#oh and while we're on the topic of explosions

[sockeyesoren]

I used to always wonder what my special interests were and looking for a specific definition, but tbh it's my autism my rules and if you can't mention anything history related without me going on an absolute tangent then I think it's safe to say that's a special interest no???

[erinwantstowrite]

bear with me here because i'm gonna ramble about something i've been thinking about for a while... and i'm not complaining, i'm just noticing

sometimes i think we've leaned so far into the vigilante side of the batfam that we miss out on what really makes their characters: detective work. we need more mysteries in their lives that don't lead up to some big bad "we already know who's doing it" or an "end of the world" or "yet again: this fucking guy." we need more stuff where spy movie music plays in the background and dumb adventures that don't lead up to some huge grand event with a big name villain. the shock factor stops being shocking or interesting in any capacity if we're like "Gah! the Joker! ... Again!" or whatever

does that even make sense? like "yeah sure they're blowing up a building again and there's hostages. oh look they're gonna poison the water supply." these aren't bad and that's not what i'm getting at because obviously this is a classic for comics. you need to have characters/antagonists that show up more than once and who can make a story better by being in it. and i did say to bear with me- that's because im tired. so like i hope im getting this across the right way? it's just that sometimes i don't wanna see a huge explosion, i want these motherfuckers solving a regular murder or a disappearance or regular corruption in a local office without it being tied to a grand reveal like "actually this person knows you as a long lost relative" or "they were at that circus can you guess which night they went?" that kind of thing? if you get me? like... more of the small time stuff makes the big stuff important, it makes it stand out more. at some point, the format gets repetitive even if you're switching up the villains. you can make these situations/mysteries still fun to solve for the characters and fun to read for the audience if you do it right

the concept of a detective dressed as a bat and having a sidekick in traffic light colors is inherently goofy as hell??? but that is what is so charming about it??? i think we have lost the balance between them being silly while also being intelligent with important conversations that criticize the world as we see it and teach lessons and can go over dark topics. nowadays it's always end of the world problems or just straight up the most gruesome true crime you can think of?? or they can ONLY do the dark stuff and the criticism without offering a balance of the good in the world. or we keep coming back to the FUCKING JOKER-

like yes they are vigilantes and with that comes a different level of their work, but their brand should be a mix between a black and white detective film that can get very nitty gritty and a classic spy movie, that kind of thing. at the end of the day, it's what makes them so different from the superheroes. that's what appeals to me.

seeing them in the big superhero groups is fun, don't get me wrong. it's always funny to see them standing next to people who are so powerful they never really fit in with anyone but each other, who chose to step up and use their powers for good. the Bats' specialty is Gotham and yet here they are stopping a god or whatever. and they do stop the god or whatever, all the while being an important leader and strategist to their teammates. they're important to have in these cases. but if there's a world ending event every time i pick something up, it's not as fun

the fact that they are so very human and not fantastical is why i like reading them. it's what makes the joke of people, even Gotham citizens, theorizing about them being cryptids, funny. they're fucking weird but that's because they're detectives. people who love to solve mysteries usually have a fatal flaw of curiosity. they forget the bounds between social interactions sometimes because they're used to working through problems or being intertwined with partners that understand them. but they're very much human. so human that it hurts them in many ways. and idk i've just been thinking about it lately and idk what point i'm trying to get across actually

it's just that in my eyes that's how it really is for Batman- a black and white movie narrated by a very serious man who took up a job to help people, one that has a deeper commentary on the world and viewed outwardly as pessimistic but actually has a deep hope for his city and who tries to help even the people who have wronged others. He's a stationary man in the belief that him being a constant can serve to soothe others and help them move forward. He stays in the middle of the path so he can tell everyone what is up ahead. he blends into the Gotham rainy night to serve justice but in a way that saves both the victim and the perpetrator. (the way he tucks a Robin into his cape is the same he does for Gotham with his mere presence.) and his background is actually so important to his story and yet people still somehow gloss over the lesson from it? he lost his parents because of a man who was on the opposite end of the spectrum to where he was in life. and yet he chose to help the people like the man that killed his parents. he could have done anything else with his power and money, but he instead is choosing to bring as many people up with him as he can. He's Mr. Serious that no one else can get a read on. and yet he walks into a room and he's already piecing together your life and what you're going through because he thinks it matters. he comforts people who have lost something or someone or themselves. I picture Batman and I don't picture a man trying to save the world, I picture a detective walking around a crime scene and trying to save at least one person every time he puts on the cape. and he put on the cape and became a vigilante because then he could go out of the bounds of what laws have been set up- and specifically, Gotham has other people in power who are corrupt, keeping the system that way. that's why Batman being a billionare and throwing himself into helping people at the risk of his own life is so important. he knows that if you are alive, you have something or someone to lose, no matter who you are. the dude is a bleeding heart but he doesn't know how to express it, in fear that if he gets too close, if he moves down the path with them, he'll be lost again

and then he's met with someone who should be a complete opposite, but isn't at all, because they're two sides of the same coin. his partner in crime, his son, a boy that is nothing like the black and white world that he sees. and that's the point in his life where he first sees that potentially getting lost is worth the risk. Robin is color and passion that needs guidance to move forward, but can not do so unless the stationary man learns to move with him. the kid is loud and reckless and you'd think he's from a different genre from the detective but they aren't so different, really. not when you look close enough. Dick grew up moving from place to place and seeing the world, knowing so many different people from different cultures. He's been learning to fly and jump and embrace the free fall his entire life. He's clever and he's sharp, and he thrives in the action and adventure. it's that perspective that compliments the stationary man. one is steady and the other pushes. he's the same genre but a different generation. and Batman introducing him to the way of life he chose for himself was another way he could save someone. because let's be real for a second? Dick would have gone down a very dark path had he not had Bruce, who understood, who saw not just himself in the kid but also saw who the kid has been his entire life until now. he saw Dick's parents, he saw the family he had in the circus, he saw the joy he had in what his family was doing. he saw the grief and the fire and the color that Dick's world was made of. because to Bruce, it always matters. Dick had to come to terms with Bruce's perspective to help anyone who they come across, to always give more chances, and it kept Dick from losing his color

what gets me is that the man who lives in the black and white world can actually see many different shades of gray (because black and white always needs the medium), whereas the boy in a world of color and light can get so focused on the bright that he can become single minded. and yet the boy sees a world of color and delves deeper into the lives of the peolle they come across and can be much more open minded, and the man in the black and white world sometimes forgets the shades of grey are right there. they are just like each other. they can exist without the other, but do they want to? because the black and white can be built up into the colored image, like the inking and shadows drawn on a comic book page before the colors are added in. they meet in the middle to complete each other. Bruce has been passing the story over to the next generation for a long, long time, even before his story was complete. and just like with the first Robin, it was so for every Robin afterwards. they each color in the lines differently, but that's what makes Robin so special, so unique. they are an art style that branches into their own life, but can not forget where they started: tucked into Batman's cape and the inky black of his world

and so detective work really frames their hunanity to me. the mysteries they get their hands on, the glimpses into the lives of Gotham citizens that they swore to protect, it's fascinating. it's what makes their story stand out compared to the people who can lift trucks or cast spells or run around the world in seconds. so yeah ig that's what i'm trying to say? that i want to read more of that? in both canon and fanon. cause even the small time villains we see can be like. AWFUL people and it takes out the fun of their gimmicks. and if it were any other day this would be a more coherent post but alas, it is not any other day

[moonfang256]

My thoughts about Deltarune, Chapters 3 & 4 (Part 2)

For the context, see the first post:

https://moonfang256.tumblr.com/post/785929128021000192/my-thoughts-about-chapters-3-4-part-1

--------

Before continuing, let's talk about the weather couple subplot:

❤️ <( Man, this brought back memories of one of the long distance relationships I had with someone that didn't work out:

The guy wanted to maintain a good reputation online and didn't want to deal with my past issues. I somewhat overwhelmed him because I didn't know how to control my freakness, my explosive emotions and feelings back then, and no matter how hard he tried to comfort me, there was no way. He simply got tired and gave up, didn't want to see me anymore, we argued a couple of times, we broke up peacefully, and then I ended pretty devastated for it. That's why I can't love romantically anymore...

This also reminded me that Toriel and Asgore's relationship is too far beyond to be repaired. It's sad, really, but it can't be helped…

Back to the topic: I chose Elnina's attacks because I really like the rain at times and obviously her idiot boyfriend got upset, so they had a fight and he left. Then they tried to reconcile peacefully and this degenerate bastard came in to do his nonsense.

❤️ <(No, seriously, the heck is wrong with this guy?! The weather couple won't be able to shake off this trauma for a while…

Also what happened with Spamton…

❤️ <( Despite how he scammed us in the previous chapter, I genuinely asked "Are you okay…?" and then Spamton came back like "Yeah, we're not talking about this anymore, carry on..."

Well, back to what's relevant, I picked up the egg and finally reached the final stretch.

❤️ <(It was here when, after the fight and stuff, I realized the horrible degree of depression Tenna had, and even though he wanted to have a good time with everyone, he was simply overshadowed by the family fights, losses, and everything related to the Dreemurr and the Holidays. The dude you just wanted to being watch and have fun with the families again, but it won't happen anymore...

❤️ <( Damn, that was so messed up and true at the same time...

Over time, as we grow up, we leave many things behind and no longer do the same things we used to do with those objects, so we end up keeping them, selling them, or giving them to someone to do something else with them...

It's like in Toy Story when Andy grows up and leaves his toys with Bonnie… pretty sad, but nothing can be done…

❤️ <(And when Susie started talking I got pretty emotional…

❤️ <(It was like, "Oh sister, I feel you... I've been in that horrible situation too, and I can tell it literally sucks a lot".

Seriously, let me show you something I wrote in a past post about what my past was like…

❤️ <( But unlike Susie, I was... and I am now a little more like Kris.

❤️ <( Or rather... I'm a combination of Kris and Susie, with a touch of Noelle in between. That's why I empathize and understand what these children are going through.

These wounds aren't easy to heal…

Sad feelings aside, what happened next left me speechless:

❤️ <( It was here that I scream "DESS!!!"

It's definitely her because she was crying, she has a giant bat that can turn into a katana, and when her theme song comes in it sounds like someone playing an electric guitar.

She was always the "Roaring Knight"

❤️ <( I don't know what happened to her, but it seems she was completely consumed by the darkness and lost control over it.

You know the craziest part? A year ago, I had a dream about her where she was corrupted by something and was getting close to me.

❤️ <( What a terrible coincidence that what I dreamed of has become a reality here, don't you think? If you want to know more about this dream, I'll leave the link here:

https://moonfang256.tumblr.com/post/761200370618941440/dreams-about-deltarune-part-7

This battle was very difficult because I needed to get the Shadow Crystal, but I died and reloaded the game so many times until I couldn't take it anymore and pulled the Kris's move of "cheating the game by increasing the defense and HP stats " to get through her.

Once it was over, I watched as she hit the kids and Kris just got on their knees and didn't do anything to stop her.

❤️ <( Honestly, what else could they've done? This is about Dess, and one of the times I was defeated, when I ordered Kris to perform a second act, they smiled...

❤️ <( I'm not sure if they were smiling at Dess or at me, like saying: "You can't do anything, it's out of your control", or if they were just really excited about having this fight, pretending or accepting the fact that there's not much they can do here, but it was weird...

Then Undyne came to help, but she was immediately kidnapped and it all ended with this shelter.

❤️ <( Kris already knew the code, which is why they opened the door, but I'll talk more about it in the next post.

--------

For now I'll leave this part as it is, we're done with Chapter 3.

[marimayscarlett]

After going through their answers in this questionnaire and a few others - I don't know why everyone thinks Richard is the one when Paul is the absolute edge lord!

Hi 👋

(Older ask regarding this interview.)

While I would not call Paul an 'edge lord', I do get what you mean. Paul can be, just like Richard, very honest and open in interviews, but his approach is sometimes less diplomatic - really quite direct, casual, and straight from the heart. Very much "Berliner Schnauze", you could say 😄

Some examples I found of Paul being...well, Paul:

Some quotes from this fan-interview:

Question: Do you think you'll be on stage again when you'll be 60? (like rolling stones for example...) Paul: Hopefully somebody will die first. Then we won't have to worry about that.

Question: I really liked Keine Lust video, whose was the idea that you were fat? Paul: It was Schneider's idea. Inside the suits it was really hot. Thankfully, the warehouse was really cold. The whole crew had to freeze but we sweated like pigs. The fat make-up took around 4 hours. But it was still a lot of fun. Most of all, when we had to piss. But I won't tell any more details on that.

Question: Should you ever consider to bring another musicians on stage during concerts like a trumpet player or so? Paul: Six is more than enough. If you ever see us with backing singers, bongo players and horn section, please shoot me!

Question: Aren't you afraid of falling into a deep black hole after the band's intensive life together at the end of the tour? Paul: Wipe your ass and change your diaper, then you'll feel at home again. On tour you have a kind of royal life, it spoils the character. We're fighting to keep from going insane. But sometimes I enjoy not having to do the dishes or take out the garbage. The food is introduced to me orally, I hardly need to chew anymore...(Metal Hammer)

On the topic of 'explosives': Paul: Our downfall, essentially, was that we knew a guy who could get his hands on explosives illegally. He would always supply us with explosives, and so we started blowing things up. It began with a fish we bought from a store, just to see how it would blow up. We’d wrap the explosives in a film canister and then blow up everything we could find. That was really our downfall—once you start blowing things up, you just have to keep going. (Radio Fritz)

Just this one here (from this post by lovely @tinnike):

At the MTV European Music Awards 2007: Markus Kavka: You’re having a completely relaxed evening tonight, which doesn’t happen often for this band—neither nominated nor performing. A whole new situation for you. How will you handle it?Paul: We’re going to get drunk! Markus: Oh, so you haven’t done that before? Paul: Oh, we have.

On finding new topics for lyrics (ZDF documentary): Paul: People always think we sit there like: Hmm, we’ve done incest already, hmm… sex between siblings, yeah, we’ve had that too, hmm… with dogs? Nah, Die Ärzte already did that. Alright, we don’t need it…

But I guess every band needs a very outspoken and open person, and I think Paul is fulfilling this role perfectly 😅

[jessicas-pi]

I love a good au 😏

Obviously my characters will be Sabine and Ezra because they take up a permanent residence in my brain.

AU- Ezra is assigned to be Sabine’s Jedi bodyguard since she is next in line for Clan Wren and another clan is attempting assassination. But oh no they catch feelings for each other 😊😏

OOOH DELECTABLE

--

"Aren't you supposed to be taking care of me?" Sabine asked, a half-smile on her face.

Ezra winced as she wound the bandage around his shoulder. "I was taking care of you."

"Really? Because it sure looked like I took those guys out with your weapon while you bled on the ground."

"Well, you didn't warn me about the evil wrist bombs, so that's on you."

Sabine stopped wrapping the bandage. "Evil wrist bombs?"

Ezra held up his good arm like he had a bracer on it and was about to fire something, and mimicked the sound those things had made when they launched.

She snorted abruptly and finished binding up his shoulder, fastening the end of the bandage. "Those are whistling birds, Ezra."

"Well, they're evil, they're explosive, and they came from that guy's wrist, so I stand by my statement."

"Yeah, yeah." Sabine sat back on her haunches, clasping her hands loosely between her knees. She held his gaze for a second, and her tone became softer. "You gonna be okay?"

He looked away, staring at his boots, because it felt a little dangerous to look into her eyes right now.

"I'll be fine." He sighed, then forced himself to grin. Joking around with her was the only way to keep himself from thinking---to keep his mind from wandering to places it had no right to go. "Just, warn me next time, before I try to use my lightsaber to deflect a bomb."

"Deal." She paused for a moment, and then held up his lightsaber. "Hey, while we're on the topic, can I keep this?"

"Absolutely not."

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

The Virtues of Amsterdam

On the topic of John and Brian's relationship and the buildup to the Barcelona trip, a passage from the book The Rocking City: The Explosive Birth of the Beatles was brought to my attention, which I found interesting so I wanna post it here and talk a bit about it.

Background: Sam Leach was a promoter in the early 60s, and put on many shows for the Beatles, whom he met after they returned from their first Hamburg residence. In 1999 he published a book chronicling his connection with the band.

The author situates the following passage, found on p. 159 here, in early 1962, after an evening of pub crawling with Sam, John, Paul (who by this point has gone home), and Brian.

Brian was doing the driving that night, so didn't have too much to drink. About four in the morning, he dropped me at my house and I invited him and John in for a coffee. The Beatles had no bookings that weekend and as we sat around the kitchen table, Brian was trying to persuade John to go with him on a short break to Amstendam. In those days, few of us knew much about homosexuality and I thought it was a good idea for John to go. 'The break will do you good, John, I said, casually, to which he gave me a short, sharp kick to the shins under the table. Looking at his bleary eyes, I figured he was well tanked up and ignored him. Brian continued to extol the virtues of Amsterdan and again I said John should go and enjoy himself. This time his kick drew blood and I glared at him angrily. At that moment, Brian excused himself and went to use the toilet. Once he was out of the room, I reached across the table and grabbed John by the collar, hissing, 'What are you playing at?' He doubled up with laughter and gasped. 'You bloody fool! Can't you see he's after me?' If anyone ever had a blank expression on their face, I did then. My befuddled brain struggled to grasp his meaning. Well, it was 1962! Nevertheless, I nodded sagely. 'Oh… I see.' When Brian returned, I got John out of the situation by reminding him of a forthcoming party. 'I was forgetting Rory's getting engaged on Saturday. We're all invited, so I'm afraid Amsterdam is out.' Lennon's reply didn't help. 'Is Rory getting engaged again?' Clearly disappointed, Brian dropped the subject. At Rory's 'engagement' party, I collared John and asked him what he'd meant by Brian being 'after him'. Hooting with laughter, Lennon told the gathering what had happened and everyone had a good laugh at my expense. The next time I took my Tower publicity material to NEMS, it was an embarrassed Brian who asked if John had said anything about him. His relief was obvious when I lied. No. Why should he?'

My anon was implying that the above passage demonstrates Brian putting pressure on John early on in their relationship, when the power was more tipped in Brian's favour.

While I agree that before securing a recording contract John's position was more precarious and Brian was arguably the more powerful one out of the two (though John was already enjoying a decent amount of local fame by this point), I feel this passage actually shows that*, even when John was in an objectively less powerful position than the one he was in by April 1963, he seemingly had no qualms ignoring Brian's invitation, since he never did accompany him to Amsterdam. This would indicate that when he accepted a similar invitation a year later, it was not because he felt it would be career-ending to turn Brian down.

Now, does that mean John definitely went to Barcelona because he was nothing but enthusiastic about the prospect of alone time with Brian? Not necessarily! The account he provided Pete Shotton about his sexual encounter with Brian might suggest that John was more relenting to Brian's apparently endless advances, rather than eagerly consenting ("Eppy just kept on and on at me."). Of course, both Pete in his book and John within this anecdote have an incentive to play down any genuine interest John may have had, but there's certainly a plausible version of events here where maybe Brian does not take no for an answer and spends possibly over a year propositioning John until he finally acquiesces. While this scenario certainly doesn't put Brian in the most flattering light, it's very different from the idea that Brian directly harnessed his position as John's manager to coerce him into sex.

Personally, I'd say the above passage from Leach's book makes it seem like John found all of this mostly amusing, at least by this point in time. It could definitely have eventually stopped being fun to him, but I also think it's very possible that John was consistently giving Brian mixed signals and perhaps quite deliberately keeping him hanging.

*I'm taking the passage from Leach's book at face value here, but I think it would be fair to question whether the author was (perhaps entirely subconsciously!) informed by the Barcelona story and misremembered some details here. I do think this is based on a real memory, but it should never be forgotten that a lot of Beatle anecdotes have been heavily influenced by narratives.

[kimberlyannharts]

So I may have been slightly hyped for this book the past few months

For the three of you who haven't heard about this, MMPR: The Return is a story set in the future of an alternate universe of the MMPRs; one where Jason, Zack, and Trini didn't give up their powers upon the eve of the Peace Conference, and thus the team stayed together even after high school. But fast forward twenty-two years later, and the team has broken up due to some sort of tragedy - we know from the Re-Imagine prologue in the 30 Year Anniversary book, Zordon and Alpha were destroyed by Zedd and Rita. But other stuff seems to have happened too. What is that stuff? I guess we're about to find out!

Oh, and I should mention this was written by the original Pink Ranger herself, Amy Jo Johnson. (and her partner, Matt Hotson.) That might be important to know.

It's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return #1!

= Three pages in and Jason's already getting his ass kicked. You're forty-five years old, man, you should be at the club

= I know this was debated a bit when the book was announced - how it would line up with Thuy and JDF's passings, especially after coming off the heels of Once and Always, where the focal point was Trini's daughter taking up her powers after Trini's death. (For what it's worth, this book was first conceived pre-pandemic, long before OaA. Making comics takes a long time.) And while Tommy is still a bit up in the air (despite what we'll see in a few pages) Trini does seem to have definitively passed due to illness.

While I definitely get the frustration of Thuy's passing essentially sealing Trini's fate - especially in a comic book, where you don't have to worry about actor restrictions - I'm a little more generous towards it here because Amy and Thuy were close friends and she actually dealt with her death personally compared to how the OaA writers, well......didn't. And this issue is clearly paralleling Kimberly's motivations and feelings to Amy's real-life ones, so this just feels like another part of that.

(Also to contrast OaA's handling of Trini - a) her passing here isn't caused by a graphic onscreen explosion, proving the whole "well they HAD to show it onscreen for more impact!!!" was bullshit b) her friends AND THE WIDER COMMUNITY are actually grieving and talking about her impact on everyone as well as using the non-actor-restriction to SHOW it and c) The book actually gives her a JOB. TWO jobs!!!!!!! Yeah OaA why the fuck did you send ZACK to Congress WHEN IT CLEARLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN TRINI

also I like her middle-aged design. prettyyyyyy)

= onto lighter topics HEYYYY IT'S THESE GUYS!! Bulk and Skull are married and you just can't see the ring through Bulk's gloves, it's real and true

= speaking of which this whole flashback is adorable and nostalgic but I want to point out some background details

= Ernie is just trying to run a fucking business here

= go white boy go

= ZACK/KIM HAS FINALLY COME BACK TO ME MY FUCKING BELOVEDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God, when WAS the last time they actually talked one-on-one in the main series

= FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

= so along with some other stuff I'm definitely taking this as foreshadowing that Trini wasn't cut off from Kim like the boys were. That's the power of WOMEN (and also if we get Aunt Trini flashbacks with Olivia I'll fucking CRYYYYYY)

= Absolutely obsessed with Billy's face here

= D:

= So besides the Trini stuff I want to the keep the Once and Always comparisons to a minimum but it's very funny how both storylines involve Billy using a company as a front for his embezzlement schemes. At least his telecom company PROBABLY isn't war profiteering

= also Alpha's rose <3

= so anyway Jason's gone rogue and was pretending he's the main character until he suddenly went missing, as shown in the first few pages. And Billy and Zack want to become Rangers again to try and find him.

= but the thing is guys, Kim has won the idgaf war. She's depressed, she's traumatized, she spent twenty-two years raising a child with Tommy's genes all by herself, she's tired. She does NOT want to be wrapped up in Jason's midlife crisis drama

= Zack getting so mad and wanting to risk it all for Jason hell yeah those are my Jason/Zack crumbs

= Mysterious shadowy figure watching the old people drama from a distance, you are just like me fr

= OLIVIA THAT'S FUCKING OLIVIAAAAAAAAAAAA and she already sounds so CUTE. If you go back to the diner scene you can see the phone constantly buzzing until Kim finally puts it away. She's like mom. mom. mom. MOM

= also just because the tragic Tomberly family storyline already makes me want to kms do you think that ring is kind of small and plain because Tommy and Kim were so young when they got married and it's all Tommy could afford. And Kim still wears it to this day. I want to die

= It's already been confirmed that Selena is indeed referring to Sylvia here, so I won't talk about that. What I DO want to talk about is Kim's casual momwear. Those sweatpants!!!!!!!!!!

= It would be really funny if Kim just. immediately slammed the door shut

[keyh0use]

Ward's voice cuts through the charged atmosphere like a knife through warm butter, only less pleasant. Conversations momentarily pause as guests follow the sound, curious eyes landing on the Cameron patriarch before seeking out Rafe in the crowd, standing frozen beside his small group of friends. "I'll be right back," mumbles Rafe, addressed directly to Barry. The dealer gives a bored nod. "Yup, be waitin' on ya'," he says. Without further notice, Rafe swiftly leaves the circle to join his waiting father, shaking hands with older businessmen while effortlessly slipping into conversation with them. "Really?" Topper asks in disbelief, brows drawn and forehead creased as he watches Barry watch Rafe.

Barry takes a sip of the expensive alcohol he's been nursing for the last half hour, cringing once more at the bitter taste. "Don't know what you're on about," he answers.

Both kooks turn to face one another in sync, the blonde's hand curled around Kelce's wrist. "I must leave you, my love," professes Topper dramatically, giving his friend a sickeningly sweet look, all wide-eyed.

"I'll await your return with bated breath, my sweet prince." Kelce caresses Topper's cheek with his knuckles, before whispering scene, the two turning back to face barry.

"That's what you and Rafe sound like to us," informs Topper.

Barry hisses, "Like hell—"

"Just admit you're in love with Rafe, you should feel proud you might have a smidgen of a chance to date up," Topper continues, cutting the other man off without care. "Shut up," snaps Barry, head on a swivel as he scans the crowd for any obvious eavesdroppers. Kelce interrupts the inevitable bickering bound to follow to say, "I kinda agree, bro. Not with the classist comment—Topper—but maybe you could...oh, I don't know, give Rafe a hint, at least." "Nah, told y'all already to cut that shit out," Barry firmly replies, jaw tensing as he repeats the same pathetic truth for the dozenth time: "He don't feel that way 'bout me, aight?" Topper's laugh is obnoxious and explosive, taking both men off guard. "Is that what you think? I mean, really?"

"Dude," Kelce chides quietly, elbowing his friend in the ribs.

"Oh right." The blonde rubs at the sore spot with a grimace before fixing his attention back on Barry, sarcastically saying, "Rafe feels completely normal about you."

The dealer grapples for a response, rolling the now empty glass between fingers by the long stem. Confessing how he feels has been a topic of discussion with the annoying kooks for several months now, the two hounding him on Rafe's boat or in some obscure corner at a house party the moment he's left alone, like little well-dressed vultures.

Usually it's tolerable, sometimes even amusing but right now, surrounded by wealthy families and Rafe's whole damn family—Barry's tailored suit starts to feel too tight, the collar choking him out and sweat collecting in warm spots.

Barry's startled out of his thoughts by an arm being slung over his shoulders.

"Hey," Rafe greets his friends first, then tilts his chin down to talk to Barry. "Hey, so that fucking sucked. Told dad we were just leaving before he called me over, so we're good to go, if you wanna..."

"Yeah. Yup, let's get outta here," Barry answers immediately, not bothering to say goodbye to Topper and Kelce before dragging his boy towards the front entrance to gather their coats.

Once Barry and Rafe are out of earshot, Topper turns to grab Kelce by the front of his purple button-up. "This will never end! They're going to pine over one another forever and we'll have to listen to it," he complains.

"I know, buddy, I want Rafe to be happy too."

"What? No, that's not it," Topper dismisses. "I just don't want to be trapped with Rafe out on the ocean, listening to him drunkenly drone on and on about what he wants to do to Barry's face again. Here's a hint: it got progressively less PG the more he drank."

[quietbluejay]

Transformers: Escalation #3

"breakaway Soviet state of Brasnya"

sir, this is 2006

so as far as i understand it this is supposed to be pseudo-chechnya for those who have forgotten/didn't know/were just too young, this is actually pretty topical to 2006

quoth wikipedia:

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Checheno-Ingush ASSR split into two parts: the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic. The latter proclaimed the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which sought independence. Following the First Chechen War of 1994–1996 with Russia, Chechnya gained de facto independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, although de jure it remained a part of Russia. Russian federal control was restored in the Second Chechen War of 1999–2009, with Chechen politics being dominated by Akhmad Kadyrov, and later his son Ramzan Kadyrov

he drives off...

surprise Megatron

he tells the two of them to give him room so he can do his mass displacement trick

(incidentally he addresses them as "Blitzwing and Skywarp". Guess Skywarp decided to dress like TC for the day)

gun

"You know what to do..."

Koska shoots the pipeline, which explodes

okay so "breakaway soviet state" is one thing like okay that's on the edge but you can use it to establish the history here but

furman serious question did you sleep through the 90s

ok ok back to the story

Skywarp gets ordered to leave while Blitzwing puts on a "chameleon mesh" that turns him invisible

that's new

and now over to the Ark in Lake Michigan

"Reinforcements?

Prowl: But-

Optimus: It's already done. With Megatron active on Earth, and Sunstreaker MIA, I had no choice but to pull resources from elsewhere

Optimus: I do not do so lightly

Prowl: of course. forgive me

Ironhide: Prime - while we're on the subject of resource allocation…

he wants to follow up on the Sunstreaker and Hunter thing

he feels like he owes it to him

also this optimus is pretty competent!

maybe getting nearly killed by Devastator scrambled his brain so postwar he reverted to bad old habits

Prowl takes over and starts giving people their orders

Ironhide...

prowl prowl what are you doing

back over to Brasnya

a jeep and some tanks are approaching the pipeline

oh gosh this dude has an ushanka and leetle spectacles

This Dude: Call it in - immediately! - before-

i am once again asking why you are not wearing a hat in winter

every time megatron fires it feels very anime

there's a huge explosion

a man goes flying

from the tanks that showed up, someone is radioing in that they're under attack and need backup now!!!

Megatron gloats that the Soviets (yes, Soviets, no I'm not gonna let this one go) will send tanks, which will get the Brasnyans upset

"at which point we...will make matters worse!"

back to the Ark

Ratchet isn't really sure what they're looking for, since they've already looked it over in detail

Jimmy says you'd be surprised...

for example, the chassis is made from an ultra-light alloy

which only has 3 domestic manufacturers

Ratchet goes hmm

He says, hmm I should take this to Prowl, but he'll either "sit on it or dismiss it".

"Question is, after my recent clutch of indiscretions, do I really want to stick my neck out?"

"Hm."

"I guess so."

quoth friend:

ratchet you can file a report and go galvanating off ratchet please you are going to give prowl grey hairs

Koska asks what's going to happen when they come. In his experience it usually leads to a standoff

Megatron: when they come?

Megatron: Blitzwing will be waiting!

it's some news from CNN about the tanks near Brasnya

Prowl exposits about it

Optimus: anything about it say Decepticon?

Prowl: Big time. This is the initial flashpoint...

Optimus: Megatron

Prowl zooms in on the shot of Koska with the gun

they've ID'ed him and figure he's the facsimile

"and, crazy as it sounds..."

"...we think this is Megatron"

he points at the gun

Optimus folds his arms

Optimus: Mass displacement. Haven't seen that in a long time. The energy expenditure must be colossal

Prowl: Ore-13?

Optimus: without a doubt

guess they decided to drop the energy expenditure when Megatron did the mass displacement thing again...

Prowl: stamp out the flames. Keep Megatron's attention on us, and preserve/contain the facsimile...at any cost!

Optimus: agreed

Optimus: ready your strike team

wow it's nice seeing them be functional

he puts down his binoculars

"Trust me…I've been a commissioned officer for sixteen years and haven't yet fired a shot in ang-"

no one expects invisible blitzwing

reasonable officer survived

he's lying on the snow talking into a radio

Reasonable Officer: I'm telling you - they're firing on us!

Reasonable Officer: Confirmed?! Who else could it be?

Reasonable Officer: yes, I understand. Hold on...

he pulls out a pair of binoculars and looks out through them

he sees a yellow tank through his binoculars

"That's confirmed. I repeat - we have Soviet armour firing on our position."

"Sir, I need a direct order here!"

there's another explosion

"Understood. All units…"

tank guns get into position

"...fire at will!"

Optimus: once I draw Megatron out…move in and isolate the target

he goes vehicle mode and his trailer follows behind him

Optimus: any local traffic, immobilize but do not engage

Optimus: we don't want to make matters worse

Prowl: you heard him, let's roll…

Prowl: Jazz - traction studs

as Optimus drives off, he says it's critical that they take the facsimile intact, because it's got the key to every facsimile on Earth

at the border, tanks are firing

Blitzwing:…

Megatron: Blitzwing?

Blitzwing: boss, you won't believe this

there's a shot of Optimus Prime through a red filter

Blitzwing:...but I've got Optimus Prime himself, bang in my sights

Blitzwing: should I take the shot?

Megatron: has he seen you?

Blitzwing: nope

Megatron: Make sure he doesn't. And when he's in range...

Megatron: take the shot

Megatron:…bring Astrotrain with you

yep Hot Rod has arrived to the main plot!

Jimmy points at the screen. There's two orders - a garage in Beaver, Utah, and a custom car outlet in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Verity: You know what this means, don't you?

"Road trip!" the two of them chorus

a voice from offscreen speaks and the three of them stare in alarm

Voice: I hope you weren't thinking of going anywhere?

next panel shows Ironhide, in shadow, with his arms crossed

Ironhide: ...without me!

and issue ends there

next time: Hunter suffering

some commentary on Autobots and Decepticons from me and friend:

friend: so what i'm reading here is that the autobots are a fairly competent military force but they're regularly anticipated and out maneuvered by decepticons, which is presicely why mavericking is so common and so socially acceptable decepticons by contrast have a tighter outfit but morale is rock bottom and preventing coups and desertions is an ongoing problem and active resource drain decepticons do exactly what they're assigned to do and no more because they don't want to be the next target autobots go the extra mile and give themselves extra work, even when thats a really bad idea me: the big question re: how did they manage to have a 4 million year long war is more re: resources but they actually feel functional and like they could basically have kept going for a while

[in-newjersey]

So here are my thoughts on my first time seeing a live BMC production!

Making this non-rebloggable, I am not a real theater critic and I do not want to draw any attention to this actual cast on an anonymous blog to strangers on the internet

For starters, casting!

I respect the variety going on here and the degree of diverging from famous character appearance-tropes. Tiny Latino Jeremy who's as fit as a gymnast and can (and does) do acrobatic spin kicks sometimes? Love it. Plus-size butch-esque Brooke? 10/10. Genderfuckery long-haired Michael who gesticulates with a huge fan through most conversations? Hell yeah. Pink-haired Nirvana-grunge-style trans guy Jake? Now we're talking. Christine a head taller than Jeremy? Awesome.

I will not get too into describing actual real people on here much more than that but in general it was wonderful to see a wide range of character-actor types inhabiting these roles. As someone involved in The Fandom, even though I have frequently expounded upon the mutability of character traits per the text, you do still absorb a general idea of what the characters "look" like; so it was a fun twist to have literally none of the performers fall into those tropes.

I will also say - and this is not a read - that I am no longer going to assume I'm too old to play any of these characters, because I guess that's the magic of community theater lol

On to Thoughts, which I will loosely group by characters:

Rich was fucking awesome. Like I was impressed by the singing skill across the board, but this guy fucking killed it at every turn. I looked at my friend I went with after The Squip Song and we both were like OH OK. Rich also wore mostly KISS T-shirts? Like the shitty glam rock band? But yknow, work. Excellent voice (if casting were a little more 'stereotypical,' he probably would be an excellent Michael). Emotionally, he was on the more explosive side while SQUIPped, melting toward just charmingly cute once in 'real Rich Goranski' mode.

The aforementioned Jake was an interesting take on the character. Definitely leaned more into the kind of douchey side of things, but did at least at one point seem genuinely into Christine (although the actor was very much leaning into the interpretation 'yeah he has multiple interests and he honestly likes them all in the moment but gets bored quickly, and that includes girlfriends'). Is that kind of shitty? Yes. Is that a realistic take on what a rich popular 17 year old might be like? Also yes. Nirvana-fan Jake was not a concept I thought of before but I was down for it (though I discovered later on the cast instagram page that the guy playing Jake said that his version of Jake thinks Nirvana is a clothing brand which, like, galaxy-brain take lol).

THE SQUIP!!!!! Actually cycled through Keanu Reeves costumes, which I loved. Started out in Bill & Ted, then Matrix, then POINT BREAK of all things, before landing on a pretty-impressive-for-the-budget version of the light-up circuitry priest robe thing from the Broadway style. He had the hair and beard pretty close to present-day Keanu too, which made him both line up with the resemblance and seem significantly older than the other characters; voice-wise, this guy was clearly a skilled baritone, which meant his delivery on some of the more rock-style songs was a bit unusual, but not bad. This SQUIP was suave at the right parts but did NOT shy away from being scary: the 'take me inside you' part with Brooke during Upgrade was staged very menacingly with regards to how he was physically moving around/behind Jeremy. The Play was delightfully sinister, leaning HARD into the SQUIP as literally puppeteering everyone: saying their lines and moving his hands like marionnettes throughout, keeping things very creepy and villainous.

On the topic of the play, the fight choreography kicked ass. Mr. Reyes's ALL THE WAY TO BROADWAY rant was delivered while he yanked Jeremy off the ground by his shirtfront and then threw him furiously across the stage, genuinely concerning and upsetting to watch (especially as the SQUIP was miming the same actions and lines behind him, obviously in control of Reyes's body) (I literally said 'oh fuck' out loud when it happened and got a Look from the presumably-grandma in the row ahead lol). The fight choreography during Two Player Game Reprise was also solid: the guy playing Jeremy was FIT and did a lot of impressive acrobatic kicks and such, and the person playing Michael being a lot taller and larger worked well with letting him like bounce off, lift him up for spin kicks, etc.

And in general, I respected how much this production was willing to let certain moments be dark. The Play in general was pretty horror-movie-climax; I also respected that the costuming did indeed look like so-so high school mockups of a modern zombie movie. But the whole number was eerie, SQUIPPED character movements and voices became unnervingly smooth and robotic, and positioning the SQUIP as the puppetmaster in the middle, literally moving the characters around, just sold the whole thing wonderfully. Very appropriately leaning into the horror part of horror-comedy.

Similarly, Do You Wanna Hang? was scary. AS IT SHOULD BE. My friend who came with me compared it favorably to the car scene in the movie 8th Grade, where you're just On Edge the whole time you're watching. The actress playing Chloe did a good job with it, that's an uncomfortable thing to portray but she went for it and it paid off in the moment.

Chloe and Brooke had a fun dynamic: the styles of the costuming/performers did add some interesting dimensions. Chloe was, as usual, pink and perfect and feminine, head-cheerleader vibes; Brooke was short haired and dressed a lot more masculine. Brooke had a very earnest sense of vulnerability to her, and excellent comedic timing during Do You Wanna Ride and The Smartphone Hour, as well as just the minor background-acting moments. They leaned pretty hard into the 'Chloe will take things just because Brooke wanted them, because she likes that Brooke is always a little jealous of her, and thinks that that's friendship' and, like the portrayal of Jake: is that a shitty thing to do? Yes. Is that a realistic thing teenagers might do, especially poisoned by toxic ideas about femininity and power? Also yes.

Which is a good spot to add, the ensemble was small (4) but they were serving it. The band appeared to be octogenarian church volunteers (oh, yeah, this was at a church??? Wesleyan Methodists, so the cool liberal branch of American Christianity) so I will say that with what they had, they were making it work. It would have been served well by a second keyboardist and/or guitarist to do the trumpet parts (it was drums, bass, guitar, and piano). One of the ensemble members, a tall goth-femme person with hot pink hair, played the role of the theremin by doing the melodies in remarkable and ethereal bel canto. And honestly, work.

Jenna Rolan was fun: could belt for the gods, had some pretty-intense Crazy Eyes thing going on that really sold the comedic moments and made her appropriately frightening as the Final Boss in the squipped battle at the end, styled like an early 2000s-lesbian-coded-soft-goth best friend archetype. No notes, 11/10.

The actor playing Mr. Heere/Reyes/Stockboy did a fantastic job of making those three seem separate, and as I mentioned above, really made Mr. Reyes come to life in a dynamic way. Sidenote, this production changed all references to Hobby Lobby to Michaels, which I found both funny and appropriate. Fuck Hobby Lobby, we all hate Hobby Lobby.

Back to characterizations, Christine was sweet and straightforward. Not as quirky or dynamic as Stephanie or a lot of other actresses make her, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Very gentle and smooth voice, she just really likes theater and wants someone to like the real her. They went with ballet-style choreography to introduce her during More Than Survive, which is always a wonderful touch for the way the music swells. There were points where I think a little more creative movement or a wider emotional range might have worked well, but the take on the character was consistent.

I am going to keep that positive thread through the next sections: while I might not have agreed with the interpretation through the text, I do respect going in a starkly different direction to how most productions and fans usually take such things.

I have enormous respect for the performer playing Michael for radically making it their own. The cast bios had pronouns, and Michael's performer was they/she/he, which as a fellow they/she/he who would love to play Michael someday was rad to see. They kept the CREEPS shirt and a hoodie with a lot of patches (albeit a black one with red accents), but that was about it. Michael had light-up cat ear headphones and a huge black fan which he used throughout, alternated between baggy sweatpants or just a floor-length hippy skirt, usually high-heel ankle boots, and some kind of green bathrobe thing for The Pants Song? Characterization, again, respect for making such an iconic character so heavily different. This Michael was not....very emotional. He was usually snippy and sarcastic in a very erudite and matter-of-fact way, at pretty much all points in the show. Not a lot of emotional range going on: this is a Michael who is in some combination of 'doesn't give a shit' and 'not going to let this bother me,' which came off....interesting. The chemistry this created with Jeremy was a starkly different one than we usually see. The original productions - and most since, and the majority of fandom depictions - imagines a Michael and Jeremy who, at their core, love each other a lot. However that manifests of course varies, but you Usually get the impression that (even with a little bit of codependence), these two genuinely love each other and spending time together, which makes moments in the show either heartwarming or devastating to see happen between them.

Not these versions of the characters.

Which didn't make it bad, but it did shake things up. This Michael and Jeremy didn't give deep-love-friendship so much as they gave 'we sat next to each other in 1st grade and don't have other friends. so. I guess we're best friends, huh.'

Which is an INTERESTING and somewhat bleaker, but not unrealistic, take on them. That, sadly, summarizes a lot of friendships, especially at that age and with the sort of vacuum of suburbia on your social sphere (nevermind how a lot of society discourages boys from emotional connection with their friends; if anything, the fact that this Michael was definitely queer might suggest that Jeremy even pulled back emotionally because he didn't want to seem gay or give this Michael the wrong idea). It definitely sells Jeremy feeling lonely, even with his best friend hanging around. Two-Player Game came across a LOT better than I was prepared for - I have waxed about how it's a hard number to pull off - not in spite of, but almost because of this. Like, sure, they've played through this game a million times before, they know every beat, they love it like they love each other, right? even though they seem.....kind of bored. Or at least like they're waiting for something else to happen. College? Girlfriend? Different friends? Just wait two years. Whatever.

To get critical, I will say that this dynamic did not really help Michael in the Bathroom. The fight beforehand and the song itself did.....not really lend themselves to a not-very-emotional friendship between them. The singing was perfect, so not faulting that: it's THE big song of the show, so that's a lot of pressure and the performer had a splendid voice, but the snarky-not-caring-that-much attitude didn't quite do it for me - Michael didn't seem sad or upset so much as pissed off, but still fully keeping it together (despite the lyrics saying otherwise). Tonally, the 'wish I'd offed myself instead' just sounded sarcastic ("wow, SORRY I CARED AT ALL, could've just killed myself for all you seem to care" kind of vibes) THAT SAID, it was consistent with the rest of the characterization, so I admire it as a very specific acting choice. There were also characters on stage - presumably outside the bathroom door, listening in - that turned a good portion of MITB into a comedic number; as I have said before, not my personal take on how that should go, but the audience was laughing along with it! So that's the wonderful mutability of theater.

Strangely enough, this actually made Michael and Jeremy's relationship at the end of the story work out just fine? The SQUIP experience kind of sparked a "wow we really do care about each other, huh" realization from both of them. Again, mad respect for taking such a different approach to such a well-worn character relationship.

So, overall, I am very happy I got to see this. Love to support live theater, love to be surprised by a story that I thought I knew pretty well inside and out, came away with plenty to think and talk about. If you can, go support your local community theater!

[cc-cobalt-1043]

Chapter 4: Therapy

The bee team were relaxing when suddenly the alarm went off.

"We have incoming." Fixit said.

They all ran to the command center weapons ready but Windblade smiled when she recognised the ship.

"It's alright, I know them." She said urging the rest of the team to lower their weapons.

The bee team stood down and allowed the ship two land.

Out came two Autobots, a bright blue femme bot and a cherry red Mech Bumblebee recognised very well.

"Knockout." He said surprised.

Knockout broke into an all too familiar smirk.

"Hello Bee, long time no see." Knockout said.

The two shook hands.

"It's so good to see you." Bee said.

"Likewise, and it's good to be back here." Knockout said.

"Uh Bee, who's this guy?" Grimlock asked looking at Knockout.

"Oh, guys this is Knockout, he's a former Decepticon who joined the Autobots near the end of the war, and he's a very good friend of mine." Bumblebee said.

"Knockout, this is my team." Bee said introducing Knockout to each member of the Bee team, aside from Optimus, Ratchet, Windblade and Jazz who Knockout was already well acquainted with.

Attention then shifted to Chromia, who introduced herself.

"Hello, my name is Chromia, I'm a friend of Windblade and Knockout and I'm a therapist, I work to help Autobots and Decepticons alike adjust to their new lives." Chromia said.

"She's very good, she even helped me a bit after I joined the Autobots." Knockout said.

Introductions were carried out and soon Chromia began her sessions, assisted by Knockout.

Chromia spoke with Slipstream and Knockout talked with Jetstorm.

Chromia and Slipstream were sitting on a crate in the medbay.

Chromia was smiling warmly at Slipstream who was rather tense.

"Alright Slipstream we're going to begin now, I will be taking notes throughout this session, and I want you to tell me to stop if you feel uncomfortable or need a break, okay." Chromia said smiling warmly at Slipstream.

Slipstream nodded and with that the session began.

At first Chromia asked Slipstream some small questions before beginning the more serious ones.

"So Slipstream, how did you end up working for Shadow Raker?" Chromia asked.

"It was when me and Jetstorm were young I was 6, and he was 3, our parents died in an explosion and we were living on the streets for several months just trying to survive, Shadow Raker found us and offered us a job working for him, in exchange he would give us energon and shelter." Slipstream said.

He clenched his fists tightly.

"But he lied, he used me and Jetstorm as tools, he sent us out to steal for him and whenever we failed he would either lock us out of the base, beat us or refuse to feed us, he treated Jetstorm the worst, just because he was the youngest, the weakest and the most accident prone, he treated him like his slave and there was nothing I could do to stop him, I hate him, I hate everything about him and if I could I would subject him to every painful thing he has done to us over the years, but he doesn't even deserve that, he deserves to go offline." Slipstream growled out.

Slipstream took a long deep breath and sighed.

Chromia looked at the young minicon, his whole frame slumped slightly after he'd finished his tirade, clearly he'd been holding that in for quite a long time.

After a few moments of silence Slipstream looked up at Chromia.

"I'm sorry, it's just, I've been holding a lot of that in for a good while now." Slipstream said.

"That's quite alright Slipstream, this kind of thing is perfectly natural, especially for a situation like this, thanks heavens I was sitting down when I reviewed your records, it's appalling you and your brother had to live with such a monster." Chromia said.

She then decided to change the topic.

"I trust you and your brother are much happier with Drift." Chromia said.

"Very much miss Chromia, master Drift is such a wonderful bot, he has his flaws of course, but he has really changed our lives for the better, he provides us with a home and energon, he trains us to defend ourselves, he taught me and Jetstorm how to read and write, he even comforts us when we are sad or when we have had nightmares." Slipstream said.

Chromia could practically feel her spark swell with emotions.

"You all seem very close." Chromia said.

"We are miss Chromia...we're like a family." Slipstream said.

"Drift seems to have quite a fatherly bond to you two." Chromia said.

"Admittedly Jetstorm and I do see Master Drift like a father, but have never had the courage to say so." Slipstream said.

"Why not?" Chromia asked curiously.

"Because we fear he would not feel the same way towards us. Slipstream said.k

"From what you've described to me Slipstream he does seem to feel the same way about both you and Jetstorm, I feel if you do tell him how you feel, you may be pleasantly suprised." Chromia said.

Slipstream was silent, thinking everything over.

"Just think about it for now." Chromia said.

Slipstream nodded and smiled.

The two talked for a while before Chromia declared their session over and Slipstream went to wait for Jetstorm.

Jetstorm soon appeared followed by Knockout.

"Now remember Jetstorm, same time tomorrow, and think about what we've talked about." Knockout said.

"Okay, thanks Knockout." Jetstorm said looking the happiest Slipstream had seen him in a long time.

Knockout left and Jetstorm and Slipstream got some Energon.

The two sat down and discussed their therapy sessions.

"Knockout was so fun to talk to, he loves his paintjob, he even buffed some of the scratches I missed the last time." Jetstorm said.

True to his word there wasn't a single scratch on Jetstorm.

"He really knows his stuff." Jetstorm said seeing the impressed look on Slipstream's face.

"Jetstorm, you know how me and you think about master Drift, as a father figure?" Slipstream asked.

Jetstorm nodded.

"Well Chromia told me, that perhaps we should tell him how we feel." Slipstream said.

"Knockout said the same to me." Jetstorm said.

"Well,do you think we should tell him?" Slipstream asked.

"I don't know, I really him to think of us as his sons as well as his students, but at the same time, What if he doesn't feel the same?" Jetstorm asked.

Slipstream nodded.

"This is something we must think about." He said.

A little sneak peak for part 5:

Sideswipe woke up, but something was strange, he was back on cybertron, alongside a yellow mech, one he hadn't seen in such a long time.

Suddenly there was the sounds of bots yelling as well as blaster fire.

The mech started pulling Sideswipe along with him, both of them running past many fighting bots in an attempt to escape.

The unthinkable happened when a stray blaster shot came flying through the air, hitting the yellow mech square in the chest.

Sideswipe tried to help but it was no luck. The bots bright yellow paint, faded to gunmetal gray.

The scrapyard:

Sideswipe awoke with a jolt and sat up in his berth his whole frame trembling and shaking, and in his despair he said a name, the name of a bot he could never tak to again.

"Sunstreaker."

[emptymanuscript]

We all write crap

>_<

Just shared one of my worst stories with my writing group... literally been buried in my files since... ...New Year's 1996. Which means I wrote this crap while I was still in high school, OMG. I didn't realize it was THAT old. I thought it was at least from college. Ack!

But they were like, nah, you should totally work on it.

So... guess I'll work on it... >_< XD >_<

I read it in response to us talking about how bad writing and writers can be. Where I had agreed - there is truly awful writing and writers out there - but also said that I have written some truly TERRIBLE stories. That's part of it. And they were like, I bet your worst stuff is better than their worst stuff. So, I'm like, hold my beer.

Either I didn't dig deep enough in the trash, or my group is too kind to me. Though I did love the guy who brought up the topic to begin with saying, well, if you CAN find an audience for this, NOT me, I bet they'd like it XD.

Like, yeah it's a thing. There is a reason I haven't touched it in nearly twenty years.

It is interesting though, with it being so old, that I can still definitely see modern-me in it. I probably wouldn't write this kind of thing in this way, anymore, but yeah, the WTFness of it, that's me. That kind of explosive eruption of the world just leaping to the left like we're all Brad and Janet, minus the music, walking completely unawares into the The Time Warp, fully choreographed, with the catcalls from the audience - we somehow never noticed before - of "Group sex, group sex!" That's kinda what I do no matter what I write. For good and ill.

Anyway, if anyone wants to read some of my WORST stuff, which I will tell you now, just don't read any of my unpolished stuff if any trigger warnings apply to you at all. I've placed it with nothing but spelling corrections under the cut.

Let joy reign in every heart for it’s five-thirty and time for father to be home. Oh joy, to me, little John, and Lizzie. Father shall soon be home.

Let there be a skip in every step and tune upon our lips for we can hear steps upon the walk. Father is here. Father is here.

Oh, let our hearts burst into song for the door swings wide and father is home. Home at last. Oh, Daddy dearest, Daddy.

Uh-oh, it looks like Daddy has had a bit to drink. I wonder if he lost his job again. Well no matter. It shan’t affect us. Look how little John races to greet him.

Oops, Daddy has backhanded little John across the room. I see Daddy still has the wine bottle. He does look inclined to smash it over somebody's head. But look, what light through yonder doorway, tis Mummy – Mummy, the angel who’s light buoys the family. The nuts and bolts of our family structure. Daddy is calmed by her visage. See, how he goes to embrace her.

No, he’s swinging the bottle. Don’t worry Mummy is very agile. She’s ducked and run into the kitchen. No doubt she’s gone to phone the police, the enforcers of law and order, the hands of justice.

No, she’s got the butcher knife. Well, have no fear, with this equal display of strength no doubt peace shall reign again in the household. Love shall abound.

My, mummy does seem to have thrown the butcher knife at Daddy and it seems to have hit blade first. Daddy has sunk to his knees. Oh no, Daddy Daddy. Look Daddy isn’t too badly hurt after all. He’s getting to his feet and pulling out the knife.

Oh dear, blood is spilling down on the floor. Ooh... my... is that Daddy’s intestine? Look at Mummy run for the phone. She’ll save us yet. Mummy runs fast.

Not fast enough. Daddy has slammed the knife into the back of Mummy’s neck. They’ve both fallen to the floor. Oh no Daddy has stopped breathing, so has Mummy.

Well as the oldest sibling, I think it is my duty to call the police.... Hello, yes there’s been a slight domestic dispute at my house. My mother and father are lying on the floor in a pool of their mingling blood. Please hurry, goodbye.

Look, Lizzie has slipped in the blood. She’s calling for Mummy and Daddy. Lizzie, you know Mummy and Daddy hate it when your noisy. (Slap) Bad Lizzie.

[nobodyexpectsthe]

Does your muse initiate heated/sexual contact, or do they wait for their partner?

Oh we're cracking into some Deep & Complex topics here. Let's see if I can manage it before the Dayquil puts me out.

Pirith has an... interesting relationship with sex. He honestly doesn't think that much of it or have that strong of a drive. That isn't to say he doesn't like it, it's just never been incredibly high on his list of priorities. Prior to joining the Inquisition I don't think he thought about it much. He was studying to be First, he was taking care of his brother, and he's always been a little out of step with his peers due to both of things things. When he rolls into Haven post-explosion, he's in his mid-twenties and has never even romantically hands with another person.

Duty has come before everything else for him. But there was always an everything else. And then there's not, and he has people who he cares for but cannot connect with on a deeper level because they're all his subordinates and he shouldn't be connecting with them in any way with that authority... at least in his eyes. They need to have total respect in his capacity as a leader, and he fears if he shows too much or lets the mask slip too far, he's afraid they will lose trust in his leadership.

So this... leads to what might not be the best relationship with sex? It becomes a means of stress relief, and he will attempt to back if there's an attempt to make it anything more than that. He needs the feeling of intimacy while trying to keep himself divorced from his feelings, because the second he lets a trickle out the whole dam is coming down and he cannot afford that. Any partner has to wait until Corypheus is dead and he's had a chance to breathe before anything can properly begin, even if it's obvious he cares deeply and sex is a way to connect and feel close to them.

Under these circumstances, Pirith is generally one who initiates and he may pull back if the other party makes a move or expresses interest first because then it feels like... pressure? Like that's another need of another person's he has to meet, and he's in a bad place about all that already, so he'll politely decline and then maybe try again later. Things often need to happen on his terms, and he feels selfish about it but that's where he is and that's all he can give.

When we're out of this and into the leadup to Trespasser and beyond, things are more even because we've hit a temporary lull in the lore just bodying the fuck out of him he's stabilized significantly.

He's significantly less stressed and much more open about wanting an emotional connection, and while he certainly enjoys the physical part of it that's not his primary interest. He still enjoys sex and will initiate gladly engage with his partners just to feel that connection with them, but it's more often that he waits for his partner to express interest or initiate because he recognized that what was happening before was.... honestly, very not good for anybody involved! But he could honestly live without the sex. It's not a priority for him, it's just a bonus.

tl;dr sometimes you lose control of your live and instead of making pudding at 3am, you go bone a friend and/or someone you don't actually like very much because you don't care what they think of you and their opinion will not sway you from what needs to be done and that has compounding consequences down the line.

[doctor-yamagishi]

Concern or Consideration Part 8: Expanding Connections

Part 8 of plot with @tacitusauxilium.

Realized that there was an inconsistency with the Phantom Thieves' base of operations and Yusuke being in contact. So will be removing Yusuke for the time being.

Social link bonus will remain unknown until after his persona awakens.

Once the school day was over, Ren, Ann, Ryuji, and Fuuka would make their way toward the roof with Morgana remaining inside Ren's bag. It was a strange feeling for a teacher to be joining them and for them to be welcoming to the notion.

"It's strange to be talking about our stunts as the Phantom Thieves with a teacher, but it's also awesome. Means our schoolwork will be a lot easier." Ryuji commented, leaning back in one of the chairs with his feet on one of the discarded desks on the roof.

"Ryuji, there's no way that Fuuka will be able to get away with that. Oh, is it alright if we use your first name when you're not teaching the class?" Ann remarks, shifting her focus from Ryuji to Fuuka at the instance of using Fuuka's first name despite her being their teacher.

"That's fine when we're outside of class Takamaki-chan." Fuuka remarks with a light nod of her head, soldifiying her comfort with the separate form of address.

"Ann is fine. No offense, but it feels weird to be identified so respectfully by a teacher." Ann responds slightly uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed at how she was addressed.

"Anyways Fuuka, why did you decide to come up to us with the fact that you know that we all have personas?" Ryuji quickly shifted the topic of the conversation before it got too built up on how they would address each other.

"You seem like you have knowledge about personas. Do you have one yourself?" Ren adds on with a light flick of his right wrist.

"Since Ryuji-san asked his question first, I will answer that one first." Fuuka remarked before starting to mentally form her answer.

"Ryuji's fine, we're all friends here right?" Ryuji quickly interjected, not wanting to derail the conversation by bringing up the matter of how they should address each other, but he didn't really feel right with the respectful form of request.

Fuuka would nod her head softly before resuming to piece together the answer she was working on earlier.

"After the incident with Kamoshida-san, the group I am part of wanted to validate the intentions of the Phantom Thieves. I was sent here after the founder's consideration." Fuuka remarked, wanting to gently ease the four of them into the identity of the Shadow Operatives.

"Are you saying that there are other persona users other than you and the four of us?" Ryuji remarks, somewhat nervous and slightly taken aback at the prospect of being under the eye of people that have more experience than the four of them might have combined.

"Yes, the Shadow Operatives were formed in Tatsumi Port Island. Are any of you aware of the incidents that took place there?" Fuuka responded with a soft nod of her head as she looked among the members of the Phantom Thieves as she presented her question.

"It occurred while most of us were pretty young for one portion and only a few years back for the second portion. The first was that some laboratory blew up and then was the case that people just stopped having any desire to live." Ann remarked, surprised that the incidents can have some tie to other persona users.

"Yes, the persona users of the Shadow Operatives that originate from Tatsumi Port Island all awakened to their personas largely after the incident of the explosion and during the duration of the second incident, myself included." Fuuka acknowledged with a nod of her head allowing the information to sink in among the Phantom Thieves, taking the time to subtly also answer Ren's question.

"That's a lot of time to build up experience." Morgana quietly remarked, not sure if that information meant that they could be getting support from those other users or if they might have to fight them.

"The members from the Tatsumi Port Island summon their personas through a specially designed gun called an evoker." Fuuka remarks briefly about how the members of SEES could summon their personas before deciding to move on.

"Our members also include the members of the Inaba Investigation Team. Another, albeit separate incident occurred in Inaba." Fuuka would later add on and Ryuji would be the first to recall the information.

"Wait, are you saying that the creepy as F murders with people left dead in strange positions and spots also relates to Personas?" Ryuji remarked not sure if he should be expecting of a similar or greater situation to occur in the area of Shujin.

Fuuka would slowly nod her head. "Yes, the murders in Inaba do relate to Personas by how they were carried out. The members of the Shadow Operatives from Inaba summon their personas by summoning then striking a card symbolizing their personas." Fuuka didn't feel the need to bring up such a heavy subject any more than what was needed.

Once all the information set in, Ann was worried and uncomfortable about what Fuuka's presence in the area of Shujin might mean for the Phantom Thieves. Not only were their numbers currently smaller than the anticipated collective of the Shadow Operatives, but they were also at a rather steep disadvantage when it came to experience. The combination would mean the Phantom Thieves could be effectively disbanded in the worst case scenario.

"You said that you were sent to investigate the intentions of the Phantom Thieves. What did you mean by that?" Ren calmly inquired. The possibility of confronting more experienced persona users wasn't going to bother him unless it ends up coming to that.

"In both the Tatsumi Port Island case as well as the Inaba case, there has been at least one person who has used the ability that relates to their potential of having a persona for their own benefit. We do not know where the Phantom Thieves lie if it's for their own benefit or the benefit of others." Fuuka stated softly, trying to hopefuly avoid creating any sense of panic among the members of the Phantom Thieves.

Though her efforts would be all in vain as Ryuji would be the first to remark. "Whoa, hold on Fuuka. I know that the word Thieves being in our name may make us look bad, I'm telling you that we're good." Ryuji remarked in a mild panic.

"The way that you are saying it doesn't exactly help our situation." Morgana remarked with a sigh of exasperation. If anything, he felt that the panic would possibly lead to a misinterpretation that they are bad.

"Please calm down Ryuji-kun. I know that you all are good. It is due to my persona's ability and my affinity to connect with people that I can say that without regret." Fuuka remarked in a slightly apologetic panic of her own to try and calm down Ryuji.

"That's good, it wouldn't be a long shot to say that we would be done for if that wasn't the case." Ann states letting out a deep sigh of relief.

"That why I want to try and get you all in contact with the person that dispatched me here to clear up any lingering misunderstandings." Fuuka states softly looking around at each of the members of the Phantom Thieves.

"That sounds good. Let's try and piece together a good time and we'll let you know via text." Ryuji remarks with a calm grin.

"I think this is a good stopping point for today. Let's try to meet up again and plan our meeting and afterwards the next moves for the Phantom Thieves." Morgana interjects, earning a collective nod from everyone else.

"I will go and let my contact know about the approaching meeting. Take care everyone." Fuuka responds before the group breaks for the moment.

"Well, that was certainly nerve racking, wasn't it? Her contact says Yamagishi Fuuka. We did meet Yasonobu some time ago and he has the same family name, think that they could be related?" Morgana states, turning to look at Ren.

"It might just be a coincidence about their family name. Fuuka never mentioned anything about having a brother and we aren't friendly enough with Nobu to ask him that question right now." Ren remarks, though Morgana would have a slight mixture of exasperation and surrender.

"Yeah, you're right. Doesn't seem right to try and force Fuuka to say that they are related and Nobu doesn't seem acquainted enough to say one way or the other. Either way, it's been a while since we spoke with him. He says he's usually around the area of Takemi's clinic. Why don't we go talk with him?" Morgana retorts, earning anod from Ren in response to his question before the pair make their way over to Takemi's clinic.

Hanging off to the side of the clinic was Nobu, who was examining all the receipts of medical supplies that were transportated from the hospital over to Takemi's clinic to ensure all of the papers were signed off and signed off correctly.

A brief moment before Ren and Morgana could get within distance to call out to Nobu, Nobu gets a feeling that he was being watched and looks up from his papers before scanning the area around with a sharp yet almost frightented expression, his face would slightly relax seeing Ren and Morgana.

"Long time no see Ren, did you come by to have a chat with me?" Nobu inquires curiously resting the papers down on his left side.

Ren would nod his head.

"I've been working this route for a while to support Takemi, but it's only been rather recently that I have seen you in the area. Did you transfer over to Shujin?" Nobu inquires trying to get a grasp on why they only met just recently.

Ren would nod his head.

"Oh, hopefully you like it there and have managed to make some friends." Nobu states, unaware of the situation, not really considering Ren to have a history that was signficantly different from most other high schoolers.

Ren would shake his head in moderate exasperation before explaining his situation briefly to Nobu.

"Don't think there is anything we can do about the circumstances for your transferring here." Nobu states, internally panicking about being seen with someone that has a reputation like Ren, though he would ultimately calm down and nod his head.

"No matter what the situation may say about you, not many people would be willing to go out of their way for me. That and the fact that you don't give me the feeling of someone matching that mentality, so I am willing to take the chance and keep talking to you Ren."

Charity Rank 2: Ability: ??????-???????????????????????

[chunibyo-x-sorcerer]

The elderly couple blinked at the young tall man before them greeting them and saying that he also heard a bird from last night. The elder gentleman quickly turns to his wife and points at the man with a crane.

"See?! I'm not the only one! Even this young man heard what I heard!" Said the husband making the wife shake her head at him. "You must have heard fireworks then if you heard a hawk." The wife huffed.

"Oh?" The husband raised a brow.

"Obliviously, you heard a hawk then the boom before a bigger boom that caused that dastardly fire!" The wife begins to describe, "It sounds like a whoosh followed by this bird sound and then boom! Isn't that right?" The wife tells them both. "It must be someone playing with fireworks which they shouldn't." The wife said.

"And how do you know that?" The husband asked.

"Well, there was a bit of a light show last night while I was sipping my night tea...I thought they started back up the project but it must be youngins messing around when that fire broke out. That construction place is not a safe place to fool around there, especially with those incidents."

"They must be students..." Said the husband. "When I was their age, I used to do that too with my friends back in my day. I would be using fireworks to fool around and do daring things." He said making the wife roll her eyes not before letting out a chuckle, "I'm not surprised."

"Now thinking about it, there is a shop that still sells fireworks down the street. Just small and medium-sized ones. I think the owner's son is running it!" The husband added.

------ School -----

After eating lunch, Kisho walks down the stairs when he hears a group of girls talking amongst themselves about the fire at the staircase near a window. He never thought it would be a huge topic but it seems like his exorcism must get their attention.

It's fine. After a week, people might forget about it. Kisho thought.

"Oh! And there's this handsome guy at the site! He's so tall! Did you see him?!"

Huh?

"I wonder what his eyes look like!" Said one of the girls, "It's too bad he covers them up...do you think he's an albino? I heard that's a condition and they're sensitive to sunlight." Said the brunette. "Even so...I would date him!" The girls giggled with each other. Then something caught his attention, "But he told us that we need to tell that kid to come back to the construction as he wants to talk him?"

"Still...how are we going to find this cosplaying guy? We're just going to find him and say hey there's an evil spirit at the site." Said the ponytail girl.

"I don't like lying but that guy seems like a good guy and wants to give this kid a good talking to." Said the dyed-blonde girl chewing on her lolipop. "I mean that explosion woke up almost the whole neighborhood, people went crazy, thinking it was some earthquake or worse."

Kisho slumps his shoulders and looks down, walks past the girls, and heads downstairs back to his class. This guy sounds like he's a detective. Maybe I should check back but there's another evil spirit that wanders in some office building since a few saw some shadows that need to be taken care of first. I wonder if the detective is still around town, I need to be careful.' Of course, Kisho has no idea how tonight would change his life.

Satoru waves the girls off as they take their leave, concealed eyes watching them as they continue to chat amongst themselves. It was always refreshing seeing youth of today enjoy their oh-so-simple lives, especially if they’re not involved with the jujutsu world directly. It’s an image he soon hopes to paint for those training to be sorcerers—such as his students—and show them that despite their deadly goal, they’re still kids at the end of the day.

And damn it, they have every right to enjoy being kids.

Once they were a fair bit of distance away, Satoru puckers his lips and whistles quietly to himself, turning on his heel and returning on the path leading back through the remains of the small town.

Now, all he needs to do… is play the waiting game. He most certainly isn’t going to seek them out. If anything, their ‘heroic’ nature should bring them right to his doorstep.

And how is he going to wait? Well…

. . . !

“Mr. Gojo… this seems rather inappropriate.”

“Whatever are you talking about?”

“You have been assigned a mission involving a potential threat of a curse user, and instead you’re… getting sweets. Again.”

“Nonsense!” Satoru exclaims as they stand in line just inside the quaint little café. Display cases pride themselves in a delicious assortment of baked goods, and this sorcerers stomach is practically begging him to indulge in every single one. How the chocolate pieces speckled over the pastries are just waiting to melt on one’s tongue; how the cream icing on little cupcakes stare at him and entice him to just take one little bite; how even the sight of other customer’s orders before him, with their matcha-flavour frappes or strawberry-themed drinks, makes his throat seem drier than ever before.

“Consider this a little pick me up,” he eventually stays as they take another step forward, an ‘oh-so-innocent’ smile on his face as he waits for the server behind the till to take his order. Or orders, in this case.

What? He’s never seen such a cute little café before with such delicious looking treats! He needs to be well-versed in all things sugar, and this was just another place to mark off his ever-growing list.

After a few moments of waiting for their—his order—to be done, Satoru and the driver he had dragged along finally exit the building, his hand wrapped around a creamy, vanilla-looking drink that oddly seemed to be decorated with sprinkles on top of it. A bonus, he thinks! Maybe they like him.

His driver for this mission parts their lips to speak before Satoru raises a hand to dismiss them, instead his attention falling on the elderly couple that wanders past them in that very moment. His head turns to the side slightly, as if trying to listen in better, before he eventually spins himself around and quickens his pace to catch up to the couple.

“Mr. Gojo!” He hears his chauffeur call out to him, clearly exasperated by all of this running around, but of course… he ignores them, instead bringing himself to quickly strike up a conversation with the seniors.

“Goodmorning!” Satoru greets with a smile, lowering his drink to appear like he’s actually interested in speaking with them. “I couldn’t help but overhear you mention something about… a bird? Did you hear that, too? I thought I was going crazy!”

What better way to try and gain more information than to pretend you had been some sort of witness to the scene, too.

[blueysobssesions]

:Requested: ⇢ ˗ˏˋ Actor's Manager ˎˊ˗

- Ahh it's finally done !1! I didn't post that frequently because I'm being a good student... For now.

˗ˏˋ 𝙰𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝 𝚃𝚘 𝚂𝚖𝚞𝚝 ˎˊ˗

"Cut!" a shout was heard from the assistant director "Alright! That's all for today! Comeback on Monday!"

Leon stretched his arms groaning. He's tired and wants to sleep. He was having difficulty from the script because it wasn't that organized and some of the words he had to pronounce was hard. Sighing, he look around to find his manager which is you.

Seeing you talking to the Assistant Director "Yeah, I think we need to-" "Did...I did great?" hearing his voice you turned to your side. He was wearing a brown coat for his character which was kinda damn hot. "Y-yeah, you always do...A-anyways! I'll talk to you later Lacey" Lacey, your best friend which was the assistant director. She was the only one who knows about your relationship, for the past 7 years she still didn't ditch on the both of you. She nodded and giggled, walking away and went somewhere else. "Oh, Really? That's the 40th time you said that" he chuckled while fixing his messy hair. You always notice his mistakes but he'll always manages to make it right. He didn't even care when you keep telling him to back out because he wasn't capable at some scenes... That only makes him laugh, get ready to get mind-blowing because oh he'll do it. He doesn't care if explosions are included.

"Y/n! You got a message from one of the Talk shows!" the both of you heard Rebecca's voice. Last month, Leon got his first Oscar. Both of you got interviewed a lot on talk shows. Topics about the movie, life and other. "Well... I don't have any schedules today so... Might as well go!" you know how Leon gets quiet on talk shows and you do all the answers. He doesn't really mind going as long your going with him. "Yea, sure. I'm just hoping it won't take long"

.

"Today's guest are none other than... Leon Kennedy and Y/n L/n!" the audience clapped with their hands and some of them screaming not that loud. Both of you walking towards the stage, waving at the audience. The both of your greeted the audience and the host. Sitting down at the couch next to where the host is. "Well if it isn't the iconic duo" the host laughed. 'Iconic duo', that nickname was made when some of your fans saw some pictures of you two hanging out every day and always seemed to be not separate able. "How you two doin'?" the host asked. You smiled "Oh were doing great! How about you?" you asked the host nicely. Leon isn't really a fan of getting interviewed, so expect him to be quiet. "I'm doing great too! Thank you for asking but... Is Leon alright there?" the host then focused on Leon who's seems to be staring of to space. You nudge his shoulder "oh- what- ... Ah... Sorry, I've been really hella tired from the making of the movie" the host then let out a frown "Oh... Really? Shoot, I didn't know you two were still on work... I'm really sorry if i bothe-" "No, no, no! It's okay! Were on a break anyways!" You apologized to him and then turned to Leon glaring at him but, he only let out a chuckle. "Oh... Is that so? Well, alright then! So, uhmm, let's start first with some questions from your fans" Oh god- this isn't good. Look, some of you fans have been asking really weird questions! "Alrighty, the first question is for... Leon!" You sighed in relief but also nervous about the question for Leon. Leon then turned his head towards the host waiting for the question "Leon, are You and Ada are in a relationship?" Suddenly the audience started to clap, scream and some of them getting flustered. Leon didn't really react about it. The audience didn't seem to notice the sad expression on your face. Your relationship between Leon has been in private for more than a year...

"Ada? Ada Wong? Pfft, no. She isn't my woman, you can see the both of us interacting in every scene of the movie but that doesn't mean we're dating. She hates me and I'm not her type" Leon wants to get this over with, he can see your face in a sad expression. Some of the audience frowned at his answer. You tried to laugh so it wouldn't be obvious that your saddened. You couldn't handle it anymore... You want your relationship to be public! But your sure there'll be something going bad to happen.

After the interview was done, finally the both of you can rest and have some alone time in your shared apartment. You sat on the couch with your head low. "Dinner should be done in... 6 minutes" Leon said, wiping his wet hands onto the handkerchief. He then saw you sitting ln the couch, your face in a sad expression "Hey? Everything okay?" walking towards you, he then sat besides you and put his hand on your shoulder "Hey, talk to me..." You turned your head to look at him. "We... We should stop this..." Your hands were shaking and your eyes almost filled with tears. Leon got confused on what your saying "w-what? What are you talking about?" " I m-mean... that we should end our relationship!" now tears were rolling down your cheek. Leon's eyes widen, confused "End it? W-why? Did I do something wrong? Tell me! and I'll fix it! I p-promise!" He begged. What were you saying? Why end it? Did he do something wrong? "Y/n... Please give me a reason?" He said, holding the both of your shaking hands in his. "I want our relationship to be known! I'm sick of everybody thinking that You and Ada are in a relationship which isn't true! But... Everyone can possibly hate me, them expecting that it should be Ada your dating not me-" you tried to talk but Leon interrupted you by putting his lips onto yours. He doesn't want any negative sentence coming from your mouth. His hand reaching up to your cheek caressing it. After that kiss, you couldn't help but kiss him again. The worries were disappearing, wrapping your arms around his neck. You pulled away from the kiss to catch a breath and admire him. A yelp then came out from your mouth when he suddenly picked you up, bridal style "Let's continue this to the bedroom" you giggled.

Throwing you to the bed. Leon undressing himself and his clothes placed somewhere else. He slowly crawl towards you with his eyes lock onto yours. "Let me take care of you..." He said, he was now on top of you. His head dip down to your neck kissing it making you moan. "Open your legs for me pretty... Let me show that your way better than that Ada" and so, you did. Your legs open just for him. His hand slowly pulling down your short pants, the cold air making contact to your skin. "Oh~? What's this?" You feel his fingers touching the sides of your panties "Isn't this the panties that i bought you~?" You immediately nodded, he chuckled and got even more horny than ever. You look beautiful and hot wearing it <3 maybe he should take a picture? "It's just for you L-leon..." You whispered. He smiled, of course it was just for him. "It is... I'm going to make you scream my name over and over again..." This... Is going to be a longgg night.

Falling down from the bed. The sound of Heavy breathes filling up the room. "Your killing me woman..." He joked, looking at you at his side still breathing heavily. "Did I go too hard on you?" Gosh, you love his aftercare's... It makes your heart feel warmer than ever. You shook your head "You know how I love it when you go rough" you tease him making him chuckle. You then felt him shuffle from the bed, looking to your right he seems to be getting something from the night stand. "Leon? What's that?" you ask him but he didn't respond but continue to search something from the night stand. "Leon?" He was holding something... It's a small red box- wait- He then turned around to you still laying at the bed. "Y/n... We've been together for more than 5 years an I enjoyed it so much. You mean so much to me. Your the last thing that I want to lose... I'd look forward to every little surprise and laughter I can give you. I love you so much Y/n, will you mary me?" Your heart was beating fast, and tears slowly starts to pour down to your cheeks... You don't know what to do... But can only let out a 'Yes!'. Letting him touch your fingers, he slid the ring to your index finger. You couldn't help but launch yourself to him hugging his naked body. "Woah, thare!" He laughed and that made you laugh too. He wrap his arms around your waist, his next mission was to plan the marriage.

PLEASEEEEEEE I HAVEN'T POSTED FOR A WEEK DKBAOBBQ.