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theinsanecrayonbox · 2 years

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desire to draw is not in me, but ideas about what G3 Catrine and Jane could be are in my head (since they became my favs of the whole series by the end of it all), so...

Catrine:

white werecat, blue eyes, now has at least 1 if not 2 hearing aids (look like airpods that go in the ears on a peg like earrings) because blue eyed white cats are usually deaf

and it plays up the “watches people’s body language closely, that’s why she’s so good at drawing”

but also she can teach sign language too

potentially wears glasses...because everyone seems to wear glasses now, but at least she looks good in them

might keep the lavender hair...most likely a side ponytail to accommodate a beret on/off eth ear the ponytail is not on

either a standard or Ula sized body

overall skirt that is both meant to mimic an art smock, and to be covered in paint/chalk splotches

black/black and white printed leggings underneath

top has a collar and puff sleeves, probably pastel to go with her hair

potentially a scarf that’s tie-dyed or splattered

accessories are art themed, like a purse that looks like an art pallet that opens up on a hinge, or she has a whole portfolio case

the art class Ula shoes, but cast in something other than white

she’s the art girl, always working in the art room, covered in paint/chalk. probably has a side plot where she was doing a mural in a hallway, and like Heath’s shenanigans chasing Deuce or something messes it up

again, she’s deaf, so another side plot where she’s working in the art room and stuff’s going boom in the background she misses (like Stan in Amazing Spiderman)

she’d be in the background a lot probably

Jane:

still purple, maybe a bluer shade? but please not a pale lavender shade X.X

hair color/s don’t change, but she’s rooted in braids now

leg brace is canon. it’d be the opposite leg that Frankie has. and honestly...probably rarely bothers her unless she’s plot focused and over coming setbacks is the lesson for the week

tall body like Frankie, maybe even a bit buffer because she did grow up in the jungle

she is standoffish at first, due to her homeschooled background, but again plot has her overcoming that and getting the other ghouls to see she isn’t a mean loner girl...probably after they catch her hiding during lunch and talking to animals

she’s smart. like really smart. her dads are scientists after all. it’s just her social skills are lacking.

speaking of, her dads are canon now. you can change Moreau to Scareou if you wanna copywrite things (plus him becoming a werejaguar is probably he was always one now)

but this not only gives her 2 dads, but an interspecies set of parents who adopted a child not of either of their species. so there’s another lesson of the week.

she’s also staying with a host family. preferably the Trotters, but who knows if Avea’s still canon. but again, being separated from her home and learning to open up, that's another lesson of the week.

she wears animal print/leopard spotted prints. but her clothes also kind of lowkey clash/don’t make sense at first. like shorts with the oversized chunky sweater.

again, learning social norms and cues. at first she just dresses what is comfy, then plot of the week gives her a “trendy makeover” and she finds she’s uncomfortable, so she goes back to her old clothes with a little update because she did learn something from the terrible makeover.

Andy can be her dads’ intern if he isn’t his own character. she has a crush on him, but doesn’t realize what that is until she tells one of the ghouls, and they explain it, and now she’s over whelmed. but again, same lesson as before; you try it the new way and it sucks, so go back to what makes you comfortable. Andy does reciprocate though, because he too is an awkward dork.

#thinking outloud #monster high #my writing

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dearpinky · 1 year

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You’ve been on my mind a lot. Of course with the amount of things that’s gone on and keeps going on. These days especially, I feel like I need someone who knows and understands the history of it all and to just do what you did best and listen. I’m thankful Charmaine has become that person, but it will never be the same as you.

Granny passed this year. I don’t even know how to describe that whole situation. I’m glad you met her and on some level I’d like to believe you all could meet in the afterlife. I know it’s silly, but I want to think that someone somewhere could just be watching my shenanigans and laughing together.

More people died. And those important too. But most of them keeps me coming back to you. The pain and uncertainty I felt. Especially with Breado. It felt all to familiar and more extended. Knowing that the reality might be death but not willing to accept it. Waiting to hear they found his body was all to similar to me waiting for Andy’s word that you had indeed died. The endless tears the desire to shut myself off completely.

This time I have more people and support thankfully. I know I don’t have to deal with it alone. But goodness girl, I wish you could have gotten past what you went thru. I wish you could have trusted anyone to help you out.

Many things happened that you’d like. That I would love to keep you updated with. So much has changed and I keep wishing you were here to see it or share it with me.

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magic-is-something-we-create · 2 years

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Weekly Writing Update Jan. 19th, 2022

Progress made: 4.2k words drafted/line edited (my process is weird ok) (and FINALLY. FINALLY. FINISHED THE MCFUCKIN CHAPTER. GODDAMN) WIPs worked on: Echoseers (total wc: 18.1k) Writing Streak: 159 days Current chapter + POV: Chapter 4, still deciding POV as I haven't started drafting it yet

Favorite line(s) since last update (Annie POV, interacting with Gab):

I eye the tension in his jaw. “What, you have to give up some trade secrets?”

“No. Worse, even.” He props his chin on the heel of his hand and looks wistfully at the sketched dress I’ve been labeling as I go, and the empty one beside it.

“Worse?”

“I had to talk to Ruti Palm for it.”

I suck a hiss through my teeth, fighting back a laugh. “Wow. Want some extra sheer? Ruffles, maybe?”

“A whole second dress.”

“That’s not happening.”

“A slit in the skirt, then. Mid-thigh.”

My giggle breaks through. “Deal.”

Andy shakes her head, grinning. “You’re a terrible negotiator.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t levy people’s concealed identities against them through Ms. Wirebrains over here.”

On cue, Wrench jumps up onto the back of the chair next to him. A worn, ripped-up scrap of paper crinkles in her mouth as she shakes and bops her nose into his arm.

His brow furrows. “What do you have there, scrap heap?”

Scene I'm looking forward to: plot stuff!! in a meeting room with a koi pond on top of the skylight!! my beloved!!

This week doesn't have a soundtrack because I was listening to my whole playlist on shuffle again.

Notes/Thoughts: chapter three of echoseers really took a whole 2+ weeks for not even 7k huh. damn.

anyways i had a really cool idea for a scene later on in echoseers that includes the first look at the whispers from an ouside perspective and also gets up to some cool ass masquerade ball and spy thriller-type shenanigans. f in the chat for gab, who doesnt get to wear a pretty dress until he gets home because he cant fake the knowledge he needs for this apprentice's ball

#weekly update #echoseers #snip #the millennium saga

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what-kinda-fuckery · 4 years

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Hey so, I was one of the star struck falsettos stans that spent the forty dollars for the webinar, and I took notes (like a weirdo). So I decided I would share my funny moments and updates from the cast here!

- Host: Everyone should be keeping their audio off.

Christian: Oh alright!

Host: nO Christian not you

- Christians in Manhattan and his hair is back and he’s wearing a Superman t-shirt.

- Brandon is with his parents in NJ

- Stephanie and Brandon still love each other

- Brandon: Meat should be cooked just right

- Betsy: Stephanie are you in maple wood?

Stephanie: Well thank you for telling everyone where I am (she’s in NJ)

- Stephanie: Are you fucking kidding meee!!!

- Tracie is in LA, she looks like she’s in Costa Rica and I love her dog.

- Anthony’s VOICE IS LOW EVERYONES FREAKING OUT

they’re all talking about Anthony’s clear skin

- Andy Randy is in LA with a fresh haircut his boyfriend did it and he’s watching too much TV

Andrew: I’m watching this is America

Stephanie: SO GOOD

Andrew: SO GOOD

- Everyone’s having hard days

- Christian is acting out tracies dog’s pathetic bark and everyone’s like WHAT are you doing bc it looks like he’s about to throw up

- BETSY IS A WEEK AWAY FROM HAVINGA WHOLE CHILD

Betsy: What else do you do during a pandemic? Have a baby!

Andrew: Can I toss out another baby name? Celery.

Literally everyone: Goodnight Andrew goodbye!

- Christian is living with a girl (?) and playing board games instead of watching television

HE COOKS NOW EVERYONES PROUD OF HIM

Christian: yesterday I made pork filet en croute

Stephanie: I MADE PORK WITH SAGE AND APPLES ON WEDNESDAY

Stephanie: In mean girls they wear pink on wednesdays. In falsettos they make pork.

- I can’t get over Anthony’s voice

Again everyone returning to his literally perfect skin

- Stephanie: When watching four jews in a room in the beginning who’s in China?? I know the answer I just want to hear someone say it.

Andrew, with a thick accent: It was Bryna, in China, with a torn miniscus

- Christian: Did anything interesting make it on to the telecast between me and you? Andrew? Actually I dont remember I need to do my research.

Andrew: There’s been some strange comments about Christian and I- (AT THIS POINT IM WHEEZING)

HE MENTIONED THE TONY BONY

HE SAID IT WASNT A THING

HE DIDNT HAVE ONE

Andrew: No that’s not a thing that happened

Brandon: Andrew i want you to know that it’s okay if it was. It’s a safe space just the seven of us. (Lol)

- Bill Finn would take two steps into the room: “WROONG”

Stephanie: he wanted me to sing the end of I’m breaking down up the octave and I said #notmytrina

Brandon: #NOTMYTRINA

- Tracie what did you do during act 1

Tracie: Betsy and I sat in that dressing room for like an hour and a half

Andrew: You SANG the WHOLE SHOW TRACIE

- Betsy watched parts of the first act to feel like she was there

- Betsy sprained both her ankles at one point during the run and was a trooper anyways

Brandon reenacting Betsy limping during look look look look

Everyone dies laughing

Christians LAUGH makes me SO HAPPY

- Betsys screen is frozen like this: 🤨

Andrew: What if she went into labor??? (This is a common thread throughout the zoom)

- Anthony: I’m getting a lot of glitching so Stephanie is just like “HUH UH UH UH”

- Betsy comes back and everyone is like

YOU GUYS ITS COMING!!!

- They bought Andrew an ice cream for his birthday from the vending machine at rehearsal

- Andrew: The Hawaii crop top

Betsy: I would give anything to have that

- Tracie: it was very hard. Very precise bringing the blocks together

Brandon: Trying to be like oh my god we’re going to a funeral

Andrew: MY DEATH IT WAS MY DEATH

- fan question: What did the blocks weigh?

Stephanie: They were like thick yoga blocks. Not heavy but awkward shaped

Andrew: Significantly heavier when Anthony sat on them

Anthony: I just realized how much I got thrown around

Stephanie: Anthony were you proud of yourself? #proudofyou

Anthony: The one moment I was cringing was father and son

Christian: HERE WE GO *SLAPS TABLE*

Betsy: Anthony’s like BLAH BLAH BLAH blah my line BLAH BLAH BLAH my line BLAH BLAH

Christian: I LEAVE THE PAUSE IF YOU CANT GET IN THATS ON YOU

Anthony: I was blinking in that number like constantly

Christian: THE WHOLE THING LIKE A SALAMANDER

Oh Anthony.

- Andrew: I HAVE A STORY ABOUT CHRISTIAN BORLE. Tech for what more can i say. He was laying on me. We were shirtless in underpants under the blankets.

Christian: SLOWER

Andrew: he leaned over; He sniffed his armpit and said “I hope you like France”

EVERYONE DIES LAUGHING INCLUDING ME

Christian: i haven’t worn deodorant in 10 years true story

- Christian: i seem to remember holding our pillows and blankets pretending like we were partying on fyre island and Andrew said:

Andrew: WHATS YOUR NAME???

Christian: No no it was something like:

WHAT HOUSE ARE YOU STAYING IN??

Andrew: WHAT HOUSE ARE YOU STAYING IN???

Betsy: James lupine I feel like we’re ruining this show

- Andrew: The shenanigans were real but so was the sadness

Stephanie: We’re real and we’re funny what you gonna do

- Andrew talking about how hard the show was to do: Finding some liberty, It’s a hard world to live in all the time. It was a hard time especially for Christian. I would sometimes go home and cry for no reason

Brandon: Building up emotion with nowhere to put it

Betsy: then Lesbians come in and provide all the levity

Stephanie: Although Dr. Charlotte brings in horrible news

Tracie: Everything’s beautiful at what more can i say and I’m like not so fast

- Tracie always had a funny thing to say

- Who broke character the most on stage?

Anthony Stephanie and Christian

Anthony: it was when I said “I don’t want a bar mitzvah” and I spit in your face a lot and you went like *puts arms up* and someone at stage door was like very condescending like it’s not professional

Christian: Oh my bad we’re people sorry

- Stephanie wrote a line in the show “YOU HAVE PAINTINGS OF DICKS”

- James wanted her to cut off her finger during I’m breaking down

And turn around with a bandaged bloody finger

- Betsy’s nose bleeding during something bad is happening

And Tracie was like something BAD IS HAPPENING

Tracie: Christians throwing up right now

Betsy: Bloody Kleenex up the nose THE SHOW MUST GO ON

- Fan question: Stephanie how do you belt with a banana in your mouth

Christian: Practice practice practice

Stephanie: just shove it in your cheek. But Really that wasn’t supposed to happen

Anthony’s nickname in the rehearsal room was little bananas because he had to gather up all the pieces of stuff after Stephanie shoved the table over with her rear. Sometimes he didn’t have enough time to put it somewhere so he would just put the pieces of banana in his mouth and that’s where it came from

That’s why

- Andrew: Stephanie your glasses are very chic

Stephanie: Oh my gosh thank you *shocked*

- Betsy: Bill was like I’d rather DIE than change lyrics for the pbs special

FLaT aS a LaKe

- Cue everyone accidentally talking over each other and saying what at each other for 30 seconds

Christian: what? what? what?

Who is it?

What’s going on?

- If you could play anyone else in the show who would it be

Anthony said Mendel

Tracie said Mendel

Brandon said Trina

Andrew said marvin

Betsy said whizzer

Stephanie said Mendel

And I honestly couldn’t hear if Christian said anything whoops

- Brandon: If someone could at some point explain to me the Mendel eats dirt meme? People have been Asking me if Mendel eats dirt? I don’t think it’s about Trina Trina is not the dirt. I was overwhelmed. Can someone in the Q&A explain this? *A few seconds later* oh It was from a meme generator?

Christian: Greaat.

Brandon: It’s a fan fiction about Mendel eating dirt and getting aroused by it

Everyone: WHAT

- They still get fan art

Someone recreated the whole soundtrack 8bit and also with KAZOOS

- Brandon: CONGRATS CHRISTIAN ON LULOS WIN FOR LITTLE SHOP. If you haven’t seen Christian in little shop it’s revelatory I’m not just blowing smoke up your ass I have not laughed that hard in a while at the theatre

- Christian talking about little shop

Christian has a 12 inch Batman toy in his dressing room and he misses it

- Ticket prices were getting out of control before corona everyones hoping this will make a difference

Brandon and everyone think it should get more accessible

- Brandon: Hear hear I need a refill

- Stephanie: Your hair looks incredible Brandon (it did)

Christian: She’s been waiting to talk about it for 53 minutes

- Andrew: Well Betsy what I’m wondering is have you crowned yet??

Proceed everyone dying

Brandon, taking a picture of the screen: This moment will go down in history as When Betsy was asked if she was crowning

- Everyone mimicking zoom freezing by starting a sentence and freezing halfway through

- Christian: What new Steven sondheim musical are you excited about Anthony *devilish grin*

Anthony having no idea what Christian is talking about

Christian: Come on Anthony you know the answer. Ugh. The minds of the young. You’re smoking pot now aren’t you??

Christian: We have a lot of fun

- Andrew: I’m trying to get people to pay attention to me

- Christians pretending to be frozen

Cue a lot of yelling: Stephanie BRANDON STEPHANIE

NO CHRISTIAN

Everyone accusing each other of being frozen

NO YOURE FROZEN

- Andrew: Let’s all act like we’re frozen

Steph: I see Andrew acting like hes frozen

Betsy: Watching you do that is killing me

- Listening to the cast recording for the first time together

Stephanie: Why was I the a-hole that couldn’t be there???

Christian: That’s a question only you can answer

- Betsys husband came in everyones like BETSY LOOK OUT

Christian: that scared the shit out of me

- What is marvins last name and what was his line of work

Christian: we definitely said it at some point right? (They didnt) but he was in advertising. What was the last name? Gardens? O’Malley?

- Andrew: Betsys gone oh no

Betsy: I’m right here!!!

Andrew: She’s giving birth (again)

Stephanie: Betsy Wolfe is a ceiling

- Brandon: Welcome back Anthony. You’re here now.

Anthony singing merrily we roll along over Betsy trying to tell a story

Christian: STOP SMOKING POT IN YOUR BEDROOM ANTHONY

- Betsy: Steve (Steven Sondheim) comes to the door I call him steve

Into the woods is the reason Betsy is in theatre

- Betsy: Andrew was nervous singing at the tonys for Book of Mormon and he got dry mouth he sang like 😬I BELIEVE and he licked his lips so much during the song.

Brandon: Did you have a boner then too?

Andrew: GUYS DONT BE DICKS

Stephanie: It’ll be like dry mouth, boner

Andrew: BETSY YOU FUCKIN BITCH ITS ACTUALLY NOT THAT BAD

Stephanie: Bets maybe we should wrap it up

- Brandon sings MARRIAGE PROPOSAL

EVERYONE TELLING HIM TO STOP SINGING I took a video it was beautiful might post that later

- “Tracie Thomas from Lent!”

Tracie having stage fright

Tracie: Billy porter said “oh child we all forget the words” and walked away

- Anthony said WHO SHAT THE BED in four jews once

Anthony: That’s my contribution. Steph got her line, I got who shat the bed

- Steph: We lost andrew oh no

Christian: Um, we lost andrew ten minutes ago. Yeah when Brandon started singing

- Then Betsy sang a song by Bill Finn beautiful

- Steph: Wear your masks and eat pork on wednesdays

That was it!! I hope you enjoyed and people who were there if I got anything wrong that’s my human error it was hard to note everything I wanted to. Smooches! Byee

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lockdownuk · 3 years

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Lockdown Diary Part 9

A personal account during the lockdown in the UK due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

23/03/2020 8:30pm Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, gives a live address to the nation to, effectively, put the country on lockdown to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus strain, Covid-19.

Many of us have been self-isolating for days but this latest development within the UK in reaction to the pandemic feels very serious and very scary. I decided to keep a simple diary and where better but online.

Day 241: Shit day at work. To cut a long story short, I could complete a task Sueanne gave to me and then I got it in the ear, including a snotty email ay 5:40pm. Pissed off.

Day 242: Had a meeting with Sueanne (our weekly 1-2-1 actually) and she was alright. I feel much better tonight. Last night I didn’t even have an appetitie - unheard of! Going to make up for that tonight, pie and loads of veg! A much better day. Ridiculously, I believe yesterday was all my own fault - I take work for granted sometimes and I let myself down by ignoring the urgency of a task just because it was Sueanne asking me to do it and she was a peer. She is now my boss, and I should respect that.

Day 243: So-so day at work. It’s strange how used to work I am after over six months on furlough. It’s been less than two months back but all the highs and lows amd frustrations are commonplace. Most importantly, it being Thursday, I cannot wait for tomorrow eveninga dn to kick back, drink and smoke. Spoke to dad this morning, he’s same as...that’s always good to know. Sugar levels have been a fucking roller coaster today, and it has really fucked me off! No salad at lunch due to them being so fucking high when I got back from my walk. It ended up being my tea. Sarted watching The Undoing...it’s OK.

Day 244: Glad it is Friday. Just cooking a (very hot) chicken madras, cracked open my first beer. Gonna eat, drink, smoke and watch a good film.

Day 245: Gold was the film I watched last night, with Matthew McConaughey and it was a good choice. I then watch a Kevin Hart stand up show on Netflix...very Eddie Murphy, very funny. I did a 12 km walk today...fucking felt it in my legs. Walked the footpath from Stoke Doyle road to Benefield road for the first time. I liked it and it comes out between Lytham Park and Wakerley Close....I posted on FB about the fact that when I move to Oundle, Clifton Drive was the last street heading out of town. Saw Becks on the walk down Benefield road, She mentioned she’s tired of lockdown. I replied that I’m tired of the virus!

Day 246: Up at 1pm, nice long walk, ordered new slippers and waterproof jacket (my Craghopper is bust again).

Day 247: I screwed up at work today, went for a (ridiculously) late lunch right when I was meant to be at an online meeting that Sueanne had reminded me about in the morning. There’s mitigation but, when push comes to shove, I fucked up and now Sueanne’s on the warpath - one more slip up and it’ll be an offical disciplinary matter.

Day 248: Suzanne wants me to troubleshoot a ticket she has in her queue, some database request for a Cork guy. It’s a test and it’s fucking me off.

I did testing for a network change tonight...8 till 11:15pm.

Elliot and Aaron cleaned the windows today. It was nice to see them.

Rita sent a couple of emails recently. Dad’s ear is all clear but Paul has got testicular cancer.

Day 249: New waterproof jacket arrived today. It’s very nice, bargain for £25 odd. Also picked up slippers from M&S food hall in Corby so, while over their, did a shop at Tesco’s...£109 mainly booze.

By the time I was back, I ended up doing my evening walk at 9.30pm!

Day 250: Leigh from Oundle Chronicle has got back to me. She (he?) has selected the photos that are going to be in the article and wants me to write a sentence on each - where they were taken and what inspited me to do so. Whether that means the stuff I wrote before is not going to be used, or not, I dunno! New slippers are OK and the new jacket is still impressing me.

Day 251: Typing on Day 252. Usual Friday, beers, meatballs, pizza, long chat with Fog. I should mention that, as we approach the end of Lockdown2 in England, Boris and his government have laid out a three tier structure for how the second lockdown will be eased. It’s caused confusion and consternation across the board. None of it affects me, still isolating like I was on day 1. Day 252: Totally forgot about my diary entry yesterday! Up at 1pm, nice long walk, nipped rong Elliots to pay for my windows, had a chat with him, Artron and Camilla - it’s so nice to socialise! Gonna make fish pie and supp a few ales. Day 253: The weekend is over way too quickly. It’s 7.30pm on Sunday as I type and I wish it wasn’t. I wish it was 7.30pm on Friday. Day 254: In a meeting, a working Zoom, with Andy Ashler in the US re: qfiniti, which Sueanne pissed me off about earlier in te day (RCI diary updated), but the meeting went well. I am desparately trying to buy an iPad on Black Monday. As usual with tech, I cannot make my mind up which to buy! Day 255: I haven’t bought an iPad....I’ll wait for the 10.2″ iPad to come down in price. I had more involvement with Andy Ashler and in the US with the Qfiniti project at work. I’m really enjoying it, it’s very technical...although I didn’t finish ‘til 6pm because of it. The Oundle Chronicle is out and an article about me and my pics is on the back page. Leigh, the editor, sent it to me electronically. It’s good. I am chuffed! Day 256: I booked some holidays today, making sure that I didn’t include any days off in the week December 14-18 (SB’s off). So, this coming Friday (4th Dec), Next Weds-Fri and Monday 21st. I know I have only been back from Furlough a couple of months but I am more than ready for some kick-back time. 1-2-1 with SB today, it was a relaxed affair, most espcially becaus eof my success thus far with the Qfiniti project - that being said, I got pretty much nowhere with it today. Ordered a couple of long sleeved Ts and a fleeced hoody from a shop called Doubletwo today, well cheap in the sale. I saw half a dozen joggers on the Milton Road blind bend tonight, oblivious to any other potential path user. I posted about it (in my own, sarcastic way) on the Oundle Chatter FB group. It was met how I’d expected plus some direct digs so I deleted it. Cowardly but, I figure, I don’t get my point across, the vast majority of joggers really don’t think they are doing anything wrong by bulldozing there way around town and, lastly, I couldn’t be bothered with the flak, and its tennis like back-and-forth!

Day 257: Got tomorrow off so worked late tying up loose ends, including the qfiniti project - fucking nuts really, making sure no one asks any questions of SB or the team, in terms of my work load, for just one day off! Still, just had tea, cracked open a beer and am watching Shaun of the Dead. Nice.

Day 258: The main thing I did today is walk. It was about 12km but felt much longer ‘cos it was wintry, pissing down, windy and slippery as fuck. And I really enjoyed it! Badge messaged me today to ask how I am and, in replying, I mentioned that I think I am becoming addicted to walking...it wasn’t a throwaway comment. Just cooked up a chilli (which I think I have ruined with a Knorr beef stock pot), and will tuck in with beers, smokes and telly. While it’s been a day off, this Friday evening will be as all others are at the moment, late, drunken and solitary fun - no doubt.

Day 259: Typing on day 260. That chilli last night was actually OK. Plus I ‘invented’ a meatball wrap - moving on from the TikTok ham and cheese wrap you fold into the toaster, I tried the same with meatballs but no fucking way could I fold it into the toaster slot (pissed up kitchen shenanigans), so I wrapped it in tin foil and heated it in the oven, Fucking delicious. I watched Shaun of the Dead. I think it’s the first time since its release and I couldn’t help thinking “zombies just aren’t like that [in real life]” Wtf?

Day 260: I was quite sensible (for a Saturday) last night, in bed by 2am, up at my alarm this morning, 10:30am. Nice long walk, taking in a new path up by Biggin Grange and took plenty of pics that turned out really good. Btw, posh lost yesterday at Portsmouth (with 2000 fans there) and they lost midweek and last weekend in the FA Cup to Chorley, at home.

Day 261: It’s freezing today...actually 0 degrees. This house is so fucking cold, even with the heating on.

Day 262: Typing on day 263. Last day of work for 5 days. Beers are in order. And a sausage casserole. Day 263: I completely forgot to do a diary entry yesterday....concentrating on starting my work break off on the right foot, which I did. As a result, I didn’t get up until 1pm. So, to stop that sort of day wasting, no beers tonight. Just got back from a shop (£90 in Tesco’s), trying to sort out Romiley’s Christmas present, then something to eat (more sausage casserole) and a early, sober night.

Day 264: So, after abstinence last night, I was up before 11am and did a walk that included the track from Benefield Road to Monson Way past Park Wood. It was fucking hard work due to mud. I have lost coumd the amount of times I nearly slipped right over. Throw into that a hypo, the 12-13km walk was tough. Sorted out Romiley’s present (guitar stand, music stand and guitar exercises book). Took soime nice photos today as well which I’ve prepared and shared. No booze today/tonight either. Some break, a younger me would say!

Day 265: Friday, and I am typing with a beer, balti on the hob and I am just gonna choose a film and roll a single skinner. I am knackered. Up at 10am, cleaned the hall and stairs after a 10km walk. Also, I spoke with dad who is, as always, fine.

Time to make up for the last two sober nights.

Day 266: I am typing this on day 267. So drunk last night I left nearll a full can of beer and went to bed in my jogging bottoms and t-shirt. I have had a day off from any exercise at all which felt very odd. A few beers and watched Snatch. Day 267: While I was nowhere near drunk last night, due to sleeping in late (2pm) I was up ‘til 3am watching TikTok so today I struggled out of bed at just before 1pm. Watch the start of the season’s final GP (Verstappen won from pole and it was boring af), back on the exercising including a 9km walk. Back to work tomorrow which I feel totally conflicted about! Posh won yesterday at home to Rochdale (with the allowed 2000 fans) 4-1 including a 17 minute first half hatrick from Jonson Clarke-Harris.

Day 268: Back to work - Sueanne’s off and it’s the first day I’ve been at work with Jon in charge which involves a daily ‘SUMO’ (whatever that acronym stands for?) at 9.30am every day. I am still involved with te qfiniti upgrade project which seems to have taken a step backwards in the 3 days I had off, so I was working until gone 9.30pm! I have decided to do a quiz, hopefully for Christmas, whereby I don’t want the actual answers (to 25 particular questions, all with a common theme in the answer), merely an omitted question!

Day 269: Stand Up Meeting Online. SUMO. Ian Bird told me. I might struggle with double Y for my quiz. Work was OK, more Qfiniti stuff. Posh drew away to MK 1-1. Posh were 0-1 up but Lincs lost at home. I can’t undertsand why that pleases me so....oh, yeah I can Steve Dee.

Day 270: Struggling to order Dad and Rita booze for Christmas without it being a Morrison’s delivery that I can do through Amazon Prime. That would be OK but it’s just a bit clinical! Meanwhile, now I am paying for Prime, and they are showing some Premiership games (for example, tonight I watched Liverpool v. Spurs (2-1), I really have to contact Sky - I am paying £71pm atm! Sam posted pic of her Christmas tree but mentioned how she’s finding it hard to get in the spirit - Paul has testicular cancer and the outlook is bleak - fuck know’s what she’s going through with all that, trying to shield Romiley from the worst without lying!

#diary #Tumblr diary #lockdown #COVID19 #lockdownuk

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indescribablechoices · 6 years

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Masterlist (updated 06/09/20)

Fics are listed in chronological order according to story progression, not date of posting, and obviously some were written before books were fully released so I’ve taken some liberties with plots. Ones listed at the bottom are for future fics I plan to write, please feel free to send asks/prompts.

MC Masterlist

The Royal Romance (Liam Rys x Alicia Harper)

This Room Where You Should Be - After having her engagement party ruined by assassins, Alicia speeds towards a safe house with an injured Drake, not knowing what lies ahead; whether any of her friends or her beloved Liam made it out alive. (will direct to my old blog)

Wish Comes True - During an interview, Alicia gets herself in a twist over the thought of the holidays, and Liam makes a promise he intends to keep.

Piece by Piece - A year after their wedding as Alicia, Liam and the others celebrate her birthday.

Where You Abandoned Things - A figure from Alicia’s past turns up, and Liam learns why his wife has never spoken about her family before.

Reach In A Little Deeper - When a security threat leaves Alicia and Olivia trapped in a room together, things only get worse when Alicia goes into labour with hers and Liam’s first child.

Count On Me (Maxwell x Penelope) - Maxwell comes to Alicia for advice. Feelings and an abundance of platonic love follow.

Your Kingdom (D&D crossover) - After becoming Queen, Alicia begins to look back over her own family tree and finds some things she didn’t expect.

Side by Side - Liam and Alicia wake up together on their five year anniversary.

Lift Your Chin A Little Higher - Twenty years after the events of TRR, Liam’s daughter visits the gardens in Valtoria to reminisce about the past, hoping to find comfort for the future.

Enchanting Series (updated 28/04/20) - The story of Liam and Alicia’s daughter Lyra as she enters the social season in search of a husband. Familiar faces, sibling shenanigans and naturally; romance, all await along the way.

Perfect Match (Damien Nazario x Kai Park)

All I’ve Ever Learned From Love - Kai and Hayden have barely spoken since everything that went down with Eros in New York. During a quiet moment, he begins to reevaluate their relationship and what it means for the future. (will direct to my old blog)

Afraid of Falling - After talking with Hayden, Kai heads out to find Damien and finally fess up her feelings. But it seems Damien had the same idea.

Nobody But You (NSFW) - After admitting their feelings for each other, Kai and Damien let their desires get the better of them.

Indescribable - Kai’s life is falling apart when the truth about Damien is revealed. (will direct to my old blog)

Walking The Wire - A rewrite of the reunion scene with some memories more personal to my Kai and hers and Damien’s relationship.

Someone’s Bound To Get Burned - Kai and the others rescued Damien days ago, but he barely look at her. Kai confronts him, and an argument ensues.

Miss Me When I’m Gone - Kai and Damien talk about Nadia leaving in a quiet moment together. Discussions about the future ensue.

Take What Comes - Distracted texting leaves Kai in an awkward situation when her auto correct decides to propose to Damien.

Dancin’ Merrily - Kai and Damien spend their first Christmas together as a married couple with their family.

It Isn’t Easy - Damien heads home to Kai after a long day at work, but some discussions about the past may affect their future.

My Arms Will Hold You - Four times Kai Park woke up in Damien’s arms and one time she didn’t. Set across their years of knowing each other.

Dedicating Every Day To You - Kai wakes up in the middle of the night and Damien isn’t beside her. She finds him in the nursery instead.

Just One More Thing - Damien and Kai head to the local dog shelter and bring home a new member of the family.

Go Gentle - Kai receives a phone call from her children’s high school, listing off all of the trouble her son is in. She asks for an explanation from him and delves deeper than she planned.

(Damien Nazario x Hayden Young x Kai Park x Alana Kusuma)

Stay The Course - On the flight from Tokyo to San Francisco, Damien and Hayden take a moment to talk and clear the air for the first time since everything happened with Eros. Bonding and fluff ensue.

The Things That You Want - During a quiet afternoon in San Francisco, Damien asks Kai about her feelings for Hayden and makes a proposition that could benefit everyone.

Be Your Safety (NSFW) - After Hayden walks out in San Francisco, Kai goes after him, and a heart to heart leads to confessions.

The Human In Me - Damien comes home on his lunch break and interrupts more than a dance party.

How Long You Would Wait For Me (Alana x MC focused) - After receiving the worst news possible, Kai reflects on her relationship with Alana.

One So Small - Kai is in labour, and needs the people she loves around her.

So Snowy White - A little glimpse into one Christmas at the Nazario-Young household. Damien pulls a scam. Kai teases her boys. Hayden learns the meaning of a perfect memory.

Let Me Go Home (part one, TH:M crossover) - Eighteen months after the events in Monaco, Nina brings Sonia home to meet the family.

It Lives In The Woods (Andy Kang x Maggie Young)

Pull Me Closer - After their first kiss in the pool, Andy and Maggie head into the laundry room to dry off.

If I Only Could - Andy wakes up from surgery and realises that not everyone made it out of the ruins. (will direct to my old blog)

The Sharp Knife of a Short Life - Maggie decides to pay a visit to Jane and Noah’s mother after Noah’s ‘death’ in the ruins.

Tonight - Maggie is preparing to go to prom with her friends, but she can’t help but feel the absence of her boyfriend as he rests his still injured leg. But it seems that fate, and Andy, have other ideas.

It Lives Beneath (Tom Sato x Penn Vance)

A Love Like This - Tom and Penn spend a lazy afternoon together, and Tom has a sudden realisation.

The Haunting of Braidwood Manor (Eleanor Waverley x Hadley Byrd)

So Full Of Love - Hadley reflects on her time with Eleanor and begins to worry that she made the wrong choice.

When I Am With You - Hadley and Eleanor discuss their plans as the seasons begin to change and reflect on the time they’ve had together.

Your Kiss Is Like A Lost Ghost (AU) - AU in which Hadley is a reincarnated version of the original governess of Braidwood Manor, and when she returns in present day, she finds herself falling for Eleanor all over again.

Veil of Secrets (Flynn O’Malley x Marli Greene)

Running Out Of Words To Say - After the events of VoS, Marli heads home for real this time, but will either her or Flynn have the courage to tell the other how they really feel?

Bloodbound (Adrian Raines x Emeline Martinez)

All That Grace - Adrian has a beautiful night out planned for him and Emeline to prove his commitment to her, but her all too human immune system gets in the way. Though things always have a way of working out in the end…

It’s You And Me - An engagement party with Em’s family has Adrian wondering about the future, and the things they can and can’t have together.

We Can’t Tell The Future (AU) - What if Adrian hadn’t recognised Emeline in time when his body was overtaken by the serum? What if it had other lasting effects on his body?

Open Heart (Rafael Aveiro x Cora Chase) (Kyra Santana x Cora Chase)

Where You Belong (Rafael x MC) - AU. There is no attack on the hospital, and Rafael leaves Edenbrook for the last time. Cora realises that she has one chance before the man she loves is gone for good.

Guess I’d Rather Hurt Than Feel Nothing At All (Part One) - Months after their breakup, Cora and Rafael spend one more night together.

Just A Delicate Kiss (Part One.5) - Cora gets called into Ethan’s office, and her true feelings about Kyra come to light.

Everything You Kept Inside (Part Two) - After finding out that she is pregnant after a one night stand with Rafael, Cora has a lot to think about.

These Nights Never Seem To Go To Plan (Part Three) - Cora finally tells Rafael about the pregnancy.

America’s Most Eligible (Mackenzie Harris x Winnie Reed)

Me and My Ripped Jeans and You - Mackenzie goes over to Winnie’s apartment one afternoon and finds her girlfriend wearing her jacket.

My Sweet Honey Bee - Mackenzie and Winnie take the next step in their future together.

Desire and Decorum (Luke Harper x Jess Woodmire)

Let This Moment Be The First Chapter - Jess and Luke visit Luke’s estate together for the first time after its completion and their thoughts turn to the future.

No Beat, No Melody (AU) - The consequences of the duel.

A Garden You Never Get To See (AU) - The consequences of the duel, part two.

The One I Was Meant To Find (AU)

- Part One: Jess can’t take the pressure any more and runs away from the estate. Mr Harper comes to find her, and in the wake of an impending proposal, they finally admit their feelings for each other.

Losing Sight of You (AU) - Part Two: The morning after, Jess awakes with the man she loves, but she knows that this happiness cannot last.

Enough (AU) - Part Three: Left alone and scared for her future happiness, Jess knows that she has to do something before she finds herself wed to the Duke and torn apart from her beloved Mr Harper forever.

Your Kingdom (TRR crossover) - After becoming Queen, Alicia begins to look back over her own family tree and finds some things she didn’t expect.

The Heist: Monaco (Sonia Alves x Nina Nazario-Young)

This Woman Is My Destiny - Nina takes the biggest risk she’s ever taken, and Sonia gets a surprise visitor.

Let Me Go Home (part one, PM crossover) - Eighteen months after the events in Monaco, Nina brings Sonia home to meet the family.

Red Carpet Diaries (Matt Rodriguez x Bailey Johnson)

The Best Day With You - A little family fluff fic between Matt, Bailey and their daughter Sofia.

Across The Void (Sol x Bo Elara)

Oh, Let’s Get Lost - Sol and Bo take some time away to themselves, enjoying being in love on a distant planet away from everything else.

A Courtesan of Rome (Syphax x Korina x Sabina)

Lead Me Back Home (Syphax x MC focused) - Finally away from the grasp of Rome, Korina takes in the life she has built with the people she loves

Mother of the Year (Thomas Mendez x Lori Day)

Surrounded By Your Embrace - Thomas and Lori celebrate their two year anniversary together. Lori thinks back over their relationship and Thomas gets a present he wasn’t expecting.

Big Sky Country (Sawyer Oakley x Daphne Dehaven)

Scars On Our Hearts - After Sawyer is injured at the rodeo, he and Daphne get into a fight at the hospital about the decisions they’ve both made.

The Elementalists (Beckett Harrington x Hallie Russell)

Blades of Light and Shadow (Nia Ellarious x Aurora Feathertide x Imtura)

Nightbound (Nik Ryder x Willow Greeves)

The Royal Masquerade (Kayden Vescovi x Ophelia Aster)

Ride or Die (Mona x Rose Wheeler) (Ingrid Delaney x Rose Wheeler)

Distant Shores (Charlie Smith x Emily Hawthorne)

Unexpected Heiress (John Somerset x Marianne Hayes)

The Nanny Affair (Sam Dalton x June Martinez)

Queen B (Ian Kingsley x Briar Hughes)

Platinum (Shane Parker x Adelyn Oliver)

Sunkissed (Samson x Skylar Bell)

Wishful Thinking (Jaime Lewis x Kit Huxley)

Home For the Holidays (Holly Wright x Robyn Joy)

Baby Bump (Myra Dixon x Theo Cassidy)

Rules of Engagement (Leo Rys x Kaylee Buchanan)

Passport to Romance (Ahmed Khabbaz x Nell Shepherd)

#masterlist #I'm bored and should be sleeping so I'm doing some housekeeping #the royal romance #perfect match #it lives in the woods #the haunting of braidwood manor #america's most eligible #across the void #bloodbound #desire and decorum #veil of secrets

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chiseler · 5 years

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FATS WALLER: Baby Elephant Patter

Was Fats Waller put on this earth to send up inane pop songs, or did Tin Pan Alley busy itself churning out an endless supply of vapid tunes just to feed his enormous appetite for ridicule? Either way, it wasn’t a bad deal: while he was irrepressible in his vocal shenanigans and merciless in his mockery of cornball lyrics, Waller also bestowed on assembly-line songs unwarranted beauty. His touch on the piano was like a hummingbird’s wings, like sunlight scattering on moving water. The great clown of jazz, Thomas “Fats” Waller belongs, with Oliver Hardy and Roscoe Arbuckle, to that brotherhood of fat men whose girth serves to counterpoint their buoyant grace and delicacy. His music is at once thundering, voluminous, and dainty, like the “baby elephant patter,” he invokes in “Your Feets Too Big,” or like one of Disney’s hippo ballerinas twirling on pointe.

Waller’s own compositions are subtle and elegant, never hard-selling their melodies, but floating with insouciant ease and lingering like a complex perfume. His best songs were written with lyricist Andy Razaf, whose full—indeed overflowing—name was Andreamenentania Paul Razafinkerierfo, and whose great-aunt was the queen of Madagascar. Razaf’s lyrics for “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Honeysuckle Rose” fit the tunes so well that the words and music seem to be born from a single thought. He also wrote the bitter lyrics for “(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue?” which started as the complaint of a dark-skinned woman over men’s preference for lighter complexions (“All the race fellows crave high yellows”), but which Louis Armstrong stripped down and turned into an angry lament about being judged by one’s skin color. This transformation wouldn’t have worked so well if Waller’s melody hadn’t had the depth and authority of the blues.

Fats Waller is often accused of having wasted his vast composing talents, and he never earned a full place in the Great American Songbook despite the popularity of his two best-known songs. But he turned out a lot more delightful if too little known songs, from catchy toe-tappers like “Crazy ‘Bout My Baby” and “Aintcha Glad?” to lovely, softer tunes with a pensive touch, like “Blue Turning Grey Over You” and “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling.�� It is proper to lament that he didn’t record more instrumentals displaying his full musical talents, and that he was forced by the commercial demands of his record label to be instead an entertainer and comedian—but his comic performances are so marvelous that I can’t put my heart into such a complaint. After all, great musical comedians are rarer than great pianists.

The triteness and sentimentality that plagued popular song of the jazz age was Waller’s unfailing spring of humor. (The glories of Porter, the Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart et al. rose above this morass, but Waller rarely got to sing any great songs besides his own.) Once you’ve heard him make light of a shopworn lyric, you will never again be able to hear a straight rendition without snickering. Above all, he gleefully skewers the melodramatic hyperbole larded into love songs: if you break my heart I’ll die. In “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie,” Fats updates this to, “If you break my heart I’ll break your jaw and then I’ll die,” and in “Stay,” a duet with a female singer, when she sighs lugubriously, “And please believe me / Without you I would die,” he interjects, “’Course, I ain’t gonna let her die—no, I might kill her lightly…” He salvages (and savages) “The Curse of an Aching Heart,” a self-pitying bit of rubbish, with a spoken introduction: “Yeah, this is me—look at me, look at me! I look like something the cats had in the alley last night…” Then he sings the rest of the song like a drunken Pagliacci. Listen to a lot of Waller’s recordings, and the whole enterprise of the love song teeters on its throne, raising the question of whether passion can coexist with a lively sense of the absurd. (Irving Berlin wrote a song on this subject, lamenting, “I want to be romantic, but I haven’t a chance, / You’ve got a sense of humor, and humor is death to romance.”)

Alfred Appel, Jr. justly titled Waller the “King of Razz.”

All this clowning can’t conceal the iridescent brilliance of his playing, with its springy stride rhythm and gossamer arpeggios. No other pianist gave a more accurate demonstration of “tickling the ivories.” Occasionally, as though giving voice to his piano, he would cry, “Aw, the ticklin’ is so terrific!” He punctuates instrumental sections with exhortations to the band, a six-piece ensemble dubbed His Rhythm: conversing with the soloists (“Boy, would you plunk them strings? Plunk ‘em, plunk ‘em!”), and the instruments, as when he demands of a disgruntled-sounding muted trombone: “Who is you growlin’ at, woman?” He knowingly and sarcastically uses this kind of fractured grammar, so offensively imitated by white lyricists like Berlin (“It’s just the bestest band what am, honey lamb”), then turns it on its head by translating “your feets too big” into the peerlessly pompous, “Your pedal extremities are colossal.”

All the interjections, wordplay and verbal slapstick were ad-libbed, as he plowed through piles of mostly mediocre or worse songs he’d never seen before in marathon recording sessions for RCA Victor, fueled by sandwiches and gin. He veers into a prissy, whining falsetto or a goofy operatic basso profundo; scats, baby talks, reacts with surprise to the lyrics he’s singing, and enacts little spoken dramas in the background. But for all his hamming and volcanic spirit of ridicule, his teasing is never mean-spirited, and now and then he gives a straightforward, tender rendition that elevates a potentially cloying song like, “My Very Good Friend, the Milkman,” or reveals an unexpected gem like the charming tribute to a liberated woman, “A Little Bit Independent.” Despite his comic bent, Waller’s singing has far more heart and warmth than reptilian crooners like Rudy Vallee put into their high-pitched drone of seduction.

He made far fewer film appearances than one would wish, since his facial expressions are as finely calibrated for comedy as his voice. In Stormy Weather (1943) he does a duet with Ada Brown, accompanying her as she belts out a low-down blues and slipping in hilarious asides in response to her allegations of mistreatment (“Suffer, excess baggage, suffer!”), while his chubby features rearrange themselves into a mask of supercilious disdain or flinch in fastidious dismay.

Even his eyebrows had rhythm. Thick, black and extravagantly arched, they had the springy calligraphy of Hirschfeld’s pen-strokes, and when he sang they waggled up and down, saucy as chorus girls’ hips. His face was moon-shaped and, in black-and-white film, almost moon-pale, a striking backdrop for the eyebrows, the huge mouth daintily outlined with a mustache, and the round black eyes, which rolled dramatically or narrowed to sleepy, mischievous slits. A derby tilted over one eye completed this cartoon-like, yet minutely expressive face.

Alas, he died in 1943, not yet 40, at the height of his popularity. The cause was pneumonia, but his system was worn down from too much touring, too much eating, too much drinking, and the stress of legal wrangling over alimony payments. He was the son of respectable, strait-laced parents, his father a Baptist minister; young Thomas used to accompany his services on the organ, which remained his favorite instrument. As a teenager he played in movie theaters, and his recordings on the pipe organ use its vast palette to surprisingly light and graceful effect, creating watercolor-like washes of sound that still swing. His vocal mannerisms often show the influence of preaching, with call-and-response patterns and shouts of soul-fired joy. Predictably, his parents were opposed to his becoming a musician, no doubt predicting he would fall into evil company—as he did if the story can be believed that he was once kidnapped at gun-point and made to give a command performance at a birthday party for Al Capone. If true, this speaks well of Capone’s taste. It’s something to imagine, this meeting of two men who were both, in their very different ways, experts at misbehaving.

by Imogen Sara Smith

#Imogen Sara Smith #Fats Waller #The Chiseler

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theawkwardconfusedturtle96 · 7 years

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BREAKING NEWS

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9499595/chapters/23121486I FINALLY updated my Kent Parson fic! Next chapter is up. Hope y’all like it! :D

June 27, 2009 Las Vegas, Nevada. Less than twenty-four hours after his world began to shatter into pieces, Kent found himself all alone on a Friday morning in a large, bare, clinically sterile apartment right in the heart of Las Vegas, pressing his hands against the large bay windows as people bustled continuously along the Strip.

After the painfully long four rounds of drafting for the night, Kent had finally been allowed half an hour to say a tearful goodbye to his mother, stepdad, little sister and entire Italian extended family on both sides, and a broey but no less meaningful one to his New York neighbours and teammates before he was ferried away in a tinted, private car to the Montreal-Dorval International Airport and put on a late-night, red-eye flight to McCarran Airport. He was glad of the lack of gushing and the anonymity he got, as despite the fact that he knew that he would have to leave everyone he loved behind for this, he slowly began to realise the distance and lack of contact he would have with his small, loving circle. The images of his mom giving him the tightest hug he’d ever received from her, as tears flowed down both of their faces and wetting both his jersey and her best blazer, and her whispering into his ear in a broken voice ‘Just do your best and be happy, sweetie. That’s all you need to do to make us proud. You’ll always be the best to us no matter what’, before giving him a big kiss, and his stepdad trying but failing to control his tears, and saying ‘Knock ‘em dead, son’ before giving him a huge, manly hug, and his little sister not being able to say anything, but jumping on him and giving him numerous very wet and sloppy kisses, replayed in his mind the whole ride to the airport and the whole flight, interspersed with Bob’s radio silence and the memory of Jack lying, cold and unresponsive on the tiled, generic bathroom.

It was no wonder, then, that he cried silently the entire car ride and the majority of the flight, flicking through the photos and videos on his phone before falling into a fitful sleep.

Gently shaken awake by a sympathetic air hostess, Kent walked off the plane at a truly ridiculous time in the morning and into his new city in a strange, catatonic haze, which was only broken after he stepped out of the airport and was overcome with a searing wave of heat. Looks like we’re not in Kansas, anymore, Dorothy, he said wryly to himself, as he stepped into the taxi pre-hired for him and sped off to the apartment that management had procured for him, as he yawned and stared, wide-eyed at the landscape around him intermittently.

The taxi driver was very nice, and once Kent had reached his apartment block, he was given a pat on the shoulder and a business card pressed into his hand ‘in case you ever need anything, kid. This is a rough place for people as young as you’. Then they sped off, and Kent stared up at the seemingly never-ending high-rise block, wondering which level was level thirty and where his flat was.

After much swearing and walking up and down the corridor because the numbering in this ridiculous place was fucked up, Kent FINALLY found the door to his flat, and with a fair amount of trepidation, opened the door.

It was…..well, exactly what he expected and much better at the same time. Walking through, he noticed that it was a lot larger than he had anticipated. All the appliances were modern and the entire place just gave off the aura of being sleek and modern. The only thing was that it seems very….sterile. Granted, that was probably due to the fact that the place was completely bare, apart from his luggage and his hockey gear, and the larger than average single bed in the master bedroom, but still. It seemed empty, and devoid of any possibility of warmth and comfort. But, it was his, and in the end, that’s all that mattered.

Tired, cold, hungry and utterly spent emotionally from the events of the past day, Kent flopped onto the ledge of his giant living room window, so far one of his favourite parts of the place, and leaned against the glass, watching the . Briefly, he thought about what Zimms would have thought about this place, and about the city. After all, it was him who was supposed to be here, not little Kent, who has supposedly ‘ridden his coattails’ to success. He imagined that he wouldn’t have liked it very much. Or, at least, not more than Kent himself liked it at the moment.

On a sudden impulse, he checked his battered flip phone, which he was informed would soon be replaced with a brand new iPhone, a new invention by Apple. Despite his ten more messages and five more missed calls, there was nothing from Bob or Jack. Only a few texts from his family. Sighing, he quickly sent out a mass message to his family and friends that he was safe in his apartment which was greeted by smileys from his parents and requests for pictures from his friends and sister. He clicked one, and although the quality was, to be honest, utter trash, it received the most excited of reactions from everyone.

Smiling softly despite himself, Kent flopped into his bed and decided to take an untimely nap. He thought he deserved this one joy, at least.

He was awoken about five hours later by his phone blaring Britney at him. Expecting the best, he checked the call log excitedly, but it wasn’t Jack, or even Bob. He deflated, visibly. However, there were at least three or four missed calls from a variety of unknown numbers, followed by texts from these numbers all variations on the same theme of ‘Welcome to the Aces, rookie!’. Kent smiled again, unexpectedly, for the second time that day. This must be his new teammates, getting his number from the manager. Kent had no sooner replied to all of them then he was greeted with a loud knock on his door. Slowly opening it, he was immediately bowled over by at least five large, burly men all towering over Kent’s five-foot-ten frame.

Once he had recovered himself and gotten up off the floor, he was immediately enveloped in a huge group hug by these men before being installed in a circle on the floor, and his hands filled with boxes and boxes of food, toiletries and groceries, which he then methodically placed on his shiny new kitchen counter in a semi-orderly pile.

‘Hey, little Kenny, don’t you have any furniture yet?’, asked the tallest, which he’d previously been told was the captain of the Aces. Andy Dubrovnik, an American-born Russian, and the son of a famous KHL player, was only about thirty, one of the NHL’s youngest captains, and had been so since he was twenty-three. He was fast becoming one of the league’s rising stars, despite his age, and was probably one of the nicest hockey players in the league. But obviously, Kent didn’t know about THAT. Well at least, not yet, although he knew all his other stats.

Although he shuddered just a little bit at the nickname, Kent recovered and answered ‘No, cap. I only got here this morning, you see, and the flat was empty, and I’ve been asleep most of the day….so, yeah’. ‘You poor thing’, said Andy sympathetically. ‘All alone here in this empty flat after what you’ve been through’. Kenny started ‘How do you know about..’ but Andy cut him off, saying ‘Pretty much the whole hockey world knows about that by now. It’s all over the news, social media, everywhere. And of course we know, we were watching the draft online to see who’d we get. That’s why we came here as soon as we were told you got here. I remember how I felt when I first went to Montreal. It was horrible, and it wasn’t even too far away from my family. Anything you need, we’ll help you with. We’re a team, and we’re here for you’.

Kent was so touched by this that he unconsciously started crying again, sniffling suspicious before giving up and just wiping his eyes with his jersey. Luckily, another teammate had wisely brought a packet of tissues in his bag, and quickly got it out, giving it to Kent with a smile and a pat on the head. Kent gave him a weak smile back, before quietly saying, in a shaky voice ‘Thankyou all so much for this. I’m so glad all of you are here. I never expected any of this…I’m just…so grateful’. Andy gave him another quick squeeze, before booming ‘Alright, so now let’s have a proper introduction! Come, on, boys, speak up’, while everyone gave themselves a formal introduction to Kent, along with nicknames. The one who’d given him the tissues was Jeff ‘Swoops’ Troy, who turned out to be only a year older than him, another forward and unreasonably adorable to boot, and the others apart from Andy, who went by Dubs and was again, a forward, were Mischa ‘Kuzzy’ Kuznetsova, a defenseman, Leo ‘Lion’ Durand, the goalie and Oscar ‘Taylor’ Swift, another defenseman. After fairly demolishing much of the food (and soft drinks) that had been brought to Kent’s place, Kent now had a pretty fair working knowledge of the entire Aces roster, including coaching and management staff, and was feeling much less like a kicked puppy and much more like a teenager having a house party. They joked and laughed and gossiped, and at one point, someone put their phone into a docking system and they had a mini-karaoke and dance session, and Kent began to feel more and more like he’d been here forever.

After four hours, it had begun to get dark, and the lights on the Strip began to wink awake. It was a truly beautiful thing, and Kent, fascinated, sat on the floor admiring it for a long, long while before he was tugged along by his teammates on an impromptu Ikea trip since ‘you can’t live like this forever, man, you need to get some shit’. So, after an hour long trip, car filled to the brim and loud music playing the entire time with the windows down, an enjoyable classic Ikea lunch and a three hour shopping trip filled with the ridiculous shenanigans one could expect of five young and fun men, although Dubs tried many times to control their antics, Kent found himself in a cuddle pile on the floor back at home, with a truly ridiculous amount of furniture and cutlery all piled up in a corner of the living room, paid for with Kent’s first ever paycheck, ready to be assembled and placed in their proper places.

It was about ten minutes into this before Lion suddenly announced ‘MOVIE AND TAKEOUT TIME, GUYS!’, and the whole company bustled into ordering food, unpacking some of the cutlery and arguing fiercely over the best hockey movies of all time, while firing up their Netflix queues (how they brought their laptops here, Kent would never know), and within half an hour Kent found himself in a companionable swarm in front of Lion’s MacBook watching The Mighty Ducks, eating a slice of cheese pizza and laughing for what seemed like ages. It filled him with something he never thought he’d have again: hope. Something further compounded when Swoops, suddenly dropping his plate, proclaimed ‘Oh shit, Parson doesn’t have a nickname yet!’, and with the movie hurriedly paused, a loud and vehement discussion ensued, from which Kent was excluded apart from trialling suggestions.

Finally, after fifteen minutes of this, Dubs finally broke free and announced ‘Kent, on behalf of the Las Vegas Aces, we have formally decided that you’ll be henceforth called Parse! Apart from when you’re in trouble’, he said, winking.

Kent, well now Parse, smiled widely and nodded to give his assent, and the whole group erupted into cheers, before previously hidden alcohol was passed around to celebrate this.

Taking a half flute of champagne, Kent toasted, along with his group, to his new life, and as he sipped it, he tilted his head back and released a breath he didn’t realise he was holding.

Maybe things were going to work out for him here after all.

ao3 link:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9499595/chapters/23121486

#kent parson #omgcheckplease #kent parson vs the homo sapiens agenda #my fic #fanfic #omgcheckplease fanfic #las vegas aces

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