#and that was just in the very first segment i looked at /facepalm

[just-incorrect-beastars]

Pina and Louis are looking for an intermission at the last minute during the show.

Bill: Calm down, guys. Read this text I've just found.

Louis, reading: Every morning in the wild, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in the wild, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.

Pina: That sounds good.

Bill: I could go out and recite it.

Pina: Are you sure you remember it?

Bill: By heart. What does it take? Every morning, the gazelle, the lion, better be running. I'm going.

Bill goes on scene and gets an applause.

Bill: Every morning... (He looks around nervously before asking behind the scenes) what was the place again?

Pina: THE WILD!

Louis: What the fuck! The very first thing!

Bill: Every morning in the wild... a gazelle dies.

(The audience gasps in shock.)

Louis: No, it wakes up!

Bill: A gazelle wakes up... already dead. Because it didn't eat very well the day before, who knows what can happen... anyway, it wakes up dead. And so there's the first segment that ends because later... there's the second one, linked to the first if I remember well.

(Louis and Pina can be heard facepalming behind the scenes.)

Bill: So, every morning in the wild, a lion wakes up.

Pina, encouragingly: Yes! Yes!

Bill: As soon as it wakes, it starts running.

Louis: Oh no...

Bill: To avoid ending up like the gazelle... but then it sees the gazelle laying there dead and says "Why am I running? The gazelle is already here." And so it gives him a couple of bites just to be sure.

Louis: Why did we let him do this? Why?

Bill: And then from afar it sees the hyena and the jackal... you know like that guy Miguno and that other guy...

Durham, from the audience: I'm a coyote, you doofus!

Bill: And they ask "Lion, aren't we running today? We have trained the whole week, I even bought the new tracksuit." Nothing. Anyway, the moral... there is a moral... it doesn't matter whether you're an armadillo or a peacock, what matters is that if you die, you better tell me in advance.

Long but funny submission!!!

[katzensilber]

10 March 2022

The only picture I have today is this adorable sentence from Ukrainian Duolingo. It’s late and I’m tired. But I’ve had such a multilingual day... I'm happy 🥰

🇩🇪 Listened to my morning news podcast in German

🇩🇰 Corrected a Danish-to-English translation at work in which the translator had made a lot of mistakes, but I wasn’t too annoyed, because it meant I got to read a bunch of Danish

🇮🇹 Read two more sections of L’amica geniale (I’ve reached the one-third mark!) and played guitar and sang a couple of the Italian songs I know

🇫🇷 Read three more sections of Et si c’était vrai

🇺🇦 Reviewed basic Ukrainian sentences

🇵🇹 Did Assimil Portuguese lesson 15 and reviewed the past two weeks of audio (i.e. all lessons so far)

I also went for a run to the local "outdoor gym" during my lunch break, briefly worked out on the equipment there, and ran home again. My brain and body are both exhausted now... it's time for bed. Good night friends 💕

[delimeful]

you cant go back (2)

warnings: fear, miscommunication, guilt, mentions of theoretical gore/injury, dehumanization, referring to a person as 'it', general angst

-

For the fourth day in a row, Lady Macbeth had spurned him.

Roman frowned, pulling the strap of his messenger bag over his head and tossing it over the back of a kitchen chair.

Lady was old, smug, and occasionally very cranky, but she wasn’t deaf like Ophelia-- she always came prancing over once she heard his keys rattling in the lock, delighted at the opportunity to smear cat hair all over his pants and get her claws stuck in his shoelaces.

Yet here he stood, catless.

For the past few days, too, she hadn’t been in the house at all when he got home. He’d been downright worried that first day, uneasy until she strolled back in at dusk.

They had an expansive backyard that their younger cats took delight in frolicking in, but their second-oldest cat was a rare visitor to the outdoors. Lady was first and foremost a homebody, and she preferred a warm body to sit on. Their squishy heat-generating human bodies were the only reason she hadn’t assassinated them all in their sleep by now, according to--

Roman cut the thought off sharply, feeling familiar grief pit up in his throat. He shook his head, the motion harsh enough to make his neck twinge. There was no time for standing about and pondering! He had a cat to locate!

A determined jut to his chin, he grabbed what supplies he would need for this perilous journey-- cat treats, a catnip toy, even a tempting cardboard box-- and strode confidently out the backdoor.

For the next half-hour, he wandered around the acres of their property, greeting each of the goats and chickens by name as he checked all the most common cat hidey-holes.

He’d almost given up by the time he stumbled across the old barn, pant legs covered in burrs and the beginnings of a sunburn across the back of his neck. Whatever delightful cat secrets Lady was so busy with, surely he could discover them when it wasn’t the middle of summer.

Just before he could turn around, though, he noticed that one of the doors was just slightly ajar.

Roman felt his brow gradually scrunch up the longer he stared at it. It had been locked up after the last of the old supplies had been moved from it, hadn’t it? The last big storm had proved it wasn’t weather-worthy, his dad had plans to take it apart for timber, ones that had seemingly been forgotten after… afterwards.

Petty inconveniences of getting there forgotten, Roman crept closer on light feet, grip tight on the catnip mouse in his hand. The wind died down at an eerily perfect moment, and he strained to hear beyond those old wooden walls.

Not everything is a grand conspiracy, a voice in his head reminded him, sounding suspiciously similar to Specs, it could simply be someone without housing that took the opportunity for shelter provided by the abandoned barn.

Roman sidled halfway through the ajar door, and froze at the sight of an upright humanoid figure only a few meters away. Something about it wasn't right, instantly putting him on edge. He kept staring, waiting for his eyes to adjust.

(“I’m telling you, these lights were strange even by my standards! Almost… alien.” An unsettling grin that was a beat late.)

The figure’s head was dropped forward, but he could tell even from this distance that it wasn’t human, with shiny purple-grey segmented skin and legs with knees facing the wrong way. It had spiky shoulder joints, but its arms seemed to be tucked behind it.

(Roman had shoved him off the couch, sour about being taken in by one of his tales, and he hadn’t brought it up again.)

Most alarming of all, there were four long, spindly limbs stretched out into the air behind it, seemingly spawning from its back. The legs were spider-like in nature, but shiny instead of hairy, and each one ended in a sharp point. As he watched, he could see the limbs shifting slowly, pairs of them lifting and falling in odd synchrony with the creature’s slow breathing.

(Roman had been freaked out, and his brother had dropped the subject. He should’ve asked, he should have known something was wrong--)

“Miaow.” A plaintive voice called, nearly startling Roman out of his skin.

He tore his gaze away from the (alien) mystery intruder, and felt his jaw drop as he took in Lady Macbeth’s current position. Loafing on the feet of an insidious intruder?!

For shame, he mouthed silently at her.

Lady blinked slowly and continued to purr, unbothered by his accusatory stare. One of those spider limbs shifted again, making Roman swallow nervously. He really didn’t want to see what sort of automatic reaction an extraterrestrial’s stabby-arms would have to finding a cat in its space.

He waved the catnip mouse enticingly. Lady gave him the bland look of a cat who had preferred those expensive feather toys for as long as he had known her. Roman resisted the urge to facepalm.

The insanely dangerous method it was, then.

Putting all his sneaking skills to use, he sidled further into the barn, dropping into a crouch and beginning to creep across the dirt floor as slowly as possible. Each step was carefully placed, almost entirely silent, and whenever those freaky appendages twitched, he froze in place for a full thirty seconds.

The alien’s head remained lax (asleep?) as he drew closer, but Lady refused to entertain his desperate motions for her to leave her ill-chosen bed. At this rate, he’d have to pick her up off of it, and hope that she didn’t complain too much on the way out.

He shifted his weight forwards, and suddenly all four of the arms were still, almost taut in the air. Only a couple feet away, the alien’s head bobbed slightly. His time was up.

Clenching his teeth, Roman made a gamble.

He tossed the little mouse toy directly at the space above the alien’s head and dove for Lady.

There was a whistle, like a whip or an arrow sliding through the air, and Roman made the mistake of glancing up as soon as he had his hands securely around Lady’s body.

All four of the spider limbs had jabbed into the same point, skewering the toy from several different angles. The alien was certainly awake now, and it had four times as many eyes as any one person could reasonably need. Between one heartbeat and the next, those huge dark irises went from staring at the poor mutilated toy to staring at Roman.

Terror shot through him and he gave up on subtlety, throwing himself back as hard as he could and hoping that he made it out of range.

He landed on his back with a whomp that knocked the wind out of him, and flinched as that terrifying whistling sound split the air again, ending in a muted thump. He was so wired with adrenaline that he couldn’t tell if he’d been hit or not. Locked in his arms, Lady writhed and complained loudly.

“Not going anywhere,” Roman wheezed, “you little fiend, con-- consorting with the enemy.”

There were several more whistle-thumps, which was either very good or very bad for him. He rolled to his side, pushing himself up on an elbow and taking stock of himself, braced for the worst.

The alien was still standing there against the central support beam of the barn. Half a foot from Roman’s leg, it's very sharp extra arms had left holes pierced in the hard-packed dirt of the barn’s floor.

“But no holes in me,” Roman cheered weakly, and then shifted Lady to the crook of one arm and flipped the alien off. “Nice try, Space Invader.”

The alien made a deep clicking rumble, but stopped trying to impale him. Instead, it moved to hold all those limbs high up in the air menacingly, ready to stab down at any point. The remains of the toy mouse sat near its feet, cotton innards spilling everywhere like a grim warning.

Roman got to his own feet, wincing at the feeling of Lady’s claws poking into his ribs as she attempted to kick her way to freedom. He took a moment to stare once he was back upright.

The alien’s skin plates had gone completely pitch-black, only the slightest hints of purple between the plates to prove that there’d ever been any color to it at all. Roman was abruptly glad that he hadn’t encountered it in the dark of night.

Its eyes were just as dark, with only the slightest difference in shades of black to indicate the difference between iris and sclera. Despite his artistic eye for color differences, even Roman couldn’t tell where its pupils were. If it even had pupils.

It also was still stuck in one place, despite its legs seeming totally operational. Roman slowly shuffled to the side of it, making sure to keep a few good steps clear of stabbing range, and found that it did in fact have normal arms and hands.

Well. Mostly normal. There were five fingers, but they were all way too long and ended in thick, claw-like points. He thought they also maybe had one or two too many joints.

More to the point, the alien couldn’t do anything with these arms because they were bound together at the wrists and tied tightly to the central support beam of the barn. It was stuck there, and going by the aggressive rumbling it was doing, it knew it.

Roman pulled out his phone and managed to take a shaky video of the alien, circling around it to both get a better angle and prompt it to threateningly twitch those back limbs some more. He knew his sci fi tropes, including the one where the alien mysteriously disappears the moment the plucky protagonist tries to tell anyone about the danger. He wasn’t going to be called crazy again.

Once he was content with the amount of evidence he had, he made the trek back to the house at a near-sprint, the cat in his arms protesting all the way. He burst through the back door, letting the screen fall shut behind him, and finally allowed Lady to walk on the power of her own four paws. She beelined for the screen door, stood up on her hind legs, and rattled it expectantly.

“Absolutely not,” Roman told her firmly, nudging her away. “I don’t know what it is with you and courting death via Xenomorph, but you are henceforth banned from the outdoors.”

If angry little kitty looks could kill, Roman would be as dead as King Duncan.

Shaking his head, he went over to the ancient landline phone in their kitchen, lifted the phone from its cradle, and paused.

Who was he going to call?

He’d had some half-conceived notion of calling his parents, or that infuriating police officer, or even just 911. What would he even say? ‘Hello operator, my emergency is that I have an alien in my barn, I promise this isn’t a prank’? Even the dial tone wouldn’t believe that.

And what if they did get someone out here to verify that there was a real alien? There was little doubt in his mind that law enforcement and then the government would quickly step in, whisking the evil version of E.T. away into some distant Area 51 lab. Roman would never see it-- or get any answers from it-- ever again.

He hung the phone up with a solid click, and turned to face the kitchen.

If he was going to interrogate a hostile alien, he needed to arm himself.

---

Shockingly, when he returned to the barn, the alien was still there.

He had crept up quietly again, hoping to catch it unawares, but this time it had been staring unerringly at him from the moment he peeked through the door, those smaller, rounder eyes wide open under its main ones.

He pushed the door open further with a dramatic flourish, pretending like he hadn’t been sneaking at all.

“Alien scourge,” Roman greeted, wincing at the crack in his voice. He cleared his throat, ignoring the way the alien’s dark gaze sent chills down his spine. “I don’t know how you ended up here, but I do know that you’re going to give me the information that I need.”

He pointed the end of his weapon of choice for emphasis, and the alien recoiled with a hiss, quickly jabbing out at it with those back arms.

Just as he’d hoped, however, putting vegetable oil on the already-slick plastic handle of the kitchen broom had made it basically impossible for those single-pronged limbs to stab or grab it. He grinned triumphantly, poking the alien with the end of it. The playing field had officially been evened.

“Now, unless you want me to introduce you to the Earth concept of piñatas, you better tell me what you’re here for.”

The alien was entirely silent, watching him with those shiny, pitch-black eyes. Behind it, its spider arms were vibrating with tension, probably in preparation to stab out the moment he slipped up.

“I’m serious,” Roman warned, poking it a little harder and getting exactly nothing for his efforts, not even a glare. “I know what I saw that night, and there’s no way it’s a coincidence that now you’re here. It was an abduction."

He paused for effect, and the alien let out a series of clicks and low, warped sounds that sounded like meaningless nonsense.

"I don't speak alien." Roman frowned. "Tell me what happened. Why were you-- or, your-- your brethren or your shipmates or whatever, why were they taking people? Where did they take them?”

The alien made what sounded like the same exact series of noises. Roman groaned in frustration.

“In-- In English! You understand what I’m saying, don’t you? If aliens are real and have the technology to infiltrate Earth without being detected, they have to have some way of communicating! An insta-translator or telepathy or math nonsense or something!” He threw his arms out in frustration, making the alien twitch.

He paced back and forth for a moment, before coming to a stop in front of the alien again and leveling it with an accusatory stare. “You’re faking it. I don’t believe that you can’t understand me.”

The alien just kept staring at him, flat plates where its mouth should have been, not a single expression visible on its face. It was about as convinced by Roman’s argument as everyone else in his life, which was to say, not at all. He felt a surge of white-hot anger, and levered the broom at its neck threateningly.

“Tell me, right now!” he demanded, stinging tears building up at the corner of his eyes. “Tell me where my brother is!”

He shoved the broom further forwards, and the alien snapped its limbs forwards and knocked it away, startling him into stumbling back. It hissed at him again, stabbing at the ground like a warning. He scowled, swiping at his face with a sleeve, and swung the broom handle at it sharply.

The swing went wide, more than a foot from touching any of it, but the alien showed the closest thing to emotion he’d seen so far, half of its eyes flinching closed in anticipation. Roman felt a sickening twist in his gut, some odd mix of guilt, anger, and vindication, and he turned away sharply.

Not for the first time, he wished he’d been the one that had been taken.

Remus wouldn’t care if the stupid cops didn’t listen to him, if their parents didn’t believe him, if the whole town thought he was insane. He would know how to convince an alien to talk, would threaten to-- to crush its extra eyes or cut off limbs or do something Roman was too squeamish to even think up.

If it was Remus, it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t know what to do. He’d at least do something.

He wouldn’t be going through the motions of life like everything was the same.

Pretending had always been Roman’s specialty, after all.

Roman cast a furious glare over his shoulder at the alien, resentful that it was still staring at him even as he was in the middle of a breakdown, and tossed the broom into the corner.

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” he said, swallowing back the thickness in his voice, “and every day after that until you tell me.”

Threat delivered, he stormed out of the barn and slammed the doors shut behind him.

[aewhore]

Rhea Ripley x fem!reader.Where the reader is Shane’s adopted daughter.So the reader and Rhea are secretly engaged and Vince decides to put the reader in a storyline with Adam Cole.Of course the reader doesn’t like it, and after a few months it’s getting closer to the wedding and Vince decides to start setting up for an arranged marriage,which causes Rhea to confess to their engagement.And reader ends up setting Vince and the McMahons (Not Stephanie) straight with some colorful words.

Hello, my love @mrsbaszler I’m so sorry this took so damn long to write, Thank you so very much for being so patient with me so I hope you love this as much as I do!!!  

Word count: 2500 

WARNINGS: slight hints towards NSFW activity in beginning. Hinted at homophobia. 

  Fighting for my family ~ Rhea Ripley x fem! reader.  

The morning sun beamed in through the window and straight into your face. You rolled over into the chest of your fiancée, Rhea Ripley. Her arms tighten around you, tangling your arms with hers. “Good morning sunshine” Her morning voice was deeper and raspier than her normal voice. You groan as you bury your face deeper into her chest trying to avoid the reality that you will have to leave the safe haven that is your hotel room bed. Rhea laughs at your attempt to hide away from your responsibilities. She starts to move to leave the bed much to your protests. “Come on sleeping beauty, I have to go shower and I think we both know you’d like to join me” Rhea leaves the bed and walks into the bathroom leaving the door open behind her. “Damn it! Your good” You had no choice but to leave your fort of comfort to join your fiancée in the bathroom before you have to leave.  

Coming out of the bathroom after showering and drying your hair, you and Rhea jump slightly when your phone blasts out your ringtone. You rush over to check it and see it's your dad. You look back to see Rhea staring back at you with a raised eyebrow at the identification of the caller. ‘Dad’ you mouth before picking up. “Hey Pops” You try to sound as cheery as possible but you already know what he’s calling about. “Y/N! Where are you? Do you know what time it is?” You check your phone and see it’s 9:30, You’re half an hour late for the morning meeting at the WWE headquarters. “Ugh shit, I must have overslept, I’m on my way now.” You’re lying through your teeth but your dad seems happy enough with your excuse as he ends the calls after a quick “Get your butt her ASAP” after hanging up you realize you’re still naked and rush around to find your clothes to get dressed. “Overslept huh?” Rhea says interrupting your hunt for your pants. “Rhea” you warn, knowing what she’s going to say next. “I know I know, you can’t tell your family because they’d never accept it but Jesus Y/N, we’re engaged. We’re getting married like to each other in less than a year and-” You interrupt Rhea as your frustrations get the better of you. “Rhea! I love you and I love your family but you don’t understand my family wouldn’t accept us. Being Shane McMahon’s daughter means I have to fit a certain mould. If they found out about us… I don't know what they’d do.” You break eye contact with Rhea to locate your shirt after zipping up your jeans. “You told Steph and she was fine with it. All I’m saying is I’m tired of being your little secret.” You freeze at Rhea’s cold words. “Rhea-” You know you don’t have a good defence to her claims but still she interrupts you. “Don’t. Just don’t. I’ll see you later at the P.C.” and with that she turned on her heels and reentered the bathroom, leaving you in stunned defeated silence.  

You arrive at headquarters a half an hour later with a guilty pit in your stomach. Rhea’s words ringing in your head as you sit in the meeting room, hearing your family bicker around you about the product and the plans of this and that and the other. You worked on NXT with Uncle Paul and William Regal, that's how you met Rhea in the first place. Onscreen you were a commentator with Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett, you were damn good as well. You had been commentating for the last 5 years and you loved every minute of it. “Y/N!” You’re snapped out of your thoughts to the realization that the entire board meeting is staring at you. You straight up in your seat “pardon?” You try your best to at least sound polite despite the fact you hadn’t heard a damn thing that was said. Your Grandfather stared daggers into you as he began to speak again. “Well, had you been listening you would have heard that we are setting a storyline between yourself and adam cole into motion as soon as possible” Your face scrunches in confusion as you speak up. “Wait what? Why?” your voice comes out more frantic and high pitched than you had hoped. Triple H turned in his chair to address you “Well we want to put Adam in a program against Johnny again but Adam needs someone to balance out against Candice” Like Beetlejuice or the devil himself, there's a knock on the meeting room door, Vince breaks into a grin as he welcomes the interruption in and in walks Adam Cole with his infamous smirk already pasted onto his face. 

“Adam! So glad you could join us” Triple H warmly welcomes the UE leader as he sits as close as possible to you in the seat next to you. Why him? Of all people, it just had to be him. When you started your job as a commentator he made it his business to berate your work on Twitter until he came to NXT where he could belittle you in person. You can already tell this will be a horrible time for you. “I’m so glad to be here Paul, Vince thank you so much for this opportunity and Y/N, you actually look really good today, good job” Adam’s voice rang through your head as he made it his mission to get under your skin as soon as possible. Thankfully Vince intervenes in Adam's mission but that tankful feeling is short-lived “Well Adam we’re thankful you suggested this story and we truly feel that Y/N is a perfect fit.” You turn in shock back towards Adam only to come face to face with that sly smirk that you wished you could scrape off his face with your boot. “Wait, how can I have a storyline against Candice if I’ve never wrestled before?” You took a leap of faith, hoping that someone would see how insane this was and put an end to it but alas no luck. “Oh don't worry sweetheart you won’t be getting your pretty little hands dirty in an actual match or anything but if we need you for a brawl or something I’m sure I could teach you a thing or two.” Adam punctuates his sentence with a wink, he leaned in closer to whisper “or maybe you could ask your little friend Rhea for help, I’m sure she’d be more than happy to help ya out”  

The blood rushed away from your head. You felt like you had been sucker-punched, how dare he? Did he know? No surely not. How could he possibly know! Your father, Grandfather and Uncle had carried on the conversation so they had missed Adam’s potential bombshell but they brought the two of you back into the conversation when Shane said: “So what do you think Y/N?” You felt all eyes in the boardroom on you as the pit in your stomach grew and grew and you had hoped it would swallow you whole. “Sure, I’ll give it a shot for a week.” the second you agree the entire room erupts as scripting the rest of NXT begins. Once the meeting is dismissed you rush back to your car to call Rhea but you’re interrupted by your father as you near the exit. “Jeez, someone’s in a hurry, where’s the fire?” Shane laughs out as he stands between you and the exit. “Oh sorry dad, just wanted to go back to the hotel because I forgot my laptop” Your eyes were darting around to avoid your father’s gaze. “Is it important sweetie because I need you to run a few errands for me” your eyes snap to your father. You know you’ll look suspicious if you turn down your father but you need to talk to Rhea ASAP. “Will it take long?” you begrudgingly grumble. 

That's what put you in this situation now. You were running around the performance centre helping out with the writing and distribution of the scripts for the NXT tapings tonight. The hours before NXT were ticking away and your anxiety about your new “storyline” was only building and building. Before you knew it, it was showtime and you were rushing out to the commentary desk, nearly shaking with nerves. You almost physically facepalmed when you remembered that you haven't spoken to Rhea and your storyline was starting tonight. Your stomach sank as the show began, you had to put on your game face but inside you were dreading tonight's events. The show ticked by and you calmed as the storyline slipped to the back of your mind as you focused on the action happening in front of you. Before you could even truly settle in to enjoy the episode of NXT that you were commentating on, the main event came and the air was knocked out of your lungs when you realized what you had to do in less than 15 minutes.  

The main event of the show was going to build towards the men's war game, Pat Mcafee would approach the commentary desk and cut a promo on Vic and Wade, then he will turn his attention to you and start to insult you before Adam run down to be your knight in sweaty armour to save you from the big bad football man thus starting an on-screen relationship between you and Adam. The segment was going so far so good, Pat was doing his job and Adam came to your defence exactly on time. Just as you're about to sit back down at your desk Adam suddenly grabs your hand and kisses your knuckles before he struts back up the ramp to close out the show with Undisputed Era standing tall. If you didn't have to act like a blushing little schoolgirl then you might have thrown up at Cole’s horrible attempt at romance. The show finished and you gathered your things from the commentary desk to return backstage. You politely say good night to your coworkers as you pass by them on your way out to your car to return to your car. The drive back to the hotel was quicker than you expected. The exhaustion of a long filming day was settling into your bones as you entered the hotel and made your way up to your room.

 The loud beep of the key card being accepted rang through your ears as you pushed through the door. The door clicked behind you as you dropped your bags and coat on the floor with an unenthusiastic thud. You see Rhea is already on the sofa in the room and once your eyes fall on your fiancee, you quickly move towards her to fall into her arms. “So you and Cole huh?” it feels like your heart stops beating, shit… you never warned Rhea about your new storyline. “Baby, I’m sorry I-” you start to apologize but Rhea cuts you off “Don’t baby me Y/N, What the fuck was that? You can’t tell your family about your fiancee but you can give fuck me eyes to Adam cole on national TV?? I can’t believe you sometimes” you hang your head in shame as the severity of the situation settled in. “Rhea, I’m sorry. I meant to tell you beforehand but I didn't have a moment to myself at all today” You start to explain yourself but Rhea rolls her eyes at your excuse. “Enough Y/N… enough, I’m done with being your dirty little secret. I love you more than anything but I can't stand it as you allow your family to play pretend with you.” Rhea was standing now as you both stood eye to eye, you were only 3 feet apart but it felt like an ocean between you both. Your eyes brimming with tears as Rhea starts to walk past you. “Rhea, please.” She doesn’t stop and once you hear the door open and close behind, you break out in sobs. The future of your engagement lies in your ability to come clean to your family. 

The phrase hell hath no fury as a woman scorned never rang truer than you making your way into WWE HQ to meet with your family to reclaim your destiny. You realize you’ll have to get your father alone to tell him about your relationship with Rhea first before hopefully, you both go to your grandfather to scrap the Adam Cole storyline. So as you sit down to the morning meeting, you already feel yourself zoning out as you work out what you’ll say to your father later on. The meeting goes by faster than expected but sadly the meeting deviates towards the future of yours and Cole’s storyline. “You want to book a WHAT?!” your shock overtakes your body as you nearly yell at your grandfather. “Well Y/N. As you should have guessed by now the end goal of this storyline will be a wedding angle between the two of you, I think the fans will love it. it was trending last night.” Vine had his selling hat on but you weren't having it. You were ready to put your foot down and finally stand up to your family before the doors to the meeting room burst open. 

Rhea stood at the entrance of the room, a shocked silence fell over the meeting room. “Rhea, how can we help you?” Triple H breaks the silence. “Oh, you could help me out her trips, How bout you give me my fiancee back?” Your heart skipped a beat as your knight in shining armour came to rescue you. “Excuse me?” Vince's confusion echoes through the room as your breath catches in your throat as you stand from your seat. All eyes in the room dart to you as you finally catch the courage to speak. “It’s me, I’m her fiancee, I have been for months and they’ve been the happiest months of my life.” you and Rhea lock eyes and smile at each other. “Excuse me? I can't believe you Y/N, how could you not have told us this?” Your father stared up at you with a shocked expression on his face. “Jesus Christ Dad, how would I tell you? You never listen to me anyway. At every meeting, I’ve ever been at you’ve all ignored my input. Then you forced me into a dumb storyline with that idiot Cole and then you wanted me to marry HIM? I’m gay dad and I love her and I refuse to be ashamed of my love anymore” 

After your rant, you move towards Rhea to hold her hand and lead her out of the meeting room. “Let’s get out of her babe” you put on your best cool girl face as you lead your gorgeous fiancee away from HQ. Rhea suddenly stops your stride and you snap back towards her, “You wanna do something crazy?” you furrow your brows at your fiancee’s question. “Go on?” she’s piqued your interest now so you java to know. “Let’s just go to Vegas and get married now” The request takes you by surprise but the answer leaves you as if it's been sitting in your brain for years. “Yes, let’s go right now” You both break into giggles as you run towards your (hopefully long and happy) life together!

[scandinavianfairytale]

The new normal

This pandemic hit hard. 

Suddenly people started working from home, trading their office spaces for home comfort. It was a nice change of pace, home-cooked meals were a plus, but then the schools closed down, which meant that the kids were home-schooled, which was a problem if both parents had to work. As it happened Steve and his wife were stuck having meetings and conferences from their kids bedrooms while simultaneously trying to make sure their children were actually paying attention to the lectures in the dinning room

It wasn’t strange for Steve to be on TV. He was the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, was a young and accomplished man, who looked ridiculously good and always held a presence. He was outspoken, dreamed big, was goal oriented and put his people first, never really chased money, only working towards a better future. 

One day a TV broadcasting station reached out to Steve to do a segment on CEOs working from home and how they are adapting to the new normal. 

The live broadcast and interview were going smoothly. Steve was in the dinning room, sitting at the big wooden table his wife was adamant to be custom made with little patterns of blue epoxy resin. The interviewer was very delighted when she saw it and they talked a lot about his family. He was never so forth-coming about his family life, wanting some separation between the two worlds, however now everything was mixing. 

The interview was scheduled, conveniently, just around the time the kids finished with school. Contrary to anyone’s beliefs Steve wasn’t the strict parent, he was a big softie when it came down to his kids. Additionally the kids were more afraid of their mother - she knew exactly how to choose and punctuate her words to make them do whatever needed to be done - from cleaning the dishes to their own toys. 

Unfortunately the kids were wild that day. They kept yelling and running around, his wife chasing them and yelling at them to keep it down. Steve was trying really hard to continue his interview with a straight face. The interviewer let out a laugh as he too heard the yelling and the shuffling of feet up and down the apartment.

"No, wait, Devon, daddy's working!" Steve's wife yelled before the littlest Rogers launched at the interviewee. Steve yelped as he was knocked off balance and only laughter could be heard on the TV screen.

As Steve picked himself up, he brought Devon with him, sitting him in his lap. 

“Well, Devon, say hi.” Steve said with a big smile. The little boy hid his face in his father’s neck, earning a big laugh from the interviewer. 

“So, yeah, this is the new normal. Devon and Taylor have met most of my co-workers, have even participated in a few meetings, raising important questions like-Devon, what did you ask yesterday?” Steve turned his head sideways to glance at his son. 

“When will I get my room back?” Devon asked, turning to look at the person on the screen, receiving big laughs in turn. 

“I like having you at home, daddy!” Taylor yelled from the opened door. Steve turned to look at his second child and his wife that was currently facepalming. 

“I’m sorry, hon. They really wanted to be here.” she commented, rubbing her forehead, but Steve just smiled. 

“Any closing thoughts? Maybe what has this pandemic taught you?” The interviewer asked. 

“That’s a great question.” Steve paused and looked at his wife that picked up Taylor and was currently making faces at the little girl, making her laugh. 

“While this pandemic has been tough, it did teach me to appreciate the little things in life.” He smiled finally at the screen. 

“Like what?”

“Our children’s wisdom, homework help, the dinner conversations and all the times my wife and I try to have a date night but are interrupted by our kids laughter. They think it’s super funny when we kiss.” Steve laughed as Devon started giggling. 

The interview ended shortly after and Steve stood up, carrying Devon in one hand. Taylor launched herself at her father, demanding to have attention as well. 

“Come on, monkey.” Steve laughed as she wrapped herself around his leg. His wife was laughing at the scene in front of her. 

“Give me the smallest monkey.” she stretched her arms and Devon quickly latched himself onto his mother and together the family sat on the couch to hear the rest of the segment on the new normal. 

“You’re still the sexiest CEO.” she commented and kissed her husband, making their kids giggle loudly. 

Thank you for reading! 😊 The GIF is not mine, belongs to the amazing creator! 🙏😊

[imaginedigimon]

u got any lgbtq+ hcs for any of the main 12 adventure and 02 kids?

🤔 Hmm...

Now Anon, I’m warning you: I’m probably not going to give you what you want for this. But I’m going to try.

I REALLY HOPE I DON’T FUCK THIS UP, FRIENDS *stressing out a bit I will not lie*

LGBTQ+ Headcanons for 01 + 02 Gang

Tai [Taichi]

Doesn’t know the meaning of the word “straight” except in terms of line segments in math (but even then, he’s a little lost)

He probably saw the pride flag for the first time when he was 14 and because it reminded him of the Crests thought, “I CAN GET BEHIND THAT”

When he learned the real meaning of pride and the LGBTQ+ community, he was even more ecstatic

Has definitely beaten up some homophobes before

And transphobes

He’s beaten up a lot of people in general

Realized after a while that he’s pansexual himself and started painting his face with the pan flag everyday

Will not deny that he has a thing for Matt and Sora at the same time and is happy if they’re happy but would really like to kiss them both pls

Matt [Yamato]

He most certainly questioned his own gender for a while, though he can’t pinpoint when it started

Gabumon told him it didn’t matter what he identified as, they’d always be partners anyway, so that really helped him a lot

It also helped that Tai was willing to beat people’s asses for him

Has also beaten up some homophobes and transphobes (Tai has been the one to drag him away from some fights)

Wears pins of all the pride flags at all times because fuck you haters

Also would like to kiss Tai, just like once or twice or a million times

Identifies as bisexual most likely

Sora

Doesn’t mention it a lot, but Mimi was probably her first kiss (by accident...OR WAS IT?)

She was the type of person who, because she grew up in a very hetero-normative world, wasn’t sure what it meant to like a girl

Probably asked Tai when she was 15 and still thinking about Mimi’s hair and lips when he explained to her that it was perfectly normal

She never forgot that conversation

Has continuously questioned her identity and orientation throughout the years, though only Biyomon has been privy to this struggle

Finally settled on saying she’s queer because she’s not much for labels (especially when she’s in a constant state of questioning)

Definitely asked Mimi to kiss her again just so it wouldn’t be an accident

Izzy [Koshiro]

Always a kid before his time, knew how to explain all aspects of pride to everyone else before they even knew what the LGBTQ+ community was

Has PowerPoints to make things clearer

Around age 17 or 18, he started asking that everyone use he/him or they/them pronouns, and this hasn’t changed since

Everyone said “a’ight” because they love him no matter what

Has always had some kind of romantic feelings for just about everyone in the group, but nothing beyond that

This poor sweetie pie cried the night he realized he was asexual and called Joe, who said in the most intense voice he’d ever heard, “You think that matters to us? We love you, Izzy, and don’t you ever forget that”

Has decided Joe is the coolest guy ever

Started some social media account where it’s nothing but pictures of Tai with various pride symbols painted on his face and it’s blown up

Mimi

Unlike Sora, she didn’t think much about the kiss

She had already accepted that she liked girls by that point

Definitely had a crush on Yolei too, though she played it cool

YOU CANNOT TELL ME SHE DIDN’T CONSIDER MEIKO HER TRUE LOVE

Teases Izzy a lot because she has a bit of a crush on him too, though this confused her because she thought she liked girls

The day she learned the term homoflexible she thought she was dreaming

But she wasn’t

Still, Sora and Yolei and Meiko are her girls and she loves them very dearly

Has the same enthusiasm as Tai and paints the various flags on her face as well (became part of that social media account Izzy started)

You can catch her and Tai at a pride parade screaming at the top of their lungs

Joe [Jou/Jyou]

I’ll admit, he’s probably the token straight? But he’s also one of those guys who’s not afraid to tell Matt he looks handsome today

Has needed to ask Izzy a lot of questions because he’s like me and wants to know and not offend anyone because he’s ignorant or doesn’t know something

Had a moment similar to me where he wondered if he really was straight

Decided he still was, but would support anyone and everyone because that’s just the guy he is

You know how he becomes a doctor? He most CERTAINLY helps with transitioning whenever he can because he’s a GOOD. DOCTOR.

Doesn’t beat up haters, but gives them a death glare that’s just as effective

Wore around a rainbow doctor’s coat because he COULD and no one tried to stop him because they knew he’d quit on the spot

Takeru [T.K.]

Been the guy to say “respect LGBTQ+ rights or die by my sword” or something like that

Lowkey had a crush on Angemon and Angewomon simulanteously and could NOT for the life of him explain why that was

Never told either of them this though

Or Kari

Definitely didn’t tell Kari

Okay yes, Tai is his big brother, but he definitely had a crush on the guy for about 2 weeks before he met Kari and everything changed

Hasn’t told either of them this

Like Sora, has only said he identifies as queer - he’d like to figure it out/delve deeper but is too busy flirting with everyone to care

Brings 5 different dates to his brother’s concerts at the same time and they all have to vie for his attention - it’s usually whoever says the most positive things about his brother

Has done at least 6 drag shows so far and let me tell you - KILLS IT every time

Kari is his forever girl but keeps winking at Ken just to make him blush

Kari [Hikari]

Also had a crush on Angewomon like how could she NOT

Also had crushes on Matt, Izzy, Mimi, and Sora (but not Joe for some reason)

When she realized her feelings for T.K. she got really really nervous (because of all his dates, you see)

Was also confused because she was pretty confused about her range of crushes over the years

Tai came out as pan to her first and she realized that sounded a lot like her

She’s a pan baby and she’s proud of it (and thanks her brother for supporting her)

Gave a rainbow pin to T.K. for his birthday and in return he kissed her

They go to ALL the pride events and nothing can stop them

Occasionally uses they/them pronouns on days she’s questioning

Davis [Daisuke]

Tai was his first love and you cannot change my mind about this

Meeting Kari was like meeting a Tai Who Would Notice Him and that was pretty rad

But he also likes her because of her, too

The world kinda stopped when he met Ken, though

Like damn, look at those soccer skills

I’m gonna be real, I think Davis is soccersexual (or footballsexual for non-Muricans)

Them soccer players be really hot though

Always has questions about the community, but never retains the answers

The PowerPoints, unfortunately, do not help

Eventually gave up and said, “I’M A DUMBASS BUT I SUPPORT YOU ALL”

They tried to tell him he should at least know what he’s talking about

(We’re still working on that)

Wears rainbow shirts with rainbow pants and it’s very atrocious but very appreciated

He is gay. He sometimes does crimes. We accept him anyway.

[T.K. asked him if he wanted to go to a drag show, he said “okay?” and really really loved it now he goes all the time]

Yolei [Miyako]

Mimi is hot, Ken is hot, Kari is hot, Matt’s kinda hot, everyone’s hot

She’s never been able to fully accept this because how is everyone so hot

Mimi was her first love, and Ken was her first boyfriend

She never forgot the firsts

Attracted to any and everyone it seems

She likes to call herself a frying pan and it makes everyone facepalm a little bit

Constantly dresses in the colors on the pan flag because she looks GOOD in them and it’s a way to remind everyone not to mess with her or her community

Tries to pretend she doesn’t know Mimi and Tai when she’s at a pride event and they’re out here acting like fools

But she also loves how unerringly supportive they are

Cody [Iori]

He was the first one everyone came out to, like for some reason he’s that guy

Literally the first person to offer you support

One day he told everyone he was transgender, and while they were surprised, they also didn’t react the way he was expecting

They actually hugged him immediately and said, “But don’t worry we love love love you” and Tai started painting the trans flag on Cody’s face until Cody said, “Guys please fuck off for a sec”

When he becomes a lawyer, he becomes the type of lawyer to defend anyone who was arrested on basis of race/identity/orientation/gender like the boss he is

Suspects he might be ace but hasn’t really delved into it much

He’s too busy scolding Davis for doing dumb things

Ken

Can everyone stop being hot for a sec? -direct quote from Ken himself

He’s in love with all the 02 kids and he’s accepted this

Yolei somehow stole his heart, but T.K.’s winks send it aflutter

He wants them both to stop (but they won’t)

Was completely unaware that Davis also liked him (even though it was really obvious?)

He identifies as bi and, like Izzy, uses they/them pronouns interchangeably with he/him

One of the good detectives on the force. Will bust your ass if you say any offensive slurs about anyone. [Has gotten suspended a few times for doing this BUT IT WAS FUCKING WORTH IT.]

Always the one on duty when Davis gets arrested for his crimes and it’s hecka exhausting

---------

Uhm... did I do good? I’ll admit, I was a little nervous since I myself am straight and cisgender (or cishet, as I’ve learned is the term)  😥  😥

Anon, I really do hope I did a good job!

And if I didn’t you can roast me in the flames of Meramon Hell

[xoxowrestlinggyrl]

In The Middle

Requested: Yes

Pairing: Dean Ambrose x Reader x Finn Bàlor

Word Count: 2170

Warning[s]: Cursing

Summary: As long as you can remember, you’ve had a crush on Finn Bàlor. The problem is, he doesn’t seem to like you back or notice you at all. Dean Ambrose, your best friend, is firmly against you pining after Finn’s affection. He pushes you to come on from him, but you aren’t too sure you can. One day, Finn does take the initiative and asks you out on a date. You agreed since you have a crush on him after all. When you tell Dean this, he flips. It turns into this huge argument, and Dean admits his feelings for you.

Tag[s]: https://wweobsession1029.tumblr.com/

A/N: This came to me out of the blue. I hope you like it, Anna!

Your eyes were fixed on Finn Bàlor, who was working out in the gym. Every morning, you went to the gym with your best friend, Dean Ambrose. In his mind, you went to the gym with him just to work out. The real reason is to see Finn. If Finn didn’t workout in the mornings, you’d probably show up to the gym in the afternoon. You stood behind the Bench Press since you agreed to spot Dean. He hasn’t lifted the barbell from the Bench Press, or so you thought…

“Shit…” You heard out of nowhere. Then, you heard a “clink” on the Bench Press you were standing behind. When you looked down, Dean greeted you with an annoyed look. You have seen this look on the man before.

“What’s wrong?” You asked. You still haven’t caught onto why he’d be annoyed with you right now. There’s nothing you could have done to annoy him… Right?

Dean sat up, turning to you with the look still on his face, “You agreed to be my spotter, right?” He asked. It was a rhetorical question since you did agree to be his spotter.

“Yeah… I did. What does that have to do with anything?”

“My hand slipped as I lifted the barbell, and I would’ve hurt myself if I didn’t catch myself. While this went on, Y/N, you had your googly eyes on Finn.” Dean stated, in an angry tone. His temper has gotten shorter and shorter with me. I’ve come to fuck something up on a daily basis with Dean. He’s still my best friend. Dean was there for me when no one else was. How could I ever leave my friendship with him? Also, Dean could have seriously got hurt. It’s your responsibility to be his spotter and not get distracted.

You looked at Dean, hoping he would understand. “Dean, I am sorry. You know I didn’t mean to put you at risk. I just-I wasn’t focused like I should have been.” You genuinely apologized to him. If something did happen to him, there was no way you could or would have forgiven yourself.

Dean huffed before getting up from the bench. I walked over to him, “Dean, talk to me.” You said, putting one of her hands on his shoulder. He calmed down instantly. You’ve always had that effect on him.

“I know you didn’t mean to Y/N, but my life flashed before my eyes. I was a little scared there.” Dean joked, chuckling a little bit.

“Well, I can understand. I would have been scared too.” You began, “You’re always scared though.” You said, teasing him.

Dean made a face at me, “Why are you telling such a lie, Y/N?” He said, and he started laughing. You couldn’t help but laugh as well. Dean’s laugh is contagious. There is never a time that he laughs where you didn’t laugh as well. You stopped laughed once you noticed Finn’s gaze. When Dean noticed this, he turned his head to see Finn’s gaze. Dean turned back with annoyance clearly on his face.

“Don’t-” You began. Dean cut you off before you could finish the sentence.

“Don’t what? You don’t want to hear me tell you the truth for the millionth time, Y/N?” Dean began, an angered tone was set in his voice. You couldn’t understand where the anger was coming from. All you did was stare at Finn… Well, he stared at you first and you stared back. You didn’t even leave Dean to talk to Finn. You’d understand if you did just that. However, you don’t understand how Dean can be so angry with you when you did something so little.

“I don’t want to hear it, Dean! I’m sick of you telling me the “truth”. You don’t even know if it is the truth in the first place.” You stated, knowing exactly where this conversation is going to go. Your gym bag was next to the bench, and you picked up the bag and put it on your shoulder.

“Yes, Finn stares at you. Do you see him coming over here?” Dean asked, rhetorically, “No.” He said, answering his own question. “What does that say to you, Y/N. He doesn’t want you. If he wanted you, he wouldn’t wait around to do anything. He would have done it a year ago.” He stated in a harsh tone.This was the very thing you’ve heard from Dean for months. He knew that it pissed you off every time he said that.

You glared at Dean, “You know what? I think I’ve done enough working out for the morning.” Then, you turned on your heels, exiting the gym.

It was Monday night, three days after your little incident with Dean. The two of you weren’t on talking terms for those three days. Usually, Dean came to apologize to you, but he didn’t do it this time. You were worried that you lost your best friend over something so little in retrospective. Roman reassured you that Dean wouldn’t split from being friends with you over your crush on Finn. It’s helped, but you wanted to hear this come from Dean’s mouth. You finished your segment, which was your only commitment for the night. Now, you were stuck with nothing to do besides lingering around backstage. Most of your friends were getting ready for a match or segment, so you were alone for the good portion of the night. You hopped off the crate, pulling your phone out your pocket. Maybe I kill some time by walking around and going to catering. When you started on your walk, you watched someone turn the corner. It was Finn. Butterflies fluttered in your stomach, and you didn’t think you could talk walking past him. He was coming your way down the hall. You didn’t think he saw you, so you turned on your heels and began walking the other direction.

“Y/N! Wait!” You heard the familiar accent of Finn. Fuck.

When you turned around, he was behind you, but he kept a normal distance between the two of you. He was much closer than before, and your eyes were damn-there bugged out of your head. Play it cool, Y/N, play it cool. “Hey there, Finn. Nice to see you. It’s such a nice night, right?” You asked, wanting to facepalm yourself almost immediately after that sentence came out of your mouth. Nice night? Really?

Finn chuckled a bit, “Ye, ‘ts a nice nigh.” He agreed, with a smile. “T’ats ‘snt exactly ‘hat I came to talk to ya abo’t though.” Finn said, looking down at you. His beautiful blue eyes were looking down into yours. You could have melted right there.

“Okay, then what is it?” You asked, wanting the suspense to end. What could Finn be asking you about. Is there something going on?

“Ah noticed ya starin’ at me for a while-” Finn began, and you interrupted him.

“It is not what you think. I am sta-” You started, and he interrupted me as well. This is going to end badly… I can see it.

Finn shook his head and let out a small chuckle. A smile was on his lips, “Y/N, please let me finish.” He said in an almost pleading tone. You nodded your head, biting back your tongue.

“I’m goin’ keep ’t simple.” Finn began,”Ah like ya, Y/N, a lot. Ya ‘been starin’ at me for a reason, love. Ah understand if ya don’t like me. May’e,  Ah was pickin’ up on the wrong signs.” He rambled on, nervously. His cheeks has a hint of red to him. You could tell that he was starting to blush.

You smiled, “Oh, Finn, you’re not picking up the wrong signs at all. I actually do like you back.” You said, feeling like you were on cloud nine.

Finn’s eyes lit up, “Really? Ya like me back, Y/N? T’is is great. Would ya like to go out on date with me, after tha show? We can go tomor’ow if ya want to.” He said, with nervousness still in his voice.

*Tonight is perfect actually. I have some stuff to do tomorrow.” You told him, the smile you had never faltering.

“Great, ’ll meet ya after tha show.” Finn stated. You nodded your head at him.

“Alright Finn, I will see you later…” You said, with a goofy grin.

“Bye, Y/N.”

“Bye, Finn.”

While you listened to music and scrolled through Twitter, you felt a tap on your shoulder. You looked up to see Dean in front of you. The look he had on his face was opposing to the angered look he had the other day. The exact look he has whenever he apologizes to you.

“Hey, Y/N/N.” Dean greeted, an apologetic smile on his lips.

“Hi, Dean.” You said, getting out of your seat. Without saying anything, you could tell Dean felt bad for what happened. You did too. You’ve never wanted to put your friendship with him in jeopardy over something so minuscule.

“I’m sorry about what happened, Y/N. I didn’t mean to act like that.” Dean stated, looking down at you.

“No worries Dean, I apologize as well. I was wrong too.” You told him. Dean never told you the root reason to why he acted out the way he did. That’s why you didn’t bother asking him about it.

Dean smiled, “I missed you so much. Honestly, I was sure you weren’t going to forgive me.” You looked at him in confusion.

“Of course Dean, you’re my best friend. The one person that has been there for me through everything. How can I ever stay mad at you, Deano?” The two of you began walking, and he put his arm on your shoulder.

“You’re right, how can you stay mad at someone like me?” Dean teased with a cocky smirk on his face.

You shook your head and rolled your eyes, “Actually, I take what I said back. Of course, I can stay mad at you.” The smirk he had on his face faded.

“No, darlin’, you just can’t do that!” Dean exclaimed, and you giggled.

“I’m kidding Dean, I am kidding.” You laughed.

“Good.” Dean smiled, down at you. “So, what’s new, Y/N?”

Your lips shaped into a cocky smirk, “What’s new is that I was right.” You stated. Dean’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“What are you talking about?’ Dean asked, confused about what you’re talking about.

“Earlier in the night, Finn asked me out on a date. I am going out with him tonight!!” You exclaimed, happily. The excitement rushed through you once again. You felt Dean tense up again. He moved his arm off of your shoulder instantaneously. What the fuck? You turned to him, and he was angry once again.

“He asked you out?! Are you serious, Y/N?!” He asked, glaring at you. Anger was seeping from his voice as well.

“Yes, Dean. I don’t understand why you’re so mad.” You remarked.

“Why am I so mad? I have a reason to be mad. Finn never showed interest in you in the first damn place, yet he asked you out?! Aren’t you concerned there is something wrong? You’re seriously just going to go with it because you like him that much?” You were surprised about how angry he was. He should be happy for you. Finn didn’t reject you, why was he mad?

“You should be happy for me, Dean! Do you not like that I proved you wrong? What is it? Finn has never done a thing to you, so I don’t see why you’re hating on him. Or is it that you don’t want to see me happy? Great job, Dean, you don’t want to see your best friend happy!” You yelled and clapped your hands.

Dean gritted his teeth, “Finn waited around for months to ask you out, and you accepted it with ease. I couldn’t have done anything like that. You wouldn’t have waited around for me. Your attention is all on him. You forget that I am here.” Dean began, anger still in his voice, “You want to know why I don’t care for Finn, Y/N? Do you really want to know? It’s because I am in fucking love with you!” He yelled. Your eyes widen at what he said. Dean is in love with you? You had no idea… He never showed any signs. At least any obvious signs… Looking back on it, he did. The jealousy, the anger, his protectiveness… They were all signs of how he felt about you. This was too much to handle all at once. You were questioning everything up to this point.

“I-I have to go Dean… Talk to you later..” You said, on the verge of tears. Before you could hear him answer, you ran away in the other direction.

A/N: Cliffhanger!!! If you’d like a part two to this, please let me know. Requests are open. Also, let me know if you want to be tagged in any of my future work.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Still Re-Watch and Review by @wdway

The wonderful @wdway recently did a rewatch of Still and shared it with me and @frangipanilove. I’ve gotten her permission to repost her very insightful observations. I hope you both enjoy it!

@wdway:

My review of s4e12 Still, written by Angela Kang, directed by Julius Ransay. I watched this episode with the commentary by Emily and Julius (E/J) and then the one with Norman and Angela (N/A), as I go through I'll talk about certain things including either one of these couples’ comments rather than go through the episode twice.

Even though I've seen this episode once or twice (that's me being funny) I did have a couple of ummmm moments that were interesting. The episode opens with a view of an abandoned car and the long road all lit by a full moon. 

Am I the only one that has always wondered about the lone figure crossing the road? The way it moves makes it obvious that it's not a walker, maybe it's just a nod to the fact that there are people nearby that our characters are never aware of.

Now for the car I'm going to show you two shots, the first is the car as B/D comes upon it. The second when they are climbing out of the trunk.

In the first one we see that both the engine hood and the trunk are slightly ajar but basically closed 

and in the second where we see B/D getting out from the trunk both the front and back of the car are completely opened. 

I had never really noticed that before and this time I realized that it must mean something, because everything has a meaning and it seems very deliberate now that I'm aware of it, I just not sure what that meaning is. Any thoughts?

After B/D strips the car Daryl looks at Beth in a dead stare. I have always thought that was him looking at her like "a dead girl.” He turns without a word (because she's dead) and walks down the road. Beth pauses and then follows, foreshadowing Daryl thinking she's dead and leaving her and her later moving down the road basically by herself and Daryl unaware that she's following.

We next see Daryl hunting and his arrow breaks, and he then kills a snake with his knife (not really Norman). You'll especially like this part @Frangi. Norman and Angela's discussion here, Norman mentions that the snake that was killed actually had a rat in it that it had eaten. We see Beth setting up camp and E/J laughingly talk about how during the shooting this scene Beth was refer to as MacGyver Beth.

We are then shown Daryl skinning the snake (that sounded dirty) Beth watching from afar. I don't know how many times I've watched this episode before I realize that this was again a possible foreshadowing of Daryl (TF) being watched.

B/D eating the snake, both E/J & N /A talk about how it was eel with teriyaki sauce and how Norman almost got sick from eating so much of it. We see Beth take Daryl's knife, this is the second time we see her take his knife, the first was in Inmates. She goes off alone and we see her hide from a group of walkers and mislead them with noise from throwing a stone (hear no evil) turning around Beth sees Daryl who has been watching from afar, again foreshadowing anyone? Another little note I missed above was that AK at one point talked about how it was Gimple's idea coming into the writing room for season 4 about the groupings after the prison fell to put Daryl and Beth together and how surprised the other writers were. To me, just emphasizing that Gimple had Beth and Daryl paired from the very beginning and knew exactly where he was taking the storyline with them. He left clues, eggs, hints behind so that when we went back and re-watched they would stand out to us, just like this shot of Beth where she has a dirty little smudge exactly where she is shot in 5e8 Coda, you know the one where her being shot was a last-minute decision. (Me being funny again.)

@frangipanilove:

Wow, I never noticed the figure moving across the street in the beginning of still. I had to go and see for myself, and you’re right, there is something there. No way to tell what it is though. I really have no idea. The part about the hood of the car being open is something I’ve noticed, and I don’t have a great explanation of it. Also, the dead body by the car has changed position during the night. I don’t know what tptb mean to communicate by doing so, but I feel that it’s sort of then underlining that this sequence is symbolic, that it’s sort of detached from realism. Sort of them saying that Beth and Daryl’s journey together is something out of the ordinary.

Oh, and something I came to realize while I was doing the tree/three/trunk post; the name of the golf club is “Pine Vista”. Pine is a type of tree, and vista means view, or looking at something. It’s an eye/vision reference combined with a tree reference. I thought that was interesting. I didn’t include it in the post because it was already long enough, but it shows how tptb consistently uses this type of symbolism around her.

It’s something I’ve thought about because in 6x15(?) Eugene mentions golf clubs when discussing the route to hilltop. Then a few moments later he says “serious as a coronary thrombosis”. So, a Sirius mention near a golf club mention. In my opinion it qualifies as a nod to “still” in combination with a Sirius mention, which means return/coming back. Also, the choice of the words “coronary thrombosis” is interesting, because 1) it could be a nod to “slabtown”, where we saw a machine that treats deep vein thrombosis 2) corona is one of the most well known brads of beer in the world 3) someone suffering from thrombosis/blood clots would be treated with heparin, right?

@twdmusicboxmystery: I’d noticed the figure crossing the road before, but I guess I always assumed it was a walker. Obviously, I never paid much attention to the movements. Now, it’s being coupled with a half moon. The open car hood strikes me less as an open trunk reference and more as perhaps a battery reference. I’m not sure about the movement of things either. I’ve never studied it in depth. I know when the camera first pans over the bodies, there are some obvious forehead injuries, and isn’t one of them laying with their arm out, the way Beth’s fell in Coda? But that’s all pretty obvious foreshadowing. I’m just now thinking that, plot wise, it’s the walker horde that moved everything around as they passed through and around the car. So maybe that has to do with what they’re trying to symbolize. Like, TF left her behind and when they went back after the horde had gone, her body had moved. Meanwhile, car, trunk, and hood open. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I always love when you bring up Eugene’s line from that episode, @Frangi. And I agree: no way the coronary thrombosis thing isn’t connected to Slabtown. That’s just too specific. @frangipanilove​: There was that Sirius mention when Beth and Daryl play the drinking game. I had somehow erased it from my memory, and had a real facepalm moment when that clip was released on social media the other day. It comes when Beth suggests that Daryl has been in jail. Then she says “I don’t mean anything serious”. It comes in combination with a mention of “jail” which actually qualifies as a cop/police reference (making it a “blue clue”), and that whole sequence became even more filled with symbolism. I already knew it was an important sequence, with the mention of pet ponies, frozen yoghurt, Santa clause etc. And with a Sirius mention in the middle of it, it just got more significant!

@wdway​:

Episode Still continued. Moving on to the clubhouse E/J talked about the scene that was cut out and how Beth didn't drink because of Hershel and the mention of the red cups. B/D goes into the clubhouse dining room, there are 3 people hanging. The fact that there is three now seems significant especially since I believe that there are 3 bodies in the dog Trot room floor.

Of the two women hanging one is in a green flowered shirt (Alpha green dress) the other has on pearls, which is odd since she's wearing very casual clothes. We will see pearls again with the rich bitch, I think these may be an ocean/water symbol since pearls are found in oysters in the ocean. I also want to note in the shot of the dogtrot room to the right a green bean can and towards the center on the top shelf is a tomato can.

Did I ever tell you that it was the clubhouse scene that made me realize water was a Beth symbol? We were discussing fire and how we believed that was a symbol for Daryl and the question was, was it also a symbol for Beth? I was thinking about all the fire extinguishers, the fire pulls in the clubhouse that were around Beth, when the light bulb came on that these are actually water or coolant symbols. Even though Beth is a water symbol, I believe she is also a single flame symbol, a small fire that can light a large fire. She is the candle flame at the end of a long dark tunnel, the single match that starts a shack a blaze in fire.

The reason that I bring up the fire pulls and the fire extinguisher is that I consciously went through and counted them in the clubhouse segment. At first glance, they don't appear to be a large number, but when you think in terms of for each one, they were seen multiple times in different angles with either one or both characters within a scene. There are 5 fire pulls, there are 3 fire extinguishers (one silver two red) a total of 8 (these numbers look very familiar) this is a large number when you realize that the club house scenes couldn't have been more than 10 minutes (another familiar number).

There's two other items that I watched for and counted in the clubhouse. We have seen them in the seasons after Still, but I don't think we saw them before. Tomato sauce cans and green bean cans. As far as tomato sauce, we see them instead of actual tomatoes because there wouldn't be a feasible reason to see tomatoes in this abandoned club house, but we can see a picture of tomatoes on the label.

Years ago, I followed a wonderful TD'er weburythedead (unfortunately he no longer posts) but back in the day he wrote about Beth and Daryl and tomatoes. He felt that we could group tomatoes and strawberries together as a symbol for Beth and Daryl because of the color, also their abundance of seeds a fertility symbol also both are quite sensual and juicy.

The green bean cans well what better remind than the white and green can with the word GREEN on it to help people to think of Beth Greene and we even heard and we Daryl refer to her as Greene later in this episode. Throughout the seasons, we're reminded that Maggie is a Rhee and that Beth is the only remaining Greene.

We see 4 cans of tomatoes and 5 green beans cans. There are also 5 cans where we cannot see the label but let's look at one of these that speaks to me and made me quite excited when I realized what I was seeing.

Daryl with a can with a green rim at the top and a red rim at the bottom. A can of Greene and Dixon haha.

In the closet where Beth reaches for a bottle of cooking wine there are 7 cans alone. 2 clearly are tomatoes, 3 visible green labels and 2 labels not readable because there at odd angles. Along with cans in the kitchen area and also remember there is a green bean and a tomato can in the dogtrot room.

We have seen a lot of tomatoes and green bean cans through the seasons. We've seen them in the AZ pantry. The last time I remember seeing the green and white can the label read, Chunk, but it's similar to the green can so much so that I don't believe it's a coincidence, especially since there is a grouping of candles on top with a single flame burning from each remember Beth = single flame. This was s8e7 How It's Gotta Be.

I have a few things to add before I close out the clubhouse review. These are things mentioned in the commentary that I want to point out. I will have a ramble about the commentary in general when I do part 3 of Still, that will cover the shack. AK said that Gimple is the one that wanted the dog Trot on the wall in the clubhouse. Julius said a lot of was discussed with the grandfather clock, the time and the correct number of chimes.

Something I forgot to mention the other day that happened at the beginning of the Still re-watch, Julius the director said the car that they used was a Lincoln Continental. @Frangi, it proves your car model skills are awesome! I also remember in the after bonus scene of TTD the director came on and mentioned it then also. Imo emphasizes that tptb wanted us to be aware of that car model.

This is in the shack I want you to notice the can on the shelf above /next to Daryl. I talked so much about cans last time I just want to point this one out, we don't see a label on it but since it's red it could be several things, another type of tomato, cherries, strawberry filling?

Then we have these two cans on the table. One we definitely know is a dog food can because that particular label has been seen other times and then the other the label appears to be torn off so we just don't know, but I want to emphasize the fact that in the shack there are 3 cans.

For this last segment I'm not going through the episode because we all know it's so well, instead I'm going on a long ramble about the commentaries. This was the first time in the series that tptb had dual commentaries for a single episode and we could talk about the importance of that, but I'll leave it for another day. I went into this moonshine shack segment review with a couple of questions I wanted to take a close look at and ended up finding side tunnels to my delight. Listening to both EK/JR and NR/AK commentaries back-to-back was the key to the main points I found. 1) that there were certain dialogue moments tptb wanted us to hear. 2) things they wanted reinforced by talking about them with their paired partners. I even wonder if part of NR/AK's commentary was stopped and later sound mixed in order that we would hear the dialogue in a scene. I first want to go over some of my notes from EK/JR that doesn't overlap NR/AK. JR talked about during the argument, it seemed that other members of TF were intimidated by Daryl but Beth didn't seem to understand that she should be intimidated. She was standing up for herself and calling Daryl out on his bad behavior and his feelings. JR talked about how 4 of the producers were crying during the porch scene. In particular, the part where Beth talks about her wish, her hope for how her dad would live out the rest of his life. Sometimes it felt as if JR was checking off a list of things he was meant to mention especially at the end when he said that there was a toy cycle and a real motorcycle somewhere in the yard and was a nod to Daryl's motorcycle. It just seemed as if he was trying to just get that mentioned and it came out a bit odd. JR talked about how Beth almost seemed resigned/come to terms to her death. This was when Beth says "I'll be gone someday," he used the word die or death I can't remember which. Both NR/AK and EK/JR had several mentions that were so similar to each other but I want to point out a few. I first watched EK /JR commentary, a reminder that we hear them but see the episode play without sound unless the commentary stops and then we both hear and see the episode. When it got to the part where Beth hesitates to take a drink of the moonshine, EK/JR stop talking. I paused the DVD to take a note and when I continued it was so long that I wondered if I had somehow turned the commentary off when suddenly they started talking again. I went back to check and it was a full minute and 29 seconds of dialogue that included, going blind, Daryl telling her to drink lots of water, (a water reference) the pink bra, and Daryl's old man's dumpster chair (a dumpster reference). Both the mention of water and dumpster never meant anything to me until I watched it this time.

[@twdmusicboxmystery: I have to insert here that I totally never caught that “dumpster” reference before. Linked to Glenn’s dumpster and how he survived his fake out, if you’re confused. Awesome catch! ;D Okay, back to @wdway.] If you are wondering if we heard the dialogue about moonshine making you go blind during NR/AK's commentary the answer is kind of. AK was talking and NR started to speak, and it just trailed off as Beth said her line and Daryl mentions "drink lots of water," and then Norman finishes his thought. This is what I'm mentioned earlier about maybe there was a sound mix by tptb because the way it trailed off just seemed suspicious if you realize that if he had continued his train of thought we would have not heard the comment about "moonshine making you go blind."

NR then talked about taking the turtle shell for Emily, which is strange because this is where Daryl is talking about his dad's place and how similar it is to this shack. The turtle shell story, while being very nice, just kind of came out of nowhere. I think he got ahead of his to-mention list. AK ask Norman if he had heard of Bethyl and he said yes, Bethyl, Caryl and Rickyl. On both commentaries the couple's stop talking in time for us to hear Beth say "serious." When B/D have their argument outside we hear the Michonne, Carol, Maggie speech. NR talks about the hug from behind and how it must have meant for Daryl to fill her supporting him. When the porch scene starts, Emily mentions the turtle shell and tells a short version of the story. During the NR commentary he again notes the turtle shell in the scene, which makes sense of mentioning it then because we can actually see the shell. A couple of things that EK mentions, we will hear mentioned again by either or both NR / AK. Emily says she loved the porch scene. Just 2 people talking. She spoke about that B/D were being honest during their talk. During EK/JR commentary we do hear Beth says, "I'm not blind." We don't hear it in the other commentary, but I think it was because of what AK was talking about ended up being more important.

Next, I'll jump in with what a AK's response to Norman's honesty statement (below). Just know that this takes up quite a bit of the scene of D/B including when Beth says "I'm not blind.” It really would have been noticeable if AK had stopped abruptly in the middle in order to hear Beth.

AK: "It's not comfortable for Daryl to be intimate with someone, not even romantically but in terms of sharing who he is because there is so much shame. Not so much what you bring to the character or how you've played him. Shame about who he was. There's something about Daryl that's so real and honest. He just is who he is and Beth is kind of the same way, so that even though they're different characters, there's sort of a core kindness and sweetness about them that they can just talk about their real feelings in this moment."

I just love this so much. This is AK defining Daryl's character and I feel she has held true to it through the seasons. We've seen and heard a restating of this especially the last two seasons. But this explains why Daryl will always love his friend Carol but that need of being who he is at his core, honest and kind doesn't align with Carol's guarded, driven way of being and I don't see his qualities being things that Carol admirers or truly understands. I think she sees these as weaknesses and not admirable. Bottom line is she cannot be honest with him. How many times have we heard him this season state that very fact? This speaks to his core, being honest with yourself and the people you care most about.

Connie has many of the same qualities as Daryl but we saw early in the season her asking him to lie for her group or at least not tell. It may seem on the surface to be a small thing but for Daryl, I think he would question if it is a one-time thing or not. It speaks of him not really knowing her Is he drawn to her for who she may remind him of or who she truly is?

I do want to point out that in both commentaries, they talk about the song that Gimple wanted at the end of episode. Norman tells the story of wanting a different song but doesn't go into why he wanted the song that he did. This review has taken much longer than I thought it would, but I hope I was able to uncover a few things that helps in our understanding of tptb and the characters we love so much.

@frangipanilove​

Loved your ramble! Totally agree with you, Daryl is honest to the core, wears his heart on his sleeve. And I think you articulated it beautifully when you said he doesn’t know if he’s drawn to Connie because of who she is, or if it’s who she reminds him of. And we sometimes disagree on Carol, but we’re in complete agreement when it comes to how awfully mismatched they would be as a romantic couple. It is only Beth that has been a romantic love interest for him. I am unsure of how far tptb will go in exploring the relationship with Connie.

However, no matter how they write it, I believe it will always be Beth for Daryl. The Connie situation is interesting though, because tptb HAS written a close relation between Daryl and Connie, and they have written it in a way that the GA will recognize as “potentially romantic”. Of course we, TD, also recognize that they have written Connie as a Beth proxy, so it’s all very interesting I think. But I’ve had enough of “interesting.” I’m ready for Beth now.

@twdmusicboxmystery:

Thanks so much to @wdway​ for doing a re-watch for us and pointing out so many great insights. There were lots of things here I’d never considered before, or simply hadn’t thought about in years. Hope you all found something interesting in here!

[vfdbaudelairefile13]

Dear reader,

I must caution you about this next chapter. This is the chapter where we continue to explore creepy undertones pertaining to Olaf as a character. If you are not comfortable with reading about predatory behavior, comments ranging from vague to slightly explicit (on the topic of these predatory behaviors), a young girl being restrained, a young girl being threatened, threats to a minor, or vague to slightly specific comments about pedophilia, a creepy fuck stroking a young girl's hair, cheek, and leg... I would suggest skipping specific parts of this chapter. This happens on Violet's part of the chapter.

Please read with caution. If anything becomes too triggering or makes you too uncomfortable I am happy to summarize in vague details (when going over certain parts) so you are still able to follow the story. Please if you can't read this chapter in its entirely, I will be more than happy to explain the events of the chapter in a less descriptive way. _______________________________________________________________ Friendly Reminder:

I, Susan, the author of Misery Loves Company also wants to make it abundantly clear that THE TOPICS/TRIGGERS IN THIS CHAPTER are things I frown upon entirely. I do NOT condone pedophilia at all, whatsoever. And I believe it is NOW in my fic that I will say this: if you ship the disgusting vile mess of a 'ship' that is Violaf...I would prefer if you stop interacting with my page, my story, and any of my works. Just because I put it in my story does not mean I condone it. I am using it as a element to explain why this sort of shit is WRONG.

If we are being abundantly honest, it is these segments that I have the hardest time writing and editing. It is a long, hard process and it never gets easier. No matter how vague the comment Olaf or even Esme make is, it is never easy. It makes my blood boil, my skin crawl and my stomach churn.

I don't feel right saying 'enjoy' because this is a tough pill to swallow.

So read with caution. Let me know if you feel I went too far or if you just want to comment like normal. I am not perfect. I am open to criticism. I just needed to make sure all my readers understand where I stand on the topic of Count Olaf's creepy ass infatuation to Violet.

Read with caution. Love the support you guys have given this fic.

-Susan.

                                      Chapter Fifty-Four:

                            The One With  Dr. Faustus and Anagrams

Klaus Baudelaire glanced in the mirror one last time. It’s now or never. He told himself. He glanced down cautiously. “How you doing in there, Sunshine?”

“Claustro,” she explained, which was her way of saying, “A bit claustrophobic,”

“We can think of another way…” he began but he felt Sunny shake her head.

“I’ll manage,” she replied. “Save Vi,”

He took one more deep breath as he carefully made his way into the hallway. Both siblings heard the cheerful singing of the Volunteers Fighting Disease just down the hallway. “ We sing while walking down the hall and then consult our list, to see the names of anyone who just might have a cyst.” The children could hear Brandon Spats and the other volunteers sing.

“Patient list,” Sunny whispered to her brother.

“You’re right, Sunny,” Klaus whispered back. “The volunteers have a list of all the patients. If Olaf and Esme are still here then they have to be disguising Violet as a patient.”

“Exactly,”

“Maybe we can get Brandon to give us a look at his list,” Klaus said hopefully. Now or never. He told himself again as the volunteers began to walk past him and Sunny. He closed his eyes. Violet would do this for you. He told himself. “Here goes nothing,” he whispered as low as he can so only Sunny can hear him. He straightened his posture but did not turn to face the volunteers. “Uh, you!” he called out in his regular voice. He immediately had to fight the urge to facepalm as he realized that a doctor wouldn’t sound like a teenage boy. “You...you...you,” he repeated out loud doing his best to deepen his voice so that none of the volunteers would recognize him.

“Me, sir?” Brandon asked as he turned around. The volunteers around him all followed suit and stopped singing as they all turned to face Klaus.

“Yes, you,” Klaus said in his deep voice. He was trying his best to give a sort of British accent to his disguise, afraid that artificially deepening his voice wouldn’t be enough. He could barely look Brandon in the eyes. He could feel his heart beating in his chest. He had to fool the volunteers, if he couldn’t fool them then how could he ever fool Olaf or Esme? “I have misplaced my patient list,” Klaus explained, still unable to look anyone in the eyes. “And I was wondering if we could...If I could have yours?”

“My patient list?” Brandon repeated in a saddened tone. He clutched his clipboard to his chest. He looked around to his fellow volunteers who all looked at Klaus as if he had just broken each of their hearts. “But patient lists are precious.”

“Yes,” Klaus replied, focusing his eyes on the patient list. “Precious to you...but vital for me,”

Brandon frowned. “You do have a good point,” he said finally. He looked at several of his volunteers who nodded their heads at him. “No frowny faces, you guys,” he said as he began to hand his clipboard to Klaus. “We can just get another one from…” his eyes narrowed on a figure down the hall behind Klaus. “Oh hello, other doctor,” Brandon said as he gripped tighter to his clipboard. Klaus’ eyes went wide when he heard Brandon call out to another doctor.

Please no. Please no. Klaus thought to himself. Daring to not turn around. It wasn’t until he heard the familiar wheezy voice where Klaus’ heart plummeted to the ground.

“Yes?” the other doctor said from down the hall.

 Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. To make matters worse, Klaus could feel Sunny starting to shake in the little harness that held her to his chest. Klaus wanted to run down the hall and hide but he knew he couldn’t. Maybe I can follow him back to wherever he’s storing Violet? He thought but he knew that was a risky plan. It would do him better if he stayed in front of the group of volunteers that way Olaf would not be able to grab him and Sunny since there were witnesses. Klaus slowly turned around to see Olaf walking down the hall towards him, the vile man’s eyes were narrowed as though he was concentrating on something.

When Klaus had turned around, Olaf had stopped in his tracks. He was now only a few steps away from Klaus. The middle orphan guessed that Olaf was trying to sneak up on him and was caught off guard by Klaus turning around, but he couldn’t be too sure. He hoped that his disguise was fooling Olaf but he had many doubts.

“Perhaps you can help this first doctor I was talking to,” Brandon said cheerfully. Happy that he didn’t have to hand over his patient list after all.

Klaus turned slightly back towards Brandon, not allowing Olaf to have any chance at a sneak attack. “No, no,” Klaus said in his disguised voice. “No need to bother this man.”

Klaus felt a hand on his shoulder as he tensed up. “It’s no bother at all, doctor,” Olaf said in his ridiculous disguise voice. “How may I be of service to you two fine gentlemen?”

The young boy was rendered speechless and was fighting himself internally. Doing his best not to shake, tremble, or even run away from Olaf who held a firm grip on his shoulder. Klaus even tried to hide behind his own hand, hoping that that would create a barrier that would protect his identity from Olaf but alas to no avail.

“He lost his patient list,” Brandon explained after realizing Klaus wasn’t going to speak. “So he can’t find his patients.”

“Is that so?” Olaf asked, his hand gripping Klaus’ shoulder harsher than before. “I know how it feels to misplace something,”

Klaus winced in pain slightly, pushing Olaf’s hand from his shoulder. Klaus could feel Sunny shake full force now which wasn’t helping him at all because he was still fighting every urge to shake. You gotta be strong. Do it for your sisters. He told himself. What would Violet do? Would Violet cower? Would Violet run? No. Violet holds her ground, especially with Olaf.

He slowly turned to face Olaf. It was much more difficult of a task than he had thought. He had to continuously ask himself ‘What would Violet do?’.

“You know, you look very familiar, ” Olaf said, his shiny eyes glaring at the young boy. Olaf was trying to look the boy directly in the eyes but Klaus continued to glance around, never allowing his eyes to continuously gaze at anything for longer than ten seconds. “What is your name, Doctor? ”

“M-my name...is Dr. Faustus,” Klaus choked out after stuttering over his words. He continued to use his deep British accent in hopes of maybe convincing Olaf that he was mistaken. Although, Klaus could tell Olaf could see right through his disguise. He still made sure to not look the villain in his eyes.

Olaf’s eyebrow raised as he held in a laugh. Klaus didn’t understand what Olaf found to be so funny. At least Klaus was able to come up with a name that actually sounded like it was an actual name right on the spot. The best that Olaf could come up with was Dr. Medical-School. If anyone should be laughing, it would be Klaus and Sunny.  “Dr. Faustus?”

Klaus slowly nodded and extended a hand towards his worst enemy. “Dr. Colin Faustus MD.”

Olaf glanced down at Klaus’ hand and narrowed his eyes. He gave the young boy a cruel smirk as he gripped his hand, shaking it slowly. He gripped the middle orphan’s hand tightly as he stared directly at him. “You look terribly young to be a doctor. Where did you attend medical school, Doctor... Faustus. ”

“Uh…” Klaus stammered as he realized that Olaf’s handshake was causing him to tremble or maybe it was Sunny already shaking that was causing him to shake. He couldn’t tell anymore. He felt like his legs were going to give out. He was holding in his panic attack. “Ox...Oxf-ford,” he stuttered until he felt a tiny hand crawl up his sleeve and grab at his arm, the closest it could get to his hand. He gave a small smile realizing what Sunny was trying to do. What would Violet do? He asked himself again. As he took a deep breath. “Oxford, obviously,” he said confidently.

Olaf looked towards the boy crossly. “Huh? ‘Oxford’,” the villain snickered. “Sounds made-up,”

The volunteers laughed alongside Olaf as Klaus looked at everyone in disbelief. “It is not,” he whined in his regular voice. Shit. he thought as his eyes widened when he saw Olaf’s grin appear larger. If Olaf wasn’t already completely convinced that the ‘doctor’ standing before him was Klaus Baudelaire, then Klaus had just confirmed it entirely. “I..I mean,” he said resuming his deep British accent, “Dr. Medical School, may I have a peek at your list?”

Olaf smiled. “ Tell you what, ” the man snarled. “Why don’t you follow me back to my otherwise deserted office, and I’ll make you a copy,” before Klaus could decline that offer, he began to roughly poke at Klaus’ chest and stomach as if trying to find exactly where Sunny was at. After Olaf had poked him three times, Klaus could hear a tiny, but fearful whimper as he swatted Olaf’s hand away from his sister. He glared at Olaf, who only smiled back at him. “Looks like you could use the exercise,”

“There’s no time to lose,” Klaus explained in his disguise voice. “I have a patient in need of medicine,”

Olaf merely smirked. “That’s so funny,” he explained, his eyes shining as if he was about ready to tell a joke. “Cause so do I,”

Klaus and Sunny could both feel their hearts shift in their chests. Klaus became speechless.

“Maybe you can assist me with my patient,” Olaf suggested with a shrug of his shoulders. “I mean if you care. ”

“I...I…” Klaus started. “I would love to…”

Olaf grabbed ahold of Klaus’ arm. “Alrighty then, let’s go Dr. Faustus,”

“B-but,”

“But what? ” Olaf hissed glaring from Klaus to the group of volunteers, who he wished would go away so he could easily kidnap the two remaining orphans.

“My patient really needs their medicine,” Klaus explained.

“Well, my patient is in critical condition.” Olaf hissed.

Klaus’ eyes widened. No, she’s not. He wouldn’t harm her...he needs her alive to get her dad’s money. Klaus told himself over and over. “...my patient...desperately needs their medication,” Klaus tried again. “Or else they’ll die,”

Olaf looked ready to murder Klaus, he kept a firm grip on the boy’s arm. “I don’t know, Doctor. I feel like it’d be a lot easier for everyone involved if you were to come with me, right now.”  Olaf tried to pull Klaus along but the thirteen-year-old stood in defiance, pulling back.  Olaf let out a low growl and a heavy sigh. He leaned in closer to Klaus’ ear. “But Doctor Faustus, my patient is dying to see you,” the vile man hissed loud enough for both Klaus and Sunny to hear but apparently not loud enough where any of the Volunteers Fighting Disease could hear him. Sunny gave another low whimper as Klaus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Do not break down. You are stronger than he is. What would Violet do?

“Dr. Medical-School, my patient is in urgent need of their medicine,” he said again, this time agitated. Olaf looked at him in shock as the young boy roughly shook his arm from the man’s grasp. As he repeated himself, Olaf rolled his eyes as the bookworm spoke. Klaus turned towards the volunteers, “and...you...you wouldn’t want all these witnesses to know you let a patient die on your watch now, would you, Dr. Medical School.” Klaus rolled his eyes at his enemy’s ridiculous disguise name.

Olaf angrily sighed and glared at Klaus, who glared back at him. Olaf’s eye twitched in annoyance as Klaus was pushing down all his fear.  It was a quick glare off, but Klaus was doing his very best to show Olaf that right now, he means business. That right now, with Violet down for the count, Klaus was the one that he shouldn’t mess with. It might not have been working to the degree that Klaus was hoping but it was keeping Olaf from downright snatching him and Sunny. Klaus just prayed that Esme wouldn’t show up or anyone else in Olaf’s vile troupe that would serve as back-up.

“You both seem pretty legit, to be honest,” Brandon said cheerfully. “You’re both wearing medical coats.”

Both Klaus and Olaf gave the man a puzzled look but didn’t say anything. “Just a quick glance,” Klaus said to Olaf. He watched as the villain smirked.

“Fine,” he said. “I like a challenge, anyway,” he muttered, shrugging his shoulders. Klaus heard him loud and clear but he was too distracted by wanting to get his hands on the patient list that he didn’t have time to question or imagine what Olaf meant by that. He gave Klaus a taunting smile as he held up his clipboard. Klaus reached out for it as Olaf spun it around quickly still keeping a firm grasp on it. Olaf lowered the clipboard and his hands so Klaus had no way of getting the list. “ There, ” he said slyly towards Klaus. “I saved a life today.”

Klaus was speechless as he stared at Olaf. “B...but...I didn’t…” he said in his regular voice.

“Sorry, you asked for a quick glance,” Olaf explained slyly, with a shrug of his shoulders. Olaf grabbed onto Klaus’ shoulder again, leaning in once more to whisper to the teen boy. “Don’t worry though, I’ll see you real soon,” he whispered as he patted Klaus on the back. The narcissistic man glanced up at the volunteers who were about to start clapping for him. “Please hold your applause,” he said as he gave Klaus a small wave. Klaus watched in disbelief as Olaf began walking away. “I’m just doing my job,” Olaf said as he passed through the group of volunteers, not even glancing back at the disguised children. “I mean, you could applaud a little bit,” he told the volunteers as they clapped and cheered him on. A smile grew on the vicious man’s face.

“But...but...my patient…” Klaus cried out in his disguise voice.

Olaf continued down the hall. “I have to attend to mine, Dr. Faustus,” he called back, still not turning around. “She’s a real...special one.”

“But…” the young boy cried out as Olaf turned the corner.

“The camaraderie at this hospital is really inspiring,” Brandon explained as he turned back to his fellow volunteers. “ Tra la la, fiddle dee dee. Hope you get well soon. Ha ha ha. Hee Hee Hee.” they sang as they walked away, leaving the two Baudelaire orphans alone.

Klaus took the opportunity to breathe heavily, allowing all the fear that he was holding back, finally come up to the surface. He trembled and shook rapidly. “I can’t do anything right,” he muttered to himself. He ran his hand through his hair nervously. He glanced down the empty hallway. He felt tears falling from his face. “I had one job. One fucking job and I failed. Just like always.” Klaus was trying to calm his nerves but he kept hearing Olaf’s warning in his head. “Now...we’ll never get our hands on that list.”  he cried

“Wouldn’t say that,” Sunny said from inside Klaus’ medical coat.

Before he could question what his little sister meant, he watched her two tiny arms reach out from the bottom of his medical coat. When he saw what was in Sunny’s hands he didn’t have to ask for further explanation, he gave a small smile as he gently took Olaf’s patient list from Sunny’s hands. “Sunny, you are amazing,” he said happily.

“I know,” Sunny said. “I wish I could see his face,” she started giggling. “When he realizes.”

Just as she said that both children jumped in shock when they heard a loud, angry, inhumane growl from several hallways away followed by the sound of someone throwing a clipboard at a glass window, resulting in the window shattering.

“I think he just realized,” Klaus said laughing a bit.

Sunny burst out laughing. “Honestly, didn’t take as long as I thought,” she said in between her laughs. “I guess he does have a brain.”

The two children’s laughter halted when they heard a very loud, “ That’s it!”

“Shit,” Sunny muttered.

“I think we should hide now,” Klaus suggested.

“Good plan,” she said as she felt Klaus hurriedly walked into a supply closet. Like a church bell, coffin, and a vat of melted chocolate, a supply closet is rarely a comfortable place to hide, and this supply closet was no exception. When Klaus shut the door of the closet behind him, the two Baudelaire orphans found themselves in a small, cramped room lit only by one flickering lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. On one wall was a row of white medical coats hanging from hooks and on the opposite wall was a rusty sink where one could wash one’s hands before examining a patient. The rest of the closest was full of huge cans of alphabet soup for patients’ lunches, and small boxes of rubber bands, which the children could not imagine came in very handy in a hospital. He quickly unbuttoned his disguise to give his sister a chance to stretch her legs and breathe. He slowly untied the harness that held Sunny. Sunny slid down with ease as Klaus took off the fake beard and placed it to the side. “Well, it’s not comfortable, but at least nobody will find us in here.”

“Here’s hoping,” Sunny said as she kept an eye on the door behind her brother.

He began quickly scanning the page, reading off every name as quickly as he could. He flipped over the list with desperation. His hands beginning to tremble. Klaus had quickly noticed that the names were not in alphabetical order, which is the exact reason he began to read every single name on the list. Desperately looking for ‘Violet Snicket’ somewhere on the list. He flipped the page over and started again, believing he accidentally skipped over his sister’s name but as Klaus read the patient list for the third time, he could feel his heart sinking in his stomach. He angrily set the patient list down, half-tempted to rip it to shreds, but deciding against it. “ She’s not here.” he cried as he looked down at Sunny. “Violet’s name is nowhere on this list. How are we going to find her in this huge hospital, if we can’t figure out which ward she’s in?”

“Alias?” Sunny suggested as she glanced at the list. She wasn’t able to read like Klaus could but she knew her sister’s location was somewhere on this list.

“Good thinking,” Klaus replied. “Count Olaf often uses a ridiculous fake name.”

“Medical-School,” Sunny said rolling her eyes.

“Maybe...he made up a new name for Violet, so we couldn’t rescue her. But which person is Violet?” Klaus said.

Sunny shrugged her shoulders.

Klaus looked to Sunny with a frown on his face. “How are we going to figure out which name is hers?” he asked desperately as he was interrupted by the sound of crackly laughter, coming from over the Baudelaires’ heads. The two children nervously looked up and saw the square intercom speaker had been installed on the ceiling. “Attention!” Mattathias called out when he had stopped laughing. “Dr. Flacutono and associates, please report to the administrative office. Dr. Flacutono and associates, please report to the administrative office to prepare for your operation. ”

“Flacutono!” Sunny repeated.

“I recognize that name, too…but not entirely...it’s a little fuzzy,” Klaus explained. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t that the false name Olaf’s henchman used in Paltryville?”

“Yep,” Sunny said frantically. “He said operation. What does he mean by that?”

But Klaus closed his eyes to concentrate, ignoring Sunny’s question.

“Klaus!” Sunny shrieked worriedly, not understanding why her brother had closed his eyes. “Our big sister is in grave danger! We have to find her!”

But again, Klaus didn’t answer his younger sister. He kept his eyes half-closed behind his glasses as they often were when he was trying to remember something that he had read. “Flacutono,” Klaus muttered quietly. “Flac-u-to-no,” His eyes shot open with realization as he frantically reached into his pocket, where he was keeping all the important papers he had gathered since his troubles first began. “Al Funcoot,” he said and took out one of the pages of Duncan’s notebooks. It was the page that had written on it the word ‘anagram’ a phrase that Klaus hadn’t understood until his big sister explained it to him. Boy, was he glad that she did? Klaus looked at the torn note and then at the list of patients as he continued to mutter ‘Flacutono’. Then he finally looked at Sunny, and she could see his eyes grow wide behind his glasses, the way they always did when he had read something very difficult, and understood it at last.

“Brain blast?” Sunny asked smiling.

“Why do you and Violet keep comparing me to Jimmy Neutron?” Klaus laughed as Sunny shrugged.  “Doesn’t matter. What matters is I think I know how to find Violet,” Klaus said slowly as he glanced around the small closet. “But I’ll need your teeth, Sunshine.”

“Ready,” Sunny said, opening her mouth.

Klaus smiled and handed Sunny a can of alphabet soup. “Open this can of soup and hurry.”

Sunny took the can of soup from Klaus, looking at him confused. “No time to eat!” she screeched dumbfoundedly glancing at the can angrily. She didn’t understand what Klaus wanted with the soup but she was becoming angry with his refusal to take this seriously.

“We’re not going to eat it,” Klaus said calmly, kneeling down to Sunny’s level. “Look, Sunshine, I know I’m not good at making plans like you and Violet but trust me, please.” He put a gentle hand on his younger sister’s shoulder. “I need one of us to believe in me, and right now, it’s not going to be me. Can you do that for me?” he asked her.

Sunny looked from the can of soup to her brother still utterly confused but when she glanced at her brother’s sad eyes, she could tell that he was desperately pleading with her to give him confidence. The confidence that he needed to save Violet. She gave him a toothy grin as she began using her teeth to open the soup can for him.

“Thank you, Sunny,” Klaus said as she handed him the now opened can. He walked over to the sink and began to pour most of the contents of the can down the drain, making sure to keep all of the alphabet-shaped noodles.

“I’m still very lost,” Sunny admitted.

“Remember what Violet taught us about anagrams?” Klaus asked as he began to frantically search for the letters that make up his sister’s name. Sunny nodded her head. “Well, she was right. It’s not a person’s name. An anagram is when you move the letters around in a word or phrase to make another word or phrase.”

“Uh-huh,” Sunny said nodding her head slowly.

“Here, let me give you an example,” Klaus said. “You know how Mattathias was just calling for a Dr. Flacutono. Well, if we move the letters around in the name ‘Flacutono’, we get…” He lifted Sunny up and held her to his hip as he frantically moved the noodles around to change ‘Flacutono’ to a new word. Once he was done, he turned towards Sunny. “Can you read what that says, Sunshine?”

Sunny gasped as she read the two words that were now made up of the noodle letters. “Count Olaf,” she said angrily.

“Exactly,” Klaus said.

“Still kinda confusing,” Sunny said.

“Don’t worry, it’s confusing for me, too,” Klaus admitted as he sat Sunny down next to the noodles. “That’s why the alphabet soup will come in handy. Olaf uses anagrams when he wants to hide something, and right now, he’s hiding our sister. I bet she’s somewhere on this list, but her name’s been scrambled up. The soup is going to help us unscramble her name.”

Sunny slowly nodded her head.

“See, it’s difficult to figure out anagrams if you can’t move the letters around. Normally, alphabet blocks and lettered tiles would be perfect, but alphabet noodles will do in a pinch.” Klaus sighed. “We may need another can of soup,” he said handing her another can.

Sunny grinned, showing all of her sharp teeth and then swung her head down onto the can of soup. Both siblings remembering the day when she had learned to open cans all by herself. It was not that long ago, although for the two Baudelaires it felt like it was in the very distant past because it was before the Baudelaire mansion burned down when the entire family was happy, alive, and together. It was the Baudelaires’ mother’s birthday and she was sleeping late while Klaus and Sunny had offered to help their father bake a cake. Klaus was beating the eggs, butter, and sugar with a mixer as well as sifting the flour with the cinnamon, pausing every few minutes to wipe his glasses. While their father was making his famous cream cheese frosting, which would be spread thickly on top of the cake. All was going well until the electric can opener broke and their father didn’t have the proper tools to fix it. But he desperately needed to open a can of condensed milk to make his frosting, and for a moment it looked like the cake was going to be ruined. But Sunny, who had been quietly playing on the floor this whole time, looked up at her father and her brother and uttered her second word, “Bite”. Lifting her hand towards her father. Her father glanced down at his daughter and then back at his son, who shrugged his shoulders and said ‘it’s worth a try.’ Bertrand then handed Sunny the can of condensed milk and both male Baudelaires watched in awe as Sunny bit down on the can, poking for small holes so the sweet, thick milk could pour out. The two male Baudelaires looked at one another, smiled, laughed, and applauded. “That’s my girl,” Bertrand had said to Sunny as he lifted her up and held her close as he set the can on the counter. From then on, the family used Sunny whenever they needed to open a can of anything, except for beets which Sunny wasn’t particularly fond of. Now as the youngest Baudelaire bit along the edge of the can of alphabet soup, she wondered if one of her parents had really survived the fire. And she wondered if that someone would be her father. She missed both her parents and would love either one of them back in her life, although if she had a choice, she’d choose both. But Sunny had a slightly closer bond with her father and she missed their poetry hours and the way that he would toss her in the air and catch her. Klaus would never do that for her, he was always afraid he would drop her and her mother would never toss her high enough for Sunny to get the adrenaline rush that she loved so much. Her father would though. He trusted himself as much as Sunny trusted him to catch her each and every time. Sunny wondered if she dared get her hopes up just because of something Jacques Snicket had said on the Snicket file. What if the survivor is neither Baudelaire parent? What if it was Lemony? Sunny pondered if Lemony would adopt her and Klaus. Surely, he would. She told herself. He had helped them out before they had even met Violet. She wondered if Lemony did adopt them if he would toss her in the air like her father or recite poetry to her if she asked. She remembered when she had been tossed by Orwell back at Paltryville and how Lemony had caught her. She felt as though she could trust him. Besides, if Lemony was anything like his daughter, Sunny would trust him with her life in a heartbeat. Sunny glanced up at her brother who was hard at work looking for specific letters to spell their sister’s name that she wondered if the three siblings would ever have another chance to just be happy.

“Klaus…” Sunny said after a minute.

“Yeah, Sunshine…” Klaus replied, not looking up from his work.

She sighed. She wanted to ask him who he thought the survivor was but she decided against it, she decided that maybe she and Klaus can discuss that later when Violet is back in their arms again. She could still feel the cold metal of her sister's locket pressed against her chest and Sunny wanted nothing more to place the locket around Violet's neck, in its rightful place. “Nevermind,” she muttered.

Klaus finally was able to get all of the letters that he needed to spell Violet Snicket. He placed all the letters on top of another can so they could move them around. “Let’s take another look at the list of patients. Mattathias announced an operation so we should check the Surgical Ward section first just to narrow down our search.

Sunny nodded her head as Klaus scanned through the names on the list. “Goddammit!” he yelled slamming his fist on the counter near Sunny. Sunny jumped in shock.

“You okay?”

“Every fucking patient on this list has a name that looks like an anagram! How in the world are we gonna sort through all these names before it’s too late to help Violet?” he asked.

“V?” Sunny said.

“Sunny, you’re a genius. Any name that doesn’t have a ‘V’ in it can’t be an anagram for ‘Violet Snicket’.” Klaus said. “We could cross those off the list...if we had a pen, that is.”

Sunny reached thoughtfully in the pocket of Klaus’ medical coat and thankfully found a ballpoint pen. With a grin, Sunny handed the pen to Klaus, who quickly crossed out the names without Vs. “Okay, four names are left on the list,” Klaus said happily. “Albert K. Devilsenia, Ada O. Uservillet, Kit Litencoves, Ed Valiantsue. This makes it so much easier. Now let’s move around the letters in violet’s name and see if we can spell out ‘Albert K. Devilsenia. First.”

Working carefully to avoid breaking them, Klaus began to move the noodles he and Sunny had taken out of the soup, and soon learned that ‘Albert K. Devilsenia’ and ‘Violet Snicket’ were not anagrams. They weren’t even close. Klaus was able to spell out Violet’s first name but not her last name.

“Albert must be an actual sick person,” Klaus said in disappointment. “Let’s try to spell out Ada O. Uservillet.”

Once again, Klaus hurriedly shifted noodles, a faint and damp sound that made the children think of something slimy emerging from a swamp. It was, however, a far nicer sound than the one that interrupted their anagram decoding.

“Attention! Attention!” Mattathias’ voice sounded particularly snide as it called for attention.

“Oh, what does he want now?” Klaus muttered angrily.

“The Surgical Ward is now closed. Only Dr. Flacutono and his associates will be allowed into the ward until the patient is dead...I mean, until the operation is over. That is all.”

“Velocity!” Sunny screamed.

“I know we have to hurry!” Klaus cried. “I’m moving these noodles as quickly as I can, Sunny! Ada O. Uservillet isn’t right either!” He turned to the list of patients again to see who was next, and accidentally hit the noodles with his elbow, knocking it to the floor with a moist splat! Sunny glanced down as Klaus began to cry. “Can't I do anything right?” he cried as he tried to pick up the noodles that had once spelled out Violet’s name. But as he tried to pick up each noodle, they fell apart in his fingers, which only caused him to cry harder.

“It’s okay,” Sunny said, leaning down a bit to rub the top of Klaus’ head.

“No, it’s not. She’s going to die. She’s going to die because I can’t do anything right,” Klaus muttered. “She’s going to die just like her father and it’s all my fault,”

“We’ll save her,”

Klaus glanced up at his baby sister who was still perched on top of the counter above him. “How? How Sunny?”

“One more name,” she said pointing to the only name Klaus didn’t cross off the list. “It has to be her.”

“Not necessarily,” Klaus explained. “He could have put her in a different ward.”

“We can try it,” Sunny explained handing Klaus the pen and the list.

“Kit Litencoves?” Klaus said aloud. “Doesn’t Violet have an aunt named Kit?”

“I think so,”

“This might be her then,” Klaus said as he hurriedly wrote out his sister’s name on the patient list and then crossed out each letter that her name and the last name of the list shared. In a matter of seconds, the name of their elder sister transformed into Kit Litencoves. “It’s her,” he said happily before jumping to his feet and hugging his younger sister. “Sunny! We found her! Everything’s going to be okay!” he cried happily, a grin of triumph appearing on his face.

Sunny smiled as she returned the hug. “I knew you could do it,” she said slowly.

Klaus looked back at Sunny. “Thanks for believing in me, Sunshine. But I can’t take all the credit. If you didn’t use your teeth to open the soup I would’ve been here forever trying to unscramble these names with my mind.”

“It was nothing,”

“Plus...you didn’t let me give up.”

“Just us.” she reminded her brother.

“Just you, Violet, and me.” Klaus reiterated as he read the room number that Olaf and Esme were holding Violet in. “But let’s not congratulate ourselves entirely just yet. We have a big sister to save. It says that Kit Litencoves is in Room 922 of the Surgical Ward.”

“But Olaf closed that,” Sunny said sadly.

“Then we’ll have to open it,” Klaus said grimly as he began to tie the harness around him once more. “You ready to go back in?” he asked his sister gesturing to the harness.

“If it means saving Vi, yes,” Sunny said as she patiently waited for Klaus to tie the harness around himself and check to see if he had tightened it correctly before standing up on the counter and holding out her arms for her brother to grab her. He placed his sister into their conjoined disguise as he placed the fake beard back upon his face.

As he buttoned his medical coat, Klaus couldn’t help but feel happy. We’re saving her. The three of us are going to be okay. We just gotta get Violet, get the fuck out of here, and find the survivor. He smiled thinking about the survivor, whom he believed to be his mother. He could not wait to be in his mother’s arms again and to maybe even see her murder Olaf and Esme for putting her children through hell. He wondered how angry she’d be at him, though. For letting Olaf kidnap Sunny and ultimately breaking his promise. But maybe she’d be too distracted by meeting her eldest child that she won’t be too mad at him.  Klaus sighed as he buttoned up the last button.

“You good, Sunny?” he whispered to her.

“Yep! Let’s go!” she cheered.

Klaus took a deep breath as he opened the supply closet door and walked out into the hallway. He glanced around the hallway determining how to get to Room 922. He was on a mission to save his older sister before it was too late.

_____________________________________________________________

Olaf grinned towards Violet as he watched her struggle against her restraints. She didn’t know what he was planning but it couldn’t be anything good if Esme and his entire troupe were here in the same room.

“What are you going to do to me, you fucks!” Violet screeched. “Klaus and Sunny will find me!”

Olaf rolled his eyes and laughed. “How many times do I have to tell you, they aren’t coming to rescue you. They left you with me to do whatever I please.”

“ You’re lying!” She screamed. “They...they wouldn’t… You have to be lying!” Violet’s tears were flowing down her face as the two white-faced women came into the room pushing in the anesthetic machine.

“We found the anesthesia machine,” one of the white-faced women said happily.

“This makes me see colored bubbles,” the other said as she inhaled more aesthesia.

Violet watched in horror as the woman handed Olaf the mask. “No! No!” Violet cried as she began to struggle harder. “ Klaus! Sunny!” she screamed as loud as she could.

Olaf rolled his eyes again. “She doesn’t listen very well,” Esme muttered. The vile woman turned to Violet gripping her face in her hand, pressing her long fingernails into Violet’s bruised cheeks. “Didn’t you hear my boyfriend? They. Left. You.” She said simply, enunciating every word.

“ No! They wouldn’t! They’re my siblings!” Violet cried desperately. “ They wouldn’t leave me! They know what you would do!”

Olaf smirked as Esme cackled viciously. “That’s what makes this even better…” Esme began.

Olaf pushed Esme’s hand away from Violet’s face so he can get up close and personal to her once more. “ You’re right. He does know. He knows just how evil I can be...and he left you.” The vile man hissed. “He left you just Like Beatrice...because face it, deary, to the Baudelaires...you are nothing. ” he stroked her cheek as he spoke, causing her to cry more. “So tell me, Violet, was sacrificing yourself from them truly worth it?”

“I’ve said it once...I’ll say it again, I’m finishing the job my father was unable to!” she screamed, spitting on the vile man once more. She quickly turned her head and spit towards Esme, who began to panic and scream. He growled as he wiped his face handing the towel to Esme, who was still screaming. Then both villians turned to the young girl and took turns slapping her with all their might. Olaf slapped her and her head jolted to the left and then Esme slapped her causing her head to jolt to the right.

He took a deep breath. “We are going to fix that delinquent behavior once and for all.”

“ Surgically,” Esme said smiling as she turned on the anesthetic machine. Violet continued to struggle, ignoring the pain she felt in her cheeks from where Olaf and Esme had slapped her. She knew the effort was fruitless, she was so helplessly outnumbered. She began to shake her head this way and that. She was desperate. She was frantic. She didn’t understand Olaf’s plan at all. But she knew that she had to fight. She looked upwards at Olaf’s henchpeople, looking more towards the Hook-Handed Man who had purposely stayed with her whenever Olaf was trying to be alone with the kidnapped girl. She still wondered why he looked vaguely familiar to her as if she had seen him before. She looked up at the troupe with pleading eyes as Olaf grabbed her cheeks once more.

“Don’t you know how to be a good girl?” he asked her, his tone sending chills down her spine and making her entirely uncomfortable. “Don’t you wanna behave? If you cooperate I’ll be extra nice to those pesky younger orphans when I find them. I won’t skin them alive if you stop struggling.”

Violet whined when Olaf squeezed her cheeks roughly. He leaned in uncomfortably close to her. “Do we have a deal?” He asked.

Violet whined again. Unable to answer with him grabbing her face like he was. He slowly released his grip on her. Tears fell from her eyes. “ You have me…” she whimpered, her eyes pleading with him and Esme as her arms and legs gave out and stopped struggling from the exhaustion. “... you don’t need them.”

“Such a noble girl,” Olaf said caressing her bruised cheek. “Always putting those brats before yourself just like your dear father.”

“Leave him out of this…” Violet cried meekly.

“I still wonder if the bookworm would have done the same,” Olaf mused.

“Oh, puh-lease. Have you met that sniveling little coward?” Esme mocked. “He would've sold her out in a snap!” she laughed, snapping her fingers in Violet’s face for emphasis.

“ Maybe it would take some convincing,” Olaf argued before beginning to laugh. He glanced down at his captive, who was now crying. “ Only because you would’ve had Sunny.”

Olaf grabbed the mask once more and Esme grabbed Violet’s face. “ No! No! I don’t...I don’t want to die...please!” Violet cried. She desperately tried to move her tired and restrained limbs but it was no use. She tried to move her head rapidly, to loosen Esme’s grasp. But that, too,was no use. Esme held her face roughly and in place as Olaf began to place the mask over her face.

“Oh, you won’t die,” Olaf replied.

“We’ll see,” Esme whispered, smiling viciously at Violet.

“See, we’re only going to pretend to kill you,” Olaf explained. “And when you wake up, we’ll see who was right. If you wake up, alone, well we’ll know that I was right when I told you that the Baudelaires don’t give a damn about you.” He cooed mockingly, wiping tears from her eyes. “And if you wake up to two beaten, bloodied, broken, but barely still alive orphans with you then we’ll know that you were right.”

Violet’s eyes widened when he had described what condition she might find her siblings in. “ No! Please! I’ll do whatever you want just leave them alone!” she cried, her voice wracked with desperation.

The villains merely laughed at her as they worked together to put the mask on her face. “Hold still, now, Violet,” Esme ordered.

“ What...what’s going to happen to me? ” she cried worriedly. Scanning the room for a decent human being. She tried to scratch at her wrist restraints but her hands didn’t reach far enough. Violet began screaming for help.

“Scream all you want, darling,” Esme mocked. “ No one is coming to save you.”

Finally, Olaf and Esme got the mask on Violet. The young girl tried to shake her head hard enough to get the mask to move. But Esme covered the mask with her hand, pushing down onto the girl’s mouth.

Violet continued to struggle although her body seemed to weigh more but her mind seemed to focus less. Violet tried her best to hold her breath and not inhale the anesthesia, but it was no use. She’s slowly becoming weaker and weaker due to the effects of the anesthetic. “He’ll save me! She’ll kill you!” she tried to yell but her screams were muffled. Violet was fighting the urge to close her eyes. Her eyelids were becoming extremely heavy. Her mind was slowly fading into fog. “They’ll…” she whimpered as her eyes began to squint. “He’ll...save me….she...she’ll...kill you…” she whimpered again as her head was becoming to foggy to stay awake and she was slowly slipping into unconsciousness.

“Shhhhh,” Olaf cooed, placing a hand on her cheek. “We’ve been through this...they left...no one’s coming to get you.”

“They’ll...Klaus...and Sun-Sunny….will…” she began as her eyes became too heavy to keep open at all. Esme relieved the pressure of the mask on the girl’s face. Violet slowly shook her head.

“Shhhh,” Olaf cooed, “It’ll all be over soon.”

“They’ll…” she cried again, tears were beginning to fall down her face once more. “... Dad...help...me...like...you….helped...them!” she tried to scream, but her voice was weak. Her voice was desperate and frantic. She shook her head sharply to the right. “... Dad...I’m sorry...please save….save me...Mr….Mr...Lemons….” she cried as she shook her head sharply to the left. She was trying to push the mask off of her head but to no avail.

“Shhhhh. Count backward from ten,” Olaf instructed.

“ L-lemon...man...I...I...can’t do...I can’t….do this...with...without...you,” she cried.as loud as she could with the mask affecting her and her fighting the anesthetic.

Both vile villains looked at one another confused and then back at Violet, who continued begging for her dad to save her. They weren’t aware of the fact that Jacques Snicket had suspected there was a survivor of a fire and Violet’s mind was too foggy to care about whether or not she was giving them this information or not. She turned her head towards the hospital door, she stretched her fingers out as far as she could as if she were reaching for her father.

“... Dad...your lit-little...girl...she...needs...you.” she pleaded. “ Don’t...please...don’t let….them kill me.”

“Your father is dead,” Olaf reminded her after his fit of laughter.

“And soon you will be, too,” Esme whispered bitterly, smirking at the young girl.

“ Dad...I don’t….I don’t...hate you,” she cried. “... save me…”

“He can’t save you, I burned him to a crisp remember?” Olaf asked continuing to laugh.

“ No!” she cried, her eyes rolling in her head. Her cries were no longer loud, but they were all the more desperate and emotional. “H-he...he’s going...to find...you...and kill...you,”

Olaf burst out laughing.

“ Lemon man!” she cried as loud as she could. “ Mr. Lemons!”

“Darling, absolutely no one is coming to save you,” Esme hissed as she waved her hand at Violet.

“ Dad...I need you…” she whimpered as she felt her fingertips go numb. Her wrist fell limp at the edge of the gurney and a few seconds later, her eyes shut completely. The last thing she could remember was the wicked laughter of Esme Squalor and the feel of Olaf’s hand stroking her cheek once more.

Olaf glanced towards his troupe. “Get the girl to the operating theatre. Get it prepared for our special guest,” he ordered as the henchperson of Indeterminate Gender began to roll Violet’s gurney out of Room 922. The White-Faced Women followed along pushing the anesthetic machine. Olaf looked to the Hook-Handed Man and the Bald Man. “You two, make sure that operating theatre is equipped with the scariest and sharpest medical tools you can find. And don’t let any unauthorized personnel on that stage!”

Esme folded her arms. “And what can I do?”

Olaf smirked. “You...can do what you do best,” he replied. “You’re going to capture the two remaining orphans and bring them to me,”

Esme rolled her eyes. “ Finally!” she screeched. “I can get my hands on my sugar bowl.”

“Just...get them to the operating theater and then we’ll get your damn sugar bowl,” Olaf explained.

Esme huffed angrily as Olaf walked away. She glared down the hall, a smirk slowly appearing down her face as she began to devise a plan of her own.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Stars Align 5 - 8 | Dr Stone 19 - 21 | Shinchou Yuusha 6 - 8 | No Guns Life 6 - 7 | BnHA 67 | Iruma-kun 7

Stars Align 5

Geepers, I accidentally read some spoilers before watching this episode…so I realised that the person in te clubroom was Toma without his glasses, but it took me a bit to realise still.

“Makimaki”…cute.

Don’t give Maki’s father your name, Toma. Names are weapons for guys like him!

It’s ben a while since I’ve done this type of maths, although the answer appears to be correct.

Huh? The ED went straight to the teachers instead of going to Kinuyo/Ruriha/Kaori (whatever her name is)…

Oh! That heart gesture hints at the fact he has a sister (I’ve forgotten the guy’s name though) – he might’ve learnt some dance choreography from watching idols or magical girls with her. Update: That’s Shingo.

Dr Stone 19

Rule no. 2 of shonen – don’t underestimate the bishonen.

The guy who kinda looks like Kirishima with orange hair is definitely going to be important…(rule no. ???? of anime).

Ooh! The themes I thought would never came back…came back!

Some people do consider underpaying people a modern form of slavery, y’know.

Does Tsukasa always have to be called “the strongest primate”, though…? It’s a badass title, to be sure, but it certainly wouldn’t be said a lot in a normal conversation.

Judging by the flame (homura) she carries, I’d wager her name is Homu-oh, dangit. Her name really is Homura!

Senku teaches Fire Safety 101.

Ginro’s not holding his bokuto (wooden kendo practice sword) anymore…hmm.

I didn’t think Sulfuric Acid lady would be back…ever.

The funny thing is that Tsukasa seems to be a gender-neutral name, so telling the brawny men to “go suck on Mommy Tsukasa’s teat”…LOL.

Hyoga has that mask thing of his anyway, so he’s probably better off than, say, Homura.

Is that a Death Star??????!!!!

Kensaku means “search”.

Cell phone…you’d need extensive knowledge of electronics and/or IT and architecture (for the larger networks, or at least the towers) to get one running.

“…who’ll be our double agent?” – No duh. It’s either Gen (as suggested in the scene just before) or Taiju and/or Yuzuriha.

I never thought a smartphone would make me feel sad for what has gone before, but it just did when all these quotes from the past came through.

Okay, so one of the ingredients is steel (hagane).

I love how Gen gets the wine image. He’s a stage magician, so his fancy suit matches the image of a sommelier.

Byakuya seems to be the one represented in the battery image.

BnHA 67

Yay! Amajiki, my booooooooooy!

Shinchou Yuusha 6

I never thought I’d say this to my seasonal husbandos – I don’t even say this about zaShunina, the random yandere – but…Seiya, you a**hole!

Lemme guess…Seiya’s gonna use some speed seeds?

I read on Leviae’s status earlier that she has an immunity towards fire…*gulp*

A nurikabe is a wall youkai that blocks travel, while a hyosube lives in a river and eats rice plants.

What’s the age gap between Mash and Elulu? I know Mash is hot enough (in the manga) to be compltly within my range, so I’d say he’s about 16 at the youngest, but Elulu is, what, 12…? Update: There’s no real indication as to what the characters’ ages are, but Mash is lvl 16 and Elulu is lvl 8.

Ooh, this is new! Seiya’s thrown caution to the wind for once for the sake of Elulu!

No Guns Life 6

“Strong Smells” (on the can) – Yep, Olivier seems to be proving that name right.

Motor City…I didn’t really care for it at first, but now I’m starting to warm up to it.

Ooh, it seems the implication here is that Olivier inherited the title of EMS commander from her dad.

“…I’m gonna get shot!” - I guess when you’ve got a gun for a head, the assumption is you’re gonna get shot.

Armed Tokisada seems to be this world’s version of All Might…(but then is Juzo Deku? LOL.)

Iruma-kun 7

This OP is a lot more battle-oriented than I remember…

I want a GIF of sparkly Amelie, stat!

Iruma’s voice as Rin is too CUTE! LOL!

Kawaii Comics, LOL.

Ooh! I can recognise Opera by his nail polish now…! His nail polish appears to be purple today.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Opera express his own concern for Iruma until now. Maybe he’s like a surrogate mother to Iruma by now…?

They even have monsters to call out bell noises…LOL wut.

Hmm…I just realised Azz speaks to Iruma rather formally. Not just the –sama, but the keigo as well.

Azz is rather observant too…(Seriously, I swear he’s been teetering on the edge of being my husbando from this show, but since he’s so subservient, it’s a bit of a hard concept to grasp. Not to mention the guy is, what, 14…?)

Even the shadows of background characters are blue and pink…

The little arrow over Clara really sells the moment.

The bird is so cute~!

I only realised it this year, but boba is really in, all over the world, for young people. *stares at all the boba shops that have appeared around my area lately*

I think Ameri = watashi and Iruma = boku. It’s politeness all the way ‘round. I think Sabro might’ve used ore.

“Don’t let go. Desire is your life.” – Sarazanmai ad <- I think this quote is appropriate for this episode.

Oh! We see Kuromu the Akudol in the ED…I didn’t realise that. (<- knows about her due to spoilers)

Oh! I think next episode might be Clara’s seduction class! Ooh! Interesting…

Dr Stone 20

Come to the dark side, we have candy…amirite???

Dr Stone 21

The pun here is that tou is a way to pronounce “copper” and “steal”, so Chrome copped copper in the Eng subs.

Couldn’t Ginro just use the word “s***” instead? That would’ve made the pun a lot better, tbh.

Thy translated all the dialogue in the fake menus! Yay! (<- translator’s brain showing up) For instance, Senku’s attack is listed as 1 while Suika’s is 3 and Gen’s is 5…LOL. The one that really made me laugh was “Runs away the second he knows he’s at a disadvantage. You’re scum, Ginro!”

Magma wasn’t in the fake game menu…!!! (I like how Magma questioned how Senku suddenly started calling him a “friend”.)

No Guns Life 7

I feel like the length of time between distracting the guard and Tetsuro conveying his plan was a bit much, but…okay.

Shinchou Yuusha 7

LOL, Beel Bub…y’know, Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies.

If Seiya were watching No Guns Life, he’d freak out…

Is that Cerceus in the back-yep, thought so!

Shinchou Yuusha 8

I almost expected Rosalie to woof…that’s how doglike she is!

Why do I get the feeling we’ll 1) find out what the Warmaster looks like next ep and 2) find out Rosalie’s armour is actually the armour Seiya’s meant to look for…? I could be wrong, but my intuition has some chance of being correct, even if I think up stuff that’s pure speculation…

Stars Align 6

Does Yonex sponsor this show, like Mikasa for Harukana Receive…?

LOL, Mitsue’s reaction.

If this were the Amazing Race, the hometown advantage would suck…but this is Hoshiai no Sora, so this could go either way.

“How to Soft Tennis” indeed…sic.

Wait, who’s Takada…? Update: She’s on the girls’ team, IIRC.

The Takenouchi/Souga pair is a bunch of trolls…LOL.

Oji seems to be the leader, full stop. Same way Katsuragi has been running things.

It’s been a few weeks since I last watched this show, but…is Oji the guy who threatened to punch them all…? He is, isn’t he…?

Stars Align 7

I feel like Mitsue’s bitterness is fuelled by personal experience in the manga field…

Well, the guy’s name isn’t Arashi (storm) for nothing! Update: The guy’s name is in katakana, which may or may not prove my point…

Arashi’s surname sounds like the Japanese word for “prince”, if you’re wondering.

I LOLled so hard at the line “Versus Arashi?” Y’see, there’s this game show with a group called Arashi. Therefore, its name is “Versus Arashi”.

I learnt most of what I know about tennis from Wii Sports, LOL.

I mentally cringed when I saw Itsuki’s burns again…

“…years and experience.” – That’s two things, Tacky!

Souya from Planet With would be in heaven here…what with all this meat.

Doesn’t “Kamuy” mean “god” in Ainu…? That Ouji, so conceited! *huffs at how arrogant the boy is*

Girls do eat like fiends…LOL.

I can’t believe 7 episodes in real life time was only a month in Stars Align time…

Yuta’s really sensitive to Toma’s mood…probably because the former likes the latter. (Yeah, I’m a derp for saying what we already know.)

Stars Align 8

I-I wanna cry…you do realise I gave up piano halfway through high school, only to become an absolute bum when I got into higher levels because I can’t use my piano lessons to demonstrate I can manage my time responsibly anymore???? I quit Chinese the same year and now it’s the one thing that’s preventing me from getting a bunch of beneficial opportunities because now there are so many Chinese people in my region! Studies are not your life! (distant crying can be heard in the background)

I kinda get where the mother’s going with this, but knowing what I know…please compromise, you two.

“The handsome half” – I wasn’t sure what that meant until I saw the image…”half” meaning ha-fu, or a person who’s half Japanese half something else. It’s like calling someone gweilow in Cantonese –it’s vaguely derogatory at the very minimum.

*Yuta’s sisters suggest clothes for him to wear* “Don’t tell mom about this.” – Oh, I have a bad feeling about this…(Then again, I got vaguely spoiled for this point by the This Week in Anime segment…that’s why I decided to watch 3 episodes in one shot.)

Maki’s shirt says “to continue”, as if it’s echoing his nonchalance. Like, “Yuta, please continue” or something like that.

To be real with you, the first resource I consulted to start thinking about the LGBTIQ+ spectrum (outside gender-bending fiction) was a book about an FtM person, so I guess I’m the most used to that sort of thing.

This is why empathy is so good, Maki.

Go, Mitsue! Be the diversion!

Who’s “Kanacat”? Kanako?...Oh, it’s Mitsue. Rigggggggggght.*facepalm*

Why do I get the feeling Mitsue wants to join the soft tennis club…?

Sakurai-sensei’s glasses are all fogged up, LOL.

Ohh (sounds down). These kiddos are soccer nuts.*grumbles about soccer nuts*

Update: To be honest with you, I’m fine with not making hard gender decisions too…Just so you know.

[shinneth]

Gem Ascension Tropes (Peridot-specific: B)

Reference:

Primary Peri Post ▼ Primary General Post ▼ Full Article

The Baby of the Bunch: Greatly emphasized more so than in canon, to the point where it’s outright said on multiple occasions. While Peridot’s chronological age isn’t revealed until Act II, it’s no mystery she’s by far the youngest full gem of the cast, being the only Era 2 of the Crystal Gems. Her overall ignorance of what her friends lived and suffered through in Era 1 alone is more than enough for Peridot to be treated like a child. She’s notably the only full gem who absolutely isn’t a Fish out of Temporal Water in any sense of the word. Her detachment and neutrality toward figures like Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond compels Steven to not only value Peridot as an unbiased party, but see her as an equal rather than a gem to look up to as a Parental Substitute (as literally everyone else is seen by him as a surrogate mother, aunt, or big sister). Unsurprisingly, Peridot ends up becoming closer to Steven and (relatively) young gems like Amethyst than anyone else. When her actual age is revealed, it turns out Peridot is younger than Steven (by a year); fitting, as there are canon moments where even he regards her as a child below his age group. The only character in the main cast Peridot is older than is Connie – whose mental maturity is greater than hers and Steven’s combined. Despite being born a gem, Peridot (whether she likes it or not) wholly embraces this trope in all aspects of her maturity.

Badass Bookworm: Per canon; Up to Eleven in GA. She actually bonds with Connie through sharing this trope.

Badass Normal: Later becomes an Empowered Badass Normal.

Bad Liar: Peridot is so godawful at lying, even fellow bad liar Steven can’t help but facepalm at how badly she sucks at it. There’s one time she averts this, and it’s in Chapter 4 of Act I when she fools Yellow Pearl into believing she’s legitimately come back to work, when in actuality Peridot was plotting to Logic Bomb everyone’s consoles to overload and shock them hard enough to get poofed. Granted, at that time, she was heavily medicated, and it was strongly insinuated that Peridot’s Heroic Safe Mode briefly took over in this moment. As a tyrannical Homeworld gem, Peridot was very adept in deception. Since her reformation, Peridot has lost her ability to keep a straight face and tends to run her mouth in an attempt to cover her tracks when she’s really just making it more obvious that she’s either hiding something or isn’t being honest.

Bare-Handed Blade Block: Literally does this in Chapter 2 of Act III, though her fingers nearly get severed for her troubles, to prevent an energy blade of White Diamond’s from slicing her neck. She surprisingly holds out well, until White Diamond employs dirty tactics to distract Peridot long enough to overpower her.

Battle Couple: With Steven.

Be All My Sins Remembered: Deep down, Peridot is afflicted with this. Most notably in Chapter 5 of Act I when Steven calls her “great and lovable” not long after Peridot regained memories of what a Manipulative Bastard she used to be to her Homeworld colleagues. She very rarely makes it apparent to her friends, but when Peridot remembers who she was as a Homeworld gem, she’s very shell-shocked by it. Yet, at the same time, realizes she had to be as horrible as she was to get where she is today.

Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The Brains to Lapis’ Beauty and Bismuth’s Brawn.

Became Her Own Antithesis: When Peridot concedes to ascension and becomes Chartreuse Diamond in Act III, it isn’t long before she sees herself like this.

Becoming the Boast: Peridot has claimed to be the leader of the Crystal Gems on more than one occasion in canon. In GA, Peridot not only leads her fellow remaining Crystal Gems to rescue their teammates, she ends up keeping her “promotion” and co-leads the team with Garnet after the end of the main series.

Berserk Button: Messing with Steven and/or Pumpkin is a quick way to set her off. She even snaps at anyone who refers to Steven as Pink Diamond or Rose Quartz, being one of the few to never see Steven that way and knowing how much it bothers Steven personally makes her all the more insistent on this, even when she’s hardly able to do anything on her own as Celadon Diamond.

Berserker Tears: A byproduct of Peridot’s Unstoppable Rage late in Act III.

Big Heroic Run: All of the Crystal Gems technically apply for this, but it’s by far most prevalent with Peridot since she’s the one furthest behind, not only with White Diamond in pursuit, but also racing against time regarding a series of gates triggered to fall every passing minute that would trap Peridot if she isn’t running fast enough. Though she comes close to reaching the finish line, one trip leaves her trapped and stranded.

Big Little Sister: Since her post-ascension growth spurt in Act III, Peridot is now taller than 5XF, who she is 6 seconds younger than.

Big, Thin, Short Trio: The Short to Lapis’ Thin and Bismuth’s Big.

Blinded by Rage: Falls victim to this in Chapter 6 of Act III in a Moment of Weakness when she’s triggered upon catching sight of the (presumed) White Diamond’s neck. Once she sees it, she can’t stop thinking about it. Understandable, as it was her own neck on the line when White Diamond tried to force her to ascend earlier in the act. So, feeling a major surge of Revenge Before Reason makes her obsessed with giving White Diamond’s neck the exact same treatment. You know, even though targeting that part of her won’t really make a difference in the fight, and it gets downright disturbing for her friends to watch Peridot go through with this. Made doubly worse when Peridot realizes she’s not strong enough to actually inflict damage as herself and has to shift into Chartreuse Diamond in order to get the revenge she needs. On top of that, she inadvertently entices Steven of all people to join her, and he’s willing to break the Stevonnie fusion to do so.

Blood Knight: Very atypical for her kind; Peridot tends to be notably aggressive in more ways than one, and it seemingly gets worse after her canon Heel-Face Turn. Most likely due in part to her Rebellious Spirit being awakened after Peridot finds out who she truly is on Earth.

Boisterous Weakling: Still retains this trait per canon, though it’s mostly contained in Act I. Now that Peridot’s in a position of authority, she’s all the more driven to prove her worth and refuses to show any sign of weakness to her teammates. Even if she really sucks at hiding it.

Born as an Adult: Per canon like with all full gems, though Peridot is only “adult” in the sense that her body and capabilities are fully developed so that she can do the work she was literally created to do. However, since she is by far the youngest gem of the main cast and the only one who lived in Era 2 Homeworld (where propaganda was rampant and she was ignorant of several key moments in Era 1 history that the other Crystal Gems practically know by heart) and was primarily locked to a small, contained environment prior to her promotion due to how low her kind is in Homeworld’s caste system, Peridot has very few life experiences accrued compared to her teammates. Consequently, she had a childlike naivete (that she presently still has to some degree), as well as overall ignorance and curiosity to elements beyond what she was meant to know about. Her specific work environment encouraged Peridot to develop into a sinister individual, but still one who was way in over her head and nearly fell apart when she met Jasper and was faced with the reality of her position in life. This left her very uncertain, shaken, and confused about life and her own identity, which persisted when she met the Crystal Gems in person. Steven frequently points out that Peridot is much more receptive to change than most gems he’s known; she adapts to Earth life very quickly – and in most ways, does so better than her fellow Crystal Gems who’ve lived on Earth for thousands of years while Peridot herself hasn’t even lived a full year on Earth yet. This is strikingly similar to how the human brain is most receptive to learning during the first five years of life. Her affinity for modern technology and adaptive skills (while complaining about Era 1’s outdated tech) makes Peridot come off more like a kid of the current generation than a true adult. Peridot’s general attitude since finding her true identity is visibly even more childlike than Amethyst’s. Her fellow Crystal Gems often treat her like a child (and do so more openly in the GA continuity), but most of the time is regarded as an equal similar to Connie by Steven (in more uncommon circumstances, Steven sees her as a child even below his age group… of course, in GA, it turns out Peridot is in fact junior to Steven by a year). Her post-ascension growth was induced by her willpower and was a very subtle change – but said growth was influenced by Peridot’s desire not to be seen as a child by her peers. Therefore, this trope is downplayed with her far more so than any other gem; as Steven has often said in GA, Peridot may be a full grown gem, but she has a growing human’s spirit.

Boss’s Unfavorite Employee: Peridot was this to Yellow Pearl. Explored in Chapter 3 of This is Who I Am.

Break the Haughty: Played with mostly in Act III, but not nearly as prevalent as this trope is with White and Yellow Diamond. However, this trope is greatly in effect during a flashback segment in Chapter 3 of This is Who I Am when Peridot exposits on a heavily repressed memory to Steven that involves how her first meeting with Jasper went down. Peridot is very clear that much of her vile Homeworld persona was snuffed out even before her canon Heel-Face Turn courtesy of Jasper.

Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Peridot is this trope in so many ways in GA. She’s the first known Era 2 Peridot to climb up the ranks as quickly and efficiently as she did during her Homeworld days, largely due to being such a Manipulative Bastard and a cunning Blood Knight – traits that no Peridot should ever have. After the reveal of Peridot’s Mismatched Eyes and her true identity as an Unwitting Test Subject, she becomes the first (and only) of her kind to become an ascended gem: simultaneously a Peridot and a Diamond. Additionally, after awakening her benign Diamond abilities, Peridot becomes the only Era 2 gem who can bypass most limitations inherent to Era 2 gems in general, such as shapeshifting. Peridot has also made the greatest leap in terms of gem evolution, as her kind is at the rock-bottom level of the caste system; she managed to ascend to the very top as a Diamond. And it turns out she’s even 50% of the legendary Diamond of Miracles on top of that. There honestly aren’t any more glass ceilings Peridot can break at this point.

Broken Hero: Starting with Act III, when the truth behind Peridot’s creation and her identity as an Unwitting Test Subject are not only hard to comprehend, accept, and live down in their own right, but cause a load of problems and personal struggles for Peridot throughout the act. Many of these life-altering revelations lead to permanent consequential changes to Peridot herself that are reflected/acknowledged in every post-GA story released. Despite that, Peridot manages to endure her hardships and come out better for it on the other end. She’s never quite the same after this, but Peridot at her core remains a Plucky Comic Relief/Hero Protagonist hybrid… just a little wiser and hardened coming out of those experiences now.

Broken Tears: Peridot is reduced to this when Pumpkin dies before her very eyes in Chapter 8 of Act III (this moment with said trope is even illustrated!). However, following Peridot’s Heroic BSoD that starts with a Death Wail and triggers an Angst Nuke, this trope transitions to Berserker Tears.

Brutal Honesty: Generally downplayed since her canon Character Development, although becoming a team leader has forced Peridot to resort to this to get her point across many times across GA (and even post-GA) while asserting her authority. The ones on the receiving end of this tend to be the ones closest to Peridot; she did not hold back on Lapis when recording her Video Will and made sure she knew exactly how badly her past actions screwed her up. Steven’s propensity for breaking down or throwing a fit at the sight of someone’s death is also met with some harsh demands to get over it by Peridot – though to be fair, this always happens during a time when they’re on the run while being actively pursued by the enemy. Most times Peridot utilizes this trope needlessly is around 5XF, though the final chapter of This is Who I Am somewhat justifies that behavior, given what happened.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Portrayed as this often once she actively takes on The Leader position, especially in the earlier half of Act I. Similar to Pearl (who also shares this trope), Peridot’s talented in areas outside of what she’s literally made to be good at, and said extra talents are not ones one would expect from the likes of her. Peridot often has unorthodox approaches to her plans, and most of the time, they actually work out.

But I Read a Book About It: How Peridot knows about the brittle nature of diamonds in Act I, hence how she was able to incapacitate Yellow Diamond with a single blow with a hammer. It can be inferred that Peridot learned about many things through this if she wasn’t directly taught through Steven or Amethyst.

Bystander Syndrome: When Peridot’s full backstory on how she first met Jasper and Lapis was revealed in This is Who I Am Chapter 3, it’s also confirmed that Peridot stood firmly in this trope when it came to witnessing how often and badly Lapis was abused by Jasper. Despite Lapis inadvertently saving Peridot from suffering more than just a Near-Rape Experience, the latter never once showed an ounce of gratitude for it. Nor did Peridot show any degree of pity for Lapis during that time, and she didn’t hesitate submitting Lapis to more of Jasper’s torture whenever Lapis wouldn’t cooperate as an informant. Sadly, it’s justified in that Peridot literally couldn’t have prevented Jasper from doing anything to Lapis (or even lessen the abuse) since she held no real authority in the team – and being the low-caste gem she is, Peridot also had no right to do anything about it. This trope is the primary reason why Peridot later became an Extreme Doormat to Lapis in canon, despite Peridot making herself forget many of these details in order to cope with her own trauma related to Jasper.

[bloodelves88]

Trip to Taipei/Hualien/Taichung/Puli, Taiwan (Part 6)

Part 1 here (Hualien). Part 2 here (Taipei). Part 3 here (Taipei). Part 4 here (Taichung/Puli). Part 5 here (Puli).

Day 7

Day 7. The last full day of this trip. It’s a long day today, waking up at 8am in Puli, and ending up in Taipei.

We went to A-bao again for breakfast. We didn’t eat there though. We took out our food and ate at the bus station. This time, I got a beef burger. It’s not too bad, it’s what you’d expect out of an above average beef burger.

I also bought soya milk, which was again, diluted and terrible. I threw it away after drinking half of it.

We reached the farm around 9:45am. The farm is at the mountain top, so the wind is really cool and nice. But because the sun was up, there was the uncomfortable hot-cold feeling which I really dislike. 

The first area is a food area. We would be coming back here for lunch later.

We bought the day pass tickets, which were NT$200 each.

The person selling tickets told us there was going to be a Equestrian show soon at 10:45am, so we headed there first. Along the way, we saw a shop with bees flying all over freely. 

You can’t see the bees in the picture, but there’s easily a hundred bees flying all over the entrance of the shop. Eek.

The view from the mountain top. Glorious. 

Sheep! Watch out for poop on the ground.

Horse!

The equestrian show stage. We were 13 minutes early and fortunate enough to find some seats in the shade.

The emcee. 

A clown and his pony. This was the starting act. He cycled on a unicycle first, asking the audience to throw some balls for him to catch with a net on a pole. Then he divided the audience into three sections, asking us to clap after he clapped. For example, if he clapped twice, then we would clap twice after he clapped. 

Sounds dull, but being a clown and entertainer, he did it really well. Very amusing 😆

Then they moved on to a long segment of people performing stunts with their horses. It involved them standing on the horse, hanging upside down off the side of the horse, planking on the horse, getting off the horse onto the floor and jumping back on, and various other stunts. Later on a guy with a whip would stand in the middle of the ring, always staring at the horse and occasionally whipping the ground. It’s really loud. I guess it’s to scare the horses into submission or something? I have no idea.

After all that, there was a photo taking session. You lined up in front of the horses and you could take pictures with them. The red boxes are for you to put money in if you want. I went to take a picture with the pony and the rightmost horse. 

Then, we continued our explorations in the farm. We continued the path, which eventually led to the 487 step trail. It’s just a staircase with 487 steps. Fortunately we were going down.

Made it to the end! My right shoe at the hole in the cloth near the front. I have no idea when or how it appeared.

Unfortunately, the area to the left of the equestrian show stage has nothing worth seeing. After going down the 487 steps, we were left rather far from the area we started off from. The nice way back was an elevated, side of the mountain trail which cost NT$50 to enter, so we decided to walk on the road for cars instead. Really bad idea, in hindsight. It was hot, there was nothing nice to look at, the cars sometimes came uncomfortably close, and sometimes where were plants in the way. Icky.

We started walking up around 12pm, and reached the starting area at around 12:30pm. We decided to have lunch at the area with stalls I showed earlier.

After ordering, we decided that we wouldn’t have enough time to finish our food, and changed our order to take out. Then, we went to wait for the bus. It was due to arrive at either 1pm or 1:10pm, who knows. The Nantou bus timetables were all very inconsistent, we’ve noticed. They’re all done with pen/marker and paper.

We decided to buy some goats milk egg rolls. They cost NT$100 for a pack of nine, wrapped in three packs of three each.

It’s not too bad, and because of its size and thickness, it’s much more flavourful than the love letters eaten during Chinese New Year.

As we didn’t know if we could eat on the bus, we waited until the bus was back in Puli before eating. We didn’t really have a place to go to eat, so we ate at the bus station, just like what we did for breakfast. 

I ordered some chicken with rice thing. Again, the portions are so generous for the price. I think the food item just said chicken with rice, so I wasn’t expecting all the other items that came with it. I think this was NT$60 or 75 (SGD$2.65 to $3.32). I forgot again.

My friend bought bamboo rice. It’s served in bamboo. Pretty interesting.

After eating, we headed back to J House. I was feeling a little hot, so I bought another cup of pearl milk tea from that amazing shop yesterday. Just a small cup this time though. We called the guy to get our bags, and he offered to drive us to the bus station. What great service. If we had to walk to the bus station, we probably wouldn’t have been able to catch the bus to Taichung. 

While getting into the car, I toppled my milk tea cup sideways, but not much spilled out since the only hole was the one from the straw. My friend gave me a tissue to clean it up and it was all good. Anyway, he drove us to the old bus station at first, which might have made us lose our bus. But somehow, we didn’t miss the bus. The bus was really crowded though. The driver had to count empty seats remaining to see if we could board. Ack.

Back in Taichung! The bus dropped us off near Taichung train station. I wonder why they don’t board people at the same place.

It’s 4:50pm now, and we wanted to visit two places. Chun Shui Tang’s original store, and the Painted Animation Lane. Since Chun Shui Tang was on the way towards the Painted Animation Lane, we headed there first. While planning the trip, we also wanted to go check out Miyahara Ice Cream, which was really near the station. I’m not sure why we didn’t go. Too tired to think of it, I guess. Argh.

The origin of pearl milk tea.

It’s 5:17pm now, and my friend made a good point that the sky darkens rather early in Taiwan, so we decided to go to the Painted Animation Lane first.

The Painted Animation Lane is basically a lane with many drawings and paintings of anime, cartoons, and games. I took a picture of every single drawing there, but I’m not going to show all of them.

There’s a random adult item in this claw machine. Lol why.

I don’t know why I didn’t take a panorama of this wall. Instead, I took 5 separate pictures of it, moving sideways slowly. Facepalm.

This isn’t the actual Totoro bus stop. There’s one further south of this place, which is an actual tourist attraction.

At the end of the lane, some guy who was working at a motorbike shop told us we could come in to look. There’s a huge Luffy statue here (worth NT$150,000/SGD$6,644), and a huge figurine collection. There was also a work in progress drawing. Apparently everything is his son’s. Pretty cool.

Anyway, that was it for the Painted Animation Lane. Now, back to Chun Shui Tang. 

We reached Chun Shui Tang around 6:20pm. There were no seats at the ground floor, so we were led to the basement. I was told that I could leave my luggage at the ground floor, which I did. I went to retrieve it 10 minutes later as I wasn’t comfortable leaving it there alone. There are no valuables in there, but I would be really sad if all my merchandise was stolen. I mean, clothes are easily replaceable. Merchandise isn’t. Not in Singapore, especially.

I ordered sesame oil noodles, along with one of my friends. My other friend ordered Kung Fu noodles. They also ordered a pot of tea, while I ordered the pearl milk tea. How could you not drink the pearl milk tea at the place where it originated? 

To be honest, the pearl milk tea was kind of a disappointment. The one near J House is better. The pearls here were a little hard, and I chewed on one that was harder than the rest. Inconsistent. The milk tea wasn’t as good either.

After the meal, I ordered their Signature Black Tea to go. This was also where cold black tea originated from, so I made it a point to try it as well.

Now, a walk back to Taichung train station. It was finally time to make the trip back to Taipei. It’s 8:20pm now, the day doesn’t seem to end. I was already quite tired before reaching Chun Shui Tang, and I could smell an unpleasant odour from myself. Ugh. The typhoon has passed, and it was a very hot day. There was barely any cloud cover (look at the farm pictures, the skies are so clear).

Anyway, it’s a long trip back. First a walk to Taichung train station, then a train to Taichung High Speed Rail station, then another train to Taipei Main Station, and then a walk to the hotel. We didn’t get our tickets until we reached Taichung High Speed Rail station, and fortunately there were still available seats. We weren’t able to sit together though (it was a two-one split). The train departed at 9:31pm.

My Signature Black Tea. I still haven’t drank it yet. And I dropped it on the floor while on my way here. I was wearing pants without pockets, which made my life really difficult. I already had to use one hand to pull my luggage, so accessing my phone, tickets, passport, etc. was really a pain 😭. I should have drank the tea much earlier. It’s now just warm.

11pm. We were finally at the hotel. We booked a four star hotel this time (all the previous lodgings were three star), but it was roughly the same price as all the other places we stayed at. That’s exactly why we booked it. 

I put my black tea in the fridge and went to bathe five minutes after we got into the room. I really needed a refresher. After bathing, the tea wasn’t cold, and I just gave up and drank it. It’s actually pretty good. 

Our room was in the middle of the floor, so there were no windows. Instead, there were fake windows and fake lights.

Since there was a bathtub, my friend went to play in it. I was wondering if that friend would fall asleep in the bathtub and drown, a trope commonly seen in anime 😅

Day 8

Last day in Taiwan. Our flight was at 3:25pm, so we couldn’t wake up too late. We decided to wake up at 9am. My friend ate cup noodles for breakfast, since it was bought on the first day in Taiwan in Hualien’s supermarket. It was originally meant to be a night snack, but we kept eating dinner at such a late time that snacking wasn’t required.

We walked out of the hotel and randomly turned down one street in search of breakfast. The hotel had breakfast, but it wasn’t free, and from reviews, it wasn’t good.

We ended up here. I ordered a chicken burger. Again, can’t go wrong with fried chicken. I don’t know how it’s so good everywhere.

I also ordered a cup of soya bean. They’re both pretty good. I mean how can it go wrong? I guess if you order soya bean from A-bao, it can.

My friend ordered some hot soupy thing, which took forever to eat. I was melting in the sweltering heat so I decided to go back first. They wanted to go to a supermarket they saw on the way, so I decided to go there first instead. 

Durians, and that’s a watermelon behind. I notice watermelons in Taiwan are all these strange elongated types. I’ve never seen such watermelons before.

After this, we checked out and headed to Taipei Main Station. We decided there was some time left and went to explore the mall on the other side of the station. My friend bought pineapples cakes, which are the typical food souvenir you buy whenever you go to Taiwan. I also bought a pearl milk tea keychain for NT$80. I have no idea why. I wasn’t actually interested until I realized that the pearls and milk tea in it could move. Anyway, there wasn’t many other shops of interest there, and we only had 15 minutes, so we left after a short while. Now, it’s time to head to Taoyuan Airport. 

Pretty views from the train.

We soon reached the airport. I had to check in my luggage as all our items were over the combined weight of 21kg (7kg per person). I didn’t really want to check it in as I didn’t want to wait for my luggage to appear after I landed, but ah well.

We haven’t had lunch yet, and the plane was due to reach Singapore at 8:15pm, so I decided I need to eat something hearty. We went to the airport food court, and I ordered ramen. Not worth it for the price. It was 2:25pm when I got my food, which meant that I had to gobble down my food. Not good. My friend ordered Dan Dan Noodles and pearl milk tea, and also had to gobble the noodles down. The tea was brought into the security check area, and my friend was told to finish the drink before proceeding 😅

We walked fast to the boarding gate, and reached around 3:05pm. They were calling for passengers to board, and the waiting area was totally empty. This has to be the first time I’m so late to board a plane 😅

Is that Taipei 101? Who knows. The plane flew at this altitude throughout the whole flight. If there weren’t any clouds, you could see the land or ocean easily.

We soon landed at Changi Airport Terminal 1. One of my friends wanted to shop at the duty free shop, so that one left. Another of my friends had family waiting outside, and didn’t want to make them wait, so that one left too. We didn’t go out of the arrival hall together 😢

Anyway, terminal 1 arrival now exits to the Jewel. I didn’t know that. This is my first time at the Jewel, and I quickly and easily found the fountain in the middle. Pretty nice, I guess. I managed to take a panorama while the lights changed, so there’s two colours in the photo.

I haven’t had my dinner yet, so I was looking for food. I headed to A&W first, but the queue was still long, so I went to Subway. The prices seemed to be inflated, as I don’t remember the prices being so high. Higher prices for an expensive shopping mall, I guess. I went to Burger King next, and the cashier seemed really busy and I didn’t want to bother.

I ended up at BreadTalk, and they were having an offer of three buns for $5. I bought my buns, found a taxi, and went home. 

The end.

Part 1 here (Hualien). Part 2 here (Taipei). Part 3 here (Taipei). Part 4 here (Taichung/Puli). Part 5 here (Puli).

[an-aussie-button-masher]

Kena: Bridge of Spirits review

   Some games feel like the developers intended it as a showcase of their capabilities more than an entertainment product, especially if it’s the first game released by an ambitious new development team. In many aspects, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an impressive example of these “proof of concept” games, as if its developers Ember Lab created it solely to demonstrate how skilled they are at building environments and characters. While some of the gameplay elements felt underdeveloped, Bridge of Spirits absolutely shines in the graphics and design area. You play as Kena, a spirit guide tasked with bringing restless spirits to the afterlife with the help of a small army of tiny, adorable fuzzballs called Rot. Considering Kena’s role, it’s no surprise that the story is full of emotion and themes of grief and letting go. In both visual style and storytelling, Bridge of Spirits feels like an interactive animated movie - and during my playtime, sometimes I felt that maybe it would’ve been a bit more enjoyable as a film rather than a video game.

   This game is a highly entertaining adventure for almost the entire playthrough, and all the hidden interactions strewn about the environment are very fun to uncover. That said, many of the puzzles throughout the game are a tad too confusing to figure out. I like to think I’m generally not that bad at solving video game puzzles, but Bridge of Spirits had me wandering around the area thinking “wait, what am I supposed to see here?” far too often to be particularly enjoyable. Maybe I was just a bit blind during my playtime, but very few other games have had me consulting a walkthrough to find out just how to start solving the puzzles. Once you get started, it’s often a bit of a facepalm moment when you realise what you had to do, but then the actual puzzle solving starts being fun again. The combat is decent; a fairly basic kind of “smack enemies around and shoot the airborne enemies that are left”, but some of the more creative mechanics that are introduced as you progress through the story can be fun to use every so often. Some of the boss fights, however, can quickly overwhelm you with rapid-fire attacks that in many cases you can’t even dodge. The final boss of the game, for me, sucked a lot of my enjoyment out. Some of the frustrating platforming segments in-between phases made me want to pull my hair out!

   The game features rather basic controls for mobility, and should be familiar to anyone who is moderately experienced with these kinds of console platformers. Some of the combat controls, on the other hand, might take some time to get a hang of compared to other similar games with more “standard” control schemes. I lost count of the amount of times where I got my controls mixed up in the midst of a fight, and Kena simply stood still as I tried to figure out why the attack buttons weren’t doing anything. By the time I’d realised I was pressing the wrong buttons, Kena was on the brink of death. Muscle memory turned out to be the trickiest enemy in the game, at least for me. Some of the platforming mechanics seemed creative and interesting at first as they were introduced over time, but I soon started cursing them as the game cranked up the platforming difficulty towards the end. One particular segment near the game’s finale almost had me give up out of sheer frustration, and the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that if I didn’t finish it now, I’d never pick the game up again due to the dread of having to try this part again.

   In my opinion, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is without a doubt the most beautiful looking video game I have ever played. Every single frame is a work of art, and the entire game looks like a Pixar movie. It’s clear that this game was largely intended to push the PS5’s insane graphics engine to its limits, and the developers’ work has paid off. Just about anything you take a snapshot of in photo mode is wallpaper-worthy, and I’ve spent a lot of my playtime just admiring the breathtaking environments. The only parts of the game where the view could use a bit of improvement is in the numerous caves and underground areas. I’m sure these areas would still look stunning...if you could see them. This game suffers from a relatively common issue of making darkened areas too dark - while the dimly-lit caves certainly add to the game’s atmospheric nature, it can become quite annoying when you can barely see the ground beneath your feet. Objectives are fairly well-lit, but that doesn’t exactly help when the tricky platforming puzzles you need to tackle to reach the objective are practically invisible in the darkness.

   The game’s sound design is very well done, and the voice actors did an excellent job providing some genuinely emotional moments throughout the story, especially in the latter half of the game. One aspect of the game’s audio that really stood out to me was the soundtrack - this game has absolutely wonderful music that sounds like no other game I’ve played. The soundtrack is composed by Jason Gallaty, with traditional Balinese music provided by Dewa Putu Berata. It adds a whimsical, almost tribal-sounding flair to the game, perfectly matching the adventurous spirit of the story and making it one of the most unique, distinctive soundtracks I’ve ever heard. 

   Bridge of Spirits has a decent amount of collectables and secrets hidden all over the map, but the game doesn’t do a particularly good job of actually telling the player that there’s anything to find. I was already about halfway through the game’s story before I realised I was missing that much content at all. There’s no indication that anything’s there until the player finds something for themselves - and since all the collectables are quite well hidden, that might take a while. Even once I started deliberately hunting down these extras, I quickly found that there was very little actual reward to do them besides completion. Each of the secrets gives you a small amount of currency used to purchase little cosmetics for the army of Rot following you around, and with how small the Rot are, it’s hard to really feel like enough is noticeably different to be worth pursuing. I myself am usually a completionist, but I found myself not really wanting to bother going out of my way to do much besides the main story content. Bridge of Spirits is certainly a well-crafted adventure, but in my opinion, it’s one that is only really worth doing once.

   Once everything was said and done and the end credits started rolling, I couldn’t help but think “wait, that’s it?”. The graphics, gameplay style and rather large price tag made me come into this game expecting a huge, sprawling adventure that would keep me playing for a week at least. Barely ten hours of total playtime later, I felt unsatisfied with how small the game turned out to be. Maybe it’s just me, but something about all the trailers made the game seem bigger than it was. If you’re looking for a short, enjoyable story with absolutely beautiful visuals and charming characters, then by all means, I couldn’t recommend this game enough. But if you’re looking for something a bit more substantial, something that will keep you coming back for more, long after you’ve spent the rather hefty amount of money to play it, then I would look elsewhere. 6.5/10. 

[altimys]

Winter 2018 anime reviews

Hello, hello. This is a follow-up post to my initial impressions post. I’ll detail how my perception of the animes changed over the season.

Also note that I will not review Violet Evergarden since I’m way too far behind on it. I’ll finish it sometime in the next season once I’m free.

Dropped Animes

The ones that were unbearable.

Citrus

3/10

Like mentioned in the post from the beginning of the season, it just had this unrealistic, trope-driven, incest (but not really) story. Mostly style and little substance, but not even my style. Well, do take this with a grain of salt. I didn’t even finish the first episode.

Pop Team Epic

7/10

I definitely appreciate the experimental and sarcastic nature of this anime. But it wasn’t really worth spending an extra 15 minutes to watch the same thing a second time, especially since I didn’t find all the skits funny. I probably would’ve watched it if they were broken into seven minute segments.

Sanrio Boys

5/10

Too cheesy. Thanks for the “be yourself” message, but I’m not really interested in bishounens parading this every episode. The protagonist’s broken relationship with their grandmother as a sad backstory made me facepalm very hard. If you had advertised this to me about 6 years ago, I may have gobbled it up, but nowadays it’s not my taste.

Darling in the Franxx

5/10

I didn’t pick it back up, and I didn’t really see anything major from twitter or tumblr, except for gifs of the pink haired girl being with her sexy-cute charm. Y’know, the kind of charm where she’s designed to be appealing in a sexy, vampiric way, but she’s doing something cute like licking her fingers after eating a slice of meat or something. Normally I’d not mind this so much, but remembering how typical the protag was, it definitely gave off the manic pixie dream girl vibes. Art and animation I saw was great though! Unfortunately.

Osomatsu-san

5/10

Skits really fell flat this season. I knew that S2 would lose some drive after the stunt they pulled for the finale of S1, but a lot of skits were utter nonsense. I enjoyed the ones where they experimented with the complexities of each character’s personalities (i.e. Choromatsu and Ichimatsu’s awkward interactions), but it was like wading through a swamp to get a chuckle. I watched most of the season then dropped it, since it wasn’t really worth spending time not having fun.

Mediocre Anime

I don’t know why I watched these but I did.

Garo Vanishing Line

3/10

The story was killing me so much in the end that I would multitask when watching it, and I’m not a natural multitasker. It was just bad writing. Nothing really made sense, and it was quite predictable. Like Sword’s sister came out of nowhere (after she died for Sword’s sad backstory) and was suddenly had HACKER SKILLZ. And I was almost positive that in S1, Sophie’s brother was taken away from her by force, not him wanting to join the El Dorado project. Whatever, does it even matter? The best thing of the season was probably Luke getting a haircut and ditching that awful trenchcoat. Do not recommend.

Touken Ranbu Hanamaru

6/10

Guilty pleasure of the season. Still managed to enjoy the nonsense, with the musicals, and these bishounen and moeblobs being one-dimensional. I did appreciate some of the character interactions and the references to Katsugeki Touken Ranbu, but with these kinds of animes, I really can’t say it’s quality. It’s meant to be aimed at a certain audience, and knowing that I am part of this audience makes it enjoyable to watch. Wouldn’t recommend unless you really like bishounenified swords.

Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles

6/10

I previously wrote that I was interested in seeing the stalker girl’s infatuation with Koizumi-san turn into a relationship. Of course it didn’t happen. Yuri? In your dreams. I do applaud this anime for going in depth into the ramen culture and making me hungry every week. There were some hardcore facts about ramen’s origins and experimental ramen. You could tell that they did a lot of research (or were sponsored well). I ate an average of 1.5 packs of instant ramen each week, partly thanks to Koizumi-san. How can I not eat noodles after watching it? Not really any substance to this anime unless you like hearing about ramen facts and watching anime girls foodgasm.

Average Anime

These I could recommend with disclaimers and not feel bad about it.

Junji Ito Collection

6/10

Like with most animes with short stories, there’s a handful of good and bad stories. Since the source material is pretty good, there’s more interesting stories than not. There are definitely some that are ridiculously stupid, but if you are in search of horror anime, this is one you should watch. I wouldn’t say it’s equivalent to Yami Shibai, but it’s good. The animation can’t match the signature entrancing horror that Junji Ito creates, but it’s a decent adaptation. One minor quip I have is that they reuse voice actors in each skit. Might be a budget issue, might be something else. It’s not a big deal, but mostly noticeable to me because Hoshiyan’s voice is too recognizable for me. lol. Oh yeah, the short story with the oil was absolutely disgusting. I enjoyed being grossed out.

Gakuen Babysitters

6/10

It’s like a shoujo but with toddlers. Cute interactions, likable characters. Of course, it’s a light-hearted story, so I guess I shouldn’t expect too much out of it. The comedy bits are well-written, and the art style is absolutely adorable. Great casual watch if you want to feel fluffy without the bullshit of shoujo romances.

Laid Back Camp

7/10

As the title suggests, it’s a pretty laid-back anime. I love the different personalities of the female cast. They shone quite well through the segments of texting. The way that they texted felt friendly, and I felt that I was part of this silly chat group. Also enjoyed learning a lot about camping supplies (and the little pinecones that squealed were so cute). Makes me consider wanting to go solo-hiking or camping to be able to enjoy nature. I’m really glad it covered winter camping, because that’s something that most people never consider, so you get to see the different equipment, activities, and benefits. Recommend if you want something chill with a well-written cast, but not a character-driven story line.

Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens

7/10

Surprisingly, I liked it quite a bit. I was actually expecting this one to tank, because it had a predominantly male lineup, was about assassins, and had a crossdresser. Sounded like someone picked things they thought would appeal to the general public and made an anime of it. Thankfully, I was wrong. Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens is actually based off a light novel series, which really shows through the thought-out plot and layered characters. I wouldn’t say it’s as crazy as Durarara!!, but some of the twists are quite interesting. I also really enjoy the diverse cast and their interactions: Lin Xianming, pseudonym for a Taiwanese assassin who also happens to crossdress; Banba Zenji, a playful, seemingly idiotic detective with a deck of tricks up his sleeves. There’s also a canonically gay character, an ex, a child, a hacker (with an interesting backstory), and more. And these characters make mistakes, get injuries, and have flaws. I’m hoping for a second season, because watching this was quite nice each week.

Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san

7/10

If you wanted fluff with actual romance, here’s the one for the season! There’s also quite a bit of comedy added. I did feel sorry for the protag Nishikata for falling victim to Takagi’s pranks every time, but I always looked forward to what she was going to do, and how it would fluster him. I think the romantic buildup was well-paced throughout the season. Kudos to whoever paced it, because they danced around with my feelings like an expert, giving me enough of a taste to feel the flutters of romance in my stomach, but not enough to make Nishikata and Takagi an item. Some of the skits were directed very well, with surprisingly effective cinematography (see the rain and umbrella skit). The ending was really cute, and I’m pretty encouraged to read the manga to get more content.

Mahou Tsukai no Yome

7/10

Nothing really jumped out at me. I feel like the actions of the characters didn’t follow a logic to it that made me understand the character better. Nothing really sparked an interested in wanting to cheer the characters on. I really felt passive in watching events happen to Chise and Elias, and the ending wasn’t particularly spectacular either. I think it’s a decent one to pass the time, but I could not get invested in the plot or characters.

Koi wa Ameagari no You Ni

8/10

This anime certainly isn’t for everyone’s tastes, but I think I really appreciated the latter half of the series more than the first half. The surface-level summary is about the age-gap romance, but once I was able to hear Kondo’s internal thoughts, especially about being older, the nostalgia of youth, and trying to pick a passion back up, I started enjoying it a lot more. I especially loved the scenes when he would banter with his college friend Chihiro. The only downside of the latter half of the episodes was the awkward tension between Akira and her friend. Her friend would just yell at her, and Akira would take it, and then not really consider it. And somehow it’s resolved. Well, other than that, I did like the characters and ending a lot.

Kokkoku

8/10

I rather enjoyed the setup and the unknown mechanisms of the system. The enemy really had the advantage in intellect and strength, and it was interesting watching how the characters tried to get around that. The last three episodes were a little flat, and the plot armor (kind of) and last bit of exposition was almost unnecessary, but it was there to give us a happy ending, which I did appreciate. Love the grandpa. I’d say this anime did a pretty decent job at the action and strategy, and the ending wasn’t blowing my mind, but I do really commend it on the setup.

Exceptional Anime

Worth your time.

A Place Further Than the Universe

8/10

Drama about girls aiming to go to Antarctica. Strong female cast, with a pretty believable depiction of average high school girls and how they might react and pursue their dreams. The voice acting was pretty spectacular for this show, especially during the second to last episode. ;) I think this anime is very real with what it’s like with concepts we usually don’t think of: having ambitions, lacking ambitions, making friends, losing friends, finding closure. It was rewarding to walk with the girls in every step of their journey. Animation quality was pretty awesome too. I also cried a bit at the end. I didn’t think I would enjoy an anime about high school girls going to Antarctica, but hey, I loved it.

Hakumei to Mikochi

8/10

It’s a slice-of-life about a pair of thumb-sized forest dwellers. Hakumei, the more adventurous of the two, works as a handyman and has a determined attitude. She’s still a very considerate person and is full of compassion and a heart to help others. Mikochi is a bit more reserved and particular. She’s famous for her cooking and has a passion for textiles and clothing. Both characters compliment each other well, and it’s cute seeing them bustle about their daily lives. You also get to see into the lives of other characters they meet, and it feels an established world with all it’s quirks and culture. The general feel of this anime is relaxed and storybook-like, similar to the same kind of vibe I get from Ghibli movies. I honestly thought this was a children’s anime during the first episode. It could be, but I enjoyed it a lot.

[toskits]

Midnight Monologues 1st Night

(Applause) (BGM: Beyond The Earth (ToB)) Magilou: It’s time to begin! What’s in the cards for our discussion with this week’s guest? Magilou: Find out in the first ever Magilou’s Midnight Monologues! (Magilou, the great sorceress plays. BGM Fades.) (Magilou Dances. The crowd is wowed.) Magilou: Let’s start off by introducing out panel! (Music Fades. Replaced by Beyond The Earth (ToB)) Magilou: Or we could just skip it. (Eizen and Eleanor are selected as Panels. Eleanor nor Eizen are amused) Eizen: (Crowd laughs) Give me a break! Eleanor: Don’t be like that! (Crowd laughs again) Laphicet:(Surprised) They’re really into this… Velvet: (Sarcastically) Just the reactions I was hoping for… Magilou: All right, our first guest is someone who always cuts right to the chase. (Rokurou comes in) Rokurou: Hi! I’m Rokurou Rangetsu, a prison island escapee! Rokurou: (Sinister look) My hobby is perfecting my deadly swordsmanship,(Magilou is surprised) and my dream is to kill my brother!(Magilou is not amused) (Crowd laughs softly) Magilou: Quite an introduction from the man himself. You really are fearless, aren’t you? Rokurou: (Slightly bragging) I am! Come at me with a bow or a gun if you like! Rokurou: (Thinking) … Although don’t actually do that,(Serious) because I’d have to kill you, so, y'know… (Crowd laughs again) Magilou: (Slightly sweating) While the audience thinks that’s a joke, let’s move right along to our talk segment. Magilou: There are six topic cards! Magilou: Matters of the Heart… (Rokurou looks over at the cards) Now Here’s the Truth… Magilou: My first time… (Rokurou places his hand over his chest) My Biggest Shame… Magilou: (Rokurou Looks away)What Turns Me On… (Rokurou clenches his hands, smiling.)and Anything Goes! Magilou: (Bending downwards)Now we just put these cards in Magilou’s Mystery Box… Magilou: (Springing upwards)And Rokurou! Draw a card. Rokurou: (Smiling)All right, this one! Magilou: And the card is… “My First Time”! (Crowd Applauses) Magilou: Please, tell us about something that was a very special experience for you. Rokurou: Let’s see… Well, I could tell you about the first time I killed a living thing! Magilou: (Unamused, Slightly Sweating) Is that.. something you can talk here? Rokurou: Yeah. It went surprising well. Rokurou: It started off by cuttin’ the poor guy’s head off with my first swing. (Crowd Whispers) Velvet: (Slightly angry, Laphicet is Afraid) Rokurou, I’m not sure this is appropriate! Rokurou: (sinister Smile) Next, I stabbed him in the stomach and sliced upward, spilling his guts out. (Crowd Whispers) Rokurou: (Eleanor is gritting her teeth while Eizen looks away Nervously) Then I cut along his spine, peeled all his flesh back and ripped out his bones!(Eleanor and Eizen closes their eyes.) Rokurou: And that… is how I prepared my first fresh mackerel. (Crowd Laughs) (Deadpan expression from Velvet, Eleanor is Facepalming, Eizen is slightly relieved.) Laphicet: Phew… I thought you were talking about a person. Rokurou: (Laughs) Ha ha ha! Well, it’s all the same, really. The only real difference is th– Magilou: (bashes into Rokurou) And that’s all the time we have!(Sweating) Thank you for joining us, Rokurou! Rokurou: (Raising up from the floor,Deadpan.)That’s all? Aww, I was gonna talk about the first time I killed a giant unidentified monster. Magilou: Next time. I don’t want my show to get banned after its first performance. Magilou: Last, give us your part of the secret word! Rokurou: Right! The secret work starts with “B-E”. Magilou: Our Next guest will be Eleanor! Eleanor: (blushing) Uh, yes! At your service! (Crowd Laughs) Magilou: See you next week! (Crowd applauses)

[pledis-17-trash]

A song for you || Taehyung

✦genre: angst, a bit of humour ✦blurb: what do you do when you get an offer to sing a duet with your ex? you accept, of course. [requested] ✦word count: 2553

Tension filled the air as the manager’s words sank in. It was eerily silent as several sets of eyes darted from Taehyung, to the manager, and then back to Taehyung. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop from a few meters away. It was as if everything that followed would depend on this very moment, and every single person in the room was holding their breath. Jimin’s teeth were gnawing on his soft lips, and Jungkook was nervously twiddling his fingers behind his back where no one could visibly see his state. Namjoon’s gaze was heavy while Hoseok couldn’t bear to even give them a mere glance. Yoongi was motionless while Seokjin gulped every few seconds or so.

“What?” Taehyung finally broke the silence, his voice hoarse. “What did you just say?”

“A duet with Y/N,” the manager repeated, not backing down. “It’s an amazing opportunity for you to showcase your vocal abilities. Y/N is from one of the most popular female groups, and you the most popular male groups, so it would bring more popularity to both your groups. But ultimately, it’s your decision,” she patted his arm lightly, giving him a comforting look. It had been months after their break-up, but his ex-girlfriend was still a touchy subject. It still made Taehyung upset every time Y/N’s name was brought up in conversation or he was asked how he was feeling. It made him feel as if they were pitying him or attempting to poke fun at him. It had gotten so ridiculous that at this point, the rest of the members had formulated a plan. They had brought up the idea of a duet with Y/N to the CEO and he had thought it was a marvelous idea, along with agreeing that it would help Taehyung to get closure with the girl.

“What about the others?” Taehyung asked, turning to face them.

“Ah,” Namjoon started, a hand waving as if to physically brush the suggestion away. “You know, it would be better to have a vocalist to sing the duet instead of a rapper…” He would have continued on, but Seokjin sent him a strong glare. They all knew that Namjoon couldn’t act for the life of him, and if he spoke any more, Taehyung would have definitely caught on. “I’m busy with my filming schedules,” Seokjin quickly gave his excuse once Taehyung’s eyes reached him.

“Well, I guess I could do it, if you really don’t want to,” Jungkook began uncertainly, but was interrupted by a kick to the shin from behind and yelled loudly, “OW!”

“But we all know how Jungkookie is with girls,” Jimin ended sweetly, his voice so sugary that there was practically a halo floating above his head.

“What are you talking about?” Jungkook responded irritably, an annoyed expression on his face. “You know what, to prove you wrong, I’m going to-”

Jimin delivered another swift blow leaving Jungkook crouched on the ground. “Ow, do you really hate the idea of me with girls?” (A/N: Jikook♥)

“If that’s what it takes for you to stop, then yes,” Jimin told him flatly.

As Jimin and Jungkook were bickering, Taehyung went on to question Hoseok, who was avoiding his eyes. “What about you, Hoseok-hyung?”

“Oh, you know…” Hoseok looked at Namjoon for help, then Seokjin, then Yoongi. All three of them shook their head as if to say, you’re on your own, buddy. He looked back up to meet Taehyung’s accusing gaze, and licked his lips nervously. “I need to help… this new trainee… with dance…” His voice trailed off, and his three older hyungs would have facepalmed at that very moment if it wouldn’t blow their cover. Hoseok resumed his previous state.

To divert Taehyung’s attention, Yoongi spoke up. “I’m releasing a new mixtape soon,” he announced. At this, Jungkook’s head snapped up from his position and stopped arguing with Jimin long enough to ask, “Didn’t you just drop your mixtape?”

“Well, I’m making a new one,” Yoongi said, but there was a note of uncertainty in his voice.

“Yeah right, have you even started any new songs-” Jungkook retorted, but was silenced by Yoongi’s sudden raise of voice. “I’M. MAKING. A. NEW. ONE.”

Behind the two, Namjoon and Seokjin were mouthing angrily to each other in a position where Taehyung wouldn’t be able to see what they were saying. I told you to tell him about the plan, Namjoon seemed to be exasperated. Well, I told you to buy groceries this week, but I suppose we don’t all get what we want, do we? Seokjin’s eyes flashed.

“Jimin?” Taehyung stared at the older male expectantly and Jimin’s eyes widened. He had been so busy trying to get Jungkook to follow what the others were doing that he hadn’t even come up with an excuse for himself. Quick, quick, he thought desperately, then his eyes latched onto Namjoon’s, who was looking blankly at him. “There’s English in the song,” he blurted out, then immediately wanted to take it back.

“I thought you said, ‘English isn’t a barrier when you’re as cute as me!’” Taehyung quoted Jimin from a segment of After School Club that he had been on, and Jimin couldn’t help but cringe when he heard the phrase that had been haunting him ever since it had flown out of his mouth.

But there had to be sacrifices in order for this project to work, so he said solemnly, “English is still a barrier… even when you’re as cute as me!” He brought his hands above his head to form a heart shape and grinned. His smile was bright until he looked around the room to see the other reactions of amusement (Namjoon and Taehyung), judgement (Seokjin, Hoseok, and Jungkook) and disgust (Yoongi), then his face fell. “I’ll escort myself out,” he muttered, then dragged his feet while stepping towards the door. He stepped back in and took Jungkook by the ear. “I’ll take Meme-kook with me though,” he brightened, and they could hear Jungkook’s protests all the way down the hall until a door slammed.

“Anyway… Your voice would be really beautiful for this song, Tae,” Namjoon commented, a small smile threatening to slip out. “You should do it,” he encouraged.

There was a lull in the conversation, but then Taehyung’s shoulders finally sank in defeat. “Fine,” he stared at the ground with a look so forceful that it could have broken the material, and the manager clapped her hands. “Great!” She chirped, and walked out before he could decide to change his mind. His ears were ringing and there seemed to be a hollowness sitting inside of his soul, with his mouth turned downwards in a frown. Seokjin stepped forward, feeling a bit badly about how the situation went. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure that this would help the younger male, but the others had insisted it would so he had complied. “Listen, I know it’ll be hard, but this will help you grow as a person,” he offered. “and I mean, seeing Y/N again-”

“Stop,” Taehyung snarled, knocking the elder’s hand off of his shoulder. Seokjin only stood there stunned at his actions. He was frozen in place, unsure of what to do next. Briefly catching his hurt expression in the peripheral of his eye, Taehyung’s stance relaxed, but he didn’t take his words back. “Please,” his eyes were downcast and his voice was low, “just leave me alone.”

//

Your smile faltered once you heard the name of your duet partner. Your company had arranged for you to release a solo track for an OST, but the drama it had been for changed it at last minute to a duet. Since you were the first person out of the two to be asked, you had accepted at once. You had even been given the lyrics for the two of you before you had been told who the other person was, because they had to confirm it earlier.

How could you do this? More-so, how could he do this? Didn’t it hurt for him to have heard your name? How could he accept a collaboration with you without feeling anything at all? It had only been a few months. If he had been the first to accept, you would have thought over the offer. You’d always dreamed of being able to sing in an OST, but the idea that you would be singing with your ex-boyfriend made your head spin, and you had to sit down in a chair.

You waved off the managers that rushed to your side, not wanting them to worry over such a small thing. Though it was an issue to you, you didn’t want to kick up a fuss. It would only bring you downfall if you spoke up now, considering the fact that your name was already announced as one of the OST singers and everyone was excited. “I’m fine,” you assured them, even giving a smile to lessen them of their worries.

It had been a mutual break-up, so why had it left both of you depressed and moping even months after? You had simply accepted that you were incompatible for one another and made the final move even though Taehyung wanted to try more, try harder. He insisted that with hard work and passion, anything could be restored. And while that worked when it came to his idol group and talents, you knew it wasn’t hard work that you both needed. God, why had he always acted that way? How were you supposed to leave him when he kept on making you fall in love with him harder every time he gave you that boxy smile? Every time he reached out to hold your hand softly when you were worried about results, every time he laughed at your stupid jokes that you knew weren’t funny anyway, every time he serenaded you with songs and then kissed you afterwards… How were you supposed to just… forget that? It wasn’t possible to disregard someone who had once given you so much happiness, someone who filled your brain with so many memories.

But you didn’t think it would be possible to rekindle your relationship. You had gone too far to come running back into his arms. You also thought that this was healthy, that you would be okay months after – and you were, until you were told that you would have to work with him. You supposed that you had seen this coming, you and him were both in the entertainment industry so you couldn’t have thought that you would never see him again. You didn’t want to throw everything you had tried so hard to erase from your mind, you didn’t want to remember it all.

Your eyes wandered up to the ceiling, where you could see the pattern of the stars that were dangling down. Stars reminded you of him. He had brought you stargazing on the first few dates you went on, claiming that one of his friends had suggested it as a romantic activity. During the night, he had made the classic cheesy lines and it still sent blushes to your face. You rolled your eyes at the time, but now it sent a smile onto your face. You caught yourself only a few seconds after, the thought dissipating as quick as the love did.

Your heart ached at the thought of seeing him again, both dread and hope tinged in the quiet sigh you let out.

//

You were lucky that the producer decided to have the two of you record separately, as he thought the result would have been better if you had. He usually separated his artists and then called them back when he finished mixing the song to hear the final product. If that was the way that he didn’t do it, you didn’t know how you would have been able to handle spending an entire two weeks sitting next to Taehyung.

The two weeks went by fairly quickly. Since you and Taehyung didn’t have to meet up in person yet, it made everything much easier. The excitement that was bubbling inside of you had made you forget that your duet partner was your ex-boyfriend and you had a lot of fun conversing with the people who helped make the song. You even had a chance to make new friends with the other singers for the drama, including Ailee, Gummy, and Hyo Shin. You were such a big fan of them, and they adored you from the second they had met you. Every time your eyes went over their contact name in your phone, you would giggle with happiness.

The plan was to enter the studio, listen to the recording, and then leave with minimal contact with Taehyung. The second you had looked into his sparkling brown eyes full of emotion, you knew that the plan would go awry.

You hadn’t planned to meet up with him so early. You opened your mouth, shut it, opened it again, and then left it closed. You didn’t know what to say to him, and thankfully, it seemed as though he felt the same. You took a seat next to him, and the producer clicked a button for both of you to listen to the song that would be released the next day.

The emotion in both your voices shocked you, to say the least. The song was about the broken love that the couple in the drama faced, but in the end, they had managed to turn it around so they could stay together. It hit too close to home, but you tried your best to forget about that and deal with it as a professional. Both Taehyung and you sat there for a few minutes after the song ended, eyes locked with one another, wanting to ask if you could believe the words that had been sang in the song. Before either of you could say a word however, you broke away and tore off the earbud. “Thank you. It was lovely working with you. I hope we can do this again sometime,” you said politely, bowed to the producer, and rushed out into the hallway.

“Y/N! Y/N, please wait,” an all too familiar voice was calling you, and you didn’t want to stop to talk to him, but… You slowed to a halt, and met your eyes with Taehyung’s pleading ones. “You can’t tell me you felt nothing,” he said desperately, wanting to hold onto any words that would keep you close to him.

A silence loomed around the two of you. It was once the comfortable kind of quiet that you had appreciated in your relationship, but now, it was only awkward. Finally, you leaned forward and clasped his hand with one of yours, not wanting to give him any hope but it seemed as though you had anyway. “It was nice to see you again,” you started out strong, but by the end of your sentence, you were trembling and so was your voice. You shook your head slowly, not being able to even say anything to him on a regular level. “I’m sorry,” you spoke softly, making his face fall. Then, you gave him one last sad smile, turned, and left.

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