#ill need to draw some funky dresses later

[jestroer]

lil sketch of my boys because im too tired to draw something proper but i need. to

i love them

[elleberquist6]

Stray Cat - chapter fifteen

Rating: Mature Word Count: 1775 Warnings: Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut Summary: Phil Lester believes that if he does good things then good things will happen to him, so on one of the worst days of his life he invites a rain-soaked Neko boy named Dan into his home. Phil has never met a Neko before and he knows nothing about the dark system that has molded Dan. Dan is part of a repressed population with few rights, and as Phil gets to know him he can’t understand why – Dan is the most amazing person he has ever met. —

Phil woke with a smile on his face. He felt the Neko shift at his side, so he stretched and said, “Morning, you.”

Dan sighed, sounding like he had been hovering on the edge of sleep. He seemed to struggle closer to awareness, shifting again so that he was facing Phil with his cheek pressed against a pillow. He had taken a shower before bed and his hair dried in an adorably tousled mass of curls. His cheeks were pink and he looked lovely as he smiled back. “Hello, you. What time is it?”

“Um, not sure.” He hadn’t set his alarm since they had decided to sleep in. Phil grabbed his glasses, more out of a desire to bring Dan’s face into perfect focus – he could see Dan’s freckles and the flecks of darker brown in his irises now – and then he grabbed his phone to check the time. “Just after 12, so time to get up. I really want to film something.”

Dan’s smile broadened. “That sounds good to me.”

They got up and after dressing and taking turns getting ready in the bathroom, they then met in the kitchen for cereal. While eating, Dan asked, “So, do you know what you want to talk about in your video?”

“I think so,” Phil nodded. “I don’t like to script my videos because then what I say doesn’t come across as natural. So, I just decide what I have to say, maybe note some talking points, and then I just decide the rest while I’m filming.” Phil squirmed slightly in his seat at the thought of Dan watching him while he filmed; he had never let someone watch him film a video before. No one had ever asked to watch before. “It probably won’t make much sense to you while you’re watching. I’m going to be filming it in a few parts since I want to play another character. It won’t all make sense until I bring it together in editing.”

Dan seemed to be even more excited to hear this. “Could I watched how you edit it, too? You know, if that’s okay…”

Phil nodded, his nervousness vanishing as he saw how eager Dan was to learn, and it made Phil happy to teach him. While Phil had always loved sharing his passion with people – the various friends he had pushed away with his Buffy obsession could attest to that – he had never had anyone ask him about YouTube before. YouTube was a passion he had almost forgotten, but he felt the flame of it rekindle as he saw Dan’s eyes light up talking about it. Dan’s enthusiasm was contagious.

Dan glanced at the notebook that Phil placed on the table when he came into the kitchen. It was black and said ‘Death Note’ on the cover. There was a second notebook underneath of it. “What’s that? Is that where you wrote your talking points?”

“Yup. This one is where I put my video ideas, although since I wrote them in a Death Note the ideas will probably die,” he said, pointing to the Death Note. Then he handed the second notebook to Dan. “This one is blank. It’s for your video ideas.”

Dan accepted the notebook in stunned silence. Then he saw the funky turtle on the cover, which was covered with sparkles and he arched an eyebrow.

Phil laughed and he felt his tongue stick out of the corner of his mouth. “I work in a stationary store. I get free stuff sometimes when it doesn’t sell.”

“I wonder why no one wanted to buy it.” Dan flipped through it though, admiring the quality of the paper. He closed it and smiled. “Thank you. Can I see yours?”

Phil shifted, feeling his nervousness returning. “Maybe later. Spoilers, you know?”

Dan nodded. “You don’t want to tell me what the video is about?”

“Actually, I already told you all about it. I’m filming a story-time video about a strange person I met. I have a series on my channel all about weird people who come up to me and say or do odd things. It’s all thanks to the Lester Family Curse,” he tried to infuse the last few words with a dramatic flair.

“Curse?” Dan seemed to be suppressing a smirk and he went on, feigning concern, “That sounds quite serious. Is this the sort of thing I should have been informed about before moving in here?”

“Only if you have an aversion to strangers coming up to you in the street, and that won’t happen unless you’re with me. The Lester Family Curse only affects the men in my family. We attract oddness. I can give you some examples. I had a woman come knock on my door once who wanted me to join a cult. A man fell in my popcorn once at the cinema. I went to a gym once where a man forced me to lift a tire.”

Dan’s body was vibrating with the laughter that he was holding in. “Don’t take this personally, but I’m a skeptic. I’m not going to believe in a curse until I see it happening for myself… although, if you attract odd people, then I guess I qualify.”

Phil couldn’t deny it. “True, but you’re the good kind of odd.” Dan’s skepticism seemed to increase, so Phil said, “You’re different and everyone else is the same. That’s why I like you.”

Dan followed Phil to his bedroom after breakfast and watched as Phil set up his camera, which he pointed at the bed. “Anything I can do to help?”

Phil shook his head after he made sure that the camera was working properly. “No, I just need to get my costume for the character I want to play. Oh! You can do something. Get me an orange from the kitchen please?”

By the time Dan returned with the fruit, Phil was dressed in his preppy-est jacket and he was tying a scarf around his neck. Dan looked at the orange in his hand and grinned. “I just figured out what you’re filming.”

Phil nodded and sat on the bed. He took the orange from Dan, placed it out of sight then looked at the camera. There was no red light. “Oh! Dan, I forgot to start recording. Can you start filming for me? Yeah, hit that button, and then you can go back to standing where you were.”

He waited until Dan returned to leaning against the wall by the doorway, so that the sound of his footsteps wouldn’t be recorded in case this first take was the one that he wanted to use. Then Phil entered the mindset of the angry customer who threw the chocolate orange at his head. He was able to forget that someone was watching him as he hurled insults at the camera and then he ultimately threw a literal orange.

Phil wanted to make sure that the scene looked good, so he watched it back on his camera, but he decided that he had thrown the orange too quickly and it didn’t look good. He re-filmed the action a few more times before he was satisfied with it. Then Phil removed the jacket, scarf, and also the persona of the angry customer. He glanced self-consciously at Dan. “I’m going to do my intro now.”

Dan rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen your videos. Go for it.”

“Oh, right.” Phil laughed at himself for being weird about this, shook off the last of his awkwardness, and turned to the camera with a wave. “Hey guys.” He launched into the story about work, describing what happened and pointing to his fading black eye. He stuck a ‘Hi, my name is: Phil’ nametag to his shirt as he acted out the exchange with the customer from his perspective. He wrapped by announcing Draw Phil Naked waving in the air where he would be placing the art in the video, at which point Dan lost his composure in a fit of giggles.

“Shut up or I’ll kick you out,” Phil said as he started laughing, too. Once they had both quieted, Phil reshot the last part that Dan had laughed over. He quickly looked over what he had filmed, decided it was good, and said, “Okay, I think we have what we need.”

Phil shut his laptop around 10:00PM and rubbed his eyes. “I might want to do some more to it tomorrow before posting it.”

“It’s perfect, though. I think it’s one of the best videos you’ve ever made.” Dan yawned. He was almost as tired as Phil; he had been attentive during the editing process and made notes in his turtle notebook, but his heat started bothering him again. He had to get up at one point to be sick, but then settled back down on the sofa beside Phil under a blanket, seeming mesmerized by the video that came together on the screen of his laptop.

Phil shrugged and placed the laptop on the coffee table. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I want to watch it tomorrow again once I’ve got some distance from it. You know, kind of see it with fresh eyes? Then if I’m happy with it I’ll post it.”

Dan nodded in understanding.

“Hey, thanks for helping me today. I don’t think I would have filmed this if you hadn’t talked me into it. Today made me really happy.”

“I’m happy, too.”

Phil looked closely at the Neko, assessing him for signs of illness, but his skin was a normal healthy tan and he was no longer sweating. Just to be sure, he asked, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m great. I feel perfect. Kind of hungry maybe.” He glanced at the kitchen, seeming to be contemplating a late-night snack. He looked back to Phil. “Why do you ask?”

“I was just worried since you got sick a couple hours ago. The heat?”

Dan shook his head. “That was it. The last of it. Phil, it’s been 3 days since it started. It’s over. I’m fine now.”

“Oh,” he said, the realization sinking in. “Oh, that’s wonderful!” Phil flung himself at Dan and wrapped his arms around the Neko.

Dan laughed as he was startled, and then he hugged Phil back. It took them both a moment to notice the position that they were now in: Phil was lying slightly on top of Dan and they were both breathing heavily. Their faces were inches apart and they both seemed to be remembering the conversation they had at the beginning of Dan’s heat.

“Yes,” Dan said. “I do like you.”

[andryushas]

Great Comet Things

I got to see Great Comet on Sunday and it was absolutely amazing. The whole cast was amazing and the show is so artistic and surreal. Below is a bunch of things I noticed that were either very cool, unexpected or both. Warning, it’s very very long:

ACT I

The show doesn't actually start with Pierre singing. He comes out with his accordion then you hear Natasha yelp a really sad "No!" then run on stage with Andrei at her heals. They have a moment, and she looks really sad and he looks Very in Love and takes a necklace off his neck and puts it on her. She grasps at it and he runs out the door behind Pierre, representing the war

Prologue is actually really funny. Like it's sort of funny on the recording but the way people move and act w their faces makes it very comic. 

Marya is a little terrifying. She plays "strict yet Kind" out to the audience like, "yes, I'm KiNd!!! Believe me, That's an order!!"

Anatole is actually really funny. I had totally been imagining him as this impossibly smooth figure and He Isn't. Like yes, he's very smooth at times but he is also totally used for comedy sometimes and is severely melodramatic. 

Oak's Pierre is really dimensional. He's very subdued and gentle but there's also a roughness to his voice when he gets really disgusted in himself or in the world and he moves really smoothly and naturally between Pierre's gruffer, darker side, and the cute awkward warmness which he also does wonderfully.

Denée's Natasha reads really well as this young girl who has always been loved and appreciated and is now really struggling for the first time with her happiness and she's really bold and a little self absorbed and this really brings out the changes which I will get back to later

Courtney Bassett was wonderful as Mary!! She's plays her really sweet and shy but also clashes really well w Natasha. 

Private and Intimate is really intense but can also get very funny. Nicholas Belton is hilarious but his Bolkonsky has a lot to him I guess? He moves really slowly and he does the fragile thing really well for a dude who is like Bolting down the aisles as Andrei. I'm very scared of old prince Bolkonsky. 

The Lighting in No One Else  oh my go d. The song is so beautiful but the visuals. The falling snow. It's heartrending. Ahhhh.

Marya Dmitrievna is the best ever. I love her. 

The Opera is Funky as hell. Paul Pinto is a firecracker. What a cool dude.

I didn't expect Anatole to actually get that excited about Natasha. I sort of read it as pure manipulation (it's still manipulative don't get me wrong) but he really does adore her. He really cares about whether or not she likes him and he fawns over her.

The Duel is intense as fuck. Amber Gray walked passed me at some point (i can't remember if it was during the duel or not but) she is a goddess, damn it. I love her.

Nick Choksi plays the sociopathic Dolokhov you get in the book better in person than I would've guessed 

Pierre does this thing when he gets shot where he ducks and stays ducking for a long time bc he thinks he's a dead man and there's a long silence.  And then he looks up like “oh!” and Oak made the cutest face ever when he realized he won the duel.

Ok I didn't like dust and ashes when I heard it on the soundtrack and saw it at the Tony's but the way Oak does it is an absolute show stopper. It blew me away. I love it. It's now one of my favorite songs in the show. Pierre is sitting in his Hole or whatever. The sad hole. And he just. Opens himself up and it's great. There was at least a full minute of applause for him. 

SUUUUUNDAY MORNING TIME FOR CHURCH

I love sunday morning but i do miss Sonya’s part from the off broadway soundtrack

When Helene comes in during Charming, Natasha is dressed in nothing but her corset  and a tiny little underskirt and it makes her so vulnerable and frightened its an interesting dynamic. Amber Gray is a powerhouse of an actress and a singer and I love her. She has the coolest cloak too.

There’s this thing in Charming where Helene rips Natasha’s necklace from Andrei off and Natasha looks so guilty and upset about it. It really breaks the excitement from the yay, dresses part. She tosses it into Pierre’s depression hole and it landed in his book. Pierre picked it up and looked hilariously confused.

The ball is at least 80% same sex couples which was pretty cool. The ending is beautiful but it gets really chilling as the act draws to a close.

ACT II

Letters was bomb af. I’m gonna note again that I love Okieriete Onaodowan. After saying that he wrote the letter, Dolokhov crouches really malevolently watching what he orchestrated unfolds.

When they pass the love letter to Natasha, the audience has to pass it across the aisle but the girl didn’t know what to do when it got to the end, so Denee leaned really desperately with her arm reached out waving sweetly and asking for the letter until she got it

INGRID MICHAELSON IS A REALLY AMAZING ACTRESS AND SHE WRECKED ME

Preparations is a bop. Nick Choksi is a gift.

There’s a bit at the beginning where Anatole is carrying a big ol bag and he looks like he plans to walk up the stairs with it but then WHOOPS ANDREI IS SITTING ON SAID STAIRS. Anatole does absolutely nothing in acknowledging this- he simply sees he’ll need to take the other stairs and walk away.

I LOVE PAUL PINTO OK

There’s that one post about struggling to keep your sleeves rolled being gay culture and...Lucas Steele took a really long time to get his sleeves rolled up. I snorted.

I have very few words to describe the next few songs so i’ll sorta skip forward a little and just...trust me when I say they’re amazing

Seeing Pierre kick Anatole’s bitch ass is a ton of fun but its much less fun the way its staged because thats when natasha poisons herself and its painful

Natasha Very Ill was so tense and painful

One of the nice things Natasha sings about Andrei in act one becomes a letter to him which we see him open and read. He looks kind of lovestruck and then scared and he tucks the letter away, running off with the ribbon still in his hand. He comes on with this ribbon in his hand a bunch of times, and once, when he looks really beat up and scared, he has the ribbon tied around his gun. The last time he brings this ribbon on stage is in Pierre and Andrey, where its been returned around the parcel of Natasha’s letters.

GOD I love Nicholas Belton’ Andrei. There’s so much pain he’s trying to hide and it’s just being pressed down and hardening into rage. He’s really rough and a bit frightening but its so clearly from a place of sadness. His “No, I am well,” is almost pitifully unconvincing. The scene is so heavy. I could go on about this song forever. He does something on “never speak of that again” where he lashes out and sort of throws his hand out at Pierre’s chest and Pierre looks genuinely frightened by him. He’s really sympathetic even though he’s so cold. In three minutes he captures SO much of Andrei Bolkonsky

In Pierre and Natasha, Denee is completely transformed. She holds the railing and sways likes hse’s falling and walks like each step is over broken glass. Seeing her liveliness shatter is so utterly tragic. She’s brilliant.

Oak’s Pierre is so kind and good hearted. He was really crying during Pierre and Natasha, and it was so full of love. When he did the confession, he worked up so much courage to say it, and he was still sniffling from crying and there was such love in his voice that it richened and softened beautifully. It was so tender and beautiful.

THE ENSEMBLE SINGING IN THE FINALE. Their voices weave a whole sky of stars. Pierre coming to an understanding is illuminated by their soft moonlit voices. The whole moment is as clear as crystal and it is a perfectly executed awakening. It felt deeper and realer than I’d ever imagined.

I was crying a lot

Bonus: Stagedoor

Josh Canfield and Nicholas Belton came out first. I was very awkward but they were both Darlings. Josh photobombed my picture with nicholas belton and nicholas belton was like “oh looks like you’ve got a photobomber” and somehow I didn’t notice until like an hour later

A bunch of really cool ensemble members came out

Nick Choksi came over and he was still wearing his very heavy eyeliner. Someone said “you’re rocking the guyliner” and he looked quite pleased. I told him preparations is like the best song and he was like “hell yeah”

My friend (@levizoe​) told Paul Pinto that his performance was really moving. He thought this was a reference to the show as a whole but I knew. I knew this was about him, Balaga, specifically

Everyone lost it when Oak came out. He had a Harry Potter t-shirt on and was carrying a skateboard. What a cool dude. He’s huge but not as tall as I anticipated. so many muscles. I gave him some are and he was like “Oh this is pretty cool.” then he looked at it and called it kind of amazing and I died. Then he went inside to put it away and all the people who he didn’t get to yet were giving me some serious side eye i felt bad (he came back tho ofc)

Ingrid Michaelson has very pretty eyes and is very nice. She looked so tired tho i felt bad.

IN CONCLUSION I AM DEAD. Sorry for the length of this post. Its such an amazing show. I love them all so much.