#so many other insane levels she goes to w this too i cannot get into the half of it

[flockofdoves]

i hate my roommate so fucking much oh my god.

[dangermousie]

Extraordinary You - final thoughts

Warning - this is longer than Trumpet Creeper’s Kyung’s hair.

Wow. Wow. I never thought a drama this high concept (aw, satiric high school romcom? How about a mindbending, parable-like take on religion and philosophy and free will and sense of self and existence after death instead) could ever ever stick the landing. After all, something like W Two Worlds did not (I loved W but the ending was not on par with the rest.) But it did, and it is that incredibly rare perfect drama in which I would change nothing. 

Honestly, the whole story could be viewed as a meditation of the meaning of existence, with the author standing in for your deity of choice; not a benevolent deity many religions picture, sure, sometimes actively malevolent against those that disobey - the drama plain text admits that the author punishes those like Haru that try to challenge the divine plan, but that is not that uncommon in a number of religions. 

And the end, with its giant no exit - just an endless circle of being in other stories or put away and dead entirely - comes across as surprisingly hopeful despite the bleakness because I think what EY told me (and I fully understand it is different for everyone) is that control and permanence and existence are all fleeting and illusory, sure. But then, all you can do is live enjoying your today to the utmost, and love and free will and self-knowledge as much as you can get of it, is the sole light in a bleak, cruel, irrational world and is worth everything. 

Haru and Dan Oh, the ultimate fighters, cannot escape the cursed reincarnation circle and the worlds of the stories; but what they can do is try to change it as much as they can and to never ever give up and fight for their self-determination and their right to be together; even if it is ultimately futile and ends in erasure every time, the meaning of their life, the worth of their life is in that love and in that fight. 

And I love that they take even the limitations imposed and persist through them - remember the whole question of whether the scenes and words repeat because it’s their own or the author’s? Dan Oh’s take was the incredible that it is not the author - that they remember it from story to story because that is what they really felt and wanted to express to each other but couldn’t. She has taken all the existential insanity and decided she is a person and her wants are her own and not the narrative’s.

But of course, the capricious deity punishes Haru and punishes Dan Oh by taking him away, by not letting them stay together until the last page (though that “1 year away” is largely illusory imo - I am pretty sure the bulk of that year was “skipped.”) The scene with the lights going out, and Haru and Dan Oh, clinging, knowing the end has come, and Haru telling her she was his beginning and end and to call him by his name (so it would be the last thing he hears) is - I am freaking crying at the keyboard now.

And her name is the last thing he says in this existence.

And he is gone and she is left trying to grab his floating name tag. 

The thing with the names though is very important in other than a purely romantic sense. Their names is the one unchanging thing from one world to the next; even when the author does not name them, they get the same names - give them to each other or themselves. Because the name is such a sense of basic self, basic identity. Look at the scene with the Squid Fairy and the Court Lady, which also pulled every last heartstring - names are brought up again.

But of course, their time together is all so brief because the world ends in a few minutes and we do not see them in the new story. I am glad they got this one happy memory to erase the previous horror but still - so little, so fragile, so gone. But Squid Fairy and Court Lady are on the opposite side of the spectrum from Haru and Dan Oh, who will fight and fight and fight forever, no matter the odds or the risks or the outcomes. These two have accepted these worlds and these controls and the limitations and believe it is futile to fight; but the tragedy is they cannot keep their zen fully - they still love and miss each other, they still care for others. 

Haru and Dan Oh have created their own meaning in the arbitrary, cruel, impermanent world and that meaning is each other; to seize the brief moments of happiness as they come and grab on to free will even if it is punished, even if they never know whether, once this world ends, they will get another world or another chance (but hey, that’s normal life too - nobody has a certainty about the after of death.) That is why they can continue on through sheer will, why Haru literally forced his way into the story, why they remember; they do not accept defeat. But Squid Fairy and Court Lady have tried to go to the other extreme of powerless acceptance and I can get that choice. 

You know what has just occurred to me - in addition to fate, divine and free will, the other thing this drama addresses the concept of soul mates. The concept of someone destined by the fate for you is one many people find very appealing. But this drama posits that the true soulmate is one you affirmatively choose yourself. Because the technical soulmates here are pairs that the author puts together like Kyung and Dan Oh, and it shows not just potential incompatibility but the fact that if you do not know the love is based on true free choice, it lacks appeal. But when it’s based on genuine connection and love, it can transcend deity and worlds and the end of them all. 

The ending is as hopeful as it gets in this bleak world - Haru and Dan Oh as extras and thus free to do their own thing in a benevolent enough world - college setting. When they find each other, and of course the names are again their talisman, it’ s amazing. (And they are allowed to be at least a little older though one of the horrors is that they will never really get a choice to grow old together or have a long life - many short ones is what they get. Not that everyone wants a silver wedding anniversary and 2.5 children, but the fact that they never get that choice is awful.)

But the dark underpinning never goes away either - they are still puppets of an uncaring, and sometimes actively malevolent, deity. And we do not see Kyung or Squid Fairy or Court Lady or Juda or Do Hwa - reminding us of the fact that the world ends and you may never be pulled out of the box again, be dead forever or inserted into an insane suffering set up or whatever. 

Now to get to the other characters and strands:

* It’s surprising how OK I ended up being with Kyung in light of my earlier feelings for him. He really did get better, the more liberated from the authorial straight jacket he’s become. He wasn’t perfect (he clearly had Haru’s notebook but did not give it to Dan Oh; either because Haru didn’t want him to or because he wanted to keep it, who knows) but he was miles from the old Kyung. His face as he saw the end coming will haunt me.

* I know some people were unhappy with the resolution of the Do Hwa - Juda - Nam Joo story but I loved it. Maybe Juda would have picked differently if she knew the happy ending was an illusion and all that faces them is a possible eternity of nothingness or a new storyline entirely, at the moment of “triumph.” But maybe not. Unlike her stage counterpart, it’s clear that the real Juda is practical to the marrow of her bones, not prone to throwing the world away for love, and also what she really thrives on is being needed, being the one who saves and defends and is the leader in the relationship. She was never going to have that with Do Hwa, despite his gentleness. But with oblivious to the narrative to the last page Nam Joo she can have that - she can have someone who loves and needs her more than she loves and needs them, she can defend him and lead and be the boss (when she gave him a money balancing allowance book and he meekly took it, it all made so much sense.) This said, her joke about dating the boys on alternate days wasn’t as much of a joke as it was supposed to be. I could see her being the boss, money maker, polyamorous girl pretty easily. It would have been cool.

* I am pretty sure Kyung’s stepbrother/half-brother was in love with him in Trumpet Creeper - the way he talked about him in TC, the way he wanted to stay by him until the end, explicitly comparing it to Dan Oh and Haru, screams silent love to me (which adds another level of horribleness to the reincarnation/memory wipe concept here and in reality - in some of these endless worlds, people who loved each other might end up being family, even.)

Anyway, this is now my n1 kdrama of all time.

[back-and-totheleft]

His anger is his art

Oliver Stone is worried that Donald Trump doesn’t get enough sleep.

“He doesn’t sleep a lot. He doesn’t take good care of his health. Don’t you think there’s some pile-up, if you don’t sleep for several years like this?”

I feel a movie coming on. Stone, after all, made W, a film about President George W Bush; this one, perhaps, could be The Don. Sure enough, he seems to be thinking about it.

“There’s nothing that could quite capture this fellow. He’s quite a whirlwind, a fascinating dramatic character. Shakespearean too, in the sense that he’s so emotional — at times he creates a storm, almost purposely every day, to keep the energy going. He creates a storm inside himself. He’s King Lear in a strange way too — which daughter loves me more?”

He’s also thinking about the murder of George Floyd, but he thinks a black director should make it.

We are Zooming. He is in Los Angeles in a large book-lined room, I am not. He’s not lost his looks — sort of handsome, friendly but in your face — and his conversation is warmly attentive.

The talk of possible films is all Stone business as usual, running towards the news and the gunfire, especially if it’s American. At 73, his soul is still that of the gonzo movie-maker who turned out almost unbearably violent films such as Platoon and Salvador. But he did them because he hates film and television violence. He learnt about the real thing when, in 1967, he joined up and volunteered to fight in Vietnam. He left garlanded with honours but angry.

“I was known for my violent screenplays, but it came from a background of real violence. There was a lot of it I saw, and I wanted to depict it accurately. I really hated that. All the TV shows — 1970s, 1980s, 1990s. Same old bullshit. I hated the fake violence, so I was trying in my movies to move away from Rambo bullshit. It just doesn’t look as good as it does in the movies; it never does.”

And now he’s written an autobiography, Chasing the Light, covering his life up to 1986. He was 40 then; Platoon had just been released and, earlier that year, Salvador. Platoon won four Oscars, one for best director, and Salvador was nominated for two, one for best writing — Stone co-wrote it. It was, as he says, “a remarkable two-film journey from the bottom back to the top of the Hollywood mountain”. He had arrived, he had been accepted. The book ends with him trailing clouds of glory.

“I’d managed to crest into the light,” he writes. “Money, fame, glory and honor, it was all there at the same time and space. I had to move now. I’d been waiting too many years to make films. Time had wings. I wanted to make one after the other in a race against that time — I suppose really a race against myself in a hall of mirrors of my own making.”

Will there, I wonder, be another volume?

“Yes, of course. Why not? I think it’s important for me to at least come to grips with things because it goes so fast. You don’t really get it all. You don’t — one event after the other. One movie after the other. You’re always dealing with people, people, people. It’s hard to have that solitary space.”

He kept diaries “to understand myself, to understand what happened”. As a result the book is phenomenally well detailed. It opens with an account of filming a scene from Salvador. It’s a cavalry charge being shot in Mexico; everything that could go wrong seems to be going wrong, and the money — where on earth is the money? But somehow he pulls it off. Reading that made my head spin: how could anybody live with such levels of risk? Reading his diaries made him ask the same question about himself.

“I always knew I was bold, but I never realised that I was crazy too and risked a lot. At 39, with nothing in my future, my father dying, my mother dependent on me, a new wife, a new baby — and I go and put everything I have into this idea, this crazy idea to shoot this movie.”

He has, as the critic Pauline Kael noted, a divided sensibility: “He’s working outside the industry, in freedom, but he’s got all this Hollywood muck in his soul.” She never liked his films, but he accepts this judgment. The book also stands up her analysis — one minute he’s the guerrilla film-maker, the next he’s lapping up the glamour, the drugs and the schmoozing with stars. But the real divisions are much deeper than that. The first is the division between his father and mother.

He was born in New York. His father, Louis, was a high-ranking soldier turned stockbroker; his mother, Jacqueline, an elegant, beautiful French lady Louis met while fighting with the allies in Europe. She loved parties and glamour — Stone says she would have loved him to make a flowery romantic film. His evocation of her character is laden with love for her. Louis was more complex, serially unfaithful and constantly at war with the demon money.

One day, when he was 16, Stone had a phone call at his private boarding school: his parents were separating. It was a pivotal moment.

“I was naive. I thought it was a happy, loving family and I was very privileged to have that. The divorce was cruel in the way that it was done. It was brutal, and it shocked me because I was naive. The whole world fell apart. They split, and there’s nothing else. There’s no brothers, there’s no sisters. There’s no home. And as a result you become an orphan of the storm. If Charles Dickens were writing it, it might be an Oliver Twist story … I used to get kidded that my name was Oliver. And maybe I did feel an identification with him.”

His education faltered. He went to Yale but never completed his degree. At 18 he started wandering the world and at 20 he enlisted, then apparently forced himself to see the worst things that could be seen in Vietnam. The book starts 10 years later when he is at his lowest ebb. He speaks of himself in the third person while talking about this moment.

“He confronts his failures in life. He sees that he hasn’t gotten his dream, what he wanted to do. And his grandmother dies. He had gone to see her on this deathbed in Paris and he talks to her. And she communicates to him, and she tells him how he must live his life the way he is doing it, he’s following his instincts. And she loved me, and she’d always loved me and believed in me. That was a big thing. Something happened at 30 with her death. And I became more mature, and my success started to flow from there.”

His attempts to reconstruct a family have been patchy. His present wife is his third, and he has two sons and a daughter. There’s a moving moment in the book when he holds one of his sons, Sean, in his arms.

“If ever there was proof,” he writes, “we are born with a sweet nature, this was it; the veils come later.”

He has a Wordsworthian sense that we arrive trailing clouds of glory, but somehow the world takes all that away. So does he think we are born good? “Yeah, I think so. A baby is innocent, beautiful. You see it in baby animals. They don’t know what the world is.”

The second division is America. He came back, he says, “very divided and alienated”.

“Nobody was walking around over there saying: I’m against the war. No. A lot of us knew the war was bullshit. Certainly the black soldiers knew that, they didn’t really believe in it.”

Stone became an American exceptionalist. Usually that means somebody who regards the US as an especially good country; Stone regards it as especially bad.

“The divide was growing when I came back and that’s still with us. You see it coming down to us to this very day. We have a law-and-order candidate in Mr Trump. He talks like a fool, but he talks like many people — more military, more power, more application of force, more violence.”

From Salvador and Platoon onwards, Stone’s work became an angry charge sheet, an indictment of US postwar politics. His 1989 film, Born on the Fourth of July, attacked the treatment of veterans; JFK (1991) embraces conspiracy theories about the death of Kennedy; Heaven & Earth in 1993 skewered the behaviour of Americans in Vietnam, and so on. Postwar American history became, for Stone, a descent into insanity.

“America just goes mad after the Second World War — it just goes mad. Under Eisenhower the beginning of this madness sets in. The question we have to ask ourselves now is: was there really an enemy? Russia was not the threat to Europe we pretended it to be. And, for that matter, China neither. And we created this postwar scenario that was culminating in this economic concept that had come out of the Depression, that we cannot go back to the old way again and have to keep going. We have to put money into this military economy, to keep the country pumped. There’s been no end to that, no end at all. It just keeps going up. It doesn’t matter who the president is in the end. It’s the system. And no one can beat that system. No one can control it.”

This is, you will gather, a tremendous book — readable, funny and harrowing. It’s also full of movie-making gossip, scandal and fun. If you want to know what working with a truly difficult actor is like, read his account of handling James Woods on the set of Salvador. Nevertheless, Stone sticks with Woods because “he is a genius”. Also if you want to know what it’s like to be so intoxicated at a Golden Globes ceremony that your speech is so bad and almost denies you an Oscar, then you need this book.

There is much to disagree with about Stone’s politics — America’s iniquities in the postwar period are nothing next to China’s — but his anger is his art. It’s a way of balancing out the deep divisions in his character and his feelings.

For the moment he is not too worried about the pandemic, but he is taking on a new cause: nuclear power.

“The virus seems to me the ongoing business of history. It’s just... there’s so many viruses. I don’t see it as an existential threat to the world. It’s more of a mood thing. No, I think the real issue is global warming.”

He is making a documentary, A Brighter Future, about the need to deploy nuclear power to reduce carbon emissions. “Renewables,” he says, “cannot solve it.”

There he goes again, running towards the news and the gunfire, like Oliver Twist always asking for more.

-Bryan Appleyard, “Oliver Stone interview: the Platoon director and Vietnam vet on his new memoir about his early days in Hollywood,” The Sunday Times, July 12 2020 [x]

[taeyohonic]

competition (m)

gif credit to the rightful owner @t-heia

Summary: When an unhealthy competition goes one step too far, you have to bear the consequences. Even if it means detention with your nemesis – Lee Taeyong. (requested)

Member: Lee Taeyong (NCT)

Warning: Light Swearing, Making Out

Additional Tags: Straight-A-Student!Taeyong, Enemies To Lovers, Quaterback!Taeyong, Multilingual!Reader, Female!Reader, High School AU

Words: 3400

“Who wants to start?” Your headmaster’s voice sounds stern, but you can see the exhaustion in is face as an agitated hand brushes through his grey hair.

“Maybe the one, who actually started it?”, your opponent replies, and you give him the evil eye.

“Maybe the one, provoking the other to start?”

Taeyong huffs and shakes his head, leaning back in his seat.

“Provocation only works when one is not focused enough.” You face your classmate with sheer disbelieve in your eyes.

“Not focused enough? I was killing it.” He leans further back in his chair, seemingly unfastened by your outburst.

“And then you tried killing me.” Taeyong’s answer is accompanied by him casually crossing his arms over his chest.

A quick laugh escapes you. “Oh, nobody has ever died from chalk in th-”

“ENOUGH” Now you just hear exhaustion in Mr. Kim’s voice as he stands up to walk around his oak desk and leans against it, eliminating the barrier between the three of you. He grabs the piece of paper, which your math teacher wrote, from his desk to read out loud:

“Y/N and Taeyong displayed poor social behaviour in class today. Y/N tried to finish a difficult equation on the board. As she faltered, Taeyong made a snarky comment. Y/N then threw the chalk stick directly at her classmate, hitting him just below the eye. Please, Mr. Kim, chose a punishment suited for both of them.”

Mr. Kim stops the report and looks at you two, letting an uncomfortable silence hang in the air.

“Anything to add, Ms. Y/L/N, Mr. Lee?”

You are not the biggest fan of Mrs. Oh, your math teacher, but her recount is actually spot on.

“No, Sir.”, Taeyong says, agreeing with you.

“Let’s be clear here”, your headmaster begins and breathes deeply to calm himself enough to lecture two sixteen-year olds, that clearly should know better. Especially because even if Taeyong and you both had to share your braincells, you’d still be thrice as smart as Mr. Kim.

“Your impressive accomplishments do not give you permission to act like… like…” The old man is awkwardly waving between you two. “…this.”

This is a steady competition and it makes you go slightly insane. You joined this school last October, only giving you a year to complete high school at the top of your class. Not only did you have to integrate into a whole new social peer group – it did not go well – no, you had to leave your old friends and your safe first place 234 miles away.

So not only were you extremely pissed at your parents for shifting branches in their firm, you were also extremely determined to make it to the top of this class, walking away from this hell with a fuck-you-all smile, the best internship and a guaranteed scholarship. The only problem with your master plan, there already was a person at first place.

Lee Taeyong. Class president. Leading Quarterback. Math genius. Hottest male in a 40-mile radius. Seriously, how god could be this generous, you’d never understand. When his personality clearly doesn’t deserve it. Taeyong is always helpful, never signalling the student body that their opinions weren’t relevant. He always has a smile on his face, always bending down to get on eye level with others. And you hate that. You hate that fake smile, the fake empathy and most of all you hate the fact that you would have done exactly the same thing, when you’d been there first.

But nobody wants an Angelina Jolie, when one can have a Jennifer Aniston. So, you tried to establish your own role in this school. You became the president of the debate team, excelled at every single language course – easy considering you are fluent in four languages – and took your running abilities to good use by leading and organizing a track club for visually impaired students.

After a few months you climbed up the ranking, landing at the top at the end of the second trimester. Only problem? Taeyong didn’t leave. So now, at the start of the final trimester the first spot is occupied by two persons, making it the first time in the history of this school that that happened. Leaving you both extremely agitated with a high tension hanging around you.

“It won’t happen again.”, you try to reassure the headmaster and hear a throaty chuckle from next to you.

“Why? Are you gonna try to actually comprehend math?”

“You.. You orgueilleux âne!”, you exclaim while switching to French, so neither Mr. Kim nor Taeyong can follow you.

“DETENTION! BOTH OF YOU!” Okay, Mr. Kim has lost his cool. His face is bright read as he looks between you two.

“You’ll clean the kitchen after school, until it is as clean as your records.”

There could have been worse punishments. Although spending extra time with Taeyong isn’t the best way to end a school day, nobody said anything about interacting with one another.

You both stand up and reluctantly, after bowing to your headmaster, leave the office together.

“I cannot believe you ruined my afternoon.”, Taeyong mutters next to you, loud enough for your ears to hear.

“Hey, dimwit, this isn’t exactly what I’d call an afternoon well spend as well.”, you answer while bumping your shoulder against his frame in defence.

“But it sure is better than tainting my record.”, you add.

His amused chuckle travels directly to your stomach – making you feel more excited than annoyed.

“You’re right.”

Wait, did Taeyong just agree with you? You stand still and look at the back of the handsome top student you want under you so bad, your mind is going mad.

“W-what th- the hell?”, you whisper in disbelieve. Never in the history of mankind has Taeyong ever agreed with anything you said. Not even when you were in the same debate team.

But Taeyong doesn’t look back, he just walks directly into your classroom without noticing your absence. Or maybe he just doesn’t care. As long as he and his ego are present, he’s okay with leaving others behind.

You decide that the last ten minutes of math class are not worth participating and you make your way to the kitchen. Do you like your punishment? No. But you sure as hell will bear it with dignity.

 ***

“So we’ll just have to wash the floor, polish the countertop, stock the vegetables arriving at 4 pm and clean the soda machine?”, you repeat while starring at the lunch lady with interest. She must have been briefed by Mr. Kim because she wasn’t surprised when you visited her and asked about the procedure.

“Yes, honey. That would be all. After that you just have to lock everything up and leave the key with Mr. Kim.”, she agrees, looking at you fondly.

You are always nice to the staff at this school, which can’t be said about all the students, making you one of the favourites of the janitor, lunch and cleaning personal.

You nod in understanding and hear the school bell ringing – signalling the five-minute break before your last class.

“I’ve got to leave, but thanks for the instructions!”, you say in a haste and are just in the motion of turning around, when she says: “I sure hope this helps the both of you.”

You freeze. “What?”

The old lady has a dreamy smile on her face.

“I can’t say I was surprised, after hearing that it was you and Mr. Lee who were causing trouble.”

You still don’t understand her, raising one eyebrow in confusion.

“All this longing isn’t healthy for teenagers.”, she explains and winks at you.

“Lon-long-ging?”, you stutter, earning a silent laugh form the lunch lady.

“You can’t fool me, honey. All the stolen glances in the lunch line? The constant nagging? Your flushed cheeks whenever this boy speaks?”

You cough on your own spit. You and Taeyong longing for each other? Was this woman for real? Your cheeks flush in anger every time this … this oaf voices his opinion.

And the few times your gazes meet during lunch? Keep an eye on your enemy, that’s all. Of course, Taeyong is attractive, but can this make you forget his ugly competitive persona? No way.

“Yo-ou are … mistaken.” The disagreement tints your voice making it unbelievably hard.

But before you can start defending yourself the second bell rings, making you officially late for the track session.

“Damn”, you mutter and bow deeply, before running towards the changing room and leaving all your unhealthy thoughts of Taeyong with the lunch lady.

***

“I cannot see you scrubbing the kitchen with Mr. Too-Perfect. I really can’t.”, Yukhei breaths heavy, while taking to you.

You both are running as a tandem around the football field – having a clear view on the football team practice.

“Yuk- you can’t see in general.”, you snort and up the tempo, animating your blind friend to keep up with you.

“Oh Y/N, with your thorough description”, he teases, “I have a clear visual of the school president.”

One time. It was one damn time, after a track race, that you lost disgracefully. You drank too many cheap beers and started describing Taeyong’s body to your new blind friend. One monologue Yukhei hasn’t let you forget.

“Just … because he’s handsome, does-n’t m…ean he can’t clean.”, you answer, but you are too strained to make your voice sound as snippy as you want to. If Yuk can still make fun of you, you are going too slow. So again, you make your feet move faster, earning a groan from your track partner and a dull pain from your muscles.

You sweat terribly but running makes you feel deliciously alive. And you crave that. So you don’t care.

And you sure as hell don’t care that a certain quarterback hasn’t let you out of his eyes.

***

Your hair is still wet from the shower you took as your tired legs drag you into the now empty kitchen. The key rests on the counter and you see that the lunch lady has already moved all the cleaning supplies into plain view for you to use.

You feel bone tired but that doesn’t matter to Mr. Kim. With a defeated sigh you move towards the mop, recognizing the bright yellow floor cleaner from home. Before you can start to mix the water with the chemical, you hear Taeyong enter the kitchen.

“Where do you want me?”, he greets and sounds as tired as you feel. You don’t know if he is trying to be indecent. But one glance at his tired features make you think he’s genuinely waiting for supervision. So you decide to play nice.

“You can start with the counters. There should be some rags at the sink.”, you explain and start cleaning the floor with tardy motions.

There is a comfortable silence for the next minutes, both of you exhausted from the physical activities of your last classes.

Taeyong breaks this silence first.

“You ready for your track meet this weekend?”

The question sounds so earnest, you nearly loose the grip on the mop.

“W-hat?”

His eyes rest on your face. Taeyong showered as well, leaving his hair wetly pinned on his forehead. His cloths cling to his damp body, the outline of his abs clearly visible. You swallow uncomfortably.

“The track meet? This weekend?”, he tries again, slowing his words down.

“Sure”, you answer with flushed cheeks.

“How about … your game?”, you reply with the semi-final this Sunday in mind.

His answering smirk is so gorgeous you have to focus your eyes back on the wet floor.

“When have we ever lost?”

His cockiness is so unattractive you snort loudly.

“27th of May this year.” Your mop moves lazily around the floor. “– devastatingly”

“I wasn’t even there for that game, Y/N.”, Taeyong defends himself and you can formally taste his hurt pride in the words. It makes you giddy.

“Doesn’t matter captain – your team”, you point at him with the mop in hand, “your loss.”

Taeyong throws the rag in the sink with an angry huff.

“What about the 14th of April? Hmm Y/N?”, he responds and moves closer to you, taking the mop out of your grip.

14th of April. Not a good day. A terrible loss against your rivals. Leading to the infamous beer-fuelled adoration of Taeyong in front of your teammates. Not a good day at all.

“I never claimed my team was perfect.”, you spit and take an uncharacteristic step towards Taeyong, invading his personal space.

He inspects you with a flaming gaze.

“Why can’t we have one normal conversation?”, he sighs.

“Without verbally degrading the other?”, you add and notice his smell. The scent of citrus overshadows his normal wood-ish smell. And you hate that you notice this just as much as you hate how fast your heart is racing.

“Yeah”

“Impossible”

“Why?”

Because you have something that I want. And hating you is the only option to overthrow you.

“Because”, you answer, swallowing your inner thoughts.

Taeyong laughs softly.

“That is a weak argument coming from the debate champion.

The tension is thick in the air as the two of you glare at each other. An uncomfortable vibration surrounds you, making it impossible to organize your thoughts. Then there is sudden movement – Taeyong throws the mop on the floor, takes the last step towards you before attacking your lips.

“Wha-…”, A surprised moan escapes your lips as your arms circle around his thick neck searching for support against his attack.

His lips move deliciously aggressive against your own, parting them impatiently so his tongue can dominate your mouth.

“Mhm” The groan that leaves his lungs vibrates through is body and travels across your bodies. There is no space left so tight you are pressing against him. Your fingers find their way into his still damp hair, clawing at his scalp in desperation, needing to be closer. Taeyong’s mouth is hot and wet and delicious and you involuntarily start to suck on his tongue which earns yourself a throaty growl from your partner.

His hands move agitated around your hips, gaining momentum to lift you up on the counter without breaking the kiss. You try to breathe through your nose as the steel surface surprises your overheated body.

Taeyong’s lips leave your mouth dragging a thread of spit with them. If one of your braincells would be working right now, you’re sure you’d be disgusted. But in this moment, all you can feel is deep want as you moan through your bruised lips. His mouth doesn’t leave your body for long, dragging wetness slowly down your neck.

“Oh- shit.”

He lightly bites the sensitive spot where your neck meets your shoulder and you whimper, earing yourself a throaty chuckle from your partner. In reflex, you buckle your heat against the hardness of his middle. The chuckle is silenced as you feel his restrained dick against your core.

“Damn, woman.”, Taeyong mutters and claims your mouth again with new found urgency. You feel like flames are licking at every covered skin of your body and you start to move against him to relieve some of the tension. Your hands leave his fisted hair to trail against his back, scratching against his t-shirt, wanting nothing more than to claw it into pieces.

His hands rest steely against your mid, aiding the movement of your hips. Your heart beats merciless, while your brain has officially resigned. Daring fingers slip under his shirt to feel Taeyong’s tensed abs.

“Uh-m”

It feels like ice cold water is injected into your veins as an unknown sound pierces through your tense moment. With inhumane speed the both of you still, before entangling your heated limps from the tight embrace.

Red is colouring your cheeks as your eyes move to the intruder.

The older man looks as if you were practicing dark magic in front of him, his incredulous eyes wider than you have ever seen them. Thousand thoughts rush around your brain which decided to start functioning again.

You kissed. You kissed him. And by the way of Mr. Kim’s heated face, you also kissed your credibility goodbye.

“The vegetable supplier is waiting for you.”, your headmaster says with bewilderment in his voice, not commenting on the scene he walked in on moments ago.

You didn’t know your blush could get any worse, but here you are, more the colour of the tomato that you were sent to stock than the taint of an actual human.

***

“You a-re as dump as yo-you are hot.”, you whimper as Taeyong’s tongue moves in wet circles around your shoulder blade. His hot breath fans around your exposed skin and you shiver, goosebumps cover your skin.

“Hear me out, Y/N.”, your nemesis begs.

“Eat me out, ass.”, you moan against the wall in front of you feeling Taeyong’s smile behind you. He has caged you against the wall of your chemistry lab. The class ended ten minutes ago, making you late again to your track session. A pattern your blind best friend is used to by now.

“I’m always so blown away by your debating skills.”, Taeyong scolds while cupping one of your breasts in a demeaning manner.

“Yo-…you’re blown away by my blowing skills a-ass-… well.”, you respond in a snippy tone, which dies in your throat due to your partner pressing you flushed against the cold wall. His hand on your breast soften the blow, but the cold of the stone is such a stark contrast to the hot breath on your neck that you shiver in content.

“Come on, why can’t we help each other out?”, he starts again. “We both want the scholarship, we both want the first place, we both want to fuck.”

His list is so true, you want to tattoo it on your skin. Hormones are the worst. And something you hadn’t prepared for. But could have anything prepared you for the force of Taeyong?

“How?”, you ask in defeat moving your head to the side to give him more access to your neck.

The victory is colouring Taeyong’s voice as he explains: “We’re both first place now.” A kiss is placed on your ear. “We’ll keep it that way.” Another one lands on your scalp. “They’ll have no choice but to gift us both with scholarships.”

Why does this plan sound so easy? A dark suspicion clouds your head and you turn around facing him for the first time during your conversation. Taeyong’s eyes betray his arousal; they are as black as your shirt.

Your gaze lingers on his flushed cheeks, moves to his prominent Adam’s apple, before resting on the faint hickey you left on his neck last weekend after his phenomenal semi-final. It was the first time since transferring to this school that you attended his game. And seeing him sweat, hustle and win made you regret every unattended game.

You try to focus again, abandoning all thoughts of heated making outs in the changing room, sloppy hand jobs in his car and the one eating out session after your aced oral presentation in French class.

Taeyong’s plan has to have a catch. Perfect things always have.

“Why should I trust you?”, you ask, already your mind is running a dozen of scenarios where this boy scores one single point more than you, making you the laughing stock of the whole student body.

“When have I ever lied to you?”

He has a point. Even though the school president sometimes placates others with half-truths, he has never been more than unflatteringly honest with you.

“I want a fucking contract.”, you say stubbornly, refusing to let his words get to you. Taeyong laughs loudly into your stony face.

“You really would be the kind of senior student to sue fucking classmate for deceiving you.”

“You bet your ass.”, you admit and cup his semi-hard cock over his jeans in a threatening grip. That shuts him up instantly.

“Girl, as long as you own my dick, I’ll sign your contract in blood.”, he moans, and you smile in victory.

***

A/N Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed this OS! I had this request in my inbox for so long, I’m a bit ashamed that it took this much time  to finish this. I was debating the end of this fic for so long, it gave me a real headache. Thanks to the anon for requesting this! I hope you’re all doing well and are ready for the upcoming week! All the love, Dana

[ahgastae]

💖 fire escape character bgs 💞

hey, everyone!! this is a bit different from what i usually post, but i wanted to do a lil something extra to make up for missing updates recently. so, i decided i wanted to give you guys a little bit more background regarding the characters in fire escape felonies. it’s not anything too story breaking or spoiler-y, but just to kinda get a better idea of the characters and their relationships with each other. it’s also perfectly okay if you’d like to ignore this!! like i said it has no bearing on the actual story and won’t affect it in any way!

now, in the words of jeon jungkook, let’s get it! (under the cut bc this might get a lil long lol)

starting off w the main trio in apartment 320

l/n y/n

twitter @: thotticus

like her twitter bio says, part time student, full time gamer

y/n’s a youtube gamer and has amassed a pretty sizable following for herself

not as much as jungkook tho, something the streamer will never miss a chance to point out

she mostly deals with single player games, the hot new releases that everyone’s talking about

every once in a while she’ll play something mulitplayer w kook but he always brags about how much better he is than her

“wE’Re On tHe SAmE TeAM yOu AsS >:(((((”

“ur still shit lol”

she also vlogs sometimes too but it’s kinda hard when yoongi doesn’t like to be on camera and jungkook is,,,,,jungkook

the only relief she gets is when she’s in class

tho as a psych major even that’s not very much lol

at least the TA’s cute

jeon jungkook

twitter @: goldnmaknae 

used to be a uni student, now a gaming streamer online

streamer, everyone, not youtuber

call him a youtuber and he’ll flip his shit

(looking @ you, yoongi)

mostly plays online mutliplayer games like overwatch or (to y/n’s disgust) fortnite

loves to flex how many more followers he has than y/n

like he fuckin lives for it

but despite how much he likes to tease her, he will play w y/n on stream sometimes

tbh those are probably some of his viewers’ fav streams

their banter and absolute fucking lack of brain cells between them makes for some pretty goldn moments

(eh?? eh???)

(i’m sorry i’ll just move on lol)

min yoongi

claims he doesn’t have a twitter

(tho jungkook firmly believes he has a secret acct to stalk him and y/n with)

“i go to work to get away from you idiots, why tf would i want to see what bullshit you put online??”\

jk, still: suspicious  (←_←)

yoongi says he works at a music shop and his roommates are too trusting and too dumb to actually look into it

he seriously wonders how they haven’t started to question it

like ffs sometimes he doesn’t come home until well past midnight and neither of them even notice??

how they both managed to get into college is and always be a mystery to him

especially after he caught them trying to wash g fuel out of holly’s fur

that’s pretty much how yoongi’s life goes

when he’s not at work, he’s either trying to keep his disaster roommates from killing each other or he’s trying not to strangle them himself

and he’s come a lot closer to the latter than he’d like to admit

next is the gang above, lovely apartment 420

kim taehyung

twitter @: cgv 

not many people know it, but taehyung is actually the anonymous singer ‘v’!

he keeps his identity super well guarded, only telling the people he pretty much trusts with his life

(yes, that includes jimin)

bc he can pretty much choose his own schedule and work from home he spends a lot of time alone in the apartment

a lot,,,of time

impulsively dyes his hair pretty much every other week bc he gets bored and lonely

(rip jimin’s bathroom)

but!!! his music brings money in and it’s bc of his anonymity that he gets to keep his private life, too so he feels like he can’t really complain

owns the cutest doggo in the world aka yeontan

(admittedly another impulsive decision when he was left alone but oh well)

would literally go to hell and back for his dog

and his friends too, i guess, but being a yeontan stan comes first ya know??

park jimin

twitter @: princeofbusan 

jimin teaches contemporary dance at a local studio

his class are mostly oriented for teens and young adults

(and he totally doesn’t get a bunch of teenage girls that are just in his classes bc he’s cute ofc not lol)

the epitome of ‘looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you’

sweet and understanding while teaching but is constantly one step from tearing someone’s head off when he’s w his friends

most of the time poor tae ends up falling the victim

he understand that taehyung gets antsy being home by himself so much but jimin just cannot handle it always being at fucking 11

sometimes he just wants to come home and relax but instead he has to wrestle his pillow away from yeontan or scrub his hands raw trying to keep taehyung’s stupid hair dye from staining his counter top

so yeah, he does get a little pissy sometimes

but that doesn’t mean he still wouldn’t do anything he can to help his friends

believe it or not, there’s actually a pretty big heart in that smol angry body of his

jung hoseok

twitter @: hopeworld 

hoseok works at the same dance studio as jimin, except he teaches hip hop and modern

his classes are mainly children and preteens

seriously tho all the kids adore him and their parents love that he’s able to give them a break for an hour or two

unlike jimin, hobi looks like a cinnamon roll and is actually a cinnamon roll

tries his best to act as the mediator in the apartment, even if that means sometimes pissing off one of his two roommates

(spoiler alert: it’s mostly jimin)

he’s probably the most understanding of the three, getting where jimin’s frustrations are coming from but knowing that tae doesn’t always really think things through

but he also hates taking sides, and that’s why he sometimes chooses to stay out of it completely

he’ll hang out at the studio and work on choreography or teaching methods to keep himself occupied

at least,,,until one of them drag him back into things to fix it

just stay positive, hoseok

a little hope can go a long ways

and finally, the namjin condo

kim seokjin

twitter @: lejindary

jin works as a pretty well known chef in the city

a very important skill, he says, bc they would have been dead after 3 days if he let namjoon cook

joon somewhat takes offense to this statement

jin doesn’t give a shit

him and hoseok met each other in college, and kept in touch even after they both graduated and moved in with their own dumbass roomies

jin actually met namjoon through hobi

hoseok and namjoon used to be roommates bc they were in the same year, but joon needed someone else to help him with rent after hobi moved out

hoseok suggested seokjin (partially bc he knew namjoon wouldn’t survive cooking on his own) and the rest is history

kim namjoon

twitter @: rmofficial

one h*ckin smart boi

still going to uni for his masters in psychology

lived w hoseok back when they were both getting their bachelors, but moved in with jin after hoseok graduated

he TAs for one of the bachelor’s level psych courses, but his ‘primary’ career is the music he makes outside of school

namjoon is the rapper RM, insanely popular both locally and online

he’s incredibly grateful, but even he has trouble balancing everything in his life every once in a while

(and on his lowest days, he sometimes wishes he’d gone the anonymous route like taehyung)

that’s why, like hoseok, he tries his best to stay out of any arguments among their friend group

it’s not that he doesn’t care, he’s just got way too much going on to worry about some petty disagreement

but they can still always count on joon to help when they really need it

[floggingink]

Riverdale, “Chapter Thirty-Eight: As Above, So Below”

Day At Least Seven Solitary Coif: struggling

Alice’s thigh: stunning

Sexy, aesthetic Southside: FP’s jellybean tattoo: incredibly, tenderly sad

Certified pedigree: “I’m glad the Farm opened you up to the possibility of us”: either Alice thought about this to herself, or she (absolutely) asked the rest of her cult what they thought. what they THOUGHT about her sleeping with FP again. “What d’you think, girls?” Alice wine clubbed FP Jones’s dick!

who has more game, FP or Jughead? FP a) is a grown man, b) is oftentimes gainfully employed (I’ve forgotten if he’s employed right now), c) is strong enough to carry a high school boy out of the woods, d) was VERY smooth with his seemingly instinctual “Then don’t. Tell him,” e) did that thing where he took the gum out of his mouth when Alice came to his trailer, and f) looked pretty good in his crisp Pop’s uniform when he was employed at Pop’s. however FP also a) tends to drink when not employed and b) is fucking obsessed with Toledo, a town I will burn to the ground if I ever set foot in it. meanwhile, Jughead a) climbed up a fucking ladder to Betty’s bedroom, b) ABSOLUTELY KILLED IT when he and Betty almost fucked each other in the kitchen, c) KILLED IT AND BURIED IT in the moments before fucking her on the couch when he was all, “Or you could stay,” and fucking touched her dress like she was an angel of the Lord and he was just a humble shepherd boy whose eyes were not worthy to gaze upon her countenance, d) only strategically removes his hat, and e) rides a motorcycle. the hat is not a con, necessarily, and being a writer in high school is a cross some of us simply have to bear, but he is like, kind of a pain sometimes and a little squirrelly, but w/r/t the love of his life, he has tailored himself to her every need almost perfectly

OH AND I FORGOT WHEN HE KISSED HER SCABBY BLOOD KNUCKLES! OH SHIT!

Veronica has the most game on the entire show

I like when they have Jughead use words like “modicum”

“Ben’s death haunts me, Jug. He didn’t scream. Why not, I wonder?”: writing credits this episode go to Daphne de Maurier

YYEEEAAAAAHHH THE BLUE & GOLD CRIME BOARD BABY

I would almost expect something more from the warden’s tie, except that I know plain clothing is, in and of itself, a warning sign

anything that gets Veronica in her reading glasses is okay by me, and this includes Pop’s hemorrhaging money

Jughead can wear just a T-shirt sans jacket or flannel any old time he wants, I’m just putting that vibe out there

“Of course we’re calling it a speakeasy.”

Jug’s suspender game is strong, so really Betty should know she has nothing to worry about

his stupid dumb round face looking at her when she pulls him aside is pretty. remember when he kissed her hands? fucking Jughead sometimes, dude

“Evelyn...creeps me out.”

I like Betty’s overalls and Evelyn’s romper thing

what I expected when Kevin dialed the phone was for the whole booth to sink into the basement like a surprise elevator

Kander and Ebb wrote the music to, among much else, Cabaret and Chicago, those being some of their most gay

I LOVE VERONICA’S WHITE SHIRT. IT’S JUST A FUCKING PLAIN WHITE SHIRT, SHE IS SO BEAUTIFUL

Every triangle has three corners, every triangle has three sides: is there some heat between Veronica and Reggie? am I crazy?

the foursome of Reg, Ronnie, Josie, and Kev is basically just as strong as the cour four strictly in terms of hair

I don’t know that I like Penny’s sleeveless Ghoulies vest more than her leather Serpents jacket but I do know I like it at least the same amount (oodles)

Fwoopy hair is the best hair: Day One Lifted Bag Off Head Hair: GREAT

OH MY GOD, JOAQUIN!!!! WHEN WILL JOAQUIN REST. DOES EVERY TERRIBLE THING HAVE TO HAPPEN TO JOAQUIN BEFORE IT HAPPENS TO SOMEONE ELSE. IS JOAQUIN IN THE FARM

does Archie have a scar on his head? is it KJ’s? have I lost track of something?

Gay?!: BABY TEETH is an absolute twink and he was tapped to save his life

I’m suspicious of Peter because his name is, simply, “Peter”

Gay.: Cheryl and Toni are just like lounging in a single chair together and that’s the bisexual agenda

Veronica was rich: Veronica’s heavy card stock IS very nice

Ethel’s cute yellow cardigan is back, which matches her thermos and lunchbox

I enjoyed when Betty sits down and you think she’s going to apologize for being there at Ben’s death but instead she just fucking grills Ethel some more

“...G&G.”

OOOOOOHHHHHHH JUGHEAD’S TURNING IT ON WITH THAT PRINCESS SHIT

Please protect Betty: Betty’s entire expression at being told she’s “not worthy,” God bless her

The female gaze: I don’t know why Reggie’s shirt is off. probably Reggie doesn’t even know

Reggie’s panicked JJ face is one of the top five panicked faces of all time. he’s tied at least with the girl in Jurassic Park when she sees the raptor shadow and her hand holding that green Jell-O starts shaking

Minetta doesn’t even pretend he’s looking for something other than whatever was in those boxes. cold, Minetta

REGGIE’S SALUTE

Reg simply being aware that Minetta and the Ghoulies work for Hiram almost brings me to tears. not only is he a walking sculpture with a pair of lips that would make Sarah Steller throw herself off the Hoover Dam, but he is also a genius

VERONICA IS SO BEAUTIFUL. “Not until I’m properly armed.” just look at her!

Ethel didn’t even come to the first meeting of the Farm Club? cold, Ethel

Evelyn offering Betty a pizza slice comes off as her genuinely wanting Betty to have a piece of pizza if she wants, which is the first non-creepy thing she’s done (Jughead would take the pizza)

she of course follows this up with “that darn medication”

Archie looks like a corpse in the blue light

tell me “wakey, wakey” is a Kill Bill reference. TELL ME IT IS

the guy they have fighting Archie looks just enough like Khabib Nurmagomedov that I was like, is this an unconscious wish on someone’s part to do a rematch of red-haired McGregor vs. Khabib except it’s on Riverdale so it’s in something called “the Pit” which is a drained swimming pool and they’re in juvie? (it’d have to be a fantasy in that Conor McGregor would get his ass beaten by Khabib Nurmagomedov in any rematch in any universe, in the universe)

dude does his best but, as Sweet Pea and Vintage Reggie can tell you, you cannot let Archie land a) a right hook or b) an uppercut or he will end this fight

who’re the rando white women watching? their fucking wives? goddammit, white women

I think Baby Teeth could take Reggie jawline-to-jawline

Veronica’s kittenish heels sinking into the dirt as opposed to her striding effortlessly as Moses parting the Red Sea

Cheryl’s a chaos angel from hell: “THAT VIPER BITCH”

Antoinette Topaz is fluent in many languages, including Veronica’s

God bless jingle-jangle: the fucking cat burglar sequence set to “Jingle Jangle” just about fucking did it

Ethel’s candle game is reaching midnight mass-levels of mastery

so did Betty and Jughead get their ad hoc sex den (good band name) out of the bunker before Ethel got there? or was it there the whole time but for Ben and Ethel?

I feel I want to write down that Ben abandoned Ethel to ascend prematurely with Dilton otherwise I’ll forget and will be tricked by something later on

POLLY’S KNITTED HALTER

closed captioning capitalized the Shady Man, the second strangest Riverdale skull

Alice really just did Betty like that! maybe Betty DOES need to live in a bunker

50 Shades of Betty: “The wig. The webcaming.”

I love how Betty always gets very sarcastically OH, OKAY THEN when she decides to start laying out some truths

Alice stands up and her dress has some sort of insane asymmetrical hemline and she’s also got an ankle bracelet!!!!!!

Dilton Doiley Ethel Muggs is a canonically great dancer the DM: Ethel’s little crush on Jughead circa his birthday party has not abated. even when he was being insane about the Serpents I bet she entertained sweet fantasies of buying a pleather jacket off ModCloth and Jughead “inducting” her. so she found herself a coterie of pliable boys who were also gangly and weird and obsessed with details and pacts and she became their princess. so THERE. you fucking bet she’s gonna get a kiss out of Jughead before she fucking poisons herself

Ethel’s dungeon master voice is giving me a sort of ASMR vibe

I don’t want to veer too wildly but she is wearing a crown, her character has “a crown”

dog, was she about to kill Jughead right then and there? Ethel goes hard. Ethel might go harder than Jughead

“You’re asking me to play Russian roulette!” “I’m asking you to play Gryphons and Gargoyles.” THIS BITCH (in context it’s very smooth and bitchy)

GOD BUT JUGHEAD DID DRINK IT. VERY WELL KNOWINGLY, HE DID IT

Jughead eats: Salud is just the sort of thing I’d expect Jug to say before maybe drinking cyanide (or skol, if he had been watching Ingmar Bergman)

I don’t know if I could drink that much Kool-Aid that fast. Kool-Aid and Sunny D always made my teeth feel filmy. I could definitely down that much Capri Sun, if it were in a pouch the size of my shin

anyway Ethel’s sick move telling Jughead he has to kiss her first got an emotional reaction from me at almost the level of when Cheryl came down to Jason’s wake in that white dress

Jughead and Ethel are almost of a height, which is weirdly lovely

These students are legally children: maybe Ethel put the poison in after Jughead had chosen. I maybe doubt she would’ve just fucking assassinated Jughead

Jughead was reading next to her when she woke up, which is just a specific kind of daydream you have, sometimes

Sixth period is Intro to Film: HEISENBURG

Toni’s pictures are certainly shot with a mind to lighting, depth

is blue light the light of evil? Hiram’s study, the warden’s office?

Archie > Dawson: of course Archie imagines talking to his father and of course he imagines his father telling him to “take one.” I love Self-Sacrificial Lamb Archie (or just momentarily self-sacrificing). better than Fascist Archie!

well, Betty’s room has blue light too. fucking forget it then

although she is SURROUNDED BY EVIL at all times

Mädchen Amick, MÄDCHEN AMICK: “I trust them more than I trust you” is season one-level Alice-shade

Cheryl’s sheaths: I like very much Cheryl’s bosomy sequin thing and Toni’s back jewelry

I also like the RROTC boys in their like WWII uniforms, which may be anachronistic but still hard vintage, and the cigar girls

Jughead doubts it: there’s so much going on when Betty goes all melty and wipes some of the Fresh-Aid off Jug’s lips and Jug, who is not smiling, looks at Sweet Pea helping Veronica

Best costume bit: Veronica is in magenta, because I deserve it

I can’t wholly endorse Reggie’s non-black plaid trousers paired with a solid black blazer but I CAN endorse Reggie as a whole

Cheryl’s Hiram’s pins: I think Hiram has a fucking octopus pin! I think it is!!!!!!!!

the wallpaper behind Hiram downstairs is...interesting. it’s like a cutout from that Disney cartoon for “Winter Wonderland”

we stay on Veronica’s face for sort of an extra beat, so I can confirm a) she’s still beautiful and b) she has a sparkly thing in her hair

The 2001 Josie and the Pussycats movie was a masterpiece: Josie’s got that thing going on where you gem up the part in your hair

God I love a good Riverdale music/mayhem montage. like what were they playing when Jughead ran the gauntlet? fuck sometimes this stuff is just still so good (“Mess Around” when Reggie lunged for Jughead also counts, though not performed live somewhere else in Riverdale at the same moment)

“Anything Goes” is in fact not Kander and Ebb but Cole Porter

I’ve seen Brick like thirty times: I love a good bead of bloody spit dangling from someone’s mouth during a slow-mo fight sequence

I’m writing a scene where it’s gay.: “THAT KID…..IS A STAR.”

that fucking rum, can you believe it? the fucking shade of it all

Fifth period is AP English: OH MY GOD. THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. OH MY GOD, THE FUCKING HAMMER. THE COUNT OF MONTE MOTHERFUCKING GODDAMN YES GOD HOLY BITCH

“Damn good coffee”: the goddamn shot of FP and Alice standing together flanked by the flames of their righteous destruction of the G&G manual

Summer + Blair = Veronica: Veronica is pretty fucking brave to still be living in Hiram Lodge’s HOUSE. and of course that���s what her dressing gown looks like

oh my god, Joaquin is still alive? Joaquin’s STILL HERE?

ARCHIE’S GONNA BREAK OUT OF PRISON AND I MUST CLEANSE MYSELF OF SIN TO BE WORTHY OF ITS GLORY (I trust Riverdale a lot more again at the moment)

so wait, Jughead put the cot BACK? are these two different bunkers? is it the same effing bunker???

“It’s over”: you fucking fool

yes, it’s the same goddamn bunker. the candles are still there! I guess I thought the wicked juju from Ethel’s ~SUICIDE ATTEMPT~ would deter the two of them from FUCKING IN THE EXACT SAME BUNKER but Betty and Jughead literally do not give a single damn where they do it

Jug’s headphones!!!!!!!!!

Cheryl’s expression at reading the G&G manual is appropriately be-Blossomed

The Blossom spawn: she still has a photo of Jason in her locker and I think a sticker that says “Literally no one cares”

What damn high school in America: those manuals have a QR code on the back, so you can play on your phone! GIVE ME THE APP, RAS

who unsheathed Ethel? LORD, WHO LET HER LOOSE?

GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

NEXT WEEK: Camila Mendes wears glasses the entire time

[flyswhumpcenter]

It’s Okay [Fever February Day 3: Forehead Touch]

FEVER FEBRUARY INDEX

Summary: Sometimes, you have to learn it's okay not to always be 100%. Everyone has bad days. Mr Honfleur has to teach so to a star student today, and he's surprised, maybe scared, but he wants to make the boy feel better.

Fandom: Original Work

Word Count: 1.1K words

Notes: It's short and it's late, but I worked on an assignment before that... At least, I got to explore Fran’s relationship with his former Literature teacher and role model.

AO3 version available here.

Inside a rather big classroom, on a cold but dry day of February, a French class is taking place. Some seats are empty: the fault to the current epidemy of flu. That happens every winter, and the experience teacher who is currently making class is so used to it, he’s not any bothered by it. He counts on his students to take care of things themselves, and give each other the lesson.

They can do that, right? They’re good, mature first-year kids. He loves them, just like he loves the current second-years, and the ones before them, and… Oh, right, Proust.

“In The Search for Time Lost, the narrator tells us about his journey to find how to write his memories in all the details he has experienced on the very day it happened. The books actually cycle at the end of the last…”

Mr Honfleur’s voice comes to a halt. He’s hearing a weird background sound near him. Something… peculiar, which doesn’t ring many bells to him. It must be something doing some weird shenanigans again, like the computer (which he still doesn’t get along with). Yeah. Outside noise he’s not responsible of.

He continues to make class after this small halt, apologizing to his students for zoning out over there, as short as it was. Maybe some of them didn’t notice, oh well. He continues on Proust, and the interest of his novels, as a way to entice his students to read him when most of them picked Céline because it was shorter.

He still hears that sound. A distraught, unnatural sound, in a way. The sound of an obstructed windpipe, like when you stick something at the end of a straw or a toilet paper roll and blow in it. Maybe. That’s just a weird sound he’s never heard, but it may be his brain. He’s probably a little sick himself.

Right, Proust, where was he? He keeps getting distracted. He needs someone to help him through it, and someone who’s read Proust of that… He knows exactly who!

“François? Could you tell us about…”

He stops mid-sentence again, right as he looks down on the table in front of him. The sound gets stronger and stronger.

In front of him is a blue-and-brown shape, slouched over a table, dripping from a chair. Dishevelled hair, discarded glasses, an empty seat next to it. Paper sheets all over the place. A limp hand suspended from the occupied table. This isn’t fine.

Mr Honfleur, in disbelief, lowers down to the level of the slump. He’s getting a bit scared when everyone goes quiet, the sound so strong he can’t attribute it to a computer he can barely turn on. He knocks gently on the table.

After a few knocks, the shape stirs and, slowly, faces his teacher. The boy looks like he hasn’t slept in a few days, deadly pale, dark rings under reddened and unfocused eyes, unshaved facial hair, red centred on his nose and splattered across both his cheeks like he just drank an entire wine bottle to himself. Sweat is pearling down a face covered in slight, rebellious streaks of hair.

“W-what…?” he rasps before coughing in his hand.

“You fell asleep. Class is not a place to sleep in, François. I know dorm life is hard, but you cannot sleep in class.”

“R-right sir…”

The student coughs out a lung as soon as he even opens his mouth. He’s not alright, and if he ever says so, it’s a big fat lie. Without adding another word, Mr Honfleur puts a hand on the boy’s forehead, his usually gentle face turning into a much severe expression. He hisses as soon as the back of it touches the other skin.

“You’re burning up!” escapes from the professor’s mouth as brown eyes close on themselves.

“Haha, maybe… What did ya want from me sir…?” he slurs back.

“Well, I wanted to ask you about Prou… Your priorities are completely screwed, young man!”

He grabs François by the arm, taking him completely aback, maybe profiting of his heavily weakened state so he doesn’t protest. It continues to heat his hands even under a wool sweater, maybe two considering the shivers and chills he feels down there.

“Where we goin…?” he asks in a painfully sore voice, coughing loudly.

“To the nurse’s office. I am going to ask your classmates to gather your stuff for you, before you can even ask such a stupid question!”

“The nurse’s office again…? She’s already seen me twice last week…”

They exit the room to a too-slow-in-his-taste pace. It’s also to respond back to something stupid his student just said.

“You had an asthma attack in the middle of a PE session because everyone forgot you even had asthma. The colleague was freaking out so badly we thought he may have an asthma attack too, actually.”

“It was better in high school when nobody knew I had asthma…”

“Please tell me your fever speaking right now, François. You sound utterly insane.”

“Maybe… Feels like I’ve always been sick anyway… Sir, what was the question on Proust…?”

“You are even worse than a college professor with the flu! Do I have to spell it out to you? You are sicker than I’ve ever been and all you worry about is a question on literature. You should reconsider your priorities, I mean it.”

“Sure, I’ll try one day…”

Halfway there, the student starts to cry as he clutches his chest with his arms, weakly embracing it.

“What’s wrong, François?” the teacher asks, with worry finally spilling out. He’s been worried all along, but it’s harder to hide it when he’s crying in front of him.

“My dad’s gonna yell at me again… My sis too…” he whimpers.

Michel can’t help but go to him and get him in his arms. Who cares if it’s authorized?

“It’ll be okay, François. Everyone gets sick one day or the other. Everyone in the class has been sick one day. I’ve been sick multiple times before, and I’ll be afterwards. It’s okay to miss class when you’re sick, and it’s okay to sometimes overestimate yourself or underestimate the ailment.”

The tears of the boy start to subdue.

“But I always go to class sick…”

“Then it means you are very involved in your studies, and it’s good as long as you try not to overdue it.”

He pulls out of their weak embrace to look at him. He’s even redder from his sorrow, but now, he has a slight smile on his face. It’s already better nothing.

“I am sure it will be fine. Come, we have to get you somewhere you can sleep and rest properly before your parents or your sister can get you.”

“Thanks sir…”

“Don’t stress it.”

[illegiblewords]

Right now I am honestly tired as heck just out of work but I think I am figuring out a writing thing so gonna type that here.

I’m basically in the kind of :I position rn where besides on and offline responsibilities and social stuff I have:

1) A novel I am supposed to be working on through July, which is properly outlined and I feel pretty good about.

2) A fun D&D campaign that I’m :> over.

3) A new idea that hit me in the head like a sack of bricks like a day or two ago.

#3, literally it’s the second time in my life that kind of situation has happened. I don’t normally have ideas where the concept just sort of gets vomited out in a weird detailed state. But after a late af night at work apparently that was what had to happen and I ended up scribbling notes for that for like five hours into some stupid time at night/morning.

Honestly, prob some part of me had been low key preparing for that to happen. I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a thing involving multiple fantasy races (main novel isn’t about that) and then when I hit D&D that basically unclogged a bunch of concepts that had previously been mushing together and they sort of exploded out in a much more articulate way than originally planned. I can see pieces of what I’d been vaguely considering before floating around.

And now I have to deal with it. :[

One of the parts I’ve been very D: about though is cast.

Let me tell you dudes, I actually talked to a dear friend who is a pro editor about writing and she gave me some advice I try to keep in mind. That advice was to not make such ungodly huge casts.

This isn’t because I can’t make solid characters with huge casts or stories can’t be told with huge casts. It’s because I’m a goddamn crazy person and whenever I try to set up a story I end up doing horrifyingly detailed levels of worldbuilding and literally with notes of like eight generations of personal ancestry and all the social circles of every single character and then when you have casts of like 60 people that goes into the sphere of hundreds of pages of OUTLINING and it’s hard to get started. Not even fucking exaggerating. My main novel I basically have two points of view (so I’d list main cast is like two people) and less than ten significant cast members because I know I’m like this and I deliberately looked at myself in the mirror and was like NO URBAN YOU NEED TO STOP.

This novel, the original main cast size I had in mind was going to be like nine. As in, the people traveling together having an adventure was going to be be nine. I would still have had to do all the “npc” types and make backstories and motives for their asses.

I realized at some point this was excessive and did that whole look-yourself-in-the-mirror thing and went DO YOU REALLY NEED A MAIN CAST OF NINE URBAN THAT SEEMS PRETTY EXCESSIVE, and so then proceeded to look at my cast and be like “DEFEND WHY THIS PERSON NEEDS TO EXIST AND IF YOU CANNOT THEN FUCK THEM”.

Basically, self-amputation is an important part of writing my friends. It really is.

So step one, there were a series of stern conversations with myself that amounted to “DO YOU REALLY NEED A SUBTERRANEAN HALF-ELF BARD URBAN?” “Well I mean I don’t know it might raise neat questions and I have so many guys in the cast and I’d like to balance things–” “DO YOU REALLY NEED A SUBTERRANEAN HALF-ELF BARD URBAN?” “… No, not really…” “SAY HASTA LA VISTA BABY” Then rinse and repeat with a bunch of other characters.

For the record, I try to do this same process when I go shopping too. It is not always successful but I do use it. In this case I was fortunate and I succeeded in whittling the main cast down to six members, which is still big but not obscenely big.

When I was younger, I used to use tv tropes as a guide to try and help myself figure things out not going to lie. As an older and more experienced writer lady I know that tv tropes does a lot of focusing on the superficial bits of writing but not so much the reasons for those superficial bits that actually let you do important structural work. Still, I did have a look back at cast calculus to see what those were in case it gave me an idea of how to approach the issue of making dynamics and fleshing out characters and doing the pacing with a situation like this.

The answer wasn’t there. But it did help me get my fucking head together, so credit where it is due.

TV tropes talks about five man band a lot, which is basically a structure of leader, person to direct foil the leader, someone intellectual in the group, someone physical in the group, and mediator of the group. It’s not actually said that nicely, they have some admin there being a royal turd focusing on “wah the mediator has to be a gurl” instead of character dynamics. Annoying and useless for storytellers but w/e. They also talk about how sometimes you get a sixth person tacked on and usually that person is an edgelord of some kind who reforms.

Superficial stuff, not that useful. But some person made a note that made me stop and just explained the whole goddamn thing for me clearly.

The sixth person usually acts as a second foil to the leader.

Huh.

So basically, shit’s like this. I’m pretty sure I heard at some point that humans are only really able of fully comprehending numbers up to 3 at a time. It’s not that you don’t know there are bigger numbers. But like picture a bunch of dots or something, they usually break into 1′s, 2′s, or 3′s. If you imagine four it’s like 2+2 or 1+3. If you imagine five it’s like 2+3 or 1+2+2 or something. Grain of salt me on this I am not a mathematician or a scientist, but I do remember hearing this is a thing.

If you look at the way cast calculus tries to break shit down on the tv tropes website, they follow this more or less. Duos you have person A and person B contrasting their qualities, they end up bouncing off each other and creating a balance. Trios you have person A and person B with that structure but then person C is also there and is a kind of mediator role. Id (impulsive and a bit selfish)/ego (aware of reality)/superego (morality or intellect) with ego as mediator if you wanna go old psych. With groups of five, the setup is leader/right hand (contrast), then mind/body (another form of contrast, doesn’t strictly need to be that probably but it is one), then mediator.

2+2+1, or you can attach the mediator to either group of two and have 3+2.

Huuuuuuh.

So six, though. What the fuck are you supposed to do with six?

3+3 my dudes, and 2+2+2. AND, if you aren’t gonna be lazy and shallow and just blindly mimic what people have done before without understanding it (disclaimer: I have in fact been lazy and shallow and blindly mimicked what people have done before without understanding it many, many times) you gotta be able to switch the party members in each subdivision and explain where they stand with the dynamic so you don’t have any redundant bits or hiccups and all the relationships read distinct.

So basically:

Character A

Character B

Character C

Character D

Character E

Character F

You gotta be able to explain:

ABC, DEF, AB, CD, EF first. Then ABD, CEF, AD, BE, CF, and so on.

Reasons larger casts get harder, you have more shit you have to figure out with fucking math. Cut corners at this and the risk of you having two characters who are basically the same person and have a boring nonsense dynamic you don’t know what to say about goes up.

But Urban (you say as my levels of insane analytical bullshit continue to climb), haven’t people figured this shit already??? A-Archetypes happened yeah, so theoretically some older and more mathematically/instinctively gifted storytellers in the past figured some shit out. Wasn’t there a thing about the sixth person being some kind of douchecanoe edgelord? Why not just go with that and pray it sticks?

See I figured that trick out my dudes. I figured it right out. The douchecanoe is a trick. Secretly, that douchecanoe has a hole and that hole is flooded with more math.

Why do you need a douchecanoe? Well, we said earlier–usually they show up and turn out to be a second foil to the leader. So you got leader, foil A, foil B. One is gonna be mediator (probably the leader) and then each of the others will be a pole of some kind. Id, ego, superego is one way of putting it but so is idk idealist, realist, cynic. You can go a lot of routes with this. For mine I have ends justify the means, ends never justify means, and maybe both sometimes depending on the situation. It’s all foiling. And depending on who you have in which position you will have greater or lesser levels of contrast or parallel going on. I could have ABC and DEF be id, ego, superego respectively but then I try ABD and in that setup D is ego/mediator compared to A and B or something.

Basically, you have a team who is mostly pretty heroic overall, the person jumping in being either a moral extremist in some ways or being extra impulsive about what they want is a way to increase the range of morality on the whole and offer more foiling opportunities. I'd like to say though that isn't the only way to do it. If you have an asshole teammate in a group of five and then send in a sixth person, that sixth person could stand out for being really decent too. It's basically about generating a big moral contrast, especially between the leader and their direct foil.

But what about shipping? Opposites attract is one thing but isn’t birds of a feather flock together also a thing? And isn't shipping is just another form of character dynamic? What the hell does that do to all this horrible math? The thing is, opposites attract and birds of a feather flock together always, by nature, have to be trends. Not absolutes. Otherwise you get selfcest or two people with nothing to bond or relate over at all. Practically aliens. Any contrast you create between characters must also parallel in some other way and vice versatile. And ye both still work. It's good general policy to always have some level of foiling AND some level of paralleling between each pair of cast members that is distinct.

Also, as a bonus--why do people think casts of four are tricky? Basically when you are doing groups of four every single character has to be equally foiled and paralleled by every other character in some way. The balance of similarity and difference is real precise and can be a little tricky to wing.

But yeah, seven and higher cast numbers scare the hell out of me especially since they don't break evenly into subgroups within human comprehension limits. I think it's still doable but Jesus.

[rockleefangirl987]

All This...and Heaven Too: Chapter Three - The Welcome Party (part 2)

To @asplendidninja (who introduced me fully to the glories of Team Guy) and to @ten-all-over @sausage-fist@nejicanspin @fruitysmellz  @morganknightos@samlovesmaitogai @teacher-monica @shock777

Because - as time goes on - this story is going to become massive, I promise to post the Permalinks to each chapter. I know how it feels when you find a chapter to a story you’re enjoying, but you can never locate the rest of it. I hope this makes it easier for any of you that come into this after the prologue.

Introduction and Brief History - https://rockleefangirl987.tumblr.com/post/159618388822/all-thisand-heaven-too-introduction-and-a

Prologue - The Answer

https://rockleefangirl987.tumblr.com/post/159619445665/all-thisand-heaven-too-prologue-the-answer

Chapter One - Training Day - Arrivals

https://rockleefangirl987.tumblr.com/post/159843490557/all-thisand-heaven-too-chapter-one-training

Chapter Two - Renewed Alliances

https://rockleefangirl987.tumblr.com/post/160078980106/all-thisand-heaven-too-chapter-two-renewed

Chapter Three - The Welcome Party (Part One)

https://rockleefangirl987.tumblr.com/post/160861155718/all-thisand-heaven-too-chapter-three-the

From the Introduction:

There are many ways to tell a story.

This is one.

While some of the most common things become accepted canon, we don’t always agree, oftentimes forcing even The Creator of the signature work to admit ‘I was wrong,’ frustrating us to no end because now it is ‘set in stone’. Which is why we create alternate universes, to satisfy our hunger for...well, whatever the case, be it to right some wrong, give our hero or heroine satisfaction, or to complete a journey we felt was never satisfactorily finished.

This is another version...a tweaking...a difference here and there, some so minor, they may not be immediately noticeable.

Consider this a level of the multiverse, finite and infinite, each universe part of a vast assemblage and existing simultaneously, the numerous realities unaware of the other. Therefore at first glance, should you, in the reading of this account, discover something you believe a contradiction, recall this introduction and remember - this is only one version of the story and the lives entwined with it.

Disclaimer: The following story has been written with no intention of claiming ownership or solicitation, nor does the author claim the movie character(s) as his/her own. The character(s) have been borrowed solely out of a love of the particular series and movies and is not intended for any other purpose but amusement and entertainment.

‘...In everything that’s light and gay,

I’ll always think of you that way.

I’ll find you in the morning sun,

And when the night is new.

I’ll be looking at the moon -

But I’ll be seeing you.’

The onlookers swayed in time, danced, sang along, even shed tears to the slow piece, and when the ebony-complexioned soprano crooned the final line, the song ended to rousing applause. It served as a welcome change from the fast rhythms of the last several selections, in addition to evoking memories of the last major Briton war, but it was time to switch the pace again. After sipping some water, the singer told them, “Thank you so much ladies and gentlemen, thank you. You’ve been awfully kind this evening.

“I realize it’s still early, but as we have so many wonderful guests from the Leaf Village among us, we thought this would be an excellent time to announce one of our Briton traditions, one many of you may recall from twenty or more years ago.” Some cheered, already prepared for what she would say. “Now that was well before my time, but it’s always a treat to announce our classic...Lady's Choice!”

The sound of adrenalized female chatter grew louder, but Sakura, Tenten, Ino, and Hinata looked around, hoping for some clarification as the announcer continued.

“Lady's Choice everyone. We’ll begin the dance in a little so you'll have time to...prepare.” She winked as she came down off the stage, her eyes scanning the room for her own ‘choice’.

“Okay, nobody told us about this,” Sakura complained, watching as several female officers hurried pass, their footfall light, each with determined expressions as they pointed towards a few of the Village males. “What’s this Lady’s Choice?”

Ino already looked angry. “Yeah, if I get left out, I’m not going to be happy. I know I don’t know what it is, but I still won’t be happy.”

“Excuse me. You're wondering about the Lady’s Choice?”

The four found Tessa Marshall in front of them, her porcelain features glowing with anticipation as she sought out her intended target.

Sakura nodded. “Lady Tessa, well, yes, thank you, but no, we don’t know what it is. No one explained it to us.”

“Oh, it’s wonderful! You’ll love it, trust me. You get to choose your dance partner from among any of the available males, and I do mean any of the males and they cannot deny you. You walk up to them and say something like ‘I want to dance with you - Lady's Choice’ and there you go. It’s sort of silly in an old-fashioned way, but we’ve been doing it forever and a...” The sentence trailed off.

Choji and Shikamaru walked close-by, the pair moving as if they had a mission to accomplish. She and Choji became separated after a short time together due to Tessa having to fulfill her duties as a hostess, so she was thrilled to see him again. They did promise to meet up later, therefore the opportunity could not have timed out better.

“...forever and a...I’m sorry. Will you excuse me please?” She hurried off behind the two friends, attempting to maintain her composure.

Ino grinned. “She has a thing for Choji.”

Sakura shook her head. “Don't you mean she has a thing for...”

“I mean she has a thing for Choji. She rode past him during the parade and she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Both Shikamaru and I noticed. Must like big guys I guess. Who would have thought that, huh? He’s flabbergasted. Frankly, I’m flabbergasted.” So much for her well-intended advice about him losing weight to get a girlfriend. If Lady Tessa was interested in him, no amount of harassment on Ino’s part would help.

“Tenten?”

Hinata’s voice was so tiny, Tenten barely heard her over the din. “What is it Hinata?”

“She said...Lady Tessa said I can choose...anyone?”

Tenten smiled, knowing where this conversation was leading. “Yep...anyone,” and she winked while backing up. She did not wish to be rude, but she knew this game could get dangerously competitive should she not get a head start on Ino and Sakura and anyone else insane enough to get in her way. “Good luck, Hinata,” and she rushed away.

“Oh,” came a shy whimper, and Hinata stood tiptoe and saw him. It’s now or never, Hinata. He won’t be able to say no and she sprinted towards him.

As word spread among the Village and Briton females, the excitement increased. Matters were not hysterical, but some accepted the challenge with the type of intense passion Might Guy could appreciate. Before long, the males of almost every age understood the predicament of a deer or duck during the hunting season. They were under the scope, the aim had been made, and the best thing to do was to either accept their fate - or find a place to hide. Most, however, were delighted to find themselves getting so much attention.

Tessa was already teaching Choji a few steps as she knew what the traditional dance would be. Sakura threw away all caution, and snagged Michael Marshall just as Ino was making her move.

Undaunted, Ino was about to ask Harry Marshall...but it appeared Tenten already had the upper hand. Ino growled. Wasn’t it enough that Tenten had ‘stolen’ that outfit from her? Was it not enough that Tenten had danced several dances with Lord Michael, and now she was ‘stealing’ the brother as well? Then Ino caught sight of a tall, dashing, brown-skinned brunette wearing one of those odd hats with gears and a near floor-length brown uniform coat which fit his body like a second skin. The brass on his waistcoat and belt sparkled like stars, and she realized as third choices went, he would not be all bad.

Not for the first time did she wonder what they put in the Briton waters to create such men!

Off in one area, Kakashi was surrounded on all sides, and desperately seeking an escape route. One voluptuous Ensign declared she and her fellow noncommissioned officers would play rock-paper-scissors for the opportunity to dance with him as they heard “it’s your all-time favorite game.”

Rock-paper...Come on...really? REALLY?! Who the hell would come up with something like...Wait...where's Guy?  

And off in another area, his back against a vertical support of the tent frame, Rock Lee watched, realistic as to his prospects.

Several lovely Britons smiled and nodded at him in acknowledgment, but none stopped. Had he still held those deeper feelings and fantasies from years ago, he would have imagined Sakura rushing his way to make an offer. Were she not having such a splendid time with the Marshall men, Tenten might have come over, scolded him for being ‘silly’ and then asked. Were these not favorable circumstances and the chance to corner the yellow-haired genin of her dreams, sweet Hinata might have asked. She had always been very kind to Lee, as he always had been to her.

Before the ‘Lady’s Choice’ was announced, he gathered enough courage to ask a couple of the ladies to dance, his motto being “nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Each one found a polite excuse as to why they could not, then he watched them stroll off with some male most considered ‘more attractive’. On his final attempt, as he walked away following the rejection, he heard the corporal laugh and say to her friends, “Was he kidding? Oh my God, those eyebrows! Do you think they’re real?!” Lee took it all in stride, as he had most of his life. Later, he decided it was best to observe rather than participate.

The excruciating minutes gave him time to face facts. When the likes of Kakashi Hatake, or Neji Hyuga, or Shikamaru Nara were in a room with you, the ladies tended to select masked and mysterious; aloof and suave with mysterious eyes, or ‘I’m bored out of my mind and you find that attractive - what a drag.’ Because that was how things tended to work out, no matter how much one believed in themselves.

It is not that I have not had a nice time tonight. It has been quite an experience seeing how the Britons behave, and Guy-Sensei was correct. They are great lovers of life. It is just...I may be somewhat out of my element here, and at this moment even more so. It has been well over an hour, and there may be dozens of Briton ladies here and I know I have not met them all, but...I think my best course of action is to walk outside, regroup and wait until this Lady’s Choice dance has ended. I will not be missed at any rate, although Guy-Sensei will be disappointed in...

“Excuse me.”

Lee turned at the sound of the clear, soft voice, blinking as he faced the smiling figure before him. “Lady Kathryn,” he gulped. “Good evening. Good evening again.” He wondered why she looked different from earlier, then saw that her coat had been removed, better revealing the attractive ensemble underneath.

“Good evening again, Master Lee.” She took several more steps, and due to the heels of her boots, she was eye-to-eye with his five-foot-six height. “I’m sorry. Are you already leaving us?” Her eyes shifted to where a portion of the tent flap was in his hands.

“Leaving?” The canvas was dropped. “No, I...I was thinking about stepping outside for some air, but I...” He paused before he said something which made him appear awkward and decided to repeat more firmly, “I was thinking about stepping outside for some air, My Lady.”

Kathryn looked disappointed. “Oh. Sorry. It was only that I wanted to ask you to join me in the next dance.”

“I...I beg your pardon?”

He prayed he was not gaping, but he must have misunderstood. This was a joke. It had to be. There was no other explanation. For a second, a short list of candidates who put her up to this farce went through his thoughts, from the impolite corporal to some former Academy classmate, concealed and waiting until Lee fell for it and became the brunt of the joke. That idea faded on seeing the Captain’s expression. He detected a natural warm-heartedness overcoming whatever dismay she displayed at his initial answer. Besides, she did not seem the type to go along with such a poor practical joke.

“The next dance?” she stressed, indicating those milling around. “I want you to join me. It is Lady’s  Choice if you did not hear the announcement. I don’t believe I’ve seen you on the dance floor yet this evening, which is such a shame as you're missing half the fun of being here.”

After all the failed attempts at getting a young woman to share a dance, here was an offer the majority of males at the Party would sacrifice the proverbial arm and leg to experience. Lee, however, felt overwhelmed. He accepted the reality of it, but the idea that this gentlewoman with a list of titles longer than his arm was asking him...While it felt out of character, his confidence, his courage, and his nerves were failing under the pressure of such attention. This time his mind went through a host of excuses as he contemplated how observant she was to know what he had and had not been doing.

“I am sorry, My Lady,” he replied following a brief silence.

“Is something wrong, Master Lee? Are you unwell? I can fetch one of our medics if...” Despite the calm of her questions, the Captain appeared anxious.

“No, I...I am not...Yes, yes, I...I am sorry. You see...I do not dance, Your Ladyship.” At least that sounded plausible, although on seeing her half-smile, he wondered if he convinced her.

“Ah, well.” She glanced aside, then looked at him once more, shaking her head. “No. I shall not take ‘I do not dance’ as a justification. This is a party! I’ll lead. You shall follow my steps. It’s as simple as that. And since this is our traditional dance, and the lady chooses her partner and there can be no refusal, well, you do not have a choice!” She boldly thrust out a hand for him to accept. Although she exhibited a serious countenance, there was an unmistakable gleam in her eyes. “Lady's Choice, Master Lee!”

She spoke with such authority Lee found it impossible to find another excuse or lie - he had never been a good liar at any rate. Besides, he did not want to be the source of some ‘international incident’ should he continue to refuse. He placed one hand on hers, then saw her smile widen as a tug forced him from the spot which had served as his temporary safe place. He realized he was smiling, too, at the way she handled the situation: ladylike but with a touch of no-nonsense as well. He respected that.

But one thing he did not like were the many eyes concentrating on the Queen’s ‘beloved kinswoman’...and him! To be center stage as a participant in exams and exhibitions was one thing. To be the center of attention at an event with the majority of the Leaf Village in attendance was another.

He tried to ignore the whispers from the more judgmental Villagers - few in number, but vocal nonetheless. (‘Isn't that Dork Lee?’ ‘Of course, it’s him. Who did you think it was?’ ‘He hasn't improved one bit, has he?’ ‘The older he gets the uglier.’ ‘Why is she dancing with him?’ ‘I thought she and Neji Hyuga looked beautiful together.’ ‘Still as stupid looking as ever, isn't he?’ ‘Doesn't she know those eyebrows are lethal weapons?’).

He ignored the faces of his fellow genin and chunin. Although some looked surprised on seeing the pairing, others had no feelings one way or the other as they found themselves escorted or figuratively dragged onto the oak parquet floor.  

Naruto grinned as he walked by, Hinata Hyuga at his side. “Hey Bushy Brow, so you got grabbed up too, huh? They’re not taking ‘no’ for an answer this time, are they?”

Lee smiled, but the action was not on Naruto’s behalf. Good for you, Hinata. Good for you. I am happy to see you accepted this challenge. Perhaps this was the opening you required to show Naruto how you feel if he would stop being so stupid.

All around him, male chunin, male Jonin, male genin, male Britons and just regular males were snatched up, making Lee feel less self-conscious about being on display. Several groups formed on the floor in order to keep the lines of dancers from becoming unmaneuverable. By the time this dance began, he hoped to blend into the crowd and become one out of dozens.

“I know you don’t normally dance like this in the Leaf Village, but my parents said this became quite popular with everyone when they visited.”

Although speaking to him, Kathryn had stopped, forcing an embarrassed Lee to backtrack several steps since he continued moving before realizing his error. “Did it, My Lady?” That was all that came to mind while he searched the Briton’s face for indications of regret at selecting him. He saw none.

“I am thinking you have never danced a reel before, but oh that is right. You do not dance. That is what you told me.”

Lee recognized Kathryn’s near perfect imitation of his voice, including his inflections and how he never used contractions. Had it been anyone else, he would have thought they were mocking him, but she continued to smile in the hopes of putting him at ease. It succeeded in making him more bashful than usual. “No, My Lady,” he stammered. “I mean I can, but I do not...what I meant is yes, that is what I told you, and no, I...I cannot dance.” Her eyes are violet and gray. I noticed them when we were introduced. I do not think I have ever seen eyes that color before...and why am I thinking of that now?

“I thought as a Ninja,” her voice returning to normal, “you would learn to be light on your feet. Excuse me...one...moment.” Kathryn placed her hands on his arms. “If you don't mind, can you...stand right...there. Perfect. Thank you.” She positioned herself a few feet in front of him.

His eyes shifted to his toes. And she has you there. What has Guy-Sensei told you about always thinking hundreds of moves ahead of your opponent in order to set things to your advantage. Not that she is an opponent, but I should have better prepared my answers. I had no idea she would find similarities between dancing and learning the moves of a Ninja. “I might dance...a little, My Lady.”

Ah! Well, that will make it easier then, won’t it?” She took both of his hands. “Just relax, Master Lee. We’re dancing. It’s supposed to be fun, and I promise, I’ll lead. You just keep up with me until you get the hang of it, okay?”

‘Supposed to be’ is the operative term, he thought, glancing around to see who was in their grouping. The males had been lined up on one side, the females on the other, and as he scanned the floor, he almost laughed at how eclectic all the groups were. But once more, every sound was drowned out as he heard the voices yet again. Mocking, hurtful, the ones who dragged down what little confidence he had, and it was all coming from the edges of the dance floor. He wondered if he alone heard them, or would everyone in the tent soon join the discussion.

“And then you’ll...Master Lee?”

He snapped out of it. Kathryn was giving instructions and he recalled but a little. “My Lady?”

“Are you alright?” Once more concern tugged at her features. “You’re sure you feel okay?”

“I am...I am sorry, My Lady. Begging your pardon, but I do not think you have chosen a worthy partner for this dance of yours.” But he noticed her eyes reflected not pity, but a kindness and an understanding. In that moment he knew she heard what those Villagers said.

Kathryn motioned with a finger indicating he should lean towards her. “An ancestress of mine had a saying which you should take to heart, Master Lee,” she whispered. “It was this: ‘Let them grumble. This is how it’s going to be.’” She grinned. “Ignore them. They can either enjoy watching us have a good time or they can go to Perdition. Pardon my language, but I can’t abide fools.” She nodded at the stage. “I think we’re about to begin so it’s too late for you to back out. Besides, you’ll be fine.”

Famous last words.

“Just remember,” she hurriedly added, “you’ll take four steps towards me and bow, and I will take four steps towards you and curtsey. We do that simultaneously. Don’t forget. Then you take four paces back to where you started, just as I will, and I’ll take your hands and the real fun begins.”

Famous last words - again.

An announcer said something about the Teyshas reel, which was greeted with loud, vocal anticipation.

Lee noticed the Captain was already tapping a foot as the musicians played the opening. He heard a few Britons emit a reverberating yell resembling a battlefield cry. Kathryn curtseyed all the way to the floor, wiggling her eyebrows to remind him he had an action to perform as well. He bowed, just as he did upon their first introduction; stepped back, then felt her small hands clutch his larger ones, the little links of chains, rings, and bracelets that were part of her odd gloves and cuffs pressing into his tape.

The rest was a momentary blur as it all came together. He heard Kathryn giving directions, her strong voice standing out among all the others. They danced sideways down a column of people in their group. They switched partners and Tenten clasped his hands, vanished, and Kathryn returned, tugging a bit to indicate the couples were to twirl in a circle. Afterward, they moved sideways again, first one direction and then another, and he felt her move his right hand upwards as she linked hers about it.

“Spin!” she called out, and Lee followed her guidance as they spun around each other, then reversed hands to spin the opposite way, before returning to their original positions to begin the entire sequence from the start. But this time, he took the initiative, and his usual optimism kicked in so Kathryn knew from his action that he felt comfortable enough to lead her.

He lost track of time. All he knew after those first moves was that this reel was one of the easiest things he had ever accomplished, and he laughed to himself on thinking how difficult he tried to make it in the beginning. He did not step on Kathryn’s feet or trip over his own despite the change in tempo and the addition of new steps. He smiled when she let loose with one of those Briton battle cries; laughed as she apologized for getting ‘carried away,’ and next apologized for making the initial apology. Most important, from her actions, there was no remorse over partnering with him.

They were in perfect synchronization, the moves intensifying and becoming faster. He watched her swirl around him as they danced among the numerous other couples. Strands of red-gold hair loosened from her elaborate chignon and fell past her shoulders. Each time she pressed against him, no matter how brief, he smelled her perfume, the chemistry of her body warming and strengthening the notes of roses and citrus and other scents unfamiliar to him. He did not understand how she mastered any dance in those tall, narrow heels. He promised not to stare when he got the occasional glimpse of her slender legs, revealed when the skirt to her knee-length dress rose just a little. And he ignored the subtle tingling through his body whenever their eyes connected, and he smiled in response to her smiles and her laughter.

Lee had never danced like this in his life and was so involved, he did not know the reel was drawing to an end until the Captain pulled away and took four paces back. His sandaled feet almost skidded as he prepared to go another round, but he stopped himself and was once more bowing to her while she curtseyed before him. His fast reflexes saved the day! When the music concluded, the applause and cheers were more intense, while more than a few, Kathryn included, let go with another battlefield cry.

His next action came without a second thought. Kathryn was still in the deep curtsey, but as she prepared to stand to her full height, he extended his right hand and said: “Allow me, My Lady.” She paused in her action, surprised at first, then delighted. Both knew her capable of standing up without assistance, however, this unexpected little act of gallantry felt perfect in the place and at the time!

Lee watched her smile, heard a courteous “Thank you, Master Lee,” and several slender fingers lay against his taped wrist. He took her hand with a gentle grasp to give her leverage, and in an instant, Kathryn was at her full height again.

“Master Lee...answer me this.” Still catching her breath, she pulled a lacy white handkerchief from a dress pocket and began to fan herself.

“Yes, Your Ladyship?”

“I thought you said you couldn’t dance!” she teased.

He chuckled, revealing his perfect white teeth. “I suppose I was incorrect in that.”

“You...suppose?”

“No, no, I was mistaken. It is obvious. I can dance.” The divulgence caused his companion to slap her hands together in celebration.  

“Oh, there's no denying you can, Master Lee!”

“Well,” and he offered a small bow, “thank you very much, My Lady.”

She seemed puzzled. “For?”

“The Lady’s Choice. Thank you for asking me.” And I was ready to wander outside...

The corners of Kathryn's smile appeared to touch the edges of her flashing eyes. “Oh, you are most welcome. I appreciate you dancing with me. I know I made you feel you had no choice in...”

“Yes, but it worked out, did it not?”

She became pensive. “You had fun then?”

Fun. Fun was the satisfaction of a well-done job; of all his accomplishments to that point and pushing to achieve more. But earlier in the day, when he wondered about these Britons and what their Party might entail, whenever the word ‘fun’ came to mind or was mentioned by Guy-Sensei or Tenten, to Lee it meant new experiences. Swirling around a dance floor with a woman like Kathryn Marshall never entered the equation.

“I had fun, Your Ladyship, I really did,” Lee told her, tickled to see that his answer elated her.

“And so did I! The Teyshas Reel is one of my favorite dances.”

He began to think it could become one of his as well.

Kathryn cleared her throat. “Master Lee?” she continued, her voice gentler than Lee could recall having heard it.

“My Lady?”

“I wonder, that is, if you have nothing planned at this second, would you like...”

But her face transformed. Her warm smile, the twinkling eyes, her informal nature - it vanished the second they heard one of the nobles call out “Lady Kathryn!” Her demeanor growing rigid, she focused on a small group of Briton officials - and Neji for some reason was among them. She looked back at Lee, gave a partial curtsey and said, “Thank you again for the dance, Master Lee. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.”

Before he could say anything, she hurried away, each step graceful and formal, her attention focused on Neji as he nodded his head in greeting. Lee could not hear the conversation, but after a few moments, there was laughter, Kathryn bending her head so as to listen to whatever it was Neji said. Both smiled and strolled away from the group.

“Lee!”

“Hello, Tenten.” He smiled as she ran up and patted him on the back.

She was flushed, still breathing hard, and fanning a hand in front of her face. “I saw you out there with Lady Kathryn. You were...Don’t deny it. You were having a great time!”

“I was thinking the same of you,” he replied.

“Oh, you mean me dancing with Lord Harry?”

“And Lord Michael too.”

“Well, they’re, you know they’re...”

“Gorgeous?” He winked, smiling more as she blushed. “You are fortunate it was Guy-Sensei and I reading your lips.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not sure where that came from. I mean, you know me. How often do I go around spouting off crap like that about...Well, I...It’s just…”

“Tenten, it is I. You do not need to apologize for what you are feeling. You are having a wonderful time. The two of them have shown very good taste in spending time with you. They are the ones who should consider themselves fortunate.”

“Oh, Lee.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, giggling and wetting her thumb to clean the tiny spot of lipstick she had left. “Anyway, how are you doing? Are you having a good time?”

“It has been...nice.”

“Well, I’m glad Lady Kathryn called you out. I had these pictures in my brain of you standing in a corner watching everybody instead of getting out there on the floor. You weren’t doing that, were you? Standing in a corner?”

He shook his head, wondering if Tenten believed his answer.

“She seems nice, doesn’t she?” Tenten asked.

“Her Ladyship? She is, yes,” Lee agreed, glancing at his hands. He noticed a tiny sterling silver loop from one of Kathryn’s jeweled gloves or filigreed cuffs caught on the tape on his right hand. They switched hands so often during the reel, it might have happened at any time, however, he regretted not seeing it before they parted. He could have retrieved it for her so it might be repaired. “She is funny too.” He tucked the portion out of the way. “Did you know she does imitations?”

“No! She does...Who did she imitate? Wait! Did she do you?”

“If you had been here and closed your eyes...”

“Oh, I’m so sorry I missed that! Too bad Guy-Sensei wasn’t around, oh, or Neji! I’d love to hear her do Neji. Or Sensei! If she could peg Sensei I don’t know what I’d think! Hey, are you hungry? I am. I guess all that dancing makes you hungry. I can scout everything out for you.”

“I would appreciate that. Thank you, Tenten. So have you finished dancing with the Marshall brothers?” he asked as they moved towards the dining area. People were again dancing, but others were finding seats, heading outdoors, relaxing or examining the rows of buffet tables.

“Oh...I don’t know. It's early. Can you believe how early it is?” Tenten did not realize every move she took was as though she was still dancing. “Oh, Guy-Sensei said he was proud of both of us grabbing hold of the springtime of our youth.” She nudged him. “He saw you dancing with Lady Kathryn. He told me to tell you,” and she flashed all of her teeth and gave a hearty thumbs up, “and something about ‘See - what did I tell you?’ I guess you know what that means, huh?”

Lee smiled. “I do, yes...I have not seen Sensei in a while. I was wondering where he had disappeared to.”

“I think he’s been up to no good, so he’s hiding out. He kind came out of nowhere to talk to me, then he up and vanished again. Sakura said Kakashi-Sensei was looking for him too. Something about rock-paper-scissors and some female officers before the Lady's Choice. I’m not sure what happened, but knowing Guy-Sensei...” She giggled, then paused. “Oh, there’s Neji and Lady Kathryn. I wonder where they’re going?” she pondered, she and Lee watching the couple head outside. “I’ve been hearing...things.”

One of Lee’s eyebrows rose as he scowled. “What kind of things?”  

“Oh, you know. Things.”

Lee shook his head. “Tenten, what do you mean by ‘things’?”

Tenten often had a tendency to make matters sound worse than they were. No one forgot the time she told Naruto Lee’s condition was ‘grim - very grim’ when her teammate had been temporarily removed from active duty so his chakra network could better heal. By the time she finished her prognostications, Naruto thought Bushy Brow was dying! Therefore over time, Lee learned to prod Tenten for additional details before he reached any final conclusions.

Her response was a groan, irritated that Lee required more specifics. “Oh Lee, you know. Somebody said this, somebody said that, then someone told someone else, and you figure you’re getting the tiniest bit of the actual story by the time it reaches you. But I heard this from Sakura, who got it from Shino, who got it from Shikamaru, who heard it from Choji, who’s been arm-in-arm with Lady Tessa most of the night, and she ought to know something being Lady Kathryn’s sister. And then Kiba said Hinata told him that with Hanabi being the Hyuga heiress, she heard some rumors too.”

His head was spinning. “So what is being said?”

“That the Briton Queen asked Lady Kathryn to meet Neji. That’s why you’ve seen all the Briton higher-ups mingling with the Hyugas. I think Lord Harry might have been asked to do the same with Hinata, so that’s why he’s been chatting her up, but, well, you know where her heart lies.”

Lee nodded. “Yes.” He paused, considering the information. “So this Queen wants Lady Kathryn to...” and his voice dropped “I am sorry. She wants Lady Kathryn to marry Neji?” What else was he to gather from a Queen asking her subject (albeit a relation) to ‘meet someone’?

“That’s what the rumor mill’s saying, but don’t you dare quote me on that. I don’t even think Neji’s aware of what’s going on, not yet anyway, or maybe he’s beginning to put it together, but they’ve been pushing the two of them at each other all night. That’s a gimme.”

Lee was beginning to dislike these ‘they’ people. “Lady Kathryn does not seem the type to let anyone force her to do things against her will.”

“I agree. Neji might not be thrilled either. He’s very much his own man, even if he has a loyalty to his clan, but it’s like they’re plotting behind his back and Lady Kathryn’s back and the two of them don’t have a lot of say in the matter. But anyway, like I said, it’s all conjecture and speculation and it makes for good gossip. If there’s such a thing as good gossip. But I don’t think we should mention it to Neji unless he brings it up first.”

“Agreed.”

Tenten examined the elaborate layout of food, asking discrete questions of the servers in order to determine what contained even the smallest amount of alcohol (“Oh - that’s so pretty! Is that prepared in some type of...Oh! Red wine?”), and discovered a number of items safe for Lee to eat. She suggested they try a tempting, foamy white punch being ladled from a large silver bowl, but had the presence of mind to ask what the ingredients were before the waiter gave them a taste - and she cringed upon hearing what accompanied the fresh orange juice. There was sparkling wine from a region in Gaul; white rum from one of the Empire’s islands, and a few other alcohols Tenten lost track of as she thanked the waiter and pulled Lee aside. Eventually, the two settled on water infused with fresh lemons and mint, but only after she double-checked there was nothing more than that!

They found a table in a quiet area of the facility, an ideal spot to observe all the goings-on without appearing to be doing so.

“I guess,” Tenten contemplated out loud as she took a bite of poultry called a Cornish Hen, “it could do a lot as far as alliances and all between Briton and us.”

“What do you...Oh, you mean a marriage. I suppose. I do not know a great deal about marriage playing into diplomacy and politics. Guy-Sensei keeps telling us how crucial it is for us to have a better understanding of foreign affairs, but I do not have a complete grasp of it yet.”

“Same here. We’re fighters, right?” She pointed at her plate. “You have to try this chicken, Lee. It's great. But you know, I guess on some level, we’re ambassadors and diplomats whenever we take a mission. Lady Kathryn is military; so are her brothers and sister, but look at her. She negotiates and the gods know what else every time she opens her mouth. She’s even supposed to work with our people to iron out the final rules and regulations for the Games.”

Lee nodded. Might Guy had already informed the chunin that one of his upcoming duties would be for him and Neji to stand by and witness those deliberations with their Sensei. It might be tedious, but it was an important part of his training. Being a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village was not all on the battlefield. There were times when you sat at a table, peered across it at your opponent and played ‘nice’.

Tenten rolled her eyes. “I don’t get it.”

“What do you not get?”

“The last time I looked, we were in the twenty-first century, right? I don’t think she or Neji should have to feel like they’re being auctioned off. I don’t care if royalty or important families have done this arranged stuff forever or not. It just seems kind of old-fashioned in the extreme.”

Lee did not immediately respond but instead used a fork to pick at the thin slices of roasted suckling pig on his plate. It had been ages since he had used that utensil, so it should have been the renewal of a cultural experience to enjoy as Guy-Sensei would have told him. Instead, a somber air embodied him. He wondered what Kathryn and Neji might be doing. “I agree. It is primitive for this day and age,” and he inhaled, “but of course if they enjoy one another's company...”

“Well, that would make a huge difference. But enjoying someone’s company, that’s one thing. Feeling love, hey, that’s something else. They haven’t known each other long enough to be in love, but what do I know, huh?” Her laughter sounded ineffective to Lee’s hearing. “Maybe it is. You know...love at first sight, blah-blah-blah.”

“Right.” The thought of his one and only ‘love at first sight’ came to mind. A difficult lesson learned. It was never like the storybooks.

“I know one thing.”

“What is that, Tenten?” The pit of his stomach tightened.

“The two of them make a great looking couple. Everybody’s saying that.”

Why wouldn’t people say it when the physical evidence was obvious. Kathryn Marshall would make a lovely addition to the Hyuga dynasty, permeating a bloodline in which cousins married cousins. Since one day, Neji might become a candidate for Hokage, having a consort with her pedigree and influence could be crucial to the Village remaining a strong force, offering benefits perhaps he and Tenten were not recognizing.

“Aren’t you hungry anymore?” Tenten noticed her teammate had stopped eating. “The hot food’s going to get cold and your cold food’s getting warm.”

He was ‘starving,’ but could not erase the memory of Kathryn’s kindness, along with that startling transformation from an ebullient young woman into someone regal and reserved, all within seconds. “I suppose it is all of these...rumors. I do not like gossiping about Neji, and although we do not know Lady Kathryn that well, I do not like gossiping about her either. Perhaps...we should put it aside until we know more?”

“Sure Lee. You’re right. You’re absolutely right.” She turned aside, faking a cough as a transition. “Here...try this. It’s good” She cut the drumstick from the half piece of hen she was enjoying. Once he had eaten some she said, “See? What did I tell you, huh? And promise you’ll go back with me to the tent with the desserts when we’re done. Not right this minute. There’s still a load of stuff in here I want to check-out.”

“It did look good. All the chocolate.”

“Good? Good?! It looked amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. But if I don’t watch it I’ll gorge myself and won’t be able to move when we’re training tomorrow.”

“Well, whatever you decide on I will split them with you, do not worry. I enjoy chocolate, but you know it is not one of my weaknesses.”

“I know, I know. Unless...” Mischief brewed in her eyes.

“Unless...what?”

“I heard somebody say they have chocolates in there with spices and chilis and peppers.”

Lee’s face glowed. “Spices and chilis?”

“And peppers. Can you imagine that?”

“No, no, I cannot.” Was that even a possibility: one of those little chocolate creations infused or stuffed with perhaps the hottest peppers imaginable? “Alright, Tenten. If I can help you in your enjoyment of the Briton chocolates, it will not be a problem.”

“And that is why you’re my very best friend.” Tenten’s grin was so exaggerated, Lee couldn’t help but laugh, for without her realizing it, she improved his mood.

He took another bite of the food she shared with him. “You were right. This is very good. I might have to try more of this when I go back.”

“I told you, didn’t I? And you mean go back for seconds?” When he nodded, Tenten looked relieved. “Thank the gods. I thought I was the only one who was going to get greedy. Their food is - wow! Oh and thanks. About the desserts I mean. I was hoping you’d...” She paused, her attention diverted.

“What is wrong?”   

“It’s Neji.”

Lee turned, a tiny part of his mind hoping Neji and Kathryn reached an amicable and mutual parting of the ways while talking alone, but no, Neji was holding aside the tent flap as she entered. It was often difficult to tell how his teammate felt when one looked at his face, but the Briton captain was smiling and appeared comfortable in his company as they strolled off in the opposite direction.

Scolding himself for the negativity, Rock Lee almost heaved a frustrated sigh, but stopped, wondering why he would even react in such a manner. One thing, however, was clear. It appeared the rumors might not be rumors after all.

The song I’ll Be Seeing You was published in 1938 - music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Irving Kahal.

[tokupedia]

Kamen Rider 45th Anniversary File: Decade

2009

Sing it with me now..♬ Chan-Chan-Bara Chanbara! Chan-Bara-Bara Chanbara! Samurai Sentai Shinkenjā! Appare!♬  The 33rd Super Sentai authorized by the network! Shinkenger, Goes Forth!

RPM! GET IN GEAR! Power Rangers RPM hits the airwaves on the new Disney XD channel (formerly Jetix in the US). Decreed by Disney to be the final original Power Rangers series, the company wanted to be super cheap by pulling the plug on production and re-airing old episodes next year. The franchise would then get tossed out by the Mouse House after this harebrained scheme backfires.

Fresh Pretty Cure debuts, airing alongside Decade (and Double) and Shinkenger. This season attempts to expand the Pretty Cure brand beyond its young female demographic, which would prove successful next series...

So~(I Can Fly!) Hurry!~ (You Can Fly!) Miracles!~ (We Can Fly) DRAGON CHAAAAAAARGE!~  Tomica Hero: Rescue Fire, the sequel season to Rescue Force, debuts and... sadly is the final installment of the Tomica Hero series. Among the supporting cast for the show was the man, the myth, the legend, Hiroshi Fujioka!  Tomica Hero Explosively Completed its run in 2010.

Engine Sentai Go-onger vs. Gekiranger, the 15th Sentai Vs. series entry, is upgraded from a direct to video release to a feature film. It is the first Sentai crossover put on the silver screen since JAKQ vs. Gorenger in the 1970s. This marks the first time in history that Super Sentai has more than one film in a single year and would continue from here on out.

Victory Pose! Yatter! Yatter! Yatterman, the Tasunoko late 70s anime classic, gets a live action film adaptation courtesy of film director Takashii Miike.

Ishimori Pro declares 2009 to be the “Year of Cyborg 009″ because of the franchise’s 45th anniversary. The company does special events for the occasion, such as showcase Cyborg 009 concept art, animation cels and sketches from the private archives of Shotaro Ishinomori at areas such as Akihabara and the Ishinomori Manga Museum.

Lastly, Koichi Sakamoto of Power Rangers fame sits in the directors chair on several tokusatsu projects, including the Ultra Galaxy Movie and a few Kamen Rider movies.

(2009 was a busy year!)

Kamen Rider’s home network TV Asahi was celebrating 50 years of broadcasting and the number of main Kamen Riders in the Heisei Era had reached the milestone of 10 in total. To celebrate the two momentous occasions, TV-Asahi treated fans to not one, not two, but three Kamen Riders in a single year. The first was the non-canon Kamen Rider G, the later half of the year saw Kamen Rider W, and Kamen Rider Decade was right in the middle.

Decade brought forth tropes in super hero fiction with near limitless writing possibilities: The Multiverse and the reunified continuity trope. Not only was it now possible for a Kamen Rider to have a crossover with other Riders, but the series can go to other universes such as....

crossing over with its sister series Super Sentai!

For the first time ever on TV, Kamen Rider and Super Sentai had a team-up crossover special. While JAKQ vs. Gorenger in the 1970s mentioned Kamen Rider Amazon being part of a greater universe of heroes, this was never expanded upon any further other than a quick mention/cameo image.

Often comic book fans draw parallels of this show’s story to another...

Both serve a purpose, to unify all continuity back into one single linear pathway that audiences can follow. Thus the multiple variants of stories become one sole tale in one setting. That being said, unlike many who recommend Decade as a starting series, I would advise newcomers to hold off a little until they familiarize themselves with the Heisei era a little better, as otherwise the story elements may confuse them as they will have no frame of reference going in.

Heisei Kamen Rider up to this point allowed itself to avoid continuity ties by letting each series stand on its own aside from maybe Kuuga and Agito, but even that could be a stretch. Decade is where things began to merge back together, as after this series, Riders began interacting with one another on a regular basis in movies and direct to video films. Aside from a few teases of non-canon events like the Ryuki V-Cinema and the Den-O and Kiva Movie, Toei didn’t seem too interested in doing TV or film crossovers on a grander scale until this exact year.

So... what happened that may have changed their minds?

Oh yeah, THAT happened...Marvel made it known at the end of a little movie called Iron Man they were going to do BIG crossovers. So naturally, Toei possibly followed suit (with mixed results depending on who you ask). It is just speculation, but you have to admit it is odd timing given the franchise almost avoided crossovers entirely up to this point.

This show is also the last hurrah of Rainbow Zoukei as the costume designers, as their workload had grown to insane levels. RZ was doing Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, Ultraman, prop replacement parts for Power Rangers on top of various movies and TV commercials. In order to ease the burden, the company created a secondary studio based in Tama called Blend Master to divide the workload. Rainbow Zoukei does Super Sentai and new Metal Heroes costumes/replacements while Blend Master works on Kamen Rider from Double to the present day.

Another new addition to the franchise would be the introduction of Bandai’s Legend Rider gimmick for their Ganbaride arcade video game cabinets. Rider Cards were the primordial phase of this gimmick, utilizing the powers of past heroes in the show while being something Bandai could double up in profits on. Later iterations and Ganbarizng would incorporate the electronic collectible toy trinkets in combination with the trading cards. Another staple of this series was the introduction of the Rider lexicon term “Driver” for the belts (Get it? A belt is the driving force of the super powers of a Kamen Rider.)

The biggest thing this series did though was revive the Showa Riders presence in the franchise after a long absence from TV with a story arc about visiting the non-Heisei Rider worlds, with at least one of the originals physically appearing and returning to his role:

Tetsuo Kurata as Kohtaro Minami/Kamen Rider Black and Black RX! (Parallel universes thing, complicated to explain.)

Decade is a very divisive series, some love it for upping the stakes of conflict with the fate of reality itself hanging in the balance and a war between Riders of past and present series with a super powerful rider that had a cool belt voiced by radio personality Mark Okita.

On the opposite end of fandom, some hated it for undermining their favorite Riders with what some assessed to be a Marty Stu fanfic-y character who was almost super-invincible and ultimately served as a plot device.

On the upside to fans who dislike the show, at least we got a female Rider and a meme out of it...

ONORE DECADE!

Speaking of which...KAMEN RIDE: DECADE!

“The Destroyer of Worlds, Decade. What do those eyes see as he travels through many worlds?"

(Mr. Kadoya, circa 2014 in a crossover with Kamen Rider Wizard, lookin’ like a boss.)

Real Name: Tsukasa Kadoya

As a child, Tsukasa was often alone with his sister, but soon discovered she had the ability to create trans-dimensional gateways called Dimension Walls.

Tsukasa ran off into one of them one day and in his later years, came into contact with Dai-Shocker, a revived amalgamation of all the past villains the Kamen Riders had ever faced. They tricked him into playing the role of their Great Leader (which a teen Tsukasa thought was a “fun idea” at the time) and later offered him a new weapon to test out: The Decadriver. The belt device was the intense labor of Dai-Shocker scientists who HATED the Kamen Riders. The Decadriver could duplicate and surpass the powers of all Kamen Riders to obliterate them once and for all or use them as lifeless tools to enhance the Decade system. Tsukasa tested them out, but this ended badly for him as the overwhelming shock of crossing multiple universes all at once caused mental trauma that wiped his memories away. The Decadriver was somehow left hidden and abandoned in an unspecified alternate Earth.

Cut to 2009 and an amnesiac Tsukasa is on an Earth working as a photographer for the Hikari family. Natsumi Hikari is having strange nightmares about a figure who kills all the Kamen Riders in a great war, enveloped in a magenta light. Strange things then start happening as random unexplained catastrophes occur such as monsters appearing from silvery walls and people being randomly teleported to unfamiliar locations and slaughtered by more monsters.

As this happens, a familiar face appears to Tsukasa: Wataru Kurenai aka Kamen Rider Kiva who asks him where his “buckle and cards” are and that this “world will end if he doesn’t do something“. Tsukasa at first does not understand and is confused by all this, but Natsumi later finds the belt and gives it to him when she is being attacked by some Worms. Tsukasa transforms into a new Kamen Rider and then remembers how to fight, using the powers of past Kamen Riders to defeat waves of monsters effortlessly.

Once Wataru and the other Kamen Riders freeze the world in place with their combined powers to prevent further destruction, the veteran Rider explains to Tsukasa that the parallel worlds of Kamen Riders are merging due to an outside force and will destroy all of existence if it isn’t stopped.

To that end, Tsukasa as Kamen Rider Decade must go to the 9 Worlds and destroy the nine Kamen Riders of those worlds to preserve the Prime universe. Wataru laments that creation cannot come without destroying something and promises to hold the world in place for as long as he can with his comrades until Decade “fixes” the multiverse.

Decade ends up doing the exact opposite after befriending the Riders and connecting their stories. This at first did not sit well with the Prime Universe Kamen Riders and they attacked Decade to preserve their existence and those of their loved ones, thus the Rider War began.

But by being a destroyer and connecting with heroes, Decade did find a way eventually to save everyone. Tsukasa now spends his days traveling across space and time, exploring new parallel worlds and helping those in need in his own unique way.

(As many Rider Scouts will tell you: This one idea has massive fanfiction potential as Decade could have visited any number of universes of beloved franchises along his journey: Marvel, DC, Image, Transformers, Doctor Who, Star Trek etc.)

In one non-canon moment of a video game, an enemy called him the Destroyer of Worlds. Decade then casually responded that he is “retired” from that role. Even in Kamen Rider Taisen (*ugh*) any mention of this title seems to annoy/upset Tsukasa, as he feels he is beyond that part of his life.

Powers:

Decade can become invisible, make copies of himself, has expert markmanship and sword skill, enhanced strength and has the ability to travel across dimensions to parallel Earths.

Decade’s signature ability is for his Rider System to analyze an opponent and if it is a Kamen Rider, copy its data for Decade to assume the powers, weapons and forms himself in the form of Rider Cards. The Rider Cards can also upgrade/seize a Kamen Rider into a new form dubbed as a “Final Form Ride”, transforming them to act as a support such as a new power, a vehicle, a weapon or a device such as enhanced armor.

Decade himself can Final Form Ride into a giant sized version of the Decadriver for Kamen Rider J to wear and he assumes control of Kouji’s body as a giant sized Decade. Decade can obtain the power of Kamen Riders through cards in one of two ways, the first is the Magic of Friendship and the other is straight up beating them to near death and sealing the weakened Rider in a card in a manner somewhat similar to the Blade System with the Undead. Decade prefers option one, but in a rare instance used the second one as circumstances forced him to.

The Decadriver is also compatible with other card systems such as the Gosei Cards from the Goseigers and the Decadriver is shown it can utilize Super Sentai weapon Rider Cards.

Using some kind of construct projector somewhat akin to ZX’s Virtual Image Projection Unit, Decade can assume the form of ANY Kamen Rider. (As confirmed by recent toys, Decade can go up to Kamen Rider Drive currently. But Ghost and Ex-Aid are likely part of his card deck by now). Upon tinkering with it apparently, the Decadriver can holographically disguise itself as another Rider Belt (such as 1′s Typhoon) and through a voice modulator, Decade can fully impersonate a Kamen Rider for stealth/infiltration missions. This image projection is enhanced even further in Complete Form, as Kamen Riders in their ultimate forms appear on command and seemingly mimic Decade’s movements like a shadow for a double final form Rider Finisher.

In his more deadly Violent Emotion mode, Decade can obtain and use any power of a Kamen Rider automatically, even sometimes without the use of the cards and no form change needed. He is seemingly so powerful in this mode that almost no Kamen Rider can stop him and his Rider Kick pretty much becomes a human seeker missile (As shown when he chased down Skyrider in the air and kicked him, turning the airborne 8th Rider into a falling fireball.)  Complete Form can summon the powers of the Heisei Rider’s ultimate forms and utilize their Rider cards in those forms to enhance Complete form further.

Tsukasa as a human is bestowed with new skills in every world he visits to serve whatever purpose the multiverse needs him for. (Ex. knowing the Gurongi language)

Weaknesses:

Decade, much like the the future Gokaigers who would adopt his same power copy gimmick, is not all powerful on his own in base form and can be beaten in some instances. (Blade in King Form gave Decade quite the beatdown once with just one slash of his sword)  This is more to showcase that Decade on his own is neither stronger or weaker than any previous or succeeding Rider in base form and through the comradery of his fellow Riders sharing their strength with him, he can become the strongest of all of them.

His Rider Cards at first had a one use limit, it is uncertain if this still applies in some capacity. When the cards were used they would seal away the powers selected until they were activated again after gaining a Rider’s trust. Some universes disrupted or negated his power such as the World of Negatives, which rendered all his cards useless until he upgraded to Complete Form.

His Rider Belt is basically a big bullseye, as stabbing or damaging the Decadriver at close range will shut down the device and de-power Decade. Though if the first episode is any indication, dimension wall energy can automatically repair the belt. Still, like most modern belts which are not surgically attached to the Rider, Tsukasa could have the Decadriver knocked away from him or he could lose it.

The Decade system was designed to defeat Kamen Riders, thus other superheroes are immune to the copying of powers on some level. (though this does not guarantee opposing sides victory).

Kamen Riders sometimes had a bit of animosity towards Decade given his reputation and even after the Rider War, some view him akin to a Nuclear Option, as in someone who should only be called upon in a crisis or as an absolute last resort. Like Kuuga, Agito and Kiva, Decade has a dangerous side to the power he wields that could end all life..well..everywhere, especially if he succumbs to his darker impulses such as with using Violent Emotion mode.

Gear:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Decadriver

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Rider_Cards

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Ride_Booker

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Machine_Decader

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Kamen_Terminal_K-Touch

Signature Finishers:

Dimension Blast: Using the Final Attack Ride: Decade Card, Decade uses the Ride Booker in Gun mode to fire a charged shot

Dimension Slash: Using the Final Attack Ride: Decade Card, Decade uses the Rider Booker in Sword Mode and executes an energy charged Rider slash.

Dimension Kick: Decade’s Rider Kick which is executed using the Final Attack Ride:Decade Card. Variants include the Enhanced Dimension Kick in Complete Form which utilizes the power of the 9 Heisei Riders in conjunction with his own power and the Final Dimension Kick which after using the FinalKamenAttackForm Ride Card, turns all the Kamen Riders into Kamen Ride cards that Decade flies through to enhance his kick to maximum power.

Enemies:

Dai-Shocker

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Dai-Shocker

Dai-Shocker is a supergroup of past Kamen Rider Villains from various parallel Earths who scour the multiverse to find like-minded individuals to convert/recruit into their army for one ultimate goal: Total conquest, subjugation and absolute rule of the entire multiverse and creation itself!

Out of all incarnations of Shocker, that is a pretty ambitious goal for evil and difficult considering that Kamen Riders exist on other worlds as well as other superheroes who stand in their way. Tsukasa was once their Great Leader, but turned against them and the organization had been crippled and splintered into various forms such as Super Shocker and Space Shocker, but manages to revive at least once.

Narutaki

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Narutaki

Nobody knows what his deal is, but he has a wide array of powers including the ability to create Dimension Walls, summon evil Kamen Riders or monsters and assumes the form of past Generals such as Colonel Zol of Shocker. He hates Decade for some reason and sees himself as a prophet of the Rider’s nature as a destroyer, warning other heroic Riders to try and stop him. He does flip-flop his allegiance at times.

Some fans have theorized he is an incarnation of the real Great Leader, while a still of the pre-production film shots of what would become Decade: Final Chapter gave a bombshell to his possible identity:

That pink camera is Tsukasa’s..so some speculate from this image that he is an older Tsukasa from an alternate reality.....

Sadly due to unknown legal issues and production delays, this plot was tossed out along with several other story ideas. So Narutaki’s identity and purpose for antagonizing Decade is never explained and his character was taken to a...very weird direction...

All we can say to those good stories and his identity not being told to us is...

ONORE DECADE!

Now we must go on the road to another Rider’s world.... til next time...

[sparklyeaglepoetry-blog]

CLASSIC MINI!!! How much does insurance cost for a 17 year old female?

"CLASSIC MINI!!! How much does insurance cost for a 17 year old female?

About to buy a classic mini as my first car and wanted to know how much other peoples insurance has cost. Im female thanks

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://insureinfo.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

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I am preparing to get car insurance for the first time, and I want to know what kind of questions the insurance company will be asking me.""

Do I need my car to put insurance on it?

My car got impounded last night and I need to register the car in my name in order to put insurance on it, Im going to the DMV Monday morning to register it then head over to put insurance on it but need help on knowing whether I do need my car with me. Do i need My Car to register it and put basic cheap insurance on it too? Please let me know. My state is California. & i do have a valid driver license too. Thank you :)""

How much would a 2001 vauxhall astra cost for insurance for a 17 year old male?

No sites please i would like to know roughly how much... x

Car insurance companies?

Are there any car insurance companies which don't appear on comparison websites that are cheap and competetive? In the UK. Thanks

Who are the best and worst car insurance companies?

I'm looking for a new car insurance company and would like to hear other peoples experiences to help me choose. Thanks!

""Reasonable priced car insurance, uk?""

I'm 17 I passed my test in July and have just taken the pass plus course in the hope of decreasing car insurance cost a bit but I'm still getting quotes of like 3k + going all the way to 11k is there any vehicle, type or make, with any insurer that'll give me a reasonable price say 1kish or less?""

Just a quick question about life insurance ?

My mom had two life insurance I think one was with her job & I found another with Hartford life insurance for sick pay. Do you get to have an beneficiary on a disability check or sick pay check?

How to get low mileage discount from Progressive auto insurance?

I know that many companies will give a huge discount on your automotive insurance premiums if you supply them with proof that you drive far fewer miles than average. I understand that the best way to do this would be to mail a copy of recent vehicle inspections so that they can officially see the low mileage driven over time. However, Progressive does not mention anything, anywhere about low mileage discounts. I have been told you have to ask for this, or else you would never know it is possible. Does anyone have any knowledge, advice, tips, etc regarding this? Furthermore, does anyone know how you would go about this specifically with Progressive?""

Anyone know a cheap Health Insurance Cover for myself?

Im single, 27 years old and living in Victoria/Melbourne""

Speeding ticket and car insurance?

I got a speeding ticket, paid for it, went to traffic school to get it removed off my record. But before it got removed, my car insurance found out and now i want to change to a different car insurance company. If I change car insurance companies, will the new car insurance company find out I had a ticket from my old insurance company? Thanks for your help, I'm so confused!""

CLASSIC MINI!!! How much does insurance cost for a 17 year old female?

About to buy a classic mini as my first car and wanted to know how much other peoples insurance has cost. Im female thanks

Health insurance question?

Can someone tell me what in network and out of network means? I applied for my health benefits today and the lady had me soooo confused. I understand that an in network doctor will save me money. Does an in network doctor mean they accept my insurance and out of network they don't accept it? LOL this is my first time having private insurance so i'm not quite sure what all of this means!

Totaled my car and my insurance company will no cover car rental?

I have Mercury car insurance and I pay for ful coverage, I just totaled my 12 month old Camry and now my agent is telling me that I do not have access to a rental car, that the only ...show more""

Can I insure more than one limited company on one business insurance policy?

I need to know if you can have one UK business insurance policy, which includes employers liability, that covers more than one limited company. I am getting quotes for three limited companies and some insurers are happy to do ABC Ltd and/or DEF Ltd and/or GHI Ltd, whereas others are telling me that I need three separate policies (at three times the cost!). Help please........""

Argument with car insurance company any advice?

recently suffered total loss due to fire of my car and claimed on my insurance policy they came and valued the car after the accident and then took 300 quid off for policy excess however it clearly states in their policy that they cover permanently fitted radio/audio equipment to max of 500 euro , fair enough so i submitted my claim to cover the radio which was destroyed with the car as a result of fire , cost of cd/radio was 149.00 in argos but company now say that their definition of permanently fitted radio is one that has been fitted in the factory when car was made but my car is secondhand and had a sony cd/radio fitted when i bought the car . Now they say this is not covered as is not classed as permanently fitted , to me a permanently fitted radio is one that you cannot take out of the car unless you are replacing it , some cd/mp3 players are easily removed for security and can be taken from the car each evening but this is not the case with mine Anyone else out there been taken for a ride by their insurance company , was thinking of legal action as they should have specified factory fitted radio in their advertising instead of permanently fitted Had arguement with them for 30 mins but they kept saying that the radio/audio had to be factory fitted from new""

Can I get car insurance at 15 years old?

I am 15 & bought a classic car with my dad. Can I insure it in my name and build up two years no claims bonus while we restore it?

Where can i get cheap Car Insurance?

here you go a website that can help you find the best auto insurance in your area http://is.gs/7xg

Can i get a rough estimate on car insurance if i dont have a car yet?

I passed my test on friday and i will be buying a car this week .. i wanted to look into car insurance so i have a rough idea on how much it will cost, but they are all asking for car details .. can i get a rough idea before i have a car if so where? thanx""

Most Reliable and Affordable Car Built Between 1995-2001 ?

Mercedes c-class ?

Car Insurance - 17 Year old!?

part time motor trade insurance - That's the insurance policy that my dad's on, would it be possible for me to be added onto this policy then drive the cars that are insured on it. If not what's the best way about getting cheaper insurance policies? The way I thought I got cheaper insurance was that my dad would start a policy then add me as a named driver, is it still the same? Thanks in advance!""

About how much will it cost to insure a 2012 Ferrari California or 2012 Aston Martin DBS Coupe?

I recently found out that I am going to be inheriting close to $36,000,000 (after all of the government fees and estate lawyers fees and everything else). I have always wanted a Ferrari or Aston Martin. Please don't say if you have to ask you can't afford it...as stated I am inheriting a lot of money and can easily afford it. I just want to know how much the insurance will cost me for planning purposes. I am a male and will be 20 when I get the money (and then the car)...it is going to apparently take between 9 and 10 months to get everything done for me to have my money. I have a good driving record (been driving for 2 years) and am a student and live in California (Orange County normally but for school I will be in Provo, Utah...studying to be an Accountant :] ). So knowing all of that, approximately how much will it cost me to insure a 2012 Ferrari California or 2012 Aston Martin DBS Coupe?""

How much does one speeding ticket effect my car insurance?

I was going 14 over the speed limit

How much are typical monthly home owners insurance rates?

i am doing a school project and the only way to figure it out is to call and talk to a reprisentitive, and i would really rather not. I just need a ballpark figure... $500? $1000? any ideas?""

Do you have health insurance?

If so, through your employer or did you have to purchase? Me? Unfortunately I had to cancel mine when the payment amount far surpassed the amount of my MORTGAGE payment. I'm hoping to have it through my employer very soon...and crossing my fingers until then.""

Is car insurance more or less the same price in every state?

In Tennessee, my car insurance is $263 a year on a 2002 Ford ZX2 ... can I expect to pay the same amount in the State of Washington?""

My son wants to buy a car. Can he use my car insurance?

My son wants to buy a car but he is only listed as a household driver on my insurance policy. He is 23 years old. He lives with me in Pennsylvania. Must he have his own insurance to purchase a car?

What's the average penalty for driving without insurance in England?

What sort of fine, and how many points?""

""Do I have to insure my 19 year old son, if he doesn't drive my wife's vehicle or my own?""

Do I have to insure my 19 year old son, if he doesn't drive my wife's vehicle or my own?""

Drivers: How much do you pay car insurance?

Please state: Licence type Years driving Gender Age Engine size

Is proof of insurance required in California?

my accounting teacher challenged us and offered extra credit. He says liability insurance is not required in California and if i get pulled over and they ask for it, i can tell them that i'm only going to show license and registration and thats it. I can tell him legally i don't have to show proof of insurance. He was legitimate proof though. Help me prove him wrong please if he is indeed wrong. Thanks""

Cheap full coverage insurance?

My brother is buying a 2008 Kia rio 5 and has to have full coverage. He is 20 years old. Where in Kansas is a good option for affordable full coverage insurance?

Driver Insurance instead of Car Insurance?

Is there such a thing as an insurance that insures the driver not the car? My son is at college 8 months out of the year and is only home to drive a car 4 of those months. The car insurance company says we must put him as a Primary driver on one of our cars, which is rediculous because he hardly ever drives! I was wondering if I could remove him from my car insurance and get some other kind of insurance that just covers him when he drives our vehicles. Does anything like this exist and if so, where would I get it?""

Where can a person find affordable health insurance...?

...in Illinois if they are single, childless, and with low income?""

How much would the insurance be on a VW Beetle?

I am 17 and intrested in getting my first car a Classic VW Beelte, does any one know the price range for the insurance on one? Many thanks""

California mat do away with mandatory auto insurance. How much will rates go up?

The insurance industry has already said they will raise rates. A few years ago when insurance became mandatory, they raised the rates too. As much as 100%. What's your guess as to how badly the will gouge their customers this time?""

Hi a question about car insurance companies .thanks?

Hi how long do the car insurance companies keep record of the phone call because it is a good proof for the people who insure their car ? thanks

CLASSIC MINI!!! How much does insurance cost for a 17 year old female?

About to buy a classic mini as my first car and wanted to know how much other peoples insurance has cost. Im female thanks

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/open-driver-car-insurance-florence-davis"

[lifepartnersincrime]

'16 "Tweets" on MOECHACHOS

Kid Sis lives in a city (of sorts–#Memphis), uses N-word, mocks minorities, covered up murders of 3 #Mexicans- #Lucky (outside #GoldStrike)

My dying Dad said I’d have Delta for many years to come. But she died young & so did my Ana, because of Indmar Wives

When my Mom died my creepy sister told me at #Paragould hospital she’d euthanize my dogs if I didn’t sign her back onto family bank account.

Orangutan hanging over #DedraOwens (‘Wife’ I later learned) told me I could not go back to my own home. I had no ride. My dogs were helpless

Polk Ballad Granny 👵🎤👭🎲💵 you got had by Gator Tranny 🐍🐊🐽💩🐒👵👭💵💸😈👹👺🎅😂👾💀🔚

‘Polk’ - for punk-folk - the most uninspired, ineffectual portmanteau word of all time. Invented by Dedra ‘Moe’ Owens.

Dad, early 2001, warning me never to trust my sister– “I lost all respect for your sister in 1991 when I was laying there dying in a … /1

… hospital bed and she asked me for your Mom’s car with that f-ckin’ geek standing right behind her looking at his watch.” /2

Incredible coincidence! Man blackmailed out of home & lifelong assets owned items identical2 ones that turned up 4sale by sister & Her Wife!

Cousin & I both got physically sick realizing Dei Moe Rowe probably dressed her “wife” in my Dad’s Marine uniform as a turn-on. Heard worse-

Never sign a shifty relative back onto your family bank account *before* she tells you the threatening thug hanging over her is her ‘Wife.’

In the greatest emergency of your life… Who you NOT gonna call? GLOAT BUSKERS! Those boys’ll pack up their gee-tars & begging bowls & COME

Dee Moe, Larry, Curly & pet monkey looted me, terrorized me, took my home for crack & casino money, & vanished in dust trail of lies #PTSD

Alive Despite Rowes #3WordsToDefineYourself #IndmarProducts #AngelaChristineRowe #DedraOwens #Memphis #Millington #DrugFrontBar

Gambling warnings at convenience store are more honest than Surgeon General warnings on cigarette packs. Gamblers steal or worse to lose ass

Moe’s polk album never came out–but Moe did! After I signed her back onto family bank account, left to me, to keep her from killing my dogs

Mystery solved: The creative giant behind “polk music” simply removed the “a” from “polka”–and freed it up for “electronicA”! #musichistory

#AngelaChristineRowe -“Old people smell”…You weren’t young in 2002 (w/mausolean “meth” Funk Breath). Now, crone, it’s daily Eau de Cologne

Deirdre (Moe’s “wife” insisted Moe call herself this, probably also thinking zebras should be zeirbres)–Dei Moe–has #Paragould accomplices

A Few Things I’ve Gotten Back from Thieves of My Estate ​Sometimes it’s not a matter of how wrong or how right something is, but how gross or how un-gross it is Thank u doctor 👍 Sincere Owens T-U⬆ That felt like RoboCop thanking The OldMan for removing his 4th Prime Directive so Dick Jones could go to The Great Board Meeting in the Sky Introversion is a hidden tragedy and a hidden gift. All introverts are pressured to be extroverts (who make up 75% of humanity). Impossible. Temperament of introversion baffles extroverts, who feed off interaction. When I grew up “nerd” was a slur. Too many syllables in introvert? Introverts keep few friends but tend to be “leaders.” Extroverts turn to introvert friends for ideas. Much of human behavior explained here. Maybe it’s nice to be anhedonic from depression. OCD causes depression. I have Major Depressive Disorder, bipolar symptoms. Denied anhedonia PTSD numbness goes beyond “subatomic level” of anhedonia. Dr F had mentioned anhedonia to me in 1999, before my parents died & I was #abused Dei Moe got the all-clear from a Memphis or Cordova psychiatric ward without telling them she ran a drug-front bar where 3 people were shot💀 Whoever sells any idea that people with #OCD can “recover” from that chronic, usually hereditary, brain disorder, is a liar. Liar😈 vs Buyer😇 Long solitude, shock, strong medication–"do the math” as a walking cliche would say. Any lone, *trapped* person is helpless protecting pets You sure don’t see the MOECHACHOS threatening me now. Already ate meat off my bones. But I’m here, I’m THE FACTS against the THE ACTS. C'mon I went years without reading, in a PTSD abyss. Moe had boasted I would suffer for being favorite child. Worse fate? Being Moe. Da SOOPA STAH Only therapy is confrontation–of problem, of problem-causer, of naked self. Numbness and depression encourage their aide-de-camp, avoidance You have 2B strong and indifferent. Save energy 4 what matters. Be fair, be distant. Generally, it’s harder 2 screw an ©sshole than a p°ssy. “A place you’d never want to go.” Many fellow Arkansans have used that phrase to describe *every other* Southern state to me. HALLELUJAH 😐😕🤔 I’ll never understand why people w/ 2-second-long attention spans ask questions…non-rhetorical questions. Others only answer for 2 seconds When dealing a 2nd time w/ a 2-second listener processing the start of my answer to their question, I like to just shut up.They don’t notice Then comes the bonus. A faraway-look face like a chicken’s, only missing a beak. A void stare. Can someone like this even watch television?😨 Short-circuiting inquisitors make the Ilia probe from Star Trek: TMP seem like Dear Abby. “Fascinating…no signs of brain activity at all.” I’m not keen on random talk. So quiet is my territory. Nip a game in the bud: just keep mum. Then: “Huh?” “Nothing.” Pure truth, that. Zilch Asking then ignoring is disrespectful. My “Ignore then absently ask 'What’?” tactic sure to earn you equal footing other party doesn’t want. That may not be respect,but there are other fine social parries than those that earn a snot’s fickle admiration. +element of surprise is fun “The Cook, The Thief~” movie still unsettling after all these years. Trauma from abuse finally drove it home for me. Grim score so funereal💀 Moe thought she was Spica to my Georgina. The dining room funeral procession should be Moe’s Wife served as sushi to the GS Casino Grannibal Took me years 2 work up nerve 2 watch TCTTHWAHL. I was a low-key guy. Will just say, Albert Spica’s vulgarity cannot compare 2 Dedra Owens’s Abused Poor Pup I was hands my metaphorical Georgina Albert’s substitute pee shooter…& Georgina is pissed at the chilling Private Function Whatever I enjoy about 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover’ is what I enjoy about beatnik horror comedy A Bucket of Blood. Fine PLAYS Maxwell Brock, in fact, is sort of a benign version of Albert Spica, and Walter is Pup gaining Albert’s favor in a suitably gruesome fashion Another thing aforementioned movies have in common is a shock ending where justice is served. Walter’s stark suicide actually most unnerving Cook-Thief-Lover film is an assault on a viewer. And I was ravaged by 2 sapphic Spica wannabes & their flyblown sycophants. I still am. PTSD I suppose soundtrack to my thoughts of MUCHACHOS is roiling TCTTHWAHL closing music as glutton Albert tastes victim then dies by his own gun With vomit & cooked human flesh in his hideous devil’s mouth, Albert’s existence ends as he stares, shaking, at his victims & their avengers “Spica gets a taste of his own medicine” Nyman theme is the most unsettling piece of music I’ve ever heard. Saxophones in whirling madness 🎷 As much as I love optimistic science fiction, I lose myself in the searing voyage of scatologist Spica’s lunatic cruelty to foul last supper I’ve seen people more perverse than this unparalleled fictional psychopath gangster teach appreciation of a memorable restaurant experience🍴 I’m a sucker for a pretty face and an even bigger sucker for a perky pair of Gerber servers. Mags I grew up on, like Heavy Metal, delivered. Incredible news at doctor’s office. I can say with joy that there are good people who see the horror a sick victim of crime has gone through Mental illness doesn’t mean insanity. Some great arguments against term “mental illness”… My dr said, “You’re not crazy, you’re tortured.” And as for stereotype of the wild bipolar person… I have BD but have been told my behavior is virtually unipolar. If I joke, I’m irritated If MUCHACHOS hadn’t screwed me I’d never communicate online. Introversion is all I know. But yes I joke. Yes I care. No I don’t back down… Snow🌨️is falling, not sticking, and I am extra-medicated after a much needed new diagnosis for ANOTHER Moe-related illness. #PTSD bad enough “What the f@ck is this?” Dad said as mail to “Dee Moe” Owens came to our home. Moe’s Rich Wife, Moe, & Moe’s current Main Squeeze > 💩🐃🔭🐂🐂💩 “She promises to work on our computers, doesn’t show up. Get her on phone, her voice is groggy, in bed with that girl, on drugs. 'Wha-a-at’” HOW LONG WILL THE MOECHACHOS 'HUSTLE AND FLOW'? HOW LONG DEI