#the electrician goes to beauty school

[zaunite-electrical]

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[hammity-hammer]

steve harrington realizing that he’s got no purpose if he’s not protecting the people he loves from outer-dimensional beings, and has a minor (read: major) spiral about it post-vecna & the party fixing everything. he’s just a regular ole 20 something with no purpose— his friends are all in school, except eddie, who managed to pick up an apprenticeship as an electrician; putting all of that wire knowledge to use (just not in cars, he hasn’t hotwired one since 1986 and he’d like to keep it that way si vous plais) and making the rich houses have even cooler guts than they deserve.

the kids end up graduating (their first tries) and heading as one little pack to the same school (don’t ask me which, i’m a college drop out) and steve, eddie, and rob end up staying just outside of indy. rob finished school early, because of course she did, and she found that she may have a knack for hanging around high schoolers, so why not teach them how to become polyglots like she is?

steve still doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing— he bartends at a little club in the gayborhood, because they went there so often that the bartenders just kind of pushed him into it, and don’t get him wrong— mixing drinks and flirting all night is super fun, but it also… is kind of depressing? even if he gets to be around people like him and see them happy— he knows that a lot of alcohol and drugs causes that happiness and he wants so badly for his people to be out and proud and not murdered for it. but he can’t do that,, so he does the next best thing.

he talks with one of the regulars, andy, who owns a little tattoo shop on the corner, and andy invites him to come check it out. so he does the next day he’s free, and holy fucking christ. tattoos aren’t his thing— at least not on himself, but on other people they’re gorgeous. and they’re painful, but you’re turning the pain into art and you get to live with it in your skin and look at it and think about the fact that you’re here and you made it and you fucking survived. and people purposefully put scars into their bodies? and not in the i-battled-literal-other-dimensional-beings-and-won kind of way, or the i-battled-my-personal-demons-and-won kind of way, which both are things he’s dealt with so fucking intimately— but in the i-will-decorate-this-flesh-prison-and-make-it-a-castle kind of way, and that’s fucking beautiful. queer people taking their bodies and making them into art with ink and hot metal and needles and the love that they have for each other and the passion and the fucking spite at the world that keeps them going and making their presences KNOWN.

and maybe he gets some piercings while he’s there— it’s fascinating and feels so weird and freeing when the needle punctures his flesh and the jewelry goes in— and now he’s got a shiny little ring hanging through his earlobe; his nostril; his lip.

he learns that piercings take time and effort and care and that he has to treat himself with love to be able to heal— and that he is deserving of that love and care and dedication, especially from himself.

he keeps going back, maybe not always to get stabbed, but to watch others have it done. to see how different people’s anatomy takes different piercings, how he can’t have a piercing through his cheeks because he bites them too much when he’s anxious, but the girl that just left got both of hers done and they looked good. they fit her face, like little shiny dimples.

eventually, the piercer, killie, asks steve when he’s going to help them with their needles and their piercings— and he doesn’t know how to react because he hadn’t even thought about it and yet… maybe he could help other people fall in love with themselves and their bodies and help turn them into art one day

maybe he could be a pretty boy with his scars and his metal and his missing chunks and his polos and his jeans and his sneakers.

[ash-and-starlight]

Would you have any thoughts about the Gaang in a modern au (either with or without bending), especially jobs? I legit love how there’s never been a consensus of how they’d live, especially job wise, in the fandom — except for Katara, she is absolutely a doctor, surgeon, ER badass. Personally, I love the thought of Zuko as a child protective agent, and Sokka as a high school teacher, not just for the dramatic Zukka potential lol haha either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

aaa ok i love and adore to see how their roles get translated in modern au’s in such clever ways, i loveee your ideas for zukka workplace drama that’s so 🥺 ok i’ll list some of my faves but feel free to add

-doctor katara SO TRUE and activist katara also so true either way she’s helping people and giving all she’s got

-aang also activist monk-turned *insert job that has to do with flying?? or meteorology??* AND i love the silly little headcanon he and zuko are lion dance partners dkfjdj

-toph wwe champion. without question

- jet could also work with kids tbh as either a child protective agent too or teaching martial arts classes for kids as some sort of social program he zuko and toph have an underground fight club every tuesday he and iroh have a wholesome breaking bad situationship going on with banger edibles

- zuko the guy with 294737 job options tbh either as jasmine dragon clerk, firefighter, historian / khon expert and standing authority on the ramakien, parkour guy, sword guy, guy who goes to business school just to learn how to efficiently dismantle dad’s financial empire, and i am extremely partial on muai thay champion-instructor zuko who has like a post-injury gym program just for the zukka of it all of him helping sokka with his leg during rehab 😌

- sokka also guy that can do anything tbh wether working as inventor or in tech/mechanic fixing things, working at a science museum (hi robin), marine biologist (hi kath) working as an astronomer or at the planetarium bc he’s always been fascinated by the night sky and the moon, artist, poet, mythbuster, sword guy as well, all of these at once. most importantly he has an insanely popular food blog on the side

- suki kendo captain of an all-girl club

- florist mai. (specifically ikebana artist) which is comic canon and in context made little sense but i love it it’s beautiful bc it brings me to

- tattoo artist ty-lee 💕

- and azula uhhh nepobaby electrician

[sirensea14]

Smiling critters ,headcanons cuz this is n e c e s s a r y and for s c i e n c e

Kickinchicken is A S I A N because i said so/j. He's the greatest in sarcasm

Craftycorn is Scandinavian in my head for some reason

In school, Bubba is usually the one with the biggest bag and the ultimate supplier of papers. If there's a quiz, hands will be up to him asking "Can we have a piece of paper?" (This is way funnier in my native language than in english💀)

Bubba recites way too much, snatching away all the recitation chips, sometimes, teachers may ask him to substitute them for a bit

The teachers are, of course, Miss Delight and her sisters

Dogday is the president of the class (if only there were more critters lol, then he wouldve gladly taken the role) or the one shouting "Everyone! Quiet!!" when the critters are too noisy

Pickypiggy sits at the back, eating away her snacks and lunch

Catnap dozes off often, but when the teacher calls him, he can answer it correctly. Lazy but smart kid

Kickin only carries a small bag

Bobby and hoppy often gossips with each other. Bffs XD. Theyre also the girly girl and tomboy of the smiling critters respectively

Bubba is good at math and science but doesnt remember shit about history. Meanwhile kickin does better in that subject than he is in math

Bubba and catnap can be school rivals, but catnap doesnt really care (nonchalant)

Crafty, ah yes, crafty, our ultimate artist of tte group. She supplies crayons and pencils, so both her and bubba are the suppliers lol

Kickin can sing and dance, he and Hoppy can go on in a breakdance competition /j

Bobby cheering for hoppy while that happens

Dogday cheers for both (poor dog cant pick a side)

Crafty and dogday are great on writing essays

Pickypiggy x food canon yeah?

Crafty loves to share her original stories and works, dogday and bobby often cheers for her

Bobby, the ultimate fashion lover

Picky is great at home economics subject

Dogday is well on all subjects but notably physical education and english are his strength, i also imagine him to be good at electrical installation and maintenance (eim) tho this is a senior high strand and the critters arent in that grade level, so in elementary terms, he's the mini electrician of the group

Catnap is mostly asleep lol, he's most active at night and sometimes studies at that time. He also reads some of crafty's writing if he has some spare time at night

9 students are awfully few imo, i wish i could see more of dogday shouting at them to settle down, id like to see him in authority

Catnap's bag resembles a pillow and feels like a pillow

Dogday is their role model

Crafty likes to look at the window whenever there's a discussion of lesson

Most beautiful handwriting award goes to: bobby bearhug

Ugliest handwriting award goes to : me/hj im debating whether it be catnap, kickin or bubba lol

Best actress/actor: bobby and kickin, worst: bubba (he's awkward af)

Hoppy and bubba are left handed

While i write all of these headcanon, pickypiggy is eating in her own corner

Catnap would sometimes lean on dogday's shoulder if theyre beside each other. Dogday tries his best to not move his shoulder even if he's busy (like telling the group to be quiet, yes to dogday showing authority)

Thats all, thank you for coming to my little headcanon talk🗿

[marinas-drafts]

Crawfever 1

Plot: You weren’t the first war widow to indulge in this, and young Elvis wasn’t the first young man who justified it…

SUMMARY: I adore the notion that Elvis Freakin’ Presley himself might have shown up at your doorstep to fix your electrical problems in the early 50’s. The concept that all that untapped charisma and talent and beauty could be found just going about his business, helping housewives with their glitches…well, this came out of the imagining of what one such call might look like. And if it devolved into poorly written Southern Gothic literature, blame Eudora Welty. 🥰. Also, A Streetcar Named Desire may have influenced my artistic choice of copious descriptions of sticky southern summers and the *feelings* they can provoke. This hasn’t been proofread by any eyes except my own exhausted ones.

Note: there were three other parts to this but I lost them with my old blog, alas. You can find them on tumblr still on my main blog. 💋

An Electrician Named Elvis

Summer in Memphis is a sticky, windless, oppressive thing, only relieved by the occasional swim, creaking fans and a chilled beverage held to the throat. The ice box is revered as a savior during these months and those nights the electricity shorts out due to the thunderstorms rolling across the Mississippi are spent in anxious fretting that it would turn on again by morning. But by ten o’clock this morning there’s no such luck, even though the lines have been fixed you’ve been told it’s a problem closer in.

Probably in the house.

Exactly the sort of problem your Billy would have solved himself with no extra cost but the odd washer or wire.

But Billy’s not here so instead you’ve got Crown Electric sending out whoever they deem expendable enough to waste on fixing a housewife’s ice box.

If it’s Marvin they send, you just might flip -you appreciate the man but haven’t any patience for that or him. Not today, not on top of milk going rancid and your baby girl having a pathetic breakfast before school. You can’t mend Marvin’s pants any faster for all that he mows your lawn. The lawn you pay him to mow. The lawn he owns as your landlord anyhow -oh and there’s the sound of the Crown truck coming to a stop on the drive.

You recognize that staring at the ice box won’t do much good so you go to the screen door in time to see a whole lotta leg swing out from the drivers seat.

You’re not sure you’ve ever appreciated a pair of legs so much as you do this blazing morning, and as they stretch out you have an epiphany of sympathy for the wolf whistles you yourself have received on windy days.

This pair goes on for miles, and they’re owned by an eager, doll-faced boy.

Heavens, is this his first job? At least it isn’t Marvin and you won’t be pestered about rent or mending, but wether or not a man who favors pink socks under his drab olive work-suit can fix a problem that’s befuddled many a handyman before him -well, that remains to be seen.

He’s halfway up the drive when he catches sight of you behind the screen door, his face animates and he jogs up the rest of the way. Taking the front steps two at a time.

You push the door open.

In the shade of your doorstep his complexion looks softer than any of your sister’s and you’re greeted by the same expression you see each morning when you wake your young daughter up -a desire to please. The effect is a little unsettling on a grown man, so obviously well proportioned, towering over you and decked out in a rough handyman’s attire.

“They said you’ve got an outage ma’am?”

“Yes, couldn’t fix it with the lines apparently.”

“Probably just the lightening shorted somethin’ out.” He assures you, voice going ever so gentle, like he’s comforting someone deeply bereaved.

Like he’s gonna fix all your troubles by turning the ice box and fans back on.

That won’t cure all your troubles, but it would be a start, a way for you to handle the rest.

“May I come in?” He adds softly when you say nothing.

You’re still standing in the doorway, unconsciously guarding it as you’ve been doing since you got that wretched telegram in ‘44. Nine years ago. Nine years and no one but relatives and Marvin when collecting the rent have crossed the threshold since.

Certainly no long limbed boy with hair as black as Billy’s and the intention of helping you around the house. Fixing the house, rather. No, damn it, just the electricity like it’s his job to do.

Just as Billy would have done if Billy were here.

This ain’t Billy, Billy had an earnest, sweet face and none of this boy’s ripe prettiness. Billy never talked softly either.

“Yeah, yeah, of course, right this way -what’s you’re name?”

“Elvis…Presley, ma’am.”

“Welcome to the oven, Elvis.”

The house has become a swampy inferno and though the windows are open the curtains hang limp, there isn’t a breeze between all these houses packed close together. It’s stifling under the low ceiling and whatever fresh look he had maintained flying down the road in his aired-out truck is melting now.

“Downright nasty in here.” He comments, and then he grins at you as the sweat begins to collect atop his cupid’s bow. “No wonder you’re out of sorts.”

“Yeah that’s gotta be it.” You manage to return the grin, ignoring the insinuation, “And spoilt milk always makes me testy.”

“You kept your ice box closed?”

“Sure have.”

“Then it might be alright. Only been off a few hours, right?”

“Since midnight.”

“Well, then, should be fine.” He’s got that comforting voice going on again and you reckon that either there’s an old soul in that daisy fresh face or else he’s spent most of his young life reassuring somebody. Reassurance flows from him naturally, and for once, you don’t feel like shrugging the comfort off.

And there’s a strange clench in your heart at how long it’s been sense you let someone metaphorically pat your back and tell you everything will turn out right. You’ve got lots of relations and a few friends who busy themselves and you with worrying about how you’re gonna manage to raise your daughter, earn a living and climb far enough out of the fog of widowhood to be considered socially acceptable again. It’s nice that some boy who’s never had his guts ripped open overseas wants to restore your ice box to you and make everything alright again. It’s precious that he thinks that’ll do it.

You’ve been pondering too long and now you’ve got a frog lodged in your throat and it ought to be awkward but he doesn’t look away, he just shyly peaks down at you under copious lashes and smiles encouragingly. “The electrical panel is in one of the bedroom closets, I’m guessin’?”

“In the Master.”

“Alright then.”

You usher him back to the stuffy little room that's glowing orange from the drapes trying to block out the noonday sun.

You’d pulled some clothes out of the closest beforehand to make it easier for him to reach the panel. When you’d done that you were imagining Marvin or man of his stubby frame working on it, but Elvis is unfazed, he just gracefully folds his long limbs into a squat in the tiny cubby and cranes his neck until he level with the panel. He’s got his tool kit balanced on one thigh and he gives you a thumbs up to suggest your presence is no longer needed. He is starting to look as miserably sticky as you feel, his black hair turning somehow darker with sweat.

His lips pucker up as he starts unscrewing a bolt. It’s rather obscene.

“Would you like some lemonade?” You’re offering as you need some yourself.

He looks startled you’re still standing there but after a minute’s hesitation he asks: “is it pipin’ hot?”

You laugh and he immediately looks pleased with himself. Damn, he’s so young. “I’m gonna crack open the ice box” you explain.

His humored look flees and earnest blue eyes go round in protest. “Ma’am I haven’t fixed this yet! I just got in here!”

“I know, silly,” you swat the air at him, “take it as a sign of faith you’ll manage it.”

He grins back, and a man squatting in a sweltering closet oughtn't to look that alluring. You assure yourself it’s just the domesticity of the whole thing. Billy changing a bulb or scrubbing a dish or hanging Christmas lights that one Christmas you had him to yourself -that’s the stuff that made you throw yourself at Billy in the mid afternoon of a balmy work day.

Raven haired young Elvis might work for the electrical company and be earning a commission with each moment of his work day you waste but if you squint a bit, he could be a beautiful boy who wanted to wife you up and give you babies and rub your feet when you’d been on them all day.

Lately you’ve gone out of the habit of assuming someone who looks as fresh as he does would be eyeing up a sweat soaked war widow, but young Mr. Presley had either never been shamed for his lack of subtly or never bothered to hide it because while his looks were tender, they weren’t respectful in the proper sense. You only wished you could see his revering expression as you sauntered away from him back into the kitchen.

The ice box was tolerably cool for having been kept shut. The milk was safe for now but would spoil sooner for the dip in temperature. That waste didn't rankle you as much as it had an hour ago. The thought “that’s alright” actually made it past your lips for the first time in months and you couldn’t help but marvel that you might have lost a bit of your cantankerous streak on the front steps.

With a sudden swoosh and buzz the small pedastol fan on the counter top buzzes back to life and the light in the ice box clicks on.

You whooped “you’ve done it!”

Heavy footfalls came out of the back bedroom and Elvis came into view with a bewildered look on his face: “You haven’t got a A.C. unit ma’am?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Oh you should!” He warmed up to the argument, “They make the air crisper than anything, sucks the river mist right out the air.”

“Not gonna be able to manage that on a war widow’s pension.” You retort nonchalantly, handing him a glass of chilled lemonade which he takes slowly and carefully, eyeing you over the rim.

“So that’s what happened.” He said softly.

“What do you mean?”

“You seem so sad. That’s what started it?”

If he stayed this empathetic for the rest of his life he’d end up burned out and hollow before he hit fifty. He had no business looking out to solve every hurting person’s problems, not when he was so obviously lost himself.

“Three days into the Normandy campaign, at least that’s what they told me.” You've explained your husbands absence many times in the same way, but you aren’t sure you ever had a more sympathetic audience than this boy who is pressing the beaded lemonade glass to his cheek and looking at you like he knows exactly what it’s like to have your sweetheart get burned up by a nazi flamethrower. He doesn’t say a word of comfort on the matter, he doesn’t need to, his eyes show it all and his lips part and he murmurs:

“But he gave you a child?”

“He sure did, bless him. Her name’s June,” your lips quirk up just at the thought of her “my baby girl. She’ll be turning nine, day after tomorrow.”

The sorrow has gone off his face and he looks like he’s scheming now, and somehow that’s the most alarming expression to yet grace his features. He leans in across the kitchen counter, all familiar like, and that’s worse than anything: “Tell me, Mrs. Crawford, yeah, see I caught your name in the directory -but, tell me, does your June like to swim?”

“Loves it almost as much as watermelon.” You know you must look wary, but the last time a man leaned over a bar and eyed you up in this way you ended up married to him. Actually, scratch that. Billy was a darling and a delightful flirt but he didn’t have one ounce of the raw, unconscious danger this boy holds in his pinky finger alone.

“I’ve got a heap of cousins,” he begins quite randomly, “ranging all ages, and we’ve got a watering hole we found just south of town where the trees keep it all cool and the farmer doesn’t mind us so long as we don’t upset the cows. And I’ve got a truck, you see, and I was thinkin’ when you needed to cool off you could come join us. My mama would love to make a picnic out of little June’s birthday, I just know she would. What do you say to that?”

“Mr. Presley, I don’t know you nor your cousins. And I’m sure your mama is real nice but-“

“Right, because I reckon otherwise you get out a lot these days.” You hardly expected that amount of sass coming from his earnest face and it takes you aback.

You try a different route. “Why?”

“Because I’d like to see you smiling and wet from something besides sweat.” It’s a sweet sentiment, if it didn’t come from a man eyeing you up like he has been these past five minutes.

“I don’t know about her birthday,” you give in a little, “my parents always like to be around for it and she likes them to be.”

“Of course, of course” he nods. “And she doesn’t know me.”

“No she doesn’t.” It kills you to turn this down but you aren’t one to go do things your child isn’t interested in in her name.

“Tell her about the swimmin’ hole, then” he says all easy and confident as he straightens himself up from the counter and chugs the lemonade down, “and I’ll be back day after tomorrow with an extra valve so this don’t happen again. No need for it going off every time the rice fields get some rain.”

You’re clutching your glass to your chest and not even the icy chill against your sticky breast can make your heart stop thumping. “You’ve gotta come back?”

“I suppose I could ask Marvin to come instead.” He shrugs a tad too nonchalant, and looks away from you as he maneuvers around you to place his glass in the sink like the good, house tamed boy that he is. Except you’re very afraid you’ve miscalculated and welcomed a wolf in when you thought you were entertaining a lamb.

“How do you know about Marvin?” You demand.

“I work with him?” He replies hesitantly, brows and lips drawn up and eyes glittering with concern at your tone.

“No, no” you smack him lightly on the bicep and realize your mistake when he breaks out into a dimpled smile, “I meant why did you smirk when you said that he could come instead of you?”

“You’d rather your landlord come by and see your still in the back?” He’s cocky now, a hip jutted out against the cabinets.

“How the hell did you notice that?” You cried out, half laughing, half outraged, “You weren’t back in that bedroom longer than ten minutes.”

“I’s just curious what type of moonshine you were makin’.” He mutters, smirk barely wavering. “I’d never judge nobody for how they make ends meet.”

“Alright, you can come back.”

“Marvin talks about you.” He tosses this piece of information out there real cooly. You nearly get whiplash from how fast he changes direction, “Told me you’re a marvelous woman who takes care of the whole block but won’t let no one take care of her.”

You aren’t sure you’re comforted by the fact his tender smile is still in place. But you’re glad that he doesn’t seem to taste an awkward moment when it smacks him in the face. You find you like talking with him about these long neglected subjects.

“Marvin’s alright.” You concede. “He helps me out plenty. And now there’s you. And I thank you for fixing my fans.”

To prove your point turn from him and rest your elbows on the countertop, leaning to push your face up to the blast of the little pedestal fan, letting your hair fly wildly around you.

Somewhere behind you can hear him chuckle. It sounds alarmingly close. “It’s made my day.” You say, voice distorted by the force of the whirring blades.

That’s when you feel him drape himself over you, his chest a centimeter away from your sticky back and an elegant hand on each side of yours against the counter. His voice warbles just as funny thanks to the fan when he says: “Mrs. Crawford, I’m gonna get you a Chrysler air cooling system, just you wait and see.”

Presumably he’s draped himself over the length of you to get in the direct line of the fan’s breeze, but you doubt there’s any other man at Crown Electric who’d dare act on that impulse as he has.

“Oh are ya now?” You don’t even have to try to sound incredulous. You are incredulous he’d dare do this, that he’d read you so well to know you’re starving for a little closeness in this soggy kitchen. “Well, that’s real sweet of you, Elvis. How on earth are you gonna manage that?”

Why he, a stranger, would buy you such a thing is left unasked. Again, it feels domestic and you want to hold onto that fuzzy feeling for a moment longer. Also, you’re desperately trying to keep still, one tiny shift or move and you’ll brush up against some part of him, and at this point you’re not sure there’s an inch of this man that’s benign. Playing along seems safer than trying to disentangle.

His head dips down and the strands of his hair tickle the tips of your ear as his voice drops low:

“I’m gonna make a lotta money, mama.”

“Oh? Is there any money left in Memphis?”

He giggles then, and he never sounded more boyish than when he did that, his voice bouncing off the tinny fan. “Dunno how I’ll manage but it will involve singin” he takes one hand from the countertop and pats your hip familiarly, and right then any bit of deniability on your part goes out the window because you don’t correct him for it.

“‘Cause we’re so short in singers in Memphis?” You tease instead, wishing you sounded less interested. Less gasping.

“Yeaaaaaah baaaaaaaaby” he hollers above you into the fan, laughing again as it spooks you and you jerk back, right into the lanky breadth of him.

There’s a brief wrestling match after that involving you trying to get away from his lithe limbs as fast as you can and him trying to keep you from toppling over by wrapping his lean arms around your shoulders.

That stills you.

No one’s rested their chin atop your head in nearly a decade, and you could sob in frustration that it’s that little motion of his that makes you hungry and angry all at once.

You coulda had this. You had it for one good year. You could have it again if the whole block wouldn’t gape at the fact you were robbing the damn cradle.

Young Mr. Presley seems to have a taste for housewives pushing towards thirty and you aren't too proud to deny you’ve suddenly grown an attraction for sweet boys who just wanna make life sweeter. You two could write a sweet fiction, however brief.

“I wanna see you happy,” he mutters soft in your ear, “tell me you’ll let me come around again.”

“I’ll tell you what, Elvis,” you place your hands atop his forearms, leaning back, “you come around, meet my June, fix that washer business and I’ll feed ya a good meal while you tell her ‘bout that watering hole.”

“Really?” He’s beaming and you crane your neck back further so you can see it clearly. It’s a sight to be admired. “Day after tomorrow, that’ll work?”

“Yeah it’ll do.” His unabashed joy gives you the upper hand for a moment and you do the safe thing, pulling away and giving him a once over. “Tell me, does that nice mama of yours know you go round putting moves on widows?”

He has the audacity to blush at that, looking down at the floor, abashed for the first time since this shameless encounter. “She worries they’ll be the ones putting the moves on me.” And he rolls his eyes as if that sensible woman were delusional.

“Can’t imagine why.” You say dryly. “Now, you scoot, I’ve got mending to do.”

He wakes up at that, grabbing his tool kit and ducking his head not to hit the low ceiling as he makes his way to the front door. You trail after him enjoying the view of something so virile and alive in your house. Since when have men’s waists been so pretty?

“So, see you day after tomorrow?” He looks more vulnerable outside, not so sultry in the glow of blazing sunlight, and the anticipation of somebody wanting to see you puts a pep in your tone, brightens your face -you can feel it, and see it mirrored in his.

“Yeah,” you lean against the frame, “and after that…”

“Yeah?”

You let him fidget, “after that you’ll show me how you plan on getting me that A.C. Unit.”

He snaps his fingers and points at you, “I’ll bring my guitar then.”

“Oh yes, you’d better.”

He’s halfway back to his truck when he spins around and takes a few steps back towards you, “Say, d’you play anything?”

It’s been awhile and you’re rusty but you reckon you’re about to begin indulging in many long abandoned pastimes so you tell him: “Harmonica.”

“Ah,” he sways back on his feet, going back to his truck only to turn, one foot on the runner boards, looking at you admiringly. “You’ve got the lips for it.”

Hope y’all enjoyed. This is a repost from my (currently censored) main blog @precious-little-scoundrel and in turn it’s a repost from the original written over a year ago on my deleted OG Elvis blog @aconflagrationofmyown I want to start collecting my fics here in case anything happens with my main. Xoxo

[lutawolf]

Kinnporsche Notes and thoughts Episode 12

This started out as a way for me to keep notes. Something to look back on when writing my posts. One day I was going to skip writing them and I got messages. I realized that this was something personal and special that we bonded over. Thank you for your friendship and support 💜💜💜

We start off with Porsche dropping Chay off at school. It's a beautiful moment. I am surprised that Porsche is missing something is wrong. Though likely putting it down to a new school.

Chay is every break up MOOD. Have we not all been there at least once. Okay maybe not all of us but a majority. Emotional over load, run away, and change hair. There is a check list I'm sure.

I love how Pol still treats Porsche like Porsche but the new guy treats him like he is the boss.

Where is Kinn? Kinn didn't take bodyguards? Then he is up to something he doesn't want the to know about. I do think some of this is motivated by concern.

"Arm, code red" Arm immediately stands up and goes away. Remember when I said that the main bodyguards started treating Porsche more as a boss long ago. They are completely loyal to him. Kinn knows it too. That's why he trusts these guards the most too.

"Kinn, Are you cheating on me" Kinn would cut a nut before he cheated on Porsche. It's sad that Tawan has caused these insecurities. Though, I truly believe the big motivation is more concern.

His button has a mic. Hahaha. I put money on that being Porsche's doing.

Look at the dude flirting with Kinn. Kinn immediately looks uncomfortable and his eyes shift quickly. He knows either Porsche is listening or that someone who will report to Porsche is!

Smart man Kinn. He's like, we just not gonna say shit.

I love the coconuts. They have codes and their not afraid to use them!

Look at Kinn's face when Porsche is brought up. He has made sure its blank, with only a little anger showing through.

But then he inhales through his nose and swallows. This is the moment he has to deal with this and book it home.

Kinn made a half ass excuse backed with authority and booked it.

First thing to notice is that Pete searched the room to find that book. So he had to see those bolt cutters right? I sent the picture to the electrician who verified that it does in fact look like a bolt cutter.. The only reason he gave me for why Pete wouldn't use them "hell, he is a glutton for punishment, clearly"

We are about to deep dive into some multi-layers. "Where did you get that" and Pete replies with sass "I went to buy it." Once Vegas lost his anger, Pete once again became himself. What's more Vegas is amused and plays back "That book doesn't suit an idiot like you"

Look at Pete though, he is not appreciative of this comment at all. "Idiot, that's you" Again Pete is just being himself with Vegas. Back to their normal selves.

I am not going to go too deep into the blood types here. As @biochemjess has pointed out here. It's just sugar on the blood. I do think what's important to the conversation to know that Pete is O and Vegas is AB. One can give and the other can receive. The other can't receive what the other can give.

Vegas is staring at the hedgehog. When Pete calls his name, Vegas immediately shifts his body to face Pete. "What's your blood type" "AB" and Pete smiles and goes, "that's so cool, I wish I were AB" why? He hasn't yet read about AB but he wants to be it? Because he wished that could be the same? That they could equally give and receive?

Vegas finds Pete amusing because he doesn't get it yet. Then he asks Pete what his blood type is and it's O.

We find out that AB is peculiar, he looks open on the outside but is actually closed on the inside. Also difficult to understand emotionally. Volatile. And Pete says "this is so accurate" which amuses Vegas.

Pete knows Vegas. Do you really think he would know him so well, in such a short period of time, if not paying attention?

After Pete points out the book is Vegas' we see Vegas staring at the hedgehog. This is when we can see a change in his body language.

He leans forward to look closer in the cage. Vegas gets pissed at sensitive. Why? He has been calm and humorous up to this point. He says "whose weak" He is worried about his pet and is afraid to show it. Pete says "sensitive not weak, you are in need of love"

Vegas says "fucking leave it alone" and kicks the book. Why the mood change? Several reasons. His pet, one of only a few things he loves is not well. The other is Pete and Pete is simply on vacation.

Vegas has left bolt cutters you guys. He is simultaneously waiting 9n Pete's escape at the same time he is dreading it.

Pete is confused. He's looking around to see where the change is coming from. We see Vegas looking at the hedgehog. Pete looks at Vegas then the hedgehog, narrows his eyes and tilts his head as if thinking.

Porsche waiting at the window in his bodyguard uniform. Kinn is approaching hesitantly. His face already showing concern. He is unsurprised to be pushed away. He is clearly upset when he asks what's wrong. He already knows. Otherwise he would react with confusion and anger but instead he is trying to give off calm.

He's a man walking a tight rope and knows it. "Do I look like a fool" "What are you thinking" are you seeing it. He's being calm and soothing cause Porsche is a ticking Bomb he can't let go off.

Let me just say that Kinn IS nailing the Dominant right here. He is in the wrong and he is owning it. He is letting Porsche vent and communicate but he is walking him back, enclosing him. While keeping his tone controlled and moderate. It says, I am confident. I fucked up but I'm still here, I still have you, and I'm confident I can fix this.

Chan only addresses Mr. Kinn. And blocks Porsche. This makes me nervous guys. Something about this seems not right.

Tricking Porsche to work there and he knows about the car crash. Kinn is nervous.

The story doesn't add up. You put Porsche in a dangerous job to care for him and his brother? He might make more money but how are they having a better life... Doesn't add up daddy.

Kinn puts a hand on Porsche to remind him who he is talking to. Porsche pushes back, saying he knows but he will say his peace.

Kin sees how angry Porsche is. "I think you went to far" also reminder I'm on your side Porsche. Korn "Yes, I think so too" code for I didn't know my son's would get so attached.

Porsche tells daddy to shove it. Kinn tries to stop him. Daddy tells Kinn to go.

Once again when hurting Vegas heads to Pete. Pete though hurt doesn't hesitate to sit up and help. He isn't surprised the hedgehog is sick.

There have been so many guards but now there are none? Why? Vegas could be lying but he hasn't been lying to Pete since everything changed.

Now follow me. Last time Vegas was really upset he left a belt but he was waiting for Pete because he realized he left the belt. So do you really think he doesn't know he left a key. He also told Pete there are no guards. Who he probably sent somewhere so that Pete could escape. He's familiar with Hedgehogs and knows a vet isn't going to help at this point. Probably realized it earlier in the day. He is giving Pete the opportunity to escape. Maybe he thought he hadn't used the cutters because of the guards?

And maybe he was right because why else has Pete not used the cutters but now uses the keys?

Reminder. Again. Pete is not a super sweet nice guy. He only gives a shit about the select people he cares about. If you keep making him sweet, you are going to miss the real significance if Pete. He loves Vegas.

Vegas is not surprised that Pete is free. Only that Pete is coming to his side. "He is dead"

Pete inches closer and then puts his hand on Vegas' leg. Offering support and it breaks Vegas. I swear that I think that night when Vegas removed his last mask , that he well and truly removed them. Vegas is just him with Pete. Again, being vulnerable does not strip Vegas of his Dom status. I am vulnerable with my subs and none of them have ever thought less of me. That is not what makes me a Dom.

I love that when Vegas cries, Pete tears up. Their pain is shared. Then Vegas looks at Pete, really soul deep looks. For a moment everything is quiet like the pain is forgotten and then suddenly Vegas' face is etched with intense pain. Like he just realized something.

When Pete hands Vegas the flower. We can see they are sitting much closer together.

Vegas stands and waits on Pete. When he walks away, he has no doubt Pete will follow... Pete is on vacation. He isn't here forever but in this moment he chose to be there.

"Why didn't you run away" and Pete lies "I don't even know"

My dad had me take care of the Hedgehogs since little. One by one they all died until one left. "He still left me too" "I didn't even get to name him" why? He should have had time. This is a statement of regret. He thought by not naming him he would be less attached and he realizes he was wrong. He tried not to get close but he did anyway. Are you guys catching the double meanings here???

Pete says "If you're feeling sad, that means it's important" Vegas cries more and then says, "Everything I've loved, leaves me"

There is a very fine line between sadomastic and self harm. The difference should be the pursuit of endorphins versus a desire to be punished. For us though; feelings, emotions, and pain are all tied together. And a break the camels back situation can lead to blurred lines. Usually there is a support system to guide you back. Or lead you to safer, saner ways. What support system does Vegas have though?

Vegas proves that he sees Pete too. "But you like me like this, when I'm moody" you see the real me and it excites you. Just admit it.

Vegas "I know exactly what I want" he's had regrets. He knows hiding from it won't fix it. "How about you, Pete" "How do you like it" admit you want me as badly as I want you. "You're Psycho" to which Vegas only smiles and doesn't deny.

"But a guy like you, it's no fun if you don't give in" It isn't worth it if you don't choose me. This is honestly explained so well by my dear friend @ellaspore here

And Pete realizes what Vegas is saying and takes this moment for himself. Vegas surprised quickly slides into so fucking happy.

I love the fucking hair grab. Pete started it but Vegas has control.

Pete licking his own arm. Is a classic sign of being gone gone. You're so high in the endorphins that everything is pinging and instinct is telling you to savor it all. Everything is heightened. Smell, taste, sound and it's just driving you higher.

Fuckkkkkkk. Vegas and that ass.

Make know bones about what Pete is saying by handing over the rope. He is absolutely and unquvically submitting.

Okay that knot is gorgeous. You are seeing the tighten but that type of not has you initially tye with two fingers within the rope then you tighten after lapping. It's secure enough to not have touch give for too much wiggle but lax enough to have longer before nerve concerns. That particular rope is damn good rope, it's not rough and it's thick which will distribute better.

The kiss of the hands. He is recognizing and appreciating the submission.

Honestly I'm more worried about how his ankles are bound. That could cut off circulation. You got about twenty minutes give or take before we have issues.

Omg.. how passive Pete is. Sgfggfh

Vegas is treating him good. Damnn. Those little kiss. This is love making not fucking.

This is the real Pete. That smile. Their smile.

Sweet brother moment.

Bread product placement.

I love how we've come full circle of you live is mine to your life means the most.

I love this talk. Omg. How much they love each other. Kinn just wants Porsche. And Porsche just wants Kinn happy.

So domestic. How comfortable are we saying that Kinn knows he walked away from the life???

Daddy Dearest. I don't trust you. What are you trying to cover up by giving that picture.

Mafia boyfriends. I'll support you if you want to kill him. Do you want me to help you kill him. I'm glad you didn't kill him because it would have hurt you.

I l9ve how Porsche doesn't hesitate to ask for support. He just pulls him in.

Back where it started! Refresh and renew! I love yous!

All that green around the uncle. The question is who sent him?? Otherwise how did he know shit.

And what is daddy trying to cover up?

There you have it. My thoughts. You don't have to agree with me, but know this took hours not minutes. I don't watch the whole thing and give my opinion. I freeze frame and detail. I rewind over and over. Which is a labor of love for myself and my friends. I hope you enjoy 💜💜💜

Before you reblog my post or send an ASK talking about Stockholm Syndrome. Please take the time to read this by someone who actually knows what the fuck they are talking about. Thank you @akitbeast

[yuraimi-lee-bunny]

GRAY’S CHARACTER ANALYSIS PART III. AMNESIA AND IT’S FUTURE CONSEQUENCES

Hello! Once again: sorry for the lateness 8'D. My work, some illustrations and personal matters have slowed me down again. The good thing is that there is nothing that can be intervened and this week I will be able to go faster with the writing of my analysis. Thank you very much for the continued support you have given to the previous two parts, and I hope you like this one too!

PS: My analysis will continue as normal, I will not mention anything about the recent interview with the show runner of the series. Perhaps that will be done at the end of the analysis or a separate post, by the time Gray's analysis is complete. Besides that I have already been giving my views on what Duane said about Gray. For the moment I just want my analysis to be about everything that I captured and analyzed before the interview.

Here we go!

Goodbye (for now) to Gray/Crackle, and let's say hi to Graham!

As we know, Crackle had all his VILE-related memories erased, and he’s now a happy civilian at his previous job as an electrician at the Sydney Opera House. On a mission to Australia, Carmen finds him but he doesn't recognize her.

Carmen doesn’t understand how it happened and why VILE did it, but for his sake, she prefers to get away from her, because she doesn’t want to complicate the new beginning that Gray/Graham has now in her life.

To be honest, I don't have much to analyze in depth about Gray in these chapters where he has amnesia, even so, there are several points to highlight about him that speak more about his personality in this episode:

1.- When he taking out Carmen with her phrase "No wristband, no backstage access", I think I can safely say that he’s committed to his job, whatever it is. (as an electrician and also a VILE agent)

2.- He has great self-confidence and temperance for having invited Carmen for a coffee, a girl he barely knew but who shows that he has a slight attraction for her.

3.- Well, let's say that this confirms that he likes to be somewhat "naughty" and daring with his actions.

4.- I may be exaggerating here, but I think that with the previous points that I have said, this can also count: It seems that Gray is a punctual person. He arrived before Carmen. (He’s very punctual or he was very excited about the "date")

Ep.6 S1 served as a small introduction by Gray, or rather now Graham, of how now he has amnesia, he doesn't remember anything about VILE, or Carmen, a whole year "disappeared", as well as the decision of Carmen about being away from Gray so as not to complicate his life. Leaving a slight reminder of "you'll still see him again" for us.

Which did happen, in Ep.7 of S2. In addition to the fact that again there are some data that show about his personality, this time the episode left some clues that it was happening to him and the future that would hold him in the following seasons.

1.- It seems that he was serious that this place is his favorite coffee shop, and it seems that he likes coffee.

2.- That tranquility is to be admired. The girl he invited for coffee who looked like she had dumped him, and there wasn’t a hint of anger/resentment/indignation in him. Again, like when they first met: as if nothing had happened. I love that about him. And he continues to correct Carmen about his name. He is Graham, not Gray (not Crackle). It seems somehow that he cares about being told by his respective name, as if the subject of his "identity" is important to him. We will move on to that later.

3.- Can we look this screenshot for a moment, please? Leaving aside the “Red Crackle” feeling that can emerge at this time for many (myself included), I want to talk about the fact that there continues that communication with only the look that they have always had.

The first two chapters of the series showed you several scenes of how Carmen and Gray just by looking at each other communicated what they thought, they knew they wanted to say to each other. I mention this because to me, these glances between them were purposely done with the following objective: Yes, Gray will have had his VILE memories suppressed, but body memory is another matter, the subconscious is something that NOBODY can handle or manipulate. Gray's body responded to Carmen's glances subconsciously, the body responded because of body memory, because it already has that mechanism in the presence of Carmen.

4.- There is a theory/belief that a few weeks ago they shared which if I can believe it 50/50 because it sounds valid. In summary. Since Gray is an orphan, Carmen knew that by mentioning that she runs an international charity for abandoned children, he would not refuse. Because she knows he's an orphan, and it seems that somehow, Gray has had a mark on it. She left you the link.

5.- Again, maybe I'm exaggerating, b Gray/Graham seems to have very good manners.

6.- He likes Rock. (And before I thought it was a slight preview of Carmen's next cappers, but it was only an idea *sobbing*)

7.- 

This scene causes me a little laugh because of a personal event and because it shows an interesting side of Gray/Graham: 

- Personal event: Several friends and I were watching the episodes of the second season on the day of its premiere, when arriving at this scene, a friend said "Well of course, he will have amnesia but he isn’t stupid" I laughed uncontrollably, and in part, he had a bit of reason.

- This scene in addition to putting tension at the moment because Graham did something that wasn't in Carmen's plans, it shows how Gray/Graham is someone who needs answers/explanations when he something doesn't understand, or when he thinks they lied to him and he just goes to look for them. Because if he were too passive or behaved, he would have stayed to follow orders. Another thing he could do is just make judgments from his perspective, regardless of reality. But no, he stood up, and he couldn't wait another second for the answers. The truth is something that matters to him. And I think he's also somewhat rebellious. He makes sense because throughout the series it's noticed as if he wants/needs something, certainly does what he needs to do. I consider him too independent and confident that he can achieve it.

8.- His peculiar expression of surprise: Crikey.

9.- Another reminder that  his subconscious and unconscious have memories of what he lived in VILE.

10.- Beautiful Red Crackle scenes that in addition to adding feeling, actually matter a lot for Gray / Crackle's empathy in the future, but that will be for part 4 of the analysis.

11.- 

…Seriously Gray? EXCUSE ME Graham. SERIOUSLY? You fell, you could have hit severely or even broken something, Carmen cares about you, and instead of saying "I'm fine" do you say "It's Graham"?! ... Seriously he cares a lot about the name and identity.

As you can see, in this episode there was more about Gray and his personality, but it also hinted that there are still vestiges of memories in the back of his mind of that year in VILE and of having been Crackle. It's very curious about how Graham trusts Carmen so much, I think I know the reasons behind it, the first is because he has an attraction towards Carmen, but the most important are two: the first is because he already knows more about her, because Carmen had the confidence to ask him for help in one of his missions and to tell him in some way what she does. The second reason, again: his subconscious. As I mentioned in the previous analysis parts, Gray appreciated Carmen very much, and although before he could mistake it as "loyalty" and see her as her family, he still appreciated her very much. Her subconscious, her body, her instinct is still there, so I don't hesitate to defend her when she was in trouble with Neel. (His desire to help Carmen was greater than the "great memory and liking" he previously had for Crackle Rod.)

And well, now, let's move on to two last things before ending this episode:

1.- ACME is targeting Gray. Once again, we were told that it would not be the last time we would see him. More events awaited him.

2.-

This phrase left me so thoughtful when I watched it. It left me thinking TOO MUCH.

It left me pondering that phrase so much because I didn't understand why that mattered so much to him. We talked about how Gray/Crackle came into VILE, he agreed to be a villain, he basically agreed to be "bad guy" And now that he has amnesia, he cared about being on the right side. Which I didn't understand because Crackle's memory had been "erased". He had only "eliminated" him the whole year that he lived in VILE, just that. Doing that doesn't change his morale, because Gray had already arrived at the "Vocational School" with his morale of wanting to steal, he was already ambitious before joined to VILE. Which had me very intrigued, believing that something had happened to Graham, in that period of his "normal life" that had made him reconsider his morals and that now he wanted to do something good. I expected everything, whatever, except the change in morals. And so, wild first 5 minutes from S4 comes...

... are you telling me that EVERYTHING Gray thought, did and said in his state of amnesia... WERE LIES!?

I really couldn't believe it and that puts an absolutely huge twist on Gray's arc. Although my boyfriend and I are with a certain difference in perspective to what Maelstrom said:

When he mentioned “suppress the criminal impulse” to me he meant that VILE changed his morale, that they basically took away that “evil impulse” so that he wouldn’t be caught again by the law should it happen at some point. Ensuring that with memory removed and morale changed, VILE was safe.

My boyfriend on the other hand, interpreted it that they only took away the "desire to steal", nothing more. His morals, his beliefs, everything about him remains the same, except wanting to steal or do something criminal. Believing that in reality, Gray is a good person, since before entering VILE.

The perspective of my boyfriend is interesting to me and that is why I want to share it, to know what you think, and also mentioned it because this perspective will be taken up again in part 4 of the analysis.

And here concludes the third part! I hope you liked it. Parts 4 and 5 will be a bit long because it’s the most dense and symbolic part of Gray to analyze, but at the same time, they will come out on time faster, it may be that in the following week both parts are ready and published.  Regards!

Part. I Introdution

Part. II Empathy vs Ambition 

Part. III Amnesia and it’s Future Consequences (HERE)

Part. III.5 Graham Calloway: The Walking Enigma

Part. IV Integrity At a high (and unfair) price

Part. V The final decision and a new beginning

Plus 1. Gray and his strange habit of explaining things

Plus 2. Crossover: Sabrina And Gray: New Beginning

Plus 3. Crossover: Hawk/Eli and Crackle/Gray: Redemption

[ava-candide]

Poldark’s Aidan Turner on playing Leonardo da Vinci

The newly married heart-throb actor learnt to paint left-handed for his new role, and he’s still daubing now, he tells Ed Potton

Aidan Turner takes on the role of Renaissance polymath Leonardo

I’m trying to work out where Aidan Turner is Zooming from. Is it London, where he moved to in 2017 after his Ross Poldark became the drooled-over king of Sunday-night television? Dublin, where he grew up, trained as an actor and returned to spend the first lockdown with his parents? Or Rome, where he shot his new series, Leonardo, in which he plays a young Leonardo da Vinci?

“None of the above!” Turner says. “I’m in Toronto.” The enigmatic charm, feline eyes and gleaming locks that he deployed so mercilessly in Poldark, The Hobbit films and Being Human are all there. “My missus is working here,” he explains, and so is he. That’s the American actress Caitlin FitzGerald, his partner of three years, whom he met when they starred in the 2018 film The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot. At first I assume the “missus” is laddish affectation but it turns out that it’s official: Turner and FitzGerald, both 37, got married in secret in Italy in August after filming finished on Leonardo. You can almost hear the sighs of disappointment ripple around the world.

Turner won’t say any more — he is famously guarded about his personal life — but he looks insanely happy in the couple’s rented apartment. FitzGerald — whose grandfather Desmond was a CIA agent and organised several plots to assassinate Fidel Castro — is shooting a series, Station Eleven, in Toronto while her husband works on another project that he’s not allowed to talk about. In their downtime they’ve been watching I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, an HBO documentary series about the Golden State Killer, and, on a lighter note, Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles. They share the apartment with Charlie, an ebullient Norfolk terrier that Turner has to eject from the room halfway through our interview when he starts yapping. “I’m surprised he behaved for so long,” he says

Eight-part series Leonardo has been criticised for warping history

Like many of his fellow thesps, Turner has been doing a great deal of lockdown painting. “We have a roof garden here and the light has been really good,” he says. “I probably shouldn’t be saying this because I don’t know if the landlord knows. It’s not messy work anyway!” Unlike some of his peers — I’m looking at you, Pierce Brosnan — he has yet to unleash his daubings on the world. How would he describe his style? “I struggle to say abstract, but I haven’t quite figured out what it is yet.” Did it help with playing Leonardo? “I don’t know. If you saw my paintings, you’d assume very much not,” Turner says. He has a studied line in self-effacement, honed after years of “sexiest man on TV” questions.

Leonardo premiered in Italy last month and was watched by seven million, many of them doubtless keen to see Turner brooding in a succession of smocks. The eight-part series has been criticised for warping history, having the artist accused of murder and featuring an apparently fictional muse, Caterina da Cremona, played by Matilda De Angelis from The Undoing. Luca Bernabei, the chief executive of Lux Vide who produced the series, defended it stoutly. “Matilda De Angelis’s character did exist. She was a model Leonardo asked to paint,” he said. “We have been really careful in our research. But this is not a documentary, we are not historians and this is not a university history lecture.”

And if the history pedants are spluttering, the art pedants should be happier — the series goes to considerable lengths to make the painting look authentic. Each episode is themed around a different masterpiece, from the portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci to The Last Supper to the Mona Lisa, and the candlelit cinematography is often sumptuous. Turner’s research included a private view of a Leonardo exhibition. “I spent some time alone with the actual paintings, which was brilliant,” he says. “They’re just like high-definition photographs. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that a human had done this.”

Aidan Turner attended an artist’s boot camp before filming started

The series opens in Florence in the 1460s, with Leonardo a pupil of Verrocchio, played by the veteran Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini. Before the shoot Turner and his co-stars went on an artists’ boot camp (brush camp?) supervised by professionals. He says the hardest part was learning to paint, as Leonardo did, with his left hand. He compares it to learning to ride a horse for Poldark, which he pretended he knew how to do before going on a crash course when he got the part.

Brushwork was the same, he says. “I realised I had to get good quite quickly and look like I knew what I was doing with my left hand, which is more difficult than you would think. It’s keeping it steady — you find it just moves around a lot. Leonardo was very slow and precise — I think I got it down. After a few weeks you start picking up the brush with your left hand, it becomes natural.”

Leonardo was a vegetarian, Turner tells me, “and apparently later in life opened some sort of vegetarian restaurant”. He was also gay, something that, despite reports, the series does not shy away from. Was this Turner’s first time kissing a man on screen? He laughs. “Of all the things I was expecting you to ask next, that wasn’t one of them! In a lot of ways it was just another love scene. The fact that the gender was different — that was never a thing. No, it felt right. It didn’t feel any different at all. But yeah, to answer your question, that was the first time, which I’d never really thought of until now.”

What did feel weird, he says, were the Covid protocols. “Suddenly people are wearing masks and shields and hazmat suits. We had a big sanitisation machine as we walked in that would spray us. You take off the mask when you shoot the scene and it’s a bit strange for a second. Then you realise it’s the first time you’ve seen your co-star’s face that day. It’s not conducive to a very creative environment, for sure. But we made it work and nobody got sick.”

Turner spends a chunk of the first episode painting De Angelis, and both actors know what it’s like to be ogled. She has been asked endlessly about her naked locker-room sequence in The Undoing, just as he has been reminded of his shirtless scything scene in Poldark. Before that there was his lusted-after vampire in Being Human and his sexy dwarf in The Hobbit — branded a “dwilf” in some quarters — although that “definitely wasn’t the intention”, he says. “I think I just had less prosthetics on my face. My make-up call was 20 minutes and everyone else was sitting in the chair in the morning for three and a half hours. It wasn’t good to be around the other dwarfs in the mornings, that’s for sure.

“I get why people are interested,” he says of the ogling. “It’s just when it keeps coming up.”

We move on. According to a recent survey Cornwall has overtaken London as the most desirable place to live in Britain. Does he think Poldark played a part in that? He laughs. “Maybe we nudged a few people in the right direction. I think people forgot how beautiful that side of the world is. One of the first reviews of Poldark we read was like: ‘We can’t believe that this is our country, it looks like the south of France.’”

Could Poldark return, and would Turner be in it? If they stuck to the chronology of Winston Graham’s books they would have to leap ahead a few years. Maybe he could play an aged-up Ross Poldark in latex and fake paunch? “I don’t know if I’d be keen on the ageing-up thing,” he says. “It never really works. I don’t know whether they need to be too strict with that gap anyway. There’s the possibility someday, maybe. I enjoyed working with everybody on Poldark, from the writers right down to all the cast and crew. It really is like a family. So I’d be open to chat about it. But not for a while.”

Before that he will appear as the apostle Andrew in The Last Planet, the forthcoming biblical epic from Terrence Malick, revered creator of The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life. Well, he doesn’t know for sure if he will appear. Actors of the calibre of Rachel Weisz, Mickey Rourke and Jessica Chastain have seen their performances in Malick films vanish during editing.

“You want what’s best for the film. And if you don’t fit into it, you don’t fit into it,” Turner says in the tone of hair-shirt devotion that actors tend to use when talking about Malick. With a cast including Ben Kingsley and Mark Rylance as Satan, the movie is meant to tell the story of Jesus through a series of parables. Turner doesn’t really have a clue, though.

“You don’t necessarily know what you’re signing up to. You’re signing up to Terrence Malick,” he says. The director has “a great way of working. Everything is around ‘where is the sun’ at this particular time. That’s our natural light and it’s all we use. So things happen fast. There’s no trailers, hair, make-up, we’re just all together. You don’t know from day to day what you’ll be doing. It’s quite renegade stuff. That’s the way I always wanted to work.”

It’s closer to the immediacy of the theatre, which is where Turner started out. The son of an electrician, Pearse, and an accountant, Eileen, he represented Ireland at ballroom dancing before falling into acting. After studying at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin he acted in plays for five years and in 2018 he returned to the stage to rave reviews in Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore in the West End. Rave being the operative word — his performance was bracingly unhinged. “I can’t wait to get back to the theatre,” he says. “That’s what we’re looking at probably next.”

Turner’s character in The Lieutenant of Inishmore was an Irish freedom fighter, but he is reluctant to talk about the prospect of Irish reunification (“So I don’t get shot when I get home,” he told one interviewer). Culture is safer ground, and his native country is going through a purple patch with Sally Rooney in literature, Fontaines DC in music and the likes of McDonagh, Jessie Buckley and Denise Gough in drama. “It tends to happen in waves,” Turner says. “Coming out of drama school, Colin Farrell was such a big thing. When these actors really make it you can feel some of their light begin to shine on the industry back home.”

Like Farrell, Turner is an international star, although it has mainly been in period roles: Poldark, Leonardo, Andrew and his breakout turn as the 19th-century poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the 2009 series Desperate Romantics. It must be something about the hair.

That could be about to change, though. Toronto often stands in for New York, which suggests that his current mystery project has a contemporary setting. Does he yearn to act in jeans? “Yeah, you’re right,” he says with a laugh. “After Leonardo, I think tights and knee-length boots are out for a while.” Many would beg him to reconsider.

[captain-ross-poldark]

Poldark’s Aidan Turner on playing Leonardo da Vinci

Ed Potton

Friday 2 April 2021

Aidan Turner takes on the role of Renaissance polymath LeonardoJUSTIN SUTCLIFFE/EYEVIN

I’m trying to work out where Aidan Turner is Zooming from. Is it London, where he moved to in 2017 after his Ross Poldark became the drooled-over king of Sunday-night television? Dublin, where he grew up, trained as an actor and returned to spend the first lockdown with his parents? Or Rome, where he shot his new series, Leonardo, in which he plays a young Leonardo da Vinci?

“None of the above!” Turner says. “I’m in Toronto.” The enigmatic charm, feline eyes and gleaming locks that he deployed so mercilessly in Poldark, The Hobbit films and Being Human are all there. “My missus is working here,” he explains, and so is he. That’s the American actress Caitlin FitzGerald, his partner of three years, whom he met when they starred in the 2018 film The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot. At first I assume the “missus” is laddish affectation but it turns out that it’s official: Turner and FitzGerald, both 37, got married in secret in Italy in August after filming finished on Leonardo. You can almost hear the sighs of disappointment ripple around the world.

Turner won’t say any more — he is famously guarded about his personal life — but he looks insanely happy in the couple’s rented apartment. FitzGerald — whose grandfather Desmond was a CIA agent and organised several plots to assassinate Fidel Castro — is shooting a series, Station Eleven, in Toronto while her husband works on another project that he’s not allowed to talk about. In their downtime they’ve been watching I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, an HBO documentary series about the Golden State Killer, and, on a lighter note, Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles. They share the apartment with Charlie, an ebullient Norfolk terrier that Turner has to eject from the room halfway through our interview when he starts yapping. “I’m surprised he behaved for so long,” he says.

Eight-part series Leonardo has been criticised for warping historyPA

Like many of his fellow thesps, Turner has been doing a great deal of lockdown painting. “We have a roof garden here and the light has been really good,” he says. “I probably shouldn’t be saying this because I don’t know if the landlord knows. It’s not messy work anyway!” Unlike some of his peers — I’m looking at you, Pierce Brosnan — he has yet to unleash his daubings on the world. How would he describe his style? “I struggle to say abstract, but I haven’t quite figured out what it is yet.” Did it help with playing Leonardo? “I don’t know. If you saw my paintings, you’d assume very much not,” Turner says. He has a studied line in self-effacement, honed after years of “sexiest man on TV” questions.

Leonardo premiered in Italy last month and was watched by seven million, many of them doubtless keen to see Turner brooding in a succession of smocks. The eight-part series has been criticised for warping history, having the artist accused of murder and featuring an apparently fictional muse, Caterina da Cremona, played by Matilda De Angelis from The Undoing. Luca Bernabei, the chief executive of Lux Vide who produced the series, defended it stoutly. “Matilda De Angelis’s character did exist. She was a model Leonardo asked to paint,” he said. “We have been really careful in our research. But this is not a documentary, we are not historians and this is not a university history lecture.”

And if the history pedants are spluttering, the art pedants should be happier — the series goes to considerable lengths to make the painting look authentic. Each episode is themed around a different masterpiece, from the portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci to The Last Supper to the Mona Lisa, and the candlelit cinematography is often sumptuous. Turner’s research included a private view of a Leonardo exhibition. “I spent some time alone with the actual paintings, which was brilliant,” he says. “They’re just like high-definition photographs. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that a human had done this.”

Aidan Turner attended an artist’s boot camp before filming startedVITTORIA FENATI MORACE

The series opens in Florence in the 1460s, with Leonardo a pupil of Verrocchio, played by the veteran Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini. Before the shoot Turner and his co-stars went on an artists’ boot camp (brush camp?) supervised by professionals. He says the hardest part was learning to paint, as Leonardo did, with his left hand. He compares it to learning to ride a horse for Poldark, which he pretended he knew how to do before going on a crash course when he got the part.

Brushwork was the same, he says. “I realised I had to get good quite quickly and look like I knew what I was doing with my left hand, which is more difficult than you would think. It’s keeping it steady — you find it just moves around a lot. Leonardo was very slow and precise — I think I got it down. After a few weeks you start picking up the brush with your left hand, it becomes natural.”

Leonardo was a vegetarian, Turner tells me, “and apparently later in life opened some sort of vegetarian restaurant”. He was also gay, something that, despite reports, the series does not shy away from. Was this Turner’s first time kissing a man on screen? He laughs. “Of all the things I was expecting you to ask next, that wasn’t one of them! In a lot of ways it was just another love scene. The fact that the gender was different — that was never a thing. No, it felt right. It didn’t feel any different at all. But yeah, to answer your question, that was the first time, which I’d never really thought of until now.”

What did feel weird, he says, were the Covid protocols. “Suddenly people are wearing masks and shields and hazmat suits. We had a big sanitisation machine as we walked in that would spray us. You take off the mask when you shoot the scene and it’s a bit strange for a second. Then you realise it’s the first time you’ve seen your co-star’s face that day. It’s not conducive to a very creative environment, for sure. But we made it work and nobody got sick.”

With his wife, the American actress Caitlin FitzGeraldREX FEATURES

Turner spends a chunk of the first episode painting De Angelis, and both actors know what it’s like to be ogled. She has been asked endlessly about her naked locker-room sequence in The Undoing, just as he has been reminded of his shirtless scything scene in Poldark. Before that there was his lusted-after vampire in Being Human and his sexy dwarf in The Hobbit — branded a “dwilf” in some quarters — although that “definitely wasn’t the intention”, he says. “I think I just had less prosthetics on my face. My make-up call was 20 minutes and everyone else was sitting in the chair in the morning for three and a half hours. It wasn’t good to be around the other dwarfs in the mornings, that’s for sure.

“I get why people are interested,” he says of the ogling. “It’s just when it keeps coming up.”

We move on. According to a recent survey Cornwall has overtaken London as the most desirable place to live in Britain. Does he think Poldark played a part in that? He laughs. “Maybe we nudged a few people in the right direction. I think people forgot how beautiful that side of the world is. One of the first reviews of Poldark we read was like: ‘We can’t believe that this is our country, it looks like the south of France.’”

Could Poldark return, and would Turner be in it? If they stuck to the chronology of Winston Graham’s books they would have to leap ahead a few years. Maybe he could play an aged-up Ross Poldark in latex and fake paunch? “I don’t know if I’d be keen on the ageing-up thing,” he says. “It never really works. I don’t know whether they need to be too strict with that gap anyway. There’s the possibility someday, maybe. I enjoyed working with everybody on Poldark, from the writers right down to all the cast and crew. It really is like a family. So I’d be open to chat about it. But not for a while.”

Turner with Eleanor Tomlinson in PoldarkMIKE HOGAN

Before that he will appear as the apostle Andrew in The Last Planet, the forthcoming biblical epic from Terrence Malick, revered creator ofThe Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life. Well, he doesn’t know for sure if he will appear. Actors of the calibre of Rachel Weisz, Mickey Rourke and Jessica Chastain have seen their performances in Malick films vanish during editing.

“You want what’s best for the film. And if you don’t fit into it, you don’t fit into it,” Turner says in the tone of hair-shirt devotion that actors tend to use when talking about Malick. With a cast including Ben Kingsley and Mark Rylance as Satan, the movie is meant to tell the story of Jesus through a series of parables. Turner doesn’t really have a clue, though.

“You don’t necessarily know what you’re signing up to. You’re signing up to Terrence Malick,” he says. The director has “a great way of working. Everything is around ‘where is the sun’ at this particular time. That’s our natural light and it’s all we use. So things happen fast. There’s no trailers, hair, make-up, we’re just all together. You don’t know from day to day what you’ll be doing. It’s quite renegade stuff. That’s the way I always wanted to work.”

It’s closer to the immediacy of the theatre, which is where Turner started out. The son of an electrician, Pearse, and an accountant, Eileen, he represented Ireland at ballroom dancing before falling into acting. After studying at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin he acted in plays for five years and in 2018 he returned to the stage to rave reviews in Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore in the West End. Rave being the operative word — his performance was bracingly unhinged. “I can’t wait to get back to the theatre,” he says. “That’s what we’re looking at probably next.”

Turner’s character in The Lieutenant of Inishmore was an Irish freedom fighter, but he is reluctant to talk about the prospect of Irish reunification (“So I don’t get shot when I get home,” he told one interviewer). Culture is safer ground, and his native country is going through a purple patch with Sally Rooney in literature, Fontaines DC in music and the likes of McDonagh, Jessie Buckley and Denise Gough in drama. “It tends to happen in waves,” Turner says. “Coming out of drama school, Colin Farrell was such a big thing. When these actors really make it you can feel some of their light begin to shine on the industry back home.”

Like Farrell, Turner is an international star, although it has mainly been in period roles: Poldark, Leonardo, Andrew and his breakout turn as the 19th-century poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the 2009 series Desperate Romantics. It must be something about the hair.

That could be about to change, though. Toronto often stands in for New York, which suggests that his current mystery project has a contemporary setting. Does he yearn to act in jeans? “Yeah, you’re right,” he says with a laugh. “After Leonardo, I think tights and knee-length boots are out for a while.” Many would beg him to reconsider.

All episodes of Leonardo will be on Amazon from April 16

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/poldarks-aidan-turner-on-playing-leonardo-da-vinci-wnmqhxqxr

[homeremodelingaam]

Basic Bathroom Remodeling Ideas

Are you preparing to do some are powered by your home? If so, then if you choose to of things you have to know. Home remodeling can be a tremendous undertaking, so you'll wish to be without you are set for any project no matter how small. There are three steps to take to make sure that your project goes off without a hinderance.

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This next one may seem trivial, but I'll introduce it anyway. Ceiling designs. They're not that important. However, ceiling designing can add its very own touch of beauty to ones bathroom reworking. Just make sure it goes along (and well) with your wall design. Now just how can you save money, by reading an ebook? This one is simple to answer, in case you are want come across about your property electrical system, and terribly lack a clue, you possess a couple of choices on this website. You can call an electrician, to teach you about the https://premierqualityhomeimprovements.net/home-remodeling-contractor-nashville-tn electrical system or discover go to school, to learn how to be an electrician or you can purchase a book, by using a whole few pictures you need to your own in-home education process. The last Remodeling Contractor during shows up and for you to know whose been onto the house, was it these guys or those guys. I told him I wasn't going inform him who has been over. This guy any salesman. He did would definitely be a probing before he permit me to in through the fact that his company doesn't do complete home installations. Determination up some story that his company only replaces the forced air accommodations. I could tell he didn't want for the task once remedy out I knew a few things i was revealing. So I said my good byes to Mr. Salesman. 4) It comes with plenty of manpower readily available. The construction industry has really slowed to a halt lastly couple of years, so there are tons of highly skilled workers waiting to investigation . job. As for me, my do-it-yourself ego is not nearly as large as it was formerly. I still start off by saying I can get done that, when i think to be able to the wet ceiling on the garage, the multiple flashes from bad wiring, and the agony of lugging panels of sheetrock around. That's enough for the rolodex out and start calling contractors.

[thethoughtsfromthreeam]

Monument Woman

Pairing: Marcus Pike x OC (Rosemary Carter)

Warnings: Talk of death and illness

A/N: I’ll be on vacation this week, but I’m hoping to post weekly - Thursdays as reblogs of the previous chapter, Fridays around 6pm EST new chapters, and Saturdays as next day reblogs.  And then posting when ever I so choose for one shots and drabbles.

Reminder: I ain’t ever seen Pedro Pascal in FUCK ALL, I’m just coming up with this as I go along, using imdb.com, wiki, and 84,000 tabs I got open to plan out this shit.  I also write soft versions of his characters so if you’re craving asshole vibes, I ain’t got any but my own to offer.

Tag List:

@zeldasayer​ , @beskars​ , @coolmaybelateruniverse​ , @the-feckless-wonder​ , @pascalisthepunkest​ , @mandoandyodito​ , @randomness501​ , @fioccodineveautunnale​  , @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​ , @lilkermit14​ , @tortles [please message me to be added or subtracted]

Part 3 – The Clock is the Enemy

“What a beautiful day, Rosie.”  Robert’s smile was small, but evident. He laid back in the patio chair with a blanket around his shoulders.  The normally oppressive summer heat of August had been milder this year, but Robert was always cold now.  His shoulders hunched over under the heavy cotton fabric, as if the weight of the world were on them.

She looked over at him from inside the kitchen and smiled, glad that he was feeling more energetic today then he had been the last couple of weeks. She had taken him to the doctor this morning and the news was grim – mere weeks were probably left for Robert and her heart clenched as she realized she had to watch yet another person she loved slowly die in front of her.  Tears sprung in her eyes and she quickly looked away so he couldn’t see them.

She stood at the stove waiting for the coffee to finish, her hands tapping the side of the brightly decorated mug in front of her.  Since his confession months ago about his diagnosis, she spent as much time with him as she could, helping him as he got his affairs in order.  Last week, she moved in with him as his health took a turn for the worse and he struggled to care for himself.  He felt as if he should have told her no, but he was so grateful for her, he remained quiet on the subject.

When the foam had dissipated, she poured in the cognac and topped it off with a lemon slice – just the way Robert always took his coffee at home. She carried it out on to the porch and sat next to him.  He sipped the hot liquid and smiled.

“You know, my mother drank her coffee like this, too.”  He nodded at Rosemary’s inquisitive look.  He never talked about his family or his existence before Saugatuck, claiming his life here along the coast of Lake Michigan had enough memories to explore for a lifetime.

“I never heard of anyone drinking their coffee like that before I met you.”

“You don’t know a lot of Ukrainians, then.”  He smiled.  “She drank it with more cognac than is probably recommended, but she needed the pep in her step as she headed off to work.”

“What did she do?”

“She taught home ec at a local high school.”  He grinned as Rosemary started to laugh.

“Did she include the coffee recipe in her class?”

“No, but it would have probably helped!”

The two laughed again and soon it petered out to a comfortable silence. The trees waved slightly in the breeze and they could hear the kids down the road shouting and laughing.  The day was perfect and they both soaked it up knowing that these were numbered.

---***---

“Marcus!  I’m so glad you called!”  Hetty Pike’s smile was evident in her tone as she heard her only son’s voice on the other end of the line.

“Hi, mom.”  He couldn’t help but grin every time he talked to his mother.  She was a bubbly woman who talked with her hands a lot. When he was a kid, she always held his face in her hands and told him that she loved him, her head shaking as if to reiterate what she said.  When he’d protested the action as a teenager, she told him she’d never stop because it was her duty to know he was always loved.  “Is dad around?”

“Abe!  Abe! Pick up!  Marcus is on the phone!”  He could hear her voice clearly even as she pulled away to call out to her husband.  Pike rolled his eyes with a small smile as he heard his father’s booming voice come over the line, drowning out his much softer mother, who said her good-byes while the two men talked.

“Son!  It’s been ages!  How goes the art thieving?”

“Not bad, dad.  I’m calling because I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

For the next hour, they chatted as Marcus sought out his dad’s advice on various aspects of the reopened cases.  The senior Pike had been an electrician before he retired and often provided advice to the agent on cases where he could, often becoming a sounding board as his son worked verbally through the case.

After walking through a few scenarios, Hetty got back on the line and the three talked about this and that for a while longer before Pike said his good-byes with promises to call more often and to try and come out for his sister’s 40th birthday party next month.

The energy of the phone call dissipated into nothing as Pike stood in his kitchen, the quiet house a stark contrast to the liveliness he grew up with. He became lost in thought as memories flitted through his brain – happy memories of his parents who were so deeply in love, every day was a chance to prove it to the other; of his sisters and him getting into numerous shenanigans that left them breathless with laughter; of his blue-collar father being proud of his son’s artistic talent and happily attending his shows.

Pike let himself smile a bit before pushing himself off the counter, pocketing his phone as he wandered down the hall into his studio.  He bought the small two-bedroom house in the outskirts of D.C. because its large windows let in tons of natural light, allowing him to set up an in-home studio to indulge his artistic appetite in.

Art had always been Marcus’ passion and something he had been good at since he was quite young.  He was proud that he could parlay that passion into a career.  He didn’t do anything professionally, instead choosing to let his talent serve as a distraction from the stress of real life. As he sat in front of the blank canvas, his hands rested in his lap, fiddling with the pencil.

By this time, his brain was creating a mash up of his memories and Carmichael’s words from some months ago.  He hadn’t been on a date since the last time he was stood up, but no matter how much he hardened his heart, he still yearned for someone to love, the kind that his parents had.  The kind he thought he had with his first wife, then Lisbon, then Eleanor and Carrie and Sumata.

It seems the only place he could express his heart freely and without pain was on the canvas.  He shook his head as he turned on his playlist and let himself get lost in the one place that he could be himself with no judgement.

---***---

Several Days Later

“Helen?”  The director looked up from her desk and looked startled at the pale woman standing in front of her.  She immediately rose and skirted the desk to take Rosemary in her arms, giving her a warm hug.  She felt the younger woman’s arms snake around her waist, and she continued to hold her as sudden sobs wracked the body pressed against her own.  They stood like that for many long minutes before Rosemary pulled away and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand.

The two women sat down in the office chairs and Helen took Rosemary’s hand again, noticing the slight tremors she failed to feel before.  She squeezed slightly and waited.

“Helen, I need to take some time off.  Robert is getting worse and I don’t want to leave him alone right now. I know I have vacation. . .” Helen cut her off.

“Take all the time you need.  I know this has been hard for you, don’t worry about us here.  We’re fine.  Marquetta can handle anything that comes in for you and I’ll take over the programs you are scheduled to work.  You need to focus on you and Robert.”  She didn’t say it, but the and your good-byes hung in the air between them.

“Okay.  Thank you.” Rosemary stood on shaky legs and they hugged again before she went to her office.  Despite the grief that hung around her neck like an albatross, she set her away message on her voicemail and email before packing a few things up for Banana.  The dog had gone with her to Robert’s and the mutt spent his days sleeping against Robert’s frail form, providing a steady stream of warmth and companionship when Rosemary was at work.

After looking around her neatened desk, she walked to her workshop and glanced around there.  She left a few notes for Marquetta on some projects that needed to be completed before walking over to her locked cabinet.  She pulled out her keys and opened it, glancing at the bronze sculpture housed inside.  She looked at it for a bit longer before closing the doors again.  It was still on her to-do list but it was going to have to wait; Helen knew it was there, but only Rosemary had access.  With the turn of her key, she left the museum to focus on the one person who needed her the most.

---***---

Three weeks later

The day was a sunny one, the sky a deep azure blue that spoke of the coming fall and as he laid in bed with the windows open, Robert took as deep a breath as his lungs would let him.  He loved Saugatuck in the fall – the leaves, the roadside stands that popped up as the harvest came to fruition, and he loved to decorate the store as Halloween grew closer.

He let himself get lost in the memories of the past for a moment before forcing himself to focus on the paperwork in front of him.  His lawyer had dropped off a new copy of his will and testament and Robert carefully read everything before signing it.  Even as he laid there dying, there was something about signing the will that created a finality to it all.

As he sealed the envelope and sent a text to the lawyer to come pick it up, he heard Rosemary enter the house.  He could smell food and for the first time in days, he felt his stomach grumble in hunger.  He began to push himself out of bed when Rosemary enter the room and frowned at him.

“Get back in bed.”  Her tone was firm, but gentle.

“I can get up; I’m not going to eat in my bed.”  Robert grumbled as she walked over and gently pressed him back into the pillows.  Rosemary was only a couple of inches shorter than his six-foot frame, but with his body becoming weaker, she seemed taller and stronger than she ever had before to him.

“You’re going to stay here.  I don’t need you falling like you did yesterday and scaring the bejesus out of me.”  Rosemary wandered back into the kitchen, pulling out the take-out boxes from Coral Gables.  She arranged everything on a tray and took it into the bedroom.  Just as she set everything down, a knock came at the door.  She walked back towards the front of the house, seeing a woman standing on the other side of the screen door.

“Fern!”  Rosemary was surprised to see her close friend on the porch, her voice rising in excitement.  They hugged and Fern made sure to squeeze her poor friend a little harder than usual. They broke apart.  “What are you doing here?”

“Robert is one of my clients.  I dropped off some paperwork for him earlier and he told me to come pick them up.  Sorry to interrupt dinner.”

“Never!  Come in, I bought more than enough, and he won’t eat that much.”  Rosemary’s voice dropped a little and she smiled slightly as a friendly hand rested on her wrist.  “Anyway, please stay and join us.”

Fern nodded and walked into the house towards the bedroom as Rosemary ran to get more plates and silverware.  When she entered the room, the two were in discussion, their voices low and serious.  The conversation stopped as she walked up to them and both smiled at her.

The three sat and ate, enjoying each other’s company and Rosemary noted that Robert ate more than he usually did, which made her feel better. Fern stayed long after dinner was over and as Robert dozed off, the two women continued to visit, but moved the conversation into the living room.  

They had been friends for several years, meeting after bumping into each other at Robert’s store.  Soon their duo became a quartet as local banker Amy met them at a local charity event and Rosemary’s old college friend Tina joined them as she set up her vet practice in Douglas, just south of the town.  The three women had been worried about Rosemary for weeks, visiting where they could and keeping a lively group text going.

When she realized it was midnight, Fern took her leave and Rosemary cleaned up the kitchen.  She walked into Robert’s bedroom to check on him.  He woke up when he heard her and smiled.  She touched his shoulder and sat in the chair next to his bed, the place she spent the most time in these days.

“I’m sorry I woke you.  How are you feeling?”  He reached out to pat her hand and she held it as tight as she dared.  He was so pale, as if he were fading away from her in front of her very eyes.

“Like death warmed over.”  The chuckle sounded strained as his breathing continued to be hard for him.  “Rosie, I never said it, but I’m glad you’re here.”

“I always make time for you, Robert.  You know that.”

“And dinner is always Coral Gables.”

“Exactly.  Tradition.”

“Tradition.”  Robert coughed hard and heavy.  He took the tissue she handed to him and wiped the spittle from his mouth.  “A good historian loves tradition.”

“And the story it tells.”  She sat back and watched him.  He suddenly looked at her, as if he were seeing her for the first time.

“Rosie, are you happy?”  She looked at him, surprise on her face.  “I mean in general.  I’ve never seen you date anyone long term, you hardly go on vacation.  You work a lot.  Are you happy?”

“I guess?  I don’t know. I love my work, I have the girls, I have you.  And yeah, sure I could do with more vacation time, but who doesn’t?”  She looked away, focusing on the window, although it was too dark to see. “Dating is. . .  It’s not easy and most men don’t seem to appreciate my odd hours.  Or I’m too tall.  Or I’m too loud.  And I’d rather be single and happy than in a relationship and miserable.”

“That’s fair.”  He smiled. “What happened to that doctor in Kalamazoo?”

“Him?”  She wrinkled her nose.  “God, he was a massive asshole.  Ego the size of the Grand Canyon.  I went on two dates with him and had enough.”

Robert laugh slightly before sighing.

“I just worry about you Rose.  I don’t want you to be alone when I’m gone.  I want you to live a happy life, full of love that you deserve.  Promise me that you’ll make time for that.”

“I promise, Robert.”  She smiled as his eyes drooped closed, his soft snores starting almost immediately. She set back in the chair, propping her feet up on the edge of the bed to watch him until sleep came to claim her.

[my-happy-little-bean]

The Road Trip - Chapter 1

pairings: logicality (platonic or romantic, depending on how you view it) words: 3964  chapter warnings: familial death, talks about upcoming death, existential talks & debates on life/death, implied toxic familial relationships, implied suicide mention (never confirmed/elaborated on) chapter summary: in which patton and logan learn more about each other and also talk about the sunset.

note: the song featured in this chapter is called "means to a mend" by adam melchor :)

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*credit to art in this chapter goes to @lemonyellowlogic​​ ✨*

---

The first hour or so was quiet, much to Patton’s despair. Logan didn’t even turn on his radio, making Patton think that he was expecting a bit more conversation as well. 

He leaned his head against Logan’s window, idly tuning his ukulele over and over again as the world sped past him. The strings and the sound of Logan shifting gears was all he could hear.

He wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting, in all honesty. Of course it was going to be quiet; they didn’t even know each other. 

Still, he feared the possibility that this is what the entire trip could be like; so he straightened up in his seat and cleared his throat. 

“So, um, Logan –” He sounded like he was testing how it felt to say his name– “what do you do?”

From the corner of his eye, he saw Logan stiffen. He forced his stare straight ahead. Great. He was doing just... great. 

“I’m a teacher,” Logan finally said. 

“Really?” Patton latched onto the words as soon as he heard them. “That’s so cool!”

“I suppose it is.” Logan drummed his fingers against the wheel. “I enjoy it.” 

“What do you teach?” 

“Science.” Patton watched as a smile tugged at the corner of Logan’s lips. “I teach at a high school level, so it is not the most advanced content to teach; but it is fulfilling to give students a figurative...spark.” 

“Spark?”

“Just the motivation to pursue something more than what is on the whiteboard, so to speak.” Patton caught a glimpse of a small twinkle in Logan’s eye. “There is no experience greater than when a student comes up to you after class and asks you a question.” 

Patton smiled. How could he not have been given more time?

“That sounds...incredible,” he said instead. Logan just nodded, though the smile remained.

“How about you?” Patton finally turned his head to face him as he spoke. “What do you do?”

“Me?” Patton squeaked, blushing slightly. “Oh I, um, write...songs.”

“Oh?”

“It’s not really a big deal,” Patton said quickly. “I just, um...well, I upload some of them on YouTube.”

“Do you have a following?” 

“Not an impressive one.” He shrugged. “At least, not in today’s world.”

“Still,” Logan said, taking one hand off the wheel to grab his iced coffee. “I think it is an interesting occupation, being in the world of social media.”

Patton laughed nervously. “Heh, yeah! I guess.”

“Is that why you brought your ukulele?”

Patton blushed again.

“Yeah,” he replied meekly. “I’m hoping to write something before...you know.”

A quiet hush filled the car. Patton watched as Logan’s smile fell.

“Yes,” Logan finally said, clearing his throat and setting his drink back down. “I understand.”

“Though I– I’ve been having some trouble finding inspiration,” Patton continued, scrambling to pick the conversation back up. He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “The chances of being struck with inspiration is less than like, being struck by lightning, heh.”

“Hm,” Logan hummed. “Well, where do you usually find inspiration?” 

“My family,” Patton said, almost instantly. “A lot of my songs are about my family.” 

Logan, to his surprise, smiled. 

“That is...well, adorable.” 

“I guess it is,” Patton laughed, looking back down at his ukulele. “It’s easy to find inspiration when I think of them because I played a lot for them. Especially my mum — it’s easy to think of something great when I think of her.”

“What does your mother do?”

“She was a scientist.” Patton saw Logan beam in the corner of his eyes. “She led a lot of field research campaigns for NASA before she retired.”

“Fascinating,” Logan said, as if his breath was taken away. Patton smiled.

“She is,” He said proudly. “She was given a lot of time.”

“I can imagine. She was truly deserving of it.”

"She still is.” Patton’s heart swelled as he spoke. “She takes care of Roman and Remus– my younger brothers– pretty much all by herself.”

He laughed. “They can be a handful sometimes. And I mean, I help around too when I can, but she...well, she’s the leader.”

“She sounds wonderful,” Logan said almost fondly.

“She really is.” Patton’s smile fell. “I just wish she didn’t have to do it on her own.”

Logan frowned. 

“Did...did something happen to your father?”

Patton sighed. “He wasn’t as lucky with his time.”

A beat of silence. 

“Ah, I see,” Logan cleared his throat. “My apologies."

“It’s okay.��� Patton smiled sadly. “He...um, it was complicated, heh.”

“...Right.”

Logan fell silent once more. Patton cursed at himself as he felt the conversation die. That one...well, that was on him. 

The next half hour was quiet again. Patton didn’t try to resurrect their talk; instead, he fiddled with the strings on his ukulele, trying to come up with a few chords that could tell the story of this suddenly awkward adventure.

“I know what it’s like,” Logan finally spoke up, when the agonizing silence passed.

Patton lifted his head up. “What?”

“About your father.” Logan didn’t take his eyes off the road. “I know what it’s like to not know how to...well, feel .” 

 ---

The story of Logan’s parents is kind of a sad one. It made Patton wonder why good people had the saddest stories. 

His dad’s life was just cut short. Logan never understood why, and neither did Patton. He was an electrician, and a good one of that. Friend to many, a joy to all. It made Patton’s blood run cold, thinking of the Doctor who made that decision.

But his mother was a different story. 

“She left when I was 14,” Logan recalled as they sat in traffic. He leaned back in his seat, one hand on the wheel and the other leaning against his window. “My dad had only died three years ago when she dropped me off at my grandmother’s house. I...I don’t know where she is now.”

“Oh, Logan .” Patton’s voice went quiet, barely above a whisper. “I’m so sorry.” 

“Do not worry about apologizing.” Logan sounded bitter; cold. “What she did was...it was illogical.”

Patton shifted in his seat nervously. “It was?” 

A beat of silence. 

“She was a Doctor,” Logan finally said. 

Patton immediately looked at Logan, as if his words became his prey. 

“A...a Doctor.” Patton tried to keep his voice levelled. “ Huh .”

“She believed the whole ‘ultimate sacrifice’ concept,” Logan murmured, not making eye contact with Patton. He looked almost ashamed. “As if it was the most valuable thing you could do with your time.” 

“Did she just not have enough time?” 

Logan stiffened. “She never told me. All I know about it is that she did her Procedure when she was 21, right before she left the Clinic after her mandatory appointment. She told me that they went through her files, disclosed to her the results, and then she simply made her decision.”

“Just like that?” 

“Just like that,” Logan echoed, his voice a quiet murmur. “For all I know, she could have been doing this for years; even before I was born.”

Patton winced at the small flame that suddenly flickered in his chest. 

“She had it all,” Logan continued. “Difficulty aside, the job was extremely rewarding. After my father passed, we probably could have had enough to live a very generous lifestyle. Not to mention having the limit on her time completely eradicated...”

Logan sighed. “I will never understand how she could just give that away.”

The flame intensified. Patton shook his head and stared out the window.

“I can’t believe she just left.” His chest hurt with every word. “That’s...that’s so awful.” 

A pause. 

“It’s a hard job, I suppose,” is all Logan said. 

Patton’s anger drifted out of him through a sigh, leaving as fast as it arrived. 

“Is she still…?”

“Alive?” Logan chuckled quietly. “I don’t know. All I know is that she is certainly not doing her job anymore.”

“I didn’t even know you could do that,” Patton murmured. “Because, like...they live forever, don’t they?”

Logan’s hands tensed up on the wheel. “They do.”

“And if they live forever, there’s really only one way out...isn’t there?”

A beat of silence. Logan then cleared his throat. 

“Do you want dinner?” he suddenly blurted out. 

Patton blinked. “Pardon?”

“Dinner,” Logan continued to drum his fingers against the wheel. “I feel like we need to raise our spirits — figuratively, of course. It is a road trip, after all.”

“Oh.” Patton didn’t even realize it was late; or that the tension in the car actually peaked high enough for one of them to notice. “Um, yeah! Gosh, I’m so sorry, um– dinner would be...swell.”

Logan just nodded. 

The car shifted off the highway and towards softer lights from nearby town buildings and homes; and Patton finally decided that perhaps it would be best to just sit in the silence for a little while.

---

 “You could have ordered more than just a salad, you know?” Patton said as Logan gave the waitress their menus. “This can be my treat! It’s the least I can do.” 

“I want to keep spendings to a minimum,” Logan hummed. “For a night or two in a motel, and meals when the time arises. After all, it is important to conserve resources when pursuing a trip that may involve some detours.”

Patton giggled as he leaned back against his seat. His eyes drifted to the slowly-darkening sky out the window. 

“Wow,” Patton sighed. “Are sunsets just prettier when you’re on a road trip?”

“Perhaps,” Logan said, pushing his glasses up as he snuck a glance at the sunset as well. 

“It’s so beautiful.” Patton absentmindedly put his chin in his hand, almost dreamily. “I could stare at it for hours.” 

“You know,” Logan began, still looking out the window with Patton, “the human eye can perceive only a small part of sunlight that falls in the visible spectrum.”

“Yeah?” Patton asked, still dreamy, until his smile faltered and he asked; “Wait, what does that mean?”

Logan chuckled. 

“It means that we are not able to see all the colours of a sunset,” Logan explained. “See, as the sun starts to set, its light travels a longer distance. Particles in the atmosphere act as a prism for the light refraction; which is why we see red, orange, and pink hues within a sunset.”

“ Wow .” Patton smiled at the colours in the sky, which suddenly meant so much more. 

“It is quite fascinating,” Logan murmured. “You know, while humans are unable to see all the colours of a sunset, there are some organisms who can; particularly, those who can perceive ultraviolet light. It is theorized that they hence see a more colourful sunset.”

“That’s so cool! ” Patton grinned. “I wonder what colours they see. Maybe some that don’t even exist yet!” 

Logan gave him a small smile. “Perhaps.”

“How do you know so much about this kind of stuff?” 

“...I am a teacher, Patton.” 

“Oh!” Patton giggled. “Yeah, that would make sense!” 

Logan just gave him an amused nod as he watched the sunset with Patton through the diner’s slightly-dirty windows. 

“This is really nice,” Patton finally said after a bit of silence between the two. 

“I do not quite understand how being in a slightly...unmanaged roadside diner with an aesthetic emulating the 50’s leads you to this conclusion–” And here, Logan smiled– “but I am glad to hear that, Patton.”

“Of course!” Patton turned to face Logan. “I’m having a good time. And I really enjoy your company on this– let’s be honest– really weird adventure we’re going on.” 

Logan just chuckled again. 

“I know I’ve been kind of...well, awkward doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Patton continued, looking down almost shyly. “But that’s only because it’s all still hitting me, you know? It all doesn’t feel... real yet.”

Logan slowly nodded. 

“I can understand that. It takes a while to adjust, I suppose,” he said with a shrug. “But at least you can rest a little easier, now that you know how it happens. There has to be some solace in that, hm?”

Patton laughed, though it felt too small and sad. 

“I, um...I don’t know how it happens.”

Logan blinked. “You...you don’t?”

“Part of me was scared to know, obviously,” Patton explained, “but there’s– there’s just this other part of me that knows I shouldn’t be allowed to know...you know?”

“Everyone is allowed to know,” Logan said with a frown.

“No, I get that! And I respect people who choose to find out, obviously.” Patton sighed. “I guess I just don’t think it’s...fair.” 

“How so?”

“Well, it’s natural for us not to know!” Patton shrugged idly. “It’s sorta like not knowing is the most human thing out there. We never knew before– why should we know now?”

“...Huh.” When Patton looked up, Logan’s face was...well, unreadable. “I never really thought about it that way.”

“Do you know?” Patton asked.

A beat of silence. 

“Yes.” Logan cleared his throat. “It is peaceful, which I am thankful for, at least.”

Patton just smiled sadly. “You deserve it.”

Their food came not too long after and it was quiet for a while until Patton decided to sweep in with a lighter story; one that didn’t show too much of the edge Patton sat on. 

But to his surprise, as he began to talk avidly about something he thought Logan wouldn’t be really interested in, Logan smiled at him.

And then, they ended up talking about everything — funny family anecdotes, stories about their jobs, their likes and dislikes; everything. Halfway through the conversation, Patton realized that the sunset had disappeared and the diner was almost empty. It shocked him for a split second — he didn’t even feel like a minute had passed, let alone an hour or two.

And it suddenly hit him how interesting Logan was; and how easy it suddenly was for him to talk to Logan without thinking too much of it, or of anything around them. They were talking as if they knew each other from a different life; like old friends with the same mind. 

“I cannot believe you met Hans Zimmer,” Logan said, his eyes uncharacteristically wide and starry. Patton blushed. 

“I didn’t really meet him,” Patton said meekly. “One of my friends from school was interning at a movie studio in LA and they were showing me around when I came to visit them. I just happened to bump into him and be...well, over enthusiastic about it until he left.”

“Amazing,” Logan murmured. 

Patton giggled as the waitress came over to their table to take their bill.

Suddenly, a familiar tune floated out of a jukebox in the corner. Patton’s eyes lit up. 

“They’re playing my song!” 

Logan blinked. “What?”

“I chose a song out of the jukebox like, an hour ago!” Patton stood up, slowly bobbing his head to the beat of the music. “They’re finally playing it! Thank goodness, I was starting to think I did it wrong or something!”

“When did you even–”

“Come on!” Patton exclaimed as a loud, colourful burst of instruments blared from the small jukebox. He outstretched a hand to Logan. “We have to dance.”

Logan shook his head, but was smiling. “We do not have to do anything.”

“Yes we doooooo!” Patton waved his hand in front of Logan. “It’s a 50’s diner! There’s a jukebox playing a bop– a juke-bop! We have to dance! That’s what they probably did– um, back then!” 

Logan looked down at Patton’s hand and then back up at Patton, who did his best to smile as wide as he could. 

“We could do the juke- box step,” Patton said, waggling his eyebrows. 

To his surprise, Logan kept staring at him. 

And, for a split second, his stare lacked that knowing he was familiar with.

Patton lowered his hand slightly, a bit confused. 

Then, Logan took his hand. 

“Yay!” Patton cheered, filled with that vibrant feeling once more. He grabbed Logan and pulled him towards the empty space near the jukebox. Logan rolled his eyes, and Patton felt the tense-feeling in Logan’s hand loosen. 

“Okay, just follow my lead.” Patton began to bob his head in an exaggerated way, motioning for Logan to echo the movement.

Logan sighed, rhythmically bobbing  his head to the music while rooted in his place. His foot tapped to the beat as he crossed his arms.

Patton laughed. 

“Oh come onnn!” Patton took Logan’s arms and shook them free, grabbing his hands and spinning him around. Logan broke into a wide smile. 

And when Logan laughed, it sounded prettier than any music Patton had ever heard.

---

Patton was already closing his eyes when he heard Logan speak.

“You’re...different.”

Patton lifted his head to look at Logan. “Hm?”

“You’re different from the people I know,” Logan said, his eyes still on the road ahead of them.

Patton straightened up in his seat. “I am?”

“For starters,” Logan began, “I have never met a musician before. I was always fascinated by the industry, but from a distance. I never understood how one could just...draw inspiration from nothing to make, well, anything .”

Patton chuckled. “It’s a lot less difficult than you’re led to believe! The world is just stuffed with little nooks and crannies where inspiration hides. It’s just a matter of finding it, which is the fun part!”

“See, and that’s why I am just so...confused by you,” Logan murmured. “You treat music and family and, well, life as something so fun– and you give so much love to everything you are a part of. Tonight was just further proof of that.”

Patton blushed. “Aw, Logan! Thank you!”

“It’s true,” Logan sighed. “And so I am just confused as to why you weren’t given more time.”

A beat of silence. Patton’s smile fell. 

“...Oh.” He laughed nervously. “Well, isn’t that just the million dollar question?”

“It’s just that the Clinic is supposed to reflect a system built on payoff and reward–”

“The system is wrong ,” Patton cut him off. More quietly, he added, “That’s all.”

Logan was seemingly stunned in silence because he didn’t respond. Patton sighed. 

“Sorry,” he said meekly, rubbing the back of his neck and fixing his stare on the road in front of them instead of at Logan. “I’m...well, I’m no expert on politics or whatever, but I do have a pretty good idea on what is right and the Clinic? That’s...that’s not it.”

“How so?” Logan’s words seemed like they were walking on a tightrope. Patton shifted in his seat. 

“It just doesn’t make sense,” Patton explained, feeling his words grow more bitter as he continued. “Not to get, like, all philosophical on you, but it just doesn’t seem fair. I said it before, it’s natural for us to not know how it happens. And then you have these– these people , out here deciding how a complete stranger should be allowed to live their life before it even started?”

He snuck a glance at Logan. His jaw was seemingly clenched and his hands were tightly gripping the wheel. Patton winced.

“Gosh, what am I talking about.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose, his frustration deflating. “I’m so sorry, I don’t mean to sound so rude. I...I get that it’s a ‘gift’ or however people describe it. And if I was really that upset about my time, I could have made an Appeal to see if there was at least some possibility that I could have more. It’s just…” 

Patton closed his eyes. “I guess part of me just wishes I was on the luckier side of it all.”

He shook his head with a soft chuckle. 

“It’s selfish and wrong to be so self-serving. I’m sure they’re giving time to people more deserving of it than some one-hit-wonder musician.” Patton leaned his head against the window with a sigh. ”But...but I know people who deserved more time; people who didn’t get the chance to give even the smallest amount of anything to the world. Who knows, it could’ve been enough for them to be granted the time they deserved in the end.”

“Like your father?”

Patton grew tense. He averted his glance. 

“No one should know,” he ended up saying. “Knowing something just makes it easy to...to exploit it.

Logan’s breath hitched.

“I…” Patton watched as his grip on the wheel loosened. “Knowledge is an incomparably valuable, multi-purposeful tool. And it is instrumental in identifying and solving any problem.”

“I don’t know if I’d call death a ‘problem’.” A pause. “Well, I mean it’s a problem for me right now, sure, but in general? I don’t think life can exist without it.”

“You raise a valid argument,” Logan hummed, “but life is the only thing we humans truly know. We know nothing about death– it’s not like it is a problem, it’s just something that has changed so drastically. Death, at some point in time, was inevitable; but now… now it’s something we can control and learn more about. It is one of the most harmful forces we can ever come across in our lives and now we know how to stop it. And I understand your argument but...but don’t you think that we’re getting closer to knowing how to save everyone from it?”

There’s a twinkle in his eye as he spoke. Patton frowned. 

“I don’t know if it’s something, like...hurting us.”

“It’s just taking away our potential.” Logan took a moment to look at Patton. “It’s taking away the potential for people like you to truly explore all of what life has to offer.”

A beat of silence. 

“Agree to disagree then,” Patton murmured. He gave Logan a small smile after sitting in the silence for a bit. 

“You know,” he said, “I don’t know if I’d want to live forever.”

“Yeah?” Logan was no longer looking at him. Patton idly looked out the window and sighed. 

“Because at some point...wouldn’t it just come full circle?”

“What do you mean?”

“If you already know everything about living,” Patton explained, “wouldn’t you just end up wanting to know more?”

Logan didn’t respond. Patton shrugged. “I just don’t know if I want to spend my whole life worrying about not knowing. At that point...well, I think I’d just be content with leaving it up to imagination.”

Patton was met with silence once more; though it felt less unsettling than before. Still, Patton ended up nervously humming to try and fill the void of their conversation. 

After what felt like hours, Logan finally said, “Huh.”

“What’s up?”

“...You are different.”

And from the corner of his eye, Patton saw Logan smile.

--- 

“...Patton?”

“Mhm?”

“If I were to ask for a song–”

“Ah, sure! Any requests?”

“...Surprise me.”

- 

Logan listened intently to the way Patton plucked the strings of his ukulele; and the way Patton’s breathing sounded like (slow, deep; ready ) before he sang. 

“You had a dream you were up in the sky, down from the stars you then started to fly…”

Logan couldn’t help but smile as he exited the highway to find a motel, the night sky stretching far beyond them.

“And from there you could see as you fell through the miles, the place where you lived through the telephone lines…”

His eyes were beginning to feel heavy, but he stifled his yawn behind his hand so he wouldn’t miss a word Patton sang.

“There’s the yard and the trees, the roses you like; When you woke up and you knew you’d be fine.”

It kept Logan awake– no, alive – to hear his voice. 

“If it happened to be the place where it ends, at least you would know how to land on a means to a mend…

---

next chapter >

[jenomark]

Floor Plan

○Pairing: Jungwoo x Reader (Female) ○Other Members/Characters- X ○Genre- fluff ○Warnings: a kiss  ○Word count: 2,666

→Summary: You’re moving into your very first apartment! The night before you’re set to move in, Jungwoo goes with you to check the place out. Conversations start and soon enough you’re questioning your place in the world and your relationship with Jungwoo.

______________________________________________________________

    Moving out on your own is scary. You thought you would be prepared enough to take the final step alone, but you’ve been feeling unsure of yourself, lately. This world is big, and although you think you know what kind of person you are, you’re not sure where you belong.

    “You know, you’re the only person who offered to help me.” you said.

   Jungwoo adjusted the box he was carrying. “I’m not surprised. Your other friends are always too busy for you.”

 His words stung. These days, your old university friends didn’t pick up your phone calls, or they sent one-word texts as a reply.

Lol

Ok

Yea

Sorry

 You told yourself it’s because they are busy finding their own place in your post-university life. Your mother told you when you were a child that this day would come.

People move on, she said. You can’t keep people. You have to let them go.

 And you would have accepted this as fate and kept going on your path, but their pictures with each other were always on social media. You didn’t know what you were supposed to think about it , just that it hurt to never be invited anywhere.

“I’m sorry, “ Jungwoo said. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“No. It’s okay.”

 Shifting the box into one of his hands, he rubbed his thumb against your cheek with the other and gave you a smile that showed his two front teeth.

 “Really,” you said. “It’s okay. I wish they would tell me what I did wrong, or at least let me go instead of letting me beg for friendship.”

“Is that what you want?” he asked.

“Sometimes,” you said. “I feel like they’re all laughing behind my back whenever they hang out without me. I’m forever that loser picked last in gym class. Like, were we never friends? Did I daydream all those years? Some of them were there for me at my worst times and they’ve even met my family. I should probably stop asking to hang out. I’m doing this to myself, aren’t I?”

“Not necessarily,” Jungwoo said. “You have a kind heart.”

 “I would forgive them so easily,” you said. “I had plans for this milestone in my life. I was going to invite them over to my first apartment and we would play games and get drunk. There would be housewarming gifts and chips.  Things would be how they were always supposed to be. I guess that makes me a fool.”

“ I don’t think it makes you a fool.”

“You’re just feeling bad for me.”

 You stopped in front of the door to your new home and placed the box you were carrying at your feet. Jungwoo did the same, albeit comically. As you placed the key in the lock, he looked up and down the narrow hallways.

“ Why did we come here at night?” he asked. “This place gives me the creeps. Is this how I die? I hate horror movies.”

“I need to make sure I have everything all mapped out for when we come tomorrow with my things.” you said.

“More plans,” Jungwoo said. “Unsurprising.”

 You opened the front door. It felt like the two of you were standing in front of a walk-in freezer it was so cold. Jungwoo poked his head inside the darkness and let out a dramatic sigh.

“Maybe having plans can be a good thing.” he said.

 You stepped inside the dark apartment and dragged your box in behind you. You pulled out a few candles and lit them with a lighter, placing them around the apartment.

“Your electricity doesn’t work?” he asked, hovering in the doorway.

“No,” you said. “My dad is coming tomorrow with his friend to fix it. I talked to the guy renting out these places and he was going to send an electrician, but my dad is weird about those things. He would rather do it himself. I think it’s his way of showing me loves me.”

 You placed the lighter on the counter and motioned for Jungwoo to come inside. He grabbed the box and took three steps in before he stopped.

“I’m scared.” he said.

“But I lit candles.”

  Sensing your eagerness, Jungwoo let his face relax into a smile. He put his box next to your box (they’re hugging! he said) and looked around at the candlelight making shapes against the wall.

“ It’s …..homey.” he said.

“I know it’s small.”

“It’s a shoe box”

“And there is no working lights right now.”

“We’re going to die any minute.”

“But it's my first place and it was really close to my job.”

“Are you happy?”

“I think so?”

“Well, that’s all that matters,” he said. “ Now, let’s eat.”

  Jungwoo plopped himself onto the hardwood floors and hugged his knees to his chest. You shut the front door and sat yourself across from him. As you were taking containers out of a bag, he watched you intently.

“Is there something wrong?” you asked.

“No. Nothing's wrong.”

“You’re looking at me weird.”

“I’m just happy I came.”

  You handed Jungwoo his cheeseburger and wondered how you had managed to find someone like him at the right time. When you left school, you were a little aimless. You moved back in with your parents and tried your hardest to get into the job market. Every day you took the train into the city to “beat the pavement” as your dad put it.  With the interviews and the frustrations piling up and the stress threatening to break you, you spent the train ride home encased in your own misery.

“Do you remember the day we met?” you asked him.

“How could I forget?” Jungwoo said, licking cheese off his thumb. “It was the best day of my life.”

 You didn’t see him at first, but he said he saw you. When you pressed him for more details, he told you he’d never seen someone look so sad. It wasn’t the first time he had seen you, either. He would spend his commute thinking about how he could make you smile, but he kept to himself because he was shy and didn’t want you to make you uncomfortable.

 “What was my general appeal? I can tell you what yours was. You have a perfect smile. I can tell people trust you easily. ” you said

“You looked lonely”

Your face fell. “Is that it?”

“How many times do I have to tell this story? You know I love you.”

“Until I feel less bad about myself.”

Jungwoo laughed. “Is this the story we’ll tell our kids?”

“Oh, definitely.”

 The story started off the same: it was nighttime. Jungwoo, who always said you met around quarter to 8 at night, was wrong. You knew the right time because you had looked at your phone beforehand and that is when you noticed him sitting across the aisle, on the opposite side. It was 9:13 p.m. He was wearing a dark denim jacket and his hair was dyed copper (a mistake, he had said ). It’s not that you were attracted to him, because attraction meant a lot of things to you, it’s just that he stood out. Usually, people on the train blurred past like the scenery outside of the window, but Jungwoo sat motionless. He was pretty, and his legs were so long they bumped into the train table. His eyelashes were thick, his lips full and pouty. He was beautiful.

“Do you know that when the train stopped, I really thought we were going to die?” Jungwoo said.

“You cried! I had never seen anyone react like that.”

 The train had stopped, jerking you both a little. There was no one else in the train car but the two of you, so all you could look at was each other. When it came to a full stop, Jungwoo moved from his seat and sat across from you without saying anything. You had never seen anyone move like that. Jungwoo moved so delicately that you were mesmerized.

“I was terrified,” he said. “I was on that train every day and it had never stopped like that. And it was dark. And raining.I thought for sure a mass murderer was going to come out from the shadows with an axe.”

  You giggled at the memory. He had looked like a child sitting across from you. His bottom lip stuck out like he was going to burst into tears and his eyes grew wide. You didn’t know what to do, so you offered him your hand. It was something your mother did for you when you were young to soothe you.  

“I’m really affectionate. I liked it.” he said.

 Both of you sat in the darkness of the apartment, chewing your food in silence. Jungwoo gazed out of the lone window in what was meant to be your living room. The view was of the brick building next to it.

 “We never found out what happened.” you said.

  When Jungwoo brought his attention back to you, he got this odd look on his face. You knew his expressions well enough to know that he was thinking hard about something. The two of you weren’t dating. You had never entertained the idea. You hung out occasionally when you were both free. He would call you up and ask you out to lunch. You would text him to see how he was doing. There were moments that made your heart swell, when you would meet up again on the train whenever your new work schedule allowed it. Now that you lived within walking distance, you were not looking forward to seeing him less. Life without Jungwoo seemed like a life you didn’t want to live at all.

“Is everything okay?” you asked.

“It is,” he said, shoving a fry into his mouth. “Let’s not talk about the past. Let’s talk about the future.”

  Jungwoo stood up and paced around your living room. You loved when he was chaotic like this. He enjoyed making people laugh, whether it made him look like an idiot, or he brought you in on the joke. He had a way of speaking that made you listen, that made you feel good on the inside. He bounced when he walked, his hands moved animatedly, and his face lit up when he had a brilliant idea.

“There is no bedroom in this place?” he asked.

“There is not. My bed will be somewhere in this room.”

“This place is hardly big enough for a mouse,” Jungwoo said. He made mouse ears with his fingers and tilted his head. “Where do you plan on putting it?”

“ I was thinking by the window, but now that I’m looking at it, I’m not so sure.”

“What if…” he said “ We put it right here.”

He stood in the spot where you were going to put your couch. You shook your head no. That spot was a place where a couch should go and nothing else.

“Close your eyes and imagine it,” he said.

“If I close my eyes, how can I imagine it?”

 Jungwoo walked over to you, grabbed your hands and pulled you to your feet. You almost stumbled over onto him, but he set you right. Jungwoo always set you right.

“Close your eyes and no peeking.”

  You did as you were told. There was something about Jungwoo that made you see life a little differently. When you told your mother about him, she asked if the pair of you were dating. When you said no, she seemed surprised. There was never any plan to date, and although the thought invaded your mind often, you were just going to be friends.

“What are you doing?” you asked.

“Don’t look!”

  You heard his shuffling feet all around you. By the sounds of it, you could tell he was digging around in the boxes you brought. The only thing inside was a few kitchen utensils and  dish towels. Truth is, you don’t own much furniture or  any appliances. You were moving into this apartment without a clue of what really went into surviving your own first place. You read in an article somewhere that people living on their own sometimes forget simple things like sugar and dryer sheets. You made a list somewhere of what you would need to buy once you were settled.

“Can I look now?” you asked.

 A whoosh of air hit you as Jungwoo came up behind you . He was so close you could feel his breath on the back of your neck.

“Just wait.” he whispered.

  Jungwoo brought his hands up to your eyes and covered them. This was the first time his hands touched you since that day on the train. Back then, it was easy for you to let him touch you because you could control it. His hands were soft and warm. Feeling his skin on yours now gave you a feeling of loss that scared you.

“ Don’t think too much about it,” he said. “If you overthink, you’ll ruin it.”

“Okay.”

“I want you to just really imagine it. Forget your plans.” he said. His voice was close to your ear and it brought shivers down your back.

“Okay.” you said again.

  When Jungwoo removed his hands, it took a moment for your eyes to adjust to the scene. Nothing had changed in the room: It was still bare and cold and small. When you looked down at the floor, Jungwoo squealed in delight.  He moved in front of you and waved his hands in the air like he was a salesman.

“The bed could go here. It’s perfect. It would tie the room together.” he said.

  On the floor, spoons, forks and knives were laid out in a rectangle to mimic the size of your bed. He had folded his jacket into a makeshift pillow and placed it at the head of the bed.

“Can you see it?” he asked. “The vision.”

  Jungwoo stepped inside the “bed” and laid down on the floor, placing his head on the pillow. He patted the floor next to him. You didn’t join him. Instead, you walked around the perimeter and tried hard to think about it.

“I’m not sure…”

“About me, or the bed?”

   His words made you stop in place. Jungwoo smiled his two-teeth smile as a way to break the tension in the room, but it was still pulling you to shreds. Quietly, you stepped over the silverware barrier and laid down beside him. The two of you looked up at the ceiling, heads inches apart on the pillow.

 “What do you think would happen if you stopped being in control?” he asked. “ If you stopped trying to get people to like you, if you stopped doing things the way you think they should be done, and if you finally did all the things you wanted to do? Don’t think about it. Answer truthfully and honestly.”

 Jungwoo turned on his side and rested his head in his hand . He was so close to your face you could turn your cheek and your lips would be on his lips.  It didn’t occur to you how much you wouldn’t mind kissing him until then. 

“I think ….”

“Wrong. Try again.”

 You always avoided the topic of you and Jungwoo, feigning disbelief when someone suggested you should date. Maybe there were a lot of reasons you didn’t understand for doing that, but the one that sticks out to you most is that you never expected him. 

“My world would implode.” you said.

“Only small parts of it.”

You turned your head. You pressed your lips against his lips softly. The kiss was exactly how you thought it would be and also nothing like you thought it would be. You didn’t know if you would ever be able to stop being who you are, but you knew that if you wanted to, you had a perfect place to start.

[create-ninety]

Thursday 30th May ‘19, 9am.

Here’s a list of all the jobs/ideas/business propositions I’ve thought are genuinely viable options in the past year:

-       Author (made back what I invested in the first book; profits too small to even consider living off; pursuing anyway)

-       Creative writing classes for children (pursued until booking office space; was going to be too expensive and time-consuming)

-       A historical art/walking tour in East London (researched, created and executed: failed, no takers)

-       A freelance bookbinder (active but slow-going; not enough to sustain living; pursuing)

-       Poetry writing by the Thames (pursued until permit granted; tried one round, was successful. Haven’t been back.)

-       An app for self-published writers (thoughts/notes only)

-       Teaching English online (created profiles; no hits)

-       Tutorials for high school kids (visited physical tutorial centres; no interest in what I could offer)

-       Becoming an electrician (thoughts/research/notes only; considered on more than one occasion)

-       Online transcribing (started; terrible pay; not worth it)

-       Creating an online training programme for VFX Production (thoughts/research only; a huge amount of work.)

- Training as a swimming teacher.

I’ve had days where I think every single one of these things is possible and could be pursued to its greatest extent. I’ve had days where I’ve focused on one and one only, thinking that all the other ideas would fail and were stupid. I’ve had days where I believe my idea of success is writing novels at all costs. I’ve then woken up and thought about how selfish that position is, and that my main focus should be obtaining security and stability for my family. I’ve had days that I’ve woken up and felt all of the above: certainty beyond doubt, and nothing but doubt. It is exhausting. Especially when these feelings aren’t divided between one day and the next; sometimes, it’s the difference between morning and evening. Or the beginning of a train ride and the end of it.

I know that the thread of truth runs through all of this, somewhere, in amongst all the idealism and the grand plans. It requires the utmost effort to battle each of the pillars that could hold up my life. They are all equally compelling in their own way. What is the most unsettling is the instability of it all. Not being able to find the truth makes me afraid. Perhaps because I know, on some level, it isn’t about finding truth at all – it’s about creating it. This is all about choice. It’s about acknowledging that the forest, the sea, the castle and the sky are all beautiful and frightening in their own way. All four options offer something and demand something in return. At a certain point you have to face one and walk, and accept your choice, and not worry about the places you could have gone but chose not to.

And maybe we occupy each of those places at different times in our lives. I can’t know yet.

I’ve made a decision. At least, one decision, that will set us on a particular trajectory. I’m going back to film temporarily. Not VFX specifically – I vowed I wouldn’t do that, and I’m standing by it – but to the Production side. The money is double. It’s contract-based. Taking one of these jobs will set us up for the next life stage: saving for a family, getting my student loan cleared, and putting money aside for my next book. I’ve had to abandon, for now, the idea that I could split up a working week and enjoy ‘balance’. Out of sheer desperation I’m currently a temporary receptionist (‘client services’) at law firm by St Pauls.

 Even after a week here I can say with certainty that a mindless part-time job is only a temporary solution. As a long term strategy, working part-time might give me ‘free time’ to pursue writing, but would create a whole host of other problems that would become much more pressing as time goes on.

And so, in a way, I have already made up my mind. The details are still scattered and choosing the ‘right’ project feels daunting in itself, but I’m starting to feel a tiny bit better knowing there is a plan.

[whitepolaris]

New Jersey City University

This urban campus opened in 1929 as the New Hersey State Normal School at Jersey City. In 1958, it changes its name to Jersey City State College, and then later it became a liberal arts institution. It was given its current name, New Jersey City University, in 1998.0

The campus has a lovely tower at its center-but don’t go there at night! (Or, if you prefer, only go there at night!) The ghost of Margaret Williams, namesake of the university’s theater, is said to haunt it. 

Ghosts of Jersey City College

I am a former student of Jersey City State College, and experience ghosts there first hand. There are a few haunted areas, some located in the Irwin Library, others in the theater and the Science Building.

 The elevator in the Science Building was definitely haunted. The hair on the back of my neck stood up every time I entered it. For one thing, the doors always opened on the second floor even if no one was there. The story goes that the electrician who hooked up the electricity to that particular elevator was electrocuted on the job. That elevator hasn’t worked properly since.

Another haunted building on campus is Vodra Hall. I was a Resident Advisor for the fifth floor one year. I had to move into my dorm room early to undergo training for the coming falls semester. I was the only one up there. I went through all the rooms to make sure everything was in order and went back to my room at the end of the hall. I had just sat down when I heard laughing coming from the other end of the hall, near the elevator. I thought that was strange, since no students were supposed to move in for another week. I walked down the hallway, and the laughter stopped. I re-checked every room, and even opening closets. No one. No sooner did I get back to my room when I heard the laughing again, and doors closing. 

I ignored it, and soon the sound of a radio joined the laughing. A loud crash finally jolted me and I ran down the hall. There was no one in any of the rooms, and everything was just as I had left it. After that, I spent much time out of my room as possible, and left my radio playing all night.

The Tower of the Margaret Williams Theatre is another haunted place. One night a friend and I walked to the tower. It was a full  moon, and I thought it would make a neat picture if I could line the shot up right with the tower. The doors to the theater building were open, but there was no production that night. Curious, we went inside. My friend said that a classroom right next to the theater was supposed to be haunted. We walked in, our footsteps echoing around us, and goose bumps all over our arms. 

The air felt electric. I remember trying to laugh off the creepy feeling I had. Then, all of a sudden, we heard music. We walked back to the doorway and the music was louder. It sounded like a chorus and we assumed there must be practice going on, so we peeked through the theater-door windows. The theater was dark, and no one was there. 

The song was unlike any I have ever heard, and the music was like the singing of angels. It was so beautiful that it almost brought tears to my eyes. We never found the source of the sound; honestly, I didn’t want to. It was too incredible too otherworldly. -Suzi, The Smiling Goth

Ghostly Theatrics at Jersey City University

I am a theater major at New Jersey City University. I know about the ghost of Margaret Williams, who resides in the theater named for her. One of the directors told me that one day he went into the theater to get ready for rehearsal. The vacuum was in the corner. All of a sudden, it turned on and rolled down the side aisle. It wasn’t even plugged in! 

The college staged a production of Gypsy a few years ago. One of the leads told me she was at rehearsal and was singing her solo when the spotlight turned on and faded, right on her. The spots are worked from the balcony and no one was up there. 

Another student said she was doing a show, and some people were in the dressing rooms. The rooms are equipped with speakers that transmit what is happening on stage. They were chatting and half listening when they all got quiet, listening to the fantastic performance on stage. Then they realized that the number was not in the show they were doing that evening. 

I think I have seen the ghost wandering through Fries, the building connected to the theater. It was in a window, glaring at me and my friend, and then disappeared. -DR

[maiasolaire]

KDramas I Wanna Watch

Dramas recommended to me by friends and/or internet posts.

(Summaries aren’t mine)

1. She Was Pretty

Can you over-romanticize a cherished memory from childhood? Ji Sung Joon (Park Seo Joon) was a shy, porky kid who was constantly teased by the other kids for his rotund shape. When he transfers to a new school in fifth grade and meets Kim Hye Jin (Hwang Jung Eum), the prettiest, most popular girl in school, his life turns around. The kind-hearted Hye Jin becomes his only friend and protector — and they become each other’s first love. But then everything changes when Sung Joon’s family immigrates to the United States and then Hye Jin’s father’s business goes downhill, plunging her family from their previous wealthy lifestyle. But that’s not all! Hye Jin’s beautiful looks initially took after her mother. But as soon as Hye Jin hits puberty, her father’s genetic skin condition takes hold and leaves her with reddish facial scars that makes her resemble a raccoon. Fifteen years later, Sung Joon is a whole new person — dashing and handsome and a successful art director — who is transferred from New York to the Seoul office of “The Most” fashion magazine to work as the deputy chief editor. He tries to find his childhood friend, Hye Jin, again. But embarrassed by her current unglamorous appearance, Hye Jin passes off her best friend, the stunning Min Ha Ri (Go Jun Hee), as herself. But when Hye Jin is suddenly transferred to the magazine department at her new job to work as in intern under Sung Joon, how much longer can she keep her true identity a secret?

2. Descendants of the Sun

Some relationships are fated, despite the challenges of time and place.

Yoo Shi Jin (Song Joong Ki), the leader of a Special Forces unit, meets trauma surgeon Kang Mo Yeon (Song Hye Kyo) in a hospital emergency room after Shi Jin and his second-in-command, Seo Dae Young (Jin Goo), chase down a thief on their day off.

Shi Jin is immediately smitten with Mo Yeon, and he asks her out on a date. But Shi Jin keeps getting called to duty when he is with Mo Yeon, and the two also realize that they have conflicting views about human life (he will kill to protect his country and she has to save lives at all costs). They decide to break off their budding relationship as a result.

Dae Young also tries to break off his relationship with Army doctor Yoon Myeong Ju (Kim Ji Won) because her father, Lt. General Yoon (Kang Shin Il), thinks Shi Jin is a better match for his daughter.

Shi Jin and Dae Young are then deployed to the fictional war-torn country of Urk on a long-term assignment of helping the United Nations keep peace in the area. After repeatedly being passed over for a promotion because of her lack of connections, Mo Yeon gives up performing surgeries, loosening her principles somewhat to become a celebrity TV doctor and caring for VIP patients at the hospital. But when she refuses the sexual advances of the hospital chairman, Mo Yeon is picked to lead a medical team to staff a clinic in Urk! There, Mo Yeon unexpectedly reconnects with Shi Jin.

3. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

Do Bong Soon (Park Bo Young) comes from a long line of women possessing Herculean strength. But Bong Soon can only use her strength for good; if she uses it for her own personal gain or to mistreat others, she can lose her strength forever like her mother, Hwang Jin Yi (Shim Hye Jin). Bong Soon’s twin brother, Do Bong Ki (An Woo Yeon) did not inherit the unusual family strength and is a doctor, but Bong Soon has trouble finding gainful employment as an aspiring game developer.

When Ahn Min Hyuk (Park Hyung Sik), the young CEO of AIN Software, a gaming company, witnesses Bong Soon’s amazing strength against a group of gangsters one day, he hires her to be his personal bodyguard to help him catch a man who has been making death threats against him. Bong Soon has a secret crush on her childhood friend, In Guk Doo (Ji Soo), a police detective who is trying to capture a dangerous kidnapper in Bong Soon’s neighborhood. Can Bong Soon help both men track down the culprits?

4. While You Were Sleeping

A young woman with bad premonition dreams meets two people who suddenly develop the same ability.

Nam Hong Joo (Suzy) lives with her mother, Yoon Moon Sun (Hwang Young Hee), a widow who runs a small restaurant. Jung Jae Chan (Lee Jong Suk), a rookie prosecutor, and his younger brother, Seung Won (Shin Jae Ha), move in across the street. Since she was young, Hong Joo has had the ability to see bad events before they happen, but she is often unable to do anything about it.

One day, Jae Chan has a strange premonition dream about an accident involving Hong Joo and Lee Yoo Beom (Lee Sang Yeob), a ruthless attorney who used to be Jae Chan’s tutor. Jae Chan decides to interfere in the course of events and ends up saving the lives of Hong Joo and Han Woo Tak (Jung Hae In), a young police officer. When Jae Chan, Hong Joo and Woo Tak then start having dreams about one another, they realize that their lives are now somehow entwined.

But can the three discover the reason that they were brought together, and can they prevent the people closest to them from getting hurt?

5. Just Between Lovers (Rain or Shine)

A building collapse ties the fates of three young people years later. Ten years ago, the S Mall collapsed due to shoddy construction, killing 48 people inside.

Ha Moon Soo (Won Jin Ah) was there with her younger sister, who perished in the accident. Lee Kang Doo (Junho) was there waiting for his father, who was an electrician doing work on the building. Seo Joo Won (Lee Ki Woo) was helping out his father, who was the head engineer of the building. Moon Soo, Kang Doo and Joo Won survived the horrible accident, but their loved ones did not.

Years later, Joo Won is an architect who is working on a new project to replace the former S Mall. With her keen eye for detail and sturdy building construction, Moon Soo ends up working for Joo Won on the project. Kang Doo works odd jobs to get by and ends up working at the new construction site.

How will they each deal with their respective pains as they are reminded of the event that changed all of their lives so profoundly?

6. Father Is Strange

This is one of those things that can disrupt a seemingly normal family. Byun Han Soo (Kim Young Chul) lives on the outskirts of Seoul with his selfless wife, Na Young Sil (Kim Hae Sook). Their bustling lives center around his small diner, “Daddy’s Snack Shop,” and their four adult children, Joon Young (Min Jin Woong), Hye Young (Lee Yoo Ri), Mi Young (Jung So Min) and Ra Young (Ryu Hwayoung).

Joon Young tries not to disappoint his parents as he has been unable to pass the civil service exam for five years. Hye Young is the most accomplished as a successful attorney who has an on-again, off-again relationship with Cha Jung Hwan (Ryu Soo Young), a television producer-director. After years of trying to land a job, Mi Young finally lands her dream job as an intern for Gabi Entertainment, only to discover that her high school bully, Kim Yoo Joo (Lee Mi Do), works there as a team leader. Ra Young works a yoga instructor and falls for Park Cheol Soo (Ahn Hyo Seop), who has absolutely no interest in returning her attention.

The close-knit Byun family is thrown into turmoil when Ahn Joong Hee (Lee Joon), an idol-turned-actor, shows up one day and claims that Han Soo is his father. Joong Hee is widely ridiculed by netizens as a robotic actor, but he is determined to earn respect by landing a role in a highly anticipated miniseries about a father-son relationship. But in order to conjure the emotions needed for the role, Joong Hee decides he needs to get to know the father he believes abandoned him and his mother 35 years ago.

Will Joong Hee’s appearance threaten to reveal a deeply buried secret and otherwise disrupt Han Soo’s happy family life?

7. Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

What else could there be to life than barbells and heavy weights?

Kim Bok Joo (Lee Sung Kyung) is a weightlifting phenom who has only focused on barbells her entire life while growing up with her father, Kim Chang Gul (Ahn Gil Kang), is a former weightlifter. She attends Hanwool College of Physical Education, a university full of top-notch athletes who are driven to succeed in the hopes of representing their country in national and international competitions.

Bok Joo went to the same elementary school as Jung Joon Hyung (Nam Joo Hyuk) but reunites with him in college. He is now a competitive swimmer who is having trouble recovering from the trauma of being disqualified for a false start in his first international swim competition.

Song Shi Ho (Kyung Soo Jin) is a fiercely competitive rhythmic gymnast who won a silver medal at the Asian Games when she was 18, but the pressures of her sport drive her to break up with Joon Hyung. Bok Joo’s tunnel-vision life starts to change when she falls in love with Joon Hyung’s older cousin, Jung Jae Yi (Lee Jae Yoon), a former athlete who became an obesity doctor after suffering a career-ending injury.

Will Bok Joo learn that there is more to life than weightlifting?

8. Queen In Hyun’s Man

Every actress hopes that an opportunity will come along to play an iconic role that could bring her out of obscurity and make her a star.

For Choi Hee Jin (Yoo In Na), that opportunity is in a television drama playing the role of Queen In Hyun (Kim Hae In), who was deposed during the Joseon Dynasty as King Suk Jong’s (Seo Woo Jin) consort by the scheming actions of Lady Jang (Choi Woo Ri). But Hee Jin’s modern-day world collides with that of her character in ways she doesn’t fully understand.

Kim Boong Do (Ji Hyun Woo), a scholar from the Joseon era, is mysteriously transported 300 years into the future to modern-day Seoul and comes into Hee Jin’s life as she is preparing for her career-making role. Boong Do not only knew the real queen but also supported her reinstatement.

Was Boong Do brought to the future to help Hee Jin bring some authenticity to her role as the queen?

9. Madame Antoine

Can a very observant woman outwit a psychotherapist? Go Hye Rim (Han Ye Seul) operates the Madame Antoine cafe on the first floor of a building that also houses a famous psychotherapy clinic on the top floor. Hye Rim uses her keen intellect and heightened senses to also work as an adviser to psychotherapist Choi Soo Hyun (Sung Joon). But unknown to Hye Rim, Soo Hyun is running a top-secret experiment on her “ideal type of man” with the help of his younger half-brother, Choi Seung Chan (Jung Jin Woon), and clinic employee Won Ji Ho (Lee Joo Hyung). But unknown to Soo Hyun, Hye Rim also is being paid by a mysterious man to get a hold of Soo Hyun’s valuable experiment files. What is Soo Hyun’s true experiment, and will Hye Rim help him or hurt him in his research goals?

10. The Guardians (Lookout)

The Guardians tells the story of a group of people who team up to serve justice themselves after losing their loved ones to criminals. The group consists of a detective, prosecutor, hacker, and an extremely shy person. They want to give these criminals the punishment that they deserve, and take matters into their own hands as the corrupt justice system in South Korea fails to capture the culprits.

11. Circle (Circle: Two Worlds Connected)

A sci-fi mystery drama that takes place in both the year 2017 and the year 2037. In 2007, twin brothers, Kim Woo-jin and Kim Bum-gyun, witness an alien arrival that brings about a huge change in their lives. In 2017, Kim Woo-jin (Yeo Jin-goo), now a college student, notices that a series of suicides in his university is somehow linked to his brother, Kim Bum-gyun (An Woo-yeon). While in pursuit of the case, he meets Han Jung-yeon (Gong Seung-yeon), another college student who is investigating the serial suicides. In 2037, South Korea is now divided into General Earth, a heavily polluted place where crimes are rampant, and Smart Earth, a clean and peaceful city free from crimes. Kim Joon-hyuk (Kim Kang-woo) is a crime detective who tries to get into Smart Earth to investigate a case of twin brothers who went missing in 2017. Each episode contains two parts, the first part is set in 2017 called “Beta Project,” while the second part is set in 2037 called “Brave New World.”

12. The Heirs

The series follows a group of rich, privileged, and high school students as they are about to take over their families' business empires, overcoming difficulties and growing every step of the way.

Kim Tan (Lee Min-ho) is a wealthy heir to a large Korean conglomerate called Jeguk Group.[9] He was exiled to the U.S. by his brother Kim Won (Choi Jin-hyuk), who tries to take control of the family business.[10] While in the States, he meets Cha Eun-sang (Park Shin-hye), who went there to look for her sister.[11] Despite being engaged to Yoo Rachel (Kim Ji-won), a fellow heiress, Kim Tan soon falls in love with Eun-sang. When Kim Tan returns to Korea, his former best friend turned enemy Choi Young-do (Kim Woo-bin) begins picking on Eun-sang to irritate Tan. Tension ensues when Young-do also falls in love with Eun-sang, and Kim Tan is forced to choose between responsibility of pursuing the family business or love.

13. Laughter in Waikiki (Welcome to Waikiki)

The story of three men who come to run a failing guesthouse called Waikiki. Complications spark when their guesthouse is visited by a single mother and her baby.

14. I’m Not a Robot

Kim Min-kyu (Yoo Seung-ho) lives an isolated life due to a severe allergy to other people. He develops extreme rashes that rapidly spread throughout his body once he makes any form of skin contact. Jo Ji-ah (Chae Soo-bin) is a woman who is trying to make it in life by creating her own businesses. However, after an encounter with Min-kyu, she ends up pretending to be a robot in place of the supposed Aji 3 robot. The Aji 3 robot was developed by Ji-ah's ex-boyfriend, professor Hong Baek-kyun (Um Ki-joon) and his team. The robot was meant to be tested by genius Min-kyu, however an accident caused the robot's battery to malfunction. As Baek-kyun modeled the robot after Ji-ah, the team ends up recruiting her to take the place of Aji 3.

15. Because This Is My First Life

House-poor Nam Se-hee (Lee Min-ki) and homeless Yoon Ji-ho (Jung So-min), both unmarried in their thirties, start living together as housemates.