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pappydaddy · 3 years

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Oblivious (r.b.)

A/N: Another request down! This one is another Robin request. It's a bit longer than the last one I posted, but it's a bit dry unfortunately. I tried to make it like my other longer fics, but I just felt like this is was meant to be this length. I threw in a funny scene in the end. Anywho, I hope you like it lovely anon💛, I really tried to do your request justice (I loved it btw).

P.S: Not proofread yet. I'm gonna go over all my fics in these upcoming fics to proofread and I will do this fic then

TV Show/Movie: Stranger Things

Pairing: Robin Buckley x Fem!Byers!Reader

Stranger Things/Robin Taglist: N/A

Requested

Warnings: Fluff, a parent being obvious, getting caught getting hot and heavy the backseat. Pretty short in length.

Note: Not proofread yet. I'm gonna go over all my fics in these upcoming fics to proofread and I will do this fic then

masterlist | taglist | wips | navigation - my gif -

The cool night breeze rolled in through Y/N Byers’ open window as she and Robin laid in her bed. Late Summer nights spent in bed with her girlfriend were Y/N’s favourite. Having their legs tangled together, their arms holding each other close as they lightly traced random shapes on each other. It was true bliss in her eyes. “You think your mom is back with the movie yet?” Robin broke the comfortable silence with a whisper. Y/N shrugged, pulling her hand away from where it was playing with Robin’s short hair.

“We would have heard her car so probably not,” She answered, shifting as she propped her elbow up. Robin automatically rolled onto her back, gazing up at Y/N with big blue eyes that sparkled in the silver moonlight, the sounds of frogs and crickets filling the silent room again as they enjoyed the company of each other. “Steve is probably taking forever to lock up the store and she’s probably waiting for him to leave so we don’t start without him.” She hypothesized, looking down at Robin again.

Robin hummed, nodding as she pictured Steve fumbling around with his keys, trying each one to figure out which one locked the store door. “He can never remember which key goes to what. We should get him a label maker so he can label them.” She suggested making Y/N snort out a laugh, flopping on her back, untangling themselves from each other completely.

“Are we really going to be that couple that gives friends stationary for presents,” She asked, lulled her head to the side to gaze at Robin who shrugged, pulling a face that asked her why they couldn’t be. “Because those couples are the boring couple that never get invited to any parties people actually want to have fun at.” She answered Robin’s silent question.”

“Fair point.” Robin agreed just as Y/N’s bedroom door opened. The two girls pulled themselves up, looking at the door as Joyce popped her head in.

“Sorry to interrupt girls night, but Steve is here with the movies and I got the snacks, come on out to the living room.” She told them, leaving the door open as she disappeared down the hall, getting Jonathan from his room. Silently, the girls rolled off Y/N’s bed and shuffled out into the living room, being greeted by Steve and Will placing bowls of chips and popcorn on the coffee table that already had a display of soda and water sitting on it.

“Hey, Dingus,” Robin greets Steve as she brushed past him to sit on the couch. “Will.” She nodded at the younger boy, slapping hands with him in a greeting as he sat beside her.

“Hi, Robin.” Steve breathed out, taking a seat in the armchair, cracking open a can of soda, taking a drink. Y/N stepped over his sprawled-out legs, plunking herself down on the other side of Robin, her feet kicking up to rest on her lap comfortably.

“Where are the other kids?” Y/N wondered, looking over her shoulder at Steve as he sat his open soda down, popping a piece of popcorn in his mouth.

“Dustin is sick, Max is busy being grounded, Lucas is sulking being Max is grounded, and Mike is at a family dinner with his grandparents,” Steve listed off the location of each kid easily. Making Robin laugh. “What?” Steve asked with furrowed brows as he grabbed a chip, crunching on it instantly before wiping his hands on his jeans, bouncing his knee.

“Oh nothing, it’s just that you’re such a mom.” Robin made fun of him, her hands resting on Y/N’s ankles as Joyce walked back in with Jonathan in tow looking like he just woke up from a nap, the pair sitting on the other couch.

“So, Steve,” Joyce started, reaching for two sodas, handing one to Jonathan. Robin reached over, collecting three and placed them in her lap. “What movie is first?” She asked as Y/N and Will each plucked a can from Robin’s lap, opening them at the same time, both cans hissing loudly.

“Have no idea, let Will pick-”

“Rawhead Rex!” Will interrupted excitedly, shocking Joyce since she obviously hadn’t picked that one up.

“Wiliam Byers, did you pick that up without me knowing?”

“No, please, I don’t like scary movies!” Joyce and Y/N said at the same time.

“Which is exactly why I didn’t pick any scary movies, mister.” Joyce told Will in a semi-scolding manner.

“Don’t worry, Y/N, I’ll protect you from the scary movie.” Robin looked over at her, her tone somewhat teasingly. Joyce cooed at this, tilting her head slightly.

“Aw, you two are so cute together,” She sighed longingly. “Wish I had had someone like that in high school.”

____

“I’m heading out for a date mom,” Y/N announced as she walked down the hall from her room, slinging her purse over her shoulder. Joyce opened her bedroom door, popping her head out just as Y/N was about to walk past, scarring her daughter. “Jesus mom,” She exclaimed, her hand flying to her chest as her heart tried to calm down. “You scared me! I thought you were in the kitchen!”

“Sorry dear,” She apologized, opening her door all the way and stepping out of her room all dressed up. Y/N furrowed her brows at her mom’s appearance. She was awfully dressy for a night home alone. Parting her lips as she followed her mother into the living room, she went to say something but Joyce interrupted. “You said you were going on a date, but I don’t see a car.” She pointed out as she looked out the window.

“I’m actually driving tonight.” Y/N explained before opening her mouth the ask her mother about her plans for the night.

“How progressive,” Joyce smiled, turning to face her daughter again, clasping her hands together. “I love a good feminist moment, you have fun on your date and tell me all about it when you get home.”

“So I can have the car,” Y/N asked tentatively. She had assumed that her mother would take the night to relax as this would be the first night in years she has to be home alone. Joyce nodded, looking at her daughter oddly as she tossed the car keys towards her from the bowl by the door. “You don’t have plans? You seem like you do.” Y/N pressed, not wanting to ruin her mother’s plans.

“Oh, I do have plans, I have a date.” Joyce confirmed as if it was nothing. Y/N sputtered, taken aback by this information and how nonchalantly her mother just disclosed it. She watched her mother walk into the kitchen as if it was any other day.

“If you have a date then you need the car, I’ll figure out how to work around not having a car right now-” Y/N rushed into the kitchen behind her, holding the keys out to Joyce who shook her head, pushing her hand away and cutting her off.

“No, I don’t need the car, he’s picking me up here, you go on your date with the car and have fun!” Joyce told her, grabbing Y/N’s shoulders and forcing her to turn around.

“But, this is your first date since Bob died. Do you want me to stay home in case you need to bail? What if something goes wrong and you can’t reach me or Hopper? What if this guy is secretly a mad scientist connected to the Upside Down? What if he’s just a horrible person-” Y/N rambled, fighting against her mother’s hold as she pushed her towards the door.

“Trust me, Y/N,” Joyce started, opening the front door as Y/N continued to ramble off scenarios that could possibly go wrong. “None of that is going to be an issue. I know this guy, you know this guy. He is perfectly safe and I will be fine. Besides, this isn’t even our first date.”

“Mom-” She tried to say something but was cut off by her own mother all but pushing her out of the house. She let out a shriek, stumbling along the porch.

“Go on your date, Y/N and don’t come back until your date is finished.” Joyce warned, closing and locking the front door. Her face was glaring at Y/N through one of the small windows at the top of their door, almost daring her not to go on the date. Huffing, Y/N turned on her heel and headed off to the car.

____

Joyce’s mysterious date had been pushed into the back of Y/N’s mind the second she saw Robin open her front door. Now, it wasn’t even a thought in her head, all her mind could focus on was the way she felt as Robin’s lips traced down her neck, pecking and sucking as they went. Airy moans left her mouth as she squirmed under her girlfriend, her nearly bare back rubbing against the cold backseat of the car. “Oh god-” She whimpered as Robin’s lips travelled lower, dancing dangerously along the cup of her bra, her fingertips just barely slipping under the underwire. “Oh god!” She gasped when her eyes fluttered open after seeing the flash of red and blue hues on her eyelids.

“Am I making you feel good, baby?” Robin pulled her lips from Y/N breast, looking up at her flirtatiously thinking her exclamation was from pleasure, not fear. Her face fell when she noted the wideness of Y/N’s eyes and flashing lights reflecting off her glistening face.

“That’s fucking Hopper,” Y/N hissed as they both scrambled to sit up, Y/N’s arms crossed over her bra-clad chest. They both tried to squint through the fogged-up back windshield, seeing two figures getting out of the car, the beam of a flashlight clicking on. “Shit, where is my shirt?” She panicked, looking around until Robin threw it at her.

“Duck,” Robin pushed Y/N and herself down as the beam of the flashlight swept over the back window. Grunting, Y/N tried to wiggle around and pull the shirt over her head as Robin watched the beam of light. “He’s looking in the woods, let’s crawl out the front seats!” Robin ushered her, letting her crawl over the console first.

“Something tells me we’re not gonna make it to the front seat,” Y/N trailed off as her eyes squinted at the brightness of the flashlight pointed right at her through the driver’s side window. “Hi, Hop,” She smiled, waving awkwardly. In response, Hopper simply pulled the backseat door open, revealing Joyce standing there, looking confused. “Mom, what are you doing here? I thought you were out on a date?” Y/N froze, her knee digging uncomfortably into the middle console.

“I am on my date, we were heading to the restaurant after the movie when we saw the car looking abandoned.” Joyce explained.

“Your date was with Hopper? You’re dating Hopper?” Y/N asked, shocked as she crawled out of the backseat, Robin following closely.

“You didn’t know that?” Robin asked her as if it was obvious.

“No!”

“Your date was with Robin?” Joyce ignored the two girls, her brows furrowed.

“You didn’t know they were dating?” Hopper looked at Joyce as he pointed his finger at the pair.

“No idea.” Joyce shook her head.

“You two are really oblivious. Everyone knew both of these things,” Hopper informed them with a laugh, earning two glares from Y/N and Joyce. “Well, anyway, we’ve got a reservation-”

“Wait,” Joyce interrupted him. “I thought you guys were just friends-” Joyce pointed to Y/N and Robin who both shrugged sheepishly. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked her daughter, slightly embarrassed for not realizing and a bit let down that she didn’t tell her.

“I thought you knew.”

“Well, now that I do know, I want to get to know Robin as your girlfriend so would you guys like to accompany us to our dinner reservations?” Joyce asked, her eyes wide as she hoped her daughter would say yes. She always knew that she liked girls, but she had no idea they were dating.

“Only if I get to drill Hopper with questions to make sure he’s good enough for you.” Y/N playfully glared at Hopper, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Deal.” Joyce nodded firmly.

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twoprettyboys · 4 years

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"i'm too tired for this."

Written for @harringroveweekoflove 's prompt "Bed-Sharing". I also posted this to the collection on AO3.

This is the first time I'm participating in an event/writing challenge and I'm really excited! I don't really know what else to say here. Soo… enjoy these 1.4k words full of fluff~

It's winter. It's winter and they're on a class trip. In a small town in the middle of fucking nowhere. Billy doesn't exactly hate it, but he doesn't particularly like it either. ...Well okay, maybe he does hate it.

Their teacher originally promised that they would go somewhere sunny and warm. Billy was already super hyped because he thought he was going to be sitting on a beach and maybe surfing... It could have been so good. But then the teacher announced that they would be going to somewhere else, somewhere cold and decidedly not sunny. And on top of that, now Billy has to share a room with the one and only Steve Harrington.

As in: The guy he's had a crush on since he first saw him at that stupid Halloween party. Also the guy he beat up that one night when he was looking for Max. He still hasn't really apologized for that, but somehow they managed to form some sort of friendship that's not really a friendship. At least they don't really hate each other anymore.

Billy still has this stupid crush on Steve that won't go away no matter how hard he tries (he's kind of already accepted that it's actually way more than a crush at this point but in Billy's opinion nobody needs to know that).

❀

Now they're in the elevator to their floor together and Billy's trying really hard not to stare at the boy in front of him. It's late, they're both tired and just want to get to their room so they can sleep. When they reach the correct floor, Billy takes a deep breath and steps out of the elevator ahead of Steve.

He has the keys, so naturally he should be the first to arrive at their room, right? He reaches the door a couple seconds before Steve and unlocks the door to reveal a generic looking hotel room. Billy steps into the door frame, looks around and just stops dead in his tracks. Steve almost walks right into his back and suppresses a swear.

Then he sees Billy's face. Steve immediately grows concerned. "Uhm... Hargrove? What's wrong?"

Instead of answering, the blonde just steps aside so Steve can take a look too. He does, and he reacts just like Billy expected. "Whoa, okay. There's... there's only one bed."

Billy just kind of shrugs in response. "Yeah, I know." Then he sighs and turns to look at Steve. "Well, I suppose one of us is gonna have to sleep on the floor..."

Steve nods in agreement while he sets his bag down next to the bed and waits for Billy to do the same. He offers to let Billy take the bed, but the blonde can't bring himself to do that - not when he knows that Steve almost fell asleep on the train and should sleep in an actual bed.

"It's fine, you should take the bed." Billy gestures in Steve's direction. "I'm not that tired anyway."

❀

Billy goes into the bathroom first, to take a shower and get ready. When he steps out, Steve's already set up a makeshift bed on the floor. He smiles at Billy, an awkward smile, and explains: "Didn't wanna sit around and do nothing, so..." He gestures between himself and the bed. Billy nods at him as a thank you, which prompts the brunette to get up and head into the bathroom.

Billy flops down on the 'bed' (it's more like a nest of blankets, but that's okay) and tries to get comfortable. By the time Steve's done in the bathroom and opens the door Billy has managed to position himself in a way that doesn't feel too bad. He gives the brunette a tired half-smile and yawns.

Steve chuckles softly at that and decides that it's time to sleep, for both of them. He climbs into bed, turns the light off and whispers a small "good night" in Billy's general direction. When he gets a groan in return, Steve turns around and closes his eyes. He falls asleep with a faint smile on his lips.

❀

A few hours later Billy wakes up with a start, barely able to contain the scream that desperately wants to come out. He's breathing hard and his heart is beating irrationally fast. He doesn't remember what his dream was about, all he knows is he won't be able to fall asleep again. At least, not when he's on the floor.

So he decides to do something he'll probably regret in the morning.

He'll get up, check if Steve's awake and then just climb into bed with the other guy. But of course that's easier said than done... Billy gets up and gets closer to Steve's bed. He notices nothing wrong, but then Steve takes a sharp breath and he almost flinches. Billy's surprised eyes flick up to his face and he discovers that the other boy is staring straight at him (thank god for the faint light that falls through the curtains).

"What are you doing?" Steve demands to know. Billy sighs and whispers back: "Had a nightmare, couldn't fall back asleep so..." He trails off and looks away, fixates one point next to Steves head. "So?" Billy takes a deep breath. "So I thought maybe it'd help if I could sleep in the bed... With you?" His heart starts beating faster again, but for a different reason this time.

❀

Steve raises one eyebrow. He doesn't do anything else, just looks at Billy with his raised eyebrow as if he's expecting him to burst out laughing and to say that it's a prank. But the thing is - it's not. Billy actually wants to sleep next to Steve.

Steve is starting to get slightly annoyed after a few seconds of Billy staring at him silently. So he thinks this through really quickly and honestly? He just wants to go back to sleep. Without starting a fight. Also, it might be nice to have someone to cuddle - not that Steve would want that, of course.

He sighs, defeated, scoots closer to the wall and lifts one egde of the blanket. "Okay, okay! I'm too tired for this. Just- Come here, alright?" Billy looks at him like he's grown a second head. "Are you serious?" "No, Billy, I'm just saying this because it's funny…. Obviously I'm serious! Now come here."

Steve fully expects Billy to just turn around and go straight back to his pile of blankets, but that doesn't happen. Instead, the blonde actually gets into the bed next to him. Steve's a little surprised, but he doesn't let Billy know. And he feels like he shouldn't, considering he invited the other boy and everything.

❀

In the morning, Steve wakes up and the first thing he sees is blonde hair. A lot of it. It's kind of tickling his nose and he moves his face away before he sneezes and possibly wakes up Billy. He gently untangles their legs and somehow manages to get his body out of Billy's grasp without waking the younger boy, who apparently decided they were cuddle buddies in the middle of the night.

Steve finds he doesn't mind, it's been warm and comfortable. In the next moment he almost does a double take because he realizes exactly what he's thinking there. Then he just shrugs and decides he doesn't care. So yeah, Billy's hot, and he noticed it - so what?

But it's not just that Billy's hot. He's also genuinely trying to be a nicer person since that night at the Byer's. (He hasn't really apologized yet, but Steve knows he's deeply sorry and has already forgiven him in his mind). And he's pretty tolerable if he's nice! Actually, more than that if the way Steve's heart flutters in his chest every time Billy laughs is any indication.

Steve heads to the bathroom to shower, brush his teeth and - most importantly - fix his hair. He gets dressed a couple minutes later and walks back into their room.

He looks over at Billy and sees that he's still fast asleep in the bed, his head buried deep in the pillows. He looks a lot younger like this, and vulnerable. His hair is fanned out around his head, almost like a crown. It looks pretty and soft and Steve… Steve wants to touch it.

Billy's snoring softly now, and Steve can't help but smile at how cute he is.

#harringroveweekoflove #harringrove #stranger things #billy hargrove #steve harrington #bed sharing #fanfiction #fanfic

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artificialqueens · 4 years

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Galactica, Chapter 24 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Hello darlings! Thank you for reading this story, we are so grateful. Please let us know what you think if you feel so inclined. Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: NY Fashion Week ended, and the team moved on to London.

This Chapter: London Fashion Week brings friends together, both there and back home in New York, where Adore continues to pine over Pearl and both Violet and Sutan fret about being forgotten.

***

Violet knocked on the door to Katya and Trixie’s apartment, waiting for a response. She’d just gotten home from work, and even though she was tired, she needed to keep her promise to Trixie to check on Katya.

“Katya?”

Violet knocked again, and felt stupid. She reached into her pocket, careful not to let the cartons of Chinese food she was carrying tip over, and fished out her phone.

Violet’s fingers hovered over the keys, not sure what she should write, or even who she should write to. She felt like she had to tell Trixie that she had come by, but that Katya wasn’t home, but she didn’t know if two knocks was enough of an effort between friends - if she was doing what she was supposed to.

Violet bit her lip, and she was just about to give up, to just put the food by the door, send Katya a text and ignore her responsibility to Trixie, when the blonde in question came bouncing up the stairs.

“Violet!” Katya smiled brightly. She was wearing a berry pink windbreaker and a neon green skirt, her hair half up in a blue scrunchie, a small set of what looked like doll hands dangling from her ears.

“Katya, hi!” Violet quickly put her phone in her handbag, the bag of take-out dangling awkwardly from her wrist. “I was wondering if, I, umh, if you wanted-”

“Trixie asked you to keep an eye on me, didn’t he?” Katya asked, unlocking the door to the apartment and beckoning for Violet to follow her inside.

“No! I just wanted to… to, to-” Violet was pretty sure she had to deny, that it was friend code to keep secrets like this, but as she shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, unable to come up with anything, she knew she couldn’t keep up the charade. “He did. Sorry.”

“That’s okay,” Katya smiled, waving her hand. “You can tell him I’m fine.” Katya grabbed the food, putting both that and her bags down on the counter and turned back to Violet, another big smile on her face, perfect teeth shining.

“That’s great. I-” Violet stopped, actually looking at Katya. The blonde’s smile wavered slightly, hardly detectable, but her blue eyes were puffy and rimmed with red. Had she been crying? “Katya...are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah!” Katya’s lip trembled, voice breaking slightly, and Violet was sure she was about to cry.

Normally, Violet felt uncomfortable around any and all displays of emotion, unsure what to do, uncertain about what the correct response was if she didn’t know the person intimately, but there was something about Katya that made that worry disappear completely.

Katya was so kind, always taking care of everyone around her: Trixie, Pearl, the neighbors, her students and even Violet herself.

“I don’t want to presume, but, if you’re not okay-” Violet waited a beat, lowering her voice slightly, “I hope you know that that’s okay.”

“I’m okay, it’s just-” Katya walked into the living room, sitting down on the couch, a deep sigh leaving her, Violet right behind her. “It’s been pretty rough.”

“Is it because-” Violet swifted, the situation oddly intimate. “Because Trixie is gone?”

“Trixie’s gone, Pearl’s gone, Max is gone, Shangie’s at her girlfriend’s place, Kim’s working late all week before she goes out of town, too…” Katya sniffled, wiping her eyes, and Violet felt a surge of worry, her hand reaching out and touching Katya’s knee, the blond knitting their fingers together. “Sorry.”

“You can talk.”

“I know it’s just a few weeks, and I’m being a huge baby,” Katya rolled her eyes, wiping at them again, and Violet reached into her bag, pulling a handkerchief out.

“Thanks-” Katya took it, dabbing her eyes. “I just had an extra session with my therapist, and I should be okay, I’ve been sober for forever, but, shit.” Katya snorted. “It’s hard.”

“Do you maybe,” Violet swallowed, “Do you want to umh, watch a movie or something? Your pick.”

“That would be amazing.”

***

“Home sweet home!” Sutan groaned, flopping down on the couch, toeing his shoes off and kicking them to the carpet.

“You don’t live here.” Karl smiled, bending down to pick them up so he could put them by the door.

“Sure mo-“ Sutan burped, holding his hand in front his mouth. “Sorry.”

“Tell me if you have to puke!”

“Mmh-”

Karl rolled his eyes, actually in the hall, when he heard a small groan coming from the living hey.

“You okay?”

“Fuck...”

Karl looked over, the other man’s phone in his hand, his brow furrowed.

“What?”

Sutan was adorably disheveled, his black suit jacket crumbled, the blue shirt twisted around his middle, his tie over his shoulder.

“She still hasn’t texted me back,” Sutan grumbled, running a quick hand over his face before he dumped his phone, reaching up to loosen his tie.

“Who hasn’t-”

They had met up earlier that night at what had turned out to be an outrageously boring, stuffy, industry party which they promptly ditched. They could have gone to another one, London overflowing with options during Fashion Week, but instead, they ended up at the pub, just the two of them, drinking beer and catching up.

“Got any beer?”

“Maybe. I’ll check the fridge,” Karl chuckled, walking towards the kitchen.

Now, hours later, Sutan had insisted on coming back to Karl’s apartment with him instead of his hotel, and apparently wanted to keep the party going.

Not that Karl minded in the least.

He loved spending time with Sutan--in fact, there’d been a time in his life when he would have dropped anything any time Sutan so much as glanced his way.

It had been the dumbest but most exhilarating years of his twenties, back when he had hung on Sutan’s every word, when he followed him everywhere like a loyal puppy, when he would have done anything and said everything to get his attention.

In the beginning, Karl had allowed himself to cling to the foolish hope that his friend would some day reciprocate his feelings, that Sutan would look at him and realize that he had all he needed had been by his side the entire time.

There had been a few kisses, here and there, but they had always happened during parties where heavy drinking and hard drugs were involved, and it was nothing they ever talked about sober.

Karl grabbed a bowl, filling it with chips before he got a couple of beers from the fridge, making his way back to his friend.

The sad fact of the matter was that Sutan, in spite of being incredibly chill and a little bit flexible, was actually depressingly straight.

Which was why Karl now lived in London.

He handed over a can of Pilsner, and slid down onto the couch beside Sutan.

“You’re the best-” Sutan smiled, leaning against his side, taking a sip from his can.

“So…” Karl bit his lip, Sutan smelling of sandalwood and man. “Who is she? Another socialite?“

“Who?”

“The girl you’re texting.”

“Ah.” Sutan looked up, his head resting on Karl’s shoulder. “No.”

Normally, Sutan didn’t mind sharing his conquests, the man an absolute idiot when it came to picking up clues, so he had never noticed how uncomfortable it made Karl, but this time, he was being uncharacteristically quiet about his new mystery woman, which made Karl even more suspicious.

“Is she a model?”

“No!” Sutan gasped, pulling back and sitting up. “Of course not!”

He actually looked offended, and Karl couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Come on man,” Sutan clapped his knee, his palm warm. “Who do you think I am? It’s against The Rule.”

“Well,” Karl shrugged, “Rules were made to be broken,” he said with a mischievous grin. It was something everyone knew about Sutan, that he never ever ever dated models. Karl would never have guessed that it would have given his friend an edge, but models seemed to truly trust him, Sutan somehow managing a calm and kind friend of the family vibe that Karl simply couldn’t replicate, nevermind the fact that he was literally gay.

“She’s not a model.” Sutan settled back down, this time leaning against the armrest of the couch. “She’s…” Sutan sighed. “She’s ignoring me.”

Karl couldn’t help but feel a twinge of resentment. Sutan looked genuinely distressed, and now that he thought about it, he had seen Sutan check his phone more than usual.

“Really?”

Did she not know what an amazing guy she had? Karl doubted it.

“I haven’t heard from her since yesterday.”

“Hmm.” Karl pursed his lips. “Wonder why.” He had learned long ago, even before the disastrous engagement, never to actively insult or give his true opinion on the women in Sutan’s life until after they were well out of it.

Not that they ever stuck around for long, the demands of Sutan’s job, his friends and his family always too much for them.

“I just don’t understand.” Sutan whined, the man always a little over-dramatic while drunk. “I’m a catch, right? Karl, be honest.”

“You’re adequate.”

“Karrrl…” Sutan groaned, grabbing his elbow to shake it. Karl’s smile would have broken through had the buzzer not rang just that moment with their perfect, greasy, midnight fast food delivery.

“Food’s here!” Karl jumped up, slapping Sutan’s shoulder in the process.

***

“...and like, he’s just so nice. Did I tell you that he texts me every morning just to say good morning and every night to ask how my day went?”

“Yup, you did,” Adore said. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, and she was sprawled on her bed with her guitar, plucking out random melodies, while Courtney waxed poetic about her perfect new boyfriend and how wonderful and attentive and funny he was.

Adore knew that she wasn’t intentionally rubbing it in, but it still stung. She’d slept with Pearl over a week ago, and hadn’t gotten so much as a single text, whereas Courtney had already been out with Willam twice and apparently texted every day.

“Well, anyway…” Courtney trailed off, climbing over to Adore. “I guess I’ve been rambling, huh?”

“A little,” Adore said, looking over at her with a rueful smile. “But it’s cool. He sounds great, and you deserve it.”

“Thanks,” Courtney said, curling up beside her. “The only weird thing is…We still haven’t…”

“Fucked?”

“Well, yeah, but-”

“That’s not that weird,” Adore said. “You’ve been on what, two dates? He’s probably just used to girls who aren’t as...giving as you.”

Adore reached over to pat Courtney on the head.

“Ha ha. And yeah, that’s true. But we haven’t even...kissed, really.”

“You haven’t kissed?!” Adore asked.

“No, I mean, we’ve kissed. But we haven’t like...kissed, you know?”

“I love it when you talk in code,” Adore laughed.

“It’s just like...not real kisses. It’s like the kind of kisses I’d give my parents. Or my brother. Like this.” Courtney leaned forward to demonstrate, giving Adore a quick, dry peck on the lips.

“You kiss your brother on the mouth?!” Adore exclaimed, eyes wide with horror.

“You don’t kiss your siblings?”

“Not on the mouth!”

“So you’ve never kissed, um, Bianca, on the mouth?” Courtney asked, a bit of pink creeping into her cheeks.

“With the filthy places her mouth has been?! Hell fucking no.”

Courtney laughed, hugging a pillow to her chest, cheeks now blazing red. “Okay, well, I think we’re getting sidetracked. The point is...I like Willam. But I don’t know...”

“I guess. But, maybe he’s just shy.”

“Yeah. Yeah, maybe…” Courtney sighed. “What about you?”

“What about me? I’m definitely not shy.”

“No, I mean, any new developments in your love life?” Courtney asked carefully, as if there would be anything she didn’t already know.

Adore could tell that as supportive as Courtney was, she was a bit reticent to get fully onboard the Pearl Liaison train. She’s been dropping little hints here and there about Pearl being a player--hints which Adore had ignored. It wasn’t that she didn’t know about Pearl’s reputation. It’s that she didn’t fucking care.

Pearl was amazing in bed, cool and funny, and incredibly sexy, and Adore was prepared to have her heart ripped out of her chest.

If only she could get a second date.

“Ugh, no.” Adore sat up, setting her guitar aside with a groan. “I’m a fucking disaster as usual. Pearl still hasn’t called.”

“Well...she is traveling right now. Maybe she’s just really busy,” Courtney said, and Adore smiled, appreciating her attempt, however small, to defend Adore’s ridiculous infatuation.

“Yeah, maybe. But Bianca calls me whenever she goes abroad, even when she goes somewhere stupid like Japan, or like… Siberia or something.”

“I’m pretty sure your sister has never been to Siberia,” Courtney laughed.

“You don’t know her.”

“True…” Courtney bit her lip, then added, “I kind of wish I did, though.”

Adore tilted her head, looking at her curiously. Of course, her sister was one of her favorite people on the planet, and had been for as far back as she could remember. So hearing that her bestie liked her probably shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. She seems cool.” Courtney picked at the comforter.

“Well, of course she’s cool. She’s related to me,” Adore said, and Courtney grinned.

“Exactly!”

“Annnnd...she’s having this big birthday party next month. Some crazy-ass, fancy thing at the Guggenheim. You should come, be my date.”

“Oh, I don’t...I don’t know, Adore.”

“Why not?!”

“Well...won’t like, my bosses all be there? It’s a little weird.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Adore said. “But listen, it’ll be a huge crowd. And if you come, Bianca will give me so much less shit than usual, since she actually likes you.”

Courtney’s eyes widened. “She does? Did she say that?”

“No, but I would definitely know if she didn’t,” Adore assured her. “You know Laila? She hasn’t seen her for years, but she still calls her ‘that garbage-faced slut.’”

Courtney burst out laughing, asking cheekily, “Is she wrong?”

“Hey!” Adore hit Courtney in the face with a pillow, knocking her onto her back. “Be nice!”

***

Violet groaned, taking a step back from the window. She bit her lip, flipping through the pictures she had just taken of herself on her phone.

Sutan had asked what she was wearing in a text, and while Violet normally hated getting her picture taken, and never took selfies in any shape or form, she was doing her best to attempt just that.

If anyone else had asked, Violet would have shut it down instantly, but even though Sutan had sent along a winky face, the text didn’t read to her as something sexual, the message more a joke than a serious request to see her in her underwear--or even worse, naked.

Violet wanted to make Sutan happy, wanted to play along with his game, but as she looked at the photos, she cringed; she had no idea how models, influencers or even normal people made taking pictures seem so easy.

She sighed, getting back in position in front of the window, Max always telling her how important light was for a good photo. It felt wrong to be standing in Fame’s office, but she wasn’t touching anything, the background only a crisp white carpet.

Violet thought that it had been hard having an almost boyfriend during Fashion Week, but what she had not expected was how Sutan being abroad felt about a million times worse, the fact that he was now in Milan and not London not making it any better at all.

She wasn’t a texter by nature, the fact that Sutan had messaged her not even crossing her mind for the first 48 hours. They had talked on the phone, and texted back and forth, but it wasn’t the same and she missed him. She missed Sutan, longed to see his smile and hear his voice, a phone call or even Facetime not the same at all.

She missed feeling his hands on her body, his weight on top of hers.

Violet pulled her hair over her shoulder, twisted her shoulder, lifting her phone, ready to try again, when she spotted something in the corner of the screen.

Courtney was leaning against the doorframe, an infuriating smile on her face.

“Shit!” Violet jumped, dropping her phone before she whirled around. “I wasn’t-” Violet held up her hand, her stomach tight with embarrassment. “This, it’s, I- Don’t tell anyone. Please”

“As if,” Courtney's annoying grin deepened. "You don't have to be embarrassed, Vi.”

Violet almost opened her mouth to reprimand her, the other again acting way too familiar for Violet’s comfort, when she continued talking.

“It's not like you had your top off."

"What-” Violet could feel her cheeks heat up, her entire face going red. “I'd never-” Violet left Fame’s office, closing the door behind her. “Don’t say that.”

"Never?” Courtney giggled, skipping forward to perch on the edge of Violet's desk. “Why not?"

"That's not-” Violet wanted to say that it wasn’t any of Courtney’s business, that she should watch her attitude, but the other looked genuinely interested, like she actually cared about the why. “I don't have that kind of body."

“Please,” Courtney scoffed. "You have an amazing body, what are you talking about?"

"I'm not very-" Violet wasn’t sure if she wanted to say the word. She knew she wasn't hideous, that she could dress herself, that she was pretty if you were into her type, which Sutan thankfully was. "Very sexy."

Courtney looked genuinely confused, and Violet almost wanted to sigh.

Of course she didn’t understand her; Violet wasn’t sure why she thought, even for a second, that she would.

Everything about Courtney was dainty and feminine and all the things that a girl was supposed to be. From the way she walked to the way she dressed to the way she sat on the edge of Violet’s desk with her legs crossed coyly.

Everything about Courtney screamed that she was hot, fun, flirty, and knew it. She hadn’t even batted an eye when those suits drooled all over her in the cafeteria; she’d probably been told she was beautiful every day she’d been alive.

"Violet…” Courtney smiled, something that looked disgustingly like pity in her gaze. “I really hate to be the one to break this to you. I mean, someone probably should have already told you, like a long time ago, but…you're really hot." Courtney grinned playfully, twirling her hair. "Like, really really, really hot."

Violet almost snorted. She had been called pretty, beautiful, Sutan often telling her she was gorgeous or lovely, her style most often described as elegant and classy, but being called hot, and even really hot, was not something she’d experienced.

"Thanks." Violet bent down to pick up her phone. "I'll keep that in mind." Part of her wanted to forget the whole selfie business, to not even attempt it again, but Sutan deserved it, and she wanted to do something for him.

“Let me know if you change your mind about the topless thing. I have a lot of experience in that area,” Courtney said.

“What-” Violet’s head snapped up, horror all over her face. “Get off my desk!”

“Sorry.” Courtney slid down with a giggle.

#rpdr fanfiction #thedane #veronica #galactica #vitan #witney #adore x pearl #violet chachki #katya zamolodchikova #raja gemini #manila luzon #courtney act #adore delano #lesbian au #fashion au #fluff

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thestray · 3 years

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The 62 2020 Movies Releases I Watched During 2020 Ranked

Like the awkward title says, I’m going to rank (and talk about) all the 2020 movies I watched in 2020. This is not meant as any empirical list of what was best, it’s ranked by what I liked the least to the most, and my main criteria is what kind of impact it had on me and/or how much I enjoyed the experience of watching it.

Little bit about myself, I went to art school for animation, then after art school I went to a community college where I studied screenwriting. Never ended up pursuing either thing professionally, but I still write screenplays in my free time and read screenwriting books and listen to screenwriting podcasts. I'm the type of person that loves special features, seeks out behind the scenes information and director interviews, and watch youtube videos analyzing films. I love film, and thinking about film and talking about film and sharing the films I like, and maybe one day making films of my own, who knows.

Ranking and reviewing 62 movies was a more ambitious and challenging task than I anticipated, I rearranged this list swapping titles back and forth so many times, and then I’d remember a movie I forgot I watched and have to add that and figure out where it ranks. I started this on January 1st and am just now ready to post it on the 17th, I was still switching rankings right up until posting this. Even looking at it now there are some kinda want to switch but I’ve accepted that this is more or less arbitrary, lol.

The more I learn about film and what goes into creating a movie the more lenient I am about them. It’s not like I’m never critical of films, but I try to consider both the good and the bad of a movie instead of thinking in a binary of films are either amazing or trash. Some of these films aren’t great, but I typically still enjoyed them to some degree. Except Mulan, lol. I’m sorry Mulan. Speaking of Mulan...

62. Mulan

I'm going to try to say something nice about all these movies even if I didn't like them at all. So... I like the cast, and there are some nice visual moments. I actually was looking forward to this movie before reviews started coming out, it has 2 of the martial arts G.O.A.T.s in it, Donnie Yen and Jet Li, and also Jason Lee as the bad guy, so I figured it might at the very least have some decent action, but they were all underutilized. There’s not a single moment in the film where I felt anything at all. I think all these Disney live-action remakes are doing is making a case for how effective animation is for storytelling.

61. Color Out of Space

I heard a lot of good things about this movie, and it’s really cool visually, and I love Nicolas Cage always, but I really couldn’t get into it. I guess my main issue is that it starts off already too campy for any of to the Lovecraftian horror to really hit. It felt like a B-movie with great production value, and maybe that’s what they were going for? I really wanted to like this but I really just did not feel invested in anything going on, did not relate to anyone in the family, so I don’t think I got much out of it besides the cool visuals.

60. Bloodshot

I think the main flaw of this movie is that is that Vin Diesel was a producer on it, and Vin Diesel should be kept away from making creative decisions on movies. How Did This Get Made did a great podcast episode on this movie. It’s absolute nonsense, it has a couple of cool sequences and special effects in it, and Lamorne with a British accent is great, he’s the main redeeming value of this movie.

59. The Midnight Sky

It seems like this movie wants to be Interstellar, it’s structured in a very similar way, but it just didn’t quite have that same emotional punch. It looks very good, it’s well-acted, it has it’s moments.

58. The New Mutants

It's not as much of a trainwreck as people make it out to be in my opinion, I think the cast is good and it has some good character interactions, but it mostly suffers from the fact that it's way too predictable, from the beginning you're way ahead of the characters, and it doesn't help that they're in this confined setting so there's not a lot for them to actually do. But I appreciate the attempt at using mutants to do a horror breakfast club thing, good concept.

57. Vampires vs The Bronx

Vampires as a gentrifiers taking over the hood, great idea. Mero is in it, the brand is brolic. It was a fun set up, but it was neither funny enough or scary enough in my opinion. The vampires die so easily it's like okay whatever. It's like a really long Goosebumps episode.

56. Freaky

I don't think the execution lived up to the great concept, but Vince Vaughan was really great in those sincere moments playing a teenage girl. Horror fans will appreciate the gory kills. I'm not going to spoil anything but I do think there are some narrative issues that keep this from being stronger than it could've been. If you made the killer a creepy janitor at the school or even one of the teachers, then I think that would've created more interesting situations.

55. Eurovision

I love Will Ferrell, I even love some of his flops like Casa De Mi Padre and Kicking and Screaming, and even the House I think had a lot of really funny moments. This was definitely one of the least funny movies he's done to me. I think the director David Dobkin couldn't commit to being silly the way Adam McKay can cause there's a lot of this movie that just has no jokes, and the movie is over 2 hours long which isn't normal for comedies so you spend a lot of time watching unfunny scenes and extended musical numbers.

54. The Wrong Missy

I'm not a big fan of most Happy Madison movies, the jokes are very hit or miss for me. I'm a big fan of Lauren Lapkus though so I watched it to support her, and she plays an absolute psycho in this. It's so over the top it's like this character is not a human being, but I have to admit there are a few moments where she made me laugh pretty loud. I'd never watch this movie again, but maybe I'd look up certain parts on youtube.

53. The Platform

High concept dystopian sci-fi horror. Reminds me of the Cube. It's one of those things that makes you think about what you'd do in the same situation. It's a very on the nose allegory, so by the end of it my only takeaway was "Yeah, it really be like that."

52. Archenemy

Another high concept movie. Joe Mangienello is good in it, but Glenn Howerton and Paul Scheer are my favorite parts of the movie, it's fun to see comedy actors play bad guys. My main problem with the movie was that I did not find the teen character to be interesting or relatable at all, in fact he can be kind of obnoxious. In his introductory scene he's REALLY bothering this random guy minding his own business, not respecting his boundaries at all. Then the rest of the movie is about him exploiting a homeless man and being really pushy for likes on some app, and he doesn't really have a character arc. Also wasn't a big fan of the animated sequences but I forgive that knowing this was a low budget movie and those sequences were done by a team of just 3 people.

51. Power

Jamie Foxx is great. I think he makes almost anything he's in watchable to some degree. The idea of this movie is fun but I think the action sequences are kinda underwhelming, but Jamie makes it worth watching in my opinion.

50. Birds of Prey

This movie was all style and absolutely no substance. When your main character doesn't have a solid purpose or goal you're really just watching shit happen, and that can be okay if the shit that's happening is occassionally fun or funny, but it doesn't really make for a memorable story in my opinion.

49. Wonder Woman 84

The most panned movie of 2020 maybe? It's got flaws for sure and some narrative choices I just can't understand why they made. It has some fun performances though and I ultimately appreciated that our superhero wins not by using her fists but by appealing to goodness. I feel like you rarely see that kind of idealism any more. It may not be realistic but I think that's one of the things fantasy is good for, showing us a way things could be better to strive for. But yeah, the Steve Trevor things was fucking weird, why'd they do that? And neither Steve or Diana seem concerned with about this random guy's fate. I'd probably rate this film higher if they had Steve simply appear out of thin air, I mean why not? It's magic. But I loved Kristen Wig and Pedro Pascal in this. Pedro is performing with his whole body, did he film this after season 1 of the Mandolorian? Maybe being under that helmet for a season made him want to be really expressive. The films overall kinda campy but I didn't necessarily mind that.

48. Peninsula

Sequel to the already classic Train to Busan, this film decides the up the scale, which is what sequels often do, but I think it was a mistake in this instance. This is more of an over the top action movie than a character-driven horror film like the first. There's a climactic Mad Max-esque car chase scene that is almost entirely CGI. I don't think it was a bad movie, it's an okay popcorn flick, but it definitely doesn't live up to the original.

47. The Old Guard

In terms of action I don't think it did anything interesting, but I like how they explored how horrific and heartbreaking it would be to be immortal. Coming to terms with your own mortality is a tough thing to do, but we often don't consider the idea that death is a blessing we take for granted.

46. Sputnik

A Russian sci-fi thriller about a young doctor being tasked with trying to figure out how to separate an alien parasite from a Cosmonaut that's returned from earth. Good performances, creepy vibe, and lots of interesting questions about ethics. It has a sort of epilogue ending with a reveal I didn't quite understand the significance to the story, but didn't take away from either. Solid.

45. The Invisible Man

Fun sci-fi thriller about toxic abusive relationships and gaslighting. Elizabeth Moss is great in it and my favorite sequences are before her character actually catches on and you have moments where the camera is just focusing on a random place, very creepy and effective.

44. Sonic the Hedgehog

Personally I would've preferred a fully animated film taking place in Sonic's world. I don't know why they always feel like they need to make these movies about human characters and then spend a lot of time having to hide your CG character and having people do comical reactions to them. It feels very played out to me. BUT Jim Carrey is great in this, of course. Jim Carrey is the reason to watch this movie. He makes the movie. And it goes without saying thank God they changed that character design.

43. 2067

What I liked about this dystopian future is that the cause was basically everything. War, famine, ruining the environment, pandemics, just all our collective fuckery has resulted in a world where the human race is on the verge of extinction, plants are extinct, and oxygen is synthetic. Enter time travel, a young man is tasked with traveling into the future to bring back the solution to saving the human race. Very timely obviously. I liked it.

42. Monsters of Man

Some asshole tech bros let some killer robots loose on a remote southeast asian village as a trial run. It has lots of flaws but I give it some leeway because this is the first film of a guy who wrote, directed and was the cinematographer by himself, he didn't have a huge budget or much experience, so it's hard to expect perfection. My biggest criticism is that the film centers a white guy living in this village and some westerner medics, not the actual Asian people of the village. Could've been so much more of interesting commentary about racism and eurocentrism dropping these robots in a village of brown people no one will miss just for practice. That aside though I think it was a solid enough thriller and the robots looked pretty good.

41. Family Romance LLC

An interesting movie about a Japanese entrepreneur who has a business where he'll play whatever role in your life you need. Father, husband, coworker, etc there's a scene where someone even pays him to be scolded in his place by his boss. The main thrust of the film though is him playing the role of a girl's absentee father, pretends to reconnect with her and take her out on the town for activities. It's shot very documentary style, and there are a mixture of first time actors and non-actors. Sometimes there are long awkward conversations that feel just as awkward as real life. I really liked the premise, and the only thing that keeps it from being higher on my list is it doesn't have a strong enough conflict nor does it really have a satisfying conclusion.

40. Over the Moon

Directorial debut of animation legend Glen Keane, I really liked this visually. It was sufficiently enjoyable, but it doesn't have that emotional gut punch that Pixar or Disney films tend to have. But I guess cartoons don't NEED to make you bawl your eyes out to be good. I think there were some missed opportunities narratively, like I guess this is spoilery so just scroll ahead if you don't want to know, but she gains a step brother that she doesn't like and doesn't want to spend time with, once the adventure starts on the Moon they get separated very early on, and don't ge reunited until towards the end, but she somehow now cares about him and considers him her brother. I didn't feel like that was really earned, they should've been together throughout the adventure getting to know each other. But I otherwise liked the story aside from that nitpick. Loved the colors of this movie, almost everything in the moon world is luminescent which provides some nice visuals. Hope to see Glen direct more in the future.

39. The Croods 2

Nothing revolutionary but it has some solid physical comedy and great voice acting. All of Nicolas Cage's overacting is perfect for animation, and I liked Peter Dinklage as Mr. Betterman as well. There's a lot going on thematically but it all works pretty cohesively.

38. #ALIVE

Another Korean zombie thriller. I really liked this because I felt like as far as zombie outbreaks go this is the most realistic scenario. Once you realize what's going on you will just stay in your house rather than risk going outside and fighting zombies. But that poses the problem of a limited supply of food and water. The main thrust of the movie is not how this character survives though it's about him trying to retain his will to live. It's the perfect pandemic isolation allegory.

37. Love and Monsters

It looked kinda corny but I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I like Dylan O'Brien, I love Tom Holland as Peter Parker but I've always felt like Dylan O'Brien would've been a great choice too, he has a good everyman relatable quality. There's also a dog in the movie that I loved. Put a dog in peril in a movie and I will be on the edge of my seat guaranteed. It's a fun movie with some interesting creatures in it and a solid character arc for our main protagonist.

36. Extraction

I love the trend of stunt coordinators directing films. That's the main reason why the John Wick series is so good, and the reason why this also has some very solid action. Nothing crazy here in terms of story or themes, everything is an excuse for Chris Hemsworth to fuck people up and it delivers on that. There's one scene where he slaps around some kids attacking him that I found hilarious as well. Fully welcoming an Extraction 2.

35. Save Yourselves

A couple decides to take a break from social media and get away to a cabin outside the city. While they're disconnected from the world an alien invasion occurs, furry little basketball sized poofs. This movie was pretty funny. I'm a little ambivalent about the ending but I enjoyed these hipsters arguing about what to do about aliens.

34. Bill and Ted Face the Music

A most bodacious movie. Fun gags and a robot that steals the show. It's not as good as the first 2 but I don't think that's any surprise. I think it borrows a little bit too much from the previous films, like the collecting legendary musicians thing, could've done without that. It was a fun movie though, and the daughters really worked.

33. An American Pickle

Seth Rogen playing an orthodox Jew who's been preserved in pickle juice for 100 years and his modern day app developer grandson. I think this may be Seth Rogen's best acting role, as silly as this movie is he's kind of endearing as this character from 100 years aro, and as the grandson he's a lot more understated than he usually is in movies.

32. Tenet

Tenet! Is it controversial that this is not higher up on the list? I really like Nolan's films, actually been a fan since watching his first film Following in a film class. Nolan likes playing with time in his movies so it was inevitable that he'd do something that addresses it very directly eventually. I love the time travel genre and I think this is one of the most ambitious and unique approaches to it to ever done. I actually braved theaters to see this because I did not want to miss the opportunity to see it on the big screen. I did it as safely as possible and booked a reserved seating theater where I knew I wouldn't be sitting by anyone, had a mask, gloves, antibacterial gell on deck, sanitized my seat with wipes, etc, there only 2 other people in the theater all of us sitting way for from each other. Weirdest moviegoing experience I've ever had but glad I saw it on the big screen because the visual spectacle of this is excellent. The reason it's not higher on the list is because as conceptually cool as it is as I did not feel invested. Just on a story level having a character we know very little about pursuing a goal he knows very little about for no clearly defined reason makes it feel like... we're just watching events unfold as opposed to watching a character-driven story. There's a moment at the end that you can tell was meant to be an emotional moment, but I felt nothing. They try to introduce some emotional stakes with the female character, but idk, since it wasn't tied to the inciting incident it felt more like a b-plot than fundamental to the story. So it was a really fun cool looking puzzle, more like watching a cool Rube Goldberg machine, but not something I really thought much about after it was over.

31. Guns Akimbo

I really have been enjoying Daniel Radcliffe's post-Harry Potter career, he'll do some solid dramas he seems to prefer doing fun weird shit like Swiss Army Man, Horns, his role on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, etc. This is in that vein of fun weird shit, a guy who gets guns bolted to his hands and is running around the city in a robe trying to survive essentially a real life video game. A lot of the movies lower on this list had fun concepts but were lacking in execution, but this is one that is just as fun as the idea sounds, even more fun actually, it's funny, the action is good, and there are some great visuals. I found it all around enjoyable.

30. Let Them All Talk

Glen Close as a celebrated author who invites her nephew and 2 estranged best friends on a cruise with her. It's a very light-hearted movie with some underlying conflicts that the characters are afraid to address head on. Glen Close is great, obviously, she plays this pretentious self-important woman with affectations but is still likable and warm. It's a fairly pleasant almost slice-of-life until the 3rd act where everything comes together. To me it was a movie about communication, saying what you mean, saying what you feel, and those unspoken assumptions of what those around you are thinking or feeling about you. I know I can relate to the idea of wanting an apology from someone who might not even be cognizant of the fact that you feel slighted by them, or vice versa finding out someone's had a long standing problem with you when you thought you were cool. One sided grudges do no one any good.

29. True History of the Kelly Gang

I've heard of Ned Kelly, but I've never seen the Heath Ledge or Mick Jagger movies about him and I don't know much about him other than he's a famous Australian outlaw and something of a folk hero to some. The performances and cinematography if this are great. George MacKay from 1917 is the lead and he's amazing, sometimes vulnerable and soft, other times a madman. It spends a lot of time in his childhood and the child actor who plays Ned is great as well. It's gritty and sometimes surreal in it's imagery. From what I can gather previous films seemed to focus more on what happened with him and his gang, while this movie seems to focuses more on everything in his life that led up to him becoming who he is and forming that gang. Like a 3rd of the movie is spent in his childhood, and once the gang is actually formed things move at a pretty brisk pace, seemingly skimming over the exploits of the gang to the conclusion. The film feels very raw and gritty and very fuck the police which I always appreciate.

28. Lucky Grandma

A stubborn grandma in New York's chinatown gets her fortunte read and is told that she's going to be very lucky and come into a fortune, she then comes into possession of a bunch of money that belongs to a gang and she decides to try to keep it feeling it's owed to her by the universe. A funny crime drama with the unlikeliest of protagonists.

27. Da 5 Bloods

Spike Lee is an icon but he can honestly be a little hit or miss for me. I don't always enjoy every choice he makes, for instance he uses real footage of war attrocities in this, and it's really upsetting to see REAL people, including children, be killed, when you're not expecting that. I understand it's meant to be upsetting, but it does make the movie something I'll probably never rewatch. Spike Lee's films to me can also feel at times heightened to the point that it feels a little cheesy (Miracle At St Anna), and there moments in this that kinda took me out of it to be honest, but overall I enjoyed it. The performances were great, Delroy Lindo in my opinion is one of the most underrated actors of all time, he's just always good no matter what he's in, everyone else in it is good too, but of course I have to mention Chadwick Boseman who was great. At the end of the day it gave me a lot to think about in terms or race, war, America, forgiveness, trauma and so many other things.

26. The Devil All The Time

There's a LOT going on in this movie, maybe a little too much, it's like 2 or 3 movies smashed into one, but... I really liked it, and that's probably because Tom Holland is so good in it. Really liked Robert Pattinson in it too. I can’t really think of more to say about it say I won’t. Next movie.

25. Bad Education

A true crime movie about school district officiala who stole from the budget of a highschool. Hugh Jackman is great in this. I loved Jackman as Wolverine, but now that he's done with that I'm excited to see him other stuff cause he's always interesting to watch; The Fountain, Prisoners, The Prestige, he's always solid. I enjoyed this, it was done with nuance, it doesn't let them off the hook for what they did but it doesn't paint them as absolute monsters either. I really have to ask myself, if I could get away with stealing money that no one would miss... I don't know, I think I'd not do it out of fear not altruism, lol.

24. My Octopus Teacher

This is a documentary on Netflix about a diver who immerses himself in the world of underwater life and documents the life of an octopus. It's really beautiful, both in terms of visuals and in content. There's not a lot to talk about because it's fairly straightforward, but it was really fascinating to learn about this octopus and see the bond they mutually formed, and again I can't talk about how great this movie looks, it's like you're in a different world. This is something I could put in and mute while I draw just for the ambiance.

23. Kajillionaire

A quirky dramedy about a family of really obtuse poor scam artists. As absurd as their behaviour is I can totally imagine a trio of weirdos like this living in Los Angeles ( I can say that cause it's my hometown and where I lived most of my life. It's Evan Rachel Wood's best role, I never would've imagined her doing something like this but she's great as "Old Dolio". It's funny, at time sad but not in a hammy melodramatic way, and I feel it had the perfect ending.

22. The Gentleman

Guy Ritchie doing what he does best. It's fun, stylish, witty, has layers and twists and reveals. Everybody's good in it. It doesn't have anything poignant to say, but it's fun to watch the entire time

21. Run

A thriller about a wheelchair bound teen who suspects her mother is drugging her and tries to get to the bottom of it. You can tell this director is a Hitchcock fan because it definitely has that Rear Window vibe but takes it a step further, and in many ways it's even shot and paced like Hitchcock. The lead actress is actually wheelchair bound herself so it really adds to the realism of all the things she does in this film. Oh, and Sarah Paulson is the mom, when is Sarah Paulson ever not good?

20. Horse Girl

Alison Brie is an awkward neurotic woman getting over recent grief and a history of mental illness in her family, she starts to have weird dreams and then notices people from her dreams in real life, starts blacking out and having gaps in time, and starts to believe it's due to alien abduction conspiracy. Is she losing her mind or is it really happening? Alison Brie is really really good in this, and she co-wrote it too, it has a lot of moments where you really feel sorry for her or scared for her and you start to question what's real yourself.

19. Swallow

I found this movie really fascinating, it's like what if you turned one of those My Strange Addiction episodes on TLC into a movie. It's about this woman who ostensibly, at least from appearances, has the perfect life (at least by societal standards), she came from nothing and is now housewife to a rich successful man, and behaves almost like a Stepford wife. Then develops a compulsion to swallow inedible things, like marbles and batteries and thumbtacks, which is a real condition called pica. Its the kind of movie that gives you a lot to think about but no easy answers.

18. Time to Hunt

A Korean heist thriller set in the near future. A bunch of childhood friends rob the wrong person and have an Anton Chigurh-esque killer sent after them to retrieve the money and kill them. It's a really tense cat and mouse thriller with good performances. The ending seemed to turn a lot of people off based on a lot of youtube comments I read, but I didn't mind it. My only real gripe is that they set this in the near future but aside from some imagery in the beginning it doesn't seem to come into play that much, this all could've taken place in modern day or even the past with no alteration of the story. I think the future setting was more just for some social commentary that maybe went over my head a little bit because I'm not from Korea, but I think if they were going to do near future they could've added some futuristic weapons or something. But that's just nitpicking, while the future setting didn't add to the story much it didn't take away from it either.

17. Tigertail

As I get older one of my worse fears is making decisions that I will regret for the rest of my life, so this movie really hit home as a cautionary tale. It's a kind of quietly devastating movie. There's no huge tragic horrific even, just a huge miscalculation. Decades of your life of work and unhappiness go by and all you can do is wonder what things could've been. I also especially appreciated the cinematography and music of this film.

16. Mother

It's been a while since I hated a character this much, but this titular mother really pissed me off. She's a neglectful mother who only sees her son as a tool, but he sticks by her cause he loves her. It's definitely not a fun movie to watch, but it made me feel a lot and meditate on the idea of love and whether it in itself has innate value.

15. Call

I went into this movie cold, having no idea what it was really about other than that it was a thriller that revolved around a woman getting mysterious calls. I'm glad I had seen no trailers and did not know the gist of the plot becuase it went places I really was not expecting. One of the most fun thrillers I've seen in a while. So, I'm not going to talk about the movie but what I will say is that Jeon Jong-seo, who played the woman in Burning is in this, she was great in Burning and she's great in this. After watching it I googled her to see what else she's been in that I can watch and this is only her 2nd film. Apparently Burning was her first audition EVER and she BOOKED IT! Like, one a million success story right? But she deserves it cause she's great and I look forward to seeing what else she does.

14. Possessor

This was directed by Brandon Cronenberg, the son of David Cronenberg, big shoes to fill, and I think he's going to fill them fine cause this is already a cult classic in my opinion. The visuals in this, which look like they were mainly created with practical and in camera effects. There is some very graphic very realistic violence in this. The movie is about an assassin who works for an organization and uses some type of scientific process to "possess" people to carry out hits. When she's in a body for too long who's in control starts to blur. It's really fucking trippy, like a fucked up Black Mirror episode.

13. Borat 2

Been a fan of Sacha since the old Da Ali G Show days when Borat was just a side character. I'm amazed with out Sacha can stay in character the way he does, especially when later on in the movie he shelters in place with some Qanon conservatives with who knows how long staying in character. Maybe they'll reveal they were paid actors who knows, but whatever I fucking laughed a lot at this movie. There's a black woman in this movie that I hope to god was not an actress cause I loved her and her reactions so much. It was a breath of fresh air to watch something that's just goofy in 2020 because it wasn't a good year for comedy. As much as I love film sometimes I got a little fatigue from watching so many things with very heavy themes, this also had heavy themes it was satirizing, but also chimp pornstar jokes, so.. a fun time.

12. A Sun

A drama about a family's eldest son going to juvenile detention for his involvement in a violent crime. We see how his father, his mother, his brother and his pregnant girlfriend all deal with this. I found it very engaging. My only gripe is that there are some moments of levity where they use this really generic comedy music score it and it really takes you out of the film. No music at all is better than bad generic music. Other than that I really loved it and the ending is great. I really thought this would end up in my top 10 but the following films just had more personal relevance or were more fun to watch.

11. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

R.I.P. Chadwick Boseman, this movie is like an acting showcase for him, he has so many great monologues here, the ending really took the wind out of me. It's also packed with really still relevant commentary on race.

10. Onward

You already expect a Pixar movie to make you cry, but this came from angle I was NOT expecting and I bawled hard at this. This movie was so applicable to my life experience it's like they specifically engineered it to make me personally cry. Honestly there are better movies lower on this list, but movies are just like any other art, when a song touches you on a personal level it doesn't need to have complex instrumentation cause it's how it made you feel that matters.

09. Palm Springs

A comedy released during a pandemic about trying to find stimulation and meaning when every day is the same thing? Ya don't say! Another take on Groundhog Day, which at this point I feel like it's its on genre with the amount of times the concept has been done, but I'm not complaining, I typically enjoy a good time loop movie (or show; Russian Doll). I don't know what else to say besides that it's really funny and Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti are both charming and great in it.

08. Scare Me

This movie was funny, creepy, the performances were great, and it's just really unique and clever. Written, directed, produced, and starring Josh Ruben, who I know primarily does really idiosyncratic "impressions" on instagram. It's 2 people alone in a cabin telling each other scary stories, they don't cut away to the stories you just watch them act it out. 4 people in the cast, one location, and it still manages to be a fun ride of a movie and manages to touch on some good themes in the overall story. I really hope to see Josh Ruben direct more films because I think he's really creative.

07. Ride Your Wave

A romantic comedy about a woman trying to find joy and purpose in her life. I often go into movies very cold, so I didn't know much about what this movie was about, just knew that it was from an animation studio and director that I really respected. It's very beautiful, very grounded, until it's not. Kind of movie that breaks your heart so it can uplift you later.

06. Uncle Frank

I really did not expect a lot from movie, not that I thought it would be bad, I just thought it be your middle of the road movie. It's about a teenage girl who really looks up to her uncle who she learns is a closeted gay man, in an era where that was potentially dangerous to be. They go on a road trip home when his father dies and learn about each other and themselves, it sounds kinda cookie cutter, but it really surprised me. Paul Bettany is so very good in this, and it made me cry. Easy way to get on high on this list is to make me cry lol.

05. Children of the Sea

This film had to be in my top 5 because I'm an animation nerd and this is one of the most beautiful animated films ever. Ever. It's right up there with Akira and the Ghibli catalogue, and the works of Satoshi Kon, and all the Disney movies and everything else. It focuses on details and nuances in a really gorgeous way. The story is VERY ambiguous and gets very metaphysical towards the end, the climax is like watching an acid trip. It's about a girl who meet 2 young boys who have adapted to living underwater, and they form a bond, and then... uh... there's no way I can concisely explain it. The creator has said it's not supposed to be understood logical, instead it's supposed to be felt. There's a lot of symbolism and metaphor, it's very philosophical and explores themes of connection and the cycle of life. It's produced by Studio 4°C, which is my favorite animation studio because they really push the envelope, they're responsible for Mind Game, Tekkonkinkreet, and the recent Mutafukaz, and other, if you've never heard of any of those definitely look them up, they're unlike any anime you've ever watched before. Anyway, beautiful movie and the cryptic plot allows for you to rewatch it multiple times and take different things away from it. I can't wait to own it on blu-ray.

04. 37 Seconds

I saw this very early in the year and love it. It's about a young woman with cerebal palsy who is also an aspiring hentai artist trying to get laid. Her mother who takes care of her like a child smothers her, so it's not only about trying to get laid but trying to have some independence. Firstly the performance of this woman who actually does have cerebral palsy and is a first time actor is so natural and endearing, secondly there are things they portray with an uncomfortable amount of realism and awkwardness that it really draws you in to the nitty gritty of her reality and what it can be like for someone who is wheelchair bound to try to have sexual experiences. I like that there were 2 films this year about characters in wheelchairs that used unknown actresses that face the same things their characters do, it adds to the authenticity of either film. Films like this are why I think diversity in film is not just about doing something for the demographic you're depicting but also giving everyone else not of that demographic new unique stories and perspectives.

03. Soul

I guess spoilers if you haven't seen this because it's easier to talk about why I liked it if I talk specifically about the plot. I wasn't expecting much from this when the initial trailer dropped, it made it seem like it was going to largely take place in this imaginary soul place with these blue things, and for most of the first act it seemed like that's what it was going to be, but when they come back to earth and the story really starts I really started enjoying it. This movie tricks you into thinking the film is about finding or fulfilling your purpose, only to throw a curveball that living life in and of itself is the "purpose", and this movie resonated so much with thoughts that were already on my mind. I relate so much to Joe as a creative person myself with so many unfulfilled dreams, at 36yrs old, having to put many of my goals on the backburner just to survive, and generally having that feeling that I'm still waiting to live life because I'm not fulfilling my "purpose". Sure reaching for goals is great, but I think our culture breeds this idea that happiness is a destination, an accomplishment, a certain amount of recognition, a monetization of your passion. I really loved how the film depicted that there's a dark side to focusing on your passions and how it can become a source of stress and unhappiness. This movie is just about savoring life itself, which people have been expressing through platitudes since forever but this film illustrated it in a way that words fail at, and that's what makes film such a great form of art.

02. Sound of Metal

This movie had one of the best trailers of 2020, I couldn't wait to watch this movie. FIrst of all I love RIz Ahmed and think he's an underrated and underutilized actor, he's fucking amazing in this, he needs an Oscar nom FOR SURE. His frustration is so palpable and he feels so natural in this movie. It follows a metal punk drummer who loses his hearing and goes to stay in a deaf community to acclimate. One thing I think is absolutely brilliant about this movie is the sound design. I'm not deaf so I can't speak from any type of experience, but they try to replicate what going deaf sounds like, what the audiologist tests sound like, what hearing aids and cochlear implants sound like, it's very immersive. I almost think of it like a companion piece to Soul, cause I had almost the same take away, it's just coming from it at a different angle.

01. I'm Thinking Of Ending Things

Okay, so I’m going to have a lot to say about this movie.

Maybe a very controversial pick for my number one because so many people absolutely hated this movie, lol. I am biased given that I'm a huge fan of Charlie Kaufman, he's my favorite screenwriter, and his films have only gotten weirder and weirder, so I know to expect the unexpected when going into one of his films. I can understand how this would be an offputting experience if you're expecting the conventions of normal narrative structure. It was surprising and perplexing to me how this film unfolded but I've watched non-narrative and experimental films before so I was intrigued rather than frustrated. You think it's about a woman who is thinking of breaking up with her boyfriend as they head to meet his parents. Once we get to his childhood home things start getting surreal, and that surrealism just escalates to the point where you realize this film is not at all attempting to depict reality and doesn't even have any continuity. This is the most a movie has ever felt like one of my dreams. I don't know how other people dream but this was so much like every weird nightmare I've ever had where I feel trapped in a situation.

There's a scene where the family is talking about art, the dad says he hates abstract art because it takes no skill, he prefers paintings that look like photographs because that takes real skill, the son asks why make a painting look like a photograph when you can just take a photograph, the woman states she paints pictures of landscapes and tries to imbue them with a sense of interiority, capturing the way she feels, the dad asks how can a landscape be sad if you don't have a person in it looking sad. I felt like this was a bit of meta commentary on the film itself. After I watched this movies I had my own theories, I watched some analysis videos on youtube that confirmed a lot of my ideas and gave me insight on other parts of the film, I watched the film again and formulated more ideas, it's so dense with things to project meaning onto and interpret it. I went on instagram and ended up having lengthy discussions about what the film meant both with people who loved it and hated it. Everybody I spoke with had slightly different interpretations and takeaways. One woman who initially did not like it came away with an appreciation for it after we had a lengthy discussion about it's meaning.

All of this is why it's my favorite film of the year, not only did I relate to it on a personal level because I'm in a stage of my life where I'm approaching middle ages and afraid I'm going to end up like the guy in this film, but I can't remember the last time a film led to such meaningful conversation about life, death, love, mental health, loneliness, trauma, etc. So like the scene where they're talking about art, I think this movie is neither intended to be abstract or realistic, it's supposed to be imbued with a sense of interiority. I know I sound way pretentious right now, but I just really appreciated Charlie Kaufman for making something unabashedly expressionist and serving it up to mainstream audiences. I really feel like I grow as a person and an artist every time I watch one of his films.

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

So there ya go. That’s it. That concludes this arbitrary exercise in ranking the movies i saw last year, thank you for wasting your time on this, lol. I think it was a very good year for movies.

If there was a movie you were expecting to see on the list and it’s missing I just didn’t get to it in 2020, I may do an unranked follow up list of 2020 movies I missed in 2020, maybe.

That’s it.

End of post.

Bye.

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maxielli-blog1 · 5 years

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★ ━ ( joe gilgun, cis male, he/him ) ━ ★ the other day i ran into MAXIMILIAN ELLIS. it’s funny because i was just thinking about how the TWENTY-NINE YEAR OLD’S birthday was on 08/21 and how the last time i saw him, MAX was CREATIVE, ADAPTABLE & CONFIDENT, but could also be LAZY, TACTLESS, & PETTY. anyway, he has been living in RICHMOND for SEVEN YEARS & currently works as a RECORD SHOP MANAGER AND BASSIST.

max is originally from astoria, oregon. he’s lived in oregon his whole life and honestly? he wouldn’t have it any other way. he loves this funky little state.

he’s a big time vegetarian. but that doesn’t mean he’s a health god or anything. it just means he gets a little more creative when it comes to eating like shit. his diet mainly consists of oreos, salt + vinegar chips, and cigarettes.

he is the bassist (as well as founding member) of a local punk band called ‘cockroach ladies’. the group met in their eleventh grade french class, and they’ve been inseparable ever since.

technically lives in richmond in a four bedroom house with an ungodly number of roommates. it’s pretty much a modern punk flop house. there’s couches and junk all over, stuff no one is allowed to throw away because someone somewhere is attached to it. his name’s not on the lease but there’s always a place for him there. if he’s not there, he’s couch surfing all around portland.

has a three year old greyhound named mona lisa (mona for short). she pretty much goes where ever max goes. she is a very, very well behaved dog and a huge sweetheart who will cuddle up against most anyone. max has had her ever since she was a little pup. she can commonly be found taking a nap all sprawled out on the floor.

max works as the store manager for a record shop named ‘blank street records’. he’s worked there for roughly ten years now. it’s a chill place with hardly any rules, so naturally max thrives there. he’s by no means the owner of the shop, but the actual owner trusts him simply for his taste in music. if he hasn’t been fired by now, there’s hardly a chance he ever will be.

his parents are divorced, and he was an only child until his dad got remarried and started a new family. now he has two younger sisters, of which he’s respectively thirteen and fifteen years older than.

has an opinion on everything. but feels more passionately towards the things that, in the grand scheme of things, really don’t matter.

name any drug and he’s done it at least once. again, this man does not treat his body like a temple by any means. and honestly? it’s a miracle he’s not dead.

reads a lot of really strange, really obscure books that no one can relate to. the stranger the better.

he’s got a plethora of really weird and out-there connections--all with their own very drawn out and complicated origin stories that he’s all too eager to tell anyone who asks. that being said, he’s a big time story teller who knows how to talk and talk and talk for hours on end if someone doesn’t stop him.

mainly skates/takes public transport everywhere he goes. but he DOES have a car. he’s just... better off not driving it. the registration’s been expired for over a year and it’s a massive piece of shit.

#portbayintro #// reposting this to refresh everyone + introduce max to those who haven't met him yet!! (:#about

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thenyouturnedbitch · 6 years

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Ice Cream Love (Billy Hargrove x Reader)

A/N: Oof this was a request from a WHILE AGO that I just finished.

Warnings: Cursing?

Word Count: 1.5k

Parings: Steve Harrington x reader (platonic), The party x reader (platonic), Billy Hargrove x reader (romantic)

This isn't what you thought your Friday night was going to be like when Steve asked if you wanted to hang out. There was another low growl coming from outside the bus you barricaded in the junkyard. You thought you guys would take the party to the arcade or something when Steve showed up at your house with Dustin, Lucas and the new addition Max. A loud thud was heard as one of those things jumped on the roof of the bus, you grabbed Steve's baseball bat with nails in it.

"I'm not going to just sit here while we are trapped, I wanna do something." You say to Steve.

"It's too dangerous (y/n), I can't let you do that if anything I should go." Steve retorts

"Because I'm a girl I can't handle myself against some interdimensional Dog lizards?"

"Demadogs." Dustin calls from the back of the bus.

"No, that's not why, (y/n), I got you stuck in all of this I should be the one to get us out."

"Steve there are too many of them for you to be out their on your own let me go with you."

You can see the dilemma in Steve's eyes, you two had been best friends since you were born, Steve being older buy twelve hours. You give him pouty eyes because you know he will never say no to you with those eyes.

"God, fine (y/n) you know that's cheating. I suppose you can help." Steve says reluctantly.

You find a metal rod looking object on the bus to defend yourself with and give Steve back his bat. You look at the three kids in the back of the bus and head back there to check on them. You see Max holding onto Lucas' hand and Dustin sitting across from them, as soon as you sit next to Dustin he clings onto you.

"Dustin, everything is going to be fine."

"I know, I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll be fine, I can defend myself pretty well."

You hug the younger boy and look at Lucas and Max. "Are you two doing okay?"

"I'm fine, it's all kinda exciting, in a terrifying horror movie way," Max says.

You smile and wait for Lucas' response "How about you Lucas?"

"I don't know how to feel, last time this happened we had El. I just wish she was here to help us now."

"I know you miss her Lucas, we all do." You pull Max and Lucas into a hug with Dustin.

"(y/n), if you're going to help come help." Steve says.

You and Steve sit in the front of the bus planning how you're going to approach the Demadogs when you hear a high pitched howling noise that captures their attention and leads them away from the junkyard.

"Where are they going?" Dustin asks looking out the bus window.

"I have no idea but wherever it is it can't be good," Steve says with a shaky voice.

At that moment Lucas' walkie-talkie goes off and Mike's voice rings out "Lucas, We're going to Will's house can you and Dustin meet us there."

Lucas runs to grab the device "Of course Mike, we may have an extra few people with us though."

"Whatever dude just get your ass over here now." You hear an aggravated Hopper in the background "Language kid." The five of you run to Steve's car and heads to the Byers' house.

That was the night that you met Billy Hargrove, Max's stepbrother. You weren't a fan of how he acted but when the party took Billy's car to save Will you decided to stay behind and watch him. You were sitting on the Byers' couch when he came to and he sat up groaning and holding his head.

"Who the fuck are you? Where the fuck am I?" Billy groans. You hand him a glass of water.

"I'm in charge of watching you. You're not allowed to go anywhere without my permission." You try to say sternly but your nerves get the best of you so it just sounds like you're a five-year-old scolding their parent.

"And what are you going to do if I just le- where the fuck are my car keys?" Billy asks.

"Doesn't matter you're not leaving anyway."

He looks out the window "Follow up question; where the fuck is my car?"

"It is tied up at the moment."

"That didn't answer my question. Where the fuck is it?" He yells the last word and you flinch visibly.

"You need to calm down because yelling at me isn't going to fix anything." You sit him down on the couch and explain everything to him.

"I must be on an acid trip right now, no that would be enjoyable, this is an actual hell."

"This isn't how I would like to be spending my Friday night either, believe me. I would much rather be at home reading or watching a movie." You sigh and lean on the arm of the Byers' couch propping your head on your arm. You look at Billy out of the corner of your eye and saw him look away from you. For the first time, you actually looked at him and took in his appearance and understood why half the female population of Hawkins was drooling over him. He wasn't that bad looking his perfect blonde hair and his bewitching blue eyes, they suited his tall, tan frame.

"Are you done checking me out yet?" He asks with a smirk on his lips.

You blush and look away "I wasn't checking you out."

"I think you were."

"So what if I was?" You say indignantly. "You don't care when anyone else does it."

That night things spiraled out of control for Billy, he had never planned to fall in love with you. He had, of course, his King Billy persona to protect and he knew adding you into the mix would not be good for either of you but he couldn't help wanting to know how you felt so that's why he asked you out for ice cream a few months later.

For some reason when Billy called and asked if you wanted to go get ice cream with him you started panicking and going through your entire closet looking for something. You flop on your bed and groan looking up at the ceiling 'What am I so nervous for he just invited us to go get ice cream. It's not like he's going to get on his knee and propose.'. You throw on some clothes that seem semi-decent and head down to the ice cream parlor in Hawkins.

The bell on the door rings as you open the door and Billy turns around and smiles at you with two ice cream cones in his hand.

"Awe, you got me one already? That's so sweet."

"Bold of you to assume that I wasn't planning on eating both of these." He says chuckling and handing you one.

"Thanks, Billy." You two go sit outside on a bench outside the parlor. You two sit in silence and you bite your lip trying to find a way to break the silence but can't think of a way that is embarrassing for you. Thankfully Billy speaks up first.

"I think I like you."

"You think?"

"Yeah, No, I know I like you but I don't want to make this awkward between us if you don't like me so I said 'I think'.".

"Oh,"

"Yeah"

The two of you slip into an awkward silence again, you look at Billy from the corner of your eye. You could see his eyes getting glossy and him clenching and unclenching his jaw, a tell-tale sign he was going to cry. Being small had its advantages, you slip under his arm to give him a hug and rest your head on his chest.

" I think I like you too, Billy"

"You're not fucking with me are you?"

"Why would I?"

"This could be a joke."

"Billy, I have no intention of tricking you. I seriously do like you, how could I not? You're so smart even though you pretend that you're not, you're funny and caring, you try to protect Max as much as you can from Neil. You're amazing Billy and I love you." You feel the tears prick your eyes as you're talking. Billy leans down and kisses you softly and pulls back quickly.

"I'm sorry, that was too soon."

You kiss him this time to reassure him. "Billy, it's fine you aren't going to ruin me."

"I might"

"You're not." You shove your ice cream in his face and get up off the bench and run through the parking lot to lift the mood. You don't get very far before Billy wraps his arms around your waist and spins you around.

You press your lips to his thinking to yourself 'there is no place I'd rather be than here in his arms'.

Tag list: @strangerstuffandthingsimagines, @writing-hargrove, @maceyismissing

#Billy Hargrove #billy hargrove au #billy hargrove headcanons #billy hargrove imagine #hargrove x reader #then you turned bitch #stranger things #stranger things 2 #stranger things preference #stranger things imagine #stranger things 3 #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington headcanons #jonathan byers #jonathan byers imagine #jonathan byers x reader #jonathan byers headcanon

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obwcmp · 5 years

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Year 2 Semester 1

It’s only the end of week 3 and already so much has happened. Scrap that it’s now the end of week 6! It’s been a super busy first half of semester and there’s still heaps of stuff left to do.

And now it’s the end of week 9, after the mid semester break. So, let’s get to it!

At long last, welcome to the end of week 12. The end of the semester. From today I have one more week of work left before the super long mid year break. This has turned into a semester look back post after 9 weeks of keeping it in my drafts. So, let’s get to it!

My four courses for this semester consist of three compulsory, core CMP classes, and a single elective. I picked a first year course, Visualisation for Media Production (VIS) as my elective, and then Cross Media Production (CMD), Working with Scripted Material (SCR), and Portfolio and Dissemination (PRT).

VIS is interesting for a first year course. To make a good end product requires as much work as a second year course if not more. Of course, given that it is a first year course, it allows for students to make something which isn’t necessarily incredible. Take last years animations as an example (something i never got to show on this blog, sadly).

We have two main parts of our final hand in at the end of the semester. The first is to create a character concept through mixing two different story worlds and having the resulting character make sense within one of the worlds. So in my case, i took Piglet from 100 Acre Wood, and created a character which had the essence of Piglet, but made sense in the world of Mad Max. We had a selection of different worlds to choose from, and i thought that combination would be funny.

The end goal with the character part of the assignment is to show our developments and a final rendered character drawing, alongside a prop and a vehicle. It was supposed to be done by the end of Week 7, and here we are 4 weeks later with it still not done. Fun!

So many moodboards...

A small slice of the development stage, these are a bunch of silhouettes for various characters I made up. Of this selection (we were aiming for 50 initial silhouettes) we had to pick three which were based on the same character and then develop 30 more from those three, but this time we were fleshing out the inner details. I’m up to this stage now.

Currently my character is based on Piglet, who used to be a circus performer before dropping out and joining forces with bandits. A master of playing the fool without being overly conscious of it, while always hiding their true identity behind a mask. They still have their circus shoes, but they’ve been modified over the years to be more combat ready. A long coat to protect from dust, the usual cargo pants seen in Fury Road, and a pig mask, the details of which i’m still fleshing out. As for the prop and vehicle, i’m thinking of a gliding flying machine (given piglet seems to always be carried away by the wind) and their prop is a spear with a spinning ring of chainsaws in the shape of a flower at the end.

My work so far, the two lower right side ones are the ones i’m going with despite their lower bar of detail.

The second part of the assignment it to take a scene from a selection of different movies, and break it down shot by shot into a storyboard, including rough and final storyboards, and then turning the finals into an animatic. It’s definitely the easier part of the assignment, at least from my point of view. I’ve picked the scene from Mad Max 2 when Max meets the gyrocopter pilot for the first time.

The rough storyboard of the scene. I’m yet to go through and create a clean looking, multi layer final version which can then be translated into an animatic.

Next on the list of courses is Cross Media! It’s an interesting course in that it’s almost a taste of what’s to come in third year. We were given a brief, “Don’t mind the generation gap” where we were tasked to make a cross media narrative that plays upon, goes against, or has something to say on generational differences and stereotypes. Being that the project is cross media, we have been tasked with using two different mediums to tell the same story, and as an extra challenge we also have to take into consideration a narrative requirement between being location based, time based, or data driven.

I had an idea which I really liked but was hastily written and had role descriptions which I think scared people off. The mediums consisted of a game, a sculpture, and was location based. The game was a web based point and click adventure game which utilised real photos taken around Wellington, which were then manipulated to add certain elements, particularly puzzles (this part of the idea was blatantly ripped off an idea Marie had where we would use a 360º camera to take pictures and create a point and click game with that (think geoguessr, or Myst III as opposed to Riven)). In the game you would be able to go to the location where my location based sculpture would be set up. The sculpture in this case is an interactive computer terminal which tells the same story in a different way. Completing the story the terminal tells, and also taking into account clues placed around the terminal allows for the ‘true’ ending to be unlocked in the point and click game. Along with this, the location in the game and the actual physical location have many differences, and it takes you to see both to see the differences (for instance, the hints around the terminal can only be found in the physical game, and are only hinted at in the web based game)).

My roles included wanting to use Unreal Engine 4, amongst other things, so that idea flopped. I ended up joining groups with Paris who had an AR game crossed with a location based ‘book’ in the form of a poster campaign on public transport. Along with Paris and I joined Clara, Kennedy, Grace, and Jacob. We called ourselves Paris’ Little Bitches, and got going! The whole project has developed fairly far since the initial concept was laid down. Originally, we were going to locate the posters on public transport but the lecturer Birgit was quick to point out that from an access standpoint that was far from ideal. Currently we are thinking of hosting the posters in malls, and public places where there is a wide range of audiences passing through.

In week 11 we had our demo for the project in class 1D04 which was fun! We printed hand outs and had our game functioning at a very basic stage on a couple of different computers. Our moderators, Bridget and Kerry Ann from the school of music and school of design respectively, seemed to like what we had done which was a relief.

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A laggy screen capture of the basic button functionality which works with AR, i’ll have a final version available on my portfolio after 7JUN

Next on the list is Working with Scripted Material. This course has been fun as we’ve had a lot of creative wiggle room to do what we want, but at the same time we get a slice of how harsh things like money and time can be on creativity. A good reality check in other words. Back in week 1 we were given a triptych to use as a “story starter” so we used these three images, which had some basic dialogue and set pieces, and created a story from them. My idea didn’t get picked, it was ridiculously ambitious as are most of my projects, and instead I joined Hunter’s idea which involved Lovecraftian horror/thriller type stuff but set in New Zealand.

Thus In The Harbour Troubled Waters was born. Jonathan, our tutor, couldn’t stand the old name. In our group we had Morgan as director, Hunter as producer, Paris as writer, Ebeney as production designer, Tim as script consultant and editor, and me on marketing.

A very low resolution screenshot of a poster Morgan made for the final hand in.

Our project, at least in our eyes, got the most criticism from Jonathan which was honestly super helpful. We’ve come out with a pretty solid concept to hand in, and along with that he likes our script. What a relief!

Lastly from my selection of courses is Portfolio and Dissemination! This course has been such a good kick in the arse to get myself to make my portfolio which for most of last year was just a handful of .html files sitting around in my project folders. Something else amusing about PRT is that this blog became part of my assessment! Not intentional at all but an added bonus. As a result the navigation on this blog has been cleaned up, and there’s now a link to my portfolio at the top of the page! I’m thinking of adding social media links here too.

A sneak peek at my homepage. My portfolio is at obw.neocities.org!

The first half of the course just had us working on our portfolios and looking into what makes a portfolio good. I had a very good conversation with our lecturer and tutor, Sim, about our thoughts on what makes a portfolio stand out and how that is changing over time. Sim really wanted us to tell our story as a creator, and show progression and growth, whereas I was more of the understanding that only showing your absolute best in a compact and punchy portfolio was the way to go.

I mostly stuck to my guns with what I showed in my portfolio, for example my ridiculous VFX reel which is less than a minute long:

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I’m not kidding!

Sim and my friends liked it though so i’m happy.

Our second part of the course was interesting, as we had to plan an event which could be used to promote our portfolios through. Josh came up with an idea for a game jam type arrangement where participants would bring in their own assets which were then added to a pool which all the rest of the participants could pull from to create pretty much anything, not just a game.

Thus, Multi Asset Slam House or MASH was born.

Bright pink, glitchy marketing was the path we took with this

We presented our idea earlier this week (week 12) and people seemed to really like it, including Matthew who is the course coordinator for some of the film courses in CMP which is yet another relief as he is very critical with his feedback.

That about sums it up for my courses! Along with this stuff I got close to starting a club with some friends, went to Global Game Jam in Wellington back in January, Massey Digital’s attendance grew exponentially. Expect another post soon with those events and what’s to come in the near future.

#Y2 #Y2S1 #VIS #SCR #CMD #PRT

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