#yes I named this after a line in the first Hamilton song

[musicalmoritz]

Hey uh ,,, do you have any songs that reminds you of tbhk? Like specific characters or relationships ?? (Also I plan on updating my mitsukou playlist I have for coping reasons so some recommendations on that would be nice) ( little cat ^. . ^ / )

OKAY so a little bit embarrassing but the way I listen to music 99% of the time is by imagining my hyperfixations with whatever I’m listening to so I am the perfect person to ask this question. Fair warning tho my music taste does dabble in basic territory. This is gonna be looooooong so fasten your seatbelts

• Using You by Mars Ago is such an AoiAoi song to me. There’s always one specific ship in a fandom that fits this song perfectly and for TBHK that is 100% AoiAoi

• Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana gives me HakuSumi and Sakuhiko vibes. I lean more towards HakuSumi tho bcuz…well…those of you who know the meaning of this song will get it LOL

• Soooooo many Beetlejuice musical songs remind me of TBHK. I started to make like a whole playlist that told the plot of TBHK through musical theatre songs but I gave up after the Mitsuba arc and it never made it to Spotify. Maybe someday…

• Say My Name from Beetlejuice is obviously very HanaNene coded. And The Whole “Being Dead” Thing is giving Hanako coded. Dead Mom is very Kouded

• I Know It’s Today from the Shrek musical always makes me think of Nene

• Drift Away from Steven Universe…very Yako. Her waiting for Misaki every day before learning he died…oof

• Dear Theodosia from Hamilton Remind’s me of the Minamoto Siblings. With Teru as Burr singing abt Kou and then Kou as Hamilton singing abt Tiara

• Beautiful Boy by John Lennon reminds me of Teru and Kou

• On a similar note, I Wanna Hold Your Hand by The Beatles is soooooooo NeneMei coded. Yes I’m talking abt that scene where Nene asked Mei to hold her hand to trick her in an escape attempt. I think about it often

• Townie by Mitski makes me think of Teru. “I am not gonna be what my daddy wants me to be” yeah…

• Ever since I heard HISS by Megan Thee Stallion it has made me think of Teru. I feel like he would be her biggest fan

• Mine by Taylor Swift works so well for any Aoi ship but specifically Aoinene or AoiAoi. “You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter” I mean c’mon her fears surrounding love all stem from her father abandoning her so yeah

• Okay you specifically asked for Mitsukou so I should probably talk abt them

• To me they are so Lana Del Rey core…Video Games…Ultraviolence…the Diet Mountain Dew demo…Summertime Sadness…Yes I know I’m making her most popular songs, hush

• Line Without A Hook by Ricky Montgomery. It’s extra gut-wrenching when it’s from Mitsuba’s pov imo but it works both ways

• Waving Through A Window from Dear Evan Hansen is so Sousuke core

• All of Taylor Swift’s Red album reminds me of them but specifically All Too Well (both versions), Red, Sad Beautiful Tragic, Stay Stay Stay, Begin Again, Better Man, Come Back…Be Here, The Very First Night, and…yeah basically all of Red (Taylor’s Version)

• Northern Downpour by Panic! At the Disco also makes me think of them, this is embarrassingly my favorite song of all time I can’t lie

• Lacy by Olivia Rodrigo is so Aoinene core, yes I have written a fic abt them with that title (a lot of these come from my fic titles ngl)

• Tainted Love by Soft Cell gives me strong Terukane vibes from Akane’s pov

• I Wanna Dance With Somebody and So Emotional by Whitney Houston both remind me of Aoinene as well, basically all of her album Whitney does ngl

• Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks makes me think of Natsuhiko

• Bernadette by IAMX reminds me of Sakuhiko

• She Liked A Boy by Nxdia is very Aoinene coded

• Stupid With Love from the Mean Girls musical makes me think of MeiAoi, specifically the version with No.4 Mei

• Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera is canonically Hanako coded like c’mon we have a whole au for this

• In addition, Think Of Mei is very Nene coded, All I Ask Of You is Mitsukouded, Notes is v Terukane coded, and the title song is so HanaNene

• Valley Of The Dolls by Marina is lowkey Aoi core with the whole “pick a personality” line and the concept of losing your identity as a woman due to the boxes society puts us in

• Gemini Moon by Reneé Rapp reminds me of Kou or Akane (mainly bcuz of the “I could never pick a side” line…bi kings)

• Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra makes me think of HanaNene (any old music does tbh, I have a whole playlist for it)

• Me and My Husband by Mitski is, like, THE Hakusumi song

• There Is A Light And It Never Goes Out by The Smiths is so Mitsukou like “to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die” ?? C’mon

• Violently shaking trying not to name every Fall Out Boy song in existence

• The Pros and Cons of Breathing is SO Aoinene guys (“wish that I was as invisible as you make me feel”)

• Hum Hallelujah could theoretically be Kou

• HOT TO GO! by Chappell Roan is the vibe I have assigned to Minami and Himari

• Stacy’s Mom for Mitsuba’s mother. No elaboration needed.

• You’re On Your Own, Kid by Taylor Swift makes me think of Teru :(

• Lithium by Nirvana reminds me of Akane but also every Nirvana song ever reminds me of Akane, I have assigned Akane to Nirvana

• Whitney Houston’s iconic cover of I Will Always Love You for HanaNene…yes indeed

• Taste by Sabrina Carpenter with Terukaneaoi (Teru sings it to Akane so instead it’s “you’ll just have to taste me while SHE’S kissing you”)

• I have assigned Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts album to HanaNene and Sour to Mitsukou

• Bcuz c’mon, Deja Vu is such a Mitsukou/Soukou song

• Maneater by Daryl Hall & John Oates is Ghost Hotel au Kou and then Maneater by Nelly Furtado is main universe Mitsuba (get it? bcuz cannibalism but also they’re gay-)

• I like the concept of a “maneater” being a gay man and a “womanizer” being a lesbian. Therefore Womanizer by Britney Spears is Mei’s song

• Oops! I Did It Again by Britney Spears is Aoi with AoiAoi

• Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter is Aoimei with OG Mei, Bad Chem is HakuSumi, and Please Please Please is Sakuhiko

• Holding Out For A Hero by Bonnie Tyler is a Natsuteru song I have dubbed it that way

• Landslide by Stevie Nicks is so Aoinene it hurts… “well I’ve been afraid of changing ‘cuz I built my life around you”

• Every Breath You Take by The Police reminds me of Mitsukou from Kou’s pov…my boy can get a little obsessive

• Obsessed by Olivia Rodrigo is THE Sakunene song, especially since Nene thought Sakura was Hanako’s girlfriend when they first met

• Honorable Mention by Fall Out Boy is lowkey Mitsuba like hear me out…or maybe more-so Sousuke

• Their song Pretty In Punk reminds me of both Mitsukou and Hanamitsu

• Two Player Game from Be More Chill is HanaKou and then A Guy That I’d Kinda Be Into is Mitsukou

• Part Of Your World from The Little Mermaid makes me think of Nene and then Poor Unfortunate Souls is Sakura (or Tsukasa). Kiss The Girl is HanaNene or Aoinene

• Kiss Me by Sixpence None The Richer is Terunene, I’m sorry Ik a lot of ppl hate it but I adore them

• On that note of overhated ships I love, Jessie’s Girl by Rick Springfield reminds me of TeruAoi

• Ooooh and Uptown Girl by Billy Joel is a MeiAoi song

• My Girlfriend Is A Witch by October Country is so Aoimei and Sakuhiko core

• I Fall In Love Too Easily by Chet Baker makes me think of Nene

• I could make a whole separate post abt TBHK and Taylor Swift songs so I’m trying not to yap abt her too much but When Emma Falls In Love also reminds me of Nene. And The Archer is Hanako. And Mirrorball is Akane. And The Lucky One is Aoi. And-

• The Masochism Tango by Tom Lehrer is so Mitsukou but specifically the way I write them, you guys have to see the vision (Natsuteru as well)

• Miss You Much by Janet Jackson is lowkey AoiAoi core, ngl I just wanted an excuse to bring up Janet Jackson

• And Escapade by Janet Jackson is Aoinene so real so true

• I have seen ppl attribute Picture You by Chappell Roan to Meinene and I agree. I will add that Casual is Sakuhiko core from Natsuhiko’s pov

• Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide by David Bowie reminds me of Terukane, both as individual characters and as a ship

• I Know You by Faye Webster is like THE AoiAoi/Terukaneaoi song to me

• Paper Bag by Fiona Apple is Mitsuba to me, trust I will be writing a fic that uses a line from this song as the title (unless it’s already been done before…it’s a very popular song so like that’s possible…)

• Lonely Hearts Club by Marina makes me think of TeruAoi

• Animal Cannibal from Possibly in Michigan fits both Sumire and Mitsuba imo

• No Surprises by Radiohead makes me think of both Teru and Kou

• Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths also makes me think of Kou

• Our Last Summer by ABBA reminds me of the Severance arc in a very bittersweet way, specifically the ending

• Silver Springs by Fleetwood Mac fits like so many ships. Hakusumi, Mitsukou, HanaNene…

• Killing Me Softly With His Song by Fugees and Ms. Lauryn Hill makes me think of Sumire/Hakusumi

• I Put A Spell On You by Nina Simone is very Sakura core to me

• Heart Of Glass by Blondie with Mitsuba hear me out hear me out

• Smooth Criminal by Micheal Jackson with Aoi and the amount of times she’s almost died lol

• The Boys Of Summer by Don Henley with Hanako and Kou, or Kou/Yokoo/Satou

• Moon River with HanaNene. Now cry.

• Romeo And Juliet by the Indigo Girls with Aoimei

• Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads with Tsukasa

• And circling back to the musical songs. A Lovely Night from La La Land with MeiAoi

• Fight For Me from Heathers with Mitsukou. Candy Store with Terukaneaoi. Seventeen with HanaNene. Meant To Be Yours with any ship tbh these guys are all insane. Lifeboat with Aoi. Much to think about

• Stars from Les Misérables with Teru. Let me repeat. STARS FROM LES MISÉRABLES WITH TERU. He is so Javert coded Javert my babygirl from my favorite piece of media of all time that literally shaped who I am as a person

• Right Where You Left Me by Taylor Swift with Sumire

• Also all of the Sweeney Todd musical gives me TBHK vibes with all the cannibalism, I could make a whole au

• Camisado by Panic! At the Disco with Teru

• No Good Deed from Wicked with Hakubo snapping after Sumire’s death…Hakubo my beloved

• Popular from Wicked with Aoinene, What Is This Feeling? with Terukane

• The Confrontation from Jekyll & Hyde with the Yugi twins

• Don’t Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl with Nene

• Suddenly Seymour from Little Shop Of Horrors with Aoinene, AoiAoi, Mitsukou, or HanaNene

• I like to imagine Unlikely Lovers from Falsettos with Aoinene and Terukane

• Two Wuv by Tally Hall with Teruaoinene

• American Beauty/American Psycho by Fall Out Boy with AoiAoi

Okay I’m cutting myself off because the music + hyperfixation brainrot will never end. I hope this was somewhat enjoyable to ya’ll lol ty for giving me the chance to yap abt this

[kiennilove]

WEDNESDAY TAG GAME!! birthday edition :3

thanks @energievie for this amazing tag game!! happy birthday <333

and thanks @spookygingerr for tagging me :3

when is yours? 22nd of january

where were you born? in the galaxy far away

how do you feel about your legal name? are you using it online and/or IRL? i like my name, but i feel very weird when people call me by it… like my gut screams “oh-uh, i messed up”, so i only go by funny or soft nicknames. i used it online when i was 13 i think?? it was the first and the last time :P

how about your sign? do you feel it "fits"? i’m aquarius and from what i’ve read it’s 50/50

what's your earliest memory related to your birthday? when i turned i think 5, my mom hired the weirdest (in a good way) entertainer ever, i’ll never forget her lol she was in a role of a national folklore witch and i enjoyed every second of it :3

what's one of the best gifts you've ever received? ipad for me to draw :3 it’s been 5 years at this point since then, and i’m still using it

how about one of the best you've given yourself? i don’t know… i usually don’t buy myself gifts exactly for my birthday, but i save money i was given, and after a bit of savings and getting a job i bought myself a new phone about two weeks ago hehe

what's your favourite cake flavour? red velvet

how about your favourite flowers? orchids and lilies!!

have your ever thrown a birthday party? If yes, tell us about your favourite one. i (my parents mostly) stopped doing them after i turned 10, but this year was a bit different. i was turning 20 and it was the first time i had my best friend of 5 years to stay at my place for a sleepover. we watched movies with young cam and noel in them, it was a lot of fun. i miss it :(

what's the ultimate birthday song? “adulting” by beach bunny. kinda depressing though :(

and last but not least, pick a celebrity with whom you share your birthday. is philip hamilton a celebrity?? if not, then guy fieri xD

tags below the line!!

@nymacron @badassfetish @atthedugouts @iheartmoons @dom-top-daddy @hazeisblue @mickeym4ndy and everyone else who wants to join us!

[twigstarpikachutroll22]

3, 4, 5, 11, 18, 19, 34, 37, 38, 40

*Berry flicks me in the back of the head with her fingers*

Ow!

"Hey Twig, you've been forgetting that when Sparkle sends asks they're for both of us again. I'm jumping in on this post now. We get in double the amount of songs that way."

Oh! Okay! Sorry. I'm really sorry I don't know why the frick I keep forgetting--

"It’s. It’s fine. Honestly, I forget too, which is kinda even more upsetting. Well anyways, I'm here now. And I can go through your previously answered asks and get on any of those I’ve missed after."

3) a song tied to a specific moment in your life

Not really a specific moment so much a specific period of time, but, Problem Child by Simple Plan reminds me very strongly of 6th grade.

"The Middle of a Moment from the James and the Giant Peach musical adaptation reminds me of when I first left home."

4) a song that is not sung in your native language

H@ppy Together from Fresh Precure.

"Aisling's song from The Secret of Kells!"

YOOOOOO WHY DIDN'T THAT ONE OCCUR TO ME FIRST KJGSHDGKJSDLIGBSDAG

"I have no idea. That was like, your favorite scene back when you were watching The Secret of Kells like, every day."

I mean. Technically that one has a line that's in english.

"Yeah, exactly ONE line. That comes around like, twice. The entire rest of the song is not in english. It counts.

...If it doesn't count, Imma say Histoire de Mensonges by Fred Pellerin."

OH POOP WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF PRISENCOLINENSINAINCIUSOL

"WHY DIDN'T YOU OH MY GOD anyway that's already FOUR songs instead of two, next question."

5) a song over 5 minutes long

The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace by The Amazing Devil.

"The Most Unwanted Song!"

dsjhfsdkjg the way I'm the one who names a song by the band that makes everything sound like something out of high fantasy, and my best friend who's literally fae names the song literally crafted in a lab to be the worst song ever.

*Berry shoves me*

11) something you'd give ANYTHING to hear performed live

What comes to mind is musicals that I’ve listened to the soundtrack of but haven’t seen. Saw the Hamilton proshoot but never saw it live, seeing it live really really must be AMAZING.

“I think if somecreature were able to perform The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku live I would HAVE to see that.”

JFOISDHGOUASDGBISDGUISDVGIUSDVUIFAVSDIUGVUISDBGSDUIAGDSIVUIVGUIDSVUIFVSDUIVGUISDFDSUVGDIUSVGDAISUGAS okay your answer’s entirely a jillion times better than mine and I 100,000% agree.

“Aurelio Voltaire songs must be amazing live too, if we had to stick to like, naturally humanly possible things.

But seriously. Disappearance of Hatsune Miku.”

Yes.

18) a song that demands lip syncing into a makeshift microphone

What comes immediately to mind is 30/90 from Tick Tick Boom but it's not lip syncing so much as fully belting along to it so really it's more of an answer to 16 than 18.

"Yeah, this is kind of a hard one for us 'cause we don't really DO lip-syncing so much as just singing along, huh? Hmm. I do see you lip-sync to Taylor Swift songs when they come on out loud a lot though."

Yeah sometimes it’s ‘cause I’m in a context I’m not totally comfortable singing aloud in, and sometimes it’s just ‘cause if I try to sing along it’s hard not to automatically try to match the key and my voice isn’t high enough for that. Hmm. Still doesn't feel like a proper answer.

"Might be best to just go onto the next question or we'll probably be stuck on this one for a ridiculous amount of time."

Yeah, I guess.

19) the last song you had stuck in your head

It keeps changing every minute, bro. At this particular second of me typing this, it's All Hallows by Aviators but also They Come In The Night by Elise Ecklund and also some other song I forget the name of but mostly All Hallows. It'll be something entirely different by the time we're done with these asks.

34) a song you'd like your favorite artist to cover

I mean, we have a LOT of favorite artists...

"Ooooooh! What about a Rachie or Jubyphonic english cover of Fear Garden or Scissorloid?”

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Y E S

OR OF THIS IS THE HAPPINESS AND PEACE OF MIND COMMITTEE

“OH MY GOD YES. WE NEED A RACHIE OR JUBYPHONIC COVER OF THAT ASAP.”

37) a song you're ashamed to have in your music library

Several fan songs for media I consume secondhand.

*Berry smirks at me and takes a bite out of the cookie she's eating*

*she looks at you* "I can't give an answer of my own for this because I have no shame."

38) okay what's the song you were too ashamed to even post for #37

*i sit there sweating, mouth clamped shut*

*Berry just looks at me*

"How long will you drag this out, Twig?"

I'm GONNA come clean eventually, just not in an ask that's posted for EVERYCREATURE who looks at my tumblr to see!

"Fair."

40) favorite disney song

Are we counting TV shows or only movies? 'Cause I have a bunch of favorite Sofia the First songs and a bunch of favorite Phineas and Ferb songs, which feels pretty separate from Disney movies--

"I think we’re just counting movies. I dunno, just feels like that was probably the original intent with this question."

Ah.

...Well, cliche as it is, I might actually have to say Let It Go. It WAS genuinely in my top 3 favorites for years after Frozen came out. Don't anycreature judge, it's a genuinely good song, y'all are just mad because it’s been overplayed to the extreme. 

"Hmmmm. Hard decision for me. I wanna say something from Tangled the series, maybe Wind In My Hair or Waiting In The Wings or Nothing Left To Lose--and SERIOUSLY it’s hard to choose between those--but I also kinda feel like saying The Next Right Thing from Frozen 2? I dunno, we’ve seen some videos talking about some of the making of that song and some of the music theory in it, and the Frozen people really did go hard with that portrayal of hitting absolute rock bottom emotionally and trying to pull yourself up just the tiniest little bit at a time.”

It’s true.

“Welp! That was fun! 😄”

We really do have to get better at remembering to BOTH answer Sparkle’s asks gsudbagisbgiiau

“Yeah.”

[wolf-and-bard]

Dead or Destitute

- a geraskier fic (warnings for blood, mild gore, swear words)

"What the fuck?" Geralt snarled at Jaskier who had just opened the door, wearing an amiable smile and the most ridiculous robe of silver-broquaded burgundy that flared out at the sleeves and the bottom with frilly cuffs. It was buttoned closed save for the top three which fell open to reveal a glorious patch of chest hair. Jaskier's lips looked wine-stained, his hair was tousled, but when he saw Geralt the haze of light intoxication lifted into a brilliant grin. A grin that went straight into Geralt's heart. Fuck. "Geralt. Didn't expect you to come calling, how'd you know I was around?"

"I didn't." "What? Then why are you here?" "Uh..." Geralt cocked his head. Sniffed. Yes, definitely red wine, but only half a glass. Jaskier wore a new perfume too, rose scented. He was partial to almost all flower scents whereas Geralt couldn't stand them. He preferred Jaskier's natural odour. "I'm looking for the Viscount de Lettenhove? Some Duchess from Novigrad sent me because apparently he owes her a large sum of money. You know this man?" Obviously, Jaskier knew this man. If the state of his appearance was anything to go by, he had probably been thoroughly engaged with this man before Geralt had knocked. Which caused an uneasy twinge Geralt pointedly ignored. So, Jaskier was courting trouble once more, nothing new here. "Sorry, what? Sent you? Geralt, are you playing debt collector?" Jaskier asked, stepping closer. The smile was persistent, stuck to his lips as he brushed a spot of Roach hair from Geralt's chestplate. The undertone of that statement, however, was accusatory which made Geralt defensive. "It's not like I enjoy it, but I've been going through a drought and it's like the monsters are hiding or something. Needed to feed myself." "Shit, that bad?" Jaskier crossed his arms, eyes raking up and down Geralt's body to look for signs of destitution. To the outside world, Geralt knew he looked like a regular old Witcher, but Jaskier might just be able to tell the smaller signs of his dry streak. "I will manage." He always did. "So, where is this man? Viscount. Whatever." "He's standing before you." "What... you?" "Surprise? Honestly, I had always assumed that you knew." Knew that Jaskier was secretly nobility? Geralt wrecked his brain for conversational fragments he might have overlooked, information he had simply forgotten, and came up short. "I didn't." "Well, now you do. Oh, but this is fun. Say, Sir Witcher," Jaskier licked his lips and peered up at Geralt from under thick lashes, the blue of his eyes stark in the waning light of day. Geralt furrowed his brow. "Are you entirely sure that I have to pay you back in coin?" Jaskier winked and something boiled over in Geralt's chest, bubbled up from out of nowhere. Gods, this man was infuriating. "Is this what you do when you owe people? Suck their cocks to get them off your back?" Geralt didn't give two fucks how that sounded. Jaskier might not be gifted with enhanced perception, but even he could comprehend jealousy when it was so blatantly put before him. As it was, Geralt's voice was drenched in it. Jaskier let out a humorless laugh, harshly contrasting his earlier mirth, and put his hands to his hips. "That's the road you wanna take with this? Truly? I had meant it as a jest, Geralt. In case you hadn't surmised from the fact that am a travelling bard, usually I'm not here when tax lawyers and debt collectors come calling and it's not like I constantly owe anyway. Besides, I can suck on whatever cock I like to." Technically, sure. It was just that Geralt wanted it to be his and only his. He couldn't very well say that, so he went for the second-best emotion he felt in regards to Jaskier pulling out sexual favours. "I just don't want you to whore yourself out, someone could hurt you," he said and was rather proud of how earnest that came out. "I'm not, I wasn't. I was just being flirtatious," Jaskier sighed, anger deflating. "Why would you be flirtatious with me?" "Why ever? Now that is a question I will only answer when I've had at least a bottle of Lambert's home-brewed vodka." "What?" "Never you mind. Come in, I may be dead broke, but I can still offer you a cup of tea." Jaskier stepped aside to let Geralt into a square foyer/living area which had a skylight and several settees and couches scattered around it. Three doors lead away from it as well as a winding staircase that disappeared behind a velvet curtain. The middle of the room was dominated by a table with half a dozen chairs, its light surface covered in parchments and dirty dishware. Jaskier's lute case sat next to the door, his traveling wardrobe was lain out over a dark purple couch. As if he had just arrived. Or wanted to be ready to leave at a moment's notice. "Sit, please," Jaskier said and gestured towards a back corner, the only couch without stuff on it. "Make yourself a home, I shall be right back. Chamomile, is it?" Geralt nodded absentmindedly and sat. This wasn't at all what he had expected. Neither from Jaskier nor from some Viscount. It was  a nice house, definitely excessive compared to a commoner's lodging, but it wasn't grand. It was....cosy. Jaskier returned with two mugs, plain, one chipped, and sat next to Geralt, close enough that their shoulders bumped together. "Did you wash off the perfume?" "Uh, yes. I know you don't much care for it, messes with your senses and all." Jaskier shrugged and sipped on his tea, then cursed and put it down, rubbing his lower lip. Geralt wanted to kiss it better, astounded by Jaskier's perceptiveness. Fuck. In terms of doing his job, this was going sideways. "How'd you accumulate so much debt anyway? You break an ancient relic or something?" "Ha-ha. Actually, no. This state is entirely due to my great compassion and sense of selflessness. See, I have this friend who was a gambling problem. Asked me to help out and I couldn't say no," Jaskier explained. "Are you the friend?" "No, Geralt, I'm not, but thanks for believing in me..." Jaskier mock-pouted and Geralt laughed, but quickly sobered up when he remembered how insistent his contractor had been. Either the money or the Viscount's head. Geralt would not behead Jaskier, or anyone for that matter. He had planned on a simple Axii strategy. Now... well. "You could have come to me," Geralt said softly. He emptied his tea in two drags to hide how silly he felt. Why would Jaskier have come to him? And even had he wanted to, how would he have found him? His mouth ran away with it. "We could have sorted it out, we still can." "That is very sweet of you, dear, but you literally just told me you only took this job because your short on coin yourself. Anything else, sure, yes, you will always be my first address when I'm in too deep. This is something I have to get myself out of. I could-" "No," Geralt interrupted, slamming his mug down onto the table. Tea sloshed over the rim of Jaskier's. "No. We find some contracts. Wasn't there a plague in Vizima? Sure to be loads of Ghouls and Graviers around. Besides, cities are jack-full with crowds for you to play. We could save up, there's still time." "There really isn't." "Jask," Geralt pleaded, and for what? Truth be told, there was only one simple way out of this. "The Duchess, what did she tell you to do if I couldn't pay up?" Jaskier asked, worrying his lower lip which was entirely too distracting. "Bring her your head." Jaskier gulped audibly. "Well, guess I will have to fake my own death then..." "No," Geralt said. On an impulse, he took Jaskier's hand between his own and pressed his forehead to Jaskier's knuckles. "Give me three days. If I'm not back by then, you run." "Geralt, what are you planning?" "Do you trust me?" "With all my heart," Jaskier replied without missing a beat. A dusting of pink clung to his cheeks when Geralt let go of his hand and stood. "Three days," he repeated. He promised himself to make it in half that time. Two days later saw Geralt back in Jaskier's house, exhausted from sleep deprivation and the hunt that lay behind him. He held his trophy aloft for Jaskier to see. The bard stood a few feet away from Geralt, back in his standard arrangement of doublet and shirt, all a faded, dusty violet. "Geralt, is that a head," Jaskier whispered, wide-eyed. Something clammy and cold wafted over from him, but was promptly replaced with little bursts of adrenaline that melted on Geralt's tongue when he inhaled them subtly. He grunted and dropped the head onto the table where it splattered the parchment collection and dirty silverware with blood. "Fuck me..."  Jaskier said, staring at it. The long blond curls were matted with grime, the once regal cheeks sunken in. Here was one Duchess past her zenith. "Are you not pleased?" Geralt asked and cocked his head. "This solves your problem." "It does, in a rather drastic fashion." Jaskier seemed to struggle with himself, mouthing words Geralt couldn't make out. Then, his shoulders dropped and he crossed the distance between them, put his palms flat against Geralt's chest. Tucked his face against Geralt's neck and Geralt grew very still. Careful to not give Jaskier cause to pull away. "But I thought you only killed monsters." The words came out shaky and when Geralt noticed that, he also picked up on the slightest tremor that hushed through Jaskier's body. What was going on? Had it been the wrong move after all? Geralt huffed in frustration, unable to read Jaskier after all the time they had spent together, and brought his hands up to cup the bard's shoulderblades. Jaskier shuffled closer. "Shouldn't have hired a Witcher," Geralt said. It' was a weak retort, didn't make all that much sense. The crystalline truth was that he had no ethical explanation for this, no code of conduct to refer back to. He had had more than ulterior motives for this one and, fuck, but it had been worth it. Even if Jaskier despised him for it, even if that made him the monster. He had done it to save a loved one from certain persecution, possible death. A loved one. Oh shit. "Suppose so..." Jaskier trailed off, nuzzled Geralt's neck and that was a weird feeling, created a tingle that made it hard for Geralt to swallow. The corners of his mouth twitched upward. He dared to splay his hands over Jaskier's back. "Jask?" "Yeah?" "Are you okay?" he murmured, hiding his smile in Jaskier's hair. "I'm conflicted," Jaskier admitted. "How?" "Uh... just thinking that this shouldn't turn me on as much as it does." "Oh." Jaskier peeled back a little to catch Geralt's gaze and they both burst into silly giggles. Those faded quickly, however, when Jaskier bumped his nose against Geralt's and his breath caught in his throat. Geralt tilted his head forward and dared to claim a kiss. Then two. Then a million, all at once. They broke apart for another stupid burst of laughter. Reaching behind himself, Jaskier brushed  the accumulated junk off the table, head incluced, and hopped on it, drawing Geralt between his legs. "My knight in shining armour," he sighed and kissed the corner of Geralt's mouth. "My beautiful princess," Geralt shot back. He had meant for it to come across as sarcastic, but it sounded more like a sweet declaration of surrender. "Thank you, love." "You're welcome." Geralt leaned down to kiss Jaskier properly, framing his face with both hands. They tangled up, got lost in each other, resurfaced only when Jaskier grew breathless. "Geralt?" "Hmm?" "We're still broke." Ah, fuck. Well. That was a concern for another day.

[angstyx]

Satisfied

C!Wilbur Soot x Reader

Word Count: 1.1k words

Song: Satisfied [Hamilton]

Summary: You realize you’ve developed certain feelings for someone but so did your best friend

Bolded words are lyrics; [words with brackets around them are changed lyrics]

TW: don’t thinks there’s any?

Requested?: [Yes] [No]

Note: (F/n) - Father’s name (F/l/n) - Father’s last name (B/f/n) - Best friend’s name

Masterlist // Rules for Requesting

───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────

“I remember that night, I just might regret that night for the rest of my days. I remember those [nervous] boys tripping over themselves to win our praise."

Niki raises an eyebrow at you as another boy walks towards you two, his friends pushing him towards you and cheering him on. You sigh, knowing how the confession will end.

"I remember that dreamlike candlelight like a dream that you can't quite place. But [Wilbur], I'll never forget the first time I saw your face. I have never been the same."

You were tired honestly. You never wanted to go to this party anyway but Niki was able to convince you to go from the fact that there was going to be food there. Your eyes scan the people who attended, most of them you knew and were friends with. However, one person caught your attention.

"Intelligent eyes in a hunger-pang frame. And when you said "Hi", I forgot my dang name. Set my heart aflame, every part aflame. This is not a game."

You remember your friends talking about him before yet you couldn't pin down a name. Lost in your thoughts, you hear a "hi" behind you, making you jump.

"You strike me as a woman who has never been satisfied. I'm sure I don't know what you mean, you forget yourself. You're like me, I'm never satisfied. Is that right? I've never been satisfied."

Turning around, you see the man who caught your attention, he had a friendly smile on his face along with a pair of light brown eyes.

"My name is (Y/n)."

You give him a smile as you introduce yourself, not wanting to give a bad first impression.

"[Wilbur Soot}"

He dramatically bows, making you giggle.

"Where's your family from? Unimportant, there's a million things I haven't done. But just you wait, just you wait"

Although he dodged your question, you quickly brushed it off, not wanting to seem like you were forcing him for information.

"So, so, so. So this is what it feels like to match wits with someone at your level. What the hell is the catch? It's the feeling of freedom, of seein' the light. It's Ben Franklin with a key and a kite. You see it, right?"

You two hit off right away. He seemed like a good guy you thought to yourself. Soon, you told him you had to check up on your best friend who left to get more food to make sure she wasn't doing anything stupid. You couldn’t wait to tell Niki about him.

"The conversation lasted two minutes. Maybe three minutes, everything we said in total agreement. It's a dream and it's a bit of a dance. A bit of a posture, it's a bit of a stance. He's a bit of a flirt, but I'ma give it a chance. I asked about his family, did you see his answer? His hands started fidgeting, he looked askance. He's penniless, he's flying by the seat of his pants."

As you made your way through crowds of people, saying hello to those you knew, you thought of your conversation with Wilbur. You two had similar interests which made you smile. Although he jokingly flirted with you with cheesy pickup lines throughout the conversation, you couldn’t help but wish that he wasn’t joking.

"Handsome, boy, does he know it. Peach fuzz, and he can't even grow it. I wanna take him far away from this place. Then I turn and see my [best friend’s] face and she is..."

You thought of his charming smile and how passionate he was when he talked about something he enjoyed. You then snap out of your thoughts when you finally spot Niki. Walking towards her, she seemed to be staring at something, or someone you think to yourself. You turn your head to see who Niki is staring at but your smirk disappears as you recognize the person.

“Helpless. And I know she is. Helpless. And her eyes are just. Helpless. And I realize. Three fundamental truths at the exact same time.”

You froze, not knowing how to react. You look back at Niki and then at the person she was staring at. Were you annoyed that you and Niki both liked the same person? You weren’t sure yet why were you heading towards Wilbur?

“Where are you taking me? I'm about to change your life. Then, by all means, lead the way.”

You half laugh at his response as you lead Wilbur towards Niki, putting on a smile as you reach him.

“Number one. I'm a girl in a world in which my only job is to marry rich. My father has no sons so I'm the one who has to social climb for one. So I'm the oldest and the wittiest and the gossip in [L’manburg] is insidious. And [Wilbur] is penniless. Ha! That doesn't mean I want him any less.”

You, (Y/n) (L/n), are the oldest daughter of the famous (F/n) (F/l/n), making you the main subject to gossip about. Even though you have feelings for Wilbur, you knew your father would never approve of the relationship. He already had many suitors who wanted to marry you yet you were never interested in any of them, much less wanted to marry one of them.

“[Niki], it's a pleasure to meet you. [Niki]? My [best friend].”

Niki has a wide smile on her face as she introduces herself. She turns to you and gives you a grateful smile, you give a smile back, one that doesn’t reach your eyes but Niki doesn’t notice.

“Number two. He's after me 'cause I'm a [L/n] sister, that elevates his status. I'd have to be naïve to set that aside. Maybe that is why I introduce him to [Niki], now that's his [girlfriend]. Nice going, [Y/n], he was right, you will never be satisfied.”

You were confused about your actions yet you knew why you did them. Dating Wilbur would’ve ruined your family’s name, make your father mad at you for dating a “low class” person, and have rumors spread around about you two and your family. Not wanting that to happen, you chose a different option, introducing Wilbur to Niki.

“[Im glad you’re enjoying the party]. If it takes [attending a party] for us to meet, it will have been worth it. I'll leave you to it.”

You left the two alone but as you were about to leave the party, you turned around one last time to see Niki laughing at a joke Wilbur told her. Your heart broke as you remember that you could’ve been the person in Niki’s spot íntead of her, could’ve been the person laughing at Wilbur’s joke, could’ve been the person who at the end of the night, kissed him. But instead, it was Niki. And your heart ached cause of it.

───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────

Taglist: @thenotsohottopic @0-0littlem0-0 @alec-lostboy @bi-narystars @707xn @sakurapartridge @justsomegnomesinatrenchcoat

Send me an ask or dm to be added to my taglist! :)

[teddybasmanov]

Different lists and takes/headcaons

Redacted ASMR/Audio:

List of characters’ name meanings – all names have meanings and sometimes they make you cry and sometimes they make you scream (yes, I’m looking at you, James).

Redacted ASMR as my favourite musical theatre moments – exactly what it says, sometimes funny, sometimes sad. Has a link to a YouTube playlist and a Spotify playlist with all the named songs.

Lovely’s trauma – a little headcanon about what triggers Lovely and how they react.

Hamilton AU (kind of) - a little angsty au with songs.

Equinox - a little sappy headcanon and a lot of song lyrics.

TES IV: Oblivion AU - AU headcanons with pictures and unnecessary details. Arsenal is drawing it and it’s a dream come true.

Redacted ASMR characters fruit headcanons - their favourite or what I think would suit them. Last day of summer vibes.

Some Memes - a very cursed post. Good job, everyone.

Redacted Pinboard - huge and sections are titled with song lyrics (mostly). The choice of characters is not the most obvious. Contains some disturbing imagery in some sections so proceed with caution.

I can’t see in the dark - NSFW Invisiboi analysis (I wanted to flaunt my sex-ed knowledge). SFW version of why I’m down so bad for Regulus. I know him better than everyone else - and I’m yet again analysing Regulus, in the light of fan works.

Thoughts on D.A.M.N. threesomes - NSFW (without details) thoughts on dynamics.

You’re the only one not sleeping, silly - Winter Solstice with the D.A.M.N. polycule.

Is Starlight real? - angsty Avior/Starlight headcanon with a song on top.

Will he peel tangerines for you - a New Year headcanon because I can.

Secret Recipe - Milo/Sweetheart fluff one-shot for the 2021 Winter Gift Exchange.

Non-native English speaker listener headcanons - how will he react to your accent and mother tongue.

Redacted incorrect quotes but it’s Starkid - David surprisingly is not the guy who didn’t like musicals. 

Crochet things I’d make for Redacted characters (if I was actually good at crocheting) - a list + a Gavin bonus. 

What if Love is manipulating everyone? - strong AI at its worst. 

Dice Lasko bought that remind him of the D.A.M.N. polycule - forbidden candy, don’t eat dice.

Tiny headcanon for Gavin/Freelancer pre-wedding party - with a song, of course.

Redacted ASMR incorrect quotes Star Trek edition - I’m just assigning Sock’s lines to Damien and Avior.

Let Me Entertain You - a burlesque AU ficlet in which the freelancer flusters David.

Redacted characters with a foreign listener - another set of self-indulgent headcanons.

Musical movies I’d watch with Redacted characters - Teddy can’t shut up about musicals.

Incredibly OOC HC for right after Huxley’s introduction video - straight from October 2020.

How he reacts to tech/computer problems headcanons - inspired by my struggles with regional blocking.

Redacted characters nails/nailart headcanons - “demons have naturally yassified nails” (c) Mari.

Redacted cold weapons headcanons for characters and listeners - can you tell I’m very interested in weaponry. Brachium bonus.

Redacted ASMR Evil Dead incorrect quotes - I love you, Ashley Williams.

Redacted Mob!AU domesticity - with anachronistic aesthetic pictures. 

The freelancer manipulating Kody and ruinining his life as a treat.

Gavin dressing up his partners in every AU.

Gavin and the freelancer on a museum date.

Redacted ASMR couples who would do Vulcan Kisses.

Hollow_VA:

We’re Choosing, We’re Being Chosen - angsty (slightly whumpy) headcanon for Pharos’ first listener.

I know Those Eyes - angsty headcanon for Pharos’s listener but now we’re talking season two.

You bite the feeding hand And it will crush you where you stand - how I think the Hollow_VA spymaster story should have ended.

Why am I so unhappy, Pharos got a new listener in the second season.

Hollow_va playlists in proper order.  

Jim ち ASMR:

Jim ち ASMR Spy ASMR sotryline fully retold as I see it (plus a few Felix headcanons and a tiny playlist).

Felix and Agent A back home after the iron curtain is up.

“No Felix“ AU with songs from “36 Questions“.

Huge Commissar Elrick headcanon, because I’m too lazy to write the full fic.

Agent A and John watching Tom Lehrer’s Lobachevsky bit.

Agent A, Felix and John singing Abba songs at a karaoke.

Nomads Tales and Audios:

Yes, my King - some thoughts on Nomads Tales & Audios' yandere villain storyline (I like it a lot).

Nomad’s Tales & Audios Villain Husband taking care of an ill spouse.

Other:

Thoughts on Xanthus’s bond with his listener - do look in the replies.  

Bits and pieces for GWAG:

Grinningpup: Orc/Elven Prince, Warlord/Prince bit one and and bit two (actually for the third part of the series), Omega Orc/Alpha Human Knight.

FunSize4Audibles: Human prince/Elven prince.

ThickDickEnergy fic rec – incredible author, writes for “Hollow_VA”, “Siren’s Son ASMR” and many other fandoms, as well as original works. All the links in the post.

“About Coffee” by Max Frai - I translated a lovely little (and significant in my opinion) text.

Big Recommendation Lists:

List of ASMRtists I follow and/or watch at least semi-regularly – yes, it has more than 90 names. Yes, Redacted is the first one. With little descriptions and tags (for whom do they make audios).

Alien ASMR recommendations - exactly what it says, because I want to be more of those.

[imgonnapanic]

Third gym squad with a theater kid s/o:

Kuroo Tetsurou

Tbh, he knew what he was signing up for when he started dating you.

He’s just not used to it, because he doesn’t have many extroverted friends who aren’t annoying pieces of-

I can envision you both going on the hub to watch pirated musicals. Hamilton, Heathers, Dear Evan Hansen, you name it.

He loooves your singing voice, even if it’s your nervous purposely bad one.

You love the musicals that include allll the good stuff (trauma, death, tragedy, etc.)

Or the iconic ones. You can’t forget about those.

So you’re less-than-thrilled when your school chooses “Honk! The Musical” for this years play.

It’s a spin off of the ugly duckling that no one has heard of.

And when you come up to Kuroo sulking about this boring play you’re emotionally obliged to do, he can’t help but laugh a little.

But his laughter stops when he sees your eyes down at your shoes.

And then he shuts the fuck up because you’re actually upset.

After assuring that you will still be Broadway material even if you’re dressed up as a goose, you feel a little better.

In the two weeks leading up to auditions, Kuroo is starting to get caught humming “A Poultry Tale” at practice.

I mean, his Spotify feed went from Kendrick Lamar to Legally Blonde within one month of dating you, so cut the guy a break.

The day of auditions, you’re a bundle of nerves as you go over the dumb song again and again.

And Kuroo is like “calm down babe you’re gonna do great.”

That sure did a ton.

“Shut up Heather”

...

“Sorry Heather”

He’s also a bundle of nerves at practice, though. He just couldn’t let you see it.

By now, all of the Nekoma team knows you’re auditioning today, and the minute he walks in he just holds up a hand.

“They’re auditioning as we speak”

He’s not surprised when you get the lead.

He looks like the cat who ate the canary he’s a little amused when he figures out the lead is named “Ugly” but by now he has learned to keep it on the inside.

Your schedule is now jam packed, but that’s okay, because Nationals are also coming up for Kuroo and needs to put in some extra hours at the gym anyways.

You better believe two months later Kuroo is making his entire team buy a ticket.

Kuroo didn’t even get to see you on opening night because of dress rehearsals, but that’s okay.

He cleared his entire schedule that day and now has time to wallow in his own excitement and buy you some flowers.

He’s there with the squad team at 6PM sharp, dressed up, and trying to keep his dignity.

When you first walk on stage, the team snickers a little bit at your costume, but Kuroo was completely enraptured by your singing voice, your blocking, your makeup, everything.

This was much better than the demo CD that they had given you.

Afterwards, he gives you your flowers and is glued to your side for the rest of the night, babbling about how proud he was of you, and how talented you are, Nekoma team be damned.

Tsukishima Kei

Tsukki-poo already had a soft spot for the arts before he met you.

Not that he would tell anyone, ever.

When you started dating him though, it gave him an excuse to share his favorite soundtracks.

“you can hit that note, you know.”

*cue the arguing about how you aren’t Barbara Streisand*

When you two are walking through the hallway with him and you see the poster reading “Auditions for Karasuno High School’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ are open!” You start freaking out.

You love that movie! And Kei tolerates it!

Kei honestly thought you would be Ariel/Prince Eric when he first heard you singing “Part of Your World”

Like, you have the voice of a fucking lark. The directors have to be batshit crazy not to cast you.

In his humble opinion.

So he’s a bit taken aback when you get the role of Flounder, but he’s very proud anyways. Especially after you explain that there’s musical numbers that you’re in that aren’t in the movie.

He just hates your director for no reason now.

Practicing your lines with him in your free time becomes almost inevitable because you both have nothing else better to do.

And he can see how into it you are.

And let me just say that you are killing it.

Seriously. You have no problem getting into character, and Kei doesn’t say this much but-

It’s fucking adorable, okay? He has little goth moths in his stomach.

And he can’t wait to see the show, because then he can show you off.

That doesn’t mean he likes the other first years prying at your progress.

Hinata’s incessant questioning about theater anatomy and the memorization of your lines gets really annoying.

Even for someone with a normal temper like you-

“Yes it’s called the right wing. NOT wing spiker. Yes they’re off book. Now will you shut your trap already?”

Dress Rehearsals come, and you’re spinning around his room, face morphing from complete concentration to happy, go-lucky Flounder.

You, Kei, and Yamaguchi (your little third wheel-) all know the soundtrack pretty much up and down, left and right, backwards and inside out.

He still shivers remembering the time you just walked into his house not registering that Flounder’s makeup looks kind of scary up close-

All of his pride was sacrificed that day. All of it.

On the morning of opening night, Kei was walking you to the school, pretending to be bitchy about it being on a Saturday.

“C’mon, what am I supposed to do all day?”

As luck would have it, he’s stuck sitting next to one Hinata Shoyo. Lovely.

So he sat down next to him, and ignored him the whole show. I mean, it worked, he shut up after thirty seconds.

After the show, Kei has to wait a bit for you to take your makeup off, but when you come running out, he can’t hold back a tiny grin.

“That was good. I’m proud of you.”

And then he took you to dinner because singing makes a bad bleep hungry 😌

Bokuto Kotarou

Listen, you’re loud, Bokuto’s loud-

So basically you two are on a mission to not annoy Akaashi for as long as you can before inevitably getting yelled at for your affection and love and shit.

Now, both of you would love for this to be possible.

But the Frozen soundtrack makes it too difficult.

Especially when you can edit the lyrics just to piss off Konoha.

“Turn away and slAm the door *on Konoha”

“The wind is howling like the storm inside *of Konoha”

The possibilities are endless, really.

The game changer is when you two are belting out the song where Elsa and Anna are arguing.

And you accidentally hit the “I-i-I CANNNNT”

Akaashi is like for the love of GOD just audition for the play.

He quickly realizes that his suggestion was not a good idea.

Since guess what the musical is.

You’re auditioning as a joke, okay? You love Frozen, but this is a Fukurōdani Academy level play.

You didn’t expect to land the role of Olaf.

Your director sat you down and bluntly told you that he thought that you had the charisma and energy to be Olaf, but he knew that you were auditioning for a joke.

He needed you to be committed.

And hell yeah, you were gonna be committed.

At first, Bokuto was super proud of you! His s/o as a lead role? So impressive!

You even taught Bokuto your choreography for “In Summer”

He only retained half of it, but eh.

He’s a volleyball player. He tried.

As rehearsal times became longer and longer, Bokuto was a little upset at himself because he didn’t realize how committed you were until it hit him in the face.

Akaashi is there to get him out of his funk when you aren’t, though.

“They feel the same way when you need to be in the gym longer. It’s just a part of having a passion. Just utilize your time with them wisely.”

This bitch knows full well Bokuto doesn’t do ‘wise’ though, so he also sets to him a little more.

Dress rehearsals start, and Bokuto is always waiting for you to come out of the auditorium to ride the bus home.

You’re just bubbling over with stories about the magic of being on stage.

The lights, the microphones, the costumes, just talking about it makes you nostalgic already.

On opening night, Bokuto and Akaashi are there in the front row, going through the program.

“There’s y/n!!!!”

And you can’t see him because of the blinding spotlight, but you can hear Bokuto cheering for you after you finish “In Summer”

Afterwards he gives you a big hug, and you guys go home and watch Frozen.

Akaashi Keiji

When you start dating Akaashi in your second year at Fukurōdani, you’ve been on stage for the last ten years of your life.

Singing, acting, dancing, you love it all.

You’re even considering making it your career.

Akaashi doesn’t know much about theater at all, but he makes sure to do his research since it’s such a big part of your life.

The company you take acting classes with is having their winter show soon, and you couldn’t be happier when you figure out it’s ‘Into the Woods.’

Akaashi makes the mistake of asking the plot of the story.

“So basically there are these two infertile bakers with dead parents and there’s this witch that’s old and wrinkly and she comes to their house because fifty years ago the bakers dad stole her veggies and took the magic beans that made her look old and wrinkly-“

(A/n: this isn’t even half the plot)

He decides he’ll figure it out when he sees the play.

Akaashi knows that it’s a difficult one, though.

Sondheim doesn’t fuck around.

So you shouldn’t be beating yourself up about cracking on some of the high notes and screaming into your pillow.

He feels like an idiot every time you ask him to give you constructive criticism.

He doesn’t know what to say. “That was good” is obviously not what you want to hear.

When the date of your audition rolls around, he has early morning practice.

So he sends you a text saying how far you’ve come already and he’ll be proud even if you end up being a tree and break a leg (he’s very proud of that part. Theater lingo with Akaashi 101)

He’s very pleased to hear through your extremely fast and animated chattering that you killed it.

You were going to be Jack from “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

He’s still not sure how that correlates with infertile bakers, but he’ll go with it.

You also have a notoriously hard solo, “Giants in the sky.”

Akaashi is very impressed.

All you two do is practice that song, until Akaashi is half sure he could sing the song if he really gave an effort.

(He tries seriously one time. He can’t sing. To save his life. Sorry Keiji and RIP y/n’s ears.)

“Maybe you’re just not a soprano?”

“I’ll leave the limelight to you.”

Rehearsals always leave you drained. There are so many dance numbers in the play that you have to go over.

And songs, oh god, the songs are pieces of work.

But you wouldn’t trade it for the world, so Keiji stays close, and is endlessly supportive.

You sent him a picture of your Jack costume, and Keiji is like that is kind of adorable ngl-

He walks into the auditorium you’re performing in, and even he’s nervous to be in there. It’s huge.

But when you walk on the stage, and start belting, all the breath leaves his lungs.

Oh. Ohhhhhhh. He understands the plot now.

[hamiltonimagines]

Modern Day Mulan

Pairing: Phillipa x Reader

Request: “could you do a pippa x reader where, usually R is the understudy for peggy/maria but for some reason something happened and she has to play alexander? and everyone is shocked bc they didnt know she could rap and they didn’t know she was playing alex? thank you!” - @criminallyhamilton

Word Count: 1.3k

“Hey Y/N, you love me right?” I heard Lin say to me, on the phone. This usually meant he needed me to do him a favor. “What do you need?” I asked him, blatantly.

“Can you come to my dressing room? I have a favor to ask you” he asked me. “Okay, I’ll be there in a second” I said, as I hung up my phone.

I walked down the hallway and then walked into Lin’s dressing room. “Hey, you look great today” he said, with the biggest smile on his face. “You’re just trying to get on my good side. Just ask me the favor” I told him.

“Well I need to you to go on tonight” he told me. I was Jasmine’s understudy, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary for me to have to perform for her.

“That’s literally my job, it’s not a big deal. I won’t be mad at you or anything. I’ll go get into my Peggy dress then” I said, as I went to leave his dressing room.

“That’s the catch” Lin said, hesitantly. “What do you mean? Do I have to go on for one of the other sisters?” I asked him, confused.

“I need you to go on for me” he said, bracing himself for my reaction. “Wait what? You? Like you need me to play Hamilton? Like the GUY?” I asked him.

“Please don’t hurt me” Lin said, sounding scared. “What about your understudy?” I asked him. “He’s sick” he told me. “But I’m a girl” I told him, since he failed to see the obvious conflict.

“Everyone will love it, I promise. And you were at the rehearsals and you know the Alexander track almost better than me” he told me. “Yeah I know the part, but people love this show and pay lots of money to see it. What if they think I don’t take it seriously” I asked him.

“If you get any backlash, I promise I’ll handle it” Lin reassured me. “Are you sure about this?” I asked him. “Absolutely” he told me.

“But...” I said, trying to come up another excuse as to why I couldn’t do it. “What? Are you nervous because you have a crush on a certain other cast member” Lin teased me.

“Come on Lin, what are you talking about?” I asked, totally pretending like I wasn’t head over heels for Pippa. “So you’re saying that you aren’t in love with Pip?” Lin asked, raising his eyebrows.

I tried to hold my ground, but I couldn’t keep a straight face. “Ha! I knew it” Lin said, pointing at me. “Okay, maybe you’re right. But there’s no way you can ever tell Pippa. Please promise me that” I begged him.

“Fine. But I don’t have to tell her. She’ll figure it out tonight, when you’re playing Hamilton and you have to kiss her after Helpless” he said, smirking. I froze, I had completely forgot about the kisses. I didn’t know how I was going to get through the show tonight.

“Well you better go get dressed, love is waiting for you” Lin teased. I rolled my eyes and walked to my dressing room to get ready.

Luckily Lin’s understudy wasn’t the tallest guy, his costume fit me pretty decently. It definitely wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

My nerves were through the roof. I would walk out and people would laugh. I knew they would. They would be unimpressed. They’d probably leave and not waste their time.

I was brought out of my thoughts by an announcement over the intercom that said it was time for places. I rushed to place, hoping none of the cast would see me, especially Pip.

I got to where I stood before the show and luckily no other cast members were near me. I heard Leslie start the show and I felt like I was going to puke. It felt like the song was going ten times faster than it ever went. Quickly arriving to the point where I would have to walk out on that stage.

Then it was my cue, I walked out on stage as Leslie said “What’s your name man?”. I sang my line and I saw most of the cast’s reactions. There was dead silence for a moment and I heard a thunderous applause from the audience.

I looked over and saw Pippa. I don’t think I had ever seen her eyes so wide. Then a smile grew on her face and she giggled to herself. “I love it” she mouthed to me.

Then the song went on as normal. Aside from their first reactions, no one gave it a second thought.

Then we got to the song that I had been dreading. It was time for Helpless.

I made it through most of the song and then we got to part where Pippa walks down the aisle. I felt like I was sweating buckets.

Pippa sang the last line as she stood in front of me. I smiled at her and she leaned in for the kiss. It was short and sweet and magical and fantastical and everything a kiss should be.

We pulled away and I heard Anthony start the intro to Satisfied. As Pippa and I walked over to the side of the stage, she whispered “you are doing amazing” to me.

The rest of the show went great and there were barely any mistakes. It was now the end of the show and we were doing our final bows.

Then before I knew it, the rest of the cast had taken a step back from me so I was in the front. Then I heard Pippa talking into her microphone.

“Let’s give it up for our first female Alexander Hamilton, give it up for Y/N. A Modern-Day Mulan” she said, I could see her smiling.

I took another bow and waved to the audience. Their cheers were deafening.

Then we all walked off the stage together. I quickly ran to the bathroom before I went to my dressing room. Then I was walking to my dressing room and I saw a bunch of people crowded both around and in my dressing room.

They saw me walking toward them and they all started to cheer. “So you playing Hamilton now?” Anthony asked me, slinging his arm around me.

“One time only, Lin asked me to do it” I told them all. “I really thought I was going crazy when you walked out. Don’t tell Lin, but you may have been better than him” Daveed said, and all of us started laughing.

“Now I have an onstage wife” Pippa said, hugging me from the side. “Here’s to Alexandra Hamilton” I said, earning laughter from the rest of my cast mates.

Most people left one by one and went back to their own dressing rooms. I noticed that Pippa stayed behind.

“That was some performance that you put on out there” she complimented. “Did you like it? It wasn’t too weird was it?” I asked her, we both sat down on the couch together. “No, it wasn’t weird at all. I loved it” she told me. “So I guess according to the theater code of conduct, we’re stage wives now” I said, giggling to myself.

“That’s not so bad. You’re a pretty good stage wife” she said, smiling at me. At this point, I felt her hand resting on my knee. “Pip, would you like to go out and get dinner sometime?” I asked her. “I would love that, I’m so glad you finally noticed that I liked you” Pippa said, laughing.

“Wait what? You liked me? How was I supposed to know that?” I asked her, shocked. “Are you kidding? I made it so obvious” she told me. “Well I made it obvious that I liked you” I told her. “Yes you did, but I wanted you to notice that I liked you back” she said, smirking.

“You knew this whole time and never said anything?” I asked her, in shock. “Of course I knew, but what can I say? I love to scheme” she said, giggling. Then she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.

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[acciocriativity]

Helpless||Harry Potter

Pairing: George Weasley x Reader

Summary: You are one of the students of the Beauxbatons commission and like the others you are determined to win the Triwizard Tournament but instead of the Goblet of Fire, you ended this season at Hogwarts with something better . 

Word Count: 2,0 k  

N / A: This story is based on the Helpless of the musical Hamilton and if you want, I recommend listening to the song along with the lyrics.

Part II 

Ooh, I do, I do, I do, I do (hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey)

Hey! Ooh, I do, I do, I do, I do (Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey)

 I have come to be known for some characteristics over the years. For most of my colleagues, determination and patience, but for my family and especially my sister, I was always going to be a hopeless romantic. 

But then we heard about the Tournament and I would have to concentrate fully if my name came out of the Goblet of Fire, so I decided to leave this side of me in France. But that change did not last more than a few hours. 

Boy, you got me helpless

Look into your eyes, and the sky's the limit

 We were all sitting at the Ravenclaw table while the director finished announcing the Triwizard Tournament formalities and I couldn't be paying any less attention. From the moment I entered that room, a pair of bright brown eyes caught my eye. I couldn't help noticing the incredible amount of redheads on one table, but only one of them left me with a different feeling that I didn't know until now. 

Of course, I didn't spend much time looking. My goal here is very specific, I would not have time for distractions as my name could be called up tomorrow. 

- Of course, to travel to a swamp on the other side of the world, you're going to have to give up putting your name in the cup, right? - my sister asked in an irritated tone of voice and I had no idea why or what she was saying.

- Oh sure, I think it's a great idea, sis - I replied with a smile as I looked back at the director, but he was no longer standing - has he finished? Has he talked about the Yule Ball too?? - I asked, looking back at the older one. 

- Yes, why are you acting like this? Eat a little, I think the trip didn't do you much good - she replied with a worried tone, leaving the anger aside. 

I agreed to a nod and concentrated on the French food that had been kindly prepared for our arrival, but my eyes kept looking back at the table where he was one last time. 

I'm helpless

Down for the count, and I'm drownin 'in' on

 The next day, during the morning there was a circle of students around the Goblet of Fire but as soon as we arrived, they made room and then each one of us put the paper with our name in there. I chose to be the last in line, because I was in no hurry and for a single reason. He was there again. 

The same eyes, but now I could see more closely and without having to worry because it was not in my direction that they were. The boy was having a lively conversation with some other students and his own twin. 

After my turn passed, I walked over to where a friend was standing because I also wanted to see the rest of the competition, that's not exactly what happened. 

I admit it was a funny scene to see the two of them being thrown two meters out of that circle but at the same time, I was a little worried. 

I have never been the type to try and grab the spotlight

We were at a revel with some rebels on a hot night

 After a few months, we were finally at that ball that promised to be one of the best events of the year and perhaps the decade at Hogwarts. A lot of things changed in the meantime, the first was that I wouldn’t be the champion but I was vehemently rooting for Fleur, the second thing is that a minor had entered the competition and that turned this castle upside down and finally, I had managed to get close to that redhead. To be fair, me and Alexia. We both agreed that only an idiot would voluntarily sign up as a minor, this caught the attention of Harry Potter's friends and himself. 

In fact I learned his name, it's George, it's easy to tell when I can see his face. From the back, I don't have much of a guarantee and it's hard to see them standing still somewhere, so it's even more difficult for me that way. 

Laughin 'at my sister as she's dazzling the room

Then you walked in and my heart went, "Boom!"

 I had been invited by some boys before accepting to come with a student from Durmstrang, I confess that I hoped to be invited by George but I preferred not to risk waiting. 

I looked for my sister with my eyes and it was not difficult to find her, she was dancing with her own partner in the middle of the dance floor, impossible not to notice. They were even a beautiful couple, but I knew she was interested in someone else, I just didn't know who. Just as I hadn't told her about my feelings yet. 

My attention changed completely when I saw the door to the Great Hall open and the unaccompanied Weasley twins came in. My heart stopped for a second and I could feel it beat faster, some questions crossed my mind. I hadn't seen them before, did they come alone? Hope had returned. 

Tryin 'to catch your eye from the side of the ballroom

Everybody's dancin' and the band's top volume

 The slow song was over but I only noticed it when I saw the girl in front of me and then I smiled, trying not to lose sight of George but didn't go like that, since I was on the other side of the dance floor. 

- You were having fun out there, weren’t you?? - I asked with a smile, giving up looking over her shoulder, so I just focused on her face. 

- Yes, and where is your partner? You should be having fun too - she replied leaning against the wall beside me. 

- He said he was going to talk to his friends but so far he hasn't returned - I couldn't hide my indifference, because I never had to hide anything with her.  

Grind to the rhythm as we wine and dine

Grab my sister and whisper: Yo, this one's mine

- I know he wasn't your first choice, so who is it? I’m willing to know - his gaze left me and scanned the party full of people, looking for who could be right for me. 

- I wanted to make sure he was interested in me before I told you. It's George, from the first moment we arrived here for the first time - I didn't try to hide my smile or my passionate look when I finally found the redhead again. 

My sister made her way across the room to you (ooh)

And I got nervous thinking

"What's she gonna do?" (Ooh)

 In a moment, she was beside me with an expression I didn't recognize and a second later the brunette was walking towards the other side of the dancefloor. 

- Alexia, what are you going to do… - I didn't even try to speak out loud, because the music was incredibly loud for anyone but me to hear. 

To my horror, she walked towards the Weasleys and I

paralyzed. One of my sister's characteristics comes down to doing basically everything for me, I already knew that nothing bad could be in her intentions but that didn't relieve my nervousness. 

She grabs you by the arm

I'm thinkin ', "I'm through" (ooh)

Then you look back at me

And suddenly I'm helpless

 I couldn't look away even though I looked crazy to those outside, so the two stepped aside a few meters and I could hear my heartbeat increasing by the second. 

Would I like to be able to hear them? Certainly, but before I could think better about it. He looked directly at me. 

Oh, look at those eyes (look into your eyes)

And the sky's the limit

I'm helpless (I know)

Down for the count and I'm drownin '

Helpless (I am so into you)

 Few things in life have left me so nervous as that moment when George Weasley was walking towards me, with that smile on his face, the kind of smile I hadn't seen yet but perfectly matched his features. 

She accompanied him halfway and winked at me before returning to the dancefloor. I didn't know what to expect but I would thank her forever, if that was what my hopeless heart was telling me. 

Look into your eyes (I am so into you)

And the sky's the limit

I'm helpless

I know I'm down for the count

And I'm drownin 'in' in

 The night ended perfectly and I almost felt like it was fate, because his partner ended up dancing with my partner. So they didn't even care for a second about being "abandoned", not that I was going to let this opportunity just slip through my fingers. 

He was cute and kind, we danced and talked a little bit alone before going back to our friends. 

But this time it was different because we were never so close to each other, I couldn't help but notice his arm around my shoulder, making me stay even closer to him. 

That was my signal, the signal that this night meant something more to him too. 

One week later

I'm writin 'a letter nightly

Now my life gets better, every letter that you write me

 A week later, I had come to Paris with Ale to spend the Christmas holiday with our parents, but it didn't mean that we would lose contact. At that point it was past midnight when I was replying the letter I just received. 

The owl that brought it was barely able to flap its wings when it arrived here and as it was freezing outside, I left it in the cage with mine to rest. She drank some water and practically passed out, poor thing. 

- As I was saying, he really cares about you. Who wouldn't want someone like that? - she said after reading the letter I received. 

- You will find one of these soon, there is a whole group of boys waiting for the chance of their lives to show you that - I replied with a smile while thinking of the right words to answer, everything had to be extremely perfect.  

Laughin 'at my sister 'cause she wants to form a harem

I'm just sayin ', if you really loved me, you would share him

Ha!

- Yes, but still, it is not enough - she replied pouting but then smiled as if an idea had crossed her mind - we shared everything, why not that too? - She completed folding the letter and I just laughed. 

- That's the only thing we can't share in this life and you're too jealous to share someone - I replied laughing even more at the expression she made. 

- I'm going to sleep, just don't take too long to answer this letter, ok? Tomorrow we will all go out together, in case your little head has forgotten - she gave me one last hug before leaving, but I noticed that the light in her room was on for a while longer.

 Many other things happened afterwards, but my hand is hurting and my ink is running out, so I'll leave the rest for later, ok? I promise don't keep you waiting to know what's happens next. See you tomorrow, dear diary. 

Harry Potter Masterlist

[cosmiciaria]

Assasin’s Creed III Remaster review - Spoilers! - Long post!

I wanted to keep this spoiler free, but as this game is such a narrative experience, I don't think I'll be able to. I'll try to keep them at minimum, but be warned: there are major spoilers ahead. By the way, this game is almost a decade old, so y'all had plenty of time to get spoiled beforehand. And if you're reading this, it's because you like this game and you probably know how it ends.

Review under the cut because this is way too long. 

As always, I express my feelings and impressions regarding my experience with a game – I write it because I like writing reviews instead of, I don't know, recording a video for YouTube. I'm not a YouTuber and I feel safer behind a keyboard where people don't point out about my weird accent (the accent every Hispanic person has when they speak English). Since the pandemic started, I found refuge and comfort in AC games, with Syndicate being my first contact with the franchise, and Unity solidifying my love for it. I found strength and weaknesses in all the installments I've played, which are almost all of them by now (excluding the first AC with Altaïr, the new saga with Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla, and Rogue). I've also platinumed three of those games I've played, and I'm on my way to platinum this one, so I think I can speak from a deep fan standpoint by now.

Since Syndicate, I studied from up close each of the protagonists of the mainline games. I felt drawn to Arno because he looked like one of my oc's (and his girlfriend looked like my oc's girlfriend as well); I wanted to learn about Ezio because he's a fan favorite; I wasn't at all impressed by Edward but ended up growing fond of him; I respect Altaïr for what he means to the Brotherhood; but I can safely say, that I haven't felt as attracted to a main AC protagonist as I felt with Connor.

From the moment I knew he was a native American (such a bold choice, it seemed for me) I felt instant attraction – but not the, idk, physical (he's a cutie I give it to you), but because of what he could bring about as a main character. A perspective we don't usually get to see, and personally, as I'm not American, a point of view to educate me on a different side of history. I wanted to see what they could do with him as the star of the game, I wanted to play with him and understand how someone like him could rise up and become a protagonist of such a well known and beloved saga of games. I applaud this decision from Ubisoft, whether they did it because they wanted to look progressive or not, I don't care, I'll always cherish that the protagonist of a famous videogame is a Mohawk. And with the American Revolution as the main stage, no less. Such an important scenario to strengthen the virtue of independence, patriotism and love for a country, going hand in hand with a character that represents America even more than the Founding Fathers.

(Also I'm a Hamilton Fan Trademark so I couldn't stop singing random parts of songs while playing this game, it was a nightmare every time Lafayette appeared on screen because I JUST HAD TO start mumbling Guns and Ships)

I lunged blindly into this game – I'd only spoiled myself the very ending because I played Black Flag before – so imagine my surprise when I first saw Haytham, Connor's father, as the main protagonist.

So here's the deal. Let's clear this out of the way.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game. It was what I expected and more.

But.

Yes, there's always a but in AC games, you know the drill.

As I kept playing with Haytham, charming though he was, I kept thinking to myself "ok but when does Connor come into play". I also already knew Haytham was a Templar, so the end of the first few sequences didn't catch me by surprise – actually, what caught me by surprise was that there was no mention of Assassins or Templars during the "prologue" with Haytham, instead you're left to believe they're all Assassins until he prays to the Father of Understanding and you realize with a gasp "oH NoO!".

You play with Haytham the first three sequences. One of these have the most memories out all of the sequences more or less. This whole thing can take up to three to five hours depending on how much time you wish to put into exploring or completing the optional objectives. And still no signs of Connor.

Connor does come eventually – as a child – by sequence 4. It's not until the end of sequence 5 that you get to play as (almost) adult Assassin Connor, so maybe five or six or even seven hours into the game and you're barely starting.

I know what they did here. I understand. And this is what I meant when I said they were going for a 'narrative experience'. To make you play as Haytham before, to lure you into a false sense of safety believing he was an Assassin working for a just cause, to make you feel invested in his relationship with Ziio – only to discover he's one of the bad guys, that will eventually give birth to our true hero of the game – it sediments everything perfectly. It tells you everything you need to know to understand these characters and their motivations. I can see where they're going and some of it can be quite predictable, but it was done right. On the narrative aspect at least.

I got used to Haytham by the time we switch to Connor, we're used to his cloak and his three pointed hat – his accent, his sassiness, his everything. You grow fond of him and you think, hey, maybe it isn't so bad to not play as Connor, I can roll with this – until the sudden change happens. The game completed its purpose: let you know and care for Haytham, only to strip him away from your hands and bring you the real protagonist with an interesting background that didn't need to be told, but it was instead shown to us players. What a better way to tell a story.

But the problem is – most of Haytham's memories are fillers. For starters, the very first memory where you appear in the opera house (similar to that one at the end of Black Flag… mmm) serves as a tutorial for climbing and killing with the hidden blade. Then the whole memory on the ship to Boston – completely expendable and removable, the story doesn't suffer from it. All the memories used with Haytham as tutorials – how to shield from an open line of fire, how to use ranged weapons, how to sneak and find stores and viewpoints, how to use horses and walk on snow, fricking Ben Franklin – everything, everything could've blended in better. You could still tell the story you wanted in only one sequence playing with Haytham, and end it the way it does end in sequence 3, without avoiding any important detail to frame Connor's backstory as well – but instead, this part with Haytham does feel like it overstays its welcome, and by the end you're just hoping it ends soon, it drags on for too long, and there's no real sense of thread pulling the strings together here, everything just kind of 'happens'.

But the never-ending prologue doesn't end there (badam tum tsss), because Connor still isn't an Assassin. Connor is not Connor actually, as I had been led to believe prior to playing this game: his real name is Ratonhnhaké:ton, which I wish it was used more often than it was. Ratonhnhaké:ton is like four or five years old when you first play with him, and his village is assaulted by what we assume are Charles Lee's men, a Templar and companion to Haytham. Ratonhnhaké:ton swears revenge upon these putrid British invaders and he grows up resenting the death of his mother, who died in the fire provoked by these Templars.

Not even knowing what a Templar or an Assassin is, Ratonhnhaké:ton is sent by one of "the spirit guides" (actually, Juno, one of the Precursor people) to seek the Brotherhood. When he's around 14, he sets out of his village into the wide world and finds Achilles, who will become his Assassin mentor – that is, after completing a set of tasks that yet again seem to go on forever. Ratonhnhaké:ton turns into Connor to cover his true origins, a name I thought it was random, but by the end I realized how wrong I was.

It isn't until Connor turns 17 that he becomes a fully-fledged Assassin – and you might think, well, Ezio became an Assassin at the same age – yes, but it didn't take him five sequences to reach there. I can't believe I'm defending Ezio.

It's not that I didn't enjoy playing as Connor when he was a kid, no, and I also don't think that part of the game should be skipped since it shows his people, family and friends – maybe comprised, yes, into only one sequence – the real problem here is the fact that first you need to play what could be considered the longest prologue ever, even longer than Kingdom Hearts 2's one, and you're teased with grasping the real protagonist but no, because there's still more 'prologue' to cover with Connor's rise to the Brotherhood. The real, real story, begins in sequence 6, and even then you still have a lot of tutorials to listen from the NPC on duty.

And if you do the maths – you're halfway through the game – halfway! – and you're just starting. The game has twelve sequences and the meat of the plot is on the last six. Then, why did I play all the previous parts?

For the 'narrative experience' thing I talked about. They wanted to lay the groundwork for a better, compelling storytelling, and I can appreciate it, but not when it hinders the pace of the game this way.

That is, certainly, my biggest issue with the game. The pace. If you're going to give me such a slow start, introducing characters non-stop, and only give me resolutions, discoveries and action packed sequences on the later half, then the story isn't balanced at all – I understand that at some points you need to slow down and sink in what's going on; you can't also introduce ten characters in one cutscene because that's just bad story telling – but the memories of this game are clearly not well organized and weren't thought with the player in mind, but rather with the story in mind. To think that the first mission you do as a full Assassin is to receive more and more tutorials on how the fast travel points work and how you can lower your notoriety (as far as gameplay goes in this mission, it's only walking around at a slug's pace to follow the NPC giving you instructions) it does feel like a slap in the face after all the things and hours and effort you put into it to finally reaching this point (which, I remind you, it's by sequence six!).

It's at this point where I can't blame people for not following through with this game. I have plenty of friends who abandoned it even before reaching this part. And I found myself having trouble to return to it: I only wanted to go back to it because I knew I had to like Connor, I knew he wouldn't disappoint me as a character.

Boy, was I RIGHT!

Now, to be honest, I may be biased, like I said: I was instantly attracted to Connor due to his backstory and I wished to see what he could bring to the table. And I have to say, he didn't disappoint me at all.

Maybe you know or maybe you don't, but up until this point, my fave Assassin was Arno: he showed weaknesses and he suffered the consequences of his actions, to the point of no return, that rendered him vulnerable and a mere human being. And I love me a good vulnerable character who knows their limits and strives to get out of that pit. I love me a good, compelling character that has growth and agency and isn't made of cardboard or has a one-dimensional personality. And Connor delivered on this front.

Connor might very well be my new fave Assassin. I'm sorry, Arno. I still love you babe. But Connor… I never found myself rooting for a character more than I did with him. I wanted him to succeed, I wanted his people to be saved, I wanted to see his ideals become a reality – and he's got so much agency, he's a storm when he comes into a scene, his naivety mixed with the brutality of his killings, the simplicity of his reasonings – he's an idealist, and he fights for it, whether we like it or not, and that devotion to his own creed is at least respectable, let alone admirable. He's never downplayed for his upbringing or his ethnicity, he works among the most notorious people as if he was another one of them, he's well respected in his community, he shows kindness and always offers a helping hand to those in need, but never doubts to plunge his blade into this opponent's throats, fearlessly, he doesn't mind telling George Friking Washington to shut the hell up and not follow him because he'll kill him (there's such a pleasure in a native reprimanding enslaver Washington) – he's, simply put, a great hero.

I've seen many complain that he's boring, or that the actor who played him, Noah Watts, delivered lines in an emotionless way – the only thing that could make him 'boring' is the fact that he's not a lady's man like Ezio was, and to my eyes that's a plus. He speaks slowly and modulates well in English because that's not his mother tongue, and I can appreciate when a company puts these little details, like his way of speaking changing throughout the game as he gained more confidence with this new language he was learning to use. As non-English native speaker, I certainly can commune with the feeling of adapting my tongue and my brain to a new language, and I also know that I speak weirdly to those who are native, maybe I don't have the same intonations, and maybe I sound emotionless as well, who knows, but I can't think of a better portrayal of a non-English character speaking English in videogames than this one. They remained faithful to his culture, and even though I noticed Noah didn't speak Mohawk as fluently as English, I can still feel pleased with the fact that Connor speaks in his mother tongue in all of the scenes he interacts with Mohawks (that's something they did better here than in Unity, where not a single character has even a French accent. I switched the language spoken to French in my subsequent playthroughs, much to my disappointment, because I really liked the Canadian actors). I know subtitles may seem threatening to some, but I wish they did this more often: deliver more lines in the original language of each of the protagonists. It shows care and respect. And I think this game excels at respect.

So, yes, I liked Ratonhnhaké:ton, as you can see. Maybe a lot. Too much.

I also really, really enjoyed his relationship with Haytham.

When Haytham appears back in to the fray it's when the plot picks up. Their interactions are gold: I love the rivalry, I love that Haytham is constantly testing his son, and I love the tiny bits that may show or make us believe that Haytham has a soft spot for him – I love that we never truly know what's going on through Haytham's mind, why does he do the things he does – but what I enjoyed the most about these two fighting together is the fact that they represent opposing forces, a clash of interest, and they bring back the concept of the blurred line between the Templars and the Assassins, their different methods. Haytham represents the collectiveness of the Templars, through him we learn of what they truly uphold as right and just, and behind some of his reasonings you can see sense and understanding – you comprehend his goals, you get to know your enemy, your antagonist, which is something, for instance, the Ezio trilogy lacks (because Templars bad bad pium pium die Templar bad guy) and Unity and Rogue tried to do but ultimately ended wasting its potential. I never understood Templars more than I did through Haytham, and sometimes I found myself nodding at some of his statement, like 'hey… huh… he's not that wrong about this…'. But still, we're led to believe that the good guys, the Assassins, are never wrong, so we pull through with Connor – only to realize that yes, Haytham was right in many aspects, and yes, Haytham has lied to us and he needs to be stopped.

It's here when my love for Connor reached its ultimate stage: when he denies both his father (Templars) and Washington (for whom the Assassins were working). It's here where you see the true agency of this character. It's not black or white, as Ezio's games were; it's not that he was expelled against his will from the Brotherhood like in Unity; it's not that because of a clash of interest now he resorted to the Templars, like in Rogue; no, it's the philosophy of the very first AC game with Altaïr: Templars and Assassins are one and the same, they only differ in their methods, and when Connor comes to this realization, his struggle is visible and he puts his people first. Like always.

He remains true to his personality. He's grown, he's seen the truth, but he must make a decision. And after all, we're here because we want to see him protect his people. That's his real main driving force and we root for him because of it.

Now, I've spoken a lot about our main character. But, what about the secondary ones?

Achilles, Connor's mentor, hides more than he's willing to share – but slowly his backstory unfolds. In his homestead, Davenport, you're able to build a community with different townsfolk that you can invite to live with you through special sidequests, which combine plot and gameplay seamlessly. Through the homestead missions, you get to know Achilles and the other inhabitants and you see them thrive and grow into a tight-knit community close as family. I daresay that these missions were my favorite out of the whole game, and seeing the town grow not only in NPC's walking around but also in sounds, steps, people working and laughing and dogs barking and kids playing, gave me all the fuzzy and cozy feelings of a warm blanket in winter. Most of Connor's innocence and kindness is shown through these missions, and there are also some really good jewels hidden there, like the quest that asks you to guide the pigs back inside – damn. This game gave me very good laughs.

On a gameplay level, this game is light years away from its predecessors – the parkour alone has been revamped and revitalized, making it more fluid. Free running now isn't a chore anymore. Now you can hunt, which is a great part of Connor's backstory and culture, so it's good to see they blend gameplay with plot like this. There's a crafting system that took me ages to understand, but thankfully I got the hang of it. The combat is pretty much the same (counter kills always for the win) and the difficulty remains quite easy, as the games that came before. I wasn't looking for a challenge so I'm fine with it. Now, if you're looking for a challenge… the optional objectives got it covered for you. Because, good lord, they made these stupid main missions so much unnecessarily HARDER and IMPOSSIBLE to complete without having three or four ragequits and sometimes you have to restart up to ten times. To be honest, I never found myself more enraged with the optional objectives than I was with these missions, and I thought Unity's optional constraints were stupid ass complicated, I was wrong. This game. Must be. The most. Annoying. Piece of videogame. To platinum.

Apart from the 'oh I want to die optional objectives' thing, you have naval missions – which, yes, you guessed it, take place on a ship – I guess they were testing the mechanics for a (not so far away) future pirate game, because I can see the seeds of what later Black Flag came to be. It's serviceable and it fulfills its purpose, but as I don't like ships much, I left it on hold for the endgame. 

If you don’t dig the naval missions nor the main missions, there’s plenty to do in this game: you have the aforementioned homstead missions, the club challenges (which can take... quite a while), the underground fast travel points (a nice change of pace, though you can easily grow tired of them), the liberation missions, which will see you help liberate a city from Templar control and recruiting a new Assassin apprentice, much like in Brotherhood and Revelations; taking Forts, hunting like there’s no tomorrow, courier, delivering items and message delivery missions, a ton of collectibles, etc, etc. 

You might realize I stopped talking about the plot by the time I reached sequence 6 – yes, it's because I'm a little upset with it.

I said that we're here because we want to see Connor protect his people and triumph against the Templars. Yes. We receive that, yes. Amidst. A thousand. History. Lessons.

In my Ezio's Collection review, I complained that in Revelations we were shoved history in the face – I hadn't still finished AC3, because then I would've mentioned something about it. Connor comes across all the important figures of the American Revolution in such a contrived way – he acts as a guardian angel of this revolution, aiding each of the emblematic characters that took part in. I can roll with it in my suspension of disbelief (how come this one person was present at every major event, you know), what I can't roll with is the fact that he was present at the Declaration of Independence – this is some Ken Follett level of bs of probability of something happening to a character. Besides, it's always latent though never truly explicitly addressed, but Connor's skintone was something that should've deterred him from even speaking to someone like Washington – let alone, be present at the moment they signed the Declaration. He does mention at some point that freedom and this new nation was only for white men, and that he acknowledged that slaves deserved as much freedom as everyone else was fighting for; I'm glad he addressed the elephant in the room, though I'm also glad they didn't make the whole thing about it, because normalizing a character like this as a main protagonist was the main idea, I think, when they chose a Mohawk to represent the American Revolution. Still, that someone like him was able to achieve all he achieved in a plot like this, it only means he has some kind of Main Protagonist Shield, otherwise I doubt this could've served as a realistic story for anyone else in the same situation as him. It's, uh, a little hard to believe, that's all. Whereas I can see Arno existing within the historical frame of the French Revolution, without being the one that let the guillotine fall on King Louis' head, this one was a little more far-fetched.

I haven't touched upon the Desmond part – the present day of this game is more, uh… present than ever. And I loved it! I loved it because it delved deep into the Precursor's lore, and also it fleshed out Desmond's relationship with his father, and we actually do shit with Desmond – though that part of the Brazilian stadium, huh, for a company that paid too much attention and consulted with experts on the Mohawks, they clearly left Brazil out of their investigations. I forgive them, they tried.

The music… didn't have as much personality as other installments, it was kind of there, and right now I can't evoke a single theme except for the main menu one, so there you go, it's quite forgettable for my taste, sadly.

I forgot to mention that: this game looks gorgeous. I played the Remastered version of the game, and sometimes it looked like it was done for the PS4 instead of being a remaster (it does look better than Black Flag which came afterwards!). Lighting is magical, the trees breathe life into the screen, the water effects are crystal and realistic; many times I felt like was horse-riding in a Last of Us game (yes, I just compared Ubisoft to Naughty Dog, don't hit me). Davenport Homestead is my favorite location, now more than ever, because it's not only beautiful, but it also means home.

This game accompanied me in a very important moment of my life: I sprained my ankle and I spent a week in bed recovering, while also pondering about my job and the prospects of my future; I took many decisions while playing regarding what I want for my life. I cried at the end because I realized I had become too attached to the characters and because I was so sad to see Connor keep losing things. It all comes full circle by the end. It's a very mature ending, maybe a little unfulfilling, but reality is often disappointing and not everything needs a happily ever after.

All in all, my major complaint goes to the structure of the game and the poor organization they gave to it (AND THE OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES DAAJKSDAD). But Connor as a character in itself made it all worthwhile for me. And I'll always cherish him. I know he won't resonate with everyone, but he resonated with me.

[purplesurveys]

1277

Who are you most nervous about introducing potential significant others to?  Ooooh moving forward, probably Angela hahahaha I have no idea how I’d break it to her if ever I do start seeing somebody again. She’s well aware of all the shit that I let slide so she might get intense with the scrutineering.

What is the most exciting thing about your life right now?  Just the fact that I feel on top of the world these days. My days of being depressed and picking at my insecurities seem to be far behind me and the change has looked to be apparent coming from friends who’ve told me I seem happier, louder these days.

What was the most important non-academic thing you learned in high school?  To not be scared to fight harder for the things you believe in or what make up your identity, coming from having to hide a same-sex relationship during that period. That feeling of being constricted and having to hide to stay on some conservative seniors’ good graces really pissed me off so high school was really crucial in letting me discover just how much I’d be willing to fight and test the waters to be able to live as me.

Have you ever had a job that deeply affected your personal life? How so and do you still work there?  Hmm no, not really. If anything my job is one of the things that helped make me a lot livelier and happier.

Do you have a “one who got away”?  It felt that way at the start when my view was still skewed, but it didn’t take long until I realized she was not a loss at all.

If you were in a superhero movie, would you be the hero or the villain? Hero.

If you found a mouse in your house, would you be frightened?  Mice or rats are the literal worst fucking thing I could see in my house. I definitely see myself making a big deal out of it lmao, especially rats.

Have you ever tried to perform magic tricks?  Nobody ever taught me, so no.

Can you do more with a yo-yo than just "go up and down"? Nah, which kinda makes me feel ashamed because considering it was a Filipino who invented the modern yo-yo, I feel like it should be my responsibility to know a few tricks LOL.

What is one form of technology that you wouldn't be able to live without?  Instant messenger.

Did you get an allowance, growing up? Why or why not?  Starting high school. Before that I was living in our family’s duplex, so my grandma could make packed meals for all of us – not to mention the fact that my parents were also still on their way to establishing themselves at their respective workplaces so we weren’t all that well-off yet. 

When we moved into our own place, we started with my mom making our meals but eventually it just proved to be time-consuming and a lot of work considering she also had a job to go to. With that and the fact that both my parents at that point already got a couple of promotions, we switched to allowance.

Would you rather go to a water park or an amusement park? Why?  Amusement parks though I would only probably head to the safer rides and food stalls with all the deep-fried offerings haha. I cannot handle more intense rides. On the other hand, water parks have always sounded nasty to me.

What is one instrument you wouldn't mind learning how to play?  Piano.

What's the longest amount of time you've had to wait in line for something?  The stupid LTO, because you can never count on government agencies to be efficient. Technically my whole time in there took a couple of stages, but all in all I spent eight hours there.

What is something that you would like to learn more about?  Korean. I just graduated from my Basic Korean 1 class but I already have plans to enroll in the following course, since I seemed to do well and I want to keep the momentum going.

What is something that one of your family member collects?  Mom has a large collection of chef-themed figurines and other sorts of trinkets like a chef timer, shot glasses, etc - but mostly the figurines - that she has displayed in a glass case. I should keep that in mind for when I start Christmas shopping, actually...she hasn’t updated that collection in a long time. Thanks for the idea!

Have you ever moved to a new school before? If so, how did it feel?  No, not in the middle of the same period since I went to the same school from kinder to high school for 14 years. I only “moved” when I started college. Like I’ve said in previous surveys, it felt freeing to finally not under be the hands of an environment ran by...well, Catholics. It was a culture shock to see rallies everywhere, to find out I could wear short shorts or even go to school naked if I wanted to, and to see boys in my class (I went to an all-girls), but it was all the good kind of shock.

Have you ever legitimately forgotten to do homework?  Always, because I never wrote them down.

Do you enjoy autumn leaves or spring flowers more? Why?  I experience neither season.

Depending on where you live, why might a day of school get canceled? Typhoon.

If you could meet any fictional character from a book, who would it be? Melanie Hamilton from Gone with the World.

What are some common places that people tour when they come to your city?  I rarely see foreigners here since my area isn’t particularly known for tourism; most go to the island provinces like Cebu, Aklan, Palawan, etc. If I had to recommend spots here, I’d tell them to go for Pinto and maybe the rooftop bars that offer a view of Manila’s skyline. 

What's one food that you did not enjoy as a child, but do as an adult?  Chicken curry, which I used to dread.

Would you rather have a mermaid tail, a fairy's wings or a unicorn's horn? I guess the wings just because I feel like it’s the only practical one.

What is an animal that you'd like to have as a pet but it's not allowed?  I don’t think that way about animals I can’t keep as pets anyway.

What are some things that you do to make the world a better place?  I always clean up at restaurants (my mom doesn’t understand why I do it because “the servers are here for a reason, Robyn”) but I always see the relief on their faces when they see I’ve stacked up the plates and cups so I don’t see a reason to stop doing it. I keep the door open for people who happen to enter/exit a building the same time as me, share dog adoption posts, don’t make a fuss about or towards a shop staff who messes up...things like that. I hope it’s able to help, even if just in a small way.

Has the last person you had sex with ever had sex with someone besides you?  I don’t know. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has already.

What’s your favorite store at your mall?  We have several malls within the vicinity but I like frequenting NCAT.

Have you ever done a workout DVD?  No but my mom is fond of those.

Who usually takes out the trash in your family?  Either of my parents.

What song are you currently obsessed with?  My Universe is soooooo good. It’s Coldplay’s classic sound but they somehow managed to perfectly blend in BTS’ style as well, so I love how it turned out.

When you go fishing, do you make someone else get the fish off the hook?  I've never gone fishing.

Do you take any prescription meds?  Nope.

What happens if you don’t take them?  Who was the last person you dreamt about?  My dad.

Do you prefer your tea sweetened or unsweetened?  Sweetened, though I don’t usually actively look for iced tea. I’d have it if it was served, but I don’t typically order it for myself.

How often do you honk your horn?  As long as I am annoyed, which gives my mom a mini heart attack every time because she insists I just let people have their way to avoid getting into fights. Sometimes when she’s driving and someone’s being stupid on the road I lurch forward to do the honking for her and it pisses her off soooooooooo much but it also gets the job done so *shrug*

Do you have any children? If so, names and ages? I don’t.

Have your parents ever witnessed you doing something inappropriate? What?  TMI but I almost got caught doing the m-word once but my reflexes were at lightning speed that day so when my door opened I was able to fix myself up and appear as though nothing was happening lol. My mom also saw a hickey on me once but I was able to veer the conversation away when she started inquiring.

Did you get babysat a lot as a kid?  No, I did the babysitting.

If you were the principal of a school, what would you do differently? Actually deal with teachers who mistreat or make issues towards their students. I had several teachers I know didn’t like me but I could never do anything about it because there was no way in hell the school was going to take my side.

Are you doing anything fun tomorrow?  Continued from yesterday. If I took this question yesterday to refer to today I would’ve answered yes because we actually have a really fun PR stunt scheduled for execution today, wherein we get to sponsor someone’s whole wedding from food to flowers to the host and fillm crew :D :D But tomorrow is just Monday so the real answer to this is no.

What is something you'd like to receive as a housewarming gift?  I dunno the usual housewarming gifts, but I would appreciate anything practical, or anything that you’ll need at the least expected times, like batteries or even like Sticky Tack.

How old were you when you first experienced the effects of puberty?  Oooh I was an early bird – I was 9 when I could first tell my first period was on its way; it came a month after I turned 10.

What is your least favorite holiday, and why?  I don’t dislike any holiday because they all mean a day off work lol.

What were some outdoor games you played as a child?  We usually played piko (hopscotch), our local version of freeze tag that we dubbed “Ice ice water” for whatever reason, and a garter game that we call 10-20. Dodgeball was a favorite during recess and lunch, too.

Did you accompany your parents on "Take Your Child to Work" Day? That’s not observed here, but my mom did use to take me and my siblings to her first workplace. Are cemeteries peaceful to you, or do they freak you out?  They’re actually more interesting to me than anything else. I like learning about the different lives of many different people, even if I only technically know them by their birthday and date of death. Sometimes the inscriptions would be more detailed and tell more about their life, sometimes I’d come across babies who only lived a few days...and it’s just interesting to have those glimpses into life.

Which ancient civilization would you be interested in learning more about?  Filipino, because Western colonization destroyed proof of most of it. 

Do you have better long-term memory or short-term memory?  Long.

What was the last situation that made you cry? Describe.  I cried this morning. Nothing bad or heavy, I just found myself thinking again about my mental state last year.

Which forest animal would you be most afraid to encounter?  Anything that wouldn’t hesitate to tear my limbs apart.

Do you believe in anything supernatural? (ie: spirits, etc)  No.

Has anyone close to you ever gone to war?  No. The closest link I have to the military, other than my dead great-grandfather, is Angela’s uncle who’s like a general or like a colonel or something, idk titles.

Have you ever experienced altitude sickness?  Yeah, occasionally. Pressure in the ear is a bigger nuisance to me, though.

Is there anything, any event, you wish you could remember more clearly?  The last time I saw my grandfather. My only clear memory of him that day was stepping out of the house to leave (my mom and I were visiting) and him sending me off with the message to always be kind and good. If I had known I would never see him again, I never would’ve left.

Have you ever rubbed anyone’s feet?  Hmm no, not that I can recall.

If you had to get advice from someone of the opposite sex, who would you go to?  I’d go to Hans for certain advice, but not for every single situation. He’s the only person that comes to mind.

What was the last new food/drink that you tried?  So last Wednesday I finally got to try this Instagram-based doughnut shop that I’ve been eyeing since August and it turned out to be even MUCH BETTER THAN EXPECTEDDDDDD. Like yeah their photos were always mouthwatering but I didn’t expect it to taste as good as it looks, since most pretty food I’ve encountered usually end up just tasting meh. Anywho, I got two orders of their sampler box and they served me their specialty bacon doughnut, signature brown butter, and a bunch of their chocolate and peanut butter variants and I loved every single fucking thing.

Have you had a good day today or was yesterday better?  Oh it’s hard to tell, it’s only 9:05 AM. Both days might be uneventful, though.

Have you ever played Sudoku?  I don’t actually get how to play it hahaha. I feel like I’m too stupid for sudoku.

Do you ever take surveys for money?  I tried it last year when applying for jobs was still a bitch for me, but the thing is most of those surveys look for employed participants so there was rarely ever a survey that fit me anyway.

Do you like Barbie or Bratz better?  Bratz.

Do you prefer purple or green grapes?  I don’t like grapes.

Who was the last person that made you laugh?  Idk, probs one of the boys since I was watching videos of them earlier today.

Where does your best friend live?  A nearby city.

Who did you last confide in?  Angela.

Does your car have an alarm?  Sure.

Where was your mom born?  Somewhere in Metro Manila.

What can always make you feel better no matter what?  My dogs.

What is something you’ll never eat again? Why?  I don’t think there is anything. I feel like I’m always bound to retry things and that I would be open to doing so, even fruits. One thing I’m firm about never drinking again, though, is coconut water. Get that SHIT away from me.

What is currently happening that is scaring you?  I’m not feeling scared these days.

Have you ever found a stranger’s note somewhere? If so, what did it say?  Probably. But nothing sticks out.

[hoppe-ideas]

4th of July

Reposting bc the first one didn’t gain much traction. It was hastily written after 4th of July and barely had any proof reading. Also, some of y’all want to read what I write.

Characters: Thomas, Virgil, Janus, Logan, Roman, Remus, Patton

Ships: DRLAMPT (Romantic or Platonic, they all live together in a giant house) Analogical (Very slightly, if you squint)

Warnings: I don’t know, Virgil gets upset, panic attack, crying. Tell me if i miss something.

Summary: Virgil normally loves the holidays, just not this one.

Virgil loved the holidays, he loved the food, the chaos, the laughter, and everything in between. Even the fighting was enjoyable to watch, the scuffles in the living room, and the little food fights in the kitchen. He loved the smell of Christmas, the energy of halloween, the serenity of Easter and St. Patrick's day, the fullness in his chest and belly during thanksgiving, and the crazy fortitude of new years eve. The one holiday though, the only holiday he does not love, not even like, is independence day. Otherwise known as 4th of July.

If anyone asked Virgil why he doesn’t like this specific holiday, he wouldn’t be able to tell you. He didn’t know why he didn’t like it, every year it was the same; Patton would bbq, Roman and Remus would decorate, Logan and Janus would set up the fireworks. One time they let the twins take control of the fireworks and almost burned down the place. Normally Virgil would help Thomas set the bonfire up, or decorate, or help Patton, or Janus, but today he didn’t want any part of it. He just wanted to drink some coffee and listen to some tunes, but apparently Roman had other plans. Virgil didn’t even finish half his coffee, or his song before Roman snatched him away, taking his headphones away as well. 

Immediately Virgil’s arms were full of bright reds and blues to be placed all over the place, the sunlight didn’t make it any better, shining right in his eyes. It wouldn’t be as bad if he had his headphones, but Roman took them away and now he got the pleasure of listening to the twins sing the entire soundtrack of Hamilton; “In honor of our founding fathers!” Roman declared right before Remus pushed him off the step ladder. After a few hours of decorating, Virgil went to find his headphones and a cold cup of coffee. 

Why waste good coffee? Virgil grabbed a cup filled with ice and dumped the coffee into the cup making iced coffee. He was about to finish listening to his song when Patton came into the kitchen.

“Oh perfect! Virgil i need your help with the food, we’ll be needing watermelon and cantaloupe cut up, the baked beans need to be cooked, lemonade to be made, salads to be tossed, cakes to be made, and i still need to prep the meat for the bbq tonight.” Patton grabbed two aprons, one yellow one for himself and a royal purple for Virgil. Without time to intervene Patton placed it on Virgil and took the headphones away once again. “No music, I need to be able to talk to you while cooking. No distractions.” At least he got to keep his coffee this time. 

Patton talked to him the entire time, non stop talking and directions left and right of how to cook and make everything. Once the cake was in the oven, melon cut, beans cooked, and salad tossed; Patton had finished prepping the meat and said he could do the rest and thanked Virgil. Virgil looked at the time, it was nearing three thirty in the afternoon, as hungry as he was he finished his coffee two hours ago and was now tired. He decided a small nap on the couch would be perfect. That is until Logan came in looking for Virgil asking for his assistance.

“Shouldn’t be too long, we just need some help setting up the fireworks in a safe place away from the bonfire and twins.” Virgil sighed into the pillow and got up to help Janus and Logan, everything was set up until Janus muttered a few curse words along with Remus’s name.

“That bastard, he got into the fireworks and took some, we don’t have enough. Virgil can you go grab some more for us? Logan and I can finish up here, thank you.” Virgil set out to get more fireworks which proved more socially demanding than normal. Too many people, screaming kids, angry Karens’, and a long line for last minute fireworks. It took nearly an hour to just grab what they needed and returned home. The house they all shared looked like America threw up on it, no thanks to him and the twins. Logan greeted him, taking the fireworks while conducting small talk. Once they got to the backyard, Patton was bbq-ing, roman was lounging in the sun, Janus was fighting Remus away from the fireworks they set up, and the bonfire stayed empty. 

“Hey! Panic at the everywhere, are you going to start the bonfire or what?” Virgil turned towards Roman and shook his head.

“Not until Thomas gets here with the wood, he said he would be picking some up after work.” Sadly Thomas didn’t have today off, he had to work at the production company he worked at. He was a commercial actor and they decided they wanted to get some holiday shots for a clothing ad. While taking the opportunity of peace, Virgil went back inside to try and find his headphones; there was only one problem. He couldn’t find them, not in the living room, or the kitchen, or the office, his bedroom, the bathroom, the twins room, hell even the closet. Instead of panicking, he took a few deep breaths and decided to check his room again. That was until Patton came to ask for his help setting up the table outside where they eat. 

Once he finished with that, Thomas’s truck pulled up and jogged over to Virgil, his smile was contagious as he asked for help with the bundles of wood. Sure from taking the firewood to the bonfire pit was only fifteen feet away but it was a lot of heavy wood to carry on a hot evening. Once that was all done, Thomas started the fire and Virgil had a raging headache that he could feel build up through out the day. Dinner was delicious, everyone thanked Patton and Virgil and dived in. The problem was that everyone was loud, laughter and arguments filled the air with distant fireworks blasting off. Remus gave a hollar every time one was especially loud, and it didn’t help that Remus sat next to Virgil, even splashing some lemonade on him.

After dinner was desert, which was cake and some s’mores by the fire. When everyone sat by the fire Virgil went back inside to take some medicine, he felt exhausted and irritated. He found the pill bottle but no pills. He could feel the headache turning into a migraine and a panic attack starting to settle as well. If he only had his headphones-

“Virgil?” He spun around to find Logan standing in the doorway of the bathroom, silence sat in the room only Virgil’s breathing can be heard.

“Is there something you need?” He meant to sound harsh, but it came out soft. 

“Yes, we are starting the fireworks but waiting on you.” Virgil shook his head and began shuffling around the medicine cabinet trying to find some more pills.

“You guys go on ahead, I'll skip it this year. Have you seen my headphones?” He asked while inspecting an expired bottle of Advil.

“Ah, no, i have not seen your headphones, but Patton is persistent on waiting for you. Just one firework and then you can return.” Virgil half listened while still rummaging through the cabinet, Logan grabbed his wrists and set them down. “Remus used all the headache medicine for a creative project, i was going to buy some more tomorrow. Just one firework and then you can leave, i’ll even help you find your headphones.” Virgil nodded and Logan led him outside hand in hand. Once outside, Patton bounded up to him wrapping an arm around him giggling for the fireworks to start. 

One firework turned into two, which turned into three, then five, then ten. He was holding a lit sparkler while everyone cheered at the colors in the sky. Virgil didn’t bother to look up, his eyes hurt, his head hurt, his body hurt, everything just hurt. Then the twins found the smoke bombs and lit every single one. Virgil felt suffocated, he didn’t realize he fell crying and screaming until everybody rushed him back inside. 

“Virgil? Virgil, buddy can you hear me?” Thomas’s voice was muddled, he felt heavy and he couldn’t stop shaking. His head hurt so much he cried harder, not realizing someone picked him up and placed him on the couch. He looked up through bleary eyes to see Patton holding his headphones to him, that right. Patton took them away when they were cooking and they must have forgotten about it. He placed them on his head playing soft calming music, he dug his head into the pillows of the couch sniffling softly.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.” He muttered wincing at his hoarse voice. He felt a weighted blanket be placed over him and the lights turned down low. Weight shifted around him as he suspected they sat down with him on their overly large couch.

“Virgil.” Janus’s voice cooed as he took off his headphones to silence, only off distant sounds of fireworks in the background. “You have nothing to be sorry for.” Virgil shut his eyes tightly and shook his head. Which was a mistake because he whimpered from the pain.

“I ruined the fireworks.” He muttered he felt someone put an arm around him.

“Falsehood. You didn’t ruin anything. If anything we ruined today for you, you were the only one not having fun today.” Logans’ monotone voice soothed some tension from his shoulders, but the cuddles he was receiving some cuddles from everyone. Janus and Logan sat on each side of Virgil, the twins sat down by his feet, Thomas started to play The Black Cauldron, and Patton started to put everything away and went to go get some more medicine.

Virgil didn’t like the 4th of July, but he did love his family.

The End.

[dontasktheradiodemon]

Musical Tryouts (1/31/2021)

Please pretend I posted this chat log a month and a half ago when it actually happened, sob.

Valera @autokrates is leaving an audition for Hell’s first production of Hamilton, and runs into Alastor, waiting for his turn to audition. They hang out and chat until it’s his turn—which marks the first time in forever they’ve had a full conversation that wasn’t Incredibly Awkward the whole way through. Hooray for progress.

Chronologically, this chat log happened between this (note: art of extremely hilarious outfit) and this (note: art of another hilarious outfit)

Alastor

Alastor hasn’t auditioned for a show since the seventies, and hasn’t auditioned and *cared* about it in almost a century. He’d like to think he doesn’t look nervous, but he knows he’s reread his typewritten lyrics about a hundred times and every couple of minutes he catches his leg bouncing again. That’s fine, he’s in disguise, he isn’t supposed to look like himself anyway. He can look a little nervous.

When he realizes he’s more staring a hole through his pages than actually reading them, he forces himself to lift his head, slouches back in his cheap metal chair, and looks around the makeshift backstage waiting room. Maybe he can figure out if anyone else is trying for his parts, drag them into the back alley, and mangle them. It would defeat the purpose of showing up in disguise, but it would burn some nervous energy, and anyway he’s already seen one would-be Angelica pin another down and slit her throat. His gaze scans over the other hopeful actors.

Valera

From the stage comes the muffled sound of someone singing, as expected. But the singing gets louder as the voice approaches the door, and it certainly sounds like Not A Musical Number. It sounds a lot more like someone who needed to be accompanied by someone torturing a piano with a series of small hammers. Was that a Will Wood number? Why yes, yes it was!

Through the curtains and round the corner comes the fish supreme, bedecked in enough frills and frippery to lose an orphan in with their 18th century french fashion, belting out lines from I/Me/Myself as they saunter towards the exit with barely a glance for the other hopefuls waiting for their call. Barely a glance at all, until their eyes land on Alastor. Then their jaunty tune is cut off with an uncanny impression of a record scratch crossed with a chicken being strangled, head whipping around for a double take as they freeze mid stride. Holy fuck what was he WEARING???

Alastor

Alastor’s ears threatened to perk up beneath his temporarily shapeshifted hair at the sound of a very familiar and very beloved song from another performer—he’d almost considered performing that one himself, God was he lucky he’d decided to go with “Modern Major General”—and he turned to see who it was with the spectacular taste in music—

“Valera?!” What the hell was Valera doing at a musical audition in Hell?

Valera

It WAS Alastor! They KNEW it! They gasp, pointing at him as their eyes boggle. "Al--" And just as quickly, a hand is clapped over their own mouth, teeth clicking as they clamp their mouth shut. Okay, try that again, *without* ruining his disguise.

They stride over to where he's sitting, leaning in slightly before hissing. "What are you WEARING?"

Alastor

Alastor plays the sound of something crashing over when Valera starts to say his name—the other waiting performers look around to see which props just toppled over—and hops out of his seat to meet Valera in the middle when they approach him. “Do *not* expose me,” he hisses, flinging an arm around Valera’s shoulders. “Nobody here knows I’m the Radio Demon and if this is going to work, nobody *can* know.”

Then he looks down at his own outfit. “A disguise.” Obviously. “I asked my listeners, ‘What’s the last thing you’d ever expect me to wear?’”

Valera

Oh, great, he's touching them AND he's already mad at them for something they'd already avoided. This seemed like par for the course, might as well get through this as painlessly as possible. Valera's face tightens into a stiff little smile, stomach already twisting into knots. "I've got no plans of exposing you, it would be a shame to ruin the work you put into your... outfit."

A slow exhale from the nose, and they force their shoulders to relax. Can't have the other actors see the two of them at odds, they're clearly just a couple of friends running into each other! A funny coincidence! Their voice raises back to a normal speaking tone, all sunshine and cheer as they give Alastor a pat on the back that falls short of actually touching him. "I take it you're here to audition for a part, then?"

Alastor

Alastor wheezes a near-silent laugh. “Isn’t it hideous?” he whispers. “You should see what the full leggings look like, they’re horrible.”

He lets go and steps back. “I am! I was seized by a wild burst of inspiration, and auditions happened before that inspiration ran out. I take it you... *already* auditioned.” Which raises a whole slew of questions, but Alastor starts with the most important one: “Which part?”

Valera

Valera sends up a silent prayer of thanks to any God listening, hands folding behind their back as they admire Alastor's grotesque attire. "Unfortunately, I kind of love it. It's vile, but with a few tweaks it could be a genuinely good outfit."

They clear their throat at his latter question, rolling back on the heels of their new shoes. "Washington. I didn't come to Hell today expecting to audition for anything, I was just here buying shoes. But I heard music, saw the theater, decided to pop in and see what was going on. And hey, why not try out? Didn't expect to run into you of all people."

Alastor

A little tension drains out of his shoulders at the answer. He glances down to idly check out Valera’s new shoes. “Oh, good! I don’t have to duel you for a part.” He almost instinctively starts playing a snip from “Ten Duel Commandments” to underline the comment, but catches himself. He is, after all, trying not to blow his cover—he’s even consciously suppressing the radio distortion to his voice, he nearly sounds like a normal person. “The feeling’s *entirely* mutual. You’re about the last person I’d expect to try out for a show around here, so far from home!”

And he’s not sure how he feels about it yet. He’s been trying to avoid talking to Valera—can’t get in trouble after interacting with them if they *don’t* interact, can he?—and now here he is doing the opposite of that... but they haven’t started another stupid argument. Yet. “What are you doing if you actually get the part? You’re committing to being in Pentagram City on a near daily basis for—goodness, months at least!”

Valera

They don't know how they feel about seeing him here either. It went from being a fun little spur of the moment tryout before icecream into an UNEXPECTED INTERACTION with A PERSON THEY DON'T KNOW WELL. But no, they have to tamp down on the urge to make their excuses and leave, things would never improve between them if Valera did nothing but avoid him after all.

"IF I get the part! I haven't been in a production in years, I'm rusty compared to plenty of the actors here today, I'm sure." A hand waves, lazy and dismissive. "But if I do pull it off, I've been planning on spending more time in Hell anyway. This is just a convenient excuse."

Alastor

“Hah, I haven’t tried out for a show since—well, since before you were born.” And then, he’d just been doing it as a lark, too—something to attempt to keep his mind occupied. He hadn’t actually *wanted* to be in a production this badly since he lived in New York, before he gave up on making it on Broadway and went into radio. “But how many of *them* can launch into a full musical number at the drop of a hat!”

Valera

Right, it was easy to forget that Alastor was old enough to be their dad. Or Grandpa. Probably? They'd done the math at some point..

"Hatched." They correct on reflex, reaching up to fuss with the feather on their hat. "Who are you trying for? Lafayette? I could see you as a Lafayette." They're saying it because of the French, but they will NOT say that out loud.

Alastor

Great-grandpa, easily. Maybe even great-great grandpa if a few generations got early starts.

His face brightens. “Let’s hope the casting director thinks so, too! Yes, Lafayette and Jefferson—the same actor played them both in the mortal realm, why shouldn’t one person play both down here, too?”

Valera

Great-grandpa Alastor, the spryest old man in the nursing home. Eating the interns when he gets bored... That sounds like a typical older Veci actually.

They hum, looking Alastor up and down in his getup. "You'll get the part, or I'll eat this silly chapeu. I've seen the competition you're up against. They're good, don't get me wrong, but..." A vague gesture at him. "Nobody could compete!"

Alastor

"You flatter me!" All the same, he's beaming widely. "But I was hoping that would be the case, what with when they scheduled auditions. January's a bad time for, well, *most* people's schedules. I'm afraid I missed all but the tail end of your performance—spectacular choice of song, though!"

Valera

"Why thank you! Will Wood doesn't fit the show's theme in the slightest, but it certainly shows my singing chops! Though if I'd planned for this audition I might have gone with an outfit a bit less.. *French*." They grin, shimmying their enormous sleeves. Unrepentant in the slightest. "Might. I could see Washington's doughy self in this getup."

Alastor

Alastor examines Valera’s getup. Was that French? It just looked old-fashioned to him. “Well, hopefully they’re not going to judge based on fashion!” He glances pointedly down at his own outfit.

Valera

Another glance at his outfit, and they give a thumbs up. "You've got a bowtie on, you'll be fine."

Oh. Would it be a supportive friend thing to do to sit and wait for his call with him? Or would that be somehow rude? They couldn't just ask, if it *was* rude he'd probably be offended by the notion, but if it wasn't... Something bad. Probably? Maybe they're being unfair. A quick clearing of the throat, and they gesture towards the door. "Do you want to sit down? I've got time to kill before. Uh... *Mon Cerf Rouge* arrives with my ice cream."

Alastor

*Oh right*, he’s wearing *Valera’s husband’s* bow tie. His hand flies up to cover it as if that will prevent it from being identified, and he quickly forces his hand back down. “Well! I wasn’t going to show up to an audition underdressed, was I?” He laughs thinly. Don’t act suspicious it’s fine.

Is Valera hanging out with another Alastor? He wonders which one. How is it that every version of himself manages to get along with them but him? It wouldn’t be so galling if *none* of them could get along with Valera, but if it’s something he uniquely is doing wrong—no, don’t worry about that right now.

His first inclination is to turn down the offer, they’ve had a cordial conversation so far and he can’t mess it up if it ends right here; but there’s a chance they’re about to both end up in the same show, isn’t there? Polite avoidance might not be an option for long. Better get to work on getting along. “Sure! It’s a bit yet until my turn.”

Valera

What a reaction! They will politely pretend they didn't see him have a miniature panic over being seen wearing Pentious' bowtie. Far too busy inspecting their gloves, for some reason. How convenient.

Well, now they've done it, they're stuck here. Though it's surprising he accepted the offer, maybe it'll be okay? If he really wanted to avoid them he could have turned the offer down. They're probably overthinking it. A quick nod, and then they perch on the edge of a seat so their fuckoff huge tail can actually fit amidst the mounds of ruffles. On the plus side, nobody but Alastor was going to be taking the seats next to them anytime soon, unless they wanted to fight the tide of frills.

Time to.. Get along? Polite chit chat? "Is this the first production of Hamilton in Hell? It's a fairly new musical, and I know there's a bit of a delay getting things down here."

Alastor

“The very first! In fact, this production company is the one that got the first recording smuggled down from the living realm! Online there’s a few amateur recordings of recent arrivals singing the songs they remember, but so far that’s the only presence Hamilton has had in Hell. Anyone who gets in this show has an opportunity to *define* their roles in the eyes of the public.” Oh, he’s getting a little starry-eyed just thinking of it. “I suppose you’ve probably seen the original production in the mortal realm?”

Valera

"I did, though that was long before I met you or I'd have invited you along!" They're going to take the hat off, it's very silly and the feather keeps floating around in the corner of their vision. Plus, now they have something to hold in their hands so they can't start doing anything weird with them. Win win!

Alastor seems genuinely excited about this production, he'd gone through all the effort to get an outfit, come for tryouts.. And they just sauntered in on a whim. Thank the gods they weren't trying out for the same part, Valera would have had to bow out immediately. "I wonder if any of the actual founding fathers have survived long enough down here to see the show. Wouldn't *that* be something?"

Alastor

“Wouldn’t it just! I can’t think of *anything* I’d enjoy more than prancing around on stage making Jefferson look like an absolute damn fool while the real deal seethes in a front row seat!” He laughs. It’s not a terribly friendly laugh. “But I don’t know if any are down here. I don’t pay close attention to that sort of thing—and anyway, most *important* people who end up damned either find themselves on the receiving end of a deluge of assassination attempts or else change their identities fairly fast. A founding father could show up and audition to play as himself and we might not know.” A thoughtful pause. “Although I doubt any of them would get the part.”

Valera

"I'd assume they wound up here, considering the whole owning slaves and starting wars thing. Good PR post mortem doesn't absolve you of shitty behaviors in life, unfortunately." Yes. Very unfortunate. That's why they're grinning so toothily. "Imagine if we got the actual King George on the roster? Though I'd rather see Pentious try for the part, personally." There's no way George was still around, he'd gone batty enough in life that he'd probably wandered onto the nearest angelic spear first thing. But they could dream!

Alastor

“One would hope! But no one’s ever sent me the rule book on what does and doesn’t get you access upstairs, who knows for sure? I can tell you what I think *should* get you down here, but I can’t tell you with complete certainty whether or not it does.”

Oh, his eyes light up at that. “Just imagine him in the full raiment of a king! But no. Getting up on stage to have hundreds of people laugh at him for dressing and acting like royalty? He’d hate it.”

Valera

"He'd look glorious in a crown! But you're right, he'd never want a comic relief role, even if he WOULD get to sing about sending battalions after people." Alas and alack, King George ala Pentious would have to live in their dreams. But they smirk, leaning a fraction closer to Alastor to whisper. "But we might be able to get him to sing it privately, at least, and wouldn't that be lovely?"

Quickly pulling back, they cross one leg over the other and put on that cheerful grin again. "What do you think *should* qualify to send people to Hell, my fine fellow? It's a broad question, so we can skip it if you'd rather not open that can of worms."

Alastor

Wouldn’t it be lovely, indeed. He smiles uncomfortably and glances away.

“Oh, skip it.” He waves a hand vaguely. “I find the topic as sanctimonious as it is futile. It may not be for *you*, perhaps—for you, it’s little more than an interesting thought experiment on alien morality—but for us? What’s the good of debating why people should be damned when we’re *already* damned? It’s not going to help us get out of Hell. God isn’t going to take our suggestions into consideration. All the topic does is make one bitter that the powers that be don’t appear to be judging people to one’s personal moral standards—or else it inspires one to assume that God *is* operating in line with one’s personal understanding of justice, and try to pigeonhole everyone one meets into the crimes one believes are worthy of damnation. I’ve run into countless people down here who *don’t know why* they’re damned—and yet they *are* damned, which means they’ve done something that *is* damnable even if they themselves don’t believe it. If people can’t understand their own sins, how can they be trusted to judge anyone else’s?”

Valera

They lean back as Alastor skips one can of worms for another, watching him as he broke down his reasoning. It was interesting, insightful, even if they didn't have much to say to him in response. He was right, after all. For them it was an alien concept, a novelty to roll around and discard when they were bored, just like so many other human notions. But not everyone was so lucky. A nod of agreement, and they flick their tail.

"You're right. My apologies, Alastor, it's easy to forget how... fortunate I am, to be in the position I'm in." A side eye at the other actors, who PROBABLY couldn't hear the conversation, but even so. "Something lighter, then. Have you had a chance to work on restoring your deathday gift yet? You did a fine job with Alexander, he's as glossy as the day you *finished* him."

Alastor

“Oh, that’s just to be expected. How many people have a chance to measure their lives up against the dead and damned, anyway? We’re not given opportunities to interact with anyone but our fellow prisoners and our jailers, and that’s by design.” He’s occasionally side-eyeing the other actors himself, but none seem to be paying attention.

“Oh—yes! Cleaned out the guts and got off the worst of the grime of age. I need to get a few cleaning supplies to finish the job, but soon the both of them will be spick and span!” Look at him beaming, the proud father. “How *is* Alexander? I wanted to talk to him while visiting your place, but his time seemed to be monopolized by someone else the whole trip!” He really did feel bad about that. He feels like he’s got something a duty to Alexander, but so far he hasn’t been able to meet it.

Valera

This was a MUCH better topic. Radios and mutual friends, much safer. They let their shoulders relax under the jacket, chirping as their fins waggle. "I'm sure they'll be as good as new by the time you're done with them, mon collègue. You'll have to show me how they come out. A beautiful antique is always twice as radiant when restored with care, and those radios were gorgeous."

Ah.. Alexander. Their face twists, a frown tugging at the corners of their mouth. "Alexander is.. alright, I suppose. Nothing terrible has happened, and I've been trying to work with him on his manifestations with generally mixed to positive results." They shrug, sighing through their nose. "I think he misses other humans. Or former humans, I suppose. We get along well, but he'll see something and start talking about.. Ponzi? Or his mother writing to him from the" Airquotes here as they squint "Dust Bowl?" What the fuck is a dust bowl? They don't know, it sounds like something a chinchilla would roll in. "And he loses me completely."

Alastor

“I’ll have Vaggie take pictures some time.”

Alastor’s eyebrows shoot up. “That poor man got tangled up with Ponzi *and* the dust bowl? Goodness, what an unfortunate life he lived! But you’re right, he really needs more humans to talk to, doesn’t he? I’ll—“ A pause, and then he says thoughtfully, “I’ll see whether I can contact him myself. If not, I’ll let you know and we’ll arrange a play date. If it works, though—you’ll probably hear about it from him.”

Valera

Contact Alexander himself? Valera opens their mouth to ask how, then it clicks. Right, radio to radio transmissions. Could Alastor reach radios outside of Hell? Maybe it would be easier if the radio was haunted, a bit closer to the fuzzy boundaries between Heaven, Hell, and Earth. Or, Okkylk in this case. Hm.

"I'll take your word for it, I haven't got the foggiest about what either of those are. What the *devil* is a Ponzi?" They've heard "Ponzi Scheme" said in movies, but maybe it wasn't even the same Ponzi! Maybe Ponzi was a normal human thing. Like a brand, they do love their brands... "But thank you. I think he'd benefit from having more than one very alien being to talk to."

Alastor

“Charles Ponzi! A con artist! He convinced a whole slew of people to give him a mountain of money to invest in what he claimed was some post office money-making scheme and that he’d double their money in a month or two. Instead, he pocketed the money, convinced *another* slew of people to give him money for the same scheme, used that money to pay off the first wave of suckers—and rinse and repeated until he’d scammed thousands and stolen millions! Spent a few years in prison, got out and tried another scheme, got arrested in dear old New Orleans trying to flee the country! You knew you weren’t going to be bored any time he showed up in the papers!” Alastor loves a good con artist story. “The Dust Bowl, I missed myself—just a little bit after my time—but from my understanding it was a big drought in the middle of the States that dried out a bunch of farmland. Lot of farming families starved those years.” Alastor loves a good con artist, but starving people are just sad.

Valera

This Ponzi guy should have gone into politics, hot damn. Valera makes a low whistle, nodding their approval. "That DOES explain why he thought about Ponzi, we were talking about the weird political scams my predecessor left me on the hook for when I snuffed him out. Though I think that Charles there pulled it off with more flair than that bird brain ever could have. What a character! I've got to respect that kind of daring."

Probably best not to comment too much on the dust bowl, that sounds like a downer. But, they did bring it up, and if they're talking about Alexander.. "That does explain it. I believe his family was based in that middle area." A nod, and they immediately jump to something less negative. "Let him prattle on at you about his electronics store, he'd love it. The man talked my fins off for twenty minutes about something called a Perikon Detector a regular asked him to order and I STILL don't understand why he was so exasperated about it."

Alastor

“Oh, did he ever have flair! There’s a story I heard about when news of his scams started hitting the papers—all his investors swarmed his offices to demand their money back, he went around to them one by one offering coffee and donuts and smiles, and charmed them so well they *left* their money with him!” Alastor laughs.

Perikon Detector? Alastor stares off into space a moment, trying to dig the term out of nearly-century-old memories. “... Probably because Perikon Detectors were replaced by vacuum tubes before ninety percent of the nation ever even *heard* of radios. What the hell did someone want a Perikon Detector?”

Valera

They laugh, clapping their hands together. Charles Ponzi, was it? They'd have to look the fellow up later just to see the details of his escapades, maybe forward the information to a certain lawyer they knew. But for now, their potential costar has been oddly silent..

Alastor in a state of blank befuddlement was a rare treat, and one that Valera enjoyed while they could before he seemed to snap back into focus with his scrabbled knowledge in hand. "You'll have to ask him for specifics, but judging by the choice of insults, this person had a habit of asking for obscure, outdated parts rather frequently. Maybe a collector? Upcycler?" They shrug. "I still have no idea what a Perikon Detector IS. It sounds like a little bauble they'd use in a bad sci-fi show."

Alastor

“Well, it detects perikons, obviously!” He pauses. Dead silence. “Right, forgot I gave the laugh track the afternoon off. You at least know what vacuum tubes are, right? They, uh...” Has Alastor ever actually learned what it is, *exactly,* that vacuum tubes do. He knows how to use them. He knows how to tell which one he needs. He’s put them in radios. He’s *made* radios. But his eyes glaze over whenever he tries to learn what exactly it is the electricity *does* in there.

“Well,” he says confidently, “they control electrons, you see. You’re not getting very far in electronics if you can’t control electrons.” There’s a smattering of laughter. “Shut up, you’re all on break. Anyway, you’ve got vacuum tube radios and crystal radios—there’s a crystal in a Perikon Detector, see—and vacuum tube radios actually need some electricity to power them—which means you’ve got enough electricity to also power a speaker. Crystal radios are powered only by the very radio waves they pick up, but you’ve got to squeeze headphones against your face to hear it—so not very useful if you want to use a radio while doing anything but sitting in one spot very quietly with your hands over your ears. A Perikon Detector is just one brand name of crystal detectors that pick up radio waves.”

Valera

Alastor's initial joke is delivered, and Valera rather wished it hadn't been. In fact, they'd like to file a formal complaint with the verbal post office, they seem to have delivered an auditory assault instead of pleasantries. Silence reigns between them, oppressive and all consuming like an unjust monarch, three eyes staring silent judgement at the Radio Demon for his awful, terrible, no good dad joke levels of comedy. Jingle the bells on your little jester hat, old man-- Oh wait, he's talking again.

Valera stops squinting, rolling their eyes with a groan. He's still telling bad jokes. Those are only funny when YOU'RE the one telling them, the bastard. But they're going to completely gloss over his evil sense of humor and focus on the technical talk, and if there's a little upward twitch of their lips it's his imagination. Shut up. Dad jokes aren't funny. "Interesting! I'd never even heard of a crystal radio before, humans upgrade their technology so quickly that it makes the mind reel. One of their.. Your? Finer features."

Alastor

Alastor is goddamn hilarious and a gift to the microphone and the world is better for him and his humor having been in it, if we’re not counting those murders he did. “It *is* one of our more impressive parlor tricks! Although, truth be told, only one we picked up in the last century or so!” A pause. “Last *two* centuries. I keep forgetting the 1820s aren’t a hundred years ago. Anyway, we’ve really picked up the pace lately, relatively speaking! I once heard someone say—I don’t know how he knows, but I’m sure someone looked it up—that for several thousand years, the human *pelvis* evolved faster than the plowshare! And then all of the sudden, boom! Factories! Steel! Trains! Airships! Radio! How did people before the nineteenth century not bore themselves to death, I’ll never know.”

Valera

Valera cocks their head to the side, mind casting back. "From what I recall about sixteen hundreds France from my earliest visits, there was a lot of interpersonal drama and dying from preventable diseases to keep people busy. Much less interesting than the industrial revolution. Though the water was also a lot *cleaner* back then." A dissatisfied scoff. "Late eighteen hundreds London was a foul, foul place. Only went once and I had a cough for a week."

Alastor

"Oh, *that's* right! *Human drama!* Entertainment at its purest! I would have been an insufferable gossip, I'm sure." His smile broadens with satisfaction at figuring out what he would have done before radio.

Valera

"Oh don't sell yourself short, Alastor. I'm sure given the chance, you could be an insufferable gossip now, too!" They flutter their lashes dramatically, fanning themselves with their hat as they titter like a fine court damsel. Okay, enough of that. "They should be calling you soon, no?"

Alastor

“You flatter me! If more people shared gossip with me, I *would* be!”

Oh, right. He’s here for the first audition he’s cared about since dying. He sits up a little straighter, ears almost lifting out of his absurd disguise hair as he strains to listen to the current audition on stage. Sounds like it’s wrapping up. “Probably.” He looks down at his printed lyrics again and, predictably, forgets how to read.

Valera

Valera glances at Alastor's paper, humming as their hands rest on their hat. Was he *nervous*?

"Are you nervous?" Wait they said that out loud didn't they. Well, shit. Better commit. "What did you say you were doing again? The Major General's Song?"

Alastor

He's gonna ignore the hell out of that first question. "Yes, Modern Major General—and I learned a couple of songs from the show, more or less. I don't know what they're going to ask for. I figured at a minimum Modern Major General would show I can sing fast enough for the parts, if they don't want anyone to sing from the show."

Valera

If he'd actually answered the question, Valera would have probably accused him of being an imposter. Alastor wasn't known for admitting to his emotions unless you happened to be a Victorian steampunk snake, and even then. A sigh, and they lean back in their seat as much as their tail allows. "They let me sing Will Wood, so I think your selection should be perfectly sufficient. You even went with another musical theater song!"

Valera

Even then, he only just sort of failed to deny straightforward accusations. Kind of like what he just did. "I'm glad I didn't go with Will Wood," he mutters.

Yep, there's no more singing or talking from the stage, they're definitely wrapping up. Any second now.

Valera

It sounds like Alastor's turn is coming up, and good timing on that. They had no idea how to respond to his mutterings beyond pointing out that no casting director in Hell was likely to have heard of a semi obscure avant-garde jazz musician. Which might not even be accurate, maybe he was popular down here.

Out comes the phone, the ultimate distraction to ignore a potentially awkward silence. Better to end the talk on a positive-ish note, considering they're going to be seeing this garishly dressed man on the daily for possibly months. Sit next to one Alastor, text another, barely suppress snorts when the second gets confused about "phish food" being an ice cream flavor. As a fish does.

Alastor

The most recent actor comes backstage again, and another demon calls, “Next, uh... Lass?”

Alastor hops to his feet. “That’s me! That’s my name.” He turns to Valera. “Stage name. Drag name, usually, but as long as I’ve got the hair and the dress today—Anyway!” He claps a hand on Valera’s shoulder. “Tell me to break a leg!”

Valera

They glance up from their phone at the name call, sliding their eyes back down as Alastor hops up. Off he goes then? Maybe not, he's talking now, they should respond--

They make a very undignified BWAGH at the unexpected touch, hat flying off their lap as their whole body jumps. Then immediately pretends it didn't happen, clearing their throat noisily. What? No, they didn't just jump out of their scales. "Break a leg, Alastor."

Alastor

*Wheeze.* He doesn’t apologize but he *does* quickly take his hand back, which is probably as close as they’re gonna get from him. “Thanks!” He startled the hell out of someone and got a quick laugh out of it, that does something to steady his nerves. He folds up his lyrics, tucks them away god-only-knows-where, and strides out. Showtime!

Valera

Valera watches him go, shaking their head as they stand. Well, that's one radio demon out of their hair. Time to go willingly throw themselves at another one! The hat is plucked off the floor, and off they go. Not too shabby a day, not too shabby at all.

[lin-manhell]

Music

Pairing: Lin-Manuel Miranda x reader

Prompt(s): Whatever song your soulmate is listening to is stuck in your head. (Changed it a bit)

Warnings: None?

Word count: 1349

A/N: Requests are open! Not my best work, but it’s a good place to start, hope you all enjoy!

Music was everywhere in your life. Songs that you have never heard would swirl in your mind as your soulmate would sing; his voice angelic. Though, you have never met him you could tell how clever he was. Whatever songs he was singing, you have never heard before despite all of your research. At age 18 was when you realized that he was going places.

‘My name’s Usnavi and you’ve probably never heard my name..’ you hummed along to his voice as you heard him sing the familiar tune. Though, he usually stopped around that point, almost as if he couldn’t get the lyrics out. So, you sung back.

“If you heard of my fame it’s been greatly exaggerated.” And that’s when you two started bonding over music. He would sing a line then stop- almost as if he wanted you to continue it.

At age 19 he started singing that tune- along with others- almost everyday. You couldn’t say you were getting tired of hearing it though. His voice was amazing to hear and cheered up your day easily. You learned from the songs that it was about a character named Usnavi in a place called Washington Heights in NYC. From there, your bond wouldn’t let you learn any more as fate didn’t want you to meet. At least, not yet.

But, it seemed fate never wanted to meet. At age 26, you began to lose hope as all of your friends had their soulmates and were living happily. Meanwhile, you were doomed to listen to the same songs, but have no soulmate. At 27, you began to hear a new tune.

‘What’s your name man? Alexander Hamilton.’ You chuckled the first time you heard it, but over time it got better and better. The tunes got catchier and you began falling for his music all over again. But, at age 34, you heard the tune. Except it wasn’t in your head. It was your friend- showing you a song after talking about it so much- off of broadway about him. The guy you had been hearing those exact lyrics about for the past 7 years.

“Nate, what’s this song called?” You tried to stop your racing heart from bursting out of your chest.

“So you like it?” He teased

“Yes I love it- now what is it called?”

“This one is called ‘You’ll Be Back’ It’s sung by Jonathon Groff and the music is by-” you couldn’t hear the name, “he’s really talented and he wrote the entire musical”

“Can you repeat the name?” You asked.

You saw his lips moving, but you couldn’t hear it. You have heard of things like this before. How you couldn’t hear your soulmate’s name unless you have met them.

“Nate, thank you so much! I would love to continue talking but I just remembered I had this thing to do!” You stuttered and rushed off, but not before you heard him shout to you, “Eager are we? I’ll see you around Y/N! I demand an explanation the next time I see you though!”

You ran to your apartment and time didn’t seem to be on your side. The elevator felt really slow and you got stopped by a neighbor before you could enter your room. But, as soon as you did get inside you quickly ran to your computer and started to research.

You started with googling ‘You’ll be back’ from then you saw the musical was called Hamilton. You chuckled to yourself, considering you have heard that name repeatedly in the past years. You then googled ‘Hamilton the Musical’ There were images and some info but a lot of it was blurry. In quite a few photos there was a man, but he was always blurred out. You guessed that was him. Your soulmate. Mr. Alexander Hamilton. Mr. Usnavi. Your genius.

There was only one thing to do. Your mind was set. You went and bought a ticket. It was expensive, and it was in a few weeks. It may have burnt a hole in the wallet, but in your mind it was worth it. Anything was worth it for him. You chuckled to yourself, you didn’t even know him. All you knew about him was that he was really intelligent, talented, and apparently on broadway. But, you were already hooked.

The weeks passed very slowly. Work dragged on. Everything felt overwhelming. The very thought of meeting your soulmate after so long. So many years of losing hope slowly. All your friends had met their lights, and with all of their stories, you were ready for your own story. Your own light.

Finally after so much time… you saw it. You saw him. Your breath was taken away and it felt like a weight was lifted off your chest that you didn’t even know you had. You felt the void slowly start to close up, content at last.

He must’ve noticed you too, because during the song ‘My Shot’ he locked eyes with you and stumbled over his lines. He quickly recovered after improvising some lines. Throughout the rest of the show, both of your eyes met repeatedly and each time a flame would grow in your heart. You could only wonder if he felt the same.

The show passed by in a blur, and as you got up an usher met you. You weren’t that surprised, but you weren’t expecting an usher. “Y/N L/N, correct?”

“Yes, that’s me,”

“The cast would like to meet you backstage so will you please follow me?” he smiled kindly.

After many turns and passing by people with questioning stairs, you finally made it backstage.

“I’ll leave you to it,” the usher said and went back to whatever he needed to do.

Suddenly you saw him again. He was out of costume but he still looked as charming as ever, even in sweatpants and an oversized hoodie. You both froze for a second before a grin broke out on his face. Your heart melted at the sight of his smile, and you knew you could get used to this.

Then, you didn’t know what to do. He was your soulmate, you didn’t even know his name. Were you supposed to kiss him? Run up and give him a hug? Your thoughts were racing. As you focused again, he was in front of you. He grabbed your hand and you felt sparks fly, as cliche as it sounded. But nothing compared to how it felt when he kissed your hand. Now you understood Eliza, helpless was the only way you could describe how you were feeling

“I’m Lin-Manuel Miranda, but you can call me Lin. What is your name, cariña?” He said. His voice sent chills down your spine.

“Oh- um- I’m Y/N, you did so great and I’m so happy to meet you after so long and I’m rambling now I’m so sorry-”

He cut you off after grabbing your cheeks with his hands and his eyes met yours again. You saw his soul through his eyes and you could tell he could see yours too. You felt whole. Time felt it stopped and it was just the two of you.

“Y/N,” he tried out the name on his tongue and your heart skipped a beat, “a beautiful name for a gorgeous woman.”

“I mean, you aren’t too shabby yourself,” you retort.

He laughed and at that moment you promised yourself you would never leave his side. How you got blessed with him, you would never know.

“I know I just met you but I feel we have known each other forever, so can I kiss you?” His eyes looked at your lips then back at your eyes. You gave a small nod and felt his lips meet yours and your eyes flickered closed. His hands met the back of your waist and yours intertwined between his hair.

After 16 years, you found your home. Between his arms. And though it took a while, it was worth the wait and you have never felt happier or more complete.

[noobsomeexagerjunk]

thoughts on starry after multiple listens

(dated July 8, 2020 because i might make another one)

Edit: I SHOULD FACT CHECK MORE

the Starry soundtrack is as impressionist as the painters it invokes by energy alone, which is impressive given the style of music used (of which i’m fine with, but not partial to)

the Prologue does this right off the bat

the people of Monmartre are very critical of the rest of France and I adore it

i can feel theo’s overwhelment in Impress Me

Impress Me does a wonderful job at introducing the setting of the show

that song is a ball of pulsating yearning—no wait that’s the whole show

Theo got so stressed he walked blindly into Madame Segatori’s cafe

learning that the Le Tambourin was named as such due to its tambourine aesthetic via Vincent’s portrait of Segatori is just incredible to me; the table is shaped like a tambourine

“If Paris is the world, Monmartre is Bethlehem; and art is our Amen” sounds so powerful

A New Horizon is so warm

i expect Theo and Vincent to be very cuddly with each other everytime they interact

“dream with me, dear brother” is the energy of this song

french wheat fields will forever haunt me because of this damn musical

*insert Do You Like the Color of the Sky? post here*

like, so much emphasis to the sky

Vincent’s dreaming leaking into Theo’s trading practice surely must be a sight to see

chain imagery hits hard after hearing Wheat Fields/Finale Ultimo

in this yellow house, we dream of freedom

“should I really take this giant risk?” “brother, I took a giant risk coming here—fuck yeah do it!”

United in Distaste reeks of Vincent’s intimidation—it has new kid in school energy and I am living for it

Vincent coming to Monmartre (and when he arrives in Arles) like “Hey, I’m new in town, and it gets worse,”

Bernard has apparently spent enough time with Theo to be able to identify Vincent by frowning alone

Rude of Gauguin to yoink Vincent’s painting like that; Segatori immediately hangs it tho—

Gauguin sounds like he’s going to corrupt anyone who approaches him—dude announces his horny nature during his introduction

Gauguin IS a savage and a whore and the best thing about that is that he knows it; even better knowing the vision of his costume

Segatori’s displeasure throughout the song implies that the artists that frequent her cafe also argue amongst themselves frequently

“keep in mind that we’re academic rejects, Vincent”

with the way Degas, Pissarro, and Morisot tease at Gauguin (noting that Gauguin, Bernard, and Toulouse-Lautrec are together in a later song), it sounds like they’re are hurling insults from a separate tambourine table

Toulouse-Lautrec sounds dramatic; Bernard sounds like he’s not sure where he is artistically—both are a mood

Of the post-impressionist table, the only one retaliating with genuine insults is Toulouse-Lautrec; Bernard and Gauguin only end up defending themselves while Toulouse was ready to tear down Degas and Morisot

Pissarro IS old (at this period in time in the musical) damn

Morisot is unyielding with her insults, “speaking of size—“ holy shit oh no

i reiterate—why is Toulouse-Lautrec the only one actually speaking in a French accent; almost everyone there is French

since I’m aggressively referring to him, I think Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec merits a musical of his own, and that’s based on what first learned about him when I first listened to Starry

by extension, also Berthe Morisot

Monmartre’s artists be like “We’re very critical of ourselves and each other, and while that’s worth being intimidated by, don’t be intimidated by us! What do you have to bring to the table, foreign painter?”

Something poetic about how what Vincent wants being what all the artists want hereby making him a member of their squad is so warm to me—galleries are gravity INDEED

“We will embrace the madness we design, or lose our mind,” IS THIS FORSHADOWING BECAUSE IT FUCKING SOUNDS LIKE IT

“i am loving this! YES, GET ANGRY!” if only i can identify who said this

Something After All is directed towards Vincent, right? It better be, I lack context

Theo’s yearning is so relatable and I fear not being able to fulfill it

bless Kelly and Matt for giving Jo so much depth in Enlightenment

apparently she deadass learned English for the purpose of translating the letters she had compiled??? yo i love that

poetic how Jo invokes making a legacy since she’s the one who actually preserves her brother-in-law’s legacy (and by extension, herself and her husband’s legacies)

at first listen, i immediately drew a comparison to Hamilton’s Eliza; Jo is better both musically and literally, given that Vincent van Gogh is far more relevant than Alexander Hamilton will ever be, even with LMM’s musical

not trying to start beef, just an observation

Jo’s yearning is also such a mood

fire, light, and road imagery being invoked huh

it is by this point i’ve to the realization that the reasons one goes to Monmartre that was cited in Impress Me tie in very well to the individual characters’ desires in this show

Where Are We Going? goes so hard ugh yes

“I need a stronger strategy to seize my immortality!” Gauguin’s incredible ambition is the root of his dissatisfaction; doesn’t help that he’s impulsive both in the musical and IRL

Toulouse prioritizes integrity and Bernard prioritizes progression—I wonder what this means for their characters in the show

Toulouse and Bernard calling Gauguin out on his known shitty behaviors feels like they’ll be problems Vincent will have to deal with in Act 2, when they live together

this is where Gauguin leaves for Martinique, right???

which one is the act 1 closer, really??? The Sower or The Road??? help me please

everyone in town is really concerned for Vincent

it wams me how much Segatori believes in him

Bernard’s right, Vincent van Gogh’s artstyle IS a melting pot

learning that Toulouse-Lautrec capitalized on his art during the peak of his career really adds weight to his concerns on Vincent’s inability to sell

i like to imagine the everyone’s in the gallery during The Sower

Theo and Jo’s relationship progressing as Vincent’s works don’t sell hits upon realization

Theo falling hard when he learns that he and Jo yearn for the same thing tho

recontextualizing the imagery that Vincent found beauty in into imagery that demonstrates his person is just mighty good of Kelly and Matt

then again, so much of his person is in the artwork to begin with

“and everyone knows your reap what you sow.” w o a h!!!

The Road starts like a dramatization of one of Vincent’s breakdowns and how he copes with them, or perhaps this starts after one??? The opening verses suggest a lot

also ties his road to his dream of freedom with what i believe is his travel to Arles

“North, South, East, West—navigate from inside you,” = “With conscience as my compass,”

“i am guided towards the night” this Vincent knows the answer but is so clearly far from its reach and is desperately trying to figure out how to

soul of fire, crystal heart and blizzard-like brain; the man is passionate and everyone knows it

“Fascinating, but maybe just a little too soon,” sounds like that at this point, Toulouse-Lautrec and Bernard genuinely recognize and admire Vincent’s talents, but also understand that the world is still against him and that they have the experience to prove it

the “sunlight and storms” imagery always concern Theo, Jo, and Vincent’s relationship with each other

Gauguin popping up in this song with the compass imagery implies the show’s going to make him a pretty interesting foil to Vincent; this sounds like him traveling back to Paris, or at least him attempting to vibe in Martinique

this hurts when you remember what happens to Vincent

“curse of the gifted” is a phrase i am too afraid to understand

DYLAN SAUNDERS CAN SLAY ME WITH HIS VOICE

The Yellow House sounds yellow somehow

who clears their throat before writing a letter???

Gauguin’s frustration’s against Vincent’s admiration of him is amusing

sounds like Gauguin hasn’t found his “freedom” yet

Theo is one generous fellow

this arrangement lasts for only 2 months; given the apparent span of this musical, The Yellow House is a very “calm before the storm” song

wait a minute—

apparently, Vincent REALLY admired Gauguin and was so excited for his arrival at the yellow house

i fear the dramatization of their disagreements

“Don’t tell Theo I said that,” it amuses me how the van Gogh brothers’ relationship is so well-known to these painters

based on the gifs lurking, the ear incident WILL be dramatized and I am terrified for my heart on how it will be depicted

Sunlight and Storms quotes the original letter from Jo to Vincent surprisingly well (i attempted to read some—there’s so many! this was one of the first ones i came across)

this song hurts when it hits how little time Jo and Theo had together as a married couple

I am convinced a lot happened between Sunlight and Storms and On the Threshold of Eternity

this definitely was after a breakdown

i skip this song just so i don’t think about the obvious implications, i must confess

the meaning of “sunlight and storms” hits the hardest here

“we will not let your illness keep you from finding your freedom”

The Red Vinyard is so full of a brother’s love

this hits me, and i speak as an only child

“You’ve carried me more than you’ll ever know,” AH—

when Theo finally sees the new horizon, Vincent is seeing it too

and what Vincent saw he put on a fucking canvas

“i can see it—a new horizon” = “the sight of the starry night”

they say that at the time, not much was thought of the iconic painting

i could only wonder what might’ve happened between The Starry Night and Wheat Fields

all the piano motifs coming together in Wheat Fields/Finale Ultimo, just like that

“I’m ready for harvest time” is melodically similar to “The road is bright”, particularly when it’s just Vincent singing the line alone

despite the obvious, I don’t think I’ll grasp the meaning of the final song; i also skip this one so i don’t think about it

[fiction-fun]

Lost and Found Soulmates

@braidedchallah @alexanderdamnhethin @rthoney @creedtheconquer @andpeggy21 @theconfusedleo @friedrich-the-gay @haha-gunsgoburrr @hamiltimes 

Fandom: Hamilton? in a way? otherwise...Music?

Pairing: Daveed/OC

Words: 9598

I groaned and dropped onto the couch in sitting room of the dorm apartment I shared with a few of my friends.

“Girl! Just go! I will loan you the 20$!” Logan said sitting down by me.

I shook my head.

“I’m barely going to be able to cover next semester’s tuition. I couldn’t pay you back, Lo'. It was sweet of you to offer but I think I’ll just have to let this one slide by.” I said looking over to her.

She grabbed my shoulders and I looked up seeing Roxanne and Arianna behind her looking at me the same way she was. Logan shook my shoulders.

“Girl! You have talent, you know all the songs and choreography already! You can do this!” She said determination in her eyes.

I shook my head and stood up carefully.

“No, Lo' that’s final.” I said before walking into my room and locking the door.

I laid down and fell asleep quickly. But found myself woke up way to early in the morning the next day.

“Roxie, Ari I said no.” I grumbled as they forcefully dressed me and brushed my hair.

Yeah, they did this often. Usually when I was late to class. We all kind of took care of each other it’s why we decided to all room together.

“And we said yes. Now go have a good audition.” Ari said patting my head.

Roxie gave me a shove and Lo' pressed a 20$ into my hands, I groaned again and stomped off out of the dorm with them all cheering after me. I slid into my car and started it, putting the Hamilton soundtrack on in the car, I started the long drive.

“Might as well get some practice in.” I muttered just as the first song started.

I sang along as I drove and it felt like no time had really passed since I started before, I was pulling up outside the theater. I sighed softly and climbed from my car closing and shutting the door, I leaned on the car so I was looking over the roof.

“Come on, you can do this! It’s not like this is the first musical you’ve auditioned for! Yeah, but it’s also not the first Lin Manuel Miranda musical I’ve auditioned for and I’ll surprised if I get this one.” I sighed and shoved off my car, tucking my keys into my pocket. I paused for a second looking at the thin red string attached to my finger before stuffing my hand in my pocket.

'Not today.’ I sighed walking into the theater.

There were only a few there and some of them I recognized from the last time I had auditioned for a musical. I put a smile on my face and walked up to the sign in table. Quickly writing my name and grabbing one of the provided lyric packets I moved to lean against a wall. I always felt better when I was standing, at least, when it came to pre-audition jitters.

“Alright we’ll start calling them in, in five minutes and you just come in when you get here. No Daveed it’s no problem, traffic happens! It’s New York, really, I’m not surprised. Alright, I’ll see you in a few, bye!” I looked up at the familiar voice and smiled softly.

All the others here for the interview gasped and crowded around him the best they could I just stood back as he looked around smiling at everyone. I waved from the wall and his eyes went wide.

“Kaley! I didn’t expect to see you!” he said stepping over to me.

He gave me a small hug and stepped back hands still on my shoulders.

“Lin, how are you? You wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for my roommates.” I said smiling softly at the excitable man in front of me.

Lin wrapped his arm around my shoulder and walked towards a door with me.

“Oh, I’m alright. So why did they have to shove you out now?” He asked smiling.

I laughed and nodded.

“Oh, you know how I am at this point. Broke with no confidence! They literally dragged me out of bed this time, I didn’t even get coffee and I was to worried about being late to stop for some.” I said laughing as we paused outside of the door.

Lin nodded and turned the knob after letting go of me.

“Well just breath, you’ll be fine. I would have hired you last time, but circumstances.” Lin said apologetically

I laughed again and shook my head.

“No, it’s totally fine. I get it, I just hope I’m better than last time. I could really use the boost and the reassurance I’m on the right path.” I said softly towards the end.

Lin smiled and hugged me again.

“You’ll do amazing, I know you will! Oooh I’m getting that look, I have to go. I’ll see you out there.” He said before hurrying though the door.

I laughed and waved as the closed. I turned back to the room and saw the glares, I slowly put my hands up.

“He gets to know people who have auditioned for multiple of the shows he’s involved with. Chill.” I said muttering the last bit to myself.

I walked back over to the wall and leaned against it, flipping through the packet. This was a different style audition and the style was partly why I had decided not to come. Lin was choosing the songs we auditioned with. And due to an audition years ago, he knew I could rap.

‘Knowing my luck? I’m going to get Guns and Ships because he knows I know the words for it.’ I thought leaning back and closing my eyes.

Lin and I had met at an audition about 6 years ago, and we had instantly hit it off. Both of us kept checking the string just to make sure, that’s how close we were. But we ended up trading phone numbers and being good friends. I was one of the first he sent the demo for Hamilton, he had already called and raved to me about his idea. Which although it worried me that it wouldn’t be a hit, I was fully behind him, even more so after hearing the demos. The reason he was so surprised to see me? He had offered me a roll back when Hamilton was in its 'please take a ticket, come see our show!’ stage, I had been too busy with school to properly honor the commitment. I had also told him that I would want a fair audition, not to just be given the role because we were friends. I sighed as people started getting called back.

‘I hope the others do good. Even though I’m sure they hope I do badly. I’m getting coffee after this no matter what.’ I thought as I read through the packet again.

A few minutes later I heard my name and shoved off the wall, walking onto the stage I stopped and took the mic they handed me, handing them my packet. I walked to the front of the stage and leaned down a bit, glad my friends had picked a regular button up instead of something low cut.

“Kaley, firstly, good luck. Secondly your song, I’ve selected Guns and Ships for you.” Lin said a smile on his face.

The others at the table looked at him like he was insane. I smiled and turned to the stage pausing, and spinning back.

“I need the table.” I said my hands on my hips.

Lin sat back and laughed waving crew members in from the wings.

“I told you that would be her only comment!” Lin said laughing.

The others were still looking at him like he was crazy, even as I stepped up onto the table and nodded to Lin. The music started and I closed my eyes letting the intro wash over me. Without a second’s hesitation I jumped right into the song, singing and rapping it the best I could, my eyes snapping open as I jumped from the table, landing and bouncing around the stage a bit. A crew member, who wasn’t Christopher Jackson came out and did Washington’s part. I had just turned towards were the audience using my hands to my advantage.

“Sir, he knows what to do in a trench, ingenuitive and fluent in French, I mean!” I said bobbing to the music.

“Hamilton!” the Washington stand in said.

“Sir, you’re going to have to use him eventually what is he going to do on the bench? I mean!” I said bobbing.

“Hamilton!” came the call.

“No one has more resilience or matches my practical tactical brilliance!” I shouted.

“Hamilton!” was called.

“You wanna fight for your land back?” I called as I moved around the stage.

“I gotta get my right-hand man back!” the Washington stand in said sitting at the table so I could dance around him.

I went through the next few lines, really feeling myself. I grabbed the fake letter and just as I turned to run over to the stairs on the side of the stage, I heard the door open and glanced up, Daveed had just entered. I kept in motion, my legs knowing this part by muscle memory. I had just turned to hand the letter off when my string caught my eye. I swallowed as I realized, it was connected, and who it was connected to. The feeling hit me in a second and I stumbled hitting my knees, letting my head drop. Letting the wave of dizziness run over me.

“Alright that’s enough!” Lin called and I heard him jump onto the stage.

He kneeled beside me and placed a hand on my back.

“Kaley, what happened? You were killing it!” he asked softly, having already turned off both of our mics.

I just shook my head and looked over at him, not seeing Daveed there anymore. I closed my eyes, before slowly getting to my feet.

“That’s your only warning, breath when rapping!” I said trying to act casual.

Lin gave me a look, and followed me to the wing.

“Kaley! I’ve never seen you take a fall like that. And you've rapped faster than that before. So, I know that’s not it. What happened?” He asked concern radiating from his whole being.

I sighed and wiped my face.

“Just text me when you get done, I’ll explain after class ok?” I asked softly.

I didn’t think I could talk right now. I saw Lin nod and I turned running from the building. I climbed into my car and dropped my head to the steering wheel.

'It's one thing to not want me. Another to cause me to screw up. But now I just feel terrible. I thought as the tears slid down my face.

I turned my car on finally and started the drive back to campus. I sighed as I pulled into my parking spot. I wiped my face again before climbing from my car, walking slowly into the building. I still had another hour until my class, and I wanted coffee.

'And maybe ice cream' I thought sadly.

I opened the door to see all three of the girls waiting for me.

“Well? You killed it! You totally killed it!” Lo' said excitedly.

I smiled faintly and shrugged.

“No, I probably didn’t get the part.” I said as I walked to the kitchen.

I heard them walk behind me.

“But who else, besides the actual cast knows the musical as well as you do?” Roxie asked looking offended for me.

I shrugged and looked over at them.

“it doesn’t matter, let me just make my coffee and go read over the chapter for my class.” I muttered softly.

Ari walked over to me then and looked at me.

“What happened?” she asked.

I slammed my hands on the counter and spun around.

“What happened? I fucking fell, that’s what happened. Now I’m going to go read my damn chapter while my coffee cooks, just leave me alone!” I shouted running into my room and slamming the door shut.

I quickly crawled into my bed with my book in my hands, reading over it. About twenty minutes later Roxie walked in and looked at me.

“Lo' and Ari already left for class. I’m headed out shorty, but you should think about apologizing.” She said her hands on her hips.

I looked up and nodded.

“I will.” I whispered I didn’t think I could talk any louder than that.

Roxie looked at me, and sighed sitting next to me. She reached over and hugged me rubbing my back.

“Whatever happened really messed you up, huh?” she asked softly.

I snuggled into her hold and sniffled nodding.

“Yeah…I don’t want to talk about it.” I said softly after a few minutes.

Roxie nodded and sat back brushing my hair out of my face and giving me a soft smile.

“It’ll be ok. I have to get to class. Don’t forget to go to yours!” She called as she walked out of the room.

I sighed and set an alarm for twenty minutes from now. I went back to reading my book, drinking my coffee as I did. I heard a ding on my phone and initially ignored before sighing softly and grabbing it.

‘I shouldn’t just ignore everyone. I thought swiping open my phone.

I looked and saw a text from Lin.

“Hey what happened? I found Daveed in a similar position in the hallway.” His text read.

I sighed softly, and looked at the clock. I swore softly and jumped off my bed cramming my books into my bag I chugged the rest of my coffee before jamming my feet into my sneakers. I grabbed my Phone and Keys before running from the apartment, barley stopping to lock the door.

“I'm running late. I’ll text you after class, but seriously? Take a guess. I hope he’s ok. I gotta go.” I sent the text and ran into my class, sliding into my seat just as the bell rang.

“Close one.” A snide voice from the seat behind me came.

I sighed.

“Hello, Rachel I see we have classes together again. Why don’t we try to be mature and leave the childish actions for years passed.” I said, trying to be the bigger person.

She laughed and sat back.

“So, I heard you fell at the Hamilton auditions today!” she said loud enough for the whole class to hear.

I clenched my fists on my desk and took a deep breath.

“It happens, doesn’t help I had been rapping Guns and Ships while bouncing all over the stage. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you miss park and bark?” I said slipping in the last comment.

I tried to ignore her and listen to the professor it was difficult, but doable. At least it was until I heard her muttering about Daveed.

‘Oh hell no.’ I thought as I heard her utter a few choice slurs.

I spun around and grabbed her head slamming her face into her desk. Within seconds, we were rolling on the ground arms swinging. It took a couple of the football players to pull us apart and walk us to the headmaster’s office. A nurse was waiting in the office and I ignored her, but took the offered ice pack.

“Alright, girls what happened?” the headmaster asked when he called us in a few minutes later.

Rachel immediately started with the water works.

“She just attacked me!” she cried out over dramatically.

I sat back and raised an eyebrow, ice pack pressed to my eye. The headmaster turned to me.

“Is that true?” He asked his tone firm.

I shrugged and sat forward, pulling the ice pack off my face.

“Nope, I only slammed her face into her desk after she ran her mouth about me for a solid ten minutes and then started saying racist shit against a man I look up to, who we should all look up to. You do what you have to do, but I’m not apologizing to her, no, no way. I refuse, she brought this on herself.” I said firmly and the headmaster nodded.

He turned back to Rachel.

“Is that true?” he asked her.

Rachel looked smug, she should even if he tried to expel her, her dad would just donate money until she was let back in. It’s happened twice already.

“Why should she care what I have to say about some…” Rachel started before I turned to her.

“Do you want to go again?” I asked my voice cold.

The headmaster raised his hand and shook his head.

“Both of you will be out of school for a week, you can stay on campus but won’t be permitted to go to classes. You can get classmates to get your work for you.” The headmaster said with a tone of finality.

I nodded and rose to my feet waving as I walked away.

“But sir!” I heard Rachel about as I was walking away.

I walked slowly back to the dorm debating with myself weather or not to text the girls about what happened, before shrugging and deciding it had been long enough it would be all over school. I stepped inside the building and paused for a second under the heater, it was a cool New York day and this was nice, especially with the icepack. I walked up the stairs and slotted my key in the lock twisted and walked inside, turning and locking the door again. I walked into my room and dropped my bag on my chair before kicking off my shoes and falling into my bed. I sighed and grabbed my phone.

“Hey if you’re free and wanna chat, call me.” I sent Lin quickly.

Within seconds a video call was ringing on my phone and I sighed softly, answering it. Trying to hide the fact I was injured.

“Hey Lin.” I said trying to put cheer into my tone.

“Hey! So, what happened? And turn the camera I can’t see you.” he asked and I heard he still sounded worried.

I sighed and spun the phone a bit, letting him actually see me. I saw his eyes widen.

“What happened? When during the audition or after?” I asked loosing the false cheer.

“I was asking about the audition; we can talk about after afterword’s.” He said, giving me a look.

I sighed and laid back holding the phone over my face. That was the only 'down' side to being close friends with Lin, he worried and treated me like his little sister.

“My string.” I said softly looking to the side.

Lin’s eyes went wide before he tilted his head in confusion.

“But you two have met before, haven’t you?” he asked.

I shook my head adjusting the icepack.

“No, he’s the only one I hadn’t met yet.” I said softly, tired from the events of the day.

Lin nodded and glanced to the side before focusing on the phone again.

“So, what happened?” Lin asked and I shifted knowing he was asking about my face now.

I sighed and scooted up in my bed, my back hurt.

“I’ve had this girl trying to do better than me since I got here. We always have classes together, and she always says some crap to get me mad. Today I wasn’t really in my right mind, focused on everything else. So, I didn’t take her bait, which she didn’t like. She had heard about the fall I took and knew when it happened.” I took a second to stop talking reaching over and grabbing my water to get a drink.

Lin nodded and waited for me to continue. I sighed and closed my eyes, for a second before opening them again.

“Well she started spewing vitriol and I got mad.” I said looking away for a second.

Lin hummed.

“That doesn’t exactly tell me how you got so injured.” He said, he could always tell when I was trying to down play things.

I sighed softly.

“She was spewing racist garbage, so I grabbed her by her hair and slammed her face into her desk. A few seconds after we were rolling in the ground trading punches. Took two of the football players to pull us apart and get us to the headmaster’s office. I’m out of classes for the next week. That’s what happened.” I said finally looking back at Lin having looked away.

Lin’s eyes were wide at what I had said.

“And what happened to her?” he asked.

I shrugged.

“Technically? She got a week out of classes too. In reality? Probably next to nothing. Her dad’s a top donor so he has a lot of sway.” I said rolling my eyes.

Lin nodded and looked up again.

“I have to go but text me your room number and building, I’m sending you your favorite take out.” Lin said quickly.

I shook my head.

“Lin no! It’s fine!” I said quickly.

He looked back to me.

“No, I want to. Please?” he asked giving me his damnable puppy eyes.

I sighed and nodded.

“Alright, go do what you have to do.” I said with a small smile.

He smiled back and waved, ending the call. I sighed and texted my building and number to Lin. I set an alarm, and sat my phone on my bedside table and pulled the blankets over my head, I dozed off and quickly fell into a deep sleep. The alarm went off and I let out a groan. I sat up and turned my alarm off, moving out of bed and changing out of my jeans.

'How did that happen? I never fall asleep in my jeans.’ I thought as I grabbed my phone and walked out to the living room.

I looked at my phone seeing that the girls weren’t going to be back tonight. I sighed and made some coffee letting out a yawn.

“Looks like it’s just me tonight, well at least I don’t have to worry about dinner.” I muttered softly as I moved over to the couch.

I picked up the remote and flipped on some stupid mindless show as I sipped my coffee. I sat back and watched the show, just waiting for a ding of my phone with Lin letting me know the details or a knock. Around 7:30 I heard a ding and looked at my phone. Seeing a text from. Lin.

“Kaley, hey! Sorry I completely lost track of time. You know how I am with new shows. Foods on its way though, be nice to the delivery guy, I was kind of frantic on the phone!” I laughed softly and shook my head.

This was exactly like Lin.

“Don’t worry about it Lin! I know how you are, when you get working! I’m also always nice to delivery drivers. Have a good evening Lin, I’ll message you in the morning.” I sent quickly, already knowing he’d ask me too.

I turned back to my show for a little while longer before a knock on the door pulled me out of the show. I stood up and sat my cup on the table, walking over to the door. I looked through the peephole and saw a paper bag in front of it, I could just make out the logo of my favorite take out place. I undid the lock and pulled the door open.

“Hey! Thanks!” I said smiling at the other person.

That’s when he lowered the bag and I swallowed thickly.

“Hey, can we talk?” He asked.

I nodded mutely and opened the door wider, stepping back and letting him in. I closed the door and waved him over to the couch.

“Do you want a cup of coffee?” I asked more so I had a second to gather myself.

“Yeah that’d be nice.” He said.

I nodded and walked into the kitchen after grabbing my cup. I heard footsteps behind me and leaned up to grab another cup. Pouring the coffee and turning, freezing.

“We should probably start with introductions, even though I’m sure we both know who the other is.” He said.

I nodded and sat the cups on the counter, where he unloaded the food spreading it out. I grabbed a pair of plates and the milk from the fridge. Walking over to him and setting them down, I sat in a chair.

“I'm Kaley Sinclair. Although, in theater I’m mostly called Hyper rush.” I said smiling slightly.

He sat down across from me and reached to grab the milk after I had used it.

“I’m Daveed Diggs, and except for characters, that’s all I’m known as.” He said smiling softly.

I laughed a bit and reached over grabbing some food.

“So, how did you end up delivering dinner? Not that I’m complaining.” I asked before quickly amending.

Daveed laughed and shook his head.

“No, it’s ok. Lin asked me too, plus I have prior delivery experience.” He said laughing down more.

I laughed and winced slightly when my twitched, he instantly noticed and gave me a worried look.

“Are you ok?” he asked softly.

I nodded and waved at my general self.

“I’m fine, just a bit banged up is all.” I said waving it off.

He placed his non string hand over my non string hand and rubbed his thumb over it gently, I smiled at his thoughtfulness.

“I heard a bit of what happened.” He said quietly a minute later.

I looked up at him and shrugged lightly swallowing what I had in my mouth.

“I'd do it again.” I said simply.

His eyes went wide at that, before a soft smile slid across his face.

“That’s….” he just smiled; I flipped my hand.

“It’s what humans should do and how we all should act. She should have kept her mouth shut.” I said firm in my beliefs and already knowing his thoughts on it.

Daveed smiled again at my words and I let out a soft sigh, smiling gently right after. We ate in silence for a little while, finishing eating and slowly packing away the food. Daveed stood looking awkward in the living. I sighed softly and stepped in front of him.

“Relax. We can sit and talk.” I said gently nodding to the couch.

Daveed nodded and we walked over to the couch both of us sitting. We sat silently for a few seconds before Daveed let out a breath.

“I'm sorry.” He said softly.

I looked at him and raised a confused eyebrow.

“Sorry for what? You didn’t do anything wrong.” I said softly with confusion lacing my tone.

He smiled softly and shook his head.

“The audition, Lin told me you were killing it. But you fell.” He said softly.

I nodded understanding on my face, I let out a small laugh, which caused him to look up at me.

“Yeah, they always say the rush will knock you off your feet. I just didn’t expect it to literally knock me off my feet. But don’t worry it’s ok, not your fault.” I said reassuringly.

Daveed lifted his hand the red string still connected to us both, with a small smile.

“I mean it kind of is.” He said softly.

I shook my head.

“No, it’s not. It would have happened eventually. And actually, I’m glad it happened now.” I said with a small smile.

Daveed looked up at me with a confused look on his face.

“Oh? Why?” he asked looking as me.

I laughed and stood, waving for him to stay there I walked into my room and grabbed a small envelope from my top desk drawer walking back out and sitting next to him again, handing to him. Daveed opened it and looked back at me.

“Because it would have happened with you on stage otherwise. And I wouldn’t want that.” I said gently.

He looked up from the tickets in his hand to me with a small smile.

“How are you so…. calm?” he asked finally, after a few seconds.

I couldn’t help but laugh as he passed the ticket back to me.

“I’m not.” I said simply as I stood up and quickly stashed the tickets before sitting back down.

He gave me a confused look, and I smiled a bit.

“To be honest? I’m still waiting to wake up, because this feels like a dream. I didn’t expect you to show up at my door, especially not after …” I broke off and shook my head a small smile on my face.

Daveed gave me another, unreadable look.

“After?” he asked softly.

I looked down and away from him, fiddling with the class ring on my hand. I took a breath and let out a small sigh.

“Especially not after I looked up and saw you were gone.” I said softly, I didn’t know if I could have actually spoken up right then, at least not without my voice cracking.

Daveed reached over and took my hand again, letting his thumb stroke over the back of it.

“I’m sorry, it washed over me so quickly and I didn’t want the others to see me, and realize what happened until we could get a chance to talk. I tried to catch you but you left so quickly. And Lin still figured it out, how I’m not sure.” He said looking into my eyes.

I bit my lip and nodded.

“Lin probably figured it out because if me.” I said softly.

That caught his attention, and he gave me another curious look.

“How, did he figure it out from you?” Daveed asked curiosity clear.

I shrugged lightly and smiled softly.

“Lin and I have known each other for six years. We text, and he texted asking what happened and mentioned finding you on the same position. Without thinking, because I was rushing to class, I basically told him 'I’m late to class what do you think happened?’ and then went to class.” I explained.

Daveed nodded a smile on his face.

“And of course, he figured it out, and decided that setting us up like this was the best idea.” Daveed finished my thought.

That cause a big smile to cross my face as I nodded and laughed a bit.

“I mean that’s how Lin is!” I giggled out.

We sat like that laughing and laughing getting to know each other for a while before I yawned softly. Daveed smiled gently down at me from where I had ended up tucked up to his side his arm wrapped around me.

“Maybe I should let you get some sleep.” He said softly and I snuggled more into his side.

“I don’t want you to go.” I said softly.

He laughed softly and gently nuzzled his nose into my hair.

“But you need to sleep.” He said and I felt the smile he pressed into the top of my head.

I sighed and nodded tilting my head a bit to look up at the clock and frowned slightly.

“You can’t leave now.” I said definitely.

Daveed laughed again and shook his head.

“I’m not going to keep you up all night, besides we can always plan to meet up tomorrow.” He said softly.

I shook my head and unwrapped one arm from around him, pointing at the clock he looked up and his eyes went wide.

“It's already two in the morning. You won’t get back into the city for another hour then who knows how long it’ll take you to get home or where you’re staying. By the time you get home you’ll have to almost turn around and leave for rehearsals in the morning, won’t you?” I asked softly looking up at him.

Daveed rubbed a hand over his face and sighed nodding.

“It’s worth it though.” He said softly a smile taking over his face.

I giggled softly and snuggled into his side.

“You can always stay here and leave in the morning after a couple hours of rest.” I suggested lightly.

Daveed looked down at me a smaller smile crossing his face.

“And your roommates?” he asked softly.

I shrugged.

“They’ll be curious but I’ll keep them away from you for now.” I said quietly.

Daveed laughed a bit and squeezed me gently.

“Alright.” He said finally.

I smiled up at him before slowly uncurling from him and standing up holding out my hand to take his and lead him to my room. We walked in and I ducked into the closet looking through what I had.

“What are you doing?” he asked a small laugh in his tone.

I hummed light before finally finding what I was looking for.

“Ah-hah! I ordered a pair of sleep pants but they sent me a pair about four sizes too big. But I kept them, because I figured they’d come in handy. And they did!” I said spinning to face him.

Daveed smiled at me and took the offered pants and headed to the bathroom to change. He came back smiled gently at me.

“Alright, we should sleep, and thank you.” He said softly.

I smiled gently and walked over to him, he had pulled his shirt off as well and I couldn’t help wrapping my arms around him taking a deep breath. He laughed softly and wrapped his arms around me rocking us gently. I smiled and snuggled into him.

“We have one more thing we have to do first.” I said softly as I pulled back and pulled my hoodie and t-shirt off, leaving me in just a tank top.

He raised an eyebrow as I tossed them into the corner.

“What’s that?” He asked me softly.

I smiled a bit and lifted my left hand wiggling the finger with the red string attached to it.

“I mean, if you want to.” I said softly second guessing myself when he didn’t answer after a few seconds.

He quickly wrapped his arms around me again and pressed his face into the top of my head.

“Of course, I do.” He whispered softly.

I let out a soft sigh, having let my fears get the best of me for a second. There were multiple ways what we were talking about could be done. Daveed uncoiled his arms from around me and stepped back a step, a smile on his face. He used his right hand to lift my face and leaned down, pressing his forehead to mine.

“Are you sure?” he asked softly his voice barely a breath over my face.

I swallowed and nodded my eyes locked with his.

“Absolutely.” I whispered.

Daveed smiled gently and leaned in, connecting our lips. I sighed softly into the gentle kiss, completely relaxing into it. He let his right slide up the side of my head resting on the side of my face, as I let mine drift up and press against his chest. I felt his left-hand land on my shoulder and slide down my arm slowly. I felt butterflies fluttering in my stomach the closer his hand slide to mine. I felt his hand hit my wrist and then he twisted both of our hands so they we’re palm together. I gasped into the electric feeling, hearing an equally sharp gasp. Daveed laced our fingers and let the electricity race through us, as we continued to kiss. The feeling started to lessen and we sighed softly, after a few minutes we pulled back and pressed our foreheads against each other. The feeling had lessened but the tingle was still there.

“Woah.” I whispered softly.

The kiss had incited fireworks to flash and the bond forming had cause electricity to course up and down our spines.

“Woah.” Daveed agreed just as softy.

We smiled at each other sharing another sweet soft kiss before climbing into the bed. He laid behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I sighed softly and relaxed into his hold, reaching over and setting an alarm.

“When do you have to be up?” I asked softly.

Daveed hummed for a few seconds.

“Probably around seven, so I can be there by nine.” He said nuzzling into the back of my neck.

I giggled softly as I set the alarm.

“Your beard tickled me.” I murmured softly, relaxing back into him after setting my phone down.

Daveed laughed softly and rubbed his face against my neck again, making me giggle again. I fell asleep with him rubbing soft soothing patterns into my side. Hours later I groaned hearing my alarm going off, I reached over and swiped it off with a sigh snuggling back into the warmth behind me and froze for a second as the memories of last night came back. I sighed and rolled over laying my head on Daveed’s chest smiling softly when he wrapped his arms tighter around me. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head and I sighed softly in response.

“Mmm good morning.” He murmured; voice heavy with sleep.

I felt a small shiver run through me at the gravelly tone his voice had and pressed a small kiss to his chest in response.

“Good morning.” I said just as softly.

Just as I tilted my head up to get a proper good morning kiss, my door swung open and I lunged out of bed grabbing it and slamming it back shut.

“Roxie or Ari or Lo' NOW is NOT the time!” I shouted leaning against the door and breathing heavily eyes wide.

I heard a sigh from the other side of the door.

“You’re going to be late for first class come on!” Roxie called, beating on my door.

I laughed and shook my head, sending a look and small apologetic smile to Daveed, I turned and slipped out of the door closing it behind me to lean against it again.

“Roxie, I got into a fight yesterday. I’m out of class for a week.” I said slowly reminding her and waving at my face which was by now no doubt sporting a black eye.

Roxie sighed and tilted her head back.

“Right, forgot sorry. So, who’s the guy?” Roxie asked a smirk on her face.

That’s when I realized Ari and Lo' were right behind her wearing the same look. Logan held Daveed’s jacket in her hands with a smug smirk. I growled and held my hand out.

“He’s mine, and that’s all you need to know currently. Look go to class or go in your rooms. He has to leave soon and you three aren’t going to hound him.” I said firmly as Logan handed me his jacket.

Roxie tossed her hands up and grabbed her backpack turning to the door.

“I took some of the take out for lunch!” she called as she walked out.

Logan following with a similar call. And Ari just waved before going back into her room. I sighed and turned back walking back into my room. I smiled at Daveed who was now sitting up on the edge of my bed.

“I'm sorry about that.” I said softly sitting down beside him.

He smiled and leaned over tilting my head and pressing a kiss to my lips.

“It’s ok, they’re curious.” He said softly.

I nodded and watched as he stood up. And moved to get his clothes I stood up and wrapped my arms around him, splaying my hands over his abs. I hummed lightly and he laughed, turning and wrapping his arms around me.

“I have to get ready.” He said softly.

I sighed and nodded nuzzling my nose into his chest.

“I know but I find myself not wanting to let you.” I whispered.

He smiled and pressed his face into my hair, before pulling back and uncoiling one arm from around me. He tilted my head up and pressed a kiss to my lips, I sighed softly and leaned into the kiss, using this time to really memories how his lips feel against mine. When oxygen became a necessity, we pulled back pressing our foreheads together and he brushed his nose against mine, drawing a small giggle from me.

“Now it’s a good morning.” He said with a warm smile on his face.

I nodded a warm smile over taking my face as well.

“It is.” I agreed softly.

We pulled back and he moved to the bathroom, turning at the door he sent me a smile.

“Why don’t you come with me? I’m sure Lin won’t mind.” He said softly with a smile playing on his lips.

I smiled back and nodded.

“Ok, sounds good.” I said softly.

He smiled back and turned to the bathroom. I moved to the closet and quickly got dressed stepping out I saw the bathroom door open so I looked in, seeing him stood in front of the mirror, messing with his hair. I giggled softly as I stepped inside.

“There you are.” He said dropping his arms to wrap around me.

I smiled and leaned up pressing a kiss to the underside of his chin. Delighting in the light shiver that I felt travel through him. I reached up into the cabinet and pulled out a pair of toothbrushes and toothpaste smiling and handing one to Daveed.

“I always have extra.” I said in explanation when he looked at me.

He laughed and shook his head, before we quickly began brushing our teeth, he kept one arm wrapped around me. I sighed softly and leaned back against him, smiling gently at him in the mirror. We finished our teeth and looked up in the mirror, I reached over and grabbed my brush and ran it through my hair. I smiled softly as I pulled hair up into a ponytail. Daveed took my hand and lead me from the bathroom and out of my room. I paused for a second smiling up at him.

“Later Ari!” I shouted grabbing my bag and keys.

Daveed and I walked from the room and down the stairs, leaving the building. He led me over to his car and we climbed inside, retaking each other’s hands almost on autopilot as Daveed started the car and put it in drive. We got on the road and Daveed lifted our joined hands to turn the radio on, turning the volume down with a small smile.

“Hope you don’t mind. I usually listen on the way in.” he said softly.

I shook my head with a smile and leaned over, and kissed his cheek.

“I enjoy your music.” I said simply.

Daveed turned and sent me a smile before quickly turning back to the road. The ride didn’t seem to take as long as it actually did and before long, we had pulled into a hotel parking lot.

“I have to run up and change, otherwise neither one of us will ever hear the end of it.” He said smiling gently.

I nodded, a smile playing on my lips.

“Alright.” I said softly.

He lifted our hands and kissed the back of mine.

“I’ll be right back, maybe ten minutes.” He said smiling.

I nodded and watched as Daveed climbed from the car, still holding my hand until he had to let go. He closed the door and sent me a smile before running into the hotel. I sighed and leaned back against the comfortable seat in the car. Grabbing my phone and opening it to look at any messages I might have. My eyebrows furrowed together when I saw frantic messages in the group chat with Roxie, Ari and Logan.

“Girl! You have to see this! Rachel has gone too far!” Roxie sent, alongside a photo.

I raised an eyebrow, in a chat where we sent basically porn pics often enough, we didn’t usually use the 'cover image’s feature on the app. I tapped the picture and my eyes went wide a gasp slipping from my lips. There on screen was a horrible flyer, with the nastiest words imaginable printed on it. I felt the tears well in my eyes as I read all of the words. From disparaging and hateful words about me to hateful and nasty things about Daveed. I backed out of the photo quickly, my thumbs flying across the screen.

“Take then all down! Now! Get rid of them all! I’m not on campus please, Roxie, Lo' Ari! Please you have to do this, it can’t get out, I can’t let him be drawn into my feud with that hateful witch! Please this could really hurt his career! Burn them if you have to but make sure nobody else sees them!” I sent frantically.

Just as I hit send, I heard the backdoor open and close a second before the front door opened, I looked up at Daveed who was dressed in new clothes.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asked having seen the look on my face.

I heard my phone ding and looked down quickly.

“I’ll explain in a second.” I whispered, my voice shaking.

“Girl, already done. Just focus on you and him we got you covered here!” Roxie sent along with another image.

This one showed Ari and Lo' holding boxes of the flyers and a shredder between them working away at a stack of them already.

“Thanks girls I owe you one, we both do. Keep it up.”  I sent before sighing and turning.

I looked over at Daveed who was watching me with concern. I sighed and closed my eyes opening the app on instinct and swiping up a bit.

“I'm so sorry to drag you into this. We’re already doing damage control so it shouldn’t get out, there shouldn’t be rumors or anything.” I whispered softly.

“Kaley, what happened?” he asked reaching over and taking my hands.

I sighed and freed the one holding my phone sending him a small, worried smile.

“The girl who did this, posted hateful posters all over campus. They’re horrible but Roxie and Lo' saw them got Ari and got them all down and are now destroying them.” I whispered softly.

Daveed lifted his free hand and placed it on the side of my face, his thumb rubbing gently over my cheek. I sighed and closed my eyes, leaning into his hand.

“Ok, it’ll be ok.” He said reassuringly.

I sighed and opened my eyes looking into his, I leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

“Remember, they’re all down. And getting destroyed currently.” I said softly.

Daveed looked at me confused for a second before I clicked the picture and turned my phone to face him, he took the phone and held it in his free hand. I saw his eyes scanning over the flyer, his eyes widening each time he saw something new. I knew he finished when his head dropped back against the car seat. I watched him as he worked through his thoughts, he turned his head to me and slipped my phone into the cup holder raising his hand he placed it onto the side of my face, drawing me forward he pressed a kiss to my lips. I kissed back just as fiercely as he kissed me but after a minute we pulled back, and he rubbed his thumb over my cheek.

“None of that is true.” He said firmly as if trying to make me believe.

I smiled softly and nodded.

“I know it’s not; I wasn’t worried for myself. I was worried for you.” I said gently.

Daveed gave me a sweet smile and shook his head.

“I’m ok, I was more worried with how you reacted than anything else.” He said softly.

I laughed a bit.

“I reacted like that because I didn’t want my stupid school yard feud to get this far, to involve you. I know if your label sees that shit, they’ll call and talk to you but they won’t like that it’s out there. I won’t let anything interfere with your career. That’s the only worry I had.” I said just as softly.

He huffed out a small laugh and kissed me again. Leaning back, he started the car again pulling out of the parking lot.

“It’s ok, they know me. And your friends seem to have it under control. Let’s just try and enjoy our day together ok?” he asked softly.

I nodded and smiled gently at him.

“Yeah, sounds good to me.” I agreed easily.

With that the short ride back to the theater was quiet besides the soft music playing in the car. Daveed pulled into a spot and he turned the car off turning and smiling at me.

“Lin is never going to let us hear the end of this.” He said softly lifting our joined hands and pressing a kiss to the back of mine.

I laughed softly.

“Like he’d even try! He’ll just be giddy and giggly and bouncy all happy because of this. And knowing him….” I said laughing softly and trailing off, shaking my head.

Daveed laughed, nodding.

“He’s going to be singing the kissing song as soon as he sees us.” He finished my thought.

I laughed at the thought and Daveed joined me laughing loudly. We laughed for a long time, both unable to stop. We finally managed to stop and climbed from the car. Daveed reaching into the back to grab his bag as I checked the message that just came in on my phone.

“It’s done! We’ll handle the rest of damage control have fun!” Logan sent into the group chat.

I smiled softly sending a quick message back.

“Thanks girls! You’re amazing!” I slipped my phone away.

Daveed took my hand as soon as it was free giving me a gentle look, I smile and lean up pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“The girls just finished destroying the posters and wanted to let us know.” I said smiling softly.

Daveed nodded and kissed my forehead before leading me inside. We stopped at the office so Daveed could say hi to some of the people there and I waved politely when they looked at me. Daveed had wrapped an arm around me at this point and led me down the stairs towards his dressing room.

“Daveed! There you are! I thought you were going to text me when you got home?” Lin’s voice came sailing about a mile a minute from behind us.

Daveed looked down at me at the same time as I looked up at him.

“Yeah, I only got home this morning.” Daveed said turning us carefully.

Lin’s eyes went wide and he giggled running up to us, wrapping us both in hugs.

“Yes! I knew it!” he said cheering.

I couldn’t help but to laugh at the man.

“Yes, you did. And I thank you. But I have to go get dressed for practice.” Daveed said grinning at him.

Lin nodded enthusiastically.

“Right! Oh! Kaley! Good news! Come here!” Lin said grabbing my hand.

I tried to snuggle closer to Daveed.

“I don’t wanna!” I whined petulantly.

Daveed laughed softly and leaned down kissing my lips softly.

“I’ll be right here when you get back. Well not here, but my dressing room.” He said softly reassuringly.

I sighed softly and nodded.

“Oh alright.” I said softly pulling myself out of Daveed’s warm hold slowly.

As soon as I was clear of Daveed’s hold Lin took off down the hall quickly.

“Lin! I can’t keep up with your coffee fueled steps!” I shouted almost running after him.

I heard Daveed's laugh echoing off the halls and sighed softly. Lin slowed as we reach a split in the hallway, stopping completely.

“Ok, ok. Trust me!” he said putting his hands over my eyes.

I sighed and walked forward when he nudged me.

“I trust you, but Lin, I swear I will beat you if I fall down stairs!” I exclaimed softly.

Lin laughed and I felt him shake his head.

“No steps don’t worry, we’re almost there.” Lin said and I heard the smile.

We walked for another minute or so.

“Ok, stop!” Lin called turning me slightly.

I smiled softly at his obvious excitement.

“Close your eyes!” He said and I felt him bounce slightly.

I laughed and shut my eyes.

“They’re closed.” I assured.

I felt him move and I assume he stopped in front of me making sure my eyes were closed. I felt him shuffle me a bit and laughed as he did.

“Hmm ok. Ok! Open your eyes!” He said and I heard the physical restraint in his voice.

I laughed as I opened my eyes only to stop short.

“Lin? What the hell?” I asked softly, my eyes wide.

Lin laughed and reached over twisting the knob.

“You were still our best audition. So, welcome to the crew if you still want it. Please tell me you still want it?” Lin said smiling a bit nervously.

I laughed and started jumping around in place.

“If I want it? OF COURSE, I want it! Ahh thank you Lin!” I exclaimed hugging him quickly.

He laughed and hugged me back, we pulled apart and I walked into the room behind the door that held my name. Looking around the dressing room.

“it’s just the first act who’s rehearsing today, second act is tomorrow. So, you can go and head back to Daveed I just wanted to show you.” Lin said as he leaned against the doorway.

I giggled and spun around the room.

“Lin, seriously thank you.” I said turning back to him with a smile.

He laughed and shook his head.

“You earned it!” He said smiling.

After that he gave me the room key and I head back towards Daveeds dressing room a smile on my face. I knocked lightly on the closed door hearing a few voices from Inside before the door swung open.

“There you are, thought you got lost for a minute.” Daveed said smiling at me.

I blinked quickly and shook my head.

“No, thankfully I didn’t haha.” I said as he let me in.

I smiled up at him and he leaned down kissing me softly.

“AWWW!” shouted both Anthony and Oak as they saw it.

Daveed turned but I saw he couldn't get the smile off his face.

“Oh, shut up! So, what did Lin want?” He asked turning back to me.

I pulled out my key and held it up to him.

“He didn’t tell you?” Anthony called at the same moment.

I rolled my eyes when Daveeds widened seeing the key. He grabbed me up in a hug and swung me around, I giggled wrapping my arms around him.

“I knew you could do it.” He said softly, as our foreheads pressed together.

I smiled softly.

“Well that makes one of us.” I whispered and he pressed a kiss to my lips again.

Which of course caused the other two to call out again. Daveed sat me on my feet and brushed my hair behind me ear with a soft smile.

“Why don’t you two go finish getting ready.” Daveed suggested softly.

“Yeah, we’ll see you out there. Just don’t get distracted.” Oak said slipping out the door quickly, Anthony right behind him.

I giggled a bit.

“You’re happy.” He said turning to me as he finished fixing his neck poof thing.

I nodded.

“I am, I’m glad I got this.” I said sitting on the couch.

Daveed smiled and turned back to the mirror making sure his outfit looked good. A few minutes later I sat up ramrod straight and groaned.

“Fuck!” I exclaimed.

Daveed whipped around looking for a problem, and I laughed softly at his face.

“What happened?” He asked eyes wide.

I smiled softly before it faded and I leaned back.

“Nothing, technically is wrong. I just fucking realized the downside to this.” I sighed softly.

Daveed shrugged into his jacket as he walked over to sit beside me.

“And what’s that?” he asked taking my hand in his.

I sighed softly smiling at the small action.

“Well the role I got was Maria, right?” I started softly.

Daveed nodded staying silent and letting me continue.

“Lin is basically my brother.” I said sounding grossed out.

Daveed laughed a bit and kissed me gently.

“Ok, so what’s the problem?” he asked smiling.

I smiled and shook my head.

“It means that I have to both kiss and basically give a lap dance on stage to my brother.” I said pulling a face.

Daveed also pulled a face.

“That’s gross, my only suggestion is, get into the character?” Daveed suggested lightly.

I laughed and nodded wrapping my arms up around his neck carefully not to disturb the poof his hair had been pulled back into. I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips, his hands instantly finding my hips before sliding back around my back. I sighed softly into the kiss only to groan a few seconds later when the door opened.

“Oh! I…uhm…I’m sorry! But it’s just about time to head up.” Leslie said turning quickly so his back was to the room.

I laughed as Daveed and I pulled away from each other. He stood up and took my hand, pulling me up. We walked over to Leslie and Daveed tapped his shoulder.

“Let’s go.” Daveed said and I giggled lightly as he pulled out the Lafayette voice.