#I try to describe in a chorus of screams and cries what I can express with a single squeeze of my fingers against your palm

[madamewriterofwrongs]

Can I request 12 of the July Prompts please? ❤️❤️

Fair warning: we got a little flowery. But as long as it makes you smile, I don’t care.

July Prompt List

12. “What if my love for you is my punishment?”

Love Me Well

“No!” Buck jumped when the other man curled himself against the opposite wall, successfully dodging another running citizen. “We’re not going to make it in time.”

All around him, the flames rose higher, engulfing the window behind his head. Buck threw his body beside his partner to shield them both from the falling debris. At least, he thought this was his partner. That felt right. This man beside him, with his dark hair and honey brown eyes that stared at him in panic; they were partners somehow.

Details of his life seemed hazy. Every time he tried to grasp onto a fact or memory, another flame would burst or a stone would crumble, and his only focus became surviving the next onslaught of danger. That also felt right: dodging danger with his partner. Whoever he was – whoever they both were – this is what he was meant to do.

He couldn’t see much beyond the flames of the building across from him, but the smoke rising into the night sky seemed to be coming from all directions. The whole city was on fire, and here they were, in the middle of it all, trying to save themselves from one moment to the next.

Why was he here? It all seemed so familiar but he couldn’t put a word to any of it. Even as they tried to make their way out of the alley and away from the ensuing flames, his instinct was to turn and fight the fire, but he still couldn’t name it. The only thing he could focus on was the man with the eyes he could stare into forever (and he had a feeling that’s what he’d done). They ran side by side, dodging screaming citizens and crumbling buildings as the dirt roads filled with ash.

That’s what his partner had meant when he said they wouldn’t make it in time. The city was burning but there would be no escape. They wouldn’t reach the edge of destruction. They would die here. Together. Somehow, that didn’t bother him so much.

Another building caved in, sending stone and dust and wooden planks tumbling onto the street. The other man tackled him around the corner where they were safely hidden against a small lining of houses that hadn’t yet succumbed. For just a moment, everything was quiet. The light of the fire was a flickering amber in the background of his mind. The sounds of screams and crackling flames licking at their heels was a harmonic symphony to two shared heartbeats. The heat at his back was nothing compared to the ice in his chest as realization set in. It was time to go.

The man with the forever eyes reached out to grab his face, hold his chin firmly in his palms like an irreverent treasure. Their mingling breaths came faster and faster, delaying the inevitable.

“I’m going to miss you so much” he gasped. Buck opened his mouth to question him but his lips were overtaken by a kiss that tasted like a bittersweet promise – but a promise nonetheless. When the man tried to mercifully part, Buck pulled him back firmly, no air between one breath and the next. If this was to be their last kiss, it would be a kiss he could present to the gods in the afterlife as proof that he’d done one good thing in his life. Even if he remembered nothing else.

When they finally parted, Buck gripped the wrists still cupping his face and held on for dear life.

The man he swore he’d recognize even in death, stared at him for one last, agonizing moment.

“I loved you first; remember that. No matter what happens: I loved you first.”

Before he could respond, Buck felt his soul being pulled away. Around him, the world crumbled; but not through flames: through darkness. Even as he was dragged further away, he never let go of the man – his partner – until the world had nearly blinked out of existence.

In the darkness of the universe, Buck heard one last prayer.

“Please find me.”

Buck bolted away, sweat pouring down his face and drenching his thin linen shirt. He hated that dream. It came to him once every month or so and it was always the same. Running through danger with the brown-eyed man at his side, kissing him as he was plucked from the world and back into reality.

A reality where he would be sailing into port in a matter of hours, prepared to see what the new world had to offer. He hoped to find a home. Perhaps this town would fill the hole in his heart – no other place had, but the Spanish Colonies could be different. He’d spent so much time travelling, so much time running; maybe it was finally time to settle down.

The air as he stepped off the boat smelt of salt and fish and something dirty (like death). Not all that different from every other land on which he’d set out to explore. Everything looked the same; right down to the grumpy keeper he met when he signed in, with the rest of the sailors he’d bonded with on the voyage over.

Evan Buckley, formerly of the Buckley Estate, now Buck the traveler, who came with strong arms and a knack for storytelling. Who wouldn’t want him on their crew?

The anticipation of a fresh start was soured as the world around him turned to ash and a chorus of familiar cries broke the bustling calm. A fire had broken out in the stables around the corner and a stamped of horses were trampling everyone in their path. Buck watched, too late, as a chestnut stallion came charging towards him, prepared to crush his legs in their need for freedom.

His head hit the stone path as he was thrown through the air, not by a horse’s hooves, but by a solid form – a man – pushing him out of the way. His ears rang, and his eyes danced to a rhythmless tune, but the only thought in his head was fire.

“Fire.” He grasped the man’s shoulders to steady them both as he scrambled to his feet. “We have to put out the fire.”

Others could be hurt; livelihoods were in danger. He was well enough to stand, so he was well enough to help others. With a passing glance to the man who’d saved his life, Buck tugged his collar and the pair took off in a sprint towards the growing flames.

By the time they arrived, it was too late to salvage the building. All they could safely do was make sure the surrounding structures wouldn’t be affected. Buck instructed his new recruit to check the adjacent home for anyone inside, while he stumbled in the opposite direction to do the same. Between the two of them, they rescued two tired old men and a barn cat who’d nearly gotten caught up in the flames. Just as they had cleared the last structure, the stable collapsed in on itself, dousing much of its own raging inferno in the process.

It was only once he was reasonably sure that the danger had passed, that Buck found himself breathlessly turning to face his unwilling assistant.

“You’re good under pressure, friend, I could have used you at sea. Thank you for saving me back there.”

His beaming smile was met with a wide-eyed panic from the other man. “What?” He blinked but the disbelief was still in his eyes.

“Are you alright?” He moved to clap the man on the back but hesitated when he jumped back. “Were you hurt?”

There was an uneasy dread that spread through Buck’s chest as he mentally examined his new companion’s features. Such soft, brown eyes. Blood seeping through his ashy brown shirt.

“Your shoulder.” This time, Buck paid him no mind when he tried to protest, pressing a careful hand around the reddening area.

“I hit it when I fell.” The man mumbled, still clearly delirious.

“When you” Buck looked into his eyes, as realization settled over his skin. “When you saved me from the runaway horse.” This was all his fault. “Do you know where the doctor is?”

He looked so cute when he blushed scarlet, Buck thought, feeling his own cheeks flush with embarrassment. “I’m the doctor.”

Buck threw his head back in laughter – though, in hindsight, it was the man who made him laugh and not his words (he just felt lighter when he was around). “Well then you’ll know exactly what I need to do to patch you up.” He still hadn’t let go of his shoulder, and kept his grip tight as he smiled. “I’m Buck.”

He caught the man as his knees buckled underneath him, hoisting him against his side. Were all doctors so fit underneath their clothes? Buck shook his head. “Whoa, you’d better tell me where we’re going before you pass out.”

Instead of offering directions, he looked at Buck with what could only be described as heartbreak. His eyes were open and pleading, his quivering lip fell open with words he couldn’t voice.

“You don’t recognize me?”

“Should I?”

It was clearly the wrong answer, by the man’s breathless laugh and pained expression. “No” he croaked, adjusting his weight at Buck’s side so he could steady himself. “You just look like someone I know.”

Buck helped him to stand on his own, a careful eye on him at all times. There was something about this man. Something he recognized – and yet, the excitement in his heart was at the prospect of something new and unwritten. Familiar and yet unknowable. He had the overwhelming urge to know every part of him.

But he couldn’t say all that, not yet. So instead he smirked at the doctor and asked “so, where are we going?”

Buck lay beside his partner, staring up at the stars as though they really could grant his wish to stay there forever. As it was, this would be their last night together. In the morning, he would be shipped out to France while this man he’d come to love more than life itself would get to go home to his son so they could mourn his mother. Tomorrow, they would be separated and likely never see each other again.

That was all tomorrow, though. Until the sun rose over the hills, they could lie side by side and stare longingly at the stars. Even as the wind chilled and circled their longing forms, they kept their shoulders close and their hands linked tightly together but nothing more. If he curled into him, he might never leave. The ragged breathing of the man beside him was enough to keep him staring at the night sky; it wouldn’t do for them both to cry.

“Do you ever feel like the universe is out to destroy us – keep us apart forever?”

Buck found the strength to roll onto his side so he could study his features one last time. He got like this sometimes: pensive and distant. It was like he was haunted by memories he couldn’t have experienced – lives he could never have known. And he spoke in long, drawn out tones like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Buck never could figure out the heavy burden he seemed to carry but he hoped that by being by his side, he alleviated just a bit of the pain. Though, truthfully, he may never know. How’d he’d miss those haunted brown eyes.

“I think I am happiest when I’m with you; for as long or as little as the universe will let me.”

When Buck stared at him, he saw the history of man playing out in his eyes. A tale of learning, of changing, of heartbreak and destruction, of hope, and community. Of love.

“It’s never enough time.”

His greatest wish was to erase the pain that came with the breadth of their love. Even if the world weren’t burning itself to the ground, they could still never be together. So they’d let the flame consume them, built a fortress with their passion and smothered it with secrecy, until there was nothing but a constant blue ember. Something just for them – because that’s all it ever could be.

He loved him. His partner in all things. In work, in love, and, if fate had been crueler, in death. No matter what he may wish for himself, he would never leave a son without his father. So he would fly off to another country to die alone; if it meant keeping the people he loved most, safe at a home he could never be a part of.

“I’ll be back.” He falsely promised the world, because it was easier than saying goodbye. “We’ll see each other again.”

Out of that devastation, a small, sad smile graced his partner’s cheeks.

“You always find me.”

Buck gasped, the words sending a shot of ice to his fingertips and clenching his heart. It wasn’t the tenderness in his eyes, but the memory of a time when he’d heard those words and made a vow to obey. But he’d never done that; how could he remember something that had never happened?

He kissed his doubts away on the lips that would never smile at him again.

Buck was on top of the world. He’d gotten up before his alarm, had a productive morning ride, gotten the results of his scan proving he was in the best shape of his life – which was handy, because being a firefighter was the hardest he’d every worked at anything. He may have broken up with his girlfriend but he’d never felt lighter, knowing there were a million possibilities open to him. There were a million paths and unlimited opportunities to make something wonderful of his life.

Anything could happen on this brand-new day.

Of course, his friends tried to ruin it with their teasing, but he was still riding that high when their attention was pulled to something behind him. What could possibly be so interesting?

Through the glass of the locker room, he saw a figure rolling an LAFD shirt over his muscular torso, not paying any attention to the four sets of eyes ogling him. And he was definitely worth ogling – not that he’d admit it before he sized up the man underneath the abs. Soft brown hair, a firm jaw, shining brown eyes that he could stare into forever.

Eyes…

Buck felt dizzy and his chest constricted around his beating heart.

Forever eyes.

Eyes he’d known for a thousand years.

A heart that beat for him.

Behind him, he heard someone ask who he was – who this beautiful man was that had suddenly dropped into his life.

“Eddie?”

The man looked up at Buck’s call and froze in what he recognized as disbelief. Eddie stumbled back, tripping over a bench as his legs gave out. Buck ran to him without a second thought, too late to catch him, but just in time to kneel at his feet. He let the man slowly reach out to grab his face, hold his chin firmly in his palms like an irreverent treasure. All the while, Buck stared into those brown eyes that had seen forever and still shone for him.

“You found me.” Eddie whispered, a smile slowly blooming in his chest.

“You waited.” Buck grabbed the wrists still holding his chin and held on for dear life. When they kissed, it was the spark of a dying ember bursting to a flame that overtook their bodies. A raging fire that would never be extinguished. A kiss so strong, the gods sent them back to each other again, and again.

“Always.”

[anxiously-introverted]

Can you write a a scene about Will first activating his powers and losing control and El and Mike ( Mike is there cuz it’s the holidays so they’re all visiting eatchother) and maybe Joyce idk and they have to snap him outta it and calm him down? What others powers/other stuff can he do with his electricity?

On top of being able to manipulate electricity, I also like the idea of Will having telepathic powers like El’s. However, instead of being able to enter the minds of people, Will is able to enter, and even control, the minds of the creatures from the Upside Down (such as the Demogorgon).

Here’s the scene I was picturing! Please be aware, Lonnie is a jerk with homophobic views in this and the kids like to swear. Hope you enjoy!

 “Why is it that every time something seems to go wrong here nowadays, it’s because of you?” Lonnie snarled, hand twisted into the fabric of Will’s shirt as he cornered his son against the brick wall of the local convenience store. It was cold, wind nipping harshly at Will’s skin as he stared up at his father with wide eyes.            

The past few days had been going so well for him. The Party had already had several hangouts and movie nights, trying to spend as much time as possible together before Will and El had to return to their new home in New Mexico. So far, it almost felt as if things hadn’t really changed. Sure, Will still felt that particular pang of hurt when he saw Mike and El showing each other affection. Yeah, there came a certain sting when he heard about how some kid at their school was so great at Dungeons and Dragons, yet the group never wanted to play when Will had been suggesting it. Maybe he did still feel left out when everyone talked relationships while he knew he could never discuss the feelings he had without the others being disgusted.           

 Perhaps there was still a lot of pains that still rattled him, but the small flashes of happiness with his best friends that made up for it. For the most part, at least.           

 Yesterday, though, there was a sudden change in the mood. Lonnie Byers had blown into town like a glowering tumbleweed, the news of what happened during the summer making its way back to him after a long delay.            

His unstable son, after going in and out of a lab that was eventually shut down permanently, had also been involved in a huge incident at the mall which resulted in it being destroyed. There was gossip of Russians and the disappearance of the chief of police.           

He insisted that he would’ve come sooner to see Will, if only Joyce had given him their new address. He told Will he’d been so worried, that he didn’t know what to think when he’d gotten random bills from the lab and the hospital. He assured that had he’d known everything that had been happening, he would’ve been here. But, he said, he was here now.           

He said he wanted to know what was going on.           

He said he wanted to help.            

Will felt like a fool for believing him.            

“It wasn’t bad enough that you had to be a dirty little queer,” Lonnie said with curled lips, as if the taste of bile came up with the word. “But now I’ve got people around here sayin’ my kid was moved to a looney bin outta state, locked up with the other bleeding hearts and crazies. You have any idea how goddamn humiliating it is to have the town freak as my son?”            

Tears stung at Will’s eyes, though he refused to let them fall. He tried blinking them away, hazel eyes clearing up the blur minimally as he tried to retort, “Why do you care? You don’t even live here anymore! I don’t even live here anymore!” He was shaking, he was struggling. He felt like he was in a cage with a lock that was on the verge of breaking.           

“Oh, so it’s fine to turn your family into a fucking joke?!” Lonnie snapped. “Not to mention all the damn bills that keep flooding in from the hospital. You have any idea how much money-“           

 “All you care about is money!” Will cut in angrily, fear and frustration coming out in a rage that had been smothered and repressed for as long as he could remember. His chest felt like it was burning, his head feeling weightless and as if a boulder rested on it all at once. The building resentment paced in his mind like a tiger in an enclosure two sizes too small. “I know about how you tried to sue Sattler after the funeral! I know you only cared about making some quick money before ditching mom and Jonathan all over again!”            

For a brief instant, there was shock on Lonnie’s face. He had never heard his son, embarrassingly weak and shamefully reserved Will, speak to him with such venom. If he weren’t so pissed, he may have felt proud. Instead, Lonnie hatefully shot back, “That money would’ve done us a hell of a lot more good than what you’ve been doing! Meltdown after meltdown, disaster after disaster, not once have you ever dealt with any of this like a man! That money wouldn’t have ruined this family’s reputation, and it wouldn’t have dragged us to the brink of debt!”            

Hotter, hotter, hotter, there may as well have been lava in his veins. Will felt more and more tears gathering in his eyes, hatred for himself and the man in front of him strangling his heart with barbed wire. There were so many things he wanted to scream. It wasn’t his fault the Demogorgon came after him; it wasn’t his fault the Mind Flayer haunted him every day until eventually robbing him of his autonomy; it wasn’t his fault Billy and the others were possessed, nor were the deaths or the destruction of StarCourt his fault. He didn’t want any of it to happened, he didn’t mean for any of it to happen. All he wanted was to forget, to move on, to start a new chapter-            

“It would’ve been better for everyone if you just stayed dead!”             

A tear broke free, gliding down his cheek. The lock on the cage broke and Will raged.               

In the Wheeler’s basement, Mike looked at the clock hanging on the wall for the fifth time within the hour. His worry and agitation was palpable, setting the other Party members on edge. El rested a gentle hand on the other’s arm, commenting, “I’m sure he’s alright, Mike.”            

“They should’ve come back by now,” the teen insisted, his brown eyes flicking worriedly to hers. “Something must have happened.”            

“He’s just out with his dad, Mike. What could happen?” Max asked, looking up with a raised brow from where she was playing cards with Dustin and Lucas.             

Mike shook his head, “You don’t know his dad, Max. He’s… He’s a major asshole. He’s been a dick to Will since elementary school.”            

“He’s right,” Lucas said, his lips twisting into a frown as memories came to mind. “He would yell at him, call him all sorts of names. And that was just what he did in front of us.”            

El’s face pinched into a look of concern at the information. She knew Lonnie was a sore subject for the Byers family, but she thought perhaps it was just the bitter aftertaste of a bad fight or the awkward hurt that had settled after the divorce. Asking questions wasn’t really an option, she felt as though it wasn’t her place to go digging into old wounds. Not to mention that Will had seemed off for what seemed like days, perhaps even weeks, now.            

She now wishes she had learned more about her new family.            

Mike stood with a hardened expression and said, “I’m going to go find him.”           

“I’ll come with you,” El said, coming up from her spot on the couch as well.             

“Do you need us to come with you?” Dustin asked, his head popping up from where he was laying on the floor.            

“We should be fine. We’ll radio you if we need help, but stay here in case my mom asks where I am,” Mike said, putting one of the radios into his sweatshirt’s pocket. With that, he and El made their way up the stairs and out of the house.            

The sky was overcast with flashes of blue.             

No words would be sufficient to describe the way Mike felt as he took in the scene before him. Lonnie lay on the ground, clutching his upper arm as he stared with petrified eyes at Will. His skin looked burned, almost charred, as if struck with a bolt of unbridled energy.            

And Will…            

Screams of anguish, rage, heartbreak; the cries of one who’s been broken one too many times cut through the air like a razor. His eyes were alight with electric energy, his irises turned dark despite the flashes of neon blue crackling out of them and emanating from the rest of his body as if he were an overpowered battery. The very air around had turned to static, almost burning with the intensity.            

One by one, shop windows began to rattle, crack, and break. Street lights flashed in bursts of blinding light, the hum of constant electricity humming through them like a chorus. The sky above them rumbled, almost gurgling on the blue energy being blasted into and out of it. Veins of blue and black danced along Will’s body, a sickening tango of power intermingled with overwhelming grief.            

Lonnie screamed, “Fucking monster! He’s a fucking monster!”            

Another bolt shot out at Lonnie, but he managed to roll out of the way just in time for it to strike and scorch the ground beside him. The man yelped as he accidentally put pressure onto his injury, his legs scrambling to get him up onto his feet.            

El could relate all too well to the scene in front of her. The lack of control, the surge of emotions, feeling as though you had all the power in the world and yet none at all. She looked at Will screaming, sobbing, breaking, and saw herself. She could see the steady stream of crimson pouring from his nose, pouring like a faucet as his body poured his very soul into the outburst around him. It was so familiar, she could almost feel the blood on her own lip.           

Willing her voice to be steady, she called out, “Will! It’s me! It’s Eleven!”            Screaming broke into choppy outbursts before stopping, as if an old engine were struggling to stop. The scratch and catch in Will’s throat could be heard from where the pair stood. Mike snapped himself from his reverie, following El’s lead, “Will, it’s Mike! Listen, it’s-“            

“Do not say it’s going to be okay!” Will rasped, heat and venom seeping through the hurt. “Nothing’s okay now and nothing’s ever going to be fucking okay!” There was a pulse of more intense energy, as if a second kick jolted within the brunette and poured out as even more strands of tangled lightning.           

“Will, please, what’s going on? You can tell us. We want to help you!” El continued, brow furrowed as she watched the boy struggle. “But first, you have to calm down!”            

“Calm down? Calm down?!” The enraged teen demanded, electricity crackling. “I’ve been told to calm down for the past three years! And it never. Fucking. Helps!” Two more bolts shot out, one striking the brick wall behind him, another striking a lamp post and shattering the bulb with the surge.            

“Then tell us what will help!” Mike pleaded, taking a small step forward. “Tell us what you need, Will!”            

“It-it,” Will struggled, gripping his hair tightly with white knuckles. “Why do you care? Just-Just stop pretending! Stop acting like I matter to you!”            

El shifted toward Will, her hands lowered and body language open. “We’re not pretending! We care about you, Will. All we want is for you to be okay.”

            “You want me dead!” Will screamed, though his energy was dipping. “You all wish I had died in that quarry! You all wish I never came back!”            

“That’s not true!” Mike said, fire coming back to his voice. “We never wanted to give up on you! Seeing your body coming out of the water, the funeral… It killed us, Will! It killed me!” The crack in the dark haired teen’s voice seemed to dim the intensity of the light coming from Will. “When we found out you were still alive, when El was able to contact you, it meant the world to us. It was… Will, do you remember what I told you that day in the shed? Do you remember what the best decision I ever made was?”            

Only the quiet crackling of electricity broke the silence.            

“It was becoming your friend, Will,” Mike said, taking two more steps forward. “That decision changed my life for the better. You made my life better, Will. You make all of our lives better. Please, Will, believe me.”            

El stepped forward as well, coming closer with small steps as she added, “You help us, Will. You helped me at school, with my homework. You took me to the movies, made us waffles, put up with shopping with me. You took care of me. Let us take care of you.”            

With a shuddering breath and a heartbroken tremble, the lighting died away and Will fell forward, angry blue and black veins disappearing as he landed into the gentle and loving arms of his sister and the boy he’s loved in secret for years.             

For the first time since 1983, Will Byers felt safe.

[ao3bronte]

Santa Shuffle🎅🎄

After what has been an admittedly tumultuous December (‘Bronte: Attack of the Anons’ was basically the theme at the beginning of my holiday season), I decided to try something that would lift my spirits. I love games and surprises so rather than bang my head against the wall trying to come up with another story, I decided to create little Christmas drabbles based on the following rules:

Put Spotify on shuffle and start playing Christmas songs.

For each song, write something inspired by the song. 

Do 10 songs and post. Make sure to include the song name/artist.

Please sit back and enjoy!​🎅🎄

~

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Michael Bublé

The stars are shining from behind the ever-present layer of wintertime clouds, floating like lanterns in the dark. Tonight, Chat Noir feels as if he’s soaring amongst them, gazing up at the brilliant lights that emanate from the canvas of twilight sky. Brightly decorated Christmas trees sit like beacons in the middle of crowded squares that teem with winter markets and roasted chestnuts and Chat simply can’t keep his feelings back any longer, glowing with a wild abandon he has never known.

As always, he’s right where he belongs.

He lets go of his baton and tosses his body into the air, somersaulting over a bevy of twinkling Christmas lights. He banks right and ventures off further onto the familiar rooftops of Paris, healing the gashes in his soul long scabbed over. There’s nothing like the feeling of the holidays, lost within the colourful heights and cheerful carols, never falling. He smiles, his heart bursting with a feeling he can only describe as true, utter bliss.

Christmas in Paris is coming, and for the first time ever, he actually has a home.

Mistletoe - Justin Bieber

There are people everywhere, packed within the vast confines of the main hall of Le Grand Paris. They’re dancing, feasting, laughing, screaming, kissing, drinking, having the time of their lives.

It’s a Christmas party and the Champagne is flowing. Things are going to get a little sloppy.

He spies her from the other side of the hall and they lock eyes, a smirk full of promise playing on her lips. She’s been canoodling and chatting up her network like a true professional while Adrien admires from afar, content to watch her sashay in that gorgeous red handmade gown he loves so very much. The open back, the plunging neckline, the figure hugging silk he just wants to…

...well, he has to be on his best behaviour. They’re in public after all.

But, like most parties this time of year, there are punches and bottles of sparkling wine a plenty, which means that no one is acting with enough propriety to notice the heat emanating between them. He returns her saucy gesture with a raised eyebrow and a smug grin and it’s one of those take it or leave it smirks, the kind that teases and promises so much more.

She pushes through the crowd, her eyes never leaving his, and he stands his ground, limbs tingling with both excitement and slight intoxication. He can feel her lingering on her lips, a memory of something intangibly right, and shifts his body so that he’s standing right where he needs to be in order to make this little game of his all worthwhile.

She notices, of course. She always does.

“Mistletoe?” she questions him, crossing her arms across her chest. The action only accentuates her décolletage and Adrien’s mouth begins to water, “Really?”

He doesn’t even bother trying to answer. Instead, he takes her by the waist and kisses her senseless.

Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town - Bruce Springsteen

Chat Noir grins widely and drops his enormous bag of toys onto the floor just outside of the elevator. He shares a private look with Ladybug, one full of apology for the deluge of children galloping down the hall in their direction, and opens his arms with a laugh.

“HO HO HO!” he hollers with excitement, completely and utterly attacked by children who are so excited to see him that they can hardly contain themselves. Ladybug scoops the toys out of the way just as her partner is thoroughly taken down by the rabid pack and laughs as they tug on his fake beard and Santa hat.

He manages to extricate himself eventually and toddles around the hospital ward with an enthusiastic flock of enamoured children in tow. Santa Noir delivers a personalized gift to each child stuck in the children’s hospital over the holidays and poses for selfies by the thousands while Ladybug follows behind, laughing as he regularly whips out his best impressions of Santa himself. 

And then he starts to sing.

“You better watch out,” he wags his finger, much to the children’s delight, “You better not pout! You better not cry, I’m telling you why. Santa Claws is coming to town!”

A hundred voices chime in for the chorus, waving jingle bells and laughing as Chat performs the latest Fortnite dance for them. It’s embarrassing and hilarious and honestly? 

Ladybug has never been more in love.

River - Robert Downey Jr.

He’s never told a soul, and so long as he knew, no one had been around when he’d finally lost his composure and cried.

He’d collapsed onto his haunches and wept out loud into his palms, frustrated and upset and drowning in a myriad of emotions he can’t categorize without losing anymore of his precious sanity. Why was he out here again? Why was he wasting his time – again – for someone who couldn't even spend a moment of his Christmas Eve to be with his son?

Oh right. 

Because that someone was his father.

He’d cried harder, heaving into the night air without being able to stop himself. 

Why did Maman have to go away?

Step Into Christmas - Elton John

Marinette giggles as Adrien grabs her hands and swings her around her parent’s living room, dancing the night away. The Christmas bops playing off of Marinette’s Spotify playlist are just the thing to convince her to get off the couch after way too much turkey and join him in a little Santa Samba around the Christmas tree.

“Stoooop,” she laughs, not really meaning it as he wraps one arm around her body and captures her hand in his, “Maman’s taking videos of us.”

“For the wedding!” Sabine coos as Adrien spins her in a gentle underarm pirouette and Adrien can’t help but grin.

“Come on Marinette,” Adrien pulls back and shimmies to the jazzy jam, “You can’t deny the chemistry between us.”

“We’re engaged, you doofus,” Marinette scolds him fondly, squeaking as he pulls her back into his chest, “Of course we have chemistry.”

“Which is why we need to practice dancing,” Adrien slots his feet between hers and leads her into a dizzying spiral of turns, “And what better time to do it than on Christmas Eve with my favourite people?”

“Flaterer,” Marinette shakes her head as Tom cheers from the kitchen.

“Dip her! Dip her!”

“NONONO!”

Adrien can’t deny his future father-in-law, now can he? With a side splitting laugh, Adrien lunges forwards and gracefully lowers the love of his life in his arms, pausing only to wink at the camera.

Santa Tell Me - Ariana Grande

Marinette holds her favourite picture of Adrien to her chest and sighs as the latest Gabriel holiday commercial plays on repeat in the background. Adrien stares in awe up at the snow that cascades from the sky, surrounded by Christmas decorated in black and white baubles and metallic ornaments. It’s for another perfume line, this one heavy on frankincense and ginger, and Marinette just wants to bury her face in the crook of Adrien’s perfectly popped collar and drink him in.

He’s perfect.

She would do anything to go on a date with him right now. They could go to the Christmas market together, hand in hand, or sip on hot chocolate in front of a crackling fire. They could decorate gingerbread cookies in her bakery and then go to the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony together so they could kiss under the fairy lights!

They would be amazing together.

Marinette checks her calendar and sees that Adrien has a packed schedule of modelling and extracurriculars for the foreseeable future and shrugs, still holding onto hope. Maybe, with just a little bit of luck on her side, she could admit her true feelings and fall in love this Christmas…

All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey

Three seconds in the same room with her and he’s practically on the floor, on his knees, head spinning from the sheer emotion of it all. He’d just walked in on her pulling her beautiful, gorgeous black hair out of her ponytails for the mayor’s Christmas Party at Le Grand Paris and thought he’d died and gone to heaven.

Her blue eyes were like the ocean.

Her legs went on for miles.

He pines for her like a puppy. He’d do anything for her.

(He bets she tastes like strawberries.)

“Face it,” Rena Rouge mutters, nudging Ladybug lightly with her elbow. Ladybug glances over in the direction her fellow heroine is pointing and sighs, tugging her bangs in front of her eyes in embarrassment, “He’s got it bad.”

Facing her lovestruck partner, Ladybug takes a weary breath and simply surrenders, “Don’t remind me.”

You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Thurl Ravenscroft

Ladybug and Chat Noir exchange glances across the battleground, grinning like Cheshire cats in the gloom. She grips her yoyo in her palm, squeezing the unbreakable spotted material with her fingers. Chat fiddles idly with the base of his baton, his confidence boosted tenfold.

“I’m sorry, Bugaboo,” he drawls, his glowing eyes mischievous, “Could you repeat that?”

“Of course, Kitty,” she replies, equally as sardonic, “I was just discussing how fun it would be to go cataclysme Le Papillon’s head off. After ruining Christmas Day for everyone in Paris, don’t you think he deserves it?”

Standing within the ruins of the mansion’s west wing, the villain in question starts stepping backwards slowly, only to be impeded by a gigantic hunk of plaster clipping him in the back of the knees. The butterfly Miraculous wielder falls backwards onto his backside as the murderous duo stand over him, their expressions identical.

“Stop!” Le Papillon cries, raising his palms in surrender, “I’m doing this for her! For Émilie!”

“Don’t bring Maman into this,” Chat Noir hisses, spinning his baton in the light of the fire. A few years ago, Adrien might have surrendered then and there. But now?

Now he had his new family to protect.

“Shall I do the honours?”

Chat smiles and motions with his arm invitingly, eyes grazing his fuming fiancé, “The honours all yours.”

Whisking her yoyo’s string around with a cracking thwack so loud even Chat can’t help but wince, his heavily pregnant partner brings her magical weapon down on Le Papillon’s head with a crunch.

Christmas In New York - Lea Michelle

Marinette Dupain-Cheng squares her shoulders and grins widely, stepping out through the revolving doors of the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City. The thrill of life in the Big Apple fills her heart with excitement as she spins around and waves at the doorman.

“Merry Christmas, Miss Dupain-Cheng!”

“Merci!” she chimes, smiling at him over her shoulder. There’s a limousine waiting for her out front and the chauffeur opens the back door as she approaches, taking her gloved hand in his so she doesn’t trip, “Are we headed to work, Miss Dupain-Cheng?”

Marinette offers him a cheeky grin, “Can we get stuck in traffic for an hour or two? I need to do a little shopping for my friends and family before I fly home.”

“Of course,” her chauffeur dips his head, his own smirk hidden by his impressive mustache, “I suppose the traffic must be terrible near Fifth Avenue at this time of day.”

“I agree,” Marinette settles into the leather seats of the stretch limo and relishes in the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. She’s so excited to return to Paris after two wonderful weeks overseas working with the crème de la crème of the American fashion world, no thanks to her business with Jagged Stone. She’s walked through a festively decorated Central Park and taken selfies from the top of the Rockefeller Centre. She’s even watched the Rockettes perform their high flying kicks at Radio City and visited the Macy’s Christmas window display! The city that never sleeps hasn’t disappointed her in the slightest, especially draped in the red and greens of Christmastime.

She passes by beautiful holiday trees and flickering fairy lights as they weave their way through Manhattan and, although she can’t wait to hug her Maman and Papa at the airport in just a few more days, she’s already planning her next Christmas in New York.

Bring Me Love - John Legend

Sliding across his apartment floor in his Christmas socks, Adrien clutches a banana in his hand and sings into the stem with all the excitement and enthusiasm of a man who’s about to rock his fiancé’s world. He wiggles his hips and kicks his free leg, boogying down to the saxophone and bass and he is feeling fabulous, the tree is looking fabulous and everything is absolutely fabulous. Marinette would be thrilled with his decorating skills, especially since he’s been left to his own devices for the past two weeks while she’s been away on business. She’ll be landing in Charles du Gaulle in just a few short hours and Adrien has cookies baking in the oven (dough courtesy of Tom, of course) and mistletoe hanging over the doorway. All he needs to make his Christmas homecoming a success would be having his beautiful, successful, gorgeous fiancé by his side.

If only Santa would bring her home faster!

He’s put on his Rudolph boxers for the special occasion and bops his shower soggy hair to the beat, letting it fly everywhere. It might be -8℃ outside but it’s toasty warm inside their little flat in Le Marais and Adrien intends to put the love in their lovenest tonight.

He drops it low and snaps, spinning around on the balls of his feet. He feels amazing and there’s adrenaline and an irrepressible joy surging through his veins as he hops onto the cushions of the couch and channels his inner Beyoncé, howling the high notes with all his might. He can’t hold in his love any longer and leaps off the furniture with a karate kick, landing in a crouch only to pop back up again with a pirouette that would have put his alter ego’s talents to shame.

A giggle from the kitchen leaves him skidding in his tracks.

“Who’s there?”

Her face half hidden by her mittens, a thoroughly amused Marinette steps into the colourful glow of the Christmas tree, “Are you wearing Rudolph boxers?”

Adrien, for all intents and purposes, has never been happier to hear the love of his life critique his undergarments, “MARINETTE!”

“Hey Kitt—mmpf!”

Capturing her lips in a bruising kiss, Adrien drops his banana and spins her around in a searing embrace that leaves them both dizzy and breathless. When he finally sets her back down onto the floor, Marinette is thoroughly smitten with her fiancé all over again.

“Miss me?” he asks, peppering every centimetre of exposed skin with kisses, “Because I thought I was going to wither away to nothing if you were gone for another minute.”

“I missed you,” Marinette’s knees quiver as he undoes her winter coat and throws it onto the kitchen counter behind them, “I missed you so much.”

“Oh my god, your voice,” Adrien wraps his arms around her waist and buries his face in her neck, “Your smell, your skin, your hair, your lips. You are never leaving for that long ever again without me.”

Marinette laughs and Adrien soaks in the beautiful sound, “Deal.”

“Good,” Adrien says, still damp and half naked, “How did I do?”

He gestures to the decorations draped all over their studio apartment and Marinette feels her heart stutter beneath the absolute flood of emotion thudding through her chest, “You did amazing, Adrien. It looks beautiful.”

“Thank you,” he kisses her again, “Christmas must have come early because all I wished for was you.”

Pressing their foreheads together, Marinette boops him on the nose, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

💋Bronte

[thewhaatever]

BE MORE CHILL LONDON

My brain was very bad at processing things that day but seeing the show on Saturday was honestly the best experience of my life and here's why:

First of all: Joe Iconis was sitting two rows in front of me.

I was freaking out a little and my friend was laughing at me but I didn't want to annoy him so I tried to chill

But then he was standing behind us in line for merch (he was buying a whole bunch of his own merch which was kinda funny) and some other people talked to him so I did too and I'm not entirely sure what I said to him but he was SO nice and then I got a picture and... yeah I was just really happy.

Now to the show:

The set was incredible. Absolutely amazing.

The screen was used so perfectly and made everything seem like a videogame, honestly.

It was basically the only set. The only furniture they had was a desk for Jeremy's room, chairs for the school and some other minor things (I have to say it did seem a little bit empty at times and I wish that would have used a bed at least - didn't make sense to me that Jeremy falls asleep at his desk - but I'm probably just too used to the Broadway set)

More Than Survive was SO good! Scott puts so much emotion in his portrayal of Jeremy... I can't really describe what exactly he did but something about his Jeremy felt so real and yeah I might have cried a little... (I honestly think he’s my favourite Jeremy so far)

Also: Blake's Michael is very different from George's but in such an interesting way. I loved him the second he entered the stage. He really did capture the "Doesn't care about what anyone thinks, but deep down he does a little" - Energy.

Play Rehearsal was.... wow.

Miracle's Christine had no chill. At all. She was so unbelievably weird and quirky. (Also, she seemed much colder / not interested in talking about anything except theatre and when she didn't want to talk about something she was really showing that by acting uninterested... I thought that was an interesting take that definitely worked for the character) Every normal person would have been a little freaked out by her energy during the song probably but Jeremy was just staring at her the whole time with heart eyes it was really cute.

Favourite part was how Jake said: "Rich is doing it cause he's MY BOI!"

Squip Song was great, his VOICE!! WOW. I love James's Rich. Like, you could really see that even though he's the school's bully, there's something underneath that's not right. Everything he did felt very forced and I loved it (also, I told James at the stage door that Rich is my favourite character and that made him really happy apparently)

Now that I am thinking about it, I think they changed that scene a little and Rich didn't pee (so that conversation was missing) but that was probably due to the set bc the toilets were just projections on the screen so it would have been weird if he pretended to pee on the screen 😂

Also really loved the use of the screen during that whole scene, it was flashing and glitching when Rich's Squip was acting up

They brought back the bean bags for Two Player Game!!

The staging for this was so cool because at the end when Jeremy and Michael were dancing the screen made it look like they were the characters in the game (but differently than on Broadway) and I loved it (I'm sorry I'm really bad at explaining this)

Also, Blake's 'Is it really true, I'm your favourite person' was so funny, he did like a model pose or something and was sliding off the bag.

Scott was basically sitting on the floor the whole time because he somehow didn't manage to properly sit on that bag

Also, I think they changed the dialogue about Jeremy's mum a little bc when Michael asks him if he's heard from her Jeremy said "A little" and I'm pretty sure he didn't say that before

I feel Blake's Michael is that kind of person who's really bad at expressing how he feels... like, you could see in his face that he didn't like Jeremy's idea about going to the Payless and that he was genuinely scared about being too uncool for Jeremy afterwards but he really tried to say the "will u be to cool for... videogames" kinda jokey and yeah I'm overanalysing but I loved it

One thing in general: Everyone seemed really young on stage, definitely much younger than the Broadway cast. Especially Jeremy and Michael. I really believed that they were teenagers!! And I really love that.

Scott was fidgeting a LOT with his hands and I feel like that was very in character for Jeremy. I thought so often that he would drop things.... (like the money in the scary stockboy scene.. it took him so long to give it to Michael)

Jakes favourite restaurant is Pizza Hut now

When the Squip was activated Scott was screaming and rolling across the entire stage and it would have been funny if it didn't look like he was actually in pain

Because the stage was different the Squip had to walk on for his entrance and somehow that was incredibly funny to me but I can't explain why

Stewart Clarke. Holy shit. I'd totally swallow a supercomputer if it looked like him! I loovveeed his take on the role. I've seen interviews with him where he was talking about how he has to think of so many weird questions like how does a computer act, does it feel, how does it feel etc. And I really saw that he was thinking about those things. At the beginning his Squip was very robot-ish, simply focused on making Jeremy cool, without any secret plan or anything. But throughout the show, the Squip clearly evolved and became more... human, I guess? Like it was showing more and more human traits/emotion which peaked in The Play (later more on that)

In conclusion: I loved the Squip so so much

Squip: "Everything about you makes me wanna die!"

Jeremy: "Uhhhhhh this is intense!!"

The Brooke/Chloe scene in the mall was so funny and the part where the Squip tells Jeremy what to say (u know, in bmc pt.1) might have been my favourite part of the show. Scott looked so awkward and confused by everything but he did his best to mirror the Squip (they did identical movements the whole time which I don't remember from Broadway but my memory is shit so...)

Millie's Chloe was so over the top I love it.

They changed the dialogue a lot here, so that there's no mention of Madeleine at all so Chloe wasn't pissed or anything (I'm not sure if I like that) Jeremy just said something along the lines of "Oh you wouldn't know her because she's French" and that's where Brooke picks up her trying to speak French- thing

I THINK (not 100% sure tho) that Millie said "Jeremy?" Instead of "Jerry" At the beginning of that scene and that Scott was a bit confused for a second but he just continued with "It's Jeremy" and then Millie had to duck away because she was laughing (but maybe she did say it right and was just laughing at Jeremy in character idk)

I loved how Eloise's Brooke was so awkward. From the second that Jeremy noticed her she tried SO hard to impress him and it didn't work very well but it was so cute. Chloe tries to show her the whole time what to do but that doesn't make it better.

During Do you wanna ride, Jermey got so scared of the girls that he climbed onto the table with the t-shirts (actually now that I'm thinking about it he was climbing on things a lot)

Guy That I'd kinda be into was so cute!! I never particularly liked that song but Miracle somehow gave it a very different flair and I loved that. They changed the staging a bit and there weren't other people with hearts (there were hearts on the Screen) but at one point Rich was coming on stage with a helium heart balloon for like a second and then he disappeared again 😂 that was a bit weird but...

now lets get to the Act 1 Finale which was SO GOOD

Okay, so they changed it up quite a lot: After the whole "Eminem is dead?!" The Squip tells Jeremy that Brooke likes him (and Christine doesn't, yet) and Jeremy is so shocked that he turns to Brooke and says "You like me?" And she's like confused but nods and he's like: "Why???" (I loved that, Scott delivered that line really funny) and then Brooke explains the whole thing with Chloe, that she always gets noticed first etc. (That whole scene was really cute Jeremy and Brooke really seemed to actually like each other and I was really able to relate to Brooke - good Job Eloise!)

Then Brooke starts singing the "I'm tired of being the person that everyone thinks that I am" Jeremy repeats it and then she starts Upgrade with the tres magnifique bit. It's like on the OBC until Jake's and Christine's part. They do their verse but run off after "Gotta get an upgrade" (Miracle was singing this up the octave which sounded SO cool) so they didn't have their conversation about Jake's parents (I did miss this a little but I get why it was cut) and then Jeremy ran back on stage followed by the Squip (you can see in Stewart's performance that he's already much more persuasive in a human way than before) who starts to sing the aggressive "C-c-c-come on Jeremy can't you see we got a plan, now be the man..." From the original cast album (I loved this SO much). Everyone came on to sing the "Christine" part in that and was surrounding Jeremy. He then shouts "Arghh too many voices in my head" the Squip leaves, Michael comes on, they do their "Jeremy that's amazing" dialogue, the Squip explains optic nerve blocking and says that he has to cut Michael off if he wants to be popular (Squip: "Cut your ties... or you'll both drown" I remember that because it sounded so unbelievably dramatic), Michael asked "Are you coming" and leaves the stage for Jeremy to sing Loser, Geek, Whatever.

I loved all of that so much because Scott puts so much emotion into this song, it nearly made me cry!! He really conveyed Jeremy's inner struggle without making him look like an asshole, more like a stupid kid that's going to make a really stupid decision

The second verse and chorus of LGW were cut (the "Dad taught me follow your instincts..." part) which I really liked (I never enjoyed the chorus of this song tbh).

"THE PROBLEM HAS ALWAYS BEEN.... .... me" the way Scott sang that truly broke my heart.

AND THEN (Loved this SO SO MUCH) after "ever agaaiiiiinnn" He went straight into that part that I guess you could call an Upgrade reprise from the Original Cast album ("And I wasn't sure before but now I wanna go all the way and more so give me that upgrade" etc.) AND it tied in so perfectly with Michael then asking again "Are you coming" and "Optic nerve Blocking on" and as much as I loved the "I'm tired of being the person that everyone thinks that I am" chorus, this was SUCH a great way to end act one, I might even prefer this.

I just love how they mixed in the old parts from this song that I was really missing on the OBC.

When the Squip came out in his first dress (is it a dress?) Costume people were cheering, loved that. (I mean that costume IS gorgeous and Stewart Clarke looks absolutely fabulous in all the costumes)

That was Act 1!! (I am so sorry if you actually read everything up to this point...)

Act 2

Halloween had such an amazing energy!!! The dances!! Ahh

At his "I don't have a machete but a loaf of bread will do" line, James threw the bread up in the air but didn't catch it and just hit his head as he went to pick it up as if he was blaming his Squip (not sure if that was supposed to happen but I loved it)

I loved how the Squip joined the dance, it looked so fancy with his costume 😂 I know he did this on Broadway too and I never really understood why (the others can't see him after all) but there it kinda felt like it was hinting at the fact that the Squip was becoming more human-ish??? (I'm definitely overthinking this) Like he was having fun maybe??? Idk

Millie's Do you wanna hang was so hilarious!!!

Like I said they didn't have a bed so she was just dancing around him (which looked good but I missed a bed here tbh) and they added a bit of dialogue (I think, maybe it was in the Broadway version) where Jeremy asked her "Are you jealous of Brooke??" And she was like "I'm not jealous I just don't understand why everyone likes her and no one likes me." (Or something like that) and the way Millie delivered that line really gave Chloe a whole lot of character depth. She sounded so heartbroken, I just wanted to hug her.

When the Squip shuts off (it looked really funny), Stewart just trust-falls backwards off stage and someone has to catch him and I was just thinking what if whoever catches him forgets about it??? 😂😂 (No seriously, dear catch person, don't forget this, ever... we need him as a Squip)

And now, the moment we have all been waiting for. MITB

Ahhh I was having so many feeling during this scene. I already told you that I love Blake's Michael and I really loved how rational and smart (?) He sounds in the scene before the song compared to Jeremy who kept insisting that the Squip isn't bad.

They added a bit of dialogue here too I think, because Jeremy said something along the lines of "You said technology isn't dangerous-" "Yeah unless someone uses it like you do!" (Something like this), really loved that as people somehow keep insisting that this is a show about the dangers of modern technology (It's definitely not).

Blake and Scott both did such an incredible job in this scene (and overall obviously), you just knew something bad was about to happen...

At the "Leave me alone" (not sure if that's what he's saying) line Jeremy steps reaaalllyy close to Michael (like there noses were almost touching close) and he looked so intimidating towards Michael and Blake sounded actually a bit scared when he says "Or you'll what?"

Then they just stand there for some seconds, not moving, before Jeremy says the "Get out of my way, loser" and Scott says this with so much hatred, my heart was actually hurting. Michael then just steps away and he looked sooo sad I almost cried.

MITB was absolutely amazing. Again very different than George's version but with just as much emotion and Blake's voice was sooooo beautiful, I can't!!

He sang the last "Michael in the Bathroom by himself" a bit different (can't really describe it but the note on "bath" was higher than usual? I don't know much about music sorry) and I loved loved loved that

The scene with Christine and Jeremy was so sweet. They were so unbelievably weird, I love them.

When the costumed person between them leaves, Christine pulls Jeremy across the stage by his legs and places them on top of hers (like in the promo pic) and it looked so cute!!

After that when Rich comes on and says the "I'll burn you out" I was soo sure somehow that there used to be a voiceover of his Squip but I can't find it anywhere so idk I'm confused... But it's definitely not there anymore.

Smartphone Hour. Holy shit, that was SO good. Renée Lamb's voice OMG!! Absolutely incredible.

(I just had to notice once again how much I hate the costumes in this scene... like the colours are great but what teenager wears THAT to sleep???)

The screen was so cool here again!! It obviously showed Jenna's selfie with the house (which I want printed to hang on my wall tbh) and then at the end it was full of fire that changed its colour and all of that was so fitting for the colour scheme!! The entire set design is just so incredible.

Also, Brooke is eating a banana when Chloe calls her and when she tells her about the fire Eloise just yeets it across the entire stage

They all looked like they were having so much fun!!

Back to Jeremy: For the scene with Mr Heere, Scott was switching back to total asshole mode... Internally I was like "Uhh that little shit" but yeah, great acting!!

I LOVE the pants song! It's so underappreciated!

The "You're burning incense" line got a lot of laughs

"Say it like you're in the army!"

"NO, SERGEANT, SIR!!!" *salutes*

Loved that

Pitiful Children was actually SO intimidating!! The use of the screen here and in The Play was almost overwhelming but like in a good way, I really felt the seriousness of the situation.

Again great acting skills from Scott and Stewart. Jeremy was so torn between giving in and knowing that it's wrong and the Squip really felt humanly evil at this point.

Renée Lamb's riff!! Omg! She did it very different than in the press videos but it sounded so cool!!

Also, I felt so bad for Jenna. Her "No one's ever asked me that before" really hit me.

"Michael makes an entrance!!!!!" was perfect, I love Blake!

The fight between Jeremy and Michael looked SO violent 😂 at one point towards the end Jeremy punched him and he was just lying there on the edge of the stage for some minutes and only woke up to join everyone screaming at the end.

I loved how everyone acted when they were squipped!! They were very obviously not themselves.

Especially Christine was acting very very differently. Her voice sounded completely different and you could see that Jeremy made his decision to give her the mountain dew red the second she opened her mouth.

Jake's "God I love me!" Was just really wholesome. He sounded so surprised about that.

They didn't have the "My Squip says I can go all the way to Broadway" :((( but I can live with that...

The part where the Squip “Died” was SO good!!! This was really the moment where the Squip felt very much like a human being. He was screaming and begging and sounded actually terrified. His acting here was absolutely incredible. I almost, almost felt bad for him a little.

Also, the projections were amazing, it looked like the screen shattered when the Squip died. 

Again, one thing that really bothered me: What kind of hospital doesn't have beds??? Jeremy and Rich were just sitting in wheelchairs which was fine but like... Why no bed???

I loved James' acting in this scene!!! He was a COMPLETELY different person and everyone noticed that right away. Even without the l lisp, you would have noticed simply by the way he was talking. James really did a great job with Rich!!

His "I'm totally bi now!!" Sounded so surprised and got a lot of applause.

Voices in my head is my favourite song and made me cry 😂

Christine's Squip is now Greta Thunberg!!!!

I loved how Jeremy was totally his old self again when he was talking to Christine. He was stammering and fidgeting with his hands a lot and only managed to bring out the "Bowling Alley performance art?" Because Christine kept encouraging him which was so cute. If there are somehow still people out there who think that their relationship is underdeveloped they should watch this version.

The kiss was so cute!! Miracle and Scott have amazing chemistry!

I really think that's all I have to say... It's a lot I'm sorry 😂😂😂 just had to write those thoughts down.. I hope it makes a little sense I was a bit sick in the last few days so excuse me if anything's worded in a weird way...

I loved it so so much and I'm so happy they got the well-deserved extension! I'm definitely going again sometime soon 😊😊

[juniperwindsong]

Necessary Monsters (5/16)

  Summary:  "Isn't it considered ungentlemanly to keep a lady in suspense? Especially after she's nearly been killed?" "How many times do you plan on using that?" "As many as I can before the novelty wears off."

    Felix is lucky he's already garnered a reputation for himself at the Romanian Reserve. He's sure he would never pass this interview otherwise. He can't remember half the things he's learned about international dragon research regulations, and completely fumbles the telling of his team's recent successful capture. But the Reserve Liaison cannot stop shaking Felix's hand, awed to meet the young man who "caught a Common Welsh Green at seventeen, quite remarkable!" He assures Felix the paperwork will be finalised and forwarded to Romania that very day, and by tomorrow, Felix will officially be the Reserve's Junior Resident Dragonologist for the Peruvian Vipertooth.

   "You'll be such an exciting addition! So many brilliant young people there just at present. Makes me wish I weren't retired to an office, but, the missus does like her quiet life."

   Felix manages a polite smile, and the Liaison pumps his hand a final time.

   The job he's dreamed of since childhood is his. And it's a beautiful early summer morning that greets Felix as he steps onto the sidewalk outside the Ministry for Magic guest entrance. By rights, it should be the best day of his life. If the sound of Juniper's eldritch scream wasn't replaying in the back of his head every few minutes.

   Felix sets off down the deserted street in a random direction. Freshly washed and laundered, and no work required of him for the rest of the day, he knows he should be apparating back to St Mungo's to check on Juniper's condition. But a strange reluctance tugs his feet around a corner and onto a walk bustling with muggles. He doesn't know what to expect upon his return; Juniper once again laid out like a corpse on white sheets, or wide-eyed and wailing, unable to escape whatever horrors that curse had inflicted upon her.

   Shuddering at the memory, Felix's eyes squeeze shut briefly and he bumps into a couple turning a corner in his direction. The woman holds up a hand in quick apology, her other hand caught fast by the man beside her. Eyeing Felix, the man pulls his companion closer so they take up less room on the walk. The woman giggles, melting against him, and Felix is forgotten as they traipse away, wrapped entirely in each other.

   It's exactly the sort of casual romantic display Felix dreams of, and his heart aches with a desperate longing. His evenings of the last year have been filled with similar fantasies: meeting Juniper somewhere in passing, chatting her up charmingly, letting her see how much older he is now, how much more confident and impressive. One particularly alluring daydream he indulges in often involves rescuing Juniper from some dangerous enemy and comforting her from the subsequent fear, until his embrace wipes away all memory of the horror she's experienced. 

   Felix stops abruptly, and the man behind him almost runs him down. He swears at Felix loudly, then rights himself and speeds away. Felix takes no notice. What on earth is he doing here, strolling past muggle shops, while Juniper is in pain, alone with only abrasive healers and murderous aurors and, well, Snape, to provide any sort of comfort? 

   Fiery indignation at his own cowardice burns a hole through Felix’s chest. This is hardly his fantasy; he's never imagined Juniper tortured or half-dead in hospital. But it's still an opportunity. Perhaps the opportunity. To show her the precise depth of his feelings in a way she cannot misunderstand.

    Felix pats his inner pocket. He still has the letter he spent an entire night composing. And a whole day before he has to be in Romania. 

-

   The hospital is a good deal less crowded when Felix returns that afternoon. He bypasses the help-witch, nose firmly in the air, exits the stairs at the fourth floor and wanders down the main corridor, trying to remember the sequence of hallways leading to Juniper's hidden room. As he walks, he becomes aware of voices in the distance. Vaguely familiar voices, though he can't place how he knows them. The sounds grow clearer the farther Felix walks, and just before he turns onto the final dead-end hallway, he recognises one.

   "Barnaby?"

   The young man's head whips around, eyes comically wide as he stares at Felix. Felix stares right back, taking in the tableau in front of the dirty window in disbelief. Barnaby Lee has his arm around a tear-stained Rowan Khanna. Propped on the windowsill behind them, Felix can make out Penny Haywood and, his heart thuds unpleasantly, Charlie Weasley, hands shoved deep into his pockets. In front of the sixth-year students, a tall healer with long, black hair lounges against a door. Her face is sharp and forbidding, until she blows a large pink bubble from her chewing gum and pops it loudly.

   "Maybe he can help?" says the healer, jerking her chin at Felix.

   "Felix!" Barnaby rushes up the hall. “Are you here about Juniper, too? Have you seen her yet?"

   "Do you know if she's okay?" Rowan asks, trailing behind Barnaby and wiping her eyes on her scarf.

   "What-what on earth are you all doing here?" Felix stutters.

   "Why? Did we get the wrong hall?" The strangely impish healer cocks her head curiously. "I swear this is the one Snape turned down this morning. I just didn't see what door he went through."

   "It doesn't matter, they're all locked anyway," adds the Weasley boy, shuffling his feet uncomfortably.  

   Felix's shock gives way to irritation. "I mean - how did you get here? You're all supposed to be in school!"

   The healer chuckles around her wad of chewing gum.

   "We're here to see Juniper," explains Rowan in a rush. "They said she was attacked but no one will say anything about what happened or how she is, just that she was here. And then Chiara told us the fireplace in Madam Pomfrey's office is connected to one here so she can communicate with the healers, and so Tulip distracted her by letting off a bunch of dung-“

   "Rowan!" cries Penny from the window, "You're going to get us all in trouble!"

   Rowan gives a choked sob and Barnaby drapes his arm around her again.

   "It's okay, Felix will help. He wants to see Juniper, too." Barnaby looks expectantly at his former prefect. "Do you know where she is?"

   Felix is entirely lost for what to do. He's never even heard of students sneaking from the school as far away as London; the amount of house points that's likely to cost them makes the old prefect within him feel faint. He knows he ought to enforce their immediate return to school, but a five-to-one duel in a cramped hallway seems unwise.

   "Look," he sighs. "I don't think Juniper is up to visitors just yet. She isn't - isn’t well."

   "You've seen her?" gasps Rowan.

   "How is she?" asks Penny, jumping up from the windowsill and hurrying toward him, Charlie and the odd healer following closely.

   Felix takes a step back from the throng of eager students. They look like a nest of newly hatched Vipertooths all edging toward him with hungry expressions, and he has to make a conscious effort not to draw his wand for protection.

   "Like, I said, she's not well.”

   "But she's alive?" Charlie insists.

   Felix's eyes narrow at the red head. "Yes."

   There's a chorus of relieved murmurs.

   "But she needs rest," Felix continues. "She's still...still - hurt." he finishes, unable to think of a better way to describe her condition.

   "If she's hurt, she needs some cheering up!" the healer says brightly. "Who better to do that than her friends?"

   Felix looks the woman up and down. "Which friend are you?"

   The healer's entire body suddenly shifts, and he recognises the pink-haired Hufflepuff from the Quidditch after-party.

   "Tonks," she says with a wink and another pop of her gum.

   "Please, Felix," begs Rowan. "We just want to see her. We won't stay long."

   Felix flounders. His desire to send them all away and speak to Juniper alone battles his itch to return to her side as quickly as possible.

   "Look, when I left she was asleep. And there isn't much room in there-” Felix breaks off as he remembers Juniper’s ever-present guard. If it's Snape, he'll have each student in detention every evening for the next year. And if it's Moody, well, he might just jinx the lot of them. "Alright then, hurry up before someone sees."

   Felix edges around the teenagers to the end of the hall, and taps the window with his wand. The lock clicks, the door swings open, and he steps aside to let Juniper's friends push into the tiny room. He leans against the doorway where he can duck out of the line of fire if necessary, but neither Snape nor Moody are inside. Instead, it's the nervous trainee healer from last night who jumps up from the bedside chair.

   "Who are you? What's going on?" He points his shaking wand from person to person, finally settling it on Tonks, again disguised as the severe looking healer, who draws herself up to full height.

   "It's alright! I have given us - that is - these students permission to visit Juniper, er, Miss Windsong. Which I can do, being a fully qualified healer and all."

   Felix snorts quietly and turns his attention to the bed. He does a double-take, pushing himself quickly off the door frame. Juniper is sitting up, staring at the horde of people packed into her room.

   "What's the password, then?" demands the trainee, his challenge belied by the obvious fear in his voice.

   "Ah, the password, yes..." Tonks waffles. She flicks her eyes to the students around her, all as clueless as she. "Well, I definitely know it. And....it is...”

   "Dragon Heart-String."

   The words from the door cause the trainee to promptly drops his wand, then almost drop it a second time when he recognises Felix.

   "It's alright," Felix assures the young man. "They're not dangerous. But they're not supposed to be here. Would you mind sending an owl to Hogwarts letting them know some students have escaped? Post it care of Professor Snape, if you please. I'll keep watch."

    Juniper's gang of devotees all look at Felix askance. Someone at the back, and Felix has a sneaking suspicion who, mutters mutinously.    

   The trainee healer hesitates for only a second before nodding and scurrying from the room, doubling back just before Felix shuts the door. The young man points the chewed-up nail of his index finger at the bedside table.

   "She's supposed to take a draught for dreamless sleep in a minute. It's the blue one. Will you -"

   "I'll make sure she drinks it," Felix confirms, and leans back against the closed door.

   "Juniper?" ventures Penny cautiously, taking the seat by the bed. "Are you....are you alright?"

   Juniper, uncharacteristically silent through all the excitement, blinks at her friend.

   "I'm sorry," she says in a low, hoarse voice. "Do I know any of you?"

   The room is deathly quiet. For several seconds, no one seems to breathe, and Felix is sure his heart has stopped beating. Then the ghost of Juniper's lop-sided smile appears.

   "You should see your faces," she chuckles feebly.

   Felix's intake of breath sounds like a gasp, but no one hears it over Rowan's fresh burst of tears and the appreciative laughs from Charlie and Tonks.

   "Nice one, Juniper!" The once-again pink-haired Hufflepuff collapses onto the foot of the bed. "Nearly had me on!"

   "Juniper, that was awful!" chides Penny in a hurt voice. Barnaby continues to look confused, and bends down to whisper a question to the glassy-eyed Rowan.

   "C'mon, I can't have my little joke? I did nearly die." While her humour has apparently made a full recovery, Juniper's voice sounds frail to Felix, and worry gnaws little holes in his stomach.

   “Blimey, did you really?" Tonks asks, almost awed. Charlie nudges her in the side with his elbow and she tumbles from the bed.

   "But you're okay now, right?" Charlie asks in concern. "What happened?"

   Something in Juniper's eyes goes abruptly dark, like curtains drawn across windows. "I don't know. I can't remember anything."

    "Is this another trick?" asks Penny nervously, but Juniper shakes her head. The movement is slight, a quick angle of her chin to either side, but it makes her flinch. The sight of Juniper in obvious pain shakes the rest of the shock from Felix.

   "Alright, you lot, that's enough. You've seen her and she's alive, so off you go."

   Every person in the room begins to protest at the same time, and Felix has to raise his voice to be heard over the clamour.

   "Snape is on the way,” he reminds them. That silences the lot. "Now, he knows there are students here, but he doesn't know who. If you clear out before he arrives, he may not know whom to punish."

   "Won't you just tell him?" argues Charlie from the corner.

   Felix considers him coolly. "I can tell Snape I didn't recognise anyone." Barnaby grins, and Felix fixes him with his best prefect’s glare. "If you all leave now."

   The sixth years exchange calculating looks with one another, then Penny gets to her feet.

   "We'll come back and see you when term's over," she promises Juniper, to murmurs of agreement.

   Tonks pops her gum again as she scrambles off the bed. "And we'll send you loads of sweets!”

   "Yeah, Mum says the food here is rubbish," agrees Charlie.

   They congregate at the edge of the bed as if unsure of the proper goodbye to give someone covered in countless angry cuts. Juniper relieves them of the decision by lifting her trembling hand in a little wave, which her friends return before filing out the door. Only Rowan breaks away and rushes for the bed. She throws her arms carelessly around Juniper, who winces but pats her friend's back lightly.

   "I'm so glad you're alive," Rowan sniffs.

   "I'm always alive," Juniper reassures her. "Now, go! Get revising, please. You’ll have to help me catch up later."

   Rowan straightens with a shaky smile and returns to the waiting Barnaby. The door closes behind them with a quiet click.

   Juniper leans back, eyes closed. Felix can now see she's not so much sitting as propped up by several large, fluffy pillows. Her body sags against them, seemingly unable to support its own weight. He clears his throat, and Juniper's eyes snap open.

   "Merlin's beard, I didn't know you were still here!" she groans, pushing herself up weakly, and fixing a smile back onto her face. Felix's heart breaks at the sad display.

   "Stop," he orders gently, crossing the room to take the bedside chair. "Don't sit up, you need to rest."

   "I'm fine," Juniper argues, her anemic voice entirely unconvincing. Felix presses on her shoulder lightly, but she collapses against the pillows as if he had shoved her.

   "Don't even try that bit on me, Juniper. You can fool your friends, but I saw you unconscious. And I saw you wake up." The blush flooding her face looks like overdone rouge, emphasising how unnaturally pale she still is. Felix grimaces at it as he continues, "You're about as far from fine as it's possible to be."

   "No, yesterday I was as far from fine as it's possible to be. Today, I'm a good deal closer."

   Felix scans Juniper critically. She's still sickly-looking, the cuts standing out against her skin like violent freckles. And her fingers continue to twitch where they rest at her sides. But she's so much more alive than the last time he saw her, and he can't detect any obvious signs of madness. Relief envelopes him like a warm blanket.

    "Felix?" Juniper interrupts his inspection. "Is it true my brother was here?"

     Felix wonders which thoughtless person mentioned this and what story they told. He briefly considers lying, but thinks better of it.

    "Yes," he admits. "He was the one who woke you up."

    "Did you speak to him? What did he say?" Excitement is obvious even in her unsteady voice and a fresh surge of jealousy at Jacob Windsong courses through Felix.

    "He just said...he was sorry he dragged you into all this. And...that he... loves you."

   A small, almost embarrassed smile graces Juniper's features for a moment, then fades as she remembers, "But he didn't stay."

   Felix can only shake his head, determined to hex Jacob first thing the next time they met for the look of pitiful hurt on his sister's face.

   "That was it? He didn't say where he was going to be? What he was going to do next?"

   This line of questioning makes Felix nervous, and he chooses his words carefully.

   "He said he wanted you to be safe. Whatever he's doing, I don't think he wants you to follow him."

   "Don't worry, I'm not about to go anywhere right now."

   Juniper wriggles back against her pillows, and reaches across to the bedside table for the draught of dreamless sleep. She lifts the bottle toward her, accidentally dropping it into her lap. She picks it up and fumbles it again, her trembling fingers unable to keep hold of the glass for more than a second.

    "Here, let me," offers Felix but she pushes his hand away with a grumbled, "I've got it."

   Juniper clenches the bottle between her knees to keep it still and tries to tug on the cork, but her twitching fingers refuse to grip. After a minute of struggling, she throws her arms down with a noise of frustration.

   Delicately, Felix plucks the bottle from her lap and uncorks it with ease. He holds it out, unsure exactly what to do next. He catches Juniper's eye and she attempts to smile, as if in a shared joke. But he can tell the need for assistance causes her as much pain as her injuries. She leans forward and allows him to tilt the liquid into her mouth, then falls back again, eyes closed and face a garish shade of pink.

   "Thank you."    

   "Of course," says Felix. He means to sound cheerful and unconcerned, but it comes out too high pitched. “It’s just a side effect of the c- I mean, just... everything you've been through. I'm sure it will right itself. Or they'll find some way of fixing it. The healers here are supposed to be the best." He shuts his lips tightly over his nervous prattle, and worries a finger across the scar on his neck.

   Juniper says nothing. Felix wonders if she's heard him at all, or if the potion has already worked its magic. Until she murmurs his name sleepily, sending a shiver down his spine.

   “Felix?”

   "Yes?"

   "If my brother comes again, will you wake me? Please?"

   The pleasurable sensation dies.

   "I will," he promises.

-

   Once Juniper is safely asleep, Felix settles back into the armchair, grateful for the extra time to think. Something about this fresh reminder of Juniper's condition has set his confidence off-kilter. If she's preoccupied with her injuries, she may not be in the right frame of mind to receive his admission with the enthusiasm he would prefer. He broods on this for a while, considering the correct approach.

   Felix pulls the letter from his pocket and turns it over in his fingers. He remembers the gist of its contents, but the desire to re-read it in light of Juniper's new circumstances is too strong to be ignored. Glancing around, he unseals the envelope carefully and straightens out the parchment.

   A few second’s quick reading, and Felix’s face is a shiny, brick-red. The colour only grows with each successive line. He makes it half-way through the letter before he's forced to thrust the parchment back into his pocket out of self-defense, mortification squeezing his head so fiercely he's afraid his eyes might pop. Had he really written this just days ago and felt proud of it? Even intended to send it? Felix shudders at the thought of any one ever reading what he clearly wrote in a fit of sleep-deprived pique. It's a sappy, sopping mess of pretentious lines and flowery adjectives.

   Embarrassment prickles against his skin like tiny needles, and Felix leaps to his feet, unable to sit still. He paces the small space between the door and the wall. Barely half a dozen steps, back and forth, over and over again, until the noxious tide of shame begins to ebb. He takes several deep breaths, running his hands over his hair and smoothing it flat to his head.

  Perhaps he's a bit hard on himself. Love is something words are hardly ever able to do justice, and it’s not as though he has much practice. Felix pulls a corner of the parchment from his pocket and peeks at it again. A second glance suggests his confession might not be complete drivel. It contains a dramatic flair that could, perhaps, appeal to an average seventeen year old. But it's not remotely the sort of thing to interest a girl who's just been tortured nearly to death.

   That's the trouble with Juniper Windsong. She isn't easy to impress. Which of his accomplishments from the last three years can stand up to hers? Any danger he's faced, she’s faced worse. She's the cursebreaker, after all. The hero who's saved Hogwarts more times than he can count.

   Felix rubs at the scar on his neck in distraction. Now he thinks about it from that perspective, he isn't sure what he has to offer the young woman asleep on the bed. She eschews protection, hardly needs assistance, clearly has no lack of dedicated friends. Why has she even bothered keeping up with him all these years? It's clear she doesn't need him for anything.

   Misery dulling his senses, Felix nearly crashes into Snape as the professor opens the door abruptly. Behind him is the curly-haired healer from yesterday and her nervous trainee. And, Felix takes a step back in surprise, Professor Dumbledore. Felix dips his hand into his pocket, but Snape gives the password before Felix can produce his wand.

   The healer stomps roughly past him to the bed-side table. The sounds of violently clinking bottles echo around the still room.

   "I still do not see why this has to be done right this minute," she seethes.

   "Healer Early, you know I would not bother your patient if it weren't of the utmost importance." Dumbledore approaches the other side of the bed, looking down at Juniper's sleeping form. “The more we know about this attack, the greater our chance of catching the perpetrators."

    "I understand your priorities, Headmaster, but this girl has hardly been conscious a day. You're far more likely to get helpful information if you allow her to rest and recover than if you press her mind at this delicate stage."

   Dumbledore makes another apologetic reply, but Felix's attention is captured by Snape who jerks his head pointedly at the still-open door. With a quick glance at Juniper, now sandwiched between the arguing healer and headmaster, Felix follows. The lock hasn't even clicked behind him before Snape is in his face and whispering urgently.

   "Has Miss Windsong said anything to you about her attack?"

   "She said she couldn't remember anything."    

   Snape's eyes bore into Felix's from an uncomfortably close proximity. Felix tries to angle his head away from the Potion Master's unpleasant breath without being too obvious.

   "And I don't suppose you could be relied upon for any useful information?"

   "Like I said before, I didn't notice anything unusual."

   For a moment, Felix fears Snape's eyes will actually burn a hole right through him. Then the Potions Master relents, drawing back with unconcealed contempt. In spite of the fact that he's been graduated for years, Felix can't help feel a quick stab of shame at disappointing his former head of house. He steels himself against it, focusing instead on his most recent concern.

   "Professor," Felix begins tentatively. "The healer said yesterday that - that Juniper...that she didn't expect Juniper to be alright, even if she did wake up. And earlier, she couldn't - " A sudden lump rises in his throat, and he has to swallow hard to dislodge it. "Juniper couldn't hold her own potion bottle. Let alone open it. She's still - I mean, her hands aren't...." He trails away, kicking himself for sounding so scattered in front of Snape, whose opinion of Felix has clearly taken a significant dip.

   "It will get better soon, won't it?" he finishes childishly.

   There's the merest flicker of something in the Potion Master's eyes, too quick for Felix to identify before his inscrutable mask is back in place.

   "It's difficult to say," Snape replies quietly, his own fingers rubbing against the palms of his hands unconsciously. "With therapy and the regular administration of certain restorative draughts, Miss Windsong may achieve some limited mobility within a year."

   The sensation of his jaw actually dropping is distantly strange to Felix. His mouth feels both dry and heavy, and completely unfamiliar with the formation of words. For a few seconds, he can only emit cracked syllables. He has to physically shake his head from side to side to reset his brain.    

   "A year? Professor, what.. what is she going to do? How will she go to school if she can't hold her own wand? She has NEWTs this-"

   "Mr Rosier.” Snape cuts off Felix's frantic questions tartly. "As tragic as her condition undoubtedly is, Miss Windsong has brought this upon herself with her absolute refusal to pay even the slightest attention to the rules put in place for her own safety." He raises his voice a fraction over Felix's choking noise. "However, the Headmaster has made a habit the last six years of allowing Miss Windsong an excessive amount of exemptions from rules and consequences. I doubt very much he will stop now. And you may rest assured she will have the best care St Mungo's can provide. There is no reason to overburden yourself with worry about her physical condition.

   "What you can do," Snape pauses, ensuring he has Felix's undivided attention. "Is inform me immediately if Miss Windsong mentions anything about her attack. And if you notice anything out of the ordinary about her in the coming months."

   "What do you mean?"

   Snape pauses, and Felix has the distinct impression he's searching for a way to explain without revealing something important.

   "If Miss Windsong appears in any way out of character, it may be worth noting. We do not yet know what curse she was under nor whether it has lasting effects. It would be prudent for the people closest to her to keep an eye."

   "Professor, I'm... I'm supposed to report to Romania. Tomorrow," Felix realises with a start and suddenly wonders at the hour. Time seems to stand still in the hospital room. "I suppose I could ask to postpone-"

   Snape's black brows travel the length of his forehead in an expression almost like surprise. He casts an appraising look at Felix.

   "I do not think that will be necessary. I believe you and Miss Windsong...correspond?" he sneers. Felix's blush is so habitual by now he hardly notices as he gives a short nod. "If her writing gives any indication that she may not be herself, you may simply send an owl."

   There's the sound of breaking glass from behind him, and Felix turns instinctively to find Dumbledore ducking swiftly from the room. He nods at Felix sombrely.

   "Mr Rosier, Miss Windsong has asked if you would speak to her before you leave. Although," he smiles, the expression not meeting his eyes, "You may be required to duel Healer Early for that particular privilege."

-

   Felix creeps around the edge of the door cautiously and runs straight into the irate healer.

   "Young man, Miss Windsong needs rest just now," she pronounces in clipped tones.

   From behind her, Juniper's wobbly voice says, "Miss Windsong is right here and she's fine."

   "You are most assuredly not fine," the healer snaps. "It's a marvel you're awake at all. I wouldn't have put any money on it."

   "I've been through worse," Juniper insists.

   Fury snorts from the healer's nostrils like a Chinese Fireball. "I sincerely doubt that."

   Recognising a brick wall, Juniper changes tact in a heartbeat.

   "Please, Healer Early. I've been through a lot the last day and I just want to speak to a friend for a few minutes. You know, to help calm myself down before I go back to sleep."

   Felix hides his smirk behind a closed fist, feigning a cough, while Healer Early narrows her eyes at Juniper suspiciously. She glances at the trainee healer clearing up broken glass by the bedside table, and spins on her heel to face Felix again.

   "Five minutes. Not a second more." She pushes past him forcefully and marches from the room. Felix can hear her footsteps rage down the hall even as he takes the seat beside the bed.

   "Is everything alright?" he asks without thinking. "With Dumbledore I mean. Was he angry?"

   "No, not particularly, he's used to me by now I suppose. Didn't even take any house points. But never mind that," Juniper waves the topic aside with a shaking hand. "I forgot to ask how your interview went?"

   Her face is more alive than Felix has seen it since her attack, and nerves squirm pleasantly in the region of his abdomen.

   "As expected," he says casually.

   "Ugh," Juniper groans in mock frustration. “Isn't it considered ungentlemanly to keep a lady in suspense? Especially after she's nearly been killed?" 

   Felix matches Juniper's ironic expression, with the addition of one arched eyebrow.

   "How many times do you plan on using that?"

   "As many as I can before the novelty wears off." She grins, and it cracks his cool mask.

   "I was accepted, of course."

   Juniper laughs, a sound of joy that wavers only slightly, and something about her enthusiasm is catching. The sight of her so much better than yesterday unravels the knot of worry inside him and for the first time he's able to feel the full excitement of his achievement.

   “Felix, that’s incredible! When do you start?”

   "Tomorrow, actually," he says, and has to fight to keep giddy elation from his voice.

   "Tomorrow?" Juniper's eyes widen in alarm. "What on earth are you doing here, then? You should be getting ready!"

   And it suddenly occurs to Felix how very unprepared he is to start a brand new position in less than twenty-four hours. He hasn't had a moment to look through any of the documents the liaison had given him, hasn't replenished any of his supplies or had any of his clothes repaired. He feels dizzy under this sudden avalanche of new worries, and he wonders vaguely when the last time he ate was.

   "I've...got time," he says evasively, and Juniper rolls her eyes.

   "Oh please, Felix. You know you’ll want to make a packing list and go over it at least three times. And you like to arrive early to get a lay of the land before you start. I'm surprised you didn't leave as soon as the interview was over." Felix glows a little at how well she knows him.

   "I needed to check on you first."

   Juniper makes a scoffing sound reminiscent of Healer Early's. "Felix, I'm fine. Yes, yes, I know I'm hurt," she admits quickly over his light protests, "I mean, I'll be fine. I'm sure that healer's exaggerating a bit. Bet I'm good as new by the end of the summer."

   The trainee healer makes a small, strangled noise and Juniper glances at him defiantly.

   "I mean, she didn't think I'd ever wake up, did she?" she fires at the nervous young man. "I managed that, didn't I? I always do. So go!" She commands the last to Felix gesturing toward the door.

   Felix stands reluctantly. The letter is still stuffed into his inner pocket. Felix can feel the slight shape of the crumpled parchment against his side. But he can't give that bit of rubbish to her now. He shoots a dark look at the trainee, now wringing his hands uncomfortably. Why is there always someone around when he needs to say a proper goodbye to Juniper?

   "Wait," she struggles into a sitting position, and holds out her arms toward him with a smile. "Come here." His obedience is automatic.

   It's a weaker embrace than what they shared just days ago. Juniper's arms can't clutch him to her quite as tightly, and Felix's touch is delicate for fear of hurting her. But it feels so good to be pressed against her again, and he soaks up every ounce of closeness he can. She pulls away almost reluctantly, and the way her eyes linger on his lips as she looks at him...Felix wishes he knew a spell to capture that precise expression. In that moment, he is positive Juniper wants to kiss him. He knows it with the same certainty he knows his own feelings. And that knowledge is enough. For now.

   "You'll write and tell me how you're doing?" he asks.

   "Of course," she agrees.

   The trainee healer clears his throat, shifting uncomfortably. And it isn't until Felix is back in his room at the Leaky Cauldron, rushing to put together everything he'll need to begin the job he's dreamed of his entire life, that he wonders how Juniper will be able to hold a quill. 

-

Read Chapter 6 | View all stories on the Masterpost

[four-swords-dub]

Next up we have our Green bean blooper machine! Riley!  (Karen: Riley couldn’t record his answers so I’ve included one of my fav lines of his) Name: rockriled Character(s) you voice: Green Link, Deku Scrub #2, Sound Director/Editor of the FS Dub Project Are you in any way like those characters? I think we’re similar in terms of wanting to help/protect the people we love.  As for Green’s personality…probably not? Green is confident, independent, and hardworking while I’m a bag of nerves and anxiety.  I could fit into the hardworking area, though. As for the Deku Scrub…we’re both short, squeaky, and flammable?  (I’m probably not gonna refer to the Deku Scrub for the rest of this since they only got…four lines, I think?)

Favourite/least favourite thing about voicing your character? My favorite thing about voicing Green is that I can just let loose.  I don’t talk much outside of the project due to shyness and how most of my friends live a long ways away, but when I play Green, I can feel powerful and confident even if it’s just for a few minutes.Least favorite thing about voicing Green is that depending on the chapter, he has the most lines.  I blame this on my lack of voice-acting experience, but both actor-me and sound-editor-me look through the script and think “dangit, Green, stop hogging the spotlight and let someone else speak!” Which characters did you audition for? I auditioned for Vio first, but I got nervous that auditioning for only one role was rude.  I figured I wasn’t cute enough for Red or tough enough for Blue, so I went with Green. How did you react when you got the part(s)? Hoo boy, um…settle in, this is a bit of a story.My self-esteem has always been in the pits—and combining that with my perfectionist needs didn’t help, either.  Whenever something cool came up, my brain would go “why bother, you’re gonna fail” and I’d do just that: give up without trying.So when posts about the Four Swords Dub Project started floating around, the same thing happened all over again.  Best way I can describe it… Brain: “Don’t even try it.  You know you’re not gonna get a part.” Me: “But it’s Four Swords, my favorite part of the Zelda manga series.” Brain: “And?  Your voice sucks.  Your acting sucks.  You won’t even get a minor role.  Do you really want to add another failure to your life?”   Me: “…look.  I’m really interested in this.  I don’t know if I’ll actually get a part, but I still want to send in an audition so I can say that I tried.” Brain: “…two main characters?  Really? Don’t get your hopes up.”(some time later) FS Dub Email: “Congratulations, you’re going to be our Green Link!” Me & Brain: “WAIT, WHAT?!” It was a total shock.  I was so convinced I wasn’t going to get in that it never occurred to me that I could get in.  Heck, it’s been a little over two years and I still can’t believe I got a leading role. As for the part of Sound Director/Editor…I can’t remember how, but I somehow got a hold of all the voice lines for all the characters in Chapter 1-1.  Even though I have zero experience in editing, I suddenly got curious and started mixing the files with background music and sound effects. I sent a copy of what I put together to Karen (our voice and project director) for fun. Next thing I knew, I was the BGM/SFX guy for the rest of the project! Long story short: this dub’s been full of surprises. ^_^ Who do you wish you could voice? Oof, that’s a tough one. @_@  It’s so hard to pick because everyone’s already perfect as their current roles...   Had you read the manga before taking part in the dub? Yep! :D It was around the time the internet became a big thing and when YouTube was first made.  Middle-school me spent HOURS scouring Google for Yu-Gi-Oh! content (fell in love with the show in sixth grade) when I stumbled across a website with Legend of Zelda comics  It had the manga versions of Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, the Oracle games, and—my top favorite—Four Swords.

FS holds a special place in my heart for not only giving the Links such diverse eyes/expressions, but destroying typical color-personality associations.  I’d seen fan-comics of Four Swords with Red as the angry one, Blue as the smart one, and Purple as the newbie or the…um…stereotypically-gay one.  Akira Himekawa’s version of the Links blew my freaking mind and I LOVED IT. <3     Any past voice acting experience? At best, the only voice-acting experience I had prior to the FS dub was watching tons of anime and re-enacting scenes via talking to myself.  I still do this with anime, TV shows, movies, books, and video games. @_@ I’m not sure if this counts, but I…kinda got voice training in other areas?  I yelled my lungs out in Tae Kwon Do for two years, sang alto in a chorus for three years, was moved to soprano for one year, yelled my lungs out again in Judo for one year, and learned classical/opera singing techniques for a few months (a friend’s friend was studying to be a music teacher and they needed a volunteer to practice their teaching skills).  They might not count for this question, though… Who is your favourite FS character (if any)? Oh boy...I know younger-me’s favorite was Vio (I blame the eyes and ability to side with both Shadow and the other Links), but these days?  It’s hard to pick, thanks to the dub. @_@ How do you warm up/get in character before recording? Big thing for me is how I’m feeling.  Currently, I work six days a week (it sucks but I need the money/insurance DX) and I use the commute from work to where I live to figure out my mood.  If I’m down in the dumps to the point that music can’t help, I won’t be able to deliver as Green.  If I have some energy or so much energy that I can belt/rap to my music, I’m all set.  It means I’m all loose and confident to record. As for days when I don’t have work like days-off or holidays, I try to relax and get myself in a Green-y mindset. 

Little something I picked up from YouTube is gargling a mouthful of water.  I’m not too sure how it works, but I do this right before a recording session and it helps a lot. Favourite chapter to voice so far? Favourite scene? Um…it’s kinda hard to pick a favorite chapter or scene I liked voicing since I had fun with all of them.  Can I make this into favorite scene/chapter to do sound stuff for instead?  And can I pick multiples instead? >_>;; Favorite Chapter for Sound Editing: Chapter 4.  I had to compile different sounds that reflected Green’s desert, Blue’s snowstorm, Red’s forest fire, and Vio’s night in the woods. It was both challenging and fun. :D  Favorite Scene for Sound Editing: Every comedic scene, scenes where the background music slowed to a halt, and scenes where I had to improvise sound effects.

The slowed-down songs are in the scenes where Blue and Green fight on the boat, and when Red admits he lost his weapons to Blue in the Ice Cave.  Those were tough to do in Audacity (had to slow down the music piece by piece), but it was SO worth it.

As for scenes where I had to use nearby stuff for sounds…there’s a bunch of ‘em.

The door slamming while Erune talks about the missing children = me slamming my bedroom door.

The Gerudo Masseuse’ movements and the Gerudo Elder’s staff = me shaking my wrist while wearing my old belly-dance bracelets.

Deku Scrubs popping out of the ground = me smacking my lips mixed with the deku sound effect from Ocarina of Time.

Green’s sword hitting the labyrinth wall = me hitting a pot lid with a wooden spoon.

Green falling and sliding down the labyrinth wall = me falling and sliding down a bedroom wall.

Eerie shadow raising their sword to attack Green as the moon rises = me sliding a knife sharpener over a kitchen knife.

Shadow walking on clouds = me blowing into the mic mixed with footstep sounds from Ocarina of Time.

Big Poe screaming at Red and Blue = me banging pots, pans, and piano keys mixed with chaotic sound effects I found online.

Big Poe taking Blue’s soul = me breathing into the mic along with heavy editing.

Red clapping at Big Poe = me clapping my hands.

The Four Swords pulsing = me playing a four-note harmony (one for each Link) on the piano mixed with heavy editing and a wind chime effect.

(Karen: This guy is a genius when it comes to sound effects and the dub wouldn’t be half as good without him!)

Lines you dread voicing the most (screaming, crying, etc): As much as I love battle cries, my microphone and its inconvenient ability to make stuff clip bothers me.

And even though the chapter’s long gone, the part where Green remembers when he playing with Zelda as a toddler.  I’M NEVER VOICING SMALL CHILDREN AGAIN. DX

What are your biggest worries when it comes to voicing your character? *pulls in with a giant dump truck* um…

#1 – Is my voice too high or too low? Green’s age would be around early teens or so, and with my weird vocal range, I can’t tell if I make him sound younger or older than he is. #2 – Am I getting the personality right? Because of my shy-as-hell nature, it’s hard for me to pick up if my confident-Green-persona sounds genuine or fake. #3 – Is it bad that I can only voice Green with my natural voice? Many voice actors have a HUGE variety of voices they can do (ex. Tara Strong).  It’s likely because I’m still new to this, but part of me gets nervous that me voicing Green with my normal speaking voice is a sign that I lack voice acting talent. #4 – (Personal worry but it still bothers me sometimes) How will I sound as Green in the future?  I’m a pre-HRT transmale who hates how high his voice is. This year, I’ll be moving out and if I play my cards right, I can start the process to either get testosterone, top surgery, or both.  I love this dub to death, but after voicing Green in my non-HRT voice for so long, I get nervous that I could accidentally lower the quality of the dub if my voice changes if/when I start HRT (assuming the editing process for videos will be the same as it’s been). (Karen: i figure I should add this since people might be wondering how we’re going to handle it. As Green is right now I feel his voice wouldn’t hurt if it went a little deeper. However, if Riley’s voice becomes too deep, I’m going to edit the pitch of his lines. Don’t worry Riley, you aren’t going anywhere!) #5 – Do I make too many bloopers?  During recording, I either screw up or my mind wanders a lot, and I save ‘em for the blooper reel.  When the reel comes out, however, I’ll sometimes see my segment is a little longer than everyone else’s and I get nervous.  ESPECIALLY if Green only had two lines and I had nearly an extra 30 seconds worth of bloopers. Would you date your character (if they were of age)?I’m gonna sound horrible, but…I don’t think Green’s personality would stand out enough to me as a possible date.  If anything, I think we’d just end up being a weird duo of friends: the strong, confident soldier and the socially-awkward weirdo. *laughs*

Do you have a favourite voice actor on the dub?I don’t have a favorite voice actor, but I do have favorite lines/sounds from some of the cast (this is likely to change as more chapters are released).  The way the VAs say these lines, I LOVE ‘EM.  For now, I’m only going to list a few of them so this Q&A doesn’t go too long.

Favorite Carrottheluvmachine/Red line: “Oh!  And it [footprint] looks like mine!” Favorite Ashe/Blue line: “so that’s how you want to do this, huh?!” Favorite Swiss/Vio line: “Losing confidence? …it’s because I’m you too, remember?” Favorite Kaenith/Shadow line: “Shadow saying “you’re a creature of darkness now, don’t forget that.”

Asked by Anon: Riley, how do you come up with so many awesome bloopers? Aww, thank you. ^///^ Most of them are accidental, like me not saying a word correctly. Others happen when I try and fail to memorize the script: if I’m struggling with a line, I’ll have a physical copy of the manga and match Green’s facial expression. This helps me get into the mindset, but it does draw my attention away from the script and I’ll end up flubbing a line because I tried to say it off the top of my head. 

The mistakes where I either notice something weird either pop up on the fly or something I noticed a while back, and then suddenly remember during recording.  The part where I noticed the Four Sword “thrumming” happened when I couldn’t get Green’s “the four sword is pulsing!” line right and I had to keep looking at the manga for the proper face.  It was at that point I noticed the weird sound effect drawn in.  Also, the blooper where I sang a song from The Heathers as Green flees the Eerie Shadow? That was in my head long before the script for Chapter 5 was out and when the time came to record, I remembered that bit. 

Asked by Anon What was the funniest/most humorous line you guys have had to say? Not sure if this counts, but Kaenith had a blooper where they screwed up as Shadow, saying “you’re pretty—UM PRETTY SMART!”  They shared it with the staff and it was so funny, Swiss made a joke response as Vio going “I prefer handsome.”  I was given the two lines to put together and as a joke, I added some audio of a guy screaming “MAKE OUT!” 

The staff liked it so much, they asked me to add Green shouting “NOW KISS!”  It took a while to get perfectly, but I had SO much fun with it. ^_^

[cvmdumbp]

DEH 12/6/17 Act 1 pt. 1

I’m typing the things I can remember

The little aesthetic little notification dings before the show started were great

When the computer light went on Noah’s face, everyone started clapping and it was awesome

Noah’s version of Evan’s anxious ticks/habits are really different, he pinches?/scratches at his stomach and grabs his shirts near his stomach area

Noah talks really quickly in the beginning, and he stumbles on his words a lot,’his voice also cracks a bunch which is cute

The line when he says “That’s not true you have to stand there while they’re counting the change while it’s silent” he starts whisper yelling to Heidi

Nicole is pretty ??? Bitch ???

She said her lines pretty calmly, but quietly, it was frustrating at times, but she was really good none the less

Also, her voice is amazing

Evan like, avoided her gaze during the lines before Anybody Have a Map

And he was doing everything else, but looking at his mother

Noah makes the oddest faces and it’s great

Alright, when I first saw Mike I wanted to scream because I was breathing his fuckinh a i r

His hair was really messy tonight, like, it was frizzy, but he pulled it off well

And every time he tried pushing his hair behind his ear, it would never stay

When Zoe says “He’s definitely high”

Connor like, weakly yells “Fuck You” and puts his head down

When Jennifer said the line “Besides, he’s not high” Mike fucking picks his head up and looks at the audience with this smug ass grin and I fucking died

When Con says the lines “Perfect. So then I won’t go.” He gets up and starts walking off, but Cynthia tries calling him back and he just yells “Thanks mom” and he like, yells, in that tone of “this conversation ends now”,cutting off the conversation completely

After he walks off, Zoe has this sour face until she exits

Cynthia was trying her best to keep things in order, and she was like, cleaning up after everyone and a c k

Mike and Noah were on different sides of the stage, behind projection screens fixing their appearances

Connor was putting on his jacket thing, satchel, and smoothing out his hair

Evan was wiping his hands on his pants, also smoothing out his hair, and looking at the sharpie, and messing with his backpack straps

Mike and Noah like, met in the center, faces almost touching, but they were like, staring at the ground before crossing past each other

Heidi and Cynthia were half singing to each other and at the end they were trying to reach for their boys, but they were out of reach and OO F

When Alana appeared I wanted to hug her ??? I’m love ??

She talked pretty quickly, I couldn’t pick up on anything else but that

Jared. Fucking. Klienman.

Boy am I straight for Will

His voice sounds even better in real life ??

But like, he smugly makes his was over to Evan making his snarky ass remark about his cast

“Is it weird to be the first person in history to break their arm from jerking off too much or do you consider that an honor”

After that line Evan literally jumps at Jared and his voice cracks so much

Will fucking cackles while talking

“You fell out of a tree?” He like, cackle said that line

“And then you fell?” Cackle spoken

When Noah says “[…] waiting for someone to come get me.” He was talking to the audience

But when he says “I kept saying to myself” he looked at Jared and kinda, lowered his voice ??

“Did they?” Jared like, changed his tone of voice and did this weird hand motion

“No. Nobody came. That’s what’s funny.”

“Jesus Christ” the cackle talk is back

When Will said “Hey tell your mom to tell my mom that I was nice to you today, or else my parents won’t pay for my car insurance” Noah weakly/ silently mumbled“I will”

When Mike re-enters his hands were digging into his satchel, like he was searching for something important that he lost, it was, intriguing

When Jared says Connor’s hair is very “School Shooter Chic” Mike stops looking in his bag and slowly looks up at Will and just glares at him

Jared noticeably gets nervous and swallows hardly with this face of “i fucked up,but I’m not gonna show that I know and I’m afraid(?)”, which was very well portrayed

Mike hasn’t moved until he says “Yeah no. It was funny. I’m laughing. Can’t you tell?”

Mike fucking lunges when he says “Am I not laughing hard enough for you?” But he sounds,sarcastic when he says it. Maybe not sarcastic, but a like “I’m sick of your shit/you wanna say that again bitch???”kinda tone (???)

Jared subtly backs up and nervously chuckles before sayin “you’re such a freak” and jogging away

Evan nervously laughs when Connor looks at him and Connor kinda, chuckled back before saying “What the fuck are you laughing at?”

Mike’s volume drastically increased when he said “Stop fucking laughing at me.”

Mike had so much emotion, and it rocked

When Mike shoved Noah, Noah like, dropped to the ground, but it wasn’t soft, he literally smacked into the ground, and had this face of pain, and he gripped the bottom of his shirt while on the ground before slowly getting up and beginning Waving Through a Window

And holy fuck can that boy sing,

When Laura comes back on stage for the second time, I actually clapped and I was so embarrassed

When Laura says “[…] Evan right?” Noah looks around and avoids her eye contact and says “Evan?” Like He was confused, until

He made this face that read “wait, I’m Evan”

“I’m Zoe.”

“I know.”

Before Evan says “I know” he reaches out the shake her hand, but immediately stopped himself and wiped his hand on the back of his pants and Zoe just looked at him like “dude tf??” And says “You know???”

When he says “What did you say…?” After he talked about signing his cast he holds out the “What…?”

“Me???? No way, Jose.” He’s like, uncontrollably fidgeting.

When Zoe turns to walk away, Evan tried running back, and reaching out his arm to grab/Tap her, but he stopped himself.

When everyone re-entered I died a little

The emotions that they were expressing were fucking fantastic

For Waving Through a Window, at the “WHen you’re falling in a forest and there’s nobody around.” Part the projections showed a bunch of hateful words that surrounded Evan and when the music cut out for the last “Did I ever make a sound.” Blue lights fucking came up on all of them when he sang the chorus again, and holy fuck it hurt

When they kept turning away from Evan I cried

He was trying to reach out to everybody, but they kept turning away from him

And when they exited leaving Evan alone, the lights came up, and the projections disappeared and all that was left was him and a H

When Heidi and Evan were talking, Nicole made Heidi seem, kinda desperate to let everything out. And it’s quite heartbreaking

When Evan was singing the Waving Through a Window Reprise,

Connor cut him off by Entering with Evan’s note, but before Connor cuts him off, he looks at Evan’s note for a while, he like, studies it, then he studies Evan before,

“So what happened? To your arm?”

There was a long pause after “No ones signed your cast.” And “Well I’ll sign it”

But Connor sounded slightly happy/confident??I’m not good at describing shit sorry

“Do you…have a,uh, sharpie?”

Noah immediately, and quickly, takes out the sharpie from his back pocket and hands it to Connor

Mike looks at the sharpie for a few moments before taking it

Just a little something that I noticed, there were a lot of pauses in this scene it was, different

Connor Fucking snatched Evan’s arm and Evan sounded so fucking hurt by it, it wasn’t even a gentle snatch it was a “harsh grab and yank”

Connor stared at Evan’s cast for a long while before quickly writing “C O N N O R” in huge letters, it’s like, he was debating on writing big or small

“Oh it’s great, thanks” Noah said that so fucking sarcastically, but his voice cracked which made it so much better

There was an awkward silence before Mike just kinda, felt for the paper under his arm and softly grabbed it.

“I-Is this yours?” I found it. On the printer. It says “Dear Evan Hansen. That’s your name.” He doesn’t say it as a question, he states it, like “you’re Evan.” It was different from the script.

When Evan tries to explain that the letter was for an assignment, Evan reaches for it, but Connor pulls it away from Evan’s reach, and starts reading it again.

And everytime Evan tried to grab the letter, Con snatched it away from his grasp it was like, when you’re taller than someone so you’re able to snatch it higher so the shorter person can’t reach it,,,that’s,,pretty much what happened

Mike was literally screaming, he sounded sooo good when he was saying the lines

He literally scream/cried “FUCK YOU” before literally bolting out of the room

“A letter?? To yourself??? What the crap does that even mean? Is it like…some kind of a..sex? thing?”

When Evan says “You’re my only frie…” His mouth is like, open really wide before he softly/breathily screams “fAmily friend”

Alana sang the Waving Through a Window Reprise (#2) while crossing the stage and I felt emotions that I probably wasn’t supposed to be feeling ??

But I feel like, Alana felt alone, and she was like showing that

When Evan got to the office, he was jogging, but when he saw Larry and Cynthia, he immediately slowed the fuck down, and did that weird fidgety thing he does to his stomach

Noah’s voice was cracking so fucking much in this scene and he was portraying the panic very nicely

When Larry and Cynthia started yelling, Evan literally started crying and he was shoving the letter back to him, and he was trying so hard to explain what the letter was, but they weren’t listening to him

When Jen takes the letter back, there was a weird pause and Noah had his arm weirdly positioned in the air as he retracted his fingers

“Larry look.”

Cynthia weakly points to Evans cast and he looks at it and makes this weird fucking face to the audience