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brawltogethernow · 4 years

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So, I don't think I've ever asked you this... what IS the whole point of the Spider-Sense? It really seems like something that only exists for writers to ignore or work around when they want to inject Legit Tension into a story.

I’ve thought about this power so much, but never with an eye to defend its right to exist, so I needed to think about this. The results could be more concise.

Ironically, given the question, I have to say its main purpose is to ramp up tension. But it’s also a highly variable multitool that a skilled creative team can use for...pretty much anything. It does everything the writer wants it to, while for its wielder always falls just short of doing enough.

I went looking through my photos for a really generic, classic-looking example to use as an image to head this topic, but then I ran into the time Peter absolutely did not reimburse this man for his stolen McDonald’s, so have that instead.

A Scare Chord, But You Can Draw It

That one post that says the spider-sense is just super-anxiety isn’t, like, wrong. It’s a very anxious, dramatic storytelling tool originally designed for a very anxious, dramatic protagonist. I find it speaks to the overall tone of the franchise that some characters are functionally psychics, but with a psychic ability that only points out problems.

Spidey sense pinging? There’s danger, be stressed! Broken? Now the lead won’t even KNOW when there’s a problem, scary! Single character is immune to it? That’s an invisible knife in the dark oh my god what the fuck what the fU--

Like its counterpart in garden variety anxiety, the only time the spider-sense reduces tension is in the middle of a crisis. But in the wish fulfillmenty way that you want in an adventure story to justify exaggerated action sequences, the same way enhanced strength or durability does. Also like those, it would theoretically make someone much safer to have it, but it exists in the story to let your character navigate into and weather more dangerous situations.

For its basic role in a story, a danger sense is a snappy way to rile up both the reader and the protagonist that doesn’t offer much information beyond that it’s time to sit smart because shit is about to go down.

Spidey comic canon is all over the board in quality and genre, and it started needing to subvert its formulas before the creators got a handle on what those formulas even were, and basically no one has read anything approaching most of it at this point, so for consistent examples of a really bare bones use of this power in storytelling, I’d point to the property that’s done the best job yet of boiling down the mechanics of Spider-Man to their absolute most basic essentials for adaptation to a compelling monster of the week TV series.

Or as you probably know it, Danny Phantom. DON’T BOO, I’M RIGHT.

DP is Spider-Man with about 2/3 of the serial numbers filed off and no death (ironically), and Danny’s ghost sense is the most proof in the formula example of what the spidey sense is for: It’s a big sign held up for the viewer that says, “Something is wrong! Pay attention!” Effectively a visual scare chord. It’s about That Drama. And it works, which won it a consistent place in the show’s formula. We’re talking several times an episode here.

So why does it work?

It’s a little counterintuitive, but it’s strong storytelling to tell your audience that something bad is going to happen before it does. A vague, punchy spoiler transforms the ignorant calm before a conflict into a tense moment of anticipation. ...And it makes sure people don’t fail to absorb the beginning of said conflict because they weren’t prepared to shift gears when the scene did. Shock is a valuable tool, too, but treating it like a staple is how you burn out your audience instead of keeping them engaged. Not to go after an easy target, but you need to know how to manage your audience’s alarm if you don’t want to end up like Game of Thrones.

The limits of the spider-sense also keep you on your toes when handled by a smart writer. It tells Peter (everyone’s is a little different, so I’m going to cite the og) about threats to his person, but it doesn’t elaborate with any details when it’s not already obvious why, what kind, and from what. And it doesn’t warn him about anything else-- Which is a pretty critical gap when you zoom out and look at his hero career’s successes and failures and conclude that it’s definitely why he’s lived as long as he has acting the way he does, but was useless as he failed to save a string of people he’d have much rather had live on than him.

(Any long-running superhero mythos has these incidents, but with Peter they’re important to the core themes.)

And since this power is by plot for plot (or because it’s roughly agreed it only really blares about threats that check at least two boxes of being major, immediate, or physical), it always kicks in enough to register when the danger is bearing down...when it’s too late to actually do anything about it if “anything” is a more complex action than “dodge”.

Really? Not until the elevator doors started to open?

That Distinctive, Crunchy Spider Flavor

The spider-sense and its little pen squiggles go hand in hand with wallcrawling (and its unique and instantly identifiable associated body language) to make the Spider-Person powerset enduringly iconic and elevate characters with it from being generic mid-level super-bricks. Visually, but also in how it shapes the story.

I said it can share a narrative role with super strength. But when you end a fight and go home, super strength continues to make your character feel powerful, probably safer than they’d be otherwise, maybe dangerous.

The spider-sense just keeps blaring, “Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong! God, why aren’t you doing something about this!?”

Pretty morose thing to live with, for a safety net! Kind of a double edged sword you have there! Could be constantly being hyperattuned to problems would prime you for a negative outlook on life. Kind of seems like a power that would make it impossible for a moral person to take a day off, leading them into a beleaguered and resentful yet dutiful attitude about the whole superhero gig! Might build up to some of the core traits of this mythos, maybe! Might lead to a lot of fifteen minute retirement stories, or something. Might even be a built in ‘great responsibility’ alarm that gets you a main character who as a rule is not going to stop fighting until he physically cannot fight anymore.

Certainly not apropos of anything, just throwing this short lived barely-a-joke tagline up for fun.

One of my personal favorite things about stories with superpowers is keeping in mind how they cause the people who have them to act in unusual ways outside of fights, so when you tell me that these people have an entire extra sense that tells them when the gas in their house is leaking through a barely useful hot/cold warning system that never turns off, I’m like, eyes emojis, popcorn out, notebook open, listening intently, spectacles on, the whole deal.

It also contributes to Peter Parker’s personality in a way I really enjoy: It allows him to act like an irrational maniac. When you know exactly when a situation becomes dangerous and how much, normal levels of caution go out the window and absolutely nothing you do makes sense from an exterior standpoint anymore. That’s the good shit. I would like to see more exploration of how the non-Parker characters experiencing the world in this incredibly altered way bounce in response.

It’s also one of many tools in this franchise hauling the reader into relating more closely with the main character. The backbone of classic Spidey is probably being in on secrets only Peter and the reader know which completely reframe how one views the situation on the page. It’s just a big irony mine for the whole first decade. A convenient way to inform the reader and the lead that something is bad news that’s not perceivable to any other characters is youth-with-a-big-exciting-secret catnip.

Another point for tension, there, in that being aware of danger is not synonymous with being able to act on it. If there’s no visible reason for you to be acting strange, well...you’re just going to have to sit tight and sweat, aren’t you? Some gratuitous head wiggles never hurt when setting up that type of conflict.

Have I mentioned that they look cool? Simultaneously punchy and distinctive, with a respectable amount of leeway for artists to get creative with and still coming up with something easily recognizable? And pretty easy to intuit the meaning of even without the long-winded explanations common in the days when people wrote comics with the intent that someone could come in cold on any random issue and follow along okay, I think, although the mechanic has been deeply ingrained in popular culture for so long that I can’t really say for sure.

It was also useful back in the day when no artists drew the eyes on the Spider-Man mask as emoting and were conveying the lead’s expressions entirely through body language and panel composition. If you wiggle enough squiggles, you don’t need eyebrows.

Take This Handwave and Never Ask Me a Logistical Question Again

This ability patches plot holes faster than people can pick them open AND it can act as an excuse to get any plot rolling you can think of if paired with one meddling protagonist who doesn’t know how to mind their own business. Buy it now for only $19.99 (in four installments; that’s four installments of $19.99).

Why can a teenager win a six on one fight against other superhumans? Well, the spider-sense is the ultimate edge in combat, duh.

Why can Peter websling? Why doesn’t everyone websling? Well, the spider-sense is keeping him from eating flagpole when he violently flings himself across New York in a way neither man nor spider was ever meant to move.

How are we supposed to get him involved with the plot this week???? Well, that crate FELT dangerous, so he’s going to investigate it. Oh, dip, it was full of guns and radioactive snakes! Probably shouldn’t have opened that!

Yeah, okay, but why isn’t it fixing everything, then? Isn’t it supposed to be why Peter has never accidentally unmasked in front of somebody? ('Nother entry for this section, take a shot.) That’s crazy sensitive! How does he still have any problems!? Is everything bad that’s ever happened to characters with this powerset bad writing!? --Listen, I think as people with uncanny senses that can tell us whether we are in danger with accuracy that varies from incredible to approximate (I am talking about the five senses that most people have), we should all know better than to underestimate our ability to tune them out or interpret them wrong and fuck ourselves up anyway. I honestly find this part completely realistic.

*SLAPS ROOF OF SPIDER-SENSE* YOU CAN FIT SO MANY STORIES IN THIS THING

The spider-sense is a clean branch into...whatever. There is the exact right balance of structure and wishy-washiness to build off of. A sample selection of whatevers that have been built:

It’s sci-fi and spy gadgets when Peter builds technology that can interface with it.

It’s quasi-mystical when Kaine and Annie-May get stronger versions of it that give them literal psychic visions, or when you want to get mythological and start talking about all the spider-characters being part of a grand web of fate.

Kaine loses his and it becomes symbolic of a future newly unbound by constraints, entangled thematically with the improved physical health he picked up at the same time -- a loss presented as a gain.

Peter loses his and almost dies 782 times in one afternoon because that didn’t make the people he provoked when he had it stop trying to kill him, and also because he isn’t about to start “””taking the subway’’””’ “‘’“”to work”””’’” like some kind of loser who doesn’t get a heads up when he’s about to hit a pigeon at 50mph.

Peter’s starts tuning into his wife’s anxiety and it’s a tool in a relationship study.

It starts pinging whenever Peter’s near his boss who’s secretly been replaced by a shapeshifter and he IGNORES IT because his boss is enough of an asshole that that doesn’t strike him as weird; now it’s a comedy/irony tool.

Into the Spider-Verse made it this beautiful poetic thing connecting all the spider-heroes in the multiverse and stacked up a story on it about instant connection, loss, and incredibly unlikely strangers becoming a found family. It was also aesthetic as FUCK. Remember the scene where Miles just hears barely intelligible whispering that’s all lines people say later in the film and then his own voice very clearly says “look out” and then the room explodes?? Fuck!!!!

Venom becomes immune to it after hitchhiking to Earth in Peter’s bone juice and it makes him a unique threat while telling a more-homoerotic-than-I-assume-was-originally-intended story about violation and how close relationships can be dangerous when they go sour.

It doesn’t work on people you trust for maximum soap opera energy. Love the innate tragedy of this feature coming up.

IN CONCLUSION I don’t have much patience for writers who don’t take advantage of it, never mind feel they need to write around it.

#spiderman #peter parker #spiderverse #spidey #marvel #danny phantom #one day you'll see what i'm doing with it in the project i'm collabing on w/ my brother and then you'll all be sorry and hopefully impresse #mirrorfalls #asks answered #essays

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Quick Thoughts: Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Reveal Trailer and Initial Roster

Whelp I didn’t expect to be doing another one of these so soon but welcome to quick thoughts where I give well quick thoughts on stuff instead of the longer form reviews I usually do.

So as longtime or even short time readers of this blog might know I love NIck. I don’t review shows from it as often as Disney or Cartoon Network, but it was still a beloved part of my childhood and still makes great shows today such as the Loud House, Harvey Beaks and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It’s horribly mismanaged, which is why two of those shows are no longer with us and the last of them is weirdly missing from this game, and have a long and storied history of screwing things over.. and i’m not exagerating when Mr. Enter, no matter your opinon of him now, did a whole marathon of every nicktoon almost every entry included the fact the show had been screwed over in some way.

But as anyone who knows my history with Disney will tell you just because I don’t sugarcoat a brand I like’s fuckups dosen’t mean they aren’t near and dear to me at the same time. I”m a grown up: I can have complex emotions towards a chlidren’s tv network. So I love it’s varied shows some of whom (Avatar, Harvey beaks again, Danny Phantom, Hey Arnold) are among my all time faviorites.

Now something readers of my blog probably WOUDLN’T know is I love Nintendo, they have their own fuckups like weird release strageies and never doing a remotely decent discount like the competition, but their still a company I love and since I only play handhelds most of the time are my primary source of good shit. So naturally Smash Bros is my faviorite franchise of theres. I love the idea of fighting games but often struggle with the combo heavy nature. So Smash Bros, having a roster of some of my faviorite characters ever, a plaformer style control scheme, and a deceptivley simple style that’s easy to learn and fun to master with the right character, is my shit. Sure I won’t rush out to buy every dlc character, but you better belivie I played the hell out of Ultimate, will likely go back to it again some day, and did buy Banjo and Kazooie because fuck yeah.

So yeah I needed to talk about Nick making their own smash bros clone. When I heard the rumors I wasn’t sure, mostly because Rumors can be just that.. but nope this game is happening and i’m all on board for it. This isn’t Nick’s first crossover rodeo in recent memory either also making a pair of Kart Racing Games: one I KINDA wanted to play till I looked at the roster, had a good laugh and lost that i want, and the other I really want to play as it seems like the first game if it were you know an actual game with a decent track selection, a deep character roster and an actual love of it’s properties.

So making their own Smash Bros was a logical step and one i’m here for. We haven’t had any of the big cartoon networks make one since well.. Cartoon Network, and Nick has just a deep a bench to pull from, one that will hopefully get CN to get their cast to throw hands once more.

For now though the idea of the vast history of nick all throwing hands with each other is amazing. Look i’m honest with myself: this looks like a decent smash clone,functional but nothing specail, but with the expressive character animation and solid roster you need for a game like this. I know going in i’m not going ot get Smash Ultimate quality of brawler, but i’m probably going to have fun with it.

The only downside I see so far is , like the Kart Racers, theyd idn’t seem to get ANY voice actors for this which smacks of laziness, especially since most of the voice actors for these characters are still active, and in some cases like Spongebob or Loud House are still working with you. So you have no real excuse for this, shame on you.

But yeah the game looks good.. despite the trailer being pretty bad. It’s just some generic music set to “LOOK WHO WE GOT”. And granted look who they got is really spiffy and i’ll be diving into that in a second, but it dosen’t give any of these characters a reall chance to show off how they play or how awesome they are. It’s just a bland montage of whose in the roster in the same 2 or 3 stages. And when you have 15 stages overall to show off that’s not excusable. Again i’m not expecting Smash level quality revelas, this game dosen’t have the marketing budget, but you have a really great concept and roster here, you coudl’ve revealed it better and this game better. The Kart Racers 2 Trailer was also mildly bland but it did show off the game better, showing off several tracks and how VASTLY improved the roster was, so you CAN make a good trailer you just didn’t. It felt like they thought the poitn of all the smash reveals trailers was here’s a character and missed all the style and substance to them.

That being said while the trailer was weak.. it was boyed by the fact this roster is REALLY damn good. Let’s face it I woudln’t even be talking about this game if the roster wasn’t this minty but they clearly learned from Kart Racers not to half ass it and while they learned the long lessons from Smash in how to promote the fighters they have, they learned the right lessons in having a nice mix of crowd pleasing faviorites for kids and vetrans alike along with a few deep cuts for said longtime fans. And this is JUST the intitial reveal roster: Given the Box Art isn’t out yet, I feel there’s more to come, especially since despite being perfect for the game there’s no one from the Avatarverse yet, but I also feel that Nick is saving that for a second trailer to announce the release date. But I can and will go into who i’d LIKE on the roster in another one of these sometime soon. -

Spongebob, Patrick and Sandy (SpongeBob Squarepants): I’m getting these three out of the way as their essentially to this what Mario and Co were to smash: necessary and inevitible. As for who was chosen.. it was as obvious as putting spongebob himself int he game. Sponebob is Nick’s mascot, Patrick is nearly as iconic and Sandy is well loved as well as the spongebob character most associated with buttkicking. Being an expert martial artist is both part of her character and a cerntral part of her character and relationship with Spongebob. So yeah not a lot ot say here: it was ineivible but I don’t mind at all having grown up with them and with my niece and nibling being huge fans.

87 Leo and 87 Mikey (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles): This one i’m mixed on. Not on the turtles being here: i’m a MASSIVE TMNT fan and i’td be stupid to leave them out since Nick Owns them, made the last two series, and they fit this kind of game like a glove, even having had their OWN smash clone to themselves once.

No my issue is obviously in the version choseN: The 87 turtles. Again I have no beef with the guys themselves, I haven’t seen much of 87 but I want to and they look really gorgeous and nicely cartoony. It’s just a REALLY weird choice. The 87 turtles have never been on a nick network due to rights issues, have never been associated with nick, and aren’t the ones most kids of EITHER DEMO would be familiar with: Grown up fans of nicktoons from the 90′s like myself would be more familiar with 2003, and kids and teens from more recent eras would be more familiar with 2012 and rise, which REALLY should’ve been the rep. I mean their weird shame of rise bothers me enough on a good day but not using EITHER show you actually made bothers me, it bothers me a lot. I’ll still probably play Mikey, i’m not made of stone and as I said I have no beef with the 87 turtles, I just wish nick had used the others or hell just gone all lin and used one turtle from each cartoon. I mean if your going to use stuff you’ve barely aired why not give me some 2003 nostalgia too huh? Though it could just be that since, unlike the rise and 2012 turrtles the 87 turtles have the same body type and colors it was easier to just do all 4 and just give each unique facial expressions. Who knows... I knows it was probably that.

Lincoln and Lucy Loud (The Loud House, Duh): Another pretty obvious one as The Loud House is currrently nick’s co-flagship show with spongebob. Still waiting for my diffrent world spinoff with Bobby and Lori guys. So yeah Lincoln isn’t a suprise and Lucy is only minorly one as it was a matter of “which sister”... and Lucy is one of the most popular. Neither really fit a combat setting.. but given this is a fun crossover game, that really dosen’t matter and in fact is kind of the fun: taking just the most insane matcchups imaginable and mashing them together. I mean this is a game where Lincoln and Lucy can beat up Leo and Mikey, why wouldn’t I want that kind of crack on my nintendo switch? I am hoping for Luna to make her way to the stage next as she was absent from Kart Racer 2 and would be really fun to play. Plus having ANOTHER bi fighter in the mix if korra gets in there would be awesome, let alone letting the two beat up or punch each other’s face. But again I could and probably will mak ea whole article about other possible fighters i’d want.

The Plesant Suprises: Nigel Thornberry , Oblina and Powdered Toast Man (Wild Thronberries, Ahhh! Real MOnsters1 and Ren and Stimpy) : Yeah while only one of these cartoons was a faviorite as a kid (Wild Thornberries)... I have nothing but respect for these choices. One of the funnest things about Smash is while you can see some roster members coming sometimes you get utter curveballs like Mr. Game and Watch, Pirana Plant and MInecraft Guy. They also go for more cult franchises like SNK or Earthbound (the latter of which is fucking awesome localize mother 3 already dammit) too among the big heavies, making it feel like a true tapestry of Nintendo’s history.

Nigel is the only one of these three that’s really obvious. He’s a meme, he was the best part of his show.. but it’s still just uniquely batshit to put NIGEL THRONBERRY in a fighting game. You better belivie he’ll be one of my mains.

Oblina is more a suprise because I thought they’d go with Icket, but instead went wtih the character who was more popular and had a really unqiue and cool design, so i’m pleased as punch to have her. Finally while I don’t have any real attachment to ren and stimply apart from Log, and really it’s hard to gain any now knowing i’ts creator was a pedophile piece of shit, the franchise is still a cornerstone of nick history, the rest oc the crew didn’t abuse power or not make deadlines or be a com plete piece of shit, and powerded toast man is genuinely great. I”d love to see Really Big Man too, clash of the weird superheroes, I love me a weird as hell superhero. This also speaks promisingly that w’ell get some real weird curveballs to come and i’m here for it.

The Rest: Helga, Zim, Danny and Reptar. (Hey Arnold, Invader Zim, Danny Phantom and Rugrats! ): Note i’m not lumping these together because their bad: their all graet nostalgic picks from timeless shows and with the rugreboot currently running on Paramount+, it’d be weird not to represent them.

And since I brought it up reptar is a fun chocie, another oddball but one more understandable as no one wants to beat the shit out of a toddler. Or rather no one playing the game would care you could because it’s a silly fighting game and a 12 and 8 year old are also beat upable, but someone would probably throw a fit somewhere. Plus again it’s a game where you can have danny phantom fight reptar. Shut up and take my money.

The rest are all great choices if ones I’m not suprised by: Hey Arnold’s an all time classic and being tough is a lot of Helga’s character, and again I can have her throw hands with nigel thornberry, reptar and a ninja turtle in the same match. Zim is another fan faviorite and fits the game like a glove and Danny Phantom is the one out of Nick’s three suprehero classics it actually still cares about so my boy getting in there isn’t a shocker, though his attacks lookw eird. Hopefully they green them up before the final prduct.

So yeah overall it looks really promsing and really fun and i’ll probably check this game out if I get enough money when it comes out or more likely put it on my christmas list. But I will get it somehow this i swear.. speaking of which put manny in the roster dammit. If you liked this.. thing consider joining my patreon for a buck a month fo exclsuvie reviews and ot help me review tuca and bertie, amphibia and more as part of my memebership drive.

#nickelodeon #danny phantom #the wild thornberry's #spongebob squarepants #hey arnold #teenage mutant ninja turtles #ren and stimpy #the loud house #ahh! Real MOnsters #rugrats

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mischiefandspirits · 3 years

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Doppelgänger (14/19)

Previously on Doppelgänger ~ Masterlist ~ Next time on Doppelgänger

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were just 14 when they took a look inside the portal Danny’s parents had built. From there, everything changed. They woke up with white hair, green skin, and powers they could learn to control. They were hybrids, halfas.

They were the hero Doppelgänger.

{Memory Blank, Part 2}

Something sunk into Danny’s stomach as the pieces started coming together. “And you were wearing this all night, up until school?”

“Yes, why? Do you know what’s wrong with me?”

“Not you, us.”

“Us?”

He waved his hands around, trying to encompass everything. “All of us. Everyone. This is supposed to protect you from ghostly powers. So if you think the entire world changed on you overnight, maybe it did! Maybe a ghost used some… some reality altering ability.”

Valerie’s eyes widened. “And since I was wearing that, I was unaffected.”

“Do you remember any ghosts that were about lately?”

“The last ghosts I saw were the circus ones and none of them were that strong. Oh, and Terminatra.”

“Termi-who?”

“The ghost in the park, the one that attacked Paulina. She looked just like the movie monster Terminatra.”

“Movie monster… Wait! Like that new movie coming out. The chick flick.”

“Chick flick?”

“The one with the three female monsters.”

“Trinity of Doom is not a chick flick,” she chuckled.

“It’s the closest Sam gets to chick flicks and she’s the only girl I hang out with.”

“I’ll give you that.” She shook her head in amusement. “Yeah, Terminatra is in Trinity of Doom.”

“And let me guess, one of the others is some green shark-alien thing.”

“Femalien?” Valerie pulled up a picture of the poster on her phone and showed it to him. “Yeah. Why?”

He pointed at Femalien. “That’s the ghost that attacked our class.”

“Why are movie monsters coming to life to attack people?”

“Not people, Paulina,” Danny corrected. “And I don’t know why, but I know it’s connected to Sam. Femalien said her name just before Phantom beat her and Sam really wanted to go see the movie, but Tucker and I wanted to go to Paulina’s party since she actually invited us for once.”

“Wow, she hates Paulina on the best day. She’d probably wish hell on her after you guys pulled that.”

Danny went pale. “Wish. Oh man, that explains everything.”

“What? What’d I say?”

“There’s a ghost -- Desiree -- she’s basically a genie. She grants any wish she hears, can make anything come true so long as someone wishes for it.”

“Such as bringing movie monsters to life or changing all of reality as we know it?” Valerie said, her eyes widening.

“Theoretically. I’ve never seen her grant such a big wish before though. What would someone even wish to change things so much?”

“I don’t know, but we need to fix it. Do you know how she was defeated last time?”

Danny snorted. “I wished she’d go into the thermos.”

“It was that easy?” she laughed.

“Like I said, she grants every wish she hears.”

“So we just need to find her then wish everything back to normal before she can grant any… more… wishes! The meteor shower!” Valerie said, grabbing Danny’s shoulders. “She’s going after the meteor shower!”

“Everyone will be making wishes,” Danny said as he caught on. “We need to find her, now.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What happened to you?” Tucker asked as Danny stumbled up to them, dreary-eyed.

“Was up all night. Finally figured out what was up with the ghosts and Sam,” Danny yawned.

“Still blaming me?” Sam asked, slamming her locker shut.

“I wasn’t -” Danny groaned and slumped against the lockers. “Look, it was Desiree, okay. She’s back and she messed up big. I need to stop her. I just wish I knew what idiot made a wish to warp the entire world and what they’d even wished for.”

“What are you talking about?” Sam asked.

He opened his mouth to explain and his breath fogged in front of him. “Wait, no,” he hissed as he realized his mistake. He spun around to see Desiree forming in front of him.

“Well, this is even better than I’d hoped,” she laughed. “You really are getting rid of all my problems, aren’t you?”

Danny took a step back as she pointed a glowing hand at him.

“So you have wished it, so shall it be!”

He dropped to the ground as pink mist washed over him.

“Danny!” Sam and Tucker shouted, running to his side as the ghost flew off. “Are you okay?”

He groaned as he opened his eyes. “What’s going on? Why are we at school?” he asked, sitting up. He looked at his partners, then flinched away. “Who are you? Where are Sam and Tucker?”

They both frowned. “We are Sam and Tucker.”

“Yeah, no you’re not. I’d recognize my partners anywhere.”

“Dude, what did Desiree do to you?” Tucker asked and Danny froze.

“Desiree? What about Desiree?”

“She just hit you with her magic and now you think we’re imposters,” Sam explained.

Danny got to his feet, looking around. “I-I don’t remember anything about Desiree. The last thing I remember was getting home from our pity party and going to bed.”

“Pity party?” Tucker asked.

“Yeah, where Sam and Tucker -- the real ones -- were cheering me up after Val and I… decided we couldn’t date.”

“Date!” the two shouted.

“You can’t date Valerie,” Tucker said.

“I’m aware,” he huffed.

“Seriously Danny, she’s trying to kill Phantom! Why would that even be an option?” Sam said and Danny gave her a confused look.

“Phantom?”

They shared a look and Tucker said, “Danny Phantom, your ghost form.”

“My ghost form. My, as in not yours.”

“Duh, you’re the half-ghost. Not us.”

Danny sucked in a breath. “Oh no. No, no, no. You guys said Desiree was here?”

“Yeah?”

The school bell rang.

“Crud,” Danny hissed. “Meet me after class. We really need to talk.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You realize how crazy this all sounds, right?” Sam said as she and Tucker watched Danny pace around his room.

“How do you think I feel?” he said, rubbing his neck. “No one remembers anything!”

“Danny, maybe this is just Desiree,” Tucker said.

“Of course it’s Desiree.”

“No, I meant she’s why you’re thinking these things. None of it happened, man.”

“It did though! I know it did!”

“But you only knew this stuff after she blasted you.”

Danny scowled and pinched his nose.

He missed his partners, which these two weren’t even if they were the real Sam and Tucker because these two were human and weren’t in a relationship with him so not only couldn’t they soothe him mentally, but he couldn’t even cuddle with them because the one time he’d mentioned it he’d gotten weird looks and Sam had flushed brighter than a stop sign. He also missed Valerie, but he couldn’t talk to her because they weren’t even friends in this backward world, let alone the messy whatever they were now that they’d admitted their feelings but couldn’t actually date back in his reasonably crazy world.

“I need a nap,” Danny groaned, laying down on his bed.

Then he wondered if he could even take a nap. He was the only halfa in this world. How much extra work did he have? Clearly enough that he screwed up a lot, judging by the stories his friends had told him.

“We don’t have time for that. We need to track down Desiree and fix you.”

Danny moaned and pulled his pillow over his head.

A knock sounded, but Danny ignored it. Who knows how weird his relationship was with Jazz. They’d gotten so much closer since the Spectra thing, he didn’t want to know how not having Sam and Tucker there to save him would have affected that.

“Uh, why is Valerie in her ghost hunter getup outside your window,” Tucker whispered just loud enough for Danny and Sam to hear.

Danny threw the pillow off. “Val?”

Sam scowled at his reaction, but he ignored her and ran to the window.

“Hey, Danny,” Valerie said as she opened it.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, trying to push down his excitement, this wasn’t his Valerie. This Valerie didn’t even like him.

“Checking in,” she said, climbing into his room. “I haven’t seen any sign of Desiree, have you?”

“How does she know about Desiree?” Sam asked.

“You didn’t tell them?” Valerie asked.

“My head’s been in two places lately,” he chuckled. “Were we, uh, working together or something?”

That didn’t make sense given what San and Tucker had said, but he kind of hoped it was true.

Valerie retracted her suit and gave him a worried look. “Yes, after I explained everything to you about Doppelgänger we figured out Desiree was behind it. Don’t you remember?”

“Thank god!” Danny cheered, pulling her into a hug. “You remember Doppelgänger. You don’t know how good it is to hear that, Val.”

“Of course I re-Wait, Val?” She pulled back so she could see his face. She studied it for a moment before smiling. “Danny?”

“Hey, cage buddy.”

She laughed and hugged him back. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again, Fenton.”

“Sorry.”

“Uh, hey, yeah, what’s going on?” Sam said, but the two ignored her.

“How did you get your memories back?”

“Heck if I know. All I know is Sam and Tucker said Desiree blasted me and when I woke up I could remember everything from our world. This one’s bananas by the way.”

“Tell me about it.”

“How do you remember everything?”

“Your Specter Deflector. It stopped me from being affected.”

“Go me.”

Suddenly a hand grabbed the back of Danny’s shirt and he was yanked away from his -- honestly, much needed as he hasn’t gone this long without cuddles in ages -- hug.

“Yeah, hi, still here,” Sam growled, sending Valerie a death glare.

She stared at Sam for a moment, then glanced at Danny. “Does Sam have a crush on you in this world?”

Danny shrugged as Sam sputtered and Tucker snickered.

“I don’t have a crush on Danny!”

“Right, back on topic. Desiree, any ideas,” Valerie said.

“Last time I met her, Tucker and I went to a W-ing fountain and W-ed for her to appear so we could capture her. We could try that again,” Danny offered.

“Good enough. Let’s go.”

“Hold on,” Sam said, yanking Danny back when he tried to follow Valerie to the window. In a low voice, she said, “What are you doing? You can’t go to a ghost fight with her. Your secret.”

“Calm down, Sam. We’re just going to W for her to fix everything then go in the thermos. No fighting involved. Besides, I’ve fought in human form plenty of times. I won’t give myself away.”

“No, you haven’t.”

“Yes, I have. You need to trust me.”

“You can’t go alone. You need to let us help you.”

Danny gave a sad smile and grabbed her hand off his arm. He squeezed it, saying, “Trust me, if this has taught me anything, it's that I need you guys at my side. But not this time. You guys don’t know what’s at stake. Besides, I’m not alone. Val’s got my back.”

“That’s worse than alone.”

Danny leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be fine, promise.”

He pulled back and was surprised to see she looked floored and was cherry flushed.

Okay, Valerie might have been right about the crush. Weird.

Danny took that as his chance to follow Valerie to the window. He sent Tucker a smile, but the tech geek was too busy gaping at him and Sam.

“Let’s get out of this crazy world,” Danny said as he climbed onto the hoverboard.

“Agreed.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Home sweet home,” Danny sighed as he brushed against the mind link. His partners seemed confused, but affectionate and he quickly assured them he’d explain later.

He and Val were currently hovering over the park, sitting side by side on her board. Valerie had the thermos containing Desiree in hand, fiddling with it as they stared out at the sunset.

“I’m glad you were there to help.”

“It was the least I could do. The, uh, W was actually mine,” he admitted.

“Really? What had you been W-ing for?”

He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. It was a stupid one. I was just sad and frustrated and worried about Sam and Tucker.” He looked up at her. “And you.”

She smiled and took his hand. “About what we talked about?”

“Val -”

“I know what you said, but I don’t care if you have a secret.”

“I do,” he sighed, pulling his hand away. “I don’t want to have to lie to you.”

“Then don’t. If you can’t tell me something, then just tell me that.” She turned fully to Danny. “This whole mess has made me realize that I want to be with you, Danny. If that means you have secrets, then I can live with that. I,” she thought about Doppelgänger floating before her with blood-red eyes, “have my own secrets too. And it wouldn’t be fair for me to ask you to keep my secret, then be turned off by the fact you’re keeping someone else’s.”

“You’ll be mad I kept it from you when you find out,” he whispered.

“Then you can hit me over the head and remind me it’s my own fault.”

He snorted. “I don’t have a death wish, thanks.”

She reached up to cup his cheek. “I’m serious, Danny.”

“This is a bad idea,” he said, but he didn’t pull away.

“It will be fine.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I want this, and I know you do too.”

“I…” You deserve to be selfish sometimes. “I do. I’m just worried.”

She leaned forward and kissed him, soft and sweet.

When they pulled back, she said, “Don’t be.”

He smiled and squeezed her hand. “Sam, Tucker, and I were going to see a movie tomorrow, but do you want to come over after to watch the meteor shower together? The best time to watch is supposed to be one in the morning.”

“Can’t wait.”

#danny phantom #danny fenton #valerie gray #sam manson #tucker foley #Doppelgänger au

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cecilspeaks · 4 years

Text

176 - The Autumn Specter

Lips are the toes of the face. Welcome to Night Vale.

[spooky theme song]

It’s Halloween again, Night Vale, my favorite day of the year. As a kid, my mother used to dress my sister Abby and I in homemade costumes and take us door to door, vaguely threatening our neighbors until they gave us candy. When I was a teenager, I got a little old for trick-or-treating, so I started going to haunted houses with my friends. A lot of those haunted houses were kind of predictable with all their chain saw killers and Victorian ghost children singing nursery rhymes, who would follow you home and sing by your bed for months afterwards, but they always got to me. I loved the emotional rush of being scared. I still do. Of course, I don’t go out much to haunted houses, but I still love good old fashioned scary stories. I thought today would be a great day to share some of my favorites with you. I had my new intern, James, put together a few spooky tales that are perfect for putting you into Halloween mood.

But first, let’s have a look at the Community Calendar. This Saturday night at the New Old Night Vale Opera House, is the annual costume gala. This event is the Opera House’s largest fundraiser and one of the most prestigious costume contests in the region. A panel of judges will be on hand to determine the best costume at the ball. Last year’s winners were Joel Eisenberg and his partner Danny Jimenez, who dressed in a tandem outfit of a stegosaurus. I was there, listeners, and it was impressive! The creature was so realistic-looking. The craftsmanship of the costume was top notch, but listen, I have to confess I’m always more into high concept creativity rather than realistic details when it comes to costumes. Like I remember the 2015 gala, when Amal Shamun came dressed up as the concept of ennui. She made herself 12 feet tall, dressed in a taupe long coat, and created a constant drizzling rain inside the ball room. Anyone who looked at her got super sad and wanted a hug. But Joel and Danny’s stegosaurus was fine.

Sunday afternoon is the fall craft sale in Old Town Night Vale. An inscrutable maze of stalls showcasing the finest products from our town’s artisans. There will be cultural events for children, like finger painting classes, puppet shows, and a visit from the Autumn Specter. The Autumn Specter returns. It comes to collect its crops, with its great and sharp sickle. [creepily] It will harvest every ripe soul in Night Vale, the Autumn Specter is hungryyyy! It is Octoberr and it is timme to feeeeeee-duh.

Hey James, this Community Calendar doesn’t seem right, it’s just a bunch of stuff about the Autumn Specter. Also this font size, what-what is this 32 point? That’s just much too large. And it’s printed in red ink and that is a waste of our color toner, James. Eww, eww! This red ink is still really damp. OK, plus there’s nothing about start and end times of the craft fair, or anything about the food trucks, like if the Autumn Specter is hungry, surely it wants some falafel or Korean barbeque or tacos. James, could you just redo this story? James? James? [clears throat] Well, listeners, I don’t know where James went. Um, I can hear him breathing, but I don’t see him anywhere. Yeah, it’s fine, let’s just get onto our first spooky story.

[static, old-fashioned music] One quiet moonless night, not long ago and not so far away, a teenage girl sat in a house that was not her own. It was the home of Tony and Sheila McDowell. The girl was their babysitter, and she had just put the two young McDowell children down to sleep. The girl watched TV alone in the dark living room, only the bluish flicker of a scary movie illuminating her face. The phone rang abrupt and loud, startling her. She raised the receiver to her ear. “Hello?” she said with a slight quiver. “Have you checked on the children?” came a raspy voice. The babysitter ran quickly upstairs, opening the door of the kids’ bedroom. She flicked on the light, and there they were, fast asleep. She went back to her movie, but the phone rang again. “Haave youuu checked on the childrennn?” came the same voice, only more sinister. The babysitter again hurried upstairs, opened the door, turned on the light, and saw the children still asleep. The caller called again and again and again. “Have you checked on the children?” The babysitter, so scared, barely able to move, hung up the phone before the voice could finish its repeated query. When the phone rang once again, she answered and shouted: “Stop calling me!” But this time, it was a different voice. The person on this occasion said: “Ma’am, this is the police. We’ve traced the call. The call is coming from inside the house. Get out, get out!” The babysitter panicked and started to run, but then she remembered: she never called the police! How would they know to even trace the call? So she crept fearfully upstairs to the children’s room, and the phone was ringing again, the clamoring bell igniting her fright. And she cracked open the door and she saw- She saw the young McDowell boy and his little brother hunched over a phone and giggling! They were pranking her, and she felt relieved but embarrassed. And she told them to stop fooling around and go to sleep. And they all shared a good laugh.

Let’s have a look now at traffic. [papers rustling] Um.. OK, well I don’t seem to have a traffic report from intern James. Also James isn’t here right now, because I sent him out to go pick up lunch a few m- Oh, hey James, James, James, James – wait, why are you standing in the control booth? You were supposed to go get lunch and also I’ve asked you a couple of times not to wear that burlap bag over your head. I mean yes it looks great, with the Jack o’ Lantern face drawn onto it, I mean the mouth is a bit lopsided and the eyes are a tad uneven, you know kinda flat and emotionless, but all in all it’s a cool look, but it’s decidedly not allowed in Station Management’s dress code. Oh, you’re holing a knife, too! So did you get- did you already get that lunch then? Well if that- if that’s the case, you don’t need to cut my sandwich in half, I’ll-I’ll take it whole. And also I need that traffic report, thanks. James? What are you waiting for, the Autumn Specter to do it for you? [chuckles] Hop to it! James?

[clears throat] Well, while James is working on that, let’s get back to my favorite spooky Halloween stories. This one isn’t a story so much as a fun Halloween game. The legend of Bloody Mary.

According to the lore, if you turn off all the lights, and stare into a mirror, repeating “Bloody Mary” three times in a row, she will appear and tear your face off! I’ve never tried this because I don’t own any mirrors, but my husband Carlos conducted this very experiment in his science lab. He said he darkened the room and repeated the name and nothing happened for a long time. But then a figure of a woman appeared, silvery gray and shimmering, and she approached Carlos slowly, her hollow white eyes never blinking. She brought her face only inches from Carlos and said: “Are you for real?” And Carlos said yes, he was indeed – real. And Bloody Mary said: “OK because this time of year, I just get a bunch of giggling, screaming teenagers, and I’m really tired of ripping off their faces for no pay whatsoever!” And Carlos gave her some resources for starting a union and she thanked him and she offered to tear his face off in exchange for the consulting, but Carlos said no, he liked his face, and wisher her luck. Night Vale, pay your malevolent spirits! They’re overworked especially around Halloween. And a 20 per cent gratuity for poltergeists, phantasms, revenants, and ghosts is standard.

And now for t- what the, oh you- [papers rustling] Wait, OK. You know, I thought intern James had handed the traffic report to me, but this is just a piece of parchment with a 9-pointed star seemingly drawn by a finger dripped in blood. And then there are a series of ancient runes scrawled around the outer edges. Now I took runic in college. I mean, most of my friends took Spanish as their language, but I thought living here in the American Southwest, it would be more useful to study ancient Scandinavian and Germanic alphabets. And from what I can make out, these are a message about the return of the Autumn Specter. Ugh, alright. OK. I love that intern James loooves Halloween and whatever this the Autumn Specter is. In fact, James is still in the break room right now construction a sacred totem out of ash tree branches and twine. He’s been muttering to himself all day in a language that I don’t recognize, and the only words I can understand are “Autumn Specter”. But I still have neither my traffic report nor my lunch! Wait, do you think James is… Naah, put it out or you mind, Cecil.

Let’s tell another spooky Halloween story. There once was a beautiful young woman who wore a green ribbon around her neck. She won the affection of a handsome young man. They fell in love and one day the boy asked the girl why she always wore a green ribbon around her neck. She would not tell him. One day the man and the woman were to become husband and wife. In her white bridal dress, the woman still wore her green ribbon. The man asked her on their wedding night if he could untie the green ribbon, but even on the most intimate of evenings, she said no, and he respected her answer. But he longed to know what she was hiding behind the ribbon. Through the years, the man asked the wife again about the ribbon, but she never removed it, nor answered his questions about it. She only warned him that he would not like what he saw if she were to remove it. He asked less and less, but his curiosity grew and grew. And they became old, very old, and they knew their time left was short. The man asked one more time: “My dearest wife, love of my life, tell me that I may remove the green ribbon from around your neck.” And the old woman said: “My adoring groom, here in our room after all these many years, yes you may. But I caution you, as I have many times before, that you shall not like what your eyes behold.” The man hesitated, but finally reached his weakened, wrinkled fingers to the green bow along her nape. And he tentatively pulled the ribbon, and suddenly it unfurled, falling from her neck, and the man gasped. Upon her neck was a series of ornate letters spelling out “GOTH LIFE”. The woman said: “I got this tattoo in high school but kind of outgrew it and it’s super embarrassing.” And the man replied: “It is for sure weird, but also pretty cool. I like it.” And she never wore the green ribbon again.

You know, listeners, I’d love to bring you that traffic report, but right now, um, I’m facing something much more urgent and more dire. My studio door has opened on its own, and as I turned around, I could see down the long faintly lit corridor of our offices. And at the end of the hallway stands a figure, and he wears a Jack o’ Lantern mask, his head crooked to one side like a dog asking a question or like a hanged man, or both. And it is intern James, and he holds a long knife and he walks, he walks slowly toward me. And he is speaking at first in a mutter, but now louder, a strange shout in an obscure tongue like a magician casting a wicked spell, and he is moving much faster toward me, like a limping run, and his blade is raised high, and James is not an intern, Night Vale, bu the Autumn Specter itself come to reap my soul!

But before he does that, Let me take you to the weather.

[“Welterweight” by Nels Andrews. https://nelsandrews.bandcamp.com/]

So. During the weather, I went to human resources and requested a file on intern James. Oh I’m fine, by the way, and James is not the Autumn Specter, but I’ll get to that. So I found a copy of James’ résumé and cover letter for the position of radio station intern. His application was originally submitted in 1845. “That’s almost two centuries ago!” I exclaimed, but according to HR, they’re pretty backlogged on the intern apps. “What are you gonna do, we get to them when we get to them,” they said from the bottom of their abandoned well. Paperclipped to James’ application was a wrinkled and yellowed news clipping from the Night Vale °Daily Journal, and the article says that James died on Halloween night in 1849 when he was hit by a train. I then went to the hall of public records and found that our radio station was built in 1950, atop the very train tracks where James met hi send. James’ soul has been wandering the halls and offices of our radio station ever since. For all James ever wanted was to be a radio intern. To serve the listening community, to lift high the voice of journalistic truth. And it was his death that led to the shutdown of those train tracks and the eventual construction of a new station home, and the building we still use now. So I was wrong about James. He was an intern, after all, and not a malevolent Halloween spirit.

But I was right that the Autumn Specter had come for me. For when I turned to see James running down the hill, I did not notice the Autumn Specter behind me, with its bony hands and scarecrow mouth, and I did not notice its soul reaping sickle, which it had raised high above its oversized head and stick thin body. And James had given his life for the building of our radio station, and in death, gave his soul for the very same cause. And James threw himself upon the Autumn Specter, and he tried to stab the Specter’s neck and chest, but it-it- it did nothing. And the Spectre pushed James aside and then turned its black coal eyes upon me. And it raised its curved blade once again and swung! I tried to duck, but was too slow. And just as the sickle’s edge reached my face, James dove in front of it and vanished in a burst of white flame, as he was struck. And the room was empty and the Autumn Specter was gone too.

To the family and friends of intern James, he was… an OK intern. Not always on top of his writing deadlines, but he literally sacrificed his soul for our radio station. I can’t bring you a traffic report today, but I will live to bring you one tomorrow. If we find a new intern. And HR tells me that we have hundreds of candidates, although most of them are not yet aware that they are candidates.

Stay tuned next for our new cooking competition show, “Flay Bobby Flay”.

And as always, Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: The road to hell is paved with cobblestone. It’s super bumpy, not at all comfortable, and really bad for your car’s suspension.

#wtnv #Welcome to Night Vale #welcome to night vale transcirpts #episode 176 #the autumn specter #sorry i misspeled it as spectre

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thevoilinauttheory · 3 years

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Lothaire for the Give you a character thing

[ I wasn't expecting to see my own character(s) on the list, but here he is! I will take any day to talk about them lol Thank you so much for the ask, @cadrenebula! ]

How I feel about this character:

From an OOC standpoint, it's strange to say that I have mixed feelings about my own characters, but Lothaire is one of those characters. Mostly because... Maximiloix was my main for years upon years until I made Lothaire on Mateus and met my spouse on him. I'm a little sad about that, because I thoroughly enjoy playing as Maximiloix, but he's so far behind, that I can't really bother to pick him up as my main anymore. So Lothaire is my main now, and most played OOCly, and one of the least played ICly. ICly - I love Lothaire. He's a nervous dork. He's perfect Dad™ material. Finding plots for him can be hard, considering that he's a rather tame character - and all plots I've done in the past are just that, in the past, and it's not likely that those plots will repeat. Currently, he's working with his grandfather to find a way to the First, which they had heard about in some reports - and all that time he spent trying to prove travel between stars was not for naught! He's a little too curious for his own good and tends to find himself in trouble. A lot. Especially with how absolutely clumsy he is. (I'd say, think Pippin from LotR kind of clumsy - except Lothaire is an academic that likes to stick his nose in things he shouldn't). When he's not getting himself into trouble (in which, his husband usually drags him out of), they run an orphanage and school together in the Beds. He is also a part time jeweler! (Which I gave to him, because of my own love for making jewelry), he also dances fairly well for someone who can't seem to climb up stairs without tripping at least twice. He has the Echo both regularly and his WoL!Verse. It's simple, and he usually uses it for his research - since he'll get visions of the past, he tries to apply that to his studies in hisory, and always hopes he'll get another one when he's on a trip out. Though in his WoL!Verse, he actually finds the damn thing annoying and interruptive. Overall: He is a relatively harmless and anxious scholar.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Well, I'm going to start with his husband. Duh.

I think the story's been said a couple times, but Misha and Lothaire met by happenstance... very strange happenstance. After a conversation with his friend, Aumix, who is a rather prickly fellow (and belongs to a friend) - Lothaire tripped over a chair in the Drowning Wench and broke his glasses after landing face first on the floor. Now, anyone who knows Lothaire, knows that he is incredibly blind without his glasses. Instead of helping the poor man home, Aumix leaves Lothaire to his own devices... which caused him to trip again and fall three stories off the balcony and into the ocean (luck made sure he hit the water, or else he could have been very dead). Misha happened to be picking up a shipment at the docks near the Fishermen's Guild, and only barely caught sight of the bean pole swimming poorly towards him. After helping him up, Lothaire insisted on thanking him properly once he was able to get his spare glasses from his apartment.

They are now married, have eight kids (that they own, not including the ones staying in their orphanage) and a cat... that Lothaire is highly allergic to. He really couldn't be happier for his situation! (I rarely get inspiration from other media for my characters, but Lothaire is definitely a lot like Maes Hughs from FMA when it comes to his kids. And would probably die as easily too.)

Then there's his WoL!Verse. In which. All of my characters have some NPC I ship them with in some way. For Lothaire, it was complicated.

I initially shipped him with Thancred - because they were both alcoholic messes with a pension for bad decisions. This ended up in a several night stand, during which Lothaire became very attached (as he is wont to do); but as a WoL, he wasn't going to show that Thancred's sudden aloofness was hurting him. And soon - eventually - he just ended up ignoring Thancred altogether, and acted as if he didn't exist until he really needed to exist.

Lothaire would get crushes on others but never act on them, being as busy as he was, and it wasn't until the events of Shadowbringers that everything finally settled. Though, much to his surprise, it wasn't just Thancred that came forward and apologized, but Urianger too, before him. Then he was stuck in the middle of this, what I believe to be, perfect Dad™ OT3. They like to embarrass him - because it's not hard to do. (Unlike his grandfather's lovelife, Lothaire isn't afraid to admit he has one.)

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Lothaire has a few friends! Not many, but a few! The first being Aumix Fourchetaix - who started off just as a bodyguard for him while he did his field work. But Lothaire is kind of hard to hate, and even though the man was kind of prickly, he did care on some level for Lothaire.

One of Lothaire's best friends is his cousin, Honorie Fauvier. They've always gotten along, despite their vastly different upbringings; and their daughters were fast friends too. Honorie was always a voice of reason for him - while he brought the light of adventure into her life.

And the last would be Danny Harold (Avis, as he knows him). Their friendship started through Maximiloix, and while he wouldn't consider him a close friend, he would consider him a family friend - and does open his house to him from time to time, or whenever he needs it.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

Having an unpopular opinion about my own character is a little weird, and I'm not certain how that would go.

But my "unpopular opinion" is that if people think they know Lothaire, they don't. He has so many layers to him, it's hard to unpack, and even harder to write.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

I wish I was able to give him more fuck-ups with love before he married. His story seemed to be a perfect fairytale, and that wasn't really my initial intention. I wanted him to go through a lot of hardship to get where he was, with more interaction from other people. Because of how quickly his story progressed, he never got time to make mistakes or even meet too many people.

#a response for you: ooc #cadrenebula #about: Lothaire Voilinaut #lothaire #i think #is one of my least popular characters #probably because of how uninteresting he is lmao

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photolover82 · 3 years

Text

Masked Singer Season 5 Episode 3 Recap: Group A Returns With a Wildcard (Commentary & Guesses)

Hi guys! Welcome or welcome back to Ana’s Masked Singer recap, where I, Ana, recap every single episode of The Masked Singer. Ok, so I'm on time this time I swear (I try to do these the weekend after the show airs or Friday), and now we are starting to get the wildcards which was super exciting and Joel Mchale was guest judging so it was a very fun episode to watch! We’re back onto Group A but this time someone new joins the group, so stay tuned until the end to talk about that someone. Anyways, let’s get into it, starting with the eliminated contestant:

So the eliminated mask was...

*DRUMROLL PLEASE*

The Raccoon 🦝

Commentary: honestly, I am not even the slightest bit surprised that he got eliminated... he should have gone home earlier but that’s neither here nor there, the Masked Singer likes to do that to us so whatever. But like honestly this is gonna sound mean, and look, not everyone is a singer, and he gave it the good old college try and I respect the hell out of that, but omg all I gotta say about his performance of Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash is yikes. That’s it, that’s all I gotta say about that... anyways, let’s reveal this rodent or mammal, idk man who told you guys I was an animal expert?!

Raccoon was revealed to be (I got this one too yay!)

Danny Trejo

Yeah, I guessed it baby! I even have proof, just look at my 1st recap of the season and it’s there, I got it! Yayyy! Anyways, I mean I know him, I have seen him around ofc (he has done a lot of acting and he even has a restaurant and everything), but like he can’t sing and that’s ok, he had fun, it’s what matters. Good job Danny Trejo and thank God he’s gone because finally my ears can be in peace.

Having said that, let’s move onto our remaining 4 (yes, 4 because wildcard baby!):

1. Seashell 🐚

Commentary: Her performance of Confident by Demi Lovato was to me much better than her last performance. It seemed like she was more confident (hehe no pun intended) in this one, kind of came into her own and let out the power in her voice. She was a bit timid and nervous in the first performance and it kind of reminded me of how Jellyfish started out, but this one was a lot more diva and powerful, I enjoyed it a lot. I really love Seashell, she is quickly becoming one of my favorite contestants (except nobody can beat my favorite who you will see in a moment)

I am doubling down on my guess:

Tamera Mowry

Clues/Reasoning: ok, like this one I feel super confident about and the clues kind of seal the deal for me:

The doodle of “Seashell with the shell mask on”= reference to the intro of Sister Sister

A certain shell man asked her out and the baseball on the screen= she is talking about her husband, Fox News correspondent Adam Housley (which btw is another reason why she is on this show, bc it runs in the Fox family), who used to be a professional baseball player (oh and the required her to do things she was scared of means that he helped her feel more comfortable about being on TV aka when she was on the Real)

2 minute stopwatch= she’s older than her twin sister, Tia, by 2 minutes haha 😂 (this was a very weird thing to be like yeah bro ik that... again I say, Google is a magical thing)

2. Robopine 🦔

Commentary: He sang All of Me by John Legend and honestly song choice was 👌, like I would have picked that for him too. It was absolutely stunning and I can just close my eyes and enjoy the song, which that’s what some of the best ballad performances tend to do. I absolutely loved it, he is my favorite, if you can’t tell, and this was my favorite performance of the night. I have a prediction that Robopine might make it to the finals honestly because he is just that amazing.

I am changing my guess and I am more confident now with:

Tyrese Gibson

Reasoning/Clues: alright so I know that he isn’t 60 but I have a feeling he is lying about that and that he’s from Costa Rica (that’s too direct of a clue to be true you know and I feel like he is lying... Ken did say in the beginning that Robopine is the most confusing, so I do think that he is lying)... anyways clue time:

A lot of superhero clues= he will be playing one in Jared Leto’s Morbius film from Marvel

The lying means something = he has an album called Alter Ego, someone in the YouTube comments told me that he did a shoot with GQ called “60 the new 30” so that’s where the age thing might come from

IT SOUNDS A LOT LIKE HIM, OK?! Legit this is the most logic bomb I can give you right here... he’s trying to fool us but the voice is what matters... if you wanna compare voices go ahead, here’s a video that can help (it helped me even though the background singers kinda took over, but you get the point, it was live)

youtube

3. Russian Dolls 🪆

Commentary: THEY DIVIDEDDDDD... omg there’s 3 now! I FREAKING CALLED IT!! Anyways, they sang Wonder by Shawn Mendes and again I say their harmonies are so on point, it’s fantastic! I throughly enjoyed this performance, it was great! Their voices work really great together (ofc duh because they are a band... they have to be) and it was a really great song choice as well.

Again, I am gonna double down here (and them being 3 makes it even more convincing for me):

Hanson (All 3 of them this time)

Reasoning/Clues: ok, so now that there’s 3 of them, I don’t have to sound dumb and be like ummmmm it’s 2 of the Hanson brothers, which two I am not sure, but two of them. This time I can say it is all of Hanson, all 3 of them! WOOO! This performance really solidified it for me. Anyways, here are the logic bombs aka clues:

He was doing what he loved and rushed to the hospital = Zac, one of the brothers, was involved in a motorcycle accident in which he (get this, it’s really bad like reading it on Google made me go ouch that must have been a terrible accident) broke three ribs, his collarbone, and scapula.

The fire truck= the fire department was involved in the accident, which he spoke about in October 2019

4. Surprise! It’s Wildcard Time: Introducing the Orca (whale) 🐳

Commentary: ok, so he performed We’re Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister, and it was meh, it was ok. He sounds like a comedian, and his voice is so familiar, it’s killing me. Anyways, he is talk singing the entire time and there are parts where he sounds out of breath, so I don’t think he is a professional singer. The costume though (since I couldn’t really review that beforehand) looks like a pool floatie on top and a blue version of Banana from season 3 from the chest down, which is kind of cool (I would give it a 8/10 if I were to rate it). I really love that top head part, it looks super great, the costume designers killed it.

Ok, this one I am more unsure about but I am gonna say that I am between these 2:

Bill Burr or Adam Sandler

(Burr is the one pictured below, couldn’t put both images because Tumblr doesn’t let me do more than 10 pictures so just pretend you can also see Adam Sandler’s photo)

Reasoning/Clues: I am gonna have to skip this one... because I am not sure about this one, I am just going off of voice, the clues confuse me, but you have any ideas, feel free to comment them please, I need all the help I can get.

So that’s it, wildcard and all. I hope you guys enjoyed this, I am so sorry for the picture issue, it’s something that bugs me about Tumblr but whatever. I will see you guys in the next one, where we will see Group B sans Phoenix perform and add in a new wildcard, which omg I know who it is I just don’t know what it looks like, but it is the CRAB 🦀! Anyways, I will see you all next weekend, please like, comment, do all the social media things! Bye everyone! 👋🏼

#the masked singer #themaskedsinger #celebrities #music #the masked singer season 5 #hollywood

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homeformyheart · 3 years

Text

the perfect gift (part 2) - noah harris x mc (mtfl)

author’s note: part 2 in the sequel/follow-up to first choice. there are mentions of the crimson veil, the club owned by priya lacroix from bloodbound, danni from it lives beneath and justin mercado from save the date as a friends/classmates of emma’s.

copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios. song lyrics belong to their respective artists. series/pairing: my two first loves - noah harris x mc (emma price) cross-series references: danni asturias (it lives beneath); justin mercado (save the date); the crimson veil (bloodbound) rating/warnings: 18+; smut between 🔥⚡ and ❄💧 icons word count: 6.3k based on/prompt: club scene visuals inspired by the songs “jealous” by nick jonas and “shape of you” by ed sheeran summary: emma spent months carefully planning noah’s 21st birthday gift and drove up to surprise him at hartfeld for the weekend, but things go south after a big fight makes them both reevaluate their relationship after three years together.

read first choice to learn how they got together in the first place.

read part 1.

the perfect gift (part 2)

emma rubbed her eyes sleepily as she fumbled around her nightstand for her phone so she could turn off the blaring alarm. she got in late the night before after driving all night from hartfeld and collapsed on the bed, grateful that she was at least so physically exhausted that she fell asleep right away instead of being kept up by the emotional rollercoaster of that night. she turned off the alarm and checked the time. it was already noon and she did not want to spend all day in bed feeling sorry for herself. she also noticed she still had no new messages or missed phone calls from noah, but he was likely still sleeping off all the alcohol he drank the night before.

after a very long shower, emma stood in front of her bathroom mirror, taking stock of how puffy her eyes looked. her phone started ringing from the room and she hurried out to answer it. she felt a slight twinge of disappointment when she saw that it was her friend and photography grad student danni and not noah, but she answered it. she had forgotten they agreed to grab lunch after she told her about what happened as she was heading back from hartfeld. she was going to have to rush if she was going to make it to the restaurant in time.

emma plopped into the booth across from danni and gave her friend a tired smile. danni gave her a sympathetic smile. “you look like crap.”

“thanks,” emma replied sarcastically, quickly scanning the menu and putting her order in. “i’m just annoyed with myself. i have every right to be upset with him and i should be mad. but instead i just feel…” she bit her lip. “worried.”

danni took a bite of her burger and chewed thoughtfully. “that makes sense. you still care about him and love him. one fight isn’t going to change that overnight. but haven’t you guys argued about this before? maybe you need to reconsider the long-distance thing. i don’t like seeing what this does to you.”

emma nodded, forcing herself to eat the food in front of her. “yeah, but something feels different this time. usually he texts or calls right away but i haven’t heard from him. i just don’t know if he meant what he said last night or not. and whether it’s over and even worth talking about.”

“look, emma, i get that he’s your high school sweetheart and you guys have been together for a long time. but what he did last night was uncalled for and you should definitely not reach out to him first. he needs to own up to what he did first,” danni said with a sigh.

“you’re right. i know you’re right, but… it’s his 21st birthday today,” emma said softly, looking at her phone longingly at the photo of her and noah on her lockscreen.

danni snatched up emma’s phone from the table. “okay, here’s the plan. you get to send him one happy birthday text. just one. then you’re blocking his number for the rest of the day and going out with me tonight. we’ll go shopping for the perfect club outfit and we are going to be single ladies living it up tonight, just leave it all to me.”

emma knew better than to protest when danni doled out orders like that and she was too physically and emotionally exhausted to care. so when danni gave her the phone back, she sent a simple happy birthday text and blocked noah’s number. she could assume they were broken up for tonight, right?

* * * * * after buying the “perfect clubbing outfit,” grabbing a quick bite, and taking a long nap, emma stood in front of her reflection in the bathroom mirror, taking note of the dark circles under her eyes that she would need to cover up. she carefully applied gold on top of the violet shadow on her eyelids before lining both with a subtle smoky eye. the gold and violet would bring out the warmth of her form-fitting, dark red, off-the-shoulder, short-sleeve dress had a sweetheart neckline and fitted corset that definitely accentuated her curves. the dress went to her mid-thigh but had a wide slit up her left thigh. she pulled on her black leather stiletto boots, a pair of dangling leaf-shaped gold earrings, and swiped on a coat of matte red lipstick. she carefully styled her long, balayage dyed hair into a side fishtail braid.

even she had to admit, this look was perfect. she hoped she wouldn’t have to be outside for too long in the not-quite-winter autumn night chill since she wasn’t about to bring a coat to a club.

her phone buzzed with text notifications from danni:

[danni: hey, you ready yet? justin says he can sneak us in without IDs but only if we get there by 9:30!]

emma typed out a quick reply before double-checking she had what she needed in her wristlet. she took one last look in the mirror, her gaze falling on the small heart and “N” pendant nestled on a silver chain that she always wore around her neck. noah had given it to her as a birthday gift two years ago. without giving it a second thought, emma unclasped the necklace and left it on her nightstand before locking the door behind her as she headed out.

* * * * * noah pulled up in the visitor parking lot, which happened to sit between the drop-off roundabout and emma’s dorm building, and took off his helmet. the drive took a couple hours longer than usual, between the usual rest stops and extra stops he needed to make whenever he felt too nauseous or sleepy. it was already dark by the time he arrived and he ached all over. he took out his phone and tried to call emma to let her know he was here but the call went immediately to voicemail again. he sighed.

even though it was all he could think about when he wasn’t actively focused on how exhausted he was, he still wasn’t sure what he was going to say to emma. somehow, an apology alone didn’t seem like it would be enough. they had had these fights in the past where he would let out his bottled up insecurities after a night of drinking and he had promised to do better each time they reconciled. he was pretty sure he would need to own up to that.

“emma, come on, the dryve is here and i already texted justin a picture of your outfit so he’s definitely excited to see you!” noah perked up at emma’s name and looked up to see two figures walking across the quad toward the drop-off roundabout. even in the dark and from a distance, noah could tell which one was emma and the boots she was wearing was just enough for his imagination to start running south.

“slow down, i can’t run in these boots! also, why would you text justin that?” noah felt his heart ache when he heard emma’s voice. he really missed her and didn’t register right away that his feet had already started walking toward her.

“duh, because he’s had a crush on you since last year and i told him you were single.” noah froze. single? this had to be a joke, right? or maybe he was having a nightmare, some sort of hallucination from lack of sleep?

“danni, what the hell? i’m not… i mean, i haven’t,” emma stammered, frustrated.

danni just shrugged. “no one’s saying you have to do anything with justin. let him buy you drinks and then just blow him off by saying you’re not ready to move on yet. problem solved, now let’s go or we’re going to miss our chance to get into the crimson veil!”

emma sighed and let her friend drag her to the dryve waiting by the curb. as danni leaned in to double-check the driver’s identity, emma let her gaze wander across campus until she noticed a white motorcycle in the visitors’ lot that looked awfully familiar. she took a couple steps closer to get a clearer vantage point when she felt a hand on her wrist yank her back.

“what are you doing? come on!” she climbed into the car after danni but couldn’t help look out the window at the parking lot.

“that looks like noah’s bike,” she said softly, too soft for danni to hear.

noah watched as the car drove away. he desperately wanted to feel more like himself and then maybe he’d be able to come up with a game plan. it wouldn’t be easy to talk his way into the crimson veil, one of the most exclusive clubs in manhattan but he needed to get in before this “justin” person tried to make a move on emma. he looked back at emma’s dorm building with hesitation; he did have a copy of her room key and could let himself in to take a shower and change. it would show that he was serious about working things out with her, even if she got upset that he let himself into her room without her knowledge. he started walking quickly toward the building before he could talk himself out of it. he needed to look and feel his best if he was going to show up to that club and win back his girl.

* * * * * it didn’t take long for them to arrive at the club, and just like danni said, their names were on the list and the bouncer barely glanced at them as he let them in. emma followed danni toward the bar as her eyes adjusted to the dim club, accented by gaudy chandeliers and soft neon lights accenting the booths and dancefloor.

“this place is awesome! what do you want to drink?”

emma skimmed the drinks menu. “i want to take it easy with the drinks, you know my rule about emotional drinking. a gin and tonic is fine.”

danni rolled her eyes. “boring! as long as you do at least one tequila shot with me,” she turned away to relay their orders when emma felt the warmth of someone’s chest against her back. she shifted so she could see behind her and found herself looking up at justin mercado, his dark brown hair styled to the side. they had worked on a project together last year for their business communications class (she was double majoring in photography and media management with a minor in communications), but emma kept her distance and shut down any flirting immediately. tonight, however, emma was taken aback by how attractive he looked with his sharp, stubble-lined jaw and black dress shirt that highlighted his toned muscles.

“hey there,” he said with a smirk, reaching past her to hand his credit card to the bartender. “this round’s on me, ladies.”

“thanks justin!” danni beamed, handing him and emma a tequila shot and lime. hoping he hadn’t caught her checking him out, emma turned away to throw back the shot, cringing at the burn from the tequila.

justin led them to a corner booth in the back of the main floor once they got their drinks, far enough from the dance floor that they could somewhat hear each other over the music. danni pulled her hand as they climbed into the booth and emma knew she intentionally made it so justin would climb in after her, leaving emma sandwiched between the two. she inwardly rolled her eyes and tried to maintain a façade of interest in whatever justin had to say, while being aware of the distance between their bodies’ and the location of justin’s arm casually behind her on the back of the booth.

danni squealed as the opening lyrics of “shape of you” by ed sheeran started blasting from the club speakers, “the club isn’t the best place to find a lover; so the bar is where i go; me and my friends at the table doing shots; drinking fast and then we talk slow, emma, let’s dance!”

without waiting to see if emma would follow, danni got up and disappeared into the crowd. justin stood up next and held a hand out to her. “wanna dance?” he yelled over the music. emma hesitated and stared at his outstretched hand before looking up to give him a firm nod, letting him pull her up out of the booth. he held her hand firmly as he led them to the middle of the dancefloor.

girl, you know i want your love your love was handmade for somebody like me come on now, follow my lead i may be crazy, don't mind me say, boy, let's not talk too much grab on my waist and put that body on me come on now, follow my lead come, come on now, follow my lead

emma turned around and let justin place his hands on her hips. she put her hands over his to hold them in place as she swayed her hips from side to side; she didn’t want to lead him on, but they could still dance and have fun, right? she tried to stay aware of how close justin was dancing and avoid any unintentional grinding on her part while keeping up with the beat. she closed her eyes and allowed the warm buzz from the alcohol guide her movements to the music.

i’m in love with the shape of you we push and pull like a magnet do although my heart is falling too i’m in love with your body and last night you were in my room and now my bedsheets smell like you every day discovering something brand new i’m in love with your body

it took sweet talking a group of girls near the front of the line and bribing the bouncer, but noah finally made it into the club. given how difficult it was to get into, he wasn’t surprised to see that it wasn’t overcrowded like most clubs in the city. there were enough people to make the atmosphere fun but not so many that the only way someone could navigate the room is if they either squeezed through people or elbowed them hard enough to start a domino effect, which although comical in retrospect, would definitely result in getting kicked out.

he quickly made his way to the side of the bar furthest from the entrance, looking over his shoulder once to make sure the group of girls he snuck in with didn’t notice him sneak away. in case emma noticed him first, he’d rather not be surrounded by a group of girls in outfits that screamed “we’re competing for who can reveal the most skin and not get in trouble for public nudity.” he ordered his favorite drink and out of habit, briefly did a scan across the room to note the layout of the room, location of the bathrooms, security cameras, and all potential exits. once he got a lay of the land, so to speak, he leaned against the counter, sipping his whiskey. he started looking around more casually until his gaze landed on the woman who still took his breath away, dancing in a sexy dress he definitely hadn’t seen her in before.

noah’s eyes traced the way her dress left her shoulders and collarbone exposed, hugging her curves down to her swaying hips before he noticed that there were a pair of hands intertwined with hers. he frowned and lifted his gaze to the tall, dark-haired, handsome-looking man (he didn’t see anything wrong with acknowledging that men could look attractive without him being attracted to them) with a definite toned build dancing against her. they weren’t grinding even though they were dancing close; as far as he could tell, it looked like emma was keeping him at a distance, holding the guy’s hands in place, although it could also be wishful thinking on his part.

i don’t like the way he’s looking at you i’m starting to think you want him too am i crazy? have i lost ya even though i know you love me, can’t help it

noah realized he was clenching his jaw and rubbed his temples to try to loosen up the tension and anxiety he was feeling. now was not the time for what emma called his “jealous-and-overprotective boyfriend” mode. most of the time she found it endearing but letting it take over in this situation would result in him making unfair and hurtful accusations and noah already had enough to apologize for from last night. he quickly finished off his drink, took a deep breath, and started walking toward the dancefloor.

emma was definitely the first to notice the leather jacket-clad, brooding brunette with broad shoulders and sculpted arms that came with playing football heading determinedly toward them. she looked up and drew in a sharp breath once she realized it was noah. each stride was filled with a quiet confidence, his gaze never leaving hers, and his eyes smoldering with something she couldn’t quite name - desire, jealousy, anger, maybe all of the above.

‘cause you’re too sexy beautiful and everybody want to taste, that’s why i still get jealous ‘cause you're too sexy beautiful and everybody want to taste, that’s why i still get jealous

she released justin’s hands from her hips and turned to face him. “hey justin, i had a really great time tonight but i’m going to have to head out early. can you make sure danni’s okay?”

justin looked at her quizzically. “does this have something to do with the guy walking toward us that looks like he wants to murder me?”

emma winced and nodded. “yeah, he’s technically still my boyfriend, i think. i know danni told you otherwise.”

he shrugged and smiled. “seriously, don’t worry about it. i had fun. call me if things change with you,” he said, with a wink.

emma watched justin walk away and took a deep breath. she felt noah’s chest against her back, his fingers hovering at her sides, and his warm breath tickling her ear as he asked, “mind if i cut in?” she squeezed her eyes shut as though it would keep the memories from trickling into her mind - the last time she heard him say that was back in high school.

and i’m puffing my chest i’m getting ready to face you can call me obsessed it's not your fault that they hover i mean no disrespect it’s my right to be hellish i still get jealous

emma couldn’t bring herself to turn around and face him. the brief respite she had while dancing with justin was gone but she wanted to try to enjoy herself for a few more minutes before facing reality and having to listen to noah’s excuses. she could feel her resolve weakening as his cologne filled her senses and his breath cooled the heat of her skin from the crowded club.

he knew she was probably debating with herself inwardly and wished she would talk to him or at least look at him. noah felt disappointment creep in and started pulling himself away. emma reached behind and grabbed his arms, sliding her hands down until she looped her fingers with his, pulling him forward. he let out a breath of relief and gripped her hips tightly, pulling her as close to him as he could, falling into rhythm with her hips swaying to the beat. he lowered his head toward the crook of her shoulder as they grinded to the music, leaving loving kisses along her shoulder and neck. emma tilted her head to the side to give him better access to her neck and noah felt the weight in his heart lift a little at the gesture.

‘cause you’re too sexy beautiful and everybody want to taste, that’s why i still get jealous

i wish you didn’t have to post it all i wish you’d save a little bit just for me protective or possessive? girl call it passive or aggressive?

the rest of the song faded into the background as emma released his hands to wrap hers around his neck. emma felt a sudden urge to see him and see what he was feeling in that moment. without losing the beat, she turned in his arms until she was grinding her hips into his, using the arms wrapped around his neck to bring herself closer to him. she forced herself to look up and into his eyes, keeping her face passive, searching for a truth. what truth exactly she thought she could see, she wasn’t sure, but she did see a lot of fear and genuine regret.

noah felt like he could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears as he looked deeply in emma’s eyes. he felt like she could see into his soul and in that moment, he wished she could, so that she could know the unabashed truth of how much she meant to him and how much he regret hurting her. his gaze dropped to her lips; he wanted to kiss her so badly but knew that he needed to tread carefully. it was a delicate, albeit often frustrating, dance to figure out when he needed to let her take the lead and when she wanted him to take initiative. the anxiety he felt in his stomach warned him to follow her lead this time. his fingers dug into her hips as if he was afraid she would slip out and run away from him at any moment.

emma dropped her gaze and leaned in to rest her forehead against his, closing her eyes. she slowed her movements so her hips were swaying gently against his in time to the music, relishing the feel of being in his arms. she closed the rest of the gap between their bodies, resting her chin on his shoulder, breathing in his musky, leathery scent. she had missed him, missed this, moments like these where it felt like the rest of the world didn’t exist and it was just them. when the song ended, she stood on her tip toes so she could murmur in noah’s ear, “want to get out of here? we should probably talk.” she noticed him swallow and nod, letting go of her hips so he could grab her hand and lead her out of the club.

* * * * * emma quietly looked out the window in the back of the dryve the entire way back to campus. noah kept stealing glances over to see if he could gauge how she was feeling, but she didn’t turn to look at him once during the entire drive. he grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers both out of habit and a need to touch her. she resisted half-heartedly once but he held tight and couldn’t help the small smile on his face when she didn’t resist again. he tapped his finger against his thigh nervously, trying not to feel too hopeful that she would forgive him, but he certainly felt better about the likelihood of it after dancing at the club.

once they were inside her room, emma suddenly felt a pit form in her stomach. she really didn’t want to have this conversation with him but knew she couldn’t avoid it anymore. she motioned to noah to make himself comfortable while she stepped into the bathroom to wipe off her makeup and take off her boots and jewelry. she didn’t want to change into one of his old football shirts that she usually slept in quite yet and give noah the impression that things were back to normal.

while emma was in the bathroom, noah sat himself down on one end of her loveseat and looked around the room. he noticed the necklace on the nightstand as the “N” initial necklace he had gifted her on their first anniversary and his heart sank as he realized she had taken it off. he couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t wearing it, so this definitely wasn’t a good sign. when the bathroom door opened he stood up reflexively. he thought he saw a ghost of a smile on her face as she approached the loveseat and sat down on the opposite end, tucking her legs under her.

he was debating whether or not to speak up first but she beat him to it. “i was not expecting you to drive down here today, much less show up at the club. how did you know where i’d be?”

“when i got here i saw you and your friend leaving the building. i overheard her say you were going to the crimson veil but before i could come up to you, she basically dragged you into the car,” he said, shifting in his seat. “i’m sorry, emma. for everything.”

emma maintained a neutral facial expression and gave him a long look. only her eyes betrayed how fast her mind was processing information and weighing the repercussions of different responses. finally, she said, “what exactly are you sorry for? do you remember everything from last night?”

noah bit his lip and nodded. “yeah, i remember most of it. i felt like we were growing apart over the last few weeks; i know we were both busy but it felt like our relationship was taking a backseat. so when you told me you couldn’t make it up to see me on my birthday… i was more upset than i thought i’d be. i drank way more than i should’ve last night and let my frustrations and doubts fester until it exploded like that. i really am sorry.”

emma sighed and looked away. “i know you’re sorry, and i know you feel really bad. but you’ve done this before and we’ve talked about this. it feels like you’re taking for granted that i’ll forgive you and i’m just so tired of doing this with you. you need to bring up your doubts and concerns with me instead of letting them build up and definitely not drink when you’re upset.”

“i know. i promise i’ll do better,” noah said, scooting closer to her so he could grab both her hands in his. “i love you, baby. can you forgive me?”

emma already knew what her answer was before he even asked. she loved him too much and she knew he was much harder on himself than anyone else and probably had been beating himself up over this all day. “i forgive you. i still feel upset, but i’ll get over it soon. i love you.”

“thank you, baby.” noah was thrilled. he leaned in without hesitation to wrap her up in his arms. emma let herself relax and enjoy the familiarity and warmth of his body against hers. noah shifted so he could pull her into his lap and emma cupped his face in her hands, leaning forward to give him a deep kiss. she pulled back and saw that he was looking up at her with pure adoration, and her breath caught with emotion – she loved this man so damn much.

noah’s eyebrow furrowed with concern. “what’s wrong, baby?” she was always surprised at how well he could read her. emma could feel tears prickling the back of her eyes.

“i just love you so much. and you pushing me away last night really hurt,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

noah raised his chin to give her a soft kiss. “i’m so sorry for hurting you like that. i’m going to make it up to you.” he left a trail of kisses across her jaw and down her neck, stopping to give a teasing kiss on her collarbone. “i’m going to worship you like the goddess you are. you are so goddamn gorgeous, emma. it took every ounce of restraint i had not to carry you out of the club when i saw you dancing,” noah murmured, kissing along her shoulder and down to the top of her breasts.

🔥⚡ 🔥⚡

emma shifted so she was straddling him and ran her hands through his soft hair. “were you jealous?”

noah paused and pulled back to look at her again. his hands roamed up and down her back until they settled on her ass. “you’re damn right i was jealous. i can’t stand the thought of you looking this sexy for another man.” his grip tightened and emma bit her lip to keep from moaning as she started grinding slowly on his lap, eliciting a soft grunt from noah.

“so what are you going to do about it?” she whispered in his ear, grinding up and down slowly, enjoying the feel of how much she was turning him on.

noah growled and stood up, gripping her tightly against him. emma wrapped her legs and arms tightly around him instinctively. “i’m going to make sure i’m the only man for you, starting by making you scream my name.”

he reverently laid her on the bed, kissing and touching her everywhere. emma felt warmth bloom from each spot he kissed and touched, as one hand massaged her breast while the other traced a finger up and down her thigh. she put her hands on his chest and gently pushed him back. “if i’m a goddess, then prove it. strip.”

noah smirked. he could take orders from her all day. he slowly pulled his shirt over his head, slowly revealing his abs before unbuckling his belt. he unzipped his pants and let them fall, stepping out of them and taking a step toward the bed. emma held up a hand and moved forward until she was sitting on the edge of the bed. she gave him the most smoldering look she could muster as she reached under her dress to pull down her panties before slowly spreading her legs apart. “worship me.”

emma watched noah’s eyes darken and he swallowed visibly. she let her eyes wander down his broad shoulders, sculpted abs, and very erect member, enjoying how it twitched when she gave orders. she laid back against the bed, stretching her arms overhead as noah started kissing up her thigh. she reached forward to weave her fingers in his hair and pulled his head gently back to look at her. “no teasing. worship me, now.”

noah surged forward, licking up her folds until he reached her clit. he alternated sucking and swirling his tongue over her sensitive spot, listening for her gasps and moans that would cue his movements. emma felt her hips rise and start moving involuntarily, his breath leaving a tingling feeling everywhere he touched with his tongue. he was incredibly adept at figuring out exactly what would get her off and it was all she could do not to squeeze her thighs around his neck to get closer. he pulled back slightly and emma whimpered at the sudden loss of warmth, although the contrast from the cooler air in the room gave her goosebumps. she felt him stroke her with a finger and resume his tongue ministrations and emma threw her head back, arching her back. she was getting close and noah knew it. he added a second finger and sped up his strokes, making sure his tongue swirled clockwise and then counterclockwise until he could feel her thighs start to shake.

“god, noah, i’m close— don’t stop, yes!” emma gasped, closing her eyes as he brought her over to the edge and continued to stroke and lick her so she could ride out her orgasm. she felt noah slow down and eventually stop as she tried to catch her breath. he hovered over her and emma opened her eyes just as he leaned down to give her a passionate kiss. she licked her lips as he pulled away, tasting herself.

she wanted more. “take my clothes off. now,” she ordered, watching with amusement as noah silently reached under her until he found the zipper, pulling it down and slowly taking the dress with it.

“this might be my new favorite dress of yours. although i definitely prefer you out of it more,” he murmured, leaving featherlight kisses on each her most sensitive spots as he freed them from the fabric. kisses on the top of her breasts, swirling his tongue over her nipples before continuing to kiss down her stomach and her hips. he let the dress fall to the floor and emma scooted higher on the bed so that he could lean over her more comfortably. he nudged her legs apart again with his knees as he hovered over her, kissing her passionately until emma literally didn’t think she could breathe.

noah pulled back, prompting emma to look up at him. “tell me what you want, baby,” he said breathlessly. emma reached up to trail her fingers down his back until she reached his ass and gave it a squeeze, eliciting a low moan.

“i want all of you, noah,” she murmured back. noah lined himself up and entered her slowly.

once he was buried to the hilt, noah stilled, looking at her to make sure she was okay. she loved the feeling of him being inside her and wrapped her legs around the back of his thighs to hold him tightly against her. she lifted her hips upward and started moving and he followed her lead; they fell into a familiar rhythm, grabbing, touching, and kissing each other everywhere they could.

her back arched and noah held her tightly as she felt pressure start to build in her abdomen again; she tilted her head back and noah kissed her neck and swirled his hips just the way she liked it. all she could manage was a gasp before crying out as the pressure peaked and cascaded over, drowning all her senses with pleasure. noah continued to thrust his hips to help her ride out her orgasm before he followed with a grunt, crying out her name as his seed filled her up. emma was too dazed to respond and wanted to enjoy the bliss before she came down from her high.

“god, that was definitely the best sex we’ve ever had,” emma breathed, placing a hand on her chest to try to calm her beating heart. “thank god i’m on birth control.”

“well, they say make up sex is the best kind,” noah replied, lifting his head from the crook of her shoulder. his breath was ragged and he wasn’t quite ready to leave the warmth of her body yet even though they were both spent.

❄💧❄💧

emma gave him a piercing look. “don’t go getting any ideas. i do not like being mad at you.”

“don’t worry, i hate it when you’re mad at me,” he said without a hint of his usual snark. if emma had any lingering doubts about noah’s feelings for her, which she didn’t, they would have immediately disappeared at the amount of heartwrenching love she could see in his eyes.

“well, i’m not mad at you anymore. lucky for you, since it’s your birthday for another,” she said with a smirk, quickly glancing at the clock before continuing, “four minutes. before i forget to ask, did you like your gift?”

“i loved it and i want to talk to you about it tomorrow, but this right now is the most perfect gift i could ask for,” noah murmured, resting his forehead on hers and trying to get his breathing back under control. emma’s chest was heaving up and down beneath his, her face flushed where it lay framed by his forearms.

emma opened her eyes and smirked up at him, lightly dragging her fingernails up and down his back. “what, sex? you’re really setting a low bar for future presents, casanova. although i will say this fits nicely within my budget,” she teased.

noah let out a low, husky laugh and emma could feel her body immediately flush underneath his. he was so damn sexy. he lifted his head to look her in the eyes before punctuating each point with a kiss. “no, this.” he kissed her forehead. “us.” her nose. “you.” her cheek. “here.” he worked his way down her face and left a few feathery kisses along her jaw. “with me.”

emma’s eyes fluttered closed as noah left a sweet kiss in the hollow of her collarbone and started working his way back up. “knowing i haven’t lost you.” he kissed the skin just beneath her earlobe and whispered, “knowing you still love me.” he resumed kissing a trail from her ear to her lips. “knowing you’ll still let me love you.” he hovered a hair’s breadth away from her lips when he murmured the word love, his eyes full of longing and adoration. she closed the gap between them, bringing her hands up to cup his face.

“i love you, emma. so much,” he said, giving her a lingering kiss before shifting his weight off her to lay on his back. emma curled her body into his and lay her head on his chest. his arm wrapped around her shoulders in an attempt to pull her even closer.

emma reached over to cup his cheek and turn his face toward her. “i love you too, baby. happy birthday.” she tilted her head up and gave him a soft kiss before sighing happily and letting the sound of his steady heartbeat lull her to sleep.

“goodnight, babe,” noah whispered as he pulled the comforter up around her shoulders. he closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep to the sound of her even breathing and the feel of her in his arms, feeling ever grateful for the love he had in his life.

* * * * * mentions: @khoicesbyk; @nyastarlight; @chetachisblog; @robintora; @shows-simp-card; @brycesgirl;

#noah harris x mc #noah harris #my two first loves #mtfl #choices mtfl #my writing #choices #pb choices #playchoices #long fic #ns*w #not twc #mtfl noah #reposting for new blog #choices fanfic #choices fanfics #playchoices fanfiction #my choices fics

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cassandras-blogg · 4 years

Text

“ Swallowing Courage “

( DANNY WAGNER X SAM KISZKA)

CHAPTER ONE - THE BIRTHDAY BOY Authors Note: This first chapter is dedicated to @imacrowcawcaw because they are just amazing 🥁🤍. Sam and Danny are in their senior year of high school in this story, and well, you’ll see where it goes.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DANNY.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOUU.”

The three Kiszka boys sang loudly for their best friend, but Josh’s voice overpowered his siblings of course.

“Thank you guys.” Danny smiled, he paused and closed his eyes for a moment then blew out the candles. The cake was red velvet with white frosting. In the middle there was a drum kit drawn on with red and gold frosting, the edges of the cake were outlined with little hand drawn music notes.

The three boys clapped and cheered, then Jake and Josh went into the kitchen to get plates and forks.

“Wow dude. You didn’t wash the dishes?” Jake sighed once they reached the sink.

”Hey you were supposed to do them today, not me.” Josh shrugged his shoulders and grabbed the sponge next to the soap.

”Yeah, but I went to pick up the decorations. You should have known to do them before we started Danny’s party.” Jake complained as he put away the clean dishes to make room for the newly washed ones.

The twins continued arguing, and Sam reached over the table to grab the bottle of Jack Daniels. He already had a multiple shots before this but felt like he could handle more.

”If you both hurry up THEN we can have clean plates to eat this cake on. Right??” Sam shouted towards the kitchen, then after a few seconds he heard the water running and his brother’s voices softening.

Sam laughed and turned his head back towards Danny.

”Soo, what did you wish for Daniel?” Sam said before chasing his shot with cup of Pepsi.

”Ha. Not telling you.” Danny said.

”What! Just say it. I know you believe in a lot of superstitious shit or whatever, but come on telling me won’t ruin your wish.”

“Uh, yeah it will. The whole point is to keep it to yourself, so I’m not telling you.”

”Please? For me?” Sam laughed and tilted his head slightly to the left, then smiled with his teeth.

Usually his friend smiled with his lips closed, so when Sam randomly decided to smile with his teeth Danny was caught off guard. Whenever Sam directly smiled at Danny, for any reason, it always made him feel way too warm on the inside. This was odd to him, because it would come out of nowhere without warning. Most of the time when this warm feeling happened he would take a deep inhale, ignored the feeling, exhale, and then continue on with his conversation.

Inhale

Ignore

Exhale

Continue . . .

“I don't know, maybe I'll tell you later. If I feel like it." Danny sighed while looking down at his cake. He already knew that he was not going to have the balls to tell Sam his wish, or the hidden meaning behind the wish. Even if Danny did tell him, he knew that Sam could never fully understand it. Danny felt more alone than ever, even on a day like this where his friends are doing nothing but celebrating his life.

"Why do you sound sad??" Sam asked sounding confused yet concerned.

"I'm not sad." Danny denied. "You guys actually made me really happy today."

"Yeah, you did look happy today, but right now you sound like you're sad. Did something happen or what?" Sam asked throwing his arm around the back of Danny’s chair.

"Trust me, I'm fine." Danny answered, growing more annoyed with his questions.

"You obviously aren't, so you might as well tell me what's wrong. I mean ya already tell me everything else." Sam insisted.

"Stop pushing me to tell you. Can you just move on from it?"

After Danny said that, Sam made a dramatic gasp and moved his chair closer to his friend. "Ouch, the birthday boy is a grouchy boy today."

"Why don't you back off and just drop it?" Danny snapped at Sam without even thinking about it. The teasing started to make him feel frustrated. Danny also felt like his friend was leaning in way too close to his face, and he desparetely needed him to back off before that warm feeling came to attack him again.

The combination of the many shots and Danny's attitude got Sam super pissed off. He worked all day to make sure this party was perfect for his best friend, so he felt that Danny had no right speaking to him like this after all that work he did.

"Fine. I’ll back off, I guess. You know, just because it's your birthday does not mean you have the right to be an asshole to me." Sam said standing up, still holding a shot of fireball that he never took. "I fucking spent foreverrrr decorating the house and making this cake FOR YOU. D-Didn’t even let Jake or Josh help me bake, because I wanted to say I made it for YOU. On top of that, I got you a nice gift too. Dick."

After his rant was over, Sam turned his back and starting stumbling out of the dining room and into the living room. He forgot he was holding the shot and started spilling it on the floor on the way to the couch.

"What's are you guys fighting about??” Jake shouted over sounds of running water and dishes stacking together.

"Uh, it’s nothing! Wait, let me help you, okay? I'm sorry." Danny said standing up and quickly moving behind Sam, in case he fell or tripped over something.

Sam immediately stopped moving and started staring into the space in front of him. He put his hand on his chest and his other hand the wall next to him.

”Oh shit.” He said moving the hand from his chest to cover his mouth.

After seeing that, Danny ran to open the sliding door and Sam ran up behind him. He quickly moved out of the way and gently held Sam’s hair back so he could lean over throw up outside the house.

“Ahh gross, we were all just about to eat the cake.” Josh said coming back with clean dishes.

”Shit. Are you okay?” Jake asked following behind Josh.

“Mmm. Hmm. Yup. Ugh I’m okay.” Sam said wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’m sorry Danny. I didn’t mean to get this drunk tonight, but I feel way way better now.”

Danny let go of his hair and smiled in relief, because he knew that Sam was not mad at him anymore. Even when they weren’t drinking, they usually forgave each other pretty easily.

”It’s okay Sam, I’m sorry too. Let’s go eat the cake you made me.”

After eating they all began to feel full and tired, but the twin’s enthusiasm had not died down yet. For the twins the drinking had just begun. Sam wasn’t used to drinking and he was already sick, so he decided to stick with water for the rest of the night. Danny was beginning to feel a little bit buzzed, but he was too much of a control freak to let himself become fully drunk.

“Okay, Okay later. Another shot??” Jake offered reaching for the fireball.

”Oh no- no I’m cool, I’m alright. Sort of already starting to get drunk.” Danny insisted.

“You’re only 18 once!” Josh said coming back from the kitchen with plates and forks.

”Yeah.” Jake said following behind his twin. “You can’t turn in for the night yet.”

“No no, I don’t want to get wasted, I want to be able to remember this! Seriously, you guys didn’t have to do all of this.” Danny said looking down at his homemade cake and then he lifted his head up, glancing at the elaborate gold and black metallic decorations around the room.

“All this?? You didn’t open your gifts yet.” Sam jumped up and went to get his gift for Danny that was in his bedroom. He was far more collected and sober now after eating and drinking tons of water.

”Oh yeahh. Duh. Here you go. Happy birthday to our best fuckin’ friend on this whole planet!!” Jake slurred and handed over gift.

Jake got him these super nice over the ear headphones that he has been wanting for awhile. “YESS! Thank you Jake.”

Josh bought him a few colorful outfits that he thought would suit his friend.

“Wow I love the pattern on this shirt. I bet you wanted to keep it for yourself huh??” Danny laughed and gently kicking Josh’s foot under the table. Josh kicked his foot back harder in response. “You know I did! But I really wanted you to have it.” He grinned widely.

Danny looked over at Sam, and quickly realized that his friend was already staring at him beforehand. Sam smiled once they made eye contact and handed him a small green cube with a ribbon on the top of it.

”Happy birthday Danny. I’m not gonna drag this out, so I don’t sound too much like a crybaby. I just want to say that you have been my best friend forever, and you always will be. I hope everytime you see this gift you remember that.”

“Awe, thank you.” The warm feeling came back again after Sam said that, but once he opened the box it just hit him like an oncoming semi truck. It was a fucking ring. A black ceramic ring. Danny did not waste any time before he put in on his finger.

”I have the same one.” Sam said, and now Danny felt like he was going to throw up in his mouth out of nervousness. It made him excited, but also confused.

”What? Uh, Why?” Danny asked trying to make himself sound more curious than afraid.

“That’s how best friend jewlery works, stupid.” Sam laughed and shoved his shoulder. “I don’t like to wear rings though, so mine is on a necklace.” He reached down his shirt and pulled out a chain with the same black ring hanging on it.

”Thank you.” Danny said quietly. “Well?? Do you like it??” Sam asked eagerly.

”I love it.” He back answered with no hesitation.

It was 3:00 AM now, Jake fell asleep first.

”Get up.” Josh said shaking his brother’s shoulder.

”What?? Why??” Jake mumbled.

”You have to go to your own room, so Danny can sleep on the couch.” Josh said shaking him harder.

”He can sleep in your room. Or Sam’s room.” Jake mumbled again not moving an inch.

“Okay Danny. My room or Sam’s room?” Josh asked. Danny sighed. “Umm.”

He could pick Josh’s room and have no anxiety and no weird warm feeling. Or he could pick Sam’s room where there is a huge risk of feeling uncomfortable and overheated real quick.

“My room is bigger.” Sam said casually, before Danny had the chance to make a proper decision.

“Yeah you’re right. Well goodnight guys.” Josh said making his way to his own room.

Danny immediately crawled into Sam’s bed and pulled the covers over his face. Trying his best to start feeling tired and not feel so jittery and alert.

”Do you think you’re going to sleep without telling me your wish??” Sam asked sitting down on the outside of the blankets.

”I was hoping you would forget about it.”

”No I didn’t, so tell me it. Why did it make you get all cranky and defensive earlier?”

”It’s a really stupid wish.”

“I bet it’s not.” Sam was not backing down, so Danny just thought, well fuck it, he obviously wants to know.

”It was to um, have courage.” Danny said quietly.

“Wow, that is a stupid wish.” Sam said back immediately.

”Why do you think so?”

”Because you already have courage Danny.” Sam sighed.

“No I don’t, trust me.”

”Okay then, courage to do what??”

”Toexperimentwithaguyifiwantedtoo.” Danny spilled out without taking a pause between words. “What?? Say it slower than that!” Sam laughed.

”To experiment with. A guy. If I wanted too.” Danny said again but much slower.

“Holy shit.” Sam said with wide eyes that made Danny so much more nervous. “Well, you obviously want to, or else you wouldn’t have wished for the courage to do it.”

That made Danny really think again about his wish, he hated that Sam was right. He couldn’t help the frown that appeared on his face and the tears starting to form in his eyes.

“I’m just so lost right now.”

This made Sam’s heart hurt. He couldn’t believe how emotional Danny was getting over this, this has obviously been taking a toll on him and Sam had no idea this was going on inside his head. He carefully thought about his words before choosing to speak again.

”You know I would do anything for you? Like anything. ” Sam said putting his hand on Danny’s shoulder.

”Yeah I know that you would.” He sighed.

”Okay then, where do you want to start?” Sam asked standing up so he could pull the covers back.

”What!?” Danny almost choked on his own spit. He grabbed the covers and pulled them back towards his body to cover himself. He knew that Sam was openly bisexual, but he never thought Sam would ever think about touching him in a way that wasn’t platonic.

”Don’t make it more weird. Just tell me what you want to do, then we can do that, and move on from it okay? We wouldn’t have to talk about it again if you didn’t want to. Deal??” Sam asked putting a reassuring hand on Danny’s back. That made Danny feel a whole lot better, Sam was not pressuring him to do anything he didn’t want to do, and plus he was right. He trusted that they could just move on and not have to talk about it again, because they were close like that.

”Okay deal.” Danny managed to say after an long pause.

“So what do you want to do first? Kiss or what?” Sam asked casually, the tone of his voice showed that this was not a big deal for him at all.

”I feel like that’s moving too quick.” Danny said shuffling his hands together.

“Too quick??” Sam laughed loudly. “What then? Do you want to cuddle or hold hands first?” He was completely joking, but Danny took him seriously. “Even cuddling sounds like too much for us to start with. I’ve never held hands with a guys before, so um can we just, uh, hold hands for the rest of the night??” Danny asked knowing his face was burning and turning red.

“Alright then Daniel, that’s easy.” Sam said he stood up to turn off the lights and then finally started getting into the blankets. He reached over Danny’s waist, which almost made him jump, then he felt around and found Danny’s hand. At first Sam lightly placed his hand on top of his, then he squeezed his hand tightly, and that felt really good for Danny. The more pressure he used the less nervous he felt. Danny tried to go to sleep, but it was hard with Sam so close to him.

“Sam??”

”Yeah??”

”Thank you.” Danny whispered.

”You’re welcome.” Sam whispered back. He started playing around with Danny’s rough hands. He slowly traced his fingers over the ring that he gave Danny. Eventually he interlaced their hands together.

Danny felt warm all over, except this time he did not feel like running away from it. Danny squeezed Sam’s hand and sighed deeply closing his eyes. Danny was astonished by how comfortable he felt. He didn’t need to do whole “Inhale, Ignore, Exhale” exercise that he normally needed to do around Sam.

He actually wanted to be in this moment, and not ignore or escape it for one minute.

THAT’S THE END OF CH.1

Tell me if you love it or hate it. Roast me or praise me. I’ll accept either TBH. Also I’ve never wrote a full length fanfic before so... peace out ✌🏼

#greta van fleet #dannywagner #samkiszka #jakekiszka #gvf #joshkiszka #peaceful army #gretavanfleet #sanny #greta van fic

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five-wow · 4 years

Note

Feel free to talk a lot about your theory of how McDanno was always stronger when there was heteronormativity nearby so that it was safe, and how that plays into the finale!

Ooh, thank you! That is an interesting question, and not one I had related directly to the finale before, though it certainly works on all kinds of levels, so I will take that “talk a lot” very literally and just ramble a bit.

Honestly, the most obvious way I think this comes into play is outside of the story, where the entire two-part finale (I’m including 10.21 here, since they were originally going to be aired as one) was about Steve and Danny and how important they are to each other and how Steve would probably have found a way to literally turn the entire island upside down and water torture gravity into dropping Danny into his arms if Danny’s disappearance had gone on for long enough, and then Catherine showed up in the last five minutes after having been mentioned like, twice, briefly, in the very last episode of this 22-episode season. The messaging felt very much as if “Steve loves Danny!” was being shouted at us on a loop and then there was a single “but he’s a HETEROSEXUAL man who is NOT GAY because he is HETEROSEXUAL” tacked onto the end in the form of a character showing up in a way that really made no sense for anyone, least of all her, which conveniently helped viewers dispell any thoughts about Steve maybe, y’know, wanting to be with Danny in more than one way. Catherine was not there for herself - she was there for Steve’s happy end, which needed to include a hetero love interest, because that is what a happy end is, right? The way they made her return, she was less of a character making a decision and more of a prop thrown at Steve’s character that was supposed to make us think “ah yes, now he can be happy again!” even though it went very much counter against what the entire season had been making us think a happy end for him would look like.

(Sidenote, this is also (part of) why it makes me very sad to see Catherine hate show up in people’s responses to the finale - I get that emotions run high and it’s easy to blame her for things, but she really, really, really isn’t at fault. As much as this ending wasn’t fair to Steve or Danny, imo it was also extremely unfair to Catherine. (Also, I don’t expect many people who ship Steve/Cath to end up reading this, but if anyone does, I just want to add that that’s super valid and if you did like the ending because your ship was given a very obvious and maybe unexpected chance, I get that and I’m happy for you! I personally don’t think it was a good move for any of the characters with the way it was executed, but I also deeply empathize with rooting for your ship and taking what you get, my gosh.))

(ANOTHER sidenote, I want to clarify that I don’t think the entire reason for the writers making Cath show up is that there was too much emotion between Steve and Danny in 10.21 and 10.22. It was an ending that didn’t rely on the logic of the story, but on viewers’ learned bias saying that any man + any woman = happy, romantic end. There’s obviously a lot more there, but it also happens to playvery nicely into the formula of Steve and Danny getting A Moment (or even Moments, plural) and then being shielded from the shadows of gay doubts by throwing in something sufficiently straight-looking.)

In story, though? In story this would also be a Whole Thing that fits depressingly well. I do think it’s fair to note that Steve didn’t really seem to have any part in his decision to fly off with Catherine - she showed up, orchestrated by other parties, and then he took her hand, but he didn’t ask her to come. That’s something, I guess! At the same time, he did kind of… make the choice to very literally run away from where Danny is after this whole Emotional Journey they (and Steve especially) went on. Steve’s been feeling off, like this comfortable spot he carved for himself on the islands wasn’t fitting anymore, and Danny was very obviously very worried and was immediately designated the unofficial spokesperson for the whole thing, because duh, everyone knows how ridiculously close they are. Then Danny got kidnapped (somewhat because of how much Steve cares for him, even though deeper down it’s mostly Doris’s fault, but obviously Steve would take on that guilt because it was just lying around - free real estate!) and Steve lost his mind and held Danny’s hand and Danny didn’t respond negatively to that at all, and they had some lovely moments. Then Steve decides he still needs to get away and up and leaves, so very literally leaving Danny behind. Then Cath shows up, unexpectedly, and lo and behold, Steve’s (former) Great Romance! The one that got away, as he just told Cole (so the audience would feel like this wasn’t out of the blue)! The woman he wanted to marry at some point and that he hasn’t seen in a year and a half (to the best of our knowledge) and the absolute perfect convincingly straight antidote to Steve’s emotional turmoil related to his male BFF/partner/dude he’s kinda married to and keeps telling how much he loves him. Once on the plane, Danny is not even there anymore and with the exception of Catherine herself there’s literally no one Steve knows present who could be judging him, but being a little ambiguously romantic with Cath might settle some of his own internal fears about where things with Danny were (once again) headed, so he takes Cath’s hand. It’s easy, safe, straight. All very comforting things.

And I just. The HAND HOLDING is my favorite part of the finale, honestly, because it’s so blatant. Steve holds Danny’s hand at Danny’s bedside, teary and praying to a literal God to make sure Danny is okay, and then Danny makes light of it by asking why Steve let go. Are they fighting now, Danny asks? That implies holding hands is the normal state for them and not holding hands is Bad, even though two grown men holding hands is a very loaded thing in much of western culture and we’ve never seen them do it before because they’re very touchy with each other but in very specific ways, bound to very specific rules, and random hand holding is distinctly not okay under those strict social guidelines. And then. AND THEN. We close the episode with Steve offering Catherine his hand and Catherine taking it and Steve turning to look out the window and smiling vaguely, and the parallel kind of smacks you in the face and I find it both very funny and very sad and wonder if the writers even realized it at all, or whether maybe it was entirely intentional and meant as a nice nod to McDanno shippers because we were never going to get canon McDanno but at least this way we had, I guess, Steve’s implied hetero endgame romance play out in a way that also pretty literally happened with Danny earlier in the same episode, meaning that they’re at least sort of put on an equal footing? (Best way to interpret this: Steve is bi. It’s canon now.)

ANYWAY. Yes. I feel like this maybe veered off-topic, but I suppose the point is that Steve was allowed to hold Danny’s hand, but we had to be reassured he’d also want to hold Catherine’s, and Steve got to tell Danny he loves him and tear the island apart to get to him and ask God to take him instead of Danny and talk with Danny about how they both dream of a future in which they’re still side by side as old men while also currently living with Danny and both being single, but he had to then leave with Catherine so we would know that two single guys who live together and exchange I love yous while planning to grow old together aren’t actually [lowers voice to a hushed whisper] gay.

HOO! What a relief. I was really worried there for a second, guys.

(Also consider: all of that happens with Danny and it’s just guys being guys, just buddies being homies, just straight dudes being hetero, and then Steve takes Cath’s hand and maybe smiles a little and we’re supposed to infer it’s an epic romance. It’s fascinating to me how little straight you need to sprinkle in to completely even out the scales for most viewers, or even make them lean way in favor of “obviously he’s straight, why would you even think anything else, lol”.)

#anon #ask #mcdanno #finale #10.22 #10.21 #meta #*#i feel a need to add i really didn't dislike the finale as a whole and most of it was very cool #i just have some very wordy thoughts #(hashtag catherine rollins deserved better 2k20)

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thedipster · 3 years

Note

danny/jane, howl/belle, phil/tom, candace/vanessa

Danny/Jane

Danny found the half-filled DnD character sheet she had stashed in her desk and was like !!!!!!!!!!! but has literally not said anything about it and has been internally debating asking her about it for weeks now.

Jane was very bad at keeping in contact when she was in Serbia, but once settling into Swynlake and reconnecting with John she started texting Danny a little more -- usually interesting articles or pictures/videos she saw online or stuff like “haha remember when this happened?”

Jane and Wendy found out about improv and showed up for front seats at the last show and Danny literally evaporated on spot.

They used to draw a lot together and especially drew a lot of maps of fantasy worlds and made up their own world with countries, which was mostly Jane telling little Danny stories and Danny going along with it. She remembers it very vividly but doesn’t bring it up because she doesn’t know if he does. But she can list off all their fake countries and characters and kept all their maps.

Howl/Belle

THEY DID SAY GOODBYE IN THE SNOW AND IT WAS SOFT AND SAD BUT THEY WERE BOTH LIKE CONVINCED THIS WAS THE CORRECT CHOICE AT THE TIME.

Not really a headcannon but I do like how we realized Belle does not get along with women and Howl does not get along with men and I just think that’s neat.

Howl enchants random things around the Acheron house to make Belle’s life easier -- like cups that keep drinks warm and sweaters that will never unravel etc

Belle is Maggie’s favorite Mundus.

Tom/Phillip

Phillip probably had a crush on Tom’s older sisters when they were like 8 and blatantly flirted with them and Tom was like P H I L L I P

Phillip introduced Tom to whatever girl it was that he lost his virginity to.

The first time Tom puked from drinking too much, Phillip rubbed his back, while nursing a beer and flirting with some nearby girls. He got their numbers and a double date for the next day.

Every time Tom has a girl over, Phillip can hear it because they share a wall (not really bc the bathroom is between but its enough) and he leaves like... a token of congratulations on Tom’s dresser the next day which is like, a coin or a condom or something dumb and it really embarrasses Tom

Candace/Vanessa

At least two times a week they end up walking to work together just because of how the timing worked out.

In a similar note, they once left the room at the same time and were headed in the same direction and Vanessa was like ARE YOU FOLLWOING ME?! and Candace was like EW ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?! and it turns out they were going to the same LGTBQ Student Union event and showed up together and immediately parted ways... but also left together.

Vanessa was unnecessarily rude to Ashle B. Was maybe relieved when they broke up. Because the Ashleys suck, duh.

Linda has had Vanessa over to dinner a few times and it’s always really awkward but Vanessa doesnt say no bc... she likes the family ..

#hc #simba-bonfamille-lyons

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muckrakerhq · 4 years

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PRESENTING … FONDUE FOR TWO, EVERY TUESDAY, HOSTED BY JOEY HUMMEL-ANDERSON.

featuring… this week’s guests, @ivystjamess & @lincolnonline

fondue for two is a weekly internet talk show hosted by joey hummel-anderson. fondue for two, joey, and the muckraker team strive to get all the steaming gossip while he interviews guests of his choice over a steaming pot of cheese.

[Joey's room - once again, Joey sits across from his guests, but this time it's Ivy St. James and Lincoln Clarington-Smythe; Gil the Fish is in the same spot]

JOEY: Hi everyone! Today's guests are very special, since I have here with me McKinley's biggest bitches, Ivy St. James and the new kid that is already more popular than Fiona Beckett, Lincoln Clarington-Smythe! Do you guys feel honored to be here, on what is the greatest internet show of all time?

LINK: A title I am more than proud to share. I can also say with complete confidence that the bar for internet shows is so low that I can't dispute that this one may just be the best.

IVY: okay, winnie is totally a bigger bitch than me but i'm like happy to be here before her anyway. even if it's with the new boy.

JOEY: Okay, you guys could smile a little more though, this is the internet after all. Moving on to the first question, a fan actually sent this one and it's for Ivy! Ivy, is it true that you got Danny Zuko because, just like your mom, you have what people call "man hands"?

IVY: oh my god that's like so. . . mean? i dont have man hands and neither does my mom! but if the people like really wanna know, i have my dad's hands. mine look like the exact same as his, even when we used to do jazz hands in our family dance routines they were the exact same down to like every flutter of the finger.

JOEY: I wasn't the one who sent this in, so you can blame someone named LucyQ99, because she was the one who sent it. Moving on from the story about Ivy's hands that no one asked for, the next question is for Link! Is it true that you got kicked out of Dalton because you were caught having sex with someone on the stairs and not because of a list?

LINK: Unfortunately, no, there's been a mix up in stories. I was actually caught having sex with someone on the stairs last year and I lied and said I was helping him check for STD's because 'he was too scared to see the nurse.' The list thing was totes the reason and it was unjust so please email and call your local council and accuse Dalton of homophobia, that would mean a lot to me.

JOEY: You heard it here first, I will leave the phone number and email down below because Dalton is homophobic... Anyways, next question is for both of you, who is the second hottest guy at McKinley? I'm number one, obviously.

IVY: ugh that's like so totally easy, Joey! Everyone knows it's--

IVY: actually you know what? i bet link is like SO totally unbiased from personal experience with these guys.

IVY: link, who do you like think is hottest?

LINK: Uh...okay, well, in all honesty, the bar in on the fucking floor. And as much as I know you hate to admit it, I'm gonna say Leo because he gives me big Jack Skellington vibes if Halloweentown had a film school and I'm really into that, ya'know. Also maybe Theo but only when I admire him from afar, I don't need to hear him talk, it ruins it for me.

IVY: oh my god.

IVY: PLEASE say you're joking like right now.

IVY: leo? like? mccarthy?

LINK: Yeah, and? I like the angst of it all!

JOEY: Wait, Ivy you didn't answer, and I'm not even going to comment on that, Link... This is the last time you'll be on my show.

IVY: i dated leo for like eight months! so not cool! the angst like totally isn't worth it. and from personal experience? you're like definitely better off with theo.

IVY: joey i didn't answer because there's like. . . not even a second behind you. maybe a close fifth though. . . yeah!

LINK: Listen, I'm not gonna try anything with Leo, I respect his heterosexuality! I'm allowed to admire from my bubble of him being my manic pixie dream film bro! And stop avoiding Joey's questions, you're dodging and weaving that shit. You may be McKinley's lil' actress ingenue, but you're not a good liar.

IVY: i am like . . . an incredible liar!

JOEY: Okay, that's enough talking about Leo in my room, you guys are bumming out my whole area... I liked Ivy's answer, moving on! How do you guys feel about the musical?

IVY: thank you! anyhow, i'm gonna like totally make everyone forget who john travolta even is. duh. ever thought you could cry to a rendition of sandy? no? well just like wait until you hear mine.

LINK: I'm hype. I really don't care about musicals but I was born to play Rizzo, it just makes sense. I'm gonna steal the show and Ivy and....uh...no, no, I'll get it....Jonathan? Jason?......Anyways, Ivy and the Schuester guy playing Sandy, well I'm sure they'll be great too. I've never been too pure to be pink, that's for sure.

IVY: Julien.

IVY: but yea like im sure you'll make a good Rizzo. that's a compliment I don't give lightly.

JOEY: Good! I can't wait until everyone else in rehearsal to not fit in the room because of your giant egos. And I do know what ego means, I learned that word recently. Okay, between you two, who's more talented? The people want to know.

LINK: Yeah, him. Big hair. I'll get to know him when I have to bully him on stage. And let's look at the facts; I can sing, I can act, I can dance, I can write and direct, I can and have arranged multiple Cupcakke songs into acapella versions, I can work industry standard special effects equipment, I can give you splits and dips and I dress like Sharpay Evans. Make your own conclusions on who's more talented.

IVY: Listen, everyone thinks I'm like kind of a bitch, but the fact of the matter is I'm not just a bitch. I'm a talented bitch. And if acknowledging my ability makes me a bitch then like . . . whatever! Link's stuff is impressive but at the end of the day, I managed to be successful in the arts and like a totally hot and popular cheerio at Mckinley. It's no easy feat juggling both. So like . . . the proof is in the pudding or whatever.

JOEY: There's pudding? I want pudding... Well, I guess it's up to everyone else to decide, please leave a comment and say who you think is more talented! Right, next question is a serious one - do you guys think Gil looks okay? He looks tired, right?

LINK: I mean, yeah, why lie, this fish is probably moments away from the sweet, salty grips of a literal watery grave. But, hey, I'm no fish expert maybe he just needs to pop a Zoloft.

IVY: Ew, morbid. Maybe he just needs to like nap!

JOEY: I think he'll be fine. He hasn't been the same since I found out he's a secret slumlord... [turns to the bowl] The way you treat those families is really mean and they don't deserve that, but I think there's still good in you... Right, since I like to end it on a positive note, the two of you have to say something nice about each other!

IVY: Even though he's kind of delusional about who's gonna be the Grease show stopper, for someone who came from like a private school, Link does dress nice!

LINK: Why, thank you. You are very pretty and I get what the hype is about. You have a nice face and from what I can tell you have talent and when I get famous and if you weren't straight, I'd totally consider you for a part as the Final Girl in one of my movies. I try not to work with hets, it's not personal, I promise.

IVY: i see

IVY: but just so you know, i have like two gay grandpas and i'm jewish so like when I'm inevitably the best and only option you can pull that info for the sake of being diverse

JOEY: Right, that was kind of nice! Last question of the show, did you guys have fun here? And if you say no, you're not allowed in my house anymore.

IVY: i'd never be banned from your house but yea this was like super fun!

LINK: It was a blast. I should point out though that this fondue cheese kinda tastes like, um....pure garbage. But I can look past that.

JOEY: Anyways, thanks for watching everyone and I'll see you next week for another Fondue for Two!

[The End]

#fondue for two #fft: episode ii #joey hummel-anderson #lincoln clarington-smythe #ivy st.james

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