#(also the Pool Scene in Spring Breakers)

[b-rainlet]

Top 3 horniest scenes in horror go:

Mine are

- Mia Goth making out with the Scarecrow in Pearl

- Gaspard Ulliel playing Young Hannibal Lecter. Just. In general. But specifically him hanging that guy in the woods and singing 'Ein Männlein steht im Walde'

- The Rape Scene in Megan Is Missing, sorry not sorry

[red-letter-imagines]

heyy there!! can you do another part of the “reaction when you suck on their tongue but with Mikey, Rindou and mitsuya?

You have no idea how happy I am that my work's so well-received! So there's been more than one request for a part 2, but for different characters. This little dove, however, is the first one so I'll be doing this, then the other characters in later parts, alright? Alright.

Now *cracks knuckles* let's begin!

Reaction When You Suck on Their Tongue Part 2 (Sano Manjiro, Haitani Rindou & Mitsuya Takashi)

Sano "Mikey" Manjiro: (Bonten! Mikey)

You sure you don't need a chaser with that? Sanzu snickers from across you, pupils already blown wide from the pills he'd taken half an hour ago. The pure vodka sears your esophagus, a pool of liquid fire in your abdomen. Tears are springing up your eyes and you wince. Truly, it had been a horrible idea on your side to make bets with Sanzu, of all people. That man has had every drug imaginable enter his system and three overdoses later, is still standing. You should've known better than to order Spirytus, but Sanzu has a way of getting under anyone's skin, especially yours.

He knew you had more than several bones to pick with him after he coaxed Mikey into accepting a million-dollar drug deal with some shady Western cartel. Throughout Bonten's history, it was one of the more careless business trades you'd ever gone through, one that put Mikey in a precarious position. The cartel demanded Mikey's audience for the deal to be done, and while Sanzu reassured you that nothing would happen to their "King", that never stopped you from worrying your head off.

A part of you wanted the drugs and alcohol put him into a coma; you just had to hold your liquor until then. Yet this poisonous bastard is still standing, while you barely have the confidence to stand up straight. He's fucking crazy.

You eye the remaining shot glass. It's rim and ridges bounce the bright glow of the chandeliers above you, its crystal clear contents an elegant deception to those unaware. You suck air through your nose and grab it. Before you could down the last drink of your life, a slender hand slides to your shoulder.

You turn to face Mikey's lilac-rimmed gaze, the darkness swimming within sucking you in like a vacuum. Once he sees the flares of red across your cheeks and down your neck, his lips curl a little. Mikey hates alcohol with a passion; he told you early on that he abhorred its bitterness and how it hazed your mind.

Instantly, you cave under his disappointment, and none-too-gracefully drop your shot glass back on the counter. You barely had time to utter his name before he cups your cheek and kisses you. It's gentle, caring yet the pressure of his pecks stamp his dominance into your very soul.

He plunges his tongue into your booze-laced cavern, and you eagerly latch onto it like a hungry pup. He tasted of red bean paste, its sweetness a balm to your burning senses. He keeps a hand on your neck while you have your fill, biting your lower lip when you part.

You're panting, eyes glazed with wanton need. He strokes a thumb under your ear, and you smile.

You could drink all the alcohol you wanted, but nothing could make you drunker than Sano Manjiro's affection.

Haitani Rindou:

You frown to yourself as you waited outside the heavy steel gates of Roppongi's juvenile detention center. It's been six months since the Haitani brothers had been arrested because of Tenjiku. Along with the other Heavenly King named Mucho, they also scored a reduced sentence, and today will be their first taste of freedom in half a year.

You'd been forced to stay behind when the battle happened; Rindou told you that he didn't want to have to look after you while fighting. A cover-up for his worry, of course. The younger Haitani isn't known for being as emotionally apt as his older brother, yet somehow that rigidness of his is one of the things you love most about him. To this day, Ran still loves to give you both shit for it.

Rindou knew that you'd be pissed beyond belief once you got the news; he promised not to leave you alone again like last time. You didn't come to his trial nor see him when he got permitted for visitations. Ran is in a different cell, and he had nothing but time.

Of course, other than being absolutely furious with him, there were other reasons you couldn't come see your bone breaker of a boyfriend. With them detained, no one is left to defend their title as the Kings of Roppongi. No one except you, that is.

You're quite the force of nature yourself, even before meeting Ran and Rindou. Roppongi had been your stomping grounds since you were ten, and when they started making a name for themselves you refused to submit. Thinking back, it was quite a comical scene: a scruffy-looking little girl baring her teeth at two brothers who'd basically killed a man not too long ago. Despite how ruthless they truly are, they never stooped so low as to hit a girl, much less gang up on one to prove a point. Instead you became friends, and later on fell in love with the younger Haitani, and he with you. Together you ruled over Roppongi, and the rest is history.

So while your man stared at white walls in the slammer, you splattered blood across brick walls as warnings to those who thought they could conquer the city. All on your own, you reigned over Roppongi the entirety of their sentence, and now it's time for the kings to reclaim their throne.

You hear them before you see them; Ran's whimsical tones against Rindou's monotone rebuttals. They're wearing casual clothes instead of the jumpsuits, Ran's hair is in braids as always, but Rindou...

The extra inches of hair does something to you. It flowed around his face like a lion's mane, faded blue streaks shining in the noon sun. He's wearing contacts instead of his frames, and his jaw is sharper than you ever remembered it. Fresh out of prison, and he looks every bit the king of carnage you adore.

Licking your lips, you saunter over to them. The clacking of your heels turn their heads, and they smirk at you. You could see Rindou tense for a split second before reigning himself back in. Once you get close enough, you rear a hand back and slam it against his cheek hard.

Then you grab him by the collar and smooch him right in front of the jail gates. His recovery is quick, and he pulls you close in a vice-grip. You press a thumb down his chin and take his tongue right from his mouth. The light graze of your teeth against the flat of it earns a growl from Rindou. You left me again, you fucking asshole you hiss as you pull away. You doubted he really heard you though, because he dived right to your neck after your liplock. You sigh, meeting eyes with a disgusted Ran.

This man is going to be the death of you one day.

Mitsuya Takashi:

Throughout your relationship, Mitsuya is nothing but gentle. It almost gave you whiplash how different he is when he's with you and when he's with Toman. He's more than happy to bash some scumbag's face in, yet he couldn't look you in the eye if he shows up to school bruised the next day. You're one of the reasons he got so good at dodging blows in the first place-all of this just to keep you from remembering just how dangerously he lives.

His carefulness translated through his affections, most of all. He didn't hold you, he cradled you. When he kissed you, you could practically feel the repressed passion just burning beneath the surface. He treats you as if you were a dandelion on a windy day.

And while you thought his unspoken sentiments are nothing short of chivalrous and sweet, you also found it quite stupid. You knew what you were getting into when he sheepishly confessed, knew about him being a captain of Toman's second division. So naturally, you'd braced yourself for all sorts of chaos. Plus, only having to witness one side of him irked something inside of you that you couldn't quite explain. You'd made it perfectly clear that you loved him, bruises and all. Yet when he looked at you with such adoring lavender eyes, you couldn't bear to chide him for wanting to treasure you.

So, you decided to show him through other means.

You're waiting for him to finish inside the sewing club room. He's finishing the hemline of a kimono-a birthday present he's preparing for Draken early on. His eyelids hang low, but his gaze is as intense as ever. Nothing is said between the two of you, but you can't help staring at his pursed lips, now bitten red from his habit when focusing. You internally proclaimed your love for him yet again, unable to stop yourself from wandering over to his hunched form.

Just as he looks up from the sewing machine, you dive in with a kiss that, even you had to admit, is a little too intense to be this sudden. Yet you couldn't help it; even the simplest things he did could turn you into quite the sap.

He doesn't fail to reciprocate it, though. His lips, a little rough and a bit wet, switch from caressing your top and bottom lip each time you return to each other. Somehow, it ended up with you sandwiched between him and his desk, thighs on either side of his hips. His hands never stay in one place, smoothing down your uniform and rubbing your back. He never strays too far down your waist, and that tang of frustration sours your sweet little moment yet again.

Bracing one hand on his shoulder and the other on his jaw, you grind down hard against him. His mouth drops open in a barely contained moan, and you close your lips around his tongue. The noise he made when you licked at it could've put BL voice actors to shame. His fingers rake against the sides of your hips, jolting you out of your sultry scenario and into a bout of giggles. And while you sit there steaming in your embarrassment at ruining such a delicious moment, he simply gapes at what just happened, his face stained a pretty crimson.

Well, that was awkward...but you wouldn't have had it any other way.

[thirstyhellfirenacht]

Haunt Me

This fic was HEAVILY influenced by @monsterlovinghours with their ficlet of Beetlejuice with a s/o who gets turned on when scared. This gave me a reason to write the most self-indulgent smut I’ve ever written.

Possession, haunting, rough sex, consensual scene, respecting safe-words, after care.

I did not look over this at all after I finished writing it. I’ll fix typos later. I’ve never attempted to write horror, so I hope that this works.

Beetlejuice x Reader (Gender neutral, but reader has a vagina)

It was a typical Saturday night in your small house as you lay in the living room watching a movie. You were curled up on the couch in nothing but your robe and some brand new underwear, a small treat for yourself after such a long week moving houses. The tv was playing a new horror movie that you had also treated yourself to, and you held your breath as the tension in the scene grew. The protagonist was wandering through their new, clearly haunted house. Perhaps it hadn’t been the best movie decision considering you yourself had also just moved, but you were a sucker for scary movies. 

Outside the rain poured, and lightning flashed so often that it almost looked like someone had left a strobe light on outside your windows. Still, you felt safe in your new house and pulled your robe closer for extra warmth. Watching the movie your body tensed up at every slight movement, every weird noise, every perceived shadow on tv. It was as if your body was just waiting for the jump scare that was inevitable. Your heart raced and heat pooled in the pit of your stomach as your nerves were set on edge.

A loud crack of thunder shook the house, causing you to jump and cling to one of the cushions. A gasp more akin to a whimper escaped your throat at the sudden crash. You released a slow shaky breath as the house settled again. You tried hard to let your body relax, to calm yourself down but it was difficult. Every inch of your body was screaming for you to turn off the movie and play something safer. Well, almost every part of your body. 

You bit your lip and breathed deeply through your nose. There’s nothing to be afraid of you thought to yourself. I’m safe. Another loud crack shook the house again, but this was not thunder. This time, a bolt of lightning had struck right over the house, louder than before. A bright flash of light illuminated the outside and then you were plunged into darkness. 

You sat frozen in place for a moment as you took in what had just happened. You counted to ten slowly before releasing the breath that you hadn’t realized you had been holding. The air around you was still and quiet, much more quiet than it should have been. The faint humming of electronics, or the air conditioner had ceased completely. The lightning stroke must have knocked the power out. A shiver ran through your body, without the power on the room suddenly felt much colder, and goosebumps started to rise along your skin. 

Fuck, you needed to get up and get a flashlight and head to the basement and see if you could trip the breaker. This hadn’t been on the plan for the evening, but you could at least try and roll with it. You sat up slowly, moving your bare feet against the cold ground. It was almost alarming how much colder it had become in the thirty seconds since the power was knocked out. And of course you had left your phone upstairs where it would be of no use to you. 

You maneuvered around the furniture slowly, hands out in front of you to stop you from bumping into anything. Your goal was simple, there was a flashlight in the kitchen you could use to get down into the basement to reset the breaker. Get flashlight, reset breaker. Easy. You stepped out of the living room, the only light coming from the occasional flash from outside. A feeling of dread started to form in the pit of your stomach as you stood in the dark empty hall. Being alone in such a big house was much more unnerving than you had thought possible. 

Still, you put one foot in front of the other and walked slowly down the hall. Nothing is going to hurt me. You told yourself, though that did little to calm your nerves. You entered the kitchen, trying to be extra careful as you made your way to the junk drawer. Your fingers were starting to feel cold, and you shivered involuntarily. Why did it feel so damn cold in here? Was your insulation that bad? 

You pulled the drawer open and a crash from next to you made you jump. Fumbling for the flashlight, you managed to turn it on and immediately drop it. The flashlight rolled and as you followed the light, for a split second you swear it illuminated a  pair of dark legs. You froze and tried to focus your eyes on the dark area that you had just seen. 

“Wh- who’s there?” you asked, your voice coming out much more quiet than you had hoped. You received no answer other than the creaking of a floorboard and then silence. The hair on the back of your neck stood straight up and you felt like you were now being watched. The figure was gone and you were shaking. It took a moment but you managed to convince your feet to move towards the dropped flashlight. With shaking hands you lifted it up and looked around the room. Whatever you had seen, if you had actually seen anything, was gone. 

“I’m okay.” you told yourself quietly. “Th-there’s no such thing as ghosts or demons... I’m okay... j-just nerves from moving and the movie.” You didn’t believe a word you were saying. You had always been an avid believer of the paranormal. The flashlight was caught in a death grip in your shaking hands. Your knuckles were starting to turn white. You gulped and forced yourself to trek towards the basement door. 

You carefully opened the door wide and started your descent down the creaking staircase. One step, two steps, three steps.... You counted the steps in an attempt to distract your mind and calm the racing of your heart. The stairs creaked in protest with each step until about 6 steps down. The creaking seemed to grow louder. It was almost as if someone was walking behind you, in sync with your steps. You responded by quickly running down as fast as you dared and running towards the breaker box. You pressed your back against it, and looked around the basement quickly. Out of the corner of your eye, you swore you saw a shadow dart behind a pile of boxes but when the light of your flashlight reached it, there was nothing. 

A whimper escaped your throat again. The feeling of being watched was heavy, and you couldn’t tell where it was coming from.  Your breathing was coming out in shallow pants, and every cell in your body was on high alert. You didn’t want to move, you didn’t want to turn you back on the dark cellar but you needed the power to come back on if you were going to feel safe for the night. With a deep breath you turned and opened the breaker, finding the correct switch and flipping it with trembling fingers. 

Nothing. No sound of the AC unit springing to life, no hint of light pouring in from the top of the stairs. Fuck, that lightning strike must have taken out the entire neighborhood. This was going to be a problem. 

A sound of a box falling caused you to jump and flash your light in the direction, but nothing was there. You took a few hesitant steps towards the stairs when something happened that stopped you dead in your tracks. Your neck, which had just moments ago been as cold as the rest of your exposed skin felt warm, as if someone was breathing heavily against it. 

Your whole body stopped moving and you held your breath. You could deny it no longer, someone (or someTHING) was there in the house with you. Now that you seemed to truly acknowledge it, it’s presence grew stronger. Your whole mind seemed to flood with a sense of dread. Starting from the pit of your stomach, the feeling worked its way outward, you body falling into Fight or Flight mode. Though instead, it chose the lesser known third option- Freeze. 

You felt frozen in place as the presence seemed to grow stronger on your fear. Goosebumps dotted your exposed skin as you felt something on your inner thigh. It was as if something wanted to touch you, but couldn’t... yet. The feeling creeped up your leg, and against your body's better judgement you felt a slight throbbing sensation in your panties. Ever since you were old enough for the response, your body had always confused the feelings of fear and arousal. As much as you hated it, and as scared as you were, your body would ache to be touched when watching a scary movie, or walking through a haunted house attraction. 

Or when an actual ghost was feeling you up. 

A strangled whimper escaped your throat as the feeling continued up your body. Terror and frustration washed over your body. The strange feeling of being almost touched, trailing over your panties and ghosting over your clit before continuing upwards over your stomach and your breasts. As the feeling climbed upwards, your heart nearly stopped as you realized that with every slow, agonizing moment the feeling felt more real. Your nipples were already hard and sensitive from the cold, making the strange sensation borderline pleasurable as it continued upwards. By the time it reached your neck, you could swear that a hand was enclosed around it. 

Your whole body was trembling with fear now. You were frozen in place, with the feeling of something holding onto your neck and your brain seemed so foggy. You couldn’t move, you couldn’t let out a noise. You were trapped and you couldn’t move. Fuck, you couldn’t move at all. You needed to move....!

The door to the basement slammed shut with a bang, snapping you out of it. You let out a scream, a loud desperate scream and found yourself bolting up the stairs. Your legs were moving on your own and you stumbled halfway up, scraping your shin on the old wood staircase. The feeling of pain helped bring you back down to earth as you desperately scrambled for the door. From down below you heard the creeking of steps climbing upwards, whatever this thing was it was following you. You reached for the doorknob and desperately tried to open it, but no matter how hard you tried to to push, it wouldn’t budge. It was as if something heavy was holding the door closed, keeping you from opening it. Still the creaking grew louder and closer and you screamed again as you desperately shook the handle and pushed. 

Right at the last second, your door swung open with more force than you could have pushed and you fell onto the floor, scrambling to get up. Your robe came undone, exposing you as you ran towards the second set of stairs that would lead you to the upper level of the house. Legs trembling and running on adrenaline you were clumsy, your robe catching under you foot and causing you to fall again. Your arm hit the stairs hard, and you knew that it would leave a bruise but you didn’t have time to worry about that. You ditched your robe on the stairs and ran towards you room, slamming it shut and pressing your back against it. 

You sat there shaking like a leaf for a few minutes, trying to catch your breath desperately wondering what you should do next. The door would be no obstacle to whatever was in your house and following you. Still, you tried to calm yourself down. You were mostly naked and afraid. Your arm was sore from the fall and there was a slight stinging sensation in your leg from where you were bleeding. Despite that, the warmth between your legs was almost aching and when you squirmed you felt that your panties had soaked through. You’d normally feel disgusted with yourself, but you didn’t have time to worry about that now. 

Another bolt of lightning cracked outside, and for a split second you could see the outline of a tall imposing figure standing by your window. Another loud shriek escaped your throat as you suddenly felt your arms and legs being grabbed, holding you in place. You trembled and screamed again, feeling the dominating presence loom over you. A deep growl echoed through your ear and into your brain, and you tried hard to fight against the invisible hands holding you in place. Your leg jerked and you whimpered as you felt something scratching into your leg. You dared to glance down, as the presence seemed to write a message on your thigh. 

M I N E. 

Your stomach dropped as you were suddenly lifted up into the air and thrust against the door. You were hovering in the air a few feet off the ground, now face to face with a pair of glowing green eyes. Fear shot through you like electricity and your veins turned to ice as you looking into the eyes of this evil entity. You held your breath as the figure looked intently at you, before he bared his teeth and bit you hard on the shoulder. 

Yout let out another small scream and fought against your invisible bindings, but the demon took no heed. His razor sharp nails scratched down your body, and your let out a yelp. Your hips bucked slightly as the demons form disappeared again, but still you felt him everywhere. Bites and scratches and gropes were felt all over your body. So many hands grabbed and pinched and scratched at you and you could only helplessly take it. 

Sharp teeth dangerously scrapped against your nipples as nails dug into your hips. You whimpered in pain, but again your body betrayed you. Even in this position of being attacked by a demonic entity, your lower region was swollen and throbbing and begging to be touched. A curse escaped your lips as you felt a hard bite on your neck. It was becoming too much, but still part of you didn’t want it to stop. 

“S- sand...” your voice was shaking as you tried to get the word out. 

The scratching and biting stopped, but you were still held against the door as you caught your breath. You let out a small whine, still scared and trembling and still so... so turned on. The invisible hands were much gentler now, stroking the sore spots slowly. Each bite and scratch mark was being carefully traced and teased, making your body that much more needy. Soft delicate touches against the sore skin made your body heat up and desperate for more. 

You gave a small nod, and in a flash your panties were ripped off and tossed to the side. A scream escaped your throat as you felt pressure against your aching clit. You bucked your hips as you felt a warmth envelope that desperate button, unable to contain your yelps and screams. The terror in your voice was quickly shifting to pleasure as the demon sucked at your clit. 

“Fuck.... oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck I’m.. I’m s-so...!” your orgasm was so close, but the demon wouldn’t be that nice. The warmth was ripped away from you and you felt yourself being flung to your bed. You landed on your back and when you tried to sit up, it was as if something was sitting on your chest, preventing you from moving. You couldn’t sit up or move your arms, and your body panicked at the claustrophobic feeling. 

Again, the demon appeared before you, looking at you like you were his prey. Your body was trembling as you looked at him from top to bottom with his green hair, glowing eyes and naked body. His cock was  hard and the pupils in his eyes were blown wide with lust. You couldn’t even begin to move as he crawled on the bed, hovering above you. 

“M̷̬̻̌͊̾̆͝y̴̖̟̤̣͛͐ ̷̙̈́̉͗ͅb̸͕̹́r̵̭̋̉ę̶̣̝̳͑̌̒͐͜á̷̪̼͌̉͘ṯ̸̃͑͐̽ḧ̸̨̦̤̼͌͑e̸̦̞̬̮̋͆̓͝ŗ̵̛̙̻̆̾͗̍.” he growled in a voice that chilled you to the bone. The voice seemed to echo around the room, and yet you felt like you would be the only person who could hear him. He leaned down and buried his head between your legs again, licking at your clit in earnest. The most you could move was to throw your head back in pleasure and terror as your orgasm began to build again. His mouth was so hot it felt like you were melting, every stroke of his tongue was like fire and ice at the same time, driving you wild. You were edged closer and closer, desperate for the release of the orgasm. It was as if the demon knew how to just keep you on edge until tears formed in the corners of your eyes. 

“Please..!” you whimpered, your voice hoarse from the screaming. The demon growled against your soaking pussy, sending vibrations deep inside you and tipping you over the edge. Your whole body spasmed and shook through the orgasm as another wordless scream escaped you. 

But the demon wasn’t done with you yet. Thick fingers plunged into your hole, curling upwards into your g-spot. Stars clouded your vision as the demon fingered you roughly, not stopping or letting up for a second as another orgasm started to build. The demon watched with an amused grin as you felt something different start to take place. You watched him in horror as liquid started to pour out of you and you squirted all over his fingers as another orgasm snuck up on you and ripped through your body. 

A deep cackle echoed through the room as the demon seemed to laugh in delight. He removed his fingers from your throbbing hole and lined himself up with your soaked and still dripping entrance. He gave you an evil smile that sent a jolt down your spine and slid his cock inside you. Another growl escaped him as he began to thrust inside you, stretching you out and the demons voice was against your ear. 

“M̷̬̻̌͊̾̆͝y̴̖̟̤̣͛͐ ̷̙̈́̉͗ͅb̸͕̹́r̵̭̋̉ę̶̣̝̳͑̌̒͐͜á̷̪̼͌̉͘ṯ̸̃͑͐̽ḧ̸̨̦̤̼͌͑e̸̦̞̬̮̋͆̓͝ŗ̵̛̙̻̆̾͗̍” he growled again. “Y̸̱̾ǫ̵͉̊͐u̵̱̇͜ ̷̳̓b̴̼̩̓̆e̵͎͐l̴̼̪̄̊o̷̙̒ṉ̷̈́̎g̶͚͍̑... t̸o̵ ̴m̶e̶... fuck... you screamed so pretty for me...”

The demons voice cracked as the scene slowly began to fall apart around the two of you. Your boyfriend thrusted again, his own hips trembling. “Don’t know how hot it was when you screamed in the basement... almost came in my pants...” he bit at your neck and moaned. You felt your character start to break as well. 

“You scared me s-so good.” you whined and you could tell the compliment did something to him and his breath hitched. “Scared.. Oh fuck, Beej.... FUCK... scared the shit out of me... was so turned on.”

His lips crashed against yours and his tongue darted into your mouth as he continued to pound into you over and over. You knew that he wouldn’t last long, but after what he had just put you through, you were okay with that. Beside, after cumming hard twice in a row it’s not like you were going to feel unsatisfied. 

“Babes... babes shit I’m gonna cum.” he growled against your neck, his hips trembling. Rough fingers reached down to stroke your clit again, and you whined knowing that he wanted you to cum one last time for him. 

“M... make me cum.” you whispered. “Possess me... please.”

You felt yourself lose control of your body, your mind still in tact and very aware of what was going on. You could still feel every touch and kiss and thrust as Beetlejuice desperately humped at you, chasing his orgasm. It didn’t take long- and as soon as he spilled himself into you that’s when your body shuddered through another desperate orgasm, his name on your lips. 

Beetlejuice collapsed next to you and immediately pulled you close, covering your face with kisses. You clung tightly to him, trembling against his body as you hid your face against his chest. 

“Shh.... you’re okay.” he whispered soothingly, rubbing your back in small circles. “You’re safe and nothing can hurt you.” 

A few tears spilled out of your eyes. You were okay, you didn’t regret anything, but sometimes these scenes were just a little intense and your body needed an outlet. Your body was free to move as you pleased, but all you wanted was to be held by the demon you loved. 

“I used a safeword.” You mumbled, a little disappointment in your voice. 

“Hey, hey, hey, that’s okay.” he mumbled against your hair, keeping a firm and comforting hold on you. “You did great. I’m so proud of you. You did so good for me.” he kissed the top of your head. “I’ll never be upset for you using the safe-words.” 

The two of you had worked out a few words when doing a scene together. Brigadoon meant Full Stop, Sandworm meant Don’t Stop but Slow Down, and Time Out meant that you needed a break or to discuss part of the scene. 

Beetlejuice held you close and traced the marks he’d left on your skin until you pulled away first, mentally ready for the rest of the after care. You leaned in and gave him a small kiss, which he happily returned. 

“I need a shower.” you told him. “And new bed sheets... and a few bandaids.” 

“Want me to join you in the shower, or do you want me to stay behind?” 

“I’ll be okay.” you said. “Will you change the sheets?” 

“Anything for you.” he kissed your forehead and you went to the bathroom to pee and shower. 

You stayed in the hot shower for a long time, letting the water soothe your aching body. You carefully washed off the sweat, blood, and other fluids before stepping out. Beej must have snuck in when you were in there because there was a fresh pair of pajamas crumpled up on the toilet. 

When you were back in your bedroom, you found Beej fighting with the sheets as he attempted to make your bed. You smiled a bit and walked over, helping him tuck the corners in and rearrange the pillows. It was still dark, that part of the scene had been completely improvised. Neither of you had expected the power to go out on the night of a scene but it had just added to the realness of it all. 

Beej had lit a few candles, and there was a small platter of cheese and crackers and fresh fruit next to your bed. When you crawled into bed with him, he handed you a water bottle and wrapped his arms around you. Normally, the two of you would watch tv or a movie to wind down, but with the power still off, all you two could do was cuddle and make small talk as he patched you up and fed you. For a demon, Beej was surprisingly good at after care. 

You melted into his arm again, the coolness of his skin a comfort to you after the hot shower. In the morning you two would review the scene, talk about what you did and what you liked and what could be tweaked. But for not you were content to fall asleep in his arms, knowing that you really were safe and that he would always be there to keep it that way. 

“I love you, Juice....” you mumbled as you drifted off. 

“I love you too.”  

[serendipityunho]

No Strings | 강여상

↳ PART THREE

GENRE: smut, angst, college au, friends to lovers, friends with benefits,  WARNINGS: explicit language, jealousy, depictions of violence, inflicted pain, bitch fight, car sex, cheating, kitchen sex, clit play, fingering, unrequited love

Word Count: 4.8k

part 1 • part 2 • part 3 • part 4

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“Are you hungry?” The calming silence broke as Mingi sits up from the bed, sliding his arm out from underneath your neck to collect his discarded clothes on the floor.

“Not really, no” You hug the blanket closer to your naked chest as you also sit up, leaning your back against the headboard.

“So when we were fucking, that noise wasn’t your stomach?” Mingi raised a brow, smirking as he stood shirtless in the middle of his room, boxers still showing from his unzipped jeans.

“Okay, maybe a little bit” Your finger hovered over your thumb as Mingi watches you measure your hunger.

“Thought so. How does pizza sound?” 

“Don’t you ever get tired of pizza?” 

Ordering pizza wasn’t something new every time you found yourself ripping Mingi’s clothes off in his bedroom. Almost every ice-breaker was Mingi tapping away on his screen, picking at the greasy options. 

Ever since the night of Wooyoung’s party, you couldn’t get Yeosang out of your head. Every time you bumped into him in the hallways, the picture of him kissing her was triggered and tattooed into your mind. The way he touched her like he touched you and the way he kissed her in which he never kissed you.

Eujin had everything you wanted, it was natural that you only grew jealous of her for being the one Yeosang sought for. You couldn’t see what you lacked in, maybe he really did see you as just a best friend. 

Mingi didn’t see that. That little show you put out on the dancefloor was enough for him to realize how broken you were. You were both broken, such similarities were enough for you to cling onto each other hoping to help one another. But, you didn’t feel helped at all, you were the one helping. 

“That’s like asking if I ever get tired of you” The bed dipped where Mingi planted his hands, leaning forward with his face inches away from yours.

“You’re so- I don’t even know” You lightly scoff at Mingi’s generic response, mockingly unimpressed at his attempt to make you smile.

“Cheesy? Yeah, I get that a lot” 

“Maybe that’s why you’re single” 

“Wow, that stung. Pepperoni?” Mingi mocked a hurt reaction, placing his hands over his heart and winced before dropping his act and grabbing his phone off the nightstand. 

“Only if I get to stay the night”

“Of course” 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

1...2...3...

Ring!

Students scurry out through the double doors with their hardcover books hugged to their chests as the day comes to an end. The parking lot emptied one car at a time as you step closer to exit the campus.

In weather like this, riding home in Mingi’s car would be a luxury. He was unfortunate enough to pop a tire, leaving you to rely on your tired legs to drag yourself home without the goodness of aircon.

That was until you had regretfully opened the text yeosang had sent you. He was the only one left in the carpark, leaning against the door of his car from across the lot.

Yeosang: Turn around

You: What do you want?

Yeosang: I just want to talk. please?

You: We’re talking right now, are we not?

Yeosang: Don’t make this difficult. It won’t take long, I promise.

You: You promise a lot of things, Yeosang...

A tired sigh left you before closing your phone, slipping it into your bag as you walked over as quick as your tired legs could allow. Half of Yeosang’s body was already inside the car as he waited for you, resting his chin on his hand sitting on the car door.

“Hey” It was about probably the first time you’ve officially grown awkward with Yeosang around.

“Hey” You greeted back before unlocking the door, sliding your body in as you sat down with a huff.

“It’s been a while hasn’t it?” Your eyes stay glued to the empty lot in front of you as Yeosang attempts to break out in a conversation.

“Yeah, it has”

“I miss you” If it wasn’t for the blasting of the air con, Yeosang would’ve probably heard how loud your heart was beating right now. 

“It doesn’t seem like it- with your new girlfriend and all” You subtly snicker, forcefully prying your eyes away from the still scene and to the side, hiding your panic as you lock eyes with Yeosang’s soft brown ones.

“I didn’t think that it would impact our friendship so much-”

“Really? You didn’t think what it’d be like? What it’d be like for me? Have you ever thought about how I felt when you were off focusing on Eujin like she was your entire world- like she was the only one in your life? I’m your best friend, and it seems like you forgot about that” 

You could spot the pang of guilt floating in Yeosang’s eyes. It wouldn’t be a surprise for him to notice the pain in yours. He knew you so well, after all.

“You really think that? That I’ve forgotten you?” Yeosang leans closer, resting his elbow onto the center console as his face inches closer you start to feel his subtle breaths on your skin.

“Haven’t you?” Your voice was almost as quiet as a mouse, lighter than a feather as you grow to feel a fixed pool of emotion in you. 

“I would never” Yeosang took you by surprise, lifting your chin up with his finger and pulling your face closer.

“Yeosang-”

“I really did miss you...” It felt like the world had stopped spinning once you felt Yeosang’s lips on yours after so long.

You couldn’t help but kiss him back despite knowing he wasn’t yours to take, or to begin with. Your lips moved perfectly in sync with Yeosang now cupping your face, feeling his other hand move to your thigh. 

The sparks set off in the depths of your stomach after feeling Yeosang’s touch again, his fingertips danced outside along the hem of your shorts, caressing your thigh before sliding his finger under. The throbbing in your clit only grew stronger when Yeosang’s cold fingers touched it over your panties.

Your legs rub together softly as you moan into the kiss, pushing harder as you crave more of his lips. Yeosang’s fingertips circle over your clothed clit before cupping your core with his fingers, sliding them up and down the material of your panties against your pussy. 

“Fuck-” You couldn’t help but to drag your hand over to his chest, feeling his muscles over his thin shirt before gliding your hand down to his hard-on and palming him over the rough material of his jeans.

Almost every thought in your brain disappeared the moment Yeosang slid his hand under your panties, his cold fingers making you twitch as he made contact with your clit once more. You could feel the wetness in your panties spread with each rub Yeosang made. 

“I’ve missed you so fucking much...” Yeosang whispered against your lips before dipping his face against your neck, running over it with his tongue as he smoothly inserted a finger into you, pumping slowly as you fumbled with his belt.

“This is wrong. This is so wrong” But you needed it, you needed it so badly. 

Every bit of empathy left in your body was out the window. You couldn’t care less about what the consequences were, you had him again. You had Yeosang again even if it meant for a brief moment, heck maybe even for the last time.

“You don’t seem to mind” 

“You don’t either”

“Why should I?” Yeosang shot his head up from the crook of your neck, gazing intently into your eyes for an answer.

“If it’s not obvious enough, you have a girlfriend”

“You’re not making it any easier to stop” Yeosang shot a look down at your hand cupping his bulge over his boxers. It was quite a view you’ve missed.

“Fuck, I can’t believe you sometimes-” Your lips found their way back onto Yeosang’s, kissing him as if you were starved of his affection.

Yeosang moved his hand out from underneath your shorts, gripping both sides of your hips before pulling you closer to him. Your leg slung over, pushing yourself on top of Yeosang’s lap as your hands roamed freely all over his chest. 

His lips plump and soft just like you remembered, hair still soft but rough just the way you liked it as it tangled through your fingers. For a split second it seemed as if everything was right again. 

Your tongues danced with each other as Yeosang’s hands smoothed over your ass, pushing it back and forth so that you were subtly grinding on his clothed hard on. A small groan left Yeosang in between your kiss, making you press your chest against his as the wetness pooling in your panties grow even bigger.

“I don’t think this is the best place to-”

“Shh, everyone’s gone home by now” Yeosang groaned, hand sliding up from your thighs to underneath your shirt, pulling it over your head before tossing it to the side leaving you in your black bra.

“I hope you’re right, Yeosang- oh god” You weakened at the feeling of his face against your chest, tongue lapping over your nipple as he unclipped your bra and throwing it to the passenger seat. 

“Fuck I’ve missed this so much, so so so much” Yeosang lifted his hips slightly, struggling to pull down his boxers just enough for his dick to spring free and rub against your stomach. 

“Oh you have no idea...” A drop of saliva falls onto the tip of Yeosang’s dick, letting you stroke him easily before sliding the bottom of your shorts and panties to the side, sinking down on him with a breathy groan and face scrunching in pleasure.

Your parted lips brushed against Yeosang’s as you take in the stretch, hips moving ever so slightly up and down his dick. Yeosang couldn’t help but let his head fall back against the rest, eyes droopy as he clenches his jaw and arms snaked around your back, holding you close.

As horny as you were with Yeosang back when you were proper fuck-buddies, never once had the two of you done it in the car. It was quite a convenient timing for it now.

“Mhm fu- just like that oh christ-” Yeosang looks absolutely beautiful with his head back, enjoying the way you ride his dick. His neck was even prettier with a blank canvas for you to paint your hickeys onto him.

The air in your lungs was almost non-existent as you bounced up and down faster on his dick, clenching tighter as you felt a ball form in the pit of your stomach. You took the opportunity to take your lips on to Yeosang’s neck, kissing it just like he did yours.

It felt like a dream being this close to Yeosang again, physically close. His touch mesmerised you like no other. He was your ecstasy and you couldn’t get enough of him, you don’t ever think you will. 

The squelching noises from your juices against your pussy and Yeosang’s cock grew louder with each bounce, knees growing weaker and thigh muscles burning as you start to chase your own high. Yeosang shot open his eyes, brows deeply furrowed as his lips parted, raising his face up at yours for a kiss.

“Cum on my cock, I know you want to” Gosh, his words still had that same effect. His silver tongue always got the best of you, Yeosang always knew how to make you weak. Especially for him.

“Yes ohmygod yes-” Yeosang groaned loudly before shifting lower, gripping your hips in place as he thrusted his hips up.

A small whimper left your mouth as your mouth widely gapes from the pleasure throwing sparks left and right throughout your body. The small knot in the depths of your stomach grew tighter, on the brink of snapping as you bounced with Yeosang’s movements. 

His hands roamed your back as his hips buckled further into you, having you release such broken moans as your legs ache from the consistent movements. Yeosang’s deep groans against your chest sent shivers down your spine, making your head fill with a cloud of lust and pleasure as you feel the nerve-sparking high come.

“Oh my god mhmmph-” Your face scrunched in the overwhelming pleasure, moans staggering as a course of blissful euphoria flooded through your head, walls convulsing around Yeosang’s cock. 

Your face dipped in the crook of Yeosang’s neck, panting heavily as he kept his hands on your hips, caressing your skin with his thumb. A soft kiss was planted onto your shoulder, feeling Yeosang’s warm breath of air fan over your sensitive skin.

There was a fraction of you that wanted to leave right now, ashamed of how easily you let yourself fall right for Yeosang’s charms like always. But the other fraction just wanted to stay like this forever, as weird as it sounds. 

“You’re gonna catch a cold like this-” Your head lifts up from Yeosang’s neck, gazing at him droopily before a shirt was pulled over your head.

“What about my bra?” You lazily smile, poking your arms through the holes of your shirt.

“I like you without a bra” Yeosang kissed your neck, gazing intently into your eyes as he brushed your hair out of your face.

“Can you take me home now?” 

“Only if you get off my dick” 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

It hasn’t been such a bad day, so far at least. For the first time in a while you had a consistent smile on your face, happier than before. You concluded the reasoning behind your positive attitude was the unexpected encounter with Yeosang in the parking lot yesterday. 

Classes haven’t been too dreadful and you were surprisingly left without work to be done over the weekend. Everything seemed almost too perfect, too in place. That was until a hand smacked its way across your face.

Eujin, of course, stood in front of you with possibly the most irritating ‘angry’ face you’ve ever seen. It was almost as if she practiced it in the mirror the night before.

“You fucking slut, what was going through your sick head?” Almost all heads snapped to the commotion, you could see her friends huddled in a circle whispering at whatever she was doing.

“You crazy bi- What the fuck are you talking about?” You raised a hand to your cheek, still throbbing from the slap she had landed.

“Don’t act all dumb after fucking my boyfriend!” You gasped at the stinging feeling on your scalp, Eujin pulled your head back with you trying to grab a hold of her hand to pry it off. 

“Fucking let go of me!” All eyes were on you two for sure now, phones pushed against your direction. 

You dropped your bag, grabbing Eujin’s hair as you dragged her down to the ground with you with a series of grunting and snarling. The grip on your hair never loosened with how many times you tried to pull her off.

“Hey! Hey! Stop it!” A strong grip pulled you apart from the locked hair-pulling, your head snapped up to Eujin being pulled further away by the waist, it was Yeosang’s arms that wrapped around her. 

You didn’t bother looking back to see who held you back, it was the booming voice that let you instantly know it was Mingi. Your hair was most likely a mess right now, but you doubt it was worse than the bird’s nest on Eujin’s hair. 

“What the fuck are you doing Eujin?” Yeosang snarled, brows sunk deep as he glares at her waiting for an answer. 

“Putting this slut in her place- let go of me!” Eujin struggled against Yeosang’s hold, clawing at his arms in an attempt to have him release her.

“What? What the fuck are you talking ab-” Yeosang looked at her with confusion before she dropped to the ground, rummaging through her bag before pulling her phone out.

“I’m talking about this-” Your eyes widened in shock. Those distinct memories came flooding back to you in an instant as you stared at the picture on her phone.

“Who took this?” As stressed out as you were at Eujin, you couldn’t pinpoint the anger issued towards who took this photo. 

“One of my friends of course, she left something in the library and stumbled upon your whore ass fucking my boyfriend” 

You felt Mingi’s hold on your waist loosen as he obviously took shock from the photo too. Actually, almost everyone in the parking lot had eyes wide. 

“You fucking prick, you have a girlfriend but you fuck her instead? Are you fucking nuts?” Mingi pushed past your shoulder, marching towards Yeosang as he barely towers over him.

“What the fuck is it to you? It’s none of your business who I fuck” Their foreheads pushed against each other, glaring daggers into each other’s eyes before Mingi lifted his arms to push Yeosang back, making him stumble a fair bit.

You started to panic, knowing the nerve-wrecking outcome of this situation. Eujin stood there, hurt but angry after listening to the words that had spewed out of Yeosang’s mouth. Any girlfriend would obviously be upset that their boyfriend showed no remorse, not even guilt. 

“Fucking asshole-” Yeosang grabbed Mingi by the collar, balling up his fist before swinging it right to his face, making Mingi fall back onto the ground as Yeosang climbed on top of him almost instantly, throwing a few punches as you stood there with a hand over your wide mouth.

“Yeosang, stop!” You cried, unable to comprehend the conflict unfolding in front of you, Eujin was nowhere to be seen, probably disappeared after seeing enough and coming to realisation that Yeosang didn’t care, never cared. 

Mingi pushed himself off the ground with Yeosang still on top of him, grabbing his shirt as he threw his own punch right to Yeosang’s jaw. Your heart pounded rapidly against your chest, head aching from the constant times you’ve pleaded for them to stop only to have your words brushed off like nothing.

“Please! Just stop!” You were too cautious to intervene, already afraid by their sides they’ve never shown before.

“Jesus fuck- Mingi!” A loud booming voice emitted across the parking lot, your teary eyes shot to Yunho sprinting from the other side of the lot. Anyone could tell it was Mingi’s fiery red head beating up another guy. 

Yunho was strong enough to pull back an aggravated Mingi off Yeosang’s limp body, blood pouring out of his nose as he laid there panting heavily. Mingi’s nostrils flared as he stared at the product of his punches, not attempting to struggle from Yunho’s hold.

“I’ve had enough of you” Mingi snarled, pushing through the crowd with their phones lit up against your faces.

“C’mon, I’m taking you two home” Yunho patted your arm before chasing after Mingi. You grabbed your bag off the ground before pushing your body through the dispersing crowd, following behind Yunho to his car.

The two of you could feel the anger radiating off Mingi’s body from afar, not saying a word to him in attempt not to have him snap unnecessarily at you two. The cold air inside the car calmed you down slightly, refreshing you from the aftermath of getting your hair pulled and manhandling in the boiling heat. 

It was calming for a split second before Mingi decided to slam the car door shut, making you flinch and the atmosphere awkward again. Yunho shot you a concerning glance through the mirror before looking at Mingi, sighing before exiting the parking lot. 

The entire drive was quiet, Mingi’s eyes locked onto the passing scenery the entire time as you threw the occasional worried glances. You didn’t bother trying to talk to him, it wasn’t like he wanted to talk either.

Your thoughts couldn’t stop mingling around Yeosang. Was he okay? You hoped he went home, taking care of his wounds instead of waiting for you to do them like always. 

It took you back to the time he’d get himself into trouble at those sketchy nightclubs the two of you sussed out for fun. It never ended well of course, one of you just had to get a knock down. 

But, now he had no one with him, he didn’t know what to use in the first aid kit despite it being pretty self-explanatory. Your worries wouldn’t go away without knowing if he was taking care of himself or not.

“You’ll be okay?” Yunho pulled up to your apartment building, throwing a side glance before unlocking the car doors.

“Yeah, thanks- Mingi, come with me” No response, even Yunho cringed at Mingi’s silent treatment. 

“Why?” After a long agonising silence, he spoke up, turning his slightly softened face to you that made you subtly gulp.

“Please?” You could see Yunho tapping his steering wheel with his fingers in your peripheral vision, waiting for the two of you to finally leave his car so he can go home.

Mingi didn’t say another word before unlatching the handle and slam the door shut, not as aggressively as before, as he got out. You followed behind, issuing a small ‘thank you’ to Yunho before he drove off.

The small stomps up the stairs to your apartment echoed through the building, Mingi slid his hand up the railing as he stopped in front of the door to your apartment, keeping his head down as you fumbled with your keys. He followed closely behind inside as you pushed through to your apartment, slipping into the kitchen.

“You wanna tell me what that was back there?” You leaned against the counter, palms gripping the edges as Mingi stood across from you against the fridge. 

“The explaining should be coming from you-” 

“I asked you first”

You copped a silence from Mingi once again, he sighed as his head dropped. As much as you were concerned with Yeosang, you couldn’t help but worry for Mingi too. He may have been your best friend less than Yeosang was but he still was. 

“It was nothing, he’s just an asshole. Shouldn’t be fucking other people when his ignorant ass has a girlfriend already”

“Is that it?”

“... I was angry okay? I was angry at myself for letting you get into this shit- look what happened, you got hurt” He was right, you did get hurt. Not just physically by the hands of that retread bitch but in a way Mingi wouldn’t understand.

You felt horrible for making Mingi feel like this, like he had to blame himself. When really it was you who he should blame. You let your emotions conquer logic and look where that got you. Two friends fighting each other as the other doesn’t know what to do with their life.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself for this-”

“Well I should, I let myself fall in love with you and now I can’t go back even if I wanted to” It was that one word that had struck a chord in you, did you hear it right? Did he really say the ‘L’ word? Did Mingi really say the ‘L’ word?

“Y-You what?” 

“I know you said no feelings but I couldn’t help it. You know me, that’s why I told you it was a bad idea when you asked me about-” Mingi stepped closer, waving his hands almost frantically as he panicked with his words “-this” He motioned between the two of you, clearly indicating about the platonic sexual relationship the two of you had going on after the night at Wooyoung’s party.

“Why didn’t you just stop me? Or stop this?” 

“Because I liked seeing you happy, I liked seeing you happy when I made you happy” 

“Mingi, I-I don’t know what to say” 

“You don’t have to say anything, I already know”

“Know what?” 

“Know your love lies with someone else. Yeosang. That’s why I couldn’t stand him today”

“You stayed with me even though you knew?”

“I wasn’t going to let you feel miserable so I may as well helped you at least try to get over him”

“I’m so sorry” You never realised Mingi had such feelings for you, only platonic ones, which became not so platonic.

“It was worth it” Mingi gently cups your face, thumb swiping across your cheek as he stood close to you, gazing down at you with apologetic eyes.

“Was it really?” You felt bad enough for your clueless behaviour, using Mingi as another one of your late night calls to get the thoughts of Yeosang out of your head while he cherished you, cherished your body. 

“So worth it”

“I really am sorry” 

“I should be the one apologising. I don’t want you feeling like this”

“Then get rid of it” You pleaded with your eyes, any sense of love to your body is what you craved at the moment. Just love to have you forget about all the complications, about the troubles.

“A-Are you sure?” Mingi stuttered, pulling back for a better look of your droopy face.

“However you want to” You pressed your chest against Mingi’s face inches away as you desperately seek some sort of affection.

Mingi pressed his lips against yours hungrily, grabbing your waist before propping you onto the kitchen counter for his body to push between your legs. Your arms slung lazily over his shoulders and around his neck as you held him close for your lips.

His hands roamed your back as your teeth clashed with his, heads tilting side to side with you snaking a hand underneath Mingi’s shirt before pulling it up and over his head. Your hands traced the outline of his pecks before locking your lips back on his, slipping a hand underneath his boxers and palming his cock.

Mingi groaned against the kiss, nipping on your bottom lip before gliding his hand down your thigh, squeezing it before trailing his thumb closely to the hem of your panties underneath your shorts. You quietly moaned as his thumb makes contact with your clit underneath your panties, circling it around slowly.

You deepen the kiss, swiping his bottom lip with your tongue as your fingers play with his red locks at the back of his head. Mingi kisses the corner of your lips as he trails his soft pecks down your jaw to your neck, making your eyes roll back at the sensation of his warm breath fanning across your sensitive skin.

You could definitely feel the love in all of Mingi’s kisses, his touches and his movements. It was saddening you could reciprocate the same for him, leaving him probably more broken than he already was. 

By the time Mingi’s lips had reached your collarbones, his jeans and boxers scrunched at the middle of his thighs, dick sprung free and rubbing against your leg as you pumped it slowly. Your shorts discarded at your ankles with your panties, leaving you now standing between the counter and Mingi’s large frame. 

The evening went by like a blur with Mingi cherishing your body in the kitchen and making you cum ardently around his dick with his powerful thrusts. But he did it though, he managed to make you feel less guilty. 

It was thanks to him that you managed to feel fine for most parts of the evening. You grew to realise that after this, Mingi would be living in heartache for the rest of his one-sided love until he finds a way to overcome it.

“I should leave” Mingi’s forehead rested against yours before he pulled back, flicking back between both your eyes.

“You don’t want to stay the night?”

“If I stay, it’ll hurt more than I know”

“So this is it?”

“Yeah, this is it I guess” Mingi forced a chuckle, grabbing his scrunched up shirt before pulling it over his body.

“I could’ve made it more romantic, like on a bed, if I knew this would be the last time” You decided to flow with the mere banter, throwing a soft smile at Mingi.

“You can do it with Yeosang. Don’t bother wasting that type of energy on me” A slight pang of guilt shot through your chest, making your face drop at Mingi’s comment.

“Well, it would’ve been the least I could’ve done to thank you. For what you’ve done for me” 

“I’m thankful, I really am. You’ve done more for me than I’ve done for you, it’s just sad I won’t be the one getting more” Mingi brushed a strand of loose hair out of your face, smiling intently before hesitantly landing a long hard kiss against your lips.

“You’re trying to make me feel bad again?” 

“No of course not, I’m just saying my epiphany out loud so I can find a way to get over you” 

“Good luck with that”

“Good luck with Yeosang”

part 1 • part 2 • part 3 • part 4

[jancmalandra]

On being fashionable

Snufkin and Moomintroll arrived in Calais in late December. The famous beaches were almost entirely deserted. Finding a place to make camp where they wouldn't draw attention to themselves was still a challenge. After all, they were freeloading in one of the most expensive tourist traps in the world. Snufkin knew the terrain surprisingly well for someone who avoided cities like the plague. He led Moomintroll to a small patch of beach that was surrounded by a very steep cliff, and they both pitched their tents. Moomintroll couldn't have helped noticing that Snufkin had been pitching his tent just a little bit closer to his every day, and this brought Moomintroll a great deal of secret joy.

"Do you come here every year?", asked Moomintroll as the pair of them walked down the beach, looking for a good spot to do some surf fishing.

"Not always.", said Snufkin. "Sometimes I wander through wine country aimlessly until February, when it's time for me to head back North to Moominvalley. Sometimes I follow the Mediterranean coast until then. One time, I decided to see how deeply inside Russia I could get before I had to turn around. Now that was a real adventure! But, despite the city behind it, this beach is amazingly beautiful without all the people crowding out nature, so I find myself drawn to it every other year or so."

It really hit home to Moomintroll that the entire world had always been open to Snufkin. Snufkin could have gone anywhere on the planet anytime he chose every year, and yet he had always returned to Moominvalley for every Spring and Summer, returned to see him again. Moomintroll realized in an instant of enlightenment that all of his uncertainty about how Snufkin felt about him over the years had been entirely wrong. Snufkin had always loved him; he had just kept his love hidden from himself somewhere deep inside. Moomintroll felt hot tears of grateful love streaming down his face that he couldn't stop. He looked out at the surf crashing on the beach and dropped his fishing rod and ran towards the breakers and dove straight in to clear his head. Moomins are born swimmers: their thick fur and natural layer of fat make them very close to marine mammals. The frigid water, which would have deterred any other swimmer, felt pleasantly cool to Moomintroll.

Snufkin watched his beloved leap from the surf like a dolphin with joyous awe at first. Then suddenly, his face contorted with panicked realization. He immediately sped up the beach towards the deserted shopping area just beyond the last set of dunes. Twenty minutes later, Moomintroll emerged from the surf and shook the water off himself, feeling thoroughly refreshed. He opened his eyes to see Snufkin standing before him, blushing nearly purple, sweating bullets, and holding out a mysterious folded piece of cloth for Moomintroll to take.

"H-here, Moomintroll," said Snufkin, suddenly putting the ill-fitting dark green poncho over his head, "This should keep you from getting sunburned." His voice was weak and completely unconvincing.

"Whatever are you talking about, Snufkin?", said Moomintroll, bewildered by the gift. "I've never gotten a sunburn in my life! Come to think of it, I'm not sure it's possible for Moomins to get sunburned! This might come in handy in case of rain, but until then...." He took off the poncho and folded it under his arm.

"Terribly sorry about this, Moomintroll, but I really must be going now!", said Snufkin all at once and as fast as he could. He immediately took off running down the beach even faster, in a blind panic.

"Well.", said Moomintroll, "I have absolutely no idea what that was all about, but the chase is most definitely on!" He began to gleefully follow Snufkin's footprints in the sand while keeping an eye on his rapidly retreating form running down the wide open beach.

Snufkin really wasn't watching where he was going, so naturally he ran headlong into the only other people on the beach, falling flat on his back when a very large paw stopped him in mid-flight. These people were a garishly dressed Fillyjonk wearing a hideous floor-length fur coat over his blindingly colorful clothing and two enormous Hemulens wearing black suits. The Fillyjonk looked at Snufkin first with utter disdain and disgust, then disturbingly acute, clinical interest.

"Rudolpho requires this....individual and his peculiar clothing!", said the Fillyjonk in a very pretentious tone, "Yes! Yes! Rudolpho has been inspired! He shall become the model for Rudolpho's new Winter fashion line! Max! Benny! Collect this person and bring him to the mansion!" He snapped his fingers at the Hemulens, who immediately picked up Snufkin by his armpits and began dragging him away, closely following Rudolpho!

Moomintroll watched this scene in utter horror from a safe distance, forcing himself not to move. He was keenly aware that he stood absolutely no chance at all against the Hemulens! He cautiously followed the four of them at this distance until they came to an huge three-story mansion with a sprawling pool area that stood just beyond the dunes. The pool area was filled with dozens of fashionable Fillyjonks lounging about in elaborate fur coats in carefully posed laziness. The pool was flanked on either side by two more intimidatingly huge Hemulen bodyguards. The Olympic-length pool split the area in two, and was topped by an impressive stage that had a runway that ran down the middle of the pool.

Moomintroll watched Snufkin being dragged through this scene and into the mansion and out of his sight with mounting panic! He couldn't begin to think how he was going to get in the pool area, much less the mansion, without getting caught, until he noticed something that no one else was paying any attention to: a small army of Moomins serving drinks and cucumber sandwiches, passing out heated towels, etc., and walking in and out of the mansion without being stopped or even checked! It was like finding out that he had at least twenty brothers that Moominmama and Moominpapa had never told him anything about! They were all about Moomintroll's age, size, and color!

Moomintroll gathered his courage, threw aside the poncho, and walked into the pool area and straight into the mansion as if he did this every day of his life! Once inside, he moved carefully, listening and looking for any sign of the Fillyjonk who had kidnapped Snufkin. It didn't take very long before he heard Rudolpho bellowing orders at his underlings down one of the hallways, constantly referring to himself in the third person. Moomintroll turned into that hallway and stood to one side, awaiting his best chance to follow Rudolpho to Snufkin!

Rudolpho came charging down the hallway followed by a gaunt, weary Hemulen carrying a notepad and pen. The Hemulen clearly didn't have the strength to keep up, which inspired Moomintroll to an act of supreme daring: he simply took the notepad and pen and gently patted the Hemulen on the shoulder. The Hemulen simply collapsed where he had been walking and looked up at Moomintroll with extreme gratitude. Moomintroll ran to catch up with Rudolpho, who had completely failed to notice the switch that had just taken place right under his nose.

Rudolpho continued to barrel his way to the other side of the first floor of the mansion, where the dressing rooms for his models lined the main hallway.

"The tailors had better be finished taking the measurements of his clothing by now!", said Rudolpho to himself as he entered the third dressing room down the hallway. Snufkin stood at the center of all the activity in the room, a blank, dazed look on his face! Moomintroll controlled himself with a heroic effort and continued to pretend to take notes while inching away from Rudolpho and into a corner of the room, to reduce his presence as much as possible. Snufkin was surrounded by three Moomin tailors armed with measuring tape, sewing needles and pins and other sewing paraphernalia.

"Well, are we ready to begin mass producing that outfit tomorrow?!", asked Rudolpho testily. The three Moomins nodded yes fearfully and silently. "Good! Make sure that he's ready to go onstage in two hours! Those idiots out there will pay me a fortune to look ridiculous, as usual. My pitches always rope them in." Rudolpho turned and left very suddenly. Once again, he had completely failed to notice Moomintroll's existence, because he didn't return to look for him.

Moomintroll rushed to Snufkin's side and tried to shake him back to his senses, but it was no good! Snufkin looked right through him with the same dazed, unaware expression on his face. Moomintroll could think of only one thing to do. It was also the thing he wanted most to do in the world: he wrapped Snufkin in a powerful embrace and kissed him more passionately than even he had thought possible, bending him over nearly double!

"Moomintroll?!", exclaimed Snufkin, standing them both upright again in surprise, completely snapped out of his stupor, "Is it really you?! I feel like I've been going mad! There's dozens of you everywhere! And then there's that insane Fillyjonk! How on Earth do we get out of here?!"

"You HAVE to trust me, my darling!", said Moomintroll. "I'm making this all up as I go, but things keep falling into place, so we have to keep rolling with it! I think I can create enough chaos for us to escape unnoticed, but we have to get to the stage first!" He turned to the three tailors, who had been deliberately ignoring everything Moomintroll and Snufkin had just said and did. They just stood there as if awaiting further orders. Moomintroll decided to take a really big chance. He swallowed hard and said, in the most imperious tone he could manage, "Rudolpho has changed the entire fashion line! You need to get ALL of the Moomin servants ready to walk the runway in a single line in two hours! They don't need any clothing, they just need to be ready backstage before Rudolpho calls for them! Move it! Move it!"

The tailors scrambled out of the room as quickly as they could, and Moomintroll followed quickly behind, leading Snufkin by his paw. The pair made it to the backstage area without even a glance from the bodyguards. They waited by the rope that controlled the main curtain and one hour and forty-five minutes later every Moomin in the mansion had assembled backstage with them just like clockwork. Rudolpho appeared at the top of the stage on the other side of the curtain, and all of the gathered Fillyjonks fell silent in anticipation.

"My fellow distinguished Fillyjonks!", Rudolpho announced pompously, "I present to you Rudolpho's Winter fashion line, Vagabond Chic, soon to be available at only the finest boutiques for fifty thousand gold pieces an outfit. Only you, Rudolpho's best and most discriminating customers, deserve this product of Rudolpho's unparalleled genius! And now, the first outfit in the line!"

Moomintroll was only too happy to oblige him, and he pulled the rope in his eager paws as hard as he could. The curtain parted, and the Moomins dutifully strutted out on the runway in a long single file line, sashaying and posing in synch with each other as they went. All the Fillyjonks in the pool area immediately erupted in enraged protest, screaming about how Rudolpho was trying to rip them off by making them pay such an outrageous price for clothing that didn't exist! They quickly began gathering their things and they all tried to leave at once, creating a scene of total chaos! Rudolpho was in the middle of the crowd, trying desperately to placate them, all to no avail!

Moomintroll turned to Snufkin and said, "We have to leave right now!" The two struggled through the crowd of enraged Fillyjonks without anyone trying to stop them, eventually making their way out of the pool area and onto the dunes. They immediately ran away from the area of the mansion as fast as their legs could carry them! They finally collapsed next to each other on the beach a full mile away, completely exhausted. When they finally caught their breath, they began laughing hysterically at everything that they had just been through!

"Moomintroll, my dearest," said Snufkin, "You're getting frighteningly good at this sort of thing! I can't thank you enough for saving me!" Snufkin wrapped Moomintroll in his arms and began kneading the muscles of Moomintroll's back like bread dough with his paws! Snufkin kissed him every bit as passionately as he had the very first time under the light of the supermoon, only this time he held the kiss for a solid five minutes! When Snufkin finally came up for air, both their faces were alight with indescribable joy and love!

"That is a REALLY good way to start! Please feel completely free to do that anytime we're cuddling in my tent!", said Moomintroll dizzily. "I think that I finally understand what frightened you in the first place. I want you to know that you never have to push yourself to do anything you're not ready for just to please me. Also, I'm not going to change my personal style any more than I want you to change yours! Neither of us needs fixing, we only need each other. That being said, now that I know that you've started enjoying the view you're getting, I don't ever want you to feel the slightest bit ashamed, or stop staring to your heart's content: it makes me SO very happy!"

"OK.", said Snufkin, his fears once more overcome by Moomintroll's love for him.

The End

[sohannabarberaesque]

Underwater America with Peter Potamus (episode 25: Tying up some loose ends, and maybe a few surprises)

To quote the old maxim, ��all good things must end,” and Underwater America with Peter Potamus, at least this first series, is no exception. Hence, this being the final production episode for the time being (as in the 1970-71 season imagined for the sake of this arc), it was felt best to give same over to patching up a few loose ends, by and large.

PETER POTAMUS, narrating while sitting in an Adirondack chair with, perhaps, a tall glass of iced tea on the side: I have to admit, folks, that this has been a rather interesting series to produce all along ... and as if having quite an interesting group of divers along for the ride wasn’t good enough, not to mention encountering some close friends along the way, it was simply my way of showing how SCUBA can be something of a tool of friendship.

BREEZLY BRUIN, mixing in his share of final thoughts: Now take it from someone who probably has some underwater experience in his own way: This travelling SCUBA party, believe you me, has been rather interesting, not just in the places we’ve dived at and the discoveries we made ... but also finding out that going SCUBA can be a rather wonderful experience in its own right.

WALLY GATOR: And being a Florida boy myself, don’t you know, you just can’t help but realise how fun diving could get. Especially when you mix in a sense of adventurous discovery ... be it in some Spanish wreck off the Florida coast or even a hidden-away spring down in the Florida backcountry. Believe you me, divng just seems like another world!

Whereupon we cut away to some rather otherworldly underwater wreck scenes such as Squiddly Diddly was filming during the Outer Banks dive episode as involved the City of Atlanta and Hesperides wrecks ... and note just how especially stunning the detail could get, the colours even (and oh, yes, the usual cheesy background music) ...

PETER POTAMUS, narrating over: What’s especially interesting about these scenes is that Squiddly Diddly, my main underwater cameraman (which is not to say where yours truly had his fair share of camera work), captured such while we were in the Outer Banks, and some distance from the wrecks we had a particular interest in. But what you may not know was that Squiddly Diddly was filming these to test out as much a rehabbed underwater camera housing as some newish motion picture film to see if such would do well for underwater photography ... especially in capturing the different levels of colour at different depths.

SQUIDDLY DIDDLY, narrating over himself: It was about the time we were processing the film of the Florida Keys episode when Eastman Kodak approached us with a modest suggestion that maybe some test footage underwater might want to be taken of this particular type of colour movie film ... and who better to rise to the challenge than--SQUIDDLY DIDDLY, to the rescue!!! And what an interesting place to try this new film out than in the legendary “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” the Outer Banks?!

Some more of the test footage over some more of the cheesy background music, then--

PETER POTAMUS, back in narrator mode: Admittedly, filming underwater can be much different than filming on land; even Jacques Cousteau can tell you as much. But believe you me, with the right equipment, and just a few tweaks--not to mention some improvisation--it can be rather interesting to not only film underwater, but also sense how other-worldly it can turn out! (We can see him holding up the camera housing and also the camera used for filming much of the series as he elaborates:) Soon after we were approached about the concept for this series, I browsed around the camera shops looking for a decent second-hand underwater camera housing which, with a little rebuilding, could do the task of filming just as well as newer housings which were twice as costly ... and following some tests with the rebuilt equipment off La Jolla, such worked rather flawlessly, serving us equally well in salt water as in fresh such. As for the camera ... such was originally used by my late father, Perry Potamus, for producing some home movies, you might say, of his travels ... especially such in parts of Polynesia otherwise unknown to civilisation, shown mainly to a close circle of friends and acquaintenances ... and yet, with some rebuilding (which didn’t come easy, I have to admit), such also performed the task heroically.

Meanwhile, some “behind the scenes” footage showing Peter Potamus as much as Squiddly Diddly at the underwater cameras, as taken by each other. You can discern much in the way of getting the cameras to filming speed as much as getting the shot “just right,” especially when some particularly interesting sight underwater comes into the viewfinder and you don’t want to get things all confused....

And talk about such underwater photographic prowess!

As a sort of “ice breaker,” we cue up some of the more amusing underwater hijinks to be had among the divers during filming ... as well as during practice sessions between dives, much of it without mask or fins, and as usual, with campy industrial-film background music. Narrating again, Peter Potamus:

And who says diving has to always be serious and sober-minded? Sometimes, even our troupe of divers has to have some fun underwater, as these outtakes can demonstrate.

The foci shifts to the dive gear:

Any successful dive experience requires the right sort of gear--masks, air tanks, regulators, harnesses ... and especially the fins (holding up an example to make the point): These particular fins used by our divers are based on the Churchill Swim Fins, the first successful diving fins marketed. Note the angle on the outer edge of the fin ... which, as our own experience has demonstrated, translated into a faster, deeper--and more satisfying--dive experience (witness some film showing the fins in action, as one of the divers kicks away towards the bottom) ... isn’t that proof positive?

Some still photos of Peter Potamus “himself” and/or his crew in various dive shops along the way, posing alongside the management and/or salesmen or even displays of diver’s requisites follows, along with this narration:

If there’s some people we need to thank as well, it would have to be those who operate dive gear shops wherever we had our diving experiences. There’s no doubt they were of great help and cooperation in helping us discover interesting dive spots at our destinations, as well as check out and maintain our equipment in the interest of safety--which is always an important part of any dive. That, and getting some professional instruction, which I would most definitely recommend before starting out with the SCUBA experience. Your local YMCA should have some information, or even your local dive shop, which can be had in the Yellow Pages under “Diver’s Equipment and Supplies.”

Some more “behind-the-scenes” footage of the individual divers themselves, Peter Potamus included, offering some diving instruction themselves, notably to some underprivileged schoolchildren.

And I do acknowledge many of our own divers, as well as myself, also offer up our share of time teaching the mechanics of snorkelling and SCUBA ...

The scene shifts to a beach-house colony along the Pacific coast in SoCal, somewhere between La Jolla and Oceanside, where Peter Potamus and his diving company have quarters--as well as a practice pool for refresher diving instruction and equipment trials.

... and also heading back to what you might call a beachhouse colony. And perhaps the highlight of all this is this salt water practice pool, whose water temperature can be adjusted to reflect various diving venues ... as well as being the place where our fellow divers can keep in practice from time to time.

And now, the finale--done in the shallows of the practice pool

In this, the final moments of this particular episode of this particular series, I myself would like to say “thank you” for enjoying our diving party and the diving experiences we had coast to coast. Speaking for myself, Peter Potamus ... (followed by the individual members themselves, giving their names as the camera goes for their facials; viz., Loopy De Loop, Hokey Wolf, Wally Gator, Lippy the Lion, Hardy Har Har, Magilla Gorilla, Breezly Bruin, Squiddly Diddly and Mildew Wolf) ... we just want to say “thanks for diving along ... and we hope you’ll enjoy the dive!”

Whereupon the camera pans over and above the beachhouse colony, out over the Pacific, and then ...

@warnerarchive​ @hanna-barbera-land​ @warnerbrosentertainment​ @hanna-barberians​ @joey-gatorman​ @hanna-barbera-blog​

[ponderhope]

Review of The Kissing Booth (Vince Marcello, 2018)

(honestly this is more of a rant, but here we go)

Where the fuck do I begin with this film.

Jacob Elordi’s character, for some reason, has really bad anger issues, gets into like 4-5 fights throughout the whole film, and yet Joey King still thinks this fucking guy is hot and lets him dick her down three times. You know, cause toxic masculinity is soooo attractive. His character is literally a caricature for toxic masculinity. I can’t stress that enough. 

Joey King has proven herself to not be a very good actress and seems like she’s stuck in some sort of limbo playing boring character after boring character, and it has nothing to do with the material she’s given. She was bad not only in this film but in Slender Man as well, and both of those came out in 2018. 

Like in Slender Man, Joey King’s character is one-dimensional and almost naive in a way, whose attracted to “bad boys” and guys with blatant anger issues who’ll probably turn into abusers later on in life.

The editing is annoying and I feel like they were trying to be creative with the whole thing with the the numbers, texting, and the narration, but it comes off as cliche and boring still when you have little to not content to work with, which this film does.

Want a film that utilizes creative editing? Watch Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

There’s three sex scenes that are not remotely romantic or intimate in the slightest, mainly due to the lighting, music, cinematography, and the fact that the whole idea of fucking near the Hollywood sign and in a SCIENCE CLASSROOM is, oh I don’t know, implausible? Would probably not play out super duper well in real life? Isn’t intimate or erotic at all? I know some people think exhibitionist shit is hot, but when I think of hot, I don’t think of smashing in a SCIENCE CLASSROOM.

Bland cinematography. 

Like Slender Man, this film has no idea what it wants to be. Teen romance? Romance drama? Some kind of coming-of-age thing? At least films like 6 Years know what they want to be. It’s almost like this thing is trying to be something like Heathers and it fails, whereas Heathers has great acting, knew what it wanted to be, had a compelling plot, and of course, featured a strong female lead who decided to take her life into her own hands and refuse to be bossed around and associate herself with a toxic asshole with anger issues. This film had NONE of that. Instead, it features two people in an unhealthy, toxic, and somewhat codependent relationship. A relationship where the guy plays the victim at times and pretty much guilts and manipulates Joey King’s character into staying with him, giving her these puppy dog eyes, “But I love you”. 

(Spoiler alert) At one point in the film, Joey King’s character gets drunk at a party and that Noah (Jacob Elordi) dude basically drags her away, and the next scene is her waking up in his bed wearing his shirt with her shorts off. Does that not raise any red flags? Does that not insinuate that he, you know, raped her? And if she was raped well it certainly wasn’t taken seriously. 

After everything she went through, at the very end Elle (Joey King) tells Noah that she loves him. Out of every human being on this planet, she decides to go with the angry, violent, unstable, unrestrained, toxic masculine, extremely and disturbingly possessive, controlling, jealous, short tempered piece of shit, who potentially raped and also made her feel like shit by guilting her and making her feel bad about having hooked up with him: Her childhood best friends brother. 

At times, this film almost seemed like it was trying to be Spring Breakers with the beach and part scenes, along with some of the lightning at the pool party, this film, once again fails in that, as unlike this film, Spring Breakers has great acting, music, cinematography and a complex narrative with rich character development.

The dialogue is bad. And some of it is highly disturbing. One line is like, “You can’t boss me around anymore.” You wanna know how Noah responds? “We’ll see about that.” That is a red flag. The dialogue feels like it was written by some 15-year old Deviantart fan fiction writer. In fact, the entire film is like a really bad fan fiction.

The height difference between Noah and Elle is...ugh.

I feel like one of the reasons Elle got into a relationship was just cause she wanted a boyfriend. That’s it. She settled for less. She settled for whatever she could get. Instead of getting with someone that genuinely cared about her, she settled for a guy who’ll probably eventually come to treat her worse, far worse, than he already does. 

The film promotes the horrible and misleading idea that a guy can “change” for a girl. That a girl can “save” him and that men that have these issues need to be “saved” and this movie tried to turn profoundly toxic idea into some cute little trope.

This film romanticizes toxic masculinity and all around toxic behavior. This film romanticizes anger issues. This film romanticizes emotional abuse. This film romanticizes possessiveness and controlling behavior. This film portrays women as objects to be obtained; trophies to be won. This film portrays men as hypersexual, aggressive, violent, domineering, and as if they need to act like “alpha males” to attract women.

Awww, are you guys gonna fuck in the car too?

Nooo don’t go to Harvard your so sexy haha

This film is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. This film made me legitimately upset and I genuinely felt like I wasted my time watching it. I legitimately felt like I wanted to stop the film. Just stop it and walk away. That’s how I loathed this. I came in with the expectation that this film was going to be trash, and I was absolutely correct. 

Here’s what you should watch instead for films that portray teen/young adult romance, drama, and intimate interpersonal relationships in a rich, complex, and creative manner.

6 Years

Heathers

Mr. Nobody

It Follows

Listen to Your Heart

Donnie Darko

American Beauty

Prozac Nation

All in all, the bottom line is this: Don’t waste your time on this film. Don’t watch it. Just watch something else. That’s it. I said what I said.

[callmcgills]

werner ziegler 😭

! major BCS spoilers from this point on !

Werner (send me a character and I’ll list…)

thank you for giving me an excuse to dump my emotions! THAT SAID:

*sits on the sidewalk* *screams into my hands*

favorite thing about them

a huge part of me liking him is his duality between professionalism and goofiness. (“for my father, it was his achievement. a creation that will endure,” and “very good! now you use your thinking head, not your drinking head!” are lines from the same episode) i also liked how he was an architectural genius, but was downright incapable of thinking ahead when his smarts were applied to any other situation. but most importantly, i like him because he had so much heart that he was KILLED OVER IT!!! the crimes he was killed over were being friendly/proud of his work, escaping the warehouse because he’s tired and wants to be with someone he loved, and trusting someone to be honest!!!!!!! Rainer Bock also gave a great portrayal which definitely helped too

also, relevant: i went from liking Werner to being absolutely invested after he had a panic attack in Wiedersehen, and then it hard cut to him walking back into the room with a smile.

least favorite thing about them

to this day i still have to watch the pool-side scene in Winner while peaking through my fingers. partly because Werner WHY did you have to BLAB AGAIN! but mostly because, well… i’m glad Werner didn’t have to die in those clothes. i also can’t let it go unstated that Werner most likely did know he was working on something w/ criminal ties. but w/ the way Werner acted, he CLEARLY must have thought that Gus and Mike were just storing illegal fireworks or something

favorite line

“Ah, not true. He also left you, Michael. You are his legacy.” Werner doesn’t think Mike needs a grand accomplishment to be worthy of being called a legacy. he could have just said “oh, that’s a shame” about Mike’s previous line, but instead he tells Mike that he’s good enough just for existing. and that’s incredibly meaningful and sweet. (but Mike laughs, because he’s a murderer. his son’s death is on his hands. some legacy he is! and if Werner knew, he wouldn’t be saying that. then, har har har, Werner is killed by him.)

close runner up: “Now say Mittagsschläfchen,” and literally every other line in that scene. for example: “How do you say bullshit?” “Hmm, bullshit.” his dialogue with Mike was gold.

brOTP

Werner and the construction crew. They Are His Sons. the reason Werner said ‘once, maybe’ about if he wanted to have kids was because living w/ someone like Kai for 9 months was enough

if that’s too obvious an answer… Gale and Werner. “wow. i mean, it’s incredible. […] an architectural feat. herculean.” RETCON WERNER’S DEATH SO THEY CAN DRINK COFFEE TOGETHER!!!

OTP

throwback to when i said ‘wehrmantraut endgame’ to myself during Coushatta. those were simpler times.

nOTP

Werner/Kai. a very hard nOTP at that. i haven’t seen anyone ship it, but the Mere Concept is enough to squick me out. and if i’m being frank, Werner/any of the six people in his team. i can’t see Werner’s relationship w/ them as anything other than familial.

random headcanon

i’ve put a lot of thought into this, because i’m working on (more like… planning but avoiding actually writing) a construction crew-centric fic. and since i only have 1 piece of backstory info and a piece of lint to go off of for Werner, i realized i had to fill in some of the blanks! here’s a piece of what i came up with!

i think his father’s work would’ve left a negative impact on Werner. if Werner’s in his 50s, then when he was a kid his father was working on what would be The Most Important Project Of His Life, and he wasn’t able to interact w/ his family often. this would put Werner in an uncomfortable position – being upset about his father being so busy would mean he was being “ungrateful.” his father was sacrificing so much and working so hard, after all!! his attire and work methods might reflect that he’s almost replicating his father in a way. he’s almost deliberately old fashioned, even for someone his age. contrast w/ the French engineer, or even Mike, who is more adaptable to the point he notices dead pixels and what was used to create them

it can’t be good for anyone to have a parent who is constantly busy w/ their “achievement” during some of the most important years of your development. and imagine at least one of your parents being more of a legend than a family member! you’d internalize unrealistic expectations of yourself and flat out wrong ideas of what’s good enough, and you’d look at every moment in your life using that parent’s experiences as a frame of reference. you’re constantly comparing your experiences. not in a “am i as good as them?” kind of way, but in a “in terms of work, i don’t have it NEARLY as hard as they did, so i must be grateful for [X]” way. you also can’t complain about anything that’s given to you, because at least you didn’t have to aid in revolutionizing architecture and construct a new type of concrete arch

while Werner clearly said “you are his legacy” as a way to make Mike look at things more optimistically (and because he really meant it) you have to wonder what him choosing that word says about how he thinks of himself. if you are your parent’s legacy – working in their occupation, even – does that mean just the fact that you exist is good enough, or does that mean you can’t let your existence as a legacy go to waste? of course, when he said it to Mike he meant the former, but that’s not necessarily how the child of someone like his father applies that message to himself.

unpopular opinion

i’ve noticed a lot of people saying that Werner was “stupid for not realizing the severity of his situation” and thinking he’d be able to go back to work after escaping. in my opinion, Mike screwed up by not clearly defining the rules to him. his death was unfair, but even more so because he was punished for breaking the rules to a game he didn’t know he was playing. Gus is playing 4D Chess, and Werner was playing Jenga at a completely different table.

as far as Werner knew, all that mattered was that the work got done and that it got done in secrecy. after all, i don’t imagine any of his other employers would have killed him for what was just a day off. it doesn’t matter how much Werner knew about his job, your instinct isn’t to believe you are going to be murdered for leaving your workplace. not when every single job you’ve had hasn’t worked that way. and that’s where the communication problems spring from, almost every other job Mike has had did work that way, so to Mike the implications were clear and he didn’t need to clarify what “think about who you’re working for” meant.

Werner lacked the context: that Gus was playing a long con that ran deeper than just what they’re building. while Werner believed what they were building was the most important part – and thus no harm no foul in leaving for a few days because the work was going to get done – it was really the revenge and end game that mattered, which meant everyone was replaceable and expendable. especially when they blab to a Salamanca. so it’s about more than whether he knew the people he worked for were dangerous, it’s about the fact he was wrong about what the priorities were.

song i associate with them

Miles, by Mother Mother. a post-Wiedersehen song

“Miles / and miles / and miles / Before we reach the sand / Cacti / and cacti /  for miles / miles of dry land, dry land / We gonna make it / Oooh we gonna make it / We gonna take it / Oooh we gonna take it / Easy / Once we feel the sea breezeMy my my my my my my lover / My maker / My breaker / Take me by the hand / We could go walking for miles / Once we reach the sand / the sand”

favorite picture of them 

A Very Tender Photo Taken One Episode Before Disaster

bonus: an excerpt from an IM w/ kiraalexander, after they filled me in on what Werner did during the finale

[the-house-of-the-nine]

The Void Forge: The Beginning Part 2

(Warning to those who read, could contain some uncomfortable triggers, capture, torture, dark interactions.  I guess NSFW, but lets face it. . . Laz isnt a nice fella.  Nothing serious, just not a happy story for this random NPC and The Inquisitor.)

It was several hours prior. . . .

In a stone tomb, secluded from the sunlight radiating from the above; several hundred feet beneath the surface of the cold tundra in Northrend, there came a blood curdling scream that would be heard only by the decomposing corpses of so many that came before.  My how such simple things like sunlight, and fresh air are taken for granted when they are stripped away so delicately like plucking a leaf from an innocent flower.

Displayed on an operating table in the center of this cavernous room were various tools and accessories which seemed to scream an almost horrific sight without

even uttering a single word or being handled.  Each one was pristine.  Clean to the absolute maximum that something could be cleaned, should anyone ever be close enough to examine the items being used on them before having such heinous acts committed.  Every piece sterilized, and positioned in a way that would make anyone uncomfortable just by seeing them.  One inch apart, pointing north, never touching; never being too far from another.  Polished and sharpened to a razors edge.  Manual cork screws to bore a hole, forceps and pincers, pry bars and breakers.  Each had a purpose; and each seemed far more menacing than the last.  This was the plan, intimidation.

Lazarius had started the evening dressed in full from head to toe in a fine silk robe with violet and gold laces throughout.  A tapestry of snake like scales woven in the robe from top to bottom.  More importantly was the fact that this seemed like an occasion; this was a holiday for him.  There was nothing about

the Inquisitors body language that said anything other than ‘I am here to enjoy this, you will not.’.

In that dark tunneled room, torches a blaze with the sounds of near deafening silence collapsing down upon them; the dark lord of the Bastille would step toward his latest victim and proceed to introduce him to the situation.  The person being kept here appeared to be Sin’dorei.  He was male, and due to the fact that the chair he had been set upon was bottomless, part of him could be seen dangling.  A tactic often used in many military extractions for information.  Unfortunately for this lad, as with the bottom of his chair; so too were his trousers.  In fact, stripped of all clothing, the young male shivered while he had been tied with his hands behind the seat, uncomfortably balanced over the framework and forced to have his genitals so harshly exposed to the cold of this stone bound prison.

“I must regretfully inform you that this was by no means an easy situation for either of us to unfortunately be in.  You chained to a chair, I being forced to be the greater of two evils . . . not ideal in the slightest.”  Lazarius inched closer.

The sharp blade on his finger slowly scratching across the metallic tray holding the delightful collection of tools and utensils.  “Do you understand why you were chosen and currently sit in this predicament?”

“Light be my strength, my shelter. . .” The young elf, not nearly even looking to be but a slight bit over the century mark, would continue to mumble and mutter the phrasing over again out loud.

Lazarius offered a bit of resistance as the adolescent began his mantra.  He would keep silent to hear the words repeat over again, a cycle that would be used to try and cleanse the mind of the bound victim.  Though this would not deter him in the slightest.

“Light be my strength, my shelter, my shield. . .”

“Do you understand why I have had you brought here. . .to this place, under these circumstances? I want to know where the buyer is. . . ” The Inquisitor repeated.

Again, without responding to the question, the trance induced boy would continue his chant. “Light be my strength, my shelter and my shield. . . let all who attempt to take it away know thine power is my own. . . “

He would not shake easily, and Lazarius knew that.  He also knew that there were several things that could rile him up.  In the past, someone like this would be met with a terrible fate rather quickly.  His temper growing easily when his victims would ignore his requests.

“Do you know wh-”

“Light be my strength!  My shelter! My shield!  All who prevent me will meet your judgement!”  Yelled the man who interrupted Lazarius as he was asking his question once more.

There was no anger in the next move from the dark lord.  In fact, every action was carefully planned.  This was another trait that was mostly missed during his younger days as a budding Inquisitor.  Most cases his anger would get the better of him before he would be able to think through his actions.  More likely than not, this anger would force him to make rather impromptu decisions such

as beheading the lad, or killing him in some other horrid manner without actually receiving the information he wanted.  But no, not anymore.  Lazarius was far more advanced than a decade ago.  No longer fueled by rage over his inexperience, but fed entirely by his thirst for power, and confidence growing within his abilities.  The clawed ring stopped its tapping, and let the cold steel of the blade rest atop a pair of metal spring clamps.  One tap, he knew.

“Light be my strength! My shelter! My shield!”

The Inquisitor calmly removed the clamp and held it up to his vision.  Squeezing on the handle would cause the flat jaws to extend, as if they were the mouth of a toothless crocodile widening to devour its prey.  The pressure from his palm closing around the handle would keep them open as long as he’d wished.  But it was only after releasing, did they close once more.  Mind you not a lot of pressure, but enough to hold. .. perhaps two pieces of wood together while a craftsman would glue them for an extended amount of time.  Uncomfortable if placed somewhere they were not intended.

The young man would know nothing about the situation, he was screaming his chant with tightly closed eyes.  In fact Lazarius had hoped there would be nothing said.  And as silent as he had entered the room, the dark Inquisitor would slip toward the bound man and hover behind his chair. “One last time. . . you are here because you know who he sold them to. . . tell me where and I will spare you this reality only once. . .”  Despite his effort to offer salvation to the man one final time.  He knew that the answer was going to be the same.  A resounding repeat of the captives previous saying would shout louder into the room.  Echoing off the walls and piercing the ear drums of the Inquisitor, he’d speak nothing of the transaction.  That was certain.

Lazarius bent down, in one hand was the clamp and in the other; nothing, yet less empty very soon.  He grabbed tightly to the mans scrotum.  This was enough to silence the mantra being shouted, to shift attention and cause a pointless struggle that only rocked the chair slightly.  “Let me go! No! Stop! Please!” Lazarius did nothing of the sort, in fact, the mans genitals would be pulled down enough so that the flesh coming from the base of his body where they descended was stretched rather thin.  The spring clamp in his other hand was then closed around the skin, cutting off the circulation from his testicles to the rest of his body.  A painful chilling pinch squeezed around the small fibers and inner parts of the mans insides, no doubt a pressure would be forced into his lower abdomen.  Shrill pain manifesting in his kidney and sides while the pressure; that mind you was not intense at all, began to grow with each passing second.

“Let us think about what exactly you wish to say next. . .”  Lazarius motioned to the swinging pendulum on the wall.  The arm rocking back and forth to help pass the time as the small second hand twirled around the face.  “Youve twenty six more minutes to do so, perhaps it will yield a better result.  Clarity over time, to help us find the answers we seek.”

And that is where he left him. 

The lord of the Bastille often did not choose to indulge in his twin sisters habits.  But Vari had been far more active these days, which was good for him; bad for so many other who dared defy them.  And her tendencies rubbed off.  Lazarius had returned to the table where he kept his tools. 

Beside the equipment was a single candle and three hand rolled tobacco cigarettes that were given to him by his twin.  All the while, the young elf screamed in a high pitched echo, trying to somehow get through to the sadistic man.  But Lazarius would only sit, arms dangling over the edge of the chair while watching the mans scrotum change to a darker shade due to the blood flow causing the oxygen to plummet in that area.  He inhaled from the cigarette, all the while watching the scene unfold despite the kicking and screaming from the victim he held.  It appeared as though none of this even phased him, the lack of empathy toward him, heartless, cold. . . and calculated.

Time has caught up with Lazarius and his prisoner. (We rejoin from Part 1)

Blood pooled on the floor around the chair that was holding the young elf captive all this time.  Parts of him were scattered along the cold stone where Lazarius had been given no choice but to remove them.  The information kept in the mind of this elf was far too precious to keep hidden, yet he was persistent.  His resolve was fierce.  Yet by this time things had gone from bad, to worse and then turned far more bleak.  

From the looks of the tool set on the table behind them, plenty had been sullied by the mans blood.  Most were out of place, many were used and still clung to small bits of flesh with little metallic hands.

“The location of the Mogu artifacts. . . I want to know to whom they were sold.”  Lazarius hissed at the man who had been so far, holding strong to his resolve.  But at this point.  He was falling into that sleep like state of near death.  “And where they are now!”

“It. . .d-doesn’t matter. . . you-you’re. . . to late.”  said the elf in a hushed tone.

Lazarius plunged his fingers down into the thigh muscle of the man, digging around with sharp fingered nails and pushing through the sinew to aim for his tendons and ligaments. “Don’t try to divert me with your warnings. . . “

“T-they are already g-gone. . .”  spat the captive as he coughed up a large amount of his own blood. “Sent far from anyone l-like you. . .”

The dark lord would pull his fingers from the open wound and slowly wipe them across the brow of the beaten man. “I will determine if my time is being wasted not you. . . you only need worry about your own fate, and your. . .sisters fate,  tell me the location and I will make this quick and she will not suffer like you have.” Lazarius slowly made his way around the man in a circular fashion, pausing right before him and leaning in almost face to face.  His words were soft, and yet somehow even more menacing now.  “The last thing you want, is for me turn around, leave and lock that door behind me, because I will ensure you, that I will keep you alive--for as long as it takes to find her.  The festering wounds and septic shock that will set in will be nothing compared to what will come.. . sickness, surgical amputation, starvation. . . let us not forget the rodents gnawing at your flesh while you sleep, unconscious to your surroundings, unable to fend them off. . .and when you finally do meet your end, it will be her starring back at you one final time to remind your dying brain that she will endure something far worse. . .she will have turned against you and her revelation will be getting what I wish to know from you through any means necessary. . .”

There was silence now.  Perhaps the man had finally given up and collapsed from the pain.  Perhaps he’d passed.  It was only a moment later that he coughed again, drooling a stream of saliva mixed with his own blood along his chin.

“Sold. . . to a man Dargon Blackiron. . . Dwarf out of Dun’ Mor. . .”  His breathing began to quicken, while he coughed again. “Wrathion sold them. . . to be sealed in G-grim. . B-batol. . away from mortals, away from people like you. . .”

Lazarius listened while the man spilled the information.  Whether it was true or not, it was a lead.  And at this point, several hours into his nightmare, would lying be worth anything?  Perhaps.  He knew that it could be a wild chase, but something about the mans answer held truth behind it.  The threat to his sister may have done it.  Lazarius had known where she was.  Given this man was one of Wrathions Black Guards, it wasn’t easy to score the information.  But he did manage.  This bargaining chip may have been the key, and to be honest; his last chance at intimidating the man.

“Do not. . . let her suffer. . . please all I wish. . . is for her to. . .” 

The Inquisitor didn’t even let the man finish his sentence.  His head fell back as his throat had been cut clean open with the eviscerating claw protruding from his index finger.  Blood spewed from the bubbling cavity along his already ripped apart chest.  It ran down his abdomen, into his lap where it had seemed that his scrotum had been torn all the same.  Blood was heavily staining the ground around them.  Lazarius stood within it, silent, simply closing his eyes as the candle flickered around him.  Pure silence, not a single word or sound save for the final last gurgling noises from the nameless prisoner.   He couldn’t move yet.  But in time Abbigael would come.  His dear, sweet hand maiden who for better or worse, served her master dutifully.  The innocent girl, a child of a previous member of the Nine; would be forced to clear away her masters mess.  But for now.  The dark lord would collect himself in the darkness closing in around him.

To be continued. . .

[theotherpages]

2021 NPM Number 23 - Fred Marchant - Here Is What the Mind Does

You can listen to the podcast version of today’s article on Spotify, ITunes, Anchor, Breaker, or Google Podcasts. Click Here to access links. (https://anchor.fm/steve-spanoudis) Look for the podcast titled National Poetry Month at the Other Pages.

Welcome to National Poetry Month at The Other Pages. My name is Steve Spanoudis and I curate the series each year, with help and contributions from Bob Blair, Kashiana Singh, and (Nelson) Howard Miller. I’m coming to you from Coral Springs, Florida, on the eastern edge of the Everglades.

Bad things happen. They happen everywhere. Sometimes you try to disconnect from the world, but when you reconnect, they are there again, facing us, challenging us to figure out how we are going to respond. We’ve all had that experience, at one point, or at many points. You can become paranoid, or you can grow numb. Perhaps that is what Fred Marchant (https://fredmarchant.com/) is giving us a picture of, that numbness, in his poem Here Is What the Mind Does (https://poets.org/poem/here-what-mind-does). I had the good fortune to be able to watch and listen (thanks to Zoom) to Fred Marchant as he read several pieces as part of Amherst College’s annual Emily Dickinson reading series. He is the author of four poetry collections, and is a professor emeritus at Suffolk University. The poem begins with:

when my laptop opens to a small red car

a tight street in Jenin gray-yellow dust

an electric window half-open and five

lean-to cards where on each a number

denotes a round spent or the place where

it began to travel at the speed of its idea

You’ve all seen this scene, on the news, in police procedural dramas on television, in movies. This one happens to be in Jenin, a West Bank city. Note that the person narrating this is not talking about the how or the why or the who - questions that perhaps no one can answer. It is absorbed in the small details - the yellow dust, the half-open car window, the ubiquitous numbered tent-cards. Why? Because, Marchant is telling us, that “is what the mind does” when faced with violence on such a persistent basis.

He continues,

while by an open car door the blood pools

pools and follows a tilt in the road—not

far—more a lingering as if blood could

choose not to leave

Of course everyone always focuses on the blood - the trend in movies is to spatter it plentifully, but Marchant’s focus is on the behavior of the liquid substance, not the amount. He talks about its liquid nature, not its color. The comment about blood is not for dramatic effect, but to contemplate the ephemeral nature of life, and of what it leaves behind - how the blood seems to linger and make a choice not to depart - the implied reference, clear from his wording, is wondering about the humans who died - whom in English we refer to as the departed, and the question from many religious beliefs as to whether the soul of what we are stays for a time, or also departs.

He continues, pondering whether the departed stay and watch, curious like the bystanders, or the investigators who must document these details, tediously, as he says “reluctant and deliberate” because, as he concludes, it is

what the mind does at moments

like this—really little more than nothing

There is more about Fred Marchant on his website (https://fredmarchant.com/), and at the Poetry Foundation. The full text of this poem is available at poets.org (https://poets.org/poem/here-what-mind-does).

Thank you for Listening. If you’re enjoying these commentaries, and the poem selections, please share them - either the text versions or the podcasts - on social media.

Once again this is Steve Spanoudis at theotherpages.org. You can find more there, at The Other Pages on Facebook or Tumblr.

[floridaindependent-blog]

10 of the Best Places to Go for Vacation Parties and Festivals

New Post has been published on https://floridaindependent.com/places-for-vacation-parties-and-festivals/

10 of the Best Places to Go for Vacation Parties and Festivals

What do you picture when you dream of your ideal vacation?

A quiet cabin in the woods

A relaxing spa retreat

Hundreds of people drinking, dancing, and partying ’til sunrise

If you chose the last option, this article is for you. There’s no rule that says you have to take it easy on vacation, right?

Anywhere you go in the world, wild vacation parties and exotic festivals await you. From Uruguay’s 40-day Carnival festival to Thailand’s famous full moon parties, there’s a vacation spot with your name on it.

In this post, we’ll reveal the 10 best party vacations on Earth. So read on, get inspired…and let the good times roll!

1. Thailand’s Beaches

Bangkok is the most visited city in the world, and it’s a party destination all on its own. But if you really want to cut loose and go wild, head south to Thailand’s beautiful islands.

On the eastern side (Gulf coast), you’ll find Koh Phangan, home to a monthly revelry known as a full moon party. Tens of thousands of people flock here every month to dance and drink the night away.

You could also head to the western side (Andaman Sea) and cut loose on the stunning island of Ko Phi Phi. With $5 rum buckets and the opportunity to fight your friends in a Muay Thai boxing bar, it’s a night you’ll remember (or forget) forever.

2. Ibiza, Spain

How does an island with 80 beaches—all of them for partying—sound to you?

If it sounds like paradise, book a ticket to Ibiza. Considered by some to be the beach party capital of the world, Ibiza is 365 days of clubbing, pool parties, and dancing on the beach.

Bonus for young partygoers: Ibiza is part of an autonomous region of Spain that does not have specific laws in place for selling alcohol to minors.  

3. Siem Reap, Cambodia

Bouncing back to Southeast Asia, add the tiny backpacker town of Siem Reap to your vacation parties list. Similar to Ibiza, there is no official legal drinking age in Cambodia.

People flock here from all over the world to see the famed Temples of Angkor, but once the sun goes down, the town shifts into high gear. Pub Street fills with pumping music, street performers, and $1 beers and cocktails.

Siem Reap is undoubtedly one of the cheapest places in the world to party hard. And if you get your fill of Siem Reap, don’t worry—the capital of Phnom Penh is another great party spot too.

4. Bali, Indonesia

No list of party vacation spots would be complete without another famous backpacker hub—Bali.

Book a room on Kuta Beach and get ready to party ’til you drop. Surf and sunbathe during the day and then enjoy all-night dance parties, fire shows, and music festivals.

In the morning (or mid-afternoon), wake up, eat some delicious Balinese food, and repeat. 

5. Montevideo, Uruguay

Uruguay is home to the longest Carnival celebration in the world, clocking in at an impressive 40 days during February and March. If you want to push your liver to the absolute limit, this could be a golden opportunity.

Even if you can’t visit during Carnival, Uruguay is still a permissive and progressive vacation spot. It was the first country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana.

And that came 40 years after Uruguay decriminalized all other drugs—including the hard stuff.

6. Cancun, Mexico

Popular with spring breakers, backpackers, and everyone in between, you can’t miss Cancun if you like to party.

Miles of white beaches provide the perfect backdrop for all-night revelries. Book a room anywhere along the oceanfront “Zona Hotelera” and you’ll never be more than a few steps from a good time.

The club scene is especially wild in Cancun, with confetti, balloon, and foam parties being the norm.

7. Bondi Beach, Australia

If you want to party somewhere wild (and warm) over the Christmas holidays, head to the Land Down Under.

Sydney’s Bondi Beach becomes a weeklong, nonstop party between Christmas and New Year’s. (Remember—that’s the middle of summer there!)

Music festivals, fireworks, and tourists in bikinis and Santa hats are just a few of the awesome things that await you at Bondi Beach.

8. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Speaking of the southern hemisphere, can it get any better than Rio?

Synonymous with beautiful beaches and barely-there swimwear, Rio de Janeiro is Brazil’s city that never sleeps. Copacabana Beach is especially fun on New Year’s Eve—second only to Carnival in terms of partying.

Walk two steps and you’re sure to be surrounded by beautiful people, countless bars, and free-flow booze. Don’t miss the delicious caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail.

9. Las Vegas, Nevada

Don’t have the budget to travel around the world partying? That’s okay—America has one of the world’s best party vacation spots too.

42 million people visit Las Vegas every year, and it’s not hard to understand why. “The Strip” is a 4-mile stretch of endless pleasures, from luxury hotels and casinos to some of the wildest nightclubs and entertainment you’ll find anywhere.

Just remember: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

10. Miami, Florida

If your party vacation spot must include a beach, Miami is your destination.

South Beach is lined with fantastic bars and clubs and has some of the best nightlife in the US. Celebrity sightings and fascinating examples of plastic surgery are the norms here, as are people rollerblading in thongs.

But don’t worry. After a few mojitos in one of the best clubs in South Beach, you just might lace up a pair of rollerblades yourself.

Ready to Plan Some Vacation Parties of Your Own?

If taking it easy and waking up early on vacation isn’t your thing, don’t worry.

There are destinations all over the world where the party doesn’t truly start until the sun goes down. From the beaches of Southeast Asia to the islands of the Mediterranean, there are countless vacation parties and festivals to choose from.

And if you need to stay closer to home, there’s nothing wrong with Miami or Vegas either.

So what are you waiting for? Book a ticket and head to one of these party vacation spots—new friends are waiting for you!

Did you enjoy this article? Feeling inspired? Check out our other recent travel posts for more great advice.

[losername-here-blog]

Selena Gomez's Lupus Information Shines Light On Illness Amongst Hispanics

Apple has jumped into the social media pool with each feet by introducing Ping to iTunes 10. Since this is brand-new, we'll present you learn how to set it up and begin pinging your pals. She tweeted, God some individuals are horrible: you attempt being photographed when you don't know it is happening, once you're on vacation together with your youngsters.” Later she vowed to leave the Twittersphere for good, saying, It's not price it.” However the actor has been far from silent on the subject, occurring As we speak” to advise people who find themselves making an attempt to dwell up to the media thought of physique image. Selena just lately collaborated with accessories model Coach for a line of handbags, and the Selena Grace bag she took along with her to the Met Gala contained just a little hidden secret on the bottom… the message ‘love your self first'. Selena Gomez steps out to promote her new song click for info Dangerous Liar” on Thursday afternoon (June 8) in Hollywood, Calif. Gomez has appeared in main motion pictures in the past, including Harmony Korine's 2013 specialty hit Spring Breakers in addition to producing the popular Netflix collection 13 Causes Why. The 24-yr-outdated regarded fairly in a black gown together with her hair up in a ponytail as she arrived at the assembly. Dark brown appears better on most girls, unless your natural hair coloration is already black. She had several Hannah Montana movies and a hit television present-even in syndication-making the massive bucks. Earlier this year, Gomez sampled Speaking Heads on her single ‘Dangerous Liar' The track utilises Tina Weymouth's bassline from the 1977 new wave basic ‘Psycho Killer'. And whereas the clip of Bella enjoying in a bath with rubber geese, consuming pizza on her couch and playing Jenga is cute, it was Hailey's tweet that got Selena fans speaking. A business unhealthy debt will be offset in opposition to different abnormal income equivalent to W-2 income, curiosity and dividend earnings. The Australian authorities's Higher Well being Channel says it entails actions like bathing often and using deodorant to stop physique odor and brushing your enamel steadily to keep your mouth healthy and keep away from unhealthy breath. She has appeared in many TV exhibits akin to Barney and Pals when she was young and in addition made cameo appearances in films as nicely including Spy Children THREE-D: Recreation Over. In a Coach embellished motorbike jacket, sheer floral gown, heeled sandals, choker and leather purse en path to the Coach Fall 2017 present at NYFW. Gomez has since stepped away from the Disney world and starred in a number of films, together with Spring Breakers and Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. So far as her non-public main points cross the entire title of Selena Gomez is Selena Marie Gomez and she or he was born on the twenty second of July in 1992. We do have the great and dangerous results of technologies; It's price noitng that expertise has a endurance in our lives and it is leaving a discernable impact on our lives; In the same breath and tone, technologies are making us, its users to be its slaves; we're also dehumanized and dehumanizing one another via using and using know-how and its embedded strategies. SELENA: Tę ze sklepu, w którym Rosie dostaje swoją pierwszą pracę, a inne dziewczyny wyśmiewają się z niej. However Selena informed that she really admires The Notebook star and respects her rise to stardom. Properly, it now appears like The Weeknd has found a new muse for his musical delights - none other than former Disney baby actress and pop star, Selena Gomez. The commonest reason cited for pubic hair is that it helps spread pheromones. After answering just a few questions and choosing a vacation spot folder, the Set up Wizard will uncompress and set up the Gomez PEER software. Although Selena and Justin each appear to have moved on, on a talk show while promoting her album Revival, she does not deny when asked if Justin and he or she could get back collectively anytime soon. He was requested to construct songs for the latest growth world of Wintertusk, a world that carried on with the story of Grizzleheim and added a host of different fixes and updates. Selena later gave fans a sneak peek at the T-shirts which might go on sale in the course of the event, which features a print of the star looking each inch a magnificence icon as she sips on a milkshake. One of the issues we did was redesign the underwater zone used in the Selena Quest for lower-stage characters. A business bad debt can result in creating a web operating loss on your individual return when you do not have enough revenue to offset the business loss. Gomez shared an emotional Instagram put up Friday, thanking her colleagues for making her dream a actuality. Bella might need unfollowed Selena soon after she was spotted smooching The Weeknd earlier this yr, however it seems the time has come to finally minimize off all ties along with her ex-boyfriend for good. Od podpisania kontraktu z Hollywood Data w 2008 roku, Selena wciąż pracowała nad swoim debiutanckim albumem, a następnie ogłosiła, że założyła zespół nazwie Selena Gomez & The Scene”, który pierwotnie składał się z Seleny na wokalu, Ethana Robertsa przy gitarze, Joey'a Clementa na basie, Grega Garmana grającego na perkusji i Dane'a Forresta na klawiszach.

[nightmare-afton-cosplay]

Make a Splash in the $25M Mansion Where Infamous ‘Dynasty’ Catfight Took Place

realtor.com

There are epic TV scenes, and then there are epic TV scenes.

In the latter category, we take you back to the memorable lily pond catfight on ’80s soap “Dynasty.” It’s a classic piece of over-the-top drama—some might call it cheese—which has stood the test of time.

For those who weren’t sentient in the 1980s or were busy watching sitcoms, the conniving Alexis (Joan Collins) finally goes too far, prompting the long-suffering Krystal (Linda Evans) to call her a “miserable b$%@,” while lunging at her and toppling them both into the water, where hair pulling, punching, splashing, kicking, and scratching ensue. Relive it here:

Now you can re-enact the scandalous scene on a daily basis in the very same lily pond. It, along with its accompanying great estate known as Arden Villa, is now available for a mere $25 million. And there’s no need to fight over it.

While “Dynasty” was set in Denver, much of it was filmed in Pasadena, CA, with many of the exteriors shot at the famous (or “infamous,” as the listing calls it) Arden Villa, where many other TV shows and movies over the decades were filmed.

Lily pond

realtor.com

The infamous catfight

Screenshot: Youtube

Front exterior

realtor.com

The lily pond isn’t the estate’s only attraction. There are the massive gates and tree-lined driveway, where Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) was seen being chauffeured more than once. There’s also the13,000-square-foot main residence, which has five bedrooms, including a lavish master suite.

Gates

realtor.com

There are game rooms galore, seven indoor fireplaces, a grand drawing room, a wine cellar, and office spaces—all perfect for the philanthropical organization the owner of this estate will surely have. The extensive grounds include manicured gardens, a tennis court, a swimming pool, and many dining/lounging areas.

Veranda

realtor.com

One of seven fireplaces

realtor.com

Grand foyer

realtor.com

In addition, there’s a 2,430-square-foot guesthouse with its own swimming pool, private entrance, and even address. In total, there are 10 bedrooms, 8 baths, and 3 half-baths on the 3-acre grounds.

Guesthouse with pool

realtor.com

The mansion was originally built in 1913, designed by the prestigious firm of Marston & Van Pelt for railroad heir and mining tycoon William Kennon Jewett and his second wife, who presided over Pasadena society for many years.

In 1997 it was sold for a mere $3.5 million. Public records show that it last changed hands in 2013, when “Spring Breakers” producer David Zander sold it to Guang “Geoffrey” Ren for $20 million. You won’t have to pull anyone’s hair, but you will need to pull out a sizable wallet to make this iconic residence your very own.

The post Make a Splash in the $25M Mansion Where Infamous ‘Dynasty’ Catfight Took Place appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from http://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/dynasty-catfight-pasadena-mansion/

[costaricaexperts]

Best Beachfront Hotels in Costa Rica 

Costa Rica is known for many things: imposing volcanos, mischievous monkeys, dreamlike cloud forest, world-class coffee…the list goes on and on. Most visitors make a point to check out the rainforest, but in almost every case they also head to the beach at some point during their trip. And with good reason; Costa Rica is home to one of the most diverse collections of beaches anywhere in Central and South America. From rugged volcanic beaches to tranquil bays, each Costa Rica beach is different from the next. You could visit the country 8 different times and have 8 different beach experiences, which just means that the choices of beaches and beach hotels can be overwhelming.  

Arenas del Mar Beach & Nature Resort | Manuel Antonio

Arenas del Mar Beach & Nature Resort is one of Costa Rica’s original beachfront hotels. It was originally built in and still stands today as one of the best. Building on the beach is illegal in Costa Rica, where people take pride in the conservation of their natural paradise. Few hotels manage to meet the strict standards set by the government for building near coastlines. To combat their offset, Arenas del Mar has committed to integrating with nature and making sustainability a beacon of their hospitality service. With their on-site guided tours, guests are assigned a local naturalist guide for a more customized experience tinged with Arenas del Mar’s signature service. 

The accommodations are an example of understated beachfront luxury, with simple room features and natural colors. Arenas del Mar’s most impressive design is its integration into the surrounding rainforest, which gives guests a nature immersive vacation that includes the beach. 

Ah, the beach. Arenas del Mar has two of them. Mhmm.

Tulemar Resort | Manuel Antonio

Costa Rica family vacation classic Tulemar Resort, with its octagonal premium villas and beachfront location, is consistently ranked among the best hotels in the world. It’s easy to see why. 

When it comes to large groups and families with young children, travelers are often looking for ease and convenience. In the case of Costa Rica, many of these family vacationers head to Manuel Antonio on the Central Pacific coast – a mix of beach and rainforest all in one location. It’s a no-brainer for families. The tricky part is finding a hotel that meets your specific bedding and space requirements. Each group and family is different, and sometimes standard hotel rooms aren’t the best fit. At Tulemar, the 2-and 3-bedroom Premium Villas give everyone space to spread out and enjoy the views. Each Premium Villa comes equipped with a full kitchen,  living area, laundry, outdoor dining space, and more.  

Head down to Tulemar’s beach for the day, or explore the nature and wildlife of Manuel Antonio on a guided tour.  

Hotel Capitan Suizo | Tamarindo Beach

Tamarindo Beach

Don’t miss out on Tamarindo just because you’ve heard it can get a little rowdy. Sure, there may be gaggles of youthful backpackers and Spring Breakers here and there during the busy season, but is one of don’t have to base yourself right in the center of the action. After all, Tamarindo is one of the best beaches in Costa Rica. It would be a shame to miss on account of the tourist scene. 

Instead of diving into the party scene, base yourself at beachfront Hotel Capitan Suizo, a tried and true boutique hotel toward the quiet end of Tamarindo Beach. You’ll still be able to get a taste of the local beach vibe; a walk down the long stretch of beach is a great way to get to know the area and scout local restaurants to try during your stay. But at the end of the day, you’ll feel that quintessential Costa Rica tranquility back in your Beachfront Bungalow at Capitan Suizo.  

Andaz Resort | Papagayo

Known around exclusive Papagayo as the “un-resort” resort, the Andaz maintains its commitment to honoring local tradition and representing Costa Rica with warmth and creativity. Their beaches are the opposite of the roaring Avellanas Beach and energetic Tamarindo Beach. The gentle waters of Papagayo Bay are catered to activities like swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, and stand-up paddleboarding. This unique location on Peninsula Papagayo creates for guests a natural playground, wonderful for couples, families, and even solo travelers. Head down to the hotel’s beach club for access to all of the best features of this unusually calm golden sand beach. BONUS BEACH: Grab a kayak and paddle around the Peninsula to hidden Playa Nacascolo for a “private” beach experience. Chances are good you’ll be the only ones there! 

Nantipa Resort | Santa Teresa

The Nicoya Peninsula’s Mal Pais area, which includes the notoriously chill Santa Teresa, has seen a recent resurge in tourism and it would be hard to leave Nantipa Resort out of that story. The hotel is leaning into the concept that Santa Teresa is a destination all of its own, and there is plenty to explore for first-timers to Costa Rica. 

The remote, rugged coastal location of Santa Teresa (on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula) have always magnetized celebrities, but the average traveler can be spotted there, too. One of the places travelers thanks to beachfront Nantipa and its ocean view bungalows.  

Nantipa is perfect for travelers who appreciate a sense of place when they travel – trendy luxury on the beach is often best achieved with a casual layout. The Experts recommend the Oceanfront Bungalow with Private Pool for the most ideal stay. You’ll have earned it on the 45-minute drive from Tambor airport – it’s mostly gravel roads.  

Once you’re at Nantipa, you’ll have access to a great variety of Santa Teresa highlights. Montezuma waterfall is about 45 minutes away by ATV. You can hike around the famous cascade or even try canopy zip-lining. Day trips to Tortuga Island are popular with travelers in search of a beach adventure day, fully stocked with water activities, tasty food, and excellent guides. Horseback riding on the beach, sportfishing, surf lessons, yoga, nature tours, and other experiences can be built into your custom itinerary or arranged with the help of Nantipa’s concierge. Spend anywhere from 3-7 nights here and your idea of what a beachfront hotel can offer will be transformed.  

Hotel Aguas Claras | Puerto Viejo / South Caribbean

The South Caribbean has long been a secret sweet spot for independent travelers and eclectic ex-pats, but only recently has the Puerto Viejo area earned a reputation as something more than hostels, hippies, and wild coastline. The arrival of Aguas Claras has changed the game dramatically. 

You don’t see many cottage-style accommodations in Costa Rica and you especially don’t see them done as well as Aguas Claras, a beachfront boutique hotel serving up a new side of the South Caribbean coast. The water in front of the hotel is the closest you’ll get to that “Caribbean blue” in all of Costa Rica, where 90% of beach vacations happen along the Pacific coast. There are just a few suites and bungalows at Aguas Claras, so the Experts recommend booking early.  

The Four Seasons | Papagayo

The Four Seasons Papagayo is a true leader in Costa Rica’s hospitality scene, continuously walking the line of impeccable, refined service and curated vacation magic. The stunning scenic location at the very edge of the Peninsula is one of the hotel’s most prominent features, giving guests access to not one but two fantastic beaches. Four Seasons also offers special beach activities for families and groups, including private beach barbeques, snorkeling & beach tours, and picnics. Within just 45 minutes from the Liberia international airport, you can land and be at one of Costa Rica’s best beachfront hotels in the blink of an eye. 

The W Resort | Playa Conchal

Big resorts are getting a makeover and The W Resort on Playa Conchal is a gleaming example. If your family prefers a trendy vibe with name brand recognition, The W Resort Costa Rica delivers. You’ll find all of the typical resort amenities with a splash of Costa Rican flair at all turns. The rooms are situated throughout the property at various heights and locations, ensuring that each room has a different view from the next. Playa Conchal is one of the best all–around beaches in Costa Rica, with its unique shell sand formation and pleasant, swimmable waters. Golf, water sports, sportfishing, and plenty of off-site Guanacaste activities are available to really round out your vacation.

Start planning your vacation with a Costa Rica Expert or browse our vacation packages!

Related Articles:

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4 Best Bed and Breakfasts in Costa Rica

6 Best Glamping Resorts & Luxury Tent Camps in Costa Rica

La Paz Waterfall Gardens Guide

10 Top Costa Rica Adults Only Hotels

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Puerto Vallarta vs. Cancun: Which Mexico Vacation is Right for You?

Traveling to Puerto Vallarta vs Cancun

Beach at the Paradisus Cancun/Oyster

Traveling to Mexico from the U.S. or Canada doesn’t require a separate visa for stays of less than 180 days, but visitors arriving from those countries will need a valid passport and a filled-out FMM form (these are usually handed out on the plane). Keep the section of the tourist card that you’re handed safe; you’ll need to turn it in upon leaving Mexico.

Cancun lies on the northeastern coast of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, on the Caribbean Sea, making it a short hop — or for Midwesterners, a rare direct flight — away for those in the Great Plains and Eastern seaboard. There are plenty of flights that fly direct to Cancun from major U.S. cities across the continental 48 states, making it a popular choice for long weekends and spring breakers. Once you’re in Cancun, taxis are plentiful and generally offer a fixed fare around downtown (though always clarify the fare with the driver). Local buses are also frequent and the most common way of getting around cheaply.

Airlines like Southwest, Alaskan Airlines, and United all fly nonstop to Puerto Vallarta (PV as Americans call it) from U.S. cities. Direct flights to Puerto Vallarta’s Licenciado Gustavo Diaz Ordaz International Airport, located on Mexico’s Pacific coast, are more common from the Midwest and West than the Eastern parts of the U.S. The airport, on the edge of PV, is shared with tourists heading next door to Riviera Nayarit. Once you’re in town, there’s a dependable public bus system that can take you around town for a cheap flat rate. Puerto Vallarta also has Uber, which makes getting around easy with an iPhone.

Beaches in Puerto Vallarta vs Cancun

Beach at the Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa

The beaches of Cancun have long drawn American tourists, who flock south for the area’s stretches of white sand drifting into the turquoise Caribbean Sea. It’s picture-postcard worthy, and the waves are crystal-clear and warm, contributing to its current title as Mexico’s most popular resort area, with more than 3 million annual visitors. Chances are you’ll be spending most of your time on the beach here, so it might be worth paying a bit more for a beachfront hotel. Most tourists tend to keep to their resort, but beaches like Chac Mool and Playa Delfines are fun to explore if you want to get off the property.

While Cancun is famous for its white-sand beaches, it’s the golden stretches of sand set on the Bay of Banderas that have drawn beach-lovers to Puerto Vallarta for decades. Surfers love taking their boards out into Puerto Vallarta’s Pacific waves as much as the tourists love splashing around in them, and it’s one of the country’s top spots for diving (you can rent gear from one of the shops along the beach). The bay is also a popular spot from December to March for whale-watching and from May to October for sea turtles looking for a spot to nest.

Culture and Activities in Puerto Vallarta vs Cancun

Water Sports at the Fiesta Americana Villas Cancun/Oyster

Cancun, once home to the Mayan civilization, is a gateway to the ancient peoples’ history, with plenty of tours and excursions available for those wanting to learn more about the Mayans. There are also plenty of opportunities to do so in town at the Maya Museum and San Miguelito archaeological site, both of which are in the Hotel Zone. If you plan to break away from the beach but don’t want to be part of a tour group, you’ll want to have a rental car to make the most of your time here: Chichen Itza is a two-hour drive away and there are some gorgeous freshwater cenotes to admire. Of course, Cancun is also known for being a party spot, especially during spring break season. If you want to escape the crowds, hop on the ferry from downtown for the 20-minute trip to Isla Mujeres, where there’s great diving and a blissfully quiet beach. Or take one of these unexpected Cancun day trips for some truly unique vacation memories.

Puerto Vallarta is a little more laid back, thanks to a colorful, charming Old Town, excellent markets and galleries with beautiful art and great boardwalks, which you’ll be able to spend a couple happy afternoons strolling. It’s also known for being the LGBTQ capital of Mexico, with many hotels and activities geared toward the community. Plus, for those who love mountains, the port has a stunningly rugged background, and a day trip to the Vallarta Botanical Gardens high in the mountains is well worth the 12-mile drive from town. There’s also an abundance of outdoor sports like kitesurfing, parasailing, ziplining, and sailing. For more, check out our list of the best things to do in Puerto Vallarta.

Dining and Nightlife in Cancun vs Puerto Vallarta

Pool Bar at the Westin Lagunamar Ocean Resort

Thanks to its roots as a fishing village, versus Cancun’s purpose-built destiny as a resort town, Puerto Vallarta’s food offerings tend to be a bit less designed for tourist palettes. As in, you’ll find taco joints and seafood from independently owned restaurants instead of a plethora of chain options. Nightlife in PV definitely exists, with most of it centered along the Malecon boardwalk, and there are a few areas to go out in the city center, too, including in the Zona Romantica. It’s also a very LGBTQ-friendly area, with clubs and activities catering to the community.

Tourists dining outside of their resorts in Cancun — many tend to go for all-inclusive packages — will find later meal times than normal at local restaurants. It’s easy to get to downtown by taxi, and tourists will find a variety of Mexican and international restaurant chains there. Cancun’s known for its wild party scene, especially in the spring-break months of March and April, and if that’s what you’re coming for, it doesn’t disappoint: Clubs offer all you can drink for a flat fee, and there are plenty of bar- and club-hopping tours — as well as foam parties and beer bongs. Coco Bongo Cancun is a tourist favorite.

Safety in Cancun vs Puerto Vallarta

Currently, the U.S. State Department has a level-two advisory for travel to Mexico, which directs travelers to “exercise increased caution in Mexico due to crime and kidnapping.” While it specifically calls out Jalisco, Puerto Vallarta’s home state, as an area for which to “reconsider travel,” it specifies further that there is no restriction on travel for U.S. government employees to certain parts of the state, including Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit.

Quintana Roo, where Cancun is located, also has a level-two warning due to crime; however, there are no restrictions on travel for U.S. government employees to tourist areas in the area, including Cancun. As a reference, lots of other countries also share a level two-warning for a variety of reasons, including France, Italy, Costa Rica, and the Bahamas.

Is It Safe to Travel to Mexico? Check our our guide. 

History and Hotels in Cancun vs Puerto Vallarta

Aerial Photography at the Melia Puerto Vallarta All Inclusive/Oyster

Puerto Vallarta was once a picturesque fishing village, but the arrival of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton put it in the spotlight as a vacation destination for Americans. Most of the large resort hotels are located in the marina area north of downtown (think a swank, golfer vibe), with plenty of them offering all-inclusive packages — such as Casa Velas. You’ll need transit to get to the Marina area from downtown, as you will if you stay in the Hotel Zone. The Hotel Zone in the North is a mix of luxurious properties and smaller mid-range hotels, and there’s plenty of dining and shopping nearby, but beaches aren’t quite as good as they are elsewhere in town. The South Hotel Zone is also a bit far out of town and dotted with resorts and hotels for those who prefer staying put to going into town (though if you do want to explore, there’s transit available). Downtown offers a good mix of everything, from beaches to dining. The Old Town (Zona Romantica) is newer than downtown and has a beach at its doorstep, along with cafes, restaurants, and clubs. However, it’s not as charming architecturally.

Cancun’s history extends back to its past as home of the Maya people, and a trip here should include time spent learning about their history at museums and archaeological parks, such as Chichen Itza. More recent years saw Cancun’s mid-20th-century boom as a town developed by the national government for tourists. To this end, Cancun’s Hotel Zone has over 100 properties and is generally where the tourists stay. Expect all-inclusive options from chain names as well as both ultra-luxe and cheap options. While there are plenty of properties that don’t cater as much to the spring break crowd, like the luxe Hyatt Zilara Cancun or Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach Cancun, there are also plenty of ones that do, so do your research before you book your stay to make sure you’re set up for the vacation vibe you want.

Our Top Pick for a Cancun Hotel: Hyatt Zilara Cancun

Aerial Photography at the Hyatt Zilara Cancun/Oyster

Travelers heading to Cancun tend to go for all-inclusive stays located right on the beach — not having to think about costs or making daily decisions about where to eat is great for disconnecting, after all. One of the best places to stay is the Hyatt Zilara Cancun, where you can catch some sun from the sparkling white-sand beach, chill out at the free-form infinity pool, try the cocktails at the hotel’s five bars — or splash out on a swim-out room. Plus, with six restaurants offering international dishes, you’ll have plenty of options for your meals.

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Our Top Pick for a Puerto Vallarta Hotel: Secrets Vallarta Bay Puerto Vallarta

Aerial Photography at the Secrets Vallarta Bay/Oyster

Located on Puerto Vallarta’s Las Glorias Beach in the South Hotel Zone, Secrets Vallarta Bay Puerto Vallarta is a luxe adults-only hotel that’s the perfect getaway for grown-ups looking for a chic beach fix. It does the best of an all-inclusive stay right: free (and unlimited) premium booze, a couples-treatment-focused spa, and a sandy strip of sand right outside the door. If you’d rather hang out at the pool, there are three palm-lined ones that face the ocean. Looking for nightlife? Take a cab to the Malecon, or head to Secrets on-site nightclub, Desires.

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While 2019 was an incredible year of growth for the theme parks of Central Florida, 2020 will bring even more fun to the parks with new attractions, entertainment, restaurants, hotels, and celebrations.

Universal Orlando Resort

Bourne Stuntacular | Universal Studios Florida

The Bourne Stuntacular, a live-action stunt show, will drop into Universal Studios Florida in Spring 2020 with intense scenes, fistfights, death-defying leaps, and danger at every turn.

During the show you will follow Jason Bourne around the globe as sinister characters pursue him featuring live performers, interactive props, and a gigantic LED screen.

Endless Summer Resort

Universal Orlando Resort

The Universal Orlando Resort will open their eighth hotel, Dockside Inn and Suites at Universal’s Endless Summer Resort, in March 2020 with exclusive benefits and rates starting at $85. The resort will have 2,050 guest rooms featuring both standard rooms and 2-Bedroom Suites that can accommodate up to six people.

SeaWorld Orlando

Ice Breaker

Making its debut in spring 2020, riders will shiver through family friendly adventures on SeaWorld Orlando’s first launch coaster: Ice Breaker. Named after the icy Arctic summits, Ice Breaker will feature four launches, both backwards and forwards, culminating in a reverse launch into the steepest beyond vertical drop in Florida — a 93-foot tall spike with 100-degree angle.

Aquatica Orlando

Riptide Race

Aquatica Orlando will open Florida’s first-ever dueling water slide, Riptide Race.

Each team of two will start atop a 68-foot tower before they speed along 650 feet of slide with low walls racing face-to-face through tight loops and accelerations including indoor and outdoor sections.

Riptide Race will have a height requirement of 42 inches to appeal to families with children, and the new slide will be located on the north side of the park next to Banana Beach Cook Out.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

Iron Gwazi

Iron Gwazi takes thrills to new heights, plunging riders from a 206 foot-tall peak into a 91-degree drop and reaching top speeds of 76 miles per hour. With elements of the former wooden attraction being integrated into the new ride, the journey will include three inversions and 12 airtime hills as it races along more than 4,075 feet of purple steel track. With a 48” height requirement, Iron Gwazi will be an exciting thrill attraction that families can take on together.

LEGOLAND Florida

LEGOLAND Pirate Island Hotel

Located just 130 kid-steps from the theme park entrance, LEGOLAND Pirate Island Hotel will feature 150 LEGO-filled rooms, a heated pool, hundreds of LEGO models, in-room LEGO treasure hunts, and exclusive character experiences. Similar to the popular LEGOLAND Hotel, each room will include two separate spaces: a kid’s sleeping area and an adult area.

The five-story hotel will house the pirate-themed Shipwreck Restaurant with family-style dining, Smuggler’s Bar for adult swashbucklers, an entertainment area with kid-friendly nightly programming and LEGO play areas. 

Also, with every overnight stay, guests will enjoy a complimentary family-style breakfast. Directly outside the entrance to the hotel, a pirate shipwreck will greet guests and offer a unique photo opportunity.

Pirate Water Ski Show Adventure

After an eight year run, Battle for Brickbeard’s Bounty will close to make way for a brand-new pirate adventure on April 18 with skiing acrobatics, water stunts, pirate humor and more surprises.

PirateFest Weekends

PHOTO / LOCK + LAND, Chip Litherland

During PirateFest guests will learn to walk like a pirate, talk like a pirate, and vacation like a pirate during this three-weekend event. 

During the event an exclusive “pirate passport” will outline the resort-wide activities that includes exclusive pirate character meet and greets.

Walt Disney World Resort

Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway | Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Walt Disney World

For the first time ever, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse will have their own ride-through attraction. Using cutting edge technology, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Disney’s Hollywood Studios will take guests through the movie screen to join Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and pals on a wacky adventure with a Goofy conductor at the helm. 

Cique du Soleil Show | Disney Springs

Walt Disney Animation Studios stories will come to life in a first-of-its-kind show that combines Disney storytelling with Cirque du Soleil artistry featuring new original acrobatic sequences, dazzling choreography, musical masterpieces and whimsical characters at Disney Springs. Previews will begin March 20, 2020, leading up to the world premiere on April 17.

City Works Eatery & Pour House | Disney Springs

City Works Eatery & Pour House will offer a menu of classic American food with chef-driven twists for lunch and dinner serving over 90 local and global varieties of beers on tap. The 8,632 square foot building will house the restaurant, retail space, expansive seating, high-definition TVs – including a 165-inch screen – and a 1,767 square foot patio.

The space will also exhibit three full-service bars, two of which allow for covered, open air dining along the patio.

Regal Eagle Smokehouse: Craft Drafts & Barbecue | Epcot – American Adventure Pavilion

Regal Eagle Smokehouse: Craft Drafts & Barbecue is a fast-casual restaurant where the pit master uses techniques from classic barbecue regions to smoke selections over oak wood, they serve four delicious house-recipe sauces – Spicy Mop Sauce, Sweet BBQ Sauce, Vinegar-based Sauce, and Tangy Mustard Sauce also known as “Carolina Gold” – and serve up a variety of beers, cocktails, and ciders from around the United States. 

Awesome Planet | Epcot – The Land

Awesome Planet is an on-screen exploration of our planet that highlights the beauty, diversity and dynamic story of Earth with spectacular nature photography, immersive in-theater effects, and a space sequences created by Industrial Light & Magic.

HarmonioUS  | Epcot – World Showcase Lagoon

Walt Disney World Resort

HarmonioUS will debut at Epcot as the largest nighttime theme park spectacular ever created for a Disney park.

It will celebrate how the music of Disney inspires people the world over that features familiar Disney tunes reinterpreted by a diverse group of artists from around the globe. HarmonioUS will light up World Showcase Lagoon and the night sky with floating set pieces, custom-built LED panels, choreographed moving fountains, lights, pyrotechnics, lasers, and more.

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure | Epcot – France Pavilion

Walt Disney World

Remy’s Ratatouille is similar to the 4-D attraction at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, where you shrink down in size to join Remy and friends, who have cooked up a delicious feast.

But the adventure goes awry when you are discovered by Chef Skinner who chases you through the sights, sounds, and smells of Gusteau’s famous Parisian restaurant.

La Crêperie de Paris | Epcot – France Pavilion

Walt Disney World

La Crêperie de Paris will feature the cuisine of celebrity chef Jérôme Bocuse, the mastermind behind the pavilion’s Chefs de France brasserie and Monsieur Paul. With a menu inspired by the Brittany region of France, the new location will offer table service dining as well as a quick-service stop for guests craving savory crepes called galettes and sweet crepes.

Beauty and the Beast Sing Along | Epcot – France Pavilion

Walt Disney World

The Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along, directed by Don Hahn who was the producer of both the animated and live-action versions of this tale as old as time, will rotate with the classic Impressions de France film in the France Pavilion.

Wonderous China | Epcot – China Pavilion

In the China pavilion, Wondrous China will take guests on a spectacular journey across China, filmed and presented in a completely seamless 360-degree digital format.

Canada Far and Wide | Epcot – Canada Pavilion

Walt Disney World

The film Canada Far and Wide in Circle-Vision 360 will debut in January 2020 in the Canada pavilion with new scenes and a new story.  

Space 220 Restaurant | Epcot – Future World

Patina Restaurant Group

The new restaurant Space 220, an expansion of the Mission: SPACE pavilion in Future World, will be an out-of-this-world culinary experience with the celestial panorama of a space station, including daytime and nighttime views of Earth from 220 miles up.

Disney Genie

Disney Genie is the next step in technology focused on making Walt Disney World vacation planning easier with flexible and customized itineraries geared to your interests in 2020.

Disney Genie will also share real-time theme park tips and updates, recommendations based on your preferences, and will make reservations for the experience in multiple steps for you.

Follow us for more updates:

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