#when people catch him off guard in intros it shows and just listen to him stammer his way through that serious talk with heartbreak | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bitchwhoreofastorm · 3 years

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i could never be fucked to finish this one by giving it a proper intro also it’s about barfok and half of the dialogue is in dovahzul and no i’m not providing translations. in which kagrenac and barfok have a “conversation”

Bthamzel falls with a single note.

Kagrenac is not a warrior, and yet she had studied the phenomenon set before her extensively-- and so, when she heard of the siege of Bthamzel, she was well-prepared to take advantage of the singular opportunity she had been afforded. Though she is not a warrior, and has never seen battle, she arranges an expedition: she hires an emissary, a Dwemer who speaks the coarse tongue of Aldmeris, she gathers up her tools, and she sets off to greet the Nordic Warlord who’s been singing Veloth into ruin.

[...]

She is not how Kagrenac expected her to be. First of all, Kagrenac, for some reason, expected her to be beautiful, but this isn't the case. The woman who comes to Kagrenac that day is homely, though by no means plain: she's thick of limb, ruddy-skinned, with pale grey eyes set wide in her face, and large, uneven teeth exposed unabashedly by her cheerful grin. Her dull yellow hair is pulled away from her face in a low, loose knot, unbraided; her clothing is plain to Kagrenac's eyes, but she must suppose that the white bearskin cape and engraved leather jerkin beneath it are considered elaborate, to the northmen's simple tastes. She is unaccompanied by any guard, Kagrenac sees at once-- she's entered the stronghold alone.

She's barefooted, too, Kagrenac notices. Her toes are black with ash and leave prints on the smooth stronghold floor.

She doesn't seem to notice Kagrenac at first; she's busy looking around herself, taking in the stronghold with her wide grey eyes and her toothy grin, pink tongue peeking out from between her uneven teeth. It's only when the emissary says something in the uncouth tongue of Aldmeris that she jerks her gaze to Kagrenac, and Kagrenac watches her thin eyebrows twitch upwards.

Kagrenac speaks no Aldmeris, but she's already instructed the emissary on what to say: the usual titles, accolades, praises, the primitive words needed to make a Nord understand what an honour this meeting is. In truth, it's a little embarrassing that such an introduction is necessary, but Kagrenac's willing to take no risks, and the last thing she'd wanted was to make their guest feel insulted; however, as the emissary prattles on, she begins to feel more and more like she's wasted his breath. The Tongue is still looking around the stronghold, her toothy mouth hanging open and her silver eyes wide with curiosity. Kagrenac's eyes dart down to her bare feet again. Her grubby toes are curling into the shiny floor.

The emissary finishes off his spiel with a question, and though the language is foreign to her, Kagrenac knows what he's asked. She knows, too, what it means when the Tongue looks to him, her slack mouth widening into a broad grin.

"Barfok!" proclaims the Tongue, slapping her chest hard with the flat of her hand.

Barfok.

The emissary begins to prattle something else, and Kagrenac digs her nails into the hands which are clasped right behind her back. This is the part, she supposes, where Barfok will deliver her own titles. She supposes that Tongues will have titles, lofty and numerous titles. But Barfok seems content to be simply Barfok; she stands with her arms crossed, seemingly not listening to the emissary at all. Her gaze, still curious, now rests squarely on Kagrenac’s face, and Kagrenac cannot resist the challenge of staring into those pale silvery eyes. Barfok has brownish eyelashes, thin ones, and Kagrenac wonders whether the ashfall gets in her eyes.

“I’ve asked her where she’s from,” the emissary explains to Kagrenac, switching back to smooth Dwemeris. He says something else, in Aldmeris, to Barfok.

Barfok glances at him, and replies in the same tongue. But then-- quite unexpectedly-- she ends her sentence with three familiar tones, “Laa laa laa,” sung out with a cheerful smile.

“She says she is the ‘Jarl’ of ‘Narsis-hold’,” begins the emissary in Dwemeris, “She--”

“Leave us,” orders Kagrenac.

The emissary is startled, but when Kagrenac speaks, the Dwemer obey; he bows and departs, leaving the two of them alone in the hallway.

Barfok stares at Kagrenac with her unsettling grin. Kagrenac gestures at her to follow, and escorts her to her study.

Kagrenac’s study in Sturdumz is a simple, temporary thing, but Barfok appears delighted nonetheless: the moment they enter it, she gasps and rushes forwards, running around the room and taking in everything with the wonder of a child. She says something in Aldmeris, excitedly, but Kagrenac, not knowing the language, pays her no attention; while Barfok runs about the study with an unabashed wonder that’s frankly perplexing to behold, Kagrenac pretends not to behold, and wanders to a nearby shelf.

“Daar los?” The question catches Kagrenac’s ear, because that is certainly not Aldmeris she’s just spoken. When she turns around, Barfok is holding two tuning-forks, staring at Kagrenac with her unsettling grin.

“Tuning-forks,” Kagrenac replies in Dwemeris. She walks over and gently takes them from Barfok’s grasp.

“Kagger-Shond,” Barfok repeats the Dwemeris word clumsily. She meets Kagrenac’s eyes, then, and, with an enthusiastic smile, points to Kagrenac’s chest. “Ahrk wo hin?”

Kagrenac does not understand this question, so she remains quiet.

A brief flicker of displeasure crosses Barfok’s expression, but then her eyes widen and she nods, her lips curling back into their perpetual smile. She takes a step back, extends one of her hands, and, with great gusto, smacks her sternum, creating a resounding thwack against the leather. “Zu’u los Barfok!” she says loudly. Then she points her finger at Kagrenac’s chest. “Wo los hin?”

“Kagrenac,” says Kagrenac slowly.

“Kagrenac!” Barfok repeats after her, clearly pleased. Then she reaches up and tugs at one of her own blunt ears with one hand, and with the other thwacks her chest again. “Zu’u los bron. Koraav? Bron.” Then, quite rudely, she reaches out and pats Kagrenac on the chest. “Hi los Ogiim.”

Kagrenac manages to refrain from reacting-- she might have been offended, had this not all posed a tempting little puzzle. She nods, slowly, and points up to one of her own pointed ears. “I am a Dwemer,” she says. “I am an… Ogiim.”

“Hi los ogiim!” Barfok agreed enthusiastically. She points to herself again. “Ahrk zu’u los?”

Even in a foreign tongue, it’s a good question: what is this strange creature, this force of nature prancing around Kagrenac’s study?

“A roaring snow-throated King of Mora.” Kagrenac answers. She uses the poetic term for a Tongue, knowing that the foreigner would never be able to pronounce the Dwemeris.

Not that it deters her. “Kemmel Mule Shond…” Barfok begins, and then a broad grin splits her face once more. “Aka! Geh, Aka! Zu’u Aka? Aka los?”

Kagrenac frowns, and, at a loss for other words, raises both hands and mimes a crown over her own head.

This makes Barfok laugh, a loud indecorous laugh that causes her shoulders to shake and her eyes to crinkle. “Jun!” she says giddily, “Hi mindok aka los jun? Fah mu, Aka los dovah. Aka los bormah-se-alduin!”

Seeing that Kagrenac is evidently lost, Barfok extends both arms in a pantomime of two wings flapping. “Aka! Dovah! Haha, mu los dovahhe, ahrk zu’u los zok dovah! Yol!’

She sings the last word, and a small lick of flame erupts from her thin lips at the sound of it.

This time, Kagrenac cannot help but shudder and step back. The words are gibberish to her, but she recognizes the tone of the word Barfok just sang, and its meaning is clear enough: fire. Before this the Tongue has seemed unrefined, foolish; now Kagrenac is reminded that Bthamzel, and all the people within it, has been vanished into thin air.

Kagrenac closes her eyes as she steels herself, and when she opens them again she finds Barfok staring at her, frowning now. Kagrenac takes a deep breath-- looks to the shelf-- when she looks again, Barfok has not moved, and is still staring at her with her head cocked to the side. Waiting for Kagrenac to resume their game, no doubt.

Kagrenac’s study contains many interesting objects, curios brought to her by aspiring acolytes hoping to earn her easily-lost attention. Kagrenac walks a slow circle around it, making a show of examining her collection, and all the while she feels Barfok’s gaze boring into her back.

She finally stops, selecting a glass eye from a shelf. This, said the apprentice who gifted it to her, was the eye of an Ayleid mage, pried from his resurrected corpse, bearing strange magic. Kagrenac holds the glinting blue object aloft and asks, in soft, careful words: “Daar los?”

Barfok laughs aloud in delight. “Miin!” she replies. She points to both of her pale grey eyes, then, pulling down her lids to create a frightening expression. “Miinne. Dii miinne.”

“Your miinne,” Kagrenac says to herself unthinkingly.

“Thu’um?” asks Barfok, surprised.

“Thua miinne,” Kagrenac corrects her. She points to her own eyes, and says, in slow, clear, Dwemeris: “Duum minne.”

“Miiniil,” Barfok adds with a laugh, pointing to the glass eye in her hand.

Kagrenac places the eye down, and then takes from the shelf a small statuette, depicting a wolf. Plundered from the tomb of a Nordic king, if its original owner’s boasting was anything to go by. “Daar los?” she asks again.

“Grohiik,” replies Barfok. She uses her hands to mime a wolf’s jaws snapping open and shut. “Grohiik… du… hin!” At the last words she shoves her hands forwards, as if the wolf in her creation were devouring Kagrenac. Kagrenac does not flinch.

“Daar los?” This time Kagrenac picks up a single white bone.

“Qeth,” Barfok says.

Kagrenac takes a small Dwemeri device from the shelf. “Daar los?” she asked, with the ghost of a smile.

“Vomindok--” Barfok begins, but then Kagrenac turns the key of the music-box. A cascade of airy notes tumbles out, light tinkling music running up and down a minor scale.

There’s an expression on Barfok’s face that Kagrenac recognizes, only in theory, as religious rapture: this is no longer a game, and the Tongue’s expression is thoughtful, mesmerised, her eyes resting only on the music-box in Kagrenac’s hand.

The tune ends after a moment. “Daar los…” Barfok begins softly. “Daar brii! Ah, tinvaak-- Daar lovaas.” She pauses. “Nid, nid-- lovaas los-- Lovaas los lovaas. Laa laa laa. Fahliille nid lovaas.” She shrugs and fixes Kagrenac with an apologetic grin. “Daar lost?”

“Music,” Kagrenac says. Her namesake.

Barfok’s eyes widen. “Kagren? Hi los Kagren-Aka?”

Kagrenac nods. On the shelf is another Dwemeri device, a small listening-frame constructed of thin ebony beams, and she picks it up, takes away the damper that stops it from soaking in vibrations. It begins to hum noiselessly in her hand and she places it back down.

Barfok crosses her arms, watching Kagrenac walk to the desk, where sits her most treasured possession: a small array of bells, fifteen in all.

She strikes the first violet bell and a single clear tone rings out across the study.

“Daar los?” Kagrenac asks above the lingering sound.

Barfok’s expression is unreadable, and her answer is slow: “Dibela.”

Kagrenac strikes the second bell, brass.

“Stuhn,” replies Barfok.

The third bell. “Tsun,” Barfok says.

The fourth, scarlet. “Fus.”

The fifth tone, amber. “Qoth.”

The sixth, crimson. “Sahqon,” Barfok says softly, and Kagrenac glances towards the listening-frame on the shelf.

The seventh note. “Fey.”

The eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh; rose-gold, amaranth, rust and gold in dazzling array. “Shul,” says Barfok. “Feim, tiid, yol.”

The twelfth tone, ebony; Barfok’s expression becomes grim. “Sos.”

The thirteenth tone is white-noise, and difficult to hear, but Barfok inclines her head and answers, “Od.”

The fourteenth tone, ocean-blue, heavy and liquid in the air. “Herma-Mora,” Barfok names it.

Kagrenac strikes the final bell, sky, and Barfok closes her eyes briefly. “Kyne.”

A heavy silence descends between them, in which Kagrenac places down the rod she’s used to strike each bell. She walks over to her listening-frame and goes to replace the damper, but, to her surprise, Barfok cries out a word she doesn’t catch, halting her.

Kagrenac turns to face her guest, as Barfok looks around the room. Agitated, she walks to Kagrenac’s desk and then, with the flats of her palms, strikes the desk hard, as if pounding a drum. “Ok qethsegol,” she says, bewildered. She strikes the desk in a slow rhythm, like a beating heart. “Mansedaan,” she says to Kagrenac, turning to her again, now striking her own chest a few times in that same rhythm, over the heart. “Mansedaan.”

The sixteenth tone, Kagrenac thinks.

“Shor,” Barfok says, with a thin smile.

Kagrenac nods, and reaches for the listening-frame-- only for Barfok to walk over and grab her hand. Barfok has broad hands, the palms surprisingly soft, with short chewed fingernails and a small tangle of scars over the fingers like lace. She leans forwards, placing her lips near the listening-box, takes a deep breath, and sings out: “Meyz feim Shor.”

Reality shudders around them, and then ash begins to fall. Kagrenac looks up and sees that the roof is gone from above their heads, as if it was never there all; indeed, as Kagrenac stares up at the grey sky, she finds it hard to imagine that there was ever a roof on the stronghold, so perfectly has it disappeared.

Barfok squeezes her hand and steps back just as the alarmed emissary barges into their study. He begins yelling about their missing roof, but Kagrenac silences him with a gesture; Barfok, still wearing her cheerful expression, has skipped back and is standing near the wall.

“Tonal Architect!” cries the emissary, as Kagrenac replaces the damper on her listening-frame. “Our stronghold roof-- it’s utterly disappeared-- how dare that Northman!” And then he shouts something in Aldmeris at Barfok.

Barfok only laughs at him, and then turns to Kagrenac and bows. “Wuld na kest,” she sings out-- and with that she vanishes entirely, leaving the apoplectic emissary and Kagrenac standing in the steady fall of ash.

“Meyz feim Shor,” Kagrenac murmurs to herself. She looks to the Emissary. “Are you finished?”

“The amount of time it will take to repair the Stronghold--” says the emissary, flustered.

“We’re not repairing it,” Kagrenac says. She lifts the listening-frame from the shelf and places it securely into one of the deep pockets of her robe. “I’ve obtained what I needed here. Have Sturdumz placed into hibernation; we shall depart for Vvardenfell tomorrow.”

#yeah we irritating #barfok #fic

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natromanxoff · 3 years

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Queen live at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY, USA - November 17, 1978 (Part-1)

Queen (or at least, some of the members of the band) thought it'd be a great idea to hire a few strippers to ride bicycles on stage topless during Fat Bottomed Girls, as depicted on the sleeve of the 7" single and the Jazz LP mail-order poster. Roger Taylor and a few others were given the (enviable?) task to scout a local strip club to hire some talent for the event. During soundcheck when the band ran the song with the six newly employed ladies, many of the security guards were sure to catch a peek from the balconies. These three New York area shows find Freddie in great voice. But tonight after a couple songs, he is unable to introduce Somebody To Love immediately because the audience is so rowdy. "Listen my darlings, listen to me. I'm talking to you, motherfuckers!" This would probably be the last time he'd address an audience as "darlings." This line reveals him in a stage of metamorphosis between his campy image of Queen's early days to the macho image he was easing into. Brian May introduces the medley thus: "Especially for New York City, we'd like to do a little collage of songs. This is mainly from A Night At The Opera. Do you remember that?" The audience roars in approval. Little do they know (or would they care) that it's the same medley the band have done in every other city, not just theirs. He continues, "It's going to be a pretty rude night, I have to tell you." Freddie snickers at the piano, likely because the audience have no idea what they're in for about an hour from now. Brian snickers as well while he introduces Death On Two Legs. Roger misses a line in I'm In Love With My Car, but the band recover within a couple bars; much better than they do in Glasgow the following year! Freddie gets a bit poignant before a great version of Now I'm Here: "Ok folks, we're gonna do something from the Sheer Heart Attack album. We used to do this song when we were little kids. We've grown up now." And afterward he gets a bit raunchy, "A lot of people call this next song Spread Your Legs. Well, I do too. It's also called Spread Your Wings." As Brian starts playing the acoustic intro to Dreamers Ball, he says it's "a sad little song, this." Freddie dedicates Love Of My Life to "All you Fat Bottomed Girls... and the guys... and the turkeys." Perhaps the turkey comment is referring to the fact that US Thanksgiving is coming up next week. After Love Of My Life, Brian says, "You're a good listening audience. We appreciate that; thank you. That's real nice. Ok, we'd like you to stamp your booties to this number if you feel like it, because you're getting a little fidgety by now. This is an ensemble number. This is called '39." This would be the last show where Roger would play the last two choruses of the song on his scaled-down drum kit on the small stage. From the next concert in Uniondale through the Japanese shows, he'd stick with the tambourine and bass drum for most of the song, switching to the kit only for the last chorus. Having two consecutive choruses with a change from one to the other is definitely the better way to go, so thumbs up to that executive decision. The band then offer a great version of It's Late, with everyone firing on all cylinders. Before Fat Bottomed Girls, Freddie says, "I must say, you're a much better audience than what we had last night. Compared to you, they were dead!" The audience erupts. Near the end of the song, after Freddie shouts "Get on your bikes and ride" (clearly with more excitement than usual), the girls make their grand entrance. Amongst his vocal adlibs is, "You like 'em pretty?" and "You like what you see?" As Roger starts the intro to Keep Yourself Alive, Freddie remarks, "A lovely load of beauties!" The band would create a similar spectacle again next year in Munich. Clearly buzzing off the last song, Brian plays some very nifty lines after the first chorus of Keep Yourself Alive. Between We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions, Freddie proudly dedicates the sport-friendly anthems to the New York Yankees, as they had just won the World Series of baseball for the second straight season. At the end of the show, Freddie hides little by saying, "Sweet dreams, New York. Thank you for your time and your money!" After this show, Queen are presented with a gold ticket, marking 100,000 tickets sold at five shows at the Garden over the past two years. Roger later recalled the Fat Bottomed fun: "We wanted people to think we were having fun and being silly. But there was also a lot of hard work. Trouble is, we got better and better at having a good time.". Pics 1 through 5 are from Nino Trovato, taken by Angela Verdon. Note that the B stage (i.e. with Roger's smaller drum kit) that drops down for the acoustic set can be seen in the pic 4. Pic 5 was snapped while the smaller stage was in its descent prior to Dreamers Ball (the top of John Deacon's head can be seen in the background).

Fan Stories

“Great concert @ Madison Square Garden back in 1978. Bicycle tour whan the semi naked chicks came out on bicycles during Fat Bottomed Girls. Played again the next night at the Nassau Coliseum but no naked chicks. Great memories.” - Bob Kearney

Part-1

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #queen concerts

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mostly-megan · 4 years

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I Read The Triple Frontier Early Draft Script

And I have several thoughts on it. @frannyzooey Told me to, so I’m going to go down the line of points I thought were interesting and notes on the characters. It’s all going to be below the cut so we don’t bother the people who don’t care.

It was clearly a very early draft, but I still think it’s interesting to see how the characters changed over time.

Important note: Everyone except for Benny and Tom is only referred to by their nicknames, no real names. So I keep that up to keep from getting confused.

I do not link to the google doc with the script, but you can dm me if you want the link privately.

Warnings: Mentions of violence, suicide, and sex; mild gore; character death; racism

Story:

Pope during the drug raid learns from a teen in the gang where Lorea keeps his money

Redfly, Benny, and Cat are in North Carolina and keep turning down bs military mission

Pope shows up on Redfly’s stoop, stays with his family, and he tells him about the heist

Redfly seems to agree, but only because Pope is asking and not for the money

The “ You were shot 5 times for your country and can’t afford a new truck” scene is here bit for bit

They go meet Ironhead at one of his support group speeches to convince him to join. He begrudgingly agrees.

Cat and Redfly talk at the fight about the job and both reluctantly agree since the other will do it

Cut to South America running through surveillance, we learn that there are two gun towers, ground sensors, machine guns, and several guards

Pope’s informant is Lorea’s sugar baby(?), Yovanna, who gave him a pic of the money in the office a few weeks prior

The plan is to hide in one of the maid vans and make their way in and out with the money

Everyone is distrustful of his old intel, so they do their own surveillance

Getting caught in rain on heist day, they wait in the jungle for the guard rotations to resume, almost catching hypothermia

The heist vibe is the same, but this time they find the money is not there instantly

Redfly and Cat try to call the mission, but Benny and Pope insist on getting the money

Benny gets shot(grazed?) in the face and wants to say fuck it, but Redfly reminds him it was his idea

Pope blackmails the guard in the video room and gets the tape before killing him

While Cat, Benny, and Redfly grab the money, Ironhead is shot badly and they have to tape his mouth to keep him quiet

This is when Redfly snaps and decides they go out blazing

Lorea’s guards are outside waiting for them, but the boys literally blow up the front of the house and make a run for the river behind the house with a raft waiting

Lorea’s personal guard shoots him

Kidnapping Yovanna from her apartment, they get her money, passport, and visa to her Redfly grills her and seriously debates killing her, but instructs her to get to Australia

After essentially holding up the airstrip workers, they see the news of the break-in on TV and weigh 8 tons of money

Cat argues it’s too much weight, but agrees it will probably be fine

During the flight, Ironhead dies from his wound

Helicopter crash is the same

Pope goes in solo to speak with the farmers and they actually almost kill him before Redfly shoots way too many of them

They get pack animals from the farmers, load up the money and Ironhead, and start climbing

At some point, Cat insists they bury Ironhead because taking a body with them is going to start causing way worse issues

They camp at the burial spot, Pope voices how he blames himself for the death

The trek up the mountain is the same, including dumping some of the money and memorizing the coordinates

Getting to a port town, Cat gets sick from exposure, so they rest a few days

The local gang leader figures out who they are and uses his gang of kids to confront them

They shoot their way out and grab with guns and the money backpack on the way to the car

Benny drives and they almost flip the truck

They literally ALL get shot, but still make it to the boat and get away

The boys all agree to donate all the money to charity, in honor of Ironhead, and almost literally head off to the sunset

Characters:

Redfly

All-American late 30′s white guy; genuiniely wants to be a good person, but seems too wrapped up in the Army life

He’s the main character and most of the story is his POV

He is still with Molly and the girls, and we actually get a nice scene with them in here

He legitimately snaps once Ironhead is shot and doesn’t come back until after they bury him

He seriously almost kills Yovanna and sounds like he regrets not doing so

Says the words to her “After you sucked him off? You were lying there, playing with him- And you asked ‘What’s your real name? Where are you from?’-What did he say?” and I disliked it

Yovanna tells him that Pope thought he was so honest and he hates knowing he is not that person anymore

Pope

Mid-30′s white guy; way more of an instigator and really manipulated his friends to join him

They never give a reason why he wants to get rid of Lorea

His argument for committing a crime is that America was founded on crimes and it’s not different them the war crimes they committed under orders

Seems embarrassed about his relationship with Yovanna and it’s implied he actually told her his name, but he told her Redfly is the most honest guy he knows.

Calls some indigenous South Americans “Indians” and says they “don’t even know what century it is”

When an informant runs late, he says it’s because they run on Latino Standard Time

He saved Ironhead’s life once in fire and that is how he convices him to come, so he blames himself solely for his death

He literally brought cigars with them for after the heist. They smoke them once they are in the boat

They made Pope the asshole we don’t like, which is understandable, but upsetting

Catfish

Laid-back mid-30′s white guy who now trains Benny and works as a Private Investigator

He still is the main joker and sarcasm, but they really make sure we remember how dark his past is

There is a scene played as a laugh where he gets annoyed waiting for a cheating couple to fuck, so he holds them at gunpoint, tells them to strip and kiss, take the picture, and then tells them he’s sorry, but they should just get a divorce. It comes off terrifying and gross.

He seems to really distrust Pope and is closest to Redfly

He barely speaks Spanish

The Special Forces Museum put up a statue of him, the only living operative to have one, and his wife tells him to retire then because there was no topping that

When they argue about the weight limit, Cat says “Oh, I’m sorry, I missed you going to flight school.” And I appreciate that line.

Benny

Early 30′s white fighter

He’s described as being all or nothing and prone to manic depressive behavior and “prone to pills”

Redfly thinks he’s too old to go pro in fighting and Benny is v offended

He’s the only one to cry over Ironhead’s death

He still uses his “fuck you” money for a fire

He seems to have the most med knowledge and is the one checking for hypothermia, gives the “reason” why Ironhead dies, helps nurse Cat when he’s sick

He’s mostly played for laughs and it’s sort of a waste

Ironhead

Grizzled, but generous 55 year old white vet

He is literally the father figure here and is called that often

He is not related to Benny, but he seems to have a very soft spot for him as the youngest

He somehow served under Redfly?

He gave up running and gunning to mediate and help newer retirees

In the support group, his speech details all of the horrible things that he’s seen and had happen to him, this is supposed to be the reason why the younger soldiers listen to him

One of the group admits to almost committing suicide the past night and Ironhead say he will not tell him not to do it, just that he will not do it tonight and they all recite not tonight, it’s actually touching to “see” them all taking heart in what he is saying

He only agrees to help Pope because Pope once saved his life in combat and he told him he owes him. This scene is described as a father sadden that he can’t get through to his son, but says yes to keep an eye on them

In the “what will you buy with your money” scene, he says he will donate it to charity. It’s quickly followed by Benny excitedly saying he wants a Ferrari and Ironhead affectionately looks at him and says, “That’s a nice car, Ben!” Which made my doubting heart melt...

He the entire time gives the boys reminders to preserve their humanity and is the one who tell Redfly it’s good he let Yovanna go

When he’s shot, they say that the wound was through, meaning that the bullet entered and exited. But, when he dies, Benny says the bullet must have shifted and nudged into his heart. And I’m really annoyed by that clear mistake....

I genuinely did like this version of the character, not more than OUR Will, but I liked him

Lorea

His intro to the movie is literally leading the police in a high-speed chase in his yellow Lambo

He brings a business partner to his mansion during the boys surveying his house and they see his personal guard shoot the partner and cut off his head so it fits in the trunk of the car

I had to learn that, so now so do you

He has a thing for exotic birds and has to bring in several shifts of maids to clean up after them

He comes off here as way more of a rich wimp

Yovanna

Lorea’s sugar baby/girlfriend who sleeps with Pope and gives him info

She used to be a beauty queen

The script says Redfly is her type and she says out-loud that she wants to watch Pope and Redfly fuck.

She taught one of Lorea’s birds to say “Hello, Beautiful” and lets that bird get loose in the mansion so she can get the pic of the money for Pope

I genuinely liked her character, too

My Review

I prefer the actual plot and planning of the final movie. The plan and surveillance here slowly fell together smoothly, but ultimately made far less sense.

But, I think they felt like actual friends here. They interact with each other instead of around each other

But this version is racist and kind of gross, so I’d take kind of boring any day

4/10, please do not make me read again

Tagging because you guys seemed interested: @frannyzooey @mandoplease

@krissology @pedropasscals (thought you might like it)

#triple frontier #excuse me while i go rewatch the movie #i only genuinely rooted for ironhead in this #and sometimes cat and benny #redfly bored me as usual #weird script review

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lightsandlostbells · 4 years

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wtFOCK season 3, episode 3 reaction

In this episode, Sander shows up 15 minutes late with croques (I know this joke has to have been made before, sorry)

Just adding again that if you are looking for an all-positive review of this show, this is not it. Please don’t read if you would prefer not to hear negative takes.

Episode 3

Clip 1 - Robbe on the beach

Robbe is sharing a bed with Noor. He’s doing some good physical acting because even just lying there, I can tell how stiff and uncomfortable he is. He wakes up and looks bummed. It’s pretty early and he’s on vacation so you know he really doesn’t want to be spooning with a girl if he’s getting out of bed right now.

Gotta say the detail of Aaron’s ass being half-exposed in his sleep is a detail that made me lol.

Robbe goes to the beach and listens to music. He types a text to his mom that he can’t make it to see her this week because he’s at the seaside, (because he’s supposedly doing a school project with Jen, lmao) but then he deletes it. So perhaps he is feeling guilt over not visiting, or he’s just got mixed feelings and wants to distance himself from his family situation right now.

Clip 2 - FINALLY

Robbe goes back to the house and sees a mysterious dude. It’s only been like 20 minutes since Robbe left the house, so this guy must have just arrived. Don’t know why they didn’t just combine these clips, especially since it would’ve been a nice contrast to get Robbe moody and alone vs. the jolt he receives with a cute boy’s arrival within one clip.

The important thing is that we finally meet the Even of this season, who I’ve been pretending I didn’t know is called Sander. I’m going to repeat what dozens of other people have said and say yes, this is Jack Frost from that one movie in live-action form.

Sander does a bit where he roasts Robbe about not having breakfast ready and he expected it when he made a reservation; Robbe acts half-amused, half-confused as fuck, as if part of him recognizes it as a windup but he also doesn’t know who this dude is, so maybe he could be for real?

Afterwards Sander is like, let’s go bitch, we’re grabbing breakfast, and he introduces himself. Robbe is still flabbergasted but he follows Sander out the door anyway, possibly compelled by Sander’s charisma, possibly just swayed by a hot guy. He has no idea how important this meeting is in the grand scheme of things. Robbe, your story is finally starting in episode 3!

OK, I like Sander’s intro! It’s in line with Even’s paper towel trick. Sander is getting Robbe’s attention with a dramatic introduction. He made sure to make a memorable first impression. It works not just for Robbe, but for me as a viewer as well. And I like that Robbe was caught off-guard like Isak was and they didn’t instantly fall into banter or anything, because let’s be real, if some strange dude showed up in your kitchen and started talking to you like this, you would be pretty WTF no matter how nice his face is.

I am not sure if this show will do the thing where Sander has been pining after Robbe for a while before this meeting - we have seen glimpses of Sander so it seems as if he’s seen Robbe before, but if he’s not from the same school as I think is the case, then I wonder how much he really could have developed feelings for Robbe? Even saw Isak the first day of school, so it’s easy to understand that he developed a crush in the time between that and S3 just by seeing Isak doing his thing at school regularly, and he had plenty of time to learn who Isak was. With Sander, it seems like he just saw Robbe randomly, and that makes sense for “hmm, a cute guy” but not really this giant crush on Robbe as a person.

This is why it would have been good to actually show what Robbe did or made in the graffiti scene, because it would make sense if Robbe drew something that would have intrigued Sander.

Anyway, the larger point is that this scene does make sense if you consider that Sander was waiting for Robbe and this was a planned intro. I assume there is some way that he found out Robbe would be here this weekend. If this is not something Sander expected, then it’s pretty impulsive of him. Though I can totally buy him winging the booking.com bit if that’s his personality. But it makes more sense to me at the moment to imagine that Sander knew Robbe was coming.

Clip 3 - Robbe and Sander at the store

Robbe and Sander are grocery shopping. Sander quickly establishes himself as having an outspoken, confident personality. I do like how instantly his vibe comes across, which is helpful since we’re making up for lost time.

Sander asking Robbe how many hot dogs one eats has some G-rated “Even immediately starts talking about blowjobs” energy. Or maybe it’s just a coincidence and they really are just talking about food, but like. It’s an Even.

Amber sends them the shopping list full of normal grocery items. Sander is like NOPE, not getting that. Well I hope no one has any dietary restrictions they need to follow, lmao.

Robbe asks Sander how he knows Amber, but Sander gets distracted by the song over the loudspeakers so he doesn’t have to disclose the truth yet. The song is by “Rebel Rebel” by David Bowie. He asks Robbe if he’s a fan and Robbe is like “yeah!” but Sander challenges him to name three of his songs and Robbe is a flop. Again, I do like how forcefully Sander comes across, his personality is evident.

I have to say: out of all the remake Evens, he’s the one who most immediately comes across as a magnetic personality. Granted, he seems to have a very similar vibe to Even whereas some remake Evens have rather different personalities from the original recipe. But Sander does come across as someone you’d meet (or Robbe would meet) and be a little smitten and swept off your feet right away.

David Bowie is also a good choice for an Even’s musical taste, especially because of Bowie’s sexuality. I guess you could say it’s pretty on the nose, but it still works for me. I don’t know a ton about the origins of Rebel Rebel but it references gender fluidity and sexuality, so it’s feels fitting for an LGBT-centered season.

As a diehard Ronan/Adam shipper (they’re my OTP of OTPs besides Evak) this scene of Sander pushing Robbe on the cart in the store is calculated to appeal to me. Pynch peeps, you know what I’m talking about. /finger guns

As a personal tangent, I also think grocery shopping is one of the best things you can do on a first date to know if you’re compatible with someone. I have been grocery shopping with people who were dull and no fun, and I have been grocery shopping where it’s an adventure in itself. I strongly believe that you can have fun with the right person in even the most mundane situations.

Back to Robbe/Sander: this part’s really cute! It gives us a sense of who Sander is and it shows them having fun together. They have a comfortable chemistry and I think Robbe’s vibe in this scene hits the right notes of being starstruck and a little over his head, but acclimating to Sander’s OTT personality and being able to relax and have a good time. He’s certainly having more fun than he expected when he woke up this morning.

The spinning and eventual slow-mo moment to Rebel Rebel! Great! Super effective at catching that feeling of holy shit, sudden butterflies in my stomach? I can’t look away from this person? I think I have a crush?

Sander scanning Robbe and saying it’s expensive = lmao, genuinely funny.

And I do like the idea of Sander pushing Robbe and it being chaotic and messy as a way to visualize/signify the arrival of him in Robbe’s life as a way to shake it upside down. (Although, lol, I kinda hate them for causing a mess for the retail workers.)

Sander crashes the cart and Robbe into some boxes. After checking to see if Robbe’s OK, Sander plays it cool and walks away whistling. I do love Robbe’s reaction, that we see him trailing Sander and sneaking happy glances at him. Good stuff.

Taken on its own, this is a terrific first meeting, and I can see how this scene would inspire optimism in the season picking up from here. However - and I hate to be a downer because this scene worked for me - it’s the same issue that I’ve said before: we shouldn’t have waited two full episodes for this clip. Though this scene was great and established an easy chemistry, it also wasn’t that personal and didn’t last too long, and now they have to go back and hang with everyone else, so how are they going to continue to bond on their own? They should just go find other errands to do, away from everyone else.

Clip 4 - Robbe and Sander in the kitchen

Noor is right there in the kitchen with them, but being hungover, is unable to be a third wheel in the way that Emma was to Isak and Even. Amber’s annoyed that they didn’t get anything on the shopping list, Sander shoos her out and says Robbe and he will cook.

Again, this not the same room for intimacy as Evak because they’re not alone! Anyone could walk in at any moment! People were just there! And I think you COULD do something interesting with that, how frustrating it is that everyone else is there, but it doesn’t work so well when it’s like … the first time they meet and they really need that space to get to know each other (considering, for the millionth time, that we are racing to catch up with only just meeting Sander). We really need to either play into the lack of intimacy and adjust the timeline of the relationship accordingly, or they need to manage some extra moments with the two of them to really establish the connection.

They make croques (weren’t bread and cheese on Amber’s list? So they did get something she asked for, heh) and there’s a fair amount of innuendo and suggestion, with the leaning down and leaning toward each other in the tight space. I do really like that and think it’s effective. They notice the chemistry, Sander touches Robbe’s back as he walks by.

More Bowie with Under Pressure. (This would be a really good song choice for Robbe’s POV to illustrate all the shit he’s dealing with.) Sander is very charming, he’s singing and having a good time, he lights up a joint. He opens up a bit about how making croques is a family tradition and asks Robbe if he has any traditions, and Robbe is still withdrawn and doesn’t go into it. Good moment! Robbe’s family is a touchy subject.

Sander licking the joint is quite an Erotique moment for Robbe. I also like that Robbe is clumsy with the croques, seemingly because he’s flustered by Sander’s Sanderness.

I like the Sander actor quite a bit so far. Like I said, he’s super intense and charismatic. He’s also super fucking forward with Robbe, feeding him some croque while they eye fuck, and I’m sorry but that feels way too pointed for this relationship so far The rest of the scene captures the unstated sexual tension but Sander sticking a sandwich in Robbe’s mouth while Robbe stares back is too obvious and feels like they’re trying to sell this really hard in order to make up for lost time, it took me out of the scene. Robbe is tentatively getting more comfortable with Sander, but I don’t buy that he would be that comfortable at this point. It would have been better if they’d stuck to, like, the subtle thrill of sharing a joint (where OMG Sander’s mouth has been?? Yowza).

Britt shows up and she’s Sander’s girlfriend! Oh nooooo!

Except Robbe and Sander met SEVERAL HOURS AGO so this doesn’t really have much of an impact? Isak pining over Even for a week and Googling him and stalking him creates a big buildup both in audience expectations and in Isak’s, whereas Robbe JUST met this dude. We’ve barely had time to form any expectations.

Imagine if you’ve never seen Skam and you’re watching this in real time. You’d be like “Awww, bummer, this guy has a girlfriend, I guess,” rather than “OH SHIT NOOOOOO” because you’ve been following them for a week and watching their conversations and their eye-fucking and getting to know Even through Isak’s eyes. Because you’ve had plenty of time to become attached to this character and because you’ve had time to sink into Isak’s POV and feel his crush on this guy. You feel the stakes of learning that Even has a girlfriend. Robbe learning that Sander is dating Britt is disappointing ... but how disappointing, really? There’s a low level of investment in Sander so far, for both Robbe and for us. I mean, sure, he’s charming, and we’re probably thinking he and Robbe might be cute together, but at most you would have had five hours to get attached at this point. If you look at it one way, this revelation is good because Robbe had only a brief window of time to get his hopes up before learning Sander has a girlfriend, as opposed to Isak who had a full week.

This is where the season’s odd storytelling choices start to fall down. Because there’s a lot about these last few clips that I enjoyed on a micro level. They work as individual scenes. It’s when you think about them on a macro level that the logic and emotional resonance doesn’t hold up. And I think that there are many, many story elements - in wtFOCK and most of the remakes - where a lot of writing only makes sense if you are coming with knowledge of the original show and sort of filling in the blanks here, rather than wtFOCK putting in the work itself.

I also think it’s something of a disappointment because S3 portrayed the experience of developing a crush so beautifully, the desperation to learn more about a person and get close to them, the obsessive focus. wtFOCK is by no means required to do that, but it was such a vulnerable, intimate way to get into Isak’s head that I can’t help but miss the extended crush period for Robbe. We really needed more of his POV.

Robbe decides to cope by getting high. Aha, there’s that Under Pressure for Robbe!

Actually, it seemed super weird to me that the timestamps had them meeting like 5 hours ago? Because it seemed like they went shopping and went home soon after where Amber inspected the groceries, but apparently there were hours between that, so what were they doing in the meantime? Not anything important, apparently, because we didn’t see it.

Clip 5 - Sad sad Robbe time

The others are playing trivia and Robbe is just social distancing like 10 feet away staring at them while listening to music on his headphones, lmao. Britt has quite the grip on Sander’s neck.

Noor comes over and Robbe asks her about Britt and Sander. Sander studied Visual Arts at I think a different school than Robbe. Imagine how effective this would be if Robbe did this LAST WEEK, like “casually” asked Noor about Sander or something. But of course that would have required the story to be moving forward last week.

Sander stares at Robbe and Noor as they make out. Get back in Robbe’s POV, for fuck’s sake! This isn’t even an impossible moment to have from his POV. Have Robbe and Noor make out, Robbe opens his eyes and spies Sander looking at him, he looks again and Sander has looked away. That creates an element of doubt that will live rent free in Robbe’s head.

This choice annoys me more and more. Where’s the tension in quite firmly suggesting that actually, Sander is into Robbe right after showing that Sander has a girlfriend? There was soooo much juicy tension squeezed from Isak and the audience not knowing what the fuck was up with Even and Sonja. People forget it now, but as someone who watched OG S3 in real time, there were plenty of viewers who thought Even was just stringing Isak along or doubted the sincerity of his feelings, because the show effectively kept us in Isak’s POV and for many viewers there was room to doubt Even’s intentions. Honestly, we didn’t really get real confirmation of Even’s feeling until episode 9. I just don’t see how it serves the story to a) take us out of our main character’s POV b) to make sure the mysterious love interest is somewhat less mysterious this early.

Clip 6 - Paintball

The squads play a friendly game of paintball, and by that I mean they try to annihilate each other. It’s a little hard for me to tell who’s shooting who since it’s fast and everyone has masks and is dressed in either black or camo, except Aaron in his onesie.

Sander and Robbe end up next to each other. They see Britt on the ground. Sander runs up and shoots Britt several times while she tells him to stop, clearly in pain. Britt yells at him to be normal sometimes and to use his head from time to time. Sander apologizes as Britt runs off.

Robbe and Sander exchange a look like “hmm” and Sander says he thinks they’ve won. He walks off. The music feels … weirdly triumphant?

This scene sits pretty weirdly. I don’t think this clip was pointless, I definitely think it has a point, but … what are they going for here. Thinking about it, I’d say the concept of this scene is good, but the execution feels off. wtFOCK has a real tone problem that becomes apparent later in the season.

I don’t think shooting Britt means Sander is manic, but I DO think part of the intent was to show he’s impulsive/gets carried away/can be OTT. Which is not bad (although there’s some sketchiness abut how this is tied to his mental illness if he’s not manic right now, and about how mentally ill people are dangerous) but it’s his reaction that gets me. Because it’s one thing if he gets carried away and we see him show remorse (which he does, briefly) but then he’s like cracking a joke with Robbe. It would be way more effective if we saw his remorse lingering. Not to mention yeah, he could have hurt Britt! It’s not that Sander has to be flawless, but this is one of our first impressions of him and it’s not great. It might work if you think it’s setting up Sander as something of a dangerous bad boy for Robbe (“you only like bad news” go the lyrics) but I’m not sure how much the show leans into that, especially because Robbe seems happy that they “won” rather than alarmed at what the fuck Sander just did.

But the part that baffles me most is how this matters to Robbe/Sander? Is this supposed to be a cute, flirty moment? A “haha, fuck my girlfriend, I like you instead” moment? Because wow, was it cruel on Sander’s part, and Robbe doesn’t seem that bothered by it. I get that maybe Sander IS supposed to be upset with himself but is brushing it off, but yeah, the offense is just too much for me, when physical harm comes into play.

IDK, I could get behind the ambiguity of reactions in a scene like this, but there’s something off about the seriousness of what Sander does - which is acknowledged in-clip by Britt’s and Zoë’s reactions - combined with how Robbe and Sander end the clip, as if we ignore those reactions to make it a fun shippy moment. It’s pretty unappealing. We don’t even really see or hear anything about Sander and Britt making up or talking it out, we don’t see any lingering tension between them due to this incident, it’s like this clip was forgotten. Presumably they made up off-screen before the next clip, but in that case, we should have seen Sander run after her to apologize? Where’s the emotional fallout? It doesn’t really stick for Sander, Britt, or Robbe.

Clip 7 - Bonfire

Robbe is upset with Sander and Britt making out. He goes over to Aaron who is also sitting sadly alone.

Aaron says he doesn’t know how Robbe does it, getting girls, and how he was so chill with Noor in the bathroom. IMO they could’ve ramped up Robbe’s fuckboyness since it didn’t come across that clearly to me, but this is one thing I do like about the potential of Isak and Magnus interaction … the Magnus looking to the Isak for girl advice, making the Isak have to preserve some sort of reputation as a ladies’ man, giving him some cred with his friends that he’s afraid to lose.

Robbe says it’s different because Noor goes to a different school so it wasn’t as bad if she rejected him. But wasn’t she handing out dance performance flyers in the hallway at Robbe’s school? That made me think she was a student there. But IDK how Belgian school works, maybe that’s normal.

Aaron goes over to talk to Amber and makes her a s’more, but Amber walks off because OMG so many calories. Aaron is bummed but Luca takes the s’more and eats it. Uhhh, the obvious buildup here is for Aaron/Luca, wtFOCK writers. She is literally taking and enjoying what Aaron is offering. I sense a connection.

I’m tickled by Aaron referencing American TV shows when he makes the s’more. His s’more is missing the best part, the cheap melted chocolate, which to be fair would probably have caused Amber to slap him over the calorie count.

This scene is at least from Robbe’s POV as he watches them, thank God.

Clip 8 - Haunted house

The boy squad (who are called the Brrrothers) set up a haunted house. That’s actually a pretty fun scenario. They lock the others in, because teenagers don’t care about fire hazards. But still seems like a great time.

Sander helps the others through the window, what a gentleman.

Aaron and Amber have the cliché “fall down into each other” moment so I suppose that’s the start of their romance. Now she holds his hand. Boo, no Luca/Aaron … at least Aaron/Amber is still better than Basile/Daphne so far.

They climb onto the roof to seek a treasure, which turns out to be alcohol. There’s a rooftop party, people drinking and smoking and having a good time. Robbe and Sander share a Look before Sander and Britt get cozy.

I mean, again … would’ve been better if they hadn’t spoken like. Twice.

Clip 9 - Aaron throws away his shot

Robbe is grumpy on the way back from the haunted house, which he calls Jens and Moyo’s ego trip. I think he’s mostly just sour about Sander and Britt, but also he could be annoyed that he wasn’t involved, although that mainly seems like it would be Robbe’s fault for distancing himself.

Aaron valiantly offers to check the house for murderous ghosts before they go back inside.

See, I KNEW Aaron was going to pull some shit with a practical joke when he went inside, I just didn’t expect him to pretend to get SHOT. The dedication… it’s in very poor taste, though.

Of course it’s a prank, but Amber acts very concerned. You know, this is actually a good way to show how Aaron is immature and keep the Amber/Aaron pairing apart … compared to Basile/Daphne where it was just nonstop sexual harassment, here we see Aaron being sweet and thoughtful with Amber and potentially making progress with her, and then ruining it by being an insensitive teenage dumbass. But he can still grow into more of a mature kid and prove himself to Amber that way.

Aaron seems regretful of it, but Moyo and Jens are like YOU DA MAN. I regret to announce that this boy squad kinda sucks so far. At least Aaron seems like he might have some character development, judging by his reaction here.

That was nicely done as a way to create conflict with the Aaron/Amber relationship, and establishing some mutual interest before showing where Aaron needs to grow as a person, even if I’m like ... we really got to stick to Robbe’s POV/story, man.

Clip 10 - Another prank

Moyo and Jens ask Robbe to go get them beers, and it’s a prank and Aaron’s in the freezer so I guess Aaron did not learn anything, never mind.

Echoing what I said above: I’m absolutely not expecting the boy squad to be perfectly well-behaved rational empathetic adults, and it’s not like this prank is some deeply cruel thing, but there is just. So much. Of the shouting, pranking, casual sexism, crude comments, and general obnoxious behavior. I’m really trying to keep in mind that Isak’s boy squad was also full of the horny gross talk about girls at the beginning, and that it was a necessary part of showing Isak’s alienation from his peers. Or that by now on OG S3 we had several awesome moments from Isak’s squad that we haven’t reached yet because the season’s paced a few episodes behind. Still. Ugh. Maybe it’s the shouting? I feel like this boy squad is ... shoutier ... than the other boy squads. Making them prankmasters is also not helping. I think you have to walk a careful line between making them realistically flawed straight dudes who alienate Isak with their talk of girls, and making them screaming caricatures who are all “fuck girls get pussy hot chicks sex sex sex.” There’s a lack of warmth and innocence to balance it out. We need some indication soon that these guys are going to be there for Robbe when shit goes down.

Robbe snaps at them and storms off, and Noor follows him. WOW, it would be good to see ROBBE’S POV of this scene!!!! What happened next!!!

Nope, the clip ends here!!!!

Clip 11 - Halloween

Everyone’s dressed up and preparing to go to a Halloween party. The girls are cute putting on makeup and chatting about necrophilia. There’s a comment where Luca says a guy sounded like “a begging Romanian” and errrrr, I did a bit of a double take at that. It’s not my culture or language so I don’t want to talk out of my ass, but I thought this was generally considered to be an offensive thing to say (although one that people frequently say anyway due to prejudice). What was the fandom reaction to that line?

People are dancing at the party. Apparently Jens and Jana are friends with benefits. Lol, at least Jana is not FWB with their P-Chris, that guy sucked.

Amber’s still mad at Aaron, understandably. Moyo cheers up Aaron on his recent romantic failure, which is nice and a much kinder moment than 99% of the material they’ve given Moyo thus far, and they go look for other girls.

I do love all the Halloween makeup. Look at Robbe’s hair!

Zoë checks her phone because I guess Senne drama is gonna happen.

Noor tags a wall with R+N in a heart, oh dear.

Robbe stares sadly at Sander and Britt dancing. Noor tries to get him to dance because the song is great, Robbe says he’s more of a Bowie fan and namedrops Changes. OK lmao, again, this doesn’t work so well that Robbe has suddenly become a Bowie expert when he’s been at the seaside the whole time. I know it’s silly when Isak starts acting like a Nas expert, but there was enough time for him to look up Nas between when Even mentioned him and when he talked to Emma about him to gain some basic knowledge of Nas. I guess Robbe could’ve been looking up Bowie in the last few days when he’s brooding alone, but lol, he’s also been kinda busy. Or Robbe is just bullshitting about Bowie, but the fact he was able to name a Bowie song when he couldn’t earlier in the episode suggests that he did look into Bowie.

Now there’s the Call Your Girlfriend moment where Robbe makes out with Noor while staring at Sander, then Sander stares back, eyefuck, blah blah.

I gotta say. I’ve seen various takes on Call Your Girlfriend scene by now. And what I notice - at least from my recollection - is that the remakes tend to focus more on the actual eyefucking. Because the OG scene doesn’t actually have Isak and Even staring at each other, going back and forth, for a while. Most of that scene is about Isak’s longing. Isak dances with Emma, looks at Even with Sonja. He kisses Emma, looks at Even kissing Sonja. It’s about Isak wanting Even but instead being with a girl. When Even looks back it’s not this long, extended thing! Because it’s not really about the eyefucking. It’s just confirmation, for both Isak and for us, that we are not imagining this chemistry between them. It’s a shot of hope that Even also wants Isak despite mixed signals. That even though Even is passionately kissing his girlfriend, he’s thinking about Isak. And then Isak closes his eyes - he doesn’t eyefuck Even through three verses and the bridge, he closes his eyes - and we don’t need to be told to realize he’s imagining he’s kissing Even instead.

First of all, the most effective part of the CYG scene is the timing. The song is perfectly timed and Isak’s reactions are perfectly edited to make us feel that frustration and longing that Isak does. It’s a way more vulnerable scene that most of the remakes seem to realize. Most of the scene is Isak looking without that look being reciprocated. And Even’s returned look comes just as we’re losing our minds (plus it matches the on-the-nose lyrics, lol). The endless eyefucking in the remakes isn’t that special or interesting in terms of delivery.

Second, here’s the thing: I think we forget, since we know that Evak are endgame, that at this stage during S3′s real-time run, it wasn’t certain that they were endgame. In fact, many people weren’t even sure Even liked Isak back! I was lucky enough to jump into Skam right before the first kiss, and there was so much doubt, it was crazy. Even and Isak shared an awesome afternoon together, but Even brought his girlfriend to this party, he’s still dating her. Isak is doubting whether this thing can go anywhere with them, if Even even is interested in him like that. And Even looking at him during CYG IS the confirmation that Even’s into him. It’s the confirmation for the audience that we didn’t imagine Even’s attraction to Isak. Whereas in wtFOCK, Sander is like openly staring at Robbe when Robbe isn’t watching, and the show breaks Robbe’s POV to make sure we know this. Sander is feeding him croques by hand while they lock eyes. He’s being much flirtier and the show is not hiding his interest. wtFOCK introduced Britt as an obstacle to this potential relationship, but does she really feel like one when Sander has been communicating his interest all along? Is there any doubt he likes Robbe? Not to mention Sander was just introduced this episode, and there simply isn’t the buildup, the time to weigh in and question his motives, the investment in whether he likes Robbe or not. So the tremendous release of tension in this scene is just not the same, because the tension isn’t there to begin with.

The OG Call Your Girlfriend clip is not about two guys who are hot for each other challenging each other to look away. The clip is about vulnerability and longing, and that vibe has been missing from sooooo many of the adaptations. Like anything in the remakes, change is not inherently bad. Change can provide for some interesting and thoughtful material. But I don’t think the remakes always realized when they’re making a change. On the surface a scene will be similar to OG, but the emotional buildup, the timing, the tension, the symbolism, etc. will be very different, and if you’re not aware of how even the littlest change can alter the meaning of a scene, then the scene can fall flat.

Clip 12 - End of trip

Everyone’s packing up to go home, Amber calls out the boys for sitting there and not cleaning (she’s right!)

Robbe helps Sander with the empty bottles. Sander asks about Robbe and Noor if they’re doing well. Robbe says yeah and then asks about Sander and Britt, Sander says it’s been “ups and downs” with mostly downs lately. Ups and downs could also refer to bipolarity, though I don’t know if I’d jump to Sander having “mostly downs” mentally just yet.

Sander says he seems to get on her nerves lately, and they’ve been together for half a year. Okay sooooo … they’re way less serious than Even and Sonja, and Sander has much less to lose by breaking up with her. I mean. Do they not see where, emotionally, this removes a lot of Even’s conflict in OG, and presumably much of Sander’s conflict in this version? It mattered that Sonja had been with Even for years. It mattered that he was used to her taking charge. It mattered that they’d sunk so much time into this relationship and survived such rough patches. Unless there was a really really drastic event in Sander’s life like right when he and Britt got together, that she was instrumental in helping him face, it seriously cannot compare to what Even and Sonja went through. He asks Robbe what he would do, stay or go.

He reaches around Robbe, getting sorta touchy feely, Robbe steps away.

Sander says maybe he (Sander) is scared he’ll never find someone, someone who’ll love him. Tension between him and Robbe as they consider each other. This insight is good to understand Sander, at least.

Robbe says he thinks Sander will find someone like that, Sander asks where, Robbe says he should meet new people, Sander says “on a weekend trip with strangers?” Robbe is like “...yes.” (Did you get to know each other? Did you really?)

They lean in for a kiss, but then Luca shows up to take out the trash so the moment is ruined, Sander walks off.

SIIIIIIGH this could have been a good scene if they like … developed this relationship or didn’t pace this story so weirdly. On top of the rushed Sander/Robbe development, the buildup to this scene on its own is odd. In OG, the kitchen almost-kiss happens right after the Call Your Girlfriend moment where they lock eyes, after Even stares at Isak across the room. There is palpable tension in the kitchen because they’re basically riding a high together. This is like the morning after their version of the CYG, which should have been an “aha! he likes me back!” moment for Robbe, but instead the momentum and sexual tension just kind of paused and consequently this scene almost feels random, like I felt the contrivances to put them in the same situation as Isak and Even here. (Think about it: Was there a reason this scene had to be the next morning instead of later that night? What happened after that eyefucking clip, did Robbe and Sander just go about their night like NBD?) The CYG clip and following kitchen scene felt like a clear example of cause and effect; the wtFOCK equivalents felt more like they were hitting arbitrary points in the OG rather than feeling fitting to its story.

I just realized we got like NO insight into Robbe’s sexuality crisis this episode, either, the way we did with Isak in episode 3. And maybe we’ll get some of it in the future, but I do think it weakens the story not to have any of that at this juncture. We’re three out of 10 episodes and we’ve barely scratched the surface of our protagonist’s main conflict this season, which is about his sexuality.

HOW I WOULD REWRITE THE EPISODE:

Introduce Sander sooner, for fuck’s sake.

Okay, that ship has sailed, moving on. Have the grocery scene go on longer, or rather, have them go somewhere after the supermarket, like they decide to take a detour to a park or something and go hang out and talk, to the point where Amber starts texting them like “Where the fuck is the food?” Show Robbe unwinding just a little, talking about his own interests, his own taste in music. It’s understandable that he might not open up about the deep’n’heavy stuff yet, but perhaps in either this scene or another one later this week, Sander asks him a family-related question and Robbe doesn’t answer with his whole sad backstory, but he gives a little, maybe has a fond memory of his mom, a tradition they had when he was younger. We see this little happy/sad moment and it’s like something about Sander compels him to open up and we get the complexity of his relationship with his mom, that it’s not all good or bad.

Instead of Sander shooting Britt excessively in the paintball scene, have him and Robbe team up and strategize for a while. We see they work well together, oho. They’re having a lot of fun. And maybe Sander DOES shoot Britt but it’s not this prolonged close-range thing, it’s just him being caught up in the moment as he and Robbe work together. He shoots her (again, it’s a little OTT and enough to make her upset but not quite as bad as in the filmed scene) and she runs off and we see him have an “oh” moment. Oh right, I got caught up being with this guy I like and forgot I have a girlfriend. He feels seriously remorseful and runs after Britt. And maybe when Sander shoots Britt, Robbe has a moment of “!!!”, maybe Sander likes him Like That after all! But then Sander runs after Britt and they kiss and make up because it’s just a paintball game, after all, and Robbe is like, oh, right. It’s just paintball.

This episode really convinces me how vital episode 2 is, even before Mekke øl, in establishing both Even as a character and the Isak/Even dynamic. We get why Isak likes him even before they speak again. It’s so beautiful and honest, with Isak checking out Even’s video, searching for him on social media, that desperation … and then how much R+J hits Isak in the feels. The equivalent would be if Robbe was listening to David Bowie on his earbuds and having a big moment. So er, why didn’t they just ... do that? Robbe is sitting alone listening to David Bowie and watching Sander and Britt be cuddly, and there’s this feeling of longing and being close to Sander via the music while at the same time being so far away. It might be too obvious and faithful to OG, but it would also, you know. Probably be effective. It is also set-up for Robbe talking about how he’s a Bowie fan to Noor.

Have Sander talk to Robbe after Robbe flips out on his friends after the prank! Maybe Sander calms him down by doing a weird Sander thing! Maybe Robbe confides a bit about his shitty home situation or his crappy friends so he and Sander connect on a deeper level! But the prank clip ended immediately after Robbe stormed off, and for some reason the show was like nah, it’s not important after that, even though it was a prime opportunity for good, insightful content into Robbe’s head, or a way to let Robbe and Sander bond some more.

If they cannot talk directly, how about some indirect moments where they connect, other than paintball? We get some stares at each other but those could be structured to show off more of a connection. Their eyes meet when something funny happens. Robbe or Sander are Jim Halperting at each other when Aaron or Amber says something ridiculous, like can you believe this shit? Everyone’s sitting around listening to music and Sander goes and puts on a Bowie song and Robbe smiles to himself.

(Not that they needed to do movie references in this version, but they should have totally gone with Labyrinth references for Robbe/Sander, just saying. I’m not even sure how it would work thematically, I just think it’d be delightful.)

(OR VELVET GOLDMINE, aka “Todd Haynes wrote and filmed David Bowie/Iggy Pop fanfiction where Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale fuck on a rooftop.” God I love that movie.)

In the haunted house, have Robbe and Sander like ...touch, accidentally, or grab each other out of fear, or do one of those cliché “we find ourselves close together, breathing hard and staring at each other” moments. I don’t care! Just give us stuff to work with! Like there even IS a split second moment where Robbe is climbing out of the window and Sander offers him a hand, it’s just not played for any drama or tension or emotional reaction - I mean, wtFOCK are you doing, wtFOCK writers?

There is a glaring flaw with this episode, in that there were SO many opportunities to actually have Robbe and Sander interact throughout the episode, and yet overall the potential was totally wasted.

Consider that Isak and Even went to the same school, but they were in different years and didn’t share any classes. So when, for example, Isak hangs out with Even in Mekke øl, I can easily buy that Isak doesn’t see him again until Even returns the snapback. Or that he doesn’t see Even after the snapback scene until the neon party. Therefore, I feel like I’m seeing all the essential moments of Isak’s interaction with Even, I am getting the “full story” with Evak and sufficient evidence to try to piece together what Even’s deal is.

Robbe and Sander were living under the same roof for days. This is a drastic departure from the original. Realistically speaking, there would have been so, so many more opportunities for interaction, or moments where we could’ve gained insight into that developing attraction. Sander and Britt would’ve been sleeping in the same bed at times, right? How did Robbe react to that? Could we have seen his jealousy? Was there ever a time when Robbe was coming out of the bathroom and he bumped into Sander and it was awkward? Or when someone else left a room and Robbe found himself alone with Sander, and he didn’t know what to say? Did Robbe try to avoid Sander the entire time? Did he try to talk to him but Noor or Britt walked in? Did Sander try to talk to Robbe? Was there any interaction between them besides what we were shown on screen? Did Robbe get up and sit on the beach listening to music and Sander joined him and they shared headphones? Did Robbe go outside one night just to get away from Noor in his bed and Sander was also sitting on the porch and they shared a joint and talked about stuff? Eh? Ehhh???

The problem is that I don’t believe that we were shown the “full story” of Robbe and Sander this week. I can’t believe that because, logically speaking, there would have been way, way more interactions between them even if they were actively trying to avoid each other. For whatever reason, wtFOCK decided to have Robbe and Sander meet at the seaside and spend a week in the same house. Okay. But despite the opportunities that scenario provided to really catch up and develop the hell out of the Robbe/Sander relationship after a delayed start, the show just didn’t do that. And I do feel cheated, not just because it’s rushed and lazy, but because it doesn’t even make sense. Obviously wtFOCK cannot film every minute they were around each other, but it sure as hell could’ve given us more substantial content than it did.

Even if you want to emphasize how they can’t really be alone with each other because they’re with almost 10 other people including their girlfriends ... fucking run with that, man. Milk it for all it’s worth. Make us feel how frustrating it is that they’re not alone, that Robbe is paranoid about getting too close to Sander in case everyone can tell he’s got a crush. Or show them in a scene with other characters, but they’re interacting in an indirect way that makes it seem like they’re the only two people in the room. Their first clip and the almost kiss at the end of the episode is the only time when I really felt that tension at all, and I use “tension” loosely in the case of the almost kiss.

We also have little information this season on Robbe’s specific sexuality crisis, and that’s also hurting the narrative. I’m aware that the next episode dives into some of the clips that OG Skam got to in its episode 3, so I don’t want to harp on it too much now ... but I do have some basic questions, such as: where is Robbe at with his sexuality right now?

We have gotten very little introspection on him thinking about being gay, or what it means to be gay. We did not have the big crush fixation on Sander that Isak got on Even: Googling him, looking him up on social media, trying to find out everything about him. We did not have Robbe taking gay tests online. Yet he goes from meeting Sander to trying to kiss him within days.

And I think the lack of sexuality crisis further diminishes the already weak tension of the episode. If Robbe was more strongly dealing with his sexuality, then I would be able to accept him falling for Sander so fast and so hard a bit more easily, to the point of almost kissing him, even if their emotional connection wasn’t really established. But he hasn’t been given the space to do that. He hasn’t been given the space to even think about being gay or what that means. So he’s supposedly going from internalized homophobia to almost kissing Sander, with none of the introspection shown on screen. Why? What is running through his head?

So obviously, in rewriting the episode, let’s set up some actual sexuality conflict with Robbe. Maybe he’s trying to look up gay stuff online while he’s locked himself in the bathroom or when everyone else is asleep at night, or he’s trying but unfortunately he’s paranoid people are looking over his shoulder, or the boy squad grabs his phone as a prank and he’s terrified they’ll see that he was searching “how to know if you’re gay.” Maybe other people start talking about a sexuality-related topic, a gay celebrity, something like that, and Robbe’s reaction matters - like he makes an ignorant comment and someone schools him, or he makes a downright offensive comment and someone chews him out. Someone makes a gay joke and we see how it makes Robbe squirm. Someone makes a gay joke and then gets called out on it and we see how it makes the wheels turn in Robbe’s head. Have Amber or Noor or whoever make a boneheaded comment about gay people and Sander schools them so we see Robbe get a HMMM moment. HMMM, does Sander like dudes? HMMM, maybe I should reconsider my opinions on gay people? I don’t know, man! Literally! Anything!

Maybe have his advice to Aaron be more obviously bad? More fuckboyish? We see him overcompensating for his sudden Sander feelings by doling out some uber-heterosexual manly man advice to Aaron about how to impress a girl. Aaron is like, are you sure that’s a good idea? Robbe is like, pffft, obviously, what, are you gay? Are you too gay to make a move on Amber? Show her what’s what. This leads Aaron to do something very stupid and insulting and sexist with Amber, which leads to Amber getting mad at Aaron and Aaron getting mad at Robbe for Robbe’s dumbass advice. Maybe Jens and Moyo jump in because God knows we need some good moments from them, and they’re like, seriously, Robbe? Why did you think that was a good idea? Robbe gets mad and storms off.

To some degree I’m like … well, what IS Robbe’s problem with Sander dating Britt, really? He met this hot and cool guy, but a few hours later learned the hot guy had a girlfriend. It sucks, but what is pulling him in so hard and so fast other than Sander being so hot? It’s a disappointment, but is it this truly devastating thing? He doesn’t know much about Sander, they’ve had so much less of a connection than Isak and Even. They had one fun morning, basically. It’s true that crushes aren’t rational and that a teenager can fall for someone based on crumbs and hotness, I fully realize you can’t turn off your romantic feelings like a faucet. But the show didn’t put in the work of making me believe in the strength of those romantic feelings in the first place. The fact that it is realistic for teenagers to have shallow crushes does not mean that I have to accept weak writing to fill in the blanks for this romantic connection that is supposed to be a powerful love story. Actually, let me bold that and rewrite it as a general rule: The fact that something can be realistic does not mean we have to fill in the blanks in order to make up for weak, lazy writing.

I know that Isak and Even didn’t have a TON of interaction before episode 3, but they definitely had more, and Isak had time to research Even and develop a crush him based on what he found: he learned a bit about Even’s hobbies and interests, he was touched by a piece of art that Even loved. They bonded, they BOTH opened up - we saw Isak melt a little and banter whereas Robbe hasn’t really loosened up with Sander, except running around the grocery store (oh, and letting him stick a croque in his mouth, I guess). In the kitchen scene after getting groceries, for example, Robbe basically says nothing noteworthy, nothing to give either us or Sander a better understanding of him, or an appreciation of his sense of humor. There’s no real banter. If you watch the Robbe/Sander scenes, it seems like Sander dominates them, and that’s great for learning about Sander as a character, not so much for feeling like they’re mutually connecting. And if they want to portray Robbe as shy or awkward around Sander, I get it. But I don’t get where the emotional connection comes in, and frankly I don’t feel like I know much about Robbe as a person.

So here’s my suggestion: Don’t do the almost kiss.

I know, I know, it’s a Skam S3 staple. But wtFOCK has really not earned this moment. We’re not in dire need of confirmation that Sander likes Robbe because wtFOCK is making it obvious. The tension is not developed enough to merit an almost kiss, Robbe’s sexuality journey is not far along to make it super believable. If they’re kissing next week for real, just let that happen without the episode 3 interrupted kiss.

If you do want an almost kiss, maybe one or both of them is a little drunk? Or a lot drunk. Like, noticeably tipsy. Their inhibitions are lowered. I could buy that, especially if Robbe has a morning after freakout. oh god i was drunk and about to throw myself at sander!!!!! OR hahaha we were pretty drunk so it didn’t mean anything ... unless...? So long as there’s some effect on Robbe.

Because it’s a Skam remake, we probably do need a big end-of-episode clip, though. A turning point. Personally, I would be fine with just some smoldering unresolved sexual tension that doesn’t go as far as an attempted kiss. (I mentioned above that I am a diehard shipper of Ronan/Adam from The Raven Cycle and let me tell you, you do not need an almost kiss to get across the sexual tension. Once upon a time I wrote a draft of a post charting their relationship development through all their intense stares.) Perhaps Sander and Britt start fighting, Sander walks off, Robbe finds him or maybe he finds Robbe and they’re like, sitting together on the beach, and they have this personal and possibly subtext-laden conversation, or maybe this is when Robbe finally opens up about something personal (like he mentions when his parents used to fight, IDK). They don’t touch. Or maybe their knees brush. They stay perfectly still and don’t lean in. But they look at each other and don’t look away until someone calls for them or comes to collect them, and that’s how the moment is ruined and the spell is broken. That would be enough for me.

Maybe we could end on a non-dramatic note and Robbe and Sander end up sharing earbuds and listening to a David Bowie song. Or a song by someone that Robbe likes and wants to share with Sander, IDK. We leave them staring at the beach and trading surreptitious glances and catching feelings. A real butterflies in the stomach scene.

This also would have been a great episode to hint at Sander’s mental illness. You could show Britt hovering and telling him not to drink or smoke, you could have Robbe walking in as Sander is taking his medication (but obviously he doesn’t know what type of meds they are yet). You could have the suggested ending fight between Britt and Sander contain veiled references to his mental illness because Britt thinks that Sander was skipping his meds or he was doing something that she thought was a red flag. Robbe overhears them arguing but again, he doesn’t realize the real context.

I felt like Noor was kind of in the background for this episode, and look, I thought she was overused in the first two episodes, but in this one, her presence would have been more useful for Robbe’s storyline, such as having her interrupt a Robbe/Sander moment, or showing us that she’s growing frustrated with Robbe’s lack of attention to her.

Stay in Robbe’s POV, I beg you. Do this one simple thing. It’s OK to give random scenes outside his POV from time to time (like the girls doing their Halloween makeup) but anything relevant to his arc should be from his eyes only, and anything not relevant to his arc needs to be managed carefully so it doesn’t suck up too much screen time from his story.

I’ve been looking at the social media that was posted for this season, but I don’t really have a ton to say about it. wtFOCK seems pretty active with the characters’ Instagram accounts, so I commend them for that. So far the text messages don’t seem to be adding a ton to Robbe’s story - I specify Robbe’s story because a lot of them are not even texts that involve him, lmao. Like there’s a text between Zoë and Senne that effectively sets up trouble in that relationship, and it’s way more enlightening than texts that actually involve Robbe.

I think there’s legit potential with this cast. I like all the girls, I think Sander’s actor has some good onscreen presence… even though I don’t care for how the boys are written, I think they have potential. It’s just frustrating when you see the potential being squandered even more than if there were little potential to start.

Just to add, like I said above, this isn’t my culture or language, and I know that I’m missing context. Let me know if there’s anything I didn’t get on account of not being a teenager in Belgium.

#wtfock reactions

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snubyy · 3 years

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So when I listen I think of stories (music videos, scenes for moves, etc.)

This is what I thought of for Beggin’.

(please show mercy on me I don’t write often I just have a big imagination).

The camera starts zoomed in on the singers face, red light illuminates his face, nothing can been seen besides the nose down and his hands slowly moving down the mike.

His voice pained as he rasps out the intro, the audience though looking calm is drawn to him. He reels them in, to the edge of the seats as he finishes the intro and throws his head back.

Like four partners working harmoniously, his voice, the mic, the way his hands train down the stand, and his body quickly dancing with the violence of the base guitar.

He is all the crowd can look at, as the lights flash on and off in red waves. He is the chorus, the chords, behind the red spotlight on him the crowd can see the color bleed onto the drum set of the drummer, and the quick hands of the base guitarist.

The drums accompanied the guitar and the crowd struggled to decided if they should focus on the flashing lights of yellow and purple, and the new colors bouncing off the glossy instruments. Or watch the singer dance to the first verse. Throwing his head back and forth between each line, pulling back and rearing on his toes a few time. He demanded their attention, he needed it, was fueled by it.

His movements calmed and his hands grabbed the mic and stand, holding it steady as he leaned forward slightly into the audience. Smirking as the verse ends he holds back a scoff like laugh as the lights flash between red and blue and the chorus starts again.

The audience has finally released a breath it seems, in the crowd you’d never be able to tell the way everyone seemed to stop for a moment, lose focus slightly, but as the crowd grew used to the song, remembered the open dance floor, bar tenders , waiters holding trays, everything came to life.

This party was strange to say the least, fancy, yet stylish, punk but pristine. A man in a suit was sitting in a back booth, staring down at the singer as his associates attempted to speak under the second verse and his body guard eyed another across the room.

The person across the room, a waiter, or so they pretended to be, made their way over.

The red lights flashed to black followed by blue, then black again, and back to red. This patterned nauseated the bodyguard, made it look like the waiter was teleporting. Only being seen when the lights were on, and each time they flicked on the waiter grew closer.

Till they were leaned over the table offering the bodyguards boss a whine glass. The lights turned yellow and stayed on as the third verse insued and panic ruptured through the body guard. How? How could they have let this fake get so close?!

He grabbed their empty arm and threw it behind the waiters back earning a look of shock from his boss, and his bosses friends. As the lights beamed purple the bodyguard watched as his boss laughed and eyed him, demanding he unhand the waiter. Under the music he heard his boss call him stressed, tell him to relax, joke that he should have a dance with their new friend.

“Everything will be fine” The boss waved it off and held up the drink as he ushered off his guard who had apparently accepted a dance with this waiter, who found themself on break.

As he was pulled off the lights went back to red, switching on and off again and the body guard felt himself be pulled into a trance, a trap. The waiter was not who they pretended to be, they were a Venus fly trap and he was stuck in their jaws. The chorus is what caught him, the way the waiter moved, threw him around on beat, danced around him, he was a puppet. A puppet to the singer, to their voice, the mic, their hands, their body, and now a puppet to the waiter as well.

More people were dancing now, and the body guard felt himself grow more trapped with the waiters body against his own, with the music washing over the two. But looking back at his boss, he tried so hard to pry away, to be free of this dance of death. With the fourth verse came realization, a realization he’d had from the beginning. The waiter, they were too good, too persistent. The whine, it had been so slyly placed down, so perfectly placed. A baited trap, a covered snare, a hidden web, a poisoned drink.

Rage spilled over as he pulled away, shoved away the waiter and they fell back with the chorus, with the strobing red lights. He wouldn’t fail, not this mission.

He snatched a glass from another waiter and made his way to his boss, he couldn’t just take the glass out of no where, he’d jumped once, he couldn’t again, he also couldn’t start a commotion, the waiter couldn’t either. A silently agreement to not blow the others cover, to not start a fight, but how could a war like this be settled without a fight, neither could settle without a fight.

So now it was the waiters turn, they couldn’t let the guard change the drink, not when they were this close to catching their target.

So with the chorus the waiter did the only thing they could, used the moves they could only use in a club. They danced. Similar to how they did before, but with each turn with the guard they tried to snatch the new drink. The two brawled with eachother, but with the guard now focused they began to move in unison. Two partners working together, part of the show, flames erupting in a fire place, accompanied by all the other flames on the dance floor, and the singer who’s hoarse voice fueled the fire. Each person span around eachother, narrowly missing collusion, till the waiter had the drink back and changed partners.

Now on the opposite side of the bar the guard had to fight to get back, had to slither through the crowd, become one with the flashing lights so they wouldn’t be seen.

Wouldn’t be seen now trading the poisoned whine glass for the other, the regular, the untainted.

Now it was truly war. Undercover war, how the guard had gotten passed the waiter would never know, they were supposed to be the best after all.

So they tried again, it wasn’t about the target anymore, the mission, it was about beating this body guard who was trying so hard to distract them.

They were stuck, reeled into the guards arms, being dipped, and pulled, and turned.

This wasn’t a trap, it was a cage, an iron room, a wall between them and the boss they were trying so hard to capture.

But they wouldn’t give up, not till the song was over, till the others dancers collapsed in tiredness.

Soon the drink was back in motion, the poisoned one was in the waiters hand and they wouldn’t stop working till the boss had taken their sip, their final sip.

And as the song finished, and drink had certainly made its way across both ends of the room, the waiter stood triumphant.

The final chord was rung and the boss held up a full whine glass.

The singer laughed hoarsely thanked the crowd and walked to the end of the stage, he snatched a glass from someone in the crowd and winked at them. The guard watched in horror as the bosses attention turned to the singer, who was toasting them.

The waiter loved it, watching the guards horror, panic, fear, they hadn’t felt this way before, hadn’t been this joyful over a victory before but they loved it.

And as the boss took a sip, they waited, waited for them to cough, to gag, to choke, sneer, gasp, lunge, writhe, ANYTHING.

But it never came, they swallowed their toast with a smile as the singer downed his whole glass and paused, before falling to his kneels in death.

#be kind to my writing please #writing #poison wine #body guard #waiter #day dreaming #songs #music video #good music #Beggin’#måneskin #måneskin beggin’#writer #dancing #dance battle #Spotify

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cherryamoureuse · 3 years

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paper rings | peter parker (soulmate au)

Tomorrow was your seventeenth birthday. You were finally going to be linked to your soulmate. Everyone’s connection was different. Some saw specific colors, others shared emotions. Your parents had been the latter. The bond does not show itself until both soulmates are seventeen. You will admit that your heart was yearning and hoping that it would be one specific person. Peter Parker. You were in the same chemistry class as the honey-eyed brunette. The pair of you have never exchanged more than a few words to each other in the two years that you had been classmates, much to your dismay. From the second that you had laid your eyes on him freshman year, you had been his. Today, walking into school had been anxiety ridden for you. While on the train to school, your head was taken up with the thought of soulmates.

Would your infatuation with Peter suddenly disappear? What if it didn’t? Wouldn’t your soulmate eventually find out your affection was so focused on someone else? What if Peter was your soulmate?

No, that is just wishful thinking on your part. Walking up the stone steps, you reached the entrance of Midtown High. As cliche as it sounds, you felt your heart skip a few beats as you walked through the double doors. Peter was standing by his locker, shifting through stacks of paper, with a pen loosely hanging between his lips. Feeling your stare, he looked up and gave you a lopsided smile that wrapped your heart in warmth. Quickly, your eyes flutter towards the grounds as you feel your cheeks heat up at being caught. Walking past him, you flash him a smile as you go to find MJ, who would surely be waiting for you by your locker. You greet her with a flustered smile and she eyes you suspiciously.

“What’s up with you? Your cheeks are the color of strawberries.” She lifts a finger and pokes at your left cheek.

“It’s nothing.” You assure her as you hide your face behind your locker door.

“Mhm, this wouldn't have anything to do with a certain nerd named Peter Parker, now would it? She says with a smirk lighting up her features. “You know, if you just talked to him you could already be his girlfriend.”

“As if, MJ.” You scoff at her. You and Peter are barely acquaintances at this point in time. He would smile at you when you make eye contact and make small talk at the science tables, but that was the extent of it. You were his chemistry seat partner, that’s all.

“What do you mean? Never forget that you’re the one that’s out of his league.”

“Sure,” You sigh. MJ had always seen the best in people, even if she was a tad guarded. “Tomorrow is my birthday anyways. I’m gonna find my soulmate.” You do smile a little at the thought. It is important to be independent, but it would be nice to find a forever with someone.

The two of you walk to English and take your seats.

The day passes by, and you are finally on your way home. Your apartment was empty, there was a note on the counter from your parents saying they wouldn’t be home for dinner and that there was money on the table for pizza. They were rarely ever home, due to their busy work schedules, but you were used to it. Kicking off your shoes, you make your way to your bedroom to start your homework. As the time goes by, you try not to stress about your soulmate situation. The closer it got to 12, the more anxious you became. Finally, the moment had come as your clock switched from pm to am. You let out a breath and waited. Nothing happened. You didn’t feel any different. Furrowing your brows, you go to the mirror to search for some marking, which was the most common form of soulmate matching. There was nothing to be found. You sat on your bed hoping to feel anything from your soulmate’s end. All you could feel and hear was silence. Maybe your soulmate hadn’t turned seventeen yet. Then a terrible thought had occurred to you. What if you had no soulmate? It was rare but there had been a few cases of people who had no bond. You were reaching all kinds of scenarios in your head when you heard your parents walk through the front door. You rush under the covers and pretend to be asleep, so they don’t ask you questions that would make you cry in your fragile state. You hear the door open and hushed whispers are shared, before it is closed once again. Falling asleep, you try not to focus on the worst case scenarios.

You are woken up by a loud voice. Startled, you glance over at your clock to see that it is 3am. There are two voices speaking about salicylic acid? Confusion and alarm are at the forefront of your emotions. There was no radio on, yet the voices continue to converse about science. Opening your window, you stick your head out and try to find the source, but the voices seemed to be directly in your head. An epiphany strikes you. It has to be your soulmate bond. A smile lights up your features as you finally understand. It was a rare connection to have. Music. You and your soulmate could hear whatever music- or in your case, podcast- the other was listening to. An excited giggle forces it way out of your throat as you listen to scientific procedures. Why your soulmate would be up at 3am and listening to a science podcast was beyond you, but you were relieved to know that you were not without a soulmate. You thought about putting on your own music to let them know that you were there, but you didn’t want to disturb your other half. Your eyelids grow heavy and you are once again drifting back to sleep with thoughts of the periodic table.

Waking up at 6 am on a Saturday with just 4 hours of sleep under your belt was not difficult to do when you were excited for the prospect of hearing whatever your soulmate heard. There had been no new sounds in your mind since this morning, but you knew that if you began listening to a song, they would hear it and be as surprised as you had been. You had spent the morning racking your brain for the perfect song to play your soulmate. Nothing too heavy, you wanted a soft introduction. Searching your Spotify playlist, you found the perfect song. Holding your breath, you press play on Taylor Swift’s Invisible String. The intro starts and you wait. The song plays and finishes without interruption. You don’t play anything, hoping for some sort of response. Your heart is beating out of your chest as the same opening intro is played back before stopping. It worked, they had heard you! Excitement coursed through your veins. Freaking out, you look for another song to play for your soulmate. After half an hour, there had been no response. You were disappointed, but you brushed it off as your soulmate just getting busy. Around 8, you decided to take a quick shower. Normally, you would be playing music and singing in the shower, but you didn’t want to bother or annoy your soulmate. The silence was awkward for you. Brushing your hair, you decided to throw caution to the wind and play your everyday playlist. The soft sound of Clairo’s Bags fills the room. You keep the volume low as you hum and sing along. Then, Paper Rings starts playing and you can’t help but turn it up a little and sing into your hairbrush. You finish your nightly routine and head to bed. The weekend went by with no sounds on your soulmate’s end. It was frustrating to say the least, but you tried not to get worked up about it. Lover had been your album of choice for the weekend. Paper Rings had been on repeat for almost 2 days straight. You couldn’t help it. The song just elevated your mood. And with the mountain of assignments you had to do, you needed the boost. You popped your headphones in and started your walk to school. Taylor Swift accompanies you through your subway stops. Walking through the doors, your eyes immediately go to Peter’s locker. He’s standing and talking to Ned. He looks up when you enter and waves at you. You take out your headphones and pause your music to wave back at him. His hand stops its movement as soon as you begin waving back. He seems to be frozen in place as his mouth parts in disbelief. You drop your hand and your smile, thinking that you had done something wrong and cringe internally. Wrapping up your headphones, you walk past Peter, whose eyes are following you. His expression stays the same. Turning the corner, you run to MJ, telling her about your soulmate and your bizarre interaction with Peter.

“Wait,” she interrupts your rambling about how Peter reacted to your wave. “You waved at Peter? That’s so unlike you. Maybe that’s why he freaked.”

Thinking about it, Peter doesn’t usually wave at you when you walk in. Normally the two of you would exchange only a smile in the mornings.

Sliding into your seat in Chemistry, your leg bounces as you psych yourself up to talk to Peter. You wanted to get past the shy responses you always gave him. Having a soulmate had built up your confidence and you were ready to try and be Peter’s friend. You catch his eyes as he walks through the door frame and into the classroom. Your heart flutters, but you will the feeling away. You had a soulmate out there and it was not Peter Parker. This time it is him who averts his gaze and blushes. He walks down the aisle to his normal seat next to you. For some reason, you are hyper aware of his proximity today and you want nothing more than to melt into his side. You shake the thought from your head. What is up with you today? You turn to him.

“Hi, Peter.” Your voice sounds small amongst the loudness of the room, but his head perks up to look at you.

“Hi, Y/N. Wow, you’ve never been the one to talk first.” He laughs, but stops as he sees your face fall. You hadn’t wanted to seem standoffish, you were just painfully shy around him.

“I’m sorry, I-I” You blush a scarlet red as you stumble over your words.

“N-No, don’t apologize. It was just surprising. I’m glad you’re talking to me,” He assures you with a gentle, close-lipped smile and a hand on your arm. Warmth spreads around the area where his palm meets your cardigan. You could sigh at the feeling. “Happy Birthday, by the way. Big seventeen.” He rubs his neck.

“Yeah, thank you. I didn’t know you knew about my birthday.”

“MJ told me.” You nod at his rushed explanation and a comfortable silence washes over. Peter breaks it by asking you a question. “Sorry if it’s personal, but did you find out what your soulmate bond was? Y-you don’t have to answer, I’m just curious.”

Before you could answer, the teacher began explaining the assignment for today. You and Peter finished the paper just as the bell rang, signalling the end of the class period. Peter offers to walk with you to your locker. You nod in acceptance. You break the silence once you reach your locker.

“Um I did get my soulmate bond by the way, it’s bizarre. Mine is a music connection, but my soulmate has only listened to one science podcast so far. It was at 3 in the morning too.” You laugh and look over to see Peter looking at you with the same expression from this morning. You see him duck down to pull his phone out of his backpack and frantically untangle his headphones.

His movements were startling and you reached a hand out to his shoulder. “Are you okay, Peter?”

He doesn’t respond. His tongue pokes out of the side of his mouth, as he concentrates on his task. He finally untangles the knots and plugs in the wire, with the headphones situated in his ear. He taps away at the screen. All of a sudden, you hear the all too familiar opening of Paper Rings, your song of choice this past weekend. You gasp as Peter looks up at you and turns his phone around showing you the cover art to none other than Taylor Swift’s Lover album. You reach down and pause the song. Silence falls between the two of you as you try and process what had just happened.

“Y-You.. You’re m-my soulmate?” You know you must look insane, but there is so much happening in your mind that it’s a miracle you can even form the words.

Peter watches you carefully as he stands up. “Y-yeah, I mean, I had a suspicion from the weekend and this morning, but yeah. I h-hoped it was you.” He admits shyly.

Your heart could burst. Here was Peter Parker, the boy you had been hoping was your soulmate, admitting that he had hoped the same thing. Here was Peter Parker, your soulmate. Before you can even process the words, they are coming out of your mouth in quick succession, “Can I kiss you?”

He seems a bit startled but recovers and gives a small nod. You reach up to wrap your arms around his neck and delicately press your lips to his. He is hesitant at first, but soon leans into the kiss and places his arms around your waist, bringing you closer to him. You pull away from lack of air, but press your foreheads together. Peter laughs.

You look up at him and smile. “What?”

“You really like Taylor Swift, don’t you? I’m tired of hearing that song bouncing around in my head. I don’t know how someone could listen to the same song for so long.”

“Shut up. You didn’t even listen to any music at all.”

“I didn’t want to disturb you. Plus, you listen to enough music for the both of us.”

He leans down again to place another kiss on your lips. His arms are still wrapped tightly around you. You were perfectly happy to stay in his embrace forever. Thanking the heaven’s for whoever was responsible for making him the perfect match for you, you kiss him back.

I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings

I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

darling, you're the one I want

In paper rings in picture frames in all my dreams

You're the one I want

#peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker #tom holland #tom holland imagine #spiderman imagine #spiderman x reader #peter parker x y/n #spiderman x y/n #peter parker x you #tom holland x reader

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1-800-jmsbckbrns · 5 years

Text

faith on broken glass

‘slip up’

iii. saddest little baby at the party

Bucky watched Y/N stand in front of a bed full of dresses. Each was a different shade of pink, soft yellow, or black. She picked up a long, dusty rose gown. It had fine sparkles all over that would shine as she turned it.

“Would this be nice for tonight? I want to make a good impression.” She put it against her body to show Bucky a general idea. He tried to envision the curlers out of her hair and her makeup on.

“I think if you wore that, you’d look like Ariel when she walks out of the ocean. You know the one?” Her hair would fall just right for it. He could see it now.

“My goodness, you’re right. I have to wear this. Thank you, Bucky.” Y/N disappeared into her makeup room to get started. Bucky stood by the bedroom door, eyes trained on the windows.

“Bucky, can you wait outside for me? I want to do a big reveal to you and everyone else.” Y/N barely poked her eyes out from behind the door. Bucky dropped the steel look to soften up. He shook his head.

“I don’t know, doll. Rogers doesn’t really want you alone tonight, just because of all the people here.”

He could remember Steve giving the entire crew a hard lecture about tonight. The party was being thrown so he could earn favor with Xavier and his people. Y/N wasn’t supposed to come, but she had absolutely begged him. Now, she was coming and security amongst them needed to be on high alert. Bucky was always on the clock, but now when Steve wasn’t by her side, he needed to be. When this was relayed to Y/N, she didn’t mind one bit. Sounded absolutely perfect to her.

What brought him back was Y/N’s sigh. She didn’t mind having Bucky here but she wanted to have her glittering moment. That moment when she walked down the stairs and all eyes were on her. She was Steve’s and they needed to know that.

“Okay. Can we compromise and you just wait on the other side of the door? I’ll scream at the first inkling of trouble,” Y/N promised. Bucky squinted his eyes before moving to leave the room. She called out a thank you as he closed the door.

Ten minutes passed, and Bucky began to worry. It had been silent in the room save Y/N listening to some musical. She made him listen to a beautiful song from it. Two characters spoke of a man’s love, and how Hades (he thought he remembered) needed to remember. It was somber to its core.

Bucky heard the door near him open. His head turned to make sure it was just Y/N. Her head poked out, makeup done and hair lay in perfect loose curls.

“Can you help me zip up my dress? I can’t get it.”

Y/N scuttled out of the way upon Bucky entering in. The dress hung up at the top, but it was snug at her hips. She was a walking masterpiece, to him. He zipped the dress up with ease. She twirled before facing Bucky.

“How do I look? Does it fit alright?”

There weren’t many time Bucky was speechless. Times he had chosen not to speak? Sure, practically every day. Though when he saw Y/N... there were no words he could call on to utter. She almost took his breath away.

“I can’t tell if the wide eyes are good or bad,” Y/N said with a small laughed tacked to the end. She hoped it hid her nerves well enough.

“Good. Very good. You look perfect, doll.” Bucky offered her his flesh arm before they exited her room. She was the picture of beauty and grace.

The party was already going on downstairs. Bucky was able to tell pretty easily who was here for Steve and who was here for Mr. Xavier. If not by the clothes, then definitely the way the people held themselves. Both strong but in their own ways. There were a few people he couldn’t truly decide on, but they didn’t seem like threats at all.

“My stars, a princess after all out hearts.” Peggy was waiting at the end of the stairs. Her eyes glittered beyond what was Y/N’s dress in the reflection. Y/N thanked Bucky for the escort and switched to Peggy’s arm. She was a personal escort to Steve.

“Oh hush. You obviously haven’t looked in a mirror.” Bucky could see Y/N kiss Peggy’s cheek as they began to walk towards the center of the crowd. He trailed a few feet behind to give them some distance. She was safe.

As the party continued on, Y/N found herself growing comfortable with the new crowd. They were all nice people who were just doing their job. She liked Hank, Jean, even Mr. Xavier himself. They had all been so kind to her upon their meeting. Though the looming glare of Bucky or Peggy right behind her probably swayed their attitude some.

“We haven’t met, I’m Y/N.” She stood before a tall, tall man who had been staying more in the corners and dark areas of the room. Y/N wouldn’t have been able to approach him if she hadn’t shaken the guards off her tail. This dude looked like a real mean one, but maybe he’d warm up to her.

“Logan. What’re you doing in a place like this?” His look was hard, daggers surrounding her. Y/N’s smile grew a bit more nervous. She was glad she had a drink in her hand to not pick at her fingers.

“I’m close with Mr. Rogers,” Y/N said. Logan scoffed, eyes rolled hard.

“You’re his whore of the week. I used to work for this lot. Think you’ve got him wrapped around your finger, don’t you?” That silenced Y/N in an instant. She took in a breath before nodding once.

“He’s made it seem that way, I suppose. He’s been faithful so far.” That much was true. He seemed satisfied with her, from what she could tell. At least, Steve hadn’t mentioned otherwise yet.

“Trust me, babe, he’s got his eyes on you for now. Probably already on the prowl for a new girl and he’ll dump your ass in a week. Rogers ain’t really one to keep good company around.” Logan’s rough hand held Y/N’s chin. It wasn’t too tight, but the fear in her had a deadly grip.

“I’d let her go if you want to keep your hand, Logan. Business between you and me stays between you and me. Don’t drag her into this.”

Y/N barely registered an arm around her stomach until her chin was released. Tears began to fall quickly, her body trying to escape Steve’s grasp. She was scared. Too scared.

“Logan, can I speak to you outside?” Mr. Xavier stepped in front of her and Steve. She mumbled a quickly apology and bolted upstairs. Y/N blindly threw herself in the first room she could find.

A hazy inspection proved that it was Steve’s room she was in. Y/N would be worried that she was here without his permission, but at this moment, she didn’t care.

Y/N threw herself on his bed, clinging to her pillow as she cried. She didn’t mind getting mascara stains on it. They’d throw it, and her, out before the night was over. She should have never asked to come tonight. She should have just stayed in her room and hid away.

It had been a long time since she had done it, but Y/N accidentally cried herself to sleep. The last thing she could remember feeling a blanket tucked around her.

It was morning before Y/N woke up. She was strewn across Steve’s bed, alone. How unbecoming of her.

Y/N scrambled up to the mirror. She looked like death with how her makeup was streaked all over her face. Part of her didn’t want to care, but every other part screamed to look presentable. If she was to talk to Steve, she’d look as if last night never happened.

She snuck back to her room when the coast was clear. Her dress and makeup were removed as soon as the door was closed. Y/N dressed herself well, hiding her worries behind makeup. It all felt like a ton on her shoulder but she had an image to maintain.

Peggy was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Her expression was full of worry, which was unlike her in every way. Though the expression eased upon seeing Y/N awake.

“Love, how’re you feeling?” Peggy met Y/N halfway up the stairs. She hesitated in the presence of the guard.

“Worried. Tired. A lot of things.” An arm was put around her as they walked down to the kitchen. Y/N was comforted by the feeling. Part of her knew Peggy would always care for her.

Neither Steve or Bucky were at the table this morning. Instead, they stood at the kitchen island, drinking their coffee in steely silence. Y/N coughed lightly to catch their attention. Their heads snapped at the sound.

“How’d you sleep, baby?” Steve was the first to approach her. He brushed the hair out of her eyes, her head leaning into his touch.

“Really bad. I’m sorry about taking your bed... and all of last night... and yeah.” Y/N was beside herself internally. She was a fool for how she acted.

“Don’t be. Logan was an old guard who left on his own terms. None of this is your fault at all. No apologies necessary,” Steve said. He meant it too. Y/N had nothing to apologize for, in his eyes.

“But I took your bed, and pushed you away. I made a whole scene and-”

“And that’s okay. My bed Is your bed any day. I wouldn’t have tucked you in if I minded at all. As far the party, everything’s okay. Mr. Xavier and I squared everything away, and we’ll be doing business again.” Steve kissed the side of her head to reassure her. Y/N sighed as she hugged him. He always knew how to help her feel better.

“Okay. Still sorry,” she mumbled. Steve tightened his grip. He’d accept it, if that’s what settled her mind.

When they pulled away, Bucky had breakfast ready for her. Y/N felt better knowing they both still cared for her, and wanted her here and present. She dug in, listening to the boys tell her more about the night. It was peaceful for each of them.

author’s note: I had to include the X-Men. My OG intro into Marvel and all that it is.

requests + tags (mob & forever): Open!

tags -

mob: @doctorswife221b | @imneptuneblue

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ofillyria · 4 years

Text

I have been toying around with A LOT of WIP ideas recently and I’m not really sure where I want to focus my energy or which ones I want to add to my WIP list or make intros for. So I figured I’d make a masterlist of all of my ideas that I have a rough plot and character list for so y’all can peruse! If there’s one that jumps our at you, a few you like, or any that you have questions on please please flood my inbox! There’s no better way to get me jazzed about a WIP than to send me asks! I’m putting them under the cut since there’s so many!

NIGHT TWELVE: Vi crashes into enemy territory and is taken in by the army. She's given an assignment: win the heart of the wealthiest woman on the planet to procure war funding. But she's already fallen in love with her superior officer.

DAVID’S PEAK: In the small, Oregon town of David’s Peak people are being mysteriously abducted, and blame is placed on possessed park ranger Diane Atwood. She has a choice: prove herself innocent by finding the real culprit, or say goodbye to the friendly voice in her head.

YOUNG DEMONS: After failing her first spell Cecily Young swore off magic. Her power is building, brewing. The repressed magic is manifesting as a hurricane set to destroy Louisiana in a month's time. She must find a way to expel the magic in time, without tearing herself apart in the process.

THE GODLING TRILOGY: Lea is the firstborn child of Morpheus, making her the most powerful godling in a millennium. Which means she’s the perfect scapegoat for Zeus to send to do his dirty work. Including murdering the ancient being known as Nyx, who’s determined to plunge the modern world into eternal night.

BERSERKERS: Gal pals turned fearsome warriors. When the clique dons their fur coats they gain the strength of the animals they wear. It’s time for revenge on selfish exs, bigoted teachers, and abusive parents,. That is, if the consequences don’t catch up to them first.

THE BLITZKRIEG BREAKER: When Teddy’s clock repair shop becomes both the epicenter of a magical war and the London blitz, he is tasked with keeping a strange device out of the wrong hands. In a world filled with demon dogs, falling bombs, and a mysterious shapeshifting witch it’s hard to know which threat to focus on.

HELL’S EMPTY: Sometimes, the dead get restless. There are a few who manage to slip through the cracks and back into the world of the living. On autopilot, the soul takes the first available body and become a zombie. Over time the body, incompatible with its new soul, will begin to decay. Desperate to live, but falling apart, these creatures seek new fresh bodies to enter, even it means killing to get them. Luckily, hell, like any good business, has a lost prevention specialist. And she’s ready to go hunting.

WASTELANDERS: In a post apocalyptic wasteland, a team of two girls band together to fight to survive. When crossing the desert from ration station to ration station they encounter a man on the side of the road, he claims that his car was stolen with his young daughter inside. The two girls venture to find the lost girl in a no holds barred rescue mission through deadly dive bars, life or death road races, and russian roulette tournaments.

TRAGEDY ANNE: Anne, a bandit known for terrorizing the rich folks of Round Rock, caught wind of the local mine owner’s plan to blow out the dam. Even if it means washing out Round Rock in the process. Anne wants to save her hometown but no one will listen to a lying, cheating thief.

SOUL: SOLD: Six years ago Jac sold her soul to a demon so that she could say goodbye to her mother. But now her contract is up and she only has a week before she becomes a demon herself. The plan: find the family heirloom, use it to barter with the crossroads demon, and avoid damnation at all costs.

AMELIA BRIGHT PETSITTER TO THE ABSURDLY RICH: Amy loves her job: nice houses, free food, and cute puppies. But when she’s accused of stealing jewelry from a rich client everything falls apart and her reputation is destroyed. She has to prove her innocence. Hopefully, before the super hot CEO she’s dogsitting for returns from a business trip.

THE TEMPEST PROTOCOL: Mira’s mission is to study the defunct pleasure planet which orbits a black hole. But the mission is overturned when the owner of the planet returns and kidnaps Mira’s team. Mira has to rescue her crew before they are all swallowed by the looming void or murdered by the psychopathic resort owner.

THE ELECTRIC PIGHT - Winona is an archaeologist that studies the fallen society of the 21st century. When her brother returns home severely injured, she’s determined to use old world medicine to save his life even if she has to travel for days to find it. But the way to the city of old is guarded by militiamen, cannibals, and rabid dogs. Winona’s attempt to save her brother and prove her theories right might kill her first.

WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD - Bee has been demon of the month over nineteen thousand times. She’s assigned a meager corruption mission and saddled with a newbie demon. Now, she’s determined to prove to Satan that she doesn’t need a partner. She has to find a way to kill her ‘husband’ without it looking suspicious. All while corrupting the perfect 1950s suburbia around her.

HELL FIRED - When one of the groundskeepers for the underworld goes on maternity leave her coworker has to find a suitable replacement. So they set up a reality show competition and the last person standing wins the role of right hand man to Hades’ right hand man. Which is sort of an honor.

ARTEMIS AND APOLLO - Agent’s Artemis and Apollo have been working together for nearly twelve years. He’s the impulsive rogue and she’s the one who actually gets the job done. But now that she’s getting married he’s worried the agency will realize his incompetence. Instead of fighting it, he’s determined to make their final mission together the wildest ride possible.

FUN FUN AT THE BOARDWALK - Daniel works at the Santa Cruz boardwalk and knows for a fact it’s haunted. The giant stuffed animals have started to roam at night and recently, one tried to kill him. He has to round up a team to help him fight back but first, he has to make people believe him.

VIENNA - After being exposed to radiation from the sun an astronaut returns to earth to find that she is imbued with starlight. She’s recruited into an organization of mutants and tasked with rounding up others like her. But the more she uses her powers to render outside threats inert the more she risks burning out and turning herself into a black hole.

10 PERFECT DATES - Katherine Day’s website claims she can set up the most romantic date possible just for a small fee of $200. Rory, an investigative journalist, is determined to prove this offer a scam. So they buy 10 and ask Katherine to be the one to join them on these so-called ‘perfect’ dates. Rory thought this would be a disaster worth writing about, but the only problem is Katherine herself seems like the perfect person for Rory.

SOUL SEARCHING - A witch and her disembodied wife search for a body that can house the wife’s soul. The witch becomes a spiritual guide to people in comas, entering their minds and helping them through to the other side to open a space for the wife to have a body again.

CRITICALLY MISSED. After the death of David’s father he invites all of his childhood friends back to his childhood home for a reunion game of dungeons and dragons. When they start to fight they are interrupted as they are pulled into the game. The old friends are forced to fight off giant spiders, ogres, and long buried resentment. If they die in the game do they die in real life? And is an epic takedown worth risking your brother’s neck?

These ones don’t have titles yet so I’m just gonna give some comps so you get the vibe:

WES ANDERSON x THE HALF OF IT - Mindy’s life is going exactly how she wants. She has perfected her waffle recipe, a successful b&b, and no friends. But when her mom decides to get remarried Mindy is faced with the reality that the world goes on without her even when she constructs an eden for herself. So she enlists the help of a childhood friend to teach her how to deal with change.

STRANGER THINGS x PARANORMAN - Ryann drowned, and was resuscitated minutes after being declared dead. Now the kid sees ghosts: unmoving, unblinking figures staring at a singular location. Ryann must discover why the spirits are back and what it is they want that’s in the Courthouse.

TOMB RAIDER x UNCHARTED - The Bloodright Chalice is the last unrecovered piece of known treasure, and Kel is determined to find it. With the help of a tagalong history nerd, she must fight off mercenaries, navigate perilous terrain, and withstand the draw of a magical artifact.

KICKASS x DAREDEVIL - Kimberly Price is trying to be the hero her powers deserve, but her moral ambiguity keeps leading her off track. Upon discovering an underground crime ring, Kim discovers her big break and that the mob boss, a mutant like her, can break any bone in her body with his mind.

INCEPTION x ARRIVAL - Dr. Parson has been having dreams recently of waking up next to a woman who he doesn’t know and she claims to be his wife. His new research partner on the particle accelerator is revealed to be the very same woman he’s been dreaming of since the beginning of the project. He knows more about her than he should and it feels like an abuse of power, but he cannot help but fall in love, or rather stay in love. But how can he be honest when it would paint him as insane and ruin both his relationship with her and his plans for the project?

#writeblr #writers of tumblr #writblr #writing #allwip

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peachyteabuck · 5 years

Text

fashión (bucky barnes x reader)

Summary: At one of your best friend’s drag shows, Bucky catches your eye. Maybe it’s the alcohol, maybe it’s the dance pop blaring through the bar’s speakers, but for some reason you’re feeling a little more daring than usual.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Words: 2,536

Trigger Warnings: Blowjobs, shitty flirting, people are drunk and do sex things

Notes/Other: This was done for @propertyofpoeandbucky ‘s mystery writing challenge!! My prompt was “You’re my best friend. How could I put anyone before you?” and has been bolded within the fic! Also, I feel like this is the total opposite of what I’ve written recent but when I got this prompt I knew this wip was perfect for it.

ask box / masterlist / commission info / ko-fi

Dating has always been hard for you. Friends and family have always tried to set you up on dates - as has Tindr - but nothing seemed to stick. No one ever seemed to do the trick.

“C’mon, babe…” your friend coos to you. You’re in a dressing room at some fast-fashion establishment, the wide and tall mirror forcing you to stare back at yourself. The too-bright lights burn your eyes, the top radio hits from last year only depress you, and the smell of weed and regret radiating from your skin is making you want a sandwich. “Listen, I know you don’t want to do this-”

Your sigh cuts her off. “Then why are you making me?”

She steps over to you, readjusting the floral jacket before speaking. As you look in the mirror you realize actually kind of…like it. Which is weird. “Because I know better than you, you’re a shut-in, and every moment you’re not being ravished by a muscular hot dude physically kills me.”

God, her brazen personality always catches you off guard. That’s probably why she’s the performer and you just sit alone in the basement of your shared home - sewing and eating and writing all day.

In the end, you don’t buy the jacket. Lucy ends up taking you to her favorite thrift shop and you pick up a deep blue faux-fur coat and some velvet heels in the same shade. Boujie? Maybe. But it’s something you feel confident in, so you don’t grumble too much when you see the total.

You both get to the club early so she can get ready, focus on turning her face into the inside of an elementary schooler’s pencil case – one young enough to understand that there’s never such thing as too much stationary (or too much color) but young enough to constantly be losing caps. As she steps into the threshold of the famous bar, Lucy’s met with jeers from janitors and bartenders and sound techs alike – all people ecstatic to see their favorite person like a dog left alone during a long work day. As she greets them with the same overjoyed smiles, you slip past the jolly merriment to the dressing room in the back of the building – her outfit bag and make up suitcase in your hands, her shoes and wig in your hefty backpack. Despite the outfit you’d picked out earlier you’re donning the same outfit you’d been wearing since the techie days of middle school – black jeans, black t-shirt one size too big, and all black sneakers. All the better to blend in.

Three hours later Lucy has officially turned into Boudoir Z, her drag persona and the username for her long-abandoned Neopets account. The club is packed with people, almost as tight as her dress is with her pads, and some old Kesha song thumps the floor to its beat.

“Are you ready?” you ask, double checking her hands for any loose nails.

She grins as wide as she does right before every show, eyes bright and sparkling like a child on Christmas. “Hell yeah.”

As her intro song starts you scurry away to find your way to the bar, hoping to grab something strong before the show really starts. You don’t really like attending your friend’s (or anyone’s) drag shows, they’re loud and crowded and normally that’s your definition of Hell. Sometimes, though, you can muster up the energy. For whatever reason, today seems to be one of those days. Or nights.

Whatever. Time is an illusion.

The first few beats of the song are long, edited for artificial pauses to build excitement in the crowd. You know the version of Lady Gaga’s Applause well, so it throws your entire brain through a loop when someone pumps into you when you try and grab your rum and coke.

“Sorry,” the guy hisses, immediately moving to make sure he didn’t spill any of his wine cooler on you. You’re about to brush him off, thinking he’s just another guy trying to cop a feel while the main attraction distracts from any protective butches within eye shot. But when you notice he’s carefully avoiding your chest – and pulling away when he notices the lack of dampness on your sternum – you allow yourself to give him a half glance at the brick wall of a man in front of you.

God, you’re so ashamed you noticed that. You’re also ashamed to notice his thick thighs, massive arms, silver hand with black lining, his perfectly mused brown-black hair, and beautiful scruff.

“H-hi,” you stutter, deep exhale one close to dramatic women in movies when they think they’ve seen God. Good luck ladies, I’ve already found him – he’s in the shadiest gay bar in NYC. you think as he shyly smiles at you with cheeks you want to shove between your thighs and lips you want attached to your-

“I’m so sorry,” he tells you, checking again to make sure he didn’t turn your shirt into a bar tap. “I got distracted by-“

You sigh. Of course, he was looking at Lucy. “It’s fine, really, I promise.”

In a brief pause between songs, you two lock eyes. Grey-green ones meet your own and fuck, he’s so dreamy.

“I’m,” he seems hesitant to introduce himself. “Bucky. Name’s Bucky.”

You murmur your own name while looking him up and down again. Black combat boots perfectly shined, black jeans tight enough to rival your own, and black hoodie thick enough for winter in Upstate Main.

“Aren’t you hot?” you blurt, alcohol loosening your brain’s tight grip on your thoughts.

The man, Bucky, shrugs. “I run pretty cold.”

Another few moments of silence dialogue between you two - and judging by his set jaw and the hungry look in his eyes he’s thinking the same thing you are.

But, if you’re anything besides an introverted stylist, seamstress, and occasional therapist for the person up on the stage…it’s a tease.

You lean towards Bucky’s ear, music starting up again. “Wanna come join me close to the stage?”

He smiles, picking his drink back up. “Sure thing.”

Lucy, as always, is dressed to impress. Or scare small children.

Either way one perceives her, she’s killing it.

The large, sheer nightgown’s puffed sleeves make the look even more dramatic. The black contrasts extremely nicely with her large platinum blonde hair, and combined with her large, maroon lips and thick, pointed eyeliner - it’s a nice reminder that drag is both an art and something weird as hell. Watching your best friend to what they love and truly one of the best experiences of your life.

The pair of you are off stage left, Lucy on the other side grinding on some speakers. As some Nicki Minaj song plays, you can feel Bucky bounce to the beat behind you. He’s got a surprising amount of rhythm, and as your hips sync his body presses closer and closer to your own. It doesn’t take long, maybe half a chorus for it to turn into full-on grinding, your ass pressed into his crotch so hard you’re worried he’s going to be bruised when he wakes up tomorrow.

Bucky doesn’t seem to mind, though, nipping at the outer shell of your ear with his lips pressed into the tender skin.

“You do this kind of thing often?” he asks, already deep voice now at a low growl.

You shake your head, moving to take another sip of your drink before answering. “Not really, but Lucy is my best friend so sometimes I get dragged,” you snort a little at your unintentional pun. “To shows and stuff.”

Bucky snickers a little. “That’s totally not what I was asking about, but you also don’t seem like the person who’d be friends with Boudoir Z.”

Your cheeks immediately heat hotter than the Equator as you attempt to backpedal. After a few seconds of stammering, though, the liquid courage surging through your veins comes to a head. “Can I suck your dick?”

You turn to face the man behind you, who seems just as surprised at your inquiry as you are. Still, with his eyebrows raised to his hairlines and his eyes wide, he agrees. “Fuck yeah, lead the way.”

The bathrooms here are surprisingly clean, even if the lock of the door doesn’t quite work. But, judging by the second Pink song of the night, you’ve got awhile before the masses become unoccupied and their bladders realize how much alcohol they’ve consumed.

He shoves you against the tiled wall, lips plush and a stark contrast to his scratchy beard. You want it between your thighs, you sigh into his mouth and a wave of heat rolls through your center. But that’ll have to wait for another time.

Locating his zipper as you kiss him is hard, but not impossible, and soon you’re able to free his cock from its painful confines. Bucky gasps at the rush of cold air, a sound that turns into a deep moan when you wrap an eager hand around him. Maybe some other time, some other night when you’re not fueled purely by endorphins, caffeine, and several glasses of bottom-shelf alcohol, you’d do some foreplay, maybe some dirty talk.

Now, though, your mouth waters at the sign of his hard length, and before Bucky can even get a good grip on your hair you’re spitting on him before taking him as far as your throat permits. He moans deep and guttural, jaw going slack and head leaning against the wall. One of his hands feels cool on your head and it’s nearly sobering, how the freezing material feels against the fire dancing across your skin. You’d question the (seemingly) nonhuman appendage, but the progressive soaking of your underwear and his cursing brings your focus to a pinpoint.

Every single one of his “oh fuck”s and “oh baby that feels so good”s drive you to take him harder, faster, and all too soon Bucky’s getting the message and fucking into your throat. Spit falls from your jaw to between your knees, some slick reminder of how gross this is. That only pushes you, though, to wrap a hand around his base with the other massaging his balls.

“Fuck I’m gonna come,” he moans, eyes rolling to the back of his head as both hands wrap around him. “Gonna fucking come down your throat, fuck.”

Fuck yes he is, you think, shoving him back down your throat one last time before the grip on your scalp gets impossibly tight and his thrusts suddenly still and his lets out the deepest, most erotic noise you’ve ever heard in your entire fucking life. The salty taste of him rolls down your tongue and down your throat, his whole body tense as he shoots his load into your mouth.

The second he releases your hair you fall back against the sink, air you’re gulping tainted with the taste of Bucky’s cum. He seems stunned, a little out of it, but still offers to reciprocate. It’s then you realize that Patti LaBelle is playing, and if you’re remembering the song correctly, you’ve got thirty seconds to be backstage and ready to help your best friend get de-dragged.

“Fuck, I gotta go,” you hiss, splashing cold water on your face and trying to calm your ragged breaths. Just before you can open the bathroom door, though, Bucky stops you.

“Wait, just,” he huffs, digging in his pockets for something. Quickly he produces a phone, and he hands it you with the “new contact screen” on it. “Please, give me your number.”

It’s obvious he’s the stronger of both of you, so you slam your fingers on the cracked screen to string together your phone number. It seems the man’s satisfied, because he releases the ajar door from your grip and lets you flee backstage. Lucy comes off just in time for you to meet her, ready with make up wipes and chapstick. Instead of taking both from you, though, she brushes past you to grab at a bottle of water – a surefire sign she’s not done.

You begin to protest, knowing she’s too drunk to lip sync to choral music, let alone her traditional encore playlist. But she waves you off.

“I’m just going to meet some people at the bar take some pics,” Lucy downs the entire 32 ounces of water in record time, barely getting any lipstick on the mouth of the thing. “Don’t worry, just…I don’t know,” she rolls her eyes at her own inability to speak. “Go kill a Westboro Baptist Church member or something, alright? Just…” she hiccups and starts to lean to the right, but adjusts herself before you can do anything. You steady her with a hand on her shoulder, and she lowers her face to yours and juts her lower lip out to pout. “Just wait up for me, okay. I don’t think I can find my way home alone.”

Before you can respond she pushes past you and into the screaming crowd, her shouts and shrieks almost as loud. A quick scan of the dimly-lit bar reveals no Bucky, and without his number you’re stuck putting her reveals back together and unused the unused supplies.

At the end of the night you meet Lucy back where you left her – only this time in black leggings and a purple NARAL shirt shirt three-sizes too big. As she wipes away at the thick cosmetic mask with a dirty make up wipe, your eyes meet hers in the mirror.

“I saw you with some guy tonight,” a smirk paints her lips as heat paints your cheeks. “Did anything happen?”

You bite at your bottom lip, hoping she won’t press further. Luckily, she remains covert, just giving you a once over before speaking again.

“Are you gonna run off with him and abandon me to do all my drag shit by myself?” She asks. Lucy’s tone is playful, but you can tell there’s a hint of seriousness to it.

You shake your head, tucking a bit of hair behind your ear and tucking your hands into your jean pockets. “C’mon, you know I’d never do that. You’re my best friend. How could I put anyone before you?”

Lucy turns around and smiles, perfectly white teeth especially pearly surrounded by the smudged deep purple lipstick and thick, black eyeshadow, a misplaced lash, and what looks to be a twenty-dollar bill stuck behind her ear due to excess wig glue. “Good, because there’s no way I could do Boudoir Z without you.”

Silence settles over both of you as she wipes off the rest of her make up (and pulls out the cash stuck in her hair and to her neck). The only sounds are her throwing loose powders and eye shadow into her make up suitcase and, soon, your phone vibrating in your back pocket. On the screen flashes a text from an unknown number, Bucky you think, and then another right after.

wanna see you again

when are you free

You smile at the screen, giddy like a middle schooler being asked out by her crush. “Hey, Luce…” you wait until she’s facing you to continue. “When’s your next show?”

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #lanis2ndmysteriouswritingchallenge #like idk what came over me but...#im not ashamed and refuse to be #lukis writes stuff #i finished this in less than an afternoon #like i wrote 2k so quick wtf

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wheremytwinwatches · 4 years

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[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 16

Work continues to drive me crazy, so of course I make my life more complicated by getting online classes set up for the fall. That, and I kinda don’t want to see our babies learn about Hughes. Blissful ignorance, am I right? *sigh* Onwards with Brotherhood.

Do we have captions this time? We do! Awesome, it was so irritating last time not knowing if I was mangling names or not. We’ve got the second intro featuring the Xing contingent, curious how influential it’ll be having a foreign prince bopping along with the Elrics. (Also, I continue to be juvenile and giggle at one of the lyrics in the new song being “shite”. Hee.) We open up with a bird's-eye view of Central, then with Ed yawning at the train station. Al mentions that being spied on for hours is pretty tiring. Right, Ling’s ninja squad don’t trust the Elrics. But where’s the Prince? The Ninjas proceed to freak the heck out, Fu runs around the traintops calling out for the young lord as Lan Fan worries about him collapsing. Is Ling fainting a common thing, then? Ed just shrugs his shoulders at the absence of the freeloader and heads off with Al and Winry. Huh, music’s getting ominous. Oh, there he is, doing a Brooding Anime Rooftop Stare on the station’s clock tower, looking towards the center of the city. [Ling]: “Something about this country doesn’t feel right.” Well, the current speculation (backed by the freaking Fuhrer being a Goth!) is that they’re sacrificing people to make Philosopher’s Stones, so… don’t know much about Xing so can’t say if they’re any better, but it’d be pretty hard for them to be worse. Episode 16 - “Footsteps of a Comrade-in-Arms” In a run-down area of the city, a car stops and the blond-haired smoking guy (Havoc?) of Roy’s crew is checking in with the grey-haired member (I’ll get their names some day, I swear), dropping off food from the colonel. Oh, guess Grey’s been guarding Barry, who cheerfully recognizes “the smokin’ guy”. Not tied up and playing chess? Are they keeping him prisoner to try and get more info or more protecting their only source? Well, I suppose for a serial killer like Barry being kept inside at night and denied any chances to chop someone up would be uncomfortable. Still, Grey’s bored with the assignment, asks how much longer it’ll be. Havoc just says that Roy apologizes for the dangerous assignment, that Grey’s absence it being treated as sick leave… and if he’s seen in public by anyone he’ll get court-martialed. Yikes, ok then. No breaks for poor Grey. Any good news? [Havoc]: “Falman, I found myself a girlfriend!” ...well that’s nice and all for you, buddy, but I think Falman (thank you!) was looking for good news for him. Poor, poor Falman. Hey, it’s Ling! Taking another impromptu nap? A couple of cops are asking if he’s ok, he whispers about food… ah, trying for another free meal? Unfortunately for Ling, the cops less interested in feeding him and more interested in seeing his entry visa. Cue irritated cops dragging a crying Prince away. [Cop 1]: “Outta the way, everyone!” [Cop 2]: “Illegal alien coming through!” The Ninjas continue to freak over the absent master, while Ed says that they should stop by the military offices. Winry… decides to go straight to the Hughes’ house. Oh boy. [Winry]: “I can’t wait to see Miss Gracia and cute little Elicia!” Uuuuuugh. Make it stooooop. The Brothers are off to meet up with Hughes himself, while they think Hughes might have been stymied by Bradley’s orders to stand down they have info on the Homunculi now (and still don’t know the Fuhrer himself is one, gah!). Off to the court-martial office! Quiet somber music as the brothers run through the park. And right by the phone booth that Hughes was murdered in. Bleh this episode is not going easy. In the office, Sheska’s carrying around some books when another lady officer asks for a key to Room #3. Which freaks Sheska out, and she babbles about cleaning up the mess first? What, have you made that your private reading lair or something? Nope, not your lair it seems, but Colonel Mustang’s private napping chamber. Yikes, hope you had an alarm set, and it only wasn’t Sheska waking you that kept you from being late to a freaking Council Meeting. Wait, Council? I don’t think I’ve heard of that group before, I’m just assuming by the tendency for Anime Councils to be Big Deals that it’s the same in the FMA universe. The highest-ranking officers of the military? Sheska worries that Roy’s not getting enough sleep, he just waves her off and goes to the meeting. Staying up late doing research on the conspiracy, I gue- GAH new voice! Sheska freaks and identifies them as Captain Focker, who asks about the open storeroom and what Roy was doing. Uh oh, a watcher sent by Bradley? Double uh oh, in her concern for Roy’s state Sheska is telling Focker about how he seems to be researching the Fifth Laboratory. And the Hughes case. Bleeeeeh, more Hughes feels as Sheska gets sad about her getting her job through Hughes. Captain Focker walks away deep in thought, glasses obscuring his eyes. Uh oh. But then the looks up in surpr- That’s Captain Focker! Oh my Leto, that’s the real Captain Focker! Real Focker’s too busy looking at some piece of paper to notice a shapechange and red electricity as Envy takes on a new disguise. Shapeshifters: A security nightmare.

But it looks like Envy might have made a mistake, as Real!Focker’s now saying good morning to Sheska, who is rightly confused. A simple “Laugh at this clueless character” moment, or a break for the good guys? Roy’s washing up in a bathroom for this Council Meeting, takes a moment to stare mournfully into the mirror- until with a flush of a toilet his angsting is interrupted by The Mighty Armstrong, glinting manfully in his bandages while towering over the stall door. Hah! Armstrong remarks that Roy looks a bit peakish, who asks why Armstrong is bandaged. Oh right, Armstrong was involved in killing all of Greed’s human-chimera crew down South. He mentions that he ran into the Elrics down there, on their visit to their old teacher. But he couldn’t bring himself to tell them about Hughes. Armstrong makes his way out- [Roy]: “The Fifth Laboratory and the Philosopher’s Stone; the Stone’s key ingredients are live humans.” Armstrong comes to a halt. Roy continues about how Hughes died following up on the Elric brothers’ investigation, and how if/when they find out they’ll blame themselves. He says Armstrong not telling them was kind, and Armstrong compliments him on figuring out so much. But warns him that he never knows who might be listening. Riza’s waiting out in the hallway when Ed walks up and says hi, although he’s not as happy when Roy joins them. Oh yeah, Elric didn’t know about Roy’s promotion. Now if he’s hanging out in Central it’ll be the same place as good old Colonel Mustang. The sarcasm in Ed’s “Great” is astounding. As for the Elrics, they’re just doing some information gathering. And might pay Hughes a visit later in the day. Where is he, anyway? Roy… says that Hughes retired. Went out to the country with his family to run the family business. Really, dude? I get that it’s a sore subject, but the “he went out to the farm” excuse only works for so long. They deserve to know what happened. Well, with the false story the boys think that they should tell Winry, they spin around only to run into Lieutenant Ross. She asks about the rush, Ed mentions that they heard about Hughes… and Ross isn’t in on the “tell them the farm story” excuse. Oh boy. Uuuugh, the two conversations sliding right past each other here is painful! And here’s the kicker: [Al]: “He retired to the country and they promoted him?” Ross realises she did a no-no, covers her mouth to keep from saying anything else. And Ed realizes the truth. Mid-episode cards: Captain Focker with an Envy silhouette behind him, and a downcast Gracia Hughes on the second. Notable for both Narrator “Full-Metal Alchemists” being the sad, somber one. Out in the city, Winry’s shopping for apples, presumably to give to the Hughes’ family. And Ed races out of the building after hearing the new. [Lt. Ross]: “Brigadier General Hughes is dead… He was murdered shortly after you were discharged from the hospital, Edward. I’m afraid we still haven’t found the person responsible.” As he runs and cries, Ed blames himself for pulling Hughes into the investigation. Flashes of Happy Hughes and his family, a memory of Hughes seeing them off at the train station and inviting them to drop by again, hosting dinner, first meeting them and inviting them to his home… Al catches up with the suitcase and then stands there silently as Ed slumps against the wall. And now we’re with Winry, who’s arriving at the apartment. The door swings open- [Elicia]: “Daddy?!” Oh no, that’s fine. I didn’t need that heart anyway, go ahead and use it as a footrest show. The Elrics have arrived at the apartment building, when Al asks what they should do Ed tells him to go back, that he’s “the only one who has to take the blame for what happened.” Oh my Leto kid you have enough self-imposed guilt from Mama Elric and Nina, stop taking the weight of the world on your shoulders! Al argues that it’s on both of them, and double all my protests that Ed does not deserve this for his little brother as well. Ed tries to dissuade Al again- [Al]: “We made up our minds; We said we were getting our bodies back, no matter what. But if people are going to die because of that… then I don’t want mine back.”

Freaking A, Al. I cannot overstate how much damn respect I feel for you right now. You are a poor boy, trapped in a cold metal body from a horrible accident. Getting your body back has been your driving purpose, along with healing your brother. But when you discovered that the cost of making a Philosopher’s Stone was human sacrifice, you discarded the method. And when you discover that a friend has died in the process of helping your investigation, you are fully prepared to renounce your goal in order to protect others. I salute your selflessness. Gracia opens the door, and gives the Elrics the same sad smile that she gave Winry, telling the brothers that Winry’s already arrived. The mechanic’s sitting quietly in a chair with Elicia curled in her lap, she looks up with Ed quietly enters. Ed then asks to talk to Gracia and Winry about Maes. The quiet sad theme starts playing as Gracia recaps the Elrics’ message; that Hughes looked into the Philosopher’s Stone, and was killed as a warning against the brothers. Gracia looks down at sleeping Elicia, as Ed bows his head in grief and gasps out “sorry” again and again. [Gracia]: “That would be just like him, dying while trying to help someone else.” The Trio look up in surprise. [Gracia]: “My husband. He always was a busybody and a meddler, and it got him into trouble. A lot. But you know… I don’t think he ever had regrets. Not any… not even in his dying moments, Edward.” So many people to respect in this episode, seriously. Al being prepared to give up on getting his body back, and Gracia insisting that they can’t give up, or else Hughes died in vain. With a little smile, even. Forget about the dead end of the Stone, there still might be another way. [Gracia]: “You boys have to keep moving forward… any way you can.” The door closes as the Trio exit the apartment, Ed turns to look at the others- [Elicia]: “Mommy?... Mommy, please don’t cry.” ...damn you, show. Later in the day now, the sun is setting as the Trio walk through the streets to a sweeping cello melody. The Elrics see Winry to a hotel room, and then go to their own. Right, because they… used to stay at the Hughes’ residence. Winry’s quietly resting on her bed, Al’s sitting in the living room, and Ed’s downstairs in the restaurant too upset to eat. Now he’s knocking on Winry’s door, asking if she’s eaten yet, and she should hurry because the dining room is closing soon. The parallels are strong here: when they were children the Rockbell’s fed the Elrics, and now Ed’s trying to make sure Winry keeps up her strength now. When Winry doesn’t make a move Ed excuses himself to his room, but Winry grabs his automail hand. Aw, aw no. She still has the basket of apples she was planning to take to the Hughes’ family. Seems she was planning to make apple pie. And had hoped that Mr. Hughes would get to try some too. Winry cries as the screen fades to black. WOW OK talk about rough transitions, we’ve got Chimeras in cages. And eff you it’s the Goths, Lust leaning on Gluttony as she talks with still-disguised Envy. Now they know that Roy’s been looking into the matter, and may have found some things out. Lust gripes that they orchestrated Roy’s move to Central to keep a closer eye on him, and it’d be a waste to lose an important sacrifice candidate. Wait… [Envy]: “Haven’t been able to learn anything from your new boyfriend?” Aw hell no, I’d thought that Havoc gushing about having a girlfriend was just a little joke at the beginning of the episode, like a running gag about his relationships or something. You’re telling me Lust is playing Havoc? Run dude, run! Lust goes off to gather more info, calls for Gluttony like a loyal little attack dog. Envy chides Gluttony for leaving some bones scattered around… but then gets an idea. Uh oh, we’ve got string music as Envy suggests making another “play”, giving Roy a bone to chew. What are you up to? We’re at what appears to be a cafeteria now, when someone comes up and taps Lieutenant Ross on the shoulder, introducing himself as Henry Douglas from the Provost Marshal’s office. Flanked by goons, he says that Ross has to come along with them, and demands her gun? Wait, is Ross being arrested? Brosh, where the heck are you, come defend your partner! Whoa whoa what?! They’re accusing Ross for Hughes’ murder?! What the heck, how can you make that claim? What evidence do you have for that absurd claim? Besides… well, besides the shapeshifter accosting Hughes in the phone booth while looking like you… uh oh. Riza is updating Roy on the situation, saying that Ross (man, there are a lot of R-characters involved in this case, huh?) is pleading not-guilty on all charges. The Flame Alchemist just tells Riza to gather all the info on the suspect that she can, secretly. Dramatic string music continues as we see Havoc buying some flowers and then running along to his “hot date”, stubbing out his cigarette as yup, “Solaris” is Lust. Who demurely asks Havoc to sit down and tell her about his day. AAAAAAARGH! Ok then! Was putting off this episode because I knew there would be Feels about Hughes, and damn if it didn’t deliver. But like Gracia said, they can’t let Hughes’ death be in vain, and they can hardly just give up and let the killer go free. Speaking of, framing Ross? As if I didn’t have enough reasons to hate you jerks, Goths! Ugh, this is gonna get complicated, isn’t it?

#wmtw #where my twin watches #ranubis #full metal alchemist #full metal alchemist brotherhood #fmab #fmab 16

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honeymoonjin · 5 years

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BTS reaction - you get pulled off stage by fans during a performance

A/N: Hi everyone! This was requested by @slowlyandrogynouskryptonite. If you have a request for a reaction or oneshot, send me an ask or message me. I publish requests in between uploads of my two regular AUs.

You’ve been in the industry for a while, and you know how crazy some fans can get. Most of the time it was them trying to get a little close once they got excited, but occasionally worse things could happen.

You were performing at the MMAs after your third studio album broke sales records in several countries, and the music video for the single you were performing tonight had reached 500 million views in the shortest amount of time for a solo artist.

The crowd had been good all night, your boyfriend’s group, BTS, having gone about twenty minutes before you. They were in the audience now, jamming along to the pre-chorus.

You walked right up to the edge of the stage so that you could get closer to the fans, high-fiving some, hands latching on to yours for the moment of skinship they had dreamed about.

Before you could stand back up, a strong arm tugged you off balance, and you just about fell into the crowd, more and more hands pulling you down, until security guards were running on stage and through the audience to try and pull the screaming fans off of you.

JUNGKOOK

Jungkook didn’t see it as it happened. Namjoon had just spilt his water bottle onto Jungkook by accident, and as his head was bent down, trying to dry off the fabric of his jeans with a napkin, it was the screams that caught his attention.

As he looked up, all he could see was that you were no longer on stage. He stood up and looked around wildly, watching in horror and confusion as black clad security members converged on a particularly aggressive throng of audience members. One of his hyungs was holding on to his hand, but he didn’t want to look away for a second to see who it was.

After what felt like an eternity of anxious anticipation, the glitter of your dress caught his eye, and you were lifted back onto the stage.

He let out a cry of relief, and watched in admiration as you brushed yourself off, and caught up with the lyrics of the song as the chorus ended and moved into the second verse.

For the rest of the song his eyes never left you, scared something would happen again, and his legs bounced nonstop, itching with the impatient need to join you backstage after the song ended.

Fuck the afterparty. The two of you were going to have a quiet, calm night in tonight.

TAEHYUNG

Taehyung was in the middle of waving to you joyfully from his seat when it happened. No matter how much time you spent later reassuring him it was fine, he would always blame himself for distracting you.

One moment you were grinning back at him, hitting the right notes like it was breathing, and the next, a yelp from your mic echoed out through the arena as you were pulled off stage.

He froze, unable to think or act until he saw your hand reach up through the crowd and latch onto the arm of a beefy security man on stage, and lift you back up.

Once back on stage, and stable, you rushed away from the edge of the stage, continuing the song but staying very far away from any fans. Though nobody would judge you for it, everyone could hear the confidence and power had left your voice, and the rest of the song felt a little more somber than what had come before as you tried to keep the runs in line and the belts from wobbling.

It wasn’t until Yoongi quietly handed him a tissue that Tae realized he was crying.

JIMIN

Jimin couldn’t help himself but want to be there the second you left the stage after your performance, so he always snuck backstage just after the intro. He knew how exhilarating it felt to leave the stage after a job well done, and that was something you always wanted to share with him.

He couldn’t see you very well from the wing he was behind once you left the main center of the stage, but because he’d be seen if he snuck out any further, he waited.

Out of nowhere, you stopped singing and he heard the music cut off, followed by a tremendous uproar.

Ignoring protocol, he stepped out onto stage and faltered when he saw you half-on, half-off the edge of the stage, a hand wrapped in your hair, trying to pull you fully off.

The security on the floor were trying to push through the crowd, but with very little success, and the on-stage members were nowhere to be found.

Without thinking, Jimin rushed forward to you and began prying open the fingers of the hand stuck in your hair, finally breaking you free and pulling you close to him.

With the music cut off, the only sounds most of the arena could hear were the fans themselves, but Jimin was close enough to hear something else.

You buried your face into his chest and began to cry.

He sought out his members’ faces in the crowd and jerked his head to the wings, indicating they should go backstage, then gently carried most of your weight and escorted you off stage, holding on to you tighter than he ever had before.

NAMJOON

It tore Namjoon up inside, seeing the chaos that unfolded, but feeling like he had to stick with his team. He couldn’t abandon his brothers as much as he wanted to run to you. The security would handle it, and he knew deep down he would just be putting himself in danger if he tried to get all the way through the crowds from behind the mosh pit.

He bounced his knee and put his face in his hands, peeking around his fingers and praying you were okay.

The maknaes were all freaking out themselves, but Hoseok was holding on to Namjoon tightly and Yoongi and Jin were reassuring both him and the youngsters that everything would be fine.

And they were right.

You were lifted back onto the stage less than thirty seconds after the tumble, and you seemed more surprised than anything else, continuing your song as bouncy as you were before, but with a slightly startled look in your eyes.

Namjoon only relaxed when you saw him at their table and flicked him a heart. He mouthed back ‘I love you’ and forced himself to cheer up, applauding and hooting like mad when the song finished.

HOSEOK

Hoseok didn’t get mad often. Even when he wasn’t bouncing off the walls, he felt like a pretty cheery person.

But when a psycho fan overstepped the line and held on to you with far more force than was appropriate, causing you to fall off kilter in your heels and slip off stage, there was no putting up a brave face.

The other members all looked terrified, but whether it was for your safety, or because of the deadly look in his eyes, he couldn’t say. His mouth was in a tense line, jaw clenched, and he glared at the pitiful efforts of the staff members trying to help you back onto stage.

He had told you time and time again not to do fanservice for too long. The crazy fans got too excited and decided to try things they shouldn’t.

Yet you never listened to him, always insisting your fans were angels.

After a few moments of chaos, your voice rang out through the arena again as you picked up on the second verse, and he spotted you on stage again, joining your backup dancers rather than spending any more time at the front.

Although he was no longer worried for your safety, the dark expression remained. After he was done with you tonight, you wouldn’t disobey him like this again.

YOONGI

Playing nice with the whole celebrity thing was something Yoongi had had to learn as Bangtan grew more and more popular. But it was also something he was very quick to forget, in moments like these when people crossed a line.

His heart plummeted in his chest when you toppled off stage, and it was Namjoon’s solid grip on his wrist that kept him from recklessly running into the fray himself.

He stood, anchored by the leader, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on, feeling sick at the thought of something bad happening, when finally, you appeared back on the black surface of the stage, not singing, not moving, just sitting there staring blankly up at the muscled man who had lifted you up.

He curled his lip in anger when your fans started yelling and chanting at you to keep seeing, as you tried desperately to keep your composure.

On the screens on either side of you, he can see you cover up your mic and say something to the man, who promptly helps you up and escorts you off stage.

Namjoon is urging him to sit down, but the fans don’t stop chanting, like they’re expecting you to come back out just because they want it, and the music keeps obstinately playing, and he just can’t take it anymore.

He shakes off the grip on his arm and hurries backstage to find you.

JIN

Jin didn’t like showing worry or concern in front of the public, in front of ARMY. He was the carefree jokester, and he felt comfortable like that.

He had never wanted to throw down the title so quickly as he did in that moment.

You got tugged off by the arm, but your top half was still on stage, free hand grappling at the slippery floor to try and pull yourself free.

He watched with open mouth and wide eyes as you struggled for ten or so seconds, only breaking loose after the venue security intervened and restrained the fan that was responsible.

You scoot back before standing up shakily. You missed the chorus, and there’s a few bars of choreography before the second verse, but instead of dancing, you call out on your mic breathlessly “maybe I should just perform from down there next time, huh?”

You finished off the song just as flawlessly as you had begun it, and Jin slowly felt his heart return back to its regular speed, dancing to the music goofily like nothing had happened.

You two could talk about it later, if you wanted to. For now, he was going to enjoy his girlfriend’s amazing performance.

#bts scenarios #bts reaction #bts imagine #bts x reader #jin x reader #yoongi x reader #hoseok x reader #namjoon x reader #jimin x reader #taehyung x reader #jungkook x reader #jeongguk x reader

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paperclipninja · 5 years

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Younger post-ep ramble 6x12

So we've reached the end of yet another season of Younger and it seems like it only started 5 mins ago but also the premiere ep feels like 5 months ago and I'm sitting somewhere between denial and not coping because WHAT WAS THAT ENDING??? How are you all holding up? Holy shamole, the season 6 finale, 'Forever' (named because that's how long it's going to feel between this ep and the season 7 premiere), gave us a lot to process.

Picking up the day after the last episode, this week opens with Kelsey letting Liza know that it's her last day at Millennial, which triggers one of my fave scenes of the season as Liza dashes up to Charles' office to intercept Kelsey's 'Dear John' resignation letter before he sees it. One thing I have always loved about Liza is that despite the entire premise of the show up until this season being Liza's lie, she is so awful at actually lying, which is fab for us because Sutton Foster's comedic genius that comes out of her awkward over-explaining is golden. Charles knows she's lying, Liza knows he knows she's lying, the way Charles says 'I won't report you to HR' after Liza says she's taking the letter back because it's inappropriate almost calls for a fire blanket *fans self*, the entire exchange is SO good and somehow continues to get better when Liza decides to tell Charles that the 'really sexy stuff' is actually in the form of a limerick (I also love that he knows it's not her handwriting, I don't know why, I am simple folk and might be imagining that they leave little notes around for each other...). I want to read that limerick.

Kelsey finally catches up and props to her for even being able to walk let alone run in that amazing pink leather skirt, and she saves Liza from herself by informing Charles that she is in fact resigning and hands over her letter (which I also want to read btw). The delightful dynamic that's been developing between Kelsey and Charles these past few episodes continues as Charles implores her to take a leave, that she's too important and when Kelsey goes to shake his hand, which then turns into a hug and it's sweet and lovely, the way she leans on his arm is so daughterly and emphasises the 'family' theme of the season and seriously, I just wanted to see more of these two working together then this happened and all I was thinking at this point was, why aren't we allowed nice things?

Oh but we are, as I was quickly reminded by Diana Trout in the most incredible purple suit and turquoise accessories combo. Everything about her and this outfit belongs on an aspirational poster. We discover that Liza has deputized Lauren for some maid of honour duties and that about a week has passed since Kelsey left. Diana's strained, 'WE'RE HAPPY' is deceived by her shouting (as well as Lauren pointing out that both Diana and Liza's offices are out of Kleenex, ya know, because of crying and whatnot and p.s. I'm not ok at the thought of Queen Trout office crying), but the expression that flashes across her face oh so briefly when Liza says Kelsey's coming to the wedding is real happiness and relief (have I mentioned this week how amazing Miriam Shor is with her ability to say so much with just a look?).

I have absolutely adored seeing the relationship between Diana, Liza and Kelsey develop and grow this season, and Diana's reactions to her being able to attend the wedding but not the spa day speaks volumes to the genuine love and friendship they share. 'How can you be so bad at this maid of honour stuff? You're a thousand years old, this can't be your first rodeo'- I'm not even saying anything about that line, I just wanted to put it in my ramble somehow because it is so stellar it needs to be here because Diana giving Liza a hard time about her age now is everything and then some.

While Liza and Diana are heading to the Uncle Joe meeting, Kelsey and Zane are having a meeting of their own in the park. Kelsey reveals that she's branching out on her own and wants to give him her pitch for feedback. Zane offers her some advice, 'don't do it' and also suggests Kelsey check her ego, which in every other season and even the first part of this one I would've been saying 'YESSS, boom!' but now, not so much. But also a little bit. I am still quite confused about this whole dynamic and don't know if I like it or if I care. I liked Kelsey's response, 'with respect, my resume looks different to yours', she seemed very level headed, though it became evident fairly quickly that this conversation was less about work and more about their relationship for Zane. Zane saying she thought stepping down as publisher was her worst moment, he thought she was awesome, he wanted to be there for her was lovely and supportive and the confusion remains, Zane was being sweet but also maybe not? I'm not sure. There is definitely some truth in the fact that Kelsey does tend to play the victim (or has in the past at least). Regardless, Kelsey's expression as she was there on her own on the bench after Zane walked off oozed sadness, someone give that woman a hug.

Meanwhile at Uncle Joe's, aka Enzo's 'small g' godfather (I love the running gag of Enzo reassuring Diana he's not connected to the mafia), Diana, Enzo and Liza are in for a treat as the ice sculpture is revealed (LOL at Liza asking if it's the heart piece and complimenting it only to be told, 'no that's for a dog funeral'). A trout coming out of a toilet is honestly the greatest thing I could never have imagined, it is so literal and enormous and I love that someone actually had to make it and I think we were all Liza as she stated, 'I under-prepared'. Liza has her maid of honour duties cut out for her, but deploys two people who will definitely ensure the Trout/toilet masterpiece will never see the light of day. Maggie buttering up Joe to distract him is way too easy and then Lauren...what are you doing? You don't need to take your underwear off mate, take the pic with the safety of knicker fabric. I legit crossed my legs as the whole thing unfolded. I've gotta hand it to Uncle Joe for so calmly accompanying Lauren to the office to get the first aid kit despite his masterpiece being destroyed.

Before Maggie tackles the ice sculpture we see her once again being the oracle of the show when Kelsey rocks up at the loft looking for Liza (who Maggie says is in Queens and 'said something about Ice Capades, which is so Liza' - of course Liza would love theatrical figure skating). Can we just take a minute to appreciate how goddamn amazing Maggie looks in this episode? Her dress/headband combo in the scene with Kelsey is divine and I am in complete admiration of anyone who sits around at home dressed like that, fully made up and accessorised. If anyone turns up to my place unexpectedly I spend a good couple of minutes shouting 'just a minute' while I run around frantically trying to swap out pyjama pants with, well, not pyjama pants. Actual goddess. Kelsey being humble after a whole lot of tough pitches, 'maybe Zane was right, I let my ego get in the way', really shows the growth this character has had this season, and Maggie peps her with, 'do you still believe in yourself?' before suggesting that, 'sometimes you have to get into bed with the devil'. Turns out there's some kind of excellent story attached to how Maggie got her loft and I do love a tease, would love to see the follow up down the track (WHO did she get into bed with is all I wanna know).

Even though it's fairly obvious who Kelsey is going to get cosy with to try and secure some cashola, as she finishes her pitch (which is pretty darn amazing lbh), the reveal of Quinn at the end of the table is so damn fabulous. KLP Print is definitely up there with the worst names (seems it's true Younger style to intro terrible publishing house names in finales, shoutout to last year's Chick(y) and Kelsey using her initials as the title is so basic when she never is that it's really funny). My love of Quinn is no secret and I have to say, I would have LOVED to see an exploration of those two working together again properly. Fortunately we get more Quinn when she interrupts Liza and Charles at lunch. Liza is talking about how much pressure she's feeling and I know it's not the most interesting conversation but it's real stuff that people in real relationships talk about and I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I just adore seeing Liza being so open with Charles about how she's feeling and Charles always listening with understanding and in this case, suggesting a vacation.

Liza seems quite caught off guard by the proposition of a merging-of-the-families trip to Scotland, though her smile when Charles says, 'I thought it was time we all get to know each other a little better', indicates she is up for it (once she checks with Caitlin, which we can take as confirmation she is in fact alive, she has been located and she is ok. No word yet on Beth). Also, my sappy little heart when Liza says, 'if WE leave the girls with Caitlin’, Liza defaulting to her and Charles and the girls as a little unit, not to mention that she's thinking that this trip will involve her and Charles getting some time alone together *le sigh*. But back to Quinn, I am here for icy Liza and Charles and Laura Benanti's ability to convey such a sense of not caring at all about what people think is incredible. As Quinn teases that she's teaming up with someone 'who used to work for you or with you or beside you, it's always so confusing over there' (these lines and delivery I swear) the actual award goes to her exiting line, 'my biggest donor is over there. Watching him eat is the hardest thing I do'. Actual laughing out loud. And yes Charles and Liza, it can be Kelsey (and spoiler alert: it is).

Now part of the reason Liza was late to her maid of honour duties earlier in the ep is because she discovered that a book pitch meeting has been booked for the day before the big wedding. I hate this author so much. He is the actual worst of any author I can remember pitching on this show, I just wanted him to go away the moment he started talking (he reminds me a bit of the boss from The IT Crowd for anyone playing at home who knows that show). The only purpose he served IMO was to get Redmond on our screen, which was totally worth it if only to hear him try to have a dig at Diana but only able to come up with, 'you,...you are ageless'. The other highlight of the scene is Diana's retort to Redmond having yet another swipe at her and Liza being there sans Kesley and that is Diana's 'you know what they say? IHL...it's her loss. They don't say that, do they?' to which Liza responds, ' I don't...I'm not sure'. I am outright obsessed with Diana and Liza and need them in every possible scenario please and thank you.

Don't get me wrong, Michael Urie delivers every zinger like noone else, but this whole scene in the context of the episode felt like a hark back to the OTT ageist jokes of season 1 and it all felt like it was for the sake of it tbh (though ‘elderly dithering’ still makes me chuckle) I get it, JOMO, giving up the imaginary, alternate life to be in the real one, very much building on the set up of Liza leaving behind her 26 year old life, but this was 2 mins and 41 seconds that could have been wedding time. I would've honestly watched a whole ep of Diana getting ready and the wedding very happily, but I appreciate that there was a lot that needed to be addressed, so even a couple more mins would've been wonderful and could've served this episode more than that insufferable author and pretty pointless pitch (plus Redmond was invited to the wedding so we could've had Redmond and bonus wedding time so win win! Next time...).

It was nice to see Kelsey and Liza out having a drink and catching up. Liza once again assures Kelsey that she supports her in whatever she does but makes it quite clear that she thinks going into business with Quinn is a terrible idea. Kelsey then fills Liza in on what Josh is up to, Liza fills Kelsey in on their convo from the week before that did not go down so well and Kelsey isn't surprised because apparently Liza is 'kind of the most important woman in his life who isn't teething'. You know what? That actually made me really sad. I mean, Josh and Liza have not been in a romantic relationship for what, 18 months or two years? He lives with Kelsey and Lauren, has a great relationship with Maggie, (I'm not dense btw, I understand why this line is there), but Josh not having any other women who he would consider important in his life despite all these amazing female friends?

One thing I was enjoying about Josh this season was his moving forward and having a purpose. After last season's terrible stagnation for his character, seeing him reestablish a relationship with Claire, have a baby, his friendship with Lauren continuing to evolve, it was all looking so on track. Then these past couple of episodes, I feel like he's had a massive regression again and I just feel bad for the character and think that surely he can serve a purpose beyond pining for Liza because he did that already for the whole of season 5. I do like that Liza is sticking with her mantra of making choices in life, of refocusing on other things, on new horizons and I do believe she's really trying, but her fickleness is certainly a constant struggle for her throughout the whole series. More and more, especially since the lie came out, I'm seeing Liza's longing for or looking back more at the life of a 26 year old and it'll be interesting to see if it's Josh she's actually feeling she's missing out on or the life he represented (and which there's no reason she can't live aspects of now). Liza's forlorn expression when Kelsey toasts to 'no looking back' has also been making quite a few appearances these past few eps.

Aside from my fave terrible person Quinn, my other favourite recurring guest this season has been Infinitely 21's Shelly. As she and Josh are finalising the Inkburg Midtown details, her unquenchable thirst once again becomes apparent as she tells him, 'we all want a piece of you..I keep saying piece, I don't even know why' (I love Josh's, 'it happens', I mean how do you even respond to someone like Shelly?) As Shelly and Josh go through his look book to find some pieces appropriate for a 'tat and scat', Shelly of course sees the hourglass and loves it but Josh, dude, why is it in the look book if it was a one off? C'mon. Again, I get it for the story and Shelly is on it, 'please don't say you forgot who she is'. Oh sweet, innocent Shelly, if only you knew.

Ok, now the reason we're all here, THE event of the year and that of course is the Royal Wedding. Everyone looks amazing (Maggie = wowsers!) and I have made no secret of my excitement at seeing the whole Younger fam glammed up at an event together. It's really happening!!! Liza has finally figured out her maid of honour gig as she welcomes guests, including Enzo's mother who proclaims she saw a crow flying upside down on the way to the church, 'it's a bad omen', to which Liza accurately and hilariously replies, 'especially for the crow'.

Upon hearing from Liza that Kelsey wants something that she owns, Charles finds himself a seat next to Kelsey in the church and oh my heart. I honestly never anticipated that I would be gushing about the relationship between these two characters, despite the fact I had it as a wish for season 6, it has exceeded my expectations. Charles' sincerity in offering Kelsey a stake in the company, asserting that she is family, 'I knew that the day you sacrificed everything you wanted to save us', ok it was me who took all the Kleenex from Diana and Liza's offices because EMOTIONS. His gratitude is genuine and deep, I mean never mind that it was her drunken error that caused the issue, Charles' whole refocus on the importance of the people around him this season really lead to this wonderful moment and he leaves the ball in her court knowing he has done all he can to show Kelsey that she really is valued.

Liza helping Diana from the car, OH. EM. GEE I am in love. Diana and Liza's friendship is my highlight of this entire season and this exchange did not disappoint. Diana looks so amazing. Her necklace that Liza helped Enzo pick out has it's own moons probably and Diana telling Liza that 'as a maid of honour you're slow burn but in the end you're white hot' was almost too much but also exactly the right amount. Fun fact: When you look up the meaning of magnificent in the dictionary you get this gif of the doors opening on Diana as she waits to enter the church. She is composed and beautiful and as she walks towards the beaming Enzo, Kesley and Zane are rekindling, which is sweet but again, who knows for how long? There's just so much happiness and love in the air! It is everything I ever hoped for and more. I do wish we'd heard the vows and/or seen the 'I now pronounce you husband and wife' though, I am legit sad that we didn't see at least a little bit of the ceremony.

We also have Josh turning up as the plus one, ok yes, it makes sense Lauren would invite him but also, have some self respect man. On the one hand I get it, when you are so infatuated with someone you will do anything to see them, but Liza specifically asked for some space so I am struggling to understand why he would accept the invite or at least not text Liza and give her a heads up or ask if she minds or something you know? Again, I know it's TV and there needs to be the DRAH-MAH etc. In saying that, the tattoo conversation I actually thought was lovely.

Prior to that though, my dream of seeing everyone at the event together is realised, we see Maggie's ice sculpture and the hint at a Maggie and Lauren rekindling (also, Liza going over to Charles in the background and cosying up to him, I see you). We do catch the end of Diana and Enzo's first dance and hear Diana referred to as Mrs. DeLuca. Enzo giving her a hard time about her eye twitch every time she is called that is so freaking adorable and Diana and Enzo together are adorable IT'S JUST ALL ADORABLE and seeing Diana so relaxed and happy is honestly everything and yes, I'M GUSHING. Again.

I do like that Josh calls himself out, that it is super weird seeing him at the wedding. Because it really is. Josh looked devastated at Liza's initial response to the tattoo question and to me, it’s because her saying he can use it is like she's so willing to let go of him that she doesn't even want to preserve anything from the time they were together. I think that for Josh, her answer was indicative of whether she was really closing him out of her life for good. I'm finding the use of flashbacks (last week in the montage this week with the tattoo) interesting in these Josh/Liza interactions, it's not something the show has ever really done before and while last week's certainly felt like a poignant reflection, I can't help but wonder if it's also serving the purpose of reminding the audience of the relationship that once was in an effort to get viewers on side with it again (obviously many viewers never stopped wanting them together).

But I do completely understand Liza's decision not to want anyone else to have the tattoo. It is theirs, it signifies an important part of her life and their relationship and this scene did what Younger does so infuriatingly well. Last year it was the cacao dream and this year it is this scene, there is enough ambiguity to interpret this scene as either closure and a transition of Josh and Liza's relationship away from anything romantic or for those fans of the Josh and Liza romance, it allows for hope that it may reignite one day. It was left open and closed enough to go either way.

The moment I heard 'Take my breath away' playing, I swear, I could not BELIEVE my ears. I never thought this show would do something so cliche yet here we are and I loved every second of it. Liza calling it 'our song', asking Charles if he asked them to play it and the way he answered I AM DYING (note to self - any episode that plays this Berlin hit will involve a proposal). Seeing Liza and Charles slow dancing on that dance floor was everything, I am such a sucker for a couple dancing like this and it was perfect, I may be melting into a puddle of goo just thinking about the way he holds her hand so close to his heart (though Liza's apprehensive look about the Scotland trip wasn't a fave, she seemed pretty relieved to be able to get out of that one). There I was watching, my simple mind and face grinning at the dancing when suddenly I hear the word honeymoon. I'm sorry, WHAT?! Ok, so I, along with many others I'm sure, had an inkling there might be a proposal. I have to say that in my mind Charles Brooks would never propose at someone else’s wedding, HOWEVER he himself has admitted to being impulsive when it comes to matters of the heart and the moving in conversation from episode 8 was when my cogs began to turn and wonder if we mightn't see something like this play out.

I LOVE how he's just speaking softly into her ear, it's so damn intimate and as Charles begins his beautiful speech there's a smile that flashes across Liza's face as she computes what's happening, because she's a human person who has the most romantic monologue ever being delivered to her. His pause as he says 'with...everything about you' ugh, his love for her is palpable in that moment, I seriously need a lie down just from writing about it. Kelsey barging in with 'I do, I DO, I've been trying to think of a reason not to say yes but there isn't one' (listen to your friend Liza, she is wise) is so perfect, it's SO Younger, her answer being the answer Liza should've been giving (and the fact she didn’t setting up the cliffhanger rather nicely). Meanwhile, Liza is trying not to have a panic attack as all the fab women band together to ‘We are family’, but as she gets caught in the middle of the conga line, Charles expectant and hopeful and her smiling, they share that moment between the two of them despite the chaos around them, as their eyes remain locked across the room.

The beauty of television is that you get on for the ride and you never know where you might end up. At the start of the season I certainly wouldn't have thought waiting to hear Liza's response to Charles proposing would be the finale cliffhanger and I'm not sure how I feel about it to be honest, but you know what the only good thing about a 9 month hiatus between seasons is? We get 9 months to speculate and theorise and re-watch the whole series a normal number of times *cough* and digest it all.

And that, folks, is another season of our fave show done. I do plan to do a season review at some point, but I just want to thank all of you who indulge me by reading the excessive number of words I plonk on a page week after week, the interactions and feedback are wonderful and I really appreciate it all.

I guess it’s time to get back to those real life responsibilities I’ve been ignoring the past 3 months (though JOMO, amirite?).

#youngertv #younger tv #ramble #6x12 #younger season 6 #liza miller #charles brooks #kelsey peters #diana trout #enzo deluca #maggie amato #lauren heller #zane anders #liza x chalres #diana x enzo #denzo #team charles

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