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jagibee · 1 year

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Call Me Luna

(Stray Kids x Reader)

Chapter 1

1,222 Words

A/N: Hello, hello! I’m Mari and this is my first ever (published) skz fic. I wanted to publish the first chapter on the fifth anniversary so sorry if there are mistakes, feel free to tell me so that I can fix them! I am open to constructive criticism and all sorts of feedback! Use my ask box whenever you like!

This fic is OT8 x Reader but might lean towards Chan and Lee Know, sorry, not sorry😁

Here we go!

…

When Chan was told the company was integrating a new policy, he was wary to say the least. Especially when he found out it had to do with secondary gender dynamics. Their pack had a delicate balance and he was worried that a new addition, particularly one that wasn’t his choice, would screw it up.

He became more relaxed once he learned that they would give the band the freedom to look at application profiles and decide among themselves which caretaker they would have.

When he saw the huge stack of applications, he thought ‘at least there will be plenty of good options’. Unfortunately, that optimism didn’t last long.

When one of his members selected an applicant they liked, another would always look over and find something wrong with them. When Jisung found one, Jeongin said their scent made him queasy. When Changbin suggested one, Hyunjin accused him of doing it just because the applicant had said that they liked spending time at the gym. They had a small pile of maybes, but each one had at least one member who disliked them, and that wasn’t exactly ideal.

Each of the members had selected at least one profile they liked, even Minho, though he did say his was because the applicant was the winner of some cooking show. However, Chan hadn’t found a single applicant he liked. This person, this caretaker, needed to fit perfectly. He loved his members more than anything and if they were hiring someone to live with and look after them at all hours, every single day, for the foreseeable future, Chan was going to find someone everyone could agree on.

His own hope was dwindling alongside the ‘unread’ stack. Maybe it would be easier to just convince Jeongin that he could get used to new scents or tell Hyunjin that if Changbin was at the gym with the caretaker, he wouldn’t have to see either of them.

Then he came across your profile.

The first thing Chan noticed about you was your smile. It wasn’t some nice little ‘say cheese’ thing, but something true and genuine, like the photographer had just told you the funniest joke you ever heard, but you weren’t allowed to laugh. The way your smile stretched across your face made his own cheeks ache in sympathy pain.

Your profile said you had experience with all sorts of pack dynamics, which was good, given that their careers made them a rather unusual kind of pack. Also, your specialization in all types of secondary gender care stood out to Chan. Most omegan caretakers specialized in just omegas or occasionally just alphas, but the way you had completed training for alphas, omegas, and betas showed that you were truly dedicated. Also, with a pack of four alphas, two betas, and two omegas, having a good idea of how to treat everyone’s secondary gender was ideal.

Chan took out the bag with the tissue you had rubbed your scent on and brought it up to his nose.

Woah.

Your scent was a mix of floral and earthy, and it was strong without being overpowering. Chan instantly felt like he was being soothed.

He nudged Felix next to him and handed over the tissue. “Smell this,” he ordered.

Felix took it and tentatively raised it to smell. His nose twitched as he sniffed it and he let out a soft “oooooh” sound. He turned to Chan with a small grin. “I like it.”

Overhearing them, Jisung grabbed the tissue and took a deep breath. His eyes widened as he exclaimed, “Yah, this smell is so nice!”

Sitting across the makeshift circle, Changbin lunged across to grab for it but Hyunjin had been quicker. Before he had the chance to judge the scent, Changbin tackled him and landed them both in Seungmin’s lap.

Ignoring whines from the both of them, Changbin successfully snatched the tissue and took a big whiff. “Yoh,” he said, before wiggling cutely and switching to a high-pitched voice, “Binnie likes this!”

Hyunjin managed to take the tissue back then, bringing it so he and Seungmin could smell it at the same time.

“Oh, that’s nice!” Hyunjin exclaimed, exchanging a glance with Seungmin, who nodded along.

Chan felt something in his heart shift. That was over half of the pack’s approval. Then he reminded himself that they still needed the rest of the pack to like your scent and all of them had to review your actual application. Plus, Minho and I.N were the two most scent-oriented. Minho had the best sense of smell out of all of them, and as their most recently presented alpha, Innie was very sensitive about the scents he did and didn’t like.

Seungmin, still with a lapful of Changbin and Hyunjin, turned to Jeongin sitting next to him and gently held out the tissue. Instead of grabbing it and bringing it to his nose, he leaned forward to rest his face against Seungmin’s hand before he inhaled the tissue’s aroma.

Most of the pack members waited with bated breath for Innie’s verdict. Unlike the rest of them, he took his time in deciding whether he liked the scent or not. He tilted his head, making himself look particularly fox-like, before telling them, “I could get used to that.”

They all nodded, some exchanging small smiles, before everyone turned to Minho at the very end of their group. He rolled his eyes before holding his hand out in a grabby motion. “Yah, hand it over already.”

Seungmin, still clutching the tissue, passed it across Jeongin to Felix, who passed it back to Chan, who waved it in front of Minho’s face teasingly. Minho’s stern gaze just made Chan want to tease him more, but he could feel the slight tension in the air, so he stilled his hand. Minho grabbed the tissue and raised a single corner a couple inches in front of his face. He sniffed it, then brought it closer to press against his nose and inhale more deeply.

If this were any other time, Chan would be reveling in the silence but right now, he just wanted Minho to hurry up and say something.

Minho hummed slightly, one side of his lip twitching up before he nodded. “Yeah, I like that.”

Chan hummed in response, taking the tissue Minho held out and putting it back in the bag.

“This one’s profile is impressive too.” He told his members. “Anyone want to see?”

Seungmin grabbed the file while Hyunjin took the picture of you.

Tuning out Seungmin’s thoughtful comments and Hyunjin’s remarks on your beauty, Chan turned back to Minho, leaning in close.

“You know, you don’t have to say you like it just because everyone else does,” he said softly, sitting back into his normal posture.

Minho continued to stare straight ahead for a couple seconds before turning back to Chan, his gaze piercing. “I didn’t. I’m just not sure how that scent will mix in with ours.”

Chan could tell that this was about something deeper, but he knew Minho didn’t want to talk about it now, and he didn’t want to push him in front of everyone, so he just nodded and turned back to the other members.

He cleared his throat before slapping on a smile and asking loudly, “So! What does everyone think?”

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ausetkmt · 11 months

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Bobby Carter is slowly changing the music industry, one genre-bending performance at a time. As the Senior Producer for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts, he’s brought on an increasingly-growing roster of emerging artists, big names, and icons to the company’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. to perform not only for the building’s employees, but for an audience of millions worldwide.

The St. Louis native’s journey has been long and arduous, but fulfilling, to say the least. “I’ve been at NPR for 23 years,” Carter tells ESSENCE. “But my route to where I am now was a bit unconventional; I started out as an intern in the summer of 2000. I was in the digital media space at the time, my job was to edit our content for the web stream. I spearheaded or managed our live streams – and this predated Tiny Desk.”

“I knew at some point I wanted to get involved with music at NPR, but that opportunity wasn’t there yet until NPR Music came along,” he continues. “I slowly started to drift over into the music space by writing pieces here and there, and contributing to our year-end content. In 2014, that’s when I produced my very first Tiny Desk concert, and three years later I was officially over with Tiny Desk in a formal role.”

Since his full transition to Tiny Desk in 2017, Carter has developed partnerships with Complexcon, and HBO’s Insecure, along with creating new initiatives to grow and diversify the program’s reach. He’s also known for further innovating the Tiny Desk Concert Series with artists such as Usher, H.E.R., Anderson.Paak, Jazmine Sullivan, Kirk Franklin, and more. The process of choosing musicians for the now-iconic performance platform has shifted from the time of its inception, but for Carter, he’s more hands on than ever.

“Well, early on it was a lot of us pursuing artists from our end and selling artists on what the concept is and getting them to come and play,” describes the Jackson State University graduate. “Fast-forward to now, it’s pretty much a two-way street. Tiny Desk, as you’re aware of, has become a phenomenon of sorts, where artists and labels know at this point that it’s a vehicle for promoting music and selling music.”

While many musicians feel that Tiny Desk is critical to promoting their music, Carter has found that the promotion of Black music has been equally as important. “I’m really passionate about helping to tell the story of Black music, because the story of Black music is the story of American music, if you ask me,” he says. With the month of June being Black Music Month, NPR has observed it by honoring Black music’s influence through various mediums, and highlighting its impact so that the story is told properly.

“You can’t tell the history of music without black people,” the veteran DJ says. “What we’re trying to do here at the Tiny Desk with Black Music Month is to really present that in a way that shows us in different lights. You have R&B, gospel, etc.; there’s just so many layers to black music that have made American music what it is today. It’s a story that isn’t told enough, it can never be told enough.”

Outside of jazz the only other true artform produced in the country is hip-hop, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. During his earlier days at the platform, Carter speaks about the “internal conflict” that he has dealt with to get people to recognize that hip-hop and artists like Gucci Mane also need to be heard in a space like NPR.

“I think that there is a struggle to be sure that every single perspective is heard, and understand that whether or not a they’re a street MC or a trap artist or a neo soul artist, that they all belong, their perspective deserves to be heard at the Tiny Desk, as long as the performance is right,” he says. There were people who were uncomfortable with a Gucci Mane at the Tiny Desk, given his history and whatnot. But he served his time for his wrongs, and he has been the ultimate redemption story.”

The Atlanta rapper’s appearance on Tiny Desk altered the trajectory of what the concert series was, helping to catapult it to the successful platform that it ultimately became. “I think that Gucci Mane, that Tiny Desk was a big, big game changer for the Tiny Desk in terms of hip hop, because it showed other artists in his lane that, ‘We can come and we can do our thing here too,’” Carter states, before pausing briefly.

He continues by saying, “There is an internal fight, because a lot of times people want to feel comfortable, they don’t want to feel threatened by hip hop. But if you’re a little uncomfortable, that’s okay – maybe it’s just not for you, but it is for somebody.” After Gucci’s performance in 2016, Tiny Desk featured Chance the Rapper, Big K.R.I.T., Rakim, Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, and Trina, among others; bolstering the fact that the genre is still strong, and is here to stay.

Throughout the years, many legendary performances have taken place behind the desk of the All Songs Considered’s host Bob Boilen. Tiny Desk has risen to the heights of popularity, and is now a staple in today’s culture. Carter, who helped build it to what it is today, understands the task at hand, and knows how special this platform is. “I feel like it’s part of my duty to continue to do this,” he says. Not only continuing to push current stars and rising artists to the forefront, but also giving flowers to legends like El Debarge, Patti LaBelle, Charlie Wilson, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, and more.

“I think that it helps to bridge that gap and it helps to bring the youth over to these legendary legacy artists, and to remind them of their greatness,” Carter explains. “I think a lot of times when I bring some of the artists that I bring to the Tiny Desk, this should serve as a reminder of their status in music.”

“So, I feel the ultimate responsibility, from a cultural standpoint, is to show people and use our huge audience to spread awareness about these artists,” he continues. “To grow and continue to be a voice for black culture, and for diversity as a whole.”

#NPR’s Bobby Carter Speaks On Hip-Hop At 50 #Black Music Month And Tiny Desk’s Far-Reaching Impact #tiny desk concerts #Bobby Carter #NPR #Black Music Month #Black Music #2023 #ausetkmt

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white-collar-lawmen-and-conmen · 3 years

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Future

A/N: Yikes. I cried several times writing this. I'm very proud of how it turned out - I think it's one of my strongest pieces on the entire blog - but be warned: bring tissues. Also, Mozzie's quote is originally from Abraham Lincoln. Requested by @ladykeqing

Summary: In the wake of Neal's death, a regret haunts you.

Word Count: 1,964

Peter sat you down and told you in his home. Well… just June’s home, now. The way Mozzie had trailed behind him, for once wordless… His face looking ashen… A part of you had known even before Peter asked you to sit down.

“He told me to say he’s sorry,” Peter said, barely more than a whisper that somehow felt deafening to your brain. “And that he loves you more than you know.”

The room was suddenly stifling. It was more than just the emotions in the air, layering over each other into a thick, caustic fog. It was the darkening of shadows that stretched in from the glass doors, and the silence of the record player that drove deep into their eardrums to muffle the little sounds of life coming from each other. The penthouse was, in an instant, so tiny and deathly empty, and you wished so dearly that you’d been at your own apartment. Staying the weekend had seemed like such a great idea before you abruptly became the only resident.

For a few seconds, you had a mind to just stay put and let the shadows come and take over. To let the agonizing ache of loss engulf your entire heart and continue expanding until it was bigger than your body and you disappeared forever. All so you wouldn’t have to keep looking at the records Neal would never again play and the table he would never again sit at. So you would never have to spend a last moment in the home of your lover before turning your back on it and, by extension, him.

Without him, there was nowhere to turn. The prospect of your remaining lifetime without your partner made your chest and throat tighten with another round of sobs. It all felt so dim. You tried to hold it back, but couldn’t last long before your hands were to your mouth and a strangled whimper was breaking from your lips.

Mozzie could have fooled you into thinking he hadn’t heard, so resolute he was in boring a hole into the rug with his stare. Peter looked towards you with deep brown eyes, solicitous and pleading at the same time. He was as stunned as you were – but where you were being crushed under the weight of isolation, at least Peter got to go home to El. You didn’t have anyone to go home to anymore. Hell, without Neal, did you even have a home at all?

You envied Mozzie. Really, you did. His Buddhist leanings might be a comfort to him, able to think of Neal’s absence as temporary, or his spirit as remaining around them in some way or form. But when you tried to imagine you could feel him still there, the encroaching shadows and silent record player and empty bed all drew together at once until you were drowning in the lack. It was as if your haywire senses were punishing you for thinking even for a moment that you could feel your loss as anything less than absolute. He was gone and the world was permanently less wonderful.

A gunshot. Neal hated guns so much. Maybe this was why.

Wait. No. Time didn’t work like that. Right? He couldn’t hate something for a reason that hadn’t happened yet.

Laughter that bordered on hysterical bubbled out of your throat as you anxiously covered your face, waiting for the mania to pass. Laughter was easier than sobs. It physically hurt less. Emotionally it was so much worse. You could feel the concerned eyes on you while you waited until your desperate giggles died, just like your partner.

“I never said,” you said, wresting the words out before cries – or worse, more laughs – forced themselves out instead. You looked down with shame and guilt. His last words to you were almost cruel. Tender in their meaning, but cruel in consequence – he would never know how deeply you cared for him. You hoped he did. Didn’t you show it all the time? But that was different from hearing the words out loud, and now not only were you going on without Neal, but you were going on carrying the burden of knowing you hadn’t been able to offer him the comfort of certainty in knowing he had been loved in life and would be grieved in death. “I never got to tell him I love him.”

The mere look that Peter gave you in response would have broken your heart if it hadn’t already been lying shattered somewhere between your stomach and the floor. It was as if he were imagining for himself not getting to tell Elizabeth how he felt, or worse, imagining how alone or afraid she might feel if she didn’t know there were somebody fighting for her and remembering her every day.

Sobs would come any moment now. Your throat was tighter than a string on a violin, and any minute you’d stop being able to breathe. In, out, you reminded yourself. Keep it together just a moment more. And then another moment after that. You couldn’t break down until you were alone. You didn’t know why you couldn’t break in front of Neal’s family, but didn’t have the energy to question it, either, not when you barely had the energy not to scream and weep into your hands.

“He knew.” Mozzie’s words were quiet but startling and said with all the confidence of Neal himself. “You didn’t have to say it.”

“But he deserved to hear.” Knowing it and hearing it were different games and Neal, for all his faults, deserved to hear it, too. “He deserved to come home. I don’t…” You lost your train of thought. Why were you talking about yourself when you weren’t the one whose brilliant life had been stolen? After a small shake of your head, you sniffed and shakily breathed out. “We had an entire future. And now there’s nothing left.”

You could see it passing in your imagination, all the little milestones that you’d come to anticipate. Content days at home, interspersed with adventures to his favorite places around the world, marked by marriage and birthdays and achievements and anniversaries. You’d never articulated them out loud, never even realized fully that you’d started to await those days, but now you saw them vanishing and you realized not only were you having to grieve for the best man you’d ever known, but you’d also have to grieve for the missed experiences and joys that he had lost, and the shared life that you had to give up on, as well.

Mozzie finally looked up to you and you noticed that his eyes were puffy and red behind his glasses. You didn’t even know someone could cry that silently. “The best thing about the future,” he quoted, slow and weighty, probably to keep his own voice level. “Is that it comes one day at a time.”

The comfort was meaningless to you. One day at a time was worthwhile when it was endless days of love and companionship. When that was gone, it was just day after day of being adrift with nothing to hold onto.

You sniffed again and replied in a surprisingly even voice, “My future is laying in the morgue.”

~Future~

Leaving Y/N was one of the hardest things Mozzie had ever done, and he had a lot of challenges and dubious decisions in his past. Leaving her to wallow and suffer rubbed him in every wrong way possible, except for the one where it meant – at least for now – that she would be safe. He didn’t think, if he stayed, that he would be able to hold back from blurting out the truth. He couldn’t even look at her for fear of spilling. Not once her tears started. He couldn’t watch his friend, and his best friend’s love at that, weep with agony she didn’t need to feel.

Neal begged to differ, though Mozzie knew that it tore his heart in two to hear her voice over the long-distance connection. When Mozzie was sure the suit was out of earshot, and that Y/N and June had both stayed inside, he lifted his phone from his pocket and breathed heavily in the cold December air that seemed to burn his lungs.

“Did you hear all that?” He asked, impressively steady and managing to get his criticism and support across with his tone simultaneously.

He took off his glasses, thankful Neal couldn’t see that he, too, needed to wipe his eyes dry. Alive was good. Alive but far away and unreachable – at least for the foreseeable future – was still painful.

“I did,” Neal confirmed, voice and heart both heavy somewhere at least a thousand miles away. “I wish…” Neal trailed off, and Mozzie wholly believed that he also needed a moment to compose himself. Why either of them bothered pretending not to cry, he didn’t understand, but they had already dedicated themselves to the farce. “She’s safer this way. If she looks for me, we’re all in danger.”

“If you let this go on, she will never forgive you.” Mozzie warned, thinking about the broken look on your face. It had been like watching a dropped plate shatter in slow motion to see the cracks begin to appear before your very spirit seemed to splinter. Then he thought about how desperately you wished Neal knew you loved him, and he thought maybe there was a chance that desperate love would override the anger. He amended, “Or, if she does, it’ll never be the same.”

“I know.” Neal agreed readily but with a quiver to his voice. “I want to come home, but not if it means visiting her grave.”

“The cautious way it is.” Mozzie put his glasses back on his face, bravely shoring up his willpower. “I can’t know where you are, and she can’t know you’re out there.”

“Keep an eye on her for me.”His voice was full of sorrow and longing.

“Of course.” Neal didn’t even need to ask. If there came a time when the Panthers were dealt with and Neal could – well, if not return home, at least be reunited with Y/N somewhere without an extradition treaty, Mozzie would be the first to set it in motion. “Be well, mon frére.”

“You, too, Moz.”

The line went dead.

~Future~

Approximately four thousand miles away, on a windy beach, Neal stood barefoot in the dark, watching the light from the moon reflect off the choppy, shallow surf. The breeze drifted through his hair and bit across his face with the sting of northern weather.

He looked down at the open phone in his hand, fighting every feeling in him to turn it back on and beg Mozzie to take the phone back up to his former penthouse. Or, worse, to turn his whole body around and get on a ferry to the mainland, and fly back to New York as fast as possible to hold you in his arms. The heartbreak in your voice had been almost too much for him to bear. It would have been, if not for his terror of being reckless and selfish and letting you pay the price.

He had known you loved him, and because he loved you so unbelievably much in return, he couldn’t go home. Not yet. He would work on it from afar, where no one knew he was breathing, much less could trace him back to his darling. One day, if he were incredibly lucky, he could come home and you would still have space for him in your heart and mind. For now, he would have to settle on replaying your words in his head.

I love you, too.

Neal hurled the phone out into the ocean.

#white collar #white collar x reader #lawmen and conmen #neal caffrey #neal caffrey x reader #fanfic #fic #oneshot #future #hurt #angst #sad #requested #drama

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103oclock · 4 years

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[FULL ENG TRANS] 2020.04.20 W Korea’s May edition : Stay happy, cool and strong (Baekhyun)

EXO Baekhyun’s strong identity is driven by his happiness in enjoying music.

We’ve met before through an interview with EXO, many years ago. I clearly remember something you said then, which was, ‘Before entering SM, I thought I was the best singer in Bucheon.’ Baekhyun at that time did say that (laughs). He had so much ‘confidence.’

Thanks to what you said then, when I see you slowly improving ever since you said that, I think about those stories where a kid who is good at studying enters a science or foreign language high school* and becomes crestfallen after realising where he ranks in the whole school, so he studies with all his heart and becomes the top in school. Ah, my trainee days was when my confidence took a big blow. It just felt like my song would never get picked since there were so many other people who could sing so well. When you enter as a professional, you can’t be sloppy for even a second, and they will demand for you to be perfect, even down to every detail. I stopped thinking that singing is my specialty, and I had to reevaluate my thoughts on music. *=Science or foreign language high schools are prestigious schools in South Korea.

Even when you were discouraged, at some point your confidence would come back again, right? That’s right, to some extent. Also, I’m not the kind to let someone else dampen my spirit just because they said so (laughs).

I’m aware that you are planning to release your solo album soon. Because of the current situation, changes were made to the initial plans which could make things a little vague now. There are several activities I was scheduled to do but now can’t, but this situation now is not easy for everyone, and there are many people who are working very hard. There are still more to be done in several aspects, album-wise, but you can look forward to it as it will be different from the previous solo.

Did you have any desire or goal when you were working on your first solo album <City Lights>, which was released in summer? Since a long time ago, I’ve been wanting to do songs with city pop vibes. Also, it is meaningful to have the album comprised of just my voice. I hoped for people to hear the album and at least think, ‘So this is the kind of voice Baekhyun has.’ I’m glad it received such a good outcome.

What do you mean by ‘good outcome’? I got a lot of positive feedback. There were people who recognised the effort I put into the voice and vibe I wanted to express. The album sales were also good thanks to my fans.

What kind of voice did you want to express? Something that’s a little dreamy (laughs), and I guess I wanted there to be sexy vibes even with just my voice?

I was a little dubious when I first heard that the title track was called ‘UN Village,’ because it’s the more luxurious version of ‘Samsung Raemian’ (laughs). However, after listening to it, it seems like ‘luxurious’ was the keyword that was the main theme of the entire album. Even on stage, your performance is relaxed and doesn’t require much of an angle (as in a certain kind of look/style/theme), it looks like you wanted to portray that sort of laidback appeal. Oh, that’s very accurate. Because EXO has themes and we do powerful performances, I wanted my solo to be different. I wanted to pull out something I think of as my weapon, something that is relaxed rather than strong, and more focused on my voice itself.

It’s rather difficult to be relaxed if you don’t do a lot of preparation. Between what you do best and what you like best, which of the two do you think is closer to the composition of your first album? At first I matched the make up of the album to what I like, but I think it slowly became what I do best as I practised and did my studies. I’m always like that. I always do what I like instead of what I do best. There is almost nothing you are good at from the start. It starts of as ‘This is so hard, but I like it’ and at some point when I get familiar with it and master it, it feels really exhilarating.

This is sudden but it’s always fascinating to me when I see singers like you that start off with the position as a vocal, and become a dancer that does dynamic performances on stage. Could it be because SM is originally known for it's unrivalled training system, or is it because that person actually has dance DNA but simply never had the opportunity to draw it out? From the aspect of whether one knows how to use their body and muscles, it looks like I have the influence of the DNA. From moving your chest to doing several other movements. For example, there are people who find it hard to do detailed movements like ‘lift your right shoulder, and then pop your chest, bring down your right shoulder and lift your left shoulder.’ On top of that, SM’s environment, which has many people that started off as choreographers and have a command of high quality dancing in nature, also contributed to my progress. Looking around at my surroundings, I followed suit so my abilities got better, and there were many things I could learn and many things I was motivated by.

Soon it will be the 8th anniversary since EXO debuted so shall we talk about the time that started history? How did you feel at the start when you had to digest and do difficult dance moves even though you were a vocalist? I just had this desire. ‘I don’t want to remembered as the person who can’t dance.’ Thankfully, the members taught me and Chen, who entered the group late, until the wee hours of the morning. Kai took care of Chen, and Sehun took care of me. All the while competing who taught better, and who mastered the dance better. I improved a lot during the time we practised together.

Looking back, after debuting, was there a critical period where you felt like you were growing too fast? Around summer 2016 ‘Monster,’ my performance skills definitely improved. Choreographer Shim Jaewon hyung actually included a solo performance for me at the start of the song. There wasn’t supposed to have a solo performance but he said, ‘Baekhyun, you have a talent in dance too, you just have to work a little bit harder, let’s start building up your confidence now,’ and he choreographed a solo performance and encouraged me. From then on, I thought, ‘So I’m not someone who can’t dance,’ and I gained confidence in expressing myself through my body while doing my best for that solo performance. What I never knew, or what I suppressed, up to that point, I then started to express naturally.

Oh, that was around the time the special cover edition ‘EXOclusive’ you did with <W Korea> was produced! Was there a period where you were in a slump, music-wise? At the start of EXO’s activities, when we’re going from ‘MAMA’ to ‘Wolf.’ I achieved the reality of debuting and suddenly received a lot of attention, so the kid that was full of confidence became scared of singing. I doubted myself, that my singing might be weird. It was around then that my interest in vocalisation peaked, and I studied a lot. As I did that, my fears disappeared little by little and I started to anticipate how my voice would sound like when I sing live. I put in a lot of effort in ways like thinking if I should do it a certain way this time so it could sound different, and if I like the sound of my tone in a certain song, I could apply a part of it to another song.

Then before EXO, when did you first vaguely feel that you had something similar to a talent? The first time I ever went to a karaoke. Might have been grade 6 of elementary school.

What song did you sing? It was Yarn’s song. What was the song called... Can I quickly search it up?

Yarn’s songs are one of the tests for high-pitched power, and have made many guys fail miserably in karaokes. Exactly. Yarn’s ‘Run.’ Weirdly, I sang the song comfortably as how I heard it, and my friends’ reactions were huge. Ever since then, I thought ‘Oh? I didn’t even learn how to sing yet everyone says I’m good? This must be my greatest strength!’ and I started to like singing.

Your audience then reacted to your mic and your acoustics, which made that the moment you became a celebrity. So that’s how the history of ‘Bucheon Prince’ came about (laughs). My friends wouldn’t sing songs that are high in pitch. So I thought, ‘Huh? Why?’ I was still young then so I didn’t even know what a vibrato was, I just thought that the note was “vibrating.” When I hear that the end of the note doesn’t vibrate, I would think, ‘Why don’t they do the vibration thing? Isn’t it kind of flat?’ It was a time when I was young and ‘snobby’ (laughs).

If you were to introduce a distinct characteristic of your vocals, how would you say it? Um. Smooth yet at the same time robust.

You possess everything good... Hehe, I don’t have an entirely beautiful voice but I have a kind of baritone voice that is saturated with tenderness. So it is an advantage that I don’t have to limit myself to one genre and can challenge myself extensively.

Still, is there anyone’s vocals that you wish to have? Kim Bumsoo sunbae. Recently I am realigning my vocals. From my breathing to my vocalisation, I am remodelling everything. So I think about vocals a lot, but when I hear Kim Bumsoo sunbae’s songs, I feel that he has quite the stability. I think of stability as a power that allows the audience to listen comfortably and enjoy the song, and to people who sing, as players of the game themselves, would either want to show off or have the freedom to express a bar of the song any way they want. He has amazing stability, and he has a great voice, and he possesses several different tones. There are many things to look up to him to.

Instead of changing just one vocal aspect, you’re changing your style from the basics. It’s going to be a tough process. It’s not easy. I’ve been learning from my current vocal teacher for about a year now, but luckily, he’s like a saviour to me. Singer Im Hanbyul hyung introduced him to me. He not only teaches me vocal skills, but also helps me to find peace mentally. He’s like a doctor that does a full check-up on whatever I am uneasy about. He’s really grown up. [A/N: there’s no pronoun for Baekhyun’s vocal teacher but I used a standard pronoun for ease of reading]

Do you have any aspirations as a member of SuperM? We began our activities last fall and we were the first of Asia Artistes to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with our debut album. I’ve said ‘We will show you another kind of K-Pop’ in an interview in The States before, but there is another meaning behind the face value of what I said. No matter how I look at it, isn’t now the era to turn the impossible possible? It’s the same for SuperM. The fact that members of different groups have come together to form another group is entirely a whole new system. We were the pioneers to give it a shot, and that in itself is a step that creates synergy. With this in mind, I have the desire to make K-Pop widely known.

In the 2000′s, K-Pop started to gain popularity when SMTOWN was having their world tour, and in the recent years, K-Pop has once again taken another leap. Have you ever felt that it’s true while you were on tour? Of course. When we do interviews overseas, journalists would say things like, ‘If we were to define K-Pop, we can’t forget about the perfectly synced dance choreography, right?’ The style of group dance choreography, which has been around since long ago, is what shaped K-pop and I think of it as K-Pop’s important trait. When they know and point out that aspect, I feel proud and grateful.

SuperM brings EXO’s Baekhyun and Kai, SHINEE’s Taemin, NCT’s Taeyong and Mark, WayV’s Lucas and Ten together in a team. How is it like when you’re all together? They’re all really, honestly, very nice and innocent kids. They transform on stage but when I see how they’re like together off stage, I wonder how they could be that innocent. I want you guys to know that side of the boys before showing you our music and performance.

Are they like innocent boys behind the cool and handsome men that glare when they sing ‘We will burn on this stage’ during the performance? These guys also possess everything good... Superheroes normally conceal their own identity and show a mild appearance but when nighttime comes, they apprehend bad guys. Ever since I was young, I’ve always thought that somehow that was what true justice was (laughs). I feel like if the duality of how the boys are like daily and how they are like when they concentrate on stage was known, all the members are able to shine more brightly.

In today’s photoshoot, you went from bright and impeccable Baekhyun to Baekhyun with a dark charisma. And Cartier’s jewelry shone just like EXO Baekhyun, who symbolises ‘light’ (laughs). If you were to have dual personalities, what would it be? Though I am mostly nice and well-mannered, I am the type to be straightforward and be firm when I think ‘This isn’t right.’ Even when people who think ‘this person belongs to me,’ when they treat them badly, my firmness will appear. When that happens, I will step in and say something.

Listening to your stories, you seem like a person who is motivated by yourself. That’s right. I always find faults in myself. Whether it is on stage or my treatment towards other people, I frequently think about whether I had any drawbacks. I always think about questions like ‘Why do I keep doing the wrong move these days,’ or ‘Am I not focusing, or am I lacking practice for that part?’

What is something you need in order to continue and live a long life as an artist that has debuted in an idol group? First of all, I think the answer to that is finding out what you really want to do. Because if you don’t go through that process and simply follow the trend or what other people want, it’ll be easy for you to be left behind as an artist. If you look at idols who have been in the industry for a long time, their own colour is very clear no matter what. I could also soon become Baekhyun version 2. A life where I find out whether I can succeed with just my voice.

Would you have a (however) big ambition inside of you? Ambition, I definitely have it. There’s a saying, ‘In for a penny, in for a pound’ (laughs). However, I’m not the kind that is full of fighting spirit and think I have to achieve a certain goal. I do not want my huge desire for success to eat me up. To me, doing things happily while laughing is most important to me. That level of ambition would be more like ‘I hope they recognise my hard work’ I guess? When you work hard on something, it will still shine no matter what, and no matter how bright. And I want to show off what I am good at anyway so, hehe.

Translation by 103oclock (Source)

#trans #baekhyun #wkorea #w korea #exo #superm

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bcbdrums · 3 years

Text

Past, Present, Forever

Chinese food being an important relationship thing to Drakken and Shego belongs to @gothicthundra (and stealing dumplings, and wine floats...). The idea of a romantic relationship between Hego and Electronique...also belongs to Gothicthundra. Slowly but surely, her head-canons are becoming canon in my brain... And I have no complaints whatsoever.

Enjoy a little future slice of life. Also for the "Dinner Date" prompt from @drakgoprompts

AO3 FFn

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Drakken's brow was furrowed as he concentrated on the task in front of him, his un-gloved fingers carefully manipulating the delicate materials, every movement measured and precise. He pinched the thin dough of the dumpling gently together at its apex as he used his thumb and index finger to make the first fold, sealing it on one side. Once complete, he carefully straightened the other edge before placing it in the crook of his other thumb, moving even more slowly with the second fold.

He placed the finished dumpling in the waiting steamer with the rest, and then moved the bamboo basket over the pot of boiling water and set a timer. He hurried back to his new wok where spicy lo mein and green beans were cooking, giving it all a toss before turning back to his chocolate mousse, ready to be put in individual glasses and then chilled. By the time they had finished dinner, the dessert would be perfect.

When he finally tucked the desserts away into the fridge, happily humming over how well everything was going, he heard the telltale sound of footsteps. He whirled around with a gasp, stepping in front of the stove in a vain attempt to hide what he was cooking. His panic abated however when Shego rounded the corner, a grimace on her face as she dug her knuckles into her neck.

"Shego?"

She looked at him tiredly, her expression softening.

"Hi. What are you making? Smells good."

"Ah, well..." He stepped aside and gestured to the stove with a nervous smile. "Dumplings. And lo mein... T-To celebrate."

Shego had tossed her purse on the table and sat down, but she froze at his words, her eyes widening.

"...What did I forget?" she asked hesitantly. "It's not our anniversary."

"It's...the anniversary of the first time we had Chinese food together?" he said with a nervous smile.

Shego blinked at him. "You remember that?"

The shy look he gave her served to soften her features, and she resumed kneading the muscles at the sides of her neck.

"Wine floats too?"

"Ah, I made something else for dessert... But if you want, I can—"

"No, I want whatever you worked on," Shego answered.

"Is...something wrong with your neck?" Drakken asked, turning back to the wok to stir and toss the noodles.

"Yeah... Ran into an old enemy of Team Go. Electronique."

"So the encounter was...eh-heh...electric?"

Shego rolled her eyes. "Sure."

The lo mein and green beans having finished, Drakken turned and pulled the wok off the burner, moving it to another before serving the hot food onto the two waiting plates. The dumplings would have to steam at least five more minutes, and he turned back to see Shego had closed her eyes in apparent pain.

"She remembers how to fight, at least..." she said absently.

Drakken's brow furrowed, and he stepped around the counter and then gently moved Shego's hands aside. Her eyes opened as he began turning his thumbs over her shoulders, and then started pressing his fingers into the tight muscles of her neck.

"Onhh... Drakken..."

The simple moan that left her lips sent his senses in an entirely different direction, which he tried to ignore as she relaxed into the dining chair, leaning her head back against his stomach as he stepped closer. He continued massaging her neck and shoulders as he mentally counted down the time it would take the dumplings to finish steaming, trying not to hear the pleased sounds that were leaving Shego's lips in response to his ministrations.

"Can we eat in the living room?" Shego asked, opening her eyes and smiling up at him.

"Sure," Drakken said, noting the tiredness in her eyes. The count in his head was nearing completion as well, and he smiled at her. "Just let me get the dumplings...Dumpling."

Shego's grin of response thrilled him, and she stood up and gave him a come-hither look before exiting the room. He stared dumbly after her for a moment, and then moved back to the stove and hurried himself about perfecting the special meal. He carefully placed the dumplings on each plate next to the noodles, and then tucked the tiny ramekins with soy sauce onto the edge of the plates. After arranging the chopsticks just right, he carried both meals on one arm and the two glasses of white wine in his free hand.

Entering the living room, he found Shego in the middle of the sofa with her head tilted back and one hand rubbing her neck and the other hand balled into a fist as she dug her knuckles into her hip. He found his curiosity piqued as he sat the plates down on the coffee table and moved to sit next to her, opening his arms after a moment of hesitation.

Shego leaned into him and molded up against his side, setting her head on his shoulder. Then she smirked and wiggled her fingers toward the food. Drakken gave her a look of mock-irritation as he handed her both her plate and wine glass before taking up his own. He noted with slight concern that Shego went for the wine first.

"Should I ask what happened?" Drakken finally said.

Shego set the wine down with a grimace and took up her chopsticks.

"It was a trap," she said as she picked up some noodles and vegetables. "Not sure if she was after just me, or all of Team Go again. But I walked right into it. An electronic pulse immobilizer."

Drakken tried to envision such a thing. "Was it—"

"Pressure pad activated," Shego said with her mouth full. Drakken took the moment to take a bite, pleased with the warm and spicy flavors that filled his mouth. He hoped Shego was enjoying it as well as she continued. "Four beams like lightning zapped me and I was on the ground. All my muscles were like jello, but twitching and hurting and buzzing..."

Drakken's brow furrowed in worry. "How did you get out of it?"

"Blasted her during her rant, and then took out the sources. It took all my concentration... You made these?" Shego interrupted herself, having finally dipped a dumpling in the sauce to sample.

She was holding the morsel up with her chopsticks, examining it critically as the soy sauce dripped off of the steamed bite and onto her plate. Drakken too observed the symmetrical folds he had created and the way the filling just showed through the thin dough. He couldn't look long though, as Shego grinned and plopped the entire dumpling into her mouth.

"Yes...how are they?" Drakken asked, though from the look on Shego's face he hadn't needed to.

"Delicious," she said after swallowing. She set her chopsticks down and took another drink of wine before digging back into the meal. He returned to his own plate after watching her for a moment.

"So, you're...not injured?" Drakken asked after swallowing another bite.

Shego considered. "Everything aches and feels a little...like my body isn't mine. But yeah, I'm okay. This is what it always felt like before, if I was stupid enough to get zapped by any of her stuff."

Drakken looked at the grimace on her face as she was clearly recalling some memories from her old Team Go days. He was able to take her word for it about her physical condition. But the way her eyes had gone distant had started him wondering...

"And you don't know if she was just...after you, or your brothers too?"

Shego chewed a bite of dumpling and considered. "This might have been just about me... Since I caved and took that call from Global Justice. But she could have wanted any of us and it happened to be me."

She paused to take another bite, chasing it with a swallow of wine. Drakken thought about the strange obligation they felt to the organization after the various circumstances that had forced them to work together after he'd saved the world. But was the unsteady association worth it, if it was going to give their enemies a possible advantage?

There were a few minutes of silence, save for their respective chewing. Shego's occasional pauses to knead her neck or hip were accompanied by a slight straining sound of pain from her throat that furthered Drakken's concern. It was her expression of suppressed agony when she hit a certain spot in her neck that finally spurred him to speak.

"Perhaps we should stop taking their calls..."

Shego lifted a brow toward him before going back to her food.

"Should probably stay on their good side," she said after a few moments of thought.

Silence fell again as they resumed eating, Shego nestling deeper against Drakken as they both slipped into thought over the situation they had landed in regarding the alliance with the former sponsors of Team Go. But it wasn't something Drakken wanted to think about. Ever since becoming a couple, more chaos had seemed to befall them than when they had been trying to take over the world. And they weren't even the heroes the world wanted them to be.

Drakken drank heavily from his wine glass as he determined to put uncontrollable circumstances out of his mind, and hoped he could do the same for Shego. The celebration of one of their earliest relationship memories had been long-planned, and he determined in that moment that nothing else would mar the evening.

He shoved one more dumpling in his mouth before setting his unfinished plate aside, and after swallowing the bite down, he took Shego's free hand away from her hip and began kneading the spot himself.

"Mmmh," was her delighted hum, a smile quickly replacing the swirl of thought in her eyes that their conversation had caused.

Drakken's own thoughts calmed at her response, and he fully set himself to making sure the rest of their evening progressed with the calm and intimacy he had originally planned.

He massaged Shego's hip until she finished her meal, and then set her plate aside for her. He shifted until he was leaned back against the arm of the sofa, guiding Shego to move with him until she sat between his legs. She continued to sip her wine as he began massaging her neck and shoulders.

"Onh, mmmmh..." Shego moaned, and Drakken bit his lip against the renewed flush of feelings her voice sent through him. He cleared his throat.

"What did you do with Electronique?"

"Messaged my brother that he'd lost something," she answered. "And left her tied there with a tracking device."

Drakken could hear the smirk behind her words, and he slowly mirrored the expression. The teasing of Shego's eldest brother about the perceived attraction between he and the electrical villainess was a secret Drakken had only been recently let in on, but one he was more than willing to entertain.

"What will he do with her?"

Shego leaned back into Drakken's touch as he pressed harder into her shoulders, his knuckles kneading the tension in her neck while his thumbs turned in circles just above her shoulder blades.

"I know what he wants to do with her," Shego said after a snicker. "But, that's a no-no. A hero can't fraternize with a villain."

The last was said in a mocking-tone that mimicked the Team Go leader. Drakken considered her words and then leaned forward to whisper in her ear, a devious smirk filling his face.

"Good thing we don't have that problem," he said.

Shego's brow rose as she turned to catch his gaze, her own smile broadening. Something flashed through her eyes that made Drakken both curious and a bit intimidated, but he only lifted his brow in response. There was a pause as Shego looked away and sipped her wine.

"It could have been, had we met at a different time..."

Drakken's eyes widened. Shego started using her free hand to rub gently up and down Drakken's shin as she continued.

"I know I was a lonely, young heroine, dissatisfied with my life. Desperately looking to change my identity..."

Drakken took a moment to process where she seemed to be leading, and then with a renewed flush of desire he shifted nearer to her and began slowly rubbing his hands up and down her back, occasionally letting his fingers press into her waist.

"I was an unappreciated, unrecognized genius... A failure. Eager to create a new identity and make my mark."

"And you turned to villainy?" she said, a knowing smile in her voice.

"It was all I had left."

"So you came to Go City..." Shego prompted the fantasy, then finishing her last swallow of wine. She leaned over to set the glass on the coffee table and then ran both hands up and down Drakken's shins.

"I staged a bank heist with the Bebes 2.0, but they were a mere distraction while I infiltrated the vault myself."

"And while the rest of Team Go fought your robots...the young, disillusioned heroine—"

"So much smarter than her brothers," Drakken interrupted.

Shego grinned. "—Slipped away to the vault and caught the clever, mad genius in the act."

Drakken's hands had wandered up and down her sides and below her hips in his firm but tender attentions to her aching muscles. Certain touches elicited small hums of desire from her lips, and they caused him mild distraction from the fantasy they were creating. But he was sure before long the imagined scene would catch up to where they were were in that moment.

"I would have been tempted to try to intimidate you, and point out that you were confronting me alone, without your brothers to help you."

"If you had, I would have told you where to shove it before blasting you."

Drakken shook his head as he took more time to knead the muscles of her hips and around them where some of her pain seemed to be concentrated.

"I would have been smart enough to know better. I would have asked your name instead."

"Trying to charm me out of arresting you?" Shego asked, glancing over her shoulder with a smirk.

"And because you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," he said.

"You mean I would have been," she corrected.

"No," Drakken said, leaning forward to speak into her ear, "you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. That would have been the same. And I would have taken the chance."

Drakken massaged up her waist toward her shoulders again as there was a pause.

"Not sure you'd have thought so with the old costumes we used to wear," Shego finally said.

"I would have that you were amazing... Strong, and powerful. And I would have asked what someone with your abilities was doing as part of a superhero team when clearly your talents lend more easily toward villainy."

"I would have secretly agreed with you, but outwardly would have mocked you to distract you so I could take you without violence."

"I would have been frustrated," Drakken said distractedly as he imagined the scene, everything bad that had ever been said about him then being spoken by the young, green, beautiful heroine.

Shego turned around to face him, moving his hands to her waist before setting her arms around his shoulders. Her eyes sparkled with mischief, and with love.

"I would have arrested you...and kept to myself how cute I thought you were."

"I would have written you from prison."

"I would have written back."

"And eventually...?"

Shego answered by melting over his frame where he leaned back against the sofa arm, pushing him even further down as her lips met his in a warm kiss.

"Prison break," she said, once their lips parted. "I might have ditched you after we were out of the city though... I wouldn't have wanted you to think I actually cared."

Drakken slid his hands down to knead her hips again, and lower.

"That would have broken me... Pushed me to be more evil."

"But a cute genius is hard to resist," Shego said, laying her head down on his shoulder. "The only reason I would have left is my pride..."

He could visibly see the tension in her neck, and he ceased his self-indulgence to return to massaging the sore muscles there. Shego's gaze upon his face was nothing but adoring, and he wondered if such a fantasy as they had vaguely concocted really would have gone that way.

"How long would we have resisted our feelings then?" Drakken asked.

"Mmmh... I was eager to rebel. So probably not long. We might have had a rougher start though... Not knowing each other the way we do now."

Drakken impulsively leaned down to kiss her neck, his lips following after his fingers as he continued to massage the tension from her flesh. And then Shego reached her arm out to the side.

He lifted his eyes just in time to see her pinch a dumpling from his plate between his chopsticks, a playful smirk curling her lips upward. His frown of disapproval only brought more mischief to her bright, dancing eyes, and she stared back at him with a look of challenge as she bit into the soft morsel.

"I take it you're...not ready for dessert?" he said, ignoring the bait to banter. She had made it a habit to steal his dumplings from their first time sharing Chinese food, to every time after. He was secretly pleased that wedded bliss didn't change that.

"Mmmh, depends on what kind of dessert," she said after finishing the dumpling. She pressed into his chest very deliberately, giving him a knowing look.

"Ah, w-well..." he stuttered as another flush of desire heated his blood. It was tempting to resist, but... "I made chocolate mousse."

Shego leaned up at his words, her brow rising in interest. Drakken quickly continued.

"We could...eat it in the bedroom. I can probably do a better job of this there," he said, nodding to where his fingers were still massaging the tight muscles of her neck.

Shego grinned. "We either need more anniversaries or I need to get caught by old villains more often."

She moved away and stood, stretching with a less-pained grimace than before Drakken was relieved to note.

"I would prefer the former," he said pointedly.

"We can also chat more about what would have happened if we'd met when we were younger," she said with a knowing glance, turning to head down the hall. "Maybe the young mad genius asks the rebel heroine who broke him out of prison out for dessert?"

Drakken looked after her as she grinned at him enigmatically. When she had rounded the corner he snapped out of his daze and hurriedly gathered up their dishes to take to the kitchen. Whether they furthered the fantasy over chocolate mousse, or he simply soothed her aches until she fell asleep, he would be content.

Shego was his reality, and together they had past, present, and forever.

He grabbed the two dishes of mousse from the fridge, and then paused to consider. He set them on a tray and added a carton of ice cream, a couple of spoons, their glasses, and the wine bottle. And with a smile and a satisfied sigh, he went to Shego.

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prissyhalliwell · 5 years

Text

Author’s note: The long, loooong awaited smut for Welcome to the Enchanted Forest. It can also be read as a standalone smutty medieval roleplay oneshot as well. If you’re into that kind of thing…

Summary: It’s after hours at the theatre and Belle and Gold sneak in for some naughty roleplay action. I Read on AO3 A Command Performance Belle waited just offstage, bouncing on the balls of her feet while she waited for Gold’s cue to walk onstage. Butterflies were dancing around in her stomach, but she was more excited than nervous.

They had decided against a script, settling instead on a simple scenario and leaving the rest to be improvised, which had suited Belle just fine. After all, there was nothing she liked more than performing improv with Gold.

Belle smirked. Well, maybe one thing…

Tonight was definitely not their first time - not by a long shot. She had barely been able to hold out a week after their first kiss before dragging him into her apartment by his tie and pouncing on him. Yet, between tonight’s sneaking around and the rather public location, Belle’s heart was racing just as fast as it had that first night they had spent together.

Sneaking in really hadn’t been that difficult. They’d merely waited until the rest of the staff had left for the night before getting ready. The idea had always been a joke between them, but as their six month anniversary had drawn closer, it had seized hold of Belle’s imagination in a way that refused to let go.

When she’d presented the idea to Gold, she’d found that he was also rather excited about the prospect. Then again, she could have suggested the backseat of her car and he probably would have raced her there.

At the sound of Gold clearing his throat, Belle pulled back the heavy red curtain. This stage was her second home and she knew the set so well she could navigate it blind.

But tonight, it was a new and exciting place. Anything could happen.

Gold’s back was turned to her as he pretended to study a tapestry with the crest of the show’s royal family on it. It gave Belle a chance to peek at his costume - a fitted black leather vest over a white tunic, black leather pants, and matching boots. She couldn’t help but admire how good he looked in his leather pants, which hugged his backside in just the right way.

If Belle had any say in the matter, he’d never be allowed to wear any other pants ever again.

She took a deep breath, sinking into character. She had played the princess of the Enchanted Forest hundreds of times, but tonight, she would finally be able to play out the fantasy she’d held for almost a decade.

Belle was finally going to get to bang the Evil Chancellor.

Barely containing a squeal of excitement, she stepped onto the stage, letting the curtain drop behind her.

“Lord Chancellor?” she asked, announcing her presence.

Gold spun around dramatically, looking at her with an expression of feigned astonishment. His look of surprise quickly become real as he took in her costume, his eyes widening as they swept over her, his gaze lingering at her bodice and the ample cleavage it showcased. Though she wore a corset for every show, it was a fairly modest one. The corset she was wearing tonight left very little to the imagination.

“Belle..” Gold choked out, before remembering that they were supposed to be in character. A blush rose on his cheeks and Belle decided the corset had been worth every cent she’d paid.

Though it would have been fun to wear their costumes from the show, they had quickly decided against it. Not only would Cruella DeVil, the theatre’s costume designer, have ripped their heads off for any damage or stains, but even worse, she’d have never let them live down the fact that she knew exactly how it had happened.

Instead, they had picked up their outfits while visiting the renaissance fair in the nearby town of DunBroch. She’d actually run into Merlin Emrys, Storybrooke’s notorious theatre critic, when she was looking at leather corsets. He hadn’t said anything, merely smirked as he’d walked by.

Despite his current support for The Enchanted Forest, Belle had almost picked up a turkey leg and threw it at him.

The dress Gold was currently staring bug-eyed at was simpler than what she usually wore. It was of a similar shade of dark green as her velvet dress, but made of much more breathable cotton. She was also wearing nothing underneath, since any extra layers would only get in the way of their activity tonight.

After a few moments, Gold was able to pull himself together. She saw the moment he slipped back into character, transforming from the befuddled actor to the suave manipulator.

“Princess, whatever brings you to my tower in the middle of the night?” he asked, his voice dipping lower and his accent becoming thicker.

Belle bit her lip, trying not to let on how much he was affecting her. While she loved the good and decent man that Gold was every day, there was something just a little bit thrilling about being seduced by the bad guy.

She smiled shyly, embracing the role of the naive princess wholeheartedly. It had been a long time since she had played the character that way, but for tonight, she didn’t mind in the least.

Sliding closer to Gold, she licked her lips nervously, knowing the effect it would have on him.

“I came to return the book you lent me.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “At this time of night?”

“Well, I only just finished it.”

He chuckled. “Most young ladies would have waited until morning, your majesty. There’s no telling what monsters lurk in the dark.”

Belle smirked, turning her back to him as she pretended to add the book back to the bookshelf. “This is my father’s castle. I am safer in these walls than anywhere in the world. Unless you’re saying that you - my father’s most loyal adviser - would wish me harm?”

His footsteps grew louder as he came to stand directly behind her, leaving only a hair's breadth between them. She could feel the warmth radiating off his body, even without the direct contact.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say it like that,” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. “But I do have...ambitions.”

His hand slid around her waist, pulling her roughly towards him. He held her fast while trailing the fingers of his other hand down her arm lightly.

“Do you know what they say about curiosity, highness?”

“I prefer the one about the cat that got the cream,” Belle replied.

“Hmm,” he rumbled in agreement, raising her arm to kiss her wrist. “I should think so.”

A small noise left Belle’s throat at his lips touched her skin. She heard his answering chuckle as he proceeded to nip and suck at her pulse point, making her heart flutter in her chest.

“Books can teach you many things, highness. But I’ve found that some things require a more..hands-on approach.”

Belle couldn’t help the slight giggle that passed her lips. “You clearly don’t know the types of books I read, Lord Chancellor.”

Without warning, Gold whirled her around, pressing her against the end of the table and covering her body with his.

“Do tell, princess.”

Belle opened her mouth to reply, but was immediately distracted as Gold’s hand, which had been resting near her waist, began to travel slowly down her dress, taking an agonizingly long time to travel the small distance. His hand bunched the material of her dress, dragging it up to her waist so he could reach under it.

As ready as she was for him, even the slightest brush of his fingers against her entrance was enough to drive her near the edge. Belle could do nothing but lean against the table for support as his nimble fingers caressed her center, making her blood sing in her veins.

Breaking character, she grabbed his face and kissed him fiercely. Gold growled against her lips, his tongue darting inside her mouth as he slipped two fingers inside her, pumping her in time with the thrust of his tongue.

Belle’s head fell back as she began to see stars behind her eyelids. His lips descended to her neck, sucking at the juncture that always made her squeal. Between the growing pleasure between her legs and the sensitive spot on her neck, she quickly unraveled, letting out a sharp cry as she climaxed.

Gold held her tightly as she sagged in his arms. He placed light kisses up and down her neck as her racing heart slowed.

Setting her down on the edge of the table, Gold stepped away, his expression smug. One by one, he slowly sucked each finger clean, keeping eye contact with her the entire time.

Belle licked her lips, anticipation growing. “I stand corrected, my lord. I do not believe any book has brought me such pleasure.”

He smirked, clearly pleased with himself. “I am here only to serve,” he said, sweeping into a deep bow. “But perhaps it would be wise for your highness to retire for the evening, before any other...misadventure occurs.”

Belle knew his words were only part of their game, but she was getting too impatient to play it much longer. She wanted him inside her now.

She stood up and strode towards him purposely, stopping right before him. Trailing a finger down his chest, she looked up at him under long eyelashes. “You know, I don’t think we’ve had enough adventure yet. I certainly haven’t had my fill...” She let the last word trail off suggestively.

A chuckle rumbled deep within his chest. “Are you trying to seduce me, your majesty?”

Gold was doing a marvelous job of staying in character. Belle decided to fix that.

Standing up on her tiptoes, she whispered in his ear sweetly. “What’s a princess got to do around here to get fucked?”

Gold’s eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. Belle considered it a win.

It took him a moment to find his tongue. “Your highness is very...forthright.”

Belle shrugged. “Perhaps I got tired of waiting.” She gave him a pointed look. “Again.”

“Fair enough.”

Before she could respond, Gold scooped her into his arms, lifting her off the floor. She hung tight as he spun her around and set her on top of the war table again.

“Is that quick enough for you?” he growled in her ear.

Belle gasped as he pushed her down on the table, dragging up her skirt and setting his forearms on either side of her to balance himself.

The table let out a warning creak. Belle suddenly wasn’t so sure that the old war table was up for that much action.

As they sat up, she looked around for something a little sturdier. Her eyes alighted on the throne.

Gold stepped back as Belle hopped down off the table, then followed her somewhat mystified as she led him to the throne.

His confusion cleared as she sat down upon it, pulling up her dress and resting her ankles on the velvet armrests, baring herself to him.

With a smirk that was entirely too sinful, he sank to his knees before her. “What do you wish of me, your highness?”

Belle had never thought she’d enjoy commanding Gold in this way, but the rush of power was rather intoxicating. Perhaps they should try this more often.

“Put that silver tongue of yours to good use for once, Chancellor.”

He crawled closer, until his face was near where she wanted him to be and his breath was hot on her center. “I live only to serve, my lady.”

Before Belle could think of a reply, his mouth was on her. His tongue swept over her entrance, tasting the wetness that had gathered there. He found her clit and teased it, laving it with his tongue as she gripped the throne’s armrests.

With his lips and tongue working together so effortlessly, it wasn’t long until she was panting, begging for him not to stop. He knew just what she liked and it wasn’t long until Belle began to see the constellations again.

His fingernails dug into her thighs as he sucked at her clit, the sensation finally pushing her over the edge.

She cried out, desperately glad for the support of the armrests keeping her from falling out of the chair.

With a self-satisfied smirk, Gold licked his lips, his tongue gathering up her juices.

“My but you taste good.”

Still breathing heavily, Belle stood up on shaky legs. Gold quickly rose to join her, the prominent bulge in his trousers obvious.

She reached out and cupped him through the leather, smiling as his head fell back and he moaned with pleasure. Locking eyes with him, she loosened the drawstring of his pants, freeing his hardened cock and giving it a few firm strokes. She let him revel in the feeling for a few moments before dragging him by the hand across the stage once more, until her back bumped up against the stage wall.

“Get inside me,” she growled. “Your princess demands it.”

Gold’s soft brown eyes were dark with desire. “If that’s what my lady commands - ”

Belle cut off his quip with a fierce kiss, swallowing his words. Gold, picking up on his cue, raised her up against the set before lining himself up and entering her smoothly with a grunt.

She groaned at the feel of him sliding into her. With every thrust, she bounced against the wall, his hands sure to leave bruises from where he gripped her so tightly, but Belle didn’t care. It was the fantasy she’d imagined for years, and it was just as incredible as she’d always dreamed.

Her hands were tangled in his hair, holding on for dear life as he thrust deeper and deeper into her.

“Come for me, princess. I’ll fuck your royal cunt until you scream my name.”

Belle came with a sudden shout, Gold’s name falling from her lips, as her fingernails dug into his shoulders. She gasped for air as the waves of her orgasm shuddered through her, pleasure coursing through her entire body.

Beneath her, she could feel Gold reaching his own peak as well, moaning her name as he came.

As their breathing returned to normal, they rested their foreheads against one another, Gold cradling her close to his chest. After a few minutes, he gently disentangled them from each other and set her back on her feet.

Belle sank back against the wall, thankful for something else to hold her up. Gold leaned against the wall beside her, looking tired but sated.

“Same time tomorrow?” she quipped.

He let out a bark of laughter. “You might need to give me a few days off for good behavior. I’m not as young as I once was.”

She giggled. “Alright, but only a few days.”

He groaned. “This is what I get for dating a beautiful young woman.”

Wrapping her arms around him, she snuggled into his chest. “Yes, I’m sure it’s just terrible.”

Gold laid his chin on her head. “Well, I suppose there’s a few perks.”

Belle’s answering laughter echoed throughout the empty theatre.

“It’s rather romantic here, isn’t it?” Gold asked, a curious tone to his voice. “Perhaps we’ll have to sneak in again sometime.”

Belle could tell he was already planning something, but she was feeling too comfortable and happy to try and pry it out of him.

She’d find out soon enough, after all.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * Author’s Note: This is dedicated to @b-does-the-write-thing who never gave up on me writing this, despite it being many, many months after her birthday. Love you, B!

P.S. I'll be posting the epilogue to Welcome to the Enchanted Forest this week!

#rumbelle #rumbelle fic #rumplestiltskin #belle french #A Command Performance #Welcome to the Enchanted Forest #WTTEF

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worddevdealswithml · 5 years

Text

Side Effects Include: Empathy

Chapter 8

As Marinette leaned back in her chair, she couldn’t help a smile. It was… Simple, really.

All she’d had to do was listen, and, to Nino of all people. If she’d had to guess who would give her the inspiration… Well, she wasn’t complaining.

And as for putting her plan into practice… Well, it wouldn’t be hard. After all, late last night, as she’d been mulling things over in bed, she’d realized something important, which was… Lila was powerless.

All she needed was a little time.

It was lunch, and by now, Adrien knew the plan. It was… Terrifying, to say the least, but… If it worked…

He didn’t think he’d been able to eat anything right now.

Though her expression was neutral, Lila was fuming.

It was bad enough that Marinette thought she could stand against her, but since this morning, she seemed almost… Blasé about it. Condescending.

She was plotting something. Of course she was. Marinette, for all the curses Lila would have gladly inflicted on her, was tenacious, and resourceful, and above all, driven. What she really needed, if she was honest, was an opening. Just… One opening.

So, when she’d heard Adrien explaining to his friends that Marinette wouldn’t be joining them for a while, because she was in the downstairs bathroom, something about having something personal to do…

Well, there were two things to realize. The first, of course, was that Marinette had to be working on whatever plan had her so confident.

The second, and more… Salient point, was that that bathroom, during lunch, the very place Marinette had chosen for its seclusion, was the perfect place to… Well, put Lila’s own plan into action.

She smiled, letting just a little of the bite in her mind show on her face.

Her hand tapped idly at her pocket, where she was keeping something… Useful.

…

As she walked in, Marinette inhaled sharply, and put her phone away. Maybe, after everything was done, Lila would check what exactly she’d been planning. But for now…

“Hi, Lila.”

“Hello Marinette,” she said, smiling.

There was an instant of silence. She glanced at the stalls. They were all open. The room was deserted, but for the two of them.

Perfect.

“Back in the same bathroom,” said Marinette, “and I imagine you’ve come to threaten me.”

“Mmm… Something like that,” said Lila, smiling.

“But I can’t help but notice, you still haven’t made good on your plans to leave me alone and friendless.”

Lila shrugged. “It’s on my schedule. Actually, it’s… penciled in for today.”

“Oh, I see,” said Marinette. “And… You expect me to believe you even can? See, that’s the bit I don’t get.”

“Oh really,” said Lila, growing rapidly more insulted by the audible confidence in Marinette’s voice.

“Really. Everyone here knows me. Maybe they won’t easily believe you’re a liar, but they already know that I’m not. The worst they could assume is that I’m confused. That’s the problem with lying. It only takes one slip-up.”

She laughed. “But Marinette, I don’t slip.”

Marinette laughed back. “Really? You’ve slipped up plenty. You switched which side your tinnitus was on. You were grasping at straws to make me the villain for throwing a napkin, and the part where you didn’t even check where Prince Ali was before saying you were at his palace?”

“Are you offering critiques, Marinette?”

“No. I’m just reminding you how close some of your lies have come to unmasking you.”

“And do you know why they haven’t?”

Marinette’s head tilted, her expression still guarded, but clearly interested.

“Well… I’ll tell you. And… Consider it a parting gift. I told you that I tell people what they want to hear. As long as I’m around, they get to live their dreams. Alya gets the interview of a lifetime for the Ladyblog, Nino gets a contact in the music industry, and… Well, soon enough, Sabrina gets a better master, Chloe gets no more of you, and I’ve got more, for the rest of the class. Did you know that I’ve got a few legislative contacts that I can ask to push for environmental reform? Mylene and Ivan do, now. I was trained as an art critic, and the entire art club is hanging on my every, encouraging, word. Do you get it now?”

She was grinning wide, now. “Nobody wants to think about whether I’m a liar or not, because if I’m a liar, then all of those lovely dreams vanish.” She laughed. “And if they press a bit too hard, well, the congressman didn’t want to listen, and the record label my contact worked for went bankrupt, oh if only they’d had your music, it would have saved them, Nino…” She laughed, again. “And there are only two people that I didn’t get. Adrien… Well, if Ladybug hadn’t shown up, he’d want to believe me, too. And… You, Marinette.”

“Yeah? What were you going to tempt me with?”

She shrugged. “I hadn’t decided. The only thing you wanted was already going to be mine. And that’s part of the problem, isn’t it? You want me to be a liar, as much as anything, because if I’m not, then Adrien has no reason not to like me, and where does that leave you?” Midway through the sentence, Marinette had gone pale, and Lila couldn’t have been happier about it. “You would be… Alone, and heartbroken. When it comes down to it, Adrien is your biggest weakness, for all he’s the reason you won’t believe me.”

Marinette took a deep breath, as if steadying herself, and then… “So… You’re, what, planning to use Adrien against me? When he already knows he shouldn’t listen to you?”

Lila laughed. “Shouldn’t and won’t are two different things, Marinette; you should already know that. Sure, the fact that he knows would slow me down, but I practically have a standing invitation at his house, and if I tell Adrien you’re not to be trusted often enough, he’ll start to listen, whether he wants to or not.”

She laughed at the way Marinette’s teeth gritted.

“But… That would take too long, and in the meantime, who know what you’d do with the rest of the class. If anything, I’d save that for later, so that if he ever sees you again, he’ll refuse to talk to you.”

“If he ever sees me again?”

“Of course. And, more to the point, if that were my plan, I wouldn’t tell you until it was already too late. That’s one of the most important rules, right alongside never telling people who you hate most.”

“All this talk, but you have yet to give me one good reason to think that you’re not just trying to scare me.”

She laughed. “Oh, Marinette, always so confident. Well, it’s like I say, you always wait until it’s too late before you tell someone what your plan is.”

She shrugged, lightly. “So, for example…” she reached into her pocket, and pulled out a pencil, sharpened to an unnerving point.

Marinette blinked, and then, registering what it was, her eyes widened. She met Lila’s eyes. “You’re… Going to try to kill me?”

“Oh… Well, I could, obviously, but, then I’m the girl who killed her classmate. It doesn’t reflect well on me. Besides, you probably wouldn’t put up enough of a fight for me to claim self-defense. Even if you did, it wouldn’t exactly reflect well on me. No, you’ll be walking away from this, but the next school you set foot in won’t be this one.”

She turned the point backwards, and let the lead lightly tap her left forearm.

“That is… if there’s a school that would take the girl who assaulted her classmate unprovoked. Like I said, you never let anyone know who you hate. As far as anyone’s concerned, your hatred of me just makes me sad, and I would never try to frame you for something.”

Marinette exhaled, gently, staring at the pencil. “Lila, there’s something wrong with you.”

Lila grinned. “What can I say? I like winning. You put up a fight, but… Let me give you a look at the immediate future… There’s a scream from the bathroom. I come running out, a few nasty jabs in my forearm. I was talking to you in the bathroom, and something I said must have made you angry. Suddenly, you’re rushing forward with a pencil, and I barely escape. I find a teacher. ‘Oh, not Marinette!’ everyone says, but… Who else? They know I wouldn’t do something like this, and everyone knows you didn’t like me. It must have been you. There’s not much evidence, but it’s enough. You go to jail, maybe prison, and,” she giggled, “The most important part is, you never come back to this school again.”

Marinette swallowed. “Not much evidence is right. You think they wouldn’t check for fingerprints? I’ve never touched it.”

Lila scoffed. “I guess you don’t recognize your own favorite brand of pencil? And… I know it’s your favorite brand of pencil, because I took this during 3rd period. Trust me, Marinette, I might let a few details slip on the less important ones, but I came up with this little plan years ago, for… Well, I suppose you should be honored. You’re the first person who’s made it worth it.”

“I… Yeah, fine. I’m honored, I… Guess. Still, I’d advise you not to do it,” said Marinette.

“And why’s that?”

“Press 1 to save message.” The voice was small, but it had come from Marinette’s jacket… Where she’d put her phone.

“Because it still wouldn’t work,” said Marinette, pulling the phone from her jacket, “You really should have seen this one coming.”

No. She’d… Been ready, already? She needed to stop Marinette from- she pressed the button.

She should, what, attack? Stab herself, like she’d planned?

“Nino had it right, on his anniversary… If you really want to surprise someone, you make their plan part of your plan. Now. Put the pencil away.”

She was hyperventilating, her mind wordless, scrambling for something, anything to get her out of this. Marinette was bluffing. But why would she fake it if she could do it for real? Marinette wasn’t bluffing, but… But…

She could say they’d been practicing. There was a play they’d wanted to do, and Marinette had set the script up as a false confession and… But, even with everything she was capable of, it was Marinette’s word against hers, and everything she’d said, every little confession, and there was no script to produce. There was no backup plan. There was… There was nothing.

Hands to her face, desperately searching for something, she barely noticed Marinette pass her. She didn’t even think to stab. And then she was alone, the bathroom barely a thought. The world crumbled away around her.

She couldn’t.

She just… Couldn’t.

Even victorious, as she certainly was, Marinette couldn’t be happy. Of all things, she was scared. It had been too close. If she hadn’t been ready, Lila would have done it, and the day would have gone so differently.

But she hadn’t. She hadn’t. It hadn’t happened.

It hadn’t happened.

Of course, Lila had said enough about Adrien that… He must know, now, but right now, against every instinct she’d had, that didn’t matter right now.

Marinette took a breath, desperately trying to compose herself. It was fine. The message had gone through. Adrien would have it now, and if it had worked as she’d meant it to…

She walked into the classroom.

Alya and Nino looked up at her, seemingly as worried as she was.

Adrien, behind them, nodded, simply.

“I,” she shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s… A liar.”

“I…” said Alya, and swallowed, “I’m sorry. I should have…” She groaned. “I should have checked, or-

“Don’t be sorry. She knows how to lie. You heard her, right? She makes you not want to check.”

She sat down, and practically collapsed into the chair.

“And… That bit at the end,” said Nino. “She was going to…”

“Stab herself, just to frame me,” said Marinette.

“So… What now?” said Alya.

“Now… We make sure everyone knows. It’s not their fault they believed her, but they need to know the truth. They need to know what she did, what she was planning… Everything.”

“Alright,” said Adrien. “Then the sooner we get to work, the better. The less time she has to react, the less chance she finds some way to wriggle out of it.”

“Dude,” said Nino, the most unnerved Marinette had ever seen him, “how is she supposed to get out of it? There’s nobody in the whole school who wouldn’t believe that. If they hear that recording, it’s over for her. She’d have to delete it from Adrien’s phone, and even then, as long as we remembered it, we could probably convince people, if we worked together.”

Delete the recording. Make it not have happened. Make people forget.

Marinette looked up, staring out the window.

Tears welled up in her eyes, not of sadness but…

They were the tears of someone who had, say, found themselves hanging above a pit, from a rope that was fraying to quickly for there to be any chance of escape.

Tears, in short, of impending doom. Fear.

“Oh no.”

#ML #Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous fanfic #marinette dupain cheng #adrien #Adrien Agreste #Lila Rossi #alya cesaire #Nino lahiffe #The chapter where you need the previous chapters to understand what's happening #Side Effects Include: Empathy

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annakie · 5 years

Text

Notes on a Blog Cleanup (& some other stuff) Part 4

Made it all the way back to to page 1000.

Started with 3021 pages. Currently have 2954 pages, adding in posting 10 - 13 times a day for the last month... deleted somewhere around 87 pages of posts (or around 1300 total). I’m in April 2015. So it took two and a half years to do 50% of my posting here and nearly another year and a half to get that down to 2/3rds. It’ll just speed up from here.

Anyway, here’s a bunch of words about tumblr, fandom, and Doctor Who.

I’ve found myself deleting more news articles lately. There’s almost no cringe-y stuff left. If I go back and do this again it’ll be even more deleting current events stuff unlessI connected to it somehow.

A LOT of the content creation I ever did happened in this time. I did so much giffing for Who’s Line, a lot of video game stuff, especially Mass Effect, cause you know, it’s me, and a lot of edits and such. Some way better quality than others. I was also getting thousands of notifications a day from the few things I did that were really popular back then (still sometimes get notes on that Whose Line/Elmo/Game of Thrones gifset to this day).

I know I’m not like, the best at gifs and edits, but hey, I think some of it is like, pretty good? There’s a few things I’m a little sad about that just never took off, but I bet all people who try and post OC on Tumblr feel that way about some of their stuff. A few things I made did surprisingly well, though.

I still will make the odd gif/photoset there that’s more than just “here’s some nice screenshots I took slightly edited” but honestly, I feel like these days it’s so hard to get many notes on tumblr at all? Like there’s just so fewer people making stuff, and even less reblogging gifsets/photosets? Idk, maybe it’s something more specific to my overall followers and who you all follow? But I made a joking post a couple of days ago about my dash feeling weird because not everything is specifically tailored to me after scrolling through my blog, but on the OTHER hand, I also feel like, overall Tumblr has become just yet another place to post memes and text posts and has the big problem of the Reddit/Twitter/Tumblr/Instagram (+TickTock) circle where each place is like 50% screenshots/reposts of content the others? This obviously isn’t a criticism of any actual people, but just... what tumblr has become the last year or two? Is it just me? Like you can find some gifsets and such with a couple thousand notes here and there but... just not as much is being produced now? Does that make sense?

Like a month or two ago I spent a couple of hours specifically looking for good general fandom blogs specific to several fandoms I’m in and... it’s hard to even find those blogs anymore. Like, “fuckyeah” type blogs that are someone’s sideblog about a specific topic. And hey, believe me, I’ve created and abandoned several of these kinds of blogs on my time here (and at least one I’d keep up with but.. it just doesn’t have any content being generated for it so it’s just... sparse) so I get it. Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places, I don’t know.

I keep wondering how much longer I’m going to keep doing this little project, and then every 10 or pages I come across a post I didn’t tag properly that’s now been found, or something I just really wanna get off my blog and I’m like “Welp, when I stop finding these, I’ll stop looking. So maybe in like, 2018. :p LIterally finding posts I forgot I ever made in the first place and like has made it worth it.

Notes on TAH Fandom

This was also the phase of being heavily heavily like SO heavily into The Thrilling Adventure Hour. And I have a lot of thoughts on that, too.

Literally, one of the best decisions of my life, tbh. Not every moment of being like a SuperFan of this thing was sunshine and roses, but most of them really were. Honestly, I made such good friends. I had some extraordinary experiences, doing things that I wouldn’t have otherwise done, for sure. I traveled to Seattle, Chicago, New York twice, and LA three times, hanging out with new friends, and getting to know the cast of a thing I loved so much, and also somehow getting to be known by them as well. There were things that happened that I didn’t blog about here because I never wanted to come off as braggy, or just to keep a confidence. There were a few not-as-great things that happened during that time, but basically, 2014 through mid-November 2015 will likely go down as one of the best time periods of my life, for a lot of reasons, but a good chunk of that was the experiences I had through TAH.

Hoo boy though, I blogged about it a LOT. Like, it felt like almost as much as early blog was about Doctor Who. I was, uh, real enthusiastic and am now kinda regretful about some of those early fandom tags. Also turns out some of the TAH people looked at my blog more than I knew, I think, so a little yikes there thinking back on it now. But also I was kind and helpful a lot, so all of that was good.

This is a good recap post of all of the awesome stuff. And even that glosses over a lot of the really cool stuff, or skirts around some of it, just to try and stay brief about it.

One of the big things I learned from that experience was that being a very involved person in a fandom is such a double-edged sword. For one thing, it honestly became somewhat of a second job for me, which I 100% put upon myself. But running FYTAH (with Shannon!) and admining/writing a large percentage of the TAH Wiki (with Ange!), working in the booths at conventions (with Jena + Shannon/Kitty/Jamie/Dani) and being available to help in a variety of other ways was A Lot. Which again, I took on willingly. And Ange warned me about it several times but I was like “No I want to do this.” So then it also kind of turned into like a customer service job even outside of working at the cons. After awhile you gotta smile and be nice allllll the time. I ended up taking a lot of things offline to a small subset of friends. And most of that came from other fans, not from the show itself (except like, feeling like I couldn’t show my true disappointment when the show was ending, or feeling like I couldn’t air any criticisms I had about the show except in very private conversations.)

At one point I was having an email conversation with a couple of those friends and realized that, for the first time in my life, I was like a “popular kid”, which was weird. And I tried my damnedest to be as welcoming and inclusive and not to let anyone feel left out. But also there’s a point where like, you can only take on so much, and you can only be actual friends with so many people? You can be kind and welcoming and enthusiastic and all, but you only have so much time and energy to give away. There were so many messages I never answered still sitting in my / the FYTAH inbox or in email and some on twitter because I just didn’t have the bandwidth to give away sometimes. It was a weird lesson to learn because I knew it so well in general in my personal life, but had never had to apply it... in this way before? Does that sound weird? Or braggy? I feel like I’m walking on land mines with this one.

For a more specific example of what I mean, in March, 2015 ten of us rented a house and lived in it for a long weekend for the TAH 10th anniversary show + a fun getaway vacation. Everyone invited was someone I knew or were close with someone else in the group. A few more people had been invited but couldn’t afford it, so word got around a little bit. And it was AMAZING. But I later heard that there were a few people, most of whom I didn’t really know, were hurt that they weren’t invited. Jena and I spent dozens of hours and put a lot of financial risk into being the custodians of the trip for even the ten of us, and it was a huge undertaking. It was never meant to be a thing for the entire fandom, just a group of people who were already friends. But there was still a small kerfluffle from a few people about it. Which, I TOTALLY get feeling bad about being left out but... it was always supposed to be a relatively small thing, never any kind of “Official Fandom Get Together”. And we definitely didn’t have the time/money/ability to host an “open call for anyone to come” type thing. Just coordinating 10 people (and about 25 - 30 overall getting together to hang out at designated times over the weekend) was... more than enough.

At one point sometime later people started suggesting that we organize and hold an actual TAH-Con and I... let that one pass me by without really talking about it. It was definitely too much, and even then I knew it. And I mean, the shadow of Dashcon was still hanging over all fandoms heavily in those days. I wasn’t about to become the next Dashcon. It never got past a few emails being passed around.

So yeah, to be honest, if I could go back and do those years again, I absolutely would, it was like 95% awesomeness. But I think in regards to some of the fandom-specific things, I’d be a little less of a doormat, and I’d be a little more careful about spreading myself too thin.

So now that the show is “back”, I am enjoying listening to it, and I’ll reblog some things or post big news on FYTAH, but I’ve been lazy about even helping out with the wiki (I keep meaning to get back to it, Ange is still doing great) because... although I’m still a HUGE fan, I also am gonna be more laid back about it now.

I also haven’t REALLY loved a thing in the same way since TAH. The closest there has been is Critical Role, and I’ve been real careful to stay out of any actual fandom stuff there. I really love the thing, but I’m gonna keep with my group of 5 or 6 other fans I already know (all from other fandoms) who love the thing too, and stay out of wider discussions. With some of the stuff happening there lately, it was a good decision.

Wow, that was a lot of words. Sorry.

Hey one last thing to catch up on.

Doctor Who Rewatch 2019!

I’m now already at 6x01, into the Silence episodes.

So I did finally rewatch the Desert Bus episode that I hated so much before and like... this time... it was fine? Cheesy and all, but not so bad that I should have hated it as much as I did? Also noticed the Doctor doing the classic “gonna hit on this girl really hard in the beginning then drop her so quick at the end” thing to the companion of the week. Ah, Ten. The most bi-polar of all Doctors. I’m gonna be honest, I decided to skip on through Waters of Mars because I realized I was just ready to be done with Ten at that point. I’ll probably go back to it at some point but I wasn’t ready for another Ten Temper Tantrum, maybe the worst one of all, in that episode.

So I finished Ten (and oh man that whole two-parter to end Ten with... like the whole Master plotline is such a stinker. The first half, in particular, is so bad, the only really good scene is the one in the cafe with Wilf. The rest of it... wow. Wasn’t that whole thing written like the week before filming and never really edited or something? IDK.) The last half hour or so is really good though, with Ten’s sacrifice (after a tantrum) and then all the companion goodbyes (except Joan Redfern’s granddaughter, bleh).

But yay, on to Eleven and Amy and Rory and more River!

Season Five is... wow it starts off strong and really stalls there in the middle for a bit. Picks back up a bit with Rory returning, then somehow has two great episodes without Rory and ends strong, though the first pretty nonsensical Moffat-era “this doesn’t make sense but it looks and sounds so good you don’t care, right?” season arc and ending. Season six, I’m already remembering, is way, way worse for that. But anyway. Rory remains my second favorite companion ever. And episodes with Amy, Rory and River continue to be my favorites. Also? Matt Smith is so good.

But even early on in season six I’m remembering how really dumb the overarching plotline is... Moffat is great at “Oh man this will be cool so I’m gonna throw it in there! (and it really is some very cool stuff!) and hope it all makes sense later! Or just don’t think about it too hard!”

Honestly though, despite all the quibbles, most of the episodes work on an individual level if you don’t think about the the overall arc Moffat is trying to do. Even those that are a bit sloggy, like the Cold Blood/Hungry Earth two-parter, have enough great moments to justify watching them. (Ambrose is still maybe one of the worst “regular people” characters to ever be on this show, though.) There’s still no “Fear Her”. And that’s pretty good.

Also? The blog itself is now about as Doctor Who oriented as it is in the last year. Like... oh the season is airing? There’s a lot more good stuff to reblog, I’ll reblog good stuff. Season not airing, a scattered post here and there. It’s a much better place to be.

After Amy and Rory leave, that was about the end of my true like “Doctor Who Obsession” phase. On my Blog we’re in the break between Amy and Rory leaving and Clara showing up. I never really clicked with Clara, I think like a lot of people. Like I really liked the season with Danny, but after that season I never really rewatched episodes, so I’m looking forward to getting there and experiencing some stuff again for the second time.

#personal post tag thingy #notes on a blog cleanup

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thisislizheather · 4 years

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January Jewels 2020

I’ve purposely put off writing this monthly wrap-up because, well, christ. January was a terrible month. I don’t need to go into the details of why, but the consensus from everyone that I’ve talked to fully agrees with me on this. What the hell happened? Starting a new decade is supposed to be great. In any case, I’ll always have high hopes for the future. And I’m just thankful to begin a new month. Here’s what went down in the pit that was January 2020.

First things first, I recapped how my 2019 resolutions turned out. Why don’t more people do this? Where’s the accountability in reviewing your past resolutions? They’re not fucking birthday wishes, they’re intentions! More people need to follow through with this, even if the results aren’t what you hoped for.

I made my 2020 resolutions.

I fell absolutely in love with this sketch.

I did two podcasts with Nathan - one where we talked about the pope incident and one where I absolutely scream at him about Hillary.

I read Jenny Slate’s new book as well as a tiny little book about how to live a good life.

I ended up buying another J. Crew swimsuit (the same one I bought a few months ago, but this time in red) and I have no regrets.

In love with Trader Joe’s (dairy free) coconut whipped cream, I can’t stop using it in hot chocolate.

I rewatched (or watched for the first time, I truly can’t remember) The Staircase and it’s so good. I’m pretty sure Marla got me MP3 copies of this years ago and I did watch it, but I completely forgot about it in detail. Such a good watch. If you’ve already seen it, do you know about the owl theory? It’s a wild one, but, like, I think an owl did it now?

I’ve been using a small bottle of OUAI’s Wave Spray and if I can figure out how to not overspray it, it’s a great product. Once you use it though, your hair only looks good that day. After you sleep on it, your hair looks like shit. (Is that true of all hair products? I have absolutely no idea.)

Bought this Banana Republic top for $13 on sale and I love it because it does not feel like it cost so little.

I don’t know if it’s a Canadian brand but I have found a wicked alternative to Dollarama: Buck or Two. I went to one in Brampton and they’ve got everything.

I watched most of the SNL with Jennifer Lopez and wow did it suck. 99% of the sketches were basically “She’s pretty. That’s the joke.” Fucking hated it. They do this a lot of the time with certain actresses and I can’t ever tell if it’s because the actress loves doing these sketches or they’re afraid she can’t be funny. Whatever the reason is, blow my brains out, please.

I went to the Ear Inn in the city and it was lovely! Super old place. Service was great. Burger was great.

I went to Glossier with the intention of buying the cheek stain and then decided against it. It’s not a good product. I literally pinched my cheeks and got a better rosiness.

I came across probably my favourite winter children’s book of all time, The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. Look at one page of this magic.

I was so happy to hear about this matter finally being settled in New York.

I went to The Dutch again for Restaurant Week for their steak tartare and it’s just heaven on a plate.

I rewatched the great What Lies Beneath and man, it’s still just such a great movie.

As you may have heard, Papyrus is going out of business, so I’ve popped in twice to see what the closing deals are and they aren’t worth it yet (only 30% off! C’mon! I won’t get out of bed for at least 60%), so I’ll keep stopping in every so often until they’ve become desperate.

Love this part of a recent SNL (below). (If you can’t see it in Canada, search for “white male rage SNL.”

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I finally went to Boulud Sud for their pasta happy hour and man was it not worth it. The place has a terrible setup if you’re sitting at the bar, the food was absolutely nothing special and had ridiculous portion sizes. It’s also a bad sign when the bread is tastier than the entree. Super disappointing.

I tried on the bras and underwear from LIVELY in Soho and even though it’s priced reasonably, I couldn’t find anything I loved. I have a feeling that I could be into it though, so I’ll go again sometime in the future for sure.

I’ll forever love the lunch special at Pil Pil on the Upper East Side. I know I probably bring this up too much, but man. Love tapas.

I can’t stop buying sunglasses for sale at ALDO. And I won’t.

I finished season one of The West Wing and it was really good. I keep forgetting about it, but I should stick with it. People, like, loved that show, didn’t they?

I started using Sol De Janeiro’s Bum Bum Cream… on my butt. That’s what it’s for, no? So far, I mean… it feels smooth? It’s not at all greasy, which I like. Seems weird to have a cream just for your butt, but who am I to criticize.

Ate the fish tacos at Summer Salt and they’re good! It’s insane and great that they sell margaritas at a fast casual place, too.

Very into this Pat McGrath mascara that I got as a Sephora reward.

Love this Wells For Boys sketch (below) from a few years ago that I just saw for the first time (thanks for showing me, Irene!)

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I haven’t been there in years, but I went to Sweet Afton for happy hour in Astoria the other day and had the pickle martini which actually wasn’t terrible. Love that place.

Tried the lunch burger at Peter Luger finally! And yes it was a good burger (love that they use American cheese and the bun was very good even though it's not a potato bun). Steakhouse burgers are always hard for me to rate since a steakhouse burger is a real *entree* unlike the regular, everyday burgers that other places have which are not as big and overwhelming. An everyday burger is easy to rate since it's either great, overrated or shit. A steakhouse burger has nuances, how juicy is too juicy? How's the quality of the meat? What are the ideal toppings? Should someone shoot me for my extensive burger thoughts? Yes.

I went to see a free orchestral performance put on by Julliard at Lincoln Center and it was great. It reminded me so much of going to my brother Gary’s recitals when I was a kid, just loved it.

Had dinner at Portale. The pasta was insane. This place might be a rival for L’Artusi! Dare I say it! Every bite was phenomenal. MUST return. (Noteworthy: it also just got two stars in the Times.)

LOVED this piece about Ricky Gervais and the Golden Globes. Favourite line: “The least risky thing in the world is announced apathy.“

Maybe you don’t know this, but 90% of post offices in the U.S. have bulletproof glass between the workers and the customers. It’s obviously because awful things have happened, but I’ve been going to this one post office in the city on 23rd street that doesn’t have the glass and the workers are SO MUCH MORE PLEASANT. I wish all locations were like this one. Just a thought.

Just bought another one of these UNIQLO shirts that I love in dark grey.

Every January I make sure to:

Mark down all holidays/birthdays/anniversaries (Valentine’s Day, Daylight Saving Times, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving)

Check expiration dates for passport/license/health card/insurance and write down any important renewal dates

I’ve watched the first two new episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and it fucking blows. There was only one thing I laughed at (when a server thought Larry was “oggling” her but he was really just keeping an eye on her tray with pigs in blankets) but OTHER THAN THAT, what a piece of shit season so far! I fucking hated the part in one episode where he videotapes the consent given between him and some woman as they’re making out. ALSO, and this has happened a few times over the seasons, he’s recycling fucking Seinfeld jokes. FROM THE SHOW. Talking about when it’s too late to get “Happy New Year-ed”? Are we kidding here?! Fucking lazy as hell. I might just stop watching.

I watched the new Taylor Swift documentary on Netflix and it’s really good. Even if you have zero opinion on her, I really liked it. (It also introduced me to this great song.)

Things that I’m looking forward to this month: seeing a Raptors game at Barclays Center, finally sitting down and watching season two of Shrill in its entirety, reading Joan Rivers’ book Enter Talking and and maybe going to another Restaurant Week lunch before the end date. February, please oh please don’t be as terrible as January.

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in December over here!

#this is liz heather #Liz Heather #Curb Your Enthusiasm #Taylor Swift #Netflix

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pinksrs · 5 years

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THE PINK SERIES, VOLUME 1/PROLOGUE

CW: Death.

If you’ve ever felt like The Universe is working against you, there may very well be a point to your paranoia. If you ever felt like something wasn't a coincidence, I’m sorry to tell you you may have a point.

I’d like to tell you that The Universe is a benevolent character. I'd like to tell you that It takes your thoughts and feelings into consideration. I wish it were the type of person that minds Its manners, holds open doors, says please and thank you, and cares.

But It isn’t, and It doesn’t.

The Universe is an asshole. It’s got a sick sense of humor. Why do you think you only run into your exes when you haven’t showered in three days? That touch of sick irony is the work of The Universe. It's idea of funny is pushing people in front of trains.

That’s not to say It’s concerned with you. You may actually be paranoid, I’m afraid (and there’s nothing I can do about that). The Universe isn’t responsible for every bad thing that’s ever happened to you.

I'm sorry, but there's nobody to blame for their death.

You ought to consider yourself lucky.

When The Universe takes interest in something, it’s never pretty. It wreaks havoc, in the form of relentless circumstances we call coincidence.

Coincidence is easier to grasp than fate.

It’s easier to dismiss, too.

It should serve as some sort of comfort, though, to know that The Universe isn’t interested in you. No, you’re not on Its list of pet projects. There’s no ant farm with your name on it that the Universe picks up and shakes until your world is in shambles.

There is an ant farm labeled Duffy, though.

Boy, if you think you’ve got it bad… The Universe has really got it out for this lot.

It’s been watching them for years. In all actuality, in the long run, relative to The Universe, twenty one years is the blink of an eye. But as it so happens, The Universe isn’t the most patient of natural forces.

On the contrary, The Universe is quite childish despite being eons old. As ancient as It is, It’s still prone to temper tantrums when it doesn’t get Its way.

Rain streaked streets breathe in the night air. Steam floods the pavement and mingles with the midnight mist of the city by the bay, like condensation on one's breath. Rain in San Francisco – how original.

But in defense of The Universe, creativity’s dead. Believe it or not, It’s not actually responsible for the weather.

The rain sets the streets aglow, with fluorescent neon signs bleeding onto wet streets. Grease-stained asphalt has a kiss of color in the dark by headlights. Signs for 24/7 pharmacies, cannabis dispensaries, and burnt-out bulbs of street lamps blink. The city is alive as it ever has been.

San Francisco is advancing fast into the twenty first century. It’s not the same little town by the ocean with the fog and the trolleys anymore. It’s louder. bolder, more mature, with less fear of falling into the sea.

To the other billions of people on the planet, it’s any other night, but to one Englishman, it’s the end of the world. The Universe has been watching him the past few years, like a television show that’s always running. It only tunes in when there's nothing better to watch.

The Universe has tuned in at the perfect time.

The apartment is cramped and perched on the corner of the building. It's so close to the traffic stop outside that light dances through the window. The lights are bright enough to cast a sickly glow about the room. It cycles through crimson, emerald and gold. Each is as bad as the next. The menacing glow of red is no better or worse than the yellow light seeping across the skin like jaundice.

If he weren’t so used to them, they’d be a nuisance, but Edgar Duffy isn’t one to dwell on things he can’t change. He doesn’t dwell much of anything, actually. As boys go, he’s nothing special. He’s not the most handsome, nor tall, nor smart. But he's handsome enough, tall enough, smart enough.

He was enough, but never too much.

As of eighteen seconds ago, it was his birthday. So far, being nineteen doesn’t feel much different than being eighteen.

For a moment there, he thought it might. He thought things might be different, for once. His hopes had been too high to think a birthday with his brother could go any other way. Couldn’t they go one year without lapsing into their pattern of clenched jaws and grit teeth?

As brothers go, Edgar and Ivan Duffy aren’t the type you write home about. They’re more the type you write about in passive-aggressive posts on social media. They're the type to give thoughtless gifts to each other, bought last minute at the corner store. Takeout from the place he hates is paired with a cheap bottle of wine, and a store-bought cake.

If Ivan paid more attention to his brother, he might have a clue about what Edgar likes. The gesture is impersonal and empty. Neither of them have fooled themselves into thinking it’s anything but.

They made attempts at talking, all feeble and failed. Edgar and Ivan found that they had little more to bond over these days than schoolwork.

It's obvious that neither of them want to live together.

Edgar stares ahead at the half-full takeout box on the table, heavy brow set into a furrow. All these empty gestures are the sort of thing he’s learned not to dwell on. Instead, he's taught himself to accept this as one of the innumerable things in his life he cannot change. They were fixed and factual things he had to accept. That, or let it destroy him.

Like bad birthdays, filled with lazy attempts at siblinghood. That, and compulsory, celebratory dinners with Ivan. After nineteen years, it’s finally sunk in – some things don’t want to change.

His lips purse into a line, and at long last the words sitting on Edgar's tongue for the last hour spill out:

“You should go.”

The pair of them serve as a harsh contrast to one another. Where Ivan is a fan of black and leather, Edgar prefers tartan and denim. Where Ivan prefers chocolate, Edgar would rather have vanilla.

By no means is Edgar tall, but he towers over his older brother. Depending on whom you ask, he’s the better looking of the two, too. His features fit his face, unlike Ivan, whose ears stick out too far and whose brow hangs too heavy. Wide eyes sit deep in sunken sockets, with lips bowed into a permanent pout. The look is complete with ill-aligned teeth and rodential overbite.

The older Duffy looks a bit pathetic slouching beside his brother. Edgar’s perfect posture, mane of chestnut hair, and green eyes was a startling difference. He made Ivan’s swampy, dark eyes and thicket of black curls look like sickly mange. It didn't help that Ivan had haphazardly shaved the sides of his head.

While the relation is undeniable, it’s not willing.

Not on Ivan’s part, at least– not if he can help it. Ever since Edgar ripped his way out of their mother, Ivan made it his life’s work to separate himself.

Ivan may be two years older, but he’s not acting it. Sipping wine out of a red plastic cup doesn’t help his case in the slightest. “Go? You can’t kick me out of my own flat.” For whatever reason, his accent’s harsher than his brothers, thicker and far more clumsy on the tongue. It could be the wine staining his lips purple, but Edgar’s always suspected it’s for show. "It's your birthday."

“I don’t want you here ‘cause you’re supposed to be here,” he begins, blundering on forward. Quick! Before he can lose momentum. Edgar’s never been one for boldness. “I want you here ‘cause you wanna be here, not ‘cause you’re supposed to. You can go if you want– don’t force yourself to stay here on my account." Edgar's hands fly into the air. "‘Sides, you’ve got plans, haven’t you? You only wanted to do it tonight so you could get it out of the way and blow me off tomorrow.” His tongue clicks against his teeth as he sits forward, grabbing for his cup to wash the taste of salt out of his mouth. “Right?”

Like a deer in the headlights, Ivan rubs a hand at his jaw and looks about the room. He'll try anything if it’ll buy him time, if it will spare him having to deal with this. Oh, he’d really rather not. “I mean,” Ivan heaves a sigh. “G wanted to do something… It’s our first anniversary, y’know–”

There wasn’t a nerd alive with a bigger heart and more criticism in his veins than the likes of G Cooper. A year later, Ivan was still there. It wasn’t like it was serious, only comfortable and convenient, lazy and warm. A year, no doubt, is a bigger deal to G than it is to Ivan. As he tends to do, Ivan fails to realize exactly how big of a deal.

Edgar is quick to steer him back onto the path. He had decided early on that he didn’t like G. Something about him never sat right. “Don’t change the subject, Ivan. Don’t drag him into this.”

Ivan’s eyes narrow with a look towards Edgar, mouth taut. Can you blame him for trying?

“Am I right or not?”

“Well–”

“Ivan.”

“Yeah, okay, you’re right…”

“I can’t believe–” Edgar pinches the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezing shut to taper off a glare. “Y’know what? Yeah, actually, I can believe it, that’s the sad part. Do you have any idea what an asshole you are?”

It’s the brashness and the source, that causes the wine to catch in Ivan’s throat. Sputtering, he manages to swallow, wiping away any drops on the back of a black sleeve. It’s not like he hasn’t been called an asshole before, but hearing it from the likes of little Eddy was obscene. They had their problems, but Edgar was a quiet kid that kept his opinions to himself. “There’ll be other birthdays, Edgar. What’s the big deal–”

“You’re going to do it on other birthdays, too! You’ve done it before, you’re doing it now, you’ll do it again. So,” Edgar scoffs, getting to his feet. “Stop forcing it; stop punishing me, Ivy.”

Ivy isn’t a name Ivan’s heard come out of Edgar’s mouth in years. He can’t help but think it seems exceptionally childish this time around. Desperate, even. It’s a subtle, passive aggressive jab. “Punishing you for what?” He may be petite, but somehow Ivan’s managing to make himself even smaller as he slouches into the sofa.

Edgar stops to flash his brother a look, his arms loaded with bowls, chopsticks, and takeout boxes. He gives a wag of his head, brown hair tossing. “You know what. When are you gonna stop blaming me and let it go?”

Now, it seems, Edgar’s hit a button. Ivan clambers to his feet, fighting gravity and a hungry sofa. “You let it go– I’ll blame you as much as I want, screw you.” Always quick to act, this one. Ivan’s never been good at getting a grip on his emotions, especially not where family’s concerned.

“She was my mum too–”

“Fuck off, she was not– you don’t get to say that.” Pint-sized fists clench at Ivan’s side. He stands his ground, as Edgar goes about his business.

His brother is calm by comparison, picking up the mess they made. Soon, it’s all piled into the garbage, except for the birthday card. “You can go now.”

There’s anger welling in Ivan’s chest, ready to boil over. Is he going to scream, or cry? Neither of them can tell. A moment passes before he realizes he’s holding his breath, like he used to do when he was a child. (He'd kill himself if their father didn’t come home that second.) “You asshole...” But Ivan trails off, eyes squeezing shut.

No, he won’t cry.

Ivan swallows down the lump in his throat as he grabs everything he can. He hastily shoves his phone into a pocket, wallet already safe in his jacket. There are more things he needs, but in his frenzy, Ivan can’t bother to remember them. All he can think to do is throw his arms out and shriek. “Fuck you, Edgar!”

Edgar may be calm, and far less dramatic than Ivan, but he feels himself bordering on hysterics. If he had it in him, he might fight to keep his brother there, but he doesn’t. They’ll put up an argument another day, but he’s tired, and his shoulders feel heavy. Can’t they table it? “Just go see G, Ivy. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, yeah? I’m tired– you’re drunk, anyway.”

“I’m not drunk,” Ivan snaps, but he's clumsy as he pushes his way past Edgar and to the door. He leans his weight into the wall for support. “But whatever, you’re right, I don’t want to be here. It’s sick– she died and you’re making me celebrate it. It’s not fucking fair.”

“Life’s not fair, Ivan.”

“You’re right, Edgar. Life’s a bitch, then you’re fucking dead.”

The door flies open and slams shut behind him. Ivan storms into the hall, barreling down a single flight of stairs. There’s an elevator, but he doesn’t have the patience to wait. Stomping down the stairs and out the building feels right. Bursting into the night air, Ivan finds that the rain has let up.

The fog is heavier than ever, swirling at his feet and leaving steamy breath to fall from his lips. Black hood up, hands shoved into pockets, and he marches.

Where? In no time, he finds that he’s left his cigarettes and lighter at home, but there’s no way in hell he’s going back now. It calls for a quick stop at the liquor store for a pack of cigarettes and the first lighter his hand finds. Then, he let the wandering begin.

G's apartment was the destination, eventually, but for now he’s aimless. He keeps his eyes ahead and focuses on nothing more than the pavement under his boots and the wind on his face. The wind has Ivan pulling his hood back up to right it again, securing it over the tangle of curls. He feels raw without it, and far too vulnerable for comfort.

He’s always been like this. Ivan was stubborn, flighty, and keen on running away whenever the pressure got to be a little too much. He could be a diamond under all that pressure, but he fights to fly and avoid every problem. Ivan does it almost as diligently as he avoids having to spend time with Edgar.

They could get along if he’d let them; Edgar’s the sort to get along with anybody.

After nineteen years, keeping his brother at arms length has worked for him. That, and everyone else he knew.

But what of the rest of it?

The sniff is audible, wet, and sloppy as he tries to clear his sinuses of signs of distress. Sleeve balled over his fist, Ivan scrubs away at his eyes to wash away tears. He fights back the urge to throw himself onto the pavement and sob. That’s ridiculous and dramatic, and the sort of thing best saved for the bathroom floor. The shower running and the music blaring would drown him out and keep Edgar from listening. The walls of their apartment leave nothing to the imagination.

Edgar was right about one thing.

He is drunk, Ivan admits to himself when he stops to lean heavy into a brick wall, looking down the length of the alley.

This isn’t familiar territory, and if Ivan were smarter, he’d be more wary of dark alleys on darker nights.

If he were sober, he'd pay attention.

If he were smarter, or sober, he’d have noticed the soft sound of boots falling against wet pavement. Something is stalking and creeping, with lips curved into a sneer.

A predator lurks, ready to snap.

Ivan pushes himself from the wall to right himself, swaying when he stands. The hood slips back over his head and falls down. Eyes shut in time for hot tears to boil over. It doesn’t count if they never reach his cheeks. Still, he’s not stopping them or wiping them away.

Not until the sound of gravel underfoot catches his attention. He rounds on his heel to turn and face whatever is in the alley with him. In a whirl of fog and alcoholic haze, of loose curls and tears in his eyes, Ivan can hardly make anything out, save for a looming figure.

Before he can process a single thing, everything gets cut by the flick of a wrist, a tug, a scream, and the last desperate whimpers of a heart still kicking.

#pink chapters #pls don't reblog thanks #lms if u read tho

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eggoreviews · 5 years

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Viddy Games Monthly #1 - February 2019

Is this really late? Sure Is!

Here's something new I'm trying! In this 'issue' (lol):

NEW RELEASES - A look back at everything exciting that dropped this month, from Resident Evil 2 to the new 2D Mario!

NEWS - January is usually pretty dry for viddy games, but there's some interesting stuff still!

Release dates, updates and more!

NEW RELEASES

Fitness Boxing (RD: January 4th - Nintendo Switch)

And here we have Nintendo’s first real attempt in this console generation to draw in the fitness crowd they catered to so well with the Wii. Except, Fitness Boxing feels a lot more technical and niche than those other titles from a decade ago. Fitness Boxing’s main draw is teaching you how to improve your boxing form, meaning it’s definitely not one to play with the family unless you’re all die hard boxing fans. But if you’re less interested in picking up the technical aspects, Fitness Boxing works just as well as a fitness companion, coming packed with its own motivational trainer (I haven’t picked this game up purely because it would feel like I’m cheating on the Wii Fit Trainer. Plus this basically dashes all hope of Wii Fit Switch so I’ll need to mourn that for a hot minute).

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey (RD: January 11th - Nintendo 3DS)

As the 3DS reaches the end of its lifespan and its screentime in the Nintendo Directs gets shorter, this Mario & Luigi title could well be one of the last RPGs we see on the system. In this enhanced remaster, the worlds of turn based RPG and 2D platformer collide and, coupling this fact with some odd setpieces including Bowser’s literal stomach, also make for one of the weirdest games on the system. Despite this, there’s no doubt that it works. With the addition of the Bowser Jr.’s Journey expansion, there’s undoubtedly a wealth of content to explore here, especially if you’re new to this oddly charming RPG spin-off.

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (RD: January 11th - Nintendo Switch)

The latest in a long line of Wii U ports, Nintendo has bundled up Mario U and Super Luigi U and released it yet again on the Switch. This is by no means a bad thing, as we had yet to see a 2D Mario on the system, but the general consensus seems to be that the play time is much shorter than the price would have you believe. Of course, if you’re a die hard Mario fan, there’s no doubt you’ve already picked this up and it’s definitely worth a go if you didn’t have a chance to play on Wii U. Alongside this, new features include new playable characters and helpful items for if you’re like me and are terrible at platformers (I welcome these changes). But really, I think the talk of the town was the fact they patched in Blue Toad before release when everyone got sad that he was absent. Thanks Nintendo.

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition (RD: January 11th - Windows, Xbox One, PS4, Switch)

An enhanced port with updated HD graphics to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this beloved entry in Bandai Namco’s Tales series. This edition comes packed with a beefy selection of new content, including all that was exclusive to Japan at the time of the PS3 port’s release. Generally, this game scored high at the time of its release, being cited as an interesting and unique JRPG that was made all the better by its trademark combat system that has been carried throughout the series.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season - Episode 3: Broken Toys (RD: January 15th - Windows, Xbox One, PS4, Switch)

Against all the odds, the critically acclaimed Walking Dead game series has somehow survived the closure of its creator, Telltale Games, continuing under Skybound Entertainment. The series continues to shine in critic reviews, which thankfully continues into the penultimate episode, Broken Toys. With a firm release date of the final episode being March 26th, we won’t have to wait long to finally witness the end of Clementine’s story.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes (RD: January 18th - Nintendo Switch)

The third entry in the No More Heroes series has finally arrived 9 years after its second effort, though this time to mixed reviews. The gameplay fans of the series are used to has been totally overhauled this time around, instead throwing Travis into a possessed game console containing six wildly different, self-contained video games. This time, the gameplay is entirely from a top-down perspective. Some enjoyed this radical change of pace for the series, but other fans of Travis believed the drastic change was a little too jarring to enjoy in contrast to this entry’s predecessors.

Resident Evil 2 remake (RD: January 25th - Windows, PS4, Xbox One)

The highly anticipated remake of Capcom’s horror classic finally dropped this month, and let’s be honest, it’s everything fans wanted. The controversial move to ditch the usual fixed camera the early RE games are known for so the game could be built in Capcom’s home-grown Resident Evil 7 engine was what made the game so immersive and genuinely terrifying. With tons of gameplay tweaks, Capcom managed to tread the line between creating a fresh experience and staying faithful to the original game. Entirely different puzzle solutions, new dialogue and a whole new playable character in Sherry Birkin ensures that those who know the original inside out will still have more to discover, but the return of each horrifying boss and setpiece in glorious HD puts the nostalgia into overdrive. Plus, the tofu block came back so really there’s nothing to gripe at.

Kingdom Hearts III (RD: January 29th - Xbox One, PS4)

Here it is. The game fans have been waiting 14 years for. The one that ties every character and confusing plot arc together and says ‘Merry christmas, Baymax is in this game now!’

With a few fan favourite worlds returning among a handful of new ones, Kingdom Hearts has finally launched itself into the current gen with a heartfelt tale of friendship and big hair. There really is very little to say about this, because we all knew it was going to be good.

Also out this month:

First person shooter Bright Memory released this month to positive reception, despite controversy around the stolen assets used by the devs.

Charming adventure game Vane dropped this month, allowing players to explore a beautiful world as a boy who can turn into a bird.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, the critically acclaimed combat flight sim series, released for PS4 and Xbox One, with some great VR content.

Life Is Strange 2 Episode 2 - Rules released this month, continuing the heartfelt tale of two brothers on the run

Gothic Indie RPG Sunless Skies released at the very end of January, showing a detailed focus on narrative and exploration

NEWS

What’s been happenin’? Probably a lot, but this is what I picked up on!

Metroid Prime 4 has gone a bit wonky

As everyone has probably heard by now, the long awaited Metroid Prime 4 has officially been halted and restarted, as announced in a commendably transparent video Nintendo published on their YouTube channel last month. Basically, they weren’t happy with how development was going so they’ve gone back to square one, this time with the help of past Prime developers Retro Studios. Honestly, this is a really good sign, as it shows how committed Nintendo are to creating a solid game to stand next to the other three. Plus, this makes a Prime trilogy switch port way more likely in my eyes, so hooray for that.

Piranha Plant got here early!

At the tail end of January, those who redeemed their plant boi codes turned on Smash and suddenly got the gratefully received ‘Piranha Plant joins the battle’ message! I can confirm I made a bit of a weird dolphin noise when I saw he’d turned up before the estimated February release. In another post, I’ll be breaking down his moveset in a bit more detail, so keep an eye out for that if you’re a fellow plant connoisseur!

Sony patents retro back-compatibility for PS5?

A new patent Sony put through last month that they tried to sneak by us MAY hint at retro back-compatibility for their next system, spanning all four of their home consoles. If this news is true, this could give Sony a massive edge in the next console gen, as remasters and retro games become increasingly popular, as well as the fact that people are unlikely to want to leave the considerable PS4 library behind. So at the very least, we can hope for PS4 games to be playable on the PS5.

Cross platform achievements could be a thing!

A since removed GDC listing teased the possible integration of Xbox Live onto iOS, Android and, interestingly, the Nintendo Switch! At a base level, this would very probably mean that achievements between these two consoles would be cross compatible, or at least viewable on either console. While nothing is confirmed just yet, this could be a sign of the growing partnership between Microsoft and Nintendo.

Nintendo is really lovin’ their mobile games!

With Switch sales beginning to level out ever so slightly, Nintendo seems to be turning to the mobile market. A mobile Mario Kart was announced a couple of years ago, but now it finally has a name, Mario Kart Tour. It’s now slated for a Summer 2019 release. Alongside this, Nintendo have announced Dr. Mario World for mobile, as well as rumours bubbling under that Dragalia Lost could be seeing a localised port for Canada and Europe.

New Nintendo Selects for the States!

Super Mario Maker, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D and Star Fox 64 3D have arrived in America as Nintendo Selects, thankfully proving that Nintendo aren’t quite willing to let the 3DS die just yet. Not to be that guy, but Majora’s Mask over in Europe as a select would be pretty great. Pls.

Indie Highlights

And finally, Nintendo has dropped another Indie Highlights on us, featuring the likes of Wargroove, When Ski Lifts Go Wrong, Forager and the (long awaited?) Goat Simulator port. Worth a look if you’re looking for something a little wackier to play this month!

That’s all the headlines for this month!

FREE VIDYA

Are you subscribed to whatever online service your console has? Then oh boy, you got some free stuff!

NES Nintendo Switch Online - Blaster Master & Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

This month, Nintendo added the ever wonderful and upsettingly hard Zelda II to their retro lineup, along with lesser known run-and-gun platformer Blaster Master.

PlayStation Plus - Steep & Portal Knights

It’s a good month for snowboard enthusiasts over on the PS4 this month, as Ubisoft’s open world sports game Steep joins the lineup. Alongside this, the artistically charming RPG Portal Knights was free last month. January also marked the final month of PS Plus support for the Vita and PS3, with Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion & Super Mutant Alien Assault joining the Vita lineup and Zone of the Enders HD Collection and Amplitude free for PS3 owners

Xbox Game Pass

January was a hecking good month for members of the Xbox game pass, with the entire Life Is Strange saga joining the service, along with other quality games such as Just Cause 3, Farming Simulator 17, Absolver, Aftercharge and ARK: Survival Evolved.

RELEASE DATES

Yoshi’s Crafted World

Nintendo released a story trailer for Yoshi’s creative new outing, showing off Baby Bowser and Kamek as the game’s villains. The release date set for this uniquely cardboard platformer is March 29th, so fans won’t have to wait long!

Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn

Breathing new life into the 3DS is this enhanced port of Kirby’s Epic Yarn, which originally released on the Wii in 2010. Featuring all new content that wasn’t available the first time around, fans of the Kirby series will be able to pick this up from March 8th.

Final Fantasy remasters

After the exciting announcement in September that beloved Final Fantasy games would be coming to other consoles in 2019, Square Enix have finally announced release dates for a couple of these titles. Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster will hit the Switch and Xbox One on April 16th, while Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age arrives on both of these consoles on April 30th.

RUMOURS

Welcome to probably the most controversial segment of this, the rumour-y bit! Just a pre-warning that nothing talked about here is by any means confirmed, so keep your expectations tempered.

SNES for Switch Online?

A recent datamine into the NES Switch Online app has apparently revealed a list of 20 SNES games in the code that could be coming to the system in the future, including Mario World, Kirby Superstar, A Link to the Past and Super Metroid. I’m hesitant to say this is true because nothing has been said on Nintendo’s end yet, but considering the lack of content for Switch Online as of yet, I’d say it’s fairly likely in any case. If this is true, we can all hope for DK Country and EarthBound also because pls Nintendo.

Smash Ultimate Fighter Pass Leak

There have been two notable datamines in the past month that could reveal our four remaining DLC fighters for Smash Ultimate. The first uncovered three names in the coding for the game, Plant (obviously referring to Piranha Plant), Jack (Likely Joker from Persona 5) and Brave (Speculated to be Erdrick from the Dragon Quest series). The reason why Brave is so heavily speculated to be Erdrick is because, in Japan, the hero class Erdrick belongs to in Dragon Quest is called ‘Yusha’, which translates to brave in English. Alongside this, one of the heads of development for Smash Ultimate, Shinya Kumazaki, recently posted a photo of the iconic shield from Dragon Quest with the caption ‘the brave’s shield’, which naturally sent the internet into meltdown. Personally, I think Erdrick is pretty much a dead cert for the DLC roster at this point, especially after that Instagram tease.

Thanks for reading!

In the next issue, most likely in the first week of March, I’ll be reviewing the likes of Jump Force, Metro Exodus, Far Cry New Dawn and Anthem, plus giving you a rundown of anything game-y that happens in February! Plus, the new game of the month feature will begin next time, as I explain my choice for January’s best game. Have a fun day. Stay hydrated.

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jack-katz · 5 years

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ORIGINS & FAMILY:

Name: John David Katz

Nickname: Jack

Birthday: December 18th

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Place of Birth: New York, NY, USA

Places Lived Since: Washington, DC; Chicago, IL, USA; New York, NY, USA; London, UK

Current Residence: Hackney Wick, Hackney, London, UK

Nationality: American

Parents: Benjamin Katz & Mary Katz (née Doyle)

Grandparents: Eliezer Katz & Ruth Katz (née Geller); John Doyle & Niamh Doyle (née Murphy)

Aunts & Uncles: David Katz, Ava Aoun (née Katz); John Doyle, Sean Doyle, Michael Doyle

Number of Siblings: One - Daniel Katz

Relationship With Family: Jack is on very good terms with his family and especially his parents who’ve always supported him throughout his career. They’ve rarely been the type of parents to scream or shout, but they convey their disappointment in ways that can break their children’s hearts. He used to be closer to his Dad’s family because of proximity, but since moving to London it’s been easier to go back and forth to Connemara to finally really get to know his Irish grandparents and uncles.

Happiest Memory: The bow he took at the end of his first school performance.

Childhood Trauma: None, aside from some sadly expected bullying whenever he moved to a new city that was usually targeted at his lankiness, love of the arts, and Jewish heritage.

PHYSICAL:

Height: 6′0″

Weight: 160 lbs

Build: Slim, usually bordering on just plain skinny but he has been known to build up some lean muscle either for a role or because he’s made a sudden sweeping decision to get into better shape.

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Usual Hair Style: It varies depending on what stage of growth it’s at. When trimmed short, it’s fairly neat and looks good. It grows fast, though, faster than he can usually keep up with so it starts to get curly and out of control usually every couple months and he’s yet to figure out how to really get it under control. Sometimes the stars align and it looks good on its own, but most times he just wakes up with a really bad hair day and decides it’s the day to go to the barber.

Eye Color: Green

Glasses? Contacts?: No need for them currently, though his eyesight has definitely gotten a bit worse over the last couple years

Style of Dress/Typical Outfit(s): Very casual unless it’s something someone else picked out for him. A lot of graphic tee’s and old flannels and jeans that only fit properly with a belt and some pretty beat up sneakers. The belt never matches the shoes and he has two sweatshirts he tends to wear - dark navy and black so it can be hard to tell which one is which. He’s anything but a fashion icon, though at the very least he does his laundry on a decent schedule so his clothes are always clean - just not always very stylish.

Typical Style of Shoes: Sneakers about 90% of the time, hiking boots and flip-flops often when on vacation, and occasionally loafers for fancy events.

Jewellery? Tattoos? Piercings?: No tattoos or piercings. Whenever he gets a great idea for a tattoo he always seems to have a role coming up and doesn’t like to take any bodily risks around that time.

Unique Mannerisms/Physical Habits: When he gets really nervous or anxious he tends to drum his fingers on his leg or together to try to get out some of the nervous energy.

Athleticism: When it comes to genuine contact sports like rugby and American football, Jack isn’t that good. Running based sports, however, he’s not that bad at, though he only likes to play for fun. He enjoys soccer/football and actually doesn’t mind going for runs when he’s trying to get in shape. In high school he’d sometimes just show up to the soccer field during practice times and play around until the coach got mad at him for not being a real player and kicked him off the field. Theater was always his main focus in high school, anyway.

Health Problems/Illnesses: None, aside from potentially very high cholesterol in his future.

INTELLECT:

Level of Education: Most of high school completed but no diploma.

Languages Spoken: English fluently and natively, Spanish almost fluently from middle school and high school classes, and some Hebrew and Gaelic he picked up from his parents. Also bits of conversational vocabulary from a handful of languages in places he’s visited like French, Italian, German, Czech, and Japanese. He’s very, very good at picking up languages through context and immersion, but he hasn’t taken real classes or spent long enough in each places to really learn the language beyond basic conversational things.

Level of Self-Esteem: It varies from day to day but can be sadly very low during slower times in his career.

Gifts/Talents: Acting is truly a talent and one that Jack possesses as much as he tries to insist it’s really not that hard; artistic ability like drawing and painting which is less polished than acting but still a natural gift; the ability to pick up on languages very quickly; singing and dancing talent that is perhaps not absolutely outstanding but naturally good and can be improved with lessons leading up to a show.

Mathematical?: Not really, as Jack’s passions have always lied more with humanities and creative outlets.

Makes Decisions Based Mostly On Emotions, or On Logic?: Emotions, or he’d probably have his high school degree right now.

Life Philosophy: Do what makes you happy.

Religious Stance: Jack would call himself a Catholic but also considers himself a bit agnostic but never would consider himself to any point have been an atheist. He also enjoys learning about Judaism from his father and father’s family, even if he never had a bar mitzvah or went to Hebrew school. He did receive the Catholic sacraments up through Confirmation but his mother was never terribly, terribly adamant about him being brought up Catholic and she always encouraged him and his brother to explore Judaism and other religions as well. His parents, though both dedicated to their own religions, were very liberal and open as both people and parents so they encouraged a very open attitude in their sons toward religion. If Jack ever had more time and energy on his hands to really dive deep into religion and his personal beliefs, he might, but it’s not something he feels particularly inclined to do at this point in his life.

Cautious or Daring?: Daring in his creative exploits and travels, but cautious in basic day to day activities and interactions.

Most Sensitive About/Vulnerable To: Criticisms about his work.

Optimist or Pessimist?: He’s optimistic for other people and pessimistic about himself.

Extrovert or Introvert?: Introverted, bordering on ambivert.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Current Relationship Status: Single

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Past Relationships:

Eloise Pelletier - his first girlfriend in middle school. The relationship lasted a month, but they were each other’s first kiss and have remained friends to this day. Eloise is now an accomplished stage actress and aspiring director.

Riley Huizar - his high school girlfriend. The two started dating around homecoming his sophomore year and stayed together for about two-and-a-half years, but Riley dumped him after a series of disappointments including: he missed their second anniversary for an audition, he missed a long-planned nice dinner date to attend a stand-up show, and she learned he wasn’t going to get his diploma. It was a messy ending that came when they were both drunk at a friend’s house and the two never spoke again afterward.

Lillie Piasta - dated for two out of the three seasons Jack was on SNL. She was one of the female writers for the show who was a few years older and Jack never quite realized that the reason she never seemed older was because she was pretty immature. She dated younger men fairly consistently and people tried to warn Jack that after a couple years of the whining and tantrums from the woman who, for all her humor, had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth and been spoiled her entire life. Even though she’d been working longer than Jack she expected him to pay for everything and wanted lavish gifts that he caved to at first but stopped after realizing it was a waste when she never used or wore anything. Lillie was fired from SNL shortly before Jack chose to leave to pursue a movie career, and she wanted to move with him to London but he wasn’t ready to move in. She dumped him at the airport before he left.

Natasha Laris - dated for one year after Jack officially moved to London. Jack was a guilty pleasure fan of love at first sight stories but never quite believed it could happen. He still doesn’t think love at first sight is real, but he believes sparks at first sight are real and stronger than he ever anticipated since he met Natasha. The two met through a friend at a fundraising party Natasha had organized on behalf of a charity she worked for. It wasn’t ultra ritzy like a lot of other fundraising galas Jack had been to or heard about, but still elegant and enjoyable. Natasha just had a way of making everything elegant and enjoyable. Jack doesn’t remember asking her out because he believes the nerves caused him to just black out for the thirty seconds it took to ask and receive a positive response. They both fell pretty hard and fast but it was over the holidays when they both had some downtime and real time off. Then life picked up again. Jack had filming commitments, Natasha had a lot on her plate helping to run a decently sized charity with hardly enough staff. They saw each other when they could, but it only got more difficult over the months to find extended time alone together unless they were away on vacation - of which they only went on two brief ones as that was all they could manage. By the next Christmas, while struggling to figure out how they were going to spend the holidays after promises to meet each other’s families, they realized it just wasn’t feasible. It wasn’t just the holidays that weren’t feasible, but being together at such a busy and overworked time in their lives. Jack has only seen her once since they broke up, a couple years later - with a boyfriend who he was told by a friend worked a 9 to 5 office job, weekends off and the opportunity to work from home, and had a set amount of vacation time to use at his own discretion. It was the only time he ever envied an office job.

Primary Reason For Being Broken Up With: Forgetfulness, not committed enough, and his schedule was too hectic.

Primary Reasons For Breaking Up With People: A hectic schedule.

Ever Cheated?: No, it’s something he doesn’t understand.

Been Cheated On: No.

Level of Sexual Experience: Experienced even if he might not seem it. He lost his virginity in high school to Riley and since then has always had a healthy, active sexual relationship with whatever girl he’s been with. Since breaking up with Natasha it’s the longest he’s ever gone without having a girlfriend, but between Riley and Lillie there was still enough time that he had a couple short flings and some one-night stands that were usually enjoyable even if not serious. He sees the benefits in fun in both long-term relationships and short flings. After Natasha he went through a lengthy dry spell of his own volition but for the last four years has mostly just had flings that last anywhere from a single night to a few weeks and are always fun. He does know in his head how many women he’s slept with but it’s not something he’d ever like to broadcast and only his closest friends who’ve known him for years know the extent of his sexual experience and exploits.

Story of First Kiss: Eloise and Jack both lied to their parents and said play practice lasted a half hour longer than it actually did so they could spend time together alone behind the school theater. For twenty-nine minutes all they did was hold hands and talk until Eloise heard her dad’s truck around the corner. Jack snuck in a quick kiss and went to sleep that night on cloud nine.

Story of Loss of Virginity: Riley’s parents were always far more trusting of Jack than he ever expected them to be and would constantly leave Riley and Jack alone together at the house while they were out at work or going out on dinner dates. Jack didn’t push Riley at all, though he was ready whenever she was. She let him know she was ready when she pulled out a whole list of things that needed to happen beforehand, as was her way with most things. She was going to see an OB-GYN that specialized in adolescent care, look into birth control and whether there were options that were safe for a sixteen year old (though she’d already done her own research and knew the pill was the best option), and regardless of whether she went on the pill or not, Jack needed to buy some condoms. Jack was so nervous about the condoms he made his friend Avi go in and buy them, mostly because he was always more confident than Jack. Despite all the strict rules and guidelines and plans in the months leading up to Jack and Riley actually having sex, the night itself was still kind of special to Jack and he quickly became even more comfortable with buying his own condoms after realizing what all the fuss was about.

A Social Person?: Not really.

Most Comfortable Around: His family and closest friends, of which there are about a handful between the USA and UK.

Oldest Friend: Toby Hartman, his best friend from NYC who lived next door to the Katz’s first apartment in the city. He’s currently a doctoral candidate at NYU who lives with Daniel Katz in the two-bedroom flat Jack owns in NYC.

How Does He Think Others Perceive Him?: Jack thinks others perceive him as having an equal number of failings as accomplishments and thus is just a mediocre human being who just happened to be in some largely broadcast shows and movies. He knows his family has high opinions but thinks the public doesn’t have a very high opinion, mostly because he only focuses on the negative reviews of his works.

How Do Others Actually Perceive Him?: Jack Katz is an accomplished young man who maybe got lucky that he was int he right comedy club on the right night, but it wasn’t luck that he was funny enough to catch the right people’s attention. Everything since then hasn’t but just luck but has also been a testament to his talent and willingness to do whatever and move wherever for his work. Even if he’s not flashy with his money, he’s no doubt made quite a bit.

SECRETS:

Life Goals: Do work that makes him happy and that others find enjoyable, maybe even inspiring.

Dreams: Travel to every country in the world, become fluent in a new language, write a full script, direct a movie, perform in a Shakespeare play, finally learn to cook at least one decent dish, own a restaurant, and many others that come and go with the days that pass.

Greatest Fears: Forgetting a line during a live performance.

Most Ashamed Of: There were a couple jokes Jack tried out during his early days in comedy that crossed a line but thankfully never even made it to a real set. He just tried them out on his family, and their response was enough for him to hope no one ever learned of those jokes he thought up when he was younger and more inexperienced. There are also many minor mishaps that have occurred during rehearsals and conversations that, though not necessarily shameful, are very embarrassing and he tends to remember as being more extreme than they really were.

Secret Hobbies: It might not be that secret, but Jack really enjoys video games. He’s not as good as he wishes, but they’re fun.

Crimes Committed (Was he caught? Charged?): None, aside from some truancy.

DETAILS/QUIRKS:

Night Owl or Early Bird?: Night owl

Light or Heavy Sleeper?: Heavy sleeper

Favorite Animal: Dogs

Favorite Foods: Anything greasy

Least Favorite Food: Iceberg lettuce

Favorite Book: “Audition” by Michael Shurtleff

Least Favorite Book: “The Catcher in the Rye”

Favorite Movie: Pulp Fiction

Least Favorite Movie: The Emoji Movie

Favorite Song: Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys

Favorite Sport: Soccer/football

Coffee or Tea?: Coffee

Crunchy or Smooth Peanut Butter?: Smooth

Type of Car He Drives: N/A, he’s never had a car and doesn’t have a license

Lefty or Righty?: Lefty

Favorite Color: Green

Cusser?: Yes

Smoker? Drinker? Drug User?: Smokes when he’s drinking sometimes and others he’s with have cigarettes; drinks daily, though not to excess daily; occasionally uses drugs but usually just pot

Biggest Regret: Passing up on some more serious drama roles in the past

Pets: None

#headcanon #about

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drsallygrissom · 6 years

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Why We Love ars PARADOXICA

Back in 2016, the fandom made a list of 43 reasons why we love ars PARADOXICA in honor of the 73rd anniversary of Dr. Sally Grissom’s first audio diary on October 29, 1943. When I learned that the podcast was going to end after its third season, I decided to pull together another list that was double the length of the first.

However, the fandom was so passionate that we blew past our goal, and reached triple the length of the original list!

Without further ado, here are the 129 of the reasons why we love ars PARADOXICA:

Helen Partridge, my beautiful, beautiful wife

I just love Kristen’s laugh and it never fails to make me smile.

Mischa’s outros! “Brought to you by the internet:”

The TimeSwimmers episode. That whole thing was a masterpiece

Sally and Nikhil's friendship

Petra, my sassy troubled daughter

The effort that went into making such a truly unique and ambitious take on time travel-based fiction

Sally, my favorite disaster ace

All of the characters are just so beautifully flawed in their own ways and are so well depicted it’s hard to pick a favorite

Every episode makes me feel SO MANY EMOTIONS

The sound effects are just so well done that I feel like I’m right there with the characters

The subtle yet mind blowing foreshadowing

The way it endlessly inspires me to create fan content

The decryption team, who I don't understand yet love to watch unravel codes

The ability to make us both love and hate a character at the same time as much as we do Esther Roberts.

Jack Wyatt

The sass, and in general wonderful interactions with the fan base on social media.

The schoolyard brawl!

Very obviously not being afraid to have fun with ads/sponsored content.

Actually making me want to listen to the version with ads even though I'm a patron

Buttsticks…

Plasticity

The outro music is simple but so, so good

Lemon drops and Limestone

My curiosity about what Esther wrote in the letter

Golden boi and his devils lettuce

With three episodes left it felt like there was so much story left to be told and such little time to tell it

The generosity to keep us entertained between seasons

The subtle symbolism of Esther's mind being represented with card games

The heart-wrenching ups and downs of Esther and Bridget's relationship

Esther and Sally’s lesbian/aroace solidarity

Bridget, my mom

Sally's #relatable ace anxieties and Nikhil's comforting response

The super cool theme song by Mischa "i do not play piano" Stanton which they apparently HEARD IN A DREAM?!

The found footage pieces between scenes

The amount of detail put into it, and being able to notice new things on each relisten

Easter eggs like QDAM

Seemingly infinite pop culture references

The commitment to posting a transcript for each episode

The GOLDEN BOY smokes the devil’s lettuce?!

The Super LUminal Recursive Processor

All of the machine code names really

Mischa’s wonderful sound design that makes me feel like I’m actually in the location the episode takes place at and made me realize how wonderful podcasts could truly be.

Sally Grissom. The wonderful disaster ace and the first ace rep I ever found.

The sound design of the show, especially the tapes adding to world building, all those clunky sounds.

Sally Grissom, ‘I wonder what would happen if I...’, Mad scientist.

This show has the most complex, humanistic portrayal of aromanticism I’ve ever experienced

I appreciate the aP creators’ dedication to nuanced portrayal of and discussion about violence

All of Curses, of fucking course

Keeping the humanity of people who do bad thing while not trying to justify them

Their commitment to “all killer, no filler”

Reminding me that science is cool, dammit!

Petra is a lovely and nuanced, complex character that I adore with my whole heart and soul.

[BLUE BLUE 09 13 18 15 26 08 04 12 20 24 05 18 14 09 17 04 05 12 01 05 The weather in Tulsa today is: Drought. At the tone, the time will be: 5400 hours]

The creators are so so fantastic and fun! I love that they interact with fans.

Sally is the disaster stoner physicist we all need in our lives. also she’s relatable as hell

The show is not afraid to tackle issues like race, gender, or sexuality and it doesn’t overstep its bounds.

The codes are so fun (even if I don’t understand all of them)!

I love how excited scientists get when they’ve discovered something-it feels like real scientists I know

How Bridget criticizes Sally for making puns under pressure even though she does exactly the same thing

The way characters interact with one another, and grow, and learn, and develop is so fascinating and beautiful.

Plasticity might have been the first podcast episode to make me cry.

I love Sally “I only know anecdotal biology and chemistry” Grissom and how her science knowledge actually makes sense??

As a huge huge physics nerd and aspiring computer scientist, I love love love the way Sally talks about science! It’s like Kristen DiMercurio is narrating my inner monologue!

The thrill of trying to keep up with the diverging timelines

☭S̶͜͞ ̀͜҉̀͢Í͠ ̸̸͟҉X̵͘͢ ̢T̷̶͞ ̢̨͟Y̧̛͘ ̨͟͢ ̴̨͜҉S̷̶͢ ̴͝Í͢͟ ҉̢̛͝X̕͝͝☭

The consideration and dedication shown in not only writing an aro-spec ace character, but addressing issues and worries often faced by people in that community.

The mind-boggling task of trying to piece together everything that’s happening when for all we know every scene could be from a different, rewritten version of the timeline.

Anthony Partridge, the most melodramatic math nerd to ever play Tetris in a bubble outside of time.

The optimism of the show and ultimate faith it shows in both science and humanity, despite all the characters’ failings.

Sally giggling over meeting her future self both times that it happens

Sally’s book (and her attempts at pronouncing NaNoWriMo).

Maggie Elbourne, because as much as I love all my the more morally ambiguous scientists it’s nice to see one who actually stood up to ODAR’s shenanigans almost as soon as she figured out what was up.

Everything about the road trip.

TimeSwimmers was already mentioned but specifically TIME DOLPHIN RYAN LOCHTE

Characters that grow and change and learn

The 77s getting name dropped in Plasticity, way before we knew who they were

Sally calling out the English language for being problematic (“oh, you mean like morally upstanding?”)

“The weather in Tulsa today is: uhh I dunno”.

It has been quite possibly the most human exploration of time travel I’ve ever seen/heard.

Reaching a happy ending I couldn't even imagine

The weather in Tulsa is: sppoookyyy

The ever changing ways the codes were presented in season 3. Giving the feeling that the anchorites were both on the run and broadcasting these messages from different points in time.

Sally’s ace representation is the best I’ve ever seen and it makes me feel so #valid.

The sound design and detail in the writing make me feel like I’m truly immersed in the story, and it feels so authentic. Are you sure you don’t secretly have a timepiece?

The characters are people I CARE about and wanted to cry over during work all the time because they’re all wonderful and I love them.

The integration of the different storylines into Sally’s, especially Petra’s, is amazing.

Petra’s characterization was really well done, and it made me really care about her, even as she was trying to more or less destroy the world.

Out-of-date pop culture references that fit seamlessly into the dialogue despite being from literally a different time period and most of the characters having no idea what it meant. They just added an extra level of hilarious.

You may not actually know a single thing about tachyon fields and gluon walls (are they even real?) but you could definitely convince me that you know exactly what you’re talking about (or at least that Sally Grissom does).

The enDING WAS JUST REALLY WELL DONE AND I LOVE A GOOD CIRCULAR ENDING AND IT MADE ME GENUINELY GO TO THE BATHROOM DURING WORK TO CRY BECAUSE IT WAS JUST BEAUTIFUL.

The fact that the whole show is wrapped up by the revelation that the entire show is actually Nikhil and Mateo curling up with board games and snacks trying to form a story out of these tapes, patching together timelines to make it all cohesive, it just feels very right.

This story fits the medium so well, and so the fact that we don’t learn that Whickman has an EYEPATCH is absolutely wild but also wonderful because as soon as I heard that I knew that that was how it belonged, like of course he has an eyepatch, that’s a very Chet thing to have.

The ending was so perfectly, painfully beautiful. It was the ending we needed but never would have imagined.

Petra’s and Sally’s relationship being so complex and real.

Nikhil and Mateo using the archive to create the framing device for the whole podcast.

The sound the timepiece makes.

The final destruction of the timepiece.

Putting time travel in a Cold War setting makes perfect sense, and they go together like peanut butter and chocolate.

Did anyone mention Helen Partridge as a character? How beautifully she was set up and the fact that she pursued her own her life, and also, how BEAUTIFULLY Susanna Kavee can sing? Because damn.

I just. Really love this show. And everyone involved. So much.

The child characters were really well done-both the actors and the writing felt real.

To me, the show feels a bit like one of those camp friendship bracelets everyone used to make, with all these colors and threads--all of the timelines, woven together, messy but beautiful.

TEETRIS

Grissom’s Gizmo Gals!

Mateo’s non-stop flirting, even in the worst of situations

Sally “It’s Dr Grissom”ed HERSELF.

The way both the story and the characters reflect a complex view on the world with people making horrible decisions and horrible things happening to them, and yet always maintaining a positive outlook, offering the possibility of change and improvement.

The top-notch voice acting from everyone involved, helping to create the wonderful characters we all love.

Sally finger-gunning her way out of a conversation with a pun about a friend almost killing her.

All the minisodes!!

Any time Bridget, Nikhil or Lou acts like they want to adopt Petra

The series ending with two characters who had been at odds coming together

The characterization of the different Petras, because they all seem like different people even though in fact they are not (and Sylvia deciding she doesn't want to follow the legacy of Petras)

How Kristen can play 2 of the same character and make them sound different (how does she do that???)

Anthony’s will to save everyone, sacrificing himself, when the world didn't do anything good for him…

... and the constant struggle to save his friends (like when he was literally the only one aware of the Anchorites and the way their plan could have ended)

The way the show can go from time travel shenanigans to heartfelt character moments is a real testament to the talent of the writing team.

The Vegas episode, which I listened to after the finale and cried, because they were so happy and naive and everything wasn’t messy and bad and complicated.

The way gun violence is handled by the creators with respect and care

The way PTSD and mental health is handled (through Sally) is beautiful and respectful.

Partridge being named after a bird and living out his life in a cage. YOU GUYS ARE MEAN

Susanna Kavee’s absolutely amazing singing and Tau Zaman’s lyrics are an absolutely combination.

The ceaseless, unwavering commitment to puns

I love how important their friendships are to the characters (well, most of them anyways).

Sally’s conversation with Nikhil in season 3 reflects a lot of common anxieties of aromantic people, and his understanding responses

The entirety of the trial episode, which just really sort of showed the full extent of how terrible the Red Scare was by putting Esther, a Jewish woman, through it, and just shows you how defamed people in that time were.

In so many of the fictional and non-fictional representations of history, marginalized people have diminished, distorted, and stereotypical roles-but not in ars PARADOXICA. Thank you for making so many people feel seen.

All the amazing writers who started it all. 💜

Here are the signatures of some of the fans who contributed:

Signatures

Lindsay (ioniluna/drsallygrissom)

Khanan Abayev

SJ (your friendly neighborhood slauthor)

Dave (mondas-mania)

Noah (kindadisappointed)

Sana (i-am-delta-s)

Tina (espressonist)

Meaghan (lafgl)

Katherine (Rubywolfsbane)

Artimis (jp-blindperson/ap-blindperson)

Luke (martianboyy)

Ellie (joan-and-jane-and-esther-roberts/shewrites)

Bridge (cornerandchair)

Lem (aceparadoxica)

Esme (starsparadoxica)

Glory (mercutiglo)

Carly (guardianbob)

Emese (mse)

Ben (Q)

Special thanks to the ars PARADOXICA discord for being so helpful! From the time it was just a dozen people with a spork in a shoebox, this community was a shining star that helped me through tough times. Thank you for your silliness, cleverness, and support.

Brought to you by the internet: It’s weird! It’s fun! It loves you very, very much!

#ars paradoxica #aP creators #surprise!

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telltalia · 6 years

Note

Can you give us some amusing or endearing Romano imagines?

This might not be exactly what you asked for, but I actually um, I wrote something for this

I hope that’s okay. I’m planning on posting head canons afterwards, as well, don’t worry.

-Danzare-

A year ago you wouldn’t believe that you’d be living in Italy as a roommate for two hot Italian brothers. It sounded like paradise. You were just coming as a tourist, after all. But, here you were a year later, that you were in fact living that life and it was, in fact, paradise. A year ago it was just after Valentine’s Day, and you caught your last boyfriend cheating, so you took all the money you had and went to Italy without thinking. It was a stupid idea, but you ended up not regretting it, as you had met the cheerful Feliciano and the equally sweet but, aa you’ve come to know him, grumpier Lovino Vargas. You had become immediate friends after they showed you around, and when you admitted you had here to stay, they let you stay with them for a little while. Of course you were hesitant at first, but considering you had nothing to lose, you stayed with them.

That little while ended up being almost a year now. Tomorow is the anniversary of the day you arrived in Italy; the day you met Feli and Lovi. You couldn’t wait to spend the day with the two. Maybe they would try to teach you some Italian! Maybe they’d take you to the Colosseum like the first day you met! But that was tomorow. Today was a different day.

Valentine’s Day.

You’ve hated Valentine’s Day as a child. The thought of lovey dovey stuff used to make you groan in annoyance. Until your first years of highschool, the year you got your first boyfriend. Of course, it didn’t last. But since that boy, you’ve been a hopeless romantic. You craved the cheesy cuteness. And in your senior year of highschool, you got a boyfriend who lasted longer than a few months. Two years actually. So on that Valentine’s Day, when you saw him with another woman, it broke your heart. In a angry rush, you took the little money you had and fled to Italy. When you arrived there, you were confused and suddenly realized what you’d done.

“Why am I here again…?” You had asked yourself. You wandered around for a bit before realizing you were hungry. You attempted to buy some gelato, but lucky you… you didn’t know any Italian and the man you were asking didn’t seem to know English. At least, not enough to hold up a conversation. You were struggling to talk to him when you heard a voice pitch in behind you.

“Do you need help, bella?” Hearing English, you turned around hopefully, and a nicely tanned, brunette man with an odd curl in his hair was smiling at you.

“Ye- ah… sì!” You corrected yourself. And smiled at him thankfully. He ordered the flavor of gelato you wanted while you watched him sheepishly with a blush on your face. When he handed it to you and offered you a seat at a small outdoor-cafe-style table, you were quick to thank him. “Thank you so much. I don’t really know Italian that well and…” after you said that sentence, you mentally face palmed. Of course he knows that! Idiot! Thankfully, another man ran up to the two of you, saving your embarrassment.

“Fratello! Lovi!” The other man, who had slightly redder hair but a matching curl, started speaking rapidly in Italian while the man who helped you seemed frustrated by him.

“Feli, can’t you see I’m trying to help someone!”

That was your first time meeting the Vargas brothers. Exactly 364 days ago. You had grown to love them, although one you loved as a best friend, the other… well, you had a crush on Lovino. He was just so perfect. From his personality to his looks. He was so kind and sweet to women, tourists and such, but you found he was a little more grumpy when you got to know him. It was cute. God, his appearance. You weren’t someone who cares about apperance above all, but damn, he was nice. It must have been that Southern Italian blood that made him so gorgeous. Tan skin, brown hair and those hazel eyes. And who could forget that accent. So maybe You had more than a crush on him. Maybe you were in love with every little bit of him.

Since it was Valentine’s Day, Lovino was out dropping Feli off at his boyfriend Ludwig’s house. While he was gone, you decided that you would make some food for later. It wouldn’t be seen as romantic, would it? I mean, you’re not together, so…

As you were grabbing the ingredients to make a pizza, you decided it was to quiet in the house, so you ran to get your phone. Flipping through some music, you found an Italian song that you listened to so long ago. You danced through the kitchen, swaying your hips to the beat, mumbling along as well as you could, considering you still couldn’t speak Italian that well. You listened to the song on repeat, over and over, until you could sing some of the chorus correctly, and began trying to sing along louder.

Danzare, amore mio a ballaredanzare, amore mio a cantaredanzare, danzareio voglio stare qui con te

Danzare, amore mio a ballaredanzare, amore mio a cantaredanzare, danzarefantastica sei tu per me

As you were preparing to put the pizza together, you heard a small chuckle, and looked behind you to see Lovino giving you an amused grin. It wasn’t often you saw him smile this brightly, him being the grumpy Italian he was, and you loved how it looked on him. Sadly you were too embarrassed to smile back. You simply stood there while the song played in the background.

Quickly, you scrambled to turn it off, and ended up tripping in the process, landing gently in Lovino’s arms. Your blush worsened, and you noticed his cheeks also had a bit of color in them.

“Bella…” Lovino started softly, that smirk never leaving his lips. “I didn’t know you could sing like that. And in Italian.”

“How long where you standing there?” You asked, embarrassed that he heard you probably butcher his language horribly, and you moved away from his arms.

“I listened to the whole song.” He shrugged. “È stato molto bello. I like hearing you speak my language. You’re cute when you do. But, do you know what it translates to?” You shook your head.

“Something about… dancing? I think.” Lovino nodded and let another small smirk grace his lips. “I have a game for us to play. Like a Valentine’s Day celebration. Come here.” He led you to the couch and you sat on the soft cushions next to him, forgetting about the pizza you were going to make.

“Okay. Now what’s the game?” You asked in a worriful tone. “I dont need to say anything in Italian, do I?” Lovino looked almost offended.

“Of course you’re going to! I’m not going to kill you if you say something wrong, idiota!” he scoffed, his usual attitude coming back. “You’re just going to say the line and I’ll translate it for you. And then at the end, you’ll get a prize.” He paused for a moment and then continued. “You’ve been listening to it on repeat. You should have the lyrics memorized.” He scoffed once again.

“O-okay. Um,” you closed your eyes to remember the words, before muttering a soft time. “Sì sei speciale… io voglio restare, con… te ballare.”

“Dio mio, you are so cute speaking Italian.”

“Lovi, just translate it, please!” You blushed, and Lovino let out an exasperated sigh, before looking into your eyes.

“You are special, I want to stay, dancing with you.” Lovino translated. “Next line.”

“Tu sei importante… something… la mia stella…. ummm, tu sei la donna… che vorrei con me.” You finished with a smile, confident in yourself.

“You didn’t roll your ‘r’s.” The Italian groaned in disappointment.

“Lovi! You said you wouldn’t criticize me!”

“No, no, no. I said I wouldn’t kill you. I didn’t, did I? And don’t call me Lovi.” He paused for a moment, moving closer to you and looking into your eyes softly, softer than you’ve ever seen Lovino look. “You are important, my star. You’re the woman I want with me.” You turned bright red when he said that, but shook it off. Get yourself together!

“Io voglio… stare qui… con te?” You asked, remembering that part of the song.

“I want to be here… with you.” Lovino leaned forward and slipped his hand into your cheek. “______… ti amo tanto…” without a warning, you felt his lips press to yours and your eyes widened dramatically. Wow. Not wanting to miss your chance, you kissed back slowly as Lovino urged the kiss on, soon giving your lips a soft nibble and gently nudging past with his tongue, trying not to scare you away or go to far. You pulled away quickly and looked off to the side, blushing harder than you thought you could. “Damn it, damn it, damn it!” Lovino cursed softly. “Mi dispiace, ______.”

“What? Lovi, I loved it. Just… was all that true?”

“Sì. But not even that whole song can describe how much i love you.” You blushed even more, and smiled at him.

“Ti amo, Lovi.” You pressed another kiss against his lips, and when you pulled away, Lovino stood up from the couch.

“How about we get some gelato, ______? Like the first day we met.” You nodded enthusiastically.

“I’d love that.” He took your hand and gave you another heartwarming smile, a rare one that forced a smile out of you as well.

“Andiamo.”

This is actually from my Quotev account. Woop. How is it?

#ask #romano #drabble #s/o #italian song yo

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sunshinetoday · 6 years

Photo

My Struggle III and many more...

*Clicking on links will take you to the original posting of the video/article/tweet… X marks the posting of linked content on Tumblr. It takes you to the post of the Tumblrino who posted it here.*

Okay, I’ll try to do a weekly summary for each episode...we will see how it goes. So let’s see what we have here: Press releases, reviews and of course the premiere of Season 11. It is one hella long list, so loots of stuff is under the cut🙈

The promo of the new season started with the news of David appearing at Jimmy Kimmel. (X) EW announced a special 25th-anniversary, Ultimate Guide to Every Season & Film, being released 5th January. ENews published a short interview with Gillian and David, from the set of The X-files and TV Guide Magazine published a new photo of Mulder and Scully #Shouldertouching! Next was announced that Gillian will be at the late late show with James Corden, 9th January and we got a picture of David jamming with the band when Brick wished everyone a happy new year! (X) Chris Carter did a Reddit AMA, but this is something I don’t wanna talk about. He is a moron. *For all upcoming events, @justholdinghandsok has a calendar running with all the info!*

The night of My Struggle III was off to a good start, @gillianaofficial posting: Gangs all here! Tonight at 8/7c @FOXTV . 👽 Fox released a new promo just before the Premier, in which, we could see Dana Scully in bed, with bare shoulders...and as this is The X-Files fandom, for us it is an absolutely good reason to loos our minds!! So yeah, we were in a happy place😂😂 But Chris Carter was true to himself, did give us a critically claimed bad episode with a twist that was disgusting and controversial at the very least. The fandom exploded, the media was loud, but we did get one thing that was promised to us.; a lot of MSR scenes and Willaim discussions with Gillian and David more at ease. For more, below are the reviews and press releases.

Reviews/Ratings:

The X-Files Season 11 Review (Spoiler-Free) (X)

The new season of 'The X-Files' is both classic and relevant in the 'fake news' era (X)

‘The X-Files’ review: Season 11 is uneven, but mostly pleasurable (X)

'The X-Files' Season 11: TV Review (X)

Review: ‘The X-Files’ in a Familiar Groove (X)

Duchovny, Anderson face new conspiracies, realities in ‘X-Files’ (X)

Variety - TV Review: ‘The X-Files’ Season 11 (X)

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson Have a Love-Hate Relationship With Their X-Files Characters (X)

‘The X-Files’ Review: Season 11 Premiere Features Some Dangerous Retconning and One Truly Disturbing Twist (X)

The X-Files premiere recap: 'My Struggle III' (X)

TV Ratings: ‘9-1-1’ Debut Tops Wednesday, ‘X-Files’ Returns Down Double Digits (X)

"The X-Files," Season 11, Episode 1 Recap: We Do Our Work aka Paley Guy reviews of Season 11!

Press of the week:

The X-Files - Episode 11.03 - Plus One - Press Release (X)

The X-Files: A Binge Guide for Beginners (X)

Return Of ‘The X-Files’: 11 Things To Anticipate From Season 11 (X)

How The X-Files Keeps Track Of Continuity After 25 Years, According To The Creator (X)

How ‘The X-Files’ will surprise you this season (X)

The X-Files' Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny on 25 Years of Mulder & Scully—And a Satisfying Ending? (X)

Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny and Chris Carter keep seeking the truth that's 'out there' as 'The X-Files' returns (X)

The X-Files: 6 Things the Reboot Needs to Address (X)

Somewhat unexpectedly, The X-Files is deeply relevant again in 2018 (X)

The New ‘X-Files’ Season Is Much Better Than The Last (With One Exception) (X)

The X-Files: Chris Carter on the unscripted surprise that got in 'The Post-Modern Prometheus' episode (X)

The X-Files' Enduring Legacy (X)

Matt's Inside Line: Scoop on X-Files...(X)

The X-Files creator: Show's mythology to go a new direction (X)

The X-Files Creator on How Trump’s Presidency Has Made His Show More Relevant Than Ever (X)

How the influence of The X-Files lives on in today's television hits (X)

'The X-Files' is back, less as a revival and more on its own feet (X)

The X-Files’ Creator Chris Carter on Season 11 and the Show’s Future (X)

The X-Files writer Darin Morgan on the art of satirizing Mulder and Scully (X)

The truth is in here: U.Md. scientist on the set of ‘The X-Files’ (X)

Fox debates X-Files future if Gillian Anderson exits (X)

10 Shows We’ll Be Talking About in January (X)

The truth is still out there as ‘The X-Files’ lands its 11th series (X)

Videos this week:

THE X-FILES Season 11 "Parallel Universe" Promo [HD] David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson (X)

Best Of Agent Mulder | THE X-FILES (X)

Never lose faith in Scully. (X)

Scully Can't Find Her Son | Season 11 Ep. 1 | THE X-FILES (X)

Some new footage. (Edited from an interview with CC by a FOX affiliate station.)

David Duchovny at Jimmy Kimmel with a small part from My Struggle III (X)

X Files - My Struggle III Secret Reversed Message (X)

Visions Of The Future | Season 11 | THE X-FILES (X)

Mulder says “honey” to Scully in My Struggle III and this is canon!

New Hungarian promo of ep 2 with a brand new scene at the end. 😊 (X)

Photos this week:

The X-Files - Episode 11.03 - Plus One - Promotional Photos (X)

Backstage at #Kimmel with @DavidDuchovny #TheXFiles (X)

From the Jimmy Kimmel snapchat

From Jimmy Kimmel Instagram

Promo Photos from "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" (X)

What’s everyone watching tonight? (X)

BTS from The X-files Insta Stories

@gillianaofficial posted three BTS pictures during My Struggle III

Me relaxing while my double is being strangled. #TheXFiles (X)

Don’t miss out on vintage Mulder. (X)

Sorry everyone, food called. Here are David and Gillian’s stars!

Gillian Anderson Bafta Tea Party

Some awesome gifsets, pictures and recaps of My Struggle III:

from JK promo 01/02 @mulders-boyish-enthousiasm

Who is joining the European lunacy of middle-of-the-night live streaming on Wednesday? 😆😆 @allyinthekeyofx

EUROPE GETTING READY FOR SEASON 11. @sculdermemez

The most unbelievable part of this is the idea that someone would get out of the hospital and immediately put on a pantsuit. @especiallyoneofyou

FOX MULDER JUST SLIT A MANS THROAT OPEN FOR DANA SCULLY I CANT BELIEVE I JUST WITNESSED THE GREATEST ACT OF LOVE ON MY TELEVISION SCREEN IN 2018 @lattefoam

Does CC really expect us to believe that Special Agent Dana Scully MD didn’t run a single DNA test on that child that she wasn’t supposed to ever have?! @bohoartist

2x08 / 11x01 @daynascully

My Struggle III @aflawedfashion

6.18 // 11.01 @foxscully

My visions are from William. I don’t know how but I know that he’s guiding me…and you @i-heart-scully

mulder, in the middle of threatening evil conspirators who want to commit genocide: have u heard of my wife????? dana scully???? the smartest and most amazing and beautiful human alive????? my WIFE????????? @sapphitarius

20 things I love about episode 1 S11 @becksndot5 also she live posted the episode and created many awesome screencaps, like this one. She keeps doing this for all episodes, so follow her if you wanna get these caps while watching the show!

me: is thinking about this for the rest of my life @gilliansdavid

This man is fucking beautiful @allyinthekeyofx

Visions Of The Future | Season 11 | THE X-FILES @trusttnno1

Mulder and Scully eating muffin in Season 11 Episode 2. @funtasteec

Well, this was a ride to prepare 😄😂 I hope no one minds me including them and their postings but if you do, please message me. Also, message me if I should include your stuff on next week’s list.😊 Lots of love, good reading! ❤️👽❤️️

#pics #gillian anderson #david duchovny #thexfiles #season11 is on

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