Me adding LL to my crush list despite being a speck of dust compared to the big boi

They'll appreciate you all the same, crewmate <3

The Gamer Hero, Deku Chapter 23

So

I may or may not have forgotten to do this. And then had to do like three essays...

xoxoxo

"Sorry about that again..." I apologized to Tsu, holding a small flame in front of her.

She harrumphed jokingly and leaned a bit more into Uraraka's chest, her arms crossed. She was using Uraraka's new sport uniform jacket like a makeshift blanket. "You're such a hypocrite, Midoriya. You yell at Todoroki for freezing up the audience, then you go just as cold as him when you fight him, kero."

"Sorry, I was hoping Blaise and Pyra working together would be enough to keep everyone from getting cold..."

"Hey," a lazy voice drawled. I turned my head to see a basic fire elemental suddenly sitting on the railing in front of me. His hair and clothes were mostly black with a few orange stripes. He had black cat ears, a black cat tail, and catlike orange eyes with yellow sclera. "I helped too, ya know."

"Oh hi, Charlie!" Uraraka said.

"Who the fuck are you?" Kacchan asked him.

"That's Aizawa-sensei's fire elemental," I said.

"And I'll have you know I helped out," Charlie grumbled.

"Only because you were forced to, niichan," another voice said. A girl with sky-blue hair in a sort of bowl cut that covered her eyes appeared in midair. Upside-down. She had very pale, actually outright just white skin and two weird red horns that formed a sort of deformed heart shape when seen from the side. She had a simple white dress, almost exactly the same color as her skin.

Tsu waved at her. "Hey, Cass. Kero."

"Hey, Tsu-chan," Cassiopeia, Aizawa-sensei's gravity elemental, said. "Are you and my aunt finally dating yet?" Tsu and Uraraka both spluttered, now blushing. "Iiii'll take that as a no, then." She smirked, and with a momentary glow of her horns Tsu's head was suddenly shoved into Uraraka's chest by an unseen force that was probably gravity. "C'mon, you guys've obviously noticed the attraction between you two~"

"Th-that's because you're literally making Tsu-chan gravitate towards me!" Uraraka shouted, blushing heavily. Tsu said something that was probably agreeing with Uraraka, but it was muffled so I couldn't tell for sure.

"I have no idea what you're talking about~" Cass taunted. She cheekily stuck out her tongue.

Even though I wasn't the direct target of it, I could feel Aizawa-sensei's glare from all the way over in the announcer's box. Was that what Enji felt when I used Fear on him?

Good.

Tsu and Uraraka stopped being attracted to each other. By gravity, at least. "H-hey, look at the time!" Cass said. "G-gotta go!"

"That girl..." Tsu muttered, still blushing heavily.

"Tsu do you need me to heal you?" I asked. "Your nose is bleeding a little."

She felt her nose. "Oh. Yeah please do that, kero. Sorry, sometimes my nose bleeds a little easy." I placed my hand on her face and cast Healing Hands.

"Do I have to beat up a child?" Kacchan offered.

"D-don't worry about Cass," Uraraka said. "She doesn't do stuff anything as bad as that a lot, and she always apologizes later after Shō gives her a lecture."

"And this is the first time she drew blood, kero," Tsu commented.

"I feel kinda bad for Aizawa-sensei," I said. "Some of my elementals are, no offense, a little hard to manage..."

"Hey!" Rayne shouted.

"...but at least my other elementals help keep them grounded." Blaise put Rayne in a headlock despite the fact that they were both immaterial. "Aizawa-sensei, on the other hand, only has those two."

"Yeah, lazy elementals are annoying to deal with," Kacchan said. I looked at him. "I am assuming," he added suspiciously quickly.

"Alright, then," I said. "Hey, shouldn't you be heading for the waiting room, Kacchan?"

He shrugged. "I trust Birdface and Sparkles-"

"Tokoyami and Aoyama."

"-Birdface and Sparkles to give each other a good fight. Unfortunately I won't be able to watch their fight, directly anyway, but at least I can watch Glasses'."

"His name is Iida, problem child," Aizawa-sensei said over the speaker.

"Thaaaat's right folks!" Mic-sensei shouted. "It's Iida Tenya! Versus! Shiozaki Ibara! Who will win, technology or nature? Let's find out!"

"Start!" Midnight-sensei announced.

And then it was over. Iida was really fast.

"Damn, that was quick," Kacchan said disappointedly.

"That's what she said," Tsu muttered.

"I'll kill you, Frog," Kacchan threatened flatly.

"That's also what she said," I joked.

Kacchan twitched. "That one doesn't even make sense!"

"Maybe you should go now?" Uraraka suggested. "Iida's fight's over."

He sighed. "Fine, just tell me what happens in... Tokoyama and Aoyami's fight?" He glared at what appeared to be thin air. "Did I fucking ask, Pyra!?" Kacchan grunted and stomped off, grumbling about fires and... leaves for some reason?

A few minutes after Kacchan left, Tokoyami and Aoyama walked onto the arena. "Get ready!" Midnight-sensei said after Aizawa-sensei and Mic-sensei said their part. At her command, motes of dark magic started to emanate from Tokoyami. At the same time, Aoyama started to sparkle with light magic. It occurred to me that Tokoyami and Aoyama were both, in their own ways, among the most showy people in our class...

"I wonder which one of us shall win?," Tokoyami remarked. "Your holy light, or my curséd shadow?"

"Hey!" Dark Shadow protested. "I have feelings too!"

"Shall we see, mon ami?" Aoyama replied. "But do keep in mind that I won't go easy on you!"

"I wouldn't dream of it!"

"Start!"

Aoyama shot first, all of his sparkles turning to lasers at once. It seemed that Tokoyami anticipated that, because just before the lasers hit him a shroud of darkness spread out in front of him. Dark Shadow shot out from behind the shroud, slightly enhanced by spending a few moments in darkness, but was blown back easily by Aoyama using a sparkling light bomb. Aoyama tried to hit Dark Shadow with a few more lasers, but was thwarted by Tokoyami shooting them with bolts of darkness. Dark Shadow lashed out at Aoyama again, but he dodged out of the way, hitting Dark Shadow with yet another point-blank burst of light.

"Tres magnifique!" Aoyama said, striking a pose that reminded me of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. "Your desire to win shines bright in your fighting!"

"Of course!" Tokoyami agreed, and that was definitely a JoJo pose. "What student of Yuuei would I be if I didn't give this fight my all!?"

Aoyama's grin widened. It faltered for a moment when his stomach started to glow, but then went even wider. He clutched his stomach, but in a confident way and not just nausea. His hand glowed and he twisted it, drawing a ball of sparkling blue light out of his stomach. I couldn't be certain, but it looked like he removed the light his Navel Laser was building up before it fired out and hurt him. Dark Shadow lunged at him again, so he shaped the ball into a sort of spear shape and tossed it at him. "SPARKLING SPEAR!" he shouted as the javelin pierced into Dark Shadow and then exploded in a bright light. Dark Shadow shrank down and retreated back into Tokoyami, muttering something about it being too bright out.

"Impressive, you managed to defeat my Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami said. "But don't think this means you've won!" To back up his threat, Tokoyami made two balls of darkness.

"I wouldn't count on it!" Aoyama shouted. He created another spear from his Navel Laser to match Tokoyami's shadow balls. Tokoyami threw one of the shadow balls at Tokoyami, but Aoyama threw his Sparkling Spear at it. The spear pierced through the shadow ball, not even slowing down, then exploded right in front of Tokoyami. He was knocked back, landing near the eadge of the ring.

He groaned, then summoned Corvo. Now that I could see him properly it looked like he'd ranked up, as he looked older than the last time I'd seen him not in a shroud of oppressive darkness. "It seems I'll need more than just my own power to best you," Tokoyami said as he got up. "I shall defeat you with the power of shadows!" As Corvo charged at Aoyama, Tokoyami created and fired several feather-shaped projectiles. Aoyama created yet another Sparkling Spear, which he used to slice through all of the black feathers. He then caught Corvo's sword when he tried to swing at him.

"Splendide!" Aoyama beamed. "Two knights crossing blades! How I wish I were wearing my armor! But wait!" Aoyama jumped back and released his spear, which floated in front of him and then unraveled into ribbons of silvery light. I used Eye for Magic while watching him do an entire magical girl transformation sequence, except instead of a cute dress he made himself a suit of armor similar to his hero costume out of light. Honestly there need to be more magical girl transformation sequences into full plate armor. While he still had some of his Sparkling Spear left over, it looked more like a Radiant Rapier than anything. That didn't seem to bother him at all. In fact, he seemed delighted that he had a vaguely sword-like object to wave around. He grabbed the rapier and thrusted at Corvo.

Corvo blocked with his shield, then swung at him with a shadow-enhanced sword. Aoyama dodged nimbly, only the tip of the sword scraping off of his armor and taking a few motes of light with it. Aoyama riposted with a series of thrusts. Corvo blocked the first two, but the third touched him in the chest. Aoyama caused the rapier to shoot forward as a laser, pushing Corvo with it. Tokoyami shot some more feathers at Aoyama, but his starry cape curled in front of him in defense. The cape was destroyed in the attack, but before it could fully dissipate Aoyama's stomach started to glow. With no warning, a Navel Laser shot out at Tokoyami. In a last-ditch attempt to block it, Tokoyami summoned Dark Shadow again. Dark Shadow tried his best, but he was still weakened from earlier, so he basically evaporated when the laser hit him. Tokoyami was hit, punched out of the ring. Aoyama, meanwhile, collapsed to the ground from the backlash of using his Quirk. His armor dissolved in a flash of light.

"Tokoyami is out of bounds! The winner is Aoyama Yuga!" Midnight-sensei announced.

"Well fought, my friend," Tokoyami congratulated him.

Aoyama gave himself a few moments before saying, "Same to you. It was un match difficile." Then he retched. "Excuse-moi. Quirk backlash..."

Tokoyami nodded. "I know how it is."

xoxoxo

A few minutes later, Tokoyami and Aoyama had left, replaced by Kacchan and Kirishima. "Heck yeah!" Kirishima shouted with a big, toothy grin. "This fight is gonna be so manly!"

Kacchan grinned and punched his palm, exploding it slightly for intimidation factor. "You're pretty damn manly yourself. Try to keep up."

"Start!"

Kacchan blasted himself towards Kirishima, aiming a firey kick at him. Kirishima raised his hands in a block and activated his Quirk. Kacchan responded by using his fire and explosions to pivot in midair while keeping his momentum, then exploding in Kirishima's face right before he could ram into him. They were both knocked back by the explosion, and Kacchan naturally recovered easier because he was used to being thrown around by his explosions. Kirishima wasn't too fazed after he landed, though. He skidded along the ground for a bit before creating a rock wall to stop himself. "Not bad," Kirishima said as he got up.

"Not bad yourself," Kacchan responded. "That was a pretty powerful explosion."

Kirishima's grin widened and he showed off his hardened arms, which were still steaming. "It'll take a bigger blast than that to take me down!" Then he stomped the ground. Spears of concrete shot from the ground, aimed at Kacchan. He exploded upward, then destroyed the spears with a second blast when they followed him. The blast propelled Kacchan forwards, over Kirishima.

"DIE!" he shouted, then put his hands together for a big blast. He waited until Kirishima hardened to hit him with a blast hard enough to drive his feet into the ground.

"That's so manly!" Kirishima shouted as he used earth magic to eject himself out of the concrete.

And right into Kacchan's trap. "DIE!" he shouted, then placed his hands on Kirishima's back while he was still in midair. Kirishima was sent flying, and just barely managed to erect an earth wall to crash into before he sailed over the arena boundary entirely.

Kirishima laughed as he peeled himself out of the Kirishima-shaped indentation in the cracked wall. "That was a good one, man!" he said as he turned to face Kacchan. "Getting me into the air like that? Manly!" His grin widened as the rock wall broke apart, though the pieces didn't fall. "Guess I'll have to up the ante!" Kirishima pointed at Kacchan, and the rocks from the wall shot at him. Kirishima's rocks blocked off all angles of escape aside from dodging back, which would make Kacchan ring out.

Kacchan stood his ground. Before the rocks reached him, he burst into flames. Kirishima winced as the rocks... went through him? I focused my eye-enhancing skills on Kacchan just as the last dregs of the spell wore off. It looked like it was still unpolished, considering the fact that Kacchan's clothes were burned in areas and his skin was red and steaming, but that was definitely Fire Embodiment! Kacchan charged with an explosive dash while Kirishima was still in shock, punching him in the gut. Kacchan followed up with a small explosion that pushed Kirishima out of bounds.

"Kirishima is out of bounds! The winner is Bakugou Katsuki!"

Kirishima laughed again. "Damn, that was manly!" He hopped back onto the arena and clapped Kacchan on the back. Kacchan frowned a bit, but... was that a blush? "The way you just went through my rocks! I've seen that spell before and I still didn't see that coming!"

"You weren't a slouch yourself, Kirishima," Kacchan said. "If I didn't pull a stupidly advanced spell out of my ass you might have won there. Just remember not to gawk the next time someone does something like that and you should do fine."

Kirishima beamed. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, you're good."

I got up from my seat. "I should probably get ready for the next round. Bye!"

"Bye, Midoriya," Tsu said.

"Good luck, Deku!"

xoxoxo

"That match was awesome, Aoyama!" I told Aoyama when I saw him in the hall. "That armor trick was pretty great!"

He grinned. "Merci. I suppose it's a good idea to use it on Bakugou?"

I nodded. "You didn't hear it from me, but you should probably think of some offensive magic for your next fight as well." I winked. "Wish me luck!"

xoxoxo

Iida got into a ready stance on the opposite side of the arena. "Midoriya. I hope we will have a pleasant match."

"Me too, Iida."

"Begin!"

I Flash Stepped to the side when Iida charged at me. He turned back around to face me and continued his charge. When I Flash Stepped again, I was tripped by a raised rock that wasn't there a moment before. Apparently having a mutation that gives you metal engines in your legs gives you earth affinity. Who knew? "You won't be able to dodge this! Reciproburst!" I stood up just in time for Iida to slam into me. My physical defenses may have meant that that didn't hurt, but he was still pushing me back easily. I tried to use magic to grip to the ground and...

Ping! Ping!

My feet stuck to the ground. No, my shoes stuck to the ground, first from the spell Grip and then because of my new Quirk, Magnetize. Even though Iida was pushing me as hard as he could, and with a special move at that, my shoes were not just gripping the ground better but also strongly magnetized, as was the ground under them. The good news was that Iida was nowhere near strong enough to uproot that combination. The bad news was that Magnetize was one of those Quirks that the user can't exactly turn off once it's applied to something, and instead wears off after time, so I was stuck for about five minutes or until I set my shoes on fire, and it would probably look suspicious if I did that.

Wait, no it wouldn't.

"Well... you certainly didn't dodge..." Iida muttered as his engines stalled. I figured that was what took his Quirk out in the cavalry battle. Now that he couldn't push me off the edge, I punched him in the stomach with a sonic-enhanced fist. While he was knocked back I coated myself in Fire Aura, concentrating it on my legs. The heat burned off the magnetization on the cement completely, but only weakened my shoes because I didn't want to melt them. I Flash Stepped at Iida, leaving behind footprints of fire. He blocked my kick with some basic defensive magic and pushed me away. I landed on the ground in front of him. "Impressive, Midoriya!" Iida shouted. Then he grinned. He also set on fire, though it looked like he couldn't quite focus it on his legs as well because he wasn't nearly as skilled with Fire Aura as me.

"Oh right," I said. "Internal combustion engine."

"That's right. I won't just let you win."

"I wasn't planning on it."

Iida used fire magic to compensate for his lack of Engine when he charged me. I dropped on my hand and kicked at him. It wasn't perfect, but my DEX made up for that. Iida countered with a kick of his own, creating a small wave of heat. I grabbed Iida's leg between my legs, using it and a fire jet to pivot and launch myself upward. I had Halitus create an air platform, which I kicked off of. I flipped in midair to axe kick Iida. He dodged backwards, which was to be expected with how much wind-up that attack had, but that wasn't its point. "LIMIT BREAK!" I shouted when my heel hit the ground. "EARTH SURGE!" Iida's eyes widened as the ground rose up in a wave. He was pushed all the way out of the arena, which was mangled beyond recognition.

"Iida is out of bounds! Midoriya wins!"

I stared at the aftermath of Earth Surge. "Um... I can probably fix that," I offered Cementoss.

He waved me off with a smile. "You're fine, I'll do it."

I walked around the wall of rock I'd made. "You okay, Iida? I might have overdone it a bit."

He sighed as he got up. "I'm fine. I... suppose I still have some training to do before I'm able to catch up to you."

"If you want I could spar with you sometime," I offered. "I could really use some experience with pure physical fighting."

He nodded. "I'd love to."

Laser Light Cannon

Analysis Three:

This is the first episode where we get the hint that the Gems are actually aliens and not just magical people. Considering how early we see this tech from Homeworld they did a really good job keeping it from us, and from Steven. And just like I said in the last analysis, we see Amethyst and Steven just hanging out together. Also our first introduction to Mr. Fryman and to Steven's love of the bits. If I wanted to be really weird I could connect the bits to Rose's reputation of gathering the outcasts, but I think that might be stretching even for this show lol. I wonder how serious Steven is when he talks about the "second sun" or if he's kind of just making a joke? Amethyst sure thinks its a joke at first, until she actually looks at it. They've obviously seen Red Eyes before, and judging on Pearl’s exclamation that she had no idea they were so big Rose usually blew them up long before they got that close. I wonder at her saying that it's going to crash into them though. My guess is that they are made to be disposable, just like the probes that we shoot into space. They transmit data back and that's all they're really good for, they have no intention of collecting them later. The Homeworld Gems gathering the data probably don't even notice when they get destroyed or how far they are from the ground when they do and just say "okay, no Gem readings, all good". This whole conversation with the Gems about the Red Eye actually contains a lot of clues about the future of the show and Steven's past as well as Rose's. I don't want to go crazy, but even Garnet correcting Steven about pink eye could be construed as a hint about Pink Diamond lol. But for real, we find out that Steven's mom is gone, Pearl clutching at her chest when she talks about it is so small you could pass over it but knowing what we know it's kind of heart wrenching now. We get a feel for the hierarchy among the Gems, Pearl is condescending to Amethyst about trying to protect humanity. We get Garnet adjusting her shades while making an observation, and we only see Sapphires gem. There's also how comfortable Amethyst is with touching, even though we don't see how that's a quartz thing for a long time, she picks Steven up and just carries him off as well as throws herself into Garnets arms later in the episode, it doesn't seem to bother or surprise Steven and Garnet just catches her and even holds her over her shoulder. Also throwing Amethyst over and over at the Red Eye kind of shows us how pretty much indestructible the Gems are. Greg is another character that took some time to grow on me, although not nearly as much time as Lars lol. Pearl and Amethyst's comments about him kind of biased me though, which I'm sure was on purpose. Pearl at least mostly feels that way because of their background with Rose, but we don't know any of that at first. I suppose even Amethyst is a little angry with him about Rose too, after all we see her blame him and freak him out by shape shifting into her later on. Having an absentee mother and a father that was less than present growing up myself it was easy to look at Steven living with the Gems and Greg living in his van outside the car wash and see a broken family. It would have been hard not to think of him as a dead beat dad at the beginning. It takes a long time, and watching the extended theme song, to realize that Greg was doing what was best for Steven all along. And Steven always has such faith in him. Plus he flat out says that the Gems told him to stay away from the magic stuff. The more we learn about Greg the more I love him, and he really is such a great dad. So loving, so supportive, maybe a little clueless sometimes but always well meaning. I don't know how much of what's in Greg's storage unit tells us about his life and how much it just tells us what he wanted to be. Like how he says he likes to think of himself as someone who would golf eventually. He seems to really like cats. I find the difference in how Greg and the Gems talk about Rose to be very interesting though. Greg talks about her and tells stories without prompting, the way Steven reacts to Greg mentioning how he met Rose tells us this isn't the first time he's told the story, whereas I already noted that the Gems only seem to tell Steven things when it's directly relevant or when he asks. The Gems also talk about her with reverence, especially Pearl. We get the sense from the Gems that she's powerful and wonderful in every way, but Greg just talks about her with love. That's not to say the Gems didn't love her or don't talk about her with love, just that their view of her was different than Greg’s. I know I said I would only mention visual changes that were purposeful but the fact the Greg is losing his hair in that picture when he's still got hair in the video Rose left for Steven really does bother me. Only mentioning it, and now I'm over it lol. We get another first in the saying "If every pork chop were perfect we wouldn't have hot dogs", it's said multiple times in this episode, but other than using it to shoot the quartizine trio and the original light cannon later on when Peridot comes with her hand ship we really don't hear it again until Change Your Mind. It's actually really funny because I said something about that to my sister shortly before the special and then he says it to the Diamonds lol. When we talked about it we came to the logical conclusion that he used to say it all the time but once it was used as a trigger phrase he retired it so as to reserve it for that specifically. Also maybe so he doesn't shoot the cannon on accident lol [although Steven almost says it again after they take down the Red Eye]. I love Mr. Universe's music by the way, it looks like Let Me Drive My Van Into Your Heart is possibly a single? I would like some more information on his singing career. He calls himself a one man band, and we see him perform later in both Story For Steven and We Need To Talk, and he has the CD in this episode and a different one that he gives [or tries to give] Rose when they first meet. We know his career technically failed, and that Sunshine Justice says he was ahead of his time, plus we see his falling out with Marty. But other than the cheeseburger commercial I've had a theory before that he's had some sort of royalty fees coming in from something so I'm very curious. And here we come to the climax of the episode. The Red Eye gets closer and we see a few of the humans noticing it. When Steven and Greg show up with the cannon the Gems think they're saved, but none of them know how to use it which is our first insight to the many secrets Rose kept from them. Not only did she hide it from them, where Greg doesn't even know for sure it's in the storage unit, but she doesn't tell anyone how to fire it even though she's set Greg's saying as the trigger. There's something about the way Pearl yells about how "it was Rose's" that I really like. Just the expression in her voice. And she still thinks of the gem as Rose's as well even though it's a part of Steven now, something that we see a little bit more of in Three Gems and a Baby. It sets us on the path of wondering if the gem is really Steven's or if his mother is just poofed and biding her time trapped in his belly. I do love the shot of the cannon firing though, I wonder if the gem/jewel in the center is relevant. I've wondered a lot about Gem Tech and how much of it is sentient, especially after seeing the structures on Homeworld in the most recent bomb. The beam is beautiful, the rose turning into the silhouette of Rose Quartz and Greg wiping away a tear always gets me. The boardwalk was only partially destroyed, obviously Greg was able to pull his van out of the water eventually, and the day was saved. Last time the star centered on the four Crystal Gems kneeling down and Steven vomiting and this time it centers on the van, neither of which seem very pivotal. We end with the instrumental version of Love Like You again

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 52)

“So the part about the Keeper leading you through the Valley and tempting you…?” Weiss asked.

“All poppycock!” Abner replied. “If Ily had even attempted to offer me seeds from the Valley, there would have been serious consequences for the both of us, and I guarantee you I wouldn’t be coming back to human settlements with them, if they didn’t imprison or kill me first.”

“And the ending, where you were tricked into drinking cursed water…?”

“Artistic license. The river was in fact enchanted, but it’s just a base component for life-water, mana-water, and some forms of elemental weaving.”

“And the eternal slavery?”

Abner smiled. “Well, we had to ensure that my debtors wouldn’t feel the need to go looking for a corpse or any traces of their ill-fated crew, would they? And besides, what better way to scare off Valentinians than with the one thing they fear:

“Uncompensated labour!”

“The eternal life part was actually spread much later, seeded into other rumours of the Keeper after the original account had been around for so long it had mutated all on its own. It was Ilaya’s idea, after I accepted the Council’s offer of vastly extending my own life to continue my work, if at the cost of never leaving the Valley ever again, and being the organoid—my term for organic cyborgs like myself—you see before you now.”

“And you accepted?”

Abner chuckled. “Why wouldn’t I have? I was free from all of my debts, had all the equipment and funding I could ever want or need plus a constant supply of fascinating projects to occupy myself with, and a means of controlling my worst impulses and keeping me on track.

“Sweet Shepherd, if anyone over at the human territories ever invents something like these governors, they would become an overnight trillionaire! Though I shudder to think at what would happen to Avalon when you have a human workforce that suddenly no longer suffers from lost productivity due to distraction...”

Abner’s face fell. “About the only real con was that I would, and did, outlive Ilaya.”

“The two of you were close?”

Abner smiled bitterly. “She was my best friend, before or after the Valley. I’ve never met a kinder soul, someone who was willing to put up with so much from me because they knew that for all my problems,  I was going to be more than worth all the effort—both to herself, as a companion for life, and for the rest of society, as you can experience for yourself whenever you ride the Tubes.”

He looked off into the distance. “Though, to be fair, it’s not like she was spoiled for choice with friends...”

“I suppose living in Keeper’s Hollow made it difficult.” Weiss said. “Why do they live so far away...?”

“Keepers attract trouble like super-powered magnets, and their living far away from the rest of the Bastion reduces the collateral damage when the metaphorical 'shit goes down,'” Abner said. “Well, that other reasons I’m afraid my governor is telling me I’m not allowed to tell you.”

Weiss grumbled under her breath.

“Stand by! The test is almost about to finish.”

Soon enough, the machine powered down completely, and Weiss feet went back down to the ground. “Well?” she asked as she stepped out.

Abner was hard at work at the terminal. “Just one moment to double-check the results and… congratulations, Weiss, you are a Weaver, attuned to Elemental Water, with astoundingly high power levels, and incredible potential for further growth beside!

“I knew Ruby saw something in you!”

Weiss nodded. “Should I be feeling anything?” she said as she looked at her hand and turned it over. “Because I don’t feel any different from before I stepped in.”

Abner chuckled. “That’s because we haven’t given you a focus yet! Remember the runeblade you wielded in your Honey Dream with the others? The Rune Ranger section, at least.”

Weiss nodded. “Yeah, it felt… weird in my hand. Good weird.”

“Even more evidence you’re a Weaver, this test just confirmed it.” Abner said as he shut down the chamber. “Penny, take Weiss along to the Raucous Room, while I take your potential focus out of storage; if the results are going to be even half as I hypothesize they will be, I want you in a facility specifically meant to be completely, utterly destroyed without consequence.”

“Yes, Maker Abner,” Penny said. She didn't reach out for Weiss and gestured out the testing room, and kept a noticeable distance from Weiss as they went off to the hallways once more.

They walked in awkward silence for a while.

“Hey...” Weiss said. “Sorry about earlier, when I snapped at you… that was really wrong of me.”

Penny smiled. “Apology accepted. I understand that given everything you’ve just learned, the temptation to ‘shoot the messenger’ is very strong indeed!”

Weiss nodded. “Why does the Council keep so many secrets?”

“Controlling the flow of information is key to maintaining the peace and authority of the settlements; an uninformed public tends to be a docile one, especially when there is an ever present and very real threat from outside forces occupying their immediate thoughts.”

“Isn’t that facism?”

“It is, and is one of the largest reasons for the separatist movements, such as the Celestians.”

“Democracy lose the popular vote?” Weiss joked.

Penny nodded. “There have been attempts to change the system, from both regular citizens, members of the Council, and local leaders, but it’s extremely difficult to do so given the fact that all of our vital, life-supporting technology and infrastructure rely heavily on pre-existing construction dating back to the Enkindling Era, and the Fae's complex symbiotic relationship with their environment beside.

“All successful Fae mass migrations and separations from the original settlements have relied heavily on truly exceptional circumstances—one of which is you humans arriving here in Avalon.”

Weiss nodded as they entered a giant basement, the walls, floors, and ceilings a pale brown, made of square tiles arranged in a neat grid. “I guess aliens landing and making themselves home will throw the natives for a loop...” she muttered.

“The entirety of Avalon, actually!” Abner cried as he met them, a long, ornate box in his hands. “The realm was very different before we humans arrived. Now, I’m sure you’re growing quite tired of all the history lessons, and are eager to test your powers, but just a few things to get out of the way first:

“One, this is not a brand new weapon, and is actually very, very, very ancient. I’m afraid whoever owned it before you has been permanently lost to time.”

“Two, Fae Ancestral Weapons, while very powerful from the essences absorbed from their previous owners and their battles, are also EXTREMELY picky about who owns them next. From what Elder Goodwitch tells me, so far this one has never had a successor, so the likelihood of it rejecting you is very high.”

“And three, alongside that power also tends to come memories, knowledge, and instincts, which while normally beneficial in that it allows even total beginners to become formidable fighters in record time, it sometimes comes with detrimental side effects to mental health, so please, please tell me if you suddenly have intense moments of deja vu, intimate memories of events that happened long before you were even born, and especially if you’re referring to people by their ancestor’s names.

“I am obliged to mention, the effect is especially pronounced with Weaver’s weapons such as this.

Abner put his hand on the lid. “And now, without further ado, I present to you...

“Myrtenaster!”

The runeblade inside the velvet cushions looked like an Old World Relic, an ornate rapier that had been later modified with an essence revolver, much like the one she had wielded in the honey dream. Inscribed on the hilt was the weapon’s name in German.

“Well, go on now! Take it!” Abner said. “Don’t worry: if it rejects you, I can manufacture you a new runeblade within the hour, among other alternatives.”

Weiss slowly put her hand over it. Even though the cylinder had been empty of mediums for centuries, she could feel the power radiating from it. She wrapped her fingers around the handle.

Immediately, magic surged from Weiss' hand and into the sword, the blade glowing a pale blue like ice. She pulled out of the box, held it up and admired the glow. She’d never quite seen anything so beautiful...

“Ha-ha!” Abner cried. “I knew my suspicion was correct!’

Penny clapped her hands. “Congratulations on being chosen, Weiss! Being named the successor of an Ancestral Weapon is a--”

They all stopped as even more power surged into the weapon, the glow growing ominous, water-like tendrils now spiraling around the blade and meeting up at the top as a bubble of energy. Weiss thought she really should let go, but couldn’t, like her fingers were frozen.

Beat.

Abner screamed as he dove well out of the way, Penny reached out and grabbed her arm, wrestling the point of her blade away from them.

A beam of concentrated magic shot out moments after, cutting a straight line across the ceiling and the far-wall.

Weiss wrenched her hand free of her sword, her whole body shaking.

Myrtenaster clattered to the floor.

The damaged panels fell off, cleanly cut apart where the laser had split them, new ones teleported in shortly after.

Penny let go of her arm, and held her steady by her shoulders. “Detecting severely elevated vital signs, brain activity, and extremely high magical levels! Are you okay, Weiss?!”

“HOLY SHIT, THAT WAS AWESOME!” Weiss screamed, grinning from ear to ear, her eyes wild.

Abner frowned. “Oh dear, here comes the power high!” he said as he stood back up.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take a break first…?” Penny asked, smiling nervously.

“HELL NO!” Weiss replied, now looking dangerously pale. “Give me my sword back! Gimme! Gimme!”

Penny looked at Abner.

<… Penny: Paralytic Shock, Intensity 1.>

<Yes, Maker Abner,> Penny replied.

She let go of Weiss with one hand, the other crackling with magic.

“Sorry, Weiss,” she said, before she put her hand to her chest, and everything went dark.

Weiss came to on the floor of the Raucous Room, lying on her back with Penny kneeling over her and Myrtenaster laying on her other side.

“Are you alright, Weiss?” Penny asked as she helped her up to a sitting position.

“I feel… really weirdly good, actually!” Weiss muttered. “What happened?”

“You were suffering from an overload of internal magical energy, and I had to shock you unconscious.”

“So sorry about that!” Abner said, his voice booming from the PA system. “For better or worse, with unstable Weavers, it’s safer for everyone involved if you knock them out first, and calm them down later.”

“Why?” Weiss aksed. “What would have happened if you didn’t?”

“You would have exploded,” Penny replied.

Weiss blinked. “'Exploded'…?”

“The official term is ‘Catastrophic Involuntary Discharge,’ where like an overloaded mana collector, the excess energy is unable to be contained, and is released into the immediate environment as a result—oftentimes violently.”

“Holy shit...” Weiss whispered. “Is it wrong that I still want to use my powers more?”

“Not at all!” Penny said. “This is actually quite healthy, that you feel the need to discharge your excess mana reserves. The only real issue here is that you do it safely, and in amounts that don’t overwhelm you like earlier.”

“How do I do that?”

“In the long-term, regular weaver training, continuing your farming, and making processed goods from them will help tremendously,” Penny replied. “Without a doubt, your body unconsciously leaking excess magic is what caused your moonshine to be so potent, and your creations to turn into elementals—both the most recent ones, and the goo monster back at the Job Gauntlet.”

Golems began to warp in around her. They were all simpler and more inhuman than Penny, designed like medieval knights in full plate armour, Fae-made weapons in their hands. All of them of them were the size of an adult human, except for a giant titan four times as large as them with an executioner’s blade to match.

“And in the short-term, you can help me get some valuable data about you and your powers by destroying everything you see around you—preferably with your magic,” Abner finished.

Weiss looked around and smiled as the Knight Golems came to life, standing at attention with their weapons at rest.

Penny picked up Myrtenaster, then held it out to her with upturned palms.

Weiss took it. Now that she knew what was coming, she had much better control over her flow of magic, and as a plus, the feeling of it amplifying it several times over still felt amazing.

“Stay back, Penny,” she said as she stepped forward, the first of the knights mirroring her. “This is going to get messy.”

Penny curtsied and giggled. “As you wish, 'mistress~'” she said playfully, before she ran to the side, into a bunker Abner had just warped in.

One of the knights stepped forward, a swordsman.

Weiss curtsied, it bowed, and they raised their weapons.

The knight charge, both hands on its blade.

Weiss readied herself to meet it with her rapier, before she felt Myrtenaster pulse in her hand, images, wordless ideas and suggestions echo in her head.

She smiled, and stabbed the sword into the ground.

A sheet of ice came rocketing out, catching the swordsman unaware. It slipped and fell, Weiss stood aside as it zoomed on past her. The ice cracked and dissolved back into pure mana as soon as her opponent slid past it, but there was no time to complain:

The next knight was stepping up.

Again, she curtsied, he bowed, before he charged her with his sword.

Weiss held up her free hand, spreading her fingers open, a sheet of solid ice forming in front of her.

The knight swung.

Crash!

The shield shattered into a million pieces, barely stopping the blade from meeting her shoulder.

The attack didn’t hurt, but the blow to her ego certainly stung.

The knight stepped back, gestured apologetically.

“I’m fine,” Weiss said as she readied herself again.

The knight did the same, stepping back a few feet, before he swung again.

This time, Weiss didn’t try to block the blow with her magic, but with Myrtenaster. The runeblade was bounds stronger than its thin appearance would have suggested, and knight��s blade came to a stop. However, it still had brute force on its side, and it pushed down on Weiss with most of its strength.

Again, the golem's blade struck home, on her other shoulder.

Once more, no injury, except to her pride.

Weiss gritted her teeth, saw that the knight overbalanced, falling forward and leaving his chest open.

She slammed her off-hand into him, magic pouring into the knight’s chassis, before it turned into freezing cold ice.

The knight staggered back from the blow, stunned.

Weiss stabbed it three times with Myrtenaster, the knight staggering back if it had been blasted by a firehouse.

The shock wore off, it began to move once more.

Weiss grinned as she cocked her off-hand back, then thrust it forward.

The knight went crashing to his back, and skidded back a few inches.

The icicle jutting out from Weiss hand stayed in the air, before it disappeared, the leftover magic falling and glimmering in the air like frost.

The golem was hauled off to the side by the third knight, this one armed with a repeater.

Weiss curtsied, he bowed, then got into a shooting position.

Dummy darts began to fly through the air and into Weiss. She raised up her off-hand, formed another ice shield, but it too shattered after only a handful of shots. She raised up Myrtenaster, closed her eyes and thought:

“Shield.”

The hail of blanks stopped. Weiss opened her eyes, saw the darts landing on a translucent barrier in front of her, ripples of energy spreading out from the points of impact before they harmlessly dropped off.

The knight reloaded.

Weiss circled Myrtenaster in the air, the ripples spiraled into the middle.

The knight raised its firing arm.

A beam of water shot out from Myrtenaster, and bored a sizable hole into its chest.

It looked down at itself, up at Weiss, nodded, then promptly collapsed.

“You seem to be getting the hang of this quite quickly!” Abner said. “Shall I up the difficulty?”

Weiss grinned. “As high as you can make it.”

“Well… good thing I had the foresight to equip them all with blanks!” Abner replied.

The knights all bowed as one, before they raised their weapons and charged.

New Post has been published on Millie Bobby Brown Fan #MillieBobbyBrown #StrangerThings

New Post has been published on http://millie-bobby-brown.com/pressphotosvideo-millie-for-variety-magazine/

Press/Photos/Video: Millie for Variety Magazine

Millie is to be featured in the new issue of Variety magazine. I will be adding digital scans soon.

  2017: Variety (Cover image) 2017: Photo Session #028

How ‘Stranger Things’ Star Millie Bobby Brown Made Eleven ‘Iconic’ and Catapulted Into Pop Culture

“I’ve never seen that in a child actor.”

It’s almost a mantra for anyone who’s worked with Millie Bobby Brown.

Whether it’s “Stranger Things” executive producer Matt Duffer praising her on-set technical knowledge, co-star David Harbour extolling her emotional intelligence or casting director Sarah Finn explaining why she selected her for the next installment in the “Godzilla” film franchise — even the most seasoned industry pro marvels at the young actor’s preternatural ability.

Brown, now just 13, has never trained professionally as an actor. Never gone to acting school. Never taken a class. She simply decided at age 8 she wanted to be on-screen, and her parents obliged, moving her and her siblings from Bournemouth in England to Orlando, Fla., to allow her to pursue her dream.

“It was like a bug,” she says. “I know this sounds crazy, but once I find something I want to do, nobody’s stopping me. If I don’t know how to sew, and I really had that passion to sew, that’s it, I’m going to sew. That’s also with acting. So here I am.”

Her path to stardom wasn’t immediate: She secured a few guest star spots here and there, in shows like “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland,” “Modern Family” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” She got turned down for “Logan,” which eventually went to Dafne Keen. But it was the role of Eleven in Netflix’s sleeper hit that catapulted her to fame.

“I felt at one point I couldn’t do it [anymore], but then I got this and everything changed,” she says over a mid-afternoon soda break at the London hotel in West Hollywood. Now, “acting is like breathing to me.”

To say the past year of her life has been a roller coaster would imply that there have been dips. In fact, it’s been nothing but a steady climb since the July 2016 bow of “Stranger Things.” Her Instagram followers ballooned from 25 to 4.2 million; the cast won best ensemble at the SAG Awards and best drama at the PGA Awards; and she claimed her own trophy at the MTV Movie & TV Awards for best actor in a TV show, with an emotional acceptance speech that won her even more accolades for its honesty. And with season two of “Stranger Things” now streaming (it debuted Oct. 27), she just wrapped production on the next installment of the “Godzilla” franchise opposite Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga and Thomas Middleditch. (“You’ll find out in two years,” she jokes about her secret role in the film, which is slated for a 2019 release.)

Then there’s that Emmy nomination for supporting actress in a drama. “It was a true honor and privilege to be representing the young generation,” she says. Although she went home on Emmy night empty-handed, she took things in stride, happy to simply enjoy the evening out with her merry band of co-stars.

“I’m leery of blowing too much smoke up her already well-filled smoke ass,” says Harbour, who plays Chief Hopper on the Netflix hit. “Because I do feel that when I’m in the nursing home, I would like to be able to watch movies with her in her 30s and have her become Meryl Streep. She has the potential for that to happen.”

It was all about the Look.

Fans of “Stranger Things” know it well: when Eleven lowers her chin and glares defiantly at whoever — or whatever — is in her path.

It was in her audition for the role that she came up with that intense laser-beam stare — and nailed the part. She was 11 at the time.

“I’ve never forgotten it, because it was so intuitive,” recalls executive producer Shawn Levy. “That this little person had such fierce power — that’s what took me aback. That same day the Duffers [brothers Matt and Ross, who created the show] and I knew she was the one.”

In the “Stranger Things” universe, Eleven — so-called because of the tattoo she wears — is a product of psychological experiments by Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) that infused her with telekinetic abilities, among other supernatural powers. Because of her years of isolation under Brenner’s watch, her vocabulary is rather limited. (One fan counted: Her dialogue amounts to just under 250 words in the whole first season.)

Brown wasn’t intimidated by the role of Eleven being mostly nonverbal. “You can talk with your face,” she says matter-of-factly. “It’s very easy for someone to say, ‘I’m mad. I’m sad. I’m angry.’ I have to just do it with my face.”

Nor did she mind shaving her head. Brown’s parents were more against it than she was, but it helped that “Mad Max: Fury Road” was out at the time. Matt Duffer recalls persuading her with the argument “Doesn’t Charlize look badass? You’re going to look badass too.”

What did cause a bit of on-set drama was The Kiss — the moment when Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Eleven smooch in the season-one finale. For all of her remarkable self-possession, the little girl that’s still in Brown reveals itself when she recounts the moment — her first kiss ever. “It was a strange experience. Having 250 people looking at you kissing someone is like, ‘Whoa!’” she says.

Further complicating matters, it seems there’s some debate over whether it was Wolfhard’s first smooch as well. “He says I wasn’t, but I definitely think I was,” she says. “I think he was just trying to be cool.”

As for how those awkward teenage moments play out in the second season, “No comment,” say the Duffer Brothers. “My character’s just so, so perfect for me,” says Millie Bobby Brown. “I definitely think that we relate to each other a lot.”

The Duffers, who write, direct and executive produce the series, have gotten a front-row seat to Brown’s talents. The role of Eleven was always central to the show’s plot — it’s with her help that the boys rescue their friend who’s vanished into the Upside Down — but with Brown on board, the storytelling options have blossomed.

“We have yet to give her something that she’s unable to do,” says Matt Duffer. “I can throw this girl an incredible fastball, she’s going to hit it. It’s like a singer who can hit any note. Her range is just absolutely incredible. I have yet to see any limits to it.”

He compares her to Tom Cruise in her keen perception of how the camera works — and how to use it to her advantage. “She’s four years away from knowing what millimeter lens she’s on and how she should adjust her performance accordingly,” he says. “She’s not there yet, but it’s right around the corner.”

Ross Duffer recalls the scene in season one where Eleven is being dragged down the corridor shouting “Papa!” at Brenner. Even the crew stopped to marvel. “That was when we realized, as good as she is, she’s even better than we thought,” he says. “We can push her to all these intense and emotional places.” They take her even further in the second season (there’s an epic finale showdown), and report she “knocks it out of the park” every time.

And the critics agree: “Brown’s ability to summon emotion is as impressive as her character’s ability to walk between worlds,” writes Variety’s Maureen Ryan.

As Brown heads into her teenage years, the question is whether she can avoid that curse of child stardom that has plagued so many before her. “Everyone from Tennessee Williams to Sarah Paulson has warned of the perils of early success,” says Harbour. “There’s a piece of me that’s very protective of her and feels that we should all let her be brave and brilliant and turn our eyes away and not give her so much attention.”

Levy says her close family ties give her a “fighting chance.” She’s surrounded by her parents, as well as her 23-year-old sister, who’s usually on set with her and travels with her. And if all else fails, there’s Harbour: “I tell you what, she’s got me. And I’m the biggest curmudgeon around.”

Brown has purposely made her U.S. home in Atlanta, far from the crush of Hollywood, where she jokingly complains every waiter is an actor. “I feel like Hollywood is just a place where everything’s going so fast,” she says. Georgia, she says, is “calm, peaceful, beautiful.” There she can keep herself “grounded for my family and my home and my friends.”

She’s been flooded with advice, but the one thing she’s retained is this: “To live in the moment and to make mistakes is a big part of being a person,” she says. “I’m still just a kid. I’m 13, and making mistakes is OK.” So if a spoiler slips (no such luck!) or she says something wrong on Twitter, so be it.

She’s trying to hold on to some vestiges of her childhood and not rush headlong into adulthood, despite all the magazine cover offers coming her way. “I don’t like showing off my skin,” she reveals. “If I’m in a photo shoot and they’re like, ‘Can you wear a crop top?’ I’m like, ‘No. No, not yet.’ When that day comes I’m going to be, like, 18.”

She plans to spend her hiatus doing charity work. “I just want to focus on helping other people,” she says. “Working with Unicef is a really big dream of mine.”

And while she’s content to focus on acting, her other passion is singing — just watch her impressive rap to Nicki Minaj’s verse on “Monster” on YouTube. As with acting, she’s never trained. “It came to me naturally,” she says.

Even more remarkable, Brown is deaf in one ear — she was born with partial loss of hearing, and then her hearing faded away after years of tubes. So she can’t fully hear herself perform, but no matter. “I just started to sing, and if I sound bad I don’t care, because I’m just doing what I love,” she says. “You don’t have to be good at singing. You don’t have to be good at dancing or acting. If you like to do it, if you genuinely enjoy doing it, then do it. No one should stop you.”

Season one of “Stranger Things” ended with Eleven sacrificing herself to the Demogorgon who’s been terrorizing the town. But there was never really any question that Brown would return for season two. (And we did see Harbour’s Chief Hopper leaving those Eggos, her favorite snack, in the woods.)

“Once we realized [‘Stranger Things’] was going to be multiple seasons, Eleven was such the heart of the show we had to keep her,” says Ross Duffer.

Brown says she knew she was coming back and is relieved she finally gets to talk about it, since she had to keep it a secret even from her family. But she’s been well-trained in the art of avoiding spoilers (“I’m a pro at this now,” she says when her publicist hands her talking points for an upcoming panel), and ahead of the premiere, she refuses to reveal how or why Eleven returns.

“It’s really twisted and just perfect,” she says cryptically.

Season two, which picks up a year later in 1984, probes more deeply into Eleven’s backstory. “We wanted to delve more into her past and how she ended up where she ended up,” says Ross Duffer. “It’s an emotional journey for Millie and her character to see where she came from. The first season was a fish-out-of-water, ‘E.T.’ story for her. This season we wanted to give her more of an arc and a journey.”

Adds Matt Duffer, “I think people are really going to respond to her storyline.”

We find out more about not just her mother but her connection to Brenner, the man she calls her father. “Without Papa, Eleven wouldn’t be Eleven,” says Brown. “Everybody thinks he’s evil, but he was a big part of Eleven’s life. He was her Papa.”

But her true father figure is Harbour’s Chief Hopper. “They’re both such strong, oddball characters,” Harbour says. “We wanted to fit this feral cat of a little girl, wise beyond her years, who also has these supernatural abilities, with this very broken man who’s got issues about his own parenting abilities. There’s some connection that Hopper understands about the reemergence of Eleven that very much comes into play in season two.”

This time out, Eleven has more hair (“We let it grow out, as much hair as was able to grow from season one to season two,” says Ross Duffer) and more dialogue. (Among her new favorite words: “Mouth-breather.”) “She’s not speaking as if she was raised and lived in the regular world her whole life, but it’s a more verbal performance,” says Levy. “But in spite of more written dialogue in season two, Millie’s more powerful moments remain the ones without words.”

And there’s a new girl in town, challenging Eleven’s role as the lone girl in the gang of boys: Sadie Sink plays Max, a skateboarding tomboy with “a complicated history and a suspicious streak.” And though their characters may not exactly bond immediately, off-screen is a different story: Brown’s Instagram is filled with photos of her and Sink, whom she calls a “sister.” “I loved having a new girl on the show, because it’s nice not to be surrounded by boys,” Brown says. “One girl is just perfect.” Echoes Sink, “Me and Millie automatically clicked because we were the only girls in the group.”

Spoiler alert: There’s one moment this season that had Brown in tears. “I cried for hours actually after that, because it was just so sad,” she says.

All involved acknowledge the pressure of living up to the nearly impossible expectations of the sophomore season. “I don’t believe in resting on your laurels,” says Harbour. “I think the purpose of artistry in some degree as opposed to entertainment is to be one step ahead of your audience. Give them what they might not know they need as opposed to just rehashing the hits. So from very early on, the first scripts we were like we’re going to take some chances that hopefully will pay off. It might upset some people. But it was exciting to be a part of it.”

Brown’s ties to the boys — Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin — seems unbreakable. Their palpable on-screen chemistry translates off set, where they spend much of their free time together — at Six Flags, on sleepovers, on giant text chains that the Duffers occasionally get caught on. (“That’s not so fun,” sighs Matt Duffer.) “They’re close and they’re going to be bonded in some way for life, and I think they realize that,” he says.

At the London, Brown can’t resist looking over with a tinge of jealousy as the boys run around nearby, on a break from a tutoring session. “I know the true boys, and they know the true me,” she says. “We like to be as private as we can.”

Wolfhard calls her “one of the best actresses I’ve ever worked with.” “If you put something on her shoulders, something big or a big scene, she’ll figure it out,” he says. “She can handle pressure very well.”

Schnapp says he’s grown closer with Brown in the second season. They’ve become prank buddies — they called the show’s costume designer and told her her wedding had to be canceled — and he’s especially fond of her ATV. “We ride it all the time and watch scary movies together,” he reports.

As luck would have it, the production of “Godzilla” was in Atlanta. She bonded with director Michael Dougherty over a mutual interest. “I have such a passion about animals and he did as well, and I felt like we just immediately connected,” she says. “I was like, I need to work with him. I need to.”

She points out, though, that she’s going to be 15 when the movie finally comes out. “I’m going to see my 13-year-old self and be like, ‘Why did I do that? Why did I blink at that specific time?’” she says with a sigh. “I’m a perfectionist, so I don’t like to watch my work.”

Millions would beg to differ. – Source