Not That I Think Any Of You Darlings Are That Silly But Yeah Please Don't

Very cute and also sugar is the solution to all problems :)

for the short stories thing, 1 or 6 w meremine ?

1. Things you said at 1 AM

2. Things you said under the sky and in the grass

In the days leading up to graduation, Michael avoids Christine. He’s never been great at identifying his own emotions, but he’s in the midst of one, and it’s a bitch. It’s like, when Christine is away, he wants her there, but when she’s there, he’ll start thinking how wonderful she is, and then his throat will tighten, and a pain will start behind his eyes. It sucks ass.

“You think it’s because she’s going to a different college than us?” Jeremy asks one night. He’s sleeping over at Michael’s house, and they’re in the middle of one of those late night heart to hearts, where Michael is high enough to tell Jeremy worrying secrets, like how the the presence of Christine suddenly makes him physically ill.

“I support her in that,” Michael insists. “NYU is her dream. I’m not an asshole.”

“I’m not saying you are. I’m just saying you’re probably freaking out ‘cause you’re going to miss her. Like, how many friends have you had the experience of missing?”

You Michael doesn’t say. Jeremy knows that the Squip incident was hard for Michael, and there’s no need to dredge that up. It’s true that Jeremy was the only friend Michael ever had prior to that, and he doesn’t have a lot of experience with saying goodbye to people he cares about. One good thing about Jeremy abandoning Michael was that since Michael could’ve never anticipated that happening, he hadn’t had time to dread it before it started.

(At least he hadn’t had time to really dread it. There had maybe been this fear of in the back of his mind that Jeremy could leave him someday, but it’d been easy to shake off as unrealistic, like the fear of his airplane crashing when he visited his grandma in the Philippines)

Even so…

“I’m morally opposed to making a big deal of her leaving,” Michael says. “I’m not that big of a dick.”

“Yeah, but you’ve got to admit that it’s getting to you,” Jeremy says, like he’s wise, which he isn’t. “I know what you’re like. You’ll act like nothing’s happening, then all of a sudden it’ll be too much, and you’ll have a breakdown or something.”

Michael rolls his eyes. Jeremy is the last person to get to lecture others about breakdowns.

“You should find a way to tell her,” Jeremy continues. “Y’know, about how you want her to be happy, but you also want her to stay in touch. She’s a big part of our lives!”

“That’s like saying she has to keep in touch.”

“It’s like keeping the door open. Or you could just keep ignoring her. Your choice.”

Michael doesn’t answer. He thinks of how Jeremy used to make weird noises and run off whenever Christine looked in his direction. He thinks of how scared Jeremy was to start things. Michael’s not like that. He didn’t start things because he wasn’t interested, and he’s not interested in ending them either. He’s hella excited to start college, but the little triumvirate he, Christine, and Jeremy have formed complicates things. Michael is bad at navigating relationships at the best of times. How is he supposed to make sense of one that’s rapidly changing?

———-

Middleborough High hosts something called Project Graduation for the graduating seniors. After they receive their degrees (and pose for a million pictures with friends and relatives), they’re all loaded into a bus for a night of Good Clean Fun™. It’s the school’s way of making sure they don’t celebrate the end of their high school career by getting hammered and causing trouble. It’s the opposite of cool, but everybody goes, ‘cause it’ll be their last night together.

The school rents out the Palace Playland theme park for the entire night, ending at five AM, and sets them loose to ride all the rides, play all the games, and eat all the junky carnival food. Until a while past midnight, that’s what Michael does, always accompanied by Jeremy and Christine, but also by the other members of the Squip Squad. It’s fun, and it’s weird. It’s like after a year and a half of being in the same friend group as Chloe Valentine and yet incredibly unsure of her, she’s screaming in the seat in front of Michael on Splash Mountain and in that moment he loves her a little. It’s like he can watch Rich losing at one of those ring toss games, and for the first time ever, he can’t even find a trace of the kid who used to bully him. Michael’s friends are his friends, and he’s so lucky to have had them.

Much as Michael likes the amusement park ambiance, there’s only so much he can take in one go. That’s a thing with him. Voices are loud. Lights are bright. Things that are the funnest ever for four hours can get grating after five, and near unbearable after six.

Jeremy knows.

So does Christine.

“Let’s take a walk,” Christine suggests, so the three of them do. They weave their way through the rides and the food and the games, Christine’s hand in Michael’s, and Jeremy holding on to his shoulder. They find a grassy area a little behind the kiddy rides, which is mostly uninhabited, since high schoolers generally aren’t in the market for the teacups and choo choo trains when there are rollercoasters to conquered.

They sit down.

For a long time they don’t say anything. Michael leans back against a tree, and watches the ferris wheel lights from this new, safe distance. Jeremy leans back into Michael’s lap, and Christine leans back into Jeremy’s, and Michael revels in how good it can feel to be buried, at least when it means being buried by the best people he knows.

His favorite people.

And just like that, the thing starts with Michael’s throat, and then he has to take off his glasses and rub his eyes, ‘cause they’re getting into the act too.

Maybe Jeremy’s right. Maybe Michael should analyze what’s going on, and tell Christine before it’s too late. Maybe he should be all like ’yo, Christine, no big deal but I’m terrified that you won’t be a part of my life anymore after tonight, and terrified of how much it’s gonna hurt to lose you’.

Christine beats him to the punch.

“You two know I love you, right?” she says.

“We love you back,” says Jeremy. He elbows Michael, who can only nod.

“I’ll miss you so much,” she continues.

“Can we…” Michael swallows. He thinks he knows what he wants to say. It’s not even all that melodramatic or sappy! It’s just hard.

“Can we…?” Christine repeats.

Michael has to clear his throat. “I think I want a plan. For how we’re gonna keep in touch. Like a day. Jeremy and me are gonna room together, but you’re going to be in New York, and we should decide what day we’re gonna Skype, and whether or not we’re going to meet up over winter break, or if we’re never going to meet up again, because if this is it I need some time to get used to it.”

Christine turns to face Michael, frowning as though she’s a little perplexed. “Of course we’re going to meet up again.”

Where? Michael doesn’t say. When he doesn’t say either. He tries to smile. He’s not proud of the way the corners of his mouth keep turning downward of their own accord, no matter how hard he tries to make them behave.

Christine turns away. “We’ll Skype on Tuesdays,” she says. She wipes her eyes. “We’ll meet up the first day of winter break that we’re all back. And if you guys cry, I’m going to cry too.”

“I wouldn’t dream of crying,” says Michael, more than a little tearfully.

“We’re not going to cry,” Christine agrees. “You know why?”

“Why?” asks Michael.

“Because I’ve got cotton candy in my purse, and we’re going to eat that instead.”

Jeremy snorts out a surprised laugh, and Michael laughs, and Christine pulls the cotton candy out of her bag, brandishing it like it’s a flag. They don’t say anything more about the changes to come, but at least they’re together for now.

You guyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyys, I'm just watching Tangled and omgggggggggggggggg I See The Light is just musically and visually EVERYTHIIIIIIIIING like I caaaaaaaaaaan't, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, so yeah, love love love love love love love love love!!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

Omgggggggggg you guys this is so cool 🥰🥰🥰

One of the neatest bits of trivia I’ve been able to find about Little Shop of Horrors is the story behind the dog from Somewhere That’s Green, the stuffed one and the real one.

So during the original run of Little Shop, Ellen Greene met the puppeteer for Audrey II, Martin P. Robinson. He worked as a puppeteer on Sesame Street, most notably for Mr. Snuffleupagus. They started dating and somewhere around this time, she also got a cocker spaniel that she named Snuffy after the character he played.

Now that alone is really cool but there’s even more to it.

When she was filming the Little Shop movie, she wasn’t able to see her dog as much anymore due to the fact that they were filming in England and she lived in New York. Knowing this, the director, Frank Oz, gave her a stuffed animal that looked just like her dog to cheer her up. That same stuffed dog ended up making it into the film and an actual cocker spaniel (not Snuffy, a different dog) was also brought in to play Audrey’s dog in her fantasy.

Sources!

https://playbill.com/article/rare-photos-letters-and-memories-in-ellen-greenes-little-shop-of-horrors-scrapbook-com-352023

https://filmhounds.co.uk/2021/12/ellen-greene-on-little-shop-of-horrors-35th-anniversay/

so so beautiful

watercolor brooke cuz i adore her :p

Blinkie Tutorial

Templates you'll need:

First step, open IbisPaint and import the pink blinkie base. This is just to keep the aspect ratio the same, so don't worry about preserving the pink blinkie after you import it.

For this tutorial, I'll be making a CFS blinkie with this flag as the background. You can use any color or background. If you're using a horizontal striped flag like I am, be sure to select perspective form so it will automatically resize, and then you can stretch it to fit the blinkie.

Now that your background is done, you can add text, decoration, etc!

Now it's time to add the actual blinkie part. Insert the black and white template on a new layer right on top of the background. It should fit perfectly.

If you want to keep it black and white, ignore this next step. Here I will show you how to color the dots easily. I'll be picking purple and blue for my dots.

Make two layers above the blinkie part and set them both to clipping layers. One will be for recoloring your white dots, the other for you black dots.

Color one of the layers entirely with your first color, then set it to "Lighter Color". This will color only your black dots.

Do the same with your other color on the other layer, and then set it to "Darker Color". This will color only your white dots.

Boom! Now you've got your first frame!

To get your 2nd frame, simply click the invert button on the blinkie frame.

Now you've got both your frames!

Now just pop these frames into EzGif's Gif Maker (or any other gif maker), and you're done!

Congrats! You've made a blinkie!

Yo Tumblr it's Kitty, this is a George Salazar appreciation post, nothing interesting to say, just yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas, ok byeeeee, peace and love ✌️😊✌️

what is everypookie in your au’s favorite color / food / music

(you can just pick one to answer or you can answer however many you want idk it depends on how yappy you’re feeling hfbcbfnvvbv)

im always yappish dont play. but i might not have answers for some sorry💔‼️

jenny- blue🤷‍♀️ shes just a blue girly, food, shes picky as hell so so picky (sensory problems) i think french fries are a safe food for her, hard to mess em up (ah chili fries 😉) she prefers simpler foods, and also hates when her food touches (shes so me) also not fav but food related, she hates anything minty post squip and also wont drink mtn dew out of fear. MUSIC ahhh hmmm i think she would listen to certain video game tracks and a lot of instrumental things, music being used as a calming factor for her, in general she just listens to more calm music, louder stuff overstimulates her. i think she would listen to certain musicals for christine aswell 😕🙏

mikey- red methinks ☺️ yeah, fav foods are her mothers cuisines i guess the word would be? whether it be some kind of french dish from Blake or a filipino dish from Jo!!! mikey isnt picky and eats like anything. Music is the same as michael which is established, yk the bob marley kind of stuff, i think she would also listen to certain video game soundtracks

christine- i get green vibes from her so hard but like, her rainbow glitter shoes and various colorful outfits make me think she cant pick a fav, she loves them all :3 food im not sure but music is obviously! showtunes, musical theatre, whatever you wanna call it. she loves loves it, (i hc christine as audhd and her special interest is musical theatre btw :3)

brooke- i think her fav color is pink, dk why but . pink :3 food!!! frozen yogurt duhh!!!! i think she would be a coconut kind of girl!!! or various types of fruity flavors, love the rep of lactose intolerant who just ignores it till she suffers 🙏 music!! brooke chappell roan liker!!! yippee!!! she likes girly music and especially after realizing shes bi she likes to listen to various sapphic artists, especially songs she can relate to

chloe- pink but more of a magenta almost purpleish. food..? hmmmmmmm hmm 🤔🤔🤔 shes probably like a health buff girl and likes salads, but her fav food is like sour candy and she enjoys having brooke eat sour candies to watch her reaction teehee, she also enjoys frozen yogurt with brooke, shes also a fruity flavored girl. music! hear me out, she only listens to her fav stuff alone and lies when someone asks, but she likes some hardcore shit, like. screaming in music form, helps her debrief and manage her anger a bit

jenna- that girl loves purple shes a purpled personality girl she loves purple !!!!!! 💜 not sure on food but music..., hmm.. she likes quote tiktok music, whatever that is, her taste is forever changing, she likes to listen to whats popular and trending

just the girls for now because i think about them a lot more than the boys in this au ☺️ .. 😄😁 i love them so much

LET'S TALK COSTUMES YALL!

I don't completely understand the dislike of the Wembley production too well (It's a non-replica production yall, for what it is it's a lot of fun!) but I have seen that a major point of contention for people seems to be the costumes, so I wanted to create a post discussing why I think they are done very well.

First off, they are wonderfully colorful- one of the things that always concerns me in costuming is a disappearance of color in favor of darker neutral colors, but even the characters that have closer to neutral pallets- Rusty, Momma, the Components- all still have elements of color within their designs, and different textures and shapes to make them visually interesting. As this musical is a dream being had by a little kid, the colors also help reflect this as well- Control is an imaginative child, whose made up world reflects that.

The three main engines (Rusty, Greaseball, Electra) all have very distinct appearances, marking them as principal figures and representative of the three different types of engine we see- diesel, steam, and electric. All three have unique color pallets and silhouettes- the exception being Rusty, who shares similar design elements with Momma (though not quite the same colors). The are the main three racers the story revolves around, and they stand out accordingly.

The thing about the other costumes that interests me, however, is how despite the fact that the rest of the characters in the show are all different colors (with the exception of the Components, whose costumes denote them as a group unique to Electra), there are certain design elements used on the other engines, coaches, and freights that helps denote them as such.

The champion engines are the easiest example here- they all have identical costume elements, just done in different colors. All of them have fin-like hairstyles, and identical plating: shoulder pieces that when an actors hands are at their sides can stretch up to their ears, a rounded breastplate with the symbol of the engine in question, and two pieces for the legs.

The coaches also have this- despite being a myriad of colors and having elements unique to their design, they are a couple through lines- namely a piece around the waist than fans out similar to a skirt, and padding on the shoulders (except for Pearl, but she's got other stuff going on there). They also have more form fitting pieces on their legs- similar more to regular pants or leggings, which makes the detail at the waist and the padding at the shoulders the widest parts of the silhouette.

The freights also have a very similar construction of their costumes- oversized pants and large vests with shoulder plating, and then smaller pieces for the arms- they all very clearly do the same job, despite being different colors and with different patterns (Hydra is not an exception to this, but there are subtle differences signifying how he differs from the others- the plating on his arms is not as bulky as the others, the colors on his pants are inverted, and the vest comes down to his waist rather than stopping below his ribs, giving a smoother silhouette and less bulky appearance, to name a few examples).

And of course, the Components- all trucks like the freight, but their main job in the show isn't what they carry- it's to make Electra look good. As such, they all very clearly fit Electra's aesthetic in a way that none of the other coaches or freight fit the other engines- complementary silver and white to their blue and silver, with the only personalization their belts and the shape of the protrusions from their plating. (They aren't the focus of the next picture but I love it too much not to put here in some fashion.)

All of this is deliberate attention to detail- as the majority of theatre-goers are not going to be intimately familiar with the characters, and the train types, and the roles, and the story, and- you get the idea. The shapes of a character's costume helps denote them into a group- if nothing else, an audience member can tell you "oh, that's an engine" or "that's freight". It also helps people sitting further away to track the action a little better- costume details and textures will become invisible at a distance, but bright colors, large shapes and consistent silhouettes help everyone have a good time.

So, if you didn't know anything about the musical, what could you tell me about the trains in this picture?

Reblog to give the person you reblogged this from a Croissant (🥐).