#larke tanner

[obsessedho]

[kunkutarpulla]

Laconic description: The girls in the teen club (plus Buck) are gaga over Troy and dream of being his bitch.

[r-f-m-writes]

A Lark In a Hollow Chapter One

Really, she doesn't have a choice.

Lark barely remembers the huge shadow of a man sitting beside her in the dead heat of Mrs. Poppy's office at the children's home. He is silent, stoic, and completely terrifying.

Christopher Hollow.

Muscled.

Six foot five.

Storm blue eyes.

Dog tags outlined under the straining stretch of his black tee-shirt.

"Lark," Mrs. Poppy says, gently, "you're happy with this arrangement? You want to go with your Godfather?"

There's no money left for her to live off until she finds a job - if she finds a job.

Her Dad is dead.

Lark doesn't have a choice.

Lark Douglas didn’t know who Christopher Hollow was when Mrs. Poppy brought his name up to her on a hot Saturday afternoon in her office. The additional details that he had served with her Dad in Afghanistan and was her appointed legal guardian and Godfather did nothing to help jog Lark’s memory.

      In fact, it was a full week after Mrs. Poppy informed Lark of Christopher Hollow’s existence that the girl finally managed to scrounge up a single, short, fuzzy memory of the man.

         She was home.

         The door to their flat was open, the old ceiling fan had been turning in slow circles over her head. It did nothing to fight against the mid July heat that was so stifling and muggy it made her skin stick to the linoleum floors. She had sat on the couch playing with Labrador, her stuffed toy dog, when Mom walked in with someone.

        Lark was five, she thinks, and she hadn’t paid attention to anything that was being said, or looked at who had stepped the room after her mother. She only glanced up from where she was making her stuffed dog do backflips off the worn-down couch cushions when big, black boots stepped into her vision off the edge of the sofa.

       The man who stood in front of her was tall, wearing camo pants and a fitted grey tee-shirt. His face was hard to remember, but Lark thought he had sandy brown hair and the start of a thick brown beard. He had crouched down, setting aside a battered black duffle bag, looking at her like he expected something.

     Lark had only stared at him.

      Mom’s voice had a strain in it when she spoke.

     “Say hi to Chris, baby. He’s come all the way from the airport just to see you.”

     The man spoke before Lark had the chance. He had a deep, rough rumbly voice.

     “Don’t worry her about it, Lori. Been two years. I’d be surprised if Pet remembered me at all.”

      Pet.

      That was the only memory Lark had of Christopher.

      She wasn’t even sure it was real and not just something she had made up in the recesses of her mind as an unconscious effort to help herself fill in the gaps and feel less uncertain.

     She had lots of memories like that.

      Memories no one else could verify. Memories she wasn’t sure happened, but couldn’t shake as being real.

      This was what led Lark to where she stood at the top of the worn flight of wooden stairs.  Seventeen years old, dressed in clothes that didn’t belong to her, feeling entirely unsure of what the future would hold.

      Seventeen, and only three weeks and four days shy of her eighteenth birthday.

     It was ridiculous.

     Stupid, even.

     Why couldn’t she just wait it out at the girl’s home?

     Why was Mrs. Poppy was obligated, by law, to reach out to relatives Lark had never even heard of and negotiate with them down the phone, asking and then, after the eighth rejection, pleading with each of them to come and pick her up?

      “Just a month - no, no, you wouldn’t have to commit to adoption, Mrs. Tanner - not at all. I am only reaching out because Lark is your niece, and I am sure you want the best for her -”

     The list thinned, name by name. Lark saw them each time Mrs. Poppy opened the manilla envelope with her initials on it, glancing over the struck off phone numbers and feeling nothing.

    The rejections didn’t surprise her.

    She knew from lived experience how reluctant people were to help a stranger.

     It took less than half a week for them to reach the last one.

     His name.

     Christopher Hollow.

     He was who Lark was waiting for as she hung onto the banister, her dark eyes fixed on the panes of frosted glass in the door, anticipating seeing a shadow blot across the panels when he stepped onto the porch and rang the buzzer.

     Floorboards creaked.

     Lark moved too late when Mrs. Poppy stepped out of her office that stood at the side of the stairs. The stacked blonde beehive of her hair bobbing into the girl’s view as Lark tried to scurry back out of her sight.

    Too little, too late.

    The kind wrinkles around Mrs. Poppy’s eyes doubled and deepened as the sound made her look upward and spot Lark.

     “Lark, there you are! I was just about to come and find you, dear. Nip down into my office for a moment, I’ve got some things I want to discuss with you before Mr. Hollow arrives.”

    The old stairs squeaked loudly as the girl walked sheepishly down the grossly worn-out blue carpet runner, rounding the curved banister at the bottom to follow Mrs. Poppy into her office.

    It was sun warm inside, light spilling over the faded hardwood floor and shiny varnish of the big, brown desk, highlighting the dozens of ring-marks stained into its top by mugs of coffee past. Mrs. Poppy rounded the desk, having to skirt sideways between the edge of it and the rows of heavy metal file drawers that flanked the room on all sides.

   Taking her perch in a black wheely chair, the woman gestured for Lark to sit in one of the two big, green, retro velvet sofas that faced her desk.

      Sinking down into her seat, Lark folded her hands in her lap and looked at the woman, waiting to be spoken to. She had been thoroughly taught from a young age that she was to be seen and not heard. There had also been plenty of occasions when Lark wasn’t to be seen or heard. Those were moments when her half empty pink, princess wardrobe came in handy.

        Mrs. Poppy placed a pair of up-swept cat eye spectacles on the tip of her tall, gently crooked nose, and took out a notepad. It was one of dozens she had, this particular piece of stationary sported Lark’s name on its front, written in black pen and then broadly underlined in purple marker.

       “Miss Douglas today is a big one for you. How are you feeling, hon? Excited? Nervous?”

        The soft slip of her southern accent calmed Lark some as she fought against the urge to fidget, keeping her fingers still in her lap.

        “Excited, Ma’am. Dad didn’t like to travel much, so seeing the Appalachians sounds like a real adventure.”

        Lark stuck a quick smile onto the end of her lie. She had rehearsed it in her head a hundred times since she was told the good news a week before.

        Christopher Hollow wanted her.

        He was driving the whole way down the coast from his home in the Appalachian Mountains to come and collect her. Lark couldn’t even comprehend where the Appalachian Mountains stood, just that they were stupendously far away.

        Mrs. Poppy grinned at Lark, genuine and radiant, as she wrote something in fast scratching cursive over and empty line of the notepad.

       “Always such an optimist, Lark. I’m sure Mr. Hollow will be delighted by you.”

        Lark’s left thumb twitched. When she smiled, it felt tight in the corners, “I certainly hope so, Ma’am.”

        And she truly did. Lark knew the way men behaved when they weren’t delighted by her.

~R.F.M~

         A fist gripped long, brown hair tightly enough to tear dozens of strands out of Lark’s scalp as she was dragged down the hallway by her head, the girl’s frame stooped almost to the floor as she clawed at the hands restraining her.

       “Fucking little bitch coming to steal from me? Think you’re slick, huh?”

         In honesty, Lark did.

        She had stolen from the man before on countless occasions, rummaging through the contents of his worn leather wallet, fishing out loose coins and dollar notes that wouldn’t be missed. Before, he was always too out of his mind to realize, so Lark had gotten greedy.

        Twenty dollars was a lot of money to people like them. She was foolish for thinking she could snatch it away without his notice.

       Lark didn’t know his name, or his age, or anything about him other than the fact he bought pot on Thursday afternoons and left the door to his apartment wide open with 90’s music playing full volume while he sat out on his balcony in a beat-up pink recliner, back to the living room, smoking.

         By all accounts, the man wasn’t very smart. But he was still a man, a man much stronger than Lark.

[wecandoit]

what i read | jun-jul

note: digital versions of most books can be found on Z-library] '*' indicates a trigger warning (direct references to death, abuse, violence, obvious triggers for mental illnesses)

Books

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

The Inseparables by Simone de Beauvoir

Masterpieces of Art: Vincent Van Gogh by Stephanie Cotela Tanner

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara*

Articles + essays

How Britain's Opium Trade Impoverished Indians (rec from @/apricitystudies)

Bad Therapy*

Life After a Traumatic Event and the Problem with the Resilience Narrative (rec from @/apricitystudies)

Bias in Mental Health Diagnosis Gets in the Way of Treatment

Waking Up Late Doesn't Mean You're Not Successful

Brain Function of Night Owls and Larks Differ

Muslim Feminism is not a Paradox

How Do Women Really Wield Power?

Little Archer, Big Mystery

The Anxiety of Influencers (rec from @/saintbronte)

Leaked Amazon Memo Shows the Company is Running Out of People to Hire

Uber Files: Greyballing, kill switches, lobbying - Uber's dark tricks revealed

How To Help Someone Financially Without Being Rude (Or Ruining The Friendship)

Arabs believe economy is weak under democracy

Why 'Spirited Away' is Japan's Greatest Animated Film

Mountain Gorillas: The Ripple Effect of Conservatism

Short stories

The Light at the Edge of the World by Avra Margariti

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When Popeye’s Chicken Was Enuf

Seafoam & Cinders by M.K Hutchins

Emotional Morons by Becky Mandelbaum

Videos + podcasts (yes i know this isn't reading let me live okey)

How To Keep a Commonplace Book

why do the 'it girls' quit?

The most successful pirate of all time

The Gilmore Girls Diet and Food Obsession: A Deep Dive*

DKMH by Dacre Montgomery (poetry podcast)

[overdecorated-furniture]

Find the Word - Tag Game

Thanks for tagging me, @annakayy! I love this kind of game.

My words are - snow, love, state and forest.

Snow

“A slight snow was covering the pavement outside, downy flakes falling into the quay where they melted in the sluggish water. The world was brought to a halt, frozen as winter’s icy talons wrapped around its neck for the first time this year. The usual bustle of Lower Ormand Quay, where cargoes were unloaded, and the noise of boot-makers, hatters, tailors and tanners as they plied their trade had fallen into slumber as soon as the snow had begun to fall.”

- from A Monstrous Regiment of Women, Chapter 2. (My Napoleonic novella/fanfic thing)

Love

“There is nothing you could possibly say that would make me wish to part from you, love. Your company is everything I desire, and my affection for you is infinite.”

- from Monstrous Regiment, Chapter 2. (I seem to have surprisingly few mentions of love in EoE or JoD…)

State

“The visions of other places were growing more frequent, and although Melwas did his best to try and secretly practice controlling what he conjured, it was hard to force himself into a calm and detached state of mind during the day, especially with the agitation that flickered and pulsed through the clans, caught on the wind, flashing in firelight and winding though the water, before diving down rabbit holes into the earth.”

- from Echoes of Eternity, Chapter 8. (My fantasy novel.)

Forest

“The scene in front of him, from the awkward position of lying on the ground, was that of a lush valley that brought an ache of familiarity to the youth, although he was certain he had never been here before, from what patchy memories were dripping back into his mind, slowly as the long evenings of summer. He was lying on the edge of grassy slopes, a riot of soft green and the brightness of summer flowers, beyond which the blue-washed crags of mountains supported the azure sky above where the larks fluttered. A river flowed amongst the fields, tumbling angrily from the maw of a waterfall into a deep pool, only to calm its temper, and find its way to a deciduous forest, whispering the secrets of the paths between the many worlds of sky, earth and under-earth.”

- from Echoes, Chapter 2.

Tagging @simonnebethel, @tildeathiwillwrite, @chronicler-of-narrative, @alextheoccasionalwriter, and an open tag for anyone else. No pressure, just if you want to!

Your words are: - sink, paper, hunt and jewel.

Happy writing! 🌿

[bluseum]

also why is everyone in the skellington book called [place name] [latin word] [adjective]

Derek very evidently names characters like any good lazy D&D player, random name generators and dictionaries. He doesn't seem to see a problem with

Abyssinia

Adam Brate

Adedayo Akinde

Adrasdos

Adrian Sykes

Adrienna Shade

Ajuoga

Alan

Alan (Boyle Solutions)

Alan Brennan

Alena Metz

Alesha Walsh

Alexander Remit

Alexander Slake

Alice Edgley

Aloysius Vespers

Amalia

Amity

Amity's Wife

Anathem Mire

The Ancients

Anguish

Anna

Annie Brennan

Anton Shudder

Arabella Wicked

Argeddion

Argento

Argus

Armiger Fop

Arthur Dagan

Ashione

Ashley Hubbard

Aspen

Assegai

Category:Assistants

Audoen

Auger Darkly

Aurnia

Auron Tenebrae

Aurora Jane

Category:Australians

Avatar

Avaunt

Axelia Lukt

Axle

Azzedine Smoke

Badstreet

Bagatelle

Baritone

Baron Vengeous

Bartholomew

Basher

Batu

The Beast

Bennet Troth

Benzel Travestine

Bernadette Maguire

Bernard Sult

Bertrand Solus

Beryl Edgley

Billy-Ray Sanguine

Binder Firm

Bison Dragonclaw

Black Annis

Boiler

Brennock

Brides of Blood Tears

Bridget

Brobding

Brock

Bruno

Bubba Moon

Burgundy Dalrymple

The Butcher

Byron Grace

Cadaver Cain

Cadaverous Gant

Caelan

Caisson

Caius Caviler

Cameron Light

Cark

Carol Edgley

Carol Edgley (Reflection)

Cassandra Pharos

Caste

Cathy

Cathy (The Button)

Category:Cats

Cerise

Ceryen

Cerys

Charivari

Charlie Smith

Child of the Faceless

China Sorrows

China's Assistant

China's Grandmother

Chrissy Brennan

Christophe Nocturnal

Civet

Clagge

Clarabelle

Cleaver

Clement Gale

Clerihew Montgomery

Coda Quell

Colleen Stint

Collup

Colm Muldoon

Conor Delaney

Corrival Deuce

Cothernus Ode

Crab

Craddock Sirroco

Crasher

Crepuscular Vies

Creyfon Signate

Crystal Edgley

Cu na Gealaí Duibhe

Dacanay

Daffyd Maybury

Dai Maybury

Daisy

Damocles Creed

Danny

Darian Vector

Darquesse

Dasher

Daveth Maybury

Davina Marr

Davit Maybury

Davon Maybury

Deacon Maybury

Death Monkey

Dedrich Wahrheit

Delafonte Mien

Desmond Edgley

Destrier

Detective Harris

Devoted

Dexter Vex

Dicer

Dima

Dionysus Pertinax

Doctor Whorl

Donegan Bane

Doran Purcell

Dragunov

Dreylan Scarab

Dubhóg Ni Broin

Duenna

The Dullahan

Dusk

Eachan Meritorious

Eamon Campbell

Eamon Pearce

Ed Stynes

Eddie Sullivan

Edgley Tempest

Edwina

Eliza Scorn

Elsie O'Brien

Elwood Satchel

Emmeline Darkly

Emmett Peregrine

Category:End of the World characters

Category:Energy-Throwers

The Engineer

Ephraim Tungsten

Erskine Ravel

Esryn Vanguard

Etta Faulkner

Evoric Cudgel

Faceless Ones

Father Reynolds

Fergus Edgley

Ferrente Rhadaman

Filament Sclavi

Finbar Wrong

Fintan Muldoon

Flaring

Fletcher Renn

Flint

Forby

Frightening Jones

Gall

Gary Price

Gavin Praetor

Ged

Category:Generals

Geoffrey Scrutinous

Gepard

Gepard Voke

Geraint Mizzle

Gerontius

Ghastly Bespoke

Ghastly Bespoke's father

Ghastly Bespoke's mother

Gladys

Glass

Gleeman Shakespeare

Gordon Edgley

Grace Kelly

Gracious O'Callahan

Graft

Gratio Erato

Gregory Castallan

Gregory Day

Greta Dapple

Griff

Grim

The Grotesquery

Gruesome Krav

Habergeon

Hansard Kray

Hapathy

Harmony

Hayley Skirmish

Hidalgo Bolt

Hieronymus Deadfall

Hoc

Hokum Pete

Hollow Men

Hopeless

Horts

The Hound

Hrishi

Hutchinson

Ian Moore

Ieni

Illori Reticent

Imogen

Infected

Isara

Isidora Splendour

Ivy

Jack Irons

Jackie Earl

Jajo Prave

James Hubbard

Jaron Gallow

Jason Randal

Jasper

Jenan Ispolin

Jeremiah Wallow

Jerry Houlihan

Jerry Ordain

Jethro

The Jitter Girls

Johann Starke

Joost

Kaiven

Kallista Pendragon

Kalvin Accord

Karrik

Kase

Kathryn Ether

Keir Tanner

Keith

Kenny Dunne

Kenspeckle Grouse

Keratin

Kes

Kierre of the Unveiled

Kiln

Kimora

Kitana Kellaway

Korb

Kribu

Krull

Kumo

Laken Cross

Lamour

Lapse

Larks

Larrikin

Lenka Bazaar

Levitt

Liam Muldoon

Lightning Dave

Lillian Agog

Lily

Lord Vile

Lorenzo Mult

Lorien

Luciana

Luke Skywalker

Madame Mist

Madcap Fenton

Magenta

Mahala

Maksy

Mandat

Mantis

Martin Flanery

Master

Maverick Reels

Melancholia St Clair

Melissa Edgley

Mellifluous Golding

Memphis

Mercy Charient

Merriwyn Hyphenate-Bash

Metric

Mevolent

Midnight Blue

Militsa Gnosis

Minion One and Minion Two

Mirk

Misery

Miss Nuncio

Moloch

Moribund

Mortal

Morven

Morwenna Crow

Mr Chou

Mr. Bliss

Mr. Fedgewick

Mr. Jib

Mud

Mulct

Murder Rose

Muriel Hubbard

Myosotis Terra

Myra

Myron Stray

Nathanial Quiver

Nefarian Serpine

Nero

Nestor Tarry

Never

Nixion

Nj Maverick

Noche

Noonan

Nye

Oberon Guile

Oblivious

Obloquy

Octa Gregorian Boona

October Klein

Odetta

Ogre

Oisin

Omen Darkly

Operative

Oscar Nightfall

Owen

Palaver Graves

Parthenios Lilt

Pat Hanratty

Patrick Slattery

Patrick Xebec

Paul Lynch

Paulie

Peg Muldoon

Pennant

Persephone Grief

Pete Green

Petrichor

Phil Lynott

Philomena Random

Ping

Portia

To name a few

[fattybattysblog]

Who is your current muse, and who is their faceclaim/what do they look like? What is one item that you associate without fail to them? What is their favourite colour? Is there a song you associate with them? If not, what quote fits the best for them? What do they like doing in their spare time? How much spare time do they get? What one fact do you love about them, but might not have had the chance to share yet?

Thank you for the questions @foxesandmagic-asks! I always appreciate the interest!

This is probably gonna be long so buckle up!

Who is your current muse, and who is their faceclaim/what do they look like?

A. Since a lot of my OCs are monsters/inhumans, I don't use faceclaims. (I know that must be annoying, I'm sorry.) I always have Saphira on the brain, but I think I'll talk about Alix! My Kingdom Hearts OC. She looks like this.

2. What is one item that you associate without fail to them?

A. I made birds her symbol so I guess feathers. Her keyblade is called "The Piercing Plumes", she has a bird mask for her wielder persona, and she is known as "Lia the Lark".

3. What is their favourite colour?

A. She likes Red :)

4. Is there a song you associate with them? If not, what quote fits the best for them?

A. I'm not too good at finding quotes, haha. So lemme find a song. Aawake at Night by half.alive seems to work.

5. What do they like doing in their spare time?

A. She likes to watch the Dusks do their weird little gummy gymnastics.

6. How much spare time do they get?

A. She doesn't get a lot of spare time. She's always training, when not training, she's out doing the small work the rest of them don't want to do. And when not doing that, she spends her time in the labs helping Vexen out.

7. What one fact do you love about them, but might not have had the chance to share yet?

A. I don't remember where I got the idea, but her Nobody and her Somebody have small differences between them to show how she is (some) and how she sees herself (no).

Alix is paler, shorter, longer hair, bow in her hair, shy, quiet, and hates fighting.

Lia is tanner, a bit taller, shorter hair, different eyelashes, more outgoing, capable fighter, and more willing to stand up for herself.

[crazydreamercycle]

A catalogue of names that are just straight up normal words

Female

Acacia

Amber

Amethyst

Amity

Anemone

Anise

April

Aria

Aspen

Aster

Aura

Aurora

Autumn

Avalon

Avril (April, French)

Azalea

Azure

Bee

Beryl

Blanche (White, French)

Blondie

Blossom

Brandy

Bunny

Burgundy

Cadence

Calanthe

Calla

Camellia

Candy

Caprice

Chalice

Charisma

Charity

Chastity

Cherish

Cherry

Clarity

Clematis

Clemency

Columbine

Comfort

Coral

Coriander

Crystal

Daffodil

Dahlia

Daisy

Dawn

Delight

Delta

Destiny

Diamond

Dot

Dove

Dream

Easter

Ebony

Eglantine

Emerald

Epiphany

Essence

Fae

Faith

Fancy

Fawn

Felicity

Fern

Flower

Gay

Genesis

Genie

Gill

Ginger

Glory

Grace

Harmony

Hazel

Heather

Heaven

Holly

Honey

Honour

Hope

Hyacinth

Iris

Ivy

Jacinth

Jasmine

Jonquil

Journey

Joy

July

June

Kay

Kitty

Lacy

Lark

Laurel

Lavender

Liberty

Lilac

Lily

Lotus

Love

Magnolia

Maple

Marigold

May

Meadow

Melody

Mercy

Merry

Minty

Miracle

Missy

Misty

Modesty

Monday

Myrtle

Nan

Nanny

Olive

Opal

Paisley

Pansy

Patience

Peace

Pearl

Pen

Penny

Peony

Petal

Petunia

Piety

Piper

Pleasance

Poppy

Porsche

Posy

Precious

Primrose

Princess

Prissy

Queen

Rainbow

Rose

Rosemary

Rosy

Royalty

Ruby

Rue

Sapphire

Scarlet

Scout

Serenity

Shell

Sherry

Sienna

Spirit

Spring

Star

Sue

Summer

Sunshine

Symphony

Tansy

Tawny

Teal

Temperance

Tempest

Tiara

Topaz

Treasure

Trinity

Unique

Unity

Velvet

Verity

Violet

Willow

Winter

Male

Ace

Archer

Art

August

Baker

Bishop

Blaze

Brand

Brock

Bud

Buddy

Buster

Case

Cash

Chance

Chip

Chuck

Clair (Light/clear, French)

Clay

Clement

Cliff

Colt

Constant

Coy

Crew

Curt

Dane

Deacon

Dean

Den

Drake

Duke

Dutch

Earl

Earnest

Fisher

Fletcher

Flint

Ford

Forest

Foster

Fox

Frank

Garland

Gene

Gore

Grant

Gray

Grey

Griffin

Gunner

Guy

Hale

Hall

Hardy

Heath

Herb

Jack

Junior

Kelvin

King

Kip

Lane

Legend

Leo

Major

Mark

Marshal

Mason

Mat

Merit

Messiah

Miles

Moss

Newt

Noble

Norm

Pace

Peers

Peregrine

Pierce

Piers

Placid

Porter

Prince

Prosper

Ray

Read

Red

Reed

Rich

Ridge

Rob

Rocky

Rod

Roman

Rusty

Satchel

Scott

Shaw

Shepherd

Sly

Smith

Sonny

Spike

Stan

Sterling

Stew

Stone

Tad

Talon

Tanner

Teddy

Tiger

Trace

Van

Walker

Ward

Webster

Will

Wilt

Wolf

Woody

Wright

Unisex

Alpha

Angel

Ash

Berry

Blessing

Briar

Brook

Carol

Cat

Cedar

Christmas

Cyan

Dell

Derby

Dusty

Flick

Fortune

Gale

Garnet

Happy

Harper

Haven

Haze

Honor

Hunter

Indigo

Jade

Jewel

Justice

Kit

Lake

Lucky

Max

Merle

Noel

Ocean

Page

Patsy

Phoenix

Praise

Prudence

Rain

Raven

Reign

River

Rowan

Royal

Sage

Sandy

September

Sequoia

Silver

Sky

Sparrow

Storm

Sunday

Sunny

Temple

Wisdom

[lazarus171]

Every friend group should include...

I love this dumb show

[marionto]

[livingitupontopofthehill]

g a y

[nomorehypocracy]

Beverly Hills Teens Tarot

The Fool: Wilshire

The Magician: Chester

The High Priestess: Tara

The Empress: Empress

The Emperor: Prince Albert

The Hierophant: Switchboard

The Lovers: Larke & Troy

The Chariot: Stardust

Strength: Blaze

The Hermit: Pierce

The Wheel of Fortune: C.A.D.

Justice: Nikki

The Hanged Man: Radley

Death: Viper 1

Temperance: Fifi

The Devil: Bianca

The Tower: Buck

The Star: Tiara

The Moon: Gig

The Sun: Jett

Judgment: Shanelle

The World: Jillian

[make-me-imagine]

Requests

Status: CLOSED

Alright, requests for all of my fandoms are open. Send some in while you can, they will not be open long!

Writing Prompt List #1 *210 prompts (fluff/romance; angst/emotional; Misc/Humor; & Scenario Prompts)

Writing Prompt List #2 *200 prompts (fluff/romance; angst/emotional; Misc/Humor; and Scenario Prompts)

Sensory Prompts #1 *125 prompts (nature ambiance; fluff/relationship; angst/sad; scary/horror; comfort; and Misc.)

Sensory Prompts #2 *around 130 prompts (nature/outside ambiance; relationship/fluff; angst; scary/horror; comfort; and Misc.)

Rules Page *Basic Rules: - I only write 'x reader' inserts; no ships or oc inserts - GN!Reader only - I do not write specific body types, or for other specific physical characteristics, since I try to keep my inserts as neutral as possible - No nsfw; no pregnancy/children, no readers/character fics below 18

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You can request for fics/oneshots or headcanons.

You can send in your own plot, and/or 1-3 prompts. Feel free to mix and match from the prompt lists!

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Full Fandoms List Below Cut:

9-1-1 (FOX show)

Evan “Buck” Buckley Eddie Diaz Det. Lou Ransone Howard “Chimney” Han

The Boys:

Serge “Frenchie” Hughie Campbell Billy Butcher

Bridgerton

Anthony Bridgerton Benedict Bridgerton Simon Basset Colin Bridgerton *maybe others? 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Spike Angel

Criminal Minds  (I have only watched seasons 1-11)

Spencer Reid Aaron Hotchner Derek Morgan

Doctor Who

Ten Eleven Twelve

Elementary

Sherlock Holmes *I have not watched the whole series so I wont write much for in-show plot points

Firefly

Malcolm Reynolds Simon Tam

Lark Rise to Candleford

Daniel Parish Fisher Bloom Sir Timothy Midwinter Alf Arless Mr Rushton

Leverage 

Eliot Spencer Quinn Alec Hardison

Magnificent Seven Tv Series (1998-2000)

Chris Larabee Ezra Standish Vin Tanner Buck Wilmington

The Mandalorian + TBoBF

Din Djarin Cobb Vanth Boba Fett (prefer platonic)

M*A*S*H (Tv Series)

Hawkeye Pierce BJ Hunnicutt Trapper John

Merlin (BBC)

Merlin Arthur Gwaine Percival Lancelot

Moon Knight

Steven Grant Marc Spector Arthur Harrow

Person of Interest

John Reese Others; platonically is preferred

Prodigal Son 

Malcolm Bright Gil Arroyo 

Shadow and Bone:

Kaz Brekker Matthias Mal Alexander/Kirigan ?

*I have read the Grishaverse books, so I am willing to write around that plot. But the characters will be in character for the show, and the characters will be written as 20+ as their ages are not stated in the show but it feels as though they are aged up in the depiction. 

Sherlock (BBC)

Sherlock Holmes Greg Lestrade Jim Moriarty

Star Trek: Discovery

Christopher Pike Gabriel Lorca (willing to write for an alternate ‘Prime’ version of Lorca) Sarek Spock **I’m in the process of watching Disco and am currently on Season 3. I will be watching Strange New Worlds when I can. **please make sure to specify which Spock you are requesting for (Disco or AOS.)

Star Trek: Enterprise 

Captain Archer Trip Tucker Malcolm Reed 

Star Trek: Voyager 

Chakotay Tom Paris

Stargate Sg-1

Jack O’Niell Daniel Jackson Jonas Quinn Cameron Mitchell 

Stargate Atlantis

John Sheppard Carson Becket Ronon Dex

Supernatural  *Have only watched seasons 1-9

Sam Winchester Dean Winchester Castiel Gabriel Gadreel Balthazar Crowley Lucifer Caine

Teen Wolf 

Derek Hale Peter Hale

Vampire Diaries & The Originals

Elijah Mikaelson Klaus Mikaelson Damon Salvatore Kol Mikaelson Lorenzo “Enzo” St John Finn Mikaelson

**Never watched The Originals’, so I only know the Mikaelsons from TVD.

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- - - - - Franchises/Movies - - - - - 

MCU:

Original Avengers:

Tony Stark  Steve Rogers Thor Bruce Banner Clint Barton Natasha Romanoff

Others:

Bucky Barnes Sam Wilson Helmut Zemo Loki Heimdall Vision Scott Lang Peter Parker (Garfield and/or Hollands; aged up) Dr. Stephen Strange T’Challa Agent Ross Shang-Chi Peter Quill

*** Feel free to ask about other MCU characters; I will write for most (depending on if I like the request as well) ***

X-Men

Original Timeline Movies:  Logan/Wolverine Scott Summers Kurt Wagner “Nightcrawler” Viktor Creed “Sabertooth”

First Class Timeline: Charles Xavier Eric Lehnsherr Hank McCoy Alex Summers Azazel Peter Maximoff “Quicksilver” Warren Worthington III “Angel”

**Many of the younger characters ages are not obvious in the First Class movies, so everyone will be written/suggested as 20+

The Eternals

Druig Ikaris Kingo

Venom (1 & 2)

Eddie Brock

Deadpool (1 & 2)

Wade/Deadpool  Ajax/Francis Cable Domino

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Star Wars Universe

Episodes I-III

Anakin Skywalker Obi Wan Kenobi

Episodes IV-VI

Luke Skywalker Han Solo

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Han Solo Lando Calrissian Dryden Vos

Episodes VII-IX

Finn Poe Dameron Ben Solo/Kylo

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The Hobbit/Lotr

Thranduil Thorin Kili Fili Bard Legolas Aragorn Eomer Faramir Elrond

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Fantastic Beasts:  ((JK Rowling is a bigot and anything I write regarding the wizarding world is of my own imagination and a continuation of a world I want untainted by her bigotry)) 

Newt Scamander, Percival Graves *So far I have only seen the first movie

**I will possibly write for characters from Harry Potter or Marauders, such as the Weasley twins, Malfoy, Cedric, Remus, Sirius, etc. But if I do, it will be after they leave Hogwarts and are 18+.

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Star Trek AOS

Cpt. Jim Kirk Dr. Leonard McCoy Spock Montgomery “Scotty” Scott Pavel Chekov Hikaru Sulu Khan *please make sure to specify which Spock you are requesting for (Disco or AOS.)

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The Outsiders

Darrel “Darry” Curtis Maybe: Sodapop Curtis Dallas Winston ^^Aged Up

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Pirates of the Caribbean (1-4)

Captain Jack Sparrow Will Turner James Norrington Elizabeth Swann/Turner

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Magnificent Seven (2016) 

Joshua Faraday Billy Rocks Goodnight Robicheaux Vasquez Red Harvest

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Maleficent I & II

Conall, Borra, Diaval, Maleficent

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The Man from U.N.C.L.E 

Napoleon Solo Illya Kuryakin

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Kingsman: The Secret Service and The Golden Circle

Eggsy Unwin Hamish Mycroft “Merlin” Jack Daniels “Whiskey”

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Jane Austen/Period Movies: 

Pride and Prejudice (1995 & 2005) Characters: Mr. Darcy and Mr Bingley (other characters if requested)

Mansfield Park (1999 & 2007) Character: Edmund Bertram

Sense and Sensibility (1995/2008) Character: Edward Ferrars 

Emma (2009 & 2020) Character: Mr. Knightley

Persuasion (2007) Character: Captain Wentworth

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Outside Characters: 

Actors who have multiple characters outside of the listed fandoms that I am willing to write for!

Charlie Hunnam:

Arthur (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) Raymond Smith (The Gentlemen) William “Ironhead” Miller (Triple Frontier) **Will also write for Ben Miller

Oscar Isaac: 

Santiago “Pope” Garcia (Triple Frontier)

xx

[cirvat]

Meet Cute

It starts with fishing.

Lark cast her line into the depths of Lake Rum, waters waded up to her hips. She held the line in pace, twitching it ever so slightly, and turned her head to watch the ships come in the harbor.

Lake Rum was large enough to have several ports dotting along its edge. Ships often docked in Afail Harbor to resupply on their way to larger ports further along the coast. It wasn’t odd to see Empire ships drifting in for a break.

She watched one particular ship dock not too far from where she stood in the shallows. The Empire sigil had been slashed down the middle and signs of battle coated the barque’s elegant paint. The soldiers disembarking all looked slightly haggard and they carried several weapons despite the rules of peace among the port towns.

A very sharply dressed man walked down the gangplank and was met by the dockmaster. Words and scowls were exchanged before the man turned back to his crew with a loud order.

“Hey, Lark?” She waved a hand at the voice.

A platoon of soldiers disembarked the ship, a tall woman standing amongst them. Lark’s eyes widened as she took in the woman’s glittering jewelry and the shackles fastened around her wrists and throat.

“Lark?”

The man gave the woman a smug grin as the platoon passed him by.

“Lark, your bait is long gone by now.” Lark finally looked away to glance at her fishing partner. Tanner blinked at her before his eyes narrowed. “What did you see?”

“Does your father’s inn have any vacancies?” She smiled up at him.

He glanced between her and the docks before sighing. “Don’t get caught.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.” She turned back to the lake.

“Right.” He sighed again.

-

Afail Harbor didn’t have what would be considered the most exciting night life. Sure, the bars stayed open late but due to the size of the town there were no high class liquors sold. The usual clientele packed it in early and those visiting weren’t far behind them.

A typical night perfect for Lark and her sisters to fan out among the buildings without being seen.

Wren and Jay had taken to the plan without complaints. The two knew how this would play out and were ready with contingencies is anything went belly up.

Lark was sure they wouldn’t need any of them.

She waved her sisters toward the inn’s entrance before jumping to hook herself up onto a drainage pipe. Hand over hand she climbed up to the roof.

-

Rin was not having a good day.

“You want to try and steal from the scary demon go ahead.” Soldier Stephan shrugged. “I’ll be over here watching it kill you.”

First, she had been attacked several weeks previously, a stress that compounded as the days progressed.

“It’s tied down with chains made by the Emperor’s best sorcerers! It couldn’t kill us if it tried!” Soldier Gregor pointed to her hands.

Second, she had been chained to the bars of some ship’s brig for days while seasickness plagued her.

“I’m with Stevie on this one, dude.” Soldier Simone piped up. “After seeing what it did to our ship I wouldn’t get anywhere near it if I were you.”

And now she was stuck in some smelly building with the most annoying rotation of guard possible. The seal on her bindings almost completely restricted her magic letting her migraine ravage her skull.

Rin gazed up at the ceiling, ignoring the soldiers who had devolved to bickering amongst themselves, trying to will the pain away. She blinked when a corner of the tile lifted away to reveal a stranger’s face.

The woman smiled at her with a wink, holding up several paper talismans. A flick of the wrist sent them floating to rest on the floor around Rin.

The bickering had gotten much louder now, making Rin wince. The woman in the ceiling whispered something in a language Rin didn’t know before placing a fingertip to her lips and blowing. Purple powder glittered in the lamplight as it drifted to settle on her guards.

As soon as the dust touched their skin they collapsed in a heap.

Rin twitched as the dust flowed toward her only to settle inches above her head.

Movement from the ceiling had her glancing up to see the woman landing in a crouch on the floor. A wave of her hand banished the sleeping spell in a ripple of power.

“Hello, ma’am.” Rin’s rescuer gave her a little bow. “Please forgive this indignity.”

A yank of her bindings pulled Rin up over the woman’s shoulder.

“Let’s get you out of here.”

[rockislandadultreads]

Multi-genre Romance: new romantic reads with a hint of something else

The Persuasion by Iris Johansen

Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan and ex-Navy Seal Joe Quinn are about to give Seth Caleb their trust for the most important duty of his life: keeping their daughter, Jane, safe at any cost. Her talent as an artist has caught the attention of a brilliant psychopath with a violent past. Seth, Jane's strongest ally and fiercest protector, is determined to keep her out of danger, but that becomes nearly impossible when Jane is forced to take matters into her own hands and confronts the madman who wants her for himself...and wants Seth Caleb dead. As Jane and Seth chase down their blood-thirsty adversary, they also have to reckon with their own epic love story. Can they finally commit to a life together, no matter how uncertain? As the two come face to face with danger, one thing is made clear: it will take both of them to confront and defeat this evil.

What You Wish For by Katherine Center

Samantha Casey is a school librarian who loves her job, the kids, and her school family with passion and joy for living. But she wasn’t always that way. Duncan Carpenter is the new school principal who lives by rules and regulations, guided by the knowledge that bad things can happen. But he wasn’t always that way. And Sam knows it. Because she knew him before—at another school, in a different life. Back then, she loved him—but she was invisible. To him. To everyone. Even to herself. She escaped to a new school, a new job, a new chance at living. But when Duncan, of all people, gets hired as the new principal there, it feels like the best thing that could possibly happen to the school—and the worst thing that could possibly happen to Sam. Until the opposite turns out to be true. The lovable Duncan she’d known is now a suit-and-tie wearing, rule-enforcing tough guy so hell-bent on protecting the school that he’s willing to destroy it. As the school community spirals into chaos, and danger from all corners looms large, Sam and Duncan must find their way to who they really are, what it means to be brave, and how to take a chance on love—which is the riskiest move of all.

28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand

When Mallory Blessing's son, Link, receives deathbed instructions from his mother to call a number on a slip of paper in her desk drawer, he's not sure what to expect. But he certainly does not expect Jake McCloud to answer. It's the late spring of 2020 and Jake's wife, Ursula DeGournsey, is the frontrunner in the upcoming Presidential election. There must be a mistake, Link thinks. How do Mallory and Jake know each other? Flash back to the sweet summer of 1993: Mallory has just inherited a beachfront cottage on Nantucket from her aunt, and she agrees to host her brother's bachelor party. Cooper's friend from college, Jake McCloud, attends, and Jake and Mallory form a bond that will persevere -- through marriage, children, and Ursula's stratospheric political rise -- until Mallory learns she's dying. Based on the classic film Same Time Next Year (which Mallory and Jake watch every summer), 28 Summers explores the agony and romance of a one-weekend-per-year affair and the dramatic ways this relationship complicates and enriches their lives, and the lives of the people they love.

Last Girl Standing by Lisa Jackson, Nancy Bush

The best of friends . . . In the Portland suburb of West Knoll, Delta and her friends were the pretty, popular elite of the high school. That was fifteen years and a whole lifetime ago. Even then, backstabbing and betrayal erupted among the women in the group, a trio of which are now gathered around a hospital bed. And most of it revolved around the man lying close to death before them . . . Until the day . . . To Delta, it feels as if a nightmare unfolds every time they get together. It started at their senior year graduation party when a group of daredevils led by Tanner slipped under the safety rope and tumbled into the dangerous, fast-flowing river. One of their clique died following his lead. It all seemed spontaneous at the time. A thoughtless deed. But since then, there have been more deaths, more "accidents." And the question hovers, unspoken: who's next? They die . . . As the body count rises, Detective Chris McCrae, one of Delta's classmates and a long ago friend of Tanner's, realizes that stopping the terror means digging deep into the past. Hidden beneath the conflicting stories, gossip, and scandalous half-truths are secrets that someone will kill again and again to protect--until there is no one left to tell . . .

The Librarian of Boone's Hollow by Kim Vogel Sawyer

A traveling librarian ventures into the mining towns of Kentucky on horseback and rediscovers her passions in this powerful novel from the best-selling author of A Silken Thread. During the Great Depression, Addie Cowherd dreams of being a novelist and offering readers the escape that books gave her during her tragic childhood. When her adoptive father loses his job, she is forced to leave college and take the only employment she can find--delivering books on horseback to poor coal mining families in the hills of Kentucky. The small community of Boone's Hollow is suspicious of outsiders and steeped in superstitions that leave Addie feeling rejected and indignant. Although she finds an unexpected friend in an elderly outcast, the other horseback librarians scorn her determination to befriend Nanny Fay. Emmett Tharp grew up in the tiny mountain hamlet where most men either work in the coal mine or run moonshine. He's the first in the community to earn a college degree, and he has big dreams, but witnesses the Depression robbing many young men of their future. Then someone sets out to sabotage the library program, going so far as to destroy Addie's novel in progress. Will the saboteur chase Addie and the other librarians away, or will knowledge emerge victorious over prejudice? Is Emmett the local ally that Addie needs--and might their friendship lead to something more?

The Vanishing by Jayne Ann Krentz

Forty years ago in the small town of Fogg Lake, "The Incident" occurred: an explosion in the cave system that released unknown gases, causing peculiar effects on its residents, such as strange visions and ominous voices. Not wanting the government to get involved, they chalked it up to the hallucinogenic effects of mushrooms. Little did they know these effects would linger through the generations.... Residents Catalina Lark and Olivia Dayton have been best friends for years and own an investigation firm together, using what they call the "other sight" to help with their business. When Olivia goes missing, Cat frantically begins the search for her alone when the town does nothing about it. When scientist Slate Trevelyan shows up, she has no choice but to accept his help even though there's something about him she just can't trust. The duo discovers someone is hunting the two witnesses of a murder in Fogg Lake fourteen years ago—the very one Cat and Olivia witnessed as teens, one that they couldn't prove happened. Cat and Slate's search for Olivia takes them down a rabbit hole that is far more dangerous and mysterious than they ever expected, and with a killer in their midst, neither of them can foresee who will come out alive.

[paralleljulieverse]

“We’ll be educating Archie, so we’ll be busy for a while...”

We are a little late with this commemorative post, but last month -- 6 June, to be precise -- marked the 70th anniversary of the debut of Educating Archie (1950-59), the legendary BBC radio series starring ventriloquist Peter Brough and his dummy, Archie Andrews. Fourteen-year-old Julie Andrews was part of the original line-up for the 1950 premiere season of Educating Archie and she would remain with the show for two full seasons till late-1951/early-1952. 

It would be difficult to exaggerate the significance of Educating Archie during the ‘Golden Age' of BBC Radio in the 1950s. Across the ten years it was on the air, it grew from a popular series on the Light Programme into a “national institution” (Donovan, 74). At its peak, the series averaged a weekly audience of over 15 million Britons, almost a third of the national population (Elmes, 208). Even the Royals were apparently fans, with Brough and Archie invited to perform several times at Windsor Castle (Brough, 162ff). The show found equal success abroad, notably in Australia, where a special season of the series was recorded in 1957 (Foster and First, 133). 

Audiences couldn’t get enough of the smooth-talking Brough and his smart-lipped wooden sidekick, and the show soon spawned a flood of cross-promotional spin-offs and marketing ventures. There were Educating Archie  books, comics, records, toys, games, and clothing. An Archie Andrews keyring sold half a million units in six months and the Archie Andrews iced lolly was one of the biggest selling confectionary items of the decade (Dibbs 201). More than a mere radio programme, Educating Archie became a cultural phenomenon that “captured the heart and mood of a nation” (Merriman, 53). 

On paper, the extraordinary success of Educating Archie can be hard to fathom. After all, what is the point of a ventriloquist act on the radio where you can’t see the artist’s mouth or, for that matter, the dummy? Ventriloquism is, however, more than just the simple party trick of “voice-throwing”. A good “vent” is at heart a skilled actor who can use his or her voice to turn a wooden doll into a believable character with a distinct personality and dynamic emotional life. It is why many ventriloquists have found equal success as voice actors in animation and advertising (Lawson and Persons, 2004). 

Long before Educating Archie, several other ventriloquist acts showed it was possible to make a successful transition to the audio-only medium of radio. Most famous of these was the American Edgar Bergen who, with his dummy Charlie McCarthy, had a top-rating radio show which ran in the US for almost two decades from 1937-1956 (Dunning, 226). Other local British precedents were provided by vents such as Albert Saveen, Douglas Craggs and, a little later, Arthur Worsley, all of whom had been making regular appearances on radio variety programmes for some time (Catling, 81ff; Street, 245).

By his own admission, Peter Brough was not the most technically proficient of ventriloquists. A longstanding joke -- possibly apocryphal but now the stuff of showbiz lore -- runs that he once asked co-star Beryl Reid if she could ever see his lips move. “Only when Archie’s talking,” was her deadpan response (Barfe, 46). But Brough -- described by one critic as “debonair, fresh-faced and pleasantly toothy” (Wilson “Dummy”, 4) -- had an engaging performance style and he cultivated a “charismatic relationship with his doll as the enduring and seductive Archie Andrews” (Catling, 83). Touring the variety circuit throughout the war years, he worked hard to perfect his one-man comedy act with him as the sober straight man and Archie the wise-cracking cut-up. 

Inspired by the success of the aforementioned Edgar Bergen -- whose NBC radio shows had been brought over to the UK to entertain US servicemen during the war -- Brough applied to audition his act for the BBC (Brough, 43ff). It clearly worked because the young vent soon found himself performing on several of the national broadcaster’s variety shows. His turn on one of these, Navy Mixture, proved so popular that he secured a regular weekly segment, “Archie Takes the Helm” which ran for forty-six weeks (ibid, 49). While appearing on Navy Mixture, Brough worked alongside a wide range of other variety artists, including, as it happens, a husband and wife performing team by the name of Ted and Barbara Andrews. 

Fast forward several years to 1950 and, in response to his surging popularity, Brough was invited by the BBC to mount a fully-fledged radio series built around the mischievous Archie (Brough, 77ff). A semi-sitcom style narrative was devised -- written by Brough’s longtime writing partner, Sid Colin and talented newcomer, Eric Sykes  -- in which Archie was cast as “a boy in his middle teens, naughty but lovable, rather too grown up for his years-- especially where the ladies are concerned -- and distinctly cheeky” (Broadcasters, 5). Brough was written in as Archie’s guardian who, sensing the impish lad needed to be “taken strictly in hand before he becomes a juvenile delinquent,” engages the services of a private tutor to “educate Archie” (ibid.). Filling out the weekly tales of comic misadventure was a roster of both regular and one-off characters. In the first season, the Australian comedian, Robert Moreton, was Archie's pompous but slightly bumbling tutor, Max Bygraves played a likeable odd-job man, and the multi-talented Hattie Jacques voiced the part of Agatha Dinglebody, a dotty neighbourhood matron who was keen on the tutor, along with several other comic characters (Brough, 78-81).

In keeping with the variety format popular at the time, it was decided the series would also feature weekly musical interludes. “Our first choice” in this regard, recalls Peter Brough (1955), “was little Julie Andrews”:

“A brief two years before [Julie] had begun her professional career as a frail, pig-tailed, eleven-year-old singing sensation, startling the critics in Vic Oliver’s ‘Starlight Roof’ at the London Hippodrome by her astonishingly mature coloratura voice. Many people of the theatrical world were ready to scoff, declaring the child’s voice was a freak, that it could not last or that such singing night after night would injure her throat. They did not reckon with Julie’s mother, Barbara, and father, Ted: nor with her singing teacher, Madame Stiles-Allen. In their care, the little girl, who had sung ‘for the fun of it’ since she was seven, continued a meteoric career that has few, if any rivals” (81).

As further context for Julie’s casting in Educating Archie, the fourteen-year-old prodigy had already appeared on several earlier BBC broadcasts and was thus well known to network management. In fact, Julie had already worked with the show’s producer, Roy Speers, on his BBC variety show, Starlight Hour in 1948 (Julie Andrews Radio Artists File I).

Julie’s role in Educating Archie was essentially that of the show’s resident singer who would come out and perform a different song each week. In the first volume of her memoirs, Julie recalls:

“If I was lucky, I got a few lines with the dummy; if not, I just sang. Working closely with Mum and [singing teacher] Madame [Stiles-Allen], I learned many new songs and arias, like ‘The Shadow Waltz’ from Dinorah; ‘The Wren’; the waltz songs from Romeo and Juliet and Tom Jones; ‘Invitation to the Dance’; ‘The Blue Danube’; ‘Caro Nome’ from Rigoletto; and ‘Lo, Hear the Gentle Lark’” (Andrews 2008, 126)

Other numbers performed by Julie during her appearances on Educating Archie include: “The Pipes of Pan”, “My Heart and I”, “Count Your Blessings”, “I Heard a Robin”, and “The Song of the Tritsch-Tratsch” (”Song Notes”, 11; Julie Andrews Radio Artists File I). Additional musical interludes were provided by other regulars on the show such as Max Bygraves, the Hedley Ward Trio and the Tanner Sisters. 

Alongside her weekly showcase song, Julie’s role was progressively built into a character of sorts as the eponymously named ‘Julie’, a neighbourhood friend of Archie’s. In a later BBC retrospective, Brough recalled that it was actually Julie’s idea to flesh out her part:

“We were thinking of Educating Archie and dreaming up the idea...and we wanted something fresh in the musical spot. We had just heard Julie Andrews with Vic Oliver in Starlight Roof...and we thought, why not Julie with that lovely fresh voice, this youngster with a tremendous range? So we asked her to come and take part in the trial recording and she came up with her mother and her music teacher, Madame Stiles-Allen...and Julie was a tremendous hit, absolutely right from the start. She used to sing those lovely Strauss waltzes...and all those lovely songs and hit the high notes clear as a bell. And then she came to me and said, ‘Look...I’m just doing the song spot, do you think I could just do a line or two with Archie and develop a little talking, a little character work?’ So, I said, ‘I don’t see why not’, So we talked to Eric Sykes and Roy Speer and, suddenly, we started with Julie talking lines back-and-forth with Archie, and Eric developed the character for her of the girl-next-door for Archie, very sweet, quite different from the sophisticated young lady she is today, but a lovely sweet character” (cited in Benson 1985)

As intimated here, an initial trial recording of Educating Archie was commissioned by the BBC, ostensibly to gauge if the format would work or not. This recording was made with the full cast on 15 January 1950 and was sufficiently well received for the broadcaster to green-light a six-episode pilot series to start in June as a fill-in for the popular comedy programme, Take It From Here during that series’ summer hiatus (Pearce, 4). The first episode of Educating Archie was scheduled for Tuesday 6 June in the prime 8:00pm evening slot, with a repeat broadcast the following Sunday afternoon at 1:45pm (Brough, 88ff). 

All of the shows for Educating Archie were pre-recorded at the BBC’s Paris Cinema in Lower Regent Street. Typically, each week’s episode would be rehearsed in the afternoon and then performed and recorded later that evening in front of a live audience. Julie’s fee for the show was set at fifteen guineas (£15.15s.0d) for the recording, with an additional seven-and-a-half guineas (£7.17s.6d) per UK broadcast, 3 guineas (£3.3s.0d) for the first five overseas broadcasts, and one-and-a-half guineas for all other broadcasts (£1.11s.6d) (Julie Andrews Radio Artists File I).

The initial six-episodes of Educating Archie proved so popular that the BBC quickly extended the series for another six episodes from 18 July to 22 August (“So Archie,” 5). Of these Julie appeared in four -- 25 July, 1, 8, 14 August -- missing the fist and last episode due to prior performance commitments with Harold Fielding. Subsequently, the show -- and, with it, Julie’s contract -- was extended for a further eight episodes (29 August-17 October), then again for another eight (23 October-18 December). These later extensions were accompanied by a scheduling shift from Tuesday to Monday evening, with the Sunday afternoon repeat broadcast remaining unchanged (Julie Andrews Radio Artists File I). All up, the first season of Educating Archie ran for thirty weeks, five times its original scheduled length. During that time, the show’s audience jumped from an initial 4 million listeners to over 12 million (Dibbs, 200-201). It was also voted the top Variety Show of the year in the annual National Radio and Television Awards, a mere four-and-a-half months after its debut (Brough, 98; Wilson “Archie”, 3). 

Given the meteoric success of the show, the cast of Educating Archie found themselves in hot demand. Peter Brough (1955) relates that there was a growing clamour from theatre producers for stage presentations of Educating Archie, including an offer from Val Parnell for a full-scale show at the Prince of Wales in the heart of the West End (101). He demurred, feeling the timing wasn’t yet right and that it was too soon for the show “to sustain a box office attraction in London” -- though he left the door open for future stage shows (102).  

One venture Brough did green-light was a novelty recording of Jack and the Beanstalk with select stars of Educating Archie, including Julie. Spread over two sides of a single 78rpm, the recording was a kind of abridged fantasy episode of the show cum potted pantomime with Brough/Archie as Jack, Hattie Jacques as Mother, and Peter Madden as the Giant. Julie comes in at the very end of the tale to close proceedings with a short coloratura showcase, “When We Grow Up” which was written specially for the recording by Gene Crowley. Released by HMV in December 1950, the recording was pitched to the profitable Christmas market and, backed by a substantial marketing campaign, it realised brisk sales (“Jack,” 12). It was also warmly reviewed in the press as “a very well presented and most enjoyable disc” (“Disc,” 3) and “something to which children will listen again and again” (Tredinnick, 628).

In light of its astonishing success, there was  little question that Educating Archie would be renewed for another season in 1951. In fact, it occasioned something of a bidding war with Radio Luxembourg, a competitor commercial network, courting Brough with a lucrative deal to bring the show over to them (Brough, 103-4). Out of a sense of professional loyalty to the BBC -- and, no doubt, sweetened by a counter-offer described by the Daily Express as “one of the biggest single programme deals in the history of radio variety in Britain” (cited in Brough, 104) -- Brough re-signed with the national broadcaster for a further three year contract. 

For their part, the BBC was keen to get the new season up on the air as early as possible with an April start-date mooted. Brough, however, wanted to give the production team an extended break and, more importantly, secure enough time to develop new material with his writing team. Rising star scriptwriter, Eric Sykes was already overstretched with a competing assignment for Frankie Howerd so a later start for August was eventually confirmed (Brough, 105ff). The Educating Archie crew did, however, re-form for a one-off early preview special in March, Archie Andrew’s Easter Party, which reunited much of the original cast, including Julie (Gander, 6). 

The second 1951 season started in earnest in late-July with pre-recordings and rehearsals, followed by the first episode which was broadcast on 3 August. This time round, the programme would air on Friday evenings at 8:45pm with a repeat broadcast two days later on Sunday at 6:00pm. The cast remained more-or-less the same with the exception of Robert Moreton who had, in the interim, secured his own radio show. Replacing him as Archie’s tutor was another up-and-coming comedy talent by the name of Tony Hancock (Brough, 111). It was the start of what would prove a star-making cycle of substitute tutors over the years which would come to include  Harry Secombe, Benny Hill, Bruce Forsyth, and Sid James (Gifford 1985, 76). A further cast change would occur midway through Season 2 with the departure of Max Bygraves who left in October to pursue a touring opportunity as support act for Judy Garland in the United States (Brough, 113-14).

The second season of Educating Archie ran for 26 weeks from 3 August 1951 till 25 January 1952. Of these, Julie performed in 18 weekly episodes. She missed two episodes in late September due to other commitments and was absent from later episodes after 14 December due to her starring role in the Christmas panto, Aladdin at the London Casino. She was originally scheduled to return to Educating Archie for the final remaining shows of the season in January and her name appears in newspaper listings for these episodes. However, correspondence on file at the BBC Archives suggests she had to pull out due to ongoing contractual obligations with Aladdin which had extended its run due to popular demand (Julie Andrews Radio Artists File I).

Season 2 would mark the end of Julie’s association with Educating Archie. When the show resumed for Season 3 in September 1952, there would be no resident singer. Instead, the producers adopted “a policy of inviting a different guest artiste each week” (Brough 118). They also pushed the show more fully into the realm of character-based comedy with the inclusion of Beryl Reid who played a more subversive form of juvenile girl with her character of Monica, the unruly schoolgirl (Reid, 60ff). Moreover, by late 1952, Julie was herself “sixteen going on seventeen” and fast moving beyond the sweet little girl-next-door kind of role she had played on the show.

Still, there can be no doubt that the two years Julie spent with Educating Archie provided a major boost to her young career. Broadcast weekly into millions of homes around the nation, the programme afforded Julie a massive regular audience beyond anything she had yet experienced and helped consolidate her growing celebrity as a “household name”. Because Archie only recorded one day a week, Julie was still able to continue a fairly busy schedule of concerts and live performances, often travelling back to London for the broadcast before returning to various venues around the country (Andrews, 127). As a sign of her evolving star status, promotion for many of these appearances billed her as “Julie Andrews, 15 year old star of radio and television” (”Big Welcome,” 7) or even “Julie Andrews the outstanding radio and stage singing star from Educating Archie” (”Stage Attractions,” 4). In fact, Julie made at least two live appearances in this era alongside Brough and other members of the Educating Archie crew with a week at the Belfast Opera House in October 1951 and another week in November at the Gaumont Theatre Southampton (Programme, 1951).

Additionally, the fact that the episodes of Educating Archie were all pre-recorded means that the show provides a rare documentary record of Julie’s childhood performances. To date, several episodes with Julie have been publicly released. These include recordings of her singing “The Blue Danube” from 30 October 1950 and the popular Kathryn Grayson hit, “Love Is Where You Find It” from 19 October 1951. Given recordings of the series were issued to networks around Britain and even sent abroad suggests there must be others in existence and, so, we can only hope that more episodes with Julie will surface in time.

Reflecting on the cultural significance of Educating Archie, Barrie Took observes that, “Over the years [the] programme became a barometer of success; more than any other radio comedy it was the showcase of the emerging top-liner” (104). Indeed, the show’s alumni roll reads like a veritable “who’s who” of post-war British talent: Peter Brough, Eric Sykes, Hattie Jacques, Max Bygraves, Tony Hancock, Alfred Marks, Beryl Reid, Harry Secombe, Bruce Forsyth, Benny Hill, Warren Mitchell, Sid James, Marty Feldman, Dick Emery (Foster and Furst, 128-32). All big talents and even bigger names. However, it is perhaps fitting that, in a show built around a pint-sized dummy, the biggest name of all to come out of Educating Archie -- and, sadly, the only cast-member still with us today -- should be “little Julie Andrews”.

Sources:

Andrews, Julie. Home: A Memoir of My Early Years. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008. 

Baker, Richard A. Old Time Variety: An Illustrated History. Barnsley: Remember When, 2010.

Barfe, Louis. Turned Out Nice Again: The Story of British Light Entertainment. London: Atlantic Books, 2008.

Benson, John (Pres.). “Julie Andrews, A Celebration, Part 2.” Star Sound Special. Luke, Tony (Prod.), radio programme, BBC 2, 7 October 1985.

“Big Welcome for Julie Andrews.” Staines and Ashford News. 17 November 1950: 7.

Broadcasters, The. “Both Sides of the Microphone.” Radio Times. 4 June 1950: 5.

Brough, Peter. Educating Archie. London: Stanely Paul & Co., 1955.

Catling, Brian. “Arthur Worsley and the Uncanny Valley.” Articulate Objects: Voice, Sculpture and Performance. Satz, A. and Wood, J. eds. Bern: Peter Lang, 2009: 81-94.

Dibbs, Martin. Radio Fun and the BBC Variety Department, 1922—67. Chams: Palgrave MacMillan, 2018.

“Disc Dissertation.” Lincolnshire Echo. 11 December 1950: 3.

Donovan, Paul. “A Voice from the Past.” The Sunday Times. 17 December 1995: 74.

Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Elmes, Simon. Hello Again: Nine Decades of Radio Voices. London: Random House, 2012.

Fisher, John. Funny Way to Be a Hero. London: Frederick Muller, 1973.

Foster, Andy and Furst, Steve. Radio Comedy, 1938-1968: A Guide to 30 Years of Wonderful Wireless. London: Virgin Books, 1996.

Gander, L Marsland. “Radio Topics.” Daily Telegraph. 13 March 1951: 6.

Gifford, Denis. The Golden Age of Radio: An Illustrated Companion. London: Batsford, 1985.

____________. “Obituary: Peter Brough.” The Independent. 7 June 1999: 11.

“Jack and the Beanstalk.” His Masters Voice Record Review. Vol. 8, no. 4, December 1950: 12.

Julie Andrews Radio Artists File I, 1945-61. Papers. BBC Written Archives Centre, Caversham.

Lawson, Tim and Persons, Alissa. The Magic Behind the Voices: A Who's Who of Cartoon Voice Actors. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi Press, 2004.

Merriman, Andy. Hattie: The Authorised Biography of Hattie Jacques. London: Aurum Press, 2008.

Pearce, Emery. “Dummy is Radio Star No. 1.” Daily Herald. 6 April 1950: 4.

Programme for Peter Brough and All-Star Variety at the Belfast Opera House, 22 October 1951, Belfast.

Programme for Peter Brough and All-Star Variety at the Gaumont Theatre Southampton, 12 November 1951, Southampton.

Reid, Beryl. So Much Love: An Autobiography. London: Hutchinson, 1984

“So Archie Stays on.” Daily Mail. 1 July 1950: 5.

“Song Notes.” The Stage. 28 September 1950: 11.

“Stage Attractions: Arcadia.” Lincolnshire Standard. 18 August 1951: 4

Street, Seán. The A to Z of British Radio. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2009.

Took, Barry. Laughter in the Air: An Informal History of British Radio Comedy. London: Robson Books, 1976.

Tredinnick, Robert. “Gramophone Notes.” The Tatler and Bystander. 13 December 1950: 628.

Wilson, Cecil. “Dummy Steals the Spotlight.” Daily Mail. 27 May 1950: 4.

____________. “Archie, Petula Soar to the Top.” Daily Mail. 20 October 1950: 3.

Copyright © Brett Farmer 2020