#What's even more wild is that Murphy is also a common first name and so he could have just gone by that the whole time! and yet!

[a-vague-yet-menacing-agency]

The thing is, if you have a nickname in a causal space or in entertainment you can make it your stage name. Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson can also just be "the Rock." Mattew Long can be Matt or Matty Long. If you just go by your last name, well, that's in your name! So Matty Long is only called Long, whatever, it's there. But when you go by a nickname of your last name it gets confusing. If Matty Long goes by Longboy, they'd be Matty "Longboy" Long, not too bad but Matty "Longs" Long? And yet if people only call them Longs, seeing the full name with no "Longs?" weird. It's like the core part of their name is missing

You know their name is Longs, you know it's Dwayne the Rock Johnshon. We don't call him Mathew Damon or Willard Smith. It would be wrong. And yet, some people are only ever known by a nickname that is so similar to their last name that it's never included in their credits and it's a tragedy, every time

[queenshelby]

The Last Semester – Part 26

Pairing: Cillian Murphy x Reader

Words: 1,991

Warning: Smut, Pregnancy Mentioned

Four months had passed and you had finally moved in with Cillian and Charlie who had become too much for his mother to handle.

After several letters to and from Nadine’s lawyer, it was decided that Charlie should have the choice. He was old enough and, unsurprisingly, he chose to be living with his father full time.

But full time didn’t mean that he didn’t see his mother. Whenever he wanted, he organised to see her and stay over at her place, probably around once or twice per week and all he had to do was to inform Cillian.

For Hendrix on the other hand, not much had changed and Nadine and Cillian were sharing custody which, for once, had started to work now that Nadine had finally met someone else.

The irony in it all was that it was your father who had introduced them at school pick up. He was a single father whose son attended the same school and, just like your father, he worked in theatre.

‘How nice, an invitation from your ex’ you said as you opened the mail over breakfast.

‘To what?’ Cillian asked almost surprised.

‘Her partner’s new play’ you said somewhat perplexed, causing Cillian to laugh.

‘Who would have thought that this would ever happen, eh?’ Cillian chuckled and you nodded in agreement as, suddenly, the doorbell rang.

You remembered that Cillian had invited Enda and your father over to discuss the premier of their own new play the following, but your father had been sick so only Enda could make it.

‘Look at you two with matching slippers’ Enda laughed as he walked in to the kitchen and noticed that you both started to look like an old married couple who was shopping at Primark.

‘You know what it’s like man. First, they move in, then they take over all of the cabinet space and then they start buying you clothes like this’ Cillian chuckled as he looked down at his fluffy Easter Bunny slippers, causing you to give him a nudge of disapproval.

After you offered Enda a coffee and Cillian had gotten the initial small talk out of the way, Enda started to discuss the play and then his birthday weekend in two months.  

It was his 50th birthday and he had booked a large cottage in Kerry for a long weekend. Amongst two other couples, Cillian, you, your father and your stepmother were going to join him and, whilst you thought that this might become awkward, you were also really excited about it.

‘I just wanted to talk with you guys about something in advance’ Enda then said as he brought up the getaway.

‘Lorraine is pregnant’ Cillian then said with a smile, referring to Enda’s wife who, herself, was only in her early thirties.

‘How did you know?’ Enda then asked.

‘Her boobs have gotten bigger’ Cillian said with a serious voice, causing Enda’s chin to drop and Cillian to break out in laughter.

‘I am just fucking with you man. She didn’t drink at the pub the other night’ Cillian then explained before you both congratulated him.

‘I thought I should tell you in advance, because this might be a bit of a sore point for you guys and I can understand if this bothers you, being around not one, but two pregnant couples for my birthday’ Enda explained, referring to your miscarriage and the fact that, to the best of his knowledge, you hadn’t fallen pregnant again yet.

‘We appreciate that Enda, really’ you said before giving him a hug and telling him how excited you were for Lorraine before asking him a bunch of questions. You knew that Cillian’s brother’s wife was also pregnant and it was indeed going to be a weekend full of baby talk for Enda’s 50th.

After you talked about pregnancies and babies for a while, you decided to leave Cillian and Enda to it as they had more to discuss about the play and Enda had warned you on numerous occasions that Cillian would get quite exhausted during times of on-stage performance.

***

Just as you walked out of the room, you could hear Enda ask Cillian in private about your plans to have children.

‘I know the pregnancy was an accident but, are you guys trying again?’ he then said quietly and carefully.

‘No man, we are not trying. We’ve been together for less than a year, there is no rush’ Cillian said, causing your mood to sadden slightly.

Whilst you didn’t want Cillian to know, the news Enda had broken to you that morning was difficult for you to digest.  

You weren’t trying, yet you knew that you would be excited if you were to fall pregnant again.

Cillian was an amazing father to his boys and, just last night, you found several pictures of him with them when they were babies.

He looked so happy and so content and you wanted to experience this for yourself and with your own children. The photos made your heart melt and fill with an unfamiliar warmth. He was outright beautiful in them, holding his boys, caring for them and loving them the way he did.

***

Later that evening, Cillian received a text from Charlie telling him that he would be staying with his mother for the night.

‘No kids tonight, do you want to go out for dinner?’ Cillian asked as he looked up from his phone just as you came walking out of the bathroom.

‘No’ you said, biting your lip as you approached Cillian.

‘I have a different idea, common’ you said as you took Cillian by the hand and began leading him upstairs, forgetting your robe on the floor.

‘I think I might like whatever idea you have’ Cillian chuckled as he followed you into the bedroom, where you turned around and pressed yourself again him, kissing him deeply and passionately.

‘Oh, I most defiantly like your idea’ Cillian said eagerly before taking off his t-shirt and pulling your body even closer to him, enthralled by the feel of your skin against his.  

As you kissed, you began to pull Cillian’s shorts down over his hips until they dropped to the floor. His rapidly-swelling cock pressed against your smooth pussy now while you wrapped your arms around another and kissed hungrily, tongues slithering into one another's mouths.

‘God, I love you so much, Cillian’ you moaned through your kiss. ‘I'm so in love with you’ you added, showing your affection.

‘I love you too, Y/N’ was his reply and your hands wandered freely around one another's bodies now, exploring and groping eagerly.

‘I want to taste you’ he then exclaimed and he didn't wait for an answer but simply pushed you backwards until your knees touched the edge of the bed and you buckled with a gasp at his directness, falling onto the bed.

You had barely bounced on the mattress before you spread your legs wantonly, inviting Cillian to lick your already wet pussy. As he leaned in, you reached down and used your fingers to spread your netherlips wide, exposing yourself to him. Your coral-coloured inner pink glistened, begging for Cillian’s tongue.

You moaned loudly and shuddered as he finally pressed his mouth to your pussy, snaking his tongue inside you. You tasted sweet and Cillian felt your legs wrap around his shoulders while your hands tangled in his hair, rocking his head. Cillian’s hands clamped down on your thighs, pinning you to him while he began to lash your slit mercilessly. There was no foreplay involved, he just wanted you as wet as possible for when he fucked you.

‘Oh God, Cillian’ you gasped, almost doubling over as he tortured you. ‘Fuck, you're going to make me cum’ you groaned.

You pushed up with your hips suddenly, crushing your pussy to his face and gripping his head tightly. Your groan of pleasure was guttural and shameless as you came and Cillian couldn’t believe how quickly you had cum.

‘Three fucking minutes, I am good’ Cillian smirked as he looked at his watch but, before he had time to think about anything else, you pulled him up to your face and kissed him, hard. Your tongue plunged into his mouth, tangling with his as you tasted yourself greedily. Your hips ground against his, your sopping pussy hungry for Cillian’s swollen, throbbing cock.

‘Fuck me, Cillian…I need you inside me’ you groaned after you pulled back from the kiss, your eyes flashing with lust.

‘Fuck me and make me scream as you cum inside me’ you then said eagerly and desperately.

‘You want me to cum inside you?’ Cillian asked somewhat surprised by your request and you nodded before pulling him close for another kiss.

‘Yes, please…’ you then huffed out and Cillian nodded and pinned you down, your loud moan all he could hear as he pressed his cock head between your slippery lips and sank deep inside you.

You pressed back up against Cillian, taking him in to the hilt. Your hands grabbed his ass cheeks and you began bucking voraciously.

Cillian looked down into your eyes and you stared back into his intently, lost in one another. He slid his cock in and out of your pussy, which flexed and gripped him tightly as you established a heated rhythm between you. Your legs wrapped around Cillian’s waist and you rocked against him.

You made no attempt to prolong your lovemaking, you just wanted to cum together. You could feel the sweat on your bodies as you fucked, panting as you stared into one another's eyes. The sticky, wet sucking sounds of Cillian’s member pushing back and forth inside you made you both wild with desire. His balls slapped against you as he pushed harder and harder, propping himself on top of you with his hands.

‘Oh god Cillian, yes’ you gasped, your eyes wide, your whole body shaking as your orgasm washed over you. Cillian pressed desperately, trying to reach as deep inside you as he could, knowing very well why you wanted him to cum inside you.

He arched his back as that tingling, boiling fire welled up in him and he clenched his teeth as he strained, calling out your name.

You crushed yourself on to Cillian, crying out loudly, your pussy devouring his seed as he filled you with rope after rope of his warm cum.

As the warm sticky fluids covered your cervix, your nails raked along his back. You almost wailed as you came, eyes squeezed shut while you worked your pussy around his cock. You pulled Cillian down to you and you kissed deeply and lovingly, expressing your deepest emotions for one another and you never wanted this moment to end.

‘I love you’ Cillian then said as he finally sagged down on top of you and you hugged him gently, almost purring as you whispered in his ear about how much you loved him too.

Your lips planted soft kisses along his neck and shoulder while your fingers caressed his back. He still moved slowly in and out of you and you squeezed the last drops of cum from him with your pussy until, eventually he pulled out and slowly rolled onto his back, bringing you with him to lean against his chest.

‘So, I assume that you want to fall pregnant again?’ Cillian asked, his heart still beating fast.

‘Yes…uhm…do you?’ you asked knowing that your question came a bit late as you looked up at him with pleading eyes.

‘I think I answered this question when I came inside you’ Cillian chuckled before he grabbed a pillow from the floor and propped it beneath you.

You looked at him somewhat confused and he grinned.

‘Just making sure it stays in, eh?’ Cillian laughed before giving you another kiss.

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[darkdevasofdestruction]

Balance & Harmony

(( I’m totally not insane to be writing about Orion Amari, okay? Okay. ))

The sun was up and shining beautifully like it always does, and here you were, on a beautiful Spring Saturday morning, hanging upside down from your broom above the Quidditch pitch, your wand lazily dangling in your hand, tied to your wrists, in case it falls again, as it sometimes happens when you’re too focused on the book levitating in front of you.

It wasn’t a textbook, that would have been boring. Instead, it was another muggle fantasy book that fascinated you so much that you forgot to even breathe.

But this is what made you happy, excited, made you feel like you were alive. On the other hand, this is exactly how you met your now-boyfriend, who so happens to be the famous Slytherin Quidditch captain, Orion Amari.

---

You can remember even now that day 3 years ago, when you were in Year 3, and you went to the Quidditch pitch, your mother having bought you a brand new broom so you could have your fun. You never cared about Quidditch as a game, or better said, you never bothered to go to tryouts or play, but you absolutely loved flying and fooling around on the broom, which you only did when you were absolutely sure nobody else was watching...Because that you made you screw up, your shyness acting up, as usual.

And besides, watching others play Quidditch, seeing your House team win, is so much more satisfying, right? No anxiety, no responsibilities, and you get to feel the same things the team members are feeling.

That day you learnt how to stand on your hands on the broom, and hell, it was so exciting and fun, you took things even further, staying on one hand successfully, doing a whole pitch lap, before you went back to stand on your feet and cheer at your amazing success.

Flying sure felt like you freedom to you.

And to celebrate your success, you sat on the broom, hanging upside down, your wand out to levitate your book so you could read one of our favourite books, ‘The Picture Of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde.

The problem was that you were so caught up into the book that you started reciting some of Dorian’s monologues, and you got so shocked at one point that your wand fell from you hand, along with the book and you lost balance as you tried to get up, not realising how feint you were feeling from staying with your head down so long, and you legs felt like jelly...Making you fall from more meters than you’d want to think about, with no chance of survival, since your wand was on the ground already, where you will be too soon enough.

You tried desperately to call for your broom, but it was out of your reach. You could feel your eyes watering in fright, your heart hammering in your chest so hard that you thought it’d jump into another dimension, and your lungs were burning.

You closed your eyes, waiting for your imminent demise...Until you felt yourself being swept up, making you let out a soft whimper, and yet, you weren’t brave enough to open up your eyes until a gentle voice started talking to you, putting you close to their chest.

“It’s alright now, you’re safe.” he said reassuringly, as he landed carefully on the ground. “We’re on the ground now, it’s okay. You can open your eyes.” he explained, but you barely managed to open your eyes to look at your saviour, that you fell to the ground, trembling and panting. “It’s going to be okay now. I’m Orion. Orion Amari. What’s your name? I know we’re on the same year, same House, but I never caught your name.” he chuckled a bit, putting his hand on your face, making you look at him as he tried to make you forget about your near-death experience. “I’m...I’m Y/N L/N. I know who you are...You’re the Team’s new Chaser.” you manage to put the ghost of a smile on your face. “I never realised I was so famous, or that such a cute and talented girl was watching our matches. I’m flattered.” he grinned, petting your hair soothingly. “After what happened up there, talented is the last thing I’d say. Rather, I’d go with clumsy, stupid and uninspired.” you chuckled, facepalming. “Well...Training like that with nobody around can be dangerous. The surprising part was that you were brilliant on your tricks, until you started reading.”  he stated, bringing you the wand and book. “Honestly...When I opened my eyes, I thought you were a dark-haired Dorian Gray or something...” you blushed lightly, looking away. “I can only suppose Dorian Gray is the protagonist of this book your were reading, correct?” he asked, smiling. “Yeah, he is. It’s one of my favourite books, I recommend it. It’s beautiful and tragic at the same time.” you grinned at him, holding the book close to your chest. “If you’d allow me, I would love to borrow it. Also, I would recommend next time you read upside down like that, to attach your wand on your wrist, in case you get too focused to realise you are breathing.” he smirked slightly, guiding you to your shared Common Room, where you crashed on the soda for a while. “I’d be honoured! Nobody really likes my muggle books so I hardly ever have anyone to chat with about anything that is not school related, you know? Also...When did you get on the pitch? I always make sure nobody is there so I won’t embarrass myself.” you look at him with a slightly mischievous look. “I...Sometimes hang around that place too. It’s not the first time I’ve seen you practicing on your broom. You inspire me and give me ideas of what to try out next.” he confessed, completely nonchalant. “Woaw...You said that with no shame at all. Impressive.” you muttered in shock. “What is there to be ashamed about? I always liked to learn new things, especially if I’m passionate about it. It keeps a certain level of harmony between my mind and soul.” he shrugged with a smile on his face. “Hang on...If you wanted to learn so much, why didn’t you just come over to me? I don’t look that scary and intimidating, now, do I?” you smirked, seeing his eyes widen, a rosy colour shading his cheeks. “Ah! There it is! Look at you, you really are blushing! So I was right!” you smirked teasingly, poking his cheek. “That is pretty intimidating, if not, rather intriguing. Maybe I really should have come up to you sooner. You are quite a challenge, Y/N, and you’re disturbing my inner balance. Weirdly enough, I quite like it. What do you say, would you like to help me regain my balance?” he asked, getting closer to you. “Only if you can help me find harmony.” you chuckled, leaning back on the sofa. “I think we have quite the deal here.”  he nodded, opening the book and reading the summary.

---

This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship that blossomed into even more, an even more outstanding relationship that everyone envied. You became the most powerful couple Hogwarts ever had. He, the Slytherin’s Quidditch Team’s Captain and Chaser, and you, the most intelligent and artistic Slytherin. You were each other’s Harmony and Balance, you complimented each other very well.

What was even better, was that your best friends, Penny, Tonks and Tulip were always up to hang out with and they always knew how to cheer you up, especially when Merula was being a jerk, or when other girls were jealous on you for dating Orion.

But today...Today was a rather special and weird day, for the famous Slytherin Curse-breaker, Kitsune Shimada, flied over in front of you, looking a bit confused.

“Uhm...Hi? Are you Y/N L/N? Penny and Murphy advised me to come talk to you about the Quidditch tryouts. They said you might know how to get an invitation.” she said, looking at you from above. “I see...I hope you’re not trying to be an ass-kisser so I would tell my boyfriend to give you a free invitation to be the new Chaser?” you raised your eyebrow, skeptical and bored. “Boyfriend...? Wait, Orion Amari is your boyfriend?!” her shock was great enough to make you realise that her intentions weren’t foul, so you laughed at her. “Yeah, he is. Has been for the last 3 years. I suppose you haven’t met him yet, have you?” you asked, smiling at her. “No, I haven’t. I didn’t even know he was the other Chaser until Murphy told me that. I’ve been doing so many friendly matches that I started to even forget my own name.” she replied with a sheepish smile on her face. “Oh, trust me, I know. I watched all of your friendlies so far. You have a lot to learn, but at the same time, training with Skye and Murphy sure had great influence on you. And even more, you seem to have quite a natural talent and instinct for it. But if you want to get the invitation, you have to impress Orion...And that’s gonna be quite the feat. Are you sure you’re up for it?” you asked sternly, crossing your arms, looking straight into her eyes. “Yes, I am sure. I worked hard so far and I’m ready to work even more for this opportunity. So please, teach me how to impress Orion and get that invitation.” her voice was stern and sure of herself, which made you grin at her. “Great! The first thing you have to learn is how to talk to Orion. Many would call him ‘Quirky’ or ‘Spacey’, but he’s a very intelligent and talented person. He can speak in riddles and questions, but when you finally find out what he’s trying to say, you realise that you have a lot to learn from him.” you begin, a serene smile on your face. “The next thing would be to learn how to...As he calls it, ‘Talk to his level.’, which basically means that you have to learn to balance on one leg on the broom.” you giggle, seeing her horrorstuck face. “WHAT?! That sounds impossible!” she gasped, making you laugh more. “Come on, it’s not that difficult, okay? Start with a positive attitude and it’s gonna be easier.” you shrugged. “Why don’t you do it then?” she raised her eyebrow skeptically, making you laugh again. “Let’s do it together. After all, I’ve been doing things more complicated since 3 years ago.” your voice confident and full of life and you easily stood on one leg, amused at her failed attempts to even stand on both feet on the broom. “You make it look so much easier than it is! How do you do it?!” she kept wobbling, trying to keep her balance. “Come on, Kitsune, I’ve mastered this at 13. You have to let your mind focus and find a certain balance between your stability and focus. Focus on my voice, not on trying not to wobble. Talk to me, forget about everything else around you, okay?” you explained, feeling a perfect harmony. “I can’t wait to find out why all this is important...” she muttered, looking a bit crestfallen. “I’d say this would help Seekers more, but all tricks helpful for every position. You need to learn how to tune out external distractions, like the audience, or other players’  taunting. You’ll find more uses for each trick yourself, that’s the fun of Quidditch.” you told her, seeing her progress rather quickly. “You seem to know quite a lot. What position are you playing?” she asked again. “I don’t play Quidditch. I never went to any tryouts either. I don’t like playing, I prefer watching our team play or fooling around with friends. On the other hand, I sometimes advise the team, help them practice...And on the worst case scenarios, I play as a stand-in. But that’s only been if Orion can’t find a proper replacement. He knows I hate playing competitively.” you grin at her, feeling butterflies every time you think of your boyfriend. “The way you speak of him makes it look like you really love each other. Penny told me a lot of nice things about you, and how you’ve been her tutor for DADA and Transfigurations the last two years. I know we’re only 14, while you’re 16 or 17, and I know there could be other people trying out who could do much better and who have more experience, but I’m ambitious and determined to make it on the team and help our House win the Quidditch Cup.” her voice was genuine and you knew she was ready to meet Orion. “I know, Kitsune. You’re a true Slytherin, I can see you are true to yourself and want this very much. So much that you started balancing without even realising, that’s how focused you were on your convictions and our conversation. I’m proud of you, Kitsune, I don’t think I ever met anyone who could do this so quickly. It’s time for you meet Orion, dear.” you grin at her sudden shock-realisation face, making her lose balance and almost falling, before managing to stay on both feet and then sitting normally on the broom, laughing. “Well, that was one way to shock me! Thanks a lot, Y/N, you taught me a lot today. I really hope I can make it on the team now.” she grinned as you sat on the broom too. “Well, I’m pretty sure we have class now, but after, Orion’s going to be here, ready to meet you. Don’t forget what I taught you, and everything is going to be okay. You have a hell of a potential, I can assure you everything is going to go well if you continue with this enthusiasm and drive to win. And remember, Kitsune, you’re a Slytherin, okay?” you winked at her as you left the pitch, ready to go to Potions, but not before meeting your boyfriend in the Common Room, so you could walk together.

There you saw him, both dressed in your robes, walking hand in hand toward the classroom, stealing a kiss here and there, as you’d usually do.

“Tell me, my dearest Catherine Earnshaw, are you adopting 14 year olds again?” he chuckled, nuzzling his face in the crook of your neck, as you two sat down. “When am I not? I mean, come on, most of my friends are 14 year old. I’m a mess.” you laughed, leaning into him, playing with his beautiful dark hair. “Don’t say that, darling, you are my harmony and balance. What would I do without you?” he asked in a suave voice, making you giggle. “Not...Be surrounded by 14 year olds? I don’t know, my lovely Dorian Gray, you’d be the same successful and amazing Slytherin Captain Team and Chaser. You’d be the same lovely boy with girl fawning all over you and people trying to suck it to you to get on the team...Should I go on?” you teased, leaning back a bit, to look in his eyes. “It sounds to me like you’re trying to kitten...Why don’t you purr while at it? You want me to tell you how much I love you? How much you mean to me? Just say so, and I will.” he grinned, putting his hand on your face, as you leaned into his touch. “Your love taught me how to have the Fire of a Fire crab, the Patience of a Flobberworm, the Loyalty of a Kneazle and the Drive of a Niffler running after a galleon. You helped me achieve inner Harmony and Balance, taught me how to see the beauty of life and the happiness of having someone who I trust with my whole heart and soul. You, darling, are the only one who could ever teach me how to achieve a clear mind.” he said gently, leaning in to press a tender kiss on your lips, gazing at you with a gentle smile. “My heart can’t take all this sweetness. Damn, Orion, I love you so much, you can’t even realise.” you grinned, kissing him back sweetly. “Well...I think I might have an idea, sugar.” he winked, leaning back in his seat as Snape got in the room to start the lesson.

---

A few days passed, Kitsune successfully made it to the team, but unfortunately, the Seeker broke his hand the night before the match so you had to replace him, much to your annoyance.

The game was against Gryffindors, and it sure as hell was a tough one, seeing that their Seeker was extremely aggressive and would bump into you at all times, the bludgers would be send towards you as well, and it all just as much as ruined your chakras so much that you were truly pissed off for the first time in ages, which made you aggressive as well.

So aggressive, in fact, that you made the Seeker lose balance and fall from her broom, barely dangling with one hand from the handle, as you darted off as far as possible, getting on your feet on the broom and inching forwards, reaching out your arm towards the stupid Snitch. It felt like hours until you finally managed to catch the snitch, and very close to falling off your broom, but none of that happened, and Slytherin was victorious, with a total of 310 points, against the enemy’s 170, so it was a complete win!

You did a whole pitch lap standing on one foot, showing off the Snitch in your hand, before getting to Orion, and hanging upside down to reach his face, as he stood on his feet on the broom, his face beaming with pride and glee.

“You did it, Y/N! You won us the match!” his voice hyped and proud. “I hate getting angry and aggressive, but it was worth it. That chick really pissed me off, y’know? Too bad she didn’t fall or something.” you shrugged, grinning and reaching out to his hands to put the Snitch in his hands. “You should hold it. You caught it. We couldn’t have done it without you, hun.” he tried to give it back, but by now you were both holding it. “It was you who helped me stay focused on my goal. It’s not I who won the game, Orion. WE won it.” you chuckled softly putting your hand on his face. “I think after this game we both need to regain our harmony and balance, don’t you think?” he asked in a low voice leaning closer to you. “I have to agree with that...Captain Amari.” you smirked at him, making him let out an amused breath as he kissed you passionately, just like Spiderman would kiss Mary Jane in the famous comics, but this time, the roles were reversed.

The whole day, the Slytherins celebrated the winning of the Quidditch Cup and everyone couldn’t be happier for your success, especially you, Orion, Murphy, Skye and Kitsune, who worked so hard to achieve this beautiful victory and can now reap the bounties of success and happiness.

Yes, Year 6 was going to end soon, Year 7 was going to come alarmingly soon, and with it, the end of your life at Hogwarts, but you and Orion knew that no matter what, you would never be separated and your life is going to be forever in peace, balance and harmony, together, in happiness.

[cilliansaccent]

The Peaky Designer - Cillian Fanfic, Chapter 7

Hello, welcome back. Below is the next instalment of my fanfiction!

Leave a like or a comment if you liked it, or if I can do anything better! Please, it would mean the world and to understand if anyone is enjoying my writing. Also, sharing/reblogging would be even better.

PLEASE READ:

I will not be including Cillian’s family as it’s kinda weird since he has children lmao. Just a mention of his parents and a previous lover.

I will indicate in a chapter if there is smut in the beginning and before the actual scene!!

I will add trigger warnings if there is any!!

There is a variety of levels of swearing during a chapter, I will not hold back, everyone swears.

The timestamp for the Fic is now 2016 and onwards!! 

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Background: Gabrijela Babic is a Croatian girl from Sydney, Australia. She is born in the year 1991 on the 24th of December. She studies a Fashion degree in a University with a major in Game Design as well. Her teacher in the fashion designer class managed to nail an Internship on the set of Peaky Blinders with the shows very own Costume Designer, Allison McCosh. There, she travels to London for under a year to learn how to be one, working alongside the actors as well the man she admires, Cillian Murphy. But, her platonic feelings for the man begins to grow into something more, and she wonders whether she should pursue them or let him go for fear of her strict parents and her three older brothers…

Characters:

Swantje Paulina as Gabrijela Babic (swalina on Instagram)

Cillian Murphy

Word Count: 2,835

!!Warnings!!: None.

Date: March 2016

Chapter Name: A Day in Bath

Brief Chapter Outline: Gab spends the day in Bath with Cillian

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Logan rolled over and laid on his back, panting softly. They had gone another round this morning. "Damn." She laughed softly, pushing her hair out of her face, "You are so wild." "I didn't hurt you, did I?" He turned to face her now. "No. You didn't. You were very good." She leaned over and kissed him deeply. "Mhm." He smiled and pulled her on top as they continued to kiss slowly and deeply. Though Gab's phone began to ring and she pulled away to grab it, "Hello?" 

"Hey, Gabrijela." Cillian's voice made her heartache. "Hi, how are you?" She asked as she rolled off Logan, sitting upright. "I'm doing fine. May I come up?" He asked. "Uh, um. Yeah. Give me a moment." She said and hung up. "Logan uh, you gotta go." She said with a blush. "Why? Who was that?" He asked as he sat up, sitting in the bed. Waiting for her to tell him. "Uhm... Cillian. I promised him today I'd hang out with him." Gabrijela got up and grabbed their various clothing across the floor. She hastily tugged on her pyjamas. "Cillian? Why?" Logan frowned as he started to get changed. "Why not? He's a nice guy, besides we got a friendship going. We got stuff in common." She didn't like the judgement like tone Logan used. "Huh. Alright. Seems like you both are quite close." He said as he put on his watch, a strange look on his face. "Yeah. We're friends... why?" She tilted her head to the side, he was holding back something. "Logan. Talk." He sighed, "We heard you spent the night with him while on set." He said finally, looking at her, "And... overheard things." Gabrijela's cheeks warmed, and she looked away quickly, "Nothing happened. Whoever said they heard something was wrong." "Gabrijela, your face clearly speaks the truth. Whatever. Just know you gotta be careful." Logan fixed his hair in the mirror before tucking his phone and wallet into his pockets. "Be careful? For what? We didn't fuck." She snapped, "Ugh. Why does everyone have to tell me what I should and shouldn't do?" She groaned in frustration. "I'm not saying anything. Just be wary." He said with a hint of annoyance. "Whatever, you do what you want." He said and headed to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow." And he was gone. Gabrijela sighed, sitting on the couch. "Fuck." Cillian was waiting by the door for ten minutes, he was about to call her when the door opened up and Logan stormed out. His shirt was rumpled. "Huh, hey," Cillian called, he wasn't surprised but also disappointed a little. "Hey, man. Sorry I didn't see you there." He turned to Cillian. "Hey before I go. I want to ask you something." "Uh, go ahead." Cillian nodded, he was holding the door open. "What's your deal with Gabrijela?" He asked, there was something dangerous in Logan's eyes. "Nothing. We're friends, I'm only making her feel comfortable and welcomed here." He replied kindly. He wasn't and would never stoop to a low level of possessiveness. "Huh. Right. Yeah." He shrugged, "Just back off from her, hey? She's young." Cillian raised a brow, "Excuse me? What are you implying?" "Nothing. Just some rumours." Logan said and got into his Uber before Cillian could heckle him more. "What on earth..." He shook his head and headed up to the apartment. He knocked on the door. Gabrijela opened the door, "Come in." Cillian came in, noting the sleepy eyes and her messy hair. As well as the marks on her neck. "Did you want a drink?" She asked as she headed into the kitchen to pour herself cordial. "No, thank you." His eyes skipped over the messy bed and sat on the stool. She felt like she was making everything so uncomfortable. And his eyes were trained on her like a hawk on a prey. "Cillian, I need to tell you something." She said softly as she sipped her drink. "I saw Logan on the way in," Cillian said and their eyes met. "He said something." She continued, "About... What happened. In the trailer." Cillian stilled, but his expression didn't waver. "What about it?" "Someone heard... us. He said rumours are moving around." She twisted the cup around in her hands. "Who? Did he...?" Cillian leaned forward a little. "I don't know. He didn't say who." She looked up at Cillian. He sighed and held out his hand and she placed hers in it, "He doesn't have to worry. It won't happen again." "I'll make sure to tell him to rid these rumours. God... He ruined my mood now. Especially what we did-" She paused, pulling her hand back. "Anyway. I better get ready," She said and went to the bathroom. Cillian sighed but shook his head. He would cheer her up, today was going to be fun. Gabrijela was dressed in a mini skirt with a black and white checkered pattern with frayed ends. She had a short-sleeved red top and her favourite thigh-high suede boots. She kept her hair out but had a hairband on her just in case. Gabrijela had a good taste in fashion and she always looked so fucking good. Cillian was always mesmerised by how she looked. Everything looked so right on her. He gave her a smile and together they headed out. He let her take over the radio and she put on something they would enjoy. And the car ride ended up as a karaoke session. He was shocked as to how good she sang but it didn't stop him from singing. Gabrijela was back into her bright mood all the way to Bath. Once they arrived in Bath he found a good spot to park and got out with her. "Welcome to Bath. It's a lovely town." He said. She was in awe, "It's beautiful." She said as they walked through the streets. It was busy today, there was a lot of tour groups around and general tourists. "I uh also managed to get us tickets for the Roman Baths. Let's go do that first, we have all morning and afternoon to explore." He said. They headed further into the Roman Baths, skipped the line and was able to go right on in. Cillian took photos of her, and she posed in each shot. She had explained she wanted her Instagram to look nice despite him rolling his eyes. Long as she was happy, he was. And he didn't mind taking photos of her, a good excuse to admire her. She convinced him to take some pictures together and he obliged. Another good reason to have his arms around her. After the Baths they wandered around, she took pictures, went into shops and bought some souvenirs. There were times where they had to stop when fans recognised Cillian, and Gabrijela watched with a cute smile as he chatted with them and signed things. Then it was time to move on, they went further into the town where there weren't many people and she found good spots to take photos. "Why don't you be a model?" Cillian randomly asked as he stood close to her side as they looked through the photos. "Oh, no. I'd have to starve myself and work on a twenty-four-seven shift. No thanks. I like my sleep and how I look." She laughed softly. "Yeah, true. And you look just fine. Natural." He placed an arm around her and quickly moved back with her as a bike flew by them. She gasped, "You love to compliment people hm?" She looked up at him, grinning. "Especially if they catch my interest." He admitted and her cheeks went a shade of pink. "I catch your interest?" She asked, staying close and pressed to his side. He nodded once, "Yeah. You're uh... Almost like a female version of me." She let out a bark of laughter and he did as well, "Well, damn. Thanks. I'm hot and got good taste in music." She nudged him. "Exactly why you are a female version of me." He squeezed her side and she let out a sound. "Come on, I'm getting hungry. You gotta feed me." She huffed and they headed back to the main square. By late afternoon, there was still a heap of people around, not if more than earlier. Most of the restaurants were booked out so they grabbed some burgers and chips from some restaurant and took their goodies to the park near the bridge. They claimed a chair beside the river and ate their packed burgers. "In uh, darling Harbour, I was with my mum and we were eating Maccas. And um, a seagull had flown past my mum's shoulder and slammed into her burger, knocking it out of her hand as it was swarmed by a million of em." Gab giggled. "Really? They're vicious. I've always wanted to come to Sydney, but I never get to." He said. "Well, how about after you film? You could come for a week or two and I could... show you around. Take you on a tour. I've got my license." She offered. "You'd do that?" He looked at her with a mouthful of food. She laughed and quickly took her phone out, snapping a picture. "Hah! Got it!" "No! Delete that! Hey!" He tried to grab her phone but she hid it from him. "I won't post it nowhere! Oh my god so cute." She poked his cheeks and he shook his head. "Terrible." He said as he finished his food. "Indeed. But back to your question, yes I would do that. You have been making my week here wonderful, it's only fair to return the favour." She wiped her hands on a tissue and faced him. She had crossed her legs, brushing a little against him. "Well, when we finish filming I might take a little trip to Sydney." He mused, resting his arm behind her. "Good! Come as soon as you can, it'll be summer and we could go to the beach." She said, "I know the best place." "Bondi?" He asked. "Ew no. It gets too packed and there isn't much shade there unless you go all the way to the grass area." She shakes her head. "Alright, I trust you in where we go." He said. "Just like I trust you in the places you take me." She patted his chest before they stared out at the water. After a bit, Cillian offered to go on a walk with her and they did. The park began to have less and fewer people. They found another bench and claimed, watching the ducks swim and chase each other. "I want to say something," Cillian said finally after some silence. "Go ahead." She turned to him, now giving her attention to him. He looked troubled, his arm was behind her again on the bench. "You can say it, Cillian. I trust you." She placed a hand on his knee. He sighed and looked at her, "I shouldn't do this but... I like you, Gabrijela. You are a sweet, smart and beautiful girl. I don't want anyone to use you in ways that you don't deserve to." It was her turn to sigh and she looked away, "What is this about?" "Nothing. I just... Wanted to tell you that." He went to touch her chin to turn her back but she grabbed his wrist and looked at him with hard eyes. "I don't need someone to tell me what to do." She said, her tone harsh. "I'm not. I just want-" "What? Are you worried about Logan and me? Because we fucked?" She hissed softly. "No! No, Gabrijela-" he sat back, running a hand through his hair. "God. I care about you that's all. I just want the best for you." She scoffed and stood up walking close to the bank of the water, arms crossed. "I wonder if my parents called you so you can check in on me." The words came out before she could bite them back. "Gabrijela." He stood and went to her side, "Why would you say that?" She could see the hurt in his eyes. Guilt washed through him and she shut her eyes briefly, "I'm sorry Cillian. I didn't mean to say that. God I- Everyone at home says the same thing. And it just bugs me." His expression softened and he took her arm gently, "Don't get mad hey?" His thumb rubbed her skin gently, up and down. She held his gaze, it was so full of tenderness and worry. "I won't. I promise." She whispered. They stayed close like that, and she felt this pull to him. She looked at his lips, those lovely lips that were on hers a week back almost, moaning her name. "Cilly." She swallowed, stepping closer to his body. Her hands now laid flat on his chest. His arms automatically moved around her waist. The willow tree they stood under hid them from anyone who walked by, but there was barely anyone here anyway. "We shouldn't." He whispered, circling his nose against hers. "No. We shouldn't." But neither pulled away. "But no one is here." She replied, her lips brushing along his. He kissed her hard, there was no space between their bodies as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Kissing Cillian was like taking a breath of fresh air, like taking a leap off a cliff. His hands moved down her back and cupped her ass, lifting her up a little. A soft moan escaped her before he walked backwards and sat back down on the bench. She moved to straddle his hips, their lips never breaking. She let her fingers brush along his jaw and down his neck. She gripped the dark blue shirt he wore, wanting so badly to undo the buttons. His hands slid down her thighs, then back up and snaked under her skirt. She felt a cool breeze tickle the exposed skin of her ass and moaned, "Cillian, wait-" She gripped his wrists, kissing him. "Not here. We can't- Ah." She moaned when his hands removed from her thighs and to her breasts. "Gabrijela." His lips moved down to her throat, and he began to lift up her shirt. Then she heard people talking, and it sounded like they were heading this way. She pulled back and sat beside him, hastily tucking in her shirt into her skirt just as a group of young teens walked by. She panted as she rubbed her thighs together. As the teens wandered away she relaxed, her legs parting a little. "Cillian- Cillian we cannot." She bit her bottom lip gazing up at him. She wanted him so badly, Logan was... Logan was a mistake, she thought. She had only thought of Cillian the whole time, hoping and wishing it was him on top of her. But Cillian was someone she was to work with. And she had to take this internship seriously, she could be easily kicked out if anyone caught them. "Fuck." He said in a reply, he breathed fast through his nose. "I- We promised we wouldn't do this." He looked back at her again, cupping her face with one hand. "I know. But I can't help it." She placed a hand over him as she leaned in to kiss him again. The kiss was soft, he pulled back to speak, "Same here." He kissed her again and again and again. "No." She said heartbreakingly, "Cillian we need to stop." She pushed him back. "Mm," He nodded, sitting back and facing the river. "We should head home. Busy day tomorrow." He said and they stood and walked quietly back to the car. The trip home was quiet despite the music playing softly. Cillian parked down the road as there was no room when they had returned to London. He walked with her back to the apartment building and they stood face to face at the foot of the stairs. "I had fun today." She smiled, "Thank you. I want to do that again when we have time." He nodded, "Next weekend, hopefully." He said, but he wasn't sure if he could handle being with her all day again. All he could think of was kissing her and touching her. With her free hand, she took his. She looked up, meeting that hungry gaze that matched hers. Despite saying what she said earlier, she said, "You can stay the night." Cillian took a moment and squeezed her hand, "No." He stepped in close and patted her cheek gently, "We need our rest. Have a good night, Gabrijela." He pulled away from her and headed down the street. She watched the car pull away and reached up to touch her lips. She had to be careful and tread lightly. She worked hard to get to where she is right now, and she couldn't let her heart get in the way.

[ahs-theories]

Ok so I haven’t watched ep4 but from live tweets/posts I understand we know that duh Margaret is the killer of the massacre and Montana is the brother of Brooke’s best friend. But here’s my issue with that if Sam is her brother wouldn’t Brooke know her and recognized her and wouldn’t she be at the wedding? When Montana introduced herself didn’t Brooke find it odd that her last name was Duke? Maybe she thought it was a coincidence & a common last name but still wouldn’t she have know her name?

(2/2) Maybe Montana is not her real name and changed it to that but kept her real last name. Maybe the reason she wasn’t recognized by Brooke is bc she might have been frumpy looking before reinventing herself and she must have been watching Brooke for a long just waiting for revenge also why would Ramirez just kill Brooke at her request? It seems 2 me he chose his victims carefully & not at the whims of a vengeful sister. Also does she want the 💍 as some sick trophy? There’s more 2 that.             

I’m assuming you’ve seen the episode by now, so you saw how they explained them not knowing each other. It’s plausible enough for me. But, as we mention in our episode reaction, what I don’t find credible is the way it was basically left to chance and how coincidental it was that Brooke happened to pick Montana’s gym to attend. As for how Ramirez chose his victims, I don’t have much knowledge on that, plus they’re definitely basing a character on a real person, but it’s clear they’re going way off canon with that.

I can buy that Montana wasn’t at the wedding. You don’t normally attend unless you know the bride or groom personally, and if she’d already been living on the West Coast it’s plausible she never met her brother’s friends. Brooke not even recognizing Montana or knowing her name is a bigger stretch, but like you said, there are explanations. She could have changed her name and look. I’m also wondering if maybe she wasn’t close to her family. Montana seems to be a bit of a wild child and clearly has some bloodlust of her own--she liked what Ramirez did to that boy at the studio. I could maybe see them playing it off as her family cutting contact because they didn’t approve of her--even Sam, if he was friends with people like Brooke and Joey. I’d also have to check, but did Montana actually tell Brooke her last name?

Regarding how Ramirez got roped into her scheme, it’s hardly the first time Murphy has gone with a killer falling for the twisted girl (see: Tate, The Axeman). And honestly, the real Night Stalker didn’t choose his victims carefully. He was erratic, didn’t seem to plan much, and didn’t have a specific type--he killed men and women of widely varying ages, sometimes singles and sometimes families. So going after Brooke for Montana wouldn’t be disrupting his grand plan or anything.

[easilydistractedbyfanfic]

The 100 Ask Game

Thanks for tagging me, @mamabearsdontthink - this looks like FUN!

1. What Station on the Ark would you be from?

I have a pretty green thumb with houseplants and outside flowers and some fruits/veggies. I could realistically be in Farm Station, I think, though Factory might be a fit too. 

2. What would you get arrested for on the Ark?

Political protest, for sure. Possibly with regard to the hierarchical aspects of their society and/or the representation of the people in the lowest stations. 

3. Would you take off your wristband when you landed on the ground?

No, not at all if I was aware that people on the Ark needed to know we were alive in order for them to also be saved.  

4. What would the necklace Finn would make for you look like? (Clarke: deer/Raven: a raven duh..)

Probably a rabbit or an owl, based on what I like and have jewelry about

5. If you could resurrect any MINOR character who would it be?

Jacapo Sinclair, no question

6. Create a squad of 5 characters to go on missions with. Who are they?

Raven, Diyoza, Abby, Luna & Murphy - yeah that’s gonna be wild and I might die but it sure would be fun beforehand

7. What Grounder Clan would you belong to you?

I’m from the area of the Boat People and could see myself as a member of Floukru although I might miss land and gardening

8. What would your name be in Trigedasleng? (example: Octavia=Okteivia…just make it up!)

Jenn = let’s go with Jynn

9. Thoughts on Finn? Some people hate him, and others love him, so I’m curious

Disliked him fully upon first viewing but after rewatch I think he had some merit. He was not loyal to Raven but I don’t think he did it on purpose

10. Be honest. How willing would you have been to take the chip without knowing all the horrible things it does?

Nope, I would be a holdout. I don’t give in to peer pressure, I’m a skeptic and I’ve lived a long time without ever smoking a cigarette or doing drugs, plus I like organics and refuse to invite Alexa or Siri into my home. Yeah, don’t trust The Man, man! LOL

11. What character do you relate to most?

Oh, Raven, easily. We are not the same, but I get the way she made herself strong by focusing on what she was good at and burying the hurt, and her constant desire to keep the painful emotions bottled up. She’s outwardly confident but inwardly worried, and she tells herself all the time “I’ve got this” even when she’s freaked out. 

12. What character do you like the least?

Dr. Tsing, that horrible horrible horrible so-called “doctor”

13. Describe your delinquent outfit. (Would you wear something like Murphy’s jacket with the spikey red shoulder patch or have a trademark like Jasper’s goggles? Be creative, yet practical)

I don’t like to be dirty and I hate being cold, so I’m in dark colors and probably bundled up compared to others. My favorite color is blue though, and if I am from Floukru, maybe I have a dark blue jacket or a shirt with blue patches on it. I would also always carry an extra pair of socks in case my feet got cold. 

14. Favorite type of mutant animal?

There’s not many to choose from

15. What would your job be on the Ark?

I could see myself working a bit undercover like Nigel, getting covert things for people or making deals, although my regular job might be for Farm Station

16. Would you have willingly pumped Ontari’s heart if Abby asked?

yeah, I could do that

17. If Lexa wasn’t Heda, but she was still alive then who would have made the best commander?

I’d pick Indra. She was kind of blood thirsty in the beginning and turned away Lincoln from Trikru, but she proved open to other suggestions, she learned to trust Kane and she even avoided killing Pike although she wanted revenge because she realized they needed him to complete the mission they were on. So later Indra, not early Indra. Otherwise probably Luna. 

18. How would you act if you ate the hallucinogenic nuts like Jasper and Monty?

Hmmmm.... I get overly affectionate when drunk, so if that’s any indication, I should probably stay away from those nuts

19. How would you have dealt with Charlotte’s crime? A more John Murphy approach or Bellamy Blake approach?

Consequences with compassion - hopefully the Bellamy Blake version

20. Who should have been the Chancellor, if anyone?

Jacapo Sinclair, mostly because he wouldn’t have wanted the job. The best leaders are the ones who are least likely to want power

21. Would you have been on Pike’s side like Bellamy or on Kane’s side? Or Clarke in Polis?

Kane’s side

22. Mount Weather had a lot of modern commodities. (example: Maya’s Ipod) What is the one thing you would snatch while there?

Ingredients for food like cake and other desserts. Yum!

23. What would your Grounder tattoos look like? Hairstyle? War paint?

I have a rune compass tattoo at the base of my neck. I might have more tattoos if I was a Grounder, but not obvious ones - maybe inner wrist, maybe something on my ankle or behind my ear. They would likely be symbols of things or types of characters that would provide protection or inspiration of a life goal. No war paint, I don’t think, though that could change if the cause were just. For hairstyle - I wear my hair down about 98% of the time, so maybe there would be some small braids but I doubt my hair would ever be fully pulled back. 

24. Favorite quote?

You know, it’s not well known, but Murphy tells Ontari that “It’s better to lie your way out of a problem than kill” and that always sticks with me. Plus anything Sinclair ever says to Raven (oh my heart)

25. If all of the characters were in the Hunger Games, who would have the best shot at winning?

Luna, because I think she could outlive everyone either by fighting until the death OR by stomping off by herself and outlasting everyone out of sheer willpower

26. Least favorite ship? Favorite canon ship? Favorite non canon ship? NOT INCLUDING CL OR BC OR BE

Least: I have never been onboard the mem0ri train

Favorite canon: Murphy & Raven and their whole dynamic

Favorite non-canon: Murven but now there’s sex

27. A song that should be included in the next season? If there had to be another guest star like Shawn Mendes on the show, who would you want to make a cameo?

"What’s Good” by Fenne Lily or “Bill Murray” by Phantogram for songs in the show. For a guest star, I could really get behind Pink being someone who lives on the new planet and is kinda crazy and all about being a strong female leader. She could do something wild or she could do some haunting ballad that would make us all have feelings and I could so see this now

28. What would you do if you were stuck in the bunker with Murphy for all that time?

Is this a trick question? I mean, there was wine in that lighthouse bunker, and I already said what happens when I get drunk. 

29. You’re an extra that gets killed off. How do you die?

I wanna go like Sinclair, barrette dad or David Miller - protecting someone I love. It would probably be Raven, honestly. 

30. A character you’d like to learn more about and get flashbacks of?

Diyoza

31. A character you’d bang?

Damn, this is a revealing quiz. I’d totally bang Diyoza but this question probably needs it’s own list

32. Would you stay in the Bunker? Go up to Space? Or live on your own in Eden?

I’d probably prefer the Eden environment, but ultimately I’d go to space even if it scared me and felt claustrophobic because I would need peer relationships

33. In the Bunker, would you follow Octavia? What would you do to pass the time underground?

yeah, I’d go along but mentally I might be preparing my eventual escape - creating a fantasy world to escape from the reality of it all

probably read and learn some kind of martial arts

34. What crime would you commit in the Bunker that lands you in the fighting pits?

I don’t like to recite pledges or make oaths I don’t intend to keep

35. Up in Space, who would you bond with first? Who would be the most difficult for you to get along with?

I’d get along with Raven right away, and not just because I love her but because we do have some things in common and I could put up with her snark. Tougher would be Em0ri if she was being mean to Murphy like in S5

36. How long do you think you would last on Earth by yourself?

I think I could go awhile if I had berries, leaves and water as choices. If I had to eat bugs though, I’d probably find a way to kill myself quickly. I’d eventually get lonely, which would be a problem, but if I could find books I’d last a hell of a lot longer too. 

37. When the Eligius ship lands what do you do?

Watch for a while, for sure. See if I could find a way to lure them away from my area for good. 

38. Favorite Eligius character? Least favorite?

Diyoza is my favorite for sure

least favorite - McCreary but in a I love to hate him way

39. Would you Spacewalk?

No. I love roller coasters but I wouldn’t bungee jump either

40. Would you prefer to eat Windshield Bugs, Space Algae, or Bunker Meat?

Algae if I had to pick, otherwise my life would totally be in danger because I’d be so repulsed

41. Would you start a war for the last spot of green on earth? What would your solution be to avoid it?

I’m up for diplomacy and would keep trying til all options were gone before I’d head to war. Maybe inter-marriages, or skill trading/trainings

42. Would you rather dig out flesh-eating worms or stick thumb drives into bullet holes?

Thumb drives into bullet holes since at least I wouldn’t get infected by that

43. Are you willing to poison your sister for the Traitor Who You Love? What would you do to stop Octavia?

Yeah, if I thought the biggest chance would be that it knocked her out rather than kill her, and that having her out of the way would mean peace

44. Would you go to sleep in cryo or stay awake like Marper?

Sleep along with my faves

45. Who are you waking up first to explore the new planet?

Not too different from the show, maybe, although I would have sent Indra down to explore with that team since she’s an experienced leader and fighter, but if we wanna go a bit fantasy like for a moment, then I’d wake up Raven & Murphy and “accidentally” lock them in a closet together for as long as it would take. 

Consider yourself tagged if you wanna participate, and I’d love to read your own choices! 

[seeksstaronmewni]

Oh, Joy! The Insanely Amazing Art of Animation Cartooning in Ren & Stimpy

In the era and world of the “modern” cartoon, there’s one show that started and defined most of the cartoons that we watch today... and that show is Spümcø’s/s The Ren & Stimpy Show.

What is there to love about a crazy, wacky, gross, dark and violent cartoon that people say is “ground-breaking”?

The gags. The detail. The sound. The stock music. The design. The animation. The layout artists...

I could go on about a show that was a part of @nickanimation’s/@nickelodeon... although, while considered a “kids” show, it truly is one of those... “cartoons for MEN”.

WARNING FOR HATERS: Before I go on, in regards to the show’s controversial creator, If his wrongs cause you to think hatefully of him, AVOID THIS POST! Don’t associate your hate with my posts and tweets about this ground-breaking cartoon.

Anyway, let’s look deep into the magic of the wackiest cartoon ever created that changed animation--namely “Western” animation--forever and for good...

THE TALENT

Under the creators Lynne Naylor-Reccardi, Jim Gomez, Felix Forte, and controversial creator John K., many gifted artists were a part of this amazing series, including @donshank, Charlie Bean, Carey Yost,  Bob Camp, Chris Savino, @stephendestefano, the late and great Chris Reccardi (I began this article prior to his death on May 2nd, 2019 A.D.), Marc Perry, Mr. Lawrence (the “Ooh! My leg! My leg...” guy), Vincent Waller, Donovan Cook, Larry Murphy, Richard Pursel, @gadworks​, @ncrossanimation​, and many others. These people, many of whom were in the layout department, would go on from Spümcø to work on some of the most popular pieces of “Western” animation in history, like Spongebob Squarepants, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Mickey Mouse (Paul Rudish era), The Incredibles, the also ground-breaking The 2 Stupid Dogs/Super Secret Secret Squirrel Show and so much more!

One thing to note about these creatives is that John K.’s production company, Spümcø, was based in Canada, and so were its staff and creatives. I note this as most Canadian cartoons these days have no creatives who work in popular American animation (save for Wild Kratts character designer Alan Stewart, who did character design for some Season 7--or, in “reboot terms”, season 2--episodes of The Powerpuff Girls, as well as Lauren Faust’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Season 1 of Johnny Test). Most Canadian cartoons these days are on PBS or Cartoon Network, and some of those are imported from Teletoon or YTV. Such Canadian cartoons as Total Drama’s franchise, The Adventures of Benjamin Bear, My Pet Goldfish is Evil, and the like don’t have creatives who work on more “American” media.

Certain talents of Ren & Stimpy included Michael Fontanelli, Charlie Bean, Vincent Waller and Eddie Fitzgerald (creator of CN’s Tales of Worm Paranoia), who went on to contribute their artist talents in the YouTube Poop-phenomenon Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, which somewhat resembles that art direction of The Ren & Stimpy Show. Such talents also contributed to another insane-looking cartoon, Film Roman’s The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. Likewise, one of my favorite character designers, Carey Yost, who contributed to The Powerpuff Girls, Uncle Grandpa and Spongebob Squarepants, was a major layout artist on this show. Charlie Bean (Samurai Jack, The Powerpuff Girls, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog) and Don Shank (most of the above, plus Sym-Bionic Titan) also served as layout artists, and they with Carey created a gem of a Cartoon Network Minisode, Buy One, Get One Free*, which reflects the animation and art of Spümcø and features creatives of Spümcø.

THE DETAILS

First thing to note in both art and animation is the barrier-breaking levels of exaggeration. The “wild take” is a common element to slapstick cartoons like The Ren & Stimpy Show, and the controversial creator was a part of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons (which developed the Cartoon Network and its studios). Many Spümcø creatives would work at H-B, too. Hanna-Barbera, who worked with animation legends like Tex Avery, would create some of the wildest takes in cartoons with A Pup Named Scooby-Doo!, but The Ren & Stimpy Show’s Season 2 opener “In The Army”, written & directed by Bob Camp, features what is probably the wildest wild take ever conceived by man in the history of history:

“You don’t want to anger that big, dopey...”

“...sar...”

*( Sound Ideas, BOING, CARTOON - FLAT JEWS HARP BOING )*

*clink!*

*( Sound Ideas, THUMP, CARTOON - TUBE THUNK 01 )* [+12 pitch]

*glass breaks*

*(  Sound Ideas, WOBBLE, CARTOON - SAW BLADE WOBBLE, MEDIUM )*

This wild take is really slow, huh?

Wait for it...

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

As if that weren’t wild enough, his brain pops out of his skull! Now, that’s more than just icing on the cake... it’s GENIUS!

Teen Titans GO! is perhaps the peak in the evolution of the “modern” cartoon that began with Ren & Stimpy, and in the hands of producer/director Luke Cormican, a layout artist on Ren & Stimpy’s “Adult Party Cartoon” episodes. It’s very nice that, in TTG episode “The Streak (Part 2)”, there was the parody illustration of duos in media, comparing Robin to Ren and Beast Boy to Stimpy. Some of the character designers on TTG worked on shows that included creatives from The Ren & Stimpy Show, too, namely Chris Battle.

One of the most popular episodes, of course, is the season one finale, Stimpy’s Invention.

These shots from the scene of Stimpy attempting to invent something are just beautiful! Great attention to detail and the lighting (including effects design) give a very cinematic, theatrical feel to a mere, 11-minute episode of a TV show. The art of the series has the charm of a 1940′s Paramount/Famous Studios “Noveltoon”, the Bob Clampett-directed Merry Melodies/Looney Tunes shorts (a major inspiration for John K.), and the Saturday morning cartoons of the 1960s, and the show’s creatives would become part of certain modern cartoons in the 1990s, some of which were dubbed by @cartoonnetwork as “Cartoon Cartoons”.

Also cinematic to the quality is the authentic film grain, a result of recording the cels (animated frame by frame on their respective backgrounds) on film. The deterioration of the episode’s film masters make it look believably like something out of the 1960s or even The Golden Age of Hollywood, the 1940s! (I personally dislike the quality that the videotape masters add to the picture, though. It may be that, in the future, UHD / HD prints could use the actual film masters, though!)

Some shots of Stimpy in Stimpy’s Invention have a color mistake where, like in the title card of the pilot “Big House Blues”, Stimpy’s nose is red instead of blue. It looks pretty swell on him, though.

The grooves and moves that Ren & Stimpy make during the montage of the song Happy Happy Joy Joy are filled with bouncy, weight-distributing pieces of animation, with lots of squash and stretch.

Speaking of “squash and stretch”, the above pics are of the extremes as Stimpy does a take of joy when he succeeds at making Ren be happy.

The takes of the characters really stretch their design and animation. Aurally, a common sound effect to accent these takes is a quick, loud record scratch, and their shaking/trembling movements often sound like a record rapidly skipping.

Regarding one of my favorite character designers, much of the designs by @cheyennecurtisart and @lynnvwang in early episodes of Disney’s Star vs. the Forces of Evil (particularly “Brittney’s Party”) are highly graphic and detailed, and that work of hers reminds me of the designs by Chris & Lynne Reccardi, Jim Smith, John K. and others. Very similar are the designs of @stephendestefano on Disney’s Mickey Mouse, which are also very graphic and extreme with character takes and injury aftermaths.

In the infamous Happy Happy Joy Joy sequence in “Stimpy’s Invention”, to stop himself from being controlled by the Happy Helmet, Ren whacks it (and thus himself) with a hammer to break it..

...and every hit pushes the extremes of not only the looks of his body, but also the styles of the psychotic-looking backgrounds.

Often in the show is a lot of mental breakdowns, including the end of Stimpy’s Invention as Ren goes from being the angriest he ever was in his entire life...

...to becoming very jovial as he comes to love being angry. That also causes a change in these psychedelic, psychotic backgrounds. The practice of such backgrounds came to other cartoons of the 1990s, such as The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show, in the episode “Night of the Living Shnookums”, with art direction by Lynne Naylor.

Another great episode, one of my favorites, is “The Boy Who Cried Rat!”, directed by Vincent Waller, who, replying to my tweet compliment, described the episode as “a chance to tip the hat to all the amazing cartoonist/ writer/ funny people who took the time to invest theirselves into their artwork for the enjoyment and tutelage of the regular folks and cartoonists to come.” The episode involves a literal game of “Cat and Mouse” and Stimpy tries to make a living for him and Ren by unleashing his inner cat in service to a couple. It probably bases itself, of course, on Tom and Jerry, and Ren’s costume references the fashion of Mickey Mouse.

Eventually, Stimpy is forced into eating the rat whom Ren plays (this reminds me of another classic cartoon, @paramountpictures’s Noveltoon called Cheese Burglar, featuring Herman and Katnip). In terms of cartoon physics, though, how did Ren become small enough to fit inside Stimpy’s mouth?

This episode features a very clever, unexpected visual gag that is the result of being hit with a frying pan.

See? and it’s not even a violent image, either.

Sometimes, the show would feature various segments among the episodes, including their close-out segment “What’ll We Do ‘Til Then”. The Ren & Stimpy Show actually predates Animaniacs (1993), VeggieTales (1993) and Uncle Granpda (2013), which were similar with a variety of segment material.

THE ANIMATION

The animation is certainly something when one considers the defining quality of this show’s animation, which occasionally was produced by Rough Draft Studios in Seoul, Korea, one of the most popular animation studios today. There’s also some great timing directors, like David Feiss (Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy), Bob Jacques, James Tim Walker (Samurai Jack, The Powerpuff Girls, Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring), Kent Butterworth (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog) and even the awesome Tony Fucile (Osmosis Jones, The Iron Giant, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Inside Out, The Little Mermaid), who was uncredited for a few episodes like “In The Army” and “Ren’s Toothache”).

This scene of animation from the episode “Nurse Stimpy” (frame shown above) is one of the very best pieces of animation ever done in the series. The balance between slow and mostly fast-paced animation/timing, along with weight, looks very cinematic--of theatrical-quality animation (like Don Bluth, Tony Fucile, etc.). The film’s quality is fairly deteriorated here, but film specks and stuff add to the cinematic feel.

THE SOUND

The sound design, of course, done at Horta Editorial and Sound, which became/folded into Hacienda Post at Sabre Media Studios, was also defining for the modern cartoon as an unusual array of sound effects were used to accent all sorts of takes, impacts, etc. The use of Hanna-Barbera & Warner Bros. sound effects (mostly available from Sound Ideas) with Disney sound effects (mostly available from Hollywood Edge’s Cartoon Trax Volume One) became a very common blend for many sound designers, up to today. Hacienda Post’s founder and president, Timothy J. Borquez (Spongebob Squarepants, Samurai Jack, The Powerpuff Girls), served as the Re-Recording Mixer and Supervising Editor, as well as the uncredited sound designer, and considers the groundbreaking show to be “a laboratory for using classic sounds (in different contextual situations); adding Foley and new design to create "hybrid" textures and moments. We conscientiously did this and it opened up a whole new world for us! A lot of this was done on the mix stage.” He worked with talented sound editors like Michael M. Geisler, M.P.S.E., Michael A. Gollom, and sound/music editor William B. Griggs. Speaking of cartoon sound design expert Michael M. Geisler, M.P.S.E., in an Animation World Network article, Michael Geisler described the detailed process of sound design in a moment of the controversially violent scene in “Man’s Best Friend” (which never showed the credits): “Sometimes the eyelid closing and the eyelid opening are two very separate actions, and so each motion, open and close, must have different sound effects. In "Man's Best Friend," the classic Ren & Stimpy episode that introduces George Liquor, Ren smacks George with his own "Prize Bludgeoning Oar" and George's eye pops out of his head like a piece of meat. The eyelid does a wet sounding movement down over the eye until the eyelids meet and blink (splat, wet hit), and then slosh up again.” For some reason, however, on prints of that episode, George’s blink is silent.

The music for the show was usually unoriginal, very much like the series soundtrack to Spongebob, as it was mostly composed of music provided by Associated Production Music (APM). This included classical music, too, just as Tom and Jerry, Disney’s Silly Symphonies and Warner Bros.’ Merry Melodies/Looney Tunes would often use. Someone even created 3 volumes of Production Music from Ren & Stimpy, unofficial collections of APM music from the series. I kind of wish that they made those.

You may wonder at this point: After many years of seeing almost nothing of this series, how found I The Ren & Stimpy Show in my life?

I knew or remember very little of the show as I grew up (at least attempting to watch the episode “Ren’s Pecs” one Sunday afternoon in 2007 on Nick), but on August 13th, 2016 I saw another Spümcø project, the later Yogi Bear (or Ranger Smith) episode “Boo Boo Runs Wild”, on @adultswim. John K.’s approach to a classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon (CN doesn’t even air this stuff on anymore) was very inspiring. Looking the names of the team up on IMDb, I found that they were a part of many amazing cartoons that i grew up watching! In May 2017, recommended on my YouTube user were “disturbing” scenes from The Ren & Stimpy Show, including Ren’s insane threats in Sven Höek (the audio of which I heard in a YTP where the King [of Hyrule] goes psycho and does the same menacing threats) and perhaps a spiritual taste of Hell in Stimpy’s Fan Club. Ren’s acting (voiced then by creator John K) was so hilarious that, from that point onward, I desired to see more of this groundbreaking cartoon on which I was missing out.

On the day that I began to concept this post, June 18th, 2018, in my final visit to Toys ‘R Us (a local one, though I remember visiting the New York one in 2001), I got collectible Ren & Stimpy figures, and at the time of this post’s original concept I placed Ren and Stimpy in the presence of my Aku wacky wobbler.

It’s interesting that a 2018 Google spot regarding how children react to crowd noise used an excerpt from the episode Stimpy’s Fan Club. This practice is like certain phone commercials (namely T-Mobile, I think) that use some brief footage from “public domain” cartoons. Likewise, what Google did with that ad makes The Ren & Stimpy Show feel like a public domain cartoon (and the highly famous Merry Melodies/Looney Tunes and Popeye shorts were often distributed as “public domain” too, though WarnerMedia holds the ultimate rights to the shorts).

From a Christian viewpoint, The Ren & Stimpy Show is sometimes controversial, but its biggest controversy is whether it’s really a kids show or not--perhaps more of an adult show--mostly due to violence and intense situations like the aforementioned mental breakdowns (this excludes the “Adult Party Cartoon” episodes as those were deliberately produced for adults). Of course, classic cartoons of MGM, Warner Bros. and other studios would often show violence, sensuality, smoking, and alcoholics (even though Cartoon Network/Boomerang still rates them “TV-G”), so even those weren’t produced completely with children in mind. That’s why I consider this show and the aforementioned classic cartoons as “cartoons for MEN”.

The humor and heart of The Ren & Stimpy Show isn’t the purest either, given all of Ren’s hate and violent anger, but Stimpy’s Fan Club has an actually touching ending: after attempting to kill Stimpy or otherwise at least upset him, Ren discovers that the one fan letter addressed to him was from no one else but Stimpy himself--and Stimpy meant every word in his letter. Then, Ren is broken to tears.

THE FUTURE?

As a devote cartoon-watching guy, I find great inspiration from the barrier-breaking art and animation, visually and aurally, of The Ren & Stimpy Show. If you love slapstick comedy and cartoons, then this one’s definitely worth a watch--essential viewing. I surely hope that it comes back again; I can agree on one’s opinion for the show to come back (and, if you want the show to be rebooted as I do, share this IMDb list with Nickelodeon/Spümcø or whatever studio’s in charge). Now, if Viacom/Nick is willing, [adult swim]/Turner/WarnerMedia or some other studio may be better off to purchase the rights to Ren & Stimpy, as Nick or at least Paramount no longer wants anything to do with the series (due to the objectionable material in the “Adult Party Cartoon”), according to this article.

There were rumors of an upcoming Ren & Stimpy short that Nickelodeon Animation was producing. IMDb once removed the title, but now the short “It’s Our House Now!” may be in production by Jessica Borutski, also a former layout artist on the “Adult Party Cartoon”; this may be based on a short John K. sketched to promote Sponge Out of Water.

The closest thing to Ren & Stimpy so far is John K.’s Cans with out Labels [WARNING: some strong language and nudity], a dark, edgy Kickstarter short featuring George Liquor, including storyboards & layouts by Jim Smith and amazingly cartoonish, detailed, over-the-top animation, contributed by @gadworks, @mikepelensky​ and @sandrarivasart​ (a DVD is available for $25 purchase here). Color cards were made by @kalikazoo​ too.

In the future, also, it would be swell to see true high-definition transfers of the actual film negatives for the non-digitally animated episodes of Ren & Stimpy. Most filmed cartoons were often recorded onto videotape masters, which lowered the quality, and I suppose that some of the film negatives still exist in Spumco’s/Nickelodeon’s archives. In point of fact, this clip of The Muddy Mudskipper Intro here looks like it came from an actual film negative (of which I tweeted), with brighter colors and no videotape quality. Though the film looks fairly aged, it looks better than usual prints of the scene.

As we come to the conclusion, I have some additional notes: I began this post in January 2019. 5 months later, Chris Reccardi died, so I refer to him in my posts as the Late and Great Chris Reccardi. He and his family are in my thoughts and prayers. A documentary premiered at Sundance 2020 on January 28th, 2020, Ron Cicero’s Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story; while the controversial creator is known for some terrible things he did due to mental issues in the past, the least people could do is respect the work of both John K and his groundbreaking team. If it weren’t for them, many great Western animation projects for Cartoon Network, Pixar, Disney TVA, Nickelodeon and others would not be the same.

Before I close, whether or not you think negatively of John K., here’s something you should know, understand, and remember about the value of the creatives of The Ren & Stimpy Show: "Brilliant cartoonists like Lynne Naylor, Jim Smith, Bob Camp, Vincent Waller, Rich Pursel, Elinor Blake, Bill Wray, Chris Reccardi, Gabe Swarr and many many more added a lot of richness and personality to the cartoons. Actors like Billy West, Cheryl Chase, Mike Pataki, Gary Owens, Eric Bauza and others inspired us all to capture the subtle nuances in their readings. Henry Porch, Bill Griggs and Tim Borquez contributed much to the wacky new sound design style Ren and Stimpy was known for. We also had some very talented producers like Chris Danzo, Libby Simon and Kevin Kolde who helped me execute the totally new production system that gave the artists ways to express themselves more personally. These people and more are all heroes to me. Think of them when you remember my cartoons." I will always think of these people and pray for them.

For the inspiration, I give thanks to the entire Spümcø staff and creatives who went on to produce some of the best cartoons ever made.

[postpunkpontypandyphantomthief]

(The Young Ones):Party Philosophy

It was new years, Kelsie was hanging out with the gang again for a...party....a new years party with those four...this will surely go well...

Christmas was mixed, so who knew what would happen in the new year, Kelsie had watched a few films, a couple Netflix shows while also doing art projects on the side but nothing could prepare him for...the Party

Kelsie walked through the cold streets of Bristol when he had reached his destination, his ears were ringing at the 1975's the Sound blaring from inside

he had a bouquet of sunflowers in hand and a shopping bag over his shoulder as he knocked on the door

the door creaked open, echoing louder than the music, someone had styled their pigtailed fringe in a more modern "indie" fashion and a necklace made of fairy lights as his red pointed boots squeaked whilst he jived over to the front door snorting his familiar giggle  "KELSIE YOU MADE IT!" he shouted enthusiastically  Kelsie shrugged smiling back "I know, it's now 2019!"  Rick cheered as he danced back inside "Now! let's parr-ty!"

as Kelsie walked in the house on the inside was like a circus, in each room something eccentric was happening, there was a bubble machine spreading bubbles about the house, Neil was having a few rounds of green with hippie pals,Vyvyan was impressing the guests with his mixology and DJ skills ,Mike was chilling on the sofa surrounded by multiple beautiful men...and women and men who dressed as women, some people were playing video games. too...even SPG was having a blast dancing with the flies and ice skating carrots.

there were spotlights flashing fluorescent desaturated toned colours making the usually yellow walls look pink and purple

it was beautiful to see, but there were barely any places to sit, Kelsie rolled his eyes "could we talk in your bedroom?", he snorted a giggle before replying "Of course, we can talk in my room"

he and Kelsie ran upstairs into Rick's bedroom, his room looked similar to how it did before, but this time he had a couple of posters on his wall one of which from the musical Heathers, he had added a couple more desks full of books,dvds and cd's and a PC with pastel colours making the place light up

Kelsie sat on his bed while he did the same while Kelsie presented his gifts, the first gift was the sunflowers, Kelsie lifted them up "Happy 2019",  Rick grinned happily as he took the sunflowers "Aw~ for me! thank you!"

he then put the sunflowers in a pot, placing it on the dressing table, Kelsie then took out the other gifts,a set of healing gems and some Wicca herbs for Neil,a Iron Maiden action figure,a collection of Metal cd's and Joker centered Batman comics for Vyvyan,and for Rick a light pink sweater that showed his name in Japanese kanji characters and a pair of black dungarees that had a "aesthetic" grid design along with a couple badges

Rick looked at the dungarees and smiled "This is great, you didn't have to do this", Kelsie turned his head "I wanted to, I haven't seen you in ages", Rick looked up and shrugged "True, what have you been up to? anyway"

Kelsie inhaled and explained "well I've been doing well at my media course, I've been with some mates,I learned that I am constantly in this dimensional vortex between me and "the other Kelsie, apparently the rift happens through a combination of lucid dreaming and mysticism, maybe we are all just characters, like actors on a stage you have the dreams that are imaginative, a form of escapism and are genuinely entertaining and wholesome…then you get the nightmares mixed with personal worries. a different show plays every day… you have thoughts that make you mindful, interested in a variety of topics and insightful and then you have destructive and intrusive thoughts, destructive, sometimes your alright and other times it's too much, too happy, your too overexcited, your too sad, your too cynical, your too anti-social....

Rick said, "Calm Down Kelsie, anyways I sort of get your philosophy, like robots we are given our tasks, but we don't know our meaning, until we figure it out for ourselves, sometimes accompanied by comrades on our journey, I originally thought I could be a revolutionary poet like the people in the 60s I studied about,but now I've learned a lot of them were very anti-feminist so I'm focusing on maybe being a photographer, writer or singer instead, maybe an actor too since I love volunteering at the local theatre, that Heathers play by Laurence O' Keefe and Kevin Murphy was brilliant it really spoke to me"

Kelsie blinked, "I love Heathers, I didn't know you did too, it was what got me back into Musicals and 1980s movies,"

Rick scrunched up his nose and stared "you know you sound like Effy from Skins"

Kelsie was shocked "Wait, Skins? you've watched that?, and Effy I'd say I'm more like Chris, Sid or Maxie to be honest"

Rick nodded, "Yep,loved it,always prefered the first generation though,like you don't intend to sound like Effy but the way you incorporate philosophy into your punk values and anti-social view on life it's like Effy, but despite that you still try to be there for people around you, despite times where your emotions are as hollow as eggshells

Kelsie tilted his head "I can see that but Effy still sounds more like you at times"

Rick quickly slipped on his new pair of dungarees  and picked up his camera "Anyways, let's start this Skins parrr-ty" he then tagged along with Kelsie downstairs

Kelsie was still groaning once downstairs "oh no you seriously didn't"

while Vyvyan was cleaning the bar countertop SPG popped out and said "no use foreshadowing while the room is as bright as heaven"

then the party had begun  "the music was blaring loud, RIck would, unfortunately, sing out of tune and Kelsie would dance along with him"

before crashing out on the floor next to Neil and his hippie pals, trying to astral project the universe, after that, they got back to singing and dancing from ABBA to The 1975 to MCR to Twisted Sister to The Wombats

it was quite the wild party, luckily Rick and Kelsie were teetotal (not drinking alcohol), while Mike was trying to stop Neil was puking into a plant and Vyvyan adjusted the bubble machine

as the party was almost over, while Rick and Kelsie were resting they kept talking about philosophy

Rick flickered his eyes "what goals do you want to accomplish?" Kelsey thought about it "I'd like to showcase my poetry to a wider audience, I'd like to make people laugh by doing some stand-up comedy and I want to be me for once, not letting anything hold me back, being able to bring art and love into the world, while also spending more time with my friends from the main universe and from this universe

Rick bulged his eyes out gasping "I remember now, this lucid dreaming thing you mentioned, I do it too,I've been in your dreams,this is a lucid dream,you are visiting this universe, in the dream,and your goals sound like mine, while not mine, but the other me, the person who played me as a character role in your universe, you've watched me, you write about me, you draw me, you think about me...well you think about me a lot"

Kelsie couldn't believe what was happening

Rick continued "I've inspired you a lot, and you have a lot in common with me"

"You...are me, your the next people's poet, that is your meaning to bring peace, art love and anarchy to the world"

Kelsie was speechless "I,I, wow"

Kelsie bowed to him "Well it is an honour to be the people's poet of the 21st century"

(a few hours later)

the music was still going, but Vyvyan was uninstalling his DJ kit so he could watch Netflix, Neil had a hangover and Mike was outside having a cigarette break

Rick sighed, "I'm bored" Kelsie rolled his eyes "same", Rick mumbled to himself "a million more parties and I'll still never get a shag" Kelsie had overheard  "Rick?"  Rick sniffled scoffing "what?" he looked up  "I've always saved mine for someone very special and if you think it's time can I be your first?"  

he smiled "yes you can," he said in a soft tone as they both ran back upstairs to his room,  with Rick being the bottom, but he did always know he'd be in that position

he pulled down his dungarees and slipped on a rubber johnny and some lotion, he was ready, he slithered along like a snake, while Kelsie felt not many physical feelings during the act he could feel a  sensation in his stomach,it was alright,but it had been overhyped so they just teased each other, pulling his pigtails and play fighting they ended up forgetting about the act and just tickling and cuddling each other

After a round of Guitar Hero, the party was over, Neil, Mike and Vyvyan waved Goodbye as Kelsie made his way back to the front door before he felt a soft peck from her lips as Rick kissed him as he waved goodnight

[thecomicsnexus]

Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Pal, Brings Back the Newsboy Legion!

SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN #133 OCTOBER 1970 BY JACK KIRBY, AL PLASTINO AND VINCE COLLETTA

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC WIKIA)

Jimmy Olsen is paired with the new Newsboy Legion, the sons of the original boy heroes plus Flippa-Dippa, a newcomer, to investigate the Wild Area, a strange community outside of Metropolis. 

The boys are given a super-vehicle called the Whiz Wagon for transport. When Clark Kent shows concern for Jimmy, Morgan Edge, owner of Galaxy Broadcasting and the new owner of the Daily Planet, secretly orders a criminal organization called Inter-Gang to kill him. But Kent survives the attempt, and later hooks up with Jimmy and the Newsboy Legion in the Wild Area. 

The youths have met the Outsiders, a tribe of young people who live in a super-scientific commune called Habitat, and have won leadership of the Outsiders' gang of motorcyclists. Jimmy and company go off in search of a mysterious goal called the Mountain of Judgment, and warn Superman not to stop them.

THE BRONZE AGE OF COMICS

The Bronze Age retained many of the conventions of the Silver Age, with traditional superhero titles remaining the mainstay of the industry. However, a return of darker plot elements and story lines more related to relevant social issues, such as racism, drug use, alcoholism, urban poverty, and environmental pollution, began to flourish during the period, prefiguring the later Modern Age of Comic Books.

There is no one single event that can be said to herald the beginning of the Bronze Age. Instead, a number of events at the beginning of the 1970s, taken together, can be seen as a shift away from the tone of comics in the previous decade.

One such event was the April 1970 issue of Green Lantern, which added Green Arrow as a title character. The series, written by Denny O'Neil and penciled by Neal Adams, focused on "relevance" as Green Lantern was exposed to poverty and experienced self-doubt.

Later in 1970, Jack Kirby left Marvel Comics, ending arguably the most important creative partnership of the Silver Age (with Stan Lee). Kirby then turned to DC, where he created The Fourth World series of titles starting with Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 in October 1970. Also in 1970 Mort Weisinger, the long term editor of the various Superman titles, retired to be replaced by Julius Schwartz. Schwartz set about toning down some of the more fanciful aspects of the Weisinger era, removing most Kryptonite from continuity and scaling back Superman's nigh-infinite—by then—powers, which was done by veteran Superman artist Curt Swan together with groundbreaking author Denny O'Neil.

The beginning of the Bronze Age coincided with the end of the careers of many of the veteran writers and artists of the time, or their promotion to management positions and retirement from regular writing or drawing, and their replacement with a younger generation of editors and creators, many of whom knew each other from their experiences in comic book fan conventions and publications. At the same time, publishers began the era by scaling back on their super-hero publications, canceling many of the weaker-selling titles, and experimenting with other genres such as horror and sword-and-sorcery.

The era also encompassed major changes in the distribution of and audience for comic books. Over time, the medium shifted from cheap mass market products sold at newsstands to a more expensive product sold at specialty comic book shops and aimed at a smaller, core audience of fans. The shift in distribution allowed many small-print publishers to enter the market, changing the medium from one dominated by a few large publishers to a more diverse and eclectic range of books.

JACK KIRBY

In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character.

At this same time, Kirby grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel, for reasons Kirby biographer Mark Evanier has suggested include resentment over Lee's media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both write and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in Amazing Adventures volume two, as well as horror stories for the anthology title Chamber of Darkness, and received full credit for doing so; but in 1970, Kirby was presented with a contract that included such unfavorable terms as a prohibition against legal retaliation. When Kirby objected, the management refused to negotiate any contract changes. Kirby, although he was earning $35,000 a year freelancing for the company, subsequently left Marvel in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino.

Kirby spent nearly two years negotiating a deal to move to DC Comics, where in late 1970 he signed a three-year contract with an option for two additional years. He produced a series of interlinked titles under the blanket sobriquet "The Fourth World", which included a trilogy of new titles — New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People — as well as the extant Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. Kirby picked the latter book because the series was without a stable creative team and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The three books Kirby originated dealt with aspects of mythology he'd previously touched upon in Thor.

 The New Gods would establish this new mythos, while in The Forever People Kirby would attempt to mythologize the lives of the young people he observed around him. The third book, Mister Miracle was more of a personal myth. The title character was an escape artist, which Mark Evanier suggests Kirby channeled his feelings of constraint into. Mister Miracle's wife was based in character on Kirby's wife Roz, and he even caricatured Stan Lee within the pages of the book as Funky Flashman. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid, and some of the Fourth World concepts, appeared in Jimmy Olsen before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers. The Superman figures and Jimmy Olsen faces drawn by Kirby were redrawn by Al Plastino, and later by Murphy Anderson. 

Kirby later produced other DC series such as OMAC, Kamandi, The Demon, and Kobra, and worked on such extant features as "The Losers" in Our Fighting Forces. Together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time, he worked on a new incarnation of the Sandman. Kirby produced three issues of the 1st Issue Special anthology series and created Atlas The Great, a new Manhunter, and the Dingbats of Danger Street.

Kirby's production assistant of the time, Mark Evanier, recounted that DC's policies of the era were not in sync with Kirby's creative impulses, and that he was often forced to work on characters and projects he did not like. Meanwhile, some artists at DC did not want Kirby there, as he threatened their positions in the company; they also had bad blood from previous competition with Marvel and legal problems with him. Since he was working from California, they were able to undermine his work through redesigns in the New York office.

REVIEW

If you are a ninenties creature like me, you remember all these concepts very well, because they came back in the form of Cadmus in the superman titles of the “triangle” era. This is proof that Kirby left a big legacy on more than one company. It is sometimes hard to tell where Kirby starts and where other writers come in. It is hard to tell on his Marvel work at least (and Stan Lee would often take credit for Kirby’s work). So the Fourth World is a good place to check on the real Jack Kirby. Away from Joe Simon, away from Stan Lee.

Now, about this issue. As I said, I knew most of these things from the 90′s Superman titles (that was also the last time Jimmy Olsen mattered). But I have to imagine what it was like to new readers... Jimmy Olsen readers in particular, that a few months ago were reading about Superman trying to prevent Jimmy (an adult) from being adopted. I also have to have in mind that comic-book readers were probably very aware of who Jack Kirby was. The sixties were pretty much dominated by Marvel, and a big part of that success was because of Kirby. But, as I said before, Stan Lee would take the media and take credit for everything. So I am not sure how aware casual readers were with Jack Kirby.

If they weren’t, by this issue they probably were, as DC did a lot of fanfare about the fact that Kirby was coming to DC. Some people compared Bendis coming to DC to this period of time in particular. While there are similarities, it is too early too judge Bendis legacy at this point in time.

The story in this issue is ok. There are a lot of characters and plots being introduced. It’s the first appearance of Morgan Edge, the Wild Area, the Outsiders, the Newsboy Legion (Junior) and other concepts. It is important to remark that this Newsboy Legion is not the golden age version of that group. They are the sons of the originals (and they look pretty much the same... and dress the same). Flip is a bit weird, though. I am pretty sure he doesn’t need the scuba kit on all the time. I will be reviewing the original Newsboy Legion in the golden age reviews.

The art is better than the usual Kirby style, but as it was said above, Al Plastino redrew Superman and Jimmy’s faces. This was common practice at DC, as they didn’t want their most emblematic characters changing too much from issue to issue.

I give this issue a score of 8

[jmsa1287]

Netflix's 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' Justifies TV's Reboot Obsession

hi i wrote about Netflix’s “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.” 

Peak TV requires more content than ever and creators and network suits are reaching deep into their back catalogues to bring back shows that have been off the air for years or in some cases, decades.

Over the last few years, fans have seen some of their favorites return. Some shows came back with their tried-and-true format: The gang on "Will & Grace" reunited without missing a beat and, despite its inevitable demise, the return of "Roseanne" earlier this year became one of the most-watched sitcoms of 2018. Other shows like CBS's "MacGyver," Fox's "Last Man Standing," Netflix's "Lost in Space" and the CW's "Dynasty" have been rebooted without much notice, adding to the fatigue some audiences feel with TV's obsession over resurrecting old programs.

Some series have returned with something to interesting say and weren't a simply nostalgic cash-grabs. "Twin Peaks: The Return" on Showtime was a work of art and nothing what fans expected. Netflix's "One Day at a Time" is an emotional and lovely sitcom that takes on a number of today's biggest issues. And that streaming services revival of the beloved "Mystery Science Theater 3000" — with new hosts and writers — was a welcomed surprise.

Unsurprisingly it seems that Netflix has had the most success with rebooting and brining back TV shows. It's "Fuller House" reboot is said to be one of the company's most-watched shows. The "Gilmore Girls" returned for a highly anticipated new season in 2016 and the streaming service was also praised for picking up "Arrested Development" after Fox bailed on the beloved comedy. So it makes total sense that Netflix is releasing "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina," a new teen drama from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who developed the hit "Riverdale," based on the Archie Comics, for the CW.

Most people who are now in their 20s and 30s know Sabrina Spellman from their youth. "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," starring Melissa Joan Hart, was a staple on ABC's essential T.G.I.F. line-up on Friday nights in the mid 90s. Based on the Archie Comics of the same name, the light-hearted and charming sitcom had more in common with "Home Improvement" than "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." But "Chilling Adventures" is based on a new set of comic books, written by Aguirre-Sacasa (who also serves as the chief creative officer for Archie Comics), which launched in 2014. It's a darker reimagined take on the teen witch that trades in a saccharine veneer for spooky horror tropes. With some changes, Aguirre-Sacasa's new TV show brings back a classic story but with a totally fresh and thrilling take. It's one of the few new shows that justifies networks' hungry reboot phase.

Fans of the T.G.I.F. sitcom looking for a return to Westbridge, Massachusetts will be disappointed. But if they do decide to stick around in Greendale they will treated to a haunting delight. Sure, "Chilling Adventures" is closer to a teen version of "American Horror Story" than "Pretty Little Liars," but it's a refreshing take. Like the 90s sitcom, Sabrina (played here by the wonderful Kiernan Shipka) is being forced to chose how she wants to live the rest of her life. On her 16th birthday, which happens to be Halloween, Sabrina, half witch and half human, will have to pick between her two identities: Leave all her human friends behind and start a new life at a new school as a witch, or forget about that enticing and mysterious world and give up her powers to live life as a normal teen girl. Her decision is what sparks most of the tension and drama in the first season, especially when it comes to her family: Her two aunts Hilda (Lucy Davis) and Zelda (Miranda Otto), and her cousin Ambrose (Chance Perdomo).

Of course, "Chilling Adventures" has plenty of similarities to "Riverdale" (the two shows are set in the same universe) and Aguirre-Sacasa's over-the-top writing (a la Ryan Murphy) is imprinted all over the new show. Fans of the wild Archie Andrews teen drama will surly binge watch the ten compelling episodes of "Chilling Adventures" as it's just as addicting and soapy as what made "Riverdale" a cultural hit.

Like "Riverdale," the new series is pretty woke and diverse, taking on a number of hot button issues that teens face today, including bullying and assault, censorship and women's rights. It also has actors of color and queer characters, including Ambrose who is pansexual and Sabrina's confidant. (Though, he's a tragic figure who is bound to the Spellman house and cannot leave the property.)

While Season 1 of "Chilling Adventures" is sharp, witty and straight up scary at times (it makes "Haunting of Hill House" a cakewalk) it's hard to tell how long Aguirre-Sacasa and Co. can sustain this enchanting tale. "Riverdale" is already approaching its third season and has absolutely gone off the rails. Teen shows develop ardent fan bases but, like a many network programs, the quality of the shows quickly deteriorate. Having to come up with plot and twists for dozens of episodes is a hard task. But even if the solid first season of "Chilling Adventures" is all that's in the (spell) books, it still proves that reboots can yield exciting and fresh TV shows.

[tvtheorist]

Episode 3: Not Your Typical Love Triangle

The scene opens with everyone in the seminar and COULSON is addressing the class, he is discussing what they have been going over what they have accomplished in the last few weeks of classes. He tells them their first practical is to take place soon and they should all be prepared to go at a moments notice. That's when there is a hand raised.

COULSON: MS. REYES?

Flashback to the selection committee, RAVEN'S file is placed in the middle of the table and DR. SINCLAIR is saying her name the same time as COULSON is real time.

SINCLAIR : MS. RAVEN REYES. She is twenty-five years old, first generation Puerto-Rican American who has broken through all the walls put before her, she received her bachelors in Materials science and engineering and mechanical engineering where she received top honors. She got her masters here in Mechanical engineering and engineering mechanics. She is not only the top ranking female engineer in the United States but she is the top ranking engineer of ANY gender. There is not an engineer out there that can do what she can, literally. Just name something you think she can't do and she will prove you wrong.

PIKE: Yes, SINCLAIR we know what you think of your protégé and I dare say she is certainly a formidable applicant. It would be hard for any of us to deny she is certainly qualified.

COULSON: Probably our quickest decision today!

SINCLAIR puts her file on the board next to OCTAVIA'S, he does so with a proud dad smile.

Back to present time and COULSON is addressing RAVEN in the seminar

COULSON: MS. REYES?

RAVEN: Are we not going to address the elephant in the room?...The missing people? In the last few weeks we have gone from around 100 students to 92. What happened to PASCAL, HARPER, and the other students?

COULSON: That is of no concern to you, your mission here is to research, doesn't this always happen? Students drop out of programs all the time.

RAVEN: Yeah, but, After you guys kicked HAR[ER out I haven't been able to even get ahold of her, she hasn't been on social media, nothing?

COULSON: What are you trying to say? That WE took her? Has is occurred to you that maybe you weren't as close to her as you thought? Or that she is in police custody for her prolific drug usage? Let's get back to the task at hand.

He begins to go back to talking about the information at hand but RAVEN is not convinced or happy with the response she was given.

After the seminar RAVEN goes to her class, it is led by SINCLAIR, MURPHY is there along with MILLER , MONTY, and ZAYDAY. He is talking about how essential all aspects of engineering are to a collapsing society. RAVEN is entirely out of it during class, she is gazing off, at the end of class everyone gets up to leave but RAVEN is still in her seat. SINCLAIR comes over to her.

SINCLAIR: REYES. Are you alright?

She was startled and she realizes everyone is gone.

RAVEN: What? Yeah, I'm fine….Actually, no I'm not. People are going missing, and not just here, everywhere. I really feel like COULSON is hiding something from us.

SINCLAIR: I think you're letting the mission of this program get to you, people go missing all the time.

RAVEN: Yeah, but, I don't know, my gut is telling me this time is different.

SINCLAIR: I know things have been hard for you these last few months with your break up from FINN, I mean ten years, that's a long time to be with someone -

RAVEN: I'm fine. This doesn't have anything to do with that…Just forget it about it. You're probably right. I'm just looking for signs of the end of the world when there aren't any. I gotta go. Nice chat.

She gets up and leaves the classroom, leaving SINCLAIR to watch her leave with a concerned look.

ABBY is in the hospital and she is tending to her patient that was bitten in the last episode. She comes in and sees blood in the waste bucket next to the girl, it appears she coughed up blood. ABBY is shocked to see this and she continues to tend to the girl who is out right now from the pain. She is amazed this is all from a bite.

Next we see FINN and FELICITY finishing have sex before cuddling on a bed. FINN is watching her with curious eyes. She giggles before speaking

FELICITY: What?

FINN: Nothing, just looking at how beautiful you are.

FELICITY: You're cute.

They lay there for a few moments and FELICITY notices that something is on his mind.

FELICITY: What are you thinking about?

FINN: What RAVEN said in the seminar. About the people going missing….

FELICITY: Do you think she's right? I mean, I didn't talk to PASCAL or HARPER or any of the others that have left in the past few weeks.

FINN: I talked to PASCAL, some. We're both apart of the same dark web forums, he hasn't been on there since he left. I thought maybe he was…I don't know. Busy.

FELICITY: Well COULSON said HARPER could be in police custody, that's easy to check right? Just get MONTY to hack in to the police database.

FINN: Just get him to hack….Yeah should be easy for him…..Have you tried asking your mom?

FELICITY: Really? You think she'd tell me anything? She makes me call her DR. GRIFFIN in class, she won't tell me anything she wouldn't tell any other student.

FINN smiles at her and they both lay there a little longer.

Flashback to the selection committee. BEAUREGARD places both FELICITY-CLARKE and FINN'S file's on the center of the table.

BEAUREGARD: FINN COLLINS and FELICITY-CLARKE GRIFFIN. I think we should talk about them as a pair, although they both have very different academic background. FINN COLLINS is twenty-five years old and obtained his bachelor's in Government and in Philosophy before continuing to go on to obtain his master's in both political theory and in philosophy. MS. GRIFFIN is twenty four years old and obtained her bachelor's degree in Human biology, health, and society with a minor in Sociology. She went on and obtained her master's in Sociology. I give them to you as a pair because they have recently obtained recognition as a pair for their award nominated documentary that they made together on the recent elections and the opinions of the millennial generation and their concerns with the direction the country is taking. They used both of their skills and combined them and worked together to create something so unique and fluid.

KANE: Yes, by combining their two fields they set an example of the type of team work we need from this research program, the type of comradery that will be needed from our students if they wish to succeed during the practical portion of this first research semester.

ABBY GRIFFIN is looking like a proud mother at the mention of her daughter's name but does not speak on her because she does not want to seem bias, also she knows that her daughter's file speaks for itself. They are quickly added to the board along side RAVEN'S name.

Next we see JASPER and MONTY are sitting in a common area looking at funny stuff on the internet when RAVEN comes up to them.

RAVEN: JASPER, MONTY. Can you guys look into something for me?

MONTY: Want me to hack into the police database and see if HARPER was arrested?

RAVEN: How did you -

MONTY: You guys might have broken up but you still think alike.

MONTY is pulling up what he found on the database and RAVEN is looking on

MONTY: No record of her being arrested, booked, questioned, nothing. I also checked the school's records, no record of her ever being in the program. No record or her living in the dorm, nor is there record of any of the other eight students being apart of it either.

FINN: That's insane.

FINN and FELICITY are there now. RAVEN looks a little uncomfortable being so close to her ex and his new girlfriend but she sticks to the task at hand.

MONTY: That's not even the worst of it.

JASPER: We went a step further and hacked into COULSON'S emails.

FELICITY: You guys could get in serious trouble for that!

JASPER: That's if we get caught. And my main man MONTY here, he never get's caught.

RAVEN: What did you find?

MONTY: Well aside from his sexting between NIA, I found emails about a secret 'project' by his company sponsored by the great U.S. government.

JASPER: Project WILD FIRE.

RAVEN: That's the drug, HARPER tried.

FELICITY: Yeah well, it looks like their project, WILD FIRE, is spreading like wild fire.

MONTY: But not the way they wanted it too. His more recent emails indicate that something is going wrong. Something they didn't plan for.

FINN: What?

MONTY: That's just it, I don't know. There aren't any details.

They all share concerned looks.

FREYA is sitting in her room on the couch when she hears a knock on the door. FREYA gets up and answers it. To her surprise it is RAVEN. She motions for her to come in.

FREYA: This is weird, I didn't know we were friends…

RAVEN: We're not.

She realizes that sounds bad, she didn't mean to do that. FREYA raises her eyebrows.

RAVEN: What I meant to say was, I need to ask you a favor.

FREYA: Uhh, sure, okay, what do you need?

RAVEN: Have you seen that video? The bodycam of the cop-

FREYA: Yeah, I saw it. It's not real.

RAVEN: I'm not so sure.

FREYA: What about it though?

RAVEN: I was wondering if you would go talk to BEAUREGARD about why people are going missing from the program, eight people is a lot.

FREYA: I heard some went home, dropped out. Others we're caught with drugs in their room during the fire drill, COULSON told us this in the seminar. I don't understand?

RAVEN: That's the thing. I don't believe him.

FREYA: I thought FINN was the one with the conspiracy theories.

This annoys RAVEN.

RAVEN: Look, are you going to help me or not?

FREYA: Fine. I'll try my best, but we aren't really together at the moment so I can't promise you he'll tell me anything.

RAVEN: But you'll try?

FREYA: Yes. I'll try.

RAVEN smiles and leaves. FREYA just looks curious, shakes her head and goes back to the couch working on what she was working on before RAVEN interrupted.

Next we see STAVO and BROOKE sitting together chatting in hushed voiced over their affair STAVO wants to come clean to BELLAMY but BROOKE doesn't want to. Suddenly BELLAMY comes up with MURPHY who is giving them a look of disapproval while BELLAMY is none the wiser he gives BROOKE a quick kiss and sits down and they talk about what RAVEN said in the seminar earlier. Then they chat a bit about the progress they have made now that it's been about a month since classes started. They speculate when their first practical is going to be.

Freya is outside of Beauregard's door. She takes a deep breath before knocking on the door. He comes to the door after a moment and beckons her inside. Once inside they are standing there a bit awkwardly for a long moment. No one wanting to talk first.

BEAUREGARD: I'm sorry.

Freya is confused and ruffles her eyebrows.

FREYA: For what? You didn't do anything?

BEAUREGARD: For putting our relationship in jeopardy. I love you and I know you're brilliant and only wanted to make sure you got the recognition you deserved. I know over the years you've been looked over because Laertes has the same degree and the same grades as you but doesn't date a member of the faculty. I know it's my fault a lot of your accomplishments have been diminished.

Freya looks at him with an intense look one that Beauregard is unsure if it is anger or love. Suddenly Freya throws herself into Beauregard's arms and kisses him.

FREYA: I love you too.

They continue kissing and slowly begin to remove clothing and make their way up the stairs and into the bedroom to make love.

BELLAMY and MURPHY are entering STAVO'S room to hang out with him, when they enter he isn't there it seems, but then they hear a crash coming from his bedroom, they go to inspect it and when they open the door they see STAV O and BROOKE scrambling to put on their clothes.

BELLAMY: What the hell is going on here?

BROOKE: BELLAMY, it's not what it looks like.

BELLAMY: Oh yeah? Try me.

STAVO: I'm sorry, we wanted to tell you.

BELLAMY: (sarcastic chuckle) you wanted to tell me? Yeah? Okay, well when were you going to tell me you were sleeping with my girlfriend?...Yeah I thought so. Whatever.

BELLAMY goes to leave and MURPHY looks at STAVO disappointedly and BROOKE looks like she is going to cry and MURPHY follows BELLAMY out.

RAVEN is walking out of the dorm and she is looking at her phone as she goes. She texts Freya a message that reads "Find out anything yet?" She isn't paying attention to where she is going and runs into BELLAMY who is fleeing the scene of STAVO and BROOKE'S affair. Her stuff she was carrying falls the ground.

RAVEN: Shit.

BELLAMY: I'm sorry. Here let me get it.

He bends down and get's her stuff and hands it back to her. He can tell she is looking a bit flustered.

BELLAMY: What's up? Still stressing over the missing students?

RAVEN: I wouldn't be stressing if I didn't think something bad has happened to them. This stuff (She motions the stuff back in her arms) is HARPER'S. She isn't answering my texts or calls but I'm going to try and get it back to her anyways.

BELLAMY: How when you don't know where she is?

RAVEN: Her apartment she lived in before this semester is just off campus. I figured I'd try her there. Maybe she was still under lease. I mean it's only been three weeks.

BELLAMY: It's late. It's dark. I'll go with you.

RAVEN scoffs.

RAVEN: I can take care of myself.

She begins to walk away. He follows anyway.

BELLAMY: Well. I don't have anywhere to go and I need to keep myself busy right now so I'm coming anyways.

RAVEN rolls her eyes.

RAVEN: Fine. Let's go then.

They head off campus to HARPER'S apartment.

FELICITY CLARKE and FINN are in the hospital and they are looking for ABBY. There are a lot of sick people at the hospital. FINN takes his camera out and starts to record it. Eventually they run into a busy ABBY who appears flustered and rushed.

FELICITY: Mom!

ABBY stops and turns to her daughter and FINN.

ABBY: Imogene. I can't talk right now.

She turns her attention to FINN and puts her hand on his camera lens.

ABBY: You can't film in here, Tristan. Stop.

FINN listens and puts his camera away.

FELICITY: Are all these people sick with the same thing?

She is looking around at all the sick people…she doesn't notice the look on her mother's face as she asks this questions. ABBY'S face is full of shock and fear.

ABBY: Come on, get. You don't need to be here.

She is shooing them out of the hospital. ABBY notices FELICITY is still waiting for an answer.

ABBY: It's just fall time allergies. This is normal for this time of year.

FELICITY and FINN are unconvinced but go to leave anyways. As they leave the audience sees OCTAVIA sneaking in and scrubbing up undetected.

Flashback.

We see FELICITY at her Dad's hospital bedside. He appears to be really sick. We see ABBY speaking to another doctor outside the room and in a hushed voice.

JACKSON: FELICITY is a match for the kidney transplant.

ABBY does not look happy. She sighs deeply and closes her eyes and takes a long pause before speaking

ABBY: She's 17.

JACKSON: But this could save her father's life. The cancer will spread if he doesn't get a transplant soon. It should be FELICITY'S choice.

ABBY: She might need her kidney…she doesn't know what could happen in the future.

JACKSON: But your husband will have a chance at beating cancer

ABBY: At the cost of my daughter.

ABBY looks in at her daughter and her husband clearly worried about what could happen to both of them.

Back at Beauregard's place Freya and Beauregard lay in bed after having sex. Freya has her head on his chest, she takes a deep breath before speaking.

FREYA: Have you seen that body cam video going around?

BEAUREGARD: No. I haven't but I heard about it.

FREYA: Do you think it's real?

BEAUREGARD: I don't know.

FREYA: So there is something the teachers aren't telling us.

She sits up next to him on her elbows facing him. He looks stunned not knowing what to say.

FREYA: What happened to HARPER?

BEAUREGARD: What COULSON told all of you in the Seminar.

FREYA: You're lying.

BEAUREGARD: Freya. What do you want me to say? Isn't this what we said we wouldn't do?

FREYA: We have a right to know what is happening to our friends.

BEAUREGARD: Maybe. But it isn't my place to tell you, sorry, you did THIS for nothing.

Freya is fuming. Is that what he thinks this was about?

FREYA: You think that's what this is about?

BEAUREGARD: I do.

FREYA: Whatever. I'm done. We're done. All of it.

She gets up and puts her clothes on quickly before leaving. Beauregard doesn't try to stop her because he's angry at her too.

RAVEN and BELLAMY arrive at HARPER'S apartment which is dark. RAVEN has been knocking a bunch of times and is concerned. She turns to BELLAMY.

RAVEN: She must not be home. I still have a key….

She looks at the door for a long moment before using it to open the door. They enter and BELLAMY hits the lights but they don't turn on.

RAVEN: HARPER? Are you here?

They are looking around, BELLAMY is about to set down the books on the table and they are about to leave when they here a crash in the next room. They stop dead in their tracks and someone enters the room slowly but with a purpose. RAVEN begins to walk up to her

RAVEN: HARPER? Are you okay?

BELLAMY: Wait stop.

RAVEN turns to look at BELLAMY and when she does we can see HARPER, her eyes are glossed over and she looks dead. She reaches for RAVEN and she's strong RAVEN falls to the ground.

RAVEN: HARPER, what are you doing?

HARPER is on top of her trying to bite her. BELLAMY tries to come help and tries to get her off of her but man she is strong. He picks up the textbooks he put down to help and he hits her over the head with it once. She stops for a moment but she starts again. He hits her again. And again. Finally on the third hit she stops and falls off RAVEN, her head bleeding and the textbook has blood on it too much to BELLAMY'S horror, his eyes widen. RAVEN notices and gets him and grabs him by the arm.

RAVEN: We need to go. Now.

She is pulling his arm and goes.

BELLAMY: (Whispering) I'm sorry.

He turns from HARPER and leaves thinking he just murdered someone.

OCTAVIA is in the hospital in scrubs sneaking around doing her own investigative work. She finally finds what she was looking for, the patient's room from the prior week. She looks around at the girl who is still alive but looks awful. Suddenly the monitor flat lines. Before OCTAVIA can do anything other nurses are rushing is

NURSE: (To OCTAVIA) You should know better. We have to move her immediately after the flat line. Come on let's move her.

They don't know she doesn't belong. OCTAVIA helps them move the girls bed out of them room and into the basement where they use something to stab her in the head causing OCTAVIA to jump in horror. They then pick up the girl's body and throw her into a large pile of other bodies that also have stab wounds in their brains. OCTAVIA sees this and is horrified and runs out of the hospital as fast as she can. The nurses are calling after her but she doesn't care. Once outside she stops to breathe and takes her face mask off. She begins to cry.

Flashback.

We see FELICITY in the hospital room with her father again and ABBY is outside the room looking in still. This is a continuation of the last flashback. ABBY enters the room holding the documents that say FELICITY is a viable donor. FELICITY and her father both look up at ABBY as she enters the room.

FELICITY: Are those the results?

FELICITY is eager to find out the results. ABBY nods slowly.

FELICITY: Well?

FELICITY'S father places a hand on hers as a way to calm her eagerness. After a long moment ABBY speaks

ABBY: You're not a match.

FELICITY begins to cry. Her father let's out a sigh and closes his eyes.

JAKE GRIFFIN: I didn't want you to give me your kidney anyways FELICITY CLARKE.

FELICITY: I don't want to lose you.

He hugs his daughter and then reaches out for a crying ABBY to join their hug. She does.

Freya is on her way back to the dorm when she runs into FELICITY and FINN. They walk together.

FREYA: Where are you two coming from?

FELICITY: We went to see my mother at the hospital to try and get some answers from her.

FINN: Look.

They all stop for a moment and FINN shows her his camera and the footage from the hospital.

FINN: All those people are in there sick and DR. GRIFFIN tried to tell us it's just fall allergies.

Freya is looking in shock. FELICITY looks to Freya curiously.

FELICITY: Where are you coming from?

FREYA: BEAUREGARD'S. RAVEN asks me to talk to him to see what he knew.

FINN: Well?

FREYA: He wouldn't tell me anything but he definitely knows something.

They all continue walking back to the dorm together.

RAVEN and BELLAMY are running into RAVEN'S dorm room. They are out of breath. BELLAMY sees some blood on his hands and immediately runs to the kitchen sink to scrub off his hands.

BELLAMY: What the hell happened back there?

RAVEN: You saved my life.

BELLAMY: I killed HARPER.

RAVEN: We don't know that.

BELLAMY turns to RAVEN looking angry. He is yelling

BELLAMY: We just ran we didn't even try to help her.

RAVEN: She was trying to bite me. She looked just like that girl in the body cam video. Look you saved my life, BELLAMY.

She is holding his head and they are close. She keeps telling him over and over again,

RAVEN: You're okay.

They end up kissing gently then aggressively and then they end up having sex.

FREYA is with FELICITY, FINN, JASPER, and MONTY looking at MONTY'S computer in disgust. They are showing her the emails.

FREYA: This is awful.

JASPER: You should see his sexts between DR. NIA…Disgusting.

OCTAVIA comes in.

OCTAVIA: Guys. You'll never believe what I just witnessed at the hospital.

Everyone looks at her.

Flashback.

We see it is FELICITY'S father's funeral. We see ABBY go up to the casket and slip some papers into the casket. FELICITY saw her do it. FELICITY goes up soon after and takes the papers her mother slipped into the casket. She goes to the bathroom to read them.

In the bathroom Imogene reads the paper and sees that is the medical papers and it says she is a viable donor. She breaks down crying in the bathroom.

We see her father entering his grave with FELICITY watching her mother with an angry expression on her face.

FELICITY storms into the hospital alone goes right up to her mother who was coming out of her office.

FELICITY: Mother. Stop.

ABBY: I already told you I couldn't talk.

FELICITY: I'm not 17 anymore. I didn't need your protection then and I don't need it now. So tell me what the hell is going on.

ABBY'S face changes to a serious face and she pulls her daughter into her office to explain to her what is going on.

[junker-town]

Vlatko Andonovski is the most common sense hire possible for the USWNT

Vlatko Andonovski will keep everything you loved about Jill Ellis, and add a dash of tactical sophistication.

The United States women’s national team confirmed Jill Ellis’ successor Monday, announcing the hire of Reign FC head coach Vlatko Andonovski. He’ll take charge of the team for the first time on November 7, when the USWNT takes on Sweden in Columbus.

Andonovski has coached in every NWSL season, winning the NWSL Championship twice. In 2019, he guided Reign FC to the playoffs despite injuries and international call-ups forcing him to field a league record 33 different players.

Even before the search for Ellis’ successor got underway, Andonovski was clearly a leading candidate. He was named by USWNT general manager Kate Markgraf as one of the people she would interview for the job while she was still working for ESPN, after she’d agreed to become the USWNT’s general manager but before her hire was announced.

Like Ellis, Andonovski has a reputation for building positive cultures and keeping players happy. He also usually favors a 4-3-3 formation and attack-minded (though not hyper-aggressive) soccer, which should make the transition to a new coach comfortable for the players.

But unlike Ellis, Andonovski has extensive professional experience and has won championships at the highest level of club soccer. He won’t be reinventing the wheel, but he could implement a new level of tactical sophistication that pushes the USWNT forward in an era when its challengers are rapidly improving.

So, who is Vlatko Andonovski?

Andonovski was born in what was then Yugoslavia, and is now North Macedonia. He came to the United States in 2000 to play professional indoor soccer, never left, and settled into coaching after his playing career ended.

Before he was hired as FC Kansas City’s first head coach, Andonovski made a name for himself in that region’s girls’ youth soccer scene, as well as men’s indoor soccer. He guided FCKC to the playoffs in his first season in charge, then won the NWSL Championship in 2014 and 2015.

Unfortunately for Andonovski and his squad, problems with FCKC ownership made it difficult to attract a replacement for Lauren Holiday following her retirement. He moved on to Reign FC in late 2017, shortly before FCKC folded and the rights of its players were transferred to Utah. The Reign finished in the top four in both of his seasons in charge, after missing the playoffs in the two seasons prior.

He’s gotten the most out of USWNT stars

Some USWNT stars have enjoyed the best years of their careers under Andonovski.

Holiday’s position on the national team changed constantly throughout her career, but Andonovski was the only coach to play her in arguably her best position, as a central attacking midfielder just behind a striker. She won the 2013 NWSL MVP award, leading the league in both goals and assists, as well as the 2014 NWSL championship game MVP.

Becky Sauerbrunn was usually the third or fourth center back on the USWNT before NWSL started, fighting for minutes even as Pia Sundhage and Tom Sermanni struggled to find a consistent central defense pairing. But under Andonovski, Sauerbrunn won three consecutive NWSL defender of the year awards, and has since gone on to make the league’s best XI in every season she has played in the league. Under Ellis, Sauerbrunn became a locked-in starter and the leader of the USWNT defense in two World Cup-winning campaigns.

Andonovski was also instrumental in reviving the career of Amy Rodriguez, who had fallen out of favor with the USWNT by the time the NWSL started in 2012. While other coaches primarily valued Rodriguez for her speed, Andonovski identified her skill at dropping deep, holding up the ball, and combining with teammates. He played Rodriguez in a new role, and she enabled Holiday and other stars to succeed. Rodriguez continues to play the role Andonovski first put her in for other coaches.

Allie Long also had her career turned around under Andonovski. She was benched during the end of her stint with Portland, who couldn’t find the right role for her in their midfield. Andonovski slotted Long into defensive midfield, where she had struggled for the USWNT, and she improved rapidly at that position. Her performances under Andonovski got her back on the national team for the World Cup.

He’s popular among players

On Thursday, Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl reported that Andonovski was the hire that USWNT players wanted:

“Multiple sources said Andonovski was by far the preferred choice of the current USWNT players, some of whom have said they were consulted by WNT GM Kate Markgraf as she went through her search process.”

This is consistent with everything I’ve ever heard about Andonovski. When FCKC’s ownership troubles started in 2016, multiple players told me that the opportunity to play for Andonovski was the only reason that they had not requested a trade or retired from NWSL. He drew significant praise from his goalkeeper Casey Murphy after the Reign’s playoff semifinal loss. Andonovski isn’t going to have trouble getting players to like him.

Tactical adaptability is a big plus

While Andonovski has preferred a 4-3-3 system with relatively aggressive pressing and a pure holding midfielder for defensive solidity, he has shown that he can adapt to available personnel.

In early seasons with Kansas City, Andonovski favored a 4-2-3-1 formation to get the most out of his best player, Holiday. He recognized that he had a special talent, worthy of building an entire system around, and it brought him two championships.

In the latter part of his tenure with Kansas City, Andonovski attempted to build a 4-4-2 system around Rodriguez as his primary link between midfield and new goal-poaching striker Sydney Leroux, but Rodriguez tore her ACL in the first game of the 2017 season. His team struggled without Rodriguez, but improved late in the season when Christina Gibbons — who primarily played winger in college, and had been playing left back for FCKC — was moved into midfield. Without a linking player like Rodriguez or a midfielder who could consistently complete long passes, Andonovski put on his problem-solving hat and found a player who could dribble through midfield instead.

Expect Andonovski to start out with a system that looks familiar to both you and the players, but know that he has the capacity to adjust if he has a good reason to do so.

Can he turn youngsters into top pros?

While Andonovski has historically given plenty of minutes to young American players directly out of college, his track record with developing draftees into stars isn’t good. Kristie Mewis and Kassey Kallman, his first two first round selections, were shipped out of Kansas City after disappointing rookie campaigns. Gibbons looked like she was on a better track before Andonovski joined the Reign, but she is now out of pro soccer. He did not have any first round selections as Reign FC manager.

This is relevant given the age of many USWNT players. A whopping 12 members of the World Cup squad were 30 or older. One of them, Alex Morgan, will miss at least the next six months due to pregnancy.

There are a handful of USWNT hopefuls who have started their pro careers, but most of the players from the 2016 and 2017 NWSL drafts — who should be entering their primes — have disappointed. Rookies from this past season and college stars like Emily Fox, Jaelin Howell and Catarina Macario appear to have much more upside.

Andonovski is going to need to get some inexperienced talents up to USWNT speed very quickly, and there’s no body of evidence that points to his ability to do so. If you’re looking for a reason to be concerned about Andonovski’s hire, this is it, though it’s a very mild concern. He never got the opportunity to draft a player like No. 1 overall picks Tierna Davidson and Andi Sullivan, so we have no idea how obvious USWNT-caliber players would have performed under him.

Who’s in and out?

We’re not going to have a lot of information about who Andonovski rates and who he doesn’t until next spring. The two games he takes charge of in November will include mostly players who participated in the World Cup. Then in December, a camp will be held explicitly for players who are not current USWNT regulars. From a combination of those two pools, Andonovski will put together a first team squad that’s to his liking in early 2020.

But wild guesses are fun, so let’s take some wild guesses:

With Alex Morgan out, Christen Press will get the first chance to prove she should be the starting center forward.

Andonovski isn’t as dogmatic as Ellis about his fullbacks needing to be great attackers, so Casey Short will get the opportunity to compete for a starting fullback role. Same goes for Davidson, who looks just as capable at left back as she does at center back.

That will move Crystal Dunn back into the rotation in more attacking spots, where she plays for the North Carolina Courage.

Julie Ertz will become a full-time center back to save her legs and extend her career.

Lynn Williams, who didn’t mesh with Ellis, will become a squad regular again.

Alyssa Naeher will have a fair shot to keep the No. 1 shirt, but other goalkeepers will be given a chance to win the job.

We’ll learn a bit about what Andonovski is thinking in November games against Sweden and Costa Rica, and a bit more during the B-team games in December. But it won’t be until next year that we really start to get a grasp on the direction he wants to take the team.

Fans who mostly liked the direction of the USWNT should be very happy with Andonovski, though. He’s not going to blow up the program, but he is going to freshen up the squad and bring a higher level of pro experience than the team’s previous two managers. He’s as common sense a hire as U.S. Soccer could have made.

[douglassmiith]

When a Company Outgrows Its Founders: How a Little Breakfast Chain Plans to Go Big

Eggs Up Grill is a quirky, homegrown, Southeast breakfast chain. With new owners and a mandate to grow, the brand has a delicate balance to strike.

March 5, 2020 15 min read

This story appears in the March 2020 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

After the papers had been signed and the hands shaken, Skip Corn turned to his partner, Chris Skodras. “I don’t want to go cry in front of my wife,” Corn said in his distinct Southern drawl. “But I can cry in front of you.” 

And he did. So did Skodras. “We cried every day for six months,” says Corn, 68. “To hand your baby off to somebody — it’s a traumatic experience.” 

Over more than a decade, these two friends had built a 32-unit franchise called Eggs Up Grill, based in South Carolina. They wanted their restaurants to have small-town charm, so they ran the company with a small-town ethos. Everything was done with love and gut instinct. They answered the phones; they solved franchisees’ problems. They insisted that every franchisee also work in their restaurant so customers could come and shake the owner’s hand. And now Skodras and Corn had gone and sold the majority of their company to a private equity group, the kind of buyer that’s often demonized for slash-and-burn, profit-at-all-costs tactics.

Tears were understandable.

But so far, at least, Eggs Up is not looking like a private equity horror story. Instead, it’s looking like something far less dramatic, but a lot more common and instructive. It’s a tale of what happens when a company becomes too big for its founders and more experienced operators come in to wrestle with its full potential. The private equity group that bought Eggs Up Grill is called WJ Partners, and it has some experience in this game. It acquired Pure Barre in 2012 and eventually sold the fitness studio to bigger investors; by the time WJ fully exited in 2018, Pure Barre had exploded from 96 to more than 500 locations.

Related: 5 Tips for Expanding Your Small Business (The Right Way)

So if you live in the Southeast but haven’t heard of Eggs Up Grill — well, you’re about to. Shortly after the acquisition in 2018, the new owners installed a team of franchise veterans led by CEO Ricky Richardson, the former president of TGI Fridays. Eggs Up has already scaled to 40 locations and announced aggressive plans to reach 100 by mid-2022.

As it grows, Eggs Up will face a predictable question: How much can this growing company retain its authenticity? But that may not be the right way to look at it. Here’s another question that, in the end, might really be more important: How much of that authenticity was holding the company back?

Because the thing is, sometimes too much charm can be bad for business.

Rewind a few decades, and Eggs Up never looked like the kind of company on a path to private equity. Chris Skodras opened the first one himself in 1986, in Rhode Island. More than a decade later, he moved to South Carolina and brought his diner with him — reopening Eggs Up in Pawleys Island, S.C., just south of Myrtle Beach. It built a loyal following of families and beachgoers, and in 2005, Skodras decided to give franchising a shot.

That’s how he got talking to Skip Corn. The two men attended the same Friday morning Bible-study group, and Corn brought his kids and grandkids to Eggs Up every Sunday after church. Corn had just spent a career in management for the PGA Tour and was reinventing himself as a business consultant. In 2005, he signed a one-year contract with Eggs Up. 

The duo became fast pals, and business thrived. “It was a friendship made in heaven, quite frankly,” says Corn. “He knew I was gonna do my job, and I knew he was gonna do his.” In time, Corn’s yearlong contract evolved into a 50-50 partnership. Skodras handled day-to-day operations; Corn took on accounting, marketing agency, compliance, and franchise sales.

There’s a story Corn likes to tell to illustrate Eggs Up’s franchisee-acquisition process —­ and, for that matter, the business’s entire ethos. One day, a guy named Michael McNeal calls up. He’s a UPS driver looking to start his own business. He already has approval for an SBA loan, so Corn drives seven and a half hours to meet McNeal near his home in Albany, Ga.

“I said, ‘Michael, what do you want to accomplish?’ ” Corn recalls. Before he could answer, the prospective franchisee’s wife cut in: “We want Michael to coach [his son’s] baseball team.” 

Corn’s eyes lit up. Eggs Up Grill wasn’t looking for franchisees with restaurateur ambitions. It wanted regular folks like McNeal, who wanted to spend time with their kids. “What we focused on was character, morals, and ethics,” says Corn. “And we really felt like the Lord was bringing us good people.”

Related: What You Need To Know Before Starting A Franchise Business

Eggs Up grew slowly and steadily like this, signing new franchisees whose hearts passed the purity test. Many franchisees were drawn in by the brand’s guidelines: The restaurant would never open past lunch — its hours were 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. And franchisees needed to work in their store, meeting customers face-to-face. “Chris and I both knew we were never going to be gigantic doing it that way,” says Corn. “But we sure found incredible people.” 

Still, the strategy also risked alienating incredible people.

One of them was Drew Hampton, a local who already was a multi-unit franchisee of Groucho’s Deli. He was a happy Eggs Up customer. The staff was unusually friendly; even the bussers were chatty. “They paid attention to the customer, and people are drawn to that,” he says. So he called Eggs Up and asked to become a franchisee, and in 2014, he opened the brand’s 11th store.

The place was an instant hit, with 600 to 700 customers visiting every Saturday and Sunday. Hampton was eager to open a second store — but  Skodras and Corn weren’t interested. “If you want to open a second or third store, they’re not going to be successful,” he recalls them saying, “because you’re not going to be there.” 

“I don’t want to own just one restaurant!” Hampton replied. “I want to own several and be able to scale something.”

At the time, Eggs Up had a strict rule. The on-site manager (who was usually the franchisee) had to own at least 10 percent of the franchise. Hampton could open a second location…but someone else would have to own 10 percent and work the floor. He didn’t want that. 

This kind of friction isn’t uncommon in founder-run franchise systems, says Benjamin Lawrence, Ph.D., a professor of franchise entrepreneurship at Georgia State University. “The thing about founders is that they have a very different relationship to the brand,” he says. “They’re fundamentally interested in the brand as a reflection of their self-identity.” 

It was true: Corn and Skodras valued personal relationships as much as growth. Over the years, Corn was contacted by several multi-unit operators looking to buy multiple locations, but he turned them down. “They don’t really know us, and we don’t really know them,” he reasoned.

In the end, Hampton relented. He found a partner and opened his second Eggs Up Grill as a part owner. On opening day, he says, nobody from corporate showed up. “They created a great brand,” he says. “But to take it to the next level, they needed help.”

Eventually, Skodras and Corn would agree — which is how they got to private equity.

Image Credit: Alvaro Dominguez

Over the years, private equity has taken a serious interest in franchising. Investment groups have acquired Buffalo Wild Wings, Ruby Tuesday, and the Texas chain Whataburger.  

“Private equity likes franchising because they only have to invest limited amounts of capital for a high return,” says Lawrence, the Georgia State professor. Franchisees, of course, are the ones funding their locations, as well as managing employees. 

For investors looking to scale fast, a company like Eggs Up Grill makes a decent proposition. It’s more nimble than breakfast titans like IHOP and Denny’s, and its restaurants require only about half the square footage. (Both IHOP and Denny’s are in the process of rolling out smaller concepts.) And because Eggs Up Grill offers limited hours of operation, serving breakfast and lunch crowds only, food and labor costs are lower. 

But success is never guaranteed. Following a bad private equity deal in 2006, Quiznos lost 90 percent of its stores. And in 2010, private equity tried to scale Washington State’s Papa Murphy’s too fast. The plan backfired, and stores shut down. 

“I’m not saying private equity is bad,” says Lawrence. “It can improve the system or get rid of low performers. But it does change the nature of the relationship.” When the strategy becomes hyperfocused on growth, decisions can become aggressive or risky. 

But risk is relative. It’s a question of what you’re comparing it against. And in the case of Eggs Up, nonaggression was starting to look risky, too.

Skodras and Corn wanted to keep their organization lean and personal. For years, it was just the two of them, and even when they started growing, the corporate team never had more than five people, which meant nobody had assistants. They didn’t even have voicemail systems. “We answered the phone ourselves,” Corn says. But as they reached 20-plus locations, that tiny corporate team was stretched thin — and franchisees noticed. Sure, they could reach Skodras or Corn directly, but it could take days to actually get their attention.

Related: Our 41st Annual Franchise 500 Ranking

“They just didn’t have the infrastructure to be able to grow the brand like it was capable of,” says franchisee Scott Johnson. “They were more interested in quality than quantity.”

Around 2015, private equity firms started reaching out to Eggs Up. Generally, Skodras and Corn declined the meetings. They knew they were stretched thin, and they didn’t think they could do what these firms were proposing with five employees.

Then WJ Partners came along. It’s also based in South Carolina and had the personal connection Eggs Up valued: Corn knew Craig Wall, whose son, Benjamin Wall, is a founding partner. Through a friend, Corn met with Wall and his wife, Jaime, who’s also a WJ partner. “I was talking to people I knew, trusted, and felt comfortable with,” he says. Corn was also comforted by the fact that WJ Partners uses its own money; it doesn’t work with outside investors who might pressure it to break promises. 

The Eggs Up deal took nine months to negotiate. Corn sat down with everybody at WJ Partners, “even people who weren’t going to be involved,” and pressed upon them the values of the company. He felt heard. And eventually, Skodras and Corn were ready to sign—and cry. Their baby was now officially someone else’s (though they retained a vested interest in the company, with no official roles).

The news came as a shock to many. “When I found out, I was very excited. WJ Partners has a solid background in scaling concepts,” says Hampton, the franchisee who had to give up equity in his second location.

The reality, he says, is that Eggs Up is easier to operate with private equity at the helm. In part, that’s because the new owners saw the chain very differently than the old owners. This wasn’t just a place driven by love and gut instinct anymore. Now it was a business meant to scale.

After the sale, WJ looked for a new leader to grow the company. It found that in Ricky Richardson, who had spent 20 years at TGI Fridays — including three as president. He learned a lot there but also saw what can happen when a brand loses clarity in its vision. It’s a problem for many legacy concepts and resulted in TGI Fridays closing 58 stores between 2014 and 2016. 

“It’s hard to be all things to all people,” says Richardson. “The risk there is you end up diluting what you really stand for.” And a diluted brand is easy to attack. “What historically may have been indirect competitors end up being direct competitors,” he says. “You’re not as focused as you were in the past, so people can carve off little pieces of you.”

This is why he saw so much potential in a little breakfast brand. “What’s so appealing about Eggs Up Grill is the level of authenticity that comes with it,” Richardson says. He talks a lot about authenticity. It’s a little ironic, given the transformation he’s tasked with leading, but it’s clearly germane to Eggs Up’s messaging: We may be scaling, it seems to say, but we’re still the local guys.

“That connection is really differentiating and compelling for a guest,” Richardson says.

There’s also a difference between authenticity and, well, inefficiencies created by authentic founders. Since joining the company in July 2018, Richardson has made fast work of plugging those holes.

For example, the once-tiny corporate team is now a lot bigger. In the past, franchisees might have waited two days to hear back from someone. “Now if I call, somebody will answer in 30 seconds,” franchisee Hampton says. “They give you support on marketing agency, site selection, P&Ls — they look out for the bottom line.” Plus, he says, there’s no emotion involved. “It’s just business.” 

Richardson also tightened up costs. Eggs Up used to have 72 menu items; now it has 55. He eliminated poor-performing dishes like tuna and egg salad and negotiated better deals with vendors.

Last year, he also opened a training facility and new restaurant prototype in Spartanburg, S.C., not far from Eggs Up headquarters. The store demonstrates a refreshed, contemporary look, and it has already rolled out new, Instagrammable items: a shrimp and grits omelet, baked peaches and cream pancakes.

Related: Can Jon Taffer Fix Franchise Restaurants?

To ensure consistency, Richardson created a team of franchise consultants, who visit each store a few times each quarter to check food quality and ascertain how servers, managers, and bussers interact with guests and with the franchisee. “It’s nice when they stop by,” says franchisee Rob Johnson, who works alongside his brother, Scott. “It doesn’t feel like an inspection or anything hostile.” 

But there’s no doubt about the purpose of the visits. The corporate office wants to ramp up profits and sell more stores. “We’re projecting plus or minus 18 restaurants opening in 2020, which, comparatively, is almost a 50 percent growth rate,” says Todd Owen, the company’s new VP of franchise development. “We actually opened five in January.” 

Owen, who previously helped Qdoba Mexican Eats expand from 60 to 600 locations, says he was lured in by Eggs Up’s strong market position under WJ Partners. It’s well-funded, franchisees are stoked about the brand, and Richardson has stacked the new executive team with industry veterans. 

Results are already visible. Recently, Eggs Up signed a 10-store multi-unit deal with a Wendy’s franchisee. “We want to be one of the big dogs,” says Owen. “But we’re not just wishing; we’re getting there.”

For now, Eggs Up will limit its growth to the Southeast. “I look at it like we can’t afford to make one mistake,” says Owen.  Because if Eggs Up Grill becomes just another anonymous place to buy bacon and pancakes, what does it really have to offer? 

The new challenge, then, is to figure out which parts of the old regime can help this new regime grow.

Corn has no regrets about selling. He likes the new changes and understands the value of having a big corporate office to handle the day-to-day operations. “Now instead of calling Skip for 50 percent of the answers and Chris for 50 percent of the answers, you can call one of 10 people and get somebody who’s an expert in that field,” he says. In a way, that’s what the two partners always wanted: better support for franchisees.

And unlike the old owners, 

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[riichardwilson]

When a Company Outgrows Its Founders: How a Little Breakfast Chain Plans to Go Big

Eggs Up Grill is a quirky, homegrown, Southeast breakfast chain. With new owners and a mandate to grow, the brand has a delicate balance to strike.

March 5, 2020 15 min read

This story appears in the March 2020 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

After the papers had been signed and the hands shaken, Skip Corn turned to his partner, Chris Skodras. “I don’t want to go cry in front of my wife,” Corn said in his distinct Southern drawl. “But I can cry in front of you.” 

And he did. So did Skodras. “We cried every day for six months,” says Corn, 68. “To hand your baby off to somebody — it’s a traumatic experience.” 

Over more than a decade, these two friends had built a 32-unit franchise called Eggs Up Grill, based in South Carolina. They wanted their restaurants to have small-town charm, so they ran the company with a small-town ethos. Everything was done with love and gut instinct. They answered the phones; they solved franchisees’ problems. They insisted that every franchisee also work in their restaurant so customers could come and shake the owner’s hand. And now Skodras and Corn had gone and sold the majority of their company to a private equity group, the kind of buyer that’s often demonized for slash-and-burn, profit-at-all-costs tactics.

Tears were understandable.

But so far, at least, Eggs Up is not looking like a private equity horror story. Instead, it’s looking like something far less dramatic, but a lot more common and instructive. It’s a tale of what happens when a company becomes too big for its founders and more experienced operators come in to wrestle with its full potential. The private equity group that bought Eggs Up Grill is called WJ Partners, and it has some experience in this game. It acquired Pure Barre in 2012 and eventually sold the fitness studio to bigger investors; by the time WJ fully exited in 2018, Pure Barre had exploded from 96 to more than 500 locations.

Related: 5 Tips for Expanding Your Small Business (The Right Way)

So if you live in the Southeast but haven’t heard of Eggs Up Grill — well, you’re about to. Shortly after the acquisition in 2018, the new owners installed a team of franchise veterans led by CEO Ricky Richardson, the former president of TGI Fridays. Eggs Up has already scaled to 40 locations and announced aggressive plans to reach 100 by mid-2022.

As it grows, Eggs Up will face a predictable question: How much can this growing company retain its authenticity? But that may not be the right way to look at it. Here’s another question that, in the end, might really be more important: How much of that authenticity was holding the company back?

Because the thing is, sometimes too much charm can be bad for business.

Rewind a few decades, and Eggs Up never looked like the kind of company on a path to private equity. Chris Skodras opened the first one himself in 1986, in Rhode Island. More than a decade later, he moved to South Carolina and brought his diner with him — reopening Eggs Up in Pawleys Island, S.C., just south of Myrtle Beach. It built a loyal following of families and beachgoers, and in 2005, Skodras decided to give franchising a shot.

That’s how he got talking to Skip Corn. The two men attended the same Friday morning Bible-study group, and Corn brought his kids and grandkids to Eggs Up every Sunday after church. Corn had just spent a career in management for the PGA Tour and was reinventing himself as a business consultant. In 2005, he signed a one-year contract with Eggs Up. 

The duo became fast pals, and business thrived. “It was a friendship made in heaven, quite frankly,” says Corn. “He knew I was gonna do my job, and I knew he was gonna do his.” In time, Corn’s yearlong contract evolved into a 50-50 partnership. Skodras handled day-to-day operations; Corn took on accounting, marketing agency, compliance, and franchise sales.

There’s a story Corn likes to tell to illustrate Eggs Up’s franchisee-acquisition process —­ and, for that matter, the business’s entire ethos. One day, a guy named Michael McNeal calls up. He’s a UPS driver looking to start his own business. He already has approval for an SBA loan, so Corn drives seven and a half hours to meet McNeal near his home in Albany, Ga.

“I said, ‘Michael, what do you want to accomplish?’ ” Corn recalls. Before he could answer, the prospective franchisee’s wife cut in: “We want Michael to coach [his son’s] baseball team.” 

Corn’s eyes lit up. Eggs Up Grill wasn’t looking for franchisees with restaurateur ambitions. It wanted regular folks like McNeal, who wanted to spend time with their kids. “What we focused on was character, morals, and ethics,” says Corn. “And we really felt like the Lord was bringing us good people.”

Related: What You Need To Know Before Starting A Franchise Business

Eggs Up grew slowly and steadily like this, signing new franchisees whose hearts passed the purity test. Many franchisees were drawn in by the brand’s guidelines: The restaurant would never open past lunch — its hours were 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. And franchisees needed to work in their store, meeting customers face-to-face. “Chris and I both knew we were never going to be gigantic doing it that way,” says Corn. “But we sure found incredible people.” 

Still, the strategy also risked alienating incredible people.

One of them was Drew Hampton, a local who already was a multi-unit franchisee of Groucho’s Deli. He was a happy Eggs Up customer. The staff was unusually friendly; even the bussers were chatty. “They paid attention to the customer, and people are drawn to that,” he says. So he called Eggs Up and asked to become a franchisee, and in 2014, he opened the brand’s 11th store.

The place was an instant hit, with 600 to 700 customers visiting every Saturday and Sunday. Hampton was eager to open a second store — but  Skodras and Corn weren’t interested. “If you want to open a second or third store, they’re not going to be successful,” he recalls them saying, “because you’re not going to be there.” 

“I don’t want to own just one restaurant!” Hampton replied. “I want to own several and be able to scale something.”

At the time, Eggs Up had a strict rule. The on-site manager (who was usually the franchisee) had to own at least 10 percent of the franchise. Hampton could open a second location…but someone else would have to own 10 percent and work the floor. He didn’t want that. 

This kind of friction isn’t uncommon in founder-run franchise systems, says Benjamin Lawrence, Ph.D., a professor of franchise entrepreneurship at Georgia State University. “The thing about founders is that they have a very different relationship to the brand,” he says. “They’re fundamentally interested in the brand as a reflection of their self-identity.” 

It was true: Corn and Skodras valued personal relationships as much as growth. Over the years, Corn was contacted by several multi-unit operators looking to buy multiple locations, but he turned them down. “They don’t really know us, and we don’t really know them,” he reasoned.

In the end, Hampton relented. He found a partner and opened his second Eggs Up Grill as a part owner. On opening day, he says, nobody from corporate showed up. “They created a great brand,” he says. “But to take it to the next level, they needed help.”

Eventually, Skodras and Corn would agree — which is how they got to private equity.

Image Credit: Alvaro Dominguez

Over the years, private equity has taken a serious interest in franchising. Investment groups have acquired Buffalo Wild Wings, Ruby Tuesday, and the Texas chain Whataburger.  

“Private equity likes franchising because they only have to invest limited amounts of capital for a high return,” says Lawrence, the Georgia State professor. Franchisees, of course, are the ones funding their locations, as well as managing employees. 

For investors looking to scale fast, a company like Eggs Up Grill makes a decent proposition. It’s more nimble than breakfast titans like IHOP and Denny’s, and its restaurants require only about half the square footage. (Both IHOP and Denny’s are in the process of rolling out smaller concepts.) And because Eggs Up Grill offers limited hours of operation, serving breakfast and lunch crowds only, food and labor costs are lower. 

But success is never guaranteed. Following a bad private equity deal in 2006, Quiznos lost 90 percent of its stores. And in 2010, private equity tried to scale Washington State’s Papa Murphy’s too fast. The plan backfired, and stores shut down. 

“I’m not saying private equity is bad,” says Lawrence. “It can improve the system or get rid of low performers. But it does change the nature of the relationship.” When the strategy becomes hyperfocused on growth, decisions can become aggressive or risky. 

But risk is relative. It’s a question of what you’re comparing it against. And in the case of Eggs Up, nonaggression was starting to look risky, too.

Skodras and Corn wanted to keep their organization lean and personal. For years, it was just the two of them, and even when they started growing, the corporate team never had more than five people, which meant nobody had assistants. They didn’t even have voicemail systems. “We answered the phone ourselves,” Corn says. But as they reached 20-plus locations, that tiny corporate team was stretched thin — and franchisees noticed. Sure, they could reach Skodras or Corn directly, but it could take days to actually get their attention.

Related: Our 41st Annual Franchise 500 Ranking

“They just didn’t have the infrastructure to be able to grow the brand like it was capable of,” says franchisee Scott Johnson. “They were more interested in quality than quantity.”

Around 2015, private equity firms started reaching out to Eggs Up. Generally, Skodras and Corn declined the meetings. They knew they were stretched thin, and they didn’t think they could do what these firms were proposing with five employees.

Then WJ Partners came along. It’s also based in South Carolina and had the personal connection Eggs Up valued: Corn knew Craig Wall, whose son, Benjamin Wall, is a founding partner. Through a friend, Corn met with Wall and his wife, Jaime, who’s also a WJ partner. “I was talking to people I knew, trusted, and felt comfortable with,” he says. Corn was also comforted by the fact that WJ Partners uses its own money; it doesn’t work with outside investors who might pressure it to break promises. 

The Eggs Up deal took nine months to negotiate. Corn sat down with everybody at WJ Partners, “even people who weren’t going to be involved,” and pressed upon them the values of the company. He felt heard. And eventually, Skodras and Corn were ready to sign—and cry. Their baby was now officially someone else’s (though they retained a vested interest in the company, with no official roles).

The news came as a shock to many. “When I found out, I was very excited. WJ Partners has a solid background in scaling concepts,” says Hampton, the franchisee who had to give up equity in his second location.

The reality, he says, is that Eggs Up is easier to operate with private equity at the helm. In part, that’s because the new owners saw the chain very differently than the old owners. This wasn’t just a place driven by love and gut instinct anymore. Now it was a business meant to scale.

After the sale, WJ looked for a new leader to grow the company. It found that in Ricky Richardson, who had spent 20 years at TGI Fridays — including three as president. He learned a lot there but also saw what can happen when a brand loses clarity in its vision. It’s a problem for many legacy concepts and resulted in TGI Fridays closing 58 stores between 2014 and 2016. 

“It’s hard to be all things to all people,” says Richardson. “The risk there is you end up diluting what you really stand for.” And a diluted brand is easy to attack. “What historically may have been indirect competitors end up being direct competitors,” he says. “You’re not as focused as you were in the past, so people can carve off little pieces of you.”

This is why he saw so much potential in a little breakfast brand. “What’s so appealing about Eggs Up Grill is the level of authenticity that comes with it,” Richardson says. He talks a lot about authenticity. It’s a little ironic, given the transformation he’s tasked with leading, but it’s clearly germane to Eggs Up’s messaging: We may be scaling, it seems to say, but we’re still the local guys.

“That connection is really differentiating and compelling for a guest,” Richardson says.

There’s also a difference between authenticity and, well, inefficiencies created by authentic founders. Since joining the company in July 2018, Richardson has made fast work of plugging those holes.

For example, the once-tiny corporate team is now a lot bigger. In the past, franchisees might have waited two days to hear back from someone. “Now if I call, somebody will answer in 30 seconds,” franchisee Hampton says. “They give you support on marketing agency, site selection, P&Ls — they look out for the bottom line.” Plus, he says, there’s no emotion involved. “It’s just business.” 

Richardson also tightened up costs. Eggs Up used to have 72 menu items; now it has 55. He eliminated poor-performing dishes like tuna and egg salad and negotiated better deals with vendors.

Last year, he also opened a training facility and new restaurant prototype in Spartanburg, S.C., not far from Eggs Up headquarters. The store demonstrates a refreshed, contemporary look, and it has already rolled out new, Instagrammable items: a shrimp and grits omelet, baked peaches and cream pancakes.

Related: Can Jon Taffer Fix Franchise Restaurants?

To ensure consistency, Richardson created a team of franchise consultants, who visit each store a few times each quarter to check food quality and ascertain how servers, managers, and bussers interact with guests and with the franchisee. “It’s nice when they stop by,” says franchisee Rob Johnson, who works alongside his brother, Scott. “It doesn’t feel like an inspection or anything hostile.” 

But there’s no doubt about the purpose of the visits. The corporate office wants to ramp up profits and sell more stores. “We’re projecting plus or minus 18 restaurants opening in 2020, which, comparatively, is almost a 50 percent growth rate,” says Todd Owen, the company’s new VP of franchise development. “We actually opened five in January.” 

Owen, who previously helped Qdoba Mexican Eats expand from 60 to 600 locations, says he was lured in by Eggs Up’s strong market position under WJ Partners. It’s well-funded, franchisees are stoked about the brand, and Richardson has stacked the new executive team with industry veterans. 

Results are already visible. Recently, Eggs Up signed a 10-store multi-unit deal with a Wendy’s franchisee. “We want to be one of the big dogs,” says Owen. “But we’re not just wishing; we’re getting there.”

For now, Eggs Up will limit its growth to the Southeast. “I look at it like we can’t afford to make one mistake,” says Owen.  Because if Eggs Up Grill becomes just another anonymous place to buy bacon and pancakes, what does it really have to offer? 

The new challenge, then, is to figure out which parts of the old regime can help this new regime grow.

Corn has no regrets about selling. He likes the new changes and understands the value of having a big corporate office to handle the day-to-day operations. “Now instead of calling Skip for 50 percent of the answers and Chris for 50 percent of the answers, you can call one of 10 people and get somebody who’s an expert in that field,” he says. In a way, that’s what the two partners always wanted: better support for franchisees.

And unlike the old owners, 

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

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source http://www.scpie.org/when-a-company-outgrows-its-founders-how-a-little-breakfast-chain-plans-to-go-big/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/611766117574344704

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When a Company Outgrows Its Founders: How a Little Breakfast Chain Plans to Go Big

Eggs Up Grill is a quirky, homegrown, Southeast breakfast chain. With new owners and a mandate to grow, the brand has a delicate balance to strike.

March 5, 2020 15 min read

This story appears in the March 2020 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

After the papers had been signed and the hands shaken, Skip Corn turned to his partner, Chris Skodras. “I don’t want to go cry in front of my wife,” Corn said in his distinct Southern drawl. “But I can cry in front of you.” 

And he did. So did Skodras. “We cried every day for six months,” says Corn, 68. “To hand your baby off to somebody — it’s a traumatic experience.” 

Over more than a decade, these two friends had built a 32-unit franchise called Eggs Up Grill, based in South Carolina. They wanted their restaurants to have small-town charm, so they ran the company with a small-town ethos. Everything was done with love and gut instinct. They answered the phones; they solved franchisees’ problems. They insisted that every franchisee also work in their restaurant so customers could come and shake the owner’s hand. And now Skodras and Corn had gone and sold the majority of their company to a private equity group, the kind of buyer that’s often demonized for slash-and-burn, profit-at-all-costs tactics.

Tears were understandable.

But so far, at least, Eggs Up is not looking like a private equity horror story. Instead, it’s looking like something far less dramatic, but a lot more common and instructive. It’s a tale of what happens when a company becomes too big for its founders and more experienced operators come in to wrestle with its full potential. The private equity group that bought Eggs Up Grill is called WJ Partners, and it has some experience in this game. It acquired Pure Barre in 2012 and eventually sold the fitness studio to bigger investors; by the time WJ fully exited in 2018, Pure Barre had exploded from 96 to more than 500 locations.

Related: 5 Tips for Expanding Your Small Business (The Right Way)

So if you live in the Southeast but haven’t heard of Eggs Up Grill — well, you’re about to. Shortly after the acquisition in 2018, the new owners installed a team of franchise veterans led by CEO Ricky Richardson, the former president of TGI Fridays. Eggs Up has already scaled to 40 locations and announced aggressive plans to reach 100 by mid-2022.

As it grows, Eggs Up will face a predictable question: How much can this growing company retain its authenticity? But that may not be the right way to look at it. Here’s another question that, in the end, might really be more important: How much of that authenticity was holding the company back?

Because the thing is, sometimes too much charm can be bad for business.

Rewind a few decades, and Eggs Up never looked like the kind of company on a path to private equity. Chris Skodras opened the first one himself in 1986, in Rhode Island. More than a decade later, he moved to South Carolina and brought his diner with him — reopening Eggs Up in Pawleys Island, S.C., just south of Myrtle Beach. It built a loyal following of families and beachgoers, and in 2005, Skodras decided to give franchising a shot.

That’s how he got talking to Skip Corn. The two men attended the same Friday morning Bible-study group, and Corn brought his kids and grandkids to Eggs Up every Sunday after church. Corn had just spent a career in management for the PGA Tour and was reinventing himself as a business consultant. In 2005, he signed a one-year contract with Eggs Up. 

The duo became fast pals, and business thrived. “It was a friendship made in heaven, quite frankly,” says Corn. “He knew I was gonna do my job, and I knew he was gonna do his.” In time, Corn’s yearlong contract evolved into a 50-50 partnership. Skodras handled day-to-day operations; Corn took on accounting, marketing agency, compliance, and franchise sales.

There’s a story Corn likes to tell to illustrate Eggs Up’s franchisee-acquisition process —­ and, for that matter, the business’s entire ethos. One day, a guy named Michael McNeal calls up. He’s a UPS driver looking to start his own business. He already has approval for an SBA loan, so Corn drives seven and a half hours to meet McNeal near his home in Albany, Ga.

“I said, ‘Michael, what do you want to accomplish?’ ” Corn recalls. Before he could answer, the prospective franchisee’s wife cut in: “We want Michael to coach [his son’s] baseball team.” 

Corn’s eyes lit up. Eggs Up Grill wasn’t looking for franchisees with restaurateur ambitions. It wanted regular folks like McNeal, who wanted to spend time with their kids. “What we focused on was character, morals, and ethics,” says Corn. “And we really felt like the Lord was bringing us good people.”

Related: What You Need To Know Before Starting A Franchise Business

Eggs Up grew slowly and steadily like this, signing new franchisees whose hearts passed the purity test. Many franchisees were drawn in by the brand’s guidelines: The restaurant would never open past lunch — its hours were 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. And franchisees needed to work in their store, meeting customers face-to-face. “Chris and I both knew we were never going to be gigantic doing it that way,” says Corn. “But we sure found incredible people.” 

Still, the strategy also risked alienating incredible people.

One of them was Drew Hampton, a local who already was a multi-unit franchisee of Groucho’s Deli. He was a happy Eggs Up customer. The staff was unusually friendly; even the bussers were chatty. “They paid attention to the customer, and people are drawn to that,” he says. So he called Eggs Up and asked to become a franchisee, and in 2014, he opened the brand’s 11th store.

The place was an instant hit, with 600 to 700 customers visiting every Saturday and Sunday. Hampton was eager to open a second store — but  Skodras and Corn weren’t interested. “If you want to open a second or third store, they’re not going to be successful,” he recalls them saying, “because you’re not going to be there.” 

“I don’t want to own just one restaurant!” Hampton replied. “I want to own several and be able to scale something.”

At the time, Eggs Up had a strict rule. The on-site manager (who was usually the franchisee) had to own at least 10 percent of the franchise. Hampton could open a second location…but someone else would have to own 10 percent and work the floor. He didn’t want that. 

This kind of friction isn’t uncommon in founder-run franchise systems, says Benjamin Lawrence, Ph.D., a professor of franchise entrepreneurship at Georgia State University. “The thing about founders is that they have a very different relationship to the brand,” he says. “They’re fundamentally interested in the brand as a reflection of their self-identity.” 

It was true: Corn and Skodras valued personal relationships as much as growth. Over the years, Corn was contacted by several multi-unit operators looking to buy multiple locations, but he turned them down. “They don’t really know us, and we don’t really know them,” he reasoned.

In the end, Hampton relented. He found a partner and opened his second Eggs Up Grill as a part owner. On opening day, he says, nobody from corporate showed up. “They created a great brand,” he says. “But to take it to the next level, they needed help.”

Eventually, Skodras and Corn would agree — which is how they got to private equity.

Image Credit: Alvaro Dominguez

Over the years, private equity has taken a serious interest in franchising. Investment groups have acquired Buffalo Wild Wings, Ruby Tuesday, and the Texas chain Whataburger.  

“Private equity likes franchising because they only have to invest limited amounts of capital for a high return,” says Lawrence, the Georgia State professor. Franchisees, of course, are the ones funding their locations, as well as managing employees. 

For investors looking to scale fast, a company like Eggs Up Grill makes a decent proposition. It’s more nimble than breakfast titans like IHOP and Denny’s, and its restaurants require only about half the square footage. (Both IHOP and Denny’s are in the process of rolling out smaller concepts.) And because Eggs Up Grill offers limited hours of operation, serving breakfast and lunch crowds only, food and labor costs are lower. 

But success is never guaranteed. Following a bad private equity deal in 2006, Quiznos lost 90 percent of its stores. And in 2010, private equity tried to scale Washington State’s Papa Murphy’s too fast. The plan backfired, and stores shut down. 

“I’m not saying private equity is bad,” says Lawrence. “It can improve the system or get rid of low performers. But it does change the nature of the relationship.” When the strategy becomes hyperfocused on growth, decisions can become aggressive or risky. 

But risk is relative. It’s a question of what you’re comparing it against. And in the case of Eggs Up, nonaggression was starting to look risky, too.

Skodras and Corn wanted to keep their organization lean and personal. For years, it was just the two of them, and even when they started growing, the corporate team never had more than five people, which meant nobody had assistants. They didn’t even have voicemail systems. “We answered the phone ourselves,” Corn says. But as they reached 20-plus locations, that tiny corporate team was stretched thin — and franchisees noticed. Sure, they could reach Skodras or Corn directly, but it could take days to actually get their attention.

Related: Our 41st Annual Franchise 500 Ranking

“They just didn’t have the infrastructure to be able to grow the brand like it was capable of,” says franchisee Scott Johnson. “They were more interested in quality than quantity.”

Around 2015, private equity firms started reaching out to Eggs Up. Generally, Skodras and Corn declined the meetings. They knew they were stretched thin, and they didn’t think they could do what these firms were proposing with five employees.

Then WJ Partners came along. It’s also based in South Carolina and had the personal connection Eggs Up valued: Corn knew Craig Wall, whose son, Benjamin Wall, is a founding partner. Through a friend, Corn met with Wall and his wife, Jaime, who’s also a WJ partner. “I was talking to people I knew, trusted, and felt comfortable with,” he says. Corn was also comforted by the fact that WJ Partners uses its own money; it doesn’t work with outside investors who might pressure it to break promises. 

The Eggs Up deal took nine months to negotiate. Corn sat down with everybody at WJ Partners, “even people who weren’t going to be involved,” and pressed upon them the values of the company. He felt heard. And eventually, Skodras and Corn were ready to sign—and cry. Their baby was now officially someone else’s (though they retained a vested interest in the company, with no official roles).

The news came as a shock to many. “When I found out, I was very excited. WJ Partners has a solid background in scaling concepts,” says Hampton, the franchisee who had to give up equity in his second location.

The reality, he says, is that Eggs Up is easier to operate with private equity at the helm. In part, that’s because the new owners saw the chain very differently than the old owners. This wasn’t just a place driven by love and gut instinct anymore. Now it was a business meant to scale.

After the sale, WJ looked for a new leader to grow the company. It found that in Ricky Richardson, who had spent 20 years at TGI Fridays — including three as president. He learned a lot there but also saw what can happen when a brand loses clarity in its vision. It’s a problem for many legacy concepts and resulted in TGI Fridays closing 58 stores between 2014 and 2016. 

“It’s hard to be all things to all people,” says Richardson. “The risk there is you end up diluting what you really stand for.” And a diluted brand is easy to attack. “What historically may have been indirect competitors end up being direct competitors,” he says. “You’re not as focused as you were in the past, so people can carve off little pieces of you.”

This is why he saw so much potential in a little breakfast brand. “What’s so appealing about Eggs Up Grill is the level of authenticity that comes with it,” Richardson says. He talks a lot about authenticity. It’s a little ironic, given the transformation he’s tasked with leading, but it’s clearly germane to Eggs Up’s messaging: We may be scaling, it seems to say, but we’re still the local guys.

“That connection is really differentiating and compelling for a guest,” Richardson says.

There’s also a difference between authenticity and, well, inefficiencies created by authentic founders. Since joining the company in July 2018, Richardson has made fast work of plugging those holes.

For example, the once-tiny corporate team is now a lot bigger. In the past, franchisees might have waited two days to hear back from someone. “Now if I call, somebody will answer in 30 seconds,” franchisee Hampton says. “They give you support on marketing agency, site selection, P&Ls — they look out for the bottom line.” Plus, he says, there’s no emotion involved. “It’s just business.” 

Richardson also tightened up costs. Eggs Up used to have 72 menu items; now it has 55. He eliminated poor-performing dishes like tuna and egg salad and negotiated better deals with vendors.

Last year, he also opened a training facility and new restaurant prototype in Spartanburg, S.C., not far from Eggs Up headquarters. The store demonstrates a refreshed, contemporary look, and it has already rolled out new, Instagrammable items: a shrimp and grits omelet, baked peaches and cream pancakes.

Related: Can Jon Taffer Fix Franchise Restaurants?

To ensure consistency, Richardson created a team of franchise consultants, who visit each store a few times each quarter to check food quality and ascertain how servers, managers, and bussers interact with guests and with the franchisee. “It’s nice when they stop by,” says franchisee Rob Johnson, who works alongside his brother, Scott. “It doesn’t feel like an inspection or anything hostile.” 

But there’s no doubt about the purpose of the visits. The corporate office wants to ramp up profits and sell more stores. “We’re projecting plus or minus 18 restaurants opening in 2020, which, comparatively, is almost a 50 percent growth rate,” says Todd Owen, the company’s new VP of franchise development. “We actually opened five in January.” 

Owen, who previously helped Qdoba Mexican Eats expand from 60 to 600 locations, says he was lured in by Eggs Up’s strong market position under WJ Partners. It’s well-funded, franchisees are stoked about the brand, and Richardson has stacked the new executive team with industry veterans. 

Results are already visible. Recently, Eggs Up signed a 10-store multi-unit deal with a Wendy’s franchisee. “We want to be one of the big dogs,” says Owen. “But we’re not just wishing; we’re getting there.”

For now, Eggs Up will limit its growth to the Southeast. “I look at it like we can’t afford to make one mistake,” says Owen.  Because if Eggs Up Grill becomes just another anonymous place to buy bacon and pancakes, what does it really have to offer? 

The new challenge, then, is to figure out which parts of the old regime can help this new regime grow.

Corn has no regrets about selling. He likes the new changes and understands the value of having a big corporate office to handle the day-to-day operations. “Now instead of calling Skip for 50 percent of the answers and Chris for 50 percent of the answers, you can call one of 10 people and get somebody who’s an expert in that field,” he says. In a way, that’s what the two partners always wanted: better support for franchisees.

And unlike the old owners, 

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/when-a-company-outgrows-its-founders-how-a-little-breakfast-chain-plans-to-go-big/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/03/when-company-outgrows-its-founders-how.html

[scpie]

When a Company Outgrows Its Founders: How a Little Breakfast Chain Plans to Go Big

Eggs Up Grill is a quirky, homegrown, Southeast breakfast chain. With new owners and a mandate to grow, the brand has a delicate balance to strike.

March 5, 2020 15 min read

This story appears in the March 2020 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

After the papers had been signed and the hands shaken, Skip Corn turned to his partner, Chris Skodras. “I don’t want to go cry in front of my wife,” Corn said in his distinct Southern drawl. “But I can cry in front of you.” 

And he did. So did Skodras. “We cried every day for six months,” says Corn, 68. “To hand your baby off to somebody — it’s a traumatic experience.” 

Over more than a decade, these two friends had built a 32-unit franchise called Eggs Up Grill, based in South Carolina. They wanted their restaurants to have small-town charm, so they ran the company with a small-town ethos. Everything was done with love and gut instinct. They answered the phones; they solved franchisees’ problems. They insisted that every franchisee also work in their restaurant so customers could come and shake the owner’s hand. And now Skodras and Corn had gone and sold the majority of their company to a private equity group, the kind of buyer that’s often demonized for slash-and-burn, profit-at-all-costs tactics.

Tears were understandable.

But so far, at least, Eggs Up is not looking like a private equity horror story. Instead, it’s looking like something far less dramatic, but a lot more common and instructive. It’s a tale of what happens when a company becomes too big for its founders and more experienced operators come in to wrestle with its full potential. The private equity group that bought Eggs Up Grill is called WJ Partners, and it has some experience in this game. It acquired Pure Barre in 2012 and eventually sold the fitness studio to bigger investors; by the time WJ fully exited in 2018, Pure Barre had exploded from 96 to more than 500 locations.

Related: 5 Tips for Expanding Your Small Business (The Right Way)

So if you live in the Southeast but haven’t heard of Eggs Up Grill — well, you’re about to. Shortly after the acquisition in 2018, the new owners installed a team of franchise veterans led by CEO Ricky Richardson, the former president of TGI Fridays. Eggs Up has already scaled to 40 locations and announced aggressive plans to reach 100 by mid-2022.

As it grows, Eggs Up will face a predictable question: How much can this growing company retain its authenticity? But that may not be the right way to look at it. Here’s another question that, in the end, might really be more important: How much of that authenticity was holding the company back?

Because the thing is, sometimes too much charm can be bad for business.

Rewind a few decades, and Eggs Up never looked like the kind of company on a path to private equity. Chris Skodras opened the first one himself in 1986, in Rhode Island. More than a decade later, he moved to South Carolina and brought his diner with him — reopening Eggs Up in Pawleys Island, S.C., just south of Myrtle Beach. It built a loyal following of families and beachgoers, and in 2005, Skodras decided to give franchising a shot.

That’s how he got talking to Skip Corn. The two men attended the same Friday morning Bible-study group, and Corn brought his kids and grandkids to Eggs Up every Sunday after church. Corn had just spent a career in management for the PGA Tour and was reinventing himself as a business consultant. In 2005, he signed a one-year contract with Eggs Up. 

The duo became fast pals, and business thrived. “It was a friendship made in heaven, quite frankly,” says Corn. “He knew I was gonna do my job, and I knew he was gonna do his.” In time, Corn’s yearlong contract evolved into a 50-50 partnership. Skodras handled day-to-day operations; Corn took on accounting, marketing agency, compliance, and franchise sales.

There’s a story Corn likes to tell to illustrate Eggs Up’s franchisee-acquisition process —­ and, for that matter, the business’s entire ethos. One day, a guy named Michael McNeal calls up. He’s a UPS driver looking to start his own business. He already has approval for an SBA loan, so Corn drives seven and a half hours to meet McNeal near his home in Albany, Ga.

“I said, ‘Michael, what do you want to accomplish?’ ” Corn recalls. Before he could answer, the prospective franchisee’s wife cut in: “We want Michael to coach [his son’s] baseball team.” 

Corn’s eyes lit up. Eggs Up Grill wasn’t looking for franchisees with restaurateur ambitions. It wanted regular folks like McNeal, who wanted to spend time with their kids. “What we focused on was character, morals, and ethics,” says Corn. “And we really felt like the Lord was bringing us good people.”

Related: What You Need To Know Before Starting A Franchise Business

Eggs Up grew slowly and steadily like this, signing new franchisees whose hearts passed the purity test. Many franchisees were drawn in by the brand’s guidelines: The restaurant would never open past lunch — its hours were 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. And franchisees needed to work in their store, meeting customers face-to-face. “Chris and I both knew we were never going to be gigantic doing it that way,” says Corn. “But we sure found incredible people.” 

Still, the strategy also risked alienating incredible people.

One of them was Drew Hampton, a local who already was a multi-unit franchisee of Groucho’s Deli. He was a happy Eggs Up customer. The staff was unusually friendly; even the bussers were chatty. “They paid attention to the customer, and people are drawn to that,” he says. So he called Eggs Up and asked to become a franchisee, and in 2014, he opened the brand’s 11th store.

The place was an instant hit, with 600 to 700 customers visiting every Saturday and Sunday. Hampton was eager to open a second store — but  Skodras and Corn weren’t interested. “If you want to open a second or third store, they’re not going to be successful,” he recalls them saying, “because you’re not going to be there.” 

“I don’t want to own just one restaurant!” Hampton replied. “I want to own several and be able to scale something.”

At the time, Eggs Up had a strict rule. The on-site manager (who was usually the franchisee) had to own at least 10 percent of the franchise. Hampton could open a second location…but someone else would have to own 10 percent and work the floor. He didn’t want that. 

This kind of friction isn’t uncommon in founder-run franchise systems, says Benjamin Lawrence, Ph.D., a professor of franchise entrepreneurship at Georgia State University. “The thing about founders is that they have a very different relationship to the brand,” he says. “They’re fundamentally interested in the brand as a reflection of their self-identity.” 

It was true: Corn and Skodras valued personal relationships as much as growth. Over the years, Corn was contacted by several multi-unit operators looking to buy multiple locations, but he turned them down. “They don’t really know us, and we don’t really know them,” he reasoned.

In the end, Hampton relented. He found a partner and opened his second Eggs Up Grill as a part owner. On opening day, he says, nobody from corporate showed up. “They created a great brand,” he says. “But to take it to the next level, they needed help.”

Eventually, Skodras and Corn would agree — which is how they got to private equity.

Image Credit: Alvaro Dominguez

Over the years, private equity has taken a serious interest in franchising. Investment groups have acquired Buffalo Wild Wings, Ruby Tuesday, and the Texas chain Whataburger.  

“Private equity likes franchising because they only have to invest limited amounts of capital for a high return,” says Lawrence, the Georgia State professor. Franchisees, of course, are the ones funding their locations, as well as managing employees. 

For investors looking to scale fast, a company like Eggs Up Grill makes a decent proposition. It’s more nimble than breakfast titans like IHOP and Denny’s, and its restaurants require only about half the square footage. (Both IHOP and Denny’s are in the process of rolling out smaller concepts.) And because Eggs Up Grill offers limited hours of operation, serving breakfast and lunch crowds only, food and labor costs are lower. 

But success is never guaranteed. Following a bad private equity deal in 2006, Quiznos lost 90 percent of its stores. And in 2010, private equity tried to scale Washington State’s Papa Murphy’s too fast. The plan backfired, and stores shut down. 

“I’m not saying private equity is bad,” says Lawrence. “It can improve the system or get rid of low performers. But it does change the nature of the relationship.” When the strategy becomes hyperfocused on growth, decisions can become aggressive or risky. 

But risk is relative. It’s a question of what you’re comparing it against. And in the case of Eggs Up, nonaggression was starting to look risky, too.

Skodras and Corn wanted to keep their organization lean and personal. For years, it was just the two of them, and even when they started growing, the corporate team never had more than five people, which meant nobody had assistants. They didn’t even have voicemail systems. “We answered the phone ourselves,” Corn says. But as they reached 20-plus locations, that tiny corporate team was stretched thin — and franchisees noticed. Sure, they could reach Skodras or Corn directly, but it could take days to actually get their attention.

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“They just didn’t have the infrastructure to be able to grow the brand like it was capable of,” says franchisee Scott Johnson. “They were more interested in quality than quantity.”

Around 2015, private equity firms started reaching out to Eggs Up. Generally, Skodras and Corn declined the meetings. They knew they were stretched thin, and they didn’t think they could do what these firms were proposing with five employees.

Then WJ Partners came along. It’s also based in South Carolina and had the personal connection Eggs Up valued: Corn knew Craig Wall, whose son, Benjamin Wall, is a founding partner. Through a friend, Corn met with Wall and his wife, Jaime, who’s also a WJ partner. “I was talking to people I knew, trusted, and felt comfortable with,” he says. Corn was also comforted by the fact that WJ Partners uses its own money; it doesn’t work with outside investors who might pressure it to break promises. 

The Eggs Up deal took nine months to negotiate. Corn sat down with everybody at WJ Partners, “even people who weren’t going to be involved,” and pressed upon them the values of the company. He felt heard. And eventually, Skodras and Corn were ready to sign—and cry. Their baby was now officially someone else’s (though they retained a vested interest in the company, with no official roles).

The news came as a shock to many. “When I found out, I was very excited. WJ Partners has a solid background in scaling concepts,” says Hampton, the franchisee who had to give up equity in his second location.

The reality, he says, is that Eggs Up is easier to operate with private equity at the helm. In part, that’s because the new owners saw the chain very differently than the old owners. This wasn’t just a place driven by love and gut instinct anymore. Now it was a business meant to scale.

After the sale, WJ looked for a new leader to grow the company. It found that in Ricky Richardson, who had spent 20 years at TGI Fridays — including three as president. He learned a lot there but also saw what can happen when a brand loses clarity in its vision. It’s a problem for many legacy concepts and resulted in TGI Fridays closing 58 stores between 2014 and 2016. 

“It’s hard to be all things to all people,” says Richardson. “The risk there is you end up diluting what you really stand for.” And a diluted brand is easy to attack. “What historically may have been indirect competitors end up being direct competitors,” he says. “You’re not as focused as you were in the past, so people can carve off little pieces of you.”

This is why he saw so much potential in a little breakfast brand. “What’s so appealing about Eggs Up Grill is the level of authenticity that comes with it,” Richardson says. He talks a lot about authenticity. It’s a little ironic, given the transformation he’s tasked with leading, but it’s clearly germane to Eggs Up’s messaging: We may be scaling, it seems to say, but we’re still the local guys.

“That connection is really differentiating and compelling for a guest,” Richardson says.

There’s also a difference between authenticity and, well, inefficiencies created by authentic founders. Since joining the company in July 2018, Richardson has made fast work of plugging those holes.

For example, the once-tiny corporate team is now a lot bigger. In the past, franchisees might have waited two days to hear back from someone. “Now if I call, somebody will answer in 30 seconds,” franchisee Hampton says. “They give you support on marketing agency, site selection, P&Ls — they look out for the bottom line.” Plus, he says, there’s no emotion involved. “It’s just business.” 

Richardson also tightened up costs. Eggs Up used to have 72 menu items; now it has 55. He eliminated poor-performing dishes like tuna and egg salad and negotiated better deals with vendors.

Last year, he also opened a training facility and new restaurant prototype in Spartanburg, S.C., not far from Eggs Up headquarters. The store demonstrates a refreshed, contemporary look, and it has already rolled out new, Instagrammable items: a shrimp and grits omelet, baked peaches and cream pancakes.

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To ensure consistency, Richardson created a team of franchise consultants, who visit each store a few times each quarter to check food quality and ascertain how servers, managers, and bussers interact with guests and with the franchisee. “It’s nice when they stop by,” says franchisee Rob Johnson, who works alongside his brother, Scott. “It doesn’t feel like an inspection or anything hostile.” 

But there’s no doubt about the purpose of the visits. The corporate office wants to ramp up profits and sell more stores. “We’re projecting plus or minus 18 restaurants opening in 2020, which, comparatively, is almost a 50 percent growth rate,” says Todd Owen, the company’s new VP of franchise development. “We actually opened five in January.” 

Owen, who previously helped Qdoba Mexican Eats expand from 60 to 600 locations, says he was lured in by Eggs Up’s strong market position under WJ Partners. It’s well-funded, franchisees are stoked about the brand, and Richardson has stacked the new executive team with industry veterans. 

Results are already visible. Recently, Eggs Up signed a 10-store multi-unit deal with a Wendy’s franchisee. “We want to be one of the big dogs,” says Owen. “But we’re not just wishing; we’re getting there.”

For now, Eggs Up will limit its growth to the Southeast. “I look at it like we can’t afford to make one mistake,” says Owen.  Because if Eggs Up Grill becomes just another anonymous place to buy bacon and pancakes, what does it really have to offer? 

The new challenge, then, is to figure out which parts of the old regime can help this new regime grow.

Corn has no regrets about selling. He likes the new changes and understands the value of having a big corporate office to handle the day-to-day operations. “Now instead of calling Skip for 50 percent of the answers and Chris for 50 percent of the answers, you can call one of 10 people and get somebody who’s an expert in that field,” he says. In a way, that’s what the two partners always wanted: better support for franchisees.

And unlike the old owners, 

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source http://www.scpie.org/when-a-company-outgrows-its-founders-how-a-little-breakfast-chain-plans-to-go-big/