" ... as soft as talking to a new born, the voice you dream your children would hear during their bed time stories ... "

I'm not an analyst but i am a theater kid so these are just my thoughts. I might bring up various theater classmates of mine so to keep anonymity I'll just call them by their first initial. To me Macaque is a theater kid that is a mix between my classmates M & E. He's a serious theater kid who's been in more than his fair share of plays/musicals but he's also a dramatic little shit who i don't think would settle for backstage. He's experienced, and he's a good actor, but he's also kind of quiet and reserved, they are maybe one or two other theater people he's close to but he's really just there to act. However he isn't lead material he's side character material all because Wukong showed up, tripped over his own two feet, fell flat on his face onto the stage and the director went "YOU! You're perfect!" and cast Wukong as the lead. However Wukong, just like classmate D, doesn't want to be there he'd rather not be there AT ALL or be cast as Napkin #2 rather than the lead but the director knows he's a good singer and dancer because Wukong's been alive for how long? He's had to have picked up something as common as singing and dancing. So he's cast as the lead cause he has the looks, the skills. Sure he's not as good at remembering lines as Macaque, though this can easily be excused to the director as "he's a lead, he just has a lot of lines to remember" so they're hardly gonna bat an eye. But the stage fright, what about that ? I hear you asking. Well also like classmate D he's loud, a contrast to Macaque's quiet reservedness, he's not gonna let a bunch of "random" people know he has stage fright especially when he's the great sage equal to heaven. So in response he's loud, and annoying, and generally not showing people how close he is to pissing his pants. Also I'd just like to mention that by having Macaque be a side character instead of backstage and Wukong as a lead the warrior is once more cast in the hero's shadow (lol I hate myself) Lastly tho I'd just like to say that once upon a time they were both totally DBK's hypemen and would've played a pair of (equals) Lefou's to DBK's Gaston (and you can pry this from my cold dead hands). --Mythicalmagicalmonkeyman

listening and taking notes. i’m not a theater kid (was in drama club and was in a couple non-school plays but never fully joined the group/polycule), and mostly assigned mac as backstage bc

moving in the shadows

emphasis on not being heard, since in the brotherhood and shadowpeach flashbacks there was a recurring pattern of him not being listened to

mental image of him wearing all black or smth (idk what the techs wear :[) looking at wukong and just SEETHING

the new minifigure of him where he’s holding a boom mic and looks like a tech guy

but also it’s like. i picture him losing the role in auditions to wukong (mostly bc god hates both of them) and then him getting assigned a more minor role but then he’s like “fuck this” and does tech instead for petty bitch reasons (note: again i don’t know how this behind the scenes drama works i was in the ensemble if i participated at all)(and that was mostly just school plays too)

Character Discussion Series: Toyama Kasumi (BanG Dream!)

In honour of Kasumi’s birthday (14th July), here’s my tribute to her!

Toyama Kasumi is a character that has a special place in my heart. She may seem like the usual “genki protagonist” at first glance but Kasumi is a fascinating character once you take a deeper look into her story.

Kasumi’s search for “the heartbeat of the stars”

To understand Kasumi, I think we need to understand the beginning of her journey: everything began one night when young Kasumi heard the heartbeat of the stars. This kirakiradokidoki feeling (sparkling and heart-pounding) was her “sound of beginning” (Searching For Stars event). When she heard/felt this, she got the feeling that something was going to happen. She kept searching and searching for this feeling again but was unable to find it. Until she came upon a trail of star stickers that led to Ryuuseidou (shooting star) and Random Star. Kasumi’s declaration of “This is it!” when she watched Glitter*Green performance is something I can relate to. That feeling when I’m watching a really good performance that made my heart pound with excitement. Kasumi wants to share this feeling with other people. This led her to finding the most important STAR: Saaya, Tae, Arisa, Rimirin.

In the last ep of S03, Kasumi tells Asuka that the beat of the stars were everyone she met along the way. In her special episode from her Sound Of The Beginning card (Searching For Stars), Kasumi tells us that she wanted to go back to tell her young self that the beating sound of the stars that night wasn’t just a dream. In her search, she found the members of Poppin’Party and all her friends from the other bands.

And because of this, the heartbeat of the stars is not only the guide for Kasumi but for all of PoPiPa too. It is the reason why they came together to play music and it represents the bonds that they share together (STAR BEAT! –Hoshi no Kudou-).

Kasumi’s LIGHT DELIGHT

Kasumi is not always the happy-go-lucky and genki character. She has her moments of doubts and failure too. The SPACE audition arc is important to Kasumi’s character. After hearing from Owner that she was the worst performer out of PoPiPa, she took this failure incredibly hard. She practiced alone in the dark, ruining several picks and cutting her fingers. She became isolated from the rest of band, fixated on improve her skills and losing the reason why she wanted to perform at SPACE in the first place. Kasumi overreacted when Arisa confronted her about it: Why is Kasumi working so hard to perform at SPACE? Was all the pain and hurt from failing worth it? Was it really fun? Kasumi thought that her friends weren’t having fun with her anymore because she was the least skilled. Ultimately, she lost her voice because of this paralyzing fear. However, this was not why any of the members join the band in the first place and Kasumi will finally be on the same page with the rest of PoPiPa when they all share their feelings in park (which led to one of my favourite scenes: them splitting up the lyrics of Mae e Susume and singing the new arrangement together).

There are other instances where Kasumi faced problems that she couldn’t solve with her “pushing forward and hope things work out” attitude: in S02, Tae’s involvement with RAS and her denial that everything would be okay led to their disastrous cultural festival. Of course, this isn’t her fault alone but this was an issue that every member of PoPiPa was in denial about until it was too late. It was something that the whole band needed to overcome together.

Kasumi’s leadership style

Kasumi is a “doer” type of person and her leadership style reflects this. She is the one who pulled the members of PoPiPa together and the one who brought the girls of the Girls Band Party together. As CHU2 said, she is the initiator.

She can be pushy, blind to the feelings of others and too enthusiastic especially at the beginning of the series but she has her friends’ interest at heart. She genuinely wanted to be friends with Arisa despite Arisa’s resistance at first. She listened to Rimirin and respected her decision to not join the band. She pulled Tae into the band with her passion for music and her determination to perform at SPACE despite her skill levels. Kasumi’s fight with Saaya made Saaya realized that she doesn’t have to bear the burden alone. She should be true to her feelings and talk about them with her family and friends.

Yes, her reckless optimism can backfire on her. In Double Rainbow, Kasumi continued to push forward and tried to get Arisa to practice with them as normal, hoping things would work out. Her actions hurt Arisa but Kasumi recognized her mistake and how she crossed a line. However, Saaya told her that Kasumi’s ability to take action, whether it was the right or wrong one, was admirable. Like Tae said, Kasumi was the only one who could pull the band back together.

In S03, Arisa was the one who came up with the plans about how to maximized their votes for Girls Band Challenge but she was hesitant about performing at CiRCLE and DUB out of fear. Kasumi was the one who pull them forward, encouraging PoPiPa to try out new things. The results are not the only important thing but it’s also the memories of the things that they experienced together on the journey.

In Live Beyond!!, we see how Kasumi's actions and attitude influenced those around her. However, this is not a one-way relationship because Kasumi is also influenced by the people around her as well. With the encouragement and support of her friends, she was able to move forward and do her best to help live performances grow alongside the performers. I'd like to describe Kasumi as a sensitive soul. Her interpretation of "lives are like living creatures" took me and even the Owner by surprise. I think the common interpretation of this phrase is that no single live performances are the same even with the same setlist. Each performances will be different and that's how people should experience live performances. So for Kasumi to say that lives are like living creatures and we have to help them grow and change into something better really emphasized how creative and thoughtful she is.

Kasumi’s song writing skills

Kasumi is PoPiPa’s lyricist and we can understand more about her through her songwriting and lyrics. In ‘Someday, A Poem for You’ event, we got to know more about Kasumi’s lyrics-writing process when Lisa asked for advice. Kasumi writes about things that gives her “sparkling and heart-pounding” emotions. She explained that there are a lot of sparkling and heart-pounding things in places that seem completely ordinary. She wants to share these emotions with everyone so they can feel them too. Lisa puts it into simple words: Kasumi changes the way she looks at things to make them shine. We can see a lot of ordinary and mundane things in PoPiPa’s lyrics, for example, in Girl’s Code, Home Street, Kizuna Music, Photograph, etc. Their normal everyday routines are precious for Kasumi and she puts these feelings into her lyrics. “Kasumi is a genius.” – Nakamura-sensei

In ‘Message For You event’, we got another wonderful example of Kasumi’s writing skills in her end of year speech as the representative of the First Years. Kasumi’s usual approach to writing lyrics, capturing the sparkling and heart-pounding feelings from her memories, helped with her speech writing. She went around talking to the friends she made, remembering how she felt during various events and took inspirations from other people’s words. Her speech was the best example of how Kasumi’s mind works. I highly recommend watching/reading Message For You event!

Another example that I want to talk about is Mae e Susume’s lyrics and how it reflects Kasumi’s relationships with other members of PoPiPa. During their first SPACE audition, Kasumi was the sole singer of Mae e Susume. After a discussion with friends, the general consensus was Kasumi wrote the majority of the lyrics. Here we can see how Kasumi viewed her friends and how they inspired her to keep on moving and never give up on reaching their dream of performing at SPACE.

Each of the member’s solo lines in the current version of the song can say a lot about Kasumi’s feelings. She likes Rimirin a lot but she doesn’t push her to do something she’s not ready for (to initially join the band). Her after-school guitar sessions with Tae were the start of their friendship. They bonded through the three chords and Kasumi understands Tae’s passion for music. Her conversation with Saaya under the starry night sky and their promise to sing together someday were important moments for the both of them. And Kasumi’s interactions with Arisa have always made her more honest about herself. Kasumi will realize that while being in a band and playing music can make her feel sparkling and heart-pounding, they are not the only things that make her feel this ways. It’s being with Saaya, Rimirin, Tae and Arisa and doing these things together that makes her even more sparkling and heart-pounding!

Meeting Kasumi has changed my life for the better and I owe her a lot.

Tobi a fan helped Eret write the lore (Dryya_ on twitter)

well ! here’s what I can confirm:

twitter user Dryya_ has provided screenshots of them planning out this lore stream with eret on discord. they’re an eret fan who has their own webtoonz and takes commissions. Source: [Link 1, Link 2]

as far as I can tell, eret themselves has yet to confirm it. and while I wouldn’t just to immediately assume that they’re lying (this would be a very strange thing to lie about), it’s not as if it’s impossible to fake discord screenshots.

so ! part of me wants to hold off until eret says something about it. but the other part is, Well.

if it’s true then I couldn’t describe what a bad idea I think this is, not necessarily on it’s own but definitely in execution.

if there were Ever a situation where a streamer hired an outside writer than picking up a random fan on commission is, a bad idea? it doesn’t matter if their own writing is good, there’s no guarantee that they have a firm grasp on the story, and that’s something that’s really difficult to test for. this is something that would benefit from an auditions process and help from other cc’s. it’s not something that you confirm on twitter after the fact.

there’s an argument to be made about whether any of the cc’s getting someone else to help them write a script for their roleplay is In The Spirit Of Things, but what matters more than that is execution. and you can’t guarantee quality writing that fits within the overall narrative of the series as a whole by picking up an eret stan with their commissions open.

which I think a lot of people would argue that this stream seems to very much so not understand the history these characters have had together (I most of all Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4, Link 5).

on the other hand, if it turns out that this is Untrue. that the screenshots are doctored and eret never collaborated with a fan to script the newest stream then well. that’s weird innit fjkaldsjklfads

either way ! nobody should harass this person or bother them at all about the stream. if they were actually involved then that’s on eret for choosing to give a random fan this level of control over the story, and if it’s fake then they obviously didn’t have any influence on it at all and this is just strange.

I think I sent an ask to quickly I meant it sarcastically because the argument is always i’m not racist I like Simone im sorry!

Prev ask: Most of the people with problems with Charithra are fans of Simone or/and Indian themselves select the racist accusation doesn’t make sense lol

Ok this second ask really clears it up. Yeah fandom in general always does this sort of "how can I be racist when I like (insert random non-white character's name)?" mental gymnastics and they LOVE using non-white fans who share their opinions about a specific character as their scapegoat because apparently a couple of non-white fans are the equivalent of every other non-white person of their minority, therefore no one has the right to accuse them of being racist 🙄. And of course since Bridgerton season 2 has given us the "abundance" of two dark-skinned Indian women, fans can pick and choose which ones they claim to stan just so they can hate on the other one.

It's especially disheartening to see this argument be tossed around again because honestly, arguing about Edwina's poor writing between non-white fans (who aren't always just Indian) has gotten a LOT of other people to be very comfortable with making the most outlandish claims about Charithra as an actress to the point where I'm honestly wondering what the fuck they're on. Like just today I had to witness someone on Twitter saying that Charithra's parents must've been secretly paying off the production if she was able to make demands for Edwina to have a bigger role in the show or to not be used as a plot device and these baseless claims got the point where now, people are hating Charithra for even daring to audition for Kate first??? Like the casting call for both sisters explicitly said that they were looking for a biracial Indian actress who's half-white to play Edwina, so even if Charithra wanted to audition for it, she likely couldn't have pushed for it since she is just starting off. Jonathan Bailey first read for Simon before getting to read for Anthony, it's literally how casting works in Hollywood but apparently we have to accuse Charithra of being an evil scheming Brown woman who's got it out for Simone. And it's just so obvious that it's a very targeted form of hate towards her because Nicola Coughlan is one of the biggest people when it comes to Bridgerton's marketing and promotion, like she's done so many interviews and promos and red carpet appearances or fashion magazine videos since being on the show, but I've never seen anyone put her against Simone or say she's stealing Simone's spotlight as the leading lady the way I've seen people say it for Charithra. It's disgusting every time and I'll never forget someone who made the very valid claim that since many of the fans who are currently into Bridgerton are period drama fans (a genre infamous for its pretty blatant lack of diversity when it comes to western adaptations), they can be pretty racist in a way that people who come from other fandoms aren't.

REGARDING THE PATRICK GIBSON NIKOLAI SITUATION

what he said in the past is absolutely not okay and im not trying to “justify” his behavior, only trying to offer some other viewpoints. first, we’ve only had this casting for a day and you’re already trying to find reasons to cancel him just because he wasn’t what you envisioned nikolai to be and i think that’s disgusting. it’s something i expected given the fandoms behavior in the past, harassing random actors & models comment sections with “NIKOLAI” and his quotes. that behavior was completely embarrassing and uncalled for especially given @/robert1wilde’s sad response to those messages in his comments.

second, we’ve only had this casting for a day. we don’t KNOW this man and we have no clue what his views are currently and how he feels about his tweets. he could have changed or he could have not, WE DON’T KNOW. i know S&B has had some dicey moments (brownface, not plus size nina, jesper having lighter skin) but i wholeheartedly believe that the casting directors, leigh bardugo, and the rest of our diverse cast members would not be fine with this pick if they knew he was a bad person. we don’t know anything about him, but THEY DO! they’ve gotten to know him and know more about his personality/views than we do based on tweets from 10+ years ago.

it’s not okay what he said, but he was also 15 when he said those things and that leaves the possibility of more than a decade for him to grow for the person he was back then. personally, im disappointed in the person i was several years ago as well but I’ve grown from my mistakes and tried to improve myself as best as possible. we don’t know him, his situation, his environment, his friends, his family background, etc. we don’t know this guy at all so how are we basing our entire perception on him from a few HORRIBLE tweets he said 10+ years ago. I knew cancel culture was toxic, but this is honestly ridiculous given we hardly have any other information on him and haven’t gotten to know him yet. it takes time, maybe he will acknowledge his mistakes once everyone stops hating on his looks and casting. once again, WE DONT KNOW.

in regards to accountability, think about it: if you were put in this situation of being casted as an extreme fan favorite character and people were angry because you didn’t look good enough, you would probably also be trying to not get involved in the drama to spare your own feelings and trying to avoid toxicity. this guy is pretty unknown so far and while his behavior in the past (approximately 11 years ago) isn’t admirable, it’s understandable why he would delete it and not get involved in Twitter drama because being part of a project with this big of a fanbase is probably pretty new to him. im not trying to say what he did was correct in deleting the tweets, just that it makes sense given the context of the situation. i hope that he does acknowledge it in the future or show that his views have changed, but until then WE DONT KNOW enough about him and shouldn’t immediately cancel him.

also, I’ve been seeing way too much heat about his looks and the #/notmynikolai trending and im disgusted at the fandoms behavior. granted, im not surprised bc everyone had such high hopes for nikolai (remember harassing other actors???) especially because the rest of the cast are so incredible, but this toxicity really needs to stop. from what I’ve heard, his performance in his other projects has been phenomenal and we’re truly lucky to get someone with his talent. i myself didn’t picture nikolai as patrick but the more i opened my mind to it and saw his other photos + his energy in videos, im convinced he’s gonna do an amazing job just like the rest of the cast have. there’s a reason he was picked out of all the hopefuls who auditioned and there’s a reason leigh + the casting directors approved him. we just need to wait and see.

i remember people used to (some still do tbh) hate on freddy and archie a lot as well, based on looks and now most people love them. GIVE IT TIME! OPEN YOUR MIND! sorry that the casting directors couldn’t read your mind and pick based on who you wanted </3, i personally would want someone with great looks and AMAZING acting skills rather than someone with amazing looks and mediocre acting skills.

also, this isn’t even a bad casting like skinnywashing nina & lightskinned jesper. y’all are doing so much to cancel this man yet most of y’all were silent on darkskinned rep, plus size rep, and the brownface thing (i say this as a south asian). those were all bad things that happened as well !!! at least we got someone who has the physical characteristics and FITS THE DESCRIPTION of nikolai.

also im convinced that y’all would not have dug up this much dirt and wanted to cancel the actor so bad if he happened to fit your image of nikolai. just admit it! you want to get him cancelled so they cast someone who looks like a “better” nikolai.

Asks I’ve received over the past few days and my responses:

Anonymous asked: Hello! Sorry to bother you but I am curious if they will dye the actor's hair, use a wig, or just keep is actual hair color? (TLDR: I am very stoked about this and I think after watching The Adam Project is that this kid will be ama-zhang as Percy)

Answer: They have not said what they will do with his hair.

Anonymous asked: so they only have percy??

Anonymous asked: When Rick says that they are very close to finalizing the actors for Annabeth and Grover do you think that means they just have to figure out contracts and stuff before they can make any official announcement? Or do you think that means they’re down to their final options and just have to choose now? Just curious on your thoughts lol, thanks! :)

Anonymous asked: does the percy announcement mean other parts are announced soon

Answer: The only character officially cast is Percy. We will be getting the castings for Annabeth and Grover soon, though how soon is unknown. It could be that they are figuring out contracts and such, or it could be that they are waiting for approval from the Disney, or they are making final decisions between a couple candidates, etc. I do not know and they have not disclosed that information. But Rick has said that he believes they are very close to the casting announcement for Annabeth and Grover. 

Anonymous asked: Do you think that the casting team is still sending out callbacks for the roles of Annabeth and Grover? Or have they stopped and are only looking at people that were already called?

Answer: Since Rick believes they are very close to finalizing the casting for Annabeth and Grover, I don’t think they are still sending out callbacks for those roles.

Anonymous asked: Wait so if walker had been cast since January does that mean they brought in random children to read for percy or what

Answer: Probably it was just Walker reading for Percy at callbacks to try and see which actors had good chemistry with him. My guess is they didn’t want the fact that Walker was cast as Percy to get leaked (which could happen if the kids went in knowing that the kid they were gonna read with was the one who got picked), so they held off on saying that they had found an actor for Percy. I don’t know for sure, that is just a guess. 

Anonymous asked: Hey my name is Misha, and I was wondering if they were going to open casting calls for Clarisse La Rue? I was thinking about auditioning for her since I have the right build for her body, and even if I don’t make it, it can’t hurt to try right? So anyways, I was wondering when the auditions would be opening, unless they’ve already come and gone, so yeah. Please let me know!

Answer: The casting call for Clarisse did go out but it is a closed call, so it was only sent to agencies. It is not open to everyone. 

Anonymous asked: do you think they'll do a casting call for talia

Answer: If you mean in general, yes at some point there will be a casting call for Thalia. If you’re asking if there will be one for this season, it depends on how they plan to film the scene where Grover shares what happened to Thalia (flashback or just him talking). If you’re asking if it will be an open call, I do not know. 

Anonymous asked: I know it's probably wayyyy too late given that they're 'very close to finalizing' but do you think there's any chance at all that they'd look at audition tapes sent in in the next week or two?

Anonymous asked: My friend still hasn’t submitted his audition, from other Anons do you know if anyone has gotten anything downloaded in the past couple days?

Answer: It is too late to submit as they have now stated that auditions are closed. 

Anonymous asked: Question I have been wondering! I sent them my video through WeTransfer, and everyone keeps talking about them downloading the video. How do I know they have downloaded my video or even have seen it?

Answer: I have not personally used WeTransfer so I can say in specific, but I believe on the file you submitted it should tell you if it was downloaded and how many times.

Anonymous asked: Hey! How do you know if they “downloaded” your audition, or if they have even seen it! Because when I go to my ‘sent box’ in mail, it has no record of me even sending a tape, but I did.

If you sent it through email, you won’t know if they downloaded it or if they saw it. If you sent through WeTransfer, see the last question.

Anonymous asked: hey! i sent my audition for annabeth in the middle of december by email. do you think that they check email auditions? i was also wondering if you know anything about annabeth callbacks yet. thanks!

Answer: Yes they do check email auditions. That was the main submission form they mentioned. Annabeth callbacks have been happening over the past few months.

my contribution to the bapo timeline discourse bc i’m just gonna propose a timeline and will not be taking criticism <3 (under the cut bc this is gonna be a long post probably) 

ok disclaimer I am quite stupid, however I’m gonna use my knowledge from my own 12 years in american public high school and what little info I have about american boarding schools/catholic schools that I have from my friends lol. so. idk. 

i’m also gonna date songs/major events and i’m gonna be taking some “just trust me bro” liberties bc y’all are right it does NOT make that much sense. 

January 6: Epiphany; this is like an actual holiday lol. like its always on the sixth. idk its good that this is the starting point bc its an actual date yknow? For the purposes of this timeline were going with that its early in the week, so lets go with Monday idk

January 6-13: You and I, Role of a Lifetime; so we’re all kinda in agreement that this timeline (at least the beginning) only really makes sense if you and i/role of a lifetime aren’t like. a singular moment and are instead multiple days. so yeah, of this first week, this is like. monday-next sunday ish yknow. 

January 14: Auditions, Plain Jane Fatass; ok so having auditions for a spring musical right after kids get back from break actually makes perfect sense to me, like i can see it being like “ok take break to prepare so as soon as you come back we can have auditions so we can jump right into rehersals” yknow? and since the rave is clearly on a friday (”we’ll meet in tanya’s room on friday night”) so i’m going with the monday before.  

as for pjf, i know it doesn’t make a ton of sense for them to get a two week late birthday package their first few weeks back from school, but hear me out it makes sense. the implication throughout this entire show is that the twins have decently shitty parents. from bits of dialogue (in this song in particular lol) i’m kinda inferring their the “only concerned with how their kids make them look to others” kind of neglectful. so I don’t think it’s too outside the realm of possibility that they went away for the holidays, didn’t bring the twins, and instead mailed them a birthday package and having it show up two weeks late. realistically the timing of this isnt that important and the explicit “two week” time frame could’ve been an exaggeration on nadia’s part to mock her shit parents (idk its in her character) basically ppl are a little two fixated on this imo but anyway. moving on. 

January 18: Wonderland, A Quiet Night At Home, Rolling, Best Kept Secret; a very agreed upon point in the timeline. its the friday following the auditions. moving on. 

January 21: Confession; also very agreed upon. the monday following the rave. moving on again 

January 23: Portrait of a Girl; the date here is kinda arbitrary, but bc sister chantelle says “ok lets try to put yesterday’s rehearsal behind us” and i for the life of me cannot think of a scene she could be referring to (there’s none in the script either) that implies it wasn’t the same monday as confession (bc even in a boarding school i think holding extracurriculars that aren’t sports over the weekend (especially when they are no where near crunch time lol) is weird and not common) so i just picked a random day during the week

January 25: Birthday Bitch!, One Kiss, Are You There?; from matt’s line in wonderland, ivy’s birthday is a week after the rave. in my timeline that’s january 25th (an aquarius queen). 

btw given all grown up’s “17, how will i manage?” ivy is 16 during 17 at her party, which is strange given shes a high school senior and seniors are typically 17 during 18. so either a) she skipped a grade, not an unheard of thing. or b) shes not a senior, shes just a junior who hangs out with a bunch of seniors, which is also pretty common. and looking through the script i can’t find any mention that she is also a senior, other than yknow she graduates with them, but she isn’t mentioned during the class ranking scene? so idk not that it really matters just a fun detail 

February 3 (at night): 911 Emergency!; ok controversial. i know i like the joke about how its funny that peter having a weird dream when he was high prompted him to want to come out and really ruined his relationship with jason. BUT. i think the dream (despite it’s weirdness) would have a lot more meaning if it wasn’t the result of being really high, but if it was a dream he had like a week later as a result of a building sense of guilt/anxiety bc he told matt. also it fits better given later timeline things. (this timeline literally only exists if there are weird jumps in time that don’t make a ton of sense) (EDIT: I forgot one line about Jason crashing at ivys but fuck it forget that bitchass line this makes for more drama its staying this way)

February 4: Reputation Stain’d, Ever After; the next day following peter’s dream, idk what else to say, moving on. 

February 25-28: Spring; another jump! i’m sorry but the only way for this to make sense logistically is for there to be quite a few time jumps! however, i also think this one works bc i think it gives time for everything from around ivy’s party and peter and jason’s break up to stew emotionally. like obviously a musical only has so much time to tell a story so the audience cannot see every realistic beat, but honestly i think it makes the whole thing a little more dramatic™ if there’s space for everything to settle, and for ivy to come and apologize and such. also, the reason it’s multiple days is bc in the script, ivy is trying to study (presumably for some sort of midterm) while nadia is playing, so that probably takes place a few days before they move out, so before finals. but in the script, jason and peter are packing and peter is leaving, so that part of the song/staging takes place on the 28th. yes, that’s weird, but we are clearly thinking more about the logistics of this school than the writers were so. 

March 1: One; assuming st. cecilia’s works kinda like boarding schools here, they probably do staggered move out/move in, just bc that would be a lot to have people coming and going at once so it makes sense that peter left the day before, while jason and ivy are leaving the next day. also, given that peter is trying to call jason while he and ivy are banging, it’s probably been a hot minute since the actual break up, since peter was clearly very hurt by the whole thing, it would make sense (at least to me) that peter would reach out a month ish later, rather than like a few days later (you have to make so many assumptions to make this timeline work granted they aren’t super out there assumptions but still this is annoying) 

March 1-25: Spring Break. the coworkers I have who are in boarding school work over their school breaks, which are longer than the public school breaks (which are only a week) so i put their spring break at 3 weeks. it makes sense, and it makes the later part of the timeline make sense. 

I know i’m already halfway through this, but to me it makes sense for their to be quite a few time jumps in the story bc its a musical. they cannot show every day. there are a lot of other shows (particularly shows set in high schools) that are set over a whole school year, but if you just look at the events of the story that doesn’t make sense, so you have to imply that obviously they are not showing every little detail. moving on. 

March 25: Wedding Bells, In The Hallway, Touch My Soul; peter wakes up from his nightmare in the church, so im assuming he fell asleep in church (like he almost did during epiphany). also it makes sense that class ranks are announced in late march-early april, I know my school announced ours in like, the first week or so of april? so yeah. moving on.

(from this point on i was giving myself a headache trying to make it make sense so its all weird from here!!)

April 4: See Me, Warning; the date doesn’t really matter here, I picked a random day in early april. the script said peter is calling from him and jason’s old dorm room, as he was picking up the last of his things, so he clearly made the roommate switch after school started (makes sense to me). 

April 15-20 (approximately): Ivy finds out she’s pregnant. look google tells me on average people find out they are pregnant around 5-7 weeks after conception. i went with around 7 just so this timeline makes a tiny bit more sense given the later stuff, so yeah here we go. 

May 4: Pilgrim’s Hands, God Don’t Make No Trash, All Grown Up, Promise, Once Upon A Time, Cross; a rough night for our heroes. so given sister chantelle saying “again? wonderful.” and nadia saying “i can’t believe you missed rehearsal again”, clearly ivy has been missing quite a few rehearsals, so for dramas sake maybe from when she found out she was pregnant? also i know i’ve been saying they wouldn’t have rehearsals on weekends, and given my weird timeline this would be a saturday, but its tech week so i’ll allow it. 

May 5: Two Households, Bare, Queen Mab, A Glooming Peace; pretty self explanatory, and it makes sense to have the spring play in early may. rip jason. 

May 11: Absolution; the day before graduation peter goes to confront the priest. gives him a small amount of time to start processing, and it makes sense it would be the night before, at least to me. 

May 12: No Voice; i fucking hate this. “peter, we graduate next sunday” i hate that stupid fucking line. do you know that this timeline literally would be fine if it weren’t for that stupid fucking line? bc then, the school play would be in early may and graduation could be in late may-early june (when most high schools hold graduation) but no. keeping with continuity, they have to graduate the sunday following the school play. “peter we graduate in a month, are you really never gonna talk to me again?” would have been fine. but no, now we have beef. literally everything else about the end of this timeline being kinda weird would work itself out, except for the fucking graduation. god damn. anyway, may 12th, the graduate on may 12th which is really fucking weird bc of that one fucking line. whatever. i didn’t write the damn thing bc if i did i wouldn’t have written that fucking line. (i’ve been at this for over an hour and a half, so i’m a tad annoyed, can you tell?) 

anyway, that’s it. that’s my long as hell proposed bare timeline. if there’s anything glaringly wrong with it i don’t care bc this timeline literally cannot make sense. but honestly, now that i think about the Popular Tween High Schooler Musicals (heathers, bmc, deh) the timelines of those (especially heathers and bmc) don’t make tons of sense either. that’s just the way it is, that’s the way its gonna be. and we have to live with it. 

this post is so long it is actually slowing down my laptop as i type it

"Women like a man with a big back porch!

My name's Raymond but everybody calls me Ray~

Ma Belle Evangeline

Don't make me light my butt!" (Ray Princess And The Frog.)

To paint you guys a picture, I was nine years old when this movie hit theaters. I was sitting next to my mom and I instantly saw her fall in love with one little firefly. He became her favorite Disney side character that she would fight absolutely anybody for. Sitting next to my mom and having that experience with her definitely rubbed off on me. I can say without any guilt whatsoever that Ray is my favorite Disney side character. At least one of the top three. The others being Mushu and one other that I'm keeping my little secret for now until the 11th of August.

While Princess And The Frog barely made it's budget back in theaters, so many people that I've met have a soft spot for it. I knew the moment that I saw Ray that he would change my life forever. And what do you know I was totally right. Out of all three of my favorite Disney side characters I relate to Ray the most. His loyalty, his empathy, his willingness to help anybody in his life, his over the top nature, and his singing in random situations (thanks for passing that gene down to me mom).

Ray's loyalty is something that instantly sticks out to me when I think about his character. He firmly believes in everyone in his life and that they'll achieve their dreams. All that they need is a little nudge in the right direction. He firmly believed in his friends even when Tiana thought that Naveen had lied to her he knew in his big ol heart that something just wasn't right. He literally died so that he could protect his friends and to help them to live out their dreams. Not many Disney side characters have died for their cause. When he died my mom was bawling her eyes out. My mom who has never cried in a Disney movie other than Inside Out wept in the public movie theater. She isn't a huge major Disney fan but she just loved Ray so much that he tugged at her heart. Ray's loyalty to help anyone out in a jam is definitely the kind of thing that I do for my friends on a regular basis.

I've always been a naturally empathetic person. Any problems that my friends have I tackle like they are my own. Hardly any Disney side characters do that, unless your Ray. Ray who paused the mission to get them to Mama Odi's because Louis couldn't go on further due to having thorns from the bushes on him. Ray who easily helped out Tiana and Naveen like it was nothing before even knowing their names or their story or even being introduced. He just *helps* because that's who he is as a person.

Out of all his other qualities I'd say that Ray's willingness to help others achieve their dreams is one of his strongest characteristics. He'd fight so that Louis could finally play with the big boys, he fought so that Tiana and Naveen could have their happily ever after together as it should be. His determination to never give up even in his final moments struck something inside of me. It's almost like his stubbornness and love for Evangeline were the only things that kept him going. His determination to fight so that others can live is really the core center of his character.

I think that one of the things that I relate to the most is Ray's over the top nature. His lying especially when he's caught up in his secret. I am the worlds worst liar. Especially about big monumental things that I'm just really excited about. I find myself in this situations especially around people's birthdays or Christmas when I just found that one *perfect* gift for somebody. This also ties in to his singing in random situations. Little known fact, the song that Ray sings when he's untying Tiana and Naveen's tongues during their first meeting is an actual song. It's called Cajun Love Song and it's by Leon Russel. The directors told Jim Cummings to just pick a song during his audition and that's the one that he picked.

Speaking of Jim Cummings! This is one of the few Disney movies where an actual professional voice actor instead of some major Hollywood megastar took the role. If you don't know Cummings's career than you certainly know his two most popular characters Winnie The Pooh and Tigger too. Both of these roles are ones that he's worked hard to keep over the years and he is Tigger to me. Nobody else, other than the legendary Paul Winchell, will ever be Tigger to me. There are countless other characters that he's voiced that have become huge parts of my life. I love his Don Carnage in Tail Spin, his Darkwing Duck, his Tazmaian Devil, and so many other roles that he's taken up over the years. Talking to the man behind the voice and having bought two of his prints, one for my mom that's of course Ray, and one for me that's Tigger I've discovered that the man's kindness definitely exceeds all bounds.

To me the core of Ray is his heart. It's his heart that kept him fighting after he lost the love of his life Evangeline, it's his heart that eventually lost him his life because he decided that he'd rather give his life up fighting for his friends than any other way. He knew that it was the only way that they'd win. Ray had the heart that was at least twenty times his small size. For those of you that know me well enough, you know that I have a Princess And The Frog OC that I named Rhiannon or Rae after Ray. This movie is just everything to me. It's the last truly perfect Disney movie in my opinion. I might love Moana and Zootopia since that one came out but neither of them can compare to PATF.

Dan Povenmire, co-creator of Phineas and Ferb and the voice of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, just did a zoom call for fans, and this is a link to it on Google Drive and a link to it on YouTube.

Here’s a brief overlay brought to you by my incessant live blogging, and because I was speed typing on my phone, I can guarantee not everything made the cut. If you’re interested in hearing Dan talk about growing up an artist and becoming an animator and trying to pitch Phineas and Ferb and working on the show and movies, I would definitely suggest checking out the full 75 minute video. The highlights from the call are below the cut.

They added Doof and Perry because they liked chase scenes. They realized fairly quickly that more than not, the pair led to good comedy, and found it much more interesting to see how their relationship developed. He also says that they are "the most important person to each other” and “they’re really good friends.”

They wrote the Perry theme song in an hour between meetings with Disney

They decided during the pilot that they weren't going to try to get comedy from the characters saying mean things to each other. Even Doofenshmirtz wasn't motivated by evil, he just wanted to get the attention he didn't get at home.

Doof’s backstories were not Dan and Swampy's idea. They were from Jon Barry and Chris Hendrick, who [itched the lawn gnome backstory. It was long and compliated and Dan and Swampy couldn’t stop laughing. They also provided the "it all started on the day of my birth” one the next day.

making the 2D movie while making the movie was the busiest Dan says he has ever been, and that's not even counting the PnF Take Two and Doof's web show and all the interviews. Basically, 2010ish was a very busy time in the Dwampyverse.

They decided to give each pair of writers their own section of an outline to work on, and each pair got to make up the dialogue and jokes based on it. it works well for the show, but writers kept going on their own tangents and the movie ended up like 6 hours long. Dan and Kyle Menke had to redraw 80% of the show because they had to cut gags out and rewrite it so it was still funny. Note: in the new movie, they did the opposite — they wrote a script and told the board artists that they could put brief gags in but nothing too long

He thinks the show became one of the most beloved shows bc it was innocent and the adult humor wasn't dirty so the whole family could watch it together. He also said the songs at the closest thing you get to immortality in a show. Those combined made the show as big of a hit as it was, and hopefully those things will get older people to watch the movie.

His advice if you want to follow in his footsteps are to draw (and suggest you check out Cartoon Animation by Preston Blaire and How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee) and to know that these jobs are out there

One of his favorite gags in PnF are the silent moments where something big happens and no one reacts (like something big fell in an early episode and crashed next to Phineas and co and at first they were all shocked but Dan changed it to them just kinda looking at it for a moment with no emotion)

Q: Did you ever want to quit what you were going?

A: "I don't really... do... anything else..."

He finished his new pilot today (July 2nd, 2020) and the movie is due tomorrow.

He would love to do more PnF and there's been talks of another PnF movie

He would love to do more Milo Murphy's Law, but it never got huge ratings and Disney's not too big on it but if people start watching it on Disney+ they might get to keep doing it. They did that with Family Guy, and it could happen to MML too.

The movie feels like old Phineas and Ferb and there are a lot of great songs! 

And now, the Q&A (in which he draws random characters are he talks)

How was the process of kicking the voices?

It was sometime easy but sometimes very difficult. For Phineas, they listened to maybe a thousand people. they actually recorded someone but they put it to animation and it didn't really work. He knew as soon as he heard Vincent that he loved him. They literally recasted the lead (Vincent) the day before they had to deliver the pilot.

He knew immediately that he liked Alison Stoner. She was the second Isabella he heard, and he listened to maybe 50 others afterwards, but he knew he wanted Alison Stoner

They decided on a different Candace and they sent it to the head of the channel and the guy asked if he heard Ashley Tisdale. He told Dan to have her come in and give her direction and Dan was hesitant bc he had one that he liked but he was lowkey forced to bring her in. It was his only audition that day, and after his big block of text Dan gave her like 20 notes and she wrote the notes on the big block of text and she did it again and it was perfect and obviously Candace (but he feels bad for the actress that was almost Candace bc she'll never know how close she was)

What was the most impactful episode you worked on?

Either the last (hard to watch w/o crying) or three moments that made himcey while doing them: the end of Summer Belongs To You when Phineas gives up trying to get off the island and decides to watch the sunset with Isabella which was what she always wanted and she exploded and talked him back up onto being the person he is even tho it's a sacrifice on her behalf. He later says he started crying while pitching to his wife the AYA scene of Phinabella getting together.

Do you regret any episodes?

There are some he likes more and some he likes less but he doesn't regret any of them. He was a little disappointed in an early episode without a sing but he watched it alter and decided it was actually pretty decent. None of them make him cringe or wonder why they did that.

How has social media impacted PnF?

He recently got on TikTok and found out that's where all the PnF fans are. He was thrilled to see the response everything was getting and it made him feel good about everything he accomplished. The fact that this generation knows what an aglet is is his biggest accomplishment in pop culture.

Favorite part of working on the show/movie

He likes editing, but writing the songs is the most fun bc it feels the least like work

Who is Ferb's mom?

Never established or really thought about Ferb's mom or Phineas's dad AND IT'S NOT DOOFENSHMIRTZ THEY MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR THAT TO BE TRUE STOP ASKING and Phineas and Candace are full brother and sister. The bio parents aren't interesting to them bc the family already has a mom and dad and the other ones are just out of the picture and not important.

Will there be a new character in the movie?

Super Super Big Doctor (and Disney keeps telling him what he can and can't talk about)

Are there any secrets or theories that he can tell them?

The freaking creepy pasta about schitzophrenic Candace IS NOT TRUE Phineas and Ferb do exist and are alive. There's also a theory that Candace is not based on the diary of a teen girl in Russia who killed herself, and that's not true either. He genuinely thinks they are really freaking stupid theories and they make no sense at all.

Who is your favorite guest star?

Writing a song with Slash from Guns n Roses was really cool. He also liked working with Ben Stiller, Christian Slater the delivery guy (he called and said he'd do any part in MML so they wrote him a role), Jack McBrayer (Irving/Fix It Felix), Wayne Brady (co-wrote In The Empire)

What is the motivation of Candace to bust the boys?

He's not trying to hurt them. She doesn't dislike them. She gets irritated but she's really just looking for fairness. If she built a rollercoaster in the backyard, she'd get in trouble, so they should get in trouble, too.

How did you think about hot to end the show?

Disney was starting to cool off on PnF. The merch wave had plateaued. Dan and Swampy had the next two years in the show already made, but Disney wouldn't pick up another season until they finished airing that season. They'd have to restaff for a new season and they didn't like that idea, so they turned one of their hour long specials into the finale. He wanted to be able to say goodbye and thank the fans.

A Bloom In Time Ch24 Accidential New Star

(I had to look up the prices and what the bill document said to get this right.)

Dead Bird Studios.

The place where for YEARS had been the birthplace of creativity and actors on the big screen. And now she was standing right in front of it. The others didn't look so fazed at the big building considering they had been there multiple times before but that didn't stop her from staring up in fascination at it all. It. WAS. HUGE!! WAY bigger than those tall buildings back on the moon. A giant logo sign of a black bird skull and film real decorated the outside on the big front there with the giant words under it reading DEAD BIRD STUDIOS. A parking lot stood between them and the entrance and they were already walking across it towards the entrance. To the far left of them, they could all see a bunch more of those cars parked into the rectangular spaced, not that Poppy was paying attention as they marched across in the hot sun beating down on them all. Poppy would be lying if she wasn't impressed, as she subconciously walked after the small group still walking, the shadow of the building fell over her and she involuntarily sighed feeling the harsh rays of the sun gone for a moment. Still following along after them up to the double doors of the building. The grown lady flinched when they opened on their own as soon as Cookie got near it and mumbled grumpily to herself about forgetting her purse and having to walk all the way back here on her day off of all things helping out and how it was so rude of her to make them all take this detour. Not that anyone minded as the children excitedly ran in past them inside. Poppy glanced wearily at the doors for a moment while passing, jumping a foot forward when it closed by themselves, blue eyes glanced between it and Cookie for a moment before following after the mumbling cat. The long hallway was pretty dark with a black carpet with bird skull patterns with lots of white squares lights barely lighting up the place. With a whoosh noise the doors up ahead opened on their own accord and the three children ran on through and into what looked like a well lit room. As they continued to persue the children down the rest of the hall she thought she heard some squeals of delight but she wasn't too sure yet. When she finally approuched the double pair of doors, they opened again with a whoosh for Cookie and Poppy flinched again...Before blinking and sticking her head into the lit room. A giant white Television set(computor) was sat on the counter which was the first thing she saw, and shiny marble floors reflected the bright lights above. There was a tired looking bird manning the counter as he calmly watched everything around him. Next to him was some kind of giant piece of heavy looking machinery, and as Poppy finally stepped in, she gawked at the sight of GIANT glass cases on either side of the room with shiny copies of trouphies safely sat inside with names of old movie directors of years past. But those only held her attention for a moment, above the trophies on either side were giant framed posters. On the right with a few penguins gathered was a strange looking instrument in disco lights, a ...slime monster??, and some penguin in an astronaut suit. To the right was a more western style of two seperate birds holding guns and a random cactus. Two doors were on either side and two signs by them each saying FILMING IN PROGRESS.

"DARLING!! You're back so soon?," A loud voice boomed out and Poppy yelped dropping her bags of clothing on the floor.

Who the voice belongs to was another moon penguin...But this one looked TOTALLY different from any other penguin she's seen before. He wore a ridiculous outfit with weirder shoes on his feet making him taller than the other penguins by a few inches, and he actually had hair and yellow eye brows styled up into some kind of weirder haircut, and last but certainly not least a giant pair of all black shaped sunglasses over his eyes. His beak was curled up in a smile as he approuched from the small crowd of three girls tailing after him as Cookie walked over to him.

"I wasn't expecting my best best network star to return so soon," he happily addressed her earning him a few embarrassed chuckles.

"Not exactly planned. I uh...Forgot my purse on set again and needed to run in and grab it. Can't exactly feed a bunch of hungry children without it now can I? H-How's the movie auditions so far?"

The penguin sighed and reached a flipper up to his forehead. "Easier said than done. There's the part of the wicked family who still need spaces filled in place, and the handsome prince, not to mention that I still have no one to play the concerned father and we only have a few months to put this together! I can't describe how much pressure I'm feeling..But I have a good feeling that this year will be in our favor for sure!"

Cookie smiled brightly. "Oh, I'm sure you'll find the perfect people to fill those roles soon. You always manage to pull off a wonderful display."

"*sigh* I sure hope so, Dear. I'd hate to have nothing to present for my efforts." His gaze turned up once he noticed movement by the doors as Poppy reached back down to pick her bags back up. "And I see you brought a new friend!" Poppy paused as she was approuched by the eccentric looking fella. "Why HELLO there, Darling! I don't believe we've met!"

"Uh..." Poppy had to blink to actually make sure she was seeing who she was actually seeing before shaking her head and standing up, giving a politely smile. "Howdy! I don't think we've met actually."

The penguin chuckled and shook his head. "We didn't and I never forget a pretty face, Darling. And who might you be?"

"I'm those two's temporarily babysitter," she answered pointed at two of the three children huddled by his side. "Until I can get back on mah feet that is. Kinda starting from scratch after a crazy wake up call."

"Well, it's an honor to meet you Darling." His whole being radiated positivity and his voice despite being loud was very welcoming, making Poppy smile brightly, "I take it this is your first time at a studio?"

She smiled a bit shyly. "I-Is it that obvious? hehe" She reached up to rub the back of her neck. "Uh...Y-Yeah. Do you work here?"

At this the penguin and Cookie shared a chuckle before he spoke. "Well, I should hope so. Or else my name isn't DJ Grooves."

Grooves?....DJ Grooves? As in THE Mr. Grooves Cookie had spoken about before? OH! He must've been the director she spot about earlier, that would've explained the way he dressed. This guy was a walking fat cat with deep pockets, but he looked rather friendly and cheerful to her. And not to brag, but she did have a good judge of character usually.

"OH! So YOU'RE this Mr. Grooves I've heard so much about."

He chuckled. "So you heard a lot about me? I'm flattered, Darling. Really I am-" He was interrupted when a rumble sounded out and Poppy grabbed at her stomach embarrased. "...Oh my, my, my. Hungry are we?"

"I haven't eaten since breakfast and we've been running around all day."

"Well, then I better get back there and find that darned thing." Cookie turned to Mr. Grooves with a smile. "Ya'll don't mind if I just run to the back real quick like and grab it do you?"

"Not at all, Darling. Be my guest." Cookie smiled and without another word turned and ran off towards the door on the fair right of the room. The giant thing creaked open and closed behind her as she disappeared into the area behind it. Poppy watched her go behind sighing and stretching out her back from the now uncomfortable weight of the heavy used farm equipment on her, but her attention went back to Mr. Grooves when he pointed towards the counter and spoke again. "Darling, if you want you can just place these bags right on over there with the other random things we brought in today. You look redder than an apple on the sun."

She nodded yes reaching up a hand to wipe at her face. "I feel like a baked apple too. ...Ya sure you don't mind?"

"Not at all, Darling. Not at all. Why don't you go do that and I'll have one of my assistants bring you out a glass."

"Well, if you're really sure."

She smiled and lugged her way over to the counter by the crate and weird machine thing. Placing the bags down by the crate, she shimmied the golf club bag of farming tools off her shoulders and into her hands, leaning them all carefully against the big ol' machine thing next to them. Sighing that her back didn't have weight on it anymore she stretched it out making her back pop. A few giggles made her look back over towards the small group of girls around the penguin. Bow was still pouting looking down at the clothes in disgust but looked up when the penguin adjusted the sunhat on her head, she looked up at him and Mr. Grooves said something to her. Poppy couldn't hear exactly what he said but it put a smile on Bow's face and he patted her head with a flipper. A smile returning to her face at the cute scene in front of her. A small creaking noise came from her left, and Poppy didn't notice the expensive camera starting to lean from the weight of her tools.

BAM!!

A loud bang filled the room but strangely enough, barely anyone flinched or looked up from it. As if used to hearing large booming noises in the studio. The only ones who reacted was Mr. Grooves, the girls, and Poppy. Poppy all but jumped out of her skin backing against the counter and whirling towards the source of the sound, the girls seemed to flinch, and Mr. Grooves only casually looked over towards the left side of the studio. There the other giant pair of double doors had been kicked open and slammed into the walls, a moment later a very angry......Yellow owl?? Stomped out and behind him followed some regular Express Owls holding various items or just following. .....Wat? Poppy had to blink as the small whatever he was stomped over near to where she was standing and starting barking demands all of a sudden.

"You three grab the bloody camera and make sure ye pecknecks keep a tight grip on it! I nae need me raw footage damaged in anyway!" His head turned as he barked orders to the owls who jumped and nodded at their bosses demands. "Good! Can't count on you all to do anything without me tellin' ye to cannae?"

Well THAT was rude. Poppy frowned at the rude little whatever he was and still didn't notice the large machine next to her lean over even more. Neither Poppy, the owls, or whoever this small yellow guy was(who was still yelling at the poor owls through all of this might I add) noticed the heavy duty camera leaning over or the glamerous penguin waltz on over towards him with a smile until they all reacted at his voice. The owls stopping, the yellow bird thing freezing for a few seconds, his fist shaking and slowly closing into fists, and his head snapping to peer over his shoulder, and Poppy looking over blinking.

"Conductor, Darling. You mustn't be so loud. It disturbs the peace and scares potential clients away," Mr. Grooves calmly spoke to this person. "You know I'm still expecting others to answer my casting calls."

Wait. Didn't Cookie also mention a Conductor? Huh. So this must be him. Not gonna lie, not a good first impression to her if she said so herself. Conductor huffed and turned his whole body turned to completely face the calm moon penguin now.

"Tis NAE of your business ye no good puffy haired peckneck!!," Conductor shouted while pointing a hand at Mr. Grooves. He was loud enough to make Poppy wince. "Why don't ye badger off and leave me to my worrrrrk!!"

"Darling, I would love nothing MORE than to leave you alone undisturbed," Mr. Grooves insisted calmly holding up his flippers, "All I ask is that you don't make such a ruckus in the lobby so my interviewers don't get scared off."

"HA!! Ye still going on 'bout that nonsense! Like anyone would rrrreally want to be in some techno sore to the eyes picture like yours!"

"Well that's not true at all. I have a gentlemen coming in tomorrow to see for the part of the Father in my little play. "

"HA!! The third one in a row? By this rate, ye won't be able to show ye face at the Award Ceremony for judging!" He smiled this time and crossed his arms.

"Now, now. There's still lots of time. And I'm going for something far more simple this year. A little change of style but still fabulous if I do say so myself."

"HMPH!! Well I say ye are full of birdseed if you think you have an inch of chance as usually! Another second place trophy would be more fitted! AHAHAHA!!"

Poppy could feel herself frowning at his words. Well that was really uncalled fore especially since Mr. Grooves wasn't being rude at all back or making a big scene like Conductor was. CREAAAAAAAAAAKKKK!! Hey...What was that creaking sound? Or was her ears ringing from the earlier screaming.

"Ye should give up now and save ye some trouble! With me raw footage it's surrrre to be in me favor."

CRREEEEEEEEEEEEE-

A giant creaking sound echoed out in a black blur as the giant camera leaned over and tipped. Owls hooted in fear as they scrambled out of the way as all eyes looked over and it seemed time slowed down as it went down, down, down- .....With a loud crash glass and pieces of metal shattered and flew everywhere. On instinct everyone close enough held up their arms and looked away from the shatter, but it was too late. Time slowed down as the camera shattered beyond repair and lots of metal clangs and sounds followed the disaster until it all finally settled piece by piece in front of them all on the floor. Destroyed camera and farming tools splayed on top of it. Everyone stood in shock staring down at the absolutely DESTROYED piece of machinery but that wasn't the last of it. A few sparks from the top of the camera shot out .....and then just a tiny spark of flame appeared. Well that tiny flame was enough to send some panic througout everyone there as owls sqawked and gasped back at the sight of the small flame which slowly started to grow causing everone else to get mildly panicked.

"SOME DARLIN' GET A FIRE EXSTINGISHER!!," Mr. Grooves yelled one flipper going up behind him to push back the small group of children behind him.

"STAND BACK!!"

In a fury of feather and blur, a white streak of foam shot out from some random direction and slammed into the flames, successfully putting out the flames with a sizzling sound by none other than the receptionist. The bird who was behind the counter wasn't finished yet as he continued to spray the camera and part of her tools down until it was all white like snow had piled on it and he stopped. Everyone remained in their tense pose for a long while staring at the camera...before some sighed in relief as did Poppy. Well that was certainly a surprise wasn't it? ...But not a very pleasant one by SOMEONE'S standards.

"MY MOVIE!!," Conductor cried recieving all eyes on his as his hands reached up to grab those feathery parts of his head staring dead at the camera in horror. "ALL ME HARD WORKED RRRRRRAW FOOTAGE IS GONE!!! .....AH!! YOU!!" His horror quickly shifted to anger when he snapped towards the fightened owls with an accusing tone. "YOU NO GOOD......FEATHER BRAINED....PPPPPPPEEEEECCKKNNEEEEEECKSSSS!! I TOLD YE TO BE CAREFULL!! NOW LOOK AT WHAT YE DONE TA ME HARRRD WORK!! WAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH A BLOODY SHATTERED MESS MADE BY BUBBLING BAFOONS?!"

The owls all froze at their bosses torment as Grooves turned around to ask the little girls if they were alright and Poppy stared. Watching as Conductor continued to shout as he blamed the poor owls for the mess....Blue eyes blinked down to the farming tools laid upon the floor. HER mess. The one she made-

Red eyes and shadows stared at her frightened form as a voice hissed. "Take her to the room and lock her away. ...I can't to look at her for as my prince had done. Perhaps locking away her forever will teach her a lesson about gazing into another man's eyes who belong TO ME!!"

"STOP!! JUST STOP IT WAS MY FAULT!!!"

Blue eyes snapped open at the yell. The yell that made everyone freeze and look at the red head who looked just as shocked and surprised as everyone else at her sudden outburst, but the Conductor wasn't yelling at the owls anymore. Despite him not having eyes, she could still tell he was staring right at her along with everyone else around her in more stunned silence as nobody spole.

".......Wot?"

"So YOU'RE the one responsible for this?," the tallest bird from the counter spoke putting down the fire extingisher and crossed his arms with a frown making Poppy flinch.

Poppy stared at him for a moment but seeing one poor worried looking owl behind him, made her frown before taking a deep inhale...and nodding towards the receptionist without hesitation. "That's right! One hundred peckin' percent!" She boldly pointed to the half foam covered tools by now. "Those are mah tools and it's mah fault the giant whatcha-ma-callit thing fell over 'n broke! Not anyone else's! So don't be yelling at anyone!"

The receptionist stood there for a moment staring at her before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a pen and piece of paper. "Are you willing to pay for the damages? If you chose to claim the damages that is."

She nodded again without hesitation. "I am!"

"Alright." The paper had the same bird skull logo and Dead Bird Studios in bold red words. "Where do you live, Ma'am?"

"Uh...."

"With us!," Hattie piped up.

"Alright." Under the words 'Billing Details' he wrote Red Head Human Woman and the adress Spaceship in the sky 1 6829 this planet, Invoice #: (insert random Owl Express Numbers), Invoice Date: Today, and Currency: Pons. After studying it for a bit he looked back down to the damaged thing with a hum. "Let's see. There was film so that counts under 'Distruping Studio Recordings' which comes to one hundred thousand pons." He wrote under the words 'You Will Be Billed For' as he spoke and looked at the damages caused. "One count of 'Penguin Harrassment' which is five hundred pons. Five cases of 'Owl Harrassment' for two thousand five hundred pons. 'Destruction of Property' oh definately for three thousand. And 'Tresspassing' for seven thousand."

Poppy could only stand there and let her eyes grow and widen in shock at the claims and how much pons this guy claimed she owed for such lunacy. ".......Tresspassing and harassment!? Of what kind?! I wasn't tresspassin' if I was invited in here!! And I wasn't harassing anyone!!''

"Ma'am. I'm only doing my job handling paperwork, and our insurance doesn't cover humans. The moment you stepped on property you became a liability and responisble for paying for any destruction you caused," he explained calmly as if he did this every day. He wrote one other thing down on the paper before holding it out for her. "You owe us one hundred thirteen thousand pons plus tax and another seven hundred fifty for the expensive high defintion camera to be replaced."

Poppy could only stare and not move at the paper held out to her with wide eyes and an open jaw like there was another cursed statue in front of her. After a moment, the recptionist carefully and calmly put the large bill in her hand and she finally reacted to the movement. with anger and a scowl. "WHY IS THIS SO EXPENSIVE!? I couldn't afford this even if I suddenly turned into solid gold like that roach did!!"

"Like I said, Ma'am. I'm only doing my job. If you like I could call the local court house of law, the lawyers there can assure you the paperwork and damages are all legal."

"Well I still can't PAY for it!.....What if I work off the debt instead? I'm a hard worker I promise."

"Well.....it wouldn't be the first time someone worked it off. But you'll have to speak with the two big bosses about it, not me I'm afraid."

"And they would be?"

"ME!!" She jumped and nearly dropped the paper when the Conductor scowled up at her with anger. "That was MY movie ye destrrrroyed with yer no good foolishness! If ye are gonna work it away ye better be ready to receive some hard work thrown at ye from meself!!''

".......No."

Silence. You could hear a pin drop as everyone in the studio of hearing range completely stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards the scene before them with wide eyes. Completely shocked into silence as they all stared at the human alike. Penguins, Express Owls, the two children, and even both the directors seemed to be shocked into the dumb silence as they all gawked at the frowning red haired lady staring at the Conductor. THE CONDUCTOR!! NO ONE BUT DJ GROOVES HAD EVER SAID NO TO THE CONDUCTOR BEFORE!! (except Hattie that one time in the basement but we don't talk about that not that anyone outside of the little girl, and a few of her friends knew) But now it seemed everyone was too shocked seeing a new person say no to the famously hot headed owl. One owl staring completely let the script she was holding fall from her hands and land scattered at her feet as everyone watched jaws dropped. Eventually Confuctor was the one to break the awkward silence by what else, his famous yeling. "WOT!?," he shouted and stared at her. "An' why not?! Ye are the one who cost me mah raw footage! That was ten days of haarrrrrrd work I ain't nah gettin' back, Las!" The red head crossed her arms and didn't change her expression. "I know and I am terribly sorry I caused you so much trouble in that department. But I refuse to work with someone so rude and treats the employee's who's workin' hard trying to help him by calling them useless! Obviously you're a terrible boss who treats anyone helping him with no respect, and I would feel terrible! Being in one of your movies knowing that, Sir." The girls exchange silent shocked glances behind Poppy as she turned her head towards the damaged camera. "....If it's the material that I damaged I would gladly pay in anyway I can. But only on the basis you apologise to those you've wronged, Mr. Conductor. But don't you go thinkin' I'll do anything before I know I'll be treated with respect!" Conductor's. Jaw. DROPPED!! Obviously not used to anyone other than that ridiculous long time rival of his speaking to HIM. HIM!!! In such a brass and demanding manner and it took a moment for him to even process what she just said but in a moment his temper flared up in a moment's notice as those feathery appendages on his head wriggled and he pointed at the penguin director as the other fist clenched into a fist as he demanded. Mr. Grooves blinking surprised at the sudden action "Bu-Bu-Bu-BUT WHAT COULD BE SOOOO SPECIAL ABOUT 'EM DOWN RIGHT EYE SORE OF A SO CALLED MOVIE!? YE GARBAGE NEVER COULD GET OFF YE GROUND IF DJ GRRRRRROOOOVES HAD ALL ETERNITY AND BECAME PRRRRRRESIDENT OF YE BOX OFFICE!!" "That's not true! I actually saw one of his movies myself." "YE DID WOT!?" "You ...did?," Grooves shifted his funny glasses wearing face up towards her just as confused as the angry owl man. Poppy nodded. "Yes. I. Did. And to be perfectly honest, I didn't think it was that bad. In fact, it was really interesting. Maybe not the 'best' by bird standards, but by human standards the story was really easy to understand for someone who honestly doesn't really know a whole darn lot 'bout these fancy lights, or high tech stuff, or..." She waved a hand off shrugging. "Or whatever ratings are. And a struggling career was relatable for someone who's been struggling with a lot happening." Conductor was sputtering and made some kind of funny bird sqawking noise before some of the feathers around his collar ruffled up in rage and he jabbed a thumb at himself. "WELL MAH MOVIES ARE NOTHIN' TO SHY FROM EITHER, LASSIE!! RRRRESPECTIVELY THAT AYE AM THE ONE TO MAKE IT ON TOP ALL YE TIME!!" Her face frowned again as she looked down at the older bird with a harsher scowl. "MY respect, SIR, is earned. Not GIVEN! And so far you've done absolutely NOTHING to earn it! Yelling like a baby who didn't get their candy and throwing a fit is not the way to do that! You just come off to me as a spoiled old man who doesn't know the word no even existed!" "WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT THE BLOODY PECKNECK ANYWAYS!?," He demanded fuming. "If you can't respect him as your rival then the least you could do is respect him as another person in your profession. As far as I've seen he's been nothin' but polite and kind to everyone and considering he's not in mah face yellin' like a baby bird for his mama is somethin' I respect." With a huff of that sass Snatcher would've loved to see she closed her eyes, and turned her head away with her nose stuck up. "I will start RESPECTING you as an adult when you ACT like one and apologize and decide to stop throwing a tantrum and embarrassing yourself! Because the truth be told I think YOU'RE the only peckneck in this studio." More silence settled around the entire place as Conductor dropped his jaw and the only sound that came out of him was something that sounded like 'A-Ah...ah..ah ah ah.....' in a stuttery way. Hattie's eyes were wide and Bow's hands had come to cover her mouth in a dramatic way. If Snatcher was there, Hattie would have no doubt he would've started laughing loudly at the look on the old bird's face. In fact, she could almost hear it now. A deep rumbling chuckle-....But wait. Snatcher's voice wasn't deep? It was high and raspy. Then who was-... A cold flipper patted Poppy on the back making her hum and look next to her to find the afro wearing penguin chuckling...before laughing a deep but loud laugh that filled the room with an almost joyful mood. That seemed to snap the Conductor from his trance and glared in the laughing penguin's direction. After a moment, Mr. Grooves stopped and turned his gaze up to Poppy with a smile. "Darling! I never could've said that any better than how you did!" He patted her back again. "You know. I like you already, Darling. My little stars usually have great taste in character and I see they didn't spare any expense in making another darling friend. What did you say your name was again?" ......She blinked but smiled at the happy moon penguin politely. "Poppy Rose Bloomington. You can call me Poppy, Mr. Grooves." Grooves hummed for a moment looking at her up and down for a moment before turning to the glaring Conductor and the broken camera lying a few feet away in pieces. "Was that footage really that important to you Conductor, Darlin'?" "OF COURSE IT WAS YOU PE-" "There's children here." Conductor's feathery appendeges went back as he growled. "YES! It was half me movie! It cannae be so simply replaced with the secret idea I was goin' for! All the time I spent on it cannae be replaced in time of the award ceremony!" The penguin hummed and brought his other flipper up to rub the bottom of his beak staring at the camera with a thoughtful expression...before looking back up to Poppy. "I'm afraid he's right, Darlin. I've known Conductor long enough to know one thing he never does is lie about his movies, even if he does brag while doing so in such a rude manor." "HMPH!! OF COURSE I DONAE!!" Grooves just rolled his eyes. "Even so, I think we should help him." "YE WOT!?" Conductor glanced surprised at the penguin like he won the trophy all of a sudden. "What kind of nonsense are ye blabbering about now?" Grooves turned to him staring, before tilting his head down wear his sunglass slid down enough to reveal some of his eyes in a deadpanned expression. "Believe it or not, Darling, I don't like unfair advantages." Conductor just stared blankly at him. " But I'm sure my little stars here could help out with anything you may need." Bow lit up with a smile. "Yeah! I'd love to help!" "Don't you have a back up plan like you usually do?" "Of course Ah do! I ain't no dummy." "Well, there you go, Darling." He reached up to push his glasses back into place. "I'm sure you'll put together something spectacular like you always do." "......B-B-But..What are the damages!? Ye camera cost the studio over a thousand pons! I cannae just look past that!," he argued back pointing at the shattered thing. And Grooves hummed again. "I'm afraid you're right about that too. Frankly, these kinds of ones aren't too easily to come across."........In a moment he smiled and looked up to Poppy. "I know! She can work for me as payment for those damages." Poppy blinked with a surprised expression as did most of everyone else but at the thought of Poppy being in a movies both young girls suddenly looked even more excited. Conductor on the other hand- "ABABABABABA!! Hang on a pecking second! THE LASS WORK FOR YE FOR DAMAGING MAH FILM?!" "I-I AM?!," Poppy asked whirling wide eyed to the moon penguin director. "Yes. Cuz quick frankly it might've been your film, but it was on OUR shared expensive studio high definition camera, Darling. She can easily pay off any debt she owes for the camera and your footage by working and her pay going to the repairs and reienbursment for any misguided accidents." The Conductor growled again and went to probably argue some more- "Tick tock, Darling. You don't want to waste anytime fighting when there's a deadline to meet. It looks like you'll be needing to step up your game." "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!! FINE!!" The tiny bird man turned and began stomping away towards the owl's side of the studio. "WHAT ARE ALL YE LOOKING AT!? SOMEONE BRING ME MAH BACK UP SCRIPT!! CHANGE THE SETS TO OUTSIDE SCHEDUALED!! SOMEONE INFORRRRRRM THE OTHER'S WE'RE GOIN' WITH PLAN B THIS YEAR!!! AND SOMEONE GET THAT SMASHED HUNK O' JUNK CLEANED UP!!" The owl's scrambled to grab anything they needed to grab and quickly follow the fuming bird boss as DJ Grooves chuckled and shook is head. "Don't feel too bad about the Conductor, Darling. He's usually all talk and no bite." Hattie giggled. "Yeah! He's a crazy, grumpy grandpa!" Both Grooves and Bow chuckled at Hattie's description of the old bird, but none of them noticed frozen and mildly panicked form. Her?! In a movie?! Where millions of people could see her?! WHAT HAD SHE GOTTEN HERSELF INTO NOW?!

can i request a joshua bassett imagine about you being a cast member on hsmtmts and the whole cast knows josh likes you but you’re oblivious and at the premier frankie and everyone is teasing you about joshua staring at you the whole night

flashing cameras | j.b

IN WHICH: joshua looks at you as if you’re his favorite movie.

INSPIRATION: electric love — borns

“Y/N! Y/N!”

A bright smile appeared on your face as you walked up to the reporter, greeting his with a polite hug as she held the microphone up to you.

“Oh, look at you! You look gorgeous!” the reported gushed, and you felt your face burn red at her compliment. You never did get used to the fame. One minute you were auditioning for a new show, the next you were cast as one of the main characters.

“Thank you, it means a lot,” you responded with a smile that would’ve made anyone’s heart melt.

“You play Isabella Bordeaux in High School Musical: the Musical: the Series, right?” the reporter began, and you nodded in response. “Can you tell us a little bit about her? She’s a new character in the second season, right?”

“Right,” you beamed, trying to keep a cool head as you started talking. “Well, she’s a French exchange student, and she’s a junior,” you explained. “She’s not really the type to join a musical; she’s a cheerleader, but one of the more quiet and honest ones.”

“It must be hard speaking French for the camera. Did you have to take lessons?”

“Well, all I had prior to filming was the French class I was taking in school,” you said with a shy smile, letting out a relieved sigh when the reporter laughed politely.

How could you look so pretty while doing the most simple things? Joshua asked himself that question more times than he’d like to admit, and as his eyes lingered on you and not at the camera, he heard someone bump him in the hip playfully.

“You are terrible at being discreet,” Frankie snickered, his voice low enough for only Joshua to hear. Olivia was beside him, smiling teasingly as his face burned red. It almost hurt them how oblivious you were to Joshua’s fleeting looks and longing eyes. You had always been blind to cues that were even a little bit romantic; it was obvious in the way you’d unknowingly shoot Joshua down in his attempts by giving him a high five.

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what he means,” Olivia remarked, smiling towards the camera for just a second before looking back at Joshua. If only the paparazzi knew what they were talking about; they’d eat it up in a second. “I swear, you were drooling before we came here.”

Joshua frowned a bit, fingers consciously reaching for his mouth to check of any drool. The action made Olivia and Frankie laugh, and Joshua knew he was gonna be in for it later. He grinned at the camera, posing with his friends before he heard heels click quickly up to him. He felt his skin turn warm and nerves prick his skin at the familiar sound.

“Sorry! This sweet reporter had so many questions and I answered them all — she seemed nice, y’know?” you ranted, adjusting your dress and moving closer to Joshua and smiling. His heartbeat picked up, blush deepening on his face as he heard Frankie chuckle at Y/N’s words.

“Y/N L/N, you are too precious.”

The after party was wild.

You never did get used to seeing random famous people walk up to you and congratulate you or compliment you on how great you were in the show. Their words rendered you into a sputtering, blushing mess of ‘thank yous’ and ‘I love you and everything you do, thank you so much.’

You practically lost it when you saw Finn Wolfhard there. Why as he there? You didn’t know, but you weren’t complaining.

“I’ve never seen so many famous people in one place,” you muttered to Sofia, who only shook her head.

“Me neither. Oh my God, I don’t even know why they all came,” Olivia was almost as giddy as you, pointing out ( literally ) every celebrity there.

“Pointing’s rude,” Matt commented alongside the rest of you, and you glared at him.

“The only thing keeping you from not freaking out is the open bar.”

“Being 21 comes with its perks,” he retorted with a smile. “At least I’m not Frankie or Larry. Their living their lives at the bar,” Matt pointed his drink to the nearby bar, where Frankie and Larry were talking animatedly to Joshua. Joshua — who was way too sober compared to any of them — was only grinning widely while Frankie made crazy hand gestures. He turned towards the rest of you, eyes widening once they met yours, and he immediately turned away.

You could hear the others laugh at his reaction, Sofia bumping your hip playfully to get you to snap out of whatever trance you were in.

“He’s whipped,” Sofia remarked with a laugh, making your face a deep red at her words.

“For who?” you managed, looking at your cast mates. They were all gaping at you, almost incredulous at your unawareness towards social cues.

“What do you mean for who?”

Joshua looked back at you and the others, eyes lingering on your form as you looked at the others with furrowed brows. A fond smile appeared on his face just at the sight of you, but the spell you put him under broke the moment Frankie clapped him on the back.

“Ow!”

“Do something!” Larry motioned wildly to you, eyes wide for emphasis. “You’ve been drooling over her since she first walked into set!”

“Have not!” Joshua fired back, making Frankie snort.

“Have too!” Frankie laughed out, voice loud against the bass boosted music. “Look; she’s terrible at reading cues. The eyes you’re making towards her?” Frankie tutted, shaking his head in shame. “Not working other than for your very dear cast mates. So,” he motioned to you yet again, and when Joshua turned to look at you, you were already looking at him.

Sofia and Olivia were whispering in your ear, something that Joshua could make out thanks to the music. But you looked unsure, your eyes darting to Matt while he smiled encouragingly. Julia and Dara walked up to them, their eyes widening when Sofia explained everything to them, and they too started telling you things with a wide smile. The curiosity was too much.

“Attaboy!” Larry yelled as Joshua stood up, gently making his way past the crowd. Unknown to him, you were doing the same, the encouraging cheers of your friends behind you fueling your confidence and your nerves.

“Excuse me,” you mumbled, pushing past yet another person and accidentally bumping into Joshua, your eyes wide as you looked at him.

“Hey!” Joshua managed, a nervous smile on his face.

“Hi,” you breathed out, all confidence now thrown into the wind as you swallowed dryly. “You wanna step out for a bit?”

“Yeah! Yeah, sure,” Joshua murmured, voice going quiet as he felt your hand take his. It felt so natural, your fingers intertwining with his as you led him out of the crowd.

The fenced back kept all the paparazzi away, and you led him outside to the cold LA air. You loved California when it was nighttime; the weather was perfect and the rare instance of stars was breathtaking.

Your hand was still holding his as you walked out. The music became muffled by the sliding glass doors, and you led him to a swinging bench. You looked up at the few stars that hung over head, the waning moon accompanying them in the sky. You let out a small exhale, a breathy, “wow,” leaving your lips.

“It’s pretty, huh?” you murmured to Joshua, your eyes set on the glowing moon. The moonlight hit your face perfectly, making you look like an angel on earth.

Joshua hummed, eyes on you as he nodded his head. “It’s beautiful.”

You looked at him, face blooming red when you saw him looking at you. He was talking about you. “Nice one,” you forced out behind the want to cheer and thank the world.

Nice one? Was that all you could manage?

“Sorry. I meant thanks. I dunno.” You gazed down at your heels, silently cursing yourself for your own words.

A chuckle rumbled deep in his chest at your reaction, his own face red. “You know,” Joshua managed through his nerves, “I thought you were gorgeous when you walked into set.”

You didn’t look at him, but your eyes widened.

“Yeah. That’s kinda why I tripped when I walked over to introduce myself. It’s also why I kinda avoided you for a few days because I couldn’t believe I tripped.” Joshua sighed, his confession coming out like a ramble that he couldn’t stop.

“I guess you could say I fell for you,” he joked, and that was what made you look up at him with a grin.

“You really had to make a pun out of it?” you asked with a laugh, the sound alone making his heart skip a beat.

“I had to get you to look at me somehow. And you know you love my jokes,” Joshua remarked, making you scoff and roll your eyes with a beaming smile.

You put your head on his shoulder, the action making him grin like a lovestruck fool. “You’re lucky I like you, Bassett,” you said softly, thumb swiping lightly over his hand. “For me, I think it was when I caught you stealing leftovers at 3 AM while I was trying to do the same.”

You heard him laugh at your words, and you peered up at him. Joshua looked back down at you, the blushes on your cheeks matching. The moment almost seemed too perfect, as if it had fallen out of an oddly detailed WattPad book and into your lives. You weren’t complaining.

You leaned up, and he leaned down. Your lips met in a soft kiss, and you swore you could hear your friends cheer.

—

TAGS: @tomshufflepuff, @myrandom-fandomlife, @softpeteparker, @sarcarstic-space-weirdo, @allaroundaddict, @cherrydolan

Knights of the Night (chapter 2)

Chapter 2

Ch 1, ch 2, ch 3, ch 4, ch 5

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29139240/chapters/71536491

pairing: Jungkook x oc

genre: vampire au, college au, twilight, romance

word count: 1,628

warnings: blood (obviously), kidnapping, child kidnapping, needles, France

notes: vampires, vampire au, college, college au, so many twilight references, blood, needles, kidnapping, children, homelessness, dance, ballet, flashbacks, romance, slow burn, probably no smut, idk yet tho, France, French things, attempted genocide, inaccurate French history, bisexual main character, @strawberriewithchocolate-blog​

summary: Catalina starts college in a small town all the way across the country. She doesn’t know anyone and isn’t exactly looking for friends. She just wants to focus on dance. But when she meets fellow dance major, Jimin, and adventurous, fellow freshman, Jungkook, Catalina ends up discovering a whole new side to the small college town; one that is dangerous but oh so enticing...

              Despite complaining about walking to work, Catalina was sort of looking forward to the hike. She could see the mountains from wherever she was in this town, and they were beautiful. It was seven in the morning and Catalina was half dead. After a cup of coffee and a hearty breakfast though, she was ready to go. Jungkook had texted her the day before giving her a time, eight am, and his home address. No other details, such as what to wear to work, which would have been helpful. She had texted him back but he never answered, so she wore a plain black t-shirt with jeans. She figured that was neutral enough.

               Jungkook’s house turned out to be right around the block, so it was a short walk. The house was old, two stories, grey brick, square and narrow. Catalina knocked on the door and waited. Jungkook opened the door right away.

               “Hey, come on in,” he said, holding the door open. Catalina closed the door behind her and looked around. The inside looked like it hadn’t been redecorated since the 70’s, but it was still cozy and homey. Jungkook led the way up the stairs to a small bedroom at the end of the hall. His hair was still a mess and he wasn’t wearing shoes.

               “Are your parents home?” asked Catalina.

               “No, they’re at work. They’ll come home in a few hours,” he said.

               “The night shift?” asked Catalina.

               “Yeah, they’re nurses. They’ve worked the night shift ever since me and my brother started high school,” said Jungkook. He was sitting on his bed, lacing up a pair of Timberlands.

               The bedroom was a mess, clothes scattered across the floor, piles of tangled wires in the corner. A bookshelf was against the left wall filled with video games and stuffed animals. Beside the bookshelf, a surfboard, a snowboard, and a skateboard all leaned against the wall. A glass of milk sat on the desk by the door and there was a hole in the wall right above that. Catalina could see into the next bedroom through it, which looked similar to this room. The whole bedroom stunk like…

               “Dude, this milk is bad,” said Catalina. She scrunched her nose and shuffled away from it.

               “It is?” asked Jungkook. He picked it up and sniffed it. He reared back and gagged loudly. Catalina threw her head back laughing.

               “Why did you sniff it?” she asked.

               “I don’t know! Shut up!” he said. He took one last tentative sniff of it before setting it down and grabbing a hairbrush.

               “Have you eaten yet?”

               “No I just got up, like a few minutes before you got here,” he said. “I was thinking we could stop somewhere on the way.”

               “Won’t we be late?” asked Catalina.

               “Just McDonalds, nothing fancy!” he said.

               “What time do we have to be there?”

               “Eight.”

               “Dude! We’re gonna be late!”

               “Just quick! We’ll go through the drive through!”

               “We’re walking!”

                 A half an hour later found Catalina and Jungkook starting on the trail up the mountain. Jungkook was wolfing down three McMuffins, tater tots, and a frozen coffee. The walk through the drive through was something Catalina never wanted to do again.

               The hike, though intimidating, was very nice. They talked about their childhoods and other random stories while they walked. The woods were beautiful; enormous, ancient trees towering all around them. Catalina remembered Jungkook telling her about people skiing in these mountains. She didn’t know a whole lot about the sport, but she was pretty sure the trees would get in the way.

               “Now, I don’t know enough about skiing, but I feel like all these trees would get in the way,” said Catalina. Jungkook chuckled.

               “Yeah, there’s slopes at the top that you take lifts to get to. No one skis here,” said Jungkook. “We’ll go this winter.”

               “Yeah, you keep saying that. Anyway, this is a really nice hike, but I bet you we won’t feel like doing this every time,” said Catalina. “We’re gonna get sick of it after the first few times.”

               “No way. R.I.P. to you but I’m different,” said Jungkook.

               Catalina sighed. “That was lame. And you’re the only one here who has a car, so…”

               “I know, I’m just kidding,” he said.

               The trail let them out onto the road, which they followed until they reached the gift shop. It was a small building on the side of the road which advertised trail maps, souvenirs and camping necessities. A little bell rang above the door as they stepped inside. Hoodies, snow globes and tacky, racist Native American merchandise greeted them inside.

               “You’re late,” someone said. A woman in her late 40’s rounded one of the shelves and crossed her arms.

               “What? Not we’re not!” Jungkook checked the time on his phone. They were indeed late. Catalina sighed. Great first impression.

               “We’re really sorry ma’am. Someone had to get McDonalds on the way here,” she said.

               The woman sighed. “Call me Helen. And it’s okay. It’s not like they’re bustin’ the door down.”

               Sure enough, besides them, the store was empty. Helen showed them how to work the register, where the back room was, and how to close at seven.

               “Just be friendly with the customers. I’m not gonna be here on weekends, so keep yourselves occupied,” said Helen. And with that, she left the store. The rest of the day went by slowly. Not many people came in, so Catalina and Jungkook mostly just hung out and goofed around.

               When Catalina got home later that night, she was exhausted. They only had a few customers that day, the rest of the time was spent chatting and making fun of the Indian goods.

               Her bed, which was still just a mattress on the floor, was a welcome sight.

                  The only thing she could feel was a deep-seated fear. It made her palms sweat and the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. The narrow hallways seemed to be never ending. She needed to find a way out. If they caught up to her, she was dead. The faint sound of a floorboard creaking somewhere behind her made her spin around, breath caught in her throat. There was no one there, but the hallway seemed darker than it was before.

               All of a sudden, Catalina found herself in a den. A fire crackled in the fireplace, bookshelves lined the walls and a big desk sat in the corner. It was cozy, and Catalina felt the fear melt away. She felt safe here.

               “Have you read this one?”

               Catalina turned around. A man stood by the hearth. He held up a book, but Catalina couldn’t make out the title since the letters kept shifting.

               “I’m not sure,” she said. This man was dangerous, Catalina could tell by the fear she still felt being around him. But she also knew he wouldn’t hurt her. “I don’t think I’ve read it. What book is it?”

               “I told you about this one yesterday. You would like it,” he said. When he smiled, his dimples caved and his eyes sparked. Catalina no longer felt afraid of him.

                  I Like It, by Cardi B. blasted from the speakers. Sweat dripped from Catalina’s brow.

               “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, one, two, three, STEVE, GODDAMN IT YOU’RE STILL TURNING THE WRONG WAY!” the choreographer shouted. She paused the music and pinched the bridge of her nose. Catalina took the opportunity to breathe and turn to Jimin. He was trying not to laugh.

               “I don’t wanna be here when she kills Steve,” Jimin said under his breath. Catalina giggled.

               “I think it’d be some fun drama,” said Catalina. “Also, he deserves it.”

               Jimin laughed and they got back into position as the music started from the beginning again. Catalina wasn’t really a fan of Cardi B., but the dance was a lot of fun. It was a smooth hip hop, lots of body rolls and sexy partner dancing. Catalina was glad she got Jimin as her partner and not Steve. Steve was pretty bad.

               Once the choreographer called it a day, Catalina and Jimin took their time packing their bags.

               “Do you watch the news at all?” asked Jimin. Catalina shook her head. “Well, it’s the only thing ever on at my house, and I guess there’s like, people going missing in the town next to us.”

               “Whoa, really?” asked Catalina.

               “Yeah, and I was invited to this party, but my mom has been freaking out and she doesn’t want me to go out, so I don’t know if I’m going…”

               “Wow, that’s crazy. Yeah, I mean, it’s not in this town though. So it should be fine to go to a party,” said Catalina. Jimin shrugged.

               “Maybe. Anyway, how was the first day at work?” he asked.

               “Ah, yeah, it was nice. The hike is cool and there’s a bunch of racist Indian goods in the shop. There’s like, barely any customers, so it was pretty chill all day,” she said.

               “That’s cool. I don’t think I’d be able to walk that far to work every day. I’m too lazy,” said Jimin.

               Catalina shrugged. “I mean, a job is a job. But I’ll probably have a ride for a lot of my shifts,” she said. “What about you? Did you get that job in the theater?”

               “Yeah, it’s alright. I guess it’s gonna be mostly just moving chairs around and helping backstage for events,” said Jimin. “But what if I want to audition for a show?”

               “Then they’ll just have to find a replacement for you!” said Catalina. “You deserve to be on stage!”

               Jimin laughed and said, “Thank you. I do deserve to be on stage, don’t I?”

Live From My Bedroom! It’s Darcy Lewis!

Based on a fic prompt I received forever ago and have been working on ever since.

Images used in the fake youtube screenshots were sourced almost entirely from Kat Dennings and RDJ's social media accounts.

Please note that this has been written in a very basic script/video transcript format. And has not been beta'd. Fingers crossed it's still easy to read. xoxox

Chapter One: Whatever Happened to Darcy Lewis?

[Title Card: A cheap animated explosion solely using colours from the Lisa Frank colour wheel with the text “LIVE FROM MY BEDROOM! IT’S DARCY LEWIS!” in the middle.]

[Video opens on a cheerful woman in her 30’s sitting in what looks like a teenager’s bedroom from the 90’s. The walls are covered in band/movie posters and the shelves are full of books, Barbies, and other toys from the era. The woman has long wavy brown hair and she is wearing a dark blue t-shirt with a Grumpy Bear symbol on it.]

Hello world! It’s Darcy Lewis here, cashing in on the childhood nostalgia train by launching my very own youtube channel. [winning smile] So… Whatever Happened to Darcy Lewis? This was a question posed to me by a random stranger after she had been staring at me for a solid five minutes as I stood in the tampon aisle of my local grocery store trying to make a decision.

[Cut scene]

[Text on screen: *Dramatic recreation]

[Darcy, dressed in basic t-shirt, staring at shelf of tampons]

[notices someone watching her]

[turns head]

Darcy dressed up like a yoga mom, caught staring: OMG. I am so sorry. It’s just that you look just like that kid from that tv show.

Darcy, dressed in a basic t-shirt, holding two boxes of tampons: [deadpan voice] I get that all the time.

Yoga Mom!Darcy: [deep in thought] Whatever happened to that girl anyway?

Darcy: [still holding up two boxes of tampons] I heard she moved to Florida to breed alligators.

Yoga Mom!Darcy: [shocked face] Really?!

Darcy: [still holding up two boxes of tampons] …No.

[End cut scene]

So, yeah, I am that kid from that tv show. In 1990, at the age of five, I was cast in the sitcom Live from Suburbia! If you don’t remember it you were probably watching Full House. That, or you’re just too young. It’ll be thirty years this month since Live from Suburbia! first aired, and come December I am going to be thirty-five years old.

[video goes black and white, zooms in on a distraught Darcy’s face]

[Psycho shower scene music plays]

[Darcy shakes herself out of it and video returns to normal]

So, yeah, I forgive you if you haven’t seen it.

[Text flashes on screen: HEY NETFLIX! PICK IT UP ALREADY!]

My parents have probably never even seen an episode they weren’t on set for either. They were never really keen on the idea of me becoming a child actor. They’re both college professors – they were prepared for, like, mathletes or debate club, not driving me to auditions and having me take classes with a tutor in a trailer parked outside a soundstage. [laughs] But I was super obsessed with Drew Barrymore in E.T. and when my mom explained that E.T. wasn’t real, and that Drew was an actress, I decided that was what I wanted to do. So when I heard people talking about auditions being held at a local shopping mall, and that they were looking for a “precocious” 5-6 year old girl, I kind of demanded that my parents let me go. That audition was for a cereal commercial – I didn’t get it, but the casting director liked me so when they were starting the casting process for Live from Suburbia! they asked me to audition for the role of Siouxsie.

[Text appears on screen: *NOT SUSIE. SIOUXSIE. LIKE SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES. #endthedebate]

Live from Suburbia! was about a wannabe rock star from LA, played by a pre-famous, pre-infamous, Tony Stark, who had to put his dreams on hold and move to the suburbs when he becomes the sole guardian of his two kids; Siouxsie and Hendrix, played by a pre-teen Clint Barton. You might recognise him too; his most recent album just went platinum.

[images of Clint Barton rocking out on stages around the world flash on screen]

The show was axed in 1994 and I pretty much went back to the real world for a few years and went back to school full time. My parents were pretty insistent on that. Towards the end of middle school they let me get back in contact with my agent and I soon got a recurring role as mean girl Kaitlyn on the Disney Channel show Total Drama Teens. And later on when I was a senior in high school I played Void, the goth hacker-slash-tech support to a brooding vigilante in one of the last great straight-to-video action duds of the Blockbuster era. 

[sudden dramatic close up] 

But we don’t talk about that. 

[zoom out]

After high school I went to Culver University and studied full time. My parents insisted I get a “real degree” so I ended up majoring in Political Science with a minor in Drama, instead of the other way around, and without the Political Science, like I wanted. After I graduated, despite my parents’ concerns, I moved to L.A. to try and become an actress full time. You might remember me from such unforgettable roles as the “kooky” comedic relief-slash-best friend in five different rom-coms from the mid-2000’s – four of which were called Jenny. I am not kidding. 

[Images of her characters appear on screen: Jenny, Jenny, Jennie, Madison, and Jenny.]

I’ve also had bit parts on every Law & Order and CSI series there is, and had recurring roles as the “kooky” girlfriend in about three different sitcoms over the past five years. 

[Darcy sighs]

[Text on screen: SIGHS IN TYPECAST]

Most recently I finished work on my first serious dramatic role in an indie movie called Bottled Lightning. It’s been entered in a few film festivals, I’ve gotten some good reviews for my performance, but as of last week it had still not secured a distribution deal. So, yeah… That one’s probably only going to be seen by a dozen film critics from three different film festivals and then sort of disappear into the unknown. [pouts] So here I am. Taking a break from the grind of auditioning. In my time capsule of a childhood bedroom. Housesitting for my parents while they’re drinking their way across Europe. 

[Darcy sighs again]

[Text on screen: SIGHS IN UNREALISED POTENTIAL]

My parents suggested I just give up on the whole acting thing altogether, move closer to them, get a “real job”… So I created a youtube channel instead. [cheeky smile] I’ve got a few ideas for upcoming episodes. Next week I’m going to be doing a reaction video to the pilot episode of Live from Suburbia! It’s been a good twenty-five years since I’ve seen it, but I’ve got the entire series on VHS. …just got to figure out how to get that digital so I can insert it into one of these videos…

[pensive music]

[Text on screen: COME ON NETFLIX! HELP A GIRL OUT!]

And then maybe a reaction to the first episode of Full House, or a review of the best child actor performances... Maybe if these videos get some traction I might even be able to do some interviews with other child actors – what do you think? Let me know in the comments. And I’m sure you know the drill already: Like, Subscribe, and Share. Thanks for dropping by! I’ll see you next week!

[Darcy blows a kiss to camera, screen fades to black]

NEXT VIDEO: Live from Suburbia! Pilot Episode Reaction (feat. Fizzgig)

*** ** ***

Notes: NEXT VIDEO is not indicative of what the next chapter is about but done simply to imply that Darcy has a whole lot of other videos on her channel that I haven’t written. Also, I named her parent’s cat Fizzgig for the 80s/90s kid vibes.

Tagging everyone who commented on the original tumblr fic prompt in case you wanted to see the end result. @zephrbabe @evieplease @endlesscalendar @lynnestra44 @founderofshield @oldenoughtobeyourmama  @typhoidmeri @phoenix-173 @suzieqsez @kiaraalexisklay @slytherinstarkravingmad​

Paleyfest 2006: Supernatural Panel

So I’ve watched about half the panel so far and am taking a break because my airpods have ran out of charge as I keep pausing to make notes. It was a natural break anyway as the first part of the panel was a hosted session and the next part is a questions from the audience.

So many memories and a couple of things I’d forgotten but been smiling for the last couple of hours as I watch, pause and pull the notes together.  Definitely worth a revisit to remember falling in love with this show and these guys.

Here’s my notes so far which I’ll tidy up and reissue all in a single post when I’ve finished watching tomorrow (timings are based on the video link) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6YHq20XmNE

Placing under a cut as longish post:

Supernatural was named in the Top 5 of new series by Entertainment Weekly

Aww. Kim Manners ☹  Miss his influence so much on the later seasons

2:20:  Jensen followed by Jared are announced to the panel. Jared arrives and doesn’t quite know where he’s supposed to go. Oh Jared.

Robert Singer looks so young! Wworking with J2 for so long has definitely aged him. 😊

3:35: Erik says as far as he’s aware, this panel is the first gathering of Supernatural fans

3:40: Erik tells the story of them filming in Stanley Park the night before the panel and they get a call about a man near their filming with a handgun, set gets shut down, J2 held away, police etc. called in and 2 hours later they find out it’s one of their own guys from Special Effects team.

They showed Scarecrow episode at the panel – great choice!

7:15: Jensen is reintroduced to the panel. The host can barely get through Jensen’s previous roles because of the fans. Jensen says something at 8.10 “Over to you, Jared.” I think, not 100% sure, but he definitely shouts something to Jared (who has still to be introduced).

8:11: Jared is reintroduced to the panel. The host is still having the same trouble getting through Jared’s roles as he did with Jensens. A guy shouts, “I love you.” Same random audience member, same

8:55: J2 slap hands as Jared sits down beside Jensen at the panel.

13:40: Erik’s been talking about the concept of the show and the care the brothers have for each other. Cut to Jared who is currently pouring Jensen some water.  Aww

15:00: They auditioned “everyone in town” so J2 did really, really well getting these roles.  They flew Jensen down from Vancouver and Jared’s complaining he had to drive. They thought they had found their Sam in Jensen.

15:45: Jensen and Jared trying to dodge the question by passing it to each other, Jared: What’s the exact question?

Immediately following this Jared’s talking about getting the role from his perspective and his little baby!Jared Texan accent is just…

17:05: Jared, talking about his mom being an English teacher who teaches mythology and legends:  “…the taught teachings of Joseph Campbell”  Jensen: “Didn’t rub off that she was an English teacher” Oh boys! Stop bullying Jared, he worked till 4.30am before flying down to the panel!

17:45: Jared’s still talking, Jensen starts snoring. I can’t… Jared shakes him to wake him up.

18:20: Jared and Kripke are trying to clarify something (who was in the room when Jared auditioned) but Singer is in the way and they keep going front and back trying to make eye contact

19:24: we get to what Jensen’s experience of the audition process was. Jensen: Pretty much the same. Jared (immediately): zzzzzzz (resting his head on Jensen’s shoulder).  Jensen goes on to talk about liaising with Nutter who wanted to bring him in and reading the script (for Sam). Jensen reading the script: “What about Dean? I like Dean.  He’s funny” He studied for Sam (and Dean a little bit just in case) and went into the audition, said he felt good about it and got a call later from Erik: “There’s this guy, Jared Pada, Pada Something… that they’re really liking for one of the brothers” So Jensen looks him up on line and he’s like…

Jared: He thought I was hot.

Jensen: This guy’s smoking hot, I can’t play his brother!

Jared throws his head back and does that clapping thing he does.  

21:10: host is asking by the time they performed together, they actually had the parts? Jensen: No, we didn’t have it officially. Jared (a bit surprised): Didn’t we? (looks at Erik). Erik says they were the only actors they brought into the Network audition (as you have to have the formality of the network signing off).

Jared says auditioning for the network is usually a terrifying process in front of around 5 people with a few others auditioning but when they turned up, it was only the two of them. Jensen: Just you and me pal. And it was the first time they’d met.

22:00: Jensen: “...And we’ve hated each other ever since.” He reaches for his water, Jared: “I poisoned your water so…” Jensen looks at water and drinks anyway

22:15: Kim Manners gets asked how he became involved. Kim: “I read for Sam…” Miss this man so much!

23:00: Erik says he doesn’t know what they would do without Kim up there [Vancouver] Kim: I know what you’d do, you’d get another guy! Panel: There is no other guy. Not true...  Jared: “There is no other guy… named Kim.”  Kim looks like he’s scheduling Jared in for a 4am pick up on his next episode.

23:40: Jared and Jensen talk about Kim and when he directed for the first time – Dead In the Water – they’d asked who he was and all David Nutter told them was they would love Kim, which they did and they contacted everyone from Day 1 saying he was incredible. Jared’s memory during this is pretty amazing in terms of episodes and directors etc.  All the love for Kim and completely deserved!

24:20: Jared gets so expressive he sends his mic flying. Is this the very first Jared v microphones?! I think it might just be. Jared: 0, Microphones: 1

Jensen offers his own mic then Jared asks Singer for his also then finishes speaking by just holding his own mic, saying they begged and pleaded them to give Kim a job. Jared: because he was hungry… and he kept trying to bite my arm… and I was really worried.”

24:45: They were asked what is so incredible about Kim. Jensen: “Jared and I…” Wait, I need a moment here. Jared and I… sobs.  He says they just responded well to him and his style of directing.

25:15: Bugs is mentioned by Jensen, Kim puts imaginary gun to his mouth. He really hated that episode and pleaded with Kripke not to do it.   Jensen goes on to tell the bees story, 65,000 bees in a room, crew with full gear on. “Okay Jensen and Jared, hop on in…” Jared: “And don’t swat them because it makes them angry!”  Jensen credits Kim saying that if J2 didn’t have bee suits on then he wasn’t going to either.

I should point out that J2 are mirroring throughout this segment in terms of their body language.

26:45: John (Shiban I think) is talking about how he got involved and what drew him in, and he said 2 things: the premise, he can see 5 years of suffering for these guys. Jensen throws his head back dramatically. The second thing is casting and chemistry and chemistry is something you can’t manufacture and these guys have it… 27:20 Jared and Jensen look at each other hearing this and Jared leans in for a kiss.  Jensen shakes his head and points to the audience.  Jared: worth a try.  Oh boys. Jared will go on to try (and fail) to get a public kiss several times and will eventually give up and admit he doesn’t kiss Jensen... in public.

27:35: Bob [Singer] is asked what about you? Bob: Can I just watch them? (indicating Jensen and Jared). Same Bob tbh

27:55: Bob has to stop talking because J2 are doing something and we can’t see what they are doing but everyone is laughing. Bob throws his hands up and says “This is what it’s like to direct them!” I think from memory, Jared might be pouring water for Jensen and he keeps pouring and overspills and Jensen stops him.  I might need to check my DVD as I think it’s got a different angle than this youtube video that I’m using or possibly this point comes later in the video.   

Bob’s is a very interesting segment where he talks about how he and Kripke complement one another and I think this helps understand why Drabbernatural has gone off the rails as Singer (character focused) needs someone like Kripke (plot focused) to balance him out (and vice versa tbh) whereas Drabb is too much like Singer and can’t keep a handle on the plot. Anyway, interesting to watch from perspective of 14 years later and the mess that Drabbernatural is in terms of plot. This segment ends at 31:00 where Bob and Erik hug – after complimenting each other.

33:09: Kripke and John are talking about mythology v MOTW and at this point Erik is saying they have a mythology plan for season 2 and season 3 (if they are picked up). Jared looks confused at Jensen and they both turn to John. Jensen: When do we get to see this?

34:35: Erik Kripke (when asked if he knows where the story ends): He does, but you don’t know if you’re going to get cancelled or go 37 years like Gunsmoke.   Kim: The boys are in Walkers. Jensen (I think, old man voice): Sam!

 Oh, how they would be shocked to learn they went for 15 seasons in total

It was a good watch, highly recommend, particularly if you’ve been flagging with Drabbernatural and all the negativity over the summer.  

I’ll be back tomorrow with the rest of it.

second part of that long ask from ur swf anon :)

after the main dancer was chosen for each class, they would complete the choreo and decide formations for their performances. one of the benefits of the main dancer was that they were always center. they also had the benefit of wearing more embellished clothing to stand out (most noticeable in x class, where rian the main dancer was wearing orange while everyone else was wearing green). here is the full list (mnet truly has the WORST camera angles, so i only included the full cam ver of the performances):

1. assistant class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF2evLz98h4&ab_channel=MnetTV

2. leader class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srjJzRVVmxc&ab_channel=CHANNIECHANNEL

the judges shared that even though no:ze was the main dancer/in the center/had the most shiny outfit, they didn't really see her. all the other dancers, in their opinion, stood out and overpowered her.

3. sub class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY_3E7W8v30&ab_channel=CHANNIECHANNEL

4. x class (i'm not sure what this class was called): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC-_8fbn_s4&ab_channel=Whatthejess

judges shared that lip j was the stand out of this class. she's the girl on the far left at 0:36. (it was originally her choreo but rian was chosen as the main dancer so that's why she is credited.)

*i only included comments that were stand outs.

-

i'm not sure how much creative input the main dancers were given regarding stage design... they didn't show it in the episode so i'm assuming that mnet just told them to show up and perform (because like, the rainbow thing they shot at the end of the leader's performance seemed so random? it didn't match what they were doing). after each performance, the main dancers from each class were asked to pick someone who they thought was the worst dancer. in doing so, the person chosen would lose points for their crew.

judges also chose an mvp crew they thought were the best. prowdmon (monika + lip j + others [sorry i don't know their names. the show really only focuses on these two]) was selected and this gave them the advantage of choosing which crews went against each other in ep4. so, it wasn't a random lottery draw! in the episode, they only showed the part where prowdmon chose to go against wayb (context: no:ze, the main dancer from the leader class, chose monika as the worst dancer. and this made her mad so she was like we're going against wayb - no:ze's crew). i'm not sure why they didn't show how the other crews were paired up. because ya, coca n butter + hook is definitely an interesting match.

also like, wayb was eliminated from the show after ep4's mission.

-

and it seems like from here on out, there will be a mission each episode to determine who will be eliminated. i'm honestly not too sure. for their next mission, they're doing a mega crew mission and mnet doesn't really explain it; but it seems like each crew is doing a performance on a larger scale (with more members added to their crew). also, like mnet is ass and doesn't upload all the performances onto their channel..... they only upload the ones that were the most popular/had the biggest public reaction which is why i had a hard time finding the clips for the classes mission. hopefully they do from here on out.

another v long post. thank u again for reading and sharing ur thoughts! always love hearing them. (also, pls let me know if i'm oversharing. u mentioned not caring for the competitive nature and drama so i'm not sure if i was adding too much. there really isn't drama imo. mnet tries to do their best to edit and make it seem that way but when u watch the show, the girls truly root for each other and are friends.)

mnet truly has the worst camera angles i hate them so much. also why are they still streaming on a goddamn potato. the quality is SO bad i can barely see anything!! there's a lot of me complaining in this one i'm sorry in advance.

1. assistant class

i have to assume that whoever they chose as the main dancer is the one that stays in centre because i cannot tell from the clothing at all. i don't think she was a standout performer here, but also the camera and the fire effects are WAY too wild to actually get a good grasp on who even was the standout. i also have to assume that the dancers have no say in the design because design is not a big part of street dance and this kind of chaos screams m 'too-much-money-dont-know-how-to-use-it' net. they built this massive set, barely used it, and didn't leave enough room for the proper formation spacing!! ugh. i hope the judges actually got to see a locked off version of this without all that fire in front of the camera because if i were them i would be squinting down the end of my glasses like a grandma at the screen. that's what i was doing anyways but still.

2. leader class

i have to agree, i don't think noze stood out as the main dancer here. and geniunely i cannot tell that they embellished her costume more. like damn, that stylist took a masterclass in subtlety, because i was easily paying more attention to whoever was wearing those massive thigh high cutout garter stockings and woven bodysuit combo. i am assuming that the point of these challenges was probably to be noticed the most so that they can score points and pick who they went up against for the elimination round? i'm not entirely clear but my point remains; ngl i don't really like this method of creating performance because it means that no one is there to create a performance, yanno? troupe/group choreo like this thrives on teamwork to actually make it a good performance. i know it's a pretty classic method of weeding out people for auditions and stuff like that but personally i find it a wholly uncompelling viewing experience, especially when it's a fully produced stage like this. i know everyone very likely gets along behind the scenes but the incohesion of intent is very obvious. also what's up with the assistant class getting a massive set and the leaders getting a bunch of cars and some smoke pyrotechnics? i mean, i am glad they filmed it during the day, but i am confused by the disparity.

3. sub class

i wish i could describe how poorly mnet shot this. it's not a fucking mama stage, it's a dance stage!! we need to see the choreo properly!!!! and together!!! obviously i don't care about stitching together different takes for the final edit but just...not having a continuity at all in the choreo is a bit jarring. again, i am also not sure how one is supposed to evaluate how well these dancers did, because i can barely see what people are doing. or who the main dancers are. i know i'm railing a lot on mnet here but i can't give an accurate reading of the dancers because legitimately it is so hard to tell what's going on. if they want to bill this as a legitimate dance show, why are they shooting it like a kpop performance? the camerawork for kpop serves a specific function: to add to the visual spectacle and to highlight the idols' faces. you don't need either of those things for shoot choreography, so why do we keep getting closeups of dancers' faces? not that these dance videos aren't spectacle-y or fun, because they very much are, but they really suck at their one primary function, which is displaying the choreo.

4. x class

this is definitely the one where the camera work is the closest to what it should be, but then they go and fuck it up by adding rain! just the groundwater would have been fine, but noooo they had to add the extra rain so there would be extra water drops on the lens!! this is my favourite choreo of all four of these, i think there's the most cohesion and (excluding the rain) it's got a good mix of spectacle with the water and the blacklight and the right camera angles to show the choreo mostly well. i still don't understand why they cut in those sections that don't fit with the rest of the flow though. why. you could have one-taked this and it would have looked dope as fuck. i agree that lip j stands out the most, obviously it's her choreo so it's the best suited to her character and abilities.

---

if it wasn't a random lottery draw they should at least have the courtesy of showing people why who picked who!! that's the most interesting part! and i'm not that surprised about wayb being eliminated, prowdmon really stomped them into the ground with that revenge energy. i'm interested in this larger scale performances concept, because i'm not really sure what that looks like in this particular context. if they do end up on youtube i will review them! and you're not oversharing at all, the context is fine! i don't mind reading it as information, i just don't like actually watching it with my own eyes. i can't watch that kind of thing in reality tv because it makes me want to sit everyone down like a kindergarden teacher and go "ok, now why are we all yelling?". too many years of tense rehearsal conflict negotiation and i just want to whack everyone upside the head. it's not very cathartic for me lmao. i have no doubt that everyone is friends because dance scenes are small and i'm sure they've all worked together lots, but even just the editing sets off my fight or fight reflexes.