Prologue
If you are reading this, and it seems that you are, chances are pretty good that you are wondering who the Gothy Crumpets are. The Gothy Crumpets are an idol group inspired by SNSD a.k.a. Girls Generation, although the Crumpets are a bit darker musically. At any rate, they are also influenced by artists such as Dreamcatcher, 2NE1, AOA, CLC, EXID, Apink, Girl's Day, Wonder Girls, Mamamoo, Orange Caramel, Ladies Code, and so on. While dark-ish, most of the Crumpets’ music is upbeat and danceable, in a manner similar to the theme song from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Naturally the girls are huge Tim Burton fans, and they all agree that The Nightmare Before Christmas is the greatest movie ever.

The Crumpets are: Analey, Kari, Sarah, Tabitha, Tinsley, and Yulia. The girls live and train at the Looking-Glass Academy of Arts where they are considered the elite of the elite, as well as the face of the school. Despite their high status, the Crumpets must work hard, and are held to very principled standards by themselves, the Academy, and their fans.

The Crumpets tour regularly and have released a number of albums, with Dark Alice being their most recent. While they are best known for singing and dancing, they are each multi-talented, excelling in many other art forms, and are involved in business, science, philanthropy, and a host of other activities.

The whole thing began when Victor Eobseo (pronounced “ob-so”), an artist, inventor, and self-made billionaire, decided it was high time to create the greatest art school in the world. He envisioned something that would essentially become the Hogwarts of art schools. Despite his extreme wealth, it took decades of hard work to make this happen. He first formed the Consortium of Creative Institutions (usually referred to just as Consortium), a cooperative group of schools, studios, and production companies. Through the Consortium, Victor created an alliance of business partners, assembled a world class staff, and designed and oversaw the construction of a very special campus. Ultimately his vision became reality, and the Looking-Glass Academy of Arts was born.

The Academy’s campus, one hundred acres in size,  is located at the edge of downtown Zeitgeist. Looking-Glass’ facilities cater to nearly every form of art imaginable, including writing, visual arts, performing arts, and music. The many campus buildings, while designed with function in mind, sacrifice nothing in terms of aesthetic appeal. Most buildings are neo-Victorian in nature — some whimsical, some elegant, some imposing, and all are architectural perfection.

Looking-Glass students enjoy the very best of the best. The teachers at Looking-Glass are all world-renowned artists teaching in no-expense-spared, state-of-the-art facilities, with Victor Eobseo at the helm as the Academy’s dean. Resident students live in dorms where they are fully immersed in a world in which imagination is everything. The Looking-Glass mission is simple: Make the world a better place through creativity.

Each segment of Looking-Glass shines as a standalone. For example, sculptures made by Academy students and graduates adorn facilities throughout the world. Looking-Glass writers routinely pen best sellers, screenplays for blockbusters, and lyrics for hit songs. With so much talent in one place, this pool is often funneled into collaborative works such as documentaries, movies, musical groups, TV shows, and so on.

The aging Dean Eobseo began to think about who would head the Academy when he was no longer able. Perhaps that is why he began seeking out a small group of students to form an elite cadre that would represent the school and become the crown jewels of Looking-Glass. It didn’t take long to realize that a group of girls — longtime resident students who refer to themselves as the Gothy Crumpet — were perfect for this mission.

The Crumpets had naturally formed a strong bond while living and studying together for many years. They are all extremely talented as individuals, and when collaborating together, they bring out the best in each other. Naturally conflicts do arise, but even without outside mediation, they are always able to settle their disputes quickly and with minimal drama.

Before the girls were even interviewed, construction began on a new dorm located between Dean Eobseo’s private home, Ravenhurst Manor, and the Looking-Glass campus. Everyone knew that Dean Eobseo was up to something, but what?

Prologue-ish
It seems that you are a bit interested in the Gothy Crumpets — after all you have read this far. If this is the case, you are probably wondering about their name, so this seems to be a good time to tell you the story of the dogpile.

Founded nine years before the Looking-Glass campus was finished, the Looking-Glass Academy was originally housed across the street on the Consortium Campus. Despite being a repurposed office complex the Consortium Campus really is a very cool place. When you have the kind of money that Victor Eobseo has, very little isn't top-shelf. To this day, the Consortium Campus remains an administrative center and classroom facility for many of the member schools. At any rate, all of the future Crumpets had joined Looking-Glass, or “the Glass,” as the students call it, back when it was housed at the Consortium, so this is where the girls’ dorms were when they first started. About two years before the Glass moved into its new facilities, Analey, Kari, Sarah, Tabitha, Tinsley, and Yulia all moved onto the same floor, and became roommates (two to a room, which was rotated biannually). Each floor area contained bedrooms (in this case, three), bathrooms, and a common living-room, usually referred to as the TV room.

In the evenings, the girls, like most of the students on most of the floors, would gather in their TV room to relax a bit before going to bed. It wasn’t uncommon for them to bring out pillows and blankets and flop down on the floor as if they were having a slumber party. One particular evening, after an especially strenuous day, they found themselves sprawled out in their TV room, tired and slap happy. With “Sven" (a jack-o-lantern-headed lamp that they use as a night light) standing guard on an end table, the girls chatted away. As they were barely able to keep their eyes open, their conversation quickly degraded into silliness — not that it had started at a very cultured level, mind you.

Kari was lying on the floor with her head propped up against one of the sofas. She looked around sleepily at her dorm-mates and muttered, “We have quite the dogpile going here, don’t we?” 

There was a moment of silence followed by a chorus of giggling, with Yulia questioning, “We have a dogpile going?” 

Defending her comment Kari fired back, “I don’t know...we’re all piled up…on the floor...like dogs...ok?  Don't tease me, I’m tired and I have no idea what I’m saying.”

Regardless of the initial reaction, “dogpile” stuck as the term for moments like these, in which some of the girls’ best ideas would be born. Case in point: At this very dogpile, the Crumpets got their name.

While the dogpile discussion was still playing out, Sarah looked around and realized that all of the girls had something from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Be it a blanket, slippers, nightshirt, plushy, or hat, they all had something. Once the conversation faded, Sarah shared her observations, saying, “Has anyone noticed that we have a lot of Nightmare stuff and that we tend to wear a lot of black? Are we Goth?” 

Sarah is the youngest and has a sweet and unassuming air about her, and as such, her mates gave her inquiry some serious-ish thought. 

Tabitha replied, “Not that there's anything wrong with being Goth, I just think our level of commitment isn’t really full-on Goth.” 

“Yea, we’re more Goth-lite with a dollop of Candy Goth,” Analey added.

Tinsley threw in, “We’re Goth-y.” 

Yulia giggled. “Goth-y?” 

Sarah, unclear on exactly what all of this might mean, looked around and thought to herself, “Whatever we are, we really are rather cute.” To convey her assessment, she decided to say, in her best “Sally” voice (paraphrasing what Sally said about the soup she used to poison Doctor Finklestein with in Nightmare), “We’re scrumptious!” 

Despite normally going rather easy on her — at least back then — the other girls burst out laughing. “We’re scrumptious?!” 

Sarah turned a bit pink and tried to understand why this was so funny, but before she could form a rebuttal, Kari, who had nodded off, woke up and said sleepily, “We’re crumpets?!” 

This only served to escalate their laughter. “What's a crumpet?” Yulia asked. 

“I think it's a pastry,” Tinsley said. 

“Well, pastries are scrumptious,” Sarah pouted. 

Tabitha, not one to let a learning experience get by, looked it up and reported back to the group, “It looks like they are kind of pancake/English muffin-esque.” 

“So we are Goth-y pancakes,” Kari mumbled. 

“‘Crumpets’ sounds cuter,” Sarah declared, defending her observation, and seemingly forgetting what she had said in the first place. 

“Sorry...Goth-y crumpets,” Kari acquiesced.

All of this discussion and laughter roused the attention of Bess, one of the dorm’s RAs (resident assistants, or mothers), who came to see what the commotion was all about. It was hard for Bess to be too upset; the girls were hardworking, trustworthy, and charming. But occasionally they did (and still do) get a bit noisy. At any rate, Bess, who is soft-spoken by nature, had to do her best to sound authoritative. 

“What’s this, then? You girls should be in bed, not out here carousing,” she barked, rather ineffectively. 

“Carousing?” Kari mumbled sleepily. “We’re ‘Gothy Crumpets,’ we never carouse.” (In case you hadn’t noticed, when Kari is sleepy she acts a bit snozzled.) 

The girls’ laughter at Kari’s antics prompted Bess to scold them, saying, “Well, don’t encourage her for heaven’s sake. You know how she gets.”

Tabitha led the retreat. The girls gathered themselves, their blankets, and whatever else they brought out, and headed to bed. Of course, on their way, they had to attack Bess with hugs and apologies. Once they were settled, Bess headed back down the hall to her room, muttering, “Gothy Crumpets, indeed!” Naturally Bess would share all of this with Enid, the floor’s other RA. Bess and Enid agreed that the Crumpets were the most delightfully maddening of the students, and that they wouldn’t trade them for the world.

So, unwittingly, the girls had formed a group and named themselves. The title “Gothy Crumpets” spread around the campus so quickly, the girls couldn’t have changed it if they wanted to, which they didn’t. So there you have it: The Crumpets were named rather by accident.

Chapter 1/2
The year leading up to the opening of the Looking-Glass Campus, or LGC, was filled with a growing sense of excitement. The Looking-Glass students had watched for the past several years as their new home began to materialize and they were getting eager to make the move. Even the students of the other Consortium schools were excited as they would be able to expand into the entire Consortium Campus, not to mention that they would also get to make use of many of the amenities across the street at the LGC. Despite the excitement, some of the students felt a twinge of nostalgic sadness at the thought of leaving what had been their home for quite some time. This was especially true for Analey and Kari, who were both from foreign countries and were only able to go home on rare occasions, so the dorms truly were their home.

When the last spring break that the Looking-Glass students would have while living on the Consortium Campus arrived, Analey and Kari decided that rather than tagging along with the other Crumpets, some of whose families lived nearby, they would instead just stay at the school. While these were relatively quiet times around the campus, there were always a number of students who didn’t have places to go. The “orphans,“ as they call themselves, had formed a bond, as well as a sense of duty in ensuring that none of them felt sad or lonely during holidays or breaks. Lest you think that Dean Eobseo was unaware of the orphan’s plight, he wasn’t. Numerous fun events were always planned, and there were plenty of staff to make sure that the students were well-attended to. Regardless, there was just no getting around the vacuum created when 90% of the students were gone, which was part of the reason that Kari and Analey decided to stay.

One morning before making their social rounds for the day, Analey and Kari (or “AnKa,” as they were jointly known), went down to tend to the Crumpets’ area in the student community garden. While they were working they were, as always, also singing and dancing, which caught the attention of Jimmy, who came over to say hi. 

Jimmy is a Looking-Glass student who matriculated about a year after Analey, and at about the same time as Kari. Jimmy is paraplegic and must use a wheelchair. He also requires a nurse to help him with certain tasks (mostly in the mornings and evenings). Jimmy won a scholarship to the Glass as a creative writing student where every effort has been made to provide him with the most usual student experience possible. Jimmy’s physical circumstances never hold him back; he is a very good student and quite the popular social butterfly.

When Jimmy rolled up, the girls greeted him warmly. “Helloooo, Jimster!” Kari called out. 

“I didn’t think you two were staying here for spring break,” he replied. 

“Well, as it is our last spring break on this campus, we thought we would stay here with the orphans,” Analey said. 

“How come you're still here?” Kari asked, knowing that Jimmy’s family had moved to Zeitgeist when he started school at the Glass. 

“My folks are picking me up in a couple of hours, so I have some time to kill. I could help you with the garden,” Jimmy answered. Jokingly, he added that they could attach an umbrella to his wheelchair so he could provide them with shade. 

Jimmy’s humor was lost on Analey, who took his statement quite seriously, prompting her to propose an alternative idea — something with a bit more substance. Jimmy could provide music via the speaker attached to his wheelchair. The girls would sing, and Jimmy could do the spoken word/rap parts. 

Jimmy beamed, “Well, I am a rolling karaoke machine, you know?” 

“No, I didn’t know that,” Analey replied before asking Kari, “We didn’t know that, did we?” 

A bit confused, Kari answered, “I didn’t know that. And how would I know if you knew that?” 

“I don’t know. You seem to know about the things that I don’t remember knowing. Maybe he told us this once and I forgot,” Analey said. 

“If you don’t remember something, then you don’t know it, so it is the same as — ” 

“Ahem,” Jimmy interrupted Kari’s response. 

The girls, slightly embarrassed, looked at Jimmy. With a bit of a flourish he pushed a button on his chair’s computer and ta-da: The Wonder Girls’ song, “Like This” started playing, with the lyrics scrolling across the screen. The girls looked at each other, and without saying anything, somehow decided who would sing which parts. They sang and even did the dance, with Jimmy covering Yubin’s rap part when it came up. They repeated the song half-a-dozen times until they had it down near perfectly. Chances are they would have been at it all day, but Jimmy’s nurse came looking for him to get him ready to head home for the week.

This type of scene was played out many more times at the Consortium student garden and later at the LGC student garden. These impromptu mini-concerts became both a great exercise for Jimmy and the girls, and popular entertainment amongst the students and faculty. The girl's relationship with Jimmy not only helped to further the formation of the Crumpets as a proper unit group, it also set Jimmy on the path of becoming, among other things, a successful songwriter.

Chapter Very Nearly One
The move to the new Looking-Glass Campus was largely handled by Campus Services during the break between the summer and fall quarters so there was minimal impact on the students. Analey, Kari, Sarah, Tabitha, Tinsley, and Yulia were all still together in their new dorm. They were on the Ninth — and top — floor, with the same general floor plan as at Consortium, albeit a bit larger with a brick and iron beam Steampunk feel rather than the boxy aluminum style of the Consortium’s onetime office buildings.

The fall quarter kicked off with a myriad of events, giving the campus a carnival-like atmosphere. The Crumpets, like many other students, had various works displayed at the different events. Sarah, not once, not twice, but six times, played violin solos at various stage shows. Tinsley had several illustrations on display. One of her paintings — a rather humorous one at that — featured a cat sitting on the edge of a bathtub, watching her owner shave her legs. A bit cheeky, you say? Yep, cheeky it was, but only the woman’s leg, razor, and hand were visible. Surely you weren’t thinking that the Crumpets are all cupcakes and butterflies, were you? Yulia danced a number of times, and no, she did not juggle rubber chickens (if you didn’t read her bio, you won’t get this). Tabitha and Analey sang and danced at a couple of mini-concerts, bringing the crowds to tears with their versions of 2NE1’s “Comeback Home” and SNSD’s “Divine.” Finally, Kari was in several singing and dancing numbers with some of the younger students, who would later form a unit group called the Screaming Beets (yes, beets, as in the vegetable). There was even a ceremony to transfer the student community garden from the Consortium (which does not have resident students) to the Glass. A picnic area would replace the Consortium garden, and Jimmy was selected to scoop a ceremonial shovel of dirt into a hole where a tree was planted to commemorate the onetime garden.

After a week of events and inaugural ceremonies, the girls and their fellow students began to settle into their new home and focus on the fall quarter. About two weeks in, Dean Eobseo asked Enid and Bess to distribute sealed envelopes — fancy ones sealed with wax “VSE” (Victor Sooman Eobseo) insignias — to each of the Crumpets. This was to be done discreetly and without them knowing that they each were getting an envelope. Not having a clue as to what was up the Dean’s sleeve, Enid and Bess were positively withered with curiosity. Regardless, they delivered the envelopes to the girls that evening. Each Crumpet was instructed to open and read the contents of her envelope privately and without sharing what was written.

The notes, handwritten with a quill pen on crinkly parchment paper, instructed each of the girls to meet secretly with Dean Eobseo. The mystery meetings were held at Thornbury Hall in the Star Museum (an area adjacent to the cafeteria dedicated to showcasing the achievements of Looking-Glass’ students and faculty). Dean Eobseo met with each girl individually and in secret to prevent them from feeling blindsided by his proposal, which he felt could negatively affect their decision-making about a very important matter. The Dean spoke softly as he strolled with each of them through the Museum exhibits, explaining his idea as they went. He told them all the same thing: He was planning to form a unit group to be the face of the school. This unit group would represent the best of the school, showcasing several aspects of what Looking-Glass had to offer in a highly visible way. This was a huge responsibility and, even though the contracts would only be for a few years at a time, his hope was that the members would remain active as both students and in the group for the better part of a decade, or more.

Arriving at the Star Museum’s exhibit of his own career as a visual and performing artist (he was once a popular singer), Dean Eobseo made a point of telling each girl about some of the downsides of being an idol: Things like hectic schedules, extensive travel, and most of all the overwhelming sense of loneliness that comes after the show is over and the crowd goes home. Having mostly been a solo performer, he hoped that the camaraderie of a group would help to offset some of the isolation he had felt. Naturally, he also told them about the upsides — it would be a very exciting life and an opportunity to do great things. The group would, of course, need to make money, but they would be given a well-padded start, and have access to the extraordinary resources of the Glass. 

Once all of the girls were given the spiel, they were, for the time being, only to talk about it with each other. They were to meet with Dean Eobseo at the same time and place a week later to give him their preliminary decisions (preliminary because parents and lawyers would need to be involved if they said yes). If any of the girls were to say no, there were other students to whom he could make the offer, but Dean Eobseo was hoping that all of the Crumpets would accept.

Back at the dorm, the Crumpets gathered in their TV room. They all brought out pillows and blankets, but initially just sat on the couches staring at each other. 

Finally Analey broke the silence, “Ten years is a long time, but then again, we have already been training here for nearly that long.” In truth she loved the idea of staying at the Glass for ten years, even a hundred years, but she was concerned that the others might feel differently. 

“We would only be under contract for a few years at a go. Of course we should be planning on going the distance if we do say yes,” Tinsley said. 

Sarah threw in, “We don’t all need to say yes, but it definitely would be nice.” 

“Yes, we have become a close-knit group, which I am sure is why Dean Eobseo is looking at us. Together we can do great things,” Tabitha added. 

Excitement began to show in the girl’s eyes and subtle smiles. With their enthusiasm bubbling up Kari declared with a mischievous grin, “Well, I for one have become reasonably tolerant of the rest of you, so I guess I'm okay with it.” 

Yulia realized she was it — the last to suggest yea or nay. With a tone of confident resolve, she simply said, “We are the Gothy Crumpets, after all.” 

With Sven looking on, and Bess and Enid down the hall nearly mad with curiosity, the six roommates all stood up and put a hand out into the circle. They looked at each other and Tinsley whispered, “The SNSD slogan would be good at this point.” 

Naturally the slogan needed to be modified a bit, but intuitively they all exclaimed, “Right now we are Gothy Crumpets! From now on we are Gothy Crumpets! Forever Gothy Crumpets!” 

They were very eager to share their decision with Dean Eobseo, but felt it important to wait the week, so they had no other choice but to pig out on ice-cream and watch Nightmare instead.

Seriously, the Prologue is Nearly Done
The week passed painfully slowly for everyone, but finally the day came for the girls to give Dean Eobseo their answers. Even though the plan was for each of them to deliver their replies separately, their excitement just wasn't going to let that happen. They arrived at what would have been the first of the six individual meetings together, in a unified front. Dean Eobseo was a bit surprised when he saw them arrive collectively, but he wasn't given a chance to say anything because they all blurted out “YES!” the minute they saw him. 

He beamed happily, and clapping his hands said, “Well, now for the fun part: Parents and lawyers.”

Once each girl had her parents’ buy-in, Dean Eobseo gave them a cash allowance so that they could each hire an independent attorney to review their contracts and make sure that they were in their best interest. Amazingly, and despite busy school schedules, each of the Crumpets had all of their needed ducks in a row in less than a month. The contract-signing was done in the school’s legal offices, an event that was oddly anticlimactic — although they did get to keep the pens. 

You don't need to worry that the big day was a dud as Dean Eobseo held a nice signing party for them. Because of the continued need for secrecy, the event was held at a fancy restaurant downtown. In addition to an extravagant meal, Dean Eobseo also had a couple of surprises. The first was that the building going up between Ravenhurst and the school was a special dorm just for them — a dorm that would be called Crumpet Hall. Now, Crumpet Hall is a very cool place, but I will tell you more about it later. The second, even more important surprise was that Bess and Enid had been offered and accepted jobs as the Gothy Crumpets’ managers. Being rather fond of their “mother hens'' the girls were thrilled by the news.

“That explains why Dean Eobseo kept asking us how we feel about ‘EinBe,’ and it also explains why they suddenly went from dying of curiosity to not seemingly overnight,” Tinsley said of the announcement. 

There were sparkling cider toasts, Polynisian fire dancers, and lots of merriment before the night was done. When the event was over, and they stepped out of the restaurant into the crisp fall air, they were greeted by a bright, full moon. 

“Wow! Dean Eobseo sure knows how to throw a party! He even got us a full moon,” Tabitha said as they boarded one of the campus buses (which is really a big tour van).

While official on paper, the Crumpets still had a very long way to go before they could debut, and that was the day they had been working toward for half their lives. The formation of the Crumpets would be announced at the beginning of the winter quarter, with their debut taking place at the LGC's first anniversary celebrations and kick-off of the fall quarter. So the girls had a bit less than a year to pull together their repertoire. They would need about six songs of their own so they could cut a mini-album, and another half-dozen songs to make a decent-length live set. All of this would require choreography, outfits, stage sets, and so on. This enormous amount of work required the girls to greatly reduce their class loads.

To facilitate matters, the Crumpets decided to elect a leader and Tabitha was unanimously chosen to fill this role. With their leader in place, they assigned themselves each an 'official' position, as well as an area of responsibility. Analey would be a main dancer and their choreographer. Kari became the Crumpets’ anchor, i.e., jack of all trades, and their lyrics director. Sarah would be a main vocalist and their music director. Tabitha would also be a main vocalist, and of course, the group’s leader. Tinsley became the face of the group and their visual director. Finally, Yulia would be a main dancer and their fashion director.

Their pre-debut year was, to say the least, challenging, but it was also immeasurably rewarding. Though they were still a bit of a secret, due to the needed involvement of many of the students and faculty, the word started getting out. A growing sense of anticipation for their debut was spreading around the Glass, which was both motivating and overwhelming for the girls. Through sheer grit, tenacity, and some occasional prodding from their managers, the Crumpets stayed on schedule. For nearly a year, they soldiered through endless hours of practice, grueling recording sessions, frustrating bouts of creative block, and moments of crippling self-doubt. As the end of the summer quarter loomed on the horizon, they began to feel a nervous sense of excitement that increasingly led to tears, bouts of crazy laughter, and/or emergency pizza parties. Regardless of their struggles, they, for the most part, maintained their composure and their inner sparkle shined brighter with each passing day. Ready or not, the Gothy Crumpets debut was just around the corner.

Established October 2015   ​All Rights Reserved 

Established October 2015   ​All Rights Reserved