#are we just forgetting the first season is her fucking someone so she can actually feel something remotely exciting

[chaoticnerdsstuff]

“Omg shauna doesn’t love jeff is canon, they said it an interview!”

Bestie I recommend a rewatch if you actually needed someone to confirm it outwardly.

[sepublic]

Post-Hoot with Dana Terrace!

            Dana’s put over 200 hours into games she’s missed since the finale; Octopath Traveler, Little Nightmares, etc. Sarah Nicole-Robles cried harder than she ever did when she said I learned a language I’ll never forget, a whole chapter of my life is over, during the King-ceanera. She said the line once and was suddenly sobbing because of how meta it was. 

         Rebecca has a ‘sona during the bit with Barcus in the epilogue sequence. Cissy also cried when watching with her family, her kids asked her about it; Sarah was really excited as she watched the finale.

         No sequel happening, but we can always hope; Dana would like to do more, but Disney owns the IP and needs to give them permission. Dana knew the prequel line in the finale was ham-fisted as hell but still went with it because she was pissed (she said Fuck to express her rage). Rebecca went back to the Anger phase of grief after watching the finale after realizing what they missed, but Sarah was also in Acceptance because it was hard to regret something that ended so well.

         Dana doesn’t cry that much, but TJ’s remix in the soundtrack made her cry. Dana brought back everyone for BBBYYYEEEEEEE, noting this was every character’s last line, and wished Hooty had more lines. Alex improvised a cut line after the Bye with Hooty expressing appreciation for the finale and readiness for his spin-off.

         Dana won’t say much in hopes she’ll get to do more for TOH in the future; A Youtube reviewer (shoutout to all, Zachary Ax, Man of a Thousand Thoughts, Rebecca herself), the Third Bill got it right on Hooty, and Dana won’t be more specific about that.

         They found out about the shortening during S2; They had an ending in mind that Dana had in mind since development, but it needed too much setup and so they couldn’t pull it off. All of Season 2A was written before knowing the cancellation; Follies at the Coven Day Parade was the first episode fully written knowing the show was shortened, hence the tonal change. The Galdorstones was an arc Dana planned more on, as well as the Coven Heads; Bat Queen; It was a hard situation choosing what to leave out.

         There weren’t whole episodes written that had to be trashed; Just one-sentence ideas on a whiteboard never fully outlined or scripted. But Dana is still happy with what came out, because it was pretty damn cool.

         Rebecca Rose once saw someone with a King sweatshirt like hers at Disneyland and said hi, but they just side-eyed her and didn’t respond; Despite this, Rebecca hopes they had a happy day and believes they were just having a bad time. Sarah joked about not being so forgiving.

         String Bean’s inspiration: Owlbert is in the title of the show, String Bean indeed was there the whole time! The S wasn’t completely intentional at first, but Dana flipped the logo around and figured it out. When making the first episode, the logo wasn’t finalized. They always liked the idea of Luz being connected to snakes, it’s what she brought to school and they liked her reclaiming something she terrorized her classmates with. The Snake-Shifter idea specifically; Zach Marcus just said “Snake-Shifter” as they brainstormed ideas and Dana, being a sucker for lame puns, was sold.

         That was indeed Dana being represented as a student in the epilogue! She was Beastkeeping and Oracle; Dana can see the future of the show, and really likes animals. Raine’s palisman was indeed hidden within the violin’s design; Hunter and Dell worked to fix the palismen after Raine broke it trying to stop Belos. The violin is more akin to the staff, anyhow. Dana considered responding to a question about general Caleb, Evelyn, and Flapjack lore, but Sarah insisted she stay silent in case they get to answer it as an actual story later.

         Dana liked to think while writing Thanks to Them; No, Evelyn’s spirit isn’t in Flapjack. But to Philip, he saw Flapjack as the culmination of the corruption in his brother Caleb; He saw Flapjack, if it weren’t for YOU. You can see a hint of it in Masha’s story, Evelyn entices Caleb with Flapjack, who was Caleb’s introduction to magic. Evelyn was probably disguised as a human, and trusted Caleb for seeming reasonable and less violent. Perhaps like Dog owners passing each other by and suddenly becoming friends over this.

         Evelyn and Caleb’s relationship was sweet, from platonic curiosity to romantic. Eda doesn’t know she’s descended from them, nor does Hunter; And Dana has more to say, but will keep it hidden. Luz will stay the majority of her stay in the isles as she goes to college. Camila bought the shack leading to the human world, which allowed Luz to visit during holidays, weekends, etc.

         They never got to explore it, but it could’ve originally been the home of Philip and Caleb, long abandoned; Eda emerges after discovering the portal. In the next thirty years, she fixes up the shack as she builds the Owl House. Dana also advised fans to google Death of the Author, since she’s technically no longer working on the show, and thus gives permission for fans to write their own answers.

         Eda became the Owl Lady before Owlbert, due to the curse; They planned to do an episode where Eda learned palismen carving with Dell, and how Eda reclaimed the Owl identity to carve Owlbert. Dana stills has the outline of that episode in her head…

         According to Rebecca, Caleb and Philip’s graves were in the basement of the shack, based on this church in New Haven Dana passed by every day on her way to school (Gravesfield is based on some places in Connecticut). However, Dana realized the graves didn’t fit into the story. They also had an ‘original’ Belos design for him taking over animals. Marina Gardner did some amazing Belos designs, and Thanks to Them alluded to it.

         The Portal’s eye comes from the Titan’s missing eye!!! Hunter is bisexual, Willow is pansexual, this is how Dana always wrote and imagined them in her mind, but it’s not explicitly stated so technically it’s more headcanon. Dana noted how some people just picked it up. Dana likes to think Amity and Lilith rekindled their student-mentor relationship. Having worked in the library, Amity was interested in Lilith’s knowledge of history. Dana suggested to Zarya(?) from the design team to add notes to Lilith’s museum blueprints. A helicopter passed over and they joked it was Disney trying to stop spoilers.

         Cissy only got her lines and didn’t know any other details about the finale, to Dana’s surprise; Dana explained that people not getting a full script is due to the pandemic. Before quarantine, actors would get the full script. They have to rely on Eden Riegel and Dana for context a lot. Bosook Coburn spoiled Luz’s death to Rebecca Rose during the celebration party. They came up with a lot of designs for dying Luz, trying to figure out how they can hollow out her head how much. Dana mentions it’s up to the showrunner to show how much they want to the actors.

         Thanks to Sarah, they kept in Luz saying her own SFX during her fight with Eda in O Titan, Where Art Thou; She heard someone do it as part of the mock script and wanted it. When Dana voiced Eda and Luz at the end, Dana was crying. There’s a recording of Season 2B and Season 3 of Dana doing a voice-over of the script to get approved by executives.

         Dana clarified everyone would’ve had more of a chance to talk with each other, such as Hunter and Amity; Hunter would’ve talked to Vee, as well as more human realm kids, literally everyone would’ve had a little more time with each other. Dana loves Luz and Hunter’s sibling dynamic. Dana was sorry they couldn’t have Luz and Raine hang out, but they had the Hexsquad storyline. Luz finished high school in the human world, with the renewed motivation that she’ll go back to the isles. Knowing she has a safe space outside of high school made it more bearable, as was the case for Dana growing up.

         Cissy brought up Gus’ hair in the epilogue, which she loved; Emmy Cicierga did the design for Gus and Raine. Harpy Lilith was by Emmy; Dana did Emira, Eberwolf, and Skara’s timeskip designs. The name of the Titan is unpronounceable for humans.

         Dana can’t say much about the Archivists; The Collector never had a flash-forward design, as they age much more slowly than everyone else. Maybe the Collector got just a tiny bit taller. The idea of the Collector came from creepy dolls, as well as a nightmare; John Bailey Owen had a google folder filled with cool references of creepy dolls with a starry aesthetic, liminal minimalist nightmare-scape. They knew who the Collector was gonna be, what role they’d play, but the vibe still needed to be decided.

         Dana confirmed the Collector was always a part of the show before the shortening, and they solidified their placement after the announcement. The Collector has indeed stayed connected with the others, visits occasionally. Dana has seen fan comics on this and teared up.

         Hooty doesn’t have to be vacated from the Owl House if he doesn’t want to; When the door isn’t active, Hooty could be present. The new portal can probably fold up, and Hooty is busy as a curator for Hooty’s new museum.

         Dana said Raine and Eda’s business is their business; Not all love stories end in marriage. It’s their thing and it doesn’t diminish any love, but they do live in the Owl House together (Raine moved in).

         Mattholomule getting a palisman is something Zach Marcus can answer, since he made the character and Dana respects the lore he made. It’s hard to say for Dana if Vee and Masha are dating, since Masha didn’t show up in the finale, but Vee definitely has a crush on them. Again, Dana encourages the Death of the Author approach, if the headcanon makes you happy.

         Alador and Odalia got officially divorced after the finale, and the kids happily lived away from her. They might visit her if they have the energy, but also recognize she’s a toxic influence they can cut off at any point. Dana gave a shoutout to Rachel McFarlane’s voice acting, praising her performance for Odalia.

         In regards to the tower King was born in, Dana has an answer; It was related to a character we all know, who now may have amnesia.

         There was a plan to explore Gus and Willow’s glowing eyes, and do it for other characters; Amity wasn’t going to have that, strong emotions are indeed connected to magic. It was mostly a worldbuilding magic rule they could’ve expanded on, that Dana wishes she did early in the story.

         In the boards, Dawn Han(?) did Clouds on the Horizon, and did the scene of Amity and the twins hiding in the factory as their parents talk about the Abomatons, Alador is worried since it seems like a tad much. Alador had T-rex arms in the storyboard, and it reminded Dana of Remy from Ratatouille, so when they got to the scene of them looking into Alador’s lab, Ratador was drawn in his place as a joke. Dana laughed so hard she decided to keep it in, with Dana handwaving it as Alador’s palisman.

         According to Dana, a show should be appreciated for as it is; But the other way to enjoy it, under the context it was made, is also important to her; Both ways are valid. It was easier for Sarah to voice depressed Luz since she was also depressed. The writers preferred to put their feelings into the show, VS a more happy-go-lucky approach as others did; It was kind of dark for a bit, especially during quarantine. Sarah felt her own experience validated with Luz’s depression, but she and Dana appreciated the balance of having a happy ending too.

         What made the crew hopeful was knowing the characters would always have a happy ending; Luz could continue her studies in full-force, a new family. They KNEW it would end happy. Dana acknowledged how the fandom misinterpreted “I hate the term happy endings,” and Sarah knew about the quincenera when asked during previous Post-Hoots, but couldn’t answer.

         Rebecca commissioned 3D-printed Funko Pops of S2A Lilith and S1 Luz, and gave them to the others as gifts; Rebecca didn’t know about Avi’s appearance until two days before the Post-Hoot, otherwise she would’ve had a Funko of Raine made. Dana’s stand for Luz had to be made with painter’s tape (she appreciated it) due to Rebecca running out of the other kind, and planned to place it beside her Peabody award. Elizabeth Grullon, Camila’s VA, had to call her mom in the middle of a session to translate her line about maduros into English.

        Cissy clarified this wasn’t intended to be the final Post-Hoot! And the video was ended with a BBBBYYYEEEEE!!!!!

[genericpuff]

Just saw your response to someone asking about plot points you hate. Can I ask why you don't like Athena/Hestia? From what I remember (take this with a grain of salt because while I've read the whole comic it's more in a junk food, read and forget til next time kind of thing)

From what I remember it's not a huge plot point? Like its just kinda.. there? It doesn't really impact much of the story at large.

Also I agree with the hades/thanatos thing, that's kinda odd and it doesn't make hades any better or more sympathetic of a protagonist. If I remember right, doesn't he abandon thanatos or push him away?

I have issues with the Hestia x Athena plotline the same way I have issues with the Hera x Echo plotline. It all feels shoehorned in for the sake of seeming 'inclusive' towards gay relationships, but gets next to no actual development or screentime aside from the odd lip service meant to benefit Rachel.

Especially when Hestia and Athena were already embraced as LGBTQ+ icons to begin with and didn't need to be shipped together to make it possible. Rachel has a really hard time comprehending aroace identities and this is present even back in her Tumblr days-

If Hestia and Athena are still supposed to be at least ace in LO then we haven't seen any indication of that. So it just makes them look hypocritical as fuck for running the "virgins only club" that is TGOEM (and even going so far as to punish Persephone for being around Hades by confiscating his gift to her) and that unfortunately makes them look like really terrible people which isn't a great look for the only lesbian couple in the story (at least until Eros and Hera were established but whether or not they're an actual couple now or if that was just a one time kiss scene remains to be seen). Like even the reveal that they're together is Artemis figuring it out and then being pissed that she's the "only one following the rules", not them coming out about it on their own terms.

Also no, the Hestia x Athena plotline wasn't as big as the other plotlines, but it was one of the ones that felt so out of left field and forced when it was first established. Plus I'd just love for them to be aroace rep again, there are characters who are legitimate gay icons that got erased so that Rachel could retroactively shove it into other characters without any reasoning or relevance to the plot.

I honestly wouldn't have been so salty about the Hestia x Athena plotline if it were just written better (and if it didn't reek of aroace erasure) and that goes for a lot of the queer relationships in LO, because so many of them are only given the tiniest ounces of screentime, enough for Rachel to take credit for being "inclusive" but not enough for her to actually have a diverse cast. Morpheus is the most consistently present character we've gotten for LGBTQ+ rep and now even she's been fridged :/

Anyways, as for Hades and Thanatos, yeah, the retcon that Hades was a 'father figure' to Thanatos the whole time seems like it was purely written in to make Thanatos look like a hypocrite for having very reasonable concerns regarding the special treatment being given to Persephone at work. But then Rachel had to actually resolve that plotline so in S3 she had Hades approach Thanatos in search of his brother just for them to have a weak 'heart to heart' where Thanatos took the blame for being a 'handful' and Hades trauma dumped and never really took accountability for everything. The fact that we're supposed to believe they have a father-son dynamic really makes the first season gross to read because the whole time Hades is legitimately treating Thanatos like scum. It absolutely does NOT make Hades more likeable, even with the attempt to 'redeem' him which really just made him look like an even bigger asshole u.u

[cxhleel108]

LITG S8 Thots for this week: Here we go again…

(Sorry friends a bitch was getting crunk the last two days so I did not have time to do this until today❤️)

• Ok before we even start why is he sitting like thiskdmsmsnsnd someone help me.

• So the customization…I told y’all I wasn’t trying to gag too hard when they first revealed MC and this is exactly why cuz once again why we only get braids for textured hair??? They’re not even free like y’all already pissing me off.

• So clearly this season is about zodiac because why else would we only be getting star sign tattoos?

• Meet Jaylin y’all😝😝😝 You’ll be getting all her info soon.

• Everyone hating this swim suit but it actually being my favorite. The others were just ok to me Idk sue me.

• Mind you it’s only been like 2 minutes and we already causing issues.

• I think we’re already getting married tomorrow guys Idk.

• And he has a lion tattoo so that means he’s most likely a Leo and my girl is a Gemini oh look how I ate this pairing up!

• Oh Theo stans I’m so sorry…

• I’m so glad I’ve never ended up getting the guy stuck in the “Day One” couple like I really would just end it all.

• The job options being the exact same…ok! I wanted her to be an athlete anyway😁

• Him assuming that he had a high chance of being picked when Oakley and Jin are present…I just busted out laughing.

• Yeah all this talk about compatibility and these dudes talking about being “magnetized” and “drawn” to us is def giving let’s compare our charts to see if we should fuck each other or not.

• Such a real bitch oh Claudia I love you already💯💯💯

• Sophie telling me to cool it around Jack like I want him…I just busted out laughing again.

• Our date with Theo just feeling like two people building a friendship and not a relationship was nice I would love for it to stay that way tbh (Him like 5 minutes later saying he was trying not to flirt with us can they not do this again like please).

• Jack’s date was a snooze fest who’s shocked? Also him having two moms just makes sense Idk why.

• I am gonna have so much fun replaying this season to do Jin’s route omg this man is too good.

• Yeah I already don’t like Emel. Girl who is bringing yo ass a bouquet at 8 in the morning??? Don’t piss me off.

• Uhhh cuz I’m badder than you, duh!

• Outfit time🥳🥳🥳

• These are cute!

• This is not!

• Right…anyways so!

• Yikes!

• Hehehehe no y’all don’t understand like she is already my bestie fr. Love when one of the girls is here for the fuckshit.

• The drama that be happening sometimes be so stupid like girl. Claudia sitting here telling me everyone was mad at each other on DAY FUCKING ONE because nobody wanted to be with who they were with…do y’all just come on here and then forget how the show works.

• Oh girl just stop like fuuuuck😭😭😭

• Outfit time again✨

• The panties did not need the sheer added.

• This literally being a swimsuit.

• Claudia’s outfit is so cute ugh werk!

• WHY IS THIS MAN BOOTY SO DAMN FAT LIKE OMGGGG😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

• He wanna compete with me so bad!

• I’m cryinggggg why we really living the storybook romance that Emel keep begging for.

• Me & Oakley: “Cheats are the lowest of the low”

• Also Me & Oakley: *Eating each other’s faces off outside*

• Yes please get Emel out of here before she takes Willow’s place and actually starts annoying the fuck outta me.

[piebingo]

There’s an important detail that gets mixed up sometimes about the decision to put August next in line after Wilhelm and I think it’s a very important detail to get right: Kristina was not the one to put August next in line, it was the royal court.

She tells August about the crown’s decision and he says thank you, to which she replies something along the lines of "it’s not my idea" (in the English translation she says "Well, you should know it wasn’t my idea" and in the French translation she says with as much sass as she can, "It wasn’t my idea. Obviously." She then tells him she will stand by her son first and foremost but it is what it is.)

Why is that distinction important? Obviously, it does show that the Queen doesn’t agree with what August did (now, whether it is mostly because of the negative impact on the crown or on her son’s life is questionable, I think it’s a mix of both). Whether she actually stands by her son isn’t the point I want to focus on tho.

No, what’s important is that the Queen wasn’t the one to make that decision. We don’t know how it went, maybe she could have fought harder against the idea, but she does not have that much power to take the decision. And why is that important? Because it is exactly the type of thing Wille will have to deal with as a King. This detail of Kristina telling August —and thus us the public— that she didn’t want to put him in line for the throne but that what she wants doesn’t matter is there to show us that her hands are tied. I am sure she does have some decisional power on certain things, but still. This is an important decision that favours a criminal, and what other things like that have the court done during her reign? And before her? And if what the Queen wants doesn’t matter, which in this case is very reasonable —don’t put a criminal in line for the throne— then what Wille wants does not matter either. Because the royal court does not care.

This is the path that Wille is being led on right now. He will be in Kristina’s place once he is King. Was Kristina always so focused on the crown first family second? Was she once just like Wille, a bit rebellious and wanting what’s right, only for the royal court to mold her into what the Queen they wanted? Because if this is the case, if this is how it went for Kristina… what’s stopping anyone from trying to do this to Wille? And sure, he will have Simon by his side (they are endgame okay, thank you) but realistically, it’s important to note that Wille isn’t immune to this, and that Simon does not want that either. He loves Wilhelm but the royal court already fucked him over many times and it’s been what, 5 months? It could happen to Wille, because the royal court seems to have a lot of power. They already started with Wille.

So this detail is really important yes to show that Kristina stands by her son (although she does loads of questionable things, I have never doubted she loves her son but I have doubted that she stands by Wille first and foremost. we will see next season whether that’s true but it is interesting that she says it when Wille isn’t there to hear it. it makes me think she will try (succeeding is another thing entirely) to stand by him). But most importantly, this detail is there to show us the inner workings of the royal court, of the role and power the Queen/King holds, and show us how it will be for Wille. Of course, Jan-Olof is at the head of the royal court and putting someone with more humanity in that role would probably make the royal court more human, thus changing the monarchy, but yeah. I think it’s interesting and important! Kristina says word for word that it wasn’t her decision and it bugs me when people forget that because it’s important in so many ways that the decision comes from the court.

[mdhwrites]

Do you think the show rewards Luz’s Selfishness too much?

So I normally frame Luz's decision to self martyr herself and stay in her own world as not wanting to bother with the effort to fix her mistake. Let's shift that a bit so we can talk about why the show couldn't have Luz tell ANYONE this deeply selfish choice. A choice that by all means, Camila seems to think is just a bad choice for Luz and for no one else.

But... Luz chooses that her pain and angst is so bad that she doesn't want to help Amity reunite with her siblings. Or to make sure they can live in a world where they're safe. Gus' dad, Willow's parents, Darius, etc. All of them can rot as far as Luz is concerned. She even explicitly states this in For the Future. "Once Eda and King are safe, I'm going home."

No one else matters. LITERALLY no one else matters to her but the people she has chosen to care about and there aren't many of those. This is framed even worse by the fact that by the end of this episode, Camila will effectively say that Luz has NEVER done anything wrong. That trying to critique her at all, to try and give her life skills and friends with the camp after she put people's lives potentially in danger (snakes and fireworks are not meant for school for a reason), was wrong. That Luz just needs to be 'understood'. Part of understanding Luz, especially in S3, means that unless someone attacks her about it, like the dream sequence, WHICH ISN'T HER OWN MIND BUT A FABRICATION AND LIE, she isn't going to think about others. Just her adopted family and herself. And even then, maybe not even her adopted family since they sure as shit didn't matter in Thanks to Them.

BUT. we are supposed to sympathize with her and believe she did nothing wrong, just like Camila. Do not question her motivations, or her efforts, just believe her words.

This is emblematic of the show as well. The first two episodes talk a big game about fantasy vs reality and like Luz's selfish motivations, warped way of looking at things and her learning to be a human being, not a walking, wanna be protagonist will be interrogated. But... Not really. She repeatedly does things that are mirrored in her favorite series. Her final battle line will be a reference to that series and her delusions with that series. People might get briefly upset about her actions but most of the time she either doesn't have to do anything, like Reaching Out or Adventure in the Elements (where she gets a glyph BEFORE making up the fuck up she did) or show how special she is like in Lost in Language and Covention. I can only really think of like one episode after the first two where Luz fucks up and genuinely has to take the brunt of punishment for it, Winging it Like Witches, and even in that one, she is saved before anything bad happens to her before winning with the same trick that hurt her friends, just... Now it's okay because they're all on the same page about it I guess. Couldn't have had Willow come up with something herself because Luz actually was willing to listen to Willow and not force something onto her. That'd be too much work.

It's part of why the more you interrogate Luz's intentions and motivations, it gets BAD. So much of what she does could be easily grafted onto a kid trying to play hero or not learning anything from past mistakes. Don't ever forget that Teenage Abomination says "Listen to your mentor about their specialty," then The Intruder says "Don't take shortcuts to magic" before then in Adventure in the Elements, Luz takes a shortcut for magic while also not listening to Eda and almost gets people killed for it. GREAT JOB LUZ! Much development, such depth.

And yes, lots of shows will have characters yoyo and the like but these are within HALF A SEASON of each other. It usually takes a little longer for most animated shows to straight up start repeating lessons. Hell, yes, it is theoretically a problem for Amphibia too with stuff like Bessie and the hibernation episode both featuring Anne's impatience but also S1 is genuinely about how Anne is fighting between the lessons she's learning and her growing empathy versus how she used to be with her selfishness and laziness. Also, both episodes might be about her impatience but they genuinely tackle it in different ways, with one being about disregarding the rules because of overconfidence and the other one is out of boredom. For TOH... It's just that Luz wants the magic she thinks she should have, as easily and as fun as she thinks it should be instead of weird and actually taking work, and fucks it up because of that same motivation.

That same motivation that doesn't treat reality like reality. According to the show though, that's just the best way to be. Follow your own version, fuck everything else. That's what Luz gets to do in the end after all and she's the one literally blessed by God to be correct.

So yeah, I think her selfishness might be a touch rewarded.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[mr-payjay]

analysis of oj's thought process in this scene for funsies (quick warning for suitcase being put down and seen as inferior by another but it's not character neg)

why is oj being a massive fucking bitch? 🤔 Let's analyze.

so, obviously oj is living off a power trip in this episode. interesting implications about his actual power as a hotel owner. actually, at the beginning of the episode, we can see that he is NOT RESPECTED. salt lies about cleaning up, pepper demands him where the towels are (and he smugly lets her enter the DEATH TRAP DOOR? implying a familiar but negative relationship), and in general oj (and paper sort of but that's not relevant) seems to be the only caretaker while the rest of the residents are more like customers. though it seems they are *meant* to help out (such as salt being supposed to clean).

anyway. once oj gets the temporary host role for inanimate insanity, he immediately gets excited. we transition to the scene outside the hotel and he even does a little twirl! oj starts to read off the paper mephone uses (which oj has happily vandalized with drawings of himself and a snarky little message, this points to his general disdain towards mephone) and is trying to go Smoothly through with it. once the teams start fighting, he doesn't even try to figure out who's telling the truth, preferring instead to eliminate a random person. he REALLY likes to be efficient with his time, huh? that's talked about more in the next paragraph, but in this one i'll say a bit about his hatred for inanimate insanity. for the whole episode, he is uncaring of the show's rules, guidelines, structures, etc. he eliminates someone at random, he makes the contestants clean the hotel NOT as a challenge then flips a coin to determine the loser (only after they question him), he makes them sing for no reason other than to be entertained, he zips through every step as fast as possible. he does not care at all about ii, despite being so eager to host it. why? because hosting it means he gets to boss around a group of people (and he can make them clean his hotel! something he really needs help with!!), he gets to take mephone's place and mess with his stuff and disrespect his show, and generally he gets to sort of... take out some of his lasting frustrations surrounding ii. i don't think ANY of the season one cast is fond of inanimate insanity (and especially not of mephone), even if it brought them together (also not always a good thing). oj certainly isn't.

once he picks suitcase, he starts by calling her "whats-your-face" (thank you for noticing mari), then a few seconds later calls her by her actual name. thissss is so interesting to me. he KNOWS her name, apparently. but he called her a mean name first. this can either imply that he forgot, that he's just being a jerk for the hell of it, or both. i think it's both. a mix of his obsession with productivity and his need to be superior motivates this. he wants to get the elimination over with as quickly as possible, so quickly that he doesn't even bother to remember her name right away, because he's SO efficient that he just simply Doesn't have time for these things (in his mind). so it makes him feel both superior to her (disrespecting her), makes him feel good about himself (he feels like he's just being Productive and Time Efficient and part of that is that he has "no time" to do anything else but work). basically, he DID forget her name for like, a singular second, he just didn't bother to wait a moment or correct himself instead of calling her something else.

and for telling suitcase she's ruining the show? let's bring it back to ii1. oj insults people whenever he feels like it. he's pretty mean, and he's worse when he's stressed. he insults people particularly for being "useless" (such as to bomb), and is quick to fight back against anyone who challenges him. a pushover like suitcase is easy to demean. and it makes him respect her even less when she's being so meek! oj thinks his snappishness is justified by the fact he's, once more, simply being time efficient ("we've got a busy schedule!"), and that she is just wasting his time. i said earlier that oj doesnt respect inanimate insanity. so why does he accuse her of ruining the show if he doesn't care about it? well, because this is *his* episode. his time to be the host. even if he disregards the usual way things run, he's still going to get upset if something conflicts with *his* plans. he wants to get this over with and get them to clean his hotel, not much else (again, he's still enjoying being in a position of authority, he just likes to be nonchalant about how Superior and Powerful he is now). if someone's interrupting that, he's going to assert himself. oj always fights back against anyone who challenges him, and suitcase is too much of a doormat to stop him from shutting her down.

now for oj telling her to step back. this part is petty. he's irritated but also kind of. happy about being irritated. "what," you say? well, see, suitcase is genuinely trying to follow his directions. she just doesn't know how *much* to step back, obviously. so oj keeps shooing her a little bit at a time until she's finally offscreen, and you can tell he's a little bit annoyed by it. but this is part of the power & superiority once more! he gets to boss around someone "inferior to him" who is just soooo stupid that she doesn't even know where to go. and oj has to shoo her over and over because she's just not getting it (since he is sooo very much smarter than her and she is just completely incapable of following OBVIOUS directions.) but it's okay she is simply a Minor inconvenience (in his head) that he has dealt with now. also note that he could've just pointed to where she had to go. does this paragraph make sense? he likes being able to tell others what to do and have them do it, so even if she's kind of annoying him by not completely understanding the instructions, he still gets to assert his authority quite a bit.

this analysis is particularly focused on the scene in the video but i do bring up some other parts of the episode to support it.

[multifandumbmeg]

Can I say something potentially controversial? I haven't been in this fandom long enough to feel out the prevailing opinions so here's a take:

Idk why people hate on [redacted, not trying to start shit] when John B is right there.

I'm so (not) sorry but like- as someone that was and is so fucking lucky to have grown up with an absolutely ride or die tightknit friend group like the OBX kids, FUCK JOHN B.

Why? Because he's the only one that never checks in on JJ. He makes faces when JJ eats ROTTEN FOOD in his house like "wow ur so gross lol" like he doesn't know that boy LITERALLY DOES NOT HAVE FOOD AT HOME. He straight up ignores JJ in one episode when he actually tells him, "can we eat first? I haven't eaten in two days" like?!?? He disappears and leaves all his friends hanging when he finds [spoiler, iykyk]. He causes discord by bringing Sarah in where she was EXPRESSLY UNINVITED instead of talking it through with Kie first. He ignores Sarah's warning about the Nassau house and nearly gets them both killed. Meanwhile:

Pope expresses concern over JJ's situation multiple times, by hugging him, apologizing, and checking in. He's a kid and he doesn't know what to do, but he clearly does what he can and worries about JJ. He goes along with the group's schemes even when it jeapordizes his whole future and the life his parents are trying so hard to set up for him. He talks through emotions with Kie when theyre friends and does his best not to hold all the mixed signals against her after dating. And while I don't think he's right for it, he also criticizes Kiara for not being there wholeass when John B's dad disappeared, which shows he was. He's always getting into conflicts with and hurting his parents for John B's schemes.

Kiara not only comforts JJ, she's also the ONLY one to confront his dad (despite the danger). She offers to go in with him when he has to talk to his dad. She makes the connection between his reckless behavior and his fucked up childhood. She also checks in on John B numerous times in the first season because she knows he's avoiding and suppressing the trauma of his dad being most likely dead. She also calls ALL the boys out consistently, but usually with a lot of tact and kindness for acting out on the feelings they're avoiding.

Obviously JJ self-sacrifices for his friends all the time. Taking the fall for Pope, risking his future committing crimes to help his friends, and often risking his life for them, or making deals others wouldn't to get them out of a pinch quick. He also tries to call John B out for risking his and everyone else's lives on the incredibly slim chance his father is still alive and trying to leave a trail of bread crumbs early on. In fact, he seems to be the most realistic and honest about Big John when he's talking to John B, and the others criticize him for his lack of tact, but he's the only one who seems to realize feeding into delusions isn't a kind thing to do in the long run. He goes in INSTANTLY when he finds out Pope got jumped, he goes feral when Kiara gets kidnapped (long before he realizes there's any chance of dating her), runs headlong back into a fight with 4 or 5 guys when Raefe insults her, loses his job publicly defending John B from murder accusations etc etc etc...and let's not forget after getting beat half to death by his dad, emotionally trainwrecked because no matter what he does he seems to lose, he blows the money on what? A car? A boat? His shitty house with no food? NO. He orders a bunch of shit he can enjoy with his friends and spends the whole evening setting up fucking christmas lights in the trees despite the amount of evident pain he's in just so they can all be happy and have something TOGETHER. And I'm just gonna stop there because the list literally drags on like crazy, he does everything for his friends, especially John B.

And what has John B done for his friends?

Hmmmmm well there's that one time he stops JJ from starting a shootout with the entire sheriff's department and going down swinging by turning himself in.

Now on the other hand, he repeatedly manipulates his friends into doing things they don't want to or shouldn't do, often at the risk of their lives. He basically spends all of season 2 on a revenge quest, culminating in him not even considering that he should comfort his girlfriend when her father dies in front of them. Repeats what other people say about JJ being "just like his dad" despite knowing both his circumstances and that it's a trigger for him. There's that one time he goes home for the gun to kill Ward and basically ATTACKS all his friends to get through without talking about it?? And never apologizes?? Isn't ever concerned about Pope's scholarship, or in any way sensitive to the fact that he's BLACK and so much of what they get into involves his own generational trauma?! Is told several times Kiara's on the verge of being sent away to a Troubled Teen camp and straight up never once acknowledges or comments about that at all? Shows up to confront Topper and Sarah at Kiara's parents' party, knowing full well she's on thin ice and her parents DO NOT like any of them right now, including having just had a blowout with JJ, who insists on staying out of it.

Honestly, he got real tired of [same spoiler] by the end of season 3, so I'm hoping now they're dead in season 4 he's finally gonna wake up and start looking after his friends more because up to this point? Dude lacks empathy to a criminal degree and has a mad case of toxic main character syndrome.

Just like...as someone who was considered "the glue" to my own group of extremely troubled youths, all of us traumatized to fuck, this dude is failing with flying colors. Please look outside yourself and your romantic relationship some fraction of the time.

[webslingerofthegalaxy]

RANT TIME

Okay, unpopular opinion that no one asked for but I have nowhere else to vent it so you're stuck with it time. I HATE the animated trolls shows, The Beat Goes On and Trollstopia. With a burning passion. I will admit, TBGO wasn't as bad as Trollstopia imo, but it was still bad. Why, you may ask?

Allow me to explain.

First off, let's start with TBGO. Now, since this comes after the first movie and we don't have a lot of context beyond it, I let a lot slide. But the main transgression I have is that this show brought Creek back. CREEK. Of all the MISERABLE LOUSY PATHETIC COWARDS to resurrect, they picked CREEK. WHY. Why was this necessary???? He adds nothing to the story beyond an annoying presence that makes me want to hurl my device like Captain America's shield. AND THEN, they make Branch the bad guy for not trusting him immediately. OF COURSE HE DIDN'T TRUST CREEK, THE SLIMY POS SOLD EVERYONE OUT TO SAVE HIS OWN SKIN. DID EVERYONE FORGET THAT!?!?! And then this leads to Branch having to APOLOGIZE to Creek and then eventually to them sort of becoming friends. THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN. Every episode he was in I could feel myself losing braincells.

If you thought that was alot, stick around for my rant on Trollstopia because holy shit, where do I begin?

Now, the idea behind Trollstopia is actually a good one. Like hey, everyone is so spread out, how about a group from every tribe comes to live in the middle which happens to be Pop Village? Genius! And I will admit, in the beginning it seemed promising! And then, they fucked it up.

How, you may ask?

Simple. My point can be simplified to 2 main subjects:

They put WAAAYYYY too much effort into Poppy's relationships with literally EVERYONE ELSE and nowhere near enough into her relationship with Branch, HER BOYFRIEND.

They absolutely, totally, 110,000% DESTROYED Branch's character.

I shall now explain my stance. First off, we have point #1. Now, don't get me wrong. Poppy should absolutely have relationships with other trolls! She's the queen, for hair's sake! And I really did enjoy the fact that she made new friends and got really close with them. As someone who has eternally struggled with making and maintaining friendships, I loved seeing her do what I usually cannot. HOWEVER, this is no excuse to neglect her relationship with her actual fucking BOYFRIEND. Trollstopia takes place after TWT, after Branch and Poppy confessed and entered a relationship (if you wanna argue with me, look at the official Trolls Wiki, it'll back me up). But if you watch the show, you can barely tell they LIKE each other, let alone that they're dating. The show ran for 7 seasons and, out of those seasons, can anyone tell me a single episode where they were the focus? I won't even ask about them as a couple, just them interacting together being the focus! Poppy and her friends repeatedly bulldozed over Branch, his feelings, and his boundaries, constantly mocked him, and shit on anything he wanted to do. I swear at times it was like watching Trolls 1 Branch and Poppy interact.

Finally, my second point: Branch's character. They absolutely fucking took all of Branch's hard earned character development from 2 movies and a holiday special and went:

Wanna know how I know? What does Branch actually DO in Trollstopia? About every 10th episode, he shows up to offer a crappy sarcastic remark that pales in comparison to his usual ones and does one of 3 things:

Gets hurt

Gets made fun of

Acts like a total moron, and not in a cute way.

He's basically turned into Jay from the later seasons of Ninjago (my apologies Jay, I love you but you know it's true). I mean, in one episode he got his ass absolutely HANDED to him when he tried the rodeo! COME ON. The dude who caught a stick fired at him without looking and jumped in front of a death bolt to save Poppy got served by a fucking bull thing? Bullshit (no pun intended). To add onto this, when he's not being trampled and beaten for no fucking reason, he's being used for the most CRINGEWORTHY comedic relief. I mean really, there was a whole episode about how he wanted to be called a "cool nickname" by Lownote. Really? We really think that's in character? And to top it off, he gets stuck with "Skippy Two-Shoes". WHAT. THE. FUCK??? I almost had an aneurysm when I heard that. And everyone was fine with it!!!! Which leads into my last point, NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT HIM DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE SAVED POPPY AND IS HER FUCKING BOYFRIEND. There was a whole fucking episode about him getting all pissed off at the Techno Trolls for taking over his lagoon in his bunker (which I have to say I'm jealous he has) to have "raves" at like 4am. WHO WOULDN'T BE PISSED OFF??? My upstairs neighbors bang around at all fucking hours of the day and it drives me insane so I get why Branch is mad! BUT WHY DOES NO ONE ELSE? Why is it when he complains he gets told that he's being "unfair" and has to "share"? Fuck that, he was there first! It's not like Trollstopia isn't huge, they can find somewhere else to infest at 4am!

In conclusion, I hate the animated shows because they destroy the relationship between Branch and Poppy and demolish all of Branch's character development, reducing him to the annoying sidekick that always gets cheered at when they get hurt or die tragically.

End of rant. Thank you for sticking with me, I needed to get that off my shoulders. Branch is my favorite character and it infuriates me that he gets the short end of the stick all the time. Enjoy this as a reward:

[devondespresso]

writing my silly little fic and again im struck with how much opportunities they missed by pretending the s2 stancy breakup wasn't messy, specifically for Nancy's guilt about barb and forcing herself to grow up too fast

like s1 Nancy spends one night being a stupid teenager goofing off at her boyfriend's party and staying over to get spicy while Barb goes home. then she later realizes Barb disappeared and died that one night she was letting go and having fun. this is widely recognized trauma for her and informs a lot if not most of her actions through the rest of the show

in season 2 she's feeling the weight of it more around the first year anniversary. steve trys to help by taking her to a party to forget for a little while and 'be stupid teenagers' for a night. a perfectly set up parallel already

the way the show wants it to go, we get the bullshit argument, they fight, allegedly break up at some point, and nancy sleeps with Jonathan. later steve tells her to go with him and we're supposed to read it as Steve stepping back so jancy can happen. we're supposed to be seeing this as a happy ending.

but with the material we're given this would have been the perfect place for an emotional repeat of season 1 for nancy. she and steve go to the party and pretend to be stupid teenagers for the night. but oh no! nancy lets lose too much, lets herself relax and drink and dance, and the next day her boyfriend's pissed. hes saying she said things she never remembered saying and its hurt him and she doesn't know what to do. and kids around school are talking about them breaking up at the party, and that fits with Steve's anger she saw, so they must've broken up right? it sucks, even if she wasn't in love with him, that'd be the worst way to break up with someone (especially if she's confusing platonic and romantic feelings or convincing herself it has to be romantic when she really just values him as a friend)

and then she doesn't have time to work it out, she needs to go with Jonathan to avenge barbs 'disappearance' to give her family closure. She's got a lot of conspiracy shit to do and its stressful. so when murray starts going off about how she's not really in love with steve, how she actually likes Jonathan and he seems to like her back. they finished a lot of the hard work with the conspiracy stuff, she can let her guard down and have a quick good night.

then the next day is chaos. demodogs and labs and will being possessed. It a rough fucking day. Steve tells her to go with Jonathan while they get the mindflayer out of Will, civil like they're on good terms so she does (and thank god she did because that was rough and they needed all the help they could get)

and then everything's fine again, with the upside down. and it looks like she handled things better this time, was about to relax occasionally and still made it through.

except apparently she and steve didn't break up. he thought it was just a few fights, that they put their shit aside for the apocalypse and now they can work things out.

and it could ruin nancy. a year later and she's still hasn't learned her lesson, that letting her guard down hurts the people she cares about, that relaxing and having fun makes her lose people. its her fault for the messy breakup with Steve and its her fault that barb is gone. she's the reason she's lost friends close to her, 2 for 2, and now she only has Jonathan left (and what do you know, season 3 has her conflict with Jonathan and in season 4 she's not let anyone else get truly close to her and fred still dies)

you see what i mean?? by having conflict magical resolve itself in the background we loose so much powerful, painful character drama for her. our girl who thinks she has to keep the world around her up solely on her shoulders because she can't handle the loss of her best friend in season 1. Nancy who desperately wants to be normal and have people she loves but keeps losing them, through factors both in and out of her control, but feels like everything has to be her fault just because some things were.

and to be fair, that story is still present in the show. its there and definitely compelling, but it could've been even more so. i feel like if maybe there was less 'nancy has to be a strong independent girlboss' in there (abd it's definitely there, they want to make a point of making her a Strong Woman Character so bad) and she was allowed to have mistakes acknowledged by the narrative, this is the direction it would've gone. She could've been an excellent example of well written women who are strong and awesome through their own right instead of the narrative trying to make us like her

[nottoofondofgaypeople]

The whole Kiki and Zane situation

Major Content Warning for sexual assault, unwanted pregnancy, and lack of consent

Yeah this is a thing. That we need to talk about. I'm keeping the whole amulet thing the same, I actually have a lot of thoughts about these amulets, where they came from, and why they do what they do, but in this situation I think it works. But we are not going to gloss over this situation at all.

I am necessitating downtime after the first major fiasco with Zane. I literally don't know what happens after that but there is as much time as I want for characters to just process that whole fucking ordeal. Especially Kiki. Give her time to process the physical trauma of having a child under such extreme circumstances, maybe show her going to the Irene Statue to pray or getting healing potions from Zoey or eventually Lucinda to help her body deal with the after effects.

Let Kiki be emotional about it. Let someone ask her how she's doing and that time she can't lie about it. She can't hide the miserable look in her eyes. She's tried to hide this from Leona, she doesn't want her daughter to have to deal with the burden of her origin and what it did to Kiki, but deep down Kiki knows she can't stop that from happening. She knows Leona will always be affected by this and she's completely shaken at the mere thought of having to explain it to her later in life.

And let other characters express thoughts on this!! I feel like canon absolutely ignores a lot of characters feelings, especially people in Season 1 Phoenix Drop, and will just focus on a certain part of a series of events while ignoring or rarely bringing up another. Like I honestly forgot this whole subplot happened when I went in for a rewatch a year ago and was absolutely mortified by how little the story focused on a fucking traumatizing experience that it just shows on screen.

Garroth shows up at Kiki's barn because at this point, the jig is up. Everyone in Phoenix Drop knows who he is and who his brother is. And most people know he despises Zane and that Garroth is fundamentally a different person. But he still shoulders guilt for how bad it got for some people. Especially Kiki. He saw the way Zane looked at her, the way he fancied her. Even when he and Irena both warn her about Zane, Garroth still feels like he didn't do enough to prevent this.

He agonizes over how to talk to her and ends up pacing near the staircase up to her second floor while he tries to work it out. Garroth forgets that his armor is fucking LOUD and Kiki can hear him in her echoey ass barn, so she just yells at him to come upstairs and get this over with.

Garroth is eventually coaxed into revealing how guilty he feels about this happening. He starts to blame himself for it, and Kiki very quickly shuts that down. The only person at fault is Zane. There's no way Garroth could have known the depths of cruelty his brother would go to, and she doesn't want anyone being blamed for this other than Zane. She decided to keep Leona and raise her as her own, in spite of the man who helped create her.

Garroth apologizes for trying to shift the blame and resolves to instead ensure Zane isn't able to get that close to anyone he cares about. And he takes his role as Leona's uncle very seriously. For the time he gets to before the season 1 finale, Garroth often spends time around Kiki and Leona. Sometimes he'll baby sit so Kiki can get some rest, or he'll tell Kiki stories of what his youngest brother was like as a child. He quietly omits any mention of the middle brother.

Irena and Kiki have long talks about parenting and how Kiki plans to raise Leona. Irena keeps giving her this sad look, and Kiki admits that she's much more damaged than she lets on. But Irena has enough on her shoulders. Kiki admits that she's been processing a lot of this with Brendan and Donna, who she considers her very dear friends, and that while she's so happy Irena cares so much, it isn't her problem to worry about. She isn't allowed to blame herself for it, and she isn't allowed to try and take more onto her plate for Kiki's sake.

Gods I love Kiki so much. She's such an underrated character and I really want to explore her and other underutilized members of the village quite a bit more in this rewrite. Really make Phoenix Drop into the incredibly fucked up found family it was meant to be.

And let's be clear that even after 15 years, 15 years of healing, of loving, of having a life without Zane, of having a life with the daughter she adores, Kiki is still healing. There are scars on her stomach that will never go away. She's fairly confident she'll never be able to give birth again and has come to terms with that. She doesn't let herself be very intimate with people anymore, and anyone who knows her isn't pushy at all. They're just grateful that Kiki is incredibly strong and unbelievably stubborn.

One day Leona comes downstairs and some of her hair is covering her eye the same way Zane's did. Kiki tries to hide how tense and uncomfortable this makes her, asking Leona in a fairly roundabout way how she'd feel about a haircut. Even if Leona isn't fully aware of the situation at this point, she can tell that something's got her mom acting a little off. And the long hair is harder to maintain when she's trying to hunt.

Short hair Leona. That's it.

Even if it takes forever to get to this point, there's something fundamentally healing about Garroth getting to meet Leona. A lot has changed in the time he was gone, but Irena prepared him for a lot of it. What she couldn't have prepared him for is how it would feel to see a 15 year old Leona racing around the island chasing after some other kid like a feral beast. Like I'm so serious Garroth is so close to crying when he meets her.

Once Leona realizes who he is, she's ecstatic because she's heard so many stories about her uncle Garroth from her mom!! She's always wanted to meet him!! Garroth has a massive complex around his family and their impact on the lives of those around him, but when he gets to see how happy Kiki and Leona are, it kind of just melts away and he gets to spend an afternoon playing with his niece in the forest.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Thoughts after re-watching Taskmaster season 1:

- Romesh Ranganathan throwing the watermelon on the floor really was the funniest fucking thing that’s ever happened on TV. It really, really was. It was incredible. Not all the credit can go to Romesh, as it helps that it was well set up, contrasted against the previous more careful approaches. The editors get some credit. But Romesh gets most of the credit. Almost all of it. What an amazing thing to do.

It’s the lack of hesitation, I think. There were no cuts in the first bit of that segment. We see him go into the lab, see the watermelon for the first time, and not even break stride as he instantly walks across the room, picks up the watermelon, raises it over his head, and slams it onto the floor. Not stopping for one moment to consider whether this is the best idea. Every time I watch it, even four years after the first time, I can’t breathe for laughing.

- Romesh was very funny in general. I don’t actually know a huge amount about Romesh Ranganathan, except that he has so many TV shows he’s become other comedians’ shorthand for an extremely successful TV guy. I know he gets pitted against Rob Beckett at things in a show I haven't seen, and he was on that sports panel show that looked too horrible for me to touch even during the depths of my panel show phase, when I watched some pretty shit television. It’s not like Taskmaster is the only place I’ve seen Romesh; he’s turned up as an occasional guest on plenty of panel shows that I did watch. But he’s never made enough of an impression on me in other shows to stand out much in my mind. So I managed to forget that he really was a standout on Taskmaster, for how funny he was in nearly every situation. Obviously he played “livid comedian” very entertainingly, but he was also funny when grudgingly going along with things, when indignantly arguing, when visibly resigning himself to things (those might just be different ways to say “livid comedian”, but they are notably different variations that are each funny in their own ways).

- Tim Key and Romesh Ranganathan getting into physical fights in nearly every live task was amazingly funny. Why don’t people get into physical fights on Taskmaster live tasks anymore? It was the way they’d go looking for it. They didn’t just stumble over each other and go for it, they both went into each one planning to pick a fight. When they were blindfolded, they reached their arms out until they found each other so they could fight. That is commitment. There aren’t enough cage matches on panel shows.

- I also forgot how incredibly funny Roisin Conaty is. Unlike with Romesh, I haven’t forgotten about her in general or anything. I do think of Roisin as someone I really like as a guest on other people’s shows, I know she’s good value. But still, I forgot how amazingly good she was in a situation like Taskmaster that played to all her strengths. I think Roisin Conaty is very good at bouncing off other people and at blundering her way through things, and they just let her do that for six episodes straight. She made me laugh out loud so many times.

- That “high five a 55-year-old” task was amazingly funny. I understand why they wouldn’t do something like that again, not wanting to involve the public. There are very good reasons to not want to turn Taskmaster into some sort of prank show, the scourge of social media. Also, it would be harder to get away with such a thing now that Alex Horne is so much more famous than he was before season 1 of Taskmaster aired. If when I’m in London this summer, someone pulls me aside in a mall and asks my age, and the person who’s pulled me aside is Rhys James and I can see Alex Horne standing in the background, I’m going to have some idea of what’s going on.

However, for the one time they used it, it was fucking funny. Maybe the least “in character” I’ve ever seen Tim Key, as he suddenly dropped the mischievous personality when he had to actually do that shit in real life, walking toward people and then running away. Taskmaster is about genuinely upsetting comedians, and that was genuinely upsetting.

- I think Down An Octave is as close as you can get to a perfect episode of Taskmaster. Perfect balance of tasks – something open-ended where they could each come up with a creative way to solve a broad and simple problem (make the ice disappear), something convoluted where they had to find the exact specific way to get it right (score the most points in “squash”), and something that was just there to straight-up torture the comedians (fill the egg cup with tears). It featured a team task, which every great episode should have (the squash one). A nice open-ended prize task (most beautiful item). It had the first-ever task for only one person, with Josh counting the beans. And there was excellent banter in the studio throughout. No notes on that one.

- I’ve remembered Josh’s bean counting task, and re-watching that episode reminded me that it wasn’t just the beans, they made him do it three fucking times with three different foods. Josh was the perfect person to pick for that, too. Someone like Romesh just wouldn’t have done it. Frank would have half-assed it. Roisin would have blundered her way through it, which is usually funny, but in this case, it was Josh’s dedication to getting it right that made it funny. Tim would have found some way around it, which again is usually funny, but would have allowed him to defeat a task like this. This was funny because Josh was the one person who’d do it meticulously and properly.

- I know I’ve said this before, but a video of Daniel Kitson’s Tree has now been released, so we can all confirm that there was absolutely no reason why Tim Key’s character needed short fingernails for it. And he definitely wore shoes.

- They spent several seasons trying to recreate the magic of the first time they brought on Fred the Swede, and I think they came very close at times; a bunch of other Fred tasks have been very funny. But I don’t think any were quite as funny as the very first season. Watching Tim Key try so hard to make someone else blush that he accidentally just made himself blush instead. Roisin losing her mind and talking about back breasts. Romesh over-committing hard. Josh stuttering about the Emmanual films and Claudia Winkleman. You can’t beat it.

- I did notice overall, compared to more recent seasons, a lot more of contestants interacting directly with each other in the studio. I assume this is largely a consequence of the fact that most of them knew each other before the show. It was a smaller show then, Alex wasn’t drawing from all obscure corners of Britcom to find contestants. He was drawing from the pool of people he knew, so they tended to know each other too.

Romesh, Roisin, and Josh clearly all knew each other somewhat well (Romesh played a guest character in Josh Widdicombe’s sitcom at almost exactly the same time, who had about the same adversarial relationship with Josh’s character as the two of them had on Taskmaster, which I found quite funny when I watched that sitcom). And Roisin seems to be good friends with pretty much every comedian, as evidenced by her immediate rapport with any other comedian she gets paired with in any kind of show (often based on telling weird stories about her off-camera relationships with the other people on that episode). Tim Key was slightly more on the outside compared to the rest of them, but it shows how tight they all were that I’m calling the “outsider” of the studio banter the guy who was physically fighting Romesh in every live task. And of course there were Tim’s links to Alex and Roisin’s links to Greg.

(And everyone knows about Frank Skinner so I guess he was in there too. I don’t like Frank Skinner but I think I’ve already mentioned that fact, and why, too many times lately, so I’m trying to just ignore him in this post, rather than getting into all that again. The fact is that I can’t look at him without thinking of how many people I’ve known in real life who’ve been like him, and how awful they were, so even if it was 30 years ago and objectively no longer that big a deal, I subjectively can't get past it. I have no idea whether he’s objectively funny because I can’t enjoy him.)

They were just all all over each other, all the time. There were nearly as many interactions among the contestants as there were between the contestants and Greg or Alex. They were all commenting on each other’s choices, sometimes supportive but usually not. In more recent seasons, we can name specific arguments among contestants (ie. Bananagate from season 15), because they happen a few times a season. In season 1, you can hardly separate them out because they were after nearly every task (though a few do stand out, Pie Breachgate and Boxgate).

I do think the editors might be, for reasons I cannot fathom, screwing us over a bit on that in the most recent season. Sophie Willan mentioned, in the latest podcast episode, that there were a lot of arguments in the studio between John Robins and Steve Pemberton. Nick Mohammed said something very similar in his podcast episode, that he remembered sitting there quietly while sparks went off between those two. But we don't really see that in the edit. And I’ve spoken to someone who was in the studio audience for the one of the season 17 recordings, who told me about a couple of specific arguments between John and Steve in the studio (in both cases, John picking fights with Steve about stuff Steve did during the tasks, but Steve happily engaging). I was looking forward to seeing those arguments when that episode aired, but they were cut, and disappointingly, didn’t even appear in the outtakes. Why are the editors denying us studio friction? It was so funny in season 1!

It may have helped in season 1 that they were physically close together, in the smaller studio. Maybe they need to bring the smaller studio back. It’s easier to pick fights when you’re nearly sitting on top of each other. Made it feel more like a communal thing with all five of them sort of facing each other, rather than them all just going back and forth with Greg and Alex.

- This might tie in a bit to the previous point, but among other weird format things in season 1 (Greg doing little intros for each contestant, summaries of what we learned, much stingier with the points) was more cuts to reactions during the films of task attempts. Often shots of the contestant whose attempt is being shown, but also plenty of shots of other contestants looking shocked at what they’re doing. I’m not normally a fan of “reaction shots” in TV shows (they’re the absolute bane of stand-up specials), but I think they worked in this case, reminding us that they’re all a part of this.

- Overall, I greatly enjoyed that re-watch. There is a reason why I watched this season of Taskmaster and then decided I didn't want to watch anything else except these people and other things like this ever again. And that reason was not just Romesh throwing a watermelon on the floor. But a lot of it was Romesh throwing a watermelon on the floor.

[tabithatwo]

HONEST QUESTION by why do u think no one (until shauna did at their fight) ever called jackie out on being oblivious to other people’s feelings? Like we all know jackie is never mean on-purpose nor does she ever want to cause any harm but there are times where she has no idea that she is indeed doing so.. or is somehow influencing that.. And its like why has no one else ever tried voicing this out to her? BC we can clearly see she would’ve done something to change her behavior if it was pointed out. I just dont get why no one tried to other than the fact that it was probably just pretty privilege or people just being too scared to say so

WELL okay this question really got me thinking lmao my answer is sort of twofold so walk with me here…I don’t fully think jackie IS oblivious to other peoples feelings and I don’t think people have any issues calling her out when she misreads tone. The people who do tend to snap at the others when they say stuff that annoys them—off the top of my head shauna (obviously lol), tai, nat, mari, and van—all do at jackie at some point.

I think in canon, with the group as a whole, jackie is actually very in tune with their emotions. She corrals them at the kegger and they genuinely react positively. I think she’s honestly extra in tune with people’s emotions, perhaps partly because has to work a little harder at things. I think that’s why she’s captain.

When I say “off” in my original post, I mean that I think people can sense the way that someone picks up on and addresses behavior (aka loading time/processing/trying to problem solve when that isn’t what’s desired/etc) more than I mean that jackie is saying shit that upsets people regularly. I think that, other than shauna, jackie doesn’t upset them much more than anyone else until later in the season when things get bleaker.

Once they’re in the woods, jackie has lost her entire social script. It’s funny to me how people say she was the enforcer of society, because really I think society has kicked her ass and she’s simply learned how to exist within it and doesn’t know how to adapt to change. This isn’t the setting she’s used to, she doesn’t know how the people she’s learned and adapted to will react to these things, because who the fuck does?? It’s now unpredictable and she’s just really lost in a compounding way. We see her actually cheer people up again when things fall back into a script that she has access to—the seance, doing mistys makeup for her, etc.

As far as shauna goes, she has NO problem letting Jackie know when she’s upset with her lol. She just gives her no clue why. Shauna doesn’t communicate her feelings with anyone really and she certainly doesn’t delve into big picture things. (There’s a tai shauna tangent here that I’ll go on one day but besides that relationship, shauna is really just closed off and expects people, especially jackie, to read her mind.) Shauna snaps or gives the cold shoulder and Jackie adjusts and readjusts, until she’s fixed it the best she can.

I think that shauna’s reaction to being called out for cheating with jeff is something that greatly colors a lot of peoples’ views on jackie, when really it says a whole fucking lot more about shauna herself. Shauna is a horribly fucking unreliable narrator. We see her get confused and forget what her own lies are when she’s fessing up to callie about adam. She was writing her own narratives and letting resentment build even before the crash. So to me, taking what shauna says during that fight at face value, over what we actually see of jackie and their relationship, is a mistake. Shauna’s backed into a corner. She’s caught out. Little miss I’m with homeland security, first panic instinct is to lie is going to make shit up. She was trying to hurt jackie. That was the goal. For a myriad of reasons—I love shauna shipman don’t get it twisted lol. (And we see jackie realize shauna is tying to hurt her. Jackie tries to hurt back for a bit and she sucks at it lol and then she slips back into shocked hurt.)

So anyway, yeah. I think shauna clearly felt overshadowed, but she just does. In general. All the time. We got to see that in 2x09 when she spells it out for us in her journal lol. So using this scene to read jackie as someone who actually does the things shauna is accusing her of feels like a big jump to me.

Shaunas feelings were real. But I don’t fucking think shauna hated soccer. I don’t think jackie ever actually pushed her into her shadow, unintentionally or not. I think that jackie couldn’t navigate shauna’s emotions in any way other than placating when she could and trying to cling to her, because she was constantly terrified that shauna would leave her. Why did jackie expect shauna to go to rutgers? Probably because that’d been their entire fucking plan and jackie had no way of knowing that shauna didn’t want that anymore. I’m gonna talk more about their fight one day when it isn’t a tangent on a different topic lol, but basically I think reading what shauna says in the fight as truth is a common and inaccurate take.

To the last point, I think prettiness definitely impacts a person’s life on like every scale and makes people overlook things they might not normally, but I don’t necessarily feel like jackie got off with no feedback basically. And I don’t think she was actually that hurtful. I’ve talked about the nat situation here and how it’s unique, but that isn’t jackie being oblivious, that’s jackie trying to get an outcome. She is clearly oblivious sometimes (when she tries to give a pep talk post insane leg breaking lol, when she tells travis about who nat has hooked up with, when she is pragmatic about things like rationing food) but really she rarely says overtly hurtful shit, even on accident. She does less so than the other girls.

So I think it all comes back to that thing that a lot of viewers do—view jackie as fake. The fact that she doesn’t really give any evidence of meanness sort of was my point. Even when there is nothing bad said, general social awkwardness can be taken as an indication of insincerity. I think this is sometimes especially true when someone is overall decent at masking, at least enough that they’re superficially seen as well liked. Because then people see a hiccup (which is really an adjustment to new input) and take it as an intentional behavioral change.

(Grain of salt, I am someone who had a keen fucking interest in being as pretty as possible at her age lol, to the degree that when I was asked how I got so good at “beauty stuff” I said “well, you can be weird if you’re hot enough!” Until I learned that was actually NOT the answer people were looking for of course lmao so I am close to the subject of performative attractiveness to skate by and I also know that it only tends to cover more superficial likability—aka homecoming queen, but you’re only got like 1-2 close friends and your teammates have no issue giving you bizarre looks when you miss the mark lol)

Thanks for the ask, clearly it got me thinking. Like a lot. Many tangents and I’m not even sure how well I addressed the questions lol but I don’t feel like going back and making it more focused so this is the ramble we get!! <3

[charmixpower]

Musa ia the only one (i think) who changed her hairstyle thoughout the show. What is your opinion about the other winx what hairstyle will suit them best.

Uhh?? Like which hairstyles look best and how I'd like to see their hair develop through the seasons? Sure

WOW making Bloom's hair wavy is objectively correct

That aside, high low styles and braids. That's what Bloom really vibes in. Something about Bloom and braids I cannot explain it but it looks beautiful and the high low styles just may h Bloom's vibes

Leaving Bloom's bangs letting them be weird is 20/20 Bloom. Yes Bloom cuts her own bangs, how could you tell. She loves her insane bangs

Bloom just rocks braids too. Small decorative braids that wrap around her head and the full on braids. Both look amazing on her

Messy buns are also perfect for Bloom. Matches her art kid vibes perfectly, real buns are great for when she's trying to be fancy. Fancy Bloom with a small bun is always super cute. Nothing can contain her weird girl energy

I wish WOW Bloom had her weird ass bangs, then we could have wavy hair classic Bloomy hair

Stellas classic bangs look like she has normal straight bangs with hella frayed edges in a vampire cut at best and I hate them. I refuse to believe that Stella has vampire cut bangs, I simply close my eyes when I see it

I am VERY biased to any hairstyle that gets rid of them, and also curtain bangs Stella supremacy

I also think Stella looks better without those two super long stands of hair hanging over her shoulders, I like the s5 ones a lot

Aside from that Stella's hair looks best when it's down, but because that's boring this is mostly a complication of bang styles I like on her with one example of Stella nomral hair

Also mixed kid Stella, her hair is naturally curly or has the ability to curl naturally. I am biased and I like to see her hair with some volume yess

The s4 Stella look is mostly there because it's just a beautiful way to put her hair up for like sleep and stuff where she'd want her hair out of the way and it's one the Stella hairstyles of all time

The beach look is here because it actually made me forget how much I hate her pointy bangs. Her hair is windswept 💕💕💕 beautiful, the bun is a cute touch as well

That's all. Stella loves her long hair and gets p fuckin upset whenever someone fucks with it and does like everything to maintain it. Stella literally would only cut her hair under threat of death, and she likes having it down. Her hair says down XD the only thing that would change is her bangs

When they get weird with Flora's bangs it's always a win. Like yes bitch let her bangs do as they please, mix them up yesssss. Also big yes to any hairstyle that draws attention to her bangs, like hair decorations, and while I'm not sold on that headband it does make her bangs stand out more so ig it can stay

Flora looks best when her hair is left to roam wild or tied up tight. It's either giving boho queen letting her hair be all flowy and gorgeous, or "I'm gardening and I'm not getting dirt in my hair" and both fit her amazingly

The Sirenix low ponytail is just so slay. It's so messy and flowy and free and it gives a casual nature lady energy. It's such a chill beautiful look that really should have been in a civilian form instead but like whatever

I'm usually against high ponytail Flora, but the flowers and pearls in her hair save that look and help it ascend. Gorgeous. We love it

The s4 and s6 buns are so cute. Gardening hair and date hair respectively

Flora's Believix hair is THEE Flora hair. I'm sorry but it is. Superior to Flora's Enchantix hair. The flowers fit her so much better than pearls and gems and I don't think Flora would get super fancy with her hair in the first place. This is just Flora

Flora also should have cut her hair in s4. It would be cute

Dyed hair, choppy bangs, messy hair, slicked back hair, weird HUGE bangs, keep it weird, keep it short, keep it Tecna baybeeee

Also hats. Hats also fuck but I can't see them being a every day thing for her

It would be really fun if she cut and shaved her hair in different styles as hair evolution but I'd accept her dying her hair differently every season

Musa looks best with her hair up. Especially with her long hair because it makes it look like her hair is shorter while also giving her hair more options. I especially like her s5 hair of the bun with the hair down and the sleep hair loopys. While I wouldn't make the sleep hair loopies her civilian look it is a natural evolution of her pigtails into a new long hair style while still keeping the original style (tho it needs to lose the side strands, the shorter strands work better when her hair is visibility long and this makes them look short so axe em)

Hats as well, Musa looks good in hats. Musa only got to wear one hat in the original series, and she wore it over her pigtails because she's very silly, but more hats and a hat in her civilian design would absolutely be a win to me

Okay now stuff that only applies to her long hair:

The long low pigtails are slightly more tomboish than the long high pigtails but if you have her an undercut that would fix that

The s4 long hair looks like shit, that isn't Musa, yada yada yada, if your going to do long hair down Musa do it like S7. Would Musa ever wear any of that, especially the earrings? God no. Does it at least look like something an older Musa might wear? Replace the head band with headphones, and yeah maybe

WOW Musa got the memo. Also that hairstyle is like her s5 one except the bun doesn't lead into a pointy tail, instead it's a half up half down style. It's cute, but it's mostly there to show how headphones can replace a headband

There are a lot of examples of how to make long hair Musa look less bad and that's because there are no images of short hair Musa in anything but her pigtails and I'm cranky about it

Messy bangs, high ponytails, and fashion only hats

S6 is a crime against humanity but look at her hair godblessss. The s5 and s3 hats are cute and yes Aisha only wears hats for fashion unlike Tecna who wears them for a purpose, and Musa who wears them for both

Messy bangs just work with Aisha. Her whole thing is that she was overly stifled and expected to act in a very particular way and as soon she got away she refused to control her flyaways and bangs. She will not, fuck y'all, she got shit to do that isn't worrying about her hair

High ponytails also work like hell. High ponytails are just yess. They have a very "I got shit to do, and I need to do it yesterday." Vibes that fit Aisha's dedication and drive perfectly

Mixing the two gives this very amazing vibe. They tried to accomplish this in s4, but did not but they did manage to get it in s6 which is hilarious. It gives the vibes that she needs to do something but not as urgent, shes still having fun

I also love how her Royal hairstyles are the high pointytail too, it shows how the main thing she got from all those classes is how to be goal oriented. I love that for her, she threw away all the sexist nonsense and kept the work ethic, she's so awesome. In reverse it also shows how dedicated she is to her people, how keeping them safe and happy is her goal, love thattt

[wrenreid]

Just Acting

18+ NSFW story | all chapters in masterlist

Chapter Fifteen

"Jess... I uh, I got some shit to tell you,” you say, phone pressed to your ear.

"You did what?!” Jess barges through your apartment door after your brief talk on the phone. A call in which you told her what Matthew and you did.

"Yeah,” you blow out an exaggerated sigh.

"So you do like him!” She gloats.

"No,” you pause for a second. “No. I just had sex with him. There's a difference actually."

"So you like his body though?" Jess raises an eyebrow.

"Oh definitely,” you nod, biting your lip gently.

Jess laughs. "What are you gonna do now?"

"I don't know.”

"Do you want to do it again?"

"I don't know,” you say again, dragging out the last vowel a little.

"Girl,” Jess says sternly but there’s a smug grin on her lips.

"I know, I know. I sound stupid, but like I'm honestly confused myself,” you let out a soft groan. “And I have to see him tomorrow. At work. Where we play a couple.”

"Maybe talk to him? Ask him where you go from there,” Jess suggests.

"Maybe, yeah."

______

You have a few very important scenes coming up for the show. You're nervous, especially for one of them, but it should be entertaining.

You're ready in Delilah's clothes and style, waiting around for your next scene of the day. What you did on the couch you sit on now, not that long ago, burns in your brain. You can almost feel it. You push it back, it's crazy.

A little, and stupid, part of your brain wants to do it again. Wants to feel Matthew, kiss his lips, feel his hair in your hands, his mouth on your neck. What is wrong with you?

You pray that this won't affect your relationship as you leave your trailer and head to the film set. You run into someone coming out of the building when you're going in.

"Might want to watch where you're walking." He says it more sarcastic than rude.

You look up at Matthew, shooting him a sarcastic almost-grin. "Yeah thanks, jackass."

Most of your scenes today are just Delilah at work. It doesn't take any more than 3 hours to film until you're walking back out to the trailers.

"Can't stop thinking about it huh?" Matthew's voice sends shocks on your skin. His breath graces your hair.

You turn around to face him. "You wish," you won't give him satisfaction just yet.

He steps closer to you, touching your arm. "Too bad the first has to be the last." Matthew's voice is low.

"What?"

"Just doing as you said, 'move on with our lives'. Right?" There's a hint of bitterness in his tone.

You inhale, "Right. Yeah."

He looks you up and down, then walks away into his trailer. You're left standing there shocked and confused. You're even confused as to why you are shocked and confused.

You understand now why guys say women are confusing, you can't even comprehend your own feelings right now.

You shake it off, forget this. Matthew was just a one night stand type thing. It was a fluke. A weird, but highly pleasurable fluke.

Okay, Y/n... you're fine. it's out of your mind. You leave for home since you're finished until early tomorrow morning.

You eat some ice cream from your freezer while you sit on the couch, flipping through channels. A sex scene comes on from some random movie, you change it quickly. "Really?"  you say as Matthew's face pops up on the tv from a rerun of Criminal Minds season 13. You change the channel, rolling your eyes.

____

It's been a week since the incident, and you and Matthew have not gotten along one bit. One minute it's sarcastic comments, rude remarks, dirty stares, or just plain ignoring each other.

"You know? You were right that day when you said nothing between us would be anything but our characters. Because quite frankly, you're sort of a bitch in real life,” he spits out.

"Excuse me? I'm a bitch? You're the one who acts like an immature assclown every second of your God damn life,” you tell him, arms crossed, brows furrowed.

"That's not what you said while we were fucking.” The grin on his face is the most annoying, smug bullshit you’ve ever seen.

That's it. That's what triggered you so hard to where you snapped. Your hand connects with Matthew's cheek. "Go fuck yourself," you say and storm off. He's stunned as you walk away.

It's taking everything in you not to cry. Angry crying is the worst, and it's so embarrassing. You're strong. You will not cry.

I hate him. I actually hate him.

_____

"We have to what?" You say, louder than intended. Your eyes widen at the script in your hands.

"I think it says you have to have sex," Aisha says.

"Yes, Aish, thank you," you say sarcastically.

You stare more... Spencer and Delilah sex scene. Sex scene. You and Matthew. You're going to die of embarrassment or murder him before you do.

You can't believe you have to have pretend sex with the asshole who called you a bitch. You knew, that playing a couple, you'd have kiss, but you're not ready for a sex scene. You roll your eyes, throwing your head back in anger. You let out a groan. Why me?!

——

Two words continue to burn in your mind. Sex. Scene. Sex scene with Matthew.

You keep reminding yourself that this is what you signed up for; maybe not faking intimacy with the man you hate right now, but you're an actress and doing things you don't particularly want to is part of the job. You wanted this role, you've got to do it.

The scene is tomorrow, it's your second one of the episode. Everyone else is on set right now while you sit on your couch at home. Matthew is probably plotting some way to make the scene more uncomfortable and angering for you. Sounds like something that asshole would do.

You order a pizza and Jess comes over to your apartment. The two of you watch Netflix and eat.

"How's the Matthew thing going?" She asks, half distracted.

"I'd rather his name not be mentioned in this house,” you warn sternly.

She laughs. "So, well I see."

"Yep, totally."  You roll your eyes, taking a bite of the pizza.

You don't tell her about the upcoming scene. She'll just think it's funny and ironic.

You ask about her girlfriend, and she rambles on. It's nice to see her so happy. Maybe even in love? You haven't felt that way about someone in a long time. Since you were 20. You let Jess continue to talk about her, it's a nice way of distancing yourself from your own stupid life.

Jess and you watch a few more hours of tv until she heads out to see meet her girlfriend and her friends.

"Good luck with Gubler," she says on her way out.

"I definitely need that," you say quietly. "I'll see you later!"

You clean up, putting glasses in the sink and paper plates in the trash. Then, you head to your room and plop down on the bed.

You call Lola, checking in on how school and everything is going. You assure your sister that you'll be visiting as soon as you can.

This acting schedule life has been crazy, you haven't been back home in a while. A part of you likes that you've been away, free from the stress of your parents and exploring Los Angeles on your own. It makes you feel more grown up than turning 34 will.

You slip into a pair of plaid pants and a white t shirt and wash your face and all the other nightly shit you do. You crawl into bed, a knot starting to tug at your stomach.

You wake up from a random ass dream, dreading the day ahead of you. As you get dressed, the knot tugs and pulls tighter in the pit of your stomach. You slip on joggers and a band t shirt, throw on a flannel, and step into white sneakers. Quickly, you comb through your brown hair, wash your face, brush your teeth, and get ready to head out of the door.

Grabbing your keys and a cup of homemade coffee from last night, you head down the stairs and to your car.

You arrive on set around 11am, heading to hair and makeup almost immediately. Your already slightly curly hair is curled more then pulled apart, leaving gorgeous waves.

A natural look as always is applied to your face, then you're sent to grab Delilah's outfit for the day. You put on black jeans, tan healed booties, a blue top, and a tan blazer to tie the look together.

You head down since they told you they were ready for you as soon as makeup, hair, and costume were done.

After talking to the director and marking/ planning the scene, it's time to shoot. This is just a quick scene of Delilah heading home from work early after getting a message from Spencer.

‘I have a surprise for you. Can you get off work for a little while?’

Delilah heads to her place after saying goodbye to her employees. "I'll be back later today, call me if you need anything." She gets in her car and starts the drive to her apartment. She plans to change really quick before going to see what Spencer had planned.

She unlocks her door and finds her boyfriend standing in her living room facing the other way. He's grabbing something.

"Spencer?"

He turns around, holding a rose in his hand. There's a sign above him that reads "happy birthday".

"Happy birthday, Delilah,” he smiles proudly.

"Thank you. But it's not until tomorrow,” she chuckles.

"I know. I didn't know if I'd get another day off this week, so I figured we'd celebrate today," he blushes, handing the rose to her as she approaches.

"Thank you, Spencer." Delilah wraps her arms around him. She looks down at the rose in her hands after pulling away.

"I wasn't sure what your favorite flower is, so..."

"Daisies... but you can never go wrong with a rose." Delilah smiles up at him, kissing him softly.

"Oh I almost forgot, I also got you this," he leads her over to the kitchen table where a cupcake sits in cute packaging. The mini cake says "to d - sr". "I couldn't fit your whole name," he chuckles nervously.

"You made this?"

He nods. "Baking is harder than I thought."

Delilah laughs. "It's perfect."

"You're perfect," he says.

She sits down, motioning for him to do so too. The cupcake is vanilla with purple icing. After taking a couple bites, she offers Spencer the rest of it.

In the kitchen, after washing her hands, she wipes off icing Spencer had gotten on his mouth.

Spencer wipes his thumb along her bottom lip.

"Oh did I have some too?" She chuckles.

"No." He leans in, pressing his lips to hers with desire. The kiss isn't rushed or too slow as their mouths move against each other's. Delilah starts to take her blazer off, he assists her. Their lips begin to move faster, tongues seeming to fight each other in passion. Delilah's fingers find their way to the bottom of Spencer's sweater, and she pulls it up over his head. She looks at his bare chest for a moment before his lips find hers again.

Spencer's pushed her up against a wall now, one hand on the side of her face and the other up against the wall. Her hands tug through his hair as their mouths move faster.

He kisses down her jaw to her neck, sucking just softly at the skin as he fiddles with the buttons of her jeans. Delilah's head leans back against the wall, a small whimper escaping from her mouth.

"Are you okay with this?" He says, slightly out of breath.

"Yes,” she nods eagerly.

He kisses her neck again, then his lips trail down to her chest. Spencer takes her shirt off, then continues to kiss down her body. When he reaches the top of her waistline, he stops.

On his knees, he looks up, asking once again for permission. Once she grants it, he's pulling Delilah's pants down and off her body.

"Spencer-"

Before she knows it, he's grabbing her hand and pulling her into her bedroom. She hovers above him on the bed. "You're so beautiful."

She smiles, leaning down to kiss him. All of her insecurities are pushed away when his mouth his on hers, when she feels his warmth. He flips their positions, gaining dominance.

"I love you," he says. Delilah's hands tangle in his hair as his mouth works on her. Gasps leave her lips as she feels the sensation.

When he's done, she pulls him down to her mouth, kissing him. Her tongue runs along his bottom teeth. "I love you," Delilah says against his mouth.

She helps him remove his pants and boxers before he unclasps her bra while kissing her neck...

Pulling away from her mouth, he asks if she's ready.

"Yes," she answers, nodding.

His pace stays slow for a while, speeding up with each tug she gives his hair. Moans leave both of their mouths as the pace quickens and gets rougher. She silences his groan with her tongue in his mouth.

You can't believe you just filmed that with Matthew. Obviously, you guys didn't actually have sex. But faking it seemed pretty damn real.

You stay silent as the recap of what just happened runs in your mind.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" Matthew says quietly in your ear.

It takes all of your strength not to turn around and slap his stupid face again. Instead, your body shivers, and you hate yourself for it.

You rush to your trailer as soon as you're allowed to. Your entire being is filled with fifty different emotions at once. For some reason, you almost want to cry. Maybe it's out of frustration?

You shut your eyes tightly, pushing back any feeling in your body or stupid thoughts. You pull your knees up to your chest and try to slow your breathing.

There's a knock at your door. Shit. You don't want to answer it, or talk to anybody. The trailer door opens, and the person you want to see the least is standing in the door way.

"Go away, Gubler.”

"Look I'm sorry for what I said earlier. And for calling you a bitch. You were right, I was being immature,” he says.

You nod your head, pushing your lips together tightly. "Actually I said you were an immature assclown."

Matthew chuckles slightly, "Ah yes. That."

It's silent for a moment. You can feel the tension between the two of you. It’s full of frustration and annoyance and attraction.

"Y/n, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to pin you up against a wall since the day I met you.”

You stare at him, wide eyed. Even in shock, you make a sarcastic comment. "Like violently or the saucy way?"

"Definitely the second,” he says calmly.

You try to chuckle, but it comes out as a huff.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help it. And today the kissing, the touching... it didn't help the situation. Even if it was for the show, it wasn't just acting for me,” Matthew tells you.

"It wasn't for me either..." your words are soft.

"Seriously?"

Oh shit he heard me.

You nod your head with a shrug.

He sits next to you on the couch. "So we're good?"

"We're good. I suppose,” you say with a dramatic breath.

Matthew smiles softly. You grab his face, pulling it down to yours. His lips return the favor immediately.

"We're not having sex here again though.”

"Oh why not? It was kind of sneaky of us,” he says. “Huge turn on.”

You chuckle and roll your eyes, kissing him again.

sixteen

tags: @pauline5525mgg @theintimatewriter @lilibet261 @greysviolets @jazzymariexoxoc @one-sweet-gubler @thatsonezesty13 @necromaniackat @awhoreforspencerreid @sebs-oxygen @scarredelirium @bts-sugaplum @awesomeness1679 @preciousbabypeter @yazzyu @cynbx @r3idsp3ncer @1010lizz @tiredbut-here @skulzombiw @lena-1895 @eevee0722 @danis-stuff-is-here @kylakins88 @daydreamingqueen1 @regulus-black-223048 @virginmusicloverr36 @inlovewithcharmers <3

[mhbcaps]

I was tagged by @miss--river @pinkyjulien and @wraithsoutlaws and this time I'm actually doing the thing I was tagged in XD thank you! If anyone hasn't been tagged yet, do it and say I tagged you - I mean it!!!!

OC INTERVIEW

🟦🟪 David Lozano & Viggo Day

▪ NICKNAME:

"Can call me V."

"What about that adorable nickname Heiress has for you?"

"Oh, yeah. Old lady I used to train with, she calls me Big Blue. What, you think that's cute?"

"I do, I love it! I'd call you that too but it feels like a special thing just for her. Like how your mom sometimes calls you--"

"Yeah, and this is Gogo, 'cause they never know when to fuckin' stop."

"That's me!"

▪ GENDER:

"Hell if I know! Just write down n/a. Or, no, write down "fun"! I'm not a boy or a girl, I'm fun."

"Could also write down "loud.""

"That too. And you're cis."

"Yeah. That's the one where you stuck with whatever they wrote on--yeah. Cis male."

▪ ORIENTATION:

"Oh, I like anyone who's got muscles and looks good doing manual labor. Like, all strong and sweaty. No, seriously! Not everyone looks good like that. Like, V does, but Sanctuary--our friend Sanctuary--wouldn't. They're hot too, though. Is it weird to say I'm attracted to anyone who looks like they can provide for me? Or like, kill someone for me. I wouldn't want them to, but... y'know."

"...Right. And I like men."

▪ NATIONALITY/ETHNICITY:

"Ah, shit, I always get confused by this."

"Nationality is your country, so we're both from the NUSA."

"Right, and ethnicity is like... your culture?"

"Yeah, without getting too complicated. So you're Mexican."

"Little bit of Italian, too. Had a Nonna when I was a kid. Been dead a long time, though."

"You're depressing them!"

"You're about to make it worse. Go on, kid, tell us about your family."

"They don't need to know the sordid details. My dad was Chinese, but my mom's family and the clan raised me, so I'm closer to Mexican. See? Not depressing at all!"

▪ HEIGHT:

"My heels are deceiving you, I'm only five-two."

"Five-ten."

"Ooh, so close to six."

"And you're nowhere near it."

▪ STAR SIGN:

"Misty keeps tellin' me and I forget every time."

"You're a Capricorn, and I'm an Aries. You know both our symbols have horns? Oh, new tattoo idea!"

"I'm down."

━

▪ FAVE FRUIT:

"Have you ever even eaten a fruit? Like a real one?"

"Kerry gave me a mango, one time. It was okay. I like the fucked up little strawberries we have here more."

"Oh, I love those. Yeah, strawberries for both of us."

▪ FAVE SEASON:

"I love summer, but the heat makes me really sick if I'm not careful. So spring, I guess. Before the temps get too high."

"Winter, I think. Quieter in winter."

▪ FAVE FLOWER:

"Poppies! Look, I even have them tattooed. I adore poppies."

"Roses. No reason, I just think they're pretty, I guess."

"That's a reason!"

▪ FAVE SCENT:

"Hm. What's the scent you use, V?"

"Sandalwood. Dunno what that is, but it's what the lotion bottle says."

"Okay, then sandalwood."

"Really?"

"Well, I like a lot of smells, but you're what came to mind first."

"Man, now I don't wanna say mine. 'Cause it's not whatever you're wearing."

"You don't like my perfume?"

"It's not bad, it's just not my favorite. I like vanilla."

"Ooh, vanilla is good. Especially when it's all warm."

━

▪ COFFEE, TEA, HOT CHOCOLATE:

"This one roasts me all the time 'cause I like brown sugar in my coffee. Like they don't put syrup in theirs."

"Okay, I do not roast you. I just have to point out that it's weird. Every time."

"See?"

▪ AVERAGE HOURS OF SLEEP:

"Oh, I sleep like a rock. Usually at least 6 hours, but I'll nap during the day, too. Especially when it's hot out."

"Not many."

▪ DOG OR CAT PERSON:

"Cats. Glad they're starting to make a comeback."

"Me too. Some areas that my clan would camp in had a feral dog problem, so I've never liked them. I haven't met many cats, but they've all been chill."

▪ DREAM TRIP:

"I'd love to visit somewhere tropical. Someplace with a clean beach and nice water. Or somewhere snowy. Doesn't Japan have both?"

"Fuck if I know. I'm not really into traveling these days. Seen enough of this planet."

▪ NUMBER OF BLANKETS THEY SLEEP WITH:

"Oh, this is a funny story. V and I used to live together in this horrible little one-room apartment, and I had to get rid of my mattress because something chewed a hole in it, so V let me share his bed until I could get a new one."

"Couldn't let you sleep on the floor. Would've been eaten alive by the roaches."

"It was still really sweet of you. Anyway, I guess he got used to having me there, and after I got a new mattress and went back to my bed, he kept getting more pillows until there was a human sized pile under the blanket."

"How do you know it was 'cause of you? Maybe I just like havin' a lot of pillows to choose from."

"Okay, okay. Sure. If that helps you sleep at night."

"Nah, my sixteen pillows help me sleep at night."

"Wait, shit, they were asking about blankets, weren't they?"

▪ RANDOM FACT:

"You say one about me, and I'll say one about you."

"Hm. Gogo has a degree in mechanical engineering. Or most of one, right?"

"Well, we don't really have degrees, but I was working on my specialization when Augie got registered and we went static to take care of him. So, yeah, close to a degree. I would've had a special patch on my jacket and eventually been part of the logistics team."

"You ever regret not finishing?"

"No, Augie's more important."

"Yeah. I get that."

"Now, a random fact I know about V, is his favorite meal ever is fried polenta and spicy sausage."

"Yep. I'll never turn that shit down."

"And I like it 'cause it reminds me of cooking in camp with my clan. It's good stuff."

"Yeah."

🟦🟪