Happy Thur lovely fandom :) So sorry for being a day late. Kinda a miracle took this long for life to knock me off course tbh. Entering our final 3 eps of this rewatch. It’s the final Countdown ha This is a glorious episode top to bottom. This season really finishes out very strong. Let us begin.

5x20 S.T.R

We start off in the most domestic fluffy way. I was giddy af when this premiered. Took me awhile to get through this ep cause I rewound this part so much. They have this flirty dance as they prep for breakfast together. Tim checking her out as he places the pancake down. Not subtle in the least looking down at her chest. I love that he can shamelessly check her out now and does so. Lucy is soaking it in. I mean if Tim Bradford was openly checking me out I’d feel empowered too.

The confident way Lucy leans extra hard into Tim as her response. *fans self* Needing zero space between them if she can help it. She is eyeing those gorgeous lips of his as well. Doesn’t take much to ignite Tim around her. Moth to flame this man. Lucy pressing into him like she didn’t just have him this morning in the shower. Gah I love it so very much. Our horny little ship never getting enough of each other. I’m a puddle. Look at her seducing him with just her body language and gaze my goodness.

Tim’s soft reply of 'Hey.’ Smitten Kitten Tim reporting for duty. Getting what she is throwing down for him. *sigh* These idiots in love. I love them so much. Happiness once again looking so damn good on them. They’re both beaming in this scene. Look at the smiles on these two. Said it a few times. Forever love how one kiss is never enough. Doesn’t take much to get them going and wanting extra kisses. Tim pulling on her for more as he goes in for that second kiss.

Also Tim cooking breakfast for Lucy is so adorable I cannot. This is canon now and I love it. So nice she has someone to cook for her now unlike when she was with the clown. And for Tim to have someone who enjoys breakfast. Which he didn't have with Ashley. Tamara breaks up their love fest. Parting the Red Sea that is Chenford on her way to the fridge. Tim's reaction is so funny. Just throwing his hands up in the air all defeated.

At first he’s annoyed then Tamara says her line. Then he’s like she’s not wrong... LOL Oh Eric you’re the king of expressions sir. Let’s just take a second to to soak this moment in. They’re making breakfast together, can’t keep their hands off one another, his hands on her waist pulling her close, they can’t even keep it to one kiss. It’s glorious on so many levels. Not squeeing to death at all.

Lucy and Tim still gravitate toward each other despite Tamara's interruption. Lucy noting she thought she was sleeping in today? Ha Thought she had the morning to herself with Tim. Tamara explaining she was but the smell of pancakes woke her up. We see Tim perk up so excited to make her pancakes. He truly does love having her around it's adorable. Happy it was his cooking that awoke her. Such a dad excited she wants his cooking. I cannot.

He is so happy to make her some pancakes. What a man. I LOVE the way Lucy is looking at him when Tamara says she wants 3. He looks back at her and she cutely raises her eye brows. Just as smitten with this man as he is with her. They’re so adorable. They hear the doorbell ring and Tim freezes and says ‘shoot.’ all adorable like. Telling Lucy Isabel texted him. Her name getting stuck in his throat a little. That he totally forgot to tell her he invited her over here. Lucy stumbles and is in shock but recovers pretty nicely if you ask me.

Tim being adorable saying he is sorry. That he was gonna tell her when she got out of the shower. But then he got in the shower…oh my lord. Legit announcing they had shower sex this morning. Am I dreaming? Tim Bradford saying out loud they had little morning delight in the shower. I can't believe my ears and I'm ship drunk. S5 continues to feel like a fever dream.

Not only that but talking about their sex like in front of their pseudo daughter LOL Lucy playfully hits Tim but is still beaming at him. The shower sex was so good and distracting he forgot his ex-wife was coming over. I'm reeling. God I love this season so very much. It’s insane the glorious goodies that we got. Also must point out the necklace anytime I see it. I spy with my little eye Lucy’s Valentine’s Day gift that never leaves her neck. *internal screaming*

Lucy is so uncomfortable once Isabel is inside poor thing. Trying to be a good last second hostess. Asking if she’d like something? Isabel says coffee. Tim guides Isabel to the living room. Tamara speed walks to Lucy asking if this is the ex-wife? Lucy scolding her for being so loud I'm dying. This is hysterical.

This is such a mother/daughter moment I love it. Lucy agreeing it is odd he invited her over. Tamara's protective instinct kicking in saying she’s gonna do some research. Lucy doesn’t want this whatsoever. Scolding her once again but the train has left the station haha I love Tamara so much. I hope we get lots of her in S6.

Lucy joins Tim and Isabel in the living room. I have to say before I start. I’m so distracted by Tim’s hands in this scene. Mmm doing things to me. I know I have a one track mind when it comes to him. But look at the man... Anyways she brings up 8 years ago she was UC in the Teska family. Became a mentor to the boss’s daughter Dara. Love the little check in's they do with each other BTW as she speaks.

It's subtle their eye contact but that's their specialty. Silent communication at it's finest. Isabel tells them she got close to Dara. In that weird way you do when you’re pretending to be someone else. They have no idea what that’s like…*cough double down cough* I do love the way Lucy’s eyes dart between Tim and Isabel.

So after Frank her dad was arrested she scattered and left that identity behind. Hadn’t heard from Dara in 8 years. Until now. She had answering service for her old covers. That she left a message for her. It was a distress call and sounds like people are chasing her. She came to them because she’s out of cover. Can’t seem to find her through other channels. Tim says they can go to station get warrant for her phone. See if they can't find her that way.

Once they’re at the station Tim and Isabel are en route to Grey. Smitty welcomes him back and is awkward af with Isabel. Because well Smitty. She asks if he's back from vacation? He says no a shooting. That he just got cleared from it. Says he’s getting there but Lucy keeps trying to get him to meditate. This would be adorable to see btw. I love all of Melissa’s tea ceremony’s and meditation videos. Tim is more the kinda to take a deep breathe and go for a walk and chill like he did in 3x11 with Barnes. Their versions of meditation are vastly different LOL

I love the way Harper walks over to check in on Lucy. Forever be in awe of how they started to where they are now. Nyla being apart of Lucy’s BAMF journey still makes me so happy. Harper asking her if she’s ok with Tim working this case? Lucy letting her know it’s not a big deal…that he’s over her. Nyla shooting back she knows that. She’s making sure Lucy does. Love her looking out for Lucy. Doesn't want her to get riled up over nothing.

Clearly Harper has seen the way Tim beams around her. Knows that man is gone for her. Lucy couldn’t be cuter telling her to stop it with a playful hit. Tamara comes up ruining her 'ok vibe' with her deep dive news. Harper’s face is hilarious. She like Eric has fantastic expressions. They make me laugh so much during this scene. Tamara divulging everything she’s found. Lucy trying to spin it into something positive. That it sounds like she’s got her life together.

Tamara is instigating saying 'Or she wants Tim to see she’s doing well.' Why are you doing this to your mother? Lmao. She loves you and houses you little lady haha I do love Lucy calling herself his new girlfriend in her explanation. Yeah you are. Tamara continuing her instigating mentioning how Tim said she looked good. Also tacking on 'Keep your enemies closer...'Lucy is so exasperated with her I’m dying. Pulling that look from her husbands book.

Isabel asks how long Tim and Lucy have been dating? He says a few months. Can tell he doesn’t want to delve too much into this. Diverts it back to her. Asking if she’s seeing someone? Letting him know yes and no. That he set the bar really high. He sure did and you threw it away madam. Didn't know what she had till it was gone. I know some saw this as her trying to get him back. I didn't see it that way at all. This SL wasn't built on that. This ep had her show back up for a couple reasons. One we will see later on with Lucy but this one here was more about closure IMO. The last time they spoke or the last time we saw them really speak was back in 1x12.

A conversation where she basically blamed him partly for their marriage falling apart and her addiction. That he would be a constant reminder of it. Tim didn't walk away from that convo feeling great about himself. It inflicted some deep wounds for him actually. Those wounds showed themselves in his relationship with Ashley. By not rocking the boat and being less rigid. Him smile is a little uncomfortable and strained. I I think because one it's opening up wounds he's worked really hard to close. Two he's not totally sure he believes her words but he will take them anyways. Some closure is better than none at all.

Tim and Isabel are waiting outside a motel. They tracked Dara down here. Isabel stayed here once in hiding with her. They talk about her UC life a bit. Tim telling her how he held his breath every time she went on a long term assignment. Isabel noting even when she came back she wasn’t fully there. Even though she wanted to be.

Tim pulls his gaze from her. It’s like re-opening a wound for him once again. One that’s been healed over for while. He doesn’t want to pick at it any further. Tim tells her since she’s not a cop anymore she needs backup. Lucy is on her way to them now. Isabel can’t help but note he's dating another UC.

The sweet smile when he thinks about her has me squeeing. Nothing makes him melt faster than talking about her. Telling Isabel ‘But Lucy is different.’ Yeah she is. I love him being able to see that. He looks so damn in love as he speaks. Just giddy and gushing. Also him once again being protective over his relationship with Lucy. It makes me so happy. He couldn’t be more in love with her if tried.

The scene in the truck is fantastic. First off Lucy looks amazing. Second I adore her absolute confidence about Tim. Isabel thinking it’s about Tim she wants to pick her brain. I love her saying 'No she has Tim all figured out.' I mean she does. Has owned the book of Tim for years now. No one knows that man better than she does.

Isabel may have years on her. Knowing him longer but Lucy has her beat in knowing him better. She don’t need no cheat codes for this man haha This scene is really cute. They’re both laughing and having a good time. Tim is confused as hell trying to hear their convo LOL So annoyed and frustrated he can’t hear what they’re talking about.

Lucy gets serious and asks her about UC. If it was worth it for her? Despite all the bad things that happened? I love how honest Isabel is. I also love how this wasn’t a oooh his ex-wife comes back and causes havoc thing. So grateful they went the mature healthy route with this. Was so very lovely to see her back and healthy. Isabel coming back added to the elephant in the room. Lucy being a UC while being with Tim. Like I mentioned earlier she came back for a couple reasons. This is the other one.

Lucy getting an honest opinion about this career she's considering. Isabel is completely honest with her. Saying it took a lot from her. Her husband, her job and her self respect. But she can’t blame all that on being a UC. That she had stuff in her past that added to it. Adding in sounds like Lucy has much healthier coping mechanisms than she did. Lucy is seeking out some answers because she’s having doubts. No doubts that she can do this. Lucy is very aware she is good at it.

What she’s weighing is the cost now. Here’s my take on a Lucy with UC. Take it or leave it and I'll delve into this more at the end as well. Pre-Tim UC made ton of sense for her. Hell even Pre-Tamara as well. Now she has this little patch work family she loves. That’s what she’s leaving behind now with these OP’s. Leaving Tim behind. I think she struggling with the idea of doing so in the future. Isabel’s answer was open and honest. IF she’s prepared to make those sacrifices. IF. I don't know that she is. Not anymore. Falling in love with Tim has changed everything.

Speaking of our boy. Tim ends up calling Lucy asking if the wire is fixed? Poor love is feeling so anxious right now. He needs to know it’s working. Lucy laughs with Isabel and says a wire must’ve disconnected. Mmhmm… Does a sound check for him so he can see it’s ok. They see Dara coming back and Lucy calls him ‘Babe.’ again and I’m floating. It’s such a simple word and makes me all giddy. I need more of this in S6. I really do.

We rejoin them post-op coming home. Love her asking if he wants a beer? Such a domestic moment. We got to start with one and end with one. Fantastic. Lucy mentions 'She seems good. Happy.' Tim asking Isabel? Lucy just replies ‘Hmm.’ Tim saying yeah she deserves it. Seems like he's talking about more than just Isabel. I do love the look in his face when she says this. That empathy of hers shining through.

One of reasons he loves this woman. Genuinely being happy Isabel is ok. There is also a lot behind the second look he gives her before he sits down. How he’s staring at Lucy before he lands on the couch seems loaded. Isabel coming back has stirred up a lot for him. That lingering look he gives her. It's almost got a sad haunted look to it.

Tim has been through so much all he wants is to be happy with Lucy. Saw a sad tag about his expression. Saying how he looks like he doesn’t deserve to be happy. This broke my damn heart. Falls in love again for the first time since Isabel and she’s on the same path she was. He looks so tired and defeated by the time he sits on the couch. I wanna hug him.

We get a cute little moment before this scene turns serious. Lucy mentioning it was nice to get to know the person behind all his stories. Tim asking if that’s why they muted themselves? Ha A little serious but mostly joking. Lucy saying it was just to talk trash about him of course hehe Tim couldn’t be cuter with his smile and saying sarcastically ‘Funny.’ That Lucy smile we all know and love.

The way this man looks at her my goodness. Also let’s not skate passed the sexy stubble adorning his beautiful jawline. Or the fact that they’re drinking and chatting at the end of their day. So married. Making my heart swell. The sassing and teasing never gets old. It’s the best between them. Just hits differently now they’re together too.

Lucy looks at him and takes the plunge into what she wants to talk about. Asking if she can share something vulnerable with him? Gah I love her sharing in the first place. Tim puts down his beer and gives her his full attention. Saying of course she can. I love this first shot of them. Her beautiful view as the backdrop to start this conversation.

Lucy starting off with telling him she loves working undercover. Tim doing his Lucy smile for her. Knowing how much she truly does. Even though it kills him. Lucy goes on to say she’s never gone as deep as Isabel. Doing a 6 month run or a year long. Tim thinking he has this pegged. Voicing she's worried she won't be able to handle it?

This next line kills me. Makes me a little emotional. Because Lucy is so emotional bringing this up. Her worry for him so very evident and deep. Tears brimming in her eyes. The way she touches his shoulder gently. Voicing her vulnerability and fear about him. It’s the way she rubs her hand up and down his shoulder not making eye contact till she speaks her worry.

Ripping my heart right out. Tim putting on a brave face for her and reaches out for her hand. Embracing her warm touch. Covering her hand with his. Telling her he’ll be fine. Ugh but you won’t my love. You really won’t. Even though he knows it is different this time. Because it is. Logically he knows this. Doesn’t mean he’s going to worry any less.

Hell it might even be more worry this go around because of the PTSD. Next ep is proof of that. Lucy not fully believing him says ‘Yeah.’ Tim is refusing to be in the way of her UC aspirations. Reassuring her he will be fine. I love the way he pulls her into his arms for a snuggle. Telling her to 'Come here.'

Her leg over his thigh. *squee* I’m dying. Getting real close to snuggle in for this moment. Tim looks like he goes for her hand but lands on her knee. Lucy looks damn near ready to cry. Tim rubbing her knee/thigh soothingly. My heart. Trying to find some solace in holding her in his arms. Look at his face. This man is anything but fine. He’s so very worried.

Holding her tight to him. Taking comfort in the fact she’s with him now. Savoring they're together right now. They really need to have more conversations about this. Honest ones. Lucy doesn’t want to leave him but he also isn’t telling her to stay. Just lying liars who lie right now. We all know she would have just as much trouble if it was Tim.

This sweet cuddling is beautiful and heartbreaking all at the same time. I am excited we finally got some good couch snuggling. Tim looks absolutely terrified he’s going to lose her though. Not only lose her but to same thing he lost Isabel too. Ugh it hurts so good everyone.

The way Tim slightly shakes his head trying to kick loose his tormented thoughts. *heart clutch* His little smile though is everything. Knowing she so worth going through this again even if scares him to death. Lucy looking gutted about the thought of leaving him behind UC. Knowing he is anything but ok with this scenario. I believe she is having some doubts about being a long term UC now. I think she was hoping Tim would’ve had a different answer. Maybe given her an out about it. I think she’s being torn between what she thinks she should be and what she now wants.

She's been on on the UC path so long it scares her to get off it. I totally get it I wanted to be a dog trainer forever. When first moved to CO it didn’t happen. It was my goal moving there but it didn't happen. So I got a different job settled into that for awhile. Then when things came up for dog trainer while at this other job. I felt the need to still do it even though I was fine at my current job. Why? Because I had been on that path forever thought I had to because of that. But I wanted someone to tell me it was ok not to if I didn't want to anymore.

I think Lucy wants Tim to tell her not to so she has an out and can pursue something else. You can be amazing at something and not have it be your career path. Also her sticking with it might be little bit of that old self doubt creeping back in. Lucy thinking I’m good at UC can I be this good at anything else? Doubting she will be good at anything other than UC. I mean she doubted herself in 5x19 with the test. She has grown but those doubts can still creep back in. *sigh* These two. Both still holding back. Needing to have more convos about this for sure in s6. But what a damn good ep.

~~~~

Side notes-non Chenford

Aaron being Angela’s aide is hilarious. Also her getting the guy to confess cause she’s so pregnant and uncomfortable is hilarious.

Isabel and Lucy being bad asses on their OP was fun to watch.

Thank you to all you amazing readers who like, comment and reblog these reviews. Give me life hehe Shall see you all in 5x21 :)

Arkhelios Adventures

Adam tried settling his nerves the way he usually did: by concentrating intensely on a melody until he forgot what he had been worried about. Sometimes concentrating on a magical spell helped, but he was in a public place in a still magically hesitant country and didn't want to start anything. Theo had warned him again and again that Arkhelios wasn't Pleasantview no matter what Wanda said, and that people still struggled to embrace the paranormal.

Theo….

Adam shook his head and returned to his melody. Arkhelios didn't have a lot to kill time with, but their mall did have a piano near the food court for some reason. Maybe someone serenaded a group for dinner on occasion. Even if it was weird, Adam wouldn't complain. He needed a distraction while he waited for his friend.

Theo had asked to meet him at the Arkhelios mall "to talk" and Adam hadn't been able to think straight ever since. The last time he saw his friend, Theo was leading Medora, a literal princess, upstairs to hookup. Adam could only assume that the two of them were dating now. Theo hadn't responded to any of his texts since then, and now he suddenly wanted to talk. 

He probably wants to gloat about how perfect Medora is. How rich she is. How she's beautiful and funny and everything that I can't offer him.

Theo stopped to watch a human statue change pose to stall for time. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to Adam- that's all he wanted to do for the rest of his life. No, this conversation was much harder and could go so wrong. 

I'm finally going to do it. I'll tell him how I feel. If he rejects me, at least there will be witnesses, so he can't say anything mean. Not that he would say anything mean. If anything he'll just pity me and let me down easy to avoid a scene. I shouldn't do this, he's just going to be embarrassed and reject me.  It's too late now, he's over there waiting for me. Damn.

"You made it! I was starting to worry."

Theo's attention immediately snapped towards the sound of the voice.

"Adam. You're here. I, uh…it's good to see you again. Thanks for coming to Arkhelios. I didn't want to use any extra energy teleporting to Pleasantview unless I needed to. I think Aunt Lucy is helping my parents make stronger traps, but also helping me break them. My aunt's nuts. She plays everyone against each other and…and this isn't relevant, sorry. You don't want to hear me ramble on about my messed up family."

"It's fine," Adam replied stiffly, attempting to look unconcerned about this talk and failing. "You should probably tell Medora though, rather than me. You're dating her aren't you?"

"I'm not dating her!" Theo protested quickly. "We're just friends and she's not even answering my texts anymore. She's really mad at me."

"So you just hooked up and then turned her down when she wanted to date you?" Adam asked angrily. "That's not cool, Theo. I didn't think you were like that."

"I'm not! We never slept together and she never asked me out. We just kissed. A lot. And then Ironman found us."

“Do you have feelings for her then?” Adam demanded. “Just tell me the truth! How hard can it be to just tell me the truth? I don’t know why you’re acting this way.”

“Me?” Theo repeated incredulously. “It’s not my fault! Things just keep happening to me and I don’t know how to make them stop! I didn’t mean to make out with Medora; it just kind of happened! And now my parents hate me and Medora hates me and you won’t stop yelling at me! For once, maybe someone could tell me what I’m supposed to do so that I stop making such a mess of things!”

Adam folded his arms angrily, glaring at his friend’s outburst.

“You’re impossible, Theo. How can you not understand what you’re doing? You’re- you’re just like your dad. You only care about yourself and who you can hook up with.” Adam sighed, looking towards the food court which was his closest escape from this conversation. “I think I’d like to be alone, actually. I can see that coming here was a mistake.”

“Adam! Adam, wait!”

Theo frantically called his friend back towards him, but Adam was set on ignoring him. As promised, the warlock stood in the limited food court, examining a vending machine with exaggerated interest.

Why can’t I ever get anything right? I came here to tell Adam my feelings and now he hates me.

Theo bristled slightly, thinking about what his friend had shouted at him. He wasn’t like either of his parents...right? Everyone clearly thought that he was trying to seduce half of the population of Pleasantview, from his grandmother to his parents and the king of Strangetown to Adam. How hard could it possibly be to just say those important three words to Adam without somehow shooting himself in the foot? 

“I like you,” Theo said aloud, testing the way the words felt in his mouth. Adam was too far away to hear him, but it felt important to try to spit out the words as practice all the same.

"So just tell him that. Talk to him before it's too late."

Theo screamed, completely surprised by the not so frozen human statue beside him. 

"Go over there, get a candy bar and tell him how you feel," the statue urged, shifting into a new frozen position as he spoke. "It's not too late."

Theo barely had time to process the statue's words of advice before he was nearly shoved to the ground by a blur of energy.

"What's wrong? Where's the danger?"

Adam pushed himself between Theo and the statue, his eyes scanning for danger, but finding nothing. Theo blinked, trying not to betray just how impressed he was to be rescued by his handsome crush, even if there was no actual danger. Adam was breathing heavier than usual from charging over to Theo's side, his wand drawn in an aggressive stance usually reserved for duelling. Most of the magic they were taught at school was wandless, and could all be accomplished with quick movements of certain fingers. Theo had only seen Adam's carefully crafted wand a handful of times, usually when they duelled in school. 

He heard me scream and came to rescue me. He does care about me, at least enough to protect me.

"False alarm," Theo replied bashfully, watching Adam's face relax and his wand disappear from sight once more. "It was just the statue moving. It caught me off guard."

Adam stared at his friend, his previous frustration now forgotten.

"I just heard you scream and got worried," he explained quickly, looking sheepish. "I thought that maybe your grandma came back again or demons were attacking or something caught fire-" He paused, trying to hide the worry in his face. "Bad things always seem to happen in Arkhelios. I just thought that this was one of those times. Sorry."

"Why would you be sorry?" Theo asked, playing nervously with his hair. "That was really nice of you. I'm glad that you, well that you worry about me. I worry about you too."

"Really?"

"Really."

Just as the human statue was about to call it a day early to avoid further teenage nonsense, Theo smiled and took matters into his own hands.

"Did…did you want to go hang out somewhere quieter? I know a place."

Kacytober: October 5: Balloons

Lucy woke up feeling energized and excited. It was her birthday and she couldn’t wait to spend it with Kate.

Her excitement quickly turned to dismay.

Kate was fully dressed and seemed to have plans of her own.

“Hey, are you going somewhere?” Lucy asked.

“Oh hey sleepyhead. Yeah I have some errands to run and then I’m going to meet up with Tennant for some lunchtime drinks. Remember?”

Lucy wracked her brain but couldn’t remember Kate ever telling her she had plans for the day.

“Oh…” Lucy tried to cover her disappointment but new she hadn’t succeeded.

“Did you want me to stay home? Did you have something planned for today?” Kate asks uncertainly.

With a sinking feeling Lucy realized Kate had forgotten it was her birthday.

“No…no plans. Go have fun, we can have dinner together.” Lucy said forcing a smile on her face.

“Okay, see you later.” Kate leans down to kiss her and then leaves.

Lucy stayed in bed for a few more minutes trying not to brood over the fact her girlfriend forgot her birthday.

She checks her phone to see if she has any messages…none. Not a single one from any of team. Did everyone forget her birthday?

With a heavy sigh, she gets up and jumps into her morning routine before getting ready.

After getting ready she picks up her phone and texts Jesse. She decided to see if he’s able to hang out. He responds that he and his family are going to a family friend’s place.

Next she texts Kai to see what he’s up to. He texts back saying he’s helping his dad at the restaurant. He said they were slammed and needed an extra pair of hands.

She texts Ernie but he’s on the hunt for some gadget.

Lucy decides to go for a drive and maybe buy herself a birthday gift to lift her spirits.

Her excursion ends up lasting until about 2:00. She decides to head back to Kate’s to wait for her.

She’s just settling on to the couch when she finally receives a text. She grabs her phone and opens the text.

‘Hey Lucy, can you come by and pick up Kate? She hit the drinks a little too hard. She was trying to text you but couldn’t remember how the phone worked.”

Lucy shakes her head. If Kate is drunk, dinner is probably out too.

She gets up, gets dressed and heads out.

She gets to Jane’s house about 15 minutes after she received the text.

Lucy exits the car and knocks on Jane’s door.

Jane quickly answers.

“Hey Lucy. Sorry about this. I didn’t realize how much she had consumed until it was too late. She’s just in the living room.”

Lucy takes her shoes off and then follows Jane in to the living room.

“SURPRISE!!!”

Lucy jumps back as she takes in the scene in the living room.

There are balloons hanging on the wall spelling out Happy Birthday. There are also many colourful balloons adorning the room. The team and several of her friends are scattered throughout the room and standing in the middle of it all is her very sober girlfriend.

Lucy is too stunned to speak. Her mouth keeps opening and closing with no words coming out.

Kate tentatively takes a step forward.

“Lucy?”

Lucy is still rooted to the spot, eyes wide.

Kate reaches out her hand and pulls Lucy towards the front door.

“Mingle amongst yourselves. We’ll be right back,”

After the door closes behind them, Kate turns to her.

“I had this surprise planned for awhile but when you were so sad this morning I nearly told you everything. Is it okay?”

Lucy still can’t answer.

Kate’s face falls.

“You hate it don’t you? Oh God, I never should have done this. I promise I won’t ever do anything like this again. I thought…”

It’s Kate’s spiralling that snaps Lucy out of her shock.

She grabs on to Kate’s arms.

“Kate…Kate breathe. I love it. I promise. I…I…I just thought everyone forgot.” Lucy admits.

Kate stares at her for a moment.

“I’d never forget. Do you think I’d miss a chance to celebrate you?” Kate asks softly.

Lucy smiles and feels a couple of tears fall.

“I love you Kate.”

Kate wipes the tears away.

“I love you too.”

Lucy pulls Kate into a kiss, the type of kiss that usually leads to something.

They part, both of them having to catch their breaths.

“We’ll have to put a pin in that. We have a party to attend.”

Lucy grabs Kate’s hand and leads her back to the party, ready to spend some time with family and friends before heading home and removing the pin.

Can you tell me more about .sex mini series writing? Like what specific sex acts/topics will it be about and will there be several chapters? And who/what will .chest dysphoria be about? And is .inexperienced!lucy about her being inexperienced/shy about sex or is it about something else?

.sex mini series writing: This relates especially to a couple prompts about genderfluid!lucy and sex and fancy bionic/futuristic dick prosthetics, even though that's unclear from the wip title now 😅

Ideas I'm throwing around - the awkward adjustment period at first, randomly getting hard, not being able to get hard, first time cuddly grinding with it and generally having sex that's less goal-oriented, cockwarming, alex and maggie having lazy sex before bed and leon touching himself a little and being happy they're having fun, maggie and lucy encouraging alex to try the cock when she mentions her interest

We will see exactly how the structure turns out, but it will prob be multiple scenes. I might just do chapters so that I can start posting things? I'm kinda afraid of putting things out before the entire thing is planned/written, and I'm worried that if chapter=scene then they'll feel too short, but maybe if I just commit to multiple unrelated chapters, that'll work.

A snippet I posted previously is from this same prompt, so have this other snippet that I wrote as an intro that is kinda unrelated and will prob get cut but is a fun random headcanon I like:

"Your hair's been staying extra wavey even when it's not been up," Maggie noted as she took out the braids Alex had done in the morning. "I like it." "Yeah? I've been thinking that too." Leon smiled. He took the last pin from Maggie and ran his hand through his hair. "We'll see if it lasts after T, but it's been an unexpectedly fun change."

.chest dysphoria answered in the previous ask!

.inexperienced!lucy is something I started in 2022 and forgot about lmao. And yup, about sex and expectations, to explore that since a lot of fics have Lucy being more experienced than Alex and Maggie in that department.

Lucy ignores the assumption for now. “You’ve imagined me in one?” Lucy leans forward, gazing up at Alex a bit. “Tell me what else you like.” She can see the way Alex’s throat bobs as she swallows, the way her lips just barely part to let in air.

what your favorite bungou ship says about you, a shitpost

Absolutely inspired by Eldena Doubleca5t on youtube, but also because Peaches and I were talking shit about Bungou ships on a call. Manga spoilery ships under the cut if you’re an anime-only. @scalpel-mom-mori it’s your fault I’m not working on asks. 

Yosano/Poe: You think the dynamic of Bakugou’s parents was cute and underdeveloped.

AkuHigu: You kin Higuchi, and you have a crush on Akutagawa.

AtsuKyouka: You only read fluff pics, and honestly, I respect that.

AtsuLucy: Either you’re me, or you just like tsunderes in general.

Ayatsuji/Tsujimura: You have a crush on Ayatsuji, which is valid, but you also want to see the world burn.

ChuuAkiko: You’re a bottom.

ChuuTsuji: You watched that one scene in Dead Apple, you dislike Ayatsuji, but you really like Tsujimura.

Dazai/Yosano: You like poetic irony, and you also like ability related angst.

Fitz/Louisa: You just want good things for Louisa—namely, for Fitz to appreciate her.

Hawthorne/Mitchell: You could write an essay on why this pairing is gorgeous and tragic.

Kunikida/Alcott: You ship rare pairs just because they’re rairpairs.

KyouKenji: You’re here for softness and pure cinnamon rolls.

MoriKou: You want to be stepped on, but you’re straight.

Ranpo/Yosano: Childhood friends is your only valid dynamic, and also you’re a manga reader. 

Tanizakicest: You…want to get double teamed by the Tanizaki siblings.

ChuuAku: Dazai offends you on principle. Also, you want good things for Aku.

ChuuAngo: Not only does Dazai offend you, you want him to suffer.

ChuuAtsu: You want good things for Atsushi, and you’re here for the fluff.

ChuuMori: You have a vampire kink.

Dazai/Ranpo: You have a fetish for people smarter than you, and a humiliation kink.

DazAku: You kin Akutagawa.

FukuMori: Your ideal relationship dynamic is divorced parents.

FukuRanpo: …Daddy kink? But senpai-notice-me edition?

Fyodor/Dazai: You like the hatefuck dynamic of Soukoku, but either you’d be too jealous of Dazai or you think there’s not enough of the hate in the hatefuck.

KuniChuu: You just want good things for Kunikida, and you want them to bond over how much they hate Dazai.

KuniDazai: You don’t understand why people like Chuuya so much.

KuniKatai: You think Kunikida deserves a life outside of work. Also, you like the Steincraft dynamic, you just don’t like the body horror.

KuniRan: You ship because Ranpo is the only one Kunikida doesn’t bully.

OdaAku: You watched that one Dark Era scene and couldn’t stop laughing at Potato Sack!Akutagawa.

OdAngo: You consider only the first half of Dark Era canon. Also, you love the Buraiha, just without Dazai.

ODazai: You just want good things for Dazai.

RanPoe: You kin Poe, first of all, and you want a pet raccoon.

ShibuAtsu: You have a boner for Shibusawa.

Shin Soukoku: You’re a fan of the hatefuck dynamic and you want Akutagawa to stop being so emotionally constipated. Also, you ship Sasuke and Naruto.

Steincraft: You started shipping this for the crack, but at some point you started shipping it unironically and you’ve never looked back.

Soukoku: You can’t decide between your boner for Chuuya and your boner for Dazai. Ie, you’re at least half the fandom.

TachiChuu: You like the senpai-notice-me dynamic of AkuHigu, but you could do without the physical assault.

Tanizaki/Tachihara: You have a redhead fetish.

HiguGin: You just want good things for Higuchi! And you have a massive crush on Gin. It’s okay, so do I.

Kouyou/Yosano: This is the same joke as MoriKou, but you like girls.

LucyKyou: You read the chapter after Atsushi passes out, and then thought, “but lesbians” and completely forgot about him.

Lucy/Louisa: You want good things for Lucy! Also, you’re into cottage core.

TsujiHigu: Subordinates kink? You like the dynamic of gals being pals and bonding over their shitty bosses.

TsujiYosano: You like the idea of strong independent women.

YosaKyou: Mommy kink. Also, something something sharp objects kink.

KouKyou: Extra mommy kink.

Decay of Angels Trio: Russians, Russians, and more Russians. Also, you adore their aesthetic.

Tachi/Teruko: You want Tachi to suffer, which…relatable.

Fyodor/Nikolai: You have a thing for psychotic Russians, and you think the nicknames are cute.

RanpOguri: Mushi is your favorite, and you never got the hype around RanPoe.

Sigma/Nikolai: You think Sigma deserved better and you don’t like Fyodor.

Techou/Jouno: You like Soukoku, but you’re a hipster. Or you can’t stand Dazai or Akutagawa.

Not Your Boyfriend Fanfic

(Day 1)  [Billy & Ren]

Note: This contains spoilers of “Your Boyfriend: DAY 1″ We suggest you to play the demo before reading this. If you’re a minor, we advice you to stay away from the game and wait till you turn 18 or the SFW version comes out. 

We suggest you to read the prologue before you continue:

Prologue

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I never remember having a relationship with you, I apologize.”

  “I think you’re mistaken me with someone else”

  “I’m Not Your Boyfriend”

 His words still linger unto your mind. You still can’t believe that the man you used to meet changed because of a mere glitch. Both of you are in the diner. In the usual spot where both you and ‘peter’ have a little date since he insisted to. But this time, you were the one inviting him. It was an awkward scene.

  Both of you are facing each other, sitting opposite side of the table. He stares at you for a while now. He seems to be waiting for you to start the conversation. You’re the one who invited him anyway. You still in doubt if he changed or not, even if he told you from the start that he didn’t know you even mentioned that he never knew who he was either. Forgetting his own name was already a big sign of memory loss. It seems that the glitch gravely impacts him in the process. You told him if he remembers where he lives, at least you would be at ease if he does. He seems to be in daze. You started to feel uneasy. He shook his head.

 “I can’t seem to remember where I live either”

 You asked him if he remember any relatives or acquaintances for him to reach on. But alas, he shook his head. You felt concerned.

 “Apologies, I can’t remember a single thing… My name… Even who I am”

 He starred at you with no expression. You can’t read if he’s sad or concerned. You felt guilty all over. Your actions affected him severely.  Messing around the game, resetting the day every time just to see changes. Even if you achieved a whole new route, there still a price to pay. You went silent.

 The lady from the counter puts down the milkshake as she leaves right after. You didn’t feel like eating right now. You pushed the milkshake slowly towards him. He tilted his head sideward in confusion. You told him he could have the milkshake. He just stares at it. You were thinking how to help him at this situation. It was your fault to begin with. You noticed that he was touching head, as his other hand holding a spoon. You also notice that the ice cream part of the milkshake disappeared. You assumed that he ate the ice cream with one bite which leads him to experience brain freeze. You tried to ease your laughter. You told him to eat it slowly that no one will steal the milkshake from him.

 “But…It taste good”

 He implied. Showing his stern face will confuse people if he likes the milkshake or not. You thought maybe it’s better that he forgot his previous memories of himself. Yet, a part of you felt guilt, messing around the game because of curiosity.

 You paid for the milkshake, after that, both of you went outside the diner. It seems to be getting dark. This time, you were given a choice. 2 choices appeared on your screen.

             Leave him

            Let him stay at your apartment

 You were given a choice for you to decide. Even if you could choose either one of them. You were afraid of resetting the game if you choose the wrong one. You starred at him for a while. You could see how different he was from peter you once knew. How he was curious when he saw a cat back at the park, which was scarred of him as he was keeping a stern face the whole time even if his intent was to pet it. This is a whole new ‘peter’. A whole new route for you to discover. You finally decided…

              Leave him

       ➤ Let him stay at your apartment

 You told him he could stay at your apartment. He seems surprised. His expression turns into a concerning look. You told him that he could stay in the meantime since he forgot his memory and such, he doesn’t have someone to reach out to and he could help out paying the rent if he feels burden about it. He seems to be in thought. You wait patiently for his response. He sighed.

 “You do have a point there… But do you have a roommate? Won’t I be a bother?”

 You told him that you have a roommate. You reassure that he won’t be a bother and your roommate won’t mind as well. He seems hesitant.

 “Why are you being nice to me?”

 You paused for a moment. He seems to be concern as he should since you tried to help him not knowing who he was even though you already knew his ‘old self’. You can’t tell him that you were the cause of his amnesia, otherwise he will hate you for that. Anxiety began to rise up as to the point it was obvious for him to notice. He just sighed.

“I mean, why are you helping out a stranger like me?”

 You looked at him. You feel at ease that you misunderstood his first statement. You told him that you can’t leave him alone with a severe amnesia. Since you reach out to him, might as well help him out since he seems to be in need of help even though he’ll try to deny it. He nods. You told him about your roommate that she can be a bit clingy. He seems displeased. You told him to not worry about your roommate. Which concerns him more than he really is. But he just shrugs it off as he followed you back to your apartment.

  You told him to feel at home as both of you arrived at your place. He was looking around with curiosity. You were at ease that both of you came late as to the point to miss Lucy’s ‘study session’. You notice that he was gazing at the couch. A smile appeared on your face as you told him he could sit if he wants to. He looks at you, then looks at the couch after as he walks towards it as he sat on the couch gently. You couldn’t read his expression at all.

 “Its…comfy”

 He implies with a stern face. You couldn’t help but to laugh at his expression. He seems confused of your sudden outburst.

 “What’s funny?”

 You told him in between breaths that it was nothing that you remember something funny. He nods. You told him that he could sleep on the couch in the meantime and tomorrow you’ll help him get the job where you worked at. He just nods as he lays down in the couch. You remembered something as you went to your room and grab the extra blanket for him. You went back to give it to him. He’s already fallen asleep. You smiled as you gently laid the blanket on him and went back to your room.

 You didn’t bother to change into your clothes as you lay down to your bed. You have time to reach for the lamp to turn it off. Thinking of what happen today made you worry of the events that you can’t even predict this time. You were afraid of making wrong choices that may lead to reset the day once more. You felt drowsy as you let it be and sleep for the night. Not worrying about a certain someone that may disturb your slumber.

I'm still processing Season 6 and as an unpopular opinion I'm not too happy about it as a whole. I feel horrible for not enjoying it as much as the Cast/Crew would like me to, but I just can’t change this feeling I have.

Just to clear my head I'll write the things down that irked me. I don't want to start any discussion, they're only my thoughts on stuff ‘n thangs. Huge spoilers ahead, please don’t read if you haven’t watched.

Michael

I admit it, I have probably more sympathy for the bad twin than I should. And after the whole S5 I thought we get a bit more closure with him. I didn’t expect a redemption arc, after Michael killed Remiel, Dan and Chloe it would have felt wrong. But after the “Everyone deserves a second chance” the dude is down in hell, scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush. Really, Lucifer? That’s cruel after such a righteous line.

When Luci realized he could help everyone, even if he hated them, I hoped for a dive into the twins’ relationship but it was like Michael didn’t even existed anymore. And if someone needed therapy it would be the twin with the huge inferior complex. That could have been so interesting. (I had hoped that he'd sat on the couch at the end, but noooo we get the Frenchman.. such a disappointment.)

Maybe Tom Ellis didn’t want to play 2 roles again, or there was no time, but I feel that was a huge opportunity wasted.

What even was the plan of Michael? To get God to retire and wreck havoc on earth to get Dad back, so Mickey can take over as the new God? And then what? Wipe out humanity? I see no endgame here.

Ella

I liked Ella’s Story so far. But she stole the personal file of Carol and even broke into his house.. and everybody is cool with this? Carol might be crushing on Ella pretty hard but if somebody tells you they broke into your house, because they feared you were hiding something bad, You run for the hills. But the dude isn’t even phased.

I’m glad Carol is a good guy, though. Even if he’s kind of bland.

Ella finding out the truth on her own came out of nowhere. I would have found it better if they would have her act a little suspicious over the whole S5. But since they wrote S6 while S5 was shot, a little to late for this.

The scene at the wedding was amazing. I had so much fun with her outburst there.

Dan

Ghost!Dan was my favorite by far in this season. And I really liked how he wanted to help and tried to find out what he still felt guilty about.

I am so glad he got to spend his afterlife with Charlotte and I laughed so hard with the pudding. Didn’t expect that, in a positive matter. :D

The scene with Trixie killed me. Bawled so hard as soon as Kevin got teary eyes. That really gripped at my heartstrings.

But how could he go to heaven while in a body of a killer when his daughter stands right next to that killer?

Comedy-wise Dan is top notch

Trixie

I missed her so much.

It felt like she was an afterthought with everything. She recently lost her Dad and Chloe spends most of the time with Lucifer. I really missed the scenes with her and Luci, they always were so adorable.

They explain it later that she’s at a science camp, but I honestly thought Chloe chooses Lucifer (and later Rory too) over her.

She wasn’t at Chloe’s deathbed but here I’m not sure if the scene with Rory isn’t placed somewhere at the threshold to heaven where only celestials are able to enter. But if she wasn’t there because Chloe sidelined her in favor of Rory, then I can understand her absence.

Linda

I love Linda, she always gives good advice but nobody’s ever took it.

Her book probably would fly under the fantasy tag if she ever published it. Still, it felt cringey.

It was so sad that she thought she was a bad therapist.

Apparently she wants to keep helping celestials because it’s better than helping humans. In the end, celestials have the same problems as humans just on a bigger scale. But okay.

Amenadiel

Amenacop was good, and a nice nod to Dan who put in the application.

It made him realize that he only can change things when he has more power. I’m white and no american so I don’t know if the BLM theme there was well enough executed. Got me wondering.

The apocalypse just being Angels who are incompetent was a letdown. Like this whole season.

I really like him as god. And I am glad he took the position in the end. Even if he could have decided this a bit earlier.

Rory

I like her sarcasm and her character.

Didn’t like the whole time travel, time loop and daughter spiel. I’m not a big fan of time travels or couples getting a kid just for the sake of a happy end or to add extra drama. I could have lived without a Deckerstar baby. Instead they could have focused on Trixie for a change.

The time she spent with Lucifer on the 4th August was precious though.

How in hell did the Frenchman capture her? How did he even know how she looked? IIRC Dan hasn’t seen Rory while in that body. Dan just went over to Trixie that’s why I thought he’d capture her and not Rory.

Lucifer

He found his calling to help the souls in hell only because Rory traveled back in time? No man, he already took the step with Jimmy Barnes in preparation to take over as god. I don’t think it’s far fetched to believe that he would have the same epiphany without Rory there.

But without Rory, he wouldn’t have been helping Ghost!Dan to go to heaven. Though, before Rory traveled back in time, Lucifer was already trying to help Dan. They probably would have needed more time to figure out about what Dan felt guilty about, but figure it out anyways.

How did he even got Chloe pregnant? Was it his subconscious deciding he was ready to be a father? Amenadiel had to believe that he was human to get Linda pregnant. Or maybe it’s because they always thought they couldn’t impregnate a human and self-actualized it that way. Anyways, it’s a tiny hang-up I have with it.

Somebody else besides me thought that the scene in the panic room was awkwardly long? I know they thought Lucifer would vanish somehow, but it seemed too much to me.

His singsong while the magician talked about the trick. :D

I don’t want to even get into the whole time loop thing because I think it’s ridiculous(ly bad).

It took a lot of time for him to realize that he didn’t want to be god, after he put it on hold for a second time. Even Chloe could have asked him if that is really what he wanted. Could have spared us an episode or so. Why is the communication on this show so bad? Q.Q

I loved that he helped Maze with Eve to get the wedding back on after their fight.

He didn’t say goodbye to Trixie  - again. What a nice step-devil..

It’s been Chloe, Rory and his family since he found out she’s his daughter. Not even mentioning the one kid who probably loved him before even Chloe fell for him.

For someone who is all about free will and led a rebellion against God for it, he was quick to accept that he has a “fate”. I thought he’d find another way, or at least try to. Nope, he just did what his child wanted. And they disguised it at his “choice”. Doesn’t look like a choice to me if your daughter begs you for it and you have to promise it. Just getting along with what your child wants.

Why does everyone need to shoot him? Just cut him until he bleeds. The Americans and their fixation on guns. Nice parallel to Chloe though.

Lucifer trying to fix the relationship to Rory with gifts was so cringey. I don’t know why but I couldn’t watch him sing/dance in that scene.

Both him and Amenadiel didn’t want to become like their Dad because of the reasons stated in S5, yet Lucifer exactly did. Another letdown.

 

Chloe

As soon as she knew Rory was her and Lucifer’s daughter it was all only about Lucifer and Rory. No thought of Trixie? I understand she was worried about being a bad mother to Rory, but come on, you’re being a bad mother to your first child right now.

She was ready to go to heaven with Lucifer. And Trixie does what exactly without her parents? Living with her Grandma because one of her parent died and the other one is abandoning her? It’s like the writers forgot about Trixie while forcing Rory on us.

The addiction to the necklace got old pretty fast.

And that whole fight against Lucifer felt unnecessary just to add more drama.

She gets mad at Lucifer for not telling her everything while not telling him that she went back to the LAPD. It’s Lucifer, he always has things on his plate. Double moral, pretty much.

She looked so gorgeous at the wedding, oh my god.

Most of the Deckerstar scenes were good. I got tired of the obvious naked cuddle times, surprisingly. Somehow it felt not like the ones in S5 and it bothered me.

I thought Chloe would finally get to know about everything Lucifer did for her, but I didn’t expect her to read it in Linda’s book. And that she only took away that he left her every time they had an emotional breakthrough.

They spend Lucifer’s last day at the beach and once again, no thought of Trixie. I’m sorry I repeat myself here so often. But this whole season wronged Trixie so much.

They face the baddie without any backup.  At least get Amenadiel with you.

Other things

The use of music between scenes was too much for me. Got annoying at some point.

I appreciate that they wanted to show us snippets of past Deckerstar scenes but here too, I felt like it was too much.

Couldn’t really follow the timeline. Maybe it were the cuts.

What’s been the point of bringing Adam into the mix? Just to wrap up Maze and Eve’s story? For Linda having another celestial to therapy?

The animation in the Jimmy Barnes Hell loop was AMAZING. I laughed so hard.

I’m not saying that Deckerstar shouldn’t have sacrificed everything for the time loop to stay intact, I say that the whole daughter-time travel plot shouldn’t have had happened. They never even talked about having kids, and then ignore the whole existence of the one kid that’s already there.

I really need all the Michaella fanfics, please. My first ship that’s actually a raft, because they never officially have met. RIP lmao

The acting was great as usual, all my problems come from the writing and the plot.

In the end, I really feel frustrated, underwhelmed and disappointed by the whole season. I didn’t have high expectations other than the same writing quality like S5. My excitement for that Season died as soon as Rory told Lucifer that she’s his daughter, to be honest. I waited for a plot twist that never came. Then the whole time loop shit.  I’d rather have waited one more year for S6 if the plot would have made more sense, since this felt like a first draft of a whole other show. And now I wished that S5 would have been the last season. If I could travel back in time, I’d rather not watch S6.

I can honestly live with the fact that Luci and Chloe are in hell, trying to help souls to get to heaven. (But hello, not the murderers perhaps? Or I want Michael sitting on that couch right now.) But the fact that both “chose” to sacrifice their time together with their family and friends just because it’s fate now and parents have to make sacrifices for their children; and anyways there’s an afterlife because (human) life is just a blip in our existence… nah thank you. I do not want it.

I’m probably not gonna rewatch S6 anytime soon.

This idea is lowkey fucking BRILLIANT. Piggybacking off of this HC of the LIs running a fanblog about MC…. 

The Arcana babes find out their beloved in-game LI (MC of course) is based on a real person…but make it EXTRA spicey 🔥😳🙊

Warnings: This takes place in a universe where the LIs are horny for you, and where you produce Horny Content. If that’s not something you’re comfortable with, this won’t be your cup of Joe 👌 Descriptions of sex acts and body parts and all that horny jazz.

This is fun, super self-indulgent tomfoolery, so suspend your disbelief folks lol. I banged this out super quick and you can totally tell Daddy Luci was the most fun to write 😂 Enjoy, kittycats

Asra ~

Once he finds out the devs based your character on a real person… that you’re REAL… it takes about ten seconds for him to become your biggest fan both on and off social media

Did. Did you just say. You have. An OnlyFans. Holy FU—

From 0 to Boner in under sixty seconds

Your naughty ASMR work is his favorite, it makes him absolutely melt from how hot it is to finally have a sultry voice to match the face he’s come to love so much

Whether you’re role-playing a romantic partner experience, or purring into the mic about all the nasty ways you want to push his body to its limits, his hand is on his cock and it’s aching for you and you alone

Not saying he eventually finds he can’t cum unless he hears your voice in his ears, but uh…

He’s out at a coffee shop in LA one day when he nearly trips over his own boots. There’s no way in hell that’s really who he thinks it is walking towards the entrance

He almost doesn’t think, he just acts. He quickly tells the batista he’s going to pay for whatever you order, and to add your favorite pastry, as well (you mentioned how much you love apple turnovers once online and he never forgot)

He struggles to seem cool and collected as you approach the counter, and when the batista points over your shoulder at him, you turn and greet him with the most gorgeous grin he’s ever seen—

He’s not expecting to get so much as a hello, let alone a date, but here he is, laying underneath you in your hotel bed, completely at your mercy. This time, your voice in his ear is accompanied by the wet, hot slide of your tongue when you order him to cum for you

Nadia ~

She stumbles upon the interview by accident. She’s scrolling through her timeline in between clients at her law firm, and sees a video snippet that seems out of place on her feed. Why is it tagged as The Arcana?

Well, well, well. What do we have here?

She can’t help but mentally tip her hat at the games illustrators. They almost managed to capture your beauty.

Her eyes widen when you casually mention what a shame it is that the game has no true 18+ scenes, seeing as there are so many nude portraits you’ve posed for that would have been wonderful references…

Even though she’s alone in her corner office, she glances surreptitiously around before somewhat bashfully opening her search engine

When she finds your OnlyFans page, she has to scoff. You could be charging ten times this rate. In fact… Perhaps she might suggest such a thing.

She’s shocked when you actually reply to her message. You’re flattered, you state, but creating erotic art is what drives you, not a dollar sign. But perhaps you’d care to discuss it in person sometime? The merits of art, that is.

She immediately rings her assistant to cancel her engagements this week. Discuss art, indeed.

Julian ~

All two of his braincells promptly vacate the premises when he learns you’re not just a painfully tantalizing work of fiction, but a living, breathing, gorgeous—

Is that a fucking leather harness you’re wearing

He’s never been so close to cumming just from a glance at a single image

His tastes aren’t too outlandish, not for the kind of company he usually keeps. But still, he is absolutely not prepared to see you with riding crop in hand, posing in front of an impressive display of floggers, paddles, rope, canes, collars, plugs, dildos…

He subscribes to all your services. Premium chats, daily photos, the occasional video snippet that he wishes like hell he could lick you clean after

He’s not at all shy about leaving very, very detailed feedback on all your content. Such an vixen deserves to be worshipped with praise

When a chat window pops up one night after your live stream, he falls out of his chair when he sees who it’s from. You really messaging him?

You mention how much you appreciated his response to your toy collection tour video, noting not many of your viewers have expressed such adventurous taste—some of your toys have scared off even devoted subs. Would he perhaps be interested in grabbing a drink sometime?

Julian Brain Cell Counter: 0 of 0 active

Muriel ~

He almost considers quitting the game cold turkey when he finds out

The knowledge that you’re REAL, you’re out there somewhere, wonderful and everything he wants and he can’t have you

It’s just too much. His poor heart can’t take it

He shoots off a quick message to his followers, bidding them farewell. This has all gone too far, he says, and he can’t keep breaking his own heart over someone who doesn’t even know he exists

The first comment reads, “Have you seen their onlyfans tho????”

Let’s be real, Muri has to Google what that even is

And he is… stunned. To say the least.

You do… This? You have one of these? Does that mean you're—

Nope, he’s not going there. He can’t. He won’t and he can’t. But more importantly he won’t.

His resolve is optimistic at best. No fewer than three days later he’s sitting at the computer, credit card in hand

He’s taken aback by your photos. They’re all taken from the point of view of what could be a lover

Sweet candids of you smiling over your shoulder clad only in an open-back apron as you stir a pot on the stove. An image of sun spilling over your bare back as you lay naked utop an unmade bed. Your hands gently towelling yourself off as you step out of a steaming shower.

It’s hard for him to feel guilty when there’s such intimacy to these photos. It’s like he’s there with you, like he’s the one with camera in hand documenting the evidence of your lovemaking

It dominates his thoughts for days, preoccupying his hands and his mind as he dutifully tends to the rows of plants in the nursery he works at. Conversation floats around him unnoticed until—

A customer is asking his coworker what the best way to care for their succulents is, and where they might find soil for their cacti collection

“I can show you,” he blurts out. And that face. That face that colors his dreams. That face is here, really here, right in front of him. Smiling at him the way he’s been dreaming they would

Portia ~

Let’s be real. She stumbled upon your thirst-trap-snaps looong before she made the connection to who you are

But once she does?

Well damn those hit a lil bit different now

Your cheeky little dances are one thing, but she certainly never thought she’d get to see this, uh, behind the scenes footage

She can’t help feeling a little bit naughty when you gaze into the camera as you playfully move onscreen, like you’re looking directly at her

But she has to admit… She kind of likes feeling like you’re teasing her

There’s a lightness, a playfulness, in all the provocative content you create. It’s clear you’re having fun, whether you’re experimenting with some new makeup in nothing but a silk robe, or laughing at how long it’s taking you to learn this new trendy tiktok dance (the way your body moves and shakes makes her weak)

Your silly videos are interspersed with informative, lighthearted toy reviews. Not that you really need to explain what you like about certain ones, your body more than explains what’s so good about them

You upload a cheeky snippet of you flashing the camera from a secluded corner of a small cafe—Portia gasps and hurriedly comments, “Omg that’s The Bean on Main! I love that place! Their Columbian roast is divine (and so is the view, Lovey 👀♥️”

Only a minute later, an incoming message lights up her screen. She gasps, shrieks, and throws her phone across the bed. “PEPI, IT’S THEM, WHAT DO I DO, OH MY GOD—”

She eventually musters the courage to open the message. “You and I must be neighbors!” it reads. “Maybe we’ll see each other at The Bean sometime. This weekend, perhaps?”

Her resulting shriek of excitement sends Pepi zooming out the door and almost wakes the neighbors.

Lucio ~

He’s not shocked when he discovers your character in-game is not a work of fiction, but based on a real life flesh-and-blood being

Even the most talented creator couldn’t conjure your kind of perfection from out of nowhere

He watches all your interview snippets with the game creators, entirely bewitched by the little mannerisms the game couldn’t capture

And, of course, by your face and body. You’re the hottest fucking thing he’s ever seen and he’s not ashamed to say it

He’s also not ashamed to stroke his cock while he watches you discuss topics he considers utterly boring, like game development or how you found yourself modelling for the game. He has an active imagination and it’s not hard to picture those lips of yours devoted to an altogether different kind of task

You mention dabbling in some saucy extracurricular work only in passing, but by the Gods he takes to Google with a quickness

When he finds your profile, he lets out a low wolf-whistle just reading what kind of content you sell. “Fucking hell, baby,” he smiles to himself. “You know exactly what Daddy likes.”

He has an OnlyFans of his own, and briefly wonders if you might consider, uh, collaborating on some work together

But then he scrolls through an itemized list of your interests, and several words flash in his brain like comically huge neon signs

PRIMAL PLAY

He’s shooting off a message before he has time to think

(He, of course, won’t notice the errors in spelling or punctuation)

“Hey gorjus 👀🤩🥵💥💣 wyd all alone in ur vids? Need a helpnh 🖐️??? 😉🔥😈👅🍑 Lemme kno babe, im always down 2 get n tuch w my primal side 💪☠️ oh, && Daddys packin lik i kno uv never seen 💯😎🍆🚨💪💪💦💦💦”

At first you’re not sure if it’s infuriatingly stupid, or somehow charming… But you decide to find out for yourself.

Lucio is, obviously, not surprised when your reply in the affirmative hits his inbox. I mean, he’s Lucio fucking Morgasson 

Hold You, Console You, Really Get to Know You

Fandom: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)

Characters: Ryan Hudson, Nancy Drew

Synopsis: He knew a panic attack when he saw one. He’d had a few of them throughout his life, and he knew that Lucy had too, but he never wanted his child to experience anything like it. Knowing that he and Lucy had passed on this terrible disease to their baby made him feel awful, but at least he knew how to help.

Prompt: Based on a prompt I received from ao3: "Could you do one where, while Ryan is living with them, he sees Nancy having a panic attack and learns she has anxiety and depression she calls him dad as well."

Warnings: Anxiety, Depression, Mental Illness, Panic/Anxiety Attacks

The sky was dark outside the Drew household as Ryan settled himself deep into the couch to watch a documentary on Netflix. Ever since moving in with his daughter and her adoptive father, he’d found that he didn’t mind a quiet night watching television alone now that he knew he wasn’t actually alone.

Living with Nancy and Carson—and subsequently, Bess—was definitely something to adjust to, he’d realized pretty quickly. Not only was he not alone, he now had two people in his life who had their own lives and jobs and places to be. Sometimes that made him anxious and a bit lonely; sometimes, like tonight, he was grateful for the out-of-town trips and girls’ nights.

Carson had left early that morning for a weekend trip to Boston, which didn’t surprise either Hudson descendant. He was still trying to build up his practice again, and neither Ryan nor Nancy were children, so they were capable of taking care of themselves.

When Bess announced at breakfast that morning that they were doing a girls’ night at a local hotel with George, Nancy hadn’t seemed too pleased but had smiled and agreed with the plan. He knew they wanted some time with their newly engaged friend, and though a part of him wished she’d stay home and log some one-on-one father-daughter time with him, he knew he had to take the moments where he could get them.

But as he flipped through the choices onscreen, he was startled by the text that reached his phone. Fumbling to find the device in his pocket, his brow furrowed as a message from Bess lit up in front of him.

“Sorry to bother you. Has Nancy left yet?”

He quickly typed out a reply to his new housemate and waited for her next response. “Uh, no? I thought she was with you.”

Bess’ response took longer than he’d like to come through, but finally, his phone rang again. “Oops, my bad! I forgot that she had to stop for a few things. She probably just got caught up at the store. No need to worry!”

He narrowed his eyes at the words and sat up again. To any other person, this might have sounded like a perfectly reasonable explanation. But they were talking about Nancy Drew, and anything regarding his daughter had extra layers that needed exploring.

He knew she hadn’t seemed too excited about the overnight, but she wasn’t the type of person to blow off her friends like this.

Just as he opened the text message thread he shared with her, a loud thud sounded above him that had him rising from the couch. He knew that Nancy’s room shared a floor/ceiling with the living room and hesitated only briefly.

With everything that she and her friends got into on a daily basis, part of him considered the idea that there was some sort of ghost or being haunting her bedroom. It wouldn’t be entirely out of the question as she’d mentioned seeing Lucy in there more than once, but then he thought back to Bess’ text and found himself moving quickly.

The stairs creaked under his weight as he ascended the stairs, and when he got to the top, he was met with an eerie silence. “Nancy? You here?”

There was no response besides a slight creaking sound that came from within her room. Either Nancy was home, and he’d somehow missed it, or her room was haunted, and he would probably need to call her home anyway.

He wasn’t sure which option he preferred at this point.

“Nance?” Ryan turned the doorknob gently in his hand and was met with a dimly lit room that looked much more disturbed than when he’d seen it that morning.

The first thing he noticed was that her floor was covered in the newspaper clippings and journal entries that had once littered her bulletin board. Then he saw that one of her windows was wide open and paused.

What if someone had broken in? He didn’t have anything to defend himself, and he’d left his phone downstairs, so he couldn’t even call for help.

He was just about to back out of the room and find something to use as a possible weapon when he caught sight of a familiar purse on the floor next to the window and sighed.

No one had broken in, Ryan realized, except for the person whose room he was now standing in.

Walking carefully to the bag, he crouched down to retrieve it and any clue he could find as to why Nancy might have snuck into her own house when he caught sight of her closet door slightly ajar. Sighing heavily, he walked over to it and felt his chest tighten at the scene in front of him.

Nancy sat on the floor, her arms resting on the knees she’d drawn tightly to her chest, with her head hiding in the protective bubble she’d created. Her hands were shaking, and he could see her foot tapping softly in a fast rhythm that kept no beat.

Ryan didn’t speak right away but quietly lowered himself so that he could sit next to her. He shuffled backward so that his back was against the small closet wall and made sure he was close enough where she could feel his presence and not feel crowded by him.

“Hey.” He kept his voice low and calm. “If I had known you wanted to stay here tonight, I could have come up with some excuse for you.”

She didn’t reply or even react, to his light teasing, letting him know that something was seriously wrong with his little girl. It made his chest hurt again.

All he wanted was for her to be happy; he hated seeing her as anything but herself.

“I don’t know what happened today or if there’s even a logical reason for these feelings, but either way, Nancy, I’m here. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere until it passes, okay?”

He knew a panic attack when he saw one. He’d had a few of them throughout his life, and he knew that Lucy had too, but he never wanted his child to experience anything like it. Knowing that he and Lucy had passed on this terrible disease to their baby made him feel awful, but at least he knew how to help.

“It’s too much.”

Looking down at her, Ryan’s brow lifted in curiosity. “What’s too much?”

“I did it again.”

“You did what?” His voice was still quiet and calm, but inside he longed to hold her close and protect her from the world.

She moved then, lifting her head and digging her hands painfully into her hair. “I cursed the town. Again.”

“I thought you guys had fixed the security boxes and had gotten a lot of the spirits that had been let out?” She’d told him and Carson about her desperate attempt to save George and the resulting hauntings that came from it.

She shook her head frantically, and he now saw how pale her face had become. “When…when we reversed the Wraith attachment…I didn’t know it was her.”

“It’s okay….”

She cut him off. “No, it’s not okay. I had to…I had to provide blood to get the machine going again. But I gave too much, and now…now she’s back, and she’s cursed Horseshoe Bay because of me.”

Ryan was extremely lost. “Who is back?”

He chose not to comment on her ‘I gave too much blood’ story for the moment.

“Temperance Hudson. Our ancestor.” She said and only then looked up at him.

Tears swam in her red-rimmed blue eyes, and her bottom lip quivered. Her gaze was desperate, and she looked much younger than the strong twenty-year-old he was privileged enough to see every day.

“Can you just…leave me alone, please?” Her voice shook and was thick with tears.

He shook his head as soon as the words were out. “I can’t do that, Nancy.”

“Please.” She begged him, closing her eyes and letting a waterfall of tears run down her cheeks.

He sighed. “Whatever happened, it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know that would happen, and you needed to use the device to save your life. Whatever comes next, we can deal with it, okay? You’re not alone in this.”

She let out a sob now, and it tore at his heart. “Listen, this might sound weird, but can you do me a favor?” She didn’t respond, so he took that as his cue to continue. “Name five things you know.”

She looked up at him again, this time with confusion on her face, but did as she was told. “Um…uh, I brought our murderous ancestor back from the dead.” He didn’t like that she started with that but let it slide for now. “Carson is out of town. I am supposed to be doing girls’ night with George and Bess right now. You’re sitting next to me. We’re in a closet?”

She said the last part as if she’d just now realized where they were, but he moved forward. “Now, four things you can feel.”

She blinked. “My clothes hanging above my head. My hair in my hands. My shoes are tied too tight.” Then she paused.

“Come on, one more.” He coached her.

She bit her lip and grabbed his hand in her own. “You.”

He felt her squeeze his hand tightly as if she was afraid he wasn’t real and squeezed back. The fact that she’d initiated the touch helped ease the tension in his chest.

“Three things you see.”

“Again, you.” She sent him a weak smile. “My bed. The mess I made on my floor.”

“Okay, two things you can hear.”

She paused again before speaking. “Your voice. My breathing.”

He nodded. “One thing you can either smell or taste.”

“Burnt popcorn?”

“Oh shit.” He’d forgotten about the snack he’d started preparing and hoped the smoke detector didn’t go off.

She chuckled at his comment and slumped against him, seemingly exhausted. “What was that?”

He sighed and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his side. “That was something I learned from my therapist a long time ago. How do you feel now?”

Nancy groaned. “Tired. Worried. Embarrassed.”

“Hey,” He shook his head. “you don’t have anything to be embarrassed about.”

They sat in silence for a moment before he spoke again.

“So, I didn’t know you had anxiety.”

It was her turn to sigh, and she moved out of his touch. Standing, she offered him a hand, and they moved to sit on her bed. Then she moved, so she was leaning against her headboard and looked past him.

“I didn’t, or I thought I didn’t until Ted went missing.”

He looked at her in confusion. “George’s sister?”

The redhead nodded. “Yeah. I, uh, I noticed during that case that there were a lot of similarities to the Rose Turnbull case from when I was younger.”

“Your first case, right?” He remembered reading it in the paper.

And if he had gone to the Horseshoe Bay Gazette and asked for a copy of the original article to keep in his wallet, well…he didn’t tell anyone about it.

“I went back to the warehouse where Nathan Gomber…where I found her that day.” She told him. “Carson came with me, and we pieced together that something happened to me down there, too.”

“Did he hurt you? Gomber. If he put his hands on you….” The surge of panic and fear that rose in his body was stilled by her hand capturing his again.

“No. He didn’t…no.” She thought for a moment. “I heard him speaking to this…thing…in the dark. He called it Si-Simon.”

She was getting worked up again, so he moved closer. “Hey, we don’t have to talk about this if it’s….”

Nancy shook her head. “Simon, uh, he made…he made us forget. That’s what he does to children. He causes them to forget what happened. My parents, they took me to a therapist after that. Carson told me I was so calm when they got there…too calm.”

“What did this Simon make you forget?” He was afraid to know, but he knew she needed to get it out.

Tears filled her eyes again. “I was so scared, Dad.”

His breath caught in his throat at the term. She’d never used it before, and though he hoped she would one day, he hadn’t been prepared for the onslaught of feelings that came with it.

“I thought I was going to die.” She continued. “I never would have seen Carson and Kate again. I would never have met my friends…or you. I would never have known my other father, and it just…I can’t imagine it now.”

“But you didn’t die.” He said, emotion filling the ferocity in his voice. “You beat this Simon. Twice, it sounds like.”

“Yeah, I did.” She swallowed thickly. “When I burned the vigil that Gomber and his girlfriend had built for him, it broke his power and brought all these…these feelings back. Fear, anxiety, despair. I haven’t been able to get away from them since.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you.” He told her sincerely. “I know that doesn’t help you at all, but I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you through it all. I am now.”

She sniffed back the tears and nodded. “Thanks, Dad.”

“You know I love hearing that, but don’t feel like you have to say it. Say it when you’re ready.” He told her.

“I am ready.” She cleared her throat. “It’s nice to have two parents again, and…you are my dad.”

“Yes, I am. And as long as I’m around, I will do everything I can to keep you safe from things like Gomber and Simon. Even Temperance Hudson.” He squeezed her hand again.

A few tears rolled down her cheeks again. “Please. I know you can’t realistically make this promise, but…please don’t leave me. I don’t want to be alone again.”

“Nancy…” He moved so that his knees touched hers and put his hands on her face, forcing her to look directly at him. “I promise. I’m not going anywhere. You’ll never be alone. Ever.”

Then he pulled her to his chest again and held her as she gripped his shirt. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one worried about being alone in this life.

They sat there until she calmed down before pulling away again.

“Hey, you know if you are too wiped out to do girls’ night, I can text Bess and come up with an excuse.” He told her, causing her to smile.

“Thanks, but I think I’m okay now.” She squeezed his hand again. “Maybe tomorrow we could do dinner and watch a movie?”

Now it was his turn to smile. “Definitely.”

He helped her up and waited as she gathered her things. Then he watched from the front door as she backed out of the driveway, waving to him before she drove off.

Moving back to the couch, he picked up his phone and scrolled through the numbers he’d saved to his contacts. They’d changed a bit since he found out Nancy was his daughter—having then added the entire group just in case—but he didn’t mind it. Finding the name he was looking for, he pressed it and settled back against the cushions as he waited for the person to answer.

“Hannah Gruen? Yeah, Ryan Hudson.” He paused. “Uh-huh. I need a favor. I need you to tell me everything you or Nancy and her friends have learned about my ancestor Temperance Hudson.”

He wasn’t sure what he’d learn, but at least he’d be prepared for whatever came next.

Angela’s “Baby Shower” - a The Rookie Fanfic

At 35 weeks pregnant Angela was over it. She was sick of always having to run to the bathroom.  She was done with the fogginess in her brain interfering with her work. She was over the sore back and hips and feet that came from carrying an extra 30 pounds in her abdomen and she was tired of being so tired after being unable to find a comfortable sleeping position. But mostly she just no longer wanted to feel so different. She hated being too exhausted to go out with her friends after shift and even if she was feeling up for it she always had to get water while everyone else got their cocktail of choice. She was frustrated at being unable to bend down easily when investigating crime scenes and having to rely on others to find all the evidence. She also disliked the attention she got because of her pregnancy. Everybody always seemed to be looking at her belly, asking her when she was due, how she was doing and cooing about the joys of parenthood. She was excited about the baby and couldn’t wait to meet her little bundle of joy but she also craved normalcy, to just feel like herself and be a part of the group instead of sticking out like a sore thumb. So when Wesley pitched the idea of a baby shower to celebrate her and their little one, yet to be born, she vetoed that idea fast and hard. When she shared her reasoning her Fiancé nodded.

“I understand where your coming from but you actually gave me a really good idea for a baby shower that I’m sure you’ll love. Do you trust me?” he asked.

She had nodded and agreed to let him throw her a baby shower with the caveat that she could pull the plug at anytime.

Which brought them to the day of the baby shower, a Saturday, two weeks later.  

Wesley had kept the entire thing a surprise so Angela was thoroughly confused as she watched him unpack a number of crates and garbage bags from the truck and bring them into the downtown park where she sat.

“What is all this?” She asked. 

“You’ll see,” he replied giving her a wink. “Once everyone gets here.”

20 minutes later everyone was there. Lucy, Jackson, Tim, Nolan, and Harper. Grey wanted to come but had to work.

“Welcome everyone,” Wes announced, “today we will be competing to see who is the most badass pregnant person.” At this point everyone including Angela was looking at Wesley like he had grown a second head but he pushed on. “There will be three challenges: an escape room, laser tag and a contraction simulator and you will be divided into two teams. Angela as our guest of honour you get to pick your two teammates.”

“Nyla and Lucy,” Angela said immediately. She still didn’t really understand what they were doing but she had the feeling girl power was the way to victory.

Lucy and Harper excitedly moved over to Angela, giving each other high fives.

“Guess that means we’re a team,” Nolan said draping his arms around Jackson and Tim’s shoulders.

“Great,” Tim replied rolling his eyes. Angela wasn’t sure if he was mad because she didn’t choose him or because he wasn’t on the same team as Lucy either way she was looking forward to kicking his butt.

“OK now the last thing to do before we start the competition is to pregnify everyone,” Wesley stated.

“I feel like I should make some sort of joke about how babies are made but I think I’ll wait to see where you’re going with this,” Nolan offered.

“First everyone put one of these on,” Wesley said as he reached into a garbage bag and brought out a handful of wrap baby carriers which he handed out. Once everybody had theirs on he opened the lids of several storage containers.

“Now everyone, come grab a balloon and put them in your carrier.”

“Wow these are heavier than I expected. What’s in them?” Jackson asked as he lifted a balloon out of the tub.

“They’re full of water and some sand,” Wesley answered, “and they each way exactly 30 lbs, the average amount of weight gained in pregnancy. I weighed them myself.”

“Is that why you asked me where the scale was the other night?” Angela asked

Wesley confirmed before moving on. “Next everyone grab a hoodie to put over your bundle of joy,” he said opening another garbage bag.

“It’s at least 80 degrees we don’t need hoodies,” Tim complained.

“It’s to replicate the heat generated by a growing baby,” Wesley replied, “plus I had a lot of fun with them.”

Tim rolled his eyes but obediently put on the last hoodie.

All the hoodies were bright neon colours (Lucy pink, Harper purple, Jackson green, Nolan yellow and Tim blue) and had pregnancy announcements written on the front in thick black letters: ‘Baby on Board’, ‘Coming summer 2021’, ‘Eating for two’, etc. 

“There’s one for you too if you want it Ange, but you don’t have to wear it,” Wesley said. “Now the last thing, well things,” he added bringing out a bottle of Benadryl and stack of medicine cups, “since I can’t give you brain fog I’m just going to make you drowsy. Everybody take a medicine cup and wash it down with one of these,” he said opening a cooler lid to reveal a stack of 1L water bottles, “the whole thing.”

“I’m going to have to pee so bad,” Lucy joked as she started to drink her water.

“That’s the idea,” Wesley replied.

They spent the next 20 minutes finishing their waters, waiting for the Benadryl to kick in and admiring their new ‘bellies’.

Angela laughed as Jackson yelled “belly bump,” while running then jumping towards Lucy who met him in the air before the force knocked them both off their feet. She laughed even harder watching them try and fail to get up on their own until Wesley came to help them. She happily accepted a belly bum from Jackson once he had taken them down a notch (or several) as did everyone else but Nolan who was excessively protecting his fake fetus, shielding his stomach with his arms and body whenever anybody approached. Angela watched her friends, thoroughly entertained by their antics. She was especially enjoying the effect a visibly pregnant Lucy was having on Tim.  He was constantly stealing glances at her and when she smoothed her hoodie over her stomach and asked him how she looked his cheeks flushed and Angela was pretty sure she heard him stutter. This was confirmed by Nyla who had come up beside her and after a quick poke at Tim started reminiscing about her own pregnancy with Lila, which got the two woman talking and comparing notes. She was vaguely aware of Lucy who had taken her phone out and was now taking pictures and videos of everybody but didn’t fully turn her attention back to the others until Wesley said it was time for the first challenge: the escape room.

They walked to the escape room place which was only about a block away with minimal whining and a lot of perplexed looks from passers by. Once they got there they split into their teams and went to their respective rooms. The girls’ room was sorcerer’s lair themed and overall they got through it pretty smoothly. They had a few bumps in the road: by 20 minutes in they were all crossing their legs trying to hold their pee, Lucy fell asleep once while sitting at a table trying to decode a message and Nyla debated trying to use one of the magic wands in their room to pop her balloon. “Now I remember why I only had one. This was not easy,” she said as she slid down the wall to sit on the floor. But overall they worked together really well and had a lot of fun just talking about anything and everything as they solved all the puzzles and escaped the room. 

 When the girls were done, after a quick trip to the bathroom, they joined Wesley in the control booth to watch the guys via video and they seemed to be having a much harder time.  Jackson was trying to decode the message Lucy had but was becoming visibly more and more frustrated as he rubbed his temples and verbally demanded and pleaded with his brain to work. Nolan was trying to bend down to open a trap door (Angela had opened theirs with a broom handle) but couldn’t quite reach it without nearly falling over. After many failed attempts he eventually used the chair as a support bar to lower himself to the ground then push himself back up once the door was open. Meanwhile Tim kept swearing under his breath as he accidentally knocked various things off shelves and tables with his fake belly when he forgot how far out it reached. Luckily one of the things he knocked off opened when it hit the floor to reveal a key they needed to escape the room, which Nolan was able to retrieve with his new chair technique. Shortly after, Jackson succeeded in decoding his clue and from there they proceeded to finish the room pretty quickly and easily.

After another bathroom break they headed to the food trucks for a quick lunch where they mostly sat in content silence as everyone happily shovelled food into their mouths. This silence was only punctuated by the occasional comment that was either gloating or trash talk or by Tim barking “What are you looking at?” at people eyeing the group.

Next they headed to laser tag. Which Wesley had booked privately, so they had the whole place to themselves. The rules were simple every time you shot a member of the opposing team your team earned a point. First team to 30 won. Everybody seemed to have a good time. Angela laughed at her friends as they tried to sneak up on or out run each other, both techniques that were being significantly impacted by their fake pregnancies. Nolan at one point declared that the more aggressively you waddled the faster you could go and spent the rest of the game darting around like a mad penguin. He was ultimately successful in getting 6 points for his team using this technique which was significantly more than the 1 point he got before implementing it. Jackson on the other hand found a good hiding place in a high traffic area and would shoot the opposing team anytime they came by. Although initially this strategy was very successful and he quickly racked up 10 points, once the ladies realized their vests always lit up red when they passed that area they made a plan and were able to all find and corner him in his hiding spot. By the time he got away they had got 10 points themselves. Tim tried to use a lot of the same techniques he used at work or at paintball but unfortunately for him, although  they were efficient Lucy knew all of them and was able to use that knowledge to her advantage. The girls took a different approach and worked more as a team. They used some techniques from work and also had fun designing and implementing crazy plans, including one of them acting as bait to lure the guys in and the other two blind-siding them. When all was said and done the guys won 30-29. The girls attributed this to Tim and Nolan’s height advantage. They were able to see over all the obstacles but it could also be that the girls were having a little to much fun making elaborate plans that weren’t necessarily the most practical (the gun tricks looked cool but significantly decreased their shooting accuracy). Nonetheless, Angela had the greatest total points with 16. 

Following laser tag everybody was really happy but also extremely exhausted and they outright refused to walk the ten minutes back to the park despite the fact that because they were downtown it would take twice as long to drive their in traffic. While everybody went pee again Wesley walked back and brought the van. 

“I call middle row,” Harper yelled as Wesley pulled into the parking lot. 

“Me too,” West added. 

Angela took the passenger seat which left Nolan, Lucy and Tim to squeeze into the back row. Because Lucy was the smallest she was forced to take the middle seat but it didn’t seem to matter to her as she fell asleep almost immediately and spent the 20 minute ride leaning against Tim, head on his shoulder. They woke her up once they were back at the park but only after they had taken a couple pictures. 

Once they all got out of the van Wesley told them they could take off their hoodies and fake bellies. Tim and  Nyla quickly took off their stuff and helped Wesley set up for the labour simulation. Meanwhile the three newly minted P2’s goofed around. Nolan pretended to be giving birth taking quick breaths and squeezing Lucy’s hand as he pushed his balloon out the bottom of the carrier where Jackson caught it. Then working together the three of them lifted the balloon above their heads and belted out ‘The Circle of Life.’ Following the end of their song they too quickly shed their layers then went to join the rest of the group gathered in front of a folding beach chair that had been set up. 

“Alright everyone welcome to the final and tie-breaking event,” Wesley announced.

“Tied?” Angela questioned. “We beat the guys by at least half an hour in the escape room and they only beat us by one point at laser tag. We are winning.” 

“That’s not how this works babe. But don’t worry because you will be sitting this one out because you have to go through real labor in a couple weeks, I will be taking your spot and I will make sure your team wins.”

“You better,” Angela replied teasingly.

“Alright this is the labour simulator,” Wesley explained holding up a small device, “We stick these electrodes to your stomach and this machine will deliver electricity which will result in fake contracts that range in intensity from 1-10,” he pointed to a dial on the machine. “According to the instruction book 1 is like mild period cramps, 4 is Braxton-Hicks contractions, 8 is full blown labour and 10 is just full blown torture. Whichever team can tolerate the highest combined score wins. Oh and tolerate means experience that setting for at least ten seconds without ripping the leads off your body. Any questions?” When everybody shook their heads he continued. “Who wants to go first?”

“I will,“ Jackson offered making his way to the chair. Wesley stuck the electrodes to his abdomen then he was ready to go. 

He jumped initially on the first setting since he had no idea what to expect but after that he was pretty calm just clenching his jaw as the pain was increased. That is until he got to 6.

“Can I hold somebody’s hand?” he asked, “That’s a thing, right?”

Both Lucy and Nolan immediately stood up.

“How about two hands,” Nolan suggested seeing this.

“Even better,” Jackson replied intertwining his left hand with Nolan’s and his right with Lucy’s. 

This was enough to get him through 7 and 8 as he channeled all his pain into his friends, crushing their hands, but one second into 9 and he immediately pulled the leads off.

“Great job Jackson,” Wesley said as everyone patted him on the back, “Who’s next.”

Lucy went next and didn’t so much as flinch until 5 at which point she decided she was going to try meditation. This helped her through 6 and 7 at which point she too wanted hands to squish. Although both Jackson and Nolan offered, Lucy’ teammates decided it was their job. Between crushing her friends hands and focusing on her breathing she got through 8 rather easily. She clearly struggled more with 9. Jackson, Nolan and Wes were counting down. “Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven,” Angela felt Lucy’s grip loosen in her own. She was going to pull off the leads that is until Tim spoke up, “Come on Chen. You’ve got this. You’re strong,” he said and Lucy’s grip tightened back around Angela’s. “Three, Two, One, Done.” Everybody cheered as Lucy released her team mates hands and opened her eyes. “Sorry team but that’s enough for me I’m not trying 10,” she said as she removed the electrodes from her stomach.

“You did great,” Angela said and patted Lucy’s shoulder.

Tim went next. Rather than closing his eyes he fixed his glare on the machine in Wesley’s hand as if he could intimidate it in to giving up.  He also refused to hold anyone’s hand and instead gripped the armrests of the chair. By the time he got to 8 he was gripping so hard he broke the arm of the chair but still some how managed to maintain a near neutral expression throughout the entire experience. At this point Lucy insisted on holding the hand that had broken the chair. When he pointed out that he was worried he would hurt her she stubbornly grabbed his hand in both of hers, “I’m strong, remember.” With Lucy’s help Tim too made it through 9 and like his former rookie decided to end it there.

Harper went next. Although she was clearly in pain she was able to do 10 by focusing on her breathing, holding her friends hands and thinking about Lila. 

“How did you do that?” Jackson asked awe in his voice.

“When I was in labour with Lila I had contractions that were at least the intensity of 8 that lasted a minute each for like eight hours. One ten second one is a piece of cake.”

“You didn’t have an epidural?” Nolan asked

Harper shook her head, “I was being stubborn. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.”

“You’re very impressive, but I have nothing to prove to anyone. I’m getting an epidural,” Angela offered. 

“You do what’s right for you,” Nyla replied patting her friend on the back, “ You’re going to do great.”

Nolan went next. He was practically jumping out of the chair by the time it got to 6 and at 7 he was writhing around so much he actually managed to tip the chair over. The fact that he ended up in a tangled mess on the ground was probably the only reason he made it through 7 without ripping the electrodes off. He did his best on 8 but despite having everyone around him either holding his hand or holding him down he only made it five seconds.

“OK the guys got 7+8+9 that’s 24. We already have 19 so all you have to do is get through 6 babe,” Angela said to Wesley.

It should have been easy. The pain wasn’t that bad, but it was in his abdomen and it was just a little too similar to the pain he experienced when he was stabbed. He was starting to get flashbacks but he wanted to do this for his fiancé, the love of his life and mother to his unborn child. He was going to do this for Angela even when she told him it was OK, that she understood, that he didn’t need to push through this trauma for her but he wanted to. So despite the fact that his whole body was pale, we was dripping with sweat, dizzy and short of breath with tears streaming down his face he pushed through his ten seconds at 6 with steely determination. At this point Angela pulled off the electrodes for him then pulled him into a hug. All her friends wrapped themselves around the couple and they stayed like that until Wesley was feeling better. 

“I didn’t get any prizes so bragging rights will have to be enough,” Wesley admitted.

“The day was prize enough,” Lucy offered, “I had a blast, we should do stuff like this more often.”

“Does that mean you’re not going to rub it in?” Jackson asked.

“Not a chance,” she replied.

“How about because we won we get to meet the baby first?” Nyla suggested.

“That’s fair,” Angela agreed, “but what do I get?”

“Presents,” Nyla said handing Angela her baby shower present. 

After Angela opened her presents which mostly consisted of clothes and books and toys for the new baby everybody headed home to get some rest.

“Thank-you,” Angela said giving Wes a quick kiss, “For today. I really needed it.”

And she meant it. She had been feeling alone, helpless, and inadequate. But today reminded her about all the people who love her, about the strength that comes with working together. It reminded her that it’s ok to be imperfect, stressed, struggling but also to be goofy, to let loose and have fun. After today she finally felt like her self again and that woman was going to be a great mother.  

Happy Tuesday :) Ep been wanting to get to. Anytime we get little more depth to them and Tim as a character I’m a happy girl. I forgot s2 only has 20 not 22 eps HA We’re almost done which is insane to me. Feel like we just started s2. So after this one we have 3 left in this season. What a trip. Let’s delve in shall we?

2x17 Control

Thanks to Nolan our couple starts their day off with some foot patrol. Grey wants them more engaged with the community. Tim lets her know that while he finds foot patrol annoying he agrees this is important to do. That it creates trust and likability therefore they get more help. Lucy seems real impressed with his answer. I always love when Tim impresses Lucy with his insight. Also when she makes sure he knows how enlightened she finds him. She's hot for Tim in these moments haha

Lucy loves when he shows her his moral compass about this stuff. I said it last review Tim as a person is very attractive. It's definitely huge part of her draw to him. A random guy comes up to them asking for legal advice. They stop and address him. Lucy fully expects Tim to answer this man’s question. I’m rolling when he tells this guy they’re movie extras’. Lucy’s double take is too damn funny. How she kept a straight face idk. He’s such a grumpy old man sometimesI love it. Or as Aaron says in s5 he’s like the old dude from 'UP' LMFAO I love you Timothy Bradford haha

Lucy's smile when he tells her they’re not google is too cute. We all know she loves her grump of a man. She’s enjoying him cracking a joke with a side of heart eyes to go with that smile. Look at him cracking jokes. So proud. Their comfortability level at this point is off the charts. His sense of humor is so fun to see. (He cracked me up too. I laugh every time.)This came out all on its own. I love him so easily making one around her. Lucy is quite amused and enjoying it herself.

Side notes I love about this scene. The ever wonderful height difference I legit can’t get enough. How damn in-sync they are as they’re walking together. Honestly the entire scene. Look at them. Lastly a fan favorite the the lack of personal space. Within inches of each other at all times. Like moths drawn to a flame. Always gravitating back to one another. Their physical chemistry without touching always floors me.

We rejoin them still on foot patrol. Lucy asking Tim if Rachel was disappointed she canceled on her last night? Trying to justify to Tim why she ended up bailing on their bar plans. Clearly residual PTSD from Caleb manifesting into her doing this. She’s clearly wanting to be relieved of the guilt she feels for canceling on her.

Tim is usually that person for her with his insight and telling her like it is. Not this time...She doesn’t get the reply she wants unfortunately. Just Tim being a lying liar who lies, when he says they don’t ever talk about her. Ok honey we believe you…I’m sure he actually talks about her more than Rachel would like. Lucy is offended with his cavalier answer LOL

Their convo gets interrupted by a dope stealing Girl Scout cookies. He runs and ends up in someone’s windshield. One of the little girls shows up from the troop to help them. Tells them they can use her scarf and pen as a tourniquet. Even tells Lucy where to apply it. Pretty impressive composure for a kid haha

Tim’s face is my favorite part when she asks if she can get a badge for this? He’s not sure what shocks him more. Her knowing how to do this or asking for a badge for it haha Lucy’s smile back at Tim is pretty cute. I feel like this will be them as parents when their kid does something that shocks them haha

The fire dept. arrives and so does Emmett Lang. Not gonna lie everyone he is smokin. I remember first time I watched this episode, I was thinking holy hell this man is attractive. Lucy deserved someone on this level of hotness to re-enter the dating world with. He is instantly flirty with Lucy. Telling her his condolences for Tim being her T.O. (good thing Tim misses this part ha) Lucy has zero problems flirting right back with him.

Honestly good for her. This is so needed post-Caleb. She’s crashing Jackson’s date plans and canceling on Rachel. She needed something to get her back on her feet. Just like Rachel was the perfect person for Tim post-Isabel. Emmett was for Lucy in the aftermath of 2x11. Girl needed a win and to feel it was ok to re-integrate back into the world of dating. Quite the score to start back up with if I do say so myself ha

They flirt some more at the hospital. Emmett basically asks her out and Lucy panics. Lies says she has something going on. Oh my girl. That PTSD is showing and I can’t blame her. Just hate seeing it affect her. Tim comes up and says it’s time to go. He says bye to Emmett and Lucy makes the connection they know each other. So she leans on her lifeline since she’s having doubts.

Tries to ask Tim about Emmett. Says he seems nice. Trying to get a beat on him through Tim’s eyes. Tim doesn't understand her line of questioning at first. Just giving short answers that give her no depth. He's thinking nothing of it until she gives him that look above. Then he quickly pieces together what this is.

He instantly disengages about it. Telling her 'No.' Not S1 Tim 'I could care less about your life.' disengaged. More 'I don’t trust myself to give you the right advice.' kind of distance. He wants no part of this. Lucy seems so upset he won’t talk to her about this. This scene is funny in how he cuts it off. How upset she seems. The pointing of his finger. Sadly we know the deep kernel of truth he feels to that final line of the scene.

The weight he’s still carrying around about her abduction. He doesn’t trust himself to vet Emmett for her. Since in his mind he failed so spectacularly with Caleb. He’d rather pass that emotional responsibility off to someone else. The weight that’s already on his soul is crushing...he can’t add to the load. Oh my broken boy. I wanna give you the biggest hug.

Lucy breaks my heart when Jackson tells her he needs alone time with Sterling. Lucy realizes she’s a third wheel. Has been for awhile now. She is horrified by this. Luckily Tim saves her with an OT opportunity. Joining the DEA operation Nolan and Harper are running. Lucy instantly jumps on it. She looks so upset walking away from Jackson. My poor girl. I want to give her a hug. I wanna hug them both in this one. This OP was blessing in disguise for her to do though. We get the best part of the episode during the stakeout.

Lucy is "on the phone" with Rachel saying all the things she wishes Tim would engage her on. He’s shaking his head as she rambles on. It’s so funny. Telling “Rachel” she’s been using Jackson and Sterling as a crutch. That together they make the perfect BF. Saying how they’re safe and that's why she keeps choosing them. My heart. Tim interjects 'Who are you talking to? 'Cause he knows it’s not Rachel.

John interrupts asking if they want coffee? He is going on a run. Lucy is her adorable self and asks for a chai tea latte all excited. Tim cuts her off saying this is a stakeout he's not going to Starbucks LOL Lucy rolls her eyes at him. He’s such an ass sometimes but I love him dearly rough edges and all. John is so sweet tells her he’ll see if he can find her some vanilla creamer LMAO

Lucy returns instantly to her fake convo and Tim can’t take it any longer. Has to call her out in the most Tim Bradford way he can. By calling her and proving she isn’t on the phone…Lucy is mortified but answers LOL Poor girl she just wants to talk it out with her person. I’m a lot like Lucy in the way that I need to talk things out. If I don’t they’ll eat me alive. I have a compulsive need to confront things and not let them fester.

It’s good to have that person you can talk it out with. If you don’t you start to self advise and that’s never good. Tim is that for her. Her sounding board. To her she has a problem she reaches for the lifeline that is Tim to sort it out. So him denying her that catharsis is messing with her. Why she created this fake convo. It got his attention so in the end it worked.

What kills me the most with this scene is both their reactions honestly. Lucy for being utterly shocked Tim would think his opinion had lost any value post-Caleb. To her it never ever occurred to place any blame on him. To trust his gut or opinion any less because of her DOD trauma. Breaks my heart Tim doesn’t see this before they have this conversation. That he truly believes his opinion has lost its value in her eyes after Caleb.

Lucy is astonished he would think she doesn't want his POV. She lives for it. Its the most important one in her life. Tim is so very vulnerable with her with his follow up answer. So proud of him for this vulnerability BTW. Nothing scarier than being emotionally exposed with another person. You can see it written all his face. That guard is down. We see the toll this guilt has taken on him. He unburdens his soul to her. Tells what has been eating at him for months.

That his advice pushed her towards something that could’ve ended her life. Since then he has devalued his place in her life. Doesn’t find himself worthy to advise her in personal matters. He fought against it for so long. Then he gave in and Caleb happened. In his mind proving why he never should’ve gotten involved in the first place. Chiding himself for getting close to her and having that closeness which put her in danger.

Lucy truly had no idea the guilt he'd been carrying since 2x11. It’s six episodes later. At the earliest that's 6 weeks at the most its a little over 2 months if we include her recovery time. The latter is the more likely timeline. That’s a long time to be carrying a burden she never placed on him. She can't stand that he's done this to himself. Lucy immediately wants to put him at ease. Trying to offload that burden and chuck it far away. It never once crossed her mind he would take the sole responsibility. Because not for one second did she ever blame him for it.

She vehemently reassures him it wasn’t his fault. He could be told by everyone under the sun it wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t going to stop mentally flogging himself till Lucy forgave him. She is all the things he needs in this moment. Letting him know she thinks it’s ridiculous he would blame himself, that no one had any reason to suspect Caleb for what he was, and overall what happened wasn’t on him. Lucy is taking that weight off his shoulders and throwing it away. Never allowing him to pick it back up again.

He looks so damn relieved and honestly very vulnerable after she absolves him. It helps him start to close a self inflicted wound. Eric the king of facial expressions killing me softly in this scene. His eyes and the way he looks at her when she said wasn’t his fault. *heart clutch* He couldn’t even look at her till she said that. Then when he does he's in awe of her. Like he can't believe she doesn't blame him but is so grateful for her saying as such.

I love her also sharing it wasn’t hers either. It was not at all. (Growth for her too.) Looks like he's biting back his emotions when she lets Tim know how valued his opinion is. It's so sweet. He needed his sunshine human to apply some balm to his wounds. No one does it better than Lucy. She’s complimenting him while also reliving him of the guilt he’s been harboring for much longer than she would’ve liked.

Had she known this she would’ve absolved him the day after honestly. No way she would've wanted him carrying this guilt day in and day out. Her opinion matters so much to him. He NEEDED to hear her say these words. It had to come straight from Lucy or he’d never let it go. She reassured him that not only did she not blame him but his opinion was one that matters most to her. Two things that were in question for him. Quelled the storm in his soul.

It’s scenes like this that are the true building blocks to their foundation. Why they end up working so well in s5. I will die on this hill of loving every single moment of this slow burn. I’m so glad we had 4 seasons to truly make them rock solid. It was so necessary for them as a couple. I don’t regret the wait at all. Because piece by piece they were building toward ‘The Really Beautiful Place’ Lucy calls their relationship in 5x18. Everything happens for a reason for them before we get there. This is just another wonderful facet of it.

The minute he’s granted access and allowance to give her advice he doesn’t hold back. His way of showing he cares too. I love them so much for their ability to just bounce back like they do. After a deeply emotional and vulnerable chat they're right back to the banter. Easily fall back into teasing one another. Tim basically says in not so many words Emmett isn’t good enough for her.(I mean no one is but Tim lets be honest.)

Lucy probes and asks why he thinks that? Tim doesn't hesitate in the slightest. Saying he’s a firefighter for god sakes LMFAO. Clearly has a prejudice against them. For whatever Tim reason that may be. Lucy being all cute saying 'Yeah that’s what makes him so hot.' ha She’s not wrong the man is fine af.

Tim gets defensive and says he doesn’t want to talk about this if she gonna be contrarian about it. Which is Tim speak for being jealous let’s be real honest. Lucy doesn’t hesitate to call him out on it. God I love her. Jokes he’s just threatened by his ‘hunkiness’ I mean he is….his reaction alone proves that he is. It’s ok Tim she still thinks you’re smokin too. She just can’t have you just yet haha

I love them ending this scene on a funny bantery note. Shows how much Tim cares about her. The fact that he is allowing this conversation to even take place proves that. Indulging her in this. They’re so married with their banter. I Iove them sfm. Soulmate behavior the way she teases him about everything and he allows (and loves) it. We leave the scene smiling and laughing at these blissfully unaware idiots in love.

Harper has Lucy and Tim chase what they think is the decoy vehicle once their stakeout is made. They soon realize the decoy vehicle has their target and Nolan’s CI. They end up getting T-Boned in the pursuit of it. Hurts to watch. They're both knocked out cold. I adore how the first thing Tim asks when he comes to is if she’s alright. Always puts her first. The soft way he says ‘Chen’ then asks if she’s ok. It’s the little things I love so very much. ❤️

Emmett arrives on scene flirty as ever with Lucy. She decides to be honest with him. Tells him why she declined his date offer. That her social life is complicated right now. He is smooth af with his reply. Tells her once it’s not he’ll still be interested. Their scene ends pretty cute. This is so good for her. I’m really happy to see her get back out there. She really needed him to help her get over her DOD hump. Just like it’s nice to see Tim happy the same goes for Lucy. I love them both individually as as much as I do together. This cute flirt session is well deserved after all the trauma she’s been through.

Thus ends our episode for them. Such a damn good one for them. I love their building block episodes. They do depth and growth like no other. How I love them so.

Side Notes-Non Chenford

Nice to see Angela get her foot back in the door for Detective. Well earned after her fallout in S1.

Harper SL's and her backstory. Getting to watch her in UC action always fun to watch.

Thank you to those who take the time to like/comment and reblog. Means the world to me. Fuels me to do each review.

See you all in 2x18 :)

More Funny Little Moments #1: Season 1, Episodes 1-12

So, I decided to do this post after all. Halp. LOL Because I apparently LOVE giving myself a bunch of unnecessary work, I decided to choose two to three extra moments, per episode! SUPER halp! X’D Anyway, these are moments that didn’t make the cut for my FFLM series because: my sense of humor is a little weird, they were gonna be too much work (LOL/Siiigh), I like to highlight patterns, and I don’t like a lot of repetition. [Links to each FFLM along the bottom of the post. :)]

Let’s start with something I originally agreed with other fans on but have since changed my mind. A lot of people didn’t like this part of “Chariots of War” because it seems so ludicrous that Xena would forget her chakram anywhere. Well, let me tell you! This lady has left her weapons behind most episodes thus far. I didn’t note it every time here (and especially didn’t bother with her whip) because that’d really overrun the post buuuuut… You’ll see. XD

1.01 Sins of the Past

Xena’s shift being so much dirtier than the little boy’s clothes though she’s high up off the ground, and he lives in smoked-out rubble.

Yup. Xena forgot her sword (and later, her main saddlebag) at her mother’s tavern. Pft.

Sorry these were kinda lame, but I didn’t want to re-use any more of the original fifteen points I made about this episode... Ah well. Moving on! (heh)

1.02 Chariots of War

Xena loses her sword after the chariot crash, taking up and discarding Sphaerus’s but walking off without her own. (See her front and back and both of Argo’s sides.)

Gabrielle chewing Xena out, Xena being bummed about it, and Argo being surprised. X’D

1.03 Dreamworker

This got me good. Gabrielle does Xena’s war cry so well here that I really thought it was Xena for a few seconds. Realizing it was GabbyWabs only made me chuckle more because she apparently can’t do it when it really counts in “The Greater Good.”

Argo NOT being on Team Gabrielle. XD (Their feud is a little funny to me.)

1.04 Cradle of Hope

Xena tossing aside her sword after killing Nemos. Extras even dance and celebrate right on top of it! Wut thuh?

I decided to avoid mentioning Hope in the FFLM because Xena’s quote here is more ironic than comedic, and Gabrielle’s little face is just so sad, but I didn’t want to let it pass by entirely unremarked upon. At least GW gets to show off her oracle skills again? :’)

1.05 The Path Not Taken

So, Xena and Gabrielle walk into a bar… Heh. No, but really, they enter this tavern for the first time ever, yet the bartender not only knows what they want, he knows that they’re coming and has their drinks waiting for them too. All Xena has to do is knock on the counter and nod to get her fire-breath alcohol/oil, and Gabrielle barely has the word “cider” out of her mouth before the guy hands it to her. Xena, like me, is duly amazed.

Lucy, through Xena, making another timely anti-peanut statement. I just didn’t want to do the same thing twice back-to-back in the FFLM. X)

1.06 The Reckoning

Gabrielle thinking along the same lines Xena and I did about this poor excuse for a judge.

Me not being well-versed in ancient Greek heroes and picturing the fool who Draco killed so handily in the first episode. heh

1.07 The Titans

I’ll let Xena explain this one. …Mostly. I can’t believe Gabrielle not only sassed the Titans such that she unashamedly put Xena and Phyleus in danger too, but also kinda got this (admittedly awful) town demolished and didn’t lift a finger to actually help anyone in the temple. Tsk tsk. XP

So… Hyperion here can smash homes and businesses that were probably well-built and reinforced and all, but he can’t get his hand out of a stocks-cuff that was made in a single evening with scraps from those destroyed buildings. He also, inexplicably, has no use of his left hand or the power-breath that he used to knock Gabrielle over. Okie. XD

1.08 Prometheus

Is this really a thing? I was giggling quite a bit in disbelief that severed windpipes can heal. Like, perforated is one thing; completely bisected? Yeah, I don’t think so.

Gabrielle being incredulous upon learning that Xena has other friends, realizing what the warrior princess means, and then wondering if that could be her one day. 

   1.09 Death in Chains

Gabrielle enjoying watching Xena kill someone for the first time, then quickly realizing that fact. Whoops.

I found this moment really odd and then kind of hilarious. This poor dying old woman begs for water and goes ignored not only by the hospice workers, but also Talus and Gabrielle. Then Talus decides to be helpful. Gabrielle goes to the woman and lets her talk a lot (undoubtedly drying her mouth and throat even more), hears that Xena might be in danger, and then just… leaves. Talus goes with her, not having gotten water from the well after all. What a couple of jerks! XD

1.10 Hooves & Harlots

I really don’t know why Gabrielle kept making this face as Terreis died, but it tickled my funny bone too. So, I provided alternate subs to go with it. [Did you notice how she kind of cringes when Terreis tries to hold her hand and then just lets the Amazon flop once she’s died, flinging her hand aside like, “Ew, get it off me!”? What was that all about? X”) Hm… maybe she has an aversion to dying people, and that’s why she abandoned the old lady last episode?]

Gabrielle being a smart aleck, just like me, because Phantes’s complaint here is so ludicrous. But then you see the close-up of little hoofies in cuffs too, and, if you’re anything like me too, kinda just topple over laughing. The poor actual horse they did this to, though, man! What even?

Gosh, this episode was chockfull of hilarity, eh? Why did this happen? Gabby, take it away!

1.11 The Black Wolf

I laughed at this too. But now I wonder. Is Xerxes related to Caesar and/or connected to Rome or something? Because Xena does this twice around them too. In “When in Rome,” she jokes that the two guards lost playing tag with her, and in “A Good Day” she informs Pompey that if there were more guards hiding around their meeting space, then she would have had more helmets. heh Oh, Xenie. I think I know why Gabrielle’s turning out to be such a little punk ...or vice versa? Is Gabrielle actually a bit of a bad influence on Xena? XP

So, this fight just struck me as really odd. Xena passes her sword to Flora though she (Xena) needs to battle the big boss of the episode, and… actually, is totally right. The king throws a single wide-ass punch, waits while Xena kicks the guy behind her a few times, lets himself get kicked in the face a couple of times, and then comes at her with a little piece of chain, presumably from the restraints that were intended to keep Flora in place during her execution. Sir, you have a sword! A giant sword, right there on your hip! What are you doing? Then, when Xena kicks him a final time and sends him flying, his (supposed-to-be) metal armor is no match for the splintered wood of the axe she broke earlier. …Okie. XD XD XD   *gif below*

Xena once again leaves her chakram somewhere. …And I am now imagining this being part of Gabrielle’s maid duties: the poor kid has to go find Xena’s weapons each night and bring them back to her. I’m especially imaging the fluffball hilariously, adorably struggling to get the chakram out of things like this wall, as she did with Xena’s sword in the tree stump in “Dreamworker,” but more parallel to the floor. Cuuuute! XD

This plus this 

*pic + GIF below*:

1.12 Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts

This scene too really made me wonder, though amused as well. Why is Gabrielle so surprised that the only city nearby, that they were headed to, is the one they find? Is she really being that loud? Is Xena goofing around with the bootlaces question? Why startle Gabrielle and then yank her into enemy territory screaming, when what you want is quiet? What’s with the trapdoor-spider soldiers? Xena’s pose throwing the chakram. XD Gabrielle mostly featherlight dance-y moves through the battlefield. XD XD XD Why is it that when Xena tells Gabrielle to stick right behind her, Gabrielle disappears? And what was with the bucket-sitting soldier? Gabrielle is like, “Oh; no, thank you!” when she sees him and turns tail. Then Xena ...follows her. “We’re goin’ this way! Now we’re goin’ that way!” But they still end up dead-ahead from where they burst out of the bushes. XD That was ridiculous and nonsensical, and I’m very confused but had lots of fun. heheheh  *gif below* [ETA: Darn! The original file was too big, so I had to remake the GIF and cut quite a few things out. :( Sorry]

Xena’s outta-nowhere crusade to emasculate Deiphobus coming full-circle. What was that all about?

Welp, I hope you had as much fun as I originally and then later did. Not so much in the middle with the collage-and-GIF-making and editing and redoing, but; y’know. XD Wouldn’t trade it for …Hm… Nevermind. LOL

If you missed any of the FFLMs, then please click on the corresponding number-links below. :D

#1  #2  #3  #4  #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12

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Once Upon A Time Rewatch: 6x22 The Final Battle Part II

Omg! Last episode of season 6! 

Wait, what? Lucy escaped the curse? How? I could have sworn she was cursed like everyone else.

I feel like they changed some things about the s7 curse between this season and the next. How could Lucy take the book to her mother when her mother was swept up by the curse. Oh wait! Now I remember! Henry hadn’t been taken by the curse yet! He was kidnapped by the Coven of the Eight. That’s where he went. 

Omg, how extra, putting the remains of the burnt storybook on Henry’s hospital plate xD.

Oh yeah! If the fairytale characters don’t exist then Emma can’t exist either! But then neither can Henry since both his parents are from that world. You’d think the Black Fairy and her descendants wouldn’t exist either but maybe she put some kind of blood protection on them, inadvertently protecting Henry in the process.

Goodness, as if that beanstalk wasn’t difficult enough to hold onto!

Oh! I forgot Hook fell! I thought it was David who fell!

Oh snap! There goes the beanstalk! Hold on David!

How the hell is Hook okay after that fall?! I’m 90% sure this dude has horcruxes at this point.

Emma’s old apartment!! The door! Omg we haven’t seen it since the pilot! My heart!

Damn, Hook should have used that bean straight away. I would have personally loved it if Emma’s parents used the bean to go through the portal, fully dressed in fairytale attire. I wonder how Emma would have reacted. 

David!!

One last Snowing true loves kiss :’). 

God I love them.

So was Rumple never under the curse? He seemed to be. I wonder what woke him up if he was.

Was Charming’s original sword restored with the curse? I’m sure the hilt was broken of in 3b.

Who’s taking care of baby Robin and Neal?

Is Regina gonna kiss herself? This scene feels weirdly romantic.

The show began with The Evil Queen casting a curse, now she’s protecting the kingdom from one.

No way can everyone in the Enchanted Forest and Oz fit in that one circle on the castle floor. 

Okay but Zelena and Regina holding each other is going to kill me. I love how far they’ve come! 

Go Henry!

Emma came back!

God, I feel for Belle. Have dealt with agoraphobia and didn’t leave the house for 2 years a few years ago. It’s horrible. Could this be the cursed Belle from the 1st curse?

Gideon is so disturbed by the Black Fairy lol.

How is she gonna break the laws of magic after the final battle? Please explain show!

Emma and Gideon’s fight was cool and all but I mean, we’ve seen them two duel in the exact same location before. A magic battle between Emma and the Black Fairy or Emma and Rumple would have been cooler.

Why do they always turn villains to dust. Just let them die normally. It happens too often. 

The curse is broken because Rumple killed the Black Fairy? I suppose because of Emma’s belief as well.

Go Henry! 

Emma just went to get her hat in the middle of a battle. Gotta keep warm!

They’re all back!

What would happen if all light was destroyed? 

Get the hell off Mary Margaret, dude!

Woah! Jesus! Rumple really freaked me out just then! 

Henry saves Emma with true loves kiss! What a perfect way to round off her story!

Big family hug!

Gideon’s a baby again!

Imagine if it wasn’t Gideon and it was just a random baby.

And the book’s okay! Mary Margaret found it of course! 

Good and evil both did the right thing. I guess they mean Rumple did the right thing too.

Mary Margaret: “Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a powerful thing but living with that belief; that’s the most powerful thing of all.” Ugh! Beautiful! That callback to my favourite quote makes me so emotional!

All the realms are restored! 

Wilby! 

Everyone’s at Granny’s! My soul!!

And it ends with the last supper! With 13 at the table and everything!

Time for a new adventure, guys! 

Oh lord, I’m emotional! All the callbacks got me! What an end to most of the main characters’ stories. 

So, season 6 was cool. It’s still the season I’ve watched the least, so I definitely need a few rewatches before I’m fully decided on how I feel about it but I enjoyed it overall! It reminded me a lot of 2b. Magical objects were a little too conveniently placed and found and there were quite a few retcons but apart from that it was fun, I especially enjoyed it from ‘6x17 Awake’ to the finale. But I can’t tell you how excited I am for s7!! It’s my third favourite season after s1 and s3 and it introduces my favourite character in the show, Alice Jones! Can’t wait! 

Gonna miss the main cast, especially Snowing, Zelena, Emma and young Henry, but fortunately my girl Zelena will make a return in the latter half of the next season! But gosh, it’s gonna hurt not seeing Snowing as much. I’ll miss my babies and how in love they are so much. Can’t wait for my second favourite ship in the show though, Curious Archer! 

So I completely forgot to do this but better late than never. Thank you very much for the tag @literali1110

Name or preferred nickname: Emma/ Em

Pronouns: she/her

What's the story behind your username: Not very exciting but I made my tumblr as a young teen obsessed with Harry Potter and Remus Lupin is my favorite character. 72 is my favorite number.

General location: Scotland

Tell us something cool about you in real life: In order to get my degree I get to write about all my favorite shows.

Favorite Chenford moment: 2x11 will always be the number one spot because it was the moment I gave in and joined the fandom rather than casually shipping. But a close second is the ‘Save me a dance’ scene. We got Tim checking Lucy out and I could write an essay on that pause before he asked her to dance.

Moment that made you start shipping them: I liked them from the pilot but I didn’t let myself really, truly start shipping them until the season 1 finale. You don’t do a door scene like that for no reason.

Favorite character who isn’t Lucy or Tim: Jackson and then Nyla

Favorite Chenford headcanon: Hmmmm this one is hard. Tim is extra cuddly. We know hes a softie at heart but I think Lucy will be surprised at just how soft he really is.

Do you write fics/make gifs/make vids/do something else cool? You’re awesome! Share your stuff: I write fic on Ao3 under the name ghostfox11. Hunted is my most popular. I also have some one shots on here!

Fic you’re rec’ing the most right now: This one is hard because I haven’t been reading as much recently. I’m behind on both, but Inevitable and Under Fire are stories that come to mind.

Tag another Chenford fan to fill this out: If you see this and no one has tagged you in it but you want to do it then take this as your invitation! Tag me in it and I’ll edit this post to tag you!

OKAY TELL ME HOW THIS SOUNDS

Lucy was upset, frustrated, truly on the edge of a mental breakdown. She had had enough of her father’s rules and her role as the heir to her father’s company.

Why else would she be running down the financial district in a party dress? Only those who were truly fed up would do such a thing. She was barely eighteen and her father was introducing her to a marriage candidate? At a party for Mavis’ sake?! So many people had overheard!

“No! How dare…! Father! I—I can’t even imagine…! Screw that!” She had finally cracked, thrown her drink and stormed out of the hotel on high heels. “I’m not marrying anyone!”

It was completely unlike her to have made a scene in front of his colleagues like that, but fuck it. She wasn’t going to be that obedient daddy’s girl any longer.

The stress of her situation became adrenaline as she continued to run, tossing her heels and refusing to stop. She didn’t know where she was going, but it felt like nothing could stop her now.

“Taichou?” That caught her attention. Her ragged breath began to slow as she halted, her eyes caught by the stare of an onyx pair.

“Oh...hey, Natsu,” He stood against a storefront beside an alleyway, one foot kicked up on the wall, one hand holding his phone. He was in front of his family’s bar, but everyone knew that it was the front for the mafia. His father ran one of the largest groups in the area, but despite that, Natsu was a good kid. Unless you pissed him the hell off.

He had piercings, tattoos even. His black hair was dyed pink and he always wore a leather jacket outside of school.

“Where the hell are your shoes?” He snickered, shoving his phone into his pocket.

“Oh, I don’t really know,” She shrugged. “I tossed them a while back, they’re not really made for running.”

“You’re not being chased, are ya?” He stood up straight and approached her, calculating eyes staring down the street she came from.

“No, no, nothing like that,” She shook her head. “My, um, my dad kind of...pissed me off, so I was running from a party.”

“Makes sense,” He said, staring down the black cocktail dress she wore. “But I didn’t think you were the type to get pissed off.”

“Not usually...he pushed me too far,” Her lips twisted into a frown. “Geez, I’ll have to see him when I get home...fuck,”

“You can curse?” He laughed loudly with a split grin. “I thought you were too straight-laced to say stuff like that!”

“Well, not anymore...I’m tired of being some stupid, straight-A, follow the rules kinda girl,” She huffed, crossing her arms.

“Then I can hide ya for a couple days,” He suggested. “Since you don’t want to go home,”

“You’d do that for me?” Her eyes twinkled and he laughed again.

“Yeah, ‘course, taichou. Stay right here, I’ll go get my bike,” He said, first taking off his jacket for her to put on.

Lucy watched as he jogged down the alleyway, returning with his motorcycle and an extra helmet.

“You’re gonna want to hold on tight, alright?” He said as she awkwardly positioned herself behind him. Lucy nodded and wrapped her arms securely around his torso before they took off.

She rested her head against his back, eyes watching the lights of the city go rapidly past them. Her body still thrummed with excitement, unable to still as she burned with furious rebellion. Doing new and out of character things was seriously awesome.

“Alright, here we are,” He said, pulling his bike to a stop in front of an amazingly huge apartment complex.

“This is where you live?” Lucy asked as he helped her off.

“Nah, just a place I use every so often,” He said, taking her hand in his as they entered the building. “My dad owns it, so I have a space he let me have. No one else comes here, so you can stay as long as you like.”

“Luckily I chose the week before spring break to run away from home,” She giggled as they entered the elevator.

“You wanna tell me why ya ran off? Though I don’t mind if you keep it a secret.”

“My dad introduced me to someone he wants me to consider marrying,” She groaned, pursing her lips and crossing her arms.

“...yikes…” Natsu let out a long whistle, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Is he old?”

“At least thirty,” She shivered. “I pretty much told him to go screw himself before I took off.”

“I’m really likin’ this side of ya,” Natsu snickered as they stopped on his floor, the pinkette leading her to his door.

“I should have decided to be more rebellious sooner,” She sighed as they stepped foot into his place. “I feel like I could have been having a lot more fun,”

“What kinda fun?” He asked, Lucy’s eyes looking over the luxurious apartment.

“I dunno, going out with my friends instead of studying, normal teenage things,” She shrugged. “This is a really nice place,”

“Thanks,” He chuckled. “C’mon, I’ll give ya some clothes, you go ahead and take a shower. I’ll make some tea to warm ya up, yeah?”

“Sure, that sounds nice.” She nodded with a smile.

Standing in Natsu’s shower, Lucy was surprised to see that he had feminine soap next to his own, as well as shampoo and conditioner.

“Oh yeah...I forgot Cana mentioned he sleeps around,” She hummed to herself, rubbing the peach and white tea scented soap against her scalp. “I guess this is where he entertains.”

Finishing up with her quick routine, Lucy stepped out in a fluffy white towel to look at what she had been given to wear.

It was one of his t-shirts, long enough to reach her knees, and a pair of lace panties she assumed belonged to someone else.

“Do you usually keep the underwear from whoever you sleep with?” Lucy asked as she walked back into the living room, scrunching her hair dry with the towel.

“They seem too expensive to toss out,” He said, pouring her a cup of tea as she sat down. “It works out both ways, I have clothes for guests, and it pisses off the clingy ones,”

“I see,” She said with a light laugh, taking a sip from her cup.

“Why? You interested in who I sleep with?” He asked with a smirk, leaning back against the opposite couch as he drank his own tea.

“Not really, I never thought about it until now,” She hummed, setting down her cup to brush her hair with out with the comb she brought out with her.

“You’re a real interestin’ girl, taichou,”

“We’re not at school, you can call me by my name,”

“How about Luce? I like givin’ out nicknames,”

“Sure, I like the sound of that,” She nodded, his smile contagiously pulling her lips wide.

It was silent for the next few moments, both idly sipping their tea, Natsu watching Lucy as she brushed out her hair.

“Is it too weird if I ask you to sleep with me?” Lucy said suddenly, making Natsu choke a bit on his tea.

“Uh, not weird, more like surprising,” He coughed to clear his throat. “I didn’t think you were the type to want a one-night stand,”

“I just want to do something fun,” She sighed, letting the comb run slowly through her hair. “I’m tired of doing what people expect from me,”

“I’m fine with being a part of your rebellious phase,” He complied, standing up from the couch. “But I have rules,”

“I’m not clingy,” She rolled her eyes with a scoff. “If that’s what you’re worried about,”

“Nah, it’s cuz we go to school together. The clingy ones work for my dad.” He snickered, taking her hand and leading her towards his bedroom. “Ya can flirt with me at school if ya want, but I don’t date,”

“Do you assume that every girl who sleeps with you wants to date you?” Lucy asked with a snort in her voice as he closed the door behind them.

“‘Course I do,” He snorted as well, shaking his head. “You’ll get it once we do it, Luce.”

“That’s pretty cocky of you to say.” Her pulse became quickened as he led her onto his mattress. “How do you know that you won’t want to date me afterwards?”

“If I do,” He said, kissing her cheek as he climbed onto the bed with her. “It’ll be because I decided to keep ya,”

“Girls aren’t pets, Natsu,” Lucy said, beginning to pant as he gingerly kissed the column of her neck.

“Yeah they are, the good ones at least,” He said as he experimentally dragged his tongue against her skin, delighted by the moan she let slip. “Are you a good girl, Luce?”

“Not tonight,” She panted as their eyes met under the moonlight threading in from the window that replaced the east wall.

“Fuck, that’s kinda sexy,” He mumbled, capturing her lips with his. She wasn’t inexperienced like he thought she would be, her kisses matching his fervor and blending well against them.

Iconic things about The Dick Van Dyke Show

-For the time The Dick Van Dyke Show was incredibly diverse. You got to remember this was the early 1960s, back in the day you were lucky to see African Americans in any capacity and when they were in shows or movies they were strictly in the service industry. That started to change in the late 50s to early 60s and TDVDS was kinda the start of that in Television. People of color were depicted in different capacities than usual. In the episode “That’s My Boy??” the actors Greg Morris and Mimi Dillard played a normal upper middle class family. In this episode Rob thinks that Laura and himself were sent home with the wrong baby from the hospital and he believes that their baby was taken by a family with the last name Peters. The Peters ended up being African American and they were depicted as well dressed and well spoken people who seemed to live in a similar area and walk of life as the Petries and in that episode the black couple is funny and completely sane whereas the white man (Rob) is depicted as the butt of the joke. Also at the end of the episode Rob subtly mentions how their son Richie is getting horrible grades and the Peters’ son is at the top of the class. It’s small things like that, that had never been seen on Television. In a episode named “The Man from My Uncle“ an actor by the name of Godfrey Campbell played an FBI agent. And that’s not counting the numerous POC in smaller roles or as extras in scenes. This was a time where you were lucky to see POC even as extras. -The feminism in TDVDS took amazing strides as well. There were times where Rob is shown to be very insecure, and I think that’s some of the most of it’s time aspects of the show. It’s not great, but it’s realistic. One of my favorite character choices for Laura Petrie is that we find out that she is proficient in self defense.... she learned self defense techniques when she was an entertainer for the troops. In the episode “My Mother Can Beat Up My Father,” a drunk at a bar harasses Laura and Rob tries to defend her and he gets laid out by the drunk. Laura then does a judo throw on the guy and lays him out. It becomes a big thing for Rob in that episode and he’s very insecure about the fact that Laura can take a guy that Rob can’t. But Laura does not apologize for that fact, and in one scene Rob is trying to prove that he’s all tough and so he challenges Laura to do the same throw with him. Laura doesn’t pretend she can’t do it to spare his fragile masculinity, she lays him out and if I remember correctly he broke a few bones. Also the character of Sally Rogers has been touted as one of the first women’s lib characters. She’s a Television writer alongside Rob and Buddy and she is treated with respect and is presumably paid the same as Buddy who is a writer on her same level. She is a proud career woman who is damn good at her job, and is an equal to the men in her workplace. Another big way that TDVDS broke ground was the fact that Laura wears capri pants. Believe it or not that caused a firestorm of controversy.... up to that point housewives had been shown as wearing dresses and skirts on TV and once the dust settled the fact that Mary Tyler Moore wore capri pants on TDVDS caused those pants to become a huge fashion craze in the 60s. -TDVDS became a huge hit starting with the second season against all odds. First off Carl Reiner had created the show a couple years prior and had actually shot a pilot with an entirely different cast and with himself in the lead, at that time it was called “Head Of The Family.” It aired and did not get picked up. Carl just gave up on it and it lay on a shelf collecting dust. A couple years later someone with the William Morris Agency tried to get Carl to retry it and he refused. That agent then went to the most successful producer at that time, Sheldon Leonard. Sheldon was known for having a perfect record for his pilots, absolutely all of them had been picked up to series, some of which were huge hit shows. Sheldon saw the show and immediately saw the potential. He approached Carl about the idea of retrying with an entirely different cast and name.... once a famous producer says they have faith in your show, how can you say no. So they set to the task of finding a cast. Dick Van Dyke was one of the first people to be cast in the show, and at that point Dick was in the middle of a successful run on Broadway in the show “Bye Bye Birdie” which he’d won a Tony Award for, but being successful on Broadway doesn’t usually translate to fame with the general public (up until Lin Manuel Miranda that was true). So not only did they cast an unknown in the lead role but they then turned around and named the show on the said unknown actor. That was an extremely ballsy and risky move. At the time there were a lot of shows named after actors but they were all famous stars like Doris Day etc. To name a show after an unknown actor was unheard of!! They then cast Mary Tyler Moore (who was an unknown), they cast Rose Marie (who was never hugely famous, but had a really good career on radio and in night clubs. But even if you consider her to have been famous, she was kind of a has been), Morey Amsterdam was cast (an unknown), Jerry Paris and Ann Morgan Guilbert were cast (also unknowns). It was really a cast full of unknowns in the leads. There were no big names. Which was really a disadvantage going in. The first season bombed, it was near the end of the Nielsen ratings and morale was severely low at the end of the season. Sheldon Leonard actually got word from a friend who was on the committee that decided which shows were cancelled and which her renewed, that the show had indeed been cancelled and it just hadn’t been announced yet. So Sheldon went into problem solving mode. He knew that going to the network wouldn’t get him anywhere. At that time sponsors were king and TDVDS had one of the biggest sponsors in the game, Proctor And Gamble. So Sheldon flew to Proctor And Gamble’s headquarters and in his own words he “sang mammy” in other words he begged and he charmed their pants off (figuratively) :) At the end of his pitch, they agreed to go to bat for the show... on one condition.... that he found a sponsor to sponsor the second half of the season. So he raced from sponsor to sponsor pitching his show and begging them to co sponsor them. He was in the middle of a pitch when he was alerted that Kent Cigarettes had decided to sponsor their second half. Proctor And Gamble and Kent Cigarettes went up against CBS and demanded that they renew TDVDS or else they would withdraw support from all their other popular shows. And CBS caved and renewed the show. With S2, TDVDS became a massive success and by the end of S5 the network was begging Carl Reiner to make another season but Carl wanted to end the show while they were still on top. TDVDS also became the darling of the awards shows. They continually swept the Emmys every year starting with S2. They won for writing, directing, and acting, it also won Best Comedy in 1966 with it’s final season.

-The scripts were largely based off of real life. Nowadays it’s more common for shows to take ideas from real life, but at the time Carl Reiner’s wish for authenticity was largely unheard of. Writers on the show described the writing sessions as therapy sessions because it would start with Carl probing into their life and them talking about embarrassing things that happened to them. Carl and the writers would take those ideas and make them bigger and crazier but there was always that nugget of truth in there.

-The marriage between Rob and Laura was also iconic. You gotta figure that I Love Lucy was a huge show of the past decade and it really shaped most future shows. In some ways TDVDS was the antithesis of that. Carl wanted to create a show where the main married couple was united... it was them against the world. He shied away from battle of the sexes storylines whenever possible. He wanted Rob and Laura to be clearly in love. And it’s a unique relationship where you can tell that those two have an active sex life... and that was really unique for the time.

-Carl Reiner made a decision at the beginning of the show that he would never use popular slang terms of the 60s. In fact if you watch beginning to end, only one slang term slipped in, in S5. Otherwise, he remarkably kept to that. Because of that crucial decision, TDVDS is not as dated as it could be and it has a very timeless feel to it.

-The cast was known to get along famously, there were only a few moments of tension, otherwise the set was known to be very light and there was little tension. They were all pranksters and the set was alive with hilarity, laughter, and pranks. They used to haze guest stars... most of the guest stars were fine with being hazed but there was one who did not take it so well. During the filming of one episode Robert Vaughn was the guest star and he was on the outskirts of the set waiting for his cue to come in. The actors led the entire cast and crew off the set and turned off the lights and left Robert waiting for his cue for about an hour, until he walked in to see what the holdup was only to find the entire cast and crew gone. It’s hilarious, but he wasn’t too happy. The cast was like a huge family, but most guest stars described them as being very welcoming as well.

Edit. Another iconic thing I almost forgot is the fact that certain episodes are used in film classes as examples of how to write comedy. It’s so funny and iconic that it is the textbook case of how to write comedy shows!!!! When will your favorite show ever... ;)

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The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!