#how does them sleeping upside down make any sense ? idk i just thought it was cute

[kismetmoon]

been having fun with looser drawings and making up concepts for how they would use prehensile tails

[ID: three digital drawings of two original, stylised Flatland characters named Atlas and Stella on a grey background.

Atlas is a light grey isosceles triangle with dark grey limbs, a tail with a V-shaped tip, a black eyebrow, one eye with a grey star-shaped pupil, scars on his side and across his eye, and chips in his top and bottom right corner.

Stella is a small humanoid creature who has an eye for a head with four top eyelashes and a blunt point on top, black limbs, a black tail with a fluffy tip and grey skin.

In the leftmost drawing, Atlas is standing and looking to the left with a neutral expression. He is holding Stella using his tail and she is smiling at him and laughing.

In the top drawing, Atlas and Stella are dangling upside-down by their tails from a horizontal pole. Atlas is asleep and Stella is looking at him while her limbs hang down. There is writing by Atlas that says “other limbs tucked in” and by Stella that says “not sure how to do it yet” with an arrow pointing to her.

In the rightmost drawing, Stella is wearing a nightgown and posed as though creeping sneakily. She is shown from the side, facing forward, and smiling mischievously while looking behind. There is writing above her that says “creature…”.

End ID].

[findafight]

THANK YOU for the scoops troop post starcourt fic bc it’s been driving me CRAZY that the whole tortured by Russian MILITARY as teenagers was never brought up again!? Especially with Steve - like I don’t know how my guy handles physical touch and affection after all he’s been through physically and emotionally and he’s written off as a haha character most of the time but there’s SO much there with trauma, especially since the only other person with an inkling of what happened with the Russians is Robin

Ahhh yeah continuing this fic is definitely on the list. sorry this gets a little rambling and idk if it makes sense. Because obviously Steve and Robin don't outright tell Dustin and Erica what happened but they're smart kids and sort figured there was some light torture happening. And when you're running on adrenaline a lot of stuff doesn't register right away, so they have to have a chat about that and guilt for 'letting' it happen.

And like, they could have mentioned it when everyone regrouped in the food court but by that point Robin and Steve were crashing from Russian drugs and I can only assume they thought it was pretty obvious where they'd been what with Erica telling Murray how to actually get in. But then it's over and Hopper is dead and so is billy so it's not even the biggest deal that they were tortured and Robin definitely thought Steve was dead for a bit. They can deal with it together.

With Steve it's like "haha Steve is slow on the uptake and doesn't understand a lot and isn't very smart and asks a lot of dumb questions" and never "steve has had two severe concussions within a year of each other and he still graduated highschool on time only to be concussed AGAIN" my poor beloved blorbo please someone let him rest. And I desperately want one of the actual adult members of the upside down crew to realize that he's just sort of. Dealt with it by himself or with Robin, that he doesn't have the same support network as the party or Joyce and Hop or Nancy and Jonathan (who both have siblings that understand, Jon with his mom as well). And yeah he has Robin after S3, and Dustin is basically his brother, but it's different, because the only one who he'd remotely be absolutely honest with is Robin, who also only has him, and actually it's a miracle they're functional at all.

And I want Steve to be confused why the Grown Ups are mad (worried?) That he didn't tell them he and Robin were actually literally tortured because they all had better things to do, they had no obligations to Steve. He and Robin had each other, and he and Robin supported Dustin and Erica, and they're all fine now. The first few months were rough, sure, but now it's okay.

Plus the fact that the Byers were moving leaving Steve as the oldest person besides Murray who didn't live in Hawkins who knew about the upsidedown. He was the one that was supposed to be in charge and responsible, because no one else should have to do that when they're all trying to move on, so what good would telling Joyce, who would be far from Hawkins and its horrors, about how he could barely wear his watch sometime because it reminded him of being tied back to back with Robin. She couldn't do anything about it and she didn't get it the way Robin would.

So he and Robin have sleep overs and long talks so they're semi functional and can help Erica and Dustin work through it too. They deal with it together, because none of their parents know and Steve is accustomed to adults being unreliable even without world ending secrets involved. And there aren't any grown ups around anyways so. He's the grown up of the group and it's his job to make sure all the kids are okay.

I think out of anyone outside of Scoops Troop, Lucas probably knows the most because Erica is his sister and now she knows he gets her to talk about it. She's reluctant at first because he wasn't there, but does, because Lucas is her big brother and he is there for her. And while he and Steve were friends after Billy in S2 and Steve's protective streak, Lucas gets really close to Steve with Erica, because they're both clingy to each other and Steve, for all he's basically a bag of nervously shaking chihuahuas with hairspray and ibuprofen keeping him from breaking down at any given moment he isn't holding Robin's hand, seems like a stable force in their lives.

[retvenkos]

back from the dead to raise you: the poets swing dancing???? also ily & miss our shenanigans :")

knox is the worst and i'll die on this hill

he has absolutely no sense of rhythm

any partner he has probably, he approached and they thought he was cute so they said yes to dancing w/ him

they were absolutely mortified after accompanying his off beat clapping and probably spins his partner way to fast

pittsie and steven are dancing kings, it's already canon, so

gerard is crazy good

he can probably do the flippy upside down tricks with his partner and he can mambo like no one else okay

he may step on your toes but hey, at least he has a sense of rhythm

knox

meeks is just cute. don't know how else to explain it. but he's very :D the entire time

he definitely twirls his partner tons and would bring you punch afterwards

neil is a theatre kid. so.

obviously he's quite good

no this isn't biased shhh

idk if you've seen swing kids!!!! but!!!! robert sean leonard absolutely smashes it

neil has a great time although he may take it a little seriously

annoying and does a bunch of time steps and shuffle ball changes

charlie isn't the most skilled dancer but he has the attitude and energy that sells it

don't yell at me!!!! i'm right, and i said it with my full chest!!!!!!!

does a bunch of charlestown kicks and probably tries to make up his own moves

he knows all the songs too

cameron probably is the one of the best of the boys and has probably taken several classes

gent, always makes sure his partner is hydrated and having a good time, would give you his jacket too

todd is fantastic idk what else to say

at first he protests "no neil,, it's stupid >:(,, and i don't want to >:("

but he's so suave all of a sudden on the floor and for what

mr keating chaperones and teaches them how to dance, and also waltz <3

john probably pulls a minerva and has todd come up and demonstrate to the boys how to do the steps

current music recs:

build a problem- dodie. the lyrics and prose in her songs are just! so pretty and severely underrated. great to listen to whilst studying, her voice is very soothing and aesthetically pleasing.

blush- maya hawke. (hey look!!! it's robin buckley, and todd anderson ethan hawke's daughter) so full of soul, and her voice is so unique??? idk how to explain it, but her music feels like sitting in a sun room, with your cat in the summer while drinking lemonade. those are the vibes.

karaoke alone- the aubreys. so vibey man. brother is my current fave song of theirs, their sound is so different and cool? and it's another stranger things' cast member's music, so

holy ground- this song is one of the most superior on red, and remind me of your writing so much!

anyways, there's my current brainrot, ily! make sure to drink water, get some sleep, and eat smth <33

cass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ohmygod cass this is a certified Feast™???? your headcanons and shenanigans are always my absolute favorite, and it's only elevated by the fact that you are always 100% correct in aLL of your takes.

i will have you know, though, that i originally read this as line dancing and had to sit down for a minute and ask myself just when these rich boys would find themselves at a hoedown asdfghjhgfdsdfgh.

but swing dancing my absolute beloved!!!!!!!!! i'm actually horrible at dancing and don't really know ~how to do it~, but if anything were able to motivate me to learn, it would be swing dancing. just look at it!!!!!!

knox is terrible at swing, and all the boys get to tease him for it. his partner probably thought he was good too, and now he has to suffer through their polite assurances that it was fun! they had a good time! he wants to go scream in the woods. and i know we both hate knox (iconic of us, really) but imagine neil or someone like,,,, signing him up for lessons and he's mortified by the prospect, but then he meets someone really cute in his class who is leagues better than him (though still not great) and they learn together,,,,,, so sweet. you know knox looks at his feet 99% of the time, so when he's finally good enough to look his partner in the eye, they tease him about it and it's just some wholesome fluff,,,,,,,,

pitts and meeks are dancing kings!!!!!! asdfghjkhgfdsdfgh,,, it is my headcanon that pitts is like,,,, 2nd to most wealthy out of all of the poets, so you know he probably took dance lessons as a kid (and also..... i believe pitts has a sister and you cannot take that headcanon away from me, and you know he dances with her to practice or to teach her) and even though he thinks himself awkward and tall he's actually sO. GRACEFUL. on the dancefloor. and then meeks!!!!!! he has the presence. he has the pizzaz. he's going sO. HARD. and anyone looks amazing partnered with him. now i simply must have a fic where pitts and meeks sneak out to go to a dance club because it's one of meeks' favorite places.

UGH. swing dancing.

(but pitts doing the mAMBO,,,,,,, ASDFGHJHGFDSSDFHGFDS,,,,,,, I'M CRYING,,,,,,)

also,,,, neil is a good™ dancer, but he's not as good as pitts on the flips and stuff so you know he's constantly begging pitts to teach him. (also,,, neil taught pitts the mambo. it's canon now, sdfjkjhgfdsdfgh) and neil gives everything his All™ so rip to his partner because he's going to be doing the absolute most at any and all moments, and they're never going to get a rest.

charlie is not technically skilled but has the energy. yes, yes, i agree wholeheartedly. can you imagine dancing with him??? you'd be laughing so. hard. because "i'm pretty sure that's not how this works, charlie." "of course it is. i look good doing it." by far, he's the most reckless dancer, but you know he and his partner are just having the time of their lives and create such an infectious levity that everyone can't help but keep going, laughing all the way.

also cam!!!!!!!!!!! you know that charlie thinks cam doesn't know how to dance, so he makes fun of him for it, and then when the moment comes, cam is actually really good???? much better than charlie's technicality by a long shot????? the only thing charlie can say is that cam doesn't ~look~ nearly as good, and he's not having nearly as much fun, but also he's incorrect, and you know he convinces cam to give him lessons by the end of the night. cameron is just like,,,,,, fine, but it's a pity lesson. but then literally everyone knows it isn't because they're best friends what do you mean they have a falling out at the end of the movie i think you've seen a different version, shhhhhh.

and todd!!!!! cass, you are actually so correct about todd's demeanor that i actually saw his face and heard him protest when i read that, asdfghjkhgddfgh. but neil hypes him up so much and gives him a lesson or two and todd is actually pretty good???? he holds his own????? wow, love that for him. what marketable talents all of these boys have.

[panharmonium]

some disjointed thoughts about stranger things 2 under the cut (concealed to hide spoilers from my sister)

so, season 2!

i’ve gone into every season of this show knowing absolutely nothing about it.  i’ve had no exposure to the fandom or to reviews or anything that would indicate what it was about or how good the seasons are in relation to each other, which i like, because i know my opinions are my own.  season 1 i watched back in the winter, i think, and it was amazing.  blew me away. 

i just finished season 2 and i’m like...not as into it?

and i’m glad i had no preexposure to anything, because if i had, i’d worry that i was just being influenced by other people’s opinions, but i genuinely don’t know what people think of the various seasons.  i’ve been stringently avoiding anything about this show, have it blocked on tumblr, etc, so i could watch it cold.

i’d have to watch it again to really pin down the places where my investment was flagging, and i’ll probably do that eventually, because i know my roommate will want to see it, but my general impression was this: they had me hooked in the beginning, and then they started to lose me.

- i feel like overall it was 9 episodes where very little substance actually happened.  plotlines were stretched out over a reallllllly long period of time and became paper-thin.  like nancy and jonathan?  the only thing they really did over those entire nine episodes was make a tape recording and send it to the paper.  that was their whole story, and it could have fit in one episode.

- and what did happen felt like it suffered from a lack of focus.  can i explain this in more detail without watching the show again?  not really.  but i just mean that in S1, i could tell you what each of the main character’s arcs were, and i could lay out how those arcs had clear beginnings, middles, and endings.  in S2, i can really only do that for El (and even that i feel like got messy by the last third).  

- the horror vibe was different this season.  it was LESS scary, to me.  S1 was a CREEP factor that had my skin crawling - it wasn’t like...creature horror - it was the unsettlingness.  the whole parallel world thing was so - well, the only word for it is unsettling, like.  you felt like you could take a step and accidentally wind up somewhere no one should be - the idea that you can be trapped so close to somebody and yet so far away - you just felt like the world was inside out (or upside down, if you will).  and so much of the fear in the first one came from how incomprehensible and uncertain the entire situation was - you didn’t know how things worked and nobody believed you when you tried to tell them what was happening.  that scene where the christmas lights spell out R-U-N?  scariest fucking thing i’ve ever seen.  but S2 changed it to be like...it felt like more of a monster flick.  like a zombie movie or something - lots of creatures running around that you can just shoot with a gun - that’s just not really the same vibe as the first season, and i didn’t find it quite as interesting.

- i don’t want to be That Person, because i liked maxine as a character in general, on her own terms, but from a writing perspective - what even was the purpose of her introduction?  her and her brother both, honestly, the whole family.  i feel almost bad for saying that, because i can guarantee that there were people out there complaining about her being introduced because “they just wanted to have another girl; it’s so stupid, blah blah,” cue more sexist stuff, etc, and that’s really not where i’m coming from, but for me, from a general storytelling perspective, i don’t understand why she or her family were introduced.  they were superfluous to the story.  they didn’t need to be there.  and since i don’t even feel like the returning characters got enough development this season (see point #2), i don’t understand why we spent so much time on her/her family/her introduction to the Party.  it felt like filler.

- stranger things S2 did that thing teen wolf does where 2/3 of the way through the season it drops a tonally-different expository/flashback episode that does a lot of the legwork tying other shit together while also being completely disconnected from the rest of the plot, which is basically an info dump and is my least favorite way of relaying plot/getting characters to the spot the writer wants them to go.  i think kali was the most interesting new character we met this season; i was rapt every time she was onscreen, but i don’t love the “we’re going to shove all of the character development and background info into this one episode and at the end El has had her turnaround and goes back home.”  it didn’t feel believable to me.  are we ever going to see those people again, or were they just a plot convenience to serve the aforementioned purpose?  (idk, i haven’t watched S3 yet, so...we’ll see.)

- some weird...minor tonal changes/dropped plots?  in S1 one of the running undercurrents was how mike and nancy’s mom wanted them to talk to her and she really did care about what was going on but they couldn’t connect to her and that bothered her, whereas in S2 it’s like - that theme has been dropped; she’s not involved in their lives really at all, and her and ted’s spousal relationship is just being played for laughs, and there was that REALLY weird scene with her like...lusting after billy??????  that was so fucking bizarre.  

and until one line in the very last episode, they dropped the whole thing about hopper’s daughter, too - the way they wove that into the first season was brilliantly done, and just - you don’t see a bit of it in S2, and that felt off, to me.

- killing bob was a bad call.  it was gratuitous, AND it was contrived - who the hell is running for their life and then just stops dead in the lobby to smile at their girlfriend?  ANY SENSIBLE PERSON WOULD KEEP RUNNING FOR THE DOOR.  like - bob died, but the doctor survived????????  the doctor, who was attacked and immobilized and defenseless in a stairwell, somehow wasn’t killed??????  of course not, because he needed to survive, so he could get El her papers later....that entire thing irritated me.  it made no sense.  that was actually the point where i said to myself “uh-oh.  first Bad-with-a-capital-B decision this show’s made.”  

- lack of consistency in terms of how, exactly, Stuff Works.  in S1 it was like - the Upside Down is everywhere.  the demigorgon could come through anywhere, if you were unlucky.  that was part of what made it so creepy - there’s this whole other world and it is RIGHT THERE with you, and sometimes the fabric separating the two universes gets scary thin, and bam, you’re somewhere no human has any business being.  whereas in S2 it’s like - ok, things are coming through this one portal and spreading through tunnels underground, in our own dimension???  like at first i thought hopper had actually entered the Upside Down in the tunnels, but then it seemed like the tunnels were still on our plane, just gross-looking.  so why in S1 could the demigorgon come through the ceiling of will’s house, or through that tree in the woods, or take barbara through the pool?  why did the lab people think burning that little gate would help, when the first monster from last season was obviously popping into our dimension from all sorts of other places?  

- this is a minor quibble, but it was driving me up the WALL in the last couple of episodes - what in god’s name were they injecting will with???  and HOW.  mike just grabs that syringe off the counter like “we need to make will go to sleep” - there is NO reason that anyone in the room would know what was in the syringe or what the correct dosage was or HOW TO GIVE AN INJECTION IN THE FIRST PLACE.  joyce gives it???????  by stabbing straight down????????  into will’s arm????????????  what the hell kind of injection technique is that?!?!?!  that’s not....how that works.  ever.  and maxine does it to billy too, in his NECK - just straight in there.  there is no....look, people in human medicine can weigh in better than me here; maybe things are different, but just from the veterinary perspective, you can’t just stab a creature any old place you want, and giving something via any route that isn’t intravenous isn’t going to drop an animal immediately, AND you do not have control over how long they’re going to be out.  if you give a sedative, you can’t just wake an animal up by wafting ammonia under their nose.  AND the animal is likely not going to be actually asleep until you also give an anaesthetic induction agent, and if you do give an anaesthetic induction agent, you’d better have some monitoring equipment and a breathing apparatus hooked up to your patient!

look, it just - the “go to sleep” injection was used to solve too many critical situations for me to just ignore it.  it bothered me.

anyhow.  overall, i didn’t hate it.  but i thought it was way less cohesive than the first season, and therefore way less effective.  i’m still curious to see what happens in S3, but my expectations are lower now. 

[if you wanna talk to me about this, you have my permission, but ONLY if you’re able to do it without talking about S3 in any capacity, including your own personal evaluation of how good/bad it is in relation to the other seasons.  i like to watch without knowing other people’s opinions of things, otherwise i feel like my viewing experience is colored by what i hear.  thanks! :) ]

[attackthepinata]

Flirting means Death (I think)

Pairing: Roceit

Word Count: Idk forgot to check, well over 1000 tho

Content & Warnings: Pride!Roman, Sympathetic!Janus, flirting, kissing, food mention, Roman is a smug bitch, Janus is in Love™

A/N: So like this was written at various 2-4 a.m’s throughout the week, so if it really choppy, I’m very sorry. This is just something I’ve kinda been craving for some reason so I wrote it. I don’t think this has any plot or continuity or anything but I’m posting it anyways because it took too damn long to write and I’m not going to let that sit in my drafts so, here you go. I’m sorry in advance.

Janus stumbled into the living room, “He’s flirting with me”

Virgil looked up from his phone and gave him a quizzical brow, “Who?”

Janus’ human cheek was flushed pink, he had a look of what was either disgust or love (maybe a mix of both), and he was rather mishappen. He looked up from his spot on the floor, “Pride”

An uneasiness settles over the room at the mention of the Side, like just by saying his name, he would show up. There was no real downside to him being around, it was just rather awkward.

“Well,” Logan started, “That can mean one of two things. One, he thinks you’re rather handsome and would like to date you. Or, two, he absolutely hates you and wants you to die”

“Those are two entirely opposite scenarios” Virgil commented.

Janus ran a hand over his face and groaned, “I think the second one fits best”

“Yeah, he does seem to really hate you,” Virgil pointed out.

Janus just glared at him and said, sarcastically, “Why thank you, Virgil, for that reassurance”

Virgil smirked, “Just doing my job,” he said as Janus sunk out.

—————————————————————————

Janus has locked himself in his room the rest of the day. It was his best chance on not getting murdered by Pride. He had allowed one person in his room that day and it was Remus. Actually, allowed is a lie. Janus had dropped something under his desk and bent down to find Remus smiling up at him. He didn’t force the Side to leave, and he didn’t mind his company too much.

Right now, Remus was laying on Janus’ bed, head hanging off the side looking at Janus upside down. Janus had seated himself in his office chair, making small talk with the chaotic Side.

“I don’t usually pride myself on being cowardly-” he was cut off by Remus snorting a laugh.

“Pride yourself! Get it? Because-”

“Yeah, I get it. Unintentional”

Janus sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. For some reason, he was so caught up about Pride, and what Logan and Virgil had said. That he was flirting with him, because he hated him. But there was still a slim chance he liked Janus.

Remus have a soft expression and rolled over so he was looking at the snake side properly, “You know, Jan,” Remus said softly, “If I didn’t know any better, you share the same feelings with Roman”

“I- what?” Janus sputtered, “I do not- He doesn’t- I shouldn’t- We could- I-” Remus cocked an eyebrow and Janus. Janus just sighed, “Roman hates me”

Remus let out a loud laugh, “You think he hates you?!” he cackled some more, “Wow! I guess love really does blind people!”

Janus looked up from his spot on the ground, “Wait, what?”

Remus jumped off the bed, “Well I gotta go now. It was nice talking with you J-Anus, why don’t we do this more often?” he said before sinking out.

Janus sighed and called after him, “That’s not how you pronounce my name!”

He groaned and buried his face in his hand. He couldn’t keep hiding in his room to avoid Pride. Though, the consistent thought of him was better than not being able to form a sentence as a tall handsome man dressed in dark clothing is towering over you saying your scales look pretty when they shimmer in the dark.

Oh, Janus was dead. Either it was because Pride took his sword and drove it through his heart or because he was so lovestriken that he would collapse.

What Remus had said didn’t help with his thoughts either. How could Roman possibly like him, he saw Janus as a villain. Maybe he did manipulate him once or twice, but the majority of that wasn’t a lie. When he did compliment him, he meant it… and there seemed to be a double use in complimenting someone. But Roman would never believe that.

Janus was suddenly pulled away from his thoughts when he heard a low grumble. He rested a hand over his stomach, and groaned for the eighteenths time that day. He needed something to eat.

He looked over at the time. 1:02 A.M. Surely Roman would be asleep right now, so Janus had nothing to worry about.

He got up from his chair and slipped out of his room down to the kitchen, careful not to make too much noise.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re avoiding me” a voice said from the shadows.

Janus jumped and stifled a scream. He turned to see a figure leaning against the wall, red eyes seemingly glowing in the shadows.

Janus let out his breath and tried to relax, “Pride” he said rather evenly.

“Deceit,” he returned smoothly, “What are you doing out here so late?”

Janus shrugged and fixed the capelet around his shoulders, “Midnight snack,” he answered quite honestly, “You?”

Roman stepped out from the shadows, eyes toning down from red to a softer brown. He unfolded his arms and let them rest at his sides as he said, “Just couldn’t sleep” Something flashed behind his eyes but Janus didn’t detect a lie nor did he push.

He just cleared his throat and turned to start back down towards the kitchen, “Well, it was nice seeing you, Roman. I’ll be off now”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Roman said disapprovingly while grabbed Janus’ wrist, spinning him back to face him… or to stare at his chest. Janus let out a small squeak of surprise at the sudden movement. Roman spoke again, “You didn’t answer my first question, are you or are you not avoiding me?”

“Well, see, when you first said it, it wasn’t really a question, it rather more of a statement that I was able to contradict…” he trailed off as he fought his gaze up from the centre of Roman’s chest to his face. Where he gave Janus a rather quizzical and smug look. Janus immediately stopped talking and shot his gaze back down to the dark red sash. He was way too obvious, but that smug smirk that Roman gave him just shut down all of his senses.

Roman let out a low chuckle at the sight of the flustered Side. he was still holding Janus’ wrist too. Actually, he was holding both of them. Janus didn’t realize when he did so, until he let go of it. He placed a finger underneath Janus’ chin a directed his gaze back up towards his face. Janus’ breath hitched at the contact.

“Are you or are you not avoiding me?” Roman asked again, a bit more clearly this time.

“I…” Janus trailed off again, trying to look away from Roman’s gaze. Eyes shooting from different places along the walls and behind the taller side.

He was suddenly brought back to reality, when he felt a thumb travelling up the jaw if the human side of his face. He looked back at Roman, who raised an eyebrow at the smaller Side, still wait for a response.

“No” Janus fought out a lie.

Roman didn’t seem to notice the lie, he just gave him a satisfied smirk and said, “Good”

Janus stared helplessly up at Roman. His had was still holding his wrist, and his finger was still under his chin, keeping his head and gaze up at the taller Side.

“You have such clear skin” Roman said, studying the human side of Janus’ face.

“I moisturize” Janus replied sheepishly at the compliment.

Roman softly smiled at the comment, the corner of his mouth lifting upwards.

“Breathtakingly beautiful,” he murmured, meeting Janus’ mismatched gaze again.

Janus’ face heated up, “You sure know how to compliment someone” he said as smoothly as he could muster.

“Learned from the best” Roman replied, alluding to Janus himself.

Janus’ gaze softened. And he remembered what Logan had said, that Roman was flirting with him because he wanted Janus dead. Maybe if Janus tried to apologize, “Listen, Roman, I didn’t-”

“You didn’t mean to?” Roman cut him off, “You weren’t trying to hurt me? And you’re sorry? Yeah, I’ve heard that speech multiple times”

Janus moved his eyes down in shame. There was nothing he could say. Roman would probably drive his sword into Janus any minute now.

“Don’t worry, though,” Roman whispered, moving his face closer to Janus, that there’s were almost touching, “I forgive you”

Janus lifted his gaze up to meet Roman’s. He was…astonished. Roman was never one for forgiving. His soft brown eyes spoke truth.

Roman chuckled at Janus’ shocked face. And the next thing Janus knew, was that his lips were on Roman’s and Janus’ eyes had fluttered closed.

Janus was up against the wall, Roman passionately kissing him back. Roman’s hands had migrated to his hips, and Janus was holding Roman’s elbows.

Roman pulled away after a bit, and brought his hand back up to Janus’ face, cupping it.

Janus’ eyes fluttered open to meet Roman’s find one. Janus spoke, “But I thought,” he sucked in a breath, “I thought you hated me”

Roman chuckled a bit at the statement, “Maybe just a little bit,” he said before kissing Janus again.

They were back again in the middle of the hallway, Janus’ hands on Roman’s chest, and Roman’s hands cupping Janus’ face.

They pulled away from each other’s lips, soft smiles adorned on their faces. Roman laughed as he moved his hands away from Janus’ face, and to his head, plucking the hat off his head and putting it on his head.

“You are officially forgiven,” he said with a large smile, fixing the hat atop of his head. He then softly nudged Janus back in the direction of the kitchen, “Now as much of a snack as I may be, you’re probably still hungry. So go get yourself something to eat or whatever” he said before turning in his heels and disappearing down the hallway.

Janus stood frozen in the hallway for a few more minutes before muttering a soft, “Right” and turning to go get food.

——————————————————————————

The next morning, or the same morning a few hours later, Janus woke up to a bouquet of roses. He picked them up, and noticed they had a note attached.

It said,

To my snake faced friend,

Thank you for the hat and the kiss. They’re almost as half as wonderful as you are.

- Prince Roman

Light or Dark, the Prince did not loose any of his signature touches, including his cheesiness. Janus smiled as he set them down again, before it him.

Memories of what had happened, flooded back to him now. He could have sworn it was a dream but the proof that it actually happened was sitting right in front of him.

He quickly got dressed into his regular clothes (minus his hat of course) and popped up in the living area, where Virgil, Logan and Remus were all sitting.

They all looked up from their various activities to see Janus, eyes wide with realization, standing there.

He finally looked up from his spot on the floor and said, “He kissed me”

[jq37]

[obligatory recap ask]

**spoilers for subway skirmish and borough of dreams**

@kickmuncher3 and @galfast: ty for your asks, I’ll use them for the next two recaps. this is probably the least efficient way for me to handle this but I want to keep all of these visually consistent dammit. 

One of the funniest things about this season of D20 is most if not all of the cast has lived in NYC which manifests as very specific references and in character complaints that you just know come from a place of truth and experience. Which is to say we got a lot of that in these episodes.  

Also, this has nothing to do with anything but living in NY update: On Sunday, I saw a man hanging upside-down from a tree--by his feet--and playing the flute. And barely anyone registered it at all. So I really cannot stress enough how much New York is Like That.

Pete opening the fight by blasting a fireball and then telepathically calling out Kingston is--como se dice--a Power Move.

Brennan *immediately* channels the opposite of whatever energy Emily's on and goes right for Ricky's dog to the horror of everyone at the table and his absolute delight. Like, it's a spectral dog but still. Bro. Dog. 

Kingston taking the heat metal damage to get Epona to drop him is so raw. But then, for the rest of the fight, he doesn't say a single thing except for his Command spells which is a very different kind of raw. 

Question: Is Riz's mom the only good cop that exists in D20?

I know this was an RP ep and I know they knew it was gonna be an RP ep but I wonder what would have happened if they had pretended to cooperate with Epona to get more info. Probably just an extended RP ep that would have segued into this same fight eventually. But I'm curious about what information they let get eaten by a swarm of rats.

Misty's Irresistible Dance spell is very clutch. 

The gators from the last fight are back in the form of Kug's summons and one of them still has a grudge against Misty. Misty is all, "send me your resume!" because she appreciates the spunk. I was starting a sentence about what the hell play this sentient gator is going to be in but as soon as I hypothetically asked it my brain was like, "Peter Pan. Next question."

Y'all, this really was Kug's fight. Between calling the roaches, crocs, and gators, channeling Moonshine to call lightning, and killing Epona within 40 mins of the ep, he truly was on fire. Good for him. He also turns into a bear but specifically a bear that would have escaped from the zoo. It's the little details that make this show great. 

Brennan putting his foot down on tying rats together not being acrobatics is the eternal DM mood. 

Back to Epona for a second, do we think she was working for Robert directly? Someone connected to him? Something else? When her shadow split after Ricky's attack was that meaningful or just flavor? Where did that badge come from? Has it always existed? What does destroying it mean? It didn't seem to help. The bad cop ghosts were still around, just no one could control them at that point. If they had yoinked that badge, could they have had a summoning item that hey could use? Or is it bad karma to use something like that? Is it still bad if you're forcing the bad cops to do good stuff? Did Brennan anticipate this or is the Coach Daybreak 2: Electric Boogaloo? Lots of questions.

Misty's cutting words to the cop (saving Ricky) making the Law and Order "DUN DUN" noise is great. 

Emily ends up not needing to roll to make rat nunchucks because her health goes low enough that her magic ring activates but I feel like she low key wanted rat nunchucks. 

Wild that Kingston went down for just long enough for it to be cinematic before being revived by Misty ("Get up, old man,")

Also wild that this whole fight only took about 45 seconds of in game time. It makes sense if you think about it the way you would a movie and that's how most D&D fights are but that's so much play time for so little game time and it hit me this ep because I was actually keeping track of rounds. 

Anyway, I have not mentioned up until this point that the whole crux of this fight is to last long enough for Alejandro to roll high enough to summon the train to Nod but, long story short, Pizza Rat shows up to save the day. Does that make more sense in context? Marginally. 

I like that the train to Nod shows up on the wrong side of the tracks. Like I said, man. Details. 

Oh and to my above point about the cast making comments about NY as people who have lived in NY, I loved Brennan looking directly at the camera when he was going off on people who just stand at the door like idiots while you're trying to get in and then Siobhan pokes like half her head into frame so she can also stare directly into the camera. Mood.

When Ally said Pete shoots Kingston I half believed it for a good couple of seconds. I was right there with Lou. 

OK, so I don't know how many of you have watched Sharkboy and Lavagirl (and, if you haven't feel free to skip this bullet) but no movie has brought me more enjoyment overall than SB&LG. Not because it's good because it's not. But it's so insane that it's amazing. It's right in the sweet spot. I always say, if it was any better, it would be Spy Kids 3 and, therefore, unwatchable (SK 1 + 2 are dope as hell though, for the record). I bring it up because the way Brennan describes Nod reminds me a lot of Drool in SB&LG. Like, the rollercoaster subway car def could be in the same universe as the Train of Thought. This is all to say that I think Brennan could have written a version of SB&LG that was better without being worse. Idk if that comes across as complimentary, but it is, and to both parties actually. 

From the way Nod (the kid) is being framed (in this ep and the next) I know we're not supposed to mistrust him but, put in that situation, there is no way I would trust the gray faced, black eyed, creepily gliding dream child. 

Post fight, Kingston wants to offer an apology for what he said about Pete and Nod wants to apologize for putting Pete in his current situation. Also, the group decides to be more open in general. Kug, as most of us guessed, got beauty and the beasted for white collar crime by his business partner (Gabby) who is Esther's mom and a witch (also, Ricky thinks his crush on Esther is a secret which is just adorable and completely incorrect).  

Brennan cuts sharing time off because this is the combat episode dammit! Save it for next session. But, because I'm behind, next session is now! Let's get into The Borough of Dreams.

Misty, as a faerie, is instinctively mistrustful of vising other magical worlds and eating the food or taking things at face value. I love that she's playing a character where she can ask these questions and not be meta-gaming because I had some of the same concerns. 

Wildly, WALLY walks out of the train as he just happened to be on it (as conductor) at the time. Kug bursts out with the fact that he's his dad and Wally takes this to mean that Rat Jesus is his bio dad but, even after being left alone for so many years, he claims Bruce as his real dad. He's wrong but he's sweet. 

"I thought you were mad at me." Brennan, you didn't have to do that.

Murph clearly trying to not accidentally call Wally a piece of shit because that's his go to Kug way to describe things is so funny.

"We could turn me into a rat." WALLY

Kingston and Misty looking at each other like, "These absolute children," while Pete and Soph are making Brittney Spears references. 

So we find out what all of the magic stuff they picked up does. Misty's mirror can see invisibility. Pete's grill helps with persuasion. The thousand hour energy makes you immune to sleep for 42 days(!) The bagel can be used for divination or to essentially kill a person but spread their essence throughout the universe  (which low key sounds like a sacrifice someone might make to help cancel the spread of say an undead presence or a money virus). 

I want Ricky and Wally to be friends forever. 

Kingston's lack of connection to the dream world is so sad. Like, he's no nonsense but he's like NO NONSENSE. Like no nonsense possible. So he's just walking around like Eddie Valiant in Toontown. 

And, at the same time, the rest of the party is doing the MOST nonsense. Mary Poppins-ing into the sky. Misty is making out with the moon. Wild. 

SOBER SALAD

Ally drops the ketamine on the tomatoes line and Brennan fully breaks

Very sweet for Pete to bring Kingston a salad, even though that's such a random food to just have in your pocket(???). Why does salad keep coming up on this show? One more time and it's officially a motif.

So the dream world basically works on Sharkboy and Lavagirl/Xanth/Phantom Tollbooth/Wonderland/Toontown logic. If you've seen/read any of those, you basically have it down. 

"Only people with Sprint have service."/"Oh, amazing!" Brennan threw that softball out for anyone who wanted it and Emily, as usual, hit it out of the park.

Brennan very clearly knows his NY history. The mob boss (lucky Luciano, no not that one) that he mentioned during the sleeping with the fishes bit is a real dude and basically the dude who brought organized crime to the US (in the form we know it now). 

Ricky and the mints. Lord.

Anyway, the one item I didn't mention earlier is the holy grail detergent which can literally clean souls. Which sounds mighty interesting considering some of the other stuff that's come up this campaign. 

(Also, I wonder if you could use the bagel as spell components since it contains everything in the universe in microcosm).

I can't believe Pete was the one saying, "At least eat before you shotgun that 1000 hour energy." By the by, the 42 hour span of the energy drink makes me suspicious. Is that just for humor (and accurate math) or it this a Chekov's Gun kind of an item indicating some kind of time jump at some point? Ricky drinks it later in this ep so, if there's a clock attached to that, it's ticking. I'm prob reading into this but I assume if you're still reading these, this is what you're here for. 

Ally making sawing motions before being told an egg creme has nothing to do with eggs and is in fact a drink.

Pete! OK, so Pete has made some good steps in this ep, starting with promising to start reining in the drug usage. Later he works on his magic and also gets over Priya. This is the most endeared I've been to him all season. Especially his, "I try to do a good job," line. I felt that. 

"It's still open to you." Aw.

Brennan clearly saw the chance for a lore drop this ep and boy did it drop. Let's run through the highlights.

Nod dumped all this on Pete the way they did because it's super super hard to contact a Vox Phantasmus beforehand due the the natural, waking world inclination to brush off dreams. You have to have the job before you can talk to the boss. Cruddy system but that's how it goes. 

When Sophie said the thing about Robert Moses creating spaces that can't be accessed she meant by magic but it's an interesting way to phrase it because the irl Robert Moses is known for (allegedly, but like, it tracks) trying to keep black people out of certain spaces. 

Robert Moses sold his soul to Hell and Faerie which is why he's still alive it seems. No one wants to collect on his soul and anger the other party.

Whoever predicted that the golden door for Emma Laz's poem was the rectangle from episode one, collect your prize because it's confirmed in this ep. 

We learn about the ephemeral axiom which basically says, a dream can be all things but once it manifests, it's a single thing. (you might even say, "it is what it is".)

So another big thing we learn is that if a dream gets so big that manifesting them in the real world would break the game, it's called a Paragon. There are four total: Heaven, Hell, Faerie, and The American Dream. (Wild that The American Dream is the only country specific one that exists. Like, I rep my home team of course but the U.S. is a pretty latecomer to the country party. You'd think someone else might have gotten Paragon status at some point.)

"Was one of them the Grand Canyon?"

Anyway, dragging the American Dream into the waking world would fix the American Dream to mean one thing--I assume making tons of money if Robert Moses has his way. I'll admit, I was a  little fuzzy on the mechanics of this on my first watch-through because pulling the American Dream into the real world sounds like it should be a good thing. But I think, at the most basic level, it's a matter of you shouldn't put magic that shouldn't be in a box in a box. I'm still wondering about the exact implications for the waking world if he succeeds though. Like, how would that manifest? Would everyone suddenly become money hungry (lol, how would you tell)? Would people still want what they want but the American Dream would just be understood to mean making stacks and none of the good Superman-y stuff?

"It's not Protestant work ethic is it?"

Robert Moses is undead and can't get into Nod, so those are good things to note. 

I was so ready for Wally is get dispelled and for him to be a figment of Kug’s imagination or a dream or something. I braced myself so much. I was ready to set up a firing squad for Brennan for doing that to Kug.  

Who tipped the bugsters off to where Pete was gonna be? As far as I can tell, the only people that knew were the gang plus Alejandro and Esther. Maybe someone was scrying on them and that’s what the roll Zac failed during the wedding ep was. 

As soon as Brennan mentions locking the door, Ally immediately makes the connection and goes, "Key to the city." Nod "locks" the American Dream and gets rid of the lock which seems to mean the American Dream is temporarily unavailable. Which seems not good and like it's gonna have collateral damage for sure but I guess you bad is a matter of degrees and Robert getting in would be worse. But still, imagine your immigration papers get declined because some random kid decided to close down the American Dream for a couple of days. 

So, we get some backstory of Misty. She apparently just was straight up not having a good time in Faerie so she stole Titania's shoes (allowing her to be in iron-filled NYC without triggering her fairy vulnerability) and peaced out. 

"She's gonna kill you."/"Only if she can get here and I have her Goddamn shoes." (**A million airhorns in the distance**)

I love that Emily is still on the souls thing. Emily doesn't believe in Occam's Razor. In fact, I'd like to propose a corollary called the Axford Axiom: The coolest path between two points probably isn't the correct one, but it should be! I want her to run a campaign so bad so I can see her be in a game where her crazy endgame is what's going on because she's the one who wrote it. 

Misty: Let's go to hell!

So much like a videogame, the map has opened up and we have three places to check out. The former locations in the dream world of Faerie (Carnagie Hall), Heaven (JFK airport), and Hell (where do you think? Hell's Kitchen). The gang splits up to look for clues (and drinks, in Misty's case). Actually, make that four places: Pete goes to the Met Museum of Memories to basically Avatar mind meld with the other Voxes and get a handle on his magic to a degree (thank God--Nod?). We'll take these in order of appearance, which means we're off to Hell with Kug and Ricky (plus Ox and Wally).

(Focus on the Pizza, baby!)

At first I wanted Ricky, the good boy, to go to Heaven, but the idea of a firefighter in Hell also has appeal. 

Re The rat holding his guts: Gross. 

Ricky holding his axe like a cell phone.

So we and Kug learn that the rat-spell that was cast on him wasn't actually a rat-spell. It was a spell that would make his outsides reflect his insides and his insides happened to suck. I'm wondering if that means that it's a static spell that reflects his outsides at the time it was cast and it would need to be recast to reflect any moral progress made or if it will just revert him once he's made enough progress. 

I'm also wondering (partially bc one of my players asked to do this last session) can a Druid wildshape into a person? I feel like no, but like, did any of you ever read Animorphs? You know how in book 1 Tobias gets stuck as a red-tailed-hawk but then later her gets his morphing ability back and then he can turn back into his human form for 2 hours at a time? What if Kug just started doing that? Just being a rat who is sometimes a dude. 

They also go to the statue of liberty (which has a French accent, natch) who shows them that there's, like, a money/greed virus infecting the Dreaming and the American Dream. Ricky smells undeath again. They think vampires. That's plausible but I'm not sure. 

OK, Heaven. 

WHOOOO, strap in y'all

(Sidenote: I wonder what would have happened if Soph hadn't chose to go to heaven. I feel like she could have easily run into you know who in hell had she chose to go there, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Brennan actually tries to lead Emily into the thinking about Dale mindset but Emily, having reached a note of closure in Soph's character arc, pushes back on that.

honeyougotastormcoming.gif

Brennan,about to wreck her entire life: Cool.

I and the cast keep saying heaven a lot but it's like an all roads lead to Rome situation. It's heaven, Valhalla, Elysium, nirvana. Like, whatever Good Place you believe in. It's the Good Place. 

Sophie, upon being told that if she jumps into the fight at the Pearly Gates she knows nothing about, she might literally die: And what about it?

Emily's face when Brennan says, "And you see Dale," is so much. You can see the entire range of human emotion in her eyes in that moment.

Sidenote: I wonder how much of her backstory Emily planned and how much Brennan dropped on her. Like, she knew Isabella was part of her backstory obv. Did Brennan come up with all of this whole-cloth or did she say she wanted there to be something supernatural and and let him fill in the details. Very curious about the collaborative process.  

 When Dale's character art comes up, it says "Sophie's Angel" for Dale's descriptor so where I thought we were going was that Dale was Sophie's Guardian Angel who wasn't supposed to be romantically involved with her and the reason he was gone is that he was forcibly brought back to heaven. But that may be because I recently watched this.

Dale, is upsettingly sweet with Sophie, calls her "sweetie" the entire time they're together, fights a ton of angels to get to her, and says he got her text message. Emily is about to cry. *I'm* about to cry. I'm sure the only reason Brennan isn't fistpumping is because he needs to stay in character. 

Dale gives this cryptic piece of advice before he is dragged off by angel guards: When you get to the top, I know what it'll seem like, but there is someone there.

Emily, of course: I fight the angels.

The angels, hilariously, don't take it personally that she's fighting them--and very well, but not well enough to beat a nat 20. Sometimes the dice are spooky in tune with the story.

"He's got a job to do here. Who's gonna watch the deer?"

Dale also tells Soph to tell Jackson he said hi which is interesting to say the least. 

Emily gets two very dope lines in a row:

"Let me hold your hand through this Alejandro."

"I'm gonna kill her. And I don't think she's going to the great big airport in Brooklyn."

That's it for her for now, but let's put a pin in that for now and come back to it after we check in with the others. 

Siobhan and Kingston are at the former spot of Faerie, the Glamour Bar.

Zac jokingly (I think) guessing Dr. Doolittle as the thing Siobhan can't remember when she says Eliza Doolittle is so funny. 

Also, her terrible cockney British accent on top of her actual British accent is great.

I love that the two actual Real Adults are the ones who go and get wasted mid-mission. 

Brennan introduces "Bobby Goodfellow" and it takes Siobhan exactly four seconds after Brennan finishes the word "Goodfellow" to be like, "It's Puck." She knew and she knew her character would know it and she hardcore pounced.  

I meant to mention this before but it's super funny that Kingston has been around the magical block but there's still so much he doesn't know. He was surprised by a bunch of stuff in this ep that I'd think he would know about (like the Midsummer's faeries being real) but nah. He's like, "This is my specific brand of magic nonsense. That's what I know about. I don't mess around with any of *that* stuff. I stay in my lane. I stay in my city."

Ty Brennan for teaching me how to pronounce sláinte. This is the first time I'm hearing it out loud. 

I love his Puck voice. Like, the little British street urchin voice.  

No big surprise, Puck sent the mirror on the order of Oberon and Titania (who are not back together but are knocking boots according to him). 

Puck warns Misty, "The world of mortals is not long for this world," and follows it up with a seemingly sincere, "Come home. We miss you," which is an interesting thing to say after announcing that Titania is gunning for her. Who is this we, Puck? Your boss wants to bodyslam her!

Also, what do the faeries know that they're not saying? All of them in the bar seemed to know something was off but none of them said anything and Puck didn't elaborate. 

I've always liked the trope of the person from the otherworldly, magical or super advanced being like, "Idk what you're talking about. Humans are great!" because it's the opposite of the snooty elf/vulcan/whatever trope that I really can't stand. Misty showed shades of that in this conversation but I feel like there's still so much that we're missing in her backstory and I wanna know what it is.  

(Also, this is prob just me being a little pepe silvia but I would be very unsurprised if Misty got an opportunity to betray the party at some point. Don't @ me. It's just something I could see myself offering to a player for the drama of it all). 

Anyway, Kingston is extremely uncomfortable in the bar and makes a hasty exit so let's go to the museum with Pete and Nod.

Ally jumps onto the, "Suggested donations are for suckers" train w/ Siobhan. 

Turns out, Pete f'd up Robert up so much that he has kind of a brain link with him. I wonder how long that's gonna last. 

Pete gets proficiency in arcana and a choice between lesseing wild magic surges or gaining some control over them (2 wild magic rolls on a fail and ally gets to choose which effect takes place). Obv the second one is more fun rp-wise so that's what Ally picks.

It's a memory museum so OF COURSE he gets a chance to look at the memories of the rest of the party. But it's getting late so he only has a chance to check on one person's memories. He, naturally, picks Kingston. Makes perfect sense from an RP perspective but out of character I feel like Misty is the most closed book of the party. 

Pete sees Kingston's life from his childhood to the present (Brennan puts Lou on the spot to do some improv...I mean beyond the improv they're already doing) and it's about what you would expect based on what we know about Kingston but it's very beautifully described (sidenote: did any of y'all ever watch the life and times of juniper lee? where she can't leave the city bc she's like the buffy of that world? I really felt shades of that, except more self imposed).

During that montage, a character is like, "You could make hundreds of millions of dollars--I mean, I'm exaggerating," (s/t like that) and I'm not gonna go back and check but I feel like Brennan (or maybe Lou) made almost exactly the same comment in the first ep of this season in a very similar context.

Oh, also, Kingston gets dubbed Vox Populi by a dragon on Bleecker Street in case you were wondering about logistics. 

Again, Nod says that inviting Liz into his life was basically dooming Liz to be stuck dealing with the Unsleeping City but I feel like unless you have a Vox position or something similar you should be able to, like, opt out. So what you need to ignore some weird stuff day to day? May I direct you to my earlier anecdote about the flute dude in the tree. New Yorkers are good at that. And if she moved away, would it even be an issue?

Actually, that raises another question. Is NY the only place where magic is happening? It can't be because Santa is doing his thing at the North Pole. And NY has the Umbral Arcana which shields magic from muggles. Does that mean that elsewhere, magic just isn't hidden? I'm guessing that works because the bulk of magical happenings are happening in NY. Which, again, if so, couldn't Liz just move if she really wanted to? Or is she actually being *kept* there? 

Ahhhhh, that argument scene with Kingston and Liz. Ow. 

Robert's subconscious is heckling Kingston's memories the entire time. 

The party gets back together, Pete immediately lets Kingston know he was memory spying on him and hugs him (while Misty is drunk a singing over him). Their rift literally caused a kind of rift in NYC which is now healed (which causes Sophie to see the Unsleeping City/Dreaming Yin-Yang sign over their heads).

 Ricky drinks the 1000 hr energy so start the clock I guess. 

Misty, upon hearing that Dale is dead basically does that John Mulaney bit: Hey, do you want me to kill that guy for you? Because it sounds like [s]he sucks and I will totally kill that guy for you. 

It's the day of Priya's art show which I totally forgot was happening. Before that, Sophie finally goes to see her brother and we can return back to that pin I mentioned earlier.

(Also, it’s the 20th which means we’re getting really close to Christmas)

He says that their family got mixed up with the Confettis and they've been helping to launder magical items that Confetti is paying some rep from Hell (an associate of Robert's).

And by, "Some rep from hell," I mean Isabella Infierno specifically.

Emily, hilariously riffs for a while about how small it was of her to call Isabella a succubus even though she clearly knows at this point that Isabella is some kind of demon. I mean...Infierno. Come on. 

Sidenote: Which demon actually trying to be subtle would pick the last name Infierno? You wanna blow your cover for the aesthetic that bad?

Emily goes, "Oh my (beat) Nod," which I think is the exact way she dropped the first, "Oh Melora," in one of the first eps of Naddpod. 

Anyway, it turns out that Soph's family knew that Isabella was gunning for Dale (he was getting close to realizing something shady was going on) and, while they didn't call the shot, they let it happen.

Oh! He also says Dale was a chosen one from "some monastery" which, of course, fits in with Dale's comment about saying hi to Jackson. Now I'm wondering if his other comment--about there seeming like there's nothing at the top--is about whatever chosen one test he had to take to get the position to begin with. And maybe he was giving a clue to Sophie so that when she takes it, she'll for sure pass and get whatever dope powers or weapons or privileges come with the position. 

"The only reason I'm not going to go after you right now is because I'm not organized enough to give you the fucking revenge you deserve." Soph is cold as ice after hearing about what her family did. 

"Maybe you should have said that to Isabella before she went after me." Another mic drop line from Emily. This really was her episode. You can really see Emily channeling hr genuine emotional reactions into her character.  

La Gran Gata shows up to let Soph know she has her back to hunt down Isabella. The only other warlocks really seen played are Fjord on CritRole and Leiland on Bloodkeep so it's wild to see a character with such a chill relationship with their patron.

So, Priya's art show. They show up (to a distressingly unsafe building from Ricky's perspective) and it turns out, not only is it performance art (the worst kind) Pete *is* the art.

"I present to all of you: cruelty, a exploration of a relationship. Peter, take my hand."

major barf.

Pete goes OFF

Kingston: Picasso is art, this is bullshit!

Siobhan: Her last name is Danger? I hate this bitch.

Pete gets over Priya instantly which totally tracks because, like I said, barf. 

Sophie stealing Ricky's thing and rooftop jumping. Zac narrows his eyes when she says that.

I love Isabella's title card. It says, "Literal Succubus". It reminds me of the funniest scene in Bedazzled when the Devil (Liz Hurley) gives Brendan Frasier her business card and it just says, "The Devil".

But she's here and she's here to fight! I'm so excited for this one y'all! Unsafe building. Lots of civilians. Sophie (and Emily) going totally feral. I haven’t looked forward to a fight this much since Adaine went for Aelwen. Let's gooooo!

[bluemoonpunch]

BigHit just announced today that BTS is going to be on an extended leave for a while now. What can you read about that? To me I'm extremely glad that they'll be getting some proper rest after all these years but at the same time I can't help but shake off that it might be an omen for something bigger [anonymous @ bluemoonpunch(.)com]

Anonymous: Do you see anything around the vacation the boys are taking now? I’m so happy they’re taking time for themselves (even though I already miss them lol). I feel like this is almost a test run to prepare ARMYs for when they enlist T_T [anonymous @ bluemoonpunch(.)com]

000

There’s an ungodly amount of stuff here to talk about, lol, so I’ll just start from the first set and work my way down.

The first set of cards out was The Lovers in reverse with The Devil, which is interesting as these cards are naturally inverses of the other. Immediately, I was seeing this as a Soul Body situation, something where they are disconnecting from the public on a soul level, disengaging those connections that make it feel RIGHT to constantly be in the spotlight, constantly be turned on for the sake of entertainment, and through that they (or some of them?) will consciously recognize The Devil where they once recognized The Lovers, meaning they will recognize the toxicity of living as a fantasy for mass amounts of people. They will be able to find themselves, the purer versions that are separate from what they’ve created to share with the world because no matter how deep they seem, there’s always a layer of protection that a human being will put around themselves in order to appeal to whoever they are trying to speak to, there’s always purpose behind it other than just simply speaking their mind.

This is reflected in the set that “falls out of” The Devil, like The Devil drops these things as he runs away from their awareness. The Ace of Wands, which I was seeing visually as them physically reaching inside of their own bodies to grab onto the Solar Plexus, the default core projection, the base of the ego, the light that is always on. They grab onto it there, they feel it rather than just allowing it to constantly extend past them, and their perception of it shifts through the reversed Hanged Man. I thought this card was an interesting choice for the depiction of this as the reversed Hanged Man is actually upright. His perspective when upright is of the world upside-down, out of reality. He is a figure representing the point at which objective and subjective reality merge. When reversed, the man in the image is upright, he is seeing the world for what it is at face value, rather than from his own personal perspective which could be clouded by emotions and subconscious veils. He’s seeing The Lovers in reverse or seeing The Devil.

In seeing The Devil rather than The Lovers, he sees where he’s been trapped or where he’s been holding himself prisoner to expectations and connections. What felt like love and admiration from the angel was actually suffocation and the stripping of his own autonomy from The Devil. As that falls away and those ties are temporarily cut, things that were pushed aside come back into focus. The 7 of Pentacles is there at the end of this which I saw as the guys returning to passion projects, taking this opportunity of less obligatory travel and such to take time for more personal matters. This can be family and friends as well as solo music or other business dealings that they haven’t been able to do with so much time constraint. 

From that comes a set with nothing but reversed cards that include the 10 of Wands, 4 of Cups, and the 4 of Swords, which to me said, this is not a time of rest and relaxation, it’s a time to heal, and to heal is to work. The reversed 10 of Wands shows no strenuous work, no work that leaves them completely drained and physically and mentally exhausted, but there is also no time to sleep or lie around dreaming. They’ve already been dreaming and those dreams were the blooms that were left behind in the 7 of Pentacles, and they are now having the opportunities to pursue them. No rest, just more work, but work that fulfills them on a personal level, something that charges them up rather than sucks the life out of them. 

On the other end, extending from The Lovers in reverse comes The High Priestess in reverse, Judgement in reverse, and then the 9 of Cups. This mirrors the set of 10 of Wands, 4 of Cups, and 4 of Swords. The previous set is more about the conscious level work they are doing now, whether it be completely for the individual or something for the group that will come about later, it is more willfully done, not an obligation. On this end, from The Lovers, the same thing is occurring on a soul level, as in the Soul Body. The High Priestess and Judgement being in reverse show a complete separation from their Guides and Source energy. I don’t know if you guys remember all the details of the Soul Body healing and all that, but Namjoon was being used as a conduit and just kind of is all the time, in order to send information, activations, and codes through the others down into the physical space. That isn’t happening here. There is no guidance happening here, nor are they being watched and contained on that level.

With this I head “test run,” as in this separation that the soul body experiences now from their Guides is a test to see what they will actually do with it, what the individual souls do with that freedom — are they going to completely disconnect themselves from the body? Are they going to complete their integration processes? Or are they going to work purely on a soul level and just heal through soul-satisfaction? The 9 of Cups is the show of the soul — not even the Higher Self, just the soul — being in charge. It’s like their souls have been contained inside their energy centers, inside the Soul Body for a long time and they had been compressed together in order to bring the physical forms together in this particular lifetime. It was cramped and as I mentioned in other readings, they could only move together as a unit, but now it’s wide open, they’re free to move. Some of them are dying to move while others are hanging on for dear life, so it’s a test to see who does what and for what reason. It’s kind of cool, but I don’t know what the information gathered from this test is supposed to do other than maybe see how the body would actually break down. IDK.

Then in the center there, everything kind of converges, and this may answer my previous question about what this test is really meant to be for. There is the 8 of Swords in reverse leading down into the 6 of Wands. This would suggest that this opportunity was put into place physically (their vacation) in alignment with the current state of their soul process so that they would individually have the opportunity to take the blindfold off, see The Devil in place of The Lovers, and in turn see what within themselves they’ve been holding back for the sake of the group or the audience. There can be a weird thing where when working in groups of friends, people will sometimes hold back on their own talents in order to not outshine anyone else, and when you’re in a group where, amongst the audience, it becomes a big topic of conversation of who is better at this and that, it can become an emotional obligation to hide or play down talents and passions for the sake of staying on an equal playing field. But if EVERYONE is doing that, and EVERYONE is trying to stay down, you could assume they could all rise up together, support each other, and be supported in their individual paths.

That’s what the 6 of Wands is, it’s the individual, all seven of them on their own, coming around with the Ace of Wands, with their core, their passion, their talent, their pure soul on display, and they are being praised and supported by the others and the audience for it. Not mocked and shamed for “trying to get all of the attention” or whatever bullshit some people spew anytime someone who isn’t their fav breathes.

And BEAUTIFULLY, the set that follows this is all upright. The 8 of Wands is carrying energy directly down, as if the internal state that each of them find in the 6 of Wands through this process of disconnect, will manifest on a conscious level as The Magician for all of them, as individuals who are in complete and total control of the outcome of their paths and what manifests for them. They are neither tied to The Lovers or The Devil here, they are simply tied to their soul and the recognition of power they have. This then stems into the Ace of Cups which I was seeing as a complete recharge of creativity, a complete recharge of emotional strength and awareness, as well as a deeper clarity and awareness of the soul, or what would consciously be perceived as passion.

For good measure, I asked what energy would surround them when they come back from this vacation physically and from this process on a soul level, and they got The Star with the Ace of Swords… which is pretty bomb ass. I honestly don’t even know how to describe this because I’m not getting any visuals or words or anything, it’s just a feeling… and a smell? Lol? I don’t know what that means, but I smell mint or eucalyptus with it. But the feeling itself, which is much more prominent, is just clear water. Perfectly still, clear, cool, water just spreading out around them. It’s like they are The Star. The Star isn’t an influence that they will be under, they are literally The Star, they are the water bearer, and it’s coming from a state of clear-mindedness, the truth, the awareness of all that nonsense that I just talked about. There’s a sense of new purpose, but it’s individual and it’s not entirely controlled anymore the way it is now with the Soul Body. Again, this is an energy that they will carry so I don’t know how that would manifest or if we would see it, but it’s coming through as if it’s going to spread out from them. The water feels like it just pools and spreads out of the ground and just keeps going and going. 

Shits dramatic as hell, I love it.

More Mini-Readings | Celebrity/Idol Readings 

[theheightsthatwuthered]

Suicide au: even in the best case scenario I don't think Heathcliff would ever fully recover. What kept him going for most of his life was revenge and he doesn't have that anymore, so there's no real drive. if he has ANY it's Hareton but then that is not so much. On the upside he's not socially experimenting with children, and on the downside he's not doing anything.

I’m putting all the suicide au asks into one to answer so I don’t spam my followers and so there aren’t a bunch of triggery posts. Bold is me, normal is Kira Heathcliff being this mentally ill is likely to just shut down and not do anything

do you think a partial redemption is possible in the suicide au that needs a better name? I think so but then I always think that...

Not really, I think that in this AU the suggestion is that there is a lack of motivation and a self hatred but not necessarily a regret and in order to be redeemed I think you have to be willing to attempt to make amends. It’s what differs Heathcliff from say Darcy. Mr Darcy is a dick but he does everything in his power to right the wrongs he did.

Oh poor Hareton would be a wreck if he found him. If he's dead- well, yeah. Basically what you said already. What if he's not? Also what would Cathy or Joseph do?

Hareton would not cope. He’s only like 16 and he’s probably mentally a lot younger and this is a man he worships. Joseph would probably just spit hellfire. Cathy would be torn between her hatred for him and her sense of humanity.

There's a lot of "let him kill himself" from Cathy and she and Hareton have a proper screaming match over it. It would be one thing if it was at the house but it happens in the village and it starts in very coded language and ends with everyone in fifty feet of them knowing the details of what exactly happened. No one thought it was possible for them to be cast out more than they already were but surprise! The only way they could get even more isolated involves pitchforks and torches

Oh god yes. Neither Cathy nor Hareton can hold back much when it comes to Heathcliff. They are both very passionate in different directions.

Okay so, let's say Heathcliff fails. You think he shuts down after that? Like just gives up completely, on everything? I imagine Hareton would be really clingy after that, to Catherine's annoyance, but she might tolerate it for a time if Heathcliff is completely shut down bc bc he's not hurting anyone anymore, except maybe Hareton 

I definitely think Heathclif would shit down. Cathy would hate Hareton becoming clingy to him, she would definitely tr and tell him that he doesnt owe Heathcliff anything and that Heathcliff has in fact treated him like shit and now is a great time to get away

Okay so I think a lot about the asylum thing would depend on whether the reformation had reached them yet. There's no way Nelly and/or Hareton because I'm unsure of who would be in charge of this would put anyone in what was basically jail, but I think that between Heathcliff being obviously mentally unwell and him just not caring anymore, a lot of the power of the estate or whatever is shifting to Hareton.

The power would likely be with Hareton but he would give it to Nelly, he wouldn’t feel that he could deal with it.

Alright idea: Cathy wants to start a Heathcliff free family with Hareton. Hareton is not gonna leave Heathcliff's side until he's sure he won't kill himself. Cathy figures that, excluding murder, the only way to get her goal is get Heathcliff better. Cathy starts volunteering to sit with him instead of Nelly. She starts off basically ordering him to get better, then starts screaming at him, then finally sighs and says alright why did you try to kill yourself because talking's her only other idea

She asks him that but she has no patience either, she won’t hear his sob story, she won’t let him paint himself as a victim and she agrees with him when he puts himself down.

Getting Heathcliff to talk is hard though. She realizes quick she's gotta start slow with him, and she hates small talk, so she talks to him about Hareton and that gets some response. Not much but some. So they keep going and Cathy is approaching this very clinically until Hareton says something about how he's glad they're finally bonding and she flips. Hareton is a little disheartened but he's still daydreaming about a picture perfect family and he's gonna make sure he gets it

Cathy is not bonding, she still hates him with a vengeance she just loves Hareton more than she hates him and she sort of screams that when flipping

Hareton is at least temporarily in charge and he makes Joseph caretaker of the Grange because he and Cathy don't get along. That is the only thing he does. It makes him feel giddy with power. Cathy suggests he get REALLY crazy and move a chair from one corner to another but he says no let's not get ridiculous

Oh Hareton darling :L

Nelly wonders why she's not happier. Don't they get the happy ending she's been praying for? Isn't Heathcliff suffering for his crimes? Why is she so sad?

Nelly has a weird set of feelings towards Heathcliff but at the end of the day she can’t completely give up of him.

After a month, while Hareton's working, Cathy declares she and Heathcliff are going for a walk and drags him along. Catherine has been cooped up and so has he honestly and Cathy finally stops walking when they reach her favorite tree, and they sit down and she asks him again and not too gently why he tried killing himself. He doesn't answer. She pulls out a paper and says if he answers he can visit her children once. He says letters aren't legally binding. She says that's not stopped him before

Hearthcliff is surprised that he cares about visiting her children, he doesn’t really but he sort of does.

He looks at the paper for a long time and says he can't tell her something he doesn't know. She sighs dramatically and can't help thinking that a) he seemed to genuinely want that and b) he didn't just make up something. She decides she needs a different question and asks him if her mother was really an angel who did no wrong (a question she knows the answer to, deep down.) He smirks and says that he loved her, and she was vibrant, and she was a lot like her, but doesn't answer the question If Heathcliff were to talk shit about Cathy1, Cathy2 would probably flip because all she’s heard is a very rose-tinted story of Cathy1′s perfection from Edgar.

Hareton has a always been a little tough starved tbh. He was so happy when Cathy started casually touching him (not in a weird way in a chill way) and he's started to get a little bolder in general. He hugs Nelly now, which started awkwardly but she loves it, and he's sleeping in Heathcliff's bed, just to be sure nothing happens it's not because he can cuddle him not at all. Idk if Heathcliff is keeping his thoughts to himself or if he's so out of it he hardly notices

Heathcliff is barely aware of him being there (also this is like a reverse Patrick and Branwell situation)

[niuxita21]

And since I’ve started blogging regularly about TV shows again after about a couple of years of finding my happy place in women’s football, I just need to be intense about the season 2 premiere of El Embarcadero for two seconds and then I’ll be fine.

I was legit terrified of watching this episode lmao because the s1 finale left me SHOOKETH and there were just so many ways to go from there but I was only going to be OK with a couple of them so for me there was a lot riding on how they chose to develop things after Alex’s shocking confession in the last few seconds of the finale and the new development of her possibly having realized her feelings for Verónica. My worst case scenario was a time jump of like a year or so to account for the passage of time in real life (maybe?) So IMAGINE my surprise and delight when the episode starts and it picks up right where they left off (even a few seconds earlier), like, I knew it was going to be a good episode when just a few seconds in and I already approved of the decisions being made.

The fact that we got a redo of the bed makeout scene but this time better shot and with NO ÓSCAR anywhere to be seen like ???? Did someone read my innermost thoughts and find out that I was a bit disappointed in the eclectic camera work that didn’t let me see shit and in Óscar being interspersed with Alex and Verónica kissing for the very first time in the finale? WHO SAID god is not real????

The confrontation post-confession went about exactly as I’d hoped/imagined it would with Verónica getting mad and kicking Alex out almost immediately without letting her explain. I did enjoy the glimpses we got of their fight before Alex left, with both of them getting super intense and in each other’s faces, made all the more delicious by the height difference. That said, I had to LOL at Alex’s “You came into my house and stole the love of my life, you can’t kick me out of your house!” bc LMAO gurl, I love you to pieces but whaaaa?? Lots to unpack here but bottom line, it’s OK, you did just makeout with a hot lady for the first time in your life, it’s understandable that you wouldn’t be thinking straight (ha!)

Verónica deciding that the best way to deal with her anger at being betrayed by “Martina” is to BURN ALL HER SHIT LMAO. That is a totally sane and healthy reaction to a friend breakup, shall we say, and not at all an indication of some deeper feelings there. Nope, not at all.

I loved that Alex said in therapy that she thought what happened to her with Verónica with respect to her inability to pull away from her was the same thing that happened to Óscar, because that’s what I’ve always thought. Like I can totally see why Óscar and Alex would be drawn to each other, they’re both hot, adorable, type-A nerds, so it also makes sense that they would be drawn to the same type of person who comes into their lives and puts everything completely upside down just by virtue of being like no one they’ve ever met before. Also, Alex saying she’s having trouble dealing with Verónica’s absence, nawwwww. This show is just committed to giving me everything I want and it’s only episode 1!!!

The scene between Verónica and Conrado was interesting on a couple of levels. 1) He finally showed his true colours as the typical man who appears to be a cool and understanding dude until something comes between him and a woman he has decided he wants and then the aggressive, possessive alpha-male jumps out. Bit disappointing ngl because I thought he was one of the good ones. And 2) Verónica’s “What do you want with [Alex]?” (roughly), just a few shades from being jealous, and “I’ll step away if I want to” made me think that she was legit gonna pursue something with Alex just to piss off Conrado, but thankfully that was not the case. I did like that it was a subtle continuation of the way she’d been tuning into the thing between Alex and Conrado in the last two episodes of season 1. I always thought it was the beginnings of jealousy because she was starting to develop feelings for Alex so we’ll see if I was right and she ever brings it up when they get together for real.

THE BATHTUB SCENE. Possibly my favourite moment between these two in the entire series so far, dethroning the hug at the beach in the season 1 finale. I mean, UGH, where do I even start. The way Alex looks down at Verónica naked in the bathtub with such tenderness and asks her if she’s OK. Her “I’m not leaving, I can’t be away from you” in response to Verónica kicking her out. The way you can see the wheels turning inside her head and weighing the options of doing what Verónica is ordering her to do or staying and continuing to fight to get her back, until the latter finally wins out and she straight up TAKES HER SHOES OFF and gets into the bathtub with her. Like, she doesn’t say a single word, but that’s her grand gesture right there and it does all the work for her because a few seconds later, Verónica breaks down and pulls her into the tightest softest hug and at this point I DON’T KNOW HOW I AM STILL ALIVE. Also, this shot:

Like what kind of epic love story shit is this??? And then:

How TIGHTLY Verónica is wrapped around Alex I can’t deal with any of it.

And then Verónica pulls Alex down with her and all of a sudden they’re CUDDLING IN THE BATHTUB WITH ALEX FULLY CLOTHED AND LAYING COMPLETELY ON TOP OF A VERY NAKED VERÓNICA BECAUSE OF HOW TINY SHE IS LIKE HOW IS THIS A REAL THING THAT I’M WITNESSING WITH MY OWN TWO EYES I CAN’T EVEN. And then Verónica apologizes to Alex for ruining her marriage and Alex quips that she never even found out and they both laugh and like, it’s amazing that they’re already at a place where they can joke about that like it’s nbd I’m just :))))

That said... it did feel like Verónica came around way too quickly. IDK it seems to me that Alex would have had a bit more explaining to do before Verónica felt like she was OK with forgiving her like, no offense to that tiny, possibly lesbian disaster, I mean, I love her, but what she did to Verónica was messed UP even if she WAS her husband’s mistress, and at the very least I feel like Alex needed to apologize for deceiving her like that. Maybe the key to all this is that mysterious message Alex said she left for Verónica but that we didn’t listen. Maybe she apologized and explained herself at length knowing Verónica probably wouldn’t let her do it in person? That makes sense to me. Hopefully we get to hear it in later episodes, given how timey-wimey the storytelling is on this show.

ALSO, Verónica calling her “Alejandra” for the first time. Ugh, I love this song. As a sidenote, I always headcanoned that, once Verónica found out who Alex really was, she would always call her by her full name and not by her nickname. It just seems to jive with what we know of her character so far. Let’s see if I’m right.

The whole sequence of Alex, Verónica, and Sol having a happy family afternoon riding the horse, playing tag on the beach, and having a tortilla de patata contest all set to that happy-go-lucky “Suspicious Mind” song is what serotonin is made of. My goodness. It’s impossible not to smile while watching it. And my biggest takeaway is Alex’s big ass SMILE:

She’s SO HAPPY. This little family that she conned her way into makes her so genuinely HAPPY and it melts my heart. 

Alex telling Verónica she thinks Óscar was murdered and then “If you think someone killed him, I’m gonna help you find whoever did it.” Like DO YOU KNOW how much I wanted these two to team up and try to figure out what really happened to Óscar together??? I just figured, if it ever happened, it would be like halfway through the season at the very least, because that’s how long I imagined it would take Verónica to forgive Alex for deceiving her, so to have it happen already? IS IT MY BIRTHDAY OR SOMETHING??? And just, like, the amount of TRUST she already has in Alex, like not 24 hours have passed since she found out who she really is but she’s already willing to follow whatever theories she has and assuming she’s right. It makes me so happy.

Alex not being able to sleep next to a topless Verónica because she’s so attracted to her? Brilliant, fantastic, amazing, showstopping, spectacular, *chef’s kiss*, etc.

That whole morning scene when Alex wakes up and starts freaking out because Sol is gonna be late for school, like, she’s already acting like such a MOM to her, I can’t handle it. But my favourite part was how she asks Verónica “Did you burn ALL my clothes?” with not an ounce of reproach in her voice, she just wants to know if there’s anything in that house that she can wear to her meeting to save time, and Verónica’s like “I can lend you something” and Alex, “Something appropriate for a meeting with architects?” and Verónica fake ponders, “Hmm... let me think... nope,” clearly pulling her leg. I just ADORE how, now that the jig is up and Alex is being herself with Verónica, this new dynamic is starting to take shape wherein Alex can be all type-A with Verónica and Verónica just teases her about it without Alex even getting mad, the same way she did with Óscar.

Verónica dropping in on Alex at her work to tell her about the tickets to Óscar’s car. OK 1) The way Alex SMILES when she sees Verónica was probably my second favourite moment of the episode. There this show goes again subverting my expectations. When I saw Verónica walking in, I thought we were in for their first disagreement because Alex would be embarrassed about having Verónica there, since she’s always been very zealous about keeping her life at the albufera and her life as Alex separate. But NOPE, not this show!

skdfhkjdhk tattoo that smile on my forehead like???? I mean I thought I had a pretty clear read on Alex’s character so far, but she’s just throwing me for a loop here, lol. I guess being in love really does that to people IDK. (Sidenote: how GORGEOUS is she??? She’s got that classically Spanish dark hair and intense dark eyes that just drive me crazy.)

The both of them just sitting around in Alex’s office doing some amateur detective work re: Óscar’s speeding tickets and the mysterious town where he seemed to be coming and going, casually being like, “I’ve never seen him do that” “Neither have I” like they’re talking about a mutual friend and not about, idk, the man they were both in love with (and who is now dead) is freaking WILD, man, but also EXACTLY what I’d been wanting to see at some point and I still can’t believe the show is giving it to me so soon. Lastly, Verónica saying, “We should go to [that town]. Together.” makes me laugh because the “together” was COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY lmao but hey, Vero, if it makes you feel good to constantly restate the fact that you and Alex are in this TOGETHER then who am I to criticize. These two, I swear.

The way Katia comes in and, instead of scrambling to find a logical explanation, Alex is just casually like, “Verónica, I’d like you to meet my best friend, Katia,” which, ngl, just raises a whole slew of questions lmao. Like, does this mean Katia already knows Alex came clean to Verónica? Or are we supposed to assume that that random introduction was all Katia needed to realize things had shifted between them? Hopefully we’ll find out later in a proper conversation. My favourite part, though, was Verónica’s “Katia, huh?”, like the last piece of the puzzle that was Alex’s lie finally clicked into place. I loved that Katia apologized for yelling at her when impersonating Alex and Verónica, in her classic Vero way, just brushed it off like it was nbd. I mean, we know how much Katia’s words affected her when she thought they came from Óscar’s wife, but now that she knows who his real wife is and that she would never actually feel that way about Verónica, it’s like the power those words had over her evaporated the same way that “Martina”’s persona did. IDK, I just loved that exchange.

LASTLY, when Alex and Verónica are at the mysterious town Óscar was going to and they find the house where he supposedly lived, and Alex says they need to call Conrado and Verónica tells her about him finding out about them and that he’s mad at her and Alex tells her he found out because she talked about it in therapy. First of all, I like how this sets up a future scene between Alex and Conrado where you KNOW he’s gonna try to slut-shame Verónica like, “I don’t know what she told you but she always does that to get people into bed with her” or something and it will backfire spectacularly on him with Alex no doubt defending her and perhaps even getting mad at him for treating Verónica like that. CANNOT WAIT. And secondly, the way Verónica LOOKS at Alex while saying “You went to therapy... to talk about how we kissed a couple of times?” I’m--

She’s just SO AMUSED bless her little heart. Again, I thought she’d get mad at Alex for divulging her intimacy like that, but I should probably know Verónica better by now. The fact that she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what people think of her is what makes her such a compelling character.

Alex being like, “I went to therapy to talk about how I kissed my husband’s mistress, yeah”, basically like “What of it?”, and then ADMITTING SHE LIKED IT!!!!!!! What I loved, though, was the matter-of-fact way she says it. It wasn’t a grand, sweeping love declaration, nor was she expecting Verónica to reciprocate or respond to it in any way. She was just explaining why she went to therapy to talk about it. IDK I just found it so refreshing that she’s basically admitting to feeling more than friendship towards Verónica and it’s not weird or anything anymore because they’re way past that. Also, I liked getting confirmation that nothing happened beyond kissing. I strongly suspected it just from the way it was shot, but I’m glad I don’t have to wonder anymore. This also means I still have their first time having sex to look forward to. We just keep winning!!!

“Maybe you’re a lesbian.” “I hope so! At least I’d have ONE thing clear!” I’M SCREAMINGGGGGG. But also, I like how this implies that kissing Alex wasn’t something new to Verónica or something she lost any sleep over. Like she only talks about redefining oneself post-makeout in the second person, like Alex is the only one who needs to change the way she sees herself after realizing she enjoyed kissing another woman. Ever since she told “Martina” early in season 1 that she’d slept with a lot of “people,” I figured she was bisexual, so I’m taking this as confirmation just because I can.

ANYWAY, like I said, I needed to be intense about this episode. There was just SO MUCH to unpack and I don’t feel like I even put all my thoughts on here, but this is still quite enough, lol. TL;DR I was afraid the show would build on the reveals of the season 1 finale in a direction I wouldn’t like and that would ruin my enjoyment of this season (having Alex and Verónica take until at least episode 4 to become friends again and perhaps even later to start working together to solve Óscar’s murder, let alone start inching towards a romantic relationship or, worst case scenario, a time jump in which I’d miss the immediate confrontation between them and Alex trying to win Verónica back) but, instead, they gave me everything I wanted already in episode 1, including something I didn’t know I wanted, which is putting them in a place where they’re really close but still very much in the friend zone such that I didn’t miss the moment their relationship shifted into romantic territory and, best of all, I’ll still probably get to see a few moments of sexual tension (like that amazing scene with Alex being unable to sleep) until that finally happens.

UGH, THIS SHOW. Very, very few times have I been so satisfied with a single episode of television and the decisions made to resolve a cliffhanger. Usually, even when the writers give me what I want or my ship gets together, there’s still something I would have done differently or that the show missed and I didn’t get to see, but not here. I can’t think of a single thing that I would add or change because I was hoping I’d see it but it wasn’t shown. Like on the one hand, this is good because it means that I’m less stressed about the upcoming episodes and I’m content to just watch everything play out because I already got to see everything I wanted between these two in terms of a resolution to last season’s cliffhanger and there’s nothing I’m worried we won’t be shown. But, on the other hand, that just probably means it will all be downhill from here, LMAO. 

[jackdylananderson]

“How to Avoid Getting Lonely on a Solo Roadtrip”, as reviewed by me

Recently, I got an email from one of my favorite newsletters, Roadtrippers. And one article in particular caught my eye: "How to Avoid Getting Lonely on a Solo Roadtrip".

Now, I've noticed something at this point. Many travel sites will have a guest author write up some travel advice and at the tail end, remind you to check out their blog, story, insta, etc. 

The author gets exposure and the travel site gets cheap labor. 

And I don’t have a problem with this at all, if the article has good advice. But today, this advice...this is not my kinda advice.

So let's rip through it. "How to Avoid Getting Lonely on a Solo Roadtrip"

"There were challenges of being on the road, of course; the tediousness of unpacking and repacking my car at every overnight stop, the annoyance of living out of a suitcase, and the nausea that would stir up at the mere thought of eating another McDonald’s french fry. Road trip food is fun at first, but eventually you get sick of eating like a twelve-year-old at a birthday party."

Okay, so the author should learn to:

Minimize.

Organize better.

Eat better. (Or don't, Taco Bell is my favorite mistake). 

"But perhaps more than anything else, I’ll remember the crippling loneliness I never expected to feel."

Crippling loneliness? Seriously? Sure, the road is lonelier. But the other side of that coin is independence and reflection. A chance to find yourself. And at other times, just some simple adventures like gas station buffets or the chatting up locals at the diviest bar in town. 

Tip 1: "Getting enough sleep was crucial"

Dafuq? I’m sorry, does that not apply to literally every human on the planet? Yeah, go for 8 hours. Got it. Check. 

"Something I wish I knew before I started this trip was: Driving takes a lot out of you, both physically and mentally. I had to deal with everything from an aching pelvis to cramps in my calves from pointing and flexing my foot on the gas pedal. My neck and shoulders got sore.

Is this bitch serious? She got injuries WHILE DRIVING??? You just sit there! 

Sure, after a long drive, you will be surprised at how tired you are. That's because you've been stiff and mentally alert the whole time. But I've never heard of someone getting calf cramps by sitting their ass in a VW Beetle for a few hours. Is she driving upside down?!

I also realized the hard way that my daily driving cap was seven hours."

Dang, tough it out, wuss. My buddy Joel and I just drove 2200 miles in 40 hours straight alternating who was driving and who was sleeping in the cramped back. No complaints. :) Also, I'm not sure how any of this advice makes you less lonely...

Tip 2: "Too much screen time made things worse" 

Okay, again, that applies to everyone. Cut back on social media. You're making yourself lonely, jealous, depressed, etc.

"Plus, writing letters felt like a diary entry and helped me get all the icky lonely feelings out (and receiving mail certainly feels more special than a text). Postcards are also great because the ones I received on the trip were memorable souvenirs once it was over."

Okay that's good, now you're sorta getting it. Letters are good. But you're still focusing on what you're missing back home instead of who's in front of you...

"I learned the easiest way to get it was to put a call out on social media. It was as simple as posting “Does anyone in Missoula want to meet for a coffee?” on my Instagram story. I ended up making four new good friends on this trip because they followed me on social media and reached out.”

Bitch, are you serious? You think we all got random instagram followers that we don't know but they wanna swing by and chat when we're in BumFuck Missoula?? I thought we were chilling it on the social media?? How many times did you ask "Does anyone in Cock Springs, Arkansas wanna hang?" Or how about Boston and yet nobody showed up. Girl, I know you got some flakes. Don't pretend it was all hunky dory, Miss I-got-4-new-friends-from-instagram.

"I also asked around my pre-trip friend group—because sometimes a current buddy had a cool cousin in Omaha or a former mentor in Spokane."

YES! Thank you! This is great advice. Asking friends (facebook can help) if they know anyone where you're traveling through or to is almost always worthwhile. Then give them a call and arrange something. 

Tip 4: "People I met on the road were gifts"

Wait, did you finally actually meet some people?!? Were they locals? Cuz that would make sense. If you're moving to a place (the author was checking out prospective cities to move to), you're gonna wanna see what the people are like. 

"When I first started the trip, I avoided making connections because I knew they were only temporary."

Dumb, dumb, dumb...

"I met a few friends using Bumble BFF (surprisingly not as lame as it sounds) and Tinder (sometimes a date turned into a mutual “let’s be friends” situation)..."

I mean, I guess that counts? But what you're really telling me is you were looking for dates or fucks or maybe friends. I'm questioning your use of "mutual", you tease.

"On the romantic front, it was easy to say “why bother” after a first date with someone I really liked when I only had three more weeks in their city."

Called it!

"But one of the best things that happened to me on this trip was someone I dated in Denver saying, “You’re only here for three more weeks? Well, that means we better try to see each other as much as possible before then.” And you know what? I’m glad I didn’t succumb to pessimistic thinking, because the time I spent with his person made my Denver leg of the trip even more special."

You're talking about a fuck buddy, right? Just find a classy way (for the travel site) to say it. Like, “I found several lovers.” Or, “I had plenty of romantic adventures.” Or whatever Gilmore Girls say when they head out on hoe weekend.

Tip 5: "Remember that it takes time"

Hold on. Did you even meet anybody not tryin’ to smash?

Tip 6: "Loneliness, like everything in life, is temporary"

Holy shit. You only met people tryin’ to smash.

Tip 7: "A nonconventional lifestyle comes at a cost."

You gotta be kidding me...

"I gave up certain luxuries—a bed to call my own, home-cooked meals, and, yes, easy access to friends and family—"

BITCH I LIVED IN MY CAR FOR A YEAR. You fucking AirBnb'd, ate out every night and hooked up with randoms! That's luxury, ya millennial twat! 

"Dana Hamilton is a sex columnist for Playboy and New York Magazine, as well as the author of the sex-positive travel blog “Eat, Drive, F*ck.” 

Now it all makes sense. Our generation is fucked. 

If you really wanna know the answer, it’s go out and meet people. It’s not as easy as it sounds, because frankly all of our personalities are different. Just go do what you like, improve your social skills, be bold and ask people the smallest questions, then go bigger. One of my favorite little moments came when I biked to the shores in Charleston. The water was beautiful from the docks and there was an attractive girl nearby. Idk what I said, but probably that the water was beautiful which led to good conversations and a quick bike tour of some of Charleston’s abandoned and “haunted” buildings. Talk to people. They want you to, whether they know it or not. :)

[iheartsurveys]

121

Where have you been all my life? Here, there Can you recite the Greek alphabet backwards? Nope. Can't even recite it forward What social networks are you a part of? Well obvs tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, insta, snapchat Which of your fields of interest are you a total expert on? I'm a total expert on nothing lol What is one thing you will never understand? Why some people are so ignorant and close minded Do you blog? You're lookin at it. I actually used to have a Wordpress blog in like high school/early college. I wrote about hockey, inspired by some of my fave hockey bloggers lol no one knows about it and I haven't used it in years but there was a time I was getting like tons of views so that was cool What was the last movie you watched? Idk about movie but I watched a documentary on Netflix about living off $1 a day ^Would you recommend it? Yessss it was so good. The guys that made it also made Salam neighbor, a documentary about a refugee camp in Jordan, which was also really good and insightful, it was on Netflix too not sure if it's still there With whom did you share your last awkward moment? Ummm idk probably just me lol When was the last time you got all dolled up? I went to a bday party a few weeks ago and put myself together Gimme yer best shot and insult me. Go ahead. You suck What do you think makes a person attractive? Sense of humor, intelligence, being polite, a nice smile Out of everyone you know, who has the worst taste in music? One of my roommates senior year listened to some decent stuff that I liked like the Lumineers but she also loved country and like musical soundtracks. I don't mind musicals if it's like hairspray or Grease but that's about it ^How about the best? Britt and I are v similar with our musical interests except I like 1D and she doesn't lolz. Jordan likes 1D and some other artists I like so she's good too Can guys REALLY pull off skinny jeans? Some can What is one thing you missed out on that you wish you hadn’t? Interning in college Are you honest, or more inclined to tell people what they want to hear? Kind of a mix, I think I'm usually more honest though What was the last thing/place you decorated? I rearranged my room a bit and decorated my desk Have you just recently started listening to any new bands? Since I'm def going to firefly I've started perusing some of the other bands on the lineup that I don't know as well as my faves. Today I got into Kaleo How many windows/tabs are open on your computer right now? 0 because it's still dead and I'm using my phone Would you rather date someone really skinny or really overweight? I guess skinny. But that's kind of awk because while I'm skinny/average in ways I wouldn't want my bf to be way skinnier than me Let me in on a little secret of yours. I mentioned the blog earlier, that's all you're getting What is one habit you had as a child? I always sat with my shins/feet under me and my mom would yell at me for it ^Do you still have that habit today? No, sitting on your feet gets uncomfortable when you're older and tall af Is there someone you wish you were closer with? Kind of ^What’s stopping you from being closer with them? Idk. I deleted his number years ago and even though we hung out idk if it'd be normal to steal his number from someone and talk again. Like I guess it'll just happen naturally if we hang out with friends altogether again but 1 on 1 chatting probably won't happen for a while Besides air, what was the last thing you inhaled? Helium Which point in life do you think is hardest? (i.e. childhood, adulthood…) Young adulthood has been a struggle How was life going for you, say, six months ago? Shitty ^Is that the same as today, or have things changed? Some things have changed... I think things are getting better so that's nice What is one opinion you have regarding love? If you think something you're in is one-sided, it probably actually is. Don't try to make something work if you're the only one doing all the work. It can suck letting go especially if you thought you really had something with the other person but dragging along and trying to make it something it isn't is just wasting your time. Who was the last person to make you frown? The caps ^Was anyone able to turn that frown upside-down? My dog What was the last non-papery substance you drew on? Does a canvas count as papery or nah What is one thing you wish you had the courage to do? Not sure Which is bigger: Your iTunes library or your cd collection? Def iTunes... I have like 3 CDs What is your one true weakness? Puppies When is the last time you had hot chocolate? Month or so ago Composition notebooks or spiral notebooks? Why? Spiral just because they're better What is the most bizarre compliment you’ve ever received? Nothing too bizarre comes to mind... Someone on tinder once said that I "look really hot but really short" which is odd because I'm 5'9 and there was a picture of me with my friends who are like way shorter sooo yeah idk it was strange Do you identify more with guys or girls? Girls When someone you know is sad, how do you go about cheering them up? It depends I guess... Usually just listen to them or tell them how great they are Has someone ever accused you of not being creative enough? No Starbucks coffee or Dunkin Donuts coffee? Dunkin Do you crack under peer pressure? Sometimes I have, sometimes I haven't What do you think deserves more attention than it already gets? How sucky DT & his squad of supremacists are What song never fails to get stuck in your head? Totally varies Who is your favorite vocalist? Why? Lana & Ed Sheeran are both amazing What is your most overused emoticon? The laughing crying emoji Do you ever name objects? (i.e. mp3 players, guitars, cars, etc.) My cars When was the last time you had a bagel? Week or two ago Can you lick your own elbow? No What time during the day/night is your mind most active? It always seems like night right before I go to sleep I think about everything What color ink does your favorite pen have? Black What was the last thing you licked? A fork Who was the last person in your bed besides yourself? My dog Can you touch your tongue to your nose? Nope What flavor mouthwash do you use? Some minty teeth whitening one What tends to distract you most? My thoughts Is the perfect man or woman a myth? Nobody's perfect~~~~ How do you feel about Bob Marley? He's alright Let’s end this survey with a smile; tell me something funny. Pass

[aplaceforthesoul]

Anonymous submitted:

It’s the girl who messaged about the boyfriend moving out. Idk what happened, but we broke up. We only tried him moving out for 2 days and he said this is what he wants because just moving out wasn’t working. I’m so heartbroken and so confused. He hasn’t taken anything out of the apartment yet. He came over last night and made us dinner and kept calling me babe… But then talked about coming to get the rest of his stuff later in the week. Hes so hot and cold. We’ve been together for 4 years. I’m still so in love with him. I can’t sleep or eat… he keeps saying that we need to be happy on our own then we can see if we can be happy together as a couple. I just don’t know how to let go of him when he’s giving me hope that we will get back together. I just keep thinking I need to do this and give him space and then he’ll come back to me. I can’t move on.

Then on top of that I kinda had a break down the other day… I know I’ve dealt with anxiety and some shitty stuff from my past, but I actually scared myself the other day with my thoughts and emotions and I couldn’t control them. It was right before we broke up. I made an appointment to talk to someone next week. It’s like I’m taking one of the biggest steps of my life, that I’ve wanted to take so long, and now I have to do it by myself. My boyfriend, well I guess ex, said he would be there for me… but It’s just all so confusing.

I’m so in love with him and as long as there is a chance he will want me back i have no idea how I’m ever going to move on or stop hurting. He said he loves me but he’s not happy with me right now. How do I move on? Or should I hold onto this hope? He said he wants to be friends and hang out and even go out on dates, but he wants us to be single. So we can work on ourselves and then just be happy when we are together instead of having the pressure of a relationship. I would think there’s another girl, but he asked that we tell each other if there’s someone else so we are both on the same page. Does any of this make sense?

ohhh ): I’m so sorry to hear that, heartbreak is a terrible feeling to experience. 

all of this makes sense, but your (ex?) boyfriend is being completely 100% unfair about things. I know he’s probably not meaning to, that he’s not deliberately trying to be selfish or thoughtless or unfair? but he is. 

it’s unfair to keep calling you babe and to make you dinner, it’s unfair that he’s talking about being friends 1 day after breaking up, it’s unfair that he’s talking about going on dates when he’s the one that ended the relationship! I understand that maybe a lot of his actions are just second-nature to him now because you’ve known each other and been dating for so long, but that’s still not cool. he needs to stop and think about you for just one moment?! like right now it’s all about what he wants -- he wants to be single, he wants to be friends, he wants to go on dates?? but what about what you want too! ): he is being pretty selfish at the moment, which isn’t ok. 

how do you move on? well right now, you can’t. that might be hard to face at the moment when all you want to do is to move on and find some way to stop the pain? but it’s almost literally impossible to move on when your ex is still in your life and acting in such a romantic way towards you ):

right now all you can really do is focus on yourself! your life has just been turned upside-down and nothing feels normal? so try to keep up your daily routines as much as you can -- your life feels weird enough at the moment, keeping routine helps give you some sense of normality and stability to your day. make lots of time for yourself, self care is important (▰˘◡˘▰) so have an extra long shower and pamper yourself, binge-watch tv, maybe clean and reorganise your room if that’s something that helps make you calm, go for walks (or a jog or a run), whatever helps to make you feel a little better and calm inside. 

spend lots of time with friends, keep yourself busy? if you need to cry then cry no-one’s judging you for that! but having been on the receiving end of breakups way too many times, I can say that there is such a thing as too much crying, it can turn unhealthy for you. so crying is alright, but if you find that you’re crying to the point of hyperventilating and getting yourself more and more worked up? then focus on your breathing, get a glass of water (to stop yourself getting too dehydrated), breathe in and out and in and out. 

and the boy? right now, I don’t think it’s helpful to be friends )-: the nature of your relationship to each other has changed now -- he’s the one who made that change, and he needs to respect that. cutting off all contact might be too painful at the moment, so you could try keeping in contact and chatting once a week? but regularly seeing each other and spending time with him a) isn’t helpful for your mental health, and b) also isn’t really going to encourage growth or change or to help work on the problems that you guys had before during the relationship. 

so spend time away from him, make it clear with words that you need your space and some time to process and to heal from all of this! spend time prioritising yourself and spend time with people who make you laugh and enjoy yourself, take it one day at a time and see how it all goes. good luck with the therapy appointment next week, let me know how it works out for you! your boyfriend might not be around at the moment but you’re not alone, you still have love and support on your side <3

- tash