Make it Big • •

[Dexter Zachary Naismith]

Dexter unfortunately found that once he had seen the touristy sites of New York once, they seemed to lose their appeal and on days like today when he had no classes and no work, he found himself struggling for activities. It wasn’t that he didn’t love the city, it was more to do with his hyperactive personality and the fact that he really couldn’t sit still for very long and that he always had to be entertained by something; there were only so many times that wax models could make the darked haired actor laugh. In fact, there was only one place in the city that never grew old and despite the fine rain that drizzled over the sitting, falling against the windows of Dex's tiny ocean view apartment, he quickly made the decision to throw some clothes on and make his way to the zoo in Central Park.

There was always something about the animals there that brought Dexter back from a stressful day, even though he hadn’t had one. He wasn’t so much a fan of seeing the animals away from their natural habitats but they were still amazing to see and it was really the cheapest way that he could, at least until he had a career and was making the big money doing what he did best, despite the state of his own apartment suggesting otherwise. However, his usual tornado lifestyle meant that even with all the mess surrounding his home, he never actually lost anything, always knowing exactly where things got dumped in the chaos.

Central Park seemed like nothing more than a mere hop, skip and jump away from his apartment, but in fact, it was just the speed in which Dex strode down the street, his long legs helping him duck and dive through the throng as he walked the countless blocks to the park, headphones in and the blast of his favourite playlist pounding in his ears as the rest of the world was blocked out behind the epic guitar riffs and mind melting drum solos. It wasn’t long before he was at the gates of the zoo, his mind pausing to wonder how the hell he had managed to get their so quickly.
His childish, overactive mind told him that, clearly, he had apparated to the zoo and that his memory of Hogwarts had been erased by the single word Obliviate and that he was, in fact, the wizard he believed he was and that the running around in a cape as a small child, pointing a magic wand (which was in fact a twig) was indeed his way of connecting with his true soul; the magic within that he would never be without, no matter where life took him.

He really needed to stop paying more attention to his worn Harry Potter novels than he did to his scripts and projects.

He began to move around the zoo slowly, his feet dragging along the ground as the goofy goon moved closer to the first enclosure, taking a moment to read the information board that sat near it. Dexter loved to catch up on the new information about the zoo, whether it was a new animal, farewell to a beloved creature or even something more simple and instructive, like; Don’t feed the animals. He had a habit of getting excited over the smallest of things, regardless of how trivial and useless they were to his life. It was just a part of his slightly childish personality; something that he believed he would probably never grow out of, regardless of what he saw in life or what age he was. Dexter would be sixty and fighting grandkids for their scooter and candy. Maybe it was a sign; maybe he had once been Peter Pan because he sure as hell wasn’t about to grow up. Yeah, Dex could see himself fighting off pirates and living with a fairy and flying through the night sky in search of his missing shadow.

Almost tripping over a child as he stepped away from the sign, Dexter moved along the path towards the penguins, as the overwhelming urge to see the little things waddle, slide and swim suddenly came over the tall blonde boy. Every time he saw them, he thought about the penguins in Madagascar and ever since that movie came out, he had developed a new love for the creatures, now convinced that they were intelligent beings with the power to take over the world if only they had opposable thumbs.

• • •

TAGGED! open!
WORDS! 756!
OUTFIT! Adorkable Actor!
LYRICS! The Phrase That Plays - - - The Academy Is...
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Ryan Annalise Nicole King]

Ryan spent every waking minute that she could at the zoo. She was well into the final stages of her dissertation and wanted to get all the time in that she could so her paper wouldn’t be lacking anything. A PhD in zoology might not have been where her heart was bound but it was an interest and it kept her parents happy and off her back so she could continue to do what she loved; tattooing. That was where her passion truly lived. And it was something she wanted to do for as long as she possibly could. There would be a day when tattooing wouldn’t be an option and though she hoped the reason was because she was too old to hold the tattoo gun without pain in her fingers, she had a back up in case that wasn’t the case.

If she had an early appointment at the shop, she took the time and put all her effort and skill into it but once she was done, she was at the zoo, working away at her paper. The only ones who even knew what Ryan got up to in her spare time were the big boss himself and Carter. But that was because he was basically the second in command and needed to be kept in the loop in case Ryan or anyone else was late for an appointment; which was something Ryan could say happily hadn’t happened yet. She usually gave herself plenty of time to run from one place to the other and stop for a coffee along the way. Today’s case was different though. She was so close to the end that she had made sure to keep the day entirely free at the studio so she could spend her day getting every last bit of information she wanted and needed. Then it would be weeks sitting in front of her computer, putting things in order, just to take them all apart and do it again. She was a perfectionist; plain and simple. And she wanted this paper to be perfect so there would be no question she deserved that PhD she’d been working so damn hard for. It wouldn’t just please her, it would make her parents excited. She was already getting weekly text messages from her mother about how “over the moon” she was for her little girl. And her father, well, as proud of her as he was, he wanted his little girl home again. She was the baby and the only one to leave the state of Montana for anything other than school.

And she was too much like her father to deny it. She needed to explore, she needed to be free. And her versions of that had been New York. Her mother had seen the world, traveling to Africa a dozen or more times and though Ryan wants that, too. It wasn’t the great plains that she had been feeling the call for. It had been the concrete jungle singing its’ siren’s song; much like it had for Carson King so many years ago. At least she could still get her fix of the wild animals she grew up with in the Zoo. Though they didn’t have penguins on the preserve, Ryan was oddly fond of the little guys in their built in tuxedo suits. She usually headed that way when she needed a break from the big cats she was fond of, and who were the main attraction of her paper. “Hey, Chris? I’m going to take a walk around. Stretch my legs a bit.” She called to the man in charge of the large cat enclosures. They’d become friends instantly when Ryan had gone in for the interview to ask about her options. She knew more about what she was talking about than the interns Chris hired on every year so he’d instantly said yes, she could do whatever she wanted. It helped as well, that her mother was pretty well known and that having her last name got her places with things like this.

She left her things where they were and grabbed her coat to fight against the rain outside. It was cozy in the little office space but it wasn’t the same as being in with the animals. And while it was raining, the cats weren’t likely to be out doing anything at all. So her day had been so far spent expanding her notes and making sure things were in proper order just so she could take them home and do it all again a dozen times more. Ryan was pleased so see that the zoo had patrons, despite the less than ideal weather. Only work kept her away so she understood the need to be there, even if the enclosures weren’t as large as she would have liked. But then again, she grew up where she did and the enclosures there were so large, it didn’t appear the animals were surrounded by a six foot fence at all; unless you were there at the fence itself. And like usual, she wasn’t paying much attention to where she was going and bounced right off someone’s back, stumbling a few steps before she landed pretty hard on her behind; thankfully missing the large puddle by mere inches.

Tag || Dexter Zachary Naismith
Words || 927
Clothes || Hero in Disguise!
Music || Fly --Maddie & Tae
Notes || <3!

[Dexter Zachary Naismith]

Dexter had never been pulled either way when it came to his dreams. He had been demanding scripts and stages since he was a little boy. His excess of energy had led him into gymnastics, but his passion had never truly been there. It had been great fun, and he benefitted from it now when he could list it on his resume as one of his few skills, along with speaking semi-fluent German and attending some sword fighting classes over the summer. It had filled up some of the spare time he had, and he figured it would do more good than harm in the long run. His parents had always supported him though, in his endeavour to pursue an acting career. They had their academic son in their eldest child, but even he had chosen that route of his own accord. He had wanted to become something brilliant, and he had made it there now. Although, knowing his brother, it wouldn’t be enough until he was at the top with people to boss around beneath him.

Dex was different. He didn’t care about power or wealth. He just wanted to make people happy. He wanted to make them laugh. In the Amateur Dramatics group he had been a part of before New York, he was known for being the comedy kid, and the one who always took on the role of the joker. It was different now though and he was spreading his wings and sampling a variety of roles within workshops and his college classes. He loved comedy, but he wanted to be more than that, too. He knew that there was more to making the masses happy than making them laugh. He was quite enjoying the action packed workshops that they put on after hours at the campus, but Dex wasn’t the type to set ambitions to go on for years. He took each day as it came, so while he might one day hope to hit Hollywood by storm, he wasn’t going to put a nail in that plan and make it something serious; not while he was still trying to master his Shakespeare.

Life was too already serious for five year goals. A person never knew what tomorrow was going to bring and if it messed up those grand plans then they took it a lot harder than they would have otherwise. Dex didn’t see the point, but he also wasn’t the kind to preach to people about the way they lived their lives. That’s why the zoo was great, regardless of the miserable weather. The animals didn’t care about the people passing by, who they were or what they did. They didn’t give a damn about kids throwing tantrums or stressed out parents. It was an odd sort of peace. Or at least it was until someone slammed into his back and made him stumble forward a few steps. He turned around to see the woman sitting on the damp ground now. He grinned, amused by the whole accident and then held out his hand. “Sorry, must have left my invisibility cloak on.” He said, though he honestly had no idea if the accident had been his fault or hers. Dex didn’t really care either. “You alright?” He asked, his southern accent still as strong as the day his parents took him from the tiny English hamlet.

• • •

TAGGED! Ryan Annalise Nicole King
WORDS! 576
OUTFIT! Adorkable Actor!
LYRICS! The Phrase That Plays - - - The Academy Is...
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Ryan Annalise Nicole King]

Ryan was notorious for not paying attention when she was walking around the rest of the zoo. She loved the place but her entire paper was dedicated to the big cats, everything else just sort of meshed together a little bit. There were places she usually paid more attention to than others but sometimes that wasn't the case either. Whenever she was at the zoo her brain usually turned to her paper, writing and rewriting it a dozen times in her head. She probably had more than enough research done to write a dozen papers but she'd been working on this for the longest time. It wasn't going to be finished until it was perfection. And right then, it still wasn't there. Soon but not quite. Ryan didn't even think her mother was this much of a perfectionist with her published works but then, Ryan only ever saw the finished results. She never saw just how much time and effort her mother spent getting to that finished product.

She'd been told on more than one occasion that she was just like her mother. Ryan had always thought it was because she cared so much for the animals around her. She'd never thought it was because she was such a perfectionist. Of course, with her line of work, she had to be a perfectionist. No one wanted a sloppy tattoo permanently part of their body. She thought of it as a compliment, being like her mother. It was something to strive for; if she hadn't wanted other things from life, like to walk out of her house without getting the odd looks she always got whenever she was back home in Vaughn, or bringing a smile to a customers face when their masterpiece was revealed to them after sitting in a chair for hours on end. It was the simple things that Ryan was after. At the end of the day she got more pleasure tattooing an initial into someone's flesh than she ever would have if she'd stayed home or moved straight on to a zoo or wildlife park somewhere.

Rain or shine, she could bring a smile to someone and give them a memory they weren't likely to forget. If it rained at the zoo, the animals tended to become quite lethargic and hid away wherever they could. There were some who loved the rain of course, or maybe it was just the attention they received. Ryan didn't know but for the most part, spotting one of the more energetic animals doing anything more than lazing about in the rain was unlikely. Ryan should have known better than to get distracted when she was walking around but it always just sort of happened every time. She never did it on purpose. However this was the first time she'd ever walked into someone's back. "Nope, you definitely are not sporting that particular Deathly Hallow, though right now I wouldn't mind borrowing it from you." She said, nervously giggling; she was so embarrassed that she'd even done that in the first place! She really needed to find her head! She gladly accepted his hand and his help up. "I am, thanks for helping this klutz up." She said, shaking her head at herself

Tag || Dexter Zachary Naismith
Words || 519
Clothes || Hero in Disguise!
Music || Fly --Maddie & Tae
Notes || <3!

[Dexter Zachary Naismith]

Dexter’s head was always a million miles away from where it ought to be. He had lost track of the amount of times he had almost been run over because he had totally blanked at a crossing. He slipped into imaginary world without a word of encouragement and his mother had always said it would be the death of him some day. Since moving to the every busy New York City Dexter was starting to think that she might actually be right. It wasn’t something he could switch off though. He vanished into a world of fantasy without even realising it most of the time and his journey home happened without even knowing how he had made it from the campus to his front door on more than one occasion. It also been the reason why he had been in trouble back when he was in school. He would fade into a daydream and then be called on by a teacher, left to flounder for an answer, and they would only let it happen so many times before they slapped him with a detention and called his parents about their son’s wandering mind.

Maths teachers had never cared for his acting dreams. Algebra wasn’t going to help him on the stage, but they wanted him to appreciate the value of ‘x’ more than he wanted to understand the world built by Shakespeare or Miller. It caused plenty of clashes back when Dexter was younger, but thankfully now that wasn’t a problem. His imagination was valued for the first time in forever, and it actually contributed towards a passing grade. He had hopes that it might continue to propel him forward after he graduated in another year, because Dex knew he couldn’t just spend the entirety of his career reciting lines from scripts and following stage directions exactly as they were written. He was already the guy who tossed away the assembly instructions when buying flat pack furniture and tried to figure it out for himself. More often than not there were screws left over, but nothing in his apartment had collapsed yet and so Dex took that as a solid win for his unconventional, and much more fun, method.

Life was already too bleak for too many reasons to keep things ordinary. He liked to introduce a spark with little things like that. Even now at twenty-two he would jump in puddles, quote pop-culture references loudly in public, and generally act like a fool without caring how the world perceived him. It was a pretty rare thing, he had been told, to not give a damn about people’s opinions of him, but Dex thought life was too short to worry about that. He had his ambitions, he was chasing them, and he had family and friends who he loved. It was really all he wanted and needed, so the rest of life should all be one big ball of fun. “I’m not sure I should lend it out to a total stranger at the zoo. You might set the tigers loose.” Dex joked with a grin, nodding his head towards their enclosure. “And I’ve read ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’ enough to know I’d prefer that not to happen.” He added, alluding to a childhood he had yet to grow out of.

• • •

TAGGED! Ryan Annalise Nicole King
WORDS! 557
OUTFIT! Adorkable Actor!
LYRICS! The Phrase That Plays - - - The Academy Is...
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Ryan Annalise Nicole King]

Ryan loved the animals, all of them. But she had a soft spot for the large cats, the lions, the tigers, the cougars and all the rest. She grew up surrounded by them all, by all sorts of animals that probably shouldn’t live through a Montana winter. But the animals preserve, her mother and the team, did a fantastic job winterising their homes. They were still outdoor enclosures but they had caves with heaters and heated pathways through the enclosures so the animals who weren’t used to it could roam freely even when the show fell, to hunt their prey. The ones that were acclimated really just did as they pleased without a care or worry they would become too cold. Ryan had always thought she was one of the luckiest kids around. After all, how many people could say they had a pet tiger named Charles or a lion named Lucy? Who else could claim waking up every morning as a child to an owl in their rooms, demanding to be let back into their cages to sleep the day away? Ryan would bet there weren’t many.

The King brood had been a lucky bunch of kids. Their parents let them make their own decisions, their own mistakes and let them learn their lessons without much interference from them. They also let them follow their own paths. If they didn’t want to deal with the animals, they didn’t have to. They only asked that they finish their education. They had no better tutor for zoology but not all of them wanted to follow in their mother’s footsteps. Even Ryan could have gotten a degree in Fine Arts or something like it and have art be everything for her but she chose zoology because she had just as much passion for the animals as she did tattooing. One she had done her entire life while the other only overlapped for the last ten or so years.

“Oh, I don’t need the cloak to do that.” She said, grinning. Ryan had been in the tiger enclosures at the zoo more times than she had fingers to count them on thanks to her knowledge of the beautiful creatures. Her name may have gotten her in the door for the interview but it was her skill and know how that landed her the opportunity. In truth, she probably should have done what her mother did; run off to be with the animals in the wild but part of her thesis was on the treatment and behaviour in large cats brought up in captivity. At least the zoo in Central Park had bigger enclosures. She’d seen some that were barely more than crates! “Don’t be silly! Tigers don’t like beer.” She said with a shake of her head. “They prefer Vodka.” Ryan teased. Her mother had found the book when her eldest brother was still crawling around the ranch and it had been read to every single one of them afterward. As far as Ryan knew, that book was still one of Erin’s favourites. “But if you don’t want to lend your cloak to a stranger, I suppose we’ll have to become fast friends. I might not need it to let the tigers out to play but I might for the penguins. Someone needs to give Skipper and the gang a helping hand. I’m Ryan.” She said, holding her hand out to shake that of the man who’d saved her from a growing puddle.

Tag || Dexter Zachary Naismith
Words || 618
Clothes || Hero in Disguise!
Music || Fly --Maddie & Tae
Notes || <3!

[Dexter Zachary Naismith]

Dexter still had a long way to go before he could proudly announce that all of his dreams had come true. Then again, he was a boy with a lot of dreams. He wanted everything and anything, and something new was added to his list at least once a week. He didn’t want to miss out on life, that was his problem. He was chasing an acting career ultimately, and Dex knew enough to know that he could make it if he put in the hard work and showed the commitment that his professors and previous teachers saw in him. He wasn’t like some in his class though who literally breathed only for the stage or the screen. No, he wanted other things, too. Eventually, he’d like a family, but that was in the distant future. He wanted to see as much of the world as he could, maybe have a dabble at writing or music, one day loan his voice to a character, and possibly give something back to the world. He had been lucky in his life that he had never struggled with anything. If he had wanted or needed anything his parents had been able to provide for him, but his brother Joe had big medical problems and Dex had watched and studied how to help him out, but his heart of gold strained to do more for other people, too.

It was a good job he was a bundle of energy really, or else he might be exhausted with all that he longed to do. He knew how to pace himself though, and he took his time when it came to the big stuff. Dex watched people get worn down when they took on too much, and those people never listened when those around them warned them. They just soldiered on until they were really, really sick and their health really did suffer. He didn’t want to be like that. If he ever did make it big he didn’t want to be a headline in the papers or on the internet for looking awful with suggestions of overworking. He wanted to be the happy-go-lucky, hyperactive character all of his friends knew him as now. It was who he always had been, and Dex didn’t want that to ever change, not really.

“Well all they’d get from me is Red Bull. And I’m sure they don’t need that. Flying tigers is the last thing New York needs.” He stated seriously, like it was something that might actually happen on a Tuesday afternoon if he looked out of his window at the right moment. His imagination had a way of making the ridiculous and the crazy seem like something that would be completely normal. Dexter often prided himself on it, even when others shook their head at him. It kept life interesting. “And I think the penguins are sneaky enough. Haven’t you seen Madagascar?” He asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m Dexter. Not a mad scientist or a serial killer though. Just plain Dexter.” He grinned. His name often worked as an ice breaker as well as an introduction to people. He was quite fond of it, and liked that it was a little more uncommon than most.

• • •

TAGGED! Ryan Annalise Nicole King
WORDS! 552
OUTFIT! Adorkable Actor!
LYRICS! The Phrase That Plays - - - The Academy Is...
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Ryan Annalise Nicole King]

There wasn’t much left for her to do around the zoo anymore. She was almost ready to sit at her desk, her laptop in front of her and put all her notes into proper order and fret over it a hundred times over two weeks before finally sending it off to her mother for a read through and then send off to where it needs to go so she could be considered for a PhD in zoology. She was hoping she wasn’t in over her head with all of this. It had been what she’d been striving for her entire life. She had wanted to be like her mother since before she could walk or talk. It had been like that with all of them. Their mother was an incredible person, there were people lining up to have an internship with her! Ryan and her siblings got to grow up surrounded by it!

Without having her mother be who she was, Ryan wasn’t sure if she would ever have walked down the path that she had. She might never have realised her love for great, big cats or any of the other animals in the preserves care or that she wanted more than anything was a PhD like her mother but to know that it wasn’t her whole world. She might never have met Max, found her passion for tattoos and drawing or have moved to New York. The what if game wasn’t something Ryan liked to play though so she was just thankful for what she’d been born into and happy to keep reminding herself that every single day; especially through the next month or more. “Well, since that’s already happened, I suppose you’ll just have to come up with something more creative. Flying tigers just don’t do it anymore.” Ryan said with a grin.

“Where do you think Hollywood got their names?” Ryan teased. She had no idea if that was actually true or not but she liked to think the penguins from the movie were modeled after the penguins in the zoo. They were some of the most mischievous animals she had never seen. They were sneaky and Ryan was positive that if they wore sleeves, they would have something up them. “The red headed mad scientist had been my hero when I’d been a kid.” Ryan admitted with a laugh. “But just plain Dexter is nice, too.” The name had actually stuck with her when she’d been a kid for the longest time. It made her laugh actually when the show had started. It had honestly reminded her of that cartoon. She’d thought when she found out that it was almost perfect. The mad scientist turns into the serial killing mad man. “So not mad scientist or serial killer Dexter, want to have a look around?” She asked, grinning up at the tall, dark haired man and holding her hand out to him.

Tag || Dexter Zachary Naismith
Words || 523
Clothes || Hero in Disguise!
Music || Fly --Maddie & Tae
Notes || <3!