#specifically Aaron because it’s me and also I have a very specific image in my head of what it looks like

[dvrcos]

Thinking about the Foxes dying their hair orange for finals. Like it starts with the girls doing orange highlights/Renee dying the tips of her hair orange during death matches

And then Matt and Nicky rope themselves in because they think it’s cool as fuck and they want to be apart of it. So Allison and Renee help them bleach their hair and Dan watches for moral support. They dye the tips of Matt’s hair and give Nicky chunky highlights

They try to convince Neil next and it doesn’t work until Matt asks and then he hesitantly agrees. They give him just a little streak of orange right at the front and it just looks like his normal hair but a bit brighter

Kevin is the next to join in because he’s superstitious as fuck and would think if half the team is already doing it than the whole team has to for good luck. Allison and Renee give him a nice ombré of orange over the tips of his hair

The twins are the hardest to convince by far. Kevin and the entire team hound them for a week. Aaron agrees finally just so Kevin stops bitching at him every spare breath and somehow Neil gets Andrew on board because he’s Neil and “just asked”

Aaron dyes the undercut of his hair orange and Andrew gets little fox paw prints on the shaved part of his head (so he can shave them off as soon as the seasons over). The orange is bright as fuck on their hair too since their natural hair is so light. And they both think it’s obnoxious but are team players

It definitely becomes a tradition after that and if they make it to finals Wymack and Abby surprise them by dying their hair (and Wymack temporarily dyes his beard)

[mystycalypso]

OKAY LETS TRY THIS AGAIN

Welcome To Ravenbrooks season 2 Theories before it comes out

Disclaimer uh- these are the ramblings of a mad man named Jack (me). Mainly so when it does eventually come out I can see what if anything I got right. Now lets get into it below the fold.

1. It's revealed that Jay Roth (Nicky's dad) is the one who died in Trinity's old house

We know in both the book and games and even the pilot, Nicky was the one living across from Mr. Peterson, but now it's Trinity's home. I think the grief of what happened in that house is why they moved

2. We'll get to see the rest of the Rescue Squad's parents

Pretty self-explanatory. I don't know what story purpose they'd serve exactly, aside from maybe how they react to their kids' shenanigans but it'd be really cool to see them. Especially Luanne Roth who I am currently head canoning to be neglectful in some manner (not necessarily on purpose) because of the lines about Nicky running away all the time and no one noticing he went missing.

3. We see a cultist in uniform

I think it'd be really interesting if specifically Trinity finds them mid ceremony or if bad things start happening to her family and she gets suspicious

4. The kids learn Mr. Peterson isn't "evil"

We know in the books that Theo is looking heavily into the cult, and he seems to be doing the same here. I think in Trinity's realization's she'll learn his real motivations for keeping them away, maybe even his side of the stories from episode 3

5. We learn what Trinity did

We have hints at what happened, obviously, but with the teaser image reusing the old photo of kid Trinity, l think we're going to learn what exactly happened and why it was so bad that they had to move towns

6. More nightmare sequences

From the hello neighbor franchise in general, we've learned that both Trinity and Nicky are prone to nightmares, and with the trauma they've gained from episode 6, I assume we'll get to see plenty other creepy cool nightmare scenes. (Seriously, just the maggots from episode 2 make me squirm physically when I see it. Every time)

7. Principle Abanante isn't dead

This might be clear to some, and yeah, it's far from the greatest stretch on this list but I think we'll see her again and maybe that she caused the school explosion

8. Delroy(and possibly Scout)'s investigations

I'm very curious about what Delroy was doing in the tunnels under the school, maybe doing his own investigations on the cult? Scout included to round out the Hello Neighbor hide and seek crew. Likely having to join forced with the current members of the rescue squad to stop a stronger force.

9. We see Theodore's brother in his "new form"

Not 100% sure if he became the Guest or the Thing, and I've seen good theories/evidence for both, but either way I think we'll get to see him with the knowledge that it's him.

10. We learn why Ivan acted the way he did in s1

He was more scared of just the mention of Peterson than anyone, and it's been bugging me since my first watch. I'd like to see if there's reason to his behavior or just general paranoia. Leaning towards the former, knowing this series.

11. Love triangle between Trinity, Nicky and Enzo

I'd really rather this doesn't happen. I hate love triangles so much. They're so dumb and useless and bad. But like I told kaydin during our third watch, I can feel it happening. It's breathing down my neck with the loud annoying sound of needless romantic tension.

12. The whole squad sits together at lunch

They escaped the basement together! The least they could do as friends is actually eat lunch together instead of Nicky and Trinity sitting seperate from everyone else

13. Nicky and Aaron's relationship is revealed

I'm really, REALLY hopeful that their friendship isn't retconned in the series. It was great motivation for Nicky to be investigating Mr. Peterson, and is also just generally sweet.

14. We see Aaron

Nicky was the basement for a couple of weeks. However, Aaron was in there for months! I'm eager to see how he is both mentally and physically. I feel like he's either gonna be much, much worse than Nicky or somehow way better.

15. Quentin becomes my favorite character

This is mostly on here as a joke. I'm not gonna lie, I know he'll be at least a favorite because he's my favorite Hello Neighbor game character. Like- the squeal I squealed when I saw his van and silly Hawaiian shirt was immense. I love him so much, and I hope he gets good screen time.

16. Nicky loses his bag

This is more just a- gut feeling? He's gained it as a sort of comfort item, it seems, and I feel like with the nature and badluck of Ravenbrooks, he's going to lose it. Bonus points if he has to choose between it or a member of the Rescue Squad

17. Mr. martaugh dies

Again, I have- no evidence for this. Yeah, he's in the teasers a lot, but like that doesn't imply he dies. Maybe I just really hope he dies because he's creepy /j, but yeah, uh- if it happens, I'll probably still be in shock even though it's on this list.

18. We see an on screen kiss

Tricky fans cross your fingers and pray, I know I will be. It'll probably just be a quick peck on the cheek, but I can just kind of feel it in my bones. Similar to the love triangle one.

And there you go! My predictions for Season 2!

As soon as it drops, you will probably see my reaction to it and a return to this list to see how close or far I was on these. (Spoiler tagged, of course) But until then, I will be patiently waiting, drawing, and rewatching the show too many times over (wonder if I can hit 50 watches before season 2 drops)

Cya!

- Jack

[lost-inanotherlife]

Lost S1 Rewatch after 20 years - scattered FINAL thoughts

other thoughts here

I think I'm becoming a bit of an anti-Charlie because I really can't stand him, like at all. He used to be one of my favorites but clearly 20 years did no good to his character. I mean, COME ON, he's hyperfixated on Claire and her baby and wants to protect them at all cost BUT he leaves them alone with Rousseau? A literally stranger, just like Ethan was? AND THEN he takes it out on Sayid and blames him? AND THEN Sayid is the one who actually saves Aaron and Charlie gets the credit? Ugh. S1 Charlie is the worst.

My feelings for the characters' backstories are quite mixed. On the one hand, they are undoubtedly stereotypical, on the other I can't help but admire the writers' command of archetypes. In Lost there are A LOT of main characters but they ALL have a solid backstory. In other words, the characters' stories are coherent, consistent and ultimately extremely well-written. The writers put in a lot of effort and succeeded in portraying each story with a few strokes of the metaphorical brush. The line between stereotype and archetype is a thin one and can be easily crossed; Lost's writers approach it very very closely but they somehow manage to retreat a few moments before the disaster. I'm in awe.

I'll always, always, be soft and weak for Sun and Jin. Maybe it's because Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim are incredibly talented actors. With the exception of Terry O'Quinn and the two Kims, all other actors don't start off really strong. It's okay because by the end of S1 they have all, to varying degrees, sort of grown into their characters or, at least, they feel more at ease playing them. On the other hand, specifically Daniel Dae Kim's acting choices are precise and beautifully executed from the start. You can't really do anything else but end up liking Jin.

I remember I was shocked by Boone's death and, 20 years later, I still feel sorry over it. I think his character had a lot of hidden potential, I don't know why they killed him off (I mean, maybe the actor wanted out? I don't think so! For shock value? Could be! I should do some research). I liked the fact that he was sort of an anti-hero or, perhaps more correctly, a wannabe failing hero. It would've been cool to see his arc unfold, I think. Too bad.

Kate and Jack confuse me. There's clearly something between them but I'm starting to suspect it's not love? Jack is insanely besotted with her but he's also quite demanding and over-protective and honestly? Dude, chill, there's literally no need, she eats guys like you for breakfast. Kate, on the other hand, is also unfair to him. For instance, she wants him to believe that she would never poison anyone while she herself had drugged him the day before and she was indeed the mastermind behind Michael's little stomach problem (lol). It's like she wants Jack to think the best of her while she's not willing to do the work OR, even better, just to be herself and let Jack decide whether he's in or not. Mmmm.

Locke and Jack as symbolically being one person, as in a dark mirror of each other is chef's kiss. While in "White Rabbit" Locke saves Jack from falling off a cliff, in "Exodus" Jack saves Locke from being dragged underground by the black smoke. The images are the same and it was so beautiful to see. Absolutely blown-away by the command of symbolism in this series, I know it's silly to say because, DUH, it's Lost! Still mindblowing, though.

[garrothromeave]

Fellow mys fan who dislikes the Garroth-werewolf concept from S5/S6. To add on to a point you made in a previous ask, I feel a big issue with it is the very fact that Garroth is *too* compassionate and understanding about it. While it is in character, I think the trauma of being bedridden, on the brink of death, and in the WORST pain in his life should have at least impacted him a little bit, you know?

Also perhaps these are my own projections, but I feel like having your entire body transformed into something else involuntarily and without consent would feel really violating. Even if it was an absolute accident, I feel like someone would probably start having self image issues about their body after such an incident. The entire concept just feels like something out of The Metamorphis (Frank Kafka) or Gyo (Junji ito) (BTW don't look those up if you find involuntary and nonconsensual transformations disturbing or uncomfortable ((i know i do)))

But S6 just wrote Garroth to shrug off the entire ordeal like nothing really happened.

TLDR; I don't like how Werewolf Garroth is just written to shrug off a traumatic event just because he's the comic relief.

this EXACTLY. i was just rambling about this to my brother - that transformation should have impacted him mentally and/or physically more. on screen. instead we get movie magic from the 'during' straight to 'recovered.' we don't see the inbetweens. we don't see the struggles. we don't see the impact that's made on him personally and in his identity. like you said - he's the comic relief. and he's not aaron - so he can't be given time to recover from his trauma like the main character can. in fact, its used as a traumatic event for AARON, and not garroth. when it can, and should have been, both. which reminds me of the point, again, that the FACT that garroth was turned into a werewolf while being an established comic relief, only for him to be grouped up with the rest of the werewolf comic reliefs... idk. irks me. feels like only a specific personality can be a werewolf, minus a few exceptions i can count on one hand. seems like baaadd writing jess.. yeah anyways thank you for the contribution, spot on mate

[last-lorekeeper]

New video! Hurray!

[It's a video (see, told ya). Zinnia is sitting atop her desk, Aster next to her. As the last of the students file in, she leans backwards until she's essentially perpendicular with the floor.

Zinnia: Hello my lovely students. Welcome to the cool classroom. We do cool things here.

She laughs and sits back up, crossing her legs.

Zinnia: So, last week and the week before we talked about the tribes of Hoenn. Now, you may have noticed that despite me talking at length about them, they're not really all that present in modern day Hoenn. They're not gone by any means but they're much smaller and less widespread. The Oceanids largely stick to Pacifidlog Town and Dewford, the Gaiads largely stick to Lavaridge, and the Draconids hang out in Meteor Village. Ours is the best and coolest, obviously, which is why its the hardest to find.

She uncrosses her legs and slides off of the desk.

Zinnia: So you may be wondering "Well what happened? Why are all the tribes so small now?" The answer to that is simple:

She holds up a finger.

Zinnia: The Monarchy.

She begins pacing.

Zinnia: Yep, once again Monarchs come to ruin everything. If you've taken Raifort's class you're almost certainly intimately familiar with that fact.

She stops in front of the smart board and pulls out a pointer. A physical one.

Zinnia: So, the Hoenn Royal Family. It all starts with these motherfuckers.

Two photos of paintings appear on the smartboard. They're both of battle scarred kings with color schemes matching Groudon and Kyogre. Zinnia smacks the smartboard with her pointer.

Zinnia: These are Grodunn and Kjogur, I bet you can't guess which one is which.

A student raises their hand.

Zinnia: That was rhetorical.

The student lowers their hand.

Zinnia: These guys were brothers and the kings of Hoenn way, way, waaaaaayyyy back in the day. They sucked, which is obvious because they're kings. Now, what particularly sucked about them, was they hated each other and they decided to make it everyone else's problem. Because we can't have two kings, no that'd be too logical and reasonable. Oh, also they were the Chosens of Groudon and Kyogre respectively so that didn't help.

Aster makes a noise. Zinnia makes the classic "silly me" gesture which looks mildly unhinged on her.

Zinnia: Oh dear you're right. I completely forgot to explain what a Chosen is. How silly of me. Basically, a Chosen is a person that a Legendary decides to bless with special powers. Usually they do this for a specific purpose, such as Groudon and Kyogre, who use their Chosens to free them so they can continue their eternal war, and Rayquaza, who uses its Chosen to stop the other two.

Zinnia flops down into her chair and spins around.

Zinnia: Anyways, the two started a massive, bloody Civil War in Hoenn. Seriously, these guys make the Aqua and Magma conflict look like a civil disagreement. What's worse, eventually they did manage to release Groudon and Kyogre as one would expect from the Cycle. But luckily, Sir Aaron, Aura Guardian and Chosen of Rayquaza, was there to stop them.

The smartboard changes to an image of the Sir Aaron and Lucario portrait from Cameran Palace.

Zinnia: Together with Coriander, Draconid Lorekeeper, and Sir Galahad, fellow Aura Guardian, they sealed away Kyogre and Groudon's power within the Blue and Red Orbs alongside the spirits of Grodunn and Kjogur, once again bringing peace to the land.

She shrugs.

Zinnia: A lot of that is considered hearsay, though. We don't actually know if its really true. But I have a primary source known as the Ghost of Sir Aaron backing me up on this so...

She shrugs again.

Zinnia: At the very least, Grodunn and Kjogur were real guys and the Civil War for sure happened. Afterwards, the entire Royal Family decided that they'd offended the gods and the only way to fix that was to name every male Norman. No, that is not a joke.

She leaps up from the chair.

Zinnia: Speaking of Normans, lets talk about a personal least favorite of mine, Norman the Mad.

A painting of Norman the Mad and an image of a Spiritomb appear on the board. Zinnia smacks the painting.

Zinnia: This is what he looked like when he was alive.

She smacks the Spiritomb picture.

Zinnia: This is what he looks like now. Well, not actually, this is just a random Spiritomb. Nobody's going down into the Hoenn Royal Tombs to take pictures of this bastard.

She takes a deep breath.

Zinnia: So... what's his deal? Well, basically, he was insane. Apparently Groudon and Kyogre made the mistake of Choosing the same guy and when you're Chosen by two Legendaries at once, especially two who are constantly in conflict with eachother, it tends to drive you a bit, well, Mad. His exploits were kind of funny, looking back on them, but at the time a lot of people got killed because of him. In the end, his soul was sealed within a Spiritomb and locked away in the Hoenn Royal Tombs. That one's also considered heresy but I have a Primary Source for it too. I've met Norman the Mad the Spiritomb and he's an asshole and I hate him.

She takes another deep breath.

Zinnia: Final one and then we're done. Time for one I hate more than Norman the Mad because she hits very close to home. And yes, I did say she. We're getting a queen this time. Byrd the First. Why is she the First? Cause Byrd the Second is currently tearing up the Contest Circuit somewhere. Good for her. Should have called her (Byrd the First not Byrd the Second, Byrd the Second's fine) Byrd the Terrible though cause she was Terrible. She basically exiled and/or killed everyone she didn't like. Draconids, Oeanids, Gaiads, psychics, non-Trifectists. Pretty much everybody, honestly. She's why all of Hoenn's tribes are so small and scattered. Worst part is, she claimed to be doing this in the name of Lord Rayquaza. The only ostensibly "good" thing she ever did was establish the modern routes we use today but that's a matter of opinion and also wasn't worth everything else.

She flops back down into the chair.

Zinnia: And we're done. The Royal Family's still around these days but they have basically no power despite pretending they do. Only one who really matters is Norman the... 16th? 17th? Eh, I don't care, Gym Leader of Petalburd City and step-father to my girlfriend. The end.

The bell rings.

Zinnia: Thanks for coming, guys. Have a good one. We'll be having a quiz on this next week so I don't have to actually do work. Don't worry, it'll be pretty straightforward and simple! Bye!

The video ends]

//Hoenn Royal Family Lore by @darlingvirus

[morvantmortuary]

brain hurt-y and a long week so far, but still here 🖤

I’m working on a piece rn where I’m describing a photograph of the Morvants (the twins and their parents) in-depth, and I realized I don’t think I ever posted my fcs for Vincent and Mathilde on their own. so, that under the cut, just so I don’t clog dashes. I’ve had Vincent for a while bc I wrote him with a specific person in mind, but I only just found Mathilde, and I’m excited!!

Vincent is my beloved Denis O’Hare, of True Blood and AHS fame (and This is Us, which was a wild time when I was watching it with my parents). On the left is him probably about the age Maxi took his ass out he died? Ish? On the right is him post-resurrection for the Masquerade.

Mathilde has been so much harder to place, just bc I had a very specific image of her in my mind. But recently, I stumbled across someone who had literally been staring me in the face for years, and realized she would be great: Bonnie Aarons.

On the left is her as I imagine she looked when she died (except, you know, more gaunt and haunted :’D) and on the right is how I picture her if she came back now.

If she looks familiar but you can’t quite place it, please allow me to jog your memory:

or perhaps you might also remember her as

Because of course, this whole blog is just me finding actors I love who either do Horror or I really wish would be in Horror and saying “yes, you’re perfect, I’ll take you.”

Idk, I think they can pass pretty well for being related, don’t you?

and Hex doesn’t look too out of place either (now if I can just find Hector’s mom, that would be a miracle :’D)

anyway, just something small while I’m not feeling so hot. I hope everyone is having a good week so far - we’re halfway through, at least!! 🖤

hugs from all of us (well, from me and the twins and Hex) out here in the swamp 💀✨

[ambersky-art]

Fan Reference Project: Masterpost

A masterpost of all the drawings I make for this project!

But what is this project?

This Fan References project is my goal to draw every (or nearly every) character from various fandoms. For some fandoms, I also plan to draw specific species if they're unique enough from irl creatures. The plan is to create a simple reference for each character consisting of at least one fullbody and flatcolor sketch, a color palette, and the character's name and the media they're from. These references will be posted daily. If you'd like to scroll through them all, every drawing will be posted under the tag wip: fan references and I will update this post as I go.

Included Characters

You can find a list of all the characters and creatures on this spreadsheet. Characters in white cells have already been drawn, though it's likely that if they are not linked here, then I have simply not posted them yet. I'm very willing to take suggestions, however, I make no guarantee of getting to it quickly/there's a chance it could take a long time for me to get to that character.

How will it work? What is the point?

Every day from January 1 (unless I specifically post that I am going on hiatus) I will be posting one of these references. At some point, I might increase the number of characters posted each day. I will be drawing these characters alphabetically, and they will be posted alphabetically. I will also be numbering each character in their post, both for the fun of seeing just how many characters there are and for organizational purposes. I wanted to do this for two reasons. The first is because I feel it would be good practice in drawing characters that aren't mine. I always feel like when I draw fanart based purely on grabbed images from media, there's always something off. Hopefully with a reference in my own style, it becomes easier to draw these characters. The other is so that I have my own clear reference for these characters, with an established color palette, so that I can draw the characters consistently.

Other Notes

This post could act as a notification post. At this moment (12/21) I'm unsure if people would want that. Just let me know if that would be a good idea, and I can post in the replies with a changelog of sorts once a week with which characters have been posted. All timelapses of these drawings are posted on my Instagram (@/ambersky0319) - at the moment (01/08) I don't intend to post them here.

Character Links

Below the cut is the actual masterpost portion with all the links. Unlike the posts themselves, which are posted alphabetically regardless of fandom, below the characters are organized by fandom. The fandoms are organized by character count, the fandoms with fewer characters first for the sake of scrolling.

Nimona (10)

Alamzapam Davis || Ambrosius Goldenloin ||

Buddy Daddies (15)

[characters]

Arcane (26)

[characters]

Danny phantom (34)

[characters]

Soul Eater (40)

[characters]

The Arcana (43)

Aisha ||

Carmen Sandiego (50)

Agent Zari || Amara || Ambessa ||

AFK Journey (53)

Alpha Bear || Alsa ||

She-Ra (54)

Admiral Scurvy || Adora ||

Avatar: The Last Airbender (75)

Aang || Admiral Zhao ||

Minecraft Diaries (82)

Aaron || Abby || Aerith || Alexis || Amber ||

Tangled the Series/Varian and the 7 Kingdoms (92)

Adira || Amber ||

The Owl House (99)

Adegast || Adrian Graye Vernworth || Alador Blight || Amber || Amelia ||

Nanatsu no Taizai/The Seven Deadly Sins (100)

[characters]

Stardew Valley (103)

Abigail || Alex ||

Total Drama (114)

Alejandro ||

Voltron (123)

Acxa || Adam || Alfor || Allura ||

How to Train Your Dragon (145)

Alvin ||

Hilda (161)

Abigail || Abigail's Dad || Adeline || Agnes Bragga || Aldinn || Alfur Aldric || Aloysius || Alvin ||

My Little Pony (Gen 4) + Equestria Girls (506)

Ace Point || Adagio Dazzle || Ahuizotl || Amethyst Maresbury ||

Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom (588)

BotW characters + enemies, a few TotK characters (NOT npcs like villagers, stable people, etc.), and most TotK enemies (must have differences to BotW counterparts)

Aerocuda || Agus || Aji || Akrah || Aliza || Amali ||

[strideofpride]

📖

I’m so glad you sent this because it gives me a chance to talk about the dair good girls revolt AU that I’ve become obsessed with and desperately want to write once I have time again.

Okay, so Good Girls Revolt is a show set in 1969/1970 about a feminism movement that takes hold at a magazine (based off a real story - Nora Ephron is a character but like…that’s the worst thing about the show cause Nora worked at Newsday back in the early 60s not late 60s I hate inaccuracies like that especially when Nora didn’t even have to be a character but anyway anyway). Basically all the reporters are men and all the researchers are women and the men get all the credit for the stories even when the women do all the grunt work and the men often take paragraphs verbatim from the women’s work. And the women aren’t allowed to become reporters. So they end up teaming up with the ACLU and file a lawsuit at the end of season 1 but then it got cancelled. :(

Anyway there’s this pairing I became obsessed with, Sam/Jane. Sam is a reporter and Jane is a researcher and they’re basically partners. Sam is a Jewish boy from the working class Bronx and Jane is WASP to the bone. And I’m sure you’re starting to see where this is going…there’s obviously a flirtation between them but Jane’s parents have very specific expectations of her and are also anti-Semitic and yeah.

Jane is also engaged to be engaged to her fellow waspy boyfriend Chad (cough Nate cough) who dumps her on NYE after she gives him an ultimatum and then she goes and loses her virginity to her neighbor (Carter Baizen).

Of course, in the show this isn’t the main focus, Jane is just one of the central trio. There’s also Patty (Serena) who is in a relationship with her reporter, Doug, who’s from a wealthy background but likes to pretend he’s more bohemian than he seems (Aaron Rose) but she also has a flirtation going with the married Editor in Chief (Tripp van der Bilt). There’s also Cindy (Nelly Yuki) who starts out meek and in a bad marriage but has an affair with the photo editor (tbd). And Patty and Cindy are kinda the catalyst for the lawsuit after Nora quits and hooks them up with Eleanor Holmes Norton, an ACLU activist (Vanessa) but they eventually get Jane on board and get her to be the face of the lawsuit knowing her image will help people take them more seriously.

I haven’t decided if I’m gonna include chippy but there is a friend of the editor who’s brought in who ends up sexually harassing Jane so…

Anyway, yeah! It would probably be more loosely inspired, cause obviously the show got cancelled before Sam and Jane actually got together. I’ve been thinking about it sooooo much. I really wanted to do a dair reporter AU and then I realized I wanted to do it in the 70s though and then I realized Sam & Jane were already so Dair like and then everything kinda started to fall into place after that. But I still have to write it hahaha

Put "📓" or some other version of a book emoji into my inbox and I'll explain the plot of a fanfiction that I haven't written but daydream about.

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Nun II (2023)

I wasn’t looking forward to The Nun II for the same reason that I wasn't looking forward to Annabelle: Creation in 2017. Like 2014's Annabelle, The Nun was an inferior, largely uninspired Conjuring spinoff. To my surprise and delight, this sequel is far better than its predecessor. It even sort of goes back to address some of what made the original so underwhelming in a way.

Four years after the events at Saint Cartha’s monastery, the Church dispatches Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) to investigate a series of deaths across Europe. These gruesome incidents, all eerily similar to the ones attributed to the demon Valak (Bonnie Aarons) follow Sister Irene's friend, Maurice (Jonas Bloquet), who now serves as the caretaker at a boarding school that used to be a church. Though seemingly defeated, the demon hides inside him.

One of the reasons I was so skeptical about this sequel is that it felt like there wasn't anything left to tell. We saw how Maurice became “infected” with Valak at the end of the first movie and the scene during the end credits reminded us that we knew he was going to be possessed by the demon because we heard about it while watching The Conjuring 2. Well, it turns out some elements of the story were missing. Enough that it would've kept us up at night if this movie had never been made? No, but the film’s last act contains quite a few surprises that make me say “This was worth coming back to”.

While this film’s status as a sequel to a prequel means we’ve seen the monster enough times for it to be less frightening than it was in 2016, director Michael Chaves brings some neat tricks to the screen. The film's best scene has Sister Irene running down a dark street at night when she suddenly stops in front of a magazine stand. The wind blows the pages over and over, the images revealed combining to make what looks like a shadow emerging from the floor. I’d tell other filmmakers to rip off this scene, but it’s so visually striking and memorable that the theft would immediately get called out.

I’m also going to give this film a recommendation for its ending. Early in the film, Sister Debra (Storm Reid), a young novice accompanying Sister Irene on her quest confesses that she has difficulty believing in the miracle of transubstantiation (the transformation of wine into the Blood of Christ). I don’t blame her, specifically because of the way The Nun concluded. In the first encounter with Valaak, our heroes have this big vial filled with the blood of Christ and they use every drop. I know it’s a powerful demon that does all sorts of scary stuff but I kept thinking to myself “Guys! This blood is a hot commodity! Save some for later!”. That concern is addressed here. Now, before you think this movie is going deep into Christian theology, understand that the screenplay by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing and Akela Cooper doesn’t explore this idea very much, instead taking some religious concepts and spinning them to their own needs in a way that I think is (dare I say it?) kind of cool and fitting for this expanding cinematic universe.

In several ways, The Nun II is what I would call a “Box Set Movie”. I don’t think you’d ever buy the DVD/BLu-ray/4K and add it to your shelf unless it was so you could have all of the Conjuring universe together, or because you got it as part of a box set. "The Nun II" is not as scary as it should be but it has enough memorable scenes for the scales to tip in its favor. Enough that maybe you wouldn’t mind seeing it again if you happened to add it to your collection. (February 14, 2024)

[titleleaf]

dear Scents Wizard. i was literally lying in bed dozing off and then suddenly the need to hear the answer to this question for Reasons hit me like a thunderbolt. what perfume would you assign to the characters of primal fear both ic/and like character perfumes line if they differ?

OKAY FIRST OF ALL i love you, i am giving you the finest salutations as I sit here awake

second of all: oooooh shit, okay yeah this is extremely fun but also a challenge for me because both Martin and Janet have a very specific style image to project -- I don't think I'm going to hit that mark without taking a deep-ass dive into contemporary receptions of these perfumes but I wish I knew if the creative team on the film had anything in mind since everything else about how the characters present themselves is so immaculate.

(brief content warning for canon-typical discussion of sexual assault/abuse)

Dior Dune or Guerlain Samsara for Janet, maybe? (Am I associating her with warm, powdery, amber-y 90s scents because she's a chic mean blonde... maybe.) I think she'd enjoy wearing something that gestures at a unisex seriousness but I also think she's somebody who changes up her signature scent every few years or so in line with whatever the current cultural vibe is. Beefy sillage and lots of longevity. She definitely associates that with both femininity and power but in ten years she'll be like "how did I walk into a courtroom like that".

Imaginary indie perfume oil option: black tea, sandalwood, labdanum, vanilla, peony

On the flipside, nothing that Martin Vail wears is subtle either. Chanel Égoïste -- I know this man smells good but I also know he does not smell discreetly. He doesn't seem as likely to really go through signature scents so I kind of want to put him in Chanel Antaeus too, I regret I went through a big 80s men's fragrance scent explosion phase and I can feel myself on the verge of going back to it right now. I have a real hateboner for Chanel on so many levels but ughhhhh Antaeus good.

Imaginary indie perfume option: would get kicked out of the indie perfume oil conclave just for suggesting one tbh

I regret that Aaron's whole sweet-choirboy-from-the-holler vibe (which in some ways is genuine and in some ways is obviously fake as hell, like the best fake identities) probably excludes him from designer fragrance but I think he's got the opposite sillage experience -- you don't smell anything until you're really in close quarters with him and then how nice he smells gets really unsettling because it might just be the smell of his skin. (Clean-sweaty, fresh, aquatic, laundered. Also not less scary when he's cussing you out and knocking your head against the wall.) I 100% headcanon this guy as having a couple strong sensory triggers related to abuse (and definitely related to personal proximity -- absolutely nothing about Rushman's bathroom or bedroom suggest a dude living a life of poverty and humility, let alone chastity) but I can also picture him co-opting the olfactory richness of Catholic liturgy (and regular old wealth) for the same reason he takes Rushman's ring with him -- as an assertion of power and dominance.

On his own, I think he would kill it in like, CK One.

Imaginary indie perfume option: salty musk, lemon, Atlas cedar, liturgical incense, gasoline.

If I were going to assign Aaron a modern perfume, I think it would be funny to put him in Jo Malone. (I wear Jo Malone Lupin & Patchouli and I love it a lot but he might be a Salty Amber/Wood Sage & Sea Salt kind of boy.) If I were going to put Martin and Janet in something modern... I know in my heart they are both the kind of person I hate the most in the world, people with enough money to just buy full-size Tom Ford fragrances willy-nilly and not eke out a thimble sized sample over a decade. They both discovered when they were sleeping together that they wore the same Tom Ford fragrance and after they broke up they were playing exes chicken to see who would give it up and throw the towel in and find a new one.

Tommy wears Acqua Di Gio maybe, and idk what the hot organized crime dude wears but I know he smells good. I know it in my heart.

[cariserillium]

The Prince of Egypt Things That Are Currently Keeping Me

Sane

Val Kilmer as Moses AND God

The buttery smooth softness of the animation

The fact they really built the story around God and His power and influence and didn’t try to make it more secular (ahem* ALW)

Aaron

The absolutely stunning landscapes and backdrops they have in Every. Single. Scene.

The entirety of “Deliver Us”

Miriam’s character, and how she is a direct parallel to Jocheved, Moses’, Aaron’s, and her mother

THE FREAKIN CHARACTER/DYNAMIC BUILDING BETWEEN MOSES AND RAMESES FROM THE VERY START OF THE MOVIE

Tzipora’s character design

Jethro and how he welcomes Moses into his family despite who he is and where he comes from

Queen Tuya singing the “All I Ever Wanted reprise” to Moses and all of the emotional and spiritual nuances it has

The freakin’ lighting in this movie?!

The hyroglyph dream chase scene

“I will not be given to ANYONE! Especially not an arrogant, pampered palace BRAT!”

The absolutely amazing spiritual truth there is in the lyrics of “Through Heaven’s Eyes”

The design differences in the Egyptians and the Hebrews so you can absolutely tell who is who

The fact that Dreamworks didn’t shy away from presenting the heavy themes like slavery, black magic, and death just because it was a children’s movie

The parting of the Red Sea and the absolutely incredible imagery of the Israelites walking through it

Rameses’ character arc

The absolutely evil insidious power the line “Oh my son, they were only slaves.” has

The choir during “The Plagues”

That heart breaking scene between Rameses and Moses when Rameses finally releases the Hebrews after the plague of the firstborn takes Rameses’ son from him, and seeing Moses breakdown and cry over the loss of his brother as he walks back to tell his people they are free

“ I KNOW to whom I SPEAK, Airin.”

The unadulterated expressions of joy on the Israelites’ faces as they walk away from the land of their captivity

Watching Tzipora and Moses as husband and wife and how truly amazingly strong their relationship is

The children singing in Hebrew in “When You Believe”

The bittersweet moment I have when I watch Moses bring the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai because yes it’s happy, but I also know how much he ends up having to put up with from the very people he helped save

Moses being good with children

Steve Martin and Martin Short as Hotep and Hoy, Pharoah’s magicians

That scene where Moses and Tzipora are traveling to Egypt and you see the images of the Hebrew people’s suffering overlaying Moses’ expression of pure determination

The scene where God speaks to Moses in the burning bush, specifically after God chastises him for doubting His choice of messenger and He reaches out and draws Moses closer to Him so that He can get a glimpse of His own glory and be comforted, and the music soars and you see the childlike wonder and fear and bewilderment in Moses’ eyes as He looks at God Himself

That Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Athiests alike can all appreciate the greatness of this movie and the story it tells

[babymetaldoll]

The BAU First online Secret Santa (aka: Rossi vs Zoom)  (Spencer Reid/ Reader)

Summary: Rossi might have said too much when he wasn't muted in the BAU online Secret Santa Celebration. And Reid is too embarrassed to face (Y/N) afterward.

Requested: Yes. My boyfriend asked me to write this, and asked for some specific gifts for some team members. (Based on season 7 of Criminal Minds in COVID quarantine).

Pairing: Spencer Reid/ Reader- feat the whole team 

Warnings: None

Word count: 3K

Masterlist 

.

- “Hello?”- Penelope waved at Rossi, but he didn’t reply. She sighed and stared at the camera on her computer, and nearly started jumping and waving. 

- “Rossi!! Hey!”

- “Penelope??”- Rossi screamed, looking at the screen, unable to find the tab with the Zoom video conference on his navigator. He could hear her but couldn’t see her. 

- “Where are you??”

- “Rossi!! I can’t hear you! you are muted!”- Penelope was already frustrated, and it had been only two minutes. 

Rossi had been struggling using Zoom the whole quarantine. Every online meeting for the last couple of months had been filled with “Rossi, you are muted,” “Rossi, we can see you picking your nose,” “Rossi, you aren’t mute, we can hear you fart.” It had been as frustrating as funny for the team. 

- “Hey!”- Prentiss waved at the camera- “Where’s everybody?”

- “We’ve got Rossi trying to find us and unmute his mic”- Emily chuckled and nodded- “And Hotch just logged in… hey!”

- “Hello everybody”- Aaron Hotchner waved, and his son Jack appeared in the back of the room, waving too. 

- “Did you clean your room?”- he asked his son

- “Yes…”- it was clear Jack was lying

- “So if I go upstairs right now, your room is going to be clean, your bed made, and your toys in their place?- Jack stayed still and just smiled. Slowly, he turned around and ran back to his room. 

- “Hey, how did you change your background?”- Emily asked Garcia, who started explaining how to do it. 

- “Henry! what is it?”- JJ logged into the conversation, but her attention was really on her son, who kept crying somewhere near her. 

- “Hello? Hey? can you hear me?”

- “Hey Spence!!”- Prentiss and Garcia said at the same time and chuckled. 

- “Hello! How’s everybody!”- he smiled and stared at his screen. 

For someone who hated technology, he was pretty comfortable meeting the team online. Maybe because his germaphobic self was glad they didn’t have to go to the BAU if there was a pandemic going on.   

Germs were worse than technology, which was good to know when it came to his phobias. 

- “Baby girl, what are you doing?”- Derek’s voice interrupted Garcia’s class of “How to change backgrounds one on one.” Emily enjoyed her time switching pictures on his background, laughing, while JJ tried to convince Henry to eat his banana. Hotch was reading a case file, not paying attention to anything going on around him. Rossi was lost and muted still, trying to find the right tab in his browser, and Spencer was reading a book, sipping a cup of coffee.  

- “Hey!!”- (Y/N) waved at the screen and stared at the scene. Everyone in the BAU was on their little bubble.  

- “Hello, hey! How are you?”- Spencer closed the book and waved. (Y/N) blushed and waved back. She just stared at him, and all the memories of their last video call came to mind. 

They had literally spent the night together. They started a video call around seven, then cooked dinner. Spencer actually cooked ‘cos (Y/N) gave him an easy cooking lesson online. Both of them ate spaghetti with homemade bolognese sauce. 

They started talking and talking, drinking tea, and coffee, and cocoa, and more tea. They snuggled on their couches and kept on talking, laughing. Somehow they started reading each other their favorite parts of their favorite books. And somehow, they ended up in their beds, drinking one last cup of tea. They were hugging a pillow, wishing they could actually hug each other, but never saying those words. And so they kept talking until they fell asleep. 

(Y/N) had fallen asleep first. Spencer felt he had bored her ‘till she passed out, but the truth was, she had made her best effort to stay awake but failed at four in the morning. She loved talking with Spencer. She loved Spencer, all of him, including all the facts and statistics he would ramble on for hours. 

If only she knew he felt the same. He could hear her ramble about books and albums she loved. He didn’t know half the bands she talked about but always googled them after their conversations to understand her a little bit better. And to add facts to their next talk. 

.

- “Rossi! Rossi! unmute your mic”- Aaron repeated for the hundredth time during the call, but Rossi still had no idea what he was doing. 

- “Ok, ok, don’t touch anything, I’m hacking into your computer,”- Garcia simply said, already tired of waiting. It wasn’t the first time she had done it during the latest months. I wouldn’t be the last either. 

- “Hello? can you hear me?”

- “Yes, David”- Aaron nodded and almost smiled- “Hello everybody, I trust you are all having a nice day.”

It was their annual Secret Santa, and for the first time, it was online. They had all made sure to mail their presents earlier enough, and everybody had gotten theirs already. It was December 24th, and though it was still just noon, Rossi enjoyed the first whiskey of the day.  

.

- “I sent you all cookies!!”- Penelope clapped and smiled, staring into the camera- “Did you all get it?”

- “Yes!”- they all answered but (Y/N). 

- “No… I didn’t”

- “What?! But I sent them yesterday! the delivery said you had gotten them,”- Penelope explained, but (Y/N) just shook her head. 

- “Sorry Garcia, I just got my Secret Santa present this week, and that’s it”

- “Someone stole your cookies, pretty girl!”- Derek chuckled and took a bit of one of his- “Your lost, ‘cos they are delicious.” 

- “Great… not only I get to spend Christmas alone, now I have to bake my own cookies.”- she groaned and sighed. 

- “What? Alone?”- JJ was in shock- “What about your family? Family get-togethers are allowed this weekend. It just has to be less than ten people in each house.” 

- “They live in Seattle, and I can’t travel ‘cos I don’t wanna expose my grandparents to any risk, so I decided to spend Christmas alone”- (Y/N) cut the team a short smile. They all wide opened their eyes in shock. Christmas alone was never a good plan. 

- “Me and Jack are going to spend it with his grandfather and aunt. We would be glad to have you over.”- Hotch immediately said, and (Y/N) smiled.

- “Thank you, but that’s ok, it’s just Christmas…”- that really didn’t sound good. 

- “I’m gonna be alone too,”- Spencer texted her ‘cos he didn’t want to say it in front of the team- “Do you wanna spend Christmas with me? I can save you some cookies”. 

(Y/N) chuckled as she read, and Spencer smiled, staring at her. You don’t usually get to see the reaction of the person you text. And he loved it. 

- “Why are you going to be alone?”- she wrote back

- “Same as you, I don’t wanna expose my mom, and she is all the family I’ve got. She’ll spend Christmas with aunt Ethel”. 

- “Hey! (Y/N), are you listening?”- Penelope waved and nearly yelled. 

- “Sorry, what?”- (Y/N) left the phone aside and tried to focus on the team. 

- “JJ was saying you are also welcome to spend it with her mom, Henry, and Will.”

- “Thank you guys, but… I think I’ll be ok.” 

She blushed at those words and made her best not to look at Spencer as she smiled. Which was incredibly useless, ‘cos no one knew where Spencer’s image was on her screen. And at the same time, it was so easy for the team to profile what was going on. That’s why neither of them said another word.

- “Ok, can we start opening presents now?”- Prentiss asked. Her background was now a beach, and she had put on a big hat and sunglasses. Penelope and JJ laughed at her so loud that they didn’t listen when Aaron said they should make a distant toast. 

- “Wait! let me get something to drink!”- (Y/N) stood up quickly and poured herself a cup of tea. 

- “Ok, now I’m ready, sorry”- and when she looked at the screen, Spencer was blushing, and everybody was chuckling. 

- “What did I miss?”

- “Nothing pretty girl”- Derek just smiled- “Let’s do the presents thing… who wants to start?”

- “Henry is pretty restless today, so if you guys don’t mind, I want to start”- JJ waved and showed everybody her present. 

“You have to guess who gave you your present,”- Emily explained and sipped her cup of coffee. 

- “Alright… let’s see… I got this envelope from my Secret Santa and… it’s just what I needed!!”- JJ smiled and nearly jumped on her seat

- “It’s a whole spa day!! Mom needs a day off when this pandemic ends!! thank you, Secret Santa!!” 

- “Who do you think gave you that?”- Penelope asked, and JJ looked at each one of her teammates on the screen.

- I’m gonna go with… Hotch, ‘cos I think he understands exactly what’s like being a parent in quarantine- Aaron chuckled and shook his head. 

- “Sorry, I would have given you that, though, but it wasn’t me.”

- “Then who?”- Rossi raised his hand and smiled

- “I noticed you were a little… stressed last time we talked. I thought maybe when this whole thing ends, you would enjoy a day to treat yourself.”

- “Thank you so much, Rossi. I really appreciate it!!”

 .  

The whole team continued opening their presents and laughed, trying to guess who was their Secret Santa. Hotch got a horrible (and yet adorable) Christmas sweater with a gigantic Rudolph on it and a matching one for Jack. He guessed right away it was from Penelope. 

Hotch bought García a fantastic pair of high heels and confessed he had picked them himself. Aaron Hotchner had a pretty good fashion sense. Who knew? 

Rossi opened his present and laughed, shocked. It was one costly and hard to find Scotch bottle. He thought it was from Emily, but no, it was from (Y/N). 

- “I remembered you said it was your favorite, and I thought maybe you’d like to share it with us next time we have a real get-together in your house.”

- “It’s very nice and naive of you to think I might actually share this present with anyone”- Rossi smiled and waved at the screen- “Thank you, kid.”

Emily got a weekend in Vegas from JJ to make it up for the “Sin to Win” weekend she lost because of a case a few months before. And again, she refused to explain to the team what “Sin to Win” meant. 

Morgan got a life provision of baby oil to rub on his six pack and biceps each time he took his shirt off. It was a joke from Emily, and Rossi nearly had a heart attack laughing at it. Penelope wanted a demonstration, but Derek promised a private show. Prentiss also got him a new kit of tools for home repairs, which always came in handy for him… mostly to fix all the doors he kicked. 

- “And what did you get, Spence?”- JJ asked, now holding Henry in her arms, trying to keep him calm. Reid opened his present and smiled. It wasn’t a happy smile though, it was a “are you fucking kidding me?” smile.   

- “Dating for Dummies”- he said and showed the book- “And I’m pretty sure this is from Morgan.”

- “As soon as this quarantine ends, you and I are going to a club, so you better study that book, ‘cos I’m gonna make you put it on good use.”

Morgan joked, but after all those years, it just wasn’t funny anymore, not for Spencer, at least. 

- “And last but not least, what did you get (Y/N)?”- Penelope’s eyes were shining. She loved Secret Santa. She had forced Hotch to put on his sweater, and he was now feeling like a dork on camera. Garcia, of course, had taken many screen-captures to save that amazing moment. 

- “Well, I’m pretty sure this is from Spencer”- she smiled, ‘cos he was the only one left. He blushed and waved. 

- “I hope you like it”- (Y/N) unwrapped the present carefully and smiled, surprised. 

- “Where did you get this?”- it was an original edition of The Little Prince, in french. It was tough to find. 

- “You said you loved the book ‘cos your mom read it to you when you were a kid, so… I thought you’d like it.”

(Y/N) couldn’t stop going through each page, as a million memories of her childhood came to her mind. Her mother had passed away when she was in high school, and the book meant more to her than anyone could imagine. 

- “Thank you”- she whispered and bit her lip, making her best not to cry. 

- “Jesus Christ! When is he going to tell her he loves her!?”- Rossi nearly yelled. He was in the back of his office, pouring himself a glass of his Secret Santa present. 

The whole team stayed quiet, making their best not to laugh. Spencer wanted to die. He rested his head on the desk and controlled the urge to leave the conversation. 

- “Hey, Rossi… just so you know, you weren’t muted.”- Prentiss managed to say and chuckled. He looked at the screen and stayed quiet. 

- “Ok... I think I’m gonna go now. This Scotch is already getting to my head, so… see you guys!!”- Rossi waved and tried to leave. 

- “Fuck! I hope I didn’t ruin it for the kid. Well, someone had to say it anyway”- he whispered, embarrassed.

- “Rossi, we can still hear you. You didn’t close the conversation, just minimized it”- JJ warned him, and that time, everybody burst out laughing. 

- “Ok, I’m gonna go now…”- Spencer couldn’t even look at (Y/N) anymore. He just waved and closed Zoom. 

- “I’m gonna go too”- (Y/N) whispered- “I hope everybody has a nice holiday!”- she didn’t even wait for anyone to say anything else. She just left the conversation and walked to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. 

What the hell had just happened? 

.

Spencer had a panic attack. What was he supposed to do now? Confess his feelings? Rossi had already done it for him. Should he call (Y/N) and tell her it was just a joke? Tell her the truth? Invite her over for Christmas, again? 

- “Fuck!!”- he shouted and walked to his kitchen. Some whiskey Morgan left last time he visited was still there, and though Reid wasn’t much of a drinker, he needed one. 

He honestly had no idea what to do. He knew he couldn’t face (Y/N) now. How? he would fluster just to be in the same room with her. Rossi really ruined everything. It seemed it was the end of the world. 

- “I’m gonna have to quit, move from DC, change my name, start my life from scratch…” 

Yes, Spencer was making a drama out of the whole situation. But in his defense, he had never been in that kind of situation before. 

.

It was eight pm when Spencer heard a knock on the door. He had been lying on his couch most of the afternoon, trying to read. Still, his mind kept coming back to (Y/N) and the embarrassment he felt after Rossi’s comment.

- “Hi”- (Y/N) whispered as soon as Reid opened the door, and his heart stopped- “You said I could come for Christmas… so…”- he stood still and just nodded. She was there, wearing a Dr. Who mask, with some snowflakes on her coat.  

- “Can I come in?”

- “Sure! I’m sorry, I just…”- Spencer moved from the door and watched her taking off her shoes, leaving a few paper bags on the table, and smiling at him as soon as she removed her mask. 

- “Can I wash my hands?”

- “Of course, the bathroom is…”- Reid stopped himself. She knew where the bathroom was. That wasn’t the first time she was there.    

While she washed her hand, he made his best to clean a little, folded the blanket on his couch, and piled all the books that were lying around. 

- “So… I hope I’m not interrupting anything…”- (Y/N) started apologizing again, but Spencer just shook his head. 

- “No, not at all, I just wasn’t expecting you to come after… what…”- he couldn’t even mention it.

- “After what Rossi said?”- she turned around and avoided looking at Spencer. She walked to the bags she had brought and started taking things out

 - “Should we worry he was getting drunk so early?”- she simply said, and Reid chuckled

- “I don’t know, maybe… what are you doing?”

- “Well… I’m not into chicken tandoori for Christmas, so I cooked some things.”

- “It smells delicious”- Reid smiled, and so did (Y/N), feeling her cheeks blushing. 

- “It’s mom’s turkey recipe, so it better be good”

- “Let me put that in the fridge”- Reid held the turkey, roasted potatoes, and many other things (Y/N) had cooked and walked to the kitchen. 

- “I also got you this”- (Y/N) giggled and followed Spencer. As soon as he left everything he was carrying, she put a Santa hat with red and white stripes on his head.

- “You look like the cat in the hat”- she joked, and Spencer laughed, feeling like the happiest nerd on earth. 

- “I’m gonna take that as a compliment.”

- “It is…”- (Y/N) stared at him and sighed, both of them smiling in silence for a second. 

- “Did you get one for yourself too?”- he finally asked.

- “Yes! so we can take dorky pictures and send them to Garcia, she is gonna love those”- she made a pause and bit her lips for a second. 

- “So… do you like Christmas traditions?”- she asked and looked down at her shoes 

- “Mmm, sure… like watching Home Alone drinking hot chocolate?- Spencer asked, thinking he hadn’t really lived many Christmas traditions growing up. However, he knew his mother had made her best to make him happy each holiday. 

- “Yeah… that and… maybe this”

(Y/N) took a mistletoe from her pocket and lifted her arm to place it right on top of their heads. 

Spencer didn’t move. He just wide opened his eyes, staring at (Y/N), who was now smiling, completely blushed. 

- “Since we are spending Christmas together, I thought… we… could…”- but she couldn’t finish talking, ‘cos Spencer leaned in slowly, very slowly until he reached her lips and kissed her. His hands cupped her cheeks carefully, and her arms ended up wrapped around his neck.  

- “Merry Christmas, Spencer”- she whispered, rubbing her lips against his when the kiss ended, but neither of them wanted to move apart.

- “Merry Christmas, (Y/N)” 

.

[path-of-my-childhood]

The Story Behind Every Song on folklore - According to Aaron Dessner

By: Brady Gerber for Vulture Date: July 27th 2020

The National multi-instrumentalist spoke to Vulture over the phone from upstate New York a few hours after the surprise release of Swift’s eighth studio album. (“A pretty wild ride,” he admits, sounding tired yet happy.) He was clear that he can’t speak on behalf of Swift’s lyrics, much like he can’t for The National frontman Matt Berninger’s either, or the thinking behind Jack Antonoff’s songs. (Here’s a cheat sheet: Jack’s songs soar, Aaron’s glide.) But Dessner was game to speak to his specific contributions, influences, and own interpretations of each song on folklore, a record you can sum up by two words that came up often during our conversation: nostalgic and wry.

“the 1″

“the 1” and “hoax,” the first song and the last song, were the last songs we did. The album was sort of finished before that. We thought it was complete, but Taylor then went back into the folder of ideas that I had shared. I think in a way, she didn’t realize she was writing for this album or a future something. She wrote “the 1,” and then she wrote “hoax” a couple of hours later and sent them in the middle of the night. When I woke up in the morning, I wrote her before she woke up in LA and said, “These have to be on the record.” She woke up and said, “I agree” [laughs] These are the bookends, you know?

It’s clear that “the 1” is not written from her perspective. It’s written from another friend’s perspective. There’s an emotional wryness and rawness, while also to this kind of wink in her eyes. There’s a little bit of her sense of humor in there, in addition to this kind of sadness that exists both underneath and on the surface. I enjoy that about her writing.

The song began from the voice memo she sent me, and then I worked on the music some and we tracked her vocals, and then my brother added orchestration. There are a few other little bits, but basically that was one of the very last things we did.

“cardigan“

That’s the first song we wrote [in early May]. After Taylor asked if I would be interested in writing with her remotely and working on songs, I said, “Are you interested in a certain kind of sound?” She said, “I’m just interested in what you do and what you’re up to. Just send anything, literally anything, it could be the weirdest thing you’ve ever done,” so I sent a folder of stuff I had done that I was really excited about recently. “cardigan” was one of those sketches; it was originally called “Maple.” It was basically exactly what it is on the record, except we added orchestration later that my brother wrote.

I sent [the file] at 9 p.m., and around 2 a.m. or something, there was “cardigan,” fully written. That’s when I realized something crazy was happening. She just dialed directly into the heart of the music and wrote an incredible song and fully conceived of it and then kept going. It harkens back to lessons learned, or experiences in your youth, in a really beautiful way and this sense of longing and sadness, but ultimately, it’s cathartic. I thought it was a perfect match for the music, and how her voice feels. It was kind of a guide. It had these lower register parts, and I think we both realized that this was a bit of a lightning rod for a lot of the rest of the record.

The National’s Influence On Swift

She said that she’s a fan of the emotion that’s conveyed in our music. She doesn’t often get to work with music that is so raw and emotional, or melodic and emotional, at the same time. When I sent her the folder, that was one of the main feelings. She said, “What the fuck? How do you just have that?” [laughs] I was humbled and honored because she just said, “It’s a gift, and I want to write to all of this.” She didn’t write to all of it, but a lot of it, and relatively quickly.

She is a fan of the band, and she’s a fan of Big Red Machine. She’s well aware of the sentiment of it and what I do, but she didn’t ask for a certain kind of thing. I know that the film [I Am Easy To Find] has really affected her, and she’s very much in love with that film and the record. Maybe it’s subconsciously been an influence.

“the last great american dynasty”

I wrote that after we’d been working for a while. It was an attempt to write something attractive, more uptempo and kind of pushing. I also was interested in this almost In Rainbows-style latticework of electric guitars. They come in and sort of pull you along, kind of reminiscent of Big Red Machine. It was very much in this sound world that I’ve been playing around with, and she immediately clicked with that. Initially I was imagining these dreamlike distant electric guitars and electronics but with an element of folk. There’s a lot going on in that sense. I sent it before I went on a run, and when I got back from the run, that song was there [laughs].

She told me the story behind it, which sort of recounts the narrative of Rebekah Harkness, whom people actually called Betty. She was married to the heir of Standard Oil fortune, married into the Harkness family, and they bought this house in Rhode Island up on a cliff. It’s kind of the story of this woman and the outrageous parties she threw. She was infamous for not fitting in, entirely, in society; that story, at the end, becomes personal. Eventually, Taylor bought that house. I think that is symptomatic of folklore, this type of narrative song. We didn’t do very much to that either.

“exile” (ft. Bon Iver)

Taylor and William Bowery, the singer-songwriter, wrote that song initially together and sent it to me as a sort of a rough demo where Taylor was singing both the male and female parts. It’s supposed to be a dialogue between two lovers. I interpreted that and built the song, played the piano, and built around that template. We recorded Taylor’s vocals with her singing her parts but also the male parts.

We talked a lot about who she thought would be perfect to sing, and we kept coming back to Justin [Vernon]. Obviously, he’s a dear friend of mine and collaborator. I said, “Well, if he’s inspired by the song, he’ll do it, and if not, he won’t.” I sent it to him and said, “No pressure at all, literally no pressure, but how do you feel about this?” He said, “Wow.” He wrote some parts into it also, and we went back and forth a little bit, but it felt like an incredibly natural and safe collaboration between friends. It didn’t feel like getting a guest star or whatever. It was just like, well, we’re working on something, and obviously he’s crazy talented, but it just felt right. I think they both put so much raw emotion into it. It’s like a surface bubbling. It’s believable, you know? You believe that they’re having this intense dialogue.

With other people I had to be secretive, but with Justin, because he was going to sing, I actually did send him a version of the song with her vocals and told him what I was up to. He was like, “Whoa! Awesome!” But he’s been involved in so many big collaborative things that he wasn’t interested in it from that point of view. It’s more because he loved the song and he thought he could do something with it that would add something.

“my tears ricochet”

This is one of my absolute favorite songs on the record. I think it’s a brilliant composition, and Taylor’s words, the way her voice sounds and how this song feels, are, to me, one of the critical pieces. It’s lodged in my brain. That’s also very important to Taylor and Jack. It’s like a beacon for this record.

“mirrorball”

“mirrorball” is, to me, a hazy sort of beautiful. It almost reminds me of ‘90s-era Cardigans, or something like Mazzy Star. It has this kind of glow and haze. It feels really good before “seven,” which becomes very wistful and nostalgic. There are just such iconic images in the lyrics [“Spinning in my highest heels”], which aren’t coming to me at the moment because my brain is not working [laughs].

How Jack Antonoff’s Folklore Songs Differ From Dessner’s

I think we have different styles, and we weren’t making them together or in the same room. We both could probably come closer together in a sense that weirdly works. It’s like an archipelago, and each song is an island, but it’s all related. Taylor obviously binds it all together. And I think Jack, if he was working with orchestrations, there’s an emotional quality to his songs that’s clearly in the same world as mine.

We actually didn’t have a moodboard for the album at all. I don’t think that way. I don’t really know if she does either. I don’t think Jack... well, Jack might, but when I say the Cardigans or Mazzy Star, those aren’t Jack’s words about “mirrorball,” it’s just what calls to mind for me. Mainly she talked about emotion and to lean into it, the nostalgia and wistfulness, and the kind of raw, meditative emotion that I often kind of inhabit that I think felt very much where her heart was. We didn’t shy away from that.

“seven”

This is the second song we wrote. It’s kind of looking back at childhood and those childhood feelings, recounting memories and memorializing them. It’s this beautiful folk song. It has one of the most important lines on the record: “And just like a folk song, our love will be passed on.” That’s what this album is doing. It’s passing down. It’s memorializing love, childhood, and memories. It’s a folkloric way of processing.

“august”

This is maybe the closest thing to a pop song. It gets loud. It has this shimmering summer haze to it. It’s kind of like coming out of “seven” where you have this image of her in the swing and she’s seven years old, and then in “august” I think it feels like fast-forwarding to now. That’s an interesting contrast. I think it’s just a breezy, sort of intoxicating feeling.

“this is me trying”

“this is me trying,” to me, relates to the entire album. Maybe I’m reading into it too much from my own perspective, but [I think of] the whole album as an exercise and working through these stories, whether personal or old through someone else’s perspective. It’s connecting a lot of things. But I love the feeling in it and the production that Jack did. It has this lazy swagger.

“illicit affairs”

This feels like one of the real folk songs on the record, a sharp-witted narrative folk song. It just shows her versatility and her power as a songwriter, the sharpness of her writing. It’s a great song.

“invisible string”

That was another one where it was music that I’d been playing for a couple of months and sort of humming along to her. It felt like one of the songs that pulls you along. Just playing it on one guitar, it has this emotional locomotion in it, a meditative finger-picking pattern that I really gravitate to. It’s played on this rubber bridge that my friend put on [the guitar] and it deadens the strings so that it sounds old. The core of it sounds like a folk song.

It’s also kind of a sneaky pop song, because of the beat that comes in. She knew that there was something coming because she said, “You know, I love this and I’m hearing something already.” And then she said, “This will change the story,” this beautiful and direct kind of recounting of a relationship in its origin.

“mad woman”

That might be the most scathing song on folklore. It has a darkness that I think is cathartic, sort of witch-hunting and gaslighting and maybe bullying. Sometimes you become the person people try to pin you into a corner to be, which is not really fair. But again, don’t quote me on that [laughs], I just have my own interpretation. It’s one of the biggest releases on the album to me. It has this very sharp tone to it, but sort of in gothic folklore. It’s this record’s goth song.

“epiphany”

For “epiphany,” she did have this idea of a beautiful drone, or a very cinematic sort of widescreen song, where it’s not a lot of accents but more like a sea to bathe in. A stillness, in a sense. I first made this crazy drone which starts the song, and it’s there the whole time. It’s lots of different instruments played and then slowed down and reversed. It created this giant stack of harmony, which is so giant that it was kind of hard to manage, sonically, but it was very beautiful to get lost in. And then I played the piano to it, and it almost felt classical or something, those suspended chords.

I think she just heard it, and instantly, this song came to her, which is really an important one. It’s partially the story of her grandfather, who was a soldier, and partially then a story about a nurse in modern times. I don’t know if this is how she did it, but to me, it’s like a nurse, doctor, or medical professional, where med school doesn’t fully prepare you for seeing someone pass away or just the difficult emotional things that you’ll encounter in your job. In the past, heroes were just soldiers. Now they’re also medical professionals. To me, that’s the underlying mission of the song. There are some things that you see that are hard to talk about. You can’t talk about it. You just bear witness to them. But there’s something else incredibly soothing and comforting about this song. To me, it’s this Icelandic kind of feel, almost classical. My brother did really beautiful orchestration of it.

“betty”

This one Taylor and William wrote, and then both Jack and I worked on it. We all kind of passed it around. This is the one where Taylor wanted a reference. She wanted it to have an early Bob Dylan, sort of a Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan feel. We pushed it a little more towards John Wesley Harding, since it has some drums. It’s this epic narrative folk song where it tells us a long story and connects back to “cardigan.” It starts to connect dots and I think it’s a beautifully written folk song.

Is ‘betty” queer canon? I can’t speak to what it’s about. I have my own ideas. I also know where Taylor’s heart is, and I think that’s great anytime a song takes on greater meaning for anyone.

Is William Bowery secretly Joe Alwyn? I don’t know. We’re close, but she won’t tell me that. I think it’s actually someone else, but it’s good to have some mysteries.

“peace”

I wrote this, and Justin provided the pulse. We trade ideas all the time and he made a folder, and there was a pulse in there that I wrote these basslines to. In the other parts of the composition, I did it to Justin’s pulse. Taylor heard this sketch and she wrote the song. It reminds me of Joni Mitchell, in a way - there’s this really powerful and emotional love song, even the impressionistic, almost jazz-like bridge, and she weaves it perfectly together. This is one of my favorites, for sure. But the truth is that the music, that way of playing with harmonized basslines, is something that probably comes a little bit from me being inspired by how Justin does that sometimes. There’s probably a connection there. We didn’t talk too much about it [laughs].

“hoax”

This is a big departure. I think she said to me, “Don’t try to give it any other space other than what feels natural to you.” If you leave me in a room with a piano, I might play something like this. I take a lot of comfort in this. I think I imagined her playing this and singing it. After writing all these songs, this one felt the most emotional and, in a way, the rawest. It is one of my favorites. There’s sadness, but it’s a kind of hopeful sadness. It’s a recognition that you take on the burden of your partners, your loved ones, and their ups and downs. That’s both “peace” and “hoax” to me. That’s part of how I feel about those songs because I think that’s life. There’s a reality, the gravity or an understanding of the human condition.

Does Taylor Explain Her Lyrics?

She would always talk about it. The narrative is essential, and kind of what it’s all about. We’d always talk about that upfront and saying that would guide me with the music. But again, she is operating at many levels where there are connections between all of these songs, or many of them are interrelated in the characters that reappear. There are threads. I think that sometimes she would point it out entirely, but I would start to see these patterns. It’s cool when you see someone’s mind working.

“the lakes”

That’s a Jack song. It’s a beautiful kind of garden, or like you’re lost in a beautiful garden. There’s a kind of Greek poetry to it. Tragic poetry, I guess.

The Meaning Of Folklore

We didn’t talk about it at first. It was only after writing six or seven songs, basically when I thought my writing was done, when we got on the phone and said, “OK, I think we’re making an album. I have these six other ideas that I love with Jack [Antonoff] that we’ve already done, and I think what we’ve done fits really well with them.” It’s sort of these narratives, these folkloric songs, with characters that interweave and are written from different perspectives. She had a vision, and it was connecting back in some way to the folk tradition, but obviously not entirely sonically. It’s more about the narrative aspect of it.

I think it’s this sort of nostalgia and wistfulness that is in a lot of the songs. A lot of them have this kind of longing for looking back on things that have happened in your life, in your friend’s life, or another loved one’s life, and the kind of storytelling around that. That was clear to her. But then we kept going, and more and more songs happened.

It was a very organic process where [meaning] wasn’t something that we really discussed. It just kind of would happen where she would dive back into the folder and find other things that were inspiring. Or she and William Bowery would write “exile,” and then that happened. There were different stages of the process.

Okay, but is it A24-core? [Laughs.] Good comparison. 

[butterflyinthewell]

RPF…

RPF, for those who don’t know, stands for Real Person Fiction.

This is meant to spark discussion, so anyone coming in with bad faith takes like “why do you wanna draw p0rn of minors so bad” will get blocked because I actually don’t want to draw anybody and I’m hoping to see nuanced discussion about RPF itself since it’s a bit controversial.

Personally, RPF weirds me out because it feels voyeuristic, and the idea of minors being written about that way freaks me out a lot. It’s the main reason I avoid RPF stuff. I don’t harass people who make it, I just don’t want to look at their stuff.

I’ve nudged in RPF a little bit with my fics by having real people appear in them as characters, but it was more a case of real people being injected into fictional worlds and not stories about them specifically. That’s about as far in as I personally am willing to go in creating it.

I feel like this subject is almost impossible to discuss without censorship being brought up and I’m not sure how to broach it, so I’m going to spill my thoughts on the matter.

“RPF” in the form of major media stuff (ie movies like The Theory of Everything, or historical figures popping up on a time travel show like Doctor Who) is one thing because I’m sure it has to go through a lot of approval about what is and isn’t okay to portray about that person before it can get made, whereas fan creators can just create it and post it.

If it’s a teenager writing a smutty fantasy and it’s the awkward teen stuff you see in typical fanfiction written by young teens, that’s one thing, that’s just a teen being a teen. I would be a lot more bothered by an adult writing about a celeb minor with intense focus on things like their developing bodies/genitals, where it’s obvious they’re turned on by the fact that they’re drooling over a child’s body.

At the same time, there’s also the recognition that writing about doing something to somebody and actually physically doing it to them are very different things. Writing about a real child that way is disgustingly creepy, no argument there, but it’s still not the same as someone actually putting their hands on that child.

If they haven’t seen that celeb naked, their portrayal may be totally inaccurate. (Maybe they don’t have freckles there, maybe they shave certain areas, etc.) Still, it’s imagining a real living child, not an imaginary character like Rin or Shippou from Inuyasha. I feel like that’s where the fulcrum of this is, and, again, I don’t know how to discuss it without censorship being brought up.

There is also the possibility of the person being written about stumbling into it and being horrified, and I think they should have the right to issue a takedown of that story regardless of age.

For obvious reasons, any sexual images drawn of any celebrity child is CSEM because that’s drawing a real, living child in a sexual situation and that’s never okay.

I feel like the line is clearer if someone is drawing fanart of, say, Izzy from Transformers 5 naked because that is still the recognizable likeness of Isobel Manor, a real person who was a minor in that movie. That would be CSEM even if you drew her with Bumblebee in the background because she’s a real, recognizable person.

Obviously, drawing a character like Ed Elric from FullMetal Alchemist or Lextington from Gargoyles are different because they only exist as drawings with actors supplying voices. Personally, I’m uncomfortable with it, but I leave it alone because they’re not real. I look away.

The line blurs when we consider characters played by minor actors in heavy makeup, like Deep Space Nine’s Nog character (Aaron Eisenberg) where he looks very different without his Ferengi makeup. We have no idea what Ferengi look like under their clothes, so someone could give him a totally alien body that’s unrecognizable from the person wearing the makeup on set. Where is the line there? I would be bothered by it, but that’s my own opinion.

(If it helps, I wouldn’t be bothered at all by an image of Odo or Worf portrayed sexually because Rene Auberjonois and Michael Dorn were/are adults.)

What about someone wearing lighter makeup, perhaps playing a Vulcan? Their face is still recognizable, all that changes are the hair(sometimes), the eyebrows and the ears.

So where is the line? It’s fairly clear with drawn art, but it’s still not crystal clear.

With writing, it’s even blurrier.

I think the written RPF issue feels like a discussion with several layers of nuance specifically because there’s that barrier of it being written and not drawn, so it’s not immediately visual.

I wish AO3 had an unlisted option like YouTube where people could only see a fic if they had a link, because that would minimize the number of eyes on questionable stuff while the legality and morality of it get figured out. (Also, it can give authors ways to share works that could minimize harassment.)

I hope I stated my thoughts clearly. Again, I stress that I don’t harass people for their content and I don’t want to associate with people who do. I’ve seen some division about RPF and am curious about your thoughts on it.

Discuss.

[mihrsuri]

For the half-ask meme: Anne, Henry, and Thomas 🥰✨

drinking buddy: periodically gets drunk with Crowley from Good Omens pre the OT3 getting together if OT3 verse. Would probably also have a fantastic time getting wasted and into Antics with pre dickhead choices Ozorne from Tortall.

best friend: OT3!verse Henry and Jon of Conte okay.

sexy hookup: Henry Tudor absolutely hooked up with Jaskier from The Witcher (he also hooked up with Geralt in my Hunger Games verse which was hot but a terrible idea). They just have a really really great time having sex and like, playing the lute and pining and stay friends afterwards.

honourable mention goes to James Bond. Specifically Craig Bond. No I don’t even know but it does.

OTP: I’m not saying it’s advisable or anything but he and Melisande from the Kushiels Legacy books for Reasons. Mostly because he would absolutely be like TOP ME.

Anne

drinking buddy: She is absolutely going to go get delightfully drunk with the women of the Throne Of Glass/ACOTAR universe and I absolutely and completely support it.

best friend: She and Steve Rogers. Okay this is partly about me having AU reasons but really, it just works for me.

sexy hookup: She and the Thirteenth Doctor had a fantastic time in France that’s just Canon Dot Gif.

OTP: Specifically a ’they are the same age’ young!Doran Martell as played by Alexander Siddig. I just think she deserves all the happiness etc.

Thomas

drinking buddy: Malcolm Tucker. Would also accept Josh Lyman.

best friend: So this is a joint headcanon with @bibliothekara but we both decided that he and Rachel Maddow are semi unlikely but also not that unlikely close friends. If going for fictional characters it’s him and Maria Hill (specifically Maria from a friends AU verse).

sexy hookup: I’m not saying this could have happened with Cesare Borgia but like, IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED (also amusing to me because of the image of years later Henry being like ‘…sweetheart it’s not that he didn’t love your mind but uh, he loved a lot of other things’). Also possibly a member of the Medici Family. A hot one.

OTP: me at OT3 verse Thomas - I really think you and Aaron Hotchner should get together it would be very sweet.

[shannendoherty-fans]

People, November 9, 1992

Nobody's Pussycat

By Tom Gliatto. Photos by Neal Preston.

Ever Outspoken, Shannen Doherty Defends Family Values, Her Turf on Beverly Hills, 90210—and Her Rowdy Reputation in Hollywood.

THERE ARE TWO ISSUES TO BE CLEARED UP HERE. Both of them are dear to the heart of Shannen Doherty, 21-year-old star of Fox's Beverly Hills, 90210, the Aaron Spelling high school hit that is now in its third season, one in which Doherty's character, Brenda Walsh—who might be described as Gidget with attitude—will break up with that lean-hipped rebel, Dylan (Luke Perry). First issue: Why has Doherty—alone among 90210 costars and teen idols Perry, Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris and Brian Austin Green—come to be regarded as "difficult"? Like, is she, in contrast to the feisty but fairly civilized Brenda, one of those women who rhyme with rich? Is she, as the tabloids have gleefully reported, impossible on the set? Is she a prima donna? Also: After hours, does she party too much? And where was she being driven, in those recent tabloid photos, by rapper Marky Mark?

Second issue: What has become of the youngest of her dogs, a rottweiler named Jake? Doherty has arrived home, at her three-bedroom house in Beverly Hills, expecting to find golden retriever Sally gone (her dad was going to slop by to take her to the vet's), but now only black Lab Penelope is here to greet her. And why is there blood around the hack patio? Unnerved, Doherty phones her parents. No luck. She calls the vet. Gets the machine. Perhaps this is not the ideal moment for Doherty to sit down with a visitor and size up that delicate first issue. She chooses an armless chair in the living room and takes out a cigarette. She smiles, but it is not a happy smile, and her fingers shake as the match reaches the cigarette. "Yeah," she says, exhaling smoke with her sigh, "you've really caught me on a good day."

"People think I'm a bitch," she says with a shrug. "There was a group of four girls at Torrance High, when; we film the show, and they walked by and said, 'Oh, what a bitch!' You can walk away from that, but you really want to turn around and say, 'Why?' " She can give you a couple of whys, actually. "The tabloids make up stuff," she says. "Somebody will call [the tabs] up and say, They're yelling at each other on the [90210] set,' and they will turn around and make it 10 times worse," Doherty says. And maybe, she reasons, the tabloids pick on her. specifically, because "I'm a strong woman. There are still some people out there who can't deal with that."

Aaron Spelling, whose company produces 90210, describes her as "the best young actress I've seen in a long time," and has no problem with Doherty or her manner. "She is a very honest person who wears her emotions on her sleeve," he says. "If you ask her a direct question, she'll give you a direct answer." For instance, Doherty isn't afraid to tell friend, costar and daughter-of-the-boss Tori Spelling if she's wearing the wrong blouse. "Of all my friends, Shannen is the really honest one," says Tori, one of the few 90210ers who talked about her. Doherty's comments are "all meant in the best way," she adds. "But I can see [her reputation] hurts her feelings a bit." If so, Doherty is not about to expose her wounded heart in public. And why should she? Her image hasn't hurt her endorsement power (she does ads for Gitano jeans). "I'm not saying I don't have my moments of bitchiness," Doherty says, not defensively at all, "because everybody has them. But it's never for no reason. I think that life is short, you should live it and be happy. I've always been a ballsy kid," she adds. "I know it pisses some people off, but isn't the end result much better?"

In fact, Doherty, who won her first series role when she was 11 (she played Jenny Wilder on Little House: A New Beginning), thinks her "bitch" reputation started with 1989's cull black-comedy movie Heathers (in which she was one of the three nasty title teens). Doherty says she let a behind-the-cameras player on that film know, in no uncertain terms, that she didn't approve of an extramarital affair he was conducting with an extra. "It was the first time I actually saw somebody take advantage of the extras," she says. "He knew I disliked him, and he was the first person to call me a bitch." In the past year, though, she also earned the enmity of prince of sarcasm Dennis Miller when she appeared on his short-lived talk show and embarrassed him by teasing him for not being at ease. (Her photo, tacked up backstage, was subsequently defaced with a devil's horn and goatee.) And would Peter Duchow, who produced her recent TV movie Obsessed, like to work with Doherty again? "How much are you going to pay me?" he asks. He notes that she was late to the set several times ("Professionals," he says, "make an absolute effort to be on time") but then clarifies: "Like a lot of talented people, she has mood swings. Hers are perhaps a lot more exaggerated than others. And any 21-year-old is difficult to work with. She has to learn some lessons that everybody has to learn." Then there was the headline-grabbing flap at this year's Emmys show. The day before the ceremony, Doherty dropped out of presenting an award with John Stamos of Full House and 90210 costar Jennie Garth. "She was a colossal pain in the ass," says Walter Miller, who produced and directed the program. There have been numerous explanations of that pain. Initially a spokesperson said that she was suffering from bronchitis. Miller, who refers to Doherty as "a barracuda," thinks she was unhappy that Garth was given the opening line of Emmy dialogue—even though Doherty would have announced the winning name. But Doherty says she was upset that the entire 90210 cast was not given tickets to the ceremonies. "I just said, "This is ridiculous, our cast can't go,' " she explains. " 'I just don't understand that.' " Doherty's manager, Mike Gursey, says he yanked her from the telecast because "tiny" promises about her role, including what category she would present in, went unfulfilled.

Having offended the gods of Hollywood, though, the young "barracuda" arrived in tears al a luncheon the day of the Emmys, reports Aaron Spelling, "afraid even one would be mad at her." If so, it was a rare display of public insecurity from a young woman who, says her father, Tom, 48, "has always been self-assured." Shannen was born in Memphis, the younger of two children (her brother, Sean, 25, is a USC law student) and, on her mother Rosa's side, the latest in a long line of Southern Baptists. Shannen's conservative upbringing may have something to do with her public displeasure over 90210's Brenda's losing her virginity last year ("We have a whole cast that is sexually active," she complained in one interview); her disgust with that unnamed. womanizing Heathers crew member; and her August appearance at that feast of family values, the Republican National Convention, at which she led the Pledge of Allegiance. ("I don't think Clinton would be any different than Bush," says Doherty, a Jack Kemp supporter, "except maybe he'd do a hell of a lot worse.") Growing up in the male-dominated South, though, had its drawbacks. "I saw how women were treated," she says, "and I wasn't going to be treated like that." In fact, she seems to have a Scarlett O'Hara, I'll-never-go-hungry-again tenacity, developed after her family moved to the comfortable Palos Verdes neighborhood of Los Angeles when she was 6. Her father had bought a trucking firm, but within a few years the business collapsed. "Shannen has seen both sides of the coin," says her dad, now a mortgage consultant. "We lived in a prestigious area, with an ocean view. Then we had the rug pulled out from under us. There was a time when the doorbell would ring and it might be the utility man there to cut off the power." The experience seared Doherty. "People think, 'She's sitting up there in a nice house and has money,' " Shannen says of herself, suddenly irritated. "Somebody said that to me last night, and I got really pissed off. My parents went from having money to having nothing, to eating rice every single day."

As Tom Doherty's company was sinking, his daughter was getting into another business—acting. Initially, Shannen tagged along when Sean tried out for a church production. In short order, she went on to play Sneezy the dwarf in Snow White, also at church ("I hammed it up"), and by age 10 she was doing commercials for Pepsi. Her big break came in 1982, when she did a voice for the animated feature The Secret of NIMH. Then Michael Landon hired her for Little House. "That show changed my life," says Doherty. "Michael Landon was the one who said to me, 'Always slick up for yourself. Never let anybody walk all over you. Be a strong woman.' " The principal of the Baptist school she attended after her stint on Little House paid the price for Landon's advice. "I hated that school," says Doherty, her voice turning sharp again. "It was very repressed. They thought that dancing was evil, and I disagreed. I organized a big dance, and the principal called me in. He wasn't pleased. He had his Bible out there on his desk and told me how God would punish me. I flipped through his Bible and found references to people dancing and rejoicing. I said to him, 'It clearly shows they danced and rejoiced. Just what the f—is wrong with you?' " Her father had reservations about Shannen and show business, but he supported her in her fight at the school, which she left alter a year. She finished her studies at the Lycée Français, a private school in L.A. (by then, the family was back on its feet financially). "Shannen believed in something," says her dad, who didn't know beforehand about the prohibition on happy feet. "She did nothing wrong." The family was less approving when she left home at 18 and moved in with a 31-year-old boyfriend (who had told her he was 28). "I wanted so much to be on my own," she says now. "I wanted to prove I could do things myself". But the boy friend turned out to be involved with drugs. "And I tried drugs and drinking," says Doherty softly. "I was drinking up a storm. Cocaine was something that I tried and didn't really like. It was more the lifestyle I was into. Every single night I was out clubbing and drinking. It was a bad scene." This went on, she estimates, for six months and ended—with a shock—the night her boy-friend struck her. "I just remember one slap across the lace." she says, "and I was out of there." She went across the street to a convenience store, phoned her parents and went home. She has since bought and moved into her own place, but remains close lo her parents. She was there for her father in 1983 and again in 1990 when he suffered strokes (his right side is now slightly paralyzed). "She has done the single most important thing lo help my recovery," he says. "She makes me laugh." It was in 1986. while playing Kris Witherspoon on her second NBC series, Our House, that Doherty first caught the attention of an influential member of the viewing audience named Tori Spelling. Tori also liked Doherty in Heathers and recommended her to her father. Doherty got the 90210 job on a Wednesday, started work on a Monday, and now she's so famous she needs a dog to protect her when she goes jogging.

(The dogs! What about those dogs? Every time the phone rings, Doherty hops up and runs off to answer, only to return with a look of dejection—no news.) Doherty doesn't deny that she may have earned her reputation for being tough in the early days of 90210. "I always stood up for the right causes, but I don't think I was always diplomatic," she says. "But recently I have learned lo be diplomatic." That hasn't prevented the occasional on-set misunderstanding—like the time recently when the day's shoot ran past midnight and Doherty announced (with the producers' permission, she says) that it was time to go home. She suspects Jennie Garth may have resented that show of authority. "I don't think Jennie was very happy," she says. At any rate, she adds, their friendship has suffered—and the Emmy business didn't help. "There's some weird tension there," she says. "We haven't really talked about what happened. But Jennie is a great girl, and this is something that can be worked on." There are no complaints from Jason Priestley, who plays Doherty's brother, Brandon. "All of the stories about Shannen are so blown out of proportion," he says. "She's a very intelligent young woman who isn't afraid to speak her mind. I really enjoy working with her. We have a good relationship on-and offscreen."

For the past year, Doherty's primary offscreen relationship has been with Chris Foufas, 25, a Chicago-based real estate manager. They met through a friend of Foufas's (in fact, she was dating the friend at the time). They announced their engagement earlier this year, but now it has been called off. "He is a wonderful man whom I love very much," says Doherty, "but I'm 21, and it's not exactly the right time to gel married. Friendship has taken over the romance.' " Marriage hasn't been completely ruled out, she says. And "if he goes out with another girl, it's [only] because he's bored." Now as to the famous night on the town with Marky Mark. Doherty maintains that they were not on a date—it was just a friendly foursome that included 90210 costars Green and Spelling. Someday, Doherty may have her own rock-and-roll groupies to distract her. A big fan of U2, Guns N' Roses and Pearl Jam (she would love to meet lead singer Eddie Vedder), she enjoys toying with the idea of having her own band. The basic career plan, of course, is to land some movie roles alter 90210, but Doherty says, "I gel into these modes of sitting in my house writing poetry that could be converted into songs."

She pauses to light another cigarette and inhales, turning her head toward the sound of a car door slamming and the scuttle of approaching paws. Sally comes bounding in, and Tom Doherty enters carrying Jake, the dog's back paws wrapped in bandages. Shannen's father explains that when he arrived to take Sally to the vet, he found Jake in the pool. The pup had fallen in and was frantically clawing the pool trying to get out. "He looks so funny," Shannen says. "I'm so relieved!" She pats him on the head, and he regards her contentedly. You will never hear a bad word from Jake about Shannen Doherty.

*** 💜♀️International Women's Day♀️💜