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#new stuff that still hasn't been seen yet. I want to write better books for students to learn on; or just for myself. and I really really
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it's incredible the amount of stuff I want to do in this life
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xjustonemoremiraclex · 8 months
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rwrb thoughts from someone who hasn't read the book (yet)
The good/general thoughts:
pleasantly surprised by the acting! which I know sounds mean, but listen, I saw these guys in other things and I wasn't suuuper into them, so it was a nice surprise lol
THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE TWO again, pleasantly surprised by that lol they played off each other SO well
10/10 soundtrack, it definitely took inspiration from older rom-coms and I loved it <3
PS I really liked all the side characters! I wish we'd gotten to spend a little more time with some of them, but everyone was pretty great <3 also, all the women were awesome, and I am very gay and very in love <3
Ok, I really, REALLY liked how they showed the two of them texting each other, and the whole editing around it. It was pretty cute
I was living for all the latine songs at the new year's party, that was a nice touch
ok, when everyone was getting down at the party and alex and henry stayed up and stared at each other and time slowed down, I know it was supposed to be romantic, but I have to say it: it was also the funniest shit I've ever seen lol
henry at the party is giving both 'i have social anxiety and my only friend here is a social butterfly and keeps leaving to be with other people send help' and 'i thought you invited me here as a first date kind of thing but you're dancing and making out with other people and i'm feeling so betrayed rn :('
'christ you're as thick as it gets *kiss*' LMAO
Listen, I'm not usually into rom-coms (I say, like a liar), but I was pretty happy with the writing, in general. I laughed at all the funny parts, got emotional over all the dramatic ones and swooned at the romance bits. Great job, everyone
'I just can't afford for you to fall in love with me' LMAO babe, we're WAY past that. On both sides
ok, full disclosure: I don't really like sex scenes all that much (there's nothing wrong with them, I'm just very ace lol), so I usually just use my phone while they're happening, and while I did that a little bit here too, I was still paying attention, and honestly, they were pretty sweet. They did a good job. And, like, I have no idea why the film was R-rated lol you literally don't see anything
again, love the little montages that show the passing of time, while also showing they're keeping in touch and getting to know each other better and stuff. It makes the relationship between the two and the way it's developing feel a bit less rushed, which is nice
ZAHRA MY MOST BELOVED
YES PLEASE I WANT TO SEE THAT POWERPOINT PRESENTATION THANK YOU
KARAOKEEEE
alex giving an impassioned romantic speech to henry, about to confess his love: // henry:
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'I didn't want to break his heart' - oh, honey, you already did :(
'to tell you that I love you, knowing that you wouldn't say it back' brb sobbing
NOT CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE 😭😭😭
'because when they write the history of my life, I want it to include you and my love for you' help i'm dying 😭😭😭😭😭😭
MIGUEL DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW IT WAS YOU please die in a fire <3
alex's speech was really good by the way 🥺
LOVESICK HOMOSEXUALS LMAO ZAHRA MY BELOVED
'baby' screaming crying throwing up jgdkfk
I FORGOT THE KING WAS STEPHEN FRY why is this so funny to me
SEQUEL WHEN
The... less good?/general questions:
Kinda wish there'd been a bit more enemies in my enemies-to-lovers film
'he just grabbed my hair in a way that made me understand the difference between rugby and footbal'' - please, I beg you, someone smarter than me - what the fuck does this mean 😭 ppl are LIVING for this quote and I'm like ??????
this is probably me being stupid and ignorant lol but why would alex's relationship cost his mum the election? like, from what I've seen, her government has been very pro-queer, that's not really a secret, so her son being queer and in a relationship with a man shouldn't lose her any voters..? the people who are against 'the queers' were not going to vote for her in the first place, soooo..? me is confused
honestly, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but... the king was not that bad? like, i'm not saying he's not kind of homphobic and kind of a dick lol but i get the impression that everything stems from the whole thing about sticking to tradition and public image and bla bla. Like, again, obviously, part of that involves homophobia, but I think that on a personal level, he... doesn't really care? Even at the end, he's like 'ok, are you absolutely sure about this, cause there's no going back. Yes? Really? Well, go off I guess *long-suffering sigh*'. Like, I got way more homophobic vibes from phillip than the king idk 🤷‍♀️ (I really hope I don't have to clarify that this only applies to the film, and not like, the real life crown lol)
Sooo, as I said, I haven't read the book yet, but I've seen some posts about it, and I think after watching the film I've realized that it's biggest flaw is that it's that - a film. It's a great film, don't get me wrong! And it's pretty obvious I really liked it. But damn, I'm a firm believer that book adaptations only work as series. They don't have to be super long or anything, but there is just no way to fit everything in a book in a two hour film. And yeah, when you're adapting something you have to make some changes, but Idk, it's kind of a shame that you lose so much (and even without reading the book, I can tell there's a lot of stuff missing). In any case, I can't talk too much about it until I read the book, but yeah 🤷‍♀️ It does seem like they did a good job, though - like, it genuinely can stand on its own really well, but I guess I'll have to find out for myself
Also, tagging @silassstingy bc I promised her my thoughts on the film and she might give me some interesting insights on some of the stuff I mentioned, cause she's a queen like that <3
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steamberrystudio · 1 year
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02/01/202....3!? Devlog
Halloooooo everyone!
It's been a while since my last proper update here so I am going to be posting a bit of an update and recap and plans for 2023 post. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
I think we all know my big accomplishment in 2022 was releasing Gilded Shadows and then updating the game with Quill's route. 🥳
I also fully drafted Reuben's route and did one heavy revision of it! I've gotten through my second revision up to about Chapter 9.
The un-coded word count of Gilded Shadows is 985,000 words. (For those of you who are new and haven't seen me explain this before - the "uncoded" word count is the word count in Scrivener. All the routes lose words when I code them. The coded word count in Renpy is somewhat smaller and Reuben's route isn't coded yet so I don't know how long the game will be once his route is in the game.)
Still. That's a lot of words! LoL
Gilded Shadows is still lumbering along like the behemoth that it is. When Reuben's route is fully revised and checked for typos, I'll move on to coding it and working on sprites.
And then my last route will be YUU! Yuu is going through a bit of re-planning and re-structuring at the moment but I am really looking forward to writing his route.
I do not have an ETA on release for either of these routes beyond "This year." It's impossible for me to predict how difficult the writing will be. Reuben's route has been really tricky to write just because the plot is sort of crime...thriller? ISH? And I've had to do a lot of editing to smooth out how things flow. That kind of thing is difficult to predict until you've actually started writing.
ANYWAY. Throughout the year I've written a few small things that will eventually go in the lore book and taken some notes on other things I want to include. ☆*: .。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*☆
But I won't pretend 90% of my energy hasn't gone to just developing this game and getting it out there.
I have done some work and planning on next projects though. On my so called "Late Night Projects" (IE stuff I work on late at night or on weekends and my spare time). All these projects are things I hope to complete after Gilded Shadows is complete.
Some of them are experimental (trying out new features, new release styles, new game structures, etc) and some of them are stories I've had saved on my hard drive for years and just finally want to finish.
I'm really excited to eventually explore my space guilds and steampunk worlds and dark fantasy worlds and all the other ideas I have. I may have to work on these projects until I'm 90....but I am DETERMINED. 💪
Through 2023, I want to finish Gilded Shadows and all Gilded Shadows content (lore book, art book, KS rewards, etc). And then start to work on my next project!
So I hope you all stick with me - through this year and (hopefully) many years of game-making to come!
Thank you all for your endless support and encouragement. I truly hope this year is a better and happier year for everyone.
Be blessed! And I love you all. 💖💖
~Esh
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thatoneguy031 · 7 months
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[OOC: Hoo, boy, this is a long one. I normally don't do add "keep reading"s, but I feel like it's needed here. And even then, it warrants a Pt. 2]
Oh-kay, no one has to die. The Suicune is fine.
They had come out of the room or whatever, right, and they had a new cast on their leg. It wasn't anything huge, it was certainly thinner than the casts I'd seen on humans, but still looked sturdy enough to keep it in place. And it looked better, too. It didn't look like... as much as a biohazard, as the last one did.
"Hey... you're alright, right? Is it better?"
<Yes. they clean it. it stuck. they broke again to fix.>
I winced. So that's what that sound was a few hours ago. It sounded like it really hurt. "So... Now that you're in a bit better shape, what do you plan on doing?" They certainly looked pleased, even if they weren't smiling... As a matter fact, I've only seen this Suicune have one expression since I've met them, and it could be best described as... disgruntled. They even had bags under their eyes. Poor dude probably hasn't gotten a good night's sleep in years.
<Leave. look for answers.>
"Right, right. Say, do you mind if I joined you?"
<Can't. leaving regon. and am legend. can defend myslef.>
"...Are you sure?" I took a sniff at their wound. Yeah, it was better, there was no denying that, but I could tell that it would be a while before the Suicune could really get going without at least a little worry. "What if you get hurt again? I get that like, what the heck am I gonna do about it, but I want to at least be by your side if crap hits the fan."
<Why worry? too much for samrot to do. samrot get hurt too.>
"Because I... I don't want you getting hurt. Er... hurt, again." I held out my blade, looking at my own reflection within it. "I don't like it when I know there's something I can do to protect someone, but don't... That's why I'm trying my best to be a protector for Pokemon. I believe everyone could use at least a little help from someone. You get that, right? I know I'm sounding stubborn, and maybe I am, but you're not in fighting shape yet!"
For the first time since we met, me and the Suicune actually made eye contact. It lasted a long while, too. At least, it felt like it. I couldn't get a reading on what they were thinking. I really hope I didn't annoy them. What am I kidding? Even if I did, they're not well.
The Suicune finally began writing again, and what he said sorta surprised me.
<Can samrot fight?>
"Wha- Of course I can!" I was offended. "I didn't evolve twice, just to get asked a question like that-" I was interrupted by more scribbling from them.
<No. can samrot fight? for self.>
I blinked at the paper. "...Yes? At least, I'm really sure I can. I haven't been in a real fight in a few months, but I'm confident that-"
<Confidence not enouf. samrot is inexprensed. samrot is going hurt self.>
He then began drawing a picture for me, as messy as their hand(snout?)writing. When he slid his book my way again, I was offended.
It was of what I could only assume was a picture of me, with toothpick arms and even skinnier seamitars. Next to it, was another picture of me, dead(you could tell because of the Xs over my eyes), with a Budew standing over my body, looking proud. Over the image said:
<LONG TIME NO FIGHTING =/= STRONG LONG TIME NO FIGHTING = NO EXPREN EXP NO EXP = WEAK WEAK = SAMROT GET HURT!!>
As much as I hated such an out-of-character description of me, I... couldn't disagree with their logic. I guess it has been a long time since I've battled, a human or otherwise... "Okay, I'll admit it! You're right!" I groaned. "But what am I going to do, if I do happen to really be rusty, huh? I have no one to train with, and it's not like you'll be willing to do anything about it! You have stuff to do, places to be... I bet you already consider me a bother."
<I help samrott.>
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littlewalken · 1 year
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Mar 30
The stack of analog books I was able to replace with free digital ones has gone from Shi Shi height to nearly Taffy and Jareth height, we measure a lot of things by comparing them to the bigger ball jointed dolls around here, and that was just the inside of the 4x4 book shelf. The top, except for some novels, hasn't been looked thru yet but I'm going to do 3 of the 2x2 shelves under the window.
There are still 3 other 2x2 cubby shelves, one with doll and geisha/tea ceremony books which don't need to be switched out for digital (doll books will be dealt with later) and the other two have the art and crafting books which meh.
Some of the crafting ones can go but some need to stay because it's just easier to have a paper version of the instructions.
Next step should then be to scan important books, like the Cure, Mode, and Bowie which I will be keeping but have you seen how thick the one Velvet Goldmine is based on or the Spider From Mars guy's book? Reeves needs to catch up, eh?
I still have Birth of the Modern and three giant ass Reader's Digest history ones to use as weapons against anyone who has an analog is better than digital argument.
Come move my books to my new dwelling then. I moved them here, I know what a chore it is.
something something I want to read the book, or at least part of the book, and get the information inside it, not keep a musty old book just because it's old something something
Anyone who doesn't believe in digital books is forbidden from reading any and all antique and one of a kind books that are only available in digital format. No cosmographias for you!
This also got me to thinking is the 'Little Walken Cylopedia' that grew off the idea of a commonplace book getting out of hand? That currently exists as a steadily growing folder on my puter, I save web pages and what not of things I find interesting, but there was always the wish to make a physical book of stuff I liked, stuff that inspired stories, and basic stuff I might need for writing.
Not that I would get rid of the computer folder but is the initial idea getting away from me and losing sight of what could be an organic joy?
It doesn't need to be a whole article, self, just the interesting parts and a few quotes. You'd lose things like Sid not seeing Andy out of make-up their first few meetings and not knowing what he looks like which is a fabulous idea for a story.
I also need to do something in a notebook that will stay in that notebook to help me get past what ever it is that gets in the way of that.
Which is why composition books were invented and I intend to get some.
It's also okay to do initial notes on loose paper if you need a few extra steps in organizing. My brian definitely does.
Oh, and I also stopped taking fish oil and when this latest storm came in the only thing that hurt was my arthritis so I think I know where all those recent migraines came from. If your doctor put you n fish oil and you have worsening headaches do talk to them. The jury is still out officially but how many of the people who said it didn't affect them have uteruses and ovaries?
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capriciouswriter207 · 2 years
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gonna be not doing this anonymously because I wanna get the notification bwihidhoqjojfoqhoxh
Uh, heya, it's been quite awhile, hasn't it? I haven't had like any time she says as she started reading a new manga as well lots of fanfics on A03 only a few days ago. Well not enough time to actually go and catch up on this, I've decided to try and do that in my summer holidays, which take over a month to come still too, 5 weeks to be precise. 1 week of that is work experience, one day meeting someone that will tell us about how he was in the DDR prison and then getting bought out by the BRD, then also 1 day going to an art museum with my class and I think that should be all, plus period that will make me unable to attend probably like 6 days again, sighs.
Well anyways, how have you been? And all the fabulous anons? How has writing gone? Are your projects going well?
Personally I've for June done an art challenge thing, 1 drawing per week. Had to postpone the next two drawings each by 3 days though because I need to study.
But hey! I at least improved in history! I got one of the better grades in my class, it feels like everyone is failing history tho tbh. I do not want my latin exam back tho. Write physics last Monday, this will decide if I fail this school year or not I'm pretty sure. Tomorrow I'll have an English exam but that's gonna be easy ngl, just gotta finish the last 3 sides of the book we have to read. math exam is next Tuesday, the topic is kinda easy, I think. And a lot more. We also will have to do presentations now in geography, in hopes that will save my geography grade too.
I have fallen in love with the manga "Mairimashita! Iruma-kun!" in hopes I wrote that correctly lol. It's really nice. Can only recommend. Did you like Lizzie's musical? Are you excited for season 2 this Saturday?
Hope you've a nice day/night/wherever you are! Before I leave here I'll show my drawings up to now for FairyTaleJune, first one was Light second one was Darkness!
-I wish you an awesome summer, Star the anonymous (well not so much rn) witch <3
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Hi! It's been a while indeed, good to see you again!
It's been a bit quiet over here, but that's mostly on me. I should've probably realized that, with the raye I wqs trying to pump out stories, it wouldn’t last. And it didn't, I got a bit of a writing burn-out that I'm still slowly trying to crawl out of. My biggest problem is that I either write 4000 words per day for three months straight or I don't write anything at all, so trying to find a balance in there has been hard. Took a bit of a writing break, during which I binged all of Critical Role campaign three and I'm now fully caught up. Been doing some crocheting as well, nothing too big, taking it easy. No good news on the job hunting front, though - but hey, what can you do when people turn you down because "you'd be perfect for the job if your verbal communicative skills were better" (bad paraphrase)? I’m just gonna keep trying to find something. 
As for the projects, I've decided that announcing what I'm gonna be working on stuff for accountability meant putting maybe a bit too much pressure on myself that resulted in stress as I progressively couldn't keep up, so I'm not doing that anymore. Wither AU is kept mostly alive by asks and I haven't updated Fear the Wither in months, and probably won't be in the near future because of empires season 2. Tabula rasa and the Caesar House are still actively being worked on, though I may not be doing tumblr posts for Caesar House anymore (should probably make that into a separate post...). I've shelved any other story ideas I've mentioned because I know me - I want to write all the stories and I simply don't have the time and I hate not being able to show you these stories, but I can't force myself to work on them. It wouldn't be fair to you to deliver a product my heart's not in anymore.
I have seen Lizzie’s musical, it was amazing, love it! Don't really have a favorite song yet, letting that simmer in the back of my mind a bit. And I'm very excited for empires season 2, I’m sure it’ll make me hyperfixate and resurrect this blog with random snippets. Can't wait to see where people will settle, with what theme they'll go and who the new twelfth member is. It's gonna be so much fun!
It’s been good talking to you, Star. good day/afternoon/night to you, too! Those drawings look great!
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silverhallow · 2 years
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💫 Ash Masterlist 3.0💫
** 🔞Please be aware this blog is not suitable for minors - proceed at your own risk 🔞 **
Ask Box
My asks are always open, I might not be actively taking prompts but if you want to ask me something, if you have a story you would like me to write, please send it to me. I might not get round to it straight away, if you don't send it anon i'll message you to say I have it and i'll do it but it might take me some time but I will get around to it.
I will take requests for Head Canons and peoples thoughts about things.
Any feedback, any thing I could do better? Anything you want to see more of... Send it in! I love getting asks from you guys. I love interacting.
if you send me hate or shit, I will block you. simple as.
Prompts are open
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
My Stories
Now you can probably tell I am a bit of a machine. @fact-fictionx is sure I am a robot. I am not, just insane and can write like 1000 words in 15 minutes (seriously, I have done that, ask anyone who is a member of the Ton Discord group who has seen me sprint before)
so rather than link you to my stories... of which there are nearly 200 of... Below is a list of all 18 series that I currently have.
*** PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU READ THE TAGS ON ANYTHING I HAVE POSTED... SOME OF IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK, MINORS OR BEING READ IN PUBLIC ***
Bridgerton Enterprise AU My Beast and My Baby... if you're here odds are its cause of either All's Fair or Wildest Dreams... this is my Frankenstein.
Bridgerton Enterprise AU Deleted Scenes - the filth and the fluff that was missed from the main stories...
Baby Bridgertons - Stories of Pregnancies for each of the couples. I will eventually get back to writing Colin and Penelope and move onto the others.
IN PERPETUUM ET UNUM DIEM (FOREVER AND A DAY) - Modern Bridgerton's at Uni. co-written with @fact-fictionx - on a temporary hiatus whilst we both get our shit together IRL.
The Kinky Side of the Fandom - Slash, Kink and Smutty Fic Central - this is my non-canon and canon home for Kinks and stuff that is a little more than just smut... it's basically p*rn.
SMUTMAS 2021 This is gonna be full of smut and stuff that will jointly posted in the Kinky side as it's full of Triple X rated shit and will have some slash in. READ THE TAGS!!!
What If AU - What if's... moments from the books flipped and written differently.
Smutty Bridgerton Prompts: if i need to explain this to you then you probably shouldn't be reading them...
Phoenix Rising: a new AU which is Benophie but we may add other stories... it is gonna be angsty AF like so be warned.
Boulevard of Broken Dreams AU - Some of my angstiest work yet. this explores the friendship and relationships of Teen Bridgerton (mostly the friendship of Anthony and Sophie... so be warned)
Practically Sisters: Kate and Sophie have been besties since they were young and are practically sisters. I had meant to be expanded on but hasn't happened yet.
Benophie Married Life Prompts - i got so many requests for married benophie they needed their own series!
Oblivious - Coffee Shop and Uni AU - Benophie AU still to be worked on but just forgot.
Penwood Pastries. Coffee Shop AU, currently just a one shot. i had intended to expand on it but it's just not happened yet!
Bridgerton Song Fics - does what it says...
Angsty Bridgerton Prompts - does what it says
Bridgerton Fluffy Prompts: - again. Obvious.
Reconciliation Adventures - Saphne Stories post TV show - it is complete and unlikely to be added to.
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chicoriii · 3 years
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Season 4, Episode 4 - Mr Pigeon 72
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I have no idea where to start. This episode has some good things and some extremely stupid.
Marinette isn't still completely fine, but I prefer when she deals with it through being hyperactive than being a whining crybaby.
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I know people don't agree with me, but personally I don't buy the whole revealing identity to Alya. It's not a problem with Alya herself, I would say the same about every single character who is not named Alix Kubdel at this point of the story. I haven't written anything in my post about Gang of Secrets, because I thought it would be undone in some way at the start of the next episode. The creators did nothing to explain why revealing identity of Ladybug to anyone was super dangerous and would result in a catastrophe in seasons 1-3 and the first two episodes of S4, but it's magically fine in episode 3. Only Alix made sense to me, as she will be the rabbit Miraculous holder, so she is destined to discover identities of everyone sooner or later and Marinette is aware of that. While it's not necessary to learn identity of anyone to other temporary Miraculous wielders, including Alya. Also that reveal hasn't been foreshadowed in season 3, while the show usually does it, especially if it's about something as important as that! More, in late S3, it's been shown that Alya still can't resist to not talking about Marinette's love life with Nino, despite she asked her to not do it. Now the girl, who is overly excited about superhero stuff, has no problems with even accidental revealing anything to Nino or someone else. She's even "stealing" Bunnix line that she's great at keeping secrets (sorry but you, the creators, haven't shown us that she's indeed is before!). This is why I think that reveal hasn't been planned before they started writing season 4.
But okay, I can deal with it, even if I don't buy it, but things these happened in Mr. Pigeon 72 are even more inconsistent with previous seasons. I have been worried about it, so it doesn't surprised me. For some reason Guardian related-things that have been kept in a secret before from everyone minus current Guardian and the future Guardian, are now fine being done in front of Kwamis (remember, they haven't been allowed to learn about making potions before!) and a civilian who is just a temporal Miraculous holder, not someone who is supposed to be trained to be a new Guardian. You can say - new Guardian, new rules, but why? Marinette has been portrayed as someone who respect authorities, she has never questioned any Fu's rules. It wasn't even said in the episode that she's going to change the rules. I hate that the writers don't even bother to explain us what's going on. Probably they don't bother about consistency, they think the audience is going to be too excited about Alya knowing Ladybug's identity and helping Marinette to question anything about it? How Alya could be allowed to learn the Guardian secrets? She is just best friend of the protagonist, she is not one of the main characters to get that special treatment. I makes zero sense to me. Especially since Su-Han will be introduced in episode 6 and he should help Marinette with understanding the Grimoire, Alya isn't necessary here for any other reason than fanservice.
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In my opinion the way how they discovering how to make charms that protects from akumasitation was the most stupid thing that happened this season and one of the most in the whole show. Marinette who is the new Guardiand and portrayed as someone extreme intelligent and creative couldn't find the solution for days, but Alya with zero training magically discovered it in a few hours at worst. And when she told her the solution in not even very clear way, Ladybug did it immediately with no effort. That was so anticlimactic. At least the animation was fine, but other aspects of it was just a big disappointment, and I was looking forward for it. Thank goodness it's just the beginning of the season, I hope later important events of the season will be better written and portrayed.
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Also I find it absurd that Rena Rough is walking with a page from the Grimoire like it's just an ordinary book and she's talking about it in front of a random civilian, like things that are written there are nothing special. She or Ladybug are not careful about Miraculous lore anymore. Not to mention that they are giving hints that Rena is very close to Ladybug in public, suspiciously close. And now with them being too careless, that's not hard to suspect that Rena Rouge is someone very close to Ladybug, maybe even as a civilian. Shadow Moth knows Rena Rouge's identity, and it's easy to him to learn who is Alya Cesaire's best friend if he doesn't know it yet, after all his son is in the class with her. Marinette has always been super careful and serious about her duties before, why that sudden change with zero explanation? It's just very out of character to her in my opinion.
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I didn't like the akuma battle either, it's now the worst fight of the season in my opinion. It was so short and felt very lazy. I only liked that Plagg got some action and interaction with Ladybug (though it should be suspicious for her that he managed to reach to her that fast). He should be aware now that Alya knows Ladybug's identity but he acts like nothing happened. Not a word about it being unfair towards his kid or something, weird.
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Thankfully the rest of the episode is generally more or less fun to me. It was nice to see Marinette and Kagami interacting again. I loved Kagami in the episode, although it was a bit weird to me that she isn't seemed to be affected by her breaking up with Adrien. Like her crush was very shallow, so she managed to recover herself from it very quickly. While it's been shown that Luka is hurt, despite Lukanette always seemed to be much more shallow than Adrigami in my opinion. But maybe it's because she's so down to earth, so being less emotional makes sense for her character. I liked how her attitude was opposite to Marinette's hyperactive: "No, I don't want to be in a relationship with Adrien again, he disappointed me, just let me live!!!". And she's another character who said that Marinette and Adrien are made for each other. I'm not surprised that Kagami sees it now when she tried to be with him and that didn't work. She's observant, sees more than many other characters. It seems she's an Adrienette shipper now. It's also good that her issue with Adrien wasn't resolved that easily and too fast. They need more time, but I'm sure they will be friends again.
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So, we've gotten shirtless Adrien. I remember seeing a tweet of Thomas in which he answered to a question if there will be a beach episode and he said we will get something similar. I wonder if he meant this episode. Oh, they just remembered that Adrien is supposed to be allergic to feathers. It seems Adrien has allergic reactions only when it's somewhat related to the plot. When it's not, he's completely fine.
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The reference to the famous Umbrella Scene™ out of nowhere in a random episode? It probably means something. I can see "reverse crush" supporters interpreting it as a proof to their theory, especially since this time Adrien did something clumsy and Marinette is laughing because of it (actually both of them). Or maybe because it's the first episode of season 4 with Marinette and Adrien interactions, they decided to be that much gracious for Adrienette fans, to compensate lack of it in the first three episodes. Oh wow, Marinette managed to propose spending more time together to Adrien without stuttering. Probably because she has done it spontaneously. Marinette is the most nervous when she's planning and thinking what could go wrong too much. This time she had no time to it, so it went more smoothly. It's like they building development of their relationship, but it didn't seem in Guiltrip (that's episode 11 chronologically) that something changed.
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Seeing screenshot above, you can easily imagine how great friends they could be, being very comfortable around each other and laughing together, if not Marinette's anxiety. We need Adrienette development so much to get more moments like this.
Oh and I just realized that it's also one of the veeeeery few episodes with no real Ladynoir at all (the only other one I remember is Style Queen). So if there was no Adrienette it would be an episode without interactions of two main characters at all (although we almost got Ladrien). It could be another reason why this episode is that nice for Adrien and Marinette ship.
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After seeing overly excited Marinette dancing in the rain, I can't believe she can manage completely give up on Adrien. It doesn't look like this at all.
Also we've seen three photos of Adrien wearing THAT scarf. It could not mean nothing different that foreshadowing that he's going to discover the truth about it somewhere this season. But I have no idea what Ladybug's mask with shining eyes could mean.
I don't know what to think about the episode. Despite absurd Guardian-related things, I still liked it much more than Gang of Secrets, but I have no idea if I generally enjoyed it more than other episodes of this season or not. At least it's an episode without stupid drama, which is amazing.
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I'm currently less active on social media, because my internet connection is very unstable, it often works very slowly to the point I'm not patient enough to visit Tumblr. Also I block spoiler tags again, because I don't want to see spoilers from the episodes those are going to be released very soon, as I feel that they reveal too much to me once more. We're currently in a marathon of the new episodes and since watching them is the more more enjoyable, the less I know about them, I decided to try avoid spoilers as much as I can. The only bad thing is that I can't be read discussions about the new episodes, reblog them and adding something from me until Optigami will be aired.
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operahousebookworm · 2 years
Text
Since I am a sucker for arbitrary measures of time, and since I am eternally looking for new ways to Get Shit Done, for the last couple of weeks I've been trying something new with my schedule.
The nature of my job means my breaks are at set times and defined as breaks, so I get two 15s and a 60. Previously I would spend those times doing... not much of anything, really. Just sitting and staring at screens. Which is necessary sometimes! But now that things have slowed down at work I think it's better to get me up and moving. And I've been doing my writing right before bed for a long time, so progress is creeping along but it's a lot harder to focus on it and think through the problems.
So, here's what I've been doing:
Morning break: Chores (dishes, mostly, some dealing with trash) Lunch: Writing (at the kitchen table, not at my desk) Afternoon break: House project (currently getting the books in our library properly shelved) Bedtime slot: Reading
Observations:
Getting up and moving is good! It stops me from feeling so sluggish, and the cleaning stuff is good for Thinky Time
Dishes are a constant struggle, so perhaps thinking of them as something that is never Done and must just be chipped away at is good? It's been at least keeping things somewhat manageable.
I can't always sustain the energy for the full 15, especially in the afternoon. But even 7-10 minutes of work is progress, although it's not really looking that way yet.
Writing hasn't really gotten much better, tbh. And if I need to do something on my lunch break (like yesterday I went to Costco so I wouldn't have to do it this weekend) I've ended up back at scrounging for something at 11pm so I can go to bed, knowing that I haven't really dealt with the fact that the structure of this whole section is Not Working
Oh yeah, weekends. Weekends we accomplished nothing except video games. Spouse was still on break from classes, so I didn't want to push too hard. But shit still needs to get done.
Also I should probably fit working out somewhere in there? I kickstarted a nifty bit of equipment that finally arrived after being delayed by over a year, but it's still sitting in its box. I don't expect to do it every day, but like a couple of times a week maybe.
Overall I think it's going well and I'm gonna keep it up, but I do need to figure out how to give a similar structure to my days off. My problem is that I want to do All The Things, but then I get overwhelmed and do None Of The Things. Having those limited blocks during the workday means I know going in I can only do Some Of The Things and am cool with that. So now I guess I need to apply that philosophy to weekends. (Talking with the Spouse earlier we think we might try to set 1 big goal for each weekend. Usually we'll give ourselves an agenda that has 3-4 things and inevitably it doesn't get done. )
Thank you for listening to me ramble, here is a picture of my cat looking like a medieval illustration by someone who has never seen a cat.
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calif0rnia-lovers · 3 years
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safe haven.
A/N: Don’t mind me, just giving J a normal high school romance--one where his family is not involved. Set in S1 of Animal Kingdom. First time writing for this guy, so let me know what you think 
Pairing: Josh Cody x Black!OC
Rating: 💙 A soft piece with the youngest Cody, and the girl he tries to keep secret from his new found family. 
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Request: Convincing J to study bc he's too caught up in the family business to worry about midterms
Words: 3.3k
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Josh tightens his grip, crushing the letter in his hand. Left inside the unaddressed envelope, the letter remains unread. There is no point in reading it. J got the gist of the letter from the conversation with the counselor. He discards the crumpled mess in a nearby trash can.
The end of the school week produces a flood of excited teenagers emptying into the parking lot.
J's mind is on the previously discarded letter.
It was a letter of truancy, addressed to his grandmother, his current guardian. It has been months since the passing of J's mother. The school's patience has spread thin. His grades have not dropped, but his attendance has.
His mind is on the letter when he fishes his keys out of his front pocket. His pace slows before he comes to a complete stop a few feet short of his truck. The truck is where he left it, but there's a new addition.
It now has a powder blue backpack on the hood. Seated beside the backpack is the prettiest girl in school.
Cori Edwards has a familiar pair of black shades concealing her dark brown eyes -- now J remembers where he left them. She has abandoned the denim jacket he caught a glimpse of her in earlier. A knowing smile spreads across her face as she watches his eyes linger on the sundress she wears. As his eyes return to hers, J can't deny the smile on his lips.
The last time he saw Cori, for longer than the brief seconds they pass in the halls, was a month ago. This year, it appeared fate wanted to test the two. They had the same classes, the same teachers, but never at the same time. A few months ago, this meant they spent all of their free time stealing kisses at lunch and in the halls. They would then make up for lost time as soon as the school bell rang.
But things have changed too much. 
J's mother didn't keep track of his movements. His grandmother and uncles, J came to learn, analyze his actions. Keeping secrets has become second nature to him since moving into the Cody House. The one secret he swore he'd never reveal was Cori. He hasn't introduced her to Smurf or his uncles. He hasn't shared much about how his life has changed, upon his moving into their house, with Cori.
After so many vague responses, Cori understood it was better not to ask questions. She didn't want to spend her limited time arguing with J. Only, in the last month their limited face time has dwindled. Fizzed out to nothing.
A few texts here. A few long spread out phone calls there.
It was after one of those texts that their last reunion had taken place.
J might have been slightly drunk -- sober enough to drive, and park his truck a block from Cori's parent’s house. He had climbed through her bedroom window. The act itself was not graceful. His tumble through the window at three am woke her dad. Her dad came in to find Cori “still sleeping,” the toppled over AP Calculus and Physics books on the floor enough incentive for him to return to bed.
Once the coast was clear, J managed to strip before climbing into bed alongside her. All she received was a quick kiss before his arm was around her. He was out before his head hit the pillow. He left Cori with no time to inquire about his reasoning behind showing up drunk. Or about the black eye and busted lip. He had to sneak out in the morning before her parents got up.
Rumor has it J’s been showing up to school, even if Cori's rarely seen him there. He shows up for three days, almost like clockwork. Technically, it is enough to stop the school from legally reporting him for truancy. Until the counselor concluded it was time J stopped playing that game--which brings us to J's current situation.
He's standing in the parking lot, keys in hand, staring at his girlfriend -- at least he thinks she's still his girlfriend. Is it weird if he leads with that question?
As he stands before her, the only thought in his mind is how much he's missed her smile.
Jingling the keys in his hand, J regards the innocent smile on Cori's lips before shaking his head.
“You got a tracker on me, I don’t know about, Edwards?”
“Nope. It’s just a Cody sighting is kind of a big deal in these halls,” Cori sighs lightly as her eyes pass over the crowded parking lot. “Word gets around pretty fast when you actually show up.”
Cori’s words don't receive a verbal response. Her eyes are covered, but J knows what look lies inside them. The look causes his eyes to avoid hers. His hand rubs against the back of his neck, a soft chuckle leaving his lips.
"Haven’t seen you around lately, Josh." She continues, the warmth of her fingers against his chin lifting J's gaze. Cori raises her sunglasses, her eyes passing over his face. "Nice to know your black eyes is gone."
"Yeah--sorry about that night." The smile on his lips is sheepish as he watches her study his face. He mentally kicks himself for the following line--he knows it's getting old. He says it anyway. "I had some family stuff-"
"That left you drunk with a black eye and busted lip?"
J takes in her raised brow, his shoulders sink.
What can he say?
I got my ass kicked after I was caught in the act of stealing some guy's car. Granted, my uncle saved my ass, but not before I got a black eye and busted lip?
No. He can't say that.
If he does, then he would have to explain why he was stealing a car in the first place. And that is a rabbit hole J isn't willing to jump down--not with her.
The passing of her fingers through his hair causes J to speak up.
"Sorry. I know you're tired of bullshit excuses." He shakes his head.
"I'm used to it," Cori sighs, her hands falling to her lap.
Before he can stop himself, J's hands are on her thighs pulling her closer. His lips are on hers.
"I'm sorry. You look nice," he smiles as his lips press a second kiss against hers.
"Hmm?"
"I’m serious," he chuckles as his hand finds her waist.
"Trust me, I know it’s true," she laughs. "I’m just trying to figure out why it’s taken you so long to say it."
"I’ve been busy," he begins. "With-"
"Family stuff," Cori nods, her hand waving to dismiss the subject. "I know, but that's not what I tracked you down for. I have so graciously blessed you with my presence because you owe me two things."
"What are they?" J's brow arches, a soft smile on his lips.
Cori drops her hand for his cheek. J's eyes remain on her as she leans back, weight resting against her palms.
"I need a ride home," she lightly pats the hood of the car. "And I need a study buddy."
J lets off a light scoff at the latter.
If there is one undisputed fact, it is Cori's academic ranking. She is top of their class. Between the two, J needs a study buddy to catch up to her perfect GPA.
"Okay. When?"
"Tonight, genius," her eyes roll as she pushes against his shoulder. "Josh, please don’t tell me you forgot we have midterms Monday."
J's eyes briefly drift shut.
"Shit--I have a family thing tonight."
"When?” Cori smiles as his eyes pass over the parking lot. The corners of J's lips turn up into a smile before his gaze returns to hers. “I’m just saying...it’s technically not nighttime yet…and being as you haven't seen me in ten thousand years...the least you can do is study with me...”
"What’s it gonna take for me to get out of this?"
Cori pauses to think.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
Shaking her head, Cori smiles as her hands find his shoulders. "There is absolutely nothing that you can give me for me to drop this."
"Damn."
"Unless,” Cori bites back her smile as her playful eyes meet his. “You want to tell me how much you missed me.”
“If that’s it,” J sighs, his lips stopping short of hers, “You might want to go ahead and find another ride home--”
“Shut up,” she giggles as his hands find her waist.
Helping her down, J steals a kiss before following Cori to the passenger side of his truck.
"I'm just giving you a ride home."
"Uh-huh." Turning to face him, she smiles as his lips press against hers.
She allows him a second kiss as J's arm wraps around her waist.
“To sweeten the deal,” she beams. “I’ll even let you take me out.”
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"What is it?"
Cori's eyes remain on the surfers visible from the parking lot. She watches the girl who manages to ride the swell longer than the rest of the group. When she glances across the truck, she discovers J watching her. 
"What do you mean?" 
A low chuckle escapes J as he watches Cori busy herself with the task of finishing her milkshake. 
"What's on your mind?"
Despite her asking him to stop and grab something to eat, Cori hasn't said much to J. Even if she had, he knew her well enough to grasp Cori was waiting to ask him something. Her brown eyes raise to meet his gaze before she lets out a breath. 
"It's kinda stupid."
"Coming from you?" His brow arches as his fingers interlace with hers. "I doubt it."
Cori's gaze remains on their interlaced fingers as she speaks.
"It's just, the winter formal is coming up. I figured we could go together."
She glimpses up once her suggestion is met with silence. J's brow is a furrowed, a hesitant smile on his lips. 
His thoughts are racing--he's praying this is the initial time she's breached the subject. That he hadn't missed any hints in his haze the past weeks.
"Seriously? You never want to go to those things."
Cori's eyes roll. J's right. In the last two years, neither of them have attended the school’s dances. 
She bites her lip before opting to take another sip of her strawberry shake. 
"You really wanna go?" A light shrug is what J gets in response. "If you want to go, I'll go."
"It's just--we're going to be done with school soon. We have to go to at least one--"
"And prom?"
"That's not up for debate. Your ass is taking me to prom, Joshua Cody." Cori laughs as J's lips press against her fingers. 
J's smile fades as a ringtone interrupts the conversation. He releases Cori's hand before retrieving his cellphone from the truck's console. 
She silently observes as he reads the name on the screen. 
Baz. 
She remembers the name--he is one of J's uncles--but that's where her knowledge ends. The furrow of J's brow sets in as he declines the call.
“So...this family thing," she notes, as his eyes meet hers. Before she can get the rest of her thought out, a text comes through recapturing J's attention. "It must be pretty important.”  
J's shrug seems outlandish when held alongside the urgency of his uncle. In the time it took to eat, J's phone has got several notifications. Each time, he pauses long enough to silence the call and proceeds as if it never came. 
“It’s just a thing with my uncles.” His mood is light as he sets the phone back down. His easiness returns as he meets her eyes. "Smurf's pretty serious about everyone being home for it." 
He can notice the slight hesitance in her eyes before she offers him a smile in return.
Leaning across the car, J presses a kiss against her cheek. His lips drift to her neck. 
"I'll get the tickets Monday," he mumbles as his lips retrace their steps. "Promise."
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J's truck is parked engine idling. His left-hand rests against the steering wheel, his eyes on her.
Cori has removed her seatbelt. Her body is turned in the seat so that she faces J. She toys with the hem of her dress instead of moving to get out.
"It was good to see you, J."
"Yeah," J agrees. Her eyes lift to meet his, the soft smile on his lips stretching into a grin. "You too."
J opens his mouth to continue the thought, but Cori has already turned away from him. He watches as she retrieves her backpack from the back seat.  
"Cori," J clears his throat. The action hinders Cori's opening of the door. Her hand hovers over the handle. "Maybe we can hang-"
"Nope.”
J blinks. His brow furrows as a silence falls over the car.
"If you want to see me again," Cori teases, her hand falling from the handle. "It will be in school."
"Why do I have a feeling you're not gonna let this go?" J's eyes roll softly as Cori leans across the car. "You’re serious?" 
"Because I'm not letting this go," she smiles sweetly, ignoring the chuckle the action pulls from J. "And, I'm 'lock my window' serious, Josh. Show up if you want, and I’ll leave you outside."
The smile on Cori's lips grows as J's gaze falls from hers. His tongue passes over his lips as she leans closer.
His eyes drift shut as her giggle fills the car before Cori presses a kiss against his cheek. She leaves a second kiss before moving away. Hopping out of the truck, Cori slips her backpack onto her shoulders.
"Think about what’s important to you, Cody," she beams before shutting the door.
J picks up his phone. The screen lights up as a new text message appears.
6 missed calls. Baz
7 missed texts. Baz
1 missed text. Craig
He opens the most recent notification from Craig.
Dude. Call Baz back so he'll stop losin his shit. You know we got that thing tonight
Cori is in the process of unlocking the door when she hears the sound of his car door slamming. Looking over her shoulder, she smiles as J crosses the driveway backpack over his shoulder.
"Two hours,” he concedes. J is powerless to the tug of her hand as Cori pulls him inside. “Then I have to go. Baz is blowing up my phone.”
"Then we better get started."
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J's fingers comb through his hair, the brown eyes trained on him forcing him back to reality.
Judging by the look on Cori's face, this is not the first time she has spoken. Heat rushes to his face as J's gaze reverts to the stack of notecards in his hands.
"Uh--yeah," he clears his throat as he shifts in the computer chair. "That's right."
He steals a second glance at her, the smile on Cori's lips not helping with his current situation.
"Of course it is," she winks. Her gaze returns to the review sheet. She stops to make a note alongside the term The Baroque.
The two are currently in the midst of an AP European History review.
J isn't much help, but Cori doesn't need it. Each of her responses is correct. That's good for J. He's spent the last thirty minutes distracted.
It's a good thing Cori claimed the bed, laying on her stomach as she pulled out her notebook. J took the computer chair opposite of her. If Cori had let him join her on the bed, no studying would have taken place.
It doesn't matter that a month has passed. J hasn't been able to keep his eyes off Cori Edwards since her arrival freshman year.
A smile creeps across his face as J's eyes meet Cori's for a second time.
"You need a break, Cody?" The grin on her lips widens as Cori rests her chin in her hand. "You seem distracted."
"Just thinking about how you don't need these." J lifts the cards in his hands before discarding them on the nearby desk. "You never have."
"Hmm..." Cori's eyes return to the review sheet. She pauses to add more to the notes written neatly in the margins. "True, but you do."
Pushing herself up, she passes over the review sheet. Written neatly in the top right-hand corner is J's name.
"I made this for you Tuesday night."
J studies the sheet for a moment, his fingers massaging his temple as he takes in Cori's study guide.
Shit--she's right. He does need it. He missed the review session on Tuesday. The thing about AP Euro is that it's not as straight forward as Trig. J can ace his Trig midterm in his sleep. AP Euro is a whole separate story.
"Thanks, Cori," he sighs. The grateful look in his eyes as he watches her cross the room earns him a warm smile. "You didn't have to-"
"Oh, trust me, I know." Taking his hand in her, Cori lowers herself down onto his lap. "But, I know you have a lot going on. Besides, making the sheet helped me review for the test."
"I love you. You know that?"
"As you should." Taking his face in her hands, Cori smiles as J meets her gaze. She closes the remaining distance between their lips. "I love you too."
As her lips drift to his neck, fingers slipping beneath the hem of his t-shirt, J pushes her dress up her thighs.
"I thought we were studying," he chuckles, his lips returning to hers.
"We're taking a break," she giggles. "You’re useless when you’re distracted."
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When he wakes, J knows he’s overstayed. He was meant to leave by four. It’s four thirty. 
The cellphone, humming on the surface of Cori’s desk, sounds through the bedroom. J doesn’t lift his head from the pillow. Instead, he watches her face scrunch in irritation as the sound gradually pulls Cori out of her sleep.
“You gotta go?” She breathes, her eyes remaining shut as she tries to fall back to sleep.
“I should,” he chuckles. His finger traces the curve of Cori's shoulder. “Your parents will probably be home soon.”
“You’re right.” A soft giggle follows as J's arm wraps around her waist, pulling her body across the bed. “You should probably go.”
Despite his words, J makes no move to leave the bed. He sinks his face into her neck. His weight presses her into the mattress as her arms wind around his neck. He stays there for almost ten minutes. His eyes closed, listening to the delicate pattern of her pulse. Neither says a word. Cori knows the time has come to let him go when J presses a soft kiss against her skin before forcing himself up.
“I have some family shit I gotta handle,” J huffs as his palms rub against his eyes. “So, um, I probably won’t be on my phone for most of the weekend.”
“Okay.”
J proceeds to redress, his body in no rush to leave, as his phone starts again.
He needs to go. Now.
J has prolonged his return to reality, and the Cody House, long enough. If he doesn’t call back shortly, Smurf might have a heart attack.
J tugs his t-shirt over his head. His eyes focus on the bedroom window. He’s shocked Smurf's car is not parked out front. It wouldn’t be the first time his grandmother has tracked him.
“I just meant--I might not be able to pick up if you call,” he crosses the room to meet Cori. The faint smile on his lips brings one to her. “You can text me.”
“Maybe,” Cori sighs as J's lips caress her cheek. “If I have time. I’ll have to check my schedule.”
She catches sight of his sparkling eyes before J’s lips are on hers. The kiss itself is soft, another step in his lingering goodbye. His lips linger against hers before pressing against hers a final time.
“Hey,” J pulls back, his fingers interlacing with hers. He gently squeezes her hand as she meets his gaze. “Thanks for today. I missed you.”
“You too.”
“I’ll text you later,” J smiles before retrieving his phone and backpack.
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Text
🕯 Anon said: I can hardly ever find someone who writes for Moblit? Could we have some more relationship headcannons? Hes one of my favorite characters yet hes so underrated! 🕯
Moblit relationship HCs
{ Moblit x reader | tw:none | fluff | modern }
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{ "Garden in the Wachau" by Hugo Charlemont 1850 - 1939 }
His weakness is puppy eyes and honey glazed words, will tremble and his logic stops whenever you play the role, guaranteed to work 99.9% of the time.
Very fun to poke at, tease and fluster, will get defensive in an instant and tries to play it off but you can clearly see him huffing. Don't worry deep down he enjoys it.
Amazingly good at sketching and art in general, even with a number 2 pencil and the cheapest sketchbook out there, he will create a masterpiece.
Really good at shading, lining and having strong stable lines. Pretty good at mechanical designs and even architectural floor plans. On top of that he can draw faces and anatomy, sketches people a lot as practice when he's bored.
Speaking of that, whenever he's working on paperwork or making a work sketch, he finds himself drawing parts of you at the corner of each page surrounded by little hearts.
He also draws you a lot in general, would just glance up at you and study your features for a good meeting before getting to work, he finds it so relaxing that he uses it as warm up when his brain won't cooperate.
Really thankful and smiley whenever you get him art supplies since he runs out of them pretty quickly, will give you the most heartwarming smile you've ever seen just because you brought him a new sketchbook on your way home.
Pretty good at eye measuring stuff, can accurately point an objects dimensions without a measuring tape. It's a really useful skill when furniture shopping.
Listen to him when he says that couch is too big for your living room, he knows what he's talking about.
Will reluctantly help you move it if you still decide to buy it, but will be all huffy about it.
Will also be grumpy the next day when he has to move it again so you can return it because it turned out it really was too big for the living room and you kept accidentally hitting your leg against it.
Despite his grumpiness and "i told you!" Attitude, he will still help you without hesitation or for you to ask.
The trick is to give him a small "thank you" kiss and that will shut him up, he'll instantly forget what he was even complaining about and just immediately be wrapped around your finger again.
No matter how long you've been together, he still gets surprised whenever you kiss or hug him. He blinks for a few seconds as he process what just happened.
It's probably because his mind still hasn't caught up to the fact he now has someone to be intimate with, having always thought he'd end up one of those guys married to work.
So whenever you remind him that, hey you're actually here and still with him, he still gets that warm and fuzzy feeling each time like cotton filled his brain and he can't think about anything beside you and how the clouds wouldn't compare to the softness in his heart when you call his name.
Since you came into his life, the colours have been a lot more vibrant and the chaos that is his constant overthinking brain finally began to calm down a lot more.
The type to give you his, scarf, jacket, gloved and even hat if you show any sign of being cold, he'll just do it without question and takes your hands in his to blow a warm breathe on them.
Also the type to take whatever you're holding and carry it for you instead, no matter how heavy or light, he'll just continue the conversation like it's nothing.
Whenever he's tired, he doesn't like to talk about it, he just buries his head in your shoulder and takes a small nap as he vents to you about his worries.
Plays multiple instruments actually, doesn't like bringing it up because he thinks it's not that impressive. 
He's genuinely a very artistic person by nature, yet chose the path of experiments and mathematics.
Sometimes he will think which will sound better, if he took your last name or if you took his. He has these thoughts a lot throughout the day but doesn't bring them up.
Quick reflexes. Can and will catch anything you dropped, catch something before it spills and knows when to save a document before the app crashes. 
Really really likes it when you come for him for help, even for mondaine stuff. It doesn't show much but inside he's beaming, he actually even expects it and will get pouty if you don't.
Has a hard time asking you or anyone for help though, you'll have to subtly initiate it first.
Gets nervous if someone watches him while he's drawing, will mess it up, especially if it's you.
Doesn't...get hints or Flirting much, for someone so smart he sure is oblivious. It isn't that he doesn't understand it but it's more he doesn't think that's the way you meant it.
Yeah, romantically he's very awkward.
Yet very easy to read once you catch on to a couple things, his body language and voice tone almost makes him an open book.
If you mention something you like or show him something you're interested in, he will save that information in his brain till an occasion arrives.
He remembers everything, every single thing.
Will get you that thing or something related to the Internet in the span of a few weeks. His logic is that if you want something surely it is his job to get it isn’t it? 
Likes to provide, a lot. 
Is pretty good at cooking, terrible at baking. 
Makes a lot of small sacrifices for you throughout his day without mentioning them.
Like getting the kind of chips you like instead of his, making your favourite food for dinner instead of his, picking candles in your favourite scent instead of his, getting things in your favourite colour, etc.
Will jump in your defence without a second thought if he saw you being uncomfortable, literally pushes himself in front you.
Doesn't wear ties because...he's terrible at them, they always end up messy, too loose or too tight.
Hange 100% teases him about it, even though they don't know how to tie one either.
If you do it for him, he will actually melt into a puddle on the floor and end up on his toes the whole day.
Will secretly intentionally untie it just so you can fix it for him.
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mulletpeters · 3 years
Text
toothache of the mind
ship: peterpatter
rating: g
word count: 1938
tags: canon compliant, pre-canon, high school, 1990s, best friends, feelings realization, pining
Reggie gets braces for his sweet sixteen.
He doesn’t tell anyone―not even his best friends in the whole wide world. So when he walks into homeroom the Tuesday after his birthday, Luke nearly topples out of his chair at the sight of the metal wrapped around Reggie’s adorable little snaggletooth. Alex may or may not be hyperventilating, but Luke wouldn’t know. He’s distracted.
Reggie, for his part, is acting like Luke’s world hasn’t just been tilted on its axis in a dangerous way. “Hey, guys,” he says nonchalantly. “Sup?”
Alex recovers much quicker than Luke, though there’s still a glint of concern in his eyes. They both know how self-conscious Reggie can be, especially about his smile, so he treads carefully. “Hey, Reginald. Do anything fun for your birthday?”
They had their own party on Friday after school―Luke gave Reggie a new studded strap for his bass because the one he’d found in Bobby’s garage had started to look pretty sad―but Reggie’s parents are the type to force family time onto him any chance they get. Luke has a sneaking suspicion they only do it so they can use Reggie against each other in whatever asinine argument comes up that day, but it’s not like he can really do anything about it. None of them can, so Reggie is unfortunately left to his own devices when it comes to compulsory dysfunctional family celebrations. “Not really,” he says in lieu of giving any actual details; he’ll tell them eventually, but a crowded classroom is not ideal for dishing out his personal drama. “Got braces.” He shrugs, like his mom hasn’t made him feel like shit about his less than perfect teeth for most of his childhood. Definitely since Luke’s known him, anyway, and they’ve been friends since they were ten.
“Oh, did you?” Alex asks, and it sounds borderline sarcastic but he holds back most of his usual bite. “Let’s see ‘em, then.” He holds an arm out in a grand gesture like he’s giving Reggie the floor, and Reggie flashes the most hesitant smile Luke’s ever seen on him.
Luke swears his heart stops, but Alex is once again carrying the conversation so he does his best to tune in. “Oh, nice,” Alex says, approving of the red brackets stuck to the front of Reggie’s teeth with a slight nod.
Reggie returns the gesture, and he looks considerably more relaxed now that he knows his friends won’t shun him for something this mundane. “Thanks,” he tells Alex before turning to face Luke, and he looks a little apprehensive, like maybe Luke should get his brain to reboot so he can offer some reassuring words instead of just staring like a total weirdo.
Luke wants to say something about how red looks good on him, or how it’s cool that it’ll match his favourite flannel, or maybe he’d settle for even just a supportive thumbs up. What actually comes out of his mouth is, “How long do you have to wear them?”
Reggie gives him a funny look, head tilted and brow furrowed. “Only like, a year,” he answers anyway, and Luke wants to scream.
Thankfully, the teacher chooses that moment to draw their attention to the front of the room, and Reggie turns around in his seat so Luke can only see the back of his head. Luke sighs in relief, sinking further into his chair till his limbs are sprawled out into the aisle, accepting his defeat. It’s gonna be a long year.
-
Luke decidedly does not address the issue after that day. The issue being that weird fluttery feeling he gets in his chest every time Reggie smiles at him, or laughs, or talks, or breathes. Basically any time he sees the glint of metal in Reggie’s mouth, really.
It’s not like this is a new development, exactly; Luke has always had a bit of a soft spot for Reggie, a little bit of weakness. In the six years they’ve known each other, he can’t recall a time that Reggie just existing didn’t make his brain static out. The braces just made him recognize what’s always been true, even if he still doesn’t know how to make sense of it.
Normally he’d talk to his best friends about whatever’s on his mind, but he can’t very well articulate a dilemma he can’t comprehend to begin with. Plus, he doubts Alex would be any help, considering he’s got his own set of issues to work through, and he’d rather die than bring it up with Reggie himself. And as for Bobby, well. Bobby’s got the emotional depth of a puddle. So, naturally, he does the only logical thing there is to do: he writes.
He figures if Reggie’s smile is stuck in his head like a song, he might as well make it one. It’s what he’s good at, and it gives him a false sense of separation from the issue that grants a certain clarity he can’t get any other way. He jots down pages and pages of lyrics, curled up in his bed late one night, fingers itching for his guitar even though he knows his mom would kill him if she caught him playing at 1am again. So he just sits cross-legged on his comforter, hunched over his ratty old notebook, scrawling cliche lines about green eyes and freckles and an endearingly crooked canine.
It’s the sappiest thing he’s ever written. When he reads over it before school the next morning, he knows he’s well and truly fucked.
-
Reggie plops down into the dip in the center of the studio couch, inadvertently leaning onto Luke’s shoulder. “You working on a new song?” he asks, tilting his chin at the notebook on Luke’s lap like the question needs clarification.
Luke nods even as he scrambles to shut the book, shuffling loose papers to stuff them between the creased cover. “Uh,” he stammers, biting his lip. “Yeah, I am.”
Reggie just nods back, averting his eyes to look up at the loft when he realizes that Luke doesn’t want him to see the song. “Rad. What's it called?” He glances at Luke, offering a comforting smile that says Luke can tell him as much or as little as he wants.
And well, that's the thing. Luke hasn't given it a name yet―the song, or the bewildering cocktail of feelings that inspired it to begin with. So he looks up from his scratchy handwriting to Reggie’s lopsided grin and says the first thing his useless brain can come up with. “Crooked Teeth.”
“Oh.” Reggie’s smile slides right off his face and Luke realizes what he's done half a second too late. Reggie bites his lip self-consciously, fidgeting with the sleeves of the flannel tied around his waist as Luke scrambles to backtrack into less sensitive territory.
“It's about Bobby,” he blurts unwittingly. And technically speaking, it is a little bit about Bobby, mostly because it's a little bit about the whole band, seeing as they’re mentioned in one line of the second chorus. But Bobby’s not the point of the song, not by a long shot. Luke decides Reggie doesn't need to know that, though. Especially not when his face lights up at the revelation, conspiratorial eyebrow raised like Luke’s letting him in on some great secret.
“Oh, snap! Well, I won't tell him, but don't let him find those lyrics.” Reggie winks, and it's not like it’s an unfamiliar sight, but Luke’s heart stutters out of time all the same. He's just glad Reggie isn’t the type to ask to see a song before Luke’s ready to share it; Luke doubts he'll ever be ready to share this particular piece, but if he does show it to Reggie, it'll be his choice.
He laughs halfheartedly, more a forceful exhale than anything else, and lands a playful punch to Reggie’s bicep. “Sure, man.”
Reggie just smiles wider. It feels like a kick straight to Luke’s solar plexus.
-
“You told him it’s about Bobby?” Alex asks, but what Luke hears is, you’re an idiot. Luke looks down at his best friend―he used to consider Reggie his best friend too, but he thinks maybe Reggie is in a category all his own at this point―and frowns. “He got his braces off before we even met him.” Alex stands up, walking around his drum kit to pace the floor. “And you told Reggie it’s called Crooked Teeth before you said that? Dude, you know how insecure he is about―”
“Yeah, Al, I know,” Luke huffs, cutting him off. It’s not the title Luke would've consciously chosen, but it's weirdly fitting, in a sort of convoluted way. Like, maybe Reggie’s teeth weren’t the sole catalyst for this whole...whatever this is, but they definitely played a major part. Luke’s really gonna miss Reggie’s snaggletooth, okay? He resents Reggie’s parents for a lot of reasons, but forcing him to get braces instead of a real birthday present is pretty damn high on the list.
Alex, with all his anxiety-induced powers of perception, notices Luke’s internal struggle and momentarily stops wearing a hole in the floor. “You’re kinda wiggin’ out, man. Chill.” He holds his hands out in what’s meant to be a placating gesture, but the drumsticks in his fists sort of ruin the effect.
“You’re one to talk,” Luke mumbles, but he doesn’t mean it, and Alex knows that. He’s just confused, and stressed, and generally unsure what to do with his recent epiphany. “What should I do?” he asks louder, eyes pleading.
Alex goes back to nervously lapping the room, and Luke picks at a loose string on his guitar strap just to have something to do. “I dunno,” Alex says after what could very well be an eternity. “But I think you’d feel better if you told him.”
Luke’s eyes shoot up to meet Alex’s gaze, brow furrowing involuntarily. “You what?”
Alex walks over, planting his feet in front of Luke, clapping a hand on Luke’s shoulder that isn’t holding his guitar strap up. “You’re clearly upset about this, Lucas. Tell him.”
Luke is shaking his head before Alex has even finished his sentence. “Not happening.” He folds his arms like a petulant child, but it loses its effectiveness when his guitar gets in the way, a sad thump echoing through the room. “I wouldn’t know what to say, anyway.”
Alex cocks an eyebrow with a pointed look at the notebook sitting on top of Luke’s amp. “I think you already said it.”
Luke follows his line of sight, eyes landing on the folded corner of a piece of paper sticking out from all the others. He already knows what’s written on it―has the words memorized by now. They were written on his heart long before he put them to the page, anyway.
Bobby bursts into the studio then, Reggie in tow, and the moment is broken. They’re laughing about something Bobby said, and Reggie is as beautiful as ever as he throws his head back, and Luke thinks that maybe one day he’ll get the courage to tell him how he feels. He’ll ask Alex to work with him on the music to go with his lyrics, maybe even get Bobby to help with the melody. He’ll throw rocks at Reggie’s window and serenade him from his front lawn like they do in the movies, and his friends will back him up, and it’ll be perfect.
For now, he needs to focus on perfecting the songs they already have. They’ve got a show at the Orpheum next summer to prepare for.
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dingobabywrites · 3 years
Text
 so, in light of recent events, people have been discussing when they think Dean and Cas realized that they were in love with each other. While I 100% believe dean realized in purgatory, I dont think Castiel realized until Dean broke Naomi's connection.
BUT!!!!
I also think that is around the same time Sam realized it too. Obviously Charlie already knew ( " what about Castiel, he seems helpful and..Dreamy" she's a lesbian. That comment wasn't for Her!") I think Charlie was the one to point it out to sam and I think the two of them agreed to keep it to themselves since neither of those two would have been able to handle that information. So, I wrote a little thing about how I think it went down.
I also wanted to give myself an explanation for those wierd looks and mystery note from the end of the episode...so yeah...here's that.
Sam hobbled down the hall to the guest room, his hand still throbbing from knocking Dean unconcious . It was…worrisome, to say the least, that he was having this much trouble with healing from such a minor injury, not to mention the other things that were happening to his body; the fatigue, coughing up blood. Troubling, but, as much as he hated to admit it, worth it. Dean had been pissing him off more than usual lately anyway. It wasn't just the trials. Sure, he was frustrated with Dean for thinking he wasn't strong enough to handle them (he had fought against Lucifer in his own mind for christ's sake) but it was everything else too. His loyalty to Benny still didn't sit right with him. He had been so quick to kill Amy, just because she was a monster. He didn't care that she was just feeding her kid. She was just a monster to him. But for some reason, Benny got a pass. Sure, the guy saved both their asses, he was grateful for that, but even Bobby knew it was wrong.
And then there was Cas.
 
Sam wanted nothing more, than to tell Dean that he should have learned his lesson the first time with the Angel. It wasn't like he didn't like Castiel. Of course he did. He was appreciative of everything the guy had done for them. Dean was right that he had saved their asses more than once. It was just….at the end of the day, whether they liked him or not, Castiel had betrayed them. He understood that perfectly. What he couldn't understand, was why dean was so suprised by him doing it again. Hell, Dean had been the one to bring up that fact that the guy wasn't acting right since he got back and yet, there he was, praying to him, putting his trust in him again. It was maddening, to say the least. He had tried to talk to his brother about it, but Dean immediately shut down.
So, yeah, his hand was still hurting, but it was damn worth it.
He turned the corner to find Charlie stuffing her things into her duffle. He knocked on the door frame with his uninjured hand. "Hey, there."
"Sam." She half smiled, when she turned around, her eyes still a little bleary from crying. "Hi, I'm just…just packing up to head out and…" she sniffled and plopped down on the bed, covering her face as she began crying anew.
Sam walked into the room and pulled up the desk chair, sitting down in front of her. "Dean told me what happened, while you two were under." He said. "I am so sorry about your mom, Charlie." He placed his hand on her shoulder as she began crying harder. "I know how hard it is to let go like that…"
"Dean was right," she sniffed. "I needed to stop holding on."
Sam let out a bitter scoff and pulled his hand back, squeezing both hands between his legs. "Yeah, Dean's always right, isn't he? Too bad he can't follow his own advice."
Charlie looked up, her eyes sad and confused. "Holding on to my mom was the reason I was stuck there. If he hadn't made me let go, I would have died.we both would have."
Sam shook his head at himself, trying his damndest to let go of his own bitterness to be there for his friend. "Ya, I know. I'm sorry…just…I know you're hurting right now, I just want you to know I'm here for you."
Charlie sniffed again, wiping her arm across her face to dry it before leaning back and staring at Sam. "I don't get it." She said, as firmly as possible.
Sam, leaned back and shrugged. "Me neither, really. I always thought all djinn fed off happiness. It's like every time we figure stuff out, something new comes along to throw us off our game."
"Not that." Charlie said, waving his statement off. Sam looked at her, confused, not sure what she was referring to. She took a breath and pulled a book out of her duffle throwing it on Sam's lap. 'Mystery Spot' By Carver Edlund. "You say these books happened in real life. That everything written in them actually went down…but the past two times I've been around you guys…you certainly dont act like you do in the books."
Sam skimmed the first page of the book and chuckled, tossing it back on the bed next to Charlie. "Yeah, well, things have just been different, I guess."
"So, you used to love and support each other, no matter what and now you just, what? Stopped?" She asked.
"It's…" Sam scoffed and shook his head. "things are just, more complicated now…"
"You maybe, wanna elaborate there buddy?" She asked. "I may be a genius, but a mind reader, I am not."
Sam let out a breath and scrubbed a hand through his hair. He figured it might feel better to at least get something off his chest. "To be honest Charlie, I dont think Dean is cut out for the job anymore."
"Why not?"
"His judgment, for one thing." Sam answered. "I don't know, just ever since he got back from purgatory… he's been…it's like he can't think straight anymore. He used to be no nonsense when it came to killing monsters and only trusting people he knew he could trust and now… I mean, I get it. Purgatory was rough on him, but the guy has literally been to Hell and back. I don't see why this time is any different."
"What do you mean?" Charlie asked softly.
"I mean like, being friends with a freaking vamp." Sam answered, coldly. "Yeah, Benny wasn't like the others, and I get the whole 'brother's in arms' aspect, but it still doesn't make sense." He waved his hand, gesturing back at the book before letting it drop. "That Dean? That Dean would have never put his trust in a monster. That Dean wouldn't let people back into his life that had screwed him over, and now…I don't know, now it's like he just doesn't care about letting people in that who could hurt him, or…people who already have."
"So, it's not just about the vampire." Charlie said. "Who else has Dean been trusting that you don't think he should?"
Sam gritted his teeth and shook his head. "Cas really messed him up Charlie. I mean, the guy already turned his back on us once and Dean just let him back into our lives like nothing even happened."
"Ah." Charlie said, with complete understanding. "Okay, I get it now."
"Get what?" Sam asked.
"I get why Dean has been acting wierd, duh." She said, like it was obvious. Sam sat, staring at her, trying to peice together what puzzle she seemed to have completed. "Oh, my God. Do you really not see it?" Charlie laughed.
"Um, no?" Sam said, skeptically.
"Wow," she scoffed. "And here I thought you were the observant one." Sam waited for her to explain herself, still utterly lost on what she was talking about. "It's Castiel." She said, speaking to him as if he were a child.
"What about him?" Sam asked, hoping like hell that she wasn't talking about the angel brainwashing his brother or something.
"I've read the books, Sam." She said. "I know all about Dean's special Angel friend."
"No." Sam shook his head. "No, chuck stopped writing after Dean went to hell. There's no way you could have a read anything about Cas."
Charlie scrunched her face and bobbed her head back and forth. "Mmmm, not exactly." She reached into her bag and pulled put her laptop, turning it on. "Remember how I said the books were online now?" Sam nodded waiting for her to continue. "Okay, dont get mad," she said as she typed "but, he may have kept writing a little bit longer than you thought…."
"He what?!" Sam said, furious. They had told that dick to knock it off after that stupid convention."How long?"
"Relax." She said, scrolling through some page on her screen. "He stopped after you sacrifice yourself to Hell, actually. It was beautifully written by the way, super emotional, but no one has seen or heard from him since."
'Good!' Sam thought to himself. He felt a little bad for that thought, since Kevin was now the prophet it meant that the reason no one had heard from Chuck was likely because he was dead, but at least no one else could know more about their lives than they already did. "Okay, but what does any of this have to do with Dean? Why would Cas be the reason he's acting wierd?"
Charlie sighed, cringing to her self a little. "Well, as you already know, where there's a fandom, there's most likely fanfiction…"
"I'm aware." Sam said, peeved by the memory of stumbling upon the fanfiction written about him and Dean.
"Look, I'm not saying anything is definite, but alot of people who write fanfiction are really good at reading between the lines." She clicked her mouse a few times before closing her laptop and setting it back in her bag. "I mean, I've read all the books myself, and I totally know that you guys are real people and not some fictional characters, and it's completely not okay to speculate on your lives and feelings or whatever...but I mean, it's kinda hard not to see where they're all coming from."
"What are you talking about, Charlie?"
"Dean said that Benny helped him fight through purgatory, right?" She said. "He met him pretty early on in his time there, no?"
"Yeah," Sam said, still completely bemused, "I guess…Dean hasn't really talked a lot about what happened while he was there. He told me some things, but he never really went into detail."
Charlie nodded and shrugged sheepishly before continuing. "Okay, so he met Benny early on, and Benny told him he had a way to get back, right off the bat. So, why did it take them so long to get out of there?"
"Dean said he spent alot of his time searching for Cas." Sam answered.
"Exactly!" She exclaimed, like that should have been the answer.
"I'm sorry Charlie, I still don't understand what you're getting at here."
"Sam, he could've come back at any point after meeting Benny. They only spent as much time as they did together, because Dean wanted to bring Castiel back with him. Even after everything he did. Don't you think that's a little…suspicious?"
"That's exactly what I've been saying!" Sam said. "Why would he do that?!"
"Yeah, Sam, why?" She said, still trying to lead him. "Why would someone run back into a fire, when they have a way out? I mean, I think you, of all people, would know the answer to that."
Sam gaped at her in shock. It took a minute for him to register what she was implying, but once he did… "Charlie, that's…"
"Just a thought!" She defended before he finished. "I'm just saying that Dean doesn't normally put his trust in people. Except, maybe…the people he REALLY cares about and the people that protect them. Maybe there's more to the story when it comes to his trust in Benny than you thought. I definitely feel like there's more when it comes to Castiel."
"Charlie, come on." Sam laughed a little. " You know Dean. He's…"
"More complicated than people give him credit for." Charlie cut him off. "He also knows how hard it is to let go of the people he loves. He's actually really bad at it. Maybe, worse than you know."
"Charlie," Sam started, before being cut off once more.
"He's definitely more concerned about you than you think." Charlie said firmly, standing up as she did. She began packing once more, keeping her eyes averted from Sam's. "He's not trying to control you, you know. He raised you, Sam. You mean alot to him. You ever think for a moment that he's just really scared for you? Scared of losing you? I mean, back to my point, he is really bad at losing people."
Sam sat in silence, petulantly mulling over Charlie's words. She was right, probably. Dean may have been scared, but it was still possible that he just couldn't hack the life anymore. Sam wasn't some child. And the other stuff she was saying…she was way off base. There was a big difference between reading about someone's and living it.
"I sent you the link to the website I used to read the books." Charlie said as she zipped up her bags. She slung her backpack over her shoulder crossing her arms as she stared him down. "I know you lived through it all and everything, but not every part was about you. There's a few things you may have missed."
"Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen." Sam shook his head.
"Just a suggestion." She shrugged. "It might open your eyes to a few things you don't understand. I get not wanting to relive those times but…if you ever decide that's something you might wanna do, hit me up. I can tell you what chapters to skip, or whatever. And, if your really curious about Dean's relationship to Castiel, 'On the Head of a Pin' is a good place to start. The torture chapters are pretty rough, and I know you'll want to skip over your parts…but the other stuff.…" she shrugged.
"Okay." He said, at a loss for more words than that.
"You ready to roll?" Dean said, from the doorway, knocking on the door frame before entering the room.
"Looks, like it." Charlie smiled up at him as he entered.
"I didn't interrupt anything did I?" Dean asked looking between her and Sam with concern written all over his face. "You guys look a little spooked."
"Ew, gross, no." Charlie said, scrunching her face at Dean's implications. "Sam, was just helping me with my bags. Right Sam?"
"Uh, yeah…" Sam said, standing up and grabbing her duffle off the bed.
"Eh, come on, you know I'm just teasin ya!" Dean chuckled, jabbing her on the shoulder playfully. "He may have the hair, but the body parts are all wrong, right?"
"Definitely." Charlie agreed.
"Come on." Dean said, tilting his head toward the door. He waited for Charlie to leave the room, then cast a skeptical glance at Sam before following after. Sam was sure he was in for an earful after she left. He began dreading it as he said his goodbyes, anticipating the lecture as he told Charlie she was welcome to comeback at anytime. But it wasn't the only thing on his mind now. After bidding Charlie farewell, he went inside, giving the two of them their time alone. He hesitated for a moment, convinced that the trials were seriously messing with his head if he was even considering this. Then again…
He headed to the library, grabbing a peice of paper and a pen on his way and sat down. 'This is just stupid.' He thought to himself as he wrote down the words 'On the Head of a Pin'. He heard the bunker door open. Dean walked up, the look on his face telling Sam that it was time for his ass- chewing, so he decided to cut it off before it could start.
He clicked the pen closed and stood up, ready to defend his actions. "Okay, look you were right. I-I should laid low. I-I know." He said as Dean approached him."I should have hung back. I'm glad I was able.."
Then Dean grabbed him. Then Dean pulled him into a hug. It wasn't at all what he was expecting. He was lost, but relieved and hugged his brother back.
Dean chuckled and patted his back before pulling away. "What do you say we find our prophet?." Dean smiled, before smaking him in the chest and walking away.
Sam was left to himself, completely bewildered by what had just occurred. Dean had certainly not been acting like himself, but this was a whole new level. Maybe there was some truth to Charlie's words? Maybe he really was just scared? Maybe Sam really didn't know everything about his brother. Now, wasn't the time to think about that, though. Dean was right, the had to look for Kevin. They had work to do. Research.
But Dean had to sleep at some point. Maybe Sam could do a little light reading in that time.
If Charlie was right about Dean being scared for him, who knew what else she was right about?
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blackasmidnightcats · 4 years
Text
Book 1 Nostalgia
WARNING: This post will have spoilers to the SGE series
The first book in any series will always hold a special place in anyone's heart I think. There is just something beautiful, whether the writing was phenomenal or lacking, about the introduction to a new world and the characters that you're going to know. After reading further into the series, sometimes you just wanna go back to the start, where everything was a lot simpler.
SGE kinda falls into this feeling for me.
I don't think I'm ever going to get over the interactions between the characters (and we haven't even explored most of them) because, personally, Soman is incredibly good with how he does character intercations but the story and plot have a lot to improve on.
And now comparing TSY with TCY it's very glaring.
Soman really has a problem with his plot so much so than with his storyline. It's very repetitive and the storyline suffers from it.
After Book 1, every plot seemed to be the same case; Sophie is an important piece to the main villain, Agatha tries to fix everything, Tedros is getting more crap than needed, annoyingly unhealthy romantic relationships are explored, and the other characters do things.
The last of these examples are really the only things that varies. Everything else is almost always the same in one way or another.
The first book doesn't really follow that pattern. It's a introductory book and I wish Soman did the same vibe as it in QfG.
Though Book 1 wasn't perfect. My biggest main problem with it was how Soman handled Agatha's development from thinking herself a freak and realizing that she was just a beautiful as anyone else (and Tagatha, of course. They had a very unconvincing start) compared to the detailed and precise handling of Sophie's decent and eventual acceptance her wickedness.
I said it once and I'll say it again: I miss vengeful, spited Sophie. Who made the School for Good suffer because Tedros didn't keep his promise and her very impressive Talent to summon Evil creatures at will to do her bidding.
This was the Sophie that I expected more from in the later books but might never get again. With the way that the OTK cover portrays her as the Lion, whether that would be a thing or not, it's clear that Soman wants the readers to look at Sophie in a better light and not as the anti-hero that she is but I could be wrong.
In Book 1, Sophie was incredibly selfish to the point that she wouldn't do anything for others even those that she should care about (i.e. Tedros in the Trial) and in the end, she had to pay for the selfishness by seeing just how Evil she could become and be seen as the witch that she was. Her development from Pink Princess to Witch of Woods Beyond was believable; her ambitiousness combined with her selfishness was what made her gain everything through manipulation and wickedness but it couldn't be hidden for long. Once everyone, including herself, saw what lied underneath her exterior, she lost everything and because of the things that she chooses to do, she naturally hurt and attacked the people that wronged her just as Evil does.
It was caused by a failed romantic pursuit, yes, but unlike the other later romantic relations that she had, the one in Book 1 focused more on the outcome for her character development than in the relationship itself. Honestly her relationships with Rafal, and Rhian, and maybe now Japeth, idk, make absolutely no sense with the importance that the story puts on it because these relationships didn't help further Sophie's character development. It stunted her really.
Now compare this to Agatha.
I think everyone and their cats agree that we all miss witchy Agatha in book 1 and I hope we write more of her in our fanfics like that since Soman won't do it. The thing is, with Agatha, unlike Sophie, whether she is written as a straight-up hero or as a sort of anti-villain with her portrayal as the Snake in the OTK cover, it won't be that far fetched. I don't know if Soman intended this or not but it's pretty frickin impressive with how he managed to make Agatha a pretty versatile character.
Book 1 did not to good with how she went from Graveyard Girl to Fairy Tale Princess. At most, we saw her heroic characteristics but Soman didn't put much effort with making it believable and we were left to our own imaginations with how she could have believably developed and grown into herself. It should have taken more than one chapter to make us believe that Agatha suddenly grew confident with herself and her own brand of beauty and how her relationship with Tedros should have started.
But because of the fact that she's now comfortable as both being a little different and unique in her own way but is still guided by the values of Good and holds it dear to her soul as well as her loyalty to those she loves, she can do great with the best of both worlds.
Agatha hasn't stopped growing since book 1 and I think that reason for that is because Soman knows that he has to square up whenever he writes her. Whether she's developing on her own or with others, she's always learning new values and finding ways to express them in the way that she's comfortable with.
Soman does express that he loves writing in Sophie's POV the most, but it can be a double edged sword if not careful. And I think Soman hasn't been careful.
Now back to the glory of Book 1.
Book one had the most simplest plot and most fluent storyline than in any other book. Even TLEA.
I think I could recall a lot more events in Book 1 than in the more recent ones because there was a lot more events and chapters that were actually necessary to the plot.
So, to go by statistics;
TLEA has the most recorded chapters in the series as of current before the release of OTK with 35 chapters and 3 parts to divide it.
It's followed by Book 1 with 30 chapters.
Then QfG is next with 28 chapters divided into 2 parts.
And aCoT follows with 27 chapters and 2 parts as well.
Last is AWWP with 24 chapters divided into 2 parts as well.
If going by this then OTK should either have a chapter or two more or less than TLEA but not less so than Book 1 because it's going to now be the official last book of the the series.
But that is besides the point. My main problem with the books' storytelling after Book 1 is how disoriented it has become.
Let me make an example with QfG and aCoT. These books are more or less very similar with each other in the number of chapters with only one being the difference while the start of the the "Part 2" portion was a bit different with QfG's starting at chapter 21 while aCoT's started with chapter 17.
But the reception and the fluency of these two books could not be more different from each other.
To say that QfG completely destroyed the fandom is an understatement. I can't tell of aCoT managed to regain the series's former glory for long enough to not let OTK flop but let's be hopeful.
Anyways, the fluency of the storytelling with TCY was wack and QfG and aCoT completely show that.
WARNING: Spoilers about QfG and aCoT will be discussed in this section.
I could not remember almost 70% of QfG because of how much I hated the plot and looking back at the chapters, I honestly could not believe that the asshat Rhian was only introduced on Chapter 21. Everything after Chaddick's POV chapter seemed to be a blur and Rhian's b*tch ass seemed to have corrupted the whole experience.
8 chapters. He was only in QfG for 8 chapters and yet it feels almost like he's been in it for more than half. Frick. He is traumatizing.
Basically, the middle part of the book, namely chapters 7 to 20, was all about the main cast trying to frickin understand wtf was happening. Agatha and Sophie were trying to figure out the Lion and the Snake thing while Tedros was back in Camelot doing (or failing or being sabotaged with) politics and also trying to understand why tf was Excalibur having a tantrum.
Then Rhian entered and I don't know why or how Nottingham and Robin Hood got involved but he did.
And then more figuring out stuff and sabotaging Tedros and then Rhian and Excalibur and then cliffhanger.
It was all very abrupt and confusing. More confusion was added all because there were more questions asked than actual answers and a sense of depression was felt in the end because nothing was really achieved.
Imma compare this with Book 1 later but first Book 5 comparison.
Now aCoT. It was just the storyline that we needed to get back to the hype that the series had. Was it a satisfying read? Yes but was it able to heal the pain that QfG inflicted? No.
The fandom did not come back the same again.
But anyways, aCoT, personally, had a lot more scenes and events that I remembered than in any other book besides book 1 but that there was the problem with this book.
Too many things happened with this book. So much so that the fluency of the story was sacrificed to tell it.
Look at it this way, several shifts in the book happened.
This all happened in Part 1 only;
Rhian became King and his regime was sort of explained.
Agatha was introduced to the First Years and got her Army.
Sophie was in some sort of GOT-esque knock off experience as Rhian's Captive Queen.
Agatha manages to save some of her friends.
The concept of OTK was explained.
Tedros's execution was on way.
Nevermind, Agatha and her army just straight-up hijacked it.
Prof. Dovey died as a sacrifice.
Okay, now to Part 2;
Reaper is a Gnome King.
The Crystal of Time was finally explained.
They finally find out about Rhian and Japeth's origins.
The Gnomes were ambushed and I feel sorry for them.
Sophie tipped Rhian off with the location because she believed that she would end it all.
We kinda get background with why Rhian wants to be OTK????
Rhian DIES?!?!?! and now Japeth's King ☠
They sort of manage to know about wtf happened with the Lady and Japeth
Tedros and Arthur have a heart to heart and he gets the Ring of Power.
Cliffhanger
It's a lot to take in and I don't really think that Soman should have cramped it all in one book.
Some of the plot points should have been in QfG so that it wouldn't be as depressing.
The whole of Part one was a book in itself and Part 2 was one as well.
At some points of the book, I sometimes got the feeling that it was gonna be the end but it just kept going and going and now I don't really know what's left with OTK. It can be both a good thing or a horrible thing.
Let's see wtf happens. I expect more action than drama Soman.
So again with Book 1.
Book 1 was a classic and the ideas easily hooked anyone interested.
It had the same unaswered questions with QfG but why did it suceed when QfG didn't.
First, is that Book 1 had its atmosphere clear from the start of the book. It was clear that the main thing that needed to happen was that Sophie and Agatha needed to realize the actual nature of their souls. There were more technical questions that needed to be answered but the main point that needed to be addressed was addressed by the end of the book.
And also the ending was also a cliffhanger but it a much lighter note.
Sophie and Agatha realized their capabilities and understood themselves but they still chose each other in the end and that sort of gave way to a much hopeful future for the two of them. (At that time, at least)
All the while, QfG was one depressing ball of events that led to one horrible moment to the other.
It was just sad.
And so I kinda go back to Book 1 from time to time to refresh myself with why I started this series to begin with and I'm always reminded with the possibilities and the explorations about good and evil and the complex duality of differences and parallels that so many things that Sophie and Agatha sort of beautifully personify.
I love reading the very first chapter of Book 1 because it so beautifully captured Sophie and Agatha and their complex relationship that I've always wanted to read in other books.
I always loved reading Sophie's amusing thought process and the reason why she does everything that she does; she does it because she believes that she deserves more and she'll everything to get it.
I also loved how Agatha was such a character that I've always wanted to read about. She's spunky and shy and lonely and reflective and despite everyone shunning her, she could still see the good and find it in herself to help them. She was simply wonderful.
I'm thankful that I found this series and I hope that a lot more books can talk about the philosophies and concepts that this book has managed to introduce. And despite all of its set-backs and nonsense, I would still recommend this as a read but to that they should also think about what they've read and maybe talk about what they've found interesting with it.
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lizzybeth1986 · 6 years
Text
Quick Thoughts on Book 3, Chapter 14
• Apologies for the delay, guys. Still recovering.
• It's time for our Ball! YAY.
• ...and for Hana's parents. Not so yay.
• Every LI in the group has at least one not-very-ideal parent. For Liam and Maxwell it's their dads (though Bartalemy seems to be the best of the four) and for Drake and Hana it's their mums.
• Title: Welcome, One and All!
• Alternate Titles should include This Chapter Is Brought To You By Jeffery.
• For those who don't remember the TRR pre-release interviews, Jeffery is the dude who loves hats:
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I'm pretty sure this chapter is his baby.
• So technically Xinghai and Lorelai have not kept in touch with Hana since her fight with Xinghai in Shanghai (that rhymes). There is a hint that she might have tried to reach out to them before the tour if you were getting engaged to her (she asks Ana de Luca to send the copies of her shoot to an address, which I presume was her home in Shanghai).
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You bet I slammed that last option.
• There's also not a lot of difference in this scene between the Hana playthrough and the non-Hana one, and there should have been. The dynamics of this discussion will - should - be different if you're Hana's fiancée. They have Lorelai and Hana's dialogues change if you're marrying her at the end, but technically that's unavoidable. There should have been an obvious difference in dialogue here as well.
• Bertrand has returned. Again.
• AND HE'S LATE. Apparently because his son needs to be coached on proper cutlery placement through the babysitter.
• We have a brief tete-a-tete about Savannah and Bartie before moving on to our OOTD:
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Tbh I think I'm okay with both. I had my reservations about the neck but I also like capes so I will take it. The traditional dove one makes you look like Red Riding Hood.
If you choose the phoenix gown, you also get to don a humongous hat, and you get the option to take it off anytime.
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Esther loves hats. She's a happy happy camper xD She may not have said those 'fancy hat's comments to Regina in Book 1 but you bet she was thinking them! So Esther - and I as Esther's creator - feel validated and vindicated and all other sorts of v words 😄
• Also yes, Esther, I'm pretty sure that hat ate every other hat in Cordonia before making its way to your head.
• It's now time for our Ball, and our LIs are waiting for us to make our entrance. Liam calls you 'a heroine of myth and song', Maxwell tells you you're 'on fire', Drake asks him if you're trying to give him a heart attack, and Hana settles for a very simple 'you look gorgeous'.
• Okay yadda yadda announcements, yadda yadda speech, yadda yadda complimentes from guests esp if you chose the phoenix decor, yadda accolades all around.
• Basically the main conversations taking place at the Ball are with Madeleine, Kiara, Regina, Mara and Olivia.
- Madeleine: Mainly to close the main loop of Madeleine's role as press secretary. The previous conversation with Liam/Drake at the Lythikos Ball is implied when you choose to call her a snake, even though she sees that as a compliment.
- Kiara: You get to either call her brave, or to ask her about her well-being. Thankfully, she is able to at least sleep at night now. They're definitely wrapping up Kiara's story here. Which is okay, I'm pretty certain it wasn't meant to be manifested in the first place and I suppose I'm expected to be grateful she got some attention. But I won't be, because she deserved this - and perhaps better. I couldn't care less for her brother and would rather not see him again but at least they had the decency to wrap up her storyline first this time rather than ignore it in favour of him completely.
- One of my favourite sequences is the one with Regina. She's clearly affected by Constantine's death and still hasn't recovered enough to get used to the idea of attending a Ball without his presence yet. But you also see her struggling with the stoicism she's been brought up on, and chastising herself because she can't. You have the choice of either asking her what Constantine would have told her if he were alive (like hell I'll choose that option!) or telling her she should allow herself to grieve. I thought her parting words in this conversation were beautiful.
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- Mara: From Mara we learn that the Nevrakis family had connections with the Sons of Earth, and that in fact Anton is the son of the leader of that group. I've seen some interesting theories around this, one of which is (I believe this one is @alicars theory) that he is Francesco's son. Which...would make that first meeting in Italy quite interesting, as well as the reveal that Francesco was friends with Liam's mother. Will Liam's mother's background be brought up in future chapters??
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- Olivia: So this is what all our efforts to win Olivia over culminates into! I have such Diavolos vibes with this scene (not the betrayal bit, but the winning their trust bit. Olivia I think sticks by Liam's side whether she likes you or not), because if you look at the TCaTF ally chart in Book 3, Diavolos' name is the last on the list of people to join you, even though he has spent time with you as an ally and been part of the rescue mission to save Mind Control!Dom. In a lot of ways, while Olivia has a huge connection to Liam and becomes your ally on that score, it requires effort and some ice-breaking to get her to fully support you.
• Say hello to my new pets y'all!
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As of now Esther has a horse named Celestia, a corgi names Joy, a visiting hawk named Tiberius, a black panther named Cava and two red pandas she has named Hansel and Gretel.
• I wonder if you have the ensuing group scene if you don't choose to accept the red pandas (I'd see for myself but the red pandas have really adorable sad faces).
• The group scene is alright, it's a lot like the one in Shanghai with the pandas. Liam is adorable and holds them like a pro, Maxwell is super super SUPER excited, Hana is shocked by their lack of manners (Hana they're animals!) in comparison to pandas and Drake is a mean meanie. You have Zeke on the side giving us factual animal info.
• We're now back at the estate, and Hana's folks have arrived.
• TO TAKE HANA BACK???
• Hana puts up a good fight against her mum (let's be honest, Xinghai hardly seems to have a say in this. He looks sad about this and barely gets in a sentence. This show is all Lorelai's), and refuses to come with them, at which point Lorelai insists on taking her belongings away since they belong to the Lee family, and she isn't a Lee anymore.
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• You know what I want Hana to say?
"FINE KEEP THE CRUMMY LUGGAGE MOM LETS SEE IF YOU CAN MAKE ANOTHER WHOLEASS CHILD OUT OF THAT"
• Please tell me she gets to kick Lorelai's ass this chapter. Please.
• So the Ball and festival will continue this chapter, and I'm guessing that any drama might happen later on in the Capitol if we go by the trajectory of the previous books. The places most closely connected to the MC - Ramsford, New York, Valtoria - are usually where you forget briefly the tension in the books, before being plunged into complete and total chaos.
• I still think there's a LOT we have left to find out. A LOT.
• There is a possibility that Hana will get a diamond scene post her confrontation with her parents. And as far as I can see it, this is the culmination of her entire journey, her entire struggle. This is the last shot the writers have at doing justice to her character, and giving her a good scene. If Hana doesn't get an extremely fulfilling, nuanced scene - one that has a marked difference between her as a fiancee and her as a friend - then I doubt she will get another one. They will have lost their chance to be fair to this character.
• And if they fail to do justice to this character...I'm afraid that will be the end for me. I may be chapter reviews and essays, I may still write stuff inspired by this book...but whatever love I still have for TRR will be lost for good.
• Because you know what you're telling me, a brown woman with an upbringing not entirely unlike Hana's? Who loves this character and has to now try to relate to her because her own writers didn't give me enough material? You're telling me that you don't think stories like Hana's - stories like mine - are worth attention, worth nuance, worth telling properly, worth telling with heart. You're telling me women like Hana are alright as tokens, but not important enough as characters. You're telling me you want the accolades that go with using women of colour in your stories, but don't want to put in the work. In fact...you're already telling me that. You've been telling me that for the last two books.
• I'm sincerely hoping this will change with the chapter I will play now, and that I and other Hana stans don't walk away from this chapter disappointed. I really, really do. It won't completely make up for the lack of care they have given this character...but it will be SOMETHING.
• With that, I'm going to go into this week's chapter, folks. Seeya!
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