#pine script coding

[trading-attitude]

📚Et si tu pouvais créer une libraire dans TRADINGVIEW en 5 minutes?

[ssa-dado]

i’m actually convinced that hotch is secretly a huge gossip. what if that’s the thing that gets him and fleabag reader to start talking? maybe it’s about one of the other pool dads ? hotch actually knows him cause his kid goes to school with jack and it’s something real scandalous. idk i just need to have hotch being nosey and spilling tea.

Pinot Grigio

triathlon!Aaron Hotchner x fleabag!reader Genre: 21st-century-feminist-meltdown-over-an-old-man mutual pining Summary: It’s a party. You’re the help. He’s the Hotchner. He shows up to the gala in jeans, insults a politician for you, then stands around long enough to overshare a bunch of gossip you didn’t ask for (meaning: casually reveals he’s been tracking your poolside admirers like a repressed Victorian husband.) Warnings: Explicit sexual language! (not graphic, it's all in reader's head and meant as a joke... for herself, apparently), alcohol use, age gap, cuss words, hint of the vile act of female masturbation *pearl clutch*, classism, mysogeny, unhealthy coping mechanisms (wine, gossip, Hotchner) Word Count: 4.2k Dado's Corner: This prompt was so juicy and triggered my brain just right, I had to fumble a lot to find the perfect setting to reveal Hotch’s true chatty grandma self hihihihi this was so funnn! (I think I wrote three different versions of it because my brain cells just refused to collaborate… but hopefully this one works.) [I didn’t end up scripting in the part where Hotch knows the dad because of Jack, butttt! trust me, it’s probably for the better.] Thank you so much for the request, marry meeee <3

masterlist(s)

Pinot Grigio.

Just a normal white wine.

Pear on the nose. Citrusy. Crisp. Innocent.

Until yesterday. 7:24 PM.

When Penelope Garcia - who you don’t know, didn’t follow, would absolutely remember if you did (because of the most adorable Lego duck earrings and blonde curls) - posted a single photo from some FBI event on Facebook.

A glass of wine in one hand. Aaron Hotchner’s shoulder in the other.

A bottle of Pinot Grigio right there on the table.

Since then, it’s been panic.

Pool moms liked. Pool moms shared. Some pool moms commented, even.

Penelope is now famous.

She’s gained at least forty new friend requests from women named Debbie (the cool-girl rebrand of Deborah), Beth (Bethany, but pretending), and Lisa (just... Lisa) - all of them hoping for fresh content.

A new Hotchner sighting. A blurry arm. The back of a head. The profile of his nose.

And now you are paying the price.

Because you’re six bottles deep into Pinot Grigio and currently opening your seventh for the Pool Extension Project Announcement Party.

(A name so thrilling it could only have been brainstormed by three men named Greg in a windowless office with beige carpets and no dreams... broken dreams, maybe.)

(Apparently they’re adding a spa? Maybe? You weren’t listening. You were too busy arranging the buffet to look “effortlessly elegant” while silently sobbing into a tray of beet hummus.)

You’re catering it. Sort of.

You were a last-minute call.

You were a desperate substitution. Someone dropped out, and they called you.

Because you are reliable.

Talented. Charming. Funny. Qualified. And – crucially - cheaper.

(Not cheap. Cheaper. Enough of a bargain to be flattering but still slightly degrading.)

And of course, you said yes. Said “I’d love to,” said “What’s the dress code?” while internally shrieking because - what if Aaron is there too? (He might be. He probably is.)

You also told yourself you weren’t dressing for him.

That you just wanted to look professional in your very black, very tailored to your body catering uniform (with a slutty apron) - but your ass looks absolutely divine in these trousers, and if it’s not captured in one of the official photos and framed in the break room, you’re suing.

Mayday. Mayday.

He’s here.

Confirmed visual.

Aaron Hotchner.

In the flesh. In the room.

Looking slightly out of place, which of course only makes him stand out more.

Navy button-up. Jeans.

(Jeans? Him? He owns a pair of jeans??? Who sold them to him? Who authorized this? Who gave this man thighs and then denim?)

(Well… apparently so. And they fit. Criminally well.)

Meanwhile, everyone else is trussed up in three-piece suits, using big grown adult vocabulary like municipal redevelopment-

(Meaning: someone’s cousin is getting paid a suspicious amount of money to plant four trees and call it urban renewal)-

and strategic infrastructure planning-

(Meaning: they’re finally going to pour some lukewarm asphalt over the holes in 45th St NW, right before election season.)

They all shake hands with fake smiles, congratulate each other on breathing, and pretend the room doesn’t still vaguely smell like feet and chlorine, despite the mountain of imported cheeses you spent hours shaping into perfect little geometric offerings to the gods of local politics.

And Aaron-

Aaron just stands there.

Not speaking. Not smiling. Not performing. Just existing.

And yet, somehow, he still looks more elegant than all of them combined.

God, what a man.

…A man you’ve had full conversations with–

in your head.

While brushing your teeth.

While shaving your legs.

While marinating chicken.

You’ve practiced your banter with him more than you’ve prepared for actual job interviews.

The fact that you’ve barely spoken to him in real life is not because you’re shy. Not because you’re afraid of rejection. Not because there’s the occasional whisper that he’s technically old enough to have fathered you if he’d started very, very young.

(Which, most of the time, only makes it more erotically confusing.)

No. (Yes.)

It’s because you lowkey hate him.

You hate him because he walked in holding his pool bag.

…He just showed up here to do his laps.

And you just know - deep in your soul, in your bloodstream, in your ovaries - that inside that bag is a navy speedo. Matching. To. His. Shirt.

A Speedo that will now never fulfill its destiny, heartlessly imprisoned, crushed by a rolled towel and - if you had to guess - a blister pack of ibuprofen (he’s old enough to break his back sneezing and still blame it on “tight hamstrings.”)

Because, clearly, judging by the way he’s confidently flipping the strap back up onto his shoulder…

He has no idea the pool is closed today.

Didn’t know there was a party. He wasn’t briefed. He didn’t glance at the laminated flyer at reception with a dolphin in a bowtie that said “Join us for the Pool Extension Gala!”

Beautiful, beautiful man. But apparently can’t read for shit.

Because he was too busy doing… FBI things.

Whatever that means.

You don’t really know what he does.

In your head it’s just a sweaty, shirt-clinging montage of him saving lives, wrestling evil, or rescuing kittens from burning houses and carrying them out in one arm while the other cradles a bleeding witness.

You just know it’s hotter than whatever the hell you do, because before he can take more than two steps into the room, he’s already being mobbed by politicians.

Actual, elected men - men with power, men with authority, men with at least three types of stress-induced hair loss and thinning temples they pretend aren’t happening.

And they know him. They recognize him.

They even lower their voices when they speak to him, they shake his hand with such reverence, you can smell their intimidation from all the way across the room.

The fear. The respect. The power. The arm veins. The way Aaron has no idea he’s the main event at a party he didn’t even know existed.

Quite ironically, on the other hand - on the small, overworked, kind of underpaid, sexually malnourished hand that is you - you haven’t slept properly in a week because of it.

Because of the stress of the endless prep and logistics and… fine, because of him too.

Sometimes at 4 a.m., you’d find yourself just… staring at the ceiling. Lying in the dark, vibrating with anxiety and something much less noble and your only two options for survival were:

Cooking. Loudly. Desperately. Whipping up reductions and spreads in your tiny kitchen, determined to perfect the fig-and-goat cheese tartlet while trying not to scream when the oven beeped and you realized the sun was already rising.

Or… Well. Let’s just say your neighbors must think you’re really, really into dental hygiene. What kind of electric toothbrush has that many vibration modes? What kind of dental tool sings at such frequency?

Answer: not a toothbrush.

It’s pink. Plastic. Takes two AA batteries and a prayer.

You may or may not bought it during a very dark week with your café tip money at 2 a.m. from the back shelf of a pharmacy, and since then it’s been the most stable relationship of your adult life.

You’ve had to steal batteries from your TV remote more than once just to get through the week.

She’s not fancy, but she gets the job done.

You’d recommend her.

You’d even recommend her to the woman now standing in front of you - if she’d stop looking at Hotchner and trying to hormonally inform him that she is, at this very moment, in the mating phase of her cycle.

It’s not even subtle - the little cleavage tug, the fluttery eyelashes, the way she’s nodding absently while you talk about acidity and finish, eyes locked on the back of his neck rolls.

You get it. You’ve been there. Last week, actually.

And even now - when you are categorically not ovulating, when you are actively trying to be a functioning member of a patriarchal society - he does, objectively, have a beautiful neck.

A neck that has almost certainly never been stressed about fig preserves or the structural integrity of a puff pastry shell.

“I’ll have that one,” she says, stopping you midway through your ramble and pointing at a bottle.

The fucking Pinot.

Of course you will.

You smile.

Because you are a professional.

Because rage doesn’t pair well with brie.

“Sure,” you say, and pour.

You handpicked twelve white wines for this event. Twelve.

Each chosen with a level of passion that should’ve been reserved for, say, human relationships or personal growth.

Some of them had to be pulled from tiny Italian cellars with shipping so disorganized you’re now on a first-name basis with a man named Lorenzo who thinks you’re unstable and possibly in love with him.

(You might be. You’ve sliced figs and cried about tannins. Your grip on reality is… soft.)

You woke up in cold sweats for a whole week wondering if the Soave made it through Zurich because Italians do not believe in emails. Or customs. Only God.

But none of it mattered, because in the end, it’s always the Pinot, for her – and all the other people that came to your stand earlier.

You call it the Aaron Hotchner Effect.

The logic goes like this:

“If in the picture, he was drinking Pinot, and I drink Pinot, then we have something in common. We can laugh. We can clink glasses.

He’d say something dry and low - “You’ve got good taste” - and brush my fingers as he takes the glass. Maybe the hand. Maybe the elbow. Maybe the fucking thigh.

We’d flirt.

And then he’d fuck me.

Some really good rough, sex up against his hardwood bed. He’d keep his tie on. Hold my wrists. Press his mouth to my shoulder to keep from making a sound, because letting go like that, making noise, would be too revealing. Too honest.

He’d fuck me until my knees gave in and my breath stuttered and my voice cracked from begging. He wouldn’t come until I had. At least three times.

And then, of course, He’d marry me.

All because I drank his wine.”

That’s the pipeline. That’s what’s happening behind their eyes.

And you can't even judge them.

You’d be doing the same, if you weren’t currently being reminded by the smell of onion jam soaked into the pocket of your apron that you’re on the job.

You’re the help, the wine girl no one listens to until the glass is already full and the flirting has failed.

But you’d do it. You would.

Just… correctly.

Because while everyone else in that cursed Facebook photo saw the bottle, you saw the glass.

His glass, the one shoved off to the side, barely in frame - because God forbid someone like Aaron Hotchner be photographed holding the fun juice. That would imply he experiences pleasure. Or whimsy. Or serotonin.

Still, you zoomed in. You don't like to admit that. You really don't. But you did.

And thanks to the course that still haunts your bank account - the one led by three men, all named Marco - you can confidently say, with devastating clarity:

That was not Pinot.

It was Verdicchio.

Lean. Salty. A little green around the edges.

The kind of wine that doesn’t care if you like it.

Citrus and sea air and something just a little bit wrong at the end, like it’s judging you.

And maybe it is.

It’s bitter. Quiet. Difficult.

Difficult also because no one knows how to properly pronounce its name - you didn’t. You butchered it every time and got scolded by each of the Marcos at least once.

(Marco One - smoking indoors in his wool turtleneck in July, would hiss, "No, no, Ver-deek-kio, not Ver-dish-ee-oh, do you want to die in shame?")

(Marco Two made you repeat it five times in a row in front of the whole class.)

(Marco Three just muttered “Madonna Santa” and poured himself another glass.)

Verdicchio doesn’t seduce.

It holds its distance, stands in the corner of the room with crossed arms, and waits for you to prove you're worth the conversation.

Half the people who taste it hate it. The other half get addicted.

It lingers. It cuts. It stays in your mouth longer than it should.

A wine with boundaries.

A wine that says: you don’t know me.

You think you do, but you don’t.

Just like Aaron.

And you tried, betraying everything the three Marcos ever taught you about integrity, balance, and correct regional pairings, to guide each of your (unwanted) patient tragically afflicted with Hotchism toward the Verdicchio.

Even when it didn’t pair with what they were eating. Even when it clashed. Even when it made your soul itch with the wrongness of a soft-rind Brie beside all that salinity.

You’re not a bitch. You don’t gatekeep. You offer your knowledge freely. Warmly. Kindly.

But you’d be lying if you said that knowing the truth didn’t make you feel good.

Smug.

A little superior.

And yes, fine, maybe that made you feel close to him.

Closer.

Maybe you are a bitch.

Because you could have said it, could have casually dropped the line - “Oh, by the way, he was drinking Verdicchio. It wasn’t the Pinot.”

You could have been generous. Transparent. Correct.

But it wouldn’t have changed anything.

You’d be out of Verdicchio instead of Pinot.

They’d still fawn.

Still flutter.

Still call him Agent Hotchner with that glazed, pseudo-coy voice like they’re already imagining what his mattress feels like.

(It’s probably very firm. Orthopedic. Recommended by his chiropractor. No softness. No give. Posture is sacred. Comfort is weakness.)

(He probably tucks the sheets so tight you’d have no choice but to scooch closer to him just to have some room to breathe. Which, obviously, is the point.)

Same thirst, different label.

Maybe you’d tell the first one who actually listens to you.

The first one who doesn’t treat you like furniture in an apron. The first one who doesn’t cut you off mid-sentence the moment they clock that the politicians are loosening their grip on him.

Maybe the reason why you have such a crush on him is because he’s everything.

And you’re- well. You’re here.

In shoes that are starting to pinch. With wine on your hands and fig paste in your hair. With bills and back pain and the slow, creeping dread that no one really sees you unless you’re holding something they want.

And even then, just barely.

He’s elegant, unreadable, capital letter Important.

You’re… nice. Warm. Cheap... cheaper.

Maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s the whole appeal.

Maybe that’s why you keep staring at him as he’s basically dragged to your tasting stand by a small parade of men who spend their days warming seats in the Senate and collecting checks for pretending they invented civic duty.

One of the men makes the effort to squint at your name tag.

You can see the gears turning in his head as he uses it - not to address you - but to soften the blow of a condescending joke he thinks is charming, such as “how rare it is to find a young woman with taste… especially one who serves.”

You smile.

Because that’s the job.

You’re the help. The scener-

“What do you mean?” Aaron asks, turned slightly toward the man, voice flat.

He looks disgusted.

(Though, in fairness, everything he says sounds vaguely judgmental. That’s just his face.)

“Oh, no… Hotchner, don’t get me wrong. I mean it as a compliment. I admire it. Not everyone’s meant to chase titles or build a résumé, you know? And that’s not a bad thing - society only works because some people are content doing the everyday stuff. The real work.”

You’re two seconds away from breaking the last Pinot bottle over his head.

Kill two birds with one stone: one bottle, one condescending prick, and finally, blissful silence.

“…We need the people who keep the wheels turning. Mechanics. Hairdressers. Cooks…”

He gestures vaguely to you, apparently your existence is now an example. A concept. An idea. Something nice to look at when dressed in black and pouring wine.

“Really,” he adds - just in case you didn’t catch the insult the first three times - “I admire it.”

“Do you always talk to people like this?” Aaron doesn’t raise his voice - just tilts his head slightly, gaze locked on the man with a kind of stillness that, for reasons you’ve yet to comprehend, is louder than yelling.

It’s unsettling.

“What? I’m paying her a compliment.” Senator Asshole tries to laugh it off.

“You’re condescending to her. It’s not the same thing.”

“Come on,” Senator Asshole chuckles, flicking a desperate glance around, “I’m just saying she’s good at what she does.”

“And I’m saying maybe you should stop talking,” Aaron hisses.

The silence is immediate.

Aaron just stares at him – for one, two, three, four??? Seconds.

Senator Asshole, sadly, does not burst into flames. He’s stolen away by Councillor Buttchin, who probably heard everything and tries to mop it up with the limp excuse of needing to discuss “urban renewal”

(Meaning: gentrification. The rich man’s robbery.)

And so Aaron watches him leave, before he turns back to you.

“I’m so sorry,” he says, shaking his head. “The asshole didn’t even apologise.”

(He’s very hot when he swears.)

You wave it off. “It’s alright.”

“No. It’s not. It’s disgust-”

“It’s not the first time,” you cut him off. Because you don’t want to hear it. The apology. The concern. The male guilt wrapped in decency like it's somehow revolutionary.

Yes, thank you for noticing misogyny exists. Gold star.

You’ve done the bare minimum and you’re very tall so it feels like more. Congratulations on not being a monster.

At least, that’s what the rational part of you is saying. The one with a spine. The one that reads theory and donates when she can.

The other part – the one currently regulating the lubrication levels of a certain region of your body that apparently believes being mildly defended by a man with forearms like that is enough to justify reproduction - has… other thoughts.

Darwin would call it natural selection.

You’d call it bringing feminism back fifty years in one pelvic pulse.

But maybe your body’s oh-so-romantically prepping for insemination because he doesn’t make a speech.

He doesn’t continue to perform, doesn’t launch into a well-rehearsed monologue about respect, social or say something like “I have a lot of female friends, my mom is a woman, for instance.”

He doesn’t explain how decent he is.

He just… nods. Gives you a flicker of a concerned half-smile (because he’s a dad, and concern is hardwired into his frontal cortex, right between disapproval and knows best.)

But it’s quiet. Undramatic.

Like he saw it. Heard it. Filed it.

And now he’s moving on. Not because it didn’t matter. But because it did.

And not just emotionally, physically. Actually moving-moving.

Shifts halfway down the shorter end of your stand - not technically in your area, but just close enough that if he got any nearer, people might start asking him what cheese pairs with a Chablis.

(Which would be a disaster, because he looks like he’d say “cheddar” and then stare you down until you corrected him.)

Close enough to feel like a choice.

He doesn’t look at you. Scans the room instead, until his gaze lands on something. Someone.

“See that guy?” he says, nodding subtly toward ‘that guy’ across the room.

You follow the gesture.

Ah. That guy.

Mid-thirties.

You don’t know his name.

You just know he’s always suspiciously nearby. Hovering. Lurking. Casually orbiting the table where you sit every week in the pool cafeteria while waiting for your friend to finish her laps.

Objectively hot - if your type is broad shoulders, hollow eyes, and a divorce lawyer in waiting (and it pretty much is, unfortunately.)

He has a kid, you’re pretty sure. And a wedding ring he forgets to forget.

The kind of man who blames his wife’s headaches instead of confronting the fact he thinks the clitoris was a Greek philosopher.

(“Clitoris? He makes an appearance in Plato’s Symposium, doesn’t he?”)

“He’s been battling with himself over asking for your number for about a month,” Aaron says. “Still hasn’t managed it.”

Oooooooooooooookay.

Weird. Unexpected. Also deeply awkward.

(How strange that it’s not you making things weird for once.)

“And…” you trail off, because you’re too distracted by how he looks like he’s regretting it all - what a loser. “You’re saying this because you want me to hand it to him directly?”

“Oh, not at all.” Boy. That was fast. Too fast. “…he’s married.” You knew that already. “…You shouldn’t-”

“I shouldn’t?” You blink.

“Um, you…” He shakes his head, “You should… just… know this.”

…Right.

Aaron’s wife definitely cheated on him. Or maybe he’s just a prude. Or a control freak.

All possible. All extremely inconvenient. Poor him. Or maybe he deserved it, who knows.

“…Thanks,” you say flatly. “You… want something to drink?”

You ask because it’s polite… and also because he’s technically clogging the line forming behind him (all faint whiffs of Pinot settling directly into your nostrils from people pretending they need a refill, when really, they just want to stand near him.)

(Mr. Aaron.)

(Awkward-mr.-Aaron.)

(Socially-repressed-emotionally-terrifying-mr.-Aaron.)

(Mr. very-much-returning-to-the-place-he’s-meant-to-be, mr. Aaron.)

(Mr. leaning-in-to-read-the-wine-list, mr. Aaron.)

(Mr-)

“How did you know about the guy?” slips out of you, as you’re already pouring something into an empty glass just to keep moving… you don’t even look at the bottle.

No pear. So, not Pinot. (Small victories.)

“He always sits on the side of the table facing you, instead of watching his son’s swimming lesson like the rest of the parents.”

Yeah, okay, that guy is a bit way too obvious, but the problem only continues to be him.

Aaron.

“He straightens his posture every time you laugh.”

Aaron, who shouldn’t have time to notice these things. Who stops by every other week, maybe. Maybe less. Always suited. Always in a rush. Always delivering the same three lines.

“Americano, no sugar.”

“Card.”

“Have a nice day.”

He never lingers. He doesn’t sit. Doesn’t even stir the coffee. Just takes it and goes. Gone before the register beeps. FBI stuff awaiting for him.

“He ordered the same drink as you twice. Didn’t drink it. He doesn’t like cappuccino, he only did that because he thought you’d notice him”

So, how the hell does Aaron know? How does he notice you? Because he must have.

Somewhere in those two-minute drop-ins. In the blur between Card and Have a nice day. In the handful of seconds he’s ever been within ten feet of you.

Unless…

“Puts his phone down when you walk in. Doesn’t check it again until you’re gone.”

Unless he did look. Unless he looked specifically at you. Out of all the people. All the tables. All the parents and staff and regulars.

“His son finishes swimming before your friend. He doesn’t leave. Doesn’t talk to anyone else. Always finds something to do. Phone. Book. Pretending to read the sign about pool shoes.”

He saw you. And he remembered.

Which means…

“Always leaves five minutes after you. Never before. Never with anyone else.”

He’s either been paying attention. Or this big, terrifying federal agent is actually just… a massive gossip.

You freeze, because he picks up the glass you poured.

It wasn’t meant for him. You didn’t even know what it was.

Aaron swirls it once.

Leans in. Smells it.

Then brings it to his lips-

And hums.

A low, pleased little sound that settles right between your legs  lungs, ergo straight to your heart. Because you’re a professional. And you take the sommelier thing very seriously.

You’re just passionate about your craft.

Especially about praise.

You love being praised.

On the job.

For the wine.

“People give a lot of themselves away when they want someone,” he says softly, almost kind.

Then he licks his lips. Just to clean the red off.

But it’s slow. Thoughtless. (Only makes it worse for you, honestly.)

You’re magnetically locked onto that smart mouth, so it’s easy to catch the small smile he gives you before turning and walking away.

Still with that soggy pool bag slung over his shoulder.

Fuck.

The things you wouldn’t do to that man.

“Can I have what he just had?” the next woman in line asks, already stepping up.

Of course you can.

That’s the point of lines, isn’t it? You wait your turn, you get what you want, and you leave. No lingering. No swooning. No involuntary pelvic lurches.

Survival.

Even if the sommelier - oh, that’s you! What a coincidence - would swear to drink Pinot for an entire godforsaken month just for five more seconds with that huge, handsome, back in that goddamn navy shirt… and that mouth too.

You glance at the bottle in your hand.

What did you even pour?

Oh. Of course.

It’s that wine.

The one you only open on nights when you’re either crying or coming.

The one that tasted like a mistake the first time and like a need every time after.

Aglianico.

Black fruit. Smoke. Leather.

Earthy. Dense. A little savage around the edges.

Unapologetic.

Masculine.

Slow to open.

Demands patience.

Tastes better if you wait for it.

Like all the worst things.

And all the best ones.

What a coincidence, really.

Phi's Corner: requests for fleabag!reader x Hotch are (wide) open(ed)!

taglist: @beata1108 ; @c-losur3 ; @fangirlunknown ; @hayleym1234 ; @justyourusualash ; @khxna ; @kyrathekiller ; @littlemisskavities ; @lostinwonderland314 ; @mmmunson ; @mxblobby ; @oxforce ; @percysley ; @person-005 ; @prettybaby-reid ; @reidfile ; @royalestrellas ; @ssa-callahan ; @softestqueeen ; @theseerbetweenus ; @todorokishoe24

[ashtxrie]

submitted 11:59 pm

— alternatively, enhypen maknaes as your typical high school crush!

PAIR. high school! enhypen maknaes x gn!reader (rest under cut) GENRE. fluff, high school au, bullet points WORD COUNT. 1.8k total HYUNG LINE VER.

김선우 — kim sunoo

candy hearts, spotify playlists, good morning texts, easy laughter, crescent smiles

in high school, sunoo's known as being super friendly and sociable

and because of that, he has a ton of friends

like he basically knows everyone

you and sunoo have definitely talked before, and you may have had a teensy tiny crush on him from your... downward of five interactions

he's kind of like your hallway crush!

however, you DON'T know that he has had a crush on you for FOREVER

like a MASSIVE one! SINCE MIDDLE SCHOOL

and his friends are SICK AND TIRED of hearing about it

man's dedicated because he really saw you in every single one of your phases and STILL decides to like you. he's a real one

he's so whipped like he's hitting up the group chat (named "en- gang" by riki btw) at 1 in the morning being like

"GUESS WHAT?!!! she smiled at me today ☺️ i forgot to tell you all"

everyone is so done

"did you talk to her though"

"NO. i'm getting there"

"all you did was make eye contact for the past month be srs rn"

so one day jay and jungwon (your mutual friends), who were in the same english class as you both, were feeling DEVIOUS

it was the fall semester final project, and it was supposed to be worked on in teams of 2 to 3

"bro you are NOT working on it with us the love of your life is literally RIGHT there"

jay and jungwon took matters into their own hands and forcefully excluded sunoo ("you guys are so fake")

so now, with no other option, he had to approach you!

"do you have a group already? if not, we could work together?"

wait wtf he didn't say that

hey....

it was YOU???

you approached him first??? he was SHOCKED

tried to play it cool but his smile gave away how happy he was

"yes!!!! let's work together!!!!! :)"

the project actually went so well he has literally never been happier typing away on that document every night

updates the group chat periodically too

"when we were working on the google doc at 2 am in the morning our cursors went over each other’s & it was like we were holding hands :>>"

"how do i unsubscribe"

"you're just mad because you've never been in love <333"

secretly sunoo's thanking his friends though because now you guys are basically close friends!

while doing the project together you started talking about school, friends, life, and everything in between

talking with you just seemed so natural, and sunoo wonders why he was so afraid of it before

i'd like to think that with you, sunoo doesn't feel the need to always put on the bubbly and outgoing side of him

sometimes, he can just be quiet and calm sunoo with you, and the silence feels so comfortable and safe

you start hanging out more and more, and soon you've met so many people through sunoo that they think of you whenever they think of him too

it's like a package deal!

throughout this time he's still madly in love with you btw

he just wants to take things slow! he didn't want to scare you away or anything

and yes, the gc is STILL getting their daily sunooyn Down Bad News Network

"today during lunch she gave me a yakult bottle, i think she’s starting to like me back! :D"

he does Not know you've liked him all this time

the mutual pining is crazy

he (finally) confesses after a whole YEAR

he's super nervous about it, has possible plan b's scripted and sat through 30 minutes of youtube subliminal audios the day before for extra good luck

after he says his whole heartfelt confession, he gives you this handwritten letter with all of his favorite moments with you in the past year, complete with spotify codes next to each one that links to a specific song he thought of at the time

you teared up a bit because oh my gosh it was so cute he was so cute and your heart just melted

you told him you've liked him since forever too and he was FLABBERGASTED

you both also reveal that you've BOTH had hidden spotify playlists dedicated for each other???

let's just say that even years later, the 'en- gang' group chat would NEVER let sunoo live down his digital footprint

양정원 — yang jungwon

strawberries, honors classes, coming of age, familiarity, inside jokes, paper rings

your childhood best friend

who just so happens to also be mr student council president, king of extracurriculars, resident academic powerhouse

and also a LITTLE SHIT about it

since elementary school, you've got some friendly (and not-so-friendly) rivalry going on

"we both know who’s going to get the higher score for this chem final” 

“yeah, and it’s going to be me”

“NAH” 

but the drive you get from the competition is really what brought you guys together

it's what keeps you motivated, it's what keeps you going

and he's funny! (though you'd never admit it)

because yes, you're both trying to beat each other for the top spot in class rank

but you also get each other

you've been study buddies since the beginning of time, and he keeps the two of you accountable

sometimes he's TOO responsible

"jungwon don't let the pomodoro timer dictate you life can we PLEASE take a snack break right nowww"

"we literally did that FIVE MINUTES AGO"

outside of studying he's really chill though

one summer he started to get really into alchemy of souls and you binged the series twice together, effectively destroying both of your sleep schedules right before school started

he just loves existing in the same space as you tbh

definitely loves calling you for hours during the school year, whether to review for an upcoming exam or to just have the two of you do your own things while connected on the phone

it's pretty common for the two of you to fall asleep while on call with one another

late night yapping sessions (hello??? his weverse addiction??)

he feels like he can just let his responsibilities go and you're the only person who really understands him and everything he does and why he does it

lowkey.... he also just wants to make you proud :(

he was so happy that one time you offhandedly mentioned how you've seen and appreciated all the hard work he was putting in for one of the school events

when he eventually confessed to you, everything just made sense

like the way your eyes always lingered on his bright smile when he showed up on your doorstep at the crack of dawn

and how even when you tease each other, you never miss how he would reach for your hand with his own before retracting it hurriedly as if changing his mind

now, oh he just makes you feel so loved

texts you at random times of the day just because, sending you the most random images and captioning them with "us"

he's still got the silliness in him though!

"i want to try every strawberry with chocolate combination with you <333"

西村力 — nishimura riki

neon lights, school dances, sunglasses, finger guns, playful banter, shared hoodies

honestly he's just at school for the vibes

however, he DID take homecoming very seriously

with one goal in mind: to DOMINATE the dance floor

and dominate he did.

he partied in the USA so hard that by the end of the night, everyone was talking about that freshman who left everyone speechless at a HIGH SCHOOL DANCE

among those witnesses of how riki out-danced the entire school population, were you

and you thought he was literally the coolest person ever

fast forward two years, and you're a junior now

it's all good! you've definitely outgrown your month-long admiration of the Guy From Hoco

but yo what guess who sits right next to your seat in class???

it's the Guy From Hoco himself

honestly, you're a pretty chill person so you turned to him and were like "hey aren't you that guy that got famous back during hoco freshman year?"

but now? he’s EMBARRASSED to admit it

"oh uhhh that wasn't me haha"

boy bffr you would know his face anywhere

you kind of gave him a questioning look and shrugged

"oh well, i thought it was really cool though"

he instantly backtracks, because you thought it was cool and NOT an aura loss????

"wait i think i remember now haha that WAS me!!!"

you guys match energy so well tbh

he started to catch feelings for you because of how funny you were and how you two just clicked, but he was stuck in denial FOREVER

"I DON'T CHASE I ATTRACT" (desperate)

heeseung also tried to give him "rizz counseling" but that just ended up with them both saying "mb gang" at everything

which was..... not very rizzy!

you had convinced him to audition for the competition dance team at your school, which he obviously made

he texted you the day he got in too, typing in all caps in everything which he NEVER does

"why would you scream about things in caps lock when you can be cool and nonchalant" YEAH SURE RIKI

updated all his social media bios to @[school]varsitydanceteam the moment he got the acceptance notif

“[name] is my instagram bio tuff”

“WHY ARE U ALR PUTTING IT IN YOUR BIO"

"because i’m committed and it lets them know i’m part of a professional community"

(heeseung told him that it would show his commitment to the sport and thus his potential to commit to you.)

at this point, riki was ready to fire heeseung and switch to jake as his ghostwriter 💀

but little did he know, you started liking him too once you saw how genuinely hardworking he was when he has a goal

like those hours he spent on call with you asking if you thought this one move was clean enough?? he really put in his all (he also wanted to impress you)

you kind of had the idea that he liked you back, because let's be honest he was being a bit obvious about it

the way he almost choked when you hugged him congratulations??? he looked DAZED for a whole hour

you had to confess to riki because his heejake rizz courses consisted mainly of heeseung and jake arguing about whose approach was better

even when you two became a couple, you still had teasing as a love language LMAO

"HAHA 🫵🫵 YOU'RE SO SHORT i still love you though <3"

it's just how he shows his love, but he also loves draping his arm across your shoulders when walking around

made sure to emphasize to heeseung and jake that this was all his doing and they did not help him at ALL

but let's be real, YOU were the rizziest of them all

and riki agrees <3

TAGLIST : @star-sim @boyfiejay @jlheon @jwsdoll @dimplewonie @suneng @en-gelic @mygnolia @asteria-wood

[absolutebl]

Best 24 of BL 2024 - Quirky Awards

ONLY shows that ENDED their runs in 2024 are up for awards.

SHOCK & AWE AWARDS

1. Biggest BL surprise of 2024:

Cherry Magic Thailand. TayNew's version was truly a lovely experience and very much its own take on the original, an adaptation rather than a remake. I'm so relieved and grateful that GMMTV managed to pull it off, and sad it wasn't more widely available.

2. The “that country did WHAT?” award:

Meet You At the Blossom from China. From start to finish it is exactly as it claimed to be, wuxia BL, including more than the expected amount of sexual claiming (dubious consent to the point of rape) and actual kisses, wife language, floaty sleeves, you name it. FROM CHINA!!!

3. Biggest casting whoa! where did you come from? award:

Up & Poom in My Stand-In. I mean, WHERE did you two come from and how did this happen? Holy smokes. My goodness are we grateful!

4. That studio did WHAT now? award:

Youku putting Unknown out wide and easily avaiable on YouTube (for most of us). It's just really rare for a Taiwanese BL to get any kind of distribution. And to do that with arguably the best TaBL of the year and not some sad little mew mew? Amazing.

5. I’m sad you were ignored award:

Sugar Dog Life - such a charming JBL, so hard to find. I'm so sad it didn't get distribution. It's charming, one of my favorites of the year, worth tracking down if you can.

6. 2024 BL That Actually Made Me Lose My Mind Award?

I gotta be honest, it was The Sign. I was such a chaotic mess of a show but never once was I bored. It was the only one that drove me into memes and captions and silliness.

I did go a bit feral for a while over Love for Loves Sake and Wandee Gooday not to mention The Only One (until it went tits-up).

NARRATIVE AWARDS

7. Best story 2024:

Cherry Magic (Thai remake). I know, but it worked just as well in another country, if not better. I always enjoy this kind of magical realism concept (after all Color Rush is one of my all time favorite BLs) and despite the increased length, the pacing was solid on this one... even from Thailand.

8. Best narrative structure 2024 award:

Love For Love's Sake. A KBL isekai about a man who must win a game by convincing a reserved teen outcast to fall in love with him. Of course, that teen represents himself and his own unhappiness. I drowned in this show and liked it that way.

9. Best 2024 dialogue (script) award:

We Are, it was just so much fun. And so FUNNY.

10. Favorite scene 2024:

Like anyone needed to ask. Unknown, of course.

11. The most rewatchable BL of 2024 award:

We Are

It's just all the couples are so cute and the core friendship group is so charming and endearing.

ACTORS & CHARACTERS AWARDS

12. Best performance of a queer actor in a leading role:

no award this year, yeah the whole damn industry should be thoroughly ashamed of itself

13. Best pining 2024:

The Time of Fever. That feeding him orange while lying on the floor scene ALONE.

14. Best wingman 2024 (The Namgoong Award)

Yai in The Sign.

15. Biggest OMG I LOVE you boys together, YAY!

SailubPon from Pit Babe & This Love Doesn't Have Longbeans, from the softness of one to the health code violations of the other. Sure their shows are bonkers, but man are these two good at bonkers (and bonking).

With a nod to BigPark from Monster Next Door.

16. Most unexpected return of a BL pair? award:

OffGun. There were rumors that Off was out at the beginning of 2023. And then they came back with 2 shows in 2024 (Cooking Crush and The Trainee)!

17. Well aren't you two just the prettiest? award:

I dithered a lot (Babe's damn waist and OMG The Sign's sex scenes hawt), but in the end it had to go to GreatInn. They were just so good at showing their characters having FUN together. There is a lot of beauty in enjoying sex and another person's company. It's so rare to see that portrayed in a BL (and it shouldn't be rare).

18. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

I'm actually giving it to OffGun. Ya know, where others falter, these two just keep going. It's kinda amazing.

RANDOM PICKS

19. Favorite Linguistic Moment of 2024:

The general flirtatious banter from Last Twilight.

20. Biggest disappointment of 2024:

Addicted Heroin (Thai version). Some of the very best original material + one of my favorite Thai actors (who I've been waiting eons to see in a BL again) and THIS was the result? They could have fixed China's worst BL mistake, instead the made everything worse. I'm gonna be bitter for a really really long time.

I gotta sat The Only One comes a real close second tho. And I'm still mad about Last Twilight, too.

21. Best Wardrobe/Prop Use 2023

Meet You At The Blossom - I love a pretty boy pissing contest over who has the biggest sleeves. Twirl you beautiful bastards, TWIRL!

22. Best Queer Rep 2024

Again, not great this year. I loved the fun sex and play in Wandee, but there were precious few femme characters, and in general it felt like we took some steps back from queerness this year. So I'm gonna give it to Deep Night, because at least they gave us honest poly for the first time.

23. Best Meta Trope call out

Love for Love Sake - Korea taking to task the Dead Fish Kiss when they are often the worst offender was...... amusing.

But Deep Night having male sex workers having to act like they were in a BL for a couple chicks...... literally gay for pay depicting gay for pay and just, well, that's frankly a gut punch. There was some sarcastic clapping on my side of the screen.

24. Well aren't you getting all Live Action Yaoi retro with your bad self?

Dominant Yakuza and Wimpy Corporate Slave gets my vintage af award. I flipping LOVED it. Would I recommend it? Only if you, yourself, are a bit vintage.

Final question: which of the 24 was the hardest for me to pick?

20 Biggest disappointment of 2024. Look I had some pretty high expectations of some returning pairs, some great ideas, and some intriguing remakes. 2024 was full of disappointments.

2022's Version of the Quirkies

2023's Version of the Quirkies

Remember I only pull from shows that were completely finished by the end of 2024.

(source)

[litgarchive]

💕 Demo on itch.io

💕 Status (as of December 8, 2023)

Demo is live. Mapping of Season 3 in progress.

💕 About

This is based on the idea of at least preserving the text of one of my favorite visual novels, Love Island The Game, by Fusebox. Seasons 1 to 3 will be removed from the original app (which had been renamed Love Villa at some point) on December 11, 2023.

The plan for now is to manually extract the script from the game, then code it into a simple, fully text-based, playable format. This will be done for Seasons 1 to 3.

The LITG Fan Community has decided to record and preserve what we can:

Here's the post by @mrsbsmooth on recorded playthroughs. This is my main source of script extraction, including recordings made by my fellow writers. As a fan of this game, I cannot thank you all enough for this.

Here's a link to the LITG Remastered Discord Server. This is a separate project and they are seeking to add details to routes and complete the experience.

💕 Features

Mobile-friendly. Browser-playable. Saves progress locally on your browser. Made with spite and technical debt ink and Atrament.

There are still many missing variables. They will be marked (INCOMPLETE). If you choose them, you will be sent to the next scene.

💕 Contact

If you have any comments, suggestions, references, or just want to reach out, feel free to send an ask or message me here or on Discord (@pine). You can also leave a comment on the game page on itch.io.

[eisforeidolon]

Hellers still going on about “Watching Over Me” being about Cass. Claiming Jensen confirmed it in a meet and greet. It’s funny they never have video proof beyond, “Misha said it”.

That's kind of what they do.

One of them comes up with a totally bonkers interpretation of something, completely makes some shit up they claim totally happened (trust me bro!), or Misha queerbaits them to keep the minion attention/money flowing. The rest of them, like the gullible and obsessed desperate conspiracy theorists they are, repeat it among themselves over and over and over as "proof" their ship(s) are totes real until the heat death of the universe. The part where it's batshit insane, has zero evidentiary backing, or even has been clearly refuted? Completely irrelevant!

Here, one of them came up with a totally bonkers interpretation of the song while desperately searching Radio Company's catalogue for secret hidden clues that Jensen was pining away, miserable that the SPN finale didn't end with D/C. Misha heard about it, and because he's a spineless backstabbing weasel with all the integrity of a disintegrating toupee, quote unquote joked about it being true. I can't remember if someone made up the M&G story of him confirming it wholesale or if it was a creative reinterpretation of someone else's M&G report, insisting Jensen confirmed it when the fan actually reported him saying something to the effect of not intending/wanting to say songs had specific meanings. Regardless, believing it's actually legit requires ignoring:

The part where it's pretty absurd to think Steve and Jensen are sitting around writing songs from Dean's PoV, and batshit insane to think Steve and Jensen would be sitting around writing songs about a fictional non-canon ship Jensen has made it clear multiple times he is baffled by the popularity of and sees as no part of Dean's story. Especially when Jensen has said the majority of the writing is actually Steve's. The part where Misha couldn't even fucking name what song it supposedly was that was totes for real about Dean and Cass. The part where there are specific reports that STEVE talked about that song in a Patreon livestream to say it was about having an angel watching over you that you don't want watching over you, not some schmoopy romance. The part where, once again, Jensen supposedly validates D/C all the time ... just so long as no one is recording him.

None of that matters, and if one of them mustered up the idiocy to ask Jensen onstage at the next convention if it was a D/C song and he literally just stared at them in angry bafflement and said, "No." before immediately moving on? They'd make up a million reasons he was lying, didn't understand his own song, or how "No." was aCtUaLLy super secret code for "OMG YES."

It's the same story with their meta ~*interpreting*~ a love story out of bad stereotypes and random minutiae. It's the same story with their constant tales of Jensen telling a fan in detail how he totes lurves D/C now in ops/autos - often at the same cons where he shoots it down onstage. It's the same story with their absurd claims Misha was a third lead and saved the show. It's the same story with all their myriad conspiracies about the finale regarding the network/secret footage/secret scripts/Jared/NDAs/etc. It's the same story with their insistence Jensen hates the aired finale and barn scene because he didn't like the initial pitch. And on and on and on and on...

Being a heller means actively rejecting living in a rational, fact-based reality in favor of steeping yourself in The Undeniable Truth of Detestiel until your brain boils away to nothing.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Go with me here - I have thoughts!

So I’ve been thinking about this since we got the stills, of both Buck and tommy at the loft, but also the divorcing couple, but then the quote from Tim got me feeling more convinced than ever!

Tim has revealed quite a lot in this quote - it confirms that whatever it is is about Tommy and about the BuckTommy relationship - its not about other outside things - there are only a couple of things that that could mean.

I don’t think it’s going to be about Abby - but I do think she is relevant! I’m very much still sticking with my theory that Tommy is an alt version of Buck and things are feeling more and more like this is in fact the case. See if Tommy is alt Buck then we have some very interesting parallels and contrasts to explore, especially around the part of my theory that BuckTommy is a reversion of the BuckAbby relationship - only this time, Buck is in the same place as Abby - so the one who wants out of the relationship whilst not knowing how to actually end said relationship.

Buck and Abbys relationship was Bucks entry level relationship into the concept of actually dating and being with someone - not just for sex - but for them as a whole person. Tommy has been described by Tim in the same way - as an entry level queer relationship for Buck. Buck is the main character here, so he needs to show growth and development - so putting him into the same place Abby was - having him figure out how to end things on his own terms - talking to his family and actually recognising what it is he wants - showing us that on screen -that would be a good thing.

Say we get a inadvertent confession from Tommy early on in the episode - where Tommy implies that he was interested in Eddie first - pursuing Eddie before he switched to Buck - just as a throw away comment that can be read in multiple ways, but is enough to send Buck spiralling and seeking the advice of Bobby and of Maddie and Josh - everything then ‘becomes clear’ later on towards the end of the episode when Tommy fully reveals and confirms that he was into Eddie not Buck. It makes complete sense to play it in parallel to Buck Abby - it’s the way it creates a spiral that allows Buck to avoid Tommy for a short period so that he doesn’t have to start thinking about his own feelings at the start of their relationship - he doesn’t have to confront the fact that he might’ve got things wrong and that it wasn’t Tommy he was feelings things for - he was threatened by Tommy - because he posed a threat to Bucks relationship with Eddie - and if that is the case then Buck has to face up to the reality of his feelings for Eddie - that they are not actually platonic.

Ultimately Buck will realise he’s got to end things with Tommy and give himself the space to work out the Eddie of it all - that it’s not fair to be in a relationship he can’t fully give himself to. It gives him the closure he never really got from Abby when she left him and gives him a large amount of growth and it also gives us pining Buck as we head into Hiatus and when we start 8b.

I’m not just pulling this out of thin air either - there are a few things that back up my theory from a costume and set perspective - and from a script and directorial perspective too.

Firstly we have divorcing couple storyline - a man quite literally spilling his guts - a man who it seems from the episode blurb, doesn’t want a divorce. He is wearing a plaid check suit jacket - which mirrors the plaid we have seen Tommy wearing so far this season - and ties into the suit jacket at the end of Episode 5. The ex wife is wearing yellow and blue - the Buck and Eddie colours (see mine or @lover-of-mine ‘s many metas on the subject of blue and yellow and Buck and Eddie!) the set of that scene is also heavily yellow blue coded - the painting on the wall especially.

Then we have the fact that Tommy has been located in the exact same place as Eddie was in the coming out scene from 705 - and wearing Black - I think its really really ket that we note this fact - mirroring that scene is a very loud directorial, set and costuming choice. Tommy is meant to mirror Eddie from that 705 scene - Eddie is making his own confessions in that scene - he is basically figuring out how to break up with Marisol because he didn’t know this big thing about her (and that big thing is hitting a bit too close to home for Eddie) and we get a whole thing about buck and tommy having the right idea - to just hang out with the boys etc. Eddie basically reverts on his plans to end things with Marisol when Buck makes his own confession.

So we have a scene about confessions in an episode called confessions paralleling a scene about confessions in an episode called you don’t know me - that is a choice - a very intentional one. Plus there is the fact that Tommy is sat in Eddie’s seat saying he thought Eddie was gay would be really great paralleling to Eddie taking Bucks coming out to mean for him to fix things with Marisol because Buck had become available and unavailable to Eddie. Eddie now has the knowledge that Buck was an option, but that he’s not available as an option. So a Tommy confession that plays into the buddie of it all both helps the queer Eddie arc along as well as driving Bucks arc forward - creating a big enough hurdle for Buck to chose to end the relationship, but also a hurdle that the relationship could successfully navigate its way over if both parties wanted to.

The thing is - Bucks costume tells us all we need to know about which direction this will ultimately go in - he is wearing Blue in the scene with Eddie - the one time he actively chooses to come out to someone (the fact its Eddie is telling all on its own) - and that specific blue is very heavily connected to Bucks journey in figuring himself out - who he is and what he wants in his life - its a colour very much tied to Eddie - he wears that shade of blue in Eddie heavy scenes - and tends to wear different shades of blue in connection with other characters (look at my s6 costume metas for more on the subject!) The fact that buck is in green for this upcoming Tommy scene is an indicator that the relationship is nearing its end - Buck wears green when relationships end - this bears out all the way back to season 1 - he is wearing a green plaid shirt at the airport when Abby leaves to go to Europe. Buck doesn’t wear green all that much and like I have said in a previous post - the darker greens are always connected to break ups. All this is showing us that Eddie is the right person and Tommy is the wrong one.

And then we have the lighting and the set. The lighting is starkly different - we. Have the warm yellows and low light levels of the Buck and Eddie scene from 705 while this Buck and tommy scene is brightly lit and the light is cool toned. This does two things - in the Buck Eddie scene it created intimacy and warmth - it allows the confessions from both of them to read as being important but ultimately changes little in their relationship - it remains intimate and warm - as the hug backs up. In contrast the Buck tommy scene illuminates everything - its not intimate - it is harsh and revealing - the lighting gives no place to hide and the cool tones play into the cooling of the relationship - it will be interesting to see if the direction of the scene also plays into this - the Buck Eddies scene we saw the distance between them narrow and end in the hug before Eddie departs. My expectation is that this Buck Tommy scene will either maintain a distance between them that doesn’t really close - or it will show the distance increasing between them as the scene progresses.

We have lots of threes in the set design for this Buck Tommy scene too - the three jars in front of Buck, there appears to be 3 baseball caps on the coat rack and we’re have the three coloured jackets on the coat rack as well.

The three jackets are basically the writing on the wall for the relationship. They are saying so much while they just hang out there behind Tommy in seemingly innocuous fashion. Their meaning becomes even louder now we know that Eddie is going to be in yellow this episode. Buck is the blue jacket and Tommy is the green one - they are together right now like those jackets are hung together, but the yellow jacket - on it s own on the other side of Tommys head is there waiting. The yellow jacket is Eddie. The green one is in between the yellow and blue - in the same way Tommy is in between Buck and Eddie .

Blue and green represent a break up in Buck terms and with the green jacket being the same colour as bucks shirt - it is saying that the break up is in Bucks hands and once it does, the yellow and blue will be there on separate pegs - but unimpeded by a relationship. The break up will move us one step closer to the yellow and blue joining together.

The bike being gone is also part of the symbolism - no more Buck without brakes - he can put a stop to things now - he has control.

One other things is that I’ve been parsing over the meaning of the plane emergency fro the opening 3 episodes - because the show always foreshadows all of the character arcs through the main opening emergency - if you look at all the opening disasters you will see that it echoes through the season for each character arc. The cruise disaster from s7 plays into each character arc perfectly - characters lives being turned upside down in some way - Eddie upending his life through his choices - the Kim of it all leading to Chris leaving. Buck’s life being turned on its head as he figures out he’s bi. Hen and Karens lives being altered through Mara coming into their family and then losing her because of Ortiz. Maddie and Chims wedding being knocked off course and turned upside down through Chim going missing because of the illness he develops. Bobby trying to retire and then the bathena house being burnt down. Athenas storyline with Harry - they are all arcs that play into the idea of being capsized.

So I’ve been contemplating how the plane emergency is relevant - and I know a lot more will become clear as the season unfolds, but right now we have some interesting things going on looking at it from the Buck and Eddie perspective. So we have the bike symbolism in connection with Buck - which plays into the loss of his bike from the wall, but there is the fact that he highjacks a bike in the opening disaster - buck is on someone else’s bike on an empty bit of road - symbolic of his relationship with tommy - he’s the only one in it but it’s not the right relationship - when he gets off that bike he can signpost Eddie in to land - the bike he gets off being a metaphor for tommy and the plane being one for Eddie.

The fact that Eddie is broken and unable to change direction at the moment - like the plane - and he’s looking for a place to try to land - him managing to land safely in the end is a bit of foreshadowing for buddie going canon - Buck will initially direct him to a landing spot but will also be there waiting for him when he does manage to land - in the place for bobby. It continues the Buddie parallels with bathena - Bobby there waiting for Athena in the same way buck will be waiting for Eddie.

Plus the Jem of it all works too - him being representative of Chris - so the idea that Chris coming back into Eddies life will help Eddie land his plane is pretty loud as well. That Chris will help lead Eddie to Buck - in some way. I keep thinking about the simulation game thing as well - something about Chris being with Helena and Ramon being like a simulation - its pretend and not the real thing - and it will cause him to crash - but he can walk away from it and when it comes down to it - to the real thing - he will step up and be successful in it. That Chris will be the one doing a bit of directing Eddie on how to heal and land the plane.

[alyinreality]

SHIFTMAS 2024: DAY ONE

⌗ 𝟏. christmas caroling; songs that remind me of my hogwarts reality and why!

.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆ ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆

the good witch - maisie peters; this was the first reality I ever scripted so the “still me here, do you think I forgot about you?” HITS. kings cross mentioned. “make it a universe you can live in” is so me scripting james & lily back to life coded too!!! also, the good witch, teehee. so many little things that just tie into the world i’ve envisioned and can’t wait to live in.

a beautiful dream - luke hemmings; this song just provokes such an emotion from me and i think it really captures that first shift feeling. “you know that i’m just like my mother” which is true, to a point. I resemble her so much and I think that’s who people expect me to be like. there’s not a big reason for this but this song just really holds a connection within me for myself in this reality.

a troubled mind - noah kahan; i’ll keep this short, i’ve just never ever known peace in this reality. dead parents, terrible family, guilt for going to hogwarts before harry, etc. in true older sister fashion, i worry about everyone and everything.

cedar - gracie abrams; something about this song screams at me and i think it’s the bit where she sings “we both could die” repeatedly. i feel like the constant comparison to my parents will 100% trigger a fear of early death in me. also just because fred & i pine over each other for yearsssss lol.

count on me - ashe; honestly just applies to my dr friend group we are so incredibly close and i would do anything for them!! we are just such a tight knit group and we will 100% be in our 80’s apparating to each other’s home without warning for no particular reason.

in case you don’t live forever - ben platt; I have this deep, profound gratitude to everyone in this reality for simply existing. I’m not sure I’ll ever have the chance to tell the people I love here the depth of how important they are to me and this song just really reminded me of that.

[climaxstriker]

Deltarune Shelter idea.

Deltarune Chapter 3+4 spoilers

I have a crazy idea.

The Shelter has 3 symbols on the electronic lock.

Pine tree. (Holiday)

Police badge. (Police obviously)

Deltarune (Church)

I feel like Hometown is caught up in one big conspiracy.

.....oh my fucking god, it finally happened. I became a conspiracy theorist.

The 3 entry symbols signify a lot of influence.

The Holiday family is a wealthy family and duh, the Mayor is a holiday.

The police obviously enforce the laws.

and the Deltarune religion carries influence in hometown.

The shelter's code opens the door for any one of them.

If the Roaring Knight is Dess or Carol, why kidnap Undyne?

Since both Dess and Carol are holidays, they should have access to the Shelter. The Code is in Dess' guitar, so that tells me she's been in the Shelter.

And the way Carol said "YOU are welcome at any time" tells me she definitely is aware of the player. Kris can definitely enter the shelter and I'm 99% sure Ralsei is involved in the shelter too.

I feel like maybe there's a conspiracy to....maybe.... "put on a show". A conspiracy that the Holiday family, the Police, and the church are all involved in.

Part of me is suspecting Undyne wasn't really kidnapped. that it was a show to put on for both Susie and the Player. Why kidnap someone for a pass key you already have?

It's tempting to say that since the phone call had "Police....sacrifice.....next week", it'd mean "sacrificing Undyne" But, I feel like that's part of the message and that it could just as easily mean "the police will be in charge of the sacrifice next week." or "The police would sacrifice anything to keep secret what will happen next week."

I feel like whatever this conspiracy is, it's a town secret with the best of intentions.

The show is to "cheese" the prophecy. Kinda like what Frisk unintentionally did in AFAC and what we did as askers for AFAC in certain arcs.

Going into AFAC prophecy stuff.

Angel tried fulfilling their assignment in a way where the Genocide run was legit and the monsters would be free from their mortal coil. BUT Frisk reset everything did things their own Pacifistic way and Angel's assignment was STILL completed. The prophecy was fulfilled "to the letter" but "not the intent"

I feel like this conspiracy in Deltarune is an attempt at doing something somewhat similar if not the exact same thing. Hence "Cheesing" the prophecy.

End of AFAC prophecy stuff.

If every part of the prophecy WILL come true no matter what, then if you plan it reeeeeally well, you can make it come true on YOUR terms, rather than fate's terms. "To the letter" but "not the intent". I'm willing to bet that whatever tragic ending pops up, there might be a way to cheese it as well. No bad stuff.

Our job as the player is to just play the game and follow the story, what the Shelter might be is where all the "Behind the scenes" stuff happens. If the Knight, church, and police are all part of a cast acting out a script......then chances are Dr. Gaster is the mother fucking director. Which would explain why they want the Player and Susie to stay out, because they're not supposed to know. they don't want the illusion being broken and everything going off the rails.

This secret is so "no bullshit" important to them that only a select few could know of it. Anyone who got too close to that secret who weren't supposed to find out like Asgore would have their credibility destroyed to protect that secret. Even if it was as simple as the wrong place at the wrong time.

I feel like us, the player, and the soul, are supposed to carry out the prophecy. But with Ralsei encouraging ACTS, at the very least, Ralsei is genuinely trying to teach the player kindness and see to it that the player uses nonlethal measures to subdue their enemies by either talking to them or pacifying them.

Take with a grain of salt because I typed all this late last night and I might've gotten some things wrong.

[augustconversations]

Faking The Rhythm | Chapter Two

Previous Chapter

Wattpad: xojordanna

Cliff Vernon hung in the background over Sunset Valley, North Carolina, like a portrait above a mantle, watching and waiting. She drove into the memory slowly—buttery smooth roads, gum-free sidewalks, and well-dressed hydrangeas sat in clean, trimmed shrubs. Long pine trees hid the still lake from Interstate 40, but when you turned down the familiar road and past the Grand Plaza hotel, it was a tanzanite gem emerging from the earth.

Newer and bigger homes sat on the small hills she used to walk up and down when there was no one to talk to. The sun settled onto the neighbors' expensive, clean cars and allowed them to sparkle the way they would in a showroom. It was finally the time of the day when automatic porch lights flickered on and illuminated them as they sat on their wooden swings and started conversations they wouldn't remember tomorrow.

Maliyah stuck her hand outside and caught the air—a warm, distant friend welcoming her back, though it should be under different circumstances, because it was more like a prison sentence than a reunion.

Haven texted furiously on her phone. Every ding was a constant reminder Maliyah was far away from her mom and from the tasks that needed to be completed before September.

She would've missed the house if it hadn't been for her muscle memory—down the winding road, past the children's playground, and up the hill towards the left. Kevin didn't mention a totally different house would be where the old one was. This didn't have the tan brick exterior, or the sage green finishes, or the cute little birdhouse that sat crooked in the grass from when Kevin let Haven drive behind the wheel for the first time and she smacked right into it.

Instead it was angular, and tall, and see-through. Matte black paint lined every edge of the house and glowed like a streetlamp at three a.m. Looking at it made her want to hide underneath a blanket.

1759 Oak Drive, as it was, was a thing of the past.

She pulled into the driveway. A large white sign sat perched evenly in the grass. The pale blue script on it made her stop.

Château de Brooks' Haven.

"Oh, my God," Haven whispered. A smile spread across her face, showing off her perfectly white teeth. She extended her phone toward the windshield and took a picture. Like clockwork, a photo of Kevin standing on a dock reeling his fishing hook appeared on the screen. She was quick to answer. "Hello?" she said. Kevin's muffled voice vibrated through her phone, somehow still able to overpower every sound around him. "Yes, I freaking love it!"

She slammed the car door. Her hair bounced and fell in perfect waves as she trotted toward the sign. She stood next to it, puckering her lips and taking selfies. The obvious was as clear as the bay windows of the renovated house: This summer was going to be handed to Haven with a large, pink bow attached to it. The fun, the tan, the memories, and, much to Kevin's oblivious dismay, the boys. It's how it had always been and always would be. And it is the reason why Maliyah wanted to find a job and drown herself in work so she won't have time enough to care.

She grabbed her bags and walked toward the brand new porch—no more stairs—trying not to look at the sign or feel the tightening in her chest.

Remember Maliyah: regard this.

Haven pushed past her and tapped the six digit code onto the keyless lock. The new Californian coastal look with a touch of farmhouse was a far cry from the Tuscan style they had back in '07. She liked it then, often pretending she lived in an episode of MTV Cribs. At least it still smelled like someone made pancakes two hours prior and couldn't quite get the scent of maple syrup out of the cracks in the floorboards.

Her bags slid off her shoulders. They looked out of place with their ripping threads, lint dried to the surface like acne. She stepped out of her scuffed sneakers and set them in the corner.

Haven had since put Kevin on speaker. "When you girls are done with your vacation, it's going up on Airbnb. Château de Brooks' Haven. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it, Hav?" He sounded pleased with himself, killing two birds with one stone: being clever and making Haven happy.

"Yeah," she yawned. "Hey, Dad, I'm gonna lay down for a little bit."

"You didn't sleep on the way there?"

"I did, but I think I have some kind of, like, car-lag or something."

Maliyah rolled her eyes.

"Really?" Kevin chuckled. "Didn't know that was a thing. You're gonna love your room. Go on up while I'm still on the phone."

Haven groaned and plodded up the stairs, leaving Maliyah standing in the middle of a latte: white walls, sheer tan drapes, ivory plush couches that dimpled when you touched it. A large cream rug sat underneath a heavy, wooden coffee table, highlighting the slow-moving ceiling fan and weeping figs in the corners. Three rustic, untouched surfboards were lined up and equally spaced out against the wall. Decorators, yes, because Kevin didn't know how to put all of this together, hince the God-awful coy fish fountain at home, but that one had to be his idea.

She sat on the edge of the couch and checked her phone.

One message from Mom.

Drive safe baby. Call me when you get there.

She clicked on Tatum's message thread, her text being the one to end it: Hey, I'm about to leave. Come see me? Sent at one in the afternoon. There was no need to look at how much time had passed—the sun was beginning to set. He'd seen the message and chose not to respond.

Maybe he got hit by a train. He likes to cross the tracks. He's probably broken in half, lying in the hospital. Someone would call if something like that happened, right?

He once referred to her as his "favorite secret," and hadn't met any of his family.

So no.

No one would call.

But for her sake, something better had happened. This was his last chance. No more excuses.

A loud knock at the door rattled the house. She jumped, her phone clattering to the floor.

The rumble of Haven's footsteps came rushing down the stairs. She managed to do something—peel out of her hoodie, showing off her glowing skin underneath her tank top, braided her hair loosely and flipped it over her shoulder. It leapt at the rate she was moving. And no more Kevin.

She nearly tripped, squealing and laughing at herself, before she opened the door.

A guy stood on the other side of it. When he smiled, it clicked. Of course it was Brandon. He'd grown taller, more muscular, more handsome, and filled out into the structure of a man.

Haven jumped on him and he caught her in his arms. She pushed his curly brown hair out of his face and kissed him. The moment became too intimate—suddenly, the abstract flower vase with no flowers, sitting on the side table, became the most interesting thing in the world.

"Brooks!" Brandon shouted. He turned to the side to see Maliyah. Haven refused to let go and by the goo-goo eyes and constant kisses to his jaw, neck, and face, she wasn't going to do it anytime soon.

Maliyah gave him a tight-lipped smile. He smiled back, braces a thing of the past. He'd always had a boyish charm about him. You know, the kind of charm jockey foot-ball playing guys have. Always off-limits. Boyfriend material. Except now it was more formulated with broader shoulders and pique masculinity. Think Captain America before his transformation versus after.

Her heart leapt in her chest.

"How've you been?" he asked.

"I've been good. You?"

"Great!" he laughed. Haven trailed fast, excited pecks back to his mouth. "Hey, we—" he tried to speak. "Me, Hav, and some friends—are going to—"

Kisses, kisses, and more kisses.

He unwrapped her arms from around his neck and leaned her backwards until she was upside down. She tightened her legs around his waist, and he gently swung her back and forth. Her hair fell over itself, sweeping the clean floors.

They looked so cute; it was nauseating.

"We're going out to the lake tomorrow. You wanna come?" he asked, looking back and forth between them. The admiration he held for Haven faltered every time he looked at Maliyah.

"Uh, I really shouldn't—I have something to—"

"Oh, come on. It'll be fun. Just this one time. To kick start summer."

"Nah, Maliyah's boring. You know that," Haven laughed, still swaying. "She brought her kindle. She's going to be reading the whole time."

"There's nothing wrong with reading," he said.

"Okay, but at the lake?"

"I'll go," Maliyah snapped. She looked at the back of Haven's head and studied her perfect hair. Her skin prickled, and she spoke faster than she could think. "Just for a little while—"

"The blood is starting to rush to my head," Haven said.

Brandon pulled her upward and cradled her. "Alright, we should get going. See you tomorrow, Maliyah."

"Come on, we're going to be late," Haven whined.

"Alright, alright." Brandon shut the door behind them. The rev of his engine comes to life, tough and loud, and they peel down the street, Haven's confident laugh in tow.

The music faded and everything was quiet again.

Boring.

She picked up her phone and opened Instagram. Tatum was at the top of her block list. She got angry at the gas station in the middle of the road trip and blocked him at the pump. Haven was in the passenger seat chatting away and making plans.

She refreshed his page. Red flag: a glowing ring around his profile picture. Moths swarmed around in her stomach. Please let it be his mom letting everyone know that he's been in a terrible train accident and has died.

Unfortunately, it was much worse.

Four hours ago, he stood on a small hill in a field—no, not a field. In someone's huge backyard. There were too many people scattered in different circles behind him. Their chatter mixed underneath the sound of Drake. Red solo cups and shot glasses were embedded in drunk palms and laid strewn in freshly cut grass. Tatum yelled over it all and didn't make any since.

Okay. A party. Not the worst thing in the world. It's understandable. He was too caught up in the fun of it all. No time to pay attention to his text messages.

She clicked on the next video showing him standing next to his friend Thomas. They were both wet, or sweaty from something. Their faces glistened and shined in the hot sun.

Someone came up behind them and poured a bucket of water all over them. They cheered, thrashing into each other. This was boy fun; something Brandon would get. But this is what kept him? This is what he was doing when she wanted to say goodbye?

He could've stopped by before he went. He could've face-timed and told her to have a good summer. He could've texted back telling her he couldn't make it.

This wasn't understandable at all.

It flicked to another video. The moment of regret.

He had his arms wrapped around some blond girl, both drenched in water. Him dipping her close to the ground. Kissing.

People cheered in the background. Thomas flipped the camera on himself, giving Maliyah a thumbs up—"this is why he ditched you"—before he flipped it back around, showing Tatum still glued to the girl with the glorious, wet hair.

The latte she stood in began to burn her.

She threw her phone down and grabbed her stupid, smudged sneakers.

The hot evening air strangled her. She looked back at the sign that glowed. The area lights bolted in front of it highlighted the name triumphantly.

Château de Brooks' Haven.

She took off towards Cliff Vernon, watching and waiting for her.

-

Thanks for reading, guys! Tell me what you think.

Chapter Three

[trading-attitude]

🚀Analyse technique NVIDIA, TESLA et GOOGLE - Faut-il acheter ?

[grimsourgames]

Playing Tabletop Games Alone: Our Backstory, Influences, and Why We Make Solo TTRPGs

When you want to play a tabletop game, but don't have a party, you play solo!

Who are Grim Sour Games?

We are a husband and wife team who love games. Although we usually play solo.

I’m more into Tabletop Games while he plays video games, and we’ll be branching out to video games too, eventually. 

But for now, I enjoy making tabletop tools and solo games.

My biggest influences are:

Ironsworn: Starforged

Brindlewood Bay 

Floating Bookshop

Colostle

Into the Starlit Sky

Pine Shallows

Star/Pathfinder

Troika!

And Cesar Capacle games

Just to name a few. If you like games like these, they will be big influencers on everything we make. 

So, how'd it all begin?

I spent years wanting to play Dungeons & Dragons but didn't have enough players, and at the time I had no idea there was anything else like it, let alone solo games.

I finally got my mom and sister to play but it got too hectic trying to get everyone together. I was yet again… solo.

Determined to play, I did a little poking around and found out that there is more out there and even ways to play solo!

I tried a few resources that helped me, but I still found it lacking. That's when I started making my own resources. An all-in-one solo system to help me move forward in my games. 

Read the rest on our brand new Substack where I'll share:

Game and Tool Updates: Stay up-to-date with the latest developments and features.

Solo Actual Plays: Check out our solo gameplay sessions, which are written in script + prose format and include dice rolls and other information.

Blogs for All Players: Whether you’re new to solo tabletop gaming or an experienced player, our blogs offer helpful insights and tips.

Game Recommendations: Discover new games we think you’ll enjoy.

Content Updates: Be the first to know about upcoming releases and content.

Community Interaction: Share your stories and connect with other soloists.

Discount Codes & Early Access: Gain special discounts, early access to new releases, and top priority for playtesting new games and tools.

[silviakundera]

a very official and unserious ranking of chinese mini-dramas I've watched. Mini-drama = 5-15 min episodes. Color coded "sets" that had same actor or writer.

1. Night of Love with You (2022) - the unbeatable. the ULTIMATE. villain 4 villain romance with a protagonist who knows she is in a manga series... but something has gone wrong, because how did she and the heroic female lead get switched this time?!

2. Provoke (2023) - Republican era noir revenge saga. Unresolved sexual tension. Glamour. Great lighting. Hot people in period costume giving VIBES. She married her mortal enemy as a concubine and keeps a murderboard. I'm in love w her.

3. The Deliberations of Love (2023) - Married consort of a prince dies with him due to the struggle for the throne. Then she wakes up in the past, only for this ambitious idiot to get them killed again! Receiving yet another chance after 2 awful deaths, she's determined to choose life over love and not marry into the royal family again. But it's not quite so simple... especially when the prince starts to feel echoes of their past life together. The romantic chemistry is what sells this lil tropey drama. She keeps subconsciously drifting back into acting like his familiar spouse and then he starts vibing too.

4. A Familiar Stranger (2022) - Like with Provoke, I think everyone's seen this one? Conniving prime ministers daughter face-switches an innocent girl who is searching for her sister and pining away for this hot general who saved her once. Wow what luck, the horrible marriage the prime minister's daughter wanted to escape is with her dream man. This all sounds very wtf but this director x screenwriter combo creates these moody pieces that have a certain dream logic.

5. Zhang Gong Zhu Zai Shong (2022) - The emperor's sister is tyrannical and keeps a stable of hot men. Political intrigue ensues. ngl this one is real choppy but is ranked high due to my bias for achingly hot leading ladies who step on a breathless delicate ML. 🔥 She makes me SWEAT.

6. The Killer is Also Romantic (2022) - Mr and Mrs Smith in costume drama imperial era china. It should be higher, but for an English speaker it's dragged down the list by terrible subs.

7. My Decoy Bride (2023) - Hidden identities, assassin marries her target in imperial era china. Same male actor as Deliberations of Love who builds good energy with his costars. But less budget, worse subs, choppy editing. Still fun. Probably ranked way too high but idc I was entertained.

8. Dong Lan Xue (2023) - 3 min episodes of broken Murder Couple ❤. The slighted 7th prince and his ex-prostitute maid who are out for blood & revenge. (It's that badass lady & her delicate suitor again. Love this webisode pair. love herrrrrrrrr)

9. Miss Mystery (2023) - Republican era revenge drama in a similar vein as Provoke but lacking it's elite lighting, sets, & cinematography. To her it's Fake Marriage but he agrees because he liiiiikes her. The couple has chemistry, gives good power-couple, and the FL is out for bloody revenge. It's a fun ride. But the writing isn't as strong as Provoke and the uneven acting of the supporting cast drags it down the list.

10. What's Wrong with My Princess (2023) - The standard reborn revenge tale played straight. Female general helped a prince fight for the throne, then he & her sister have her murdered when vulnerable and pregnant. Gasp! She wakes up years earlier on her wedding day to this other prince she'd married once, only to kill for her evil lover boy. Now she plots the downfall of lover boy & her sis, joining hands with the husband she betrayed the 1st time around. It's... exactly what it sounds like lol. Nothing stands out and the script is a string of tropes. But it delivers exactly what it promises.

11. Everlasting Bride (2023) - Republican era revenge with added spy games. Like Miss Mystery & Provoke, strong character intros & first meeting. They're mysterious and well-dressed and dangerous to know. More polished than Miss Mystery. The leads here are more filtered and more conventionally attractive. But I have to admit that there's a charm about how rough around the edges Miss Mystery is. And I like the lead actress in Miss Mystery a lot more. The first 3rd is pretty fire, then it lost steam for me.

12. Forever Love (2023) - It's that smoldering guy from Maid's Revenge (absent from this list because due to crap ending). Absolutely extra in every way, a tropey hormonal mess, to the point one can argue it circles back around to be ART. Female protagonists for 1-10 are all great & fun. Alas I can't say the same for #12. 💀

Haven't Finished:

Butterfly Lover (2023) - I have a serious hate for open-endings and I heard this has one, so I paused on it. It's from that amazing director&screenwriter combo, though (Provoke, Familiar Stranger, Killer is also Romantic...). So I know it's worth watching.

Romantic aka Love Strikes Back (2023) - I started this but stalled out. idk it wasn't compulsively watchable for me. Other people loved it.

[vivalgi]

I finished a book! Yay.

I liked it. ID2 is far from perfect but I think it turned out better than the first book.

I loved the most the MC's heartbreaking struggle as a newly turned vampire and how he gradually learned to accept it. He seemed too happy about the news at the end of book 1 so I was glad about the change of tone. Probably a hot take but I really enjoyed the troubled relationship with mom. It was a great mix of infuriating and heartfelt moments. Gore and violence were fun too. I was grinning every time bodies were torn apart and limbs flew around, especially when the MC did it.

The timeline was all over the place. The events of book 1 seemed to take place in autumn, yet when book 2 took off right where the 1st one ended, it was already early spring. Even in the CH16 diamond scene by the red beech tree, the MC mentions that the hunters attacked only a couple of months after the Creator, yet in the same scene Lewyn says the Creator attack happened last year. When the hunters attack, it's also suddenly summer solstice when it doesn't feel like there's been any significant time jump.

Steamy scenes were also disappointingly vague and confusing. Instead of being able to immerse myself in the moment, I had to crack my head where the characters were, in what position, how the LI was suddenly behind the MC, what they were wearing and whether they were getting each other off with hands or the MC was actually penetrating. PB really peaked with Shipwrecked and Untameable with the quality and explicitness.

The enemies were better than the one-dimensional big bad with his banal desire to conquer the world. I even somewhat sympathize with the hunters. The vampires hunt and likely kill innocent people or at the very least steal blood bags from hospitals. The hunters also live in danger and sacrifice idyllic family life for the greater good. I never really understood why the vampire covens feel the need to grow their populations. Blood is scarce and vampires need to keep a low profile, so I'd be more selfish and keep the numbers in check instead, like in Bloodbound. I was disappointed that Lewyn and Astoria didn't get their punishments yet. Hopefully we'll eventually get to pay them back for all the pain they've caused.

To describe my romance route, then it was a bit complicated. Both LIs have qualities I love and dislike. Gabriela is sweet and kind and I prefer her more humane approach to vampire life, but she can be a bit overbearing with her knight-in-shining-armor personality and from time to time it shows that beneath the surface there's a male LI. I still have a hard time to accept Cas' desire to hunt unsuspecting hikers and how she looks down on humans, but her rebellious spirit is alluring and I've enjoyed how she's gradually become emotionally more open. She's also written more neutrally in terms of gender coding (BTW, Cas' default pronouns are female in the dialogue script).

In book 1 I mostly leaned towards Cas, sharing even the L-word with her, and I continued along the same line in book 2 as well. Since I didn't want to make Cas jealous, then I didn't even kiss Gabriela before the threesome scene at the very end. There was quite a lot of pining and many angsty moments with Gabriela and since I didn't have enough romance points with her (until the daydreaming scene about the future together with the two) then there weren't any awkward moments to ruin the immersion either. I wish there were some growing sexual tension between the two LIs as well but otherwise I think think the throuple or poly arrangement played out pretty naturally at the end.

Not sure what the future holds though. I checked that the lead writer left in spring and recently contributed to a kinky vampire smut for Chapters, so apparently ID3 will be handed over to someone else (she was also the writing lead for the first 5 chapters of Bitten). I'm quite worried because of what happened to OH, how Blades 2 was a little bit of a let down and how COP series has degraded over time due to changing writers.

[litgarchive]

No progress this week

An LITG Archive Update

I apologize for the lack of progress to report today. Various things have distracted me this past week, although I did finish prepping Day 10 Part 1 for extraction, but that's the extent of it. I haven't been able to clean up any code or anything else on the backend.

That said, Meri of the LITG Remastered Discord did great work transcribing Days 8 to 13 of the Season 3 script. I can reference their work when I create the base script this week.

Again, sorry about this. This week should be better for working on the project.

💕 Pine

[chaoticjuless]

re-watching Gravity Falls made me realize how much I love this show. Not only it satisfies my need for an 'adventure of the week' show about a small town in the woods where weird things happen, but it's also so well crafted. some things I love:

-the attention to detail and how it transcends the standard frames of a tv show - all the hidden codes, backwards messages, clues scattered within the episodes, the cipher hunt; it's great how it engages with the audience outside of episodes

-the backgrounds and designs are beautiful - it's such a shame the art book never came to be!

-the Pines family dynamic - both sets of twins naturally pair up into 'the brainiacs and the maniacs' (as Alex Hirsch lovely put it in one of the dvd commentaries), but it's great how they can also mirror each other the other way around - both Stan and Dipper are grounded in reality and end up saving their siblings, both Ford and Mabel are dreamers who are willing to go a little too far to reach the unattainable. Same with the Stan twins - they are so different, yet so alike (both passionate and stubborn) making their relationship very interesting

- 'no what he seems' captures perfectly the spirit of the show - it's used to make the viewer doubt Stan and sum up the supernatural phenomena in the town, but it also forces the viewer to look deeper into everything - Stan, a greedy con man, ends up sacrificing the most for his family; Ford, who's supposed to be the smart responsible one, gets tricked and ultimately puts himself and others in danger; the paranoid, anxiety ridden Dipper proves to be brave and protects others on multiple occasions; goofy, romance-oriented Mabel is actually very intelligent and one of the most caring people in the show; the crazy hillbilly McGucket is revealed to have this depressing backstory in which he was actually a genius who lost his mind. even the 'perfect' Northwest family built their life on lies and exploits.

-Bill is so fun as a chaotic evil character and it allows for so much creativity, both in script and in animation