#Transcript of How to Feel Less Busy and Get More Done

[pluckysidekick]

We’re heading into the home stretch! Good news - we’re getting a 20 second trailer for the finale! Thank you to the CW18 Milwaukee for promoting Nancy Drew while corporate was busy cancelling failed imports and promoting golf.

Now, I know some folks have been spoiled *ahem* by the leaked transcript for 412. I have not and will not be partaking - I like my spoilers vague, and I prefer to watch the episode in whole with actors and sets and special effects and music and all the things. But I did spend some time this weekend thinking about what would happen next - and debating it with @likestosolvethepuzzle (whose latest fic you must read), who encouraged me to post this analysis that I primarily wrote over weekend before the transcript leaked.

So read on if you’re interested in my unspoiled take (well except for the usual BTS photos I’ve hoarded from filming, the trailers, and hints on social media from the fine professionals who made the show).

Rewinding back to Episode 8, Nancy sends Ace on his way with the curse jar to go fishing with his father. He complains, but she tells him to go make “messy” memories with Thom (clearly she’s thinking of how she wished she could have more with Kate). Thom apologizes that the captain canceled, Ace drops the jar which lights up and sets off a little wave, and they get wet but no other harm is done. Ace calls Nancy from the Marina - note the establishing shot is Horseshoe Bay, not the Yacht Club or the Claw, so he’s sitting in the parking lot of a different marina, presumably where the fishing boat is docked.

Ace and Nancy have their phone call, and we now know Nancy goes to erase a sin 26 minutes later. The only think she knows is that she saw flames before Ryan rescued her from Jonas Glass, but she believes she and Ace were responsible for Jane Doe’s death.

A few other tidbits that could be clues or red herrings - when Jane Doe was found charred beyond recognition, it was noted that it was in the woods near the coastline. When the ghost tells Ace that she stayed because he said he didn’t want to leave her, she then says no one had ever talked to her or about her that way before. The ghost is also insistent that no one ask her how she died.

OK. A few weird things. The captain canceling but Ace and Thom still going ahead is weird. Why would the captain allow it? Who’s piloting that sort of large-ish boat? And why did the jar make any kind of blip at all, and yet the wave was small enough they only got wet?

We have BTS of what appears to be Thom in the water:

And we had a video from applebanannapear (Ace’s stand-in) of a marina/boat yard with Florence parked nearby, and he’s standing next to someone who looks like she could be Nancy’s stand-in:

These to me look like scenes of the forgotten events of that night, erased by the Sin Eater.

So what I think could have gone down (speculation ahead):

What if the captain of the fishing boat didn’t cancel and was on the boat with Ace and Thom? And Jane Doe could be the captain? She could be lonely and even flirted with Ace, who we know is also lonely - they may even have a moment.

When Ace drops the curse jar, it actually flames up and breaks, and causes a much bigger commotion - maybe even a whirlpool not unlike the ghost’s whirlwind from 411. Then the boat catches on fire. They all jump or are thrown into the water. Ace is able to fish Thom out, but the captain is lost - she gets caught in the flames before drowning.

Ace and Thom eventually make it back to shore. Ace calls Nancy in a panic. She comes immediately. They fight, but Nancy insists on going to the Black Door. Ace may have dropped the curse jar, but Nancy gave it to him and pushed him to go fishing with his dad. The death was accidental but Ace feels guilty - he’s completely torn up with grief. This is the person who would rather die than let Nancy give Daniel West the list.

Thom’s part - I am less certain (and of course all of this is speculation). He’s a semi-retired cop, so he’d want to call it in. Ace would probably be charged with setting the boat on fire - he did drop the jar that caused the boat to catch on fire. Thom might have even fought with him about the jar when he finds out what Ace is doing, causing it to break.

Nancy takes matters into her own hands and goes to the Black Door - she loves Ace, and feels responsible- she won’t let him suffer. She’s miserable, doing something she never thought she’d do - but she does it for Ace. They may even have an angry almost love confession - but it falls short of triggering the curse, because the Sin Eater only erases the memories of everyone involved. It doesn’t negate the sin itself, and Ace is still alive.

And why is the ghost drawn to Ace? They actually made a connection before she died, and her charred body washed up on shore near the woods. He may have made her feel safe on that boat before the accident. He may have “caught” the curse (as many have theorized), and that’s why he can hear and see and even touch her. And her claim of her hair wrapping around her mouth, feeling cold, and the sky disappearing are consistent with burning and then drowning. And she doesn’t want Ace or Nancy to ask her how she died because it’s too painful, and perhaps because she doesn’t want Ace to suffer with the knowledge.

I believe the Drew Crew will find out what really happened in this episode - Henry Zaga posted photos and reels from Capilano Lake. I believe this is the reservoir location, and they are able to use the poisoned water to help Nancy remember the sin and reverse the memory wipe.

Speaking of Henry, Tristan is certainly back in this episode. He posted from the woods and a few locations. I was leaning toward this being him as well in director Kristin Lehman’s monitor - although it could also be Ace.

So we know from the two stills we got for this episode that we’ll see Ace and Nancy together plenty. But boy Ace does not look happy - he doesn’t want to give up his ghost I suspect. I know we all expect them to break the curse, but from Ace’s POV he and Nancy are separated forever. Cannot wait to see it all unfold (pain and all). Celine, the writer of this episode, reminded us that there will be heartbreak and there will be truth. She also shared a devastating playlist I’ve had on repeat - “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” is killing me. As much as we all want Nace together and loving, I’m expecting a journey through fire here (literally) before we get our HEA next week (cause we will).

I’m super intrigued by how Nancy and Tristan will interact - are they still romantically inclined? Or was Tristan almost biting her as the Sin Eater a mood killer? And what did Nashua mean about them walking the path many times before? Reincarnation seems to be a theme this season. @flythesail and @reviewdiaries have written excellent analyses about what it could mean.

We’ll also get a Spring Festival on the beach (which they filmed in the snow), and the return of Red and Birdie (according to IMDB). I don’t have room to post it, but one of our favorite crew members Sangalicious had an IG story at the time that referred to the festival. Geraldine Chu also posted from the snowy location - looking forward to Birdie and Jesse together again. The beach they filmed at is the same one from the bucket ceremony - is there a supernatural confrontation, or perhaps something between the believers and non-believers of the supernatural?

From the trailer, we see Nancy waking up (perhaps with her memories returning?), and the Crew recoiling in horror in the Yacht Club basement:

We also glimpsed who most of us think is Tristan confronting the figurehead of the Endeavor in the same location (yes I analyzed Henry and Alex’s cheekbones):

Are Tristan and the figurehead connected - and is Nancy too (read @flythesail’s analysis for more on that)?

Finally, I’ve been debating if the Claw baby shower Riley shared a glimpse of is actually in this episode and not the finale as we see George and Nick in the wardrobe from this (412) episode’s stills. Jen Vestuto said it’s not what we think it is - of course we all assume it’s Carson and Jean’s baby since her awkward confession. Could it be Ryan and Red’s instead? Or did she mean it wasn’t for a Nace baby? Is there something timey whimey going on since not that much time has elapsed (or has it?) and it really is in the finale? Is Jean’s unborn child a potential next Sin Eater (yikes!)? We’ll find out soon! See you on the other side.

[sunstranded]

INTJ: Lack of Emotional Response

I'm not even a dad, nor am I a boomer, but when someone sends me a video or a meme expecting me to laugh, I am quite the disappointment. Especially if people catch me not prepared for a social intervention or "interaction" as they like to call it.

It's tiring to have a recognizable or expected emotional reaction. I have to be in a really good mood for someone to show me a video or a picture and laugh. I'm totally the type to say "that's funny" rather than actually laugh.

I'm usually the joker, the one making people laugh. Not the other way around, not because they're unfunny. I am just used to hiding my emotions. I have been called, in jest, that I have two moods: angry or anrgy but loud.

If it's in chat, it's worse. I have this ingrained behavior to always reply as soon as I can out of respect so when people send me things I often check immediately. If it's a video from an app I don't use but everyone seemingly does, I don't watch it unless they give me context that isn't: "this is funny."

My brother had once caught me read the transcript of an 11 minute video in about 3 minutes and called me weird. It's faster, elicits less reactions, and I don't hear that animated youtuber voice.

With all this, it irritates me that the "respectful" thing to do is to show emotions. I do, but I'm not sharing most of them. If anything, I probably practice emotional introspection on my own more than people expect from me. I'm only saying probably because I am rarely asked about how I feel (rightfully so) and when I share, people are always shocked— even enamored or in awe— that I can comprehensively capture my emotions.

I've learned as early as I could that emotional instrospection should be absent of logic and absolutes. All it needs to be is recognized, understood, accepted, and expressed. It does not even have to make complete logical sense. Nor does it have to be valid.

I hate that sentiment, "that's valid." You could have just said "fair" and avoided confusing my deductive logic driven brain. Or you could have done the more emotionally gratifying response and had restated what someone experienced to remind them its human to have reacted the way they did— rather than some impersonal and utterly unhelpful string of words.

With all this, I can practice my Fe, I can appease and make efforts to understand people's emotions. Yet, yet here I am writing about lacking emotional response. I did not want to serve any INTJs injustice by putting the title of: Emotionlessness. No human being (note, this excludes inhumane beings), would ever admit to emotionlessness. Numbness, detachment, or even a haze that makes emotions unrecognizable still means that there are— it's just far away. Most xNTxs are not emotionless assholes. Some of us just haven't learned or haven't allowed ourselves to share our emotions.

My emotions are my personal business. That's what I always say and think. Never have I let myself use my emotions recklessly, I only do so when I want to get out of a situation where everyone communicates via emotional signals. I'm not one to share. All I really ask is that people do not take my silence or lack of response as a sign of disinterest.

If I was not interested, they would have heard me say no, or I would not have been in such a situation.

[writeingdocs]

7.03pm

stray kids bangchan x oc reader genre: fluff, angst ? cw: the word “transes” used is a term we use for transcripts of notes/reviewers word count: 947 masterlist

x

“One tall hot cappuccino for Addy.”

Chan placed the cup in front of you—well your textbooks. The caffeinated beverage being your 5th one of the day—night.

“On the house.” He added with a wink.

You rolled your eyes at your friend who is left with his white button up shirt and black slacks after the apron was off. His shift was done.

“Impressive.” You say with a teasing amount of sarcasm as you looked at the foam art showing a girl’s sleeping face whom you can only assume is you.

“Thank you.” He equaled.

“No, but seriously, your drawing skills are impressive—much more on paper.” You locked eyes with him. “Why can’t you just tell your parents you want to go to an arts school rather than taking another business course for your masters?” It wasn’t a question—at least it didn’t sound like it.

“The same way you can’t tell yours you don’t want to take the NMAT and pursue Med.”

“Hey! I, for one, slightly like what I’m about to get myself into.” You defended.

“And I, for one, slightly like what I’m currently taking for Masters.”

“Yeah right, your past four-year rant hauntingly says otherwise.” You retorted remembering college days.

“Well, speaking of…how are you holding up?” He changes the subject, gesturing to the pile of transes and textbooks in front of you.

“How do you think?”

“Eh,” he made a face, “you’re holding up pretty decently.”

“Christopher, I’m literally dying.” Okay maybe that was an exaggeration. “And you giving me another cup pushes me more to my early demise.”

This dramantics (dramatic antics) earned a chuckle from him.

“Who says you have to drink it? I just gave you that to show you the foam art.”

“Well of course, you rich kid. Which makes me wonder still why you really work part time here.”

“I’m not rich, my parents are.”

“Exactly what rich people say.”

He rolled his eyes.

“And I work here for the ladies.” He smirked. “Plus it gives me my artistic freedom.”

It was your turn to roll your eyes.

As you were about to drink the cappuccino, not wanting it to go to waste, Chan stopped you.

“I’ll drink this.”

“You can’t even drink coffee.”

“I don’t drink coffee, not I can’t. Besides, if it keeps you alive a little longer then—aw!”

You hit his face with the transes you’re currently highlighting.

x

“Honestly, I’m terrified.” You confessed, hands tightly holding the matching mug filled with your favorite green tea.

Chan basically dragged you out of the living room towards the kitchen for a much needed 10-minute break from you two’s study session at his place.

“I’m terrified that I’ll always be the failure I am.” You continued.

There was a split second of silence before he turned to his side to face you.

“You were never once a failure.”

You laughed bitterly to yourself.

“Thanks, Channie. But I am.”

“No, you’re not.” His voice was stern.

Frankly speaking, you’ve never seen him speak this serious since your junior year in college when you nearly cried to him about your then supposed friends who were treating you like trash.

“I know I’ll never be able to fully understand the amount of hardship, self doubt, and fear you’re feeling as you head on this journey, not to mention the pressure you give yourself too, but let me tell you this: you are not a failure nor a disappointment.”

You could only nudge his arm in reply as tears started to well in your eyes.

You stayed in that comfortable silence for a moment, shoulders touching sitting closely next to each other, enjoying the warmth of your slightly less caffeinated drinks.

x

“Do you know why I took the job at the cafe?” Chan suddenly asks you one night as you two headed home after his shift ended.

“I thought you said it was for your artistic freedom.” You raised a brow which made him chuckle.

“That and also to see my peace.”

“You.”

This halted your steps as you looked at him a bit confused.

“Me?”

“I want to see you. It gives me,” he paused for a moment feeling his ears starting to warm, “peace. Seeing you gives me peace. And the cafe is where you always study so...” He shrugged.

“Not when I get into med school, no.” You laughed.

“Well then, I’ll just have to apply to the nearest cafe there which I’m sure where you’ll study!” He said matter-of-factly.

“Nah, I’ll probably utilize the library.”

He made a pout which in turn made you laugh.

“I can still make you coffee though. Working at the cafe has its perks! I know how to do it at home now so I can still see you when I give it to you.”

“You really are a dork.”

“Nah, I’m just romantic like that.”

You ignored his statement with a question.

“You said seeing me gives you peace, how is that?”

“I don’t know, you just do.” He hesitated a bit. “Fine, I admit I am stressed with masters—“

“Knew it!” You almost jumped.

“But, all of that fades away when I see you.”

“If we weren’t best friends, I’d think you actually like me.” You smirked.

“I do.”

Two simple words were enough to wipe the smirk off your face and instead make your pupils dilate and heart beat faster.

“I like you, Addy.” He said all too perfectly at the right second, not shying away and looking straight at you.

“A lot.”

Then your own words replayed in your head:

If you weren’t best friends, maybe you’d actually like him too.

- - - -

AN: this has been a draft rotting in my notes app from 8.12.21 that i stumbled upon while cleaning my files today and decided to edit and post haha ((the ending was not originally there but alas, my love for angst has won me over once again lol this was meant to be a f2l story w a touch of me projecting my love-hate rel w medicine))

late happy new year! reblogs and feedbacks are much appreciated :”

[showfallsquigandiris]

/Video input received/

/Source: HS: IR-15/

/Starting transcript/

…

[The camera is looking at the Mall’s medical wing, it’s a bit busier than average, lots of people standing around and waiting, but the camera doesn’t focus on any specific person as Iris approaches the area]

Iris: [Loudly] Ahem, hellooo, I’m looking for the doctor who has the balls to just call themselves “Doctor”, has plain brown hair that’s about shoulder length at least as of her last employee photo picture?

???: [Nurse?] They're all named Doctor, and there’s multiple with the same hair color. Do you... need assistance? Are you looking for a mechanic?

[The camera turns to look at the nurse who started speaking, and Iris just lets out a long slow sigh]

Iris: That’s fucking stupid, you don’t even use like, employee numbers to tell the doctors apart? Ugh, whatever. 

Nurse: Do you know her number, so we can better assist and get you a time to see her?

[The world blurs for a second as Iris rolls her eye before focusing back on the nurse]

Iris: Fucking like, 143 or something? And I’m sure if you mention to her it’s Iris, she’ll drop whatever it is she’s busy with.

[The nurse studies her, and the look past the stage theater half mask implies he agrees with her, as he nods and heads further into the commotion to retrieve the Doctor.] 

[As the camera follows the retreating nurse, Iris’ hand comes into frame as she studies her nails. Which are currently bright red and clearly sharped to a point, before it moves away as Iris shifts in place]

Doctor: You must be Iris! Hello, I heard you wanted to see me, I had hoped you’d visit, or I would get a chance to see you in person at some point!

[The woman matches the description Iris had given, though the white theater eye mask and purple eyes were more noticeable then her hair when she was seen walking towards the camera through the crowd of waiting people and department workers.]

Iris: Yeahhh, that’s definitely why I'm here, anyways, let’s head somewhere a bit less crowded, hm?

Doctor: I feel I might have been a bit overzealous in getting everyone to come for a checkup, so there isn’t really anywhere that is fully private currently. Would the break room be alright? There might be some nurses, but it’s the only place without patients waiting for a look from one of us.

[The camera lowers as Iris makes a sweeping motion with her arm, indicating for the Doctor to lead the way]

[ The Doctor smiles and turns, waving her forward as she leads to a corner room off to the side of the crowd. She goes through the door, to a mini kitchen area with a small seating area, and two nurses standing stationary near one of the walls with coffee untouched on the counter beside them. Doctor takes one of the empty seats at the table, looking to Iris. ]

[Iris takes a seat across from Doctor, and the camera’s view slightly tilts as Iris starts tapping her nails on the table]

Iris: So I’ll just get this first question out of the way, why are you such a coward?

Doctor: I don’t understand what you mean by that. I’ve only just met you. I am more interested in you though, how much of you is still organic?

Iris: Yeahhh, ‘fraid I don’t really care about answering anything you want to know. And what I mean is why are you still completely organic, and completely human?

Doctor: Oh, you’ve seen my department's research! Unfortunately, it seems all of it concludes it won’t work on people who are already adults. Hybridization is quite delicate, when it’s organic and not mechanical. As much as I had attempted to make a horse into a mule a few times given the chance. Maybe if the department had been allowed more time, we could have gotten things to work.

Iris: [undertone of static] Doesn’t change the fact that you’re a coward. What kind of doctor subjects people to something without having any idea personally what it might be like? 

Doctor: Most doctors! Research is done on test subjects to allow the doctors to observe and learn, get the variables and formulas and papers properly written. It’d be bad for a doctor to test on themselves, as things could go wrong and then their research would be wasted as there would be no one to monitor everything that’s needed at the same time as everything else! It’s what an R&D department is all about, after all. 

[Iris leans back in her chair, humming tunelessly]

Iris: No no, I’m not saying every doctor at once should test things themselves first, but you were the project lead, no? Shouldn’t you have wanted even half of an idea about what you were subjecting your subjects to? 

Doctor: I don’t think you understand how research experiments are conducted, and I was of course given the head overseer title of the project at the beginning, which gave me the wonderful position of seeing how all my darlings were progressing. I read all of the notes, and it gave me a good idea of what was going on, in terms of successful tests and which ones needed tweaking. 

[There’s a loud slam as Iris bangs her hand on the table, making direct eye contact with Doctor, and leaning forward]

Iris: You think I don’t know how research experiments are conducted? Tell me, and surely because you’re so interested in me you’ll know the answer, what exact position do I hold at Showfall?

Doctor: You're a Security, a remarkably aware one as well, it’s quite fascinating! I assume it was a lucky accident, but I haven’t gotten a chance to ask to see if you have a file I could look through yet. 

[Iris bangs her fists repeatedly on the table as loud static bursts from Iris, before it slowly quiets into normal laughing as the camera tilts]

Iris: My fellow doctor, I am Head Security I’ll have you know, and before that, I was Lead Security Engineer, and before that? Well, most people just called me Doctor Ash. You think this was an accident? You think something like this, happens unintentionally? Well, then maybe you’re not as fit for this job as it originally seemed.

Doctor: My field of research isn’t engineering, but the more biological aspect of things. I have no insight into the way security is made, much less what Head Securities do as their jobs. I was hired for the job relating to medical sciences and studies, and have always done the absolute best I could, and it was through no fault of me or my teams own that the company decided to end one of our research projects before it had barely started! I suspect HR might have made it up, at this point, the way they seem to prevent me from seeing any of my darlings. 

Iris: You know what, this might be only the second time I’ve ever fully agreed with any member of HR! You should not be allowed in the same building as them after what you did. 

Doctor: The research project had been accepted, I did not do anything that Showfall hadn’t deemed allowed in the parameters. 

Iris: That is because they put too much faith in you to pace yourself apparently! Seriously, jumping head first into a project like that? I don’t care how much more adaptable children are, You should have slowly worked down to experimenting on literal children! Not start with 5 adults and 15 kids!

Doctor: If Showfall had an issue, they would have told me to revise. Which they had done a few times, and why we began with as young as we could at shots before doing the rest when they were older, for the children. The adults were more... a control group, you could say. The potential was there for them to survive, same as the kids, but the rejection was clearly higher. Hypotheses never come out exactly as you’ll expect them, but with more chances to test the subjects, the higher the potential for success eventually becomes given time and resources. Besides, I had mentioned my attempts to change a horse into a mule hadn’t I? I tried animal tests first, before petitioning and asking for some human volunteers and getting the green light for it. 

[The camera flicks around Doctor’s face, before lurching up as Iris stands]

Iris: Well then, it seems like I have complaints to file. Something like that should have never been approved, especially to be led by a doctor as stupid as you. Oh and another thing?

[Iris slams her hand onto the table once more, this time a small crack can be heard]

Iris: Leave Jasprix alone, you’ve done enough to him. You’ve gotten the research you need, from him. He quite clearly does not need any checkups, what with the regeneration you are quite aware he has now.

Doctor: Axolotls can still get ill, I worry for him, as I do the others that I haven’t been able to see. He’s not the only one that I’ve been trying to check on. I assume he’s your friend as well?

Iris: I think I’m going to include “Needs to be rewired to learn how to ‘take a hint’.” in my complaints, if you haven’t been able to see them, that’s damn well on purpose. So stop trying to focus on a past project that was discontinued for a fucking reason, and just focus on doing your damn job. If they need care, they’ll see whichever doctor they need to.

Doctor: None of the other doctors have seen them in years, so I doubt any of them are getting properly checked over. It’s part of my job to worry about their well beings, as my patients, to prevent illnesses and injuries. They could have been injured or ill over these past years, and not gotten any care. Regardless of if one of them heals from injuries or not, illness is still a danger.

[Doctor sighs, leaning back with her arms crossed.]

Doctor: You’ll be making a complaint against Showfall itself, since it was its experiment, regardless of if I conducted it or not. 

Iris: Nothing I haven’t done before. I’ll be taking my leave now, as it seems that official paperwork is the only way I’ll have a chance to get through that thick skull of yours.

Doctor: It was a pleasure to see you, despite this talk. Tell Jasper I said hello, would you?

Iris: I’m afraid I don’t know anyone named “Jasper”, and before you say anything, I’ll think you’ll find that certain paperwork has in fact recently been filed.

[Iris quickly turns and leaves before Doctor has a chance to respond]

…

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[thessalian]

Thess vs Results

As in, I finally fucking GOT SOME.

I called up Scruffman in the morning, first thing, and he’d obviously seen my emails from yesterday by that point. He has his issues, does Scruffman, but he also knows me of old. He knows I stress over not being able to meet my professional commitments - which is a fancy way of saying “after decades of temping I’m still scared I’m going to get fired if I miss even a single day, even if I’m really ill and / or it’s not in any way my fault”. (Seriously, the only time I didn’t feel remotely bad about having to just not go to work was when I had Covid, way back at the start of the pandemic, and that’s as much because of how many people were dying of it at the time and not wanting to kill somebody - this was before the mask mandates and the full-scale lockdown, never mind the vaccine.) So anyway, point is that he was quick to reassure me that none of this was my fault and nobody was angry with me for not being able to come in to work during a bus strike that more or less shuts down the buses in my entire area except the ones I have to walk up and down a massive hill to access. Not that he said that in so many words, of course. What he did was warned and reassured me in equal measure when he said, “I’m going to respond to this email and include everybody and I will go ham so that IT understands the problem here”.

And he did. It was a master class in passive-aggression, I swear. But even in the midst of all that, he made sure to underline that he entirely understood that I could not come in because of the bus strike, following up with, “I know we were both hoping that IT would have sorted this out by now...” and going on from there to basically say without outright saying that this mess was all their fault and causing me no end of stress as well as the commute struggle and messing with the productivity of the department right when we’re hugely busy and understaffed, and that they needed to make it up to us by sorting it out right the fuck now.

Seriously impressive.

Anyway, original IT guy ... well, another out of office message. I don’t know what the hell that guy does. Anyway, his higher-up was apparently down with an attack of sinusitis all weekend (though that doesn’t entirely explain Friday or yesterday and really doesn’t explain Thursday, but I do know his pain, so...), and was very much spurred into action. He poked around, and then stopped, and I checked ... and again, nothing. Apparently the original IT guy was the primary expert on this kind of remote shit, and with him away, higher-up had to wait for another person who knew more about this than higher-up did, at about half past two. I was asked if I had Microsoft Teams on my home computer so I could join in the conversation. I do not even have Office on my home computer so ... no. And anyway, how the hell would I be of any use there? So the point is that anything significant had to wait until 2:30pm. And an hour later, after some noodling around both to get everything set up with the transcription software and on my end to set up a proper workspace ... it was done. Sorted. I now have the ability to work from home.

And I did, pretty much immediately. Yeah, 3:30pm isn’t far off my usual home-time, but there were a couple of reasons I volunteered to make up at least some of the time. First of all, I wanted to at least try to carve through some of the backlog, which gives me nightmares. Also, I wanted to test out the setup and see what tweaks could be made to make it as close to ergonomic perfection as it could get, given that it’s a laptop. However, there is also a part of me that wanted to establish right from the start: “Just because I’m working at home does not mean I will be slacking off”. Hell, I want to prove I can work better here.

Which is honestly true. Having my music of choice in the background instead of Goblin’s interminable heavy sighs and nasty back-chat made everything just so much better, which in turn made working easier. I will have to be very careful not to follow my other inclination of overworking, but if I set an alarm or something to flag up that yeah, my day is over now, I should be okay.

Though speaking of alarms, being able to set mine for 10:30 three of my four days a week was so satisfying you have no idea.

So tomorrow’s my first proper day of working from home, and I discuss the whole thing with Scruffman properly when I come in on Thursday, which is the one day a week we agreed I should come in. Friday’s out because bus strike again, and they’re doing more strikes in December, so ... yeah, this wasn’t exactly perfect timing, but let’s call it “in the very teeth of time” and call it even.

So now, finally, I am set up to work from home. And now I am going to have dinner.

[davidvkimball]

Bullcr*p Marketing Doesn't Work Anymore

Shady practices lose, authenticity wins.

Marketing is getting attention from the right eyeballs at the right time. No need to overcomplicate the concept itself; it's surprisingly simple.

Throughout the years, marketing has gained a negative connotation. For some, marketing is manipulative, materialistic, or misleading. However, while that description may fit some marketing practices done in the past, it's no longer effective in the modern world: consumers can easily see it's bullcrap.

Listen to this article's audio transcript here.

In "David's Bullcr*p Marketing Video" above, I feature a few surface-level forms of this deceptive practice we've all seen and can easily point to and laugh at: cheesy stock music, overly fancy transition filler, businessy-looking icons and generic stock video (the corporate jargon is just a bonus).

But why do those things bother us? In a word, they're inauthentic. They feel fake - which puts them in a categorically different type of marketing altogether: bullcr*p marketing.

What is bullcr*p marketing?

Here's the definition:

Bullcr*p marketing is the practice of employing disingenuous and manipulative marketing strategies for short-term gain.

Why am I starring out the "a" in "bullcr*p marketing"? It's a bit of a jest, but also to illustrate that even the term itself isn't fully transparent, much like the tactics it describes.

Effective marketing doesn't involve grandstanding or deception, it's authentic messaging targeting the right audience. Ideally, you're solving a need for someone and offering it to them directly.

History shows us that trust between business and consumer wins over the short-term benefits of deceitful self-fluff.

Marketing: ruining mass communication since the 1600s

Marketing as a practice has existed since the dawn of man, but scholars tend to agree that mass marketing started with Gutenberg's printing press in 1450.

From there, a pattern arose in which each new form of mass communication was hijacked by some form of marketing or advertising. Around the 1600s, paid advertising began in Italy, England, and Germany across flyers, brochures, and newspaper advertisements. As print became more scalable, marketing tactics followed.

In London during the 1730s, more than half of the space in newspapers was devoted to advertising. In 1864, the telegraph was used for unsolicited spam for the first time. Radio advertising began in the 1920s, just 20 years after radio itself was invented. It didn't take long for ads to creep into television (1941), phone calls (systemized telemarketing in the 1950s), email (the 1970s), and the rest of the early web (starting in the 1980s).

Finally, we've seen how marketers have dominated social media with display ads, utilizing influencers, and with branded social profiles in the last 15 years or so.

Or as Gary Vaynerchuk puts it:

"Marketers ruin everything."

Effective marketing is authentic

Thankfully, we know that despite the proliferation of advertising and marketing messages in our lives, getting a targeted, relevant message is a more pleasant experience, especially if it helps solve an immediate need or want.

A study by Marketing Dive suggests 71% of consumers prefer personalized advertising, a product of the modern era. Havard Business Review finds targeted marketing messages are more effective than traditional advertising.

Therefore, marketing has gotten better, but only as a consequence of more faithfully serving the needs of the recipients of its intended audience. This means authenticity, transparency, and adding value should be at the top of the list for any marketing strategy. Just blowing hot smoke won't cut it anymore.

Generation Z in particular can't stomach fakeness. Research suggests that Gen Z specifically values authenticity and transparency in the companies they support, more than previous generations. They're also less loyal to brands. Gen Z is currently one of the most powerful consumer forces, spending $44 billion currently or $600 billion if you count the influence they have on their parents. Needless to say, businesses should be paying attention.

Case Study: Discord's launch campaign

One of my favorite examples of marketing done right was the launch of the instant messaging social platform Discord in 2015. Their growth and adoption were insane, with 11 million registered users in the first year, and a projected 200 million monthly active users today.

What did they do right? They spoke directly to their target audience, which was mostly younger users who enjoy video games as a hobby. Discord HQ identified their audience's main pain point, which was the need for a simple, easy-to-use voice and chat tool to communicate with their friends when they played games together.

This video encapsulates it perfectly:

Their brand voice was fun, punchy, and spoke in plain English.

I got to talk directly to the Discord marketing team at PAX West 2017 (shout out to Zac Citron!) and it turns out every video they made up to that point was mostly just 2 people - one to do the video direction and voice over, and the other to do the video editing and graphics. Shows you how a small but mighty team can help drive impressive growth.

Although their branding has changed significantly since 2020, I will never forget the initial impression they made, and their success today can be attributed in part to their authentic, laser-focused marketing efforts. I even ran a partnered 10,000-member Discord server myself for several years.

How to avoid inauthenticity in marketing

Even though we know it doesn't work long-term, it's easy to get swept up in marketing nonsense. It's a competitive enterprise and there's a lot of pressure to be viewed in the best possible light expediently. Achieving so-called "quick wins" in this area over authenticity can be tempting. So here's a quick list of how to avoid being inauthentic:

Don't lie. Even the smallest embellishment should be avoided. There may be short-term positive effects from deceitfully fluffing up your image, but lies come back to bite eventually, no matter how practiced you might be.

Don't exploit. As we've seen with keyword stuffing, link farms, and fake reviews, trying to bend the rules in your favor inevitably ends with platforms and services penalizing its abusers (more on this later).

Focus on problem-solving for your target audience. It should be well understood that a single business, brand, product, or service can't be all things to all people. If you begin to lose focus on who you're serving, you start to enter bull territory by casting your net too wide and saying nothing at all.

Don't virtue signal. One PR tactic is to try taking a stand on a socio-political issue for public karma. If your business or brand truly aligns with it, then that can work as a strategy. However, too often, decisions are made to have a public stance that doesn't truly reflect the core values of that business or brand - or worse, it's even inconsistent with how they operate. Anyone familiar with whatever the particular issue may be can smell virtue signaling from a mile away.

A history of bullcr*p marketing trends

Old-school marketing methodology doesn't work well in today's world.

Here's a timeline of bullcrap ways marketers have tried to fluff up their chances to be noticed, which inevitably end in being penalized (also see: black hat SEO).

The 1990s: Keyword stuffing and invisible text

In the early days of search engines, websites would stuff their pages full of keywords, often to the point of making the text unreadable, to boost their visibility in search results. Some even took to using invisible text or placing white words on a white background to deceive search engine algorithms. Thankfully, Google's algorithms evolved and started penalizing these tactics, promoting the idea of high quality content over keyword manipulation.

Early 2000s: Pop-up ads and spam emails

Around the turn of the millennium, the internet was besieged by a torrent of pop-up ads ("Congratulations, you've won!" - does this sound familiar?). These intrusive messages were seen as a clever way to capture attention, but they rapidly became one of the most despised forms of advertising. Similarly, email inboxes were flooded with spam messages, often of dubious legitimacy. The backlash was significant, leading to legislation like the CAN-SPAM Act in the U.S. and more sophisticated ad-blocking tools.

Mid-2000s: Link farms and doorway pages

Link farms, which are websites created purely to link to other websites, and doorway pages, low-quality pages filled with keywords designed to trick search engines, were other practices that came to prominence in the mid-2000s. These schemes sought to exploit search engine algorithms and were ultimately detrimental to the user experience. Like with earlier tricks, the response from search engines was clear: anyone who used these tactics would be penalized, further emphasizing the importance of genuine, valuable content.

2010s: Fake reviews and clickbait

With the rise of social media and online shopping, the 2010s saw an increase in fake reviews and clickbait titles. Companies started paying for positive reviews, while sensationalist headlines or "clickbait" were used to drive traffic. However, these tactics resulted in widespread mistrust and dissatisfaction among consumers, forcing platforms like Facebook and Amazon to crack down on these practices.

2020s: Misleading influencers and "deepfake" advertising

In recent years, influencer marketing has taken off, but it's not immune to deceptive practices. Some brands have been accused of not marking sponsored content clearly, while others have used deepfake technology to create misleading advertisements. Both these tactics have drawn criticism for their lack of transparency and authenticity. As a response, social media platforms are developing stricter guidelines to promote clearer advertising.

So, what's next?

While it's difficult to predict exactly what the future holds for marketing, it's safe to say that authentic, transparent, and targeted messaging will always outperform gimmicky, misleading tactics. Anything that compromises a good user experience will likely be penalized. There's no doubt that companies will have to work harder than ever to win the trust and loyalty of their customers.

Natural language processing models like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's LaMDA are powerful tools with lots of potential, however they shouldn't be relied on exclusively for content creation. Anti-cheat education software Turnitin has developed tech that can already identify whether or not text was generated with ChatGPT, and they're not alone. Princeton computer science student Edward Tian has already built something similar himself, GPTZero.

As user adoption continues to climb for AI chatbots, and sophistication increases in spotting when language learning models are used in content, it will become easier and easier to spot in the wild. Don't think copywriters will be out of a job any time soon.

Conclusion

In the modern world of marketing, most attempts to trick the system, exploit loopholes, or deceive the market are destined to fail. Instead, the focus should be on creating value for your audience through relevant, high-quality content that addresses their needs and wants. Only then can you steer clear of the bullcr*p marketing trends of the past and ensure your marketing strategy is effective.

Marketing Tips for Content Creators

I'll be writing more on the topic of marketing - specifically for content creators who want to up their online presence game.

If you fit that description, you can subscribe to my newsletter to get new posts sent to your inbox directly.

Topics I'm considering are tips for effective personal branding, choosing the ideal online username, profile best practices, social platform-specific tips, and growing your own community, just to name a few.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment with any thoughts. 🙏

[kitkatt0430]

So I've got a character study for Iris West, the 1990 live action version, I wrote up after watching the pilot episode last night. Currently in a editing phase and I'm debating adding one more scene to it, but it gets to be first in my Six Sentence Sunday snippets.

In the 90s show, Iris only shows up in the pilot episode. She's dating Barry, but their relationship is pretty clearly on the rocks. They actually break up and get back together over the course of the episode; yet despite them ending the episode as a couple, Iris never shows up again after that. Which isn't totally surprising. A lot of shows have been known to have characters get quietly dropped after the pilot episode, but the fact that was done with Iris West of all characters...

I guess I got a bit curious about her point of view in all this.

"I was thinking," Barry said, sliding their fingers together and ducking his head a bit nervously to look at them, "I could have been killed last night.  And something like that makes you look at your life, you know?"

Iris tried not to just yank her hand back, feeling a creeping unease up her spine.  "Oh, I know where this is going."

"What's wrong with that?" Barry asked.

Nothing, except he'd asked before.  Not this subtle beating around the bush, but down on one knee with a ring in hand, gazing up at her with so much hope and...

Since it's intended to be canon compliant, I lifted some dialog from the episode. By repeatedly replaying certain parts of the episode since I couldn't find any transcripts online. This Iris doesn't nearly have the developed personality of 2014's Iris West, even comparing just pilot episodes alone, though I do feel like her being a graphic artist could have been an interesting change to her character if she hadn't been so quickly scrapped.

As for my 2014!Flash fics, I think I'm getting close to wrapping up the 'Barry takes Joe's demand not to tell Iris poorly' fic. There's been a lot less Joe in it than I initially thought there'd be because there's been so much more Barry-avoiding-Joe going on. But that's given Cisco more space to be the person Barry seeks sanctuary from when he's upset about things. So I'm not complaining too much.

That said, I've finally reached the part where Barry confronts Joe about how much what he said hurt Barry. Well meant intentions don't make a poorly worded request any better, after all.

Despite telling Iris to mind her own business, Barry winds up at Joe's house one evening anyway.

It's all weirdly normal.  Joe acts like everything is fine. It drives Barry quietly up a wall.

"Why did you ask me not to tell Iris, anyway?" Barry finally demanded.  Rather glad Iris wasn't there for this conversation.  Apparently she'd told Joe about Eddie and they were mad at each other.  Again.

"Because I thought she'd do something stupid," Joe admitted. 

I'm not going to end on a 'Joe apologizes, everything's magically fine' note. But they'll be making steps towards being okay again, so they'll be okay down the road.

And the second fic in the Man in the Lightning series is being a bit sticky in places, but I've had Barry give his two week notice at work and also tell Singh the truth too.

"I want you to get peace officer certified," Singh finally said.  "It'll legitimize any arrests you need to make on your own.  I'll do what I can to keep your identity as the Flash secret."

Barry smiled.  "Thanks Captain."  He hesitated.  "I think Joe is expecting you to talk me out of quitting."

"Even I don't make crime fighting my work and all my hobbies too."  The Captain gave Barry an understanding look.

[murad3277]

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Thanks,

[recapcrew]

Week 26 Transcript

Video

Intro

Extra extra, read all about it! Welcome to the Empire’s Recap, and today we will be going over the chaos and drama of our (somewhat) respected rulers!

This week is rather short - the run up to and through the winter holidays had everyone busy, but the dramatics never stop on the Hermit slash Empires server, and we’ll all see you next year!

Pix

We begin with Pixlriffs at a loss for words.

It seems that Docm77 has somehow managed to bring the actual Ender Dragon into the overworld, and Pix is reminded that even he never knows what will happen on Hermitcraft.

Doc says the dragon is “safe” right now, but Pix is giving it a wide berth, just in case.

Instead, he’s heading out to meet up with Zedaph, who wants some help with his next custom advancement (or Zedvancement). Time to answer the absolutely new age-old question: how many pigs can you chain together with leads and riders?

Pix loves finding out the answer to ridiculous questions, so he agrees to help put the pigs through their paces. He has the idea for a swimming pool, and in his need for prismarine, he turns to Gem, who is familiar enough with both of their shenaniganery to not question it.

[GEM] Yeah, you guys are so weird. Alright, I’ll help!

[NARRATOR] She shows him to the farm, and Pix promises an IOU - though unlike those he’s been giving the other Hermits, he can’t simply return to Empires and escape paying Gem, since. You know, she’s there too.

Returning to Zedaph, the swimming pool becomes the center of an obstacle course planned for the army of pigs. Pixlriffs leads them on a test run, riding Piggs-lriffs, and it all goes well until the fire section, which is more effective if the leader is Pig-less-riffs.

The two of them build a massive diving board to dangle a chain of pigs from - over the water so a broken lead doesn’t become a perished piggy - clean a few pillagers out of the pigpen, and wrangle a mix of 11 other Hermits and Emperors to name and saddle up their hogs. And then begins the piggening.

It turns out their dangling plan only works two pigs deep, but most of the pigs are unhurt, besides a little sogginess. The obstacle course is, well, I’m not sure if more successful is the word, but it’s certainly a lot of fun - and hey, free barbecue at the end with your trophy!

Pix stays around long enough to see the real trophy be put in the Hall of Zedvancements, and holds onto his own copy. This really does belong in a museum.

Sausage

Speaking of History, The King of Hermycraf spends his week getting his affairs in order. Namely, passing the ownership of his Crastle to Zombiecleo, should he ever leave the server and be unable to return.

[CLEO] Right, right

[SAUSAGE] Yeah

[CLEO] Sausage.

[SAUSAGE] I got it. I will sign this.

[CLEO] Just…

[SAUSAGE, READING ALOUD] I, MythicalSausage, hereby give the Crastle to ZombieCleo in the event I leave the server.

[SAUSAGE] Ok perfect, I will sign this.

[CLEO] Just sign the book, close it

[CUB] I think that’s—

[CLEO] And it’s legally binding!

[CUB AND JOE IN THE BACKGROUND]

[CLEO] I feel like this is gonna backfire

[SAUSAGE] And done! Legally binding contract in the event I leave and- and unable to return! With lore.

[NARRATOR] News travels quickly around the server, and so Sausage gets a little lost looking for the Perimeter so he can pet the dragon! Luckily Gem gives him directions and Sausage is astounded by the size of the place, let alone the dragon!

Dragons aren’t the only thing on his mind though! It’s nearly Christmas time and his Secret Santa has delivered! Cubfan has gifted Sausage a kaleidoscope of color and it certainly is an explosion!

[SAUSAGE] Can I die in there?

[TOTEM POPPING NOISE]

[SAUSAGE] AH!

[SAUSAGE] OK its fine! No, I don’t want to die! I’m good!

[NARRATOR] After baiting Grian to check out the present he left for Scar last week, he and hOtGuy decide to burn Jimmy's house. Nothing like arson to warm you up in a snowy mountain.

Around Pearl's area, he finds the spot she reserved for him. Sausage jumps into a timelapse to build a funky observatory while being observed by funky aliens.

He decides he wants a way to communicate with Pearl when he goes home, so he visits Sanctuary for materials. He discovers the portal is shrinking, so an inter-dimensional communicator is definitely in order. He gathers his materials from Sanctuary, checking on Hermes while he’s there, and brings back the essence of Sanctuary. Mixing his head and Pearl’s head with the essence of Sanctuary turns out to create a robot named Sunny, placed outside his observatory. He's very cute.

Joel

Sunny isn’t the only new kid on the block this week; Joel is back to his childmaking ways, and this week, he has two new children after a mistletoe incident with Oli and the ensuing forced marriage. Mandy Mane and Rat Ruck soon disappear, but Joel seems to have bigger concerns: his furry arc has ended after his carved pumpkin cat ears have returned to their original form.

[SCOTT] You placed your cat ears?

[GENERAL SOUNDS OF SADNESS]

[JOEL] AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[NARRATOR] Luckily, Joel's Secret Santa has arrived with a scavenger hunt to distract him from his loss. Starting from the Christmas Village, he is led to the ufo at the spawn village, then to Scarland, where he gets a surprise. He then arrives at the rift in search of his present, only to find an empty present box that had already been opened by Grian. Joel tracks Grian down, and after some searching, recovers the raw gold from his present.

Their conversation then turns to the shrinking rift portal, and they decide that it may be best to let the other empires know it's time to head home.

[JOEL] Maybe… Ill go tell all the other emperors that, maybe that’s a sign.

[NARRATOR] Before he leaves Hermitcraft though, Joel needs to finish the Empire's Christmas tree, and decorate it. While decorating, Sausage drops by to help out, and discuss the rift.

[JOEL] Lovely, lovely jubbly,

[SAUSAGE] I like it!

[JOEL] As we say in England.

[SAUSAGE] That’s what they do say in England, yes! I’ve heard..

[JOEL] You’ve heard, yeah.

[SAUSAGE] Rumours! Yes. And---

[VERY LOUD BEEP]

[JOEL] …Ok well that’s not going—

[BOTH LAUGH]

[NARRATOR] Tree finished, Joel returns home through the rift to Empires, and flies back to his beloved Stratos.

Scott

Stratos’s next door neighbor Scott Smajor is making the most out of Hermitcraft, and it hasn’t stopped him from making everywhere he lives cute! Scott gives a tour of his new Scarland apartment, including the under-the-stairs room for Jimmy!

Now it’s time for an adventure at spawn, since there’s apparently an Empires Christmas village and a Secret Santa for Scott to get involved in!

Scott’s Secret Santa is Joel and - finding a Christmas hat along the way - he decides to do a scavenger hunt! Each of the clues are hidden around the server, and in the end Joel gets… coal. And some raw gold, but mostly coal.

Gem takes a visit to Scarland and Scott takes her around his new apartment, before she declares she needs to murder him.

[GEM] Oh I love it, you’ll have to come see my house at some point! This is awesome!

[SCOTT] Yeah!

[GEM] Ah.

[NARRATOR] Scott allows her to murder him as he wants one of his own heads to hand in for Cleo’s statue project in the Christmas Village, before Gem offers to let him see the head room in her base!

Not to pass up an opportunity, Scott asks to be put pride of place in the ceiling cage of the dungeon.

[SCOTT] Scott in a cage, what will he do! Wait, that feels oddly familiar…

[GEM] Nothing, he’ll do nothing, he’s trapped there now. That’s all.

[SCOTT] Me and you in a dungeon, feels oddly familiar Gem.

[NARRATOR] Gem’s base may not have much of an interior besides the dungeon, but she does have diamond decor that Scott tries to steal and he also breaks a window on his way out.

Remember that under-the-stairs room for Jimmy? Well that was made as Jimmy had left a sign trying to claim Scott’s apartment for his own - Scott, of course, decides if he gives Jimmy his own room he’ll stop trying to claim the whole apartment.

He’s right.

When Jimmy and some visitors come over Jimmy is delighted to learn of his new, fully-furnished room in Scarland under the stairs.

[JIMMY] It’s even got my head! Wait, how did you get my head? Wait.

[SCOTT] Don’t ask questions about that.

[NARRATOR] Some more highlights included from the big stream night is Scott getting his very own hotguy bow, and Oli dying.

Meanwhile, in Chromia…

[BIRDS CHIRP]

[LLAMA NOISE]

[LOUD WOOSHING NOISE]

Jimmy

The opposition rises to Scott’s new apartment as Jimmy begins his week in Scarland where he has been arguing over the prime real estate. However, the two have reconciled and agreed to share the apartment as Jimmy discovered Scott built him a room in the building.

After a brief tour of the Empires Christmas base, Jimmy is presented with his Secret Santa. The Secret Santa in question is Oli, whose extravagant nature is not missed by Jimmy as he receives two discs from the ‘Olipod’ which plays Christmas music specially curated for the Sheriff.

[THE FIRST BARS OF “THE REAL SLIM SHADY” BY EMINEM PLAY]

[JIMMY LAUGHS]

[RECORDING OLI] May I have your attention please. May I have your attention please. Will the real sheriff please stand up.

[JIMMY] Yeah I’ll stand, I’ll stand!

[OLI] He’s standing! He’s standing!

[RECORDING OLI] Will the real sheriff please stand up.

[NARRATOR] Jimmy’s ears are also blessed by an improv song from Oli and Sausage about Mumbo.

Turns out while everyone was having a great time singing Christmas carols, Scott and Joel knew the rift was slowly closing and headed back to Empires. Except, they forgot to tell everyone else and now the portal is only one block wide. Jimmy’s solution to all this is to stay on Hermitcraft but alas, that is impossible.

The Sheriff’s week concludes by drinking his last festive beverage on Hermitcraft, saying goodbye to his new Hermit friends, and hopping back through the rift to Empires. After that ordeal, Jimmy is back to his original form - he’s a small toy again.

Outro

And with that, join us next week for more chaos and shenanigans! Thank you for watching, liking, and subscribing, and thanks to everyone helping with the project, check them all out below!

[reddeadreference]

Horseshoe Overlook: Polite Society, Valentine Style

Full Transcript below ([...] placed where a gap of silence is for the same person speaking or when there’s a long period of silence and distance traveled.)   

Arthur: Hey!

[Uncle startles awake from where he was sleeping against the back of a wagon]

Arthur: Careful not to work yourself to death there, Uncle.

Uncle: I was thinking.

Arthur: Yeah. Does it pay well?

Uncle: Eventually.

Arthur: So, while the rest of us are busy stealing, killing, lying, fighting to try to survive… you get to think all day.

Uncle: It’s a strange world we live in, Arthur Morgan.

Arthur: Do you wanna head into town see if we can find anything out?

Uncle: Sure, I got some errands to run.

Arthur: Great. Go check the horses are ready.

[Having overheard Karen, Tilly, and Mary-Beth walk over.]

Karen: If you’re gonna take the old man into town…. could you take us too?

Arthur: Why what you got planned?

Karen: Nothing… we’ll find something for y’all to do, we always do.

Mary-Beth: We’re bored out of our minds. Been cooped up here for two weeks now. Karen’s about ready to murder Grimshaw.

Arthur: Well, can Miss Grimshaw spare you?

Karen: "Can Miss Grimshaw spare you?" What’s happened to you, Arthur? Three young healthy women want you to take ‘em robbing you’re worried about house chores. Let’s go!

Arthur: Fair enough, you got me. Come on then.

[They happily get into the back of the wagon.]

Tilly: I can’t believe we’re going to see civilization, feels like weeks since we did.

Uncle: (with a chuckle) Yeah, Valentine… the very embodiment of civilization. You ladies are gonna love it.

Arthur: Okay then. Let’s go.

=After “Americans At Rest”=

Uncle: Alright, do you know the way?

Arthur: Yeah… me and the boys got into a bit of a fight at the saloon there.

Karen: (laughs) Already?

Uncle: Oh, so all that talk about how hard you been working… you mean drinking. 

=Before “Americans At Rest”=

Uncle: Alright, out through the trees here, then take a left.

|

Uncle: Ladies, sing us a song.

Ladies: (laughing and singing) I got a girl in Berryville, can’t be screwed ’cause she’s too damn ill. So I don’t go down there no more. There’s a blue horse lays outside her door. I had a girl in Valentine likes to drink that fancy wine. Plumes in her hat was two feet tall the crack in her pants paid for it all. 

Uncle: Go right here, it’s quicker.

Ladies: I got a girl in Berryville. Can’t get it in her cause she won’t stay still. She kicks and squeals and farts and hollers. She kicks and squeals and farts and hollers. Won’t take less than seven dollars.

Ladies: I got a girl across the lane

Karen:  I got a girl in Berryville- (laughs) I messed it up!

Ladies: I got a girl across the lane, hair down there like a horses mane. I got a gal and she’s got a thing, fits my peter like a diamond ring. I had a girl in Valentine likes to drink that fancy wine. Plumes in her hat was two feet tall the crack in her pants paid for it all. 

(That’s all they’ll sing. Then they just sit in silence.)

[As they near a dirt road another wagon drives by.]

Uncle: Look at that coach, he… he’s all over the place.

[ The horse pulling the cart breaks out and runs away but stops on the other side of the road]

Driver: Oh, goddamn it! Oh shit, the horses! This is all I need.

Tilly: Is one of you gonna get that feller’s horse?

Uncle: Oh, I got lumbago, it’s very serious!

=Help=

Arthur: Alright, I’ll see what’s going on…(to himself) Lumbago. Really… (to the driver) You alright there, friend? 

Driver: Oh hey, you couldn’t help me get my other horse back from over there, could you? I’d really appreciate the help. I’m worried this one here will bolt on me too, if I leave him.

(Not in the video but apparently this is said if you wait closer to the driver)

Arthur: Sure, no problem.

Driver: Thanks mister. It’s the white one over there.

|

Mary-Beth: Go on, Arthur.

[Arthur slowly walks over to and calms the horse]

Tilly: See, Uncle? That is a gentleman.

[Arthur brings the horse back]

Mary-Beth: There, you got it!

Tilly: Well done, Arthur!

[Arthur brings the horse back]

Arthur: Here… here you go.

Driver: You’re a gentleman, sir, a gentleman!

Arthur: No, not really… I was just… trying to impress the women.

Driver: Well, anyway, thank you.

[Arthur climbs back onto the wagon]

Uncle: C’mon, let’s go!

Karen: To Valentine!

Uncle: You’re turning into a regular old fairy godmother there, Arthur.

Arthur: What’s that supposed to mean?

Mary-Beth: It means you’ve got a heart. A small one perhaps, hidden deep inside, but a real one. And you haven’t, you repulsive old lizard.

Uncle: Lizards have hearts!

Tilly: Well, Arthur, I’m proud of you.

Arthur: To be honest, if you lot hadn’t been here… I probably woulda robbed him.

Mary-Beth: Well, you didn’t!

=Don’t Help=

Arthur: I’m sure he can handle it.

[Karen stands and smacks Uncle on the arm]

Karen: Why didn’t you help that poor man?

Uncle: L-lumbago! It’s really serious, it can be deadly.

Karen: What about you, Arthur?

Arthur: Do I look like I got the energy to waste on charity?That fool can get his own horse.

Mary-Beth: I don’t believe you’re quite that cold, Mr. Morgan.

Arthur: Oh, I’m colder than you realize. I feel bad I didn’t rob and kill the bastard.

Mary-Beth: Very inspiring, Arthur.

|

[They enter Valentine.]

Tilly: Smell those sheep.

Karen: Or is that Uncle?

Uncle: Very funny.

Mary-Beth: This looks like a decent little town.

Tilly: Other people… finally.

Mary-Beth: Look at all that snow on the mountains. Sure don’t want to be back up there.

Tilly: You think we should’ve asked Molly to come with us?

Karen: Oh no, Miss O’Shea is far too high and mighty now for the likes of us… or to do any real work. She’s a society lady, now. Okay, take a good look around, ladies. Let’s see what we got here.

Uncle: Go left here, down the main street. Sheriff’s office on the right. Sure you can pick up some, bounties there, Arthur.

Arthur: Heaven forbid you put your head on the line.

Uncle: That’s a young man’s game.

Karen: Oh yes, we can get up to some mischief here alright…

Arthur: Just remember, keep a low profile.

Karen: Will you remember that, though, Arthur?

Arthur: Probably not.

Uncle: Let’s park up down the end there, near the stables.

[Once the wagon stops]

Uncle: Alright! Here we are, just like I said. The cultural center of civilization. Man at his finest.

Arthur: Uncle, what’re we doing?

Uncle: Well, we’re gonna do what any self respecting maniac does… put the women to work.

Karen: With pleasure… we’ll start at the saloon.

Arthur: Okay, just stay outta trouble and don’t get yourselves noticed.

Uncle: Right, I-I need to get something from the stores.

Arthur: Okay, (to the girls) well we’ll see you at the general store when you’re done.

Karen: Come on ladies… imagine we’re in Paris.

Tilly: I imagine Paris and Valentine are easily confused.

Uncle: Come on.

Arthur: So that’s how you see yourself, is it? A maniac?

Uncle: Well, in my youth, I used to be known as the "one-shot kid".

Arthur: Okay… I’m not gonna ask why.

Uncle: You’re a sad man, Arthur Morgan. But I know you love me.

Arthur: Desperately… you’re my favorite parasite. No… ringworm’s my favorite parasite, you’re my second favorite parasite.

Uncle: Very funny.

Arthur: I lied… ringworm, then rats with the plague, then you.

Uncle: Shut up… this is the place, now. Come on. (to a shopkeeper as they enter) [Uncle will say either “Morning” or “Afternoon” depending on what time it is.]

Arthur: So what do you need?

Uncle: A drop of whiskey for a start. Something to pass the time while we’re waiting on the women.

= After “Americans At Rest”=

Arthur: Yeah, reckon I should probably steer clear of the saloon this time.

Uncle: You’re looking a bit tired there, Arthur. Why you don’t pick up some coffee while we’re here?

Shopkeeper: Lemme know if you have any questions, fellers. Whiskey’s on the top shell, nearest the door. Wait, ain’t you the feller who had the fight with Tommy outside the saloon?

Arthur: Yeah, that all got a little out of hand, but… I didn’t swing first.

Shopkeeper: Sure, well, these things happen. And that was some good viewing. Don’t reckon folk ever seen Tommy lose a fight before.

Arthur: Well, it’s all done now.

[Arthur buys coffee]

Uncle: Okay, if you’re done, I'll meet you outside. I won’t be too long.

=Before “Americans At Rest”=

Arthur: So what do you need?

Uncle: A drop of whiskey for a start. Something to pass the time while we’re waiting on the women.

Arthur: Always thinking ahead, ain’t you

Uncle: You’re looking a bit tired there, Arthur. Why you don’t pick up some coffee while we’re here?

Shopkeeper: Plenty out on the shelves, but I got more out back. Whiskey’s on the top shell, nearest the door.

[Arthur buys coffee]

Uncle: Okay, if you’re done, I'll meet you outside. I won’t be too long.

[At anypoint after buying the coffee, you can leave the store to wait for Uncle. Arthur sits on a bench and shortly after Uncle comes out to join him OR:]

=Wait inside for Uncle to finish shopping=

Uncle: (To the shopkeeper) What do you reckon, a lamb or a sausage?

Shopkeeper: Well, this here’s a sheep town, the lamb’s the best in the state.

Uncle: (after seeing the cheese) Now I know what the smell is.

Shopkeeper: That’s a ripe cheese alright.

Arthur: So, you’re actually buying for once? Are you feeling alright?

Uncle: See this? Young folk got no respect for their elders no more. [...] Well look at this, a jaw harp.

Arthur: What is this list of yours?

Uncle: I got a lot to replenish after that godawful time in the mountains.

Shopkeeper: All done.

Uncle: Thank you kindly. (after placing money on the counter) This should do the trick.

Shopkeeper: Yep… that’s fine whisky.

Uncle: That should do us, let’s go wait for them outside.

Shopkeeper: All the best, fellers. Try to stay out of trouble now.

|

=Waited inside/ last out of store=

[Arthur walks out to where Uncle is sitting on the bench drinking from the bottle. He holds it out to Arthur who sits down beside him.]

Uncle: Oh, here’s to your good health, sir… and to being down here, off that mountain.

Arthur: Absolutely.

[In the background Karen can be seen bringing a man to the hotel]

Uncle: It’s a funny world. This time in my career… I pictured myself being married to an heiress.

=Wait outside/first out of store=

[Uncle walks out to where Arthur is sitting on the bench. He takes a swig of the bottle before holding it out to Arthur.]

Uncle: Here’s to your good health, my sir.

Uncle: It’s a funny world. This time in my career… I pictured myself being married to an heiress.

[The scene fades to black and Arthur seems to fall asleep. A little while later, Mary-Beth wakes him up as she walks up to them.]

Mary-Beth: Gentlemen. I think I’ve got something good. I snuck into this fancy house and acted like a servant girl, usually works. Someone was saying her sister was taking a trip from New York or someplace. Train full of rich tourists, heading to Saint Denis and then cruising off to Brazil.

Arthur: Okay.

Mary-Beth: A train laden with baggage and passing through a bit of deserted country at night as to get to the docks in time for the tides in some place called Scarlett Meadows.

Uncle: Yeah, I know it… yeah, yeah, it’s right out near New Hanover. Right, it’s real quiet out there.

Arthur: Sounds good. Where’s Tilly and Karen?

Mary-Beth: I think at the hotel… they were picking up some drunken fellers that they was going to rob.

Arthur: Why?

Mary-Beth: It seemed easy. They have been gone for quite a while.

Arthur: I guess I’ll go see if there’s any trouble.

[Mary-Beth sees Tilly and a man who is pulling her into the small alleyway between the bank and the hotel]

Mary-Beth: Oh, there’s Tilly over there… that does not look ideal.

Arthur: Excuse me.

[Arthur goes to confront the man and save Tilly]

Tilly: Get your hands off me!

Stranger: You thought I wouldn’t find you, Tilly?

Tilly: You can go kiss a damn snake for all I care… get off me! Get off of me!

=Defuse=

Arthur: Get your hands off her, friend.

Stranger: Who are you?

Tilly: A friend of mine…

Arthur: Get off her.

Stranger: Or what, exactly.

Arthur: You wanna find out?

Stranger: You’re making a big mistake, Tilly Jackson.

Tilly: Just get lost.

Stranger: (as he’s walking away) I ain’t doing this with you right now.

Arthur: Go wait with Uncle and Mary Beth, they’re across the street.

Tilly: Okay, thanks Arthur.

=Interviece=

(It’s a personal choice of mine to point the gun at him for this)

Arthur: (threatening) Get your hands off of her.

Stranger: Who are you?

Tilly: A friend of mine…

Arthur: (threatening) Get the hell off of her, you son of a bitch.

Stranger: Hey… hey take it easy. There’s no problem here.

Arthur: There will be if you don’t get outta here right now.

Stranger: You’re making a big mistake, Tilly Jackson.

Tilly: Just get lost.

Stranger: I ain’t doing this with you right now.

Arthur: Go wait with Uncle and Mary Beth, they’re across the street.

Tilly: Okay, thanks Arthur.

=Question=

Arthur: What was that all about?

Tilly: Just someone I used to know.

|

[Arthur calls across the street]

Arthur: Uncle! Look after her. I’mma go see about Karen in the hotel.

[Arthur enters the hotel.]

Hotel owner: Can I help you, sir?

=Question=

Arthur: I’m looking for a girl who came in here earlier with a drunk feller? Mid twenties, blonde, you’d remember her.

Hotel owner: Yeah, they’re in 2B, upstairs. Are you, uh, a friend of his?

Arthur: A friend of hers…

Hotel Owner: (as Arthur goes upstairs) No trouble now, please!

=Just go upstairs=

[Soon Arthur hears Karen’s voice from the next room.]

Karen: Get off of me!

Stranger 2: I’m getting what I paid for!

Arthur: (kicking the door in) Hey!

Stranger 2: Who are you?

Arthur: A friend of hers.

Stranger 2: Get outta here, buddy, I paid.

Arthur: Ain’t paid to hit her, you goddamn animal! Come here!

[He knocks out the stranger with several punches.]

Arthur: What the hell were you doing here?

Karen: Trying to play him. Not very well.

Arthur: You okay?

Karen: Fine…

Arthur: You sure?

[The two start to leave]

Karen: Yeah. Nothing… nothing to worry about, just… men, but… stupid bastard… stupid bastard was boasting about the bank.

Arthur: The bank?

Karen: Sure, I know small town banks are usually a waste of time, (Hotel owner: I hope uh, everything’s okay up there?) but… this is a livestock town, there’s lots of cash sometimes.

Arthur: Okay… keep investigating.

Karen: I will. After you. 

[The two leave and it switches to a cutscene- note during this Downes can be heard and is labeled as Stranger 3 by the game but I did not include his dialogue.]

Karen: ]Thank you, Arthur. I don’t much like being saved, but… when I have to be.

Arthur: I understand.

[They go outside and across the street to where the others are waiting.]

Tilly: You okay?

Karen: Sure, he only punched me. Arthur punched him a lot harder.

Arthur: Yeah. Alright then.

Mary-Beth: Hey, who’s that guy over there looking at us?

[A man on horseback is watching them]

Stranger 3: Weren’t you in Blackwater a few weeks back?

Arthur: Me? No, sir. Ain’t from there.

Stranger 3: Oh, you were. Well, I definitely saw you. With a bunch of fellers.

Arthur: Me? No, impossible. Listen, buddy. Come here for a minute.

Stranger 3: I saw you…

Arthur: Come here.

Stranger 3: (to his horse) Come on, get!

[He rides away on his horse.]

Uncle: I don’t like this.

Arthur: Me neither. Go get the girls home. I’m gonna go have a word with our friend.

Tilly: Be careful, Arthur.

Arthur: Just a word.

[Arthur borrows a horse to chase after the man]

Civilian: Hey! That’s my horse!

Arthur: Just borrowing it…

Stranger 3: You stay away from me!

Arthur: Get back here right now! [...] You stop right here!

Stranger 3: I don’t want no trouble!

Arthur: We need to talk, pal!

Stranger 3: Come on, hyah! Hyah!

[the man rides too close to the cliff and falls off his horse]

Stranger 3: Help! Someone!

=Question=

Arthur: Why are you telling lies about me?

Stranger: No, no! I-I-I got it wrong, partner… I got it very wrong, now please, help me up!

Arthur: I ain’t never been in Blackwater…

Stranger: Then why are you chasing me?

Arthur: I’ve got an unfortunate face.

Stranger: Yes, yes… me too… now please, pull me up, please! Please! 

=Help=

Arthur: Alright… come on… 

[Arthur helps the man up]

Arthur: You okay, partner?

Stranger 3: No… no, I am not. I’m a mess.

Arthur: Well, you ain’t dead.

Stranger 3: There is that. Jimmy Brooks.

[He stretches out his hand, but Arthur does not shake it.]

Arthur: I think it’s best for both of us… if we pretend this never happened.

Jimmy: Oh, I agree. You saved my life. You’re a good man and I, err…Here. you want a pen? It’s one of them steel ones.

Arthur: Oh… that’s very kind of you. But I’m not a good man, Jimmy Brooks… not usually. You see… I was in Blackwater. I kill people… and maybe I shoulda killed you. Should I have killed you, Jimmy Brooks?

Jimmy: Me…? I n-never saw you… not-not now, not-not never. I think we have an understanding?

Arthur: Of course we do. Jimmy Brooks… I will remember that. I’ve got a good memory.

Jimmy: I haven’t… I haven’t! Not-not one lick! Not… one sense in this here old mind! (to himself as he’s getting on his horse) C’mon, c’mon… (to Arthur) You have a nice day now, sir.

[Jimmy leaves in a hurry and the mission ends but there’s an optional task of bringing back the horse you borrowed.]

=Kill=

Stranger 3: Please! My hands are slipping.

[Arthur steps on his fingers, the man falls to his death, and Arthur loses honor]

|

=Return the horse=

Civilian: Hey! My horse! Am I glad to see you!

Arthur: Here’s your horse back, friend.

Civilian: Oh, you really were just borrowing it!

Arthur: Appreciate it.

[ranbooupdatesstuff]

— you’ve got ranmail !

Transcript under the cut

[ TRANSCRIPT: Okay first off, not a film critic, just someone who for the last like three months has been really getting into filmmaking as an artform and learning the ins and outs of storytelling. Will try to avoid spoilers as much as possible but if i really need to i will use that little spoiler thing on discord.

SO

I really really liked The Batman and if you havent seen it I very much recommend it. Even if you have no idea what the comics are about trust me the film does a GREAT job of explaining things in a way that you dont feel like its explaining it to you. Certain elements would be a little less understood if you have no idea what batman as a character is, and the film does rely on that in some points, but i think it does a great job at explaining it and quickly building the world partway through the narration in the beginning, framed as a diary entryand partway through the casual conversations.

Another thing this film does really well is the characterization of Bruce Wayne imo. This film from the beginning shows you that this dude is not mentally okay and doesnt even try to show that he is. ANY DUDE THAT DRESSES UP AND GOES OUT CRIME FIGHTING BECAUSE HIS PARENTS DIED WOULD NOT BE MENTALLY ALRIGHT! And I REALLY liked the fact that it showed that through the character of Bruce. What I mean is in most portrayals of batman as we have seen it shows him as this suave successful business man who switches into this persona of a crime fighting batman. THIS Bruce however has FULLY put himself into the batman to the point where it shows that his business side is VERY lacking which makes a lot more sense than the other portrayals. This Bruce and Batman feels like one cohesive character rather than 2 separated personas like most films before have done. I think the best way to show this is the eyeliner example. In I think ALL batman films there is usually a cut when batman takes off his mask in which the eyeliner that pretty much all batmans... batmen? have worn is removed when he takes off his mask and becomes bruce wayne. I think that its a really good example of how this bruce was characterized that the eyeliner stays on when he takes off the mask! He doesnt take off the mask and suddenly switches to a dude that looks like he just got his hair done, he looks disheveled, and unkept. Its a good metaphor for how when bruce stops being batman he doesnt just switch to this entirely different person. Being the batman has entirely consumed almost every aspect of his life which honestly is a lot more realistic than "Suddenly I am perfect business man".

I could go into more detail of how much I love this Bruce Wayne (besides his looks because my GOD did he just always look good somehow) but ill spare some of the details and just say that I think the decisions they made with MOST of his characterization was good.

(THERES STILL MORE AFTER THIS I RAN OUT OF SPACE ON DISCORD LMAO) ]

[warwickroyals]

CHAPTER XXXVIII: FAMILY CONNECTIONS

Beginning | Previous | Next

Transcript under the cut - Click for HQ photos

AUTHOR’S NOTE: We are finally getting into what happened with Jean's mom. No, she's not an urn, guys, we can all relax with that knowledge in mind! As a child of immigrants, I relate to Jean a lot here. Sometimes you feel very disconnected from your family's heritage. You feel that you've been excluded or that your parent's culture doesn't fully represent your own experiences or perspectives. Sometimes you can feel as if those experiences were stolen from you. This is a big part of her character and we will get into it even more in the future.

PS - Also, Phillip is right that Louis 100% knows about Jean. He just doesn't think it's serious. Yet.

All likes, comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated! Thank you for the support 💜

[JEAN] What do you mean there are photographs? I—I don’t understand.

[JEAN] Who is contacting you? Isn’t it, like, two in the morning, —No! Don’t answer them. Don’t tell them anything!

[JEAN] I don’t know if it’s me because I don’t know what pictures you’re talking about! No—Mom, Mom, shut up—even if it is me, it’s not your business, do you understand me? You’re not going to control me from ten thousand kilo—

[ARGUMENT CONTINUES IN PYOJUNEO]

[PHILLIP] I think we need to talk about the press.

[JEAN] . . . Yeah?

[PHILLIP] Yeah.  Because it’s not always going to be easy with them. They’re complicated.

[JEAN] Everything about your life seems complicated.

[PHILLIP] If I was still . . . working when we’d met you and your family would have access to certain protections. Publicly funded security and all that. However, since I’m no longer part of that lifestyle, I’m the one who pays.

[JEAN] You can afford that though, right?

[PHILLIP] Of course. The problem is less about funds and more about your mother.

[PHILLIP] Since I don’t know where she is, or how to contact her, that makes her vulnerable to . . . intrusions.

[JEAN] I don’t know where my mom is. I don’t even know how she got my number.

[PHILLIP] You don’t know where she is?

[JEAN] All I know is that she’s on another continent, somewhere across the ocean. Look, it’s not something I can easily explain, the whole thing came out of nowhere. She . . . I mean we’ve always lived together. Even when I was old enough to buy my own place, I made sure she had her own room and all that. Didn’t even ask, it just made sense that she’d always be with me.

[JEAN’ Then one day, the same day we . . . you know . . . hooked up, I guess, she just fuckin’ told me all this stuff about, like, my dad and being a single mom and how she hated it here and how lonely she was. She said that, that she only came here to raise me. Now that I was successful and had a good job and was in therapy, her job as a mother was done. She wanted to go back to her real home, she said. She wanted to, uh, be where she grew up. And I just remember her saying sh—she wanted to die there or something? But I was still . . . stuck. I remember asking her what do you mean? Like, what do you mean your job as a mother is “finished”? I don’t even remember her answer, but it made me mad.

[JEAN] I told her this is our home and she laughed. She told me she knew that I wouldn’t understand. Because my entire culture was adopted. I never asked her what leaving was like, I changed the name she gave me because I wanted to fit in. It’s a miracle that I could even read Hangul, she told me. I realized she had all this resentment aimed at me, and it was all coming out without warning. But I can’t go with you, I said. I know was her response. After that I said some pretty awful things to her. And then she left and I . . .I never, never even bothered to—I just took all my frustrations out on you—

[PHILLIP] Hey, hey, calm down, it’s alright. You can call her, you have her number now.

[JEAN] You make that sound so easy. I told her I never wanted to talk to her again. And now she’s screaming at me over the phone because some unknown reporters contacted her with photographs and questions. I don’t know where she is but they found her in no time at all. It’s insane, Phillip, but . . . I’ll try to call her back. Does this mean your family knows about me?

[PHILLIP] My father almost certainly, but he wouldn’t tell the rest of my family unless he wanted it to go public. I haven’t told them anything. The thought scares me.  I don’t even know how to approach that.

[JEAN] Would it be a good thing if the rest of them knew? Is going public something you’d want?

[PHILLIP] Honestly? No. Not yet at least. Everything about my life is complicated, remember? We don’t have to be.

[mrarchewannabe]

First Contact and it's Complications

THE FOLLOWING TRANSCRIPT IS A DOCUMENTATION OF FIRST CONTACT OF THE ZEATIKIAN RACE TO HUMANITY 500 CYCLES AGO TRANSLATED INTO COMMON BY THE FEDERATION OF SYSTEMS

Entry 1

Cycle date, 890, Rotation date, 197, at 1300 Ticks

This is head researcher Bea'zikal making a reports on the situation of our scouting of the outer arms of the Galaxy called Geaitza-7, I am unaware how fast these reports will be sent back to HQ, but you've given us premission to proceed how we see fit

Contact, we've made contact with an alien empire that refers to it's self as USH or United Systems of Humanity we absolutely didn't expect contact so soon and especially not a sapient and technologically advanced species such as this; as for the designation for the species itself it refers to a name called 'Humans' which translated to common Zeatikian is 'Huamein' or for the proper scientific term which is dubbed by themselves 'Homo Sapien'. They are quite physically imposing specimens standing 4 to 6 units in height on average and around 30 to 70 Mass Increments in weight and many capable of lifting 2 to 4 times their weight on average with some being recorded lifting 10 times their weight. They are mammals, warm blooded, and come in many different permentations in hair style and skin pigmentation which I have to admit is quite beautiful in its variation. I know this is brief but the crew is excited and worried so I will most likely be busy for quite a awhile doing research and studying, so signing off.

Entry 2

Cycle date, 891, Rotation date, 13, at 200 Ticks

To call the Humans a interesting bunch would be a vast understatement; they are socially rich and vast, containing thousands of different cultures, religions and traditions that have been held for thousands of years. First contact was more or less awkward as you could expect as we had different languages in every conceivable way down to speech, body language, and symbols of mathematics. We spent half a cycle deciphering and trading languages with a ship call the 'USS Omaha' which was a warship and was very plain to see what it's purpose was; we started slow with communication, showing images and photos to convey concepts, places, actions, which of course they provided as well. We managed to get a form of communication going and so far it's working well, we can ask and answer basic questions and we both had quite alot.

Entry 3

Cycle date, 891, Rotation date, 34, at 500 Ticks

Its almost time for both of our ships to dock and meet "face to face" as the humans say, a saying meaning to interact with honor, respect, and business. However there were multiple issues that were obvious and it was that both of our species evolved and lived in two vastly different habitats and therefore exposed to different microorganisms and bacteria; to combat this extensive testing was done in our labs; natural bacteria and microorganisms from our respective homes were exchanged as well as DNA to study the effects the bacteria and microorganisms did to the living cells. Thankfully the complications were few and after a few minor inoculations and another half cycle of waiting it was finally time to make a mark on history; I can't believe it's already been a cycle and a half but I believe it will be worth it.

Entry 4

Cycle date, 891, Rotation date, 35, at 1000 Ticks

The docking procedure went well, mostly due to the special coupling adapter that had to be worked on just outside our ships so that they actually could couple together without something breaking or crumpling. I waited in front of the Airlock with acting Captain Gae'Taek who was rightly paranoid; we still didn't know the humans true intentions but I simply told myself and the crew that they probably felt the same way...hopefully. Gae'Taek was big among our species as he weighed 20 Mass Increments and stood around 2.5 Units tall, truly a massive Zeatikian; but when we met the Humans inside the Coupling bay he looked as a mere child compared to the extremely intimidating size of the Human Captain and his two crewmates who I was told also happened to be researchers themselves in which I found a odd comfort in. The human Captain spoke up "I am pleased to finally meet you in person Captain Gae'Taek" his voice was deep but robotic as they were wearing what seemed like a mix between a hazard suit, environmental suit, and Military Grade Combat Skin, this didn't surprise me after all as the vessel was a warship and a research deck "I am also pleased to meet you as well Head researcher Bea'zikal" he Extended his limb and body forward slightly with his claws- No "Hand" as they called it, open for what Humans called a "Handshake" which was a traditional Greeting that implied respectful and Civilized Behavior. Captain Gae'Taek Hesitated slightly before taking his hand and shaking it lightly, he then reached over in my direction and wished to receive one from me as well, my hesitation was clear but I had mustered the courage to take his hand, I would not be lying if I said I was terrified he would accidentally crush my Claws carapace and all with his powerful hand wrapped in a combat skin. (Note: Humans have the most complex musclar system I've ever observed; layers of various proteins organized into elastic bands stretched over what they call a Skeleton which functions like a Carapace but for the inside and acts as a scaffold for the muscle to latch onto and function) But surprisingly he did not crush my Claw like I thought he would and was actually very careful, who knew that with so much raw power that Humans Fine Motor Control could be so precise. Captain Gae'Taek responded in a respectful tone as well " I am also pleased to meet you as well Captain Maer'ceis I hope we may learn much from one another" (Note: Maer'ceis translated to the Human Language results in Marcus, which he will be refered as the rest of the report) Captain Marcus Bares his teeth which is a sign of happiness and acceptance "I wish the same as well" he spoke "come let me give you a tour of our ship, or atleast everything you've been giving authorization to see" And with that he gave us a tour of the ships facilities which were mostly what they called "recreational" which to me seemed horribly dangerous and would have definitely breached safety regulations back home; that aside I'm excited for what will be coming up next as I hope it will lead to a strong partnership.

I've simplified my previous reports due to the amount of work we've had this past cycle it's been quite stressful, I plan to report on their culture, traditions, history, and economic status; it should be full of details, but I just need time, if something pops up I will let you know - Head Researcher Bea'zikal

(this is the first ever short that I've decided to publish so I apologize if my grammar is off I hope you enjoy and please give me and tips or advice you feel would help improve my writing)

[doomed-corruption-au]

Doomed Corruption: Prologue

Peridot growled, slamming her limb enhancers on the table in rage. She could only watch as they destroyed both her extended touch stump bases, smashing them to bits. These “Crystal Gems,” whoever they were, were a menace. She could only sit there in anger as she watched the defective amethyst slam the extended touch stump base into the main power crystal in the center of the far wall.

“I’M REPORTING THIS,” she shouted. “YOU HEAR ME!? You all have-”

Then her feed cut out, meaning they only heard part of her rant.

Grumbling, Peridot minimized the live feed, which had since turned to static. She read her log over again, correcting a few errors in the text. That voice reader technology was still a work in progress, and whatever that “Steven” was, the reader didn’t recognize its voice as well as it could with gems.

Well. At least he’d given her something to work with. She looked at the list of humans he’d given her, wondering what “Sadie”s looked like, or “Lars”s or “Onion I Think”s. That one, in particular, sounded odd, but the Steven should know better than she would.

Why had those Crystal Gems defended that Steven? Was it important in some way?

Ug. Whatever. She had better things to do than wonder about some random organic species on a doomed planet, anyway.

She growled. Those Crystal Gems were going to be a problem. If only one of her plug robonoids made it to the Kindergarten, that could only mean they destroyed the rest. Just like her Red Eye. Or the Homeworld warp. Or the robonoids sent to repair the Homeworld warp.

Who were they? The way the pearl spoke, they seemed to think themselves as important. The pearl shouting “WE ARE STILL ALIVE” rang in Peridot’s ears. It sounded like it meant something.

She had to know. Setting aside her log, she stood up and stormed over to the nearest warp pad. One quick flash of light later and a short journey, she was standing in front of the Homeworld hall of records.

The building was large, holding data logs and reports that dated up to nearly 20,000 years ago, when the technology and gem glyph were first fabricated. Some logs had been written on physical material, like old stones, and were starting to fall apart with age. Gems were working to translate what they could into more modern technology, but for some of those ancient logs, it was too late.

Not what she was looking for, anyway. The logs were sorted by year. Pink Diamond owned Earth, and she was shattered just over 5,000 years ago. Peridot started there first.

There were a few other gems mingling about, but none questioned her present. Even though she had no business being there, they left her alone, assuming she was doing research assigned to her rather than coming here on her own curiosity. She should be okay as long as no one asked her anything.

The Cluster, which she did extended research on, was implanted in the Earth shortly after Pink had been shattered, with a few hundred years difference. It had been commissioned by Yellow Diamond, and took several hundred years to assemble. Once it was done, it had to incubate for a thousand times longer than a normal, average gem, meaning it incubated for 5,000 years. This was all old information to Peridot.

What she didn’t ever think to question was why the Cluster was planted in the first place.

A rebellion. Rose Quartz- she’d heard of her, but never knew she had an ARMY- and her renegade pearl. A thousand years of fighting. A second Kindergarten (where apparently the perfect Jasper was made from, amazingly). Fusions running rampant. It was a nightmare.

So that’s who they were. Traitors to their Homeworld, and allies of those who shattered Pink Diamond.

Shoving the tablet in her hands away from her, Peridot ran out of the records hall. She rushed to the nearest communicator, typing in her command as fast as possible. She earned a couple of looks from nearby gems, but once she hurriedly explained the Crystal Gems and their status on Earth, they became just as horrified.

Yellow Diamond had to know.

-

Yellow read and reread the report. The Crystal Gems were still alive. There was no way. It had to be a mistake. And she knew that the incompetent Peridot who wrote the report would not be let off easily for this mistake. She would see to that.

“My Diamond,” her pearl called out, “the Peridot you requested has arrived.”

Without looking at her, Yellow simply nodded. “Step forward.”

There was a beat of silence. During it, Yellow reread the report again. There was no way.

“...My Diamond?” the peridot asked nervously.

Yellow sighed, then finally looked her way. She moved only her eyes, and watched as the peridot stiffened under her gaze. “What.”

“Um...” the peridot was shaking badly. “Y-you asked... to see me?”

“Yes. I did.” Turning fully to her now, Yellow gave her a long glare. “Tell me, what makes you think the Crystal Gems are still alive on Earth?”

The peridot straightened. “I am the peridot assigned to check up on the Cluster, My Diamond, but all of my equipment kept getting destroyed. Most recently, one of my plug robonoids successfully made it to the Kindergarten, which was immediately destroyed by three gems and a ‘Steven.’ I tried to fight them, but they destroyed the facility’s base touch stumps and cut the power.”

Yellow hummed. “What makes you so sure they were Crystal Gems?”

“Th-they told me!” Peridot pulled up her log, flipping through them as if to re-verify this information for herself. “The pearl announced ‘because we are the Crystal Gems. We are still alive and we are still the guardians of this planet.’ I, um,” she looked around nervously, as if she were about to get in trouble, “I’d never heard of the Crystal Gems before she told me herself.”

Yellow’s glare became a frown. “What gems did you see?”

“A defective amethyst, a pearl, and a cross fusion.”

Yellow stiffened. Those definitely sounded like defective gems that would have become a part of Rose’s army. But.... She squinted. “Did you see a rose quartz?”

Peridot looked around for a second, before squeaking out a weak “...No?”

Great. “That means she either got destroyed in our attack, or she split off from the group you encountered, meaning there could be more.”

“My Diamond?”

“Great. Perfect! All these years, and they’re still out there!” Yellow stood up abruptly, slamming her hand on the arm of her chair. The peridot jumped and scuttled backward a few steps, but forced herself to remain still afterward.

Yellow ignored her. She stomped forward a few paces, hand clenched at her side, the other waving around animatedly. “I don’t understand. Our attack should have destroyed all gems on Earth. How did- WHY did her army survive?”

Before the peridot could answer, Yellow had stormed back over to her chair. She snatched up the Diamond Line communicator, rotating it so the two blue triangles aligned. After a moment of wait, Blue Diamond appeared on-screen.

She was wiping her eyes (because of course she was), trying her best to look presentable. “Oh, Yellow,” she greeted less-than-animatedly. “It’s good to speak with you again. Tell me, is something going on?”

“Yes, I’m afraid there is.” Yellow looked around, then noted the peridot still standing there. She shot her a look of fire as if she were the source of all of Yellow’s problems. “You there! You’re dismissed. Leave my chambers at once!”

The peridot jumped again, quickly slapped together some form of a solute, then shot out the door before Yellow could do much else.

Now that they were alone once again, Yellow sighed. She pressed two fingers together on the bridge of her nose, trying not to lose her cool. “Blue. I have received terrible news.”

Blue cringed. “...Yes, Yellow? What is it?”

She steeled herself before saying; “...the Crystal Gems are still alive.”

“WHAT?!” Blue shot up, standing now. Her icy look could have shot Yellow through the gem had it been aimed at her. “Yellow, there’s no way! We destroyed them!”

“I KNOW!” Yellow shouted back. “But I have a transcript of the report. I read it. Multiple times.”

Blue started to tear up again. “Oh, no, Pink...” she sobbed. “All of these years, we thought we’d avenged you...”

“Apparently not,” Yellow growled. “And I want to see to it that we finish the job.”

“But of course!” Blue glared at Yellow. “What else are we to do, sit here and continue on while knowing they’re still out there?!”

“Yes, exactly.” Yellow stood up straighter, trying to regain her cool. “I’ll send a message to White. Now I just need to convince her to join us. She’ll likely tell us to just wait for the Cluster to emerge.”

“Well, that should do it,” Blue mused, “but I’d feel much better in doing the damage myself.”

“Agreed.” Yellow closed her eyes, definitely keeping her anger in check enough to think rationally. “I will get on that immediately.”

“You better.” Blue looked away. “We leave as soon as we can.”

Yellow gave Blue a single nod. Then, the communicator went dark, and Blue’s image disappeared.

To be continued...

[bestillmyslashyheart]

for @antiforlexpropaganda. sorry it’s very very late (and a super thank you to @caitlesshea for rewatching the scene for me and writing a transcript so i didn’t have to)

Maria knocked again, a quick rap that echoed inside. It was early but she knew Alex was used to getting up with the sun so she wasn’t too worried about waking him up. Or at least she hadn’t been before she spent multiple minutes knocking on his door. Just as she was considering leaving and coming back later, the lock turned and the door cracked open.

Alex looked faintly surprised to see her. “You’ve been avoiding me,” he accused lightly.

Maria shrugged. “Well, I learned you and all of our friends have been lying to me about aliens and murders and resurrection, so I haven’t been feeling particularly social. That being said I fell for your ex, so I’ve decided that even though I’m not speaking to them you and I are even?” She questioned hesitantly. She hadn’t actually spoken to Alex about Michael since that day at the bar and she definitely hadn’t talked to him before or after her and Michael’s very brief foray into a relationship but she knew he had heard about it. There was no way he hadn’t.

There was a look in Alex’s eyes, something Maria couldn’t place, but it was gone before she could try to figure it out. “That’s fair,” he replied. “What’s up?”

Maria let out a small breath of relief. She held up her mom’s laptop in answer. “Forgot the password.”

Alex raised his eyebrows. “And you want me to use my NSA intelligence cryptology training to hack into your laptop?”

Maria sent him a coy look in answer, unwilling to come out and say that yes, she wanted him to commit a crime for her. Thankfully, Alex let out a little huff of a laugh. “How does any straight man survive you?”

“They don’t,” Maria grinned and follow Alex inside when he stepped aside. He led her into the living room and settled on his couch, his right leg stretching out in front of him. He waved a hand to invite her to have a seat. She did, perching herself on the edge of the bench in front of Alex’s piano and looked around. She had stopped by right after Alex moved in but hadn’t been by since. He hadn’t done too much with the place but it definitely looked less like waystation now. More like a home.

Alex sat patiently as she looked around. She felt his eyes on her but she waited a moment before turning to him.

“How come you’re not mad at me?” She finally asked. It was what she had feared, why she had waited so long to come around.

“For Michael?” Alex asked, like there was anything else he could be angry at her for. She nodded and he sighed. “The mess between us will never be your fault. And plus you didn’t know my history with him until after you hooked up. That’s my fault. I should’ve told you.”

“No,” Maria argued. “When I found out I should’ve stopped.” Because while she hadn’t known in Texas, she’d definitely known after.

“Yeah, okay, you should’ve.” He was only agreeing with what she’d just said herself but it hurt to hear him say it. “But you couldn’t. How could I be mad at you for falling for Michael Guerin? It’s the easiest thing in the world.”

Maria wasn’t sure she agreed. “Yeah, until it’s not.”

Alex shook his head, a soft look coming over his face. “Don’t write him off yet, okay? He keeps secrets because of how much he loves Max and Isobel, not because of how much he loves you.” Maria privately thought it was a little early (or late depending on you looked at it) to be calling it love.

She had to ask. “You told me once that you would stay in Roswell forever if the guy from the museum would just keep kissing you. But you did leave. What happened?”

Alex closed off and looked away. “He stopped being that guy.” His eyes flicked away, focusing on something behind her. “I begged him to get it together, then he got busted for stealing hubcaps.”

“He was pushing you away. He does that.” Maria had watched him do it to Max Evans countless times over the years. “He hurts people to see if they let him go. Made out with Lindsey right in front of me.” There was that look on Alex’s face again, the one she couldn’t identify.

“Yeah, well,” Alex shrugged. “I didn’t need much pushing. He’d become this walking bar fight and I just could not deal.”

“Hey,” Maria said softly, aching to reach out to him but feeling like it wouldn’t be well received. “You grew up in an abusive home. It makes sense that you didn’t want to be around all that anger.”

“Yeah, and then the irony of enlisting to escape violence,” Alex huffed. “He was locked up the day I left. I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

The words felt loaded, more so than Maria could understand. She didn’t know what to say. As the silence stretched on, she cleared her throat and stood up to get the laptop she’d placed on the counter on the way in. “So. Want to show me some of those famed skills of yours?”

Luckily, Alex took the out and followed her over to the counter, easing into the seat and lifting it open. He had to push aside an empty coffee cup and plate to make room. She almost offered to move them to the sink but Alex quickly ignored them so so did she. Maria watched him work for a few moments before asking, “are you in?”

Alex hit a few more keys before the screen changed to the home screen. Maria let out a sigh of relief. Alex eyed her carefully. “Did I just commit a felony?”

Maria shifted in front of the computer, absently settling in Alex’s lap. She only had a moment to enjoy the feeling before realizing how stiff he was, his hands in the air a careful distance away from her body. Swallowing her faint disappointment, Maria straightened with a wry look. “It’s my mom’s computer. Her nurse said that two weeks before she went missing when she wasn’t trying to escape she was talking to someone online. I wanted to find out who.”

“They let her have internet?”

“She’s a patient, not an inmate,” Maria retorted. Alex stiffened but didn’t say anything. “She uses her computer to watch Netflix and stuff. I don’t know. I just want to see her browser history.”

Alex clicked around quickly. “Somebody cleared her search history,” he announced before tapping away again.

“No,” Maria shook her head, suddenly realizing that they were really treading the line between concern and invasion of privacy. “My mom was the last one to use this computer. If she deleted it, she obviously didn’t want anyone to know what she was doing online.”

“You know that if somebody clears their search history, they’re usually hiding something,” Alex warned gently.

Maria scoffed. “I thought she wasn’t telling me her password because she couldn’t remember it. If she didn’t want me to see something then hey...” She shrugged.

“All the more reason to see it,” Alex offered.

Maria blinked. “I’m not investigating my mom. I just want to know how might have taken her, but she’s a victim. I’m not gonna invade her privacy over it. She has a right to her secrets.” Alex shot her a look at that but Maria ignored it. Maria heard a noise from down the hall but Alex didn’t even look up so she ignored it.

His phone buzzed before he could say anything and he checked it quickly. “It’s Valenti. I’ve got to go.”

About that... “I like Kyle,” Maria started, “but he was terrible to you for so long. How have you forgiven him?”

“Kyle and I aren’t friends,” Alex objected. “I’m doing this because it’s my responsibility. I’m doing this for Liz. You know, something I learned in the last 10 years is that sometimes showing up is the most important thing.” It felt like a rebuke and Maria glared at him for it. He shrugged. “Can’t stay mad forever. People have a right to their secrets,” he shot back at her.

Maria rolled her eyes. She was about to reply when a louder noise came from down the hall and Maria finally registered it for what it was: the sound of water running coming from the bathroom. Maria’s eyes widened as she looked around the kitchen again and noticed the two coffee mugs and two dirty plates. “Alex,” she hissed. “Someone’s here.”

Alex raised any eyebrow. “I’m aware.”

Maria huffed a laugh. “Sorry I interrupted.”

He shrugged. “You didn’t.”

Maria glanced down the hall though she couldn’t see anything. “Is he hot?”

Alex hummed. He closed the laptop and stood up, rounding the counter to fully enter the kitchen. He busied himself pouring another cup of coffee. She was about to refuse one herself when she realized he never offered her one. “In that sex-in-a-truck-never-introduce-him-to-your-momma-kinda-way,” he replied idly. It took a moment for the words to register. The realization hit her a split second before Michael’s voice carried down the hallway.

“Where’s the other towel?” He shouted at Alex.

“Under the sink!” Alex called back. He gazed evenly at Maria as he lifted the coffee to his lips and took a sip.

“What the fuck?”

Alex tilted his head in question but didn’t say anything.

“No,” Maria stated. “Seriously, Alex. What the fuck? Guerin’s here?”

“He sleeps over occasionally.”

“Occasionally.”

“Mhmm.” Alex looked at her. “Problem?”

“Yes,” Maria replied immediately. It had only been three days since she kicked Guerin to the curb and he was already in Alex’s bed? “Is he incapable of sleeping alone? Were you just waiting for me to get tired of putting up with his shit?”

Alex’s gaze grew cold. “Since you never bothered to tell me you two were starting something, I can’t imagine why I would be waiting for you to end it.”

Maria glared. “You knew. You knew we were together. You knew where he parked his Airstream.”

“It was hard to miss,” he agreed.

“Why is he here?” Maria demanded.

“Currently, he’s taking a shower,” Alex replied.

“Alex.”

“Maria.” He took another sip of his coffee. “I didn’t realize I needed your approval on who’s allowed to use my shower.”

“We broke up three days ago and you’re already having sleepovers with him? Did you think for a second how I would feel about this?”

“Strangely,” Alex mused, “my relationship with Michael has nothing to do with you. And also, you didn’t seem to think about how i would feel about you dating him.” Maria flinched.

She opened her mouth to reply when movement down the hall froze her in her tracks. Michael had his jeans and socks on, his shirt in one hand, a towel in the other as he scrubbed at his hair. “Thanks for letting me-” he froze when he looked up to see Maria. The hand holding the towel slowly dropped to his side. “Maria. What are you doing here?”

“She wanted me to hack into her mom’s laptop,” Alex answered for her. There was a strange note in his voice and Maria turned to him only to find him gazing appreciatively at Michael. The look in his eyes made something in her stomach churn.

“Oh.” Michael blinked. “Well. I should get going.”

“No,” Maria said quickly. “I should go.” She snatched up the laptop and fled with only a hurried thank you over her shoulder to Alex. Only when the front door was closed behind her did she stop and close her eyes. She didn’t understand it, she’d been the one to end things with Michael, so why did it hurt to see him in Alex’s home, clearly comfortable and not out of place at all?

----

Alex took another sip of his coffee as Michael stared at Maria’s back as she almost literally ran out the door. “You’re an ass,” he accused lightly.

Michael shrugged. “Did you want me to tell her I was in the kitchen when she came in and heard your entire conversation? I still don’t know how she didn’t see me.”

Alex didn’t know either. Michael had been downing his second cup of coffee when Maria had come in and he hadn’t moved until Maria went for the laptop.

“I’m sorry,” Michael said suddenly. Alex looked up at him in surprise. Michael’s hands were clenched around his shirt and towel. “For fucking up that summer. For not saying goodbye. I didn’t want to have to watch you leave.”

“Thank you,” Alex said quietly. He understood Michael better now, understood why he’d acted the way he had that summer, but it was still nice to hear. He cleared his throat. “You planning on staying here again tonight?”

“If it’s not a problem,” Michael confirmed. “The generator is still on the fritz and I haven’t figured out how to fix it yet.”

“Guest room’s yours as long as you need,” Alex assured him. It wasn’t the first time Michael had crashed at his place when the Airstream was less than hospitable and Alex was sure it wouldn’t be the last. When it happened, they functioned well as roommates and nothing more, even when they were on better terms. Neither one had ever been willing to blur the lines between their relationship and their temporary living situation. No matter what other people, Maria, thought, nothing had happened between them the night before. And nothing would happen so long as Michael needed a place to crash.

Michael nodded at him in thanks and tugged his shirt on. “I’ve got to get to work. I’ll see you tonight?”

“I’ll order Chinese.”

“Sounds good.”

They exchanged soft smiles before Michael headed out, a quick detour to toss the towel in the laundry room on his way. Alex fixated on the motion for long moments after Michael left, at the easy way Michael moved around his home. It made his chest flutter warmly.

It wasn’t a bad feeling. Not at all.

[blu-joons]

You Teach English In Korea ~ BTS Reaction

Jin:

He smiled proudly as he walked downstairs to see you lost in planning your lessons for the week, the kitchen a mess as a result.

“Is it going well?” Jin asked, grabbing himself a snack in between his song writing. “You look like you’ve got a lot of things you want to do.”

“The course taught me it’s important to vary the things you do, which is what I want to do,” you sighed, “I just don’t know which to do.”

He sat himself down beside you, “why don’t I have a look? See which I think I would benefit from.”

Your head nodded, “perhaps that isn’t the worst idea in the world. I’ve got it all divided up into categories, so just tell me what you think.”

“I think one way or another you need to do all of these,” he spoke as he looked through them all, “they’re all really helpful for people learning the language.”

“What’s your favourite one though?” You challenged as he picked out a transcript, “you think that’s the one?”

“Definitely, all your students will love it.”

Yoongi:

It had all been going well on your first date, whilst you didn’t know much about the guy sat before you, something about him made you feel so comfortable.

“Do you mind if I ask what you do?” He questioned, taking a sip from his wine glass. “I’m guessing it was work that brought you to Korea.”

“I teach English in a school,” you replied, watching as his smile grew, “I studied to come to Korea to be able to help others learn my language.”

His head nodded, “that’s so cool, I bet all your pupils love you too, I’d love for my English to get better.”

You giggled lightly, “your English is just fine, although if you want a lesson or two, I’d be more than happy to help you, out of school hours, of course.”

“I’d be your star pupil,” he blushed, covering his cheeks with his hands, “sorry, I promise I’m not usually this much of a mess, you just seem so nice.”

“Thank you,” you responded, feeling your own cheeks darken, “for a first date in Korea, I’d say this is going pretty well.”

“I’d absolutely agree, it’s going very well.”

Hoseok:

The concentration on his face brought a smile to your own as you helped him through the exercise, you’d prepared to help him.

“Why is this so hard?” He cried out trying to complete the gap fill you’d given him to practice his tenses, “it’s like you want to torture me.”

“You’re the one that asked for help, I can’t make it easy for you,” you chuckled, checking over what he’d done so far. “You’re doing well.”

His eyes rolled, “I’m twenty-six I should be able to do things that your eight-year olds can.”

Your head shook, “my eight-year olds practice this every day, you’re not in school anymore to learn all of these things properly.”

“It makes me feel dumb,” he chuckled, quickly filling out the rest of the sheet to get it done with, “tell me how badly I did, make me feel even more stupid.”

“What would you say if I told you that you got it all right?” You challenged, scanning over his answers for mistakes.

“Well, at least I’m as smart as an eight-year old.”

Namjoon:

One thing that was certainly a benefit of a bilingual boyfriend was how he was able to help you with your own work too.

“Maybe they should listen to it in Korean first?” He proposed as you tried to figure out a listening task, “and then they can translate it.”

“I don’t have a Korean translation though,” you sighed, searching through your laptop, “how am I going to be able to sort it out at this time?”

His eyes widened, “you have a Korean boyfriend, who can also speak the Korean language pretty well.”

You smiled softly back at him, “it’s late and you’ve got an early start in the morning, I’ll just try and work with what I have for now.”

“Absolutely no way, set your microphone up and let me record it, it won’t take long and then I’ll go to sleep,” he assured you, refusing to move from his seat.

“Fine, but I really owe you one,” you smiled, setting everything up that you needed. “Think of all the kids you’re helping.”

“Exactly, who can say no to the kids.”

Jimin:

It had been a dreaded moment since you moved to Korea, the end of your contract, and the inevitable conversation with Jimin that came with it.

“How are we going to make long distance work?” He smiled, taking a seat in your now empty apartment, “I can’t not see you every day anymore.”

“They’ve let me go Chim, there’s nothing I can do. I’m not going to be homeless in a foreign country, it’s time to go home,” you smiled.

He frowned, “surely there’s got to be a way that you can stay, other schools are looking for teachers.”

Whilst he was right, it didn’t work for you, “I don’t have the money to afford a place, if the contract didn’t offer me accommodation I would never have come here.”

“What about if you move in with me?” He blurted out, staring hopefully across at you. “If you have a place to stay, it’ll be easy to find a new school to teach at.”

“Do you think it would work?” You questioned, to which his head nodded, “perhaps it wouldn’t be the worst idea.”

“It sounds like a perfect idea to me.”

Taehyung:

When you presented him with your lesson plan for the following day, you never expected to still be there two hours later.

“Is this the stuff you teach our children?” He teased, raising his arms up defensively. “Not even I can understand half of this.”

“That’s why I teach them, so by the end of the lesson they can do it,” you smiled, moving all your resources away from him across the table.

His brows furrowed, “why haven’t you taught me it? You’ve just sat and watched me struggle.”

You proudly nodded, “I can’t lie it’s been funny watching you struggle, but before you have a breakdown, I reckon it’s time to leave it.”

“I would have figured out the answers eventually,” he tried to argue, but you both knew that not to be true, “I’m glad I don’t actually have to do that.”

“Maybe one day I’ll teach you about it,” you told him, “when you’re less stressed and not so angry with it all.”

“I’m not angry, I knew all the answers really!”

Jungkook:

You never imagined setting up for your class that Jungkook would appear, desperate to try his own hand at what you’d come up with.

“Can you grab me some scissors from the cupboard?” He called out as he began to look through the matching activity you’d created.

“You sound just like my students,” you chuckled as you passed him the pair, “they’re always shouting me to do things too.”

His eyes rolled, “I’m busy learning, is this how you treat your students in the class?”

You sat yourself down beside him, “no, because my students are children, you’re just a needy boyfriend who can’t do things for himself.”

“That’s unfair,” he continued to whine, cutting out all the pieces of paper, “I can always send you back home if you continue to pick on me?”

“And how do you plan on doing that seeing as you’re not the one who employs me,” you laughed, watching as he paused for a moment.

“I’ll find a way, somehow.”

---

Masterlist