#this was the part in the q&a where he was talking about learning the piano

[kenobion]

Andrew Garfield at the SBIFF Cinema Society Q&A on tick, tick...BOOM!

[erigold13261]

Qwasa lore idea: it gives the people powers, and reacts to passion being put behind music and not the quality. Also why people’s powers correspond with their music.

I see the whole world itself as having some inherent type of magic, where music/passion can help hone and enhance those magics, which is why West is able to have shadow magic/puppets even though he most likely never worked directly with the Qwasa.

Unless you mean that the Qwasa can just give anyone powers, which could work. Though I still prefer people having their own magic they were born with (such as plant and space people: Mama and DJ), that just gets stronger as they grow and learn how to create their own passion for their powers. Whether that be music or any other kind of passion they might have. While others need to create their own magic out of their passion and music.

However, if we go off the idea that the Qwasa gives powers to people, are we talking about a machine or the plant Qwasa I talked about earlier?

If we are talking about the machine, then that could mean that there was already magic in music (or in passion) and there just needed to be a boost/amplification to it in order to manifest magic directly into the world. Because I don't think there is a machine that can just create magic out of nothing. Amplifying magic that is already there seems more logical.

Over time of putting in music/passion will lead to permanent changes, which is why Mama can change size even though she is no longer making music (unless you go off the idea that she is making the EDM part of Yinu's music, which I feel would not have as much passion to it as if Mama was playing a harp or the piano). The amplification of one's own power/passion back onto the person will end up just boosting that person's natural power.

Though that could mean that there is no need for the Qwasa to get power because West, a person who wouldn't have gotten power amplification from the Qwasa, was able to hone his own passion/music/power over the years and he doesn't even use any tech/instruments to help him. Now imagine if he was able to amplify his powers back onto him and the Qwasa just boosted him so much.

Mayday and Zuke look like they have powers, and they might have SOMETHING because of the Light's Up Audition giving them some kind of power amplification back to them, but I like to think, going off of tech, that their instruments are like temporary power boosters that allow them to have some magic. Without Mayday's guitar or Zuke's drumsticks, they have no power. But if they worked with the Qwasa over time, May and Zuke will be able to use magic/power/passion without the assistance of any tech/instruments.

But if we go off of the Qwasa being a plant that takes sound (or in this case the passion) behind music to make power, and think that the Qwasa itself holds all the magic and gives it to those who have a lot of passion, then we get more of what you were talking about!

In this scenario, there would be little to no magic in the world itself other than the Qwasa plants. People like Mama and DJSS would be MUCH more rare, having to come from musical/magical/passionate families OR they are people who worked with the Qwasa plant (even a little bit of it) and were transformed because of the power it gave them.

Having this kind of plant around means it could potentially be more accessible to the world than the Qwasa machine. With the machine, there is most likely only one Grand Qwasa, and a bunch of mini Qwasas that are solely in Vinyl City. The Qwasa plant however, would be everywhere in the world that it can grow (and considering it is magical, it probably can grow in all kinds of climates).

So there could be small patches in the country that West was able to rap to and get power from. And this idea of Qwasa's giving magic to anyone with passion does go into the fact that Tatiana said her artists are from all over the world (if I am remembering that correctly). That would mean that anyone near a Qwasa plant, with enough passion, can gain enough magic to boost themselves into the sights of NSR.

This would also mean that Vinyl City has the largest amount of concentrated Qwasa Plants, maybe because it needs a lot of water or something and being close to the ocean allows the plant to thrive. Which is why Vinyl City has so many magical people in it. That's where the most magic is, so more people will just flock there. It becomes a cycle of passion and magic!

I... I kinda started rambling at this point. I hope this made sense! Your idea is really cool, though I still prefer my idea that thee world itself and the people in it are inherently magical and just use the Qwasa to store and collect energy from sound.

[mirclealignr]

Regulus Black Fluff Alphabet

regulus x gn! reader

requested by anon

warnings; brief mentions of food and anxiety

from this alphabet

A - Affection; how they like to show their love.

Regulus does a lot through touch and reassuring looks/smiles. He finds it hard sometimes to express just how he feels about you, especially considering expressions of love were severely lacking in his life. But when he holds your hand or caresses your face, he feels as if he's spilling all his secrets, and hopes that you understand them.

B - Beauty; what do they especially admire about you?

Your warmth. At first it was practically disarming, but overtime he learned to embrace it and miss it when it was absent, when you were absent. It would be so different to what he was used to, especially with the people closest to him. But he would adore the change that was you.

C - Cuddles; how they like to cuddle you.

Most of the time he likes to have his arms around you, sitting up slightly while you lay against his chest. There's a sense of safety he finds in knowing that you can hear his heartbeat and that it doesn't scare you off. But sometimes, he likes it when you take him in your arms and he can nuzzle in the crook of your neck.

D - Dancing; their favourite place to dance with you.

He is simply a hopeless romantic, and loves to dance with you when it's dark and raining outside, when the two of you are almost completely alone. He loves watching you smile as the rain seeps into your clothes and dampens your hair, and when you rest your head on his chest for some shelter.

E - Excitement; do they get excited with you about things?

Regulus likes to understand things before he gets excited about them with you. If you come running to him with an elated expression and start rambling about whatever brought you this pleasure, he'd want to know why. He'd want to understand you and relate to you. Almost always, he'd become just as excited as you.

F - First Date; your first date together.

The Astronomy Tower. Regulus would want to be alone with you, without prying or judging eyes. It wouldn't be much, maybe some snacks and a drink he brought for you, but he would want to hear you talk and laugh and to see you smile. He'd want to know your likes and dislikes, the memories you cherished, and things you looked back on and laughed at.

G - Goals; do they have things they want to achieve? Do they include you in these things?

For Regulus, his future goals remain largely unclear. Before you, he thought it was simple, but afterwards it would become far more complicated. With the weight of his family, and Sirius' abandonment making it heavier, he would often try to avoid the thought. But if you ever brought it up, he'd tell you that wherever you were, he would be.

H - Honesty; how open are they with you?

Very. Trust is something extremely important to him. While he may not tell you everything the second it happens, he does have every intention of letting you see every side of him, even the parts he wished would vanish from existence. Upon getting to know you, the trials of his family would be revealed slowly, rather than all at once, so he didn't overwhelm you. Of course, he'd be terrified, but he knew it was better that way, and he knew that you would love him all the same.

I - I Love You; do they say it a lot? did they say it first?

Regulus does not say it first, though he'd be sure he felt it first. He confesses straight after you, though, and gradually says it more and more over time. Expressing his feelings would not come easy, and sometimes, rather than tell you how much he appreciated you for listening or how beautiful he thought you were, he simply said 'I love you' in replacement, hoping that it would be enough.

J - Jealousy; do they get jealous?

Not necessarily jealous, but rather insecure. When he sees you laughing with someone else, he'd wonder whether they were better suited to you--they were warmer, more free, happier. Perhaps he brought you down, perhaps he weighed you down, and though he didn't express these insecurities out loud, he'd always seem to be easily read by you. And you'd always be there to reassure him when you needed to.

K - Kiss; their favourite place to kiss you.

Your hands. For Regulus, hands mean so much, represent so much, and yours are his to kiss and hold as much as he pleases. To him it would feel incredibly intimate, despite the fact that your hands can touch others, but that they're only his to kiss and hold. People can always get close, but never as close as he can.

L - Little Spoon; who’s the little spoon?

The majority of the time, you are the little spoon. He likes the idea that he is able to protect you, actually make you feel safe and wanted; it's one of the things he prides himself on. But, there woulds be times when he needed to feel that, and revelled in the warmth of your embrace tightening around him, holding him close.

M - Melody; what’s your song together?

I think your song together would be 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' by The Beatles.

N - Nicknames; do they use nicknames for you?

Yes a few. Some of them would include 'treasure' and/or 'my treasure' because he adores you and could not think of anything better than you. For him, you are what people search for their whole lives, sometimes without ever finding it. And, because he speaks French, ‘mon chéri /ma chérie' for definite.

O - Open Book; how hard was it to get to know them?

It wasn't necessarily hard, just gradual. However, you would have always suspected that Regulus did not have it easy and were content with him going at his own pace, and appreciating that he was brave enough to reveal it all to you. It never seemed too slow, rushed, or overwhelming--he picked his timings well and never let things become too heavy. He'd also be very conscious that everyone had their own burdens, and would make sure he always left time and room for you to air anything you wanted or needed.

P - PDA; how affectionate they are in public.

Not very much at all. He prefers to show you his love when it's just the two of you. But he isn't afraid to let other people know that you're in a relationship, and will often intertwine his fingers with yours, whisper things in your ear, and kiss your temple.

Q - Quirk: a weird but loveable trait of theirs.

He never signs his name, he always signs R.A.B. Even when it's small notes to you, little love letters, or ordinary letters, he will never sign it as Regulus, but with his full initials.

R - Romance; how romantic are they?

So much. He loves leaving you love notes, writing love letters to you, slow dancing with you, playing music for you, watching the stars with you, whispering sweet nothings in your ear, snuggling up in bed with you with a good book. He loves to do it all.

S - Secrets; do they keep secrets from you?

Not really. Perhaps only ones he thinks would unnecessarily hurt you, like what his family says about you. He doesn't tell you because he doesn't think it matters, they don't matter to him, only you do, and he wants their words to mean nothing.

T - Thrill; do they like to keep the relationship new and exciting?

He likes to, and he tries. He certainly likes surprising you, even if only to see that smile. He likes taking you places, learning your favourite songs on the piano simply because you like hearing them, taking you on spontaneous trips or dates. He's not on for grand, public gestures, but he still keeps excitement in the relationship his own way. But he also knows when things need to be slow and calm, and doesn't mind it either way.

U - Understanding; how they comfort/support when you’re upset or anxious.

He knows that most things said would be wrong, even if they were intended to be reassuring and understanding. Even when you talk about what's bothering you or don't, it can be hard to say the right thing. So instead, he takes you in his arms, rubs your back, kisses your cheek and gets you any comfort foods that you wish for. Sometimes, words speak far less than actions.

V - Vexed; how easily they lose their temper.

With his family, and even with Sirius, Regulus can lose his temper very quickly, but you understand that their relationship has not been easy, nor do you care for his family. With you, it's rare that he loses his temper or raises his voice at you. When he does, there are usually other factors that have contributed to his mood, and he is quick to apologise afterwards.

W - Weakness; what’s their weakness what it comes to you?

Your smile. So easily it can make him feel like he's falling from the stars, watching the constellations become smaller and smaller as he slips into the earth's atmosphere, burning and smiling and falling completely in love with you every time he sees it.

X - Xtra; random hc about them.

Regulus likes to speak in French to you when there are things he is too afraid to say or things he thinks sound more romantic when said in another language. Even if you can understand him, there's something less nerve-racking about saying it in French, it's almost like he's playing himself in another world, but still hopelessly in love with you.

Y - Years to Come; how they imagine your future together.

He doesn't like to think about the future often because he knows how easily it can change and fail to meet your expectations. He only hopes that he is with you, facing whatever is to come. He prefers to focus on the present, where he already is with you.

Z - Zzz; how they are when they sleep.

Incredibly still, almost scarily still. The only time he moves is to be closer to you, closer to your exuding warmth. It almost frightens you to move in case it wakes him or disturbs him, but if it does, he never lets on. - - - fill in this form or send an ask to be added to a tag list <3 forever friends; @myalupinblack / @selenes-sun / @vixxiann /@queen-asteria04 / @lillict / @savingpluto /@theincredibledeadlyviper / @pad-foots / @fizzleberries / @willowbleedsonpaper / @kinkyduuh harry potter; @fuckingbloodyhello / @catching-the-train-to-hogwarts / @scvrllet / @dreamerinthesun / @crazy-beautiful / @chaoticgirl04 /@cupids-crystals / @fandom-life-12 / @mypainistemporary-blog /@oliverwoodmarrymepls / @eunoniaa / @missryerye marauders era; @spxllcxstxr / @natashxromanovfreads / @ch /@sereinegemini / @helen-with-an-a / @sweeter-than-strawberries /@spxncervibes regulus black; @jackys-stuff-blog / @with-love-anu / @yinrose98 /@tarorootboba / @lyaseille / @bloodblossom73

[thedoubteriswise]

okay so. I am a smart adult with many important responsibilities. I have good taste and care about things that matter. for this reason, I’ve been trying to identify where in cql canon wangxian manage to fuck.

because they definitely do; I like a good post-canon getting together fic as much as the next guy, but it’s just not realistic.

allow them. it’s already been so long.

(just like this goddamn post turned out to be, let’s do a cut)

right. so initially it looks like you could place this right after the time skip in episode 33, because it shows us that wwx is with lwj in cloud recesses. we know that he spent the night in the jingshi because he wakes up there the next morning before he goes for a nostalgic tour of his old school.

and also visits the cold spring, where lwj is mostly naked. nice.

but wait! wwx is surprised by the scars on his back and chest. that seems like something he would have known about if they’d already been naked together the night before, so I’m going to say they did not fuck immediately upon wwx’s return to cloud recesses. okay, fine, they’re taking things slow, that’s cool.

maybe they could work it into the next night, then. oh wait, lqr is injured and... staying in the jingshi? for reasons?

I don’t know why. he must have his own house in cloud recesses, and it’s probably at least as comfortable as lwj’s, but here he is. he lives to stop his nephew from getting laid, I guess.

the next day they do some Q&A with the kids and determine that they need to head to qinghe to figure out what’s going on with this sword thing. great! we love a romantic road trip, plenty of alone time. but they also have to do their jobs, and then jin ling needs to get rescued from a wall of dirt, and jc is unfortunately there being himself, and then they have to grill nhs about his tomb full of angry sabers, etc. etc.

with all that going on, their next obvious chance is at the inn immediately after interviewing nhs. this evening has already included:

wwx gazing lovingly at lwj from afar

lwj carrying wwx on his back

lwj pawing at wwx’s robes trying to deal with his cursed leg

lwj helping wwx up the stairs, serving him wine, fixing his flute, and generally being at his beck and call

a very sexy and homoerotic duet

and now they’re alone and drooling over each other as usual. this seems like a plausible spot, right?

it does! but no. after they go back to the nie basement o’ swords and hear the backstory on nmj’s death, we see them walking in yueyang and lwj asks wwx how the curse mark on his leg is doing. wwx says it’s almost healed, which may or may not be a lie, but his inner monologue says:

he’s more concerned about the wound on his arm from the sacrificing curse, which lwj doesn’t know about, because wwx won’t tell him and they still haven’t been naked together.

also, this silly teenage shit doesn’t make much sense unless they’re still dancing around each other.

you guys love the sound of opportunities as they go flying past, don’t you?

right after this, lwj gets drunk. I’m aware that Stuff Happens in the novel scene that inspired this bit, and they do incorporate some of that into the show by having lwj commit petty larceny and admit that he “likes rabbits” as part of the softest and most loving conversation in human history oh my god

but lwj goes to sleep right on time, and the next morning, wwx is laughing and reassuring him that nothing happened.

after this, it’s time to go on a fucked up field trip with the kids in yi city, so they don’t really have any time alone for a few episodes until they’ve finished that and everyone is back at yet another inn. I wonder if they learned something about wasted chances and poor communication from this miserable songxiao story?

maybe! look, they’re being cute and domestic. there are currently no material barriers preventing them from having sex, nor will there be any specific evidence later on proving that they didn’t.

but they’re still firmly in mystery-solving mode and the juniors and lxc are floating around. the vibe isn’t quite there. if I were to pick the most solid reason why I think they’re saving room for jesus at this point, it would be the tension that happens when wwx again asks how lwj recognized him. lwj asks why his memory is so bad, and wwx replies that he wishes he had a bad memory. even though they’re comfortable and happy being together, there’s still some fundamental distance remaining. there’s no sense of romantic resolution. that was actually a point against all their previous opportunities as well; they’re all very sweet, but none of these feel like the place in a story where the romantic leads Officially Get Together.

okay, off to koi tower! shit is getting extremely real. everyone’s busy insinuating that they recognize wwx, but no one is saying it explicitly. wwx isn’t supposed to be here. the guy he’s pretending to be also isn’t supposed to be here. he and his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s brother are trying to figure out if his boyfriend’s brother’s boyfriend is a murderer. no one is comfortable and the political intrigue leaves no time for fucking in front of anyone’s salad.

I guess there’s plenty of time to make dozens of armed guards and like half the people they know wait while they have a romantic moment, though.

could they be more in love? And that sure feels like a romantic resolution that might be followed by narratively-earned sex.

ah. no, unfortunately wwx gets stabbed again. this certainly sucks, but it does have the helpful consequence of making lwj take him back to cloud recesses, where they are mostly alone and as safe as they can be in the circumstances. now there’s even more tenderness and also some plot-justified touching and skin exposure. plus, lwj just made a very public declaration of love.

too bad wwx has probably been unconscious since he started coughing up blood in the forest near lanling. he’s also still visibly in pain. fresh abdominal wounds tend to kill the mood.

but hey, the injuries on this show are only as serious as they need to be to move the plot forward and facilitate gentle h/c scenes, so by evening he’s looking perfectly healthy and walking around under his own steam like nothing’s wrong. I guess that problem can be ignored moving forward.

lxc then offers the the most devastating highlights of lwj’s backstory, like, all at once. it’s nice that he includes a flute solo to give wwx a second to process this mountain of terrible information. what the fuck.

there he is! the most devoted man in the whole world! turns out they can actually be more in love after all.

and then the following scene... look, I’m lazy and I don’t know how to make gifs, but screenshots cannot properly convey how good it is. you all know. the hesitant way wwx approaches, the slow and gentle piano version of wangxian, the two of them watching the snow together, it’s. ugh.

remember how I was talking about how the last scene with no material barriers was an unlikely candidate because of the lack of romantic resolution?

well, here’s wwx still being cagey at the beginning of this conversation.

and here they are in the middle of this conversation, having some epiphanies about the course of wwx’s life - I love this shot for a lot of reasons, but I extra love it because it shows wwx out in the snow, with lwj as the safety and warmth waiting behind him, god this show goes hard, holy shit

they both recall their vow to live with a clean conscience and internally say some very corny things about each other because they are both So Much, and then,

ah, what the hell. he can say it out loud after all. romantic resolution accomplished.

and then the camera slowly pulls away as wuji plays.

a slow zoom out? swelling music? listen, I am a connoisseur, I know a tasteful fade-to-black indicating a sex scene that won’t happen on camera when I see one. at last, we have a winner!

now you may think this post is finally over, but I actually have one more piece of evidence for you - the next scene shows the two of them the morning after, meditating behind a screen in the hanshi while lxc is waiting for jgy to show up.

before wwx got de-cored, he was a pretty powerful cultivator, right? the chances that he’s just bad at meditating or that he can’t stay focused on this task seem slim to me. so why does he keep falling asleep?

well. he had kind of a late night.

[teyvattherapist]

Tea Prompts!

Link to the prompts here :)

Tags: Kaeya, Albedo, Diluc, Dainsleif, Tartaglia x gn!reader(separate), fluff mostly, angst if you s q u i n t, Diluc/Kaeya story spoilers

milk tea; what are their kisses like?

Kaeya Kaeya kisses like an avalanche, sudden and passionate and heavy. He’s not coy, he’s not slow, he knows what he wants and his kisses reflect that. Pulls you in by the waist or cups your cheeks and tilts your face to his. He tastes faintly like wine, which is funny, because his kisses leave you breathless and intoxicated, wanting more.

Dainsleif Slow and meaningful, every kiss has a place and a time. A reason behind it. He’s touch starved and afraid and that shows in the way he grips your jaw and holds you close as he kisses you like it’ll be the last time every time. He doesn’t know the meaning of soft, there’s only you, and him, and his never ending quest to defeat the Abyss. He tastes like the mixed drinks he consumes at night and during the day he tastes faintly of something you couldn’t begin to explain.

Tartaglia His kisses are suffocating and are never short or without some sort of battle for dominance. He kisses like the ocean, pulling you down and washing over you with his essence. He tastes like how you imagine victory would taste, it's all very interesting. He’s a lot of tongue and teeth and gripping you tight no matter who is watching, he doesn’t care, he just wants to show you how he feels, and oh boy do his kisses somehow always convey how he feels.

Diluc Heated and needy, so so needy. He’s touch starved but in a really different way than Dainsleif. Away from prying eyes he’s touchy and needy, hands roaming your body, your hair, you. He’s so warm and he tastes like cinnamon hearts. Diluc insists one hand must be in his hair at all times when he’s kissing you, and his hair is so soft and fluffy it’s hard not to indulge. In public he prefers chaste kisses but he’s not above pulling you away for a proper kiss.

Albedo Experimental, curious, it changes every time. He always tastes of chalk and the lollipops he steals from his fellow captain’s desk. A surprising amount of less lip on lip action, he likes to roam with his mouth, find out what makes you tick, where to kiss to get certain reactions. Sometimes he’ll reenact a scene he read in one of Lisa’s romance novels. He’s just curious and his kisses and their always changing nature certainly reflects that.

peppermint tea; what do they get excited about?

Kaeya Kaeya is versed in a lot of things. Perfume making, hand to hand combat, horse training, how to read body language, wine in food, wine in drink form, wine in general. But nothing quite gets him excited like a good chat about the wine making process. He learned from his adopted father what goes into making a good wine, and perhaps he’s not part of that family anymore.. But he still remembers how they do it and the intricacies always excite him. So much goes into a fine wine you would not believe- And look at that, he’s been talking for the last hour and for once Diluc isn’t annoyed. You win :)

Dainsleif History, ohhhh my archons. He can talk about history all night if you let him. He talks with his hands when he’s excited about something, drops whatever he’s holding to start gesturing wildly like how the French do? It's cute. Besides history though, he knows, much like Kaeya, quite a bit about alcohol and has no qualms discussing what makes a fine drink. And beyond those two facets of his personality. You’ll find he gets quite excited over.. Flower crowns? Make him one and his eyes light up, star pupils widening as he puts it on. You swear the stars became hearts for a second there..

Tartaglia Man loves fishing like all the chads do. Can talk about fishing all day. Can talk about battle strategy all day, too. And how fishing is good battle practice- Focus, Ajax. Right! He likes dogs, feeling their soft fur between his fingers. He also gets really excited when you ask about his family. He’s pulling out his wallet where he has at least two dozen photos of his siblings and parents. He’s got a massive family, you realise very quickly as he lists their names and little things about them. It’s the only time you’ve ever seen his dull eyes shine, even though it's just a smidge. There’s a shine when he talks about his family.

Diluc Tell him you’re thinking of learning the piano and watch how quickly he pulls his gloves off and leads you to the grand piano in the winery. Invites you to sit beside him so he can teach you the basics. He’s incredibly skilled at piano, and wants you to share in his hobby. Can talk about pianos all day, apparently he knows how to fix them too? Even if pianos are dull to you, indulge him. The way he lights up is to die for, he’s not one for idle chit chat, but pianos?? Man won’t shut the fuck up. Truly, it’s nice. To hear him talk so much

Albedo Another one for the mundane shit tbh. Flowers, light sweet foods, science, dusty old tomes, the truth of the universe- His curiosity is his ‘excitement’. He doesn’t show excitement like the others but you can tell he’s excited when he’s talking about a species of flower and his words sort of slur together as he talks at a fast monotonous pace. Or when he finishes an experiment and you’re the first person he runs to with the results like he just uncovered some great big thing(everything is a great big thing in pursuit of the truth!) You’ll notice that he actually really wants to share his curiosity with you. You. You make him excited, his favourite lab partner.

pomegranate tea; at what point did they know they loved their s/o?

Kaeya When he realised you saw past his lies. The “I’m fine, dove! What? Want my attention?” sort of lies. The moment you began to see past them, you started to hold him, but you never really pushed beyond letting him know you were there. That’s when he realised he had done the unthinkable. Kaeya Alberich had fallen in love, with you. And honestly? Screw the ancient plot. With you by his side, he could conquer the world, but he’d much rather wake up to your kisses instead.

Dainsleif Dainsleif hates to admit it, but he is the kind of man who falls in love with everything around him. The flowers that bloomed despite the harshest conditions, the comforting breeze, water against his skin, the stranger on the street he just passed. So he had always loved you in the way he loved everything. But he realised he really loved you when you traced the leylines on his arm, no fear, no hesitation, just adoration in your eyes. Watching you, he realised that while he loved everyone and everything in the way a guardian does. There was nobody he wanted to protect more than you.

Tartaglia Some may say it's when you bandage his wounds with worry and panic, when you show him that you love him. But really it's when you listen to him talk about his family, talk about how he actually didn’t like his job but he had to do it, for them, he says. And you never judge him. Running your fingers through his hair as he recounts his regrets, when the bloodthirsty warrior persona is gone and it's just Ajax, the boy who liked to fish and listen to stories. When you’re just you, the person who cares about him underneath his title. Love is such a strong word, such a strong feeling, but every time you look at him when he talks.. He loves you.

Diluc Another one for team loves too much, truly. He’s so scared all of the time. His family is gone, and he blames himself for it, he pushed Kaeya away, he couldn’t save his father in time. So accepting that he loved you was not something done easily. But watching you interact with his brother, being kind to someone he still loves who he knows is suffering. Your kindness as Kaeya’s smile falters just a little bit. It's then that he realises he loves you. And the moment the last patron is gone he doesn’t hesitate to bury his face in the crook of your neck and tell you how he feels, no matter how scared he is.

Albedo Love? What is love but a chemical reaction? Albedo doesn’t understand relationships let alone love. All he knows is his heart ticks faster when it sees you, the pulsating grows louder in his ears and it confuses him more than anything else. Watching you interact with Klee, smile on your face as the young girl shows you something or another. Albedo wishes to study this feeling, understand his diagnosis. Is he dying? Contagious, perhaps? Book after book and his answer lies in commitment and he wonders if he can commit. But then you look at him as he rambles on and on about a topic he’s well aware you don’t care about and he decides. Yes. He can commit.

[werewolfcave]

What infuriates me about 3.0 is it's the closest we see Shinji come to legitimate growth and development (at least in terms of the Rebuilds).

Everything from learning that there are other ways to communicate (communication being something Shinji has had a problem with in the past), and feeling a genuine deep connection with someone through a medium by which he has always found comfort in to ACTIVELY CHOOSING TO DO THINGS. It is so incredibly important that when Kaworu wakes up the next morning and walks out onto the patio that Shinji is there waiting for him. It is the fact that Shinji made the active choice to come back and to learn more and, by extension, 'talk' more. It is the fact that Shinji learns the lesson of sometimes you have to realize when you yourself made something sound good. To learn music you must have the ability to say to yourself "that sounded pretty good." Not someone else telling you that but you telling yourself that. Then the fact that he is so deeply committed to learning the piano and he enjoys it so much that it carries into his time in private where we see him realize he isn't even sitting at the piano and yet he still plays. It is also incredibly important that it is Shinji's idea to stay and watch the stars together. It is important that Shinji is choosing to share their own comfort with Kaworu just as Kaworu has done with him. They talk about how the stars are comforting because at least they haven't changed. Hell! Shinji even trusts that Kaworu can fix the item that he holds dear, which has been shown to be almost a part of Shinji in a metaphorical sense!

And then it goes down the drain!

I should clarify that it is not Shinji asking Kaworu to tell him what happened, nor him finding out about Rei Q's truth, nor his subsequent breakdown that makes this go down the drain. That is a setback. That is a completely reasonable thing that he was going to have to face at one point or another, and of course it was going to cause him to break.

No, instead what makes it all go down the drain is the choosing to grab the spears. This choice makes no narrative sense and does not align with Shinji's character. The person he has grown to trust, whose idea this was, is having a BREAKDOWN in the passenger seat BEGGING Shinji not to do this, and while the two argue Unit 13 doesn't even stop it's still climbing. Shinji isn't even considering what Kaworu is saying. It makes no damn sense that we would get shown Shinji learning to deeply trust Kaworu and take heavy stock in what they say and be FULLY AWARE OF THE DANGER THAT KAWORU IS IN IF THEY FUCK UP and then have him take literally no consideration to what Kaworu is saying. The writing is what railroads Shinji into doing this stupid thing that makes no sense, and it's the most fucking infuriating thing in the whole damn series.

Kaworu's death lacks the emotional impact it could have had, and this is because Shinji is begging for this not to happen even though he essentially knew this would happen. Shinji KNOWS that Kaworu has a bomb strapped to his neck, so it makes no sense for him to not even consider that fact when making his decision to pull out the spears.

All in all it's just. Infuriating. The Rebuild Movies are something that refuses to let healing stick, and tortures its protagonists throughout its entire run time through a series of railroaded in problems until Shinji literally rewrites the universe. I cannot speak on the series itself as I have not watched it but the Rebuilds truly are something.

[purpleyellow]

Road To Kingdom

The boyz 12th member

Mae’s masterlist

“A summary of Mae during RTK” 

a/n: not @/ me using the performance names as historical events. Feel free to share your thoughts with me. Requests are open! 🧡

... After the concept meeting for Sword of Victory...

Mae cracked open the door to a practice room, making sure no one was inside before dropping her stuff, as well as her body, on the floor. The lightbulb making it almost impossible to keep her eyes open reminded her that she used to do that during her trainee days.

Here she was again, feeling hopeless like she was going to face the biggest challenge ever. And the girl was sure she wasn’t ready for it. 

Minkyung had a problem of self-doubting even though she couldn’t pinpoint it, all the members seemed willing to take on the challenge, yet she felt like she’d be the downfall of the group. And yes, she had a thing for being dramatic as well, that’s why she rested the back of her hand on her forehead and sprawled out her other arm.

The door flung open with mild force, startling her from her thoughts and sending her body into a more normal position. Q entered the room without a word and just laid on the floor next to her. Both members looked at the ceiling deep in thought.

Mae went back to the idea she had during the meeting. Not a particularly bright one, though it did attack the fact she felt like an upcoming burden to the group. Taking a deep breath she mumbled, “I think I should take a hiatus”.

After her words, the room went back to silence. Her heartbeat had increased due to the heaviness of what she had spoken, and looking to the side, she saw Changmin frown.

“Are you sick?” He asked after a few minutes and the girl shook her head. “Physically or mentally unwell? Is there an issue we can fix?”

His questions made her taken back, for Mae it was very clear why her taking a break would be beneficial for the group. 

“I’m saying because of the program”

“We’re joining a competition, so you want to drop out?” Changmin sat up confused. 

“I’m thinking of the bigger picture. The group will do better if you don’t have to worry about me keeping up with you guys”.

“No, you’re not. I’m sorry, but you’re being selfish now” He chuckled. “We don’t mind if you need to repeat the same move a couple of times extra to understand how it goes. Do you honestly think it’s going to help being one person down?”.

“I figured I wouldn’t be setting you back. It can be stressing sometimes and -” She sat up trying to explain her thoughts, and he shook his head.

“Minkyung, you bring a lot to the team, just because you struggle with something doesn’t mean it’s worth losing everything else. When we were rookies I used to get annoyed because you were so quick to give up. But then you began understanding how you learn and your limits. And even though it takes you a little longer you push yourself. Why did you suddenly come back to assuming you can’t do it?”

“The meeting today. Everyone is preparing a lot, there’s so much thought involved and maybe not pulling it off would mean I failed you guys”

“I’m terrified too,” Changmin nodded, placing a hand on his chest “I mean, did you listen to the stunts they were talking about. My first thought was to run away. But then I remembered we’re here to prove ourselves” 

Sighing, Mae looked at him annoyed “You’re a great dancer, and singer and whatever else, you’ll do fine because that’s how your body works”

“And you’re an insane performer” He cut her off with wide eyes. A random giggle left his mouth before he continued “I’m talking about acting and becoming another person on stage, you literally do that in the blink of an eye. This is your chance of growth. Who cares if you pull an all-nighter to get the right angle? When you’re on stage it’s like someone else entirely, and we haven’t even done some crazy concepts like we’re planning on doing”

“If the angles are wrong then we won’t look synchronized” The girl mumbled looking at the big mirror and Q chuckled.

“And that’s why you’re not going to rest until it’s perfect. None of us is going too actually. We’re going in as a team, with all our flaws and strengths”

“It’s nerve-wracking, isn’t it?” She mumbled after a moment of silence. Changmin laughed and added. “I’m scared to death”

… Five hours before Catching Fire…

The last rehearsal before the performance had ended and the group went back to their dressing room. Sitting sideways on the couch, Mae rested her head on her arm and watched some members go get their makeup retouched.

Jacob sat on her side and stared at the girl’s blank face before laughing. “Can you blink, so I know you’re still alive?”

Blinking once, she slowly adverted her gaze to him and bit her lip “This is crazy”

“It’s not as fast-paced as they show it on TV though. At least we have some time to process what’s going on” Jacob shrugged making her narrow her eyes at him “But yeah. It is crazy”

“Sunwoo keeps going on high places. And there’s some acrobatic stuff I’m not sure how it works and-” She kept mumbling like she hadn’t been there for the tiring practices and rehearsals. Laughing Jacob interrupted her by adding.

“And you fake kicked someone”

“And I fake kicked someone” Mae repeated with wide eyes making him laugh and Hyunjae approach them.

“Hey, I’ve been jumping on high places too,” He said defensively making her stare at him and shrugged. Jaehyun laughing before patting her on the back “How about once we get home today you have a really long night to sleep”

“I’m good” Mae shook her head “I’ll sleep but tomorrow don’t let me miss the meetings please”

Agreeing with her, Hyunjae stepped back to the styling session and the girl stood up to use the restroom.

Just as Mae turned around the corner, a faint sound of a violin came from Golden Child’s door. Before she could fully process the song it was playing, the door opened wide showcasing Jangjun.

“Well, do we have a spy among us?” He laughed bowing at her and Mae repeated the gesture a little embarrassed.

“I was just passing by and heard the violin. I didn’t mean to interrupt” She said making an x with her hands.

“Nah, I don’t believe you” He teasingly said and dropped an arm over her shoulder, ultimately bringing her inside the room “So, what did you hear? Are you going to sell this information to your members? And what is it going to be your concept today, I can see the hunger games thing on your shirt, is it like a revolution”

“Uh, I don’t know… Hello” Bowing to the rest of Golden Child, the girl tried to remember what he had first asked her. “I only heard a melody, and don’t worry I won’t spread it around”

“Hyung, I told you not to play it right now” Bomin scoffed to Joochan, who seemed to realize he was still holding out his violin before hiding it on his back.

“But Mae-ssi is a friend, isn’t she? She will hold out the shock factor for us” He laughed making the girl nod and give them a thumbs up. “Do you know how to play it too?”

“I do actually” She laughed and Joochan gestured her to take the instrument “Oh, no it’s fine”

“You heard our song already. At least play for us or tell us something about your stage” Jibeom teased leading her to sigh and take the violin to herself.

Fixing up her posture, Mae quickly played a random song she had learned as a child making the boys cheer. 

“Okay, I should be going now,” She said bowing embarrassed by their compliments and Denyeol nodded along. Fist bumping her before raising a finger.

“But, Mae if you could do us a favor” He started grabbing her attention “Please make sure you show you’re surprised”

Laughing she nodded making her way to the door, before leaving she held up her hands with her fists closed “Golden Child fighting!”

“Mae fighting!”

(requested by 🍓🥛 anon) 

… Behind the scenes for Heroin…

“Why are we so embarrassing?” Sunwoo giggled and clicked his pen repeatedly. He and Mae were sitting on the same side of the table waiting for Leedo from Oneus to show up for the writing session. 

Bouncing her leg, Mae hugged the boy’s arm and looked at the door expectantly, only to get startled by it opening up. 

“Hello” The tall boy put his head inside the room and entered it slowly. The three idols greeted each other and sat down still a little awkward from being the first time they truly interacted.

“I got the demo, so we can write the raps to go with it” Leedo said unlocking his phone. A piano melody that would blend in with Sunmi’s Heroin started playing, and Mae quickly unlocked her own device.

Opening a piano app, she waited for the recording to be over before quickly replicating it on her phone in different tempos.

“You picked it up quite fast” Leedo laughed scribbling down on his paper, and she smiled. “Sorry, just a habit before writing. This way we can adjust it as we go”

“No yeah, sure” He cleared his throat and Sunwoo bit his lip to prevent himself from laughing.

“Anyway, for the lyrics, I was thinking we could talk about becoming an idol”

After finishing up with their rap parts. The three idols made their way up to the practice room where the rest had began working with the choreographer.

“Mae, come here” Juyeon called out as soon as she stepped in the room, so he could run over some parts with her and Ravn. “There’s only actual choreography for you after the last chorus, but we do some kind of puppet thing during your verse”

“My love for this song couldn’t be any bigger” Mae giggled and looked around the room for the camera “Sunmi Sunbaenim, if you’re watching this, let’s be friends”

Laughing, Juyeon pulled out a chair for them to start while saying “Watch out. Taemin Sunbaenim commented on danger, maybe she’ll actually see this”

“Wait, he did” Mae stopped with wide eyes and Juyeon nodded. “Holy sh-”

“Yeah” Laughing he pulled her arm “Just remember this is still a broadcast” 

“Honestly, if she ever reaches out let me know. I want to be her friend too” Ravn added making them giggled, and she gave him a positive sign.

“As long as you don’t tell Juyeon, because he’s been censoring me a lot lately”

“Well, we have an agreement”

Sulking, Juyeon added “I don’t see how this is fair but okay”

… 1 minute after Quasi una fantasia …

The members bowed to the staff and extras before slowly stepping away from the stage. Mae could see some of the boys crowding around Juyeon who seemed pretty upset, though she had no idea what was going on. 

Holding her side, the girl went behind the boy and gave him a back hug making them waddle together back to the dressing room. Once they were all settled back, she stepped away from the crowd and raised her shirt a bit showcasing a forming bruise right above her waist.

“Crap, how did that happen?” Kevin who looked her way at the right time said under his breath. “You need to ice it, probably"

“I bumped on the corner of the piano," She said recalling the incident. “Hopefully it wasn’t noticeable. The camera wasn’t turned to me anyway”

The one part that had gotten her most nervous during this performance was her piano solo for the climax of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Not only it dictated the rhythm for the first dance break, but it was also challenging for her as she hadn’t played something like this in a while, and it ended a few seconds before her part. 

So strategically speaking, she had to run off the instrument as soon as it was done and went back to the center of the performance. Not without hitting her hip against the wood.

“Is it hurting?” He asked while waving for a staff member and asking them for ice.

“It’s starting to. Do you think it’ll leave a big bruise?” Mae shrugged and hissed as the cold hit her warm skin. Shaking her head, she tried to focus on something else “Well, not mentioning everything. How was the performance?”

“Weren’t you there to see it yourself”

“I don’t know. I kind of blackout every time we go on stage” She made him laugh, but her face was dead serious.

“Wait really?”

“Kind of. I can remember it roughly I guess. Today there was so much to focus on that I’m not sure if I was entirely present. I banged my hip and didn't feel it at first for all things”

“Dude, same I guess. I need to lay down and get smushed by ten weighted blankets tonight” Kevin added hugging her on the other side and leading them to the couch.

… 3 days before Checkmate …

“The synchronization feels off” Eric spoke from the huddle of members watching the recording of their practice.

“Mae…” Q started, but before he could finish the girl spoke “Right arm higher. I got it”

“If you got it then why didn’t you do it right away” He turned playfully to her and poked her nose. 

Massaging her back, the girl laughed and walked back to her spot next to Haknyeon. The boy dropped his bottle on the floor to help her out “Did you fall on your side?”

“No. I did trip while running from one side to the center, so maybe that was it” She shrugged looking around the room “Nobody is intact”

“Tell me about it” He pouted and called Sangyeon closer. “Hyung, maybe we should work on another part. We’ve been doing this section of the chorus for too long”

“Go talk to the captain, I’m not in charge of that” The leader laughed sending him towards Changmin, Juyeon, and Hyunjae talking to one of the choreographers.

“They would listen if you’re the one asking,” Mae said leaning on his side and Sangyeon nodded. 

“Yeah, but I already came all the way over here. I don’t feel like walking back” Sangyeon chuckled, looking to the side where one of the staff members started calling his attention.

“We’ve got the costumes ready if you want to do a rehearsal with them” Looking up at the leader, Mae separated herself from him to run for the stylists while he went to call the other boys.

After the stylists helped her put on her clothes, one of them brought a box and quickly pulled her to the side “I know we’re not doing hair and makeup for today. But I’d figure it’s best for you to have it on for the rehearsal so we can make sure it won’t fall”

“Wow, is she getting a present?” Eric laughed approaching them and the stylist opened the box to reveal a thin black tiara to go along with her outfit.

“The crown itself is one of the props, so we had to make it subtle, but we couldn’t pass away the chance to represent the nickname you were given during the program,” She said helping her adjust the thing on her head and Mae walked to one of the mirrors.

“Wow, thank you so much Unnie,” The girl said checking herself out in the mirror “My face looks dead but damn this is pretty” She added making Eric and New, who also had joined them, laugh.

“You know, during a chess game, the Queen is one of the main pieces” She turned around to them holding a hand to her chest and a teasing expression “Thank goodness we didn’t go with a narrative that would give me that role because I’d crumble under the pressure”

“Only for the first week, then it would quickly get to your head” Chanhee scoffed patting her on the back and making her giggle. Eric chuckled as well and urged them outside “Let’s go work, so we can get Kingdom’s lost princess back to her place”

“Mock me as you want, I never asked for the nickname”

[samnyangie]

Since people liked rsl interview on dps, I’d like to share one of my favourite interview by him. I think it’s one of those rare interview where he wasn’t joking around that much but discuss acting quite seriously haha

So enjoy:DD

(Credit)

____________________________

1990 New York Times

Young Actor's Life Has the Makings of a Movie

by Lynn Mautner

New York Times

May 20, 1990

It would make a good movie. A 15-year-old sophomore at Ridgewood High School is playing the Artful Dodger in the musical ''Oliver'' with the school's theater group, New Players, when he is discovered by a casting agency secretary and whisked off to Broadway and the movies.

That's exactly what happened to Robert Sean Leonard, now 21, and a star of the 1989 film ''Dead Poets Society,'' which received an Oscar for best original screenplay.

''My mother took me to New Players' summer performances when I was 10,'' he said, ''and I loved the camaraderie of people, rehearsing and singing. I began spending more time there, painting signs and moving furniture, and soon became an element of the company, with small roles in 'The Miracle Worker,' 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,' 'Barnum.' ''

Starting as an understudy for three roles at the New York Public Theater (he never got on stage), Mr. Leonard amassed credits that include ''The Beach House'' with George Grizzard for the Circle Repertory Theater, television movies, ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' and ''Breaking the Code'' on Broadway, plays at the West Bank Cafe on 42d Street and the recent ''When She Danced'' at Playwrights Horizons.

He has just completed a part as Paul Newman's and Joanne Woodward's son in the movie ''Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,'' filmed in Kansas City, to be released in August. ''I age from a 15-year-old Eagle Scout to 22, coming home from World War II with a mustache,'' Mr. Leonard said.

Mr. Leonard, who received a general equivalency diploma when he was 17, lives in New York City and attends Fordham University between performances. Soon to return from the Cannes Film Festival with his fellow actors in ''Dead Poets,'' he is next scheduled to go into rehearsal for the film ''Married to It,'' a romantic comedy.

Q. Do you remember when you decided on an acting career?

A. I never decided to pursue an acting career. It just has happened. I still think it's going to stop and I'll have to get a real job soon, but I'm afraid to question it because if I do, it will disappear.

Q. How do you think your theater experience in high school has helped you?

A. It was a great teaching experience that prepared me in a lot of ways. We did 10 shows in 10 weeks, so there was no time to think about method. It was running for the stage, hoping you'll make it in time for your entrance. In Steven Soderbergh's new book of his diaries when directing the film ''Sex, Lies and Videotape,'' he said that on a film set there should always be a chain of command, but never a chain of respect.

At New Players, those three to four years, everyone was given the same respect. You had to, because you'd be the lead one week and painting sets the next. That's a luxury that is not available in New York, unfortunately, because of the unions. You're an actor and that's it.

Q. Have you taken any acting lessons? Do you recommend them for others?

A. I've taken two classes - a video acting class to help me get from stage to film, with Marty Winkler, currently my manager, and an acting class at H. B. Studios.

Acting classes are tricky. It's like asking someone in therapy if they'd recommend going to a psychiatrist. For some people it's great; for some it's not necessary; for some it's harmful. The best way to learn acting is just to do it.

There's a danger to the classroom, because it's safe, and you can get addicted to it. The clique of people are there, and you might tend to remain with them and never go out on your own. So it can give you the safety net which can eventually strip away your courage to go out and really try. On the other hand, you can get a wonderful teacher who brings out the best in you and gives you the courage to go out and dazzle everybody.

Q. You went from high school to Off Broadway. What were your feelings and fears during your first professional performance?

A. The first time I performed in New York - in ''Sally's Gone, She Left Her Name'' - I played Michael Learned's son. I think I was too young. I wasn't even aware of reasons to be afraid. I was just there for the fun of it. Fresh out of New Players, I knew it to be fun. I've never worried about lines. In ''Brighton Beach'' I should have been tense, because it was Broadway. I was nervous, but not racked - more excited.

Q. What do you enjoy most about acting?

A. The people, and opportunities to learn, to travel, both physically and emotionally. To look at people other than myself and try to figure out what makes them tick.

Olivier said you never play a villain; you play a man considered to be a villain; that you have to justify everything he does first; you have to know that what you are doing is right and find a way to make it right - even murder.

I just played a conceited piano player in ''When She Danced,'' and I had to figure out what would make a person be conceited and make that O.K. with me. I learned where conceit comes from - from confidence and talent.

Worst thing you can do is play someone and judge him at the same time, saying: ''Here I am. I am so conceited.'' First you have to understand why you're that way so that people interpret you as conceited.

Q. Do you consider acting an escape?

A. I don't look at performing as escaping, as really becoming another person and leaving my problems for two hours, so I don't have to deal with me, because I don't become another person. I work, so that when I am working, in a way it is me at my best. I'm not leaving myself; in fact, I'm more focused on myself than ever. I don't become that person, but I fully understand him, fully explore him, as to why he does what he does and justify it.

You can't play a fool to play Bottom, who's the opposite of fool in Shakespeare's ''Midsummer Night's Dream.'' What makes people fools is that they're completely confident in what they're doing. They don't think they're fools; they think they're right on track, which makes them so funny and makes them look like fools.

Q. Who influenced you the most?

A. I have not had one person or experience that stands out that's a turning point. Every step in acting relies heavily on the one before. Everything I've learned colors everything I have known before, and suddenly changes it.

I have learned a little bit from everyone I have known, whether about acting itself, or living and working as an actor. Like a good detective novel, for every clue that is solved, two more appear. Every time I learn something, it opens two other doors. In ''Dead Poets,'' the rooftop scene, where I throw the desk set off, was improvised. Are instincts then a part of acting?

Q. Are there desirable qualities to have as an actor?

A. Concentration, perseverence, lack of inhibitions. There's no room for self-consciousness on stage. Also, there is an element in acting that is not fair. Whatever talent is, part of it can be learned and part can't. There are people that audiences like to watch or don't. In Soderbergh's book, he says that talent plus perseverance will equal luck. But I don't know what talent is; it is beyond definition.

Q. Do you learn by watching other films and plays? Your own? Other people?

A. Sometimes I watch for directing; sometimes for performing. There are lines in ''Dead Poets'' I would do differently, if given the chance. For example, Todd said: ''You talk and people listen to you, Neil. I am not like that.'' I answer, ''Don't you think you could be?'' I think I could have made it clearer. I don't get much from observing strangers, because although I see what they do, I don't know where they're coming from.

Q. What are the main differences between stage and film work?

A. I feel that as an actor, you should start in theater, to learn the process of creating a character, in rehearsal. Film is an arena for people who already know that, because on the set they expect you to know the character inside out.

Film work is harder, because this tangible part has to happen in your head before filming takes place. And it's more solitary. You create your character alone, without the give-and-take of other actors.

Q. What tips would you give young, aspiring actors?

A. Read plays aloud with friends at home; do any work you can do in high school. Hang out with jocks, leatherheads, and see what makes them work. Don't be a theater rat and only talk to actors. Read a lot. You really have to feel it; really want it; then take it. Don't take no for an answer. Seize the day.

___________________________

There’s another one I really want to share as well, I’ll bring it with me at some point:))

[morfinwen]

OC Name: Ian, Lauren, Q, Niner, and Ash.

Wow, this one's old! But answered at last.

Ian

Something really awesome he can do: His coworkers are certainly amazed by his ability to remain in Lauren’s presence when she’s in a temper, let alone how he can talk to her without getting murdered, or even -- sometimes -- calm her down.

A person, creature, or thing he adores: Squirrels. Growing up, he named all the ones he saw in his backyard, and would watch them for hours. He’d love to do the same now, but as an adult with bills he doesn’t have the time. He does have a bird feeder out in his yard specifically for the squirrels.

A secret he’s hiding: No secrets -- Ian wouldn’t be able to keep one if he had it.

Something he truly fears: Something bad happening to his parents.

A fond memory of his: The first time his parents drove to visit his mom’s parents on the Tennessee/Kentucky border. It’s a cozy memory of scenery passing in a blur, what seemed like a continuous stream of snacks and juice boxes, switching between CDs of his and his parents’ favorite music, and listening to his mom and dad tease and flirt with each other (subtle enough to fly over the head of a seven-year-old who still thought kissing was icky).

A place or item which gives him strong feelings: The sanctuary of the church where he grew up. It’s where he was baptized, and where he played guitar during some very moving services.

A dream or ambition for the future: Perform on live TV.

An angsty fact about him: He and Lauren had a falling out in their second year of college. I hesitate to say it was over Protestantism and Catholicism; it was, at least to some degree, but it was also about worldview, the nature of God, the role of tradition and conscience, and perhaps most of all it was about what we owe to people we disagree with. They’d argued about religion before, but it wasn’t until then that they actually understood enough to do more than rebut “Pastor Andrews says” with “Father Vernon says”, and for it to matter enough to them to blow up as much as it did. It took months for them to reconcile, partially because of stubbornness and uncertainty of how to fix things, but also because schoolwork and practice meant they didn’t have the time to figure it all out.

A domestic fact about him: Ian almost always keeps most, if not all, of his windows open. Even when it’s cold (for Tennessee) or raining. It can make things cold, and the smell isn’t always great, but he insists it’s too stuffy otherwise. Lauren is pretty sure it’s a psychosomatic thing.

A random other fact: He once had a dream where he was a dog, Lauren was a cat, and they escaped from their owners to travel the world together. It would’ve made a good movie.

Lauren

Something really awesome she can do: Play Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu (Op. 66) completely from memory.

A person, creature, or thing she adores: Not sure if “adore” is quite the right word, but one of the most important people to Lauren, outside of Ian and her immediate family, is Father Vernon from her family’s parish. He’s known her family since before she was born, listened to their confessions, counseled her parents, baptized her and her siblings. Every weekend she drives the couple hours it takes to her hometown so she can attend Mass at Father Vernon’s church.

A secret she’s hiding: She’s written songs … about fictional characters. She even composed a suite of music for a pair of fictional characters’ wedding.

Something she truly fears: Permanent damage to her hands. Her music teacher once mentioned a friend of hers who couldn’t play the piano anymore after something heavy fell on his hands. If Lauren was the type of person to have nightmares based on things she heard, that certainly would have given her nightmares.

A fond memory of hers: Her grandparents would have a picnic sometime in June, every year. It wasn’t always enjoyable, between the long car drive there with all of her siblings jammed into a cramped place, and the potential for bugs, sunburn, and bad weather, but the park was beautiful, there were so many other kids around that there was always someone to play with even if everyone else had annoyed you, and when it got to be evening they would all gather around, play music, and sing.

A place or item which gives her strong feelings: Mrs. G’s music classroom at the elementary school. In addition to band during school weeks, it was also where Lauren had her piano lessons with Mrs. G on the weekends.

A dream or ambition for the future: She doesn’t think winning a Grammy award is out of the question someday.

An angsty fact about her: From first grade until she graduated college, she believed herself to be her parents’ least favorite child. Even now, it’s not so much that she doesn’t believe it as she doesn’t think it’s worth it to spend time and energy thinking about it.

A domestic fact about her: In order to have room for a keyboard in her apartment, she gave up on having a dining table, so she eats all over the place. She’s good about taking bowls and plates back to the kitchen, but there’s constantly cups and silverware lying around the living areas.

A random other fact: She hates her middle name. “Eleanor” sounds like an old lady name, not least because she’s named after one of her mother’s great-aunts, who is quite old, and has the kind of personality that suggests she was born gray-haired, wrinkled, and talking about “in the old days”.

Q

Something really awesome he can do: He is trained in the use of multiple types of swords. It was a quid pro quo with his aunt and uncle: Q spoke to his politically-connected buddy from boarding school and got the ball rolling on an exemption from some nasty tariffs, they arranged for sword fighting lessons for a year. He never participated in any tournaments or anything (too much publicity), but he can say without undue pride that he got to be pretty good.

A person, creature, or thing he adores: “Adore” doesn’t really describe how Q feels about anything.

A secret he’s hiding: He’s not exactly hiding it, but he isn’t open about precisely how rich and powerful his aunt and uncle are, or how many famous (or in the case of some of his cousin’s criminal friends, infamous) people he knows through them.

Something he truly fears: Just the idea of being buried alive freaks him out.

A fond memory of his: He’s got some good memories of some summer holidays during his time at boarding school. Occasionally Q got invited to tag along with someone, a friend of his cousin or a fellow classmate, on their vacation to some super rich resort in some beautiful, exotic location. He’d still hear from his aunt and uncle regularly, and he always had to be well-behaved, but it was less than when he was at school -- at his age, just hanging out with rich and influential people counted as “networking” to his aunt and uncle, so they’d call in to check on him regularly but otherwise left him alone, and in a less formal setting than school “well-behaved” was an easier standard to meet. While parts of those summers were genuinely enjoyable for him, years of living hand to mouth a hairsbreadth away from sleeping on a street corner has added a much rosier shine to those days sleeping in five-star hotels and eating haute cuisine.

A place or item which gives him strong feelings: The family pile. It was where his dad spent his summers, so spending his own summers there growing up was one of the few times he felt connected to his parents. He’s also spent a significant number of holidays and family parties there, so it’s also associated with the exacting standards of his aunt and uncle and the strain of Keeping Up Appearances.

A dream or ambition for the future: He likes to imagine his aunt and uncle getting taken down a peg (or two, if he's particularly angry with them; sometimes he dares indulge the thought of three), though he struggles to imagine a scenario where that happens without notable repercussions.

An angsty fact about him: Virtually all of his t-shirts are band t-shirts, including bands he doesn’t listen to, bands he’s never heard of, foreign bands, fictional bands, and bands with potentially offensive names or symbols (though he usually only wears those at home or when he can be pretty sure he can keep his jacket closed all day). During his time in LA, one of his roommates asked if he wore them because, as an orphan who grew up in boarding schools, it was the closest he got to feeling like he belonged to something. The precise wording was kinder than that, but it still kickstarted a realization that rocked Q’s world for a couple days.

A domestic fact about him: He’s kind of weird about household chores in general. Despite his best efforts not to be as dismissive as his aunt and uncle, he still grew up in an atmosphere of "The Help does that," and it led to a steep learning curve when he moved out after graduation. He’s on top of dishes now and has a good handle on laundry, but sweeping and vacuuming require active thought, he barely registers that mopping is an actual thing, and unless "swipe hand over surface then brush hand off on pants" counts, he has never dusted.

A random other fact: Thanks to growing up outside the occult community, Q is unaware of the various taboos and 'bad words' within the community, and more than once says something offensive. Fortunately, this never creates any real issues for him, as everyone he does it to or in front of is aware he's not doing it maliciously. In fact, to most of them it's more like a small child 'swearing' because they misunderstood or mispronounced something, or saying something offensive out of innocent ignorance. Q is not best pleased when he finds out: being unintentionally offensive is one thing, being unintentionally adorable is worse.

Niner

Something really awesome she can do: She’s very good at mental math -- basic arithmetic, conversion from metric to imperial or types of currency, multiplying large numbers. Most people are more impressed with this ability than Niner herself is: she’s never had to work at it, and for most of her life it hasn’t been terribly relevant.

A person, creature, or thing she adores: Niner has a lot of younger siblings. She adores them all. Around them, she will drop the pretense of caring about nothing, and show full enthusiasm for anything they like.

A secret she’s hiding: She hasn't told anyone about the abusive relationship in her past.

Something she truly fears: For werecats, the threat of getting caught by animal control and getting euthanized or ending up as somebody’s housecat is about as probable as your average person getting struck by lightning, but few werecats are completely immune to fearing it. Niner in particular finds it horrifying.

A fond memory of hers: Her last year hanging with her parents and immediate siblings was a pretty good one. Since their kids were all on the verge of striking out on their own, her parents allowed them more independence than they ever had before, but there was still the safety net and companionship of family. They also made a point of visiting some places that they’d talked about visiting for years but hadn’t gotten to. It was basically a year-long vacation, and made Niner more aware of her independent spirit.

A place or item which gives her strong feelings: An alley behind a bar in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s where her relationship with Marrow ended. It’s also where one of her recurring nightmares, on the rare occasions she has one, takes place.

A dream or ambition for the future: Werecats travel a lot, but they tend to remain in the same country, and after their roaming days as young adults, they tend to remain in the same geographic area. Niner’s roaming days might be over, but she wants to visit another country. It won’t be easy, considering that she lacks money, a birth certificate, and a general idea of what other countries there are out there, but Niner can be dedicated when she really wants something.

An angsty fact about her: Tied in with her desire for independence is a belief that she needs to rely solely on herself, that other people can’t be trusted or that asking them to bear even part of one of her problems is infringing on them.

A domestic fact about her: Niner’s favorite place to sleep is Q’s windowsill. It gets a good amount of sunlight, and the size is just perfect.

A random other fact: She once worked as a cashier. It was just for a single shift, she got paid under the table, and frankly she was terrible at it, but the hot dog stand guy was desperate, and Niner really needed the money.

Ash

Something really awesome he can do: Ash can make a vegetarian version of just about anything. He considers it a gift. To others in the household (particularly Connie) … it’s amazing, but not in a good way.

A person, creature, or thing he adores: A crocheted frog that ‘lives’ on a shelf in the kitchen. It was a gift to his great-aunt who owned the house before him. It’s not what most people would consider cute, it’s probably older than he is so it’s got some noticeable wear and tear to it, but to little bitty Ash it was a benevolent spirit watching over the kitchen, smiling kindly to everyone who entered, and never telling on the small boy sneaking cookies before dinner.

A secret he’s hiding: It’s not quite a secret, more a deeply personal family matter that Ash is aware of but doesn’t share with anyone. His aunt Lily isn’t technically his aunt. She’s a half-dryad who, because of complications tied to her conception and birth, is bound to a tree on his grandmother’s property and traveling too far from it is painful for her. Obviously this isn’t something they can share with normal people, but it’s a sensitive enough situation that no one outside of Ash, his mother, grandmother, and aunts knows the details.

Something they truly fear: Ash is a naturally patient person, but he is not inherently non-confrontational or easy-going. And he is not the kind of person to just stand by when something makes him angry. He’s not exactly scared of losing his temper and doing something he regrets, but he is concerned about someday ending up on a slippery slope and reaching a point where he wouldn’t regret it.

A fond memory of his: He and Danae took a lot of walks in the country when they were in high school, usually by themselves, but sometimes with one of his aunts or one of her siblings. One especially beautiful summer evening, they sat by a lake for a couple hours and talked about their dreams for the future -- not just what they were likely to do, but what they really wanted to do with their lives.

A place or item which gives him strong feelings: The abovementioned lake. He spent a lot of time there growing up, and there’s good and bad memories tied to it. Mostly good.

A dream or ambition for the future: He has a lot of plans for the house. He’s not sure yet whether he wants to try to turn it into a school for enchanting, or turn it back into a bed-and-breakfast type place for occult people. The former is more appealing to him personally, but the latter works better considering that there’s already a bunch of different occult types staying there.

An angsty fact about him: Ash is the least angsty person in the household, honestly. He’s very grateful for that.

A domestic fact about him: He hates dust. Dishes can stack up for a meal or two, laundry gets done mainly because otherwise he’d have no clothes, mopping only happens if the floor is sticky, the fridge is cleaned out on a schedule, but dusting happens every day.

A random other fact: He’s watched several YouTube videos trying to learn how to yodel. It’s gotten put on the back burner, now that there’s people in the house who could hear him no matter how tightly he shuts the door or how quietly he tries to do it, but he still hopes to learn how someday.

Thanks for asking!

[fencer-x]

Fencer’s Big Eva Review

Just got done watching the Eva finale, so it’s time to get out thoughts while they’re fresh! Caveat: Eva is difficult to understand for native speakers, and I’m definitely not a native speaker XD I feel like I got maybe half, and got the rough gist of like 10% of the rest, and the remaining was just no friggin’ clue. Would’ve gone better if there’d at least been JP subs, but you’ll have to deal with what I’ve got for now!

It should be obvious, but there’ll be HELLA MAJOR SPOILERS for the final Evangelion movie. Ready? Let’s go.

The movie very helpfully starts off with a ~2 min recap of the movies thus far. This was great because I didn’t have time to rewatch the previous three before going, and while I’ve seen them a few times, it took me a second the recall what had happened at the very end of Q, so I was glad to get a very brief recap.

The actual movie itself opens on...Paris! Or Paris post-Near-Third-Impact (Third Impact?), which is a red and black wasteland. It seems that Wille has been developing these things that look like Entry Plugs that they shove into the ground and restore everything to pre-all-impacts (so like, blue water and everything); couldn’t get HOW it managed that, but they had them and were attempting to restore Paris.

Would have been a walk in the park except for weird Eva-Angel-Machine hybrids that were trying to prevent them from activating the plugs. Lots of fighting happens, with Mari piloting her Eva to give them cover while the Wille staff set everything up. Eventually they manage it, and Euro Nerv is restored.

Then we switch over to right where Q left off: Asuka, Clone!Rei, and a catatonic Shinji wandering around trying to go who knows where. They eventually get picked up by...Touji! Yes, an older Touji now who lives in a commune of survivors, scraping out a semblance of a life in one of the areas protected by the aforementioned plugs (they had another name but I couldn’t get it).

In this community, Touji is the local doctor--and he’s married with a kid! He married Hikari, and they have an infant daughter named Tsubame. 

Now, let’s check in how our main three do when introduced to this relatively normal life they get to enjoy for a few weeks:

Asuka: Still in ‘fight mode’, ready to go at a moment’s notice. How she thinks she’s gonna fight when she has no Eva idk, but for this entire little bit, she’s either naked or in her plugsuit. She stays with Aida Kensuke, who’s kind of the handyman, and is generally just rude af.

Shinji: For 90% of this bit, he’s totally shut off. He’s incredibly fucked up from having JUST watched Kaworu die, essentially because of him, and Asuka has on a DSS choker, and every time he sees it, he collapses and begins vomiting violently. He stays with the Suzuharas at first but is quickly sent to stay with Asuka and Kensuke because they don’t really know how to deal with him. Kensuke manages to get him to open up a little bit, but eventually it’s Rei who gets him started on the path back to being himself. At one point he runs away and ‘lives’ alone for a while in what I think was either the building where he first met Kaworu playing the piano or one that looked a lot like it. He goes out to do odd jobs with Kensuke a lot, and on one occasion he’s taken to an ‘outdoor lab’ where some workers are experimenting with new gardening techniques. It’s here he’s meets...Kaji Ryouji. No, not that Kaji Ryouji. That Kaji DIED. This is the son he had with Misato (named after him).

Rei: Now, let me say I’ve never been super interested in Rei. I didn’t dislike her, like I did Asuka, but I wasn’t really interested in her either. She was just there. Guys.....I LOVED REI IN THIS MOVIE. I would have watched 2.5 hours of the Rei Learns To Be A Human show and been happy for the $20 I paid. Rei spends her time in the commune learning to be an individual. She stays with the Suzuharas and learns what different words mean, like “Good morning” and “Good night” and “Thank you” and “Goodbye”, she gets super close with a bunch of old ladies who essentially adopt her and teach her how to plant turnips and what a bath is, and she becomes her own person. When she first arrives, the Suzuharas think she’s “Ayanami Rei”, but she explains that she isn’t, so they call her “Sokkuri-san” instead (”Miss Spitting Image” essentially), and the old ladies find it amusing at first but then encourage her to choose her own name, and when she can’t think of one, they tell her to have someone choose one for her, so she asks the Uber-Depressed Shinji to choose one. These interactions are what eventually pull him back to himself, but ultimately he’s unable to come up with one, because “Ayanami is Ayanami”. She thanks him for trying anyway, returns his SD player to him..............................and then dissolves into a pile of LCL fluid, as apparently all clones eventually return to LCL. Fantastic, because Shinji didn’t need EVEN MORE TRAUMA.

Somehow, the above doesn’t break Shinji, and he resolves to go back to Wille and face his father I guess?? I’m not entirely clear on why (gotta go read some reports of my own I guess lol). Back on the ship with Misato et al., Shinji isn’t forced to wear a choker but he’s put in a cell with like explosives in it I guess. He starts having visions of Kaworu helping him accept things.

At this point it’s getting close to the climax, and Wille are going after Nerv/Gendo once and for all. During the final fight, Asuka tried to take out Unit 13′s core, and then she’s not managing it, she rips off her eyepatch, and we see that the patch was keeping the 9th angel bound within her eye, so she decides to throw away her humanity and let it take over to destroy Unit 13. Unfortunately, she’s killed in the end--how? She’s approached by a vision of her ‘original’. Yup, Asuka was a clone herself, like Rei, and she turns back into LCL and she and unit 02 are absorbed by Unit 13.

Eventually the fight comes down to Shinji vs. Gendo, who has thrown away his own humanity and bonded with Unit 13 in the hopes of completing the Human Instrumentality Project. He and Shinji go head to head as Shinji summons (???) Unit 01 from inside Unit 13, and there’s a really REALLY WEIRD final fight between the two that involves some weird animation choices. Lots of storyboards and overly CGI’d CGI, and some bits that seem to take them through the different incarnations of the Eva series.

We also get Gendo backstory by the boatload as he and Shinji have an actual goddamn conversation for once. Mari features prominently in Gendo’s flashbacks so she was definitely one of his classmates it seems, who introduced him to Fuyutsuki. I’m still not entirely clear on who she is/was.

However, through this conversation, Shinji gives the people he’s interacted with most closely/been closest with closure I guess? Gendo, Asuka...Kaworu.

So about Kaworu. Their conversation was VERY VERY WEIRD; it’s made clear that Shinji is also now aware of all the different iterations of their meeting. When they talk, it’s set at the beach where they first met in the TV series, and Shinji says he remembers all the times they’ve met before. Shinji mentions that Kaworu reminds him a lot of his father, and then there are some very strange flashbacks (????) of Kaworu’s that I feel like imply he’s to Gendo as Rei is to Yui. At one point, he’s seen talking to Fuyutsuki, trying to decide on a name for himself and settling on ‘Nagisa’ as it means ‘beach’, where the ocean meets the land. Fuyutsuki later addresses Kaworu, who’s sitting in Gendo’s desk, as “Commander Nagisa”. Kaworu reflects to Shinji that he failed so many times to make Shinji happy, but he’s realized now that that’s because he doesn’t know what would make Shinji happy and it was arrogant to think he knew better. He was looking for his own happiness all along.

In the end, after all these goodbyes, Shinji is left with the decision of what to do with, well, reality. He decides, in a conversation with Rei, that he’ll reset everything--create a ‘neon genesis’--to a world without Eva or Angels.

Our last shot is an older Shinji meeting his (presumed??) girlfriend Mari on a train platform. On the opposite platform waiting for their own train are Kaworu, Asuka, and Rei. Shinji and Mari hold hands and run, laughing, from the train station.

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION GOT A HAPPY ENDING. 2021 REALLY BE OUT HERE WILDING.

My final thoughts:

Okay I’ll say it: the fuck with Shinji/Mari endgame? Believe me, it was completely out of left field even in this movie. They just happened to be the only final survivors. Mari flirted a hell of a lot more with ASUKA and was distraught at her death than she did with Shinji. They were a kind of cute couple in the end, but very ????? 

I’m disappointed Shinji wasn’t the one to give Kaworu his happiness in the end, after Kaworu spent so long and so many lives and realities trying to make him happy and failing. I’m choosing to believe, since these multiple realities/resets are canon now, that he did it in one of them. They all deserve the happiness of their choosing, not just Shinji’s, and Kaworu showed us time and time again that his happiness definitively involves being with Shinji.

I’m sure I missed a lot, because yanno, Eva, and it was long enough as is, but gosh I wish I could’ve understood more of everything that was going on, cause there was SO MUCH WEIRD SHIT.

If I watch this movie again, I will 500% just be watching those “Rei learns to be human with the help of a bunch of old cackling biddies” bits :> Those were THE BEST PARTS OF THE MOVIE.

[sleepy-stories]

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton story (in the best i can but many of this is on wiki)

This story isn't based on the musical itself. Since the musical is inaccurate to the bone with some stuff to make it into a drama or soap opera.

Eliza Schuyler or what people call her Betsey or Elizabeth Schuyler. Elizabeth was born on August 9th, 1757, to a powerful and rich family in New york. Eliza was the second child to 15 children which would downgrade to 8 children. She had 4 sisters and 3 brothers that lived up to adulthood.

The Schuyler family is a dutch family from the Netherlands during the 1600s.

Eliza in her youth met famous people, Benjamin Franklin and more. She was also described as being a tomboy.

Now older, (this part is still unsure about her first meeting with her future husband) there are many parts to like, his visit to her home with Washington, her being a nurse with her aunt in the colonies base, during their free time where she played the piano and he chills next to her, or the famous one at the ball) Eliza stayed with her aunt during the war as a nurse to the soldiers. Schuyler would end up meeting Hamilton during the winter. (you know I remember this funny story about their relationship that involved Washington and Washington had to stop them from falling in love with each other. And in today's standard words he was being a dad and telling Philip to control his daughter.)

During that time, she became close with Martha Washington who Eliza idealized her as a true woman.

After returning home from her meeting with Alexander, Hamilton had forgotten his password to the army headquarters. (which made me laugh a lot about) their relationship grew, even apart from each other. They wrote letters and planned what could be a secret wedding. But they ask for Philip's blessing to be engaged and married. Which was successful. Eliza learned that John Andre was captured. Eliza and even Alex were head over heels over John Andre.

John Andre was hanged for his crimes.

Eliza and Alex were married by December 14, 1780. The newlywed couple went to Eliza’s childhood home as a honeymoon at Pastures for a short time. But returned in early January of 1781. Eliza resumed her friendship with Martha until their husbands had a falling out. And Hamilton had to move into her father’s home, to a new house that’s across the river from Windsor headquarters. Eliza planned the ideas of a newly built home while helping Hamilton with his political writings. Some of the papers were written in her handwriting. They moved again to Albany with her parents.

Not so long ago, Eliza discovered she was pregnant with her first child and by next January, it would be a son named Philip. Alexander wrote letters to Eliza to make her calm about his safety.

While the war was coming close to home, the Schuyler didn’t have any losses with a quick-thinking Peggy saving their youngest sister from death or kidnap. While their father was away.

After Yorktown, Alex returned to her safely. Even if the war wasn’t fully over until 1783. Her eldest sister, angelica, and her husband john church moved to Britain which was claimed for business reasons. By Sept 25, 1784, Eliza gave birth to their second child, a daughter named Angelica.

By 1787, Eliza sat for a portrait that was painted by a prisoner. By 1786, she gave birth to their third child, a son named Alexander (jr). 2 years later, by 1788, she gave birth to their fourth son named James Alexander.

In 1787, Hamiltons took in a daughter by a soldier friend of Hamilton, who had already lost his wife and couldn’t take care of their daughter, Fanny, or Frances Antill, the youngest child of one sister. (who she will live with after 10 years with the hamiltons)

Through the years, Hamiltons were active socially to everyone, tending to balls and parties. Eliza even danced with George Washington. Both Eliza and Alex hosted a dinner party with Thomas Jefferson. When Hamilton became the treasury secretary, Eliza, Sarah Jay, Lucy Knox became leaders of the official society.

Eliza became an aid for Alexander and all of his Political work and even his idea for the Bank of United States and even he read out the Washington Farewell Address to her. She continued raising the children, until the time when John Church Hamilton was born in 1792.

2 years later, Eliza suffered a miscarriage that almost taken her life. Their youngest child became ill and Eliza became worried over her missing husband. This was the point of Alex resigning from public office. He resumed his law practice to be close to his family.

But then by 1797, things went downhill through the couple’s marriage where an affair was brought to light to everyone’s eye. Alexander has written a pamphlet that talks about his affair with a fair woman named Maria Reynolds. And the tale of his blackmail with her and her husband.

This causes Eliza to not believe at first but later did when Alexander confirmed it. At the time, Eliza was pregnant with their sixth child. (with many people not knowing if Eliza reacted or said anything besides not believing it at first, is still a mystery) Eliza left Alex back home and went to live with her father for a bit. She only returned because of a sickness that their eldest son had, which was incurable to him.

Eliza only forgave Alex when dying or thought they were gonna die of yellow fever. Not the death of Philip hamilton. They reconnected and fixed their marriage. The couple had two more kids, a daughter named Eliza in 1799 and a son who wouldn’t meet his eldest brother and namesake, Philip II in 1801. Philip Hamilton ended up dying in a duel at the hands of George Eacker. The couple changed by Philip’s death but they finished the first and only built home called the Hamilton Grange, named after Alexander’s father’s homeland in Scotland. Eliza and Alex became close again and wrote letters to each other when one was away, like when Eliza attended her mother’s funeral in 1803.

The couple lived there for 2 years until Alexander Hamilton died in a duel at the hands of Aaron Burr.

Within the years after and before Alex's death, her mother, her sister Peggy and her son Philip died before Alexander in 1803 and 1801. After, her father died months after and her siblings followed. Eliza had to pay her husband's debt and even sell the house to live with family or her children.

In 1798, Eliza accepted the invitation of a friend of the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children. But now after 2 years after her husband’s death, she joins in and resumes with them. She met other women, including Joanna Bethune, the founder of Orphan Asylum Society. Eliza, herself counted as second vice president.

Throughout the rest of her life, she defended her Husband from critics, support his claim as authorship to the Washington Farewell Address, and requested an apology from James Monroe which refused multiple times until he gave in, when they met in person, talking about alexander shortly before his death (monroe). Eliza collects all the letters and papers of her husbands and helps her son, John Church hamilton.

Schuyler had a small package around her neck that had a sonnet that Alexander wrote to her, himself.

By her 90s, she made an effort to congress to buy and publish her husband’s work. Which they accepted by august. Still during her 90s, she did charity work, and helped out with dolley madison, and louisa adams who are both widows to james madison and john q. Adams.

Even so, she grew and helped out with everything she could. Eliza had suffered with short term memory loss which only allowed her to remember her husband by 1846.

By 1854 of November 9, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton had left the world by the age of 97, in Washington D.C and moved to New York to be buried by her husband.

Eliza outlived all of her family except the Youngest that survived to British attack. By 50 years.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, and Happy 264th Birthday.

[rosalyn51]

AMC Talk

A Discovery Of Witches Q&A —Teresa Palmer On Diana's Growing Power In Season 2

Posted by AMC Editors | June 28, 2021

In A Discovery of Witches, Teresa Palmer plays Diana Bishop, a burgeoning witch who's only beginning to understand the depth of her powers. Season 2 finds Diana and her (ever controversial) vampiric partner Matthew in 1590 London, as they continue their search for The Book of Life. In this interview with amc.com, Palmer talks about corseting up for Elizabethan London, how Season 2 pushed her acting skills to new heights, and what it felt like to delve into Diana's new powers.

Q: This season Diana really learns how to harness her powers. Any doubts that she may have had about her abilities are stamped out with the help of her new coven. Now it’s all about honing those skills. Diana maintains her composure even though this journey must be quite emotional for her—can you speak a bit about what her mental state is when she finally finds her teacher?

A: When she's thrust into Elizabethan London, she's quite overwhelmed and it's very isolating. The Matthew that she knows is pretty distinctly different, so she's really looking to that sisterhood for comfort. She knows that one of the main reasons they came back in time is for her to harness her power and go deeper within her abilities, so I think it feels like a homecoming when she meets her coven. She finally feels like she belongs somewhere. So much of her life she hasn't felt like she belongs anywhere, and she's been running away from her authenticity. She finally lands in a place where she feels held, safe, inspired, and motivated to keep going further into the work that she must complete in order to become a fully realized, powerful witch.

Q: The costumes this season are just amazing. Did corseting up help you mentally transform into Diana circa 1590?

A: Definitely! The thing about a corset is obviously it holds you in a different way, so your body is in a more upright position throughout the day. I think it just helped transport me back to that time. I can't imagine what it would have been like to wear that all day, every day. The attention to detail in every aspect of the show, helped elevate these characters and our experiences as performers within the show because it all feels so lifelike. The costumes were just so true to how they would have been back in those days. Then there’s the set pieces that really bring the world to life—it all made our jobs so much easier.

Q: At the beginning of this season, so many of Matthew’s old friends in 1590 warn Diana that Matthew circa 1590 was a really, really rough, deadly character. Regardless, she stands by her love and doesn’t seem too phased by this information. Does she ever truly feel fear when it comes to Matthew, or is her trust in him so strong that she never has to worry? Perhaps she feels so powerful now that she knows she can protect herself...

A: Yeah, I think Diana recognizes her strength and her power. She knows she can take care of herself and so I don't think there's a physical fear of Matthew. I think she knows she can hold her own, but it's fearing the unknown—who is this darker Matthew? I also think it’s complicated even further, because Matthew isn't always the most transparent person. He's a bit of an enigma, and she doesn't know the level at which he's hiding this other side of himself. It starts to be revealed through what his friends are saying to her… but innately his behavior is shifting and there's such a sudden pivot in who he is when they go back in time. It really makes her feel isolated. I'm not sure if she ever physically fears him, but I think she fears the distance between them. That aspect of it is scary for her. It's feeling emotionally and mentally distant from him—she's not comfortable with that feeling at all!

Q: He does feel like a totally different Matthew and it's a bit jarring! He’s different both physically and like you said, behaviorally. He plays the role of Man, if you will, a little bit tighter. He’s definitely less of a modern guy.

A: Yes, exactly. I think for her, being a historian after all, there's a certain element of that that she understands. She knows that times were different back then for women, and men behaved radically different than they do in modern day, so there was a level of expectation. But I think the sudden shift in his behavior certainly outweighed any of the other fears she had about going back in time. It's a particularly dangerous period, especially for witches, but the scariest part of it for her is being so separate from him emotionally and mentally.

Q: The weaving scenes this season are quite emotional to watch, so I can only imagine filming them was also intense. Can you speak a bit about how these dramatic scenes come to life? How much information are you given about CGI and other special effects? Does having the actors encircling you help bring this magic to life?

A: Oh absolutely! Well, I had a witch teacher, my magic teacher in real life. Her name was Sarah from a company called Shapes in Motion. We would work on the choreography together, because it’s very specific, especially as Diana learns her knots. There are certain formations that I needed to be making, and each knot gets progressively harder and more intricate. So she needs to be practicing her knots. It’s not unlike someone who practices patterns when they're knitting or when playing an intricate piano piece.

She needs to practice and practice, so it’s emotional for her. Not only has she found her people, but they’re also helping her build the confidence in herself to learn these powerful knots and to embrace her life as a weaver. I loved shooting those scenes. I think they were my favorite scenes to shoot. Working with Sheila Hancock (Goody Alsop) was such a dream. And then there was just the beauty and the delicacy in hitting the different moments whilst weaving. As an actor I haven't used my body like that before when I've played other characters. It was really specific how my hands had to dance and move, and there's nothing there, so you're not being helped by strings or anything. It's just thin air and you're having to really imagine weaving these knots.

Q: I didn't expect you to talk about hand choreography! Amazing.

A: There was a lot of that! And as the performer, I had to practice my knots in the same way Diana did. I would go home, I'd put my kids to bed and be like, "All right, knot of eight, this is where we go. We go under. Then we duck around." (Laughs).

Q: Diana is such a history nerd that she really has to play it cool when meeting some of her historical idols. How does she manage to quash her excitement? If you could travel back in time who would you geek out over meeting?

A: Oh my goodness, I love it! Gosh, yeah those were probably some of the more fun scenes for me to shoot. It was a delicate dance between the excitement that's pulsing through her body while she’s also trying to play a very specific role—she can't give herself away too much! When she meets people like Mary Sidney, you see the twinkle in her eyes and the excitement, but she's also really trying to play it cool, fit in with the world and not appear like a modern woman.

And then there were certain situations, like with Kit Marlowe. She's such a huge fan of his work as a poet, but when she meets him well their relationship and dynamic is just fraught with tension. There's jealousy, not from her end but from his, so that's very confronting too. It’s like when you meet one of your heroes and they don't really live up to how you saw them in your mind. Ultimately she ends up cultivating compassion for Kit, which is really beautiful.

As for me, hmmm who would I like to travel back in time to meet? I don't know if there's one particular person that I'd want to go back in time to meet, but there are huge moments from my childhood that come to mind. The nostalgia around watching films like The Labyrinth and the idea of meeting David Bowie back then. Not David Bowie as David Bowie, but David Bowie as Jareth. He’s my ultimate hero. I think I'm definitely more into modern day history. I'm into the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Going back to the 60s would be amazing. My husband and I always joke, "Oh, we would have been the perfect 60s hippies going to Woodstock together and having a bunch of babies. Being barefoot, pregnant, and listening to music." That would have been my perfect time! I'm always picking my mum's brain asking her what it was like.

New episodes of A Discovery of Witches air on Sundays at 7/6c on AMC. 

[goldenchild]

Hello, Golden Child! it’s our second time interviewing you! Nice to have you back! Please say hello to PRESSREELS subscribers and your fans!

Dong Hyun: Hello, PRESSREELS subscribers, Goldenness, we are Golden Child. It’s our second time with PRESSREELS, thank you for inviting us again. We came back with “Ra Pam Pam.” We worked really hard on this album. Please give lots of love and interest

Bo Min Hello! It’s been a long time since we came back. We are back with a higher level of perfection, so please look forward to it! Thank you all for waiting!

You guys have made your come back in about seven months! How have you been?

Dae Yeol I’ve been working out and practicing to improve my skills.

Seung Min I’ve been refreshing myself for this album and have been practicing a lot to develop personally.

Q. Please introduce us to the title track, “Ra Pam Pam”!

Jang Jun It’s a song that conveys hope in times of difficulty in a Moombahton genre.

TAG Ra Pam Pam is the first song that I participated in writing the entire lyrics, and as you can see from the lyrics, it contains hope.

Q. “Ra Pam Pam” is a Moombahton genre song! Also the “Ra dance” reminds me of Tango in the chorus. How did you guys feel when you first heard the demo version? Were you interested in Latin music?

Ji Beom When I first listened to the guide, I thought it was addictive and exciting. And before I listened to Latin music a few times and thought it was good.

Dong Hyun Actually, I haven’t had the chance to listen to a lot of Latin music, but the song was really good and the more I practiced it, the better I liked it. I like it the most.

Q. The M/V reminded me of an extreme war movie! You’ve shown us a lot, such a nice CG scenery and also acting. How would the members act if you were in this situation in real life?

Y I think I would act as I did in the music video. I think I would take the lead and do my part.

Jae Hyun We were shooting in an abandoned building, and I used a camera app and applied a ghost sticker filter to take pictures! If I was in that kind of situation as the music video, I am going to survive no matter what.

Q. “GAME CHANGER” has a total of eleven tracks on the album! Is there a specific track you would like to recommend?

Y “POPPIN’,”  it’s a unit track with me and Jang Jun. It contains a message that says love yourself more and you are the coolest when you are yourself.

Joo Chan I would like to recommend the track, “Singing in The Rain,” that Bo Min and I worked on together. It’s a sensual song with the sound of rain with a piano melody. Please listen to it!

Q. You are back with a second full-length album and it’s already been three years since Golden Child has been together as a group! I’m sure you know each other very well. Does anyone have a particular habit before going on stage or before recording?

Jang Jun Jae Hyun shakes his body a lot

Ji Beom Dong Hyun has a habit of making sounds when he breathes in when he is talking in an interview

Q. To “Burn it” to “Ra Pam Pam” in the M/V, you guys showed us excellent acting skills from a zombie apocalypse to an earth invasion. Do you have any desire in acting? If you have a chance, what genre of drama or movie would you like to be in?

Y I’m totally interested in acting. I haven’t learned acting but, I think I can show you a lot more in terms of acting.

Ji Beom I would like to film a noir movie. Because I like wild scenes.

Q. Is there any music or concept that Golden Child would like to challenge in the future?

Bo Min We have started out from a bright concept and now to a strong and manly concept. I think it would be good to surprise everyone with a refreshing concept in the future.

Jae Hyun I would like to try something powerful and refreshing, because we showed our sexy side with “Ra Pam Pam,” I want to perform on stage smiling next time!

Q. It’s such a shame that you can’t meet your fans in person due to the Pandemic. What’s the first thing you want to do when the Pandemic is over?

Dae Yeol I reallly want to have a face-to-face concert!

Dong Hyun First of all, I want to meet Goldenness first, and when the Pandemic is over and we get back to our normal life, I would like to meet our overseas Goldenness as soon as possible.

Q. What kind of modifier would Golden Child like to have?

Seung Min I think it would be nice to have the nickname, “Stage Master.”

Joo Chan I hope we become an icon of “hope.”

Q. What and where would Golden Child be doing ten years from now?

Y I think we would still perform next to Goldenness!

Bo Min I think we would meet and have dinner over wine and chat, maybe it wouldn’t be that different as now. Haha

Q. Thank you for the Interview! Please leave a word for PRESSREELS subscribers and to fans!

Dae Yeol PRESSREELS subscribers and Goldenness!! We are doing our best on “Ra Pam Pam”! So please give us lots of love!

Jang Jun PRESSREELS subscribers hello! Please love Golden Child and our new song, “Ra Pam Pam.” We will be your hope and energy.

[secondhand-trash]

A/N: a softer actually kinda wholesome part of the wholesome ghost content uwu

Warning: brief description of death/violence, cheating(between side characters, ghost daddy would never uvu), break-in robbery, brief nsfw below cut (voyeurism, female masturbation)

Word count: 4300

Q:

Where does a ghost go on vacation?

Shinsou Hitoshi had never been one for leaving his house. Life was already stressful enough, he would much rather stay within the comfortable confines of this nice house he worked hard to pay rent for when he could take a break. Even with dismay from his parents and relentless invitation from his friends, he still turned them down with an obviously fabricated excuse every time. He had everything he needed here. If he could, he would not take one step out that door at all which was ironic because now that he really had no reason and no choice to leave the house, he would give anything just to even poke his head out of these four walls.

Contrary to popular belief, you could never really quite feel your death. Of course, there was this short period of struggling in his case, together with the pain that slowly spread through his body and the numbness that followed suit. But all in all, it really felt like he was just slipping into a heavy curtain, free-falling onto a large bed with a mattress that let your entire body sank in until your consciousness was just floating onto of the pillows.

He had yet to register that he was already dead when his eyes snapped open again until he realised that he had forgotten to breathe and it really didn’t matter to him anymore. There really was no existential crisis that could compare to what he felt when he looked down to see his own body lying on the ground. 

Such a ghastly sight, he would much rather not think about now that it was long gone. 

He had wondered what life after death would be like anyone else but in all honesty, it was very underwhelming. There was no guidebook, no reaper showing up to collect his soul, nothing but him in an empty house. He could not leave the damn house no matter how hard he tried. Every time he stepped out the door or leap out the window frame, he would always end up right back at the spot where he took his final breath like some cruel joke, and eventually, he gave up. Not that he had any other choice.

No one wanted to move into a house where someone had recently died there and during the time of the house’s vacancy, Shinsou had set his mind to test the limits to his newfound existence as a spiritual being. In his little quest to self-actualisation, he had discovered several things. He could pass through things, which was fun and he spent a good amount of time poking his head into random objects for a while. Making himself tangible took longer for him to grasp, but eventually, he came to the realisation that the key to it was to not think too much about it and just do it like he would if he was alive. He still had his senses to some degree, but things that would bother him when he was alive, like the feeling of fire right below his palm per se (yes he tried that too, it was not like he could die twice anyways), did not have much of an effect on him now that he wasn’t. People appeared to be unable to see him, much to his delight after realising that none of the passersby saw him standing in front of the window for several hours like some cheap cgi from a b-movie.

He was still pretty pissed that he could not float. But hey, who knows, maybe he would unlock that skill later on after he jumped off the table for enough times.

What he had concluded after a while was that being dead was boring. He had all the time in the world but there was no cable or internet so binging whatever show he never got around to pick up while he was alive was not an option. Besides, it would probably stir up quite the panic if the neighbours heard the sound of people talking coming from the supposedly empty house. He did, however, picked up several new hobbies. He learned how to play the grand piano that was left here in the living room by the last owner. He always played it as quietly as he could, he would be in so much trouble if people picked up the faint music at night. It was hard figuring out the notes and scales on his own but with the amount of time he had, eventually he got to the point where what he played sounded somewhat decent. He also discovered a stack of vinyls and a record player covered with cobwebs stuffed at the back of the attic, one of which was an audio tutorial on how to waltz that was from god knows how long ago. Shinsou had never seen himself as the waltzing type of person, but when you were a ghost who was bored out of his mind, anything you could get your hands on was worth a try.

He stopped counting how long it had been since he died at some point, burying himself within the keys of the piano and stumbling to figure out how to practice each step without a partner. For a while, he felt like he didn’t quite mind spending his eternity like that.

Then one day, the door swung to show a woman with a large smile on her face and a couple that looked like they would die if they did so little as took their arm out of the others’ walked in.

Turned out, people would eventually forget about the young man who died tragically in the house as time passed and land got more expensive. The new owner of the house was a newly wedded couple, according to what the wife said giddily to the real estate agent. Shinsou watched from a corner of the living room as the agent handed them the key, sighing as he realised that his silence in the house would never be restored.

For a while, he felt like he could get used to this. Both the wife and the husband would leave for work in the day, giving him the personal space that he desperately needed. They would come back at dawn together, carrying bags of groceries and laughing as they walked in. Shinsou had no part in it, but he decided that if he never got to have a family of his own then being happy for the residents of this place he was stuck in was the closest he would get. He liked listening to the couple talk over dinner, smiling and nodding his head as if they could see him at all. Was it lonely that he was in a world of his own despite watching people around him carry on with their life like he had never been in this place at all? Kinda, but Shinsou figured that he didn’t mind it all too much. At least these people were happy, and there could be nothing more tragic than being stuck with a miserable family in the house he could never leave.

Until one day, he picked up that the couple stopped kissing each other goodbye before leaving the door in the morning. Until that evening when he realised that they stopped coming home together. He saw it all too clearly, the outsider that could go through walls that the living could not see through, and he was worried that this peace would not last much longer.

Until that one night, when he thought that the husband and wife went back to their old ways as he heard the laughing from outside the door only to feel his heart drop when he noticed how that woman giggling sounded nothing like the wife.

They didn’t even bother going into the bedroom, immediately all over each other the moment the front door was clicked. Shinsou curled up at the corner of the attic that night, pretending that if he heard nothing, then whatever was going on in the living room right now never happened at all.

The wife still wasn’t back the next morning and against his better judgment, he took a lipstick out of the woman’s bag and put it somewhere he knew for sure the wife would see.

He wasn’t sure if he had done the right thing when he saw tears streaming down the wife’s face after finding the unfamiliar lipstick that was clearly not hers. He stood and watched as she slammed the door, her cries and screams still echoing through the house even after she left.

Shinsou decided that he would never meddle with the living again when he saw the man broke down sobbing, while he could only stand there and wonder if it would have been better if he was never there at all.

The couple that wasn’t quite a pair anymore moved out soon after that, and Shinsou was left to his own device in an empty house again. It was funny how things could be cleared out so fast and as the man locked the door for the last time, it was like they were never there at all. All the pictures and tiny knick-knacks that made the house alive were gone, with only empty spots on the walls.

Sometimes when Shinsou sat in silence at night,, staring at the vacant spots around a house that was too big for one lonely ghost, he felt like he was never there too.

The next occupant of the house he died in was a family of three. He watched through the windows on the second floor as the truck pulled up and an excited child ran towards the door. He could hear the laughing from the parents even through the thick walls. Shinsou was never one for children, they were too noisy and too unexpected. He sighed, watching as the dad picked the child up to twist the doorknob, the sound of innocent blabbering immediately filling the house up right as the lock clicked.

He didn’t really think that these people would make much change in his routine, it was not like they would notice him anyways. He nearly felt the blood that wasn’t there retreating from his face when his eyes met with the young son of the family, the way his round eyes slowly widens told him the one thing that he was most afraid of.

The kid could see him.

He was expecting the child to scream, to run to his parents, or cry even. But he didn’t, much to his surprise. Perhaps the child mistook him as one of his imaginary friends that happened to be a lot more real and a lot less imaginary? He would never know. You know children, you could never really quite understand how their world works after you grew up. 

The house was alive again, and Shinsou felt like he could get used to this, for real this time. The kid didn’t annoy him as much as he thought he would, and there were times when he didn’t even notice the smile on his face as he watched the boy ran to his parents to show them things he was proud of. They were good parents, Shinsou thought from his childless young adult perspective. 

He liked the kid, as wild as it sounded. He admitted that the young resident of the house was a cute kid, round eyes and wide smile, hair always tangled up in a mess quite like his own. There were times when he would creep down the stairs behind the adults’ back and when he placed a finger on his lips to signal the boy to not say anything, the child always had a hard time biting back a chuckle, shaking his head as his eyes sneakily followed the ghost’s figure.

The boy found a sense of pride in knowing something that his parents didn't, the purple-haired roommate was his friend and his friend only, a tiny secret that he shared with the young ghost who always gave him a thumbs up when he held up his drawings to thin air much to his guardian’s confusion.

Shinsou assumed that one day, as the kid grew up, he would stop being able to see him like the other adults. The idea made him feel lonely sometimes, but he was alright with it. If he never got to have a kid of his own, he supposed watching someone else’s grow up would be the closest thing he would ever get from having a family of his own.

For a while, he really thought that things would be set this time around and he would not have to be alone for a long time coming. Until that night when everyone was asleep upstairs and he being the ghost he was, decided to indulge in his ghostly lack of need for sleep to lounge around the living room, heard a rattling at the door lock.

He froze in horror when the door crept open and a masked man walked in, very careful with each movement and making no noises even though the wooden floor had a tendency to creak with the lightest of steps.

This felt all too similar. Someone breaking in at the depths of the night while everyone was asleep, unaware of the danger lurking just steps below. He could feel his blood curl at the familiar unfolding of events, and seeing the man snooped around made him recall the feeling of seeing his own dead body much to his dismay.

He thought of the parents, the good people who were just trying to live their lives. He remembered the child, so young and with so much potential, and the wide grin on his face. He had hoped to see him grow up, to see how he would look like years later when he got taller. His fingers trembled when he thought of what could happen to the family, of how they might end up just like him.

Shinsou clenched his jaw, hands clutching both in anger and in fear. The same thing was happening but something was different, this time he was here. Nothing would happen to the family as long as he was around, and he was bound to be around for a very long time.

The house was big, but one ghost haunting it was more than enough.

The mom screamed when she saw a man lying on the floor unconscious the next morning, with hardcover books and kitchenware all over the floor. The man was still alive, she realised after checking his pulse gingerly and woke her husband. The mask and the many tools in his belt hinted that whoever this strange man was, he was definitely not there for friendly inquiries. The couple was shocked and confused as to what happened for the burglar to be there, especially after looking around to see that no valuables were missing.  As for the child, he was barely awake as he made way down the stairs, rubbing his eyes when he saw the many people in his living room. He did not know what was going on but daddy and mommy looked very serious so he did the smart thing and left the scene, going to see if the purple boy wanted to see his new lego set instead.

The family moved out of the house as expected, you could not call somewhere home if you didn’t even feel safe in it. The child cried when his parents told him that they were moving, knowing that this meant leaving his new friend behind. Shinsou did not have the heart to say anything when the child strike up a conversation with him the first time, asking if purple boy could move with them too. Shinsou wanted to lie and say that he would be there with him, but he knew that it was better to not hurt the child even more when he would eventually realise that the ghost was nowhere to be found in his new home.

The kid was the only one who looked back before the family walked out of the door. Shinsou put on his widest smile and waved, despite really really wanting to cry.

The house was left unoccupied for a long while which made sense, murder and robbery didn’t exactly sound the most appealing. Shinsou had decided that he liked it better this way, no one around meant no one to get attached to. This time, even if someone did move in eventually, he was determined to not stick his head into a world he didn’t belong in. The living come and go, but he could not leave no matter how much he wanted to and he did not necessarily want to go through that again. 

He was pretty content with being alone, now being able to carry on with his newfound hobby of waltzing (badly) and playing the piano in minimum volume. Shinsou had a strong feeling that he was better of spending the rest of his eternity like that with no one around to disturb him.

And then you showed up.

You were unlike any other who moved into the house, the only one who was alone, much like him back when he stepped into those doors with a pulse. You were curious when you first walked inside, looking around in interest as if you had no idea what the house looked like prior. You intrigued him, someone closed to his age and bright-eyed, twinkling in interest when you saw something that you liked and scrunched your brows together when you didn’t. Poking your head through each doorway and quickly leaving to see the other rooms, mumbling under your breath about how one person could use so many rooms which he absolutely agreed.

Shinsou felt a weird emotion bubbling up in him when he saw that of all the rooms you could pick from, you settled moving your stuff into the one that he used to sleep in. 

Perhaps it was because you were young and single and very much so on your own, he felt way more of a need to respect your space than he did with all the previous residents of the house. There were many times when he stopped himself in the tracks as he was about to pass through the bathroom to get to another place, knowing that you were in there from the sound of water running. You were completely unaware of his struggles as you lounged around with shorts and thin thin crop tops, all sprawled out on the couch while the ghost was scolding himself to just take his eyes off you and look somewhere else. He was dead, but he was still young and filled with hot blood(?) no less and the fact that you looked so lovely with your hair wet and waist showing under the loose shirt did not help his plan to not pay attention to you at all.

But all inner struggles aside, you just seemed like a nice person to be around in general. He was always peaking behind you to see what you were reading when you were leisurely sipping your coffee on sunday mornings, slightly shocked and very approving when he saw that you had discovered some of his old books in the attic. You were the only person to notice that well-hidden trap door down the hallway, and he couldn’t help but smile when he saw you beamed in delight as you found the stack of records. He convinced himself that it was just his own loneliness talking and that he was only feeling that way because it had been too long since he came across someone his age, but something about the way you laughed when you were on the phone with your friends or the little dance you did when you were waiting for the water to boil made his heart flustered in a way he didn’t know ghosts could.

He wished he could talk to you.

His world was flipped upside down when you saw him for the first time. There were many times before when you would look past him, staring right past his ghostly existence, but he felt shivered running down his spine when you actually looked at him. 

Wonderful, he thought to himself as he froze in place, not knowing how to react as your eyes meet, there is no way they’re gonna stay knowing that I’m here.

It seemed like the living had once again outdone his expectations. You stayed in the house, much to his shock and delight, and you had started talking to him. He was very tempted to reply every time you greet him in the morning but refrained from doing so, remembering what happened the last time he interacted with the living. You had taken the liberty to test out different ways to provoke a reaction out of him, leaving sticky notes and pens around the house, going far enough to prepare food for him even though he never really sat down at the table. 

He thought you would give up eventually but you didn’t, and his will to steer distance from you was slowly faltering. 

The first time he did something for you was out of instinct, you forgot to take your clothes out of the washing machine and it was making him anxious because he had made the same mistake before, nothing could compare to the annoyance of having to do your laundries again. Your mouth hang open when you sprinted down to the kitchen after sleeping past your alarm to see your clothes spinning in the dryer, turning your head to see Shinsou sitting on the kitchen counter, looking anywhere but you as if he did nothing.

He could not forget how happy you looked as you thanked him, and he knew he was gone for.

You seemed to accept that you had a roommate and he was a ghost. Casually asking for his opinion on things despite never getting a spoken response. Your casual acknowledgment of his existence only made things more difficult for him. There were many times when he would think about you in a way that was everything but innocent while you were deep in slumber in the other room, his room. He could touch you if he just walked through the door and reached out, but he always managed to pull back before doing something he knew he would regret. He liked you far too much to risk driving you away and he would just have to handle this frustration himself.

He imagined the way you would sound as he caressed you when he reached down to palm himself through the fabric.

He was doing so well, pushing away any impure thoughts and acting as gentlemanly as he could in giving you space you rightfully deserved. But when he heard a moan from your room that one night, something inside him snapped. He stood in front of your door, the last bit of self-control pulling him back as the sound of your rapid breaths and wet noises which he did not need to make a guess to know its source filled his ears. 

You sounded even more heavenly than he had imagined, and he could feel his own arousal building up.

You knew he was here and still decided to went through with it, knowing that there was a chance he would notice. Then it must have meant that you wanted it to happen, right? Right? 

He waited for you to object, to scream, to push him away when he climbed over your naked form, soaking in your body that was displaying wanton lust as clear liquid leaked from your cunt all over the sheets, but you didn’t. Your pupils were diluted as he stared at you, face flushed and filled with desire.

He took your silence as permission to keep going, and he did not miss the way you mewled when he gripped your wrist.

“Let me take care of that.”

He finally did what he wanted and talked to you, along with many other things that he had only dreamt of doing.

“Ouch! You’re stepping on my foot!” 

A yelp broke him out of his haze and he snapped back when you hit his shoulder. You had moved the record player down to the living room under his request and right now, soft music was playing as he held you in his arms, one hand on your waist and the other holding yours.

“You were the one who suggested we do this so you better focus.” You sent him a glare and he smiled apologetically.

“For someone who said they have been learning how to waltz for quite some time now,” you hissed when he hit your toe once again, “you are really bad at this.”

“Don’t blame it on me,” he said pulling you close to him until his cheek was right against yours, “never had a partner to practice with.”

You snorted, mumbling something about him playing the dead card every time. He grinned, feet moving clumsily in unison with yours in each step as he gently swayed you.

You stumbled when he suddenly twirled you around, clicking your tongue in mock judgment before he eased your scrawl with a light peck on the lips. 

You sighed. “Good thing we have plenty of time to get better at this.”

Shinsou smiled, thinking that he had finally found a way and someone to spend all this time he had never asked for.

“Yeah,” he said in between kisses, enjoying your warmth as you hook your arms around his neck, “plenty of time.”

(Back to the masterlist)

A:

Maliboo

[hearteyesbowen]

start of something new ☆ ricky bowen

what’s worse: accidentally auditioning for a play you didn’t want to be in, or falling in love with the lead actor in it?

warnings: fluff

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

It’s not that you hated school musicals, but you hated High School Musical. You never understood how they could break out into song and dance, or how everyone knows the choreography, or why Troy is so indecisive, or why Gabriella keeps having to leave somewhere every movie. The whole concept of that movie was so odd to you.

Nonetheless, you had to watch those movies for your friends, constantly. You’re best friends, Nini and Kourtney, became part of the cast and crew for your high school’s own production of the show. While they begged you to come along and audition for one of the parts or to help with costumes, you always said no. You did, however, help Kourtney buy fabrics and play the piano for Nini when she practiced her songs. You didn’t have any creativity in you to try and actually design costumes, and you definitely didn’t want to sing in front of a bunch of kids you barely notice in a school day. The only other kid you knew there was EJ Caswell, Nini’s boyfriend, and Ricky Bowen, Nini’s gorgeous ex-boyfriend.

You and Ricky were lab partners for chemistry class. He usually didn’t get the lecture and would always ask you for help with the class work or homework, but he was really sweet and funny. You developed a small crush for him a long time ago, but you never told anyone. Nini and Ricky began to date sophomore year, so out of respect for your best friend you got over your feelings for him and became more than happy for the two. They only dated for a month, ending on good terms after realizing they didn’t like each other in that way, but as friends only. Nini soon found EJ, you couldn’t deny developing those feelings again for Ricky. But you wouldn’t break girl code with Nini, so you shut out your crush once more.

“Come on, Y/N. Just come with us and you can see how fun it is.” Kourtney begged, using both arms to drag you across the halls and in front of the theatre door.

Nini was behind you, pushing your back tiredly. “You’re going to have so much fun! Maybe we can get you a part!”

“As what? The trash can?” You screamed, fighting back at your two friends. “I don’t want to spend my after school still at school! And Kourtney I swear if you keep digging your nails into my arm I will kick you.”

“Try me.” Kourtney warned.

You let out a loud whine and finally pull Kourtney’s strong grip on your arms out. You fixed your scrunched up sleeves on your sweater and held up your hands in defeat, hoping they would stop pushing and dragging you.

“I’ll go one time, and if I hate it then you both owe me.” You gave in.

They squealed in joy and grabbed at your arm again, rushing you both into the doors to the theatre. Nini opened the door so Kourtney can push you in. However, they didn’t realize that someone inside was already by the door. You were roughly pushed into a hard body, causing you both to fall. You landed on top of them, and heard a loud groan in pain. It took you a minute to get past your instant headache so you could look up and see who it was.

“Y/N, are you ok-oh no.” You heard Nini worry.

You placed your hands on both sides of the body you fell on and pushed yourself up, at the same time, feeling their hands at your waist. You were met with Ricky. His face was extremely close to you, so much so that your noses touched.

“I guess I can say that you fell for me, huh?” Ricky joked, pain clear in his voice.

“Sorry about that, Ricky. My friends are absolutely crazy.” You apologized.

You got up from the floor, offering a hand to Ricky. He took your offer, nearly pulling you onto the ground again with his strength. He rubbed the back of his head to where he landed.

“It’s fine, there’s no way I can be mad at you anyways.” He smiled. “Are you ok?” He moved his hand to the back of your head, rubbing in circular motions to soothe the pain.

You closed your eyes in peace, earning a chuckle from Ricky, “Yeah, I should be fine.”

“I’m really sorry, Y/N.” Kourtney yelled, running to you with Nini trailing behind her. “I’m also really sorry about that, Ricky.”

“All good, as long as Y/N’s fine then I’ll be ok.” Ricky said, looking at you with a grin. You shot him a quick smile. You looked back at your friends who gave you a confused, yet cheeky glance. You eyed them to stop making them act weird about you two.

“We’re going to go, I have to help Kourtney dress up Nini as Gabriella. See you around, sorry about falling on you again.” You rushed, dragging your best friends away from the now baffled Ricky.

You brought them to the costume rack that held all of the clothes you remember seeing Kourtney designing. The theatre was almost full, but everyone’s attention was mainly set on Carlos teaching them about the first dance number. You tried your best to hide yourself from Ricky, who you were afraid you would be foolish in front of again. Your two friends glanced at each other in confusion as to why you were being so nervous. They noticed you fiddling with your phone, almost dropping it as you grabbed it from your back pocket.

“What’s wrong, Y/N?” Kourtney asked, giggling at your panicking.

“I totally embarrassed myself in front of Ricky!” You whined.

Nini smirked at you, “So you do like Ricky.”

Your eyes widened in fear, and you were at a loss for words. You couldn’t just tell your best friend that you may or may not like her ex, especially after you told yourself you wouldn’t like him again.

“No, you’re crazy.” You denied, massaging your head from the pain earlier.

“Y/N, tell me the truth. Do you like Ricky? Because I won’t get mad if you do.” She replied, holding onto your shoulders.

You let out a sigh in defeat, rubbing your temples, “I didn’t want to, I fought with myself to try and get rid of that thought of him for you. I’m the worst friend ever.”

“Hey, don’t ever think that. Look, I have EJ now, and we’re really happy together. And Ricky and I are friends. So if you like Ricky, then I’ll be happy for you. Besides, I always did think of you two together at one point when we were in middle school.” Nini smiled, bringing you into a tight hug.

“But isn’t that weird to date your best friend’s ex boyfriend? Like that’s just wrong.” You argued.

“Ricky and I were just confused sophomores trying to figure out if we really did like each other or if listening to those stupid fortune tellers was a good idea. You could barely call that a relationship. I want you to be happy, Y/N. And if it’s with Ricky then let it be with Ricky.”

“Thank you, but I’m not going to try and ask out Ricky.” You said, looking down at your phone.

“Why not? You know how those boys are, if you don’t do anything then nothing will happen.” Kourtney argued.

“Then I guess nothing will happen, it’s just a crush. I’ll get over it in like a week.” You lied, stuffing your hands in the back pockets of your jeans.

You heard the squeak of the theatre door opening, revealing the drama teacher, Miss Jenn. You had never formally met her, but you always heard great things about her from Kourtney and Nini. Apparently she was an extra from the original movie, but you wouldn’t know.

She strutted into the room confidently, holding a large stack of papers stapled together that you assumed was the script for the musical. She walked up to Ricky and began talking to him, so you turned away. You didn’t want to seem like you were staring, although her voice was loud enough for you to hear across the school.

“Is Ashlyn here? Ricky needs help learning ‘Start of Something New.’” Miss Jenn asked loudly, causing everyone to avert their attention to the two. You saw Ricky’s uncomfortable face, making you giggle to yourself.

“Ashlyn has a dentist appointment today, she won’t make it.” EJ answered.

“What about Seb?”

“He’s learning choreography with Carlos.” Gina replied.

“Does anyone else know how to play the piano?” Miss Jenn helplessly looked around for anyone who knew.

You now regretted coming with your friends to their rehearsal, because you knew exactly what was coming up next.

Nini and Kourtney jumped up, raising their hands and screaming for Miss Jenn’s attention. They furiously pointed at you, and you hid your face in your hands so no one would see you.

“Y/N knows how to play the piano! She’s so amazing at it!” Nini exclaimed, pushing you towards the teacher.

“Is this true?” She pondered, removing your hands from your face.

“I’m not that good.” You answered, shaking your head. You couldn’t help but look at Ricky who gave you a small grin.

“She’s lying. She learned how to play Mozart’s pieces when she was in the second grade!” Nini and Kourtney held your shoulders as they continued to talk about you. “And she has a beautiful voice.”

Miss Jenn raised her eyebrows at their claims of you, and she pointed to Ricky as if she were asking you to help him.

You tried to defend yourself, “I can play a little, but I don’t sing.”

“Liar.” Kourtney blurted out.

You let out a large exhale, closing your eyes and rolling your head back to the ceiling. Why did you have to have such supportive friends? You looked back down and opened your eyes, nodding to Miss Jenn and walking with Ricky to the piano. As you both walked together, you could hear the screeching from your best friends.

“Apologies for having to work with me, you didn’t seem to excited.” Ricky said nervously.

He pulled the piano bench back for the two of you, ushering you to sit down first. You sat down and waved your hands, “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just not that confident about playing in front of a lot of people. Theatre isn’t really my thing.”

“I didn’t think it was mine too, but you might be surprised once you get involved in it.” He chimed.

You looked down at your hands and smiled, feeling heat rise to your cheeks. You cracked your knuckles and your neck aimlessly, something you tend to do before playing. Ricky laughed at your actions, attempting to do the same.

“Have you warmed up?” You questioned, quickly playing different scales to get you ready to read the music he placed in front of you.

“Yeah, I’m all set. Do you know this song?” He asked, turning the page to show the music, which so happened to be the only song you liked from the movie. You quickly skimmed over the notes, playing along small parts.

“This is the only thing I like from that movie.” You confessed, quickly learning the music.

“You didn’t like the movie?”

“Nope, now focus, you need to learn this song for your play.” You laughed, nudging his shoulders.

Ricky chuckled, and watched as your fingers glides across the keys seamlessly. He was amazed at how beautifully you played the piano, learning and playing the song at the same time. You took a small glimpse at Ricky, smiling and gesturing your head to the music sheets.

“Living in my own world, didn’t understand

that anything can happen, when you take a chance.”

He sang, looking at you for approval. You nodded at him and eyed him to keep singing.

“Can you sing Gabriella’s part? Nini’s busy right now and they sound really proud of your voice, although you don’t seem to be.” He smiled politely.

“I can’t sing.” You denied.

“That’s a lie, because I remember I accidentally walked in on you freshman year playing and singing to Adele. You were right here, alone, and singing your heart out.” Josh countered.

Your eyebrows furrowed as you slightly tilted your head, “Stalker, much?” You giggled.

Ricky’s face instantly grew red as he realized what he confessed to. His hand went to scratch the back of his neck. “Yeah, that does sound pretty stalker-ish, my bad. But I know you can sing, plus you owe me one for falling on me. So start at the chorus.”

You laughed, gazing at the music before reaching for the keys and building up the song from the verse to the chorus. You cleared your throat, getting your voice ready to sing with Ricky.

“This could be the start of something new

It feels so right to be here with you, oh.

And now, lookin' in your eyes

I feel in my heart the start of something new.”

You let the notes from the piano ring out, allowing you to take in your small duet. You stared down at your hands, biting your lip to hold back the smile forming. You gazed up at Ricky, who already stared down at you. He had an adoring smile, breathing out softly.

“Beautiful.” He whispered.

You felt yourself blush, so you moved your head a little to the side to hide the flushed color forming in your cheeks. Ricky’s hand softly pushed your cheek to look back at him. He scooted next to you even more so that no space was left between you two. He hesitantly leaned in, you instinctively doing the same. Both your eyes closed as your faces grew more near.

“You could play Kelsi!” Miss Jenn’s voice erupted in your ears from the other side of the stage.

You and Ricky jumped at her scream, bumping your foreheads together. You both let out a soft laugh from the moment. He mumbled ‘sorry’ to you as he rubbed your arm soothingly. Then the clicking of Miss Jenn’s heels rushing towards you burned your ears.

You turned around in your seat so you could face her. The moment she was up to you, she grabbed your shoulders, bringing you up from the bench and shook you.

“You would play a perfect Kelsi! You have such an amazing voice, and no one auditioned for her.” Miss Jenn screamed excitedly. Nini and Kourtney popped their heads up from behind the costume rack giving you a thumbs up. “Please say you will take her part. We would love to have a talent like you in our production.”

“I’m not sure if I can do that. I’ve never even talked in front of my class.” You acknowledged, pulling Miss Jenn’s hands from your shoulders as politely as you could.

Ricky stood up from the bench and next to you, placing his arm on your lower back. “You know, I’ve never thought about being in a play either, and now I’m playing Troy. You should give it a shot.”

You smiled up at Ricky, almost saying yes on the spot as you knew you got to be with him more.

“Just think about it, alright sweetheart?” Miss Jenn asked sweetly. You nodded your head and she walked back to Carlos.

Nini and Kourtney called your name repeatedly, waving you to come over to them. You looked back at Ricky, who noticed them as well. He pulled your arm so you could stand closer to him.

“Before you go, I wanted to ask if you were free tomorrow. I want to hang out more together.” He spoke lowly, hoping no one around you would listen.

“That would be nice.” You respond, sending a smile before walking back to your friends.

Once you reached the front of the costume rack, they both popped out from between the costumes, climbing through the rack and in front of you. They jumped up excitedly as they heard the offer from their teacher.

“Are you going to say yes?” Nini held your hands, giving you a hopeful smile.

“You know I can barely sing in front of you guys. Now I’ll have to sing and play the piano in front of the whole school and more?” You complained.

Kourtney eyed you, “Do you really want to spend the rest of your high school years doing nothing? Have you ever even joined a club?”

“I joined marching band freshman year, that was fun.” You replied, scrunching your nose up at the memory.

“You played the clarinet for half a year because some flute player threatened to fight you after she thought you hooked up with her boyfriend. Have you done anything else that hasn’t almost gotten you killed?” Kourtney sassed.

You gave a large sigh, scratching the back of your head. If you were to join the play, you could be with your best friends even longer than usual, but you would have to sing in front of a bunch of people. But your friends were still right, you should put yourself out there and do something, besides almost getting into fights with jealous flute players.

“I’ll do it, but don’t expect this to be a regular thing.” You warned.

Kourtney and Nini screamed in excitement, pulling you into a group hug. They started to jump up and down, gaining looks from the other theatre kids. Nini was the first to pull away, bringing you in front of her.

“Now let’s talk about that moment you and Ricky had right now!” She squealed.

You pinched your nose in embarrassment, “I thought no one saw that.”

“Girl, everyone couldn’t help but watch you two.” Kourtney giggled.

“Can we save this conversation for later? I want to go home now and finish my work so I can sleep in earlier.”

“We’ll make it quick!” Nini exclaimed.

“Did he tell you anything?” Kourtney wondered enthusiastically.

“He told me he wanted to hang out tomorrow.” Kourtney and Nini awed at his invitation.

“I’m so happy for you, Y/N. Now go home and do your homework, we’ll facetime you later.” Nini brought you into a warm hug. You smiled at her and went to hug Kourtney too before you grabbed your backpack and left the auditorium.

➢➣ ➢➣

You closed your laptop after finishing your essay for english. You lazily cleaned up your desk of all your school supplies. You had just finished calling Kourtney and Nini again after explaining the details of what happened with Ricky. The night was still young, enough for you to put in a little practice time. Might as well get ready for the play.

You yawned, stretching your arms and back once you stood up from your chair that you had been sitting at for more than two hours. You moved to the other corner of your room where your keyboard was. It was placed right next to your balcony door, which was purposely there so you could play while looking out at the nature below you, or the tree that covered your view. You closed the curtains, though, you didn’t want anyone to watch you in your room late at night.

You sat back down, cracking your back again of the discomfort from earlier. The sheet music Miss Jenn has given you before you left was already on the stand: “What I’ve Been Looking For.”

“This song is weird.” You mumbled to yourself.

You spent the next 15 minutes playing along to the music. It didn’t take long for you to master it. Curiosity overtook you; what would it be like if you sang it?

“It’s hard to believe

that I couldn’t see,

you were always there beside me-”

The sound of a tiny pebble hitting your balcony window startled you. You stopped playing, listening closer for a few seconds to see if you were crazy. You shook it off, playing the notes again. You were disrupted again by another rock. Now you were sure someone was there.

You stood up and hastily walked to the glass door. You unveiled the curtain, but you didn’t see anyone through the glass. You unlocked the door and slid it open. No one was on the streets or the sidewalks.

“Y/N!” Someone from directly below the balcony whispered loudly.

You look over and see none other than Ricky Bowen. You sighed in relief, happy that it wasn’t a robber. His guitar was strapped behind him and he had the biggest smile on his face.

“Are you crazy? What are you doing here so late?” You whispered, smiling at how insane he was.

“I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to see you. Can I come up?” He asked.

“How? I can’t let you in through the front door, my parents will see you.”

“I can climb trees too, you know.” He laughed.

You smiled while nodding. He instantly started to climb the tree that stood tall enough to reach you. It didn’t take him long until he stood in front of you. You felt instant déjà vu when you remember how similar this moment was to the original High School Musical.

“I couldn’t think of something original to do without disrupting your parents, so I saw you had a tree and decided to be totally cliche instead.” Ricky laughed.

“You missed me that much, huh?” You teased.

He stepped directly in front of you, “You have no idea.”

You giggled, leaning up to his face. He smiled widely at you, staring between your eyes and your lips. You inched closer to his lips, Ricky doing the same. Why not tease him a bit first? You moved your head to the side of his and kissed his cheek.

Ricky rolled his eyes playfully, then gasped. You raised an eyebrow, wondering what sparked in his brain. His hand reached inside his denim jacket and pulled out a singular red rose. Your heart melted at the gesture. You took the flower and held it to your chest.

You grabbed Ricky’s hand and led him to the inside of your room. He looked around interestingly at the inside.

“What?” You laughed.

“Your room is nice. I hope I can be on here more often.” He sent you a wink.

He witnessed the music on your piano, making him smile. It didn’t take long until he also noticed the guitar hidden behind one of your dressers. He took off his own guitar that was still strapped behind him and set it down next to your bed.

“I didn’t know you played.” Ricky pointed to your hidden instrument and picked it up.

You smiled as he saw it, “Not as much as you do, I barely know how to play it anymore.” You took it way from his hands and set it next by your nightstand.

You sat down in the center of your bed cross-legged. You patted the empty space in front of you for Ricky to sit. He gladly sat down next to you.

“I came here for a reason, and it’s because I wanted to sing you something.” He picked up his guitar again and put it on his lap. “I’ll try and sing quietly.”

You clapped your hands excitedly. Ricky blushed as you watched him fumble with his fingers, feeling more nervous to play in front of you.

“When we’re underneath the lights

my heart’s no longer broken.

For a moment,

just for a moment.

When we’re singin’ side by side

there’s so much left unspoken.

For a moment,

just for a moment.”

Ricky strummed the remainder of the song, smiling to himself. You couldn’t help but tear up at the music. He looked up as he finished playing to see your flushed face. He quickly took off the guitar and placed it beside you on your bed.

“That was beautiful, Ricky.” You gushed.

Ricky moved in front of you, holding onto your hand. “Nothing is as beautiful as you.”

Ricky placed his lips at yours, finally kissing you after hours of anticipation. He left his other hand at your neck, and you held the same hand. You kissed back hungrily, and Ricky took note of this.

He pushed you back against your headboard, his legs in between yours. You tangled your hands in his hair. Ricky placed his hands on either side of your body. You couldn’t have been more happier than you were now. Everything felt so right.

“Y/N? Are you ok? Are you talking to someone?” Your mother’s voice from downstairs interrupted you and Ricky.

You pushed Ricky off of your body and smoothed out your bed. He quietly got up and tried to grab his guitar, making his way to the balcony.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just watching some tv.” You yelled, motioning Ricky out the door.

You secretly opened the window, letting Ricky step out. You both silently laughed. He was about to climb back down until you grabbed his arm to pull him back to you.

You pulled from his neck down to you, reconnecting your lips. It was quick, but still gentle. He pulled away, a dazed look in his eyes. You smiled at his reaction.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, beautiful.” Ricky whispered, pecking your lips once more.

“See you tomorrow.” You waved at him before he sneakily climbed back down the tree.

You locked the door again and closed the curtain before your mother opened the door. She inspected the room, anticipating a person on your bed or hiding in your closet. She only grinned once she saw your guitar out from hiding.

“Since when did you start playing guitar again?” She wondered.

“I just really, really like the guitar a lot more now.”

A/N - this one is a more fluffy story , i really like it though lol hope u guys like it !! love y’all xx

[theexecutionerssong]

SKAM FRANCE BTS MASTERPOST

This is a master post of BTS anecdotes told in interviews, at cons, screenings and on social media. Don’t click the read more if you don’t want to lose some of the magic. I know sometimes knowing too much of how a show was shot can ruin it. Also, it’s very obvious that there was more promo starting around season 3 than for the first two seasons, don’t hold it against me. Feel free to message me if you think of something else as I must have forgotten a ton of things.

CASTING, REHEARSALS, BTS IN GENERAL

Skam France had the rights for the 4 seasons first but had to follow the original script almost to a T for the first 2 and if the audience was big enough then they would be allowed to distance themselves from OG

Skam France casted actors that were as close personality wise to their characters as possible, which made it easier for the cast to identify with their characters and made the friendships developping between the characters more believable since it was also developping off screen

They were not allowed to cast underaged actors who would have been closer to the real age of the characters due to the long hours of the shooting conditions

Most of the actors come from theatre and many had no or little previous experience with shooting for a camera before

The cast isn’t allowed to watch the clips before they air.

Most of the clothes they wear in the show are their own.

During rehearsals of the first seasons, Philippine went to the board with everyone’s names on it and wrote something funny next to Zoe’s name and wanted to send it to her but she messed up and published it on her ig stories, leaking the entire cast when it was still supposed to be a secret.

Lula’s first reaction when she got the script and “met” Daphné was “oh no I’m scared. I just want to slap her, she’s insufferable”

Assa almost didn’t audition for two reasons: the casting call didn’t specify they were looking for a woman of color and French casting calls almost always say whether they are specifically looking for a black woman. If it says nothing then they are usually looking for a white person. She thought she had no chance because of that. Second reason, after accepting the casting call, she did some research and found out OG Sana was from the Maghreb and she’s not. But her agent convinced her to go through with it, the only thing the skam france team wouldn’t negotiate was that they wanted a Muslim actress. There was no way they would have casted a non muslim actress/actor for Imane and Sofiane.

Skam France was the first TV show on French TV to have a black muslim  woman wearing a hijab as a main character

Paul, Robin and Axel knew each other before shooting, they’d met in Avignon.

Coline was still in her last year of high school when she shot the first two seasons.

Niels is the one who came up with a raccoon as Eliott’s spirit animal

They shoot about 15 minutes of usable content per day which is impressive (it’s usually 2-3 for movies released in theatres, 5-7 for TV programs)

When France TV told David the first two seasons were a success and they were renewing the show, he gave them a list of things he wanted to change so that he’d agree to come back to direct the next seasons, including a different camera, renewing the writers team (they included Niels), storylines, the ig content, etc. The new camera they got was a SONY Venice which allows them to play a lot with the focus/blur ratio and the cold and warm undertones, which made a major shift in the visual quality of seasons 3 and 4 compared to the previous 2.

David named Eliott after his son.

Having the teaser from Eliott’s POV was David’s idea. It’s the first remake to have a clip from the French Even’s POV

The bus stop from season 3 is fake, it doesn’t exist. It wasn’t even shot in Paris itself but in Saint Ouen.

Maxence didn’t watch OG - besides the towels in the bathroom clip - because he wanted to create his own Eliott without being too influenced, and he didn’t watch s1 and 2 of skam france either because he wanted Eliott to discover the characters without knowing their backgrounds.

Maxence wasn’t supposed to audition. He wanted to be done with his acting school before shooting anything but the head of the casting team came to watch a public class at his school and asked him to audition for Eliott at the end. David and Niels knew right away he was the one. Niels watched the audition tapes and was very impressed with another actor but within the first 3 seconds of watching Maxence, he knew it wouldn’t be anyone else. Maxence met Axel after the 3rd call back and they clicked right away. He’d broken his foot two days earlier so he was in crutches. They watched Even’s manic episode and had to improvise a similar scene but had to do with the crutches. They also went for a drink before shooting and they talked for hours, their connection was instantaneous. 

When he learned Maxence was cast, Axel went on his instagram and saw the model pictures and thought he was way too hot with the abs and everything and he himself would look like a potato during the nude scenes next to him. So he got a coach and for 3 months he trained and got on a very strict diet. He was disappointed that there were no shots where you could actually see his abs properly in Skam. He had also said months before that he had gotten a coach because before they started shooting seasons 3 and 4, he had met up with Marilyn to get advice on how to carry a season and she had told him to get a coach otherwise he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the pace. So what is the truth?

It leaked that Maxence was casted in July 2018 because someone on a Korean website recognized his shoes in an IG story from when he’d been spotted at the airport months earlier but it was kept mostly under wraps. Then his and Lais’s names leaked too a couple of months later but most people hadn’t seen his face before the trailer.

David asked Axel and Maxence to give up their phones and social media during the couple of months they were shooting to be really focused and not get distracted by the outside world and they mostly did. Axel bought an mp3 to still have music, he wrote “LUCAS ♥” on it with a white out pen. He created a playlist for Lucas, including songs like Run Boy Run and I love you by Woodkid, and To Build a Home by the Cinematic Orchestra.

Maxence’s process to get ready for a shot: he does yoga and dances a lot in the morning. he puts music on and paces a room while picturing himself standing on the edge of a cliff and if at some point he feels like falling and loses his balance, it means he’s got it. He asks that all the scripts he gets be printed on the right side of the page and on the left he takes notes about what the character is feeling through 7 different states: love, hate, fear, power, vulnerability, sex and i hate myself for not remembering the last one. To play a scene properly, you have to conjure up 4 states to create one emotion. He loves that David respects his method and is able to adapt to every member of the cast’s method. He also uses his body as a tool, for example if his character has to feel lonely or unsure, he will curl up into a ball for an hour without moving and then he’ll be in the right mindset because his body is telling him he’s isolated. That’s the method he used for Eliott, he created “lost scenes” that weren’t in the script, moments in between scenes with Lucas, to get more into Eliott’s mindset.

Maxence wrote a letter to Eliott, drew a picture of him, and spent hours adding notes to the script about his personality before even trying to get into his mind. 

There was a contest for the drawings in season 3. Maxence participated but didn’t get picked. Jeanne Lelièvre did!

All the social media content for seasons 3 and 4 were shot on the same day in December 2018 which is why you can see heavy winter clothing even when the content was published in May. For season 3, most ideas were Axel’s, and Maxence said no to 90%. 

While shooting for seasons 3 and 4, Axel was also on stage every night for theatre

To prepare for his role in s3, Axel watched CMBYN, Moonlight, and The Office 

They received more feedbacks from international fans than French ones at first. It was even a private joke between Niels and David, there were no comments in French on Youtube. Then the piano clip happened and David’s phone went crazy with notifications. He was in the editing room with Jérémy and the buzzing from his phone was non stop. They banned phones in the editing room after that.

Skam France owes part of its popularity to how accessible the cast and crew are, either on social media or IRL, with 6 entirely free events organized to get the fans and the cast and crew to meet, watch episodes together and have Q&As during seasons 3 and 4.

Skam France shooting locations have become extremely popular for the fans to hang out at and leave little mementos, to the point that the mayor of Paris has asked the team to pick completely untraceable locations, or make sure they are not in Paris itself for the next seasons

Skam France was the first remake to get renewed for 2 (possibly 4?) original seasons

Alexia and Daphné were supposed to have their own seasons they but couldn’t get the green light from Norway. He got the idea for Arthur’s story quite quickly after but they had to rework the scripts for seasons 5 and 6 a lot. Robin talked to David about his addiction to video games and how it could be a potential theme but in the end David chose deafness instead.

SEASONS 1 AND 2

It was Coline’s idea to make Alexia bi. There was a scene when Alexia mentions an ex boyfriend and she asked David “why wouldn’t it be a girl?” and his only reaction was “Ok. What’s her name?” and that’s how bi!Alexia was born.

It was also Coline’s idea to give Alexia’s colorful hair. She later regretted it because she had to bleach her hair twice to get the blue to stay and it fried her hair.

Assa’s worst memory of shooting s1 and 2 is when the girls have to carry Daphné, she kept dropping her and was afraid of hurting her.

Marilyn and Lula ruined the scene when the girls are having breakfast all together when they are on the countryside because they couldn’t stop laughing over carrots and the crunchy noise it was making. It was the last day of shooting and their nerves were all over the place.

SEASON 3

The first scene in the common room didn’t hit them that much, they didn’t realize the impact it would have because the whole shooting was just David yelling at them to look at each other then stop then do it again then stop etc

Nobody realized how big of an impact the “Moi c’est Eliott” line would have and then when they watched the clip, it was obvious.

The check de gang wasn’t scripted, it was Paul’s idea to make it a running gag. David wasn’t sure about it but after doing it just once, he was sold. Basile tripping over the bench was also Paul’s idea but he didn’t warn anyone he was doing it so Xavier started laughing and the camera was shaking so bad that they couldn’t keep it and had to reshoot the scene. They noticed during the editing process that Robin also tripped at the same time in the background during one take so they had to keep that one. 

Lucas playing the piano was Axel’s idea even though he didn’t know how to play properly. He sent a text to David at the end of June with different ideas for songs and David picked the most difficult one. He then practiced anytime he could until they shot the scene in october. It took him two months to learn it completely and then a little more to make it look easy.  (Niels later said it was his idea and that Axel was a cheeky little shit). Maxence had never heard Axel play the song before that moment so Eliott’s reaction is genuine. He didn’t think he’d manage to get in the right state of mind because the apartment was too small for the whole team and they were all very cranky, it was 3 am, but the moment he heard the first notes, he forgot all about it and was completely amazed.

The infiltration party: David asked that Basile pushes Daphné a bit, like shoves her out of the way when they have to run, but they hadn’t had the time to rehearse anything. After a couple of takes, Paul pushed Lula a bit too hard and she fell on her knees quite hard. He felt so bad because he never wanted to hurt her and they all had to take a half an hour break because her knees hurt. David after that was like OKAY NO MORE STUNTS EVER.

Axel got mad at the makeup department because the two lines on his face were not on the same place when they shot the outside scene and then once inside. He got so angry he could have cried that they wouldn’t believe him. So during the shooting he looked straight at the camera and wiped them away with the back of his hand to force them to draw the lines properly.

The first kiss scene: they had been shooting for 12 hours. It was raining intermittently all day so the team had to pack up the cameras often and wait it out when it was too much. They ran 4 hours late. They had a fake rain machine but no change of clothes so they could only shoot once. Below the bridge is not easily accessible, it’s a long path from the gate, so they used ropes to get things up and down from the bridge. They only had one shot. They had already shot kissing scenes but David was always telling them it had to be more passionate and kept yelling at them to use more tongue so for that shot they gave it their everything on the first (and only) take they did. 5 minutes later they were shooting the Remember scene.

They shot all the scenes in the colloc on the first week of shooting. Minute by minute was shot right before Samedi 9h17. They had to restart shooting samedi 9h17 four times because something wasn’t working between Axel and Maxence, they were clumsy and stressed. After taking 5 minutes to themselves with David to remind themselves of how pivotal the scene was, Axel and Maxence said they were ready and they shot the opening scene that made the cut.

The Phase de latence clip : Axel and Maxence felt like terrible actors because they had already shot all the big very emotional scenes and this was a bit tamer since Eliott doesn’t show much emotions. They felt that way about all the scenes shot in the school.

The Fête de trop clip: They shot the fight with the guys 8 times but it wasn’t enough for David until Robin slapped Axel on the 9th. After that they shot Chloé yelling at Lucas. Axel was still out of it due to the slap he’d gotten earlier that he hadn’t expected. At 3am, they finished with Lucas injuring his hands. Axel cracked the metacarpus in his hand and only told David two days later.

Leo has talked about the coming out bench scene and said Yann took it a bit too far and was too dramatic, he was like “i don’t know if i can say that… but c’mon… I mean. C’mon… that’s your best friend… who cares if he didn’t tell you right away, he had bigger problems on his mind, right?”He would have done it differently.

The “viens on n’en parle pas” scene was shot in 50 minutes in the middle of the night on the second day of shooting. Marilyn and Axel’s emotions were briming under the surface so it was one of the easiest scene to shoot.

The hardest scene to shoot for David in s3 was the intervention clip. It was the second day of shooting, the 4th clip of the day. Axel’s first take was not good enough and David was scared it would set the tone for the season. He had a stern talk with Axel. Thankfully, they shot a second time and it was the right one, everyone on set was crying and Axel was completely drained.  

The scene where they go get the couch from the creepy place is the one they shot last for season 3.

The paint scene: they only had one try. Axel and Maxence hadn’t shot together for a week, David had done it on purpose and they’d missed each other. It was shot on a Friday at the exact time it was supposed to happen IRL. The whole thing lasts 14 minutes long. David took their pants off because they were slipping too much. Xavier almost stopped filming he was like “is he serious? did he just take their pants off??”. They shot a part when one of them slips on the ground and the other follows but that didn’t make the cut. There were 25 people on set, everyone in a suit to protect from the paint, but Axel and Maxence forgot everyone and just got lost in their characters. When David yelled cut, Axel and Maxence didn’t hear him and kept making out. David had to separate them. Then they all were so happy that they yelled their joy but then saw all the people who were behind the camera, and everyone was crying, like they had witnessed something too intimate. They showered for an hour, emptied 2 bottles of soap and even then it wasn’t enough, Axel still had paint running down his neck at a party that evening. The music used on set was Dreamer, the Khlar remix. Maxence was upset it wasn’t the one they ended up using in the clip, it felt like a betrayal because it “wasn’t the song they had made love to”.

Maxence fought with the costume department over the briefs he was wearing in the paint scene, because they had shot the PONI scene first and he could remember which ones he was wearing for the PONI scene and he wanted to wear the same ones. He was sure people would notice.

The first scene Maxence ever shot was the PONI scene. 

The boat scene was quite special. It was a big moment for Maxence, he was extremely nervous, so David reduced the team on set as much as he could. Maxence got upset at Axel for being too present during the scene. Being used to a theatre stage, Axel is always a bit over the top, eating his ham with a flourish, stuff like that, but this was supposed to be Eliott’s big scene. Maxence asked for a break and told David that if Axel didn’t tone it down, he’d kill him. That also got resolved quickly. 

The Remember Me scene: the priest is Lula’s dad. Lula and Niels both make a cameo in the church. They forgot to warn Axel that a car was coming when he’s running so his reaction is genuine. He was running so fast, the minivan with the camera couldn’t keep up so they shot it twice. They shot Lucas finding Eliott under the bridge just after shooting the first kiss. Maxence only had 4 minutes to get into the right state of mind which was extremely challenging and during that time he had to change his clothes, dry his hair and redo his makeup. Axel wasn’t feeling very well, he was exhausted after having shot 4 clips that day, but David told him he could do it so he ran on the path to the bridge harder than ever (David thought he was going to hurt his sinews) and when he fell to his knees, he was close to passing out, you can actually hear when he says the first “t’es pas tout seul” that he’s about to throw up / can’t breathe properly. They only shot that part once and after it was done David told them they should hug each other because what they had just done with Lucas and Eliott was precious and a moment to remember.  

There was supposed to be a scene after the Remember scene but it was cut. Eliott is sleeping, Lucas brings him food and starts reading his book and then Eliott wakes up. They say hi, Eliott is confused about the time it is, it’s already late afternoon. He says he needs to leave, but Lucas tells him no. He keeps saying he has to go, he has to go to his parents. Lucas tells him it’s fine, they’ve been warned of where he is. But he says he’s got to leave anyway. Lucas asks him why he keeps insisting he needs to leave and Eliott tells him he just doesn’t want Lucas to see him like this. Lucas tells him he doesn’t mind. Then he starts teasing him, saying Eliott just wants to leave because he doesn’t want to own up to the fact that he lied to him. Eliott is confused. Lucas reminds him that he’d said there was no way he would ever be able to sleep next to a guy that hot (on the boat) and yet here they are actually taking naps. So Eliott must have lied to Lucas about finding him hot. Eliott says he’s an idiot and Lucas tells him that at least he’s not a liar at that what matters is that he is his idiot. “Congrats, you’re now the owner of an idiot… more or less hot” Eliott tells him he’s won and asks what they should do now. Lucas answers that they should start by saying hi properly and they kiss, and when they pull back they just look at each other whispering “salut”. Axel said he was upset at David for cutting the scene because it was so soft and intimate, he called him when he watched the episode to ask why he cut it, but it would have been too repetitive with the following Lundi 17h21 clip.

Lundi 17h21 is the second clip Maxence shot. Lucas’s “T’es beau quand tu rigoles” wasn’t scripted, Axel changed the script, he was supposed to say something about liking seeing Eliott smile.

The Je t’aime scene: the first shot they did was the most emotional one, it was one of the hardest scenes emotionally for Axel. He was crying so so much, he had tears and snot everywhere, and Maxence was just wiping it away so tenderly that David thought about keeping that shot but the snot was REALLY disgusting so they didn’t keep it. They shot it a few more times, except that then Maxence had to leave. So the shot of Lucas saying Moi aussi is actually to David. Axel said it didn’t feel weird because he does love David so it felt true.

SEASON 4

Assa sat down with the team before they wrote anything for the season and told them her whole life story. It lasted 4 hours and she cried when reading the script because they had included so many things she had told them, it felt like her and Imane were one.

Making Assa dance was Philippine’s idea. David asked her what she thought about when thinking of Assa, something that was really her and Philippine said “Dada, you should see her dance”

Moussa and Assa knew each other before since they had filmed together 5 years prior, a movie in which they already were siblings. They feel like siblings in real life.

The worst clip to shoot was on Lais’s first day of shooting, it was the bus clip. The shooting conditions were terrible, there was too much noise, and the crew was tired from having shot the 3 bus stop clips from season 3 earlier that day. David was convinced there would be nothing to save and they would have to rent another bus but the team worked their magic in post prod and it turned out amazing.

They shot the scene with Imane, Lucas and Eliott in class the day after Halloween. Maxence was at a party the night before and lost track of time. He had to take a taxi straight from the party to the set at 6am and showed up in full zombie costume and makeup.

Charles come back: it had been cloudy and raining all day but the moment the camera was on the girls’ faces, a ray of sunlight appeared and the wind blew in their hair, making it a real dramatic moment. Too good to pass on, it’s the shot they kept.

The fight between Lucas and Eliott that we vaguely hear in the background was just gibberish. Axel and Maxence hadn’t prepared anything and Axel just ended up shouting at Maxence things like YOU LIED TO ME BEFORE ABOUT LUCILLE YOU MIGHT BE DOING IT AGAIN ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE and Maxence NO I WOULD NEVER - BUT YOU DID - NO I WOULDN’T - YES YOU DID - NO and they kept going in circles so David was like “guys…. please, you might want to start screaming about something else or this is gonna sound very repetitive” but in the end we can barely hear anything so it didn’t matter much

When Alex comes to pick up Emma to go to the cinema, Assa had a break down and couldn’t stop laughing, hiding under a blanket and making all the girls laugh too with her. David had to scold them a bit to get them to stop.

Lais also ruined a clip by laughing for 15 minutes straight, it’s the clip at Imane’s house when they talk about the fair. It was the longest 15 minutes of the crew’s life. 

The oui oui song during Daphné’s birthday party wasn’t planned, the team just lost control of the cast. Axel started it and everyone followed. The cast are actually terrible extras. They are too dramatic and noticeable in the background so party scenes like Daphné’s birthday were a nightmare to shoot. 

Assa and Laïs rehearsed the Unknown dance clip every chance they got between every take, everyone kept tripping on them in the corridors.

The last sequences they filmed were actually the last clips at Imane’s house for the Eïd. Axel isn’t in the last shot because he had to leave for his play. He actually ruined the very last clip of season 4 by shouting his goodbyes to David from across the corner.

SEASON 5

The auditions for season 5 and 6 were held in June. Lucas was spotted through his youtube channel and asked to audition. 

Coline learned sign language by herself after an initiation class with the whole team. She started signing in July and has been practicing ever since. Robin took a one week class in September and then kept practicing by himself and with the D/deaf people on set. David and the rest of the team also took an initiation class.

Robin doesn’t like water and was anxious about the scenes in the pool. David got in the water with Xavier, Robin and Winona to reassure him and direct them better. They limited the number of extras around the pool because of that.

The place where Eliott works is where David used to work when he was younger.

Coline wrote a song for the season

They couldn’t leave the mural in the high school so they took it off the wall (it wasn’t actually painted on the wall itself) and cut it into pieces. There are a few pieces framed on the walls of Lucas and Eliott’s flat.