#its great because he just monologues..........nobody can get a question in..or even greet him properly

[toerrishumansodontbeone]

newest method of sharpening my german: watching absolutely unhinged interviews with jeremy fragnance on ytb

[shirtlesssammy]

15x12: Galaxy Brain

Welcome back to the new recaps! We’ll be doing recaps on Thursdays now that the show airs on Mondays. 

Then:

Remember when death was welcome and we had no hope?

Now:

Four Weeks Ago:

Earth 2

At an unassuming Radio Shed, a woman casually strolls around getting creeped on by the store clerk. He’s just an eager salesman, but dude…(Also, I’m a bad fan and had to Shazam the song playing. I thought it was quite on the nose with the whole “I had a dream that I ate your heart” considering Jack’s recent activities. It turns out to be Louden Swain, and all you real fans must have been dying laughing at how perfectly placed the song was.) 

The dude is despondent when the woman leaves, but then a new customer arrives, eyeing up the wall of televisions. It’s Chuck. The guy gives his best spiel, but Chuck isn’t interested. “It’s monologue time,” he states.

Chuck explains his twisted life story. 

And shows us the world:

Anybody else wish we would have had a glimpse of Squirrel World in these television sets? Well, Chuck waxes poetic about all the worlds he’s created and how none of them bring him as much happiness as the world with the real Sam and Dean. “They challenge me. They disappoint me. They surprise me. They’re the ones.” Chuck then decides that it’s time to clear the board and get rid of everything but the world with the real Sam and Dean (WEEPS OVER THE “FAILED SPIN-OFFS” LINE. BOBO WE’RE SO SORRY.) 

Sioux Falls.

Our World.

Now.

We find Jody Mills having too much fun investigating the death of a cow. She gets a call from Alex and we learn that life keeps humming along for our Wayward women.

Once off the phone, Jody sees a flash of motion from a barn and heads to check it out. Someone attacks her from behind. JODY! 

At the bunker, Sam, Dean, and Cas discuss what to do about Jack and his deal with Death. Sam’s concerned because Jack doesn’t have his soul still. We cut to Jack looking at the carvings of DW, SW, AND MW. He lightly grazes the MW. We know exactly where his soulless mind is. 

He heads to his bedroom and he’s surprised when a reaper appears. 

Sam continues to question the plan of Billie’s that Jack will kill God. Cas fully trusts his little nephilim son. Dean’s spent some time with Death and thinks she has it figured out. 

The reaper tries to reassure Jack that Billie’s plan will work as long as he follows the rules --lay low, wait for instructions, don’t use his powers. They need to keep Chuck out of the loop. 

Sam interrupts the conversation and Jack lies about who he was talking to. Sam tries reassuring Jack that they’re very happy to have him home and that they will help him.  

Meanwhile, recently reunited husbands share a celebratory drink now that they’re family is back together. Cas can’t help but gloat over how right he was and celebrate his faith in Jack. Dean wants to celebrate getting revenge. I want to celebrate these two yahoos talking again! 

Dean gets a call from Jody. She’s in trouble. 

Sam and Dean head out and find Jody tied up in the barn. Dark Kaia attacks! She’s seriously badass, but no competition for the Winchesters + one Mills. She wants her spear back --and more to the point, she wants to go home. Sam wants to know why she even wants to go back to that place. She tells them the world is dying. She knows this because she still has a connection to our Kaia. YEP. Kaia is STILL ALIVE PEOPLE. Dark Kaia left her the tools to stay alive, and she has, but Dark Kaia wants to go back. And now the others want to save Kaia. 

At the bunker, Cas and Jack bond over a fun game of Connect Four. 

Sam, Dean, and Jody arrive back at the bunker --with Dark Kaia in tow.

*JODY AND CAS FINALLY MEET ALERT*

They all agree that Jack can’t use his powers to help Dark Kaia get home, but they have to save their Kaia another way. 

While they figure that out, they chain Dark Kaia to the kitchen table and give her a magazine to read. 

Jack thinks he’s found a great spell but John Winchester had to ruin everything and kill off one of the necessary ingredients. How that man is able to ruin things this far in the grave will never cease to amaze me. Dean sends Jack to check in on Jody and Cas. 

Jody and Cas discuss their almost daughter, Claire, and her quest for revenge. Jody tells Cas that Claire loved Kaia, and Jody doesn’t want to tell Claire about this recent development. It would be too much for her to bear if things don’t work out. 


Jack morosely peeks in on the stalled progress of Jody and Cas, then stops to talk to Alt!Kaia. She’s angry, accusing him of encouraging Kaia to make the jump to the other world. It’s his fault that Kaia is in pain and about to die. 

Alt!Kaia wanted to visit Earth Prime because it looked comfortable, but she finds it cold instead and hard to live in. She begs Jack for help in a way that makes you think she’s never begged for a thing in her entire life before. Jack dreamwalks with her and confirms that Kaia is trapped in the Bad Place and an all-swallowing storm is coming for her. 

Jack heads into the library, advertising his intent to the Winchesters that he’ll save Kaia from the Bad Place. Merle, the reaper from earlier, appears. She is…ENTIRELY unimpressed by this plan. Saving Kaia is “Winchester dumb,” Merle insists. 

If Jack tries to save Kaia, Merle is totally running off and tattling on him to Death. Jack reads the room and calls her bluff. “Go,” he tells her. He’ll open a rift with his magic and Merle can just DEAL with Billie’s wrath when she comes running. Merle’s not so hot on that prospect, instead reluctantly coughing up a plan B. The cosmic warding Amara removed from the bunkers is the key!

But FIRST our patron saint of long suffering salt, Merle, insults the Winchesters’ rune repair work. The Winchesters re-warded their walls against demons and monsters, but didn’t come close to the “cosmic grade stuff.” 

She can rattle up the warding temporarily to block Chuck’s perception, but she’ll need to add a little battery power to the attempt. She demands the use of “your angel” to properly run the spell.

Sam, our very best witch, recites the spell. Runes glow along the bunker walls and edges as the shielding spell takes hold. 

Heading out, the Winchesters agree that the plan is reckless, stupid…and it FEELS REALLY GOOD. They’re back to their roots, baby! Give me my dumb, poorly planned, big hearted missions any day.

Cas corners Jody, asking her to stay behind as well. He never bonded with Claire - and couldn’t given their history - but Jody did. He doesn’t want to picture a world where Claire loses both Kaia and Jody. The truth settles over Jody like a thick wool blanket and she agrees to stay behind. 

For Soft Cas Science:

Cas and Merle supercharge the wardings. 

Once the wardings are active, Jack slings out a rift to the Bad Place. Alt!Kaia smiles at last and ducks inside, quickly followed by the Winchesters. The Bad Place is rainy and windy and full of red-eyed monsters LOOK OUT! 

Alt-Kaia realizes that the monsters are just scared of a roiling gray storm and they head off to find Kaia. Dean greets her with a “Hey, kid,” and a hug! KAIA IS SAVED! 

Alt-Kaia, however, decides to stay behind. The Bad Place is her home, its ending be damned. The Winchesters race off with Kaia and Alt!Kaia greet the oncoming nothingness with open arms. 

They make it back through the rift and Jody gives Kaia a great big MOM HUG. Kaia’s eyes slip closed. She’s safe at last. 

A little while later, Kaia has availed herself of the bunker’s excellent water pressure or possibly even that amazing bathtub. She’s now wearing Jack’s spare sweatpants. Bless. 

She tells Jack that she survived by anchoring herself around a children’s rhyme her mother sang to her: Miss Mary Mack. Jack attempts to grasp another tiny sliver of humanity. Good luck, Jack. Many of us work on that to this very day!

Jody invites Kaia to live with her. “Will Claire be there?” Kaia asks and it’s…REAL CUTE GUYS. Wayward Sisters lives on, even if it’s off screen. ALL THE HEARTS

Merle dumps a big soaked blanket over the celebration. “If I cared for a second about saving that girl, I guess I’d say that was a victory,” she says with a weary sigh. I love this GRIM reaper. Sadly, she’s not long for this world. Billie’s scythe jabs through Merle’s throat and tears her into little cosmic pieces. 

Billie CANNOT BELIEVE these Winchesters. “Bending the rules already, Jack.”

“I tried to call you,” Jack all but squeaks out. 

No excuse, bud. She’s not mad, she’s disappointed. Billie explains that she sees the big picture, even if nobody else does. All the worlds except this one are dying. 

“It’s Chuck,” Cas surmises, and Billie rewards him with a no-shit-sherlock look for the ages.

Sam demands answers. “When I became Death,” Billie says, “I inherited Death’s knowledge and Death’s library. And in Death’s library, everyone has a book. Even God.” The books write themselves, in a wonderful bit of LIFE HAPPENS. Billie explains. “After God made the world…he wanted more. But he needed to create a perfect harmony. A swiss watch so this world could keep tick tick ticking in his absence.” Chuck built himself into the framework of reality. The Winchesters and Jack are in Chuck’s book. “This is your destiny. You are the messengers of God’s destruction.” 

Back at Radio Shed, Chuck watches his worlds get torn to shreds by horrible weather events and war. The hapless Radio Shed employee Chuck chained to his service looks exhausted, worn to shreds from serving the capricious god. (Definitely no symbolism HERE, nope.) He’s confident that Chuck will spare his planet. Right? RIGHT? 

“Everything’s just fine,” Chuck reassures him before leaving the Radio Shed. As he strolls from the shop, he tosses his empty cup aside as meteors streak in to destroy the planet.

That’s Win-Quotester Dumb:

It’s monologue time

Sir, this is a Radio Shed

You’ve got four of the same color connected so…given the name of the game I assume that means you won

One little measly life on the line and you’re willing to risk it all? That’s not just dumb. That’s Winchester dumb

Disobeying cosmic entities…doing the dumb, right thing…feels like we’re back

How’s it feel to be back? [silence] Good talk

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive! 

[simplelinesunfashiond]

The Power of Love

And also the alternate future Nixaniel scene. Because it’s Fluff season, and because I sat down and thought, “The natural thought is that Nix who has the more dominant personality type, would be the one to propose, but like, what if…not?” Except this is a whole different scene, because Nat’s choice of moment would be very different. Warning that Nathaniel's PoV can get a little…stressful, I guess is the word. Not sad, really, just sort of anxious. And I know @abalonetea @drabbleitout and @idreamonpaper are following these random snippets but idk who else, so.

It was still cool out, but it wasn’t absolutely frigid, frozen, gray. That being said, it was very much still winter to Nathaniel, but Nix was a very different sort of creature. Being the sort of creature who was literally full of fire might have had something to do with that. It wasn’t so bad, really – Nix could keep it as cold as he wanted inside, as long as he was willing to share some of his inherent warmth.

Nix had decided for whatever unknowable instinctive bird reason, that this slight lapse in freezing winter was the ideal day to plant some certain type of flower that he had decided was important. Or, more likely, that one of the kids had decided was important, and whether or not they were actually Nix’s children, he was determined to spoil the hell out of them. And so, he was out in the yard, sitting on the cold ground, trying to figure out how much heat he could use to thaw the still-frozen soil without actually lighting anything on fire.

Nathaniel wondered how long it would take him to realize he could always plant the damn things in pots and just move them outside later.

That was the thing about Nix, though. He knew what he was doing, but then, the determination sometimes got the best of him. He got it in his head to do something, and he was blind to everything else. And that – Well, that was the thing that made Nathaniel hesitate. Things were a certain way, they always had been, and Nathaniel couldn’t be sure exactly what would happen if he stepped out of that pattern. If he actually followed through with the idea.

Nothing awful, of course. Nothing too severe. He already knew that. He'd also run it by Elissa, who had nearly broken him in half as hard as she'd hugged him. But then, she didn't really know them. Either of them. Not perfectly. That little seed of doubt stayed imbedded in his chest.

Nathaniel knew he was stalling. But then, it was constructive stalling. At least, it was constructive in so far as the tasks he was completing needed to be completed. Letting his thoughts drift was proving to be a poor decision. The problem in the end was how hard it was to read a man who was not particularly human. He had always still wondered, on some level, what Nix saw him as. Not in the simple, surface sense, but in the big picture imbedded down deep in his subconscious. When they'd first met, Nathaniel had been such a small, weak thing, some archetypal maiden-in-distress for a hero, despite the obvious reasons that the label didn't quite fit. He couldn't help but wonder how much of that idea of him still resided in people's minds. In one person's, specifically.

The running monologue continued, as it always did. The one that reminded him, “You know who you are and what you are capable of. He knows who you are, and has seen what you are capable of. You've survived battlefields together. Nobody could be that delusional.” He waited, breathed in, and back out. “Isn't this the sort of thing you're licensed to talk people through? What are you so afraid of? You know better.” He also took the time to remind himself that the great powerful warrior outside was in the middle of an epic struggle against a flowering plant, and reluctantly had to admit it made him feel a little better.

He was running out of simple jobs to do while stalling, wandered into the kitchen, considered making something. Sighed. Almost laughed. He'd always thought Nix's complete inability to cook anything more complex than something that came in a box with instructions was some symptom of being the perpetual bachelor for centuries. Then, he'd met Elissa, and discovered her very odd habit of eating things nobody had bothered to cook at all, and realized that Nix hadn't stood a chance. He had zero instinct for it. For what it was worth, he tried. Beyond just the concern of being stuck with that chore for eternity, Nathaniel wasn't sure he could live with the sort of person who occasionally bit into a whole fish.

That was another nice layer of reassurance. In the end, Nix did take a lot after his mother, and she had thought it was a great idea. And besides, even if this didn't work out perfectly, it wasn't like it was some big showy ordeal, he could always pass it off as just a thought, a suggestion. That was…

He had to stop questioning, if he was ever going to do anything at all. He spared a quick glance to see if the baby – not so little now, but it was hard to remember that – was still napping. It turned into a less quick glance, even though she was. She slept clinging to a fuzzy plush dragon doll that Sydney had been so unreasonably excited about finding, she hadn't been able to wait for an occasion to gift it. The words “spoiled rotten" came to mind, but not unkindly, and he found himself smiling even as he shook his head.

After another lingering moment, he made his way downstairs and out to Nix's plot of half-thawed dirt, where Nix himself was now sprawled defeated across the ground. He jumped up when he noticed Nathaniel approaching, and attempted to brush some of the ash and soil from himself.

“Hey,” Nat greeted, casually as he could, and plucked a stray leaf from Nix's hair. “I was wondering…”

“Yeah?” Nix asked, a little too seriously, when Nathaniel hesitated.

“Well, I was just wondering if you were busy.”

Nix gave a long, withering stare at the plot of frosty earth. “No,” he answered, in a dejected deadpan. “There is nothing more to be done.” Nathaniel managed to direct the bubble of laughter into the guise of a slight cough. “So, yeah, I guess I'm free for the afternoon.”

“Okay, that's good,” Nathaniel said. “What about later, though? Any plans later?”

Nix was lost, and Nathaniel was almost amused by the endearing look of him desperately trying to recall if there was some occasion he was forgetting. “I don't think so. Should I have made plans? I can probably get one of the girls to babysit for tonight.”

“Okay, okay. But what about after that, will you be free then? And the day after?” The nerves were still wound tight through his body, but there was a thrill in it, and he could feel himself grinning at just the prospect of following this tangled road to its end.

“I…I don't think I understand what you're asking,” Nix finally admitted, though the look on his face was more curious than confused, as if to ask why Nathaniel was doing this.

Nathaniel took a deep breath, caught both of Nix's hands and asked, with some finality, “What are you doing for the rest of your life?”

Nix stared at him for a long moment, but Nathaniel could see the gears turning, making sense of what he'd said, of what had just happened. The realization was a visible snap, the gold in his eyes flickering bright around dark, wide pupils – this is a happy bird look, Nathaniel realized, and he was sure his own relieved grin was nothing next to the beaming smile that pulled one side of Nix's mouth slightly higher than the other. When Nix pulled his hands free, it was only to cradle Nathaniel's face, to guide him closer. They were both still smiling, almost laughing, a little too much to kiss properly, but Nix nuzzled his face into the side of Nathaniel's hair.

“Is this a ‘Yes,’ then?”

[bat-besties]

On Impossibility - 9

Chapter 1 Chapter 2  Chapter 3  Chapter 4  Chapter 5  Chapter 6  Chapter 7   Chapter 8

A popular!Logan and loser!Roman high school AU based on @2pointomg’s idea with eventual Prinxiety. 

impossible 

ɪmˈpɒsɪb(ə)l

adjective

·       not able to occur, exist, or be done.

Eg. It is impossible to fund both the sports and drama programmes with the school’s limited budget.

·       very difficult to deal with.

Eg. The situation which Logan Sanders, Student Body President, is in after he convinced the school board to cut the unsuccessful drama programmes is impossible.

·       (of a person) very unreasonable.

Eg. Roman Prince.

To Roman, nothing is impossible. Not following his older brother Patton to acting college, not being a loser taking on the school’s popular Student Body President and definitely not writing and performing an epic school play with no money and six cast and crew members.

Edited by @alpacasarethegreenestanimal, who has an amazing fanfiction on AO3! If you like superheroes, sarcasm and Virgil angst then you’ll love this

@barclays-sides

@romanasanders

@cashmeredragon

@entitydark

@jughead-is-canonically-aroace

@immacrazyfangirl

@narniasfinestavengingsociopath

@toolazytothinkofcreativename

@featuredfander

@what-a-catch-joe

@mightaswellenthuseaboutbooks​

@whatamessofwords

@zoalis

@hexdream18243

It was a typical Tuesday lunchtime with everyone backstage. Talyn was gluing some sequins onto Valerie’s crown. Valerie was practicing her evil chant with Terrence. Terrence was stretching next to Dahlia. Dahlia was waiting for her wicker basket to be fixed by Virgil. Virgil was doing that while bantering with Roman. Roman was putting 40% of his effort into chatting with Virgil and 60% into being casual and not talking about feelings.

Kyle was on the balcony alone, alien in his black cloak and heavy makeup. He was in the middle of his ending monologue, repeating each sentence until it was perfect and then running over the entire thing. He kept stopping and starting with different emphasises each time.

‘And so I say…No, no, no…. And so, I say.’ He kicked the balcony. ‘Argh! Stupid line!’

There was a clang as a piece of pipe fell off the balcony. Roman stood up to yell in Kyle’s general direction, ‘Hey, Virgil built that!’

Another clang rang out and Roman huffed and jogged onto the stage. As he rounded the corner he was greeted by the sight of Kyle holding onto a swaying balcony white-knuckled, staring wide-eyed and making no noise at all. A huge, flickering shadow was thrown up behind him as if even now the stage wanted to amplify the impact of any action taking place on it. Kyle was slowly shifting his weight back to the centre of the balcony, but the tower tipped in that direction with him. Roman ran forward ‘Kyle! Kyle! Just hold-’

There was a screech as the top slid off, followed by a deafening crash as Roman instinctively ducked down and hid his head. He opened his eyes slowly. The others ran in, then froze.  Where Kyle and the balcony had been was a pile of metal and a body thrown across the stage, its cloak making a dark pool. A sunbeam suddenly shifted, glinting off the extra supports in the mound of pipes and tangled vines. Six hearts raced each other. Roman couldn’t comprehend what had happened. He felt like if he didn’t move then maybe everything would zoom back into place like footage played backward, supports clicking into place and his friend standing on top of the balcony again.

Suddenly, Kyle gave a groan.

Everyone ran forward, and Terrence turned Kyle over. Roman began to shake. ‘OK, OK. Alright, uh… Kyle how are you feeling?’

Kyle sat up slowly. Clutching his head, he tried to stand before falling with a shout.

‘OK, OK, OK.’ Roman you can do this. ‘Valerie, call 911. Terrence, check for any bleeding and don’t let him pass out. Talyn, help Terrence. Dahlia calm down Virgil, I think he’s having a panic attack. I’ll go get a teacher.’

He sprinted up the gangway, breath already tight as he burst through the auditorium doors. He ricocheted off lockers and elbowed his way past ambling students, shouting incomprehensibly. The colours were too bright, the sounds too loud, but despite his desperation he was not impervious to the cutting stares or laughs at the wheeling of his arms as he ran up the stairs. He skidded around a corner and threw himself at the door of the nurse’s office, pounding on it. ‘Help! Help!’

The door was yanked open. ‘You’ll get detention if-’

Mr Macready softened on seeing Roman’s wide eyes. ‘What happened?’

‘It was Kyle and he broke his leg and banged his head and it was the balcony and he didn’t move and…’

Mr Macready placed a hand on Roman’s arm. ‘Roman, breathe. Did you call 911?’

‘Yeah.’ Roman nodded quickly.

‘Has he woken up?’

‘Yes.’

Mr Macready patted his arm twice, as if comforting a spooked horse. ‘OK, let’s go.’

Making his way through a crowded hallway was much easier when Roman was behind a barrel-chested nurse not worried about pushing over students who didn’t get out of his way. He saw everything in snapshots: Mr Macready checking Kyle’s head, Virgil tapping out rhythms in a corner, the yellow ambulance doors swinging open. The rest of the day was a blur until he collapsed into bed at home.

--------------------------------

Backstage the next day and everything was shaken up. Kyle was out of school as he had suffered a concussion, but miraculously no permanent damage had been done to his head. However, his leg had indeed been broken. Roman stood up to address his friends, who were slumped over boxes and blocking. He had spent the previous night googling head injuries and broken legs and reading the stage directions on speakerphone to Patton. ‘Alright, so now we have to figure out what to do. Kyle will be fine, but I don’t know if he’ll be able to perform with crutches. Ombretto’s pretty dynamic in his movements.’

Tugging at the sleeve of his hoodie, Virgil stood up, his eyeshadow covering actual eyebags. ‘It was my fault the balcony collapsed. Malcom – the janitor dude – said it was rickety, and I tried to stabilise it, but I failed and-’

There was a muted chorus of disagreement from the group.

‘And basically, it’s my fault so I’ll help you. I’ll play Ombretto.’

Roman’s mouth fell open.

‘I mean, probably I’ll completely suck, I mean I’ll definitely suck-’

‘Virgil,’ Roman cut in, ‘I would love to have you play the part. But only if you want to, not if you’re doing it is as some form of punishment. Besides, do you know the lines at all?’

‘I don’t want to do it, if I’m honest.’ Virgil let go of his sleeve and looked up, ‘But I want to help you guys. I want this thing to, you know, work. I want you guys to get to act, and for people to see Talyn’s costumes and – also I want them to see my set. I do know the gist of what he’s saying in each line, I’ll need to learn them properly, though. I know the meeting scene since you did that half-a-billion times when we were in the English classroom.’

Valerie sat up. ‘Well, let’s just have you run through that with Roman, and if it really doesn’t work we can ask Raphael back.’

Roman smiled. ‘Alright, we’ll go from when I enter.’

‘Could I…could I have the cloak?’

‘Uh…sure. Whatever works for you!’ Roman threw the cloak in Virgil’s general direction. Since he didn’t aim that well and Virgil didn’t have great athletic abilities either it fell quite a bit short.

Virgil draped the cloak around his shoulders and climbed onto some blocks. Roman went behind a curtain to reappear as Rosso. He shaded his eyes to look up the ‘tower’ and bellowed. ‘Lo! Could that be a minion of the evil queen?’

Virgil swept his fringe over his face and bit his lip. He made his voice gravelly, ‘A voice? Who would dare disturb me in my tower?’

Roman had to…take a moment after that. The pause caused Virgil to put his head in his hands. ‘Argh, that was stupid. Could Terrence be him?’

‘Hey!’ Terrence interjected, ‘I am Bob. Bob is me. Virgil, just…try less teen-y love interest.’

‘But he is a teen-y love interest.’ Roman said from the side of his mouth.

‘Try to play it more low-key.’ advised Valerie

Virgil exhaled. ‘I’ll go from after Roman’s line.’

‘Hello? Do you work for the Evil Queen?’ proclaimed Roman.

Virgil found the next line a bit easier. He hunched forward and looked away from Roman. ‘Who are you to ask?’

Roman stood directly under Virgil and looked up at him. ‘Nobody. A friend.’

Oh, this bit Virgil could do. He raised his eyebrows and tilted his chin at Roman. ‘Nobody? Or a friend?’

Roman grinned and shook his head. ‘Depends.’

‘On what?’ Virgil leaned forward.

‘What are you doing in a tower in the middle of this forest?’

Alright, he could do this. ‘I am not human as you are. I am cursed - with magic. Only when I am here is the world safe from me. In return for my seclusion, I aid the Evil Queen. The dark is the only place I belong.’ He sounded genuinely bitter, and at the last line he improvised a little. ‘So, light one, what brings you to a place like this?’

Roman grinned recklessly and waved his sword for emphasis. ‘Adventure! I am Rosso, and I fear nothing!’

Virgil drew back a bit, ‘I’m sorry, Rosso.’

‘Why is that, enchanter?’

Ombretto’s fear won over his curiosity and he acted in accordance with the wishes of the Evil Queen rather than with his humanity. Rosso drew back in fear as the vines began to move like snakes and wrap around his arms. ‘I’m sorry, Rosso.’ repeated Ombretto, ‘because you are a fool. And because I must do this.’

‘You must do nothing! Your destiny is your own!’ Rosso cried out, hacking at the thorns. ‘Please, don’t do this to yourself.’

Ombretto laughed bitterly. ‘My destiny is negligible. It’s my life I’m worried about.’

Terrence jumped into the scene, and Ombretto started at the sound as the faery searched unsuccessfully for the source of the conversation he’d overheard. Quickly, the enchanter wove an invisibility charm to protect the knight, not questioning why he did so at the time.

Then the scene changed to one with the Evil Queen, but in reality the spell was broken by applause.

‘Virgil – you’re amazing!’ cried Roman.

‘So…does he get the part?’ asked Terrence. The others looked at Roman expectantly.

Should Virgil get the part? With Virgil as Ombretto the play would be perfect. Without any practice he was almost as good as Kyle was, he kind of knew the lines, he had great chemistry with Roman, he fit the character (Roman decided deliberating why Virgil fit the character he’d written so well was for later). It would be perfect. Roman could perform the play with the hot emo love interest played by his actual hot emo love interest and show everyone that he was deserving of that romance. Perhaps he could reintroduce the stage kiss? No, it was clear their first kiss would be private, which Roman would still like. Roman was an acting powerhouse and Virgil inhabited Ombretto as comfortably as his patchwork hoodie. Together they would be unstoppable.

Then there was Kyle. Kyle who had practiced every single day for that role. Kyle who had been running through his lines to fit Roman’s idea of perfection when he fell. Kyle who had been with Roman in every production since the kindergarten nativity (Sheep #2 and Cow #4).  The likely event would be that Kyle would be able to perform his part. He just wouldn’t be able to walk so well.

Roman believed in his status as an artist. He told his story to himself over and over again: the bullies would beg for his autograph one day, he would talk in interviews about how he had to perform a play with no funding (from the school) and the tale about how he fell for Virgil was a love story for all time. Roman believed in drama and it certainly was dramatic to at the last minute choose passion over experience and sweep Virgil into twin stardom with himself.

Kyle was the safer choice.

If Roman took a chance on Virgil it could make the play.

No. Roman was not going to risk this play. He was going to make the sensible decision and be a good friend. If the tower would have to be a low platform or crutches were an anachronism, then so be it. Besides, the forest was imaginary. It was not possible for the play to be perfect, but he knew that Kyle would make it amazing.

He ‘Alright, here’s my decision, and it’s final. Virgil, that was amazing. But Kyle has to play Ombretto. I want Virgil to be the understudy. So, learn those lines inside-and-out.’

Virgil nodded, disappointment and embarrassment tinging his relief as he took off the cloak.

‘Roman?’ grinned Valerie, ‘are you going to say it?’

‘Yeah, go on, say it!’ cried Terrence.

Virgil face-palmed, sighing loudly. ‘Dear god, please don’t say it.’

Roman put a foot on a crate and threw out a hand. ‘The show…MUST GO ON!’