#it’s just hilarious watching them get so uptight like it matters

[rklf001]

my favorite thing is seeing the gamer bros on twitter being mad every week because bungie is using the layouts of lost sectors that don’t exist for a one time playable activity

[amazingmsme]

Annoying Turnabout

This was supposed to be a quick little drabble, but I have no self control and it got away from me. No matter, Ace Attorney needs more fluffy fics like this. Phoenix is so fucking cute when he’s embarrassed, and I probably made Edgeworth more teasy than he’d actually be. But that’s okay your honor, they’re smitten.

Miles Edgeworth was a composed man. He didn't often joke around and laughed rarely. His smile was more of a snide smirk, even when it was genuine. And to top it all off, he had an air of superiority about him, like he was too good for anything even mildly amusing. Which is why Phoenix was determined to make him crack.

"Y'know Miles, even though you were an uptight kid, you still knew how to have fun," he noted. Edgeworth cocked a brow, glancing up from the magazine he was reading. "Is that so?"

"Mhm."

"Your point being..." he prompted, trailing off as he went back to reading. Phoenix shrugged, the hint of a smile on his face.

"I don't know. I just never thought you'd grow up to be such a stick in the mud," he said, hoping to gain a reaction from him. Edgeworth stiffened, hands clenching and crinkling the pages as he glared at him.

"Excuse me, what did you just call me?" he said through his teeth.

"You heard me. Or do you need hearing aids?" he asked smugly. Miles knew he was just messing with him. Trying to rile him up. And he shouldn't give him what he wanted. But oh, how he wanted to play along.

"You're the one who needs hearing aids, old man," he said, a teasing note in his voice.

Phoenix chuckled and shook his head. "We're the same age, so you basically called yourself old." Edgeworth looked up, eyes wide and hair falling in his face. "Nhg- You know damn well that's not what I meant!" he said, slamming a fist on the table.

He merely smirked, propping his feet on Edgeworth's desk and leaned back in his chair. He even put his hands behind his head in a show of defiance. "Do I?" Miles glared harder and grabbed his ankles, shoving them off the desk. Phoenix flailed his arms to regain his balance as the chair teetered on its back legs.

Edgeworth hummed as he steadied himself. "Pity, I was hoping you'd fall."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" he teased, leaning forward this time. Miles rolled his eyes and went back to reading. Phoenix huffed in annoyance when he was ignored. He stretched his leg out under the table and lightly stepped on the toe of his shoe.

He grunted and pulled his foot away, only for Wright to repeat the motion. He looked at him from over the top of his magazine. "Is there a reason why you're more insufferable than usual?" he asked.

The truth of the matter was that Phoenix thought he was unbelievably cute when aggravated. And deep down, he was a little shit.

"Nope," he said, popping the "p."

"What are we, five years old now?" Miles asked incredulously.

Phoenix shrugged. "Hey, I'd rather have a mental age of five than 50," he sassed.

"Wright. You are testing my patience, and you don't want to know what will happen when it runs out," he warned.

"You know what? I think I do actually," he taunted. Edgeworth let out a deep sigh and stood, straightening the collar of his suit jacket.

"Very well. If you want to act like a child, I'll treat you like one." Phoenix cocked his head to the side, staying still as he watched his old friend come closer. As Miles loomed over him, only then did he falter. He gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Uh, Miles? You got that scary look on your face that you use in court. Y-you know I was only joking, right?" he asked, trying to appear as innocent as possible.

"Believe me, I'm well aware. However, your little jokes aren't near as amusing as you may think. Don't worry, I'll give you something to laugh about." Before Wright could question him, he poked a single finger in his exposed armpit. He yelped and immediately slammed his arm to his side.

"You know what? You're right, I was being stupid and childish, I'll leave you alone now, I promise!" he rambled.

Edgeworth shook his head and tsked. "You will leave me alone. As soon as I teach you a lesson." When he took another step forward, Phoenix rose from his chair, standing behind it to use it as a shield.

"B-but you're usually so mature! I thought you'd be above something as childish as ti- as this!" he said, face turning bright red as he stuttered and failed to say the word. This only made Edgeworth's smirk grow.

"Normally I am. But you bring out the best in me Wright. Certainly a bit of immaturity is required to deal with you."

They stood there, just staring at each other for a solid 10 seconds. Phoenix's eyes darted to the side before he made a dash for the door. Miles easily caught him, arm wrapping around his waist and pulling him into his clutches.

"No no nohoho I'm sorry!" he giggled, shoving at his arm. Miles dug his fingers into his sides and he burst into bubbly laughter.

"For some reason, I don't believe you. You know, you're awfully cocky for someone who's so ticklish," he mused playfully. Phoenix's blush darkened and he covered his face with one hand.

"Shuhuhut uhuhup!"

"Why should I? You obviously can't make me in your state," he teased. He began kneading his soft belly and his laughter deepened and his thrashing increased. It was a bright and slightly goofy sound, and it was perfectly fitting for the ace attorney.

"Mihihiles dohohon't!" he whined through his frantic giggles.

"Don't what? Come on Wright, use your words," he goaded, one hand scratching up his ribs. The only response he got in return was a loud squeal. "Glad to see my memory is serving me well. Does Larry still abuse this knowledge?" he asked, amusement clear in his voice.

"Yehehes okay? Nohohow quit ihihit!" he giggled, curling in on himself. His arms flailed about uselessly as Miles squeezed and prodded his belly. He snorted loudly and blushed profusely, hiding his embarrassed face in his hands.

Edgeworth barked out a laugh. "I forgot how you snort when you laugh too hard. How hilariously charming," he teased. Poor Phoenix was dying of embarrassment.

"Nohoho it's nohohot!" he argued, followed by another snort.

"Sure it is. And don't even get me started on this spot," he taunted, reaching up to scratch the nape of his neck. Phoenix arched his back with a shrill screech of laughter, leaning into Miles. He fell into a bubbly stream of giggles, not even bothering to fight back anymore. Not that he could get away even if he tried; Edgeworth was stronger than he looked.

"Still just as ticklish as when we were kids," he mused, shaking his head fondly. It was only when Phoenix started to hiccup through his hysterical laughter that he finally showed mercy.

He helped steady him as he regained his breath. "Yo- hic-you jeherk!" he scolded, cheeks still burning red. Miles rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I know. I'm truly the worst," he joked along. They both chuckled.

"If you think I'm gonna leave you alone after that, you're wrong. I can't just let you get away with an attack like that! I have to annoy you twice as much now," Wright said, crossing his arms.

He merely shrugged, smirk growing. "In that case, I'll just have to tickle you twice as much."

Phoenix flinched and took a step back, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead. "N-no you can't!"

"Oh can't I?" he asked, arching a brow. He cocked his head to the side in amusement. "I'd think again before testing my patience. Unless you're keen on finding out what I can really dish out," he warned, even winking at him. Phoenix whined and hid his face in his hands.

"I forgot how insufferable you can be," he grumbled.

"Well then you're really not going to like what I'm about to say."

Phoenix felt his heart both flutter and sink to the pit of his stomach at the same time. "What?" he asked, because the curiosity was going to eat him alive.

"I recall you admitting that you found all of this to be fun," he said with a triumphant smile. Wright's mouth gaped open, face turning pale before his blush came back in full force at the very accurate accusation.

"Wha- I- we were kids! Of course I liked it back then, it was playful roughhousing! I grew out of it!" he claimed, desperate to reclaim some of his dignity.

Edgeworth tutted, shaking his head. "Oh please, you know I'm too smart to believe that. You even went as far as to provoke me into action, resorting to your old methods in the hope that I would remember."

Phoenix was left speechless... Miles really hit the nail on the head with that one. He groaned, admitting defeat and flopping into the chair at the desk. He rest his head on the cool wood, wrapping his arms around his face to shield himself from Edgeworth's gaze.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of Wright. I find it rather amusing myself," he teased, sitting in the opposite chair. He looked up to glare at him.

"Of course you do."

"Oh please. Teasing's half of the fun. You told me so yourself."

Phoenix's eyes narrowed. "No I didn't." Then his eyes widened as he thought it over. "Wait, did I?" he asked aloud, more to himself than to Miles.

He shrugged. "No, but the fact you believed you could have only proves my point."

He let out a small, frustrated scream and slammed his head back down on the desk as Edgeworth's snide chuckling filled the air.

[clandonnachaidh]

Light Across The Seas That Severed (Ch3)

AO3

Even after years of friendship, of seeing each other through some of the best and some of the hardest times of their lives, Jamie Fraser would still need to catch his breath at the sight of Claire Beauchamp when she really laughed. With her head thrown back, her whisky eyes would screw shut and she would run her long fingers into her beautiful hair in comedic exasperation.

If watching her laugh was a sight to behold, making her laugh was the best thing in the world.

They were sat across from each other surrounded by a pungent cloud of smoke, both of them situated on plush sofas of green leather that was cracked and worn from use. With each passing minute, Jamie felt like the sofa was beginning to swallow him. He made the mistake of voicing his concern to Claire.

She thought the whole thing was hilarious, obviously, and told him so before taking a bite out of the space cake that she had cut down the middle to share.

“Edibles are stronger, you’ll only need half anyway,” she had said in her matter of fact way that she had, taking charge of the situation from the minute they’d stepped foot in the coffee shop.

Jamie Fraser, being the good catholic boy that he was, had never been inside such a place and he certainly hadn’t experienced anything like the Red Light District that they had just walked through. Of course he had heard of Amsterdam’s relaxed laws when it came to sex work and drugs but seeing it first hand was something entirely different. When he caught sight of the first woman in the window, her long blonde hair tumbling around her bare shoulders, he felt the blush rise to the very tips of his ears as Claire just laughed and dragged him by the hand, deeper into the belly of the beast.

The plan had been for them to spend two days in the city before they said goodbye. Claire was following her heart (which took the shape of one Frank Randall, the same bastard who’d stood her up the night that Jamie and Claire had kissed for the first and only time) to Boston where she’d managed to get a placement in a surgical programme while Frank would teach at Harvard. It had taken everything in Jamie not to break when she told him, the smile that she had plastered on her face not quite reaching her eyes as she surveyed his reaction over her coffee cup. He had swallowed the rising panic in his throat and felt as it soured in his stomach but he managed to calm himself long enough to take a deep breath and tell her the truth — that he was proud of her and he would miss her. He would miss her so much.

Jamie knew that she was lying about not being able to book a more straightforward trip from London to Boston and he strongly suspected that she had orchestrated the two day layover in Amsterdam for the sole purpose of asking if he’d like to join her, a mini break that they both sorely needed after an arduous final year at university. He hadn’t even needed to think about it before he agreed and in the week leading up to it, he had struggled to think of anything but watching her as she wandered around the Rijksmuseum, oblivious to the art hanging on the walls when he had his own masterpiece right in front of him.

“I canna believe I’m in such a place wi’ ye, Sassenach, and for breakfast no less,” he said, hearing a laugh that didn’t sound quite like his own. Frowning at himself, he looked across at her as she chuckled kindly at him, her index finger dabbing a crumb from the corner of her mouth before popping it between her lips. The lips that he had tasted just once years ago in what had been agreed as a funny drunken lapse of judgment in a grubby old pub on the edge of their college campus.

“You just need to relax and you’ll enjoy it, I promise,” she said. It had been her idea to get high first thing in the morning and then spend the remainder of their final day together strolling around the museums and parks of the city, allowing themselves to get into the spirit of the place and cut loose for once.

He watched her waggling her eyebrows suggestively, looking to him like furry brown worms, “You seemed to enjoy the ladies outside well enough.”

He went bright red and tried to sit up straighter amongst the sofa cushions that were trying their best to swallow him, “Dinna be daft, ye ken I wouldnae pay a woman to do that sort of thing.”

“A lot of people pay for sex, Jamie, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Two consenting adults and all that.”

He had always known that Claire was a very liberal thinker and she spent a lot of time and energy educating herself on things to broaden her perspective of the world. Jamie admired her for it even if he did enjoy poking fun at her sometimes, just to watch the spark catch fire in her eyes as she told him precisely why he was wrong.

“Aye well, that’s all fine an’ weel but I winna be dealing wi’ it myself, thank ye.”

“Oh, live a little, Fraser. How long has it been since Annalise? Seven months?” She asked him directly as he made a very Scottish noise in the back of his throat in an attempt to dismiss the conversation about his ex-girlfriend.

“I’ll thank ye to leave her out of our weekend,” he warned her jokingly, delighting in the corner of her mouth quirking upwards in amusement. Before he knew it, the words were tumbling out of his mouth, “Besides, Lise and I, we never…”

He watched as Claire’s eyes almost burst from her skull as she leaned forward, her beautiful mouth gaping at his revelation. Why the hell had he told her that? They never spoke about the personal details of their respective relationships, it was the unspoken rule between them. Don’t ask, don’t tell. Jamie could think of nothing worse than sitting and listening to Claire regale him of her sexual exploits with the uptight historian. It also meant that Claire didn’t know exactly how much sex Jamie wasn’t having.

“Never?! You were together for a year!” The amazement in her voice was evident and Jamie flopped backwards in the sofa, raising his hands to his face. He cursed the effects of the marijuana that had relaxed him to the point where he was divulging information that he would usually keep behind his teeth.

“Never, okay?”

“Wow… okay… not sure what to do with that but okay,” she mirrored his body language, collapsing back onto her sofa and tucking her legs up underneath her. “So you’ve not had sex in what, just shy of two years? Good God, you must have the patience of a saint.”

“Something like that,” he mumbled into his palms, refusing to remove them for the fear of her gaze seeing the truth that he was trying desperately to keep hidden but that was on the tip of his very stoned tongue.

“Longer than two years?” He heard her whisper in disbelief.

“Try 24.”

They sat in silence for a few seconds before it became too much, he had to look at her to gauge her reaction to his honesty. He had expected her to laugh or to yell in surprise but he realised that she mostly just looked curious, like she was trying to figure out the answer to the puzzle that was sat opposite her.

“You’re a virgin?” He nodded in response and watched as her shoulders dropped slightly, smiling kindly at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because we dinna talk about things like this,” he sighed. He could see all the questions that were threatening to slip past her lips.

“Have you not wanted to? Because that’s okay, maybe you’re just not into the thought of-“

“Christ, no! No, I’m definitely into the thought of it,” he laughed. “From the age of thirteen to seventeen, I barely thought of anything else. Besides, I said I was a virgin, no’ a monk. I’ve done stuff.”

She laughed at that, “So why not? I’m sorry, you absolutely do not have to tell me but I- just… how? Why?”

“Was just waitin’ on the right woman,” he shrugged in an attempt to appear nonchalant about the whole thing. Whether she was buying it or not, he couldn’t tell but he was certain that if she listened hard enough, she could hear his heart beating out a rhythm in time with the syllables of her name.

Because that was the real truth, wasn’t it? That he had been waiting for her.

She didn’t say anything in response, just leaned to cut the remaining space cake in half again, offering the larger half to Jamie that he almost snatched from her, anything to distance himself from the conversation that they were having.

He was grateful when she left it at that, being able to intuit that he wasn’t comfortable with the line of questioning. That night, when the effects of their morning had worn off, they rented bikes and attempted to navigate the city like the locals did, getting horribly lost and ending up drinking a beer by the canal as the sun went down. Jamie watched as the rays painted her pale skin gold and the wind caught the folds of her sundress, settling the material delicately against her bonnie wee shins. It had been the perfect day and Jamie didn’t want it to end. But he knew that it had to.

In the morning, she was getting on a plane.

“Shall we head back, d’ye think? It’s been a long day,” he said quietly, pulling her out of the daydream that she was sat in. She turned to face him with a dreamy smile on her face as she nudged his shoulder with her head.

“The best day,” she said simply. “Let’s go.”

They walked the short distance back to their hotel in silence, neither of them needing to fill it with words as they just existed in each other’s company. When they got to their hotel room, he made light work of pulling off his hoodie and collapsed onto his twin bed with the remote in his hand as she shut herself in the bathroom, the lock gently clicking behind her. Jamie ran a hand over his tired face and tried to concentrate on the tv. He had an ear for languages, being the proud new owner of a First in Modern Languages and Linguistics from Oxford, but the rules of Dutch seemed to be far removed from that of the French and German, and a little Italian, that naturally clicked together in his brain.

He strained to listen in an attempt to isolate some of the sounds, let his mind create patterns and try to fill in the gaps but he was tired and gave up quickly, punching the pillow that was under his head to prop up his neck a little further so that he could look out of the window. He heard the bathroom door unlock.

That was when he saw her. Really saw her for the first time. And it wasn’t because he could see more of her skin than he had ever seen before but because of the look that was painted on her face. Her beautiful face radiating a vulnerability and softness that he had never seen the depths of before, never as unguarded as she was in that moment. She smiled shyly at him and her hand came to cover her bare stomach slightly. Panic clutched at Jamie’s chest as he watched her wall build itself back up.

He was on his feet before he even knew it, pulling her hand back down to her side and lacing their fingers together.

It was always easier if they touched.

“What are ye doin’, Claire?” He tried to keep his voice soft, to not let the need he was feeling flow out in every word. She blushed and ducked her head, as though looking him in the eye would break the spell.

“I just thought…” she trailed off before defiantly bringing her head up and fixing him with a stare. “I can’t stand the idea of you having your first time with someone who doesn’t appreciate you.”

She had sounded strong and sure but Jamie’s head was birling. He took a step closer to her, so close that he could feel her breath on his chest and looked down at her body, barely an inch of space between them. The swell of her breasts were contained by a lace bra, a lilac so soft that it made her pale skin look like ivory against it. She was wearing matching underwear, just a scrap of material really, and his cock twitched at the thought of what she must look like from behind. The amazing arse of his best friend that he had shamefully lusted after for so long.

He raised the hand that wasn’t tangled with hers to hover over her heart, not quite touching the skin but watching as the goosebumps appeared anyway. She let out a shaky breath through perfectly pursed lips and he knew then what she was doing, the gift that she was giving him. Because she knew or at the very least suspected how he felt about her. She’d have to be blind not to see it.

She was saying goodbye.

“Claire… lass, we dinna have to do this. You dinna have to do this for me,” he whispered but he barely managed to get the words out before she popped up on her toes and closed the gap between them.

For a moment, they stood still. Neither of them moved a muscle for fear of breaking whatever magic had been cast over them. But then his mouth moved instinctively, applying pressure to her lips in an attempt to open them so his tongue could reacquaint itself with hers, so many years since they first kissed. He heard her, felt her, sigh softly and that was all the proof that he needed to wrap his arms around her and pin her to his chest, his mouth greedily seeking hers. Her hands found his face and thinking that she meant to push him away, he immediately let her go and took a step back from her, breath bursting from his lungs.

“I’m so sorry, lass, I didnae mean to get carried away-“

“Jamie, stop. You’re overthinking this,” she interrupted him by pressing her body back to his and put a steady hand on his cheek, his face leaning in to press a kiss to her open palm. The reality of the situation filled him. When the sun came up the next day, she would pack her things and they would travel to the airport to say goodbye. His chest tightened and he exhaled heavily, trying to take a steadying breath but it shattered in his throat and he tried to suck another in. Noticing that he was beginning to panic, Claire urged him to look at her. “It’s just me, Jamie, it’s us. Do you want this? Do you want me?”

“Oh God, yes.”

Their mouths snapped back together and all was right with the world. He couldn’t stop touching her, desperate to elicit sounds from her that she had kept hidden from him for so many years, ones that he thought he’d never have the privilege of hearing. An errant thought passed through his head, that maybe he should feel nervous about his first time, about not satisfying her, but the way that she was reacting to his kiss put his mind at ease. He would take everything in, commit everything to memory and be attentive to what she seemed to like and not like. She was terrible at lying, his Sassenach, and he was secure in the knowledge that he already knew her better than anyone else on this earth.

He was pulled from his thoughts at the feeling of her hands on his zipper and he groaned into their kiss as her hand brushed against his painfully hard cock through the thick material of his jeans. Everything was happening too fast and at the same time, not fast enough. He wished to be utterly consumed by her, to share something that neither of them would ever be able to take back. Something that he knew he would carry with him until the day he died.

Claire’s skilled fingers divested him of his jeans and he refused to break their kiss as he wriggled out of them, swallowing her giggles when she realised what he was up to. He ran his hands from her hips up the soft planes of her body, feeling her delicate ribs under her skin and brushing around the lace of her bra to where it joined in the back. Whether it was intuition or he fact that he practically ripped the clasp apart in blind need, he had no idea, but his fingers fumbled less than he had anticipated.

“I want to see you too,” she whispered against his lips, pulling his t-shirt over his head in one quick movement before she fixed him with a stare, licked her tongue down the palm of her hand as Jamie’s eyes widened in disbelief before her hand disappeared into the waistband of his boxers.

“Christ,” he shuddered, screwing his eyes shut in an attempt to contain the feel of her warm, wet hand on his cock. Her grip was firm on him as his jaw hung open and she greedily claimed his mouth once more as she quickened the pace.

When her mouth disappeared from his, Jamie opened his eyes in confusion to see that she’d dropped to her knees in front of him, her index fingers taking the fabric of his boxers on the same descent. The sight alone nearly undid him but it was nothing compared to the heat that enveloped him as she took him inside her mouth. Fingers immediately threaded through her hair, he squeezed his eyes shut with a gasp as she took him as far back as she could, which was no small task given the size of him. His mind betrayed him with a memory of Annalise trying her hardest but he was never truly convinced that she had wanted to do it, suspecting that she felt like it was an obligation which meant that Jamie could never really enjoy the act. As though she knew that his mind had wandered, Claire’s fingers gripped him tightly as her mouth kept a steady rhythm and his hips jerked forwards instinctively. An attempt at a stuttered apology was on the tip of his tongue but she beat him to it, moaning around him and sending delicious vibrations down his length. Knees buckling slightly at the sensation, Claire’s whisky eyes peered up at him, her lips plump and wet and with a hollowing of her cheeks and a hard suck, she sent him crashing over the edge, moaning her name as he did.

As the stars that had burst into his vision began to fade, he fought to get his breath back, feeling the brush of her body as she got up from her knees.

“Did that feel good?” She whispered as he nodded furiously, bumping their noses together in his enthusiasm. She laughed quietly and went back to kissing him, the feeling of her smile on his lips.

“It was amazing,” he told her. “Thank you.”

She laughed at his earnest gratitude, “I know how you can make it up to me.”

Taking his hand and leading the both of them towards her bed, Claire didn’t allow for too much space to come between their bodies as she lay back and pulled him down with her. Jamie’s mind raced as the sight. How many times had he imagined this? And how pitiful his imagination had been when conjuring it, missing the exquisite details like the way her her skin trembled at his touch and the softness of the sole her foot trailing up the back of his calf as he lay on top of her.

He knew that he was the luckiest man alive as he kissed down her body and a found a freckle on the inside of her thigh. To know the secret parts of her, to have her share them with him when she kept everyone else at arm’s length. How could he not be in love with her?

“Touch me, Jamie.”

He knew that those were the words that would wake him in a sweat for the years to come as he revisited this moment in his dreams. Hearing them fall from her throat was a blessing and he wasn’t one to squander such an invitation. He was trying to be gentle with her so as to not scare her off but in that moment, his trembling fingers became sure and shredded through the thin lace of her underwear, ripping them from her body with a deep growl that he didn’t know he was capable of producing. He felt her body melt into the mattress as his middle finger found her wet centre, her legs quivering in response.

“Oh, my Claire… how beautiful you feel,” he whispered as she moaned loudly, pushing her hips towards him in an attempt to receive more attention. His warm hand left her and closed around her hipbone as he kept her at a distance, blue eyes blazing into whisky ones with so much love that it made her mouth water. Not breaking eye contact, his fingers flexed around her hip, holding her in place as he brought his mouth to her core.

Claire threw her head back against the pillow, mouth agape.

“What the fuck,” she gasped. He had told her that he wasn’t entirely green behind the ears but it was nice to hear the shock in her voice as he set his tongue to work. Within minutes Claire’s body was writhing, one hand fisted in the bedsheets like she was holding on for dear life. It still wasn’t enough and so he shifted his arms underneath her, running them up the length of her back and pulling her closer into his mouth. She squeaked with surprise as she settled her weight onto her shoulders, trusting that Jamie’s strength would hold her steady as he relentlessly licked and nipped at her.

“Jamie, I’m-“

Claire was unable to finish as her words were replaced by a loud moan, Jamie’s growl indicating that he was not willing to let her go without knowing what it felt like for her lose herself on his tongue.

Fingers gripping his curls, Claire pulled slightly and he felt her entire body go rigid as she tried to control the feelings that were coursing through her body. Jamie slid two fingers into her and lightly flicked his tongue against her, holding her steady as she began to convulse in his arms. He was fascinated to learn that she didn’t make a sound, only screwed her eyes shut and let her mouth hang open as she rolled her hips against him, riding out her orgasm.

When he felt her shy away from his tongue, he gave her a final kiss and moved up towards her, delighting in the way that she curled her hand around the back of his neck and brought his mouth down to hers, tasting herself on his lips.

“Not a monk indeed,” she laughed breathily as she ran her fingers through her hair, her eyes shutting slightly as the aftershocks ran through her.

“I’m a man of many talents, if I do say so myself.”

“I wonder what else you’re good at,” she raised a single eyebrow above a pair of seductive eyes and Jamie took the opportunity to press his renewed erection against her thigh.

“Only one way to find out, I suppose.”

Her hands sought out his body again, as though they were always meant to be touching and she moaned a little when she felt that he was hard so soon after his orgasm.

“We can stop here, Jamie. This is your choice. Whatever you want.”

“I want ye so much, I can scarcely breathe. Will ye have me?”

“Yes,” she sighed deliriously, “Yes, I’ll have you.”

“Come here to me, Jamie,” she whispered as she took him in hand and lead him to her opening. He steeled himself, taking a deep breath and basking in the look of wonder on her face, soon replaced by a quiet, exquisite joy as he pushed himself home for the first time.

She was like velvet. Impossibly soft and hot, wet with her need and it was all he could manage not to immediately race to his finish, to take her with a force and a desperation that he knew was painted on his features. With the strength of an army, he stilled himself and raised his face to hers, nearly coming undone when their eyes met.

Claire had never looked at him like that. Her cheeks were flushed from her pleasure, her pupils blown wide and stunned. His soul was laid open to her and hers to him. And he knew that his face showed the unfathomable depth of his love for her, incapable of hiding it when they were joined like this.

Jamie could have stayed that way forever but his physiology had other ideas, his hips responsively snapping into hers. She moaned and tilted her hips to meet him, raising a knee upwards to cradle his side and deepen the angle of him inside of her. Jamie was completely unaware that something could feel this good and he lowered his head to capture her lips as he began to rock his hips against hers.

All worries that he may have had left him when he watched the way she responded to his body, her fingertips digging into the muscles of his biceps until he was sure that they would bruise. She was panting and moaning beneath him, making tiny movements with her body that produced huge waves of sensation in his. He was so distracted by his own pleasure that the first time she clenched lightly around him, he wasn’t even sure that it had happened. Looking down at her, he mimicked the movement with his hips and earned himself another wonderful contraction coupled with an urgent moan that ripped from her chest.

He slowed his pace, not wanting to be undone before she reached her peak and moved his fingers to her mouth which she accepted greedily. Screwing his eyes shut at the sensation, he trailed his hand down her body to the place where they joined and lightly found the bundle of nerves at the top of her sex. She convulsed, eyes snapping open in pleasure and he wished for the hundredth time that he could drown in them.

As his fingers began to stroke her, he watched as her body changed from pliant and soft to frantic and needy. Her hands moved to his arse and pulled him into her, keening at the feeling of his cock coupled by the pleasure that he was seeking in her from his fingers.

“You’re going to make me come, Jamie,” she sobbed in surprise and he doubled down his efforts to find it for her, to let her chase her pleasure before he gave in to his own. What a gift to be able to feel the way her body reacted to his, to know how it felt when she came close to her orgasm. Her tight muscles fluttered around him as he watched the flat plane of her stomach clench in an attempt to control the pleasure that was crashing through her body. It was all too much.

“Give me your mouth, Sassenach,” he gasped as he sealed his mouth to hers, their tongues hungrily seeking the other. It was the moment of combustion when they finally met and her body convulsed once more before she began to shake uncontrollably, noises coming from her that he never thought he’d hear. It was everything he needed in that moment as he began to pour himself into her, unable to stop the frantic jerk his hips as he experienced a blinding white pleasure that he’d never felt before.

Only just managing to shift his body so that he didn’t collapse his entire weight onto her, Jamie rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling as he waited for his heart rate to slow. He was hyper aware of Claire’s body beside him, of the rise and fall of her chest as she descended from waves of pleasure that he had elicited in her. He’d expected for his mind to be running a hundred miles a minute but all he felt was serenity. In that moment, the world was exactly as it should be.

“Christ,” Jamie huffed, unable to stop the air bursting from his lungs. The question fell out of him before he had a chance to stop it. “Is it always like that?”

He didn’t look at her, couldn’t force his eyes to look at her face in case he didn’t like what he saw. But his eyes began to drift closed at the feeling of Claire curling her naked body around his, bringing a bent leg to rest over his abdomen and her hair splaying on his chest.

“No, it isn’t.”

[spookyshake]

*proceeds to do exactly everything but work on my pets* H-have some faeries and lore dump I had rotting in the cabinet

[Light Faerie - Justine] A stern light faerie who manages Faerieland's treasury. Rules and regulations are her creed, and she will not allow any misdeed under her watch.

Despite her uptight demeanor, she has a peculiar fondness for games of chance. She seems to have an unwavering confidence in the certainty of numbers- and the dice, once cast, are fair and absolute arbitrators in her eyes. Of course, it could just be that she's addicted to gambling. When there's no clear protocol for a situation, she opts to flip coins and leave it to luck and happenstance.

-Fwaku's life was saved by Justine, who had happened to be passing by the area. She decided to flip a coin to determine his fate- and as luck would have it, he would survive. -The townspeople that had found Fwaku suggested that Justine should give the draik a name. The exchange probably went something like this: Townspeople: Thank you great faerie!! Would you give the honor of naming this child you just saved????? Justine: (uh shit) Give me a moment. *furious dice rolling* Justine: I grant this child the name...F..W...Q...Fwaku. Townspeople: WOW!! WHAT AN HONOR!!

(What kind of name is Fwaku......)

-While Fwaku is generally irreverent and unlikable to most parties he comes across, he displays a great deal of respect towards Faeries because of his background. Justine, in her act of saving and naming Fwaku, also unwittingly left him with a strange blessing: he has extremely good luck to the point of absurdity, which has saved his skin from karmic retribution countless times in the past.

---

[Fire Faerie - Heliae] A go-getter fire faerie with a particularly strong affinity to her element. Still young for a faerie, she has trouble controlling her excessive energy and often bursts into flames when she's excited.

Fun-loving but a bit careless, she loves to attend concerts, festivals, and other events where crowds gather...a serious fire hazard waiting to happen. She doesn't seem to fully grasp the danger she poses to those around her, and was originally sequestered away in Faerieland before she decided to run away- as you do, when you're a young faerie whose had your freedom denied.

Very explosive. very explosive. very explosive.................................

---

[Earth Faerie - Lottie] A lax but cryptic earth faerie who appreciates tranquility. She wandered into Kiko Lake some long time ago, and has since stuck around trying to achieve what she calls 'perfect bliss.' Generally found quietly meditating and contemplating her surroundings- usually with sweets and a cup of borovan as accompaniment. Her perception of time seems to be a little out of sync with the world around her.

Though usually impassive and calm, she hates above else having her peace and quiet disturbed. She will, with a quiet but tremendous fury, catapult raucous intruders out the window. Her longest recorded throw was over a mile! So impressive is her throwing skill, that kiko children often dare one another to see who can get flung the farthest.

-Because the architecture around Kiko Lake are built with kikos in mind, it's not uncommon to see the faerie bump her head on the door frames and ceilings. Fortunately, there's also never a shortage of bandages in the vicinity.

[Dover] Brown Kiko. Ever since Lottie began living on their family land generations back, their crops have prospered- especially asparagus. Now, the family is in the Borovan business, exporting premium blends of chocolate and asparagus for which Kiko Lake is now famed.

Dover isn't the kiko's real name- that was the name of his great great grandfather, but Lottie doesn't seem to make a distinction. All of her little helper kikos are 'Dover' to her. His job is to run around fulfilling Lottie's errands, whether that be procuring snacks or chasing pesky kids out of her yard.

---

[Dark Faerie - Alluce] A vain dark faerie living near Neovia, known to kidnap Neopets to force into servitude. She periodically terrorizes the citizens of Neovia to spread her influence. She wants, above all, to be feared and revered! ...but her actual ambitions tend to be quite small and petty. Knowledgeable about mirrors and magic involving them.

Though she revels in garnering fear, she's rather full of fears and cares herself- the thought of the true horrors lurking within the depths of the Haunted Woods makes her quiver. All smoke and mirrors, no bite.

-Doesn't get along well with Clariote. Alluce can't maintain her high-and-mighty mistress of evil theatrics against Clari's general irreverence. ABSOLUTELY D I S R E S P E C T F U L

---

[Air Faerie - Nephele] A fickle air faerie scout with a light-hearted but arrogant demeanor. One of the faeries tasked by Justine to recover Faerieland's lost artifacts, which were scattered across the lands in the aftermath of the Faerie's Ruin. Holds a strong belief that Neopets are lesser beings, considering them to be incompetent without Faeries.

Rand (Faerie Tonu) and  Bell's (Faerie Tuskaninny) supervisor. She usually leaves the Neopets to do all the dirty work and takes credit for their efforts, usually under the justification that Neopets 'owe' the Faeries anyways.

---

[Social Media Faerie - Papilla] A young faerie, rare in her time (Einse’s Future). Big-time celebrity and social media influencer, she loves travelling Neopia and blogging about her adventures (and promoting sponsored products.) Has a great love towards Neopets and lives life at her fullest interacting with them, but holds feelings of isolation due to being perhaps the last known faerie in Neopia. She’s invested in discovering why Faeries have all but disappeared in her time, and spends some of her time flitting across Neopia looking into the matter. She has a terrible sense of humor, and she sometimes has strange fits where she floods her social media with incomprehensible jokes and memes- terrorizing her followers’ feeds. She does all this in earnest, thinking her jokes are hilarious, but her fans generally think she’s just trolling and get a kick out of it. This creates a strange cycle of positive reinforcement as Papilla continues to get many reactions from her bad jokes, reinforcing her confidence in her humor. SOMEONE STOP THIS FAERIE

------------------------------------

[The dynamic between Faeries and Neopets] Neopets aid Faeries, Faeries grant blessings. The dynamic between Neopets and Faeries is mutually beneficial, for the most part.

-Power of belief is essential to grant power to a Faerie's magic. Neopets, by helping Faeries on the premise that they will receive a reward or be granted a blessing, creates a transaction of belief. This is the premise of Faerie quests, which plays a vital role in powering the barrier that protects Neopia from wraiths (among other things.)

-Faeries are perhaps better defined as 'memetic' as opposed to 'elemental'- their magic is framed on a concept or idea, which relies on the belief/understanding/recognition of the themes surrounding the idea in question. The more wide-spread and strongly understood the idea, the greater the manifestation of a faerie's magic. (Motes, though simpler entities, also work on the same logic)

The basic elements, for example, are widely and easily understood as a concept- which may be why the majority of the faerie population falls in this category. (Something like a singular 'Fire' Faerie, for example, would probably be TOO POWERFUL AN IDEA to contain as a single being, so instead there's just a lot of them.)

-Names are very important, because they give shape to a concept or idea. -When they're cut-off from belief, they lose strength (Bottled Faeries) -They can shrink! Probably to conserve magic. -A Faerie without wings is essentially unheard of (with the special exception of Water Faeries). Taking away their wings is one of the most heinous things you can do to a Faerie. -Faeries are born spontaneously? Most of them just appear one day out of the ether or whatever. -They're ageless and nigh immortal

they're......the OG gijinkas <-- hold on this is actually somewhat relevant but that's a story for another time

[Shenkuu - A curious case study of Kaia, the Shenkuu Faerie] Kaia the Shenkuu Faerie appeared spontaneously in a relatively recent timeframe- probably within an average Neopian lifetime. She's a young faerie, younger than most of her kind. She's in the same category as Jhuidah and Taelia- faeries with a strong conceptual connection to the land they watch over.

There are no other (known) faeries in Shenkuu, which implies that the faerie population in Shenkuu is very low or...non-existent? At the very least, it can be said that Faeries are novel in Shenkuu, given that Kaia mentions how everyone stares at her. If we go a step further, we could postulate that Faeries, as a concept, isn't a part of common knowledge in Shenkuu as a whole.

Almost as if the concept of 'Faeries' have never existed here...?

-Shenkuu was a land that had barred itself from the outside world for an undetermined amount of time. The land only recently opened their doors to the rest of Neopia (Cyodrake's Gaze) (*in my lore I'm pinning that down to like 10~15 yrs ago for character reasons but passage of time in Neopia is not very well defined so.... shrugs) -It can be assumed that there was still some exchange occurring with the outside at a smaller scale (Airship merchants, travellers who ended up in or out of Shenkuu by happenstance, Neopians living in areas close to but not quite in Shenkuu proper, etc) -Assumably, Shenkuu has a history perhaps dating back to the heyday of Altador and other 'ancient' civilizations (1000+ years) -This creates a situation where: a. There never were faeries to begin with in Shenkuu or b. There used to be faeries, but they disappeared from Shenkuu AND from common knowledge

-Kaia's manifestation may have been the direct result of the opening of Shenkuu to Neopia- with the arrival of outside trade and ideas, so too did the knowledge of Faeries. Once the faerie 'meme' took hold in Shenkuu, where there was a void of Faeries, it took form as the Shenkuu Faerie: Kaia. This is why she's so young as a faerie- she probably spawned sometime between Cyodrake's Gaze and the present day. (Alternatively, she might have existed in Shenkuu before the events of Cyodrake's Gaze but I think it still holds that she popped up in a pretty recent timeframe.) Kaia herself only seems to know Faeries through the knowledge she received from travelers.  

[xsecretblastsx]

1x07 - Victor, Victrola

Finally! This is one of the most iconic episodes of this show and one I’ve been dying to get to since I’ve started with these recaps, Here we go! 

This one got so long I’ve decided to post it with a keep reading brake. 

Thoughts I had while watching the episode:

I love that it opens with a vintage filter, which I don’t think I’ve noticed much the first time. I do remember thinking of this little preview “Guess Chuck’s meeting someone who’ll give him a run for his money”

Also how good is that shot of the those hills climbing up the steps, or maybe is just that I love the shoes

These is one of my all time fave Blair’s school outfits, she looks so pretty, and I love the obnoxiously big red bow.

Things I should have wondered, wasn’t this something Chuck would have show Nate before her? But this scene is a quick way to show that they’re in fact really good friends

“What happens at Victrola stays at Victrola” Not really Chuck, not really

God I hate Nate’s Dad

I don’t know why but I found a bit funny how the Captain’s office has so many little nautical details, kind of oversell

“I think I saw it next to that ambiguous vague shape” hi mom!

Dan lamenting that new Yorkers don’t have cars and therefore teens can’t make out in them, yeah Dan about that…

Nate’s attempt at bribing Jenny it’s so lame it’s almost funny

Chuck casually pointing out to Lilly that she missed a button, oh Lily!

It’s almost endearing to see Chuck put so much effort with his dad and how eager and accommodating he gets when his father says yes.

I love the scenes were Serena and Blair have typical best friends conversations.

OMG I had totally forgot that Dan was reading the Kamasutra in search of inspiration, also getting this anxious and picturing all these scenarios in his head. I feel you dude.

Does that cherry stem trick is actually possible? Ugh why am I even thinking about that.  Though didn’t the show used that bit on a poster?

That dress does looks ugly in a hanger

That was a good analogy of Vanessa’s role in this show.

Lily was so nice to Chuck from the start, as early as this episode, theirs is one of my favorite parental relationship in the show

How does Vanessa knows all about Serena’s hook up history though? Didn’t she went on Gossip Girl or Dan has a big mouth? Well I guess is the same thing.

“Game recognizes Game little J” Oh Blair you have no idea, also no, the Vanderbilt is ring is not the most amazing ring you’ll ever see.

Gotta admire the show’s attention to detail, Serena and Nate may be making out on Dan’s kitchen, but they still use the same background music they used the first time we saw that scene, but relly I had forgot how much fun I laugh with all his imagined scenarios.

For once I actually feel bad for Dan, having your own father tell you to get rid of those sheets. Akward.

Aside from Nate’s dad, and maybe Eleanor everyone else at that dinner really looks like they want to be anywhere else but there.

“I tried Blair” oh please Nate, you call her once, it went to voice mall and you couldn’t bother again, but I guess it was just easier to go to the palace to talk to Serena.

I remember the first time I watched this I was like “Yes Blarir finally! You tell him!

It should have been obvious since earlier in the episode, but when she steps out of that car it was the first moment it hit me that OMG the girl at the start of the episode was Blair! It is funny how while I already knew that now, the same thought kind of hit me again.

YOU GO BABY VAMP!

‘You still would do anything to get a girl on her back though’ it would not be S1 episode without a bit of Lily and Rufus banter

“Nobody’s ever looked at me the way you just did” what a telling line. Though did Dan and Serena did it or not?

Iconic scene is iconic.  Vintage filter and all.

Gossip Girl was never the same again

What a good episode in every way. Normally I always get bored with one of the little subplots, but not on this one. Hell I actually liked Dan and Serena this week, which hadn’t happened like since 1x01, and even then it was with a grain of salt. This episode is also hilarious, I didn’t watch this when it aired so I don’t know if they hinted at Blair and Chuck in one of their promos, but I hoped they didn’t because I like the way the episode flows a lot, we spend the whole episode seeing Dan getting anxious about losing his virginity, and then out of nowhere it’s Blair the one that ends up the night no longer a virgin.

Also I did enjoy this episode so much more this time around not only because well I’m a chair fan but because there are a lot of little details, almost like Easter eggs that point out to the last scene, like Dan pointing out the tragedy of New York’s teens without car where they can make out, or when Serena tells Blair that maybe planning and thinking too much about it may ruin the moments, and then you have Blair at the end of the episode losing her virginity on Limo without planning it at all.

In the Dan and Serena front though this episode is one that gives a bit more insight on the why’s Serena can’t never really forget a about Dan. She had being treated awfully by most guys she ever came across, and Dan’s the first that actually treats her like she’s worth it and worries about her feelings, we know it’s not as perfect as she sees it, he had been pretty judgmental of her in half of the episodes so far, but she doesn’t realize it because she’s used to man objectifying her for a long time now, she doesn’t see her own value, and that’s the tragedy of Serena’s character and why she deserved so much better.

This episode is also the one in which Nate’s family issues get to a boiling point, we finally see the amount of problems Nate’s dad has and why he’s absolute trash, and things are only about to get even worse. Really this episode almost everyone in the parental front is keeping a secret or being in denial, trying to keep the status quo in their lives, in contrast most of the teens are at the verge of really taking a step into action, Nate finally does something to put a stop to his dad lies by getting him arrested, Serena is experiencing a loving relationship for the first time, Dan gets ready to leave his virgin status behind, Chuck is taking his first steps in the business goals and Blair is finally ready to accept that his relationship with Nate must end. In the end though, of course Chuck and Blair went through something else this week.

Honestly, what can I say about Chuck and Blair in this episode that hasn’t been said before. This is the start of one the most iconic couples in T.V. I mean if they were real people this was the night that changed the course of their lives forever, it’s a monumental moment for so many reasons. There’s Blair who up until now, has never contemplated a future that doesn’t includes Nate, but as each previous episode showed holding up to that future gets harder and harder, no matter what she does, he seems farther and farther away from her reach, she tries being sexy,  ruining Serena, elaborate games  and none of it goes, by the time the family dinner comes to be, she’s exhausted, she’s all prim and proper, Vanderbilt ring in her hand and she’s never looked more miserable. And so she lets go of Nate, and goes to the one place she can escape from it ill, it’s a very obvious visual image but still I love the moment the dress came off is the moment one can tell she’s finally free from it all, basking in that relief she said she felt.

So she dances, and she does it for Chuck Bass. It may have happened because of a dare but really it’s almost logical that she let’s all her uptightness on the floor in his company because if one goes back and looks to the previous six episodes she’s at her realest with him, since the first episode he doesn’t sugar coats her thoughts with him, doesn’t pretend to be nicer, makes him a part of her plots and he knows about all her issues with Nate, their friendship is a lowkey constant in the background, and this episode starts with a reminder of that fact, he takes her to Victrola because he trust her judgment above all others, his second toughest critic, only behind his dad. Their friendship is one factor about them that I feel got lost as the season go by, but it’s one of my favorite aspects about them, because that was the very first layer of their relationship.

They probably never thought about their friendship being something especial, about the fact that they shared bits of each other in a way they didn’t do with Nate and Serena, they always had chemistry and in some deep part of their brain they probably knew it all along, but it was much better to ignore it because what was the point, but is funny how as soon as Nate is out of the picture and it’s just them without inhibitions, this happens.

It’s not hard to imagine that Chuck had always thought she was “10 times hotter than pretty much anyone” This is Chuck Bass after all, and he also admired her personality, it wouldn’t surprise me if he thought that Nate was probably the worst match for a girl like Blair, and yet the way he looks at her while she’s dancing, he’s in complete awe of her, he already had her in high regards, but he had no idea that when she lets herself be free she’s the most mesmerazing thing he has seen, and oh how he wants her, it’s written all over his face when he says how amazing she was up there, and Blair who’s used to be unwanted by Nate can’t help but be drawn to it and so she kisses him, and he knows he could go for it and she most likely won’t reject him, still he asks her if she’s sure because he knows that while sex is not a big deal for him, the first time was important to her and how she only tried to rush into it until she felt she was losing, he had first row seats to all the drama that was her relationship with Nate, and so with that little question he lets her know that there’s no pressure, and also a first clear nod to how she’s different for him, he may be all for encouraging a girl to sleep with him, but not this time, and she knows it and she takes the leap, she’s doing this for her, because she wants to, not forcing it as she always had to.

  Iconic scene is iconic.  

Random bits:

I can’t remember if it was mentioned before but Chuck’s line “he was born poor; I was born loaded” is the first mention of the fact that the Basses are new money.

Without you ends up being a really accurate song for their whole relationship.: 

I don't want this moment to ever end Where everything's nothing without you I'll wait here forever just to, to see you smile 'Cause it's true: I am nothing without youThrough it all, I made my mistakes I stumble and fall, but I mean these wordsI want you to know: with everything, I won't let this go These words are my heart and soul I'll hold on to this moment, you know 'Cause I'd bleed my heart out to show that I won't let go 

[charliejrogers]

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - Review & Analysis

What a weird, wonderful movie. Miracle on 34th Street is quite possibly the oddest Christmas movie I’ve ever seen. In part this is due to the fact that some stuff just doesn’t age well. How many old, strange men are you willing to let your seven-year-old daughter hang out alone with, Ms. Doris Walker?! But also it’s weird because because despite its typical Christmas-movie themes of faith/belief, true love, family, etc… it’s a wholly unique film that doubles as a legal drama!

This was my first viewing of the perennial classic, a film which started as a story by Valentine Davies and was adapted for the screen and then subsequently directed by George Seaton. Though baptized a Roman Catholic, Seaton himself grew up in a Jewish neighborhood of Detroit. He even had a bar mitzvah. I wonder how much of Seaton’s upbringing affected the final product we see. The central theme of holding faith in something that doesn’t make sense to those around you probably resonated strongly for the director who as a kid who became interested in a religion that was foreign to both of his Swedish immigrant parents.

From a direction standpoint, it’s fairly by the books and of its time, with a few notable exceptions, one being the opening credits sequence which shows a lone man walking slowly about the NYC streets from behind. He’s dressed in all black and we have no idea who he could be. He could literally be anyone in the world. Then all of a sudden, like magic, his face is revealed: the man we’re following is Santa Claus! Or, at least it looks a whole lot like him. What is Santa Claus doing in New York? Is this even Santa Claus?

These are questions that end up being central to the movie and just straight up never get answered. I loved that writing choice. The writing is the first of the film’s three big stars. This film won the Oscar for both best story and best adapted screenplay and it deserves every ounce of those awards. The story is so sublimely clever. Put shortly, the movie is about a man who claims to be Santa Claus and due to his uncanny resemblance to the jolly holiday figure, his natural aptitude for talking to children, and his almost savant-like knowledge of toy stores in Manhattan, he gets hired to be the mall Santa for Macy’s flagship Manhattan store. However, not everyone is as convinced that he is the real Kris Kringle. Certainly the Macy’s company psychologist does not. An uptight and unpleasant man, he (like others) thinks Kringle is utterly delusional but (unlike others) he also thinks these delusions presage future violence whenever inevitably others may challenge Kringle on this delusion. The psychologist thus schemes to get Mr. Kringle committed to *cue thunderclaps* Bellevue!

What ensues is a legal battle. I can’t imagine any other Christmas movie whose climax ends in a courtroom but it’s an incredibly satisfying thing to watch. We have the idealistic lawyer, Mr. Fred Gailey, who believes that Kringle, while clearly delusional, poses no actual threat to the community and actually does the community a great service in spreading kindness. Nevertheless, has to prove that Mr. Kringle is legally THE Mr. Kringle lest Kringle spend the rest of his life in the looney bin. Note… I have a very healthy and “modern” view of mental health, and would never use the term “looney bin” to describe today’s mental health hospital… but I use the term here because the images we get in the film of Bellevue’s inpatient psych ward are of sedated men in all-white clothing… in other words the movie certainly thinks of being in a psych ward as a looney bin, which adds a bit of dramatic tension to the story.

There’s certainly some not-so-subtle condemnation of psychology going on this movie (at least of the kind practiced by the Macy’s psychologist, Mr. Sawyer (a snivelling Porter Hall)). This was coming at a time when increasingly science was taking the place of religion, so it makes sense that psychology would be an enemy in a movie about faith and clinging to things that don’t make sense. The trial over the existence of Santa Claus almost serves as an inverse Scopes Monkey trial; Kringle even ironically compares his lawyer to Clarence Darrow, the lawyer on behalf of science.

What this movie nails so absolutely perfectly is that honestly… I don’t know if Kringle really isn’t Santa Claus. I’m not claiming that Santa exists in the real world, but in the world of this film, it’s really not obvious whether the film leans one way or another. That’s an ambiguity that tends to make art shine when it’s present. We see through Gailey’ legal maneuvering that the legal defense for Santa Claus’ existence is tenuous at best. At one point he calls the prosecutor’s child to the witness stand to argue that Santa Claus must be real since that is what his Dad (the prosecutor) has always told him. Therefore it seems like the film’s psychological explanations are probably the most likely. Yet at the same time… when a little Dutch girl comes to see Santa at Macy’s because she can “just tell” he’s the real Santa… why else would Kringle know Dutch songs about Santa off the top of his head? Why does an old man who lives in an old folk’s home on Long Island know so much about Manhattan’s toy stores?

And then there’s the more practical questions about Santa lore. Why is Santa in New York? He says he was born in the North Pole… so why did he leave? If he’s real, then why does he need to direct parents on where to buy the best toys? Is it merely that the world has outgrown him?

There’s also a whole economic piece of the script that I won’t even fully touch on. But basically Kringle in attempt to do right by parents, doesn’t merely recommend toys from the Macy’s toy department, but lets them know about better deals on toys that are located in stores elsewhere in Manhattan, including those that are rivals of Macy’s! This policy is such a hit with customers, it ushers in a revolution in department store policy, with department stores across the nation vying to extend more goodwill to customers. As I said, there’s something in there about the power of the free market and how capitalism doesn’t have to be evil... but I’ll leave it there and return to the central questions of the film. Like... does Santa Claus exist?

I don’t know! But the film raises really interesting questions and just leaves them there for us to sit with. Everything that the film tells us points us to the common sense conclusion that this man is NOT the genuine Jolly fellow… yet we want to believe there’s something more and that’s what makes this film so special. We literally as the audience go through the same mental charades as the characters in the film.

Thus far, I’ve attributed this brilliance to the plot, but there’s another absolutely vital element: the performance by Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle. This guy deserves every ounce of his Oscar for his performance. There’s not a second that he’s on screen that he doesn’t ooze charisma and charm. This whole movie would fall apart were it not for him, good plotting be damned, since we need to believe, even for mere fits and flitters, that this man is Santa Claus.

Never is he more convincing than when he interacts with children. There’s the absolutely magical scene with the little Dutch girl I mentioned above, but it’s when Kringle chats with little Susan Walker (played to heart-melting perfection by nine-year-old actor Natalie Wood whose got a stink face that never ceased to make me chuckle) that this movie achieves greatness. Though the trial scenes put the theme of faith vs. psychology at the forefront, the real heart of this movie is the conflict of faith vs. practicality. Little Susan is raised by her mother (and her Black nanny/house-caretaker who gets depressingly little credit… or screentime), and her mother Doris Walker (Maureen O’Hara) is a thoroughly practical women. She’s a high-up exec at Macy’s, and seemingly one of the only women to be in such a position. As such, she’s a unique character for her time. Rigidly pragmatic, she eschews any and all attempts at fun and imagination for her daughter (as well as for herself). We get the sense that a different film, a different story, might dive deep into Walker’s struggles as a single mother in the 1940’s trying to be taken seriously in the business world. In a sense, she’s a forerunner to Faye Dunaway’s character in Network. She was clearly hurt by romance in the past (she and her husband divorced, which I imagine was rather scandalous at the time), and this fear of getting hurt by romance is what compels her to teach her daughter to avoid the stuff completely.

Clearly, there’s some cool gendered stuff going on here. Imagination, romance, faith: these are all things that are stereotypically more female-coded, while business, pragmatism are more male-coded. You inherit your father’s name but your mother’s religion as the old tradition went. And in our society at least, the latter (pragmatism/business) is supposed to make you successful and get you places… the former (faith/romance) does not. Yet in this movie, we have idealism and romance of our male lawyer Fred Gailey (John Payne) and the pragmatism of our female businesswoman Doris Walker. It’s a fun play on typical gender norms, but more interesting is to see how this duality plays out in the development of little Susan under the dual influences of her mother and the combination of Misters Gailey & Kringle.

Natalie Wood goes down in the pantheon of all-time great child actors, up there with the kid from Kramer vs. Kramer. She’s precocious but not in a way that’s off-putting. The way she evaluates the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in such a matter-of-fact way is hilarious, and as I mentioned the stink eye she gives Kringle when he tries to tell her that he’s Santa is nothing short of perfect. Over the course of the film, we see her more harsh nature melt away and she becomes a kid. It’s a beautiful reminder of that childhood only comes once in a lifetime. If this movie shows us nothing, it’s how hard it is to maintain a sense of levity once one becomes an adult. We have to start worrying about what our bosses might think, what the press/public might think, what voters(!) might think. Never again will it be fully OK to have your heads in the clouds and believe in nonsense, so why take that away from children.

As much as this is a perfect film, I could have done without the romance plot. Mostly because it seems unnecessary. Doris seems to change in her attitudes towards Kringle and towards raising her daughter that constitute enough character growth thata having her all of a sudden fall head over heels for Gailey just seems forced. For that matter… Gailey’s a weird dude. This movie romanticizes a weird, creepy type of romance where Gailey spends time with a small girl just to get time with that girl’s mother. Walker and Gailey are such opposites and share no on-screen chemistry, that I just didn’t buy the plot.

But that’s OK. It’s a small blemish on an otherwise wonderful film. It hits different emotions than, say, It’s A Wonderful Life, but it’s magical all that same, and one that I can actually imagine children wanting to watch. It’s unceasingly clever plot, matched by a once-in-a-lifetime performance by Edmund Gween as Kris Kringle and a great child actor performance from Wood make this a must-see movie for any holiday movie fan.

***/ (Three and a half out of four stars)

[neo-culture-taste]

Loosen Your Tie, Doyoung

Genre: AU, college, frat life, comedy, romance

Pairing: Doyoung X Fem (w/ the lovely appearance of fuccboi Yuta)

Rating: M for language, suggestive themes

Word Count: 9100+

Summary: He was an uptight nerd that just wanted to relax after taking his exams, but the universe had something more eventful planned for this particular evening.

Masterlist in blog description @neo-culture-taste.

Author’s note: A year ago Nctzens were given the gift that was NCT 2018 and with that gift came Doyoung’s teaser photo with him donning a blazer and tie. That one photo caused my creative juices to flow and thus this oneshot was born—an entire year ago. So a whole year later and a few tweaks here it is. Enjoy! - C

P.S - my imagination was running rampant when I first wrote this so 🤷🏽‍♀ 

“You have five minutes left.”

He flinched at the sudden tickle of the proctor’s words against his skin as he whispered into his ear. Doyoung absentmindedly nodded in agreement forcing down a scowl at the interruption of re-re-re-reviewing his physics based calculus midterm exam for the fourth time.

He absolutely hated computer-based exams. He had written several letters to the head of the physics department pleading that they change their decision on computer-based tests, citing that difficult mathematical exams of this magnitude would be more beneficial if the professors were present for any questions the student(s) may have. Not to mention the wrong numerical typo could be the decision between an A or D, and unfortunately Doyoung had witnessed that first hand amongst he and his classmates. It was a depressing sight to see aspiring engineers momentarily yanking their hairs out in fear of failing an exam thanks to one little, measly typo.

At first his letters fell on deaf ears until he became a class representative for his major on the student council. He was tired of seeing his classmates struggle and tired of having to visit his professor after each exam on the basis of a typo in order to raise his 93% A to a 100% A+. The department heads had no choice but to listen to the pleas of both Doyoung and his fellow students after a lengthy, yet informative presentation to the entire department.

After reaching the final question on what would be his last computer based physics exam of the semester, Doyoung took a deep breath and hovered the mouse over the submit button. The computer would automatically score his test once the time went down whether he was ready to see his grade or not; so deciding to bite the bullet, he closed his eyes and hit submit only waiting a few seconds before opening his eyes.

A beautiful 15 out of 15, 100% A+ graced the liquid crystal display, and a large smile fanned over Doyoung’s face as he released the breath he didn’t know he was holding. Unfortunately, the wretched garlic breath of the proctor finally infiltrated his senses despite occurring five minutes prior. That was just how focused he was.

Doyoung exited the exam’s browser and reached for his backpack underneath his chair, careful not to disturb the other students. With a bounce in his step he made way for the quad, stopping momentarily to do a celebratory twirl in the middle of the hallway and then popping in his earbuds. He had aced all of his midterms and could finally relax and take full advantage of a well-deserved break.

The sun was shining as brightly as ever casting shadows on students spread throughout the quad. Some were furiously doing last minute cramming, while others cried oceans of tears over their unsuccessful attempts at cramming, and others mirrored Doyoung and radiated the same exam-passing glow.

Feeling starved after supplying the neurons in his brain with enough glucose to ace his exam, Doyoung decided to make a quick turnaround in the quad and head towards the dining hall. Upon entering the cafeteria, he swiped his meal card before quickly reveling in the realization that today was Pizza Friday.

He grabbed a plate from the counter and loaded it with four slices of pizza before moving to the fruit counter to grab some watermelon. Once he was finished, he noticed that his favorite booth in the back corner of the dining hall was free, prompting him to maneuver his way towards it. He carefully placed his plates on the table and threw his backpack in the other side of the booth before realizing he was missing a nice, cold beverage to accompany his lunch.

He made his way to the drink counter which was only a couple feet away, filling two plastic cups with soda so he didn’t have to get up and get more later. Once finished, he made way toward his booth, the music in his ears keeping him walking at a steady beat, but also prompting him to do another victory spin.

However, his twirl unfortunately did not come to completion because he felt the sudden collision of his hands against another object. Despite the heavy base rippling through his ear canal, he heard the spine-chilling shriek erupting from the human body directly in front of him; the contents of both his glasses inappropriately bathing the front of her blouse. He quickly popped out the ear buds form his ears, a flurry of apologies falling from his lips--some coherent and some barely even a language.

He looked down at the ruined white blouse before him in dismay. The palms of the soda soaked girl were turned upward as if she had absolutely no idea how to move on from this situation that could have been avoided. And the longer she stood in front of Doyoung, the quicker the liquid spread across her blouse, finding a comfortable fiber to soak into all while revealing a baby blue lace tank top underneath that clung to the curvature of her bosom. To make matters worse, the liquid had trickled down the front of her skirt and down her legs, causing Doyoung to give her an unintentional once over. Once his eyes returned upward, she served him expressions of both shock and lividness to say the least.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you-“ He said quickly setting down his now empty glasses in order to grab napkins to help her. With a bit too much force, she yanked the napkins from his hands and began aggressively patting her chest. He felt bad. But not bad enough to dampen his post test high. Ain’t nobody would be fucking with his post test high. “I can go ask for a towel-“

“Ew. A dirty dishrag? Don’t worry about it. I live in the dorm next door. But watch where you’re twirling next time, you fake ass ballerina.” The girl abruptly threw her damp napkins on the table, her neck tinged with a rosy shade from anger and embarrassment before quickly scurrying away.

Doyoung hung his head low and turned back to his table picking up the wet napkins in disgust, as she had thrown them on his Friday pizza and watermelon.  It was an accident for goodness sake, but she didn’t have to be so rude about it either, Doyoung thought. He tried to apologize! And that was one of the reasons why he kept to himself most times and disliked significant amounts of human interaction. Someone was always bound to piss him off.

"If you're just going to sit there and mean mug your plate, then why not give me what's on it.”

Speaking of someone always pissing him off, Doyoung looked up from the table as he was pulled away from glaring at his pizza by the voice of the ultimate pain in the ass of his life: Nakamoto Yuta.

“Shake it off, bro. A little wet pepperoni never killed anybody,” said Yuta has he grabbed a slice of pizza from Doyoung’s plate and shook it from side to side before sitting across from him. Yuta was one of Doyoung’s few close friends and the use of the word “friend” to describe Yuta was oftentimes inaccurate.

Continuing to munch on Doyoung’s pizza, he chuckled. “I saw what happened, dude. Smooth move! When I suggested you should get a girl wet after midterms I didn’t mean like that.” Yuta was the last person Doyoung wanted to see his blunder with the opposite sex. Whenever hilarious, embarrassing, or social status dampening events occurred, Yuta was like the appointed historian to always make people remember times they wished hadn’t even occurred.

Doyoung sent Yuta a death glare but it only resulted in more loud chuckling from his friend. It really was times like these that Doyoung questioned why he had continued to keep Yuta around after entering university. He didn’t take his studies seriously like Doyoung, despite being at the university on a soccer scholarship where he needed to keep his marks up. He also had proved to be unreliable, as on countless occasions he flaked on hanging out because he said he “needed to give thanks to mother nature for the cosmic gift she had bestowed upon man in the form of female orgasms” through numerous trysts with the university’s cheerleaders. One would assume that someone who only wanted to climb the social ladder, attend the best college parties, and drink until he was ass-backwards or passed out (if it was the off season) would have already left a hardworking nerd, who desperately wanted to become an engineer. Alas...he didn’t. The two of them were like night and day, yet they just couldn’t be one without the other.

Despite being a huge nuisance to his nerves, Yuta did however possess the minimal characteristics of what Doyoung would qualify the use of the “friend” title. Sometimes. He was an asshole but he was an asshole that looked out for Doyoung and was always there to lend a helping hand, albeit it oftentimes led to more harm than good whenever Yuta inserted himself in a situation. But his intentions were in the right place and the situations would eventually work themselves out. All in all, there was some use to keeping Yuta around. And it wasn't all one big headache. They had fun a lot of the time, too.

Defeated, Doyoung picked up one of his slices that hadn’t been tormented by the wet paper. “Why are you here, Yuta? Shouldn’t you still be in a midterm or something?”

Yuta sighed. “I just finished up, actually. It was an oral final, but it didn’t last that long.” He shrugged his shoulders with disinterest.

“You waited until the last minute to come up with what you were going to say, didn’t you?” questioned Doyoung innocently wiping some pizza sauce from the corner of his mouth.

Yuta cocked his head to the side and looked at Doyoung somewhat disappointedly. “No, no. I went prepared. I could have tongued a few more sentences if she would have let me. But she grabbed the back of my hair too roughly, and then she came all over my tongue, but was too stimulated to con-“

Doyoung choked for obvious reason. “Yuta!” He reached for one of his glasses only to realize it was empty and quickly remembered the accident with the girl that had happened a few minutes prior.

“What?” asked Yuta nonchalantly.

“I’m eating! And it’s pizza day!” He was accustomed to his friend being lewd at all hours of the day and normally it wouldn't phase him, but he had been caught off guard this time.

“And I got an A! What’s the problem?!” Yuta reached in his backpack for his water bottle and tossed it towards Doyoung who was still coughing over loose pizza crust.

Taking a long ass swig, Doyoung gave Yuta a pointed look before harshly whispering. “You had relations with your professor?! Do you know how much trouble you would be in with the university if anyone found out? Not to mention you would probably get kicked off the team and consequently kicked out of school!”

Yuta did a dramatic neck and eye roll at his friend across the table. “Sometimes...I want to twist the stick that’s shoved so far up your ass and make you mellow out.”

“You and everyone else,” muttered Doyoung as he stared incredulously at the idiot.

“I’m in college, dude,” continued Yuta. “I’m allowed to fuck up.  And if you must know I did do my presentation in class and earned my A the right way. I just…had more things to say that wasn’t able to fit within the time limit. And I had already requested an appointment for office hours beforehand and this chemistry had been brewing between us since the beginning of the semester. So one thing led to another and--“

“Yuta, fuck off,” said Doyoung, his tolerance wearing thin. “Between you and that girl I just ran into, the both of you have tried my patience today. I aced all my midterms and I just want to be left alone to recuperate.”

“Now you know how I feel having a friend that only wants to study all day! You’re always so serious. Once we graduate you will regret not having as much or more fun as I’m having. You need to loosen your tie, Doyoung, and liiiive~. The books will always be there but your youth won’t. Get this pussy now and get the money later!"

Now it was Doyoung's turn to cock his head to the side as he absentmindedly forked his watermelon. “Do you ever think about what you say before you say it, Yuta? Do you ever realize what kind of idiotic logic you’re spewing?”

“It’s not idiotic. It’s fact. Now moving on to the real reason I interrupted your lonely ass pizza day.” He shoved a neon green flyer adorned with terrible font towards Doyoung’s side of the table. “I’m throwing my first official party tonight at the frat house. You had been ignoring my texts all week because you were studying or whatever it is you do when you read a book and make flashcards. So now I’m reminding you in the flesh. I’m treating this party as if it is my first kid. If it’s successful, I know I can bang out a few more. So I need you to come out and support me like the true friend I know that you are.” Yuta batted his eyelashes at Doyoung who merely pushed his plate away, his appetite clearly vanishing.

“Yuta, I hate parties and all that encompasses them. And as a true friend you would already know this.” He slid the flyer back towards Yuta and reached for his backpack.

“Doyoung, please. You haven’t been to a party in the three years that we’ve been here and you literally have nothing exciting planned for tonight, and I know because you're you and you never really do anything besides…doing nothing.”

Doyoung scoffed and stood up, partly because he was annoyed and partly because Yuta was correct with his assumption. He was indeed going home to do nothing exciting in particular, but at least he wouldn’t be surrounded by wasted young adults who just wanted to fuck each other and adults that couldn’t take the hint and graduate already because they were scared of adult responsibilities.

“C’mon, dude!” Yuta stood up to stand eye level with his basic ass friend. “I really need you to be there.”

“Why?”

Yuta ran his hands down his face before calmly placing his hands on his hips. “The only way I can strip this one girl and bathe in her cosmic essence—with her permission of course—is if you come to the party and…y’know, hang out with her friend. Who, by the way, thinks you’re really attractive for some reason. I think she likes the way your tie is tightly wound around your neck like it’s choking you, but you find a way to sexily breathe through it. And that any minute you’ll rip it off and bind her wrists or blindfold her or some shit. I don't know. Girls are weird. But she likes you, man! She just wants to make sure your stuck up façade and actual personality aren’t synonymous. And if you don’t hit it off with her, there will be plenty of other girls you can-- ”

“No, Yuta. I will not babysit your potential fuck’s bestie so she can relieve her kinky fantasies and gossip to her friends saying, ‘Girls, he may look like a cute little bunny, but he fucks like a wild tiger that was just begging to be tamed.’” Yuta scrunched up his nose at the high pitched voice Doyoung put on to mimic a girl, and also because he had a hard time comprehending why Doyoung would compare himself to a giant jungle cat in bed. “Nor will I accidentally wind up in some room with some cute girl only to find out she was using me to make her jock boyfriend jealous.”

“DUDE, THAT WAS FIVE YEARS AGO IN HIGH SCHOOL!” Yuta exclaimed, exasperated that his friend was still bitter after all this time. “You gotta let that shit go! I told you not to go upstairs with her. And we need to revisit how you think you’re good in bed when you’ve only slept with like, one person.”

“No, Yuta. Leave me alone. Have fun at your party.” Doyoung curtly walked off and left Yuta standing there at the booth with his flyer crumpled angrily in his fist.

I’m not that stuck up, am I?, thought Doyoung as he left his friend in the dining hall. But he shrugged away the notion and continued to walk toward his apartment.

~~~

The cacophonous soundtrack that played on Doyoung’s laptop signaled yet another end credit scene for one of his favorite tv shows that he promised he would binge after midterms. More like the show was watching him as Doyoung had long casted aside his laptop and curled into the fetal position, sleep having grabbed him no more than ten minutes after he had returned to his apartment. His roommate, Winwin, hadn’t been home, serving as the perfect time to just relax alone.

The only thing that had managed to break him from his snooze cruise was the blatant disrespect of his cell phone ringing obnoxiously loud next to his ear. He quickly stirred and sat up looking at his phone in disgust as the words YUTA YUTA YUTA flashed across the screen. He begrudgingly answered deciding to be rude and not even say hello.

“Hello? Hello?” Asked Yuta whose voice was a bit drowned out thanks to the blaring EDM in the background. “Doyoung?!”

“Yuta! I didn’t change my mind about coming to the party!” Yelled Doyoung because he was pissed off and cranky.

“I know! But Winwin, ugh! Some clown from that BBX frat dared Winwin to keg stand and now your poor roommate is drunk off his mother fucking rocker! I told him not to do it, but he acted like he had something to prove and now he’s shitfaced, dude.”

Doyoung slapped his face and dragged his hand downward. “So, what are you asking me, Yuta? You’re his friend too and more than capable of-”

“Oh, shit! Winwin, that’s fucking disgusting!” Cried Yuta and interrupting Doyoung. “Quick, Kun, let’s take him to the bathroom. Here, Lucas. Talk to Doyoung.”

Doyoung heard the rustling of the phone being passed around through the receiver before a gruff voice spoke. “Hey, man! I’m sad you’re not here but I shall pour you one in your honor...and then not drink it because Taeyong won’t let me.”

“Thanks, Lucas. And you’re under the legal age to drink anyway.”

“Yeah but, I wanna keg stand, too!”

The thought of lil’ baby Lucas acting a fool and puking his brains out like the rest of his friends moved Doyoung enough to decide and go save his roommate. “It’s not worth it, dude. Tell Yuta I’m on my way.” He jumped from his bed and grabbed his keys before heading to the EXT frat house.

The walk to the frat house from his apartment was about eight minutes and twenty seconds. A time Doyoung remembered from several nightly trips when Yuta actually had time for guys night or when he needed to be saved from a girl he decided he didn’t want to sleep with after sobering up. Doyoung was always his scapegoat.

Upon arriving at the frat house, Doyoung immediately noticed all the loitering bodies of drunk college kids on the front lawn. He had to maneuver through the small sea of plastic red cups and beer bottles littered across the walkway before stopping abruptly as some guy flew across the cobblestone pavement and ran into the plastic flamingo on the lawn. “DUDEEE THAT NOSEDIVE WAS SICKK!” was heard causing Doyoung to roll his eyes and quickly make his way into the frat house. The sooner he retrieved Winwin, the faster he’d return home and relax. Well, not really. Not if he had to babysit Winwin all night and make sure he didn’t swallow his vomit and choke.

Doyoung entered the frat house and immediately noticed Lucas standing across in the foyer. He wasn’t hard to miss as he was the tallest human standing in the area with all the other new frat recruits who were tiny compared to him.

Doyoung sauntered over to Lucas who gave him a big hug causing the other recruits to disperse. Although Doyoung wasn’t in the frat, Yuta knighted him an honorary member, meaning no one was allowed to mess with him, yet was allowed to give him special treatment. “Bro, you made it!”

Doyoung’s face morphed into a grimace after telling Lucas he had come to get Winwin. He began to ask what bathroom in that giant frat house had Yuta dragged him to but was cut off when two tall, beautiful young ladies interrupted their conversation.

“Hey, stud? What’s your name?” Asked one of the girls, one Doyoung recognized as being the star junior of the girl’s soccer team.

Lucas quickly looked toward Doyoung as if he needed confirmation of what his name was before turning back to the girls and blushing. “I’m 20.”

Doyoung immediately hung his head low and scratched his eyebrow, rapidly giving up on humanity. He didn’t have time for this awkward shit. He had come here for one reason and one reason only, and now he felt precious time slipping away from him as he stood there fooling around with Lucas. “They asked for your name…”

“Oh, uhh. Sorry.” Said the giant baby clearing his throat. “Lucas. My name is Lucas.”

“Aw, you’re so cute and funny.” Both girls closed the space between themselves and Lucas, causing Doyoung to roll is eyes and become even more annoyed. Like, hellloooo? Were they too entranced by Lucas’ pretty face to not see him standing there having a conversation with somebody?

“Let’s go somewhere and chat for a bit?” suggested the other girl.

Lucas laughed again before his “how to be a fuccboi manual by Yuta, illustrated by Taeyong” kicked in, causing his cute smile to quickly change into a sexy smolder. His voice dropped a couple of octaves lower, which Doyoung didn’t even think was possible. “How about I meet you guys out back on the patio? I have to show my loser friend here something first.” His comment made Doyoung roll his lips into a straight line in aggravation. He knew Lucas had only said that to seem as cool as he thought he was. It was classic textbook Yuta.

“He can come, too,” said the girl eyeing Doyoung up and down. “I like them stoicc.” The annunciation she put on the last syllable was hella thicc.

“I’m sorry, ladies I’m flattered, but I'm really not interested. I have more pressing matters to attend to. Lucas. Winwin, please,” Doyoung demanded to Lucas sternly.

The girls were taken aback by the unintended harshness of Doyoung’s tone and Lucas made up for it by kindly reminding them he’d meet them soon. He lead Doyoung to one of the corridors on the other side of the frat house. There were even more bodies in this area as the pool table and other assorted games were being drunkenly utilized.

As they approached some party goers playing darts and dodging the projectiles as to not be impaled by one, Doyoung heard Yuta’s thunderous guffaw before he even saw him. Brushing past Lucas while channeling on the cackle, Doyoung spotted Yuta and grabbed his shoulder to turn him around. Before he could speak, his attention was drawn to Winwin sitting on the couch across from him, his clothes in perfect place, hair nice, and not a sign of having emptied out his entire digestive system through his mouth. If anything, he would say his roommate was simply a little buzzed. Winwin noticed him staring incredulously and gave him a sheepish smile and a wave. Doyoung was livid.

“Oh, hey~, Doyoung!” A beer in his hand, Yuta stuck his neck out to look around at his perturbed friend and pointed an accusatory finger at Lucas. “Dammit, you! You were supposed to text me when he got here!”

“Sorry, I got distracted! But I’ll be in the backyard if you need me! Bye!” rushed Lucas ready to run off to his rendezvous but was called back by Yuta.

“Oh, bro! You got distracted by some hot girls, huh?!” The knowing grin on Yuta’s face grew twice its size when Lucas nodded in affirmation. “MAH, MAN!” He went in for a high five with the taller young man, but Doyoung blocked them from coming in contact with one another by violently slapping their arms down.

“Enough! ”After using eight minutes and twenty seconds of his precious life to walk over to that frat house for what had now made itself clear as complete bullshit, Doyoung needed to get something off his chest. “Yuta. Can I speak with you in priv--” he began, but he was cut off for the second time that night.

“No, man! No more talking!” Yuta grabbed two bottles of beer from the cooler near his feet and popped them open, the noise agitating Doyoung closer to the point of no return, and shoved both bottles in his hands. “So, Winwin isn’t shitfaced and I lied. You walked into that trap on your own.”

“Yeah, and Doyoung’s the smart one,” cackled Johnny, another one of his so-called friends. He was clearly drunk, so Doyoung spared him from a possible verbal beatdown.

“But you’re here now and that’s all that matters!” continued Yuta. “There’s unlimited drinks and unlimited girls--except this one. She’s mine.” He slithered his arm around the waist of his Friday date (who had a bigger bosom than last Tuesday’s date), who Doyoung assumed was the one who’s friend wanted some facetime with him.

Upon that realization, the gears in his brain quickly switched over to escape mode. His eyes quickly glanced around the room in a small panic that he immediately realized was futile considering he had no idea what the girl looked like. Now with the sudden shift of his objective, Doyoung's top priority was to get out of there before whoever she was entered within a ten foot radius of his person.

“So, go crazy and have some fun! I’m really glad that you’re here, dude.” Yuta raised his beer up, a sly and cheeky grin plastered on his visage that Doyoung desperately wanted to punch. “To Doyoung!”

The people around responded in unison as Yuta clanked his bottle with Doyoung’s, who simply stood there in a silent rage. The aspirated sounds of quenched thirsts emanating from everyone’s throats prompted Doyoung to turn on his heels and walk out the game area. Not only did Yuta forcibly drag him to participate in an event he was clearly against from the moment the flyer was shoved in his face, he used his roommate Winwin as bait. He made a mental note to not invite Winwin shopping the next time their apartment needed groceries as payback. He then made another mental note that he was trying to punish his roommate who wouldn’t ever hurt a fly, and that wasn't something he thought he was capable of doing (purposely passive aggressively hurting Winwin, that is), which caused him to make yet another note that Yuta needed to be unfriended.

“He really likes screwing with me. He should stop harping about being my friend if he can’t under-” Doyoung’s mutterings were cut short when he felt a familiar pillowy thud hit against the back of his palm causing both bottles of beer to fly upwards before shattering on the floor. Tuning out the people around him yelling that he had just committed a party foul, his instincts immediately prepared his lips for a second set of apologizes that day as he looked to see who he had run into. Upon realization, his mouth fell open in surprise and he soon felt the front of his blazer soaking with beer.

“Why does this keep happening to me?!” She screamed. Her palms faced upwards, stuck like they were earlier in the dining hall and her expression was just as dumbfounded. “This is the second time today. First it was the fake ass ballerina and now-” She lifted your head and scoffed in absolute disbelief and possibly even a hint of disdain. “Still the fake ass ballerina. I knew I shouldn't have come here tonight. Ugh! Do you have absolutely noth--HEY! Where are you going, asshole?!”

A little ticked off by her attitude, Doyoung held up a finger signaling her to wait and silently brushed past her to head towards the conveniently nearby supply closet. Despite not even being a member of the frat, this wasn’t the first time Doyoung had to fetch the broom and dustpan from this particular room. He had Yuta to thank for that incident as well.

When he returned to the girl, her body was still tense although she had lowered her hands to pull her soaked halter top away from the front side of her body. Her face was adorned with complete discomfort, however she stepped aside as she watched Doyoung sweep the shards of glass and scoop them up with the dustpan.

He stood in front of her and gazed at her pitiful form in exasperation. He took a deep breath before saying what he had to say. It took a lot of strength for him not to go completely off on an innocent bystander who unfortunately kept getting in his way.

“I’m sorry. Once again, I truly am sorry,” he stressed. “I was lost in my train of thought because of my dumbass friends. Because I, too, do not want to be here. I’m sorry I ruined your outfit again. Although it really isn’t appropriate for this weather, by the way. Especially now that your clothes are wet. But still, I am sorry.” He chucked the shards of glass into the also conveniently nearby trash bin before bending back down to pick up the last pieces.

The girl narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side in agitation. “Okay, but your apologies can’t magically dry the front of my shirt and shorts, and remove the awful stench of cheap ass beer. I look like I fucking pissed on myself upwards!” She wanted to cross her arms over her chest, but she would risk getting them sticky.

“That’s impossible,” said Doyoung matter of factly. Standing up again, he looked at her now as if she were incompetent before emptying more glass into the trash bin.

“DUDE, REALLLY?! Is that really what’s on your mind right now? The physical impossibility of me being able to pee upwards is what you’re worried about?!” Frustrated with her current situation, and apparently the world given her actions and word choice since the beginning of the day, she rubbed her hands against her face and slowly slid down the wall behind her.

Now, Doyung was a nice dude. Ladies--even ones outside of his family--found him to be a real gentleman...if you caught him on a good day. He could have very well informed the girl that the ground was still very much wet, but today wasn’t a very good day. Not anymore, at least. So, he didn’t. Instead he watched her slowly sink to her demise, the liquid quickly seeping into her shorts. Any moment now...3...2...1. “AW, FUCK! THE GROUND IS STILL WET! Why didn’t you say anything?!”

He returned the broom and the dustpan to the closet before addressing her question. “I didn’t feel like mopping.” He stated without any remorse. Her eyes almost bulged out her sockets at his response, so he immediately backtracked realizing he didn't mean to be that big of a dick. He wasn’t really a dick at all, actually. “Because I didn’t think you’d hear me over your incessant yelling--” Okay, maybe he was a dick.

“I’m not yelling. This is how I talk.” She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “Now my ass is wet. And I reek of beer. I don’t even drink! Never even touched the stuff! This has been the worst day of my life. But I can’t leave because I promised to be a designated driver. And if I leave, what if I get stopped by the police?! ARE THEY GONNA BELIEVE THAT I’M SOBER?! I should be at home studying!” She threw her head against the wall and winced at the hard impact she didn't mean to make with it.

Doyoung’s feet made to leave, but his moral compass pointed towards the girl when the word “studying” tumbled from her lips. It was as if she had calmed some of his anger knowing she could be potentially studious as he was. He also sympathized with her on the fact that he too had been roped into being a designated driver countless times. Although, he never attended the parties. He would only show up when he thought his friends had had enough and throw them all into the backseat. Upon rethinking the situation, he made a decision to help the girl and bent down, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet.

“W-what are you doing?” The girl was a little shocked to say the least. His attitude had done a surprising 90 degrees. He was being gentlemanly, yes, but it was not a complete turn around. He was still tense, just not as much.

“Follow me.” He commenced to walk her hand in tow, but his pace was hindered by her hesitance.

“Where are we going?”

“To get you out of these wet clothes.” But before she could take it the wrong way and retort, he stopped walking and clarified. “Not like that. My asshole friends are inhabitants of this frat house. My clothes are damp as well and like you, I hate the feeling of wet clothing on my skin. We can grab a change of clothes and then we both can go our separate ways. Cool?”

Visibly relaxing after his explanation, she mulled it over, her tongue poking the inside of her cheek as she weighed the possible outcomes. “Fine. Lead the way.”

He lead her upstairs towards Yuta’s room, flicking the light upon entering the masculinely decorated room. He silently thanked his friend for not being a slob this weekend and not waiting forever to launder his soccer practice clothing that he usually just left on the floor to rot.

“Wait here,” said Doyoung dropping her hand. He quickly moved across the room towards Yuta’s black dresser, opening the first drawer a bit rougher than he intended and caused Yuta’s collection of bobbleheads to, well, bobble. The drawer contained an assortment of socks and underwear neither of which Doyoung needed, so he proceeded to the next row of drawers which contained athletic shorts and shirts.

He heard something ruffle against Yuta’s bed so he assumed it was the girl, his newfound companion who didn’t understand simple instructions of “wait here”. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw in annoyance, only to reopen his eyes and catch her form in the mirror. She apparently wasn't shy and wasted no time shedding off her sticky shirt. She discarded the wet material on the floor beside her feet and let out a deep sigh. Doyoung relaxed and continued to stand there admiring her reflected figure from behind. His eyes trailed from the top of her head to the strap of her baby blue bralette haphazardly falling down her shoulder, then to her lace trimmed jean shorts that had turned a darker hue (primarily on the curvature of her booty cheeks), which was entirely his fault. And in that moment, he could honestly say he was glad he didn’t tell her about the wet floor.

The motion of her reaching for her bra strap shook him from his reverie and he proceeded to grab two shirts and two shorts from the drawer. With his head hung low and eyes only focusing on the clothes, he turned around and extended a pair of clothes towards her. When she didn’t accept them, he noticed she was no longer standing there. “Hey. Where’d you go?”

He did a complete 180 degree turn and found her standing on the other side of Yuta’s room near his large armoire. “Oh. You move very quietly...umm I have dry cloth--NO DON’T OPEN THAT!”

His cry was too late as the girl had already opened the doors of the armoire and was already being showered with several boxes of condoms that had collapsed from the overstuffed piece of furniture. Before he could move to help her subdued form, he heard the door to Yuta’s room close shut and lock. He ran towards the wooden door and pounded on it, yelling in anger that his attempts to open the door from the inside were futile. “Hey! Open up!”

“No!” Screamed the terrible voice on the other side.

Doyoung dropped his hands from the doorknob knowing full well that no matter how much he retaliated he was not going to leave the room anytime soon. “Yuta...you asshole. Let us out. Right now. Open the damn door!” Doyoung’s chest ferociously rose and fell as his mind shrouded with rage.

“No, Dodo. I will not open the door. If you don’t want to mingle with us rowdy college kids, then mingle with the half naked girl you got in the room with you! Bye!” Doyoung heard footsteps and snickers trail away down the hallway.

He leaned his head on the door before remembering the ladder Yuta used to sneak in and out the frat house after hours. He ran towards the window and lifted it up happy to see the ladder right where he remembered it would be.

“What is going on?” the girl asked as she massaged her temples and continued to lay under the boxes of condoms.

“I’m going to get us out of here.” He kicked some boxes out of his way and grabbed her hand to pull her to her feet. So far their relationship with one another consisted of repeated actions and events. It was so unromantic it was lowkey romantic.

He gave her the set of clothes and motioned toward the closet and told her to quickly change. He discarded his blazer, shirt, and pants before sliding on the fresh pair of shorts. While deciding he could make do without taking off his tank top and tie he heard scraping outside against the wall.

“No, no, no.” He looked out the window only to find a drunk Johnny and Jaehyun trying to confiscate the ladder from the wall. “Stop!” He latched onto the ladder and tightened his grip as the pair pulled from the opposite end. Two against one was proving to be difficult as Doyoung’s waist was starting to go past the window sill, but he tried to maintain his grip as best as he could, hoping the drunks would give up soon.

“Hey these shorts have--OMG!” The girl had come out of the closet only to have to quickly run to the window and grab Doyoung’s waist so he wouldn’t fall forward and out the window. “Let go of the ladder! LET GO! LET GO! LET GO!”

“NO!”

“It’s not worth it!” She tugged him back harshly causing his grip to release from the ladder.

“Have fun Doyoung!” Yelled Johnny and Jaehyun as they hauled off with the ladder, laughing as they went.

“This is bullshit!” He closed the window and threw the dry T-shirt on the floor before he started pacing back and forth in the room. “That was our only way out! We’re going to be stuck here until Yuta decides he’s done playing this little game of his!”

The girl shifted and crossed her arms before speaking, “You have the biggest--“

“STICK UP MY ASS! YES, I KNOW.” He took a deep breath a little sorry she kept getting mixed up in all his shit. “I’m sorry—“

“Stop saying you’re sorry. It’s starting to sound weird coming from you.“ She placed her hand over your mouth to smother a laugh. “And that wasn't what I was going to say.”

“What?” He knitted his eyebrows and looked at her, only now noticing her bare legs peeking from under the hem of Yuta’s oversized T-shirt. Her baby blue undergarments showing underneath. “What is it?”

She picked up the shorts she had been given earlier. “I can’t wear these.” She handed them to Doyoung and stepped backwards meekly, trying to hold in her giggles.

“Why are you laughing?” He opened the shorts and noticed the big ass cut out hole on the crotch area before flinging them to the ground.  “Dammit, Yuta! I didn’t know--“ He looked down at the shorts he had changed into and noticed the giant whole in the middle of his crotch, showcasing his Scooby Doo boxers. He looked up and saw the girl keel over on Yuta’s bed in laughter. And despite the outrageous situation, he relished in defeat and succumbed to laughter himself.

Once the girl had adequate use of her lungs to breathe again she said, “I didn’t peg you for a cartoon guy. Your face screams you enjoy the five o’clock news and peer reviewed journals.”

He rolled his eyes and sat on Yuta’s bed as well as wiping the tears that had accumulated in his eyes. “They’re my lucky exam boxers.”

“So you wear them three times a week?”

“The stench holds the knowledge.”

“Gross! Guys are so weird,” she said before locating Yuta’s crotchless shorts from before and chucking them at him.

“No. Not all of us. I never liked that group assumption. Why do girls group all guys together? Some of us are cool!”

“You...cool?” He watched as she stood up from her kneeling position and removed his wet blazer and shorts from the floor before finding her own wet clothes. She went towards the closet and hung the clothes to dry. Doyoung watched her intently, his eyes admiring her backside once again. “You’ve been in a mood since we first bumped into each other. That’s not cool.”

“It’s the circumstance. I’m usually a nice guy. I just...today wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. I was supposed to finish my physics midterm, enjoy Pizza Friday, and then relax at home. Midterms were hard this semester. I deserved the break. I didn’t want to get dragged to a party and get stuck--“

“In here with me?” She walked across the room toward the several boxes of condoms still littered across the floor.

“I didn’t mean--“

“It’s okay. I didn’t think my day would end up like this either.” She bent down and absentmindedly picked up a half full box of condoms. “We can just sit here quietly and not talk to one another until Yuta let’s us out. Or we can talk about why Yuta has an armoire full of condoms that nearly ended my life.”

“Despite Yuta’s assholelery, he’s a big activist for safe sex. He lives with all these young and horny guys so he has to look out for their well-being. Whenever they need protection or stupid advice Yuta is who they run to. Plus, a frat with a reputation for STDs would be bad publicity.”

“Interesting,” she said simply. Doyoung watched curiously as she dug inside the box and pulled out a foil packet that she then proceeded to open with her teeth. “But how’d he get all of these boxes? He went on a condom shopping spree?” She blew air through the condom and tied a knot at the end before neatly placing it on the nearby desk.

“No.” Doyoung watched her tear open another packet and wanted to advise her that opening it that way could puncture and render its contents ineffective, but he stopped himself when he realized what she was up to. “Spring Break contest sophomore year. He had to lick whip cream off a girl’s body and eat a cherry out of her mouth within a time limit at a resort we went to. He won first place, which included a lifetime supply of condoms and 5000 dollars cash.”

“Wow.” She deadpanned.

Doyoung reached for a packet in the box she was holding and began blowing one up like she did earlier. He carefully placed his condom balloon in Yuta’s pencil holder, making sure it didn’t pop. “By the way, my name is Doyoung.” He extended his hand towards his fellow prisoner while reaching for another packet with the other. She stopped blowing her latex balloon to shake his hand. She told him her name in return.

~~~

After going through about four boxes with twelve packets each, both she and Doyoung had run out of air. He was still on a devious power high from semi-trashing Yuta’s room, so he was glad when she agreed to his suggestion of filling the condoms with water. After going through a box of thirty-two, the two of them finally decided to call it quits. Yuta’s drawers, closet, backpack, shelf, bathroom just about every surface of his room was covered in an assortment of either air or water filled latex balloons in various colors, shapes, sizes, and texture. It was a condom carnival.

She was reclined on Yuta’s bed, Doyoung having found her a blanket to cover herself with as Yuta’s questionable fashion sense was out of the question. “So why do you continue to hang out with him if he’s so troublesome?” she asked.

Doyoung took a moment to answer. “Because he’s the complete opposite of me. He’s the fun one and I’m…the not fun one.” Doyoung lowered his chin atop the desk chair he was sitting backwards on.

“Well, I think you’re sort of fun. I’ve only known you for…an hour and twenty-five minutes? Plus the five minutes in the dining hall this afternoon makes it an hour and thirty minutes?”

He laughed. “Thanks? You’re pretty cool, too. I wouldn’t have done this interior decorating we did otherwise. I mean I would have, but it wouldn’t have been as fun.”

“I honestly didn’t think you had it in you. You’re always so focused in class I figured you would be pretentious and stuck up. Plus, you wear a blazer and tie everyday.”

Doyoung’s face fell at her words. “We have a class together?” He chose to ignore the latter part of her comment.

Her cheeks took on yet another red hue that day as she gripped the blanket tighter in embarrassment. “Uh…no not exactly?”

Doyoung clearly heard the inflection on her last word. “Well then how?“

“I’m not a stalker!” she suddenly blurted.

“I didn’t say--“

“Your physics class is across the hall from my physics class at the same time on the same days. You sit down in the front near the door, and I sit towards the top in my classroom, but I can still see you through the doorway. You’re directly in my line of sight.”

“Yeah, that’s a stalker alright,” joked Doyoung. “What physics are you in? Did you pass your midterms?”

She was a little embarrassed to answer that. “I’m in general physics for pre-medical students. I made a 64. That’s a D. I might as well withdraw from the course at this point. I don’t think I can save my grade.”

“Well, that makes sense...Oh!” Doyoung snapped his fingers, something suddenly returning to his memory. “You’re that girl that eats candy and texts the whole class period. You own a light grey sweater that you wear every time the air conditioner kicks on.”

“You noticed me?”

“Yeah. You’re in my line of sight, too. I mean I’ve never seen you up close, that’s why I didn’t immediately recognize you from our run-ins today. But in case you didn't know, your behavior is why you failed your exam. If you ask me, I think you deserved an F rather than a D. And judging by all the candy you eat, I’m surprised you even have teeth--“

Without thinking, she grabbed the water filled condom from the nightstand and chucked it at Doyoung, which burst all over his face and white tank top. He looked shocked and blinked slowly as the water trickled down the desk chair. Before either of them realized what was happening, Doyoung was standing over her popping a balloon on top of her head, dousing her with cold water.

And thus, the war began.

After several back and forths of overhand throws and running around the room, there were now less condom balloons, severely wet furniture, and two soaking wet human bodies.

“Yuta is going to be so pissed,” she said looking around the room.

“He’ll survive.” Doyoung grabbed the blanket from the bed and moved to dry her off but she dodged, considering the wet t-shirt was cooling her skin from her sudden rise in body temperature. The impromptu physical activity, closeness and contact between the two of them, and the way their wet clothes clung to each of their bodies, and outlining every detail of their figures were to blame.

Doyoung dropped the blanket only to catch her furiously fiddling with the oversized wet shirt. “There’s no point,” she muttered. “You won’t be able to get every part of me that’s wet, so why bother?” He watched as she looked to the side at nothing in particular, her fourth time in one day garnering that rosy hue of embarrassment. He was starting to find it rather cute. However, while her expression dictated she couldn’t believe she had said that aloud, his dictated the internal struggle he currently faced with her words bouncing around in his head, immediately causing his lower head to fight against the tight restriction of the wet material clinging to his skin.

Doyoung was very intelligent. However, it didn’t take his stellar 4.0 GPA to know that Yuta’s diabolical plan since the beginning of the afternoon was finally starting to make progress. And one thing he hated was when people, well namely Yuta, got away with their evil plans. So he quickly turned away from her and walked toward the bathroom, closing it shut behind him. He laid his forehead on the door and took a deep breath. Cold water, he thought. Buddy you have to go down. Wait, I’m already soaking wet with cold water. Function, brain! He moved toward the shower anyway when he heard her lightly tap on the door.

“Doyoung? I’m sorry if what I said was inappropriate. What drawer are the clothes in?” Doyoung simply looked at the door and didn’t respond. “Doyoung?” After three more repeats of his name she let it go with a heavy sigh and went to find the drawer herself.

Doyoung felt bad for ignoring her so he peeped his head out the bathroom only to find the wet T-shirt discarded. She was standing in only her bralette and panties this time, the garments perfectly outlining the shape of her assets. He couldn’t help the choking noise that was caught in his throat, causing her to spin around in surprise.

Both their eyes grew wide like two horny teenagers who accidentally saw the half naked body of the opposite sex for the first time.

“I found the drawer and--”

Legend has it Doyoung lost control of his body as he walked from behind the door and into the room. The tent residing on his lower half at full attention and on display for her enjoyment.

He locked his eyes with hers. “After three years of pent up sexual frustration, my prefrontal cortex has decided to shut off and allow my glans and shaft to think for itself. Hence the situation I have in my boxers.” He motioned a hand downwards and she couldn't help her eyes from quickly darting to and from the area. “Now, I’m not one of those dudes like you see running around this frat house that needs to bang girls everyday. My education comes first. Speaking of coming,” her eyes slightly widened at the abrupt segway, “I haven’t done so with another person since high school, which was with my ex-girlfriend who later cheated on me with a football player. Therefore, I’m super clean with minimal, yet enough experience.

“Okay, Yuta is a horrible best friend, but I have to give him props because without him I wouldn’t be in this current situation. I was awarded a full scholarship to this school for my academic achievement, so I’m smart enough to know that there’s a 99% chance of the both of us leaving this room after pleasuring one another.” There wasn't even a chance for her mouth to fall open as he kept on speaking. “If not, I would have killed this boner in the bathroom and you would not be standing here with me looking this damn sexy in your...fuck!” He urgently ran a hand through his hair as sweat started to accumulate on his brow. “I’m not forcing you to do anything, we don’t have to do anything, and I’m not insinuating that you’re a girl that came to this party just to hook up with a guy. We can just continue to sit it out and wait to be rescued and then maybe I can show you what a pizza Friday should be and maybe help you bring your failing class average to a decent C+, maybe even B-. I don’t know. How’d your other tests go? Wait, who’s your profess--“

“Doyoung!” For a guy that looked like he had it together he sure let it all go in front of her. She stepped closer to him, her skin igniting as she did so. Whether the stars were aligned or not, admittance to paying attention to one another during class time was the first step of mutual chemistry. That and the evident arousals in both their underwear.

Doyoung’s breath hitched when she placed one hand over his chest and watched her carefully as she played with his wet tie with the other. “Fuck it,” she shrugged. “I’m all in. Me, mons pubis, and friends.”

Both of them had to stifle a laugh and then she tugged him closer by the accessory. His arms instinctively wrapped around her, his palms warm against the smooth skin of her cold back. He watched her eyes flicker from his lips back to his eyes as she bit the side of her bottom lip.

“Loosen your tie, Doyoung.”

And loosen his tie he did.

- C

[mrs-scm-wife]

Who is your favorite god based on personality??

I have to choose one???? But ;-; I love them all? So much? Ah, okay, I’ll try.

Leon: He literally always makes it clear he has eyes only for you. He may be arrogant and sometimes downright mean to others, but for you he lets those walls come down and becomes a puddle of love. Leon is so sweet and caring of you, especially after some “night-ins” and treats you like his queen. He even follows your “goldfish” ways, despite having the power to teleport. Also, he is like a little cub for Karno, and I find that hilarious. The normal dominant Lion is now a small cub. I adore all of this about him, including how he is willing to change his way of thinking for you and puts his complete and utter trust in your hands. ALSO, Leon changes drastically in his own route. He goes from this arrogant, self-centered bastard, to someone understanding (maybe), and caring.

Karno: I joke about Karno all the time being boring and plain, but it doesn’t mean I love him any less. He has this soft dominance aura around him that everyone complies with. Karno loves humans so much and he would do anything to save them. He sounds like that kind of dude who would go to busy, public places and sit and watch others. I don’t think I’d be romantically in love with him, but I would consider him a close friend. Friend-zoned. To me, Karno is that mom friend. He always watches your back, knows many things you probably don’t, and takes care of you even when you don’t know it. Plus, he has this leadership side to him that I really like. In any substory with a group, he is most likely the group leader who helps get things done and stays on top of everyone.

Teorus: Where do I begin?! This dude is childish as heck?! But, that’s the charm in him. He is like a little boy with a crush on a girl in kindergarten. Teorus will get all pouty and sulky when you hang with other boys and then all happy when you talk to him. Teorus has determination when it comes to you, his motivation. Several times I have witnessed him trying to handmake or cook for you even if he doesn’t know the terms of cooking and ends up making Scorpio throw up and Hue pass out from trying his “food.” He’s so adorable, ugh. I can’t help but love his oblivious thinking when it comes to consequences too. This man literally stops time for you just so you can stay in bed with him. It’s cute, but we are sure he will get in trouble for that. Teorus just always wants to please you.

Huedhaut: AHHHH! Dude, we ALL know why we love this man?!?!?! HE IS THE DEFINITION OF SARCASM. A man who is able to tease me with CLEVER and snarky comments is always a bonus point. He is incredibly wise, I mean how else did he get that title, and knows how to deal with people like Leon. Huedhaut is the quiet type in all honesty. He doesn’t talk too much, but he gives you his honest opinions and helps you through whatever your delima is. Slight spoiler ahead, but it’s very vague. Huedhaut would literally do anything for you. He wants to protect you in every possible way. He’s that protective of you. Feeling jealous of her? Noted. Private gallery walk with memories of only you two. Huedhaut just wants you to know how much you mean to him.

Tauxolouve: Boi, he is definitely a refined man. We don’t see much of him sadly, but from what we do see we know he’s definitely a family man. He is so sweet to others and takes teasing quite easily. Yes, he does play around with goddesses a lot, but when he meets you, that all stops. He is thoughtful of how you might see things versus how he sees them as, but never pushes you out of your comfort zone. Lou is pretty carefree when it comes to other things, but he’s serious with you. To be honest, I think he has a very mysterious personality. It seems to me he doesn’t tell you many things. You figure it out on your own. Compared to most of the other gods, he’s mature in his own way since he doesn’t get get flustered by small things, like Scorpio,... but that doesn’t mean he loves you any less.

Aigonorus: This god totally has a laidback, chill, seemingly uncaring personality. He does whatever he wants whenever he wants and doesn’t care for the consequences. However, when it comes to you, he is loving, caring, and eager to make you happy. Although sometimes his lazy nature gets in the way of his job, he always has enough energy to be with you... sometimes. Aigo isn’t rude to you like the other gods are sometimes. In fact, he only wants you to be his pillow, haha, but there’s always more to him than you think. For example, he has a freaking goat. He loves his animals so much, and I love animals, so you can imagine how much connection I have with him. Aigonorus will always love you even if your mind is clouded with dark thoughts of the future. He wants you to be at ease.

Zyglavis: Uptight. That’s his main personality. He is so strict about everything he does. It’s obvious he’s a rule follower and hates breaking the rules for any reason. He has immense respect for the king, no matter how much he plays with him, and argues with the Leon on his attitude toward the king. Zyglavis has top notch manners and will teach you how to act properly. Even if he may seem intimidating and scary, you knew he’s sweet pudding in the inside. When it comes to you, he is willing to break some laws for you to show you how much he loves you and to save you. Did I also mention he has a soft spot for children? Well, he does and it’s the cutest thing you will ever witness. He cares deeply for humans and the heavens. Why else would he work so hard for both of them? Zyglavis is loyal to humans, the King, and you.

Scorpio: One word: tsundere. All of us know it, including Leon. He is harsh, brash, and hurtful with his words and attitude toward others. He is brave when it comes to the King as well. He doesn’t back down from him, ever. Zyglavis is probably the only one that Scorpio publicly shows he respects. Scorpio has little patience with anyone or thing, and he even has a dark side to him that makes him synthesize with children’s pain. He is relentless when he punishes because of this. On the contrast, for you, he is sweet and loving. You are his number one now. Scorpio is still innocent to PDA though, I don’t think that will ever change. But, don’t be fooled, he can still bite when he needs to. I feel like Scorpio can actually be sensitive sometimes because your words and actions can cut him deeply if you say the wrong thing.

Dui: Well... he kind of has two? Dui has a sweet side where he adores absolutely everything you do and is curious about everything you talk about. He can listen to you for hours and never gets bored. Occasionally, he will be pulled into Ikky’s pranks, but he always protects you from them. He can get shy sometimes when you take charge, but he has no shame for PDA. In fact, the gods all think of you as that sickeningly sweet couple. On the other hand, his other personality is more rough, dominant, and confident. Shadow Dui is still caring about you though. He loves you just as much, but he has a harder time being vulnerable around you. He prefers to act tough and even throw in some naughty hints. His attitude is more forceful for the most part, but he looks out for Dui at the same time. Both make sure to care for you though.

Ichthys: This troublemaker is full of pranks. He enjoys seeing others fall for his genius plans and is carefree as ever. I’d say his motto is “YOLO.” It fits him well because he doesn’t think twice before he makes these. He is pretty fearless, in a sense, because he knows what Scorpio and Zyglavis will do to him if he gets caught. When he is with you, he is incredibly adventurous. His creativity is the next level because he can create a whole new world with only a snap of his fingers. Just beware that he can go from a man child to your man in an instant. Ichthys can get real mature when it comes to nighttime fun. Another thing is that he can come off as a peacemaker when he really needs to. He hates leaving people unhappy. Ikky thrives on making people happy by his pranks or adventures he drags them into.

Krioff: I love this man so much. He is so innocent when it comes to women or anything, to be honest. His aloof demeanor is charming to me. He tries to understand what the gods are saying, but his mind isn’t built like theirs. He’s definitely a quiet type with a rough touch. Krioff for sure is an inner softy. He may have a difficult time showing his feelings, but he makes sure to give you what you want. His background really helps you understand his personality a lot more. He’s shameless in some cases though, like making out with you on a worshipping ground. Krioff also cares about his family, despite the obstacles that have raised. He wants to always keep you safe no matter what and even risks his life for you multiple times. He is a hard worker when it comes to making peace with other gods as well.

Partheno: Oh gosh, the beauty god. His personality is twisted, and I like that. He is unpredictable to say the least. Most of his thoughts are in the gutter which makes him such a perv at times. However, he is deeper than that and only you can see how he really is. Partheno is not stuck up like some of the other gods are, and he doesn’t feel the need to act superior either. He was the last character to be released before the creators ended the title, basically, so I hope they show more of his different sides soon. Partheno is always thinking of you. I think he talks about you more than the other gods actually. He is pretty hopeful too and he trusts you a lot? Like, I almost cried in season one because of that ONE CG. You are literally his world. I’m sure the other gods would turn out okay if you didn’t choose him, but not Parthy! He depends on you.

......So, in conclusion, I’m still clueless as to who is my favorite, personality wise.

[celestialallstars]

Episode #1: “This cast, fuck me, fuck them.” - Rhys

Ok so my pregame thoughts. It seems like there are a lot of contenders that were threats in their original seasons just based off of placements. I’m really gonna try to use this to my advantage because in my season, I don’t think I was very threatening. Unfortunately I’ll miss the cast reveal, but I’m hoping that doesn’t put me in a bad spot. This game is gonna be tough, but I know I can do it. At least make merge. You need small goals in order to achieve bigger ones. Cast assessment coming up next :)

Y'all I am ANXIOUS! I've had a bad run recently and for the most part I never really care that much. But if I flop on this season I'll die of sadness. Okay but for real, I want to do well this season and idk what kind of people I'm going to be up against, and I couldn't even get my intro to send like i'm such a joke. Ugh y'all how can I be this stressed already.

Just roughly 2 hours before we're gonna really dive into the thick of things. There are so many things I wanna say and so many things I'm just beyond excited about. I really think this is gonna be a Top Tier Season.

I'm vowing to make the most of my stay no matter how long or short. I'm gonna try to drive the pessimist in my mind away and do my best to avoid being that early boot just because I'm a previous winner. Y'all better watch out!

This is gonna be FuCkInG LiT!!!

Getting ready for this season, I'm honored tbh. I feel like it's my first fully-legit-no-strings-attached All-Stars appearance. I was on EMBB All-Stars, but only because I was an alternate for Jake and he decided to be a host instead. Being invited back on my merits exclusively feels amazing, I just hope I can live up to my own expectations in this game and take home the win.

Hi I’m super excited to be brought back to play this game. I’m gonna play maybe a little harder but I’m hoping to keep my gameplay very similar to last season cause it did me well I just need to not freak out. I’m really looking forward to seeing who I’m playing with and I know this season will be fun.

So. This cast, fuck me, fuck them. Like they all seem so much more capable than me. Like bitch bye.

My tribe honestly idk yet. They seem cool,  haven’t talked to most of them yet. So I’ll get back on that.

The only person I’m not happy is cast is Michael. Bitch hated me for no reason last season. So bitch best watch his back cause I’m bringing this hatred back this season.

Also one world can fuck off

So I am meeting everyone and honestly so far this is a nice group. A mixture of old faces like Zach and Loris and new ones like everyone else! Everybody is radical, but I am gonna try and give it a short moment before giving an assessment. Having that said, im gonna get dragged and murdered by this cast....call the police.

Hi so the game has just started and I feel like already so much has happened it has been intense. This cast? stacked. One world? intense. Me? crying.

This entire cast is so iconic and so loved I honestly don't know how to feel rn I am scared as all hell but I'm ready to fight for my fucking life. I'm also quite glad for the one world because I love the idea of being able to socialise with EVERYONE since that's such a strong point of my game for me considering I'm horrific in challenges. I just really hope I can pull things off this season and actually have someone like me and prove that I am in fact worthy of an all star title.

Being on call with people from the one world chat is honestly so fun and I can tell this is going to be a great season and we're literally only like 2.5 hours in. I really wanna make it to the end so I can experience it in it's fully glory.

amazingly, i don't think me being an admin is going to be to a problem??? i wanna thank you three beauts for giving me a wonderful tribe. i love matt, bodhi's hilarious, alyssa intimidates me but she's cute and i love allying strong women, tobi forced me to keysmash, and mo and karthik are kind of blase but its ONLY NIGHT ONE. all in all, think i can survive on this tribe. just get me to merge baby i cannot go premerge in this org if annas not gonna play then I CANT LET US DOWN

So we've officially landed in this ORG, and immediately smacked in the face with a flaccid twist that is One World. So instead of trying to balance 6 relationships I have to balance 20. I'm of course already a mess trying to keep track of it all.

Bodhi and I already have an instant F2, we'll see how that works out given we aren't even on the same tribes. Meanwhile I'm already in love with Bryce as a person and trying to possible Corral all the winners together. Obviously we need to make sure the Winners make it to merge.

I think on my tribe specifically I'm probably getting along best with Mitch, I think Rhys has a similar sense of humor as me but he went to bed too early for me to figure out more. There's a ton more sweet people on the other tribes too I just don't have time to delve into all of them, nor do I have enough substance to any of them to develop opinions anyway.

I have an idea as far as connections go for this tribe but I'm not sure yet if it is strong. Loris is sleeping though I did talk with everyone else. I have a feeling Chloe/Zach would be safest but also that Chloe/Michael might be together. Regardless I think I'll be sticking with Zach if I can help that. Drew seems nice too and Sharky seems it too. Not sure how things will go but I do have to be smart since I would be the easy choice as winner if we lose. I'm gonna be optimistic about it all though :) as for the people on other tribes I'll get to them later. This is going to be fun!

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Now that I can see the actual twist (am dummy) I have to try and make some alliances between and in the tribes. I mean making one with the winners shouldn't be too hard but I am gonna want something with a few member here and there from each. I think things are about to get much difficult because I can tell lot of these people are more familiar with each other with their histories and I am just like "hi..." so I def need to wedge myself on in there some way..I've got my work cut out for me

HI ASDDASJKLASDLJK I was so nervous but like.. I feel my victory coming.. I'm pulling my weight in the challenge I think and our tribe's pretty cool!! It's all stars.. so like.. it's no surprise that I like everyone. Sharky seems to be busy so like.. if we lose that could be a good scapegoat.. ALSO?? i was on the blog and i was like wow jones' fairy drawing is so pretty.. so i hovered over it and accidentally clicked it.. and.. i found my legacy advantage again ADSALKDKLJASKLD. and anna said to make sure you search the blog to learn about people and i didnt even see that......... im so lucky :)

So this is so exciting. I’m trying to get to know everyone. Theres one person i was effy about on my tribe and that was Jared. But he’s been talking to me and been nice. But i still have my eyes 👀 on him. Its been nice catching up with Bryce. And been talking to Mitch Rhys and Kori. I hope i can get myself in a good social position where even if im not in their alliance, that im not someone they want to take out. But this time im gunna use my bonds to my advance and hopefully it gets me to the end.

Hi i don't really know what to say right now I just know I wanted to put down some thoughts. So far I'm so fucking in love with this entire cast I'm pretty sure I've spoken to every single person in one way or another which is great, I love to see people fully invested into a season they're playing. I also really love this first challenge, although scavenger hunts stress me the fuck out because i find so many items are so hard to find, I'm just hoping my tribe can pull out a win for us and I'm sure they will cause they're all so iconic and I love them all with my whole heart already.

So I've spoken more to people thusfar and like currently I'm speaking more to people I've spoken to before which like isn't great, because i hate relying on past relations. Like i am speaking to others who are new, its just a bit awkward. So lets push by that and hopefully they aint boring af.

Well so far I've gotten a few items on my list done. Progress is slow but steady. I'm a bit worried about this tribe given it seems like all of us being on at the same time might be unlikely. (That and we're halfway through and only 2 of us have added items to our list.)

I might just be too uptight though, we'll probably be fine. I haven't gotten to talk with people today as much as I wanted as a result of balancing the other ORG and this one as well as apartment hunting and scavenging. I'm beginning to think I planned poorly and have too much on my plate at the moment...

BUT I WILL PERSEVERE! YES SIR'RE I WILL!

CAST ASSESSMENT TIMEEEE Let me start with Orfero Chris- So chris is someone who I think can either go really far as an UTR threat like he did his first season, or be an early boot. I think him and I have a similar playstyle, but he is much more poetic and structured. I am really looking forward to play with him again! We dominated in afvv and im glad he won, but I won't let that happen again. He's too good. ioris- Honestly I see ioris as more of a goat. Maybe that's false perception, but I could easily see him latching onto someone for the long haul and not being respected later on. As of now, I don't think I would work with ioris, but if the situation arises, I wont hesitate. Drew H- OK I LOVE DREW FIRST OF ALL. I am actually SUPER excited that we are finally playing a game together. I really want to work with him, but unfortunately I think he is too threatening to the point where he wont make it far. Michael- Ok so this was definitely a wildcard. I think Michael is someone to watch out for. I don't know how he'll fair in this game, knowing that people recognize his gameplay. He could either go mid merge or permerge, but I dont think he has a shot at winning. Sharky- Sharky is someone I'm unfamilar with, and for that reason alone, I am guessing he makes it deep by flying UTR while winning challenges. Zach- Zach is another sneaky player. I really would love to work with him after our relationship in emvv4 where I voted him out at f10. He is definitely not someone to brush under the rug though, because he is also very threating. I predict a mid merge boot for Zach. Clohie- I personally don't see Clohie as much of a threat,  but I hope she proves me wrong. We have had limited discussion, but I can tell she is here to play. I predict she will make FTC this time, but only time will tell

Alignments: For Orfero, I can see Chris ioris and Zach on one side, Michael Drew H and Sharky on the other with  Clohie in the middle

Tuatha Kori- I've been itching to play an org with kori too and im glad we are on the same tribe because i know how well he can perform in challenges. He is probably my closest ally right now, so I really hope he gets far. My prediction is early merge for him. Rhys- Rhys seems so sweet. We havent had much conversation due to timezone issues, but I'd love to work with Rhys. He is super charming and I think he can go far! My prediction for rise is late merge. Maynor- Maynor is probably the person most difficult to talk to. I have discussed with Kori and he says that his weakest relationships are with Maynor and Jared, so i think its telling that maynor might be an early boot. Jared- I think jared is super cool and he's been a player I have to watch VERY carefully. I do see myself working with him because our convos have been good so far, but I feel like he can be a good talker. We'll see how it turns out but i predict Jared being a premerge boot. He claimed to be a crackhead in confessionals though so we'll see :). Stephen Z- Man i really wish I had better conversations with him!! I think he is super cool, but he does not seem to remember who I am. If our convos improve like I hope they will, I could see Stephen going early merge. Bryce- I really like bryce too but he is soooo unpredictable and sketchy. I think his  cast reveal intro shed bad light on him to other players too, but I know from experience. I see bryce being a premerge boot, but I hope he proves me wrong. I just dont feel like I can fully trust him.

Alignments: For Tuatha, I see myself aligning closely with Kori and Jared. I dont know what the dynamics would be, but I feel like Maynor is already on the outs.

Cyrena Mo- I LOVE MO SO MUCH. What a gem. I met him in TS Montenegro and he considered me one of his closest allies and saved me from elimination at f9 only for me to vote him out at f8. I still feel bad but im hoping we can mend our relationship and go far together. I actually do think he could make a deep run and  definitely get to finale by laying low. Tobi- Tobi and I in games USUALLY don't end up on the same sides. That being said, I'd love to work with Tobi and I hope he makes merge unlike in emvvas. Matt- Matt is another mystery for me. On one hand, I know he is not only a host favorite but a fan favorite as well, but on the other I  dont really know what he brings to the table. Another wildcard for me that I see going early merge. Jack- Jack and I have a history for sure LOL. It feels like we play every game together. I think Jack is a super nice person, and I'd love to work with him again. We dont really mesh on a personal level which makes it difficult, but I learned my lesson of trying to avoid Jack in emvvas (he got me out) Bodhi- I've seen bodhi around a bit, and can be the hero or the villain. He is quirky in a good way. I see bodhi as being the comical relief that goes mid merge for being too likeable. Alyssa- honestly alyssa seems kind of annoying. I dont want to speak too soon but i dont get good vibes from her. I think she might be an early boot on her tribe. but i truly hope im wrong about her. Karthik- I know karthik from em and i really think he could make a loyal ally. His win was well deserved but i dont necessarily think he is a threat. My predicition for him is still prejury because of his timezone. It's unpredictable when he has power and when he doesnt.

Alignments: For Cyrena, I see Mo Alyssa Tobi in one alliance and Matt Jack and Bodhi in another with Karthik out of the loop.

I'm excited to see how accurate my predicition are! I didnt bother including a winner because i still think its too early to tell. Game ON!

Wow a discord call this early in the game!! Strategy? Nope! It's... Alyssa explaining tarot cards to me. Gotta do what you can for social game ig (its ok now we're talking about romcoms)

iz me beech

what a gift, hi im mo. a dumb bottom who treats himself like shit so no one else does.

IM AN ALL STAR ISNT THAT INSANE. I cannot express how excited I am to be playing this game, plus I fucking love this cast. Like my tribe? Fantastic.

Alyssa - The sister I always wanted. I love her she’s so great.

Matt - New good friend and probably who I’m closest to at the moment I get happy when he gets online cus he gets me and my shit.

Jack - He can rap and he’s nice, what an icon.

Rhys - SUCH A SWEETHEART, I’m so excited to play with him again.

Karthik - Also super sweet, he seems like a genuine guy and I’m looking forward to playing with him.

Tobi - I love that I get to play with him again we haven’t talked all too much but we’ve talked a bit. (I definitely have my guard up around him just cus of something he did in Muxloe)

Bodhi - Kinda inactive unfortunately but he seems nice.

Mo - Dumb bitch.

sits. hi. so like. just like elara im gonna do a countdown to when i can play my legacy because yall CRAZY if you think im willing it to someone else... uh...WAIT.. I JUST REALISED... I THINK I COULD'VE SAVED BIG Z WITH MY LEGACY?? if only i knew he was going... sorry big z... you wont read this.. anyways. ok so. it is final 21. so. 15 (or 8 i guess...) people need to be voted out before i can play it.. i can DO IT. and this time i am not telling a SOUL about it. like. NO ONE.. and the beauty of the legacy is that people shouldn't really even suspect it exists.. heehee!

ANYWAYS! let's talk about the game. so. my tribe is a mess. i love zach and chloe... chris is a king.. i played elara with drew h and he's a babe so there's that. michael king. and sharky hasnt been on much because he's busy which is like awful timing n i feel bad especially if we lose because i think he might go? :-(

as for the other tribes.. bryce asked to be allies i said shure. i love rhys.. thats all bye

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UPDATE!! i love BODHI!!!!!!!!!!!! like..... wow. hes such a king. no words at all.

Our tribe has lots of stuff done on our sheet. I hope we are able to get it done. I hope we can win immunity, first tribal will suck.

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Omg. 3 minutes until sheets are locked. Im kind of nervous. I really want us to be immune.

My tribe mates- Rhys: he is amazing and i feel like we get along pretty well. We have been talking. Mitch: also very nice. Was the first person to message me and i really like him. Kori: we talked a bit. Is someone i need to talk to more. Bryce: my marmoreal f3. ❤️ Jared: amazing guy and really like talking to him. Would work with him. Stephen: the person i least have talked to but i need to talk to more.

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I’m am extemely excited that we won immunity. It gives me more time to talk and bond with these people. Im really liking my tribe. I hope we can keep winning immunity. (Knocks on wood)

We won! Yas! It's unfortunate that we couldn't snatch the reward, but we came close and I think that counts for something.

Chloe and Drew definitely carried the Orfeo tribe to their reward, meanwhile Karth practically killed Cyrena himself. I'm pretty happy being that perfectly middle score on my tribe. High enough to be a contributor, low enough to like not be a threat for try-harding or something.

I'm gonna hopefully take this time to get to bond with people more. Chloe and I are getting married apparently which is cute. She's honestly pretty sweet so I'm already a hardcore stan.

Gonna enjoy the time off, and see what this idol system is about. Maybe I'll get lucky this season.

i am OVERWHELMED like ok so most the cast i feel like doesnt like me. my tribe has ppl who arent super active (this is literally marmoreal flash backs) kori is so.. much idk JKFADSHFKJ like he just is rly.. there! jared is my new fave i love that man so much we are going so far KNOW that. rhys.. an angel i LOVE him i just get him and he gets me. maynor? doesnt reply idk its off. stephen.. not here. mitch? ignores me for long time. so ya that sucks but wooh jared and rhys! also LOVE chloe, loris, zach, maybe tobi!!!

YAAAAAAAAS safety is so important right nowwwww, having safety is crucial bc I wanna keep my friends in this game and keep building bridges. I also have a little advantage to help me search for the idol and nobody needs to know about it except me so hopefully soon I’ll have an idol in my back pocket!

The first few days of this game have been fun. I always enjoy getting to know a new tribe of people. Still, all of these people are essentially new to me. I've been in VL's with Kori and Mitch, and I helped host Jared in Wakea, but playing with people is a totally different ballgame. Still these 3 are probably the relationships I'm most interested in investing time in right now.

As for people off of my tribe, I feel pretty good about my old Komnata castmates. Alyssa, Zach and Karth all worked well with me in the pre-merge and I can definitely see myself working with them here as well. Chris is also my BFF I would literally die for him. Jack is also someone I know well and I know he's a good ally, but we're also playing another ORG together at this very moment (SBBB7) and I just made a move there knowing he wouldn't approve of it, so that's something I have to keep in mind as well. I think as long as I can set myself up well on this current tribe, I could be in it for the long hall!

Looking at the challenge results, it looks really bad for my bro Karth. It's gonna suck if he goes first because we instantly connected back in Komnata, but hey, I don't think I have the clout to save him here. It's the first tribal council and there's no basement to hide in this time.

Today is gonna be a big day though. Before Cyrena goes to Tribal Council, I'm planning to reach out to Mitch and Kori about formally becoming allies. Just like my first season, I'll use the idol search as my opening statement!

SO lots to discuss. First off, we got fucking demolished in immunity. Fucking embarassing. Matt Alyssa and I showed tf up with 100+, and Mo and Bodhi weren't far behind. Tobi did not have a good showing but FUCKING. KARTHIK. TWO POINTS? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? That's disgraceful this is god damn all stars you're a WINNER and you give 2 god damn 1 point submissions. Get the fuck out of my tribe. He should be the easiest first boot in history but of course everyone wants to pussyfoot around for the first 12-18 hours of tribal and not throw out a name. But there's no avoiding this. He's inactive, he has a bad timezone comparatively, and he did diddly poo in the challenge. He's. Gone.

Luckily I find myself with 2 quick alliances right out the shoot, a trio with Alyssa and Matt and a duo with Bodhi. I found myself gravitating to these 4 a lot the first couple days, Mo and Tobi are a bit quieter so I like these 3 allies for me moving forward. Sidenote, BoJack has got to be the greatest alliance name in Celestial history. I'd go back and look to compare but I'm lazy.

One World is still kicking my ass, a lot of people want to talk to me and I don't have the energy for it but damn it I guess I have no other choice, I can't just not respond to them.

Ok so fucking karthik made an alliance with Me, Mo, Matt. And spilled his heart out to us. But we left him on read and now he’s super lonely. Hopefully he doesn’t have an idol or whatever.

Also this game started!! I’m very busy with school but I have things to say. I’m close with some people from before, I really like Loris and Tobi and Alyssa. I’m feeling pretty good about my position right now.

Fuck yeah, not first boot!!! Although I would’ve loved to win as were so close, but can blame that on my tribe mates cause me and Bryce pulled through.

So right now, my closest ally I feel like would be Bryce. Primarily cause were on the same tribe and then I speak to him most on our tribe, and most of the other cast. Then would be jarred, so I want to make hopefully an alliance between them, maybe another, just to confirm my spot in the tribe.

Feel like my main goal is to make connection, as it seems like everyone else has some with other people. So like if it comes to me someone they don’t know, against someone they've player with before just looks bad for me. So I’m trying to make up with Michael, just so that’s one less target in my back.

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Also I talk to Zach a lot. But don’t trust him at all. We have been “dating” since the cast reveal. But he asked Mo to be in a showmance too?! Plus Bryce said he talks to zach the most but Bryce wasn’t in who Zach talks to the most.

This sounds like Tween drama but it’s so much more.

Am I being flirted with?????????

https://youtu.be/GBCr-tAsKTc

My slow self. In regards to the other castmates- I didnt realize how much I talked to the members of Tuatha. Bryce, Rhys, Kori all are red but I've probably done most of my talking with Jared and Stephen who I really wanna get together with at some point. I've reached out to other people like Jack and Alyssa and Mo. I may be forgetting some people but I'm just gonna keep talking up a storm with everybody!  If I had to pick my closest people so far, it definitely would be Jared, Stephen, Zach, and Michael.. stay tuned!

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I FLOPPED at this challenge hard. Drew and Sharky I am sorry for sharing you peeps on the low for being MIA when I was here and performed worse! I am happy we won though because I like my entire tribe and honestly I see a lot of good from them! And so the game begins!

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I am just putting gears in motion! I've made it clear with Stephen, Kori, and Jared I want to work with them. I want to get a cross tribe alliance going and it seems Tuatha is my in though I have to see about other people. As for Orfeo...I talked with Zach on starting a majority alliance with Chloe and Loris, we'll see how it goes and if it is legitimate but I definitely hope I can trust Michael enough to keep him. I still am gonna  not get comfortable because I can see myself being targeted but yeah

https://youtu.be/ia3DTwLWMi8

So we’re going to tribal... and honestly I’m terrified bc I was one of the poorer performers in the challenge but the thing is that Karthik got a whole ass 2 in the challenge... a challenge where you get 8/9 points for drinking water... so I would think he’d be the easy vote but everyone was SUPER quiet yesterday and no one wanted to give names but today is looking a bit better but I swear if I go home over karthik.... I. will. call. out. all. of. them. Not only was his score tragic but I don’t think he’s been social at all... people from other tribes think that karthik is definitely going so maybe I’m just crazy paranoid for no reason but idk I’ll have to talk wayyyy more to everyone just to be sure

well here is my first real confessional of the game! Sorry its late been busy.

So firstly my tribe is like super cute. I'm glad i don't know everyone cause then i would be worried, plus i do genuinely like getting to know new people so that is definitely a yay moment. I am also really liking this cast, though more wahmen would be nice but this is all stars, we r not casting wahmen for the sake of it. - anna jane 2k19.

The first challenge? selfie scavenger. a classic if i have seen one. a surprisingly difficult one at that but im glad how well i performed. top scorer on my tribe so i'm really glad about that and how I will be perceived as an asset for a while at least (we will see how that pans out longer down the line). but yay go me! Unforunately, we lost though so like UGH.

During immunity i approached alyssa and jack about a trio, who could control the tribe as i knew we would be high scorers and i genuinely like the two of them. also made sense becuase i sense we are the 3 most active. Karthik, who scored only 2 in the challenge, is probs the target due to inactivity LOL. tobi and mo i also like, but bodhi remains a mystery to me. might be a timezone thing idk but still. a tad worrying that i dont know him as well as i would like.

One World does my head in but im trying to talk to everyone. i've learnt though i need to make connections on my tribe first and foremost as they r the ones who vote, not people on other tribes. god i do hate one world tho. i want to be napping, not messaging people

think im gonna be in an alliance?? on day 3? is this a joke? literally winning...................  wow....

I usually make videos but today I am lazy so hello. So One World is ass because I don't want to talk to everyone but these people are crackheads so like I guess. Uhhhhh I'm in an alliance with Jack and Matt because I adore them both greatly. Mo is on my tribe which is so nice because we have played together before and he has such fun energy and is just a ray of sunshine so I'm very happy (although he makes me nervous cuz the last game we played together I killed him for no reason basically.... But I don't think he's the vengeful type). Tobi makes me nervous because I think he is a social king and I mean like... Idk I guess there are a lot of very social players which makes me nervous that I would be pushed out for maybe not being as social? Idk if that makes sense.

But anyway Karthik is also on my tribe and I was like OF COURSE. Because this is the man from my season who I cursed out via DR video for flipping on me LOL He is a sweetie though. I recently looked and saw he was rooting for me a lil in a game I was in which is really nice of him, especially seeing as I didn't vote him to win our season. I think he's going to be first boot. He was on vacation this weekend somewhere where there's no wifi (that's what he told me) and only sent in two things for the scavenger hunt, dooming us to a first tribal. I feel somewhat bad but have told people on my tribe that if not for Komnata's twist of the season he would've been out pre-merge easily because his overarching challenge performance is not great. So basically just reiterating to people that I'm not so sure that this was a fluke and overall I think it's probably just best for us to cut him.

Yeah that's it. I have so much crackhead energy from the games I've been playing as of late I feel like I majorly need to chill the fuck out. Here's to praying.

so everyone’s kinda agreed on voting out karthik due to him only scoring two points so I’m like ok cool i’m down but then karthik made an alliance chat with bodhi, matt and myself asking to be saved and

https://i.imgur.com/AxCzqxd.gif?noredirect

Sooo im making this last minute confessional to tell ya that I THINK im in a good spot. Im sharing my idol guesses with Stephen Z and Jared which is helping me build trust with them. I also have mutual trust with Kori. Maynor and Rhys are kind of boring tbh so hopefully they go soon. Bryce and I never seem to have good conversations so idk where his head is at. IM JUST HAPPY THAT MY CURSE OF ALWAYS GOING TO THE FIRST TRIBAL IS FINALLY LIFTED. I WONT BE FIRST BOOT YAHOO

Short and sweet, glad to be back, beast moded another selfie scavenger hunt. Got a good tribe, I think, couple of good friends, couple new people, at least one I think obvious boot should it come to that, but here's hoping it won't. Not a lot of players from my season so hopefully there won't be too much bad blood coming into this. Shoutout to Chloe Bryce and Tobi who are apparently contractually obligated to be in every fucking game I play on Facebook and associated communities for the rest of my life. 21 people is a lot to get through so I'm just hoping for merge, then we can go from there.

Well let's give confessing on my phone a try.

So far I feel like I've been making decent strides conversing with everybody. It's kinda weird how much I like everyone on this season. Its gonna make being a snake harder but I cant afford to blind myself I'll have to do whatever I'll have to do to hopefully win again.

I've made a sort of trio deal with Bryce and Chris as we're all former winners. I'd have included Kavish but we're all predicting he's more than likely the first boot alarm Tina. I'm growing closer to Zach and Clohie on the outer tribes. Also obviously still have my Bodhi connection. I'm talking with just about everyone a bit. Though I cant shake the feeling there is someone I've missed.

I am concerned not being in any sort of majority alliance on my tribe, so if we do lose that's worrisome but still not being the first boot is a huge relief for me, and hopefully there is only good for me going forward. (I say as 4 people probably plot my demise.)

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Karthik is voted out 5-1-1.

[lalainajanes]

Hi! idk if you're still taking prompts but can you do one where klaus and caroline are coworker's who are always getting into heated screaming matches during team meetings and everyone who works with them is just used to it, but the new girl is like wtf??? and then later finds out that they're actually married and don't hate each other?? thanks!! your writing gives me life

Obviously I could not resist fluff day! For Step Two of @klarolineshippersclub 12KCXmas event!

With Friends Like These

The office is deserted – its 7 PM on a Friday – so Caroline’sstartled by the sound she hears coming from the hall. It’s a staccato series oftaps. Heels, eating up the distance quickly, and she rolls her chair back,grabbing her phone from the corner of the desk just in case someone’s bleeding.

She’s about to go and see what’s happening, when Kat barrelsin. Her eyes are wide with what Caroline suspects is glee, her hair a wildwindblown mass of curls. Her jackets only half buttoned and she tosses asideher purse, rushing towards Caroline. “You will not believe what I just heard!”

Caroline lets herself be shaken, taking another confusedlook at Kat’s dishevelment. “Did you run from the bar? Thought you were goingto try to seduce the new guy.”

Katherine looks offended. “Try? Please. Mason’s a sure bet.He’ll keep until next week.”

“Wow,” Caroline drawls. “Something came up that’s kept youfrom guaranteed sex? Must be big.”

Katherine lets go of her, tossing her hair over her shoulderand letting out an irritated huff. “Yeah, yeah, mock me. We don’t all get to scheduleregular freaky married sex.”

It takes a fair amount of willpower not to tear her eyesaway and Caroline lifts her chin stubbornly. Katherine might know far too many details about her and Klaus’ sex life butthat was only because Caroline gets a little over share-y when tequila’sinvolved in a girl’s night out. Klaus is shameless enough not to care, evenwhen Kat’s comments get overly pointed. If anything, he leans into it, lets hishands linger and does his best to make Caroline blush. Caroline is working onbuilding up the same aplomb in the face of Kat’s suggestive smirks and taunts.

“You seem to do just fine in the freaky sex department,” shesnipes back.

Katherine grins, slow and very pleased with herself. “Ireally do.”

Caroline groans, walking over to the couch that lines onewall of her office. “I do not want to have this conversation with you.”

Her dry spell is hours away from ending and she’s really looking forward to it.

Klaus has been gone for ten days, dealing with inspectionsfor the new hotel the company is opening in London. Caroline’s team is busy puttingtogether room concepts so she hadn’t been able to justify taking the time awayto accompany him.

She likes phone sex as much as the next girl whose husbandhas a hot accent but it got old after a few days. She misses having a warm bodyto roll into at night; the way he wakes he scrapes his morning beard againsther shoulder when she grumbles about the alarm.

“Someone’s cranky!” Katherine sings. She circles Caroline’sdesk, helping herself to the bourbon that’s stashed in the lowest drawer. “Mynews might not help you.”

Oh joy.

Caroline slouches low, letting her legs flop ratherungracefully, “And yet, you rushed all the way back here to tell me about it?”

“It’s just too hilarious. I couldn’t not.”

Katherine’s sense of humor is a weird thing, an acquiredtaste, so Caroline braces herself. “Alright, hit me.”

“Uh uh. Let me set the scene.”

“And people say I’m dramatic.”

Kat ignores the complaint, lifting the bottle high. “There Iam, in the ladies room…”

“Taking off your panties so you could stuff them in Mason’spocket?”

“Please. Like you’ve never used that move.”

Caroline could honestly say she hadn’t (Klaus likes toremove her lingerie himself) but Katherine’s already continuing her tale. Sheperches on the edge of Caroline’s desk, wiggling in an effort to getcomfortable.

So it’s not going to be a short story. Caroline presses herlips together, holding in a sigh, glancing at the clock. She’s supposed to grabKlaus from the airport at eleven and she’d planned go home and change intosomething easier to remove beforehand. Hopefully Katherine can resist the urgeto embellish too extensively.

“I’m minding my own business, about to flush, when I hear afamiliar name.”

“Yours?”

“Nope, yours. Preceded and followed by some very colorfuldescriptors.” She pauses expectantly, eagerly watching for Caroline’s reaction.

Only to be disappointed when Caroline shrugs, emitting onlya dismissive, “Somehow I’ll survive.” The last time she’d really been overlyconcerned with other people liking her she’d owned pom poms.

Katherine, however, isn’t finished.

“Really? Even when I tell you that our little bathroomgossiper had very complimentary things to say about your hubs?”

Her hands curl into the couch’s cushions, a teeny flare ofjealousy flaring bright.

She’s an only child and she gets a little possessive, okay?Klaus is into it. He’s also no stranger to getting growly and shooting murdereyes and staking a claim and, since he’s got a bajillion siblings, he doesn’t evenhave the same justification for being bad at sharing.

Those incidents usually result in an immediate need forprivacy (or the reasonable facsimile found behind a locked office door or thebackseat of a car). The next day they’ll sleep in, there will be hickies on herthighs and scratches on his back, and they’ll eat dessert for breakfast.

Honestly, Caroline kind of loves that particular ritual,knows very well that Klaus does too.

“Not everyone thinks Klaus is awful,” Caroline points out.

“Because most people are dumb and lack my excellent taste.”

Caroline eyes the bottle, seriously considering chugging abit and just calling a cab when it’s time to collect Klaus. She really doesn’twant to be drunk for their reunion but, if Kat doesn’t hurry up and get to apoint, it might be her best option. “I love you so I’m going to ignore the factthat you kinda just called me dumb.”

Katherine scoffs, “You’re not dumb, just dickmatized.”

It’s probably a good thing she’s not drinking because shewould have choked. Caroline’s laugh sputters out, grows in volume, and she hasto cover her mouth when it becomes hard to control herself. Her eyes water alittle as she finally manages to stop giggling, “Yeah, I’m totally tellingKlaus that you said that. He’ll take it as a compliment.”

“Literally the only nice thing I’ll ever say about him isthat you’re far more bearable and less uptight than you used to be. I creditthe regular orgasms.”

She and Katherine had been hired at about the same time and,in the beginning, hadn’t gotten along overly well. Kat now headed The MikaelsonGroup’s marketing team, was a wizard at luring in celebs and influencers andmaking their hotels a coveted destination. Caroline had worked her way up torun a design team. It’s how she’d met Klaus (and they’d butted heads too in theearly days) coordinating with him and his architect minions.

“I, too, am a big fan,” Caroline admits. “Though, honestly,you should really give cuddling a try. Totally relaxing.”

“Ew, pass.”

It’s an argument they’ve had before.

“Anyway,” Katherine says, so loudly that Carolineinstinctively glances towards the door. “Back to my story. Greta Martin thinksyou should stop being a total bitch to Klaus in meetings. Oh, and she’s alsoplanning on banging him.”

Caroline sits up, now outraged. “I am not…”

Katherine cuts her off, “You have been a little snippy thisweek.”

Only because Klaus has been baiting her.

“That’s just how we are. He pokes, I prod. He’s annoyinglysmug, all ‘oh, aren’t I the cleverest?’ and I like to knock him down.”

“Verbal foreplay is your thing,” Katherine says, adding aknowing nod.

She throws her hands up, collapsing back again. “Exactly! Mymarriage is freaking great and if that…”

Again, she doesn’t get to work up to a proper rant. Superannoying.

“That’s the best part!” Katherine crows. “She has no ideayou and Klaus are married! Talk about dumb people.”

Well, that’s mollifying. Slightly. Caroline will just haveto make things clear. Plans begin to form. She discards the racier ones (unlessGreta proves to be unwilling to take a hint). She twists her wedding bandabsently, “How has she not noted the rings?”

“Forget the rings. How she hasn’t noted Klaus’ doofybesotted face whenever you walk into a room is the bigger issue. Maybe sheneeds glasses?”

Maybe Caroline will get her assistant to shoot Greta anemail detailing the company’s excellent insurance coverage on Monday.

She hears the bottle clink and she shakes off her mentallists, shooting Katherine a glare. “You know, it would have been easy for youto clear up her misconceptions in that bathroom.”

Kat’s brows rise and she shoots Caroline a look like she’ssaid something totally insane. “And deprive myself of prime workplace drama?Please. You know how bored I get on Wednesdays when I have to sit in those dumblegal meetings.”

Caroline’s displeasure must read on her face because Kattosses her a bright smile, leaning forward and offering the bottle. Her toneturns placating, “Oh, relax, Cupcake. It’s harmless. You’ll probably forget allabout this little snafu over the weekend.”

Caroline’s does have big plans.

“Maybe,” she allows grudgingly. She stands, straighteningher pencil skirt. “Speaking of, I should go home and make myself pretty.”

“You’re going to do that gross airport make out thing, aren’tyou?”

Caroline smiles, not trying to hide the slightly mockingedge to it. “Usually, yeah. But Elijah’s not a guy who tolerates a scene.”

She relishes the freezing of Katherine’s body, the wideningof her dark eyes. Her hand flexes, looking for the bottle that had recentlybeen clutched there.

Caroline withholds it, setting it down and out of reach.

She’s not entirely sure what had gone down at the Christmasparty last year (Katherine was way better at keeping secrets no matter how muchliquor was applied) but she knows Kat’s red lip had been rubbed off and Elijah’svest had been buttoned incorrectly when she and Klaus had met the odd couple atthe elevator bank.

Kat had twitched a little at the mention of Elijah’s nameever since.

She adopts her sweetest expression, “Maybe the legalmeetings will be more exciting when Elijah’s leading them in person, hmm?”

Katherine’s mouth opens. Closes. She wiggles her toes to gether heels back in place before hopping off the desk. “I need to…”

She doesn’t finish her sentence, stalking out of the office.Caroline watches her go, both satisfied and bursting with curiosity. A speechlessKatherine Pierce? Caroline never thought she’d see the day.

She makes a mental note to tell Klaus, to wheedle until heagrees to pump Elijah for info. She didn’t often get bored at work, not whenshe could just pop into Klaus’ office and poke around in his projects. But hehad another trip on his calendar next month.

She won’t turn down a little in office entertainment whilehe’s gone.

[not-your-average-hazbin]

Time to Unwind- Baxter x Alastor Fluff Story

The fish was busy working in the laboratory, slaving over his projects and studies. Working at his desk on reading a book on the “Chemistry of Poisons”, usually one of his favorite topics to look into… He was losing his focus slowly, but surely. He didn’t know what had gotten into him. He was nearly falling asleep, and it wasn’t even that late! Baxter was rubbing his eyes and adjusting his goggles. He attempted to read on, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. He felt off, unfocused. He took his glasses off and rested his head on the large book, using it almost like a pillow, his brain was so terribly scattered, he had to clear his head somehow. Baxter decided to put his work aside for a small while. And read for pleasure instead. He picked up the book he’d been working on, and sat on his blue velvet loveseat, spreading out on it, and laying down with a sigh.

Meanwhile, Alastor was rather bored, nothing to do. Most of the misfits had gone to bed, as he had no need for it, he didn’t sleep often. He knew he couldn’t mess with and or scare anyone or the princess would be dissatisfied, and he wasn’t in a place where he needed to hunt out in the woods for food. So he ended up teleporting to the laboratory with a snap of his fingers, to check on the fish that he knew fairly well. When he had nothing better to do he liked to tamper with his scientific sets up to see if he can eat any of his specimens. He would often be chewed out by the little fish, he just found it humorous. But when he did end up feeling nice, or to get himself out of the dog-house with Baxter, he would go around fetching him little dead things. Like mice, rats, and birds. Baxter wasn’t disgusted, he instead used them as specimens, they seemed to make him happy. Those were the specimens Alastor never ate. Nevertheless, he checked the fish’s bedroom first, no sign of him. Alastor opened the door back into the lab and saw Baxter, his little light on, reading a book. The freckles on his cheeks let off a dim glow along with the other bioluminescent markings on his small frame. Alastor’s already large smile widened unintentionally, and the tall demon skunk in the shadows making his way behind the little loveseat.

Baxter continued on reading, using his esca as a reading light. It was rather convenient this way. His goggles slid down his small bump of a nose. And continued on. Alastor slid up behind the small fish’s head, behind his slicked back greasy hair. He turned a few more pages, Alastor reading over his shoulder. Alastor couldn’t help it anymore so he softly said, as not to frighten him too terribly much.

“Hello Doctor~” He said in almost a sing-song tone.

Baxter jumped, and being the skittish thing he was he threw the book in the air and rolled off of the small couch with a yelp. Alastor seemed satisfied, and let out a small chuckle. Catching the book he was reading in mid-air with a single snap.

“A-Alastor! I told you to knock. Or announce yourself for that matter……” He was embarrassed. He stood up, dusted himself off and sat back down, now taking up less than half the seat because of his size.

“I apologize for startling you Baxter, Hmhm~ Would never do it intentionally…” He smirked as he said this. The Radio Demon grabbed the book Baxter had thrown and set it in the small fish’s lap. He looked at it and the said

“It’s alright, Erm…. why did you come down here anyways? Did you need something?” He asked.

“ No no, just passing through to check in. Nothing more.” Responded the deer fellow.

“Well, In that case…. I’ll be back to my book.” Said Baxter continuing with his reading, expecting The Radio Demon to leave. But Alastor didn’t leave, nor did he have the intent of leaving. He sat down by the fish, he sat there, completely entranced by his little light on the end of Baxter’s lure. It bobbed up and down as the scientist read. Alastor watched it so intently, his large red eyes went a bit static. The even made the staticy noises. Baxter tried to pay it no mind, but he was staring blankly at him. He thought it was extremely odd. He returned to his reading, trying to dismiss it.

He was able to do so, until he felt his lure move slightly. He looked up from the page he was reading, to see Alastor’s hand, poking his light. The fish froze. The teal spots on his face lit up brightly, his eyes were wide, and his light turned pink. Alastor looked at it with a quizzical look in his eyes now in place of the blank stare.

“It’s…. Rather beautiful…. It can change color?” His ears were positioned high on his head, showing his interest. Baxter remained still, and managed to stutter out.

“Wh-Why Yes…. It… Can….” The fish was visibly nervous, but Alastor was too occupied by his light to notice.

“Well…. What does pink mean? I’m rather curious now…” He questioned. The fish began to sweat a little, he happened to know the meaning of the mood ring attached to his lure. The light went brighter pink, and so did his cheeks. Alastor went giddy at this, and let out a little deer squeak of excitement. Baxter was surprised to hear this out of the “Formidable Radio Demon” even if he was part deer. His surprise just made the lights on his face and lure brighter and more vibrant. They were not helping his cause...

“There it went again! It got even more rosy!” The tall demon gently poked and prodded the significantly smaller demon’s bright pink esca for a small while, the tiny fish powerless to stop him.

“Hm, I wonder….” Alastor muttered quietly. Baxter’s eyes widened, before he could even utter the word “No.” The Radio Demon started to rub and caress his little light, masking it’s glow in his large gloves hands, his smile wide. Baxter felt himself relax, without him wanting to. His body went from tense, to relaxed just like that, his expression changed to a softer one of enjoyment. Alastor noticed the tension in the fish disappeared, and smiled even wider, rubbing gently, seeing into the light which showed very well the scientist’s mixed emotions, in pinks, reds and purples.

Alastor’s eyes lit up, he found them so pretty, putting off a bright glow in the dark laboratory. Baxter couldn’t resist him, and the deer knew it. Baxter wasn’t in control of his own actions, he was unsure, but not opposed to the treatment he was getting. Alastor looked Baxter up and down, he seemed content with what he was doing, then he looked to his little webbed fish fins on the sides of his head. Baxter’s fins were perked all the way up, and they twitched, just a little. Since Alastor had been so curious about the fish, why not test just one last theory?

Alastor let up on the Angler’s light, giving him just a moment to recover, his light shifting to a hue between his normal yellow, and that pinky color from before. He breathed more heavily than usual. He was nervous. He met eyes with Alastor.

“A-Alastor… What was that all abou-“ The Radio Demon cut him off. Alastor reaches for Baxter’s fish ears. Starting slowly, scratching right behind it. Baxter yelped, startled by his sudden motion. The fish’s reaction was priceless to him, he was surprised at first, but it melted into satisfaction. The little demon loved it so. Those cheeks with the little glowing aqua diamonds on his face, his glasses were crooked, but his expression was pure joy. Alastor hadn’t ever seen the scientist like this. He was always so uptight, stressed, and focused. It was a treat to see him so relaxed.

Baxter liked this. He couldn’t place his finger on why. It was. Like he was getting attention he had never felt before, like he’d been noticed by someone who enjoyed his company. He finally gave into his feelings and responded to his urges. He rubbed his cheek on the hand stroking him, encouraging him to go on, too happy for words.

Alastor was rather surprised by this response. But he obeyed Baxter’s silent request. Smiling, his little plan had worked. He sat there rubbing the fish’s soft little face, and then, Baxter did something to make Alastors entire afterlife spin.

He curled up quietly, and began vibrating. Alastor could feel it, and he recoiled. Slightly startled as he had never done this before, the fish hadn’t ever vibrated. He had a disturbed look on his face, and his ears sunk. So many thoughts ran through his head all at one time,

Is he alright?! Is he broken!? Did I break him!? Oh Dear Satan what have I done!?

Baxter looked confused and slightly disappointed.

“W-What was that? Baxter what did you. What did you just do?” Alastor asked.

“What? Was I doing something?! Did I do something?” He asked frantically.

Alastor took a moment, and processed what had happened in his little “test.” Then it hit him. He understood what it was then. Baxter has no time to react or protest. Because Alastor went right back to gently caressing the spot, that large smile still widening. Baxter was ill-prepared yet again, but went back to his curled up state. Purring gently enjoying the special treatment.

Alastor got into a rhythm. He rubbed for what he felt was an eternity, an adorable lovely eternity. He had even scooted closer to Baxter, feeling his gentle vibrations on his side. The small fish lad even got enough confidence to snuggle up closer to the giant deer.

After a few minutes more the purring, over time just transferred to soft steady breathing, and as for The Radio Demon, he had been lulled to sleep, his monocle has slipped down on his face, and so had the scientist’s glasses. Alastor fell asleep, happy where he was, he didn’t know why but it felt right. So he slept, next to his dear Baxter making soft deer noises and little snores.

Follow~up: Angel knocked on the lab door, checking to see if the fish was awake. He wags going to set up speakers in Baxy’s room. And crank “My Heart Will Go On” as loud as he could. Just to piss him off. That’d be a hilarious wake-up-call. He walked in, and saw Baxter and Alastor cuddled up on the blue velvet couch. He nearly verbally said “Aweeee!” but he restrained himself. He snapped a picture with his phone, chuckled at it. And left. Closing the door and taking his brand new blackmail with him~

((WOOHOO! I’M FINISHED AND I ENJOYED IT!

Thank you to....

@zoophobiapika, @evilassumptions, and @zpheadcanons ! For giving me headcanons and ideas to base this off of! Couldn’t have done it without them!

And to

@upppwego, and the lovely @ellen-jello for keeping me motivated and being so openly excited about it!

I hope everyone liked this. And please leave a comment if I should do more! Farewell my fellow Demons, Sluts, Sinners and Hazbins. I’m out! <3))

[erinoddly-archived-blog]

Daybreak Excerpt - Retired WIP

“Here’s the plan: we break into this building, fuck shit up, and get the fuck out before anyone can stop us.” Alec didn’t wait for a response and instead headed towards the dilapidated skyscraper looming over them like a giant monster from the sand. He knew the others well enough to know that even though that was the best plan anyone had come up with, or rather the only plan anyone had come up with, someone would stop him. Likely, anyway. It wasn’t like anyone had enjoyed his other plans, even though they were all just as amazing.

“And how do you plan on us not getting caught?” Alec stopped, sighing. Of course it was Piper. He turned to look at her, watching her as she flipped her bubblegum pink hair over her shoulder and narrowed her grey eyes at him. She was gorgeous, tall and model-esque, and it pissed him off to no end that she couldn’t be just another pretty face. Then she would just go along with it instead of being uptight and ruining all his fun. “We’re trying to steal supplies from an enemy stronghold and you think you can just race in, hit a couple people, and leave without dealing with any repercussions?”

“Of course not.” He glared back at her, placing his hands on his hips as he tried to ignore the sweat beading on his brow. Dammit, why’d he have to insist on still wearing the leather jacket he had shown up to this world in? They were in the middle of a god forsaken desert and he’d have no one but himself to blame if he got heat stroke. “But I do think this is the best way to get out of dealing with the worst of it.”

“All in favor of Alec never makin’ any plans again raise your hand,” Remi said. Alec couldn’t see them, but he already knew what the result was going to be. “That’s a definite majority. Alec ain’t allowed in our strategy meetings anymore.”

“There has to be a better way.” It was Rowan who spoke up this time, mirroring Piper’s glare and crossed arms. He was as tall and broad as a tree, and if Alec had been anyone else, he’d likely be intimidated. However, as he was who he was, he found it more hilarious that a literal tree was trying to threaten him. “As much as I hate to agree with Piper-”

“As much as you hate to agree with anyone,” Alec interrupted, earning a look that would have him six feet under if looks could kill.

“Running in there and bashing heads in can’t be the only plan we have.” Rowan finished.

Alec couldn’t help his smirk. “So as long as it’s not the only plan, it’s fine?”

He responded to the groans from Rowan and Martin with another smirk, wider this time as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. It was always fun to mess with them.

“Come on, Alec,” Martin sighed, “you know there has to be another way. Some way to get in without getting noticed.”

“Like what?” He glared at the group of them, making the other seven avert their eyes. It was always a nice feeling, he thought, to actually be able to intimidate with nothing but a glance. “Magically find the schematics for the building? Crawl in through the airducts and use a grappling hook down like this is some damn spy movie?” Martin glanced up for just a moment before staring back down at his shuffling feet. He obviously hadn’t thought that far ahead. None of them had. None of them except for Alec. Which is why he had the only viable plan. “Because last I checked, we have none of that. All we have are our own bodies and a couple of knives.”

The chain-link fence in front of them rattled as Rowan punched it. Not that Alec could really blame him. Honestly, he kind of wanted to also. It was frustrating. It was frustrating that no one would listen to him. It was frustrating that they had no idea where they were or what they were doing. Everything was just a giant ball of frustration and stress and it made him want to hit something. Which, to be fair, was probably part of the reason his plan was what it was. It would be the easiest way to get a good fight in.

“It’s the only plan we have.”

But still, he could hear someone, he thought it was Luca, faintly, muttering terrified prayers under his breath. He could see Kieran out of the corner of his eye, icy eyes wide and chest silently heaving. It was a harsh reminder that they were all kids, that he was a kid. What else could they do? What could he do?

“Seren seemed desperate to get us to the capital.” His voice sounded foreign to his own ears. It was too tight, too strained, too much like–. He shook his head, staring forward into the ruins of the city before them. “So I doubt she would have sent us into this without a way to defend ourselves.”

“The Modifiers.” It was the first time Kieran had spoken besides offering his name when he had fist woken up, which startled Alec so much he nearly jumped. Everyone stopped, staring at him. When he noticed the attention, he shied away, staring at the sand under his feet as he lifted his arm, pointing at the tanned piece of leather circling his wrist. “The bracelets. She said that they would help us.”

“Help us how?”

Kieran shrugged, backing away and wrapping his arms tightly around himself.

Fat lot of good that was.

“We need a strategy, Alec.” He turned to look at Piper, who was staring him down as she spoke.

He glanced behind him, at all the others. Luca was crouched on the ground, staring up through teary eyes. Kieran was clutching his chest, eyes tightly closed and Remi and Rowan stood nearby, looking surprisingly numb to the situation. Once again, a flood of recognition washed through him. Children. They were children, not fighters, not soldiers.

“Here’s our strategy. Try your best to survive.”

He thought he heard Rowan cursing behind him, but he ignored it and walked back to the gate. Right as he was about to step past the threshold, a hand grabbed onto his shoulder.

“Don’t be a moron about this, Alec.” It was obviously Martin who was speaking, grasping onto Alec’s shoulder as if that would actually make him stop and consider his actions.

“Then tell me what other choice we have.” He shrugged off the hand, ignored the comment of ‘you’re going to get us all killed,’ and stepped through the gate. Part of him figured that the others weren’t going to follow his lead, but when he glanced back, they were filing in behind him, one or two at a time, all looking a mix of terrified and apprehensive, even the usually pissed off Rowan.

The skyscraper stretched on forever above them, ruined and decaying as Martin’s words echoed in his head. Don’t be a moron about this. As if he hadn’t been a moron about every single decision he had ever made in his life. But now was different, wasn’t it? Now he had seven other lives on his back. Seven kids he had to protect. But if he was going, it was going to be on his own terms, dammit.

He had only made it two steps closer before he stopped again, watching with narrowed eyes as a tall man dressed in little more than rags appeared from the shadows of the skyscraper. He was more than intimidating, standing at over six feet tall and built like a body builder. Even if they had been on Alec’s turf, he still would have felt apprehensive about fighting him. All he could do was pray to the god he didn’t believe in that the damn bracelets really were magic.

“You’re from North Star, aren’t you?” The man’s voice was dripping with bitterness and anger.

“Not technically.” Alec motioned for the others to step back as he cocked his head to the side and smirked at the large man. Shit, what the hell was he doing, asking for a punch to the face? He guessed so as he stuck his hands in his pockets again. “Just helping them out a bit. But I don’t really prefer to swing one way or the other.”

The man eyed him, raising a brow. “Such a shame you were sent here. You might’ve lived if they sent you somewhere else.”

Something dark was building inside Alec. Pride, anger, desperation – he couldn’t tell which. All he knew was that he was going to survive. Not just this battle, but the entire war. He was determined to. He lifted his head, tilting his chin up.

“I suppose we’ll see about that, won’t we, Jackass?”

Somewhere to his right, Luca choked. But all Alec cared about was the man smirking in front of him. That was going to be his prey. His alone. And hopefully the others would be smart enough to live, somehow. There were obviously more people around, hidden in the crumbling walls, waiting for the big guy to give them to go-ahead to fight.

“Then let’s get started,” Big Guy said.

Big Guy came flying at him. Alec hadn’t expected him to be so fast, but he managed to dodge his punch in the nick of time. He had wanted to try and keep an eye on the others, but it took all his focus trying to dodge and counter Big Guy’s punches. Even then there were still some that landed, knocking Alec slightly off balance, throwing him off his game.

If they had been back home, if this had just been another of his career fights, if he hadn’t been so distracted – none of that mattered. All that mattered was here. Now. The screams in the background. The heat he could feel where one of Big Guy’s punches connected with his jaw. The anger. The fear. The desperation. Big guy reached out, grabbing him by the neck. He shouldn’t have let that happen. He was better. He was a survivor. He wouldn’t die.

He wouldn’t die.

He wouldn’t die.

At first, he thought the light meant he had died. As if suddenly all the air had been pushed from his lungs. But that was wrong. He could still breathe. He could still breathe and Big Guy was screaming. Screaming as if he were dying. And that light was coming from Alec, and the damn bracelets had to be magic because fire was licking at his skin but he couldn’t feel it. Like it was a part of him.

Big Guy had stopped screaming, stopped moving, stopped breathing, reduced to nothing but a pile of burnt clothes and charred skin and this was his fault. He’d killed someone.

But wasn’t it necessary? Wasn’t it a life for a life? He had to survive, had to make sure the others survived, had to get home some day and become the kind of man his parents could be proud of. That was what he had promised himself. If no one else would keep their promises to him, he had to keep his own.

He took a moment to breathe, to calm down, before glancing around himself. He hadn’t known how long he had been fighting with Big Guy, but apparently it was long enough for damage to be done.

Rowan was a few feet away, standing over a body and holding a bloodied piece of wood shaped almost like a baseball bat. From where he was standing, Alec couldn’t tell if the man lying on the ground was dead or just unconscious. He hoped for the latter. Luca stood a bit behind Rowan. He was pale and looked like he was about to hurl, but otherwise seemed uninjured. Remi was nearby, scratched up and holding her side. Martin and Addy were huddled together nearby, another man lying near them. Kieran was forced up against the building by another man, his chest heaving as his hands scratched at the ones pressing into his neck. His eyes were wide, but distant, like he was seeing something completely else.

Shit.

Shit fuck shit.

It was the only thing crossing Alec’s mind as he watched, his body moving before he could even command it to. He raced to Rowan, who had also seemed to notice but froze, and grabbed the wood from his hands. It would only take one swing. Just one swing and the kid would be okay. So he swung.

[not-so-secretly-alexandra]

Unicorn Obsession

Summary: Steve and Bucky brought you to a theme park. They loved bringing you everywhere and seeing you happy. But what happens when you become all gloomy?

Prompt: "That's it, we're going back for that unicorn."

A/N: Sorry my entry is delayed. I have no excuse. @mal-functioning-writer , it's still for you though... #Mals3kStash

Word count: I have no idea I'm sorry

This is my first time writing. + I've been a perfectionist. So, I hope you enjoy it!

This is as close as I could get to what I imagined... ⬇⬇⬇

"Hey, (Y/N)! What do you wanna do next?" Bucky gleamed. 

You were at the theme park. Steve had gone to buy some snacks while you and Bucky tried out every booth you could come across.

You were like a little sister to Bucky and Steve. They loved hanging out with you. They loved making you happy. They basically adopted you after meeting you. They found you in one of Stark's foundations and they became sort of the ones who take care of you now. 

***

You've never been to one, so they found a local carnival for you to go to. 

You rode the carousel. Watched the both of them play balloon pop and that hammer game, which ended up leaving a little competition between Steve and Bucky.You enjoyed watching because, you had to admit, you had a crush on both soldiers. But you were merely a teenager. So that didn't really matter a lot. You were having the best time. 

...

You practically begged for Steve to try face painting. You loved trying out new things, and you loved doing it with them. But in all his seriousness, all you got was 'no'. 

"I'm gonna go get us food." The super soldier said as he, kind of, ran off to avoid being done to him what you have been begging him about for the last 5 minutes. 

"Umm... wow. Is getting your face painted really that bad?" You asked Bucky who only hummed back, he wasn't really paying attention to you. He was enjoying the brush strokes, the wet paint that felt cold against his skin. You chuckled at his response. 

"Wow you really find that relaxing, huh?" You muttered under your breath, "Meanwhile, the other guy wouldn't even--" 

"W-what? You said something?" He flinched, startling the person who was putting on the paint. They huffed. They're  probably intimidated by now. You've been nudging Bucky's arm every now and then and it's become annoying. 

You shrugged and shook your head. You wanted to rant about how Steve was being uptighter than uptight lately. But the artist seemed too pissed, and just wanted to get it over with, you didn't bother. They were already scary beforehand. You took a step back but repeated the question anyways,"Is it really that bad? I mean, what's so bad about getting a little paint on your face?" 

They did your face first, then Bucky's. You had a little unicorn painted on your cheek. You specifically asked for the unicorn because it was your favorite animal. You didn't care that people thought you were weird because you still believed it was real.  You loved it, let them deal with it.  

"No, not at all. It's fine it's just..." Bucky replied once they were finished with his face. "He's just afraid, maybe,"

"Afraid of what? His face swelling? Welts?" You side-eyed him before turning to face him. "... is he afraid he won't be able to say anything patriotic because..." you held your breath up to your cheeks to make it look bloated and brought your hands up to your face, which only made you look more like a zombie. 

"Hey," you were cut off by Bucky giving you a 'don't even think about it' face. You giggled at that. He continued on answering your question, "he's afraid of not being taken seriously."

The paint on Bucky's face was made him look like a sweet little bunny.

"Then, why are you okay with it?"

"I'm used to it. And with what already happened, people will never take me lightly."

Bucky smouldered as he said that and you chuckled, finally realizing the sight in front of you. Never have you thought the winter soldier could look so innocent, ever. 

He had little bunny ears drawn on his temples, whiskers were drawn by the nose up to his cheeks and below his lip was white paint with black outline resembling chompers. It was hilariously contradicting to what he just said you wheezed. 

"What?" He looked so confused it only made you guffaw at the ex-assassin who was actually a sweet little bean bun. You never thought you'd see anyone purer for the rest of your life. 

"You're- you're so cute!" You managed to say as you tried to stop. 

But you couldn't stop laughing so Bucky just grabbed you by the back of your shirt and dragged you as he went on crossing out the list of rides for you to go. 

***

You played tons of games, went to tons of rides with them, but there were still tons more to explore. 

"Knock the bottles, win a prize!"

"Ooh, look! a unicorn!" You were making lovey dovey eyes staring at it. You pointed at the booth with a specific 24-inch sized plushie, "How 'bout we play that one, Buck?"

His eyes darting to the game then back to you, "You know I'm not good at this stuff..."

"Can you at least try?" You looked up at him with hopeful eyes. 

"We should probably wait for Stev--"

"Please," you pleaded before looking over the stuffed animal again, "it's so fluffy I'm gonna dieeee!"

"Fine, doll." Bucky went to pay and play the game.

...

You and Bucky were staring at the abyss while you were at the bench. Your head was on his lap, your eyes were red from crying. 

"I've been looking all over for you! Where have yo-- woah, are you okay?" It was Steve. He looked so worried as he cupped your face to see if you were hurt. "What happened?" 

***

"Arrgh!" Bucky groaned as he made his last shot, still not hitting the bottles thrown with his right hand. He threw his head up and sighed in frustration before he hung it low and turned to look at you, "I'm really sorry, doll. I'm out of bucks."

He laughed dryly whilst you chuckled at his attempt to make a joke. It made him feel better to see you at least enjoyed his company. 

You reached behind and took your money and stretched your hand to give it to him. "Let's go again?"

***

You explained only parts of what happened but mostly told him, "it's okay because you're here now." 

You somehow left the part out where the prize was a unicorn. And you never told him you used all your money. 

Both you and Bucky stood from the bench, taking the food with newfound hope. You gave him a toothy grin. Steve was here, he could totally win that unicorn.

"Thanks, Steve." Bucky gave a wide tight-lipped smile after biting on the corn dog.

"Bucky... you got- you got... buck tee-nevermind." Steve realized what was painted on Bucky's face. Steve couldn't believe his eyes. What was happening? Okay, so the soldier finally feels unimpeded. He looked free and happy for once. It really matches his personality when he's just not the brainwashed Winter Soldier. He shook his head in disbelief.

"Hey, Steve, thanks!" You said as you realized you were famished. If Bucky couldn't do it, Steve can. He's been winning prized toys since the beginning of time. You chuckled at the thought and continued with your cotton candy.

You were about to ask Steve when he said, "Sorry to cut our time short, but work called. We gotta get back to the compound. Tony said to meet him there." 

Your face dropped. You were going home. But we didn't get the unicorn yet.

"Wait, we didn't get that plushie yet." Bucky tried to reason. "Steve..."

"I'm sorry, Buck, but we gotta be there in an hour. It's important." He sounded as apologetic as he could. 

Bucky gave in, he knew he wouldn't be able to hit that target any time soon. And Steve, he was the one who really was needed there. Bucky was just backup. 

You had just used up your money. All you wanted was that unicorn. You couldn't just give it up, but you couldn't do it by yourself either. You wanted Steve to play.

Where you were standing, you could see the unicorn clearly. Steve didn't seem to have noticed your eyes on the thing as he took your hand and walked to the automobile, basically making you run, trying to catch up to him. He was in a hurry, you could tell. His 6 and a half being, dragging your barely 5 ft. height, made it hard for you to keep up. He was literally sweeping you off the floor. 

"But Steve, you could do it."

"Whatever it is, we can come back for it. Alright?"

You looked to see Bucky right behind. He looked to you and saw the tears threatening to spill your eyes. He mouthed an 'I'm sorry' and hung his head, eyes on his feet. 

"But, Steve--" 

"What?" Steve stopped in his tracks.

"...nothing." you said as you wiped your tears that were already falling.

"(Y/N), what's wrong?" he said seeing you already crying. Concern laced in his voice. He wiped the tears on your face. "I'm sorry. What's wrong, sweetie? You still wanna play? I could give you a-"

You shook your head and mumbled an,  'It's not that.'"We should go. You need to drop me off now. Mr. Stark is probably waiting for you now," you gave him a weak smile and motioned for all of you to get into the car. 

...

You didn't notice but the conversation you just had worried Steve greatly. You always gave way for them, even when there was something you wanted. You always just tried to let it go. But of course you had to mourn first.

The car was quiet as Steve drove. You sat in the back. You hid your face behind Bucky's seat, silently sobbing. You accidentally whimpered. You shot up before wiping more of your tears and pretended to hum innocently. 

But it was already too late because Steve heard you, and he wasn't having any more of this. "Alright, that's it. (Y/N), what's really going on? You've been quiet the whole ride!"

"It's nothing, really!" You nearly screamed telling him you were okay. "I'm fine, Steve!"

"You don't seem fine," Steve was raising his voice. "If you wanted to play more, I could have given you a couple more minutes!"

"It's not that, Steve! I told you it's not that!" you sobs were uncontrollable now that you were facing the situation. You never liked it, it gets you emotional over the smallest of things. Plus, the suspense in the little vehicle was too much.

Bucky took the popcorn from the bag of food that Steve bought. He wanted to help you make Steve understand this, but not this way. He figured it's time for you to explain things yourself. 

"Then what is it about?!"

"It's nothing, really!"

"Nothing?! Then, (Y/N), why are you crying?"

"You have to get back the the compound. Mr. Stark is waiting." You turned to face the window.

"(Y/N), just tell me what happened." He said, a little more gently. "What is this really about?"

"I didn't get that prized unicorn." You sniffed. 

"What?" Steve asked, completely confused. You wiped your remaining tears and giggled as the face he made reminded you of Bucky earlier. 

You sighed as you finally told him, "The prize for that game... the prize of the game Buck and I were playing, was a unicorn plushie. And I really wanted it." 

"Is that it? Is that what this is all about?" "Yes, but I really wanted it. And Buck tried to get it for me but you know that it's literally the only thing he can't do, even in the 40's."

Steve now understood everything. He knew how you loved unicorns. He also knew what trouble you would go through just to get another one for your collection. And a unicorn like that, he knew you weren't kidding.

Steve glanced at Bucky and scoffed, "You couldn't have used your metal arm for it?"

"Shut up. You're the one who keeps on talking about being fair all the time! I guess you rubbed it off on me..."

"And now you're broke."

"I was just trying to acknowledge my other arm for still being here. I wanted to show that it still has its use."

The car was silent again for a moment. Steve contemplated. He felt guilty for not spending more time with you and pay attention to you more. 

"That's it," suddenly, the car drifted, you heard the wheels screech, you were on the other side of the road.

You and Bucky gave him looks of bewilderment. Steve gave Bucky a look that he understood right away. You still looked ever so puzzled. 

Bucky flashed Steve that wide grin of his again and made him laugh and shake his head once more. He won't be able to move on until he washed his face. 

Steve said, with his game face on. "...we're going back for that unicorn."

Taglist: (people I'd like to give credit to for helping me and supporting me)

@maladaptive-ninja-returns @tarithenurse @dangertoozmanykids101

[truthbeetoldmedia]

Charmed 1x04 “Exorcise Your Demons” Review

Episode 4 finally has us meeting an Elder! I wasn’t too crazy about the original series’ Elders because they were all uptight and had a “holier than thou” attitude. If Charity is completely different from those old Elders, one would assume the others are, too.  

The episode begins with a flashback of Mel and Marisol sitting down with Angela Wu, encouraging her to move forward with her sexual assault claims against Professor Thaine. This is something we come to learn that Mel has immense guilt over. If she hadn’t encouraged her to tell someone, Angela wouldn’t have wound up in her coma and wouldn’t have been susceptible to the Harbinger’s possession.  

Meanwhile, the Harbinger is still chained up in the girls’ attic and the whole team is wondering why it’s taking the Elders so long to arrive with a plan to take the Harbinger out of the house. Tensions are high. Harry is confused. One would assume it doesn’t usually take them this long. The sisters are wondering where the Elders are when Niko and her partner, Trip, pay them a visit. They’re looking into the disappearance of Angela Wu. Turns out, her mother put in a missing person’s report after she didn’t return home from the Halloween party at the Vera house. All three women are beyond obviously nervous. We already knew that Mel had a hard time lying to Niko as just her girlfriend. When Niko’s on duty, it’s practically worse.  

Right when the Harbinger starts banging around in the attic, which causes Niko and Trip to want to investigate, that’s when Charity makes her appearance...as an interior designer. Making some excuse over moving furniture and whatnot, the sisters are able to dissuade Trip and Niko from investigating the scary noises. Charity’s physical appearance is a rebranding of the Elders everyone knows and, well, not loves, but expects for sure. We’re used to long white robes and here Charity is in her smart, white power suit. She has an amazing energy and she also run an investment fund for women who are starting businesses in developing countries. I don’t know of any Elders that actually have a day job, but this might just be one of the new things this series has going for them.  

Anyway, Charity brings news that the sisters have to kill the Harbinger by the end of the full moon the following night. That means that they’d be killing Angela, too. Charity and the Elders are convinced that Angela’s gone, but Mel knows she’s still in there. It’s a gut feeling the Charmed ones are known for having, no matter which series it is. Also, turns out Marisol was an Elder? Harry said he told them in his opening speech to them, but Macy says he called her a high witch and Harry basically said it was the same thing and that kind of disappoints me a little bit. Elders in the original series were men and women who lived their lives as good people and, in death, became guardian angels to witches. That doesn’t seem to be the case with this series and honestly, that’s kind of a major downfall for me, next to Harry’s “orbing”. (To summarize: I’m not upset with the witch aspect of the show. I’m upset with the whitelighter/elder aspect.)

Back to the story! Trip knows the girls aren’t being truthful, but Niko isn’t convinced that Mel would lie to her about Angela’s disappearance. There is also some concern about all the other murders around Halloween being the sisters’ faults. Trip has his doubts and, for the moment, he keeps it to himself. Niko’s not listening to it, anyway.  

While there is a literal demon in their attic, we’re reminded of the sisters having actual lives. Macy’s romance with Galvin is nonexistent. In fact, it looks like Galvin’s backing off after Macy rejects a date in favor of spending time with her sisters (because they’re killing a demon that night.) I just want Macy to blow off the demon murder and spend more time with Galvin outside of work. I know Macy is introverted when it comes to her romantic life, but this story is moving just so slow and not in a good “slowburn” way. It’s like Galvin’s just thrown into a scene as an afterthought. There’s no real movement between these characters and it’s making a bit ticked off.  

Maggie is also having her own troubles. She’s failing one of her classes. Turns out she does have the occasional class at college. It’s not all sorority activity. Lucy is determined for Maggie to pass the class midterm, so she offers up her boyfriend, Parker, to help Maggie study. Well, Maggie and Parker met in the last episode and sparks were flying. You can see where this is going a mile away and I’m not here for it. I hate love triangles and I hate cheating storylines. I’m already annoyed.  

Mel and Niko have their own problems, but they also seem to be the most stable relationship on this show at the moment. Good for them, but I can’t forget how their relationship started. In episode 2, Niko made it sound like Mel was the other woman. Remember how she mentioned that she was previously engaged, but just HAD to be with Mel? Well, I’m not a fan of relationships that come from cheating. These sisters are better than that, or they’re at least supposed to be.  

Charity and Harry are trying to get all the sisters back to the manor for killing the Harbinger underneath the full moon, but that was before Mel took Harbinger!Angela and hid her in a vacant building that was housing the college’s homecoming float. Mel performed a spell and it revealed what she knew all along; that Angela Wu was still inside that body. The sisters needed to cast an extremely powerful exorcism spell to rid Angela of the demon.  

Someone starts poking around outside and it’s Parker! Maggie has to go distract him from entering the place and she ends up kissing him. Thankfully, she realizes that was a mistake and that they can’t do that again. In fact, she doesn’t even want his help studying for her midterm anymore. Neither of them seem particularly regretful though and I’m sad all over again. Maggie goes back to help with the exorcism and things get crazy. It’s like there’s a storm inside the building.  

Unknowingly, there is ANOTHER person poking around outside and that person is Trip. He gets inside the building and sees all the calamity going on. He tells everyone to freeze and to put their hands up. He’s holding his gun on the sisters, Harry, Charity, and a possessed Angela Wu and Charity just magics the gun away. I wish all guns could just be magicked away. He’s powerless watching the exorcism. With the power of three and the very strong will of Angela Wu, they are able to exorcise the demon and have Angela remain very much alive.  

However, turns out a pipe was knocked loose with all the wind flying around and ended up killing Trip. The sisters saved one life, while another was put in harm’s way. Mel is feeling the most guilty because it was her fault that they were all at that building to begin with. Trip is also Niko’s partner and she knows her girlfriend will be absolutely devastated. At the very end of the episode, you see Mel comforting her girlfriend and that’s when she finds out that Charity, who had taken care of Trip and the scene of the “crime”, had pinned all the Halloween murders on Trip.  

The sisters are watching over Angela as she recovers from her possession, something she doesn’t even know happened. You’d think that after that harrowing experience, they’d tell her what happened to her, but nope! They pin it all on blackouts. Angela’s been through so much. As much as I want to see more of her, I think it’d be best if the sisters distance themselves from her. If they don’t, I don’t see Angela making it out of the season.  

What happened to the Harbinger, you ask? Charity trapped the demon in a paint can and when she went to bring it with her to the Elders, she was hypnotized by a mysterious stranger in an elevator. They traded paint cans and he was able to walk away with the demon in a can. Who is that guy? Is he going to be this season’s Big Bad? Poor Charity is going to just kick herself when she realizes she lost the demon.  

All-in-all, I was more disappointed with this episode. It wasn’t even the episode as a whole, just elements that, when added up, made me sad. All three of the sisters’ love lives are not the greatest. Maggie is still placing her social life above saving the world. Macy is a hot, single lady and Galvin wants her! Give Galvin more screen time! What the hell already! I really want Mel to just tell Niko the truth. I think that’s where they’re heading this season. I say just get it over with. Mel, and the rest of her sisters, are horrible liars and it’s better to just put them out of their misery.  

Some thoughts:

If Maggie is going to focus on one thing while at college, it should be her grades and not her sorority shenanigans. You all know how over the sorority storyline I am.  

It’s hilarious how bad all three sisters are at lying. I guess that’s one way you can tell they’re all related.

HUGE POINTS to the show for pointing out how POC are uncomfortable around cops and how it’s basically justifiable and understandable. (At least that’s how it came across to me.

Charmed airs Sundays at 9/8c on The CW.

Sarah’s episode rating: 🐝🐝

[h-eckers]

Not Northside Material - Part 2

A/N: Y’all are amazing and the support for the first part of this was awesome and I love you all so here is part 2! I hope ya still like it, the other parts are already coming together and I tells ya it gets good (I think). 

Part 1 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7

Summary: Sweet Pea introduces himself and his friends to the new girl and it puts Jughead on edge… almost as if that was his intention.

Word Count: 2,849

Warnings: Still just Swears and Serpents

“How long did that take?” Jughead asked, awe in his voice and on his face as Y/N laughed at his bewilderment. 

“This part took about four hours, but it goes down my arm and across my back a bit, the whole thing took about twelve.” She grinned proudly, she was always more than willing to show off her tattoo, but seeing as she wasn’t about to entirely remove her shirt she simply stretched the neck of her shirt to show it to Jughead. 

“Nice ink, new kid.” His voice came suddenly, as did his presence as he took the seat next to her. He sat closer, closer than she was comfortable with considering she’d never met him before. Sweet Pea only smirked as she tried to shuffle away slightly, readjusting her top.  

“Thanks.” She mumbled awkwardly, her attempts to get further away were stopped when another girl took up the seat next to her, effectively boxing her in. The rest of the serpents gathered around, she tried her best not to give into the urge to get up and leave. 

“You can call Sweet Pea by the way.” He grinned, holding out his hand for her to shake, Jughead was already on edge, he didn’t like the way he was looking at her. 

“Your name is Sweet Pea?” She asked, with a slight disbelief. She glanced over at Jughead for confirmation that she wasn’t being messed with, Jughead only nodded tightly. “Okay… My name’s Y/N.” The smile that graced her lips then, as she shook the tall Serpents hand, was sweet and unsuspecting. This was going to be far too easy.  

“So I guess Jones has invited you to our little gang.” Sweet Pea grinned, shuffling close to her again, she was trapped between him and Toni, forced to allow him closer even as her cheeks heated up. 

“Sweet Pea.” Jughead’s voice was warning across the table, his eyes dark with a suspicion that only served to made Sweet Pea smile wider. 

He could see how it got under his skin, when he asked about her earlier he’d seen it first, the way Jughead’s posture changed like he was ready to fight, the way he almost glared at the mere mention of Sweet Pea interacting with her. Maybe it was because she reminded him of his Northside Barbie, maybe he knew her better than he said he did, or maybe (as Sweet Pea himself expected) Jughead still didn’t trust the Serpents around his precious Northsiders. No matter the reason, he had shown his protectiveness over her the minute he shoved off that Ghoulie, and now she was Sweet Pea’s one way ticket to getting under his skin and have fun doing it. 

“What? I’m just having a conversation with our new friend.” He laid on the innocence, and it fooled no one. Y/N had to look up to actually make eye connect, he was so tall and she was barely average height. 

“I don’t think I’m part of your gang.” The laugh that followed was simply amused as she raised an eyebrow towards the tall Serpent, looking him up and down slowly. He was definitely pretty, there was no doubt about it, but he was cocky, and boys like that are just asking to be taken down a peg or three. 

“Of course not,” he shrugged, leaning against the table, smirking towards the boy in the beanie a few feet away, “but your boy Jones just told the whole school that we adopted you, so at least for now, you’re our responsibility.” 

That got to him. Maybe more than anything else that could have been said. For a moment, images of his initiation flashed through Jughead’s mind in rapid succession, up until the moment when Sweet Pea took that last hit, even in his memory that went in slow motion, his whole body fighting the urge to convulse at the mere thought of the pain. Then he imagined Y/N standing there in the raining, already heaving for breath and crying, blood dripping from her lips and nose as she tried to speak to ask him to stop but couldn’t find the strength. Then he imagined that sick grin on Sweet Pea’s face, as he took that final hit that would send her to the ground, the pain she would be in, the regret she would feel, how much she would hate him, Jughead, for dragging her into this. That image in his head alone was enough to make him flinch in real life, exactly the reaction a tall Serpent across the table had been fishing for. 

“Thanks but my parents didn’t disown me, so I don’t need adopting.” She left out the part where her parents kicked her out, and all but left her to fend for herself, “As for being your ‘responsibility’ I wouldn’t burden yourself, I know how to look after myself, I’m a big girl.”  

“Oh come on, it’s not that serious!” Sweet Pea teased, turning back to her and nudging her slightly, she tried to maintain the serious look on her face, but it was hard when he was smiling at her like that. “I’m just saying that you’re with us now, nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, unless a Ghoulie catches you alone.” Fangs sneered earning a laugh from all of his friends, except Jughead. Y/N didn’t see what was funny about the prospect of her being beaten, her smile dropped back into nothing. 

“That’s not funny.” Jughead mumbled, it was barely audible, but apparently enough so that everyone at the table heard him. 

“I think it’s hilarious.” Fangs snarled. Y/N’s fingers curled so tightly into fists that the colour drained from her knuckles. Being threatened didn’t sit well with her, people upsetting her friends made her even angrier. 

“Ooh, someone’s getting mad.” Sweet Pea chuckled, watching her hide her hands immediately, her cheeks flushing with a certain kind of fury. 

“Shut up.” Jughead jumped in before anyone else could speak, even that helped ease some of the tightness that had suddenly attacked her system, “Just leave her alone, guys.” 

“They’re just playing, Y/N.” Toni interjected, smiling brightly and apologetically. 

“Yeah, we’re just having fun.” Sweet Pea said, leaning back comfortably. In all honesty, neither Y/N not Jughead were comfortable with this kind of ‘fun’ yet, she was too new for it to be playful, they didn’t know enough about her to joke. The tension only eased a fraction. 

“That’s good,” Y/N finally let herself smirk, figuring it was best to play along than get in the bad side of a gang, “seeing as I could kick any of their asses, even on a bad day…” 

“You sure about that, princess?” Fangs chuckled, “You don’t look the type.” 

“Oh I’m sure,” her eyes narrowed as she paused, looking over Fangs as though she was appraising him before she scoffed, “in fact, I don’t think there’s a single person in here I couldn’t beat into the ground.” 

Fangs eyes narrowed dangerously only for a second as silence feel around them, and after that second, the whole group burst out in laughter, Y/N and Jughead included this time. “You’re alright, you know.” Fangs chuckled softly, rolling his eyes, “I already like you more than Jones.”

“Hey, back off Fangs, I already called dibs on this one.” Sweet Pea grinned at her, winking when she shook her head. Watching Jughead’s brow furrow again only made that smugness in his eyes brighter. 

“Yeah, keep dreaming, Sweets.” She mumbled back, meeting his eyes. For a fleeting second he felt something shift in his chest, like when you move your weight from one foot to another. He ignored it, pushed it to the back of his mind like most things he felt that weren’t anger or an urge to create chaos. 

He went to respond, to say something witty and definitely flirtatious, something that would have Jughead grinding his teeth and balling his fists. Unfortunately, his plan was thwarted by the school bell ringing out through the lunch room. There wasn’t a second wasted before Y/N stood and started gathering her things. 

“Woah, so eager to go and be bored.” Fangs said, neither he nor any of the other serpents seemed in any rush. 

“Not necessarily, but I’m eager not to be kicked out of the only other bearable school in the area.” She smiled, waving goodbye as she walked away before the conversation could go further, and the group shared a look that was full of a million different question, about her statement and honestly just her in general. Jughead didn’t stay long, scrambling after her, closely followed by Toni who was entirely too interested by the new girl and Jughead’s attitude towards her. 

They caught up to her quickly, and the moment they all fell into step with each other Jughead was already talking, “I don’t know what Sweet Pea’s problem is, I’m sorry Y/N.” 

“He’s fine,” she laughed softly, patting Jughead’s shoulder reassuringly, “to be honest I figured the Serpents and I would end up fighting, not joking around with each other.” 

“Fighting isn’t all we do, you know?” Toni tried to keep her voice light, she didn’t dislike Y/N yet but she still had that Northsider privilege shining through. 

“Oh no, not because of you guys, because of me.” She responded quickly, Toni blinked a few times in surprise; that was definitely not what she had expected. 

“Is that why you left Riverdale?” Toni asked, curious to know more about her now since she was here and Jughead basically just inducted her into a gang without warning.  

“Yeah, I kept getting into fights with this guy Chuck, he’s a creep and he was harassing some of my friends. They expelled me because they always thought I was the one who started it.” She explained, it was so casual how she spoke about it that for a minute they might be convinced she was from the Southside, she’d certainly already proven she fit in. 

“Why’d they think that?” Jughead asked. 

“Because I was always the one who started it.” Y/N shrugged, “So I had to choose between some uptight boarding school in Greendale or here.” 

“And you chose here?” Toni almost laughed at that, never in her life would she expect these words to be coming out of a Northsiders mouth and it was highly satisfying to hear. 

“Uhm, I’d pick the Southside over Greendale any day.” She looked over at Toni, it almost her to see how surprised she was, how happy she was that Y/N had immediately started dishing out shallow insults, it made her wonder how many times Toni had been spoken down to, because of where she came from. 

“Either way, I wouldn’t worry, the boys will mess with you at first but they’ll get over it.” That was reassuring, if only she had an estimate of how long it would be until they laid off. 

“Hopefully it doesn’t last long,” Jughead mumbled, as though reading her mind. 

“It’s not that bad.” Y/N laughed, smiling reassuringly at the boy beside her as she started to peel off to head to her class, “Let them do their best, and I’ll give them my worst.” She grinned, waving at them as she turned to walk away. 

“See ya, Y/N.” Toni called after her, still chuckling from what she’d said, “I like her.” She said concisely once she was alone with Jughead, the both of them aimlessly wandering the halls at this point, Jughead’s brow furrowed in thought. 

 “I think Sweet Pea’s trying to get under my skin.” He grumbled. 

“I think it’s working, too.” Toni chuckled, “Don’t forget, you’re new as well Jug. Besides, Serpent or not, Sweet Pea isn’t your biggest fan.” 

“I know that, but messing with Y/N is a bit far, don’t you think?” He pulled off his beanie, running his free hand through his hair. 

“Not really, to be honest. She’s cute, Sweet Pea’s a bit of an ass, and you’re clearly protective of her. It makes sense.” In Toni’s mind the whole situation was obvious, and it would be in Jugs as well if he wasn’t so close to the situation that all it did was stress him out. “By the way, why is that? I thought you weren’t close.” 

Jughead paused for a moment, sighing heavily, “We aren’t actually, or I mean, I was friends with her in preschool, and we’ve hung out before when we ran into each other at Pop’s. I guess we were friends, I just didn’t really talk to that many people.” 

“If you were barely friends, why are you being so protective?” There wasn’t even a full minute in which Jughead might formulate an answer before Toni scoffed, coming to her own conclusion, “You don’t want her to end up in the Serpents.” 

“It’s not that simple, Toni.” Jughead rubbed his face, all his stress and worry coming through in his voice. 

“Oh come on, admit it, you’re worried another Northside princess is gonna fall prey to our big bad gang.” The words were tough and somehow her voice still managed to sound sad and betrayed, weighing on his chest. 

“No, honestly I don’t want her to join.” He stopped walking, turning to his friend with tired eyes, “I’m sick of watching my friends get hurt, and If I had to see her walk down that line up I don’t know if I could take it, enough people have been hurt, Toni.” 

Recognition flashed across her face, quickly followed by understanding. “Jughead you don’t have to worry, she doesn’t want to be a Serpent, and we aren’t going to hurt her. Look you don’t have to worry, they’ll lay off soon, he’s just trying to rile you up and as long as it’s working he’s not gonna stop.” 

———————————————————

Meanwhile, Y/N had managed to find herself entirely lost and slightly disoriented by the number of students who forced their way through the halls, pushing and shoving her in every direction. Never had she felt more empathetic to the ball in a pinball machine. 

She was finally under the impression that she had found her bearings when the boy who had attempted to approach her earlier rammed into her shoulder, “In the way already, Serpent slut.” He hissed at her, she stumbled back slightly, trying to rationalise what he had said, by the time she had started speaking, he had started walking away, and so instead of holding her tongue; she raised her voice. 

“Ex-fucking-scuse youff-“ The last word was muffled as someone’s arm wrapped around from behind her, covering her mouth with their hand. Y/N forced the arm away, spinning quickly to face who dared stifle her. She might have started yelling if she weren’t greeted by a familiar face. 

“Calm down, firecracker, you need to watch your mouth.” Sweet Pea mumbled, his face was neutral, or at least he wasn’t overtly frowning, or smiling, but somehow that plain expression on his face was even more terrifying. His eyes were cast over her shoulder, watching the Ghoulie walk away. 

“You need to watch your hands.” She grunted, pushing Sweet Pea’s hand off her arm, that was when he smiled, that smirk breaking through as he looked back to her. 

“You might want to be nice to me if you want help finding your class.” He stepped forward, invading her personal space again, this time she stood her ground. If this is how they messed around then she was willing to play along. 

“What makes you think I can’t find it?” Her eyebrow raised as she folded her arms across her chest. 

“You left the table before anyone else and you and I are the only two out of class.” He pointed out, and her expression faltered, mainly because he was entirely correct. She ran her hand through her hair and Sweet Pea took a small, almost unnoticeable step back, ‘why does she smell so good?’ The thought went as fast as it came, but it had been there none the less. It was like springtime in those bad movies he refused to watch, or expensive shampoo that made him cringe when he saw the price tag. It was most likely the later. 

“Okay, if I admit I’m stuck would you actually help me?” She questioned, her eyes narrowing. 

“Maybe, maybe not, either way you don’t really have another choice,” the corners of his lips quirked, “unless you want to wander around until the lessons over.” 

There was no smart response to that, not really. She was totally lost and apparently without an escort she was out to get herself killed or in the very least, into a very violent collision with a Ghoulie.  

“Fine, show me the way, Sweets.” She hummed, clicking and making little gun motions with her fingers. Sweet Pea scoffed quietly, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket. 

“How do you go from screaming curses to finger guns?” He asked, trying not to seem too wildly amused. 

“It’s a talent few possess, now seriously, take me to class.” 

“Damn, alright princess.” 

tags: @thekillingquill @southsidepea @half-and-halfxx @u-unloved @kytty27 @kaethec @undercoverentp @bands-messed-me-up @m-a-u-r-aa @fanficapriciation @im5-tw @superoptimist1997 @oceanxtid3ss @sarcasticalphaofthelooserspack @penisprkr @dreamersshouldknowbetter @bettycoopxr @lilmissperfectlyimperfect @deanilostmyshoe @sugarbby99 @sweet-peas-tattoo @justateenagefangirl0616 @itszehraa @allison-rosewood-maximoff

[mysterylover123]

My Top 10 Favorite Series of All Time

Mysterylover123, to my followers.

This list, of course, could change. At some point in the future, I could always discover a new series that topples the competition - but for the moment, here they are. My top 10 favorite series of all time - mostly comics or television, but also film, and a few novel series made the honorable mentions list.

Of course, these are all just my personal favorites - that’s the key word. While I did consider objective quality when making the call, I mostly went with my gut and listed series I love for whatever reason - maybe sentimental value, pushing my personal buttons, or just characters I adored. I also made myself list the things I don’t like about the series as well, just to avoid gushing too much and remember that all but one (my #1) series out there are at least, a little, flawed, but nonetheless still lovable. With that in mind, here they are:

#10. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-2015)

Type: Live-Action TV show

Genre: Crime/Mystery; forensic drama, police procedural

Favorite character: Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger)

Favorite episode: “Grave Danger”, Parts 1 & 2 (Season 5 finale)

Favorite Season: 7

Favorite villain: The Miniature Killer/Natalie Davis

Bad points: Weak later seasons, forced romance subplot, copious amounts of filler

Why it’s here: CSI is nostalgic for me. I watched it during my early crime drama loving years, and found out that as much as I liked the premise, what made the show for me was the cast. That was the first time I realized how essential characters are to creating intriguing drama. CSI is still my favorite traditional crime/mystery show, since in seasons 1-8, it maintained a good balance of character drama and mystery-of-the-week. Season 7 is a high point,  balancing an ongoing story with lots of fun one-offs and an emotionally explosive payoff. Later seasons, however, wear down the show’s quality for me. Too many beloved characters left and the series becomes too reliant on filler, ending with a thud that is the series finale. But the best of CSI is still enough to land it here for me.

(Just to clarify, I mean Las Vegas)

#9. Futurama (1999-2003; 2008-2013)

Type: Animated TV Show + movies

Genre: Sci Fi Dramedy

Favorite character: Philip J Fry (Billy West)

Favorite episode: “Jurassic Bark”

Favorite season: 4

Favorite villain: Bender

Bad points: Sexism, weak later seasons, bad 2nd movie

Why it’s here: Futurama came to me during a phase of depression in my life, and the show’s combination of humor and cry-your-eyes out tragedy kept me going. I’ve seen it through five times, and it’s always a blast. To me, Futurama is better than The Simpsons. Simpsons is funnier, but only for seven years or so. Following those seven years are 21 of mediocrity, whereas Futurama thankfully cuts it short. While some of the later seasons are weaker than the early Fox years, they still have quality gems and the show’s unique flavor. The series speaks to me so much; it’s a mix of hilarious comedy, serious character drama, and high sci-fi concepts that all mesh together in a unique experience. This is a series that’s not afraid to try new things, to experiment and let the characters age and grow. My personal favorite part of the series is the friendship between the core trio, Fry, Bender and Leela. Any episode starring them is a-ok by me.

Favorite memories: Binge-watching the series during a period of unemployment.

#8. Death Note (2003-2004; 2006-2007)

Type of series: Manga/Anime

Genre: Supernatural Crime Thriller

Favorite Character: L Lawliet (Alessandro Juliani)

Favorite Episode: Episode 2, “Confrontation”

Favorite Arc: The first one

Favorite villain: Light Yagami (Brad Swaile)

Bad points: Weak second half, so-so character development

Why it’s here: Death Note is a dark, twisted, engrossing thriller, which under normal circumstances shouldn’t be re-watchable. But I keep coming back to it, regardless of how many times I’ve seen it before. It’s a digestible 37 episodes and 108 chapters, for one thing. It introduced me to two characters that endlessly fascinate and frustrate my analytical brain. The antagonists, Light and L, are two of the most brilliant characters I’ve come across in fiction, and their dynamic with each other is endlessly engaging. Well, it should have been through the whole series…if not for certain incidents. But no matter; we have what we have. Flawed, yes. Terrifying, certainly. Death Note scares me like no other story. But what frightens me in DN isn’t so much there gruesome deaths, but how effortlessly it portrays the banality of evil.

Favorite memories: Watching the show during the winter holidays while on vacation, and contemplating the series during the drive home.

#7. Spider-Man (1962-)

Type: Comic book; various mediums of adaptation

Genre: Superhero

Favorite character: Mary Jane Watson

Favorite Storyline: The Night Gwen Stacy Died, #121-122

Favorite villain: The Green Goblin

Bad points: Weak later issues, lots of filler, “One More Day”

Why it’s here: Spidey is still my favorite superhero. He was me in high school (I got into Spider-Man in high school, incidentally), the everyman, the representation of my nerdy outcast struggle and need to both escapism and greater responsibility. But what really drew me to the comic, and still does, was the vast and multifaceted supporting cast. In the great eras of Spidey (Ditko, Romita, Conway, and late 1980s), the supporting cast make the series. Whether it’s Peter’s various complex lady loves, the endless cavalcade of memorable villains, supporting dude-friends like Flash and Harry or my personal favorite, mainstay Mary Jane “you just hit the jackpot” Watson, the cast of Spidey was majorly influential with good reason. The series loses it’s skill in the 1990s, thanks to the Clone Saga and general 90s comic badness, and plummets into an irretrievable black hole in 2007, never to return. But fortunately, there’s still thirty years’ worthy of fascinating comics to draw from before that insanity begins. And those stories have in turn fed fantastic adaptations, whether it be the sentimental 90s animated show, a few of the films, or the superlative Spectacular cartoon.

Favorite memories: Reading Spider-Man comics after high school, while waiting to get picked up. Also, watching the 90s show as a little kid, even if those are kinda dim.

#6. Gravity Falls (2012-2016)

Type of series: Animated TV Show

Genre: Supernatural

Favorite character: Mabel Pines (Kirsten Schaal)

Favorite season: 2

Favorite episode: “Not What he Seems”

Favorite Villain: Bill Cipher

Bad points: A few filler episodes, some odd messages, so-so ending

Why it’s here: I love a good spooky story. Gravity Falls caught my attention around Halloween in 2016, 8 months after the series finale; I binged the whole series through in a weekend. The series remains one of the all-time best I’ve ever watched. With one or two exceptions, there are no outright bad episodes. Everything is either entertaining or incredibly entertaining. The characters feel real, the messages really hit home, and the creativity on display is astounding. Gravity Falls has something in every corner - great character development, compelling drama, laugh-out-loud comedy, and a truly engaging mystery that doesn’t disappoint. I wish the franchise ran a little longer, but I’ll give it props that unlike nearly every other show on this list, Gravity Falls doesn’t over-stay its welcome. Two seasons of brilliance, wrapping up with a strong, though not perfect, finale, before the series had a chance to go on too long or burn out the creators. It’s a welcome treat to watch again, and again, and again. It’s mostly low on this list, not because of the few weak points, but because I don’t have as much emotional attachment to the series as I do to my top 5 pics.

Favorite memories: Watching the show with my dad and brother on vacation. Both of them are very surly and nit-picky, so presenting them with a show this good meant no cause to complain.

#5. Frasier (1993-2004)

Type: Live Action TV series

Genre: Sitcom

Favorite character: Niles Crane (David Hyde-Pierce)

Favorite season: 4

Favorite episode: “Something Borrowed, Something Blue”

Bad points: Weaker later/early seasons, sometimes annoying

Why it’s here: Frasier has a record for the most Emmy awards won by a single show. And rightly so, in my opinion. This is one of those series with astonishingly top-notch writing all around. It’s a sitcom that banks it’s humor on taking down pretentious snobs and prejudiced jerks; the jokes stay funny because, like all good humor, they stay relevant. This series feels kind of timeless; despite coming out in the instantly dated 90s, the characters’ fashions, mindsets, and relationships feel like they could be written today or twenty-forty years earlier. My heart belongs to the series’ ongoing love story between uptight, snippy Niles and eccentric, lovable Daphne (Jane Leeves). I have yet to see a better executed TV romance, one that pulls out all the stops like this one does. If I were to compare Frasier to anything, it would be to a Jane Austen novel. It has the same social satire, the same sardonic humor, the same understanding of romance and human psychology. That, to me, is what makes a great comedy.

Favorite memories: Discovering Frasier out of Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons - and coming to realize which of the two is truly the better comedy. (Sorry to take another potshot at Simpsons; I do like the early seasons, I just think the show is overrated).

#4. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (2008-)

Series type: Live Action films and TV

Genre: Superhero

Favorite characters: Tie: Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston)

Favorite film: Captain America the Winter Soldier (2014)

Favorite phase: Phase 3 (so far)

Bad points: Occasional weak/so-so film, lack of representation

Why it’s here: I first watched only a handful of MCU films; after Avengers, I gave it up and focused on other things. I loved it the first time, but when I came back and screened every picture in the lineup till the present, that is when I fell in love with the franchise. I was missing out on some of the series’ best characters. And that’s what makes the MCU special to so many people: the characterization. The series is at it’s best when it’s giving it’s multi-layered cast focus and development. Marvel comics have always been a favorite of mine, so naturally their best known adaptation is one of my favorites in general. I’ve found something to enjoy in just about every film in the franchise. The biggest surprise hit for me was the Captain America films - a part of the franchise I never dreamed I’d love, but which won me over with the stellar writing in the 2011 film, the indelible Winter Soldier, and the stunning, heartbreaking Civil War. I’m almost afraid of what will come next, as the franchise is heading towards a finale.

Favorite memories: Watching the films over a long, bitter summer, as my only source of joy while working a thankless job and living in a place with bad internet reception.

#3. The Buffy-verse (1997-2004) Series Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel

Type of series: Live-Action TV shows

Genre: Supernatural

Favorite characters: Buffy, Cordelia, and Spike

Favorite season: Season 5 of Buffy, Season 2 of Angel

Favorite episodes: “Once More with Feeling” Buffy, “You’re Welcome” Angel

Bad points: Weak later seasons, Season 6, some bad filler

Why it’s here: If I was going on sentimental fandom value alone, the Buffy-verse would be number one. I still squee over this franchise years after I first discovered it; the characters have that special Joss Whedon flair that makes them stand out over the crowd, the series’ core relationships are so fascinating I’m tempted to write fanfic about them, and the philosophies and emotional moments in the series have shaped my life. I would never have known what existentialism was, for instance, if not for Whedon’s show. Angel’s line about “ all that matters is what we do” has helped motivate me ever since I heard it. But looking at the series’ quality (and diversity), I will admit that out of my top 3 favorites, it has the most problems. Both shows have one season I can cheerfully proclaim to be outright terrible, (Season 4 for Angel, Season 6 for Buffy), and very shaky first seasons that take a while to find their feet. There are some plot decisions I just can’t forgive, and some truly weak arc villains. But there is also so much that this franchise does so well, whether it be stellar standalones, bold plot moves, and of course, the character arcs.

Favorite memories: Rewatching the show on vacation in France.

#2. Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008)

Type: Animated TV series

Genre: Fantasy Steampunk

Favorite characters: Zuko, Azula and Sokka

Favorite season: 2

Favorite episode: “The Guru”

Bad points: Forced romantic subplots, The Great Divide, odd conclusion

Why it’s here: You may have heard, if you’ve spent any time on the internet, what a fantastic series ATLA is. I try to avoid such phrases when attempting to sell the show to people, because describing a series that way is usually a bad move. But rest assured, it’s warranted. Avatar The Last Airbender is a stellar show in every possible way. Aside from the few bad points I mentioned above, ATLA does everything right. It has the best world building I’ve ever encountered. The animation, storytelling, emotions, messages (sometimes), plot points, philosophies, individual episodes, comedy, drama, action, epic sweep, surprise reveals…(several hours of listing things later) all of these things are pitch perfect. But as always, what makes this show is the cast. My lord, what a cast. These characters are so embedded in my mind, their arcs, personalities, development and entertainment value all stand out a cut above the rest. ATLA is a stunning masterpiece, one that no adaptation could capture, and that even it’s own creators have yet to follow up on, with either the sequel or the comics. But no matter. The original is there, it always will be, and more people discover it every day.

Favorite memories: Nothing quite compares to seeing ATLA for the first time. I saw it in 2014, one of the worst years of my life. Once again, my miserable experience was improved by a fantastic story.

Before #1: The Runners-up.

Game of Thrones: I used to adore GOT, but it started losing me after season 3; I lost respect for the show in season 5. still, those early seasons are still crucial parts of our culture and should be remembered.

Harry Potter: I grew up with these books and I still enjoy parts of them; overall, however, they strike me as being just a little less than they could have been.

Percy Jackson: I binged through the whole first book in a few hours, and loved these novels as a teen. As an adult, they don’t hold up as well, but I still appreciate the things they do right.

The Legend of Korra: The sequel to ATLA is spotty in many ways, but contains enough moments I absolutely love to make it at least a runner up.

South Park: Another series that got me through a bad time in my life and helped me deal with certain aspects of myself (especially episode 1507.) However, the early and late seasons are pretty bad, and the show doesn’t age very well.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: A bizarre little anime that nonetheless really stands out to me for how crazy it gets and how unique the story is.

Hannibal: A guilty pleasure - definitely a show that gets too far up it’s own butt in later episodes, but nonetehless appealing and interesting in the subjects it’s willing to tackle.

Parks and Recreation: My other favorite TV sitcom besides Fraser - it’s a strong runner up for the list but not quite sentimental enough.

Steven Universe: 3 great seasons, followed by a lot of recent mediocrity. Great when it’s great, bad when it’s not.

Code Geass: an immensely ambitious series, that doesn’t quite realize it’s goals but god damn if it isn’t a beautiful try.

Daria: Another show that really spoke to me in high school

Firefly: This was the biggest runner-up for the list. Firefly is 14 amazing episodes of television cut short too soon, giving us amazing characters and great world building in a short amount of time. The series has some bits that haven’t aged well, and those were enough to keep it off my top 10.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

#1. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (manga: 2001-2010, anime 2009-2010)

Series type: Anime/Manga

Genre: Sci Fi (I think)

Favorite character: Edward Elric

Favorite episodes: “Flame of Vengeance”; “Backs in the Distance”

Bad points: None

Why it’s here: I’m gonna be brutally honest: FMAB is here because I can’t find anything wrong with it. It is, without question, the single most perfect piece of fiction I’ve ever come across. It almost frightened me when I first finished the series. Surely there must be some major, glaring flaw, some bad installment or weak character, that I could point to and say Look! Here’s the flaw! This was made by human hands after all! But nope. Many, many rereads through, and I still haven’t found one. FMAB stands supreme. This series has everything. The most fleshed out and real-feeling cast of characters I’ve ever come across (even minor background characters have spectacular arcs and feel like real people). The best pacing and plotting of an overall story arc. The best world building, aside from ATLA. The best exploration of social issues, the best feminism, the best use of mature storytelling. Everything comes back around. The themes, the mystery, the overall tone and story structure. I feel like an engineer gushing over the most perfectly calibrated car ever made each time I watch it. But Fullmetal is even more than just expertly made. It’s appealing. It’s popular. It’s the kind of story you can write essays on or write fanfic for. FMAB can be enjoyed in every capacity. I recommend taking the time to read the Manga first (that’s what I did), then watch Brotherhood. There really is nothing quite like FMAB. (oh, BTW, it has the best series finale of anything e ver. Period.)

Best memories: Watching Fullmetal while coping with death for the first time in my life. There is no better series when it comes to dealing with this subject.