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watchingspnagain · 4 months

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Rewatching It’s a Terrible Life

Welcome to “Sam and Dean are Just Steps on the Bossman’s Ladder: A Supernatural Rewatch Blog” with Lor and Mace!

Up today, s4e17: It’s a Terrible Life

Dean Smith works a middle-management white-collar job at Sandover Bridge and Iron, and Sam Wesson is a grunt in the IT department there. Sam thinks something about this life is wrong, and when he runs into Dean he could swear they’ve met before. But Dean brushes him off until employees start dying real weird in the company. When Dean witnesses an IT tech stab himself in the throat during a panic attack over filling out a form incorrectly, he accepts that Sam might be on to something. The two work together to research the company and the deaths, eventually realizing the ghost of the company’s founder is compelling workers to kill themselves if they don’t give Sandover their all. Smith and Wesson dispatch the ghost (after finding some helpful tips online from the Ghostfacers), and eventually Dean’s boss reveals that he is actually Zachariah, an angel who arranged this little interlude for Dean to help him remember that he is and always will be a hunter at heart. Dean doesn’t take kindly to this interference from the angels and promises that one day he’ll stab Zachariah in his face.

Below is a log of our real-time reactions as we watched. Remember that there may be spoilers for any part of SPN’s 15-season run here. Note also that the nature of our conversation is adult and thus it may contain adult language and themes.

[and we begin:]

Lor: bounces I love this one

Mace:

it is a good one

he looks so ridiculous in that shirt and tie

Lor:

and I love that this show is like "ep 16: torture, hero almost killed by a demon who tortured him in hell for 30 years. ep 17: alternate universe shenanigans"

mmm. someone should maybe take him out of them

Mace:

they like to mess with us

Lor:

yep

Mace:

LOR.

Lor:

wot?

innocent

Mace:

simmer down

Lor:

NEVER

Mace:

omg this guy plays such a hilarious weirdo on Psych

Lor:

Zachariah?

Mace:

yeah

Lor:

omg Dean Smith. you do not need to lose any weight. eat a cookie

kill a ghost

Mace:

Lor:

LOL Sam's face

Mace:

SAM IN THAT POLO

Lor:

YES

even Dean Smith makes "no homo" jokes when no one else brought that up pets him go to therapy, baby

Mace:

it’s crazy to me that Sam is uncomfortable in this fake life but Dean suspects nothing

YEP

Lor:

DID YOU TRY TURNING IT OFF AND THEN ON

yeah it is WEIRD

Mace:

HAHAHA

Lor:

but it fits with his "I can fit in anywhere thing"

Mace:

hm. I wonder if it’s more “I’m so unhappy in the life my daddy forced me into” thing

Lor:

oh definitely

Mace:

my god he FITS in that shirt

Lor:

YAAAS

he should really stop being work buddies with this asshole

Mace:

(omg I am seriously wearing almost EXACTLY that other dude’s outfit right now)

Lor:

HAAAAHAHAHAHA I LOVE IT

poor Sam doesn't fit in his cubicle

Mace:

graphic t with ratty flannel over

Lor:

it is the BEST outfit

Mace:

oh Sammy, sweets, I’ll nap with you

Lor:

MACE

simmer down

Mace:

I love how he does NOT fit into that cubicle

Lor:

YES

Mace:

Dean’s profile. just DAMN, son

Lor:

YAAAAAS

they made him extra pretty this ep and I love that they bothered

Mace:

he cleans up super nice

Lor:

Dean, you know you have some vampire romance novels under your perfectly made bed

Mace:

SNORK

“you overshare”

HAHAHA

Lor:

the tiny montages of the workplace mundanities

Mace:

YEP

“I hope they spank me” this boy is naughty

Lor:

LOL

look, we've all been where he is. no evil ghost needed

Mace:

Lor:

Mace:

oh GROSS

SHOULDERS

Lor:

YAS

omg Dean's pretty pretty face. his LIPS

Mace:

RIGHT?!

Lor:

omg Sam and Dean are both researching it and asking the same questions on their own. i love it

Mace:

YES

“did you shave?!”

Lor:

lol

"the dash-Rs"

Mace:

“hey, guy”

Lor:

omg his back in those suspenders

Mace:

right?

omg EW

Lor:

RIGHT?

i always forget this one has some serious ew horror moments

poor Dean so shook

Mace:

but not as shook as a normal person, which is kind of awesome

Lor:

the way his voice kinda fails on "neck"

YES

I love the way he just totally took charge with Ian (even though it didn't work)

Mace:

why did he bring his bag?

yeah

Lor:

security laptop. it makes him feel safe

Mace:

emotional support laptop

Lor:

YES

"NOT NATURAL"

Mace:

Lor:

"no that would be nuts" HAAAAAHHAHAHAHA poking fun at their own show history

Mace:

SNORK

Lor:

"some skills I happen to have"

Mace:

okay settle down, Taken

Lor:

I admire from afar

Mace:

Dean’s arms in that shirt

Lor:

HEY. SETTLE DOWN

Mace:

“right?!” BOYS

Lor:

"I am dying to check this out." "Right?" YES

Mace:

SNORK! Look, I’m always like this. It’s weirder when you do it

Lor:

LOLOLOLOL

Fair enough

Mace:

your desire to trot at any given moment is, like, lukewarm

Lor:

at best

Mace:

which is, of course, completely cool - PUN INTENDED - I’m just saying that when you bump it up to hot-trotting, it’s just different

Lor:

LOLOLOL

I get it

Mace:

whereas my trotting enthusiasm always runs at toasty, minimum

Lor:

except for the GIANT BOWL OF APPLES

eat a food, Dean, I beg you

Mace:

HAHAHA

Lor:

LOL toasty trots

DON'T BE A SNOB DEAN SMITH

Mace:

right?!

(also, their NAMES)

Lor:

your daddy raised you better'n that

Mace:

did he, though?

I think you mean Bobby raised him better

Lor:

(YES I am kissing whoever decided to give them OTHER gun names platonically on the head)

Mace:

(HA)

Lor:

Bobby is his dad in the universe, that's what I meant

Mace:

omgomgomg

Lor:

HAAAAHAHAHAHA GHOSTFACERS

"instructional videos"

Mace:

GHOSTFACERS

I forgot they were in here!

Lor:

THIS IS LIKE THE BEST JOKE that they learn how from them who they hate who learned it from them

I LOVE IT kicks feet in glee

Mace:

YESYESYES

Lor:

nrrrrrf Dean's dumb buttondown tucked into his dumb dress slacks

Mace:

YES

“yeah now sucks"

Lor:

his portfolio is in the sewer. poor rich baby

Mace:

Lor:

"useless douchebags the Winchesters"

"possibly all states"

Mace:

HAHAHAHA

Lor:

and Dean's face at the idea of digging up bodies

Mace:

YES

omg Dean hiding

Lor:

YES

oh man another super gross bit coming

Mace:

UGH

“…what?” SAM

Lor:

YES

eeeeeeeeew

Mace:

EWEWEWEW

poor Bean

Lor:

poor sammy

"take the stairs"

Mace:

HAHAHA

Lor:

aw Dean's little swallow

Mace:

YES

Lor:

"I have no idea"

Mace:

oh boys

Lor:

hey! stop throwing my Dean around into things!

ooo the teamwork

Mace:

YES

Lor:

I love that Sam immediately clocks that the way to help Dean is not to help him but to dispatch the ghost

Mace:

YES

so smart

“that was amazing!”

Lor:

HE HAS A FIRST AID KIT IN HIS OFFICE

pets him

Mace:

yeah

“how would we live?”

HEALTH INSURANCE

Lor:

"you don't wanna go fighting ghosts without any health insurance" I LOVE HIM

YES

Mace:

I LOVE that Sam instinctively knows who he is

HE WENT TO STANFORD

Lor:

YES

RIGHT?!

And his family is Bobby, Ellen, and Jo

Mace:

well, Bobby at least

“you don’t know me, pal” ooof

Lor:

"you should go" sigh

YAS SAM

Mace:

YAS SAMMY DO IT

Lor:

GOD HIS ARMS

Mace:

YES

he BENT the poker MY GOD

Lor:

YES

Dean, hold out for your own angel

Mace:

Lor:

gross

Mace:

yeah

Lor:

THE WAY THE COLOR DROPS OUT

Mace:

OMG YES

Lor:

"my GOD am I hungry"

Mace:

HAHAHA YES

Lor:

trots in with a bag of cheeseburgers and fries and pie

Mace:

Lor:

"gross. no thank you"

Mace:

“gross” HAHAHAHA

Lor:

lololol Dean

ass clowns in monkey suits

Mace:

how did they not realize how he would respond to this?

Lor:

his idiolect! I cannot

RIGHT?

Cas coulda told them. No way they ran this by him

Mace:

nope

daddy issues

he’s not wrong there

Lor:

"I will stab you in your face" AND HE DOES

Mace:

HAHAHAHA

Lor:

his face journey after "fornicate with women" is something else

look, Dean, I'm here to tell you you can hunt and still have the lattes

Mace:

HAHAHA YES

and fuck all of them for doing all this to Sammy too but not bothering to explain

Lor:

RIGHT?

Mace:

and HE’S THE ONE WHO ACTUALLY PASSED THE STUPID TEST

Lor:

like Sam goes from "my brother is beat to hell in a hospital bed" to being mind fucked and then no one bothers to tell him what's up

RIGHT?

Mace:

so mean. he needs comforting.

Lor:

I think we've talked before about how if they'd given Dean a life HE MIGHT ACTUALLY HAVE HAD, like running his own auto shop, restoring cars, with either Cassie or Cas, he would have STAYED THERE FOREVER

Mace:

YEP

#watchingspnagain #watchingspnagain 4x17 #spn #supernatural #spn meta #spn spoilers #spn 4x17 #watchingspnagain angels #watchingspnagain dean's hedonism #watchingspnagain meta #watchingspnagain normalcy #watchingspnagain color palette

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ashtraythief · 1 month

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Supernatural is depressing as a rewatch. It has its fun moments, but that show hurts. It wasn’t depressing when I first watched it, but over time…. The rewatches are especially depressing. You just know they aren’t going to get their happy ever after since the life of a hunter is absolute hell. Well, I guess no happy ever after in their actual life, they do get to enjoy heaven together. So yeah, I get you there. What shows do you usually rewatch instead? Have you seen Parks & Recs? It seems like you would like it! Such a comfort show.

Yeah, the Supernatural rewatch can be hard. I have to say though, I’ve rewatched the show more since it ended, because I liked the end and knowing the show ended in a way that made me happy (well, it was obviously a fucking tragedy, but like, narratively speaking, it was a good ending because this entire show is a horror/tragedy), it made it way easier to enjoy the rewatches. The knowledge that in the end, they get an ending that honors the life they led and that they got a period of happiness on earth without apocalyptic disasters and then happiness in heaven. Occasionally, like every few years, I get the bug and start a rewatch from the start, and then at some point, which can vary, I start skipping eps 😅 Mostly though I have a few… thematic rewatches I do.

I either do a Fun Episode rewatch, including eps like Hell House, Monster Movie, Bad Day at Black Rock, The French Mistake (controversial, I know, I know), Mint Condition etc. Then there’s the Extreme Brothering rewatch, which is Sam and Dean being codependent little soulmates and just brothering all over the place, like Scarecrow, The Usual Suspects, Red Meat, Safe House, etc. Sometimes I also rewatch early season Winchesters vs Law Enforcement, which is fun and some really good episodes. So there’s room for rewatches, but except for the Fun Episodes, it’s not really comforting.

I do enjoy Parks and Recs, mostly. Tom is a lot, especially in the early seasons; I don’t do well with that particular brand of womanizing character, and I had to fight my way through season one, but then they really hit their stride. I love Leslie’s and Ron’s friendship, and generally a lot of th friendships and romances in the show are just really well done. I really disliked Andy in season one, but he got good with April. Ron and April is adorable and of course, Ben is just a gem in whatever combo.

I do rewatch Leverage a lot, Sophie is a queen, I loooove the OT3 and watching evil rich people get what they deserve is just very cathartic right now. Plus, I love a good heist and the new characters in the reboot are actually great. Maybe I should rewatch White Collar next...

Recently, I rewatched the Good Place and Schitt’s Creek, though I do have to fast forward through the more annoying scenes with Roland and Moira, sometimes they get a little much 😅

Sometimes, I rewatch old Crime shows, the early seasons of Bones and Castle, before they went too far off the rails lol. Like all procedural shows, they somehow think they need to go bigger every season, with bigger and badder villains, and it just gets ridiculous when an NYPD homicide detective needs to save New York from a bomb and Homeland only sends someone to liaison. Well, you know, more ridiculous than it is anyway. There’s a sweet spot, and small procedural shows saving cities/states/the world ain’t it.

I do also rewatch movies a lot, old romcoms, old action movies, Star Wars and Marvel when it was still good. Easy viewing. And now I just sound really old and crotchety…

I also like new stuff! And sometimes, when I have enough spoons or the right company, I even watch more serious and heavy stuff. It depends a little on whatever is available on streaming, I don't have all services all the time, so sometimes I'm limited in my choices.

(If someone’s interested, I guess I could make a rec list? For whatever?)

Nonnie, I’m not sure, but I think you might have sent me several asks, so if you want, just message me! No pressure, obviously, but the door’s open. Or, well, the inbox is. Seems we're kinda on the same wavelength, entertainment wise. Otherwise, feel free to keep sending me asks!

#anon ask

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tsunamiam · 5 months

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so i was rewatching the princess bride and don't know if anyone has said this before but maybe definitely going crazy over the idea that stede's outfit in early-ish(?) s2 (white collar shirt) is like really similar to westley's outfit but just more colorful (and sleeves + gloves are different but YOU GET WHAT I MEAN-)

and dream sequence stede too! (minus the weird lil shoelace chest part idk its 2:00 am right now)

when i heard them say the dread pirate roberts's ship was called the revenge i actually had to do a double take istg

ed's leather outfit was quite literally just mad max so lmk if im just having a stroke and this is a common pirate outfit or not similar enough- just liked the idea of stede's outfit being a nod to the movie or stede still wanting to be like popular pirates (dread pirate roberts) even if it doesn't make any sense in universe or timeline lmao

happy holidays!

#our flag means death #stede bonnet #princess bride #can anyone tell me why inigo and fezzik aren't a popular ship like what #couldnt find good screencaps for westley so oh well #sometimes there will be art and sometimes there will be t h i s

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winderlylandchime · 8 months

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At this point you are all in this with me and i am officially making this man everyone’s problem. He came into my home office while i was on zoom and asked for a pen and paper only to later find out that he made one of those mind maps. It’s about Britin and there’s bunch of arrows about what all he thinks could happen in the future seasons, to how Britin is connected and there’s a section for Ethan and everything. He then gave me a 10 minute presentation while I took a break. It made zero sense but he swears it does. I wish I could send you all a picture of it cause one arrow that leads out of the middle (which he named ‘beautiful bastards’) is just called ‘what the actual fuck is going on’ and under it, it says ‘idk bro, we need more context.’

The summery of his presentation that was interrupted by his alarm for pills and him going ‘for fucks sake i cant have a minute with my thoughts anymore!’ (I fear he has had too many minutes with his thoughts) was basically: Britin is connected, he doesnt know how BUT(!) they are stuck together forever even if it all goes to hell. Which he says won’t happen bc their connection is too big and no type of idiot would ever fuck this up. (Can you tell how hard it’s to keep a poker face?) Justin is linked to Brian and Ethan and also for some reason Ted(?) he has yet to make sense of that one but he swore that once he makes sense of it, it’s gonna blow my mind. Ted and brian are also linked with dotted line and he said and i quote ‘it has some weird potential cause i like how he calls him Bri like me’ only other person linked is Daphne (she is also dotted linked to Brian bc he likes them together and thinks they could be besties IF daph doesn’t disappoint him with Ethan. He thinks she will help Brian win Justin back) now here are his theories of what could happen: -he thinks that to get back together they should be put in a situation where Justin has to pretend to be Brian and Brian would be Justin (he watched an ep of White Collar where they did something similar so he got inspired but in his words he ‘made it gay’) the gay part is: role reverse sugar daddy/Justin would be forced to spend Brians money on Brian (this made me laugh bc of you) and somehow that would lead to them fucking -justin hits michael bc he still kinda hates him and he needs it to happen BUT he wants mikey to hit Justin back for Brian (since he can’t do it) which leads to Britin making up -justin breaks up with ethan bc of his ugly facial hair -justin and brian cheat together on ethan, he hates cheating but is willing to look the other way for them -brian hits ethan bc he hates his smug face and he wants Brian to hit someone -brian wins back justin and i quote ‘bri and i have yet to decide if we are okay with this one tho cause Bri is more than a consolation prize’ And for the Ethan points: there are only 4 thing’s written under his name: -i hate him, -he has a dumb goatee that makes no sense, like how does he shave that?(this was an entire 5 min long rant), -he’s not even good at playing that fucking ukulele -i hate how he talks when he says french stuff

My new favorite bit of his is the refusal to acknowledge that Ethan plays violin. Yesterday he told our mom that he plays the triangle. And i feel like it’s only right for you to know that: 1)he taped this paper on the wall next to the tv (it is an empty wall and then just a random piece of paper in the middle of it and that is all..) and 2) he did ALL this before 9 am.

I was going to send you this after we’d get back from the doctor later today but I am literally writing this while “working” cause he came back in the room to get more markers without saying a word and i am just hoping i don’t find any more papers taped on my wall when I get out of this meeting.

We welcome this man as all our problem. He’s got people going back and rewatching Ethan scenes to see if his theory that Justin’s artwork was an image of Britin. We are all in this together.

He’s gone full conspiracy theory. Too many minutes with his thoughts is right. I’m dying.

But also his theories are not entirely wrong - Randy and Scott have said they thought Justin and Ted would get along. And of course we know that Brian hires Ted for Kinnetik and they become bros. And Daphne is Britin’s biggest shipper. She DOES help them get back together. And there is hitting with Michael involved over Justin. And there is cheating involved in Justin and Ethan breaking up. He is not wrong, anon, is the point.

Cracking up about the reverse sugar daddy situation.

Dyinggg over refusing to say he plays the violin. Kind of how his beloved Bri Bri refuses to call Ethan by his name.

I’m sorry your wall has been defaced with this conspiracy theory map. But also impressed.

#ask winderlylandchime #dear sweet anon #queer as folk #a straight man watches qaf us 2000 in the year of our lord 2023

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grunge-mermaid · 5 months

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grunge rewatches The OC pt 1

I haven't watched this show since it aired. when I was in high school. I'm assuming it hasn't aged well, but who knows

1x01 The Pilot

"modern medicine is advancing to the point where the average human life span will be 100. But I read this article which said Social Security will run out by the year 2025, which means people are gonna have to stay in their jobs until they're 80"

20 years later, Ryan seems like an optimist

this is the show that taught me that there is a world where people have pool houses

ooh smoking so edgy

baby!Dr Link

he grew up good

naming a boat after a girl you've never talked to? that's not a red flag at all

early 2000s teen girl fashion was a travesty

"open collar, it's a good look" Ryan is correct

no one is carding the 15-year-old at the bar? he's only 2/3 the legal drinking age in California come on

is he 15? 16? idk. how many seasons are they in high school for?

I will operate on the assumption that they're 15 until proven otherwise since Luke is the only one who drives (that we know of so far)

gay slur count: 1

ok Summer's dress in the fashion show is kinda cute but that hair & makeup are a travesty

All American Rejects oh man

the music in this show is pretty amazing ngl

"I should really learn to knock in case there's a threesome going on in the bathroom"

gotta have the requisite gaggle of girls on cell phones to show they're rich

how did 14-year-old me not realize I was queer when faced with Summer Roberts in a bikini and low-rise skirt? I'm so sorry, 14yo grunge, you really missed out on fully appreciating

(psst, present day grunge: Rachel Bilson was 22 in season 1. you're good)

ableist slur count: 1

what teenagers actually speak like this have the writers ever spoken to actual teenagers before?

ok a 15yo who cooks breakfast bc his parents are shitty and abusive & he needs to cook or else he doesn't eat & neither will his parents? absolutely believable. also absolutely believable he would do it out of habit + as a thank you for taking him in for the weekend

a 15yo who cooks bacon and pancakes and sets the fucking table for breakfast? who is this child

ok maybe it hasn't aged as badly as I thought. the hair and clothes have, but otherwise it's holding up ok

1x02 The Model Home

ohhh I remember this episode

I think

there's a fire, right?

Luke and Ryan fight and they start a fire in the model home?

wait Marissa drives maybe they are 16?

Ryan and Marissa are prime Siblings Or Dating content

flip

phones

gay slur count: 2

$100,000 seems pretty low-stakes for Jimmy to be so worried about given the presumed scale of the investments he was managing

like, that's a lot of money for sure but if he's

the show that introduced me to Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah

girl you met him literally 2 days ago why are you so intense about this?

you're not romeo and juliet calm down

oh there's the fire

Luke "I'm an asshole bully not a murderer" Ward

Julie was pregnant in 1986 so Marissa at least is almost-17?

but if season 3 is their senior year, then in season 1 they're all going into grade 10, so shouldn't they be 15? I'm overthinking this, I'm aware

1x03 The Gamble

Julie Cooper reminds me of Bertha Russell but without any of the charm or warmth or manners or fashion sense

I should take that back. Bertha doesn't deserve to be compared to Julie Cooper, she's too beguiling and clever. Julie is just shallow and manipulative.

"no two black tie events in the same month" I would love to live a life where this is my biggest concern

of course these women watch Dr Phil

god they'd be on the front lines of Moms For Liberty wouldn't they

"we welcome everyone here. I'm from the Bronx and you're from Riverside" what a fascinating definition of diversity (Newport, not Sandy. Sandy knows what's up)

"he called me white trash"

honey, you may be rich but you are pretty trashy

being trash has nothing to do with net worth and everything to do with attitude

"Ryan's gonna stay with us now" 😭

ok that's it for tonight but I was wrong. besides some atrocious fashion and period-typical homophobia, it's holding up pretty well

#grunge rewatches the oc #the oc #you can tell i started knitting during episode 2

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sttngfashion · 3 years

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5.26 and 6.1 - Time’s Arrow

Oh my god. Y’all. It’s a new Fashion It So post. In the year of our Picard 2020. Yes.

For literal years, Charlie and I have been like UGH WE NEED TO DO TIME’S ARROW PARTS 1 AND 2 BUT IT’S JUST SUCH A MONSTER.

Well, I’m doing a complete rewatch of the series with my partner and we just got to these two, so IT IS TIME.

We open in a cave in San Francisco, where Data and Picard are checking something out:

Rent for the cave is $6,000 per month

Showing them around is this guy in a Science Outfit:

He’s ready to go night biking

We’ve seen this look before in both Silicon Avatar and Devil’s Due, and it’s functional, yet cute. Basically a windbreaker in jumpsuit form.

They find a couple of items in the cave, including a pocket watch from 1889 and also:

I left my head in San Francisco

IT’S DATA’S HEAD!!! And it’s been there for FIVE HUNDRED YEARS. What could have caused this? And why is Data’s head so absolutely terrifying?

Is that fondant

This head is, in a word, haunting. The 2020 of heads.

Data and Geordi chat in Ten-Forward about what the presence of Data’s head in the cave means. Data says it means he’s mortal; that someday he will die, and that’s comforting. Spoiler alert: that’s not what it means. But it’s a nice conversation.

Also, Guinan is here!!!

Merlot My God!!

Or maybe: Burgundy-lightful!! Or perhaps: De-Crimson-alize Sex Work!! Okay that last one was a stretch but I really think I missed my calling as a nail polish shade namer.

Anyway, she’s here in her classic look of a pizza-sized hat and a flowing gown/coat/top/robe. The collar here is a little too close to a mock turtleneck for my liking and honestly - this is a little staid for our friend Guinan. I want a TEXTURE or a SWEEP or some WIDE RIBBING or some PLEATS. Don’t worry, though...she will get plenty more later.

Then there’s some plot which frankly we DO NOT HAVE TIME to get into but let’s just say: the away team goes to a planet, there’s a temporal disturbance, and Data ends up here:

Huge mood

Where are we? Or should I say WHEN are we??

Well that old-timey font is a good clue...also the horse

Are we in the Old West land of an off-brand Disneyworld? Are we going to ride something called Large Lightning Mesa Train Tracks? What colorful characters will we meet here?

Winner of 1893’s Mustache Medal

This type of ‘stache is called a Fu Manchu, after the character Dr. Fu Manchu. It’s not...a great look? But it is memorable, which is sometimes enough. He’s also wearing a simple black cap, probably made of silk. He’s keeping it cazh.

So where are we?

SAN FRANCISCO, OPEN YOUR GOLDEN GATE / YOU’LL LET NOBODY WAIT / OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR

Yes, it’s San Francisco. And it’s *eyes popping out of head like a cartoon wolf seeing a busty babe* 1893!!!! That temporal disturbance was...disturbing.

So who else do we have hanging out?

Please check out our Vaudeville act, Knit Cap ‘n’ Bowly

These dudes understand those famous Bay Area MICROCLIMATES, amirite? We’ve got a Henley. We’ve got a buttondown. We’ve got a vest. We’ve got a coat. No matter which way the thermometer decides to go, THEY ARE READY. Also loving the pop of forest green on Knit Cap’s knit cap.

We also have a 49er:

No, it’s not Steve Young. I googled “famous 49ers” to complete this joke so if there is a more famous 49er please let me know

It’s a literal 49er. Since it’s 1893, this guy’s been hanging around in town for a while, and he’s also familiar with the layering techniques one must master if one is to conquer the Bay Area’s climate. He also has a kicky Colonel Sanders-type tie. He asks Data for money and gives him a few panhandling tips. He’s chill. We like him. But don’t get too attached if you know what I mean!!!!

Data decides he needs somewhere to stay, so he finds a hotel:

Brian.

Why is this so funny to me. Brian. Why would you name your hotel Brian. Brian!!!! I know it’s a last name but like...Brian. HOTEL BRIAN.

This bellhop’s name is not Brian:

Where’s your hat, bro

He’s giving us a classic bellhop look, complete with too many buttons. He gives Data the very important information that there’s a poker game happening in the back of the hotel, which means: Data is about to be RICH rich.

The poker game includes a few good looks:

Louie Anderson IS Wolverine IN a Lands’ End barn coat

Two plaids? Sir...I salute you

Colonel Sanders Goes to Carnaval

Data, of course, wipes the floor with them so hard that he wins their clothes:

Didn’t get that barn coat tho

Yes, that’s the actual vest and the actual hat of those guys from the previous scene. Oh, I love it. I love Data in a vest over his uniform and I love Data with a feather in his cap. Let’s call it macaroni.

Meanwhile, out on the street, the plot is happening:

Beige: inescapable

This is our first taste of the decadent 1890’s sleeves that appear in this episode, and these aren’t even the best sleeves!! These are an amuse-bouche of sleeves. An armuse-bouche, if you will.

Anyway, these two are aliens disguised as humans who are here to steal the 49er’s life energy.

Pew pew pew

I told you not to get attached!!!

Back on the Enterprise, Guinan is doing mixology:

She would never call it something as stupid as mixology though

She tells Picard that he needs to go check out the temporal disturbance, too, even though captains don’t normally go on away missions, and then she gives him this look:

It’s that serious

When Guinan looks at you like this, you do what she says.

Now this outfit is much better than the earlier one. We have some pleated sleeves, which I didn’t even think was a thing you could DO. We have some sort of functional(?) strap(??) across the front. We even have matching fingerless gloves which always make a look A LOOK. And if Picard wasn’t sure whether he needed to go on this away mission, she then gives him THIS look:

Okay now it’s REALLY serious

Back in 1893, Data is making something:

It’s actually just a really complicated and large music box that plays “I Left My Head in San Francisco”

He’s gotten his hands on some more period-appropriate clothing, including a bow tie and a vest. Since he’s not wearing arm garters and his sleeves appear to be the correct length for his arms, we can conclude that the shirt was custom-made, not ready-made, because Data is now a baller due to his poker earnings.

Then, Data sees this in the paper:

I know her!! From work!!!!

Yes, it’s Guinan. In 1893. In a hat!!!!

We cut to the literary reception, which is honestly not as well-attended as I thought it would be, considering it got a GIANT photo of Guinan on page THREE of the paper, but okay. And who should we spy there but:

You’ll love my secret blend of 11 herbs and spices

No, it’s not Colonel Sanders. (Sorry, I really have Colonel Sanders on the brain because of that Lifetime movie.) It’s Samuel Clements, AKA Mark Twain. I had an English teacher in high school who explained the origin of his pseudonym (it indicates a mark of two fathoms, aka twelve feet, on a steamboat) and for some reason she shouted MAAAARK TWAAAAAIN when she told us that story so now her delivery of that line is in my head until I die I guess.

Anyway, it’s Mark Twain.

He’s wearing his iconic white linen suit with a black bow tie, and he’s also wearing a lot of prosthetics, because the actor playing him (Jerry Hardin, AKA Deep Throat from The X-Files AKA Melora Hardin AKA Jan Levinson-Gould’s dad) (was that too many AKAs) (you get it, right?) didn’t look enough like Mark Twain, I guess? In conclusion: what if eyebrow wigs were a thing?

Twain is having a chit chat with “Madame Guinan,” who is wearing what can only be called a sumptuous gown:

It’s 11:30 and the gown is sumptin’ sumptin’

There are so many ELEMENTS to this look! First of all: the color. Royal purple. Fit for a queen. Appropriate.

Then: those sleeves! These sleeves are known as “leg of mutton sleeves” because they KIND OF look like a leg of mutton. Have you ever seen a leg of mutton? I haven’t. I’ve only seen these sleeves. Plus they have a stripe?? No, I don’t know why, but I LOVE IT.

The cuffs and the cravat bring this from “dress” to “lewk.” Top it all off with this hat and you have a true 1893 mood.

What bird is that feather even from

We get a few good extra looks in this scene as well:

Pink Lady is NOT wearing a corset

Look, sometimes you don’t have enough period-appropriate undergarments for all the background people and that’s fine. But I WILL notice.

Is that Loretta Lynn

I am loving all of this! That purple dress is fantastic, those stripes? I die. Military man has some fun flair on his shoulder, and there is a dude in a beautiful turban back there. Plus, another Black lady in addition to Guinan and That One Ensign Who Is On The Bridge Sometimes.

Data rolls in to the literary event in a different suit with a CRAVAT:

Craving a cravat

Data is like “we serve together on the same starship in the 24th century” and Guinan is like “huh” but then she’s like “okay” which...I’m not sure if I would believe that? But let’s just say it’s fine.

Over in the 24th century, the literal entire bridge crew is checking out the temporal disturbance and I DON’T LIKE THIS AT ALL:

Blue Man Group...on ACID

These beings are like ghosts but also like Dr. Manhattan but also like pure energy.

Then everyone goes through the temporal disturbance AND THE SEASON ENDS.

Fortunately for you, this post will continue...right now.

Okay, so we’re back in San Francisco in 1893. You can tell by the horses:

Also the fruit carts

Samuel Clemens is strolling around with a reporter, telling him that he has a great story for him that involves time travelers and, like, protecting the nation.

Here’s the thing about this episode’s version of Mark Twain: he’s kind of a dick. Was the real Mark Twain kind of a dick? I just feel like Mark Twain should be JAZZED about meeting time travelers and not acting like a fuckin’ time cop* and trying to put the Enterprise crew on blast.

Anyway I love his double-breasted vest.

See my vest

The reporter’s hat is technically period-accurate, but that style is SO associated with the 1930s-1950s that I would have gone with something else. He looks cute though.

Meanwhile, Data is wearing a three-piece suit:

My positronic olfactory synapses are interpreting something as...a fart

I hate brown, but this is fine.

Additionally, the beige baddies from before are back and this time, they’ve got a SNAKE CANE:

Love the snake cane, hate how they suck the life out of people

But we are not here for them, we are here to see our faves in period clothing. Our first look is at Riker, who is dressed as an actual cop, not a time cop like Mark Twain:

The past just had...so many buttons

I guess if you’re a time-traveling white man there are worse disguises than a cop. But WHERE DID HE GET THIS UNIFORM? I choose to believe that he found a cop with a similar large handsome body to his own and beat the shit out of him and stole his clothes. Now we can all enjoy imagining a cop being beat up.

The badge that Riker is wearing is a great historical detail; the SFPD started wearing them in 1886 and are reportedly the first law enforcement agency to have worn the seven-pointed star, which is now a common shape among sheriff’s departments across the United States.

But let’s move on to a better look: Dr. Beverly Crusher:

Curlz MT

Okay, now I have more questions. Beverly obviously wouldn’t beat someone up for their clothes, so where did SHE get HER outfit? And who did her hair? Did she do her OWN hair? Where did she get a curling iron? Does she know how to use a curling iron? Was it one of those ones that’s actually made of iron that you have to heat up in a fireplace?

We will get answers to zero (0) of these questions.

We actually get a much better look at her dress later, so let’s focus on that cloak!!! I love it and I also love her hat. Okay, I guess I had less to say about those than I thought.

Bev and Will, along with the rest of the officers, have somehow procured a room/apartment in some lady’s lodging house. It’s cute!

They gave it 5 stars on AirBnB

This also raises questions. How did they get this room? How many bedrooms does it have? Are they sharing one large bed? If so, who has to sleep crossways at the foot of the bed and why is it Geordi? We will get zero answers to these questions as well, so let’s move on to arguably the hottest costume in this two-parter:

I’ll be in Holodeck 4

Whewwwwwww. He’s giving us a rolled sleeve. He’s giving us a casual tweed vest. The pants? They’re perfect. And he KNOWS how that slouch is working. It’s working VERY well. But the Irish landlady? She’s having NONE OF IT.

Absolutely NO nonsense

She needs the rent, but Picard charms her and she leaves. So I guess that’s how they got the room. Her look is knitwear-forward:

Eileen Fisher does sound like an Irish name

She’s got a shawl AND a cardigan! The cozy factor is OFF THE CHARTS. She also has a brooch, because a touch of fancy is always welcome. I will say that her hair is a little more fashion-forward than I’d expect for a woman of her age and station. This is straight up 1890s hair, and she would probably still be rocking an 1860s look, which isn’t as sweepy and would likely involve more braids. Still, she looks lovely.

Geordi is also here looking dapper:

Make the collar as high as you can. I want to be sliced open by my own collar

You CAN go wrong with a three-piece suit, but it’s difficult to. He can’t wear his visor, so he has some kicky shades which we’ll get a better look at in a sec.

Back at the Hotel Brian (lol), the bellboy (who we learn in this scene is Jack London, inspired to be a writer by Mark Twain [citation needed]) lets Mark Twain into Data’s room and allows him to look around unsupervised. This is very bad hotel management.

Great Scott

Then Data and Guinan show back up, and Mark Twain hides in an armoire.

One short day in the emerald brocade

I think one reason I love Guinan’s looks so much, both in the 24th and the 19th century, is that our color palette is very similar. We’re both winters. Bold jewel tones are the vibe. This one is in a beautiful deep green fabric with what looks like a velvet flocking pattern on it. The collar is also velvet, and I love that sleeve with a flounce on top like there wasn’t already enough fucking fabric on the sleeve so they just added a random piece to be like “yes, bitch. I’m a sleeve.”

Naturally, the hat is also jaunty af:

San Francisco’s hottest milliner is: Madame Guinan

This hat has everything: feathers, netting, a brim, an angle that makes you think it’s going to fall off but it doesn’t. We stan.

Meanwhile, Picard is setting up a sensor in a hospital while wearing a hat:

I’m bowled over

We haven’t even asked where Picard got these clothes, but I would like to point out that he’s dressed as a lower-class guy, while Riker is a cop, and Geordi looks like a gentleman. Was there even a discussion they all had about how they would disguise themselves? Was Picard like “I just really want to wear a beat-up bowler hat” and since he’s the captain, they extrapolated from there? This episode is NOT CONCERNED about any of this. They all have clothes, end of story.

Bev even has TWO outfits!!

Hello nurse!!!!

I love this look. She still has her unlikely hairstyle happening, which means her nurse’s cap is sitting atop her voluminous hairstyle. (Not very practical, but realistic!) She’s sporting a simple striped dress and a button-on apron. (Look closely and you can see the two buttons holding the apron to the dress.) The fabric underneath might be cotton seersucker, but it’s likely a lightweight cotton or linen twill. You can see how closely her look matches these nurses from a similar time period:

Hello nurses!!!!

Deanna is also in this scene and this episode, but you wouldn’t know it from what she’s given to do. HUGE SHOCKER: TROI NOT GIVEN ENOUGH TO DO IN AN EPISODE. 🙃

She still looks beautiful:

Why aren’t capelets more popular

We never get a really GREAT look at her whole outfit, but I can tell you that it has a capelet, it’s in the red family, and the hat has a lot of business going on. For those reasons: approved. It has a flounce in the back too:

More fabric = more wealth

Sometimes I think about just how much fabric it took to make these old-timey dresses and I’m like...how did anyone get anything done?? It takes me like 4 weeks to finish a pair of leggings and those have like 5 seams and I own a serger. These historical bitches were sewing whole ass dresses in no time at all.

Okay, so Bev is in this hospital and here come some more energy-stealing aliens, disguised as healthcare professionals this time:

I cannot take a medical professional wearing a LIGHT BROWN TOP HAT seriously, sorry

Bev AND this energy-stealing alien have BOTH managed to get their hands on the SAME nurse’s uniform?? I guess in the case of the alien, she is a shape-shifter, so she got her clothes from...that. And her hair.

I hate this light brown top hat. If you’re going to wear a top hat, don’t DISRESPECT IT by making it BROWN, but if you’re going to make it brown, make it a good brown, like chocolate. Stupid energy-stealing aliens.

There’s a skirmish, the energy-stealing aliens disappear, and the real cops show up:

MOUSTACHE

Of course, the cops showing up is bad, because when has a cop showing up ever made a bad situation better? Never. Defund the police, but don’t defund handlebar mustaches. Those can stay.

Fortunately, Data has gotten a ping on that machine he was building before and shows up on a motherfucking HORSE:

Brent just wanted to show off

He’s back in his brown striped suit and red tie. Okay.

Everyone returns to the boarding house to suss out the situation, and we get a look at what Riker is rocking underneath his cop jacket:

Suspend me daddy

You can see very clearly here how the collar is not actually attached to the shirt. This was a thing people in the olden days did so they could wear their shirt for multiple days in a row and just switch out the collar and cuffs so they looked clean. As someone who is wearing the same sweatshirt for the third day in a row, I support this method. (If you’re interested on more info about collars, here is a very enjoyable article about them.)

We are also blessed with a better look at Deanna’s sleeves and bodice:

Black lace cuffs? Decadent!!!

You can also see Geordi’s shades, which suit him really nicely. One thing I’ve been enjoying on this rewatch is just how well LeVar Burton can act without having his eyes visible. He’s great. Let’s just all think about how great LeVar Burton is for a second

And also Bev’s dress:

I legitimately want this dress

I don’t think those buttons are functional. Can you imagine how annoying THAT would be? But I am absolutely in love with this dress. Two paisleys, Beverly???? A goddess. I’m also dying for that brooch with the chain. A+ look all around, great work.

Finally, FINALLY, Guinan meets the rest of the crew:

When you meet someone you won’t actually know for 500 years

She is wearing a hat that looks like a toilet paper cozy. Did your grandma have one of these? They’re so stupid and I love them so much.

Picard and Guinan meet for what is the first time for her, but not the first time for him, and honestly it is...sensual?????

If I got a m’lady from P. Stew I wouldn’t even mind

Patrick and Whoopi truly do some nice work in this ep. But we are here to yell about clothes, so: LOOK AT THIS DRESS ON AN EXTRA:

Gimme dat dress

I just want that dress to wear around my house. I legitimately bought an 18th century costume dress to do just that, so don’t think I won’t literally do this.

OKAY, WE ARE ALMOST TO THE END.

The crew, plus Guinan, go back to the cave where this all started:

Cave Club, the only club that meets in a cave

We get a nice look at the bodice of Guinan’s dress here and guess what: MORE BUTTONS. Buttons on the lapels, and also buttons on the front panel with the pointy top. I wonder if she has multiple front panels for that dress in different colors, like a Swatch watch.

Unbeknownst to them, Mark Twain followed them!! Then there’s a scuffle with the energy-stealing aliens during which a few things happen:

Data’s head flies off

Mark Twain gets sucked into the temporal disturbance

Guinan gets hurt

Picard stays behind to make sure Guinan is okay

So we end up with Mark Twain on the Enterprise, where he sees Worf, and he’s like:

Buh-WHAT

Worf is also confused:

This is...extremely perplexing

We have a few more looks back on the Enterprise, including Regular Guinan:

ShoulderSpreads™: The Bed Spread for Your Shoulders

I love love LOVE this outfit. The color is perfect, the shoulderspreads are perfect, the front draping is perfect. It looks like a velvet housedress from the 1960s except FANCY which is kind of my ideal aesthetic. And it’s red (my fave).

We get a quick glimpse at the barber uniform:

Bitch let me pass, idc if you wrote Huck Finn

This barber does. not. give. a. fuck!!!!

Geordi reattaches Data’s head, the one they already had, which means this whole thing was a ding dang closed loop. The reattachment also kind of diminishes the whole conversation they had earlier about how Data’s head in the cave meant that Data could die someday, because...he didn’t. He still might, but his head is back and he’s fine now.

Meanwhile, Picard is still back in 1893 and they have to go get him, but only one person can come back through the temporal disturbance, so Mark Twain is like “duh I’ll go get him.”

And finally Guinan and Picard can talk about how their friendship spans 500 years!!!!

Hey girl

Hey

YOU’RE WELCOME

*abolish the police

#SEASON 5 #SEASON 6 #TNG #TNG FASHION #STAR TREK #STAR TREK FASHION

276 notes · View notes

dvesbackup1 · 3 years

Text

loving you, and quit pretending to |

joel farabee

pairing: college!joel farabee x f!reader

warnings: alcohol consumption, men being trash, angst, language, almost smut because i love edging yall, fluff

word count: 3.5k+

a/n: the names of the players for the team are completely made up. thank you to everyone who voted on my google doc! excuse any mistakes.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

joel’s confession circled in your mind. it echoed through your brain making your stomach twist. your eyes sunken in, smudged eye makeup streaming down your face. “i should’ve known,” the words tasted bitter as they left your mouth, your eyes on the ground before you, too embarrassed to make eye contact with naomi.

“you had no way of knowing,” she said grabbing your wrist and gently squeezing it, before wiping your tear-stained cheeks with a tissue.

“i’ve made a fool out of myself,” you placed your head into her lap.

she immediately moved your hair out of your face, a sympathetic smile evident on hers, “no you haven’t. it’ll all get figured out, i promise you that.”

you wrote for your college’s hockey team, the boston terriers. you typically wrote articles weekly, including incredible plays, player of the game, and players you believed could use a good word. it was a known fact that many young men that attended boston university were pulled up to play professionally. therefore, it wasn’t unfamiliar for guys on the team to try to butter you up for their name to be stated in your article. you found it humorous, but understood these boys just wanted to live out their childhood dream. you usually paid no mind to them, but it wasn’t until joel farabee charmed his way through you, blinding you from the harsh truth that was evident in a franchise like the national hockey league.

you weren’t exactly planning on going to a frat party at 10 pm, but staying in on a saturday night wasn’t a better alternative. here you were, applying mascara through your thick lashes, and listening to your roommate, naomi, go on and on about a guy on the team.

“y/n/n, can you at least look interested in what i’m saying,” she laughed, grabbing her purse off the counter.

you moved your eyes from the mirror, “everything will be fine, he’s going to be there tonight, yeah?”

“yes, but-“

“and you’re going to talk to him,” you said, unscrewing the cap of your lipgloss and smearing the wand across your lips. “i can put in a good word but you have to speak to him yourself.”

“fine,” she surrendered, before closing the door behind her and following you to the stairs.

a sigh managed to escaped your lips as you trailed behind your friends, seeing only a few groups of people on the first floor of the fraternity house. you raised your eyebrows at lina, another friend in your group, wondering if you should just walk yourself back to your dorm. you figured you could gather more people in your tiny dorm room than the amount of people in this house. your eyes moved over to the couch that was placed in the center of the living room, seating three boys who all wore identical windbreakers. jack harper and alex richmond, the other seated was joel farabee. your eyebrows furrowed as you studied him, he had loose brown waves that curled from underneath the back of his beanie, and his eyes fixated on the tv in front of him. never seen him here before, you mused, before turning your attention to naomi. “are they seriously playing video games at a party they’re hosting?”

“for real,” she scoffed, “where are the drinks?” she scanned the room before dramatically gasping and turning back to you with wide eyes.

“what?”

“nate’s here,” she whispered, as if the music didn’t tune her out.

“go talk to him then.”

“only if you come with me,” she pleaded, “you don’t even have to stick around, just introduce us.”

she waited on your answer as a smirk spread across your lips, “okay, cmon.” you grabbed her arm and the two of you walked over to the table. you thought about joel again, pondering how you were going to bring him up.

“hey, who’s that sitting on the couch. the one of the very left. that’s joel farabee right?” you leaned closer to her ear.

“yeah that’s him, why what’s up?”

“do you know anything about him?”

naomi raised her eyebrows at you, a grin from ear to ear.

“what?” you laughed.

she shook her head and sighed, “well, all i know is he plays hockey. he’s pretty good at it too.”

you hummed, and looked over at the couch again. but this time he was looking back at you.

joel fumbled with the controller in his hands, eyebrows slightly furrowed as his complete undivided attention was with the game in front of him.

“isn’t that the girl that writes our articles?” alex asked, before killing his opponent.

“yeah, i’ve tried talking sweet just so she would put me in, didn’t work,” jack added.

“the girl back there?” joel turned around on the couch, watching you as you stood with naomi and nate.

“yeah that’s her, you should take a go at her, beezy.”

“like for the article?” the look on joel’s face was utter confusion, at this point he wasn’t focused on the game, but jack and alex beside him.

“exactly, you guys haven’t met so she wouldn’t expect it of you. sweeten her up, and then dump her once you get a good word,” he reasoned. “plus, didn’t you say there’s a good chance you’re getting drafted?”

“well yeah but, i don’t know-“

“dude, you should really consider it. guys that work with the nhl read into her shit.”

what’s the worst that could happen? joel thought. he would flirt with you, get put into the article, and get attention from scouts. deep down joel knew it was completely fucked up, but at this moment he didn’t know exactly what he was getting himself into.

a majority of the time, you went to the games and later on rewatched them to write your article. your love for hockey flourished as you got older, so you felt it was only necessary to enjoy the game before making it an assignment. the third period wrapped up as you stood up from your seat, rubbing your arms for warmth. the terriers are continuing a win streak, and you mentally took note of who scored during tonight’s game. lina read her texts to you as you walked out of the arena, “naomi said nate’s taking her to the party tonight, do you wanna come with me?”

“i don’t know, i should really get this article over with.”

“you have all weekend! no pressure, but i think this one will be better than the last.”

“i hope so, that was horrendous,” you laughed, pulling your car keys from your bag. “i’m seriously leaving if i walk in and they’re playing cod again.”

your wish came true, the sorority full of students, which you mentally expressed gratitude for. the house shook from the bass of the speakers, vibrating in the bottom of your shoes. mixed alcohols wafted into your nose as you made your way into the kitchen. you reached for the plastic bag full of red solo cups on top of the cabinet, freezing as you felt someone come up from behind you. “let me get that for you,” they said. your eyes diverted to the arm that was reaching over you before stepping back to see who it was.

“oh, thank you,” you breathed out, eyes tracing the chain that dipped below the collar on his white t-shirt.

“joel,”

“y/n,” you smiled, accepting his hand that he had held out. he brought your knuckle to his lips, before gently kissing it. if it were anyone else you probably would’ve cringed, the gesture definitely cheesy. however, it didn’t fail to send heat to your cheeks, and make the tip of your ears become hot.

“i’ve never seen you before?”

“i’m sure you have, maybe you don’t remember,” you laughed, not allowing your eyes to fall below his.

“i would definitely remember if i had seen a girl like you before.” a smirk broke out on joel’s face, masking the fact he felt slightly guilty. he brushed it off as he bent down to your ear, “do you want to go somewhere more quiet?”

“i don’t think that’s a good idea,” you reciprocated the smirk. you weren’t against meaningless hookups, but you weren’t going to give it up to him that easily, plus the fact you have to see him frequently.

“why don’t we go outside instead?” he suggested, hopefulness in his eyes.

you contemplated, scanning the room for lina or naomi for neither of them to be in sight. “yeah, sure.”

after a whole protest in your head, you now sat in the passenger seat of joel’s car, playing with the hem of your top. music lowly played in the background easing you enough to be comfortable. he was definitely charming, and paid deep attention to the things you had to say. you didn’t even bother to think twice about his intentions, at this moment you felt at peace. it wasn’t often that guys listened to you ramble about things you were passionate about, especially writing. “what about you, is there a future for professional hockey lined up for you?”

joel rubbed the back of his neck, “uh, i’m not exactly sure.”

“you’re not only talking to me so i’ll put your name in my article, right?” you teased, no actual harm behind it.

his eyes immediately widened, “no, no! of course not.”

“i’m just messing with you,” examining the look on his face, an odd feeling set into your stomach. you figured it was the alcohol. you grabbed your phone that was between your thighs, checking the time. “oh shit, it’s late. do you mind driving me back to my dorm?”

“no, it’s no problem.” he mentally sighed of relief, realizing he was going to have to be more careful than that.

the drive wasn’t long, but tension was visible to you, and not the good kind. joel was quiet throughout the drive, leaving you to wonder what he meant about what he had said earlier. you attempted to calm your nerves, not allowing your nervousness to ruin something that could possibly end well for you. shaking your head, and reaching for the handle to your room, you looked up at him. “no goodnight kiss?” he smirked.

“maybe next time,” you said, playfully rolling your eyes and shutting the door behind you.

things soon picked up the pace with joel, giving you another reason to rewatch the games after attending them. at home games, you wore his away jersey, along with a bright and proud smile plastered upon your lips. you hung out with his teammates and were introduced to their girlfriends. but underneath all the love he felt for you, was an aching guilt swelling in his stomach. it almost made him sick. it was no longer a game to joel, neither a bet. you were a real woman with real feelings, and falling for you was incredibly easier than he would’ve wished. he felt guilty kissing you, without telling you the real story behind your first conversation. he let his hands slip below your belt and into your underwear, knowing he was better than that. you adored him, completely and totally blinded by rose colored glasses. time was only ticking, and with summer break emerging, joel was running out of time.

the air in boston sweetened as june rolled around the corner. summer break was well anticipated, just as you, naomi, and lina planned out trips for the summer. meanwhile, joel, jack, and alex sat in front of the air conditioner, yet again playing video games.

“beezy, congrats on the mention in the article,” jack remarked, with a triumphant smirk. you may have mentioned joel more than a few times in your article, but you couldn’t help it. you were proud of your boyfriend more than ever, and felt he deserved the recognition.

however, this made joel’s mood sour. he was already reminded of this every time he saw your face, he didn’t want to hear it with his friends. “yeah, it’s well deserved.”

“so you’re hitting that?”

“what the fuck, man. you know that’s not what i mean,” joel scolded.

“don’t tell me you actually like her.”

“alright man that’s enough,” alex added, putting his controller on his lap.

“what are you trying to say?”

jack scoffed, “well, that just wasn’t the original plan. that’s all.” he returned his eyes to the screen, starting a new game. “does she even know that’s why you started talking to her? be a shame if she found out.”

“that’s not why i started talking to her,” joel uttered.

“cmon man, the party back in the fall. i told you about her articles, that you should get on her. and a week later you guys are suddenly close? that’s no coincidence.”

he pondered his response, but immediately thought twice before doing so. jack was partially right in joel’s mind. even though he did have feelings for you, he still used you, he still wasn’t honest. he had to tell you, even if that meant losing you.

as of the moment, a hard copy of pride and prejudice sat on your lap as you lightly skimmed through the pages to find your spot. a towel lay underneath you on the sand, with lina and naomi beside you. nate, joel, and lina’s new boyfriend owen, stood before you in the water. lina’s parents owned a house down in cape cod that you were staying in for a few days. the sun would set in an hour or so, leaving it shining directly upon your face. you tilted your sunglasses down, squinting as joel walked towards you. “come here,” he said, reaching his hand out to you.

“where are we going?” you marked your book and brushed the sand off your bare legs as he pulled you off the ground.

“for a walk.”

you walked side by side down the beach, to the strip of rocks that jutted out into the ocean. the waves crashed repetitively on the beach, filling the comfortable silence in the air. sand stuck to your legs irritating you enough to continue brushing it off. the sun was setting over the horizon, gently glowing upon joel’s face. eyes began lingering to the stitching of his swim shorts, tracing them along his abdomen. the tightness of his abs, to his slender, but muscular arms. you observed in silence, devouring up the view before it was all gone. he looks over at you, offering a lopsided smile. “what are you looking at?”

“your hairs a little long,” you point out.

“yeah? i need a cut.”

“no you don’t, i like it. it curls underneath your helmet.”

“i read the article,” he said, switching subjects with an unrecognizable tone.

“you played exceptionally well.” you flashed him a proud smile, your hand weaving its way into his hair, and lightly scratching his scalp. you look at him so lovingly that joel is forced to look away. he’s completely and totally fucked.

the moon shone brightly over the water as you sat in joel’s lap. on occasion, naomi’s laugher echoed from the house, and lina’s party playlist bouncing off the walls. the both of you however, remained on the boat as joel told you stories about growing up. it didn’t take long for your hands to be tangled in his brown locks longingly, and his hand to be up your skirt. he connected his lips to your collarbone, lightly sucking on the thin layer of skin. you groaned in response, tugging at the bottom of his shirt. he stood up to pull his shirt over his head, before swiftly pulling your dress over yours, leaving you in only under garments. joel took a moment to examine your body, and the lace covering your breasts. “you’re drooling,” you teased, laying your head back on the boat’s couch. you and joel had never made it this far. over the course of the past few months joel wanted to take it slow, and show you he was really here for the best intentions. the familiar feeling of guilt suffocated his heart, making it heavy, knowing it wasn’t right to continue.

“baby, i-“ he began.

“i’m ready, i know this isn’t the ideal place but-“

“no, you don’t understand-“

“are you not ready? because we can wait,” you reassured him, cupping his face in your hands. the stubble on his chin scratched lightly on your palms.

“i really want to, i’ve been thinking about this for so long.”

you began to worry, but nevertheless you nodded, letting him know you were all ears.

“a couple months ago at the first party i saw you at, jack told me you wrote articles,” joel stated, he was partially stalling, and not looking forward to your response. “he encouraged me to start dating you, so that you would put me in your articles. so i could get noticed by the scouts.”

you dropped your hands from his face slowly, adrenaline rushing in your blood. “are you saying-“

“no, that’s not why i starting dating you. i genuinely fell in love with you.”

“but that wasn’t your intention,” you corrected, pulling your dress back over your body.

“i know, and i’m so sorry-“

“i can’t believe this right now, you’ve gotta be kidding,” you looked at him, hope beaming through your eyes. you wanted so badly for him to say he was kidding, but he stood there with guilty eyes. “joel, please tell me you’re joking,” you pleaded, tears brimming your waterline.

he shook his head, opening his mouth to respond before quickly closing it. he knew nothing he could say would make you forgive him. “you let me fall in love with you.” it was barely a whisper as you bit the inside of your cheek holding back a sob. you put your shoes back on and reached for the door, glancing back at joel who was evidently in distress. you weren’t going to say anything, but decided against it. “joel,” you called.

he looked up at you, rosy cheeks from crying.

“i didn’t put you in the article because i liked you, i put you in because you deserved it. i wanted to see you succeed.”

with that, you left the boat, passed naomi and lina who were calling your name, and to the spare bedroom. you quietly sobbed into your sweater sleeve, wishing it was all a nightmare you could wake yourself up from. you half cursed at yourself for being so blind, and partially wished he would walk into the room and hold you. but he didn’t, and you had to accept that.

two weeks had gone by since you last spoke to joel. you ignored his texts, and ignored his teammates’ as well. you were currently sulking on naomi’s back deck at her parents house, stress reading to a book you had no interest in reading. “i just can’t believe he wouldn’t tell me, and we almost had sex. what was he going to initially wait until after?”

“wait, you guys were going to-“ naomi said, leaning closer to you in her chair.

“yeah, the night he told me.”

she sighed, “y/n/n, i’m so so sorry.”

“it’s fine, it’s not the end of the world.”

“if it makes you feel any better, i really do think he likes you. regardless, if it started off as some bet, that’s fucked.”

your phone buzzed catching your attention. you flipped it over to see your lock screen, you and joel, standing in front of the cemented walls down by the locker rooms. your eyes crinkling in the corners, and the apples of your cheeks raised from the bright smile on your face holding them up. “you miss him don’t you,” naomi said, waiting for you to look up at her. you didn’t answer, instead you attempted to stop your lips from trembling.

“should i forgive him?”

“y/n, that’s completely up to you,” she said, wiping a tear off your cheek.

“well what would you do?”

“well, do you love him any less right now?”

do i love him any less right now? you wondered. the answer was very clear to you, it was just a matter of how to act on it.

joel had texted you an hour ago to meet him at the rink, claiming it was urgent. you couldn’t help but feel stupid, who would give someone a second chance after fucking up this badly? you shook it off, pulling up to the parking lot and cursing before opening your door.

the arena would normally be closed at this time, and you knew it was risky to be here, considering your position. walking through the entrance, you see joel sitting alone a few rows before you. you didn’t say anything as you sat down beside him, closely, just like you normally would.

“thank you for meeting me,” he says, his confidence no longer radiating as it usually did, he looked like he hadn’t slept a minute you were apart.

“so formal,” you dryly laughed.

“i just wanted to say that i’m sorry. i shouldn’t have waited so long to tell you the truth, and that’s on me. whether or not your article was seen by scouts doesn’t matter to me. you do.”

“joel, if you had told me sooner it honestly wouldn’t have made a difference. what matters if that you understand where you went wrong,” you told him truthfully, because the truth was that you weren’t all that upset anymore. being away from him was punishment enough.

you cup his face with one hand. “i’m sorry,” he tells you again, leaning into the warmth of your fingertips.

“i forgive you i guess. but when you get famous you better remember me.”

“baby, you’ll be up there with me. i can’t wait to thank you during my speech.”

“who are you kidding, i’ll be writing it for you.”

he chuckles and playfully rolls his eyes, wrapping his arm around your waist and pulling you closer into him. you rest your head on his chest, listening to the rate of his heart. embracing the feeling you were incredibly grateful to feel again.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

tagging: @butgilinsky

( let me know via inbox if you’d like to be tagged! )

#joel farabee imagine #nhl writing #joel farabee x reader #nhl fic #nhl imagine #trying to get better at dialogue so don’t mind me

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cheri-translates · 3 years

Text

[CN] Lucien’s Theatre Date

🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a date, 剧场之约, which has not been released in English servers! 🍒

[ Released on 20 January 2021 ]

Winter sunlight streams in through the French windows, illuminating the entire rehearsal room.

After a short week of filming, I seem to have returned to my life in university, being surrounded by an atmosphere of youthful enthusiasm daily.

Raising the camera in my hands, I record the beautiful and authentic scenes before me, little by little.

All of a sudden, a voice drifts from the front.

Female Student: Everyone, please gather in the middle~

Out of habit, I follow the voice, turning the camera towards the middle of the rehearsal room. But after a few seconds, the female student in the viewfinder walks straight towards me.

Female Student: Miss MC, could I trouble you and Professor Lucien to join us?

Surprised, I set down the camera. After exchanging a short glance with Lucien, we walk to the middle of the rehearsal room together and sit down.

Female Student: Firstly, there’s a piece of good news! Our performance timing has finally been set, and we’ll be having our first official rehearsal tomorrow!

Once the words are spoken, deafening cheers resound in the rehearsal room. I can’t help but lean towards Lucien’s ear.

MC: They can finally perform officially. That’s great!

Lucien: Only through perseverance can there be a future. This result isn’t unexpected.

MC: Who knows - they might become outstanding stage actors in the future!

The corners of my lips lift upwards uncontrollably, and images of them standing on stage surface in my mind.

Lucien seems to sense how I’m feeling, and he pinches the palm of my hand in response.

Female Student: Next, I represent everyone here to thank Producer MC and Professor Lucien! Without their help and advice, we probably wouldn’t know how much longer we’d have to prepare!

Warm applause resounds once again, and I chuckle in slight embarrassment.

MC: Actually, you should be thanking yourselves. We’re just recording the moments we see. Professor Lucien and I are very happy that we’re able to help everyone, and it feels very fulfilling.

Female Student: Miss MC, we actually have a tiny request… We wish to invite you and Professor Lucien to be our hosts. All our performers want to hear their own names being announced. I wonder if the both of you would be willing to participate in the official rehearsal with us tomorrow?

Right now, Lucien and I are brisk walking on the street.

Faced with the sincere and enthusiastic gazes from the students a few hours later, we agreed to this invitation.

In order not to hold up their rehearsal time, Lucien and I suggested that we’d settle our attire.

Following the directions of the navigation system, we’ve arrived at the entrance of a shop. The numerous formal attire exhibited in the display window adds a touch of uniqueness to this small, ordinary street.

MC: Looks like we didn’t end up at the wrong place!

Lucien chuckles, tidying my slightly messy hair which has been blown by the wind.

Lucien: Mm, let’s go in.

Pushing the doors, a long corridor appears in our line of sight. Colourful stage costumes hang at the sides.

Staff: Could I help you?

MC: Hello, we need two sets of formal evening wear.

The staff nods in understanding, lifting her hand and beckoning us to the deepest part of the corridor.

Very quickly, we make our way to the section as directed. Before us are grandiose formal wear, giving me the mistaken impression that we’ve come to the wedding section...

MC: Lucien, I don't think these clothes suit us.

Lucien lowers his eyes. As though he thought of something, the corners of his lips lift gently.

Lucien: The designs here aren’t as good-looking as the set we wore during the shoot at the wisteria garden the other time.

Lucien’s soft sentence makes my face heat up in an instant.

MC: [blushing] Why did you suddenly bring that up...

The mischievous glint in Lucien’s eyes grows deeper. Before he can speak, I hurriedly pull him to the men’s section.

MC: Well... there are too many choices for women’s wear. Let’s pick a set for you first!

The large sea of black, white, and grey greatly lower my troubles of selecting a colour.

After sieving through the differences in styles for various shirts, I quickly pick a standard collar, and a white shirt with a concealed placket.

Holding up a vest without lapels and a matching tie with a solid colour, I walk to Lucien.

MC: You’ll definitely look good in these two pieces. Even though the style doesn’t differ much from what you usually wear, but...

Lucien: But you picked these two for me.

Lucien completes my sentence, his eyes crinkled into a smile. Taking the clothes, he walks towards the dressing room.

Only after a while do I realise that there’s something odd. I respond, raising my voice without realising it.

MC: ...that’s not what I meant. I was going to say that even though it doesn’t differ much, it still suits you, so you could give it a try!

Lucien pauses in his steps and turns around, giving me a gentle look.

Lucien: But that’s what I meant.

Saying this softly, he turns and walks into the dressing room.

The faint rustling of clothes drifts from the dressing room. Not long after, Lucien steps out from within it.

The tailoring of the shirt displays his silhouette completely. Just as I’m about to nod in satisfaction, my gaze suddenly stops on his collar.

MC: It seems like... it could use a collar pin!

I hastily walk to the section displaying collar pins, then select an exquisite yet not too gaudy pin, placing it against him.

MC: Lucien, how’s this collar pin? Do you like it?

Lucien: I like it.

Seeing how Lucien said that he liked it without hesitance, I suddenly decide to be playful.

MC: You like it unconditionally because I picked it, right?

Placing my hands behind me, I lift my chin slightly, pretending to be difficult on purpose.

Lucien pinches my nose gently, his eyes filled with tenderness and flittering light.

Lucien: Of course it isn’t unconditional liking. It’s because MC understands me very well, and knows what suits me. That’s why I can unhesitatingly say that I like it.

In the next second, Lucien brings the hands that were behind me to the front, and lowers his head slightly.

Lucien: Now, could I ask Miss MC to put it on for me?

Seeing the pair of gentle eyes in front of me, my heart skips a beat.

Steadying my breathing, I take one step forward, lifting the collar pin in my hand.

MC: [blushing] Stand properly... don’t move.

A soft chuckle drifts from before me, the breath following along with it dispersing at the tip of my nose.

Lucien: In that case, before I can’t move at all, could I lift my chin? Otherwise, I’m afraid it won’t be convenient...

His warm breath travels to me, and the tips of my ears heat up.

Lifting my head slightly, a clear Adam’s apple and lower jawline enter my line of sight, and I soon meet his eyes.

I hurriedly lower my eyes, doing my best to focus my attention on my hands, carefully adjusting the position of the collar pin.

MC: Mm, that’s more like it!

Lucien turns his head and faces the mirror for a while. Then, he reaches out and laces our fingers together.

Lucien: Thank you. Everything before me - I like them very much.

MC: Next, it’s Professor Lucien’s turn to help me pick an outfit.

Lucien: If I’m able to pick an outfit that MC is satisfied with, I’ll naturally be very willing to help.

MC: Let’s go then!

Taking his arm naturally, we had towards the women’s wear section. Faced with hundreds and thousands of dresses, Lucien and I exchange a glance of tacit understanding, deciding to split ways to operate.

Innumerable extravagant dresses brush past my fingers, and my heart grows increasingly heavy.

MC: Lucien, should we go to another shop?

While speaking, I turn around, but can’t find a trace of Lucien.

Just when I'm prepared to continue walking, a familiar profile overtakes my vision.

Lucien is holding a refreshing white dress as he walks towards me.

The dress is as light as silk, and isn’t embellished with overly gaudy designs. The extremely simple tailoring style makes it just right.

Seeing the dress in front of me, my gaze is soon deeply drawn to it.

MC: Did you... find this?

Lucien: The staff here is very professional. According to the style I described, she found a similar outfit. Want to give it a try?

Nodding, I take the white dress from him, walking into the dressing room to change into it. The buttons at the back enable me to adjust the tightness of the dress, enabling the size to be just right.

After changing into the outfit, I take a deep breath and push the door open.

MC: Lucien, what... do you think?

The unconcealed anticipation in my heart seems to make even my gait feel lively.

Tugging the skirt upwards, I stop in front of him, lifting my eyes to meet his, which are as tender as water.

Lucien: It looks very nice. I like it too.

Lucien: It’s as though the countless images I envisioned in my mind are far from rivalling the you in front of me.

The next day, Lucien and I bring the rented outfits to the theatre.

Perhaps due to this being the first time everyone is participating in a rehearsal and have absolutely no experience on stage, there are many unpredictable occurrences on the scene--

A disjunct between where the light falls and where the actors are standing, the sound effects becoming louder and softer abruptly, not having sufficient time to change outfits before needing to appear on stage...

All sorts of incidences causes the scene on stage to be especially messy, and everyone suggests rewatching the rehearsal process recorded on the camera.

As the students sit around the camera, their expressions gradually turn solemn...

Female Student A: Some people’s volumes are too soft. The stage here is much larger than the rehearsal room. Our voices need to be louder!

Male Student B: While raising your volumes, don’t just focus on your own lines. I’ve watched the rhythm of many people become a mess...

Male Student C: People who know what we’re doing will think we’re performing a stage play. Those who don’t know what we’re doing will think we’re performing acrobatics...

Seeing this scene before my eyes, my lips move as I prepare to say something.

As though noticing my hesitance, Lucien leans to my ear.

Lucien: Go on. I think what they really need right now is advice from a “bystander”.

Nodding my head, I walk towards the students. After taking a deep breath, I speak gently.

MC: Let’s not lose heart. These problems aren’t that difficult to resolve. They didn’t arise just because you lack experience. These issues also crop up for a mature stage acting groups.

I try to employ a more relaxed tone, and the heavy atmosphere seems to disperse bit by bit.

Female Student A: In that case, how do those professional groups resolve them?

MC: Actually, there aren’t special methods. It’s just that the accumulation of experience over time and channeling their emotions into it enables them their convictions to become especially strong. Toss aside all the distracting throughs, believe in your own role, believe in this stage, and then enjoy it.

Female Student B: I once watched an online lesson where the acting teacher mentioned that actors need strong convictions. But knowing it and applying it are two different things...

I nod thoughtfully. Just as I prepare to speak, a familiar voice pipes up.

Lucien: Why don’t we toss aside the “troublesome” things in front of us, and play a small game.

I turn my head in astonishment, watching as Lucien smiles and blinks at me.

Even though I don’t know what he intends to do, the familiar gaze always enables me to feel at ease during such moments.

Lucien: Students who are interested can first close their eyes, and feel their bodies.

Although the students have puzzled expressions on their faces, they still close their eyes in succession.

Lucien: Now, lift up your arms, and bring them to the same level as your shoulders. Right now, you’re feeling that your left arm is very heavy. It’s as though a large stone is hanging from it, and it keeps sinking downwards.

The surroundings are very quiet, and it seems everyone is tranquil in Lucien's voice.

Lucien: All right, please open your eyes slowly. Right now, you’ll see that your left arm is much lower than your right arm.

Right after his words are spoken, surprised gasps can be heard all around.

Just as Lucien said, the left arms of everyone are indeed lower than their right arms.

Lucien: The small game is over. Everyone can put their hands down.

Female Student A: What is this...?

Male Student B: I didn’t even control my left hand but it went down on its own!

In an instant, lively chatter commences on stage. The students are curious and pleasantly surprised as they turn to Lucien.

Lucien: This is just a small game with psychological suggestion involved. It’s similar to the “conviction” MC mentioned earlier. Perhaps using such a method, everyone can have a more direct experience of the meaning within it. After our brain accepts certain hints, our body will involuntarily perform a corresponding action. This small game can also be used in performances. Why not try believing everything in front of you? This way, your body will also respond with more authenticity.

Male Student A: But how can one perpetually believe in everything that happens on stage? It feels too difficult.

Lucien chuckles, nodding thoughtfully.

Lucien: I don’t think conviction can be reached in one step, nor is it achieved permanently. Instead, it’s been hidden in your hearts since a long time ago, but you just haven’t noticed it. Actually, MC and I already felt your conviction in the rehearsal room since early on.

Lucien looks at the boy who asked the question, giving him a response.

Lucien: If I didn’t recall wrongly, you’d mull over your lines softly even before it’s your time to appear on stage.

Soon after, Lucien looks at another female student.

Lucien: When you’re making the props, you’d follow the plot of the script and include appropriate details. I think the courage of chasing your dreams can defeat self-doubt and regret. That’s when conviction exists.

Lucien quietly mentions the actions everyone does typically. Those wordless and plain day-to-day actions seem to be given a certain strength at this moment.

Everyone lowers their heads, and the air becomes still.

All of a sudden, a female student pats herself roughly on the cheeks. Everyone else lifts their heads, walking to their positions.

Female Student A: Let’s do it again!

Male Student B: Professor Lucien is right. Our conviction is our dream, and it’s something we can’t lack!

Watching as everyone gets ready, I shoot Lucien a thumbs up.

MC: “Professor Lucien, you’re amazing!”

Lucien seems to understand the words I’m mouthing, and his eyes curve into crescent moons.

Very soon, under everyone’s self-initiated organisation, we go through rehearsal after rehearsal.

Apart from the host’s announcement before the program, I’m not left idle during the remaining time.

I adjust the angle of the camera, trying my best to record everyone so it’d be more convenient for them to rewatch their states.

By the time the rehearsal is completely over, the sky has already gotten dark. The students have packed their costumes and props, waving and bidding us farewell.

MC: Huff... after a few more rehearsals, it’d be the actual performance.

Lucien: Are you feeling nervous?

Looking at the script in my hands, I involuntarily tighten my grip on it.

MC: Instead of being nervous, it’s more of looking forward to their performance. I wish for everyone’s names to be clearly conveyed to the audience on that day.

The corners of Lucien’s lips tug upwards gently, and he supports his chin, as though thinking of something.

Lucien: In that case, why don’t we practise again on our own a few more times? After all, the rehearsal time was used completely on the program, and the time for the “hosts” was largely reduced.

Before I can react, Lucien takes my hand and walks towards the stage.

Lucien: Now, this is a rehearsal time belonging only to the both of us.

Hearing this, my gait subconsciously becomes lighter. We stop one-third on the stage.

Holding the script in my hand, I recite the lines eloquently. However, the occasional trip-ups makes the nervousness hidden in the depths of my heart slip out furtively.

Just as I plan to start over from the beginning, I notice at the corner of my eye that Lucien seems to be looking at me.

MC: Lucien, what is it?

A flittering light flashes across Lucien’s eyes. I can vaguely guess what he’s secretly “plotting”.

Lucien: I suddenly remembered that even hosts need some “conviction”. Would MC be willing to mutually assist each other?

MC: Sure. What must I do?

Lucien: Before reciting from the script, you could say some things from the heart at that moment, which could strengthen our sense of conviction. It could enable us to believe that the us of right now exists for this moment.

Watching Lucien saying this “dead seriously”, I can’t help but chuckle.

MC: For instance?

Lucien: For instance, when I see you busying yourself in the rehearsal room, I feel very happy. When I’m standing on stage with you, I also feel very happy. Right now, as I face MC and express the words from my heart, I’m very happy.

His gentle voice is at my ear, sending ripples across my heart.

Just as what Lucien said, his eyes and lips generously express his happiness.

It’s as though my emotions have been influenced by his, and the anxiousness buried in the depths of my heart are swept away, replaced with brimming warmth.

MC: Me too! Lucien, I'm very happy that I can make you feel happy.

The happiness in Lucien’s eyes grows even deeper. He lifts his head, tousling my hair gently.

Lucien: [chuckles] MC.

Lucien: Believe in them, believe in yourself, and believe in us.

Student A: There’s one hour left till the actual performance. Everyone, do one more check! If there aren’t any problems, get ready backstage.

Right after the words are spoken, the makeup room once again boils with excitement.

Female Student A: Deep breaths... deep breaths...

Male Student B: We’ll succeed. Today, we’ll be the brightest ones on stage!

Just as everyone leaves the makeup room, I tug on Lucien’s sleeve lightly.

MC: Lucien, hold on. I want to prepare a little something for them.

Under Lucien’s puzzled gaze, I retrieve post-it notes and a pen from my bag, walking towards the table which has hot beverages on it.

MC: I don’t think they need any advice at this point. So... I just wish to give them a most ordinary encouragement and my well-wishes.

Lucien: I believe they’ll sense your regards.

Lucien takes the post-its that I’ve written, carefully pasting them on every bottle.

Very soon, there’s a pale yellow outer coat pasted on every hot beverage on the table.

MC: Done. Let’s hurry and gather backstage!

Carrying our bags, we head towards the backstage. When making a turn, something seems to get caught on my clothes, causing me to halt in my footsteps.

Turning around carefully, I hear the sound of something falling onto the floor.

What follows closely after is my dress being tugged downwards...

MC: Oh...

Before I can exclaim in alarm, Lucien pulls me behind a curtain at a corner, hiding us from view in an instant.

Scorching warmth is at my waist, causing the tips of my ears to become scaldingly hot.

MC: [blushing] D-don’t let go, the dress is about to slide off...

A soft chuckle drifts from behind me, and the breathing that comes along with it brushes my shoulders gently.

Lucien: Don’t worry, I won’t loosen my grip.

Just as I lower my head in search of the button, a voice sounds from behind the curtain.

??: Professor Lucien, Miss MC, are the two of you there? The performance is about to begin.

My heart immediately tightens. The curtain trembles lightly, as though someone is almost about to pull it...

In the next second, Lucien doesn’t let go, turning his body to the side, covering more than half of myself.

Before I can say anything, Lucien presses lightly on my waist with his finger pads, as though hinting that I shouldn’t make a sound.

The soft touch travels from the small of my back to my entire body, and waves of heat continuously stream to the back of my ears.

Lucien: Student, I’m discussing some private matters with her. Thank you for your reminder. We’ll head to the backstage very soon. Please head over there first.

While Lucien speaks, he gently tightens the cloth at my back, and I can’t help but take a breath, staring fixedly at the tips of my shoes.

The sound of footsteps behind the curtain gradually grows softer, but the beating of my heart quickens uncontrollably.

MC: [blushing] Lucien, let’s hurry and find the button to seam the dress...

Lucien: Don’t worry, I happen to have an idea which could resolve this issue.

While speaking, Lucien retrieves a black coloured felt box from his pocket, opening it to reveal an exquisite butterfly brooch.

Lucien: During the rehearsal, I kept feeling as though something was lacking on the chest area of this dress... Which is why I picked a brooch I thought was appropriate. But from the looks of it now, using it at the waist isn’t a bad choice.

As he speaks, he removes the brooch from the box.

Lucien: Don’t move. I’ll put it on for you.

I nod, both hands tugging on the curtain. The beating of my heart, akin to drums, grows faster and faster...

Perhaps due to the narrowness of the space, Lucien’s hands indistinctly brush against my lower back, and my face grows scorchingly hot.

Lucien: Hold on for a while longer. It’d be done soon.

I seem to have lost my ability to speak, and can only nod wordlessly.

Lucien: All right, see if the tightness is suitable?

I lower my head and move my lower body. The tightness of the clothes is just right.

MC: [blushing] Mm... it’s just right. Let’s hurry over. It’s almost time for the audience to enter the venue.

With a red face and a leaping heart, I tug my skirt upwards and quickly step out of the curtain at the corner. Hearing a soft chuckle from behind, my pace quickens, as though I’m fleeing.

With a turn, I reach the backstage. Just when I’m about to distribute the beverages, I find that everyone’s gazes are filled with disappointment.

I have no idea what happened, and can only look around in confusion.

It’s only when I notice the audience seats that my heart suddenly tightens--

Even though it’s already time for the audience to enter the venue, the audience seats aren’t filled to the brim as expected. Only a few dozens of audience members are scattered around.

Furrowing my brows, I’m slightly frantic as I lean towards Lucien, lowering my voice.

MC: What should we do? At this rate, I’m afraid there won’t be many people even when the performance begins...

Even before Lucien responds, voices from the surroundings gradually drift to my ears.

Male Student A: Looks like we’ve still got a long way to go before we can fulfil our dream.

Female Student B: But I’m already very happy that people came!

Even though the students before me are smiling, I can still capture tinges of disappointment in their eyes.

The scene before me gives me a sense of familiarity...

I seem to have felt this way when I first took over “Miracle Finder”.

Viewership which was too appalling to look at, the constant losing of old viewers, and the program almost being called off...

I subconsciously turn my head towards Lucien, and my train of thought pulls me back to the day we first met--

I had invited Lucien to be an advisor for the final episode of the program, and that day was also our beginning.

Dreams don’t just rely on perseverance. It also requires seizing every opportunity.

Thinking about this, I inhale deeply, taking the hot beverages in Lucien’s hand and distributing them to every “actor” backstage.

MC: No matter how many people are in the audience seats, today is simply your beginning. All the best, and let’s shine on stage together.

When the final bottle of hot beverage is sent into the hands of the students, I finally let out a slow breath.

The lights below the stage gradually dim, and the performance is about to begin.

Lucien: MC, were you thinking about how you used to be earlier?

In the dimness, a question floats to my ears softly.

I turn my head, meeting Lucien’s eyes. It seems my thoughts can never evade his eyes.

MC: Mm, I even thought about you...

A ray of radiance inadvertently flashes across Lucien’s eyes, before they are filled with a brimming smile.

Lucien: Looks like... when we didn’t even notice it, we thought about how we were at the very beginning. But the us of right now seems to differ in quite a number of ways from how we were before.

MC: For example?

Lucien: Being with MC enables me to see that many beautiful things exist. Just like the conviction we talked about earlier. From the first time we met, I already felt it from you. But with the gradual movement of time, I seem to understand you more and more. And I believe you’re just like me.

MC: Lucien... I also believe that the way we feel about each other won’t remain in place.

Right after I finish speaking, the stage is illuminated, as though hinting that we’re about to make an appearance.

He bends down slightly, offering me his hand.

Lucien: MC, let’s go.

Breathing in deeply, I take his hand, making my way onto the stage slowly. The glaring light falls on us, and I’m unable to see the audience clearly.

But right now, I feel even more emotional than every rehearsal we had before.

I take a deep breath, lifting the microphone as I smile brilliantly.

MC: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight’s performance has been prepared by a group of university students who are enthusiasts of traditional performing arts. Right now, let’s welcome the first play, “King Lear”, the performers...

Through the microphone, every word and sentence clearly spreads to every corner of the theatre.

I know that I’m not speaking for myself, but also for the dreams carried in the hearts of every student backstage.

And I’m not alone, because...

I met Lucien.

🎭 MOMENTS 🎭

Lucien’s Post: On an unseen stage, everyone plays different roles.

MC: What role are you playing then?

Lucien: I may have played many roles, but it’s only when I’m in MC’s world can I feel especially relaxed.

Lucien’s Post: On an unseen stage, everyone plays different roles.

MC: What role am I playing then?

Lucien: No matter what it is, it’d probably... be a role that I like.

Lucien’s Post: On an unseen stage, everyone plays different roles.

MC: No matter what role I play, I won’t forget my original heart.

Lucien: No matter what role the Little Stray Cat plays, I can find the most genuine you from within.

🎭 Phone calls: First ll Second

🎭 Support the cafe by dropping by the tip jar!

#mlqc #mlqc cn #mlqc spoilers #mlqc lucien

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jockvillagersonly · 3 years

Text

2020 Drama Round Up!

Jock’s Alphabetical Watched List

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

Ancient Detective

Rating: 🧣🧣🧣🧣🧣 5/5 cozy winter garments

Watch Status: done! ✅

The Good Stuff:

The MC is, objectively, the coziest man alive

MC said “simp rights” and honestly...good for him

I guessed the ~final twist~ really early, but it didn’t dampen my enjoyment of each individual case or the show as a whole!

Any Bad Stuff?

The last few episodes are like...oddly homophobic? With a queer-coded character presented in a somewhat grotesque stereotype? SAD!!

🌸 more reviews under the cut 🌸

Ever Night (S1)

Rating: 🌂🌂🌂🌂 4/5 inexplicably magic umbrellas

Watch Status: ...like 30% done

The Good Stuff:

Some of the BEST fight scenes I’ve seen

Lots of interesting world building!

My queen Meng Ziyi 👑

Any Bad Stuff?

God the MC’s hair is UGLY 😔 pour one out 😔

Guardian

Rating: 👬👬👬👬👬 5/5 gays

Watch Status: done! ✅

The Good Stuff:

It doesn’t get any gayer than this folks

Really this is some of the queerest media I’ve ever seen

Also the main and ensemble characters are all endearing and fun 🐍

All I know is have diarrhea and be hindrance

Any Bad Stuff?

The middle portion of this show DRAAAAGS

Also ZYL’s hair makeover is awful and someone needs to say it !!!!!

Legend of Fei

Rating: 🌰🌰🌰🌰🌰 5/5 dog safe chestnuts

Watch Status: still airing

The Good Stuff:

The pure yibotonin in this show could power a city or at least one depressed viewer (me)

Zhou Fei could and frankly should kick my ass

I love her your honor

Any Bad Stuff?

Has the odd effect of each plot arc feeling both way too long AND like you’ve been crammed way too full of information

Maiden Holmes

Rating: 🕵️‍♀️🕵️‍♀️🕵️‍♀️🕵️‍♀️🕵️‍♀️ 5/5 superior detection skills

Watch Status: one night and 15 episodes in

The Good Stuff:

The main pairing is so fucking cute guys. He loves her so much. He thinks she’s so smart 🥺

Includes one of the purest archetypes of a himbo on screen today 🤌

Crime solving! Hidden identities! Bisexual panics!

Any Bad Stuff?

One episode includes a pretty long assault scene / near r*pe of a main character - the scene is flashed back to throughout the episode, as well

Oh My General!

Ranking: 💪💪💪💪 4/5 beefy lady biceps

Watch Status: like 25% done because FUCK it’s long

The Good Stuff:

Literally EVERYONE in this show is bi. I have the screenshots to prove it. It’s glorious

call me old fashioned, but i was raised to serve my general. clean for her. cook for her and everything i do is for her. and if she cheats? that is on me! she caught me slipping and i will apologize and do better.

Any Bad Stuff?

My only complaint so far is the romance takes awhile to pick up? I’m pretty tired of the main love interest being rude to his objectively incredible wife >:(

S.C.I.

Ranking: 🐭🐭🐭 3/5 mouse archetypes

The Good Stuff:

The pacing is quick! Sometimes too quick? I got lost a lot @___@

Bai Yutong is simply TOO ripped

Any Bad Stuff?

Honestly this show is a bit of a poorly edited, problematic dumpster fire with not even a passing understanding of what psychology is

...but god if it isn’t fun to watch

Silent Criminal

Rating: 🥸🥸🥸🥸 4/5 conveniently disguised emperors

Watch Status: done! ✅

The Good Stuff:

They’re gay and in love your honor

Honestly the two leads really grew on me! I found myself wanting to rewatch their interactions

Not a whole lot of actual crime solving :(

Any Bad Stuff?

Yet another example of the tragic underutilization of female characters with potential 😔 justice for the ladies of this show

There is an assault scene (a character straddles a main character and forces a kiss while he protests). Easily skippable and not referenced again

Sword Dynasty

Rating: 🐛🐛🐛🐛 4/5 divine silkworms

Watch Status: just started (like 3 eps in)

The Good Stuff:

The fight scenes are very wuxia and very fun

Idk what the fuck is going on, but I’m pretty sure the emperor deserves to be stabbed, so go off I guess!

Any Bad Stuff?

Honestly I have barely begun this so ... idk yet!

Tale of the Nine Tailed

Rating: 🦊🦊🦊🦊 4/5 immortal foxes

Watch Status: mostly done

The Good Stuff:

Lee Yeon is very hot and that’s a fact

Nam Ji Ah (main female lead) is SO powerful and SO amazing and LITERALLY my queen

She stabs her fake mom when she’s , like , 5!

The communication b/w the leads??? Iconic

Any Bad Stuff?

This is just me, but I truly cared so little about the Imoogi. I just. Wanted an episodic monster of the week with all the same characters. Pls

The Lost Tomb Reboot

Rating: 👨‍🦰👨‍🦰👨‍🦰 3/5 bad mustache disguises

Watch Status: I stopped watch once [SPOILER] Wu Xie was cured, because I just ... don’t care about the mob politics? So for me that was where the show ended

The Good Stuff:

Zhu Yilong is like ... way too fucking pretty

Also the Wu Xie & Pangzi friendship is so FUN in this show!!!!

Everyone is 2 hot 2 handle

Any Bad Stuff?

Not nearly enough Iron Triangle hangouts >:(

Shockingly large amounts of white collar crime, shockingly few tombs

Every lady is CHRONICALLY underused and/or murdered. Yawn.

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty

Rating: 🎩🎩🎩🎩 4/4 detective hats

Watch Status: I’m always on / off with this show 😔 I’m like 2/3 done now

The Good Stuff:

Crimes !! Solving crimes !! Gay domesticity !! What more could you ask for

One of the best OT3 set ups in the business

Any Bad Stuff?

Silly hats

For folks with secondhand embarassment issues, the main lead can be ... hard

The Untamed

Rating: 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰 5/5 soft bunny metaphors

Watch Status: Done! ✅

The Good Stuff:

Everyone in this show is so pretty I’m convinced it’s illegal

Like if this didn’t pass censorship it wouldn’t be because of the obvious gay longing but rather because it’s setting unrealistic expectations for beauty

Also: the gayest longing around. And murder!

Any Bad Stuff?

Nothing this show is perfect in every way

(Except like maybe don’t kill or write off all your women ... thoughts)

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lover-of-trash-and-people · 3 years

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bittersweet netflix shadow and bone finale (s1 e8) rewatch; accoutrement: white wine with ice cubes in it (no YOU'RE a mom drink shh)

my wine's like fruity I love her

light and darkness title card we love to see it

Inej looking at Alina before she goes below deck to hide <3

okay that 'what can you really do on your own' was like not fun that shit hurted

okay but Jesper's 'not enough'? <3

oh no my baby Zoya's first inkling that Darkles does not really care

omg Helnik just appeared and I remembered how much heartbreak I have to face in this episode

gods I love Danielle as Nina so so much

'this can't be it' said she with her pleading smile with downturned eyebrows MA'AM I-

don't break my dumb little heart

I might hate Calahan's little accent but they're making me tear up

oh gods I literally cannot keep a hold on myself when Dani's accent bleeds through with full force, it's like she comes more alive or smth

'I will keep you warm' SIR WHAT-

I am surprised they showed a leaning in for a kiss so soon but I'm not mad about it

her little eyebrow twitch at 'what are waffles'

when that rando said 'i hunt slavers now' a dread settled into me because I knew what was about to go down

Matthias looking somberly at the stuffed wolf's head </3

I am so incredibly entranced by this exchange between Fedyor and Nina and what it represents, it's very interesting that they pushed up their storyline to match with the timeline

damn it's kind of jarring to be back in the Fold

'REMEMBER WHO'S DRIVING'??!!!! *you better stop* meme, *i am, disgusted* meme, *oh wow, oh wow* meme

Mal you fucking idiot you could never take the crows by surprise

the music rising as Kaz starts explaining his thought process, fucking perfection

haha Mal bitchass Inej caught you

'Because if he isn't with Kirigan's crew, he's with ours' WHEN I TELL YOU I SCREAMED

'And why would we destroy the Fold? It's the greatest weapon we've got' valid point at the moment but you know I don't necessarily agree with your methods

the use of the light tunnel in the show instead of Alina just being a super flashlight in the books is quite an interesting addition as well

is this an inappropriate time to point out how pretty Ben Barnes is

okay I kind of love the depiction of the shadow powers okay sue me

'they are traitors who tried to kill you' why are you suddenly making valid points despite having kind of committed low scale genocide

'i never said I was smart' YES MAL BE THE VOICE OF HIMBOS EVERYWHERE

Kaz's face going from 'can you believe this idiot' at Mal to 'fuck me I'm gonna do the same thing aren't I' at Inej

'For who would oppose us now?' *himbo romantic rival appears out of nowhere and shoots at him* god I love this show

him standing calmly in his ridiculous all black attire after nodding at his soldier to stop the himbo in his tracks, i fucking can't

could she summon light without the Darkling making her after he put the collar on her until the uhm moment in the books? idts but in the show she can hmm

'only because I'm not in the game' you tell him Jesper

not me snickering at 'you'll be seen not as a saviour, but as a heretic' LMFAO

'Shame. I'll have to give that speech again now.' THIS SHOW IS A FUCKING COMEDY AND YOU CAN'T PROVE ME WRONG

YES LET'S FUCKING GO SULI SOLIDARITY

Darkles casually whipping the Cut out like a shuriken or a throwing knife at Jesper because he shot at him lmao I can't

INEJ FUCKING GHAFA STABBED ONE THE OLDEST AND MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THAT WORLD AND THAT IS VERY TELLING OF HER POWER

that moment where you actually think that affected him despite having read the books and watched the show

and then he has to go and fucking say 'it will take more than this' and I can't be help but be a little bit impressed at this old fool's resilience

throwback to when he said 'the king is a child' sir you make some valid points sometimes and it does make it difficult to hate you

I would just like to inform everyone that it is currently 6:09 am IST and I am sipping my second mug of wine while watching netflix sab for the second time instead of doing my three papers that are due tomorrow

I'm sorry but Inej jumping to check on Zoya after she gets knocked over by the volcra? first class display of solidarity and sisterhood as well as Inej's inherent kindness

Kaz jumping in front of a FUCKING VOLCRA AND STABBING IT WITH HIS CANE to save Inej, you best believe love is true, kids

god the volcra are so ugly and gross, they did such a good job with them

they kind of remind me of these creatures (I think they might have been called Hollows or smth) from the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children movie

STAG VISION TIME

despite my dislike for the callous nature with which the stag plotline was handled, I kind of dig the stag vision scene

'It's just me and you now, Alina. And we're all we need, anyway.' I actually feel bad for this old fool simping for this wonderful gorgeous powerful woman despite lying to her and manipulating her and exploiting her power

okay 'I never needed you' *stabs the bone fragment out of his hand* beautiful power move I fucking love you so so much

alright ben looking like ✨ that✨ not only in physical pain but also emotional pain at what the Darkling clearly considers another betrayal from this girl he wants to give the world and maybe? loves? maybe? or at least has feelings for makes my fucking heart hurt while simultaneously soar at Alina taking back control and reclaiming her power as her own and stepping into her own

'how do you claim such power' okay could have had better dialogue there writers

the fucking score lifting as she says 'you cannot claim what was not given to you' good people my heart is full

one day I'll talk about my defense of the chosen one trope because god damn I kind of love it

hmm I wonder was that brief hesitation that we saw on Alina's face due to her thinking about the 'you chose to betray our people' comment or the 'i was trying to save us' comment because that will define some of her actions in the later seasons (hopefully god if we get some, I honestly don't know what with this stupid brownface debacle)

I'm not saying talking about brownface and pointing out that it is wrong (for further context, I am actually brown) and harmful is stupid btw I'm talking about the incidents involving brownface in question

I don't wanna talk about this anymore but I might feel like I need to and end up posting about it idk

goodness Ivan actually believing in this cause makes me so sad because he too has been victimized by the system that ostracizes Grisha and he has every right to feel the way that he does

Ben actually fighting in that ridiculously heavy cloak and kefta when he's about to turn 40 this year makes me super impressed because I as a 19 year old sometimes wake up with muscle pulls after weeks of inactivity it's weird idk

also I understand that this Mal Darkling fight is completely fanservice and serves nearly no purpose to the plot in general but like I? love it?

'I don't have to kill you Darkling. Your past will do it for me' YES HIMBO GO OFF YOU TELL THAT OLD MAN GODS THAT WAS SEXY AS FUCK

maybe it's because I know Darkles will survive and will come out of it more powerful but I can't get myself to feel bad for him at the moment

Inej and Mal tearing up at Alina's condition made me almost feel something despite it being super obvious she was gonna be fine and save their asses at the last moment

HER POWER

a solitary Kaz in spotted on the western side of the newly expanded fold in his signature all black emo boy look

okay but the crows with zoya and malina is such an adorable team? I literally love them so much?

INEJ'S FUCKING SMILE AT ALINA GIVING HER THE DAGGER AND KAZ LOOKING AT HER AGSGSGSHSJSJSK MY HEART CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE

SHE KNOWS JUST WHAT TO NAME IT WELL GIRLIE I KNOW IT TOO AND MY FUCKING HEART IS LITERALLY GONNA BURST

okay I know they had one interaction but Mal and Jesper would be besties in another universe

Kaz glaring at Jesper when he answers ''course not' to Alina's 'will you still be trying to kidnap me?' tell me one fucking adaptation that got the dynamics between characters this perfectly

okay why do I love that Alina kept the jewellery as maybe a small nod to she has the wits to, um, you know, I don't wanna say steal, but, um, yeah, steal it because she knew she would need money to survive on the run

oh Jessie I love you so much I wish you hadn't said those things on you ig story about the brownface

it's like every single celeb I grow attached to god's like nope that one is going to do or say something problematic (hey btw im not reassigning blame to god for stuff people have done out of their own free will, 'twas a joke)

AAAAAAAH them saying 'the deal is the deal' in the show even though they didn't have to but like they did and I love them for it

Inej literally not being able to not stare at Kaz's face and smile after this <3

'I didn't expect it to burn at all. But it can be destroyed in the end. Just like him' babe you're not wrong but like um just you wait

god Mal being on supportive boyfie mode is well, absolutely adorable, obviously, but I wish we got to see more of him as a person outside of his attachment to Alina

kaz my little demjin I wish you hadn't have had to suffer so much to meet the crows and find your calling

fastforwarding Zoya's arc is also an interesting choice to me

I wish the hug hadn't been done though, it didn't feel earned

maybe Alina awkwardly and half-heartedly (remember, at this point the alliance is fresh and they still don't entirely trust each other) reached for a hug and Zoya avoided her? and then the rest of Zoya's lines followed? that would have made more sense to me at least

I love Sujaya as well, she brought life into Zoya with whatever little screentime and scraps of writing she got

inej asking kaz 'what's your angle?' beep bop bleep morp I sense another incoming embarrassing love confession

'but we do need you' *stares at her face intensely* 'I need you' ah look at the clock, look's like it's time to screech and flap your arms like you're a volcra because you're incapable of containing your emotions

NO YOU CAN'T GO DIRECTLY FROM KANEJ PROGRESS TO HELNIK BREAKUP (TEMPORARY, MIND YOU)

helnik my loves you don't deserve this I'm so sorry for both of you

Matthias fucking smiling ruefully while he says 'this was... just a cruel joke all along' THIS IS NOT FUCKING OKAY

omg hellgate

AAAAAAAAH NINA IS ON THE SAME FRAME AS THE OG CROWS I CAN'T HANDLE THIS

CAMERA PAN FROM KAZ SAYING 'JUST HOW THIS ALL STARTED... WE'RE GONNA NEED A HEARTRENDED' TO NINA OVERHEARING HIM AND LOOKING OVER?????!!!!!! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING THIS TO ME?!

Nina genuinely being curious as to the status of the sun saint because she obviously still cares

Also, 'But she is a Saint' okay Kaz trying to earn brownie points you have succeeded

DID THAT SAILOR JUST SAY 'GOED MORGEN FENTOMEN' TO MALINA BECAUSE I AM NOT OKAY WITH THEM JUST THROWING THAT IN MY FACE ALL OF A SUDDEN

gods I know I'll probably see them again but my heart is full of sorrow as my eyes drink in the sight of my crows for the last time for a while

I know people were annoyed at the meadow flashbacks but guess what? as a darklina, I loved them

'now that the Darkling is dead' could have phrased that a little differently my dudes that line needed to hold more weight

am I glad that they showed Darkles in this state with his nichevo'ya as a tasty little cliffhanger despite not being entirely true to the source material? maybe but only because Ben Barnes saying 'follow' and the nichevo'ya doing exactly so sent a chill down my spine

well, that's it for now, I'll have to move on I guess, get back to my real life which I'm obviously not ready to do

thank you to whoever actually read these things

I probably should have just made reactions or commentary videos instead but I'm lazy

my tumblr will probably go into inactivity once more as I emerge from my stint in the grishaverse

it was quite short (less than 2 months), considering the length of my other obsessions but it was definitely more intense than the other ones

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iwovhaikyuu · 4 years

Text

You Look Amazing - Oikawa Tooru x Reader

Hey it’s Sam! Woah I actually wrote a fic? Shocking, I know. I haven’t written anything in a few months, so I’m kinda rusty, so bear with me if this is garbage ^^ (Also I’m a total slut for Oikawa, so he gets the special fluff treatment :) )

From The Prompt List:

56. “Would you just hold still?”

99. “Don’t look at me like that.”

11. “Wow, you look amazing.”

With a relieved sigh you stretched your legs as you walked out the gym with your boyfriend. It seemed like all of his practices lasted for a million years, but it wasn’t like you could complain. It was totally worth it to see him sweaty and panting by the end of it.

“What are you thinking about, Little Cutie?”

A familiar voice snapped you out of your thoughts. Looking up, you saw your boyfriend staring back down at you with a warm smile and a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“You.”

“Me?” He suddenly grew extremely flustered, “W-well of course it’s me! Who else would you be thinking about?” He started sweating and chuckling nervously, beginning to stutter while still in his flustered haze.

Wanting Tooru to shut up and stop being such a stutter bug (in a loving way), you leaned upwards and caught him even more off guard with a breathtaking kiss. Feeling his tongue graze your bottom lip, you refused entrance, successfully earning a whine from your lover.

“(Y/N)-Chan why,” he dragged on the last syllable

Grabbing his hand, you kissed his knuckles and looked back up at him with a small smile.

“When we get home, baby.”

~Timeskip~

Upon arriving back to your shared apartment, you were met with the soft meowing of your kitten, Hanako, which Tooru had surprised you with on your anniversary to keep you company when he had to travel for his games.

“Hello little baby,” Tooru cooed, scooping up the small bundle of brown and white fluff.

“I thought we were going to continue from earlier?” you questioned, slightly disappointed

“That comes later, kitty comes now,” he said not looking up from his place on the floor as he pet Hanako’s small patchy head

“Okay fine. I’ll be in the room while you play with the cat,” you called out to him as you walked down the hall, but your voice went seemingly unheard to your significant other, who was apparently too busy for you at the current moment. Plopping on the bed with a dejected sigh, you reached for your laptop and opened Netflix. If Tooru was busying himself with something else then you were gonna do the same. Clicking on The Umbrella Academy, you felt a pinch of guilt. This was you and Tooru’s show and you promised not to continue season two without him.

Guilt taking over, you exited and decided on rewatching The Witcher, because right now you just really needed to see Henry Cavill’s sexy ass. (god same)

After finishing an episode and a half, you had dozed off, not even bothering to cover yourself with a blanket.

Walking into the room with Hanako in tow, Tooru noticed your shivering form, looking small as you unconsciously curled into a ball to preserve heat. After closing your laptop and gently placing Hanako onto her small cushion at the foot of your shared bed, Tooru’s eyes wandered around the room, taking notice of every small detail. Your shared bed in the corner, every movie poster and underground band poster, all the little nick knacks placed carefully on the shelf, the framed pictures of the both of you on the nightstand, and finally you. Chocolate eyes scanning your face, he realized all over again why he fell in love with you. You weren’t one of the pushy and annoying fangirls from high school, no. You were so much more. You had always been by his side in elementary school. Then middle school, high school, college, and now here you are helping him live out his dream. Glancing at the nightstand once more, his gaze fell onto the second drawer. In it held a small box, only to be taken out when the time was right.

Sitting on the bed next to you, he gently rubbed your shoulder, stirring you from your nap. Slowly opening your eyes, you saw Tooru’s loving gaze resting upon you.

“Hey there, sleepyhead. How was your nap?” he said rubbing your cheekbone

Too tired to even speak, you scooted closer to him, trying to find warmth. Chuckling, he stood back up, earning a tired pout from you. Walking to the closet, he dug out something he hadn’t seen in years. Carefully removing it from the hanger, he turned back towards you, seeing you had begun to wake up. Now fully sitting up and wiping the sleep out of your eyes, you watched him make his way back over to you with the unknown garment.

“Babe why did you wake me up?” You yawned halfway through your sentence, still coming to your senses.

“Because you were shivering now here.”

He sat next to you once more and began to put your arms into the piece of clothing. Not wanting to deal with this and go back to sleep, you started wiggling to get out of his grip.

“Would you just hold still?” he jokingly grumbled, still trying to put your arms in the sleeves. After about five minutes of struggle, you gave up and let him put it on you, much to his relief.

“So how do you feel now?”

“Less cold.. What even is this?”

“Try looking down.”

Listening to your lover, you looked at your arms and torso, noticing a vaguely familiar color scheme of aqua blue and white. Eyes widening at the realization of this being his old Aoba Johsai volleyball club jacket, your face erupted in a mad blush. Making eye contact with your boyfriend, you saw the pure love and admiration in his dark eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that,” you muttered, feeling embarrassed

“Hm? O-oh, I-I just.. Wow, you look amazing…”

“You’re only saying that because it’s yours. You’re only trying to feed your ego.”

Hurt flashing in his eyes, he scooted closer to you and brought you into his arms, resting his chin on your head and rocking you both side to side.

“I’m being serious. You look beautiful, Sweetheart… God I love you so much,” he pulled back from the hug and kissed your forehead, resting his on your own, “Don’t ever think that I’m just feeding my ego. I love you more than words can even say,”

Beginning to tear up at his words, you pressed your face into the crook of his neck, tears staining the collar of his shirt. Thinking he may have said something wrong, he started to panic, pulling back once more to take a good look at your face.

“Baby are you okay? Did I say something wrong? Did I-” he didn’t get to finish his sentence as you pressed your lips to his in a sweet kiss. After parting, you locked gazes and gave him a reassuring smile, tears still running down your face.

“I love you too, Tooru, so so so much.”

Giving your forehead another peck, Tooru laid down under the covers, pulling you down with him and bringing you into his arms once more. As the night went on, you both engaged in mindless chatter, giving each other the occasional kiss and sometimes bumping noses, sending each other into a fit of giggles.

…

….

…..

“Marry me”

“What?”

“You heard what I said.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And here it is! I hoped you all enjoyed! Oikawa would be the sweetest boyfriend ever no 🧢

1218 Words

#oikawa tooru x reader #tooru oikawa x reader #tooru oikawa fluff #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu x reader #oikawa x reader fluff

98 notes · View notes

scrapyardboyfriends · 3 years

Text

So I’ve been rewatching White Collar and thinking about a Robron White Collar AU.

So like...Robert is Neal Caffrey. Con man, charming, can talk and scheme his way out of anything, looks good in a suit.

Aaron would be Sarah, insurance investigator. Gets to do enough semi illegal things and get his hands a bit dirty while still mostly staying on the right side of the law.

Swirling is Peter, the reluctant, sometimes exasperated agent and handler who has to deal with both of them. Swirling deserves a starring role at some point. Haha.

I have multiple options for Mozzie. Could bring in Kath because she’s always up for whatever con Robert wants to run and can play any role. Or Nicola, best friend and also always up for anything and loves a good game. Or if we want more recent fare it could be Mack, partner in crime always there to help scheme their way out of a jam.

I got a little stuck on June. I was like...could be like Lawrence as he was rich and would let Robert stay keep him in suits but then I felt like he’d just get conned. Was thinking about Kim Tate because she’s a rich older woman who wouldn’t mind helping out on a con or two but I feel like she’d end up conning him. Could also be Diane, but like the version of her around right now who just helps everyone out and is everyone’s go to person and so in this scenario she’s actually helpful to Robert. Haha.

But anyway, Aaron’s been after Robert for a painting he stole for ages and they meet up on another case and slowly end up falling for each other while Robert covertly chases the score of lifetime while also trying to carve out a life for himself and find meaning in it, which ends up being Aaron.

It’s a working theory. Haha. One that will never even be properly plotted in my head let alone written.

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hb-writes · 3 years

Text

Thank you. How did you know today’s my birthday?

Inspired by my 100+ lovely followers, @love-me-a-good-prompt’s “THANK YOU IDEAS” prompt list, and a recent rewatch of White Collar season one.

Summary: After a few months of showing him little aside from a bit of casual enmity, Peter’s niece realizes that Neal’s likely not going away any time soon and she might as well try to make nice with the man. There’s no better time than Neal’s birthday.

Featuring: Neal Caffrey and Alice Burke

-----

“You have a visitor,” June said as Neal came through the front door. It was near to seven o’clock, having spent a few extra hours after his time at the bureau wandering downtown. “They’re waiting upstairs.”

Neal wasn’t expecting anyone but he was getting used to it now, the random pop up visits. He was at the whims of the White Collar division, at the beck and call of Peter Burke and his team. Either that or it was Mozzie. One could never expect when Mozzie would just show up.

“She seems like a lovely girl, Neal.”

Neal raised an eyebrow, his head tilted just a bit as he looked to June but he didn’t bother with asking for anything more from the woman. He knew she wouldn’t tell him, not with the sly smirk she wore.

“Ace,” Neal said to the girl stretched out across two of his dining chairs, one of his books open in her lap. Chess Fundamentals. “You know when June said she let a lovely girl in to wait for me I—”

Alice set down the book. She tried her best to hate the nickname her uncle’s felonious pet bestowed upon her, but she just couldn’t. It was just too catchy, so catchy that even Peter started using it from time to time.

“You weren’t expecting me?” she asked.

“It’s not that you’re not a lovely girl, Alice. It’s just—”

“It’s okay, Neal. I know I haven’t been the loveliest towards you,” she offered. “But Aunt El said I should give you a chance.” She leaned down to pick up two bags from the floor beside her chair. “And I know today’s your birthday, so I just thought it was an opportunity to start fresh and try to like you. And I also know Uncle Pete probably forgot. He’d forget my birthday every year if Aunt El didn’t remind him.”

“I’m sure he wo—” Neal stopped himself. “No, you’re right. He absolutely would forget.”

“And he has,” she said. “Always forgot about it before Aunt El, always just gave me an envelope with an I.O.U. scratched out on the back of a receipt or something for whatever I wanted, an outing usually.”

Neal smiled at the picture of a six-year-old version of the girl in front of him giving her uncle an earful for that type of forgetfulness. The vision came to him easily because Neal couldn’t imagine Alice Burke would have trouble giving an earful to anyone at regardless of her age.

“But enough about me. It’s your birthday.”

Alice pushed two bags across the table, one a generic brown paper bag and the other a garish thing with glitter and balloons and colored tissue paper stuffed inside.

“I guess I should do this one first,” he answered, pulling the birthday bag towards him and moving aside the tissue paper. A smile graced Neal’s lips as he pulled the hat out of the bag and fit it over his head.

“One can never have too many fedoras,” he said.

“I think my uncle would disagree,” Alice answered.

“I think you’re probably right,” Neal answered.

“Okay, now this one is actually a gift for both of us,” Alice said, pushing the second bag a bit closer.

“Both of us?” he asked.

“El says it’s the absolute best…well, it’s...just open it first, I guess.”

Intrigued, Neal pulled out one of two small boxes and opened the lid revealing a piece of cake.

“The best cake from the best bakery in Brooklyn,” Neal said, recognizing it on sight.

“That’s what El says, anyway,” Alice added.

“Elizabeth is right.”

“Usually is,” Alice added from the kitchen.

Neal accepted the fork she brought over from the kitchen, not the least bit surprised that she’d cased his place before he made it home, finding whatever she would need ahead of time.

They both took their first bites at the same time, both sighing in the over-exaggerated way one does while tasting something truly divine.

“Thank you for this. It’s great,” Neal said, “but how did you know today’s my birthday?”

“My uncle has a file eight volumes thick on you, Neal. You think I’ve never read about you?”

“Not sure the bureau would approve of you reading their files.”

“Like you’ve never done something the bureau wouldn’t approve of,” Alice said, using her finger to scrape a remnant of frosting from the box and popping it in her mouth.

“Touché,” he answered.

“And if Uncle Pete didn’t want me reading them, he shouldn’t have left them lying around. He knows I have a curious mind. It’s his own fault.”

“Interesting logic,” Neal answered. “I don’t know if Peter would agree.”

Alice shrugged. There was a lot she did that her uncle likely wouldn’t agree with, but she had accepted that as part of growing up. They both had. She and Peter and Elizabeth had been in constant negotiations over what was and wasn’t acceptable for the better part of a decade.

“I have one last gift for you.”

“Another gift?”

“I want to play another game of chess. Well, more than one, actually.”

“Really?” Neal asked. “After you told me you’d never play me again?”

Alice nodded. “I won’t even be a sore loser.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes,” she answered, taking their boxes and forks to the kitchen. “Mostly because after you teach me a bit more, I’ll never lose to you again.”

Neal shook his head, chuckling. “Is that so?”

Alice nodded. “That is so.”

Neal put his feet up, leaning back in his chair and resting his hands behind his head. “Alright, but if you’re ever going to beat me, which you probably won’t, you’ll have to commit to us playing at least--”

“Weekly,” Alice interrupted. “I already had Uncle Pete agree to keep at least one hour a week free on both our schedules.”

“And he agreed to that?” Neal asked. “Just like that?”

“I can be very persuasive,” she answered. “And I may have cashed in an old I.O.U. from ages ago.”

“You brought me birthday gifts and used an I.O.U. for chess lessons with me? I think you might actually like me a bit already, Ace.”

“We’ll see,” she answered. “You’re currently on probation.”

“You know, I don’t care what people may say. You’re absolutely nothing like your uncle.”

Alice glared at him. “You might want to tread lightly there, Neal.”

Neal raised his arms in surrender. “Alright, fine. Chessboard is on the bookshelf, Bobby Fischer.”

“I prefer Judit Polgar,” she answered.

“So, you’ve done your research, then?”

Alice didn’t answer but smirked at him as she pulled the chessboard off the shelf.

#white collar #white collar fanfic #neal caffrey #peter burke #elizabeth burke #mozzie #alice burke #platonic oc #100 follower thank you

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ifeelbetterer · 4 years

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I'm rewatching Psych and 1) I would love to see a full fic of your AU Umbrella Academy crossover where Klaus is the reverse Shawn, and 2) having just watched the last Yin episode, why isn't there more fic (OR CANON) addressing the fact that Shawn was low-key STALKED as a kid for years by a gd serial killer??? Who turned out to be damn near his neighbor!?!?!?! It always surprised me how little fic there is dealing with Henry's A+ Parenting but I'd forgotten about some of the other nonsense

I rewatched Psych a few months ago (or weeks?? time is an illusion in corona!!!) and I was also struck by the Yin/Yang plotline. Like....I think fandom mostly stays away from it because:

(a) fandom was more than a little casually racist and ignored all the moments of the show where Gus and Shawn were the most fertile moments for fic. The Yin/Yang thing revolves SO HEAVILY on that moment with Gus tied to the chair where they essentially do wedding vows at each other. Fandom at the time would basically put its fingers in its ears and shout “LALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU” anytime something happened that pointed towards Shawn/Gus being the central ship instead of, god help us, Shawn/Lassiter.

(b) the Yang character is....not well done and fandom tends to just sort of...skip the parts of stuff that is that badly done. Like. I love Ally Sheedy as much as the next person (i.e., A LOT) but it’s too much to ask of her to make that character make sense. My gut says that the show was so thrilled to have her and then to have her be willing to keep coming back that they just wrote themselves into a pretzel trying to eke out more of her plotline. The stalker stuff in particular smacks of short-sightedness. They probably wanted to come up with a retcon for the photo that wouldn’t make it impossible for Yang to come back. If she’s stalking him as a child to murder him, she’s irredeemable and can’t be a sympathetic villain. And they didn’t think it through to see how actually scary stalking a child would be on its own. They clearly thought switching from “stalking for murder reasons” to “stalking because goshdarn i love your domesticity” would make it ok....and it just doesn’t.

Psych is great fun in a lot of ways, but it really does suffer sometimes from not walking through its own logic. It’s the same mistake in having Henry repeatedly be the mouthpiece for doing what’s right while simultaneously establishing him as the source of Shawn’s childhood trauma. It’s logically inconsistent.

Anyway. I love to ramble about USA shows from the 2000s. I’ve rewatched Psych, Burn Notice, and White Collar so far this summer. I’m working on Royal Pains right now. Feel free to drop anymore thoughts you have about Psych in my askbox as you rewatch!

#Anonymous

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ranma-rewatch · 3 years

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Episode 25: The Abduction of P-Chan

Y’all, it has finally COME. The arc I have been wanting to rewatch for ages. One of my favorite arcs in the series. It’s time for figure skating, I’m pretty sure I remember this arc very well, and I look forward to seeing if I still love it as much as I used to.

Oh, but before I do that, I just want to go over something. I already talked about this during Season 1, but some of you might be confused why I’ve waited so long to cover this arc. It’s because the original broadcast order and the production order are different, and Hulu has things in the production order. I wanted to cover the series by broadcast date, so even though this takes place right before the original Shampoo arc, we’re not watching it until, well, now. But anyway, that done, let’s watch the episode!

I am not disappointed.

The episode starts at an ice-skating rink, where Akane is there with a few unnamed friends who want her to join the skating club, because she’s genuinely that good. However, she brought P-Chan with her and left him on the ice. Before she can get back to our transformed lost boy, someone else finds him and takes him away, calling him ‘Charlotte’.

From there, we cut to a ramen shop where Ranma is getting grilled by his friends Hiroshi and Daisuke, who want to date ‘the other Ranma’. That request goes as well as you can expect (though I do have to wonder, since it’s unclear if they think the ‘other Ranma’ is Ranma’s girlfriend or his sister, and they both want to date her, if this would be an actual polycule), but just as Ranma starts walking away, insulting Akane because his friends brought her up, she appears, looking upset.

Ranma immediately regrets that and starts backpedaling, only to realize she doesn’t care about that, she wants his help finding her pet. Luckily, that won’t be too hard, because the thief enters the same shop they’re in, carrying Ryoga around with her. Akane tries taking him back, but the girl resists.

That’s when someone shows up to help Akane, a tall attractive young man who acts like the ultimate pretty boy romance option. He apologizes, explaining his friend has a bad habit of taking things she finds cute and naming them. That just sets the girl off though, whining more and more about the matter until she challenges Akane to a figure skating match.

It’s then that we learn who these two are: Mikado Sanzenin and Azusa Shiratore from Kolholtz High School. Together, they’re a figure skating duo known as the Golden Pair, and they’ve won 950 matches with no losses. Despite this, Akane is ready to fight.

Mikado starts putting the moves on her, causing Ranma to flick some food at him. The figure skater takes that as a challenge, so it’ll be a doubles match of Ranma and Akane versus Mikado and Azusa, and it’ll be in one week.

That night at dinner, Ranma and Ryoga argue over who gets to skate with Akane, each bragging over what they can do...the only issue there is that neither can actually skate at all. Akane starts helping Ranma after he goes into the bathroom and activates his and Ryoga’s curses, since he feels like failing so badly at skating looks worse when he’s masculine.

The Golden Pair return, with Azusa snatching P-Chan to put a new collar on him, one only she can unlock, and Mikado now trying to flirt with Ranma. It’s revealed that they’re both masters of Martial Arts Figure Skating, and that’s what the match really is, as they train by defeating a hundred opponents in just nine seconds. Things get worse when he actually steals a kiss from Ranma, causing Ranma to go use hot water to turn himself back and enter the ice rink ready to fight. He punches the ice so hard that he leaves an enormous crack in it, and he claims it’s the first time in his life he’s been really mad.

That’s where the episode leaves us! But wow, I still feel like a lot happened in this one. There’s a heck of a lot for me to cover, but let’s just start with, well, all the Ranma/Akane. I’m sorry! I can’t help myself!! There was just so much of it! Whether it be Ranma worrying about making Akane mad from another “she’s not cute” kind of thing and being ready to take it back, to how annoyed he gets from Mikado flirting with her, to how after being kissed by Mikado one of the first things he worries about is that it was in front of Akane.

It was adorable!

I also think it’s remarkable how this story is just carried by the personalities of its characters. This isn’t some plot that happens to have the Golden Pair in it. The conflict is driven by Azusa’s strange kleptomania and my Mikado’s predatory behavior. Compared to some other storylines I can think of, this approach makes this one feel much more focused, as well as emphasizing the antagonists of the arc.

I’m going to give each of them their own Character Spotlight in coming weeks, but I did want to say here that I think it’s really interesting how Mikado is frequently animated to make his possessive behavior clear just through visuals, like how he holds Ranma’s arms while carrying him, to keep him from resisting his advances.

The comedy felt strong in this episode, as did the action. I wasn’t laughing the whole time or anything, but I was entertained throughout, and that’s not something I can say for a lot of episodes, sadly. It’s a strong start to this arc, and it just gets better from here...or at least that’s what the opinions I formed in high school tell me, from across the vast distance of time.

Instead of doing a Character Spotlight, I’m going to FINALLY talk about Season 2’s Opening! Since, for some reason, this is the first episode to have it...when due to broadcast order versus production order a lot of places don’t even have it in Season 1!

This song is called “Little Date”, performed by the band Ribbon. It’s a very cute little song, with elements of lighter and sillier moments but also of more emotional ones. I like it a lot more than the first opening’s song, and while I’m not sure if it’s my favorite opening, it’s one of the ones I love going back to listen to the most.

The visuals are...okay. The first half is pretty meh, a combination of original art, images from the manga, and overall less animated stuff. It’s also kind of infamous for showing Ranma’s cursed form topless, right at the start. The second half is better, and I especially love Shampoo’s introduction. The way she and the music fit together is really good, and the fact it’s at the bubbliest part of the song works really well.

On the whole, even with some more lackluster visuals, I’d still put it above the first seasons’s OP.

If it isn’t obvious, I’m very happy to be starting the Martial Arts Figure Skating Arc. I don’t know how popular it is in the larger Ranma fandom, but I know I’ve always been a big fan of it, and this time around it’s still good, at least so far. Honestly? I’m actually going to put this as the second best episode so far, I liked it that much.

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 25: The Abduction of P-Chan

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 19: Clash of the Delivery Girls! The Martial Arts Takeout Race

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 23: Enter Mousse! The Fist of the White Swan

Episode 17: I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye

Episode 20: You Really Do Hate Cats!

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 22: Behold! The 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire' Technique

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 21: This Ol' Gal's the Leader of the Amazon Tribe!

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan

Episode 18: I Am a Man! Ranma's Going Back to China!?

Episode 24: Cool Runnings! The Race of the Snowmen

This arc continues next week, and if I’m being honest, I think it’s going to top this. But maybe I’m wrong! We’ll see with “Close Call! The Dance of Death... On Ice!”. Can it be as good as Reptaur on Ice? I doubt it.

#episode 25 #The Abduction of P-Chan #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #akane tendo #mikado sanzenin #azusa shiratore #anime analysis #anime rewatch

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