#He's done so many famous film posters
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❤️ Honoring the legacy of Carrie Fisher ❤️
Credit: Artist Drew Struzan
December 27, 2022
#carrie fisher#Star Wars#princess leia#Art#Drew Struzan#He's done so many famous film posters#so talented#December 2022#RIP Carrie
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Luo Yunxi's next drama is coming!
This is what we know can assume so far! I got so excited, I had to write about it!
Well, first of all, a lot of this information hasn't been confirmed yet. Particularly around the cast, there are many contradictory rumors.
The drama is currently called Shui Long Yin (水龙吟). It will likely start filming mid-November 2023 in Hangdian. It's going to be a long shoot with 4-5 month. This means it's likely going to have a full 40 episodes.
The drama is an adaptation of Teng Ping's novel 千劫眉. This is the author from the recently aired Mysterious Lotus Casebook. Going from what I have picked up from the original novel, there are some similarities between both stories, mainly centering on the dynamics between multiple male characters, with no female love interests. There is also the possibility, that MLC scriptwriters added some parts of 千劫眉 to the other story, so both might be a bit (too) similar. So we will see what kind of further adaption will be made.
The drama will be directed by Chen Zhoufei, who has done mostly modern dramas, as well as the recently shot Shao Nian Bai Ma Zui Chun Feng Season 2, another Wuxia bormance drama.
We can assume, that the drama will be produced by Otter Studio again, who already worked with Luo Yunxi for Immortality and Till The End of The Moon. As for the broadcast platforms, rumor has it, that there is an ongoing biting war between Yukou and Mango. Currently, it seems like Mango TV is winning, and the show will be additional aired on Hunan TV - which will reach a broader audience! I'm not an expert on this, but not many Wuxia and Xianxia dramas get aired on TV, so this is a big deal!
The rumored cast of the drama changes from day to day. The two names attached to the show the longest (besides Luo Yunxi) are Xiao Shun Yao and Chen Yao. Both have been acting with Luo Yunxi before in either TTEOTM or in Chen Yao's case in the yet to air Immortality and Follow Your Heart. There is another cast member of Follow Your Heart appearing on the possible cast list for the first time: Cheng Lei!
While I haven't seen Chen Yao in a drama yet, I'm really excited about the possibility of Xiao Shun Yao, who I loved in Mysterious Lotus Bookcase, and Cheng Lei, who was one of my favorites in My Journey to You. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, since the cast will likely change! But then there is also this:
As for the rest of the cast, in today's melon, Bao Shangen, Lin Yun and Yu Chengen are (tentative) named. All of them are young and upcoming actors. So far, there doesn't seem to be a real female lead, just like in the novel. However, other melons name Liu Haocun or Zhang Xueying (Princess Silver) or Bao Shangen as potential candidates for the female lead. So we will have to wait for the official announcement. But it's fun to speculate!
Another rumor I saw is that my beloved Sun Zhenni (Pianran from TTEOTM) will make a guest appearance! I also wouldn't be surprised to see some of the usual suspects making another appearance next to Luo Yunxi!
Now, as someone that adore world-building, I'm particularly excited about the style of the show. It's said to be a mix of wuxia and xianxia tropes and aesthetics, and this is a main reason that so many platforms are interested in it. We get some indicators from the poster.
Let's look at the details of the official poster:
White hair, I repeat, white hair! The main character Tang Lici is described as ruthless and is famous for his long white hair! I'm so excited for this. Are we finally going to see Luo Yunxi in white hair for a drama?!
I also love the color scheme of white, peach and black of the poster. It looks like there is a black flute stuck in his belt. He is also holding a bowl of food, maybe a seashell? That looks too random, to be a coincidence. So he likely will use musical cultivation as a weapon.
I'm not sure how the dragon relates to his character. Maybe he is one, maybe he is called one? Either way, it would be Luo Yunxi's third time playing a dragon, after Wangye and Runyu. This one seems to be related to water again.
In his most recent interview, Luo Yunxi mentioned, that he is already preparing for the role, learning lines and diving into his character. I can't wait for more!
Sources: Twitter 1, Twitter 2, My Drama List
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Glee star Darren Criss dispels SAG-AFTRA strike myth ahead of Australian tour
Glee star Darren Criss has weighed in on the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike in Hollywood and confirmed that it won’t impact the set list for his upcoming Australian tour which kicks off in September.
“I've done theatre stuff and TV stuff, I've done music of my own, I've written for other things, music from YouTube days. All of that will be there,” he confirms to 9Honey Celebrity.
"I am sort of this living playlist of a lot of songs that have been featured throughout my career. [The tour] is a bit of everything.”
Best known for his role as Blaine Anderson on Glee, Criss even teases that a few of the most iconic songs he performed on the show will be on his Aussie set list.
The Emmy and Golden Globe winner first headed Down Under in 2018 and promises fans will get everything from "whacky synth pop", to jazz and even a few tracks from his TV and Broadway career when he returns.
Despite starting in hit shows like like The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story and films, Criss can’t say much about his most famous projects due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes in Hollywood, which he stands in solidarity with.
He can, however, dispel a common myth about the strikes which have been making headlines in the US and here in Australia.
"This isn't an actor saying, 'We want more money'. These are workers saying, 'We deserve to be treated more fairly,’” he says.
"Surprise, surprise; big corporations tend to take a big cut of things that perhaps they shouldn't, when looking at the disparity in wealth between their employees and the bosses,” Criss continues.
A-listers like Jack Black, Daniel Radcliffe, Aubrey Plaza, Vanessa Hudgens, Hilary Duff and more have been photographed on the picket lines supporting the strike recently.
But there has been some confusion about the strike as many everyday Aussies assume all Hollywood actors make bank.
Though Criss is by no means a spokesperson for SAG-AFTRA or other actors on strike, he says that’s just not the case.
"There are actors that do make a significant amount of money that are in the minority of performers, and there is a huge percent of actors that do not fall under that category," he explains.
According to a statement from SAG-AFTRA released earlier this month, the current state of the US entertainment industry has made it increasingly difficult for most actors to achieve a middle-class lifestyle.
"For people on the outside looking in, this seems like a classic case of a disparity in wealth," Criss continues.
"But this is not about some of the more famous names that you would associate with making millions of dollars... the livelihood of so many people is being threatened."
Most SAG-AFTRA members are small-time actors, not multi-millionaire movie stars, and they need Hollywood contracts to keep up with the rapidly changing entertainment industry.
At the end of the day, this strike is just like any other labour dispute between employing entities and workers. This one just happens to have an all-star cast.
"If we were painters or something, a dispute between us and our employers and our union is not going to make headline news because the people on the picket lines aren't people that are on posters in your bedroom,” he says.
Those are the same people across now counts among his many famous friends, his Instagram brimming with selfies snapped with the likes of Cher, Daniel Radcliffe and Lawrence Fishburne.
One throwback snap from his last trip Down Under even shows the singer and actor enjoying an NRL game with Joe Jonas, both of them draped in Penrith Panthers scarves.
Though it’s been years since the snap was taken, Criss is excited to return to Australia, a nation that played a pivotal role in his early success when A Very Potter Musical first went viral.
“Australia really drove our [YouTube] channel to a place where we were like ‘holy s—t, this might be something. We might have a company on our hands,’” he reveals.
That success inspired Starkid Productions, the theatre company he co-founded and continues to play an active role in today.
“The numbers that came from Australia were so staggering at that time that I have always had a really special place in my heart for Australia and for Starkid.”
Darren Criss returns to Australia for a five-city national tour starting September 3, 2023. Tickets to all shows go on sale on Thursday, 27 July 2023.
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Okay gonna geek out for a second but look at this theatrical poster for Westworld that I stole from Wikipedia. It’s drawn by Neal Adams (who is, by the way, one of my favorite Cyclops artists because of how worried and un-handsome he makes that boy look), and the central figure is the Gunslinger. The issue at question here is the Gunslinger’s body, which is presented first and foremost.
The portrayal of Yul Brynner’s marvelously expressive face is marred by the gaping disparity of circuits where there should be a mouth, drawn in such a way as to evoke the handkerchief that such outlaws might wear to conceal their features. Iirc, there is in the movie no scene in which this visual happens - the Gunslinger’s android face is constructed to come off all at once - but Adams has crafted it so that at first glance, you do not notice the jarring lack of humanity and have to look twice.
The other scenes in the poster are both placed within the Gunslinger’s body - the surveillance technology and control is undeniably a part of him. At the bottom of the poster, it forms the foundation from which the Gunslinger, the dream, the vision, the product grows. His body is controlled by and made up of not only technology but also the many many human hands that control that technology. Furthermore, the window onto our two main human characters is placed within his body, as if only through him can we understand them. It is a gaping gunshot wound, like many he receives over the course of the film, and it is specifically the violence done to his body that allows us to view these characters. The outline in red, presumably caused by the Western sun, is reminiscent of blood dripping down, and one of the key things in the movie that makes androids seem so real is their ability to bleed. His humanity is affirmed in the violence done to his body.
Relevant to this discussion of the Gunslinger’s body is the fact that they cast Yul Brynner in the role. Brynner is of mixed ancestry, including Russian and Mongol ancestry. He was cast, across various films, in Russian, Egyptian, Cajun, Italian, Arab, and Jewish roles, and he is most famous for his portrayal of the Thai King Mongkut in The King and I. He was, however, sometimes cast as unambiguously white characters, free from the stamp of any ethnicity that might have been considered as othering. For example, he played Jason Compson in The Sound and Fury - a role that is more than incidentally white, a role for which we have a lengthy family history assuring us that the character is of purely British descent.
As an actor, his whiteness was highly dependent on the roles he played. He was both white and not white, both other and not other, and that resonates so much with the status of the android as both human and not-human. American capitalism has a history of subjugating the bodies of men of color, and that is reflected in the film, but, beyond that, Brynner’s status on the border between white and not-white calls into question whether or not it is appropriate to subjugate this body. Is he human, or is he other?
(Was anyone in the casting department thinking this? Probably not. They were probably thinking about the incredible physical acting Brynner is capable of and how he can do so much with so few spoken lines.)
I love this poster because so much of what the film is doing is encapsulated in it. Even if you assume that half of what I’ve said above is unfounded nonsense (which it isn’t, I am always right), that still means that this poster is very capably conveying many of the themes of this film.
#m.txt#Westworld#film#neal adams#okay i have decided that i want a poster of this for my wall#i wasn’t planning on saying all that about race and ethnicity but#as it turns out it’s actually highly relevant
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Prabhas The First Look of The Raja Saab
Prabhas, the famous actor from the South, recently released his movie 'Saalar: Part 1 Ceasefire,' and it has done really well at the box office. People are still talking about the story and the cast of the movie. After the not-so-great performance of his last movie 'Adipurush,' Prabhas has made a strong comeback with the success of 'Saalar'.
Also Read: Divyanka Tripathi Blog and Beautiful Images
Now, there's some exciting news about Prabhas' next film. After the success of 'Saalar: Part 1 Ceasefire,' Prabhas has revealed his upcoming movie titled 'The Raja Saab.' The movie, directed by Maruthi and produced by People Media Factory, is a romantic horror film. What's even more interesting is that it will be a pan-India release, coming out in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi.
Prabhas shared a poster of 'The Raja Saab' on his Instagram, and fans went crazy with excitement. In the poster, Prabhas is seen waving a lungi, and this unique style has become a hit on the internet. Fans flooded the comment section with their excitement and good wishes for the movie.
Also Read: Nia Sharma Blog and Image
The Rebel Star also mentioned that this is the first glimpse of 'The Raja Saab' in the festive season. The music for the film is being composed by the National Award-winning composer Thaman S.
Apart from 'The Raja Saab,' Prabhas has other projects lined up, including one titled 'Kalki 2898,' where he will be seen alongside Deepika Padukone.
Fans are eagerly looking forward to 'The Raja Saab,' hoping that it becomes a blockbuster hit, and many are already loving the vintage vibes and Prabhas's unique style in the first look.
Also Read: Hina Khan Blog And Beautiful Image
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Hey all. It's October 1st and officially spooky season, so you know what that means: it's once again time for my yearly drawing challenge! I'm so proud of myself, I've been doing this each October for the past five years, and this will be number 6. All my themes so far have been skeletons, aliens, horror film icons, creepypastas, and clowns. And I'm proud to announce that my theme this year is 🥁🥁🥁
Cryptids!
Yessir, I've traveled far and wide to study a number of creatures that are merely rumored to exist and science cannot explain. And by "traveled far and wide," I mean I've done extensive research on the Cryptidz Fandom Wiki and other site, started rewatching Animal Planet's classic show Lost Tapes, and listened to one of my favorite podcasts The Cryptid Keeper. I've been expanding my knowledge on this topic and I can't wait to share that knowledge with all of you. So without further ado, let's begin Cryptober!
Cryptober Day 1: Bigfoot.
We're starting off strong with our friend who is essentially the poster child for cryptozoology as a whole, Bigfoot. At least that's how most people know him, he goes by many names. Sasquatch, Yeti, Almas, Yowie, and Hibagon are just a few. It seems that just about every region of the globe has their own version of this famous monster, but in every case he's described as a heavy, bipedal humanoid ape.
According to the Cryptidz Wiki, Bigfoot is believed to stand at around eight to ten feet tall. However, other countries Sasquatch creatures tend to vary in size. And of course Bigfoot is famous for his large feet that create equally large mysterious tracks, hence his name.
Bigfoot as we know him here in the US is most believed to located in within the northwest, in states such as Washington, California, and Oregon. However, sightings have been reported in just about every part of the country. He's certainly out there somewhere.
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Opening Up the Western
How Red Dead Redemption 2 Freed the “Western” from the Grip of Traditional American Values; or how RDR2 Made the Cowboy Sexy
I joked in an old post that Arthur Morgan is the first cowboy to appeal to a more modern audience -- ‘modern’ meaning a diverse demographic no longer confined to the cis white straight man. I’m not surprised that, for a blog of my size, that is one of my more popular posts and met with no contention. So many fans of Red Dead 2 are not only newcomers to the series but to the genre of the Western itself, many of whom had never touched a Western film or story simply because of its associations with American chauvinism and colonial settler violence. So, how is Arthur Morgan so universally appealing? What does he bring that so many anti-Westerns, a subgenre of films that critique the defining tropes of the Western, haven’t done before him?
Well, let’s talk about it.
Here we are, how Arthur Morgan rescued the genre of the Western and made it way, way more palatable.
[Disclaimer: I will be using GIFs freely searchable via the ‘gif’ function of the textpost. I will also credit images if necessary. Uncredited images mean they were my screengrabs. ]
Read below the cut for the full essay! (BEWARE OF SPOILERS!)
The Gun-Slinging Hero
In a lot of ways, Arthur Morgan is a familiar hero. The Western isn’t necessarily a story about cowboys. It is, however, necessarily a story of the gunslinger. Whether he be a sheriff, a Robin Hood-esque outlaw, or a cowboy, he is nevertheless a skilled shootist, often working alone, and pitted against unequivocally bad guys. The anti-Western (a subgrenre of classic hollywood films which emerge earliest in the 60s) somewhat turn this trope of the unfailingly good gunslinger on its head by instead critiquing this lone figure as troubled, haunted by a past, and unable to survive in a society structured by morals and laws. In short, the Western does not question the gunslinger’s ability to leave behind a trail of bodies. I would go so far as to say that the Western refuses to look at this trail of bodies. The anti-Western, however, will constantly remind the hero of their body count as one of the many flaws which make them tragic.
Clint Eastwood as Will Munny in the anti-Western, Unforgiven (1992). Will Munny is a reformed outlaw and widower who is trying to make ends meet as a hog farmer. A cowboy, fascinated by stories of his past, asks him to join him on the hunt for a $1000 bounty, to which Will responds, ‘I ain’t like that anymore, kid.’
In this regard, Arthur Morgan isn’t all that far-off from a very familiar figure in cinematic history. He is a skilled gunslinger with a body count. He lets everyone know he’s a bad person and frequently contemplates the sins of his past. Yet, he differs in drastically different ways too. To begin with, this haunted gunslinger trope is often running away not just from his past but from the death of, typically, a family member, especially a wife or a lover. Due to the death of this loved one, the anti-Western hero is emotionally closed off and melancholy in disposition. Clint Eastwood is famous for portraying this type of cowboy, whose film posters and iconic performances center on the grimacing cowboy unfazed by the monstrosities committed by himself and others.
In the Revenant (2015), frontiersman Hugh Glass is haunted by his dead wife and son, who are members of the Pawnee tribe. Note that the trope of the tortured widower is condensed with surreal representations of colonial settler violence, thereby mixing the personal tragedy of losing family with the more historical problem of genocide and Western expansion.
The framing of Arthur Morgan, strangely enough, both embraces and rejects this trope. As we play Red Dead Redemption 2, we learn that Arthur has an unrequited love with the widow Mary Linton, whom he almost married once but ultimately let go, despite his persisting feelings for her, out of fear for her safety and wellbeing. Thus, Mary Linton is spared becoming the collateral for Arthur’s moral reformation. She lives, and her rejection of his lifestyle is all the reminder he needs that he hasn’t done good things in his life.
On the other hand, we have the deaths of Eliza and Isaac. I know this is going to be controversial (considering the ambiguity of Eliza’s relationship with Arthur and how the fandom likes to interpret her as a ‘dead wife’ figure for Arthur). It’s worth noting that, in his conversation with Rains Fall and Sister Calderón, Arthur doesn’t really think of Eliza as a wife he lost (he only regrets letting go of Mary aka ‘a woman who loved me’). They very explicitly never married, as he didn’t want to make promises he couldn’t keep (a paraphrase of his own words), but he otherwise thought of her as ‘a good kid,’ having only been 19 years old when she became pregnant with their son. By all accounts, I think the real tragedy and ghost of Arthur’s past is Isaac himself, with Eliza being somewhat of a friend or co-parent whose death he also regrets.
Yet is exactly on this point that Arthur differs. The deaths of his son and co-parent have done nothing to his otherwise happy-go-lucky attitude, or the excitement he feels when robbing a train [credit to @f--hawk for finding out via mods that he smirks beneath the bandana during the train robbery mission cutscene]. Neither do these deaths motivate him to leave the outlaw lifestyle, as it did for aforementioned character Will Munny in the film Unforgiven. Whatever moral reformation Arthur experiences as a result of this trauma does not manifest outwardly, but it doesn’t stop him from living his life either. As such, Arthur Morgan occupies this liminal space between the Western hero and the Anti-Western hero, neither heroic nor fallen; not widowed but still grieving; cognizant of the weight of his actions yet constantly living in the present.
This in-between-ness actually makes a good beginning for a video game protagonist, as it’s precisely this ambiguity that gives the player freedom to decide how Arthur develops. In this sense, Arthur is already more accessible than his cinematic predecessors. Loss is a memory, not an anchor, and players are free to contemplate how his actions will affect him rather than a predetermined path. (Though there’s an argument to be made that the game definitely wants players to choose the path of redemption for Arthur).
In a lot of ways, the writing of Arthur Morgan as a character is a wholesale rejection of the emotionally closed-off, brooding, and fallen hero archetype that so frequently graces the Western genre. As one of the characters mention, Arthur is always smiling. He is prone to self-deprecating humor and lighthearted banter. His responses to shit going down are the type of lines you’d normally hear from the mouth of a comic side relief in films [for instance, his sarcastic remark after trying to escape the trolley, ‘Does this trolley go to Tahiti?’ is an example of his surprisingly bombastic and humorous disposition].
More importantly, he laughs -- heartily and frequently. Clint Eastwood might smirk. John Wayne might flash a smug grin. But Arthur Morgan smiles with his whole heart and inflects every chortle with emotion. Just hear this bellowing laughter of his when he wins 36 cents in a game of blackjack.
Below, you’ll find a clip of Arthur being a vocal supporter of the theatrical arts:
youtube
In short, Arthur isn’t defined by his pain, neither does the narrative of Red Dead flaunt the sins of his past constantly through dialogue and imagery. There’s a purpose behind all this, of course. It makes Arthur’s willingness to help out complete strangers, even at his own expense, more plausible due to his easygoing and helpful nature. If, as sister Calderon says, helping people makes him smile, then it’s more believable for us as the audience and the player to see Arthur Morgan as a complicated individual whose cheerful disposition adds nuance to a tried-and-tested cinematic archetype.
Romancing the Cowboy
Okay, so far Arthur Morgan is unconventional, for sure, but how is he more appealing to a 21st-century audience? There are signposts throughout the game and Arthur’s writing which suggest that the writers behind Red Dead 2 wanted to appeal to a broader audience than the traditional consumers of Westerns. In other words, the presence of certain tropes and imagery show that the developers were trying to appeal to so many more people than just the cis white man. Given how handsome Arthur is, women for sure is one of those newer groups brought into the Western fold. [Note, by ‘women’ I don’t just mean cis straight women either. I would further argue that Arthur has a universal charm that members of the LGBTQA community and people of color can rally behind, being a bisexual woman of color myself]
To open up the Western and reimagine the broody gunslinger, Red Dead 2 introduces two genres into the series, which shape Arthur as a heartthrob and alluringly sensitive soul: the Medieval Romance and Romanticism.
The Medieval Romance
The medieval romance is an old and varied genre that is difficult to pinpoint. Not to mention, the genre changes depending on the region and language we’re focusing on. For our purposes, the medieval romance is a type of fictional narrative. Structurally, these narratives are episodic and prominently feature chivalry/chivalric duty, knights, adventure, and courtly love. Many might be familiar with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, aka the Arthurian legend. In the romance version of this myth (i.e. not the Welsh folklore but the English textual co-optation of the legend), the knights of the round table often go off in their own tales of adventure, with each tale serving as an episode that takes the heroes to different locations and challenges.
Is this beginning to sound familiar? Red Dead Redemption ostensibly follows this bare bones structure of the medieval romance. There is a core group with a sovereign leader (Dutch, in this case) surrounded by his loyal outlaws who all abide by a code. Remember, chivalry isn’t just some outdated way to talk about being nice and courteous to women. Chivalry also represents the codes of loyalty a knight upholds as a representative and champion of his liege lord. Thus, it is very fitting for us to think of the Van Der Linde gang as a group of knights abiding by a certain code that, while not explicitly defined, hinges on loyalty and a sense of honor (or in their case, honor among thieves). In fact, even the camp life is reminiscent of courtly life, with fêtes, singing, and their own micropolitical squabbles. Another facet of chivalry is how a knight treats with noblewomen and ladies. A chivalrous knight is always ready to be at the call of his lady, coming to her rescue or championing her in tournaments. The romantic tropes that come from this gendered dynamic survives today as the knight-like readiness of Arthur to help women and always treat them with utmost respect -- something that not every man in the camp actually do *cough Micah and Duch cough*
More to the point (in terms of how this makes Arthur sexy), the medieval romance is most famous for portraying courtly love. Courtly love too is a vague term, but you can readily identify it as often a star-crossed romance between a lady and a knight. Often there is something preventing them from coming together, whether it be class difference (for instance, a Queen and her knight, like Guinevere and Lancelot) or war keeping the lovers away from each other. Courtly love is depicted in art as elevated, not merely a carnal or romantic arrangement. Court lovers are often depicted exchanging letters, or often a knight will perform life-threatening/valiant feats in order to prove his love and loyalty to his beloved.
(Taken from La morte d’Arthur, this artwork shows King Arthur catching sight of his knight Lancelot embracing his wife Queen Guinevere. This love triangle is the quintessential doomed love affair in Western literature)
By now, I hope you’re starting to see some big motifs that are clearly at work in RDR2. Star-crossed lovers, elevated courtship, loyalty, tragedy, and circumstances preventing both lovers from being happy are staples of a rich literary tradition that informs our idea of romantic love in the modern world. More importantly, these tropes are blatantly present in Arthur Morgan as a loyal knight whose main point of narrative tension stems from the personal happiness of being with Mary Gillis vs fulfilling his duty as an outlaw loyal to Dutch and his ideology.
I would like to note that, whenever modern works invoke older literary forms, the effect tends to be elevatory. Notice how none of this is really a major theme in RDR1. We’re not supposed to imagine John as an adventuring knight caught in the highs and lows of criminal courtly life. John’s story is more reminiscent of the anti-Western. On the other hand, Arthur’s feats and tragic love story with Mary hearken back to these historical tales of timeless love and literally knights in shining armor. We’re supposed to think of Arthur as noble, in both senses of the world. In this vein, I don’t think it’s an accident that his very Welsh name of Arthur Morgan was chosen, considering how both Arthur and Morgan le Fay are major players in the Arthurian legend.
Note, it’s not an accident that, in the epilogue, 12-year-old Jack is telling his father about the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. In a way, this is the game’s way of sublimating Arthur and his life into legend. He lived and died tragically, much like his namesake, and in the epilogue he continues to live on in legend, sublimated into fantastical tales for children who seek to be transported to other fictional worlds.
To summarize this subsection, the medieval romance is formally and thematically pervasive in RDR2, making it more unique among other Westerns and anti-Westerns. Arthur Morgan, as a character reminiscent of noble knights of legend, embodies the heroes of both medieval and modern romance.
Romanticism
Arthur contemplating life while sitting on the precipice of Horseshoe Overlook, VP by @papauue
Now, let’s talk about a relatively more modern artistic movement that actually has more overt connections to RDR2′s story and a genre famous for catering to sensitive souls and women.
Historically speaking, romanticism covers a lot, especially (from the German side of things) a movement of philosophy that is all about self-elevation/self-liberation, experiencing the sublime, and encountering nature as an ambivalent yet powerful force that can inspire great transformation.
We won’t get into any of that, but we will get into Romanticism’s ramifications for late 18th-century/early 19th-century culture in Western Europe and North America. Romanticism is the moment of broody poets (Lord Byron, Mr. and Mrs. Shelley, William Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, etc), and in this moment we see a turn away from the cosmopolitan pretensions of the Enlightenment in Europe to the purifying retreat of nature and its aesthetic pleasures.
Visually, emphasis on the poet as a lone wanderer as an agent ready to submit to higher powers pervades art in this time. The famous painting by German Romantic, Caspar David Friedrich is a great example of the individual whose seclusion in the great abyss of nature inspires self-elevation.
It always struck me as funny that, cinematography-wise, Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn’t really force shots like this in cutscenes, but the world building and design of RDR2′s open world for sure enables the player to likewise seek refuge and commune with the austere landscape of the North American wilderness. The screenshot below is one of my first screenshots from my first playthrough. The scenery honestly inspires the Romantic sublime, and I definitely think this was deliberate on the part of RDR2 writers and developers!
As you can imagine, the emphasis on landscape, self-liberation, freedom, and experiencing the world ‘through a grain of sand, eternity in an hour’ (from William Blake) works its way into RDR2 via Arthur’s journal. In a previous post of mine, you can get more of the history behind journaling and travel literature as a background on Arthur’s naturalist aspirations. But here, we’re going to talk about the act of journaling itself, i.e. the act of writing prose in a moment of self-reflection, as a byproduct of romanticism and the wandering poet.
Though journaling became a more popular activity in the 1700s, especially with the rise of epistolary fiction and novels, it became more commonplace and standard in the 1800s. The quote below briefly sums up what journaling was used for in this time period:
“Nonfictional narratives of the disease—in texts ranging from diaries and memoirs to medical publications and political debates—were equally central in efforts to make sense of life, illness, and death in the nineteenth century.” - The Making of Social Disease by David S. Barnes
Journaling therefore is an activity of moral development and sensitive self-reflection. The journal is all about making a text to make sense of one’s life and experiences, and often these attempts reflect how nonsensical the world actually is. We definitely get this tone and struggle in Arthur Morgan’s journal, who often writes in his entries that he is at a loss as each failure brings the gang closer to their demise. This writerly, if not poetic, disposition in Arthur shows he is a brooding, sensitive soul beneath that facade of tough and smart-ass cowboy.
But there’s more to Romanticism in Red Dead 2 than landscape. Perhaps the most famous cultural byproduct of Romanticism is the popularity of consumption (i.e. pulmonary tuberculosis) as an aesthetic that makes one more attractive and sensitive.
I am not kidding. There is a great article about the history of consumption as sexy. I recommend this article here for a light and quick read on the subject.
To pull a quote from the article, let me sum up how consumption was seen as sexy in this time period:
“Because of its association with young women and poets, the disease itself came to represent beauty, romantic passion, and hyper sexuality. As far as illnesses went, it was considered to be rather glamorous, and in a culture half in love with death, it inspired its fair share of tributes. There are numerous romantic depictions of young women wasting away in death beds at the height of their beauty.” (from “Drop Dead Gorgeous”)
In addition to aesthetic, David S. Barnes (from the quote above) notes that the consumptive also embodies an idealized path toward self-redemption:
"Briefly stated, tuberculosis served as a key vehicle in the nineteenth century through which womanhood was associated with a kind of suffering that was morally and spiritually redeeming. Moreover, around the turn of the century, even as the French state and the medical and philanthropic communities were elaborating and actively promoting a new vision of tuberculosis as a social problem of the first magnitude, the older reading of the disease as a sign of redemptive suffering persisted and even thrived, in a sense complementing but also implicitly contesting the new sociomedical orthodoxy." (Barnes)
Although the figure of the sexy consumptive typically was a woman, as these historians will tell you, many men -- especially poets and artists -- were considered sexy for having the look of a consumptive. Their emotional outbursts, pale and lean builds, and tendency to die before they’re 30 made them highly appealing and romanticized in an era that was a little too fascinated with death.
Morbid as it is, the figure of the consumptive is where we get these Victorian beauty standards of pale skin, leanness/thinness, rouged cheeks and lips (from the bloody coughs), and artistic sensibility! In literature and art, the ailing consumptive also had a special relationship with nature, as treatment often required they stay in the country for recovery. As such, these consumptive souls were often seen as pure, sensitive, and mellow individuals who are above the earthly concerns of the city.
The aesthetic of the sexy consumptive survives today in vampire literature, as a romance subgenre that plays with the historical monster as an eternally youthful yet morally damned/tortured lover. So, even though this fetishizing of consumption back in the 1800s might come off as morbid and twisted to modern audiences, the cultural impact of romanticism remains with us today, albeit in other mutated forms.
Now, I set up all this historical context to talk about this big plot event in the story of Red Dead Redemption 2: Arthur contracts tuberculosis.
In the tragic conclusion of Arthur’s story, Arthur’s tuberculosis manifests after a rough fifth chapter, and the symptoms become flagrant: pale skin, bloodshot eyes, coughing up blood, fainting, inability to maintain weight, etc-- the supposed traits of the sexy consumption. Now, I don’t think it’s Rockstar’s intention to portray a sick and dying Arthur as sexy, but I do think that in giving him a disease that became less common in 1899 (it was scarier and more prevalent as a disease in the earlier half of the 1800s) is their way of elevating Arthur up as a Romantic Hero. His sensitivity as an artist and ailing health ascribe to him the aesthetic disposition of a poet and a Romantic. Like the beautiful tragic poets of the prior century, Arthur is now on this doomed trajectory toward redemption and self-liberation.
In a way, the consumptive also socially elevates Arthur. Consumption is typically the disease of the rich in 19th-century popular culture. Poets, artists, and repressed daughters of rich families were the more visible victims of this beautifying illness.
I’m not sure if I am still making sense here. And if anyone has questions or confused, I am totally happy to clarify whenever yall want. Basically though, the invocation of Romanticism as a genre in Red Dead 2 is all about making Arthur a Romantic hero whose relationship with nature isn’t so much just one of an outlaw’s but also one of a sensitive soul, whose curious mind leads to moments of pensive self-reflection and contemplations on life and death.
Miscellany and Conclusion
There are other elements that make Arthur an attractive hero for all, detracting from the typical masculine archetypes found in a Western. One thing I couldn’t really classify is Arthur’s compassion toward animals. The soft, breathy whispered “thank you” he gives to his dying horse in his final mission is one such example, but ultimately you’ll find a line of dialogue every once in a while that shows Arthur has a serious respect for animals, if not a soft spot for them. Albert Mason’s photography side missions are proof and point of this tendency in him.
I also don’t want to understate how Arthur, as a talented artist and writer, contributes to his sex appeal as a modern protagonist. Most cowboys in both the Western and anti-Western aren’t artists. In fact, I can’t think of a cowboy who just sketches by his lonesome while out in the wilderness. This attention to landscape and animals in their natural habitat, while explained in my aforementioned post, show a side of him that values the precious yet fragile beauty of nature. It’s sexy for a man to be so earnest in his relationship with the world, forever willing to learn and to appreciate his surroundings. Most cowboys/gunslingers are tamers of the natural world, but Arthur is most decidedly a courteous guest of nature doing his best to respect wildlife while surviving.
In the end, Arthur is a combination of past literary traditions, but such a masterful combination of old form means he is readily recognizable and appealing, because older genres always survive, in some form or fashion, in our modern world. The consumptive Romantic is now the sexy, sensitive vampire. The knight of medieval romance is now the kind man who champions his love via devotion and respect. Arthur Morgan is a critique of the Western’s moral failings, but he is also an enthusiastic rejection of the fraught and emotionally closed-off embodiment of the hypermasculine. He doesn’t just survive -- he lives in the world as a writer, artist, and gentle soul. It is through these combinations that Rockstar can repackage the Western and give us a beautiful and beloved hero like Arthur Morgan.
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Old Nollywood aesthetics and fashion may be considered trendy today, but the films were not always so well-regarded. In the 90s and early 2000s, when these movies were made and watched in parlours across Nigerian homes as they were shot, straight-to-video, they were considered as bad entertainment, or ‘low culture’. To watch and enjoy Nollywood films was to celebrate mediocrity. But today, nostalgic young Millennials and Gen Zers are overlooking the jarring audio, grainy pictures, and sometimes hammy acting, to appreciate not only the grooming and style of the actors, but the original and diverse stories that reflect unique Nigerian experiences.
It was for this reason that sisters Tochi and Ebele Anueyiagu started Nolly Babes, a nostalgic Instagram account dedicated to celebrating the cinematic period’s women. Started in December 2017, their first post was of Nollywood’s biggest star Genevieve Nnaji; a still taken from 2004 film Sharon Stone In Abuja, directed by Adim Williams. Nnaji plays the titular character, a sexually liberated young woman who uses her beauty and charm to ensnare unassuming men into doing her bidding.
The account is an ode to the female characters of old Nollywood who were often portrayed as warning examples. The storylines were steeped in moral principles rooted in the patriarchal culture and the dominant Christian religion of Southern Nigeria. A large number of the female characters were considered immoral because they kissed other women, challenged men, smoked and drank, or wore mini skirts. Today, Nolly Babes and similar accounts are reimagining these women, taking their scenes out of the moralistic context of the films, and turning them into iconic feminist personas.
The first time Nollywood content seeped into the mainstream internet consciousness can be traced back to 2017 when videos of Nollywood’s favourite comedic duo Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme, better known as Aki and Pawpaw, rose to popularity due mostly to the influence of a now-defunct Twitter account @nollywoodroll ran by Nicole, a woman based in Brazil.
Their memes became the go-to reaction videos for expressing a wide range of emotions: joy, disappointment, sadness, frustration. The appeal was in seeing children making mischief or in adult situations – drinking beer and smoking cigars, wooing bigger women, or in oversized suits shouting instructions at people twice their size. Although both Ikedieze and Iheme were in their 20s in the early 2000s when most of the films were made, they mostly played children because of their body stature. By 2019, the memes had achieved such virality that brands like Rihanna’s Fenty would use them for social media clout.
Theodora Imaan Beauvais is the curator of Yung Nollywood, another archive of clips and stills from old Nollywood paying homage to its controversial female characters, after screenshotting moments from Nollywood she found “appealing or inspirational”. Yung Nollywood is remarkably distinct from Nolly Babes for its subtitling of the films’ stills from Nollywood films, something she attributes to Tumblr. While the idea to give witty captions to the actors’ facial expressions came from watching Netflix. “I thought, ‘If someone could describe Nollywood reactions in short phrases it’d be an art form on its own,’ and I became that someone.’”
In December 2019, Tochi and Ebele hosted a Nollywood-themed party in Lagos. Nollywood actor and musician Nonso Bassey attended the party dressed in a two-piece jean set and bucket hat, a signature look of the bad boy/alpha male archetype, and a role reprised multiple times by older actors such as Hanks Anuku, Emeka Ike, and Jim Iyke. Since that party, Nonso has attended social functions and premieres in outfits that make a nod to the fashion choices of that era of Nollywood. He insists, though, that he isn’t cosplaying Nollywood characters of that era. “I’ve always been attracted to the idea of merging old world charm with a new school approach,” he said.
The party caused a cultural stir amongst Nigerians and Africans both at home and in the diaspora – every other week, there seems to be a Nollywood-themed party held either in Lagos or London. Take for instance friends and business partners Imani Okunubi and Aseosa Uwagboe, two Nigerian-British kids who grew up in the UK. Nollywood was one of the ways they could connect back to their roots. That experience informs their event brand, Lasgidi to London, targeted at Nigerians living in the UK. “We wanted to create events that were reminiscent of the Naija hall parties (Owambe) we attended as kids, as we don’t want to see that culture die,” Aseosa said. Their next owambe is a Nollywood-themed party and guests are expected to come dressed in their “best nolly Y2K aesthetic”.
Below, the Nolly Babes sisters talk about creating and hosting the first Nollywood-themed party and the cultural moment it has inspired.
How did that first event come about – please take me through it, from the planning to how it turned out?
Nolly Babes: From the inception of Nolly Babes, we knew we had to throw a party. Fashion is a huge part of what makes Nolly Babes different from other Nollywood-themed pages and we knew we were the only ones that could set Nolly Babes as the dress code and have people commit as they did. There are many iconic Nollywood scenes and scenarios. The daughter meeting her evil mother-in-law, the ominous visit to the Babalawo, the campus stroll – just the mere mention of these scenes evokes images that have been embedded in the minds of our fellow Nollywood enthusiasts. The party scene is probably the most iconic of them all. Whether it’s in a club, a mansion while mum and dad are out of town (but coming home early to crash the whole thing) or poolside, the Nolly Babes party scene has its staples: mad music, dancing, and sick outfits.
December in Lagos is notoriously hectic. On each day, there are day parties, beach hangouts, concerts, and we just knew we had to be a part of it. Our flyer was the first thing we made sure was done right, and that has been replicated (but never duplicated) many many times. We went through at least six drafts of that until we got the flyer to be a realistic replica of the home video covers from the golden era. The DJs Kemi Lijadu and vIVENDII Sounds understood the assignment and played music from the Nolly Babes era. We’re talking Tony Tetuila, Mo Hitz, Wande Coal, Plantation Boyz… We curated a special cocktail menu: Genny Colladas, Jim Iyke’s Hard Lemonade, MargaRita Dominic, and our Lagos Island Iced Tea, in tribute to Nollywood stars Genevieve Nnaji, Jim Iyke, and Rita Dominic respectively. We had a video projection on the famous red wall at Nok showing a mashup of emblematic scenes. We were partying while seeing images of a young Jim Iyke dressed just like many of the attendees were dressed. It was magical! We have an event we’re planning in New York for the summer – it’s going to be a madness.
Did you envisage it becoming the cultural movement it’s now become?
Nolly Babes: We really didn’t. We hosted the party because we knew people were taking inspiration from our page for styling jobs and music video treatments, and wanted to give everyone a chance to recreate some of their favourite looks. Now every week we see people planning Nollywood-themed parties and sending people to our page for references. It’s awesome. Toke Makinwa even recently attended a Nolly Babes-themed party and she was dressed as a character we have immortalised – Regina Askia in President’s Daughter. She killed it! Even though the character wasn’t referenced, it was clear as day and it was awesome to see that she pulled it off! Honestly, when we see people really pay attention to detail and execute the theme well it’s so, so dope.
How has TikTok helped grow Nollywood's influence? You posted a scene from Girls Cot, the famous “you stink with poverty” clip on TikTok and it went viral and birthed these recreations even by non-Africans.
Nolly Babes: We’re just happy to see that another aspect of Nollywood that we champion – the iconic scenes and one-liners – is also resonating across the world. We see Nolly Babes as an archival work and as much as we focus on beauty and looks on Instagram, it’s nice to be able to point people in the direction of the scenes that are forever embedded in our brains. These are scenes we recreated in jest ourselves before there was even a Nolly Babes to begin with, so to see it catching on TikTok is exciting and a new frontier for us to fully explore. I think what distinguishes Nolly Babes from other Nollywood pages and what contributes to our TikTok success is that we really watch Nollywood movies. We grew up watching these movies and continue to do so now so we can capture those moments in films that the casual consumer or poster of Nollywood content might not.
What are your thoughts on Nollywood’s influence on the Alté scene? Music videos of artists such as Lady Donli and Odunsi nod to the aesthetic and fashion styles of that era.
Nolly Babes: Nollywood, and specifically the aesthetic we have shone a spotlight on, is probably one of the biggest influences in terms of visuals in that scene right now. I have never seen so many Eucharia (Anunobi) eyebrows on TV and we love it! It’s awesome to see our images and scenes being used in treatments and storyboards. If we’re being candid, we think it would be great if we got the chance to step into our stylist/creative direction bag and help with the execution of the aesthetic.
“The bottom line is really that Nolly Babes has brought what was already an international cultural influence to the modern social media realm with a new lens” – Nolly Babes
How far do you see Nollywood's influence on pop culture, beyond Nigeria and Africa?
Nolly Babes: When we moved to New York we found our Dominican and South American friends had also grown up watching Nollywood films. The bottom line is really that Nolly Babes has brought what was already an international cultural influence to the modern social media realm with a new lens. Nollywood clips were online everywhere – but it was always in a comedic way. Aki and PawPaw are meme gods now, and that’s because their expressions transcend cultural boundaries. Black Twitter eats that stuff up.
Nolly Babes chooses to center the beauty, style, and iconic imagery, even the home decor with our #NollyDecor hashtag of the golden era of Nollywood. We share the makeup, accessories, fashion, iconic phrases, and scenes in a way that isn’t just comedic but inspirational and aesthetically groundbreaking. I see Nollywood being at the centre of this Y2K resurgence that is happening all over the world, from TV to runways and fashion collections. That era is coming back around and, this time, the Black experience is being revisited and centered in a way it wasn’t back in the late 90s and 2000s. (Black people) were always the originators of the trends and this time they’re tapping into the source and Nollywood, particularly the era we celebrate as Nolly Babes, is a great resource for that.
Follow Nolly Babes on Instagram
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I mean….you all knew this was coming ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ : the Star Wars Art of one Mr. Drew Struzan.
And look, the man has done so much and has such a diverse portfolio that Star Wars is only one very small part of his career. If you want to explore some of his other works, then might I suggest that you check out his website.
As for me here, we’ll be sticking strictly to his SW art. Now, with that out of the way, here we go…
*cracks knuckles*
I have to admit that before I really started to dig into this, I didn’t realize just how many Bantam Era (and beyond) Star Wars books this man has illustrated. Nearly 50 titles, ranging from novels to comics, short stories & even an RPG supplement. 🤯
And so, after much consideration, I decided to just pull all the titles that feature his art off my bookshelf and take a few pics for you guys:
First off, I just want to point out that I don’t have every book he’s ever illustrated. Some of them are just harder than hard to find, are hilariously expensive, or I just don’t have an edition that features his art prominently - you’ll see what I mean. Right off the bat though, you can see that he was really hitting his stride in the mid-90′s, with all but a handful of these coming out between ‘94 & ‘99. One of the highlights from this time for me, is The Callista Trilogy.
I just want to stress that The Callista Trilogy is a highlight for me only because of its gorgeous cover art. 🤣 Other than that, this book series needs to go lay down.
Anyway, the designs are all really striking and even after all these years, absolutely iconic. And you can really see Struzan’s distinct visual style at play here; not a painting in the same vein as something from Dave Doorman, and not a simple trace. Rather, something that is stylized in a very particular, very subtle way, almost to the point where it appears photo-realistic at first glance. Beautiful.
Next up is this trio of trilogies (good use of words, me), collected in these Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC) hardcovers:
Once again, these covers are just striking, particularly The Black Fleet Crisis. This is actually what I was referring to when I said that I don’t always have the best editions for a Drew Struzan appreciation post. 😅
Because these are hardcover collections of paperback books, we actually miss out on a good bit of the art. For these SFBC special editions, the publisher just took all three and basically photoshopped the best bits of each one together. The one that suffers the most here is obviously The Corellian Trilogy, where they didn’t even try to blend everything together, and instead just separated everything into columns. I don’t personally mind it (and I do love having the hardcover editions of these books) but if you want to see the covers as they were originally intended, just pickup those mass market paperbacks. 🙂
There’s a lot more to get through, so I’ll just hit the highlights here; even though he didn’t illustrate The Thrawn Trilogy (that was Tom Jung, who I personally think did an okay-ish job at best), he did an absolutely amazing job with the follow-up, The Hand of Thrawn Duology in ‘98 & ‘99:
I’ve always loved these covers. And narratively speaking, they really do serve as one last hurrah on the Bantam Era. Oh, and also please note, Mara Jade on the cover of Vision of the Future, just as Zahn originally described her. ❤❤❤
If you step back and look at Struzan’s work as a whole, it’s all incredibly unified. I bring this up here because even though some of these are books relatively ‘meh’ worthy, Struzan maintained a level of quality that belied the mediocrity contained within. And also to say that he was definitely busy, particularly in 1994:
That’s right - all of these released in ‘94, within a few months of one another. These covers man… *chef’s kiss*
And look I’m sorry, I just can’t help myself: The Crystal Star was a hilarious joke until we all realized they were serious about it. 😳
Alright, that’s a little on the harsh side; it’s not nearly as bad as most make it out to be, and Waru as a source for unlimited power (citation needed 👀😉) isn’t any more ridiculous than the 50 other post-Palpy, hair-brained Imperial schemes that everybody else cooked up, so I guess it fits. And besides, I really wanna be nice to Vonda McIntyre here, but this book was just so so boring. 😴
*clears throat* Moving on, here we have a couple Barnes & Noble hardcover collections of The Jedi Prince Series:
The same thing applies here; cover art photoshopped from across 6 different YA novels to get these. They don’t look bad, far from it. But rather this series has some things that people would rather forget about, namely a supposed son of Palpatine (spoiler: he wasn’t) named Triclops who had - wait for it - 3 eyes.
Like Tien. From DBZ. Yep. 🤦♂️
Moving further down the list, we have yet another pair of iconic cover designs, being I, Jedi (the only Star Wars novel written in the first person, and an appropriate riff on Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot - yes ladies & gentlemen, that is as clever as Star Wars gets) and The New Rebellion.
Classics, no doubt….but for reals, did anybody else ever wonder why the X-Wing on the cover of I, Jedi is missing an S-Foil? Or how that one slipped through??? 👀
Ah, at last we arrive at what is arguably Struzan’s most famous work; the covers for Shadows of the Empire & The Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition.
It’s hard to overstate just how important Shadows of the Empire really was for Star Wars as a brand. In an era where SW books were already extremely popular, the Shadows of the Empire Multimedia Project basically served as a breakout hit and reignited interest in SW media across the board. This was in no small part due to the striking imagery captured on its cover - are you seeing a pattern here?
This success actually renewed Lucas’ interest in a theatrical re-release of the OT in 1997….which of course, feature more beautiful art from Drew Struzan:
These are my OG Special Edition VHS tapes from back in the day. I watched these so damn much as a kid. In fact, they’re basically the whole reason that I’m here, annoying the shit out of everybody today. 😁
After the Bantam Era concluded & the Star Wars publishing license went to Del Rey, Struzan did progressively fewer pieces for SW media. Here we see his contribution for the latter half of the Last of the Jedi YA series, and his kick-ass cover art for the Darth Maul comic:
And when I say that Struzan did progressively fewer pieces for Star Wars, I am of course omitting his turn as the poster artist for the freaking Prequel Trilogy:
Say what you will about the films, but these poster designs are nothing short of genius.
Look guys, it would be pretty easy for me to downplay Struzan’s Star Wars portfolio as just one small part of his incredible career. But my dudes, this is literally just the tip of the iceberg. The man has been a professional illustrator for over 50 years, and his art has delighted and inspired generations. From Star Wars to Indian Jones, and from Back to the Future to Blade Runner - Drew Struzan has played an integral part in shaping popular culture.
Here’s to you, sir. 🍻
#star wars#drew struzan#art#the callista trilogy#the han solo trilogy#the black fleet crisis#the corellian trilogy#the hand of thrawn duology#the crystal star#the truce at bakura#the courtship of princess leia#the jedi prince series#i jedi#the new rebellion#shadows of the empire#the star wars trilogy#special edition#the last of the jedi#darth maul#comic#star wars prequel trilogy#the phantom menace#attack of the clones#revenge of the sith
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Toon Quest|| Reader Insert
Chapter 1: Like an Open Book
Ah...yes. A quiet, quiet neighborhood--oh, hello! I didn't see you all there. Haha, hello. I am your narrator, yes. I know, every convenient film or novel needs one, am I annoying you? Sorry, just getting into the groove, because I have a story for you all today.
The birds chirped, singing a melody that could repeat in anyone's head hours on end, the warmth of the sun on a summer morning, the dew on the grass waiting to greet people from their sleep, the crisp air that gave that comforting chill to start everyone's morning off.
A blue bird--a toon bird at that. It's simple look would seem out of place for anyone that doesn't live in this world. You would find it odd to see a dainty blue bird with its blue eyes standing out from any other ordinary bird. Simply--because it's a cartoon, or a Toon as we like to call these guys.
The bluebird delicately flapped its wings, its eyes closed with a calm expression on its face, soaring over to a house. Where it slowly yet softly placed its talons on a sill of a window, which was closed. The blue bird peered into the window, it could see a girl laying in her bed, asleep. Her back turned from the window and her breathing ever so softly inhaling and exhaling. Sound asleep.
Ah, it seems little blue birds want to sing a song to wake up our friend. Go ahead little birdie, give us a song.
The bluebird gave an excited expression. Taking in a big inhale, it's chest becoming larger before it lets out a nice melodic loud;
"COCKLEDOODLEDOOOO---!!"
Y/n flinched quickly and shot up, snorting abruptly from her sleep she was so deep into. Her eyes wide open and heart beating in her chest, the sudden noise scared the poor soul!
The bluebird lifted a wing to its beak to hide its from and muffle and snickered mischievously at the reaction.
Oh, you sneaky little rascal. Well. Now that she's up. Let's get this show on the rode shall we?
-
"Okay. We have 3 tickets for 2PM. But I want to go and get gas first, your dad drained the gas yesterday--"
Y/n sat in the passenger seat of the car, her mother talking on and on of the 103 things she had accomplished in the day, a busy woman, but she got things done. Music blared through the speakers as she spoke, but Y/n busy scrolling through her phone to pay the woman any mind, which her mother noticed. Glancing at her daughter, the lady gently jabbed Y/n's ribs, causing Y/n to tense up at the sudden jab and made a small noise at the sudden feeling.
"Hey-Hey, are you even listening to me?" Her mother smiled at Y/n. Y/n turned her phone off and nodded. "Yes, You were ranting about errands. And your lottery tickets." She said. Her mother had her focus on the road, but the smile was still glued to her face, being able to drag her daughter with her, was a way to spend time with Y/n. The highschool graduate had been busy in the house for most of the time...well...basically relaxing, of course she did things around the house, but the mother wanted to take her daughter to her to work, to experience mother and daughter time.
"So. What exactly are we going to do today?" Y/n asked. Sitting up in her seat as she watched the builds pass by.
"Well. I was thinking, maybe a movie? Walk in the park maybe? But, before anything. I have to drop off some paperwork at the studio."
Ah, yes. Y/n's mother worked as a secretary at a studio, not such a big role, nevertheless, it was a job with the big leagues...in a way!
In this particular area, she worked for a company named JoeyDrew, years ago it was formerly known as MeatlyStudios, the company had history, Joey Drew, who was originally the owner, but with many cases on his back for various reasons, that was not classified to the public, but within his arrest the company was given to better hands and care, a man named Henry Stein.
Y/n had never really stepped foot into the building her mother worked at, of course she knew what shows were produced there as she saw some of them play on television countless times as any other film out there. Living with a world of toons, you were born into a world with Toons and humans and things are normal, so, heating about going to her job didn't raise too much excitement.
But, it didn't hurt to get a glimpse at the workplace her mother works in.
"Well, would look at that--she looks just like you!"
Starting at the middle aged woman that circled from around the counter with a joyful smile. Y/n's mother gives a welcoming smile to her co-worker and she grabs Y/n's hands and shakes it. The silver name tag, which had the woman's name engraved in the silver with a cartoon horns coming from the bottom read; 'Annie'
"Hey, Annie, I'm just stopping by to drop off these files." Y/n's mother placed a beige portfolio on the counter as Annie gently grabbed Y/n's hand, giving her a firm welcoming shake. Y/n gave a close lipped smile to Annie as the woman mostly had her focus on her.
"Hi, nice to meet you." Y/n spoke, the lady smiled and nodded. Her hand slipping from Y/n's grasp before placing her hands behind her back, looking at the simplistic formal uniform, Y/n took in the attire, a black blouse and dress pants, but Y/n wasn't paying too much attention to that, she looked at the white pearls that formed a necklace. Annie had turned to look at Y/n's mother as she then started to speak, not paying much attention to their conversation. Instead, she observed her surroundings in the lobby of the studio. Beige carpet, and clear windows to show the parking lot that was being filled by the minute for many interns, animators and other people that work for the industry.
On the walls were some posters of the many shorts and animated films of Bendy the devil. The main protagonists of the many shorts, and from what Y/n could remember, one of the first characters introduced by Joey Drew and Henry Stein. The fluorescent light made the posters look more alive and exciting. Her optics danced around the studio, before landing on a cardboard cut out--she assumed it was a cardboard cutout. Of Bendy. Not finding much interest in the cutout, she decided to look back over to her mother to see if she was about ready to leave, but seeing Annie and her mother speaking, going over the paperwork in the portfolio. A sudden moment from the corner of her eye caused her to look back over, her eyes landing on the Bendy cutout. The black and white demon only stood there with its famous grin and pie cut black eyes.
"..." Y/n's slowly looked back at her mother, yet again, and once again. She saw movement. Looking back over to the cut out again, she was astonished to see it was gone. With much confusion, she would have suspected someone for moving it, though, no one seemed to be paying attention to her general direction as it was the early morning and people were too busy doing work.
A white gloved hand rose from behind Y/n's back and tapped her shoulder twice. Causing her to whip around in the direction to see the person, only to find nothing.
"What?" She finally spoke up in utter confusion, once again, a white glove rose and tapped her shoulder yet again, repeating the action by turning around, she was once again met with nothing. Y/n furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She suddenly heard a tsk, glancing to her right. A few inches away from her, stood the all knowing black and white demon, Bendy. Though, living in a world with Toons where obviously Humans and Toons Co-exists. On any other day, or any other everyday toon, seeing one wouldn't be such a surprise, but seeing the star of the company, in the building, as Bendy and the the rest of the cast weren't exactly in the studio as often as anyone would think, more so being out for the most part--well. Doing their job. Starring as a cartoon in films.
"Whoa--how did..?" Y/n felt a smile form on her face. She never met Bendy. Or, any of the cast, yes, her mother worked for the studio, but that didn't mean she had the free will and access to meeting anyone she desired that worked with JoeyDree Studios.
Bendy rose a finger to shush Y/n, his grin expanding her so slightly.
"Well! I don't see why you're surprised, you're M/n daughter, huh?" He asked. Y/n was still busy looking at the toon, her reply was delayed for a moment, but she replied. Nodding she gave him a toothy smile.
"Yes. I am."
Bendy gasped, placing his gloved fingers on his mouth. "Well--why I outta--c'mere you!" Bendy extended his arms and pulled Y/n in a hug. Y/n lets out a short laugh before wrapping her arms around the room, feeling him pat her back. After a moment he pulled away, still with the smile on his face.
"Now, I can say I've met everyone's family." He said. Y/n took a moment to understand what he meant. Putting things together, she assumed he met everyone who worked in the studio building children or other relatives.
"I'm assuming you were going around to try and meet everyone's family members?" Y/n asked. Motioning towards the people in the lobby--but still motioning forward every one that worked in the studio. Bendy nods.
"Yes! You see I've met Jacob's 4 sons, Alex, Zachary, Matthew, Isaac, I've met Bethany's 6 nieces, such cute little dolls. I must say so myself, Amy, Sam, Debbie and Anna--" He ranted and went on and on about the many family members he had met, counting on his fingers, so many people he had met that were family members of the workers in the studios, so many, in fact, he already counted his 4 cartoonish fingers and grew a 7th one countings on them!
"--And then there was Mary, her uncle's fathers 3rd cousin who owned a diner down the street. Which he soon gave to her, and there I met her two sons and 2 daughters. Crazy thing is--they're quadruplets!" He tugged at his horns out of excitement that he couldn't seem to contain. Y/n held a smile on her face, listening to him rant, one thing about toons was that some acted exactly how they did on screen. Happy, go lucky, enthusiastic. Of course Bendy more was a mischievous character. But regardless, toons were very animated people--no pun intended. But they were very lively, really, they could bring a smile to anyone's face.
"And then, I met you. I believe. Is it?" He took a moment to think, tapping his chin in thought as he tapped his foot on the ground. But he quickly regained his original posture. "Yes! The last of it." He answered for himself.
"Well, it's nice to meet you too." Y/n said. Walking through the double glass door, which got Bendy's attention as he looked over, as well as Y/n. A middle aged man, formally dressed, speaking on a phone walks through the doors. He seemed to be in a busy call as he spoke in a low voice. It was Henry. Who also wasn't exactly seen around the studio as often as he was a busy many running a company, and a studio isn't the only place a businessman needs to be. Usually being in tons of board meetings for different ideas, financial things and much more that was needed for the company to work smoothly. Henry noticed Annie and Y/n's mother. He smiled and waved at them as he pressed a button on the elevator, the two waved back with graceful smiles and went back to their small meeting for...whatever it was they were talking about for the portfolio.
"Who's that?" Y/n asked. Bendy looked away from the elevator and to Y/n. "Well, Henry of course. He runs this place." Bendy answered. Nodding, Y/n knew of Henry, but never really met him--well she never met him, only heard about him occasionally in her mother's conversation about work.
"Don't tell him--but I actually run this place." Bendy said, cupping a hand over his mouth as if he were telling the most classified secret ever. But it did cause Y/n to snicker. Suddenly, with the sudden voice of the news lady on the TV that hung from the ceiling stole the two attention. Looking over, the screen showed a lady sitting in the news studio, giving a report.
"This just in. The book of vida has been reportedly stolen from a storage facility down in Manhattan, this ancient book was supposedly attended to be sent off overseas to the France Museum of Natural History, but unfortunately has been stolen, 2 security guards were guarding the building last night. When at approximately 3AM, a broken glass was heard in the North side of the building, upon investigation, the glass box was broken into and the book of vida was gone. An investigator, Detective Droopy, is now on charge and at the scene."
The screen soon switched to a Toon, which was Droopy the Detective, many interviews where there taking photos, the clicking of the cameras and the bright flashes didn't seem to faze him. Droopy was a notorious detective around town, being one of the first toons to have such an important role as a--'human' job, which would be working in the officer department--a detective. But, he was good at his job regardless...maybe because he was a dog?
He was standing in front of the building that allegedly was robbed, as in any other invertivew, he held a nonchalant expression.
"Yes, we all know how important this is, the good news is that we have a lead, and I feel that this can quickly give us all our answers on who, what, when and where." He said. From behind him, he pulled out one singular red feather, the auburn frigid plume, the color of the feather similar to the reddish hues of an Autumn season.
"I can say that this will help us out tremendously, and that's detective talk."
The interview went on in the background as Y/n lost interest in it, recently cases have been occurring around time, with homicides and robberies, for example, the arrest of Joey Drew was one case out of plethora of them. It seemed for the most part, Toons were the ones making these sudden flux of incidents, and lately some people didn't take good eye on how the Toons were portraying themselves. And some still stood beside toons regardless. Bendy had looked away from the TV screen as well, holding his arms behind his back.
"Well, I didn't expect things like this to go too far." He said.
"What's a book of Vida?" Y/n asked him, she rarely paid attention to any...politics? Well shouldn't really say the book had anything to do with politics, just simply not really paying too much attention with all the news had been going around specifically case wise, of course she knew the sudden rise and tension that was growing between Toons and humans. It was like a brick wall.
"It's a book. Or as people that are archeologists would look at is, as a book of prophecy. What's in it? I don't know, it's mostly been transported from different museums. I have heard that it has information about life--which--" he paused for a moment. Tapping his shoe on the floor in thought.
"It is about life in fact. It's called The Book of Life. Basically I've heard that it holds a prophecy, hero's or whatever, I dunno. I think that's really far fetched if you ask me." He said. Waving a gloved hand as if dismissing the idea. Y/n could understand him. A book speaking about future heros? Yes, far fetched. And...very fantasy like.
"Alright, that should be all for now." Y/n's mother spoke as she walked over. Looking in her purse for her car keys, obviously making it known it was time to leave. When she looked up and noticed Bendy standing next to Y/n, she smiled.
"Oh hey, I didn't know you were here too, did you tag along with Henry?" She asked. Bendy once again smiled brightly and nodded at her question.
"Yes, he's upstairs in a meeting and I decided to stop by with him, glad I did, because I was finally able to meet Y/n!" He motioned towards Y/n.
"Oh yes, I've tried getting her in here plenty of times, but I'm so busy, I can barely remember anything."
The two shared a laugh, obviously it wasn't the first time the two met, which would be understandable as Y/n's mother worked in the study and was bound to run into anyone major, like Bendy himself at times.
"Well, I'll leave you two be now!" Bendy smiled and waved goodbye.
-
Walking out of the studio, and once again feeling the heat of the sun spreading its welcoming warmth to the world after being in the AC for some time. Y/n and her mother walked to the car that was parked, the clouds were making themselves known, making it vaguely obvious that later it might rain.
"Alright, I'm hungry. Are you?" M/n said, unlocking the car doors with a click of a button, Y/n opened the door to the passenger side and slid in the car.
"I've been hungry since I woke up." Y/n said. Causing a chuckle to come from her mother.
"Don't worry, I'll find us something to eat."
-
The chattering of people in the restaurant was incoherent, plates clattering together, it wasn't as busy seeing it was still in the early morning. Staring down at the menu, as if Y/n didn't know what she was going to order, when really she did. Her mother spoke up.
"I would bring your dad something to eat when we get back, but I'll let him suffer since he didn't do the Landry last week." M/n said, staring at the menu with squinted eyes. Y/n cracked a small smile.
"Not even an appetizer?" she asked.
"Nope, he's good. There's food at home for him."
Y/n could practically hear the crying of her father with no food when they got back home with take out boxes. But she knew she wasn't going to change her mothers mind.
For a brief second she heard the people in the booth in front of her and her mother, talk about the news segment from this morning--which was barely even an hour ago.
"I can't believe that a toon went out of their way to steal a book"
"I know right, it's like there are more cases of toons committing crimes than humans."
"Hey mom." Y/n abruptly looked over to her mom and away from the two people talking. Her mother looked away from the menu and to Y/n. Raising an eyebrow.
"What's the Book of Vida? I've seen it on TV today." She said. Her mother set her menu down before speaking.
"It's a history book basically, a book of toons and humans, some people around the world see it as a prophecy book, it depends on who you ask." She replied.
"Why is it so important for someone to steal it?"
She was only replied with a shrug.
It seemed not many people knew the exact reason for the book, other than it being some sort of history book.
"There's a woman at work, she used to be a history teacher in High Schools, she told me that the reason why it's important is because it only opens when--I believe she said, a time comes, and when the right person that is part of the prophecy can open it."
Y/n quickly stopped fiddling with the straw for her drink. Perking up slightly in interest.
"Whoa, so it..only opens for people that are a part of the book?" she asked. Her mother took a moment to think, before she nodded.
"Yes. But, some people don't believe it. I can't give you too much detail in the book, I don't know much of it myself." The woman chuckled slightly at the smile on Y/n's face.
"Bendy told me he heard from someone that the book was about heros."
"Hell, maybe it might be."
Placing the straw back into the cup, Y/n took a moment to think, information on that book was nice to hear, but, with the sudden tension of Toons and Non-Toons. It was evident now.
"How do you feel about the toons and some cases revolving around them?" Y/n asked her mother. Her mother gave her an expression, well. More of a dissatisfied one.
"Y/n. I work with Toons. Anyone that starts going against a toon for making a crime when humans did it for years on end are just dumb as hell, even toons have breaking points." She chuckled. Y/n smiled at her and looked at her drink.
Her mother went back to looking at the menu for the 5th time they spent that time in the restaurant.
-
After hours being out, Which needed with M/n having to take a visit to the bank, the two made it home, the sun on the verge of setting, the clouds overtaking the sky, with its various shades of gray, walking into the house, Y/n's mother was on the phone, more likely for it being something that had to deal with work, so she walked off upstairs to her room, to have the call in there.
Y/n placed the take out bags on the counter, her father was upstairs most likely asleep. Walking over to the couch in the living room, Y/n sat down on the couch and sighed in relief to finally sit down. Feeling the tension in her leg be put at ease from standing and walking around with her mother for hours. Removing her phone from her pocket, and not even a second later, both of her parents came down stairs. Her mother was still dressed in her clothes, and her father was lazily slipping on a shirt.
"Um--where are you guys going?" Y/n asked. Her father motioned towards her mother. "She's going to work, they just called her in. I'm tagging along, because your mom says so."
"I sure did." Her mother said as she dug through her purse. Taking out another set of keys she placed them on the kitchen counter. "If you're going out to get anything. Here's the keys to your dad's car. Be careful though, it's going to start raining soon--"
"Oh man! What the hell, you guys didn't bring any food for me?!" Y/n's father was searching through the bags, but to avail. Only finding two take out boxes for Y/n and M/n.
"You'll be fine. Get to the car." M/n ushered her husband out the door in a hurry, who groaned heavily. Y/n only smiled and shook her head slowly.
"Oh, and take the trash out. We'll be back soon!"
And with the closing of the door, the two left out. Y/n leaned back into the couch, letting the silence engulf her. Too silent.
Her parents were always busy, working that is. For the most part it was only Y/n at home for half the time, filling most of her days with just herself, her neighborhood was small, and mostly filled with kids, as Y/n was 18, and didn't exactly want to spend half her day with 8 and 15 year olds. Not that she had anything against them.
Slipping off her shoes, Y/n decided to take out the trash later, instead, feeling a familiar fatigue start to rush through her. Taking her shoes, she stood up and walked upstairs towards her room. Once opening her door and closing it. She tossed her shoes to the side and sat down on her bed where she placed her phone on the nightstand. Crawling onto the bed, she finally laid down and pulled the blankets over her to sleep.
Or. Try to sleep. The sudden shuffle from the side of her room caused her to open her eyes. Sitting up, she looked over to her shoes to see if they had maybe fallen over. But they were still in the same tossed position. One upside down and the other upright.
"..."
Shuffle shuffle
This caused Y/n to quickly hop from the bed with a gasp. Standing next to her night stand where she quickly grabbed a dictionary she used in English back in high school. Holding it tightly to use it as some sort of weapon, she looked around the room, and finally over to her window, where she found the little blue bird from this morning trying to get out of the room. But the window pane was too low for him to escape.
"Oh...it's just you.." Y/n muttered. The blue bird looked at her with its big eyes before looking back at the window. Obviously signalling her for help, which Y/n took heed of. She walked over to the window, and slid it open for the bird. It was already raining outside. The bird must have gotten in a while ago out of curiosity. The bird chirped in happiness before flying through the window, turning back to Y/n to look at her through the window. It waved one wing at her before flying off. Y/n waved back as well. Closing the window to not let the now cool air in. Y/n turned around to return the book back to her nightstand. But she came nose to beak with a toon.
"AAAAH!"
"AH!"
Y/n quickly tossed the dictionary onto the intruder, causing it to fall on the toon's face. Who fell backwards and onto the floor. Y/n quickly back into the wall. Glueing her back to the corner as she watches the person. The toon had its hands on its beak.
"AH-ow-ow--Ah! ¡¿Qué te pasa mujer?!" He spoke...spanish. Y/n furrowed her eyebrows, her heart beating in her chest. What?? What was going on?
"Who are you?! Why are you in my room?!" Y/n shouts. But the toon didn't answer. Instead, stayed still on the ground. Hands covering its beak, which was mostly its face.
Taking a longer look, Y/n took note of it's auburn feathers, its beige sombrero was large, it resembled a rooster, a mexican rooster. He wore a red barlo jacket, with golden lining, and red charlo pants with spurs. He had on a belt, and what took Y/n by surprise were the gun holsters on his sides , packed with two 8 caliber pistols. This caused Y/n to gasp lightly and further take a step back. Taking caution of the Toon. The rooster removed his hand from his beak. Leaning back on his elbows as he looked around the room and soon his eyes landed on Y/n.
"I know this s-"
"Why are you in my house? Who are you?!" Y/n watched as the rooster slowly heaved himself off the floor, he took off his sombrero and dusted it off before placing it back on his head. He raised his hands to show he didn't have anything dangerous on him, though he didn't seem to notice the pistols in his holster.
"Mi señora, I mean no harm. You see my name is Panchito Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero González IIl." He then raised a finger.
"But, you can just call me Panchito, or Francisco! Either is fine, but I am here because this--" he pulled off the red book bag that Y/n didn't know he was wearing until then. Opening the bag. He pulled out a book. Black leather book. With golden lining. With words engraved on it in gold.
'Libro de la vida'
Under it, it was small, it was embralled into the book, in white.
'Book of Life'
Wait...it made sense. Y/n looked back at Panchito, the color of his feathers. Red. He stole the book.
"You're the one who stole it?" Y/n said quietly. But enough for him to hear. He slightly lowered the book.
"Yo no diría robar...I simply took something that will save mankind." He defends.
"You see. Libro De La Vida, is a book of the present. It picks who will make a right change! Ah,No puedo explicarlo, excuse my English, I am not very good at it, but. This Book--" he lifts it up once again.
"Is powerful. It has the answers for all sorts of bad things that people want to get their hands on. Genocide!"
"I-what? Genocide?" Y/n furrowed her eyebrows. And Panchito took that as a bad sign that he used the wrong term.
"AH, lo siento, I think I have used the wrong term, what is the term you use for when someone wants to wipe out an entire species?" He asks. Y/n blinked slowly.
"That's...that's genocide."
"Well then yes! Genocide!" He snapped his fingers with a smile.
"Wait-wait-wait. So you're meaning to tell me. You stole a book--broke into my house, to tell me about a fantasy book--"
"It is no fantasy book. This book leads us to people--people that are..chosen to help us, mi amigo! No other person can open this book. But me, and you, and whoever else says it is worth opening it. I know it sounds fantical--but you have to believe me, see. Look." He opened the book quickly, and almost immediately, it shot out of his hands and flew towards Y/n's direction, jabbing her in the torso. Knocking the wind from her.
"Ow!" Y/n wheezed and held onto her torso, now seated on the ground from the impact. The book was now on the ground as well. It flipped through the pages as if wind was circling in the room. It landed on a page. It's blank yellowish paper soon filmed with a name in cursive.
'Y/n L/n'
Y/n stared at the page. In..awe. Astonished. Confused. Excited? Mixed emotions turning into inner turmoil, this was real. The page gave a faint glow. Soon. Panchito slowly walked over. Cautious of Y/n not to scare her. He soon sat down beside her.
"Look." He said. He grabbed her wrist and pressed her palm into the page. Removing her hand, her hand print was seen in ink.
"You are the only human that has access to the book of Vida."
"Why the only? There aren't other people?" She asked.
"The book is a story, of history, of the past, present and future. It spoke about 8 hero's, or warriors, one of these 8 hero's, was a human. And in this--"
He motioned around the two.
"Generation. You. Are that human."
Eight, heros in total. That includes Panchito and Y/n.
"So...if it opens for you and me..where are the other 6?" She asked. Panchito hummed before tapping his finger to his beak.
"No tengo ni idea, I do not know. The book has led me to you, I will think that as time passes, it will collect energy to track down the rest." He says. Y/n was thinking of 101 things, questioning everything. Staying silent for a moment she found the most reasonable question.
"How did you know you were a part of the book?" She asked him. Panchito perked up slightly.
"A dream, more of a vision, but It was a reoccurring vision I've had for years, I've always dreamed of various people, but they were.." He tried to think of a best term for his analogy.
"Shadows! And, the book. Right here. When I found out it sailed here to America, I traveled here." He seemed to pride in his short adventure safely to America, Panchito felt that he never really had done anything as important as to seek out a book that could have not given him answers all along. His adventure was purely based on a vision that he had, he didn't seem to see the problem, but Y/n did. A vision? Making an entire trip to another country, just because of a vision. If the book was just a fib and nothing more than an actual history book. The trip would have been for nothing.
She was about to open her mouth to speak, but Panchito quickly stood up and took a hold of her hand to shake.
"But! It's a pleasure to meet the first person in this group mi amigo! Tú y yo formaremos un buen equipo cuando trabajemos juntos para encontrar a los demás!" Y/n let's put a small laugh that sounds wobbly from the hasty hand shake. Panchito soon pulled her off the floor to stand her up next to him. Both around the same height, the toon only inches taller than her.
Y/n picked up the book and opened it once again. Flipping through the pages, some were blank and others were filled with different languages, and odd pictures, that Y/n was pretty sure could explain something.
"You were on the news this morning Panchito." Y/n closed the book and looked over at the rooster. He looked at her for a moment in confusion, before understanding what she said.
"Oh yes! Ah. My poor feather." He turned his lower part to the side slightly to show her two of his auburn feathers. "One of the guards almost grabbed onto me. And they pulled my feather." He said. But he didn't seem too worried about the fact that he..indeed committed a crime. Or he probably did and he didn't seem to really care.
"No. This is serious. They are looking for this book, for whatever reason." Y/n paced the room. Staring down at the leather black book. Panchito watched her with his arms by his side.
"This doesn't make any sense. What is it that's in danger, and why does the government want this book so badly. It can't be just to put up in a museum."
"We should find the others!" Panchito said, more of an announcement. Y/n turned back to him, he picked up the book once again, and grabbed Y/n's wrist before he started over to her room door to exit. But Y/n tugged her arm away. "Whoa--no."
He turned around with a puzzled expression as he looked at her.
"No?"
"If you came from a different country, entirely different from where I am. What makes you think any other person would be in the same area here?" She asked.
"Aha! Mi señora, I've sailed here. You can come with me, surely it's better than sitting here all day." He said. Y/n ignored the fact he assumed she slouched around all day, but she shook her head.
"I can't just up and leave. Not out of state or the country-"
"Well maybe around town?"
"At 7PM? It's raining."
"Ah...you are very good with excuses!"
"I'm not m--no. We can't go anywhere. You're a fugitive now."
"But they don't know my face!"
"They have your feather. They can easily track you down with that simple thing of evidence called DNA. Or whatever they'll use to know who you are. But whatever it is. You're wanted. A wanted bird--"
"Oooh. I wonder if a bounty hunter will put money on my name. Son of a gun! I've always wanted that to happen to me, it'll be a brawl till we see gore!"
Y/n placed a hand on her face and rubbed her temple.
"We. Can't. go--"
"Oh please. The rest are Toons! The rest of the team should be fairly simple to find. You were the hardest to track down, my friend."
"I'm the only person you tracked d-"
The book abruptly flew from Panchito's grips. Causing him to look down at his hands in surprisement. The book flew past Y/n. She quickly turned around and saw the book shot straight through the window. Shards of glass broke, the sound of glass breaking echoed. Cutting the two from their back and forth of bickering on what they should do next.
CRASSH--CRACK!
the book floated in the dark of night. A golden glow illuminated from the book. Panchito and Y/n stared at the book in awe and utter disbelief. What? What is it doing?
Soon. The book quickly dashed off, the only thing being seen was the erradecents of the glow, trailing down the street. It was a trail.
"It's a trail…" Y/n muttered slowly.
"A trail! It's leading us somewhere!" Y/n grabbed her shoes and ran past Panchito.
"Let's go!"
She stomped down the stairs, jogging over to the kitchen counter, she took the car keys her mother gave her, Y/n unlocked the front door and ran outside. Panchito followed in suit--obviously not forgetting to close the door behind him.
The rain pelted at the two, but Y/n slipped in the car as well as Panchito--who took the passenger side.
"See, things are working well in our favor." Panchito said with a smile.
"Let's hope it actually leads us somewhere." Y/n said. Turning the keys in the ignition. And backing out of the driveway, before safely driving down the road.
Unbeknownst of the two. A silhouette watched the car descent down the street. It's gaze looking over and landing on the window that was broken that the book had caused.
-
The black double doors opened up to reveal Henry, who walked in the lobby, Annie was still on Duty, she gave a small nod to Henry with a smile, M/n was standing at the desk filling out paperwork. Too busy to really pay much attention to Henry.
Over up on the 3rd floor. Was Bendy. He was still waiting for Henry to finish his work. Much to his luck. He was nowhere near finished. Sitting in one of the smaller meeting rooms to look out the window, he was sitting in a chair when he noticed. A glowing spark in the distance. He assumed it was a bright star despite the clouds covering up the majority of the stars in the sky. But, nevertheless. He opened up the window to take in the view of the odd star. But it got closer and closer. But the devil didn't seem to take much heed on it.
He picked up noise at the bottom of the building. Causing him to gaze down and see figures hopping out of the car and into the building. But due to the lack of light because of the nightfall and being 2 stories up. He pushed that aside.
But, almost immediately, something slammed into his face. He flew off the seat and onto the floor, rolling over in a few summersaults before landing on his back. A book pressed into his face.
"...."
His tail twitched as he let out a painful wheeze from the harsh impact. He slowly raised a wobbly hand. And took the book off of his face. His dark eyes squinted at the leatherback book.
"What….?"
-
Meanwhile, Panchito and Y/n were about to barge into the building. But Y/n skidded to a stop. Placing a hand out in front of Panchito, thankfully he stopped as well. He took a moment to examine the 5 storey building. The glass, the gray and black color scale, he was pulling from his examination by looking back at Y/n when she started to speak.
"We can't just barge in. My mom works here. Plus. That'll give away we have the book." She said. Before quickly adding. "We also can't have you out in the opening, cops knowing your face now or not, we can't risk any thing.." Y/n stared at the glass door once moving over to the side where they wouldn't be seen. Panchito and Y/n stood under a lamp post.
"We sneak." He gave out the idea with a grin slowly forming on his beak. Y/n stared at him for a moment. "Sneak in? There's at least 10 or so people in the lobby, this is a studio. We can't just walk in whenever we want." Y/n tried to dismiss the idea, she was rarely ever in the studio. Today was her first day, she didn't know the layout nor the where any room was located, it would be noticeably harder to navigate around the building to find the book.
"Ah, every building has an emergency exit, chica." He moved his eyebrows up and down, as if sending a hint towards the idea, even though basically stated it.
She looked back at him. Well...of course! The backdoor!
"Oh. I forgot about the emergency exit."
"Thank me later, now, ¡Adelante!"
-
The exit sound that illuminated the dim area glistened and glamored, basically calling out the two to its glow. Panchito lifted a foot and shook his talon. The water from the puddle he stepped in. Flickered everywhere. Causing some of the water droplets to land on Y/n. She shielded her face and a small laugh came from her.
"Now." He walked over to the door, and with swift motion, pushed it open, he walked in the building and held the door open for Y/n, who walked in.
"Thank you." She said. Slowly trailing off, Y/n looked at their surroundings. Panchito did as well. The door slowly closed behind the two, it echoed down the hallway. A black carpet under their feet, soaking up the water and white walls. Though Panchito wasn't facing the direction Y/n was. He placed his hands on his hips.
"Hm, odd. Muy extraño…" he muttered under his breath, looking at the emergency exit door. Y/n looked over her shoulder to Panchito before turning around to face the door as well.
"What?" She asks him.
"Correct me if I'm wrong. But--Is this door not supposed to work as an emergency system? Should it not have an alarm system?" He asks. Y/n stared at the door for a mere moment.
"Now that you said something about it y-"
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
The two jumped at the sudden sound of the alarm going off. Three beeps would omit before going silent for a split second, before the 3 beeps would occur once again.
"God-lee! I thought I fixed this damn thing!" A voice echoed from the hallway and set of footsteps. Y/n quickly turned around towards the stairwell where she saw a shadow of someone ascending down.
"Here--" Panchito grabbed Y/n's wrist and quickly ushered her and himself over behind the staircase. Y/n quickly pressed her back towards the corner. Behind the stairwell, as Panchito stood in front of her. Though, curiously. He peeked from behind the staircase. Y/n didn't notice as she was busy dusting away her shirt from the dust invading the air. Obviously the emergency stairwell was neglected for cleaning. When she spotted Panchito peeking to look at the man. Y/n shuffled over as well. Peering under Panchito to look at the man. His back was turned. But he wore a gray button down, a few ink spots painted on the shirt. Jeans and boots. In his free hand, he held a mop. He obviously was the janitor. A head of brown slick hair, it only took a couple of smacks to the panel that operated the fire alarm for the emergency exit to stop abruptly with its beeping.
Once the hallway went silent. He turned around, the two ducking back behind thr stairwell before they could be seen. Y/n couldn't get a glimpse of the man's name tag. Not that she really cared too.
"I swear if that thing goes off one more time this week, I'm outta here.." He muttered back up to floor level. Listening to his footsteps ascend further away, and soon another door closing, echoing throughout the hall. The sound of water droplets hitting the concrete floor in the distance wherever in the hallway. As well as the AC that filled the odd ambience of the hallway.
Soon Panchito and Y/n exited from behind the stairwell.
"So much for a discreet plan." Y/n said before giving Panchito a sarcastic expression. But nevertheless, he only smiled.
"We've made it inside the building, have we not?" He gave her a smile, which. He was right. At the end of the day, the two still made it in the building without getting caught.
Y/n turned and started walking up the stairwell, Panchito following behind her.
"Now we need to locate the book. It could be anywhere in this place. I saw it fly through a window but I couldn't catch what floor it was." Y/n went on, reaching the 3rd floor. Hearing Panchito's footsteps near her as she peered through the small window into the hallway, seeing a few doors were closed on the other side of the hallway, a few people walked down the hall to wherever they were going. The sound of muffled music emitted from down the hall, a tune that was vaguely from the early 40's. The room must have not been too far if the two could hear the cheers and singing.
"Ooh--I love parties." Panchito pushed up the door, and immediately walked out of. Y/n quickly grabbed his tail feather and tugged on it to pull him back.
"No! You'll get us caught!" She whispered to him hastily, Panchito cringed in pain at the tug, he whipped around and grabbed at her wrist.
"¡Ah, cuidado con las plumas de la cola, chica!" Y/n couldn't understand what Panchito said, but she was glad it stopped him from wandering off. The two stood in the doorway of the now opened door in the empty hallway.
"We can't just wander everywhere." She said. Panchito shuffled on his feet, he wanted to explore where the cheering was coming from, but he stayed glued next to Y/n.
"Can we at least take a peek at the gathering?" He asks. Y/n furrowed her eyebrows. "That's not giving us any answers--"
Just as she was about to more than likely prove Panchito wrong. A voice from the room a few doors down spoke up.
"Hey! Henry, you finally made it. Where's Bendy?"
"He's in one of the meeting rooms, last I checked on him, he was reading. Oddly. He should be down soon."
Y/n and Panchito stared at each other, both seemingly trying to put two and two together.
"Are you..?"
"I think we may be on the same page." Y/n finished, turning in the opposite direction to peer down the hall. "I'm taking a safe guess Bendy found the book, we just need to find him." Y/n said. Panchito hummed in thought. Placing a hand on his hip.
"Bendy...you mean the--" he lifted his hands to the side of his head, lifting his index fingers to form two horns on the side of his head. Y/n looked at him, and the silly interpretation of the cartoon demon. With a smile. She nods.
"Yes, him. Though, I don't know how many rooms are on this floor. So he'll be a bit tough to fi-"
The door from across from them opened. Revealing the demon, his eyebrows stitched together in a more perplexed and irritated expression. In his hand he held a book, the book! That was their book! Bendy was muttering under his breath, but abruptly stopped in his tracks and when he spotted Y/n and Panchito in the emergency exit. His slanted black pie cut eyes that were one resembling an angry and irritated expression. Immediately widened in surprise when he saw the two. Mostly towards Panchito as he had never seen him before.
Y/n didn't expect to be seen so quick--which...wasn't much of a surprise as she wasn't an expert in sneaking in areas she wasn't supposed to be in.
"Oh...Hey...Bendy.." Y/n smiled and lifted a waved. Panchito looked between the two.
"Ah. A demon? I was thinking he was more of a bull." Panchito said.
"I didn't know you were here today, I thought you went home." Bendy walked over to the two, but Y/n didn't want anyone to walk out and spot the two--mostly for Panchito's sake.
"It's a long story, but. We need that--" Y/n pointed towards the book in his gloved hands. Bendy looked down at it. "Oh! This? I was just about to toss this away, it hit me in the face and--"
"Ah! It hit you? Well that--" Panchito was cut off when Y/n grabbed Panchito's jacket, pulling him back into the emergency stairwell. And closing the door quickly. Bendy looked at the two through the door in confusion.
"Y/n! Can you believe it? We found the other, a bit less intimidating if you ask me, but nevertheless, he is a part of our equipo." Panchito hopped from one foot to the other, a small cheer. Y/n ran a hand through her hair and sighed. Bendy? Out of all people the book could have chosen. It chose the one person that worked in the same facility as her mother. What if he didn't take it well? What if he destroyed the book? What if he tells the cops about who had the book, which would not only get Panchito in trouble but also herself as she was literally helping the rooster out!
Things she should have thought over, biting off more than what she could chew.
Panchito noticed Y/n's distressed expression. He took a few steps towards her and placed a hand on her arm.
"Ah, cariño, don't be stressed, all will work out fine, okay? Things are a bit sudden and bumpy, but look! Two in one day!" He extended his arms and smiled. Y/n felt the corner of her lips stretch in a smile. Calming down and melting away the problems...for now.
Looking over. Bendy was still standing outside the door.
"Alright. We need a meeting then."
-
The three stared down at the leather book that was laying on the meeting table, it seemed now lifeless after flying through the neighborhood.
“So…” Bendy removed his gaze from the book and to Y/n and Panchito.
“Explain to me, what’s going on?”
“I mean...I thought it would be self explanatory, a book just hit you in the face and you’re coming to me for answers?” Y/n muttered under her breath. Bendy only looked at her, at first with a blank expression, until he seemingly furrowed his ‘eyebrows’
Deciding on to stop fooling around and actually try to get to the bottom of the raising questions, Y/n glanced over at Panchito. Who was looking at Bendy, more curiously than anything else.
“This book, we talked about it this morning.” Y/n said, turning to look back at Bendy. Bendy’s expression softened before a look of realization appeared on his face, his black pie-cut shaped eyes looked over at Panchito, who noticed the demon looking at him, Panchtio smiled and waved.
“He had the book--or--stole it.” Y/n said, motionion towards Panchito, he only frowned, turning to face towards Y/n and crossing his arms.
“No! Why must you say I steal? I never steal, I simply took something that didn’t belong where it was.” Panchito dropped the last sentence to a mumble, almost as if sleepily saying it. Y/n only turned her gaze back to Bendy.
“Either way, that’s the book, it flew away, because it’s looking for people that revolve around the book, or the..prophecy. I know this sounds far fetched and crazy, and...illegal? Bu-”
“I’ve been hit in the face by a flying book, I don’t think anything we’re about to discuss is too out of this world.” Bendy said. He picked the book up and once again examined it. His gloved fingers feeling the texture of the leather book against his fingers.
“Well, apparently...the book only opens up to people that are a part of the book, it opened for me and Panchito, and I’m assuming that if it flew to you and tracked you down, you’re the next member to...whatever..this is.” She motions towards the three of them. Panchito then nods, raising a hand to interject.
“Indeed! Y/n, is the only human that can access the book, as it says in the wordings of the book, the rest are toons. In all. There are eight of us.”
“8?” Bendy repeats, he seemed surprised by the number, his tail slowly lifting up. Panchito nods once again.
“Sí, señor--”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Bendy interrupts Panchito. Waving a hand slightly, Bendy closes his eyes to think for a mere moment. He raises a pointer finger before looking between Y/n and Panchito.
“Why..exactly is the book looking for people, how would we find the rest of the team? I would ask why exactly us specifically are involved around this, but I can tell, I won’t get a good answer from that, but that’s besides the point, but why is Y/n the only human involved in this, and what exactly is it that’s...bad for this thing to try and suddenly wake up and choose heroes for whatever reason?” Bendy lifts up the book slightly. Y/n listened to him, but she had no answer on her because...well she didn’t know, for the most part, those were the same questions she was internally asking herself!
So, she turned her head to look over at Panchito. Who with no problem, took the lead in asking.
“The book leads us to the people it is looking for, why and what it is that it’s warning us about, I do not know! Why us specifically? I also can not tell you, because I don’t know.” He said. Bendy looked back at the book. Y/n motioned towards it, having a small hunch of one of the questions.
“When I touched the book...I guess in a way, signed it, as if taking my signature, which I guess signaled it that I was found, maybe if you touch the book as well it’ll do the same for you.” Y/n said. Bendy opened the book, the golden light that was one seen before escaped from the crevices of the book, The debri sparkles floating from the pages. Bendy’s eyes widen in bewilderment and surprisement. The three stared down at the book, the golden glow illuminating from their faces.
Bendy had opened up on a blank paper, soon, his eyebrows furrowed yet again.
“It’s blank. I don’t---I don’t think it works for me.” He said before deadpanning. Looking between the two as if they were pulling his leg. Y/n could only shrug slowly. Panchito waved his hand and spoke. “Nonsense. As said, the book only opens for people that are chosen, it’s like a safe, and only the chosen people are the code to it, my friend, if it opened up for you, you are with us.” Panchito then rose his gloved hand, showing his palm.
“Ahora, place your hand on the page.” He told Bendy, Bendy did as told, holding the book with his left hand, and placing his right palm on the blank paper, soon, the golden light traced around his hand, similar to what it did for Y/n’s. Bendy soon lifted a hand up, seeing his hand printed labeled the paper in ink. The same ink soon scrawled a name above the hand print.
‘Bendy’
“Dear me…” Bendy whispered slowly, flipped a page quickly to the next, One that Y/n had yet to discover, though it was written all in a language she couldn’t understand, but pictures were drawn in what seemed to be red and black pigment paint on the beige paintings. Similar to how cave paintings were drawn. Panchito and Y/n moved closer to get a better look at the pictures, Bendy tilting the book so the three of them could examine it.
On the first page was a picture of 12 people in all, they all seemed to be jumping towards the 8 black figures, the black figures had white thin slanted angles, as if resembling resentful and angry eyes. Looking over to the next page, it showed the 8 black figures once again, One stood out from the 8, standing in front of the group, a lanky figure, but...really considering the fact that it was in all black, the features weren’t exactly too noticeable. But the picture had a lot going on, the 8 figures were hovering above what seemed to be a city, with figures of red pigment running away in fear, it seemed the 8 black figures were terrorizing the people, Bendy turned to yet another page, on the page the 12 blue figures were standing next to each other, one vaguely similar to a human and the rest had the exaggerated details of toons.
“I think you two have the wrong idea.” Bendy said, it took Y/n a moment to look away from the book. Glancing at Bendy who looked between Panchito and Y/n.
“There aren’t 8 of us, there’s 12 of us.” He said. Y/n scoffed.
“Twelve?! That will take years to find twelve different people. He--” She jabbed a thumb over to Panchito, pointing at him.
“Came from Mexico to find us, god knows wherever the others are located, we’re basically split apart. Eight people? Yeah, that seemed like a reasonable number, but twelve? No. I’m out.” Y/n crossed her arms, a scavenger hunt for now, 9 other people? Who were the even up against, it pretty much seemed like a suicicde job already, a stolen book, a wanted rooster, a telltale book that’s some sort of warning for some odd future armageddon. Red flags were everywhere!
Bendy closed the book and straightened his posture.
“Whoa, whoa. What do ya’ mean you’re out? This--” He lifts up the book slightly.
“This is our guide, our time to do right and-gosh. I assume it will stop something from happening that will be a problem to--oh, I don’t know. All of mankind! You’re a part of this as much as Panchito and I.” Bendy says. Panchito nods firmly in agreement, taking a step forward and standing next to the demon.
“¡Sí! He is right, chica! We all have to stick together.”
Y/n looked between the two, her eyebrow twitched slightly before furrowing.
“Are you serious? Do we look like the Justice League or something?”
Panchito actually took a moment to think.
“I was thinking more along the lines of--”
Y/n shook her head, dismissing Panchito’s thought to her rhetorical question. “It doesn't matter. But think about the danger we could be in, Bendy, you have shows to star in, you can’t just go missing to play superhero for...lord knows how long, and Panchito--”
“Actually.” Bendy cut her off, taking a few steps towards her before standing next to her.
“I’ve been meaning to take a vacation off, toots. Thanks for that advice though, real sweet of ya. But, we have things to do, now I don’t mind dragging you around if need be.” He smiled sweetly at her. Y/n deadpanned.
“That’s not funny.”
“This is serious talk Y/n, the world as we know it might be at stake.” Bendy motions around their area.
“Might be. It’s more than likely not a serious call, this stupid old book is probably broken.” Y/n flicks the book with the tip of her fingers in Bendy’s hand. Panchito suddenly appeared behind the two, wrapping an arm around Bendy’s and Y/n’s shoulders. Pulling them flushed against his sides.
“My friends! Think of this this way, endless possibilities and adventures, don’t you all want to feel the rush of the wind as we take off to go solve this mystery?” He looks between the two, letting the two go. A bright yet determined smile on his beak, he seemed to run from adrenaline, a wild hearted toon that yearned for wild things, to him this was exciting, brand new. Exhilarating!
Bendy looks at Panchito and then to Y/n. “See? He’s in, and I am too.” Bendy placed his gloved hand in the middle, his palm facing downward. Panchito hopped up and down quickly.
“Ay caramba! ¡Yo también quiero participar! I am certainly in!” He placed a hand on top of Bendy’s, Bendy’s smile widened before both he and Panchito looked at Y/n, who had her arms crossed, a sour expression written on her face, although it was much of a facade, she did...want to join. Not only was it a chance to finally do something productive--if she would even call it that. But she would break down the mystery of all that’s going on. As detective Droopy would say. The why, the when, and the where? She thinks it...it..wouldn’t hurt, they technically aren't breaking the law by wielding a book that is being searched for, not when it was for a good reason? Right?
“Come on...you know you want to.” Bendy mischievous tone interrupts her. Y/n sighed slowly. Placing a hand on top of Panchito’s who once again excitedly smiled at her.
“Fine. I’m in too. If one of us is wanted, then we all are.” She said. Bendy smiled and let out a boisterous.
“And if one of us dies, we all die together! Oath!”
“Oath!”
“Oa-wait no--”
But the three already tossed their hands up, taking the oath that Y/n was too late to decline for. Bendy could tell she was about to say something, but he only smiled and walked back over to the meeting table.
“Now, let’s see where the next one is!”
-
Annie was back at the front desk, seated in the chair scrolling through her phone to pass the time as the studio would be running late since Henry was back in the building. Soon, a figure walked through the door. Wearing a heavy black trench coat, the finest coat in town it seemed, the water droplets from the rain stuck to the trench coat, the black boots tapping yet squeaking on the linoleum floor, A black fedora tilted down, covering the face of the man, who stopped directly in front of the receptionist desk. Annie took notice, and she gazed up, turning off her phone and placing it on the desk, she stood up and smiled.
“Hello, what may I do for you today?” She asks. The man was silent for a moment.
“It’s me you dingus, I just sent you in here.” The voice was a husky yet deep voice. The blue eyes piercing at the lady. Soon Annie lost her posture, slouching slightly. Her voice changed, turning several octaves, a shrill and jagged voice emitted from her.
“Oh right, I don’t see why ya’ didn’t just walk in, the broad wasn’t even around, no one woulda’ suspect a thing.” Annie’s body morphed in and quickly dropped to the ground, only leaving a shadow that quickly zipped out of the receptionist desk, stopping right next to the man. Soon a short figure morphed into what could assemble a toon shadow. Only standing around half the height of the man.
“Go find the book. And take it.” The man ordered the shadow. The shadow stood stiff as a board before quickly saluting the man.
“Yes sir!” And soon, it zipped away, only seeming like a shadow on the floor zipping across the room. The man looked forward, only to look back over to his side when he saw the shadow zipped right back to him. The shadow sheepishly nudging the tip of its foot to the ground.
“Ah, who has the book again?”
“The girl and those two other idiots you fool!”
“Ah! On it!”
And once again the shadow zipped away. The man muttered under his breath shaking his head in annoyance,
“I don’t even know why I even deal with those two idiots…” He muttered. Soon, lifting a hand and pressing a hidden black button on the color of his trench coat jacket.
“Zot, come in. Zip just left to find the book. Is the toon still with you?” The man spoke into the two way radio.
-
From outside the two way radio reached to a black van, from inside thumping was heard, as if someone was hitting the inside of the van. Sitting in the driver seat was another stout shadow like toon, it’s blank eyes were closed, feet propped up on the steering wheel, he was asleep. Snoring ever so slightly, until he heard his commander speak on the radio. The static picking up the man in the trench coats voice.
“Zot, come in. Zip just left to find the book. Is the toon still with you?”
Zot--as he was referred to. Flinched quickly got up once hearing the voice. Quickly taking the walkie talkie, as it almost slipped from his hands multiple times. Zot soon spoke.
“Yes sir! The lil’ guy is still back there.” Zot stood up in his seat, placing a hand on the metal peephole slider, sliding it over and revealing a black abyss that was the back of the van.
“Hey...where’d he go…?” Zot muttered. Clenching the eye he wasn’t using as his blank white optic stare hardened to try and find the toon.
PPPPPFFFT!!
The droplets of saliva fell in his eye, causing Zot to flinch back and his head to hit the steering wheel.
Honk!
The air horn went off at the touch of the shadow toons head on the wheel. Zot quickly got up. Lifting a hand and flicking a button on the roof of the van. The lights came on in the back of the vam, where the hostage toon was located.
“Nice try, bunny.” Zot scoffed.
From the other side of the van. Sat a black and white rabbit, with blue trousers. His pie cut shaped eyes slanted, his arms crossed tighty.
“I’m a rabbit! For your information.”
“Same thing.”
This rabbit was known as Oswald the Lucky rabbit. A peculiar and mischievous character. Zot laughed and then sat back down in his seat.
“What’s the matter rabbit boy? Your luck is not much of a help? Seems like you’re runnin’ out of it.” Zot placed his feet back onto the steering wheel. Oswald got up. His ears slowly rose as he stared at the peephole.
“My luck is very much accurate, and good. Thank you very much..” He said. Zot only hummed in acknowledgment.
“Whatever you say. Boss’ll get that book, and the next thing you know, his plan will be in full action.”
“Where’s the book?” Oswald asks, leaning near the peephole. Zot motioned towards the building, that Oswald couldn’t see.
“The building. Don’t get your tail in a twist, you’ll see it soon.”
-
“Okay, let’s see what this bad boy will do…” Bendy places the book on the table. And opened it yet again. The book once again opened, the golden glow escaping from the pages, illuminating the room with its warm glow. Soon, the pages started to flip quickly, turning towards the middle of the book, a world map was located on the page.
“A map?” Y/n squints at the paper.
“Well, amigos. It is a map, perhaps it will help lead us to our next destination.” Panchito said, reaching over and flipping the page. At first the next page was blank, until an ink sketch of the U.S. was drawn. The ink splitting up to draw down the states in the country.
One state was completely covered in blank, as it marked. Or, targeted.
“Oregon?” Y/n whispered. Bendy looked closer to the paper with squinted eyes. Near the coast of Oregon, a red down bled through, as if marked by a dot. Bendy could mesmerize exactly where exactly to go.
“Duckburg.” He said. Y/n and Panchito looked at him. Though, Y/n hadn’t said anything yet. A quick look of realization quickly took over his face.
“Ah! ¡Oh, sí! ¡Oh, sí! ¡Oh, sí! ¡Qué buen trato! ¡Estoy muy emocionado! ¡Mi amigo, mi honorable amigo! Donal'” He screamed and yelled in passion of excitement. Hopping up and down, his arms wrapping around Y/n, causing her to hop around with him. But she placed her arms on his forearms.
“Wait! Wait! Panchito, calm down!” She said. Which he listened to her, coming to a halt, he removed himself from her. His tail feathers frantically frizzing up.
Bendy turned away from the book and turned to look at Panchito.
“I’m assuming you know someone from down there?” He asks. Panchito quickly nods.
“Yes! My blood! My friend! A true gentleman he is! His name is Donal’ A bit of a stubborn bull, but--by god, isn’t he one adventurous duck!” Panchito said. He spoke with such passion about his friend. Bendy pie cut shape eyes were slanted slightly, he was thinking who Panchito could be referring to by the name of...Donal’. Until Panchito finished his sentence with ‘duck’
Bendy quickly perked up.
“Duck? As in, Donald Duck? Sailor wearing, Donald Duck?” Bendy asks. Panchito nods quickly with a smile. Y/n heard of the duck. Obviously. He wouldn’t. But oddly enough, he didn’t live in the city of Hollywood L.A. like most notorious toons did, such as Bendy. And hearing Panchito knew and was friends with Donald Duck, made her curious.
“You know Donald Duck?” Y/n asks Panchito--who once again nods.
“Yes! We are very close friends, we have been friends for years! I also have another friend, that sly malandro he is! His name is José Carioca! A-”
“Perfect! This is perfect!” Bendy extended his arms and looked at the two.
“A much easier way to get to the toon, all we need is to leave for Oregon, Duckburg, and that’ll be 4 of us when we get Donald.” He says. Panchito tails quickly ruffled as he shuffled on his feet in excitement.
“I can’t just leave home and tell my mom, ‘hey, I’m leaving to a state that’s 10 hours away, to save the world.’ Plus, how will we get there?” She asks. Bendy chuckles, pointing a thumb to his bow tie.
“Leave it to Bendy, I got a plan that’ll let you go, plus. You have a car don’t you? How’d you get here? Or did you walk all the way in the rain?”
“I drove my dad's car, and no. We’re not using his car to drive.” She then looked over at Panchito, who still was a bit excited with the mention of his friend.
“And we can’t ride a plane. Not with him and knowing he’ll be on the lookout for, we need to be as inconspicuous as possible. We can’t risk getting caught in a way.” Y/n said.
“I hear ya’ loud and clear sweetheart, We’ll just take Henry’s car, he rarely uses it anyway, and usually hands it to me and Boris whenever we need places to go.” He said. Y/n nods with a small smile.
“Well we have that, I need to find a way to influence my mom to let me go..”
“Like I said. I got it, I gots the talks, looks and…” Bendy tried to think of another attribute before Panchito butted in.
“Style.” He said. Bendy smiled in gratitude at Panchito.
“Indeed, Thank you.”
“Ahahaha! Yeah! But you don’t have the brains!” A shrilly voice cackled. Y/n, Bendy, and Panchito looked at eachother, puzzled expressions etched on their faces. Soon, the voice spoke up yet again.
“Over here you idiots!” The three quickly looked over to the opened window that Bendy left open when the book collided into his face. Zip--the shadow was standing in the frame, holding the book above his head as if showcasing a trophy.
“Oh mamá..” Panchito muttered. Bendy quickly patted himself down and looked around to see if the book they had was still present, making sure that the book wasn’t actually taken. Once seeing it was indeed the book the shadow had in its hand, his tail dropped to the ground.
“Well, I think I can confess where I went wrong--”
“Hey! Give it back!” Y/n ran towards the window, once getting closed she outretcted her arms in an attempt to grab at the book, but the shadow quickly ducked down and zipped down the building, with the book in town, down straight to the first level.
“No!--”
“Who was that?!” Bendy looked at Panchito, to see if he had any answers, but the mexican rooster only shrugged frantically. “¡No lo sé!” Panchito said. Bendy quickly ran over to the door and opened it, revealing Henry standing at the doorway, but he was busy looking towards the side--talking someone pass by to notice, Y/n and Panchito in the room. Bendy’s tail stiffened, he quickly slammed the door with a loud.
‘SLAM!’
Henry flinched at the sudden door slamming, the wind from the door slamming slightly moved his hair. He gave the door a questioning look.
“Bendy? Are you okay in there? We all heard you shouting.”
Henry’s worried muffled voice emitted from the door. Bendy pushed Panchito into a nearby filing cabinet storage, slamming the door in his face and quickly locking it with the spare key that was in the room. Hiding the key in his glove before he turned over to Y/n who was quickly trying to find a place to hide, but there weren't many places to hide in a meeting room that only had a table and chairs. With the adrenaline rushing from the fact someone stole the book and getting caught to Henry Stein himself only made her overwhelmed. She peeked out the window once again, and noticed a black van. The shadow that took the book was standing next to two others, a man in a trench coat was opening the back of the van.
“Yeah! I am completely fine, you know, I’ve been losing my voice lately, so--I was doing voice exercise and whatever--” Bendy said, grinning at the door.
“I smell a lie, maybe he’s destroying stuff again.” Stated a new voice from behind the door, another worker from in the studio. Bendy seemed offended by the accusation--which was partially true, but still!
“Shut up, Sammy.” a female voice piped up. Ah, Alice Angel. From what it seemed, most of the main coworkers were in front of the door.
Y/n was still peering through the window. Watching. Soon, the man in the trenchcoat pulled out a toon from the van, a rabbit--gripping him by his ears. The rabbit flailed his feet in anger and irritation, distant shouts from the rabbit, clearly showed distress.
-
“Hey! Let me go! Hey--watch the ears!” Oswald shouts, flailing his feet. The man in the trench coat ignored Oswald, before looking over at Zip, Zip lifted up the book to Oswald’s heights due to the man having a grip on the rabbits ears.
“Open the book.” The man ordered. Oswald crossed his arms.
“No.”
“Open it. Now.”
“Do it, yourself.”
“We can’t, duh. That’s why we have you.” Zot said. Oswald only swung and his foot hit Zot square in his face. Sending the shadow toon back and hitting the ground, falling into a puddle. Luckily, the rain had subsided.
“I.Said.No!!!”
The man in the trench coat, slowly looked up, over towards the building. Locking eyes with Y/n.
“Get that girl.” He ordered. Zip looked up once again towards Y/n, who was still looking, not breaking down...or what they thought. Zip dropped the book on Zot, causing the shadow toon to groan yet again.
Zip soon zipped off yet again towards the building.
-
“Are you going to join the party with us?” Henry asks through the door. Standing beside him was, Sammy Lawrewnce, the well kept yet stubborn and easily aggravated music composer, head director in the studio, next to him was M/n, Alice Angel. Everyone’s favorite sweet angel, and Boris, Bendy’s loving best friend, standing next to Bendy, was Normon Polk the southern worker in the studio. Normon chuckled and nudged Sammy.
“He’s hidin’ somethin’.” Norman said. Sammy rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, I bet. Bendy, stop joking. Come on, we breaked our ass putting this party together, let’s go or I’m busting in.” He said.
On the other side of the door, Bendy only laughed through his teeth.
“Oh, Sammy you tease! You get me everytime, would you hide already?” Bendy turned to Y/n, muttering the last part to her, Y/n quickly turned around towards Bendy.
“There’s a person, with a coat--and-he-and--he had a toon, th-”
“Surprise!” Zip suddenly appeared in the frame of the window yet again, grabbing the hood of Y/n’s jacket, snatching her out of the room, the girl didn’t have enough time to react, as she was suddenly dragged out the window. Feeling the floor below her disappear. She could see Bendy quickly try to grab onto her foot, but by an inch he missed.
“Y/n!” He shouts.
“Y/n?” M/n said from the other side of the door. Bendy realized his error and quickly slammed the door closed, cursing under his breath before and rushed over to the door.
“I mean! I-Yes! Y/n, oh--I miss her so much, our meeting today was just so wonderful--you know, M/n, I miss her so much, I believe both me and Y/n should go on a trip--” He started, he took the key back out of his glove, frantically crawling over the meeting table, sliding papers out of the way and almost falling onto the floor, but, he made it back over to the filing cabinet, where he quickly pulled Panchito back out.
“A trip?” M/n said. Sammy nudged her.
“Don’t even buy into it.” Sammy said. Annie suddenly appeared once hearing the conversation about a trip. “I love trips, the young lady should get out of the house more.” Annie said. This actually made M/n think for a moment. Well..yes, Y/n was 18, able to do what she pleased.
Back on the other side of the door, Bendy turned Panchito around and grabbed the lasso that was hidden behind his feathers that he almost hadn’t noticed--luckily earlier he did. As doing so, he reached into the filing cabinet and took another set of rope---that oddly was in the cabinet, but he took it and lifted it to his horn, cutting off a small amount to make the lasso longer. He spoke as he did so; “Yes, I was thinking Oregon, you know. Tomorrow, me and her. I promise that nothing bad will happen, you know I myself needed a break too, and Y/n is such a great person! Though M/n I think maybe I should talk to you first about it.”
“You know, Y/n does need some time out away from home! I’ll tell her when I get home!” M/n smiled. Sammy scoffed. “What? Are you serious?”
“Who’s Y/n?” Alice muttered to Boris. Boris only shrugged in response.
“Well, we’ll be in the next room where the party is, join us whenever--come on guys.” Henry ushered everyone away from the door. Sammy scolded M/n, as Annie was defending why Y/n should leave the house. Once Bendy knew they were away, he quickly rushed over to the window window and flung it open. Panchito looked around frantically.
“Where is Y/n?”
“That thing took her.” Bendy said, he soon heard a shout, looking off across the parking lot--which was empty--it was an old parking lot, that was never used, and he could see the van that Y/n was talking about, Y/n was dangling in the air, the shadow toon held her by her hood.
Panchito noticed, and was the first to speak up.
“Hey! Put her down you scoundrel!” He shouts.
Oswald looked up and saw Zip had a hold of the girl he saw peeking from the window. The man in the trenchcoat growled.
“Zip! Take the girl away and get rid of her!” He shouts. Zip looked down at the man, Zot looked up at Zip, they were distracted. Oswald quickly swung his body, and flipped, his feet ramming right in the man's face, the man in the trench coat lost grip of the rabbit's ears. Causing Oswald to land on his feet perfectly. Zot quickie looked over at Oswald, his white eyes widening at the fact the rabbit got loose from his boss. Oswald quickly rammed into Zot, causing the shadow to fall to the ground back into the puddle. Oswald grabbed the book and with all his strength tossed it towards Zip, the book hit the flying shadow toon, causing him to drop Y/n, who yelped and felt her body freefall towards the concrete. Oswald quickly ran over towards where he suspected she would fall.
“I gotcha sweetheart!” Soon, Y/n landed in his arms. Oswald smiled at Y/n, who was shivering from almost thinking she was about to die.
“Thank you.” Y/n quickly said. Oswald smiled in return and nodded before placing her on the ground. The book started to fall towards the ground once again, in the building. Panchito grabbed the lasso and hopped onto the frame of the window.
“¡Sube, amigo!” Pancito said. He swung a loop of the lasso and tossed it out the window where it wrapped around a nearby lamppost.Tightening his grip, Bendy hopped on the window as well, grabbing to the rope as well, and without hesitation Panchito pushed off the building, sending the two swinging across the parking lot, growing closer to the book, Panchtio spoke to Bendy, shouting above the wind.
“The book! Grab the book!” He shouts. Bendy took notice of the book that was nearing the ground, and just with the nick of time, he grabbed the book.
“Get them!” The man in the trench coat shouts in anger.
“Y/n!” Panchito extends an arm for Y/n to grab onto. Y/n looked at Oswald and quickly took his arm.
“Grab on.” She told the rabbit. Once the two grew closer, Oswald jumped up and grabbed onto the rope near Bendy, and Y/n hopped up, Panchito grabbed onto Y/n, wrapping an arm around her waist, as Y/n tightly held onto the rope, the wind traveling and hitting the 4 of them, Y/n couldn’t help but smile, feeling the bits of rain hit her face and the wind made her feel as if she were on a coaster, the rope was so long, and they had so much momentum that they made it out of the parking lot, the many lights of the cars driving down the street of L.A. caused Y/n to watch in awe.
“Wow! You’re good at this!” Bendy shouts to Panchito over the wind. Panchito only smiles.
“Oh no, this is my first time! I lasso bulls and horses.”
“Wait what?”
Soon, the four were abruptly jerked back, the rope ran out and Panchito lost his grip on the rope, seeing he was the main support, everyone abruptly fell, luckily they were above a building that was across the street.
“Oof!” Y/n fell onto her side, her hip hitting the ground harshly. Bendy had fallen on top of a vent, the cage breaking and he soon fell into the vent.
“Aah!” The bumping and the echoing of his sudden scream trailed down the vent wherever he was heading.
“Bendy!” Y/n groaned, she quickly got up the stinging pain of her side itched in irritation. Panchito fell somewhere near her. But he quickly shot up, looking around for his sombrero, once he found it behind him, he dusted it off and placed it back on his head.
“Ahaha! Ay caramba! That was amazing, chica, mi amor, you might be better at adventuring than Donal’, not many people can perfect hopping onto an ongoing rope!”
Soon, a scream was heard and then a loud; THUD! CRASH!
The two quickly turned around and saw Oswald, who quickly stood up in a hurry to take buket off from his face. Angry slurs emitted from the bucket, but they were incoherent. Oswald finally took off the buck and almost immediately hurled it off the roof. Another crash was heard and then the sound of a car alarm going off.
“I have had enough! This can’t be!” He shouts at the top of his lungs. His ears flattening against his head.
“My luck! It’s gone! It’s gone! It’s gone! IT’S GONE!” He hurled a foot back and kicked another bucket away.
Y/n and Panchito stared at Oswald. Panchito looked at Y/n and with his index finger, twirled a finger around the side of his head.
“Loco.” He whispered to her. Y/n didn’t utter a word to the rabbit...maybe..there was a reason he was in that van. No, that’s crazy. Those...shadow toons, the man in the trench coat, they wanted to book, they had to be some sort of bad guy to them, but why did they want the rabbit?
Oswald had his clinched closed, suddenly, his hostile demeanor diminished rather quickly before he turned around and looked at the two with a smile.
“I’m sorry, I’ve-You see I’ve been held hostage for about...four. Five days now.” He said, walking over to the two and then standing in front of them.
“Why?” Y/n asked.
“Trench Coat, fella’ wants to use me as a key to open the book for him for..whatever plan he has, I was his key basically after he figured that I was--as he claimed--one of the chosen people for the book that will only open for select people.” He said. He...he was the 4th one.
“We...have the book because it opens for us.” Y/n said, pointing to herself and Panchito. Oswald's eyes widened.
“Wh-I’ve been searching for at least one person high and low for years and you two found each other how long ago?”
“Oh, we all met each other today! Ah, and we met you, the new addition,” Panchito said. Oswald seemed astonished. Panchito smiled.
“I know, crazy, I guess you don’t have much luck huh?” He blindly said...but it seemed to Y/n, Panchito purposely said it. Nudging him, Y/n spoke up.
“Yes, there’s actually 3 of us a---oh fu---Bendy fell in the building, I forgot!” Y/n looked at the two.
“He has the book, we have to get in there.”
“Oh-wait wait, My name is Oswald, I was thinking since we’ll be working together from now on I would introduce myself.” He said, reaching a hand out. Panchito was the first to grab onto the rabbits hand and shake quickly.
“Hello, friend! My name is Panchito.” Panchtio then looked over at Y/n.
“And my name is Y/n.”
“Very well, now. Let’s go.”
-
Pushing open the double doors opened, two black boots stepped into the room that was filled with the smell of cigarettes, booze, the sound of biker rock music echoing through the establishment of the bar, the dim golden lights brought a warm glow. The people in the bar paid no mind to the newcomer. The man in the trenchcoat walked passed the table of the two men arm wrestling the man on the left lost, his hand hitting the table, the bear glass cups fell to the floor and shattered due to the sudden impact, the man who won laughed and cheered in victory. The man in the trench coat clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Bendy hid behind a wooden pillar that the man walked by, gripping the book close to his chest.
“Hello sir, what can I get for ya.” The bartender said. The man in the trench coat sat down on a stool Placing his forearms on the table.
“Whisky on rocks.” He replied. The man nodded before turning away to make the drink. Bendy had peered from around the pillar, seeing the man was seemingly distracted. He turned around slowly and with all his might, tried to sneakily sneak through the front door. But the man with the trench coat quickly, with the speed of lightning, tossed something to his side without batting Bendy an eye.
THUNK!
The sound of a knife wedging into wood caused Bendy to immediately stop walking. Above him, between his horns, a pocket knife was embedded in the wood of the pillar. Bendy’s tail immediately dropped to the floor, before he turned around to face the man. A strained smile pulled onto his face.
Soon, the two doors burst open, Panchito rolled through the doors somersaulting, landing on his right knee as he supported himself with his left foot. He pulled out the two pistols from his holster and aimed them towards no one in particular.
“Alright, hands in the air, now!” He shouts. Bendy noticed a red bandanna wrapped around Panchito’s face. The people in the bar immediately stopped speaking and looked over towards the door towards Panchito. Bendy looked at Panchito as well. Oswald walked through the door as well, and soon, Y/n entered as well. Mostly hesitantly.
It was a part of the plan, creating a distraction. Soon, the man with the trenchcoat only squinted his eyes at the odd group. And soon, he snapped his fingers, and the two shadow toons jolted from a shadow of another person from the bar, creating two lanky and stout toon, Zip and Zot that the four saw several minutes ago.
Panchito finally got a good glimpse of the two components, and stood up straight.
“Ah, what short fellows! So cute.”
“Cute!?” Zip exclaims, he soon shot towards Oswald quickly and tackled him to the ground. Scratching at the rabbits face like a rabid dog.
“Ow! Oh my--why me! Ow! Get it off!!!” Oswald screams. Y/n cupped her face from anyone, as if not wanting to seem like she was associated with the three toons. Soon, Oswald yelps to Panchito.
“Get on with the plan already! Oh dear!!”
“Right! Hey you!” Panchito looked over at the two arm wrestlers. One man placed a hand on his chest as if saying; ‘Who me?’
“Yes, you. Your friend hates the way you compete with him, he said you smell like a bag of rotten onions.” Panchito said. The man gasped and looked at his arm wrestling component.
“Oh yeah?! Well how about this!” The man hurled a punch towards the man, the man fell to the ground, blood spraying from his nose, he lifted a hand up to feel the blood on his fingers, before looking at the man that hit him.
“...”
“AAAAAH!” Soon the bar started fighting, tossing glass, chairs, tables, and all. A bar fight! Immediately Oswald pushed Zip off of him, the rabbit got up quickly, Bendy rushed over, holding the book in his hands.
“What’s up with the guns?”
“Dramatic effect.” Panchito says.
“Let’s get out of here, guys.” Y/n said, turning around to open the door, but the door was immediately opened up, standing in the doorway, were three toons, the three wore the same shirt, cap and pants.
“Beagle Boys..” Oswald hissed as he held his eye closed that was scratched.
“Oh please. No need to worry about them, excuse us sirs, we will be on our way.” Panchito stood in front of the group protectively.
But, they didn’t listen to him. Instead they pushed Oswald and Panchito over slightly. Looking over at Bendy, who was holding the book. One of the beagle boys rose a buff arm, Y/n almost a; ‘cl clink’ as if they were cocking a gun, and with all their might, sent a punch to Bendy, hitting him in the face, and like in any other cartoon and the toon he was, sent him flying across the room, loud crashes and shouts echoed, Y/n yelped and turned around and saw Bendy’s feet hanging out of a wall that he broke through from the strong impact.
Steam emitted from the beagle toons fist, and all it took was one blow, to blow away the steam as if it were a gun.
“Bendy!” Y/n shouts. She watched him shakily and slowly remove himself from the wall, she saw stars and birds flying around his head as he stumbled back and forth, a dazed look on his face as he held a finger up as if he were about to speak, but he soon fell to the ground.
Panchito, Oswald and Y/n looked back at the beagle boys, Panchito’s narrowed his eyes and immediately got into a stance to fight.
“¡¿Pusiste tus manos sobre mi amigo?!” He shouts.
“Let’s get 'em all.” Said one beagle boy. But a new voice piped in.
“Leave the girl to me, boys.” a female sultry voice emits, the beagle boys stepped to the side to reveal...a duck toon. Short silky black hair, a black blouse and black pants. Her dark eyes pierced into Y/n’s e/c eyes.
“Eliminate them. We have what we need.” The man in the trench coat stood behind them all, holding the book.
“And don’t kill the rabbit, we still need him. Bring him to me when you all finish them off.” He said as he turned and walked off, waving a hand the emergency door opened before he left the building with the book! No one in the bar cared for the fact off the man in the coat, but much rather they were still fighting.
“No, the book!” Oswald tugged his ears in stress. Soon, the female duck walked closer to the group. Panchito moved his gaze to her.
“Magica..” Oswald said yet another name. Y/n was...who was that? Who were the beagle boys?! Were they working for that odd man in the trench coat?!
“Sorry, not hear to talk, have to do my job.”
Immediately, one of the beagle boys launched at Panchito, Panchito was quick to back away, grabbing onto broken wooden plank and swinging it, hitting the beagle’s face, Oswald did the same, instead he picked up a beer bottle hitting the beagle boy with the glass, which broke into shards from the compact.
Y/n had her focus on the Magica women.
“Alright, show me what you got.” Magica said. Y/n quickly found a stance, her gaze focusing on the duck. Magica threw a punch towards Y/n, with surprising good speed, Y/n moved away from the fist, in an attempt to throw a punch as well, Magica quickly raised a hand and Y/n’s hand froze in midair.
“Wha-” Y/n tried to throw another punch with the other arm, but Magica did the same with that arm, Y/n finally took notice, the duck was more than likely wielding some sort of powers...hinting towards her name..
Magica lifted a foot, and immediately kicked Y/n in her torso, the girl fell down, hitting the wood floor, falling on top of glass shards and other debris. Groaning at the impact, Y/n made a painful expression, feeling the sore on her torso, the wind knocked from her. Magica took a knife from the counter, she grabbed Y/n by the collar of her shirt, lifting her up with ease.
“You know, it’s nice to see one of the few heros, didn’t expect to kill you guys off so quick,” She said. Y/n reached behind her as Magica examined Y/n’s expression, Y/n felt the beer bottle on the counter. Grabbing the neck of the beer bottle, she felt the adrenaline pump through her, no, she was not going to let some random person hit and beat on her, they needed that book, the burning feeling of determination was firing up, and with quick speed, Y/n swung her arm, and smashed the glass bottle across Magica’s head, the duck gasped in surprise, along with a small yelp, she dropped Y/n, and Y/n quickly. Threw yet another punch, Magica fell to the ground, holding her beak with closed eyes and a pained yet furious expression, Y/n spotted Panchitio striking a punch to one of the beagle boys, Oswald did the same to the last two of them, Panchito whistled across the room to Oswald, tossing the rope to him, Oswald grabbed the end of the rope that was tossed, and the two ran, Panchito running around clockwise, as Oswald did the same, counter clockwise. The rose wrapping the beagle boys up.
“Ahah!” Panchito laughed as the beagle boys fell to the ground as the rope tightened. Y/n didn’t notice Magica get back up. The sudden feeling of someone on her caused Y/n to fall and roll across the ground, it was Oswald. Soon, a chair was seen falling in the position that Y/n was in, Magica must have thrown it.
Oswald got off Y/n with a smile and helped her up.
“Thanks I didn--watch out!” Y/n noticed the array of knives and forks flying towards the two, both Oswald and Y/n split and ran towards different directions. Y/n hopped over a table, landing on the dishes that were still there, the feeling of foot plastering on her clothes, she rolled off the table and onto the floor. The knives hit the table as if it were raining. She quickly scattered across the floor, pushing past people that were still fighting, like any other bar fight.
Y/n grabbed a ceramic plate and quickly tossed it as if it were a frisbee, but it didn’t hit Magica, instead she hopped from out of the way, Y/n ran past Panchito, who pulled out another rode from behind it--turns out he had to lassos.
“Y/n, here!” He calls out. Y/n ran back over, almost falling as she dodged a flying cup that Magica tossed. Y/n ran over and took the rope, and as Oswald and Panchito did, Y/n and Panchito did the same, circling the rope around Magica, the duck tried to keep track of the two speedy enemies--in her eyes--she couldn’t keep a good track. But--the rope wrapped around her, and Y/n tossed the other rope to Panchito, who took it and tied a knot to the rope.
“Let go of me!” Magica shouts.
“Hey! Watch out!” Oswald shouted from across the room, Y/n and Panchito looked over and saw Zip zipping passed, under Y/n’s feet, causing her to lose balance and fall on to the floor yet again. The shadow ran around the room quickly, speedily, so quickly that Y/n could feel the wind and cool air circulating in the room, Panchito tried to keep track of where the shadow went, but Zip was like a speedy mouse. Y/n quickly stood up, and spotted Zot, who had charged for Oswald, the rabbit was busy trying to track down Zip he didn’t know they fell for the trap, Zip was the distraction as--
“Hey! Let me go!” Zot took ahold of Oswald, holding onto his ears, Oswald lifted a foot to kick the shadow, but soon, from the wall, a dark bubbling rip of black ink like liquid, formed on the wall, and soon, Bendy shot from the ink, arms outstretched, he rammed right into Zot, the two somersaulting and rolling onto the ground until he hit a table. The table fell over, stopping Zip from running around the building, and slamming into the table. Bendy quickly got up, Oswald held the door open and shouted at the three.
“Let’s go! Let’s go!” He shouts. And, Oswald, Y/n, Bendy, and Panchito ran out of the establishment, back out into the moist air, Y/n’s shoes slapping the wet pavement.
“There!” Y/n pointed at the van leaving the abandon parking lot, another figure that wasn’t the man in the trench coat, it was a woman with black hair, pale skin, she laughed and got into the driver's seat of the car, in her hand was the book, she tossed it in the van, and hopped in the car and with no need to even heeding the traffic laws she drove out of the parking lot and down the street.
“Where did the man go with the trenchcoat?” Oswald asked. Panchito rose an eyebrow.
“Was that him---or her?”
“I don’t think so, that doesn't matter, but we need to get to the car, come on!”
-
Y/n drove down the street quickly, but not enough to get pulled over, and that was where the problem was.
“You need to drive faster! We’ll lose the book if we stay at this speed!” Bendy shouts, moving Y/n over so he could stick a foot down to touch the pedal, but Y/n pushed him away quickly, glaring at him.
“No! If I get pulled over, that’ll put my name in jeopardy!”
“No, it won’t! Pick up the speed, or let me drive!”
“Fine! Drive then!”
Quickly, Y/n and Bendy, switched seats, as the car was in motion, crawling over each other frantically, but once Bendy was in the driver's seat, he slammed the pedal to the floor, the engine roaring, and Y/n immediately felt her back get glued to the seat. The car moved through lanes and cars, to get to the can that was a few meters away.
“Someone is going to have to jump out to get the book.” Panchito said. Oswald and Y/n looked at Panchito, he looked between the two before smiling. “I’ll happily do it!”
“I’ll go with.” Oswald said, Oswald then looked at Y/n, she scoffed.
“No. I’ll stay in the car and make sure he doesn't crash into anything.” Y/n said. Bendy was too busy nearing the van to listen, but once he reached the van, he rolled down the window and honked the horn causing the van to roll its windows down, revealing the woman that that saw, though they all couldn’t get a good glimpse of her, but the man in the trenchcoat saw the four, his eyes squinted.
“Hey, You should try and get better guards!” Bendy yelled to them. Panchito rolled down the window, and immediately crawled onto the roof of the car. Oswald followed suit.
“You’re too late, turn back before we kill you all!” The man shouts over, not noticing Panchito and Oswald, until when they hopped over and the heavy thump on the car caught their attention.
“You gotta be kiddin’ me.” The woman whispers. Y/n watched As Oswald slid down the front of the vans car, sticking his tongue out to get their attention. Which it did for the lad, she cursed loudly and tried to swerve the car slightly to get the toon off. But, Oswald didn’t budge. Panchito dove into the car landing in front of the woman, she shrieked in surprise.
“Ah! Hello, ma’am. Excuse me, i am here for something.” Panchito then moved his gaze over to the man in the trench coat, hurling a punch to the man, the man grunted in pain, and Panchito quickly took the book, he was about to exit until the woman took ahold of his talon, Panchito looked at her questionable, she dragged him back and Panchito yelped in surprise, but he kept ahold of the book. Before she could do anything to Panchito, Oswald hung from outside of the window peeking into the car.
“Boo!”
“Ah!” The woman screamed at the sudden toon appearing, Oswald grabbed Panchito’s arm, and dragged him out of the car, and grabbed him onto the hood of the car. Oswald bent down and clicked the latch for the hood of the van's hood, and almost immediately when the hood opened, it sent the two springing into the air. Unfortunately the can had crashed by a stop sign. And the car Bendy and Y/n sped up, Y/n quickly pressed a button to open the moonroof of the car, it slid open, and Oswald and Panchito landed into the car with a heavy thud with the book in hand.
“YES!” Y/n cheered as she hopped around in her seat. But, the sudden car crash behind them got the best of them, a car pile up was created, and a semi truck was rolling in from behind. Oswald noticed and quickly hopped to the front of the car, he placed his hands on the steering wheel, and jerked the steering wheel, causing the car to swerve and turn in 180 degrees, the tires screeching on the street, everyone in the car screamed, looking out the window of the car to see the semi truck rolling their way, but Oswald muttered under his breath, the car speed up, wheels screeching and it drove towards the truck, Y/n grabbed the wheel as well.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” She shouts, Oswald didn’t reply, instead, reaching a foot down next to Bendy’s and the car sped up, he turned the wheel yet again, the car screeching and turning down a street, and car knocked over a empty car that was parked on the side, that car served bump for the oncoming semi truck, what semi truck only slightly lifted off the ground when it rolled over the car and above the car the toons and Y/n were in, it were as if she were looking at it in slow motion, the semi truck tossed over the car, untouched, and landline on the side, away from other people and cars, where it wouldn’t cause damage to the town or people. The car zoomed off down the street before the end of the semi truck could hit the car, and in the nick of time, the car revved down the street.
“YES!” Oswald cheered, he lets go of the steering wheel, and then lets out a boisterous laugh.
“My luck! Ah! It put us in good hands this time!” He shouts with glee. The car slowed down, reaching a neighborhood, Y/n’s neighborhood. Her house a few blocks away. When the car came to a complete stop, everyone took a moment of silence to take in the air they would get to breathe, breathing in and out.
“Oh...my...gosh.” Y/n laughed and ran her sore hands through her hand, that was….fun. Exhilarating.
“We doggone, surely do make a team, huh?” Oswald smiled at the three, Bendy turned and looked at everyone.
“I didn’t expect the two of you to plunge yourselves into the air by the hood of a car!” He laughs, Panchito and Oswald smile.
“Did you see the way Panchito handled those beagle boys?! And how Y/n fought Magica?!” Oswald wrapped an arm around Y/n’s shoulders, Y/n smiled brightly.
“No, did you see Bendy come through the wall and stopped that fast running shadow thing?!”
“Or when we all, literally swung from one roof to another with Panchito’s lasso?!”
The four all shared a memorable laugh, the night was chaotic, and they still managed to kick butt and take back what was theirs?!
“Next up, Oregon.” Bendy said. He then looked at Y/n.
“Don’t worry, I influenced her...under pressure, yes. But hey, I did what I had to do.”
Y/n was astonished..her mother would let her go? This was new!
“This is a new beginning, wherever any of us go, we all go.” Oswald said, looking between everyone. Y/n took the book from Panchito, she opened it, and showed it to Oswald.
“We’re all a team, and we stick together.”
Oswald smiled at her.
“Through--” He placed a hand on the page, the ink printing his hand print and then signing his signature.
‘Oswald’
“And through.” He finishes.
“Let’s get you home, we all have a big day tomorrow, a long one at that.”
-
The man in the trench coat stood by the crashed car, the jammed hood pouring with steam, the lady next to him had her arms crossed as she looked at the car.
“What now..? They have the book.” She says. The man thought for a moment.
“We’ll work harder...they aren’t a bunch of idiots as I assumed. We work harder.” He said. The woman hummed in acknowledgment.
“And smarter?”
“Get the rest. We plan.”
“Fine.”
-
Y/n groaned as she sat on the floor in her room, cleaned herself off, through her clothes in the washer, and placed the book in a book bag for safe keepings. Oswald wandered around her room, looking at the various posters, books and other decorations, Panchito sat next to Y/n for once enjoying the silence and Bendy was rubbing his eye that he was so gracefully socked in.
“That guy did a number on you.” Y/n told Bendy. Bendy grumbled. Oswald looked over at Bendy and his ears perked up.
“Yeaj, they really did, straight through a wall, tell me. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much pain did you feel.”
“Oh shut up.”
Y/n heard the keys jingling of the front door, immediately, Y/n and Panchito stood up, Bendy opened the window up, as Oswald, and Panchito walked over.
“Well, I’ll take them with me, you get sleep, I’ll more than likely be here with Henry tomorrow to come and get you, so we all can leave.” Bendy explains. Y/n nods at the plan, but she was exhausted and needed rest from todays events, mostly what happened tonight...she was so glad no one was injured during the small pile up car crash.
“Bye, Y/n.”
“Goodbye”
Oswald and Bendy crawled out the window and hopped out, Panchito quickly scurried over to her, pulling her deep into a warm hug. Y/n couldn’t help but smile, and wrap her arms around him as well, rocking back and forth for a moment as Panchito pats and gently runs her back. Soon, then pulled away and Panchito smiled at her.
“Adiós, cariño, te veré cuando salga el sol.” He said, though Y/n could only understand when he said goodbye, she smiled and waved her hands goodbye.
“Bye, Panchito, I’ll see you tomorrow, I had fun with you all.” She said, Panchito smiles and walked backwards for a moment, he seemed to not want to leave yet, he made many friends...Donald and his friend Jose, and he missed them every day as the years pass, Panchito never like being away from his friends, and now Y/n was apart of that. Sitting in the window he waved goodbye once again. Y/n laughed softly and waved goodbye yet again.
Soon, he dropped down from the window, leaving nothing but the tree to look at and the moon that was clouded slightly by the clouds. Soon, her door opens revealing her mother, and her tired husband walking down the hall to his room to sleep.
“By the way, Bendy wants to take you on a road trip tomorrow, and you should go, you don’t have to, but I really want you to go, because I love you and I want you to go out more.” Her mother smiles after that quick statement, and Y/n already had her answer.
“Yes, I would love to go.” Her mother was surprised. But nevertheless, smiled.
“Good, make sure you bags are packed tomorrow, you’re going to Oregon, Bendy should be here tomorrow, but it's late, I’m tired. I’m hittin’ the hay, Night!” Her mother closed the door and Y/n heard her footsteps descend off to her room. Well...adventure truly awaits tomorrow, a new beginning. A reason, a step further in their quest to find out the meaning of whatever is going on. Y/n flicked her light off, and crawled into bed.
Next up, Duckberg, Oregon, to find Donald Duck himself. This will be an adventure indeed.
-
A/n : You made it to the end?! Don’t worry, there is more to come!
But, I do really hope people will like the plot of this story and the characters, I’m not a fan of crossovers, but this will be a fun and crazy adventure, everyone from each of these fandoms will have alot in common. But anyway! I’ll catch you all in the next chapter, go ahead and comment, I run off of comments, I love reading them and interacting with you all, but I hope you all join and stick around for this adventure, catch you in the next chapter!
#ducktales#ducktales 2017#bendy the dancing devil#batim bendy#bendyxreader#three cabarellos#the three caballeros#donald duck#jose carioca#panchito pistoles#cuphead#animaniacs#animanics 2020#animaniacs x reader#the three caballeros x reader#the legend of the three caballeros#oswald the lucky rabbit#fanfic#toons#long post
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hey so uh, it's 110% Not Your Job, but can i ask for like a crash course on these chinese bl series that are everywhere around me but i don't know them. like i'm familiar with the untamed or however many names it has but i'm seeing two or three more???? help please if you can thank you
hello!! oh no worries, i happened to be looking for a distraction too so this was timely hahaha although it’s a pretty broad question since there are so many new live adaptations coming out (and some which have already come out which are featured as bromances), but let me see if I can like round this up for you a little.
*i may be giving you a bit more than you need or like irrelevant stuff, but i guess i’m bound to hit something hahaha
Okay so the chinese BL series you’re talking about is The Untamed, and since you said you’re familiar I won’t get into it in detail, BUT just for like flow’s sake:
The Untamed (Chen Qing Ling) is based on the danmei (BL) novel written by MXTX, called Mo Dao Zu Shi (and yes however many like English translations to this title there is), or MDZS for short. You watched the live-action, and there’s like a lot of other versions of it e.g. the anime, the chibi anime, audio dramas etc. etc. the list goes on. In case you still haven’t seen any of those, just glance through this masterpost made by @the-social-recluse - In any case, right now everything is sort of already out EXCEPT:
MDZSQ - chibi donghua, cutest shit you’ll ever see
More MDZS merch
Some teasers from MDZS mobile game which has been one year and developing
Now moving on to other BL series floating around so frequently - MDZS is the second book that MXTX wrote. So there’s SVSSS (The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving-System), which is also called lovingly by others in the fandom by Scumbag System/Villain in short, this is MXTX’s first danmei novel. Right now if you’ve seen this on Tumblr, it’s the anime (donghua) version - 10 episodes only for Season 1, available on WeTV with subs, finished airing like a few weeks ago. Translations of the novel are definitely out in full somewhere.
An absolute mess, but an organized one
Tried to do a manhua but failed
Everyone thought the donghua wouldn’t air on time either (it has a history of dropping development halfway) but it did
Would probably be the most entertaining if ever dealt with a live-action
And then there’s arguably, the most beloved child out of all three novels (at least right this moment) - TGCF (Tian Guan Ci Fu, or Heaven Official’s Blessing). This is the third and so far last (???) danmei novel MXTX has written, main pairing invented love. Strawhat-wearing scrap collector smiley angel with devoted kid-turned-adult-turned-ghost-king who follows smiley angel for like many years because he loves him. Anyway, if you’re seeing this, once again on Tumblr a lot, it’s the donghua version you’re seeing. Still airing, I think we’re midway through the whole season, the yelling starts Saturday (Asia time zone) and then extends into Sunday, sometimes Monday.
There’s like a god-tier Eng translation in full for TGCF by Suika
There is a manhua for this as well, only like 45 chapters in, but the time Jan/Feb 2021 rolls around, the donghua would have overtaken the manhua progress on the storyline HAHAHA
Apparently the director/production team who did CQL/The Untamed managed to get the rights to filming its live-action, but heh nothing much about that just yet aside from casting rumours and fans worrying that the casting will be done wrongly and also that they won’t be able to do justice to the story.
Alright now that we’ve more or less cleared MXTX and what everyone is hyping over (for good reason), let’s move on to the other CHINESE BL stuff you could be seeing (although I feel like you might not actually be asking about this), and these will all be live-actions (I’m also only clearing SOME of this year’s stuff, so none from before 2020, don’t ask me why I didn’t leave Guardian or SCI up here):
✨✨✨ Already aired, done and dusted or maybe ongoing, just ones I see on my dash and notifs so I definitely am biased ✨✨✨
The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (Cheng Hua’s Fourteenth Year) - Many episodes, much bromance, base novel is gay af, but live action is cute af. Read more here and full translation is not yet done I think
My Roommate is a Detective - THIS IS A SPECIAL MENTION. NOT BL. Doesn’t even have like a book to go along with it, it’s just I’ve seen people getting into this again and creating content, so idk, imma just leave this here. It ain’t BL but it got the most glaring BL-esque relationship I’ve ever seen in my life. You’ll get what I mean if you watch it
The Lost Tomb Reboot - AGAIN another special mention, because many handsome young-ish men who you know, head into tombs, much bromance. Based on a huge series of novels, totally not BL, but as always with like a lot of men put into one story, ships happen. This year as well, in case you’ve seen it floating around
✨✨✨ Upcoming Chinese BL live-action adaptations, confirmed + casting + filming. You may have seen some of these because like posters were recently released etc. - As far as I know these are all slated for 2021 ✨✨✨
Faraway Wanderers (Tian Ya Ke) - A danmei novel by Priest, filming wrapped up, should be airing soon. Leads are pretty cute, although I’m sure they’ll turn this bromance. One of the male leads is known for a lot of period web dramas, and Gong Jun, the other male lead, is known for more contemporary modern dramas, but damn Gong Jun’s jawline
Winner is King (Sha Po Lang) - Another danmei novel by Priest, filming wrapped up recently as well if I recall? Posters recently released, and this is arguably Priest’s most famous and popular danmei
Immortality (Hao Yi Xing) - A super popular danmei novel called 2ha or The White Husky and His White Cat Shizun by Meat Bun. Filming also... wrapped? I think, because posters came out the next day and everyone from Earth to Pluto went mad, definitely one you should look out for next year spring i think, but I’m pretty sure there’s gonna be a hell lot more teasers, posters etc. coming up and then half of danmei Tumblr will probably go into cardiac arrest
The Society of Four Leaves (Zhang Gong An) - Ehhhh I think this hasn’t yet been filmed but casting was recently confirmed (contentiously). Concept posters are up though. This technically isn’t classified officially as a BL. There are no CPs officially in the novel, but apparently it’s very like idk flirty etc., also slated for next year
*There are a few more by Priest, e.g. Liu Yao, but no concrete news that I’ve seen (by now like at least 60% of her danmeis either have a live-action contract or a donghua contract or both lmao)
✨✨✨ Upcoming Chinese BL donghua adaptations (2021-ish). All by Priest✨✨✨
*Throwing this in just as a by the way thing, because these are also recent news (these two weeks). There might be more but I haven’t seen anything yet personally :D
Imperfection (Can Ci PIn) - Space AU, the novel won like two national literary awards if I recall like last year? Anyway a brief trailer recently came out last week I think, and main lead is handsome af, and once again it’s space and space wars so it’s pretty cool
Silent Reading (Mo Du Zhe) - Novel is called Mo Du, and honestly I think the donghua has been like teasing fans for like idk years, but it looks like we’re finally getting to the donghua as the team previewed the first ep like... two weeks ago live to an audience? Modern crime thriller thing, there’s a masterpost going on Tumblr
Lie Huo Jiao Chou - Another Priest fan favourite, a historical + modern danmei combination. Much angst from what I’ve seen, but donghua teaser looked good also, released also last week
---
anyway hopefully some part of this or at least one part answers your question? if not, just send me another ask or like, DM me hahahaha
#asks#bl drama#chinese bl drama#danmei live action#mdzs#tgcf#svsss#mriad#tsomd#tltr#priest novels#tyk#spl#hyx#2ha#modu#cancipin#lhjc#long post#i hope i didn't miss anything?#it's been a mess recently#the whole list#HAHAHAHA#my danmei novel queue list
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My Soulmates 1
Genre:Soulmate AU, fluff,angst, eventual smut
Pairing: Idol Jimin x Lawyer Reader x Idol Jungkook
Warnings: some swearing (Y/N has a trash mouth sometimes)
A/N: I’m so excited to bring you my story. I hope you all enjoy this first chapter.
Please read the teaser and prologue first if you haven’t already.
*********************************************************************
October 7, 2018 4:36pm
The boys had been practicing since 8am that morning with limited breaks, and were tired and hungry. They were all going to dinner and begin making their way to the elevator, laughing and joking with each other. Namjoon was deep in thought when the doors of the elevator opened and a woman came out barreling right into the midst of the group. Her head was down, and she seemed absorbed in something on the iPad she held in her hands when she must have realized what she had done. Namjoon heard her gasp and reach out towards Jimin and Jungkook and thought she might be trying to steady herself as they were reaching out to her as well. He couldn’t believe it when they all began collapsing on the floor, the other boys trying to catch them. He noticed that the three were still grasping onto each other, and a red ring began to encircle their ring fingers and travel up their arms. The other boys were staring at this as well and they looked at each other shaking their heads. All of them mumbled the same thing
...”Oh Shit!”
You felt warm and cocooned for some reason. It was so cozy and you didn’t want to wake up. Wait, when did I go home? Your thoughts were hazy and you were trying to figure out where you were. You tried to stretch and found yourself bumping into something hard. As you started groping around you realized that this was not your pillow at all but felt like a chest. A mans chest. You have never moved so fast as you just did sitting yourself up. “What the hell...!” You look and see you are on a bed with not one but two boys cuddled up around you. Fear immediately sets in as you look around the room and see sleeping figures on another bed and couch.
“What the fuck...!” You said out loud quickly slapping both your hand over your mouth so as not to awaken the men in the room. You are in bed with, and surrounded by BTS. They are the worlds most famous boy band. They are the Nations Treasures. THEY ARE YOUR CLIENTS!!! Your mind explodes right then and there. You think to yourself ’What Tumblr, A03, Wattpad fanfic did I just wake up in.’
‘OH MY GOD IM IN A COMA!!!! That has to be it. There cannot be any other explanation. I’m in a coma and I transported into some sucky ass wannabe Hallmark Movie’.
All you can think of is that you have some sort of brain tumor and have fallen into a life altering, dream fugue-like state and all your teenage and young adult fantasies are blending together therefore you have conjured up some poly bias delusional weirdness in yor muddled brain. This isn’t real...this isn’t real... this isn’t real....... You pinch yourself and...oh shit that hurt. You struggle to get off the bed which isn’t easy by any means when two pairs of arms AND legs keep trying to pull you back down. You debate screaming bloody murder when you hear someone speak.
“You’re awake”. You turned your head and saw someone sitting up rubbing his eyes looking at you. You recognized the leader of said boy band Namjoon from the many many posters around BigHit.
“I am” your voice sounding more calm than you felt. “Can you tell me where I am and why I’m here with all of you like some weird slumber party?” You we’re holding on the the last shreds of professionalism that you could before screaming to the high heavens.
“You don’t remember finding your soulmates” he asked?
“Excuse me, my what now?” You cocked your head like you didn’t hear him right. “What on earth are you going on about? Soulmate, I don’t have a soulmate.”
“Soulmates” he corrected. By now some of the other members were starting to wake up.
“I AM in a COMA”. You were starting to babble incoherently in a mix of Korean and English with some well placed Spanish swear words your mother used to use when you were little and she was mad. You we’re starting to panic and began trying to climb off the bed all the while the two boys on your bed were snoozing away like nothing was happening. You managed to fall off of the bed and skittered backwards like a crab til your back hit the wall. You slapped your cheeks willing yourself to wake up.
Namjoon looked next to him and asked “Jin can you call Yuna? I think she may be able to help out with...” he looked at you realizing he didn’t know your name. Jin got up and walked towards the window to call someone.
“Y/N. Sona Y/N.” I...I..I’m a temporary lawyer working at BigHit on some of your international contracts. I’d like to say nice to meet you but maybe when there’s a less murdery vibe and location.” You were quickly getting your bearings together and began to gather your composure. “Now can you please tell me why I’m here being cuddled to death by those thing one and thing two over there” you point towards the bed. Several giggles and laughs were heard at this. You on the other hand were not sure what was so funny.
A deep voice in the corner answered this time. “Well thing one and two as you called them, or as we like to call them Jimin and Jungkook are your soulmates “ he said matter-of-factly like it was everyday normal. “I’m Taehyung, you can call me Tae or Tae-Tae to piss them off if you want.” His big boxy grin made him look like a mischievous child You couldn’t help but give him a wary smile. Someone else, you think it was J-Hope came towards you and thrust forward a hand. You cautiously took it and he helped you up from the floor. You began dusting off your skirt and straightening your blouse internally thanking the almighty upstairs that you were still clothed while eying all of them suspiciously. “I’m Hoseok, but you can call me Hobi if you want.”
Jin turned around after hanging up and offered you the only chair in the room. You quickly shuffled over sitting down and tried to ask again why you were here. In a bedroom, on a bed with your soulmates and their band mates all in the same room. “ Can someone please just tell me what happened?” Your voice staring to crack as you were close to tears. “This just feels too extrodinary to believe. You keep saying I have soulmates, as in plural. I didn’t even know that was possible.” It was then that you looked at your left hand and saw the red string tatoo. “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS HAPPENING TO ME....Did I have a stroke? How...what...why...” your words became so jumbled you weren’t making any sense and you were pretty sure a panic attack was just a moment away from tackling your neurotic ass into submission. Jin kneeled in front of you telling you to breathe. “ In through the nose....out through the mouth Y/N. You can do it just breathe in and out, in and out...that’s it, you got it, in...out.” You sat there holding his hands while Tae began rubbing your back in circles as they were trying their best to calm you down. Jin explained to you that he also has a soulmate named Yuna and she is ready to come talk to you about what being attached to an idol can be like.
Across the room you heard a groggy voice “Uugghhhh....get off me Jungkookah. Why are we in bed? What happened” could be heard from the bed you just left. Jimin was sitting up while shoving Jungkook off of him and staring around the room. Jungkook fell off the bed. He jumped up and was getting ready to tackle his hyung who knocked him down when his eyes landed on you. He was confused as to why a woman, a very pretty woman, but a woman nonetheless was sitting in their studio bedroom at BigHit, surrounded by four of his hyungs. “Um, hello” he said quietly making Jimin look in the same direction. Eyes got wide when he also said a quiet hello and then proceeded to ask Namjoon “ What’s going on. Who is she and why are we all in here. I thought we were going to dinner?”
“See, I’m not the only one confused” you exclaimed louder and much squeakier than you meant. “Apparently we are soulmates” you say while gesturing to the both of them and yourself. “Surprise “ you say throwing up jazz hands and beginning to laugh at the outrageous looks on both of their faces.
“Who, who is your soulmate?” They both say at the same time.
Namjoon looks at you knowing you are barely holding on at the moment and answers for you. “All three of you are soulmates”.
They stare at each other then at you then at the group and both start laughing. “Ok ok, good joke hyung, stop playing around. Did you knock us out and this is a mystery mission? “ “Are we on a run BTS episode we didn’t know was being filmed?” They took turns asking like this was a prank or something.
When they see no one other than you are deadly serious they stop and start to freak out as well. “ARE YOU SERIOUS?” They look at each other only to both shout out that they couldn’t be soulmates. Why is it just happening now after knowing each other all these years. Brothers yes, soulmates no. NOPE. NO WAY, WHAT THE FUCK.
You get up and walk over to them. You grab both of their left hands and show them the tattoos. You peek inside your shirt and confirm you have the soulmates date above your heart, and tell them to check their chests as well. You strangely feel calm being around the two of them and less like a victim of some K-Pop Serial Killer drama that you stepped into, and you realize they also both settle down while you’re holding onto them.
Namjoon gets up and begins to explain that though it’s rare, there are known cases of multiple soulmates. They are harder to find because all of the mates must be together for their souls to connect. Once they do connect though the bond is stronger than a normal soulmates bond and can come with difficulties due to the relationship aspect of it. Prejudice often follows a poly soulmate connection due to the narrow mindedness of society and can often be looked down on. He tells the three of you that you should tell management right away so they can have a plan in place. Fans aren’t always supportive of their bias’s soulmates, and Y/N having two of the most popular idols in Korea as hers are going to come with challenges. Especially with you being a foreigner.
You three look at each other and back at Namjoon, silently agreeing to these terms. He also suggests you three need time together alone to get to know about each other because you all three had different lives leading up to today, and it would be best to figure out where you all should go from here. Other people’s feelings and relationships are going to be affected by what has happened and you all needed to be prepared for any backlash.
“Ok, now that this is all settled can we please get some dinner?” You hear from the other bed where apparently Yoongi has been napping throughout all the mental breakdowns.
To be continued...
Taglist: @mrcleanheichou @itsminniekat @dreamescapeswriting @seaoffangirling @4evahevah @sonderkook @bisexualmess007 @chxustuff @aviwasabi21 @skyys-universe @ally22042000 @ramblingsofawolfgirl
#jimin#jungkook#bts jimin#bts jungguk#bts#jikook#jeon jungkook#park jimin#jungkook x reader#jimin x reader#poly bts x reader#poly bts#bts imagine#bts x soulmate#bts x reader#jikook are my soulmates#bts soulmate au#bts soulmates#jimin soulmate au#jungkook soulmate au
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YYH and Togashi's musical references
I always find new references every time I read the manga, so I’ll probably edit this post in the future with new ones. If anyone knows more refs, please leave a comment or a message and I’ll add in the post giving the credits.
1. International artists: most of the bands and artists are from the rock/metal scene.
Keiko reading UDO in her English Class (v.2, p.98)
UDO is a German heavy metal band founded by the lead vocalist Udo Dirkschneider (ex-Accept) in 1987.
Keiko is reading an adapted version of the lyrics of “Unspoken Words”:
My thoughts are going back - back to the time
When I was young to live a life
A life of lies - full of lies
Then you came into my life
And you've changed so many things
That I've done before - that I've done before...
Togashi commented on the Table of Contents in 1991 that he was listening to UDO and Led Zeppelin as BGM. (WSJ issue 6, 1991)
Kuwabara’s “Moter-head” T-shirt (v.3-4, Genkai’s Tournament)
A reference to “Motörhead”, English rock band formed in 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Lemmy (RIP, 2015). We can also see the names of two famous Motörhead‘s albums on his shirt: “Bomber”, 3th studio album (1979), and “Iron Fist”, 5th studio album (1982).
“Sodom” is probably from the German metal band formed in 1981 and “Sabbat” is probably a reference to “Black Sabbath”, English rock band formed in 1968 whose vocalist Ozzy Osbourne is very famous.
Michael Jackson in The Dark Tournament (v.6, p.132)
A man who needs no introduction. Michael Jackson wearing his famous white gloves and 'Smooth Criminal' hat, bringing a thriller night into the Tournament ;-)
The Scalper of the Dark Tournament and AC ϟ DC (v.6, pp. 172-173)
The suit, necktie and newsboy cap have everything to do with Angus Young’s famous costume. He is the co-founder, lead guitarist and songwriter of AC/DC.
So, most of us believe that the ticket seller was modeled after him. “I’m on a Highway to Hell”!
Imajin from Team Rokuyukai and John Lennon (v.6, p.170)
The name “Imajin” is a reference to the song “Imagine”. His character’s design also had some inspiration from John Lennon, such as John's famous round glasses.
Chapter 62 Opening and The Clash (v.7, p.132)
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976. Yu Yu Hakusho 62nd Opening Act. "The Second Round Begins!!" was inspired by the cover of The Clash’s self-titled debut studio album (1977).
Paul Simonon (bass): Kuwabara;
Mick Jones (guitars): Yusuke;
In Joe Strummer’s place (RIP) there’s a suspicious couple in the background ⬇ XD
Kuwabara and Megallica (v.14, chapter 124. "Fierce Rain...!!)
This is a classic and everyone knows it, but it definitely deserves a mention. The day Kuwabara threw everything away to attend a Megallica’s concert.
A tribute to Metallica or both bands - Megadeth and Metallica - as Dave Mustaine's exit from Metallica and the founding of Megadeth in 1983 was a pivotal moment in the metal scene.
We can also spot a Metallica’s poster on the wall of Kuwabara’s bedroom in volume 6, chapter 46. "Springtime for Kuwabara!!" (p.14)
And another poster above the TV with the letters “ETH” written on it. Probably, a poster of “Megadeth”. It’s hard to tell, because the image is small, but it looks like the skeleton hand of Megadeth’s mascot Vic Rattlehead. (v.6, p.9)
2. Japanese artists: I included some actors as well, as most of them are also singers.
Daisuke Motomoto and Youki Kudoh (v.1, p.197)
Daisuke's type of woman is the famous actress and singer Youki Kudoh.
Shizuru: Bunta Sugawara & Ken Takakura (v.2, p.131)
Shizuru’s favorite type of man was two elder and renowned actors. Both were born in the '30s and appeared in almost 200 Japanese feature films.
Born in 1931, Ken Takakura, known as Ken-san, was an actor and singer. He died of lymphoma on November 10, 2014. Born in 1933, Sugawara was also the model for the design of the One Piece character Sakazuki “Akainu.” He died from liver cancer on November 28, 2014 . Isn’t it a huge coincidence they both passed away of cancer on November 2014?
REBECCA [レベッカ] (v.1, p.192; v.3, p.163)
REBECCA are a Japanese rock band that had a great success in the 80′s, fronted by singer Nokko. Natsuko, Keiko’s friend, says a curiosity about REBECCA’s song “MOON”:
“It's true, there is a voice saying "SENPAI" at the beginning of the bridge” (note: bridge from the song structure).
It is said in the middle of this song, there is a mysterious woman voice calling "senpai" (veteran, senior). Honestly, I’m not sure if I can hear it lol.
There’s also a rumor that the three guys and girl who appear in volume 3 (upper left of page 163) during the lottery of Genkai’s Tournament are REBECCA. What do you think?
Eisaku Yoshida, actor and singer (v.4, p.46)
Kuwabara and Yusuke arrived in front of the Maze Castle in Makai in only 2 hours. Togashi made a joke about it and wrote a small text below the scene:
“Fast as the development of Eisaku Yoshida’s doramas.”
Akiko Matsumoto (v.6, p.152)
The actress and singer Akiko Matsumoto is a Japanese 80's idol. When Yusuke is sleeping in the ship, Kuwabara says Yusuke is so tired that he won’t get up even if Akiko Matsumoto was next to him.
Eriko Tamura in the Dark Tournament (v.6, p.158)
The super famous singer and actress Eriko Tamura appears in a panel during The Dark Tournament in the Hanging Neck Island’s Hotel. It was probably a reference to her manga/anime version of “Idol Densetsu Eriko” (1989).
Kuwabara’s Energy Drink and Pierre Taki (v.6, p.160)
The name of the front man for Japanese synth-pop group “Denki Groove” appears on Kuwabara’s energy drink. I’ve already made a detailed post about it and the polemic involving his name.
Space Battleship Yamato Opening Theme (v.13, p.62)
When the guys are about to leave the Hanging Neck Island, Yusuke starts to sing: “Saaaraaabaa” (Farewell) which is the beginning of the opening theme of the super famous anime “Space Battleship Yamato” (Uchuu Senkan Yamato, 1974), sung by Isao Sasaki.
Sensui, Itsuki and Jun Togawa’s performance on Hit Studio (v.16, p.17)
Sensui spares Itsuki’s life after he confessed he wanted to live one more day to watch the singer Jun Togawa on Hit Studio. Sensui also watches the show. In the anime, the line was changed to “the last episode of the dorama”.
Fun fact: Jun Togawa actually performed a few times on Hit Studio and Togashi said in an interview this was a moment he really experienced.
This performance is from 1984 and Togawa was promoting her debut album as a solo artist “Tamahime-sama”:
youtube
Trivia: to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Jun Togawa’s musical career in 2016, an album alongside the metal band Vampillia entitled "Watashi ga Nakou Hototogizu" ("I Will Sing Like a Cuckoo") was released. Togashi created black & white illustrations for their collaboration:
I know Togashi said in “Yoshirin de Pon!” (1994) that Mukuro was modeled after Kushana (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) but Jun Togawa’s famous robotic arm from the 80′s reminds me Mukuro’s. She also performed the song “Radar Man” on Hit Studio wearing the cybernetic arm.
Akiko Wada and the earthquake (v.16, p.119)
When Sensui releases his sacred energy and the ground starts to tremble, a female citizen makes a comment: "Isn’t this Akiko Wada tapping her foot?". Akiko Wada is the famous singer, known as The Queen of the Japanese R&B. If you watch her performances, specially the from the 80s-90s, you’ll notice the peculiar way she shakes her legs and taps her foot while singing. When she debuted, she was also known for her tall stature, large physique and high tone voice.
“Otoko Nara” (v.17. p.171)
After saying goodbye and being dumped by Keiko, Yusuke starts to sing the famous military and wartime song “Otoko Nara” (男なら - “If you are a man”) from 1937. Translation to English
Yusuke: “Otoko nara, larilarila....”
3. Other mentions and references
WSJ issue 25, 1992; v. 6 opening illustration and v.8 cover
According to Togashi’s comments from the Artbook, these guys next to Yusuke were inspired by two black guys Togashi saw on a music video or magazine. But as he doesn’t remember where the inspiration comes from, it’s hard to tell the origin.
Anime: I’m only taking the manga and Togashi’s refs into consideration here. But you can always have fun searching in the animation for other references, like the Oingo Boingo poster in Kuwabara’s bedroom and Roger Dean’s artwork in the Makai landscape.
Other celebrities:
↪ Downtown (v.19, p.114-115): is a Japanese comedy duo consisting of Hitoshi Matsumoto and Masatoshi Hamada. Formed in 1982, they are one of the most influential comedy duos in Japan and famous for hosting variety shows, such as Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! Togashi has stated he’s a fan and even the name “Hunter × Hunter” came about while he was watching their TV show, in which the hosts often repeat what they say to make the audience laugh. People believe the TV program Juri, Koto and Ruka were attending in the last volume is a reference to the variety show. Juri calls one of the hosts Yamazaki-san which is probably a reference to Hosei Yamasaki one of the five members of Downtown Gaki no Tsukai's regular cast. The man watching the TV while smoking is Togashi.
↪ Kurama comparing himself to Kazaguruma no Yashichi from the dorama “Mito Komon” (v.5, p.201). I made a post about it.
↪ The family name “Minamino” was taken from the singer Youko Minamino, but other Japanese celebrities were also considered. I made a post about it.
↪ A mention to the late sumo wrestler Kurama Tatsuya (v.13, p.89). When one of Kurama’s senior overhear Kuwabara calling Minamino as Kurama, instead of using his human name, he says: Kurama? (using the kanji of the fighter’s name), the former sekitori?
↪ Byakko bringing up Carl Lewis (v.5, p.57) was hilarious. Kuwabara needed to jump a distance of 10 meters, 2 meters more than Carl Lewis. Probably a reference to the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo and Lewis' greatest achievements during the competition. These chapters from the Saint Beasts saga were being written during this time.
↪ Kuwabara’s name was inspired by two baseball players as Togashi explained in the comics and the databook. But he also mentions some achievements from other baseball players during the series and incorporates them in his sword techniques:
→ Hiromitsu Ochiai (v.4, p.74): The “Ochiai-ryuu Shui-dasha-ken” (The Leading Hitter Ochiai Style Sword) used by Kuwabara to bat Rando’s fireballs technique (Kashou Happa-ken) is a reference to the baseball player Hiromitsu Ochiai. He is considered one of the most important players in the history of Japanese baseball and was given the title of “shui-dasha” (leading hitter), a player who ends the season with the best batting average score. That’s why Kuwabara mentions “shui-dasha” in the name of the technique.
→ Satoshi Inamoto (v.5, p.55): During the fight with Byakko, Kuwabara wants to use his “Teikyo High School Sayonara Two-Run Homer Sword” to bat the Tiger Scream but he is stopped by Kurama.
There’s a small text written below the panel: “August 17, 1991, 12h45PM, hitter Inamoto”. It’s a reference to a match between Teikyo High School and Ikeda High School in 1991. Teikyo High School turned the game around and won thanks to Inamoto’s home run.
↪ Fubuki Sato and Masato Hagiwara (v.17, p.120): while her brother Kaisei likes to watch TV, Fubuki likes the actor, voice actor and professional mahjong player Hagiwara Masato-kun.
↪ Hiei and Medaka Ikeno (v.19, p.88): a woman on TV describes the ET (Hiei) who abducted her. “His height is about Medaka Ikeno”. He is a Japanese comedian known for his short stature, about 149cm, and for being the man whose 'size is same as a tie'.
↪ Arnold Schwarzenegger (v.19, p.113): when Kido goes to the movies, there’s a billboard announcing: “The Crying Game” (on the right) and “Schwarzenegger - Last Action Hero” (on the left). Toguro is said to be modeled after Schwarzenegger’s Terminator, but Togashi mentions in the Yu Yu Hakusho Artbook (2015) that "Younger Toguro is Sato", referring to Koji Sato, the main antagonist of 1989 film "Black Rain”, played by the Japanese actor Yuusaku Matsuda.
#yu yu hakusho#yoshihiro togashi#the clash#metallica#megadeth#acdc#angus young#motorhead#sodomband#black sabbath#udo dirkschneider#john lennon#michael jackson#carl lewis#jun togawa#rebecca#hiromitsu ochiai#kurama tatsuya#pierre taki#eriko tamura#roger dean#eisaku yoshida#bunta sugawara#ken takakura#isao sasaki#hit sudio#kazaguruma no yashichi#arnold schwarzenegger#last action hero#the crying game
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𝐦𝐫. 𝐛𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 (𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏)
((Howdy there, this is my first time writing on here, so I hope you enjoy!))
Masterlist
Summary: You accept a job as an assistant to the now world-famous Colson Baker, who shattered the charts with his album Tickets To My Downfall, and an Oscar winner for his success in the award-winning film titled Midnight in the Switchgrass, which also starred his ex, Megan Fox. But once you are accepted for the job, you seem to get closer than anticipated with Mr. Baker.
𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑯𝑨𝑫 graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, you had never expected to be getting a job like this. Sure, you had heard about your employer. He had won an Oscar for christ’s sake. Not to mention a Grammy-winning album. You had to say that personally, you were a fan, which was one of the main reasons you interviewed for the job. But never in a million years did you think you would land it.
When you were employed, you were expected to start right after you had applied, which you obliged, even though his house was a thirty-minute drive away.
So now, there you were, sitting in your car, taking deep breaths. You had arrived several minutes early. You had pulled into the driveway, breathing in and out as you prepared yourself. You were excited but scared out of your mind.
“Come on, AJ, you got this, just go in there and try to not be a nuisance,” you spoke to yourself. With a deep breath, you exited the vehicle brushing yourself up, walking up the long, intimidating stairs.
You raised your hand up, taking hold of the lion-shaped knocker and knocked three times, the echos being heard even from the outside. The door was large and almost looming over you with its height. You took the waiting time to look around at the garden out front, trimmed to perfection and colorful pink roses littering the gravel. It was nothing less than stunning.
“Who’s there?” a voice asked, making you jump, your eyes shifting around.
You then realized the voice was a Ring doorbell system, and you mentally slapped yourself for not just using that. You leaned down slightly, trying to meet the camera’s eye, giving a warm smile.
“Um, I’m Adeline Williams, I’m the new assistant for Mr. Baker, I was instructed to start today,”
“Yeah, I’ll be right down.”
The voice was deeper then what you would think Mr. Baker would sound like, having seen plenty of interviews. Suddenly the door swung open, revealing a tall African-American male. He had to be at least six feet tall.
“What’s up, I’m Slim,” He held his hand out for a handshake, which you quickly took.
“Yeah, I’m Adeline, but you can just call me AJ,” you responded, “Where is Mr. Baker?”
“Yeah, he’s still asleep. His manager made you a binder for your duties and other stuff. It’s good to meet you though, just feel free to come in and grab your stuff in the kitchen.” He stated, stepping aside and motioning for you to enter.
You walked in, taking in the entryway. The walls were littered with gold record plaques for collabs he had done with other artists. Paintings of him were scattered around, some furniture almost automatically spotted that looked more expensive than your entire apartment. The ceiling was high-up, light fixtures illuminating the space, giving off a warm feel to the area.
You slipped off your flats, Slim already slipping away into the maze of the house, leaving you to find the kitchen by yourself. Your sock-clad feet patted across the hard floor, your eyes wandering around, trying to find the kitchen in the stupidly large house.
You walked down a hallway, reaching another large room, but now the walls were covered in posters and guitars, a drum set in the corner, recording systems, speakers, and even a Monster Energy Drink sponsored mini fridge which was fully stocked, drawings and art above it, the window next to it letting a fair amount of light in, the curtains drawn. You walked over to the drum set, running your hand on one of the symbols, which had sadly had a light coat of dust on it. Come to think of it, so did most of the other instruments.
“You could play them if you want,” another voice said behind you, making you jump and whip around, your eyes instantly meeting the eyes of your employer.
He was tall, six foot four according to Google, his exposed chest littered with so many tattoos, you couldn’t possibly count them all. His bleach-blond hair was long and shaggy on top of his head, meaning he had probably just woken up, grey sweatpants covering his bottom half, the hem of his boxers peeking over the waistband of the grey material, making you blush and meet his eyes again.
“Oh, um, I’m sorry, I don’t play,” you then mentally slapped yourself once again, “Sorry, what am I saying. I’m Adeline - Um, Williams, I’m here as your new assistant.”
He looked you up and down, taking in you attire, a slight sneer appearing on his face, only for a second. You guessed by his reaction that you were over-dressed.
“You look like a kindergarten teacher.” he laughed.
“Uhm, noted, do you... want me to take off my sweater or something?” you asked.
He scoffed, biting his lip and turning away, holding back from saying something that you were guessing would piss you off.
You sighed, slipping off your sweater and messing with your hands, “Would you mind showing me to your kitchen? Your friend, Slim told me that your manager had had something in there for me,”
“Yeah, follow me,” he muttered, turning on his heel and walking away, your own small feet scuttering across the floor, following him.
And of course, the kitchen was as stunning at the rest of the house, the size, making it look like a gourmet kitchen. And there on one of the granite countertops was a .5 inch pale white binder. Colson walked over to his coffee machine, starting it up and watching you walk over, opening it up.
It listed normal duties like setting up venues for tours, making appointments with the production company, merchandise shipment, and payment, normal duties for Colson himself, (Making iced coffee, booking flights, rides for Casie, his daughter, for school, etc.), and traveling with him to the recording studio for sessions, along with renting time for the studio itself.
“So, what do ya think. The list gonna scare you off?” he asked, a sly smile on his face.
“Well, seems easy enough. It just seems like a lot of booking things.” you smiled, “But it shouldn’t be a problem at all, Mr. Baker.”
He grimaced, “Yikes, just call me Colson. You make me sound like an old man. And if I’m going to be seeing you every day, we kinda need to be on a first-name basis.” he said, opening one of the hundreds of cabinets on the wall, pulling out a mug, “What’s your name again?”
“Adeline. But you can just call me AJ.” you looked back down at the papers, turning to a page to all the numbers needed for your position.
“What’s the J?”
“Huh?” you asked, not looking away from the page.
“Well, in AJ I already know what the A is, so what’s the J?” He smirked, pouring the coffee grounds into the coffee maker, pressing start.
“Oh, um, Jane.” you shrugged off.
“Adeline Jane Williams,” he repeated to himself out loud.
Your heart unintentionally fluttered. Never in a million years did you think that Colson Baker, Machine Gun Kelly, would ever say your full name.
The day went by smoothly, your brain soon catching onto the rhythm of things, you and Colson making small talk as you typed away, sending emails to the publishing companies, his agent, manager, and PR team. Colson would occasionally text you to make him a drink, which you did, always getting right back to work afterward. People came in and out, paying you no mind. The only one you honestly recognized was Rook, his drummer, who only came in to grab a beer from the fridge. Soon enough, the time reached 5 o’clock.
“So, what do you wanna eat?” he suddenly asked, walking into the kitchen area, leaning over the counter you were working at.
The sound of the TV played as you heard the laughter of a group of people in the other room.
“Oh, I honestly have no preference,” you answered honestly, looking up from your Chromebook.
“You sure? Me and the guys were gonna Postmate some stuff, but they can’t decide either.”
“Ummm, I heard there’s a really good restaurant downtown called Beau Jo's. Hear they have a mean menu of Cajun food.” you perked up,
“Alright, Beau Jo’s it is.” He responded, picking up his phone and walking away.
Even though you two had small talk, you still felt like he was so cold to you. Like he didn’t like you, or he didn’t trust you. But you really needed this job. After you finished with your work, you walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.
There, you were greeted with glancing eyes of 20 or more people, who were scattered throughout the space.
A man walked up to you, looking eccentric as ever. You only knew him because you knew he dated Bella Thorne, but you would never tell him that.
“Heyyyy, you must be the new assistant. Welcome to the best years of your life!” he greeted, slinging an arm around your shoulders, a cola in his other hand. The smell of expensive cologne.
“Modern Sunshine, I presume?” I asked in a snobby British accent, making him laugh.
“Yo Kells! I like this chick!” he called out to Colson, who was across the room talking to some blond broad in short shorts and a crop top.
“Why don’t you come meet the rest of the guys.”
Well, you knew it was coming. It was the end of the night and everyone had gone home, and it was your job to order Ubers for everyone who wasn’t fit to drive. (Which was close to half the people there).
You gathered up your things, sighing as you grabbed your kindergarten teacher sweater, packing it in your bag along with your computer and everything else. Finally, you tucked the binder into the back pocket.
“You heading out?” Colson asked from behind you, his hand on your shoulder.
Your arms formed goosebumps as you looked back smiling, “Yeah, I think it’s that time.”
“Cool. Well, have a good night.” he said while you slipped on your flats, “Oh, and one more thing before you go.”
You turned your head to look into his eyes.
“Tomorrow wear something more... spicy,”
#machine gun kelly#mgk#mgk smut#mgk imagine#tickets to my downfall#hotel diablo#megan fox#rookxx#slimxx#colson#colson baker#mgk x reader#colson baker x reader#love#romance#imagine#fanfiction#alpha omega#lace up
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She try make us think she got something but everything is a lie. And her "fans" believe her. They don't search nowhere. They say it's new and ppl are jealous ?!? Wow // I think these die-hard-fans are mostly in their teens and living in a fictional world, where they really truly believe Sebastian will notice them, if they fight for him and he’s god and can’t do no wrong. I didn’t see the post with her “new” pic, but I found a screenshot on a Seb-Ale Fanpage and of course everybody posting a negative comment is jealous of her. Just looking at that accounts name leaves no doubts to me, that there is probably a 14 yo girl behind the whole thing thinking, Sebastian checks her IG account and notices her. And those teens are what is so exhausting in every fandom….just saw a clip on IG where Lizzo shared CEs reply to their baby rumors and in the comment section to this page, were mostly just teenager hating and shaming on Lizzo. I mean, didn’t everybody realize that this was a joke on her part? Those teens really thought Lizzo wanted to date Chris🤷🏼♀️ but she’s just a fan like everybody else and btw I think she’s just a little bit too crazy for him and I think he knows that too😄 but those teens probably have their bedroom plastered with posters of their favorite stars….maybe even photoshopped themselves next to their famous crush in wedding pictures……….sorry about my little rant, but I’m just so done with this generation of teens. Just looking at so many videos on social media is making me sometimes so angry. They film themselves “doing good things” just for clicks and likes. Like all those people that gift homeless people hundreds of Dollars only to show their great image🙄 I mean CB tried that once too with that crab in Mexico and we all saw how that turned out 😂 just too bad, she did it only in a story..I would’ve loved to see that comment section 🍿🙃
I agree!
I think some of the fans just hop onto the train because they believe Sebastian is truly happy with her. Some of these fans are younger and don't know what a PR relationship is.
I've even tested this out before. I replied to a young fan on Instagram and said their relationship was most likely PR, and the fan replied to me asking, "What's PR?"
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BOOK OF THE MONTH: So Young by Simon Gilbert
By Chris Tosic, Le Document, Issue 18, 15 June 2021.
Suede’s first album was released in 1993 and entered the British charts at number one. It sold over 100,000 copies in its first week. In 2015 NME magazine presented the band with a “God Like Genius Award.” Suede’s famous fans and admirers over the years have included; David Bowie, and members of Bloc Party, and The Long Blondes. Bands who’ve recorded covers of Suede songs include; Morrissey, The Manic Street Preachers, The Libertines, and Kim Wilde. In November Suede are touring the UK as part of their celebrations of the 25th anniversary of their classic L.P. ‘Coming Up’. Suede’s lovely drummer Simon Gilbert (who has been with the band since the start) kindly agreed to answer a few questions...
Le Document (LD) The 500 copies of the deluxe signed and numbered version of the So Young photo book sold out pretty fast. Can you tell me about the book – how it all came about and was if it was hard work getting it to look the way you wanted it?
Simon Gilbert (SG) Well it came about … about 30 years ago when I started documenting everything, it’s something I always wanted to do, when I was a kid my bible was a book by the pistols called The Sex Pistols file. A book that showed them… not just on stage or on the tv… and I was fascinated by the photos of them... on a bus… in the pub, photos you don't get to see… and always wanted to make one of Suede… when I was making the film Insatiable Ones I came across so many photos and negatives, that I thought they had to be seen.
Along with my photos, three friends of mine contributed a lot of the live shots and others. Iain, Kathy & Phillip were always backstage and at every show so had a lot of photos that I couldn’t take… lockdown was a pain in the arse, but I was able to get the book together and spend time getting it right. Going through the diaries in depth was an experience, I hadn’t looked at them for 25 years and was taken right back there, so it really helped with the writing in the book. Some of it had to be edited (to protect the innocent) but the diary pages that appear in the book are left as they were… hopefully the reader can understand my poor handwriting.
LD Suede have worked with some of the best photographers and designers such as Nick Knight and Peter Saville. Which photographers were the most interesting to work with and whose work do you most admire?
SG Tom Sheehan was always great to work with, he was one of those photographers that talk whilst they’re taking shots, directing the band … lovely guy. David Bailey was completely silent, and only took about 10 shots and was done… a very quick session… (I’m sure he knew what he was doing)
LD I saw Suede play live several times in the early years and each time you were always great. Are you excited about being back on the road and doing the Coming Up tour?
SG I simply can’t wait… excited isn’t the word. I loved doing the full Coming Up album a few years back so very much looking forward to doing it again.
LD According to legend you were introduced to the rest of Suede by Ricky Gervais. Are you a fan of his comedy? Did you like the fact he got to collaborate with Bowie?
SG Well Ricky managed the band along with two other people, I was actually introduced to them by one of the others, I think Ricky made some posters for our gigs and sent off a tape.
… his comedy is something that he had back then too, he was exactly the same … and had me in stitches then. Loved the Bowie sketch, as I am sure Ricky did, he was such a huge fan.
LD What are the best things about living in Thailand? Can you imagine living anywhere else or do you think Thailand will always be your home?
SG Thailand is a wonderful place, I’ve been there for 17 years now, and can’t see me moving anytime soon. There lots of great things about the place, I live in the middle of nowhere away from Bangkok now, and watching a buffalo slowly wonder pass my house whilst the dawn is breaking is pretty spectacular… cobras in the pool first thing in the morning isn’t one of my best things though.
LD What new music have you been excited by in recent years? Are there any new bands, recent albums etc that have impressed you?
SG None / no
LD Which Suede songs are you most proud of? Do you have a top 5?
SG: My Dark Star, Heroine, Animal Nitrate, Picnic by the Motorway (First track on the new album!!)
So Young: Suede 1991 - 1993
Hardback Photo Book £60
Available from here.
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