of course you loved your sister a lot, and you would do anything for her, but right now you were just so stressed that everything in your surroundings felt annoying and you just wanted to get this done so you could get back home as soon as possible.

Spring was around the corner when the news about this indie band that wasn’t even that famous came along. And so, Amelie, your little sister, got interested in them a lot, since she liked the simple vibe their songs had, unlike other girls of her age, her interests were different and very unique. You were certainly quite proud of how well she had grown up through the years, after helping your mother to raise her in any aspect you could. You three were alone in the world, and because of that you were always there to support each other.

The concert date was approaching but you just kept studying and didn’t pay much attention to your sister who was so excited about it. Though, deep down you were happy that she had found a thing or two to distract herself in a healthy way from all the stressful stuff she had going on sometimes.

D-day was here and now Amelie and you were waiting on the line outside the venue with a bunch of people. There weren’t that many but it was enough to fill both floors inside. The queue moved, and you proceeded to pay for the tickets with the code you had already saved online a couple weeks ago, you gave it to the boy who was attending and he handed you over the two tickets with no problems.

Calmly and side hugging your sis, you entered the hall, now the only thing left was for them to open the doors and then the concert would be starting soon. You were sure it wouldn’t be that long, as soon as the sun went completely down they will be done and you will get to finally go home.

You separated from the hug and while walking you decided to check your phone and as you tried to reply to the messages from your best friend who was telling you how she couldn’t decide what she was going to have for dinner you stumbled into someone.

“Oh my- I am so sorry.” you said as your eyes went up to meet a brown haired guy who was also looking apologetically for not paying attention to where he was going either.

You both stayed still for a moment. Breathless for a second that felt like forever.

“Chani? Lucas! Hey, how are you?” Amelie said smiling. Chani and you were still staring at each other. He had the cutest, shiniest brown eyes and the sweetest stare you had ever seen before. But of course, you being you, got overwhelmed at the situation and immediately looked away before you even dare to blush. How did this guy managed to almost get that from you? Yes, he was very good looking but, was it that much of a big deal to almost make you blush? You took a quick glance at him again, from head to toe, his beauty was truly breathtaking and you felt a rush of excitement running through your body. May all at those love-at-first-sight stories be damn, you did not believe in such things. But again, who said love? You were allowed to think a guy looked extremely fine at first sight, right?

Wait, so Amelie knew them?

“Y/N, this is Lucas, he’s one of my classmates.” your sister explained. “And he’s Chani, his older brother.”

You all exchanged some polite “Nice to meet you.” and then proceeded to keep walking to the doors, where a certain amount of people were already gathering.

After saying your goodbyes, Lucas and Chani kept walking forward, you and your sister stayed still, close to one of the doors.

“So… I guess you aren’t that close to Lucas. I thought you two would maybe want to go inside together.” you stated while watching Amelie’s reaction, she looked unbothered. “It’s better when you have nice people to share this kinda stuff with, you know.” You were hoping not to sound too lonely, but Amelie looked up at you.

“It’s okay dude, we are here together.” And that’s how she cut off the subject and y'all finally got inside the venue a few minutes later.

While going inside many people went to the second floor and many people chose to stay in the first one. The truth was, each floor had a nice view of the scenario so it was really up to the personal preferences of each person to choose where you were going to stay during the whole presentation. Amelie wanted to stay in the first one so you went further to get close to the stage, even though a lot of people were already stuck right beside it.

As you waited, a few songs of the band were softly playing as background music so you were hoping to recognize some songs later on when they will came out and do them live.

While you were enjoying one particular song, you had this weird feeling that a gaze was on you, so you started to look around and yet everybody seemed to be minding their own business jamming to the songs or talking to each other, it wasn’t until you started to scan the second floor when your eyes met Chani’s for the second time that evening. The moment it happened he played it cool, looking away while keeping a straight face. In fact, when you had just met him a few minutes ago, he was also holding this serious, yet not rude expression. It only made you more curious about him.

You turned to look at the stage again, trying to not think about Chani anymore, and kept humming to a song Amelie made sure to get it stuck in your subconscious before today.

As the background music died, the band members started to come out and all the people cheered for them warmly. The concert was going great, many of the songs were slow jams but it was a very enjoyable atmosphere. At some point you grow weak and looked up to check on Chani, he seemed to be enjoying this even more than Lucas. You really started to regret the fact that he and Amelie weren’t close enough to stick together earlier.

But then you got an idea.

“Hey… wanna go to the second floor?” you asked, trying not to look straight at Amelie’s face, she would read through you right away and you weren’t sure if you could give her a proper explanation to your sudden request.

“Why? We are fine here, besides I’m sure there’s only a few more songs left. What if we don’t get a comfortable spot? We are okay here.” she said without looking at you. She was right, the concert was probably gonna end soon because you could tell the sun was starting to go down, just as you predicted. The concert will be done as soon as the sun gets fully hidden.

“You’re right, but still... we should go up. Don’t you think it would be great if we can see the two perspectives of the show? I mean, we are lucky enough to be here. We should enjoy it as much as we can.” And from where the hell did all of that came? You were taken aback yourself at how smooth you sounded.

For a moment, Amelie stood unbothered, but then she looked up at you.

“Alright then, let’s go.” YES. YES. Wait, why am I so excited? Please, be chill.

You both quickly took the stairs so you wouldn’t miss many parts of the show taking too much time going up. As soon as you started moving through the people who were on this floor you regretted coming here. What were you thinking? It’s not like you could just go wherever Lucas and Chani were and act like y'all were friends or something.

You spotted them leaning on the railing and decided to play it cool so you would look like you didn’t see them and were casually going around.

But Amelie also spotted them, and right away she looked at you smiling. “Oh… my God.”

“What?” you asked looking at her. She knew you too well. She knew you don’t usually do this kind of stuff just because. You must have a reason.

“You brought me here so we could be closer to Chani? Did you like him? You from all people? The almighty I-don’t-have-time-for-boys Y/N? This is hilarious.”

“Oh please don’t be silly-”

“I thought It was weird when you asked to move, you hate moving around in events like this. Now it makes sense.”

“It’s really not like that Amelie-”

“Hey.” she stopped on her tracks. “For once, let me help you, as much as you always help me. Come on.” She grabbed your hand and started to drag you closer to where to boys were. “Just try to be friendly you know, I mean wait, don’t, don’t try, just be you and see what’s up. I will do my best to get along with Lucas so you two can freely talk.”

“What? Amelie I swear-” but you never got to finish your sentence because you were already behind the boys.

“Hey guys, we meet again.” Amelie let out, both turned around. Chani looked at you gifting you a shy smile. W-was he really smiling at… you? CHILL, REMEMBER TO BE CHILL.

“Hey, are you guys having fun?” you asked, you exchanged looks with Lucas and he felt relieved… Relieved? Relieved of what?

“One of the best shows I ever attended to.” said Lucas now looking at Amelie, she returned a smile to him. “And now that you’re both finally here I shall finally have peac-” he was interrupted by Chani. “I’m sure what my little brother is trying to say is that he’s glad we are not alone anymore, he gets easily tired of me. Don’t you, little demon?” Chani said while ruffling his hair.

“Please, let go of me, talk to her alre-”

“Don’t y'all love this song?” Chani half screamed, you jumped a little bit because of his voice, he had a very low tone while speaking and that half scream took you by surprise.

As if Amelie immediately understood what was going on she turned to Lucas and started to talk about lot of stuff related to the songs, the band and members. You were left wondering why she waited to this day and this moment to finally get close to this boy. Was she really trying her best because she thought you liked Chani and she could help you both to get along if she did the same with Lucas? You truly raised the sweetest girl.

“So… how long has it been since you know this band? I thought they weren’t that popular?” You asked Chani, now all of you moving to lean again into the railing. The sun was still present but it wasn’t hot, unlike many concerts that are during the day, today was a lovely spring day and for some reason your body just felt super relaxed, as if you lungs were getting clearer oxygen, it was a strange but exciting sensation.

“I actually discovered them about a year and a half ago, I think. Ever since I found out about them, both me and Lucas enjoyed many of their songs so, coming today was a must.” He replied, looking at the stage where the vocalist was looking at one of his bandmates and smiling.

You found yourself admiring Chani’s side profile, he seemed to have no bad angles…

“That’s cute.” you laughed. “I actually don’t know many of their songs but I came here for Amelie.”

“I guess I owe Amelie a big one.” he let out on an almost inaudible voice, thinking you wouldn’t be able to catch it, still focused on the stage where the band was starting the last chorus of that song. But you did hear it.

And that’s all it took. You were blushing. As you were just admiring how it was such a beautiful day, now you suddenly felt hot. And even if you didn’t understand why, you liked it. Though, the little tingles in your stomach made you panic. You could be just assuming things, you thought. Don’t.

Brushing off the tingles you decided to also focus on the stage now, where the drummer was explaining how only 3 songs were left.

You were sad, why didn’t you think about coming up here earlier. You hadn’t done much, and you still didn’t know how to face him and tell him you wanted to know more about him.

As you kept struggling searching for the right words to say so you wouldn’t sound too desperate, you heard Lucas and Amelie who now were a little far from Chani and you, but their conversation still was able to reach your ears.

“… I swear, the entire concert Chani hasn’t shut up about your sister, he wanted to convince me to go down on the first floor but I told him It would look creepy, besides, I didn’t want to bother you two, you gave me the impression of wanting to be left alone.” You were one hundred percent sure neither of them knew you were listening, so you kept a straight face and kept looking at the scenario.

“Oh no, don’t worry.” Amelie said. “I also thought It was strange of my sister, wanting to come up here. I guess they shared a thing.” she mischievously laughed. “And please, don’t think about us like that, I’m just not good at making friends I guess and well my sister, yes she looks kinda scary because she doesn’t smile that much, but she is very friendly once you get to know her.”

“Guess Chani just found someone who will understand him-” Lucas started to laugh.

“Also…” Amelie wasn’t finished. “I do like you a lot, you know Christina told me about what you did for her, I thought you were a very nice person. I’m just not too talkative, It’s truly not your fault.”

“Well, you are being talkative now… Thank you, I guess. It’s good to know… I also think you are a very nice person yourself.”

They both kept chatting and your attention went back to the stage when only 2 songs were left.

Chani and you kept exchanging shy looks and he came closer to you, so now his right arm oftenly made contact with your left arm. The tingles again. May them be damn.

“You know…” you finally said, looking directly at Chani’s eyes. As the sun was now directly hitting you both, you now had to close one of your eyes while looking up to him. According to you, you probably looked ridiculous. But for Chani, he felt his heart melt as he found you quite adorable.

The whole concert he kept looking at you. He never saw a girl like you before. You had this cool and serious aura, he felt very attracted to you since your eyes met again inside the venue. He kept having this strange feeling of wanting to get to know you. And since he couldn’t come up with a better idea he started to let it all out with Lucas. He kept asking him about you, and of course Lucas didn’t know much. He told Chani the only things he ever heard Amelie said, about how much time you dedicate to college, that’s why you couldn’t always be there for some of Amelie’s school activities. Unlike Chani, who spent a lot of time helping Lucas with them. So that’s why you two had never met before.

“I think their last song today is gonna be one of my favorites.” you breathed. You felt happy. A brand new kind of happy. You were glowing. So then, you gave him a little smile.

That’s all it took for him. He broke into a wide smile staring at you. He was almost speechless. He wanted nothing more than to get enough luck so you would get interested in him too. Having you by his side felt so right and warm, at that moment he knew he didn’t ever wanted you to go too far away from him, he had a thousand butterflies going crazy in his stomach so after a rush of courage he let out. “So… uh, if you want to, maybe I could give you my number? Is that okay?” His heart was about to jump from that second floor as if going into a suicide mission.

“That sounds great, I shall give you mine too then.” You agreed, you looked away while the last song started. You refused to look at him again, you didn’t want him to notice how flustered you were, you felt so damn lucky as if you had just won the lottery. Gathering all your strength, you managed to get back to your cool stare, while the song was breaking into the chorus you tried to enjoy the last drops of today’s show. Just as you predicted the sunset was here. As the song was reaching the end, by instinct you looked up and locked stares with Chani who was being sunkissed in the most beautiful way you never knew a person could be, smiling at you. While looking straight into his eyes, your heartbeats went faster and appreciating all his features you couldn’t help to wonder if you ever would be able to kiss him like the sun was doing it right now.

#sf9 #sf9 scenarios #sf9 fluff #sf9 imagines #sf9 writing #sf9 reactions #sf9 chani #chani #kang chanhee #sf9 x reader #chani x reader

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shimyereh · 4 years

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Evens for the opera asks? Thank you!!

Thank you! Here they are, finally. (Under the cut for length.)

#2, 4, 6, 8, 10: [Already answered!]

12. Favorite clueless tenor?

It’s a tie between Hoffmann (Les contes d’Hoffmann) and the Duke of Dunstable (Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience).

14. A mezzo-soprano character you love?

Marfa in Khovanshchina. The three basses may be more politically/historically significant, but Marfa is the heart of this opera (and she gets some fantastic music!).

16. Create a hypothetical opera adaptation off of a classic novel (and cast it if you want!)

Edward Rutherfurd’s historical novels could be interesting material. (*checks shelf* I have two: Sarum and Russka.) The structure is a series of novellas, with each novella set in a different historical period, but always centered on a particular location and the same set of (fictional) families, so that you’re following them across time and seeing how they’re affected by history. You’d have to narrow the scope for an opera, maybe choose one particular novella, or a small set of scenes across eras where there are strong thematic parallels. I haven’t engaged with these books in a while, but I remember being moved to set passages to music when I was reading them, like arias from a hypothetical opera.

18. Best tenor/baritone relationship?

Skula and Yeroshka in Prince Igor are not particularly nice people, and I’m not sure I even find them sympathetic, but I’ve always thought they have a certain potential for Shenanigans. (*checks libretto* …oops, Skula is technically a bass.)

20. Favorite tenor singer?

I like Shicoff and Lemeshev a lot. They have pretty different timbres, so I like them in different sorts of things. Shicoff sings with so much passion, and has darker colors in his voice. Lemeshev is my go-to for a lot of Russian rep, including art songs. A lighter lyric voice, very well-suited to Lensky.

22. An opera that you do not vibe with. :(

I tried to watch Shchedrin’s Dead Souls when the Mariinsky had it up a few weeks ago, but I couldn’t quite get into it. It looked like a very dynamic staging, and I was curious about the folk music elements (I performed an aria from one of his other operas in a college recital once, and that was very folksy, too) — but this score didn’t catch my ear enough, and I was short on time while it was streaming, so I gave it a pass.

24. Favorite opera couple?

I’m not much of a shipper, but I think Ganna and Levko in May Night are a solid pairing. I also find Konchakovna and Vladimir in Prince Igor endearing, but maybe that’s less about character dynamics and more about how fabulously the voices blend in their duet. (Depending on the timbre of your mezzo and your tenor, it can be hard to tell who’s singing which lines! I love that.) I want to ship Olga and Lensky, but some productions of Onegin make that easier than others.

26. Favorite soprano singer?

I heard Krassimira Stoyanova in a few things recently, and thought her voice had some really interesting colors.

28. A character who deserved better?

So many. But isn’t that kind of the point in tragedies?

30. A Shakespeare play you’d like to see as an opera?

The Henry VI plays would be a *mess*, but I’d love to see someone try.

32. Your favorite secondary/minor character in an opera?

The Muse/Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffmann. Genderbending trickster sidekick whose goal is to get Hoffmann to stop falling in love with doomed ladies and focus on his writing. This character appeals to me in a lot of ways.

34. What would a gender-swapped version of your favorite opera (or any opera of your choice) look like?

Fun fact: There’s a discarded stanza from near the beginning of Ch.3 of the novel where Pushkin considered having Onegin fall in love with Tatyana after their first meeting, instead of the other way around. Maybe a gender-swapped Onegin could play off of that alternate storyline in some way? (I’m picturing a massive rewrite of the opera, with themes repurposed in meaningful ways. It would be highly controversial to a lot of people, but if done well it could be great fun.)

36. Favorite opera trope?

When they hang a lampshade on the tropes. Gilbert & Sullivan are very good at this.

38. Favorite mezzo-soprano singer?

Olga Borodina. A luxurious voice, somehow dark and bright at the same time.

40. You can steal one costume from an opera production to keep — what is it?

A few years ago, the local opera company had a costume sale to clear out some of their storage. I got this cravat for very cheap. It goes well with a number of my waistcoats and I have found many occasions to wear it.

42. Talk about an opera that you don’t normally talk about.

I watched a really interesting production of Charpentier’s David et Jonathas several years ago. The ballet sequences were repurposed into a series of staged flashbacks, which (among other things) introduced Saul’s wife and showed her death before the events of the main story. Then, in the scene where Saul consults with the Pythoness, the tenor who played the Pythoness was dressed as Saul’s wife. But his mannerisms made him read as some kind of otherworldly trickster. There was very much an unsettling sense of what are you and why are you wearing her face? The chorus women were also all dressed as Saul’s wife, and they drifted mindlessly around him as the walls of the set kept shifting and repartitioning into different rooms. The effect was fantastically creepy and contributed to the theme of Saul’s madness. I have no idea what this scene is usually like in a more traditional production.

44. An opera character you’d want for a best friend?

Muse/Nicklausse, again.

46. An opera you love more for the plot than for the music?

I saw the local opera company do Britten’s The Turn of the Screw a couple years ago. It was a very compelling piece of theater — wonderful acting from all the leads, shapeshifting dreamscape of a set. The music made very little impression on me.

48. Most musically difficult role you’ve seen/heard thus far?

Hermann in The Queen of Spades. He’s onstage almost constantly, and sings in every. single. scene. That must take incredible stamina.

50. An opera you’d recommend to opera newbies?

Maybe I’m not the best person to ask. I know what I like and I’m always excited to share my faves with people who seem interested, but the set of operas I’m familiar with is a little skewed. (As you can see by my other responses!)

[opera asks]

#harry-leroy #opera tag #shimyereh reviews

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tisthenightofthewitch · 5 years

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GHOST: INTERVIEW WITH TOBIAS FORGE, DURING THE HEAVY MONTREAL 2019

At Heavy Montreal, we had the opportunity to talk with Tobias Forge. He is the mastermind behind the Ghost formation, a group that continues to climb the ladder of the metal and even the musical domain. This year, I suggested that the Heavy Montreal organization do all my interviews with my two children, Renaud and Raphaëlle. Heavy Montreal wanted to open up to the family this year and with this series of interviews with my two children, we understand that the goal is reached! Polite and incomparably sweet, Tobias greeted us with a sparkling smile. As a family man, you feel that he is used to talking to children. What's interesting is how Tobias takes the time to explain his answers to my children, so that everything is well understood, especially for two young francophones who are doing well in English! Of course, I was able to ask a few questions myself.

Ω INTERVIEW WITH TOBIAS FORGE, THE MAN UNDER THE CASSOCK OF ALL PAPAS EMERITUS AND THE ONE WHO WEARS CARDINAL COPIA'S RED VELVET, WITH STYLE! ♥

Hi, I'm Tobias , what's your name?

My name is Raphaëlle.

It's a very pretty name! Hi, I'm Tobias , what's your name?

My name is Renaud.

This name is very beautiful too! Sit down!

Raphaëlle: I would like to know why you chose the name Nameless Ghouls (nameless Ghouls) to name the musicians who are members of the band?

Very good question! From a global point of view, ghouls do not have the characteristics that can be expected for musicians. The sound of the word Ghoul was close to the word Ghost . From the beginning, we had in mind to make a kind of joke. We did not want to write in the booklet of the first disc: "All the songs are interpreted by Ghost" . Instead, we wanted the following phrase: "All songs are performed by Papa Emeritus I and a band of Nameless Ghouls." It would not have sounded good if we had opted for Nameless Ghosts . The word Ghouls sounded much better. Almost ten years later, I dare to believe that we made the right decision. Should we have chosen the idea of Nameless Ghosts instead? I do not know! Sometimes these are simple ideas that pass the test of time.

Renaud: I really like the album Prequelle. Me and my family, we listen to the album every day. Especially on supper time. I was wondering if you started to have ideas for Ghost's next album?

I'm glad you like the album. When I have time, I write and compose for Ghost's next album . All the time. I do this, all the time. So, yes, I'm preparing the new album. At the moment, we are touring, we are giving performances, like today's, but also in Europe. But I write anyway. When I have time, when we wait. I'll tell you that I even started working on the new album as soon as Prequelle came out. That's how it is for many artists, we write constantly. When you have finished recording, you do not say to yourself, "Well, my job is done! "The disc is not available the next day. No, it takes about 3 months, just to wait. Something else happens on other levels before you can get the finished product. And sometimes it can be even longer. Three months, doing nothing? It's impossible! Do you know what's funniest? When the album comes out, finally, you're already fed up because it was so long that you moved on! It's the same with movies. If you go to the cinema to see a movie now, the people who are in the film and have worked on the film, they are already doing a new one. Sometimes they even have time to do two because everything is a matter of time. To wait. It's the same thing in music. Right now, we're on tour for Prequelle but my mind is so much elsewhere! I'm constantly thinking about the next album. I even think that the next show will look. And that's a bit sad, it looks like we can not appreciate what's happening right now because we always think about what will follow. Sometimes, I feel that it is not me who benefits most but rather people, like you three. It's a bit like organizing a big party: you spend time preparing it. You plan drinks and food. When you have finished the preparations, you are out of breath but when you receive your guests and they appreciate, you feel that you did things well! You see that everyone is happy, that it was all worth it but you always have the impression that you, you did not benefit from the party.

YKT: But you're already anticipating the next party, all the time!

It's in full!

YKT: During your last visit to the Place Bell de Laval, last December, you said on stage: "We like to visit you during the winter but we would also like to visit you during the summer. I have the impression that you were telling us, subtly, that Ghost would be back at Heavy Montreal. Was it a roundabout way to announce it?

I knew it, probably. But I'm not sure. I can not tell you that it was intentional. When I say these things, it's because I know there will be something that involves Ghost and even if it's not announced officially yet, I can say it was not the goal! In saying this, I kept a certain reserve. You must be able to assume that you are talking to 5,000 people and that if you tell something that you can not confirm later, there will be many witnesses. We must be able to learn from our mistakes. In the past, I have already made blunders of this kind. On stage, I was talking about things that were planned for Ghost In the coming months. In the excitement of the moment, you announce them. For example, you are in Sao Paulo, and you scream at the end of the show: "See you in 6 months! " Instead of saying " See you soon! " This is the kind of mistake you can do. People in the crowd have received accurate data over a period of time and they will have expectations about this. Then, what was planned does not happen. It's like baiting the fish. You're better off having something solid to announce so you do not create false hopes. The more I think about it and the more I think you're right, I had to know it!

YKT: My next question is a bit long. Things went pretty fast for Ghost. About 7 years ago, Ghost played at the Corona Theater. Subsequently, you were on tour with Mastodon and Opeth. Then, you found yourself at the head of the Metropolis and finally, you sold at the Place Bell to come back today as Heavy Montreal's headliner. Four albums later, Ghost is no longer this band that records on Rise Above. You, Tobias, you come from the Swedish metal scene. I wanted to know how your peers coming from this scene perceive you now? Are they happy for you? Do members of Entombed or Katatonia have a good look at everything that's going on for you? Or is there anyone who sulks you?

Hmm ... Good question ... I think it varies. It depends on who you are talking to or who you could ask. It also depends on who is asking for it. In general, people are very happy about what is happening to me, even if it does not fit with what I have done in the past at the musical level. But sometimes, and not only in Stockholm, there are groups that I loved a lot with whom now, there is some animosity. All this surprised me! I will not name names, that's for sure. It happens, it is not a majority but it happened. For example, I'm in a festival like this. We are backstage and all groups are here to relax and have a good time. I see many musicians who are members of a group that I have been listening to for a very long time. A group that I listened to at the age of 12, which I still listen to and which is on the same festival where we play. For me, this group isbig , popular because they are on tour all the time and for me, it's a major band because the musicians still offer albums that I listen and buy. We are 25 years later, I have the chance to meet the members of the group. I introduce myself and they tell me ( imitating someone grumpy ): "Oh yes, it's you, the rockstar ..." I say, "What, me? " Not at all! In my eyes, they are the rockstars. It happened a few times. What happens, too, is when you think that the members of this group are cool , that they are men and no longer young men mad but you realize that they are unpleasant when you approach them. I thought :"Yeah, you do it hard! "

Hahhhaha (Group laughter)

I was very disappointed that the members of this group were so arrogant. Why? I did not understand. Sometimes, when things do not work, some people may create a barrier, unfortunately. With this kind of situation, you can not do much. This is not our problem, it is rather their problem. There is nothing that can be done to change it because if you try, it's worse. Fortunately, these are just a few people. It is only a minority. Some musicians who remained bitter. Over the years, I have met a lot of people. People to whom I had a lot of respect and high regard. Today, I respect them even more because they are great people who respect you as much as you respect them.Metallica or Iron Maiden . There are people from underground bands who show me a lot of support. And respect. And it's reciprocal. But at the same time, I do not know exactly what they can think of me because I do not ask, in a direct and personal way to all members of the Swedish death metal scene. It would be a huge waste of time in addition to an energy expenditure!

YKT: Right now, you're wearing a Voïvod t-shirt. We have already done two interviews together and in the first, at the time of Opus Eponymous, I spoke to you about my impressions of Ghost's influences. I told you that I thought Ghost had similarities with Mercyful Fate and Blue Öyster Cult. You told me something rather remarkable: "We are definitely much more influenced by Voïvod." This comment had frankly surprised me! Since you are in Quebec and Voïvod is a training from here, what can you tell us about your passion for this band?

Since listening to this band, I have always found that there is an element of strangeness in their music. I was immediately able to create a link with what Voïvod was proposing and I could easily identify with their music. I have always felt this connection with the fact that this group has always wanted to contribute to the movement and not just participate. It was clear. They had their way of seeing and proposing the music. They did not interpret it according to the basic conventions. They had audible influences like Venom and Motörhead but they did not just want to follow the path of their influences, they wanted to create something unique. At that time, there was the European thrash as Destruction and Kreator but Voïvod did not go exactly in the same direction. They were much more like Celtic Frost . Groups, unique. In a deliberate way, they did something different than the others, original and on each album. Even though I'm more fond of an album like Killing Technology , I really enjoy albums like Angel Rat . Voïvod , they were so, brave! It had to be done and it took courage to release something that was so much the opposite of what they usually proposed. Nothing face is also an album that has guts! I always liked when Voïvod arrived with a sound that could be goth, lugubrious and pop but that kept the same style. It's in their DNA I believe. In all that the band can offer, there is this weird element, this detuned way to agree! A special touch! I like everything about Voïvod . And the group's visual is superb. The work of Away is fantastic. I had an old jeans jacket. I had gone to see the band and had met Away . Really nice and generous of his time. He autographed my jacket. You know, his classic signature? As soon as you see his signature, you know it's his. I had to be, 17 or 18 years old in time. I still have this jacket but I can not wear it anymore, it is too worn!

YKT: When Nergal of Behemoth posted on Instagram this now "famous" photo where you are both behind the scenes, without your Papa Emeritus costume. People immediately understood that it was Tobias Forge who was under the papal toga. In addition, Nergal wrote, by way of title: If you have Ghosts. It was obvious. Has this photo been the spark plug in the face of unmasking?

Not at all.

YKT: When did you feel like it was time to do like KISS on Lick it Up?

Hahha! Everything was done gradually. There were small steps to my decision. It was a deliberate decision made deliberately. At the aesthetic level, Ghost must wear masks and it will be like that. There is no question that we are on stage with our everyday clothes. This is non-negotiable. I even venture to say that it will never happen. There is no reason to do it. This is an integral part of Ghost . It's like watching a movie and we know it was done with green screens when shooting. They must be replaced by computer-generated images. Otherwise, it would be a movie with actors walking in front of green screens. With Ghost, it's the same thing. You want to see something complete. A finished product. What happened with Nergal ? He was just taking pictures, as usual! I took one with him because we are good friends. He posted the picture. Was it planned or was it an accident? I do not know. This photo has never night me as such. She had a chat, that's for sure. In the end, it was mostly him who got shit for doing it! I do not see this as something bad or as something that made me unmask.

YKT: Tobias, we thank you very much!

It was very cool. Thank you, thank you children!

Voir.ca

#Tobias Forge #Tobias Interview #The Band Ghost #Ghost Band #Cardinal Copia

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dafukdidiwatch · 4 years

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Cool Cat Saves The Kids

I watched this movie and I still can’t believe this is the actual cover art for it.

God I wrote so many notes about this that even my flipping Bullet Points were basically an essay. I don’t even know how to begin just thinking about it hurts my head.

Overview: Cool Cat is Cool. Things happen to him, and he has to deal with bullying.

That’s it. That’s the thing I watched. Because there is no Real Flipping Plot to this movie.

This is a kid’s show. Or at the very minimum, a movie that is intended for children. It was based on a kid’s book series I’ve never heard of whose author Derek Savage decided to turn it into a movie. Though movie isn’t exactly what I would call it. When you watch it, it honestly feels like there are six 15 minute shorts that they just mashed together to a feature film, but even then that is a Generous Description.

Basically, the film tries to be a children’s program (and I guess has beef with Barney?). And you can see intent behind it being informative child-friendly psa. But the execution was so bad.

First, there is no plot. Sure the cover says that this is “an anti-bullying kid gun safety movie,” but it really give you nothing. What would happen is that Cool Cat has a problem, like someone bullying him or his friends. It would either A) be addressed immediately and solved so that’s great, or B) it is dropped immediately and never really addressed throughout the rest of the film.

And example of A is that the bully kid Butch just starts stealing candy just to be “evil,” Cool Cat sees that and chases him, and the kid gets arrested twenty seconds later. The End.

For B, Cool Cat gets a mean email. And...that’s about it. He responds to the email, but doesn’t actually address the issue and the subplot drops entirely until that VERY Last wrap up scene.

I think the reason for this lack of plot is that there was just WAY too many messages in here. Like, take a shot every time you see a psa announcement. It ranges from don’t bully, how to deal with bullies, being creative, crossing the street safely, to fricking GUN?! Like, the gun thing that I Guess was promoted in the movie tagline, only shows up the last 10 minutes. It caught me so off guard. You cannot call this a Gun Safety movie when guns aren’t even prevalent!!

And the lack of plot is counterproductive when you want to make a Kid’s Movie like this. If you want to tackle each issue as a show or a short, the messages would come across better. There would be more time to develop each message for kids to really understand. But because there is So Much to cover, a lot of the things are gonna fall to the wayside. There is no way a kid would pay attention to this, and if they do I doubt they are gonna learn everything that Derek Savage is trying to teach. There just isn’t any real focus.

The acting, god like they Tried to go with the kid friendly vibe, but was not working. At All. It was like they thought that to add emotion is to just enunciate your words as loudly as you can. Cool Cat was way too yelly. Every line he was just screaming, has no change whatsoever. Even Elmo can sound sad when need be (fucking love Elmo, but he does has a similar voice vibe to Cool Cat, just better).

Then the kids....I don’t want to be mean but I’ll be blunt. They are just reading lines, this is a middle school stage play basically. I’m not blaming the kids, Butch look like he had a hell of a time doing his villain laugh. It’s just that some of the scenes felt like it was taken in one shot and they didn’t bother to retry. Example: One kid got too excited and jumped his line, but they couldn’t just retake that??

And the lines, man. OOF. Some of it was bad. Like, really really bad placement.They should have had someone proof-read this.

Cool Cat: “Why Are You Painting That Wall?”

Random Kid: “Because Nobody Loves Us”

lol what?

Maria: “I bet those kids have never been shown love before.”

Cool Cat: “Thanks, and it’s all true”

LOL What??

There are just a LOT of lines like that that should have been rephrased.

THEN there are the freaking technical issues.

The audio kept fluctuating in sound quality, which honestly started to hurt with Cool Cat’s constant yelling. Some scenes it sounds like they recorded in a studio, sometimes it sounded like the actors had to yell in order for the camera to capture it. There were echos, there were layers, you can’t hear the lines over the song, you can’t hear the song over the cheers. There was one point whispers overlaid on top of the lines where I thought that Cool Cat just got haunted now. And the fun side of having headphones on means I heard the phone button noises in only One Ear. LOUDLY.

Blocking could have been better. There were a lot of backs to the camera, shots of characters walking away from camera not just off screen. This didn’t bother me as much, because I know this isn’t professionally made. But it didn’t feel like they really tried as much as just half-assed it. Example:

Cool Cat was drawing a picture with different colors, but the actor only used one marker and just said different colors. Or Cool Cat is working on a poster but really just rubs the already completed poster on a clean table as him “working.” Like, how hard is it to just film on a table with a bunch of craft supplies around you?

Then there are the questionable camera shots. LOTS of lingering shots to I assume fill up run time. These are shots of just showing Cool Cat walking round without having any real purpose. It shows Cool Catwalk all the way Up Stairs. Walked all the way Down Stairs. Walking into the House, walking into the Car. Even just shots of the parents doing things with no real motivation or impact to whatever Cool Cat is doing. It’s just there. If you want to say stuff like "oh well its to show the parents relationship" no it doesn’t. You can’t really add nuance to characters when the rest of the film is just one chaotic shot after the other. It just gets lost in translation.

The music number is probably what hurts me the most. You see Cool Cat WRITE the song. Then he SINGS the song. Then he DANCES to a DIFFERENT song. And that was it. He just needed the song for the parade, but there wasn’t any explanation or anything. I don’t even know WHY he needs the song for the parade! There was no explanation. It was just an excuse to have two back-to-back bad music video of poor choreography that again, NO POINT to whatever plot/message/psa thing he is trying to do.

I get that there should be some leeway since it looked like this was shot at Derek Savage’s house/neighborhood, so there really isn’t much they could do with their setting. But they could at least tried more with what they had. Cool Cat’s room doesn’t look exactly child friendly. There are only blank drab walls with two, maybe three posters of just Cool Cat himself. There is a reason the settings in other children shows have vibrant colors to engage them. Along with that, another half-assing moment was Butch graffiting Cool Cat’s poster, but it was one of those political posters you stuck on the lawn so it was like a foot tall outside. 1) You can’t really see that shit that small. 2) You couldn’t put the poster on a wall to film that scene at, to give a better view to the audience? It’s just a bunch of little things like that all over this film that really adds up.

Also, what’s with the posters only being about Cool Cat in his own room? A bit narcissistic if you ask me.

I'm also like 70%,sure they made this movie around the footage of them being in the Hollywood parade twice. They were at the parade, got the film, and wanted to use it so they made a movie for it. And I know it was twice because the announcers that were there to announce the arrival of Cool Cat had a costume change after switching scenes.

And after ALL of this, there is just so many random shit that really don’t do anything. Elements are randomly introduced and just as randomly dropped. We get a “next day” transition in the middle of the movie when days have already passed before them. Cool Cat breaks the 4th wall a couple of times with no real reason why. There is this joke where the camera was following Cool Cat into the bathroom for Cool Cat to ask for privacy, only to just ignore that bit every time he goes to the bathroom afterwards. Cool Cat just makes random ass noises when doing things, not important stuff. Just Doing Things. And he does this weird thing where I think he is trying to do Air Guitar, but it just looks like he is just shaking his leg a lot. I don’t really get it.

(Oh Shit, it is only after like the 3rd proof-read of this review I notice that in the gif you can clearly see the dude’s actual leg. I don’t know how mascot suits actually work, but I’m pretty sure that you’re not supposed to let kids actually see that there’s a person underneath in a kid’s show.)

There is also this....lowkey humblebrag going on? Which does not do the movie favors. After the first dumb song number, Derek shows off that he has a signed guitar by Van Halen. Like not just him playing it (which after the 15th zoom in on the guitar how could you NOT notice it thank you Derek), but pointing out to the audience that, Yes it was Indeed signed by Van Halen. Then there is the footage from the Hollywood Parade about the cars there. Sure, I get showing off like the Ghostbusters car, or Jurassic Park car, or the Batmobile. But Hurby the Love Bug? Night Rider?? Starsky and Hutch??? Magnum P.I.?????? The target audience is elementary kids, they aren’t going to know these old shows. So who is this for exactly?

Kudos to the cop for actually doing this, seriously. That cop probably had a hell of a lot of better things to do than arrest children for a bad after-school special.

And this is just SOME of the main problems of this film. There’s so much going on it would be impossible for me to go over everything without

The thing is, there is good material here. Maybe not great results, but there are a lot of ideas here that you can work with to make a decent kid’s movie. I actually loved the part where Cool Cat is dreaming and trying to figure out how he should handle bullies. I thought that was a good scene and a good way to show kids how to think through different options. There are good ideas here, but it was just way to much going on at once the movie basically shoots itself in the foot.

So here is My Version of what Cool Cat should have done.

Cool Cat is running for School President. That’s the main story line. Early in the movie he learns of a writing contest where the winner gets their own float at the hollywood parade (stretch but roll with it). But Cool Cat has no idea what to write, and talks to it with his friends who offers ideas. So he is juggling that along with running for Student President.

However, the Butch the Bully doesn’t like that. He doesn’t want Cool Cat to win. So he vandalizes his posters. Cool cat still runs and makes better posters. Butch tries to frame Cool Cat for vandalizing the playground, but instead his cronies get caught and convinced that it was a bad idea. So Butch decides to cyberbully Cool Cat and his friends to scare them off. He works with the other kid running for President to make a hate ad against Cool Cat, telling everyone how terrible and bad Cool Cat is. Cool Cat tries to go against this my making his music video song over how cool he is to swing the votes, making Butch more angry and vindictive to his bullying scheme.

Cool Cat doesn’t know how to get Butch to stop, but after getting advice from his friends, parents, teachers, and some hard thinking, he decides to confront Butch about his bullying issue, tell someone, and thus solves the problem. Later on after talking to Butch, maybe manages to convince him to start being friends.

Finally, Cool Cat uses this scenario to write his story about how to deal with bullying and make new friends. Which wins and we end with the Hollywood Parade.

Is this perfect? No. But it focuses the idea to one main plot (running for president) with the other issues naturally coming off of it, instead of making each issue it’s own separate thing. There is no random shifts in narrative, no GUN moments (or GUN in general we kick that shit out) and just focus on the main bullying theme.

Overall: This was a weird and bad children’s show. You have to put in a lot of effort into making a movie, but there was just too much going on for this to be a Good Children’s Movie, least of all a Good Movie in general. But it isn’t to say that it wasn’t morbidly enjoyable. It’s was like playing Spot The Difference to find all the Wrong Things in here. It was fun in a bad way.

So will I show this to children? No. But will I play a drinking game with my friends where we take a shot every time someone says the phrase “Cool Cat”? Yeah that sounds enjoyable.

Take a shot for every time you read “Cool Cat” in my review.

Side Note:

You had this as a GUN PSA, wtf are you doing holding a gun!? Given how the only 3 videos this channel has is only Cool Cat Trailers, I’m assuming this is official Cool Cat. Soooo.....what the hell?

#dafukblog #dafuking films #cool cat #cool cat saves the kids #week 8 movie #derek savage

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deadcfnight · 3 years

Text

Did you see that? I could have sworn that I just spotted [ SUMMER BISHIL ] ducking into the shadows. Oh, it was just [ BRIAR PAUZIÉ ]. They’ve always been kind of odd. You know, I’ve heard rumors that they are actually a [ VAMPYRE ] and work as a [ NIGHTCRAWLER and DOCTOR ]. I don’t know if that’s actually true, but I do know that they are PROVOCATIVE & MAGNETIC, which is nice, but they also are INFLAMMATORY & HEDONISTIC when you piss them off.

BIRTH NAME. Fabrizia da Firenze USED NAME/S. Briar Pauzié, Bri AGE. internally: 625 — visually: 30s GENDER. Female, she/her SPECIES. Vampyre SEXUALITY. Anything’s worth trying once RELIGION. Atheist BIRTHPLACE. Florence, Italy HEIGHT. 5'5" PHYSIQUE. Slender but well toned, endowed with strength and grace LANGUAGE(S). Italian, Latin, English, Russian, French, German. CURRENT OCCUPATION. Doctor (& Clan’s Nightcrawler) MBTI. ESTJ-T / ESTJ-A, “The Executive” ENNEAGRAM. 98% Type 8: “The Challenger” — sees themselves as strong and powerful and seeks to stand up for what they believe in. 95% Type 6: “The Skeptic” — preoccupied with security, seeking safety, and liking to be prepared for problems JUNG. ESTJ VIRTUES. Quick-witted, provocative, proud, ambitious, cunning, magnetic, eloquent VICES. Inflammatory, hedonistic, cocky, pernicious, mercurial, wrathful, begrudging MORAL ALIGNMENT. Chaotic Neutral, day-to-day. Neutral Evil, under pressure TEMPERAMENT. Choleric

QUICK FACTS & HEADCANONS ❦ Dominates the night shift schedule at the hospital, much to everyone’s awe and relief.

❦ After participating in various Renaissance celebrations, throwing herself into international city nightlife, and an extensive 1920s partying stint, she doesn’t find any appeal in introducing foreign upper and downer substances into her system. Drinking is not a comfort habit she ever developed, having died before she was able to develop a fondness or crutch on such things.

❦ Similarly, she doesn’t find much enjoyment in music. Classical, she associates with her horrendous excuse of an uncle. Pop and bass heavy numbers are too stimulating. Atmospheric nature sounds or the hum of overlapping conversations soothes her best. The only genre exception, if one could call it that, would be bard compositions or medieval instrumentals, since she has positive memories of her time in England.

❦ Is indifferent towards the supernatural elements of the world. She tolerates each equally, though is most wary of fire wielding witches and young vampyres. The level of volatility she has encountered with the two manifestations left an unforgettably unfavourable impression upon her memory — she possesses no interest in re-hashing old wounds nor maturely turning the other cheek. In her mind, both are best avoided altogether lest irreversible mistakes be made.

❦ Has a tendency to use very dated phrases or insults that don’t always age well or translate into the zeitgeist’s vernacular.

❦ Irate at all times, simmering beneath the surface, but has grown so adapted to the perpetual persistence of the feeling she appears entirely placid at face value. A few lifetimes of trial and error and discipline has equipped her with the knowledge that it serves no one to betray the tumultuous nature of her inner workings through body language or unnecessarily drawing attention to herself. She’s well-aware nothing about her situation (past and present) can be changed by letting any impulsive immature desires run rampant. Only the sharpness of her tongue provides the occasional preview of her bitter and wrathful edges, to those paying close enough attention, exclusively reserved for the informal company (AKA the presence of any supernatural being).

❦ Whilst entirely professional in her workplace, she has her moments of despair if triggered by a sensitive circumstance. Usually it revolves around encountering children burdened with a terminal illness or catastrophic injury that cannot be helped, despite all modern medicine’s best efforts. When an innocent can’t be saved. Neglectful guardians/foster figures evidently just invested in the money aspect of fostering and not their child’s health are no better. To avoid unpacking her own personal baggage around such issues and the self-reflection required to adequately process her emotions into any other form but frustration, she has falls into an episode of madness. It’s almost as if she reverts to her 14th century deathbed’s self except empowered by mobility, wherein she’s nothing but mercurial, broody, and intolerant until the haze wears off and she resumes her regular routine. Usually she can anticipate the bad news/encounter before the flare begins and she can identity precisely when it is time to carefully isolate and distance herself from others.

❦ Is unaffected by the sight and scent of blood, proudly so. Additionally, she’s quite the purist when it comes to the blood she will consume, preferring to only engage with the healthiest or privileged of sources — usually someone rich, upper class, who can afford to lose a little energy now and then. Outside her practice, when it comes to feeding, alongside an aftercare dose of glamour, she still likes to politely siphon blood with the butterfly needles (a stash kept on her at all times). Doing so leaves minimal trace, rather than causing a puncture with her own teeth — it’s a chosen boundary, believing it separates her from ever stooping to savage animalistic urgency.

FULL BIOGRAPHY

Known by a multitude of names over her 625 years of “life”, once upon a time, Briar was known as Fabrizia. Born in the late 14th century Florence during the Italian renaissance, it was a time eventually celebrated for the many of the scientific, artistic and cultural advancements. However, in its early stages, there were more obstacles than rewards faced by lower class citizens. Both her parents were struggling artists, additionally her father taking on a job as a textile worker after she was born in order to keep their family afloat.

Fabrizia spent most of her childhood years in the shared studio of her parents. She was always naturally curious, growing up to mimicking their artistic gestures on canvas scraps. As stubborn as she was creative, often Fabrizia would stay up late into the night alongside their candlelit figures, awaiting the moment exhaustion finally caused their hands to tremble and officially announce bedtime. She was an adored daughter, inspiring both her mother and father to keep working hard despite the lack of immediate payoff. One day, they hoped to earn enough that slaving away all day would no longer be necessary. In the meantime, idyllic family life was put on hold.

When Fabrizia entered adolescence, she began to show signs of sickness. Modern medicine would have been able to identify it was unnaturally high exposure to the toxic fumes and particles let off by the compounds in her parents’ cheap yet vivid paints - no match against her weak constitution. Soon, her presence became too disruptive in the studio. The volume of her coughs, fidgeting, and whining of feverish discomfort made her a nuisance to paint alongside.

When it was gently yet adamantly advised she spend time outside with the neighbourhood children, Fabrizia threw the first of what would become a chain of tantrums. Her father, more stern and stronger than mother, took matters into his own hands and contacted his brother across the city - Fabrizia’s uncle, Lorenzo - a struggling composer at the time. The task of babysitting her was reluctantly taken on, but due to his craft being less sensitive than the focus of her parents’ skillset (plus the handsome sum put on offer each session despite her family’s poverty) made it an offer hard to refuse.

Lorenzo’s efforts of keeping her hidden inside to avoid local ridicule over her ill state did nothing to assist in the speed at which further symptoms manifested. Her parents knew they couldn’t yet afford to get her the treatment she needed, and neglected to address her increasing list of health problems in the hopes that she would grow out of them. An art sale was just around the corner that promised connections could be made that would be enough to sustain them for many years to come. Assuming she could hold on a little longer, trusting Lorenzo’ abilities as her primary guardian, they turned away from their daughter’s mysterious ailment to focus on their work.

Fabrizia’s teen years only ushered in further health deterioration, until her uncle - highly religious, adhering strictly to the belief that ‘God has a plan for everyone’ - could finally take no more and brought her to a strange decrepit church on the outskirts of town. Deeming her possessed by something unholy, she spent several months under the care of nun-like figures who laced anything that graced her lips with pernicious doses of arsenic; every ounce of water, broth, and handmade medicinal syrups.

Fabrizia returned home sicker, but in too frail a state to do much of anything. Bittersweetly, in the time she was absent, her parents had indeed successfully earned enough money to be able to further address her needs and swiftly admitted her to a hospital. They didn’t know it would be the last time they would see any real life in their daughter’s eyes. Words like “lunacy” and “hysteria” haunted the air around Fabrizia as much as the unfamiliar and identical series of masked faces. It was impossible to keep track of the time that passed there. Experiments which led to pain and numbness saturated her days, which turned to weeks, maybe months…

Fabrizia was returned to her family’s home, in an indefinite catatonic state until the one (un)fateful day her uncle paid a visit, bringing with him a “special” priest. She could only follow the mysterious man with her eyes, barely registering it as peculiar when he dipped out of sight by her neck. Her vitals had been checked countlessly over the years. However, it wasn’t the press of fingers that awaited her this time - but fangs.

Fabrizia died in 1425, re-emerging from the earth in a frenzy of confusion, lithe movement, and ability she had not experienced in years. Only the face of the so-called priest remained nearby, explaining to her what had happened and what was expected of her henceforth. The impulse to hurt him felt suddenly stifled by a confounding sense of loyalty. Instead, she channeled her energy into the unfortunate strangers passing nearby. Once her hunger was curbed, a good time later, she demanded to see her uncle - the cause of this shift. Cloaked by a new moon, she located her uncle at his Florence home. At first sight, he called her reanimation miraculous. She called him dead.

For a long while Fabrizia begged to be destroyed by her maker, tried to step into the sun, tried to break any law she knew of - but every time, an inner subconscious and unbreakable instinct to survive forbade her from proceeding beyond an irreversible point. Fabrizia felt only rage and resentment for her fate, her instinct to consume blood not aligned with her disinterest to continue walking upon earth. She developed the habit of starving herself until forced to feed in a blind frenzy - after each encounter, “waking” to behold the damage she had caused and realising she was no better than the selfish and cruel man who had sentenced her to this fate. In an effort to protect hurting any more innocents and curve her bloodlust, she began working at the Ospedale degli Innocenti where she bided her time taking care of abandoned and orphaned children, developing discipline. It was easier to resist and protect weaker bodies - less appealing in their malnourished state. Only their abusers received harm, if she could track them down in the span of a single evening.

Decades of service later, she finally plucked up the courage to seek out her family, only to learn that too long had past - time no longer meant what it used to - and not only had her lower class parents progressed in the world well enough to become aristocrats, but they had died 30 years earlier. Only distant family members remained, none of them recognising her with anything but fear and distrust.

In honour of the discovery, Fabrizia processed her mourning by changing her name to her mother’s - Beatrisia. Soon after, Beatrisia went on to explore the lively culture of England’s Renaissance. There she learned skills of metal smithing, carpentry, and ceramics. She found satisfaction in tasks which were long but with purpose, helping time not feel like the monotonous imprisonment it had become.

From England, she followed word of the witch hunts causing unrest in Sweden and Finland. What began as a morbid curiosity to witness the stupidity of mob mentality humans soon progressed into a deal of sorts. Beatrisia would locate convicted witches in small untraceable towns and ask if she could feed on and turn them, the following night letting them have revenge on those who wrongly outed them. Beatrisia found the bond created in the process of creating a progeny bewildering and nauseating, but - for better and worse - the newborns’ irresponsibility made them easy targets, insatiable desires for blood foolishly leading them away from the safe cover of their small countryside towns to city limits that quickly captured and killed them for good.

The loss of the vivid connection hurt, at first. But Beatrisia learned to dull the sensation, as she did with most feelings. Through the maker-fledgling connection, Beatrisia had a taste of the agony that occurred and refused to subject herself to the seemingly easy escape route. After enduring the pain of her human life, she would never again suffer in order to die - it would be on her own terms, and it would be done well.

The agreement to turn supposed criminals into vampyres served both Beatrisia’s disdain for witch-hunting and allowed enigmatic human women, wrongly deemed witches, to get revenge. However, upon one significant instance, there was no error in the town’s uproar. An authentic witch named Sigrid was on the verge of having her freedom literally burned at the stake. Sigrid ruled over the fire element; a wild and beautiful woman that clearly needed no saviour. Yet, Beatrisia was still inclined to give her the same offer - immortality and vampiric ability for the sake of revenge. Sigrid was unlike the others, she was powerful, cunning and accomplished. It was as if she’d seen Beatrisia coming. Sigrid introduced a new deal; what if she henceforth travelled with Beatrisia as her self-nominated blood bag, making herself useful. In exchange, she would help Beatrisia find legitimate witches, and truly free them.

Over time, the lines of their arrangement blurred - first through infatuation, then love. Beatrisia eventually refused to feed on Sigrid any longer, desiring a different sort of intimacy. The two swiftly became lovers, intertwined and unstoppable for several years until the bond was abruptly severed after an explosive argument when Sigrid’s freedom plans included mercilessly killing village children descendant from hunters and Beatrisia’s death wish were brought to light. Irreconcilable differences which saw Sigrid erupting into infuriated flames which Beatrisia could not halt, nor desired to prevent. Her first experience with romantic love was one furiously stripped away from her, watched turn from flesh and bone to ash. But Beatrisia learned to dull what being heartbroken felt like, as she did with all other feelings. Loneliness always suited her best.

Seeking distance from any companionship for the forceable future, Beatrisia changed her name to Katya and retreated to less hospitable conditions - Russia. Eventually she met a shy diamond jeweller named Jeremie; an expert at working with jewels, but unfamiliar to noble metals. He hired Katya as one of his subcontractors to metal work, during which time she learned how to work with and identify authentic versus counterfeit jewels. It grew to be a highly esteemed position, with commissions sought out from Russian Imperial court's jeweler. After Jeremie’s death, his old age not dawning on Katya until it was too late, the chief court jeweller’s disdain for having to collaborate roared its ugly head and cast Katya out to find work elsewhere.

Katya changed her name to Briar, letting the old version of her die alongside her cherished mentor. She stayed in St. Petersburg long enough to idly apprentice under a goldsmith within a jewellery store in a basement shop. There, she caught wind of the Russian nobility's Francophilia, associating France with luxury goods.

Always on the brink of an identity crisis, Katya used status elevation as an excuse to visit Paris to get an ear for the dialect amidst earning better wages. This pursuit of knowledge developed into making a hobby of further travelling and studying the languages of neighbouring European countries. She had all the time in the world.

With the rise of 1900s political issues, Briar hid in Swiss mountains for the illusion of peace. Getting involved with humans’ affairs had burned her before, after all. However, whilst keeping a low profile there she encountered a nomadic group of local vampires, hungrily anticipating a bloody aftermath would solve the world tensions. Much to Briar’s charging, it re-ignited her stubborn urge to protect the innocent or injured inhabitants of the world around her. Already believing her tolerance well-formed and stable, to truly test her limits, she signed up to be trained as a nurse. It was a vocation which led to a placement at the frontlines of WW1, no amount of infection or blood causing her to tremble. It gave her purpose, value, and - most importantly - distraction. Thus, after the war’s conclusion, she pursued becoming certified as a doctor.

Briar flew to America in the 1920s, indulgently partying and pleasure seeking like there was no tomorrow wherever she could as she bounced between borders until WW2 occurred and she leant her services once more. Keeping her senses immersed in the cacophony of iron and injury kept her focus off of the magnetic tug of The Yearning, until war passed and yearning was all she had left to listen to. She tried to ignore the feeling, fiercely independent before it occurred to her that the very place she was resisting may hold the pivotal answer she desperately sought - what if she could harness the power that seemingly teemed there and finally find a way to destroy herself, once and for all? Stranger things had happened in her “life”, after all.

Briar made her grand entry upon the territory of Roldche River in the 1980s, remaining untethered and impartially observant for a while before assimilating the the society developed there, earning a job with her medical credentials. The simultaneous task of protecting the region by dark proved useful in keeping aware of the activity that teemed amongst the town - no new face slipped past her. For each new arrival, she secretly wondered if they would be the one to help her sever her so far unshakable tie to earth.

#about.#some ✨bonus facts ✨for the helluvit.

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