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turtlethon · 2 years

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"Blast from the Past”

Season 3, Episode 29

First US Airdate: November 28, 1989 First BBC UK broadcast: January 6, 1992

Shredder revives an ancient spirit, while Splinter loses his memory.

"Blast from the Past" is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles season three's twenty-ninth episode, and the first clip show of the series. This episode is written by David Wise, who was also the co-writer of the season one episodes revisited throughout this adventure.

Shredder wastes no time in setting out the scheme of the day, producing a scroll and explaining to a sceptical Krang that he intends to turn Bebop and Rocksteady into unbeatable super ninjas. Once again, random items that seem completely out of place in the Technodrome keep popping up out of nowhere. Recently Krang had a multi-coloured office desk full of computer disks, last episode had Lotus Blossom slicing a pillow, and now Shredder has a case with a scroll in it that's just sitting conspicuously in the middle of the room.

This sequence also has a big line running down the right side of the screen, not just in one shot but a couple of them, and it floats around on top of the cels for about fifteen seconds; one of those odd things that probably went unnoticed on tiny CRT screens but is glaring now. Also notable is that Townsend Coleman is substituting for the voice of Krang here, which will be that much more glaring given that Pat Fraley’s Krang is present in the flashbacks. The disembodied brain complains to the viewer that he should never have agreed to work with a ninja, and next time he’ll hire an accountant instead. “Character breaking the fourth wall" doesn't guarantee that you're watching a David Wise episode but if they start talking about their accountant / lawyer / agent while doing so then it almost certainly is.

Given that this episode serves as a means of explaining the show’s backstory to new viewers, everyone spends a lot of time detailing things at length that would normally go unsaid. In the lair, the Turtles practice their fighting moves and bake pizza. Leonardo boasts about how good the team are at both things, and declares that it’s no wonder Shredder and his crew remain holed up in the centre of the Earth.

The Turtles watch April report from the Asian-American Cultural Center, where a burial urn said to contain the ashes of a noble ninja warrior from centuries ago is on display. When he’s named as Shibano-sama, Splinter is alarmed. He explains they need to get there before Shredder, and the group go to the surface, sneaking on tippy-toes in a fairly ridiculous fashion through a back alley on their way to the Cultural Center.

Splinter explains that when Shredder overthrew the Foot Clan and replaced him as leader, he gained ownership of the Clan’s sacred scrolls. The group make their way inside, but Shredder is already there. He uses “a little ninja potion” - in other words, a gas bomb – to knock out the group, then summons Shibano-sama by reading from a scroll.

The spirit of Shibano-sama emerges from the urn. Shredder declares that he wants Bebop and Rocksteady to be turned into super ninjas and learn the ways of the Foot Clan. The Turtles recover and intervene, insisting that Splinter is the Foot’s true leader, but due to the effects of the gas bomb he’s lost his memory. Donatello has a potion in the lair to resolve this, but someone will need to stay behind and hold off the bad guys, a position for which Raphael volunteers.

While they wait for the potion to kick in, Leo, Mikey and Donnie try to restore Splinter’s memory via flashbacks to previous episodes. I’m not going to go over the scenes we see from the older shows in great detail as they’ve all been covered in prior Turtlethon entries, but I’ll try and provide a general overview of what gets repurposed.

Leonardo kicks things off by flashing back to Splinter’s life in Japan, as originally seen in episode one, “Turtle Tracks”. We flashback to the flashback from that episode, detailing again how Splinter was originally Hamato Yoshi, and going over how he was framed by Oroku Saki. Not included here is the visiting Sensei’s iconic “throw the bum out!”, sadly. We see the Turtles falling down the drain, and the mutation of them as well as Yoshi. Although we’re not into the grappling hook era yet (and in fact the series won't even debut on the BBC until two months after this episode first airs in the US), it definitely feels like the nunchakus are less prominent by this point, so I was surprised to see them explicitly referred to again here.

Splinter’s condition isn’t improving as Donatello takes over narration. He recalls how their first encounter with April came about due to her reporting on Shredder’s suspicious activities, with the Turtles rescuing her after she was targeted by his goons. Very jarring to jump back to this footage two years on – which again is from “Turtle Tracks” - and see the much more anime influenced design for April, a gang member (”Scrag”) wielding what appears to be a regular handgun, and pre-mutation Rocksteady and Bebop in perhaps the only scene where they were ever presented as truly menacing.

Back at the Cultural Center, Shibano-sama has complied with Shredder’s wishes and turned Bebop and Rocksteady into ninja warriors. Which means it’s time for another...

BEBOP & ROCKSTEADY WARDROBE UPDATE: Our favourite hench-mutants are now clad in black trousers and what appear to be matching hooded sweaters. Rocksteady’s look changes slightly after the close-up though, as he suddenly goes sleeveless when the duo approach a helpless Raphael leading into the first commercial break.

When we return, Bebop is wearing something that looks a bit closer to a martial arts robe. He manages to drop a bell on himself, which elicits some mockery from Raph. Shibano-sama powers them up further, turning them into Master Ninjas, now clad fully in black with their faces covered. This kinda begs the question of why he didn’t just give them the full set of powers to begin with. It’s implied that Bebop and Rocksteady are competent now, and they begin hurling knives at the wall around an anxious Raphael as we return to the lair.

Splinter suggests that they play some more archive footage to pad the episode out recall more events to jog his memory. Donatello explains the Technodrome before outlining how Shredder mutated Bebop and Rocksteady into their current forms, as seen in episode two, “Enter the Shredder”.

More episode two clips follow, recalling Splinter being kidnapped and the Turtles confronting Shredder, Rocksteady and Bebop in the Technodrome prior to rescuing him. At this point I’m starting to think this clip show was a mistake, as it’s highlighting Toei’s best work. The new material produced by MW Dublin for this episode absolutely pales in comparison to the clips in the flashbacks, and makes it look as if the show has gone down the toilet visually since then.

A bit of sleight of hand is used next – we head into the commercial break with footage of the Turtles battling Rocksteady & Bebop from “Enter the Shredder” (the fight that ended with Shredder’s mutants being lured into a zoo cage). When we return, a different Turtles vs. Rocksteady and Bebop fight is shown: this one is from S01E05, “Shredder & Splintered”. We’re skipping the Baxter and Neutrinos arcs, which at least in the case of the latter is fine with me.

Leonardo and Donatello discuss the situation, with Leo suggesting if Splinter’s memory can be recovered, he can use The Kur-Li Manueuver to prove he’s the true Foot Clan leader. Donatello talks in awed tones about this supposedly amazing fighting move that he’s heard of, but never seen performed.

Michaelangelo takes over narration for the next set of clips. More footage from “Shredder & Splintered” follows, showing Shredder providing Krang with his new android body and its expansion to giant-size as it goes on a rampage throughout the city. The actual mechanics of the Turtles shrinking Krang’s body back to its normal size are skipped over so we can quickly get to Shredder’s failed attempt to use the retromutagen gun.

With two minutes of showtime remaining, Splinter's memory magically returns. It’s time to throw together a few scraps of original footage to wrap things up. What a pittance!

vimeo

Splinter returns to the Cultural Center with the other Turtles and performs The Kur-Li Manueuver. It's possibly the David Wise-iest thing I've ever seen and the only thing in this episode worthy of a clip

A recurring theme of me re-watching Turtles has been talking about how censored the UK version was, and how there was a moral panic about it corrupting the youth here in 1990. How anyone could watch Splinter perform the Kur-Li Manueuver and still hold that position is beyond me.

Now recognising Splinter as the legitimate leader of the Foot, Shibano-sama de-powers Rocksteady and Bebop. They drag the unconscious Shredder into the transport module and hurriedly return to the Technodrome.

Shibano-sama's words echo through the air after he returns to his urn. He urges the Turtles to be faithful to Splinter, be virtuous and truthful, and to the bafflement of everyone, to save the last slice of pizza for him.

One of the things I appreciate about episodes by the late David Wise is that as one of the original writers for the show, he clearly had a lot of appreciation for the lore of TMNT and would find little ways to expand on it in many of his episodes, fleshing out the world of the Turtles further. Here he does his best to provide some value for long-time viewers in what could otherwise be seen as an entirely pointless endeavour.

"Blast from the Past" is much more important as an episode of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles than it was for viewers in other markets, as it includes footage from three of the first five episodes of the show, none of which ever aired on the BBC and which were only seen a few times on BSkyB in their original unedited form. The BBC’s interminably slow pace meant that this episode didn’t appear on terrestrial TV until January 1992, however, a full year after Turtlemania had run its course. By this point, most kids had moved on.

This clip show did get not one but two home video releases in the UK though: the immensely popular “How It All Began”, released in 1990, haphazardly smooshes the flashback portions of this episode together with highlights from season two. The full Hero Turtles version of "Blast from the Past" appeared much later on the TMHT “Biggest Ever Video”. Both of those are worthy of discussion in their own right, and I’ll do follow-up Turtlethon entries covering all the changes made down the road.

NEXT TIME: Ah reckon it be time to introduce another new recurring character you betcha. We gon’ catch up with dem Punk Frog boys too in “Leatherhead: Terror of the Swamp”, ah gah-rawn-tee!

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #Ninja Turtles #TMNT 1987 #1989 #Blast from the Past #turtlethon

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let-it-raines · 5 years

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Catch Me If You Can (5/?)

298 days. That’s how long Killian Jones was away from a baseball field. It’s less than a year, only part of a season for him, but it might as well have lasted a decade as he alternated between physical therapy and spending an excessive amount of time sitting on his couch.

But then he came back and won the World Series.

It’s something no one saw coming, and it’s certainly not something anyone who knows about his arm would predict. Now it’s a new season with new possibilities, and anything could happen. On-field reporter Emma Swan will be there to cover it all even if she is not his biggest fan right now.

Asking her out live on-air will do that.

Rating: Mature

A/N: It’s been a day, my friends, and when it’s been a day I like to give you guys chapters earlier than I expected. But also because I’m sitting on chapters and want to get to the good stuff! Our favorite duo really start to interact from now on, so the slow burn you guys are feeling is speeding up!!!

As always, thanks to @resident-of-storybrooke❤️

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

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Tag list: @royalswan @shey-starsfury @sals86 @iam2307 @ashley-knightingale @snowbellewells @karenfrommisthaven @skyewardolicitycloisdelena91 @scientificapricot @captswanis4vr @emmas-storybook @ultimiflos @jamif @idristardis @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @tiganasummertree @wellhellotragic @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @mayquita @captainsjedi @teamhook @kmomof4 @ekr032-blog-blog @ultraluckycatnd @cs-forlife @andiirivera@jonirobinson64 @mariakov81 @galaxyzxstark @qualitycoffeethings @thejollyroger-writer

-/-

“How hot is it in Texas right now?”

“Hotter than here, but not all that bad. Seventies, I think.”

“Well, that’s probably because that weird heat wave is over, and it’s back to being fifty degrees outside.”

“True,” Ruby sighs, pulling a dress out of Emma’s closet. “You should wear this dress. It makes your ass look fantastic.”

“No one sees my ass.” She walks over to Ruby and grabs the red dress anyways, folding it up since she knows that it won’t wrinkle. She pulls up the weather app on her phone, scrolling through the thirty cities she has saved, and finds the week’s forecast for Houston, seeing that the high is indeed mostly going to be mid-seventies. That’s good. That’s far better than it is when they have to travel during the summer. “Should I bring heels or embrace flats for the week?”

“Bring your nude pair.” Ruby chunks them at the bed, about two feet away from taking Emma’s eye out. “Oh, and the turquoise if you’re going to wear that green pencil skirt.”

“You just want to borrow them if we go out, don’t you?”

Ruby pulls her turquoise pumps out of her closet, which really needs to be organized but that’s a story for another time, and tosses them on the bed before she grabs several more shirts and pants for Emma. “You know me so well, even if we mostly go out in Texas simply to eat their food.”

“Ugh,” she groans just thinking about it. “If we’re going to do that, I need to bring looser clothing. I don’t want everyone to think I’m pregnant when it’s just a food baby.”

“I bet you everyone would think it’s Jones’s baby.”

Her eyes cut over to Ruby as she picks up her turquoise heels and places them on her striped chair. How can someone be both the worst and the best friend? “For that, I’m not bringing these heels.”

“You’re evil.”

“You shouldn’t be mean to me if you want to borrow my shoes.”

“Being mean is kind of in her wheelhouse,” Graham adds in as he pokes his head through her bedroom door, eyes glancing over the mess that’s currently happening. He’s totally judging. “Do you two realize that your flight is at six in the morning, and you’re up at two in the morning packing?”

“Do you realize that it’s two in the morning, and you have to take us to the airport at four?” Graham rolls his eyes before Ruby walks toward him and presses up on her toes to wrap her arms around his neck and slide her lips over his. “Thank you for doing that, by the way.”

He presses down to kiss her once more. “You’re going to be gone for three days. I’m going to miss you.”

“Cheesy,” Emma grumbles, tossing a rolled-up sock at the back of Ruby’s head. They’ve really got to stop throwing clothes. She’s never going to be able to find anything. “Can’t you two go make out in your room or something?”

“I kind of like that idea.”

“Me too. Ems, pack the damn turquoise shoes and some spanx so that you can eat and people won’t think you’re having Jones’s baby.”

“Wait, what?” Graham mutters. “You’re having Jones’s baby?”

“No one is having anyone’s baby, and it better stay that way. Use protection.”

“Pack the shoes.”

“I still don’t understand what’s going on.”

“You’re not supposed to, babe,” Ruby laughs, backing Graham out of the room and pulling Emma’s door shut behind her.

Those two are ridiculous, and if she didn’t love them so much, living with them would be nearly impossible. Seriously.

Emma gets an hour of sleep after she finishes packing (thanks late night games and early morning flights), and she’s basically a zombie as she and Ruby load into the back of Graham’s squad car as he drives them to JFK. She knows that it takes awhile to get there, but she’s pretty sure that she slept the whole time because before she even realizes it, she and Ruby are checking into their flight at the kiosk and going through security. It’s the emptiest she’s ever seen the place, and she would know. She spends far too much time in airports for her job.

When the team travels, she travels. Most of the time. Some trips she doesn’t work, and it’s glorious.

It used to not be that way. She’d only travel for the games that were actually shown on ESPN or sometimes Fox, but now that ESPN has an entire online streaming service, she’s traveling nine games out of ten and working all home games. It’s exhausting, to a point, but she has a hell of a lot of travel miles and rewards programs that she gets to keep even though the network pays for her flights and hotels. Sometimes that means she gets six am flights when she doesn’t have to be in Houston until seven in the evening, but it’s not always that bad.

And one day she’s going to use those points to travel to Italy or something.

Pasta would be really good right now.

So would coffee, but if she has coffee, she won’t sleep on the plane. And sleeping on the plane is kind of important if she wants to not look like a zombie tonight. Her face may look like a zombie, but at least her ass will look great.

She doesn’t want anyone to comment on the state of her ass. She’s the only one allowed to do that.

Okay, she’s lost her mind.

-/-

The Yankees win their sixth game of the season that night.

She eats the best barbecue sandwich she’s ever had, and a clip of her eating ends up on Sports Center.

Sometimes she wonders if people actually watch baseball for the game or if they simply watch because there’s always something weird going on in the crowd.

The sandwich was worth it.

-/-

Emma’s feet hit against the treadmill as Queen blares in her headphones and a tennis match in Monte Carlo plays on the television in front of her, Rafael Nadal sliding back and forth on the clay as he absolutely dominates his opponent. If every athlete was as good as Rafa is on clay, they’d all be dominant, but that’s likely a story for another day.

She’s got twenty-three minutes left on her run, especially since she’s going at a slow pace with a slight incline, but she can already feel the incline starting to kill her, her calves burning the slightest bit with each step that she takes. Her face is red, her hairline slicked back with sweat, and she can already tell that getting her sports bra off is going to be an impossible task. She gets that it’s for the support and all, but there should really be an easier way for her to free her boobs from their confines.

Free the boob.

Unless she’s running or walking down stairs or doing anything more than some light walking.

Her phone buzzes on the machine, and the man on the treadmill looks over at her like he’s annoyed by the fact that her phone made some kind of noise. It’s not her fault that he didn’t bring any headphones, and really, if he’s so bothered by her, he can move two treadmills down. This hotel gym is plenty big enough.

Ruth: I saw you eating a sandwich on TV last night! That’s too funny!

Ruth: I hope you’re having fun!

Ruth: I miss you, sweetie!!!

For Ruth to be sixty-five, she has a fantastic grip on technology. She knows that it’s because she and David have taught her how to text and find clips of their segments and articles online, but still. She knows how to use emojis and gifs and even has an Instagram, which is only slightly terrifying most of the time. But she knows it’s simply to keep up with she and David’s lives since they don’t always tell her everything.

Okay, that’s mostly her.

But David has a much better relationship with Ruth, which makes sense considering she’s his mother. She’s Emma’s…quasi mother. She’s never been too sure how to go about it. Calling David her brother is much easier than calling Ruth her mom, and she knows it’s because the word mom has more heavy meaning behind it.

Emma: It was a good sandwich! Only a little time for fun since I’m here for work. I miss you too!

Ruth: There’s always time for fun!

Ruth: David and MM are driving up to visit me next weekend for the holidays. Are you coming too?

Emma: I don’t get vacation days like David does, so I’ll be in LA. I wish I could.

Her music stops between songs, and she hears the roar of the crowd on the television, seeing that the match just ended, and her treadmill starts to slow down, the time ticking down past five minutes so that it’s time for her to cool down with a slow walk while she keeps texting Ruth about the fact that she’s working over Easter weekend. She pretty much doesn’t have days off, except for days the team has off, until the season is over in October. Or early November. It depends. And then she’s back working in the office writing articles and doing prep work and occasionally having to suffer through covering basketball.

Bills must be paid, but at what cost to her having to listen to sneakers squeaking?

Ruth never seems to understand that because she thinks that she and David have the same job even though David has never once been on camera. He’s behind the scenes all the way.

When her treadmill time officially runs out, she steps off and gathers her things before finding a towel to wipe down the handles from where she touched them. Angry man is still eyeing her as she cleans up, and she seriously hopes that he is not going to be there tomorrow.

If he is, maybe he’ll be happier.

She doubts it.

He seems to just be one of those people who is particularly unpleasant all the time.

Sweat sticks to her skin as she walks through the hotel hallways, casually airing out her tank top and wiping sweat back into her hair to get it off of her face, and she very nearly walks up the stairs to go back to she and Ruby’s room when she sees people milling around the dining room with breakfast on their plates.

Breakfast would be good.

Mostly water. And coffee. She’s not entirely sure if she’s recovered from her lack of sleep yesterday, which made her question her sanity when her alarm went off for the gym this morning, but she knew if she didn’t work out then, she wouldn’t work out at all. And she needs that push of adrenaline and endorphins.

Grabbing a plate from the buffet line, she walks through and fills her plate with fruit and scrambled eggs, even if she knows they’re from a bag and not a shell, and a half of a waffle from the waffle maker. She always loves when they have those at hotels. Good continental breakfasts are her jam…especially if they have jam.

“Got enough toppings there?”

Emma nearly drops her plate when she hears his voice, and when she twists her head to the side, she sees Killian Jones standing next to her, his own plate full of food in his hand. Seriously. Why is she always running into him when she’s eating?

And sweaty.

“Not enough if you ask me.”

He adjusts his hat, a Vanderbilt one that is very obviously a decade old. “I was asking you.”

“I like toppings,” she sighs, putting some more fruit onto her waffle before grabbing the whipped cream can and spraying some of it onto her food. Her workout is yelling at her for this. “What’s the point of a waffle if you’re not going to load it down with toppings?”

“I’m more of a pancake man myself.” He reaches into the buffet and grabs a yogurt, which is definitely not a waffle or pancake. “But considering I’m playing tonight, I’m supposed to be watching what I eat.”

“You have an entire plate of eggs.”

“Protein, Swan, protein. You would know all about that with all that barbecue you ate last night.”

Just let her sink into a hole right now and never come back up. The internet is ruining her life.

“Weren’t you supposed to be tracking Roseman’s pitches last night or something?”

She turns on her heel and walks away from the buffet to a table, knowing that Killian is walking behind her. They have the weirdest relationship. It doesn’t even feel right to call it that, but they’re somewhere between a working relationship and reluctant friends, and the fact that he’s placing his plate down on the table across from hers makes her lean more toward reluctant friends who see each other occasionally enough to have a bit of a rapport.

Her life gets weirder every day.

Killian Jones has one brave set of balls.

Baseball, testicles, whatever. Both work. At least, she thinks.

“You can eat right after you work out?” he questions, twisting the knob on one coffee machine while she does it with the other, the promise of caffeine already invigorating her.

“How do you know I was working out?”

He raises a brow before his eyes look over her, lingering a second too long at her breasts, before a slow smile creeps from one side of his lips to another that has her stomach twisting inside. “Well, it’s not because of your outfit. People dress more like they’re working out when they’re not every day, but the sweat still soaked into your clothes and in your hair are kind of a dead giveaway. Your face is flushed as well.”

“Observant.”

“I try, but it’s easy when you’re an open book.”

Totally not acknowledging that one.

She twists the knob on the machine and reaches over for the hazelnut creamer while Killian simply puts the top on his. He drinks black coffee? That’s disgusting. “Black coffee? Do you not have taste buds?”

He shrugs. “I don’t like to drink my calories. You want a water?”

She nods her head, and he grabs two bottles before following her to sit back down at her booth like it’s totally normal for them to be sharing a meal together. They’ve done it before, but that’s because she was working with him. It was not because they’re staying at the same hotel and happened to run into each other at the buffet.

Weird.

But she’s not about to be bitchy and ask him to leave when she has no reason to other than her own reluctance to talk to people before noon.

They sit in semi-awkward silence as they work through their plates. She definitely overloaded her waffle, but she would never admit that after earlier. That would be admitting defeat, and she doesn’t take too kindly to admitting defeat. Killian eats at lightning speed, scarfing down eggs and sausage, his yogurt untouched, and she wonders what it must be like to be a professional athlete and eat more than the average human being, even if it’s not all good food like pizza and onion rings and loaded down waffles filled with chocolate chips.

Her phone buzzes on the table, and she leans over to read the text from Ruth still trying to convince her to come home for the weekend when she’s already explained that she cannot.

“Boyfriend?”

“Huh?” she hums, texting a message before looking up and seeing Killian staring down at her, his eyes shaded under his cap. She’s so distracted by the fact that he asked her if she was talking to her boyfriend that she doesn’t pay attention to her answer. “Oh, no boyfriend. It’s my…um, quasi mom.”

“Quasi mom?”

Shit. She should have just said Mom. Maybe she’s a little flustered by all of this.

“She was my foster mom,” Emma explains, stuffing some eggs into her own mouth to give her some more time to talk, “when I was a teenager, but we’re still in touch because her son, David, is kind of like this big brother to me. I work with him and am close to his wife and kid and all.”

That was word vomit that she should not have shared. That is not information that she should just give out, and yet here she is. Obviously, all of the blood hasn’t returned to her brain since her run. Hopefully it’ll all come back soon so she can stop looking like an idiot with a messed up past who shares too much at a breakfast.

“David Nolan, right?”

“Y-yeah. How do you know that?”

He shrugs his right shoulder before taking another forkful of eggs, chewing and smiling in a way that reminds her of that scene in Thor where Chris Hemsworth is in the diner and throws the mug down asking for another one. Why the hell did they dye his eyebrows and his beard in that movie? That was a mistake.

“Ariel, my manager, is super hands on with me. She’s talkative, like extremely, and she shares all kinds of information that I never need to know. So, I’ve heard a bunch of random shit that I literally never need to know about. David sends her a hell of a lot of emails that I get forwarded.”

“So, do you just know my entire life story then?”

“If you’re entire life story involves you liking pretzels and waffles, and being asked out by a jackass on live television, then yeah.”

She barks out a laugh, her lips curving upward, and reaches down to take a sip of her coffee. “I mean, that’s it. There’s nothing else to know about me.”

“You sure about that?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

The smile on his lips fall into a straight line, his gaze intense, and he lifts the bill of his hat up before adjusting it back down. “Perhaps I would.”

“So, nosy,” she starts, still a little annoyed that he asked if she had a boyfriend and most definitely trying to lighten the conversation up again, “I’m going to be very self-indulgent and ask if you liked your segment. I want a more truthful answer than the one I got in the hallway.”

His lips curve up, pretty much taking up his entire face, and she can see the crinkle of his eyes as his long lashes land on his cheeks before opening back up to show his baby blues. Damn his eyes are blue. How is that even possible? Maybe they’re contacts or something.

No, that would be ridiculous.

“I freaking loved it. I mean, it was great. It was so simple, you know? You didn’t try to create some other angle, didn’t try to paint me as anything other than a normal guy. I really appreciate that. You have no idea,” he chuckles, reaching up to scratch beneath his ear. Is he nervous? Why the hell is he nervous? “I saw afterward, your cohost, he was a bit of a dick, wasn’t he? I know we talked about it a bit, but it seems like you just…well, it seems like the shit show is never ending for you.”

That is – that is not what she was expecting at all. She figured his apology was a one and done and that she’d never hear about it again.

“With my friends,” she starts, tapping her nail against the table, “I don’t mind. It’s funny. It’s something we can joke about, that I, myself, joke about, but when it happens in my professional life, it pisses me off. So many men have seen me as a joke in the past, have tried to tear me down that way, and it’s not something I like having to deal with now. I mean, it’s not like I can go off on them. That’s a great way for me to lose my job because I’m no longer,” she holds her fingers up and does air quotes, “likable.”

Killian lets out a low whistle as her heart hammers in her chest, her annoyance at this whole thing making her cheeks heat. It’s all so dumb, and really, she should hate him for it. She doesn’t though. She’s not always his biggest fan, but he apologized and obviously feels actual remorse. How was he supposed to know it would be like this?

And if she knows all of this to be true, why does she still get slightly irked by him sometimes?

Is that just because she’s so damn stubborn herself?

“Is there anything I can do to make it better for you? I mean, I put you into this situation. The very least I can do is try to get you out of it.”

“Nah, there’s nothing you can do more than treat me like a professional and go on as if you didn’t make an ass out of the both of us with millions of people watching.”

“I think I can do that. However I can’t promise not to keep making an ass out of myself though. My brother tells me it’s my natural state of being.”

“Your brother sounds like a smart man.”

“He likes to think so. His patients sure as hell hopes that he is.”

“I mean, I would hope so. Does he get to come to a lot of games?”

“He and Elsa and the girls try to make it to some of them, but it usually depends on if Liam is on call or if the game is too late, so it interferes with the girls’ bedtimes and school. But no matter what I always have a string of texts waiting for me afterwards.”

“They sound great. Your nieces are so cute. Like, adorable. When you posted that photo of the two of them wearing your jersey, my heart melted. That was cute, twenty-nine.”

“Twenty-nine?”

“Your number,” she says slowly, looking him over.

“Aye, I know. It’s just that I’m not used to being called that.”

“Oh, sorry.” She covers her mouth and takes a sip of her coffee. She’s never going to finish her food if they keep talking like this. “I call most of you guys by your numbers half the time. It’s faster, sometimes, for our stat-keepers. It’s a force of habit from back before the Yankees had names on their jerseys.”

“I like it,” he smiles. “You ever play any sports?”

“Nothing official. Why?”

“Just looking to see if you have a number I can call you, love.”

“Ooh, for a second I thought you were going to ask for my number, so that was a nice save.”

“Well, I mean, I could,” he shrugs, flashing that winning smile again.

“Not going to happen, twenty-nine.”

“Damn, I thought I’d stumbled myself into something. I guess that’s strike two for me.”

“Do you always speak in baseball puns?”

“Says the woman who made a joke about oral sex using a baseball pun.”

“Never claimed that I didn’t use them. I’m a fan of a good pun. If you can make it a clever innuendo, all the better.”

“I do love a good innuendo.”

“Yeah, I can tell with the whole tall, dark, and broody thing that you’ve got going on half the time before you whip out a smirk and do that thing with your eyebrows.”

“Why, Swan,” he sighs, waggling those damn eyebrows, “have you been watching me?”

“It’s literally my job.” He does his eyebrows again, and she flicks an apple chunk at him. “Shut it, twenty-nine.”

They sit in the booth and talk, the both of them going through two cups of coffee, before Killian gets a call that he needs to be on the bus to Minute Maid Park, which they both agree is an awful name for a stadium. It’s on the tip of her tongue to start naming off other awful names and major sponsors, but she doesn’t, holding that back as he gathers their plates and walks over to put them all in the bin, his mind seemingly having switched from casual conversation to baseball. She wonders how often he does something like that, just turning everything off to focus on his job.

She can do the same.

“So, Swan,” he sighs as they both walk toward the lobby, Killian to get on the bus and for her to walk toward the elevators, “you going to be around to interview me tonight when I walk off the field?”

“Only if my producer thinks that we need an interview from you.”

“Does this mean I need to play a damn good game?”

“Or a really bad one.”

“I’ll try for one of those.”

“Okay,” she laughs, backing away from him as she sees Scarlet and Fisher walk down into the lobby, “break a leg then.”

He raises a brow. “I’m not sure if that works in sports.”

“Guess you’ll be the first to try it out.”

Emma raises her hand to wave to him, before turning on her heel and walking toward the elevator, her mind trying to piece together all of the elements of her morning while her heart keeps beating like she’s still on the treadmill and not like she’s been sitting in a booth eating for the past two hours.

What the hell just happened?

When she gets back to her room, she quietly opens the door, not knowing if Ruby is awake or not yet, but as soon as she’s inside the room she sees Ruby sitting on the floor with her laptop in front of her with some kind of hair tutorial video on the screen. And whatever it is, Ruby is not succeeding at it, which is pretty much an impossibility with how good Ruby is with hair.

“What’d you do? Run to Manhattan and back? You’ve been gone for forever.”

Putting her phone and hotel key down on the dresser, she slides down onto the floor to sit with Ruby. Her legs are starting to ache, and she desperately needs a shower. She got a look at herself in the mirror in the elevator, and damn does she look rough.

“How long have you been awake?”

“Well, I woke up when you got up because you’re not quiet,” she huffs, tugging at her braid, “and then I woke up an hour ago. You’ve been gone for, like, three hours.”

“I spent a long time at the gym.” That’s not a lie, not really, but it’s not exactly the full truth. She’s not sure why she’s not being honest with Ruby, but it’s…it’s just what her brain has apparently decided on. That breakfast didn’t mean anything, right? So why would she hide it? Probably so no more jokes will be made about them. Yeah, that’s it. That has to be it. “And then I ate breakfast.”

“And you didn’t bring me anything?”

“Not supposed to take the food out of the restaurant area.”

“You could have stolen a banana.”

“Sorry?”

Ruby groans, twists her hair into another braid as the video ends, and then closes her laptop before looking at her, her eyes scanning over her outfit. “Let’s go get something from a café or something. What was that place we went to last time we were here?”

“Snooze, maybe?”

“Yes,” she hums, falling back against the floor before she very obviously remembers her slightly okay braided hair, “let’s go there.”

“I just ate, Rubes.”

“You can keep me company while I eat, and then we’ll go shopping before we have to come back and get ready for work.”

“Can I at least take a shower first?”

“I would prefer if you didn’t smell, so yeah.”

Emma reaches forward and slaps Ruby’s shoulder before getting up. “You’re the worst.”

“But I’m your best friend.”

“Unfortunately.”

“No, very fortunately.”

“Will you do my hair for tonight’s game?” she asks as she strips out of her tank top, sweat having practically dried it to her skin.

“If you let me wear your turquoise pumps.”

“You were going to wear them anyways.”

“Semantics.” Ruby waves her away. “Go take a shower. I’m starving, and I will absolutely perish if I don’t have food in my stomach in the next hour.”

#catch me if you can #cs fic #cs ff #captain swan #captain swan fic

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tirpse · 5 years

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DRUCK Fandom during S4

I have to say the DRUCK fandom was more fun during season 3. The excitement was bigger. Reaction videos came out within hours of the episodes. There were more gifsets and edits. Said posts got WAY more notes (and I get this is one reason why creators now feel less encouraged to make stuff). DRUCK was trending pretty much every time a clip dropped. Fandom felt more alive. Now it feels like the same 20ish people.

I get part of it was season 3 being an lgbt+ focused season. It attracts more people, especially here on Tumblr, but I didn't expect fandom to get THIS slow and quite frankly... a bit boring. I think this is one reason why I would like season 5 to be about David. Fandom would come alive again. It might even get more alive than during season 3. David is just that popular around here.

Others enjoy fandom being quieter, I get that, but to me seeing fandom super excited and hyped, watching reaction videos on YouTube, just make the experience better for me.

I miss scrolling through several pages of people getting excited over the thumbnails on Fridays. Back during season 3 I couldn’t keep up with the tags on here and Twitter after an episode. They were just that active. Also after clips dropped. Not every single clip of season 3 inspired hundreds of posts and tweets but a lot of them did. Now during Amira’s season it feels like maybe 30ish posts get made within the first half hour after an episode.

Season 4 isn’t my favorite season, I can already say that, but an active fandom could enhance the experience more.

I know this post can’t change anything. You can’t force people to enjoy and post about a show or a particular season. That’s not how things work. I just wish things were different, I guess.

#druck

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nataandreev · 4 years

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Artworks mentioned in “How to Do Nothing” by Jenny Odell

Chapter 4 : Exercises in Attention

Pearblossom Highway | David Hockney | 1986

Pearblossom Highway is a piece of art created by the British artist David Hockney. It depicts a view of an American Highway. It is a collage compiled from over 700 separate photographs. The artist himself describes his work as a drawing as opposed to a photographic piece. He has stated that this is because it is a layered composition representing many different viewpoints as opposed to a single, flat photograph. More about the artwork you can read here.

John Cage | Song Books

Song Books (Solos for Voice 3–92) is a collection of short works by John Cage, composed and compiled by the composer in 1970. It contains pieces of four kinds: songs, songs with electronics, directions for a theatrical performance, and directions for a theatrical performance with electronics. "Any of these may be performed by one or more singers." You can see the performance here.

John Cage | Water Walk

“He is probably the most controversial figure in the musical world today and when you hear his performance, if you will forgive me, you’ll understand why,” says the talk show host in the 1960 clip of I’ve Got a Secret. He’s speaking of John Cage, who by then was highly successful for his difficult music. And Cage was firm on the point of making music — when the host announces that Cage teaches “a course on experimental sound at the New School,” Cage is quick to correct him. More about the performance you can read here and watch here.

Blue Green Red | Ellsworth Kelly | 1963

Ellsworth Kelly, unlike many painters of his generation, arrived at his abstractions through the observation of his surroundings. Whether recording the interplay of shadows in a stairwell or the curved shape of the Pont Neuf's reflection on the River Seine in Paris (where Kelly spent six years after World War II on the G.I. Bill), Kelly's abstract shapes are more often than not based on an observed reality or memory of an architectural motif. Blue Green Red, the first of a series of eight large-scale pictures in these colors completed in the early 1960s, recalls both Kelly's 1954 painting Mask, based on the shadows cast across an open book, and his abstracted landscapes of the 1950s. via MetMuseum

Blindspotting | 2018

Collin must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning in his Oakland, Calif., neighborhood. His bond with his volatile best friend soon gets tested when Collin sees a police officer shoot a suspect in the back during a chase through the streets. Things soon come to a head when the buddies attend a party at the upscale home of a young and wealthy tech entrepreneur. Watch the trailer here.

Distraction by Design: Why the Attention Economy Is in a Moral Crisis | James Williams | 2017

Right now, there’s a fierce battle raging for your attention. Many of the technologies you use every day aim to maximize the amount of time and attention you spend with them. To win, they must increasingly use cheap tricks that exploit your psychological vulnerabilities. This results in an endless barrage of ‘persuasive’ designs — e.g. clickbait, auto-playing videos, or notifications — intended to ‘hook’ us and keep us tapping, clicking, watching, and scrolling for as long as possible. This produces effects in our lives that we tend to minimize as ‘distractions,’ or minor annoyances. However, the problems go much deeper than this. In the short term, these effects can indeed ‘distract’ us from doing the things we want to do. In the longer term, however, they can distract us from living the lives we want to live, or, even worse, undermine our capacities for reflection and self-regulation, making it harder, in the words of philosopher Harry Frankfurt, to ‘want what we want to want.’ In Brave New World Revisited, Aldous Huxley lamented that the defenders of freedom in his time had ‘failed to take into account…man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.’ In the design of digital technology, we’ve made exactly the same mistake. These ‘deep distractions’ pose major moral and political challenges that have so far been largely ignored. Understanding their dynamics, and better aligning technology design with true human needs and interests, is therefore an urgent task. via NEXT Conference. Watch the full speech here.

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bisquett · 6 years

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Blame (David Dobrik x Reader)

Request: can you write one where either the reader or his parents get hurt and he is so worried he starts speaking in slovak and hes on the phone with his parents and the reader hears it. if that makes sense. if not thats totally fine. i can think of something else. i love you by the way.

A/N: So there is some Slovak in here, disclaimer, I obvs used Google. I’ve had people said to me that Dave speaks Hungarian instead of Slovakian since his mother is Hungarian. I DON’T KNOW THE TEA. I thought he spoke Slovak so I made him speak Slovak in here. lots of love, Olivia-

ASK

It was probably past 9:00 pm when he arrived home. He called Natalie and Joe. He needed two people to help him cut hours of footage into a workable chunk of clips. He was trying so hard not to freak out; it was posting day, it was podcast day and he was tired to the bone.

His house was empty; the lights were off. For some odd reason he felt cold, it was already fall but Los Angeles was known for its warm weather until late November. He rushed to the cloud couch and turned on his laptop. Plugging in his memory card and trying to cut down as much as possible until Natalie and Joe’s arrival.

His usual editing time was 5 hours, so he texted Jason to come over around 2:00 am. They would get that done and finally he would kick Jason’s old ass out and finally get some sleep.

The knock on his front door woke him from his fantasy and he realized that he didn’t edit anything at all, he rolled his eyes, only to himself and stood to open the door.

Two of his friends came in with way too much energy for him, snacks and loud voices. He followed them into the living room.

“Jason’s coming in an hour or so” Joe said to David. The pale boy furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why?”

“He heard that we could use some help” Natalie said, putting on her pastel pink headset. “He offered to help himself”

David raised his eyebrows and a dry laugh came out of his mouth without him wanting to “Alright.” He said, side smiling “I don’t know about him cutting footage with his 20-minute videos but fine”

Everybody was focused in their work. Cutting down footage which was what Natalie and Joe were doing was pretty slow but easy process, sadly, they couldn’t help David any further than that since he was so picky about his vlogs.

About an hour in Jason arrived, with Y/n. David glanced at the front door when he heard some extra footsteps.

“Surprise!” Jason said, taking off his shoes.

Y/n ran the short distance between David and her, wrapping her arms around his torso.

“What?” He said, laughing a little, he’s always been so ticklish. “Why are you doing here?” He asked her, lowering his voice. A smile plastered in his face and a new vitality in him.

“Jason’s car broke down” Y/n said, burying her face into David’s shoulders. “I drove him here.”

“Jason, I told you that buying a shitty car was going to bit you in the ass”

“David, she drives a fucking Toyota” Jason yelled, pointing at Y/n.

“Hey!” Y/n complained, raising her head from David’s shoulder. “Easy old man”

David giggled. His dark eyes shined. Y/n walked around the couch and sit next to David, she snuggled under the blanket.

“Do you want me to cook some dinner or just drive for some take out?”

“Neither, babe.” he replied, his hand cupping your cheek. “Don’t bother. Go to my room and get some rest.”

Y/n chuckled. “It’s 10:30 pm, Dave. I’m not tired.” She said, holding too, into his hand “Wow, you must be exhausted to think that I’d want to sleep right now”

“I am” he admitted. “But is nothing new. I am way ahead than I anticipated, tho. I might be finished before midnight” he said, his free hand went to massage his shoulder.

“That’s great!” Y/n. said with a huge smile. She stood up. “I’m going to grab something for dinner, I don’t want them closing on me. Who wants pizza?”

“I’ll pass.” Joe replied. “I’m going to a friend’s after this”

“Sure” Jason and Natalie mumbled at the same time, both looking at their laptop.

“I’ll be right back” Y/n whispered while kissing David on the lips. He turned to her and nodded, and kissed her again, now more aware of it.

“I’ll PayPal you when you get home. Be safe.”

She nodded and walked out of the house.

“I’m done” Jason said, stretching his body and making weird moaning sounds. He threw the external hard drive to David. “I’m going to take a nap in your bed”

“Noooo, you’re not” David said with his usual laugh-talk voice. “Sleep here!”

“I’m shitting you, I’m going to the View’s couches.” Jason said before yawning pretty loudly. Natalie made a weird face.

Not long after that Natalie finished cutting her part. David put all of the clips together. The vlog was a little over 7 minutes. There was still some heavy editing to do, but it was right up on David’s alley.

He started cutting up the right bits, the right words, the right reactions. When Y/n arrived with the pizza, the vlog was thinning down to 5 minutes and a half. David ate two slices almost by command. He was in a high of being so close, and Y/n knew that high and didn’t want to distract him. She wanted David to finish that so he could rest.

He took a deep breath and look at Y/n when he was exporting the video. “It’s just waiting now” He said, straightening his back. “Wow, that was a record” he said, his watch said it was 11:50.

“Edit as you goo” Y/n said, for what felt like a hundredth time.

“Is not as funnnn” David replied with the same mocking voice.

He was setting up a thumbnail, the title and the description while the file was uploading. And he finally put his laptop on the table and let himself go on the couch. Closing his eyes and cuddling with the blanket. Y/n looked at him with an offended look. He smiled childishly and dragged her down to cuddle.

“Don’t get too comfortable. You still have the podcast” Natalie reminded him while scrolling through Instagram.

“Shut up” he said, not too harsh. His voice muffled by the blanket.

“She’s right” Y/n lifted herself up. “The sooner the better, babe”

He rolled his eyes and started pouting like a baby, but he stood up. His phone fell from his pocket. It was ringing. It was a FaceTime call.

“Dave, someone’s calling you” you said, picking up the phone and by the time you gave it to him it was a lost call.

He unblocked his phone, and he sat again. Natalie put her phone down, looking concerned.

“Who was that?” Y/n asked.

“My mom” he answered, calling her back.

A woman’s voice came out of David’s phone. Saying words that Y/n and Natalie couldn’t understand. David’s face went somber.

“Ako zlé je to?” (Is it bad?) he said, blinking too much and speaking unsurely. It was a first time for Y/n to hear him speak his native language and it didn’t sound happy.

His mother replied way faster and giving way more information.

“Musím ísť?” (Do I need to go?) He interrupted her. “Musím tam ísť?” (Do I need to go there?)

The first word she recognized is No.

“Je to moja chyba” (It’s my fault)

His mother repeated a soft No.

“Fine, fine. I’ll book the first flight tomorrow” he said, going back to the language he felt safe. He rubbed his face, hard. “Don’t let Toby in there. Sarah is too young too”

“David, don… don’t hang up” you heard her mother say. Her strong accent was not as harsh as you remembered but she still struggled, and she seemed distressed.

“I gotta. I need to finish something so I can go there” he explained as patiently as he could, although Y/n knew he didn’t have too much patience with his parents. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t scare the kids.”

And he hangs up. He breathed in, deep. Stood up and walked to his room, on the way there said “Natalie, book me a flight to Vernon Hills as soon as possible. I just need to get the podcast done. After 3:00 am is good”

He walked into his room and shut the door. Natalie and Y/n eyed each other. Y/n walked to David’s room and stepped in. Saw him packing.

“What happened?” she asked, softly. Closing the door.

“My dad crashed the stupid car that I gave him.” He answered. For a moment, he looked like he was going to open up but he closed himself again.

That answer caught y/n off guard. “God” she walked to him “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. Mom’s just freaking out because she doesn’t know what to do” He said, throwing the eighth black shirt into the suit. “I mean, he’s in the hospital but he’s not going to die”

“From what I gathered, she’s right in the fact that this is not your fault” you said.

“Were you using fucking Google Translate?” he asked.

“I can see it” Y/n said. “Let that stupid idea go”

“Is not that stupid” he said, clenching his jaw.

“I’ll go with you” he was zipping his backpack when he turned to you. He nodded, relieved a little. Walked to the door and shouted to Natalie to book another seat for you.

“Get your stuff, I’ll do the podcast. We’ll go to the airport from here” he said. Giving you a peck in the lips, he made his way to the podcast room and you heard him yell Jason’s name.

#david dobrik #david dobrik x reader #david dobrik imagine #david dobrik imagines #vlog squad imagines #.

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kinglucaslallemant · 5 years

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Brain Dump

I’m so freaking nervous about where we go from here. This is super long but it’s mostly just a stream of consciousness type of thing. Honestly I have seen posts that basically say the same thing as this but with less words so please feel free to keep scrolling or chat with me about any of it!

The traditional Evak roles have been so mixed up and I don’t know what issues they’re going to have. I feel like with all the changes they might not go down the bipolar route which leaves so much unknown. There have been a lot of specific writing choices that feel like intentional diversions that are meant to affect the plot later on.

They have put focus on Matteo’s aversion to physical intimacy with Sara and I’m afraid that will play a part in things. I’m worried about this whole cheating on an important test thing. I’m worried about how fragile Matteo’s emotional/mental state is. I’m worried about how bad it will get for him when he ends up isolating himself from everyone, especially after what he said about his fear of being alone. What’s the point of making these specific changes if they aren’t going to matter in a few episodes?

They also seem to be trying to keep David a little more ambiguous (within the first 4 eps at least). Like if this wasn’t an Evak story I would wonder how invested he really was. Not because he seems sketchy or anything but just because there is still a lot we just don’t know about him. It’s obvious that he’s interested in Matteo. And things like helping him on the bus and staying after everyone else left the party are signs that he cares too.

But if you take all the Evak expectation out of it, if you take the last 4 episodes at face value, you could still speculate that his interest isn’t as deep as Matteo’s. And that comes mostly from the fact that this is a perspective based story. We don’t completely know what David feels because Matteo doesn’t. While he shows that he cares about Matteo, David doesn’t offer up a lot of himself and he tends to pull back whenever it suits him. And again if we ignore our preconceived ideas as an audience and just look from Matteo’s perspective than we don’t know why.

We can speculate and deduce things for ourselves. But the things that we can 100% factually say about David are limited. He seems kind, he’s brave, adventurous, artsy, athletic, competitive, goal oriented and he has a sly sense of humor. But a person can be all of those things and still not be interested in a long term relationship, a person can be all those things and still want to flirt and make out with a cute boy without wanting something beyond that, other than possibly friendship. We can’t know that the things he’s done for Matteo that make him seem like he could be special to David aren’t things he would do for anyone.

Now the first clip of episode 5 expands that, makes it more Matteo centric. You don’t hold a sleeping boy, lacing your fingers and gently stroking his shoulder until 3 in the afternoon unless you have a lot of fucks to give. But other than that all we learned from that clip was that he values free will and the ability to make choices for himself.

Because neither of them fully fit the Isak or the Even role they’re both more their own characters. That seems highlighted in David because we don’t get his perspective. Since he’s not fully an Even it means ALL we can consider him to be is a David. And we are slowly learning about David a piece at a time just like Matteo is.

Just to be clear this isn’t a negative thing for me. This isn’t a criticism, it’s a compliment. I LIKE that I can pull back from the fact that it’s an Evak story and see and question these things because they are doing such a great job of making the story their own. I like that I can be so invested in how things will progress while having a little voice in the back of my mind tell me that no matter what it will be ok.

I was so excited for this mornings’ scene and they delivered. But I was also dreading it because now we’re headed into the thick of it and I have no clue what to expect. It’s one thing to see other Evak’s go through essentially the same conflict because you basically know how they will handle it and what they will do that will hurt each other and how they’ll make it through and be happy. We can’t brace for this because we don’t know what’s coming. All we know is that we’re going to see them hurt and suffering and I AM SO NOT READY.

#druck #long post

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tehkatie · 5 years

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I’m really just scrolling through the tag and damn y’all director David really has the fandom right where he wants it just like all of season 3. I swear if we could hear what was going on in Imane’s brain it’d be exactly what everyone’s saying. I’m giving a lot of praise today but this clip blew me away.

#katie talks skam #skam france

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shadowdianne · 5 years

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3rd @italymystery-swanqueen

Gioia, darling, querida… We have spent quite the number of years pestering each other on this awful site and you always amazed me with your kindness. I’m beyond proud you decided to take on manipping by the way; you always had a very keen eye on details and you sharing that with your creations will never fail to make me smile. You deserve far much more credit than the one you receive and seeing you walk and keep going forward with every single thing life has thrown on your way makes me not only hopeful but happy to keep watching you from afar. Here is for every time you sent me to bed when it was awfully late and for the amount of times you have always picked *the* perfect gif for a reaction. I skill I don’t and won’t ever possess.

- Italy asked for some sound bed-sharing amidst Swan-Mills family scenes. I don’t know if I got the Psycho thing right but it was certainly humorous.

“Remind me again why they weren’t able to give us a third room.”

Regina’s sentence elicited a guffaw from Henry as the teen left the room his mothers had been stuck with, a cheeky grin the last thing both brunette and blonde saw as they glanced at the quickly closing door. The teen had obviously been given the second room they had been able to secure after the downpour that had started to hit Emma’s yellow car, effectively halting their trip just two hours after they had left Storybrooke and, as the blonde sighed and ran a hand through her hair, she shrugged, pointing at the carpeted patch of floor that wasn’t overcrowded with the many knickknacks that seemed to be the major décor on the small motel they had been able to find.

“They are packed.” The blonde finally said. “I can always sleep on the floor if you want. Or sleep with Henry.”

She knew that third option was out of the question though; Henry had already given them both a look of utter horror when Regina had asked how crazy would it be to try to keep the journey under the rain and Emma didn’t want to make the teen feel as if she wasn’t giving him enough personal space. Changing her body weight from foot to foot she considered the carpet; old but not moldy it wouldn’t be comfortable, but it would do the trick for the night being.

Her musings were interrupted by Regina’s sigh as the brunette pinched the bridge of her nose, placing the suitcase next to the vanity that stood directly in front of the bed.

“I wasn’t implying that.” And even though there wasn’t a ‘Miss Swan’ at the end of the sentence the clipped tone was enough for Emma to growl inwardly at that. The journey had started wonderfully; with Regina laughing and smiling as both Henry and herself made jokes and sung to the horrible playlist they had created for what was going to probably be their last journey together now that the teen was about to start University. The warmth that had radiated from the older woman had been, in fact, strong enough to not rattle Emma when they had finally crossed Storybrooke’s town line, the vertigo feeling she usually got whenever she was stripped from her inherent magic not as strong as other times. Yet, as dark clouds had begun to cover the sky Regina’s mood had gotten somber, darkening alongside with the weather. Now, the lines around her mouth, on her forehead, made her look like a complete different person than the one who had tried -and failed- to follow Emma’s colorful choice of music a couple hours ago.

Sighing, Emma went towards her own bag, ruffling for a moment until she extracted her pajamas out of it, flattening the wrinkles on the fabric before turning back to Regina who had her eyes closed, a brief glimpse of repent glowing on the back of her pupils by the time she blinked them open once more.

“I’m sorry.” The brunette began, and Emma nibbled on her bottom lip at the flustered expression that washed over her face a second before. Shaking her head, she approached Regina, putting the pajamas down at the edge of the bed, the frilly cover a stark difference against the plain colors of her sweatpants and t-shirt.

“No, I’m sorry. We could have had tried to drive for a little longer.”

And it was true, she thought as she reached for Regina’s forearm as the brunette crossed her arms at her chest, her hand hovering and then stopping altogether, fingers twitching before she let it fall once again, limp at her side. She could have done that; drive a little longer. The beetle was old, yes, and the road was mostly covered in dark and rain but if she had known Regina would have been so uncomfortable with the idea of sharing a bed…

Because, she added as they both stood, awfully close to each other and the lack of magic essence that always seemed to crack between them both making everything slightly more awkward than expected, even if she felt trepidation at the idea of spending more time with Regina despite her idea of sleeping in the floor she didn’t feel nervous at the idea of sharing that bed. Thrilled would perhaps be a better word for it. One she didn’t plan on admitting to Regina anytime soon.

A sigh from the brunette made Emma focus back on the woman in front of her, her brows rising as she saw a soft blush coloring Regina’s cheeks for a second. A look that she wasn’t used to see on the older woman. Tilting her head, she waited until Regina let her hands fall at her sides.

“No, Henry was right.” She said with one small glance towards the door the teen had closed behind him. “And so were you. It’s better if we wait until tomorrow. It’s just…”

She halted, teeth gleaming between parted lips and Emma forced herself to chuckle as she turned and sat at the edge of the bed, feigning a self-assuredness that she didn’t quite feel. Not with the impending reality of her sleeping next to Regina for the next few hours.

“I don’t hog the covers.” She began, a slow smile spreading over her lips as she watched how Regina’s stillness was replaced with a playful roll of eyes. “At least that’s what I’ve been told.”

She stopped at that; remembering all too well who the last person had been who had shared his bed with her. A memory brought by the lack of ring on her hand, the nervous tick of covering a jewel that wasn’t even there to begin with being quickly tracked by Regina’s own gaze as the brunette looked down at Emma’s fingers, a slight rise on her chest following the movement.

Neither of them had truly talked about Hook after the divorce. Not like it was something Emma liked to speak about after all and even if Regina had been the first one who had received a visit from her as soon as she had made up her mind the former Queen hadn’t mentioned that either, not after Emma had signed the papers, red rimming her eyes as she had done so. Not even after Emma had asked Regina to go and have a drink with her at Aesop’s, the fuzzy memories that night had brought with it telling enough.

Clearing her throat, Emma patted the bed underneath her, the far too soft sheet under her hand speaking volumes of how many times the cloth had been washed repeatedly.

“I don’t snore either.” She added and that broke the spell Regina seemed to have fallen for, a gentle chuckle escaping her lips as she eyed Emma with something close to mirth dancing on her eyes.

“I guess I will find out tonight.”

It was true, she didn’t hog the covers, but Regina definitely did. They had both settled for the night shortly after their conversation with Regina sitting at the other side of the bed with something close to attentive focus on the cream she proceeded to rub on her hands, forearms and face. Something Emma had been very careful not to stare at as she stood and went to the small adjacent bathroom to change into her pajamas. When she had exited the room, Regina was already changed and after a quick awkward moment in where the brunette had stood and tiptoed towards the bathroom Emma had just vacated, the blonde had slipped beneath the sheets, nervousness curling her toes as she waited, scrolling down her phone and answering to some messages Snow and David had sent to her.

After that, Regina had followed her movements, carefully entering the bed through the other side and glancing at her before muttering a quick goodnight that Emma had felt tong-tied to answer to. Switching the lights off, Regina had quickly closed her eyes and fallen asleep. Which had only led to more nervousness on Emma’s part as she pondered not only on how peaceful the brunette looked when she was resting but also on the very distinct possibility of her rolling towards her side once she fell asleep and do something as crazy as hugging her.

Which had turned to be a problem when, after possibly reaching a REM state, Regina had started to not only hog the covers but also move closer and closer to Emma’s still awake body.

Something Emma was sure would have caused her magic to go high wire if they would still have been at Storybrooke. Outside the barrier that separated the town the crackling energy she had become accustomed to didn’t feel as connected or as strong inside of her so aside from a slight buzz on the tips of her fingers she only felt lightheaded when Regina’s arm finally wrapped around her midsection, the movement causing her shirt to rile up a few inches.

She wasn’t stupid of course, or at least not enough to not know what was either happening or why her body felt as if it was on fire. Yet, Emma didn’t want to move, or turn to her side so she could extricate herself from Regina’s arms. Closing her eyes and forcing her breathing to even out, she willed sleep to come, darkness helping to her tired brain until everything around her turned fuzzy enough for her to be able to not think on how easy would be to simply follow Regina’s antics; pressed her body flush against the older woman and just pretend, for one night, that she hadn’t terminated her marriage because precisely her.

“Moms?”

The sound of Henry’s voice at the other side of the room was what made Emma blink bleary, the darkness from outside already been replaced by the dull, grey-like light of early morning. The kid had obviously inherited that from Regina as she groaned and wished to be able to sleep a few more minutes. Something that was quickly forgotten as she heard a chuckle at her side and something frighteningly close to a pair of lips caressing her earlobe as Regina’s voice reached her; rougher than usual and definetely holding a breathiness there that Emma hadn’t gotten to hear before.

“Someone’s eager to keep with the trip.”

Blinking, feeling her cheeks beginning to redden, Emma twisted so she could watch at Regina, noticing for the first time in the few minutes she had be awoke how Regina’s arm was still hugging her close, her fingers splayed on her midriff, her thumb pressed against her skin where the shirt had bunched up further since they both had fallen asleep. Brown eyes blinking at her, sleep still clinging to them, they lacked the tension they had sported the night before and Emma wondered what had changed, why it had happened.

“Moms!”

“Give us a minute.” Emma didn’t recognize her voice, but she felt her lips move, her eyes unable to look away from Regina’s as she addressed the teen at the other side of the door, the huffed answer of something she didn’t want to unpack the only response she got from the boy. Licking her lips, being painfully aware that Regina’s eyes followed the movement, she managed to croak a “Good morning” that fell flat against her teeth and tongue, a lazy and trembling smile following short after.

One final squeeze on her waist and Regina moved away, her warmth being quickly replaced by the chill that seemed to fill the room the second the covers that hid them both from it were lifted. Blinking and feeling her chest tightening, the blonde almost didn’t hear Regina’s voice as the woman called for her. However, when she did, she found a pair of mischievous eyes glancing at her, the lack of purple on them just as staggering as it had been the night before.

“You certainly not snore, Emma. But you speak on your sleep.”

The blonde couldn’t answer that, unable to find her voice, but she gaped as Regina chuckled and began to fish for her clothes, a third call from Henry breaking the spell.

“If you are kissing tell Zelena she owns me ten dollars!”

“Henry!”

#swan queen #OnTheLastDayOfChristmas #italymysteryswanqueen

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