#there is abundant chemistry for those with the eyes to see!!!

[kinard-buckley]

the more people claim bucktommy has no chemistry the more insistent i become about seeing bucktommy fuck nasty on my tv screen

[milfp1lled]

hi! i'd love to request a chessy x reader fic where reader is a friend of the twins when they're all in college ish times (of age) and reader is crushing on chess

The Chessy Trap

Pairing: Chessy x Reader

Summary: After noticing the chemistry between you and their housekeeper Chessy, your college friends Hallie and Annie decide to try and set the two of you up

or

Two times Hallie and Annie try to set an oblivious Y/N and Chessy up with each other and the third time it actually works

Warnings: Mostly just fluff. Very brief mention of homophobia, mentions of drinking/underage drinking, strong language.

Words: 6975

Note: The word count on this is absolutely atrocious and I have no idea how that happened. Sorry/You're welcome (depending how you feel about it haha). Hope you enjoyed it anyway!

Sorry for any mistakes! It's not been proofread (yet!).

"Parker-James family vineyards" you read aloud with a dreamy sigh as Annie drives the car beneath the archway sign at the entrance of the estate- there was lush greenery as far as the eye could see...miles away from the concrete jungle that was Atlanta, or the loud hustle and bustle of LA. You tilt your head skywards, closing your eyes to take in deep breaths of clean air and to revel in the feeling of the sun on your skin...it was even more beautiful than the way they had described it.

It'd been a long 6 and a half hour drive up to Napa (the three of you deciding to split the drive between you in two hour increments) but you were finally on the last stretch.

Hallie let out a leisurely sigh from the back seat of the jeep, stretching her arms up to cradle the back of her head.

"I know we're only here for a week, but trust me when I say this Thanksgiving break will be a blast...not to mention it's so needed! We have a pool, and there'll be music...also Chessy and Mom make the best thanksgiving dinner" she rambled talking at 50 miles a minute (as per usual).

You'd not had the pleasure of meeting Chessy before. Sure you heard of lots of stories about her and their butler Martin before, but you'd only gotten the chance to meet the second half of the duo when you were down in London.

Beside you, Annie nodded in agreement with her sister, eyes still trained on the road;

"It really will...and our Mum and Dad quite literally live on a vineyard so there's no need for Hallie and I to crack out those ridiculous fake IDs either" she grumbled in mock irritation.

You let out a hearty chuckle at that, "No fake IDs...are you sure?" You grin.

"Because I would like to see Hallie bring out 28 year old London expat 'Philomena Crocker' for a night out in Napa Valley" you quip, mimicking a British accent.

Taking one hand off of the wheel of the car, the Brit gives you a playful shove in response, Hallie on the other hand snorting with laughter,

"I have class and you don't!"

Back in your first year of college, Annie had (mistakenly) tasked you and Hallie with finding someone to make some fake IDs for the three of you so you could get into this trendy bar, which lead to the two of you selecting the most ridiculous aliases you could think of...it would be fair to say the Annie didn't take kindly to having to assume the identity of  'Talulah Higginsbottom' for the next two years.

The three of you had been friends for a while now, having met during your first year of college at UCLA.

Annie was a fellow English major and her abundant enthusiasm and charm meant that you quickly became fast friends and Hallie was your volleyball teammate; effortlessly hilarious and always bouncing with energy.

You first met her at volleyball tryouts mistaking her for Annie, the only other freshman trying out who you recognised, so you'd waltzed up to her to engage in conversation...only to find out that she'd all of a sudden adopted an American accept and in fact went by Hallie...because she was a completely different person who had no idea who you were.

In hindsight...after two seconds of conversation (accent aside) you should've seen it coming...where Annie was prim and proper, Hallie cursed like a sailor and said whatever she was thinking at any given moment. After that mix up you were mortified (Annie found it hilarious)...safe to say the three of you had been inseparable ever since.

You were known as 'The Three Musketeers' around campus—you'd taken a big sister role in their lives and you'd do everything together; study, go shopping, eat...get embarrassingly drunk at frat parties.

So when it came down to holidays, of course they'd offered to extend an invitation for you to spend it with them and their family...they'd considered you as such anyway at this point.

Before college you'd taken a year out post highschool to work and save up to move states after getting your dream spot at UCLA, but it just wasn't enough to cover everything, which meant you'd come to terms with the fact that you'd spend most of your time outside of the semester in California.

To fly from LA to Atlanta for thanksgiving just wasn't feasible...well that and the fact that you weren't exactly jumping at the chance to go home seeing as things between you and your conservative parents were on the rocks ever since you'd come out as a lesbian.

Your original plan for Thanksgiving was to spend it back in your dorm with some Seinfeld reruns and a Turkey microwave dinner to keep you company and you'd actually grown to accept that...it wasn't like you had any emotional tie to such a pointless holiday anyway...not to mention there were much worse places to be spending it than LA.

But of course, the twins weren't having it; outraged upon hearing this, demanding you spend it with them in Napa. You loved them and appreciated their offer, but first denied the invite, feeling guilty for intruding on their family thanksgiving...you knew that they came from wealth but regardless having them incur further expenses because of you made you feel like you were taking advantage.

Following this Hallie had barged into your room complaining and pouting about how not coming with them to California was 'so unfair' because they really wanted you there. Annie on the other hand, always leading with logic, had given you a stern 'talking to' about how not coming with them would be a "disservice to yourself" as they were making the journey regardless of whether you tagged along or not...not to mention you'd be able to join in with the driving which was a relief to Annie as she hated driving on "the other side of the road".

...eventually you gave in.

How could you possibly argue with that?

It wasn't like the stakes would be too high anyway. This would be the third time you'd met their parents as you'd spent the final months of last summer with them at their townhouse in London, (Their parents being convinced for some bizarre reason that you were Annie's girlfriend for the entire duration of the trip).

_______________________

As you near the house, you could already see someone standing in the archway of the door, clearly waiting for the car to arrive. Annie turns down the Britney Spears song playing on the radio to focus as she squints to see who it is before it dawns on her and she haphazardly parks the car, bounding into action to greet them.

"Chessy!" She squeals, uncharacteristically excited as she jumps out of the car, Hallie following closely behind as they sandwich the shorter woman in a hug.

"My gorgeous gorgeous girls! Every time I see you you've grown taller, there's gotta be something in that LA air I'm telling 'ya!"

"How was the drive up?"

Hiking her duffel pack further up her shoulder, Hallie raises her eyebrows up to her hairline,

"Oh it was just riveting...Annie forgot what damn country she was in and nearly wiped out a deer changing sides on the road!" she smirks with a chuckle,

Annie fake laughs in reply,

"Oh Yeah? Wow that's so funny Hal, how about you tell Chessy about the fact you made us take an hour-and-a-half detour to find a gas station because you needed another pack of smokes?"

At least to their credit...both of their claims were in fact true...your turn behind the wheel had probably the most peaceful time of the whole trip. You chose to put it down to the fact that you had the latest Gorillaz album playing on repeat, (But honestly, it was probably just because you didn't have a raging nic addiction and knew which side of the road to drive on).

Watching the exchange on from a distance you let out a breath of laughter that seemed to catch the attention of the trio, three pairs of eyes turning to look at you leaning against Hallie's jeep.

That was when you really saw her.

She seemed slightly shorter than you (you put that down to the pair of 6-inch wedges you had on) and was dressed casually, wearing a pair of beige Chinos, her button-up tucked askew into them, but regardless she had that kind of beauty that you couldn't help but notice.

To put it simply she was gorgeous. And boy, were you starstruck.

Shiny brown hair flying in the California breeze, the older woman shoots you a smirk before sliding her sunglasses onto of her head to get a better look at you. You hold your breath at the way her gaze rakes up and down your form as she walks over to you before holding her hand out for you to shake:

"And who is this? She asks without averting her stare from your face.

"Chessy this is Y/n...Y/n, Chessy"

This was Chessy? You friends had not given you the heads up that she was this...hot. Honestly, you didn't know what you'd expected.

"This is the famous Y/n!?" Chessy beams, her unwavering gaze rooting you on the spot.

"I've heard a lot about you"

"Uhh...I'm y/n" you gawk, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

Real smooth.

Chessy chuckles as she lets go of your hand before giving your forearm a gentle squeeze.

"Yeah...I gathered that hon."

Hallie and Annie look between the two of you before exchanging a glance...you had no idea what for.

That damn twin intuition.

They could sometimes have entire conversations between them without saying a word and you were left clueless every time.

Elizabeth runs down the stairs, Nick hot on her heels and the twins head towards them, enveloping them each in a hug too, before the two parents turn to you.

"And y/n! so good to see you again!"

"Great to see you again Mr and Mrs Parker-James"

Elizabeth gives you a look and you correct yourself sheepishly,

"Sorry I keep on forgetting...Liz and Nick" before she pulls you into a hug.

"So how is college girls?" She asks the twins, and Hallie bursts into action, animatedly telling her parents about some scientific field trip she went on last week,

You and Annie look at each other holding back laughter.

Here she goes

This was about to be a long conversation, the twin would talk all day about her environmental science degree if you let her.

Then a blur of yellow runs out of the still ajar door, crashing into you and sending you teetering backwards slightly on your heels.

You manage to catch yourself (thank God).

Falling in front of a beautiful woman right after stumbling over your words like an idiot would've been the nail in the coffin for your ego.

You look down to see the sweetest looking golden retriever you've ever seen, pawing at your capris for your attention. Without hesitation you quickly crouch down to your knees in the gravel, letting him jump up and lick your face,

"Oh hi!" You coo in a baby voice, as you begin fawning over him,

"You must be Sammy!" You exclaim, leaning down to scratch his belly.

"Aren't you just such a good boy!"

"Huh..." Chessy states in confusion,

You shield your eyes against the sun to peer up at her through your fingers, the sun haloing around her chocolate brown hair,

It seemed fitting... Chessy had to be an angel.

"Sammy doesn't usually like strangers but he came to greet you first..." she explains,

"...Guess you must be special"

You bite your lip with a shy smile as you feel a slight blush tinting your cheeks,

Oh, Chessy.

"...I am."

__________________________

"Hey." you smile softly, hip leaning against the doorway of the kitchen,

It'd been two days since you'd arrived here and sure you'd obviously seen Chessy around (as expected embarrassing yourself each time by being a fumbling mess), but only now had you finally managed to work up the courage and confidence to say something to her without short-circuiting.

Chessy startles momentarily before turning away from the pot in front of her expecting to see Annie or Hallie,

"You scared the shit out of m- Oh! How you doing hon?" she smiles softly.

"You looking for one of the twins?" She offers.

"No it's okay...Annie is reading by the pool and Hallie will probably be knocked out taking her afternoon nap right about now..." you share a laugh with Chessy,

"I..." you smile shyly at the ground with a nervous giggle before looking back up to meet her gaze "I, uh, actually came here to see if you needed any help with anything?"

The housekeeper tucks a strand of messy hair behind her ear, a small smile blooming across her lips,

"Me?"

"Well...yeah."

"Do you even know how to cook?"

"Do I know how to cook!?...I'll have you know I worked at an Olive Garden in my teens!" you joke back pretending to toss your updoed hair over your shoulder.

Chessy pauses before bursting into loud laughter, clutching her stomach slightly. You noted how her entire face crinkled up, like her laugh was trying to force its way out of her, when she smiled unabashedly like that and you couldn't help but feel some sort of weird pride swell in your chest at being the cause of it.

...all you'd really done was tell a joke.

But making her laugh was addicting and you all of a sudden wanted more.

"Who am I to refuse the help of someone with such high expertise?" She quips grabbing another apron from the hook behind her and tossing it your way, as you grab it with a seamless catch.

"You can start on chopping the onions for the sauce" she points, and with a salute, you move to stand at the counter.

That you could do.

Surprisingly, you get a good rhythm going between the two of you, smoothly manoeuvring around each other as you focus on chopping and dicing, whilst Chessy takes the ingredients to the pot after you're done.

The only thing was you hadn't said a word to one another yet.

You opened your mouth to speak before clamping it shut immediately.

What did you say to her? What if you said something weird? That would be a nightmare; You didn't want her to think you were weird.

"So...you're an English major like Annie huh?" Chessy starts after a while, and you're thankful she's the one to fill the silence,

"Ya' planning on going to law school like She is?".

You let out an amused snort in reply,

"God no! After I graduate next year I'm not going back! Annie is as smart as anything but law school is not for me..." you state moving on to dice up some carrots.

"I think wanna teach kids: I'm pretty good with them and love being around them, so...but honestly I think I originally chose to major in it because I love to read...it's all I do."

You pause, reaching out your hand to pretend to smack yourself, "Sorry...I'm rambling.".

It was a habit of yours when you were nervous...Chessy made you nervous. Which you knew was ridiculous because she was so incredibly warm.

She was so disarming and open and welcoming and kind...so why couldn't you look her in the eye?

Chessy smiles, "No...it's cute."

She thought you were cute.

"I like to read too...I'm a sucker for a good romance novel..." she starts,

"I've been at this house so long though I think I've already read my way through all of the books on the shelves here so I'm starting to read the same ones over and over".

"I love romance novels too,” you begin, feeling a slow blush spreading across your cheeks,

"I brought some books from my collection with me this week so I could lend you some of mine?" you don’t look at her when you make the offer, trying to seem unbothered despite your heart beating out of your chest.

Chessy beams at you, "I'd love that.".

"So...do you think that love like in the books actually exists like that? ...in the real world?"

She pauses with a frown and you can tell she’s really mulling your question over, "I don't know...I mean I've been around for a while now and I haven't seen it yet but who knows".

"That's kind of a deep question to ask me over some pasta...you got your eye on a boy at your college?"

You laugh like its the funniest thing you’ve ever heard,

"I mean...I'm a lesbian so no boys...no 'girls' at the moment either though, I've not really clicked with anyone "

She gives you a look like she wants to say something but doesn't.

"What about you...I'm sure someone must've snapped you up by now."

You mean...look at her.

Chessy rolls her eyes at you as though taking what you said as a joke,

"Not at the moment...been on a couple of dates but nothing stuck...the dating pool in Napa is quite small let's just say"

Hm.

Chessy turns to look at you pensively with a tilt of her head,

"I know you want to ask...I can see you've got that look in your eyes"

You relent immediately,

"I heard that you and the butler, Martin were engaged a while back..."

This time it's Chessy's time to laugh and you're thrown off.

That wasn't the reaction you were expecting.

"That's what you were to afraid to ask me?" She looks up with a contemplative pause,

"It was around 10 years back now but, there's not really much to tell...we realised neither of us were exactly each other's type... I'm assuming you met Martin's partner Edward?".

You nod in understanding.

"Anyway..." she begins with a clap of her hands to change the subject,

"I'd say we just need to leave the sauce to simmer now, so I don't really need your help with chopping anymore...It could be useful to have someone roll out the pasta for me though"

Turns out that was something you in fact could not do.

"Is this how they had you kneading dough at Olive Garden?"she teases with a bump of her hip

"Shameful..."

"Here let me show you how to do it..." she offers gently, standing closely beside you

"Can I?" She asks hands hovering above yours, and you nod as she weaves your fingers together guiding you to follow her actions,

"You have to work the dough, see like th-"   Naturally of course, you tune her out completely. Too dazed by your proximity to her and the entrancing flex of her fingers as she kneads.

You weren't even going to let your mind go to that place... you refused.

But she did seem to know what she was doing. Chessy was really good with her hands…

The woman herself pauses before turning her head around to face you eyebrows raised.

"Did you get that?"

"Yeah...but I think I'm better off being on pasta sauce duty." You mutter, shaking yourself out of your daze as you walk back over to the pot,

"You're gonna quit just like that?" She chuckles and you shrug with a smirk as she gets back to work.

You look at across Chessy, the older woman trying to blow away a stray wisp of hair as she wipes her hands on her apron to no avail,

She mutters an expletive under her breath, opting to tuck her hair behind her ear with the side of her hand, leaving a huge white flour mark on her face (Chessy of course none the wiser)

With a chuckle, you lean forward to wipe the flour off her cheek with your thumb, pausing to admire how the flecks of light shining through the window twinkle in her sparkling green eyes.

"Thanks..." she smiles staring back at you just as intensely.

"You're welcome"

You drag your gaze from those piercing green eyes down to her lips and back up again. You were so close. It would be so easy to kiss her if you wanted to.

And you really really did. At that moment you wanted to kiss her more than you've ever wanted anything in your life.

"Shit! The pasta sauce is bubbling over " exclaims Chessy and suddenly the moment is gone as you both spring into action.

____________________________ 1.

Turning to the next page of your book, Annie punctuates the silence with an exhausted sigh,

You ignore her.

She sighs again, this one even louder and more obnoxious than the last,

You slam your book closed throwing it onto your lap,

"Hmm...something the matter Annie?" You grin,

"Well...Chessy left her glasses on the table and is blind as a bat without them...do me a huge favour and go give them to her?"

You raise your eyebrow, Seriously?

"Well...I can't be bothered to go!?" Explains the Brit as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Hallie looks away from the tv to join in on your conversation, frowning at her sister as though she had lost her mind, "Huh? Those glasses aren't eve-"

Annie cuts her off with a look.

Something was up here...but if you were being honest you were too happy to have an excuse to see Chessy to even bother to even attempt to figure out what.

You hesitate, before looking at your outfit, smoothing down your T-shirt,

You'd been laying around all afternoon...you didn't want to go in there looking like a mess.

"Well go on! If you take too long she's gonna confuse the salt with the sugar again" Nudges Hallie.

You don't move.

"...y/n?"

"Sorry it's just.." you shake your head, feeling like an idiot, you knew deep down you were being ridiculous but you couldn't help it.

"...do I look okay?"

The twins look at you, nonplussed and you can't say you can blame them, you normally oozed confidence so suddenly being flustered like this was even scaring you a little.

There was just something about Chessy that made you feel like you a teenager having your first schoolgirl crush again.

You laugh at yourself, discreetly fanning your face,

"It's just...you guys didn't tell me that..."

Hallie looks even more confused "Didn't tell you what?"

"You know...that Chessy was so.." a blush creeps up on your cheeks and realisation appears on Hallie's face as she turns to look at her sister, eyes wide.

Oh. Your best friend gives you an encouraging smile,

"You look amazing as usual...go and give Chessy her glasses princess charming" and you're shooed out of the room before you can even protest.

You don't even fully register the sensation of your feet moving until you find yourself in the entryway of the kitchen.

"You okay y/n?" begins Chessy, peering up at you from over her cup of coffee,

First thing you notice was the fact that she in fact already had a pair of glasses on.

You frown. "Uh...we saw you forgot your glasses so I was gonna bring these over to you"

She holds them up to her face to inspect them for a moment, perplexed before folding them again to place in her breast pocket.

"Huh. These are actually an old prescription so I'm not sure how they got there..."

You look liked a kicked puppy.

"But...thanks anyway Hon!" she smiles giving your shoulder a squeeze upon seeing the look on your face,

"Whilst you're here, I need someone to taste test this chilli for me...I mean I think it's the best thing I've ever tasted but who knows, I could be biased"

Loading up a spoon, she blows on it momentarily, hand cupped beneath it, before holding it up to you.

"Come on...I'm not gonna stand here all day!" she states with a snicker and you lean forward to allow her to slip the spoon into your mouth,

She shoots you an enchanting smile as you swallow.

"Good girl...was that so hard?"

What.

You chastise yourself for the place you just went to mentally before closing your eyes and taking a deep breath to compose yourself.

God, she was so hot.

"Come again?"

You'd said that out loud.

"The chilli I mean. The chili is so hot. But so good! I mean it's hot but it's like hot just to the right level. I think you'r--it's perfect!"

"The chilli! Really good"

You run a hand through your hair, face beet red as you turn around to flee the kitchen before things could possibly get any more embarrassing for you.

Chessy shakes her head with an empty chuckle as she turns to resume stirring the ladle in the pot,

Cute.

God she was losing her mind. _________________

2.

"Honestly don't worry about it sweetheart, do you want me to make you some soup?" You hear muttering outside your door and you poke your head out of the doorway, towel still wrapped around your hair to see what's going on.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Whispers the older woman as she turns around to look at you, her gaze wandering with a blush as she sees what you're wearing,

You look down at yourself realising you're wearing the skimpiest pair of pyjamas you own and scratch the back of your neck in embarrassment

"No it's okay...I'm an early riser, what's going on?"

"Annie was supposed to lend me an extra hand and tag along with me to the market to get stuff for the house and some last bits ready for the Thanksgiving dinner but she's not feeling well..."

You raise an eyebrow, Annie? Sick? That girl was never sick.

She shrugs throwing her hands in the air

"Never mind... I'll see if Hal is up to getting out of bed"

Both of you knew that hell would freeze over before Hallie 'don't bother me unless someone's dying' Parker-James got out of bed before eleven.

"No! No, I mean, you don't have to...I could go with you?" You offer, trying to hide the fact your heart was racing out of your chest.

"Chessy's face lights up

"I mean...if you're sure?"

"Yeah...you're in luck: I've got strong volleyball player arms so I can do all the heavy lifting for you too" you jest holding your arms up with a flex,

"Just give me a moment to change and I'll be down." ___

As you and Chessy walk back into the house arm in arm and rosy-cheeked from a day in the Californian sunshine, you're thankful that the others don't acknowledge how a trip to the market that should've taken an hour instead took you four. In return, neither of you opts to say anything about the fact that Annie who this morning was on her deathbed, seemed to have miraculously been cured of her illness upon your return.

And if the others catch you mooning over Chessy, whose smile was that little bit brighter that day, at the dinner table, they decide to chalk it up to coincidence and not say anything.

—

Chessy catches you after dinner, appearing slightly nervous as her hands are held behind her back.

"Hey I got you a little...you know, something to say thanks for your help today?"

she holds out a bouquet to you and you smile at her like you've just won the lottery.

You feel like you have.

"Freesias!" you exclaim giving them a sniff, practically bursting with joy,

"...you really didn't have to Chess" you beam, "I honestly had fun today...the market was fun.".

The housekeeper shrugs, eyes somehow managing to look even more glazed over over than yours.

"...they're gorgeous..." you begin shyly "...almost as gorgeous as you"

Chessy bursts into laughter,

"Real smooth. Do you use that trick on all your college girls?" She quips

You look back at her, eyes shining with reverence,

"Nope...freesias are my favourite so that's a compliment that I'd reserve for only the most beautiful of women" You state with a nod of your head.

Chessy giggles uncharacteristically before placing a hand over her mouth as though she didn't realise where the sound had come from.

Her laughter sounded like the tinkling of bells...you felt like your heart was going explode.

She shakes her head with a chuckle, "That's sweet" she murmurs, not believing you,

"I mean it. You really are! So beautiful…just gorgeous.”

You sigh, feeling yourself get lost again in those kind, soft green eyes.

You wondered what it would be like to kiss her...would she give you that same sweet laugh again? Or couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to trail your lips down her neck and see what kind of sounds she'd make.

You were getting ahead of yourself.

You've only known this woman for a couple of days and you were already acting head over heels for her.

"Sleep well Chessy." You smile sweetly with a sigh, before hurriedly turning to make your way up the stairs.

You miss the longing gaze directed at your retreating form as Chessy lets out a dreamy sigh.

__________________

"Hey, so I saw you helping Chess cook dinner again this afternoon...." Annie quips perching on the end of the bed,

"Oh Chessy! I'm so clueless I don't know how to roll pizza dough...can you show me how...with your mouth?" she mocks you, speaking in a high pitched voice and a faux American accent.

"That doesn't even make any sense." You deadpan,

Hallie bursts into laughter before joining in, giving you her best attempt of Chessy,

"Oh y/n hon, you're such a good helper! Can I sleep in your bed tonight so you can hold me with your big strong hands?" She jumps in, wrapping her arms around herself before launching into a round of kissing noises.

You bite your lip trying to stop yourself from laughing at your friends' theatrics...

"Real fucking mature guys...you're in your 20s by the way, just in case you forgot" you chuckle giving in to the humour of it.

Hallie ignores you, continuing with the kissing noises and you throw a pillow at her, the throw landing perfectly on her head with a satisfying thud,

Volleyball came in handy sometimes

"If you keep on fucking with me, I'm gonna put strawberries in your smoothies tomorrow morning when Chessy isn't looking" you tease, eyes narrowed as you give Annie a gentle shove

Your friend laughs, an inquisitive look on her face, "So what you're saying is....you're planning on waking up at the crack of dawn to help her cook breakfast..."

"Isn't that so interesting Hal?"

Hallie taps her chin, "Very Interesting..."

"You know what else is interesting Annie? The fact that Chessy has been making our friend over here special cups of peach tea like some kind of barista"

"...we don't even have peach tea in our pantry but I do know that it's y/n's favourite"

You pout, suddenly fascinated by a piece of lint on your sweater.

"Well...maybe she was just being nice and appreciated the help I gave her..."

Hallie placed her hands on her knees like she was sitting on a piece of top secret information before turning to face the group,

"Or...what about the fact that I saw Chessy reading y/n's copy of Great expectations yesterday"

"What!?" yells Annie in shock, jumping up with so much force she knocks her blackberry on the floor, the battery within it clattering to the floor beside it.

She looks at her sister mouth agape and Hallie nods her head enthusiastically in reply, "It's true! She was holding that book like it was a fucking bible or something"

"You tried to crucify me for even looking at your antiquarian book collection and Chessy has free reign over it after a couple of days!?"

"Oh you really do like her"

"What? No, I just lent them to her because she a- I was being nice! It was just a-...shut up." You stutter in resignation, face turning as red as the twins' hair

"Look anyway...does Chessy even swing that way?" You question inspecting your nails to fake casualness again.

Your friends look as you as though you were stupid.

"Seriously y/n? Do you know any straight women who own that many buttons ups? That's exclusively been her wardrobe for over 20 years by the way"

"she literally drives a pick up"

"Did she not tell you the story of why she and Martin split up?"

"Yeah because Martin was gay...so?" You question being met with a collective of groans at your obliviousness,

"Look y/n...none of us care that you've obviously got the hots for our nanny...but the tension between you guys at the dinner table is getting weird to the point that I feel like for everyone's sake you need to just go for it" explains Annie crouching down to talk to you the way a kindergarten teacher would to a student.

"Look we're all grown women here! Just sleep together and be done with it...you're grossing me out" adds Hallie with a playful eye roll

"Hal!"

Your best friends had the worst delivery you'd ever heard but maybe they had a point. Maybe you did just need to go for it. _____________________________

3.

It's just gone 13:30 when you pad softly into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes as you're still waking up from your nap.

"You? You're still here?" Snorts Chessy at the kitchen island, nose deep in today's paper but somehow still sensing you before you could even got a word out.

You perk up as you walk over to where she's stood.

"Oh please, you love having me around! You're definitely gonna miss me" You bite back, laughter in your tone

"Yeah..."

The truth is you and Chessy had been spending a lot of time together and tomorrow was your last day in Napa. You'd be lying if the thought of leaving the place, no, the thought of leaving Chessy didn't make your heart ache.

"You seem really invested in that paper...haven't even looked at me once...How'd you even know it was me?"

With a dramatic sigh, she neatly folds the newspaper before placing it on the table in front of her with a flourish and you grin as you finally get to see her face...it was quickly becoming the highlight of your day.

She was glowing... she probably had no makeup on either and still looked breathtaking. But that was just Chessy; stunning,even without trying.

"I don't know...just did." She explains simply, looking at you with a warm smile.

And boy was it warm.

You felt your insides turning to mush again and you lean against the countertop behind you to keep yourself upright.

Sure you were in California but Chessy had one of those smiles that you think could warm you up even on the coldest day...heck you reckoned her smile could probably melt the ice caps.

She casts an appraising look at your outfit, and you ask yourself if you imagined the lingering gaze on your chest,

"Where are you off to looking so sharp?" She asks after a while, eyes darkening,

Oblivious, you give her a twirl with your arms out by your sides before tucking your sunhat back under your arm

"You like?"

"you look gorgeous y/n" She remarks sincerely, gaze unwavering and you turn around momentarily, tucking your lips into your mouth to suppress your grin.

"I was supposed to go out for a picnic with the girls but, I overslept a little and now can't find them...I need your help with that actually..."

"I'm supposed to meet them at some spot by a tree? I was gonna walk down but I don't know where it is."

Her eyes light up in recognition,

"I know where they mean...but walk!?"

"It's at least a mile and a half out...on the trails...you're better off riding there"

"Riding?"

_____

Chessy watches on with her hands in her pockets as you reach out to gingerly to pet the horse,

Sure you were good with animals...but by that you meant ones that were a little...smaller. Like house pets.

Take dogs for example, (especially sweethearts like Sammy) they were easy; give them belly rubs and slide them a couple pieces of chicken and they'd be anyone's best friend.

"Hmm...that's Annie's horse..." The housekeeper states after a while,

"Hallie's horse is gone so I'm assuming they're waiting for you to catch up with them"

"I feel like I already know the answer, but do you know how to ride a horse?" Chessy asks softly,

"Uh, no" You reply incredulous with a head shake.

She sighs, a small smile on her lips before climbing on

"Guess I'm gonna have to give you a ride then...hop on hon" She starts holding a hand out and you look anywhere but at Chessy,

You had a feeling this wouldn't end well

"Today hopefully," she nudges and you sigh softly, taking her hand with a sheepish grin as she helps you get on the horse behind her,

"Never ridden a horse?...You city slickers" she playfully mumbles to herself with a soft shake of her head grabbing your hands to place them on her waist,

"Look it'll be fine...I'll take care of you" she reminds you, clearly sensing your nerves and you barely manage to suppress a shudder,

Take care of you huh?

"Actually I'm from a small town in Georgia." you quip in reply, refusing to acknowledge her first statement and admit your fear.

Chessy teasingly scoffs and you feel her shoulders shake with laughter, giving away the fact that she's joking,

"Yeah, yeah...that's what they all say. You holding on tight?"

You do as told, tightening your grip to wrap your arms around her waist as you lean your head against the older woman's back,

"Yeah."

And the two of you take off.

As the wind blows through your hair you take deep breaths to inhale the musky, floral scent of her perfume closing your eyes and as if it would somehow burn it into your memory.

She smelt like wood fire , and lilies and coffee and you suddenly feel that same pang in your chest at the thought of going home in a couple of days time.

You seriously really needed to get it together...it'd been 10 days. But you don't know if you could.

As you stop to a halt, Chessy expertly dismounts the horse, turning around to hold a hand out to help lift you down after her:

Or course you completely tumble head first and Chessy helps you to your feet, non-judging and patient as per usual.

"How are you so good at that?" You ask with a blush,

"I live and work on a 60 acre vineyard so I had to learn" she explains with a gentle shrug.

You turn to survey the scene:

There was absolutely no sign of Hallie and Annie.

The apple tree that Annie and Hallie had advised you to meet them at was indeed there, a picnic blanket laid on the lush green grass, adorned with a spread that you think belonged on a lifestyle magazine; candles nestled amongst a display of grapes and chocolate coloured strawberries, and fancy cheeses and glasses of wine.

It looked really romantic. Oh.

Hold on a minute...romantic candlelit meal? That sounded familiar.

Chessy crouches down to pick up a piece of paper wedged beneath the basket and unfolds it leaning closer so the two of you could read it:

Chessy and Y/N,

Enjoy your picnic! Thank us later :)

-Annie and Hal xx p.s don't do anything I wouldn't do! ;) -Hal

You look at each other in realisation clearly having just come to the same conclusion.

Hallie and Annie's matchmaking trap.

You really should’ve known...The twins had told you about how they got their parents (back together) when they were 10.... you'd even helped Hallie reenact a similar plan like this to set Annie up with a girl on the cheer team she had a crush on.

Step 1 and 2 were "spontaneous" meet-cutes and step 3 was a romantic candlelit dinner.

The only thing was...what had been step 1 and 2 of the girls' plan?

Chessy bursts into laughter

"They set us up on a picnic date huh?" She smiles shaking her head looking at the spread,

"We've been parent trapped..."

You look across at Chessy and for the first time since you've met her, she looks unsure of what to do.

"Look..." you begin,

"we might aswell enjoy their effort before we head back...I suppose the food does look good" You smile and Chessy relents, her hand sitting on the small of your back as she guides you to sit down beside her.

She gives you a look you can't quite recognise before picking up one of the glasses of red wine, and downing it in a single gulp.

It you didn't know any better you'd say she looked...nervous.

That made two of you.

For the second time today you have to stop yourself from losing your cool. The goosebumps forming on your arms give you away regardless.

"You cold?" Whispers Chessy, taking off her button up without a second thought and draping it over your shoulders

"I get to wear one of the Chessy's famous button ups?" you hum as the taller woman smooths it down over your shoulders 

"I know," she agrees playing into your joke, "Guess you must be really special."

She's wearing a tight tank top beneath it and you give an appraising glance at the cleavage now on show, in turn earning a smirk from Chessy. Your gaze then drifts down to the freckles dusted on her arms and you reach out to skate your fingers across them, smirking at the way Chessy shivers.

"...I am."

"...I'm really gonna miss you when I go." You sigh sadly after a while,

Chessy takes your hand in hers, "I'm really gonna miss you too."

You look up at her in surprise, being met with a pensive look from the older woman.

Just go for it y/n. Fuck it.

With a shuddering breath you allow yourself one last glance at her plump lips before leaning in an-

Chessy places her hands on your sternum to stop you a sheepish look on her face,

You frown.

Were you being rejected? Oh, God this was humiliating.

You quickly began to pull away to stand up but she doesn't release her grip on your arm,

"wait...please?" she begs, looking at you conflicted

"Look, you're in your 20s...you sure you want this?”she explains

“Don't you want a nice college girl who's your age? That would be a lot less complicated..."

"I'm sure a hot young thing like you wouldn't have any issues finding someone in your class."

That's all this was about?

You shake your head with a smile, looking at her like she'd just said the most ridiculous thing in the world,

"Sure, I'm young. But Im also a grown woman. I know what I want and I want you."

"You're witty, outspoken and gorgeous , and compassionate...I've just...I've never met anyone like you and I won't forgive myself if I don't at least tr-"

you're interrupted as Chessy cuts you off with a bruising kiss and you let out a squeak of surprise before relaxing into it with a whimper,

You push her onto her back with a giggle, straddling her waist as you lift your hands to her cup her face, trying to pull her as close to you as possible.

Her lips were soft and warm against yours and she parted them slightly with a groan to allow your tongue to slip inside. Chessy tasted sweet; like red wine and strawberries and future lazy afternoons spent cuddling beneath the napa sun...like hope.

Breathless, you begrudgingly pull away from her, leaning your forehead against hers, up close like this you could see every single little detail on her face;

The laughter lines that were deepest beside her eyes, the way the slithers of sunlight, peeking through the leaves of the tree illuminated little specks of brown that danced around in her eyes, her swollen pouty lips that now had your lipstick all over them

She was the most gorgeous thing you'd ever seen.

You let out an airy laugh but you couldn't pinpoint what at...relief, happiness,just general amusement at the situation?

You got the girl. You really did need to thank the twins later.

Chessy chuckles too, turning to press a soft kiss against your palm, hands slowly snaking up your thighs.

"...Just incase we haven't covered it already...I want you too."

[michelle-is-writing]

Unexpected ch.1, Spencer Reid

Word count: 2k~

Warning: angst - and a lot of it!

To most people, their childhoods are left behind in the past with very few memories recoverable. However, for me, my childhood memories stuck with me throughout all of my years of growing older. There were a few memories of playing outside and meeting new friends, but the abundant ones revolved around me spending time with a brunet boy hidden behind tortoiseshell glasses whom I adored, and at times, I'd like to think he adored me as well.

The reason why so many of my memories were filled with images of Spencer was because we were an inseparable pair as young kids. Despite him not going to the same school as me (since he was constantly moving to higher grades), we were still close thanks to us being neighbors. Both Spencer and I were only six, and we were playing chess on a regular basis instead of toy cars or dolls. Even so, the toy cars that Spencer's dad did buy him were never put to their intended use, and instead, examples for work problems with acceleration in advanced physics.

When the time came that Spencer turned eighteen, everything turned around. At the time, I discovered I was in love with him. I had grown to admire everything he did for not only himself, but his mom as well. He was putting himself through college with a lot of hard work behind him, while at the same time, caring for his schizophrenic mother who was inconsolable at times. To help out, I would watch her during the days and work on my school work at the same time. The conversations between Diana and I were always sweet with her telling me that she enjoyed the thought of Spencer and me getting together one day, but her words only made the oncoming heartbreak harsher.

One day, I was smiling with Spencer as he explained to me the laws he had learned in Chemistry, and on the next day, I was opening the door to a previously occupied apartment with nothing in sight. The furniture was gone along with everything on the walls. Diana was no longer at her bed either, and all that was left was dust bunnies in the corner. It appeared as if Spencer and Diana had left without saying goodbye, when in reality, that's what I was coming over there to tell them.

After months and months of hard work, my essays and letters got me into a college three states away that specialized with criminal justice and the many branches involved in it. For six straight years, I studied long and hard and managed to pull off a bachelor's in criminal justice and a bachelor's in psychology and sociology. My hard work paid off for once, and despite doing it with friends and family there to support me, I still thought about the missing person in my life. After a while, what hurt most was the realization that the boy whom I had grown up with for nearly the entire duration of my life was now a man who wouldn't be there for the rest of it.

With my specialties in profiling, I applied to the United States Department of Justice in an attempt to earn a position in helping solve missing cases with adolescents. However, our wishes aren't always delivered to us as I was instead given a place in the Behavioral Analysis Unit. I was happy and excited to receive this job, but when I entered the large and heavily secured building, I felt the air in my lungs escape me. Not because of pure exhilaration, but because of true and utter shock.

I had already met with the leader of the team I would be joining and got along with him well. Even over the phone, Hotch was a nice man, and I could tell he prioritized his team. Because of that, I felt confident that maybe I was in a place I belonged in for once. Although, my thoughts weren't all the same once my eyes landed on those of the man who I hadn't gotten to see grow older like me.

His face had smoothed out as well as his long hair turning wavy. His stature was now quite a bit taller, but he was still skinny like he was when he was younger. Plus, his fashion had changed just a little with the new addition of a dark blue tie and his brown eyes no longer windowed behind his glasses. Yet, at the same time, those brown eyes were the only things to not have changed through the years - they were still the brown eyes of the young man I loved years ago, and once my gaze caught his shocked one, I felt my heart plummet back into the love spell it was webbed in before.

As Hotch introduced me to the team, Spencer didn't say anything until everyone else had gotten a turn before hugging me to him, making my chest sting as I hugged him back. This was the person I once loved that left me in the dust during a time I needed him desperately, and now, he was the person I felt myself falling in love with once more with a certain pang following each beat of my heart. Although this pang was caused by the love I had for him, it was a painful pang that felt as if every breath I took would break a rib at any moment.

Weeks went by and I learned so much about Spencer. He had gotten even more degrees under his belt during the time we were apart, and he got to do so many odd things in his time at the BAU. He got to make-out with a celebrity in her pool; he contracted anthrax poisoning on a case; but most of all, he met and fell in love with a doctor by the name of Maeve Donovan.

The way he described her showed that he loved her like no other. He talked about how beautiful and intelligent she was while mentioning how he wished he could've known her longer. It was obvious that when she died, a part of him did too, and unfortunately, Spencer held no hesitation in telling me what that specific part was.

"I don't think there's anyone in the world that could compare to Maeve," He told me, staring out the jet window while I listened on, pretending that his swears of only loving like that once in his lifetime didn't stab me like a knife. "No one could ever be like her."

Barely a few weeks passed after that conversation that Spencer and I were acting as if we had never separated in our friendship. The only difference was the fact that it seemed like Spencer was holding himself back. He had no hesitation in telling me the things he said about Maeve, but anything that had to do with his feelings about himself was seemingly off-limits. Garcia even told me that I was the only person Spencer had opened up to about Maeve. He didn't feel comfortable saying anything else any other time.

There was even a time where Spencer and I had started a game of chess on our way back from a case. Both of us sitting at the mini table, we both exchanged moves back and forth while competitive smiles rested on our faces. "Do you remember doing this when we were younger?" I asked him, moving a knight to a different position.

"Of course," Spencer responded, countering my move with a knight of his own. "How could I ever forget?"

"You have an eidetic memory, that's right," I pointed out, giving a little chuckle afterward.

Meanwhile, Spencer happily shook his head. "No, it-it's not just that," He stuttered out, causing me to turn an eyebrow at him.

"Then what is it?" I questioned him, confused by his sudden nervousness.

However, what confused me even more was the drop of his smile that followed directly afterward. "...I don't know."

Despite all of this, we were still close to each other - just with a few missing aspects here and there in our friendship. Although this was the case, I still felt my overall attraction to Spencer remain the same. In spite of knowing that he would probably never love me back, I still swooned when he was near me, or when he would simply smile.

Then, it all came to a turning point one night.

We were lounging around his apartment after a late case before ultimately ending up in his bed, our clothes strewn across the room while our hands roamed each other's bodies like maps. Words were muttered and moaned through our lips with each moment of passion passing, and through it all, there was still a lack of depth that showed Spencer and his true self.

Out of breath, we both lie on the bed together with our chests heaving up and down. Spencer rests his arm lazily across my waist while my back presses up against his chest. Thinking about everything, my brain reminds me this isn't right - this is only going to make my feelings for Spencer grow. After this, I'm going to want more, and with the implication that Spencer might feel something for me after all, I know I'm going to need more.

"I miss Maeve sometimes," Spencer speaks up, causing my eyes to widen. "Really, I miss her all the time," He adds, my chest stopping in its motions as I wait for the next damning words to fall from his lips. "I don't know... how I get through without someone like her confuses me sometimes."

Hearing Spencer say these things causes my stomach to churn. We just finished doing something so intimate that only two close people do when they love each other, but I don't think Spencer feels that way. I guess I wrongly assumed Spencer's feelings for me, and I guess... I'm still not enough.

"I'll be right back," I murmur, not letting Spencer continue on his evening confessions. Leaving Spencer's hold, I stand from the bed and head into the bathroom where I quietly shut the door behind me and slide down against it. Pulling my knees to me as close as I can, I hang my head in a mix of shame and sadness. What have I done wrong in trying to let Spencer know I love him? What have I done so incorrectly that it's brought me to the point where I'm silently sobbing on his bathroom floor with so many horrible emotions flowing through me?

Although, did Spencer really want to do this because he has feelings for me? Or is he still so stuck on Maeve nearly half a decade later that he feels as if he's still with her and this means nothing? How could I ever be comfortable being in a relationship with him when it feels like he's forcing himself to be comfortable with me? I can't do that to him.

After a few more minutes of my sobbing, I wipe away my tears and stand from the cold tile floor before heading back into Spencer's bedroom. Seeing him now asleep on his bed with his arms held out waiting for me, I close my eyes before turning away. I know that no matter how hard I try, he won't view me as his girlfriend or partner. He'll see me as a replacement for Maeve.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, throwing my hands to my mouth to cover my sob. Thankfully, Spencer doesn't wake up as I'm putting my clothes on, and by the time I'm done gathering my things, he's lying on his stomach with his head pushed into his pillow. Walking toward the man I've loved all of my life, I feel my heart slowly break with each step I take, and by the time I reach his side, I feel torn as I whisper my last words to him. "I'm sorry I'll never be Maeve..."

Read the the second part here!

[bigfootmountain]

Handy blog on eyeshine, important to understand when squatching at night…

Eyeshine in animals is produced by a special membrane, called the tapetum lucidum (tapestry of light), a reflective surface that is located directly behind the retina. When the small rays of light found in the night, like starlight or moonlight, enter the eye, they bounce off the membrane, giving the eye a second chance to use the light. For animals that have this membrane, it is like having a built in flashlight that lights a path from the inside out.

The tapetum lucidum, coupled with big eyes and lots of light-sensing rod cells, allow nocturnal mammals to see well in dark or dim conditions. But eyeshine isn’t limited to mammals. Once, while at the edge of a pond listening to the midnight chorus of frogs, my flashlight caught the glimmering, emerald-green eyes of a huge bullfrog. And in my obsession over eyeshine, I am eagerly looking forward to the summer, when I will be searching the forest floor for the ruby red glow of a wolf spider’s eyes. I only wish that my eyes would glow, a fierce sapphire blue in the darkest of night, but although humans have many interesting adaptations, good night vision is not one of them. Our abundance of cones and lack of rods mean we see more colors than most other animals, but we can’t see in the dark. And we don’t have a tapetum lucidum – when our eyes appear red in photographs, it’s a reflection of the camera’s flash off the red blood cells of the choroid, which is a vascular layer behind the retina.

Eyeshine color varies by species, from the amber glow of a bobcat to the red glint of a black bear. The different colors are produced by the mineral content and the structure of the tapetum lucidum, as well as varying pigments in the retina. There does seem to be some overlap of colors, like bobcat and raccoon having yellow/amber eyeshine.

So is it at all possible to identify an animal by eyeshine color alone? According to ecologist and long-time tracker Dr. Rick van de Poll, eyeshine is somewhat variable so that even within the same species the color can look a bit different. Factors that influence individual eyeshine color, according to van de Poll, include the age and individual chemistry of the animal, as well as seasonal variation and the angle and intensity of the light hitting the eye. But this doesn’t deter van de Poll from using eyeshine as a clue to identifying mammals. “It’s part of the information” he said, “but you have to also be paying attention to the animal’s behavior, the shape and placement of the eyes, and how the animal moves away from the light, or if it even moves away from the light at all.”

[bird-inacage]

This is my quickie review on one of last year’s highly anticipated BL dramas and pairings. A really solid and competently directed entry to 2022′s roster.

When it was first promoted, the show came across as a mystery thriller with possible supernatural/sci-fi influences as suggested by the title. But in fact this is a social commentary drama that scrutinises the education system and its hierarchy of power; the consequences of what this pressure does to both those enforcing it and the young people operating within it.

There is high tension from the get go, as several mysteries unravel over the course of the series. The pacing can be slow at times, but that is resourcefully spent on fleshing out a wide range of characters; exploring motivations, backstories, and their part to play in the wider story.

I saw a lot of speculation as to whether the climax was heading towards a unusual twist of sorts, but actually materialised into a tale much more ordinary. The use of 'the eclipse' is a metaphor rather that a situational event or happening as we may have been led to believe. As the story takes place within a school environment, it can fall within the conventions of that genre, but does it’s level best to provide refreshing new ground - creating higher stakes within a mundane setting.

There were some silly moments, one of which involved an accidental kiss in a shower stall that frankly denied all laws of physics, and an infamous ‘it was all a dream’ fake-out kiss (which was perfection had it been real), which I guarantee drew a universal ‘AWH WHAT?’ from viewers everywhere.

Characters: I give kudos whenever a drama deviates from the typical BL top/bottom tropes. Ayan is the confrontational rascal who is unafraid to display weakness, and possesses bags of emotional intelligence. He’s presented as a bad boy but is steadfastly righteous and incredibly supportive of others. What I really liked about Ayan is he can love Akk but still be critical and disapproving of his actions, encouraging him to change and do better. Too often do we see love as a justified means to gloss over wrongdoing or problematic behaviour. Akk is the studious, reserved but easily flustered and burdened prefect who disguises a host of inner turmoil. Both are incredibly likeable in their own right; Ayan with his smartass and cheeky demeanour, and Akk with his huge heart eyes and even larger dreams of bettering himself. Both are striving ‘to do the right thing’ but approach this in completely different ways. Unlike some BL pairings where the chemistry gets you hot and bothered, Akk and Ayan have a much more wholesome dynamic that feels like you're watching two people who are friends/confidantes first, lovers second. An example where emotional connection has higher importance over physical. It feels authentically real, and that’s no surprise because First and Khaotung just so happen to be long-term best friends. This is a slow burn, enemies to lovers romance that is especially entertaining during moments of push and pull.

Pairing Rating: [SENSITIVE + WHOLESOME] Expect an abundance of longing looks, playful sparring and mutually supportive, healthy relationship traits.

Acting Performance: The absolute highlight is First and Khaotung’s superb acting, in their first official stint as a couple and as main leads. I had already seen First’s work on ‘Not Me’ where his role was an instant personal favourite. This was my first time watching Khaotung and I am in awe. These two are incredibly talented at speaking volumes through looks alone - every glance and gaze is loaded with subtext or brimming with emotion. The amount of tension they can achieve through just staring is immense. They delivered some of the best crying scenes I’ve seen yet because they’re able to channel genuine feeling from their real life friendship. If you’ve seen their interviews, they’re known to often cry over how much they cherish each other. Clearly this is a winning formula. Another fun fact is that both First and Khaotung are tackling character types here they’ve never played before, which only emphasises their range.

Production is fairly understated compared to others I've seen. They don’t do anything particularly creative or showy in the way they film or edit, but I think the objective here is substance over style.

Camera Work: A lot of shots are framed to look like they’re from the perspective of a bystander or witness. As a viewer, you can easily picture yourself in the shoes of another student lurking from afar or around a corner, who happens to stumble upon the scenes in front of you. This really hits home that this is a place riddled with secrets.

Music: The main theme ‘Over the Moon’ is very memorable, performed by none other than Khaotung himself. A piano version of this is often used as a backing track which is beautiful.

>>>

FINAL THOUGHTS: There is a strong emphasis on story beats here, where narrative takes precedence over romance. Pacing means the tension can sometimes wane or prolong, which leads to a bit of an abrupt crescendo at the show’s conclusion. First and Khaotung really do provide buckets of added value to this drama and without them, this would likely be a much less interesting watch.

(Disclaimer: These are just my own opinions. It goes without saying that one still can enjoy a show for all its successes as well as recognising its shortcomings.)

[scalpelandrose]

Beri for Your Thoughts

A/N: The scenario takes place six months after Law asked Michelle to join the Heart Pirates (she is 18 & he is 22 and still are sailing the North Blue). He still uses the “-ya” suffix at this point, as they are still getting to know eachother. This is a comfort piece I felt like writing after some rough weeks and it was supposed to be short…but then it wasn’t 😂😭.

WC: 2.9K | Genre: Fluff, slight hurt/comfort, nerds enjoying time together, canon x oc (self-insert)

Song: Chikai (slow version) by Do as Infinity

Bepo, Shachi, and Ikkaku squinted at each other in scandalized intrigue, hearing the door to the captain quarters click Law and Michelle behind them. The investigator had only joined the Heart Pirates for about half a year, and although there was inarguably something between them, it was…out of character…for either to take the next step so quickly, regardless of whatever chemistry they shared.

“Do you think—” Shachi began, but Ikkaku cut him off with a menacing grip to his shoulder before he said anything perverted. He yelped, feeling the crushing pressure of her hands that were hardened from years of working with hardware and mechanical tools.

“We’ll know tomorrow, so let’s not make any assumptions. You remember what happened last time.”

Bepo thought to himself while twiddling his paws in between the two’s bickering, “I overheard Captain asking Nee-san if she wanted to see a collection he had during dinner. Maybe it’s that.”

“Hmm, perhaps, But why the secrecy then?” Shachi made an exaggerated face of suspicion and rubbed his chin. The others couldn’t help but ask themselves that question too and were on their way to put their ear against the door, until Erebus flew in front of them and dignifiedly perched onto the knob with a box of pellets in his mouth.

“Oh…so you’re the bribed guard?” Shachi dryly comments, to which the raven responds with an offended upturn of his beak and a flap of his wings.

Bepo tips his head to the side, as he deciphers what Michelle’s companion was communicating, “I think he’s saying to not meddle in this ‘wingman’ business…?”

“Oh-ho~” Ikkaku brings a hand to her mouth in amusement, “So that’s how it is?”

Seeing no point in meddling with a ‘bribed guard’ whose visual acuity was as sharp as his talons, the trio leaves for the den to pick up a game of shuffleboard that they left off on the last time they had a free night.

Hours elapsed with no urgent matter arising, much to the gratitude of the Heart Pirates. Law and Michelle, in particular, were content with a night with zero mishaps or pressing responsibilities as they poured through an abundance of boxes and binders containing Law’s extensive coin collection. They’ve finished examining coins characteristic of the East Blue from the time Erebus began his post and began exploring those unique to the North Blue—an area Law was especially well-read in and Michelle felt as if she could listen to him for months detailing the history of each sea through a different lens.

“This one is what you could call a Germa Empire contemporary,” he grinned, holding the token to the luminescent light of the porthole.

“How so?”

Excitement only continued to swell in Law, seeing how Michelle’s eyes radiated with curiosity to a blinding point, where it provided better light than the lamp in his cabin. “Coins used to be smooth, before people—like Buggy the Clown—began clipping the edges off to sell or make their own counterfeits. The smooth edges on this show that it was made a long time ago.” Michelle chuckles to herself at his quip and Law briefly pauses in astonishment at how his voice possessed a boyish animation the entire time he was sharing his hobby with her. He could not remember the last time anyone outside of museum curators or coin appraisers asked him about coins without teasing him, so this was something novel and even…pleasant. Feeling a little emboldened from his strategist’s anticipation for him to continue, he takes her hand and places the coin in the heart of her palm, “If you count the feathers on the eagle wings, it’s just short of 66, so we know that it was minted before the 66 days.”

The investigator inhales with a smile at being able to hold something so historical…no less something treasured by her captain, but she does not waste a beat in procuring a jeweler’s eye magnifier she kept on her.

“Fascinating…” she comments, while mentally counting the feathers, “there are 54 feathers on this one and I can even see the snail shells under its talons as a pedestal!”

“The snails ironically represent each North Blue island or country that fell under them.”

Michelle gives him an amused look, “Makes sense why they use them to carry their kingdom around, now. It reminds them of their former glory.”

Law felt the grin on his face widening, but not wanting to seem like a fool in front of Michelle, he pulled down his hat to cover the mirth in his eyes and turned away to appear as if he was stacking the other coin boxes they looked through. This did not slip Michelle’s sharp eye, but she made no comment and unconsciously noted to herself that Law looked charming when he was genuinely happy. Her chocolate eyes lit up at recalling some interesting coin facts of her own and an odd desire to see him direct a smile at her made her heart palpitate, as she searched a hidden pocket in her coat.

“Do you want to see something cool?” she asks in a hushed tone, pulling out a pale lilac pouch.

Law nods and allows her to collect her words, before leaning in.

“I think you’re the right person to appreciate this,” she fishes for the mints she had in mind and presents 6 different coins to him on the blanket: each with a different tail face, “If you put 6 of the lowest value Vestarian beris in a certain order, they’ll create the city’s first coat of arms bearing twin dragons coiling around a longsword.”

Law’s eyes widened in fascinated wonder, as his mouth became slightly agape at the knowledge. His gaze flickers up to her in a silent question and she nods with a giggle, allowing him to put together the puzzle, himself. Grey eyes study the engravings with a surgeon’s focus, as his long fingers smoothly shift the coins around, until they form the described coat of arms. And there it was…that genuine smile she hoped to see directed toward her.

“Michelle-ya…I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he muses in wonder, “even if I switch the wing faces, it only looks like they are shielding the sword instead of being fragmented.” She bit her inner cheeks to prevent herself from laughing, seeing literal sparkles of astonishment replace his eyes.

“It’s something that Vincent showed me during a civics lesson. In Vestaria, there is a proverb during its founding days, stating: ‘If one cannot protect one’s blade, one cannot protect anyone.’ I imagine the warrior kings of those days held it to a profound degree, given that they lived with their retainers in the same hall and saw their townsmen daily. If they were careless about their armory and treasury or caused people who raised them to their high estate to leave by not acknowledging their efforts, then they’re merely brandishing a sword and crown for decoration. In a sense, the saying can apply to a literal tool, close allies, or an individual’s mind and convictions. I think the coat of arms was specifically designed to depict that sentiment, where the writing could not fit, such as in currency—” the intensity of Law’s eyes boring into her while she spoke, as if he was studying a scientific journal or waiting for lab results to print, made her pause. Michelle was unsure whether she should continue or change the subject. Her heart felt a dropping sensation and she was ready to default to an oft-used apology when people seemed disengaged from conversing with her, until her captain made a subtly bewildered expression at why she stopped.

The strong notion that she was the little girl he met in his dreams about nine years ago echoed in him again, so he felt that he could guess the reason for her overt self-awareness when she spoke…but if memory serves him right, he knew that a little patience could encourage her to open up. He propped his chin on one palm and pushed the central coin towards her, like a student eager for a teacher to continue, “Tell me more.”

Her uncertainty melted into assuredness knowing that he was engrossed rather than disinterested, so she continued explicating what she knew until everything worth mentioning was exhausted.

“Having the coat of arms divided sounds intentional, given what you told me,” Law pensively comments, after reflecting on the information he received, “It’s like a reminder that multiple pieces are necessary to create something larger than themselves, just like how these coins could initially be seen as insignificant given the lower value attached to them, but together, they make an important emblem.”

Michelle nods, while finding amusement in watching him examine the central coin, before playing with it between his fingers in a manner that seemed to defy gravity, “That’s a sharp observation, Captain, though I guess that’s something to be expected from a town that prides themselves on letters and puzzles. You know…you can keep these for your collection, if you want.”

Law gives his strategist an appreciative look, but restores the Vestarian beris back into her pouch, “Maybe some other time. I think you’ll need them more than I do, especially during your solo missions.”

Although his reasoning was genuine, they only told half of his intentions. A small smile spreads across Michelle’s features, understanding that he had noticed her homesickness last week and wanted her to hold onto a piece belonging to the place she grew up, “In that case, I have one more thing to show you to make up for not being able to add to your collection.”

Grey eyes blinked in curiosity, as ethereal indigo mist emanated from her delicate fingers and coalesced into a bronze token with a hollow square center. It reminded him of currency minted in Kano Country, except the engraved script seemed idiosyncratic for each character and the outline appeared like a dragon coiling around the rim. Realization dawned on him that she was showing him one of her only keepsakes from her birth country and he was rendered momentarily speechless from this gesture of confidence.

“This is…this is from Old Hairong?” a muted warmth budded in him, as she gingerly took his hand and place the token into the heart of his palm to examine.

“Mmhm,” she nods with a distant wistfulness reflected in her eyes, “My dad gave this to me when I was little to ward off ‘bad spirits,’ because I frequently had nightmares. Of course, numismatic I’ve heard that they instituted a different currency system after the civil war and restricted depictions alluding to the south, so something like this is probably obsolete by now. I thought to show you, before we called it a night.”

Law understood the unspoken words behind her decision to share this personal token with him, but despite wanting to comfort Michelle, he did not know what to say. It felt wrong to carry on admiring the item without doing something, so he awkwardly reached over and gave her a stiff pat on the head, “Thanks for letting me see this…I can tell it means a lot to you.”

Rouge puzzlement dusts Michelle’s pale cheeks and her voice becomes slightly breathless at the unexpected contact, “Are you trying to comfort me?”

“If that’s how you want to interpret it,” Law’s eyebrows knit together to mask his subtle flusteredness seeing that she caught on, “Some strands of your hair were sticking out.”

The investigator smiled incredulously, but…it wasn’t unpleasant. On the contrary, it reminded her of their first interaction in the dream world as children, “I appreciate the gesture for either reason, Captain.”

Law sighs in defeat and gives Michelle a wry grin, before turning his attention back to the coin, “You said that this was given as a good luck charm, right?”

She makes a sound of affirmation.

His fingers trace the foreign script on the head face and examine the token with a discerning eye, “I recall reading that certain countries like Wano, Kano, and Hairong make numismatic talismans for ceremonial or superstitious purposes, but the weight notation on the back suggests that this was most likely official currency?”

“I am surprised you are familiar with numismatic talismans, but you are right,” the investigator’s impressed tone at her captain’s attention to detail causes him to smugly smirk, “We mostly carried real currency with us when we escaped, so it was the best substitute.”

“I see. This is still amazing craftsmanship, though” he regards her with a warm look, “Can you tell me about the script on this?”

“Of course!”

For any questions, comments, or observations Law had, Michelle was more than willing to impart any significant background information she knew and in turn, he would share his knowledge about specific features on certain coins and classification systems. Captain and strategist were consumed in their curiosities and it seemed the moment would stretch on forever, until they heard pecking at the door.

“Oh…it must be late if Erebus is getting restless,” the investigator sighs in slight disappointment. They were just in the middle of examining a token from the Bourgeois Kingdom.

Law could not help feeling the same acute disappointment; however, there was comfort knowing that they saw each other most days and could pick up where they left off when they were up for it. The two put away the surgeon’s coin boxes and binders and soon found themselves standing face-to-face in mutual silence.

Michelle was the first to break the tension, “I should get going. Ikkaku probably has a lot of questions for me, seeing that I’m pulling a late night somewhere else besides the study.”

Law puts his hands in the pocket of his jeans and nods. “I think we’ll both have a lot of questions—and overdramatized assumptions—to address tomorrow.”

This causes her to laugh, “I guess that means we’ll need some rest to prepare for that…see you tomorrow, Captain.”

Law was about to return the sentiment, but an unexplainable impulse to extend the time they shared in each other’s company held him back.

“Michelle-ya.”

Brown eyes met with grey again and she loosened her fingers from the door knob. The words momentarily lost themselves on his tongue, before he found his voice again, “Would you mind if I walked you back to your cabin?”

An odd beat thumped in her chest at his sudden request, but a trace of gladness colored her tranquil tone, “No, not at all.”

Erebus seemed to have gone ahead and returned to Michelle’s room first, given that they were greeted with a half-empty box of bird pellets, making the duo chuckle in amusement. However, neither minded being alone a little longer, as the unabrasive darkness offered them an excuse to walk together a little more closely than professionalism dictated. A tranquil silence passed between them, save for the hum of the submarine engine, yet it felt like the walk to Michelle’s cabin was closer than usual.

“You know…if you ever need one of my coins to complete a collection, we might be able to strike a reasonable bargain,” she half-jests.

Law smirks, picking up on the subtle playfulness in her tone, “I don’t know. You tend to be a stubborn negotiator. Maybe I’ll just switch out your coin with a rock to save us the time.”

“As much as I’d appreciate you adding something to my rock collection, you should set a better example for your subordinate, Captain.”

“Yet here you are, still willing to be a part of my crew…on the other hand, I wouldn’t mind seeing your rocks, when you have time,” he returns, before his smirk fades into genuine regard. Somehow, the undersea currents illuminating the walls made it feel as if they were walking on the peripheral edge of an obscure memory, where nothing else existed except for themselves.

Michelle bows her head goodnaturedly as her answer and opens the door to retire for the night. Her legs came to a still at the threshold and she turned back to Law, who remained rooted at a respectable distance from the door, until he could fully see her off.

“Good night, Captain.”

She approached him again and his eyebrows raised in curiosity, feeling the cool metal of something she put in his hands, “Hope you sleep well.”

A small smile crossed his lips, “Same here, Michelle-ya. Good night.”

With a last glance, she closed the door behind her and Law opened his palm to find her Hairongese coin. His eyes momentarily dilated in surprise, just as she slumped against the other side of the door while holding her face in bashfulness in wonder at what he thought about the gesture.

The surgeon was in speechless disbelief that Michelle would give one of her treasured keepsakes to him and nearly went to her door to return it, until her bid for him to sleep well recurred in his mind: This was for his nightmares.

Giving one last look at her cabin, he murmurs, “You always surprise me,” and heads back to his room in a serene mood. He places the coin by his nightstand and settles under the blankets, reflecting on the events of the evening.

I never expected you to enjoy spending time with me this way nor give something like this, but...it felt nice. I don’t know how to make up for everything you’ve done, Michelle-ya, so you don’t need to give me any more coins. I'll be your personal wishing well from now on… whatever you need, I’ll provide for you.

And they drifted off to peaceful sleep…

🌹🩺🌹🩺🌹🩺

Tagging: @jazminetoad

[kota-stoker]

Adrian Monkshood

Human | Cleric of Myrkul | Guild Artisan

Hereditary undertaker exploiting grieving families by day and conducting shady deals by night. Partner of the Candulhallows, owner of a secret embalming patent, life-long believer in Myrkul’s return.

Meticulous, cynical, sly.

Lawful Evil aligned.

***

The sacred hand that reaches from the grave

Purple sunbursts bloom across Faerûn – Time of Troubles brought upon it death of Myrkul, and like rings on the water the news spread all over the land, causing many Myrkulytes to convert to recently ascended Cyric. But not everyone believes that what was already dead could be slain – and thus, still holding onto its veneration of the Lord of the Dead, Monkshood family (a single father and three sons) arrives in Baldur’s Gate, closer to the Myrkul devotees tending to the Cliffside cemetery in the Tumbledown area. Partnering with Candulhallows operating funeral carts in the city, Monkshoods open a funeral home, offering “the best closure possible” to The Gate’s dead (or rather their next of kin) before they can go through traditional for a walled city burial. All that’s left is to patiently wait till the family’s patron rises again.

Adrian is the fourth son in his family – the first to be born in Baldur’s Gate, named after the local beloved hero to help him blend in better. Despite his father having two more kids after him, Adrian is the only one to reach his adulthood – constant exposure to allegedly embalming chemicals didn’t do any good to his brothers, already suffering from past necromancy practices of their father deeply affecting his and his children’s health. Full-blooded and physically strong, Adrian remains the last candidate to eventually inherit “Monkshood & Sons” business (a joke of a name that never came true, but also was never changed regardless), as well as his father’s faith. The sacred hand that reaches from the grave has power over everyone – that is the first and the most important lesson Adrian learns from his old man.

The elder Monkshood practices his faith as his own father before him, and so he passes it on with all the quirks to Adrian. He also is the one to teach his son woodwork, chemistry, handling the dead – there’s plenty of work for an undertaker to do. Diligent by nature, Adrian doesn’t shirk his responsibilities, eventually matching his father’s skills in nearly every task, and even surpassing him when it comes to taking care of the clientele, to reading people and knowing when and how to press them to the family’s benefit. Deemed worthy to be a successor, Adrian earns the right to learn about the full extent of his father’s connections, and so old and losing his grip Monkshood introduces him to those he discovered in the Tumbledown, far more interesting than regular restless undead – a vampire coven, ready to cooperate.

Adrian’s father didn’t live to see his divine patron to grace Faerûn again. But under Adrian “Monkshood & Sons” flourished like never before – with novelty caskets to rival the coffins, grand viewings, new patented embalming procedure improving on his father’s techniques. With an abundance of health to spare, Adrian made it to elderly age surprisingly unaffected – his skin turned pallid and his eyes look strange, but he still has enough strength to do heavy lifting all by himself, requiring no assistance. He prefers privacy when it comes to his business – and people, generally avoiding anything related to death, are not eager to interfere. Many can’t even tell for how long Adrian had been running the funeral home singlehandedly – feels like he’s always been and will always be there.

Things change after the Second Sundering shakes Faerûn – again. For the first time in his admittedly long life Adrian senses godly presence – what was already dead indeed cannot be slain. Myrkul, alongside the rest of the Dead Three, is restored, although his powers are not quite the same. Still, he seems willing to grace those who stayed loyal to him after all these years with his blessing. After a lifetime spent without any powers beyond his strength or cunning, Adrian gets a second breath from the sense of becoming a conduit for the divine magic. In search for an opportunity to prove his devotion he the turns his eyes in the direction of the undead coven he had been dealing with for decades – as a potential tool in spreading fear of death in Baldur’s Gate, which, being preoccupied with other matters, seemed to forget that it’s inevitable.

Side notes:

Adrian is left-handed, all his workshop tools are custom made to suit his needs. He often catches his clients off guard upon offering a handshake – on top of surprising them with strength unexpected from someone of his age – as he believes it is their job to adjust to him, not the other way around.

An entire section of his lab equipment is dedicated to compounds derived from poisonous plants, including, but not limited to aconite, belladonna, dittany and mandrake. Rumor is that “Monkshood & Sons” besides embalming provides help to the clients wishing to fake their death – or make it real for someone else.

Adrian’s lasting relationship with Cazador is built on him being indispensable – he has no children of his own, nor assistants informed enough to run the business. Without him, his funeral home and notorious embalming procedure used as cover-up for the coven’s victims, the risk of being compromised might become too high – especially with Gravemakers nearby.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA Sensor Produces First Global Maps of Surface Minerals in Arid Regions

EMIT delivers first-of-a-kind maps of minerals in Earth’s dust-source areas, enabling scientists to model the fine particles’ role in climate change and more.

NASA’s EMIT mission has created the first comprehensive maps of the world’s mineral dust-source regions, providing precise locations of 10 key minerals based on how they reflect and absorb light. When winds loft these substances into the air, they either cool or warm the atmosphere and Earth’s surface, depending on their composition. Understanding their abundance around the globe will help researchers predict future climate impacts.

Launched to the International Space Station in 2022, EMIT – short for Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation – is an imaging spectrometer developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The mission fills a crucial need among climate scientists for more detailed information on surface mineral composition.

Surveying Earth’s surface from about 250 miles (410 kilometers) above, EMIT scans broad areas that would be impossible for a geologist on the ground or instruments carried by aircraft to survey, yet it does this while achieving effectively the same level of detail.

To date, the mission has captured more than 55,000 “scenes” – 50-by-50-mile (80-by-80-kilometer) images of the surface – in its study area, which includes arid regions within a 6,900-mile-wide (11,000-kilometer-wide) belt around Earth’s mid-section. Taken together, the scenes comprise billions of measurements – more than enough to create detailed maps of surface composition.

The mission has also demonstrated a range of additional capabilities in its 17 months in orbit, including detecting plumes of methane and carbon dioxide being emitted by landfills, oil facilities, and other infrastructure.

“Wherever we need chemistry to understand something on the surface, we can do that with imaging spectroscopy,” said Roger Clark, an EMIT science team member and senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona. “Now, with EMIT, we’re going to see the big picture, and that’s certainly going to open some eyes.”

Dust and Climate

Scientists have long known that airborne mineral dust affects the climate. They know that darker, iron oxide-rich substances absorb the Sun’s energy and warm the surrounding air, while non-iron-based, brighter substances reflect light and heat, cooling the air. Whether those effects have a net warming or cooling impact, however, has remained uncertain.

Researchers have an idea of how dust travels through the atmosphere, but the missing piece has been the composition – the color, essentially – of the surface in the places dust typically originates, which until now was derived from fewer than 5,000 sample sites around the world. Based on billions of samples, EMIT’s maps offer much more detail.

“We’ll take the new maps and put them into our climate models,” said Natalie Mahowald, EMIT’s deputy principal investigator and an Earth system scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. “And from that, we’ll know what fraction of aerosols are absorbing heat versus reflecting to a much greater extent than we have known in the past.”

Dust and Ecosystems

Beyond harnessing EMIT’s mineral data to improve Earth climate modeling, scientists can use the information to study dust’s impact on the ecosystems where it lands. There’s strong evidence that particles settling in the ocean can spur phytoplankton blooms, which can have implications for aquatic ecosystems and the planet’s carbon cycle. Scientists also have shown that dust originating in the Andes of South America, as well as in parts of northern and sub-Saharan Africa, provides nutrients for rainforest growth in the Amazon basin.

EMIT data can enable researchers to pinpoint the sources of mineral dust and get a more detailed look at its composition, helping estimate the travel of key elements such as phosphorus, calcium, and potassium, which are thought to factor into this long-distance fertilization.

“EMIT could help us to build more intricate and finely resolved dust-transport models to track the movement of those nutrients across long distances,” said Eric Slessarev, a soil researcher at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. “That will help us to better understand the chemistry of soils in places very far from the dust-generating regions.”

A New Generation of Science

Aside from tracking 10 key minerals that are part of its primary mission, EMIT data is being used to identify a range of other minerals, types of vegetation, snow and ice, and even human-produced substances at or near Earth’s surface. And with vastly more measurements at their disposal, researchers will be able to find statistical relationships between surface characteristics and other features of interest.

For example, they might spot signals in EMIT data that correspond with the presence of rare-earth elements and lithium-bearing minerals, said Robert Green, a senior research scientist at JPL and EMIT’s principal investigator. This new information could be used to look for those substances in previously unknown places.

“To this point we simply haven’t known the distribution of surface minerals over huge swaths of the planet,” said Phil Brodrick, a JPL data scientist who spearheaded the creation of the mineral maps. With the EMIT data, “there will likely be a new generation of science that comes out that we don’t know about yet, and that’s a really cool thing.”

More About the Mission

EMIT was selected from the Earth Venture Instrument-4 solicitation under the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California. The instrument’s data is available at the NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center for use by other researchers and the public.

TOP IMAGE....NASA’s EMIT produced its first global maps of hematite, goethite, and kaolinite in Earth’s dry regions using data from the year ending November 2023. The mission collected billions of measurements of the three minerals and seven others that may affect climate when lofted into the air as dust storms. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

LOWER IMAGE....EMIT, a NASA mission launched to the International Space Station in 2022, mapped hematite, goethite, and kaolinite in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The three minerals are among 10 key substances the mission studied that are thought to influence climate change. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

[wooseokkies]

연애대전 / love to hate you (2023): ramblings and thoughts

alright, this has been loooong overdue — my thoughts (and screams) on the kdrama, love to hate you (2023), that aired on netflix.

<opinions and thoughts are purely personal>

honestly, I was in a bad kdrama slump after extraordinary attorney woo ended — I only completed a couple of dramas since then (under the queen's umbrella - ahh, another drama I have thoughts about; and curtain call - or at least those were the two that I remember the most). and, I was really itching to watch something lighthearted and fun, and boy,,, love to hate you hit all the right notes from the get go.

it's such a classic romcom with all the classic (read: cliche) tropes — enemies to lovers, fake dating / dating contract, guy and girl who start out not believing in love but fall in love anyway — you name it. they really packed all the favourites into one drama, and I can attest, believe it or not, that it was really the right move.

for starters, the chemistry between the male and female leads is exquisite. to me, romcoms are only as good as the chemistry between the two leads — the push-pull effect needs to be spot on, because the whole drama literally revolves around their love life. and I'm so glad that love to hate you did just that for me (and many others too, as I have read). their ages are compatible, their visuals, their personalities (albeit only surfacing in later episodes), but what really sealed the deal for me was their compatibility on what's beneath the surface — their push factor into their relationship, and their aligned goals/values.

and it may have seemed superficial at first glance — the fact that they both start off rolling their eyes at any hint of romance, because both parties had been so put off by their previous relationships that their views on the opposite sex are far beyond warped. but honestly, I think that it's not unrealistic; I myself have seen people similar to their characters, and it's probably far more common than we think it is. but what I truly liked was that the script didn't unnecessary prolong that hot/cold period between Kangho and Miran, and their progress was pretty satisfying to watch too; they both got over the 'dating contract' bit quite early on and thus, this gave enough airtime for their actual dating phase (which ahhh!! I sooo appreciate as a viewer). on the contrary, I find that many other romcoms drag out the hot/cold phase a lil too long, cutting the exciting dating bits short :(

and since we're on the topic of their relationship dynamics — I thought that as a whole, what kept viewers on their toes were the abundant (hahaha) skinship scenes (I actually feel so shy saying this but well, it is what it is). and they were always fresh and through those scenes, we got to see a lil bit more of their relationship progress as a whole (and more importantly, how Miran's view on men shifts subtly but surely the more time she spent with Kangho).

Another thing I absolutely loved was how soft and caring Kangho was towards Miran, even when their relationship was still under the monetary contract. it was obvious that he had fallen first, and fallen hard, and i appreciated (loved) that he wasn't afraid to show it. those lovely moments at the movie set, their hugs, brief hand touches, the way he makes an effort to take care of her well being — it's kinda a breath of fresh air from the romcom department (for me, at least); I really loved that it was clear that those actions weren't really borne out of the need to spite other parties (ie. his ex-girlfriend). I thought that Kangho's character was genuine and likeable, and a simp on the inside (hehe), which led to Miran's guard being slowly let down.

I squealed (!!!) when she said "I love you" to him,,,, ahhhh T_T

anyway, moving on, I kinda expected there to be that tiny angsty part, as they always have in these genres of shows. that tiny bump in their relationship, which has a sole purpose of allowing them personal space and to feel what it's like to not have the other party by their side. soooo I guess that phase wasn't tooo bad to wait out, for me. their reunion was so adorable though,,, hehe, giggled so bad lol.

lots on Kangho and Miran, but I also loved the second pair's relationship and dynamics. quite different from the first pair, but also unique in its own right. honestly as we reached the later episodes, I thought that they were really done for, but I'm glad to see that they got their happy ending too!!

last but not least, special honorary mention for the Gilmu squad; the bromance between Miran's ex-boyfriend and colleague got me GOOD 😆 we love to see blossoming romance in the workplace, yes!! I love Kim Sungryoung's character too; honestly NOT expecting that act of sacrifice / benevolence from her at the end but :"") such good friendship there. loved her dynamics with Miran too — big LOLs from their scenes together, always cracks me up.

and okay, I'm gonna have to stop myself before this gets unwieldy, but honestly, this drama has got to be one of the best!! (k) romcoms I have seen ever. so do give this a go if you have not already, and I promise you won't regret it!!

(also, Kim Okvin is SOOOO pretty, I really love her kickass vibes and natural visuals — I somehow feel like she's similar to Yeo Miran in real life hehe. as for Yoo Teo... I don't think he needs any explanation 🔥 잘생겼다!!!)

let me know your thoughts on this show!! I'd love to chat :)

[denimbex1986]

'Paul Mescal, the on-screen lover of Andrew Scott in Andrew Haigh's supernatural romance "All of Us Strangers," got real in a new interview about those sexy scenes with Scott – and one especially "illicit" moment.

In the film, Mescal plays Harry, the only other tenant in a new high-rise apartment building. Harry shows up drunk at the door of screenwriter Adam (Scott), looking for connection and wanting to come in, but Adam sends him packing. The two reconnect later on, and embark on a sizzling love affair even as Adam finds his way back to his childhood home and discovers that his long-dead parents are still residing there, somehow alive and as young as they were in his childhood.

"It was such a joy, playing Harry, playing someone different to any role I've had," Mescal – whose turn as an adorable, and still very young, father in "Aftersun" made him a favorite of gay audiences even before his queer turn in "Strangers" – said in an interview with Dazed. "He's a little bit frightening – and drunk, sexy and forward."

The film's hot, thrilling sex scenes – directed by Andrew Haigh, himself openly gay and the veteran helmer of erotically charged films like "Greek Pete" and "Weekend" – have excited endless comment, and "All of Us Strangers" lives up to the rest of Haigh's canon in this regard.

Mescal talked about how he "loved" Scott's work as an actor, but when they got to know each other while working on "Strangers," things went to a new level. Said Mescal, "we just really liked each other."

And though Mescal is straight, he had no qualms about playing the frisky moments with his gay co-star that the role called for.

"I find that it's actually easier to play sex scenes than it is to play the tenderness after sex," Mescal told Dazed, going on to add that "you're both inhabiting a physical language – that distinct feeling of lying on a bed and talking to somebody you love after having sex."

"The tenderness required in your quality of touch is something you can't really block and write," Mescal said. "It's not like you're going to touch his hand like this at this particular moment. It just doesn't work like that."

"So I think we do have this innate thing called chemistry, which I find impossible to describe."

But he and Scott seem to have had that mysterious chemistry in abundance – so much so that it was a little "scary," Mescal admitted.

Addressing how Harry and Adam look at each other, the Irish actor said, "That's the bit that scared me. When I saw it for the first time in the audience, I asked Andrew if he remembered me doing that."

One look that passed between them was especially memorable, Mescal noted. "The most illicit moment is not actually the sex," he confessed, "but my eyes looking up to Andrew when I'm about to go down on him."

Just as intense as that chemistry was the pain Mescal intuited his character to be feeling. The actor explained that, "despite Harry being more forward and more sexually liberated, he still feels this pain and this shame because of his family."

"Essentially, if families aren't caring and thoughtful," Mescal added, "they can breed shame, which is ultimately quite damaging and you see the damage that it does to Adam."

"Adam has the privilege of being able to revisit those conversations with his parents," Mescal reflected. "Harry doesn't get that opportunity with his own and they're still living, so I think it's a wonderful illustration of how shame is bred in society, particularly in a home environment."

If anything is scarier than intense connection at the start of a relationship... especially on the very threshold of intimacy... it's got to be that thoughtless infliction of shame by those who are supposed to offer unconditional love.'

[aboataway]

fated to love you taiwanese drama review

fated to love you is one of my top 10 all time favorite feel good dramas. It's the story of a sticky-note girl who falls in love, experiences heartbreak like 3/4/5 times, and gains confidence along the way.

The very first time I watched this I was a sucker for chen xinyi's revenge on her trash ex-boyfriend. I delighted in seeing him kneel and beg for forgiveness after cheating on chen xinyi with some rando he found on the cruise. SCUMBAG. BIG RED FLAG. But now that I'm rewatching it for the 10th time, I find myself deeply resonating with chen xinyi's character or more so scared that I'll become someone like her...kinda deep ngl(but it's empowering cus she's able to transform herself in 2 years. we'll get there). I wonder what part will stick out to me in my 2nd rewatch a couple years or months later.

This show has managed to make me cry almost every time xinyi cries and almost every time that sad ass dramatic ass song plays. I love the soundtracks so much though. the theme song is infinitely happy; the dramatic song is just perfect for every tense, heartbreaking moment...so perfect. I love taiwanese dramas abundant use of soundtracks cus it makes everything that much more emotional. It's also comedic, like I died laughing when Ji cun xi went blind and had those goofy puppy dog like expressions.

my favorite parts of the story is when chen xin yi loses her kid(sounds bad I KNOW) but then radically transforms herself with dylan's help in shanghai. for some reason i experienced second lead syndrome this time around, even though I try my best not to let it get to me cus i know how this story ends. dylan's eyes are just so expressive and intense. I also felt bad for anna this time around. she was selfish always ditching her boyfriend for her career and letting him hang around as a back up, but damn ji cun xi was cheating on her like the whole time!! we don't have to speak morals in a drama like this, but you have to pity anna a little. she was very shitty for SPOILER (giving chen xinyi abortion papers like wtf).

joe chen always seems to be in some sort of romantic relationship where the guy is actively cheating. man what is this!

this drama did so good in fleshing out those side arcs and random events and life lessons and romantic gestures. I genuinely felt the chemistry between Ethan and Joe. They make me gush like no other drama(except for just you). Ji cun xi learning how to make ginger buns, him at the masquerade party with Elaine, him buying Ji nian pin, and him saying 'jia you chen xin yi' were all super memorable!

overall 10/10 story. not surprised it's the highest rated/watched taiwanese idol drama to date(?)

[kanmom51]

I feel like BHM knows about Jikook, either by subconscious observation or through actual knowing. They might even try to hide it...What do you think, KanMom?

I think that by now BHM most definitely know.

I have stated so before, that I believe the band members themselves have known since 2016, and that the second circle, meaning BH management and the staff working on a daily basis with the band had to have known, at the very least, since mid to end of 2017.

I mentioned this in my 2017 timeline:

The abundance in content, to me, is a sign not only of the two getting closer, but also getting louder. Allowing themselves to be seen. This relative new freedom would probably be a result of not only the growth of the strength of their bond, but also, in my opinion, them ‘coming out’ to the group, and most probably, at least by the end of the year, to the most important members of their production team.

This allows them freedom to act more as themselves with the members and production team, while also relying on the latter to ‘hide’ what needs to be hidden, if necessary, and to protect them, sometimes even from themselves. Even if they didn’t all out ‘come out’ to the staff around them, well, by then I think they either more or less know what’s going on, or were turning a blind eye to it. Whichever is true, at the end of the day it didn’t matter.  They are all bound by non-disclosure agreements, and would not dare to leak anything they might have seen.

I also believe that the boys, mostly, have a very good relationship with the staff, and as such, none of them would do anything that could potentially really hurt not only JK and JM, but the group as a whole.

Since 2017 those two have become even louder and way more obvious. They need those circles of protection to help them 'hide in plain sight' as I keep calling it. First circle being the other members, and second circle being the staff and management of the company. Using RB in official content is just one of those instances, knowing that the way people will see it is: "if the company used this in official content, then there can't be anything suspicious there, right?"...

I just want to remind you, for a second, that Bang Si Hyuk is the one who recommended Troye Sivan's Fools MV to the members of BTS. This is an outright LGBTQ+ artist with a song and MV that cannot be interpreted any other way than a m/m love affair.

This is the man that bought Jo Kwon his first pair of high heal boots. There is not too much we know about him, but he seems to be really open minded and at the very least a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. The relationship BTS have with him is very close and special, and I think that in it's own would have made it easier on the boys to come clean with him. Having someone like that in your corner is pretty big.

With all that, the company is in it to make money. Let's not forget that. So, it's in the company's interest to keep this quiet, not only to protect JK & JM themselves, their safety, their careers, but to protect the company's product - BTS.

What I'm saying here is that the company knows, and are doing their utmost to protect both the members themselves as well as their product BTS. Showcasing Jikook, releasing content of them together, utilizing that chemistry both sells products, but also helps 'hide them in plain sight'.

[angel-bazethiel]

What, How, Why is Flame Alchemy?

--or how Roy Mustang can potentially bottle up a star. --or I’m sleep-deprived and writing this fic that relies on a deeper understanding of how Flame Alchemy works and I’m posting what I thought of bc why the hell not? and if I read another post saying it’s plain ole combustion and how easy it is, I will probably lose my mind --or goddammit, where is Flame Alchemy?????

Content:

I. Introduction II. Mass-Energy Equivalence and Nuclear Energy III. Flame Alchemy? More like Nuclear Alchemy (and Other Myth Debunking) IV. Why would someone study such a research topic? V. Summary

Note: Long post and a lot of Science ahead.

I. Introduction

First we establish that whatever we know of Flame Alchemy is utterly bogus. Solely because of the fact that if Roy and Riza really wanted for the knowledge of it to die, no one will ever know of it. No one. So that explanation by Havoc about aligning oxygen molecules and then snapping to ignite them is not true. I mean, “reactive cloth?” What is that even made of? For a show that was extensively researched, that seems a bit lazy.

Also, this explanation makes Flame Alchemy sound so easy. So why isn’t everyone doing it? For a military-run country, one would think that something easy and can be weaponized would be mass-produced, right?

Another fact, fire feeds on oxygen, yes. But fire is a combustion reaction of oxygen and a C-H compound. Something I hope that the air in a 1900s FMA-Earth isn’t abundant of.

Although, I haven’t thought about what if the fuel Roy uses is H2 compounds instead of Hydrocarbons. That would be funny. Roy deconstructs H2O molecules only to create them again. But if you still want to see whether or not I’m crazy, by all means, do read on. I will still use Flame Alchemy = Nuclear Fusion for my fic. So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, it got me thinking how does Flame Alchemy actually work? And my highly convoluted train of thought started while I was writing this fic where I based Riza’s mother on Marie Curie. (Which I may expand on but now is not the time.)

I thought then, so how about Berthold? Is he Pierre? Naw, man. Who else has had his research mishandled during a war? Who else was a brilliant thinker but is also such a shitty dude to the women in his life? Yeah you guessed it. And what is one of his greatest works?

II. Mass-Energy Equivalence and Nuclear Energy

Albert Einstein’s Mass-Energy Equivalence is such a simple and very elegant equation saying that mass is interchangeable with energy. This postulate led to this branch of physics (or chemistry, whatever) called Nuclear Physics/Chemistry. Bear with me.

Did you know that when you add up the masses of an atom’s nucleons (the collective protons and neutrons) the actual mass is not equal to the calculated? Where did that mass go? As it turns out, that mass defect takes in the form of energy that holds the nucleons together. And when we substitute that missing mass on Eq. 1, we have a specific number for that binding energy.

So what do we mean by nuclear energy?

Nuclear energy is the binding energy released when a nucleon is taken out of its nucleus. And that can happen by either of two reactions: nuclear fission or nuclear fusion.

Now I didn’t think much about nuclear fission because that’s shit’s nasty. And I’m sure that Roy doesn’t have Uranium just lying about. So let’s talk about nuclear fusion. Specifically, the fusion of Hydrogen atoms:

When you fuse two Hydrogen-1 atoms it has three products: deuterium, a positron, and energy. Fuse that deuterium with another Hydrogen-1, we get Helium-3 and energy in the form of gamma radiation. Fuse two Helium-3 atoms, we get helium-4 and hydrogen and more energy. Then start the process again if you want more more energy.

So what has that got to do with Flame Alchemy?

III. Flame Alchemy? More like Nuclear Alchemy (and Other Myth Debunking)

I firmly believe that the “Flame Alchemy” we see in FMA is just the H-H fusion reaction (Eq. 2).

And like an idiot, I only did my research after I thought of all that shit and found this interpretation of Riza’s tattoo.

I don’t know how how much of the tattoo is canon, I tried looking for it in the manga and the anime is too small to see. But I see it everywhere so-- it must be canon?

But in that post, in the upper left part of Riza’s tattoo, we see the fusion reaction of deuterium. And of deuterium and tritium. To which I say, why? Those Hydrogen isotopes are rare. I mean, fine, a D-T fusion reaction gives 40 times the net energy from an H-H fusion reaction.

And, sure, Roy can create deuterium and tritium himself, but it’s just not efficient. I don’t know how alchemy works but I do know that to do that (by which I mean an H-H fusion, then a D-D fusion, then a D-T fusion) would require more energy than just stopping at the H-H fusion.

So I stand by my statement that the “Flame Alchemy” we see in FMA is just the first part of the H-H reaction (Eq. 2).

a. So how does it work as seen in the manga?

Roy would line up the atoms to where he wants the reaction to happen. And here’s the kicker, he can use other light atoms just no heavier than Iron-56.

But I think he uses Hydrogen-1 because that shit is everywhere. Again, not the heavier isotopes. So we’re sticking to that.

How do we know that that’s what’s happening and not Roy doing whatever the hell Havoc said? Because we see this:

I don’t know about you, but I think the sparks we see when someone is doing a transmutation aren’t just there because it’s cool.  

Atoms require energy in order to stay bonded as a molecule. So when alchemists transmute, they break the bonds and release that energy. In this case, the energy released is in the form of light. (I also have some thoughts about why we see red and blue sparks but, again, now is not the time.)

If Roy is just controlling the O2 molecules in the air, we shouldn’t see any sparks because there is no deconstructing happening.

Hydrogen-1 is usually present as part of the many water molecules in the air. So, I think, what we see is Roy deconstructing the H2O molecules and pulling the Hydrogen-1 atoms to where he wants them to be. The Oxygen-16 atoms bond with each other and form O2 molecules but we don’t care about them.

Unless Roy fuses Oxygen-16 instead of Hydrogen-1. In that case, we will see an even bigger release of energy. OH! Maybe that’s why he uses his left hand for smaller and more controlled explosions and the other for bigger ones. Because the gloves are different! One is for H-H fusion and the other is for O-O fusion.

Anyways. Hydrogen-1 atoms, by themselves are positively charged. So to fuse two together we have to overcome the repelling force by those same-charged atoms. To do that, they must meet either at high velocity or at high pressure. In the manga, they do the former.

Remember the sound whenever Roy does his thing? That isn’t actually caused by his snapping. After all he is wearing gloves. The sound when you snap is made by the pad of your middle finger striking your palm. If your hand is clothed, you won’t produce any sound when you snap.

No. That sound is the sonic boom of Hydrogen atoms going faster than the speed of sound. Also, I don’t think his gloves is made up of some special material. He just snaps to cover up the sound. Everything is just nuclear fusion.

b. How about those “flames” that we see, then?

That is how we perceive the energy released by the reaction. When the energy is transferred into the surroundings, it gives off heat. Not only that, but the other atoms in the air get excited (this is a technical term btw) and glow. For all intents and purposes, I guess they are flames? Just not caused by a combustion reaction.

c. But if that’s how the Flame Alchemy works, then what is up with the useless when wet schtick?

That is a misconception. Sort of.

Roy’s alchemy will still be useless in the rain because there is just too much macromolecules in the air. He can’t align the atoms properly and the Hydrogen atoms may collide with the water molecules. That would decrease speed which he maybe can take account of. But the time to calculate then recalculate for each atoms can be too long. So he just lets Riza take care of the imminent threat when it’s raining.

As for when it isn’t raining, but he’s wet… I think he can still do his Alchemy, he just doesn’t. Because in doing so, it would deconstruct all the lies Roy and Riza have built around “Flame Alchemy.” Like that fight with Lust with Havoc. He manipulated Hydrogen atoms and I think he could have just fused them. Instead he let Havoc throw his lighter. Good thing Hydrogen is flammable. And this:

This is just Roy Mustang being the drama queen that he is.

d. Why would Roy and Riza lie about the Alchemy?

They feed false information surrounding Nuclear Alchemy because there can never be another Nuclear Alchemist. They created a version of the Alchemy and make up some magic cloth that supposedly becomes useless when wet. All of that so that no one can learn the actual secret. Maybe even discourage other alchemists, seeing as “it has such a huge weakness.”

IV. But why would someone want to study such a research topic?

Now, I don’t claim to know how Berthold Hawkeye’s brain works. But have you ever looked up to the sun and think, “Woah. That big ball gives life on this piece of rock? How does that even work?” I hope you haven’t because you will hurt your eyes. Please use protective eye-gear if you’re going to look directly to the sun.

All joking aside. It all comes down to energy. The sources of energy we have today have their pros and cons. Our main source, which is burning fossil fuels, is very much harming the environment.

So we look up. The sun has millions of Hydrogen atoms that undergo nuclear fusion. And the energy from that keeps all of us 7 billion little shits alive. What if we bottle up a star?

If we could ever recreate even the smallest fraction of that reaction, we can power hundreds of cities. And with Helium to spare, which we can use to blow out the balloons for our party in celebration of the fact we can finally stop killing our planet.

If nuclear fusion is so clean, then why aren’t we using it?

Because we still don’t know how to contain and control it. Today, there are two designs of fusion reactors and there are research facilities that conduct experiments. But so far they are still developing the technology.

And get this, this is a very hard and expensive thing to do. Whatever Berthold did, it’s genius. Way ahead of his time. He’s still an ass of a father though.

To add salt to the wound, like with what happened to Flame Alchemy in FMA, governments have used this research to create weapons instead. Because why try to contain that energy and use it for technological advancement when we can let it loose on a city, right? Hah. We are such dumbfucks.

V. Summary

So in conclusion, human beings suck. Kidding! Well, not really. But yeah. So. Flame Alchemy is a nuclear fusion reaction of Hydrogen-1 atoms. And it’s very hard to control and contain that even in 2020 Primary-Earth, we haven’t figured that shit out.

It could have been used for the people if the Amestrian government actually cared about the people. And after the trauma Roy and Riza experienced in Ishval, we may only see Nuclear Alchemy in the distant future when humans are kinder – not just to the world they live in – but to other humans they are living with as well.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[lozzypoz321]

Word count: 3.8k!

A/N: this is one of my favourite things I’ve ever written and I’m super proud of it, also the biggest word count I’ve ever done, hope you enjoy and pretty please leave feedback!! <3

Warnings: brief mentions of underage sex, calling of child services, brief mentions of an anxiety attack

Avengers college AU

-

Bucky: Guys I’m really desperate

Bruce: what?

Steve: wdym?

Bucky: does anyone have the first period free tomorrow? Can’t afford a babysitter for Riley :/

Tony: nah can’t, I’ve got a busy schedule

Clint: economics man

Bruce: science m8

Nat: same as Clint I’m afraid Jamesy

Clint: wbu Steve?

Steve: library club and I can’t skip

Bucky: >: I

Bucky: I think I may be having a midlife crisis.

Tony: okay 1. You’re 20 and 2. You shouldn’t have gone an’ knocked up a woman at 17

Nat: Tony!

Bucky: You’re acting like you didn’t get some at 17 Tony

Bruce: he has a fair point.

Nat: and anyway Riley’s too pure for your insults Tony

Bucky: uwu

Tony: you have officially turned into every teenage girl Barnes

Nat: anywayyyyyyy, Thor how’re you coping with your brother’s “phase”

Tony: I am starting to think Loki’s goth phase isn’t just a phase Natalie, I caught him walking around in a skull T-shirt with chains this morning

Clint: oh daym

Steve: what are you going to do?

Thor: I am going to show that I respect him by buying him some flowers!

Clint: What abt a chain tho?

Nat: wait, does anyone wanna go to laser tag at some point?

Tony: oooh yes!

Bruce: yeah I’m down! :)

Steve: I’ve got time yeah thanks

Bucky: I never back down from a laser tag game

Nat: great! I’ll book it with Tony’s card

Tony: wait what?

Bucky: oh shit, I’ve gotta go, Riley’s just run away somewhere brb

Clint: oh damn.

Bucky shoved his phone hastily into his pocket and looked around, desperation filling his eyes as they searched for any sign of his daughter. The bushes swayed with the evening breeze and very few people strolled around campus, either going on a walk, meeting up early with friends or getting food. The young adult heavily sighed out of relief when he caught sight of Riley, excitedly chatting to a man, who James quickly identified him as one of his other friends, Sam.

Braking out into a light jog, he made his way across campus to the pair while also trying to avoid bumping into the other students that were now staring at him, in college he was basically known as the fuck boy. Not that he was, the only reason behind it was that he had a daughter at 17 and everyone apart from his friends never saw past that.

“What’re you doing here munchkin?” He asked the small girl who was now shyly smiling at her father. Sam chuckled at the duo and turning his attention away from Riley, “wasn’t her fault dude, just telling me how she’s going to chemistry class tomorrow, can’t wait to see that” he said with a sly smirk on his face.

Bucky mentally sighed, yes it was going to be very tough tomorrow. Not only was she very restless, but she also was very talkative and wouldn’t put a filter on around people older than her, which most of the time could be very offensive. “Yeah! I promised him I’ll be good!”

“Oh really? Well I kinda hoped you’d have something to say to Professor Demon”

“Sam,” he groaned and ran a hand through his hair “his names Damon, if he caught you sayin’ that then we’d get suspended so quickly dude” Riley giggled and looked up at her dad innocently “and then we’d go poor because you suck at getting jobs”

“He sucks at everything” Sam mumbled, earning a glare from the other man. “We better go get some food now, there’s literally nothing in the fridge except a can of tuna, some ketchup and packets of sour sauce from takeout awhile ago”

“Oof man”

The walk to the diner that he had decided on going to after he couldn’t be bothered going grocery shopping was a long one. Riley insisted on stopping for every dog they saw, to ask to stroke it. “Ri’ baby, we can’t keep stopping, we gotta get back to the dorm before it’s your bedtime”

The pout she sent him instantly melted his heart before he realised she knew exactly what she was doing and he readjusted his grip on her hand so she didn’t end up running away again like she did earlier.

-

“Ri’ what do you want?” He asked the child once the waitress had come over asking for their orders. She gave a nonchalant shrug and turned her attention back to the video that was playing on Bucky’s phone that he had given her for the wait. “M’kay so, can we get a,” he took a pause to take a quick glance at the kid’s menu on the table “chicken nuggets and chips please with… chocolate milkshake?”

Riley nodded and the waitress, who from the name tag on her apron, was named Elizabeth, began to write down both his and her order but halfway through gave a quick glance up to Bucky, but when he caught her cheeks flooded red that made his daughter snort.

“Is that all sir?”

“Riley shut up” he quietly told the girl as Elizabeth walked away with her head down. “She was flirting with you dad” she laughed making him jokingly nudge her across the table “Oi, and anyway she’s not my type munchkin”

“Well don’t be too loud, the creeps staring at you dad”

He didn’t mean to, but without thinking his head whipped round to instantly make eye contact with the woman who was biting her lip, her eyes now as big as plates. His cheeks heated furiously as he immediately turned back around to face his adorable giggling daughter. “You better like those chicken nuggets munchkin cause I’ve got to go through this to get them”

“I will dad, I like chickens”

-

“Riley, come on you gotta get some sleep” he groaned once she’d slid onto the sofa where he was writing his assignment last minute for the fifth time that night.

“But dad,” She whined and pulled on the sleeve of the college logo sweater he had pulled on without even thinking about it once they’d got home as he had only just realised he had a paper to write, “I’m not tired and I don’t want to be alone”

His eyes softened at the pleading look on her face that would get him to do anything she wanted him to “m’kay baby, how about we go into into the bedroom and you try to get some sleep while I finish this up”

She nodded enthusiastically and he picked up the study books and paper in one hand and Riley in the other, deep eye bags could be found on his face from the lack of sleep that he had spent pulling all-nighters working on college work and began to make his way into the small room that had a single bed pressed up against the wall with a mattress next to it, an abundance of blankets on both.

He set the small girl onto the single bed and lowered himself down into the smaller one, using the bed frame to press his back against and using a hardback book underneath the paper to rest on.

“Why do people stare at you?” Bucky only just heard Riley mumble as her eyes struggled to keep open. He stopped writing but kept his hand in the same place while grinder his teeth, wondering what to say. “Cause baby… people don’t really think that I should have you this young,” he struggled to find the words as he felt his daughter roll onto her back to listen “but they don’t understand that I love you a lot, don’t I munchkin?”

Riley giggled behind him and uttered a small yes. “At least they haven’t tried to take me away again”

The young man's breath hitched in the back of his throat at the memory flashed through his mind. They’d been watching a movie with Steve after their classes and a knock had sounded on the door.Apparently, Child services had been called by one of the students and they tried to take her away but he wouldn’t let them, they had threatened to take him to court because the living settings were not meant for a child but 17-year-old Steve had calmly spoken to them outside the room while James had been on the edge of a panic attack inside.

“Yeah, scared me Ri’” his horse voice answered back making her eyebrows scrunch in confusion “I’m not going anywhere dad. Well, unless I die but y’know”

He sent her a bitch face look over his shoulder which made her uncontrollably giggle. Bucky chuckled and set his attention back to the essay while absent mindedly talking to her about random things.

“Is Loki gonna be at the laser tag place?” She asked and added on excitedly “oooh can I come dad?!”

“Sure doll, let me tell the guys”

Buck: we got plus ones on this laser tag thing?

Bruce: whyyyy??

Thor: oooh if that is the case I would very much like to take my brother!

Nat: oh are you bringing Riley then?

Buck: yup

Steve: I don’t see why not

Tony: I’m off to speak to this really hot girl

Clint: what that spice girl?

Buck: do you mean pepper?

Clint: ah yes!

He chuckled at the screen and chucked his phone to the side while looking up to his daughter on the bed above him, going to tell her they approved before stopping and smiling to himself as he caught sight of her peaceful, sleeping form.

Without waking her up, he got off the mattress and tucked in the blankets, quietly laughing as he retrieved the earbuds she had borrowed in the diner from her pocket. “Night munchkin”

-

Bucky groaned as the ringing of his phone awoke him, the technology next to his ear from when he had fallen asleep sat up. “Wha’?”

It was so early in the morning that he didn’t even have the energy to think of a proper sentence, never mind say one.

Steve: hey guys make sure your ready, it starts an hour after school

Clint: Steve. School. Finishes. At. 6. Pm. What. Tf. Do. You. Mean. It. Starts. In. An. hour. After.

Nat: we thought you could do with a late start

Tony: fuck you Romanoff

Clint: ten bucks says she’s smirking rn

Buck: ughhh

Bruce: I feel exactly the same way

Buck: no you don’t. I spent up until 6 am doing that English essay I forgot about

Tony: oof

Bucky: I will physically be running on caffeine this morning so be ready

He took a look around the messy room before deciding he would clean it another day and raised himself onto his feet before making sure Riley was still on the single bed asleep. He made his way to the tiny kitchen that held a mini-fridge, microwave, kettle and an oven with two counters on one side to make himself a cup of coffee that he was depending on if he had to spend an hour of his day running around in sweaty gear and a fake gun while making sure his daughter didn’t run away to get some sort of snack.

“Fuck” he mumbled as the loud whirring of the kettle started, sure to wake Riley up. “I’m tired” he heard a voice groan behind him, making the man whirl around, instantly making eye contact with his daughter. Sighing out of relief and returning back to the drink he was previously making. “So am I doll, yet you can’t have coffee”

He made her go get dressed and brush her teeth while he had a mental breakdown over what he was going to do about the paper he didn’t manage to finish before he fell asleep last night.

“Dad,” Bucky looked up to find Riley once again dressed in a pair of Joggers and a baggy T-shirt that she’d dragged out of the very few clean clothes in her draw “someone’s messaging your laptop”

She struggled to hold up the open device that showed multiple emails from one of his professors questioning his performance in class for the recent weeks. He inwardly cursed and took the laptop from her to begin emailing her back, choosing to ignore the insults she had thrown at him and his daughter in the middle of it.

“She is so full of-“ he stopped halfway through the sentence, noticing that Riley was sat next to him, quietly playing a YouTube video on his phone. “Whatcha watching Ri’?” He asked, his attention still focusing on trying to be professional in the email back. “c- c-“ she struggled to pronounce the word so she passed it to him.

“Commentary channels?” The man asked with a laugh, thinking about how most parents wouldn’t even let their 4 child near a video like that but yet again he wasn’t like most parents. He was 20 and had to do this alone.

“Oh yeah”

“Come on munchkin, we gotta get to first period before we’re late” he told her and grabbed his backpack to quickly shove his college things in before glancing at the digital clock on his phone and scooping Riley up so they could get there quicker.

Halfway through the panicked running across campus, the small girl decided she needed a nap and fell asleep against his shoulder, making Natalia laugh as they passed.

As soon as he arrived in the classroom he knew it was a bad idea when 11 pair of eyes fell to his, heavily panting and holding an asleep 4-year-old.

“Sir he’s late” a girl, younger than him moaned to the teacher who was now shrugging his shoulders “I don’t care”

“But professor, why’d he bring the baby?”

Bucky had enough of everyone staring at him, he readjusted the bag on his back before making his way to the back of the class, sitting in an empty seat in between Sam and Tony and placed Riley on his lap.

“That’s a good question Jaimee, Barnes?”

“Couldn’t find anyone to look after her professor” he mumbled in response, making sure to be loud enough to hear. “No babysitter?”

“Can’t afford it sir”

He didn’t once make eye contact with anyone in the room, instead putting his attention on the books that he was bringing out of his bag. “You alright man?” Tony whispered across the desk and flicked a pen at him, “Oi” Bucky hissed as the metal came in contact with the side of his head making Sam laugh loudly at him.

“Dad,” a mumble was heard quietly, making the older man look at his daughter, eyes that were previously closed were now looking up at his wide with pleading “I’m hungry”

If he was anywhere else in the world he would have sworn loudly, but right now he was in a class with 10 other students and his daughter. “Okay baby, but you're gonna have to wait for a while, we’re in my class but I’ll get you something after okay?”

She nodded and rested her hair back against his chest, making him smile slightly as he went back to taking notes of the class. “I’ve got skittles,” Sam held out the family-sized packet of sugary sweets making Riley do grabby hands towards it. Without asking Sam gave her it, earning a goofy smile from the girl. “Thank you dude but she’s literally gonna get the biggest sugar rush possible now”

“Aha, can’t wait to see that”

-

By halfway through the period Riley was already rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, on the spot next to Bucky’s chair, his hand holding hers to make sure she didn’t run up to the front and distract everyone. “Dad, are you going to work tonight?”

“Yeah munchkin, not for long though, you can stay with Stevie. How about that?”

“Yeah, m’kay”

Suddenly the professor spoke up, directing his attention to Bucky “Barnes, the symbol Sb stands for stibium or stibnite. What is the modern name of this element?”

“That doesn’t sound like English dad” Riley loudly whispered to him, making the class laugh, “and what do you think the answer is?”

The girl pondered for a second and looked at her dad with seriousness drawn upon her features “...tell me,”

-

“Laser in the house!” Clint exclaimed in excitement once everyone had found their way to the front of campus where they’d agreed to meet.

“I like lasers,” Riley gushed while smiling brightly making most of the young adults chuckle, Loki however, did not. “Why did you have to bring me?” The man grumbled, sending a death glare towards his brother.

“Why are you dressed like that?”

“Riley no-“

“Did you go through childhood trauma to endure this?”

“Ri’ you can’t ask-“

“Why is there a child?” Loki asked as if he had only just noticed she was there. “She is Barnes’ daughter brother” Thor said and gently patted her head, making her scowl.

“You have a daughter?”

“I’ve had her for 4 years dude”

“Oh”

Steve grabbed his phone from his pocket and glanced at the time “guys we’ve gotta be there in half an hour we better get goin’”

“Alright Rogers, you really do like to keep track of time don’t you?” Tony asked and rolled his eyes making Nat nudge him in the ribs. “Tony, I’m not that old”

“You're 21, everyone else is 20 punk” Bucky teased him but stopped when he sent him a death glare. “Erm, I’m not 20.” The young girl pointed out while everyone else started making their way to the entertainment place. “Smart girl Ri’”

“Wait, do we need to decide the teams?” Bruce asked everyone once Bucky and Riley had caught up with the rest. “Ooooh,” Clint exclaimed with wide eyes “dibs on Natasha! She’s got good aim.”

“I’m gonna stick with you. Power team” Bucky whispered down to the stupidly smiling girl as she nodded furiously. By the time everyone had chosen their teammates and managed to agree, the group had arrived. “This’ll be great” Bruce sighed once they’d caught sight of the room of light-up vests with attached laser guns.

“Rules,” a middle-aged man who looked like he’d given up on life, walked into the room with a clipboard in hand “No Running, No Physical Contact, Hold Laser with Both Hands, No Climbing, Players must be careful when manoeuvring around interior arena walls, Please let us know if any of your guests suffer from the following: Asthma, epilepsy or suffer from seizures caused by fog or strobe lights.”

Everyone was quiet for a second before Steve quietly spoke up with a blush “I have asthma, sir.”

The worker took a pause and pondered for a moment, as though this had never happened in his whole 68 years of working there, “just… don’t start a fire alright?”

They all nodded in agreement, just happy that he’d been let in, and began to enter the massive room where the game was about to take place. “Right, so, let’s not rugby tackle people like you did last time,” Steve said and mostly directed it to Thor who smiled sheepishly “cause- err, there’s a kid, yeah, Riley, that’s it”

Bucky chuckled and picked up the fake laser gun as the lights began to darken, “let’s get this party started”

As soon as the words left his mouth, chaos ensured, young adults setting off running to find a place to set-up camp. As he wanted to be fast, Bucky quickly picked up Riley and began to run towards a pillar so he could hide behind it, so he’s able to get a good view of people.

“How does it work?” Riley whispered from the spot of her back pressed against his chest so she could also see and indicated towards the gun. “Gotta put your finger on the trigger” he instructed and took ahold of her index finger and brought it over to the weapon, placing the rest of her hand on the handle while her other one held the underneath of the top part, trying not to drop it.

The whole room was silent for a good 5 minutes before Bucky decided to make a move, taking hold of the collar of her jacket to gently pull her up with him. Not holding Riley’s hand as she would have ended up dropping the laser gun if she didn’t have two hands on it.

The two of them scouted out the place trying to be quiet so they didn’t get caught. Suddenly, making them jump, a loud zapping sounded in the distance, indicating that someone had found an enemy. He began to run away from the sound, after making sure his daughter was following and attempting to find somewhere to hide again but this time he didn’t find a deserted place.

“Aha!” Nat yelled and jumped out from behind a pillar while aiming the laser at Bucky’s chest. His panicked yelling and screaming filled the air as he made a run for it, completely forgetting about his teammate left behind and the rule “no running”. Suddenly, before he could brace himself his body went flying, his foot getting stuck on a stray shoe that belonged to Thor. At the same time Steve had jumped out, meaning to get the man in the chest, but instead Bucky had landed on him, using him to muffle the landing, earning an “ow man...” in return.

Bucky wanted to move, he really did, but he just couldn’t. He was in a trance, his and Steve’s baby blue eyes made eye contact, without knowing what he was doing, Steve’s body involuntarily leant up: closer to the younger man. His lips never looked more inviting, but all of a sudden a yell broke out in the room.

“Dad! Help! Nat nearly got me!”

The father scrambled up off the floor, his mind going a million miles an hour about what just happened and why it was wrong. He was his best friend. He should only see him as a friend.

Without meaning to, he ran away from him, not bothering to even spare Steve a second glance in search of his daughter, who was now cowered in one of the room's corners, trying not to get shot. Bucky chuckled slightly at the tactic and crossed the room, luckily not being noticed by Tony and Nat who were having a shoot off at each other from their opposite ends in the room.

“Nat nearly got you Ri’?”

“M’ yeah and you weren’t there.”

Guilt coursed through the mans veins as he remembered that he’d left her, but before his mind could go wondering to the events after it, he stopped himself, “sorry munchkin”

“Is’ okay, just don’t do it again dad”

He silently laughed at the sincerity in her voice and grabbed her hand to lead her away from the battle scene so they could get somebody else in the laser tag game. In quiet discussions they settled on Bruce, the one who was most likely to not be paying attention, and if he was it would still be easy to take aim without him seeing.

“Come on Ri, we got this.”

-

@donutloverxo @xolovegrace @rooskaya-yelena @deephideoutmilkshake @kidney9-9 @marvel-ous-hobbit @snarky--starky @rae-is-typing @stargazingfangirl18 @canadianhufflepuffavenger @herecomesthewriterwitch @every-marveler-ever

[blue-mint-winter]

Dune trailer reaction/analysis

Paul’s vision

Paul’s whispering voiceover resembling Lynch’s Dune (also Leto II My skin is not my skin. Something’s changing in him, something’s happening.)

seeing Chani in casual outfit first, very nice. She’s a woman and she’s special to him. Though it is also total opposite of her book introduction in which when Paul first saw her in a stillsuit, he thought she was a young warrior.

kissing scene - looks tender and with chemistry + stillsuit is very prominent in it

the trailer promises an emphasis on their romance in the film which is good because this wasn’t done well before in previous adaptations (or the book itself lol because they just got together and that was it, no extra drama.)

the eyes of Ibad! and she calls him - his destiny calls

he wakes up in the dark, and the headboard of his bed is gorgeous!

also this is literally “The sleeper must awaken”

but the contrast between the dream full of light and waking in the dark bedroom, mmmm nice

“there’s a crusade coming” - Paul knows what’s up, the vision of him looking at war and devastation with Chani is very foreboding - AND it doesn’t say what’s this war about and who’s fighting which is a clever set up - if you don’t know the book, then you know all of it XD. But this gives the plot the sense of mystery and danger and stakes.

GOM JABBAR

I am gushing over the symmetry of that shot in the dark room, with Paul at the center and HIS LEGS. Look how he’s standing!

His face when she asks him about his dreams!

that Atreides sign on the collar! He looks so good!

“From director Denis Villeneuve” and the cut to above clouds and a lightning - a storm is coming. Also a shot VERY reminiscent of his work on Arrival and those clouds.

The most famous, iconic, first scene of the book is in the trailer - well, it makes sense to use it to get people interested.

I LOVE Gaius Helen Mohiam’s costume design in this. I think it might be the best ever. Also, her voice, her acting, it all fits. She’s mysterious, hides her face, she’s dangerous, she’s fast, sharp, dangerous, wise. It is her.

Caladan

Flying boxes - ships/drones/tech because this is still the future despite the feudal system

Paul on the shore on Caladan

I really LIKE the music here. Gives me PoP vibes :)

Anyway, the whole idea of making Caladan the total opposite of Arrakis by making it so dark - that’s different than what I’m used to. I always imagined it as a very green, fertile world, abundant with water, life and plants. Traditionally Giedi Prime is the dark planet. BUT I can see the logic behind making Caladan so sunless, cloudy, water and stone kind of planet - illustrates the stark military nature of Atreides rule just as well as Paul’s uniform-style clothing. They are war-like. And it is very opposite to the scorching sun of Arrakis and lack of water on the desert. And the similar austerity of both is thematically appealing. We get a sense from those surroundings and gom jabbar scene that Paul wasn’t just a duke’s spoiled son.

“You inherited too much power” - hmm, that does sound ominous, GHM wants him gone!

THAT training scene with Gurney!!!!!!

first of all, the actor looks just right, I think it’s Josh Brolin? I like that I didn’t immediately think Thanos when I saw him,  instead I recognized it’s Gurney!

They made the fight FAST!!! And it looks awesome! The issue is that in the book those fights are slow because they use the energy shields, but it would look stupid on film, so instead making it fast was a stroke of genius - visually great and also makes you think the characters are total badasses (which they are)

Is Paul looking at a sunrise or a sunset over the ocean? My guess is sunrise, but it’s pretty ambiguous, could be either and fit the theme of him leaving Caladan/beginning his journey towards destiny. And he looks so handsome in this shot.

Atreides Family

Paul needs to surpass his ancestors - and the shot on some ancient sculpture with Greek writing referring to the mythical Atreides he’s descended from. Awesome, really awesome since his powers as Kwisatz Haderach are based on the ancestors.

Oscar Isaac introduced as Duke Leto and the shot of the palace on Caladan - nice, looks very much like fortress, surrounded by sea and protective stone

Greek style pottery in the palace too

Jessica too! she looks worried

seems that Leto is putting a hand on her nape, an intimate gesture but also kind of... possessive?

Arrakis

They arrive, Paul smiles

more foreboding despite everything looking fine, they have an army, they look strong and prepared

freaking Jason Momoa as Duncan greeting Paul LOL - but this had a right, genuine emotion to it. Very nicely done.

Stilgar! Harkonnen troops! Rabban! Baron!

Doctor Yueh, at last

More foreboding and Duncan being Duncan, but Jason Momoa style - he’s kind of “if Ronon was cocky and loud”. Alright. I had concerns about him, but he might work out in this role. I just don’t see him as a heartthrob knight type honestly. Really wonder how he and Jessica would be done. And I don’t know about him and Alia or the ghola fuckery in later books. (They would have to get a different actor for Duncan in Heretics, there’s no way Momoa could work.)

Paul in stillsuit, ok.

Back to gom jabbar and Chani - he sees she’s real!

The chorus sounds good with the explosions

Ornithopters look like dragonflies, I like it.

Baron... in a bath??? Is it spice bath?

some other iconic scenes from the book only hinted but who knows, knows what they are :)

SHAI-HULUD!!!

Paul in full stillsuit gives me life. Cover up completely, because you gotta save all the water

Final thoughts

This is an amazing trailer. THE HYPE IS REAL. This movie might be the definitive Dune adaptation. I love the visuals, costumes, scenery, designs, cinematography, music. Actors seem to fit well in their roles. Especially Paul rocks.

The focus on Paul and his journey is good, but I am a little worried about Jessica, because she’s barely in the trailer and in the book she’s the character we start with. She’s a co-protagonist and I would hate for her to get sidelined like in Lynch’s film. I am hoping they’re saving her for the best.

Also, no sight of Alia? Is she going to be in the movie at all? She might not if this is adapting only the first half of the book.

Anyway, I am very excited. As far as trailers go, this was awesome. It gave enough info but didn’t try to explain everything about the world and the characters. We get the basic premise and some of the characters, but it left out most of the surprises. As an ad, this is solid and gives us a taste of what it’s going to be like to watch this movie. Good job, Denis Villeneuve. I knew you could do it.

[stay-outta-my-blood-circle]

A(llbright), B(arnes), C(alvert)

A somewhat collaborative piece of original fiction which may or may not be continued. @buttered-ghost-toast​ @carpenter-synth​

Summary/alternate title: Two girls, a vampire, and a bookstore.

Juniper was tired - the kind of tired that begins as something small and harmless, but in time eats up the marrow of your bones to make its home there instead. (If you let it, it'll keep eating and eating until there's nothing else left of you at all.)

Against all indications, the experiments continued to end in failure; it was always a savage blow to the time and care she had put into her work, her legacy, her life - and with each one she lost not only a sample but a human soul. (Each time, she also lost a little bit of herself - her confidence, her hope, her very heart - but that wasn't important to her process so it was easier to ignore.)

Her backers kept pushing for more tests, faster, with greater numbers; she was lead scientist of this project, but that didn't mean much when other people controlled the purse strings. She wasn't sure how much longer she could tolerate the reckless abandonment with which her superiors operated. Then there was the federal government to deal with - but that was a concern for a later date.

She removes her glasses, rubs her eyes, and then presses her fingers to her temples.

She's exhausted, but she's going with a friend to the local book store later. Maybe that would improve her spirits.

-----

Amber was tired - the kind of tired that sleep doesn't cure, only postpone, because it was rest she truly needed, and that was much harder to come by than sleep. (Some people think they're the same thing; some people are wrong.)

It was hard running a local business. The margins were always close, she had staff - neighbors and friends - to watch out for, and she was fighting a war of attrition with the big franchise bookstores, which she was slowly losing. (She cared about her employees and their families, which is more than she could say for those other places, but care and stress have a direct relationship, not an inverse one.)

She'd instituted a few fun little marketing ideas to increase business, and hired a witty teenager to run their social media. It was helping, and she knew there existed a customer base that cared a lot about the shop - regulars, close enough to be considered family. She'd so far been able to avoid laying off staff, which was a great victory in her mind.

She takes another sip of her third coffee of the day (it's noon), glaring down at one of her competitors' ads in the paper.

Her book club was meeting here later; she hoped that would cheer her up.

-----

Lydia was ecstatic - the kind of ecstatic that resists all attempts to control it; no matter how hard you try to relax you'll find yourself pacing, fidgeting, tapping fingers and toes. (It's maddening, but sometimes the body does weird things in an attempt to keep up with the mind, and you just have to allow it.)

She has a date with a really cute girl scheduled for that evening - a chance encounter that led to the discovery of some natural chemistry. She hadn't liked someone this much in probably a hundred years. (In reality it hadn't been that long, but when you've been around for a few centuries the concept of time becomes a little bit loose.)

She'd found so much to love in the world since she'd been given the gift of the vampirism - a gift that was ultimately just time, that thing which dictates every aspect of life by either its abundance or its lack. People, however, seemed only to worsen as her years stretched on, and any friends she did manage to make were horribly, heartbreakingly temporary. She'd spent too much time alone, lately.

She pulls another blouse out of her closet, holding it up in the mirror to see how well it goes with her flowing skirt.

Today might bring about some much-needed change in her life, and she couldn't wait.