No Place Like Home

What Changed?

Ello there! My name is Scarlett. I'm writing this fan fiction for Seamus because I love his videos and they are a major source of joy in my otherwise depressed life. I'm an aspiring writer, and I thought I'd take a break from the book I'm working on to write this as a thank you to Seamus for his amazing videos. Now, I know that there must be so many things wrong with this story, or reasons why it could never happen, but honestly I don't really care. It's not a theory or anything, just a story, and I took some creative license. It's kind of long, but if you think it's any good please do send it to Seamus or something. Thanks so much Seamus! I'll stop talking now :)

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Ashlynn

 It was 12:13 am, but Ashlynn couldn't sleep. She never could. She tried, honestly, she did. But she just didn't understand the point. She would lay awake for hours, staring at the ceiling, but it never seemed to work. Sleep was dangerous. One never knew what might happen while they slept, as Ashlynn knew all too well. Besides, why should she waste her valuable time sleeping when she could be rereading Harry Potter, or rewatching Pixar movies, or practicing with her nunchucks? She used to sleep. Before. She always got to sleep in the end, though, usually only for a few hours (she was, unfortunately, still a human after all, and even the most incredible humans need some amount of sleep).

Glancing at the clock for the third time in the past five minutes, Ashlynn sighed and gave up. She reached over and grabbed her computer from where it lay charging next to her bed. In the past year she had taken to watching movie theories. It started out as research, but soon became more enjoyable when she discovered the Super Carlin Brothers. She pulled up their channel and searched in vain for a video she had yet to watch. There was nothing. It was a testament to Ashlynn's great impatience with the elusive sleep that she had somehow managed to watch all of the Super Carlin Brothers' videos in her sleepless nights. What was she to do now? Ashlynn supposed it must be time for her to find someone else to watch, hopefully someone with new ideas that she hadn't heard yet. Ideas that might help. She looked at the list of Super Carlin Friends and related channels. She clicked on a few before she heard a cheerful "'Ello there! How ya doing?" and felt the strangest feeling of familiarity, as if she'd met this boy before, or had perhaps been looking for him.

The boy on screen stared up at her through thick hair with warm brown eyes. He smiled and talked animatedly about Pixar. Ashlynn could tell he knew what he was talking about and, more importantly, was passionate about it. Before she knew it, she had watched sixteen of his videos, and it was past 2:00 am! She hadn't even realized! Who was this boy? Seamus Gorman, his name was. She'd never even met him, but she felt like she already knew who he was. Most people, when placed in front of a camera, act and and pretend to be someone they're not. But Seamus was different. He seemed so real that it was difficult to remember they weren't best friends. Another video started and Ashlynn lost herself again in his brown eyes, falling asleep to the sound of his cheerful voice.

Ashlynn awoke sometime around 7:00 am, still clutching her computer to her chest. Something was wrong. How had she slept in? How had she slept in the first place? Ashlynn didn't have an alarm clock, simply because she didn't need one. She always awoke between 5:45 and 6:15 am, not that she had a choice in the matter, giving her plenty of time to get ready before the art classes she taught at 8:00. It wasn't so much the time that was the problem, but instead it was, well, the time. Why hadn't she woken up at her usual time? Ashlynn was a creature of habit, and took great comfort in set routines and repetition. They meant she could push some of the uncertainty away, and focus on the familiar. Or, what had become familiar. She didn't exactly have a problem with changes in general, only the unexpected and unprepared ones. So she was understandably worried to find that she had slept in. Ashlynn never slept in. She just couldn't. Her body wouldn't let her. She had to chase down her dreams in ways other than sleep. Sleeping dreams were never good, and often more memory than dream.

Not wasting another second, Ashlynn hopped out of bed and dressed for the day in a plain shirt with several spots of paint on it, as well as her usual black yoga pants. Today she was teaching portrait drawing with charcoal in the morning, and advanced ceramics and 3D art in the afternoon. As she made her way to the London School of Arts, Ashlynn suddenly remembered the YouTuber she had discovered the night before. Seamus. She had been so busy watching him talk, that she had forgotten to listen to what he was saying. Oh well, she'd just have to rewatch the the videos from last night. The thought brought a smile to her face, though she want entirely certain why.

Ashlynn arrived at the class and started drawing a demonstration, pointing out how she used the charcoal to her advantage, and making note of the best ways to blend it. It was a good ten minutes before she realized who she was drawing. Ashlynn never drew from models, preferring to come up with her own characters. After she set the students to working on portraits of each other, she continued to draw with her eyes closed, as she often did. It was because of her closed eyes that she did not notice the boy who stopped outside to watch her through the wall of windows behind her. She did not notice his warm brown eyes or thick hair because she was sitting with her back to the window, eyes closed, swaying slightly to some tune only she could hear, and drawing a face quite similar to that of the boy watching from the other side of the glass.