#so. i think that's nice. even if he does still have the buffy summers birthday curse <--- a reference he would understand and appreciate

[commsroom]

eiffel's sense of insignificance in his own life makes me so sad, and there's something about knowing he grew up with his birthday overshadowed by christmas, and the obvious resentment he feels, mixed with the expectation he'll never be anyone's priority, that just encapsulates that. mission launch for the hephaestus project was in march 2013; pagliacci is set in 2013; there's no exact timeline for events before that, but with such a narrow timeframe... eiffel thought he'd ruined the rest of his life before he even turned thirty. he most likely spent his 30th birthday in jail. and then no one wished him happy birthday on his 31st.

[ifeveristoday]

I got out my DVDs for this rewatch (that’s not actually a big deal. I only have season 3 on DVD. 😂) so let’s get to it.

I forgot they did a cold open for this episode!

I know it’s for ambiance but man does Angel have a lot of candles displayed. Probably too ‘mainstream’ for his taste but the thought of Angel furtively going to a Bath and Bodyworks in the mall during their semi-annual sale and just buying out their whole candle selection gives me the purest joy. Let’s be real though, Angel would shop at some boutique/hole in the wall owned by a wizened old character with a twinkle in their eye and everything marked up 20%. Or it would be a steel and glass monstrosity with a collection labeled Candles for Men. That’s the range.

Back to the enormous fire hazard that this scene is -

Wait. Does fire burn on stone?

Shout out to the stunt doubles.

I think that Angel getting food for Buffy for a sort of alfresco picnic while training is really sweet, actually. Also, can't miss the opportunity for both carbs and phallic symbolism ala bread.

Everyone is so embarrassingly horny in this moment. I'd say get a room except they're in a whole giant mansion.

Always remember the bread! What did Angel do with the food after Buffy fled? Fed the no-doubt cursed pigeons that live in Sunnydale.

Thanks for the workout (insert stereotypical dirty laugh).

Oh yes, the awkward 'let's talk about your birthday without mentioning the last birthday you had at all because it's horrifying' chitchat. God, the anxiety Angel is radiating here and Buffy trying to smooth it over. You can't unfrost that trauma cake!

Angel, you utter dork. You're lucky Buffy finds you pretty. Very powerful himbo energy here. And it's nice to see some light-hearted flirting/banter between them.

How do you know when someone's aura's dirty? Buffy is only asking the reasonable questions everyone has.

Do you hear yourself, Giles. "I'm aware of your distaste in studying vibratory stones..." I can't imagine what that section of the Slayer handbook looks like. Are there pull-out charts?

Faith being conveniently gone for this episode. Boo, hiss.

That workout really did a number on Buffy. I see what you're doing with those crystals.

One of the sad parts of rewatching Buffy is that you just don't have the first time discovery feels of watching it - that magic is gone, but even though I know why Buffy's wobbling in her fight, the reveal is still upsetting. Thinking about how in Season 5, when she does get staked, just as she's questioning her powers - and here, where she's losing them.

Also, obvious observation is obvious - the sexual violence imagery is really, really blatant here - with the vampire crouched over her with the stake aimed toward her heart, just as she playfully staked Angel earlier in a more romantically set scene.

AND THEN THE THEME KICKS IN. Like, damn! Three minutes and you can pretty much tell what the plot is going to be - Buffy and Angel's UST is getting out of hand, Buffy's lone Rangering it, and something is wrong with her. And it's her birthday.

And Buffy's resourcefulness saves the day.

Perhaps you shouldn't be throwing knives in the library, Buffy.

Did they do a geography lesson on Cuernavaca? It's also just fun to say. Like La Cienega. Brief moment to ponder yet again about a show set in Southern California, actually shot in Southern California, with the huge Latine population we have and the Spanish-influenced names and culture and - getting sidetracked by all this casual 90s racism.

"We do it every year for my birthday," except your seventeenth, presumably because of the murderous ex-boyfriend stalking the town you live in and all your loved ones. [Or, he did take her and it was not shown on screen!] Sometimes I wonder if the continuity editors just go, you know, I'm going to let this one go for the 'emotion' and not just so years later, a Virgo with a deep-seated need to obsess over throwaway details will go into a thought spiral to make it make sense.

I think this is also the last time Hank Summers was spoken of with any real affection because then he was Deadbeat Dad for the remainder of the show. Oh, look. The Scoobies are surprised about the traditional birthday ice show that I'm going to nitpick about forever.

Oz is so supportive, and then the clunker of a 'deep' line of ice being cool because it's water then it's not. I do like the Whedonesque school of dialogue, but sometimes you gotta reel it back. I remember the dialogue on Dawson's Creek was getting pinged for the teenagers talking like grad students.

Quiet reflection. Oh you poor girl, you have no idea.

Quarterly projections - is a convincing filler phrase for when you don't need to know what the job is, because it's boring but sounds vaguely official. What does Hank actually do? Who cares! He's an asshole.

Sunnydale Arms, because of course, Sunnydale has a broken down abandoned murder hotel.

Quentin Travers. Boo. Hiss.

The scary music is very scary. Also one of the Council flunkies looks like a very young Vincent D'Onofrio.

This scene with them in the library is so bittersweet because Buffy is fishing for Giles's attention as a father figure substitute ("very sophisticated people go!" breaks my heart) and he pointedly is rejecting this for training talk.

Look for the flaw at its center. THE FLAW IS YOU GILES. YOU YOU YOU.

it's just so terrible, this scene because of how methodical and clinical it plays out. And Buffy is just not there, and then Giles smiles like nothing has happened.

Buffy makes it through another night - next day (another reason why this trial is so horrifying is that it takes place over several days - it's not on Buffy's birthday but leading up to it, so the idea of her getting weaker and weaker and unable to fight to make it to 18 in the first place) and it's time for the Cordelia has had enough of toxic masculinity scene!

Also, Willow blithely ignoring a person's feelings and treating Amy as just a rat is played for laughs and cuteness, but yeah...you can't treat people like puppets or rats [law and order sound]

I love Cordelia's coat. And also, while it does suck that she stood him up, he's not entitled to her time or attention and certainly not to threaten her. Go, Cordy! Fight like a girl! Yes! Pummel him into the hallway.

I also love Willow's outfit here because I think the colors are so complementary and warm and it's a cute outfit. Okay, the knit wooly hat is a bit too Blossom-esque, but whatever.

Buffy is tiny, we all know this, but I do think they purposefully dressed her in larger than her size coats in this episode to make her look even more tiny and vulnerable.

Giles is TOO BLASE for this scene also shut your mouth about throwing knives like a girl

"It's an archaic exercise in cruelty." SO WHY DID YOU GO ALONG WITH IT, BRAIN TRUST. (I am going to be very mean to Giles this whole rewatch, deal with it.)

"But I'm the one in the thick of it." No, you're not. You are going to be adjacent to it, at best.

Hey it's that guy!

Okay, in better lighting, flunkie does not look like Vincent D'Onofrio.

It's impossible to pin down one type of Vampire in the Whedonverse, except for the delineation between Grunt Bait Vampires, and Special Guest Star/Master vampires, but Kralik is the only other example of a vampire with mental illness besides Drusilla, yet he's medicated. Makes me wonder how exactly they got Kralik...he was a monster before he was a vampire, but who vamped him? I don't put it past the Watchers to have vampires created for this purpose.

Curse against lawyers!

Xander and Oz bonding over comic books is so fun. I regret they didn't really get closer until after Xander and Willow cheated because Oz was the one male friend Xander had.

They mentioned her birthday! Thinking about Buffy's love of poetry later on, this is a nice little detail, and it *is* a thoughtful, sweet gift. Also those poems: horny. Oh yes, maybe in a restrained way, but Elizabeth Barrett Browning knew what was up.

The Buffy and Angel relationship in season three is full of these starts and stops that I can see why and agree with others about how it's frustrating on a number of levels. They know why they can't be together, but they still try to find a common ground because they want to need the other one. They still have their identities to figure out - Buffy as the slayer and a young adult, Angel as a person, separate from Buffy and being Buffy's ex sort of maybe.

But this conversation in Helpless is genuinely sweet and a glimpse at what a normal couple at the crossroads would talk about - I think I'm also being soft on this because the other Important Male Figure in Buffy's life in this episode lets her down so spectacularly bad, that Angel being supportive and kind in his awkward way is a nice respite. It's good to be away from the angst and the horror that their relationship has had.

And the self-aware puncturing of the Moment between them is something Buffy does very well. "Taken literally, incredibly gross - I was just thinking that too". Look, it's cute and soft and I will allow it.

The horror of this episode (and there are so many) is that we have to watch Buffy become the helpless blonde in a slasher flick who is being chased by the monsters and she can't do anything about it - that she has to be rescued or die. That the real world with men catcalling and bystanders who ignore women's cries of distress is far scarier than the literal demons that inhabit the town - and Buffy brokenly saying she can't just be a person, she can't be helpless like that [like women are, still, today] is a gut punch. It's uncomfortable and unhappy because Buffy is supposed to be the hero, the [sigh] strong female lead who can kick ass and take names, and this episode is all about finding who Buffy is, separate from her super powers. Also an exercise in emotional torture, but must be Tuesday.

The physicality - the weakness that both Buffy and Giles display in this scene is so, so good. The way Buffy's hand trembles toward the needle in the case and the dawning realization of what Giles has done, has chosen to do - and he bloodlessly tells her what the Cruciamentum is.

Her tiny little "Liar."

GOD WHY DIDN'T SHE GET AN EMMY (rhetorical we all know genre tv only matters if it was Game of Rapey Thrones)

"You will be safe now, I promise you." LIAR.

Another puncturing a heavy moment - Cordelia as cavalry - I love it. Cordelia taking the most obvious approach to the situation - 'oh Buffy might have lost her memory, well he's Giles,'

I can't believe they robbed us of a conversation in the car scene with Cordy and Buffy.

Kralik had to have found a polaroid camera and a metallic sharpie for this whole scenario -- OH I KNOW WHO HE REMINDS ME OF. The Night Stalker and any number of serial killers that terrorized SoCal. Is the show being self-aware of the problem with mothers and parents in general?

Probably a glib accident.

I don't have much to say about the part where Buffy hunts Kralik because it's so masterfully done with the atmosphere and music.

Nice of Giles's backbone to enter the chat now.

This is not business. Ooo.

Buffy's "I thought I killed a man" emo overalls!

Like it's shadowy, but there's still enough light to see facial expressions. Lighting guy, I salute you.

Little red riding hood metaphor. Oh, that's so her stunt double.

CREEPY SEXUAL VIOLENCE REARS ITS DEFORMED HEAD AGAIN

Jump stair scare. I remember the first time I saw it, I jolted in the living room.

Serial Killer Shit. Why are vampires such drama queens?

THAT'S RIGHT, BUFFY DID THAT

The ending scene in the library is cathartic in that Buffy gets to stand up for herself finally, and recognizes what Giles gives up by helping her, delayed as it was, also there's the feeling of hate punching Quentin Travers via your eyes.

Still don't think she should have forgiven Giles so easily, but we don't get to see a lot of aftercare for Buffy when she gets hurt, and it is a very tender scene.

The Scoobies are being way too upbeat if they knew about the fact that Giles poisoned Buffy, which is why I'm assuming she told a very abbreviated version of events ending with Buffy killed the bad guy and Giles got fired, oops.

Xander's big strong man comment and then looking immediately to Willow to open the jar and not Oz...

I could watch this episode again with episode commentary from David Fury, but another day.

[roswelldetails]

RNM 2x06 - Sex and Candy

EPISODE SUMMARY:

Maria’s (Heather Hemmens) investigation into her mother’s disappearance leads her and Alex (Tyler Blackburn) to the home of a mysterious boot maker named Travis (guest star David Anders). Meanwhile, on her journey of self-discovery, Isobel’s (Lily Cowles) night out leads her into the arms of someone unexpected. Finally, after making some major scientific strides, Liz (Jeanine Mason) is dealt a devastating blow. Geoff Shotz directed the episode written by Rick Montano & Vincent Ingrao (#206). Original airdate 4/20/2020.

DETAILS:

Max and Isobel's fight:

Lights start flickering when Max starts getting aggressive and then get brighter as he gets more worked up.

The first attempt to expel it seemed like he was causing an earthquake.  He blew out all the windows in the gym, knocked Isobel down, and there was shaking.  But it didn't seem to go beyond that room - no damage is seen when Michael arrives or around town.

Note, after the earthquake thingie the lights go out 

His hands are doing the electric power thingie and THEN he also grabs the lightning.

I think Isobel used her telekinesis to stop it and then push it away, which seemed to work...but if so then why couldn't Noah do that last season? 

Was it the sheer volume of electricity? There was definitely MORE than with Noah.

Michael uses his telekinesis to manually reset Max's heart.  This is very smart of him. Note that he's using his own heart/pulse to get it right.

They are using the antidote to Liz's serum to try to heal Max's mind. 

Michael says that they've been giving him antidote injections for three days (time jump).

Three days of antidote and no new memories for Max.

Isobel remembered her blackouts within a few hours of getting injected with the antidote in 1x10.

Note: Liz hesitated using the antidote this way in 1x10 because Isobel could still be dangerous and they didn't know about the 4th Alien yet.  There doesn't seem to be a similar hesitation with Max. Because Liz trusts him more? Because him forgetting her is more personal? It's not like there isn't a chance that Max is still dangerous…

Maria arranged a Mexican market in the Pony parking lot to subsidize her income.

Buffy the Beagle is Forrest's dog!

Maria comments that the meteor shower makes animals act strange. And humans too.

Forrest and Maria are organizing an open night mic at the Wild Pony.  Free drinks for performers.

Maria clearly approves of Forrest and Alex getting to know each other.  She smacks Alex for his awkward flirting.

The bootmaker's farm is about an hour outside of town.

The Science:

Kyle and Steph are watching a "surgical separation of craniopagus twins".

Craniopagus Twins = twins attached at the cranium/head. (Aka not a heart surgery).

"Did you know, ever since 1947, twin births in Roswell are higher than the national average? Maybe it's aliens."

Speaking of awkward flirting…. "You're just my favorite person I can't stand."

The Spanish:

Le cambio una bolsa de chiles para mi papá...for the free fries next time you come to the Crashdown.

Liz is bartering.  She says basically, I'll trade you a bag of chiles for my papa for free fries next time you come to the Crashdown. 

Note, the captions for this are wrong and use the Spanish word for grasshoppers instead, but you can clearly hear Liz say chiles. Thanks to @rosaortecho for pointing that out to me.

Max says:

I'm trying to eat clean. Uh, tiene carne seca sin como se dice, preservativos.

He's trying to say, basically, does the jerky have preservatives. 

Quiere carne a sin preservativos?

Basically, you want meat without condoms?

Lo siento. Uh, no lo entiendo.

I'm sorry, I don't get it.

Él quiere decir conservantes.

He means preservatives.

Gracias. Estoy embarazado.

Thank you. I'm pregnant.

Michael asks Max who he's texting. Max says everyone has been messaging him but Cameron is the only one who hasn't responded, which isn't like her.

Wildly curious who he was texting though.  It's not like he's a social butterfly. His mom? The sheriff? Who? As I pointed out to some friends the other day, he spent his 21st birthday getting trashed with his SISTER. This is not a trait of a guy with lots of close friends.

Just as another note, Michael says he ghosted her. When exactly was that? Yes, Max ran out on her in the middle of a handy in 1x03, but they addressed that the next day.  She "broke up" with him in 1x07, but they were still good right up until she left town. 

Isobel:

"Does he seem different to you?"

Alex and Maria playing "Never have I Ever" in the car. Good way to do background on characters.

Maria has never cheated on a boyfriend

Alex has never been in a real relationship. Not even "Kellie Sommer-something".

Alex says that whenever he was with a woman he was trying to disappear.  Except for Sophomore year after Battle of the Bands. Seven Minutes in Heaven in Haley Moore's hall closet. Alex and Maria kissed and it was Maria's first kiss (and boob graze).  She always thought she'd marry Alex. Had to come up with a new plan after he came out. 

Alex says "I did too."

"Kissing you in that closet was the first time in my life that I enjoyed touching someone."

Max picks up Liz for their first date…

Just as a note, Save Tonight was the opening song in the pilot of OG Roswell. During the "oh, Max Evans is staring at you again." exchange between Liz and Maria.  So, it might go well with new beginnings or something ;-)

The Science:

"Psychogenic amnesia limits retrieval of stored memories, but if we light up your limbic system and gustatory cortex with some familiar signals…"

"Your milkshake might bring all my memories to the yard?"

**Note, second reference to this song in the context of Liz bringing Max milkshakes. First was in 1x06 by Isobel. Hmm. 1x06 and 2x06… maybe they should crack this joke in 3x06 too.

"Sometimes when people wake up from comas they have different personalities, different tastes even…"

Everything you ever wanted to know about psychogenic amnesia:

But, my main takeaway is that it's a specific type of amnesia where there's abnormal memory function but no brain damage or other clear cause of it.

Limbic system:

Basically the part of your brain that stores emotion, behavior, and long term memory.

Gustatory cortex:

Basically the part of your brain that processes taste.

Maria compares Michael to Chad because he starts fights and lies.  Alex disagrees and lists ways that he was doing good things:

He lied to protect his family from Alex's family.

He shouldered the burden of a murder he didn't commit for ten years so that Isobel didn't have to.

He pushed Maria away to protect her - which might be a good thing too because of all his baggage. 

First Date:

Max went to Ranch camp one summer and dislocated his shoulder while trying to read Lord of the Rings on horseback. #nerd. 

Liz references the gala as not their first date, but there was also the desert in high school.  I guess she doesn't count that either. 

Side note: Cam and Liz talked about him peacocking in 2x03, but that kinda felt out of character at the time to the Max we knew.  This Max DOES seem like he's peacocking a bit. Got dressed up, taking Liz horseback riding. He admitted to trying to one up whatever they did together before. Just an interesting (to me) observation.

Liz looks panicky when Max suggests truth serum (because Science!Liz probably could make truth serum), but once she realizes he means whiskey she's like, "oh yes, that's fine." Oh Liz… 

Diego details:

They were engaged just last year

Liz left without saying goodbye

Bioengineer 

They were working together on the Denver study

They would come home and keep talking about work

He had ideas to help improve it

They both spoke The Science

He pushed her to get better at The Science

When the funding was cut she realized she loved the work more than him

Liz couldn't figure out how tell him that so she packed her things in the middle of the night, hit the road, changed her phone, and blocked him on Facebook.

**This is the first time LIZ has mentioned social media. Interesting given the crap Maria keeps giving her about it!

Travis and fresh warm milk. What is up with it??

"Nice ring. Does it keep you from burning up in the daylight?"

David Anders introduces himself as Travis.

Just as a point of interest, Maria researched enough to find the bootmaker, figure out where he lives, but she didn't get his name??? 

Vampire Diaries/Originals reference.

Travis says he can't help with car stuff.

The milk was from a cow named Jennifer.  He milked her for the last time today. (Creepy).

Weird contradictory statements from Travis:

"You're the best thing I've seen in a long time."....

"Mm, I'm sorry. So many customers and all their ugly faces get all sewn up and stitched together in my mind."

"Yeah, that's the woman that bought them boots. While back. Nice lady. She paid cash."

Second reference to animals behaving strangely during a meteor shower:

"Meteor shower's got my girls singing a bit off key tonight.  Jennifer, she likes a good lullaby."

"Okay this guy is going to turn us into skin suits." (OG reference? Or just general sci-fi?)

Meteorchella at Planet 7 (Coachella-style party during meteor shower?) with any excuse to add sparkles!

Kyle says he's at Planet 7 because he's trying not to hang out with people from high school.

Isobel says she's trying to have fun without feeling like prey.

Don't think the details of Kyle/Isobel dancing matters all that much, but as a point of amusement I'll share that in the panel on Tuesday night they shared that Lily whispered something different to Trevino on every take...And they got progressively dirtier to the point that she finally felt like she crossed a line and profusely apologized.  Also the lick was a Lily addition. 

Max's confession about killing the drifter:

Kind of an interesting thing, comparing the first version of the drifter story in 1x06 to the 2x06 version. 1x06 was more dramatic, but 2x06 was more personal, I think. 

1x06

"There are moments that define our lives, and there are moments that divide our lives. Incidents that separate us into two different people: who we were before and who we will be after. Forever…One day we were children and the next we were something else. I was a killer. Michael an accomplice.  And Isobel...Isobel was broken."

2x06

"I killed a man once, on a camping trip. This drifter came out of nowhere, attacked Isobel.  I wasn't even thinking. I killed him. With this. I arrest people who kill people. Most of them usually regret what they did. You know, you can just tell that they're forever broken. It's like a piece of them dies with their victims. So when I could feel that darkness, like I had to kill, I wanted Isobel to let me die. Because I couldn't risk hurting even one innocent person. Cause life just wouldn't be worth living."

Kind of an interesting narrative choice to confess to murder on a first date and then have the girl just brush it aside. 

"No, it just hit me why you're so happy and idealistic, and I feel like an idiot. You are that way because you don't remember me. It's a clean slate.  It's like when you got out of the pods with whatever memories you had erased it's probably for your own good."

"Last I heard you were the love of my life."

"Your cohorts, they left out some details. Cause if you had your memories I'm positive the worst thing that's ever happened to you is connected to me. And I can't bear the weight of making you remember that again."

**Note, second time this has been implied.  Last time was by Michael in 1x08 regarding the alien symbol.

"...it's gotta have some connection to us right? Maybe it was something we saw somewhere before the crash."

"Sorry, are you, Max Evans, acknowledging that we must have had lives before we hatched out of the pods? You never want to talk about home."

"Hey, Roswell is home. Look, I'm sorry man. You're right. I've spent a lot of time not talking about where we come from or why we're here.  Keep thinking I can pretend the past away and just be normal. But if Isobel's blackouts are some alien thing, then I need to know more. Okay, and this symbol? That's all I have to go on. I mean don't you think it's strange that we don't have any memories? I mean, no parents, no language. We weren't infants, man. We were seven."

"I just figured our memory faded. Over 50 years in those pods. Maybe it was just time. Or maybe whoever put us in those pods doesn't want us to remember."

Travis and Trevor's house...with added bonus of his ring that Alex comments on.

Leather ribbons/strips on the wall are for (from?) Hayley and Gertrude. More cows, I presume. 

There's also a framed Purple Heart on the wall next to a photo of Travis?

"War really messes with a man's mind.  Gets it all twisted up.

Timeline issue!! Alex says Mimi was missing for 3 weeks, but according to the clearly established timelines in 201-203 it was 4 weeks (or a month ish).  I wrote about this here:

Maria put her jacket on a scarecrow to trick Travis. And did she leave it there?

(Answer: yes. She doesn't wear it for the rest of the episode. Smart of her, actually).

Michael sees Trevor come out of the house and is about to shoot him. Maria immediate knew it wasn't Travis and threw herself in front of Michael's gun

Trevor shoots Travis.

A bullet from the Crashdown shooting falls out of Max's journal.  Does it look like it has blood on it? Or maybe just ketchup? If it's THE bullet it would make a lot of sense that he kept it hidden - evidence that Liz was shot. See this comparison between one of Wyatt's bullets in 1x02 and the one Max finds in 2x06

"Sorry about my twin here. He's had a rough go."

"Combat does not make you an axe murderer."

"No, it wasn't the combat. It was the R&D. If a paramilitary group ever asks you to take part in a study, you run the other way. He showed up a few weeks ago. Locked me up out back. Lucky y'all showed up when you did. Gave me a chance to escape."

R&D is a military acronym for Research and Development. (Aka...The Science.)

Priscilla - the cow Mimi's boots were made from.

This is literally the only direct information gained about the boots from this little sleuthing excursion. 

Well, and that Mimi paid cash, which isn't like her.

Side note - I didn't really know what Paramilitary meant, so just in case any of you are also not good with military stuff, Paramilitary groups are like private armies. Like, I dunno, the private security firm that Jesse and Cam discussed in episode 2x04. 👀

Male doctor operating on Steph clearly states:

"All right we're approaching an arterial junction."

A female doctor replies and its less clear.  What I hear is...Blood gasses are back? Anyone else hear something that makes more sense than that?

He replied something like...the stint through here

She says something about pH levels.

Max admits that he didn't know what would happen when he decided to bring Rosa back.  He just wanted to fix the worst thing that ever happened to all of them.

"I can't believe we were Shyamalan'd by an evil twin."

I think Alex is referring to the twist ending? Or maybe just the insane axe murderer stuff.

M. Night Shyamalan wrote and directed the Sixth Sense, Signs, Split, etc…

During this scene is the first time we see Michael's tattoo… it's on his arm. I struggled with getting a cap of it, but I know there are gifs going around.

I had every intention of detailing the dialogue in the trailer scene, but before I could get to it, Carina posted the script, so I didn't think it was a good use of my time. Here's the script:

The next morning, Alex calls the Sheriff from outside the trailer for an update.

The Sheriff tells him that Travis and Trevor burned their home and ran...weren't caught by the sheriff.  Which means we may not have seen the last of them.

The Spanish:

"Oh my God. Dios mio, Max. I took off your pants before I even said I love you. I'm some kind of zorra."

Dios mio basically is Oh My God! So Liz really was spiraling. She went, "Oh my God, Oh my God..."

Zorra - female version of Zorro. Basically a vixen, bitch, prostitute… the internet has all sorts of fun words that it translates into. 

"I call this one Visceral Werewolf Part 2, dedicated to my boy Chee Chee, may he rest in peace."

Can we have more Bert? Bert is the best. Also kudos to his goofy friend who is wayyy too excited about this.

Forrest's slam poem:

Locked up for days,

Time slipping away,

On my knees I would pray to break free from this cage.

But bargaining for keys, you forget hidden fees.

And wishing for what you’re missing ain’t the same as living the dream. 

And now I’m fighting to stay on this side of the cage.

Even though I know a part of me wishes I’d stayed. 

Ain’t no prophet or rebel or savior or devil

Could have predicted, fought, cheated or leveled. 

A life with potential that’s squandered, 

A comfortable cell is a question I ponder. 

Am I a free man or a prisoner wanderer?

Max's memory flash:

Young Max, chained to the ground as described in 2x03. 

Max looks scared.

He's dressed all in white like the 1947 aliens after the crash (As shown in 1x12 and 2x03).

He's in a cave or something like a cave. 

Holes in the wall are glowing an orangey red color.

The ceiling is like the alien ship material with the alien symbol in it.  

A figure approaches from behind him, bends down, and places a hand on his shoulder.

It mirrors the figure approaching Nora in 2x03 and touching her shoulder before burning the military men...probably the same person? Noah? The stowaway? Someone new?

After the figure touches Max, he looks at the hand, and then a red glow lights his face.

MUSIC:

1. Xocoyotzin Herrera "Esperanza"

2. Jose Luis Lepe "La Carreta"

3. Eagle Eye Cherry "Save Tonight"

4. Lousiana Red "I Done Woke Up"

5. Whissell "Magnetic"

6. Stop Dead "Alchemistress Dance"

7.  Orville Peck "Turn To Hate"

8. Kim Petras "Close Your Eyes"

9. Orville Peck "Queen Of The Rodeo"

10. Moontricks "The Fall"

11. Years & Years "Hypnotised"

12. Jordan Critz Feat. Birdtalker "Through Your Eyes"

This time I couldn't find the Whissell and Stop Dead tracks on spotify - however the Stop Dead track is referenced at being by Chelsea Dawn in the closed captions.  Which I did find. Trying to confirm this. Let me know if anyone else had better luck!

[glowyjellyfish]

I’m still watching Buffy, and since I watched Phases last night I have a whole bunch more Oz thoughts to share because Oz is my favorite.

-I actually forgot how many bonkers things he goes through in quick succession before/in the process of joining the group. Like some kind of meta-hazing. Buffy threatens him, he gets shot, he finds out vampires are real, he’s helping them steal rocket launchers and thwart an apocalypse the next day, and then he becomes a werewolf, and he hardly bats an eye until the last one. I’m not sure whether they were going more for “extremely laid back” or “good coping skills” or “if you are smart and thoughtful and live in Sunnydale, it’s really just the last piece of the puzzle”. Probably all three. I like to think that he was reassured by the ability to fight back against vampires and things, and by how Buffy and the gang seemed to know what they were doing, and one of the many reasons becoming a werewolf hit him so hard was because his impression was that it placed him squarely on the other side and he was too freaked to figure out how to ask for help or even that they would help him. He wasn’t there when the group talked about the werewolf being an unaware victim, and he walked in on the worst possible part of conversation he could have, and heard Buffy being aggressive about stopping the werewolf, followed by a whole bunch of conclusion leaping proving they barely knew what they were doing anyway. And after all, he came into the group right as Angel turned, and I’m sure Willow explained it to him but he just met Angel as Buffy’s boyfriend at her birthday party, and two days later he’s murdering people and they’re talking about needing to kill him. Of course Oz would have a hard time knowing where he stands, and probably suddenly found Buffy terrifying.

-Did Oz tell his band that he’s a werewolf, or is he just constantly busy around once a month to them? If the latter, do they blame Willow for Oz refusing to take full moon gigs? What about Oz’ parents, the show barely acknowledges they exist? Based on how all the other parents were treated, I’m guessing not. Does he tell them he has out-of-town gigs and is staying overnight every full moon? Or what? I’m going to go out on a limb and say at least his aunt probably knows and could back him up once in a while, but Oz seems to prefer handling this stuff himself without support if he can.

-also, I have leapt to the conclusion that Oz made (or will make, based on where I am in the rewatch) a deliberate choice to avoid summer school and be held back. He’s a brand new werewolf, only a couple full moons under his belt, his entire means of controlling himself is based around school friends and the school library, and between seasons 2 and 3 there is no slayer in town to stop him from hurting anyone. I think he considered the possibility of going away to college—even just in Sunnydale— with no safe setup in place and just noped out of that. Hell, when season 4 rolled around, his non-school-library setup proved to be very flimsy anyway, he was probably right to wait.

-I read a lot of trivia I didn’t really know or remember from before, among it that they considered having Oz be the character that got killed by Angelus. I’m glad they didn’t, both because he’s my favorite and because I honestly don’t think it would have hit as hard as Jenny. But it gave me an idea for something I would have liked to see, or I guess something I should try to write fanfic about. I doubt Buffyverse werewolf lore is even like this—wasn’t there a thing about the nice werewolf lady on Angel being eaten alive? And I guess Oz killed the other werewolf lady by tearing out her throat but there’s also no evidence she didn’t get up and run off later?—but what if one time Angelus tried to kill Oz and it didn’t take because Oz is a werewolf and Angelus was out of the loop and didn’t even know that, knowing Oz only as Willow’s date to Buffy’s birthday party, not knowing it would take fire or silver. Like the end of Men At Arms! I mean… it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that vampires might be able to tell if somebody’s not human, except I don’t think the show gives us that much evidence for that. Vampires can smell the difference between human and demon, and they can smell blood really well, and they can taste the difference in fish-monster blood, but I don’t think we are shown much more nuance in vampire smelling ability than that. They can’t tell the difference between a regular human and a slayer just by smell despite the blood being a little different, that’s for sure. Anyway, since this would have to be a fanfic that I write I guess, clearly I can just use whatever interpretation of vampire senses that I want.

I would also find it amusing/interesting if Angelus recognized the werewolf as Oz upon encountering him in Phases, probably with an internal reaction along the lines of “what the fuck, the tiny harmless new guy who’s dating tiny harmless Willow is this HUGEASS FUCKING WEREWOLF??”, and given that Angelus is the one who backed off he then proceeds to almost make a point of avoiding attacking him, but that’s clearly a very different fanfic/headcanon than the first one.

I swear I had some thoughts on different subjects, just not enough to make an entire post. And I’m really curious whether anybody has headcanon a or fanfics to potentially answer my questions.

[ofclaires]

⌠ MAYA HAWKE, 21, CISFEMALE, SHE/HER ⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, CLAIRE WALSH! according to their records, they’re a FOURTH year, specializing in THREAT ELIMINATION; and they DID go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of (chipped black nail polish, a leather jacket with boxing gloves slung over the shoulder, bandaged knuckles, and a wicked smirk). when it’s the (aries)’s birthday on 3/31/99, they always request MAC & CHEESE from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation. ⌿ kati 22, she/her, est ⍀

STATS / PINTEREST / CONNECTIONS / CLASSES

INSPIRATION.

Rosa Diaz - Brooklyn 99

Kat Stratford - 10 Things I Hate About You

Faith Lehane - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Mandy Milkovich - Shameless

Akane Owari – Danganronpa

Arya Stark – Game of Thrones

Kim Kelly – Freaks and Geeks

Kyo Sohma – Fruits Basket

BACKGROUND + CLICK FOR BIO.

pre-gallagher.

her parents were young as hell when they had her so she was raised by her grandma in her earlier years ! claire gets a lot of her values from her grandma, mainly her biting sarcasm and devil-may-care sort of attitude. she tells claire stories of her grandfather, who was a champion boxer and it ignites claire’s interest in the sport from a young age. she grows up without a tv and plays outside a lot.  

her grandma dies when claire’s about eight years old and she goes to live with her mom, who spends the money from the will about as fast as it lands in her pocket. her mom dates a lot of unsavory dudes. 

she and her mom actually grow quite close over the years, but a lot of times it’s claire taking care of her mom and not the other way around. the entrance to their trailer is like a revolving door for shady dudes and her mother drinks too much and sort of acts like an overgrown teenager, never ready to let go of her youth. claire learns a lot of responsibility and independence as a result of this. 

her mom finally lands a dude that seems like a genuinely nice guy that makes her want to settle down and become a housewife. claire likes seeing her mom starting to act like an adult, and their lives start to turn around. he’s rich and they wind up moving in with him after the wedding, but things change shortly after, and he reveals a darker, more manipulative and abusive side of himself. 

he takes claire out of her passion, boxing, because it’s not ladylike enough, and he starts talking to claire’s mom about boarding school. it’s then that he starts fighting your mom more physically as they disagree.

the climax of the drama is when he hits claire ( she’s sneaking around and still boxing ) , but claire knows how to hit back hard. claire’s mom gets caught in the fray, it’s a huge fight, and claire nearly kills the guy ( tbi for sure. ) 

as a result of the incident, claire is recruited to a spy prep school in new york at age 16, her sophomore of high school. claire’s angry and closed off, and has a difficult time making friends in high school. but she does go through a lot of anger management and such. 

gallagher academy.

YEAR ONE: claire gets adjusted to school at gallagher academy, determined to prove herself among some of the world’s best. she quickly gains a reputation for her prowess in combat and spends long hours in the gym training. she slowly starts to open herself up to the idea of making friends. 

YEAR TWO: even though claire’s made friends, she still keeps secrets about her past, keeping her guard up. she receives letters from her mom about a new guy she’s seeing, and an invitation to her mother’s wedding. she ignores it. she and her mom still haven’t spoken since she was sixteen. near the end of the year, she gets a postcard that her mom is moving to iceland, but she does nothing about it. 

YEAR THREE: ( where our story started ) 

boys come to campus and claire feels like she has to fight harder for her reputation as THE BEST, isn’t pleased with their presence due to a longstanding distrust when it comes to men. 

claire’s ego is boosted after she’s been chosen for a MISSION, to explore the abandoned boys’ school, blackthorne academy. there, she and mary sakamoto discover that it was a school for assassins. explains why claire keeps getting her ass kicked – these boys have been trained to kill. 

witness protection kids come to campus, resulting in the death of one of them and gallagher student, amelia taylor. claire feels helpless as a result, always thinking of herself as a protector and gallagher has always been her stronghold, her safe place, and it all feels threatened. 

claire has a falling out with a friend and feels super alone with all this shit going on and winds out reaching out to her mom. i wrote a self-para here, but her mom invites her to come stay for the summer. 

when a brotherhood member is discovered on campus, she teams up with a group of...unlikely allies, and sneaks into the sublevels to kick his ass. his current status is unknown, and he’s quite possibly dead. either way, as far as she knows, they were never caught. 

claire visits her mom in iceland for the summer (details here) and they sort of mend things. she meets her moms new husband and actually likes him. 

PERSONALITY.

DETERMINED – when claire sets her mind to something, she will stop at nothing to accomplish it. she’d probably even risk death to accomplish her goals, she simply can’t accept failure.

HARD-WORKING – claire can pretty much always be found in the gym, trying to make herself better. it’s honestly a running joke how often claire is working out, but there’s a basis in it. honestly, claire thinks her only value is her muscle, so if that’s what she’s good at, she’s going to be the best. she’s that kid in your gym class that’s going way too hard for no fucking reason like calm down. 

BRAVE – there’s little that claire fears, and even her fears don’t generally stop her from accomplishing her goals. you could chalk up some of her bravery to determination, but she’s been through enough that she doesn’t really stop to consider what she’s going to lose. so maybe it’s also stupidity!

LOYAL – it’s really challenging for claire to form connections, but when she does, she latches on. when she cares for someone, she really cares for them, and she’s pretty ride or die. this sort of loyalty can be a burden for some of her friends, because she can be somewhat overbearing. 

ANGRY – claire’s probably best known for her anger, it’s like she walks around with a fuse waiting to be lit at the slightest inconvenience. funnily enough, her training has made her better at controlling it, but she’s still known to snap. 

RECKLESS – claire often acts impulsively, says the first thought in her mind, does the first thing she can think to do in order to solve a problem. act first, ask questions later is usually her mantra, and sometimes it saves her ass – and sometimes it comes back to bite her in it. 

DISTANT – claire finds it hard to open up or form connections with people, not often readily sharing her feels with people. she’s really averse to personal questions but she’s gotten better about sharing things about herself since making more friends at gallagher. still, she’s somewhat hard to get to know. i will refer you to this musing. 

BRASH – she’s pretty cocky to a point that often comes off as rude, but the positive spin on it is that you’ll always know where you stand with claire. whether it’s good or bad, she’s up front, but most people she trains with are probably sick of her arrogance. 

HEADCANONS/RANDOM FACTS.

can usually be found exercising. she’s really into sports and fitness and prior to the berlin internship, she used to spend her summers working at summer camps for athletes-in-training. she’s a pretty good coach, and tutors some of the other students that need help with their athletic prowess, although she’s described as a bit intense.

identified as bisexual until fairly recently, realizing that she doesn’t care or have much interest in romantic relationships with men ! so, now she identifies as a lesbian. 

cannot sit through a movie to save her life, claire’s easily distracted and bored, always needing something to do. she didn’t grow up with a television set in her home either, so she hasn’t seen many movies and is a little out of touch with all things pop culture. 

takes pictures like a mom, if you ask her to take a photo of you it’ll probably a) be a little blurry, b) have her thumb in it, or c) both.

really likes podcasts! she listens to them a lot during her workouts, while she runs the track, or anything else. claire’s not exactly known for her intelligence ( among the astronomical iqs of other gallagher students at least ) but she can spout some knowledge on things you wouldn’t expect. 

generally a hard-ass but she’s a softie around animals, particularly dogs or cats, but catch her cooing and talking in a baby voice around puppies, she’s like a completely different person, pretty much. 

drink of choice is whiskey, neat. 

despite her preference for hand to hand combat, threat elimination has given her a multitude of skills. she keeps two knives on her at all times and sometimes wears a bulletproof vest for kicks. she’s prepared for anything.

[multimetaverse]

Wait the show changed Chinese New Years from 2017 to 2018? The timeline is messy lmao

Yes, originally the show was supposed to take place a little bit in the future, so it premiered in our world in April 2016 but the story started in September 2016 but later on the show decided to retcon it so that the show started in September 2017 in an attempt to keep ahead of our real world time which ultimately failed. That’s why instead of having the Year of the Rooster in 2x02 which would have been the correct lunar new year for 2017 they changed it to the Year of the Dog which was the correct one for 2018. The timeline is not as messy as people like to claim it is and there is a rough timeline for the series contained in the context clues in the dialogue as you can see when I lay it out in production order. Obviously we get scenes in 2b that should be taking place in late Spring clearly being filmed in Winter but that’s the price the show paid for filming on location in Utah and we just have to suspend our disbelief for that. 

1x01- Takes place September 28th 2017 on Andi’s 13th birthday. People get too hung up on the hospital bracelet dates, just spring it forward a year like the show did from 2003 to 2004

2x02- Takes place on February 16th 2018 as that was the date the lunar new year of the dog fell on.  So Cyrus coming out to Buffy happens in early to mid February

2x15 -  Takes place around April 20th 2018. We know this because it’s the day after Cyrus’ Bash Mitzvah and Buffy reveals she’s moving in ten days but Andi tries to get her to stay with Celia since there’s two months left in the school year and in America the school year typically ends around June 20th. So working backward we can tell that the Marty left sometime in March, the muffin scene was early April, and the swings and invitation scene were mid April shortly before the Bash Mitzvah.

2x21- Takes place around May 1st 2018 as Buffy moves as her 10 days are up. Now it wasn’t really ten days, we can tell by the number of weekends that it would have been closer to three weeks but that’s on the writers. The timeline get’s much messier after this which unsurprisingly correlates with the writing getting worse.

2x26- Takes place around June 20th as it’s almost the end of the school year. Buffy was supposed to be gone for two months but in the only Disney editing decision I agree with, they cut that title card from 2x22 when Buffy returned. That wouldn’t have really made sense since that would put her return in July after school is out but it is what it is. Jonah has already left for Frisbee camp in 2x25 despite school still being in session which I think was an artifact of Jonah still being a year older at this point and in some schools different grades may get out a little earlier.

3x01- Takes place around August 20th as it’s been two months since Jonah went off to camp for summer and the American school year starts around August 20th. Things get messier after this since technically 3x02 would have had to take place on September 24th 2018 as that’s the date of the mid autumn festival but there’s no way to make that work because of the info we get in 3x04. In the show’s timeline 3x02 followed quite closely after 3x01 as Andi is unsure whether to officially end things with Jonah despite trying to do so at the end of 3x01. 

3x04- Takes place around mid September 2018 as TJ mentions that it’s the third week of school.

3x07- Takes place around mid September 2018 as Buffy mentions she just founded the Spikes that same week and Andi refers to Jonah running off in 3x04 after she jokes about him liking someone new as something that happened the other day. Again it’s impossible for 3x04-07 to actually take place within a week given the number of weekends that occurred but we just have to roll with it.

3x12- Takes place in late October 2018. Jonah says that he learned a couple of months ago that his parents had to file for bankruptcy and that they would lose their house. Since he was gone all summer and 3x02 took place shortly after he got back we’re looking at 3x12 taking place two months after he got back in late August. 

The timeline is actually pretty smooth from here on out. 3x13 takes place immediately after 3x12 and costume day seems to be stand in for Halloween which fits with the timeline. 3x14 takes place right the weekend following costume day as Andi is just then telling her friends about the wedding, which was just weeks away according to Buffy, being cancelled. 3x15 seems to be the next weekend after that and 3x16 picks up the next weekend as the kids start their community service and then the rest of 3x16 and 3x17 take place in the same week or so of time. 

The cut 318 was almost certainly the next weekend after 3x17 ended as we know the Jamber breakup scene and Muffy friendzoning scene in 3x17 were re-shoots to replace scenes lost in 318. 3x19 must take place the school week after 318 as Buffy’s friends just then find out about her boot which Buffy didn’t have in 3x17. Buffy’s injury also makes for a nice way to track the timeline as we can see her foot get progressively worse over the weeks. 

3x19 must be late November as Andi says her SAVA application is due at the end of the month. 3x20 takes place shortly afterwards as Jonah mentions his family moving into an apartment in 3x19. And 3x21 must take place shortly after 3x20 as Bex and Bowie have their first dance as a married couple which puts the finale in early December 2018. Those pre finale texts make no sense as even stretching the time line ridiculously does not get 3x21 anywhere near the end of the school year and they deliberately put snow on the ground on the backyard set because it’s meant to take place in winter. 

So we have a rough time line for the show of September 28th 2017- early December 2018 from pilot to series finale. It’s not perfect and you can add or subtract a few weeks here or there but it works fairly well and follows what the writers told us in the dialogue.

[yallreddieforthis]

Believer

Fandom: It (2017)

Pairing: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier

Rating: T (for language and Richie being Richie)

Words: 7k

Soulmate AU. Takes place in 2004. Humor, banter, first meeting, first date, first kiss.

And wow. Wow and a half. Richie couldn’t have even dreamed up a guy this cute, although admittedly he’d been picturing some dude in baggy jeans and a beanie with a hacky sack this whole time. Which couldn’t be further from this...absolute snack of startled, prep-school perfection.

Oh my fucking god, I hate that song.

Y’know, Richie has seen worse. Some girl in his English class has damn, how you fit all that in them jeans? so really, anything after that is an improvement.

And it’s not like the soul mark is constantly on his mind or anything. It’s on his back—literally, he can’t see it without two mirrors and he had to have Bill read it out to him when it first showed up—but every once in awhile he remembers that someday he’s going to hear oh my fucking god, I hate that song and he’ll just know. Well, maybe more than every once in awhile. It’s kind of like a recurring daydream. That, and what he’d do if he suddenly became Cyclops from the X-Men.

Fifteen year old Richie was positive it was going to be like some punk-ass rocker chick standing outside Hot Topic and reacting to 98 Degrees over the loudspeaker. At least, that was his first thought. And it’s not like it’s going to be a problem if that’s what ends up happening—because no matter what or who else he’s into, Richie is positive he’ll always have a deep-down internal hard-on for punk-ass rocker chicks—but lately he’s had this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that… Well, it could just be like, a memory of a dream or some shit. And Richie certainly does not believe in dreams coming true, but it wasn’t until well after he got a soul mark that he admitted to himself that his secret thing for Chad Michael Murray is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Richie thinks it would’ve been easier to admit to being The Bi-est if it hadn’t been goddamn Chad that forced him to realize it. Like if it had been Orlando Bloom in Pirates or something when he’d been like alright, time to fuckin’ fess up . But he explained away his crush on Orlando as like, well, Orlando is cool as fuck. Duh. Who doesn’t want to blow him?

Same with like, David Boreanaz. Richie is convinced that even the straightest of straight guys fell desperately in love with Angel when they watched Buffy. He could stick his stake in anyone and they’d thank him.

But Chad...mm. Richie is the only guy he knows who watches One Tree Hill. He’s sure about that because every joke he’s ever made about Lucas Scott has been met by blank stares by Bill and Bev and even Ben, who, though ostensibly straight, would totally love One Tree Hill if Richie ever got the balls to ask him to watch it with him. The only people in the whole world he has to discuss it with are the group of girls who sit next to him in Physics. So actually, Richie blames One Tree Hill for his D in Physics. If he hadn’t started talking to those girls—and he probably wouldn’t have if they hadn’t been discussing the show—he might’ve been able to learn about science instead of playing Fuck Marry Kill every period. So even though it truly is the worst show he has ever watched on purpose, once a week, like clockwork, Richie sits his ass down in front of the computer to jerk it to Blondie McKenDoll because...what are you gonna do.

It ended up being a blessing in disguise because he decided to let his friends know he’s bi and a One Tree Hill fan in one fell swoop. He only got shit on about the One Tree Hill thing, especially because he was the one who used to give Ben shit about Dawson’s Creek. So really, that was only fair.

Still, that was nothing compared to the shit he got for having a soul mark that’s like...inches from being a tramp stamp. Secretly (and also not-so-secretly), Richie loves it. It’s deliciously tacky, the handwriting is almost as bad as his; really, he couldn’t have asked for something trashier. He might’ve died of shame if he’d gotten delicate, loopy cursive around his forearm like Bill it’s lovely to meet you, finally Denbrough. Anyway, anybody who writes that nicely would never be compatible with Richie. And god help whatever poor guy has a soul mark in Richie’s handwriting somewhere on his body. Richie can only pray it’s somewhere unobtrusive.

The messy printing is only a small part of what has convinced Richie his soulmate is a boy. It’s mostly just a gut feeling, something he doesn’t want to acknowledge because he can’t explain it. It feels stupid to bank on something like that.

Richie is low-key disappointed by the fact that he's never seen the handwriting from his soul mark crop up in any of the school graffiti. He's even gone and tagged the bathroom stalls a couple of times, in the hopes that whatever guy it is will see it. And deep down, Richie knows he probably wouldn't have done that if he'd thought his soulmate was a girl.

They're all reasonably convinced that Bill's soulmate is British, based on the whole lovely thing, and Richie has taken to mimicking the kind of accent he thinks she might have. Bill keeps being like I'm not gonna match with the qu-qu-queen, Richie, but if she's the kind of girl who goes around telling people it's lovely to meet you... Richie's not saying she will be like some kind of aristocratic socialite, just that she might be. He thinks Bill should probably be taking steps to prepare for that sort of scenario, although he's not sure what those steps might be. Cotillion? Cigar smoking? Tea making?

Either way, Bill has time. There aren’t any British girls in Derry. No way is he going to meet her until at least college.

In any case, thinking about what song he and his soulmate can hate together to be a lot better pastime than whatever the fuck Mr. Shulman is writing about on the whiteboard. Richie feels like he can't take a hundred percent of the blame for failing to pay attention. The green marker Mr. Shulman is using is frayed, fading, and praying for the sweet release of the trash can, and it's not like Richie can really see the board from the back of the room on the best of days. His parents have suggested, well, more like insisted he sit up front but like...Bev sits in the back, and sitting up front would put a damper on the bubble gum blowing contests they have when Mr. Shulman isn't looking. Tragically, his parents probably wouldn't agree with his reasoning. But whatever.

Richie has a list in the back of his notebook, which he relies on his inscrutable handwriting to protect from prying eyes, of every song he's ever heard that he immediately disliked. He started it on his fifteenth birthday with a list of past horrors and adds on every time Creed releases a new single.

  Titanic song—My Heart Will Go On

I Hope You Dance

Hero—Enrique Iglesias (although Richie has admittedly crossed out and rewritten this one several times because, you know, Enrique)

Soak Up the Sun—that chick that’s dating Lance Armstrong

Summer Girls

I Knew I Loved You

Your Body Is a Wonderland

I’m Like a Bird

Anything that has ever been on American Idol

 And so on. He's got 37 entries so far, and it's been two and a half years in the making. He's just in the process of deciding whether A Thousand Miles deserves a spot on the list when Bev nudges his shoulder and hands him a note under the desk, written in Ben's even, exacting printing.

  Tuesday: Circle one

- National Treasure

- Mean Girls

- The Passion? (probably not, I know)

- Saw

- Troy

 Richie truly sees no point in reading further because Bev has only circled National Treasure and Mean Girls and there is a zero percent chance Ben won't side with her , but he'll be damned if he's not going to give his opinion anyway. He scribbles a big fat line through The Passion, because although he knows Ben's AP history class will give him extra credit for seeing it, but he's not sure he loves Ben (or rather, Ben's history teacher) enough to sit through three hours of Jim Caviezel getting whumped.

Apropos of nothing, a song begins playing in Richie’s head; a good one, thankfully. Richie has very little control over his internal radio and sometimes it gets stuck on Radio Disney, so some Weird Al is a welcome reprieve.

  And the guide... Richie mutters while tapping on his desk.

  Said not to stand

But that’s a demand

That I couldn’t meet

I got on my feet

And stood up instead

And knocked of my head, you see

Tell meeee…

 From Richie’s other side, Bill’s elbow collides with his ribs.

“You’re doing the th-thing again,” he mutters under his breath. Richie rolls his eyes. He doesn’t understand why anyone— his math teacher included—would not be delighted by a surprise rendition of a Weird Al song, regardless of where in the song he happens to start singing. 

Back to the movie list. Everything else...hmm. Troy looks badass—and stars Richie's one true love, Orlando Bloom. There's a good chance he's gonna be naked in it too. Richie draws a dick next to Troy as part of the decision-making process. He knows Ben only put Saw on the list because he thought Richie would like it. There's no way Ben actually wants to watch Wesley from Princess Bride get chopped up. Richie scratches Saw out and writes you're not fooling me next to it.

He's heard good things about Mean Girls, but still... Bev probably only circled it because she knows it's Ben's first choice. Sometimes being best friends with a couple makes Richie want to spray them with projectile vomit. But, you know, in the best way. He has no particular objections to Mean Girls himself, except that National Treasure promises to be amazingly, spectacularly adventure-y and ridiculous, and Richie is always down for that kind of action. In fact, he would just as soon use the advantage of a half day where his parents are at work to watch Jumanji on the big TV in the living room, but...

Fuck it. He's feeling generous today, and he kind of wants to witness Ben vibrating with excitement when he sees the note so...he circles Mean Girls and passes it back.

Ben's gasp upon receiving it is worth it.

Apparently, Derry High isn't the only school having a minimum day because the mall is fucking packed with teenagers. The concession stand line is super long, but where else is Richie supposed to find a nauseating selection of overpriced candy and a bucket of popcorn that could feed a small village? After dousing the popcorn with butter to the point where Ben almost gags, they make their way into the theater to find seats. Which are shitty almost-front-row ones because it took them so goddamn long to get snacks that those are the only four seats together by the time they get in there. Lucky the guy sitting in front of Richie is super short. Bev and Ben aren't so lucky—the curls of the guy to his left are almost as impressive as Richie's, and the guy in front of Bev is just obviously really tall.

The previews haven't even started yet—it's just the shitty like don't talk in the theater ads and dumb TV trivia questions.

Richie feels incumbent to entertain his friends at all times, but especially in moments like this, where nothing else entertaining is forthcoming.

Uh huh, he whispers, starting up a beat on his thigh. Uh huh. Extra Cheese.

Bill sighs in a long-suffering sort of way beside him.

  Uh huh. Uh huh. Save a piece for meeeee…

 He turns to Bev and starts whispering the rest of the lyrics directly into her ear because he can’t not.

  Pizza party at your house

I went just to check it out

Nineteen extra-larges, what a shame

No one came

We sat eatin’ all alone

You said, take the pizza—

 “Shh!” Bev puts a finger over his mouth. “You’re going to get us kicked out again.” 

That’s fair. Although, in Richie’s defense, it’s not like they missed out on much last time. The Village was supposed to be shitty anyway.

Mean Girls is, as it turns out, almost as interesting as the antics of the people in the row in front of them. Curly and the tall one are  a couple, clearly, and Richie feels for Shorty The Third Wheel, whose face he has yet to get a good look at. His hair is as neat as Richie’s is messy though—the kind of perfect where Richie can’t tell if he tried to make it look like that or if that’s just how it is. It’s just long enough to sweep over the tips of his ears and to almost touch the back collar of the polo shirt he’s wearing. He sits with his legs crossed in front of him, which Richie hasn’t been able to do since eighth grade.

The couple is cute, like stupid cute. The tall one is black and like, easily a ten no matter what your taste is; Curly is white with defined cheekbones and a cardigan. Tall has his arm around Curly, who has leaned into his neck. It makes Richie at least ten times gayer than he was before he walked into this theater.

Halfway through the movie, Richie has finished his monster popcorn and started in on the Milk Duds. He’s getting intense gay vibes from Aaron, who is supposed to be hot but is a little too Mister Muscles for Richie’s taste. Of course, Richie also likes Chad Michael Murray so… Even Richie’s taste doesn’t match with Richie’s taste. Whatever. At least his mouth and brain are in agreement on the subject of Sour Patch Kids, which is what really matters in the end.

But anyway, Richie prepares to come away from this movie a changed man with a new appreciation for Jingle Bell Rock by the time the credits roll. He’s definitely going to have to see this at least four to sixteen more times—or however many he can get away with before his friends threaten to kill him—because he missed a lot of the jokes being distracted by the way Shorty was craning his neck to look up at the screen. Richie pops the last of his Starburst into his mouth without unwrapping it. If there was an Olympics category for unwrapping a starburst with your tongue, Richie would be a gold medalist.

“Did you finish all that?” Ben gasps, leaning over and gaping at the graveyard of candy wrappers across Richie’s lap. Richie nods, burps, and rubs his belly like a proud expectant mother. He spits out the Starburst wrapper and hands it to Ben with a wink because he knows Ben’s too polite to drop that shit on the floor for the ushers to clean up.

“Well,” says Beverly, taking a final, bubbly sip of her Icee, “when you give birth to that thing later tonight, don’t call me to cry about it.”

And because she gave him such a perfect opportunity—and because he absolutely will be calling her from the bathroom later tonight—Richie decides to finally finish his song.

  Why’d you have to go and make me so constipated?

This really is a—

 He doesn’t get any further because a sharp voice cuts in from directly in front of him.

“Oh my fucking god, I hate that song.”

And then Richie’s back is attacked by a thousand mosquitos at once—or at least that’s what it feels like. He overheard a guy on the quad once say that the sensation from his mark when he met his soulmate gave him a boner, but apparently it’s different for everyone because all this does is make Richie want to light himself on fire. 

Which is why when Shorty in the J. Crew polo wheels around to look at him, Richie is awkwardly shifting, trying to find a way to itch his back on the seat. Maybe not the first impression he was going for, but just then, Shorty’s eyes lock on to Richie’s as he locates the source of the song, so yeah. There it is.

And wow. Wow and a half. Richie couldn’t have even dreamed up a guy this cute, although admittedly he’d been picturing some dude in baggy jeans and a beanie with a hacky sack this whole time. Which couldn’t be further from this...absolute snack of startled, prep-school perfection.

Before either of them can say anything else, Shorty yelps and grabs at one of his legs. That’s when he seems to regain the power of speech.

“It’s you?” he says, glaring sharply at Richie. “You’re the reason I haven’t been able to wear shorts for three fucking years?”

People are starting to leave the theater, which Richie hardly registers because he is having a full-on, swear to god Disney moment. This guy is like a...a bear cub. Not like hairy— he’s actually noticeably not hairy—but in the sense that he’s small and huggable-looking and Richie wants to pick him up and squeeze him but would probably get mauled if he tried to do so.

“Do you even—oh, sorry,” Shorty says, apologizing to the person who is trying to scoot past him. Then he turns back to Richie and flicks his eyes over him; just like a quick once-over. It’s impossible to tell if he likes what he sees. Richie notices he is still rubbing his calf.

“Itches like a motherfucker, doesn’t it?” he says, giving up on his seat-wiggling and reaching behind himself to scratch at his soul mark. Unfortunately, it turns out to be one of those itches that hurts when you scratch it, so he pulls his fingers back with an, “ow, son of a bitch!”

Shorty hisses.

“What’s wrong, Eddie?” Tall leans over Curly to ask Shorty—Eddie. Eddie.

“Fuck,” says Eddie, then he takes in a deep breath, rubbing his leg like he’s dying to scratch it. “This asshole—” he points an accusing finger in Richie’s direction, “—is the reason I’ve had those Weird Al lyrics about being—sorry, excuse us—about being constipated on my leg since before the goddamn song even came out.”

Tall and Curly both swivel around to stare at Richie. That gets Bev’s attention.

“Wait, Richie,” she says, grabbing his arm. “Is this—” 

“The love of my life,” Richie announces proudly, leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees, chin in his hands. “Eddie.”  

There is silence for a second during which Richie can almost see smoke coming out of Eddie’s ears.

“Fuck,” he says again. For all his preppy khakis and neatly combed hair and pristine white sneakers, he sure has a potty mouth. Richie couldn’t imagine anything better.

Bev gapes too, tapping Ben rapidly on the knee to get his attention. Curly’s eyes narrow as he examines Richie critically.

“Eddie, are you sure this is him?” he asks, still staring.

“Yeah,” Eddie nods, pulling up his pant leg and peering at his leg. “Yeah, cause—you know what? You can’t really see it in—”

“Excuse me,” calls an usher from the end of the aisle. “Is there a problem?”

“No,” Richie calls back cheerfully. “This is my soulmate! Isn’t he—”

“Right,” says the usher, blank faced in spite of this being the greatest of all possible happenings. “You think maybe you can move this party out to the lobby? I need to get the floor cleaned before the next showing.”

Eddie practically disappears into his friends during the awkward group shuffle out of the theater, but Richie walks backwards, keeping his eyes on all five feet and...four inches? three? of the gorgeousness that is Eddie.

Out in the light of the lobby he’s even better. Soft-looking brown hair, lightly freckled cheeks and arms, and—once he pulls up his pant leg—a soul mark that looks like the logo for someone’s z-list death metal band. The skin around it is pink and blotchy, but Richie can see the lines already fading. The only word that’s really fully legible is constipated. Which is hilarious, so Richie can’t understand why Eddie seems so ticked off.

Not that it fazes him in the slightest. It is actually written in the stars or the Book of Fate or whatever that he and Eddie are meant for each other. They’re destined to fall in love. If Eddie is mad at him now, he won’t be later.

“Whoa,” says Curly, tracing his fingers over Eddie’s soul mark. “Yeah. There it goes.”

“I’m Mike,” says Tall, who, now that they’re all standing, is actually the same height as Richie. He extends a hand, which Richie takes and then uses to yank him in for a hug. He smells amazing.

“Richie,” he says into Mike’s shoulder, before next trying to plaster himself to Curly. He hears Ben start to make introductions with Mike before Eddie’s voice cuts in.

“Stop,” he orders, running both hands through his hair, which bounces immediately back into its immaculate style. “Okay? Just—this is not happening right now.”

“Tell that to my heart, cutie,” says Richie. “And by my heart I mean my—”

“My mom?” Eddie says, like he’s name-dropping—like that should mean anything to Richie.

“God, if she’s half as cute as you, then hell yes.”

“No,” says Eddie. “I mean like, my mom. Does not know. That I’m gay. Fuck. Like, she has no fucking idea. And she’s gonna have a shit fit when she finds out. I keep telling her I don’t even have a soul mark yet—she never would’ve let me out of the house again if she’d seen it.”

“So?” says Richie. “Now it’s going away; now she doesn’t have to see it.” Seems more like a solution than a problem if you ask him.

“Honestly I was hoping not to even have to deal with any of this shit until like after college,” Eddie says. He looks like he’s considering just making a fucking break for the door. Like, don’t want to deal with this now, bye! Which, fair.

It’s a lot to roll with, especially just out of fucking nowhere like that. Richie probably should be freaking out way more than he is right now.

The idea of not seeing Eddie again until after college sounds terrible, but he doesn’t want to admit that. Going around like, yeah, I met my soulmate but he had a meltdown and ran away so… Like, he could do it if it’s what Eddie wanted. But he really hopes Eddie changes his mind.

“Do you want me to just like...fuck off?” he asks Eddie, quietly enough that the others won’t hear him.

Eddie frowns. “I don’t—”

“I mean...I guess we don’t have to like, you know, go for it now. Like. If you’re not into it, it’s cool. No offense taken. Maybe I’ll… I dunno, find you on Friendster in a few years? When things are easier? Or you can look for me. It’s Richie T-O-Z-”

Eddie cringes, checks his phone. “Shit, I have to go. My mom left me three messages; she’s probably already in the parking lot.”

And before Richie can even get upset about the idea that his soulmate is about to walk off into the sunset without so much as a dramatic monologue about how he’ll never give up on their eventual theoretical love, Eddie bites his lip and looks up into Richie’s face. His eyes are big and brown and make Richie feel like his ribcage is liquefying.

“Gimme your phone,” he says. Richie’s heart leaps into his throat as he pulls it out of his pocket.

Eddie takes it from him. “You should really get a case for this thing,” he says, clicking away on the number pad.

Their fingers brush as Eddie hands back his phone, with one last long look back as he scampers away.

Richie starts typing before he’s even left the lobby.

 From: Richie

hi its richie, the actual love of ur life

 From: Eddie

jesus i havent even reached the parking lot

dont text me too much its 15c a text, my mom will catch on

 From: Richie

can i see u again

i miss u already

 From: Eddie

i can probably get out again saturday

 From: Richie

saturday? what about tmrw?

 From: Eddie

im lucky if i get saturday

saturday, yes or no

 From: Richie

YES OF COURSE

meet me in front of the arcade 1st and Adams

…

ok?

 From: Eddie

Yeah 2pm stop texting me 

Eddie—god even thinking his name brings up a rush of butterflies—is standing outside the arcade looking about as comfortable as if it were a strip club. He’s wearing shorts, apparently for the first time in years. Something tells Richie that Eddie’s not going to be one of those people who gets their soul mark tattooed on after meeting their soulmate. The jury is still out on Richie—he kinda misses his already.

In the five days since they met, Richie has outlined itineraries for at least three different honeymoons and started a shortlist of names their adoptive children. He hopes Eddie also dreams of naming his sons after the kids from South Park.

“So,” says Richie, leaning down and looking Eddie in the eye, “yes or no to kissing on the first date?”

“Who said this was a date?” Eddie scoffs, opening the door to the arcade and rolling his eyes.

Richie has as much of a plan as he’s ever made in his life for this afternoon. First it’s the arcade where he can show off his bitchin’ Dance Dance Revolution skills, then to Johnny Rockets next door for a burger to remember, then hopefully back to Richie’s car to make out if they really hit it off.

Richie honestly cannot wait to show Eddie his car. It’s super impressive, even though it’s missing a bumper and the back passenger side door is held on with duct tape. Is a handjob too much to hope for on the first date? He doesn’t want to pressure Eddie or anything, but Richie is ready to give Eddie a handjob yesterday. So as soon as Eddie’s ready to rumble, they can get down.

Richie brought both his windshield covers just in case—the blue one and the Ren and Stimpy.

Turns out there’s a long line for DDR, which Richie probably should have counted on since it’s Saturday. Perfect opportunity for getting to know each other though. If Eddie would just like, you know, talk. He’s silently chewing on his lip instead, brow furrowed.

“Come here often?” Richie asks him.

Eddie shakes his head. “More like never. My mom won’t let me. Says the arcade is full of germs. She thinks I’m at Stan’s house watching High Society again . ”

“What’s High Society?”

“Really?” Eddie looks up at him. “You haven’t seen—like, with Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra? Bing Crosby? No?”

“So it’s like...a super old movie?”

“Yeah,” Eddie says slowly. “What—I’m just curious—what’s your favorite movie?”

“Definitely The Big Lebowski,” says Richie right away. “That’s easy. Best movie of all time. Oh, except maybe White Chicks. Pulp Fiction. Scary Movie 3.”

“Oh my god,” Eddie whispers, apparently to his shoes.

“Please don’t tell me you preferred Scary Movie 2. That might be a dealbreaker. Soulmate or not.”

“But you do like scary movies?” Eddie perks up a little. “Have you seen Wait Until Dark with Audrey Hepburn? It’s super scary.”

“Audrey Hepburn? Ohhhh, that chick in The Philadelphia Story? My grandma makes us watch that every year when we come over for Thanksgiving.”

Eddie purses his lips. “That’s Katharine Hepburn.”

“Are they sisters?” Richie asks.

“No.”

Richie isn’t worried. Eddie probably just hasn’t seen, like, Dude Where’s My Car yet. Easily fixed. His parents will be out of town next weekend; Eddie can stay over and they can watch it. That and definitely Catch Me If You Can.

He pitches the idea to Eddie, whose eyes light up at the mention of Catch Me If You Can.

“Oh my god,” Eddie groans, “Leonardo DiCaprio was like, my sexual awakening.”

“For sure,” says Richie. “He was such a badass in Gangs of New York. Which one did it for you? Was it The Man In the Iron Mask?”

Eddie looks at him like he’s being an idiot. “Uh, you’re guessing The Man In the Iron Mask before Titanic?”

“Really?” Richie winces, super disappointed and unable to hide it. “Titanic, Eddie?”

Eddie smirks. “No. Romeo and Juliet. You’re up.”

Richie tries to decide whether Romeo and Juliet is a better or worse sexual awakening than Titanic as he chooses a song. Richie practices DDR every weekend the way some people faithfully go to church, so he’s pretty confident he’ll blow Eddie away no matter what.

Still, just to be safe, he picks easy mode when he thinks Eddie isn’t looking. Eddie’s never been here. He doesn’t need to know that it took Richie six months of practice before he finished a song without failing out. It’s gonna look cool either way.

And, okay, in hindsight...these brand-new Dickies are still kind of stiff. They might not have been the best choice for DDR. He just figured they’d make a better impression than the old ripped ones he was wearing when they met. Eddie strikes Richie as the kind of guy who doesn’t wear the same pants two days in a row; he doesn’t need to know that Richie (up until the day before yesterday) only had the one pair. Richie has decided he might even be convinced to break his strict rule of not throwing out pants until they’ve worn through in the crotch. All for love.

Eddie smiles brightly at his abysmal score. “Wow, that was pretty good. Can I try?”

Damn, that smile. Whipped already and they haven’t even kissed yet. Richie steps down with a bow.

Eddie stands tentatively on the DDR platform.

“Um…” He looks at the screen. “This one?”

And before Richie can stop him, he’s picked a crazy song on hard mode. If it were Bill, Richie would settle in and prepare laugh his ass off. Maybe even try to grab his camera from the car.

“So you just like, step on the arrows when they show up on the screen?” Eddie asks while the game loads.

“Uh, yeah,” says Richie. “But you know—don’t worry if you fail out. Took me awhile to get the hang of it.” He winks. 

“Okay,” says Eddie. He rolls his neck and shakes out his arms and… Whoa, why does Richie suddenly feel like he’s about to pop a boner?

And then, uh. And then Eddie is nothing but a flurry of legs, jumping, twirling, hopping back and forth. He claps and snaps with the beat—god, he knows how to use his fucking body. Thank god for Richie’s stiff new pants. He bends a little at the knee, letting his sweater drape down over his lap. Other people in the arcade are stopping what they’re doing to watch—he’s that good.

After what could have been either ten seconds or ten years—but nothing in between—the song ends and Eddie bounces lightly off the mat. Richie’s throat goes dry.

“How’d I do?” Eddie’s little smirk is positively edible.  

“Marry me,” Richie croaks. “I was gonna offer to teach you to play but, uh…”

Eddie laughs. “Mike has that game,” he says, still smiling. “We play it all the time at his house. It’s even harder with the shitty fold-out mat.”

“Well there go my plans,” Richie says, throwing his arms in the air. “It was gonna be a DDR lesson. A sexy one. And you’ve gone and totally schooled me, so now I’m just gonna have to try to impress you with Halo.”

Mercifully, Eddie turns out to be absolute shit at first-person shooters, so Richie isn’t totally humiliated on his home turf. But Eddie creams him at the driving games almost as bad as he did at DDR. 

“Jesus, dude,” Richie says, watching Eddie punch his initials into the hi score list. EFK. “What kind of car do you drive?”

“Pffft,” Eddie shakes his head. “My mom won’t even let my get my permit yet.” 

“Wait,” says Richie. “How old are you?”

“I’m eighteen,” Eddie tells him. Shut the fuck up. No way.

“You’re older than me?! But you’re so short! I thought you were like sixteen.”

Eddie shoots him a baffled glare. “You know that’s not how it works, right?”

“Well, how old did you think I was?” Richie asks. 

“I guess I thought you were eighteen too?” says Eddie, shrugging. “I mean…” he gestures vaguely upward.

Richie raises his eyebrows.

“Alright, touche,” Eddie admits. “But seriously, how old are you? I’m gonna feel really weird if you’re just like, the world’s tallest freshman and you’re hitting on me.”

“Seventeen. I’ll be eighteen next month. So we’re practically the same age.”

Eddie nods. “But as far as driving, yeah. I don’t like, have my own car. So yeah, technically I could get a license but I don’t have anything to actually drive yet.”

“My dad gave me his old car and basically let me destroy it while I was practicing,” says Richie. “Your parents don’t trust you with their cars?”

Eddie hesitates for a second before looking away. “It’s just me and my mom,” he says quickly.

“Oh,” says Richie stupidly, feeling like an absolute tool. “Oh yeah, sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Eddie tells him, and it sounds like he mostly means it. “I was so young when he died, I don’t even remember him. It’s just that my mom…”

“She sounds like a hardass,” says Richie, drumming on the Whack-a-Mole console while Eddie grabs the mallet.

“It’s not— wham— that,” he says, eyes darting between the moles. “It’s like… My mom acts like she wishes she’d never even —wham— given birth to me.”

“Ow,” Richie grimaces. “Harsh.”

“No,” Eddie corrects. “I don’t mean it like— wham —that. Just that like I think she would rather they’d never— wham —cut the umbilical cord. Like she wishes we were still— wham wham wham —attached.”

“Yikes,” says Richie, because that’s all he can think of to say. 

“Big yikes,” Eddie agrees.

“I’m guessing you don’t go to Derry High, then,” says Richie, resting his head against the machine while Eddie continues to annihilate moles. “Makes sense that I never saw you around, cause I totally would’ve remembered seeing that ass before.”  

He hesitates before adding, “I even wrote some graffiti in the bathroom stalls so you’d recognize my handwriting.”

Eddie’s nose crinkles adorably at that. “First of all—no. I’m homeschooled. Maybe because my mom doesn’t want me making too many friends, or maybe even just to keep me from using public bathrooms.” 

“How do you know Mike and Curly then?” Richie asks.

“Cur—Stanley? Shit,” Eddie says as he misses a mole. “Mike and Stan are homeschooled too. We go to the same testing center in Bangor. And—ha!—I dunno? I sensed their gayness?”

“Yeah I sensed their gayness too,” Richie says. “By the way they were all over each other.”

“No, actually. It wasn’t like that. I knew both of them before they knew each other,” says Eddie. “I was there when they met.”

“Wow.” Richie uses his fist to hit a mole he thinks Eddie’s about to miss. “soul mark surprise?”

“Not really,” says Eddie. “Stan had a thing on his wrist that said, hi, I’m Mike , in Mike’s handwriting, so I kind of connected the dots and introduced them.”

“I’m the third wheel with Bev and Ben all the time,” Richie tells him, leaning over to collect tickets from the Whack-a-Mole.

“They’re not usually too—wait, what’s that?” Eddie asks, snatching something out of Richie’s back pocket. He unfolds the piece of paper.

“Oh, well, uh,” Richie says, thinking for the first time that it’s kind of embarrassing that he kept the list in the first place, “I just… Well, my soul mark said oh my fucking god, I hate that song, so I kind of like kept a list of songs I thought he—they might be talking about.”

Eddie snorts. “I have every single one of these on my iPod,” he says. “And that’s like, my all-time favorite song.” He points at I Knew I Loved You by Savage Garden. Oh god.

“Do you really hate Weird Al?” Richie asks him on their way to the air hockey table. “Cause I gotta say, I don’t know if this,” he gestures between them, “is gonna work out if you don’t want to hear the Angry White Boy Polka at least three times a day.”

“No,” says Eddie quickly. “Weird Al is great. It’s just, you know, the soul mark thing. Like I got it and I was like, what the fuck is this shit? And I guess it was kind of a relief when the song came out because I really hadn’t figured out like...what context I might hear that in. But then I just got sick of associating the song with like...true love. Cause it’s like, ridiculous and gross, you know?”

“I guess,” says Richie. “I dunno. I thought that was pretty fuckin’ romantic.”

“Yeah, I bet you did,” says Eddie. “That’s the kind of romance I’d expect from anyone who hasn’t watched Bing Crosby serenade Grace Kelly.”

“Damn, Eddie. You’re a pretentious little dick, you know that?” Richie says, picking up the puck.

“And you’re a goddamn mess,” Eddie shoots back without pausing. “Your serve.”

Richie is already balls deep in love by the the game ends. To be fair, he’s not sure how he was supposed to concentrate on the game with Eddie giggling and doing a little dance every time he scored. Eddie may have kicked his ass, but Richie walks out the door of the arcade feeling like he’s the one who came out on top. 

“What’s next?” Eddie asks, backing out the door of the arcade, catching his new sticky hand toy on Richie’s glasses on purpose.

“Road head?” Richie asks hopefully, jutting his chin in the direction of his car and grabbing onto his glasses to keep them from being pulled right off his face.

“You wish,” Eddie rolls his eyes. “I haven’t even decided if I want a second date yet.”

“Ah ha!” Richie points at him. “So you admit this is a first date?”

Eddie laughs and raises his eyebrows. “I dunno. Is it?”

“Let’s ask Johnny Rocket,” says Richie, cocking his head to the right. “Got time for a burger? We can split a milkshake.”

Eddie gives him a considering sort of look. “I could probably squeeze it into my schedule.”

Ohhhhhh the things Richie wants to squeeze… With great mental fortitude, he refrains from commenting. Instead Eddie opens the door for him and they grab two menus and a booth. 

“What are you gonna get?” Richie asks.

Eddie peers at him from over the menu. “Depends who’s paying. But we’re definitely not sharing a milkshake. I can already tell you’re a dessert hog. I’d end up getting like one sip.”

Richie laughs, running a hand through his hair. “God.”

“What?” asks Eddie, eyes already fixed back on the menu.

“Honestly? You.”

“Me what?”

Richie hesitates because it’s something he’s never talked to anyone about before. And for good reason—it’s fucking stupid. But right now, sitting in this Johnny Rockets…

“You know…” he starts, drumming his knuckles on the table, “I’m like, super bisexual. But I knew my soulmate was going to be a guy.”

Eddie puts the menu down. “Huh. Really? How?”

Richie shakes his head. “I dunno. It sounds really stupid but like… I don’t know if it was a dream I had or… you just. Like when I heard your voice and then you turned around in the theater…”

It’s so corny. He can’t say it. He’s playing with the straw dispenser on the table like it’s the most fascinating thing in the world. How do you say you make me feel like, gooey inside and it’s fuckin’ nasty but also I don’t ever want it to end? Without sounding like a pussy, of course.

“Thanks? I guess?” says Eddie. “I mean, I still have no idea what you’re talking about but—”

“I’m really glad you’re my soulmate,” Richie blurts out. “Not just to have one, I mean. I’m glad it’s you. You’re awesome. Like...you’re totally knocking me off my fuckin’ feet here. And I hope you—”

The rest of his sentence is drowned out by Eddie leaning over the table and kissing him. Not like, full-on tongue kissing or anything. Just kind of a peck. But longer. Something in between. Soft, but definitely real.

And afterwards Eddie draws back, a little pinker than he was a second ago and then digs into his pocket, fishing out some quarters. He puts two in the little jukebox at their table, punches in a number and letter combo, and then sits back in his seat, shredding a straw wrapper between his fingers.

  I thought love was only true in fairy tales

Meant for someone else, but not for me

 Eddie looks like he’s trying as hard as he can not to grin, going even redder. Richie leans in and offers his hand. Eddie drops his straw wrapper.

  Love was out to get me, that’s the way it seemed

Disappointment haunted all my dreams

But then I saw her face—

 “You know,” Richie says, looking Eddie in the eye, “I like the Smash Mouth version better.”

  Now I’m a believer

 Eddie laughs and takes his outstretched hand. “I think I can live with that.”

[pixie-skull]

# 24 Post: “Get to know me Better Part Deux” Tag

Get to know me Better Part Deux

@odd-cinderella Thank you for tagging me. :D I am so humbled darling.

Rule: tag ten followers you want to get to know better (I like saying potential pals, instead “followers”)

- Name: Emily (I am aware my username so new, yet hopefully some nicknames can be made?)

- Gender: Confusing, I do not mind typically being seen as a woman, yet with thinking I am demi-girl or gender-fluid. Woman and agender. I go by both they/them and her/she. This first time being very out about it. Hopefully, when I transfer I will be more.

- Star sign: Aries (not hot-tempered, I am the romantic type. :D )

- Height: 5ft 3in like Logan James Howlett AKA Wolverine in the Marvel Comics.

- Sexuality: Panromantic Demisexual, leaning towards women (single). I am though waiting til marriage too, and may be ace too.

What image do you have as wallpaper: On this site, I had a rainbow moon gif, yet now Josephine Wall’s art. I am a sucker for beautiful details. On my phone, I had She-Hulk ^*_*^ Now a color palette of periwinkle, lilac, lavender, and violet.

- Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?: If I have, not remembering.

- Where do you see yourself in 10 years: Very soon I am turning 21, yet ten years I turn 30 and almost 31. O.O I would be celebrating my gold birthday. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=golden%20birthday I hope for: 1. Being with people who make me feel happy, like being friends with @theghostlightison still and I be happy if in love and maybe engaged. My school I pray to transfer it has a huge LGBTQ+ student body so I may meet my future spouse. ^*_*^ 2. I hope to have a stable job and feel enriched by the fact it makes me good, rather being paid. 3. My writing being published.

- If you could be anywhere else right now, where?: Dougal, Ireland due to wanting to see relatives and see the beautiful landscape. Also, New Zealand for THE LORD OF THE RINGS! =D

- What was your coolest Halloween costume?: @odd-cinderella I can relate to cosplaying. I am stuck between my first comic-con where I went as a Hobbit or my last year Halloween Costume when as “Scott Pilgrim versus the World” Ramona Flowers.

- What’s your favorite 90s show?: Also like @odd-cinderella I specifically choose from different types of shows, Anime: Sailor Moon. American Cartoons: I remember as a kid liking Spongebob Squarepants a lot. Live-action: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I have older siblings hence watching the show.

- Last kiss?: If you saw my post of my “# 18 Post: 18 ships of mine” or along those lines, I kissed someone who I said to keep his identity not to be known as Dreamworks “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas” as Kale, due he looks like the character. I thought we were dating, he thinks we are friends, so after a few weeks of me thinking he was my eighth relationship, I asked, and he said being friends he prefers. Kinda peeved off he does not understand kissing a huge step for me being demisexual, yet upside, he was a fun make-out. Upside still friends and jokingly “flirt”.

- Have you ever been stood up?: I do not think so, I came close to, but glad I did not do it. The person, they were nice, yet just sad to not click.

- Have you ever been to Las Vegas?: Drove with my family through it, so kinda.

- Favorite pair of shoes: I like my boots that I jokingly dub “My Slayer boots”, which with my matching fake leather black jacket I feel like Buffy Summers.

- Favorite fruit: Pomegranate, the juice, the seeds covered in dark chocolate, and more good.

- Favorite book: I am stuck between “The Last Unicorn” Peter S. Beagle (I love the animated movie, so favorite animated movie based on a book).

 “Frankenstein; The Modern Prometheus” by Mary Shelly or “Dracula” by Bram Stoker (favorite story due to living action movies, even though the books are better).

Hoping to start “What Dreams May Come” (The movie holds a special a place in my heart) Richard Matheson. I am aware there are common themes here, yet whatever. XD

I have read “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” (I liked the movies more)

- Stupidest thing you’ve ever done: Letting my seventh ex, take a squeeze at my chest. It has drastically changed my confidence in my body to a certain amount, this was an almost a year ago. I was in kickboxing and due to this wore tighter outfits than I like, then one day he just grabbed at my shirt and I told him no, he than said something like “I am already respecting your choice to wait, so why not just this”. I was so stressed out by the school by then so I did not think much as I should and thought that was valid. Granted it bothered me I dated such a slimeball. Bothers me how he then, later on, he tried to convince me to “give out”. I kept saying no and luckily stood my ground on this. He clearly was not happy, yet tired to manipulate me, make me feel guilty, and more. Bums me out further this white boy had the guys to say very borderline racist things, like saying the “N” word with a soft “A”, not a hard “R”. Luckily we dated under a month, yet I still feel dumb I dated him. I *trigger warning* even scratch (like with pins) my forearms, shoulders, and chest to be “ugly” so he stops. Luckily barely any scars, but ugh. I am now in a better place, just bothers me how that happened. Luckily compared to my other formally dated who I am friends with, he is far away from me. (I do use Disney Phoebus to represent him, even though this boy so weak like I have more muscles than him, yet he still slithered negative things in my mind). To make it sadder I dated someone so much more understanding a gentleman, who I choose as Naveen when talking about him due looks closest to him.

On a positive note, I am growing to be happier, even though, now I am feeling sad lately, this helped cheer me up. Also, my birthday coming up, I will see family, and get my hair dyed, have a party with friends who make me happy, and more. 

0. @themostlyclosetedteen 

1. @sailorzelda94  

2. @winglesshopeful 

3. @myhollie1911  

4. @thenamelessdoll  

5. @disneyfemslash 

6. @animagix101  

7. @geebs96 

8. @vulpeproductions  

9. @ultraviolet04 

10. @hashtag-mylife

The numbers mean nothing, just wanted to keep track. Yes, I can count, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, yet why not include 0? XD

[buffystylez-blog]

Unaired Pilot - FOR REAL

It’s still Buffy’s birthday, so there’s another gift in store for Slayerettes:

THE UNAIRED BUFFY PILOT IS ON YOUTUBE.

Link is here.

So I thought I’d try a more tradish style recap. Get ready for some low quality screenshots!

Also there is a disclaimer that the episode is not for broadcast because the music used was not cleared. I don’t think they could afford it at the time.

Could do with a shirt.

It’s very similar to the opening of the first episode in that a young boy and girl break into Sunnydale High School after hours and just when you think the boy is going to take advantage of the girl, the girl is a vampire and kills him real good. Pretty sure it’s a different actor. For the guy. Not Darla. That’s definitely still Julie Benz.

It’s a substantially different costume for Darla. This is the first time I’ll wonder if the actors styled themselves. I love the brogues. Darla was wearing these waaaaay before they were cool. Perhaps she killed a Charleston dancer and then waited until 1994 to kill a girl for her dress.

Will this unrealistic stage set return? Probably!

I almost think the vampire make-up is better in this than the first season.

This was probably done by an intern. I hope it was. Because if it were it was definitely free.

Who could it be wearing these cute high heel canvas shoes? I had these. I loved them. Chunky heels for all.

It’s Buffy Summers! Or Bunny, as Principal Flutie keeps calling her. She is more peppy, which I will discuss in more detail later. Or soon. And you should bloody see who played Flutie in the pilot.

STEPHEN TOBOLOWSKY. If you’re unfamiliar with this gentleman, give this a go.

Let’s talk about Buffy’s school outfit. She’s in a miniskirt and top combo with a short-sleeve button up over the top. It’s... ok. It’s more casual. Everyone is more casual in the pilot. This outfit speaks to the perkier Buffy. She’s walking a line between LA Buffy and post-season premiere Buffy. I think this is the vibe Whedon wanted for the film. It... did not translate. For reasons beyond Whedon’s control, I would wager. It both works and does not work, for reasons I will probably go into.

The outfit is cute. It lacks the polish that sets her a little apart from her schoolmates in Welcome to the Hellmouth. I do prefer her hair here, I think. It’s been straightened. Or more likely blow-dried straight.

Before straighteners, blowdrying curly or wavy hair straight was a mission. I remember a how-to in Dolly or Cosmo or Girlfriend or Cleo. It involved sectioning your hair in four bits, and juggling a big round brush and hairdryer. Like the hairdressers do really well and I do very badly. Is she sans fringe? I think she’s sans fringe.

New Willow. Who dis?

Now this does make the ‘softer side of Sears’ burn make a LOT more sense. Obviously they decided to replace this actress. It may have been because they sensed Alyson Hannigan’s ability to wear wacky colours and textures. This actress is ok. But she doesn’t really fit the dynamics of the Scooby Gang that well. As you’ll see, the friend chemistry between these versions of Buffy and Xander are much more interesting than Xander or Willow, or even Willow and Buffy.

Cordelia’s outfit here is soooooo much better. Charisma Carpenter is so beautiful. She’s the perfect antagonist for Buffy’s high school life - making Homecoming in season 3 feel like a long time coming. Blonde versus Brunette, city girl versus Queen Bee. They’re very evenly matched. I want this cropped shirt. 

Though you can’t see her too clearly, the girl on the right is Nicole Bilderback, aka Whitney from Bring It On. She’s also the girl who wants to sleep with someone to get back at a boyfriend in Can’t Hardly Wait. Girl played supporting teen girl parts for a while in the 1990s. And of course that’s Harmony. This show kept a lot of its supporting cast from the pilot, which is nice.

Buffy meets Xander who directs her to the library, and she leaves behind her stake. The library is of course the place this tall drink of hot tea is waiting for her.

As in Welcome to the Hellmouth he produces that creepy book and Buffy wigs and leaves. Giles is confused as hell.

Better shot of Buffy and Willow’s outfit. There’s some nice banter here. This pilot shows of Whedon’s skill with comedic dialogue much better than the film. Some of it is even more lol than Welcome to the Hellmouth or the Harvest.

Buffy is swept away by Cordelia’s gang and just awkwardly leaves Willow. Doesn’t really establish much of a rapport between Will and B.

Xander catches up to Buffy to return her stake and together they identify the relevant social groups at Sunnydale. It’s probably my favourite scene.

I keep forgetting Xander has a skateboard. God, I hate skateboards.

Aphrodesia and whoever discover Darla’s last meal. Willow and Cordelia break the news to Buffy, but in my opinion in this exchange Buffy’s not weird enough for Cordelia to begin to doubt inviting her into her version of the Plastics.

As in Welcome to the Hellmouth Buffy checks the body for bite marks and confronts Giles, revealing her status as The Chosen One to all other patrons of the library. I guess both Buffy and Giles assume that teens don’t use libraries. And to be fair it is just Xander. I LOVED the library as a teen. I was cool. NO I WAS.

The layout is different and allows Buffy to jump off the stairs instead of use them. Because Giles uses the stairs and we discover how fucking awkward spiral staircases are. My favourite Spiral Staircase is the Kings of Leon song.

Did they keep the skylight?

The Bronze! With little to no discussion! But look at this little morsel saved for later:

There’s a line about their prowess in this episode I could swear Oz uses in season 2. Whedon and his writers are good at saving their gold. Like leprechauns?

Here’s Buffy in another outfit!

She’s already wearing practical footwear for slaying. Miley bless this creature. Is this Jonathan? The quality is so low.

Can’t tell.

I’m so sorry SMG. I did not realise how bad this screenshot was for you. Hair is high ponytail. Always up for slayage. It’s curled, which is fun. Depending on where you grew up these little strands at the front may have been called ‘slut straps.’

Jacket is... PVC? It’s... I probably would have liked it.

Again, Xander and Buffy already seem like great friends. Willow is again inconsequential, almost. As in Welcome to the Hellmouth, Willow is in danger. And where is she in danger? You guessed it, the stage for a drama performance constructed by no teen drama club I’ve ever seen.

He looks like if James Marsters was the lead singer of an 80s New Wave band.

Is that such a bad thing? Probably is for Willow.

He may also be a character from a Bret Easton Ellis novel. So he obviously has a lot of respect for women.

Buffy is wearing a shiny shirt and what appears to be a PVC jacket. It’s not a good combo. Neither is the purse. It looks like a lunch bag. 

I would also like to point out that Xander is much better dressed here than in the series.

After a very slow run toward the villain she delivers this wonderful high kick.

Darla is back! Along with a vampire who looks like he was murdered while audtioning for a role as Gaston in Beauty and the Best.

Buffy fights some vampires and Willow and Xander help a bit. Hooray!

FYInformaysh this is how the vampires die in the pilot. Slowly.

So slowly.

This is Willow and Xander helping. They burned Darla to death, I think. Not sure.

Everyone looks flawless here. Not a lot of stretchy fabric going on, but still items I would definitely want.

They’re discussing how weird Buffy, Willow and Xander are.

Get it? Get it? Vampires. Art Imitating Life or whatever.

Apart from talking to a teacher and actually enjoying it they look cool as hell. Not sure what Cordy etc are talking about.

The hair is excellent. I had this shirt about ten years ago or similar. It’s purple and white and I wore it to a festival and almost instantly regretted it. Should’ve just stuck with the black dress and Chuck Taylors. Not all vintage is cool or wearable, guys.

She’s wearing almost the same thing as the day before - miniskirt, sneakers, t-shirts, button up shirt as jacket. I like the shirt from the first outfit better. But I might like the skirt better?

I definitely would have worn this. Actually, I did. I had a Roxy (or was it just Billabong?) dark blue corduroy miniskirt that I wore with a blue camouflage patterned t-shirt. I remember wearing it on a trip to Gunnedah to visit my grandfather on my mum’s side of the family. I would wear one of his flat caps with it. He would let me wear it but wouldn’t let me keep it. And then he would give me other stuff, like all of these vintage ties he owned so I could make a skirt out of them. I didn’t end up doing that, but I still have them all. I’ll never get rid of them.

Gunnedah, NSW, is also the hometown of Miranda Kerr and Erica Baxter. I do not know either young lady. But once Miranda Kerr laughed at my nephew. He had ice cream on his face. He was a toddler at the time. That was a fun story.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is so cute. Always was, always will be. She’s already the fun, peppy Buffy that will take a little longer to bring out in the series proper. She is so perfectly cast as Buffy.

That seemed like a long way away. That was incredibly dangerous. Why would she do that? Buffy is very careless when it comes to her stakes.

And that’s it! Comes in at a respectable 25 minutes and some change. The smaller run time means it’s much more about establishing Buffy as a slayer and the fun element of the premise. No Angel, so no love interest at this stage. Though I wonder if Xander and Buffy’s easy chemistry was meant to take a romantic turn?

They would rewrite it, make it longer, introduce the Big Bad, and Angel. They would also throw in the genius play of making the first two episodes a two-parter. And they would kill off a character that seemed meant to be a regular - it was a pretty good twist. They also introduce similar things from the pilot in a maybe more organic way. For example, in Welcome to the Hellmouth Buffy sneaks into the girls locker room to check the body. In this, she just flat out asks the Principal if she can. AND HE LETS HER.

Buffy’s realisation she will be doomed to being an outcast if she accepts her Slayer duties is much more expertly handled in Welcome to the Hellmouth. It’s like the pilot episode of Sherlock compared to the first episode - the extra time gives them room to breathe. They don’t have to fly through introducing characters and setting up the premise of the first series.

It’s a lot of fun, and there’s some trademark Whedon dialogue, but I daresay if this pilot had been broadcast the show may not have lasted. This plays like a fun high school sitcom with some supernatural elements. I feel like it might be trying to replicate the silly ‘monster of the week’ vibe of the film. And Whedon seems to have decided quite quickly that the series would be a different beast, so to speak. I think the slight change of direction was the best decision. Instead of a Buffy picking up almost where she left off, he introduces some real world consequences for her actions in LA instead. 

It is her first day in a new school after being kicked out of school and packed off to a small town with her newly divorced mother, after all. She’s hoping to start fresh but soon learns she can’t. The entire series really examines the idea that it’s fucking hard to grow up and accept responsibility and though you can mostly handle it with grace and humour sometimes there’ll be days you just can’t. Growing up is hard and Buffy always learns this the hard way. It’s ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ but with more vampires. And great hair.

And what if Buffy had never worn those brown leather knee high boots? I don’t even want to think about a Buffy the Vampire Slayer without them.

Happy birthday, B. You’ll always be one of my personal heroes. You got me through some stuff, you know.

Coming up next on the blog, a rarity: I’ll praise Xander’s wardrobe.

Until next time, Slayerettes.

[streetsoflove-fanfic]

§ Twelfth - Streets Of Love Fanfic

Glimmer's POV On

Six o'clock and I didn't knew what to wear, Lou'd probably kill me. Tired, I choose a classic black tied up on my waist, hips and legs till my knees where it opens up a little, the top part was a nice strapless cleavage with a thin tissue showing my shoulder's skin. At my feet some black high heels. I tie my hair up and keep the day makeup. The outfit seemed appropriate to work and then enjoy the night with Lou. Lou!! I run downstairs to grab my camera, the cab should be here any minute now.

Glimmer's POV Off

The job was plenty easier than Glimmer expected, the birthday boy was already tipsy and ready to be wherever the girl needed him. He was a strong tall man, oddly tan for a london, with a nice greasy tuft and a incredibly white smile. Although all the good points, Glimm didn't gave too much attention to the boy, finished her job and went back to her and Lou's table.

- Glimmer you stupid drunk, the summer cat in completely on you, LOOOL - Louis was screaming from their table directly to the guy.

Glimmer smile towards Lou praying that he'd stop drinking and screaming around. The night could be a bitch with Lou wasted ate her house. The girl decides to order something too, it was getting to bored to sober up the whole night. Walking to the bar Glimm nods when sees Joe, asking for a cuba libre drink. A little after the drink ordering, Glimmer feel a hand on her waist. The girl turns around ready to curse to the inconvenient birth-boy, but sees instead Keith.

- I think you should wear this, the whole bar is starin' at you - Keith says in a mainly voice holding the girl's coat in one hand and on the other her waist.

Glimm's expression slowly turns into a satisfaction smile.

- I think it's too hot to wear this Keith.

Keith hold his breath while lean on his arm at the bar, holding the girl closer.

- So we could go outside - The boy suggests.

- I'm here with someone - Glimm tests the boy looking up towards Lou.

Keith's eyes follows the girl's and sees walking to them a blond, tall and really handsome boy. Immediately Keith let go Glimmers body and peeved looks Glimmer again:

- Is this your Puddin? - Keith faces up Glimm in a uncertain tone, thinking about her phonecall the other day.

Lou gets even closer to them, and seeing Keith's insecurity against his nickname feels on laughtes.

- Puddin only if I'm yours hon - Lou says looking right into Keith's eyes - Anywas, don't be shy. Glimmer I reach you here when it's time to go, tonight I'm only out of here on someone else's arms - Lou laughs high - On his arms if I may.

Lou steps back, going towards the dancefloor, leaving Keith and Glimm on a mortal silence.

- Look, that day at the phone it was Louis, he is my best friend - Glimm says a little embarsed.

Keith smiles to the ground, nodding his head, his smile creates some cute expression lines. Glimmer's Cuba Libre finally arrives and Keith order a beer. Glimm feels bad about Louis' behavior.

- Hey, do you wanna have a cigar outside with me? - Keith grabs his beer while Glimmer grabs his other hand, walking him out of the pub.

The street's lighting was poor, so Glimm used to be nearby the Pub's door when went out for a cig, but Keith leans on someone's car and pulls a package from his leather jacket pocket. Glimmer steps closer

- Wait, I owe you some - The girl says to the boy while pulled her own package out of the purse - This time it's your favorite.

Keith lights up both of the cigs and they smoke it quietly.

Glimmer's POV On

I lean over the car's hood to see the smoke that my mouth was spilling out on the air, the sky had no stars. We kept quiet for a while, but it was no longer a bad silence, it was actually very comfy. I look back to Keith, he was also looking to the skies, his fingers were drumming some lazy melody on the car's hood, as I look from his hands to his face, I realise his eyes were straight into mine. I look away, my cheeks blushing, but his cold hand stops gently my face from turning around. He pets my jawline, throwing his unfinished cig away. Slowly, Keith gets closer, holding then my face between his hands he began to kiss me sweetly.

His lips, cold because of the beer, runs softly through mine, no rush, very different from the other day. His calm makes me feel as I was floating, our bodies get even closer, his hand holding my hips as hard as yesterday, I feel his weight against me and his hands begin to trail my body. I run my fingers through his soft hair and bit his bottom lips. Keith trails a kiss line down my neck and i hear him moaning "we could go ho..."

- Glimmer - I hear Joe's voice, getting rid of Keith, clumsily trying to set my floppy dress - Oh I'm sorry hon, just thought that you'd forgotten your camera inside, I thought you were going home.

Keith straights up besides me, cleaning his throat to say something

- Keith, I'm grabbing my stuff inside - I stop him before he can say anything - I see you at the bar - I say quickly to avoid him from going home.

Glimmer's POV Off

Keith's POV On

I heard a man's voice behind me and Glimmers pulls me away. Wonderfull, it could only be that friend of hers again! I turn around setting my jacket and looking I notice it was actually the PUB's owner, something like Johnny. He speaks to Glimmer about some camera she forgotten inside.

I turn around to ask about it and let her know that I was going home, cause it obviously wouldn't work out tonight, but the girl is faster than me and tells me to meet her at the bar.

I take a deep breath and lean on the car again, things with her are always pretty fast and agitated. I grab another cigar from my own package this time and enjoy the time by myself to think about the kiss. Glimmer made me feel even more turned on right now... she is beautiful, her skin, her body.. I got to have her on my bed again! I finish the cig and walk towards the PUB's door.

I look around and before I could walk to the bar a hand grabs my arm.

- Honnnnn I can't believe you are here!!! - Glimmer's gay friend holds me and I can smell the tequila on him - Hmmm, you're smelling good hun, lucky Glimmer, but now it's my time!! Let's dance!!!

Dragged down by him, I try to move between people, I laugh because of his moves and then, out of nowhere, Glimmer's friend pukes a liquid shit all over my shirt. As if the mess was not enough he almost felt on the ground, I hold his arms, putting one of them over my neck. Half awake I guide him off the dance floor looking for Glimmer.

I can see her hair between some other people and carry Louis to her. I get closer and call for her, but a buffy guy turns around in reponse. The prick was really close to her, I look down and she was holding two beers. Great, me with the drunk friend and she with the good looking moron.

- I think it's time for us to go - I say roughly.

I carry Lou to the door and could hear Glimmer's steps following me. Louis speaks something I couldn't understand, but hand me some car keys. Glimmer shows me the car, I lay Louis over the back sit and go to the driver one.

Driving following Glimmer's rude rotes we got on our destination in five minutes, the girl tells me to pull over on a open garage of a nice house with a great garden. I leave the car and pick up Louis, now totally passed out. I follow Glimmer and put Louis on the couch, just as I did it I turn around and began to walk off, but feel something holding my jacket. It was her and just as I started to talk she talks over me.

- Look Keith, I'll not stand anyone telling me who I should talk to or not in a bar, but for your information I was trying to get rid of that guy when you arrived. - Her tone was very determined - Now sit down, I'll be here in a sec.

I see Glimmer going upstairs, her skirt looked awesome as she climbed up... I thought to myself how daring she'd be.

Keith's POV Off

Glimmer's POV On

I go upstairs feeling a little bad for being such a bitch to him. I go towards my parents room and grab something for him to wear, his shirt smell was terrible. Before went downstairs, I go to my room and put on some comfy pj's and my favorite slipper, a rabbit shaped one, that I had borrowed from the Shainfields.

Run downstairs and look for Keith, I see the light of the restroom on and wait for him sitting right next to Lou. I lay my friends head over a pillow and take of his shoes. Keith was now out on the living room, he was looking towards me while I settle down Lou. His shirt was all wet where Lou's puke used to be.

- Here, put this on, my father never wears it anymore - I say handing him a shirt.

- Does your parents live here? - He asks lower than the normal.

- No, they are usually work tripping....

Keith nods and takes of his wet shirt, as I see the scene a flashback pops in my mind: his hard body over mine, his heat. His body is toned, I mean not buff, but he still had strong arms and some big hands. Keith staring at me brings me back to reality. He puts on the shirt and gets closer.

- I should be going - He sights.

- There's a extra room here if you want... I can drive you home tomorrow - I speak my mind.

- I should rest today, tomorrow I have a rehearsal with my band - Keith says softly, I lean down my head in embarrassment but he holds up my chin - I'd be nice if you were there, you can bring Louis too.

The first sunshines were showing outside, I lead him to the front door and remember to ask the address of the rehearsal, I run to the car to grab my notes and already bring in my camera. I hand him the paper and soon the address was there, in a nice shaped calligraphy.

Keith gives me back the paper and surprises me with a soft kiss on the chick, right next to my mouth, I see him crossing the street. The morning light was beautiful!! I open the cam case and call him. Keith turns around and I click him, running inside as fast as I could, thinking that he probably didn't like taking photos.

Glimmer's POV Off  

[ifeveristoday]

Buffy Summers’s Diary (VI)

TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODE 06, THE ANDREW AND VI PODCAST

Andrew: Before we start this episode, I just want to shout out to our sponsor, ZZZZTop mattresses. Hey Vi, did you know ZZZZTop mattress has a lifetime warranty?

VI: I did. I had the best sleep of my life on my ZZZZTop mattress. I think everyone should experience ZZZZTop’s 100 day trial period. Just use ANDYVI at the checkout online.

Andrew: That’s right, and if you don’t have the best sleep of your life on the ZZZZTop mattress, you can just return it with no questions asked. 

[muffled noise]

Andrew: How can they make any money with this model? What if I spill tomato soup on my mattress and it looks like a murder scene, I’m just going to nonchalantly have them pick it up and go, ‘oh I don’t know how that happened?’

Vi: Andrew, we’re recording. Also, why are you eating soup in bed?

[cupped microphone noise]

Andrew: You’re not the boss of me.

Andrew: That’s ZZZZTop mattress, with four z’s because of all the great sleep you’ll be getting!

Vi: So we have a very special guest with us today. I’m very excited, she was like, my idol when I was growing up. 

Andrew: Yes, today on our show we have [drum roll effect], former Olympic gold medalist Buffy Summers! Buffy is someone I’ve known for a very long time, so I’m really happy she could make it on our podcast today.

Buffy: Thanks for inviting me, Andrew. And it’s nice to meet you, Vi.

Vi: Oh my god. It’s really an honor. I mean, I had a poster of you on my wall. And my sister and I saved up our birthday money to see your skating exhibitions. That was so not cool what happened with Riley, by the way.

Buffy: Uh thank you for coming out to see me skate. Well, it was a long time ago, and it worked out in the end.

Andrew: Let’s not bring up the ugly past. We all love a comeback story, and to fit in with our theme of new beginnings, what have you been up to, Buffy?

Buffy: I’m working as a blogger for Young Magazine. 

Vi: Oh, I’ve heard of that. Isn’t that Kendra Young’s magazine?

Buffy: Yes, it’s her namesake magazine, and she’s the CEO. 

Vi: What’s it like working with a legend?

Buffy: Surprisingly easy - but I know what you mean. Kendra’s been an inspiration for me, both as a fellow skater and as a human being.

Andrew: Weren’t you guys competitors at one point?

Buffy: Only for two competitions. She placed first in one and I placed first in the other. Then she retired.

Andrew: Well, it’s always good to go out on top.

Buffy: Yeah.

Andrew was nice enough to edit out the five minutes of me disassociating after that, and told me it was a good interview. I think I disappointed his partner though - I could tell. You know the look when someone doesn’t live up to your expectations. 

I’ve been on the wrong end of that look far too often this month. Kendra didn’t like the column I turned in about self-care so I had to rewrite it, and then I got into a stupid fight with Cordelia at the staff meeting.

She cornered me afterwards and told me that I got lucky because Kendra offered me the job, while she busted her ass in journalism school.

What could I say to that?

She was right.

I missed Dawn’s recital by accident - the date completely slipped my mind and she left me a voicemail - she didn’t scream at me, but I almost wished she did.

I haven’t been the best older sister to Dawn - by the time she came along, I had started my skating lessons and mom’s attention was split unevenly between us. Dad ended up looking after Dawn while Mom drove me to practice. I pretty much ignored Dawn until she was old enough to speak in complete sentences and even then all we did was argue.

Now that she has her dance career and is the successful one in the family, she treats me like I’m the embarrassing younger sister. She’s always checking on me to make sure I’m eating - stopping by with groceries because she ‘was in the neighborhood.’ Dawn lives 45 minutes away in Dad’s condo.

It’s supposed to be my job to take care of her and I tell her so. She just rolls her eyes and says she doesn’t mind.

I don’t know what possessed me to agree to go on a date on Valentine’s day. It’s unnecessary pressure for a first date. It’s just that William and I kept on missing each other - either I had to work overtime or he was traveling for research or it was raining and I was in no mood to go outside - we might as well have been living in the missed connections section on Craigslist. Finally he just appeared in my cubicle and told me that we were going out for dinner and drinks and that he would pick me up.

Maybe it was because I haven’t been on a real date in so long, that I let the whole macho schtick pass.

He looked really good too - classic leather duster, black shirt and dark jeans. He looked like he stepped out of a noir film. All he was missing was a cigarette dangling out of his mouth and a fedora.

He bowed when he saw me. ‘Your carriage awaits, my lady.’

Okay, there might have been a little bit of fluttering.

William drives a vintage Cadillac, because of course he does.

I wore red because it’s legally mandated to do so on Valentine’s day.

Dinner was fine. It was excellent actually. William had gotten reservations at one of the best restaurants in LA - one that had a months long waiting list. ‘Must be nice to be famous,’ I said.

He shrugged, and then smirked. ‘It has its perks.’ We were tucked away in a corner, and the candle light made shadows flicker against his face. He looked unearthly, his head bowed over the menu. He sighed and then looked up at me. ‘Buffy, I can’t take it anymore.’

‘What?’ 

‘I can’t bloody see in this lighting.’ He fumbled in his pockets and slid out a pair of reading glasses. He put them on and then raised an eyebrow at me. 

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. 

He scowled, then his mouth relaxed into a smile. ‘You look lovely in this light.’

‘Only this light?’

‘In every light.’

It was my turn to study the menu. ‘So what should we get for appetizers?’

He chuckled.

It was what happened after the dinner that the date went completely downhill. It wasn’t completely William’s fault.

It was just a massive circus of embarrassment with a side of testosterone poisoning.

Anya called me as I was waiting for William to pull up with his car. ‘You have to come over to the store right now,’ she said. ‘Your special order has arrived.’

‘I didn’t special order anything.’

‘I did, for you. Because you’ve been looking so lonely lately and Willow told me you spend your weekends drinking tea and reading trashy novels.’

‘Anya - I am not lonely, I am actually on a date. And I haven’t been reading trashy novels. I’ve been watching Lifetime movies.’

‘So the television version of trashy novels. Got it. Bring your date to the Magic Box. It’ll benefit you both.’

‘I do not need another vibrator,’ I said. Loudly.

William’s eyebrows practically elevated to his hairline. ‘All right there, pet?’

‘Oooh, he’s got an accent. Bring him over,’ Anya ordered. ‘Buffy, this was very expensive and time consuming to order and is now taking up space in my storage room.’

‘I didn’t ask you to.’ 

‘Well I did and since it has your name on it, I can’t exactly just sell it on the floor as is.’

‘Oh my god, Anya, what is it?’

‘Come over and see.’ Then she hung up.

Would it really be murder if I had justifiable cause?

William couldn’t stop snickering on the drive over. ‘Is it made of glass? Leather? Bigger than a bread box?’

“Just shut up.’

The bell over the Magic Box’s door jangled a little too loudly as I burst in. ‘I’m here, you demon.’

Anya was not alone. There was a couple next to her, the man’s tall form vaguely familiar as I stomped toward her. ‘Just give me the sex toy or whatever it is so I can get back to my date.’

‘Buffy?’ 

The man turned to look at me, and if I could have melted into the floor, I would have. As it was, my cheeks felt like they were on fire.

‘Ang-Liam,’ I stammered. 

‘You’re on a date?’ Angel said just as his date put her hand on his arm. ‘Who’s this?’

It was not my brightest moment. ‘Uh no one. We’ve never met - An, we need to talk. About boundaries.’

I glared at her meaningfully. She pursed her lips. ‘I was trying to be helpful. It’s not my fault you want to be a spinster.’

‘Anya!’

‘Buffy, this is Fred. Fred, is this Buffy. We grew up together,’ Angel interrupted. He smiled and I tried not to notice how it made his eyes crinkle at the edges. 

Fred stuck out her hand and then I noticed how pretty she was. Her eyes were doll-like and thickly lashed. She looked like Bambi.

‘Hello, Buffy,’ she said cheerfully. There was sweet drawl to her voice and I felt even more embarrassed about yelling at Anya.

‘Hi -- Fred?’

‘Short for Winifred, but only strangers call me that,’ she said. ‘So you and Angel go way back?’

‘Yeah, we do, but I haven’t really seen him in the last few years,’ I said, trying to get Anya’s attention. ‘I’m sorry, I need to borrow Anya for a minute. I didn’t mean to interrupt your date.’

‘Oh lord, we’re not on a date,’ Fred laughed. ‘I’m helping Liam with party favors for a bachelor party. Because this one,’ she jerked her thumb at him, ‘is utterly clueless about what to get.’

‘Buffy, do you have change for the meter? Because I’m out and this has to be one of the last relics that still require actual coins --’

William came through the door, patting his pockets. Angel stiffened.

‘Spike,’ he said in a tone I’ve never heard him use.

William’s eyes narrowed. ‘Angel,’ he spat.

Angel went straight for his throat. Fred shrieked, and I wasn’t thinking too clearly either, the shock temporarily freezing me to the floor. Anya, however had no problems. She grabbed a broom and started swinging at them. ‘There will be no fighting in my store. Don’t think I won’t call the police. Also if you break it, you buy it!’

Fighting on tv always looks cooler than it really is - Angel and William’s fight devolved very quickly into William pulling Angel’s hair and Angel clumsily smacking him on the chin.

It ended with them collapsing onto the floor, with Angel putting William in a headlock.

Fred and I rushed over to break it up - Fred pulled William’s ear and I pinched Angel on his neck. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’

‘Are you dating this asshole?’ Angel sniped.

‘He started it,’ William said. He shoved Angel off of him. ‘Fuck, you still weigh a ton.’

‘We were on a date,’ I pointed out. ‘Then you attacked him, and I’m guessing you two know each other.’

‘He’s an uptight arse,’ William said, his accent losing its customary smoothness. Angel snorted. ‘And he’s a piece of shit liar.’

‘And you two are both allegedly grown men who fight -’

‘Like sad mimes,’ Anya chimed in. ‘Very amusing.’

‘Liam, are you all right?’ Fred asked. ‘Do we need to call the police?’

‘That’s a good idea, I should press charges for assault,’ William said belligerently. 

Angel stood up and brushed off his jacket. ‘Try it and I’ll end you. Don’t think I won’t this time.’

‘I’d like to see you try -’ 

‘William, shut up.’ I pushed my way through them. ‘I’ve decided I don’t care. Whatever your issues are, they’re yours. I am going home.’

‘I’ll drive you home, love.’ 

Angel bristled - I could practically see his hair getting spikier with anger. 

‘You know what, that’s okay -- I’m going to call a ride. I think I’ve had enough of Valentine’s day and this whole..’ I motioned at them, ‘whatever drama you two have.’

‘I could drop you off,’ Angel quickly said. ‘After Fred,’ he added.

‘Yeah, no. I’m good. Anya - I’ll get that thing later. Or you can burn it. You have my express permission to destroy it.’

I ran out of the Magic Box before she could respond. 

No one followed me, which was a relief.

Angel called me on the ride home and I dismissed it. A text popped up a few minutes later. 

Buffy, William Pratt is bad news. I worry about you. Call me when you get home.

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