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#but now I can just say that particular look IS a weird blonde wig that Vang0 wears

chainofclovers · 3 years

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Grace and Frankie 7x1 - 7x4 thoughts

Meh? Like...I love them so much, but...meh?

(I did enjoy this line about brunch.)

I really loved season 6 of Grace and Frankie. I thought it was well-paced, largely very well-acted, generally well-written, and it culminated in a massive moment of character development for the title characters, who, having spent years growing closer and being there for each other when others could not or would not be, finally articulate to each other that they are the primary person in each other’s lives. Platonic gal pal soulmate BFF emotional support witches 4 lyfe!

I know progress isn’t always linear, and in fact is very rarely linear, but after a moment that significant, you’d think the writers on this show would maybe come up with some more interesting things for these characters to do than spin in circles?

@bristler and I watched on Friday night, and just this morning over breakfast had a good conversation about the first four episodes of the new season now that they have settled in our brains a bit. We concluded that the writing (often noticeably clunky, like the dialogue is responsible for more narration than usual) and the tone (aggressively wacky) feel really off, especially compared to the prior season. I think we diagnosed the big issue, which is that Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda are by far the most talented actors on this show (if you disagree, fight me in the parking lot) and it feels surprisingly unfortunate that their characters have, to this point in the new season, pretty much figured out their perspectives on each other. No matter how people feel about Grace and Frankie’s sexualities, the whole show has been about them finding each other and getting in deeper and deeper, and it’s less interesting to watch other characters have realizations about that than it is to watch Grace and Frankie having realizations about themselves. If the title characters are now limited to reacting to other people’s actions, and the title characters are played by the best actors on the show, the whole show’s gonna suffer. And is suffering, very much so, at least for these first four episodes. I’m definitely still excited for the final twelve in 2022 (twelve! I cannot believe this season will have sixteen eps!), but I’m pretty disappointed so far.

Stuff I Loved:

The family brunch. These families have been entwined for so long, and the backstory for this particular brunch was so fun (even though I didn’t care for the effects they did to depict Grace and Robert 25 years ago; there was no need for a visual flashback in the scene). I love that Grace hit Frankie with a wiffle ball bat. I love that the two couples realized some of the emotional reasons behind their decisions to lie to each other about Bud’s Bunny and about M’Challah. I love the way Jane Fonda sounds uttering the phrase “Bud’s Bunny” with little to no irony. I love that Grace is able to recognize and articulate just how deep and miserable her anger issues were, albeit with the continued help of her omnipresent martini, and that Frankie told her she’d now make up a holiday in order to spend more time with Grace. I really, really hope Frankie does exactly this at some point in the remaining episodes of the season. I love that Grace is generally a pretty good person now, with aspirations of being a delightful person. I love that she and Frankie don’t have it in them to stay angry with each other, and I love all the evidence that they really, really talk to each other about everything now.

Frankie talking to the man at the office (I don’t remember who he was supposed to be? A toilet manufacturer? I didn’t mention this before, but I actually got pretty high while watching?!? Believe it or not, this was the first time I smoked pot and watched Grace and Frankie at the same time despite having enjoyed both activities on their own for quite some time. I would recommend the combo! And I think I still pretty much got what was happening) about paying for the toilet parts with candy. This whole subplot with the money laundering was absurd and not that interesting, but I loved this particular scene because it was finally evidence of some really thoughtful writing. The concepts aren’t enough! You have to write them into good dialogue! And the whole cash/candy thing was a moment of dialogue that only someone as hilarious as Lily Tomlin could pull off. Which she did, IMO.

In a show about super messy people, Coyote has stayed sober this entire time. He is sober, employed, in love, and preparing to buy a full-sized house with his partner. He hasn’t murdered anyone in his family. Hasn’t even attempted murder once.

In 2017 or whatever, Grace Hanson would have been furious about Frankie using obscure Beatles references like a treasure map when hiding the cash. But here in 2021, she cooperates and even gets in on the fun. The writing is very unsubtle this season, but that did feel like a reasonably subtle moment that shows how good of a partner she is for Frankie. (Platonic, of course! So platonic. Female friendship, amirite?)

Stuff I Did NOT Love and Felt Incredibly Negative About:

Brianna. I can only conclude that June Diane Raphael has decided she’s happy with playing a character whose primary role in life is to be hot and mean. She succeeds at being hot and mean, but I have reached my limit with this character. I realize we’re only a quarter of the way into the season, but I don’t think I can take another arc about her learning to compromise only to reveal to Barry that she never intended to compromise at all. At this point, it’s both abusive and boring. How?! The Grace/Brianna parallels aren’t interesting anymore, because one character has grown and the other is stagnant. I get that Brianna was raised in an emotionally stilted environment by two unhealthy people. But I think it would be very cool if she could learn something from her mother at this point. Grace has put a ton of effort into dealing with her “rabbit-killing, mad-at-the-world anger.” She’s put a ton of effort into figuring out what makes her happy, what she wants her life to look like. She’s even started accepting her age and abilities without shame. And that growth is believable; Grace is still short-tempered and she still slugs back way too many martinis and she struggles to articulate certain things, but she’s grown into a truly lovely human. And while, as a daughter with a mother, I can absolutely attest to the fact that it can be difficult and uncomfortable to learn lessons from one’s mother, Brianna really, really should. Grace spent decades letting anger and shame trap her in a small, miserable life. Brianna—and even Mallory, who just seems like a vapid idiot this season—are traveling that same path, but there’s someone right there who could really help, maybe even more than Frankie helped when the Hanson girls were first growing up.

The arraignment. The scene might’ve been salvageable if it was filmed from Grace’s perspective, and filmed to reflect how surreal and improbable it all was. But speaking of non-linear progress, this scene erased everything Nick Skolka has done to put himself in my good graces (LOL) over the past couple seasons. I mean, I tried, man. I even wrote fic about Nick, Grace, and Frankie making a genuine effort at polyamory. But the arraignment is so emotionally manipulative, such a slap in the face of everything Grace has worked for, and while we’re certainly “supposed” to feel the weight of the moment, I mean, it’s not like we’re supposed to be like, “Oh, cool, we’re in a rom com now! This is adorable!” it still felt bad and unearned and slapdash.

And I want Frankie to process these things with her! Frankie seems so happy to have all this information about Grace and how Grace feels, but I want to see scenes in which we can gain an understanding of how Frankie actually feels. Hearing Frankie talk to other people about how Grace feels is interesting, but it’s like there’s no room in these episodes for us to learn anything new about Frankie herself.

Grace’s transitional wig. Is so. Bad. It is. Such a. Bad wig. Oof. I mean, I like what they’re doing with Grace’s hair from a plot perspective, although (see one bullet up) I would really like to get more of an understanding of what’s happening in Grace’s head, not just on top of her head. And gosh, Frankie would be a really good person to talk to about this in a conversation that lasts longer than 30 seconds. But the wig! She’s in a wig in all four episodes, of course, since Jane Fonda went grey and cut her hair short before they started filming this season. The wig for episodes 1 and 2 is fine; it’s a good approximation of Grace’s typical hair, and of course we know that canonically Grace’s hair isn’t 100% her own hair anyway. But the wig with grey roots looks so weird. The part that’s growing out doesn’t look the same as the hair on the wig from 1 and 2. And the grey roots look like a yarmulke. I cannot wait to get to the point in the season when Grace goes all the way grey.

(One more thing about the hair. I can’t let it go. I paused the show while we were watching to rant, but I’m not done.) I had the great privilege of seeing Jane Fonda in person at a protest in 2019. She is an insanely beautiful human. She was growing her hair out and it was partially dyed blonde and partially grey. It looked really cool. I am not ashamed to say I spent that day learning many things about the climate crisis and about Jane Fonda’s hair. Having seen her in real life with her real hair looking that fucking great, I just have a an extra-large grudge against everyone involved in that horrible wig. The wig is necessary, but it didn’t have to be this bad.

What Do I Care About Now?

I am pretty intrigued by the way Grace threw out her real age in a conversation with Nick and Elena. She has nothing to fear anymore! She’s so chill about aging! What could go wrong? I assume that Nick and Elena maneuvering for Nick to be on house arrest in Grace's house specifically has to do with the fact that Grace is 82. She’s gonna find out that Nick is allowed to be with her because she’s ancient and helpless and the court took pity. Or something like that. She’s going to feel betrayed on top of feeling stifled and overwhelmed by Nick’s presence. I want to see where this goes for sure.

Other than that, and other than the fact that I really do continue to believe this show is moving in a direction in which Grace and Frankie will choose each other, I feel very whatever about this whole thing. I love this show and I will always appreciate this show for giving me some incredible characters to spend years of my life writing about, and for bringing me some pretty amazing friendships. Speaking of those friendships, yesterday @ellydash and @telanu and I were talking about some of the incredible TV we’ve watched recently, like Ted Lasso and Hacks and Fleabag and Killing Eve, and how great it feels to watch beautifully written TV crafted by writers who are profoundly—organically yet intentionally—attuned to even the most minor character’s rhythm. The disappointment of these first few episodes of the new G&F season feels like a mild disappointment rather than a sharp heartbreak, and that has a lot to do with being deeply invested in other shows that could also go in all kinds of different directions but with writing I fundamentally trust.

Also Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are my forever faves and my appreciation for their performances and general awesomeness onscreen and in life is undiminished. So that’s pretty cool.

#grace and frankie #meta by me #grace and frankie s7 spoilers #a lesbian watches ted lasso #grace hanson is a gay disaster #except #she's not even a disaster anymore #she's totally fine and men keep bothering her!#frankie bergstein is a bisexual mess

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itsyounggaga · 3 years

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Gaga was interviewd by HX Magazine in 8th August, 2008. The magazine is based in NY.

Photoshoot by Pieter Henket.

“Just Dance” singer Lady Gaga gives back to the gays

By Brandon Voss Not quite sure what to make of electro-pop diva Lady Gaga’s theatrical fashion-forward fierceness? Follow the advice of her international hit single: “Just dance. It’ll be okay.” Still hot off a history-making performance on the Miss Universe Pageant in Vietnam and with her glittery debut album The Fame out in October, the 22-year-old NYC native discusses booze, bisexuality and even Britney before she makes all the boys gag at Daniel Nardicio’s birthday celebration on Friday, August 8, at The Ice Palace in Cherry Grove. HX: Did you always know that the gays were going to go gaga over your music? Lady Gaga: I have a lot of gay friends, so it was more like, I wonder if my friends will like it. I’m a dancer and grew up in a theater community in New York, so I feel like my music is a product of that environment. I find something really beautiful about the spirit of the gay community. I feel a part of it. I was the girl in high school who never really had a lot of popular friends, so I found my place with my gay friends in acting school and dance class. It’s a really inspiring community, and I feel very privileged to be around it. Who’s your best gay friend? I couldn’t say—I have too many! I would upset a lot of people. You surely earned even more gay fans with the recent announcement that you wrote a track for Britney’s upcoming album. Was that a dream come true? Yeah. I was working with Rodney Jerkins on Pussycat Dolls, and we wrote this song—I almost slipped and told you the name. Thank God I caught myself; I respect her a lot, so I was to give her control over that. When we were done with the song, I was like, “Oh, I want to sing it,” but my album was already closed. It never even crossed my mind that she was doing a new record. Then Rodney played it for [Britney’s manager] Larry Rudolph, who was in the studio. Rodney called me later and was like, “Britney’s people are freaking out about this song.” Ultimately, she makes the decisions, so when I found out that she loved it and was going to record it, it was amazing. I actually heard it yesterday with her on it for the first time, and I really had chills. Shouldn’t you start being more selfish with hits that you write? My record is really great, and it has a lot of hits on there that I can run with for a while. I’m not an egomaniac; I don’t need to sing every great song that I write. If anything, it’s more of an achievement for me as a writer to get to write for a superstar. You did a mini-promo tour of the NYC gay club scene a couple of months ago. What was that experience like? It was awesome, and it made me want to work harder. When I was at Splash, I was mad that I was performing, because I wanted to be on E, sweating my pants off in the crowd. When I play at gay clubs, it’s like playing for my friends: They get it and understand what I’m trying to say, and they have a very open mind about art, pop and commercial music. When I did Miss Universe, all of the gays on my site were like, “Man, you looked so cool. We loved your outfit.” But every now and then you’ll see a comment that’s like, “I love her, but she’s a little weird.” I’m always thinking to myself, Oh, they just don’t know fashion. [Laughs] Performing for years in downtown clubs, your life could’ve taken a darker turn. How’d you avoid temptation? Well, I really didn’t for a little while. I was for sure not focused, but I was making great work. I don’t want to encourage people to do drugs for music or anything, but I did it because I wanted to understand what inspired the artistic life of the ’70s and how Andy Warhol functioned. It was sort of a creative journey for myself, and at some point it just got out of hand. I was having trouble sleeping, and I would have a panic attack after one glass of wine just because my body was so afraid of substance. I was too afraid to lose everything. Was there a night in particular that inspired “Just Dance”? Yeah, for sure. If you’ve ever been so high that it’s, like, scary, the only way you can deal with it is not deal with it, so you just kind of dance through the intoxication. I wrote the song the day after I had just flew in from New York to L.A., so I was taken very quickly out of my party lifestyle. I wrote it instantly—like it flew out of my body. I’d been working on this album for two-and-a-half years, and I was at a crossroads with my songwriting. I was trying to be so cool with my own music, but I would get better responses when I would write for other artists because I was not trying to be cool. So when I did “Just Dance,” that was my way of being like, “just fuckin’ write a good song. Stop worrying about what’s going to fly in the underground. Worry about writing a great record.” Actually, that record ended up being more powerful than any of the songs that I racked my brain writing, and after that, it was an influx of record after record. It was almost like a switch went off in my brain, and I figured out how to write a good pop song. Are you really as boy-crazy as your lyrics suggest? Yeah. Well, I’m girl-crazy too. I really depends on where I am. I love men, I love women and I love sex, but I’m actually pretty introverted right now because I’m so enveloped in my work, and it’s hard to let anybody near that. People fuck with your energy, and it’s very hard to find people that are supportive of your art and don’t want to take time away from it. A lot of times, boyfriends and girlfriends get jealous and want all your attention, and I really don’t have time for that. Do you consider yourself bisexual? Sure. I mean, I don’t really consider sexual orientation in general. It’s like, people are born the way they are. If a drag queen wanted to do Lady Gaga, what would be your best advice? If you’re wearing a blonde wig or extensions, you have to wash it with purple shampoo. Because I don’t have any yellow in my hair and I’m very insane about that. What’s been your most mind-blowing appearance thus far?Probably Gay Pride in San Francisco. To be asked to play the main stage and close the whole weekend was—I don’t know. I got very choked up on stage. Right before I did “Just Dance,” I said, “I just want to tell all of you that being here makes me so fucking proud.” Everybody looked very emotional. It was kind of this beautiful moment, because I can put out a lot of records, write for other people, sell and get famous, but it’s not the same as really connecting with and inspiring a community of people. If I can be that for anyone, especially the gay community, that’s incredible.

Source: https://ladygaga.fandom.com/wiki/HX_(magazine)

#2008 #lady gaga #the fame #the fame era #hx magazine #magazine #interview #pieter henket

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wigwurq · 3 years

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WIG REVIEW: WONDER WOMAN 1984

You guys! Now that the holidaze are over, I finally got around to watching the #1 most hated movie of the holiday season: Wonder Woman 1984! People have so many opinions about this movie AND NOW I DO TOO! I even have some thoughts on the wigs! Let’s discuss.

We begin in Themyscira, land of Amazons, fishtail braidology, Robin Wright, NO EFFING MEN, and also this weird Amazon gladiator gauntlet that is mainly brought to you by lots of computers. Baby Gal Gadot (nee Wonder Woman) is allowed to compete in this CGI decathalon despite being 1/3 the size and age of the other competitors and almost wins the damn thing but Auntie Robin Wright disqualifies her for trying to cheat to win. About 4 hours later, toward the end of this movie, Wonder Woman also tries to “cheat” at something so this is kinda sorta foreshadowing if you believe that the writers of this screenplay even had that forethought!

Moving ahead to 1984, this movie just gets SO 1984. Or really “1984″ in the Stranger Things sense, in that they even used the damn mall that that show takes place in and some dumb criminals steal some jewelry and Wonder Woman saves the day and also comically saves some kids who could have been hurt. I am still bitterly injured by Gal Gadot’s wig, which is not so bent and tangled as the first Wonder Woman movie. Still, the general texture and quality leave something to be desired AS DOES THIS WHOLE MOVIE BUT I AM GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF!! Anyway, other than foiling crimes at malls, Gal Gadot mainly lives a sad single life in DC where she pines away for Chris Pine in her fabulous apartment, surrounded by an astonishing amount of photographs of her late boyfriend, given the fact that the pictures she has of him are from the 1910s when not everyone had a damn photo printer. Absent of course, is the photograph of her and her ragtag WWI buddies which is delivered to her at the end of the first Wonder Woman movie in the present day and therefore hasn’t happened yet and here begins and ends all logic in this movie.

Anyway! Gal Gadot works with Kristen Wiig, who does her fabulously awkward Kirsten Wiig thing as a nerdy scientist who is largely overlooked by all of society and who wears upsetting culottes and oversized sweatshirts and drinks Bartles and Jaymes (THIS MOVIE MISSES NO OPPORTUNITIES TO #80s). Her wig, as all wigs worn by Kristen Wiig in movies, is a horrible mess of bad texture and general bentness. Also, together she and Gal Gadot are sifting through the jewelry stolen by those thieves at the mall and there is one particular giant crystal or whatever that seems to possess magical properties. Yes, like the Infinity Stones that came (and then kept coming!) AND YES I REALIZE THAT THAT IS MCU AND THIS IS DC BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER: EVERY GODDAMNED SUPERHERO MOVIE IS SOMEHOW ABOUT HAUNTED JEWELRY.

Enter Pedro Pascal in the most outrageous 80s wig in honestly the most outrageous 80s role. He essentially plays Donald Trump - a start-up conning people out of money who is also a terrible dad and has terrible hair. I really wondered for much of this movie if this wig was supposed to be a wig, because it looks as fake and wig-like as Trump’s hair, but no - I think this is supposed to be real hair! Truly truly truly outrageous. Anyway, dude basically doesn’t want to work hard to get rich (again, much like Trump!) and instead wants to just wish his way into success via this dream crystal that Gal Gadot and Kristen Wiig have.

OH AND THEY ALREADY WISHED ON THE CRYSTAL! Kristen Wiig wishes to be like Gal Gadot (not realizing that she’s actually wishing to be Wonder Woman) and gets the most outrageous makeover into this bleached blonde nightmare. AND EVERYONE IS JUST LIKE WOW YOU’RE NOT WEARING CULOTTES ANYMORE I GUESS THIS IS NORMAL FOR YOU TO SUDDENLY LOOK THIS WAY AND FOR YOUR HAIR TO INEXPLICABLY BE INCHES LONGER IN THE COURSE OF AN AFTERNOON. Also! Although this bleached blonde wig is maybe an upgrade from her mousy wig from before, that really means nothing as both wigs are garbage.

Gal Gadot’s wish, of course, was for her ain’ true love, Chris Pine, to come back. AND THEN HE DOES! SORTA! Despite being definitely exploded in a plane in 1918 (in the first movie - spoiler?), he just kinda walks into this fancy party like “hey what’s up?” OH EXCEPT FOR ONE SMALL THING.

HE LOOKS LIKE THIS DUDE TO EVERYONE ELSE EXCEPT GAL GADOT. Ok? I guess because Chris Pine’s actual physical body was destroyed in 1918, he has to inhabit the body of this random man credited only as ‘Handsome Man’ in 1984 which really begs the question - what then happens to this handsome dude while Chris Pine shapeshifts into him and does anyone care? ALSO! Plot-wise, this is just the tip of the iceberg in crystal wishes - basically everyone on earth gets a wish before film’s end and all are fulfilled no matter how ludicrous - and yet no other wish seem to have these sort of strings attached EXCEPT FOR WONDER WOMAN! WHY DOES ONLY WONDER WOMAN GET THE PET SEMATARY OF WISHES?!?!?!

Anyway! Lucky for us all, ‘Handsome Man’ has the most 80s closet ever! As we all know, movies set in the 80s are contractually obligated to provide us with a very 80s fashion montage and this one is ALL ABOUT CHRIS PINE. Somehow, ‘Handsome Man’ owns like 10 different fanny packs?!?! Every single 80s menswear disaster is covered here at least three times you guys.

About 3 hours later, he settles on this outfit! Mazel! I’d like to pause this review to now give my definitive breakdown of CHRIS rankings (limited only to the 4 young-ish, blonde-ish Chris actors who appear in superhero movies) so that I might now abbreviate Chris Pine to #2 Chris WHICH HE IS. Ahem:

- BEST CHRIS is obviously CHRIS EVANS. This is because he gets into Twitter wars with racists, he offered his arm of support to Regina King when she stumbled getting her Oscar, and he wears the shit out of a sweater. There are many other reasons also but no other Chris can compare - HE IS BEST CHRIS.

- WORST CHRIS is obviously CHRIS PRATT. This is because he is super Jesusy evangelical and also anti-LGBTQ and married a Schwarzenegger (tho Arnold wishes he was Evans too!). There are many other reasons why but those are the most important reasons. WORST CHRIS.

- #2 CHRIS is a constant battle between CHRIS HEMSWORTH AND CHRIS PINE. Hemsworth is very funny in the lady Ghostbusters, was once on Dancing With The Stars in Australia, and can really commit to a fatsuit. Pine is great at singing on a Wet Hot American Summer roof OR a river, loves caftans, and is loved by the one and only Wonder Woman. It’s an infinity tie between these two and therefore #2 Chris is in the eye of the beholder during whatever you are beholding, and currently we’re beholding Pine. #2 CHRIS!

Yes, this lengthy roundup was definitely worth it so that I can abbreviate Chris Pine to #2 Chris now. Moving on!

So Gal Gadot and #2 Chris walk through a very 80s DC while #2 Chris’s mind gets blown by all the stuff that is different in the 70s years he’s been dead. No 80s movie would be complete without of course covering PUNKS!!! This is where this movie definitely lost my husband because one of these punks is wearing a Cro-Mags shirt from an album THAT CAME OUT IN 1986. This offends me, also, not because I care about that band but because this is lazy costuming! Apparently, my husband was not the only one to notice this and become deeply offended - and Cro-Mags cofounder even chimed in to say that this is all ok because they released a demo for the ‘86 album in 1984 (AND WE ALL KNOW EVERYONE DEFINITELY MAKES SHIRTS BASED ON DEMO ALBUMS?) I still find this lazy and stupid costuming and remain annoyed! ANYWAY!

Back to the “plot”...Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal’s confederacy of bad wigs kinda sorta hook up at this dumb party so that Pedro Pascal can steal that very important wishing crystal! AND THEN HE WISHES ON THE CRYSTAL THAT HE CAN BE THE CRYSTAL. Haunted jewelry plots have never been so dumb as this you guys! AND ALL OF THE INFINITY STONES MOVIES WERE INFINITELY STUPID SO THIS IS REALLY SAYING SOMETHING.

So basically, after 70 years apart, Gal Gadot and #2 Chris have no more time to waste on fanny pack fashion shows or questionable metro punks and have to follow Pedro Pascal to Egypt, where he has gone to demand some oil from Egypt now that he is the physical manifestation of a wishing crystal. In order to get to Egypt themselves, Gal and #2 Chris steal a plane from the Smithsonian (which apparently just has some jets laying around some random tarmac) and then Gal WISHES THE JET INTO BEING INVISIBLE! This is obviously to fuel Wonder Woman invisible jet nostalgia and also to waste about 45 minutes on shots of them invisibly flying through fireworks. BECAUSE IT’S THE 4TH OF JULY WAIT HOW DID THEY VISIT ANY MUSEUMS OR DO ANYTHING ON A NATIONAL HOLIDAY EARLIER THAT DAY OH RIGHT THERE IS NO LOGIC IN THIS MOVIE. Over in Egypt, the wishing crystal Pedro Pascal hisself somehow creates a water shortage and refugee crisis in Egypt and Gal has to Wonder Woman some kids to safety, but mainly she wears this amazing jumpsuit and is able to find a working payphone to call Kristen Wiig and ask if she has any intel on that damn wishing crystal.

Kristen Wiig is somehow EVEN MORE BLONDE AND WEARING THIS DAMN COAT. I mean...you guys. WHAT. Like any good 80s thriller, Kristen Wiig researched the wishing crystal on microfiche which leads her to a random record store where she meets up with Gal and #2 Chris who I guess flew the invisijet back to DC from Egypt in a few minutes or something. Anyway, rando dude at the record store takes out some musty old book that has all the wishing crystal information everyone needed and basically warns that it can destroy society AND ALSO it can take things away from the wisher like a damn monkey’s paw. SPEAKING OF MONKEYS THAT COAT THE END.

But Kristen Wiig’s makeover is far from over! She finally appears as Cheetah herself at the damn White House, where the wishing crystal Pedro Pascal is asking a fake Ronald Reagan (?) if he can please satellite everyone on the earth so he can grow stronger as a crystal person OR SOMETHING? Anyway, Kristen’s lewk is very “punk” but not in a Cro-Mag way, but more in a Meryl Streep in Ricki and the Flash way? It’s a battle of not great wigs, at any rate. Kristen doesn’t want anyone harming her wishing crystal Pedro since that’s what made her Cheetah so there is this huge dumb fight where Pedro and Kristen just kinda glide away (not unlike actual Trump and his idiots last week and omg did this movie foretell that) and then Gal realizes that she has to denounce her wish because the monkey paw’s clause of it all is making her not powerful enough to fight anymore. So #2 Chris is like: I should just be dead anyway and my whole existence is very Pet Sematary and everyone kind of cries in an alley and #2 Chris dies again (?) Also! I think this is supposed to have been foretold by that earlier scene with baby Gal Gadot trying to cheat at that decathalon or whatever because you can’t cheat....death??? Regardless, Gal jumps into the sky and somehow is ABLE TO FLY BASED ON AERODYNAMIC FACTS #2 CHRIS GAVE HER WHILE FLYING AN INVISIJET? SURE!

Over in another plane, Pedro and Kristen are on their way to some satellite island to broadcast to the world about crystal wishes and dude is not looking so great because wishing that you are a crystal is a terrible idea. This is the point at which I realized that this wig was supposed to be real hair because it looks so sweaty and shitty but has consistently looked like a shitty wig through this entire “plot.” Anyway! He asks Kristen Wiig if she wants another wish which....huh? Somehow Gal Gadot’s wish ended up a Pet Sematary nightmare of possessed handsome man bodies that she had to renounce but Kristen Wiig gets two wishes? SURE! AND KRISTEN WIIG WISHES THAT SHE BECOME THE “ULTIMATE PREDATOR” WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS MOVIE Y’ALL.

APPARENTLY THIS IS WHAT AN ULTIMATE PREDATOR LOOKS LIKE?!?!?! YOU GUYS. In order to literally become a Cheetah, they gave Kristen Wiig a CGI body and....kabuki makeup? This lewk absolutely looks like a mashup between two dueling community theater productions of Cats and Pacific Overtures and I can’t stop laughing.

Meanwhile, Gal finally gets to rock this lewk which was earlier described as the battle armor of the goddess, Asteria, who was the one chick NOT invited to Themyscira for Amazonian fishtail braidology times, and had to stay behind to FIGHT EVERY MAN ON EARTH but did get this sweet armor out of it?!?! Regardless, despite withstanding all men ever, Cheetah somehow effs up this armor in a matter of seconds, but Gal is still able to defeat her through underwater electrocution (which somehow avoids Gal herself even though SHE’S WEARING AN ENTIRE SUIT OF METAL).

Anyway, in the end, the entire world is on the brink of collapse and eveyone is looking at old dumb 80s tv screens because of all the dumb wishes everyone made and I guess I appreciate the fact that this entire movie is about dumb 80s wish fulfillment but also there are so many plotholes that I can’t even, you guys. Gal somehow lassoes Pedro Pascal into remembering his shitty dad and realizes that he is now a shitty dad and everyone somehow renounces their wishes and Pedor Pascal just kind of WALKS OFF AN ISLAND INTO THE DEBRIS OF DC AND FINDS HIS CHILD BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD?!?!?!?! It’s really annoying that this movie somehow rewards this shitty dad but also doesn’t let a woman (specifically WONDER WOMAN) have both a love life and her own damn job and I’m not alone in being annoyed by that. ANYWAY, days or weeks after the entire world almost ended, there is somehow a cute Christmas carnival that was definitely a stolen set from Dolly Parton’s Christmas in the Square where Gal Gadot is reunited with ‘Handsome Man’ who has no knowledge of previously being possessed by #2 Chris and is still rocking ALL THIS 80s FASHION and then a star shaped balloon is released into the sky and I wonder if this entire movie has been a Macy’s ad.

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! In a mid-credits scene which is also maybe the only watchable part of this movie, the goddess Asteria (and OG owner of that gold body armor) is revealed to be alive and well and played by OG Wonder Woman, LYNDA EFFING CARTER!! She is definitely an actual goddess who never ages and whose hair is way better than any wigs on display at any point in this movie and is also the only part of the movie you should watch. THE END.

VERDICT: DOESN’T WURQ

#wonderwoman84 #ww84 #wigwurq #galgadot #chrispine #2chris #chrisrankings #kirstenwiig #cheetah #punks #THE80S #contractualfashionmontages #pedropascal #hauntedjewelry #lyndacarter

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hollenius · 4 years

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Talking Heads: Are These Guys Trying To Give Rock A Bad Name?

Having fun trawling the internet for more old interviews and things with different bands & musicians. Here’s a Talking Heads one from 1977.

Talking Heads: Are These Guys Trying To Give Rock A Bad Name?

Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977

TALKING HEADS: it's a term they use up in the high-rise skyscrapers that house all the cogs in the corporate machinery cranking out network television for the American people.

The big-wigs in the boardroom – the William Holdens and Robert Duvalls of Network land – have a name for the lowest common-denominator programme non-personalities – the newscaster, weather-reporters, and other old warhorses who sit head and shoulders directly on camera mouthing out their obligatory tasks. These are the "talking heads" of American TV land; utterly boring, but necessary.

Talking heads with greying hair, dabs of make-up and dandruff removed from the shoulders of their suit-jackets, they sit austerely informing the public of the nation's daily occurences – the rapes and murders, the military campaigns abroad, the latest government manouevres. No opinions, no subjective slant to their reports – they simply precis it down, feed it out to those millions of tubes and when it's over they go away, back to the bar or to the suburban home, wife and kids.

David Byrne, guitarist and singer for the Talking Heads, an American rock group, has a song that he wrote and performs entitled 'Don't Worry About The Government'. It usually gets played early on in the set, with no prefacing explanation – just Byrne's reedy high-pitched voice almost stammering "This next song is called..."

And every time he introduced it to an audience in England, certain factions would snigger or boo or howl derisively because Talking Heads after all are a NEW WAVE group and if you are a New Wave group you must write direct anti-status quo, sloganeering songs of dissent. Just like The Clash or Chelsea or...

But Byrne's song isn't like that at all.

It's about an ordinary man who owns an apartment in some American suburb and who lives a quiet, fairly inconsequential existence, going to work in the morning and returning in the evening, who gains pleasure from life simply through drinking wine with friends or reading a book. There is no hint of moral castigation, no hint of cynicism, Byrne just places himself in his character's psyche and explains himself through his song.

It's a rare talent this, something much closer to the art of the very best short-story writers, a talent that only Ray Davies and Randy Newman before him, out of all the thousands of post-war song-writers, have bothered to identify with and explore perceptively.

"I just thought," said Byrne, "that lyrics could be used to strip down conversations, just normal day-to-day converstions and dialogues, and strip away all the phoney embellishments and posturing right down to essentials so that they would actually say something directly, without having to throw in all the 'Oh yeah, baby' or 'Hey, bitch I'm coming to get ya right now' or...

"Pa-a-arty," chips in Jerry Harrison, the Talking Heads' keyboard player.

Everybody laughs.

NOT AN easy band to write about, these Talking Heads. They mystify arid confuse simply because they so patently lack any dint of the arch brand of mystique that forms a patented cloak for the rock star enigma. Four intelligent, straightforward individuals, the very straightforward nature of their music and their image is somehow unique to the genre they have chosen to work within.

Not that the press haven't attempted time and time again to write about them, almost always in flattering terms.

They emerged as a live attraction in the hot summer of 1975 when Manhattan's CBGB's had suddenly been designated the centre-point of all new-wave rock activity, and were immediately slotted in with the likes of Television, Patti Smith, The Ramones, and Heartbreakers as the pace-setters right there at the vanguard of this brave new scene. Convenient tags like 'punk' and 'art-rock' found themselves strange bed-fellows in numerous articles consummated by the inevitable bandying of the term 'minimalism'.

New York rock critics, having witnessed the ugly death of the New York Dolls brand of gashed-up rock, latched on fast to this new austerely dressed-down form of the music, and the Talking Heads, suddenly caught in the swell, found themselves holding down the cover of the prestigious Village Voice with a photograph taken at only their third gig. Inside was a rave-review of said show with an extensive article.

Since then, coverage has been as extensive as it has been perplexingly unforthcoming in regard to mere bottom line info on what the band were actually all about.

What was disclosed was that the band was a trio then, led by the angular, neurotic-looking Byrne who carried all guitar, vocal and composing chores, while the bass-player was a slight blonde-haired girl called Tina Weymouth whose basic feminist features were undermined by a slightly asexual manner. Drummer Chris Frantz was baby-faced and pleasantly effeminate.

Their music, though, seemed incapable of being pigeon-holed and continually presented reviewers with a daunting problem.

Having witnessed the band on four separate occasions over this last highly successful European tour, it became at once apparent that the care of Talking Heads' repertoire – principally Byrne's songs – is not something that casual acquaintance can unveil. At first, they intrigue as much as they bemuse, but the deeper you dig the more you uncover. Like Television, Talking Heads must be divorced from pigeon-holed surroundings because there is nothing currently existing in the rock context that they can be favourably compared to.

Byrne's melodies are so insidious that they often totally by-pass the conventional quarters that rock music usually attempts to stimulate, instead going deeper, often lodging themselves in your subconscious. One song, after I'd witnessed the band only once at the Rock Garden, somehow kept manifesting itself in my dreams – this strange, utterly disarming descending chord motif would haunt me until I'd wake up desperately trying to recall it. It was only later that I even got to learn the song's title, 'The Book I Read'.

THIS IS how the band's music works – in a way that transcends conventional avenues of 'rock criticism' where parallels to established musical forms become redundant and trite. When one has finally achieved some intimacy and contact with the repertoire, the music alone is overwhelming at times. One song – Byrne's 'I'm Not In Love' – twists and turns, its twined guitar rhythms chattering and spitting like snap-dragons with sudden unsettling changes, its chorus brash and pointedly announced – before it charges off, climaxing in a devastating one chord richochet of sound. Each song takes on a personality of its own as one becomes more and more acquainted – the jagged paranoid thrashings of 'What Is It?' full of technical malevolence, the richly textured abrasive changes of 'No Compassion', that utterly disarming motif to 'The Book I Read'.

Similarly the lyrics make themselves apparent in this same insidious fashion, via sudden dazzling couplets or single lines that grab you as Byrne's introvert-gone-psychotic delivery tortuously builds up and up, eyes reeling like wild horses in a flood, his pitching often totally awry but his sheer intensity galvanising because this man is truly grabbing hold of his songs, each and every utterance, like a drowning man grabbing straws.

Byrne's performance is, in fact, full of the tortured passion and gut-commitment that many of us were hoping for and found so disappointingly lacking in Tom Verlaine's recent shows in Britain. Like Verlaine, Byrne is totally the master of his chosen medium, yet there is an edge to Byrne that is so much more human.

Where Verlaine is oh-so calculatingly distant, Byrne's thrashing desperate need to communicate his songs grants his music a whole other dimension of sheer humanity and warmth a million light years removed from the cold arch-romanticism of Television's guiding light.

OFF-STAGE, sitting with his cohorts in Talking Heads, Byrne exudes all the cooped-up mannerisms of a caged bird. He seems to be suffering from some arch nervous defect that would need a constant ingestion of valium to assuage. Twitching almost, he sits hunched up in a chair, ungainly like a parody of look-alike Tony Perkins. When he talks, his voice is weak and reedy and often his attempts to explain certain facets of his songs – particularly his lyrics – lead him into weird tangential awkward ramblings that cause other members of the band, Tina Weymouth in particular, to open displays of ridicule which make him even more edgy. He looks embarrassed and bows his head slightly.

Observing him, I can't help feeling concerned for his obvious discomfort, as if any form of socializing causes the man to undergo real psychic pain. He later admits to the gross discomfort of what is really just a fairly casual conversation, and claims that performing affords him infinite more relaxation.

"I can express parts of my personality on stage that I would never dare do in any other context."

Byrne's past remains obscured by the haziness of his own recollections. He talks about working in art galleries in the past, though he didn't in fact paint, while he claims his previous vocation while in college was to write up detailed questionnaires, until song-writing became an infinitely more agreeable pastime.

In contrast, the other three members of Talking Heads carry themselves in this social set-up with an ease and general open-ness.

Tina Weymouth appears fairly disinterested at first, more concerned with scanning the pages of the latest Oui, but is suddenly forthcoming when a question is either directed her way or else grabs her attention. Chris Frantz seems perfectly in sync with the whole interview routine, lavishing over most of his answers with great and entertainingly 'camp' detail.

And then there is Jerry Harrison, the newest member in the group, a veteran of only six months or less, but who has already obviously orientated himself into the consortium with great alacrity. Harrison is the most locquacious of the band and, with Frantz, the most forthcoming. His history as a musician is already full of worthy fodder for discourse, since he started his career as an integral founding force with Jonathon Richman in the Modern Lovers, about whom his reminiscences are nothing if not extremely witty.

"Well, you probably know that we started the Modern Lovers as a real cause – y'know, we were anti-drugs for a start, due to the fact that at that time in the States all the kids were just oohing themselves on quaaludes. So we'd go onstage and start our sets with this number called 'I'm Straight' which would immediately cause all the audience to start throwing things – oh, rotten fruit, bottles, cans, anything – at us."

The Lovers' history was short due firstly to their corporate snooty attitude to playing clubs of the ilk of Max's Kansas City – "We didn't want to be associated with the N.Y. Dolls or this or that...so we never played anywhere" – plus the traumas that followed the band being signed by John Cale to Warner Bros, who after financing an album (produced by Cale – it was finally released last year by Beserkley) decided to drop the band, leaving them penniless in Los Angeles.

Even when the album was being made, Harrison claims there were problems.

"Well this was around the time when Jonathan was starting to want to write and sing only happy songs (laughs). So there'd be continual arguments between Cale and him over how we should sing certain numbers. Cale would be saying 'Now, Jonathon, I want you to sing this in a mean way. And Jonathon would just look at him, y'know – 'Mean? I won't sing mean! I don't feel mean!"

"And he (Richman) kept going through changes of direction. Like one time he'd be totally into the Velvet Underground and early Stooges, and then he was suddenly enamoured with Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and he'd want to alter his whole style. Also he's a total astrology freak. You know that song, 'Astral Plane'? Well he was always having these visions – or so he said – and writing songs about them. Things like....oh God (he starts laughing again) 'I saw you by, the waterway, the waterway, the waterway' – just on and on. We'd have to tell him to forget it."

After the Modern Lovers broke up, Richman briefly went onstage backed only by a bunch of kids beating rolled-up newspapers in time to his songs, before disappearing altogether for a long spell to (according to John Cale) lock himself in his bedroom.

When Harrison is asked whether he feels more comfortable being in Talking Heads than Richman's motley crew he simply sighs, "Infinitely."

MUCH OF the conversation is taken up with the subject of the British New Wave and how the remarkably civilised T. Heads have found themselves having to cope with the more agressive elements at their concerts, particularly as they've been supporting the head-banger's friend, The Ramones.

Seems the atmosphere has never actually soured and that circumstances have been pretty agreeable all the way along.

From the other new wave bands of this country, T. Heads claim not to have incurred any particular animosity.

"Only Rat Scabies has caused a scene," claims Weymouth. "He appeared backstage at the Greyhound in Croydon and tried to get one of us to fight him. When we showed ourselves to be totally disinterested in that course of action, he contented himself with spitting on the floor and walking out. I felt rather sorry for him."

Meanwhile back in New York, the band have yet to break out of the New York club circuit set-up they've been working in for at least the last two years.

A record deal with Sire (whose head, Seymour Stein, is the only executive to have fully committed himself to the New Wave, having also inked The Ramones, Richard Hell, and now, apparently, The Dead Boys, – a Cleveland pastiche of England's punk excesses) has produced the single 'Love Goes To Building On Fire', an addictive though comparatively slight song from the band's repertoire.

A Talking Heads album however is scheduled for September release produced by Tony Bongiovi and with five backing tracks already in the can. Ten tracks are scheduled – all Byrne originals including 'Pyschokiller', 'The Book I Read', 'No Compassion', 'Happy Day', and 'I'm Not In Love', the only unfortunate matter being the probable exclusion of the band's brilliantly terse rendering of Al Green's 'Take Me To The River'.

The band are still a guaranteed sell-out at C.B.G.B.'s on any given night, a not inconsiderable feat as many other similarly prestigious local bands are unable apparently to do the same – and on their own minor league waterfront they've gauged a strong cult audience.

But then there is something extremely addictive about this band's music – potent enough to make Byrne an object of paranoid fear in the eyes of Tom Verlaine (who according to Weymouth is very nervous of Byrne's status on the New York scene – as perverted a compliment as anything that can be divined from Verlaine's psyche one supposes). Meanwhile Byrne is also considered the most singularly brilliant new songwriter currently in the States by John Cale, and even Lou Reed has lent a sizeable quota of suspiciously paternal advice.

Weymouth: "Yeah, I'd say he was actually genuinely trying to help us. I wouldn't say he was trying to rip us off, for example."

Byrne: "That's not true."

Weymouth: "How can you say that, David? I mean..."

Byrne: "Because he told me he ripped some of my ideas off. Not that I'm angry or anything."

How did the...uh gentleman go about this paternal business then?

"God...he'd invite us round to his apartment and insult us for a solid hour, particularly me. He'd always insult the clothes I was wearing, or my shoes. Then after that, he'd start to be more reasonable and actually have an agreeable conversation with us."

Byrne goes silent for a minute and then, for the first time, he seems calm and relaxed.

"Do you want to know...I'll tell you how much we've come on in the last two years, the real symbol of progress in Talking Heads, Now I can go round to Lou Reed's apartment and I can be rude to him!"

#talking heads #articles #david byrne #jerry harrison #tina weymouth #chris frantz #new musical express #nme #1970s

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221brownstone · 5 years

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ET: Elementary Boss on Why Sherlock and Joan Deserved a Superhero Ending

"We're certainly hinting that there are adventures ahead, but people who watched the show and cared about Sherlock and Joan can turn off their TVs on Thursday night knowing that the most important story we told, which is the relationship between Sherlock and Joan, is going to continue. That's always going to be moving forward. That's not going to end."

ET: It must be bittersweet saying goodbye to Elementary. What was your approach for the final episode in wrapping up Sherlock and Joan's story?

Rob Doherty: As you recall, we thought season six was our last season and it meant telling a lot of our stories in a certain way. Season seven was an opportunity to know that the end was coming, to go into a season and look ahead and try to build everything piece by piece. We had to talk a lot about the 13th episode before we could talk about the first. We knew that there were elements from canon that we wanted to utilize. Specifically, we looked at two stories in particular, "The Final Problem" and "The Ins and Outs," that we borrowed liberally.

In canon, Sherlock did drop off the map for three years. He was thought to be dead. His Watson was in the dark on that front. That felt too cruel to do to our Watson and it also felt inappropriate. I think she would've known better. We knew we wanted a three-year window where they were separated and changing, making new choices and then bringing them back together so each could do a bit of self-analysis. Who were they apart and who might they be now that they are together again?

It's very clear from the three-year time jump that a lot has changed for both Sherlock and Joan. Joan has a young son, Arthur, now. Why was it important for her to accomplish one of her main goals of having a family?

It was a story that we started in season six and it's a story we would've told a different way if we had known at the time that it was potentially the final season. When it did look like the end for us, that was something that we had to move away from -- not abandon completely, but pin it, for lack of a better term. Season seven was a great opportunity to revisit it and hopefully, punctuate it. It was important a year ago and it was important this year because it just felt so true to who Joan is. Becoming a parent seemed like a very natural progression for her. Despite the dangers that come with her job and despite living with an addict in recovery, we felt she could be an incredible parent. With just 13 episodes in season seven, it didn't feel like something we could start at the top. Odin Reichenbach took up a lot of real estate and so it became, in our eyes, more appropriate to return to Joan after three years and find out she has Arthur in her life in the finale.

It was surprising to learn that Joan had been diagnosed with cancer, something she chose to hide from Sherlock when he returns. Why did you make the decision to have her go through a major health struggle in the final episode?

We've seen their lives in danger on multiple occasions over the course of the series, but more often than not, they are threatened by criminals and villains. Not many of us are stalked by guilds of assassins. I liked telling a story about a real-life threat to one of the partners. We all worry about getting sick or we all worry about a loved one getting sick, and so many people go through it, fight it and come back from it. Sherlock and Joan are, in their own ways, superheroes. It was interesting to put them in a situation where they're dealing with a much more grounded threat.

Joan reluctantly telling Sherlock that she's sick also seemed to be the main catalyst for Sherlock's decision to ultimately stay in New York. Was that actually the case?

Even with three years of separation, I wanted them back together again. I wanted them to ride off into the sunset together. I didn't want fans to come out of the final episode feeling like they thought, "It's good we've been apart. Our lives are better for having been apart." The problem is, for each character, they worry that they're putting the other in a bad position. Joan doesn't want to tell Sherlock's she's sick because it appears to her that his life is going great. And when Sherlock looks at Joan, he sees the same thing. He sees someone who has drive. But, when someone's sick, all of that falls away. No one has to be polite at that point. It brings them both right back down to earth. It clears the decks. Especially for Sherlock, he sees what's really important, understanding that his partner, his greatest friend and virtual family member needs help. It doesn't matter what else is going on in his life. He's going to step away from it to help her.

Sherlock says he relapsed during his time away and that, like Joan, he was secretly struggling. Was it important to highlight that these two were better together?

As far as Sherlock relapsing, we never wanted to suggest that it was because Joan wasn't there. She's not his heroin-proof vest, for lack of a better term. He relapsed when they were together, he relapsed when they were apart. It was more than anything, us being true to the disease of addiction. And yet, I think it was important that it happened because it informed his concerns about staying with Joan. Potentially doing it now that Joan has a child in the house, Sherlock just can't wrap his head around that possibility. He doesn't want to expose her son to any of that baggage that he carries.

Was Sherlock always going to stay, even if Joan wasn't sick?

That's a great question. The short answer is yes, they would have gone their separate ways again if the captain hadn't shared Joan's secret with Sherlock,. Each would have returned to their lives, not because it's what they truly wanted. The way I always looked at it was, they're thinking about each other. Now, Sherlock is about to leave New York because he thinks Joan is better off without him. Joan is going to keep her secret to herself because she doesn't want to disrupt what appears to be success and happiness on his part. Of course, that's not the least bit true and it takes someone who knows them as well as they know themselves to shed appropriate light on the situation, which is, Joan is ill and could use help. Gregson is the one who can look down and see the truth of the situation. Gregson knows each one is not being entirely honest with the other and he knows it's because of good intentions, but also, he knows the veil has to fall away. Sherlock has to know what's going on and he has to make a decision that factors that unfortunate truth in.

You also did another one-year time jump in the finale and I was worried for a second that it was Joan in the casket, so you did your job there. But it's Moriarty's death Sherlock is mourning, even though he believes she's not actually dead. Are you leaving that as a mystery?

I don't have it in me to leave it a mystery. I guarantee you Moriarty's alive. We'll never see it, but Sherlock absolutely goes back and digs up that grave and finds an empty casket. The intention was for that to be the takeaway. My hope was that people would, when they think about all stories we're not going to tell, those stories will include lots of Moriarty. Sherlock and Joan should be going into this future with her as an adversary.

Did you try to get Natalie Dormer back for one last appearance as Moriarty?

As a staff, we talked about it very briefly at the beginning of the season and ultimately, the concern was we would be telling a last story about three people and not two. Nothing is more important, at the end of the day, than Sherlock and Joan's relationship and yet Moriarty carries so much history that in a weird way, it felt like she would distract from the ending Sherlock and Joan really deserve.

Earlier this year, I asked you about Lucy's blonde hair. In the series finale, we see her character, after the one-year time jump, rocking a short black bob of a wig. How much thought did you put in Joan's post-cancer remission look?

I wanted her appearance to speak for itself and remind everyone that she has spent a year fighting cancer, she had experienced hair loss and she fought through it. The wig helps tell that story a little bit. What was amazing to me was how good it looked. Very early in the series, we had Lucy in a wig, when we were showing a flashback to another part of her life and it's one of my great regrets over the course of the series, so I was a little nervous. I was like, "Oh, man, I hope this wig is better." But the team in New York found something perfect.

When did you know you wanted the final image of Elementary to be Sherlock and Joan walking into Captain Bell's office and asking to be consultants again?

The final image is probably something we didn't settle on until we were actually breaking the episode. I don't think it's something I had in my head for a long time, unlike season six where we thought, if this is the end, we wanted to see them walking down the street in London. Knowing this would be a story set in New York, at the brownstone and the 11th precinct, those sets take over. The only real question was which space would be the last one? While I'm extremely partial to the brownstone, the story dictated a final beat at the precinct.

Looking back at the last seven seasons, are there any lingering stories you wish you could have had time to tell or could have told?

One thing I would have liked to have done is seeing more of Moriarty. Over the course of the series there were bigger, more serialized stories we wanted to tell about her, Sherlock and Joan. But we made the grave mistake of hiring an outrageously talented and very in-demand actress for the role. Natalie has had an incredible seven years. Every success had been much deserved and yet, it made it hard for our calendars to jive with hers. We love the character. We love Natalie. Selfishly, it would've been so much fun to have a little more time with her over the course of the series.

Joan becoming a parent was really a story I thought would begin and end in season six. It was something I felt we could serialize in the course of a year; circumstances changed and we had to put it to the side. But one notion I was really intrigued by is the very unique living situation that would have resulted for Sherlock and Joan. It would've been interesting to have a kid in the house for a season, not just to see how good Joan is at being a mom, but to show that Sherlock can do this too. I wanted to see what it would do to the living situation and I thought it would have been fun to see him try to be helpful in his own way. He would have had a lot of plans for Joan's kid.

You talked about how you saw this season as a "blessing." I'm curious if where Bell, Gregson, Joan and Sherlock ultimately end up is where you originally envisioned the characters' final chapters would be when you first started on this journey?

More than anything, I wanted everyone at peace in the end. I'm sure peace could be made that separating Sherlock and Joan would be more dramatic than killing someone off. It might've made a bigger splash. But as we got into it, it just felt right to settle everyone, to show how they've changed and to put them in good places as the series came to a conclusion. We're certainly hinting that there are adventures ahead, but people who watched the show and cared about Sherlock and Joan can turn off their TVs on Thursday night knowing that the most important story we told, which is the relationship between Sherlock and Joan, is going to continue. That's always going to be moving forward. That's not going to end. Creatively, I get it when [showrunners want to shake things up]. Sometimes, it makes all the sense in the world but other times, it just leaves the audience cold and I wanted a happier ending.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if 10 years down the line an Elementary revival comes to fruition.

Hey, I'll take it! That sounds great to me.

#sherlock holmes #joan watson #jamie moriarty #marcus bell #tommy gregson #their last bow #spoilers #rob doherty #read more

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cutesuki--bakugou · 5 years

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Chocolate Comfort

Characters: Bakugou x Koge (OC), ft. Natsuki, brief mentions of Seijirou, Dokuji, Matsuki, Atsuki and Otoha.

Rating: Teen | Cursing

Warning: Could be upsetting to those who suffer and struggle with bullying, some derogatory word usage, fluffy dad!Baku supporting his daughter

Words: 2839

a/n: I just love their relationship and want to write and develop it more, no real excuse otherwise.

The sound of slamming doors was an almost daily occurrence in the Bakugou household. With such strong willed and easily frustrated people, it was never a surprise to those that lived there or to frequent guests when a door or two would slam, echoing through the two story house. So when the front door slammed with the arrival of his daughter as she came home from school, Bakugou didn’t even bother to look up from the book he had in his hands. He did keep his focus for the moment on the shuffling at the entrance, also a common set of noises that came with the shedding of coats and shoes before stepping foot into the house. His back to the entrance, he couldn’t see her, though there was a sound that hidden between what was normal that instantly peaked his interest.

A sniffle.

It was a quiet one, as if the tiny wild-haired blonde had tried to muffle it to keep any attention away from her, but the ever observant Bakugou noticed it without fault. His little girl was not of the sniffling sort, either when it came to crying or being sick. She had gotten sick only a couple of times in her young life, and crying was out of the question unless it was a seriously huge deal. The last time he had seen her cry was just over two years ago, when she had come out to him and his wife as lesbian. There hadn’t been a single tear since, and as another sniffle reached his ears, he knew that there was something going on. Though, he knew damn well that if he wanted any chance at getting through to her, subtlety was key.

“Welcome home, Natsu.” He called from the living room couch, marking his place in his book before shutting it quietly. Then came the confirmation that there was indeed something wrong. Silence. All Natsuki did was make her way up the stairs towards her bedroom, stomping so hard that Bakugou was surprise her feet didn’t go right through them. Frown crossing his lips, he watched her, though he was unable to see her face. Only her body posture gave away that she was upset, head down and shoulders hunched up with fists clenched at her sides. In that moment, he couldn’t help but to see a bit of his teenage self in her, recognizing that bothered posture as if he were looking in a mirror.

“Well someone’s--” SLAM. “-- upset.” Koge spoke softly from the entrance to the kitchen, pulling Bakugou’s eyes away from the stairs and to his wife. Her pale blue gaze was locked on the path her daughter had taken, currently wiping her hands on a rag. “I bet even the neighbors could hear her stomping around like that. Did she say anything to you, Katsuki?”

“No.” Bakugou stood, removing his reading glasses from his face and placing them down onto the coffee table along with his book. “I think she would have started screaming if she opened her mouth. It’s weird though, usually when she’s mad she will come and actually rant about it.”

Koge gave a small sigh, placing the rag into her apron pocket. “Then she must not be mad. Maybe something’s made her sad?”

“Maybe.” He made his way over to his wife, kissing her lips softly. Koge smiled up at him, placing her hand on his cheek gently.

“I’m about to start dinner. Why don’t you go up and talk to her?”

“I may never come out alive. Are you sure you want me to risk it?” Bakugou placed his hand on the back of hers, turning his head to place a kiss against her palm. Giggling softy, Koge stepped in closer as his kisses continued up her arm.

‘You should probably take an offering. Maybe those spicy chocolates and some milk? That’s always her go-to emotional binge eating option.” She let her arms wrap around his neck as he caressed her petite body to him tightly, her lips lost to his in another kiss.

Once releasing her, Bakugou followed her into the kitchen, their hands hooked together only by a couple of fingers. Coming to a stop by the fridge, he opened it up and pulled out the milk while Koge fetched the chocolates from a hidden spot in a low cabinet, where she stashed all their goodies that she didn’t want their teenage children to find. These particular chocolates were made with spices that could easily give Koge hiccups, but her heat loving husband and children were admittedly addicted to them. So, they stayed hidden until it was deemed appropriate to pull them out, or until Bakugou had to get up in the middle of the night for a quick sweet snack.

“Did you want a plate or something for them?” Koge looked up at Bakugou as he poured an oversized cup of milk, catching his gaze for a moment before he shook his head.

“No. I think I should take the whole thing. We’ll just get more for ourselves later, but she’ll probably want to binge on them.” Once milk was sufficiently poured, Bakugou put the jug away and sighed, reaching up to ruffle his hair in preparation for walking into the dragon’s lair. “Alright… If I don’t come back, it means I died.”

Koge giggled softly, rubbing his back as he took the milk and chocolates into his hands. “You’ll be alright. You can always get through to her, better than any of us. You can call me for backup if you want.”

“Natsu is sixteen now, who knows what the fuck is going on. I just hope it’s not dating… I don’t know jack shit about relationship crap.” He began to make his way towards the stairs, Koge following for the moment.

“What does that mean? You married me, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but you were my first girlfriend and we never broke up. We didn’t go through that type of drama. I just wigged out when you tried to kiss me in public for the first year.” He shot her a snarky smirk over his shoulder as he started up the stairs. Koge gave a roll of her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Two years, actually.”

Bakugou merely answered with a shrug, starting down the hall and making his way to Natsuki’s bedroom. He could already hear the alarmingly loud heavy metal music, once again bringing back memories of his troubled youth. With a sigh, he stopped at the door, holding the bag of chocolates under his left arm to free up a hand so he could knock. After a couple decently hard taps with his knuckles, he called to his daughter loud enough so she could hopefully hear him over the music. With no answer, he opened the door, peeking into the room to find that it was completely pitch black, except for the orange and purple string lights she had along her walls near the ceiling.

They created enough light so that Bakugou could see her, sitting on the bed with a giant pillow in her arms, her face shoved into it. Once inside, he let the door shut behind him before heading towards her stereo, turning down the music to where it was barely audible. “That’s a band I used to listen to all the time. Not exactly when I was having a bad day, but it was my thinking music. The heavier, the better.”

There was no response from Natsuki, just the soft rustle of fabric as she lifted her head up just a bit to peer at him from behind her bangs. Making his way to her bed, Bakugou plopped to sit down, dropping the chocolates beside her in a way to make it obvious what they were. Now that he was next to her, he could see that she had also pulled her blanket up over her body, covering nearly every inch of her. Slowly, a petite hand slid out of the blanket to take the chocolates, pulling them into the darkness of her little cocoon.

“Hot turds?” Natsuki spoke quietly, the rasp of her voice giving enough away to tell Bakugou that she had not only been crying, but did a scream session into her pillows. Deciding not to jump straight into the interrogation, Bakugou nodded.

“Hot turds. Truffles. Whatever they are.”

“I’d still eat them if they were turds.” Now her voice was muffled as she had already started eating. “They’re so fucking good.”

“They are,” Bakugou skipped out on scolding for language at the moment, tapping his fingers against the cup in his hand. “The fucking best.”

“Why does everyone hate me, Daddy?”

Frown crossing his lips, Bakugou resisted the urge to pull her in for a hug, knowing she was a ‘touch only when I want it’ type of person. “Everyone doesn’t hate you, babygirl. You have friends, your mom and I and your brothers. Eguchi and Doey. You have a lot of people that love you.”

“But they don’t… Not my friends.” Sniffling, Natsuki shifted the pillow in her arms, finally giving Bakugou a view of her flushed and tear stained cheeks. How upset she was was visible in her furrowed brow and pained glare, which was locked on the bag of chocolates in her hands. “Everyone just pretends to like me…”

Bakugou handed the glass of milk towards her, letting her gulp quite a bit down before he spoke. “Did they do something today?”

With a soft hiccup, fresh tears joined the old, making her fair blonde hair stick to her skin. “It was Hori.”

“The girl you’ve been going on dates with? Didn’t she say she’d be your girlfriend?”

“She was just pretending. Her and all my ‘friends’ were in on it, so they could learn a bunch of secrets about me. T-they were spreading lies that I hit on girls in the bathroom, that I peek at them in the stalls and in the locker rooms.” Having obviously already gotten past the initial sadness, frustration and anger was starting to peek through as she began to stuff her mouth with the candies. “They made such a r-racket today after g-gym that the coach had to make me l-leave! They were telling me that I’m no better than the perverted boys, that I should have to be with them like the d… dyke I am. And you know what I did?”

“You stood up to them?”

“No! That’s the worst p-part!” Natsuki brought a hand up and smacked herself in the forehead, making it clear that most of the frustration was towards herself. “I didn’t do anything but stand there and cry! All day, people were avoiding me, running out of the bathroom when I’d walk in and not walking next to me, holding their skirts to their bodies like they thought I’d try to take pictures under them! I-it’s all over social media, the only person who stood up for me was Otoha since she’s an upperclassman, but she’s so timid they just made fun of her, too.”

Bakugou was at a loss for words, having never been met with a situation like this before. The more she talked and explained the bullying she endured, the angrier he became. His babygirl was everything to him, and knowing that he hadn’t been able to protect her from such emotional trauma made him feel like a failure as a father. But what could he do? Confront their parents? Confront the children? The school? He had to do something, and he would do anything to protect her.

“Matsuki wasn’t there for me to go to, or to talk sense into anyone like he had always been able to do before. Because Mr. Smart-Butt just had to graduate early.” With the cup of milk sitting between her legs, she crossed her arms over her chest, though it looked more to Bakugou like she was hugging herself. “I’m so stupid to think that people actually liked me. That I could have real friends being the freak that I am.”

“You’re not a freak, Natsuki.” Bakugou had to stop her there, feeling his stomach clench at the way she degraded herself like that. “Liking girls and being quirkless doesn’t make you a freak.”

“That’s not what everyone else thinks. They all see me as something weird and scary, especially now with all these stupid rumors. Even the teachers are being weird! I’ll never have friends or be normal…”

“Who the fuck wants to be normal?” Bakugou leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he clasped his hands in front of him. “I want you to tell me something, Natsuki. Who matters most to you?”

Wiping her face, Natsuki struggled to speak behind hiccups. “Y-you and Mama. My brothers… Uncle Seiji and Doey.”

“Do we love you?”

“Y-yes. Well, Atsuki is up in the air, I think.” Natsuki shrugged. “Daddy, where are you going with this, I don’t get it.”

“After you graduate, who’s going to be in your life? Those people from school? Natsu, the people who don’t care about you won’t be with you after you move on with your life. You are training to become a badass fighter under a famous pro hero. You are going to be successful and happy with people around you that love you for everything that you are. And where will those bullies be?”

“Who gives a fuck.”

“Who gives a fuck! Exactly!” Bakugou held his arms open, motioning with his right hand for her to come to him. “Come here, babygirl.” Sniffling, Natsuki scooted closer to him, leaning against his side as he put an arm around her while she sipped at her milk. “I know things are hard right now, with Matsuki out of school and all these new changes in your life trying to be who you are. But you can’t let these stupid insecure girls scare it out of you.”

“But no one listens to me when I try to tell the truth. How do I prove I’m not a pervert?”

“Baby, all you have to do is stand your ground. Sometimes the more you try to prove something, to fight against it, the more you just condemn yourself to more ridicule. The right people will come around in time. Those who don’t matter aren’t worth your tears.” Bakugou reached up and wiped her cheeks, softly pushing her hair back out of her face. “You know who you are. You know what the truth is. You’re my daughter and you don’t take shit from anyone. Just… try to not get in any fights. You’ve already gotten too many write ups for that.”

Natsuki sighed, shoving another chocolate in her mouth. “Can I at least punch Hori? Please?”

“No, Natsu. I… am sorry about Hori, though. I know you liked her a lot.”

Grumbling in annoyance, Natsuki just gave a shrug. “Whatever, she’s not worthy of me, anyways. You never went through stuff like this?”

“Ah, I mean… I had people that hated me. The majority of the school, in fact… I had a couple of friends and your mother who always stood by me, helping guide me out of my shit attitude I carried for a long time. But I never gave up on my goals and who I wanted to become. And if that meant I had to be an asshole to some people, then I was going to be a fucking asshole to them. Because in the end, they didn’t matter. No one was, or is, going to stop me from reaching my goals. I had the people that mattered, and still do.”

“I can’t wait to be out of high school… I’m only a first year and I already hate everyone.” Natsuki handed a chocolate to Bakugou, who took and ate it without question.

“Just remember to use those emotions to drive you towards something positive, like your training. Beat the shit out of Doey tomorrow while you rant about this to Eguchi, too. I’m sure he’ll have some type of advice for you that may or may not match up with mine.”

Natsuki finally cracked a smile, leaning her head on his shoulder as she looked up at him. “He’d just tell me to beat them up. You’re… not gonna talk to the school, are you?”

“I am, Natsuki. I can’t just let this type of behavior go. I’ll call their parents, too. I love you too much to let little shit head girls make you cry.”

“I love you, too, Daddy. Thank you for coming to talk to me and letting me eat all your special chocolates. Can we go do some training before dinner?”

“Sure. A little constructive training is good to get out all that rage. And it’ll make you hungry, too. Mom’s cooking your favorite.”

“Score! I -- burp -- Oh geez, too many chocolates.”

“That was weak.”

“Like your stinky face! Hey, no tickling, you’ll make me spill my milk!”

#bnha scenarios #bnha imagines #bakugou #bakugou katsuki #bakugou x oc #bakugou x koge #oc #original #koge #natsuki #bnha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha fanfiction #bnha oc #cutesuki-oc

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sometimesrosy · 4 years

Note

Honestly I'm very confused by exho now, I didn't think much when Tasya cut her hair short as Jessica Harmon has literally shown a video showing her getting extensions for filming but Taysa a few days ago released a pic with dark dyed hair and a fringe (American's say bangs) I found that a little weird honestly like filming is almost over why not just wait before the hair change, so I think it's possible she either wrapped up already or the different hair means something for exho in the story.

So, that’s three actors with a big hair style change. The girls can always be wearing wigs, but it’s hard to put a fake beard on a guy and have it look natural, or why when you could just keep the beard?

I would NOT look at it as a particular death sentence for a character.

It sounds like there is a shift in narrative. Time jump, maybe they go military, or maybe it’s peacetime? Prob not because they were peacetime before. Just trying to think why a bunch of people would have hair style changes. I actually noticed that Jessica had more braids than she usually does, but maybe i didn’t pay enough attention to her before? I will say that I thought I saw a long blonde wig in the makeup trailer. I don’t want to use that as canon, but if it was Clarke’s, and they really only have one character with bright blonde hair, Clarke, or they have a character they are linking with Clarke symbolically or narratively, like Josephine, Bree, or Harper, so my mind went to.... oh there’s a time jump and Clarke has long hair now.

That’s my interpretation. Tasya not filming just may mean they’re off on a mission that she’s not a part of. Since she is not a part of MULTIPLE storylines, there’s no need for her to be there. I wouldn’t take it to mean E is dead, although it might. Not enough information yet. Also the girls can always wear a wig. Eliza went short LONG before Clarke had short hair. Perhaps Echo had another role that needed short hair. We can’t judge on that.

Consider, but don’t use it as evidence until you have enough evidence to back it up. No jumping to conclusions, Pauna style.

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renaer-is-allegedly-hot · 4 years

Text

session 12 notes

one day . one day i swear i will fix this formatting but today is not that day

Lol late is my brand

Let's go

The halflings can stack up under a trench coat

Adam has disguise self

Aerana and asyna don't need to do anything kinda

Now we're talking abt the road to el dorado

We just killed loser boy

Kenku got info from adam, cel and theo

What are we doing lmao

Adam is jiggling the small room's door and we go inside the room

Inside looks like an office, shelf w pickled body parts + cataloguing what the parts r and what they do

They were running away lmao ok

Yes we're still salty about this

"different interpretations of charm person" - jacob, 2020

Body part stuff

No halfling writing system in waterdeep

Dwarf toes, elven ears

Magic items ? Cel rolls perception 22

Weird jar w dull amber colored liquid, don't know if it's magical but noticed; unlabeled

"the jar of necrotic pee" - jacob, 2020

Smells like aloe

Adam smells his fire-resistant potion and it smells more like burnt ash

Smth else cel found has strange engravings

Just looks like metal bar

Boxy squarish iron bar abt the size of a halfling; it's strong but surprisingly light

Adam picks it up and hits a wall w it

Adam rolls for attack, 4

Nothing rlly happens

Makes a ringing sound

None of us can read giant

Looks rlly strange, written in blocky linear runes

A few things on it that stick out like engravings of ppl

Big bearded humanoids but small and fine so difficult to make out

Adam rolled 17 for investigation through files

Some stuff related to running wig shop; shop was at least somewhat a legitimate business

Notes abt billing for criminal organizations and guilds

Some ref to meeting w xant middlemen who would collect bodies

Names

Noska

Hired gorrick to track us down ??

N ?????

Adam looking for a key in the desk, doesn't find it

Head to the chest, adam tries to open

Not locked

A bunch of teeth

It's a mimic, adam has to roll damage

Adam is hit

Adam takes 10 damage

We're looking at diff things around the room and then hear a screech of pain as adam gets bitten

Slams down on adam's hand and four little eyes pop up and stare as it eats adam's hand

Mimic takes 9 damage as adam explodes

Cel shoots an arrow into the eye

22 to hit, 8 damage

Adam uses cutting words

-1d6

"hey fuck"

Adam could try to pull his hands away

Adam pulls his hands out

Adam bends down to it and takes a ration out of his backpack

"dom I'm gonna bend down to it"

The chest has closed back

Adam is going to throw rations instead, dex check

13; doesn't open so adam drops food on its head

Chest sits there looking at adam and eventually out of the side of the chest a weird stretchy amoeba-like arm comes out of it, takes the food and throws it in its mouth

"who's a good boy ? Who's a good boy !! Who's a good chest !!" adam, 2020

Adam takes out all his five rations and makes a trail leading out of the room

Chomper ? Maybe

It looks uninterested and its eyes have shut

Looks exactly like a chest now and hasn't moved; still has an arrow but just looks like a normal chest

It's a small chest that's pickuppable

Adam wants to walk his chest

Adam casts sleep on the chest

7d8s

27hp

When adam casts sleep the chest doesn't move, adam rolls perception 5

Adam tries to pick it up from behind v carefully from the bottom

It's kinda stuck to the floor and the wall; doesn't appear willing to budge

Asyna is still ape!asyna

Tries picking it up from behind like adam

Rolls a 6; won't move

One of its creepy tendrils sticks out and hits ape!asyna

10 bludgeoning damage; ape!asyna basically got slapped but now stuck to the chest

It's kind of loose now

Ape!asyna rolls a 20 and yanks it off the wall, now just dangling off asyna's arm and it's heavier than asyna thought it was

Feels dense

Adam is gonna try and tie its mouth shut

"he kinda starts flailing around a bit" dom, 2020

"aw he likes his new leash" jacob, 2020

Jacob gets hit again

Ape!asyna is gonna try and pull it off, 17 and gets off

Large clump of fur comes off and it's painful

adam "I'm going to try and use centrifugal force to swing it over my head"

"make a strength check" dom, 2020

Rolls 17

Slams it on desk, doesn't let go, nature check adam has no idea what it is

At some point the chest drops off, we stand back and adam casts shatter

11 damage

Chest kind of melts into the floor almost like it deflated, starts snaking way across room until it finds a hole and slithers up and disappears

"fuck you too chompi" adam 2020

Where it dissolves is 20 gold

"n I c e . That was worth the four spell slots" adam, 2020

Adam disguises self and turns into his dad

Adam is a tiefling

Dad is not a tiefling

Taller, dark black hair but not curly, short on the sides + floof forward

Looks more confident than adam

Same freckles

No one knew adam had freckles

Look p similar overall

Sounds the same as adam when he talks

He's a human

We don't know it's adam's dad

"a real dilf" dom, 2020, about adam's dad

"not like your REAL DAD, JACOB, JESUS" dom, 2020

Now we don't have time to unpack ALL OF THAT

Gonna find a hotel or smth

Except gotta disguise selves first

In the wig shop there is any wig u could possibly desire

Some mounted beards

Can't tell if any of the wigs r magical

I don't haAve magicccc :(

Adam puts a blonde wig on the ape

I thought asyna un-aped

Asyna un-apes and disguises self as asyna

Theo takes a long brunette wig w a braid down the back

Cel wants to pretend to be adam's child

Gets a curly dark hair wig

Hammer pants

Cel theo and adam all have freckles

It's nighttime springtime in waterdeep; it's raining

Trades ward going to find a hotel

Avoid own houses for awhile

Going to nearest inn

Let's go to the yawning portal

It is an inn not just a bar

Typ is in fact in the trades ward

One room as the father and two daughters and one room as lesbian elves

Durnan's downstairs and is friends w mirt

We head over to typ

This ward is busier than others we've seen at this time of night

Walk over to side entrance of typ

It never shuts down; always ppl here

Familiar warmth as we approach

Bard competition

Ppl placing bets, drinking, sitting in booths

The rooms r upstairs

Adam calls himself lysander

"a room for me and my daughters"

They get a room on the third story

Room on the third floor

We rendezvous in adam's room

We hear a scream echo out from the well

Adam has two plans

One includes his pants

The pants plan is we track down the dude w the pants

Second includes him singing, waiting to get mugged by the zants

Get mercenary help ?

Pants is plan c

Durnan is plan a

Cel is portia

Theo is lavinia

The doors lock

Long rest? Long rest maybe later

Adam and cel go up to one of the goliaths

"hey there big friend"

He looks like a well-read person

Takes out honey and asks him if he knows what it is

O it's honey

"well there r means of finding this out . For a price"

How much per item - FIVE GOLD

Adam hands him 10 gold and the big rod

"this is a jar of ointment that was first created by the wizard kyogton" I have no idea what that wizard's name is but that's what it sounded like

A dose can be swallowed or applied to the skin and in addition to healing and rejuvenating health, any poison or disease it may have is instantaneously cured

Can't tell how many doses in it

It's v expensive, v rare

Now the stick and he looks uber interested in it

"hm , where did you find this"

"my dad's attic ,,, he's a hoarder"

"let's make a deception check with a capital d"

Nat 1

Adam tells this guy the whole thing and the guy nods

"this is a valuable piece . Would you be interested in parting with it"

Cloud giants made them so their servants could help them build their castles

It's an immovable rod

Writing speaks of ancient cloud giants that were war-inclined

Flat button on the end of it

He sticks it out into the air and presses the button; when he takes his hand away, the rod doesn't fall and it stays floating in the air

Adam grabs onto it but he can't move it

Anybody can push the button tho

Adam asks what the goliath is offering

Offers us 5,000 gold

Adam gets his name - woetheir ????

Woetheir frequents typ when he's here

They're going on a quest; were asked by the open lord to complete a task on the isle of chault

Adam's gonna go to bed

Cel's gonna take a bath

We take long rest

Durnan time

Adam gives durnan a quick rundown of what happened

"ayo what's poppin durnan long time no see my guy"

It's morning it's 9ish breakfast time

Doesn't give any indication whether or not he recognizes them

Adam asks for scrambled eggs and bacon

Adam's asking if he knows anything abt the xants

Theo asks durnan if there's somewhere more secluded they can talk

Gestures to one of the booths and theo cel adam go over

They're uh . Telling durnan everything p much

He has look of passive disinterest but slightly less disinterest the more of the story they tell

"how is mirt?"

"he has renaer and floon"

"he's let himself go"

The xants r v powerful; leadership inscrutable even to open lord herself

Prior, durnan didn't care abt open lord

Guesses whoever obtains the stone would b hunted by the city which could b problematic

Half a million gold dragons

Could get help outside the city ? Roots go deep but do not extend outwards

Flee or contact city officials

"I think theo has a crush on him" adam, 2020

Stone is likely being taken or was already taken to guild hq

We could bust into hq but probs bad idea

Durnan says he's sure anyone could break into xants hq

Lmao durnan sounds so weighed down by life

Every now and then he looks over to well

Durnan is basically saying friendship is magic

The xants don't often come to typ and don't draw swords there

They fear it and durnan

"what's the hole?" adam rolls for insight, dirty 20

Odd expression comes across durnan's face

Mixture of disgust and longing

Uh … disgust and longing … for a hole? Ok durnan

We don't have to talk abt that I guess

Cel asks durnan to send a message to mirt to let him know we're safe but probs not gonna see him for awhile

Apparently the xants aren't too particular abt their henchmen

He says ask the barkeep abt it

Passive perception

At some point durnan leaves and right as theo says that we hear a loud thump and someone says "cripes"

Jones ?

Cel looks under the table and there's jones

Cel drags him out

Theo has a new idea "hey guys let's not go through with using adam as bait yet"

Adam looks down at the goblin and threatens to make him deaf

Plan d is to eat jones

We take jones upstairs

Theo explains her new plan

If the stone is already at their hq

We go to them

Jones doesn't mess w the xants

Why is jones rhyming

What r we talking abt lmao oops I was looking at primary results

I'M SCREAMING I DIDN'T KNOW GOODSPACEGUY WAS 81

No one has asked us for info abt the stone ?

Lmao is this like @me abt what's his name

Jb nevercaught ???? Jp nevercaught ?????? Idk who he is

What's our goal

We gotta figure out what we wanna do ig

We just wanna know where the xants r otherwise we duct tape his mouth and tie him up

"consider it stroked and very, very much needed" jones, 2020

To the dock ward in a wrecked whale oh the wrecked whale

"not the erect whale" cel, 2020 ????

There's a knock at the door

There's no peephole

Asyna asks "who is it"

HAHAHHAHAHA

MARGUERITE LMAO

"uh I work at the bar downstairs uh durnan had some - he wanted to speak to the drow"

I'm screwed

He has page hat on

"first durnan said we could stay as long as we'd like"

And he was offered money by this guy to speak to me

There's an elven man w v long and stringy hair, pointed nose and pointy ears

Looks rlly skinny and physically weak

Looking over scrolls

"guess who"

What the fuck

Nareel ??? naREEL????? WHO THE FUCK IS NAREEL???????

I don't kNOW WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING !!!!!!

The stone fascinates him

Offering us partial membership

Occasional encouragement to go on various missions

He has resources

Treasure and gold involved, but not for the weak-willed

Offering 500 gold for completion of a task

They have captured a high-ranking member of the xants and tried to get info of him

More resilient than they thought he would be

They need him back in three days

Is this a roast session ???? Of aerana ???? When she dips to hang out with the other guy ???????

They're trying to figure out who her friend is

Jones wanted to be a painter

Adam is offering to have jones join us to maybe kill him??????

If he wants gold he has to go get it

They'll keep

"I'm gonna fill your goody bag real good so you better keep your mouth shut" adam, 2020 to jones

Oh god I'm such an avoidant lmao

Oh god I don't

"these conversations will become more difficult as things become more difficult but I think for now that went as well as it could have possibly gone"

"you will find him in your basement"

wHICH BASEMENT

We're gonna go home

To the north ward we go

You go to the basement

The ropes look kinda weird

He's not tied with rope

They're metal bands looped around him

Metal bindings

Doesn't look like he's gonna get out of it

Adam and cel don't see anything out of the ordinary but have noticed things moved around a little bit

Dwarf w dark brown skin, white/gray beard, looks roughed up - not injured, just worse for wear

Adam has him make a wisdom saving throw

Adam charms him

Approaches him first

Adam starts massaging his shoulders

Jfdkaslfha then takes the gag off

"are you here to let me out?" the dwarf

"even better I'm here to spend some quality time with you" adam, 2020

Says he has to get back to the master

Master silgar must be fed

His sacred duty is to feed master silgar

Master silgar has a shimmering son what

"Shakes the oceans with a swish of his body"

In the beginning there was xanathar and then he said silgar should be the one they care for until the seas rise and destroy the city

Controls the eye of the xanathar as the eye of the xanathar control him

His name is ot stillgeer

Adam says his name is cain

Blasphemy for adam to propose bringing lord silgar to him

Lord silgar lives in a great temple

He's the high priest of silgar

We're telling him it's our summer home

Adam winks at everyone and we go upstairs

Adam casts second-level sleep on him

44hp puts him to sleep

Adam is gonna disguise-self a beard when the dwarf next wakes up

Stage it so it looks like he had been there for a month

Everyone changes their clothes

Tally marks on the wall

It's like late afternoon at this time

Adam tells him he woke up after 79 days, rolls for deception

Rolls a 24

Looks over and says "79 days"

"am I dead"

"no but the xanathar want you dead"

"I'm free"

23 for deception

Lord silgar is a fish? A fish ? A goldfish

Lord xanathar loves his goldfish more than anything

Ot has to replace the fish

19 mans is telling the truth

Not really any sign we're being watched when cel rolls for perception

We watch ot, take turns resting and surveilling our own house

Night comes

When asyna is on watch in the tower

Sees figures start making way across street to our house

6 humanoids start trying to break into the house

Glass shatters as one goes through a window

The tapestry was lord silgar

The goldfish has no connection to the koi fish asyna spoke to

Two objectives?

Find the stone

Or control the xanathar w a fish

The stone is a map to half a million gold

#12 #sn #dnd #wdh #d&d

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rwbyremnants · 5 years

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NOTES: Riiiight. So. This one is a little weird, but it didn't really fit very well within the actual White Noise pages. It happens a little before Chapter 32, for those of you wondering. Plus most of the readers aren't there for Sun Wukong since the main fic is a very lesbian-leaning narrative. We just had another side-story within the universe we thought we could tell... and that Valentine's Day was the perfect time to drop the lovin'! Hope you guys like the break from the usual plot, and all the naughtiness!

And for those of you who saw the Tumblr teaser post... no, this isn't that fic. That's a totally new AU that will be coming very soon!

-NBW

=CHAPTER ONE

The box wasn't as heavy as it should’ve been for its size. Nevertheless, Blake Belladonna still winced under its weight as she shifted it to her hip so she could fetch her keys from her pocket. The contents were too important for her to drop them on the floor.

Ever since Yang Xiao Long had confided in her that he - no, she - wasn't the gender she had been presenting as for their relationship, things had been strained. But that was Blake's own fault. She wasn't conservative, but she had been ignorant on several LGBT issues before that point; not realizing that trans people sometimes came out later in life, and that their friends and families would have to adjust their thinking the way she had. And from the point where she finally understood, she had begun to feel horribly, horribly guilty about her initial reaction.

But no more. Today was a new day, and she was going to be the most supportive girlfriend from that moment forward. She was so confident that she even started to hum an upbeat little tune as she unlatched the door and strode into her living room.

Laying across the sofa was Yang, having not moved from where Blake found her earlier. Simply staring outwardly at the laptop set up on top of the desk opposite. Quite often the two would lay together and watch a film before bed, given it was the only furniture in their college apartment that could fit them comfortably. Besides having to share a bathroom with the other students, it was home all the same.

And home was where Yang had kept herself all day. Feeling too physically ill to go for her studies, Yang skipped one of the lessons in favor of remaining home, wallowing in her feelings. She felt confused, troubled, like a failure to her girlfriend. Why would Blake want to stay with a man who suddenly said he wanted to be a girl? Who would want someone like that? That was one of a few thoughts for the shaggy haired blonde as she lay still.

But as soon as the door unlocked, she jumped upright, bracing herself for possibly more arguments.

"Oh," Blake said when she spotted her there, just bumping the door closed with her hip. "I… didn't think you'd be home yet."

Shutting the laptop up rather quickly, she sniffed instinctively, pushing her hair back up in a futile attempt to get it out of her eyes. It was too long to do that, but too short to stay behind her ears. Still, that didn't stop her getting up.

"I-I didn't go." It was almost strange how deep the poor girl's voice was from the huskiness of tears. No wonder she was still feeling odd about herself. "Wasn’t feeling so hot, so I skipped it. Here, lemme give you a hand."

Nodding, Blake let Yang take the other end. "We're just setting it on the coffee table." Together, they lowered it, and then Blake straightened, her amber eyes peering up at her boyfriend - girlfriend uncertainly. "You… didn't feel good?"

Immediately she placed a hand into her hair. If Blake had learnt anything about her lover of a few months, it was that when she was upset or stressed about things, she would always grasp at it. She'd never pull any hair out, somehow it was far too thick for that; but the sign was right there.

"About last night." That was when things took their turn, when Ying had tried to explain how she was a girl all this time, and had felt like it for a while. However… "J-just… please forget about it. I-I was being stupid, I think. I mean, come on, me as a girl? You… you’re right, I just… I don’t know. Need to-"

"No, I'm sorry," Blake immediately blurted out, reaching for her - and then drawing her hand back when she saw Ying tense. "I… overreacted. I really did, it… you were just trying to tell me something about, um, a part of yourself. And I made it all about me. I've been thinking about it a lot, actually."

"Because it is about you, too." Already she could feel her eyes beginning to well up with tears. The poor girl seemed as though she'd been on the verge of it all day. "This isn't fair on you, I can't do that. I shouldn't do that. I-I'm your… B-boyfriend. I'm not supposed to be like this, I'm supposed t-to just man up, and put our relationship first. You’re the most important part of my whole life!"

The tears made Blake step forward, wrapping her arms around Ying before he - she could back away. "No. No, you don't have to be the only one who's strong, that was… I was wrong. I was wrong, okay?"

"No, you're not." Still repressing her feelings, she barely even hugged back. Only finding herself shaking slightly. "P-please, j-just forget it okay? I really was being stupid. I don't want you to think I-I'm a… a freak."

Before she had done so much soul-searching, she would have given anything to hear such words from her boyfriend. But her boyfriend was a woman; she saw it now, she saw what she meant when trying to explain who she was. Now they only shredded her inside, made her feel all the guilt she had been trying to assuage before.

But she had a plan of action. Pulling back, she said, "I don't think that. But… maybe you should see what I got you first. Just something to say how sorry I am that we argued."

When she pulled back, her eyes glanced down toward the box. "This is for me?" When Blake nodded, she looked down at it, managing to grasp the tape at one of the sides to begin to prise it open, tearing it off from each of the flaps. "I thought you'd bought your books for next year or something, though now that you mention it, it's way lighter than books."

Grasping the flaps and throwing them open, the sight before Ying made her suddenly freeze up. Unlike anything before, this particular gift had her speechless.

"Um… I eyeballed your size," Blake said in an awkward voice. "But I'm usually pretty good with that, and I remember your, um… the sizes of what you already own. So all of it should fit, but I still have all the receipts if some of it doesn't."

Clothes. In the box were all kinds of different girly things; from bras, to tank tops, to panties, to frilly skirts. All of it was female orientated, with not a single shade of black or brown like she usually wore in sight. And along with that, there was a long, blonde wig - and a good quality one, at that.

Letting go of the flaps of cardboard, Ying's hands came to her month instead as she looked down, feeling her eyes watering all over again. "Oh my god…"

"And!" Blake said hastily, reaching down to move aside some of the clothes, "I got you… this!" Out she drew a small, carnation-pink, heart-shaped plastic case. The front said "My First Makeup" on it in bubbly letters. "It's for little girls, but… but you never got to be one, so… I know it might be silly, but um, I have plenty of grown-up makeup, so I figured this was something you might want that… that we didn't have."

Completely overwhelmed, Ying was still trying to take everything in. Clothes, hair, make up, it was all here. All in this one box that Blake had bought for her. Blake, her girlfriend. It was in that moment she realised how much her girlfriend truly cared, how much she really wanted her to feel better in herself. And with that, she quickly pulled her in for a tight hug, burrowing her head into her neck where the tears finally falling freely.

"I hope those are tears of joy," Blake whispered with a shaky laugh as she embraced her back, rubbing up and down along her spine. When the tears didn't cease, she began to whisper, "Oh, you're okay. You're okay, Ying, it's… it's going to be okay. I love you, alright?"

Sobbing one last time, she drew herself back from Blake's shoulder again, quickly rubbing her eyes to get rid of the tears. "I'm so sorry! I'm just… I-I can't believe it. Y-you got all this for me, it…" Sniffing loudly, she looked back to the contents of the box again, smiling through her tears. "It means so much!"

As she stared at Ying, Blake could feel her heart breaking. Both from the loss of her boyfriend, from having to get to know such a different person from who she thought "he" was… and from how much such a simple little thing meant to the woman in front of her. Her own eyes were wet, but she forced herself to continue.

"Do you, um, want to try some of it on? The shoes might not fit, but we can give it a shot."

"Oh god, yes I do!" Right away she picked up one of the yellow tank tops, one with a fiery heart design that she'd seen on one or two shirts she'd admired before but had never been brave enough to get. It was always a feminine brand. But when she picked up one of the bras as well, a lacy designed black one, she looked back toward Blake a moment, shoulders beginning to shrug. "I-I'm… Sorry if this gets weird."

"It will." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Listen. I'm trying to be okay with this. It's my problem. I'm the one whose ideas are… old-fashioned, and I'm getting over it. But I want you to be YOU. Not just… the you I thought you were, okay? I…" Opening her eyes, she walked forward and grasped Ying's wrists. "I want to help. But I'm apologizing now for… for if I give you a weird look, or say something stupid. I'm working on it. So just ignore that for now while I’m, uh, growing up."

Blinking back at her in surprise, she was once again shocked by Blake's words. She wasn't going to be completely alright with this in an instant, that was too much to expect. In fact it would be rather odd if anyone was that calm about things from the off unless they already knew a lot of trans people; but this next-day reaction was better than anything she'd have ever hoped. And so using the hands grabbing her wrists she pulled her in, delivering a kiss on the lips.

"You've done more for me than I can ever dream of. All this is… Is incredible. God, I'm so lucky."

At that, Blake allowed herself to smile again as she leaned in to kiss back, a few more times. Then she drew back and forced a nervous smile. "So. If you want a more complete experience, we can try water balloons, or maybe tissues?" When Ying just blinked, she quickly added, "For the bra. You know, to uh… fill you out?"

Looking at it once more, she found her cheeks beginning to turn a faint shade of red at the idea. "Maybe I'll use some socks…"

A few moments later, Ying vanished to the bedroom. Out of fear of freaking Blake out too much by changing gradually in front of her, she'd taken a few items to get changed into all in one go. In the end, she did settle for a pair of socks in each side of the bra, just enough to pad it out somewhat. It didn't look natural, but it was a baby step. She'd picked the shorter pair of shorts along with the yellow tank to wear with it, finding them fall somewhat oddly on her body. Ying had hips, but not enough to fill out a pair of shorts like those. Not yet at least. Finally, she managed to tick her shaggy hair into a hair net, restraining it enough so she could wear the wig over it. Her head certainly felt very warm from it, but when she looked in the mirror and saw the change already, she smiled to herself.

And finally, she opened the door to the living room. Nervously shrugging her shoulders, she poked her head out and said, "Ready for my makeover."

"Oh?" Blake turned around from where she was playing with her phone. "Hey, it's only me. You can come all the way out now." Then she flinched. "I… didn't mean that how it sounded. Just out of the bedroom!"

"Well, I think I'm out in that regard as much as I can. Buuut…" Moment of truth. She stepped forward out of the bedroom to show her. Her hands were nervously kept behind her back while she shrugged her shoulders lightly in fear. While the clothes didn't fit her body as accurately as they would a woman, it still did wonders to slightly shift her shape to the eye.

Blake's face slackened for a moment, and she gulped as she looked at Yang. At her girlfriend. Of course her face and body looked strange with those clothes and the wig; she knew they would, she had spent some time looking up pictures of other people transitioning. The results were varied. Some girls looked so close to cis they were indistinguishable, and some weren't as fortunate. But they were all people, all trying to be themselves despite society judging them.

So she smiled for the reason she could smile: that Ying was being herself in front of her. That she trusted her, cared about her enough to do that. Even if looking at her terrified her inside.

"You look great."

"For real?" She had to double check. Even if it was hard for Blake to see her this way, she had to be absolutely sure. It was difficult when she was at her most sensitive, like the hard shell of her former self had moulted and she'd have to wait a long time to form a new one. But when no answer came from Blake, she took it as a yes. "I went for the booty shorts. I don't have much of a booty but… enough."

And then something shifted. As Blake watched Ying turn to one side, looking down at her own booty in said booty shorts, she saw it a little more clearly than before. Saw her. No, the anxiety didn't vanish, but it lessened.

"Yeah, girl! Work it! And you can change your exercise routine a little; build more muscle in your hips, thighs, and glutes, less around your waist."

That was something she hadn't even considered! She used the college's gym every day when she could to keep herself in top condition, but that was mainly her arms and legs. Changing her routine, and even diet, could change her dramatically.

"That's a great idea!" She grinned from ear to ear, walking right up to her on the sofa.

"Yeah, it's…"

And then a new notion came to Blake. She was dating a woman. Before she had just been thinking "I can't date a man who thinks he's a woman," and then "what will happen to my relationship if Ying transitions?" But for the first time, now that she had reconciled herself to Ying's gender, she suddenly found herself in a lesbian relationship. That was something she'd never, ever planned for, and there it was, staring her in the face with a huge, already-feminine smile.

When finding Blake was staring off into nothing a little more than usual, and unfortunately, by coincidence, at something rather awkward, Ying ended up closing her legs more than usual. She had heard of many cases where women could hide their stuff more accurately, but with this being her first time wearing both booty shorts and panties, she hadn't thought about how obvious she'd be.

"S-sorry, I'll get a cup or something to hide it."

"What? Oh. I… could help you tuck?" Her voice was a little less sure of itself than before. "I've touched you there before, right? It wouldn't be strange if I did. Would it?"

"A little." She giggled nervously. But when seeing she was completely serious, she scratched the back of her head gently, forgetting it was a wig. "Maybe another day… I mean, this is comfortable right now, don't wanna push it all on the first day."

Nodding, she held up both hands. "Right. You're right, it's… this is just us! You can have a little bulge down there, I won't mind. And we can work on hiding it later." Smiling up at Ying, she stood up to kiss her cheek, then said, "Now then! Makeover! Nail polish and eyeshadow, lipstick? Blending techniques? I mean, we can do a little of it or all of it, just so you get the basics."

"Yes please!" She was already excited. Numerous times she had watched before how Blake would do her own every morning, in hindsight she realized she was looking for tips. But she always marveled at how much more feminine it made her face. She only hoped it would do the same for her. Fetching the small kit from the box, she sat down on the sofa, ready.

"Ohhh we'll need more than that - but we are going to use it!" she made sure to tell her once she saw Yang's smile slip. "Just… I'm gonna get my stuff, too. Be right back."

Within minutes, Blake had returned from the bathroom with a large tote of makeup, and the bedroom with a small plastic tub containing dozens of bottles of nail polish in all shades. She moved the box carefully to one side, then set those down on the coffee table.

"Now," she began with a mischievous little smile. "Where does Princess Ying wanna start?"

She could already feel her tears beginning to well up again. But before they could fall, she quickly wiped her cheek. "I think at the moment, unless you got waterproof stuff, we should wait on face makeup." Then she held one of her hands out toward her, fanning out her fingers. "Maybe nails?"

Blake felt a little lump rise in her throat looking at Ying's nails. They were short and a little ragged, as most guys would keep them. Another thing Ying would have to learn. But instead of giving a big speech, she merely took out a file and an Emory board.

"Let's just buff these up," she said in a tone that wouldn't have been out of place for a worker in a salon, starting with Ying's right hand.

“Thanks. Oh, and um... can we try something else?” When Blake only looked up curiously, she flushed a slightly darker shade. “Can you call me... Yang? Just to try it out.”

“Yang? I mean, is that... is that your new name?”

“Maybe. We’ll see, right? I, u-um...”

But the minute Ying started to look panicked, Blake whispered, “It’s okay, Yang. Whatever you want. Let’s get started, okay?”

To make things easier, Yang took a seat on the sofa so they could both be comfortable, allowing another soft smile to pass her lips. She'd always bitten her nails out of habit, or nervousness before. That would be something she'd have to work on, even if she went down the path of keeping her nails regularly maintained.

"So… Is this the part where you ask me if I'm going on any vacations? Like, salon small talk?"

Grinning, she whispered, "I do remember who you are." But then, in a louder, more nasal voice, "So what's the occasion today, honey? Just a spa day, or you got a big event? Maybe a wedding?"

"Oh god…" She laughed with her, trying her best to keep her hand perfectly still while Blake filed the ends. Playing along however, she tilted her head. "Weeeell… A very special person to me thought I should be pampered. And sent me here."

"Sounds like a true friend. Or maybe more than a friend?" She quickly moved from finger to finger, finding the edges weren't too bad.

"Oh, she's very special, alright." Yang smiled in delight, watching how easily Blake managed to smoothen her nails. Something she'd never much tried herself. "She must have spent a fortune on lots of stuff for me. I just wish I could make it up to her." She made sure to watch for Blake's reaction.

After switching hands, Blake said in a voice more like her own, "Maybe she's just happy to help, and you don't have to pay her back." Then she bit her lip. It was odd, but even though so much was similar to Ying, it was as if she were dating Ying's long-lost twin sister now. Which gave her both "new relationship" feelings and "holy shit am I gay?" ones.

That seemed to be something that was on Yang's mind as well, given that the positive expression began to fade from her face. Mainly replaced by a questioning one as she shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe… I still feel a little… a little bad. I've put her in an awkward as hell situation."

Blake could tell Yang was feeling guilty again, so she tried to make a joke of it as she switched from filing to buffing. "Ooh, sounds kinky."

It did the job, making her suddenly laugh instead when she offered her other hand next, giggling in amusement. "Well, if you wanna put it that way."

"Maybe I do wanna put 'it' that way," she giggled. Then she blinked and asked, "Um… I can still make jokes like that, right? Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"Jokes like what?" Till she looked to Blake's confused face and the penny seemed to drop. "Oh… I-I wasn't even thinking about it as a… y'know, an actual thing."

"It's okay, it's okay. I just meant jokes about your little friend. I… I don't wanna assume it'll be fine the way it was before." Then she put the Emory board aside and kissed one of Yang's hands lightly. "Whatever you want or need is fine by me."

"Well, my 'little friend' isn't going to change overnight." When kissed gently by the soft pair of lips, she smiled lightly. "I had looked that up a couple of times, when I was questioning. Just out of curiosity, but… I dunno… I-if I…"

To help Yang from feeling too pressured, she began to sort through her nail polish as she asked, "If you what?" That way, she hoped the blonde would know it was no big deal to her.

"If I wanna change… that." This was the more awkward part of coming out. Everyone she'd spoken to online had agreed, the difficult part was discussing what changes they wanted to feel more like themselves, and the parts that made them feel dysphoric. Although it was the most obvious part of her that would make people believe she was her true gender, her penis was not one of those bits that made her feel ‘wrong’. It was everything else, basically.

"And do you?" Though her voice was casual, Blake was screaming on the inside. That was her favorite toy! Even though she knew this was about Yang's comfort, her identity, she couldn't deny it would make her sad if she decided to surgically alter herself down there. But it was more important that she supported her girlfriend than to voice her own petty misgivings, so she made herself shut the hell up.

"That's what I mean. I don't know." Finding herself looking down at the slight budge in her shorts, the only overwhelming reminder left despite her clothing, she sighed. "I mean… I don't feel bad about him, not really. It's more the lack of boobs… Or hips. Or booty."

"But you have all those things," she reassured, beginning to put a clear base coat on her nails as they spoke. "Just… smaller. But we can work on that, and there's hormones. We'll get you there."

"Hormones… bye bye, money," she joked, looking toward the various colors and shades in the box Blake had brought over. So many combinations! On special occasions, she noticed Blake wore some particularly darker shades that matched her clothes, or would add glitter, or other things. The question was, what would suit her?

After Blake finished one hand and moved to the other, she noticed Yang eyeing the shades and smiled. "Trying to make a decision? Don't forget, it can all come off if you don't like the color."

"It can?" Snapping back to looking at her again, she ended up grinning. "That's a relief! I always saw you using the same shades so I just assumed it was on till it wore off… So much I gotta learn."

With a huge smile, Blake picked up a large bottle of clearish-purple fluid. "This is polish remover. It smells… well, nasty, but you put some of this in a tissue or a cotton ball and just scrub until the polish comes off. But I'm pretty good with painting nails, so if you like the color we shouldn't need to use any."

"Oh god - that's what that smell is! I remember it when you came back from a night out and thought you got some chemicals from your chemistry labs on your coat or something." Although the small bottle was making her think of something. The color of it. Purple was always a color she liked, along with yellow. They matched her eyes and hair, respectively. Thinking that yellow would be too bright and would clash with her top if it wasn’t the exact same shade, she asked, "Got anything the same shade as that bottle?"

"Like a lavender or a lilac? Hmm… I think…" Leaning over, she began to paw through all the bottles. After a while, she pulled back up with two. "I don't, but I have white and a darker purple. If I put the white down first, and then a thin coat of purple on top of it…"

"It should make a lavender kinda color," she managed to finish with a dawning smile. Never before did she even know the colors could overlap! She had severely underestimated the skills women learned from a young age. All skills Blake would teach her now. And then eventually…

She could barely even think about that. Ruby. She didn't know, and was still in high school, where children were at their cruelest. If the other kids found out, she could be a laughing stock by association. That wasn't even thinking about her father and what the reactions would be in his work place. His only son, ‘wanting’ to be a woman…

"I think…" Yang began, taking a deep breath. "I think, for now… We should only do this in here. I don't want people laughing at you through me."

"What? I don't care if they laugh at me." The words were delivered firmly as she shook up the bottle of white to get the liquid inside homogenous. "You're still going to be gorgeous."

"I dunno about that…" An unfortunate part of the first steps was that they would be tiny. There would be no dramatic change in an instant, no magic spell. It would all be a steep slope. And an expensive one. "I still… I don't want to tell Ruby and Dad or have them find out just yet. I don't know when I will tell them, but not yet."

Frowning, Blake paused in her opening of the bottle for a moment. After a second or two, she shook her head and continued. "Nope. You're right, you should tell them when you're ready. Not my job to rush you or say anything." Then she smiled a little. "But I have a feeling they'll be okay with it. Your family are good people."

Shrugging, she now concentrated on keeping her hand more still than ever. This was one thing she didn't want to screw up. "Dad and Ruby, probably. Qrow, probably not. You remember how he was at Christmas to you after he had those drinks?"

"Yeah," she scoffed as she painted each nail carefully with the white. "There was no need for him to know if I'm on the pill, or if I'm 'taking care of the greatest nephew in the world'. None of his business." Then her disgruntled face turned a bit sadder. "He'd have to say 'niece'… I think I get what you mean. Your dad and sister would adjust to that a little easier than him."

"Ruby, I can see being pretty cool with it. She'd probably say something like 'so this is why you like making flower crowns' or 'does this mean you'll be borrowing my razors for your legs?' Shit like that. I'm more worried about what her school friends would think. Kids aren't exactly kind, y'know."

"She could just not tell them. It's none of their business, right? And even if they don't agree with your decision- I mean, not 'decision' to be who you are, but to start dressing how you want to dress. Yeah." Clearing her throat, she forced herself to move onto the next hand along with moving past her own mess-up. "A-anyway, even if they're dumb like that, it doesn't make any sense for them to give Ruby a hard time about it. She's not you."

"Maybe… There's just a lot to think about." Admiring Blake’s work so far, she eventually smiled. "But the baby steps like this… I guess I can enjoy. You're pretty good at this!"

The raven-haired girl's smile was gentle but pleased. "Thank you. My mom taught me, and then me and the other girls in junior high would do each other's nails a lot. For a while, that was the only makeup I was allowed to use, so I guess I got really into it."

"That always confused me, like, when is the acceptable age to wear make-up? I mean that set you got me's for kids, right? How come those are available but the instant they wear it they're suddenly too young to do it?" Once the white was done on her second hand, she held out the first again, ready. Soon it would be the moment of truth.

Putting down the white and taking up the purple, she sighed and said, "Who knows? Every parent is different. My mom wasn't the worst, at least she let me use polish and play dress-up, all that stuff."

"Your mom's pretty great, when she's not working." Yang smiled. As she watched Blake turn the dazzling white into a much softer shade of purple, she smiled in delight. It was a perfect match to what she wanted! After thinking a moment, she stared down at herself and added, "Wonder what she'd think of this…"

"Pretty sure she'd be okay with it. I mean, she's not religious, and she voted in favor of gay marriage. I know it's not the same thing, but kind of shows her state of mind." Blowing on the nails briefly, Blake then took up the other hand and did the same to the white, just to make sure it was dry before she started in on them again.

"Yeah, you’re probably right. She's always been great to me." Admiring the job again, she held her hand up so the nails were quite visible by her eyes. "So, you think it matches?"

Blake glanced up before starting in on the remaining hand, grinning. "Looks great! But nothing can compete with your amethyst eyes."

Beating her eyelashes in her direction, she tried to pitch her voice as high as she possibly could to play along. "Oh stop it you! You'll make a girl blush!" Though that's when it seemed to drop for her as well. Such a big thing really did impact Blake directly. Even if it wasn't something she was thinking of at the time. "Wait… Does this mean I'm now in lesbians with you?"

The question made Blake leave a long purple streak down Yang's middle finger. When she felt her flinch, she looked up and said, "N-no, don't worry, it'll wash off your skin really easily. I promise." Then she cleared her throat and went on with what she was doing. "And… I'm not sure about that. Been thinking about it, though."

"Sorry," she muttered. While that part was humorous to her, for Blake, it was something else entirely. Coming to a realization that one was anything but a standard-issue cisshet was always difficult – as she was rapidly learning. She shrugged her shoulders nervously. "I guess… you were dating me when I thought I was… a ‘he’. So that kinda overrides the question, right? Shit, I never thought about this."

"Ying, I love you," she blurted out in a rush. It was too sudden, perhaps, but she couldn't help it; listening to Yang doubt herself was too heart-wrenching to be allowed. Then she caught herself: "Yang, sorry. But I meant what I said. All the rest is… we'll figure it out. But I know you're important to me, and I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

Looking away from her hands and into the amber eyes of her lover, she stared deeply for a moment. She could tell Blake was completely honest and true to her word, and that regardless, she would love her anyway. That was what she needed, a certain part of her life remaining constant among the rest of her uncertain and bumpy path. With that in mind, she leant in, delivering a quick kiss to her lips.

"Thanks. And… I love you too."

Blake couldn't help but grin back into the kiss. That was better.

Soon enough, a shiny topcoat was on Yang's nails, which she also had to explain was to protect them from chipping too easily. It also made them shinier, and she spent a long time grinning and admiring how they caught the light. When she had begun to move on to paint her toes, Yang seemed hesitant.

"Aww, you don't want your toesies to match your fingers?" Blake said with an indulgent little innocent smile.

"But… no one's gonna see them." Although when Blake looked up at her, with seemingly the biggest puppy eyes she had ever seen in her life, she stayed down on the sofa and folded her arms as best she could, without disturbing the polish at least. "Fine. You win."

"I'll see them," Blake muttered through her pout. But then she smiled up at her as she went back for the bottle of base coat. "And you will, while you're around our dorm."

"I'll have to wear socks when I go to the kitchen. I know Nora and Ren are pretty chill, but… that’s something I don't want to test yet." She brought her nails up close to her mouth to give them a blow, hoping it would quicken up the drying process. Thankfully it was a quick drying solution Blake had used, but that didn't stop her impatience.

Pausing before she started in with the paint, Blake pulled Yang's feet into her lap and grasped two of the middle toes, wiggling them back and forth. "I think there's nothing wrong with having a little paint on your nails, even if you were a boy. But that's just me, I know." Then she shrugged as she unscrewed the cap of the base coat. "You could even just say I did it 'to' you; it wouldn't be completely untrue."

For a moment Yang giggled when her toes were manipulated and pulled about, unable to resist wriggling them just for Blake. "True… true. I've always done dumb stuff before for a laugh, guess this'd be no different."

"Keep them still for a minute!" Blake laughed as she hovered over them with the brush. When they stilled, she began to put on the base with quick efficiency; the smaller nails on the little toes took less time. "What kind of stuff have you done 'for a laugh' like this before?"

Yang simply rolled her eyes, smirking. "I believe you dared me to put on some lipstick before and give Ren a massive kiss on the cheek just to annoy him. Still remember how long it took him to scrub that off."

"Well, it was long-wearing; I didn't mean to hand you that one." As she finished up and screwed the cap on, waiting for them to dry, she asked, "I'm curious… and you can tell me to mind my own business. But haven't you ever tried makeup before now? Like, any?"

Flexing her toes back and forth in an attempt to aid the process, Yang tilted her head once more as she thought about that question. Unfortunately for her, it did set the wig very slightly askew on her head but it wasn't noticeable just yet. With the rate her hair grew, if she waited a few months she'd have hair that length naturally.

"Hmm… Well, apart from that dare, I had to wear a little when I played my guitar for the school play. Just foundation and eye shadow, everyone had to."

"Really? You never played dress-up with girl clothes or anything?" As she unscrewed the white, she said, "Sorry if I'm being pushy, I just read that a lot of girls like you did that when they were younger."

Sighing, Yang seemed to sink more into the sofa as she stared off at the ceiling into nothing. "A lot of girls like me had moms whose wardrobes were accessible. I didn't exactly have that chance. And Ruby was too small for me to steal any of her stuff, so that was out… Although…"

Only glancing up briefly from her work, seeing Yang smiling, Blake prompted, "Although?"

"Well, this is going way back. Apparently, when I was six or seven, just before Mom died; I'd sneak into her room and just look at the dresses and skirts she had. Never really tried them on, just wanted to look. Once she did put one on me to see how I looked, but that was kind of it. Don't think that counts, right?"

"She did?" Sitting back from finishing the white application, she capped it and just stared across at her girlfriend. "That… yeah, I think it does, kinda. Maybe she could tell that you were a little different already; like that you wouldn't hate it or look as funny as most little 'boys'. Who knows?"

"Yeah… Maybe. Apparently I'd always ask if she'd take me shopping with her, even if it was for groceries. Most little boys would run all over the stores screaming but me I just, took her hand and walked by her side. Happy to be there. I was a mama’s boy, really."

While blowing on Yang's polish to dry it more quickly, Blake thought about that. The more she considered, the more things made sense. Of course it was silly to say that women were always more emotional, but Yang tended to be more emotional than she was. Had always been self-conscious about taking off her shirt, even in private. A lot of little things that, by themselves, they weren't significant. However, taken together…

"Well, now you can be a daddy's girl," she said at last, stroking up and down her calves and speaking in a low, calming tone. "Once you come out, I mean. And you and Ruby can do sister-things!"

Looking back down toward her, she smiled with delight. That was a good thought for the future. Her and Ruby had always been close when growing up, often in a sisterlier manner then a brother-sister relationship. But the freedom of being able to do all the things sisters do, nights out, sleepovers, make up sessions; that was something to look forward to.

"Heh. I'll still give an asswhoopin’ to any guy that doesn't treat her right though. That should be a gender-neutral thing!"

"Oh, we can all use tall, strong 'big sisters'," Blake laughed as she began with the purple. "You can't always depend on guys to know when to punch somebody and when not to; they're too biased." After a moment, she added quietly, "Wish I had a sister like that."

Blake had come from a rather lonely childhood. Just her and her mom against the world. Not a lot was said about her father that Yang knew of, only that she wasn't going to have a little brother or sister any time soon. There was a lot of Blake's mother reflected in her, even if she didn't like admitting it.

Rolling with the joke however, Yang tilted her head. "You saying I need to be punched in the face?"

"What?!" she burst out, luckily jerking her hand up and away instead of across Yang's foot this time. "Why would you?! I don't-" Then she frowned. "I don't need protection from another girl, and especially not from one I'm dating!"

But Yang only laughed loudly, even keeling over slightly from just the sheer force of it! That was something else that could be a small sign; her laugh was always relatively high pitched, far more effeminate than any other of the men in their time at college. Even compared to Ren, who was by most people's standards 'femmy'.

"I was going with the joke, dingus! You said you needed a big sister like-" But Yang had given Blake too easy of an opportunity to retaliate. Reaching down with her free hand, she scratched her own nails lightly over the sole of one of the feet in her lap, an annoyed purse to her lips as she did so.

"Aaah! Ah ahahaha!" That brought about a small yelp half way through her laughing. Her feet were always sensitive! The problem was, Blake knew it all too well. In the end, she gently placed her foot back, looking as puppy eyed as possible. "Nawh… I'm sorry for teasing you, kitten. Forgiven?"

"Yes, of course." Picking it up by the ankle, she pressed a little kiss into the area she'd tickled. "And I'm sorry, too, my little dragon."

Blake walked right into that one. Smirking down at her, she raised her eyebrows. "Little? Are you suuure?"

At that, she put her down again to start finishing up the purple. "Okay, so parts of you are big. But I didn't think you'd want me to call you 'my big, strong dragon' anymore. Well… I didn't know for sure, anyway."

For a moment, Yang shrugged again. And then absentmindedly brought one of her arms up, admiring when she flexed her muscles the decent mass that was there. It wasn't particularly enough to give her the shape of a body builder, but just a satisfactory amount to define them when she flexed the muscle. "I could still be big and strong. You've seen me play World of Warcraft, imagine me as a burly Orc babe or some shit."

"You really ARE gonna turn me into a lesbian," Blake said in an exaggeratedly shy voice, fluttering her eyelashes. Then she finished the last couple of toes and began to blow on them again, watching Yang's feet twitch from the air currents. Grinning, she glanced up at her. "Your feet are actually kind of cute. Guess I just didn't notice because I wasn't thinking of them as girl-feet before."

"You were just thinking of them as stinky man-feet," Yang teased. However to wind her up even more, she lifted said leg up, only to kick her lightly in the shoulder to push her back, giggling contently. "Well, you're done with the feet, shall we do my face?"

"Who says I'm done with your feet?"

Blake drew the foot away from her shoulder, let her tongue hang down near the tips of the toes. Just watching Yang to see what she'd do. In response, Yang could only blink. She only just adjusted her wig again to it's real position, then stared right at her girlfriend just as she was about to lick her toes. God, how she loved that tongue of Blake's. It could do wonders.

In the end, she denied Blake that pleasure. But with a promise. "If we do my face you can lick more of me later, maybe. Okay?"

"Okay," she giggled as she lowered her foot. "Besides, I really just meant that I'm not done because you don't have top coat on." Opening the bottle of top coat, she felt her own eyebrows knitting. "Although after seeing how you reacted just now, maybe I will take you up on that. Could be fun.

"Oh… Oh yeah! Sorry, I forgot." Bringing her feet back out for Blake to manage, she shrugged her shoulders again however. As much as Blake was helping with things, and knew that she wanted to keep helping; that was something she felt slightly odd about. "If… If you do want to do that, I can always take this stuff off again so you'll be comfortable. No big deal."

"Hmm?" Glancing down at the clothes, she shrugged. "No, it's okay. The whole point is for you to get used to it, and… and me, too. I'm glad for the opportunity, really." Then she smiled awkwardly as she continued to put down the top coat. "Is that weird? That like, seeing you like this helps my brain accept it?"

"Not really, I guess. But I get you wanna be comfortable with me, but… sex is different. It's something for us both. I don't want to wear this if you aren't gonna be comfortable with me doing so, you know what I mean?"

Blake blinked over at her, the hand running the brush over her second-to-last toenail coming to a gradual halt. "Oh. I didn't… get that's what you meant, at first. Sex. Right." Then she shook her head and forced herself to finish up quickly, capping the bottle. "Well, now we just have to help these dry." She began to blow on them.

Flexing her toes yet again just to give them a look for herself, Yang was already beginning to feel embarrassment. There she was pushing things too far as usual, going routes that no one else was just yet. It was something to be thought about, but this soon was a mistake on her part. Scratching the back of her head she nervously muttered, "Sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry. It's…" Shaking her head, she moved Yang's legs aside and scooted over closer, sliding her arms around her girlfriend's middle. "You're fine. My head was just still in makeup-space."

"While mine's apparently somewhere else." It was a typical joke for Yang to make. If the mood was right, she'd always be the first to fire any innuendos or comments, usually resulting in laughter from her peers or Blake to be wound up. However she didn't feel so much like making those jokes anymore in recent weeks. And now, aside from that one, it was more obvious why.

Shaking her head again to try and get herself out of that negative thought patterns, she looked to her. "Okay! So, nails are done; what's next, kitty cat?"

"This." She kissed Yang briefly on the lips - not once, but twice. Then she smiled and said, "Okay, did that. Next up is going to be foundation. You want me to do you up pretty this time, and then we can work on you putting it on yourself another night? Or do you wanna take the wheel?"

With a grateful smile, she took the container for herself and began to stand again. Even she knew they'd need a mirror for this part. "I suppose… I'd better take the wheel myself. Though you can always guide me if I'm screwing it up?"

"Oh, I definitely wasn't going to leave you alone with it! Don't worry." Standing with her, she took up the other things. "Alright, off to the bathroom."

"Uuuh…" Shifting nervously again, she looked more to the bedroom. "No offence babe, but, I'm not going outside the room like this yet."

With that they headed to the bedroom. A smaller room compared to the living room, but one which they made their own, by converting the two single beds to a larger bed for them both. Blake had claim to the dressing table, but today, Yang did as well.

Sitting her down in front of the mirror, they began work right away. With Blake's guiding hand, she slowly managed to add a thin coating of foundation, and even a small amount of blush to her cheeks. Even with that alone, it was helping her see changes; the very slight five o’clock shadow was hidden, to start. Next came the eye make-up, which Blake had to take control of after a couple of failed attempts at applying mascara. A faint amount of purple eyeshadow was added, along with eye liner to bring out her eyes more vibrantly. A little lipstick was the finishing touch.

Yang stood up and looked toward Blake again. Made up, long hair, and clothes to match her personality, she bashfully looked to the ground a moment. Since they didn't have a bigger mirror, she had to go off Blake's opinion on her appearance.

"How do I look?"

But Blake's eyes were already shimmering, hands clasped just under her chin. A few deep breaths later, she was finally able to force out a whispered, "I've never seen a prettier girl in my entire life, Yang."

"C'mon, I mean honestly." As much as she could see Blake's eyes welling up, how truly at awe she looked, she just couldn't believe it. Not yet. This was only her first time being in fully female attire, there was no way she'd look all too convincing!

But when she got out her phone to turn the front facing camera to look, she too had to pause a moment. She really did look good. Not to the point of passing properly, the eventual goal, but to a point where people could quite easily see she was making an effort. And after one session!

"Wow… I… Okay." After staring at herself for a few seconds, Yang saw a finger sneak around the side of the phone to tap the shutter and take the picture. “Huh?”

"You'll want that," Blake said from the other side. "To look back on when you started becoming you."

Through at first she flinched, Yang then nodded right away. Rather happily, she posed again this time, taking another picture at a decent angle, and without the camera jerking as much. Then made her lips pout a little. But after one or two, she came up with an idea. Something to possibly give an insight into their current dilemma.

"Come here." She wrapped her arm around her girlfriend. A habit Blake always had while they were out in the evenings was grab Yang and take a few pictures together, and while she never protested, she always made it clear she was camera shy. This time, it was the other way around, and Yang confidently held the screen up to fit them into the frame. "Milestone selfie!"

And though Blake laughed at being moved around so much, she posed for the picture, smiling gently. Several shots were taken to make sure they got a good one - the last of which had Blake pressing her lips into the side of her girlfriend's cheek.

When Yang drew the phone back to look at them, that seemed to be the one she favored. Given how she flicked through the others, yet focused on that specific shot in particular. To the point where she was even tapping the screen. "You know what? That's gonna be a new wallpaper." Looking toward Blake before she tapped to confirm however; "If you don't mind?"

"Nah, go for it." Privately, she was a little worried about someone seeing it and thinking she was gay, but she also knew Yang had it so much worse. Bigots would hate them both equally, but for whatever reason, people seemed to have a much stronger hate for any "man" dressed like a woman. It was something she hadn't been that sharply aware of a week prior, but now, she could never forget.

"Sweet!" Yang seemed to sing in a higher pitch, finally tucking her phone away so she could give Blake a real and proper hug. Even if there were still worries for them both, especially when Blake essentially had more to think about now other than helping her partner out; they could at least live in the present. And in the present, Yang was enjoying every moment.

So much she kissed her cheek again hard, knowing exactly what the lipstick would do. No better time like the present to let out the inner woman she'd bottled up for years.

Of course, the kiss got Blake grinning sheepishly, and she kissed her back as she took the phone from her, for the purpose of possibly snapping a few more pics. "Okay, now – your toes should be dry. Do you want to try on the shoes? I'm pretty sure they'll fit, and you can try walking in heels."

"Right! Prepare to laugh," she warned. Thankfully the shoes weren't all too difficult for Blake to get a hold of. Yang was blessed with reasonably small feet for a trans woman, making the search for heels slightly easier. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she slid her feet into the heels, already twitching her feet back and forth to get used to the feeling of the heel itself.

"Oh man… That's always so weird. Like remember when I tried on yours once, just goofing around?"

Blake rolled her eyes. "Yeah, 'just goofing around'. Can't believe I didn't figure this out before now." Biting her lip as she stared down, she then raised her eyes and breathed, "Those make your calves look really good."

"Let's hope I can balance long enough for you to get a good look." And finally, she pushed herself up from the bed. Her stance was quite shaky at first, just as it was the first time she'd tried heels. But once taking one or two steps away from the bed, she straightened up. Turning one of her feet outward, she looked down.

"Hmm… Booty shorts and heels. I'm kinda putting my own kinks onto me."

"You have a heels kink?" Blake asked in a soft voice, eyes completely on Yang's legs. They weren't exactly feminine, but they weren't exactly masculine, either. And standing in the heels definitely made them more appealing, regardless of why. "You never told me. Though I do remember you complimenting my legs a lot when I wear them…"

"You really didn't notice? Every time you wore them, I would need to keep thinking of other things to stop myself getting excited in public!" Beginning to feel braver, she took a couple of steps forward into the room, before straightening her back to try pacing slowly. It was strange to have gained a little more height than usual, but even stranger to have the constant 'tip toes' feeling from how steep they were.

As she clapped, Blake stepped out of her flats and crossed to the closet. "Well, in that case… let's make this interesting." She got out a pair of her own stilettos, black compared to the brilliant red of the lower heels that she had found for Yang.

One unintended side effect to walking in heels Yang found was the way she had to move. She was swaying her hips far more than she would normally. She didn't notice at first, but after she did, she instead smirked to herself. And on her next pace, deliberately exaggerated that movement, placing one hand on her hip and the other swaying in unison. A typical catwalk-walk.

"Oh yeah, I got this thing doooown."

"Yeah, you do," Blake encouraged, having slipped into her own heels. But she didn't join Yang on the "catwalk"; just hung back, watching her girlfriend get more comfortable with herself.

Girlfriend. She could handle it. This was, all in all, the same Yang she had always been with, just more comfortable with herself. That was what she would have wanted regardless of what it meant.

With a bout of confidence, Yang gave a small spin on one of her feet, unable to help giggling when she maintained her balance. She really was doing well! This was how things were meant to be, but it took her years to discover it. Although when she turned and noticed that Blake was now joining her in the heels part, she stopped. And instead, found herself groaning outwards. Already she was enjoying the sight.

"But that's not faaaiiiir…"

"Isn't it?" she giggled. But when she noticed Yang staring, she took a step or two, crossing one foot in front of the other each time. "Is… it too much for you?"

"Haaaaahh…" Continuing to stare all the while, she found her muscles already beginning to relax simply from enjoying the sight. All she had the power to do was reach out toward them, and make a 'grabby hands' gesture.

That gesture made Blake pause, smirking to herself, still curious about these things Yang wanted and wanted to be. Tapping her foot slowly, she said, "What would you do with my heels if you got ahold of them? Honest question, not just teasing you. Wear them? Or… something else?"

Slowly, such a gesture was beginning to stop. Rather than the heels themselves, Yang was far more interested in how they made the woman wearing them look. Now that Blake had mentioned how her own heels made her calves look good, she suspected that was why she always found Blake so attractive in them. Because it defined her legs all the more.

"Why would I want just your heels, when I can kiss the woman in the heels?" she flirted with a grin.

"Then kiss her." The offer was made very casually, though she strode closer in the same slow, meandering fashion, heels clacking against the floor. When they were nose-to-nose, the same height because of Blake's taller shoe, she breathed, "Or kiss the heels. Whatever makes you happy, girl."

'Girl'. Before the last few weeks, that would be an insult, or something to degrade her. Now it was quite the opposite. It made her feel stronger, happier, valid. After so long of thinking about it and hiding it away, it was a true joy to feel one hundred percent herself in the presence of her partner. And so Yang slid her arms around her lover's shoulders, and pulled her in toward her. The reddened lips met with Blake's natural ones, where she kissed her rather softly, intimately. Far more meaningfully than the pecks she had been giving out every so often. Yang's kisses were always soft; she never truly did kiss like a boy. But tonight, that fact was far more obvious than it ever had been before.

And Blake kissed back - but differently than she had before. Up until that point, she had been the type to melt into Yang's kiss, leaving herself open and pliable, enjoying it but taking no control over the action. This time, she was more aggressive. Pushing Yang's head back and forth with her own slightly, fingernails gouging into her back. Leaning in herself more instead of letting herself be leaned in on.Seeming to appreciate it, Yang's touch on her girlfriend became softer. She didn't grab and clutch like she would before, she softly touched. She let her fingers glide through Blake's hair and over her back. The tiniest bit more feminine than the Ying of before – who had already been a gentle lover.

After a few more kisses, Blake pulled away to look across at Yang's makeup-dusted cheeks, at her eyeshadow. At the slightly-smeared lipstick and the needy look in her eyes. One of her hands came up and laid gently against her neck.

"Wow," she breathed so softly, her own features pinching as she was struck with the realization. Yes, it was one she'd known in her mind, but now her heart was finally figuring it out. "You're really a woman."

"You're damn right." In direct contrast to the start of the evening, Yang was believing it herself. And why not? She had the look and the clothes, and always had the heart. It was a shame it took her so long to take steps to help herself.

But for now, she wanted to help herself to something else. In particular, a rather attractive woman who was already in the room, whom she adored. Idly twirling one of the strands of black hair, she maintained eye contact with those amber eyes. Her face slowly turning into a sultry, needy expression as she whispered rather huskily, attempting to keep the pitch high.

"Do you want me?"

A nervous giggle escaped Blake as she flushed, averting her eyes shyly in a way she hadn't since they first started dating. Because, in a way, they were starting over. So she decided to really give it her all, and she could do that by being honest.

"I've… n-never been with a girl before. Do… you want me to…?"

“To what?”

“Well... I could get out my little pink friend. Try, um...”

And Blake reached down to squeeze Yang’s rear. Stroking her back gently, she thought about that for a moment. There had been a few times she let Blake be in charge, whether it was from riding her or pinning her down to take her with her mouth. But this was too new, and didn't feel appropriate. Not after all Blake had done for her already tonight.

"What about...” Stepping in toward her to back her further and further up to the bed, she smirked. “Your first woman taking you?"

"Th-that works," Blake managed to force out. She wanted to make Yang as comfortable as possible, to support her new womanhood… but at the same time, she was more than fine with taking her luscious cock again. But that didn't mean she couldn't do something for her. "Do you want me to leave the heels on?"

Now there was a thought. And one that Yang certainly wasn't going to turn down. Pushing her further back until she was forced to sit on the edge of the beds she smirked. "If you want to, you can. I'm certainly not gonna complain."

It was probably silly how excited Blake found herself. Having sex with a woman. This woman had been in her life all along, but without knowing about it, she couldn't seem to change her past memories; those were times she had slept with a man, with Ying. Of course, that wasn't really how things were… but that was hard to change for her. So this really was going to be her first "lesbian encounter", and it sent electricity into every atom of her being.

"Good. Then… then what do you want to do to me?"

As Blake began to crawl a little further back onto the bed, Yang followed eagerly. She crawled over her girlfriend's body as she eventually laid herself down, pinning her down below.

"Well, I'm not like most other girls, you see…" She managed to reach toward the bedside table; one where Yang had always kept her supply for their evenings in. This being no different, she held the small packet by her lover's mouth. "But I can definitely make you scream. Bite the corner so we can get this open."

With a grin from being back in familiar territory, Blake bit down on the corner, tugging until the packet popped open. Instantly, the smell of latex and lube filled her nostrils; one that she didn't enjoy, but had come to associate with sex with her partner. Now, it was intoxicating to her, a promise of what was to come.

As Blake held the edge of the packet still in place, Yang looked down between them. She was still wearing the shorts, which were getting more and more of a bulge by the minute. Looking back up, she asked, "Shorts on? Just nod or shake your head."

Blake only nodded. If Yang was comfortable being intimate while wearing shorts, then she wasn't going to stop her. They looked good, and felt good, as Blake knew from her own pairs. Managing to reach down between the both of them, she made short work of the button and zipper, popping them open in no time. Thanks to how ready she already was down there, things certainly stayed more in place once she did. Once her erect length was out in the open, she then pinched the packet back out of her mouth.

"Thank you, babe." But more or less straight back into the action, her hand went back down below again to finish the rest of things. Sliding the latex covering over her member as far as she could, she then smirked down at her lover instead. "What about yours?" Although her own heels then contacted Blake's. "Apart from these, I mean."

"Whatever you want." Realizing that probably sounded unhelpful, she whispered, "I mean it - do you like me in just heels? Or what? I just wanna look good for you."

"You always look good to me," she clarified. Although taking another glance downward to her clothed form, it had her blushing again. It had been a long while since they last did things together while in their clothes, and seemed only fitting to shake things up in spirit of this new phase in their relationship. Reaching down to Blake's own zipper, she whispered in a sultry manner, "But I think we should get you hot and sweaty, huh?"

All Blake could do was nod, rolling her hips up to allow Yang to shuffle her shorts down… but she didn't. That made her heart beat even faster. "I'm already pretty warm, so… you don't have far to go."

Grinning with delight at that comment, Yang had only shuffled them down enough to pull her panties out of the way so they could get started. Before they would however, Yang's lips crashed into Blake's again. Kissing deeply, hungrily, she rolled her hips forward, rubbing her covered length straight against Blake's exposed lips in the midst of their passionate embrace.

"Hmmhhhh," Blake moaned into the contact, being made unbelievably hot in seconds. Yang wasn't playing around! Her thighs drifted apart obediently, yearning for as much as she could get. Desiring everything Yang had to offer, both lips and elsewhere. And soon enough she'd get it. In addition to the length she could feel down there, Yang's hand was guiding it where to go. After a bit more teasing, she was guiding it further down, lining up the head as she was so used to doing until with a single thrust…

She was in. It wasn't soft, nor was it rough. It was a typical in between that suited Yang on most occasions. As she moaned quietly into the kiss, she rolled her hips forward again, growling with delight at how much pleasure she was already feeling.

The low groan that had been issuing just from the light pressure grew into a full-blown scream, muffled by the lips tasting hers. Yang was inside of her. Yang's cock, the cock that belonged to a woman was deep within her body now, filling her with pleasure. How it was the same... and yet it wasn’t. She wanted more, she wanted Yang to go harder, but she also didn't mind the slow grind she was levitating around at present. Getting there was ALL of the fun.

The past week or so, Yang couldn't bring herself to be this intimate with her girlfriend, or even with herself. Blake noted very well each time Yang pushed her away, or ended up heading to bed early just to avoid physical contact. Now that she knew the cause, and they both worked on it together; it was the release they both needed after being pent up for days on end. Now they were back into the swing however, Yang couldn't remain at a slow speed. It was only just hitting her how much she had missed this. Rolling her hips back and forth over and over again, she settled on a medium pace to get them started, breaking away from their kiss so she could moan more easily.

Hearing the low, masculine moan tripped something in the back of Blake's brain. How much was she faking that every time? How much was she putting into pretending to be the "man" she had thought she was dating? That rankled immediately. Even through the intense pleasure radiating from the cock inside of her, she couldn't leave it be.

"I… want to hear you," she panted up at Yang when they broke the kiss. "Be loud for me, Yang…"

Well, that was a little direction that she didn’t mind taking. So with the next few, harder thrusts; she did more than her usual low toned grunting. She opened her mouth more, becoming louder. Now, far more noticeably than ever before, she was moaning. Everything she was doing now seemed more feminine, seemed more herself. This was the woman Yang was truly meant to be! And while Blake would normally be closing her eyes by then, letting the sensations wash over her and losing herself in them, now she was wide-eyed. Watching the woman above herself moan and thrust, strong but soft, filling her completely and making her feel both owned and cherished at the same time. She craved it, and the craving was being sated even as it increased.

"Oh Blake… Blake!" She managed to rasp among the various moans of ecstasy. Each and every thrust felt like she was making love for the very first time, a whole new venture for her. And she loved it, and knew that she wanted to keep doing it again and again in the future.

However there was a downside to how long they'd put this off – and how hot she found the high heels. While Blake was craving her own satisfaction, Yang was nearly at hers. It had barely been a few minutes but she could already feel her legs beginning to quiver, and hear her moans getting even higher in pitch.

"Ohhh… oh?" The moan went up at the end when she felt Yang getting close. She could still do something for her. "Yeah, fuck me! Fuck me, Yang!" Maybe using her new name - her true name - would help her along.

"HAAAAH, BLAKE!" she yelled out. Quivering uncontrollably against Blake's body, she could already feel the latex covering around her member being filled by her own fluid, just after it throbbed inside the body of her lover. White hot pleasure seeped through her body. One of the best orgasms yet... and it was all thanks to Blake.

And Blake's body felt fantastic under Yang's. Sure, she didn't have the opportunity to build herself all the way up to her own climax, but that didn't mean it felt "bad" in even the slightest sense. She always enjoyed Yang's body regardless.Once Yang began to slow down and pant, hanging above her, she reached up and caressed her cheek, smiling at her clearly-sated expression.

"You looked… SO gorgeous just now."

"I did?" There were a few deep breaths. A few more. "Wow… Well, it felt good too. More… me." Slowly drawing herself backward to pull her member out, she rolled over to one side, laying on her back right next to her girlfriend. She couldn't even be convinced to take off the condom just yet, not when she was exhausted. "How did you feel? Was that… weird?"

"Not at all," she whispered, curling around her side automatically. An old habit from when she was Ying. "Oh… is this weird? Like, this positioning."

"Huh? Oh! No, nope, y-you're good." Still dazed from exhaustion, she stared up at the ceiling for a while longer. While she was about to run her hands over her face, she suddenly stopped, remembering the make-up that remained. It'd take a long time to get used to that. Although upon feeling the cuddled form of Blake at her side, and how calm her breathing was in comparison, she rubbed one of her hands up and down Blake's back slowly, beginning to smile. "But someone hasn't had their happy ending…"

All Blake could do was grin into Yang's shoulder and whisper, "You noticed." After a few more seconds, she added, "You always do. It's… yeah, I guess a girl would notice another girl hasn't gotten off, wouldn't she?"

But Yang only raised an eyebrow. Without fail, she had always finished off her partners if they didn't finish through intercourse, with the only exception being the very first time with another woman. But even then, she stuck around for the end result. "Wait, guys don't? I mean, regardless of gender stuff I thought that was common sense."

"Well… some of them don't even know women CAN orgasm. Or they don't know how to do it, so they give up and just assume she'll take care of herself." Her smile widened. "But you were never like that. Not that guys can't be, y'know, attentive… but it’s another clue. I should have figured it out sooner."

"Wow… Guys are dicks. Least I only have a dick." Talking of which, she had to lean out of Blake's grip for a moment to remove the condom, leaning over to put it straight into the basket on her side of the bed. Only then did she roll on her side to face her, and began stroking her stomach. "So, ma cherie… What will it be tonight?"

"You don't have to do anything special for me," Blake hummed huskily. "This is your night. So… just make me wetter until I explode." But her eyes were mesmerizing, and pointed directly at her love. Waiting to see what Yang had in store for her.

"I know just the trick to make you wetter. Although…" Understandably, a head full of thick hair being covered by more hair was making Yang a little more warm than she wanted to be. So she tugged the wig free and laid it on the bedside table. "I can put it back on after, it's just to avoid getting anything… anywhere."

"Oh, no no, I get you," Blake whispered, feeling oddly… sad. It took her a moment to identify that as the feeling, but yes, Yang had looked so much more like herself with the wig on. But she reached out and fluffed up her natural hair to compensate. "There. There's my girl."

"It will be. Once I grow it out…" Blessed with a head full of hair anyway, and if she took hormones in the future, she knew a head full of long hair wouldn't be a difficult goal. Already she was considerably more feminine than most hair styles anyway.

But they had business to tend. The first clue for what she was going to do next came when she crawled down, and began to tug Blake's pants and underwear downward. She could already see just how wet and eager her lover was, and understandably why.

"Mmmhhh," Blake moaned encouragingly. When Yang got them down to the ankles, she grinned and whispered, "You can take them off and put them back on." She waggled her stilettos for emphasis.

"Or…" Yang wasn't a quitter. Lifting Blake's legs enough so she could crawl under them, she managed to part them enough so she could get between. The pants at her ankles actually had the advantage, of locking Yang into place. Plus this way, she could feel her girlfriend's legs resting on her back. "Better?"

"Definitely," she sighed breathily, already feeling her excitement returning from Yang's breath caressing her inner thighs. Licking her lips, she lay back with her arms overhead, allowing her eyes to droop closed.

"God, you're always so sexy," she couldn't help but comment. And it was all here to conquer. Leaning in, she pressed a few kisses against her inner thighs, noticing something very particular when she made one kiss harder than the norm; two crimson crescents of lipstick. "Oooh… You're gonna have a few reminders of tonight."

Craning her neck, she tried to see what Yang meant. "I what?" Then she did notice. "O-oh, I- oh. Well… that's…" Her face was flushing and she didn't know why. Yang had gone down on her dozens of times. Why did a little lipstick make any difference?

Leaning against one of her legs while Blake was seemingly trying to make head and tails of everything, Yang could only smirk all the more, content in knowing it flustered her as much as it did. Even as a girl, she could make Blake weak at the knees. But before too long, she went back to work. Although she was only continuing to kiss her inner thighs more, her fingers began to wander in that area. One of her hands could be felt parting the lips, exposing her to the open air. The other began to trail through the wetness with her fingers, picking up as much as she could.

Little by little, Blake began to move again, hips squirming from side to side as she was toyed with. With some trial and error, she was able to angle her legs so that the stiletto heels dug straight into Yang's back. She didn't know if her girlfriend would be into that type of thing, but now might as well be when she found out – and it seemed to make her hum with delight as she continued kissing the skin below. A firm reminder Blake was still wearing them was what she needed to continue pleasing her. Heading inward, she kissed at the side of her lips as she held them open; but now the fingers began to poke at her entrance.

"Oooh, yes…" She couldn't help the excited, breathy laughter that spilled from her at the feeling of Yang just edging past her fragile folds and into her body. Delight filled her every pore. This was the best part.

Smirking with each kiss, Yang knew just how to get her lover going. Each time she pushed her fingers inside, she curled to hit that particular spot. Over and over she pushed in, finishing with a light stroke over the nerves she found there. While it was exciting to do this for her girlfriend, there was a hint of jealousy to it. Yang couldn't ever experience pleasure in this way; not unless she was prepared to take a few steps further than many would, and expensive steps at that. And while that idea didn't particularly frighten her, it didn't appeal too much, either. So she would have to keep playing the 'male role' to get any pleasure of her own until such a time as she decided to go through with surgery.

Or would she?

Meanwhile, the girlfriend she was currently sliding her fingers in and out of was moaning into the ceiling, writhing back and forth like a woman unhinged. By her calls, it was obvious she was close - VERY close. One of her hands came down… and she did something she wasn't used to doing with Yang. Normally, she would just put her hand behind "his" head and hold "him" there… but there was something girls typically liked. Even though Yang was trying to grow her hair out, she really wanted to see how she'd respond. Therefore, she reached down and took a solid handful of her hair and gripped hard – not pulling, just holding on.

Turns out she did enjoy it. Her grip was strong enough for the experience to be satisfactory, and even coaxed a moan against the lips she kept kissing. As it turned out, a mixture of pain from both the heels digging into her back and the pulling at the roots of her hair were giving her that extra pleasure she didn't know she needed. Hence forward, she rewarded her lover by finally kissing the small nub at the top of her sex more and more, and pumped her fingers in and out at a faster pace.

That didn't take much longer. Within a few minutes, Blake was writhing and screaming, legs shivering and back nearly coming up off the mattress. Several times, Yang's name fell from her lips…

And each time, it was her real name. She had known from the moment they’d grown intimate that she would need to watch that, and it had become the only thing she focused on, the only thing she devoted mental effort to other than simply enjoying what was happening to herself.

Below, that only caused more of a smile on her face as she kissed Blake's clit over and over again, delivering one or two more firm thrusts into her to keep that finish going for longer. She'd done it again, brought Blake to the orgasm she deserved when her member couldn't. Talking of which… The downside of satisfying Blake again after was becoming apparent. Already she could feel herself getting harder again. She'd only just finished, yet she wanted more! While it was usually a passing thought and only made her semi-erect, this she could feel was growing more and more. Maybe she'd need to jerk off afterward.

"Ohhhhhh, yeah," Blake groaned out in a satisfied tone, lying completely limp and spread eagle. "That was… good. Now clean your fingers off and… get up here…"

Nodding as she drew the fingers free of her lover's body once sure she was done, she cleaned her fingers on the bedsheets as requested, well aware they were due for a wash sometime soon, and ducked under Blake's somewhat restrained legs from the lowered pants and underwear. Once she was free, she cuddled straight into Blake's side, nuzzling into her neck.

"Hmm… glad you enjoyed that, babe."

The brunette's face was pure satisfaction as she snuggled back, wrapping her arms tightly around Yang as their legs entwined. "Mm, you have no idea." Then she felt something against her thigh and giggled, "Or maybe you do."

Hiding her head in the crook of Blake's neck, she groaned lowly, shaking her head very lightly. No longer was she too concerned about smudging her make-up, she was too tired for that. "That's kinda embarrassing… all finished and still got a semi…"

"Not embarrassing. I… like feeling that you going down on me is fun for you, too." She reached down with a hand and teased over the surface of Yang's shorts slightly. "Not that we have to do anything with it."

Drawing herself back out from the space in Blake's neck, she laid her head against her shoulder instead and relaxed. It was the position that usually Blake would find herself in against Yang, rather than the opposite way around. But there was something about it that felt more natural. She enjoyed being the taking submissive role more than she thought. Looking back toward where Blake was stroking against her clothes, she shuffled around.

"Maybe we should get undressed now… Was fun while it lasted though."

"Really was." When Blake began to push at Yang's shorts, sliding them down, she felt her hips rock slightly; just the barest amount. Then she had a thought that, once having it, she couldn't get rid of: she could try doing for Yang what Yang had done for her. Would it work out? She honestly had no idea, but it would be worth it if it made her new girlfriend feel like more of a woman.

To that end… "Hey. Are you totally worn out, or do you want to try something?"

Beginning to slide her shirt over and off her head, she hesitated a moment instead, and tilted her head toward her lover. "Try something?" Though when she noticed Blake was particularly staring toward her semi erect length poking out from her underwear still, she instinctively closed her legs together. "Honestly babe, I'm not worn out, but I'm not in the mood for a blow job, if that's what you mean."

"That wasn't… quite what I had in mind. Be right back."

It wasn't easy, but Blake managed to prise herself up off the bed and run into the living room. Within a minute, she was back with a flouncy white skirt, one with ruffles at the bottom.

"Switch those shorts for these," she urged in an excitable voice.

"Oooh…" That did look a little more alluring than the booty shorts did. How could she have missed that in the box? Eager to obey, she finally took the heels first, giving a soft sigh of relief once her feet were free again. As she was just about to push down her shorts however, she asked, "Panties… On or off?"

"Whichever feels better for you." As she spun the skirt to be able to put it on properly, she winced. "You… probably think I'm being lazy, never making decisions, but I just want you to enjoy yourself tonight."

"Yeah… yeah, of course." She eventually made her decision, and unexpectedly, she slid down both the shorts and the panties. Whilst it was fun to have worn them, and helped make her body more effeminate, if she was after comfort for this upcoming moment, they would have to go. "They're gorgeous, but will take some getting used to."

"Yeah, but it's also…" Biting her lip as she began to slide the skirt up Yang's legs, she said in a quieter voice, "Sorry if this isn't like, what you want to hear, but… your cock in a pair of panties… very sexy." By the time she finished her sentence, Blake was blushing. She knew it might not be politically correct, but she wouldn't be being honest with Yang if she didn't tell her.

"You really like them that much?" While shuffling from one side to the other to aid Blake's efforts, she found herself smiling rather smugly. Kink or not, she had to admit it was nice to hear from her girlfriend. Neatening the skirt a moment she gestured toward the pile. "Can always wear them again, if you're that desperate."

"Maybe another time," she laughed. Then she smirked. "Now… I know I'd just be acting, but… would you want me to put on some of your guy clothes and, um, treat you like a lady? Just an idea - not married to it."

There was a thought. Blake often wore her clothes before all this, mainly when she wanted a big shirt after her shower as something to cuddle up to Yang in rather than anything, and some hoodies for that reason. This would be a lot more different she sensed. Although, it did get her questioning, "Do you want to? I don't mind things being more ‘lesbian’ here. Guys I can give or take, you've always known that."

"Y-yeah, true. I just… wanted to give you that experience, if you wanted it. Make you feel extra womanly."

Petting Yang's leg briefly, she picked up one of her old band tees and drawstring gym shorts, changing them out for her own outfit. Though she left her panties in place, she whipped her bra off in a hurry. Then she grabbed a baseball cap Yang only wore when feeling too lazy to do his - her hair and put it on backwards, making sure most of her hair was out behind her.

Though uneasy about the situation, Yang was willing to give it a shot. She knew Blake's intent was purely to try and please her; but this wasn't something she would particularly need. All she needed was her lover, no matter what she wore. But since they were already trying…

"So, I'm a cheerleader and you're the jock, right?"

"Yeah," Blake said in a comically deeper voice. They both giggled at it, and she tried again, pitching it just a little lower than usual, drawing out her syllables a little longer. "I've been meaning to get my hands on your pompoms for a while now."

"My Pom-poms?" When Yang's voice sounded deeper than hers still, she quickly cleared her throat. Already she found herself slightly more paranoid about that part of herself. That was something that would take some steady work, or eventual surgery if vocal training wasn’t enough. As best she could, she tried to raise her voice's pitch to play along but it sounded strained. "And what makes you think you'll get them?"

But Blake didn't laugh, didn't flinch. She just smirked and shrugged, shoving her hands in the shorts pockets. "You already kicked your shoes off and sat on my bed. Seems to me like a girl who does that knows what she wants."

Again with the same voice. She needed to work on it, no time like the present. "Girls like me don't usually get a lot of offers. Can you blame me for being a little eager?"

"Not many offers?" Blake felt her heart sink when she realized Yang meant in real life. She didn't expect anyone else to want to sleep with her because of her situation. But she decided to dance around that.

"Probably not. Pretty girls like you… guys like me think you're too good for us. That we don't stand a chance."

While it was a part of their roleplay, Yang couldn't help but feel a little saddened for herself. Although she was with Blake, it would have been nice to be able to at least flirt with a few men while they were out with friends and things. No doubt they'd see her for what she was from a mile off though, and that could be dangerous. But for now, she shook her head. That was a bridge to cross later. She wasn't even out yet after all. Sitting herself back against the pillows, she smiled.

"I don't know about that, but I'm glad you asked anyway."

"Me, too. Just looking at you on my bed… damn, girl." Blake traced a finger over the sole of Yang's left foot, just a quick, lazy circle. "Too much to handle."

Shivering from the teasing touch, Yang asked, "Really?" It was partially playing along, but also a genuine question. Along with: "You really think I look that good?"

Blake nodded as she leaned down, pressing her lips into Yang's ankle. Then she began to crawl forward, leaving light kisses over her shin as she went. All the while, she tried to maintain as much eye contact with Yang as possible. Letting out a breathy sigh of delight with each kiss, Yang found herself beginning to relax back slowly. But the further upward she got, the more nervous she became.

Breaking her character, she whispered, "Hey, remember we said no BJ's, okay?"

In the same man-voice, Blake said, "Aww, come on. How can I give a girl a BJ? That's crazy talk, yo." When she began to get close to the skirt, she inhaled, and whispered in her normal voice, "Even if you do smell really good right now."

Biting her lip again, she continued to watch as Blake continued to ascend. At least she wasn't doing as she first thought, but that left another question. What was she going to do? Was she really building these characters just to jerk her off?

As Blake climbed higher, she had continued to form plans in her mind. She thought about Yang, and how she talked and treated her when going down on her - not just that night but all the other times they had been together. And she thought about the anatomy she would be finding there. There had been some other incidents she remembered, things that Yang had either been uncomfortable with or had mentioned. She had a few ideas.

"There she is," Blake said from under Yang's skirt. She had decided not to lift it completely; this way, Yang could try and imagine she had what Blake had, if she wanted.

The instant Blake's hand contacted with her sex, she suddenly gasped again. It really did seem as though the sole purpose was to jerk her after all. As much as it was a letdown, she wasn't about to reject it; this was still her girlfriend trying her best to meet her halfway.

"Yeah… There it is." She didn't give it a gender like Blake did. Perhaps if she never did, it would make any possible decision easier.

"Mm…." But the hand didn't close around the length. Instead, it trailed down, pressing gently into the area just below. Between the two spheres that lay hidden in the soft sack and into the muscle underneath.

"A-ah!" Unable to help herself, she ended up twitching her legs, curling her toes in response as she arched her back. While she was used to Blake fondling and playing, her soft sack was something she wasn’t used to being touched at all. Not even by herself. Having Blake actually begin to stroke along it was something new altogether.

When Blake's mouth did fall to the area, it was to draw in small wrinkles of Yang's skin between her lips, to lave over it as Yang did with her own labia. All she could do was hope that it was doing something for her new girlfriend; that it wasn't just her being stupid and not understanding how her body worked in tandem with her mind now.

Yang didn't know what to think, so she ended up lightly squirming back and forth. Clutching the bedsheets as she shifted her hips back and forth, she continued to gasp at the strange sensations to a place that usually got no attention whatsoever. Switching hands, Blake moved to the other side and repeated the action, using both lips and tongue to toy with the skin. Once, she even drew the small sphere into her mouth as well, holding it there to see how Yang would react. Cradling it on her tongue.

"Haaaah…." Finding herself quivering repeatedly, her opposite leg began to twitch. How much of this torment could her poor body take? It was good, but very weird at the same time. A confusing mess she'd need to decipher over time.

"You like that, baby girl?" she continued in her guy-voice, kissing the skin again. Then she spread it out further before pushing her face right into the area, shoving her tongue hard up against the muscles that lay beneath the soft skin and running it up and down over and over. As if she were really pleasuring a female organ. Yet again, Yang was shifting her hips side to side, gasping and shakily moaning from all the strange sensations.

Grasping the covers all the more, she couldn't help but shakily call out, "W-what is that?! I-I've… N-never felt that b-before!"

Blake laughed - directly into the contact, letting the vibrations echo into her muscles. She spent a few more seconds lapping and pushing against her there, moaning and sliding her fingers up and down the sides. Then she drew back and out so she could gaze at Yang again.

"God… why didn't you tell me your pussy tastes so good?"

Biting her lip, Yang stared upward at the ceiling and tried to restrain her moaning. Whatever Blake was doing to that area between her length and her dark opening, she was enjoying it. She had no way of confirming it, but could only imagine this was the same sensations Blake felt when she treated her to this play. Entirely different to a typical blow job, that was for sure.

Meanwhile, that dark opening was something that interested Blake now. Before, it never had; Yang had teased her there once or twice, but when Blake had patiently asked she direct her attentions to her primary pleasure center, she obliged easily. Now… she couldn't help but think it was the only entrance her girlfriend had. Did she want any attentions there, or was it too much of a "gay man" thing? But for now, she kept up what she was doing, licking a little lower now and then. Mostly, she kept her attentions on the sack itself, but now and then she would flash her tongue over the little bridge of skin between there and the hole below. Just testing the waters.

Something strange was happening that Yang could feel for herself. Beneath the skirt, among all the pleasure, her length wasn't increasing in size at all. It remained the same, semi rigid state as it did before. In fact, if anything it was becoming even softer. What possible thing could she be doing to grant her pleasure without the need to pump her length or penetrate other areas?

Either way, she could feel her legs beginning to quiver again. One of her hands sank between her legs to grasp a hand full of Blake's hair, copying her actions and freezing her there.

"Mmmm," she rumbled gratuitously from the hair-pulling, again for her pleasure. Then she whispered, "You… really like this. You want more." So she pushed her tongue in harder; it wasn't the easiest thing, and it wasn't something she was used to attempting, but being that Yang appreciated it so much, it was worth possibly getting a tongue cramp over.

She couldn't help it. The moans increased in volume again, and in pitch as Blake went in for the kill. Grip keeping her head firmly against that area, she quivered and squirmed while the pleasure washed over her again and again. But that was impossible.

"Blake!" The pitch was almost naturally high now from how pleased she was. "Blake, I-I think I'm… T-Think I'm gonna…!"

"Really?" she breathed as quickly as she could, between generous licks and nibbles. The longer she went at it, the more delicious she found the whole experience; why had they never done that before? The real answer was, because most boys would find this activity strange. Only Yang being a woman could have opened the door for such atypical fun.

And Blake wasn't quite done. As quickly as she could manage, she allowed her tongue to lick just a little lower that time, barely touching the rim of the tightly-puckered skin below.

It was all commingling into one final wave of pleasure. She hadn't expected it at all, but that sudden attention to the very outermost perimeter of her opening had sent her into her finish. Arching her back and grasping both Blake's hair and the bedsheets tighter, she felt her entire body quivering as pleasure raced through it. It was a different kind to what she was used to, something deeper and more intense. But just as, if not more than, satisfying.

And yet, to her surprise; there was no 'evidence'. Apart from the odd drip of clear precum that had been present from the start, there was no other evidence of what they were doing coming from her sex. And it was soft, it couldn't. Whatever happened to make her orgasm so hard, affected her so much she didn't ejaculate. And it was the strangest thing she'd ever felt.

Slowly, Blake rose up from under the skirt, staring at her love. After watching Yang pant for a few seconds, she smiled mischievously and muttered, "That was something. That was something intense. What… what happened there?"

A hand was circling her cock. Gasping and panting, she tried to regain her breath. She couldn't help herself! It really was an exhausting experience for her. Lifting her skirt to try and see the aftermath however, she was pleasantly surprised. Dry as a bone.

"Damn," she whispered. "I have… No idea. What were you doing?"

"Just like, massaging you where your vagina would be, I guess?" She pressed her fingers into the area in the center of Yang's scrotum again, all the way in until she hit solid mass, now that Yang could see it. "Right here. I didn't know if you'd be into it, but thought it might be something to try…"

"Hhhhuuuhh…" She growled outwardly again. Biting her lip nervously, she managed to keep her eye contact with Blake as she fiddled around down here and tried new things, even if it was strange. "G-god it's just so… Weird! Although, I'm shocked Nora and Ren haven't heard me screaming."

The lips and fingers kept teasing her, now in full view with her legs up closer to her head so that Yang could better see. Then she abandoned both and slid up so that her cheek was resting against the semi-soft length, still the tiniest bit damp from the earlier climax and the lube on the condom.

"The walls are pretty thick. We both know how loud Nora is, and we barely ever hear her."

"They don't do it as often as we do though… Then again, that's probably why we only hear Nora." Although when Blake continued to lean against her length, slide her hands over the soft skin, she couldn't help but begin to curl her toes again and twitch in response. As much as she could let Blake go again…

"Come up here?" she asked, opening her arms out. That was a clear message. She crawled up along Yang's body and wrapped one arm and leg around her, pressing in close.

"Yeah?"

Instead of saying any more, Yang just kissed her lips again, taking a long moment before she drew back, and laid her head back on the pillow. "Thank you so much… For all of this."

Smiling gently across as she began to relax into the pillow, she breathed, "You're welcome. I… just wish I could have been like this last night instead of a day late." Her fingers drifted up and ran through Yang's hair. "You're so important to me… I need you to know it."

"I know… I guess it's about time I started believing that." She shrugged her shoulders as she rested on her side, already beginning to feel the exhaustion from their activities taking over. But that didn't mean she was done talking.

"I was just worried I'd hurt you. Because, girl or not, I still love you to pieces, and I know this is a lot to take in. Not what you signed up for."

"Yeah, I thought I was hurt by this… but that was me making it about me. This is about who YOU are. And I love you no matter what." She pressed a kiss into Yang's cheek, sighing contentedly as they settled in next to each other.

"I love you too. I'll never forget what you've done for me tonight. You've helped me take the first steps to being the woman I am. And you… You've given me my life back."

Blake couldn’t even reply; all she could do was smile with tears just touching her eyelashes. Giving Yang her life back was all she could hope for.

#An Occasional Dream #white noise #rwby fanfiction #bumbleby #bumbleby smut #rwbyremnants

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hyung-line-wife · 6 years

Text

Jungkook Scenario: You Find Him Cheating on You Pt.8

Fireworks exploded on the stage, marking the chorus of the opening ceremony song.

‘Lo siento, Lo siento, Yo no tengo prisa vamos lento.

Lo siento, Lo siento, Let’s take our time’

You saw Leslie Grace, the featured singer sway her hips along the choreography with Super Junior. You really liked this song and performance, it was a refreshing song, with a latín vibe, which almost made you forget about all the events that had occurred some minutes ago.

You turned towards your right, towards Dawon, who was mesmerized by the presentation on the stage. And he wasn’t the only one, as all of the JFX members were also looking at the performance with the same face. Was it just for the cameras rolling, or they were really enchanted by the Latin girl singing on stage?.

You giggled, guys will always be guys. Dawon snapped from his trance, looking you with a shy smile.

Your stomach twitched a little, surprising you. You probably were just nervous due to the award you were competing for.

Dawon was really a great match. He was a nice, he cared for you, and a gentleman, plus, he already was all puppy love for you. Somehow, you were developing some sort of small feelings for him. It surely would take time to heal your heart, but you could see yourself opening up more for him in the future.

You returned the smile, locking eyes with him. You saw him blush a little bit due to the lights reflecting on his face from the stage, however that tender expression suddenly changed as he looked over your shoulder, towards the other grand table.

Throughout all the time that had elapsed since your meeting with your ex you had felt observed. Not the kind of feeling you had when you entered a room with people, but the feeling you had when you were being stared at by someone who wanted to fight with you. It had made with uncomfortable and self conscious the whole time.

You slowly turned towards the direction of the stare, finding yourself with two pair of bunny black eyes staring back and forth suspiciously between you and Dawon. Jungkook was sitting cockily at his table, with one closed fist over the table, his eyes were almost throwing daggers at Dawon, as he pushed his tongue into the inner part of his cheek. A move you had always found sexy on him.

You had been walking hand in hand with a disguised Jungkook on the busy streets near the Han River, you were going to the park of the Han River to have a picnic date. He was using a black wig with some glasses and a mouth cover, as simple as it seemed, almost half of the guys your had crossed that day were using the same accessories.

“The weather is just perfect!, I love it.” You said cheerfully, while turning towards him with a cheesy smile. The grip on your hand tightened, and his eyes smiled to you.

You had continued walking through the street, until you got to the intersection, next to a bar. This bar was known for being popular among tourists, so it wasn’t weird to see various blonde heads hanging outside the establishment. This day in particular there where two Swedish looking guys, which as you approached stopped talking to stare at you.

“I must be dead because I see angels.” One said lowering his sunglasses.

“What a pretty lady you are honey!” The other one said smiling at you.

“Come here and we can share some drinks.” The first one added, raising his glass of alcohol.

You felt yourself redden. What the hell with those guys! Didn’t they saw that you were walking with someone hand in hand? Jungkook burst in before you could.

“Excuse me? Please repeat that.” He lowered his mouth cover, staring at them intensely. You could almost feel him puffing his chest like an Alfa dog.

The foreigners stared at him for what seemed for minutes, and then entered the bar. Kook started walking away, dragging you along, as he pushed his tongue into his inner cheek with his eyebrows knitted together. You felt your heart contract a little. He was jealous and you loved it.

Jungkook raised an eyebrow as he connected his eyes with yours. He was inquiring what was occurring with Dawon. Did you wanted to answer him?, no. First, even if you wanted to answer him, it was nearly impossible in that situation. Second, you didn’t need to excuse your actions to him after all of he had done.

Taehyung, who was sitting next to Jungkook noticed the situation and elbowed him, breaking his attention from you. You saw Namjoon shake lightly his head and Jin signaling Kook to stop.

Loud cheering made you loose focus over what was ocuring at BTS table. They where the fans shouting from the public areas of the theatre. You quickly turned around to face the JFX table, if the fans noticed what had been occurring between the three of you... you were done. The last thing you wanted was someone filming your expressions, which later would turn into gossip.

“I am Suho from EXO.” Suho, one of the MCs of the awards show greeted from the stage, making you turn your attention towards him. The opening presentation had now ended, and the MCs were snow standing on the stage in line.

“My name is Jimin.” Jimin greeted cutely from the stage, surprising you. You didn’t knew that he would be featured this year as an MC. He was wearing a fitted smoking with mismatched earrings that complimented his killer jawline.

“Welcome everyone to the Jildan Music Awards 2018!” Suho greeted as the lights on the screens along the theatre changed colors. Everyone started clapping, even J.P. who was sitting across you started whistling to Suho.

“This evening we would be counting with presentations from Exid,” Jimin continued as the crowd stopped clapping, however when he had raised his microphone to speak, armys started shouting which made him smile sweetely. As he mentioned Exid, they were shown live on the giant screens across the theatre, and the song they would be performing started playing.

Hani and Jeongwha were sitting next to each other, signaling to their face on the screen, laughing as they noticed they had been captured unknowingly.

“...Black Pink,” Jimin continued as they were consequently shown on the screen. Rose was waving to the camera while Jisoo winked cutely. You turned towards Black Pink’s table, which was next to BTS table, watching as a camera man recorded them closely.

“Oh! Y/N, your hair is tangled with your earring.” Dawon said behind you as you felt a hand gently touch your left ear. You felt Jungkooks gaze on you as you turned away from his direction to Dawon, however you caught the glimpse of a camera man approaching your table.

Wait a second. That meant that-

“..and with the special presentations of BTS and JFX!”. Suho ended elevating a hand on the direction of the biggest screen of the theatre. Even before he could mention the names of the groups the fangirls started shouting loudly.

Shit, shit, shit.

The screen showed both of the two tables, BTS’s and JFX’s, and a very shocked you sitting on JFX’s table. The crowd’s initial cheers suddenly started dying. If the fans had not noticed your presence before, now they did.

You couldn’t imagine of a worse view. You, Jungkook’s supposed girlfriend sitting on his rival group table, and even worse, Dawon, Jungkook’s specific rival immersed detangling your earring, as Jungkook stared at both of you, probably still mad.

You quickly touched Dawon’s arm just as he finished. He looked upwards, smiling at the screen, unobvious of the situation as well as the rest of JFX, which waved at the crowd.

You tried to smile, to try to play along with JFX and not worsen the situation, but the smile on your smile seemed as fake as Jungkook’s devotion to you during your relationship. As you looked around the area where the fans were sitting, you could distinguish a few faces why looked confused and even mad. It wasn’t your imagination right?

Even as you switched your focuses from the fans towards the rest of the tables from the idols and actors your could catch a few of them whispering between them while looking at you. In the end of the rift side you saw Hani from her table, frantically telling you calm down by moving her hands softly, she knew you so well that she already understood how you felt inside you.

This was like an horror movie, where everyone around you didn’t recognize what was occurring and you where alone suffering the judging stares of the public. You didn’t even wanted to turn around to see Jungkook’s expression, that little brat was probably using his baby victim face to gain the favour of the Army’s.

“Un, alright. The first category that we will be presenting is of best trot single of the year.” You heard Jimin say abruptly, just as if he had sensed the situation.

“Y/N, are you okay?” Dawon asked you in a low voice as he leaned towards you. You sighed, composing yourself.

“Dawon, I think all the fans have noticed that I was sitting with your group.” You whispered trying to maintain a calm face, as well as not make obvious to anyone on the seats around you that you were talking with him.

“Oh shit. The producers are going to get mad with us now, we were supposed to be a surprise.” Dawon said nervously. You almost wanted to facepalm yourself, did he really didn’t understand what you were referring to?.

“Dawon I think that the producers really do not care if we are seen together before, if not they wouldn’t have given me a seat next to you.”

“Oh, yes you are right. Sorry I’m just really nervous tonight, but then what do you mean of?” He smiled at you tilting his dead to one side.

“You know that me and Jung-“

Ding.

Ding , Ding, Ding, Ding.

Your cellphone started vibrating on your lap. You quickly mouthed Dawon to wait, as he shifted his attention towards the stage with a nod. Cellphones weren’t allowed at ceremony awards, because of the fans caught an idol looking towards his phone instead of the performance, trouble would rise.

You weren’t an idol, or had a manager that controlled your access to your phone, so you had kept it in your little purse. Bringing your body closer to the table so that people wouldn’t see you looking at your phone, you unblocked it.

Twitter

Jungshokeedbby_21 taggued you on a tweet:

@Y/N are you cheating on Jungkook?

Twitter

Tattae_ftcypher5 and 16 more retweeted Jungkook_unnoficialfam

I always knew that @Y/N was just seeing JK for his fame, and now that she found a perfect dog like Dawon she is going to look more fans from his group. Let’s make all of JFX fans aware of this bitch with #Y/NIsBehindYourBoys

Instagram

7_JiminiJamz sent you a private message:

Weren’t you dating Jungkook Y/N? You are such an opportunist slut.

You felt your body temperature drop. That were only the top notifications, you were sure if you swiped down you would find worse than that. You blocked you phone and quickly hided it in the folding of your skirt. You wanted to make it seem as you had never seen those notifications.

You knew that sooner or later the fans would find out, and their response would not be happy, but you had never imagined that it would be in this unfair way. You had secretly planned to inform the fans about your break up with Jungkook (of course after he acknowledged that you were done, which was meant to happen after both of you talked privately) in a press conference or in a video, where you could minimize the impact towards your public image, of course you wouldn’t tell the true reason, but it was better than the fans finding out due to an expected focusing where you seemed to be the one cheating.

‘Breathe Y/N, breathe.’ You told yourself as you felt your gut contract uncomfortably. The worst thing you could do was to be shown desperate or uncomfortable by the cameras, you could be marked as disrespectful or you knew what else.

“Wooo!” Hawk shouted clapping excitedly as the lights shut down and on the central screen of the theatre appeared the name of the new song of Jessi.

Jessi was standing with a striking pose on a platform that appeared from the floor, just as Hawk was motioning at her like the biggest fan boy ever. This was a great distraction for you, just what you needed to get away from the pressing ache you had on your gut.

The best dropped just as she started twerking and Hawk became mad. A guy that behaves like a bad boy.. but when he sees the girl he likes he is little boy, you couldn’t believe that non kpop idols even were afraid of him.

The camera a focused on him as he sang the fan chant not caring about anything in the world, he was living his life while the rest of JFX seemed ashamed of him. The fans around you erupted in screams due to his reaction. You guessed this was the going to bn the next IT reaction of the year, just as it had been Jungkook’s last year when he sat next to IU.

You smiled to yourself bitterly.

That hideous memory. That little shit. He had al-

A warm hand covered yours which had been fisted without you knowing, bringing you out of your nasty memories. Dawon was giving you the smallest smile ever, as he pointed at a very wild Hawk. It was just as if he had noticed you were having a bad time and he was trying to distract you. And it was working.

‘When they see me, they go

Ah so pretty, ah ah, ah so pretty, ah so pretty, ah so pretty

When they see me, they go

Ah so pretty, ah ah, ah so pretty’

Jessi now was signing her hit song Ssenunni as she began twerking madly. If you thought the first song that she performed was suggestive enough, this was at another level, and Hawk was loving it.

“Ah so pretty, ah ah, ah so pretty” Hawk sang along her, practically eating her with his eyes. He was already standing next to the table gaining most of the attention of the idols around him and Kyle, the leader of JFX was subtly trying to control him from his seat next to him, just as J.P. laughed hysterically along with Go Sun, the diva.

Your hand relaxed over the table, turning and gently locking fingers with the hand over you. A shadow passed over Dawon’s face, the owner of the hand, for a fraction of second before he blushed intensely, keeping his eyes plastered over he presentation, however you knew that it was because of you.

Fuck the fans and media. You were going to live the moment.

“I’m sorry, miss Y/N?” A respectful voice said behind you.

You detangled your hand from Dawon’a and placed it over your skirt. “Yes?”

“You should head towards the backstage, all of the candidates for.. most influential person on the internet” He read the last part from his note board.

“Yeah, sure.” You stood up carefully in the darkness, Jessi was now at almost the last part of the presentation. Dawon gave you his hand gentlemanly so that you could balance yourself standing up. The guy turned on his little flashlight, to guide you over the tables towards the backstage.

“I know you are going to win Y/N, I made everyone vote for you.” Dawon told you in a whisper as you started following the award’s staff guy.

“Let’s hope for the best.”

As you walked through the tables following the staff, you could not longer feel the insecurity you felt when you entered the stadium.

To be continued...

#bts #bts girlfriend #bts imagine #bts jungkook #bts reaction #jeon jungkook #jungkook #bts army #bts au #bts scenario #bts writters #bts abs #bts scenarios #jungkoooookie #bts jungguk #jungkook girlfriend #jungkook scenarios #jungkook abs #jeon jungguk

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fluidityandgiggles · 6 years

Text

Sleep Is For The Weak - Chapter 3

Previous Chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1, Last Chapter

Notes (I guess): This chapter was a nightmare to write but I’m just so happy I finished it. It also touches some subjects that will come up again in the future, for the sake of letting everyone process the events. I’ve experienced grief and it’s going to take a long time before this particular subject could be discussed again. See yourselves warned.

Again, credit to @broadwaytheanimatedseries for screaming at me to write this, and to @whatwashernameagain for Keep Him Safe, and also a tiny tiny lil bit to @anony-phangirl and @asleepybisexual for their general support and for being such great sports about me annoying them with my ideas… (oops).

(I’m trying to find a way to write my notes, so bear with me until I find a way that will stick. This will do for now.)

(KHS) Tag List (sort of): @em-be-lievable, @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2, @adoratato, @supremestoverlord, @royallyanxious, @madly-handsome, @hanramz-the-fander, @the-incedible-sulk, @poisonedapples, @virge-of-a-breakdown, @winglessnymph, @princeanxious, @smokeyrutilequartz, @im-bad-at-life (if any of you could tag the rest, please do! I’m improving my memory from day to day, but… yeah…)

Tag list: @bunny222, @ab-artist, @secretlyanxiouspersona, @your-username-is-unavailable, @virgilcrofters

Trigger warning: period appropriate transphobia (the early 00s were not exactly trans-friendly). This chapter also includes discussion of two rather tragic (in my opinion) real-life events, and very few mentions of food.

—————

"Today, we're going to do things a bit differently."

Saturday, October 12th, 2002

"Raise your hand if the idea of coming out, even if you're already out, terrifies the living hell out of you."

Almost all hands flew up.

"Raise your hand if you understand the dangers of staying closeted too."

Pretty much everyone took their hands down. Only very few stayed.

"Last week," India said after a long breath, "we lost… the community lost one of our own. We… we lost someone to hate crime." She lowered her hand. Remy was almost in pain, seeing her try to talk about it. She called him last night, asking him if it's not going to be too much for him (and if so, she has another thing planned). "Gwen Araujo was seventeen when she died because she was outed as transgender in a party."

"Wasn't this released, like, two days ago?"

"Yes, and that's why I want to talk to you about this. Just… excuse me. I wrote it all down… it’s kind of a tough subject..."

It took India a minute to settle her voice, and another couple seconds to fumble with some papers. "I'll bet you all remember where you were when the World Trade Center fell in September eleventh last year." The room fell into silence. "I'll also bet none of you remember where you were on new year's eve in 1993."

Remy knew exactly where this was going.

"It could be because you were nine years old, which is the case for some of us, or you were already in bed by ten. I know my parents insisted that I'd go to bed by ten that night for a couple reasons. But on December thirty-first, 1993, we lost another member of the community. His story was turned into an Oscar-winning movie, but l can assure you none of you remember where you were when Brandon Teena was murdered for being born a girl."

The chatter was back. Remy could isolate some of the comments. Not most, just some. And it hurt. The ones he managed to isolate were not good, but one was much louder than the other.

"Can you really compare the murder of thousands to the death of just one person?"

"No I can't. But what you fail to realize here is that I'm not comparing anything here. I'm just trying to bring up a subject—"

"And you're using the tragedy of others to—"

"I lost family in September eleventh. I'm well aware of the tragedy. I'm also aware of the fact that transgender people are killed at ridiculous rates and this is something we should discuss!"

The silence after that was incredibly unbearable. India was close to tears, and Remy… as much as he wanted to go hug her, he couldn't.

It was that painful.

"Today's topic was supposed to be discrimination and hate," Remy heard someone shouting into the air - one of the juniors probably. "We do this conversation every year. Please listen to what the poor girl has to say. She's only volunteering to do this, on top of—"

"That's okay, Chris. I don't need an advocate."

It was going to be a long meeting, and Remy was not looking forward to it.

—

"I'm sorry I didn't speak today."

"You did alright. Sometimes doing nothing is a good thing."

India was incredibly frustrated when they finally got to Kirkland House. Remy insisted on going with her, to make sure that nothing else happened. She called him a gentleman for doing that.

It was sweet of her.

She ranted a bit about a guy who lived on the same floor as her (Jared Kushner or something) who was a dick to her and tried flirting with her girlfriend all the time, she told him that she applied to get a master's degree in forensics at Georgetown after graduation, and then they reached Kirkland House.

"You can get back to Harvard Yard from here, right?"

"Of course. Who do you think I am?"

India kissed his cheek and waved goodbye, and went into Kirkland House. And then Remy was alone. Well, not entirely, he still had to go back to Weld Hall and call his dad, but…

He was alone.

The yard wasn't as crowded as it was earlier and the weather was cooling down considerably, the leaves were changing… Harvard Yard was a beautiful place in the fall, Remy learned quickly enough.

He had very little time to process his thoughts when he was almost tackled to the ground by a tiny blonde kid almost running in the direction of the exit. Aka, the main road.

"How is it that when we're outside of class we keep running into each other in the weirdest ways?"

"That's less weird than how my grandparents met," Emile said, breathless.

"Not what I said, babe."

"No, really! My grandpa was coming back to Amsterdam from London just as my grandma was on her way to London straight out of Auschwitz, and—"

"Can we keep this story for another time?"

"...sure." Emile gave Remy a half-smile. "So… I kinda have to go to Party City. I need to stock up for Halloween."

"Didn't you go there two weeks ago?"

"Yes, but they didn't have this one thing I really needed, and I kinda forgot a couple other things, so they told me they'd call when they got that thing they didn't have, so I'm going to pick it up!" He was… incredibly jumpy today. It was rather endearing. "You wanna come? We can go get pizza."

"What thing are you missing, exactly?"

"A wig! I'm gonna be Kim Possible."

He was so excited… Remy started feeling bad for being this confused.

"...what?"

"Kim Possible! Don't you— you know what, it's okay if you don't know. It only came out in June anyway." The half-smile turned into a full, bright one. He was adorable. "So, you wanna come with me?"

...well, he had nothing better to do for now.

"Sure, sunshine. But I need to get my wallet and phone first."

"Yay! Anyway, so Kim Possible is this show, it's on the Disney Channel but trust me it's not that bad… "

—

Emile was growing on Remy more and more each day. And… he may have started getting interested in Kim Possible after going out for pizza with him. The never ending energy was growing on him in a way. It was impossible not to like his enthusiasm, and…

Yeah, he was starting to grow on Remy.

"So, now, lucky that I'm vegetarian, right?" Emile said as he took his third slice of pizza. "So at least I have some sort of excuse, at least according to my aunt, but we just keep having to explain to them what kosher means and—"

"Are we still talking about your sister, Emile?"

"What?"

"We were talking about your sister and then you started talking about… well…"

"Oh! Yeah, sorry!"

"Please stop apologizing. You're not doing anything wrong."

"Right. Umm… so… Doctor Gilliam suggested I might want to get evaluated at the psych clinic sometime soon," Emile mumbled, straightening his glasses. Slightly more closed off. Making Remy feel real guilty. "I don't… I don't know why, but he said I might want to."

"And you're just gonna take him up on that?"

"Yeah? No? I don't know. I'm only sixteen, honestly, I'm gonna have to talk to my parents about this."

Sixteen?!

"Yeah, I thought I told you!"

...shit. He spoke out loud. Shit.

"I'll be seventeen in December. But… never mind. Do you think I should listen to him? About the evaluation?"

"I have, like… no idea."

The way back to Cambridge was full of even more chatter about everything and nothing, and Remy couldn't put in a word. Not that it mattered anyway. Emile was interesting.

Remy gave his input whenever he could, but he would much rather listen to Emile talk. He had an adorable voice

—

"You didn't call me last week, kiddo. Found yourself a guy?"

"Dad, please…"

"Do you think you're going to take her up on that offer?"

"Dad, daddy, papa, David, any normal person when answering the phone would ask how are you doing. Not if you hooked up with a guy or if you're going to babysit your sisters who you've never met just because your bitch of a woman who birthed you asked you to."

"When have we ever done anything normal, Remy?"

"Well… true. But no, I'm not going to take her up on that offer. I don't really care, to be honest."

"They're your sisters."

"And so is India but you don't see me trying to—"

"You haven't told me much about her, kid."

"Well… she's not doing okay lately. Did you see the news? About that girl in California?"

"Edward Araujo?"

"Gwen."

"Right. Sorry. It's just… the news."

"It's okay. But… India is losing it over this case. And honestly… I get her. It's terrifying to see someone of your kin just…"

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. But really, did you hook up with anyone?"

"Nah. Dad, I'm eighteen. I'm not you."

"Hey, your mom got pregnant with you because of this one time when we were seniors when she had an empty house this one week in December and threw away my condoms when I tried to—"

"Dad, that's disgusting and please don't bring this up ever again."

"Got it. But anyway?"

"...there's a guy in my major, his name is Emile—"

"You gonna ask him out?"

"Dad, no! He's sixteen."

"And he's a psychology major?!"

"I asked myself the same question. But yes. He is."

"Well, I mean… he's within the appropriate age range for you. I guess."

"...what is it about I don't want a relationship at this stage of my life didn't you hear?"

"You're eighteen, Remy! One day you're gonna find someone and—"

"That's the thing. I'm eighteen. I have many more years ahead of me."

"Okay. Whatever you say. Any other boys I should know about? Girls, too, if you're into them now?"

"Just… this one guy. His name is Chris, he's a bit older… I don't know. Should I really be talking to you about this? You're my dad!"

"Am I not allowed to be interested in my son's love life anymore?"

"You weren't this interested in it when I was in high school."

A long sigh. "Remy…"

"I know you're worried, Dad. Believe me, I do. But I'm doing just fine! Rashida has dance parties every Wednesday for some reason so we bond over that, Lucy is basically just my map to going everywhere, we haven't hung out that much, Sammy is being a cutie all the time and Katherine is obsessed with everything. She really likes Emile's bunny for some reason and keeps talking about how her niece and nephew would absolutely love it. Her niece is two years old! I just…"

"Sounds to me like you're making friends."

"Well… yesterday I went with Emile to Party City. I don't know what I'm doing for Halloween this year, but…"

"What was that you just said?"

"If all goes right, I'll be Jack Skellington. But I don't have a backup."

"What would you need a backup for? You'll do great!"

"So, how's your girlfriend?"

"Eh, I don't know. Elaine isn't… that… you know."

"I'm sure she's absolutely lovely."

"Yeah, so was I. Can't wait for you to meet her."

"Can't wait either."

"...are you sure you don't want to babysit Linda's girls?"

"Dad!"

"Just asking!"

#kylo cant write #sanders sides #remy/sleep #emile picani #keep him safe #sleep is for the weak #the remy centric prequel #tw: period appropriate transphobia #tw: food mention #tw: mentions of (real life) murder

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percontaion-points · 2 years

Text

A Four Letter Word chapters 2 & 3

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Chapter 2

She did, however, meet the requirements—blonde, leggy, beautiful, and smart—but has zero sense of humor, and her personality didn't shine. Evan needs the exact

opposite of Amanda; someone who is funny like him and shines like he does.

Hey hey hey... no. We don't trash on other women just to make yourself look better in comparison.

I grab my winter coat and my purse. "Yep, let's go." I’m as ready as I’m going to be.

Chapter 2 summary: They leave the sexy costume shop and go to Dave & Busters (an arcade that sells mid-scale quality food, but also has a bar, so it's for sure a more mature place than a place like Chuck E Cheese). Evan perks up a little bit now that he's no longer being tortured into wearing a literal loincloth. Zoey thinks that it's weird at how self-conscious he is over the entire thing, and thinks that he should be on the cover of a magazine... but ignoring the fact that it's psychological about not wanting to be mostly naked in front of strangers.

She goes on for a while about how when they were in high school, she always felt like she was in Evan's shadow. But when they got to college and were in different classes, she had her chance to shine. And holy fucking shit, nobody cares.

Later, Zoey's friend Ashlee does her hair. Zoey complains that Jane would not have had access to a curling iron in the jungle, but Ahslee insists that she's doing her to look like the female lead in “One Million Years BC”. Also, Ashlee's costume is “sexy cowgirl”, if anybody gives a shit. (I don't.)

Chapter 3

Although Ashlee is a one-man woman, and right now her one man is Jim. The two of them have been going out for a few months now. But as we continue to make our way through the busy streets, she surprises the shit out of me when I ask her if Jim is meeting us there as well. She matter-of-factly states that they have broken up. It is a complete surprise and news to me. When I ask her why, Ashlee simply says he wasn't her soul mate. She just knew he wasn't the one. She will find her soul mate soon, she promises.

At this point, so long as we don't have a repeat of the shitty best friend who continuously tries to undermine the main character's love life for her own shitty gain... We're good.

I don't care about any of this, but still. This is passing that particular bar.

"Ooooo, someone already knows about butt squeezes." Then the bee smacks my ass.

Quick question: would any of you slap the butt of a person that you literally just met not even two seconds ago?

“Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmm, aren't they just delicious?"

[Image description: Kristen Wiig on Saturday Night Live, wearing a bad blonde wig and a baby pink top. She has a look of absolute shock, disgust, and horror on her face. Image is captioned with “I had to read this and so do you”.]

"When your monkey's giving you a 'hard' time, do you spank it, or can I spank your monkey for you?"

[Image description: Emma Stone with her red hair in a ponytail and a ribbon in it, while wearing a yellow shirt. She has a look of disgust and horror on her face. Image is captioned with “I had to read this and so do you”.]

Her eyes finally blink, and then four words come out of her mouth. "Found my soul mate."

My eyes travel the expanse of the room and zone in on what or who she's looking at, and that's when I see a very gorgeous blonde cowboy.

I'm all for absurd meet-cutes, but not only deciding to date somebody simply because they're wearing the same kind of costume as you are, but also deciding that you guys must be SOUL MATES is beyond weird and shallow.

I look up at Evan and he smiles back. Yep, I believe in soul mates.

Chapter 3 summary: Ashlee and Zoey walk to the party, and as they go, Ashlee gives a last-minute warning about the party hosts, Geoffrey and Patrick. Inside the apartment, Geoffrey shows up and he basically... “gays all over the place” is a phrase that pops into mind. (My phrase, not the books.) Like everything else in the book, this takes up way too much time, is cringe inducing, and after about two paragraphs of this, I started skimming and searching for the actual plot. Patrick, his boyfriend/husband shows up and the two of them basically start dry-humping in front of everybody, which only just makes it worse.

Evan shows up with his brother, Brett, and Brett's girlfriend, Nina. Brett and Nina are “doctor” and “sexy nurse”, as if the book needed to highlight the disparity between men's and women's costumes. Anyway, Brett makes a fuss over the literal lingerie Zoey is wearing, which is fair.

But then everybody suddenly leaves for various reasons, and Zoey is left alone with Evan. Since Ashlee had run off with the cowboy, and had called him her “soul mate”, Evan asks if Zoey believes in soul mates. She scoffs over the idea, but inwardly thinks that Evan is hers.

#A Four Letter Word #chapter 02 #chapter 03 #Zoey (A4LW)#Evan (A4LW)#shitty women are shitty #can we not #Ashlee (A4LW)#what the fuck #i had to read this and so do you #I would ask where the editor was but I think we all know there was none

0 notes

relaxandlaughatyourself · 6 years

Photo

Recap of Ika’s IG Lives July 20, 2018.

She did two lives (the first one paused and ended) totaling about an hour and a half.

She has a meeting today and is getting ready. She did ger her phone fixed so she can do lives again. She notes that she feels rusty because she hasn’t done a live in so long.

She thanks everyone so much for supporting the youtube channel, she can’t believe how much it’s growing.

At her meeting today she’s going to be doing videos and pics today so she needs to look good. She has some cool stuff coming up, “I’m designing…something lol”

She really doesn’t like her brows and is trying to make the microblading go away; she says her brows remind her of Super Mario.

Dem is posting the youtube video tomorrow, and she is scared. She usually edits the videos but Dem is doing it tomorrow. She says we won’t believe what he did to her. He won’t let her watch it, he told her she can watch it with the rest of us. Whenever she edits, she edits and then Dem oversees it and makes some changes; they usually watch them together before they’re posted.

That was her last skin treatment the other day.

She rants a bit about her skin (body skin, she loves her face) and how it’s always dry and how she’s gotten irritation lately. Notes that Dem’s skin is completely flawless and it drives her crazy. “I like Demetres’ body skin. He has such nice body skin.”

Swaggy is in the live (driving and watching), and Ika says she likes him, it sucks he left. She adds him but we couldn’t hear him. Ika says if Swaggy didn’t go early, he would have went far.

She caught up on BB this morning and saw Winston go home. She said that she wouldn’t be too public about her like and dislike for people this year on bb20, but she still has the people she likes and dislikes. She tries to be neutral.

Ika does note that her and Dem got a place in Tornoto, but he has a few deals to close in Edmonton, so he’ll be there for the rest of the month and they have a wedding there in early August so she’s going there early August (not their wedding lol) then there’s another wedding at the end of August so she’ll be there then too.

Someone commented about how she said once they’ll get married in secret. She said that when her and Dem get married they won’t tell anyone “we’ll be married and be like ‘two years ago we got married’”. And it would be a very small wedding. “Probably Karen and Bruce and that’s about it; they’ll be the witnesses.” It would be a small, private one.

Someone asks what’s the point of getting married if no one knows? “It’s for us. We were just talking about this and marriage is now about the wedding. We’re not getting married for centerpieces and flowers.” They should get married because they love each other. They’re not getting married for anyone else, to show off, they’re getting married for themselves.

She says she feels comfortable with BB fans, but with youtube, she feels weird with them. Someone asked if she was Ika from youtube and it was weird. She feels that BB fans know her, know her personality, etc. Youtube is different. People are asking about her real hair and if she always wears makeup, and she’s not as comfortable with it yet.

She takes rude comments on youtube differently than other platforms; it’s easier for her to brush off because the person’s thoughts on her is because of that one video and she knows what they’re saying isn’t true. People aren’t forced to watch the video and leave a comment, whereas they have to watch her on BB because they’re watching for other people. She doesn’t fault the BB fans because they had to watch her. She also notes that on youtube they get a lot more love on youtube than hate. BB fans have a pretty good idea of how she is because they watched her on live feeds and the show, it’s different than youtube fans, and because of that she feels more comfortable with BB fans.

They never expected to have this many subscribers. They waited a year to start it because their relationship comes first, everything else is secondary. They wanted to make sure they were solid before they do anything as a couple.

They knew they’d have our support, but they didn’t expect to get people who didn’t know them. The video that got them a lot of the subscribers is the three rules video, which they didn’t think would do well. It’s the most fun they’ve ever had filming and for some reason they thought it would be the least successful. They filmed a video filming the hair that they unboxed on youtube. After they filmed that video, Dem suggested filming the rules because he had to learn them and they ran with it.

It paused and ended, then she started another live.

Dem will have her looking crazy if he does her makeup, someone suggested that.

Divas Wigs sent her six boxes of wigs. She’s thinking that her and Dem should do a “Boyfriend rate my wig” video. There’s a blue one, a blonde one, a kinky one, an ombre one, one with bangs. Dem hasn’t seen them and she thinks doing a video where he sees them for the first time.

Divas Wigs are expensive and she remembers first watching them on youtube when she first started wanting to wear wigs; she reached out to them to ask if they would send her one and they did. She loves their wigs so much. Ninety percent of her Dem and her’s inbox for business inquiries is filled with hair companies offering to pay them to do reviews. They thought it was so cool and she decided to work with two other companies and they sent her wigs, but they decided not to do the review because the wigs weren’t good, she’d rather lose out on the money; they do not even compare to Divas Wigs. RPGShow also sent her stuff and she didn’t like that particular wig, it didn’t fit right. She reached out to Divas Wigs again, and they sent another (they let her choose the wigs, the six they sent she did choose them because she wanted different ones). She would love if they would pay her to promote the wigs as they’re her favorite.

She got her phone upgraded but she might have to take it back cause she thinks they gave her one with less storage.

Dem said they should do a giveaway and he said they should giveaway the wigs because they get so many offers. They’re trying to think of a cool giveaway. She’s thinking maybe her skincare stuff too because people are always talking about that; she’s in talks for that.

She says that she has hung out with Erica twice, it was genuine and good conversation; they just didn’t post on social media.

Ika says that on youtube, 22 percent or so are Canadian and the majority of subscribers are American. Whenever she sees a Jamaican person or Canadian person comment she gets so excited.

Mentions a vlog will be up tomorrow. They’re trying to post on Saturdays. Ika says again how she’s so nervous for the video and she doesn’t know why she agreed to it.

She says she very reluctant to doing The Amazing Race because it’s so hard.

Ika says she feels as though she’s chill, when people meet her in real life who know her they are almost scared of her because she is so calm and chill. People always seem to think that she’s going to yell at them or go off. “Dem is always like ‘yeah… she doesn’t yell lol.’” Ika says she’s quiet when first meeting people and people are always side-eyeing it. Her and Dem always talk about that, how she’s not as loud and crazy as people think. But she can’t control her facial expressions.

She says she will hold a grudge for Demetres, even if he has gotten over it. He had someone who did something to him, “who does something to him, he’s the nicest person.” They apologized and wanted to be cool again. This was last year in Edson. They showed up to visit, and Ika barely said hi to them and then she went inside to watch TV and left them outside; she acted uninterested. Dem came inside to get beers and he picked up the kind that he likes and Ika told him to put it back, the other person can drink the cheap kind. A year later Dem messaged her that he’s going somewhere with this person and Ika got quiet… the person was with Dem and said hi to her through the phone and Dem told this person that Ika said hi and she didn’t lol. A year later Ika doesn’t like this person and she doesn’t care if Dem forgave the person, she does not. Dem also called her and said a couple guys were staying over at his place and she asked who and he named three people “that’s a few people, you said a couple, there’s not room for that other person.” She did like the person before she met them, Dem had told her about him, but after the show “he really tried my boyfriend” and she won’t forgive him.

Someone was dead wrong to both her and Dem, and Dem forgave the person, and Ika is being cordial, but no. Dem wants Ika to like the person so he tells her that the person asked about her and was complimenting her, essentially telling her the person changed but she doesn’t buy it.

Ika says that someone has to really show their ass for this to happen, not everything is unforgivable. If it came from a deep-rooted place that is the issue, if it was not malicious or was a one-time thing, it’s fine. If it’s revealed that this person has been feeling some way for a long time but has been essentially faking it, no. It’s hard for her to like people how she liked them before if something like that happens; Dem will forgive. “I am not going to risk getting laugh lines for you. They are reserved for my boyfriend, my kids, you guys, my friends.” She’s not going to risk getting any lines, her face will be stone with most people and things. When she explains these things to Dem he says she’s nuts and crazy. “I’m nuts and crazy and well preserved.”

She says she has to go, and she wouldn't be surprised if Dem is secretly watching the live

#ig live

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ladyquinzy · 7 years

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Exclusive: A Behind-the-Scenes First Look at Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern in JT Leroy

When Savannah Knoop offered the director Justin Kelly the rights to her 2008 memoir Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy, it began a nearly decade-long development process to bring the story to the screen. The film chronicles Knoop's experience as she became swept up playing the mysterious alter ego JT Leroy, who was created by her sister-in-law, the San Francisco-based writer Laura Albert. In public, Knoop embodied the elusive gender-fluid teenage author who became a national phenomenon in the early aughts. Eventually, Kristen Stewart signed on to play Knoop, and Laura Dern took the buzzed-about role of Albert.The story of JT Leroy is a saga worthy of the screen, and is one that still lives in infamy. Also the subject of last year’s documentary Author: The JT Leroy Story, the adventure began with an unknown writer called Terminator, whose acclaim in underground lit circles caused him to spiral into a fever dream of cult celebrity status. Revealed to be Jeremiah “Terminator” LeRoy (JT for short), the writer published a series of acclaimed magic-realist books chronicling his experiences as a queer, gender-fluid teenager, raised in rural West Virginia by his prostitute mother. Celebrities and the media devoured the novels, Sarah (1999), The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (1999), and Harold’s End(2005). Fashion and Hollywood became obsessed with the elusive author, who often appeared at photoshoots and events in a blonde wig, sunglasses, and black hat, hobnobbing with everybody from Winona Ryder to Asia Argento, Courtney Love, and Bono. But it was all a lie. Albert was behind the persona of JT, authoring the books and posing as him on phone calls and emails; Knoop became the public face, putting a person to the name for cameras and public audiences, while Albert tagged along as a brash, British woman named “Speedie.” When an explosive New York Magazine piece outed the two of them, Albert’s literary world came crashing down, and Knoop was left to pick up the pieces.Now, with the film freshly wrapped, Kelly and Knoop (who co-wrote the film) are offering W an exclusive first look at Kristen Stewart in character as both Savannah and JT, and Laura Dern as Laura Albert. They also hopped on the phone to discuss working with the two A-list actresses, perfecting characterization through wardrobe and hair, and privacy and identity in a post-JT Leroy world.

You’ve been working on this project for a very long time. How does it feel to be on your last day of production?

Justin Kelly: It feels amazing. Savannah and I started working together in late 2009. We’ve been writing, rewriting, developing and getting it off the ground for so many years that it feels amazing. It’s wild.

Savannah Knoop: And it feels like it took as long as it needed to take. We just kept writing and working and thinking about it until it was time to go.

I know the casting process was a big element in getting the film made. Laura Albert, for those who know her, is kind of a larger-than-life character. And with Savannah, you’re casting yourself, which is also daunting. How did you end up with Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart in these lead roles?

Knoop: We’ve always had Laura Dern in our earliest preconceptions of the character. Images of her were actually even in our first lookbook.

Kelly: She’s obviously a genius, and it was very surreal that we were lucky enough to get to work with her. She got the layers of the part in a way we didn’t expect, and it became very exciting. I think people are going to be enamored at the complexity of her performance as this eccentric genius.

Knoop: And she plays it with so much heart. Laura [Albert] is so dynamic and complicated as a character. It was always about merging her interior sense of self and her public sense of self. It felt like this total gift, because she could flip so fast into these different parts of the character. She’s a master of improv, which felt essential to capturing the essence of Laura Albert. One of the things that’s key to the character is how funny she is, and Laura Dern is hysterically funny. And when it came to Kristen, I didn’t have any preconceptions about who was going to play me. I didn’t have any idea. It’s a queer coming-of-age story, which is different from an ingenue coming-of-age. The character is a mix of being in control of her destiny, and letting life take her where it may. It felt exciting to think of Kristen playing the role because it felt like she could identify emotionally with that.

Kelly: I first met with Kristen about two years ago, and she really truly understood the material. She asked a lot of questions I hadn’t even thought about. The nuances that she brings to this character are really incredible—it’s almost hard to talk about. She’s such a precise, detail-oriented actor, and she never stopped getting to know the character, just like you never stop getting to know a person.

In a way, both Laura and Savannah are shapeshifters. So you have actors playing characters but then the characters are also playing characters.

Kelly: Right, you constantly have Laura Albert switching between playing a 20-year-old West Virginian gender-fluid person on the phone and this loud British woman, “Speedie”, in person. Laura Dern had to navigate those three roles.

Knoop: And, for both “JT” and “Savannah”, Kristen really embodied her research into the dual characters. She’s a master at copying gesture—she would do this mouth thing, and I was like, “That’s me!”

Kelly: We got to do a bunch of test shoots, and Kristen worked on this very particular kind of smile that Savannah does herself, but which becomes more exaggerated when Savannah is dressed up as JT. I remember sending a photo of that moment to Gus Van Sant, because he had met Savannah as JT, and he couldn’t believe that it was Kristen. He was like, “That is Savannah, you’re playing a joke on me.” So I was like, “Oh my god, we’re doing something right!”

Knoop: One thing I didn’t think about until we were watching it was that it played almost like a fairy tale. To see JT and Speedie traveling through airports, these freaky people—their looks are so maximal. You enter this world where these people are their superhero personas; their secret selves, but in public.

Kelly: Totally! And for me, it was the first film I’ve done where we had the time to develop their looks with hair, makeup, and wardrobe ahead of time. They both have these very iconic personas that involve lots of wigs and disguises. It was pretty exciting to build these characters with them.

Knoop: And the looks are key because they change the way the characters were behaving and moving. What you put on makes you feel differently, act differently, and relate to the world differently.

In these behind-the-scenes images, you can see Kristen Stewart going through so many hair phases as Savannah. Was it weird to relive your own haircut history?

Knoop: She was a hair-hopper! That was one of the initial grounding points for her character.

Kelly: Kristen has about five hair looks in the movie, because Savannah was in her twenties, a young queer finding themselves. And Laura Dern has six wigs for Speedie. If you Google Image search any of it from that time, it really was that extreme. The crew members would go, “How did anyone believe this?”

Last year, the documentary Author: The JT Leroy Story came out. Watching it and looking back on Speedie and JT, they look like such criminals. If you encountered them, you would probably know right away they were up to something.

Knoop: That was always a huge part of the original JT mystique. It was an Emperor’s New Clothing sort of a thing. The more excessive of a disguise, the better.

Kelly: We did think about doing a softer version of the looks to make it more believable, but decided to go for it. And a lot of them are completely emulating the original ones. This is a project where wardrobe, hair, and makeup really got to use all of their talents and creativity.

Savannah, as a writer and producer on the movie, it must have been really uncanny to watch actors re-enact things that actually happened to you. Did you ever feel like you were experiencing déjà vu?

Knoop: Yeah, I did! It’s intense. In a way, the project was an exercise in taking something you remember and layering it over, and over, and over. The only thing I can think to compare it to is where you look at a photograph and the photograph becomes the access point to your memory. In making this movie it’s like a snowstorm of transposing memories over each other. And a movie is a more compressed version, so you’re trying to find the emotional arc through all of the noise.

Now that shooting is almost over, how do you feel this movie takes that time in your life and relates to our current moment, in regard to identity?

Knoop: I think we are in a different moment culturally now than when it all happened. Language is shifting and the conversation is becoming wider and more complex. It is a queer story. It is multilayered.

Kelly: Agreed. In the eight years that we have been working on this, ideas of gender and queerness have shifted in a way that we weren’t even totally aware of. For example, Laura or Kristen would be talking about JT and say, “He’s not confused about his gender, he just likes to play with gender.” When your two lead actors understand that, and you realize your audience will understand that as well, it totally changes how the story could be heard and felt.

Knoop: We’re trying to be honest to what the story is about, which is the messiness of intimacy. It’s about how you can get so close to somebody and it becomes so complicated, you know? It’s about queering relationships and it’s not necessarily about tagging an identity. It’s about identity being fluid and how that works within all human relationships.

Originally posted by https://www.wmagazine.com/story/jt-leroy-movie-kristen-stewart-laura-dern-exclusive-first-pictures

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mr-free-spirit · 7 years

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A special for "Bowser Day 2017"

NOTE: this is an update of the same post made the previous day with various typos corrected in my spare time. It was pointed out yesterday in a private message that apparently yesterday’s particular date is known as “Bowser Day”. It was explained to me what Bowser Day is. This is news to me, lol! But I thought of something - since yesterday was apparently Bowser Day, I’ve decided to share something special on here. I was originally going to share this yesterday on the day itself, but I’m afraid I just wasn’t able to due to my busy schedule. So here it is today instead. ;) The following is an actual planned future portion of my “Long-Haired Luigi” comic strip that I haven’t drawn yet. I’m going to give you guys a “sneak peek” by sharing it in story form (it will, of course, be completely illustrated for the comic strip far later down the road). And, of course, it stars Bowser. Thise of you familiar with kitchy, spoofy sixties movies might recognize what this whole bit is aping… but even if you don’t get the joke, I hope all of you observing Bowser Day still enjoy it! ;D (P.S. I don’t have time for my best writing or correcting typos, so please excuse any you find.) - Cackletta, of course, cackled at her remarkably excellent fortune. Here, plotting away in her new hideout as she gloated, she would not only get to take over The Mushroom Kingdom, but this new land called California as well. She entered the automatic door to her main chamber, where some of her assistants were busy overseeing a large metal, tablelike disc with only a single centered leg below to support it off the floor. On top of the huge disc lay Bowser. Lying on his back spread-eagled, his shell removed and stored only heaven knew where, his wrists and ankles bound to the disc’s surface by solid metal bands, and looking pissed as all get out, Bowser was the very picture of outrage. “Leave us!” Cackletta commanded her servants, who all obediently took their leave, leaving the vile witch alone with her captive. Bowser could barely contain himself. “ALLLLL-right, I DEMAND to know, just WHAT is the MEANING of this… this… STUNT???!” he bellowed at her. “WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS TO ME???” Cackletta approached the side of his disc and explained gleefully, her voice rising more and more with ridiculous overenthusiasm, “Simple! Out of all the villains, YOU are EASILY the most desirable, and *I* have a HUGE ***CRUSH*** ON YOOOOU!!!” as she placed her face cheek to cheek with his, beaming a ridiculous toothy smile. This instantly caused Bowser to wince, his nose wrinkling as he sarcastically remarked while rolling his eyes away from her direction, “Oh GOODY. Lucky me.” Cackletta leaned up, giggling. “Oh, come now, don’t be like that!” she playfully scolded him in what was obviously intended to be in a cutesy fashion. “Why, you should be HONOURED to know that you have been chosen by the future ruler of this present existence!” Glaring at her, Bowser asked as calmly as he could, “And is this what you ALWAYS do to every single guy who catches your eye?” “Yes, of course! I strip them naked, then tie them up!!!” “Classy.” “Yes, isn’t it?” areed Cackletta enthusiastically, completely missing Bowser’s irony. “So FAR much more adventurous than ANYTHING that Princess Peach would do! Plus I outmatch her AND her appearance ANY day!” At that point Bowser couldn’t help himself. He simply started laughing. Cackletta suddenly stopped short. “And just what the heck are you laughing at?” Bowser giggled, “Oh nothing, I was just wondering, have you SEEN yourself in the mirror, lately?” Cackletta crossed her arms. “And just what is THAT supposed to mean?” “Well, you should. You’re a pathetic, weird, ridiculous, insignificant little excuse for a monster, that’s all!” “Are you saying that you actually find that blonde airheaded goody-goofy more attractive than I am?” “Who, Peach?” Bowser's eyes couldn’t helped glazing over at the mere thought of his beloved. “She’s a REAL woman, the cutest chick in town! I mean WOW, is she hot or WHAT?” Cackletta scoffed at the idea. “Hmpf! WELL, for your information, anything SHE can do, *I* can do better!!!” She immediately stormed over to what appeared to be some kind of karaoke machine. Bowser’s eyes widened in alarm, “Oh gods NO, PLEASE don’t tell me you’re gonna—!!!” But it was too late. Cacklette spent the next few minutes torturing Bowser with a screechingly atrocious performance of Madonna’s “Like A Virgin”. This has all got to be a bad dream, Bowser couldn’t help hoping to himself. Nothing exists that could torture a prisoner more than what he was being put through. Nothing! Cackletta then overenthusiastically rushed over to the object of her desire for his personal evaluation. “WELL???" Bowser eyed her. “Trust me. You don’t want my honest opinion.” “Too overwhelmed with desire for words, huh?” She started seductively playing with his hair, an action which annoyed Bowser to no end. “Well of course, that NOW means that it’s time for YOU to sing a song for ME!” Bowser turned green with nausea. “Does it, now.” “But of COURSE!!!” she cooed. “Even *I* know by now what a lovely, golden bass tone you have!” “Thrillsville.” “Come on, let’s have it!” “And if I don’t?" “Well then, in THAT case…” Cackletta cackled evilly, “…I’ll ZAP you and turn you into a PREGNANT FEMALE!” Bowser’s eyes grew wide with terror for the first time. He started to sweat nervously. “If… if I do, will you keep quiet?” “But of COURSE!” Bowser cleared his throat the best he could. Then, trying to ignore the ludicrousness of attempting to sing while held prisoner strapped to a giant metal disc table by a drooling witch, he began singing the best he could under such stressful circumstances in his best seductive tone Dusty Springfield’s “The Look of Love”. It wouldn’t have been quite so bad, actually, if it were not for the fact that Cackletta was insisting on swinging and swaying all over the place to every single note he sang — and at one pointed when he reached the words, “I can hardly wait to hold you, feel my arms around you…”, he nearly gagged and puked when she suddenly flung her arms around his head and shoulders, pressing his cheek to hers with her eyes beaming sideways at him. There MUST be some way out of this mess, Bowser thought to himself. I’ve GOT to get out of here to warn Luigi and the girls! _ Meanwhile, back in the lounge as the suspicious looking suit-clad fellow was sitting at his table… Luigi admired Princess Peach’s remarkably convincing costume; an outlandish ‘60s-esque frock topped with an enormous black chiffon wig. "You’re pretending to be an enemy spy is a stroke of genius, Peach, but… are you sure you’re acting chops are up to the job?” “Don’t worry,” she assured the others. “I was once considered one of the tops in acting plays in my college years. I can’t see this as being any different.” “Sure hope you’re right,” said Daisy. “But just remember; anything go wrong, call the calvary and we come charging in.” “You got it.” And with that, Peach was off on her way out into the heart of the lounge, walking as seductively as she could manage. “If she can only just get him to spill the beans long enough to find out what’s going on here… and who’s got Bowser…” Daisy muttered, her teeth clenching. “I hate to say this, but it makes me mad enough that I almost wish that I had the nerve to go rushing in there, just twist the guy’s arm and get it out of him myself.” “I don’t blame you, Daisy,” Luigi replied softly. “But let’s stay low for now. We don’t want to cause any more commotion we don’t have to if we can help it.” The odd, suspicious-looking fellow suddenly jolted upward with delighted shock at the sight of the costumed Princess Peach approaching him. “Well, well, WELL! And just who do I have the present pleasure of meeting?” he inquired of her. Peach flicked little sides of her wig as she spoke with the purring voice of a foreign seductive temptress. “My name is Casino Royale.” - Meanwhile, back with poor Bowser… “OK! THERE! I sang your song, you happy now?” “Oh yes, most definitely!” Cackletta cooed, “and now I can begin discussing with you my plans for world domination!” “Hey, wait a sec! You said you’d stay quiet if I sang you a song!” “But I DID stay quiet!” she replied gleefully. “Sing another one and I’ll be quiet again!” Bowser groaned, straining not to sound too exasperated. “And while I’m at it,” she added as she strolled over to a small display table, “let me demonstrate to you another example of my brilliance! Peach could NEVER top THIS!” She held high what appeared to be a tiny round pill. Bowser raised an eyebrow. “And just what is that supposed to be?” “ONLY the most brilliant secret weapon anyone has ever concocted! It looks like an aspirin. It tastes like an aspirin. But it isn’t an aspirin.” “It’s your birth control?” Bowser asked hopefully. “Don’t be funny. I’m deathly serious. The moment an unsuspecting dupe swallows this pill, it sets off a chain reaction within their genetic makeup, immediately causing exactly 1,000,000 cells within their body to each become ultrapowerful explosives, transforming the victim into a walking bomb. One by one, each little bomb will explode within their body, and once they are all detonated, the worst sort of explosion will occur, enough to level a mountain!” She smiled triumphantly at the very thought, adding, “It is also spell resistant, potion resistant, cure resistant, antidote resistant to anything and everything, making it absolutely FOOLPROOF!” “WHOA. That’s… pretty devious,” Bowser was forced to admirably admit. It also gave him an idea. “Isn’t it, though? I plan on creating several of them in order to easily do away with all of my enemies in my quest to rule all the lands,” she explained as she walked over behind Bowser’s shoulders, gently placing her long, thorny fingers upon them strokingly. “How would you like to rule by my side?” Bowser did his best to look devious, just like he did in the old days. “Why not?” “What do you mean, 'why not’? You have all of my brilliance and infallible plans right here at your disposal with me. Unless, of course…” she looked with mock concern into his face, “… you simply no longer have the stomach for it.” “Oh, I don’t know,” Bowser lied. He was positive that he sounded convincing; after all, he used to lie quite masterfully all the time way back when. “I think I’m beginning to feel a few… TWITCHES of good old-fashioned EVIL stirring inside of me… you’re simply TOO vile a partner for me to resist and pass up!” “Now you’re talking, Bowser!” Cackletta then strolled over to some sort of large storage closet, opened it, retrieved Bowser’s shell, and carried it over to him. “Here,” she said, resting it leaning against the edge of the disc. “Slip into this.” Bowser’s eyes lit up. “You mean—?” “I do!” she said as she proceeded to start unfastening the koopa king’s bonds. “Oh, WOW, thank you!” he practically yelped in relief, partially due to his being set free, but also to sound convincingly submissive. Once he was able to stand up, he picked up his shell, holding it in front of himself. “Just turn around a second, willya? I’m kinda shy.” “But of course, DAAAH-ling,” she twittered as she turned her back to him. “But hurry! Time is of the utmost essence!" Bowser watched her carefully to be certain she wasn’t looking, then quietly snatched up the pill before putting his shell back on. “Ah! MUCH better!” he breathed in relief. She turned back around, “AAAH, I trust you are now comfortable again! Now we must be off - but first, a TOAST!” She produced a bottle of some strangely evil-looking champagne along with two equally evil-looking champagne glasses with evil-looking sharply crooked stems. Enthusiastically, she filled both, then turned and handed one to Bowser. “Ah, so evil in every way! I always adore an evil dame!” Bowser snarled in pretend swooning as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, all the while managing to secretly plop the pill into the witch’s glass. When he finally released her, she breathed, “Aaaah, this is going to be SO delightful!” She picked up her own glass, clinked it to his, and they both drank deeply. After swallowing, she announced triumphantly, “To my absolute brilliance!” Bowser smirked at her. “AAAAAND you’re VERY special, absolutely BRILLIANT pill!” Cackletta frowned at him. “What are you talking about?” Bowser mimicked her voice sarcastically with, “'It LOOKS like an aspirin, it TASTES like an aspirin, but it ISN’T an aspirin!!!’” He then pointed at her with each following word while beaming openmouthed at her mockingly, “And YOU! JUST! ***SWALLOWED*** IT, LADY!!!” Cackletta stared disbelievingly at him for a moment. Finally, she managed to force out with faux confidence, “Oh, come ON, how gullible do you think I am, you stupid lunkhead?” before her body suddenly emitted a loud, wet-sounding ***FART***. Startled, she froze with realization for a moment. Then she looked in horror down at her own backside. Bowser was smirking while waving the air away in front of his nose. “Peeeeee-EWWW, BOY, you sure give new meaning to the term 'stink bomb’, don'tcha girl?” He struck an exaggerated pose as he pretended to calculate on his fingers. “Let’s see, why I DO believe that makes EXACTLY 999,999 more little bombs left to go! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to warn the others while you’re busy being the local area’s biggest supplier of natural gas!” He dashed to the nearest doorway, pausing just long enough to shout back, “Enjoy your takeover party with your crew! I’m sure they’ll all find you to be a real BLAST!” Then he was gone. Cackletta could only stand still in sheer horror as the depth of the situation sank in. Then she frantically stumbled towards her laboratory wailing, “ALKA-SELTZER!!! PEPTO BISMOL!!! ANY-THIIIIING!!!” - A few minutes later, Cackletta was frantically tossing anything she could get her hands on into a giant cauldron. “Antidote!!! Antidote!!! There MUST be an antidote!!!” ***FART*** She looked horrified. “Only 999, 964 left to GO!!!!!” She stirred and stirred wildly until the large spoon she was using melted. “AUUUUUGHHHHH!!!! MY BRILLIANTLY PERFECT PILL IS SO BRILLIANTLY PERFECT THAT EVEN ***I*** CAN’T COME UP WITH AN ANTIDOTE!!!! AUUUUUUUUGHHHHHH!!!!!" ***FART*** "AUUUGHHH!!! 999,963!!!!!!!” - A while later in a large room where the guards were busy fighting off the local authorities, everyone was suddenly distracted by the surprising sight of Cackletta frantically running through the room from one side in sheer hysterical panic before running out the opposite side. As she did so, they all heard the following: ***FART*** "87,000!!!” ***FART*** “86,999!!!” ***FART*** “86,998!!!” After she had passed through, one guard finally couldn’t help wondering aloud, “What the heck was THAT?!!” “I don’t know,” answered a policeman present, “but whatever it was, it sure STANK high heavens!”  #cartoon #videogame #videogames #surreal #surrealism #surrealist #psychedelic #psychedelicrock #trippy #hippy #hippie #hippies #hippielife #hippielove #hippiestyle #nintendo #mariobros #mario #luigi #yearofluigi #yearofluigi4ever #yearofluigineverends #love #peace #beauty #bowser #sanfrancisco #bayarea #koopaweek #bowserday #janesbond #casinoroyale #spy #dustyspringfield #sixties #austinpowers

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