#again it’s totally fine to be unconvinced about the Idea or just generally not like the idea of a timeskip

[blaithnne]

I will never understand how some people are SO aggressively against the mere concept of the teenaged Hilda we see at the end of MK when she’s had what a minute of screentime? And we know nothing about season 3?

[vidalinav]

Firstly, no one wants a therapy book. These are books about Faeries. So no one is sitting wanting to read about withdrawals, puking, crying and screaming. Maybe a very SMALL contingent of readers. Not the majority. Nesta falling down the stairs, Nesta refusing to train, Nesta giving attitude to Cassian, that's it. That's the withdrawals. Since she is not a full blown alcoholic or a sex addict, there wouldn't be massive withdrawals. She is not Amy Winehouse.

Secondly, the intervention is done exactly for that reason--so she doesn't turn into Amy Winehouse. It's not 'implied' that she is having potentially dangerous sex with people who could hurt her. It's a fact. She says it herself. It's not 'implied' that she drinks too much. She says it herself. It's observed. The concern isn't that she is doing those things--no one is looking for her to become a sweet, celibate virgin. The concern is that she is doing these things TOO much. That's how you become an addict.

People in power, on whom she depends decided to step in and put an end to it. That's how interventions work. Especially since she decided to be completely dependent on them financially. If she had a job, then yes, no one can tell her what to do. You make your own bed and decisions, and that's what she did.

The whole 'sisterly' involvement--she was the person who cut everyone out. She cut out Feyre, then Elain, Cassian, Amren. It was her decision. What are they going to do? Did Elain not try to get involved in her life? Did she not invite her to Solstice? Elain was the only person who gave her a gift. Was it Elain or Nesta who decided that they didn't the other? As I recall, Nesta didn't acknowledge Elain on the street. She refused to participate. So should the sisters just take it? Accept the bullshit and keep the checks coming? Should Feyre and Elain just sit back and watch Nesta spiral out of control until she does become an addict and/or gets raped? or hurt? Yes, there comes a time when you are just fed up and Elain, or Feyre, are not obligated to coddle Nesta and let get do whatever it is that she wants to do, and watch her hurt herself.

I am aware of your opinions and you will never agree and I know you'll still insist that the IC is horrible and the sisters don't care. But honestly, they saved Nesta so there is that.

I sometimes don't know whether I should just delete these, because someone always write a whole ass aggressive post in the anons when you know you could just post it yourself. But sometimes I get a lot of joy out of these-- I wish you put this much energy in analyzing the actual text but alas.

Anyway, let me read.

Point 1: this is not a therapy book. I agree S/JM should stop writing about trauma.

Point 2: The intervention is done for exactly that reason--I argue that you don't know the reason and neither do I, and nor do I feel that S/JM does. You can definitely argue about addiction and where it leads, but I can argue that the text doesn't support that she has one or one that warrants an intervention beyond offering a support system, which then I ask why the intervention is there at all, since I know very well that characters do not have autonomy and this was an author's choice. I question S/JM's narrative decisions and how they are framed in the novel which is why I cannot support specific claims about characters.

Point 3: I already talked about this in a reblog. So I'm going to dismiss this one.

Point 4: If the intention on behalf of the writer is to show that they care, then... I got to see scenes where they care. It can't be speculation. It has to be concrete. If the goal is to show realism, then you have to show realistic consequences of trauma, the dirt of it all, and then also the push and pull of healing which arguably is not in here. You can show people being annoyed by her trauma, that's realistic but it's not realistic for someone to jump into an intervention. You know realistically, as in of this world, you cannot force anyone to be in a program without their consent, and they can leave at any time. Of course there are certain instances where this is not true, but it takes years to get people the healing or help for addiction/trauma that they need and if people don't want to heal well you can't do nothing about it. That's realistic.

If you are arguing that Nesta is rolling down a steep hill to nowheresville as it seems then... by all means it probably should take more than giving a gift at solstice, which doesn't make Elain nor Feyre look good that this is the height of trying. To go straight to intervention without convincing evidence that it's needed nor that they tried literally anything else is my point. So if the goal was to make the foundation for a sisterly relationship, I am not convinced. If the goal was to show they care, I am certainly not convinced.

The objective of any book is to convince the reader of something. If you did not convince a bulk of the readership, whether that be anti-Nesta's who are not quelled or pro-Nesta's who are not satisfied, then the writer did not convince well enough. Which is what I am saying specifically about the benevolence of the IC. That claim lacks contextual evidence. It is not about whether I like them or not. Who cares about that? I like interesting characters, I am arguing that if the author herself wanted me to believe they were "good" or morally righteous, she did not provide that basis. Actually she gave me a lot of evidence that they aren't. Which is fine, if it amounts to something. If doesn't then, S/JM wrote an unconvincing book.

Point 5: The book says that Nesta saved the IC, literally. The IC did not save Nesta, neither literally nor emotionally. That would mean they were directly involved or... empathetic and supportive, which I already said I'm not convinced and why that is. What saved Nesta and what made the majority of the book was the House, her friends, a goal, the Mother, and a romantic relationship. A support system. I can argue that. Anyone can argue that. For one, because the IC is notably absent for most of the book and when they're there they don't look great. Then you have to think why did S/JM make a relationship that is supportive and have that parallel the presence/absence of the IC who is blatantly not? Doesn't make them look great again. Interesting yes they are, but not benevolent.

~

Look, I'm assuming the point of sending me an anon is because you don't agree and you don't know what to do with that, but you also don't want to reblog and you want to make sure I see this post, because I probably wouldn't. It is totally within your right to argue. I love discussions even with people who do not agree with me. But I want to discuss things. So, give me contextual evidence. Give me lines, give me connections. Connect them dots. Once you have done this then hit me up and we'll discuss. Right now your argument is based on opinion alone. You think this. You think that. Purely speculative. It's not based on anything and therefore can't be argued well. For lack of a better way to say this, I don't care about your opinion. Opinions are not fact. They don't mean anything, they're as good as the people behind them. I want to discuss the text and how it works, and what it does, and how it's supported. The consequences of certain narrative decisions.

So, if you think the IC is supportive and justified and want to tell me specifically, show me how they are--by the book, how scenes are framed, what actions characters take along the path to the end. Not by what you know interventions are or because the idea of mental health/substance abuse issues is generally hard to deal with--that's not good enough. You cannot argue the text without using the text either in quote or paraphrasing or giving examples especially on a post where I am talking about the evidence and the lack of it. You said I wouldn't change my mind, you don't know that. I can certainly see something from your pov, but you have to do more than this.

You chose to leave an anon, so you either do the homework or you don't leave an anon with me.

[panharmonium]

you know what?

no.  absolutely not.

i already did part 1 of this post here.  i’m back again with part 2, because unfortunately the awfulness factor doesn’t stop with arthur, and as much as i adore hunith generally, this entire sequence is a MESS.

and yes, i am aware that pretty much nobody else thinks so.  every time i see this scene referenced in fandom, it is always framed as a fun, cutesy, sing-songy moment of “oooo, hunith ships merthur!”  literally every time.  

which, you know, like i always say about everything fandom-related - that’s fine.  everybody is going to enjoy things differently; you do you, and keep on having fun!  but here on my own blog, in my own space, i am gonna do me, and in this case ‘me’ involves yelling about how much i can’t stand that particular read, and how angry the end of 1.10 makes me.

disclaimer, to help folks curate their own fandom experiences: i am going to be Very Cranky for the rest of this post.  if you love this particular scene in the way i just mentioned, you will probably want to scroll on by, because this piece of meta most likely won’t be your jam.  as always, these are my personal thoughts and nobody is obligated to share them, so please do not hesitate to simply skip this post if we are on different wavelengths - instead, keep enjoying fandom in whatever way is most fun for you!

fair warning now given, off i go on a long, frustrated tirade.

i already wrote about the first half of this scene, where arthur decides that the appropriate thing to do at this particular moment is to give merlin a scolding about the evils of sorcery, despite the fact that the only reason arthur is even alive to deliver this lecture in the first place is because merlin’s ‘sorcerer’ best friend just DIED saving arthur’s life.  but sure, you know what, let’s use said best friend’s funeral to chastise merlin about how “dangerous” sorcerers are.  let’s just make that completely dickheaded decision.  

and, moving on to the second half of this scene - here’s the thing.  hunith overhears this entire conversation.  she overhears arthur telling merlin off about sorcery, in front of the burning corpse of merlin’s best friend, who is, as far as arthur knows, the ‘sorcerer’ who died saving arthur’s life.  

and yet, for some inexplicable reason, hunith still cannot get off the arthur pendragon train for two damn seconds.  

she has known arthur for less than a week.  by contrast, she has known will for his entire life.  but the instant arthur walks away, hunith sidles up next to merlin and says, “you’d better be going” - like.  okay, my god, can you try to hustle him away from his best friend’s in-progress funeral any faster?????  how about we maybe give him a second?  the pyre hasn’t even burnt down yet, and merlin hasn’t had a single second to himself since this sequence started.  he’s had to stand there and listen to arthur insult the dude who everyone is supposed to be memorializing, and then hunith - who overheard the entire thing - zips right over and tries to chivvy merlin on his way.  you’d better be going.

HELLO?!  the pyre is still roaring.  how about, instead of hassling merlin and hustling him offstage, everybody just sits down and waits for a minute.  how about they all just leave merlin alone for three everloving seconds.  

honestly, just - every time i think about this scene i get angrier.

i love hunith, and i know she’s well-intentioned.  but everything she gives merlin in this scene is the exact opposite of what he needs.  he doesn’t need to be hurried off the village green like there’s some reason he can’t stay there for the entirety of his friend’s funeral.  he doesn’t need to be pushed into going back to camelot when he is clearly struggling with the idea of leaving ealdor again.  and he absolutely does not need to be told how much someone else “needs” him right now, when he himself is the one who is having a fucking crisis and who needs someone to take care of him.

i cannot emphasize that last point enough.  it is just - beyond upsetting to me that hunith literally watches arthur shitting on merlin’s dead best friend (and, by proxy, merlin himself, since merlin is the actual sorcerer) and she still somehow thinks the right thing to do is walk over and start telling merlin how great arthur is and how arthur “needs” him and how merlin “belongs at arthur’s side.”  

i can’t stand that.  it makes me so angry.  it’s not right.  it’s not fair.  it’s damaging.  it’s the same shitty messaging that destroys merlin’s life in later seasons, this idea that he exists for someone else’s sake, the complete disregard for what he himself might want at any given moment, for what he himself might need, for the reservations he might have about this plan that other people have formulated for his life.

he is UNCOMFORTABLE when she says these things to him!  he doesn’t look at her; he shifts his gaze to arthur and the camelot squad with this grim, unconvinced expression on his face, and then he averts his eyes from her.

everything hunith tells merlin in this scene is the exact opposite of what he needs to hear.  he does not need someone to tell him how badly his services are “needed” by a man who hates the person merlin truly is, not when the only friend who ever accepted merlin’s true self has just been killed.  he does not need to be told that arthur, who is alive solely because will is dead and who only seconds ago expressed exactly zero gratitude for that sacrifice, is the person to whom merlin owes his undying loyalty.  he does not need to be shuffled off to camelot as quickly as possible, as if it would be better for him to just rush forward and forget what happened here, as if what happened here didn’t matter.  

because what happened here did matter, whether hunith and arthur find it convenient to acknowledge or not.  i have to lay this out again, because what happened to merlin in ealdor is so much more important than anybody ever seems to realize - and i do understand that, i really do (because yes, it was just one episode for us) - but we have to look at it from merlin’s perspective, not the audience’s.

will wasn’t ‘one episode’ for merlin.  

i can’t say this enough times.  i cannot say this loudly enough.

merlin, at the beginning of this show, has only ever had ONE FRIEND.

most of us can’t even imagine something like that.  

but try.  TRY.  

merlin has only ever had one friend.  he’s only ever had one friend to love him.  he only had one friend for the first two decades of his life.  he’s only been in camelot for a couple of months; he’s only known these camelot people for a couple of months, and they don’t know his real self anyhow.  and now his ONLY FRIEND, the person he’s known all his life, the only friend he ever had who knew him for who he truly was, was just violently cut down before his very eyes, whilst saving a guy who can legally have merlin murdered for just existing.  and even though merlin and will spend the entirety of 1.10 having a painful, complicated argument, will still uses his last moments on earth to tell the biggest fucking whopper of his life, in order to shield merlin from harm, taking all of the danger and infamy and condemnation upon himself.  he dies with a lie on his lips.  he dies with merlin’s hand in his hair.  

and all the while, merlin knows that this would not have happened if he had just been willing to use his magic in the first place, instead of letting his fear of discovery prompt him into allowing his neighbors to offer themselves up for the slaughter in his place.

the avalanching double-whammy of grief and guilt that merlin is suddenly slammed with at the end of this episode is almost incomprehensible in scale.

i’ve talked about this before, but again, i think it’s something we don’t generally remember: losing will is the first time merlin has ever experienced personal bereavement.  and he doesn’t get to start out with a warm-up; he goes straight to the big leagues.  this is not some trifling thing.  this is a total implosion of merlin’s world as he knows it.  

when we think about the mark this episode leaves on merlin’s life, i don’t think most of us consider the magnitude of this event deeply enough.  losing will in this way is not some one-off thing that merlin just...gets over.  this is the most earth-shattering thing that has ever happened to him, at this point in time.  it is still one of the worst things that has ever happened to him, period, even years later.  the guilt never goes away.  

and the thing that’s unique about this particular trauma is that merlin has to manage it alone.  there are other tragedies in his life where we witness him receiving support/comfort from others - freya, lancelot, balinor (though of course there are aspects to these miseries that merlin has to keep secret from other people, as well) - but with will, merlin has to do everything on his own.  he can’t get one single moment of peace at will’s funeral.  his own mother, the only person who knows what really happened, can’t help him without making everything about arthur.  and merlin can’t tell anyone else what happened, not the truth of it, because doing so would squander the gift he’s been given - will’s lie is still protecting him, years later, from arthur and morgana both.  

merlin, at the end of 1.10, is forced to navigate this grief completely alone, in the silent secrecy of his own heart.  arthur is actively making it worse.  hunith is out here singing arthur’s praises.  and will is just like - he’s suddenly not part of the conversation anymore.  he doesn’t even register on anyone’s radar.

it truly is...incredible, for me, to watch hunith overhear arthur being legitimately terrible to both merlin and the guy who just died saving merlin AND arthur’s lives, and then to see her come over and start talking about how merlin belongs at arthur’s side, how much merlin needs to be there for him, how they’re two sides of the same coin.  meanwhile, the guy who literally just lied his life away to protect merlin’s secret and who NEVER made merlin feel like he had to hide who he was and who never had any problem with magic in the first place and never made merlin feel unsafe and never treated merlin like he was less of a human being just for existing -

- he’s just burning to ash there, and hunith doesn’t even acknowledge that, despite the fact that merlin is so visibly, intently, single-mindedly focused on that funeral pyre, and so clearly in distress and in pain and NEEDING somebody.  all she can talk about is merlin’s responsibility to arthur.  

the dissonance here is baffling.  hunith has known will forever.  she met arthur less than a week ago.  she barely knows him, and what she does know is that he thinks magic-users are dangerous/evil.  she saw him being a dick to her kid.  she knows her son is having the worst day of his life.  and she still doesn’t offer a single comforting word in reference to the person who just died protecting merlin’s secret, instead choosing to wax poetic about a man whose bigotry is what merlin needed protecting from in the first place.

that...is a hot mess.  the merlin-hunith-will dynamic is one of the few things in this show that reflects less-than-stellarly on hunith’s character, however much i love her.  and even though it all stems from an overwhelming desire to keep her son safe, it doesn’t make her choices any less damaging.  she sends merlin away specifically because she finds out that will knows about his secret.  she spends 1.10 analyzing and encouraging and dissecting merlin’s relationship with arthur, when merlin’s relationship with will is the one that desperately needs attention.  she’s proven wrong about will’s trustworthiness in the most stunning, powerful way possible, and then she never even acknowledges him, instead choosing to laud the dude who literally forces merlin to live in fear of execution.

she’s merlin’s mother.  she’s the only person in his life who knows anything about what will actually meant to him.  she is his only possible resource as he tries to weather a kind of devastation that defies description.  

and she, like arthur, just barrels right on ahead and makes everything about someone else.

the cinematography choices in this scene matter.  whenever arthur or hunith tries to talk to merlin, the camera is placed on the opposite side of the fire from them, meaning the flames are always in the foreground of the frame.  they are something we are required to see and look past before we can get to anything else in the scene.  and in terms of directorial/acting decisions - merlin doesn’t take his eyes off the pyre until the end of his conversation with hunith.  not once while talking to arthur does he look away from it.

the funeral pyre is always in the foreground of the shot, because it’s in the forefront of merlin’s mind.  that is where his focus is right now.  that is what is taking up all of his attention.  that is what is edging into the frame, eating up our entire field of view.  that is what he needs help with.

but he doesn’t get any such support.  the entire sequence ends up revolving around arthur.  will’s entire funeral is about arthur fucking pendragon.  arthur inserts himself so he can talk to merlin about how evil magic is, and then hunith inserts herself so she can talk to merlin about how great arthur is.  nobody ever stops to think that maybe merlin doesn’t want to talk to anybody right this second.  merlin’s entire ‘farewell’ to the only true friend he ever had in his life is completely swallowed up by the prince of camelot, and if that isn’t a metaphor for the rest of merlin’s life, then i don’t know what is.  

i know nobody needs to hear this, because very few people are invested in this kid at the same level of embarrassing detail as me, but here it is, anyway.  

yes, will is prickly.  he’s hard to get on with.  he’s angry.  he’s bitter and snappy and uncharitable, sometimes.

but you know what?  he has every reason to be like that.  

this kid has nobody.  his own best friend’s mother - who has known him all his life - doesn’t trust him and doesn’t respect him.  she is too afraid for her own son’s safety to give will any credit.  she sends merlin away to camelot, the most violently anti-magic place in the world, because apparently, will knowing about merlin’s secret would be even more dangerous than uther pendragon’s genocidal reign.

think about how that would feel.  to hear something like that about yourself.  to be somebody who is already so goddamn alone in the world, and to have your only friend vanish without so much as a ‘see you later,’ and then to be made to feel, however indirectly, like this is somehow your fault, like you’re the liability, like you’re the untrustworthy element here.  as if you, somehow, are more dangerous than a king who literally pays to have sorcerers trafficked to him in cages.

will has every right to be upset, all the time.  he has every reason to be angry, and bitter, and hurt, all the time.  to be thought so poorly of - to be held in such low esteem - when he hasn’t done anything wrong, when he hasn’t ever done anything to earn that kind of mistrust - and to have that same misplaced suspicion used to justify separating him from the only person in the world who gives a damn about him - if it were me, i would be constantly on the verge of screaming, all the time.

will has always been on merlin’s side, and he has never done anything to endanger him, and in the end he gives up everything to make sure merlin can stay safe and hidden and unhunted.  he shouldn’t have needed to prove his goodness, his constancy, his worth; not when he’s already kept merlin’s secret for who knows how many years, but even after he does do so, it doesn’t even matter.  arthur acknowledges him only to disparage sorcery.  hunith passes him over completely in favor of praising arthur, with no acknowledgment of the misjudgment she made.

i have said before that merlin tends to befriend people who have nobody, people who’ve been left behind by the rest of the world, people who’ve been made to feel that they aren’t worthy of love.  and will, merlin’s oldest friend, was the first of those many characters, and it is so heartbreaking to me that in this instance, the same kind of disinterested and careless attitude towards his worth that dogged him all his life is perpetuated and affirmed after his death.  ‘people are used to ignoring him,’ merlin tells arthur, and merlin is right - even when will is dead and burning, arthur only sees sorcery.  hunith, who we would expect to be more sympathetic, only sees arthur.

merlin is the only one who knows better.  merlin has always known better, and he loves will so much, but he is the only one, apparently, and honestly, after will dies?  nobody else even tries to understand.

to sum up:

hunith and arthur, for all that i love them, are both way out of line at the end of this episode.  

the legacy of this experience, for merlin, is that he spends the rest of his life processing this particular trauma alone.  and that is why i always, always have to keep will and ealdor in the back of my mind when i write for merlin in any capacity - because this event isn’t some simple stumbling block for him; it changes him forever.  it teaches him what he can and can’t expect from the people around him, and it solidifies how irrelevant his own needs are when viewed in comparison with arthur’s, even to people who barely even KNOW arthur; people who are supposed to put merlin first over everything.  it teaches merlin to bury his sorrow, and to wrestle with personal suffering in secret, because if things aren’t ultimately about arthur, then they aren’t important enough to be granted any significant amount of time for merlin to deal with.  merlin’s own grief, even at his best friend’s funeral, takes too long to resolve.  arthur walks away from the pyre, and it’s time for merlin to leave, too.  you’d better be going.

bottom line: i don’t care if other people think this whole ‘ooo, everybody wants merlin to be with arthur’ thing is wonderful or beautiful or dreamily romantic.  it isn’t.  it’s ugly, and it’s cruel, and it stripped merlin of his present identity and his future potential, one stolen moment at a time.

[ashleybenlove]

Title: Just A Play

Prompt: Stage Fright

Fandom: How To Train Your Dragon

Pairing: Technically, none.

Word Count: 897

Rating: General

Warnings: stage fright/performance anxiety

Disclaimer: I don’t own the source material in this fanfic. That’s to whatever company or person owns it. I would never claim to own it.

Notes: There are probable influences from fandom and whatnot in this story. This story is based off a post I made that was about the Snoggletog Pageant being done between HTTYD1 and RTTE. Written for Bad Things Happen Bingo @badthingshappenbingo​ for the space “Stage Fright”. This takes place a year after Gift Of The Night Fury, and generally after Riders/Defenders of Berk. This is also on AO3.

And it is under the read more.

One morning during breakfast, about a month away from the second Snoggletog since Hiccup and Toothless defeated the Red Death, Stoick told Hiccup: “Son, I want you to participate in the Snoggletog Pageant this year.”

 Hiccup looked up from his breakfast. Toothless looked up from where he was relaxing to watch what was happening.

 “Me?” Hiccup asked.

 “Yes, you,” Stoick said. “And the other Dragon Riders, too, of course.”

 “You mean, I have to be in a play?” Hiccup asked.

 “Yes, that’s what I said, son,” Stoick said, patiently.

 Hiccup let out a long sigh.

 “It’s not going to be like the ones in the past, is it?” Hiccup asked. He glanced at Toothless and then whispered, “That were anti-dragon?”

 Stoick looked at Toothless, who seemed unamused by Hiccup’s whispering as if he could not hear him, and then looked back at his son. “No. I’ll have Gobber come up with something.”

    The Riders met up at the Dragon Training Academy later that day, and Hiccup gave them the news.

 There was much groaning from all.

 That about summed up how he felt about this. A part of him felt quite touched that they were all in agreement with him.

 “Do we have to?” whined the twins.

 “Why?” Snotlout asked. There was also a whine in his voice.

 “I’d rather do technical theatre work,” Fishlegs said.

 “Do I look like I can act?” Astrid asked.

 “You kinda already did?” Tuffnut said. “Though you were bad at pretending you were Heather. Totally unconvincing.”

 Astrid merely frowned at this comment.

 Hiccup shrugged and then added, “It’s my dad’s idea.”

    So, the Dragon Riders along with Gobber, spent the next couple of weeks preparing for the pageant. Rehearsing was fine. Hiccup actually enjoyed spending time with his friends. It was debatable if they actually took rehearsal seriously; it was more likely that they were just enjoying each other’s company while disliking that they were asked to do something that was less about dragons and more about reciting lines from memory while pretending to be a character.

 Toothless seemed to enjoy watching them.

    About a week before Snoggletog, the Snoggletog Pageant was put on. It was set a few days before Snoggletog because Hiccup wanted to spend a few days before Snoggletog focused solely on dragons and any new dragons born.

 Hiccup had been perfectly fine reciting the lines for the pageant when he was with his friends and having fun. It was fine! He liked spending time with them on a project that wasn’t related to dragons.

 And then, they got on stage. And Hiccup had to see hundreds of his tribespeople expecting to see acting!

 His character showed up a few minutes into the play, and when he had to speak, he stared at the crowd, and wanted to speak. He tried to speak.

 And then decided the best thing to do was to run off stage.

 While rushing from the stage, he heard the crowd gasp, and then he also heard Toothless roar at them, and then heard Astrid and Fishlegs call after him.

 He wasn’t totally listening to what was happening after that, but he could vaguely hear the twins going off-script in what was probably a distraction.

 He eventually found himself sitting in a hidden corner backstage, and moments after that, he felt Toothless coo at him like a whisper of comfort.

 Wow, was he breathing heavily before that? He hadn’t even noticed. But just the presence of Toothless made his breath ease a little, and he found himself patting Toothless’s head.

 A moment later, and he heard a gentle whisper from nearby, of his name, and he saw that all of his friends: Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut, were standing nearby, looking at him with concern.

 He sighed and started to apologize, “Gang, I’m sorry. I—"

 “Shut up, Hiccup,” Ruffnut interrupted. “We don’t care about the pageant. It was whatever.”

 He saw everyone nod.

 After this, they sat down in front of him, which was about the only way for them to sit near him, as Toothless was taking up the space around him.

 “Are you okay?” Astrid asked.

 “Did you have performance anxiety? Also known as stage fright,” Fishlegs asked.

 Hiccup sighed heavily and shrugged.

 “I don’t know why but… I just wanted to flee,” Hiccup said.

 “It happens,” Fishlegs said. “And that’s okay. Are you okay?”

 Hiccup let out a sigh. Toothless followed with his own sigh. Hiccup sighed again, feeling even more calm.

 “I guess? I feel so ridiculous for fleeing from the stage, though!” Hiccup exclaimed. He groaned. “I feel embarrassed. Everyone in this tribe saw me screw up like I had before I met Toothless.”

 “Hiccup, the pageant is just a fun, no-consequences thing Berk does from time to time,” Astrid said. “It was just a play.”

 “And one that none of us really wanted to do anyway,” Snotlout added. “Including you."

 There were nods of agreement from the others. Hiccup also nodded.

 “You kinda did us a favor,” Ruffnut added.

 That comment also elicited some agreement nodding.

 Astrid then reached out and placed one of her hands on Hiccup’s own.

 Fishlegs followed with the same action.

 “Oh, are we holding Hiccup’s hands?” Tuffnut asked.

 And with that, Hiccup found his hands being held by everyone.

 Hiccup found himself smiling at his five friends.

 “Thanks, guys,” Hiccup said.

[brinshannara]

Matters of the Heart (Sanvers Star Trek AU, PG)

Idea from this tweet from Becky and oh man it was not supposed to get this long but oops it did:

https://twitter.com/dayecarter/status/1176268713588342784

Commander Alex Danvers frowned as, for the third time, she caught someone staring at her in the mess hall. Something was up. She generally had a good relationship with the crew, but it was one rooted in respect and even a bit of fear, rather than camaraderie or friendship. As first officer, it was her job to liaise with the crew on behalf of the captain, but she always made sure she stayed on the appropriate side of the thin line between professional and personal.

So what was going on?

She narrowed her eyes at the lieutenant who was looking at her and made sure to keep her poker face when his eyes went wide, having realized he had her attention. He scurried away.

Alex finished her lunch, then brought her dishes to the replicator and let them be disintegrated by the machine. She nodded to a couple of young ensigns as she walked out and headed up to the bridge.

Lieutenant Commander Maggie Sawyer was sitting in the captain's chair when she arrived. It wasn't exactly a rare happening, but Alex was always a little surprised not to see Captain Picard in the chair.

"Commander," Sawyer said, standing.

"Thank you, Sawyer," she said, taking the seat from the woman who had quickly become her best friend. She was a little surprised when Sawyer sat down in the first officer's seat next to her.

"The captain's in her ready room," she said, quietly, so as not to attract the attention of the others on the bridge.

Alex raised an eyebrow before she realized why Sawyer was being discreet. "Situation with the admiral?" she asked, just as quietly.

Sawyer nodded rapidly.

"Ah," she said. "Thanks for letting me know." The captain and her husband, Admiral Picard, had been having some difficulties, as the captain had informed her.

Sawyer nodded. "Of course." She considered. "Holodeck tonight? Maybe we can pick up where we left off last night?"

"That'd be fun," she said, smiling.

"Captain Picard to Commander Danvers."

Alex tapped her commbadge. "Danvers here, captain."

"Would you please report to my ready room?"

"Of course, captain," Alex said, standing. "You have the bridge, Sawyer."

"Aye, sir," Sawyer said, sitting back down in the captain's chair.

Alex rang the chime and entered at the captain's command. The captain gestured to the sofa, not one of the seats by the desk.

"Tea, Earl Grey, hot," she said to the replicator. "Can I get you something, Alex?"

Alex was confused. She didn't know why she was in the captain's ready room. Was it official business? If so, why was she now sitting on the sofa? Why had the captain called her Alex instead of Danvers?

"I'm fine, captain, thank you," she said.

The captain nodded and took her tea with her to the couch and set it gently on the nearby coffee table. She sat down next to Alex.

"Alex, you know I think very highly of you, don't you?"

"Uh, yes, ma'am, I guess so?"

The older woman chuckled. "I wouldn't have requested you as my first officer on my first command if I didn't."

"Yes, ma'am."

Picard took a sip of her tea. "Alex, what you do on your own time is your own business."

She blinked. "Yes, ma'am."

"However," she continued, "would you not agree that, as first officer of the USS Pasteur, you must set the example for the rest of the crew?"

"Of course, captain," Alex said, still confused.

"I'm glad we're in agreement," the captain said, taking another sip of tea. "Now, then, what's this I hear about a turbolift incident?"

Alex frowned. "Captain?"

"Danvers, I'm getting reports from all over the ship about your recent behaviour."

"What behaviour, ma'am?" Alex was legitimately confused, having no idea whatsoever as to what her captain was talking about.

Picard picked up a PADD and tapped at it. "Stardate 59772, Ensign Taylor reported that you and Lieutenant Commander Sawyer were trapped in Turbolift 3 for over an hour and, when Engineering got you out, you were both in a state of, well, undress."

"Captain, the environmental controls had gone offline with the turbolift controls! It was over 32 degrees Celsius in there. Of course we removed our uniform jackets."

Unconvinced, she scrolled down her list.

"Stardate 59807, Lieutenant Black reported that you and Lieutenant Commander Sawyer were, once again, late exiting Holodeck 2."

Alex laughed. "We were literally two minutes late, captain, and that was because Chief Parker was running late with his time in the holodeck before us."

"Stardate 59823, just last night," Picard continued, "Engineering reports that the holodeck safety protocols were disabled while you and Lieutenant Commander Sawyer were running a program. Further, once you exited the holodeck, Crewman Cooper said you both appeared to be in a state of intoxication." She let the PADD drop and looked up at Alex. "Really, Alex? You overrode the safeties so you and Sawyer could get drunk?"

"In my defense, captain, it was Sawyer's idea, and it was just a couple of beers while we were playing pool. It wasn't like we were in any danger."

"So I should call in Sawyer and discipline her, is that it?"

"No, ma'am," Alex said, realizing her error. "I was the ranking officer, I'll take the blame."

Picard sipped at her tea. "Don't do it, Alex."

"Do what?"

"Don't fall in love with your best friend," she sighed, putting the tea down. "It doesn't work out."

"I'm sorry?"

The captain turned back to face her. "I think it's lovely that you and Maggie are so close," she said, "really, I do. But, speaking from experience, don't fall in love with her. Do you really want your friendship to turn into what the admiral and I have?"

Alex sputtered. "We're not in love with each other!"

The captain tsked. "Honestly, Alex, I would have thought you knew that you could confide in me." She took her tea and stood, heading back to her desk. "Shift change is about to happen. For my part, I'd recommend you tell Maggie that it's not a good idea." She sat down. "Whatever you do decide, Alex, please be more discreet. The crew is starting to notice."

Alex was still sitting on the sofa, completely and totally baffled.

"You're dismissed, Danvers."

She leapt up from her seat. "Yes, ma'am." She said. "Thank you, ma'am." And with that, she left the ready room, still dazed from the conversation. As she left the room, she saw Sawyer stand from the captain's chair, giving it up to the beta shift commander. Lieutenant Commander Trana Soren looked over at Alex enquiringly.

"You have the bridge, Commander Trana," she nodded to the Bajoran.

"Aye, sir," she said, taking her seat as the rest of beta shift took over from their alpha shift counterparts.

Alex walked up to the turbolift, followed by Maggie.

"Deck 12," Maggie said. It was the deck where both of their quarters were located. "So, pool and drinks tonight?"

Alex shook her head. "Uh, no, I, uh... I have stuff."

"Bad meeting with the captain?" Maggie asked, concerned.

"No, uh... just... no, it was fine." The captain's warning rang in her ears. "Maybe tomorrow."

The turbolift came to a halt and the two of them exited and turned left towards their respective quarters. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, her mind whirring.

"Okay. I'll be in my quarters or in Holodeck 1 after 1900 hours, if you want to talk," Maggie said.

Alex nodded. "Thanks." With that, she turned down the hallway to her quarters. She needed time to think.

***

Three days went by without hanging out with Maggie and Alex missed her friend. She wasn't entirely certain the captain was right, so Alex had decided some distance might help her figure out what was going on. Over the last couple of days, she'd come to the conclusion that she'd never felt this way about anyone before, not even her one serious boyfriend back at the Academy.

She was about to start another evening of deep introspection, seated on her sofa and staring out the windows into the deep vastness of space, when the door chimed.

"Come in," she said, knowing it could only be one person.

"Danvers, what gives?" Maggie asked, walking into her quarters, wearing a civilian outfit, consisting of a black button-up shirt with its sleeves rolled up, and some dark blue slacks that reminded Alex of the fashion from the 20th and 21st centuries.

"What?"

"I mean," she said, walking up to the sofa by the window, "you've been avoiding me." She folded her arms across her chest. "What's going on? You've been weird ever since the captain talked to you."

Alex opened her mouth to argue.

"And don't you even think about denying it!" she added.

She sighed and gestured for Maggie to sit down. "You're right," she said. "And I'm sorry."

Maggie blinked and sat down. "Are you okay?"

"I think so?" she laughed, weakly.

"What did the captain say?" she demanded.

Alex looked over at Maggie. They'd become fast friends. Maggie had transferred aboard just six months ago, but already, Alex knew that Maggie would be in her life forever. At least, she hoped she would be.

"What did she say, Alex?" Maggie asked. "Come on, do I need to go commit mutiny or something?"

She laughed. "No, no," she said. She composed herself and exhaled, slowly. "So you remember she and the admiral were having issues?"

Maggie nodded.

"Well, she called me in there to tell me not to follow in her footsteps, so to speak."

"What the hell does that even mean?" Maggie asked, furrowing her brow.

"It means that she wants me to tell you that..." She blew out a breath. "That this," she indicated the space between them, "that this isn't a good idea."

"That's bullshit, the captain can't tell you who you can be friends with when you're off-duty!"

"No, no, I mean... She meant... She was trying to give me advice not to... fall in love with my best friend." She looked at Maggie.

After a long silence, Maggie finally said two words: "Excuse me?"

"The captain told me not--"

"Yeah, no, I heard that." She looked back at Alex. "And are you?" she asked. "Falling in love with your best friend?"

Alex bit her lower lip as she gazed at Maggie. "I, uh..." She exhaled. "I think maybe I might be."

Maggie nodded. "So, what, you've been holed up in here... thinking...?"

She nodded.

"For three days?"

Another nod.

"And this is the conclusion you've drawn?"

Alex swallowed. "Yes."

Maggie smiled. "Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I came to that conclusion after the turbolift incident."

She blinked rapidly. Her brain wasn't functioning. "Wait, what?"

She was grinning widely now, her dimples on display. "Uh, no disrespect meant here, given you're my commanding officer and all, but you're gorgeous, Danvers. I swear, if they hadn't gotten us out of that turbolift, I was going to launch myself at you."

Her brain started moving again. "Wait. So if I... and you... wait, the captain was right?"

Maggie moved closer to her on the couch. "I think she was, yeah. Smart lady, that captain."

She was close enough that Alex could see her freckles, could smell her shampoo, could see the flecks of gold in her brown eyes. And she knew that Maggie was waiting for her, waiting for her to confirm things, for herself.

"Can I...?" Alex whispered.

"Please."

Gently, Alex reached out and cupped Maggie's face in her hands before leaning in and softly, so carefully, so deliberately, pressed her lips to Maggie's.

There was a pause and then Maggie started to kiss her back.

It was better than piloting a shuttlecraft through an asteroid belt.

The last coherent thought Alex had that evening was something along the lines of never listening to Captain Beverly Picard again, not when it came to matters of the heart.

[tallglassofsweetpea]

Little Darlin’: Chapter Five

Sweet Pea x OC, 1950′s AU

Warnings (this chapter): language, angst, mild sexual content, underage drinking, think that’s it for this chapter??

AN: I’M BACK FROM THE DEAD! Thank you all for be patient over the past few weeks. I was having some serious writer’s block during the holidays, but I’m back and ready to get back into it. I’m already working on Chapter Six and will hopefully have that put up soon as well. I’ll also be working on some of the requests you guys have sent me! I hope you enjoy the new chapter! :)

(Please let me know if you’d like to be tagged for future chapters. Also feel free to message me if you have any suggestions for this story and where you’d like to see it go, or if you have any general comments/questions! My ask is open :) Also I am taking requests!!!)

Chapter Five: Tears On My Pillow

Summer quickly faded into the fall and school was in full swing. Lily was somewhat thankful for the start of the new school year. She had plenty of things to occupy her time, there was homework to be completed and tests to be taken. Although, her mind would often wander to thoughts that weren’t exactly school related, like Sweet Pea. She hadn’t seen or heard from him since the night of their date to the drive in. She figured he was just busy with the Serpents, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t disappointed that he hadn’t so much as called.

Trish was over, getting ready to go see Fangs, it was the first she had seen of her in awhile.

“I take it everything worked out between you two? He seemed really upset that night at the drive in.”

“We talked.”

“…and?”

“And…He told me he loved me.” I guess he had listened to Sweet Pea’s advice after all.

“Did you say it back…?”

“I did.” Trish broke into a bright smile.

“That’s fantastic, Trish! So, what about Archie?”

Her face immediately dropped. “What about Archie?”

“Oh, Trish you can’t be serious…You can’t keep seeing them both. Someone’s going to end up hurt.”

“I know what I’m doing, Lily.”

Lily took a deep breath and chose her words carefully. “Are you afraid of what Archie might do if you call it off with him?”

Trish scoffed, an unconvincing look of confidence on her face. “He won’t do anything to me.”

“Trish I’ve seen what he’s done when he merely thought that you were-“

“Lily, drop this. And stop frowning, you’ll get premature wrinkles.”

Lily sighed at her.

“I’ll be fine, I’m a big girl. I just need a few more weeks until Archie messes up again and then I’ll be free.”

“…You’re waiting for him to cheat on you so you can break up with him?”

“Sure! That way there’s no blame put on me, and he can’t get upset with me because it will be his own fault. It’s fool proof!”

“Trish. You can’t be serious…”

“Don’t patronize me, I’m a woman with a plan. She said decidedly. “Speaking of plans, Fangs and I are going to some party by Sweetwater River tonight. You should come! I presume Sweet Pea has already invited you-”

She felt her heart sink a little bit. “Actually no.”

“No?”

“I haven’t seen him since our that night at the drive in. He hasn’t so much as called.”

“Did the date not go well?”

“I had thought it was great. We went to Pop’s, we watched the movie at the drive in, we kissed…”

“Which led to…”

“Trish!”

“Oh come on, how can you possibly resist him? He’s got that dangerous look in his eye. Talk of the town is that he’s very gratifying. Hell, if I hadn’t met Fangs-“

“Sweet Pea is…very attractive. But he’s far more experienced than I am, which he said he understood but I just don’t want to make a fool of myself. Not that it matters anymore. He has clearly lost interest.”

“Well we won’t have that, will we?”

“Its fine, Trish. I don’t know what I expected.”

“It is totally not fine, Lily.”

“I’m just not the type of girl that guy’s like Sweet Pea go after.”

“But he did go after you…”

“Yeah, and then suddenly ran for the nearest exit sign!”

“He’s probably just nervous.”

“You know, Trish. He doesn’t really seem like the type of guy that gets “nervous.”

“Oh come on Lily. He’s just a guy. A guy that to the best of my knowledge has never pursued anything beyond hookups. Sweet Pea probably has no idea what he’s supposed to be doing.”

“You may be right, but that’s not an excuse to completely fall off the map for weeks with no explanation. I feel so stupid! I never should have let my guard down.”

Trish’s eyes softened, she pulled Lily into a tight hug. “If you want, I can always tell Fangs we’re just gonna have a girls night in. My poor Lily-pad is having her first heartbreak.”

“No, it’s okay. I want you to go have fun, I don’t mean to bring you down. I’ll be fine.”

“Alright, well I hate to leave you in such a state but Fangs should be here soon.” She walked over to the window, propping it open.

Lily lay back on her bed, taking a deep breath. Another night alone, moping around her room. Her mind would often drift to the few nights she had gotten to see Sweet Pea. She missed the way his lips would curl up into a smirk, and the way he caressed her skin. Gosh. She hadn’t even known this guy for that long, so why was this eating her alive? How much longer could she possibly sit around and do this?

“You know what, Trish? I changed my mind, I’m coming with you guys.”

**

Lily had never been to Sweetwater Forest at night. Her father warned her of the “hoodlums and sinners” from the Southside that were out hiding in the woods preying on the innocent. From the sound of it, you’d think there were sacrificial rituals being performed out there. In reality, it was just a hangout for the young Serpents where they would drink and socialize around a bonfire. Lily followed Fangs and Trish through a discreet trail tucked away in the woods. The trees towered over their heads, umbrellas of brightly covered leaves indicating the shift into autumn. Lily could barely make out the bright flames through the trees as they came closer to the party. Serpents gathered around the fire, some sitting on the chopped down tree trunks while others leaned against the trees that still stood.

Fangs and Trish greeted some of his buddies that stood by the fire. Lily scanned the area surrounding the fire, no sign of Sweet Pea. Perhaps he actually was busy. She felt a slight sense of relief, at least he hadn’t just been avoiding her. She found an empty spot on one of the fallen trees surrounding the fire, took out her handkerchief from her purse and lay it down before taking a seat. The young Serpent that was sitting next to her laughed. “Can’t say I’ve seen you around before.” Lily turned to him, he was a good looking young man with short brown hair. “I’m not usually around.”

He looked her up and down. “Never would have guessed.” He joked. He reached down beside him and offered Lily a bottle of beer. “Care to indulge?”

Lily waited a beat. “No thank you…sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

The Serpent offered her a smile. “Slash.”

“Right, Slash. You all seem to have such unique names… I’m Lily.”

“Nice to meet you. Dare I ask what brings you around here? No offense, but you seem out of place.”

“Well, actually I came looking for-“ Lily lost her train of thought at the sight of Sweet Pea stumbling out of the darkness of the forest. He was laughing with his arm around the waist of some dark haired girl. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart sank into her stomach.

She made eye contact with Sweet Pea as he approached the fire. His eyes softened, while hers hardened.

“Lily?”

Lily rose from the stump she was sitting on with Slash and stood with her arms crossed.

“Looks like you’re really busy. I guess this explains why I haven’t heard from you.”

Everyone’s eyes were on Lily. Including Fangs and Trish who was shaking her head at Sweet Pea.

“Oh come on, Lily don’t have a cow.”

“Don’t have a cow? You’ve been avoiding me for weeks with no explanation Sweet Pea!”

The dark haired girl hanging off of Sweet Pea laughed. “Looks like little miss goody two shoes is having a temper tantrum.”

Lily turned to the girl and threw a punch, sending her back. Lily’s eyes widened when the girl bounced right back up and lunged after her, Slash jumped up and grabbed the girl by her arms. “Lily, I would run if I were you.” Lily looked at Sweet Pea one last time before booking it into the woods. She ran as fast as she could out of the woods and into the parking lot. She leaned against the closest car she could find, trying to catch her breath. She heard some rustling from the woods and her head shot up in fear. She knew if that girl was coming after her she didn’t have enough energy to run away.

Luckily, it was just Trish and Fangs.

“Lil’ are you alright?”

“I’m fine, can we just please go?”

Lily walked over to Fangs’ car and opened the door to the backseat.

Trish and Fangs shared a look.

“Trish do we have to go? We just got here..” Fangs whined.

Trish sighed and shot him a look.

Fangs groaned. “Okay, fine.”

The car ride was completely silent, save for the radio.

Lily watched the pine trees zoom by as they sped down the road. She felt defeated. She fiddled with her necklace. The one time she let her guard down, the one time she believed someone really liked her. She tried to fight back the tears that threatened to spill over. She felt a cool tear roll down her cheek, followed by another. Silently she let the tears fall down her face. She felt so naive. To think that a guy like him would actually want to be with a boring northsider like her.

“Lily?” Fangs glanced at her in the rearview mirror. Lily looked up.

“Nice punch.” He said, smiling. Lily forced a small smile through her tears.

**

As the days passed by, Lily did her best to keep herself busy. When she wasn’t in school or working on homework, she was at dance class. When she wasn’t at dance class, she was at bible study . Life seemed to have resumed it’s normalcy.

A few weeks passed, it was late September.

Lily sat down in her seat for chemistry class, her usual lab partner had been out with the flu all week. Mr. Beaker presented the weekly project to the class.

“Lily, since your usual lab partner, Mr. Doily is absent today I’m going to pair you up with Reggie who also doesn’t have a partner.”

She nodded her head and glanced over at Reggie, who was on his way over to take the seat next to hers. He had a cast on his left arm with various signatures and doodles from his friends.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” Lily gave him a polite smile. “So, I figured we could split up the reading, we could both take notes and then compare once we’re done.

Reggie chuckled. “Well that sounds like a great idea, but unfortunately I’m left handed.” He lifted up his casted arm.”

“Oh-uh. I’m sorry. I guess that won’t work after all.”

“That’s quite alright.”

“I guess I will be the notetaker.” Lily and reggie both flipped open their books looking for the right page.

Lily glanced over at his arm. “So…how did that happen to you anyway? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Sprained it during a game. I’m hoping it’ll be healed in time for the homecoming game next week.”

“Oh right, I forgot that’s coming up soon. Well I hope everything heals up in time. From what I hear, you do the team fine.”

“I do what I can. I can’t say I’ve ever seen you at a game. I think I would’ve noticed a cute girl like yourself.” Reggie smiled at her.

Lily felt the heat rush to her cheeks, a smile threatening the corners of her mouth.

Mr. Beaker stopped by their table and cleared his throat. “I assume this chatter is related to the assignment.”

“Of course, Mr. Beaker.”

Lily went back to reading the assigned chapter, but Reggie’s gaze lingered on her. He leaned in and lowered his voice, not wanting to get scolded again.

“Hey, uh…if you’re free after school today, would you want to grab something to eat at Pop’s?”

Lily looked up from her book to see a smiling Reggie. He was very cute, and she did have some time between school and dance.

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and returned the smile. “Yeah, that would be nice. Thank you.”

**

Once the school day ended, Lily met Reggie in the parking lot and they headed over to Pop’s. They found a booth and placed their orders  talked. The conversation was light, mainly small talk about school and sports. She had at first assumed he was just like the rest of the buffoons on the football team, but it turned out that he was very nice guy.

“So are you planning on going to the homecoming dance?”

Lily took a sip of her vanilla shake. “Oh, I don’t know. I signed up to help decorate but..”

“I think you should go, it’s gonna be a blast.”

“I don’t know, I don’t have a date.”

Reggie shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll be your date.”

Lily nearly choked on her milkshake. “Y-You want to go with me?”

“Sure, I haven’t got a date. I think we’d have a good time.” Lily was entirely thrown off guard.

“I-uh…”

The bells on the front door jingled, in walked a group of leather-clad young men, led by Sweet Pea. She sunk a little in her seat, her eyes shifting around the room. She watched them pile into a corner booth on the opposite side of the restaurant. Sweet Pea’s dark eyes locked with hers.

“So whaddya say?” Her eyes snapped back to Reggie.

Sweet Pea was watching her, she could feel his eyes on her. She couldn’t let him know he made her nervous. She could hear Trish’s voice in her head. Make him realize what he’s missing. She reached across the table and placed her hand gently over Reggie’s and gave him a flirtatious grin.

“I think that would be lovely, Reggie.”

“Great, I’ll buy our tickets tomorrow!”

In the corner of her eye, she could see Sweet Pea’s eyes narrow and his jaw clench before he looked away from their table.

Lily: 1 Sweet Pea: 0.

“Hey Reggie, would you mind lending me some money for the jukebox?”

“Not at all, doll.” He reached into his pocket and dished out some coins to hand to Lily.

She smiled and thanked him then sauntered over to the jukebox located on the opposite side of Pop’s. She had taken a few more notes from Trish’s book and swayed her hips as she made her way through the restaurant, making a point of flipping her hair as she walked by the table of Serpents silencing the table as she passed by and rounded the corner to the jukebox. She began to shuffle through the songs when she felt someone move next to her.

“Hey blondie.”

Lily didn’t look up, she just kept flipping through the music library.

Sweet Pea sighed. “So are you ignoring me now?”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t feel very good, does it?”

“Look, I’m sorry. If you let me explain-“

“Any idea as to what Reggie might like to hear?” Lily looked up to him with a forced look of curiosity on her face.

Sweet Pea couldn’t help but roll his eyes at her. “Okay Lily, you can quit the theatrical bit. You got my attention.”

“Theatrical bit?”

“I mean, you can’t seriously be interested in that meat head.” Sweet Pea nudged his thumb over to where Reggie sat eating his fries. “And the way you walked by me-”

“He’s actually quite lovely if you give him a chance, there’s more to him than meets the eye.” She had once thought the same to be true of Sweet Pea.

Sweet Pea looked at her, dumbfounded. “Mantle? Reggie Mantle? The guy eats rocks.” He scoffed.

“And what makes you so special?”

Sweet Pea’s shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I don’t know. If I remember correctly, it wasn’t too long ago that you saw something in me that you liked.”

Lily threw some change into the jukebox and selected a song, “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore, before turning to look Sweet Pea in the eye. She hated how no matter how anger she felt toward him, the second she looked into his chocolate brown eyes, her heart would melt. A smirk crept up on Sweet Pea’s lips. Lily looked down to the floor and cleared her throat. “Well, I’m starting to think maybe I was blind. If you don’t mind, I’ve got a date to get back to. Goodbye, Sweet Pea.” She rushed by him before he could respond.

Sweet Pea let out a sigh and watched her blonde curls bounce with every step she took back to her booth. He shook his head. Why couldn’t he just let her go?

**

It was the week of the big homecoming game and dance. Lily and Reggie had been hanging out more often, they would usually go to Pop’s to grab a bite to eat and work on homework together. Lily thought Reggie was a very charming young man, he was handsome and a real gentleman. When Lily told her mother that she had a date to the homecoming dance, she was thrilled. She drove them right down to the town center to pick out the perfect dress. They settled on a pale pink tea length tulle dress with a satin sash across the waist that tied into a neat bow in the back. Her mother was of course far from fond of the strapless bodice and insisted she wear a sash to cover her shoulders. “We want you looking like a decent girl, unlike that redheaded girl you spend too much time with. She’s far too fast for that age.”

Trish was also ecstatic that Lily had found a date, she had their entire night planned out not even two minutes minutes after she told her on the phone.

“Okay, so first we have to go to the game to cheer on the boys. Then we have got to get our hair done together, I know just the place! Oh my goodness, Lil’ this is truly going to be a night to remember!” She really was happy to go. She liked Reggie, and it seemed like he liked her too. But there was something in the back of her mind that made it difficult to feel the full excitement Trish felt.

Suddenly, Lily heard a rapping at her window, she rose from her mountain of frills and walked to her window, stretching the coiled phone cord across the room. She pulled back her curtains and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of Sweet Pea on the other side of the glass.

“Trish, I’ll call you back later. I’ve got to help my mom with something.”

“Oh okay, well-“

Lily hung up the phone and went to open the window with wide eyes, and stepped back so the tall Serpent could enter. He somehow managed to fit his large frame through her window and stood against the wall.

At first she was infuriated, how dare he show up like this in the middle of the night.

“Sweet Pea, what on earth are you-“ Lily examined his appearance, he looked like hell. His forehead had a large gash on his brow, and he had a nasty black eye. She came closer to him, pulling his face down into her soft hands, examining the damage.

“What happened to you?”

“I was out running some errands with Fangs when these psycho Bulldogs came out of nowhere, tried to start shit with Fangs. So we got into it and then some kid came out with a gun, we had to get out of there. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“Was Archie there?”

Sweet Pea scoffed. “Andrews? Please. He’s too much of a candy ass to fight his own battles.”

He reached up to slick back his hair. “Fucking Bulldogs.” She wanted to ask if Reggie was there or not but then she noticed the gashes on his hands.

“Oh my goh! Look at your hands.” She gently took his fist in her hands, the knuckles were cut and swollen. “Let’s get you into the bathroom, you don’t want this to swell anymore or to get infected.”

“Princess, you don’t have to do that. I’ve survived a lot worse. You should see what the other guys look like.”

“Well I might not survive my mother if you get blood on this carpet.” She led him over to her private bathroom that branched off of her bedroom and instructed him to sit on the edge of the pink bathtub.

“I know I’ve got a first aid kit in here somewhere.” Sweet Pea watched Lily walk over to the bathroom closet and begin rummaging through it’s contents. He looked around the small bathroom, everything was pink and covered in frills and flowers just like her bedroom.

“Sorry, I didn’t know where else to go around here…and I’m real sorry I didn’t reach out to you before, I’d been dealing with a lot of-“

Lily poked her head out of the closet to look at him. “Serpent stuff? Otherwise known as you busy with your tongue down that girl’s throat? And lord knows where else…” She mumbled the last part.

Sweet Pea raised an eyebrow at her choice of words and shook his head. “I wasn’t doing anything with her, we were just hanging out.”

Lily gave him a pointed look. “With your arm around her?”

Sweet Pea sighed. “Look, I’m sorry I was avoiding you. I just-“

“You just what?”

Lily went over to kneel between Sweet Pea’s legs with a first aid kit in her hands. She took out some rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, and bandage wrap.

“I just got…scared?”

“You were avoiding me because you were scared?”

“I know it sounds lame, but…I’ve just never liked a girl as much as I like you.”

Lily dabbed some rubbing alcohol on one of the cotton swabs. “You could have called.”

“Yeah, well the phone works both ways toots.” Her eyes narrowed, she took the swab dipped in rubbing alcohol and ran it across his knuckles.

Sweet Pea winced at the sting. “God. You’re on a mean streak, blondie.”

“I don’t like to be made a fool of, Sweet Pea.” She set the cotton swab aside and began to bandage his fingers.

“I’ve gotta say, watching you knock out that girl at the bonfire was pretty hot.” He smirked.

A blush rose to her cheeks as she tightly wrapped the bandage around his fingers.

“There, you’re all fixed up.” She sat back with her legs tucked beneath her and started to put her things back into the tin box of the first aid kit. Sweet Pea looked down at her, she wore no makeup and her hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. Lily sat there a second, looking into his dusky eyes before sitting up and bringing her lips closer to his, her eyes fluttered closed. Sweet Pea met her the rest of the way and captured her lips between his. He held her there like that for a moment before he pulled away, tucking a stray blonde curl hair behind her ear.

“You really hurt me, Sweet Pea. I thought that you liked me.”

“I’m sorry. I do like you.”

“…But?”

“I mean, come on. Me and you? We couldn’t be more different. I’m just some greaser from the wrong side of the tracks. But you’re this sweet, beautiful girl from the Northside. I mean seriously, you’re like an angel.”

Lily fiddled around with her necklace as she listened.

“I guess I just felt like you were too good for a guy like me. Figured it’d be best if I left you alone, let it fade out.”

“I don’t want you to leave me alone. And all of this Northside/Southside stuff? It doesn’t matter to me. I-I just want to be with you.”

Sweet Pea’s eyes softened, he swallowed hard. “And I guess I kind of messed that up, didn’t I?”

Lily paused, then shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t say that…”

His face lit up almost instantly. “So does that mean you’re gonna give me a second chance?”

Lily tried to keep her composure, but the corners of her mouth kept threatening to lift into a grin. “Maybe I am.”

Sweet Pea’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “You won’t regret it, I promise.”

“Don’t give me a reason to.” Sweet Pea leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips.

Lily couldn’t fight the blush that rushed to her cheeks. “Alright, now that I’ve got you fixed up, you should probably go. It’s getting late and I have school tomorrow.”

“Well, uh. That’s the thing…”

“What?”

“I have a feeling those creeps are still out there looking for me…Do you mind if I stay here tonight?”

Lily instantly shook her head at the suggestion.

“Noooooo way, my father would have a cow if he knew I had a boy in here. Never mind a Serpent!”

“Oh come on, Lily. I’ll be gone before the sun rises. I’ll be as quiet as a mouse, it’ll be like I’m not even here.”

“I don’t know…”

“Are you really gonna send me out there with a gun wielding maniac on the loose? That’s not very Christian of you.” He joked.

Lily shot him a glare. “Okay fine, you can stay here. But you cannot make a sound. My parents would have me sent to a convent if they knew about this.”

“I owe you big time. Hell I’ll even sleep right here in the bathtub.”

“You don’t need to sleep in the bathtub, you can have my bed.”

Lily got up off the floor and headed into her room where Sweet Pea followed. Lily locked the door and leaned up against it, gesturing to her mattress.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve done more than enough for me already. I’m not kicking you out of your own bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Are you sure? That can’t be comfortable.”

“Trust me darlin’, I’ve slept on a lot worse.”

Sweet Pea stood in the middle of her room, taking in his surroundings. Lily found it both amusing and incredibly cute seeing the tall, dark serpent standing in a sea of pink flowers and ruffles. How on earth did this happen? Lily chewed on her lip.

“At least let me put down some blankets and pillows for you.” Sweet Pea glanced back at her and shrugged before he returned to his examination of Lily’s bedroom. She walked over to her closet and pulled out some extra blankets and pillows for him to use.

“I would offer you some clothes to sleep in, but something tells me we’re not the same size.”

Sweet Pea shrugged off his jacket and as he continued examining the room. He tossed it onto the pink velvet chair that was in front of the window.

“That’s alright, I’ll make due.” He walked by her shelf of Dance awards and trophies. He looked back at her, she was now sitting on her bed.

Lily shrugged. “I’ve done my fair share of competitions.”

“I guess so, huh?”

Next to the shelf, Lily’s homecoming dress hung from a coat hook in the wall. Sweet Pea reached out and fingered the fabric.

“What’s this for?”

Lily’s heart sank. Reggie. “That’s my dress for the homecoming dance.”

Sweet Pea looked at her. “Homecoming dance?”

She nodded her head. “It’s this Saturday.”

Sweet Pea snorted.“Let me guess, Mantle asked you to go with him?”

“…yes.”

He shook his head. “I don’t trust that guy.”

Lily sighed. “He’s really nice to me.”

“That’s exactly why I don’t trust him.” Sweet Pea started to make his bed on the floor.

Lily crossed her arms. “I think you’re jealous.”

“Jealous? Don’t make me laugh, Lily. Guys like that aren’t just “nice” for the hell of it. He’s after something.”

“Reggie isn’t like that. He’s never been anything shy of a gentleman with me.”

“If he starts to get too handsy, you let me know.”

“I think I’ll be okay.”

Sweet Pea sat down on his makeshift bed, untied his boots and tossed them to the side. Lily watched as he reached back and pulled off his white tee in one swift motion, baring his strong chest.

“You’re catching flies, sugar.”

I can’t believe this is happening right now. She opened the drawer of her bedside table and took out her rosary beads and slid off the bed and onto her knees. It wasn’t every day that Lily had a half naked gang member in her bedroom. The least she could do was pray for forgiveness.

Sweet Pea knew the bulldogs most likely weren’t out looking for him anymore, he had just wanted to buy some more time with her. He watched her as she kneeled down to pray, she wore a white satin button down pajama top with a matching set of shorts that slid up a little higher when she sat with her legs tucked beneath her. She really looked like an angel, with her golden locks pulled back behind her shoulders. Tonight he was going to have to practice some serious self control, which was always a challenge with her around.

Lily quickly said her prayers before turning off the lamp on her bedside table and getting under the covers. She quietly whispered “Goodnight, Sweet Pea.”

“Sweet dreams.”

She closed her eyes in hopes she would fall asleep. She could hear Sweet Pea rustling on the floor. Once she thought he was settled in and comfortable, he would shift again. She let out a sigh.

“Is everything alright?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. Just having a tough time getting comfortable.”

Lily squeezed her eyes shut, she couldn’t believe the words that were about to escape her lips.

“If you want, you can sleep with me.”

Sweet Pea paused for a beat.

“I-I mean, you can sleep in my bed.”

Sweet Pea clicked his tongue. “Are you sure?”

“Y-yeah, it’s no big deal.”

She moved over to one side of her full sized bed, making room for Sweet Pea.

She felt the mattress shift when Sweet Pea got into her bed. She closed her eyes again, trying to relax herself, but her heart was beating like crazy.

“I don’t think the good pastor would approve of this sleeping arrangement.”

“Goodnight, Sweet Pea.”

He let out a quiet chuckle. She could feel him breathing behind her, it sent small tingles up and down her spine. She felt the warmth of his body press against hers. She felt his arm drape over her waist. They lay like that for a few moments. Lily opened her eyes when she felt Sweet Pea’s lips dance along the side of her neck until her breathing became a bit heavy. He brought his hand up to her jaw, tipping her head back and kissing up her throat. Her body pushed back against his involuntarily, earning a small groan from Sweet Pea. He turned her face to him, her emerald eyes opened. God, he looked so irresistible. Sweet Pea leaned down to capture her lips between his, his hand coming up to caress her cheek. Lily sighed into the kiss. She had missed the way his full lips felt as they moved against hers. She felt his tongue glide over her bottom lip, she opened her mouth slightly, letting her tongue gently caress and tangle with his. Lily softly moaned. Sweet Pea’s heart dropped at the sound of her. He pulled back from the kiss, both of them were breathing heavily.

“Sweet Pea?”

“Yeah?”

“Touch me.”

Sweet Pea looked down at her and swallowed hard. Her face was flooded with a deep blush, her lips slightly parted, and her eyes yearning.

He pulled her hair back and began kissing her neck. He let his hand slowly drift from her cheek down to her arm. He pulled her closer to his body, his bare chest pressed against her back. His hand slid down her arm.

He whispered into the crook of her neck. “Show me where.” Lily let out a small sigh. He was driving her crazy, she couldn’t even think clearly. She had no idea what she was doing, she just knew she wanted more.

She covered his hand with hers and let them slide up the side of her stomach beneath her shirt until they reached her underside of her breast. Sweet Pea groaned into her neck. Her skin felt so unbelievably soft and smooth. Lily slowly brought their hands up higher until she felt his the rough skin of his palm cup her breast. Lily let out a small moan. She felt him suck on her skin, sending a tingle down between her thighs. Her heart was racing. She felt Sweet Pea’s hand make its way down her stomach until he reached the waistband of her silk bottoms, his fingers slipped just past the waistband. Lily froze up. “We should stop.”

Sweet Pea halted and kissed her temple. “Okay.” She did want him to do more, she really did. But something kept stopping her. He draped his arm around her waist once more and closed his eyes. They both lay there, letting their breath catch up with them. Lily turned to face him. She reached out and let her finger trace over the lines of his serpent tattoo on his neck. Sweet Pea half opened his eyes to look at her.

“You’re beautiful.”

Lily averted her eyes. “Thank you.”

“I mean it. You’re beautiful.”

Lily looked up to him for a moment before she let out a nervous laugh, shaking her head. Sweet Pea looked at her, perplexed.

“What’s so funny?”

Lily looked down, she was fidgeting with her gold cross. “I don’t know. It’s just… no one has ever said that to me before.”

“I find that hard to believe, darlin’.”

“I mean, people have called me beautiful before. Just…not the way that you do.”

Sweet Pea cocked his head at her. “And how do I say it?”

Lily paused for a second before she answered.

“Like you mean it.”

Sweet Pea lifted her chin up to look her in the eye. “That’s because I do mean it.” He gently pressed his lips to hers before he laid back down. Lily curled into his side, letting the sound of his breath evening out lull her to sleep.

[canaryatlaw]

alright, well today has certainly been interesting. my alarm went off bright and early at 7:30, and though I was tired of course the adrenaline for today’s events kicked in pretty quickly and I was off getting ready. I did my makeup to make sure it was impeccable (and it did turn out really nice) and got my freshly dry cleaned suit on with all its buttons and such. Spent about ten minutes eating breakfast before getting an uber to the juvenile courthouse. I was still feeling kind of tired so I decided it would be a good time to use a piece of my caffeine gum, which starts as like a hard tablet thing then turns into gum as you chew it (kinda like a gumball). So I’m chewing it and I’m like wtf there’s like something hard in the gum??? so I pulled it out and oh, that’s definitely a piece of tooth. great. I have about a billion fillings so I figured it had to be one of those, so the first place i checked was the last one that had gotten done that wasn’t all that stable but it was fine, and it ended up being the last tooth on the top left side of my mouth. Well, not much I can do about it at the moment. I got dropped off at the courthouse around 9:15 and just decided to wait around for a few minutes since it wasn’t terribly cold out rather than find another place to stake out for a bit. so I called my dentist’s office and told them what happened, and they said I could come in today at 11:30 or 2:30, I wasn’t sure I’d make it back from the interview for the 11:30 so we decided on the 2:30. I waited a couple more minutes before going inside and going through security, I swear it was the same sheriff that manned that security check point my first summer there that was so much better than the other ones, but after that first summer I moved and my public transit was closer to the other entrance. but they let me through easily, even though I definitely did set off the metal detector 😂story of my life. so I went up to the 4th floor where their office is and ran to the bathroom by the elevators right outside their actual office to make sure everything was good and kill a few more minutes so I wasn’t too obscenely early. Once I figured it would be a decent time to go in I headed in, the email instruction had said to you know let the receptionist know your name and that you’re here for an interview, except I knew the receptionist, so I didn’t have to do any of that lol. They gave me a standard employment application to fill out (which I’ve filled out for them before) which stated you didn’t have to rewrite any info that was on your resume, you could just write see resume, so that’s a lot less annoying, and to email a reference list in afterwards. So I finished that and gave it back, then a few minutes later the woman I’ve been communicating via email with, who I also know, came and got me to take me back to the conference room, which is in the back of the office, so while we were walking there she was like oh I love your suit that’s so cool, is it custom?? so that was cool to hear, I said it was and that a former employer had decided to get it for all of us and she was like awesome, my husband has a custom suit he loves lol. Once we reached the conference room she walked me in and, unsurprisingly, I knew the two people on the other side of the table that would be interviewing me (so just to keep track, I’ve officially known every person I’ve encountered in the office). One of them was actually in my first interview for being a law clerk way back in 2016 and then she ran the training so I knew her quite well, the other guy I didn’t know that well but I was familiar with him and he said he remembered me so that was a good sign. So they asked me about what my experience working with the office had been so I talked about the unfounded reports and the child death case and the permanency hearings and the interviews ranging between a 4 year old who’s been in her foster home for 3 days and is already calling her foster mother “mom” and wants to stay with her forever, to a 16 year old boy involuntarily in a psych ward which he would be stuck in way past the point of medical necessity (like, two months past when he was cleared after 6 days there) to the point where we had to get a court order for DCFS to place him somewhere else- so really running the gamut of different experiences here. So I talked about some of my other legal experiences like working for my dad (which is always a good one to use because I can bs it pretty freely to fit whatever I need it to be) and at the DV clinic and how I handled dealing with judges and clients and all that good stuff. They asked some question about the majority of the population they serve being African American and why I thought that was, so I said that of course the fact that 95% of parents qualify for a public defender means that the vast majority of them are living in poverty (and sadly a lot of people living in poverty in Chicago are African American), and while poverty itself is not child neglect it makes it a lot more difficult when you have to choose between going to work to feed your family and leaving your 8 and 10 year olds home alone which is child neglect, or not being able to afford a bed for your child, which is child neglect. And of course that while child abuse takes place across all socioeconomic levels, those in poverty are often in positions where their actions could be reported to DCFS a lot easier whereas someone with some social standing would probably be given the benefit of the doubt by not reporting when they see what could be evidence of abuse/neglect. There were a few other questions about using common sense and if I could give an example of how I thought that played into the job, so I talked about how when I was reviewing unfounded reports there was one against a daycare owner that had originally been indicated but was unfounded on appeal because the supposed act of abuse had been fairly minor, but the fact that the owner would treat a small child like that to begin with coupled with the fact that she lied to the parents and lied to the investigators and completely refused to cooperate were all big flags for me that this is not someone who should be entrusted with young children when they are capable of such actions, and how I took steps to ensure something was done about the situation. They wanted to know more about the child death motion so I talked about that and how I had researched it and the ultimate conclusion the judge reached that while he did not grant the motion, we were successful in convincing him he had the power to do what we were requesting, it was just the facts that he found unconvincing which of course we don’t have any control over, so I was still pleased with the outcome. And yeah, lots of questions about handling a high case load and all that good stuff, they had said since they lost a lot of staff they were down to like 3-4 attorneys per courtroom when it used to be more like 5-6 so caseloads had been rising again and that I’d have to be prepared for that. I asked them if they had a timetable as for when they would be making hiring decisions, but they were like oh yeah we have no idea, so still don’t know what to do with that other than wait I guess. So yeah, overall I think it went pretty well, I was confident in pretty much all of my answers and I think my passion for the work really followed through. So when we finished I headed out, it was like 10:40 at this point so I called the dentist office back and asked if the 11:30 was still available and they said it was, so I got an uber pool and rode it downtown to where my dentist is located. So he checked it out and got his little camera pen thing in there so I could see, basically a fairly large part of the tooth/filling had come off revealing the silver filling beneath it, which means it wasn’t a filling that we’ve done over the past 3 years I’ve been here with this dentist, but was something my New York dentist had done. The dentist said it was stable for now though, so we made an appointment for next week to put a crown on it. I took the brown line to the bus and then home which was fairly easy. After changing out of the suit I made some lunch and tried to relax for a bit, watched some Reign and made sure I sent the reference list over. I also started picking at my gel nail polish because once you start doing that it’s really hard to stop, so my nails were not in good shape by the end of the day, but that was okay because once Jess got home we met up at the nail place we’ve been going to and got manicures, and then walked over to main street and got dinner and then ice cream because ice cream is always needed for birthday celebrations, even if it’s slightly delayed. Headed home after that and looked at stuff on my phone for a while trying to figure out what I want to do tomorrow. I’m supposed to (and by that I mean I responded yes on facebook) to this event with Illinois prosecutors and government attorneys where there are a bunch of different government agencies attending and will be possible networking attorneys. And of course part of me is like just suck it up and go it could be helpful, but another part of me knows I’m really not interested in any of the options listed, I don’t want to end up in some random government office, and I highly doubt I could get hired by the SA’s office given my dearth of experience with criminal law in the actual courtroom. The one thing that might’ve been slightly interesting was the office of the inspector general, which I would be interested in as they have a division that works inside DCFS that I would love to work for, but those that are attending are apparently from the office of the executive inspector general, which just means they oversee state operations and such and basically has no connection to the DCFS branch. and I mean, what am I gonna do, hand them my resume and ask them to give it to someone at a totally different office? they’re obviously not going to do that, so at this point I’m seriously doubting going, I really just don’t think there would be anything worth going for, but I guess we’ll see. And yeah, after that I showered and got ready for bed and now I am here and I am definitely ready to pass out, so I will end this here. Goodnight darlings. Congrats on being halfway through the week.

[mx-requests-forum]

[Fulfilled] At the Party

Prompt: kihyunXhyungwon childhood friends fic. Kihyun is the nerd akward guy and Hyungwon is the chic, beautiful(but super super nice) guy everyone has a crush on. Kihyun is also one of these people but hes too shy and insecure about his looks to actually do something about it(and because hes afraid of loosing his bff). That changes one day when they are at a party and play spin the bottle and kihyun has to kiss shownu. Jealous Hyungwon and then confession.

Fulfilled by Mod Ree~

Words: 6516, 4 chapters

AO3 Link

Done as part of the randomly generated request event we’re doing for New Year’s!!! I hope the requester enjoys what I came up with ^^* 

Kihyun takes a deep breath to steady his own racing heart, straightening his uniform jacket a bit as he beams from ear to ear at his own reflection. This is a good day for him. His face isn’t too puffy, he’s running just as early as he likes, and he’d had the energy the night before to pack a well-balanced lunch for himself… with just enough extra for a certain friend of his~

This is it. This is the day he’s going to confess. He can just feel it. Everything’s been too right this morning for him to not tell Hyungwon how he feels!

At least, that’s what he’s thinking until a certain boy from across the street pounds his fist against Kihyun’s window.

The brunet boy jumps, whirling about with a glare set behind his thick-framed rectangle glasses. Minhyuk’s smirking at him, waggling his fingers teasingly. Kihyun rolls his eyes, his glare expression shifting to a scowl, as he goes to open his window. His mattress dips under his knees as he kneels in front of the glass, unlocking it and shoving it upward with a grunt.

“Mornin,” Minhyuk greets, setting his large hands against the pane as if he’s planning to jump in. Kihyun clicks his tongue, shoving his friend back outside.

“Last time you came in through the window,” Kihyun explains at Minhyuk’s hurt frown, “you tracked dirt in all over my bedroom. I just cleaned yesterday, and I don’t want you making a mess of it again. If you want to come in, do it through the front door like a normal person.”

Minhyuk sighs dramatically, slumping forward and resting his torso against the pane, instead, half his body now in Kihyun’s room and half of it out.

“You’re so meeeeaaaaannn,” the light-haired boy whines in response. “What did I do to ever earn such treatment??” Kihyun shrugs, disembarking from his perch to check his hair one final time in the mirror.

“Just made a mess of everything you touch,” Kihyun answers mercilessly. Minhyuk only sighs again in reply, watching his same-age friend as he picks up a stray strand here or there with precise fingers. He frowns, leaning further into the room as he squints his eyes.

“Is that… gel in your hair??” he suddenly demands, outright gawking at the shorter boy. The tips of Kihyun’s ears go red, and he awkwardly clears his throat as he purposely avoids Minhyuk’s eyes.

“N-No,” he answers, sheepish at his own obvious lie. Minhyuk hums, wholly unconvinced. He glances behind himself, at the house just beside Kihyun’s… that just so happens to belong to Hyungwon himself.

“You gonna confess to our little Wonnie today~?”

“Confess what? Honestly, Min, you just talk in riddles sometimes,” Kihyun says, waving off his friend’s words. He keeps his back to the other, though, as he gathers the things still out on his desk in need of being put into his school bag.

“Whatever,” Minhyuk says flippantly, and Kihyun can practically hear the shrug the boy gives. “I’m just glad you’re finally doing it… I mean, I know it must be intimidating and all because of how popular he is, but still. It’s about time you told Hyungwon how you feel.” He pauses, watching for the effect his sincere words have on his friend. Though, when he sees Kihyun’s shoulders hike up tensely at the word ‘intimidating’, he can’t help but smirk knowingly at the chance to tease.

“After all, Hyungwon is the most popular boy at school, even if he is younger than us… He’s so pretty and thin, and you’re… well, you’re pretty good in choir? You two are just in totally different parts of the cliques at school. You’re the nice kid in the back who everyone gets to do their algebra homework, and Hyungwon’s the one in at least half the yearbook every year, and about fifty Valentine’s. He’s totally out of your league, and you still have the guts to confess? That’s impressive from where I’m sitting.”

Minhyuk props his chin in his palm, watching for an indignant reaction with a wicked twinkle in his eye. He thinks for a moment he’s gone too far, due to Kihyun’s prolonged state of apparent paralysis… But, then, Kihyun turns around, a strained smile to his face and an uneasy chuckle pushing through it.

“You get the weirdest ideas sometimes,” Kihyun tells him, apparently still in denial. “I mean, I care about Wonnie, yeah, but… not like that. He’s a good friend, and that’s it.” Minhyuk’s brow creases, staring scrutinizingly for a sign of a lie. After all, he knows he’s not wrong about Kihyun having feelings for their dongsaeng… but, is it possible Kihyun still hasn’t realized it…? He’d been sure at the last game of Truth or Dare that… well, nevermind.

If Kihyun wants to play it like this, then fine.

Minhyuk shrugs, as if Kihyun’s lack of a reaction doesn’t truly bother him despite the truth, and tells him he’ll meet him in front of the house in ten minutes. Kihyun nods, moving to shut the window after he’s gone and close the curtains.

Kihyun collapses on the bed once he’s sure Minhyuk’s gone, burying his face in his hands… He releases a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, the exhale shaking his shoulders slightly. He knows he’s always been a good liar, but damn. He’s never been able to trick Minhyuk before…

Minhyuk’s words circle round and round Kihyun’s head like vultures, picking at all the doubts his own optimism had managed to somehow bury until the other boy had somehow picked at every one and brought them to the surface. He’s right, of course. Despite their close friendship over the years, Hyungwon and Kihyun have grown to run in completely different circles. Hyungwon’s accepted with the cool kids at school, smiling his way through everything, and Kihyun’s just the choir geek in the back of the room with all the assignments done at least two weeks in advance.

The boy sighs, shaking his head as all possible hopes of a positive outcome to his plan this morning are squandered. They’re too different. It’d only ruin the friendship he has with Hyungwon if he confesses now…

He gets up, shaking Minhyuk’s voice out of his ears as he goes to get his bag and leave. He’ll never in his life tell Minhyuk he was right, but… what the other doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

Hyungwon steps out of his home, clutching the strap of his bag and draping it listlessly over his shoulder. He turns and sees Minhyuk already waiting for him at the usual meet-up, the lamp post smack dab in between his and Kihyun’s homes. He raises his hand in a silent greeting as he approaches, blinking slowly as he shuffles forward.

He’s only been awake for a few minutes, and he hasn’t quite gotten his bearings yet. Minhyuk nods at him, leaning against the pole and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Kihyunnie didn’t let you in through the window again?” Hyungwon asks, successfully keeping the relief from his voice. He always hates it whenever Minhyuk gets to just sneak into Kihyun’s room like that, right under his nose. Of course, he understands it, knows how close they are, but that still doesn’t mean he has to like it. Minhyuk shakes his head, pouting as he stares at Kihyun’s front door.

“No,” he replies with a sigh. “I tried, but Ki just bitched at me for making a mess the last time, so he didn’t let me…” He drifts off, glancing to Hyungwon with a raised brow, the slightest of smirks playing across his thin lips. “He seemed to really be putting an effort into his looks today… He might be planning on making a move on someone special today. Can you think of who that could be?”

Hyungwon doesn’t give Minhyuk the reaction he’s so clearly looking for, only offering a halfhearted shrug despite how his heart does somersaults in his chest. The platinum blonde tries not to think that maybe, just maybe, it’s him the older is wanting to confess to…

Before he can get lost in the hypothetical, Kihyun steps out of his home, his hair styled back to show off his widow’s peak, and his uniform perfectly put on without a single crease. Hyungwon glances down at his own haphazardly put-on uniform, his shirt not tucked in at all and his tie only half tied.

Kihyun looks as perfect as always, and Hyungwon…? Well, he’s just Hyungwon.

“Good morning,” Kihyun greets, sounding as chipper as ever… even if it sounds somewhat forced. He pauses once he gets close enough to the other two, readjusting his bag slightly for better comfort. Hyungwon tilts his head to the side at how strained Kihyun’s smile seems.

“You okay?” he asks softly, shifting closer to get a better look at his friend. Kihyun blinks, his smile faltering for the most minute of seconds before he pushes an amused breath through his teeth.

“Of course I am,” he says, already reaching out to fix Hyungwon’s tie, “but you don’t seem to be. Honestly, Wonnie, you need to start going to sleep earlier to wake up earlier. You can’t keep leaving the house like this.” Hyungwon watches skeptically as Kihyun dives into his typical behaviors, it almost seeming a bit too purposeful to the younger.

“Yeah well… maybe that’ll happen when you stop nagging me about it,” he responds, deciding to play along. He can tell he’s made the right choice when Kihyun’s shoulders noticeably drop, as if he’s finally relaxing. “Ever thought about that?”

“Well, then I guess it’ll never happen,” Kihyun says, his voice oddly soft as he finishes straightening up Hyungwon’s tie. Their eyes meet for the briefest of moments before he drops the gaze, a tempest of emotions swirling behind his dimming eyes.

Hyungwon gets the urge to pull Kihyun aside, tell him how he feels right then and there… Maybe this strange behavior is because Minhyuk is right, because Kihyun is planning to confess to someone today? If so, Hyungwon most certainly can’t have that. He can’t allow Kihyun to go running off and getting together with basically everyone under the sun before they end up together, he just won’t have it.

He begins to slowly reach out and grab Kihyun by the elbow, but Minhyuk’s voice stops him.

“Should I leave you two alone~?” Minhyuk asks teasingly. “You know, to talk~?” Hyungwon glances between the two boys curiously, wondering what Minhyuk must be talking about now. Kihyun rolls his eyes, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

“Just drop it, Min,” Kihyun tells him, stepping back a couple paces from Hyungwon. The younger feels the gap between them as if it were a whole other person, feeling strangely cold. Of course, that’s nothing compared to the chilling iceberg his heart becomes at Kihyun’s next phrase. “It’s not like that between me and him, we’re just friends.”

Him. Whose… ‘him’? Who is this other boy whose stolen Hyungwon’s Kihyunnie away from him???

“Should we go?” Hyungwon prompts, turning on his heel and marching off before either can respond. He glares down at the cement as he walks, chewing on the tip of his thumb thoughtfully. He has to figure out who this other boy is, and fast. He has to save Kihyun from making the biggest mistake of his life by confessing to the wrong boy.

He has to show Kihyun how right they are for each other before it’s too late.

[foxglovesound]

Some extra writing practice I wanted to complete using prompt one from Ailuronymy’s writing challenge!

Takes place a little bit before the previous writing practice and before the comic begins!

“Can’t you do something?” Plumstar hadn’t intended her voice to come out as bitingly as it did, but she couldn’t take it back now, even when she saw Cuckoochirp flinch against her tone as if her voice had aimed a swipe for his muzzle. The seer’s blue eyes glistened with a mingle of emotions - fear, grief, guilt, shame - as he pathetically whimpered, “I’m trying the best I can-!”

His voice came out hushed, barely above a whisper, as the pale gray tabby pressed a poultice to the visible wounds across an elderly torbie’s side; Plumstar’s ears pressed flat against the back of her head as she watched Robinstream’s flank stutter and fall flat for a few jarring moments, only to shakily return to its weak, fluttering rhythm from before. The leader’s amber eyes swept back to Cuckoochirp as he struggled to stabilize Robintstream’s condition; sympathy dug her claws snugly into Plumstar’s gut - Cuckoochirp’s mentor had only just passed away earlier this moon, and now he was struggling with one of his severely wounded patients for the first time on his own.

“She’s old, Plumstar,” Cuckoochirp murmured softly, his white paw drifting to rest against Robinstream’s burning forehead, “I don’t know if she can fight off the infection. She barely has the strength to eat.”

It had only been a few days since the border skirmish between Plumstar and Graystar; after the two leaders had accidentally happened to bump into each other at the border, the exchange of nasty words switched swiftly into the exchange of blows, and the deputies had been dragged in with reinforcements. RiverClan had left victorious with their honor, but Robinstream had staggered back into camp with a gash across her side that seemingly wouldn’t stop bleeding.

And when the blood finally stopped, an infection swiftly set in despite Cuckoochirp’s best efforts. A healthier warrior would have been able to fight it off in a matter of days, but a cat Robinstream’s age didn’t have the high ground.

“I think it might be time to consider a new deputy.”

The whisper sent Plumstar’s heart shattering, but before she could open her mouth to respond, the sound of pawsteps softly approaching snapped Plumstar’s attention backwards; Antfoot wove amongst the nests, pressing her wiry frame against Plumstar once she had reached the pair. The look on the leader’s face told Antfoot the whole story.

***

“She might pull through,” Plumstar grunted from where she paced amongst the inside of her den, “We can’t just speak about her like - like she’s just a dead body in a den.”

“No one’s saying that,” Antfoot insisted, pulling herself to her paws and trotting towards, brushing her pelt against Plumstar’s ragged tabby one in an attempt to steady her mate, “But Cuckoochirp himself said you need to be prepared. RiverClan’s dependent on you, Plum.”

Plumstar lowered her head, “Robinstream’s been with me since the beginning. She was my first deputy - my only deputy.”

“And a damned fine one at that,” Honeystream rumbled from where she sat amongst the circle of elders, “She led us like a lion by your side. Doesn’t mean she’d be totally invincible against everything.”

Eaglepelt flicked his ear, musing aloud, “She’s only a few moons younger than you. Did you really think she’d outlive you long enough to lead a Clan, too? You’ve been going at it for ages, Plumstar.”

“You passed the proper age for retirement a few moons ago, dear,” Antfoot hummed sweetly against Plumstar’s cheek, her eyes glittering with a light playfulness that somewhat masked the heaviness of the situation. Plumstar let out a weary sigh, finally relenting and making way to the circle of elders, Antfoot’s tail curled around hers as they took their seats within the council.

“I suggest Snowthroat for a possible deputy replacement,” Cootwhisker began, breaking the brief silence that had fallen; Eaglepelt scoffed from where he sat, his tired eyes narrowing at her comment, “Seems justified to suggest your own daughter be a leader, huh?”

The elderly molly’s pelt bristled at her clanmate’s comment, “Snowthroat’s been training for this since she was a little kitten, she’s earned this.”

“She’s only been training for this because you convinced her she was StarClan’s Chosen,” Honeystream snorted from where she sat, leaning over to satisfy an itch behind her ear with a few swift scratches.

“Her eyes,” Cootwhisker began defensively, only to cut herself off with a swift shake of her head, “No, not just that. Snowthroat would be a good leader, she’s got her own apprentice and she manages him just fine.”

Antfoot tipped up her chin defiantly as she shot back, “You know Minkclaw’s just as qualified, you know. And she’s been training for this since she was a kitten, too,” The red tabby molly paused, fluffing out her chest fur with pride as she purred, “I should know, I trained with her.”

Plumstar couldn’t help but chuckle over her mate’s pride; when Minkclaw’s first mentor, Tatteredjaw, had died in battle early in her mentorship, she had been given Antfoot as a mentor - and well, Antfoot certainly had grown attached to the feisty apprentice, hadn’t she?

Plumstar would be lying if she hadn’t grown fond of Minkclaw, either.

“She’s had an apprentice, too, Cootwhisker, since you seem so unconvinced-,”

“Need I remind you what happened to little Ashpaw?” Cootwhisker interrupted swiftly, her lips curling into a sneer; the fur along Antfoot’s pelt lifted as she snapped back, “Don’t you dare blame that on her! Ashpaw snuck out on her own will, Minkclaw had no idea.”

“And I wonder who she got that from, huh? Minkclaw was always sneaking out as an apprentice, dragging her little friends along with her, gallivanting around the borders like tradition didn’t mean a damn thing.”

Despite the fire that burned in Antfoot’s forest-green eyes, narrowed to slits, Honeystream was the one to interject smugly, “You call it gallivanting, we call it diplomacy.”

“Diplomacy,” Cootwhisker snorted with a scornful scowl, “Diplomacy. That’s why she and WindClan’s very own deputy are constantly at each other’s throats during the gathering.”

“Do you think Yellowtail’s actions to Rosepaw are justified?” Antfoot jumped in, her teeth glinting as her tone grew sharp, “Do you really blame Minkclaw for wanting to stand up for the little guy?”

Before Cootwhisker could shoot back a retort, she was interrupted.

“Actually,” Eaglepelt finally spoke up once more, “I think - I think Snowthroat would be a better candidate than Minkclaw.”

“Why the sudden change of heart?” Honeystream quirked her head to the side, prompting the tom cat; shuffling on his paws, Eaglepelt explained, “Well, don’t you remember that time when Minkclaw and Hornetflower were apprentices? They snuck out and, well - you know.

“Minkclaw’s reckless, Plumstar. I admit she’s an intelligent molly - she can motivate swarms if she tried to, and she’s got good ambition. But she’s reckless - she acts before she thinks. But Snowthroat - she’s careful. She’s cautious, she considers her options, she makes plans,” Eaglepelt paused, finally ending his argument, “Something Minkclaw lacks in.”

“Well, now, everyone - I hope you all know there’s more cats in RiverClan than just Minkclaw and Snowthroat. We don’t need to appoint them as our only options,” Plumstar commented, only for Antfoot to murmur, “I admire your fairness, Plum, but it’s the next generation’s turn to lead once you’re gone.”

Antfoot’s eyes flitted to Plumstar’s, “And I’m sure you’ve noticed the influence Snowthroat and Minkclaw have had over their clanmates.”

***

When Robinstream’s flank fell still two nights later, it never rose back up again.

Eaglepelt crouched over the molly’s now cold body, his eyes misting up as he gazed at her; her torbie pelt was intertwined with flowers, surrounding the injuries she had so bravely lost her life earning.

“Our brother’s been waiting for her for a long time,” The brown tabby rasped hoarsely, before burying his muzzle into his sister’s pelt to stifle the sobs that bit at the back of his throat; Plumstar drew in a shaky breath, leaning into Antfoot’s warming presence at her side. The leader’s amber eyes flickered up to the night sky as she weakly responded, “I’m sure Tatteredjaw has a lot to chat with her about, now.”

***

The full moon hung high in the sky, casting it’s pure light across the island below as the Clan cats began to congregate amongst the terrain; with a mighty leap, one that she had taken for moons and moons before, Plumstar hopped onto the Leader’s Stone, politely dipping her head to her fellow leaders to greet them.

“Good evening, everyone,” The RiverClan leader rumbled as she settled down, curling her bushy tail across her paws, “I’m glad to see everyone made it here safely.”

Patchstar gave Plumstar a curt nod, “Same to you, Plumstar. But I noticed Robinstream isn’t with you tonight - why’s that?”

A puff of air left Plumstar’s nose in a short huff, “You just jump straight to the information, huh?”

Patchstar simply shrugged her shoulders - she knew what she wanted to know, and she wanted to know it as fast as possible.

With a heavy sigh, Plumstar steadied herself, “We lost Robinstream a little earlier this moon. She walks with StarClan, now.”

“Ah, I’m sorry if I opened a fresh wound,” Patchstar’s voice lowered, and Burdockstar reached out to brush her tail against Plumstar’s flank, “I’m so sorry for your loss, Plumstar.”

The red tabby simply shook her head, assuring her company, “It’s fine. She lived a great life - it was bound to happen eventually.”

“Still, it’s never a wonderful time to go through,” Graystar was the one who spoke this time, and though Plumstar wanted to snap back how Robinstream was only dead because of him, she held her tongue; the gray tabby’s pale, fading golden eyes clouded with a grief Plumstar recognized with a stab to her chest as he spoke, “I know all too well how hard it is to lose your deputy, especially if you were close.”

Plumstar’s features softened; despite all their bitter differences, Graystar and Plumstar had gone through unfortunately similar circumstances, and under the truce of the full moon, Plumstar could reach out with sympathy instead of sarcasm, “Thank you, Graystar.”

The WindClan leader nodded solemnly, only to turn his attention back to the gathering cats below. Burdockstar peered over with interest, her green eyes scanning the crowd as she addressed the question the three leaders held in their minds now, “So, who took up the new deputy position?”

The ShadowClan leader’s eyes fell upon Minkclaw - a molly she knew and regarded rather amicably - chattering away in a group of mingled Clan cats; Plumstar caught Burdockstar’s attention with a simple gesture, pointing her muzzle in the direction of Snowthroat, currently exchanging words with the WindClan deputy and one of Patchstar’s daughters while Acornbee leaned against Snowthroat’s flank, a rather smitten expression plastered across her countenance.

“Snowthroat. She’s proven herself to be a fine warrior, and I trust she’ll handle RiverClan with thoughtful respect once I’m gone.”

“Ah, I see,” Burdockstar commented blandly, “I afraid I can’t say I’m pleased with your decision, Plumstar.”

“Well, then,” Plumstar tilted her muzzle up, “It’s a good thing it wasn’t your decision to make.”

[jinlian]

i’ve always sorta wondered, but what did sayokubo hope to achieve with yurio’s narrative arc? like, i wanna believe that they were going somewhere with it but ran out of time but at the same time im just sorta?? i want to like all the characters in yoi but like idk the storytelling and characterization just fell flat.

this is a question i can’t really answer, though i’m inclined to agree with you that they had an idea, just totally missed on the follow-through due to time constraints or some other reason. i’ll give them the benefit of a doubt, because the storytelling — up until the last two episodes, and even pieces within those episodes — is otherwise quite solid. but they definitely dropped the ball on this one.

the problem, in my opinion, is that they got too stuck on the story they had decided to tell rather than the one they were telling. they have said that they planned to have yuuri come in second from the start, and i believe that, because it genuinely is the only thing that makes sense to me when the rest of the narrative develops to point to a very different outcome. the romance was unplanned and developed during the production process, so i have no trouble seeing how the story could have evolved along the way in a way that didn’t quite match up with their initial plans.

the results of the grand prix final did no one any favors, yurio absolutely included, and it left me, as a viewer, extremely unsatisfied with the storytelling. sayokubo said they thought yuuri winning would be too predictable so they decided from the beginning to have him place second, but there are a few problems with the way they executed this

first of all, they’re actually pretty incorrect when they say sports anime protags just win predictably all the time. i’d say the opposite: more often than not i’d definitely say i’ve seen the protagonist lose at the big final game for a ~character development~ moment. this is fine when that’s what the story needs, but that isn’t want yuuri’s story needed even if it were not a common, predictable outcome.

here’s the thing: predictable writing is not necessarily bad writing. in fact, sometimes it’s extremely good writing when it’s “predictable” because the narrative threads have pointed in a certain direction. and it’s very satisfying as a viewer to see when a very relatable gay mentally ill protagonist overcomes his own self doubts and fears and recognizes his own capabilities and finally, finally achieves the dream he’s always had through being supported and encouraged in a mutually beneficial relationship.

it’s really, really important to note that “learning that people will love him if he wins or loses” is absolutely not a lesson that yuuri needed to learn. in fact, yuuri makes that clear as early as episode four, when he explicitly says on the beach that his friends and family have always supported him no matter what. that’s not the point, that isn’t what he needed. yuuri needed someone to push him, to give him something other than lukewarm “we’ll love you no matter what” sentiments that he already knows are true, and victor gives that. it then takes yuuri nine episodes to say aloud that he has always competed with the thought that he wants and plans to win. nine episodes. nine episodes. nine episodes while he’s in the middle of competing through an anxiety attack and pushing himself to do exactly what he needs to do to qualify for the grand prix final.

yuuri never needed to learn how to lose. he’s spent his entire senior career on the international circuit learning how to lose. yuuri needed to learn how to win.

people have this idea that if yuuri had won, he would have retired. that’s of course what yuuri was saying he was going to do, but that’s definitely not what the narrative was telling us. yuuri is talking throughout the entire season about how much he loves skating, how he wants to compete at victor’s side, you have junior skaters telling yuuri how much they look forward to competing against him on the senior circuit, and yuuri decides to keep competing while he’s watching yurio, before they know the results of the competition. the whole point is supposed to be about yuuri’s love for skating, how much yuuri has left to give to the sport, and it would have been ridiculously easy to have him win and go wow, i’ve only just started achieving my full potential, i love skating and i want to keep going especially if victor is coming back. this just kinda makes it look even more like yuuri only wants to keep skating to get a win and then he can quit. it isn’t satisfying. at all.

the problem is partly that yuuri’s unreliable narration led a lot of people to believe that he just isn’t a very talented skater, which is so far from the truth and completely ridiculous given the very obvious canon evidence, but somehow despite breaking a world record people still believe this because he placed second at the grand prix final. that’s definitely on the audience, but it’s also on the writing.

victor wasn’t the prize. he was never meant to be, the story was always supposed to be about yuuri.

and before another anon tries to get smarmy with me, i’ve been aware since the final episode that the results of the gpf are arguably a fix-it fic for tatsuki machida, who came in second at worlds by the slimmest of margins to relative newcomer yuzuru hanyu, bombed his grand prix final the following season, and announced his shocking and unexpected retirement at japanese nationals where he came fourth. it gave me some comfort for a little while, but after thinking more and more about it, i just kind of don’t care. an homage to tatsuki, as appreciated as it is, doesn’t override the unsatisfying narrative conclusion in the fictional story told in yuri on ice.

AND NOW ACTUALLY ONTO YOUR POINT ABOUT YURIO –

if anyone needed to “learn how to lose” it was yurio, and he absolutely did not experience that storyline in his grand prix losses to jj. he sort of starts it when he loses onsen on ice, and there’s a glimmer of development in episode 9, but it’s all just tossed out the window.

yurio starts off the season saying things like “i won, so what does it matter?” when victor tries to give him advice to improve. he’s willing to practice harder in the interest of winning, which is cool (but it’s not like any other skater in the show isn’t practicing hard??? yuuri literally goes to practice to work off his own anxiety, he practices so much), but instead of like actively acknowledging that other people are good skaters who maybe deserve to win, too, he just keeps... focusing on himself. he calls yuuri a farm animal to his fiancé’s face, says he’s good for nothing, shoves his feet in the face of a fellow athlete who’s clearly just had an anxiety attack in public, mocks another one who’s also just had a public breakdown, and the whole thing with his hidden admiration for yuuri doesn’t even work when you consider that he doesn’t want yuuri to keep competing for yuuri’s sake — he wants it so that he can beat yuuri.

???

yurio’s agape arc just doesn’t work, either, he skates like maybe once thinking “oh people are nice to me” but he doesn’t reciprocate that off the ice. it doesn’t work. it’s unconvincing. the story also drops the narrative threads of yuuri’s stamina vs. yurio’s, where they keep talking about how yurio doesn’t have as much stamina etc etc and yurio already pushes himself to his breaking point in ep9 — imo it would have been way more interesting to examine yurio trying to push himself even further and having to learn his limits and learn he still has a long way to grow. there’s no indication that he has learned any of this. he just gets justified for his shitty behavior and his “winning is everything” attitude and it’s. obnoxious. we don’t see any development of the agape storyline off the ice, and i’m fairly unconvinced we saw it on the ice too, but that’s a different story.

this is then only solidified in the welcome to the madness manga where yurio cannot handle victor and yuuri having attention for literally five minutes, even though yurio has just won the grand prix final, and pulls “no i have to surprise the audience more”

so like, i get that he’s fifteen and fifteen year olds can be shitty but he’s also a fictional character and from a storytelling perspective there’s just nothing satisfying about this and nothing that in any way actually lends itself to yurio’s growth. they threw in otabek to get yurio to cheer for another skater, but yurio still beats otabek and is still shitty towards yuuri. a really interesting way to get yurio to confront his agape and get some actual growth would be to have otabek beat him, and i hope we see that in upcoming content.

i think it was supposed to be something about yurio seeing that other people are good, too, but it’s not done well. it focuses too much on yuuri with not enough respect given to either character and doesn’t develop yurio’s attitude wrt skating or other skaters in general, which he needed. again, i don’t believe that otabek counts here. “oh good, another score higher than the pig’s.” it also arguably had to do with yurio seeing he has room to grow; again, in my opinion, not done well. yurio needed something more than just being annoyed that he didn’t win by enough.

like the narrative arc literally accomplishes nothing. he finishes the series just as stuck on “winning is everything” as he was when he started. there’s no understanding of why yurio even enjoys skating beyond that he’s good at it and wins a lot. i’m not invested.

anyway VERY LONG STORY SHORT i totally agree that it just didn’t work and did no one any favors. yurio got justified for his shitty attitude with “as long as i win it’s fine and also i just want to beat everyone else so people know how great i am” (like i truly don’t care if yurio is just mad that he lost the free skate so he feels “unsatisfied” with winning at the gpf, i truly don’t) and yuuri got screwed over in the narrative process for a lesson he never needed to learn in the first place so that sayokubo could avoid “predictable” writing. they’re better writers than this. it’s disappointing.

all of this is without the bullshit scoring at the grand prix final but kdhjfgsdj it’s fine IT’S FINE. as long as the movie and/or possible season 2 is done well, i’ll get over it.

[danfanciesphil]

Love your writing! A prompt for you: I'd love to see Phil reacting to people saying he doesn't love Dan as much as Dan loves him which I think is stupid??

So, if you’ve read my fic Birthday Sex then you will know that I do not buy into this trope whatsoever, which i must say is a big reason I wrote it. I really just do not see where people are coming from when they say that Dan loves Phil more?? Maybe at the very, very beginning of their relationship it kind of seemed like Dan was a bit of an obsessed lovestruck young kiddo (spoiler: he was) but firstly, it’s important to remember that we don’t get to see everything the two of them say to one another and we already know that Dan tends to share a lot more with the public than Phil does. For example, when has Phil ever (barr his Draw My Life and a few other sparse instances) ever revealed anything serious and personal about himself? Whereas Dan just yesterday opened up about something so deeply intimate that it’s honestly baffling he had the courage at all. My point is that it’s highly, highly likely that there were things said between them behind the scenes that we just did not have any knowledge of whatsoever. I’d draw your attention to the Video That Will Not Be Named as an example, because obviously (if you choose to ignore dnp’s ‘explanation’ and see it as real/true) then it was NEVER meant to be seen by anyone except Dan. Think about that... if youtube hadn’t glitched, that video would not exist to us. How many more videos are there like this one? How many texts and phone calls and private conversations that are probably WAY more schmaltzy and incriminating??

Not only this, but as a follow up point, Phil is older, and he is maturer than Dan. The latter possibly gets less true as time goes on and Dan grows as a person (what a fantastic man he’s becoming I stg im so proud), but certainly up until now, Phil has been the adult of the two of them. Don’t try telling me he acts like a child either, because that’s not the same thing - he’s an entertainer for a family friendly YouTube channel, it doesn’t mean he isn’t a millionaire/business owner/well-educated, successful man. I find it not only silly that people expect him to be fawning over Dan every minute of the goddamn day on camera in order to prove his affection, but just ridiculously unrealistic. He’s a 30 year old man. If he is with Dan, then he’s been in a committed relationship with him for years. They’re over the honeymoon stage. They’re into something far more serious and committed now, and it’s a kind of love that doesn’t need to be shown at all times. 

Finally, I just want to add that apart from all I’ve said - neither of them (imo) show much sign of being madly in love with the other at all? I mean, you have to remember that we are a fandom, and it’s so easy to pick apart something and pull out the bits you want to fit your ideal picture. There is evidence of them being a couple, yes, but there’s also evidence against it! Neither of them refer to one another as ‘boyfriend’ or ‘partner’ and I honestly doubt they ever will! Dan is not constantly gooey over Phil, and the same goes the other way around. It baffles me that people can dissect every one of their looks and actions (I’m guilty of it too of course) and come up with these absurd headcanons such as “AWW DAn looks so in love here, and Phil looks so indifferent” because it’s just... it’s just completely ridiculous?? You have nothing to base that on whatsoever apart from a half second clip from a video - the leap to conclusion is beyond crazy. 

Idk I am aware i went off on a little ramble here, but this kind of thing is where the phandom descends into a total clusterfucky mess. It’s good to take a breather every once in a while and remind ourselves that the things we do know about the boys is very limited. Our ‘evidence’ from the past is still just a bunch of tweets and videos, none of us know them. I don’t want to destroy any ships, because personally I think there’s a LOT of mystery and confusion shrouding their relationship which could absolutely mean something else is going on, but again, I’m not going to make any mad assumptions about anything because at the end of the day I just don’t know. 

ANYWAY. Nothing wrong with writing FICTION about this, and that’s what you’ve asked for, so here my love! Thanks for the question (none of this was aimed at you btw! I know you’re just asking in general about the topic, I just wanted to share my thoughts on it).

Got a prompt for me? Click here! (Please be aware that due to an abundance of prompts, your prompt may take a few days to complete - but thank you all for submitting so far!)

The comment catches his attention, and Phil isn’t sure why. 

He’s scrolling through the comment section of the latest DanAndPhilGAMES video, a smile playing on his mouth as he reads everyone’s reactions to Dil’s latest adventures. 

It’s a treat he allows himself very rarely nowadays, to look through the comments. As Dan once said, it can be like picking through a minefield. Sure, the vast majority of the comments will be overwhelmingly positive, filled with adoration and appreciation of them both, lulling him into a false sense of security and then BAM! One will jump out, jarring him with its nasty words, or its negative perspective. Reading a mean comment can, even now, when there are literally thousands of nice once to combat it, throw Phil off-kilter for days. 

It can make him second guess every creative instinct. It can make him snappy and irritable, or just glum. 

This comment, though not exactly mean per se, is one such instance. He tries to ignore it, to just scroll past and move on with his life. It’s just a shipper comment, after all. That’s what he and Dan call them. Around half the comments they get on their videos are from the ‘shippers’. It’s fine. Usually neither of them pay any attention to them whatsoever. 

But this one has been upvoted 600 times. It has dozens of replies attached to it, clearly a topic of hot discussion. Phil scrolls back up, gnawing at his lip, and lets his eyes scan over the words again:

It’s so sad when Dan says something funny and looks at Phil all hopeful but Phil just ignores him. Heartbreaking to know that Dan will always love Phil more - ever since 2009. 3

Phil closes his laptop, wishing the words would dissolve from his brain. He shuts his eyes, but they burn behind his retinas, bright and jarring. Where do they get this stuff? Is that truly what people believe? 

He reopens his laptop and scrolls back up to the video, dragging the slider over the bar at the bottom of the window, scanning his and Dan’s faces for any signs of what that subscriber had said. 

As he scrolls through the video for the sixth time, squinting at the screen, he feels Dan flop down onto the sofa beside him, crunching something. Phil sits up, turning to Dan with warm cheeks, feeling caught out. 

Dan raises an eyebrow at him, glancing at the screen. He offers Phil a crisp from the packet in his hands. 

“Watching phan videos again?” Dan asks him, smiling. 

“Just... checking the comments on the Dil vid.” Phil tells him, and Dan sighs knowingly, placing the crisp packet aside. 

“Oh God, what’ve they said now?” Dan asks, shuffling towards Phil in order to see. 

Phil wonders if he should even mention this to Dan; it seems like it might be worse for him to know the fans seem to think this way, after all. Inevitably though, Phil breaks, not able to think up a good enough lie. 

With some reluctance, he scrolls down to the comment, and waits for Dan to read it, chewing his lip. 

“Oh,” Dan says in a strange voice, sitting upright. “That’s... I thought it was gonna be like ‘gay emo dicks’ or something.” 

Phil laughs a little, but it’s a hollow, unconvincing sound. “You know that... that’s not true, right?” 

Dan looks at him, something small and fearful hidden deep in the recesses of his eyes. “Yeah.”

He doesn’t sound very convinced, and it worries Phil immensely. “You’re my whole world, Dan.” Phil tells him with complete sincerity; Dan looks away, obviously embarrassed by the loaded emotion. “I know it sounds melodramatic. But you are. You’re my best friend, my favourite person in the world. I love you so much it’s crazy.”

There’s a choke to Dan’s voice when he next speaks. “Yeah,” he says again, sniffing. “I dunno where they get their weird ideas, tbh.”

Phil pushes his laptop off his knee, reaching for Dan and pulling him in. He holds him tight, pressing firm kisses into his soft curls. “I’m sorry if it ever comes off that way.” Phil tells him, voice a whisper of itself. “I’m sorry if I’ve ever made you feel that I might not... love you as much.”

Dan shakes his head. “Don’t be stupid.” He pulls away a little, looking up into Phil’s eyes, his smile watery. “I know how much you love me, you sap.”

Phil surveys him carefully, scanning his face for signs of a lie. Eventually a smirk creeps onto his lips, and Dan zeroes in on it, confused. 

“Well,” Phil purrs, leaning forwards until their lips brush. “If you ever need a reminder...” 

Dan snorts with laughter, trying to wriggle free of his grip. A few kisses later, however, he seems to give in.  

[avi-stella]

Service With A Smile | Zen/Hyun Ryu x Reader

Rating: General Word Count: 1,034 Genre: Fluff Summary: Zen becomes a regular customer at the maid café you work at. Author's Comment: I don't know if anybody remembers [this one lazy imagine of mine], but I decided to write out a full proper fic for it. Peace.

A new maid café had just opened up near Zen's apartment. Needless to say, the actor was very excited to try it out. As much as possible, Zen tried to avoid cafés, afraid that all the sweets would end up against his favour and ruin his figure, but this was different. It was a maid café! How could the young man possibly pass up the opportunity? Of course, he'd never fully admit his absolute interest in maid outfits to other people, but it wasn't like he was ashamed of it. Maybe the sweets were unhealthy, but his interest as a guy was completely and totally healthy, he reasoned.

It felt a bit awkward for Zen to enter the café by himself, especially after seeing how it were mostly couples or females who went in and out the door. Maybe the other males were just too shy and embarrassed to enter by themselves? Zen hummed thoughtfully to himself. Maybe he should have invited somebody else to come with him. ...No, no. Then they'd just end up teasing him non-stop.

Steeling himself, the young man slowly opened the door and stepped inside. The café had a very friendly and light atmosphere, and Zen would have felt quite relaxed if his heart wasn't hammering against his chest at the sight of maid outfits left and right. The moment you heard the doorbell chime, you flashed the male a smile.

"Welcome, Master!" You greeted him cheerfully, and Zen had to place a hand over his heart. This might just be too much for him. You looked over the young man, concerned, and hesitantly reached out to him. "Um, a-are you alright?"

Zen nodded. "Yeah," he breathed out. "Just... Nothing, it's fine. I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine."

The actor cringed at how unconvincing he sounded, and he could tell from the way your eyebrows knitted together that you didn't quite believe him. Nevertheless, you made an effort to put a smile back on your face and resumed your job. It seemed as though he was by himself, so you led him to a small single table.

"I'll be your server for today," you announced as soon as the young man was sitting comfortably, and you introduced yourself. The corners of Zen's lips curved into a smile as he repeated your name, and you had to pause for a moment to admire the way it sounded when he said it. "May I get you anything to drink?"

"Just water," Zen answered, flashing you a wink. It wasn't his intention to be flirty, but damn, he needed to do something with his energy, otherwise he'd just be left stumbling about like a fool.

You gave a curt nod, and turned on your heel to retrieve a glass for him. While he waited, Zen looked through the menu, finding that a lot of them appealed to him. It'd be bad for his figure and his wallet if he ate all of them at once, plus... The actor's eyes flickered over to where you were in the room. He watched you attentively, noting the cheerful smile on your face and how you glided about the café. You were cute, Zen had to admit. In his eyes, you were the cutest maid there, and he figured he could come back again another time to try out a new sweet, giving him an excuse to see you again.

Needless to say, Zen had become a regular customer soon after. Even the manager knew him by now. As always, Zen was greeted and was guided over to his usual seat by another maid; however, she had left pretty quickly, and you then took her place. "Welcome back, Master!" You chirped, the ever pleasant smile on your lips still present.

The two of you had gotten quite close in the time Zen frequented his visits, always asking for you. Pretty much everyone knew by now that you were the only one Zen would be interested in being served by, and it almost became a running gag. However, despite all that, Zen couldn't find it in himself to ask for your number or to ask you out on a date, and you couldn't do it either. At least, not while you were working; it just seemed inappropriate, somehow, but the two of you always missed each other whenever you were off shift.

"And what would you like for today?" You asked, ready to note down his order.

Zen gave his order of a small cake, and you nodded. As soon as Zen's order was ready, you were about to bring it to him but stopped for a moment, an idea forming in your head. "Hey, do you mind if I use the chocolate sauce for a moment?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," your co-worker replied absentmindedly, lazily waving their hand and gesturing for you to do whatever you wanted. You offered a quick word of thanks, taking the chocolate sauce and fiddling around with the plate.

You walked back to where Zen was waiting, and the two of you exchanged smiles. The actor's eyes never left your face as you set his order down in front of him. "I hope you enjoy, Master."

Embarrassed, you quickly turn on your heel and trot away. Zen watched your retreating figure before turning his attention to his food, and his eyes widen the slightest bit at what greets him. On his plate, carefully written out with chocolate sauce, was a set of numbers which Zen could only assume was your phone number. You watched the actor from afar, a small giggle slipping past your lips as he scrambled to take out his phone, almost dropping it from his excited haste. He took a quick picture with his phone of his order, a wide grin and faint blush on his face before taking a bite of the cake.

Time passed by, and you were on your break in the staff room when your phone vibrated with a new text message. The number wasn't saved in your contacts, but you knew right away who it belonged to, a selfie of a certain white-haired male attached with a short text included: "I liked the chocolate sauce!♥"

[• Commissions •] Masterlists: Imagines | Oneshots | MysMe Oneshots | Multi-part/Series | NSFW Oneshots | Browse by Tags

[verdes-random-reviews]

Doctor Who Review: Season 18 (1980-1981)

It was with trepidation that I began this season, and it is for two very simple reasons that this review took so long to come out. The first is that out of every Doctor I’ve seen thus far, Tom Baker is easily my favourite, and I didn’t want to be done with him. The other reason was less positive, as I had heard bad things about season 18. So how is Tom’s final season as the Doctor? And are the things people say about it true? Without further ado, let’s take a look at Doctor Who, season 18.

The Leisure Hive

An interesting story. The acting is solid throughout, the story does an excellent job at keeping you on your toes, and, unlike many Doctor Who stories, actually does a good job at making the conclusion seem hopeless for the Doctor and Romana. The foamasi are adorable, the argolins look interesting, and the sets and models are all well made. So why does this story fail? Because it doesn’t make a lick of sense. David Fisher, the writer of this story, makes no attempt to explain exactly what is going on with the tachyon generator or whatever the MacGuffin of this serial was called, and as such it is incredibly difficult to understand the plot. The characters are all fairly bland and their motivations make no sense. Nor does it make any sense why the antagonist has any supporters in the first place. There are several obnoxiously long shots that just don’t need to be there, including three reuses of the same incredibly boring shot of the shuttle docking, and K9 is lazily written out of the story. There is also some rather grating sound design. Overall it’s a bit of a mess, but at least it’s somewhat entertaining. 5/10

Meglos

This story was just boring. The acting was solid for the most part, but the marauders and Lexa were incredibly unconvincing. Tom Baker once again does an excellent job at portraying two different characters, but unfortunately Meglos, despite his brilliantly maniacal nature, was an incredibly boring character, due to refusing to explain his motivations even when asked. His abilities were also not explained, which was incredibly lazy. The costumes were terrible, but the models and sets were excellent, if some were somewhat unimaginative. Though some parts of the models were clearly reused from The Creature from the Pit. The supporting characters were paper thin, making them a bore to watch. Romana was written like an idiot in this story, and goes wandering off for an unsatisfactorily explained reason, which predictably puts her in danger. There was some good continuity this story with the Doctor and Romana attempting to mend K9 after he was damaged by water in The Leisure Hive, but, though they succeed, he is once again written out of the story due to “low battery” which was again lazy. The subplot of the conflict between the Savants and the Deons is not resolved in a satisfactory manner, and essentially nothing happens for the entirety of the first episode. Credit where credit is due, the way the story is resolved is quite ingenious, and makes excellent use of the story’s assets. Overall an incredibly underwhelming story. 3/10

Full Circle

A very intriguing story that really picks up after the slog that is the first episode. The acting is very hit or miss when it comes to the supporting cast, especially with the outlaws. Tom Baker’s performance, however, is especially noteworthy in this story, even more so than usual. Conversely, Romana was fairly useless and Lalla Ward’s acting in later episodes leaves something to be desired. One thing that can be said for Romana, however, is that the threat of her looming departure from the TARDIS is incredibly emotional and acted brilliantly by Lalla Ward. The costumes were fairly bland and unimaginative, but the sets and models were decent. The design of the spiders was laughable, even when compared to earlier stories. There were some decent effects, but for the most part they were nothing special. There were some particularly brilliant shots and choices of background music, which is not usually something one notices in classic Who. This story also has some very well done cliffhangers. The story itself was intelligently written and wrapped up everything well, though it does take a little while longer for the characters to work it out than the audience, which is slightly aggravating. As well as this, it is not explained what exactly the spiders do to Romana, or why that links her to the marshmen, which was annoying. The concept of e-space is intriguing and I look forward to exploring it more in future. Overall this is a solid story, and I give it 7/10.

State of Decay

Another intriguing story with a satisfying conclusion. The acting was, for the most part, excellent, with some moments that were just incredibly over the top. Matthew Waterhouse and Orkon, in particular, had some incredibly unconvincing dialogue and acting. While I praised Romana in the last story, in this she was fairly out of character and had some moments of poor acting. The costumes were absolutely fantastic, just stunningly well-made, and the sets were mostly decent, if unimaginative, with a couple of noteworthy exceptions, such as the throne room. The make-up for the antagonists was also fairly sinister and did a good job at making them seem threatening. There were some great location shots too, though very few, and the score for this episode was simply fantastic. The practical effects for the last scene with the Great One were also very good. The story itself was good, if predictable, and almost everything was wrapped up well. However, some things, such as what exactly “the wasting” was, were left unexplained. Something the story does well, however, as with The Leisure Hive, is manage to create a real sense of danger for the characters, which Doctor Who rarely achieves. I felt certain that one character in particular was going to die. The story is also particularly good at using all of its assets, including the TARDIS and K9, which is refreshing to see. As a minor nitpick, the fight scenes were terrible, even by Doctor Who’s standards. Overall this was a solid story with a decent conclusion, and I give it a 7/10.

Warriors’ Gate

A case of great concept but poor execution. To start with the positives, the sets were great, Biroc and Rorvik were acted decently, and the model for the spaceship was somewhat interesting. Lalla Ward was on fine form in this story, especially in the first episode. The ideas the story implemented, such as time winds, time sensitives and the mirror world were excellent, but not carried out to their fullest extent. The atmosphere was appropriately bleak and sinister, and there were some truly disturbing scenes. Unfortunately, there is so much filler in this story that it is just a chore to watch, particularly part three, and the acting for most of the supporting characters was terrible. The supporting cast also served essentially no function to the story, and absolutely all of the characters were paper thin. The costumes were unimaginative and boring, save for the gundan robots, and the design of the tharils was laughable. And while I’ve no doubt the ending of the story was meant to be emotional, I felt nothing, due to it being fairly poorly acted and written. Overall a thoroughly underwhelming story. 5/10

The Keeper of Traken

While a fairly good story with a satisfying cliffhanger ending, my enjoyment of it was spoiled somewhat by the fact that I already knew most of what was going on, and how the story would end. The main strength of the episode comes from the plotline itself, which was incredibly well thought out. This was helped by the fact that the acting of most of the characters was good, and in some cases great. Unfortunately, one of the major characters, Cassia, had some moments of terrible acting. Thankfully, Tom Baker’s performance as the Doctor was, as usual excellent. Surprisingly, I would also say the same of Matthew Waterhouse’s Adric, and I would go so far as to say that he was adorable in the first episode. The Keeper of Traken, and Tremas were also great, and I enjoyed Nyssa immensely. But by far and away the star of this story was “Melkur,” who was an incredibly intimidating presence as a voice, and supremely unsettling and mad when we finally see him in person. The visual design of the story was also commendable, the costumes were great, especially the antagonist played by Geoffrey Beevers, and the design of the Melkur statue was also excellent. The sets, too, were great, particularly the vault containing the source. Some of the scenes, however, were poorly directed, particularly when they rely solely on the actors to show that the area was shaking, which just ended up looking silly. There was only one time in the story that it even remotely worked. Overall this was a good story and I give it a 7.5/10.

Logopolis

Another good story. Let’s get some of the negatives out of the way first. First of all, the concept of the Watcher does not make any sense given how completely unexplained it is. Secondly, Adric, Tegan and Nyssa were virtual non-entities in this story. They served a purpose to the plot, but their acting was totally bland and wooden that they left no impression on me. In contrast, Anthony Ainley’s Master was incredibly overacted, with some ridiculous facial expressions and consistent evil laughter when he was supposed to be inconspicuous. I really hope he improves in future. The plot was incredibly meandering and had a large amount of filler, especially in the first two episodes, which consisted of Tegan running down corridors, TARDISes materialising and dematerialising for no apparent reason, and a lot of measuring. As well as this, some scenes were scored with unfitting music. On the plus side, the Monitor was very well acted, the costumes were excellent, and the practical effects were brilliant. It was also nice to see a new room in the TARDIS, which looked great. The planet Logopolis was somewhat boring, but decently realised. The story also introduced some really interesting concepts, specifically the logopolitans’ tonal mathematics, but took the concept too far, in my opinion. Which brings us to the story itself. The story was, in execution, excellent. It was interesting, exciting, complex, and had a real sense of danger and foreboding to it that Doctor Who usually doesn’t. The atmosphere, in particular, was incredibly bleak and hopeless all the way through, which was perfect. Unfortunately, while it was interesting, the story told was quite frankly completely ridiculous and unbelievable, and did something, in my opinion, that sci-fi should never do. While this certainly brings the story down, the positives of it mostly outweigh the negatives. Therefore I give this story a 7.5/10.

While this is certainly not a bad season, it is a disappointing one. In any other circumstance I would be fine with it, but as an end to a Doctor’s era, it’s less than ideal. The rather bleak atmosphere and stories of decay that seemed to permeate the season were thematically and narratively excellent, so I can’t fault them, but unfortunately the stories do little to back this up, ranging from poor to just good. There were no real stand-outs this season and it was mostly just an underwhelming, forgettable end to a great Doctor. As well as this, the actors, specifically Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, also seemed to lose much of their spark this season, barring some stand-out moments, and Romana’s character was inconsistently written. The introduction of Adric was not as bad as I was expecting, given his reputation, but he doesn’t hold a candle to many past companions and fails to stand out. The same can be said of Tegan and Nyssa, but that’s understandable, as they have far less time to prove themselves compared to other characters. Overall this was a decent season, but underwhelming, and I give it a 6.5/10.

If I were to rank the stories, it would be:

7. Meglos 6. Warriors’ Gate 5. The Leisure Hive 4. State of Decay 3. Full Circle 2. Logopolis 1. The Keeper of Traken

The Leisure Hive is placed higher than Warriors’ Gate due to the latter’s meandering plot and poor acting. Full Circle and State of Decay are nearly equal, but Tom Baker’s performance in Full Circle pushes it up for me.

Before moving on to season 19, I think I’ll do an overall review of the Tom Baker era, with a top ten best and worst stories, so look forward to that some time in future.

[eddiejpoplar]

By Design: 2019 Bentley Continental GT

The news release on the Bentley Motors website says “The long wheelbase and short nose lend the car a sense of dynamism, even when viewed at a standstill.” If you believe that, you’re a great deal more gullible than you should be. It’s going to be a good long while before the long hood and tight passenger compartment ceases to be the most desirable look for front-engine performance cars. Look at the last Packard V-12 roadster from 1939, and you know it’s powerful and fast with no need for a vulgar chrome insignia on its flanks telling you how many cylinders are under the hood.

Apart from the copywriter’s unconvincing hyperbole, this is an extremely attractive little coupe. Or at least seemingly so, because there’s nothing little about any German-era Bentley Continental. They’re big cars, and even the least powerful of any built since Volkswagen AG took over is an impressively fast, capable conveyance for four people who will be transported in both comfort and style. But because of that stumpy front end and the giant 22-inch wheels on this new Continental, you get the sense of a tight, compact coupe—more Porsche than Packard. Which, when you think about it, is not a bad thing. Both P-cars are worthy of emulation, and Bentley’s native history is validation enough for anything the firm might do today, whether it conforms to our proportional preconceptions or not.

I find the rather wide (as compared to all the finer trim pieces on the car) chrome band on the side to be both inappropriate and poorly executed, skewed off-datum as it is. But that’s the only part of the styling that clashes with the Bentley tradition of understated quality. From Vanden Plas bodies of the Cricklewood cars in the ’20s to coachbuilt bodies of the first Rolls-Royce Bentleys, there has always been some reserve in shapes and detailing of cars carrying Walter Owen’s name. I am particularly pleased by the subtle undercuts beneath each important styling line. It works well everywhere, but it’s especially effective on the rear fender indication.

What is unequivocally superior about Bentley design today is the interior work. The execution of every single bit of wood, leather, metal, and plastic is faultless in the current generation. Bentley volumes are many times higher than they ever were in the era of the British Empire on which the sun never set. So it is not astonishing that buyers outside the land of rising damp might want to see bright orange paint on their Bentaygas and Flying Spurs. That each and every model can be customized to buyers’ exact requirements means every potential Bentley owner can be assured of personal satisfaction as well as astonishing performance and unquestioned prestige. Even if they don’t really look like they’re going fast “when viewed at a standstill.”

1. It takes a lot of confidence in your precision manufacturing capability to position the gas cap door to cut through complex surfaces. Nice work.

2. The now-traditional small outer lamp is nicely placed on the front of the outer fender surface in such a way as to generate a profile line perfectly recalling the shape of “Olga,” the prototype R-Type Continental from 1951.

3. A complex inner lamp generates an inner bulge that fades away in a short distance, again a sensitive, respectful evocation of a long-term Bentley morphology.

4. The hood centerline peak is slightly more prominent than aesthetically desirable. A flatter line would have been better.

5. Tradition, modernity, evocation of racing Bentleys in the ’20s—the grille is everything it should be on a 21st century Bentley, including the centerline rod.

6. If there is anything a bit questionable on the front end, it would be these angled arms, seemingly more at home on an Italian supercar than on a historically inspired design.

7. The huge corner openings are not philosophically out of place, but you wonder about their gigantic size.

8. Another almost-subliminal indication of the size of the Continental is its door handles, too low on the body side for a small coupe, ergonomically correct for this one.

9. The bottom of the sill droops just a bit before the rear wheel, making the rising chrome strip and the suggestion of a wedge form even more incongruous.

1. The most interesting aspect of the Continental’s body surfaces is the indentation below each styling line, most notably the rear fender profile line.

2. The mirrors are enormous, thus making the whole ensemble look like a small, nimble coupe. It isn’t. It’s a big car—very fast but nothing like a Lotus.

3. The relatively short hood also makes the car look smaller in photographs than it is, and it’s antithetical to the recent Mercedes-Maybach’s hood, which seems twice this long.

4. The wheel design is interesting in that the bright rim is discontinuous, each of five segments starting with a blunt end that doesn’t touch the rim.

5. After looping toward the center, the bright strip becomes part of the rim, tapering to this sharp point just before the next segment.

6. There should be symmetrically opposite wheels on each side of the car, but there are not. This tightest bend of each spoke segment should point forward and not back as it does on the right side of the car. Driver’s side wins here.

7. The huge open area of this 22-inch wheel provides a great view of the enormous brake discs.

8. This hokey chrome bit with its ostentatious cylinder-count announcement suggests the German owners have no comprehension of traditional British understatement. Too bad.

9. The rear of the V-section chrome strip is crimped flat to cross the flat flange around the wheel opening.

10. This crisp line derived from the outer end of the exhaust outlet is comprehensible.

11. This parallel crisp line above the trim strip, derived from no other feature, is not.

1. Camera lens distortion, sure. But these mirrors are really, really big. Good for safety but not for scale.

2. This little separator allows the main door glass to go down. The same constraint existed on the R-Type long ago.

3. Bentley has legitimate access to the Rolls-Royce air-conditioning outlets as seen here. Notice how elegantly the chrome trim beneath the wood aligns with the outlet rib.

4. Almost a novelty in this age, the steering wheel is simply round, with no humps, bumps, or surface-material changes. On the other hand, the hub is definitely off-center. But it looks good and looks like it would feel good.

5. Wood use is discreet and quite welcome.

6. In the age of giant Tesla tablets, the GPS screen seems like a transplanted smartphone face.

7. The organ stop A/C flow controls are another Rolls-Royce carryover idea.

8. These A-pillars are really excessive, blocking far too much view. Bentley should be able to engineer something as strong but not as wide.

9. The center console seems a little too traditional—cluttered and confusing.

10. The “Chairman Mao” diamond quilting is unpleasant and looks cheap to me, though I know that there’s a lot of skilled work that goes into making the seat covers and door panels.

11. These round speaker covers could be made less obtrusive, but perhaps the metal presentation is considered more upscale.

12. This small control panel looks like a mistake. It hangs below the rest of the trim piece, which is elegantly smooth on the cockpit’s passenger side.

1. In this view you get an even more notable sense of the atypical undercut fender profile line.

2. The roof profile line is emphasized by an undercut down to the transverse roof panel.

3. Although the backlight surface is relatively large, the blackout panels painted on the inner surface reduce the transparency to about half the total glass panel area. It’s odd but not uncommon these days.

4. There is a big drop between this spoiler edge and the tapering roof, another element of the surface undercuts prevalent on this coupe.

5. The trunklid is really small, giving the impression that loading baggage will be an unpleasant chore. Presumably even golf bags will fit, pointing out the overall apparent size discrepancy.

6. The very fine chrome trim around the taillights is nicely proportioned …

7. … as is the slightly thicker license recess trim.

8. … whereas the horizontal exhaust outlets are symmetrical, a much nicer shape.

9. Notice the lamp outline sags a bit as compared to the upper profile, which is very pure …

10. The two flat sections of the chrome strip really should have been left off. The main thrust of the V-section trim pieces would have been preserved without breaking up the wheel opening.

11. In publicity pictures, the B at the wheel hub is always presented as though it were on a weighted center, such as a Rolls-Royce or a car sporting dubs. Let it go.

IFTTT

[jonathanbelloblog]

By Design: 2019 Bentley Continental GT

The news release on the Bentley Motors website says “The long wheelbase and short nose lend the car a sense of dynamism, even when viewed at a standstill.” If you believe that, you’re a great deal more gullible than you should be. It’s going to be a good long while before the long hood and tight passenger compartment ceases to be the most desirable look for front-engine performance cars. Look at the last Packard V-12 roadster from 1939, and you know it’s powerful and fast with no need for a vulgar chrome insignia on its flanks telling you how many cylinders are under the hood.

Apart from the copywriter’s unconvincing hyperbole, this is an extremely attractive little coupe. Or at least seemingly so, because there’s nothing little about any German-era Bentley Continental. They’re big cars, and even the least powerful of any built since Volkswagen AG took over is an impressively fast, capable conveyance for four people who will be transported in both comfort and style. But because of that stumpy front end and the giant 22-inch wheels on this new Continental, you get the sense of a tight, compact coupe—more Porsche than Packard. Which, when you think about it, is not a bad thing. Both P-cars are worthy of emulation, and Bentley’s native history is validation enough for anything the firm might do today, whether it conforms to our proportional preconceptions or not.

I find the rather wide (as compared to all the finer trim pieces on the car) chrome band on the side to be both inappropriate and poorly executed, skewed off-datum as it is. But that’s the only part of the styling that clashes with the Bentley tradition of understated quality. From Vanden Plas bodies of the Cricklewood cars in the ’20s to coachbuilt bodies of the first Rolls-Royce Bentleys, there has always been some reserve in shapes and detailing of cars carrying Walter Owen’s name. I am particularly pleased by the subtle undercuts beneath each important styling line. It works well everywhere, but it’s especially effective on the rear fender indication.

What is unequivocally superior about Bentley design today is the interior work. The execution of every single bit of wood, leather, metal, and plastic is faultless in the current generation. Bentley volumes are many times higher than they ever were in the era of the British Empire on which the sun never set. So it is not astonishing that buyers outside the land of rising damp might want to see bright orange paint on their Bentaygas and Flying Spurs. That each and every model can be customized to buyers’ exact requirements means every potential Bentley owner can be assured of personal satisfaction as well as astonishing performance and unquestioned prestige. Even if they don’t really look like they’re going fast “when viewed at a standstill.”

1. It takes a lot of confidence in your precision manufacturing capability to position the gas cap door to cut through complex surfaces. Nice work.

2. The now-traditional small outer lamp is nicely placed on the front of the outer fender surface in such a way as to generate a profile line perfectly recalling the shape of “Olga,” the prototype R-Type Continental from 1951.

3. A complex inner lamp generates an inner bulge that fades away in a short distance, again a sensitive, respectful evocation of a long-term Bentley morphology.

4. The hood centerline peak is slightly more prominent than aesthetically desirable. A flatter line would have been better.

5. Tradition, modernity, evocation of racing Bentleys in the ’20s—the grille is everything it should be on a 21st century Bentley, including the centerline rod.

6. If there is anything a bit questionable on the front end, it would be these angled arms, seemingly more at home on an Italian supercar than on a historically inspired design.

7. The huge corner openings are not philosophically out of place, but you wonder about their gigantic size.

8. Another almost-subliminal indication of the size of the Continental is its door handles, too low on the body side for a small coupe, ergonomically correct for this one.

9. The bottom of the sill droops just a bit before the rear wheel, making the rising chrome strip and the suggestion of a wedge form even more incongruous.

1. The most interesting aspect of the Continental’s body surfaces is the indentation below each styling line, most notably the rear fender profile line.

2. The mirrors are enormous, thus making the whole ensemble look like a small, nimble coupe. It isn’t. It’s a big car—very fast but nothing like a Lotus.

3. The relatively short hood also makes the car look smaller in photographs than it is, and it’s antithetical to the recent Mercedes-Maybach’s hood, which seems twice this long.

4. The wheel design is interesting in that the bright rim is discontinuous, each of five segments starting with a blunt end that doesn’t touch the rim.

5. After looping toward the center, the bright strip becomes part of the rim, tapering to this sharp point just before the next segment.

6. There should be symmetrically opposite wheels on each side of the car, but there are not. This tightest bend of each spoke segment should point forward and not back as it does on the right side of the car. Driver’s side wins here.

7. The huge open area of this 22-inch wheel provides a great view of the enormous brake discs.

8. This hokey chrome bit with its ostentatious cylinder-count announcement suggests the German owners have no comprehension of traditional British understatement. Too bad.

9. The rear of the V-section chrome strip is crimped flat to cross the flat flange around the wheel opening.

10. This crisp line derived from the outer end of the exhaust outlet is comprehensible.

11. This parallel crisp line above the trim strip, derived from no other feature, is not.

1. Camera lens distortion, sure. But these mirrors are really, really big. Good for safety but not for scale.

2. This little separator allows the main door glass to go down. The same constraint existed on the R-Type long ago.

3. Bentley has legitimate access to the Rolls-Royce air-conditioning outlets as seen here. Notice how elegantly the chrome trim beneath the wood aligns with the outlet rib.

4. Almost a novelty in this age, the steering wheel is simply round, with no humps, bumps, or surface-material changes. On the other hand, the hub is definitely off-center. But it looks good and looks like it would feel good.

5. Wood use is discreet and quite welcome.

6. In the age of giant Tesla tablets, the GPS screen seems like a transplanted smartphone face.

7. The organ stop A/C flow controls are another Rolls-Royce carryover idea.

8. These A-pillars are really excessive, blocking far too much view. Bentley should be able to engineer something as strong but not as wide.

9. The center console seems a little too traditional—cluttered and confusing.

10. The “Chairman Mao” diamond quilting is unpleasant and looks cheap to me, though I know that there’s a lot of skilled work that goes into making the seat covers and door panels.

11. These round speaker covers could be made less obtrusive, but perhaps the metal presentation is considered more upscale.

12. This small control panel looks like a mistake. It hangs below the rest of the trim piece, which is elegantly smooth on the cockpit’s passenger side.

1. In this view you get an even more notable sense of the atypical undercut fender profile line.

2. The roof profile line is emphasized by an undercut down to the transverse roof panel.

3. Although the backlight surface is relatively large, the blackout panels painted on the inner surface reduce the transparency to about half the total glass panel area. It’s odd but not uncommon these days.

4. There is a big drop between this spoiler edge and the tapering roof, another element of the surface undercuts prevalent on this coupe.

5. The trunklid is really small, giving the impression that loading baggage will be an unpleasant chore. Presumably even golf bags will fit, pointing out the overall apparent size discrepancy.

6. The very fine chrome trim around the taillights is nicely proportioned …

7. … as is the slightly thicker license recess trim.

8. … whereas the horizontal exhaust outlets are symmetrical, a much nicer shape.

9. Notice the lamp outline sags a bit as compared to the upper profile, which is very pure …

10. The two flat sections of the chrome strip really should have been left off. The main thrust of the V-section trim pieces would have been preserved without breaking up the wheel opening.

11. In publicity pictures, the B at the wheel hub is always presented as though it were on a weighted center, such as a Rolls-Royce or a car sporting dubs. Let it go.

IFTTT

[bitchytheoristlady-blog]

Listed here's Why Men Are Cleaning One Finger nail This Oct.

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