#and recently we got to a certain episode…
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Open Questions as we head into a massive lore drop tomorrow with the new episode, along with my best guesses as to the answers. Warning: Long post.
1) Who did Kalina have the spy's tongue curse with?
The most popular (and most likely, in my opinion) theory here is that it's Jace and/or Porter, who Ragh saw the night of Prompocolypse. The players at the table seem to think it's connected directly to Bakur and/or Lydia; however, Kalina DID say the name Lydia Barkrock during Spring Break to Riz.
There's some slight weirdness in the timeline around Aelwyn helping with the Spy's Tongue Curse in that the implication of her answer for when she was helping with it would be after she was arrested ('the end of freshman year going into that summer' when Aelwyn was arrested in early March) but it's not the first time the timeline around those events has been fucked and it probably won't be the last.
2) What's Jace's deal? Also, 2a) What's Porter's deal?
As of the end of episode 16, we can pretty safely say he was at SOME point killed and brought back via a deal with Ankarna. It's been pointed out that in Freshman Year his art did not cover his chest with the scarf; I'm not taking that as definitive evidence of anything, because that's the kind of retcon that can easy be explained away.
Jace and Porter did not seem to be on super friendly terms when Riz overheard them the first day of school freshman year, but by the end of the year, the night of Prom, they're on closer terms. Ragh, after the fight at Prom but inside of the school, sees Arianwen and Jace talking to someone he cannot at that point see, almost certainly Kalina. Later - it's not really clear HOW much later - Jace and Porter found Ragh, and Porter did some 'barbarian healing stuff' that presumably included a blood transfusion, because Ragh then CAN see Kalina and is threatened into silence by her.
It's quite clear to me from this that both Jace and Porter carried the curse of Kalina, and I'm of the belief that they were fulfilling their end of whatever deal was going on between Kalina and them by helping her agent in the form of Arianwen get the Crown.
Now which of them is in charge, and what're their respective motivations? That's much more interesting and I think independant.
I saw a theory on here that I LOVE and now fully believe that Jace was, in fact, the sorcerer in Lydia's party, and after dying to Bakur he took the deal to come back and is working for Ankarna. How truly willing he or any of the others who took that deal are at this point is another question. This is speculation, but it's really good speculation. This would obviously mean Jace was corrupted well before freshman year, but I don't actually think that's a problem.
Porter's more interesting, and I'm fully not certain which of the two are in charge, if either is, though my own speculation is that Porter is the primary driver. Jace clearly got him to help with Ragh because Porter would know Ragh and could easily infect him with Kalina; why they didn't kill him is an interesting question, though it may be as simple as Arthur Aguefort was back alive at that point and the death of one of the students who fought Kalvaxus wouldn't be a quiet matter. Still, Porter pushes rage as an almost religious matter, we do not know the nature of his own Paladin Oath, and his behavior towards Fig to push her away from Cassandra leads me to think he's a true believer sort who's in this willingly, not a revived pawn like Jace or the Ratgrinders appear to be.
3) What exactly happened to the Ratgrinders in the Mountains of Chaos?
I do not believe they all died there, for the simple reason that Lucy died in the Farhaven Woods. I think it's much more likely that either Jace targeted Kipperlilly specifically as the most fertile ground for rage and then it spread from there, or if the above speculation about Jace is wrong and he's also a more recent pawn that some thing terrible happened to SOME of them there. The details on this are really important to see, to me - there's a version of this story where Kipperlilly died willingly for the power it would bring, for example. I think this is one where we're VERY likely to get answers this episode.
4) What are the Ratgrinders using the Devil's Necter for?
I strongly believe all the stuff about modified memories is a red herring, though maybe it explains some odd behaviors here and there: I think they're using it to lie to gods. My own wild theory this was first used by LUCY to lie to her own god in prayer and get Ankarna's name from her by claiming they had already broken through Oblivati Mori, so why not share some information about the sister you loved so much? And then the guilt of having done this, and maybe even seeing some sort of backlash onto her god, is what led her to back out of whatever bits of the plan she had gone along with to that point for Kipperlilly's sake.
5) Why does Kipperlilly need to be principal?
I don't exactly believe that the Ratgrinders are looking for a long term senior year sort of situation; Kipperlilly being student body president and thus principal is the key to something within the bylaws.
The most likely thing to me here is that we don't yet have the details we'd need to answer why on this one.
The funniest callback sort of answer is that she needs to be principal in order to remove Watches and Wards from the library, which is supposed to prevent divine summonings on school grounds. It's stated in freshman year that only the Elven Oracle or Arthur Aguefort can remove the book, but this may well be Arthur Aguefort in his role as Principal rather than being tied to Arthur himself. Certainly Adaine wasn't likely to repeat her own mistake, at least. Also, potentially, this would be why they couldn't just change the bylaws for their endgoal directly instead of going through the election - the knockout enchantment on Watches and Wards is on the book, not part of the school bylaws. In any case, this could potentially be tied in to my guess on six, which is…
6) What's the overall plan here?
The overall plan, I think, is to bring Ankarna back fully to life during graduation in the gym, a place where a god (if a shitty one) was born. Elmville will be prepared for proper worship with the rage from the infections through the tree, etc, to provide enough worship to bring Ankarna in her current form back.
7) Who was the imposing figure who revived Buddy Dawn?
Very possible answers to this question are either a true form of some kind for Jace or Porter, some kind of Avatar of Ankarna (especially since they were not on the material plane, though it seems likely this figure was also involved for Yolanda or Lucy), some corrupted form for Kipperlilly, or some other servant of Ankarna. We really don't have enough to know.
8) What's going on with Bucky Applebees?
I think he's going through a crisis of faith similar to Kristen's, but just what kind of answers he might be reaching we really don't have enough to say. It wouldn't surprise me if the Ratgrinders have tried recruiting him in some way, however; it's a good way to hurt Kristen.
9) What, exactly, was the nature of Cassandra and Ankarna's relationship? Were they still together when Ankarna fell or when Cassandra became the Nightmare King? Were they actually on good terms?
I think these are possibly answers we're getting this week, and also I think there's a good chance that Ankarna and Cassandra had LONG since fallen out before Cassandra's rebirth as the Nightmare King. Did Ankarna blame her wife for Sol's followers stealing and killing hers? Did Cassandra see her wife turning more violent and less thoughtful out of desperation? Cassandra fell in one move of betrayal, we know, her followers convinced over her pleading that to know her name was heretical - and, for what it's worth, in the form she changed to the leaders of those followers were most certainly punished for their turning on their goddess. Ankarna's seems to have been far more gradual.
10) Can Ankarna actually be restored to her original form and domain, and is that a good idea to begin with, FIG?
We'll seeeeee. There's something profoundly interesting in the nature of gods in Spyre; they need the followers much more than the followers need them, for all their power. Spreading your religion makes your god healthier, but it also makes it so that you personally have a lot less control over the shape that belief takes. We've been told repeatedly that a single follower is all a god needs to stay alive, but clearly they need more than that to come to life to begin with, or to be reborn - not everybody has Kristen's spark of divinity, it seems.
11) Can Lucy be revived slash can any of the Ratgrinders be saved?
Maybe. As always in Fantasy High, what happens depends to a very large degree on what the players want to do, and what the dice agree to. I DO think we'll see Lucy be brought back, even if just in an epilogue.
#fhjy#fhjy spoilers#speculation#rat grinders#jace stardiamond#porter cliffbreaker#dimension 20#fantasy high#ankarna#cassandra
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Strawberries
#freya#merlin#bbc merlin#my friend’s been showing me merlin for the first time#and recently we got to a certain episode…#which happened to be the first one to make me cry#because merlin was finally happy!#even through sneaking around#having to discover a dangerous secret#and eventually losing her#for that one fleeting moment merlin was genuinely happy#so while this episode broke my heart#it’s still beautiful#because they got to share strawberries <3#merlin spoilers
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I may understand KHUX inside and out, where I have all the little inconsistencies mapped out into some elaborate plan that makes sense after all....
but I still am so confused about KHDR
#there are so many things were i'm like ''huh ? w... whah ??''#both UX and DR go back and forth making you believe certain things that are LITERALLY not fucking true#its one reason why... idk I'm not excited for ML's episodic release#I love UX's ''we watched this month's episode'' like it was a TV show#but at the same time building theories when the NEXT episode you learn that you had factually incorrect information....#idk that got old for me personally#so I'm glad DR was (mostly) out all at once;#and I'm ready to be VERY careful and hesitant with ML's episodic revelations#but anyway I digress#DR confuses me a lot because I still don't understand Baldr's goals and when Hoder dies vs how that fuels him etc etc#I know I need to rewatch DR and actually write everything down to really help it sink in and digest but...#idk I think this is one of my least fave titles of recent KH releases#not that I didn't like it#but it didn't exactly explain a lot of Young Xehanort's mysteries like I thought it would....#ANYWAYYYY thank you for reading...
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Call Her Daddy (NSFW)
First Lady of Private Garden Fic
AN: 🤭🤭🤭
Synopsis: Jack goes on the Call Her Daddy podcast and of course has to talk about his wife
Pairing: Husband!Jack Harlow x Wife!Reader
First Lady of Private Garden Masterlist
DO NOT ENGAGE IF UNDERAGE
Please Do Not Repost My Content Anywhere
“Jack, it's about damn time you showed up for an episode of my podcast.” Alex said after the both of them sat down and got comfortable where the podcast recording would take place.
“What can I say? I'm a busy man. And it's good to be here.”
“Definitely busy seeing as you just recently put a total of three babies in your wife, but we'll get to that later. We're focusing on you, first.”
“Look, I can't help it if my wife is fine as hell. Might as well go hard or go home.” He replied while shrugging and of course Alex laughed.
“Don't worry, you'll get to talk about how much you love your wife in due time because we know that’s a running theme with you. But first, I want to know more about Jack Harlow. Did you always want to be a rapper? And where did that drive come from?”
“Always wanted to be one and I remember selling my CD's back in middle school. My mom was a heavy influence on that and she would freestyle with me in the car when she would drive me to like soccer practice and different things like that.”
“That's so cute and adorable that your mom influenced you. Now when people think of rap, Kentucky isn't really the first place people think of.”
“Not at all and I'm from Louisville and a lot of people don't know that it is literally an entire city. When people hear Kentucky, the first thing that they think of is some back roads country ass shit when it's not.” He answered as he thought about when he first started and some people would tell him that he would never make it out Kentucky let alone Louisville.
“And did a lot of people support you? Or did they try to discourage you? How was that growing up there?”
“It was about half and half. A lot of people were confident that I was going to make something of myself, but others weren’t. But I’ve been serious about this shit from day one and it’s slowly but surely paying off. My girl wouldn’t let me quit for nothing even if sometimes I wanted to.”
“Now, what were you like in high school? Were you the popular jock, the nerd, part of the science club? Did the girls fall out over you?” Alex asked while getting comfortable in her chair and adjusting.
“I mean I always had friends and I wasn’t the one who would be stuffed into lockers or some shit. Like with certain things people knew not to mess with me. And it always seemed like girls always liked me, but when I set my eyes on one, that was it. It was a done deal. We weren’t even together yet and people knew that she was mine and they would respect it.”
“So, I want to ask you since you said that about people knowing that she was your girl and respecting it. Now we are talking about the First Lady, correct?”
“The fucking one and only. Had my eyes on her ever since I was fourteen.”
“A little birdie told me about you hiding a boy’s clothes after gym was over because he liked her and wouldn’t leave her alone? Not baby Jack getting jealous.” Alex said while laughing and Jack soon joined in along with her.
“Look, he asked for it and I didn’t have a problem with him after that. Like dude get the fuck away from my girl.”
“And what did she do when she found out?”
“She never found out until we moved to Atlanta after we graduated so she had absolutely no idea. But, she definitely got on my ass. But she’s not so innocent either, but you’ll have to ask her about that.”
“Yeah, she’s definitely the next person I need to have on here. Now what is the album that you think is your best work or the one that you are most proud of?”
“Hmm, Jackman hands down. No features, just me talking and getting my feelings out. I was able to be home in Louisville with my wife for about a year and a half and I took that time to reset and get my mind right because a lot of shit had been going on and happening around us and I felt that it was important for me to do that, but now we’re back to making the catchy shit that people can really vibe to and feel good music so I’m excited for this new era.”
“Lovin’ On Me! Now I am loving your new song and I notice that it says I don't like no whips and chains and you can’t tie me down. So no whips and chains in the Harlow household?”
“I… look I have a story about that. It’s not the fact that there’s absolutely none because at one point in time there was.”
“Damn, do I need popcorn for this because I feel like I need popcorn for this.” Alex added while busting out laughing.
“So, I tie her up, blindfold her, we got the nipple clamps, all that shit, and I handcuff myself to her to get her to stop moving and I lost the key in the process. So, she notices that I get quiet and she’s freaking out asking me what’s wrong and when I finally tell her she’s like call Urban. He’s our best friend who lived with us at the time and he has seen some wild shit and I know he’s so fucking tired of us. So with my free hand, I use my phone to call him and he comes and sees what the situation is, finds the key and leaves us there and goes to sleep because we had woken him up and he was pissed. So he just left us there until the morning.”
“I LITERALLY CANNOT! But, was it really a punishment though? Handcuffed to your wife so I can imagine a few more rounds came after that?” Alex asked while wiggling her eyebrows.
“More than a few.”
“Now talk to me about the other wild shit that he has seen.”
All Jack did was hang his head as he busted out laughing.
“I… I don’t even know where to fucking start. Urb is always getting pulled into the middle of shit that he absolutely had nothing to do with.”
“That’s what best friends are for. Now, how do you feel about choking?”
“Anything she wants, I will do it. Nothing is off limits for her. I admit that it’s not my favorite thing in the world, but if it’s going to make her orgasm faster, I’m all for it. She definitely comes first. Pun intended.”
“Oh, so you’re all about putting her needs first in the bedroom?”
“And in life, that’s my baby and her needs and wants are always going to be met. Been doing that since we were fifteen when we were officially together.”
“Now you said nothing is off limits when it comes to her, so she’s just like ‘babe, let me peg you’.”
“No, absolutely not, no one is sticking anything up my ass. I love my wife through and through, but no. That’s a little too much for me. Come on Alex, I’m not that adventurous, my lyrics literally say ‘I’m vanilla baby’.”
“Well, I might have put an idea in your head that you’ll want to try with her later.”
“Nope.”
“Favorite sex position?”
“Do you…. Do you not know what they call me?” Jack curiously asked her in disbelief.
“No, what do they call you?”
“Missionary Jack.”
“Please shut up because literally no one calls you that, you call yourself that.”
“I swear that’s what they call me!”
“And who gave you that nickname?”
“If it was someone other than my wife then that’s a problem. She’s called me that since forever.”
“What do you like about it?”
“It’s underrated on so many levels. I swear my triplets were conceived in missionary. Because here’s my thing, I’m face to face with her, at one point her ankles are going to be behind her head or on top of my shoulders and I’m going the fuck in.”
“Well damn, what’s her favorite position? I’m going to get her on here, but I want to hear it from you.”
“She likes to think that she’s in control, so she likes to ride me. But she knows who runs this shit. My kids aren’t the only ones who call me daddy.” Jack responded while smirking and all Alex did was playfully roll her eyes.
“Your wife is going to get you for that one and I’m going to let her have at it.”
“Yeah that’s how it all starts and it’ll end with me fucking her brains out like it always does.”
“You’re going to be in for it when this is over. Hmm, kinks?”
“I love praising her because I know it makes her reach her peak faster, but definitely a spit kink.”
“OH! TELL ME MORE! I am intrigued!”
“Alex, you are funny as shit.”
“I’m serious! Out with it.”
“Spitting in her mouth and watching her swallow it.”
“Are you sure you’re as vanilla as you say you are, because? Yeah I’m going to need wifey here to get her perspective. Do you think she’s ever faked an orgasm while you were in her? Would you be able to tell?”
“I know her body inside and out and she better not do that shit and have me find out about it. But, I don’t think she has.”
“Hand jobs, blow jobs?”
“Fuck yeah, I love me a good hand job or blow job.”
“Craziest place that you’ve gotten one or had sex period?”
“On a plane to Australia. We thought everyone was asleep, but of course everyone except Urb. This was what I meant when he is always getting caught in the middle of some shit that has nothing to do with him. It was difficult because I’m so tall, but we made it work.”
“What would an erotic vacation look like for you?”
“Definitely fucking her brains out non stop in some tropical ass location. We’re not leaving our room for the entire time that we’re there.”
“Ooohh, now if you could have sex in any location in the world, where would it be?”
“Hmm, I never really thought about it. Maybe some exotic ass shit like behind a waterfall or something. But, I was also thinking the white house lawn because I don’t mind an audience.”
“NOT THE WHITE HOUSE LAWN!”
“YOU ASKED!”
“Have you ever had or thought about trying tantric sex?”
“I’ve never really thought much about it, but I would have to do my research. If wifey wants it, I’m down.”
“She really does wear the pants in your relationship, huh?”
“Alex, like I said before, you’re funny and no she doesn’t.”
“I literally do not think that anyone will agree with you. If I were to do a poll right now, everyone will probably say that she does.”
“I let her think that she does.”
“Mmm hmm, sure. Now what is your dirtiest sexual fantasy?”
“I don’t even know since I’m pretty adventurous when it comes to it and not many things are off limits.”
You had just gotten to the hotel that Jack was staying at while he was filming for his episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast when you decided to surprise him. He had been going non stop since the release of his new single and getting ready to go on The Kentucky Tour.
Of course Urban was with him and sent you a text saying that he was almost done and you promptly took a quick shower and slipped on one of Jack’s favorite lingerie sets which happened to be black and purple. You threw on your black silk robe in case you got cold and simply laid out on the bed and played on your phone waiting for your husband.
You had fallen asleep waiting for him when you felt him reach down and place a kiss on your lips and your eyes fluttered open.
“What are you doing here?” He playfully asked as he was now kneeling on the bed in front of you and playing with the ties on your black silk robe.
“I wanted to surprise my husband since he’s been working so hard and I figured you would want a little time to have me to yourself.” You answered while motioning for him to lean down so that you could kiss him which he quickly did.
As Jack deepened the kiss, he took the opportunity to undo your robe and took in the sight of you in front of him.
“A sight that I can never get tired of seeing.”
He started to kiss down your neck when you lightly pushed him away from you and flipped the two of you over as you went to undo his pants and slide down his boxer briefs.
“Last night on the phone with you wasn’t enough and I decided that I wanted you in my mouth as soon as possible.”
The night before, Jack was complaining about missing you so just like you had done many times before, you gave him a show which ended up with him cumming multiple times as he watched you.
Jack had now tossed his shirt to the other side of the room and you had gotten his boxer briefs completely off before taking him in your mouth painfully slow making him grab the back of your head and buck his hips towards you.
“Baby, do not fucking tease me right now. All I basically did was talk about how good I fuck you in that podcast and we need to get to it before I fucking bust. This shit is starting to hurt and take that lingerie off.” Jack whined as you were making yourself comfortable.
Before taking him back in your mouth, you did as you were told.
“Patience, my love. You know that I’m always going to make it worthwhile.” You answered him as you went back to pleasuring him with your mouth and your eyes began to water as you felt him reach the back of your throat.
You were taking your slow sweet time and even though Jack was getting annoyed, he was in entirely too much pleasure to say anything at the moment knowing that when he finally did cum in your mouth that it would be worth it.
“Ahh fuck. Come on baby, go a little faster than that.” Jack pleaded with you, but then you took him out of your mouth and went to the edge of the bed and laid down upside down.
“Get over here and face fuck me then.” You said while giggling and Jack wasted no time getting in front of you and sliding himself back into your mouth while throwing his head back in pleasure.
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, ohhhh shiiiiit.”
Jack had now taken a hold of both sides of your face and began moving in and out of your mouth as you reached down to play with your clit knowing that if he saw you playing with yourself that he would cum faster.
“Come on baby, open that pretty mouth of yours wider for me. You can take more of me, you’re doing such a good job.”
You did as you were told and inserted two fingers while still continuing to play with your clit with the opposite hand as you felt the spit from your mouth leaking down the sides of it.
“You playing with your pussy for me? Add another finger for daddy.”
Listening to Jack, you added another finger as he reached down to spit on your clit which made you increase the pace of your fingers.
You couldn’t help but to moan while Jack was still in your mouth and knew that you were going to reach your peak soon.
And as if right on cue, you heard Jack.
“Fuck, baby.” He tightly held onto you as you hit your peak and felt the cum shooting down your throat and out the sides of your mouth, but you continued sucking him off not showing him any mercy.
“Hold on!”
You shook your head no as you continued to move him in and out of your mouth, but finally let up when you felt another load shoot into your mouth and quickly swallowed it. Jack slightly moved away from you as you sat up and turned around to face him smirking.
“Wait until I get your ass for doing that.” Was all he said as you reached up to kiss him. You caught him off guard as you reached down and slowly began to jerk him off when he broke the kiss and looked down at you.
“Get your ass to the top of the bed and spread your legs so I have enough room.”
You moved until you reached the top as Jack hovered over you and simply looked down at you to admire you.
“What, babe?” You asked as you were now beginning to shy away from him, but all he did was lightly grab your face and kiss you.
“Nothing, it’s just my wife is so gorgeous and I’m about to have her screaming at the top of her lungs with how good I’m about to make her feel.” He answered as he began to rub small circles along your clit and reached down to kiss you while slipping his tongue in your mouth.
When you least expected it, he slowly entered you making you gasp against his lips which he quickly quieted you with another kiss as he began to move.
“Look at my pretty girl taking this dick.”
Jack then lifted your legs so that they were on the top of his shoulders and began pounding into you making you gasp as he caught you in another kiss.
“Shiiiit.” Was all you could mutter as you wrapped your arms around Jack’s neck as both of your noses were touching.
As Jack continued to keep the same pace, he kept his eyes on you and simply smirked.
“Open your mouth.”
You felt warm liquid slide down the back of your throat as he continued to move and place small kisses along your breasts.
On your right breast, he placed a small kiss and bit down and continued to suck on the same spot as you were letting out a series of curses and whimpers.
That was going to leave a mark, but you would deal with that later.
Jack then reached down to play with your clit and he quickly went to suck on your other breast knowing that he would have you come undone in front of him in less than a minute.
“Fuck, baby. Don’t stop, don’t stop.”
Jack then felt a rush of warm liquid hit the bottom part of his stomach and smirked as he reached up to kiss you.
As you were slowing down your breathing, Jack continued to rub small circles along your clit while kissing down your neck.
Once you felt that you recovered enough, you reached over to the bedside table and pulled out a bottle of lube that you had brought and handed it to Jack as you moved to get on all fours.
All he did was smirk at you before opening the bottle as you were making yourself comfortable in front of him.
You had only done anal a handful of times, but you found yourself wanting it more and more lately and of course, Jack wasn’t opposed.
“Baby, remember you have to relax so I can get in easier.” You heard him say as he was getting ready behind you.
“Yes, I know.” You softly answered as you felt the tip.
Jack noticed he was meeting resistance so he added more lube and had you arch your back a little bit more before trying again.
He was moving in slowly and didn’t hear anything from you which had him concerned and he simply stopped.
“Baby, you okay? You aren’t saying anything.”
“I’m fine, just keep going.”
After a few minutes, he was fully in and gave you a minute to adjust and made sure that you were okay.
“You ready for me to move?”
All you did was nod towards him as you felt him moving in and out of you.
“You’re doing so good, you’re doing so good for me baby. Arch your back a tiny bit more.”
Complying, you slowly but surely started to notice how good it felt as Jack reached down and you felt him insert what felt like a vibrator in you.
You had no idea when he had time to get it, but you weren’t in any way, shape, or form complaining.
“Babeee, oh fuck.”
“Got a new toy to use on you.”
Between the vibrator and Jack pleasuring you, you felt your legs begin to get weak and the perfect arch that you had once had was forgotten as you were trying to hold yourself up.
Jack noticed this and instead of turning the vibrator down and decreasing his pace, he did the opposite and turned it up while increasing his pace making you scream out.
“Baby…. Mmm… fuck I can’t…”
“Yes you can and you will, arch your back for me. Such a good girl.”
Jack reached down to play with your clit and your orgasm hit you like a ton of bricks making you scream out as he slid out and released all over your back.
He then slid the vibrator out of you as you collapsed on your stomach and reached down to kiss your neck.
“You okay, down there? You were so good for me.”
You let out something of a groan letting him know that you were okay and he instantly laughed while sliding off the bed and pulling you by the ankles so that you were at the end of the bed and Jack was on his knees.
“Get on your knees for me because we are nowhere near done.”
This made you do a double take as you looked back at him in confusion.
“You didn’t think you were about to come all this way and I wasn’t going to taste my wife’s pussy, did you? Spread them damn legs.”
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@lightsoutstyles
@j-worlds-blog
@middlechild404
@0elliotswhore
@iknowdatsrightbih
@w1ldthoughts
@love2loveonme
@hufflewhore128
@shawtypoison
@fantasywritersstuff
@harlowtales
#jack harlow#jack harlow x reader#jack harlow x black reader#jack harlow smut#jack harlow imagine#jack harlow fanfic#jack harlow concepts#jack harlow fluff#first lady of pg
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AITA for debating hiring outside help for my husband and I's house because we can't keep up alone?
For context: My (26 Fae ftm) husband (28M) live very happy and healthily together. While I'm unable to medically transition due to a bunch of reasons we'll get to, he has been nothing but a solid rock in my life and the one person that has always been on my side. Through dragging me out of an abusive household to helping me with my chronic illness, he's been an absolute angel despite dressing like the devil himself (he's goth). So I don't want any hate on him.
He is ADHD and I'm Autistic. Yes, hello, we are that couple~♡ This does cause us some issues tho as he is unmedicated and I'm just struggling in general with sensory issues for certain chores. So far we keep each other some what afloat, having him do chores that my sensory issues can't handle and my doing ones he can't focus through.
However, as previously mentioned I'm chronically ill. I won't get into many details but it's basically I'm internally bleeding at random intervals. And before people think I'm talking about just my period, no it's so bad that I have once had to go to the ER for a blood transfusion due to this internal bleeding and had times when I was bleeding for over 4 months straight.
My husband and I because of this condition are pretty much struggling financially. I can work but it makes me extremely fatigued since I'm essentially working with constant Anemia. It gets bad enough some days that he can't wake me up without over an hour of effort, even after I've slept 10hrs. The fatigue is REALLY bad. He works just as much as I do, sometimes more because his work is so shortstaffed and he likes to pick up extra shifts to try and save up for the surgery that would hopefully fix everything.
This has culminated though in us both being extremely exhausted near 24/7 for the last year-ish but we have finally hit a break. I recently got a huge pay increase (nearly $200 a week increase) so we are hopeful for the first time in months. We're starting to pay down my extreme medical debt and being able to just go get dinner when he doesn't want to cook.
Here's where I may be kind of TA... Despite this hope, my condition recently did get worse. I've now gone another 3 months still bleeding and having to suffer my Anemia symptoms and medication. This has caused me to fall massively behind on what should be my chores, and while my husband doesn't begrudge me it, it has caused our home to start becoming very, very unhygienic. As someone who grew up with a clean freak mother, it kinda upsets me. He's focusing more and more on me and less on the house so even his chores are falling behind too.
None of that is his fault. He loves me so much he wants to help Me first but it has gotten to where we are both going "we really need to clean the house..." but neither of us have enough battery to do so. Me becuz of my condition and he becuz he's stuck caring for me.
We have enough that we might be able to afford to hire a cleaning service to help us out, but it would cost us some of the freedom and paying down medical bills. I think it'd only be a temporary thing, once I recover from my current episode, we can probably get better... but I don't know how long it will be.
On top of this I'm worried paying for this service will further put off my surgery as we struggle to save up for it again... We've already had to tap into that savings cuz my current episode lost me 2 days at work.
Is it unfair for me to ask to use our new extra money for essentially my not wanting to have to bother doing basic chores? I know I'm tired but I've lived with it so long I could and should probably just push through.
What are these acronyms?
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BL 2023 Review
I wasn’t sure how I wanted to write about BL for this year. I was originally going to do a The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly framework for it, but that feels meaner than I actually am about it. Instead, I think I’ll just write out some sections and unpack some things I felt along the way.
I Watched Too Much Again
Last year I engaged with about 92 productions around the world. This year it was 99 (I tracked stuff I completed here). Sure I dropped 18 of them this year, but goddamn. The problem with watching as much as I did this year is that I worked full time this year and also maintained a separate hobby. I also continued my twice-weekly watch sessions with my friend Emily, so there are an additional 100-ish watch sessions in here of rewatching, plus a few other rewatches (Theory of Love and My Ride most notably).
One of my struggles at this point is I’m far too familiar with the genre, and find myself feeling impatient and irritable with shows that aren’t to my taste the way I used to. Throughout the late summer and fall I found myself increasingly grumpier about the genre, and it didn’t get better until I had a holiday and basically slept a day to get some energy back. I also found myself growing apart from fans I’ve known and followed a long time. It’s been a difficult year for me as a long-time fan because my tastes, habits, and friendships in the genre have changed even if the amount I watch hasn’t really.
I Wrote a Lot This Year
I recently converted my watch tag away from my gaming internet persona to just my shortname, so all near-1000 of my Stray Thoughts posts can be found under #ben watches now. I’ve also been going back and adding #ben writes to some of the standalone pieces that I really liked. In reviewing them, the pieces I’m happiest about are my ode to Framboise from Kabe Koji Nekoyashiki-kun Desires to Be Recognized, my post begging everyone to watch La Pluie, my post about what it means to actually like queer men, my SBS ep 10 post that ended up being wrong, my post about the Lavender Scare and Be My Favorite, my Tokyo in April is… post about the breaking of the BL line,
However, the two posts I am most proud of is my half-joking response about why I think tagging each other back and forth across Tumblr in our writing is so important. and The Knowing: Being Queer in BL because I had so much great conversations with folks as a result of both of these posts.
Looking back at my own blog, this is probably the most active I’ve been in my entire time on this website, so thank you to everyone who interacted with me this year, because it really is people talking to me that gets me most inspired to write things down. Big shout out to @lurkingshan who will bug me repeatedly until I blog something that I said in passing.
We Started a Podcast!
After hanging out with @shortpplfedup since Bad Buddy, she got inspired and really wanted to bring something different to the BL podcasting sphere. I had time, and liked talking with her enough, so we started @the-conversation-pod. Now we’re a full year into it and planning out future stuff. It’s been so much fun being able to get things off my soul and break poor NiNi in our recording sessions.
From this year, I think my favorite episodes we did were The Moonlight Chicken Episode, the Eighth Sense episode, the ITSAY Anniversary Episodes, The Wedding Plan episode, , and The Holiday Clip Show. Huge shout out to @ginnymoonbeam for anchoring the transcription process, and @lurkingshan for editing.
The VIIB Awards will begin airing soontm so look forward to that.
Favorite New Term: Business Gay Performance
Let’s be clear, Bump Up Business is not good. It is an obvious BL cash grab from OnlyOneOf that seeks to comment on the fake nature of BL while doing everything it can to trick the audience into believing that the BL pair is real.
Before we got deeper into this year, I was a big fan of a certain pairing, and then their fans took it too far and it affected the way I engaged with their performances and their work. I like that we have a new term for “fanservice” that communicates that you understand that this is for work. (thanks to NiNi for this comparison) I can look at the latest behind the scenes video from Last Twilight and say that I think Sea really understands the work they’re doing, and he and Jimmy have a very relaxed and mature version of BGP without feeling like I’m feeding into shipping.
Do I think they’re dating? No. Do I like the way they fake it? Absolutely!
I can look at one of @respectthepetty posts about Yin and War having personalized, color-coded mics, and we can talk about the next level BGP between the two and both communicate that we know that this is a performance.
It actually makes the extra PR work fun for me again, because now I can just shout “BGP! BGP! BGP!” and it not feel like I’m giving myself brainrot.
Thai BL Needs to Finish Stronger Next Year
Let’s get into some of the show stuff. This year was defined for me by Thai BL starting strong with good premises and then squandering them by not focusing on the details that mattered or leaning into baseless melodrama. Time for some reads. Some of these shows were generally good, but they failed at these things:
609 Bedtime Story: The world building crumpled in the back half and both endings are flat.
A Boss and a Babe: Cher is a pro gamer who worked for a gaming company and there was no plot point about this at all, or collaboration between the two groups.
Bake Me Please: Why was a show about cake so lacking in flavor?
Be Mine SuperStar: You had a real opportunity to explore a fan and idol romance and had Punn show so little growth. I hope the footage of First’s range is helpful now that Ja is out of BL.
Be My Favorite: You redid that whole amusement park date and muddled so much of what the hell happened on that day.
Between Us: You had years to make this interesting. Why are there five pairs and why is the end of this a JC Penny catalog photoshoot?
Dangerous Romance: What the fuck happened to the Sailom we had in episode 1 and 2 before that gun incident?
Hidden Agenda: Tee, what the hell was this? Twelve weeks of this?
I Feel You Linger in the Air: You may be the most beautiful show, with some of the most impressive performances of the year, but you absolutely botched this ending. Finish the goddamn season next time.
Love in Translation: I love you, but that whole kidnapping plot was so stupid at the end.
Low Frequency: I like your OST. That's about it.
My Dear Gangster Oppa: No examination about how gaming friendships become close quickly because of the combination of anonymity and teamwork (shout out to @twig-tea for this excellent summation).
My School President: Saving your gay commentary for the final episode felt like a conservative choice. I want more from you next time.
Naughty Babe: You retconned your own characters to tell a worse story. Unforgiveable.
Never Let Me Go: You didn’t know if you wanted to be a high school BL or a mafia story. It was difficult to watch.
Only Friends: I cannot believe you did Boston like that at the end. Either give Force’s character a clear personality next time, or keep him enigmatic; half measures make him and Book look worse. Sand was absolutely embarrassing. Boeing was a waste. Ending on all of them paired like that felt so unearned.
Step By Step: You forgot to ground Jeng’s external dreams at the end, so the final two episodes are just frustrating.
I’m glad I got that off my chest. We can go into the next year now.
Korea Put in the Work This Year
I really like the efforts from the various Korean studios this year. I really hope we get a Strongberry joint next year, but I want to acknowledge that we had 18 Korean BL dramas I watched this year, and at least three of them I think are must watches: Our Dating Sim, Sing My Crush, and The Eighth Sense. Beyond that, I think Love Tractor, Unintentional Love Story, and A Breeze of Love are easy recommendations.
It’s really impressive how the complaint for me this year with Korean BL is not about them using their time poorly. It’s more about normal drama concerns, where I think characterization is a little weak, or a theme doesn’t land squarely. This rapid iteration from the Korean studios is really impressive to watch, and I’m excited to see what some of the recognized players do next year.
Taiwan and The Philippines Have Been Quiet for Me
I wasn’t really able to connect with much from the Philippines this year except for The Day I Loved You. I never wrote about The Day I Loved You, but this beautiful and heart wrenching show is one of my favorites from this year. I wasn’t too keen on the Oxin Films offerings of this year, and I’m still chasing down the ones from The IdeaFirst Company.
As for Taiwan, this new BL project from the end of the year just isn’t hitting. Kiseki: Dear to Me also ended up really hurting me with the way they used Wayne Song and Huang Chun Chih. I love that angry little man with the white hair, but I’m still salty about Wayne and the general mess of that show.
Japan was Busy This Year
I watched 16 new shows, a few older ones, and a few movies this year from Japan. We haven’t gotten this much from them ever. I continue to love the Drama Shower project from MBS, and my beloved What Did You Eat Yesterday? returned this year. We had pretty stellar outings with Our Dining Table, If It’s With You, and I Cannot Reach You.
I think a third of the Japanese BL I’ve tracked on MDL actually released this year. That’s huge.
Still, I am going to side eye Minato’s Laundromat 2. You were the show that let me down the most this entire year. More than Only Friends, more than Step By Step, and even more than Kiseki. You absolutely blew it. You were telling a great story about a man with an acute case of internalized homophobia coming out of his shell and learning to love his younger partner and you blew it for stupid amnesia nonsense. I will never forgive you for this.
Where Were All the Uncles This Year?
Really, without Jim from Moonlight Chicken, and without the men from What Did You Eat Yesterday? we had an alarming dearth of older gay characters passing on knowledge and wisdom to the youngsters this year. What the hell happened?
Rare Dynamics Won: Second Chance Romance and Friends to Lovers!
We had so much second chance romance this year. It’s really my favorite version of gay romance because gays don’t always have ideal settings when they’re young. We had Our Dating Sim, Individual Circumstances, Jun & Jun, The End of the World With You, Tokyo in April is…, Be My Favorite, Love Class Season 2, and A Breeze of Love. I am satisfied.
Friends to Lovers is actually so rare in romance and we have so many to choose from this year! The best examples are I Cannot Reach You and Sing My Crush, but we also have one of the pairs in Love Class Season 2.
Gay Thoughts
I had a couple of ongoing thoughts this year about queerness in BL.
First, I want to return to my post about Sing My Crush and La Pluie, and how I assert that Men Need to Be Angry Sometimes. More than giving men grace to be righteously angry or upset about things, along with letting them express it in ugly ways, I really want to get into how we engage with these shows. I will stop engaging with moralistic reads on characters in 2024. I will no longer engage with asks, reblogs, or meta gripping the fandom where we're judging the moral fiber of the character.
The question that really only matters for me at this point is: Is this act from the character justified from their characterization, the narrative, or genre conventions; and is it interesting? Whether or not the character is good or bad reeks of the lame arguments about good and bad representation, and I am not watching BL like I’m being graded in Sunday school.
The second thing I really want to acknowledge at the end of the year is that the gay sex is finally getting better again. I watched The Novelist this year, and we have taken so long to get back to the space that show took us on the portrayal of male-male intimacy. We are in the genre about people with dicks. It should feel like it. There should be a masculine component there that feels specific to queer intimacy.
I will acknowledge 2 Cutie 2 Pie, A Boss and a Babe, Be Mine SuperStar, Bed Friend, Candy Color Paradox, For Him, I Cannot Reach You, Kiseki: Dear to Me, La Pluie, Love Class 2, Love in Translation, Love Mate, Middleman’s Love, Naughty Babe, Only Friends, The End of the World With You, Tokyo in April is…, and Wedding Plan for your contributions.
Final Thoughts
I like how broad the genre felt this year, and I enjoyed how much speculative fiction is entering into the conversation. I don’t know how I feel about there being five vampire stories in the works next year, but overall I’m glad that we’re getting more experimental concepts. I’m burnt out on the college engineering BL, and would like to see more shows about working adults.
Despite how grumpy I was for at least three months, I think this has genuinely been one of the best years we’ve ever had in the genre. I made a lot of new friends in BL this year, and I’m excited to see what comes next. Thank you all for spending some of your time with me this year and I’ll see you in the next one.
#Ben writes#best of bl 2023#bl series#thai bl#japanese bl#taiwanese bl#filipino bl#korean bl#ben watches
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Watching Grian's episode is always interesting because he likes to lie to his audience a little bit in ways that don't always come clear until later. In this week's episode, he makes very much of the effort he is going to in order to safeguard Skizz's life because of the promise he made in Week One. At the end of the episode he discloses that he is also doing it because Skizz is the easy entrance point into an alliance with TIES, an alliance that would otherwise be hard to come by after his recent rather murderous behavior towards Impulse and Tango.
What he does not explicitly mention, of course, is that Skizz is almost certain to go red before anybody else on the server, and that makes him a commodity that can be exploited for significant tactical value. You can get away with a lot of bad actions if you can write it off as helping a red ally, as we learned back as early as Third Life. If Grian can persuade Skizz into a scheme, he can begin shaving time off his more dangerous enemies as early as possible. But Reds are also dangerous and unpredictable, with questionable amounts of real loyalty. By persuading Skizz to set an enderportal in a flammable deathtrap in the sky, Grian's got that much more control over his possibly hazardous alliance.
Long story short, you really only need to look at Grian's history with "protecting" people to know how this one's going to go. I'm calling it now, Grian is going to murder Skizz at some point before the end of this series.
#if he also murders jimmy that's just icing on the cake#is it just me or has jimmy been staying alive surprisingly a lot compared to some of the others?#weird#limited life spoilers#limited life smp#grian#skizzleman#trafficblr
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Just a Small Crush
Ask: is there anyway that I can get a Vox x Reader oneshot (from hazbin hotel ofc) where the reader Alastors sister but has a crush on Vox and secretly still hangs out with him and also gives him information of what’s going on at the hotel.
Pairing: Vox x Alastor Sister!Reader
Warnings: light teasing and brief mentions of death.
A/N: I LOVE THIS IDEA TYSM FOR THE ASK ANON!!!!!!
Masterlist | Taglist | un-edited.
Hazbin Hotel Masterlist
↳ You were Alastor's sister, having died a few years after he did you had come to terms with the changing of technology better than he did. Adapting to smart devices and social platforms with relative ease thanks to the help from a certain bright-eyed princess
↳ From this adaptability of yours you soon became the hotels advertisement manager, creating digital ads, short video skits with the guests and posting how-to-make drink recipes with Husk at the bar.
↳ Alastor smiled at this, seeing you so lively and back to your charismatic self that he thought to be forgotten after your sudden death at a young-age. Nevertheless he never became blinded by this happiness of his- often found glaring at the electronic device super-glued to your hands or the keyboard stuck to your fingers. But he would only make side snarky reminders about the time you came from and how you should still uphold your mannerisms
↳ Flashing a quick, bright smile towards your brother you skipped away, phone in hands as you brainstormed a new caption for the radio segment you just filmed together. Your heart races when the video goes green and hundreds of likes come flooding in alongside various comments of varying enthusiasm towards the content
↳ Shutting your phone off, you head to your room for a break, settling in your bed you flick on the newest episode of Late Nights with Vox. Having worked late last night on the editing of your new television advertisement- you had missed the live airing of the show
↳ "Welcome back everyone" Vox leans his head towards the camera hands behind his back as the camera pans backwards and exposes the wooden desk that he is stationed against. You watch as he leans back against the desk, watching as his suit distorts to capture his form as you rapidly scroll through Velvettes Hell-Page, looking for any other pictures of his new suit. "Tonight we some of only hells finest joining us for exclusive interviews alongside the first viewing of our latest Vox-Tech inventions you are sure to love!" A few cheers can be heard just as you clap your hands, immersed in the show and its presenter
↳ Swiping onto your personal account, you flick Velvette over a quick text- sending your praises for Vox's new suit just as you laugh in tune to the TV's cackles in response to Valentino crashing the set and announcing a new production as the show cuts to commercials. A ping of your notifications has you stopping your conversation with Velvette and transitioning over to other Vee as your hands being to sweat.
↳ Vox has texts you, "Hey!- a certain bird tells me you are enjoying the show?" You roll your eyes into a wide smile, he has been picking up on your expressions with all the recent time you had been spending together after-hours from both your jobs.
You: "You do well every night, I don't think you need me to add to your ego..."
Vox: "but you do. "
You: "?"
Vox: "Who else can say that they are friends the radio demons sister?"
You: "you out of all people better not be going around saying that! I do quite like you- wouldn't want my brother to spoil that by spilling your guts out on to the street if we found out."
Vox: "my lips are sealed then."
↳ A few moments pass before Vox texts again, "doing anything tonight?" your face goes red as your eyes flicker over the space, ensuring that you are in fact alone before you respond. "Nope, got all my work done, would you want to come around?"
↳ Your heart races, watching as the message bubbles bounce as you lay there in wait. But just before you can check the message, Vox has travelled through the electrical wires of the buildings sign and is sitting on your windowsill, taping on the glass for you to let him in
↳ A small scream escapes you, falling off your bed as you race over to usher him in. "So..." Vox starts to say, looking around your room before his eyes fall on to you, a smile expanding across his screen as he leans towards you, matching your height as you take a step back, looking for the remote to pause the television show in the background.
↳ "Watching me again?- why need the recording? I can always remake the scenes here for you, give you a synopsis if you will?" He asks, looking at his gloves before casting you a wink. He stands up straight, walking over to your desk before twirling around in your office chair as you sit on the edge of your bed, observing his actions
↳ "I like your suit." You blurt out, eyes going wide as hands cover your mouth in shock that you just admitted that to his face and not Velvette. Vox throws a hand to his knee, repiedidly slapping it with his laughs before he turns to face you once more. He stands, capturing your chin with his hand- ushering your eyes to meet his own. "No need to get embarrassed now, Velvette did a good deal of work on it- whats not to be admired?"
↳ Now scoffing and turning your head away with his ego flaring up once again. He drops his hand from your face as you let out a breath and listen up to what he has to say next, "Anything new to report on here?" You shake your head, unlocking your phone to show him the recent cocktail you and Husk invented, "Thats about it other than Charlie getting that meeting with Adam I told you about last week..." you trail off, breath hitching as you see footsteps from underneath the door
↳ You reach upwards, smacking a head over Vox's mouth. Failing to see as his screen flickers blue for a split second at the sudden touch. You sigh out in relief as the footsteps carry down the hall after a moment, dropping your hand and turning back to watch as Vox raises an eyebrow, "If you want me to shut up, just tell me or else I will think you just don't like me anymore" He states with a teasing smile, enjoying the way your face fires up as you flip him the finger
↳ Taglist: @jtcat305 @amarokofficial
#hazbin#hazbin hotel x reader#hazbin hotel#vox x you#vox x reader#hazbin hotel vox#hazbin vox#hazbin hotel x you#vox x y/n#hazbin hotel vees#simp-ly-writes#simp-ly
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[CN] Li Zeyan’s Reliance Date (Eng Translation)
⌚Warning⌚ This post contains detailed spoilers for a date, 依靠之约, that is yet to be released on the global server! ♡
⚠️ Additional Warning ⚠️ while the entire date is not spice-themed, but the steamy parts are borderline dangerous and highly not recommended if you don’t qualify for the 17+ age rating (CN server). so, the call is yours~ :>
•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•
【Chapter 1】
MC: [on the call] …We need to find some local media outlets that we can potentially partner with for our ad campaign ASAP.
MC: [on the call] Also, email me a copy of the revised design proposal for the main exhibit booth.
As soon as I hang up the phone, a flurry of work notifications causes my phone to vibrate again. I roll over on the soft couch and can’t help but heave a sigh.
MC: Sigh…
[MC’s Company Name] has undertaken several major projects this year, and all of them have been executed very successfully. The company’s reputation is also gradually expanding beyond Loveland City.
Last month, our company bid for a large-scale project in collaboration with Copenhagen City Council and Loveland City, and I worked overtime for over a month for this.
However, just as we were about to secure the project smoothly, we were maliciously intercepted by the competing company Shuanjian Media. In the end, it was due to LFG stepping in that we were able to resolve the situation with a narrow escape.
Even though the project has been secured, a lingering sense of defeat from being backstabbed and making critical errors remains with me, refusing to dissipate from my mind.
Perhaps because of this, I’ve recently spent the majority of my time being on top of all kinds of tedious work, afraid that if I don’t handle them in time, it will lead to further consequences.
The sound of steady footsteps gradually draws near, and I turn my head to see Li Zeyan walking towards me. He places a cup of hot Longan tea on the coffee table next to me.
LZY: This is already the eighth time a certain someone has sighed tonight. What’s so thorny about the project that got you on edge?
I put my phone down and, somewhat coquettishly, open my arms toward the person in front of me.
MC: We’re planning an exhibition for the project in Copenhagen. Just finalized the venue today and now ironing out the details.
He readily responds to my cue and enfolds me in his arms. His fingers trace their way up my neck, massaging the skin there in a soothing manner.
LZY: If I remember correctly, the preparation period for this exhibition is quite long, and there’s no need for your recent overtime to catch up on the schedule.
MC: You’re right, but the coordination needed for various aspects of a multinational project is quite intricate. Starting earlier allows more elbow room…
MC: Plus, the reason I’ve been working overtime isn’t just for this project. The business interview you’re starring in will also be recorded tomorrow.
MC: It’s the final episode of the year, so I cannot afford any slip-ups!
LZY: You’ve already confirmed the program sequence with me three times today. What could possibly go wrong?
While speaking, Li Zeyan sits down next to me and draws me into his arms.
MC: After all, the external press would absolutely kill to have their names in the show where the CEO Li of LFG is making an appearance. So, I definitely need to be 200% cautious.
Nestled in his embrace, breathing in his familiar scent, I make a conscious effort to relax my somewhat tired brain.
LZY: If you encounter any difficulties, reach out to me at any time.
MC: I’m facing difficulties right now, and I’m in urgent need of CEO Li’s encouragement!
I pucker my lips and lift my head to approach him. The corners of Li Zeyan’s lips curl up slightly, and he lowers his head–– a soft, warm touch descends before leaving just as quickly.
Though fleeting, the tenderness of the moment washes over my heart. I nuzzle his chin with the tip of my nose, feeling perfectly content.
LZY: [chuckles indulgently] Dummy, you’re so easily satisfied.
MC: Why wouldn’t I be? What could be more soothing than a kiss from CEO Li?
MC: As for work matters… CEO Li has already helped me a lot, so I’ll work hard and handle the rest on my own!
LZY: We’ll talk about the “working hard” part later. But if you keep dawdling like this, the bathtub is gonna need a refill of hot water.
MC: Hehe, right now, you should say something like, “Honey, it’s bath time~”
LZY: …
Ignoring the speechless look in his eyes, I lazily shift my position and nuzzle his neck, then stand up with a smile.
MC: Would you like to join me for some relaxation time?
I notice that his fingertips seem to tense up for a moment. Before he can really come and “arrest” me, I make a face at him and dash into the bathroom.
—
•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•
—
【Chapter 2】
Soaking in the warm bath, I feel the fatigue in my body dissolving into the water.
Just as I’m about to use my phone to find a drama to watch and completely clear my mind, work messages begin popping up one after another on the screen, and I subconsciously click on them.
MC: [to herself] So, the collaboration partner we agreed on before has backed out…?
As part of our tourism project with Denmark, we are planning to establish recreational and promotional zones in both cities, and we have found an experienced collaborator in the relevant field to partner with.
MC: [to herself] Everything was already talked through and all set, so why are they bringing up issues with the company’s capital chain at this critical juncture?
I feel my insides somewhat burning with rage, so I give Anna a call. She also sounds just as angry and swiftly catches me up to speed on the situation.
Anna: [on the call] I did some digging, and it turns out one of the shareholders of this company has a very close personal relationship with the owner of Shuangjian Media.
MC: [on the call] Shuangjian Media?
Isn’t that the black-hearted company that tried to sabotage our tourism project?
Anna: [on the call] We initially partnered with them because of their experience in cross-border tourism projects, but now wrangling with them is more cumbersome than it’s worth. I think it might be better to take this opportunity to switch to another company.
MC: [on the call] …let me think about it.
I release a sigh and hang up the phone, then bury my face in the water, blowing bubbles as a mild head throbbing creeps over me.
The perfect company… As I ponder on this matter, a face flashes through my mind.
As a matter of fact, I have casually mentioned this project to Li Zeyan before, but he didn’t show much interest in it.
Should I… go ask him?
Even though I know in my heart–– LFG is the ideal choice that can’t go wrong, for some reason, I can’t seem to bring myself to voice my thoughts.
I can’t always turn to Li Zeyan to help resolve my problems every time I run into one.
No longer in the mood to soak in the warm bath, I reach for the shampoo and press the nozzle, intending to wash up as quickly as possible.
I press down hard twice, but the bottle only emits a sputtering sound, and the last remaining bit of shampoo drips pitifully into my palm.
MC: …
Akin to a sudden spark explosion, it instantly triggers a denotation of all the built-up frustration inside me.
I take a deep breath, jerk myself up from the water and throw on a robe, intending to head for the cabinet to find a new bottle of shampoo.
Little did I know, the moment I step onto the tiled floor, I feel my feet slip out from under me, and my body uncontrollably begins to topple forward––
With a loud thud, the immediate sensation of pain shoots up my knee.
MC: [in pain] Hiss…
The pain causes my eyes to burn hot, and I slide down onto the bathroom floor, rubbing my knee.
A flurry of somewhat anxious footsteps echoes outside the door. Moments later, the door is flung open, revealing Li Zeyan’s face, tension written across his entire countenance, an expression that is rarely seen on him.
LZY: [panicked af] What happened?
The blast of cold air from the open door causes me to shiver. Noticing this, he closes the door before squatting down beside me.
MC: …I slipped and banged my knee.
As he looks at my slightly reddened knee, a hint of helplessness crosses his expression.
LZY: [sighs with infinite indulgent resignation] Restless.
His warm thumb massages the area around my reddened knee, causing the jumble of fretful emotions in my heart to instantly turn into a surge of grievances and pour out.
I blink, trying to dispel the mist clouding my vision. The finger caressing my skin pauses for a moment before suddenly landing at the corner of my eye, catching me unawares.
LZY: [even more indulgently] Crying because it hurts too much?
MC: …no, it’s not that!
MC: It’s nothing serious, just that I got a call from Anna earlier. There’s been… a minor hiccup with the tourism project.
Pouting my lips, I recount to Li Zeyan the “bad news” I’ve just received.
LZY: Do you need my help?
This seems to be the second time he has asked this question. I struggle with myself for a moment before shaking my head.
MC: There’s… no need for now, but if I can’t handle it myself, I’ll definitely reach out to CEO Li.
Hearing me respond this way, Li Zeyan doesn’t press further, and he simply places his palm on the side of my knee.
LZY: Does it still hurt?
Listening to his tender tone, I can’t help but gently hook my finger around his.
MC: It hurts… I can’t get up.
LZY: [laughs helplessly] When a certain stubborn someone fixates on something, there’s no stopping her, but she’s oddly honest when it comes to being afraid of pain.
MC: I’m just being a little persistent, is all. I can’t always have you be my safety net every time there’s an issue… ouch!
My knee twitches slightly, and a dull ache once again surges through my knee, reminiscent of spreading out along silken threads.
LZY: You can’t solve two things at once, so take them one at a time.
LZY: Do you want to take care of your knee first, or deal with the work matters?
MC: …knee.
The air in the small bathroom with thick with white steam, and even Li Zeyan’s faint sigh seems to blend into the steaming hot vapor.
LZY: [lets out a complex laugh; it’s of sb who is all-knowing of all happenings but is infinitely indulgent towards you] Then listen to me.
MC: [confused] What…
–
Before I can finish my sentence, Li Zeyan has already shown me through his actions how I should “listen.”
A soft touch imprints on my skin, and a burning sensation spreads from my knee along my skin to my entire body.
I jolt slightly and freeze for a moment. The patch of skin kissed by that softness tingles, and it seems like even the pain is slowly dissipating.
LZY: Don’t fidget; it might make the pain worse.
The deep, slightly hoarse tailing note of his voice, accompanied by the sound of running water, causes me to subconsciously draw my leg back a little, only to have it restrained in place by that hand again.
A gentle sensation, carrying with it a slight chill, seems to pepper its way over my knee, and the painful spot feels as if it’s being licked with cherishment and care.
All the senses in my body seem to be concentrated on that one spot, and I can’t help but take a light breath.
MC: Li Zeyan…
LZY: [SO SOF– but you can also hear he’s THERE–] Hm?
MC: …It’s nothing, I just wanted to say your name…
The fingers supporting my knee tighten slightly, and a surge of scorching breath sweeps over me, swallowing my trailing notes.
I follow his breath and, bit by bit, probe deeper, my heart in my chest pounding in synchronization with his increasingly rising body heat.
Warm water continues to gush from the showerhead, soaking both Li Zeyan’s clothes and mine without distinction.
A body temperature hotter than mine gradually closes in, and I feel as if I’m drowning in this steamy heat swirling in the air.
The lingering colorful bubbles from the shower gel float into the air, then burst open with a pop, leaving behind a soft chime drowned out by the sound of water.
—
•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•
—
【Chapter 3】
Even though I gave up on the bubble bath halfway, ended up having to take a second shower, and by the time I went to bed, it was already the middle of the night, I still woke up early today.
[MC’s Company Name] annual business interview program is scheduled to shoot its final episode today, and Li Zeyan will be appearing as the heavyweight guest in this installment.
I have postponed all my other work and arrived at the studio early to ensure every detail of the shoot is absolutely flawless.
The soft white light from the softbox projects onto the light gray background wall, dimly reflecting the shadows of people hurrying around.
Standing in front of the filming equipment, I direct the production crew to adjust the set.
MC: This table needs to be moved a bit more. It doesn’t look well-positioned at the moment.
MC: Turn the reflector on the front left a little more to the right… there, perfect!
MC: The set is almost ready. I’ll go and check on the guest first.
—
After saying hello to the supervisor, I head to the dressing room.
Li Zeyan, clad in a suit, sits in front of a vanity mirror, his bangs swept up, causing his somewhat piercing eyes to be enhanced with an even deeper intensity.
The moment I walk in, those eyes precisely capture me from the reflection in the mirror.
MC: How is the preparation coming along, CEO Li?
LZY: Not bad. Is everything taken care of on the set?
Detecting a hint of jest in his tone, I walk over with a smile.
MC: Yup, that’s why I’m here to check in on this side of things–– CEO Li is our important, esteemed guest after all, so we can’t afford to be negligent.
MC: Therefore, today, my entire day belongs to you, CEO Li.
I wink at him through the mirror and catch a subtle smile playing at the edge of Li Zeyan’s lips.
I sit down on a stool nearby and watch the makeup artist styling Li Zeyan.
From this angle, his ocular orbit and the bridge of his nose appear even more defined, accentuating the depth of his eyes all the more.
MC: CEO Li’s side profile could outshine many stars on the cover of fashion magazines without competition.
LZY: [laughs in spite of himself] …always laying it on thick.
Even though he says this, the slight arch at the tip of his brows betrays a hint of delight.
Spellbound, as I continue to watch him, my phone suddenly vibrates twice, and a message from Kiki pops up––
Kiki: Boss, great news!!
In the chat window, a push notification jumps into my sight, and a few familiar words grab my attention.
MC: [reading the news] “Shuangjian Media Faces Major Crisis! Multiple celebrities under its banner are implicated in tax evasion scandals, and the investigation is underway. The amount of tax evasion has reached up to…”
Upon seeing the number below, I take in a sharp breath of air.
With such a large amount of tax evasion being investigated, it’s sure to land them in serious trouble.
Although I have caught the wind of some rumors before, suddenly so many people being exposed at once seems more like a deliberate action…
A vague idea surfaces in my mind. I instinctively look towards the man not far away, only to lock eyes with him directly.
LZY: MC.
I haven’t even noticed when, but his styling is already complete, and the makeup artist has left the dressing room, leaving only the two of us.
The slightly slim-fitted suit highlights his already tall and straight stature, and his slender fingers unhurriedly adjust the cufflinks. He looks in my direction, lifting his head slightly.
LZY: Help me out.
I raise my eyes and see a rose gold collar pin loosely hanging from the collar of his light gray shirt.
I walk up to him and carefully fasten the collar pin. My fingertips inadvertently graze against the skin of his neck, eliciting a slight quiver of the Adam’s apple beneath the collar.
A somewhat scorching breath caresses my bangs, leaving a tickling sensation.
LZY: [laughs in amusement] Why are you zoning out?
His warm fingertips are on my neck, gently grazing the skin there intermittently.
MC: Just saw some good news that came as a relief for body and mind, that’s why I was a little distracted.
MC: Shuangjian Media, the company that intercepted [MC’s Company Name] before, has hit a roadblock… I wonder who “played the hero to uphold justice.”
I smile and wink at him, trying to discern any inkling of a clue from his expression that would confirm my guess.
However, he simply lowers his eyes slightly and looks at me, a barely perceptible arc forming on his lips.
LZY: [chuckles softly, but that’s a mastermind chuckle i tell you lmao] That’s quite nice.
MC: Li Zeyan, you…
A knock on the door cuts me off, and the voice of my assistant comes from outside.
Assistant: Boss, CEO Li, it’s almost time for the shoot to begin.
MC: Got it, we’ll be right there.
I purse my lips, suppressing my urge to inquire further, and loosen my hands, intending to escort Li Zeyan to the filming studio.
To my surprise, the pair of arms holding me within show no intention of letting go. He lowers his eyes, his gaze intent upon me.
LZY: Given the importance of this shoot, there ought to be an additional step in the preparation process.
With his head lowered, Li Zeyan leans in towards me slightly. A gentle and familiar breath assaults my senses, and his soft finger pad presses between my lips and teeth, hinting at something ambiguous.
I cradle his face and lift myself up on my toes.
Our breaths intertwine for a brief moment, but a gentle ripple is left in my heart, reminiscent of a dragonfly lightly touching the water’s surface.
MC: So, even CEO Li needs a little encouragement before stepping in front of the camera?
LZY: I learned it from a certain someone.
The light in those deep eyes remains locked onto me, shimmering slightly, radiating a glow that seeps into my heart.
LZY: And it’s very effective.
—
Such scenes are run-of-the-mill for Li Zeyan. His tone remains steady throughout and devoid of any trace of tension.
LZY: The economic situation this year isn’t conducive to expanding the business scope or making risky investments, but there are more opportunities in the lower-tier markets compared to previous years…
As I watch Li Zeyan through the camera lens, the soft light, which leans more on the cooler tone, accentuates the depths of the man’s countenance all the more.
He speaks at a measured pace, but each word is uttered with an inexplicable sense of certainty.
Host: Although CEO Li mentioned just now that this year isn’t favorable for expanding business extern, LFG seems to be steadily venturing into new fields this year.
LZY: As a matter of fact, LFG has not been as stable this year as it may seem from the outside. On the contrary, we’ve encountered more crises than in previous years.
LZY: The failure of some investments has even put us under the preying eyes of many industry peers.
LZY: But fortunately, I’m not alone in holding up LFG, and LFG is not an isolated island––
As he speaks, his gaze seems to subtly shift towards me behind the camera. In that brief second our eyes interlock, the corners of his lips curl upward into a small smile.
But when I focus and take a closer look again, it’s as if that fleeting smile was never there.
LZY: LFG was able to weather this year’s storms without any mishaps not only due to our decisions but also thanks to the countless colleagues who worked tirelessly day and night to recover the company’s losses, as well as to the support of our subsidiaries.
LZY: Especially the companies that LFG has invested in. Without them, LFG would’ve encountered even greater challenges this year.
Li Zeyan’s straight-from-the-shoulder remarks leave even the host a little taken aback, an expression of surprise settling on their face.
Host: It appears that even LFG, regarded as the lion king in the eyes of the others, has times when it rides the waves to advance.
LZY: That’s inevitable; no one walks a solitary path in this society.
LZY: Having your own plans and making decisive choices is important, but choosing the right people to move forward with is equally important.
I am slightly taken aback.
This was not in the script; it’s obviously an impromptu remark from Li Zeyan.
I’m not sure why, but these words suddenly make me think of those eyes gazing into mine in the bathroom last night.
The unnecessary persistences in my heart seem to quietly start to disintegrate. I tightly clench my fingers and pull my attention back to the show.
Host: We can tell that CEO Li is speaking from the heart. It seems that not only for the company but also for you, CEO Li, personally, do you have someone who can be considered as your exclusive “valued person”?
This time, I clearly see the smile in his eyes. I hold my breath slightly, waiting for the answer that I may have already known for a long time, yet can’t help eagerly anticipating––
LZY: [while looking at you] I do. It’s a well-spring that will never run dry, even in the desert. No matter what trouble may arise, I know without a doubt––
LZY: [while looking at you] She will be by my side forever.
—
•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•
—
【Chapter 4】
After the interview concludes, the filming crew and I head to the Central Grand Hotel.
To celebrate the completion of year-end work and the official wrap-up of the show, [MC’s Company Name] is holding a team-building celebration party here.
Perhaps because the end of the year is drawing closer, a festive atmosphere gradually begins to permeate, filling the banquet hall with laughter.
Being spurred on by this pure joy, I also end up having a few extra drinks.
I find myself feeling a little woozy, until, finally, Li Zeyan takes the wine glass from my hand and escorts me all the way to the lounge of the suite.
—
Inside the room’s bathroom, I turn on the faucet–– the cool water flows over my hand, washing away the slight tipsiness from the alcohol.
After the buzz from the alcohol has worn off a bit, I exhale and push open the bathroom door.
—
The lights in the room are not lit, and a familiar voice can be heard drifting from near the window. He seems to be on the phone with someone.
LZY: …got it. Email it to me.
The high heels under my feet tread on the soft carpet, barely producing any sound as I walk quietly to the floor-to-ceiling windows––
Outside the glass windows of the high-rise, thousands of lights spread out into the distance like a dazzling mosaic of stars.
Li Zeyan is lying on the carpet, the neon lights falling upon him in soft, colorful specks.
I sit down by the freestanding panoramic bathtub not far from him, watching as he hangs up the call.
MC: Was that about work?
LZY: Mm. I heard [MC’s Company Name] is looking for new partners for the Denmark project. I’ve asked the marketing department to draft a proposal. Once it’s finalized, I’ll send it over to you.
MC: But… weren’t you not very interested in this project before?
LZY: It’s true that the profit margins of this project are finite for LFG. However, if we approach it strategically, it could be a breakthrough in the Nordic market.
Seeing my somewhat baffled expression, he raises an eyebrow.
LZY: Since a certain someone has been dragging her feet, I have no choice but to take the initiative and propose it myself.
LZY: Or perhaps you already have other choices in mind?
MC: Of course not!
I don’t shy away from meeting those deep eyes of his squarely. My heart skips a beat, and I’m reminded of the question I’ve been holding back all afternoon.
MC: Before I give you my formal answer, I also have something I’d like to ask CEO Li––
MC: Shuangjian Media artists were found to have engaged in tax evasion. Helping [MC’s Company Name] vent some frustration this way… that was CEO Li’s doing, wasn’t it?
LZY: After all, a certain someone has been frowning and being glued to her phone even during meals for the past two weeks because of the troubles this company has stirred.
LZY: It’s best to take care of it early on, so it doesn’t take up more of your energy.
I’m momentarily stunned, and as I reflect on the recent events, a surge of emotions suddenly intertwines in my heart.
MC: So, CEO Li, what you are subtly reminding me is that I’ve been too occupied with work recently and have been neglecting you?
LZY: [you can’t hear me, but I’m screaming––] I simply want to have the share that’s rightfully mine.
His understated words convey a hint of tenderness that’s impossible to miss, and it sears into my heart, making the swaying toes of my feet pause mid-motion.
MC: Li Zeyan, thank you. Even though it may sound very formal, I still want to say thank you.
LZY: I wonder who was the person that said before that, you and I, we are one identity?
I’m slightly taken aback for a moment–– I did seem to have said those words not too long ago.
At the time, FengZhen Group was making moves against LFG, and I couldn’t be more grateful to be the one who could stand by his side.
–
[Tidbits]: It’s a call-back to Li Zeyan’s 2024 CNY UR: Burning Imprints~
–
MC: [teasingly] I believe I said “and LFG” at the time.
LZY: [confidently shrugs off LOL] Same thing.
LZY: Both LFG and I are enmeshed in many complicated relationships, and more and more branches and leaves are slowly growing outward.
LZY: So there’s no need to be so anxious. You’ve long been the sharpest blade capable of breaking the siege for LFG.
The lingering haze that has been weighing on my mind for the past half a month suddenly clears up. In its place, there arises a kind of sweet and surging fluttering sensation, and it’s overwhelming enough to fill my entire heart.
I did seem to be a little too anxious, so anxious that I overlooked the fact that I didn’t need to be in a hurry to rush forward. The unshakable position by his side will always belong to me and me alone.
I lower my eyes, my gaze tracing the contours of his outline obscured by the darkness.
MC: Li Zeyan… you will forever be my first choice.
–
As the words leave my lips, my ankle is suddenly clasped by a warm, dry palm.
Followed by a sigh that almost blends into the night, a twinge of pain shoots through my calf––
My eyes widen, watching as Li Zeyan’s lips meet my skin and nip me gently. He raises his eyes to interlock with mine, and I can see a hint of dissatisfaction swimming in their depths.
LZY: [GOSH THAT SULKY YET SEXY TONE] You’ve hesitated for too long.
Warm fingertips trace upward along my calf little by little, as if offering a kind of appeasement.
The worries haunting me every now and again, concealed in the darkest recesses of my heart, are set alight and burned to ashes.
MC: …I didn’t take that long.
LZY: Since I am your first choice, don’t hesitate.
His fiery breath snakes slowly up the inside of my knee, accompanied by comforting words tinged with a layer of inexplicable rosy hue, causing one to become addicted.
The soft touch rests gently agains the bend of my knee, causing me to shiver involuntarily. I chuckle softly and look at him with a semi-playful gaze.
MC: Um… Mr. “First Choice,” could you help me with something––
MC: Tell me, what can I do to make you happier?
Not waiting for me to finish my sentence, the pressure on my thigh increases slightly, and suddenly my body feels lighter.
The cry of exclamation hasn’t even left me before I find my entire person already wrapped in strong, solid arms.
LZY: You knowingly ask the question.
His deep eyes are so close to me, almost within reach. I can clearly see countless sparks surging beneath them, stirring up an ambiguous and inexplicable heat.
LZY: [chuckles softly] Also, while I said I would help you, it doesn’t mean you won’t have to pay the price.
LZY: After all, I don’t do business at a loss.
LZY: You still have time to think about… what you can give to pay me.
My heart is filled to the brim. I wrap my arms around his shoulders, bury my face in the crook of his neck, and release a sigh of contentment.
The throbbing and undulations of his chest pound against my body again and again, and even the depths of my very soul seem to be trembling along with the motion––
Filling up my entire being.
──────────────────────────────────────────
#ermm... on second-thought the steamy is really 🔞🔞 so proceed at your own discretion ig LOL#THE GAME OF A MASTERMIND AKA TRUE GRANDMASTER 🛐#the way both Li Zeyan and his MC have the tendency - “cut me hurt me kill me do whatever. but lay a finger on my s/o and YOU'RE D E A D”😂#the anon who sent that yandere ask should read this date lmao. it takes no genius to know how firm on his ideals LZY is but—#these are some rare moments when you can see him GO— granted his actions are still grounded in “upholding justice” but it’s fun regardless🤭#the name call in the bathroom! my eternal weakness😭 LZY writers repeatedly hitting the theme how his name is a spell for you &viceversa#also !! the lion becoming a big sulky meow meow as usual 🥺 + THOSE SOFT MOMENTS IN THE LIVING ROOM AND DRESSING ROOM#i’m a visualizing reader and i cannot gush enough how much i love LZY's writers for being able to paint an entire picture with a few words❤#mlqc victor#mlqc li zeyan#mlqc#mr love victor#mr love queen's choice#恋与制作人#李泽言#love and producer#mlqc cn#mlqc spoilers#mlqc translations
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welp, essay time, lets talk about the clown in the room.
the amazing digital circus spoilers below!
so, Kaufmo's room.
The room of a mad man and a recently "abstracted" human. we don't know much about Kaufmo, other than he told unfunny jokes and was looking for a way out. He lost his mind at some point and got "abstracted" as the result.
What this means and how it happens is hard to say for sure as of now, but madness seems to be the main cause of it. Before he turned however, he has spread his madness to the rest of his room, so lets look at what we have here.
Most of it is simply the word "exit" over and over and over and over again with some disturbing art as well.
"EXIT EXIT EXIT EXIT EXIT EXIT EXIT EXIT EXIT EXIT"
However, there are some exceptions. Certain spots have partially readable writing on them. To start with, the head of his bed.
"CAN'T SLEEP"
Its partially obscured, but its location behind the pillow make it obvious what it says. They say that they don't need to sleep, but this implies that he wanted to sleep, but couldn't. If that is due to just his madness, or something else its hard to say. Hard to know what that means as of now, but its something to note.
Now the sketch on the back wall. The phrase is fairly self explanatory, as far as we know, there is no way out of the circus. Not much to say about that, but the drawing is interesting. A fanged Cain chasing after Kaufmo. Seems he has a fear of the ringmaster, understandable at first, but further thinking makes you ask some questions.
"NO WAY OUT"
We see at the end of the episode that Cain actually tried to make an exit for them, but never finished his simulated version of the outside. When we first see him dancing around the idea of an exit door, we assume malicious intent. However, its more likely he was referring to this exit, rather than an actual way to leave.
This place is clearly a fabrication of the world outside The Amazing Digital Circus, one half built by Cain. He said he made it because everyone kept asking about it, but never finished it and didn't want them seeing his unfinished work. He also didn't want them ending up in the void, a slightly more important reason to keep it locked up.
But regardless, he did try to actually appease them, give the trapped humans the closest approximation to freedom he could. Its clear that Cain is not in full total control of the circus, its possible that even he doesn't know how to leave.
Anyway, back to my point. Cain is weird, strange, and insane, but he's not really "evil", so Kaufmo's depiction of him doesn't make total sense. But then again, the eyes of madness are hardly a reliable source. We will need to see more of him to learn his true intentions, but for now he just seems unhinged rather than actually bad.
Back to the room though, there is one more thing I want to go over, the foot of his bed.
"WHAT DID THE E------ SAY TO THE C--------"
this one is hard to determine, but thankfully for us, this isn't the only place we see this sentence. We also see it scrawled onto one of the paintings in the wide shot.
"WHAT DID THE EXIT SAY TO THE CLOWN?"
Now at first this seems nonsensical, but remember who wrote this. Kaufmo liked to tell jokes, this is the only real thing we know about him. In that light this is clearly worded as the setup to a joke. This begs the question on what the punchline is, but it also implies that the supposed "exit" somehow communicated with him. Probably not but its something to note.
We have no idea what the punchline could be at this moment sadly. It could be that him abstracting could metaphorically be the "punchline", or the lack of a response from the exit might also be it, hard to say.
"NO EXIT"
This is all what I can really determine from what we have seen in this room, other than interpretations of his various framed paintings, but I'll leave that to an art major or something.
Of course we have to ask if the "Exit" that he refers to even is the same exit Pomni found. They might have found something else, or maybe that exit door is a lot more important than we know. Maybe that weird computer is important.
Pomni seemed familiar enough with it that the mere sight of it sent her laughing mad. That vr headset looking thing is probably what she put on to get there.
All of this is just observations and speculation on the future, and I can't wait for the next episode!
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D-Day Japan Night 1 (Always, Us)
Min Yoongi/FemIdol!Reader Part 1 Here
Summary: You are finally able to join Yoongi on stage for his solo tour in Japan... Based partly on this request, but also part 2 of the Suchwita couple! There may be more parts to come to this, depending on how much you guys like this!
Warnings: Established relationship, fem!reader, idol!au, pregnancy, mentions of sex, mentions of marriage, happy tears.
Word Count: 1536 M.list
It had been a few months since the episode of Suchwita that got a little too personal. You and Yoongi had yet to have an official wedding ceremony for your family, but in all fairness, he had since started his first solo tour.
Yoongi had wanted you to join him from the start of his tour in the US, so that you could accompany him on stage for certain songs, but unfortunately that wasn’t possible.
You had schedules with your own group to fulfil, and when those were finally over you fell ill, so the earliest you were able to join Yoongi on stage was for his first show in Japan.
‘Now I’m very excited for this next song.’ Yoongi moved back to centre stage, sipping from his straw as he did so. ‘I have a special guest. Please welcome my beautiful wife, Y/N!’ He gestured to the back of the stage as you ran up the stairs. The crowd screamed loudly as you appeared, showering you with love and support. You jogged up to Yoongi and gave him a quick side hug, before taking your place at the second microphone.
‘Hello everyone!’ You greeted with a big wave. ‘Thank you for having me! I’m excited to be here!’
‘Y/N hasn’t been feeling well lately, so please show her lots of love.’ Yoongi announced, causing the crowd to gasp out and call your name.
‘Until she’s 100% better, she’s only going to perform one song. I hope that’s ok.’
Performing People pt.2 with Yoongi was a dream come true. Despite both being active idols for over a decade now, you’d never actually had the opportunity to perform together. You knew you had big shoes to fill by singing IU’s part, but the crowd seemed to be having a good time, and that’s all that mattered. Yoongi was also being extremely protective, with only letting you perform one song. In truth you felt fine, just a bit of sickness here and there. But then again, maybe his worry wasn’t all unfounded...
When the last notes of the song rang out, the arena went wild. You once again hugged Yoongi, but also kissed him too, making the crowd go even crazier than before.
‘Ok that’s enough PDA.’ He spoke into the mic.
‘Thank you for having me tonight. I hope to see you again tomorrow!’ With that, you gave a bow and made your way off stage, so as not to hold up the show too much.
‘Y/N everybody!’
You’d met Yoongi in the car taking you back to the hotel, not wanting to be hanging round the arena for ages after the show. You knew what he was like sometimes.
‘Hey.’ You smiled and reached out for him as soon as he opened the door. He leaned in and kissed you with a smile.
‘Why didn’t you wait for me?’ He looked at you questioningly as the car pulled away.
‘Just eager to get back is all.’ Yoongi gave you a look, but just settled for taking your hand and pulling out his phone, so he could look up peoples thoughts about the show online.
‘This is just gonna be a quick live whilst we eat.’ Yoongi spoke to the camera as he arranged the food on plates for himself and you. He had taken to doing lives after his shows recently so he cold engage with his fans a little more, even if it was only whilst he ate.
‘Yes Y/N is still here. She’s just getting dressed.’ The chat started to move faster, really jumping on the implications of what he had just said. Yoongi was puzzled for a moment, before he started laughing, realising his mistake.
‘Please get your minds out of the gutter! She was in the shower.’
‘You’ve been live for two seconds and you’re already corrupting people.’ You joked, pushing open the bathroom door. You could hear him speaking through the wall as you freshened up.
‘It’s not my fault that’s how ARMY’s minds work!’
‘Bye guys, bye!’ You blew a kiss to the camera as Yoongi switched it off.
‘Ah, what a night.’ Yoongi stretched out as he tossed the garbage to the side.
‘I hope that’s a good sigh mister.’ You crawled over to your husband and straddled his lap on the small armchair.
‘Definitely.’ His hands came to rest on your bum, squeezing playfully.
‘Excuse you, that’s rude!’ You laughed. Leaning down and kissing him deeply. Yoongi moaned into the kiss and slid his hands under your shirt, squeezing your breasts. You broke away to lift your shirt over your head and quickly re connected your lips. He groaned as you rubbed against his growing bulge. Yoongi ran his hand across your body and round your back, about to unhook your bra, when suddenly there was a pounding at the door.
You quickly jumped away from him and ran into the bathroom to fix yourself, in case whoever was at the door needed to come inside. As you retreated, you heard Yoongi curse as he adjusted himself in his pants, before getting up to probably murder whoever was at the door.
A few minutes later, you re emerged from the bathroom fully dresses, just as Yoongi closed the main door.
‘Who was it?’
‘Just a staff member wanting to give me the schedule for tomorrow.’ He stalked back over to you and roughly grabbed you by the waist, causing you to gasp out and giggle. ‘Now where were we?’ He smirked against your skin.
You and Yoongi lay side by side, naked and tangled in the sheets. The room was dark around you, though neither of you were asleep. Just enjoying each others company.
Yoongi lay on his back, arm under your neck and fingers softly stroking your shoulder, as you lay on your side, hand resting on his chest.
You have to tell him. You thought to yourself. There’s no point waiting any longer and now’s a good a time as any.
‘Yoongi...’ Your voice was hoarse as you spoke, a reminder of your recent activities. ‘I need to tell you something.’ He just hummed in response. Taking a deep breath, you just blurted it out.
‘I’m pregnant.’ His fingers stilled on your shoulder. He was silent, almost as if he were processing your words, when he suddenly sat up, forcing you to do the same.
‘Are you serious.?’ He stared at you, mouth agape.
‘Of course I’m serious.’ You looked down, smiling as you pushed your hair behind your ears. ‘I know we didn’t really talk about it after Suchwita, but we haven’t really been careful, so maybe it was meant to be.’ Before you even finished speaking, his arms were flung round you and he was kissing the top of your head.
‘I can’t believe it! I’m gonna be a dad!’ He cried out, joyful tears already falling from his eyes.
‘And I’m gonna be a mom!’
‘Wait.’ He pulled back so he could see your face. ‘ does this have anything to do with you being sick recently?’ You laughed and gently wiped away his tears and playing with the ends of his hair.
‘Yes dummy. Morning sickness. I’m surprised you didn’t put two and two together.’ He smiled brightly and leaned in to kiss you. He suddenly pulled away and jumped out of bed, flicking the light on as he went.
You groaned out and covered your eyes at the sudden bright light. When you opened them, you were met with Yoongi pacing back and forth along the room, still with a wide smile plastered across his face.
‘What are you doing you doofus?’ You laughed at his antics.
‘I feel like I have a lot of energy to burn off suddenly!’ You threw your head back against the pillows and let out a hearty laugh.
‘Come back to bed, it’s like 2AM!’
‘You think I’m going to be able to sleep after getting the best news of my life!?’ He exclaimed, exasperated but still joined you back in bed none the less.
‘You need to be rested for the concert tomorrow.’ You snuggled back up to his side.
‘Will you still be able to perform with me tomorrow?’
‘I’m not made of glass Yoongi. I was pregnant when performing tonight you know.’ You chuckled lightly.
Just as you were about to fall asleep, you were jostled awake by Yoongi reaching for his phone and shooting off a quick text, before disregarding it back on the side table.
‘What was that?’ You asked sleepily.
‘I text the BTS group chat and told them you’re pregnant.’ He said nonchalantly.
Your eyes snapped open and you shot up with a start.
‘You told your members I’m pregnant through text!?’ You couldn’t believe what you were hearing right now.
‘It’s easier this way.’ You stared down at your husband in disbelief. This man was going to be the death of you....
One the side table, Yoongi’s phone was already vibrating none stop. Instead of answering, he just reached over and put it on silent, before dragging you back down to cuddle.
He causes chaos and then just ignores it, naturally.
#bts#bts x reader#imagine#one shot#scenario#reaction#drabble#smut#fluff#angst#kim seokjin#min yoongi#jung hoseok#kim namjoon#park jimin#kim taehyung#jeon jungkook
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A rant and theory
It’s really long, but I think I make some valid points.
Supernatural was on for 15 years. There have been interactions with the cast, some crew, some producers, directors, writers, etc. due to the ongoing conventions and the existence of social media. Writers will talk about changes to scripts, actors will talk about filming, directors will talk about why they chose a certain angle.
Given that most of the fans/stans do not personally know any of the people involved or personally know anything about the things that are/aren’t going on, it’s weird the way some fans/stans speak so confidently about what happened with SPN behind-the-scenes, production, writing, casting, you name it!
Especially when it comes to PrequelGate. People will state with their whole chest, that their version of events is absolutely correct. One J is an asshole, and one J is an innocent baby. Which J is which depends on who is talking. It can be either or both. The only thing that all fans who have theories have in common is that there is a definite good guy and a bad guy.
But the Js are still friends. They say they got over it and forgave. Since no one has given any details, I thought I’d join the bandwagon and come up with a theory of my own. One where there is no good guy/bad guy. So here goes.
I fully believe that the story of The Winchesters was not meant to be an AU. It was supposed to take place between 15.19 and 15.20, with Dean and Sam finding out about their parents. They had to switch it to the AU version because of the leak, a new timetable, and the fact that Jared was no longer available. There is also a recent podcast (I don't have a link) where a writer from The Winchesters said that Robbie Thompson, the writer and show runner for The Winchesters, kind of knew that they were only going to get 1 season because of all the mergers/sales of the networks and studios.
Robbie Thompson said in an interview (https://tvline.com/news/the-winchesters-recap-season-1-finale-dean-heaven-multiverse-jensen-ackles-1234942742/) “There was the spot that takes place in between Episodes 19 and 20, when what happens to Dean happens to Dean… So there was an opportunity to tell stories there, but that just didn’t work for me because we wouldn’t have access to Sam in that way, in a way that we could easily explain or at least emotionally explain, and that just didn’t feel like it was a story that certainly I wanted to tell and none of us did.” (Underlining mine) They wouldn’t have access to Sam because Jared could not be involved. Not because no one wanted him, but because he just couldn’t.
The reason I believe this is because of the following.
It starts with Virtual Con (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADYwrZ787a0) held in March 2021. In the video, the question about Chaos Machine projects starts at around 23 minutes. Watch Jared’s face throughout Jensen’s whole answer. He’s nodding along, looking at his screen, and not even showing the slightest surprise in what Jensen is saying. He doesn’t because he already knows. To me, that is the face of someone who already knows what the other person is talking about. Jared already knows which projects Jensen is working on. He knows which alum he is talking about. So he just sits there and lets Jensen answer. His quip at the end that he will also be acting in it is just that, a quip for the fans. Because (supposedly) he is bound by a 5-year contract to CBS. He can not legally get involved in Jensen’s project with WB. He can acknowledge that he knows about it, but he has to show that he is absolutely not involved.
Next is the announcement of The Winchesters in June 2021 by Deadline. There were tweets by Jared that said he was upset that he didn’t know about it and that he wasn’t involved. There was also a tweet directed at Robbie Thompson calling him a back stabber that was later deleted. And, silence from Jensen, because he was unable to come online and address anything because he was on set in Canada.
Things were set in motion that were not meant to be put in motion for a while. I don’t think Chaos Machine was ready to start casting/filming yet. I think Jensen and Jared were trying to make it work with CBS so that Jared could be involved in the prequel. But those talks weren’t finished, or possibly even started yet. But the leak by Deadline, the WB/Discovery merger, and Mark Pedowitz leaving, combined to put pressure to do the show sooner, while Pedowitz was still in charge. If they waited, then nothing might come of Chaos Machine’s deal with WB once the new owners came in. Maybe they were waiting for Jensen to finish shooting The Boys to get together and talk about all this, but they still hadn't.
And this is what Jared was upset about. He thought there was time before the show would start, so was surprised that it was announced without him knowing. It also explains why he thought Robbie Thompson back-stabbed him. Because he was going to be a part of this show, and now he couldn’t. He couldn’t even say he had been part of the development from the beginning because it would be against his contract with CBS. He can’t even say wants to be a part of it now, because again, it would be against his contract with CBS. He’s upset, because he hasn’t had any communication from Jensen about this going through, and Jensen was also unreachable. So he vented online a little.
Once this narrative that Jared was never involved, and would not appear in it, spread, all of them had to run with it. Jensen apologized for not telling Jared. He said he was superstitious. He wanted to tell Jared, but he didn’t have his phone. That he was on set. That Jared couldn’t participate because he was busy. Etc. etc.
But, when Jared spoke with Jensen, and was (possibly) made aware that the news came out because it was leaked, and that they didn’t have time to clue Jared in, and (possibly) they were thinking of doing the show sooner because of WB, Pedowitz, Zaslav, etc., and that they were still in a holding phase, Jared forgave Jensen.
All of the above explains the inconsistencies and “lies” and “tantrums” and finally the forgiveness, and moving on.
I choose to believe that neither Jared nor Jensen are entitled assholes. They do not owe the fans any BTS details.
I’m sure people can tear this apart, but their theories don’t hold up either.
#jensen ackles#jared padalecki#spnfandom#spn#prequelgate#supernatural#the winchesters#supernatural fandom
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An analysis of Kakucho-related changes in S3E01
So it turns out that the first episode of Tokyo Revenger's 3rd season differs a bit from the manga chapters it covers. Mostly, around Kakucho's introduction.
And I'm all for those changes! Whew! I believe very very strongly that those small choices improved the script, straight up. So, here's a rundown of what's different and why I like it so much.
Firstly,
The anime turns Kakucho's matchup against Smiley into a challenge to Takemichi. As much as Smiley was totally up for it, in this version, Kakucho himself zeroed in on Takemichi and requested to face him.
And, man, I adore Smiley and looked forward to seeing them fighting. But this change eases into the conversation Kakucho and Takemichi have after the fight much more smoothly, doesn't it?
As a plus, we can perceive Kakucho being more active about what he's interested in here. Not just in his approach, but in the whole following conversation, where he exposes his thought process and strategic stance with a ton more clarity.
Reviewing how that talk goes in the manga:
- Kakucho reconnects with Takemichi, messing with each other amicably.
- After that, having established that Takemichi is Toman's First Division Captain, he asks him to save Izana.
- He explains that Izana is surely being used by Kisaki, for a conflict he doesn't agree with.
And that's kind of it. The conversation is flashbacked (Takemichi reminisces about it afterward, when headed to the next Toman meeting) so we could guess that they talked a bit more, but that's all we get from it.
Now, in the anime version:
- They still reconnect and mess with each other, wiiiiiiiith the addition of this tidbit:
A nice detail imo, as it always struck me as odd that Takemichi didn't notice it/react to it in the manga. He tends to… not be great at observing things LMAO, he misses a lot of stuff, but this is someone he remembers from his childhood, who showed up now with a HUGE facial scar and a damaged eye (personally, my take is that Kakucho's white eye is from cataracts developed after his accident). It's something that sticks out. Takemichi asking about it gives me the impression that he's more invested in his reunion with Kakucho, displaying care for an old friend and also giving Kakucho the chance to show he doesn't like to talk about the scar, which is nice to add to his character.
- Instead of asking Takemichi to save Izana from Kisaki, Kakucho asks his own questions about the guy. Which makes perfect sense!! Kisaki joined Tenjiku just recently, Kakucho has his doubts about him and found someone he can ask, so he takes the chance. Maybe he does already suspect that Kisaki is using Izana, BUT…
- Takemichi asks for help reaching Kisaki, and Kakucho refuses. Right now, Kisaki is a high-standing officer in the gang. It's Tenjiku's/Izana's internal affairs that Takemichi is trying to disrupt, and Kakucho is too loyal to go with that. Rather, being enemies, what Takemichi should do is fight and achieve his way through; despite the situation, that's the fair and square way Kakucho knows things must be done.
- Kakucho keeps to himself his distaste about the conflict as a whole. Instead of asking for Takemichi's help or telling him more about the situation, he just advises to be wary of a certain traitor he can't name (Mucho, most likely), and leaves it at that.
End of "spot the difference"!
Now, I'm not gonna say "the anime did it better", like a short-sighted dummy. The manga is the original material, the blueprint, the birth of all these delinquent dudes and their story. Manga is also its own medium, inherently different from the audiovisual version. Anything the anime adds starts from that source material.
But what I can and want to say is that the anime did a great job making adjustments to expose Kakucho's character to us sooner. It exposed him efficiently and profoundly.
Thanks to the changes to the script, we got a much bigger window into where Kakucho's standing, what he's wondering right now, and what he's trying to do on his own while everyone else is chasing other objectives. We can see him try to be an active guardian to Izana, making his own moves. However, we can also really really appreciate the depth of his loyalty and sense of honor, as he's respectful and careful even when it comes to someone he doesn't like at all, 'cause that someone is his current staff officer and Tenjiku comes first. Likewise, even though he knows Mucho is about to act traitorously to Toman as he switches over to Tenjiku, it's not in his power to snitch, much less to the enemy. The separation between him, loyal to his king, and the outsider to the gang that Takemichi is, also reflects the same values of loyalty and honor.
As a huge huge fan of Kakucho, I'm super pleased. As a lover of storytelling in general, I'm applauding the smart little changes and how effective they were.
It's not the first time the anime adaptation differs a little or adds something, so it probably won't be the last. Those touches have always been great so far, so I look forward to watching the rest of the season and seeing if any more new content appears!!
#tokyo revengers#kakucho#kakuchou#tenjiku arc#tokyo rev#tr meta#hanagaki takemichi#kurokawa izana#mutou yasuhiro#thoughts and talk and so
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February Compliments ☀️🔍
[Compliments Masterlist]
And we’re back! Not a lot of compliments for February but still a few so hope this will still be a fun read for you guys 😊
So let’s get into it!
February 2024
Is This Video Offensive?
So in this Flashback they reacted to the classic Molester Moon sketch 🌚 We only got one little compliment in this video but I thought I would still include it :-
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They’re introducing the video dressed as moons and give each other a fist bump and saying how they’re ‘ordinary guys’.
Ian: “Anyway, um,” *turns to Anthony* “You look good.”
-
Another little moment I wanted to include which I just found silly :-
[talking about the pandora’s boxes that were opened with the creation of certain emojis]
Anthony: “The peach emoji…”
Ian: “Yeah, yeah, for real.”
Anthony: “The eggplant emoji.”
Ian: “Or do you think the creator was like, ‘let’s make it look a little bit like an ass’.”
Anthony: [laughs] “It’s a little bit like a huge, purple dong.”
Ian: “Dong.”
Anthony: “Yeah, I don’t know, honestly, it makes me wonder if they did know because it’s too perfectly ass-shaped. Right? I feel like it’s more ass-shaped than a peach. Peaches are not that perfectly ass-shaped.”
Ian: “I don’t know, bro.”
Anthony: “You seen some pretty good looking peaches?”
Ian: “I’ve seen some pretty tantalising peaches in my day.”
Anthony: [swallows] “Oh yeah? Do you want me to call you by my name?”
Ian: [in a low voice] “I could eat a peach for hours.”
👀 who doesn’t love Ian and Anthony flirting with each other 🤭🍑
What’s Wrong With This Soup? (Culinary Crimes)
So the boys went on Courtney’s new show and it did not disappoint with giving us some complimentary bestie moments :-
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Courtney: “So the theme of this episode is foods that are vegan, gluten free, with some other twists as well.”
Ian: “So a lot of nuts, I presume.”
Anthony: “Besties with testes.”
Ian: “We are besties with testes, so.”
Silly but still quite cute, can never resist them calling each other besties even when it involves testes 😅
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[First recipe they are given is soup]
Ian: “I have recently became a soup boy.”
Anthony: “Yeah.”
Courtney: “You have become a soup boy. That’s why I put you on this case.”
Ian: “Oh, is that right? Yes.”
Anthony: “I have been a good soup boy’s assistant.”
Ian: “Yeah.”
Anthony: “Ian invited me over. I was a little assistant, we made some soup.”
Ian: “We made soup together.”
Anthony: “It was really good.”
WHAT?! THEY MADE SOUP TOGETHER! IAN INVITED HIM OVER AND THEY MADE SOUP TOGETHER!!! ANTHONY WAS HIS SOUP ASSISTANT!!! 😭…. Sorry, screaming over. But that is the cutest thing ever! So after the whole moment in January where Ian dashed many of our fantasies of them making soup together, it ended up actually happening and I am one happy girl knowing it did 😊
Making Of “Would You Push This Button?”
So the BTS of the Would You Push This Button? sketch provided us with a couple moments :-
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Not a compliment or anything but you know, gotta include the high-fives.
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Now this other moment is complimentary but the dialogue isn’t that important so I’m just going to give a run down of what is happening :-
[Anthony filming Ian sitting recording voice audio that no longer is getting used for the main video. Ian rambles on about how only members get to hear it and how we’re getting it for free, but not really free cause we paid for membership, and how this audio was originally meant to be used as a Shut Up! intro but it wasn’t that funny, all while Ian is saying this you can hear Anthony laughing behind the camera]
Just another example of the fact that Ian is the funniest person to Anthony ☺️
Would You Push This Button? & MrBeast Copycat Watch Party
Of course to go along with the Would You Push This Button? sketch we also got the watch party livestream, along with them reacting to the previous sketch MrBeast Copycats Have Gone Too Far that they had missed.
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[Earlier in the video Ian guesses that Apollo 17 was the last time humans set foot on the moon]
Ian: [reads chat comment] “Oh, I was right with Apollo 17.”
Anthony: “Damn! How did you know Apollo 17?”
Ian: “Just a good guess, I guess.”
Wee compliment from Anthony 😊
-
Chat comment: ‘What’s the latest soup Ian’s learned to make?’
Ian: “The last one that I learned to make was the African Peanut Stew.”
Anthony: “Oh yeah, that one sounds so good.”
Ian: “So good.”
Anthony: “I was like is that shit vegan?”
Ian: “It was so good- yeah, yeah, it’s vegan.”
Anthony: “Yeah, we got to make that one. We got to make that one next.”
Aw, soup boy’s assistant is wanting to get back in the kitchen with him 🥹
-
[Boys do a quiz to find out which Bratz doll they are]
Q: ‘What is a personal flaw that your friends accept you for?’
Anthony: “Probably shy and awkward. That’s true.”
Erin: “Do you agree, Ian?”
Anthony: [looks at Ian] “Do you accept me for that?”
Ian: “I accept you for that.”
Anthony: “Okay, thank you.”
Just a cute little one 😝
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[Ian taking the quiz]
Q: ‘Pick a fashion icon’
Ian: “I think I’m a Bianca Jagger.”
Anthony: “Sure. That feels right.”
Another little compliment from Anthony cause why not ✨
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Q: ‘What’s your favourite relic from the 2000s?’
Ian: “I’m going to do [sings] being young, carefree and stupid.”
Anthony: “That was mine too.”
#twinning #justbestiethings
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Q: ‘Which y2k fragrance did you have/would you have on your vanity tray?’
Ian: “I am definitely Princess by Vera Wang.”
Anthony: “Yep. That sounds right.”
Just Anthony agreeing that Ian is a princess 👑
-
Ian: [on the personal flaw question] “I feel like I’m all of these things.”
Anthony: “You’re a drama queen…”
Ian: “I think my honesty can be harsh. I think- actually I can’t be wild.”
Anthony: “You’ve been wild.”
Ian: “I am a drama queen.”
Anthony: “When are you a drama queen?”
Ian: “I feel like I can be a catty little bitch sometimes.”
Anthony: “But that’s not a drama queen.”
Ian: “Like I love drama. Like whenever I hear that there’s a problem I’m like [rubs hands together] ‘alright, let’s go’.”
Anthony: “Yeah, but I feel like drama queens are also like in the drama.”
Erin: “He’s a little dramatic.”
Anthony: “Is he in the drama though?”
Erin: “I would say so.”
Ian: [laughs]
Anthony: “I feel like he observes it and talks about it.”
Ian: “Sometimes I can be the drama. No, I don’t think I’m- I love hearing other people’s drama…”
Anthony: “Yeah.”
Ian: “But I feel like sometimes my honesty can be harsh.”
Anthony: “Sure, sure.”
Ian: “Sometimes I, you know, like sometimes there’s things that just don’t need to be said.”
Anthony: [laughs] “And you used to have no filter.”
Ian: “Sometimes I say it, I think I’ve gotten a little bit better, where I’ll be like, ‘I- never mind’.”
Anthony: “Yeah, yeah. I accept you for it.”
Ian: “Okay.”
Anthony: “I’ve grown to accept it. I used to be very sensitive.”
Love how this started off as something silly but turned into a genuine compliment by the end of it.
-
[Ian gets Jade as his answer]
Ian: [reading answer description] “…bold and thinks outside of the box or just someone who’s wild at heart.”
Anthony: “I could see wild at heart.”
Just a little mini compliment from Anthony there
…
Anthony: [reads chat comment and laughs] “Why is Ian on such a high from getting Jade over Anthony getting Jade?” [Anthony really wanted Jade as his answer as the crew said that’s who he was like]
Ian: Umm, I just didn’t think I was cool, man.”
Anthony: “Dude, you’re cool, Ian.” [pats chest] “You gotta have a little confidence, man.”
A double compliment from Anthony in this little section, you love to see it!
-
[reacting to the MrBeast sketch]
Anthony: “Yeah, that one was good. Your Mr Beast character, you fucking killed it, man. And going into the horror mode at the end [of the video] was great.”
It’s been a very heavy Anthony complimenting Ian livestream as you can probably tell 😅 not that I’m complaining!
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[reacting to the Button sketch]
Ian: [talking about his Mormon character’s wig] “Wow, the blonde really brings out my eyes.”
Anthony: “Yeah, it looks really good.”
We do know Anthony loves Ian’s blue eyes 😉
-
[Ian dressed as a woman in the sketch]
Anthony: “Your lipstick is poppin’!”
Just another complimentary moment I wanted to include 😄
-
Chat comment: ‘Ian plays the mother so well it’s scary’
Ian: “That’s because I am mother.”
Anthony: “Ian is mother.”
👀 Okay, Anthony…
And that was it for this livestream!
Making Of “Grimace: Where Is He Now?”
The BTS of the Grimace: Where Is He Now? sketch gave us a couple little moments, not necessarily compliments, but wanted to include them nonetheless :-
-
First was this moment where Ian and Anthony are looking at each other through a door covered with fake police tape and they reach through and touch each other’s hands.
(As usual sorry for the terrible gif quality, I tried 🫣)
But yeah, thought this was cute so wanted to make it part of this post 😊
-
And the other moment I wanted to include was as they were doing the outro to the video :-
Anthony: “Why do we need a fog machine when we have…”
[both Ian and Anthony blow out of their mouths so you can see their breath in the cold air]
Ian: “Wow, I don’t know if that looked cool on camera but…”
Anthony: “Felt cool.”
And then of course, gotta include one of their signature moves…
The high-five!
There’s A Werewolf Among Us…
So the boys joined in on this Games video along with Courtney, Arasha, Spencer, Chanse and Trevor where they played Werewolf, in which one person is the werewolf and they have kill off other players without being discovered.
-
[Arasha brings up how she used to play it when it was called Mafia and the others joke around saying that it’s no longer called that because it’s offensive to Italian-Americans]
Courtney: “Angela actually held up a sign in the front of the building, she was like - ‘Please stop’.”
Ian: “Yeah, she picketed us.”
Anthony: “She’s on strike for the day.”
Ian: [laughs] “She’s on strike.”
Love when the shoe is on the other foot and it’s Ian finding Anthony funny, always very cute ☺️
-
[Everyone saying they think it’s Ian]
Chanse: “I was gonna say, I think I thought it was Anthony, but I’ve changed my mind.”
Ian: “Well, I mean, I would say I trust you two [Anthony and Chanse] ‘cause you didn’t immediately just go along with it. If you were the werewolf you would have immediately just motioned to vote because you’re like, yeah, let’s kill another villager.”
Trevor: “Or maybe they’re trying to hide it…”
Ian: “No.”
Trevor: “Because they already had someone second it. So why would they jump immediately?”
Ian: “Right, but they would need to be to jump in.”
Anthony: “Or maybe there’s no information to even go off of in the first round.”
Chanse: “I nominate Ian.”
Trevor: “Yeah. Vote time?”
Spencer: “Unfortunately, Ian.”
Ian: “All right, I’m just…”
Spencer: “You have made your case.”
Ian: “Okay, all right.”
Spencer: “And it’s vote time.”
Ian: “I think Anthony’s safe. I don’t trust anyone else.”
It’s sweet how Ian says Anthony’s the only one he trusts here as everyone besides Anthony is saying they think Ian is the werewolf. It’s also doubly sweet when you think about the fact that Anthony actually was the werewolf this round and yet, he was the only one Ian trusted 🥺
-
[Arasha making her case for the werewolf not to kill her]
Anthony: “Why are you giving werewolf tips?”
Courtney: “She’s plugging all the holes.”
Ian: [puts hands up] “I am nominating Arasha [as the werewolf].”
Anthony: [puts hand up] “I am nominating Arasha as well.”
I love when they just follow what each other’s doing 😌
-
[Anthony’s character dies]
Trevor: [going to raise his hand but backing down and everyone asking what he was going to say] “I just wanted to do it again. I was gonna do it again, where I just make a blatant accusation for no reason.”
Courtney: “It is good, though, for the plot.”
Chanse: “It starts shit.”
Trevor: [puts hand up] “All right, I think it’s Ian.”
Courtney: “The werewolf?”
Trevor: “Yeah.”
Spencer: “All right, does anyone wanna second that?”
Ian: “I think that’s a terrible decision.”
Trevor: “No, not necessarily nominating, I just would like to, you know, cast some doubt upon his character.”
Spencer: “Gosh darn.”
Courtney: “Yeah.” [points at Ian] “You like wolves!”
Ian: “I don’t like wolves.”
Trevor: “You would kill Anthony.”
Ian: [makes a sad/unhappy face]
Trevor: “You would. You hater.”
Ian: “What do you mean I would kill Anthony?”
Trevor: “You’re trying to, like oh, I would never kill my best friend. Oooh.”
Ian: “I never-”
Chanse: “He’s trying to start shit.”
Courtney: [laughing]
Trevor: “See? See? Ian’s like, ooh, they won’t think it’s me because I would never kill my best friend.”
Ian: “This guy talks too much.”
Anthony: [laughs]
Loved this moment, especially how not happy Ian was with the accusation that he would kill Anthony, even in a game. And of course can never resist when it’s brought up that they’re best friends. Also loved how Anthony didn’t say anything and only laughed at what Ian said - the bestie-ism was shining through! 👯♂️
And that was it for this video!
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With that, that brings us to end of the compliments for February 2024! A shorter one as I said but hope you all still enjoyed 😊
Thanks for reading and I shall see you next time! 🫶
#so happy to FINALLY have this out to you guys#massive apologies for being mia for so long I’m going go try and be better#hugely appreciate everyone’s patience though I’m very grateful for that#ianthony#ianthony compliments#ian hecox#anthony padilla#smosh#my posts
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This whole "LO is ending" thing makes me a little sussy baka-
There are currently four ways for fans of LO to find out about it ending.
1.) Articles online , of which there are only two, from Cosmopolitan and Popverse
2.) A user who got to ask Rachel questions at NYCC and posted their findings to the official Discord which has recently re-opened
3.) The Lore Olympians IG page (a fan page for LO)
4.) The antiLO/ULO communities
Notice a pattern?
None of these are official sources.
Rachel hasn't tweeted it or posted about it to Instagram. "But she's busy with NYCC" might make sense, but the official Webtoon pages haven't posted about it either.
And despite the fact that Rachel HAS posted about the series returning, it HASN'T included the reveal that it's returning for its final arc.
And this makes me suspicious.
Why?
Because this isn't how you market a final season.
City of Blank is currently on its final season. We know this definitively because it's been marketed as such since the premiere.
They knew from the start that this was going to be the last season, so they marketed it as such. Which makes sense, this is something you SHOULD do when marketing a final season, it lets people know that if you want to read a series, NOW is the best time to do it! If you're someone who fell off the series, now is the time to check back in and catch up on what you missed!
LO, meanwhile, hasn't had that marketing. This made a lot of us suspicious that S3 wasn't going to be the final season (which was a common belief for a while) because if it was the final season, why wasn't it being marketed as such? Why were so many new plot threads being established if this was meant to be the last season?
It's tinfoil hat time-
I'm feeling very certain that the signs of S3 not being the final season were true - but the decision was made to end the series with the third season regardless.
When you really think about it, it makes sense:
The popular opinion of LO has shifted to negative, with many people calling the comic out on how silly and poorly made it is.
Every time Webtoon Official announces new awards for the comic, the general opinion is, "Why?" and not just from the antiLO/ULO community, but even from other webcomic creators and users of the platform.
Its average numbers have been rapidly dropping with each episode and they'll surely continue on that downslide after it returns from the longest hiatus it's ever been on.
Its rating on the app has been slowly but steadily dropping, and its viewcount has hardly risen despite all the marketing it gets from Webtoons.
The fans haven't had access to any sort of space since the closure of the official FB page, Discord, and subreddit (the latter of which was already dying in activity by the time it closed).
The newest releases of the physical copies go on sale literally less than a week after release. There's still no news of the TV show and it's becoming painfully obvious that the production rights are simply sitting around waiting to either be sold to another studio or abandoned entirely. And the longer time goes on, the further LO ends up being in the rearview mirror of WT culture, the less interest there will be in adapting it.
It's already barely discussed outside of the platform, people who traditionally read comics have no idea what LO is despite WT's rabid attempts to inject it into every corner of comic culture.
It's safe to say that much of WT's audience is very over LO, and many are simply sticking with it to see how it sticks its landing. Now we know that landing is coming in 2024, but we didn't know that until now, and it was very silently announced. Not a single word on Rachel's or WT's social media. No big hoorah or hype marketing to get people excited for the finale. Chances are fans have found out about this reveal more from the anti's than their usual sources of information.
This really casts an implication that LO was going to go on longer than a third season - but Webtoons decided to put down its golden goose instead.
Now Rachel has (according to the answers at NYCC) until 'early to mid 2024' to clean up the mess she's made.
(my personal theory is it's going to end just in time for the first day of Spring/Rachel's birthday).
Even her answers about her future projects and how the series will end are incredibly vague. Most of the time she's describing exactly what she's guilty of doing without ever owning up to the fact that she's largely the root of most of her work's problems. It's very much "take your own advice for once."
(^^^ Notice how she doesn't actually talk about the show here, she redirects it entirely to the books. Exhibit #2385902 that the show isn't happening and they just don't want to take the L.)
There's also an accompanying tinfoil hat theory that the reason they're being so vague about it is because they haven't actually committed to an ending. Which would be very Rachel of them to do. Rachel is notorious for saying she's doing one thing and then doing the complete opposite. She's often written entire plotlines as vague as possible to make it easier for her to either bury them or retcon them down the road, so I wouldn't be surprised if she wound up retconning the comic's entire finale if it's just a matter of her trying to decide if she wants to continue the comic or not.
That said, I think the former is a bit more plausible, knowing at least somewhat as to how WT works with their contracts. It really feels like she either suddenly decided not to continue, or WT cut her off entirely by not giving her a series renewal for a 4th season. I've seen series get sudden finales in the past due to WT cutting them loose, and those were series that were, unlike LO, actually enjoyed by many and didn't have an entire critic community based around them. It would explain why not even Webtoons is announcing the ending of the comic.
But we'll see what happens after NYCC ends and LO returns November 4th. I don't think LO is going to be able to stick the landing that it's been crashing towards for two years now, but you bet your ass I'm gonna be here to watch.
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Where Are My Residuals? Actors/Writers Share Horror Stories On Picket Line, Social Media
"With all the strike talk about low pay, WGA and SAG-AFTRA members are starting to play a little show me yours and I’ll show you mine when it comes to their (paltry) residual checks.
Just about everyone has a story to share about how their residuals took a serious nose dive with the advent of new media. A recent story in The New Yorker about how actors on the once successful Orange is the New Black never enjoyed a financial windfall only exacerbated the angst felt by actors and writers these days.
Here’s a sampling of their stories:
With all the strike talk about low pay, WGA and SAG-AFTRA members are starting to play a little show me yours and I’ll show you mine when it comes to their (paltry) residual checks.
Just about everyone has a story to share about how their residuals took a serious nose dive with the advent of new media. A recent story in The New Yorker about how actors on the once successful Orange is the New Black never enjoyed a financial windfall only exacerbated the angst felt by actors and writers these days.
Here’s a sampling of their stories:
Jason Belleville (Home Economics): “I wrote on the first season of Cobra Kai, which is one of the biggest shows in Netflix history. I think I have more money in my pockets right now than any residuals I’ve seen from that. I was also was an executive producer of a show for Netflix called Sneakerheads, which was a smaller show, but it premiered No. 1 one in a bunch of countries for a little while. I have yet to see $1 from that. And I was a writer and EP on that, in comparison. Some of them [broadcast shows he worked on] you can still get some money from but obviously, it’s not like it was. But there’s always a steady trickle that comes in to remind you that you once worked, right? The [residual] formats for cable and for networks are clear and transparent. Whether they’re as much as we want them to be or not, they’re at least something that you can rely on. Whereas, some of these YouTube shows, these [shows licensed to] Netflix. This whole strike is about having money you can rely on through the years so you can pay for your mortgage, you can take care of your kids, as opposed to opening an envelope and going ‘oh, it’s a nickel this time.'”
Aisha Tyler (Criminal Minds, The Last Thing He Told Me): I do a show [Whose Line Is It Anyway] that is double and triple and quadruple pumped in the United States and maybe 50 countries, and I don’t see any residuals. I know it’s been very frustrating to me and my co-stars. It’s theft. We generate all of the creative output on that show. We are the writers, we are the performers, we do everything and we don’t get compensated for it. I already I already threw a couple of temper tantrums so you can see I’m a bit more sanguine about it now but we’ve been fighting about it for years and it’s just pure and simple. It is creative theft."
Mike Royce via Twitter (writer-producer, One Day At A Time, Men of a Certain Age): “Some people are wondering how residuals will work for this, and since One Day at a Time had the somewhat unique experience of running on streaming, cable AND network TV, I can tell you how it worked for me. In 2020, season 4 of ODAAT was on the Pop Network (cable). Later that year CBS repeated it, because it was the pandemic and they needed programming. I co-wrote an episode with Gloria Calderón Kellett so we split the residuals. For the Pop showings I got (lower) cable residuals, but the CBS repeat paid me half the network residual (exactly what it should be for a co-written episode) … For perspective, that one CBS repeat of one episode of ODAAT paid me roughly the same as I’ve been paid IN TOTAL for one episode of ODAAT streaming on Netflix 24/7 for the last 4-6 YEARS. In other words, 1 network repeat residual = 5 years of streaming residuals. This is why we’re on strike."
Sarah Sokolovic (Big Little Lies, Homeland): “I can tell you the money I made from residuals dropped in 2015 to less than half in 2018. And the funny thing about it was I was on two, Emmy-award winning shows. It’s not on the side of the individual producers, of course. It’s really about the studios making sure that the basic contract has things in place so that actors like me benefit from their work residually over time. There was a time when I was traveling out of the country, so I had to have my mail forwarded to my mother. She was helping me with deposits, physical checks at the time. She opens a check and she goes, ‘Sarah, it’s three cents’. I said yes. She said it actually costs more to mail it.'”
Marqui Jackson (showrunner, All American: Homecoming): “Just in general, residuals are not what they used to be. You can’t depend on residuals to even begin to sustain a living in between gigs. It’s just kind of like extra money because sometimes they’re as low as a couple of bucks. I don’t think there has been a wellspring of residuals from All American: Homecoming, even though we are doing well. It is hard to fight for the right number when you don’t know what the numbers [ratings] are. That’s part of why we’re fighting because if they’re making money off on our content we should be part of it.”
John Carroll Lynch (Trial of the Chicago 7, White House Plumbers): “I’ve noticed that anything I do for streaming is not even one-tenth of the residual stream that I got for something terrible that I did. I certainly got paid more for an episode of The Visitor, which is a show I did when I first got here and only lasted one season. I got higher residuals by about 100 percent to what I get when it [was licensed to] Netflix. At some level, we’re dealing with a different group of people who have union institutional memory. Disney as a corporation has institutional memory of using unions, often much to their chagrin. That’s true of Warner Bros. and Universal. Apple, Amazon, and Netflix all come from Silicon Valley which has no institutional memory of unions. It’s time to teach them what sharing needs to be.”
Kevin Sussman (The Big Bang Theory) “For me the big issue is residuals for streaming. I’ve known that it’s been untenable for years. I was surprised that it took this long for there to be a strike like this. I’ve seen residuals for my own shows absolutely tank once they go to streaming. I’m lucky because I was on The Big Bang Theory, which was on a broadcast network for years. Since it moved to streaming [like Max and Amazon Prime], it’s night and day. I don’t see how it’s possible for an upcoming actor these days to actually be able to make a living.”
Charlie Barnett (Men in Black 3, Russian Doll): I have those check stories of like $9 coming out. Twenty years ago, if I had the career that I have today, it would be entirely different. I can’t afford to buy a house. We just moved into a smaller place in order to start saving. It would be improper to say that I don’t have a certain amount of privilege in the position that I am. I have to recognize that. But us in these positions in of height, have all the ability to fight for the people who are under us, who are still climbing. Just the background deal that they said is historically different is bullshit. I started out in background. Are you going to tell me that I’m going to sell my image in perpetuity to a studio? It’s insane. What happens to my career for the rest of my life? It doesn’t provide any safety, any protection, any ability for growth for what this industry is, for what it’s always been. These contracts that we have built off of network television have stood for so long. We have not seen any growth through the streaming platforms. It’s kind of the Wild West. The conversation point in saying over and over again, the industry we are funding and continuing to put millions and millions of dollars into, is not profiting us. It’s BS. It’s also mirrored in the fact that half of these execs, their pay is raising continually, year and year. We have not seen growth on our side. And through the writers as well.”
#sag-aftra strike#sag strike#current events#union solidarity#writers guild strike#wga strong#wga strike#writers strike
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