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operafantomet · 3 months

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SO TOTALLY NOT A REVIEW

POTO MADRID, Friday 16 February 2024

PHANTOM: Gerónimo Rauch / Manu Pilas (alt.)

CHRISTINE: Talía del Val / Judith Tobella (alt.)

RAOUL: Guido Balzaretti

CARLOTTA: Marta Pineda

FIRMIN: Omar Calicchio

ANDRÉ: Enrique R. del Portal

MADAME GIRY: Silvia Luchetti

MEG GIRY: Laura Martin / Marina Brisa (u/s)

PIANGI: Francisco Ortiz

This production is basically a love-letter to Phantom history. There are many clever moments, small hints of Phantom history, and in general just a very Phantom-y atmosphere and look. It’s just that sometimes it goes a bit overboard with effects, references and/or tempo, to the point where I feel it takes focus away from the leads and the main story. I get the vibe, I get the love, nut just take it down a notch?

Lots of spoilers ahead, stop reading If you don’t want details.

Examples, you ask? It’s really just the total, the sum of it all, rather than singular moments. Take the Phantom and all effects surrounding him. In “Little Lotte” there’s blinking lamps and ambience sound and gruntle, it almost feels like I’m watching the basement furnace in “Home Alone”. In the Il Muto ballet he swings across stage twice, while the third time it happens it’s the body of dead Buquet. But swinging in ropes has a high level of Tarzan and is hard to take seriously. For the chandelier crash the Phantom jumps on the chandelier, cuts its rope (?) with what looks like a butter knife (?) and it crashes with “flames” and smoke and a loud bang with fake screams on tape. In the Mausoleum scene he is equipped with large black wings and flies up into the air, creating a massive thunderstorm. In the end it gets hard for the audience to trust that the actor himself is enough, as all these tricks and effects and mumbo jumbo gets in the way.

The only new trick I feel adds to the role instead of distracting from it is Red Death’s disappearance. He appears in a red hooded cloak, sings his lines, turns his back to the audience and when the others on stage approach to rip off his cloak there is no-one there. THIS. This adds to the mystique. This is the Phantom in charge, without explosions and sounds and light and props.

Anyhow… I enjoyed so many sides of this production. Let me try and mention some of the things I noticed along the way. (Note: Photos is a mix of Trieste, Monte Carlo and Madrid, but if the performers are in focus I have tried to choose Madrid photos)

AUCTION/OVERTURE Before the show there is some 15 minutes of “spooky” ambience sound and dripping water, dungeon style. The show starts with a huge shatter/bang, to tell the audience it’s starting. Message received.

The auction set-up is fairy traditional, with auctioneer to the left, chandelier in the middle, and bidders sitting with their backs to the audience. Raoul is not in a wheelchair, instead he is sitting in the back, to the right (I. E. nearest the audience), with a nurse (?) by his side. The auctioneer is super rushed, while the bidders clap very slowly, original Phantom style. For the monkey musical box, Raoul calls over the porter who is dressed in a red 18th century livre, and who kneels in front of him. Raoul turns to him and thus the audience. First glimpse of Guido Balzaretti in the role. He is good.

Lot 666 etc… All exactly as assumed up until they pull off the drapes and the Overture starts.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is something else indeed. The cast starts to… uhm, how to explain this… re-enact the first act in slow motion, backwards? The Il Muto fop trio “runs” in, backwards, in slow motion, they bend to not get hit by the chandelier, still slow motion, then taking a bow, still slow motion. And so forth. What is shown here is history as it happened but reversed. It continues with other glimpses of the first act, other characters, leading up to Carlotta as Elissa. Cue: Hannibal.

Now… The idea? Cool. Interesting. Well executed. Time is literally rewinded before our eyes. Yet:

I feel you have to know the musical and the first act to get what’s happening. A moment of “this production is a love-letter to POTO”, a bit wink-wink-nudge-nudge.

It doesn’t really make sense. What they show us is the fops almost being hit by the chandelier as It comes crashing downwards. What we see in the actual crash is the Phantom riding the chandelier as it is pulled backwards and flung towards the audience. Plus, there is a knife, there is “flames” and smoke, and no other people in sight. Sorry, but you have to settle for one of the crashes…

However: original? I will certainly give them that.

Also, props for introducing what is usually my pet peeve and hate object number one: The Eiffel Tower. Thing is, this opera appears to have burned down (2004 movie style, more about that later) and through the ruined ceiling the Eiffel Tower can be seen. I don’t oppose this as the auction scene is set long after then main story and the tower would have been built by then. My annoyance with productions automatically adding it to underline that THIS IS PARIS is because the tower would (depending on when they set the main story) not have been built. But in the auction scene? Yes.

(Auction photo from Trieste)

HANNIBAL Whereas Marta Pineda as Carlotta possesses a grand voice, I am no fan of how she portrays Carlotta as a performer. I assume it is in the directing. In the mock operas she goes for massive overacting, mainly one specific hand pose and a hammering voice. In scenes like Prima Donna you can tell she is able to sing gorgeously and act well, hence why I assume it is in the directing. Carlotta as a performer in this production is one where I understand the Phantom’s dislike… Just way too much, too annoying, it really makes you wonder how this specific soprano came to be the wonder of Paris.

(Francisco Ortez and Marta Pineda in Hannibal)

They make a point of not showing Reyer. I will come back to why later. In Hannibal he is in the prompter’s box, with a slightly distorted sound to his voice and which Firmin at one point imitates. Heh.

The ballerinas did a sort of shawl dance in Hannibal which suite the music well, and Christine and Meg were also nicely singled out.

Instead of an elephant there is a portechaise, a litter, a sedan chair, whatever it’s called. Now... the people carrying this on stage wears the same uniform as the porters in the auction scene. If the opera burned down and the auction is many years later, why would they…?

(Hannibal photo from Trieste)

Also, the sedan chair gets a bit too much attention, with them struggling to get it out on stage, Piangi struggling to get on it, and when he finally does for the end pose the bottom breaks. This, combined with a constant rush in pace means there was never any applause after Hannibal. Unusual.

The turning set had me wondering. It looks wonderful within the structure (see photo above), and it's also always how it is photographed. But in use it means a large part of the stage is not used. Admittedly it was more noticeable sitting in the upper balconies than in the stalls, but especially the first 7 or so meters on stage was all bare. This is rarely shown in official photos, so it took me some time to understand what I was looking at. At first I wondered why the set was not placed further out, but I quickly realized that it needs that position to be able to turn. I wonder if a slightly shorter and/or more square set would fill the stage in a smarter manner? Not sure. Here's the view from the balconies:

The falling backdrop in Hannibal was so well done. It almost came a surprise to me, who knows the show by heart. A mixture of well timed sight and sound and a lot of ropes.

And now for Christine Daaé… For the first performance I saw principal Talía del Val, and for the second performance I saw alternate Judith Tobella. Their overall appearance on stage felt fairly similar in terms of height, build, and wig. Voice wise they are both also bell-voiced sopranos with an operatic touch. But I felt Talía maybe added more nuances to her singing, varying volume and intensity whereas Judith was more consistently bell-voiced? This came to view in TOM, where Talía did one of the biggest transitions I have seen, from whispering the notes and just going mute to full-volume operatic diva. Fantastic. Judith showed less of a transformation but possesses a gorgeous and light voice and is just as radiant. Both of them are so good in the role.

(Guido Balzaretti, Omar Calicchio, Enrique R. del Portal and Talía del Val in Think of Me)

Elements of TOM was also a bit rushed. For the quick-change, a bar of the instrumentals was cut, and the cadenza at the end was short and effective. Why the rush? I don’t know. But the Elissa costume was nice, a turquoise and golden confectionary with nice amount of drapes and sparke, and a nice match to Christine’s honey coloured wig. It was also very visible when the set took a full turn during Raoul’s lines in TOM.

ANGEL OF MUSIC / LITTLE LOTTE As a tiny surprise I got two different Megs – principal Laura Martín for the first show, and u/s Marina Brisa for the second. Their portrayal differed slightly. Laura’s Meg was super affectionate towards Christine, hugging, touching, caring, supporting. Martina was maybe more inquisitive and more of a narrator of the show in a way. She told the audience a lot of the action and mood in the Managers scene just with her facial expressions. But both had fantastic voices.

In Angel of Music the turnable set was placed diagonally, with the end towards the right side of the stage and featuring a large mirror and dressing room table. Now… the diagonally placed set leaves little room for the cast. For this specific scene it did however work, and it was moody with a dark stage and chandelier visible in the shadows.

Nothing radically new in Little Lotte, apart from the already described blinking lamps, ambience sound and gruntle when the Phantom reacts to Raoul’s presence. So moving on to…

MIRROR SCENE First sound of the two Phantoms. Principal Gerónimo Rauch went for a slightly twangy sound rather than booming, I am not quite sure why. Alternate Manu Pilas was all boom. I do prefer the latter, just because it sets a standard and mood for the rest of the show. Christine interestingly entered the mirror by stepping on her dressing room chair and then the table. Heh. Also cool from some angles in the auditorium to see the Phantom lean out of the mirror opening, fully cloaked. Moody sight!

(Ramin Karimloo and Amelia Milo in Trieste)

I could not quite make out Christine’s emotions here. It’s like she thought “gotta get out of here before Raoul returns”…, rapidly wrapped up her dressing gown and ran through the mirror.

TITLE SONG Is it allowed to say it felt too similar to the original staging? Because… them crossing the stage, them going down under stage, them appearing higher up, them crossing the misty stage by boat… It’s not that it wasn’t done well, I had just hoped for a totally different take. Biggest surprise was probably the Phantom’s massive (ahem) organ rising from what looked like the pit, with masses of lit candles, and then slowly moving towards the back of the stage – all while the Piranesi “imaginary prisons” like set backdrop came to view. A stunning lair set, and finally a scene where the front stage was used!

(Amelia Milo and Ramin Karimloo in Monte Carlo)

MOTN This too felt very close to the original staging. With one exception. The Phantom put a lit candle in front of Christine, on the floor, sung about the music of the night, and blew out the candle. I mean… I appreciate this more than the Restaged Tour’s blindfolding, but I am not sure I fully understand what Christine was to learn from it SEEING THERE IS A HUGE ORGAN WITH LOTS OF CANDLES only two meters away…?

(Gerónimo Rauch and Talía del Val in the First Lair)

The MOTN pose totally felt like a homage to the original. Biggest difference in blocking was probably that Christine fainted in the Phantom’s arms and was put to bed in a four-poster bed to the right on the stage.

(Gerónimo Rauch and Talía del Val in the First Lair)

Singing wise both Phantoms brought down the house, Rauch especially hammering in those money notes. Dude got a grand voice. In this scene I (interestingly enough) felt Gerónimo Rauch was more experimental, while Manu Pilas felt old-school and classical. I would have thought it opposite, seeing Rauch’s history in West End. But cool! Got Tomas Ambt Kofod vibes from Pilas.

(Gerónimo Rauch and Talía del Val in the First Lair)

(Judith Tobella in the bed in the First Lair)

STYDI Christine waking up did not go unnoticed by the Phantom; he invites her to come over and sit at his piano bench. As she comes over, she caresses his face, they have a fairly tender moment and then she rapidly takes off the mask. Felt like a natural move, out of curiosity and closeness, which created an interesting contrast to the Phantom’s rage and despair.

Here Rauch seemed to go for emotions running deep, doing a quite heartbreaking rendition of the scene. Pilas showed more rage, even tipping over the piano bench along the way. The blocking calls for the Phantom to react on Christine’s touch before handing him the mask – for Rauch it was when Christine touched his hand, and for Pilas it was Christine touching his shoulder. Rauch seemed more terrified, Pilas more surprised. Both returned to their very-much-in-control mood when they put the mask back on. NOTES / PRIMADONNA Now the revolving set was turned the other way, with the short end facing left side of the stage. Instead of a mirror it featured a window with trees and daylight. For this scene it meant the cast had only a tiny little triangle at the very end of the stage to act out the scene. Whereas it worked well with only two or three present in Christine’s dressing room, Primadonna is fairly crowded. We’re talking seven people on stage, and it showed that they didn’t have a whole lot of space to go. I’m still not on board with the distribution of set and cast in this production.

Acting wise little new to add, just very very very solid. Extra plus for Silvia Luchetti as Madame Giry. She was u/s Christine in the original Madrid production, and thus feature a strong soprano. But she is also a strong belter, and good actress. Her Madame Giry seemed to read every situation well, and act accordingly.

(Laura Martín, Silvia Luchetti and Guido Balzaretti in Primadonna)

As for the two Megs, they both had good chemistry with Luchetti. Whereas Martin had an air of “I trust my maman to sort things out”, Brisa felt more inquisitive.

The turning set was used to full effect at the end of Prima Donna. With the set revolving, the cast entering the stage, with a Garnier curtain like backdrop it looked majestic, beautiful and very Phantom-y. It is also one of the instances it worked well to always have a glimpse of the chandelier and boxes in sight, to remind us of them being in the opera all the time.

(Prima Donna photo from Madrid)

IL MUTO The intro with “old scenery… old audience”… was cut, I think? Another instance of the show being rushed. When I keep repeating this it is because the matinée clocked in on 2 hours and 14 minutes, WITH interval. That might be the quickest one I’ve seen, except the intentionally shortened one-act edition in Las Vegas.

I liked this Il Muto a LOT. The set, with two doors where people entered and exited, gave a mild hint of a farce without going overboard. The middle window could be lit to show Don Attilio spying and the fops whisper gossip into his ear. All in all a nice flow and a nice Mozartesque feel.

(Il Muto photo from Madrid)

The interrupted performance and André entering to present the ballet was also amusing, as he comes out with a bottle of champagne in one hand and a glass in the other hand. Not drunk!style like Barry James, but rather a sense of him being in the middle of something completely different. When not managing to exist the stage during the ballet, the male ballet dancer literally grabbed him by the waist and lifted him off stage. Heh. Nice one. Giggle snort.

Then the funky part. Instead of the dancers being interrupted by scary shadows, blinking light or other “minor” incidents, this production features the Phantom crossing the back of the stage in a rope, not once but twice. As mentioned previously I do get how the third time with dead Buquet then comes as an extra surprise. But it is too much of a Tarzan factor. To me, anyway.

(Il Muto ballet screencap from Trieste)

ROOFTOP Possibly the most original scene in this production, and in a good way. It is set towards a slightly abstract backdrop with a hint of – no, not the Eiffel Tower, bless them, but the Notre Dame, and to the left a rooftop sculpture. Main set is a ledge. Christine crawls out on there and does not look like she wants Raoul to follow, but he does, reluctantly, afraid. She will clearly jump, he is doing anything in his power to stop her. He realizes she is terrified and struggles to find the right words, but offers what he can – a hand to hold and a promise of a better future. Slowly, slowly Christine gets closer to him, trusts him.

(Bradley Jaden and Amelia Milo in Trieste)

A very nice take on AIAOY, because it is all done subdued, not in an overly dramatic manner. Only negative I might add is that AIAOY may not be the best song to sing sitting, or even hunched. But that was only something I pondered about at the end of the song, with the high notes. And also, this showed Raoul at his best. More of content like this, please! CURSE / CRASH The Phantom was of course underneath the two lovers all the time, and he comes to view twirling his cloak. Not a huge fan of the red lining of the cloak, a too high vampire factor. But anyway… Here Rauch’s twangy singing style (which he only did here and in the mirror scene) was used to good effect. Now, the actual staging… With the Phantom singing the end of his curse the set turns and the chandelier comes to view, lowered. The Phantom jumps on it, works hard on cutting its cord with a knife, the chandelier is pulled backwards, and it is then “flung” towards the audience, with “fire”, smoke and the sound effects of shattering glass and screams. It is an original and fancy take on the chandelier crash.

(Chandelier crash photo from Monte Carlo)

INTERMISSION Everyone and their mother taking photos by the rose wall. I bought merch (read: socks).

MASQUERADE The opening was like out of a Doctor Who scene, with the managers being flashed up by light, shifting pose and moving closer for each flash – don’t blink! They wear large cloaks, and of course Firmin’s large frilly pink confectionery of a dress gets lot of attention when revealed. Omar Calicchio looked adorable.

(Firmin dressed up, André and Madame Giry in fairly regular clothes, and Meg Giry doubling as the monkey musical box)

Cool main set – the opera stage with its boxes, a lowered chandelier, and a backdrop showing the Garnier auditorium. Reminded me of the Hungarian design. The opening features a giant monkey musical box which soon enough turns out to be Meg in identical costume to the music box figurine. Nice lil’ detail.

The cast floods in, with rows of people dressed in cloaks and masks dancing in a rather stiff style. I could not quite put my finger on why it looked a bit off until I remember each of the pairs featured one cast member and one dummy on wheels. Aha. But the oddness aside, it was cool to see the stage filled with people like that. It looked like a true Venetian carnival.

(The Masquerade scene in Trieste)

Once again Christine missed out on the dress code, wearing a pale Victorian bustle dress. She must start reading the invitation…! Nothing wrong with the dress per se, but I wish they’d dressed her in something more innovative, or at least make her wear a cloak for parts of the scene to later on reveal the bustle dress.

(Talía del Val and Guido Balzaretti in Masquerade)

And now for what always feels like a regional theatre stunt: At the height of the show a lot of the cast came into the auditorium to sing. I feel you need to have a better reason to break the fourth wall than just surprising the audience. Why were they there? It appears mainly to empty the stage for Red Death.

Did I mention the confetti? Oh the confetti. A sea of confetti. Gold and silver, pouring down. So much that the front aisles were filled, and people so covered it stuck on them when they went out after the show. The pavement of the theatre was glittering. I always wonder if it is really worth it, seeing that the confetti will also glitter up stage in the Mausoleum scene and Final Lair. Places were there technically should be no glitter… Well. Fun to watch regardless.

Red Death: They’ve picked up original magic consultant Paul Brown’s idea of the Phantom just disappearing from his costume, making it fall to the floor. Here the Phantom turns his back to the audience, and when the (few) people on stage runs forward to pull off his red cloak he is no longer there. Beautifully executed!

(Red Death from Monte Carlo)

I wish they did not follow up with the next scene, with Christine in the audience and a cloaked figure behind her pulling off his hood – surprise, it’s the Phantom – grabbing her necklace/ring and running off. Felt like a bit of a cheap trick after the quite magical Red Death disappearance. Would be so much cooler if her grabbed that necklace on stage and then disappeared mid-air. Would also give Christine doubly a reason to fear him, if he can just vanish like that instead of having to run out the door.

BACKSTAGE The backstage tale started all dark, but soon featured a hint of a Coney Island like faire to hint of Madame Giry’s first encounter with the Phantom. IF you want to draw some lines to “Love Never Dies” this is a discrete and non-intrusive way of doing it. Kudos for that. The chandelier is also still lowered, and first when its light goes off is Madame Giry startled enough to flee Raoul. Maybe the most effects I’ve seen in this scene and also working very well.

NOTES / TWISTED We are back to the crammed office set-up and too many people. At times Christine’s dress train swept into the bit due to the lack of space. Well… Both here and in the first managers scene each lead is lit up with purplish light when mentioned in the notes, which is a visual for the audience – especially when they are so crammed together as well.

On stage there are a lot of stacked chairs under the darkened looming chandelier. Nice reminder of still being in the opera.

In this scene I felt both Christines lacked a real anger or temper, even if Judith Tobella displayed it more than Talía del Val. But one thing I did like is that she went from person to person during her solo, almost pleading them to understand the dangers of performing the opera, and they all kinda turns away. Two of the footmen enters (as if the scene was not crammed enough already) to remove the furniture and prepare for the sitzprobe on stage, putting out the chairs in line. Meanwhile Christine does not refuse to sing and does not flee stage, as per usual. At first I thought it was another rushed detail to save some time, but no: Raoul sings “Christine, Christine don’t think that I don’t care…” (loooong pause) and then more or less take her by the arm and force her into the sitzprobe. It does solve the problem of why Christine refuse to sing and then appear at the sitzprobe, but doesn’t quite do Raoul any credit…

SITZPROBE Also an in-between scene with an abundance of ideas. Most of which I liked. The setting is very familiar, piano to the right, cast lined out on chairs. But the piano is not facing the audience, it is turned. We can hear Reyer but not see him. Remember Hannibal? Ar’right. When quarrel breaks out the piano starts to rotate at a massive speed while playing by itself, and Reyer is nowhere to be found. Maybe he never was. Was he the Phantom all the time? We will never know…!

Then for the odd moment… As the set itself rotates, a slow-motion quarrel breaks out, people throwing chairs at eachother, fighting, fleeing (didn’t they just behave when singing? I have questions). Christine puts on her mint cloak, she carries a red rose in her hands and she walks off, towards the audience and a presumed grave which we can’t see but she addresses over the orchestra pit.

(Amelia Milo in Monte Carlo)

MAUSOLEUM Both Christines did a heartfelt “Her father promised her”, not being able to finish the line. The red rose is put on the grave and she starts on the main song. The rest of the scene pretty much as usual.

Help me say goodbye… Oh no thought the Phantom. Towards a discrete mausoleum backdrop he appears, with his giant black wings. Raoul enters around the same time, they sing the trio version. Raoul goes in between the Phantom and Christine. The Phantom creates thunder and lightning, and for each time he flies higher up. Christine is quite passive during the whole ordeal. Eventually a massive thunderstorm is created, and the scene ends. And I’m like… mkay.

If you gonna camp it up that much you have to at least feature the black wings better, they were hardly visible towards the dark mausoleum backdrop. From the upper balcony it looked like he was… bungee jumping? From the front rows in the stalls you could see contours of the wings, but nothing more. As a contrast the silhouette of the chandelier was visible, which didn't quite make sense. Aren't they in a graveyard?

("Angel of Death" in the Mausoleum scene in Trieste)

This scene felt like the prime example of a place where the effects works against the story rather than underlining it. It felt like a lot of noise and little emotions, mostly. And Christine’s role in it all was non-existent.

DON JUAN / PONR Once again a cast member appeared in the auditorium. But here with a purpose – the marksman was placed in the upper stalls. Worked well.

The opening of Don Juan was cool, with the cast as black silhouettes towards a red, smoky backdrop, before coming to life. Featuring Meg as a prominent pageboy was a nice touch.

(Don Juan in Monte Carlo)

The costumes did in large resemble the Bjørnson ones, with breeches and doublets and corseted bodices and tabs, in large held in red, black and gold. Exception being Don Juan’s costume, a large tan cloak and an even larger HAT OF DOOM which would eventually help hiding the Phantom’s mask and face. Christine's costume has also gotten more of a Mary Philbin spin.

(Point of No Return photo from Monte Carlo)

The set too reminds me of Bjørnson's design, especially the timber frame with torn drapes behind a centrally placed table.

It is clear from the start Christine recognize the Phantom’s voice. She pleads to Raoul in the box, but decides to go on. She appears to decide to give the Phantom a hard run for his money, turning up the heat and almost challenging him with the blocking. The overall staging is quite close to the original blocking, and also: no table dancing in sight. Bliss.

(Ramin Karimloo, Amelia Milo and ensemble in Trieste)

I wanna say that Talía del Val removed the Phantom’s hat while Judith Tobella waited for him to remove it? But memory is a bit blurry there. Either how, the Phantom put his ring on Christine’s finger himself.

DOWN ONCE MORE Down once more also felt fairly traditional in terms of the Phantom and Christine in the boat. Both Phantom displayed amazing vocals here, they both have grand voices.

A bigger surprise was the managers, despairing over being ruined. André looks around, throws his lantern into the “pit” which is causing a large fire – I assume this is why we see a ruin of an opera in the Auction scene - and they run off. It’s yet another instance of “Yes, I like the creativity, but does it make sense?”. Since the opera and chandelier seems fairly closely based on the Palais Garnier, and that opera NEVER BURNED it feels like different Phantom universes colliding (I.E. a dash of the 2004 movie with its Opera Populaire meets the Prince/Bjørnson version and the Palais Garnier).

FINAL LAIR And now for the grand finale. A nice twist in this version is that yes – Christine wears her Aminta costume during the Final Lair, like many other non-replica versions – but the Phantom do offer her a wedding dress, veil and bouquet. He also puts the veil on her.

Raoul comes crawling in from the right side – I am not sure if it’s meant to indicate swimming or him sneaking up on them. But he is quickly noticed by the Phantom. He takes a chokehold on Christine to keep Raoul away. A slight inheritance from Ramin, I assume, as he was the king of choking in the UK. With Gerónimo Rauch I didn’t care all too much for it (never did with Ramin either). With Manu Pilas he acted as he suddenly got aware of what he was doing and quickly let her go, almost apologizing, looking embarrassed, even devastated. This made more sense to me, that it was not a cautious choice.

(Final Lair photo from Trieste. Note that some changes was done for Madrid. Most noticeable that Raoul is no longer shirtless, but he's barefoot. He's also hanging way above ground)

So to the part I did not overly care for – the magical lasso. In this version the magical lasso is somehow… connected to the Phantom’s bed and Raoul is raised into the air by one of the poles of the bed. I understand how this is a practical solution, as it makes it possible to lift the actor from the floor. Whereas it did look realistic it also felt a bit strange he would hang from the bed. Guido Balzaretti did however act it well, and it looked frightfully real when his naked feet slowly stopped moving.

And dudes and dudettes – I am happy to say Raoul is no longer shirtless in the Final Lair. Thank you, good actor or director or head of costumes. A bare-chested guy being strangled by/with a bed was too much for me, at least when he is technically not the one in focus.

This is the second place I would have liked more temper, more rage from Talía del Val (first being 2nd Managers). She seemed too mild and too accepting on what’s going on. Judith Tobella was more feisty, even if she too could have turned it up a notch. This especially went for when Raoul got strangled up, it didn’t feel like much of a fight at all. Christine steps on to the bed and tries to loosen the noose once, without success, but that’s it. Fight for your man, Christine!

Another aspect which made me wonder is that it almost looks like Raoul has died long before Christine decides to kiss the Phantom. I would have liked to see her enraged, or even more scared, or… something. But the kiss itself – another scene sticking very close to the original – was beautifully done. With the Phantom letting Raoul go he was just lowered to the floor. Props to Balzaretti for A+ acting here, having to been helped into the Phantom’s boat. Christine and Raoul then sails away, the Phantom sings to the monkey musical box, and Christine returns, being viewable behind the bed.

With Rauch he seems to notice it quite late, and looks very happy about her return, almost crying “I love you”. With Pilas he did a detail that totally made me think Tomas Kofod: he straightened his hair, started buttoning his waistcoat, making himself presentable… only to find Christine has left the ring on the table next to the bed and is nowhere to be seen. So sad a sight.

Speaking of which, the Phantom’s deformity looked great in the auditorium, with balding grey hair and a visible deformed side. He looked much older and much more worn down by life than several other non-replica productions I’ve seen, and I’m here for it. This is a man letting go in all possible ways.

And now for the grand grand grand finale… While the opera is presumably burning a whole bunch of people is entering the Phantom’s lair. First one is Madame Giry. She sees the Phantom as he is about to lie down on his bed, and she rapidly signs for him to hide. He hides under the bedsheet, the contours of his body highly visible. It looks like a curled up corpse, quite eerie. Then Meg enters, and the mob with torches. Meg notice the figure on the bed, screams, and as the mob rips of the bedsheet the Phantom is gone – only his mask is left. The Girys holds up the mask together, with an inquisitive look on their faces. Cue: applause.

A SORT OF CONCLUSION This is a playful, intelligent and a bit overpowering version of POTO. I enjoyed it a lot for its clear Phantom look and feel, for its at times super beautiful sets, for a stellar cast, and for many clever and original ideas. It’s a production which is thoroughly original at times, more traditional in other moments. But I think it would benefit from trusting the source material more. Not everything needs to be a trick, an effect, a surprise. Sometimes the leads can carry the scene by mere acting and that is more than enough. The rooftop scene is a nice example of that, while the Mausoleum scene feels like an example of the opposite. But that said: Overall this is a welcome addition to the Phantom universe!

(Curtain call photo showing Martina Brisa as Meg, Judith Tobella as Christine and Manu Pilas as the Phantom)

Highlights: The overall set design, Think of Me (both vocals and visuals), the Meg and Christine love, three equally strong and enjoyable leads, the Phantom’s lair (again both vocals and visuals), the rooftop scene, Red Death’s disappearance, the backstage tale of Mme Giry, the mystery that was Reyer, the cast, the mood.

Meeeeh: The Overture slow-motion sequence, Carlotta as she appears as an opera singer, the rushed feeling throughout, the cramped Manager’s office, the red lining of the Phantom’s cloak, the chandelier crash, sending the cast into the auditorium during Masquerade, the confetti, the Sitzproble slow-motion sequence, Christine’s lack of proper anger.

Hard no: Tarzan-Phantom in Il Muto, winged and flying Phantom in the Mausoleum scene, the Phantom’s sombrero in Don Juan.

#phantom of the opera #fantasma de la opera #poto spain #poto italy #poto monte carlo #geronimo rauch #manu pilas #talia del val #judith tobella #guido balzaretti #marta pineda #omar calicchio #enrique r del portal #silvia luchetti #laura martin #marina brisa #francisco ortiz

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eddiemunsons80sbaby · 10 months

Text

The First Time

Pairing: JoeKeeryxReader

Request: This was a long request so I will sum it up. Based off new photos of him shopping. You and Joe met in Italy while he was filming Cold Storage. You spent time together but he wound up lacking time because of shooting. He brings you to New York because he wants to spend time with you and you're nervous because you're a virgin. Joe is wonderful, as would be expected, warm and sweet and patient.

I hope I did your request justice. 😊😘

@minty-fox-candyyki

18+ ONLY

“You really didn’t have to do all this,” you say to Joe, looking at the bags you both carry in your hands. He’d insisted on taking you shopping in New York City and he’d gone overboard, buying you everything you even stopped to look at.

“I know I didn’t, but I love to spoil my baby,” he smiled, pressing his lips to your cheek. “I feel bad. I know I didn’t have a lot of time to spend with you in Italy while I was filming the movie. I just wanted to make it up to you.”

Your cheeks flamed, “You didn’t have to do that, Joe. I know you’re an actor and you’re busy.”

The truth was, you had felt a little abandoned in Italy. You knew he was busy. His filming schedule was insane and at the end of it, he was exhausted. You sometimes went days without seeing him or hearing from him. He barely had time to grab himself something to eat, let alone touch base with you. And you told yourself that was what you’d signed up for when you’d agreed to date him. He was a celebrity. There was always something, a project to film, an interview, a photo shoot.

You told yourself that but deep down, you’d wondered. You and Joe were fairly new to dating. You’d met him one night when he’d gone out with some friends to a bar in Rome. You’d recognized him immediately. Your friends loved to tease you about your crush on Steve Harrington. Struggling to keep your heart rate in check, you’d turned your back on him, focusing on your drink. Your friends were telling you to go say hi but you couldn’t. He had no idea who you were. There was no way you could just walk up to that man, the man who’d monopolized your fantasies for year.

So, imagine your surprise when you’d heard that voice you’d know anywhere right next to your ear, asking what you were drinking. You’d been overcome, unable to speak, your friend Alessia, answering for you. Joe offered to buy you another and asked if you’d join him at a table. The two of you talked until the bar kicked you out. He’d asked for your phone number but you really didn’t expect him to use it.

You’d thought that was the end of it but then he called you two days later. He took you to lunch and then the two of you became inseparable, bike riding, meeting for gelato, touring the city, you showing him all of the sights that tourists usually missed. Then he’d began filming and the calls became fewer, the dates even more so. You assumed things were ending, a slow death to a fast relationship. But then he’d shocked the hell out of you when he asked you to accompany him to New York City and here you were, unable to say no. What woman in their right mind would turn down this beautiful man?

“I am never too busy for you,” Joe assured. “I mean, I guess I was, but it had nothing to do with you, bunny. I would have seen you every single day if I could have.” He stopped, pointing across the street. “There it is. Giano. I am telling you it is the best spaghetti pomodoro in the city. It’s no Rome, but you’ll be impressed. I promise. Come on.”

Grabbing your hand, he led you across the street and into a brick restaurant with low lighting and a wood paneled ceiling. It was beautiful, very cozy, with a candle set on each small table. This restaurant was clearly meant to be an intimate setting. He checked in with the hostess who gave him an eager grin as she twirled a piece of hair around her fingers. Of course. She looked like she was maybe twenty-two, your age, so she knew exactly who Joe Keery was and was putting on every ounce of charm for him.

Joe appeared oblivious to her attempts, his hand coming to the small of your back, guiding you, as she led you to a table in the corner of the restaurant. The hostess shot Joe a megawatt smile, letting him know their server would be right with them and he said thanks without ever glancing up at her, his hand finding yours across the table, eyes on you. The girl looked rather miffed as she turned and huffed back to her station.

This was what had been eating at you lately, slowly taking tiny bites out of you until you thought you would lose your mind. Joe’s previous girlfriend had been long-term serious and drop dead gorgeous. You found yourself scrutinizing every inch of your face and body in the mirror, wondering what he saw in you. The women who threw themselves at him on a daily basis were ridiculously beautiful. Compared to all of them, you felt like a frump in a potato sack half the time. You could not figure out what he was doing with you and wondered if this was just something fun for him, short-term, because it certainly wasn’t for you.

“I highly recommend the pomodoro,” Joe said, breaking through your intrusive thoughts. “I don’t even need to see the menu. It’s what I get every time I come here. Trust me, bunny, it’s…” He paused, bringing his fingers to his mouth and kissing them. “Perfecto!”

You giggled, shaking your head, “You are so ridiculous.”

“You love me and you know it,” he teased but the words caused your stomach to knot, a tense coil winding up until you thought you would double over.

Joe could have no idea how correct he was. He was just joking but you were already in way too deep, standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the ground, waiting for the inevitable gust of wind to send you hurtling to the rocks. You pulled your bottom lip between your teeth, keeping your eyes focused on the menu to avoid him seeing through all that you were trying to conceal.

Your waitress approached and Joe ordered you both a bottle of wine to share. He turned to you, offering you one of his toe curling smirks, but you quickly ducked behind the menu again, wondering why he had to be so damn perfect. It made everything so much harder.

“Did you decide?” he asked after a long silence.

“Uh…yes. I am just going to go with the pomodoro since you swear it’s perfecto,” you stammered.

“You won’t regret it,” Joe states, thanking the waitress when she brings the wine and ordering your entrees. He pours you a glass. It’s a bit of a heavy pour and you shoot your hand out.

“Whoa, Joe, that’s a lot of wine.”

“Didn’t you know? I’m trying to get you buzzed so I can get lucky tonight,” he commented with a laugh to let you know he was just joking. “Our first time in a hotel room all by ourselves.” His eyebrows wiggled suggestively. “We’ll finally be all alone, just the two of us.”

You choke on the wine you were just drinking, quickly setting your glass down, wiping your mouth with your napkin. You’d arrived at the place you’d been dreading as soon as your plane had landed this morning. Of course Joe expected you to have sex. How could he not? You’d been seeing him for two months and were grown ass adults. Obviously he thought that was the next step. The two of you all alone in a hotel room…you didn’t have to be a mathematician to figure out what he expected.

It wasn’t that you didn’t want to. You had no idea how much you could want someone, crave someone, until Joe had come along. Many nights you’d spent, touching yourself, imagining what it would feel like if it was him. No, the problem wasn’t that you didn’t want to, it was that you never had and you had no idea how to tell him that. How did you admit that you were a twenty-two year old virgin? The very thought seemed ludicrous. You’d done some other stuff but it hadn’t been as enjoyable as you’d thought it would be. Most guys worried about themselves more than you. You’d given a few blowjobs. A couple guys fingered you, their fingers slamming into you roughly until you pretended to orgasm just to put it to an end. And you’d never had a guy go down there before with his mouth. You weren’t trying to save yourself for marriage by any means but no one had ever felt worth it to be your first time. With the foreplay being so disappointing, you’d just never had a desire to go to the next level.

With Joe, even kissing burned an inferno of desire within you. The way his full lips devoured yours as if they were the most delicious thing on the planet, pulling your bottom lip gently and sucking. The way he would tease your neck, lips, teeth, and tongue. The way his hands held you, those massive hands molding around your curves, cradling you against him. Yeah, Joe was the first guy that made you want to find out what all the fuss was about, what all your girlfriends had been talking about since you were in high school.

But Joe, you knew he had to be quite experienced and you feared you would be a disappointment to him. What if you had sex, it was horrible because you were horrible, and Joe was done with you? Your heart couldn’t take it because, whether you meant to or not, you had fallen completely in love with this man over the last couple months.

“Hey.” Joe’s voice came, soft, concerned, as his hand covered yours on the table. “You okay, baby?”

“Huh?” Your eyes slowly found his, drowning in their tooth achingly sweet caramel depths. “Oh. Yeah. I’m fine. Totally good.”

“You sure about that?” he questioned, one eyebrow raised. “You kind of disappeared on me for a bit there.”

“No, I’m good.”

You were grateful when the waitress showed up with your food. Shoveling pasta in your mouth gave you an excuse to not be so talkative. Joe kept catching your gaze, the little furrow between his eyebrows letting you know he did not believe you. Suddenly, he set his fork down with a clatter and leaned back in his chair, tossing his cloth napkin onto the table.

“Alright, what’s wrong?” he demanded.

Your eyes went wide as you slowly swallowed your mouthful of pasta. You hated to admit it, but Joe had been right. This pomodoro was just as good as any from Italy. Wiping your mouth, you laid your napkin down next to your plate.

“I told you, nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.”

“You’re lying to me,” Joe breathed, elbows on the table, leaning toward you. “Why are you lying to me? You’re usually chatting my ear off. You’ve been weird since you got off the plane. At first I thought it was just because I haven’t had much time lately so I was trying to make it up to you but it’s more than that, isn’t it? What’s going on, bunny? What’s got you so quiet?”

“Nothing,” you insisted, shaking your head. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing,” he shot back. “Come on. You can tell me anything. What’s going on? Did you not want to come to New York?”

Your mouth dropped open at his words and you shook your head vehemently, “No. No. Of course I wanted to come. I wanted to see you. I…I missed you. I…”

“You what?”

“I know we’ve been seeing each other for a couple months,” you began, realizing you were going to have to tell him. If you didn’t, he would not let this go, pestering you all night. And, like it or not, you had to face it eventually because dinner would end and you would wind up back at the hotel. “I know we should be…being intimate. I’m just really nervous about it beca…”

“Oh babe, I would never pressure you into anything,” Joe assured you, his hands taking yours, thumbs running over your knuckles. “If you’re not ready, it’s okay.”

“It’s not that. I do want to, Joe. I really do. I just…well, I mean…I’ve never…” You looked up at him from under your lashes, hoping he would get what you were trying to say because you couldn’t bring yourself to say it.

“You’ve never?” His head tilted and you saw the moment he realized what you were saying as his eyes widened, jaw dropping, and he sat back in his seat. “You’re a virgin?”

You nodded, “Yeah. I know it’s pathetic. I’m way too old. I mean, I’ve done other stuff…some stuff but sex just never seemed as exciting as everyone said. I’d give him a blowjob. He’d ram his fingers into me for a couple minutes and he’d want to move on to intercourse. I always backed out. I mean, it wasn’t enjoyable. I kept waiting to see what all the fuss was about but it never happened.”

“Okay, one, you’re not pathetic, baby. Never,” Joe insisted, shaking his head. “Two…that’s your experience? You’ve never had a guy really take care of you?”

“I mean, they fingered me…”

“Oh, bunny, it’s so much more than that.” The waitress dropped off the bill and he signed. Standing, he reached for your hand, yanking you against his chest, his lips coming to your ear. “If you’ll let me, I would love to show you what all the fuss is about.” Thick fingers trailed along your spine, shivers racing over your skin. “Let me show you exactly what all those other guys didn’t do. Can I do that?”

Biting your lip, you nodded, “Yeah.”

___________________________________________________________

Joe closes the hotel room door behind you, flipping the extra lock to ensure you aren’t interrupted. You glance over at the king sized bed, nerves making you jumpy, but you know it could be any more perfect than this for your first time. Joe is the perfect guy and that bed is the absolutely perfect spot. You’d never wanted your first time to be some crazy thing in some crazy destination. You’d always just wanted it to be in a bed, wrapped around someone you loved. That was exactly what this was, even if Joe didn’t know it.

He turned to you, smiling, slow steps across the room until he was right in front of you. The back of his hand ran slowly along your cheek, turning, fingers trailing over your neck.

“You are so beautiful,” Joe whispered softly, those hands slipping along the sides of your dress to rest on your hips, pulling you flush against him. “So damn beautiful.”

And you believed it. As his lips collided with yours, your hand tangling into that beautiful hair, you believed he meant every single word. Joe had this ability to shatter every insecurity you had about yourself, to send every negative thought flying through the air, far away where you can never hear them again.

His tongue floated over the space between your lips and you opened to him, a small moan escaping at the taste of him: basil, red wine, and the after dinner cigarette he’d enjoyed on the walk back. His tongue licked your throat, slid over yours, explored the roof of your mouth, leaving you panting at the thought of what that tongue could do elsewhere.

Joe’s fingers hooked the straps of your dress and he pulled back, eyes finding yours, “Can I take this off?”

You nodded, swallowing the clump of heated desire that was lodged in your throat. The pads of his fingers softly teased along your skin as he slid the straps off slowly, releasing the dress so it fell in a puddle at your feet. You stepped out of it, pushing it to the side with your foot.

“Jesus, bunny, just look at you.” His eyes consumed you, running over every inch of you, and you had never felt more turned on in your entire life just from a look. Holding his hands in front of your breasts, his eyes found yours once again as he asked softly, “Can I touch you?”

“Yes,” you breathed, eager to feel those hands on every inch of your body.

Joe cupped your rubs, thumbs running just under your bra, that simple touch enough to have you shivering and when those thumbs moved up to run over your nipples through the lacy fabric of your bra, you gasped at the sensation, heat racing straight through you and to your core, pulsing with need.

“Does that feel good?” he asked, stepping into you, gently pinching the rosy buds between his thumb and forefinger, lips caressing your collarbone.

“Yes…so good…” you sighed, crying out when he pinched them a little harder.

“How about this?” Joe asked, his fingers now on the front clasp of your bra. “Can I take this off?”

Biting your lip, you nodded, eyes closing as the feel of the cool air dancing over your bare chest as Joe flung your bra across the room. His head ducked down, mouth at your chest, his eyes asking the question again, ensuring you were okay with everything he was doing. You nodded, unable to find words and then his tongue was teasing your nipple and you saw stars, head falling back, hand tangling in his hair.

“You like that?” he hummed, making his way to the other one.

“Mmmhmm…” you mumbled, squeaking when teeth raked over the tender peak.

“I want to taste you, bunny,” Joe breathed, lips blazing a trail between your breasts, up your neck, and back to your lips. His hand cupped your neck, nose brushing over your cheek. “Can I taste you? Can I make you feel good, baby? Can I show you what you’ve been missing?”

“Yes, please, yes,” you pleaded, thinking you’d agree to anything this man asked of you right now. You just needed him to keep touching you. Your hands pulled at his shirt, lifting it over his head. Your tongue ran over your bottom lip as you took in the sight of him, bare chested, in front of you. You ran your fingers through the hair along his chest, delighting in the way the courseness felt against the soft pads of your fingertips.

Joe’s arms came around you, his mouth exploring yours once again as he walked forward, backing you up until you felt the backs of your knees hit the mattress. Keeping his arms around you, he lowered you to the bed and then his lips were everywhere: your breasts, your stomach, the curve of your hip, your inner thigh.

“Is this okay?” he asked, one eyebrow raised, a little smirk on his face as he gripped your panties in his large hands.

You nodded emphatically, wishing he would stop asking already. Your answer was yes. Yes to anything and everything. You knew he was trying to take it slow. He was being sweet and kind and you appreciated it but fuck, you just wanted to feel everything with him, you wanted to experience everything with him.

He dragged your panties down your legs and around your ankles, tossing them to the floor. His hands came to your knees, slowly spreading you so you lay open before him. A low groan fell from his lips as he sat back on his heels, soaking the sight of you in.

“Fuck, baby, you’re so damn perfect,” he purred, nose and lips trailing over your inner thigh.

Your legs shook in anticipation even though you’d never had this done before because you just knew with Joe, everything would be exceptional. Fingers gripped the sheets, wadding them tightly, when his nose ran through your folds, bumping over your clit.

“Just relax for me, beautiful. I am going to make you feel so good.”

His tongue darted over your clit and you shrieked, back arching up off the bed. It moved up and down and then left and right, turning you into a writhing mess. Jesus, how had you never done this before? It was fucking incredible. You were panting, trembling, and then Joe slowed down, his tongue rolling in gentle circles around the sensitive little nub.

“How does it feel?” he asked. “Tell me, bunny, does it feel good?”

“So…good…” you panted, your hips now rocking toward him, completely out of your control, craving more, craving him. “Holy shit, Joe. It’s so good.”

His lips wrapped around your clit and he hummed and you swore you saw heaven. Fucking angels were singing, the pearly gates, fluffy white clouds, everything. His tongue slid along you, slipping inside you, leaving your clit, but his nose kept up the work, running along it. HIs hands gripped your ass, lifting you up to him as he ravaged you.

Something deep within you tightened, pulled taut, the walls of your pussy contracted. Every muscle in your body was tensing, rigid. You clawed at the sheets, your head darting back and forth, having no control over your body anymore.

“I’m so close, Joe…oh my god…” you moaned, eyes rolling back in your head, neck tilting.

“Yeah? Gonna cum for me, bunny? That’s it, baby. That’s my girl. Let go for me.”

“Oh…Joe…fuck!” you screamed, stars flashing before your eyes, the cosmos opening up before you, a goddamn supernova exploding from within you. You held your breath, shuddering and then collapsed back onto the bed, gasping. “Oh fuck.”

Joe pressed kisses along your body, crawling over top of you as he made his way to your lips. “That’s how it should be, baby. A real man would make sure his girl is taken care of. A real man would fucking worship you. So, what did you think?”

“Jesus Christ, Joe…I, I’ve given myself an orgasm hundred of times but it’s never felt like that. That was incredible.”

“Good,” he smiled, lying down next to you, the backs of his fingers running over your skin.

“Joe?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I want…” You bit your lip, nervous to ask, but you knew what you wanted. You wanted this man, every single part of this man. “I want you, Joe. I want you to be my first.”

His head tilted slightly, brow furrowing, “You sure? I don’t want you to do anything you’re not ready for just because I want to. I told you. I don’t mind waiting for you if you need more time.”

“I don’t want more time,” you insisted, shaking your head. “I just…I got in my head that you would think it was weird that I was a virgin and I know you’re very well experienced. All these girls are always throwing themselves at you and I get it. I do. You’re Joe Keery. You’re Steve Harrington. And you’ve dated gorgeous women and I just…didn’t understand why you chose me.”

“Hey.” Joe grabbed your chin, turning your face to his. “You are a gorgeous woman and I don’t think you’re weird. If none of those guys ever took care of you, they didn’t deserve to be the one. Bunny, I am with you because from the moment I saw you in that bar, I was completely mesmerized. I knew I needed to talk to you. I knew you were something special and you are. You’re…perfect.”

You smiled, bringing your hand to his cheek, “So are you, Joe. I…I love you.”

His head pulled back and you held your breath as you waited for him to respond. A slow smile crept over his face and he gathered you in arms, kissing you deep and slow.

“I love you too. I just didn’t want to say it too fast and scare you away,” he laughed.

“You could never scare me away,” you whispered, your hands moving between your bodies to work at the button on his pants. “I love you and I want to feel everything with you?”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. Stop asking me that,” you chuckled, pushing his pants over his hips and he took them the rest of the way down, pushing them off his feet and onto the floor.

“Hang on a second, baby,” he said, moving to his bag and pulling out a condom. He ripped the foil and slid it over himself.

You sat up, soaking in the sight of him, fully revealed to you. Holy shit. He was magnificent. He’d told you that you were perfect but this man was perfection.

“You’re beautiful,” you breathed, enjoying the flush that crept up his neck and over his cheeks. This man who was loved by so many, who had women begging for time with him, fantasizing about him, was still so humble and that only made you love him more.

“And you are gorgeous,” he replied, crawling back over you. He pressed his forehead to yours. “I’ll go slow, okay? You tell me if anything hurts.”

You nodded, nervous but also filled with anticipation for him to fill you, to be inside you, to connect you in the most intimate way possible. He gripped his cock in his hand, slipping it through your wetness teasingly, rubbing the tip of himself over your clit. Your hand gripped his back, holding him against you, sighing softly.

“Are you ready?” Joe whispered.

“Yes.”

Ever so slowly, he slid into you, inch by inch, taking his time until he bottomed out, his pelvis pressing against yours. You gasped at the sensation, stinging a bit more than you’d expected. You’d heard that being fingered made sex hurt less but then none of the guy’s fingers that had been inside you had been as thick as Joe’s cock.

“You okay?” he asked in concern, hand cupping your cheek.

You nodded because you were. Just as fast as the stinging had begun, it stopped, your body consumed with the pleasure of Joe stretching you, filling you, making you his.

“I’m gonna start moving a bit, okay?”

“Yeah…yeah…okay…”

Then his hips rocked, barely perceptible but the sensation was enough to make you groan, nails clawing at the flesh of his back. Encouraged by your reaction, he pulled out a little more and then slowly pressed into you again.

“Does that feel good, bunny?” he asked.

“Yes…fuck…it’s so good…” you choked out, legs coming up around his waist, heels pressing into his lower back.

Joe’s hips rocked faster as he ran a hand along your thigh, gripping your ass and pulling you into him. His cock hit somewhere new, creating a molten heat to spread over you like you’d never experienced. You gasped, eyes wide. Fuck, what the hell was that? He did it again and you screamed out his name, clutching at him for dear life.

“You feel so goddamn good, baby,” Joe growled.

Joe buried his face into your neck as he rutted within you, each press of him like lightning shocking you to your core. You’d already cum but you could feel another building already. Your nails raked down his back as your back arched and you gripped him tightly, your pleasure consuming you once again.

“Oh fuck…that’s my girl…the way you’re gripping me…I’m so close,” he grunted, pounding into you again and again, all thoughts of being gentle lost at the feel of your walls pulsing around his length. The sound of your bodies colliding rang through the room until he roared his release, arms crushing you against him as he thrust into you one more time. Slowly, he slid from within you, his body collapsing on yours, head against your chest. “Holy shit, bunny. That was…Christ.” Lifting his head, he looked up at you, those caramel eyes full of worry. “Are you okay? Was I too rough?”

“No,” you chuckled, taking his face in your hands. “No. I’m more than okay. I am perfect. I don’t think I can walk right now but I’m perfect.”

“Mmm, you sure are,” Joe mused, kissing your nose. “Let me take care of this and then we can just lay in this bed and watch a movie, naked.”

You smiled lazily, “That sounds perfect.”

#joe keery fanfiction #joe keery x reader #joe keery smut #joe keery fic #joe keery #smut requests #fluff #smut #fluff and smut #joe keery x you

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onbearfeet · 3 months

Text

Bloodstone Manor Location Masterpost

Okay, since the next bit of Monster Mash is gonna have to happen at/near Bloodstone Manor and Ted needs to go for a walk in the woods nearby, where do we think it is? The US and UK are the leading candidates in the fandom, but I need to pick a spot so my characters can get the fuck out of Ohio. My money is on the US, but I'm open to counterpoints.

Things to bear in mind:

1. Ulysses had a British accent. Elsa's accent is posh British. Verussa had an American accent, with some Broadway Mid-Atlantic that could suggest fancy New England OR just putting on airs. It's entirely possible one of the couple moved to be with the other, but that doesn’t settle which side of the ocean it happened on. Elsa's accent could be from a UK childhood OR a UK boarding school OR a choice to emulate her mother and annoy Verussa.

2. The house is old--or at least full of old stuff--but there's something of a history of Europeans bringing their weird-ass shit across the Atlantic and building absolutely batshit mansions in the US. Probably because there's more open space for it here.

3. The establishing shot of the rotunda shows it in hilly or mountainous terrain, with what looks like pine forest around it, and it sits on a parcel that is either big enough or far enough from neighbors that no one expects any outside response to roars, screams, explosions, etc. Either there's no one around to hear it or people REALLY mind their own business.

4. Of the hunters who make it to the funeral, one has a Scottish accent, two have American or Canadian accents, and one has what sounds like a South Korean accent (although apparently the actor was born in Argentina and moved to the US in the 90s, and I'm going off the many Korean-American voices I've heard at work, so "Korean-American" might be a better descriptor). Those are the people with connections to Ulysses and the time, resources, and motivation to show up to wherever this is. That suggests the location is most accessible to these people and not others. (Yes, I know, I've left out Jack's accent, but he was going to travel to wherever Ted was anyway; he had enough motivation that distance alone wasn't going to stop him.) North America has the numbers here; it's more likely that one Scot got on an international flight than that two North Americans did.

5. The guards are wearing "tacticool" BDUs and carrying some kind of zappy sticks or stun batons. The lack of guns is interesting and may indicate a location with stricter gun laws than the US ... or just that Verussa didn't want to accidentally kill her captive and that a lot of monsters are bulletproof anyway. The guards look and move a hell of a lot like an American tactical team and sound vaguely American when they're screaming. Would Verussa import guards, or hire local muscle? My money is on the latter.

6. Ulysses was old as balls. In the comics, he was positively ancient, and the opening narration implies he was old enough to be wearing pre-20th-century clothes in a flashback. He's definitely old enough to have gotten his hands on a nice piece of property in the UK, but also rich enough to have just bought a mountain in the US. He was also around for the last century-plus of history, and that may have affected his choice of headquarters. If the original Bloodstone Manor got bombed out during World War 2, for example, he might have moved to a less bomb-filled location.

7. Corpse Muppet! Verussa found somebody willing to turn her husband's remains into a Cryptkeeper animatronic. I have no idea whether that's a thing in the UK, but there are definitely enough weirdo taxidermists, puppeteers, and general pieces of work here that someone would take Verussa's money to do it. There are even subcultures here that traditionally sit the corpse up at the table for the wake, so it might not even be that weird to the right professional.

8. Flaming Tuba Guy is available for the funeral. Real Flaming Tuba Guy is American and takes his flaming tuba to Burning Man. I have no idea whether the UK is also a likely place to find a dude with a flaming tuba, but I have difficulty imagining a smooth process for getting a combination brass instrument/flamethrower through customs. I don't think there's a lot of international Flaming Tuba action unless private jets get involved. Wherever Flaming Tuba is from, I'm betting that's the jurisdiction where Bloodstone Manor is.

9. Jack makes it to Bloodstone Manor. Now, I've talked before about his being highly motivated and distance not being an obstacle for him, but if we assume he didn't use a magic portal or something (big if, I know), he had to go by land, sea, or air, and that takes time, no matter how motivated he is. Jack is centuries old, has a history of involvement with violence, and speaks with a Mexican accent. Wherever the Manor is, a dude matching that description was able to get there in time without setting off a ton of international alerts. The fact that Jack is as old as he is AND unknown to the hunters despite being a werewolf suggests that he prefers to keep a low profile, and by now he's practiced at it. He wouldn't want to leave a paper trail, especially when he's on a rescue mission that he knows will likely involve killing people. (I know he doesn't WANT to kill anybody, but the odds of him and Ted getting out of there with a zero body count were always slim. And he brought a bomb in his pocket.) Between his money and his accent, Jack would have an easier time moving around undetected in North America; he could reach a North American Manor by car rather than having to smuggle himself on a boat, charter a private plane (with a flight plan!), or go through customs at Heathrow or wherever. Not that he wouldn't risk getting on SHIELD's radar to save Ted, but if the hunt happened soon after Ted's capture, Jack would be more likely to physically reach the Manor in time if it were in North America.

10. Ted! Ted is at the funeral, obviously. In the comics, Ted canonically lives in the Everglades and honestly that's the best place for him. Verussa would have to have Ted transported from Florida to wherever the Manor is. All the logistical problems of moving Jack across an ocean are magnified in moving TED across an ocean. Again, it's much easier to move him within North America, which I'd consider a point in favor of a North American Manor. If the Manor were in the UK, wouldn't Verussa have gone for a victim based closer to home?

11. Sushi. "Let's do sushi; I owe you that." Apparently Jack and Ted have a history with sushi. I have absolutely no idea how common sushi restaurants are in the UK, but on the west coast of North America, you can pretty much throw a stick and hit one. (I know this because I moved last fall, and one of my first priorities in the new place was Find The Good Local Restaurants. Google was like OH, YOU WANT SUSHI?! HERE ARE TWENTY PLACES. Seriously, it's almost as common as pizza, at least in California.) I assume the boys aren't heading into a major urban center for food after their escape, so wherever Bloodstone Manor is, Jack thinks he can find a rural, exurban, or suburban sushi restaurant within a couple hours' travel (close enough that he can go, pick up their order, and make it back to Ted before raw fish goes funky). Sushi restaurants, at least in the western US, tend to be run by East Asian immigrants--part of the larger culture of immigrants starting restaurants within the first or second generation of arriving here. For stupid racist reasons, most East Asian immigration to the US took place after 1965, so there are a lot of sushi restaurants here that were established in or after the 1980s. Sushi restaurants also tend to be more common in coastal regions here, presumably because REALLY fresh ocean fish get more expensive and harder to acquire farther inland. Jack proposing sushi, if he and Ted are sitting on a log in the US, suggests they're somewhere near a coast, in a region with a sizable post-1965 East Asian immigrant population. (BTW, the reason I keep saying "East Asian" instead of "Japanese" is because a LOT of these restaurants in my area are run by Korean families, more rarely Chinese or Vietnamese ones. I've been in exactly one sushi restaurant here that was run by a Japanese family, and it was 40 years old.) Of course, I don't know shit about the takeout culture of the UK; maybe Yorkshire is full of sushi restaurants or something.

Conclusions.

Between the geography, the accents, the material culture, and the logistics, I think the balance of probability suggests that Bloodstone Manor is in North America, most likely the United States. There are multiple hilly or mountainous regions with pine forests near coasts, close enough to centers of East Asian immigration that the boys can reliably get their sushi.

So with all that in mind ...

#fanfiction #monster mash #werewolf by night #bloodstone manor #a fun thought exercise #seriously what's up with flaming tuba guy #damn now i want sushi #long post

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freyanistics · 1 year

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Fiery flames 🔥 (part 1)

Wally (human) x dragon!reader

Part two here

Thousands of years ago dragons ruled the skies. With their terrible fiery breaths and intelligence they were seen as the biggest threat to mankind. But as the years pass and the world changed dragons started to disappear one by one from the war between them and humans. Nowadays they are simply deemed a fantasy in storybooks. But you are still alive. Sure you might have to stick to your human form and adapt to modern life but the large scaly beast was still active inside of you, waiting to break free.

You lived in an apartment complex in the lesser side of the city, where crime was a bit more prominent, your typical robbers and car jackers. No one dared to bother you so you were never worried of waking up with your stuff stolen or getting mugged off the street. The reason you moved here was because it was much more interesting than surrounding yourself around pompous idiots in the white collar district. You also had made a couple of friends in the complex including a young mother with two young children that you babysit every Friday night and an widow who always told nice stories.

It took awhile to adjust to your new mundane life. You missed the times when you were a large liege seizing havoc upon knights and hoarding your prized possessions but that didn’t mean you couldn’t entertain yourself. At night you would fly through the dark skies over the city looking down at the light up buildings just like the old times.

This particular morning you woke up around six am getting up and ready for work at your new job. You was a camera person for this live set children’s show called ‘Welcome Home’. If you had to pick it reminded you a bit of Mister Rogers and Sesame Street. There were live actors that would dress up as these characters and do your typical lessons like being kind to one another and how to count to ten. You didn’t have no opinion on it since you wasn’t the targeted audience. After getting dress and shoving a toast in your mouth you rush out of the building to the train station taking the D train to the uptown area. While riding the train you looked down at your phone scrolling through your feed not paying anyone no mind, even when someone was singing loudly drunk.

After getting to the studio and clocking in you immediately got to work setting up the cameras. The other workers rushed around preparing to record a few episodes while the actors got ready. You’ve met all of them finding them kinda quirky but friendly folks, but your least favorite of them all was Wally. He was a weirdo to say the least. The ‘star’ of the show most would say and for good reason; he was funny, charming, and pretty outgoing to everyone who met him. A lot of the people around here and his fanbase found him attractive as well with his cocoa brown skin and dark blue dyed hair that was always put up in a pompodor. You however didn’t see the hype but then again humans didn’t really get you going, you only dated a handful in the past. On top of all of this he just had a weird vibe that you couldn’t exactly place, maybe because he had a bit of a staring problem that people overlooked.

After thirty minutes everything was put in place as you started to record. You sat there with the other camera people as the actors performed on the set. This particular episode featured Wally, Barnaby, and Howdy teaching kids about counting and adding. Wally was explaining how adding works while looking straight at your camera, but it felt like he was staring at you. There goes that weird feeling again but you quickly shook it off. Afterwards the break bell rings and you all stepped away to eat lunch. You pick up your subway sandwich sitting down between Poppy and Frank diving in hungrily, scarfing it down in less than ten minutes.

“Geez Y/N, you sure can eat!” Barnaby says teasingly from across the table. “That wasn’t even five minutes!”

“What can I say? I’m a growing person.” You respond patting your stomach causing the others to laugh.

“How about about an eating contest?” He challenge raising an eyebrow.

“You’re on big guy.” You smirk as Julie jumps up clapping her hands. “Me and Frank can be the judge!” Frank cuts his eyes over at the rest of you while holding up a book. “Why me? They’re going to just get themselves sick.” He shakes his head.

“Come on Frank, it’ll be fun.” Julie pleads as he sighs putting a bookmark in his book before closing it.

“Can I also judge?” A voice calls as all of you turn to the star of the show himself, Wally. While everyone lights up you couldn’t help a frown appearing. Great. Mister big shot was here.

“Sure Wally!” Julie was saying excitedly as she starts listing stuff they would need. You could feel his eyes boring into the side of your face as you tried not to look over at the blue haired man. Don’t make eye contact to give him any ideas. The bell rings signaling that lunch was over. As everyone disperse to go back to their places you felt a hand on your shoulder looking over to see it was Wally. He was staring at you so intensely that it felt like he was looking into your soul.

“Hello Y/N, how have you been?” He asks in that sickly sweet voice you loathed.

“I’ve been alright Wally.” You said putting your hands on your pockets. You both stared at one another in some type of staring contest. He was shorter than you, probably just above 5’1, so he was looking up at you. You wasn’t intimidated by this kid, in fact you was more annoyed by him than ever. What did he want? You couldn’t help but feel like he was hiding something.

“So did you needed something or did you just wanted to stare at my pretty face?” You said chuckling trying to break the tension. At your comment Wally grins flashing all of his teeth and you could have sworn his pupils got larger.

“I don’t mind either.” He said in a flirtatious tone causing you to double take. Was he…flirting with you? Just as you was about to say something he turns and strolls off casually, hands behind his back as he hummed the Welcome Home theme song.

God he was weird.

(This is a test to see if I can write Wally well! I know it says part one but I’m not sure if I’ll continue, if y’all like it and want more let me know!)

#wally darling x y/n #welcome home wally #wally darling x reader #wally darling #welcome home #black reader #no proofreading for this chapter

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pluckysidekick · 10 months

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We’re heading into the home stretch! Good news - we’re getting a 20 second trailer for the finale! Thank you to the CW18 Milwaukee for promoting Nancy Drew while corporate was busy cancelling failed imports and promoting golf.

Now, I know some folks have been spoiled *ahem* by the leaked transcript for 412. I have not and will not be partaking - I like my spoilers vague, and I prefer to watch the episode in whole with actors and sets and special effects and music and all the things. But I did spend some time this weekend thinking about what would happen next - and debating it with @likestosolvethepuzzle (whose latest fic you must read), who encouraged me to post this analysis that I primarily wrote over weekend before the transcript leaked.

So read on if you’re interested in my unspoiled take (well except for the usual BTS photos I’ve hoarded from filming, the trailers, and hints on social media from the fine professionals who made the show).

Rewinding back to Episode 8, Nancy sends Ace on his way with the curse jar to go fishing with his father. He complains, but she tells him to go make “messy” memories with Thom (clearly she’s thinking of how she wished she could have more with Kate). Thom apologizes that the captain canceled, Ace drops the jar which lights up and sets off a little wave, and they get wet but no other harm is done. Ace calls Nancy from the Marina - note the establishing shot is Horseshoe Bay, not the Yacht Club or the Claw, so he’s sitting in the parking lot of a different marina, presumably where the fishing boat is docked.

Ace and Nancy have their phone call, and we now know Nancy goes to erase a sin 26 minutes later. The only think she knows is that she saw flames before Ryan rescued her from Jonas Glass, but she believes she and Ace were responsible for Jane Doe’s death.

A few other tidbits that could be clues or red herrings - when Jane Doe was found charred beyond recognition, it was noted that it was in the woods near the coastline. When the ghost tells Ace that she stayed because he said he didn’t want to leave her, she then says no one had ever talked to her or about her that way before. The ghost is also insistent that no one ask her how she died.

OK. A few weird things. The captain canceling but Ace and Thom still going ahead is weird. Why would the captain allow it? Who’s piloting that sort of large-ish boat? And why did the jar make any kind of blip at all, and yet the wave was small enough they only got wet?

We have BTS of what appears to be Thom in the water:

And we had a video from applebanannapear (Ace’s stand-in) of a marina/boat yard with Florence parked nearby, and he’s standing next to someone who looks like she could be Nancy’s stand-in:

These to me look like scenes of the forgotten events of that night, erased by the Sin Eater.

So what I think could have gone down (speculation ahead):

What if the captain of the fishing boat didn’t cancel and was on the boat with Ace and Thom? And Jane Doe could be the captain? She could be lonely and even flirted with Ace, who we know is also lonely - they may even have a moment.

When Ace drops the curse jar, it actually flames up and breaks, and causes a much bigger commotion - maybe even a whirlpool not unlike the ghost’s whirlwind from 411. Then the boat catches on fire. They all jump or are thrown into the water. Ace is able to fish Thom out, but the captain is lost - she gets caught in the flames before drowning.

Ace and Thom eventually make it back to shore. Ace calls Nancy in a panic. She comes immediately. They fight, but Nancy insists on going to the Black Door. Ace may have dropped the curse jar, but Nancy gave it to him and pushed him to go fishing with his dad. The death was accidental but Ace feels guilty - he’s completely torn up with grief. This is the person who would rather die than let Nancy give Daniel West the list.

Thom’s part - I am less certain (and of course all of this is speculation). He’s a semi-retired cop, so he’d want to call it in. Ace would probably be charged with setting the boat on fire - he did drop the jar that caused the boat to catch on fire. Thom might have even fought with him about the jar when he finds out what Ace is doing, causing it to break.

Nancy takes matters into her own hands and goes to the Black Door - she loves Ace, and feels responsible- she won’t let him suffer. She’s miserable, doing something she never thought she’d do - but she does it for Ace. They may even have an angry almost love confession - but it falls short of triggering the curse, because the Sin Eater only erases the memories of everyone involved. It doesn’t negate the sin itself, and Ace is still alive.

And why is the ghost drawn to Ace? They actually made a connection before she died, and her charred body washed up on shore near the woods. He may have made her feel safe on that boat before the accident. He may have “caught” the curse (as many have theorized), and that’s why he can hear and see and even touch her. And her claim of her hair wrapping around her mouth, feeling cold, and the sky disappearing are consistent with burning and then drowning. And she doesn’t want Ace or Nancy to ask her how she died because it’s too painful, and perhaps because she doesn’t want Ace to suffer with the knowledge.

I believe the Drew Crew will find out what really happened in this episode - Henry Zaga posted photos and reels from Capilano Lake. I believe this is the reservoir location, and they are able to use the poisoned water to help Nancy remember the sin and reverse the memory wipe.

Speaking of Henry, Tristan is certainly back in this episode. He posted from the woods and a few locations. I was leaning toward this being him as well in director Kristin Lehman’s monitor - although it could also be Ace.

So we know from the two stills we got for this episode that we’ll see Ace and Nancy together plenty. But boy Ace does not look happy - he doesn’t want to give up his ghost I suspect. I know we all expect them to break the curse, but from Ace’s POV he and Nancy are separated forever. Cannot wait to see it all unfold (pain and all). Celine, the writer of this episode, reminded us that there will be heartbreak and there will be truth. She also shared a devastating playlist I’ve had on repeat - “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” is killing me. As much as we all want Nace together and loving, I’m expecting a journey through fire here (literally) before we get our HEA next week (cause we will).

I’m super intrigued by how Nancy and Tristan will interact - are they still romantically inclined? Or was Tristan almost biting her as the Sin Eater a mood killer? And what did Nashua mean about them walking the path many times before? Reincarnation seems to be a theme this season. @flythesail and @reviewdiaries have written excellent analyses about what it could mean.

We’ll also get a Spring Festival on the beach (which they filmed in the snow), and the return of Red and Birdie (according to IMDB). I don’t have room to post it, but one of our favorite crew members Sangalicious had an IG story at the time that referred to the festival. Geraldine Chu also posted from the snowy location - looking forward to Birdie and Jesse together again. The beach they filmed at is the same one from the bucket ceremony - is there a supernatural confrontation, or perhaps something between the believers and non-believers of the supernatural?

From the trailer, we see Nancy waking up (perhaps with her memories returning?), and the Crew recoiling in horror in the Yacht Club basement:

We also glimpsed who most of us think is Tristan confronting the figurehead of the Endeavor in the same location (yes I analyzed Henry and Alex’s cheekbones):

Are Tristan and the figurehead connected - and is Nancy too (read @flythesail’s analysis for more on that)?

Finally, I’ve been debating if the Claw baby shower Riley shared a glimpse of is actually in this episode and not the finale as we see George and Nick in the wardrobe from this (412) episode’s stills. Jen Vestuto said it’s not what we think it is - of course we all assume it’s Carson and Jean’s baby since her awkward confession. Could it be Ryan and Red’s instead? Or did she mean it wasn’t for a Nace baby? Is there something timey whimey going on since not that much time has elapsed (or has it?) and it really is in the finale? Is Jean’s unborn child a potential next Sin Eater (yikes!)? We’ll find out soon! See you on the other side.

#nancy drew #nancy drew cw #nace #ace [redacted]#nancy drew season 4 #nancy drew spoilers #author: pluckysidekick

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scribble-dribble-writes · 2 years

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I think I understand why we all love Tenoche. Seriously where does Ryan find these gems??

His on screen and off screen presence gives me this feeling that if I approached him he will be accepting of my culture and my roots.

That might be simple, but having lived in another country for a while. Initially and even at times now, I will tend to hide the things I like. I couldn't wear a lot of jewelry like how my people did back home, cause in this new place it was told to be tacky. So I hid a lot of that. My favorite food, dancing to vibrant music, wearing silk or gold ornaments.

But seeing Tenoche uphold people to embrace where they've come from digs deep. I've all of sudden dropped all the other actors I liked, and now feel so comforted admiring this man. I watch his interviews and he's so soft spoken, well aware, culturally sensitive all in all gentleman as he wears Mexican and indigenous jewelry/clothing walks bravely down the red carpet. *heart bursts into flames*

It inspires me to wear silk and go all out to celebrate me, as I am. That feeling, that warmth, I think that's why everyone especially POCs are drawn to him. If you don't share his struggle or relate to what he's taking about, you won't get the hype.

His heart is what sets him apart. He's not afraid to be vulnerable, no nonsense. That's refreshing.

He's setting a new standard, he's the new kind of man this society needs.

#tenoch huerta namor #tenoch huerta #namor #mcu namor #namor x shuri

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renmackree · 10 months

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How many movies are in the I was a teenaged Mothman series? If it's been ten years then THERE Has To be a lot, right?

How famous would Derek be?

Alright alright, I'll put a little more into the mothman universe, happy?

based off this ficlet

There were a total of 12 parts to the I Was A Teenaged Mothman series and one more on the way. Stiles could recite them all by heart at this point.

The first one came out before Stiles was born and was actually the first date of Noah and Claudia Stilinski. This one didn't have Derek Hale, it had someone less attractive and was actually a major flop. It still counted though, since it was the first one his mother showed him in the dead of night when he should have been sleeping.

When Stiles was 14 - during the era of Hollywood revival - the studio decided to re-vamp the Teenaged Mothman series with the actual teenage actors. Claudia had bought them tickets right in the middle of the theater and made sure their popcorn was in a collector bucket - just like when she had gone to the movies with Noah.

"The only way to watch these movies is with special popcorn and the center row." She said.

Stiles at first had been hesitant, but his mother used her "I want to do something with you" card and so he had no way of saying no.

And god was he happy he didn't.

17 year old Derek Hale playing Steven Dex was sex on wheels and Stiles wanted to drive him over a cliff. He went back at lest three time with Scott, though Scott didn't exactly get what being a teenaged mothman really was about.

The next movie - I Was a Teenaged Mothman Too - came out the year Claudia got sick. They still sat in the middle row of the theater, still had the collector bucket in Stiles' lap. It was just as terrible and just as wonderful, Derek almost out of the teenaged years, but still looking as good as ever.

Teenaged Mothman in London was a summer release the year Stiles started his sophomore year of High School and the year his mother died. He had bought two tickets for them early but knew that she wasn't going to make it. Noah offered to go with him, but Stiles said it wouldn't be the same.

He still got the collector bucket and sat in the middle of the theater. The only way to watch these movies.

Stiles took a date to Teenaged Mothman Returns, but it didn't feel right. She talked through the movie and asked stupid questions like "Why is he called the teenaged mothman if he's 20 years old?" and "I think Derek Hale is over rated, can we make out instead?"

Senior year marked the release of Teenaged Mothman: A Moth to the Flames. It had been slated to be the last movie of the series, Derek Hale even saying in an interview that he loved the Mothman series, but he was ready to try and do something a little more serious.

Stiles felt a little depressed. He knew the movies were just pulp, but they were the last bit of his mother he felt he had. There was something sad about the idea that he would never again have a Mothman collector bucket to add to the stack.

As if the studio heads leaned down and said "this kid in particular needs more" Mothman and Wolfgirl came out the first semester of his undergrad. He could tell they were trying to introduce a new character to replace Derek, but Wolfgirl (played by the GORGEOUS Erica Reyes) didn't hit the right spot for Stiles. Derek Hale shirtless with wings was the fit.

The next three movies were focus on Wolfgirl (Wolfgirl and Mothman take on Manhattan, Sleepless with a Wolfgirl, Mothman and Wolfgirl Return) but Derek was still slated in them so Stiles went to every single one with his bucket in hand.

His senior year of his undergrad, Mothman Saves the World came out. It was much more superhero than the original ones, but Stiles still loved it. Derek's new costume department really said let's put him in TIGHT clothing.

At the end of the movie, as Stiles watched Mothman throw himself into the fires of Hell to save everyone, he cried. It was the true end of Mothman, there was no way he was going to be able to come back from this. Stiles felt hollow, empty.

He even went online to read through fanfictions where Mothman was saved by the plucky human best friend Erik or Wolfgirl. (Stiles was a firm Sterik [Steven/Erik] shipper, but he could respect WolfMoth writers)

For a few years, nothing came out and all the Wolfgirl movies had been put in production hell. And then, one night, Google told Stiles the next movie was going to come. He was a little sad that Derek wasn't on the big names, but it was still a MothSeries. He bought the popcorn, bought the seats and sat.

Wolfgirl and the Ring of Destiny was campy and silly, but he could tell how hard everyone worked on trying to tiptoe around the fact that Steven Dex was dead. And then the most beautiful fanfiction thing happened. Erik resurrected Steven using the Ring and sacrificing his own eyesight.

Derek Hale returned on screen, wings spread and eyes glowing the bright Red of a full born Moth. Stiles screamed in the theater, celebrating and jumping up and down like no 22 year old should be during a cheesy movie. And for the first time in the HISTORY of Mothman history, Erik and Steven shared a passionate kiss.

Stiles might have gone home and found the filthiest Sterik fics he could.

Now, with the newest movie, Mothman in Love they were going to explore him returning and what that means for him and Erik and Stiles couldn't be more excited.

Well, maybe more excited that Derek Hale was sitting next to him in the theater.

I Was A Teenaged Mothman

TLDR:

Films in order:

I Was A Teenaged Mothman (reboot)

I Was a Teenaged Mothman Too

Teenaged Mothman in London

Teenaged Mothman Returns

Teenaged Mothman: A Moth to the Flames

Mothman and Wolfgirl

Wolfgirl and Mothman take on Manhattan

Sleepless with a Wolfgirl

Mothman and Wolfgirl Return

Mothman Saves the World

Wolfgirl and the Ring of Destiny

Mothman in Love

#i was a teenaged mothman #welcome to the hale mouth #ren writes #sterek #anon questions #inbox fanfiction

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ecargmura · 6 months

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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Episode 11 Review - Another Elf

This episode shows the conclusion of the fight with Aura. It’s overall a happy ending as all the possessed suit of armors finally rest in peace and then Frieren and her party get to stay at the city for a while until they leave, but they did it peacefully. It’s a chill episode overall.

It’s nice to have confirmation that the suit of armor that had the same pendant as Granat’s was his son. It’s nice that the city is at peace and that Frieren, Fern and Stark are able to move around at peace. There were cute and funny moments, especially the part where Stark becomes afraid of the man with the axe to the point that he passed out and Fern had to lift him via floatation magic. Also, I do like that Fern and Stark get new clothes; come to think of it, Frieren hasn’t changed her clothes in eighty years. Does she use magic to preserve the quality of her default outfit? Also, where does she store all those grimoires she gets? That briefcase looks too small to be holding fifty or more books. Most of all, I really liked the insert song as the party spend their remaining time in the city from eating nice meals to praying for the departed souls. The song is called Bliss and it’s sung by milet and composed by Evan Call, the main composer for this anime’s soundtrack; her voice is so lovely. The song itself is so peaceful, like it’s an ending for one chapter and the beginning of another.

The second half of the episode is the party leaving the town but then getting halted by a blizzard. Because the northern lands have harsh weather, they take shelter in a cabin that Frieren had prior knowledge of. This is when they meet the monk Kraft, another elf. It’s honestly surprising to see another elf since Frieren has been the only one we’ve seen so far; I’m not too sure how many elves are remaining since demons had killed a lot in the past, especially the ones in Frieren’s village a millennia ago.

Kraft as a character is quite interesting. As an elf, he is a lot different than Frieren in terms of mindset. He is someone who is religious and does things because he wants his life to be worthy when he eventually does pass away. That’s why he believes in the Goddess. Because he believes that a goddess of creation does exist, he believes in her just so he has someone to praise him for his deeds. While Kraft is the equivalent of a Christian or a Catholic, Frieren is the equivalent of an atheist or an agonistic. I believe in God, but I’m not super religious. I know a bunch of atheists too and they have similar mindsets to Frieren in terms of their beliefs. I do like that spending time with Kraft has caused Frieren to be reminded of Heiter. Since she’s mainly thinking about either Flame or Himmel when necessary, it’s nice to see that even Heiter was someone important to her for her to reminisce about. Kraft calls Frieren “young”, not because of her age, but it’s due to her lack of belief in the goddess. I think it’s nice learning about the religious aspects of this story because it makes it feel like a world of its own.

Oh, if you’ve ever watched SK8 The Infinity, Kraft shares his voice actor with Adam, Takehito Koyasu. Stark shares the same voice actor as Langa, Chiaki Kobayashi. That anime had Koyasu’s character be a bit…eccentric towards Kobayashi’s character, so it’s like an SK8 mini reunion between Adam and Langa in a way (It’s also a bit weird in context if you don’t like Adam). I think that Koyasu did a great job with Kraft. He showed off Kraft’s weirdness but also the composed side of him.

It’s interesting to note that Frieren and her party stayed with Kraft for six months. Even if Fern and Stark don’t like it when they stay at one place for too long, there was no other choice as the blizzard was too strong for them to progress. It’s sad that he didn’t join the party, but I do hope that they’ll meet again some day. I think one little detail from the time they spent with Kraft was that all three of them eventually started praying before eating their meals. The sequences has it that Kraft was the only one who prayed, then it was Stark and Fern, and now Frieren. It’s nice seeing them adapt and adjust to their surroundings and not make the other feel left out. Do you think they’ll meet Kraft again on their travels?

#frieren beyond journey's end #sousou no frieren #frieren #fern #stark #heiter #kraft #review #anime #anime review #ecargmura #arum journal

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jamiebamberdaily · 5 months

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A Year in Review : Jamie's 2023

Welcome to our look back on Jamie’s 2023! It’s been a tough year for the entertainment industry in general, with the SAG-AFTRA strike taking place from July all the way through to November, and we know that this impacted Jamie as he chose to take a stand along with many of his other acting peers. Yet despite this, Jamie has accomplished a lot in this year & it’s time to look back at some of the highlights!

February saw the release of Beyond Paradise on BBC1. Jamie played Archie Hughes, an ex flame of Martha’s who joined forces with her in getting her new business in Shipton Abbott up and running. Unfortunately for Archie, Martha had moved back to Shipton Abbott with her fiance, Humphrey and the two didn’t quite see eye to eye. This was such a fun role for Jamie and a complete joy to watch.

April was an exciting month which saw Jamie celebrating his 50th birthday and as always we marked the occasion with a birthday video which many of you took part in! He also travelled over to Cannes to premiere Cannes Confidential at the 6th Canneseries Festival alongside co-stars Lucie Lucas and Tamara Marthe.

May saw Jamie treading the boards once again in Uncle Glen’s Menagerie at the Arcola Theatre which we were lucky enough to go and watch. Such an incredible evening of ad-lib comedy and superb acting from an incredible group of actors and comedians. As ever we want to thank Jamie for his time that he spent chatting with us before and after the show too.

In June finally came the UK release of Cannes Confidential on Acorn TV and we LOVED Harry King from the moment we met him. Such a fun, easy watching show and such a complex character in which Jamie got to show off all sides of his talent, from comedy through to some really beautiful emotional moments, especially in scenes with his on-screen daughter Emilie who was played by his real life daughter Ava in a brilliant debut performance. June also saw the release of Trader over in Russia - a project which Jamie filmed alongside his amazing wife Kerry all the way back in 2019! And of course, we cannot forget the epic BSG reunion which took place when Jamie headed over to Phoenix Fan Fusion. #SoSayWeAll

July brought some incredible news as Jamie announced that he was taking part in Kenny Logan’s RWC Challenge - an epic 700 mile cycle & walking challenge from Edinburgh to Paris, all to raise money for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation. Throughout July all the way through to October when the challenge took place, Jamie was training hard to ensure that he was ready for the mammoth challenge ahead.

August saw the release of Who Is Erin Carter? on Netflix - a twisty, fast paced thriller from the mind of Strike Back writer, Jack Lothian. Jamie played DI Jim Armstrong, a mysterious figure from Erin’s past. Though he was only in two episodes. We LOVED this character and with the series being left open ended, we really hope we get to see more of Jim in the future.

In September, Jamie attended the National Television Awards alongside his Beyond Paradise cast mates as the show was nominated for Best New Drama (which sadly it didn’t win).

And onto October which was such an important month for Jamie as all the training paid off when he & so many other incredible people including Kenny & Gabby Logan, Ally McCoist, Jason Fox and Jimmy Nesbitt started their gruelling trek on bike and foot from Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh to the Stade de France in Paris. This challenge was hugely life changing for the whole team (as well as a whole lot of fun!) and they smashed their target of raising £555,555 between them for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation. We were honoured to be able to cheer them all on for a small part of this journey when we saw them off in York on day 3 and welcomed them back as they ended the day at the beautiful Belvoir Castle. To top off an incredible achievement, Jamie was also asked to become an ambassador for the foundation - a role we know that he will embody so well.

October also saw Jamie joining Cameo, giving fans the opportunity to get a personalised video message from him (which we of course took advantage of also!) and to round off the month, Cannes Confidential aired on French TV, renamed Cannes Police Criminalle, with the entire show having been dubbed into French by the original cast.

November saw Jamie as a guest on fellow RWC Challenge team mate Archie Curzon’s podcast, The Rig Biz Pod, which was a brilliantly funny interview.

And to round the year off, December gave us announcements of not one but two new projects to look forward to in 2024! Firstly, Heavyweight, starring and produced by Jamie’s Marcella co-star Nicholas Pinnock, will be a gritty London drama focusing on the mental state of a boxer and his cornermen backstage before the fight as the clock ticks down.

With the strike finally over, Jamie travelled to Bulgaria to film Strangers alongside Sienna Guillory, Emmett J Scanlan and Jon Voight. The project is described as an action thriller and will be released in 2024 on Paramount Plus.

As well as these two exciting announcements, AKA Blackbird, the brainchild of BSG alumni James Callis was finally released as an audiobook! With so many former BSG stars taking part in it, including Jamie and Kerry, it’s definitely not one to be missed.

And there you have it! Despite some difficult times, Jamie really did achieve a lot this year and with 2 projects already to look forward to, we can’t wait to see what else 2024 has in store.

As ever, we would like to thank you for all the support of our page over this past year and wish you all a very happy new year!

Jemma and Sophie. xx

#Jamie Bamber #A Year In Review #Beyond Paradise #Canneseries #Uncle Glen's Menagerie #Battlestar Galactica #Phoenix Fan Fusion #Cannes Confidential #Trader #трейдер #Kenny Logan's Rugby World Cup Challenge #Who Is Erin Carter?#National Television Awards #Cannes Police Criminelle #My Name'5 Doddie Foundation #Rig Biz Podcast #Heavyweight #Strangers

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villainessprefect · 1 year

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title: The Magic of Movies

summary: How does one get Idia to talk? Vil knows that certain movies can get him going.

ship: IdiaVil

word count: 1,135

note: I dont drop the movie/game title but its p much Silent Hill. anyway I just wanted to try writing this ship lol

Read on AO3

If there is one thing Vil can share with Idia, it's a love for movies. While their reasons for the art differ, it still brings them together.

One enjoys being on stage, being filmed. Vil enjoys becoming someone else and pushing himself to new heights. All eyes are on him, captivated, breathless, mesmerized at what he will do next. For a moment, he becomes someone else. Of course, he also enjoys the history of the industry and those who once stood on the same stage. It's fascinating to learn from seniors and surpass them.

Meanwhile, Idia could care less about the acting scene. He appreciates the actors, the characters that blossom to life as their story is told. Live actions are a little blander in his eyes. Animation is stunning. There's more to explore, unimaginable things that could not be captured in other forms of storytelling. Escaping into another world, and finding comfort in a character, even for a couple of hours helps him get by.

Despite his obvious interest in animation, Vil is still surprised at the variety of films Idia has watched. Whether it be on a whim or following an idol or current interest, he can hold himself with the classics. He's not as lively when speaking of him, but the fact that he knows is enough for Vil. And it's almost shocking to find out that Idia has watched one of his movies. Well, not too shocking, really. Why wouldn't Idia be interested in anything he stars in?

"...I know there's only so much you can pack into a two-hour movie and keeping the main plot is fine, but still?! They change so much! I guess it is better to have two protags instead of one running around since dialogue with one character would be awkward. The portrayal of the other world being parallel to ours is pretty neat. In game, you're usually going back and forth, so this is like a new version that probably got cut. Wouldn't make sense lore-wise, ya know?

"Aside from the obvious fanservice, the movie is still enjoyable to watch IMO. Normies who aren't familiar with the series get a taste while enjoying some cheap horror gimmicks. They'll never get to experience the true atmospheric horror the game can offer. Heh. If they're terrified of that version they wouldn't stand a chance of playing the original games. Ah man, makes me wanna whip out the game now. The second game may be better, but you can't beat the classic that started it all."

Vil keeps quiet as Idia speaks to his heart's content. It's absolutely beautiful seeing his passion ignite over one thing. The usual timid male explodes into a fiery mess when speaking about topics he's well acquainted with. The queen notes the little things about him that change too. How he stands taller, speaks louder, and keeps his eyes on his. There's also the noticeable change in his fiery locks. The blue flames that are barely a wisp seem to burn, shining brighter and even turning to another hue entirely.

Seeing Idia like this makes Vil proud. He knows that he has it in him to be assertive and strong, he's seen it before. All it takes is a little push. If he can fan the flames he can watch them grow right before his very eyes.

Unfortunately, this burst of growth never lasts forever.

Idia blinks, whimpers. He slouches and brings his hands together as his eyes dart around his room.

"S-Sorry. I know you told me to give you a b-brief synopsis of the movie. B-But I just...that series..."

Idia holds his breath. He was more than happy to talk about one of his favorite games being adapted into a movie. There's always a lot to say about them, especially from a gamer's perspective. He just feels bad for rambling and going off-topic. At least he hadn't gotten into the more grotesque aspects of the series. That was a bullet he managed to dodge thanks to a QTE. Someone as interested in beauty as Vil would never be interested in the abnormal and weird.

Then again, Vil did find him beautiful and he was just that.

Vil waves a hand, unbothered by his rant. Carefully, he tests the waters and rests his hand over Idia's. He doesn't flinch, only gulps. Golden eyes try to maintain the focus they once had on his lavender ones.

"I know the main actress in that movie," Vil starts. "She didn't know the game beforehand."

"Of course, casual."

"But. She did play during her free time. She couldn't make it too far into the game but promised she would finish it. She spoke to me about the changes but enjoyed them. The intended audience was not just old fans, but new ones as well. You can imagine that she was one of the latter."

"I d-don't know about acting like you, but...I did like her character."

"Even if there are discrepancies between the original and adaptation, if you watch closely you can still feel the heart of a character."

Idia nods, silently. The realization of his rambles caused him to hold back. Yet, he still has to ask.

"Have you ever played the game?"

"Unfortunately, no. That was a home console game, was it not?"

"Ah, yeah..." Idia isn't surprised. Learning that Vil dabbles in games from time to time is surprising. But that's old news. Now it's picking about what games he plays and what he's willing to play. An actor always on the move would be more interested in handheld games.

"W-Well...I do have a copy of it. Would you..." Idia takes in a breath. "W-Would you like to...W-We can play it whenever you're free! It is a one-player game though, so, uh, if you'd want me to speedrun it just for the story I can a-and fill you in on everything as we go..."

"Hmm..." Vil closes his eyes, thoughtfully. "Perhaps I can give it a go?"

"I can explore areas and- wait, wait wait. You want to play it?!" Idia gasps. "I-I mean, you're free to, of course!"

"What's with that look? Don't think I can handle it?"

"N-No! The early games have difficulty setting options, so even newbies can play. I-It's just a little hard trying to envision you playing a survival horror game." Idia sports a challenging grin. "But can you handle the hell that this game offers? The graphics may be old, but the monsters still hold up. If you get scared of a creature you're free to give up and hide in my arms, fuehehe."

"Oh? You think I would be frightened that easily?" Vil chuckles, amused. He enjoys the challenge presented to him. "I have time to spare. So, let's play, shall we?"

#twisted wonderland #twst #idiavil #idia shroud #vil schoenheit #idia x vil #pomefiore #ignihyde

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chaos-is-neutral · 8 months

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Baldur's Gate 3 Tav/Karlach/Halsin Modern AU

Fire Heart has taken the wrestling world by storm. No one expected Karlach to become famous overnight. Though when you put a big, buff, tall tiefling into black wrestling leather the crowd grows wild. She is an overnight success. Everyone in Baldur's Gate is obsessed with her. It is rumored that the famous Southern Gothic singer Lyria (my Tav) is down bad.

Rumors start speculating that they two are dating when Karlach begins flirting back to some of Lyria's flirtatious comments. They just say it is playful fun and that they have been close friends ever since they met at a movie premiere a while back. These rumors don't stop though as Karlach is seen in the VIP section of Lyria's concerts a few times. The rumors really get going though when Lyria is seen at a wrestling match for the first time ever! Their fans are going crazy. They even have a ship name for them called SouthernHeart.

It stays this way for a few months when Lyria drops a bomb on their Instagram. A new song was coming called Fire Burning Heart that night. Everyone in Baldur's Gate was listening and it was clear to anyone with two ears that this was about Karlach. It is driving people wild, but the two won't say anything. The only thing that Lyria announces is that there will be a special guest in their music video coming in the next few months.

The flirting though continues in the comments of their insta posts. Karlach one day posts this:

And Lyria comments: "Gods if she used that position on me I'd be seeing Kelemvor 🔥🥴" Karlach then responded with "Don't want to kill you yet. I quite enjoy you 💋" This drives the fans wild for weeks. Everyone is looking at their accounts just waiting for them to confirm it. The edits made about them are clear. Lyria watching Karlach wrestle with this heat in their eyes, wanting her on every level. Then Karlach watching them perform with love and longing.

Everyone is waiting for the anticipated music video. There would be a special guest on it and everyone who had been watching knew it would be Karlach. Finally, the video for Fire Burning Heart drops. Everyone in Baldur's Gate is watching. And in the first scene, there is Karlach. The music video follows their love story from the awkward hello at the movie premier to a private date where Lyria proposes. Fans are going fucking insane over this. Both Karlach and Lyria's team has to put out a post saying that they have been in a relationship for over a year now and that they got married last month in a secret wedding off the coast.

SouthernHeart is trending for DAYS. Now they are seen everywhere with each other. Paparazzi taking pictures of the couple and you can see them wearing small gold bands. They post each other on their socials, bragging about their love. Karlach even posts a picture of Lyria after their top surgery saying, "I've never been more in love with them ❤️‍🔥"

Karlach wears an orange bandana around her wrist to remind her of her flaming redhead. Lyria wears Karlach's denim jacket at all their shows. Life is crazy and busy for them, but they never fall out of love. It is clear to everyone they will be one of the few celebrities to last.

A big announcement comes when Lyria will be cast in a rom-com with Baldur's Gate heartthrob and animal lover Halsin. Halsin was the it man. Every woman and man wanted him. No one could resist him, especially in these romance movies. Karlach is so excited for their husband and is posting all about it. It is an amazing time and a big growth for the singer. It doesn't take long though for cheating rumors to surface. Many stories are coming out saying the chemistry between the two actors goes off-set. They are pictured leaving together a lot. Some stories say Karlach is in shambles over this and has flown out to see Lyria to confront them.

Both teams again post that this is not the case and that they are both still madly in love. The rumors become worse when Lyria drops a new song right after the filming finished up called Hazel Sunrise. It is clearly about someone else who has stolen the young singer's heart. Many put it together quick that it is about their co-actor Halsin. Everyone is up in arms in honor of Karlach. Lyria has to turn off comments on their post and Karlach has to beg people to stop being mean to their husband.

Lyria is radio silent. The only thing they post is that there will be a new music video releasing and this song was for the movie they were in. The cheating rumors only amped up when the music video dropped. The chemistry between Halsin and Lyria was undeniable. These two were madly in love and getting hot and heavy. The fans were demanding why Lyria would throw Karlach away like this. They also began turning on Halsin. It was a blood bath for weeks and thankfully none of them ran their social medias anymore.

Karlach kept wrestling, but now there was also a green bandana she wore. Lyria also wore one around their neck when performing. Then Halsin was wearing a necklace with a small gold band on it along with red and orange ribbons in his braids. Fans did not notice these changes though. They were too angry!

Then the bombshell of all bombshells dropped. The week before the movie premiered paparazzi posted photos they had taken during filming of the three on a private beach. In the first one Halsin, Lyria, and Karlach were sitting and laughing. The next one Halsin and Lyria were kissing, looking a little heated. In the next, Lyria had grabbed Karlach by the base of her hair and was kissing her with a fever. Then finally the last one was of Karlach and Halsin kissing while Lyria had a big shit eating "fuck-yeah-these-two-are-mine" grin.

The two hottest people in Baldur's gate had added the third hottest to their relationship. The internet EXPLODED. SouthernHeartThrob was trending. People demanded answers, but again the three were radio silent. That was until the movie premier when they all three showed up together. Halsin in a sage green suit, Lyria in a matching one, and Karlach in a slick black dress with a slit up to her hip and the heart shape made little horns. It was stunning how beautiful they all were.

Halsin was pulled toward an interview where he finally answered everyone's burning questions.

He had met the couple back during his last movie premier where Lyria had a song in it. It was love at first sight for them. They were all constantly talking. There was no denying what was there, especially after Lyria got casted in the movie with him. The three had set down and had a long conversation where they all agreed they wanted each other and loved each other so deeply it hurt.

During all of this he is looking at his partners with so much love. Karlach has her tail wrapped around Lyria's thigh as people snapped their photo. Only to him and Lyria would they understand that meant she was nervous. Lyria though was looking at Karlach like she was the goddess only they could worship. Halsin quickly looks at the interviewers dropping one last bombshell, "Now if you excuse me, I'd like to steal my husband and wife and keep them to myself."

#bg3 #bg3 modern au #bg3 tav #halsin #karlach #tav x karlach x halsin #tav x halsin #tav x karlach #karlach x halsin #nonbinary tav #afab tav

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ciaossu-imagines · 3 months

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Personalization Prompt #1 – Eternitas

So, I used the first personalization prompt here for the lovely and incredibly supportive Lou over @eternitas! They’re an amazing person overall and I really cannot state enough how much their support and encouragement means for this blog 😊 I hope they’ll enjoy this prompt, done for the Katekyo Hitman Reborn universe!

Siblings: So, it’s definitely not a sibling but I’m going into this little fantasy and all these thoughts about your life inside the KHR universe with the basis of you being Brabanter’s grandchild, actually. Because of this, you’ve sort of known about the Vongola all your life and it’s how you really end up meeting most of the character’s initially.

Best friend: Tsuna, Shitt P., Kikyo, Chrome Frenemies/Enemies: Belphegor, Chikusa, Mochida, Bluebell Crushes on You: Fran and Lambo both had huge crushes on you at some point during their childhood/early teen years that they eventually do grow out of. First Romantic Relationship: Honestly, I see it being with Yamamoto. He’d had a slight crush on you for a little bit during his high school years, you thought you might like him as well. Though the relationship was very short-lived and didn’t work out, the two of you remain close friends. Lost Virginity To: Gokudera Married/In A Committed Relationship With: Of course, is it any surprise that I’m putting Gokudera here? While you do end up dating other people besides him before getting into that committed and long-lasting relationship, he’s who you ultimately end up getting and staying together with. Cockblocked by: Oh, pretty much every member of the Vongola Family at some point, Bianchi a lot, Reborn a fair bit, and sometimes even by Gokudera himself because he’ll have a sudden burst of inspiration in his head because you’ve gotten him into such a relaxed frame of mind that he was able to properly think and now must speed off before he loses that inspiration. Affiliation: You’re part of the Vongola family, a member of Vongola Decimo’s generation and family.

Special Abilities: While the former Rain Guardian Brabanter is your grandfather on the paternal side, you take more after the maternal side of your family who are all Lightning Flame holders. I do see you having a very strong Lightning Flame, with a much weaker Rain Flame attribute that you can eventually use after a lot of training, like at least several years’ worth. You tend to use the Rain Flame defensively and the Lightning Flame offensively when you do come to master the use of both flame types.

5 Headcanons About Your Life:

You might be a non-combative member of the Vongola during your childhood, but you are still a member of the Vongola and when you find out that the new Vongola boss to be is a kid around your age, you beg permission to go and meet him. When you do, you end up getting along surprisingly well with him and his friend group and because of that, you chose to stay in Japan and with them. Your parents rent you an apartment in Namimori and you speak to them, other members of your family, and your friends left behind, on the phone or via video call fairly regularly.

Namimori’s drama club was on the verge of being shut down because of lack of members when you arrived at the school. Not only did you join and save the club from being disbanded, but your obvious love for theatre and acting and your dedication to it does inspire some other new members to join. Throughout your school life, you and the club put on at least twice-yearly performances and theatre continues to be something you pursue even after you finish high school. Tsuna and all of the family members, plus your friends from the other families are in attendance to as many of your shows as they possibly can be. Reborn’s drilled it into the boys that flowers should be given to any actor before a performance so all the boys chip into to decide on a bouquet and Tsuna always presents them to you backstage either before or after the performance, depending on when he can get there.

You’re pretty good with kids and do help Kyoko and Haru out with the childcare rather often. The boys can sometimes take advantage of the fact you seem to be able to distract the more troublesome kids to stick you with Lambo a lot of the time so you and Lambo become really close, to the point where he refers to you as his older sibling and wants you and Tsuna to be the ones to walk him to school on the first day every year.

You have only gotten in trouble with the Disciplinary Committee once in all your years being in Namimori and you still thank your lucky stars it was with one of the lower ranking members and not Hibari himself, because the lower ranking member just figured your friends would beat him up if he beat you up, so you escaped unharmed in any way. If it was Hibari, you know very well you would have gotten a fair bit more violence, haha.

Colonello and Lal are both the Arcobaleno’s who tend to favour you the most due to your personality and attitude and both have offered you little training sessions with them here and there.

#unrequested prompts #eternitas #khr #khr reader insert

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artsyfangirl · 2 years

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Hello! Ive recently stumbled upon your blog and I love the owl and the mama!y/n headcanons---

If you still take request, A pheonix y/n with the egos?

Feel free to ignore the request :3

Oh my gosh, yes. I love phoenixes. They’re so awesome.

So a lot of the Y/N/Reader HCs are gonna be at least slightly my own interpretation.

So, your wings give off heat, but also embers, just like a fire. Luckily, since they’re moreso magic than normal flame, they only ignite things they touch when your emotions are running high.

You preen, just like any other bird. You have some extra flexibility that comes from being a phoenix, but that only goes so far to let you reach places you otherwise couldn’t. You still need help. It’s not a huge deal usually, as you usually don’t get very dirty or do much that upsets your feathers, but it is still not good.

It’s only once the Egos find you that your feathers get fully preened again. It’s a bit difficult at first, as they have to find someone who can handle the heat of directly touching your feathers, but once they do, it’s like a whole new world has been opened up to you. You had forgotten what it was like to have a fully groomed coat (so to speak).

Like Owl Hybrid!Y/N, you have a flexible neck. You can’t do what they can, but your neck can still bend and twist in odd ways. You just don’t have the ridiculous range of motion that Owl!Y/N does.

Illinois is enraptured by you immediately. Illi loves his folktales and mythology, so he knew what you were the second you unfolded your wings in front of him for the first time. He’s very suave. He flirts with you all the time.

Dark’s very interested. Phoenixes are real??? Hm. Every now and then he catches himself admiring your majesty, and has to tear himself away so no one else notices. But of course Wil notices.

Wil is over the roof. He’s going to try to book you for an interview right away. He’s legitimately giddy. Wil’s not very educated in mythology and folklore, but he still knows of several of your phoenix characteristics because of his knowledge of their reality. So for instance, he knows he can’t stab or shoot you if things go wrong with the interview, because you’ll just heal right back. Not that he would do that anyway. Wil’s actually almost scary with the amount of stuff he knows. You start having some sort of issue because you’re a phoenix? He’s immediately walked off to get you whatever it is you need. You just look at him like, ‘wtf?’

Yancy is a simp. Straight up. Simp. He’s infatuated. But not immediately. First, you had to prove yourself in his eyes. That was immediately taken care of the moment he saw you send a few fireballs after the Actor because the man had been testing his luck with you. Yep. This man is full on puppy dog eyes.

Google’s neutral. Or at least, he tries to be. However, Google is naturally a curious, studious being, so he becomes interested in you rather quickly. Alongside Wil, he’s one of the ones who knows the most about illnesses or problems you might face, but he often takes a neutral stance as he can’t know whether or not his information is true or false, as information is warped over years of oral history.

The Actor’s actually a bit begrudgingly respectful of you. Make no mistake, he sees you as an asset, but he’s also fully aware of your strength, and that if you set your mind to burning him out of existence, he would have a challenge on his hands. He also flirts with you a lot. He’s trying to manipulate you, or at least get your walls down. (He didn’t expect to actually fall for you, though, curses!)

Dark’s aware of this, and as furious about it as he is (he may not know you well, but the thought of the Actor taking yet another victim infuriates him), he respects your strength and he knows that you’re strong and smart enough to figure it out. Doesn’t mean he’s any less pissed though.

Bim is also interested. Honestly, though? His first thought when he met you was whether or not he could use your wings to cook body parts. Kinda like roasting a sausage over a fire? That. Though he also immediately respects your abilities. I mean, if you have wings that are always on FIRE, then who knows what else you can do?

Doc is also curious. Mostly of HOW THE HELL ARE YOU NOT DEAD?! HOW ARE YOUR WINGS NOT BURNT DOWN TO THE BONE?!! Doc may have started as an actor, but he takes his (rather recent) credentials as a doctor very seriously. He knows a lot. SO HE KNOWS THAT THIS SHOULDN’T BE POSSIBLE. This poor guy is nearly in tears after a week long of sleepless nights trying to figure out how your wings (and you) are still intact.

The Jims are immediately ALL OVER YOU. They are just- it’s like watching a pair of hyperactive golden retriever puppies chasing each other across a backyard. It’s endearing, but also makes all those watching feel old and wish they had that kind of energy still.

Engineer is immediately walking up to you, nervous as all hell, but he masks it well, asking you if he could ask some questions. Yes, he wants to use you in experiments. The moment he saw you, his mind zeroed in on the whole ‘magical unknown energy source that causes their wings to burn’ and he immediately started making plans in his head to test this out. He WILL find a way to make an energy source out of whatever it is that fuels your fire, well, unless it’s your life force or something equally as important.

Magnum keeps you away from his ship at ALL TIMES. It’s nothing against you, he just knows from firsthand experience how fire (especially magical fire) can quickly consume a vessel. He tries to hang out with you though, bless his heart. He’s just nervous. He’s very superstitious, and though he’s never heard or seen anything to suggest that those like you could be bad, his prior experiences with fire still cause him to be anxious and on the lookout. He tells you stories, though!

Anti is immediately jumping back from you. ‘Jeepers’ style. Like, metaphorically hissing cat. Like, it’s very reminiscent of how a cat jumps ridiculously when startled. He’s very wary of you. He does NOT like you at first. After all, he can’t affect fire. He can’t COMBAT fire. So yeah. But he slowly starts to warm up to you. Slowly.

Marvin is really excited. Of course he is, he is our resident magician. I’m sure y’all can imagine all the fun things you and him would get up to. For instance, he hangs out with you whenever he gets the chance, and y’all talk and play around and experiment with magic. Well, more like you experiment, much to Marvin’s dismay.

Jackie likes you! In fact, if you ever get in a fight, Jackie will never forgive the others if they don’t tell him so that he can come and watch. He’s definitely going to be taking inspiration from you. He thinks you’re awesome and respects you.

Henrick, much like his brother-in-degrees, has a headache. Henrick stumbles his words around you and is just generally diminutive, though not timid. He tries very hard as well to figure out how your body works. He has such a one track mind that he doesn’t even think to ask you anything and ends up in this spiral of self-induced hell where eventually the others discover just how bad he’s gotten and either force him to take care of himself, then drag him over to you, or just straight up go ahead and drag him on over to you to make him ask you his questions. This poor man.

Once he does get his answers though, he’s actually rather embarrassed. He’ll start feeling really silly and bad about himself, kinda mentally beating himself up, and you’ll have to help him. Probably tell him about how you get the same way with certain things, and that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Just to try and come to you before going crazy next time.

He’s very respectful of you and your body, and he becomes the go-to doctor for when you get hurt. Funnily enough, while you can heal from physical wounds, wounds inflicted by auras or using powers are the blind spot of your healing capabilities. Meaning that you end up in his office a lot because the boys just can’t seem to keep out of trouble or go a week without some sort of accident happening.

Robbie absolutely captivated. He tries his best to walk closer to you, your warmth is alluring to him. He’s so inherently cold, that once he feels heat, at least, heat that he can actually truly feel (aka heat that can break through how cold he is) he tends to get very hot. Like, burning hot. But with you, it’s different. It may be because of your innate healing abilities, but Robbie’s so obsessed. Not actually obsessed of course, I just used that term to try and describe how he feels.

JJ is just- so curious. His eyes are filled with wonder, and he gestures and signs vigorously. If you don’t know sign though, he’ll be downput for a second or two before scrambling to get a notebook and pen so he can write. He’s absolutely charmed by you.

And oh geez. Inside the ‘headspace’ of Dark…

Damien’s really intrigued, to be honest, but he tries to water it down. Keep it on the down low. He’s caught himself watching your flames in a trance like state more times than he can count. He will eventually start to fall for you, because he’s just a soft man who can’t go all that long before starting to fall for someone he loves, but he won’t be aware of it. Celine, on the other hand?

She’s very aware of her brother’s growing feelings for you by that point. But as how Damien’s first impression was intrigue, hers is more calculating. She essentially is sizing up how much of an asset you’d be. Celine’s a woman who gets straight to business, after all. She ends up falling herself, at some point, but unlike Damien, she’s aware of what’s happening, and she tries to resist it. Love (of the romantic kind) has only ever brought her pain.

The Host is also intrigued by you. Though he can’t see you, his narrations make up for it and he’s actually somewhat subdued while around you. I can’t tell if he’s enraptured by you or intimidated. But he finds you fascinating nonetheless. However, he also tends to hide in the library, the one place he knows you can’t follow, because while you might be able to control your embers, doing so becomes more difficult the more flammable material there is.

As a treat for y’all! Some bonus Egos!

KOTS is impressed, but he tries to introduce you to one of his subjects and the poor thing immediately runs away after seeing the embers from your wings. You apologize, since you believe that you did something to scare the creature, but since he is capable of communication with them, he knows that it was just the embers from your fire. This subject in particular had a bad history with fire, having been caught in a forest fire started accidentally by humans. Luckily, King was able to save the squirrel, but the poor thing had been skittish around fires and sparks ever since.

Silver Shepherd doesn’t really care about the fire aspect of you, that is until one of your embers lands on his costume and ignites the fabric. It shakes him, but he’s fine in the end. He also respects you, like Jackie does. Though you two don’t meet often.

Eric is honestly so timid around you! Like, he was already sweating before, but now he’s sweating bucketloads! He’s really impressed by you, and he gains a crush on you quickly. Though he still flinches when any of your embers stray too near.

Yan. Is. So. EXCITED!! He thinks you’re SO cool and his old senpai is thrown to the wayside after like, a week of you staying with the Egos. Legit if you are nice to him, he’s so happy. If you indulge him, for instance, in this case, play dress up with him and let him do your makeup, he will SQUEAL. He’s just so happy and in love.

At first he’s very shocked when he finds out/realizes that the others like you too, but he eventually accepts it. After like, three weeks to a month of pondering. And yes, you can very obviously tell that something’s wrong with him, he’s not as cheerful, he’s distracted, you’ll find him observing the others out of the corner of his eye. He eventually accepts it.

After all, he can’t kill those who are immortal or who have reality bending abilities, and many of the others are actually nice to him. The closest thing he’s had to a family in a long time. He’s surprisingly not going to give that up just so he can keep you to himself.

A/N: I enjoyed this one a lot! I had a lot of blank moments when writing this, but it eventually turned out! And all within like, an hour, too! I hope you enjoy this one, 03! If I can call you that, I just enjoy shortening people’s usernames. If not, then just let me know and I’ll change it!

#egos x reader #septic egos x reader #markiplier egos x reader #jacksepticeye egos x reader

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so-sures-blog · 2 years

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TOTAL DRAMA REUNION

Ok I know I’ve hopped on this train too late, but I wanted to list all the profiles of the TD characters in Reunion cause I couldn’t find good ones

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Alejandro Burromuerto

10 years after Total Drama, Al has become a successful movie star. However, following an unpleasant break up with his former flame Heather Kasuga, he has not been quite the same. Good thing he’s an actor. Alejandro is just as cunning and charming as he was during his time on Total Drama and he is ready to win it all. On Total Drama Reunion, will Alejandro play the game to his favor … or will he realize that some things may just matter more?

Beth Sweetwater

10 years after Total Drama, Beth is still a sweet and trustworthy woman who is independent and can stand up for herself. She is married and has a son who she raises on her farm. She’s still best friends with Lindsay Hirding and often travels around with her. Now on Total Drama Reunion, will Beth have what it takes to hold her ground? Or will she fall back into old habits like before?

Bridgette Summers

10 years after Total Drama, Bridgette is quite a busy woman as a professional surfer and a part-time animal rescuer. One of the few couples to actually survive the show’s drama, Bridgette and Geoff are happily married with 2 spritely children, Henry and Shelly. Now Total Drama has been renewed for one final season, and Bridgette is swept up in the season with a promise to return to her children.

Courtney Prescott

10 years after Total Drama, Courtney has changed a lot since she was a teenager. She has gained humility after the “unpleasant incident” with her lawyers and accepts her losses and shortcomings maturely instead of throwing fits like a 5 year old. Total Drama brought out the worst in her and she realized that her relationships were more important than the game. Now, she has reconciled with Gwen and has a successful career as a lawyer who represents the cheated and abused by game shows and reality TV networks. Before his release from prison, Courtney served on the prosecution team during Chris McLean’s trial. Now a new season of Total Drama has begun, and the resurfacing of a former flame threatens to stir up trouble and Courtney’s post-drama life. On Total Drama Reunion, Courtney will forge unlikely friendships and meet those who hold grudges. How will Courtney navigate these dangerous waters of her past? And will she return to the way she was before?

Cody Anderson

10 years after Total Drama, Cody now has a stable lifestyle. He is an accountant, has a now-stable Sierra as a girlfriend, and could have everything he ever wants. But … he’s bored. He wants a thrill, an adventure. Will Total Drama Reunion help him prove he has what it takes?

DJ Benson

10 years after Total Drama, DJ is still the sweetheart with 200 pounds of muscle. A father of 3 now, Kerry, Christopher, and Laura, DJ is the best dad he could be. He owns a restaurant called “Mama’s Gravy” and helps animals at the local shelter. Now on Total Drama Reunion, DJ will reunite with old friends. Will he be able to survive this season’s drama, or will his kind heart be his downfall?

Duncan Jones

10 years after Total Drama, and after finally being released from prison after All Stars, Duncan has largely moved on from his delinquent lifestyle. He now lives a simple life in Ontario as the owner of a vehicle repair shop. However, Duncan finds his new life upended when Chris McLean is released and Total Drama is renewed for a final season. Duncan agrees to join the original cast to pay off a few debts, unaware of the last-minute inclusion of his old rival-turned-lover, Courtney Prescott. Although she is less than thrilled to be reunited with her ex, Duncan sees this as an opportunity to make up for his past mistakes and re-stoke the fire of their romance.

Eva Garren

10 years after Total Drama, Eva has come along way since enrolling in anger management classes. After the show was canceled, Eva began to reinvent herself as a world-class heavyweight lifter and a personal trainer. Although she still has an occasional angry outburst, Eva has grown into a more levelheaded person. Now she is drafted back onto Total Drama Reunion. Will Eva return to the rage-filled teenager she once was, or will she finally get the chance to shine?

Ezekiel Miller

10 years after Total Drama, Ezekiel has gone completely feral. Isolated from humanity and left to rot on Boney Island has mutated and damaged Zeke more than could be imagine. With the original cast back on the Island for Total Drama Reunion, will they run into Zeke? Will they recognize him? Will they realize the impact Chris has left upon him? And will they help him reclaim his humanity, or will he be left as a monster?

Geoff Algolen

10 years after Total Drama, Geoff has fully devoted himself to his wife, Bridgette, and their 2 kids, Henry and Shelly. Geoff still has his chill attitude from when he was a teenager, but fatherhood has molded him into a man of many responsibilities. Now Total Drama is on for one final season, and Geoff and Bridgette find themselves embarking on a new adventure and reuniting with old friends.

Gwen Ingrid

10 years after Total Drama, Gwen has followed her dreams and is hosting art galleries all over the country, donating the obtained money to charities around the world. Living a comfortable life in an apartment in New York City, Gwen is living her best life with her friends Courtney, Leshawna, and Bridgette, drama-free. Unfortunately, Gwen is tricked into consenting participation for Total Drama Reunion. Surrounded by old friends and enemies, will Gwen have what it takes to make it out of the season unscathed?

Harold McGrady

10 years after Total Drama, Harold is still the same as ever. Although split up, Harold is still keeps in touch with the members of Drama Brothers even though they lead different careers. Now, Harold along with Leshawna have started their own show called “Dance Zone”. With a new season of Total Drama greenlit, will Harold finally be able to show off his many skills and growth, or will he be brushed off like years ago?

Heather Kasuga

10 years after Total Drama, Heather has come a long way. She has become a well-known figure in the celebrity world as both the girlfriend to rising movie star Alejandro Burromuerto, and as “The Heather” that debuted on Total Drama. Using her reputation, Heather became a TV host to her own show, called “The World According to Heather” — popular because of her ruthlessness for answers and her skills as a master strategist. However, some things just weren’t meant to last as the it couple “Aleheather” broke it off on bad terms and unknown reasons. Heather hasn’t been the same since, and even a broach on the subject can make the “Old Heather” come out. Now, the former villainess returns to the show that started it all, Total Drama. In this new season, Heather will forge unlikely friendships, and meet bitter enemies. She will have to come face-to-face with not only her past self and actions, but also those she has hurt as well. Has Heather truly moved on? Or is the old Heather still lurking under the surface?

Izzy Connelly

10 years after Total Drama, Izzy is still as wild as ever. Always liking to be free, Izzy has traveled across the world and went on crazy adventures before she found her passion in producing. She produces the commercials for Owen’s “Choco-Treats” to help him out of his debts. Although she and Owen have an on-and-off fling, right now they are only friends. Izzy is a single mother of 2 crazy, curly red-haired twin boys, Hunter and Patrick. Now on Total Drama Reunion, will Izzy be able to play the game, or will she usurp it all?

Justin Alika

10 years after Total Drama, Justin is still as gorgeous as ever. He has worked his way up in the modeling industry and yes, while still absorbed with himself, he’s still caring to those in his life. He keeps in touch with his Total Drama Brothers and the fellow contestants he was close with. In Total Drama Reunion, will Justin show he’s more than his looks?

Katie & Sadie

10 Years after Total Drama, Katie and Sadie are still BFFFL’s. It is like no time has passed between the girls as they have started their post-drama lives together. Now the whole new season of Total Drama together, will the BFFFL’s friendship survive the turmoil?

Leshawna Edwards

10 years after Total Drama, Leshawna is better than ever. After making a good amount of money from her show called “Dance Zone”, Leshawna was able to move to New York City and start her own dance studio. Now, Total Drama is coming back with one final season, and Leshawna is once again thrown in the ring with both old friends and enemies to square down with. Will she be able to come out on top and earn her crown?

Lindsay Hirding

10 years after Total Drama, Lindsay is living her best life. Now the wife of her boyfriend, Tyler, she is now the mother of three kids, Kayden, Monica, and Sophie. Finally living her life of luxury, Lindsay is a fashion blogger and social media influencer as she travels the world with her best friend, Beth. Now with Total Drama Reunion, will Lindsay be able to show the world she is more than the blonde stereotype?

Noah Mathai

10 years after Total Drama, Noah is living a life he never would have dreamed would be his. After competing in a number of reality TV shows with his best friend, Owen, Noah has settled down, married his lawyer of a girlfriend Emma Park, and is having his son, Kieran. Now Total Drama Reunion has swept into Noah’s comfortable post-drama life. Will Total Drama take it all away, or will he finally get the chance to prove himself worthy competitor?

Owen Whitman

10 years after Total Drama, Owen is still as happy-go-lucky as ever. After competing in a number of reality TV shows as a professional duo with Noah, Owen has earned enough cash to retire. However, after losing his fortune and being in debt due to his excessive eating habits, Owen agrees to become the face of “Choco-Treats Candy Bars”. Thanks for the help of Izzy, Owen’s starred in a multitude of commercials that slowly helped him get on his feet — until Total Drama Reunion, offering a chance to pull him out of his troubles. Owen agrees and returns to show, where he is to be reunited with a few old friends. How bad could this season possibly be?

Sierra Weber

10 years after Total Drama, Sierra has thankfully said goodbye to her fangirl ways. Now a devoted girlfriend to Cody and a dedicated journalist, Sierra just might be the only person to realize how Chris McLean got unwilling contestants to join the show. Now on the outside, Sierra works her way in to uncovering the truth and taking down her past idol. Can Sierra save the old contestants, or will they fall to the dark secrets Sierra will uncover?

Trent Davis

10 years after Total Drama, Trent has been touring the country as a solo act musician. Although he initially kept in touch with Gwen, the two have drifted apart over time. While on the road, Trent has caught the eye of many women before he decided to get married. Him and his partner split up, and Trent realize that no matter how many women he’d meet, none would compare to the steely elegance of his first love. But first, he is left to deal with his young son, Everest. Trent moved on with his life, shoving Gwen in the back of his mind as he channeled all his focus into his music and son. But now, he’s pulled back into a final season of Total Drama Reunion, and the situation quickly becomes uncomfortable as he is reunited with his first love: Gwen.

Tyler Kennard

10 years after Total Drama, Tyler is now the husband of Lindsey and father of their 3 children. He loves to spoil his wife on their anniversaries with lipgloss, flowers, and accessories, and enjoys showing off his athletic skills to his kids. Now, he is swept up in a season of Total Drama Reunion, and Tyler finally sees his chance to shine and show he has what it takes to win it all.

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Chris McLean

Imprisoned once again for his cheating crimes against humanity and the environment, legendary TV host Chris McLean is bailed out by the networking and an army of angry fans in a desperate attempt to revive Total Drama and pass on a new season. Chris agrees, and uproots all the original cast from their post-drama lives. As Chris’s mental state deteriorates, is there any chance of redemption for our favorite TV host?

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