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reachexceedinggrasp · 4 years

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Fated to Love You here reaffirming my long held conviction that no pure romance drama should be 20+ episodes.

This show is... really something. It is, in the fullest possible sense, A Lot. It starts out as an all-out screwball comedy wrapped around a troperiffic romance fluff plot. Wall to wall clichés, but not in a bad way; in a meta, self-aware, peak performance, finest Velveeta way. And if you’re not familiar with screwball comedy, think ‘light-hearted crack fic with slapstick and farce’. There is nothing believable or grounded about any aspect of it, it starts at Bonkers Level: Platinum and it only climbs higher as it goes on.

(On a side note, this results in the leading man being possibly the most memorable love interest in romcom history. His introduction scene is nothing short of batshit insane and you can't reliably predict how he will respond to anything. I have never seen a main character like this, he is all over the shop and utterly singular. Your first reaction to him is ‘wtf?’, your second and third reactions are ‘really?! this guy??’, your fourth reaction is ‘okay he do be mad hot tho’, your fifth and final reaction is ‘I cannot believe this performance exists, I have no idea what he is doing, but it is amazing.’

Appropriately(?) the actor who plays him is an uncanny Korean doppelgänger of Johnny Depp and- between the resemblance, the mannerisms, and the fearless total commitment to a bold as fuck acting choice with the very serious chops to back it up- I’m not convinced they aren’t half brothers separated at birth.

They do sabotage my happiness several times by starting to randomly style his (long, beautiful) hair very weird, fixing it right when the plot is rapidly circling the drain so he looks his hottest just as the show becomes briefly unwatchable, and then ruining him for the entire second half of the series by shearing it all off. WHY, my anguished cry goes up. Why do you do this?! Why does he have like seven hairstyles over the course of the show? Much later they even briefly give him that ubiquitous Kdrama Second Lead haircut with weirdly forward combed fringe in a solid straight line across the brow all the way back from the crown. It looks terrible on everyone and I hate it so much. This version was less bad than most but it is still bad. Anyway.)

So it’s an incredibly fun time to start but there are some problems with the tone and plot even in the first 9 episodes, including when the lovers start getting along really well right away and they’re both thoroughly decent people so there’s nothing keeping them from having a lovely time together making the best of the circumstances (forced/fake marriage). And, instead of introducing new conflict or advancing one of the dozen conflicts previously established and actually moving forward, there is a painfully contrived rehash of something they already dealt with which is then just never resolved. They make the hero leap to a conclusion his wife is nefarious after he’d already decided once that she isn’t (though it was completely reasonable for him to think she was- the fact that he decided to trust her so quickly just speaks to what kind of person he is), never try to find out more or talk to anyone about it, start pushing her away because of it, and have all this come to absolutely nothing. It only exists so he’ll stop being so incredibly nice to her and they won’t fall in love too fast.

You’d think they would have to eventually clear the air before the romance advances right? No. It wasn’t a real plot point, it was just a reset button to get them estranged and hostile again after they connect over their kindred spirits and we’ve spent a bunch of time showing how profoundly supportive and honourable our hero is. He’s being beautifully mature and selfless because he’s a really good dude (unusual for a romcom drama, right? for the main guy to be nice and considerate? to accept responsibility even if he doesn’t have to? Gun’s weird but he’s wonderful), but the writers need him to be cold and standoffish, so they just make him act like an unreasonable idiot for a while. He’s been thus far hugely proactive and direct and honest about everything, it’s one of his most prominent character traits, but suddenly he’s going to avoid confrontation in favour of being super passive aggressive?? Then the writers never solve it. Never! It just goes away. He got over it, I guess? He decided he doesn’t care if she’s a gold digger who deliberately trapped him? God forbid we have motivations that make sense and organic character drama, right? It's not like he didn't have totally valid reasons to be suspicious that could have led to legitimate conflict our heroine would struggle to vindicate herself from.

But anyway, apart from that kind of lazy bullshit, it’s a fine romance plot with extremely endearing characters who have great chemistry. They are fun and well-rounded and incredibly human despite all the silliness and OTT antics. Their relationship is hugely, hugely engaging and the dynamic is perfect, they really complement each other as characters and organically drive each other's arcs. There's the genuine depth and warmth and quiet pathos so often lacking from this kind of show. Things progress at a semi-reasonable pace. They work up to confessing their mutual feelings and get into some cute shenanigans before making out. It happens soon enough that you are not frustrated, but there's still plenty of build-up. Then- uh oh! We’re only 9 eps in and we have another 11 hours to fill with this fluffy plot!

Time for a bunch of absolute fucking nonsense. Time for our show, which has been so goofy and removed from reality it occasionally resembles a Monty Python skit, which has been so light it asks you to ignore the frankly incredibly fucked up implications of its premise for the sake of comedy (they were both drugged and proxy raped resulting in a pregnancy- the FL was a virgin prior to this and Gun had a girlfriend he wanted to propose to- and it was the FL’s family who did this to them: SUPER FUCKED UP), so farcical that it makes Some Like it Hot look like a gritty crime drama, that show to cover a bunch of serious heavy shit.

First, the rankest of melodrama. The families and the world all turn on our couple, but their love is true and will conquer all- UNTIL, he randomly collapses and gets convenient Soap Opera Amnesia. He’s forgotten their entire relationship and a series of coincidental pieces of misconstrued evidence, the machinations of his scheming ex girlfriend, the Soap Opera Doctor’s advice, and his closest confidants all going along with this conspire to make him believe (AGAIN) that his wife just wants his money.

This whole terrible episode is mercifully brief, but it just gets worse after his memory returns. This is where we get into the Noble Idiocy. The ‘pretend you don’t love them to “save them” from getting hurt by hurting them and making their important life decisions for them as if they don’t have a basic fucking right to decide that themselves’ kind. Which goes on for three FUCK years in the show. He wastes three years of their lives they could have spent together because he’s worried he might die young (in a terrible way) and doesn’t want to put her through that. And, of course, they inevitably get together later, so all he did was make it infinitely worse for her either way. To say nothing of how he thus couldn’t be there for her through the loss of their child. Possibly my most hated fucking trope of all time when done this way.

And, yep, you read that right. This show that has the single most batshit bonkers over the top slapstick I have ever seen in a kdrama, this show has a storyline where the fluffy romcom trope accidental pregnancy ends in massive trauma. Because she was standing around in the street after realising he does remember her (he continued to pretend he had amnesia after his memories came back, it’s all part of the stupid noble idiocy so I glossed over it) and gets hit by a car in the middle of their angst staring.

It is nearly Meet Joe Black levels of hilariously abrupt and incongruous.

so, blah blah, they lose their baby (there’s a very stupid whole thing about her telling everyone to save the baby instead of her- the baby is not far enough along for this to have been remotely viable. She is like 3 months pregnant. They all act like there’s a choice to be made between them and she’s mad at her husband for choosing to save her, but there was NO CHOICE. Either she lives or they both die! ffs I’m so irritated about this) and then he dumps her ~for her own good~~ because he loves her too much to make her go through losing him? So she loses him sooner?? right after their baby died???

Why do people in these stories always think being betrayed and abandoned for no reason and being incredibly angry at someone you love while also not getting to be with them is somehow less painful than making the best of your life together and then losing them against their will? ‘I will make her hate me and then she won’t be sad we broke up/I died!!!!’ is such a fucking galaxy brain take and I despise it with the heat of ten thousand suns. Fuck you, Spider-Man. You aren’t protecting anyone, the villains still know you love MJ and will still use her against you, you clod. Emotionally torturing the person you love is not going to make them not a target because the villains are not as fucking stupid as you two. Anyway.

Amnesia was right where I started fast-forwarding and skipping around (because I couldn’t bear it), but it only goes downhill from there. Maybe I would have toughed out more of the wretched middle part plot twist if they hadn’t cut all the hot guy’s hair off. If I’m going to watch total nonsense tedious melodrama, I need it to at least be pretty. I understand it was a Symbolic Haircut but damnit! Let me have this!

And it ultimately does the thing that kdramas seem obsessed with and which makes me want to claw out my own eyeballs with frustration. There’s a giant time skip, the female lead gets a personality transplant, all narrative momentum is lost, and the characters who eventually (at ENORMOUS length) get together permanently are essentially completely different characters with a completely different dynamic than the couple you were shipping for 90% of the story. It is so FUCKING unsatisfying and it is EVERYWHERE.

Not so much with this one because this one still had a lot of very romantic scenes late in the game, but most that do this, it’s also like all the romance is sucked out of the post-time skip episodes and the ending is a consolation prize instead of a triumphant culmination. Inevitably, the heroine abruptly cools off and is suddenly wary of the hero and wants this Important New Career she never mentioned until the penultimate episode but is now her one true life’s dream. What the apparently irresistible appeal is of these contrived separations and demure conclusions is I CANNOT FATHOM. I’m here for the fucking romance guys, you have not made Citizen Kane, please just indulge me with a big schmoopy finale.

And if not that, it’s frequently that there’s been so many random mood swings and so much shitty behaviour by the end that the relationship doesn’t make sense and you don’t know why they even bother to get back together.

I’m not inherently against all misunderstandings (they are the bread and butter of low stakes romance let’s be real) or attempts at noble idiocy from misguided characters, but the duration and seriousness of the drama these generate needs to be in proportion to how ridiculous they are. If your entire plot can be solved by a thirty second conversation there is NO REASON not to have and the continuation of the misunderstanding is a result of someone just NOT SPEAKING UP when any functional human being would have spoken up seven times by now IT’S BAD.

Do little cliff-hangers, whatever, but don’t draaaaagg out silly misconceptions into Shakespearean tragedy, it’s just wearying. It makes me hate the characters for acting like emotionally constipated toddlers with terminal stupidity. If there is so little trust, so little understanding, and so little basic patience between these people, they probably shouldn’t be dating, so try fucking harder, writers. And noble idiocy that is more than an impulse they fairly quickly see the error of is just insulting. You are not helping the other person, you are being domineering and selfish. I have a whole complex about wasting time and seeing endless parades of characters flushing years down the toilet for literally no reason gives me hives. Especially when the whole issue is about time!

(And, btw, so much of the plot is about how desperately the family needs an heir and everyone still wanting them to have kids the second time they get together- while the ~dilemma used to keep them apart is a GENETIC DISEASE which could STRIKE AT ANY TIME. Do you SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS WRITERS????? NO, I KNOW YOU DON’T. ommmmmmmmggggg that’s awful! So they’re just dooming more kids to Soap Opera Brain Disease? And maybe growing up without a father just as Gun did? And no one even considers suggesting adoption??? He never considers that he shouldn’t have biological children despite thinking he shouldn’t have a wife?)

ANYWAY. Please do watch the first nine episodes and the last three, it’s bananas. They are cute as fuck, Gun is The Best, and the tropey romance scenes are top quality. You don't get those things executed so well, it doesn't happen, so you need this in your life. The acting is of a calibre you never usually see in modern romcoms; these are people at the top of their game committing utterly and taking these characters completely seriously. In that way it is pure wish fulfilment for me as someone who loves romance and is almost always disappointed by popular romance media, and thus the show is incalculably special. But skip the middle. Just skip it. It's not worth the suffering. I find the tone whiplash honestly just this side of crass.

I’ve been thinking about it for over a week and I truly love the main characters so it did plenty right, but I just cannot with wedding the two things this show is trying to be together, especially when it goes so hard in two mutually exclusive directions. but also the Meet Joe Black sudden car accident device is not redeemable under any circumstances. Can we never do that again, please.

#fated to love you #kdrama #jang hyuk #writing

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timeless-season-four · 5 years

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Recap of 3x12/13: HeLa and São Paulo

It’s been a week since the season ended, and we’re having a bit of withdrawal. If you feel like revisiting the finale in entertaining fashion, @only-freakin-sunflowers has one last Season 3 recap for us.

Let’s jump right in, so much happened! Be prepared for some stream of consciousness commentary beause really, whose brain imploded here?

On “The Bad Place” Bunker (Yes, Rufus, this is the bad place.)

So we open up where we left off, staring at Future!Lucy and wondering how we reunited.

Aww, she hasn’t seen Rufus in five years so she just stares at him and then hugs him… I’m not crying

Future Jiyaaaaaaa, she’s alive! In some capacity, at least. Cute haircut, girlfriend.

“GARCIA FLYNN SAVED MY LIFE” I KNEW THIS WAS COMING IN SOME CAPACITY, THAT WE WOULD KNOW WHO SAVED HER IN THE ACCIDENT (BE IT FLYNN OR WYATT)

I have a Headache but it’s all so cool.

“This is the reality where we fought as hard as we could, but our friends all died, and Rittenhouse won.”

“You have things– people -- I no longer do. Hold onto them, Lucy. Hold on and don’t let go.” I miss Amy Preston on this day.

Basically, Future!Them paint the most cautionary of tales.

This Garcy scene is, uh, hurting. (All of them do.)

I have Feelings about Future Jiya and Rufus goddamnit.

This was the part of the episode I paused to read up on Henrietta Lacks, she is so cool!

A Moment On One Of Our Local Rittenbitches, Mrs. Logan:

Also the part of the episode where Jessica Logan made her first mistake, my friends. “Of course I trust you”. Yeah. No. Don’t do that, hon.

Jess, I’m kind of impressed that you’re trying to upend Emma. I’ll be even more impressed if it works.

Oh, oh, Temple’s trying to put her down for it. Yeah I don’t f*cking think so bud! AND SHE’S AGREEING TO IT, JESSICA HONEY YOU DESERVE BETTER (I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SAY THAT)

And a mood throughout the ages: “Emma what did you just do?!”

JANE LOGAN JANE LOGAN JANE LOGAN:

YOUR DAD MISSES YOU I’M YELLING. “HI DAD” I KNEW IT. (I called it back when we first met Jane that she was Wyjess’s spawn. Tiera Skovbye makes for a perfect mix of them, too.)

Ugh she is SO Wyatt’s kid too. Ma heart.

Jane’s a magician and Emma’s a bitch but what else is new

Back on our “Friend” Emma for a second, and our real friends Lucy and Flynn:

“The last thing anyone needs in any situation is to hear what Wyatt Logan thinks. Sorry.” I’m cackling cause she isn’t wrong but it’s her delivery that kills me.

Oooooo Luuuuucy. I didn’t like it in canon when Emma died, but if she goes down here, by Lucy, I will laugh.

If it’s any consolation, I’m upset over what they did to you too, Lucy.

Text I sent to my best friend, updating her on the situation here: “Flynn and Emma are kicking the shit out of each other”

Sooooo either Flynn just went down like a sack of potatoes or Emma did. Uuuuh.

Well Emma’s fucking alive so -- you funky little fuck.

On Love and Sappy Shit:

IF RUFUS GONNA ASK JIYA WHAT I THINK RUFUS IS GONNA ASK JIYA I WILL CRY

“I LOVE YOU” GARCIA FLYNN, WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?

So Anyways Onto Part 2, Right?

Mr. Flynn:

Gahh flashback to Flynn’s family no thank youuuu, LALALALA I hate this

“Emma’s going to kill you” “She is welcome to try”

Jiya thinks Flynn………… :(

The Bad Bitch and The Bad Place:

Oh the bitch is going to São Paulo? Lol jk she’s going to the alt bunker *groans*

LOL FUTURE!LUCY IS STILL PISSED

Side note: Emma’s only alive cause she’s too stubborn to die at this point

WTF THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR WHERE DID SHE EVEN GET A GRENADE – WHERE DID SHE EVEN GET A GRENADE? AND FUTURE!LUCY JUST LANDED KAPOOTS IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA LIKE THAT, EXCUSE ME?

Pre-São Paulo:

The fact that Lucy has a headache is…. concerning

“Jiya’s dressed for action ready to go with them” ... yeah I’m picturing a duck in a hardhat, knee pads, and rubber boots holding a butter knife

Nobody’s coming, babe. I’m so sorry.

Interruption, cause I see dead people:

Yeah and you were an idiot, Jess. What else is new.

“Rittenhouse made me a killer” AND SHE SHOT HIM YES BABE. SOUND THE ALARM, MIKE TEMPLE IS FINALLY DEAD.

FLYNN IS DEAD TOO? F*CK.

Back To São Paulo:

No, no Flynn, it isn’t supposed to happen this way!

BECAUSE I LOVE YOU

May I take a minute to (re)discuss my weakness for the phrase “home”

Oyeeee we have an intruder in our nice moment.

“Our Nice Moment,” or the cinematic masterpiece that was this next scene:

*coughs* Emma that was gayyyyyyyyyyy

LOL IS SHE SERIOUSLY PULLING AN ARGUMENT FOR MERCY KILLING?

OKAY THAT. THAT WAS POETIC CINEMA. BYE EMMA. (And Flynn didn’t even know who she was he just did it to save his new friend! that’s wild! he has some good judgement!) (ding dong the wicked witch is dead!)

Did they just fkn get themselves stuck GUYS

RIYA! RIYA! RIYA!

Jiya, that… that hurts me. Right here in the heart.

“WILL YOU MARRY ME” I’M SITTING HERE TRYING NOT TO HOWL, God I f*cking love them.

Some Closing Loose Ends:

Ohhhhhhh f me where did they land -- okay it’s not that bad AND they unkilled Flynn. We like that.

Are they gonna take in this little orphaned gay boy PLEASE

Hi, I support Jessica Logan and her current decisions. Hilary you’ve converted me.

THE FINAL SCENES:

Jiya asking Flynn if he’d walk her down the aisle cause she doesn’t have her dad and he doesn’t have his daughter I’M FINE, not crying, why would you ask that?

But, but where’s Flynn going?

I understand. And I understand Lucy too.

Rufus I love you so much you fucking dork GO SEE YOUR MOM AND GIVE HER THAT BIBLE AND INTRODUCE HER TO YOUR FIANCE

If that mysterious new woman is Iris, imma shit myself. But I’m calling it now. It’s Iris. (That casting, again, that is a Flynn in our midst.)

AMY?? AMY??? AMY????

WHAT WAS THAT HELLO? EVERYTHING WAS GOING SO WELL.

So, uh, needless to say, had a super fun time with this and it was a really great way to end the season! A big, big thank you to Hilary and the entire team at @timeless-season-three, you guys pulled off the unimaginable with this season. Your time, effort, dedication, and creativity does not go unnoticed within this fandom and especially not by me. I hope to be reunited here as clockblockers for a season four, so we can go on more adventures, learn more new things, and experience more of our favourite idiots together! ♡

#timeless #timeless s3 #3x12 #3x13 #episode recap

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manifestoonmoralmanlove · 5 years

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Gormless Ch. 2 - Nudie Groovin’ straight into a plot crater.

A well-meaning friend gave me a book series that is hilariously bad. The first book was Souless and my riffs were entitled brainless. This second book is entitled Changless and these riff are then gormless.

I mean to say I have entitled them gormless! Not that my riffs are dumb, and the effort I spend on them stupid since I’m the only one who enjoys them. HAHA!

The story is SUPPOSED TO be about how a badass lady wearing a rad-looking carriage dress hits baddies with her umbrella and bangs her hot werewolf husband. In reality it’s mostly poor attempts at being witty, flirty, and superior.

For the last book check out the brainless tag.

If you want the TL;DR version but want to read these new riffs anyway?

This story is set in supernatural Victorian steampunk England. Alexia is our NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS protag. She is a soulless, which means she’s able to negate the abilities of vampires and werewolves by touching them. She’s recently married a big oaf, named Lord Connel Maccon. He’s the manchild in charge of the supernatural police with a zillion dollars and he’s totes super hot too ok. Their relationship is mostly arguments about how Maccon can’t tell her fucking anything. Alexia has also recently become head of ~Soulless affairs~ in Queen Victoria’s government. She has a dumb friend named Ivy, a gay vampire friend named Akeldama, a family who’s evil because they do the same shit as her but while being blonde, and most importantly Alexia is better than everyone cause...cause.

Last time on Gormless:

Alexia’s husband gotta do a thing in London. Her lawn is full of hot werewolves and the hottest one tried to both beat the shit out of her and fuck her. She’s not into being beat up, but she still wants to fuck him. That’s healthy. She’s gotta get to London too but her token dumb friend, Ivy, shows up and wants to talk about how she’s engaged to someone she doesn’t love.

Chapter 2 - Nudie Groovin’ straight into a plot crater.

Maccon is running his little wolf butt over to London where the problem is. As he’s running he thinks, “My wife has said I’m handsome in my wolf form but never in my human form.”

Damnit Alexia you’ve implied you think dogs are hotter than people twice already and we’re only at chapter two and like...I’m all for horny female leads, but Alexia is directing her horniness in every direction and some of them are incorrect.

Meanwhile Ivy is fussing over the servant who got punched, Tunstell. Ivy and Tunstell were the two that Lyall and Alexia tried to shack up at Alexia’s wedding. So, as predicted, Ivy is marrying somebody not Tunstell cause DRAMA! However in the span of 2 pages they make…I shit you not…7 separate references to how badly the two are pining for each other. Mind you some of the references are multiple sentences long and this type face is fucking enormous.

They’re not even cute, clever, or even amusingly overplayed. After this many references in such a short time frame I’d count that as haha FUCKING ANNOYING! Alexia, like a good friend, tells Ivy that Tunstell is a servant of the pack so he can become a werewolf someday, and that if he gets to that point he’ll probably die during the transformation. If he doesn’t get to that point, Tunstell as an actor is paid in dirt and dysentery. So it’s better that she’s marrying any other dude. That was some ice cold shit that I was honestly not expecting at all out of her. Alexia personally tried to get the two of them together at the end of the last book, and her recent ~romance~ bloomed against all odds. The only reason she’s dumping this shit on Ivy is to make sure this drama lasts more than a chapter…or maybe she doesn’t think Tunstell and Ivy have a healthy relationship cause they don’t spend all of their interactions screaming or fucking or scream-fucking each other.

But eventually Alexia remembers she’s late for a meeting so she hops in her carriage to get there. Ivy goes with her and it’s stated that Ivy relates to Alexia her wedding plans for 2 hours straight. And oh lord, I have been in similar situations. A part of me feels for Alexia, but another part of me is like...not long ago I read what felt like 20 pages of wedding dress, food, and decor descriptions. So she gets what she deserves.

We eventually get to the meeting and thus meet the head werewolf and vampire who she just refers to as their titles. The head werewolf is called a Dewan and is a big hairy grump who high-key hates her. The head vampire is called a Potentate and is a slimy suck-up who low-key hates her.

Let’s set the timer for when they both begrudgingly come to respect her!

We tediously re-explain the humanization phenomenon and introduce the ~glassicals~ again. Great that was so important and hilarious from the last novel. The Potentate also implies there’s a supernatural race stronger than the ones we already know. DUN DUN DUN! Also that an Alpha werewolf from Maccon’s old pack has mysteriously died. DUN DUN DUN! Eventually both the Potentate and the Dewan accuse Alexia of causing this humanization problem in London but eventually they all decide it is some ~science~ thing. They also bring up all the soldiers are coming back at the same time but the literal head of the military, the Dewan, when asked about this is like, “I honestly don’t know? I think it’s cut-backs I guess?” I’m glad we have an ominous plot point to build mystery and tension, but I really wish you didn’t slip it between two slices of real shit writing.

So they put Alexia in charge of investigating this phenomenon. So what does Alexia do? She goes home, reads some books in her library, gives up, and goes to bed.

She does not send people out to interview those who have ties to anti-supernatural movements, investigate abandoned buildings, quiz any scientists working in the science of the supernatural, check to see if any supernatural people where murdered since it’s been going on, see if it started in certain parts of London before others, or question powerful supernatural people in the London area to find some potential suspects. She could also try to figure out if anything else was happening around the same time for clues, like I DON’T KNOW how all these military folks are coming back at the same time?

Nah bro, just read old ass books you’ve already read for clues to a brand new phenomenon.

In the first book it made sense that she just wandered around and asked her buds for help cause she was a nobody just curious about shit. She’s now one of the most powerful women in the most powerful nation and now she’s doing less than the 1st book? Yep she is a keen investigator! Glad you put her in charge Queeny!

So Maccon comes back, says the humanization thing has suddenly and mysteriously stopped. We almost get more information but they do the thing they’re best at. By that I mean, they sorta put in a token effort to argue with each other over petty bullshit but they’re too horny to care enough and bang. But we get fade to black don’t ya know. K book, that’s why I have an adult novel!

Say something nice faps:

At least there’s plot. Plot that is starting mysterious in order to build some tension.

Lots of exposition in this chapter that’s not total garbage.

I can approve of Ivy having a crush on Tunstell, the dramatic twink. I would feast for years upon dramatic twinks before I’d even glance at 1 perfumed Neanderthal.

They make a gay joke at Maccon’s expense while he’s naked. And a part of me thrills to see an egotistical homophobe humiliated.

Gotta agree with the higher ups, Alexia does suck, but it’s best not to feed her hungry-as-hell persecution complex.

When Maccon and Alexia bang it implies that Maccon goes down on her. And like…cunnilingus is awesome okay, I’ll celebrate consensual cunnilingus almost anywhere.

#gormless #changeless #riffing

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startrekacademy2161 · 6 years

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Meeting McCoy In A Bar

Leonard McCoy x Reader

Summary: While attending Starfleet Academy, you visit a local dive in hope of escaping the failure of the day. A certain Dr. McCoy had the same idea. You bond over the mutual horrors of MedTrack officers and you discover he is your new clinical partner.

It was Murphy’s law; anything that could go wrong went wrong. It started when you spilled your coffee on your uniform and had to go back to change; only to find that you had neglected laundry day and that was your last clean one. “What else could possibly go wrong?” You knew that as soon as you thought it, the universe was going to take that as a challenge, and boy did she.

Your best friend Samantha had been MedTrack with you and your clinical partner; unfortunately for you, she had gotten married and now was pregnant and unable to continue at this time. You were devastated and forced to pick up her slack. That meant you were working doubles until they assigned you a new partner. You hoped that would be sooner rather than later. You were happy things were falling into place for her though.

The event that ended your day was by far the worst. You typically didn’t use needles anymore because they were dangerous to the physician, but a patient in the psych ward went ballistic and you were called in to help sedate him. That was all fine and dandy until he snatched the dirty needle from you and stabbed you with it. No one knew if he was clean or not, so you were rushed down for tests and started on antibiotics just to be sure.

That’s how you found yourself with the rest of the week off and at the bar. Drinking alone, on a Tuesday. If you hadn’t known any better, you would have thought that you just suffered the Monday to end all Mondays.

Around 7pm, another cadet walked in looking as miserable as you felt. He was tall and had neat dark hair and the most amazing Hazel eyes you had ever seen. It didn’t take you long to notice that he was a Medical Cadet and had the same uniform as you. You must have been staring because he looked over at you with a look that screamed leave me alone.

You tipped your drink to him and sighed “You have got to be med track too, huh?” Only medical students ended up drinking during the week. Most were already doctors so it was all quite redundant and frustrating.

He nodded and sighed as well, moving over to sit next to you. If anyone could understand, it would be another cadet at the bar on Tuesday. He apologized for the look he had given you, but you assured him that you more than understood and that you had felt the same way.

"What brings you to the bar this evening?” He was a southerner for sure, probably Georgia if your ears served you right. If you had thought he was good looking before, you were screwed now. Though, that could have been the copious amounts of alcohol that you had already consumed talking.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t want to bore you with my problems. It is a long list and there isn’t enough alcohol on that shelf for the two of us.” He smiled. Damnit he actually smiled at you. He reached out his hand and introduced himself as Dr. Leonard McCOy. The name sounded very familiar, but you assumed that it was from class.

“Hello, Dr. McCoy. I am Dr. (Y/f/n) (Y/l/n).” You shook hands and then you both broke out laughing. Mostly because you had severely slurred that entire sentence and it was hilarious. You were too drunk to be embarrassed about it too, so it was all good in the neighborhood.

He asked again what brought you again and you gave him every painful detail of your day. The scalding hot coffee that left red marks on you for hours. The dirty uniforms, most with some form of bodily fluids on them. Your best friend abandoning you until further notice. Wrapping it up with the psych patient who didn’t like you sedating him. You added being given dirty looks by another cadet at the bar just to lighten the mood.

He just shook his head. “Darlin’ my day doesn’t seem so bad now. I just found out that my clinical times got moved to earlier in the day because I am being paired up with someone who just lost their partner.”

“That's where I heard your name before. It was on the short list to replace Samantha!”

You sobered up in a hurry. You would get to spend every morning with Dr. McCoy for the rest of the year.

#leonard mccoy x reader #leonard mccoy #star trek #starfleet academy

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mnetruinedmylife · 7 years

Text

Marks

Characters: All of SNSD

Pairings: Taeyeon/Tiffany/Jessica/Yuri Sunny/Sooyoung/Hyoyeon Seohyun/Yoona

Notes: Soulmate AU

Tiffany’s had the marks for as long as she could remember. Yes, marks, as in plural.

During school, she hides the ones on her left wrist under cuffs, bangles and bracelets—unlike her fellow classmates who gush, and compare handwritings, hoping to find their match.

It was strange enough having two. She had to have three.

The first one is in blocky Korean, a sentence circling around her wrist that her mom translates to ‘Five more minutes mom.’

That soulmate will apparently be sleeping when she runs into them, but they sound friendly enough. Much better than the other mark that she was born with anyway, beneath the sentence wrapped around her wrist is two words written in a thin cursive script.

‘Oh God.’

That’s it, and Tiffany wonders what on Earth she did for those to be the first words her soulmate utters to her. At least it’s in English.

The third one appears when she was four months old, meaning this person is younger than her, still they are close in age—the other two could be thirty years older for all she knew.

The mark lies on her right hip, again in Korean, but according to her mom, a much neater scrawl which translates to, ‘You look like you can use some help.’

Tiffany spends most of her youth imagining scenarios that could lead to the third one. Sometimes she thinks she should feel bad about neglecting the other two, but well…what reasonable situation could she come up with for ‘Oh God’ and ‘Five more minutes mom’?

_______________________________________________________)

‘No, but I have Pokémon.’

Sooyoung doesn’t know what to think of her soulmate, except that they had excellent tastes in games. That alone, she thinks, is good enough for her.

It’s the writing scrawled over her shoulders that she has no idea what to make of, ‘That was quick.’ could mean any number of things.

________________________________________________________________)

Here’s what Kwon Yuri knows about her future. She’s the youngest out of all her soulmates; she was born with all her marks. When she learns how to read, she knows that she would speak first. She would speak first to all three of her older soulmates. Apparently they weren’t very outgoing types.

She also knows that she would follow in her aunt’s footsteps and dance instead of going into professional swimming like her dad wants her to. There is only so many situations that her mark (the one that spirals up her ankles), ‘Thanks, this week’s choreography hates me.’ can apply to.

Another thing she knows is that one of her soulmates is kinda bossy. That was putting it rather lightly. ‘That’s nice. Now take off your shoes.’ can’t be interpreted in a lot of ways. She wonders if she’ll meet them both in the same place, shoes and dancing could go hand in hand.

The third one is a little stranger. It sits right underneath her collarbone and says, ‘I’m still growing!’

Yuri was of course, prepared to withhold judgement until she actually meets her soulmates. But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t always curious about what kind of people they’d be.

______________________________________________)

Yoona’s always had a fascination with the words that are written just underneath her diaphragm in impeccably neat handwriting. The kind that her teachers would always point to when saying ‘why can’t you write like that!?’

It’s got five simple words, ‘Yes I would like that.’ and she’s intrigued because they’re written so formally. Yoona doesn’t know a single person that has ever spoken to her with honorifics like that before and it’s kinda saddening, because it probably means that she wouldn’t meet this person until she’s older and speaking politely like the rest of the stuffy adults.

______________________________________________________________________)

Taeyeon isn’t born with any marks. Then one shows up when she’s a month old, another one turns up four months later, and if her parents weren’t already having a panic attack, the third one shows up exactly four months after that.

She’s not sure whether to thank whatever deity is up there that no more appear because she’s already having issues covering them up—or curse whatever deity is up there because of course she had to have three.

When she first learns how to read, the first one she deciphers is written vertically down her forearm. ‘Oh, so you do talk!’ She hates her soulmate already.

The one down her thigh (and the reason why she could never wear shorts) reads, ‘Brilliant, we get the midget.’ She takes back what she thought about the other one, she hates this person even more.

The third one is written in English, and it’s sprawled across her back. By the time she’s gained proficient skill in the language to even try to decipher it, she’s already beyond annoyed as hell at this person, because the bloody thing is over a paragraph long and it had to be a rant.

Despite her best efforts, she hasn’t managed to make out much other than, ‘Hi I’m ********* nice to meet you. ******************************************* ************************************************************************ ******************************************************************’

Taeyeon was not very impressed by any of these people. Especially the motor-mouth that used her entire back as a notepad.

-__________________________________________________________________)

‘Wow, your body has great moves. I mean you move great…I like watching you dance. I mean you dance really well. I…Damnit.’

Hyoyeon thinks her soulmate is an idiot.

But at least she can thank that one for telling her about one of her favourite hobbies. The other one is completely useless, and even more idiotic than the first.

‘I’m hungry!’

Seriously, what is she supposed to do with that?

___________________________________________________________________)

Sooyoung is eleven when she joins SM Entertainment as a trainee, and as stupidly cliché as it sounds, her first day will forever be imprinted in her memories.

She remembers the cheap floorboards that were only painted to look like wood, and the sturdy metal door that opens into the dance hall. The mirrors are lined up on the sides, while cloud-patterned curtains cover the bare plasticine wall on the far end. But all of that is secondary.

The first thing that catches her eye is the dancing brunette in the corner of the room. Her limbs are flailing all over the place and she doesn’t look like she has a care in the world. Before Sooyoung can even register what she’s doing, her feet are already moving.

A million things are running through her brain, thinking up of ‘cool’ phrases to say, but the word-diarrhoea that comes out of her mouth is:

“Wow, your body has great moves,” she feels like slapping herself in the face, “I mean you move great…” Urgh, someone kill me, “I like watching you dance. I mean you dance really well. I…damnit,” well there goes any chances of ever speaking to this girl ever again.

To her complete surprise, the black-haired trainee next to the dancing girl just pouts and moans, “No fair! It’s been like four months!”

Before Sooyoung could even begin to ask what that was about, the dancer speaks up, “That was quick.”

Sooyoung’s world freezes, and instinctively she pulls on the collar of her shirt and looks over at her shoulder. Yep. Those are the words.

The dancer looks her up and down and says, “So you’re the stupid one.”

“Hey, I am not stupid!” Sooyoung protests indignantly, “…most of the time,” she relents before a huge grin spreads on her face, after all she had just met her soulmark. “Hi I’m Choi Sooyoung.”

“Kim Hyoyeon, nice to finally meet you.”

“Finally? You waited four months,” the other girl says, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Ignore Jessica,” Hyoyeon says before lowering her voice to a whisper, “She’s just upset because she has three, and she’s been here longer than me, and none of them are here yet.”

“I can hear you,” Jessica points out petulantly.

“So, what’s your favourite food?” Sooyoung asks immediately. It’s her go-to question when meeting someone new, and it usually gets weird looks as a response.

Hyoyeon however, just cracks up laughing. When Sooyoung asks why, she wordlessly pulls back the sleeve of her shirt for Sooyoung to see. Sooyoung just grins, she can tell that they’re all going to get along famously.

_______________________________________________)

Jessica’s never had a lot of friends growing up, due to being a painfully shy child. Always hesitant to talk to others, always hiding behind her parents when they’re bringing guests over or trying to introduce her to friends.

But for some reason, Hyoyeon and Sooyoung stick to her like glue and the three of them are rarely ever seen apart. Despite the fact that the two of them are each other’s soulmarks, they never make her feel like a third wheel. After seeing one of her marks, the one on the back of her hand that refers to her as ‘sunbaenim’, Hyoyeon declares that they have to start behaving like ‘eonnies’ and break the new trainees in, whatever the hell that means. Jessica just plays along.

Which is how she finds herself standing outside the training hall, Hyoyeon on her left, and Sooyoung on her right. All three of them had their hands on their hips and are trying their hardest not to crack up laughing while glaring down at the obviously terrified newbie.

“Hey punk, haven’t you around before,” Sooyoung says, and it’s hilariously evident that she is trying not to laugh, but the trainee doesn’t even notice.

“Um…” the poor girl says, and for some reason she decides to focus on Jessica, probably because she is standing right in front of the girl, “Hello sunbaenim, I’m new.”

Jessica hears Hyoyeon inhale sharply, she knows that both her friends recognise the phrase on her hand, but she could barely think. Instead of saying anything remotely welcoming, she blurts out the rest of their scripted ‘hazing’.

“That’s nice. Now take off your shoes.”

So they watch as Jessica’s potential soulmark takes off her sandals and walk into the room pitifully.

“…That was yours right?” Sooyoung checks uncertainly.

Jessica just blinks, “I…think so…”

“Great! One down, two to go,” Hyoyeon cheers.

Jessica smiles and couldn’t resist adding, “Gotta catch ‘em all.”

____________________________________________________)

Yoona’s never really paid much attention to the shy girl that hangs out with Hwanhee. She was nice enough, but quiet and easy to overlook, especially by Yoona who bounces around to every friendship group with a huge smile and an adorkable laugh.

Three or four of the class normally takes the subway together after training. But this week Hwanhee’s got to stay back for extra lessons, and Jungmo went to buy a new guitar, so that just left Yoona and the shy girl.

Yoona, ever being the playful ‘choding’ that she is, bends low in a formal bow and holds out her hand to the shy girl, “May I have the honour of escorting the lady home?”

The girl’s eyes widen and her voice is slightly shaky as she replies, “Yes, I would like that very much.”

Yoona tightens her hold on the other’s hand ever so slightly, “You know, I don’t think I ever asked for your name.”

“Joohyun,” she says quietly, her lips quirk up imperceptibly, “Seo Joohyun.”

___________________________________________________________)

Not for the first time in her life, Taeyeon curses her alarm clock. For some reason it hadn’t rung on time (and yes, she did set it before taking a nap!), so now she’s late. Again.

Her instructor is going to kill her.

She sprints around the corridor, and spots something that makes her heart sink. Great. It’s the American girl, though luckily she just had one crony with her. Taeyeon still hasn’t forgotten about the three of them accosting her on her first day. New girl, wide-eyed from Jeonju, and what do they do? Embarrass her, that’s what.

City girls.

She did not have time for this right now. Unfortunately the girls spot her and one of them opens her mouth to speak—Taeyeon beats her to it.

“I’m lost and I’m already late as it is—

But the girl speaks over her and interjects snarkily, “Oh, so you do talk!”

“—can you just tell me where the training hall is!?” Taeyeon finishes, and then all three of them blink as each one processes exactly what the other just said.

“Brilliant, we get the midget,” the taller one says brightly, “She sings better than you,” she says to the American girl, which earns her an annoyed elbow in the ribs.

“I’m still growing!” Taeyeon bites back automatically.

Silence ensues as three pairs of eyes glance around at each other, unsure of what to say.

Taeyeon clears her throat, “Hi,” she says sheepishly.

“Hi,” the American girl says holding out her hand, “I’m Jessica Jung.”

“Kwon Yuri,” the taller one puts in.

“Kim Taeyeon,” and of all the scenarios that she had concocted in her head, this first meeting is definitely not one of them. Then Taeyeon remembers the rest of the marks on her, “Do you guys have…?”

“More, yeah,” Jessica nods.

“Have you met the other one?” Yuri asks hopefully.

Taeyeon shakes her head, “Nope, just you guys. But the other one…well…Actually, you can tell me what it says!” she says excitedly before turning around and lifting up her shirt a little bit, so Jessica can see the English rambling on her back.

Jessica takes one look at it and is too busy laughing for the next hour to be of any use.

____________________________________________________________________)

Tiffany bounces back and forth on the ball of her heels nervously.

She can do this!

After all, there’s no point going to Korea just to loiter outside her dorm because she was too nervous to go in.

She grits her teeth and twists the doorknob.

The room that greets her is a mess. The walls are a nice light blue, and there are two beds on either side. One is neatly made, and probably hers, because the other one is basically a lump with a blanket thrown on top.

The lump moves and a head pokes out, “Five more minutes mom,” the occupant grumbles blearily, before opening her eyes, “Hi, you my new roommate?”

“Hi I’m Tiffany Hwang nice to meet you,” and the ramble that comes out of her mouth is pretty much indecipherable as she went on autopilot mode. She knows that she has a tendency to ramble when she’s nervous, but this is getting ridiculous even for her. Oh god, someone stop me!

When she finally stops, she barely has time to duck before a pillow goes sailing through where her head used to be. Tiffany frowns, she’s had a lot of responses to her nervous ramblings—usually eye-glazed and slack jawed looks, but never a pillow to the face before.

“You!” her roommate glowers at her, “Do you even remember what you just said!? Actually no, just read it off my back. My entire back! Do you know how hard it was to go swimming with this thing!?” and with that, she turns around and strips off her shirt.

__________________________________________________________)

Tiffany was starting to wonder why she even came to Korea. Sure, she’s met one of her marks, but the language barrier was a much more problematic issue than she realised. Communication was something she had definitely taken for granted back in the States. It was incredibly lonely to not be able to properly speak to anyone.

So when she heard that there was another American trainee here, she was understandably beyond ecstatic. Finally! Someone that she could talk to. Someone that would understand all the things she found so confusing here. All the honorifics, and the shoes, and the bowing, and the apparent taboo subjects.

She practically skipped to practice that afternoon with a huge grin on her face, and spotted the girl that Taeyeon had described. It was impossible to miss her really—short, cool eyes with a very indifferent expression, surrounded by a shorter blonde, and a taller athletic girl.

“Oh, American girl!” Tiffany exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands together.

The girl glanced at her and had that stereotypical ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ look and mumbled, “Oh god.”

Tiffany blinked, thinking back to all the different horrible ways that she had imagined the situation to surround that line, “Huh…That wasn’t so bad.”

_________________________________________________________________)

Platonic soulmarks weren’t something that many teens paid attention to back in sex-ed. After all, why would they when the tales of burning romance and star-crossed lovers were infinitely more exciting. What was a platonic soulmark, but a glorified best friend?

Hyoyeon realised that she couldn’t be more wrong. She and Sooyoung got along amazingly, but it wasn’t the same as her relationships with her other friends, like Jessica. There was something more, they complemented one another, and it was almost as if they possessed the same brain sometimes. Yet at the same time, there was no need for anything else, they were the closest friend the other could have. She didn’t know if that was because of the lack of a third—Jessica and Yuri never did anything before Taeyeon turned up (albeit, age could’ve been a factor there).

“I’ll show you useless!” Sooyoung’s enraged hiss snapped Hyoyeon back to reality, where she was sitting on the couch, watching her soulmate blowing some poor dude’s brains out.

“Ha! Suck it!” Sooyoung roared in triumph, trampling over the smug bastard’s limp body and kicking at his head, which lay disconnected, brains splattered against the brick wall, “Who says girls can’t game? Eat my f—

“—Do you really have to be this graphic?” Hyoyeon sighed as Sooyoung cheered, though she couldn’t bring herself to really be upset over it. She wasn’t her mother after all.

“I’m standing up for the pride of all female gamers out there,” Sooyoung defended with a grin. Her right hand reached out for the bag of Cheetos lying on the coffee table, her left continuing to manoeuvre her character through the maze of buildings.

“Sonuvabitch!” she cursed as her character got his head blown off.

“Ha,” Hyoyeon laughed, it was way too easy to get invested in these sorts of games, “My turn.”

“Wait, wait, gimme a sec. I need to kill this guy two more times,” Sooyoung muttered, she spotted the name of her killer in the little corner of her screen—‘Sunny25’. Brilliant, so either she was killed by a twelve year old—or else some college dude who decided to call himself a cutesy name to seem harmless.

“What happened to the second controller you had?” Hyoyeon asked, wondering why she was waiting for a turn instead of shooting stuff right alongside Sooyoung.

“Rage quit,” Sooyoung said simply. Barely a second after her character reappeared, his brain got splattered against the concrete. And then again, and again, and again.

“Ok, it’s totally my turn now,” Hyoyeon said as veins started popping out on Sooyoung’s forehead.

“Who the fuck camps in the re-spawn zone!?” Sooyoung exploded into her mic, “You juvenile shitheaded fuckwit! I bet you play COD, yeah, go back to playing COD!”

There was a silence in the game coms before a cheerful feminine voice answered with, “Nope, but I do have Pokémon. Relax Jeolla-do*, it’s just a game.”

Hyoyeon stared as Sooyoung’s hand slammed on the power button of her Xbox.

“Um…Wasn’t that your…?”

Sooyoung blinked, pausing for a tense moment, “Yes, oh hell.”

“And you just turned it off,” Hyoyeon continued.

“Yes,” Sooyoung stated dejectedly.

“We’re a disaster waiting to happen, aren’t we?”

“Yes,” Sooyoung agreed helplessly.

____________________________________________________________________)

Yuri found that she was very different from her marks. Where she’s outgoing, Taeyeon is shy. Where she’s athletic, Jessica would rather walk and be late than do any bit of running. Where she’s reserved, Tiffany is opinionated, and never hesitates to state whatever she’s feeling. They’re four very different people, and they shouldn’t get along, but they do.

Perhaps it’s the youth, their shared dreams, or the innate excitement of finding one’s mark. They give and take, push and pull.

“Here, let me help you with that. It’s one, two, turn,” Yuri’s hands guide Tiffany’s hips as they sway to the beat.

“Yul, try this exercise, it’s great for the abs,” Tiffany suggested after seeing Yuri stumble back from the gym, sweaty and red-faced.

“Hey Sica, breathe from your diaphragm, it’ll help hold the notes. You��re still breathing from the chest,” Taeyeon explained to a rather out-of-breath Jessica.

“Taeyeon, you should check out this cream. It clears the skin right up.”

_____________________________________________________________)

Just because they were each other’s marks, doesn’t mean that they would magically fit together seamlessly, like pieces to a puzzle. For every story of perfect happy ever afters, and greatest loves in the world, there were plenty about those who just couldn’t click. Sometimes they were just too different, or too similar to get along, headstrong personalities that clashed. Other times, people change, and they find themselves trapped, unable to be content and they wouldn’t know why.

No one knew the reason, none of the brightest minds had ever figured out how the marking worked. One day, you’d wake up with the person’s words on your body. There were no explanations, no mechanisms—none that could be documented or noted anyway.

Im Yoona and Seo Joohyun have no idea what they’re doing.

They don’t seem to match at all. It’s not just the obvious difference of one being loud and sociable, while the other is quieter than a mouse—they don’t seem to have anything in common at all.

Not even the reason that they’re there at SM entertainment as trainees.

Yoona wanted to be a dancer, Joohyun a singer. Yoona was energetic, always ready for another round, and while Joohyun was by no means lazy, she just didn’t possess the same zealousness for dance as the other girl, instead, channelling her energy into regiments of vocal exercises.

Joohyun was straightforward, always the one you could trust to tell it to you straight, couldn’t lie to save her life. Yoona was an aspiring actress, she could talk rings around a stranger and make them believe that her ‘poor great grandmother’ was dying and needed a kidney transplant.

Yoona loved dramas, and action movies—car chases and loud, spectacular explosions. She loved the gunfights, the escalating spectacles, and the fiery blazes that had her heart pounding. Joohyun preferred cartoons and fairy tales, cutesy animals and stories with morals, of elves and centaurs, and wizards and fables of old.

Yoona liked pop music. Light, fun, dance tracks that you could bop your head to, and spaz out with your friends, yelling the iconic lyrics out to the wind. Joohyun listened to ballads. Songs that revealed the singer’s soul, and touched the listener’s heart. Gentle rhythms that one could fall asleep, or listen to after a long stressful day.

Yoona attended school because it’s compulsory. She does averagely and managed to get good grades, all the while complaining about it like the rest. Joohyun strived for nothing less than excellence. She loved learning new things and hated the stereotype of entertainers being stupid—so she sets out to end that ridiculous notion singlehandedly—she’s show them, even if she had to stay up till 2am, with all her dance and vocal lessons in the way.

They hung out with the same circle of friends, but once they were alone, they could hardly say two words to each other. The conversations never come about naturally and they just don’t flow, often trailing to an awkward silence.

How fate decided that they were compatible, neither Yoona, nor Joohyun could understand.

_____________________________________________________)

When Sunny joined the company, she didn’t expect to be able to debut for years. Imagine her surprise when they tacked her onto a pre-existing group that was about to debut. A group that had trained together for at least two years, and had already been working on their choreography for six months. A group that was apparently split into three different soulmark bonds. Was her uncle trying to alienate her?

The first day was beyond awkward.

She’d come in, introduced herself, and gotten one enthusiastic wave (apparently the American girl was always excited), one formal bow (the maknae never strayed from her manners after all), and two half-hearted helloes out of the remaining six.

It was pretty clear how they divided up. The dancers went one way, and the singers went another. Dancers practiced their vocal techniques, while singers refined their dancing. Sunny wasn’t sure what to do. She needed to learn the choreography and learn the lyrics.

As she was watching the two groups, feeling more and more lost as they merrily talked, and laughed at inside jokes years in the making—Sunny wondered if she should just quit. The group that she was supposed to debut with, Sugar hadn’t gone through, and after five years of training, maybe she should just give it up. Her old company had gone bankrupt, and her uncle’s feeble attempt at fast-tracking her here was not working out. These guys obviously don’t want her here, and she could only imagine what kind of disaster discord between members would cause when they actually debut, and—

“Hey, wanna come practice with us?” the tallest girl asked with a bright grin.

“Um…Yeah, I…I’m kind of hopelessly lost,” Sunny admitted sheepishly.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. Half of our group are still asleep, but you probably already noticed that,” the tall girl indicated to one of the singers who looked like she was sleep-dancing, “Sorry, what was your name again? Soonkyu was it? I’m Sooyoung.”

“Sunny,” she said, a small smile appeared on her face. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“Sunny?” a strange look passed over Sooyoung’s face.

“What is it?” Sunny asked, wondering what was wrong with her chosen name. It was cute, and most importantly fresh. Much better that grouchy old Soonkyu, what on Earth had her mother been thinking?

“Nothing,” Sooyoung shook her head, “It just reminds me of this annoying person I used to play Battlefield with.”

Sunny blinked, “Wait…” she narrowed her eyes, she knew that accent sounded familiar, “Jeolla-do?”

“Don’t call me that,” Sooyoung replied automatically before her mouth dropped open, “No way…”

“This is just too weird,” Sunny agreed, pulling back her sleeve, “Do you know how much trouble I used to get in by my teachers for writing swear words on my arm?”

“Sorry,” Sooyoung said sheepishly, “but that’s what you get for camping in the re-spawn zone.”

“Hey lazybums! Let’s get practicing!” Hyoyeon called.

“We’ve got the set!” Sooyoung exclaimed, jabbing her thumb in Sunny’s direction.

“I’m not a Pokémon you know,” Sunny said dryly.

__________________________________________________________)

*Sooyoung is from Gwanju, and she used to speak with a very heavy Jeolla-do accent. Hence why Sunny called her that.

Sorry about how long this took to get out. I was having major issues with everything and I’m still not too pleased with how this turned out…It’s completely all over the place…

Time changes everything.

It’s not often that we remember. After all, what’s ten days to a human? One thousand years is not even a blink in Earth’s history, but incomprehensible to us. Maggots to mayflies, mountains to dust. Mayflies to maggots, dust to mountains.

Time changes it all, Yoona and Seohyun know that more than most.

They were two distant ‘friends’—if you could even call them that, part of a larger group. Now they are two of the youngest, also part of a larger group. On the surface, not much seems to have changed. But after being surrounded by same-aged peers her whole life, suddenly Seohyun finds herself to be the youngest of nine.

Unnie this, and unnie that, and –yo ends up tacked onto every sentence. Yoona’s her closest age-mate now, and somehow, that just makes it easier to talk to her.

“You know, you don’t have to speak so formally with them all the time. They don’t really care about formalities,” Yoona tells her.

Seohyun shrugs, “I can’t really help it. They’re unnies,” she says, as though that explained everything, and when it came to Seohyun, it actually did.

“Well don’t do it for me,” Yoona says for the hundredth time, “Seriously don’t.”

Seohyun has to smile at how adamant Yoona is about it, “Ok.”

***

Yoona used to love being at the centre of attention. Whether it be the centre of her social group, introducing people to their future best friends, or centre stage as everyone watched her dance and sing.

Now she hates it.

“Attention whore always in the middle.”

“Whys the camera always on her!?”

Yoona clasps Seohyun’s hands and pulls her over to the middle of the stage with her. It’s almost a habit now, bringing the others along so she wouldn’t be alone with the members of Super Junior.

“Oh my god. What is she doing with Oppa!?

“Get away from him bitch!”

She can’t help it if they talk to her. They’ve all been friends for years and Yoona’s always had more guy friends, than girl friends.

“Ignore them,” Seohyun runs her hand down Yoona’s arm and whispers, “They don’t matter. They’re just jealous that they’ll only ever get to see their beloved ‘oppas’ on stage, while you know them as goofy, drooling, idiots.”

“Lucky me then.”

“She’s useless. Can’t sing, can’t dance. Why is she even in the group?”

“You’re a talented actress, beautiful, brave, and more hardworking than anyone would ever know. You don’t need them, you’ve got your real fans, and more importantly, you have us,” Seohyun’s voice is always soothing.

Yoona gives her a small smile, “I’ve got you.”

***

They call Seohyun stuck up. A social stick in the mud, rigidly proper and polite. They think she’s a total bore, but Yoona knows better.

She’s seen every side of Seohyun.

The clumsy klutz who drops everything she picks up.

The dedicated hard worker who will never fail to meet deadlines.

The fangirling goofball who hums theme songs of Sergeant Keroro and spazzes over Jack Sparrow (she says ‘Johnny Depp’ to the cameras, but Yoona knows better—it’s Jack Sparrow).

The determined organiser who would somehow make a timeslot convenient for all nine members to sit down and have a group talk, (or Therapy Nights as Yoona likes to call them).

The mischievous prankster who wouldn’t hesitate to get one up on her unnies—now Yoona has to admit, all eight of them had a hand in creating that monster.

“Hey, what are you thinking about?” Seohyun’s voice drags Yoona back to their bedroom, her hot breath sends shivers down Yoona’s spine.

“You,” Yoona answers truthfully, eyes roaming over the absolute fantasy that was Seohyun in lacy black lingerie.

Seohyun quirks an eyebrow and her lips pull up into a deliciously smug smirk, “Good,” is all she says before sinking her teeth into Yoona’s neck.

In the beginning, they were far from a good match, let alone a perfect one. It’s funny how time changes things.

______________________________________)

A certain quartet wouldn’t find anything funny about the test of time.

In the beginning they had an uncertain, but fairly smooth start. Four who were so different, but gelled so easily. It must be fate.

Then the division makes itself apparent—and really, it is inevitable. Even looking back, how would they have acted differently?

Yuri and Jessica had known each other for years, Tiffany and Taeyeon were roommates.

They were always going to split in those two pairs.

Sure, Tiffany got along with everyone, ‘girl-talk’ sessions with Jessica, surprisingly existential musings with Yuri, and of course, everything else with Taeyeon. Jessica and Taeyeon got along swimmingly, both vocalists who often trained together, and even Yuri and Taeyeon managed to find common ground in bantering about their ‘American best friends’.

But it was an unstable foundation, and eventually everything goes tumbling down. It wasn’t one particular thing, or moment that they could look back to and say ‘that was it. If I could go back in time, I could change it’. No, it was the little things that slowed down their well-oiled interactions and fracture it from the base up.

Suddenly it wasn’t ok anymore; no, you’re not excused, and every little thing grates on each other’s nerves. Their manager starts to get concerned, asks questions, wonders if something happened to make them all upset. But they can’t give him an answer, there’s no one problem to give, and marks weren’t exactly something a celebrity advertises. After all, you had to at least give the viewers some illusion that they could get with the pretty girl group.

It’s doesn’t end there. It never really gets resolved, because their private lives aren’t exactly private anymore. Everyone’s privy to the charade of perfect unattainable single girls that they manufacture, and they knew, eventually something will slip.

So one half of the four move out. Then one of them start dating, or perhaps it’s a publicity stunt, the others never know. Then another starts dating. And a third one joins the relationship party, and the remaining ‘single’ girl leaves.

It all goes to hell again and again, and they all stay tight-lipped, because by then, what’s the point? One’s cut off contact completely, another one has decided to drown herself in a new variety show, and the remaining two dip their heads in the clouds with a screen of ‘bestfriendsforever’.

So the ones who are left, and the one who isn’t, didn’t say anything.

-______________________________________________________)

#snsd fic #taeny #taenysic #yulsic #yulti #taengsic #hyosun #yoonhyun #soosun

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