looking for a enjolitare fic that i read a looong time ago!

i don’t remember too much but i do remember these little tid bits below and also that i think it was pretty long but SO GOOD.

so in it grantaire i think volunteers himself or is offered up or something to make posters for whatever enjolras is and the rest of the group are focusing on and ends up having such a depressive and/or anxious episode that he doesn’t do it. there’s a lot of him angry at himself for it and then enjolras is upset with him over it as well.

there’s also this subplot where eponine doesn’t outright admit that she’s gavroche’s sister but grantaire puts the pieces together and finds out

i’ve been desperate to read this book again since i first read it and then promptly lost it so please help!

Land Date

Based off this prompt

@#$&*%@#$&*%@#$&*%@#&*%@#$&*%@#$&*

The crew of the Revenge finally got a day off on port after a slightly successful raid, but at least they had some hostages to sell. I was told by my slut Lucius (that’s my nickname for him) that he, Ed, and Stede would go on another “adventure” that will most likely have the co-captains being the cheesiest couple in the world and leaving Lucius alone to watch their cringy PDA as usual. So naturally, Izzy wanted to take this opportunity to take me out on a land date, something we do whenever it’s safe enough for the crew to move further than the Revenge. I was trying to remember the last time I’ve been around people other than my crew whenever Izzy knocked on our shared cabin door, saying:

“You almost done, hun?” I recognized his voice immediately.

“Si, just wait outside for me, ok mi amor?” I responded.

I then heard his steps going towards the deck. I looked in the mirror that I successfully stole during a raid from very rich people. I was wearing a black and white striped off the shoulder sweater, a waist up long flowy red skirt with two secret slits just in case I needed to bring out the knives I was hiding on my garters, and a belt just for design. I wore some comfy brown boots, not the long, black heels I usually wear because today, was a day off.

I walked up on deck and thanked Wee John for this outfit he made for me specifically due to my plump figure. I guess Lucius and the co-captains were already gone because if I knew him, he would’ve already commented on my new look as usual. Such a shame, for him at least. Then, I noticed Izzy, just waiting for me near the exit of the ship, gazing at me so lovingly. I could tell he was lost in my beauty since his breathing was faster than usual. I walked up to him slowly, teasing him by my pace.

“Wow, you’re so…beautiful.” Izzy whispered to me.

“It’s just a different outfit, amado, but gracias.” I whispered back, clutching on the straps of my satchel nervously.

I still get flustered by his admiration towards me, like I’m a light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.

“Right, we’ll be back by evening, don’t do anything stupid until we’re gone.” he shouted to the remaining crew members.

“Ok lovebirds! Enjoy yourselves!” Frenchie yelled, chained to Wee John, grinning slyly at Izzy specifically.

I convinced him Frenchie wasn’t worth it quickly so he just fumed and stuck up his middle finger up at him. Once he had stepped out, he softly stopped me and offered his hand to help me step out. I blushed instantly and grabbed a part of my skirt and took his hand carefully, still slightly tripping. It made me feel so elegant and safe, I loved it. I love him, so much. He kept his hand in mine, delicately intertwining our fingers together and pulling me closer to him by kissing my tan knuckles tenderly.

As we were walking through the bustling stands, I went back to my thoughts from before. I guess he noticed my still expression since he asked:

“Whatchu thinkin’ about?” I stopped my train of thought for a break of reality.

“Oh, nada, just thinking about how long it’s been since… you know, we’ve been off that ship and alone together.” I saw that there was not a single tint of anger smoked upon his face.

“It’s feels like forever, right?” I nodded, he continued. “Well, what matters now is that it’s just us now, ok?” he squeezed my hand, I squeezed back.

We both hoped to not run into any crew members.

After a while of wandering around, I smelled something familiar in the air. At once, I saw Roach and the Swede trying to sell the hostages we had. I quickly shoved Izzy in a narrow alleyway along with myself, making sure they passed by us without a clue.

“Oh my fuckin’ god, you’re seriously-“

“Shhhh, callate antes de que le escuchen!” I whispered, speaking in my native tongue.

I looked out again, double checking. Roach turned his head and looked in our direction, so I pushed him and I through a random door and just hid there, our bodies stuck against each other. I held my breath as I felt Izzy tensed up, neither of us wanting to be found. I heard the Swede call for Roach’s name, I guess he found a customer then. Good news for us both. I then heard him running away from our location. I sighed heavily of relief, as did my partner. I looked up at him, still not used to him being taller than me, and smiled as I took his hand to bring him further into the new building we rushed in to hide.

We walked into a darkened room which had a few candles scattered around.

“Oh great, we’ve ended up at Spanish Jackie’s.” he sighed and walked further into the booze smelling tavern.

I don’t know who the fuck Jackie is and honestly, I don’t give a shit. I walked alongside him, stepping around carefully to avoid the gross shit on the floor. An old small lady was selling something at her lonesome table, so I took pity on her and walked over to her table hesitantly. She was selling jewelry of many kinds; anklets, piercings, and rings. I felt Izzy’s warmth creep up to my side as he leaned over the table as well.

“Why hello there young fellows, would you like to purchase anything from this table of mine?” she spoke in a shaken tone.

But I was totally and completely mesmerized by these two magnificent rings with such charming gems. The one on the right had one single sapphire with gold holding its place while the one on the left had petite mini rubies surrounded by silver. I gently grazed my fingertips against them both. I could tell he was watching my gaze to those rings since he asked:

“Do you want them?” I didn’t even answer, still being enchanted by those two rings.

I then started to pull out a bag of coins I pickpocketed from a guy walking by us when I was suddenly stopped by his firm hand on my wrist.

“How much for these two?” he asked the old lady, pointing at the duo of rings.

“Oh no, you don’t have to-“

“How much?” he was still looking at the old lady whenever he cut me off.

“Well aren’t you such a gentleman? Y-you can have them for free, dear, since they were never going to sell anyway.” the old lady responded, but Izzy still gave her a bag of coins he had.

“Keep ‘em and buy yourself something nice tonight, alright?” he mumbled to the old lady and walked off, taking my hand in his.

We walked out of the tavern together and he led me to a spot away from people and turned to face me.

“Babe, again you really didn’t have to buy these for me…” I whispered, grinning from embarrassment.

He raised my hand and slowly put the ruby ring on my ring finger of my right hand. He brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it with care, causing a flustered smile from me and cupping my cheek with my free hand.

“But I did it anyway, love. It suits you really well.” I then took his left hand and put the sapphire ring on his pointer finger, grinning up at him with delight.

He blushed immensely. I always revel in his embarrassment.

“Never knew the frightful Izzy Hands was such a romantic.” I said, giggling as he pulled me carefully closer by my waist, kissing my cheek gently.

I then went for it and kissed him properly. I wrapped my arms around his neck, wanting to stay like this forever, just kissing him for eternity.

“My, my, my, we’d never expect you two to be found like this together.” I heard Lucius say as we both pulled our lips away from shock.

I noticed him, Ed, Pete, and Stede, just standing there in amazement.

“What the fuck- FUCK OFF!” Izzy yelled, pulled his dagger out, and started to chase after Lucius.

‘What the fuck was I gonna do with this little bitch of a man?’ I thought as I followed them into a tavern or club of some sort.

I was so embarrassed by my angry bean, holding him back while Pete held onto his noisy babe. They both walked out of the place while Izzy was cursing under his breath. I turned him around and gave him a small peck on his cheek.

“Remember, they’re not worth it.” I whispered to him, he just grunted in response.

I then led him to the bar and let him sit down on a barstool as I ordered a bowl of crab soup for him and two drinks for us both.

As he was eating, he was terrifying douchebags away just by his glare. He could always tell whenever a guy was about to hit on me, which was very helpful and I loved him for that. Not just for that, for a lot of reasons, actually. I can already tell I’m about to get off topic so I’ll just stop myself here. Well anyway, he reached for my hand as he thanked me for the meal. Hey, I had to get the guilt off my shoulders eventually. Every finished bite he took, he kept on thanking me. How did I ever end up with such a sweet man?

We then walked out, just waltzing about, whenever we heard some street band playing some songs. I looked back to my love just to see a outstretched hand for me, inviting me to dance. I gladly accepted it and we danced until dark. Oh, it was so fucking lovely.

We walked back to the Revenge arm in arm, his leather jacket draped upon my shoulders to ‘protect’ me from the cold, as we saw their cheeky faces. I guess Lucius was already on board since I suspected he told them about what happened…before. It gives me butterflies by just thinking about it.

“Hey hun, I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed our alone time together. Gracias por sor tan dulce.” I said.

He blushed and scoffed softly.

“So did I, love, but you’re the one who made it absolutely perfect.” I instantly blushed.

“Ay, mi amor…” I covered up my face from embarrassment and rolled my eyes from the cheesiness.

He took my hands and cupped his cheeks.

“Te amo mucho, Iz.” I whispered.

“I love you, dear.” he whispered back and leaned into my soft hands.

A peaceful silence fell over us as we kissed longingly once more.

Evaluation of Treasure Island musical adaptations on spotify:

Treasure Island the Musical by Starshine Singers – This is a company that makes children’s musicals, so it’s a cheery little thing sung by children. Doesn’t have a lot of plot but a fun 20 minutes if you want to hear some kids singing about torture and murder.

Treasure Island the Musical Original Cast – This is an actual legit musical which was staged in London in 1973. For better or worse the sound is very much Old Timey Musical Theatre. There are at least two recordings of this on spotify for some reason.

Treasure Island: A New Musical by Ceramic Goose – This is more of an independent local theater kind of production. The full show is available on youtube but I didn’t watch it. The “Prologue” and a couple of other moments are quite annoying, Jim is played by a whole adult, Captain Smollett is a woman (and dies?), and either Jim’s father is alive or Livesey has jumped into a father figure role (unclear). Some weird characterizations throughout. Most of the music isn’t bad – has kind of an Evan Hansen-ish vibe – but there are some songs that are worse than others.

Treasure Island The Musical by Chris O’Sullivan – Can’t find much information about this one but based on all the performers’ names it appears to be Irish. There are plenty of things I could say about the work as a whole but I just cannot get past the fact that Silver is introduced with a song that’s clearly styled after Master of the House from Les Mis.

Treasure Island by XvallariX – I don’t know what the fuck this is but I’m including it because all the songs are named for TI characters.

There have been other musical adaptations but these are the ones I could find on spotify! And the other results on there are either unrelated or Treasure Planet or audiobooks.

Then there are also several songs called Long John Silver:

By Richard Thompson – I already knew this song because I like this singer, and “there’s nothing but black in a pirate’s heart” makes me sad but it’s a great song.

By Stormfrun – More of a piratey sound and seems to be about actual Silver not as a metaphor. The idea that he got the nickname Barbeque by cooking a traitorous crew member and feeding him to the crew is pretty fucking hardcore.

By Jefferson Airplane – I’m going to be really honest, when I think of Jefferson Airplane I think of Supernatural. Interesting lyrics though.

By Great Master – This music isn’t to my taste but you guys. Look at the fucking lyrics of this song and the others on the album it’s from. This is 100% based directly on Black Sails. Not Treasure Island, Black Sails. Like there are show characters mentioned and bits of actual canon dialogue. Which one of you did this.

By Skull & Bones – Kind of a bop. They’ve got other Treasure Island themed songs too.

By Lennon Kelly – This one is in Italian and is pretty good.

By Jimmy Dorsey (with others) – This is an OLD song. Fun if you like swing I guess. Doesn’t really have lyrics so nothing to do with Treasure Island. There are a few renditions of this on spotify.

By Ray Lindo – Instrumental piece from the soundtrack to the movie Christmas in Hollywood.

By Golden Ivy – Instrumental ambient music idk.

By King Kyle Lee, Liveola, SoSanAntone, and Famous Lil Ken – Rap. Couldn’t find lyrics so I don’t know if it has anything to do with actual Silver.

By Schandmaul – German. I like the chorus.

By Studio Murena – Another Italian one but I don’t like this one lol.

Long John Silver: Themes by David Buttolph – From the soundtrack of the 1954 motion picture Long John Silver. I went and listened to some of the rest of this soundtrack and it very much sounds like something from the 50s!

Then there are a few about the restaurant, and a few others that mention Silver the character offhand in the lyrics.

My Review of Princess Sara

And now I return for more World Masterpiece Theater.

Today’s classic is something I’m somewhat familiar with. The series is loosely based on the novel titled, “A Little Princess” by Frances Hodgson Burnett. There were several adaptations for film and television throughout the past several decades including a Shirley Temple film in the late 1930’s, an Americanized version in the 90s, and about a bajillion Filipino adaptations. The one I’m most familiar with was the one that came out in 1995. I remember this film very well as it was played a lot in my youth and as an adult, I would come across it from time to time on HBO or some other station playing it. It was fine and all, but I knew that this film took artistic liberties and changed around a lot from the novel.

After watching several of these World Masterpiece Theater animes, I’ve come to realize that these series are pretty damn accurate when it comes to capturing the original source material. I mean yes, Les Mis took a lot of liberties to remove several characters from being killed off, but it was still top tier best version. All of these animes have to take a few liberties as they are all G-Rated. But they’re still very good nevertheless. I was curious about this particular story for the longest time and thought it was high-time I sit down and watch the anime version.

Sara Crewe and her father arrive in London from India. Back home, Sara was treated a lot like a princess and she acted like one. Not the bad kind, the Princess Diana kind, she’s a sweetheart. Sara is about to be admitted to a boarding school, Miss Minchin’s all-girl’s boarding school that is! Once at school, Sara was beloved by most of the students and praised by teachers due to her academic skills. On top of which, her father is loaded! Yeah, her father is in the diamond business back in India and so he has enough money to keep her daughter happy.

Unfortunately, when Sara’s father dies news also comes that the family is bankrupt leaving Sara without a penny to her name. Surely Miss Minchin will care for the poor orphan girl, right? Ha, I already know this story. Miss Minchin strips Sara of her education, clothes, and housing. Even though she tossed around the idea of casting the orphaned girl to the streets, Miss Minchin takes pity on the girl. Sara will live in a cold attic and work as a scullery maid. Sara is to do as she’s told by her higher-ups, never talk with the other students, and must work until she pays off her debts to Miss Minchin.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: As I’ve mentioned in the past, only a few of the World Masterpiece Theater animes were dubbed into English. And this was one of them…sorta! Our good friends at Animax did one. And if you’re unfamiliar, this is the company from Southeast Asia that dubs anime into English. And if that still doesn’t ring a bell, look up the Cardcaptor Sakura dub and you’ve got your answer. As usual, this anime has made its way across the globe to many different countries and territories. Apparently, it was a big hit in the Philippines. So much so that there’s a plethora of memes surrounding this one series! As for the cast, it’s a mixture of veteran voice actors that are still voicing today, lesser-known voices, and one-timers. And as this is a part of the World Masterpiece Theater collection, some voice actors here were heard in other works throughout the years like Naoko Watanabe and Eiko Yamada. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Sara is played by Sumi Shimamoto (known for Okita’s sister on Gintama, Kanata on Lucky Star, Ishizu on YGO, and Flora on Berserk 2016)

*Becky is played by Teiyuu Ichiryuusai (known for Masao on Crayon Shin-chan)

*Miss Minchin is played by Taeko Nakanishi

DISLIKED CHARACTERS: Oh-ho-ho, I knew going in that I was going to hate two specific characters! Those two are Lavinia and Miss Minchin. Though when I watched the movie, it was more of a hatred for Miss Minchin overall and Lavinia was a passing thought. Has this anime changed my thoughts on these two?

Right from the starting gate, they are both detestable and will continue to be that.

Lavinia is a snot-nosed brat who gets jealous every time Sara gets attention from the teachers. But the greatest injustice done to Lavinia was that Miss Minchin took Lavinia’s role of class rep and gave it to Sara. So the bitch was butt-hurt. But when Sara’s father died and she loses her wealth, Lavinia showed absolutely no sadness. In fact, she was the only person in the room smiling. What a bitch! And when Sara became a scullery maid for the seminary, Lavinia made sure to screw around with Sara by any means necessary. She gets a kick from making the poor girl suffer or get yelled at. Seriously, every time you see this snot-nosed brat glare at Sara I’m screaming, “JUST LEAVE THE POOR GIRL ALONE!”

Thank God there was a second of peace. Lavinia’s father learned that Sara was once a student but is now a scullery maid and Lavinia being so insistent that Sara become her personal maid. He slapped the freckles off that bitch’s face. Give that father a cash prize and a trophy! Mind you I said one second of peace. The next episode she was right back giving Sara (and Becky) a hard time. Lavinia does so much to Sara that I can’t believe Sara managed to remain civil throughout the entire ordeal.

And as for Miss Minchin, she’s had it out for Sara from minute one. But because her father was wealthy, she decided to use Sara to show off to high society people. And the brewing point for Miss Minchin to vow vengeance against Sara was because Sara hid the fact that she was fluent in French. The audacity of this bitch! But again, because of Sara’s father, she sucked up. Miss Minchin’s true colors came out in front of Sara when it’s learned of her father’s death and failed diamond business. No pity on the girl who just lost everything. She was ready to throw her out on the street, but was begged by others to keep her as a maid.

Miss Minchin would be terrible to Sara. She physically abused her, starved her, forced her to live in unlivable conditions, and had the other workers (Molly and James) work her like a slave. One of the worst moments was when Sara got severely ill. Never mind pushing Sara to the point of illness, this woman had to think for a moment to get a credible doctor to look at her. She got the cheapest, drunkest doctor they could find who misdiagnosed her. Miss Minchin even thought about sending Sara to a sanitorium if this persists. Bitch, I can’t even with you! At least in this version, Miss Minchin never sent the police on Sara. Of the three versions to this story I’ve watched, I think this Miss Minchin was the cruelest. Only because we do witness her slapping Sara several times!

SHIPPING: I know I shouldn’t be shipping anyone with anybody. Most of the people in this story are young. VERY YOUNG! As for the adults, there were no romantic interests for anyone here. It’s plainly clear that Miss Minchin is going to die a spinster. None of the teachers had secret relationships with some guy like in the Shirley Temple version. And Miss Amelia didn’t run off with the milk man like in the 1995 version! None of that went down in this adaptation.

With that said…

Peter x Sara is cute! I would support the hell out of this even though it probably isn’t canon.

ACCURATE OR NOT: So let’s see if Princess Sara really stacks up to the novel “A Little Princess”.

*Oh-ho-ho, time to nail my childhood to a wall. As you know, I’m well familiar with the 1995 rendition of A Little Princess. If you’re like me and know this film from start to finish, get ready to have the balloon pop. Becky’s not black. The story takes place in London, not New York City. The story really takes place in the late 1800s, not World War I times. Ralph Crewe didn’t leave his daughter to fight in a war. And finally the most important fact, Ralph Crewe remains dead. Most of the things I mentioned here were used correctly in this adaptation.

*There are some new characters added to the series. And quite frankly, I’m not entirely sure who these people are. Except for the animals! With the exception of Ram Dass’s monkey, I don’t think Miss Minchin’s cat Cesar nor the family of rats exist.

*Most things in this anime are pretty accurate to the original source. But there’s a good chance that most of the episodes were either fabricated or stretched out to fit the running time. You know, fillers! Call me crazy, but I don’t think the book had chapters involving a Halloween party. Same goes for that episode where Amelia opens up to Sara about her past with her sister.

*It is unknown how long this experience for Sara lasts anime-wise. In the book, Sara’s time at Miss Minchin’s seminary was approximately 2 years. The way I see it, I don’t think Sara was a scullery maid for more than a year in the anime. If she were, we would have probably gotten an episode of Sara celebrating her first birthday without her father.

ENDING: Around episode 30, the home next to Miss Minchin’s seminary was sold to a gentleman from India named Mr. Carrisford. He was able to survive a gnarly bout with Jungle Fever, although now he’s confined to a wheel chair. But Mr. Carrisford has an overwhelming sense of guilt due to how things went down in India. See, he convinced his long-time friend to go into business with him involving a diamond mine. But the friend died from his Jungle Fever, leaving behind a daughter and a whole legal battle involving bankruptcy.

In case you’re not keeping up, Mr. Carrisford’s friend is Ralph Crewe, Sara’s father. Sara is just several feet from the gentleman who can save her from the living hell of Miss Minchin’s seminary.

But Medea, we’ve got over 15 episodes left!

Correct, dipshit! Mr. Carrisford doesn’t remember a lot, probably due to the Jungle Fever. He doesn’t remember Ralph’s daughter’s name. And he forgot where Sara was sent for her education. In fact, he was way off. Mr. Carrisford had his friend travel by boat to France in search for this girl. So I’m sitting here episode-after-episode screaming at the screen, “SHE’S RIGHT THERE, YOU IDIOT”. But because of Sara’s friendship with Ram Dass (Carrisford’s caretaker), he saw to it to repay Sara for her kindness. Ram Dass would spend days and nights going to the attic to give Sara warm blankets, clothes, and food. Sara thought it was a magic spell or a guardian angel looking out for her. It wasn’t long before Miss Minchin saw these special items in the attic and threw Sara out to sleep in a horse stable.

Things only get worse from here when one night the stable catches on fire and Sara almost burned to death. And then she gets blamed by Miss Minchin for starting the fire! This is the one and only time I’ve ever seen Sara stand up to Miss Minchin as she was not at fault. I know it’d be asking too much to have Sara tell Miss Minchin to fuck off, but this was big for Sara to stand up for herself. In actuality, Lottie accidentally dropped a candle when she was scared by (you guessed it) Lavinia and her friends. But no, Miss Minchin jumped to every wrong conclusion and threw Sara out of the seminary. Fortunately, Sara was taken in by Peter and his family and she was even able to get a job like many of the other children in the area.

Sara’s going to be a little match girl!

This anime hurts to watch. This anime hurts a lot.

Thankfully Sara’s stint as a little match girl was short-lived as Miss Amelia came looking for her and brought her back to the seminary. The only reason behind that is because there was a big care package addressed to Sara. Miss Minchin made it very clear that she still despises Sara. But Minchin flips her light-switch when she sees the care package contained beautiful clothing and such. Because she thought Sara was being watched by a wealthy and anonymous family member, she allows Sara to live in the attic and attend classes instead of doing chores with Becky. She goes back to kissing her ass. Again, the audacity of this bitch!

Moving back to Mr. Carrisford’s dilemma! He sent his solicitor to France in search of Ralph Crewe’s daughter. He returned with no such luck of a daughter. Then, they decide to hone their search to right here in England because this is where Ralph was from. Thankfully, fate intervened before they start another grand search as Sara came by the home to return Ram Dass’s monkey. Here it is, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Sara meeting Mr. Carrisford! He learns Sara knows some Hindu and grew up in India. He put 2+2 together and realized the girl from next door he’s been secretly helping was really Ralph Crewe’s daughter all along!

When Miss Minchin went next door to retrieve Sara, she was in for the shock of her life. Carrisford is going to adopt Sara. The diamond mine that was rumored to be a bust, was really fortuitous. Sara’s debts are wiped away. Not only is she inheritor to her father’s share, but she will also obtain Carrisford’s share when he passes (he has no heir of his own). And to top it off, he knows about the abuse of Sara so Sara is going to live next door instead of a creaky attic. You know, it’s not nice to kick people while their down. But fuck that, this bitch has needed a royal-ass beat down since episode one. Time for Miss Minchin’s sister to have her say!

MISS AMELIA: Throughout these 40-odd episodes, she is seen as the submissive sister, doing whatever Miss Minchin says. Amelia just stands there looking concerned every, single, fucking episode and does fucking nothing! She sees Sara suffering in silence with a smile on her face and says nothing to her sister. She even goes a step beyond that by begging Sara to forgive her sister several episodes prior to this very moment. We do get some light shed on Miss Minchin and Amelia’s past about how Miss Minchin worked odd jobs to take care of Amelia due to lack of parents. Not sure if this is really true or not, so I’m leaving it off my accuracy list. When Miss Minchin returns to the seminary and tells her sister what went down with Mr. Carrisford, Miss Amelia let her sister have it.

It was a long-time coming and I can understand a person like Amelia letting loose. Some people hold it in for so long until they’re filled to the top and explode. I’m one of those people, so again, I can relate in a way. Amelia spent this whole time contemplating whether to speak up about Sara’s abuse by her own sister or to shut up and do what her sister says. Hearing about Mr. Carrisford taking Sara snapped Amelia and she had a total breakdown. And all I can say is, “Bravo”! Amelia was absolutely right and I’m glad Miss Minchin heard it. It was all her fault. And if the seminary closes because people hear about Sara’s abuse, it’ll be all her fault.

BACK TO THE CONCLUSION: Fortunately for Miss Minchin, Sara is kind and forgiving. She had Mr. Carrisford give a sizable donation to Miss Minchin’s seminary. Miss Minchin was a notorious penny-pincher, so this should settle her. Sara gets quite the happy ending as she gets to live with Mr. Carrisford and still go to school. She has Becky become her personal maid. All of Sara’s belongings that were taken away when Ralph died are returned to her on Christmas. A little starving girl she helped early in the series has a happy ending as well. And we end with Sara and her new family go back to India. It’s for 4 months to settle things on the Crewe estate, but she’ll be back.

At least when she comes back, Lavinia won’t be there. Good riddance! At least they come to some sort of truce.

No matter what version of A Little Princess you watch, it’s always going to be a tough watch. Because of the size of this series, it can sometimes be too hard to watch. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good story where a character takes on adversity and struggles. But there comes a time when struggle just becomes borderline torture-porn. You know those stories where the hero has to go through so much pain and agony and eventually get some sort of satisfied conclusion. The anime The Rising of the Shield Hero and the movie Precious comes to mind. Thank God Sara never had to endure what Precious did. Still bad though! At least with the movie adaptations to Princess Sara, we only watch Sara’s struggles for like, what, an hour or maybe less. This is over 30 episodes of watching this girl get abused. That’s 23 minutes per episode, mind you! Not just from Miss Minchin, but the cooks and one smarmy brat who has a vendetta. All the while, you’re telling yourself, “Dude, you know this story and it’s going to get better”. But it’s not an easy watch! There are scenes where you just wish they’d leave Sara alone or just wish for things to get better.

Is this my favorite adaptations of A Little Princess? Hmm…I don’t know! I really liked this version of the story, but I still have an attachment to the 1995 film. Granted, the animation is always a bit of a drawback when it comes to these animes. But I have to cut some slack as this was mid-1980s here. If you were a fan of this story, whether you saw the 1995 film, the Shirley Temple film, or any of the other adaptations out there, I give a recommendation. Track this down and give it a watch.

Okay Randomizer-kun, I’m giving you another shot. Please don’t give me an obscure hentai to watch in place of this.

Oh thank God, another Nippon animation!

Hey can you please make a award season one but for a latina reader, if you would like you can keep the tom element. Sorry I'm asking again I accidentally deleted the last ask I made. I love your writing, you are amazing.❤️☺️

thank you thank you so much ur so sweet and of course! here you go and i hope you like it :) absolutely loved writing for latina!reader 

Awards Season (latina!reader)

---------------------------------------------------------------

“Here to present the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, please welcome Meryl Streep!” the host announced. A roar came from the audience at the mention of her name, the very acclaimed actress welcoming the attention and making her way to the microphone.

“Oh, stop it” she said and waved them away, earning a laugh and even more cheering from the theatre. “If I’m honest, I really considered not presenting this award because it breaks me inside to give the Oscar to someone else when it’s rightfully mine” she said in a funny, raspy evil voice, resembling a witch, “But you know, sharing is caring or whatever. Alright let’s get to it.” she continued dejectedly, still joking.

“This year, we have been blessed with beautiful films and, along with them, incredible performances from beautiful and talented actresses. Viola Davis, your abilities to embody different characters and raise awareness to ongoing issues in society has always amazed us, and it does once again in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, Meryl announced, the camera going to Viola who was sitting about 10 seats to my left, the audience (including me) applauding and praising her. Literally all of her performances are incredible.

Could I still believe I was here? Definitely not, and not any time soon. From small skits to my big break with Tom Holland in a stupid rom-com that I didn’t even want to make, to now. Tom knows it’s nothing against him, it’s just that I haven’t learned to appreciate romantic comedies the way he has, but the thing I loved most from doing it was finishing it with Tom. He had become such an important person in my life since that moment, what with guiding me through the newfound world of fame and being there for me when I joined the Marvel franchise, it was just more than I could ever dream of. Now I sit here at the freaking Oscars, with Tom Holland as my date, and having done one of the greatest films ever, nothing could keep the smile off my face. Or the nerves.

 My leg kept bouncing up and down, a nervous action I often did and one that the guy beside me had caught on to real quick when we first met. His warm hand gently squeezed my thigh, and I turned to look at him a little surprised.

“Hey, it’s okay” he softly said, his gaze soft and comforting.

“I didn’t even realize I was doing it” I answered in the same tone, whispering a thank you and letting my hand rest on top of his, weirdly interlocking our fingers. 

Meryl turned to where Olivia Colman was sitting, “Your Majesty,” she started, referencing her portrayals of royalty and causing her to chuckle, “your moving performances have always left us wanting more, and I’m sure that is what I and everyone felt when we saw you in The Father” a big smile broke out on her face, and cheering ensued once more for our queen, or at least one of mine.

“Aging is some we all go through...unfortunately,” Meryl uttered into the mic, touching up her almost white hair, “and you, Cynthia Erivo, made us relate to your character this way with your brilliant acting in Reaching 39″, that woman is simply amazing, I thought as I clapped and cheered with the audience.

“My dear Kate,” the camera panned to Kate Winslet, who just stared fondly at the woman on the stage, “watching you grow as an actress has been one of the pleasures of my life and you reach new heights both professionally and literally in Misdemeanors”, she is such an icon, oh my.

Finally, Meryl Streep turned to look at me in the front row with a grin on her face, and I quickly got into “camera mode”, as I like to call it. I sat up straighter, looking at her with gentle eyes and smile. 

“Señorita Y/N Y/L,” she started with the heavily accented Spanish word for Ms., “with your entrance into the world of filmmaking, you have set new expectations for all of us to reach. Even though this is your first nomination, I feel in my heart it won’t be the last, and we can’t wait to see more of you like we saw with your extraordinary performance in Paraíso” she finished, bringing a big smile to my face at her words. Turning to the camera, I became a bit shy and gave a small wave, feeling Tom squeeze my hand in comfort and another hand on my shoulder from behind. I turned to see Salma Hayek, one of my co-stars in the film, who gave me a strong nod and smile, loudly saying “Eso!” as a cheer for me.

“And the Oscar goes too...” ayyyyy no ay no que nervios que nervios que nervios me muero- all of this going through my head repeatedly but having to put on a smile and a calm façade for the camera was exhausting. Tranquila, tranquila, si no ganas está bien igual solo el hecho de estar aquí ya es lo más-

“Y/N Y/L, Paraíso!” Meryl announced, and all I heard were screams and loud clapping from around me. 

Shocked, I looked up with wide eyes and my jaw going slack a little. I felt a buzz fill my body and the idol on the stage beckoned me up, when I realized I hadn’t moved. I slowly stood up and instantly turned to Tom who quickly pulled me into his arms with a strong hug and whispering in my year, “I knew it! I knew you would do it darling. I’m so so proud of you babe, go get your award!” not giving me a chance to answer as he gave me a quick kiss and turned me around in the direction of the stage. Still in a bit of a daze, I didn’t see Salma, Eugenio (Derbez), and Benicio (del Toro) make their way to me, ambushing me in a group hug as they started jumping around and sort of with me, chanting “EH! EH! EH!” like Latinos at a party and causing me to laugh and come back to my senses. I hugged them all and continued to the stairs, stopping to hug my directors Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón. 

I lifted my dress as I ascended the steps, and in true nervous fashion, stumbled and almost face planted in front of thousands of people. 

“Uy, mierda” I chuckled to myself, and accepted the help of none other than Chris Evans who lent his arm for the remaining steps. I thanked him with a smile and after his Congrats!, I made my way to Meryl who held the famous award in her hands. She handed it to me and pulled me into her embrace, saying “Beautiful job, sweetheart, you’re amazing”, and all I could answer was “Oh my, thank you so much, you’re the amazing one”, sharing a laugh with her and standing in front of the mic.

I looked out into the audience, who were still giving me a standing ovation. Almost like a camera in my head, I tried to ingrain this moment in my mind and took a deep breath, starting my speech.

“God, I really hope I don’t forget any words in English right now” I said with a breathless laugh, inciting one from the people below me. “Thank you so much. Thank you to...um...so many people. To the Academy for this great, great honor. To my fellow nominees for inspiring me every single day. Being in the same room as you is already insane, let alone being nominated with you, it’s just- it’s truly out of this world. Viola, Olivia, Kate, Cynthia, you are my literal idols and if I could physically cut this Oscar into five pieces,” I said as I made a motion of cutting the award and humoured the audience, “I would give a piece to all of you. Um, thank you to my team, my agent, Victoria, te adoro y te agradezco for believing in me and helping me live out my dream. Sorry, I’m probably gonna switch between languages during this.” I said with a laugh. 

“Paraíso was a project that, for me, came out of nowhere. But for my extraordinary directors los señores Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón, it was a life’s work so to you, gracias por darme la oportunidad de darle vida a Marielos and for giving me the experience of a lifetime. Salma, Eugenio, Benicio, Gael, and all the cast and crew, thank you for becoming my second family and supporting me every step of the way. It has been my honor to work with you” I said with a hand on my chest, showing that I was speaking from my heart and smiling at the kisses and cheers sent to me from them, hearing a crazed Te amamos! from Eugenio. It eased the tension in my body which I was incredibly thankful for. 

“I also want to thank-” I stopped, getting a little choked up, “ha, sorry, it’s my family that couldn’t be here” I said, a wave of claps and cheering in comfort came from the audience. Quickly composing myself, I continued, “Ya, okay. All the way back home, lo hice! Familia, les dije que no les iba a agradecer si me ganaba un Oscar algún día por no creer en mi y hoy es ese día, pero no me lo perdonaría si no les agradezco. Gracias por apoyarme a pesar de que yo sé que les dio un ataque que quisiera ser actriz. Gracias por siempre estar ahí para mi, por quererme incondicionalmente y por enseñarme que trabajando duro todo se puede lograr. Los amo infinitamente.” I finished, with tears threatening to roll down my eyes. I tilted my head to the sky to prevent them from falling, and with a deep breath I turned to Tom who had his hands in a prayer stance while looking intently at me, the same smile from before still gracing his face.

“Tommy...” I started, and the audience audibly awed at the nickname, “Oh, you don’t even know what I’m gonna say to him” I said with narrowed eyes, but my gaze found my love once more.

“Thank you so much for being my rock ever since we met. I’m beyond thankful for you and all you do for me, baby. You make me the happiest and thank you for pushing me to do things that scare me. For being there for me in case I fall and for being my person. Te amo, amor.” I blowed him a kiss which he caught and jokingly used to wipe his tears, making me and the other celebrities laugh.

Please wrap up, I read from the screen, and let out and “Ay, perdón! I gotta wrap up sorry sorry” hurriedly finishing up my speech. 

“Lastly, this award goes out to all the Latina girls out there with big dreams. Nunca se den por vencidas. No dejen que nadie les diga que no porque de que se puede, se puede. Querer es poder! I love you guys, my fans oh my gosh, thank you thank you, gracias!” I rushed out, raising the award to the air with one last big smile as Meryl guided me backstage to answer some questions. Just before I was off sight, I turned and looked out to the stage once more.

Lo logré...

---------------------------------------------------------------

once again, disclaimer, movie names are mostly fictitious. feedback and requests always welcome!

If you're still doing the 5 head canons and are interested, how about Pirate!AU or Temeraire!AU (if you're familiar with the series) for The Untamed? All your writing is amazing! I've been here since the Les Mis era and you're part of the reason I started watching The Untamed/dragged my sisters and two other friends down with me :)

A pirates AU it is! (It has been a very long time since I’ve read Temeraire I’m afraid, and I’m not confident enough to do it justice)

Everyone knows Wei Wuxian as one of Yunmeng Jiang's finest young naval officers, made a Lieutenant at a young age, when they hear that he's defected and become a pirate

No one really knows all the details but rumours include:

He challenged Jiang Cheng for captaincy of his fleet, and then stole the flagship in the middle of the night after Jiang Cheng defeated him in a duel

He had been smuggling illegal goods through Lanling waters and was discovered by Jin Zixuan – they fought, he stabbed Jin Zixuan in the back, and he fled

He was no longer content to always be second to Jiang Cheng, thinking that he was a better sailor, a better leader, a better military tactician, and became a pirate to amass a fleet to overthrow him

He discovered he was the son of the infamous pirate Canse Sanren and became determined to both further and overthrow her legacy by become an even more infamous Canse Sanren

He is secretly still working for Jiang Cheng, using pirating as an excuse to plunder ships from other clans and weaken their naval strongholds

He was cursed by a sea witch to never set foot again on land, and turned to piracy in despair

(Some people manage to believe all of these at once.)

The real story goes more like this:

Wei Wuxian discovers an unauthorised Lanling ship in Yunmeng waters at night; he hails it, since they're allied clans after his sister marries Jin Zixuan, to tell it to sail back within bounds

He finds that it's full of war prisoners from the Wen clan being shipped from the ravaged Qinghe coast to be put to work in Lanling. He tells his crew to carry on their way, and then takes a rowboat over by himself and overthrows the Jin officers on board

The remaining Wen become his temporary crew to get them to the closest land, Yiling – there, he offloads all the elderly and children, keeps those who wants to stay and crew for him, and picks up some other crew members

They spend most of their time moving around, never staying long enough in one place for anyone to realise who they are – the piracy is sort of a side gig, every so often they'll find another shitty 'merchant' ship trying to transport 'passengers' and relieve them of that burden, or 'confiscate' some illegal goods

Occasionally they slink in to a port just after sunset, target the area that looks the most obnoxiously rich, sweep it clean and get the heck out before sunrise

They try this in Gusu's single port, Cloud Recesses; annoyingly, there's little of value that WWX can pawn off easily (oh, lots of books, which are expensive, but they're not easy to pawn to the average market stall, are they?)

So WWX's already annoyed that a night's work is wasted when he gets discovered by Lan Wangji, the rich governor's nephew, who is kind of weirdly good at swordfighting for someone who's probably never to fight for real in his life?

Also, he looks very hot fighting in only a nightshirt, WWX is not distracted at all

The alarm is raised, he manages to trick LWJ by fighting dirty and gets a knife to his throat, and LWJ convinces him to not fight the guards converging on them by taking him prisoner and they backs out of Cloud Recesses with WWX's dagger at LWJ's throat

They leave immediately, except now WWX has a prisoner. He's like Haha, you can take a cell in the brig or you can share my bed I guess, and LWJ gets himself settled on the bed because it's very past his bedtime and WWX's like ??? and does not sleep for the rest of the night, because what if it's a plot and he just gets stabbed in the dark?

Lan Wangji wakes up the next morning and asks him, very seriously, Did you not sleep well last night? and WWX has no idea what to make of him. Also, he doesn't really know what to do with a prisoner in general? Especially one who seems quite happy to help out? Pores over maps with him and tells him which bits are outdated? Tells him route information from the various clans? Asks to duel with him again?

Gusu sends like thirty-three ships or something after them and WWX offers to leave LWJ in a rowboat for them to pick up because really, he's not into kidnapping? 

LWJ tells him that Gusu's navy could do with the challenge, so they spend the next few months outwitting the Gusu Lan navy before LWJ finally sends them a message telling them to stop

So yeah, WWX accidentally becomes a pirate, accidentally kidnaps LWJ, and accidentally falls in love somewhere along the way. (All three of those things also happened to LWJ, though not in the same order, and none of it was accidental on his part.)

Bonus:

They go back to visit Yiling every so often, where the Wen remnants are keeping their heads low and integrating into the town. At some point, A-Yuan becomes old enough that he wants to join the crew and WWX takes him on as a lookout

Double bonus:

Picture Lil Apple as an incredibly loud and vicious parrot who sits on WWX's shoulder and bites everything and everyone, including WWX 

Triple bonus:

LWJ finds WWX's old naval officer uniform in the back of a cupboard where he's been trying to forget it and makes him put it on so he can peel it back off him again

Send me an AU and I’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it | See the other filled prompts 

Marco leaving his study it was pretty late in the night. It was right around Daenerys time to go to bed. Walking down the hall to hear the soft humming coming from the room ahead. Peaking his head into the room. To see his 1 1/2 year old blinking slowly looking up at you.

The soft smile peering down at the small toddler. Massaging the toddlers head seemed to help her fall asleep. Slowly pressing your lips onto the forehead of the baby. The soothing sound coming from you warmed Marco heart. The soft side you display that was different when Daenerys was around, the humming dimmed down.

Me: she is so beautiful.

Marco: she gets it from you little bird yoi

Me: She will be capable of great things Marco. Hecate already sees it and her purpose in life *placing Daenerys gently in her crib*

Marco: She has blood of witch and a pirate in her of course, she will be unstoppable. Not to mention your father 's blood and your mothers blood.

Walking over to Marco closing the door to Daenerys room. Walking down the hall to the bedroom you shared. Marco would be on a mission soon. Marco was going on a mission soon and knowing each time he was going on a mission he was putting his life at risk.

Me: Marco Marco: Yes my little bird? *taking his glasses off*

Me: Please be careful when you leave. *walking to you alter picking up the charm you blessing and enchanted, bringing It to him.* I want you to wear this. Marco knew you always had a enchantment charm for protection. You given this to him and the other crew members just in case if they went on a mission that didn't feel right with you. Marco: I appreciate this little bird. I promise to be back with you and Daenerys too. I don't think you should be using magick in your condition still yoi.

Me: I know but I needed to do this for you before leaving. The baby is fine. Marco feeling a bit guilty leaving you but he had to do this still. Being the first commander he had his duties too fulfill. But the crew sticking around you knowing nothing would happen to you. Thatch and Ace were in charge of you when Marco was gone.

Marco: Well your sitters are going to let me know if you have been using your powers Valeria *your name rolling off his tongue*

Me: Marco Mi Rey, I will be fine I promise, I won't use for anything okay?

Marco: Very well little bird I trust you yoi. I promise to be back quick as possible. *his hands resting on you small bump kissing the top of your forehead.* Les amo mucho. Ya lo saben ¿verdad?

Me: Si, Y yo también te quiero mucho. *your hand caressing his scruff jawline.*

❛ THE SHOT ❜

Final chapter of ‘Someone you loved’ with Michael ‘Riz’ Ariza.

Warnings: none.

Word count: about 1.5k

Aurora says: this writing hasn't been edited, you may find some grammar mistakes, I'm sorry about that!

Gif credits: to my wonderful @sonsofeorl ✨

Masterlist. You can subscribe to my broadcast list, to be notified whenever I post a writing!

You are already tucked in your bed, pajamas on, lights off and your body almost asleep in a concrete position, when your phone starts to ring. No way. You're not going to move, not even your eyelashes, so you try to ignore it until it stops to sound. The music disappears at the same time that your room is immersed again in the darkness, with the blinds completely rolled down. Burying your face in the pillow, you grumble with a hoarse sound that is born deep down in your throat, when the call happens again. Palming your nightstand to grab the phone, opening one eye, you read your father's name on the screen. Closing it again, you answer placing the phone over your ear. No hand holding it, just resting on it.

“Wha'?” You mutter with a sleepy tone.

“Need you to come to Vicki's house”.

“And I need to die, but life ain't fair, dad”.

“Riz has been shot”.

Suddenly sitting up, it takes you only one damn second to toss the blankets to the floor and jump out of your bed. With your heart about to have an attack, pumping faster than it can handle, you don't even change your clothes but put on a pair of sneakers. Running to the entrance, you only grab your keys and the black helmet from the coat rack. Wearing it, you continue the fast strides to your motorcycle. Your fingers are shaking, your throat is dry and your mind is totally blank. Turning on the engine, you speed up joining the road, knowing the way to Vicki's house better than the club's one.

You have never been a believer, but you're praying every single prayer you know. As if Bishop had confirmed to you that he is dead or about to, the day you met plays in front of your eyes like the scene of a movie. Exceeding the speed limit without caring about encountering a patrol, you cross the Calexico desert in the middle of the night. Darkness all around, with the moonlight barely illuminating your path, soon you can glimpse a row of houses, with a lot of motorbikes and a van parked there. Throwing yours to the floor after turning off the engine, you jump the stairs coming desperately into the house.

“RIZ? RIZ! DAD!”

You can't stop yelling, trying to find someone when you notice that the house is empty. All the lights are one, but there's no one inside it. Your gaze is blurred because of the bunch of tears you're uttering. Your throat now is filled up with a lot of saliva, feeling the anxiety hitting your body. Going upstairs, you open every door there. Nothing.

“RIZ! ARIZA!”

You're losing your temper, coming back to the living room to continue to the kitchen.

“DAD! DAD, WHERE ARE YOU?”

Almost choking with the tears flooding onto your lips, hiccuping with an incessant surf of pain breaking within your chest, you palm your torso and your thighs looking for your phone. But you don't have it. Remembering to have left it forgotten on your bed. Grabbing the landline and dialing the number, you wait for your father to answer. The tones pass you to the voicemail, after an endless waiting, tossing the device over the counter. You're about to falter, pressing a hand close to your collarbone. That grief feels like if something is breaking inside you into hundreds and hundreds of pieces. Turning around over your own steps, looking everywhere, you try to focus. To think about where else you can go. Your legs move this time to the rear door, straight to the back yard. The silent outside is literally killing you, touring the alley until flooding into the courtyard.

With parted lips and almost shocking, you look at the small light bulbs hanging from the walls and the trees. Frowning confused, you can't remember if that kind of lighting was there last time you came. But you don't even care. There's nothing much to roam to, cleaning your tears with the back of your hand, you turn again with the intention of coming back to the house and call Bishop again. The angst is clotting the blood inside your veins, barely filling your lungs with the fresh air of the desert, trying to figure out where the hell are the crew. Their bikes are there, so they can't be too far.

“Don't hit me, please”.

At that exact moment, your heart stops pumping for two seconds. Riz is in front of you, some steps away. Both hands raised, in case he has to defend himself, and a worried gesture on his face. Your eyes travel all around his anatomy, looking for blood, a wound, anything. But he is okay. He looks like he's fine. Bowing down your head and covering your face with both hands, your loud becomes louder. You don't have to be a genius to know that your father has played a dirty and macabre game on you. The knot within your stomach disappears, but the sorrow is still installed on its mouth. Two arms embrace you slowly, feeling his fingertips sliding on your back until he can finally hold you against his chest.

“Sorry”. He whispers with a broken tone of voice. “It wasn't my idea, but… you have been a week without answering my calls or my texts… Bishop thought it was the only option to make you come”.

You don't utter a single word. You can. You're still immersed into the shock of their lies and the pain they have provoked you. And you are not sure at all about how many time you have been just like that, letting Riz hug you in silence; caressing your back, your hair, your head. Soft and gentle moves that comforts and calms you. Slowly pulling himself away, he holds your hands by intertwining his fingers with yours, guiding you to a hammock. Sitting by your side, he cleans your tears left stuck on your cheeks, and you can't help but cling your arms around his neck again. You have missed him more than anything in your life. These days without knowing anything about him, without seeing him, without hearing his voice, has been the worst time you have been through. His scent is intense, swelling up your lungs by having a deep breath of it with your nose sink on his neck. Feeling like this gesture is bringing you back to life.

Riz kisses your cheeks, your temples, your forehead, all your face. And cupping it onto his hands, with the cold rings pressed against your skin, he places his lips on yours to your surprise. But he doesn't move. He just stays like that for some seconds, after starting to peck them. You're sitting on the hammock like an effigy, trying to find a way to wake up from this dream.

“I always… carry our first... photo together… in a pocket... of the kutte… every time I go... on a run”. He confesses between short kisses, marking every inch of your lips until erasing the sad gesture installed on them. Touching your nose with his, he can finally breathe. “I don't want to live without you. You complete me, your life completes mine. There's nobody else I want to be with for the rest of my life that it isn't you. I want to hear you calling me Rizzy anytime I'm not paying attention to you. I want to wake up with you, clinged to me like a fucking koala. I want to look at you all the damn time and say shit, she chose me over everybody. And kiss you, and hug you, and love you even afterlife. You're my other half, mi vida, mi amor, el único sentido que le encuentro a la existencia”.

You are sobbing against his neck, not capable of replying any word he's saying to you. Not even when you feel who he loosens his grip, looking for something inside a pocket. Pulling himself away some inches, he takes your right hand to put a small golden ring in your finger. Pouting at him, you can see Riz softly smiling.

“I don't want to live without you”. He repeats again, leaning forward to catch your lips with his.

This time, you kiss him back, urging you to sit on his lap to surround your waist with both arms; embracing you with all his strength, believing for a moment that you two could melt into just one body.

“I'm so so—sorry”. You cry against his mouth.

“Fuck, no. It was my fault”. Riz shakes his head, cupping your cheek into his hands. “And it's not like I was let you leave my side. I would follow you till the end of times, mi amor”.

“I love you… I really do”. You mumble resting your forehead against his.

“I love you too… Even if you have fucked me up badly this last week. Maybe I deserved it for being a pendejo”.

Giggling and sniffing, you wrap his back with both arms, resting your head on his chest. Closing your eyes, feeling calmed.

“Don't kill your father, ah?” He says then, licking his bottom lip. You chuckle again.

“I will try, but I can't promise it”.

Hello fuckers! This is the ridiculously long fic I've been vagueposting about for like weeks. 23k words sitting in a doc! I'll be trying to post maybe once every two weeks, but once school starts again it will be a lot harder to get out 3k words in a week. I have seven chapters written, so I'll consistently update for probably 2-3 months and then no promises after that. This is going to be a fucking epic.

Note that not all warnings  apply to all the chapters, so I'll be warning for triggering/upsetting content in each chapter individually. Please heed those!

You all also get to play a game of 'guess which song the chapter title is pulled from', which is made more difficult by my music taste ranging from musicals (les mis! DEH!) to my chemical romance. I'll let you know what the chapter title was from when I post the next chapter. Also, the POV switches each chapter, so that info is also in the notes.

Title: Coming, Coming Home

Chapter Title: Do you want to live out loud?

Chapter Wordcount: 3099

Summary:

The story of 109 WKIL, from the mother that began it to the daughter who saw the end of it.

Warnings: None for this chapter!

Taglist: @wishiwasthemoon-tonight @sleevesareforlosers @stressed-depressed-emo-mess @tasteofamnesia @dagger-queen @no-braincells-here @piratecherricola (message me, send an ask, or reblog/reply to one of my posts if you want to be added or removed)

AO3 Link

(Actual fic under the cut)

It began with a handheld radio.

The killjoy who was already beginning to be known as Dr. Death Defying had stolen quiet a few of these portable transmitting devices when he left the army of the corporation called Better Living Industries. Now, he began to give them out, one after another, to the small clusters of rebels who were just beginning to call themselves killjoys. With those, the groups kept each other updated for a while, passing whispers back and forth over the airwaves. The positions of squads of dracs, who had extra supplies, where there were good buildings to scavenge from or shelter in.

Those were highly effective in the small rebellion, news passing quickly between the few rebels, but as more killjoys began to enter to desert, take up the colors and masks and ray guns and form themselves into a true rebellion, it was getting to be not enough. 

“We need something with a wider reach.”

Dr. Death Defying was sitting at the so-called strategy table (which in actuality was a shitty kitchen table strategically repurposed), listening to White Lily talk about rebellion. It was another ordinary afternoon, or as ordinary as one could get in a post-apocalyptic nuclear desert plotting to overthrow an evil mega corporation. The sun was shining brightly overhead, and he and his best friend, the fiery spirited White Lily, were in a partially wrecked house out in Zone Four, where they had been staying for most of the time since the Helium Wars. Both former soldiers, they had served together for a little bit after D had first been recruited. He had been transferred to a different squadron soon after, and they hadn’t deserted together, but they’d met up after the wars and become close friends. Two dreamers who wanted to save the world, she had said. And so now they were trying to do just that, one killjoy recruit at a time.

“If this is going to be a true revolution, Walkie-talkies aren’t going to cut it,” White Lily went on. “We need a way to reach more people. Get the word out quicker.”

“Did you have any particular ideas?” Dr. Death Defying asked dryly.

Her eyes gleamed in the way that meant she did, in fact, have an idea. “A radio station.”

“A what?”

“A radio station. I know I sound crazy, but hear me out. If we can get our hands on the equipment, a lot of killjoys already have radios and that way we can also reach the ones with only a car radio. We broadcast news- who’s dead, where bli is attacking, just generally what’s going on. We can also make speeches over the radio, like what’s his face, the president guy, did with his fireside chats."

“FDR. And you can make speeches over the radio.” It wasn’t that he couldn’t, per se, but he would rather leave the main speaking part of it to her.

White Lily briefly made a sad face, but was back to determination within seconds. “Right, well I can make big speeches if you do daily announcements and news, deal?”

“Deal.” They realized a second later what they had just accidentally agreed to and sighed. 

The other just grinned. “Time to get some radio equipment!”

And so it began with a hand held radio and a duo of Helium Wars survivors, and 109 WKIL was born.

109 WKIL didn’t actually broadcast until two full months and a new crew member later. It turned out to be not exactly easy to get their hands on the equipment necessary to send out signals, and neither of them knew precisely what running a radio station required anyways. They researched as best they could, asking around and reading any old books they could find, but supplies were scarce and electronic equipment especially so. And so they didn’t get the radio station fully running until after the arrival of their third crew member.

It was another of the somewhat lazy afternoons in the desert when Cherri Cola showed up at their house in a stolen BLI News Van. White Lily was gone, off talking to a small band of neutrals and trying to persuade them to aid the rebellion, so it was Dr. Death Defying who was there to see a no-longer white van screech to a stop. He kept his ray gun close as he stepped outside, since the van was Better Living Industries, but the side of it had a sprinkling of graffiti and it was covered in dust, which reassured him somewhat.

“Hello?”

The van’s engine clicked off and Dr. Death Defying breathed a sigh of relief as a lean teenager hopped out, squinting in the sunlight. They were clearly a killjoy, given the pink mask, and they also wore scuffed jeans and a too-small black jacket despite the warmth of a desert afternoon. Their hair was brown and a sandy mess, and they were perhaps an inch or two shorter than Dr. Death Defying. They were completely and utterly un-intimidating with the sole exception of their eyes, which blazed with fierce and bitter kind of anger. 

“Another killjoy?” Their voice squeaked a little, undoing any effect of those fiery eyes, and they cleared their throat. “Uh, another killjoy?”

At loss for words, he nodded. “I’m Dr. Death Defying, he/him and they/them.”

“Cherri Cola.” They fiddled with their shirt hem. “He/him.”

“So…I’m assuming you’re looking for White Lily?”

“Was actually just looking for a place to stay the night,” Cherri Cola mumbled. “I didn’t realize you were already staying here, I can leave-“

“Absolutely not, get inside.” They hoped their voice didn’t sound too firm. “White Lily and I are happy to let people stay with us who need.”

“Oh.” D pretended not to notice the relief on his face as he ran a hand through his hair. “Thanks.”

“Of course. Do you want to come into the shade? It’s baking out here.” He didn’t mention how hot the other killjoy must be in that jacket.

“Yes, please.” 

So he led the strange teenager inside, half-wondering what made the teen’s eyes so old and filled with hurt and rage. It wasn’t an uncommon sight in the zones, per se, but this kid’s eyes were striking in their pain.

“So, how old are you?”

“Sixteen, you?”

“Twenty. Do you want some power pup? We’ve got a bit of extra, I think.”

Cherri nodded eagerly, and he devoured everything D put in front of him. “It’s been a while since I’ve been able to pull off a raid or anything, and hacking vending machines isn’t as easy as it looks.”

That would explain why he was so lean. “You’ve got the look of someone who’s been out in the desert a while.”

“Almost since the end of the wars.” There was no need for him to specify which wars. The Helium Wars loomed over everyone and everything, desert and city. 

“Ah. I’ve been here since the very end of the wars, so not too much longer than you. My friend White Lily and I were both deserters, we met up and decided to stick it to the man, as it were.” 

“So you live together?” Cherri Cola’s face had softened into curiosity.

“Yep. We’ve been sheltering in this house for quite a while now, but we’ve lived together for longer than that.” 

Cherri nodded. “I’m on my own. Runaway from Battery City, never found a crew. It must be nice to live with your friend, though.”

At that moment, said friend came tromping through the door. “Hello, D!”

“Hey, Lily!”    

Cherri waved with a quiet “Hello.”

“Hello, random stranger in my kitchen!”

Dr. Death Defying sighed. “White Lily, this is Cherri Cola, he/him. Cherri Cola, this is White Lily, she/her.”

“Nice to meet you,” Cherri said politely. 

“Nice to meet you too, kid! So I’m assuming this softy offered you a place to sleep for the night?”

“I did, he needed a place to stay.”

“Softy.” White Lily turned her grin on Cherri Cola. “You’re welcome to stay for a bit, we’ve got a nice place and an extra room, so I don’t see why you wouldn’t.”

“I can pull my weight,” he offered quietly. “I know how to sew and some first aid and a little bit of fighting, but I’m not great yet.”

“What makes you think you have to pull your weight for us to give you a room for a night?” Lily’s face was genuinely concerned. “Can’t believe I’m going to say this, but chill, kid.”

There was something in Cherri’s eyes that reminded D a little of a wounded animal as he glanced up at Lily. “You’re sure I don’t have to be helpful? I can do a lot of things- okay, not a lot, but I’m pretty good at fixing things and I know how to fire a ray gun, even if I can’t really do hand-to-hand combat.”

"Well, if some dracs attack, then you can put that to good use,” D told him.

“Wait, did you say you can fix things? Tech skills?” Lily leaned forward, and D didn’t have to see her face to know what she was thinking. 

“My…I knew someone who’s an engineer,” Cherri explained.  “I know how to fix a lot of things.”

“You don’t happen to know anything about radio equipment, do you?”

“Lily,” D sighed.

“Some, why?”

“We could use some help getting a radio station off the ground. And shush, D, if he’s going to stay anyways, we might as well figure out if he can help.”

“A radio station…do you have a transmitter? Or anything of the sort? And you need modulators.”

“We’ve got the modulators,” D told him. “We need a transmitter, the little one I found isn’t near powerful enough.”

Cherri Cola frowned, tilting his head. “Well, I’ve got a news van with what I’m assuming is a very powerful transmitter, haven’t tried to use it yet, though. We’d have to figure out how to make it work with audio instead of video, but I bet you could use the antenna from that. An FM station shouldn’t take too much technology, depends on how wide you want the range to be. Power is probably more of an issue?”

“We’ve got some large batteries, do you think we need a more permanent power source?”

They talked until the sun was starting to set, Cherri having quite a bit of useful advice and knowledge to supplement what little research D managed.

And after Cherri was safely asleep in the spare room, Dr. Death Defying and White Lily convened back at the shitty kitchen ‘strategy’ table. 

“You’re not seriously thinking of letting him stay forever,” Lily said as soon as she had taken her seat.

“Why not?” Usually, it would be Lily who asked this question, but “He needs a home.”

“This better not be fucking Socks all over again.” Socks, being, of course, the cat D had tried to take in during the Helium Wars. Not only had he been a lot of trouble, he had eventually run off onto the battlefield, and neither of them had been able to stop him. They could only assume he had been killed in the final days of the wars.

D still regretted that, but this was different. “He’s not a cat, Lil. But he does need a safe place to stay. Besides, you were the one who was grilling him about radio station technology.”

“At first. Then you took over with all your technical words and phrases.”

“All we were doing was talking transmitters.”

“Nerd boy.” 

D sighed. “Anyways. He can clearly be helpful, given how much he knows about radio technology and other things, and he’s obviously in need of a place to stay.”

“Well, we’ve got one of those at least,” Lily sighed. “He better end up a good radio station assistant for you.”

D knew that meant Cherri was staying. “We’ll offer to let him join in the morning.”

“We will.” Lily’s face was serious. “Be prepared for him to say no, D. We’re not famous yet, but being friends with rebellion leaders probably isn’t an easy lot.”

“Of course not.” The flashlight they had hung for light flickered. “We’ll warn him about a friendship with us means, but we can’t just kick him out.”

“Technically, we can, but we’re not going to.”

“Absolutely fucking not.”

The next morning dawned slightly overcast, which was rare in the desert. It provided somewhat of a gloomy atmosphere as Cherri Cola wandered into their living room area with a tired “Morning.”       

“Morning,” Lily yawned back. D was the only one properly awake at the crack of dawn, always an early riser. 

He found it somewhat amusing how non-functional Lily was until she had had some coffee or gotten some adrenaline from a fight. “Good morning.”

Cherri settled down in one of the chairs cautiously as Lily opened her mouth again. “So, D and I were talking. Big softy that he is, he wants to let you stay with us if you want, and I figured you might be pretty handy when it comes to radio stations.”

“Don’t let her twist it, she’s equally on board.” D resisted a sigh. “We do have to warn you, we’re leading a rebellion. Lily is, at least. I’m something like a right hand, I suppose. So it will be dangerous and difficult to be friends with us, and the radio station will not be an easy endeavor either.”

“Can’t be worse than…” Cherri trailed off. “Can’t be worse than wandering the desert on your own in a stolen news van. Do you really want me to stay?”

“Hey, we always want another pair of hands.” White Lily’s joking tone didn’t get a grin out of him.  “You seem like a neat kid, why not let you stay?”

“Guess so.” Cherri yawned again. “So, do you happen to have a screwdriver? I think I’ve got some ideas about the modulators.”

So Cherri Cola came to live with them. His primary occupation was trying to get the radio station able to broadcast, alongside Dr. Death Defying, combining each of their respective technology skill with a lot of guesswork and the knowledge gleaned from whatever books they could find. He rarely went on runs with White Lily at first, but as they found out a week or so in, he turned out to be more than a decent shot with a ray gun.

“Holy fuck, Cola.” White Lily was staring at the empty can he had just knocked over- from a distance of a hundred and twenty feet, further than D or Lily had managed yet. 

“Is that a good or a bad ‘holy fuck’?”

“Good. Holy shit. D and I haven’t hit that yet, not with a shitty little ray gun like yours anyways.”

“What’s wrong with this ray gun?”

“No offense, but that’s a piece of shit.” D watched as she took the ray gun and weighted it in her hands before handing her own to Cherri. “Feel what this one’s like- it’s a little heavier, but it’s a lot nicer. Yours doesn’t even have a stun setting.”

It took him one or two practice shots, but within a few minutes he was shooting even more effectively.

“A hundred and FIFTY feet! D, did you see that?”

“I did,” D told her, glancing over at the youngest of their little trio. “Cherri, we need to get you a better ray gun.” 

The better ray gun would have to wait, though, as the next day, they finally found the last few pieces of equipment and things that they would need for the radio station. They had decided that 109 WKIL would broadcast from the news van Cherri had arrived in, since the antenna was already attached and that way it could be portable if Better Living Industries managed to track their signal. So a few days of fixing later, they had cobbled together a working radio apparatus that could broadcast at a range of thirty miles or so. It had taken a lot of swearing, banging around, and failed test runs, but eventually they had it figured out.

The very first broadcast fell to D, as it was decided he would be the main DJ, and he settled at the panel a little nervously. Cherri was crouched beside him, fiddling with the last few cords. 

“Think we’re good to go,” he whispered.

"Right. Here goes nothing.” D took a deep breath. “One-oh-nine in the sky and the pigs won’t quit, welcome to the very first broadcast by one oh nine WKIL, the rebellious radio station of the desert. I’m Dr. Death Defying, and I’ll be your usual DJ, keeping you updated on all the news from claps to raids to Mad Gear concerts.”

The script had been decided on beforehand so that he didn’t stumble too much, but he still had to pause to take another quick breath and steady himself. “We’ll be doing our broadcast at this time every morning, pretty soon after alarm clock radiation, and we’ll be fanning the spark of this desert into a flame. So tune in, listeners, for all the latest updates, weather, traffic reports, and the best music we’ve got. One oh nine in the sky, this is Dr. Death Defying signing off.”

Cherri gave them a broad grin and a thumbs-up as D fumbled to click the right buttons to get the music going. D grinned right back, and White Lily came charging into the van a few minutes later, brandishing the radio they had been using to test their broadcasting capabilities. 

“It worked! You came though loud and clear, even a good ten miles away, and you’re already getting good at this. I told you, you could do it!” She gave him a high five, grinning, and turned to Cherri. “And good job, soda kid! You’re already a radio station technician.”

Cherri laughed and high-fived her. “Wasn’t expecting to become one at sixteen, but not the worst place I could have ended up.”

They had tried to spread the word as best as possible about the radio station beforehand, so D knew there had been a fair amount of killjoys already listening to the first broadcast. And word travelled quickly in the desert, so he didn’t doubt their listener base would grow over the years. But for now, the rebellion was small, and the twenty-one-year-old leader and her two best friends were heading inside for a celebratory breakfast of power pup.

Gavroche’s Angel

(So this is the first thing that I have written for Les Mis, and hopeful not the last. I really need to start writing more. It has been a while.)

(This is supposed to be Gavroche telling a story to someone in heaven after he and the rest of the crew dies. I am picturing Valjean but it can be anyone really.)

     I first meet the Les Amis when I had been living on the streets for almost a year. It was a very, very, cold day in the middle of winter. I was not as familiar with the city outside of the few blocks that I normally stuck to, but that day it was doing nothing for me in terms of begging or stealing so I decided to wander for a bit. The begging was a bit better in this strange area, but I also managed to myself lost in it. I hate to admit it, but I panicked. Then the blizzard started, which made me get even more lost than I already was. Then I started crying, which looking back was pretty embarrassing too, but I was only five, lost, cold, and soaked from the flying snow, so that was okay I guess. My tears also froze to my face, making me notice that this was not just cold but dangerous, small-child-who-doesn’t-own-a-coat killing, cold. Of course, this made me panic and cry some more. Every ally that I tried to hide out in was already occupied by older beggars who all yelled at me for taking their spot and kicked me out. So, naturally, I cried some more and started wandering aimlessly. As I was doing this, someone slammed into me from behind.      A muffled voice yelped and said, “What the… Oh, shiiiiiooot, I meant to say shoot. Hey kid! Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Say, ummm, you alright?”      I blinked up at the man who was wearing a thick black cloak with a hood and a green scarf.      “I… um… I don’t know where I am and its really cold...” and I am crying in front of a complete stranger.      The man knelt down so he was on eye level with me. He pulled his scarf down so I could see his face with one hand and put the other one on my shoulder.      “Do you need help, kid?” He asked, gently.       I nodded. Then, to my shock, the man picked me up and tucked me into his cloak. He smelled like alcohol, not the cheap stuff that some of the adult beggars drink, but a nicer alcohol smell, also fire smoke, and like the buckets of paint that me and some of my friends stole (after the painter was finished with the sign!) and dumped on each other.      “What is your name little one?” He asked.      “Gavroche, who are you?”      “I am Grantaire.”      Despite that I was still shivering and that he was still a complete stranger, I fell asleep in his arms.      When I woke up, I was the warmest I had been in months. I was wearing an adult’s shirt, which was like a dress on me, and was covered in thick blankets on a mattress on the floor. Next to me was a roaring fire that lit the crowded room that I found myself in. The other people looked like university students and were talking loudly about something. I couldn’t quite grasp what that something was because I was still half asleep and deep in my own thoughts. I got up and wrapped one of the blankets around me before wandering over to where Grantaire was sitting. Everyone was so focused on whatever they were talking about that no one noticed that I was up until I tugged on Grantaire’s waistcoat.      “Oh, hello little friend! I got you some food.”, he said to me before turning back to his own conversation, “And, Bossuet, that is officially the worst idea I have heard all day.”      As the bald man sitting across from him responded, I climbed into his lap and started eating. The food was warm, filling, and the best tasting thing I had eaten since I got on the streets.     “Grantaire?” I asked as a sudden thought hit me, “Am I dead? Is this heaven? Are you an angel?”      Everyone seemed to find the last question amusing.      “No kid, you are definitely alive and well. Combeferre said that you may have some frost bite and slight hypothermia, but neither is bad enough to kill you. This is also definitely not heaven. This is the Café Musain, and I am most definitely not an angel.”      “I still think you’re an angel though.” I said.      Another man spoke up, laughing slightly, “You really think that Grantaire, who drinks more than the rest of us combined, cusses like a sailor, and is the most pessimistic person I have ever met, is an angel?”      I nodded, confused.      Another man, who looked poorer than the rest of them, spoke up. “Courfeyrac, lay off him, he is a street child. There is an old street kid legend that anyone who helps them more than just giving them cheap bread or a spare coin, is an angel.”      “It’s not a legend it’s true!” I immediately responded, shocked that they didn’t know about it. “One time a lady gave my friend a new pair of shoes, with no holes in them or anything, and he swears that when she turned around, she had white feathers on the back of her dress, like they had fallen off of her wings or something! Angels can make their wings invisible you know, but if a feather falls off it won’t change. At least that is what the older boys say, and they are never wrong.”      “So R is definitely and angel?” the bald man asked.      I nodded, “Defiantly! He saved me from freezing to death, and got me good, yummy, food, and is nice to me. He has to be an angel! No one else goes that far out of their way to help street kids.”      Some of the men seemed to be surprised what I had said about only angels being nice. Finally the blond man in the corner said, “Alright kid, whatever you say. Now about this new police activity…”      Grantaire cut him off. “Wait, Apollo, can we keep him?”      “No, you do not need any more encouragement.”      “Awwww….”, “But he is cute!”, “Please Enjolras!”, The other men spoke up.      The blond sighed, “Fine.”      We all cheered. I spent the rest of that winter sleeping in Grantaire’s apartment. That spring is when I found the elephant, which is where I lived the rest of my life, except for when it got really cold or I got sick. Then ‘Taire would insist that I stayed with him. I am still convinced that he was an angel. In fact, I think that they all were. The Les Amis were my guardian angels while I was on earth, and they still are actually. Hey Enjolras! Can I talk about that one time…      No Gav, that is never to be spoken of again, remember?      No not that, the time you helped me with that mean cop.      Oh, yes. That is fine.      Ok, so this story happened a few days after I moved into the elephant…

i dreamed a dream

fic based on this ask where they're in the school play les mis together. howard is cosette, boleyn is fantine, parr is eponine, cleves is madame thenardier, aragon is sister simplicity, and jane is the stage manager/director (im not a theater person whatsoever so im not gonna lie, idk the difference). hope u all enjoy!!! any other fic prompts feel free to send :)

jane arrived to the auditorium first. it was their first show after an exhausting tech week, but she was excited to see the cast and crew’s hard work pay off. the long days, nights they had to order pizza to the school instead of getting home cooked meals, and early mornings, would all be worth it. It was her senior year and the drama teacher, Mr. Tudor, was finally letting her make her directorial debut. as the others trickled in, Jane greeted them nervously. the crew was in place, making sure the lighting was just right. she saw most of the cast in their dressing rooms getting ready but when she did a headcount, she noticed that one was missing. catherine aragon, a sophomore, said “pretty sure it’s anne who’s late. again”. Jane caught her tone of annoyance, but didn’t have time to dissect it. she had to make sure that everything else was in order. as she crossed the hall to the other changing room, anne nearly ran her over. out of breath, she started to apologize to Jane. Jane had to laugh; they had been in shows together since Anne was a freshman and she was a sophomore and she could count the occasions anne was on time on one hand. she pushed her friend into the dressing room warning her that she “better be dressed in time, or else” and tried her best to be menacing. Anne laughed, and Jane continued on to the next room. As she walked away, she mused over the contrast between anne and her character. she was able to flip the switch from anne the chaotic teenager to fantine the heartbroken mother in an instant. she wondered where inside Anne that emotion came from, and resolved to have at least one heart to heart with her friends in the future. in the meantime, she had work to do. 

 When she pushed on the door to the second dressing room, she found that it was locked. She frowned. none of the doors were supposed to be locked; there were people coming and going constantly. she jiggled the handle, but it refused to give way. she heard the voice of anna cleves, a junior who had only joined drama club that year. anna said nervously “give us a minute, please”. annoyed, Jane responded “look, I guess you don’t know how things work around here but-”. the door swung open and anna swiftly pulled her inside. jane quickly caught sight of katherine howard, one of the leads, crying in the corner of the room. she was only a sophomore and Mr. Tudor had doubted her ability, but jane had insisted on casting her as cosette. Jane had gotten to know the young girl, and had been blown away by her talent and poise-which is why she was so confused as she watched anna wrap her arms around the younger girl as she sobbed. she locked the door behind her and said softly, “what’s wrong, Kat?”. Katherine took a shaky breathe and said “it’s nothing, please don’t worry about me. I know how busy you are.” Over her girlfriend’s shoulder, Anna mouthed “stage fright”. Jane said “honey, let me do the worrying. everyone gets nervous sometimes, its only natural. you have nothing to be ashamed of”. Kat choked out “I’m 16, for gods sake. people get stage fright when they’re in like, fifth grade. not one of the leads in high school. whatever, I’ll be fine. just leave me alone. Actually Anna, you can go and get ready too. I’ll be fine”. Anna pulled her closer and said firmly “i’m not going anywhere” and Jane added “me neither. tell us what’s going on. you’ve been in shows before, haven't you?”. there was a long pause. finally Kat said “yea, I have. but this one feels different. I know that Mr. Tudor didn’t want me here, and I think some of the upperclassmen are mad at me for taking the lead from them. I can’t go on stage and then mess up and prove them right because they’ll all laugh and then I just don’t know what I would do”. katherine was breathing heavily. “shhhhh, it’s okay babe.” said Anna, rocking her girlfriend.  Jane jumped in “hey, I have a lot of pressure on me, too. I knew that you were up to the role or I would have given it to someone else. You’re the most talented, powerful, graceful performer that i’ve seen. Don’t worry about proving the rest of them wrong, go out there and prove me right”. She gave Katherine’s arm a squeeze. Just then, there was a banging on the door. “Can someone let me in please???” Jane recognized Anne’s voice. “I kind of uh...can’t find my costume. Is it in there??” kat let out a little laugh. “i’ll be fine, really. Jane, you definitely have other things to be doing.” Jane glanced at Anna and said “well actually...” anna said “i’ve got this. go.” with one more concerned glance at Kat, Jane left to help Anne (and get the rest of the 50+ cast and crew together). Alone again in the room, Kat and Anna put their foreheads together. Katherine’s breath slowly returned to normal, but she still looked pale. Katherine finally brought her eyes up to meet Anna’s. Anna said simply “I believe in you, babe. pretend you’re singing just in the shower, and you’ll blow them all away”. Katherine exhaled, and they slowly started to get ready together.

in the wings, catherine parr and aragon ran through their lines together. although parr was a senior and aragon was only a sophomore, they had become fast friends during rehearsals. parr often tutored aragon in the courses she had already taken, and aragon repayed her with ice cream from her dad’s store. they looked out into the audience and were filled with nervous anticipation at the size of the crowd. they scurried backstage to put the finishing touches on their costume, whispering to the others about the full house. as the curtain rose and the opening notes to “look down” all of Jane and the rest of the cast/crew’s work fell into place. 

For Katherine, the show was a blur. she saw bits and pieces; the melody of “heart full of love”, the red white and blue of the waving flags, and the roar of the crowd. when they took their final bow, she grabbed anna’s hand extra tight. she squeezed, and anna squeezed back. as the cast headed off stage, boleyn scurried off to her locker down the hallway. as Jane stepped on stage to take her bow, anne proudly presented her with a bouquet of flowers. she beamed as she listened to the crowd roar for one of her closest friends. once the cast finally changed out of their costumes and seen their friends and family, Anne announced “POST GAME AT MY HOUSE!!!”. the group cheered loudly, but groaned when Jane said “we’re back here at 11AM, so I don’t want to hear about anything too crazy”. Cleves chimed in “you won’t have to hear about it, you’re coming.” “that's right” parr declared. “you’re with us”. They piled into the senior’s cars and headed to Anne’s house, thrilled with how the show had gone.

Jane, ever the responsible one, spoke to each of the drivers and made sure that they weren’t drinking. parr and her were both designated drivers, but they still joined in the fun. anne was predictably the life of the party, climbing on top of her kitchen counter and belting out the lyrics to chicago’s “cell block tango”. Aragon rolled her eyes at boleyn’s rowdiness, but didn’t let that stop her from dancing with the rest of them. after a drink or two, Jane even spotted boleyn and aragon doing their synchronized choreography to “dancing queen”, the previous years production, together. anna and katherine danced together in the corner. anna laughed softly. new to the theatre scene, she said “only theatre kids would drink to ABBA”. they swayed together, offbeat from the rest of the cast, but they didn't care. anna pulled katherine closer and said “I’m so proud of you, babe. you nailed it, and you made me proud”. Kat added “as a plus, I didn’t ruin Jane’s night”. as they kissed, “seasons of love” began to play. they swayed together as the rest of the cast belted out “five hundred twenty five thousand...”

character takeover - asher garcia & dylan orlando

So I’m gonna write with this pen, and then you’re going to use the slightly thicker one. This one? Yeah, that one. Okay. I am writing with the bigger pen. Do we always have to write with these? Well, I guess if like, you get asked a specific question and I don’t need to answer, then it doesn’t matter. Why would someone ask me a question and not you? I don’t know, I -- it was just an example. You know I don’t know things, Ash. You know plenty. ... stop, you’re making me blush.

Introduce yourself. Asher Garcia, junior A class. Dylan Orlando, junior A class, kissing expert. (Stop putting that on everything) Am I wrong?? That’s not the point 

What is your creative focus? Production design I’m sure someone will tell me eventually

What from the previous school year are you most proud of? I did the production design for our spring production, Les Mis (or more fondly known as “The Miserables”). It was really challenging because we had to find a cost-effective and compelling way to complete the barricade set, i.e. one of the most iconic set pieces in the history of musical theater. So we had to find a way to pay homage to the classic, but also put our own spin on it. I also wanted to make the stage crew’s job easier when it came to transitions, so I devised a way to sort of make pieces of the set be multi-functional depending on the side but come together to build the barricade in the second act. I mean, it’s not that big a deal since people far smarter than me have done it before, but it felt cool to pull it off for myself and have it come together so well. I actually submitted samples of it to a scholarship program counselor Matthews showed me and won some money for my college fund, so that was really cool. Definitely when I managed to hit Maya Hart with a paint balloon. Oh, also, I finally beat the current standing student record for most cafeteria enchiladas consumed in one lunch period without throwing up, which I think is pretty cool. You also like… continued to grow a pretty popular Youtube channel. And also didn’t get anything below a B in second semester. Oh, yeah! But I still think the Maya paint thing wins.

What about the previous school year would you like to improve upon or change? It was really nice when the techies weren’t at war with the performers. Not because they’re like great friends, but it was just nice to be able to work cooperatively. Everyone was in a better mood. I’d like for that to continue, but just knowing how this summer has been… I don’t know. I’m not optimistic. Yeah, it sucks because Lucas was like way hyped at the end of last year but then all the shit with the Insta page happened and it’s been kind of a mess. But I would also like to see Asher perform more. Not happening. Well… we shall see...

How do you best receive praise? Um, I guess verbally. Like it’s great to hear it expressly stated to me rather than ambiguously, but at the same time, it has to be like… subtle. Like one-on-one. Or else it’s just embarrassing. Like I appreciated when Miss Moore pulled me aside after opening night of The Miserables and told me the set design was really good. She doesn’t pay much attention to the techies a lot of the time, so that was a really nice moment. You guys are getting praise?

How do you prefer to receive criticism? I think constructive criticism is important, but it has to be… well, constructive. It’s all in the delivery. Like when Lucas comes to me and has an honest conversation about my suggested set design and limitations that he thinks we might have in building or implementing it, that I can take. When the performers just shoot shots at each other, it makes me break out in hives. By mail. Written in the blood of the gods, with a feather quill. Must be nearly illegible. If it’s not sealed shut with one of those waxy things that look like Play-Doh, I’m not opening it.

You have an important engagement at 5PM. What time are you arriving at the place? Well, you have to consider a lot of factors. Where is the engagement? How are we getting there? Is it a more casual thing where you’re expected to show up late (although whoever invented the term “fashionably late” owes me emotional compensation), or would being late cause us severe penalty? Either way, I’d aim for us to get there around 4:30, and then we can wait in the parking lot if need be until around 4:50. Whenever Asher says we’re getting there. 

Favorite AAA faculty? Counselor Matthews does a lot of work to watch out for us, and I don’t think that can be overstated. But still, I think I have a lot of respect for Principal Hunter. He does not have an easy job, and so much of what he does goes on behind the scenes and in this understated way where it’s not flashy so people don’t notice, but it makes a huge difference. I feel like I get how that feels, and so I hope he knows he is appreciated even though everyone is just complaining to him about how something didn’t go the way they wanted it to again. Also, he totally let Lucas derail the school for a week during the techie revolution, and that was pretty neat of him. Have you met Janitor Harley? That man is the bomb. He knows so much dirt about the school and also has all these wild stories. He has this pretty obvious scar on his eyebrow where the hair doesn’t grow, and he told Dave and me it’s because he got burned by a Russian spy in the 80s. Also, he like, cleans and stuff. I’m surprised he’s not your favorite, Asher. He cleans, yes. But I’m still sneezing during class because of all the dust in the auditorium. Oh, yeah. I forgot about your Vendetta. THERE COULD BE MITES, DYLAN.

Who are you most excited to see when school is back in session? It’ll be nice to get the whole techie crew together again. We usually do group hang outs during the summer, but things have been kind of… well, people have been busy. Lucas isn’t exactly in a social mood -- except for us -- and Isadora has been changing her social circle a little. Then Dave was in Europe for some reason. I think it was a family trip. They went to Belgium because that’s where his grandparents live. And they like made a trip out of it. I didn’t know Dave’s ancestry was Belgian. I guess. I don’t know, he just kept talking about how excited he was to eat waffles for every meal. Of course he did. 

Who are you most hoping to avoid? I’m not really hoping to avoid anyone. There are people that we like… have agreed we should probably not engage with, but I’m not all that pleased about it. I think we’re being kind of rude. And Lucas isn’t making things better by refusing to acknowledge what happened. But it’ll make him feel better. I guess. Also, Farkle. After how things ended last year, I dread something else similar happening. Yeah, I think just avoiding any of that energy is priority. Farkle, Maya. I already had a stress dream about some sort of tantrum video where he tears me to shreds and the whole school sees it. It’s scary because he doesn’t know me well enough to say that stuff, and yet he hits every single insecurity. Oh, and like, Wyatt. Wyatt was expelled. Already on track, then.

What are your goals for this year, personally and professionally? I want to start putting together my design portfolio for college applications, so that will take a lot of my professional focus. Personally, I just… really hope things calm down. I know Lucas is going through a lot right now, and I want to be there for him. He’s been my best friend at AAA since the first week. I just hope things improve once the structure of school comes back into play rather than… the other direction. I just want everyone to be happy. I want us all to be chill again, and then I want to whomp Nate’s current record for most sticky notes stuck on Mister Shawn’s back without him noticing. Oh, and more performances for Asher L. Garcia!!! Again. Not happening. Mm… we shall SEE.................