#this version is so much better than the one we got wth

[sharkteethunderneathmysocks]

Love Scene - Episode 11 (Director's Cut)

[imthepunchlord]

The Marinette Swap

Adrien version

I should wait for the Paris Special to come out first, but man, I can't help but ponder the potential dynamics and fun there could be just shuffling up the two Marinettes and fun it could've brought being in each other's own reality.

Like, Special!Marinette actually being in the canon world, and she's this way between Chloe's bullying and no one stepping up to help her, so she helped herself. She went punk/goth/emo, largely to piss Chloe off. And she's petty, jaded, spiteful, and cynical. Despite all this, she's still Marinette at the core. She's not going to turn a blind eye to those in critical need.

So she still rushes out to go help Fu, but she tells him off afterwards cause wth was he thinking. But hey, that warrants her getting the earrings. Maybe she just needs a bug to soften her up.

I don't know if Alya will become her best friend, as I don't see this Marinette backing down when Chloe tries to scare her out of her seat. It could be that Chloe begrudgingly backs down, shoos away Alya who goes to sit with Nino (or Marinette, liking her spitfire; though if Alya sits next to Nino that leaves Adrien to sit next to Marinette), or maybe Bustier intervenes and forces Marinette to sit elsewhere. Which maybe she sits either by Alya or Nino (or maybe Ivan?).

Idk, what happens in the classroom is up in the air.

Either way, Stoneheart happens, Marinette nopes out, and finds the earrings and there's Tikki telling her she's got to be a hero!

Only it's a lot harder getting this Marinette going cause no, is she crazy? What the heck even is she?

It takes the damage in the city to get worse to convince Marinette to go out and see what she can do, though she makes it clear she's not going to be a hero. She's going to pass the earrings on. Tikki will take it, desperate and pressed for time. So Marinette heads out a lot more prepared, internally panicking still, but having a better idea what she needs to do. She saves Chat, and gets Stoneheart resolved in just one setting.

Chat likes her efficiency and thinks she's cool, but man is she cold. He does call her Ice Queen or Red Queen occasionally, just to be teasing.

And responsible Marinette wants to pass the earrings onto someone she knows could be a good hero, only there's no one she really knows that she can pass the earrings onto and take this off her hands. So she's kinda stuck with it.

So this jaded Marinette is stuck working off the optimistic Tikki and playful Chat, with the former trying to help Marinette heal and embrace the role to be a hero while Chat is trying to get her to smile and loosen up and have some more faith in humanity. And she does perform her duties and she does help people, even if she's standoffish and doesn't have a lot of patience for people.

And their whole dynamic is just summed up as:

Now, Canon!Marinette in the Special's world is a little harder as we don't have a lot of info or seen much of it yet (outside leaks/rumors, but I don't know how true those are, the few I've seen anyway). So this is a little more creativity/headcanon territory.

But, Marinette's pretty happy in a Paris cared for and protected by the Butterfly hero, though she thinks he kinda looks like a loser, but hey, she appreciates what he does. She'll just keep those criticisms to herself.

So she's surprised one day when a curious pair of earrings show up and a little bug thing is like "Hey, you're chosen to be a hero!" and she's just so confused cause they already have a hero? But, if he needs help, Marinette wouldn't mind lending a hand, cause he's done so much, and it's not like she's going to deal with the heat of things, right? Either way, she's uncertain but she'll give it a shot.

And the hero is surprised, but he's open and welcoming, a tad controlling but she can tell he means well.

And she soon learns why she was out, as the "villain" they face is more powerful than even their Butterfly hero: Claw Noir.

Now, Marinette wouldn't call him a villain. But he certainly liked causing problems and taking his destructive power out on the city. If anything, he was more the city's... prankster. Just with destructive power.

And at worse, he was obnoxious, especially when he wanted to be petty and try and trip her up. It's getting to a point she's now carrying spray bottles, cause she's a busy hero and she doesn't need this. Her mentor has a lot of high expectations and the last thing she needs is Claw Noir turning the sidewalk to liquid cement and making her stuck for a few minutes.

And the biggest factor that assures her that Claw isn't a villain is the pure fact that if she's ever in a tight spot, he literally pops up out of nowhere and helps.

He is a good guy, probably just lashing out for some unknown reason. He just needs a few more squirts in the face.

[usernamesuggestionsarefunny]

Wish spoilers ahead.

The start of Wish is exactly like that of Encanto but without all the heart. It is literally the meme of "Can I copy your homework?" "Yeah but change a few things so it is not too obvious."

Also Asha deserved a pretty dress in the end like wth are you going to sell to little girls Disney you are all about money and you failed miserably even at that.

And it is for real soooo unfair how the queen did get a pretty dress the whole movie and Asha only got some lazy ass sparkles added to her boring ass dress.

Asha... not bad, ok, but she is copy paste Anna, Mirabel, and Rapunzel. Youtuber ModernGurlz is right about Disney's "adorkable" problem. All their main girls since Rapunzel have the same "quirky" personality save a few details. I have liked them all but it is getting boring. Give me a princess with a monotone, sad personality, give me a shy princess who only smiles and talks around close friends, give me back the classic super girly personality Aurora and Snow White style, give me an angry girl with a brutal sense of humor like Merida. Be creative, please!!!

I love the queen's design, super gorgeous. Too bad her character added nothing. Her help was barely needed since Asha's friend had already sneaked them into the castle and it was her who deciphered the king's magic. A super villain couple would have been way more fun.

Oh, yeah, Asha's friends. There were so-damn-many of them and only like 3 were rememberable or needed for the story.

The villain is a complicated issue. I appreciated Disney's attempt at another fully evil character, I liked how he wasn't yet another badly set up "twist villain" revealed only at the end. But I didn't like the end result that much.

His backstory was super underdeveloped and to "get" his motives better, if they really wanted to make him evil-yet-complex, they should have shown us a flashback of him losing his family Encanto style (They copy pasted the start might as well do the same with the antagonist backstory.

What the hell was the missing piece of tapestry for if it wasn't going to have any significance later on? Did the writers just forget or what even?

Worst part for me: The stakes were low as fuck. Disney doesn't respect its target audience, nowadays it thinks that children can't handle anything worse than a main character getting disappointed. The worst this "super evil" villain does is make people sad temporarily, for like two minutes (Kid you not), like one character stays sad for longer but MOST people in the kingdom seem happy and normal after giving up their wishes, he legit just makes people sad a few minutes (Again, I kid you not, no one dies, the wishes he "eats" to make himself stronger come back, nothing he does has a permanent, devastating effect, he is not even revealed to have killed Asha's father in a dramatic way or something). Yeah he makes people forget their wishes which is pretty sketchy but up to that point he seemed to have complex reasons for that, reasons that seem to disappear or have never even been there the second half of the movie when he magically becomes more evil due to a forbidden green spooky magic he uses, and then suddenly he becomes Maleficent (The cool, perfect villain version, not the woobie one) style evil in a very, very rushed and over the top way. I feel like he should have started up as fully evil with no backstory (Just a simple, Gaston or original Maleficent style, self centered guy, who wants more and more power and adoration), and simply gotten worse and stronger OR given more complexity as to why he became that way, but instead we got this weird thing in between where it is clear he just wants power and love from the people for the sake of it and yet he has this half-made sob story on how his family died.

There was a great lack of originality in this movie at the climax as well. Anyone watched "The little mermaid II"? That was pretty much it. Villain gets power boner, says he will enslave everyone (Worst thing he does in whole movie and yet no one trying to defy him dies at least off screen or gets hurt in any meaningful way). Then heroine saves the day.

The funniest part of this movie is that the villain's fate is worse than anything he ever did in the movie I swear. He gets trapped in a freaking mirror and then locked up in a cell (Similar to the Little mermaid II villain's end too lol). That is straight up torture till death, it is so fucked up. And his wife who literally sees how the green spooky magic is the main thing responsible for his bad day (If we are being honest that is all it was, other than the taking wishes part he seemed to be a good king) leaves him to rot and becomes queen Catherine II style, it is hilarious. Like girl, you turned against your husband like five minutes ago because apparently through decades of seemingly loving marriage, you never knew he was evil but now somehow you are ok with him rotting in solitary confinement till the end of time? So dorky and silly. So bad, so bad.

Lastly, that goat was annoying as hell.

[crazyaboutloki]

I like Sylvie and everything but Tom Hiddleston is Loki imo It annoying they trying to make out she superior to Loki. It actually feels like a slap in the face to Tom Hiddleston's version of Loki who played him for 10 years for this new character/actor to come along and we told she superior to the Loki we known for a decade smh. It also feels like she is the star of the show and Loki is along for the ride, also got Mobius being made out to be Loki's friend and Saviour and people instantly siding with him over Loki now like WTH. This guy is Loki captor and has emotionally tortured the guy and gaslights him. But Loki is wrong to betray his captor/emotional abuser/torturer smh.

Thanks for the ask, anon. I assume the one below is from you as well? I'll just combine them, hope it's ok.

I agree with almost everything you said, except for "Tom Hiddleston is Loki" part, to a certain extent. Tom’s Loki is still the only Loki I am interested in. But the show is a great example of how Tom Hiddleston alone doesn't make Loki a Loki. Loki in the show is so out of character most of the time that it doesn't really matter that he is played by Tom. He just feels like he's some other new character to me who is played by Tom and incidentally is also called Loki and also might or might not have some similarities to Loki.

But back to your ask. You are absolutely right, at this point it is safe to say that Loki is not the star of his own show, not in the least. I mean, how ridiculous is that, a show called “Loki” is not about Loki at all! Before the show aired I had quite a few fears about it, but not in my wildest dreams did I imagine THAT. No, he is just a passive bystander, present in most of the scenes but not really doing anything, most of the the things that are happening on screen are being done TO HIM. Moreover the writers use every chance to humiliate and diminish him in one way or another, be it verbally or physically. And Loki just takes one hit after another, just like that, without really fighting back! 

That’s not how Loki used to be. He used to fight back, that was one of his defining traits and one of the things I love about him. He never gave up, he was a fighter, not a puppet dancing to other people’s tunes (which is mostly what he does now).

Almost every other character on the show Loki interacts with is superior to him, in one way or another. Among Loki’s abilities and powers listed in his character profile https://www.marvel.com/characters/loki/on-screen/profile are “high intelligence”, “manipulation” and "expert combatant”. We didn’t see much of those in the series.  Expert combatant can’t even fight off a couple of regular guards. 

And don’t even get me started on the superiority of the secondary characters of the show like Mobius or Sylvie (who also happen to give off strong main character vibes as they definitely move the plot a lot more than the actual main character). Mobius seems to be in many ways more intelligent than Loki, it’s not Loki who is 10 steps ahead of Mobius, but the other way round. Mobius plays Loki like a fiddle. He is also clearly the writers’ favorite. He gets away with every questionable thing he has ever done, Loki seems to have forgiven him for manipulation and torture and calls him a friend. WTF?

Sylvie seems to be better than Loki at everything that she does and Loki himself is aware of it and everyone else in the series is aware of it. When B15 threw the sword to her and not to Loki, I wasn’t even surprised. Sylvie is being shoved down our throats as a better Loki than the actual Loki. She even calls out Loki saying he is a clown and not a serious man. At first glance those words were even nice to hear because that’s how I’ve been feeling about TV!Loki most of the time. But on a second thought I realized that this is the writers talking through Sylvie to us, this is their take on Loki’s personality, not TV!Loki but Loki in general, and that’s why those words are really hurtful and offensive. Sylvie is “amazing” and Loki is “not a serious man and a clown”, this is how they want us to see both of these characters and I resent them for this.

[lunarfly]

Ok so I decided to finally post the promised: defending Romione (🥺💗💕💖💞💘) against Dr*mione (ಠಿ_ಠ) shippers.

So I've read a few posts about Dr*mione shippers, talking about why their ship is amazing (which had nothing to do with canon btw) and bashing Ron (for no reason) and I'm literally shaking out of anger.

Here are my thoughts:

1. "Ron is too dumb for hermione"

Stop- Just-

Stop.

RON IS NOT DUMB.

Yes, he might not be very interested in school subjects, but 👏 that 👏 doesn't 👏 mean 👏 he 👏 is 👏 dumb 👏.

He is actually very smart! He beat McGonagall's chess game, he is logical and quick-thinking. There's MANY examples of this that I won't name right now, but it's a canonical fact. Ron. Is. Not. Dumb.

And consider he was dumb. So? Would that stop Romione from happening? NO! Hermione didn't mind Ron not being smart. She was just upset that Ron was lazy and wouldn't study anything until the last minute. She wanted to get both Harry and Ron to study according to a schedule.

Is it clear? Intelligence doesn't determine love.

**And this is something that confuses me. This doesn't have anything to do with the point, but why does nobody realize that Harry isn't much smarter than Ron? Yes, he was better at DADA but that requires TALENT, not intelligence. And I'm pretty sure we all know that Ron is talented as well (hopefully everyone realizes that). Nobody uses the fact that Harry wasn't intelligent against Harmione, but everyone uses the fact that Ron wasn't intelligent against Romione. The double standards tear apart the fandom.

2. "Ron bought hermione perfume and Draco could get her something better."

Soooo, you're saying that just because Ron didn't have the money that Draco had means that Hermione didn't deserve Ron?

Wow, this just says a lot about you dr*mione shippers. You only care about the money that Draco has, not his personality. You don't like Ron because he's poor (and I know how FanFics give the "kind Draco" Ron's canon personality so the only "problem" with Ron is his looks and lack of money). And you don't see Hermione nor Ron the way they are. This "point" of yours is literally stating that Hermione should be a gold-digger and get Draco because he can get her the expensive presents that she deserves. Yikes.

3. "Draco can understand the emotional side of Hermione while Ron can't."

Wait

What?

WHERE DO YOU GET THIS IDEA FROM-

Draco is only EVER concerned about his own self, he is a NARCISSIST. He would NEVER care for someone (let alone Hermione) as purely and truly as he cared about himself. He didn't even care about Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson etc. He was selfish. The only reason he could express his emotions was because he had to go through a lot since he realized that killing Dumbledore wasn't as easy as bullying Hermione. This would never ever work.

And even if Ron didn't understand her as much, he STILL comforted her. Take the beginning chapters of The Deathly Hallows as an example. You'll see.

4. "Ron is too immature."

I need help.

Of course Ron was immature when he was 11!! Yes, he acted immaturely many times, yes, he made many mistakes, but guess what? He changed! He changed for Hermione!! Draco didn't change at all, not for Hermione, nor for anyone else. He remained the same bratty bully.

If you could reread the books and read prisoner of azkaban vs deathly hallows, you will definitely see how much Ron has matured. He doesn't argue with Hermione anymore, he comforts her, he's there for her. Yes, he made a mistake but he was manipulated by the horcrux! We don't blame Ginny for what tom riddle's diary made her do, do we? So stop blaming Ron!

Anyways, I think if dr*mione shippers have read the books, they'll know what I'm talking about when I say Ron changed for Hermione. I honestly don't know how you could miss Ron's character arc.

5. "Ron would be jealous of the brilliant Hermione."

What?

If I remember correctly, the reason Draco bullied the trio was because he was jealous of them. His jealousy turned into a 7 year torture for the trio and now you're saying that Ron is the jealous one? Please.

But anyways, Ron has been jealous of Harry and has made a few mistakes. But there are reasons behind them and I can defend him for each of these with arguments other than "everyone makes mistakes" (cough cough* Draco stans* cough cough).

First of all, Ron has admitted being jealous of Harry's fame because he lives with 5 older brothers who outshine him. But that's not really a mistake because he never let it get in his way. There were only 2 situations in 7 years when he left Harry out of jealousy but I think these have different explainations.

No1 Ron left in goblet of fire. I think the real reason that Ron let his jealousy get in his way this time, was not only because Harry got to participate in the tournament which could bring him eternal glory, but more likely because he was disappointed that his own best friend didn't even tell him that he was entering and didn't even help him participate (which wasn't true, but Ron thought so back then).

No2 Ron left in deathly hallows. This one was 100% because of the horcrux and I think we should all accept this by now and stop hating on Ron for being affected by dark magic.

And just like that, Ron never let his jealousy get in his way of friendships. I can't think of a situation where Ron is jealous of the brilliant Hermione so if you remember, please let me know so I can argue against it. <3

6. "Ron and Hermione would break up and remain friends, it's easy to imagine because they didn't have a strong relationship."

This was actually said, someone actually said this-

I'm just going to say that Ron and Hermione are happily married to this day (which definitely proves that their relationship is strong) and give the dr*mione community a moment of silence.

7. "Ron didn't do anything for Hermione and was just a jerk."

Coming from a person who has read and reread the books multiple times, I can assure you that Ron did many things for Hermione.

Of course, he was immature at first, he was mean to her, but slowly he started seeing more of the good in Hermione and started changing for her.

And even when he was immature, he still cared about Hermione and would protect her no matter what.

Let's remember how many times rubbish Ron stood up for Hermione against the brilliant bully Draco. 🥰

Let's remember how cowardly Ronald faced his fears of spiders to help Hermione (and the rest of the school, just how jerkier can he get?). 🥰

Let's remember how ridiculous Ronniekins stood up for Hermione against sensational Snape and got himself into detention (oh yes, this is the book version of the movie moment where Ron agrees with Snape about Hermione being an 'insufferable know-it-all'). 🥰

Let's remember how rotten Ronny comforted Hermione when she was worried about Hagrid and Buckbeak (and he even let her hug him and cry on his shoulder, how rude). 🥰

Let's remember how revolting Ronald sacrificed himself to save Harry and Hermione in the chess game. 🥰

Let's remember how horrendous Ron attempted to hex Draco when he used a slur that was meant to offend Hermione. 🥰

Keep in mind that all of these were done when Ron was still immature and still argued a lot with Hermione.

And these aren't even all.

8. "Ron and Hermione have a loveless marriage."

What the-

I'm sorry, I'm trying to be respectful here but this is crap. And the fact that the person said they also had "proof" from the c*rsed ch*ld but didn't want to spoil it-

As much as I hate the c*rsed ch*ld, I can tell you that it did its job portraying Ron and Hermione's unconditional love. Even in alternative realities, where they didn't get married, they were still in love.

And why would you even think that Ron and Hermione would marry and have kids if they didn't love each other? I need explainations.

Next.

9. "Ron never listens to Hermione."

I'm sorry, what? I'm genuinely confused??

What do you even mean by this? Yeah, they used to argue a lot, and? Ron thinks Hermione is brilliant and wonderful and he follows her advice. I can't recall a moment where Ron won't listen to Hermione, doesn't agree with her and ruins her plans. Anyone else?

Since this one is a big mess and a confusion, I'll move on to the next one until someone explains the points and arguments.

10. "Draco could make Hermione laugh while Ron couldn't."

....

Do I really need to say anything for this one?

Ron was the funniest one from the trio, that's why Harry enjoyed his company so much! Don't you remember the line in goblet of fire where Harry thinks about how much he misses having Ron as his best friend, because without him there's less fun and less laughs? I do.

But what I don't remember is finding Draco's sense of humor funny. I'm sorry but his intellectual level is almost as low as Crabbe and Goyle's. His insults are none other than Potty and Weaselbee, he only got 3 O.W.L.s and all of his jokes were stupid and dumb and their only purpose was insulting people he was jealous of.

These fanfics have rotten people's brains...😬

Anyways, I'm going to stop here. I've delayed this post for very long and I'm so excited to finally post it!

I read a book on wattpad by a dr*mione shipper and it was nothing but a giant headache. That's where I got all of these statements from. Most of the garbage in the book revolved around Draco and Hermione being inseparable and getting over all obstacles (wth) and other stupid stuff like that which really annoyed me. The book was called "why we love dr*mione" and it was by Bittenwizard. You can read and enjoy! Trust me, you'll have lots of content to post about after that 🤠👍

*I always try to be respectful to all ships, but sometimes some of them really anger me because the ships are either toxic or the arguments are plain trash. I'm sorry if I offend anyone.

Thank you for reading this. If you're a dr*mione shipper, I hope I've convinced you to give up the ship or come up with better arguments for it.

If you're an anti-dramione I hope you enjoyed the post. I'll delight you with more anti-toxic-ships content. :)

Thank you once again! <3

[jeontaehui]

nananananana (210331 VLIVE)

taehee bites back a grin as fans enter the live. “hello everyoneeee,” she greets softly, her cheekbones lifting into a soft smile. “i’m in the practice room once again.”

“i was just learning a dance actually, it’s my break right now so this’ll probably be short,” she mentions. “and then i turned on vlive without asking permission— well, i did ask permission after i... turned it on,” she giggles. “she’s gonna say yes anyways. no one can say no to me,” the comments section blows up after she sent a sly wink to the viewers. she knew her effect on them one way or another. 

mark lee i love you HELLO THE TITLE?? IS THIS A SPOILER???

lee donghyuck’s long hair i only entered the live but i feel like crying T—T why must she be so cute

taeyongbub taehee in the practice room is so attractive??? wth???

taehee tucks a few strands behind her ear asking, “did you guys have dinner already? have you guys eaten?”

mataechan what did taehee eat today?

hyuckschurros PIZZA !!!!

“aw, pizza? i’m craving now,” she shortly puts on a pout before a smile shows itself once again. “i haven’t eaten but i think i’ll have........ um,” taehee seems to think for a moment as she looks up the ceiling, trying to remember what jungwoo said she’d have at the dorms.

“i can’t remember,” she shrugs, proceeding to continue reading the comments.

jungwoo tehet are you going to dance again?

aussiechan TAEHEEEE !!! come home to australia :(

svtzen DREAM SPOILERS PLEASEE

“the dance that me and my teacher did today was to party favors by tinashe! i have to practice some more to get it right but i’m,” she stands up and dusts off her track pants, placing the phone on the floor in front of the mirror, “going to show you guys the part where i’m most confident in.”

she disappears as she goes to the side to play the music, and the strong beats of tinashe’s party favors fills the practice room. she adjusts her pants around her waist and runs a hand through her black hair, ruffling her bangs for a moment before getting into position.

she dances. no matter how hard-hitting the choreography is, taehee knew well how to control her own body, and gracefully yet powerfully sync her movements to the beats.

taehee marry me she’s so hot what the heck do i do

markcity i’m single for this reason only

fullsunnn THIS IS WHY WE NEED A TAEHEE SOLO ASAP !!!

from the corner of her eye, taehee sees her dance instructor imitate the part where she got the dance wrong during their practice, causing her to lose focus and burst into laughter.

ncityinthehouse everyone, the duality of miss jeon taehee

“unnie is laughing at me right now!” taehee giggles. her eyes glance to the side then back to the screen. “yes so, until there did i memorize the dance. i’ll try to post on instagram the full version of it. oh!” she claps her hands excitedly, a habit nctzens took note of before she says an idea.

“since it’s a wednesday today and! the end of the month, you guys can comment whatever you guys want me to do or any question you want to ask and i’ll answer them.”

“i’m going to scroll with my eyes closed and whatever my finger lands on will be picked,” she cutely asks if the viewers got it before briefly explaining what she just said in english.

“i’ll give you guys maybe 30 seconds? is 30 seconds enough? okay, ready and start!”

taehee bobbed her head as she counted the numbers in her head. “30! okay, i’ll close my eyes now.”

juhfahm skincare routine?

merrymark give us a phone tour :D

twiceyeon please watch switch to me by dahyun and chaeyoung !!!! <3

“from twiceyeon,” taehee reads, putting her emcee mode on. “please watch switch to me by dahyun and chaeyoung! ohh i think i’ve seen this on my recommended but i haven’t had the time to watch it— sorry, chaeyoung-ah,” she winces.

you can hear keys being tapped on taehee’s phone screen as she typed the title on youtube’s search bar. the music video appears a few seconds later and she immediately clicks on it.

“oooo dahyun-ssi is very pretty,” taehee says. her expression quickly changes when she sees the twice member use her foot as she played the piano, her hand going up to cover the giggles that escaped out of her. “this is so cool,” she beamed.

“oh sexy!” taehee exclaims after chaeyoung appeared. “i really like chaengie’s short hair.”

she compliments the set when the scene changes, a summer pool vibe replacing the vintage set-up at the intro. “the dance is cute too,” she mumbles.

she smiles at chaeyoung and dahyun’s playfulness in the music video before moving on to compliment her best friend again. “chaeyoung is seriously so pretty... whaaat!”

taehee continues to watch the rest of the video as she moves to the beat, occasionally letting out a chuckle or two at the adorableness of the duo.

“hold on,” she grabs her earphones and plugs them into her phone. “(it’s) to avoid copyright,” she smirks.

taehee finishes the music video with a grin on her face, “the music video was very cute! did they perform this on stage? i think the stage set and the fits would’ve been pretty.”

“speaking of music videos, baekhyun hyung’s new album just dropped yesterday! have you guys watched the music video?” taehee shuffles closer to the camera to read the comments. almost everyone was saying that they did, in fact, watch the music video and really enjoyed it.

“i never said this directly to him but i really am a fan of his, seriously,” she dictates. taehee breaks into a grin as she giggles again, the viewers watching how her eyes twinkled while she talked. “‘bambi’ is really great— it’s immaculate. you guys should stream the whole album and recommend it to your family and friends. baekhyunie hyung never fails to deliver (good songs).”

bbhubblegum taehee promoting baekhyun and other artists better than sm pt. 74628392

going on her phone, she mumbles, “and i really like the choreography of his songs.” there was an adorable pout to her lips as she spoke, much to the amusement of the viewers.

then she looks up from the device in her hands and her eyes hold a certain glint in them before she playfully squints. “just be quiet about this though. i am never gonna hear the end of this from him,” she shakes her head with an amused chuckle, recalling all the times baekhyun teased her and the ‘admiration’ she has for him.

“you’re my only bambi bambi,” taehee sang effortlessly. “it’s a perfect night for you,” her tone was a little softer this time.

“okay so that was our first request? dare? of the live, let’s get to the next one right away!”

taeheeroar do you listen to the neighborhood?

wooyoungification do you want to collab with anyone? if so, who?

“the next one is.... wooyoungification! ooo wooyoung-ah hello,” taehee says, prolonging the last syllable of her sentence. “they asked, “do you want to collab with anyone? if so, who?”

“well,” she clears her throat, furrowing her eyebrows as if she were in thought. “there are a lot of great artists out there. taylor swift is already my answer by default but,” she giggles again, “if i have to think of people outside sm, i think it’d be nice to have a collab with stray kids’ 3racha. they’re their producing unit if i’m not mistaken. it’d be fun to work with them.”

“i also had this dream of having a collaboration stage with the other dancers outside nct, like blackpink’s lisa or seulgi unnie. would you guys want that?”

midzyseason this isnt good for my gay ass

reveluvbar can taehee just take over sm

taehee hums, “i think i never mentioned it before but i wanna try doing drama ost’s too. i don’t watch as much dramas as i do before, but when i was still learning korean, they helped me so much.”

“i watched ‘guardian: the lonely and great god’ a lot and i really liked ‘stay with me’. hopefully, i can collab with punch too.”

taehee unconsciously moves her lips to the side, forming another pout and thinks again. “from sm, i think kai hyung? not counting superm, okay?” she beams.

“kai hyung and,” then a snort escapes taehee before she could even stop it, “baekhyun hyung.”

she puts a hand to her chest once she recovers from her mini-giggling fit before holding it up and swearing it was the truth. “these two were the ones that came to the top of my head, seriously.”

beansprout lolll remember when kai used to “complain” about taehee ever only talking about sehun cause he was the one she was closest to in exo when they first met ?

sodangerous it’s so touching how taehee looked up to exo while she was still a trainee and now they’re like family

taehee nods and bites her bottom lip, asking herself, “why do i feel like a youtuber?”

she smiles to someone off screen and quickly glances back to the camera, “next question!”

asteroidsung what did you get for renjun’s birthday?

“what did i get for renjun’s birthday? i just gave mine literally yesterday. i know it’s summer but i gave him a hoodie that i thought would look cute on him,” she smiles. “it was pink.”

“i was with haechanie when i bought it.”

chenlezoned hyuck said he’s gonna marry daegal next month

“hyuck’s gonna marry who now?!” taehee exclaims, “DAEGAL’S A MINOR!!!”

dreamtopia BYEEEEEEE

themissingpuzzlepiece everyone at haechan marrying daegal:❓❓meanwhile taehee: 🌋🌋⁉️

boohoohyuck sending my prayers to lee haechan

just then, taehee’s phone suddenly rings and her eyes widen at the caller id displayed on the screen. “wow, this dude’s timing is really! spot-on.”

she puts the speaker on, “donghyuck-ah, what’s this i’m hearing that you’re marrying daegal?? are you leaving me and chubs already?! oh and you’re on speaker.”

fullseun don’t you just cry on the inside when markhee calls hyuck by his real name or fullsun

you hear haechan’s boisterous laughter first before he could answer taehee’s question. “i talked about that on vlive,” he said, “where are you?”

“i’m doing vlive.”

“but it’s almost midnight.”

when taehee makes no move to answer, haechan goes, “are you in the practice room again?”

“so?” taehee answers sassily, causing the boy on the other end of the line to groan.

“noona, we talked about this already,” haechan whines. “then we can talk about it again later!” taehee shrugs exasperatedly. “noona....” the former warns, as if he was scolding a child. “i’m just on a break,” she gives in, “i’ll go home soon.”

“promise?” taehee rolls her eyes, though it was clear that she was grateful for haechan’s concern by the soft smile she held on her face. “i promise.”

taehyuckles i know i wished for a taehyuck live but this will suffice Gosh they are so cute !!!!!!

“you haven’t said hello to czennie,” taehee reminds him. “czennie, hello!!” he greets sweetly.

“anyways, i just called you because you agreed to playing a few rounds with me but i’ll just wait for you until you get home,” taehee winces at his statement. she might have forgotten. “oh right, i’m sorry. just a few more minutes?” haechan hums affirmatively from the other end.

“get home safely, noonaaa,” after they exchanged their goodbyes, taehee hangs up the call.

“yes, okay! everyone that was lee haechan on the phone with me and i think i can do,” she turns her back to look at the wall clock in the practice room, “three more comments.”

yangqied taehee’s an idol in the day, pro-gamer by night

“okay, so our next question is: are you friends with aespa? yes! i am friends with aespa,” she beamed.

“i actually saw them the day before their debut stage. my time slot in the practice room was after theirs and so we met there,” taehee recalls. “they’re very pretty! and they look cool when they danced to ‘black mamba’. i wished them luck on their debut stage,” she chuckles.

taehee closes her eyes and proceeds to swipe at the screen, “next question is... oh! i dare you to post on instagram. okay, let me find some photos and show you guys so we can all vote.”

“i’ll send them on bubble but i’ll show it here too in case you guys don’t have a subscription. that’s okay.”

markerlee tb to when taehee sent her pcs to bubble... she really said fuck capitalism !!!!

“okay, option 1: this one,” she brings her phone up to the screen, showing a picture of her with the bird filter on mac.

jisungbye I LIKE THIS ONEEE

kunniekunkun this one’s cute!!!

moloism markhee pls post ur photos with the mac filters im begging you

“orrrr this one,” she faces her phone towards the camera once more. she was sitting on the pavement with the view of the orange-pink sunset behind her, a mask concealing half of her face.

the127thsense everything just screams girlfriend material to me

deryqueen taehee, i am free this friday. i repeat, i am free this friday.

solhyuck i think you should post these as a set on instagram!

“what should i post on instagram? everyone choose between 1 or 2!” taehee tells them in korean, before switching to english. “you guys pick between the first one and the second one, and i’ll post it on instagram.”

oncezenni 2

flamboyanthyuck the second one!

ohmajesus i like the first one

iamjeno second pleaseee

“mm okay, most of you are voting for the second one so i’ll be posting that first thing tomorrow! and then i’ll just send the other one on bubble,” taehee puts her pinky finger up as she speaks, making a promise to the viewers.

“how many was that? two already?” a pout subtly makes its way on taehee’s lips and a few of her hair strands fell in front of her face, causing her to push them back as she huffed. nctzens found it adorable!

takeoffbesttrack can i kiss you.

“can you kiss me?” taehee presses her lips on the tips of her fingers before lightly tapping them on the screen. “i,” one of the corners of her mouth raises to a smirk, “kissed you.”

mahaecries GODDDD

tenvely you will be the death of me

deryqueen AGAIN TAEHEE I AM FREE THIS FRIDAY NIGHT !!!!!!!!!!

taehee giggles after seeing the comment section blow up and her dimples peek out from her cheeks.

“i’m gonna have to end this soon, guys. this is the last one, okay?”

haecity can you go live with markhyuck?

snoopyscoop do you have any more funny stories with jungwoo?

taromilktea did you see sungchan when he debuted as an emcee?

“did i go see sungchan when he debuted as emcee? nooo,” she frowns, “but i did call him on facetime.”

“he said he was nervous but i told him he’d do great! and he did, right?” taehee’s frown was quickly turned into a proud grin. “i watched a replay of it on youtube the day after. he was very cute.”

“i told him to just think of it like he was talking to us so he’s more comfortable, and he told me it helped a lot so i’m relieved,” she nods. “i sent him churros too!”

taehee shuffles closer to the camera and brings her knees close to her chest while she talks, “please support him! i know sungchanie’s glad to have received this opportunity that’s why he’s been practicing diligently.”

taehee reads a few more comments and smiles at the funny ones. the humor of nctzens never fail to make her smile. the memes they send during menpas are so hilarious that she can’t help but reply to most of them.

taeheespresident i guess she’s gonna end the live now? :(

jungwootehet it’s nearing 1 am and i still have school tomorrow...... whoops!

“i���ll have to go now guys, it was nice doing all this with you,” taehee softly mumbles.

“i like this idea of having you guys comment what you would want me to do ‘cause i’m able to connect with you guys more, i’ll try to do a live again soon.”

“the weather’s nice here in korea— well at least for me,” she chuckles, “it rained recently but it might be hot? in other places so please remember to stay hydrated and drink lots of water.”

“also wear your masks and keep social distancing! we’re not only trying to protect ourselves but we have to stop the spreading of it all so,” taehee gives another small smile at the camera as she reminds the people to be careful, “stay safe.”

after a few beats of silence, taehee speaks again. “okay so, until here is taehee’s nananananana live!” she sings while doing the infamous choreo of ‘go’.

empathy127 I KNEW IT WAS FROM GO !!!!

“good night! or good morning to those who are starting their day right now,” she adds, “goodnight! we’ll see you guys soon.”

taehee does her infamous ily hand gesture and winks at the camera before waving bye and ending the livestream.

[leofiat-bunny]

DSN pre-series special livewatch

Long post so under cut:

PART 1

Started making notes 8:49 mins in, but to catch up, mostly it's been:

either that's Fiat's place or Leo got a place away from home for uni.  Either way big place is still his family home. (I have DECIDED)

baby room! Things to look at! (I know, I haven't done adult room yet, I'll get there... 🤞)

🥺 he actually sent a message and Leo didn't respond! WTH Leo 😡

"Why aren't you here when I'm hurt?" - paraphrasing - because no one TOLD him baby, that's why 🤦‍♀️

They used a different photo in the ig post... why? I'm guessing something, something usage rights but... I mean it's a better photo, so maybe that's why. If that is why, I'm going with impressed that they bothered to change such a small detail.

But if Fiat was jumping at the phone and we've established he's sent an unresponded to message... LEO!!! 🤬🤬🤬

So was Leo trying to use the opportunity to prove he could live without Fiat or something?

(Note: I totally have times where responding to individual is more than I can do but I can send a general tweet... I just don't get the impression that's what's going on here)

Right, moving forward

by "save me from this boredom" read "distract me from this pain"

"But I'm glad you're back" SQUEAL - Unexpected sugar! 💘

the lack of response while Leo was away partly explains why Fiat was getting SO desperate to move on. Leo's just PROVEN to his mind that the end of uni is pretty much the end of their friendship

I do miss the make up scene/couch cuddling

"You're the best for me" ❤

END OF PART 1

Early days but:

the music has been pretty good, maybe a bit loud, but I'm happy with the improvement

the subtitles are fine 😌

not surprised that they moved to a cheaper location for the home scenes

interesting that when they were cutting TTTS S2 they decided against making Fiat's feelings textual until the crying scene

SO glad we're getting that sugar now

Coffee refreshed and on to PART 2

The flash forward summary for Type scenes was a good choice, I'll nick that for the relationship cut I think

SNIFF Legit nearly crying at that added scene. SO SOFT. (so dom/sub)

That's the first addition I've found really intrusive. We know he just wants Leo to say he loves him.

SO much better with the piano version, no lyrics.

END OF PART 2

PART 3

That scene (post Leo dragging Fiat back from the club) is still hard to watch, but unpopular opinion: I'm okay with it

in real life? No, ofc not, but here? yeah, I think it works

Leo's sleeping position looks SO UNCOMFORTABLE

"It's already noon" I love that line tbh. It's so petty, and very fitting with what we've already seen of Leo's humour - dry as a bone mostly

Damnit... at least the lyrics aren't being overused?

YOU... TRANSLATE THE SPEECH! NOT THE LYRICS!!! 🤬

It's okay, he totally came in at the end, and was in no way part of the kidnapping plan (they broke into his house apparently, after finding his address... somehow 😅)

I do hate the placement of that line "You see now? The one who cherishes you?" Just... no. Not the time, place or reason for that line.

END OF PART 3

I've asked on twitter what the missing lines were; I don't have much hope for a response, but we'll see.

PART 4

Oh good, it actually looks like they WANT to be kissing. That's a relief

Also, Leo wants to mark Fiat up. It is known

ETA: I did not miss the hand on neck, I just failed to mention it. Thank you Leo for that, I am a great fan 😊

THEY HAVE THE NAMES INSCRIBED!!! Please tell me they wear them the other way around going forward (Fiat wears "Leo's" and Leo wears "Fiat's")

The order of things doesn't fit my hc but I'm still happy with it

But if in future we do get comfort bathing... that would be good 🥺

communication 👀

They're so happy ❤

Fair question; he's only gotten as far as "I feel the same way you do" to Fiat's "I love you"

Post game scene and I'm so excited/scared/pre-emptively embarassed I've paused and flipped to other things multiple times

Scene was cute, but - sorry director - the lifting the ball to cover their faces didn't work for me at all. Far too forced for one thing

Bit confused about how it melds with TTTS S2. The "Leo isn't letting me play until the doctor says so" and "we all know" fit with the last we saw of them in the series proper, but that scene included "because we are", so he wouldn't be confused about the boyfriend thing... 🤔

... I genuinely can't think of any other interpretation there but officially dom/sub... like he's literally asking him to be his sub (full time)

END OF PART 4

So I normally don't watch trailers but I'm greedy and we have a MONTH to wait, so:

TRAILER

"have a gift" you should have seen where that was going from MARS baby

it is funny, if predictable, but my second hand embarassment is so strong it's hard to get through. I am cringing so bad

oh! Leo is officially short for Leonard here

AUs where the pursuit of Leo was pre-TTTS S2?

so Pob's stalker guy is your senior I'm guessing? Hence the hesitation on "friend"

"our parents" 👀 a sibling of Leo? Looks far too old to be Fiat's half-sibling

LEO do not let your boyfriend slut shame himself!

the consent issues are thanks to an official villain... that's an improvement... right???

Friday 6th August 23:50... that's 17:50 my time

more serious that the previous trailer indicated, but they need content from somewhere and it doesn’t really make sense for it to be from within the relationship right now

also, at least they’re building on the previously established material and Fiat’s abandonment issues

the slut shaming - I’m scared they won’t really conclude that slut shaming is bad... but maybe? Tharn’s past was consistently defended, even if Type was never happy with it. So unless we’re going back to “one rule for the husbands/another for the wives” idiocy (using husband/wife since the roots are in sexism, and if it is brought into play it’s this attitude that causes it) it should be made clear that the slut shamers are in the wrong. 🤞

[thisdreamplace]

Hi, what would you (or a general person) think/feel/act like if they were happily employed with a major paycheck?

I'm asking coz i feel blockage when I try to imagine living in the state of this manifestation. Fears of being incompetent at interviews and unable to answer questions properly or rambling crop up when I try to even imagine having that amazing job

Worse, I mean not worse, coz ik circumstances shouldn't matter, thing is idk idek the specifics of the ideal company or ideal job post of my desire

Ik I want eg:

an exorbitant salary (financial independence), even tho I fear I won't be able to negotiate at all (I'm not exactly a bargainer)

a role of responsibility where i can learn from the higher ups while inspiring those below, with a level of autonomy

Work that's not tedious or repetitive

So on and so forth

Even tho I don't have much job xp (again, Im prolly invalidating myself here, coz the fact is, I've come to realise even if I win a Nobel Prize, I'll keep feeling I haven't done 'enough'), I do have amazing, hard-as-hell-to-get qualifications (and again... I feel I'm not enough like wth whyyy? ;_; I've met so many people who've got half of these qualifications yet they're more confident and can actually flaunt that while I feel, not like an imposter, but ig worthless when compared)

The worst is Ive always freaking felt it in my bones I'm worthy of a higher role than my current self can achieve (by current self I'm referring to the fact that I do have issues eg nightmare interviews in the past hovering over me, beliefs of being incompetent or unqualified or being unable to answer difficult questions (since I was a child, I've been told, disparagingly alas, that I'm only 'book smart' and could only ace studies by 'rote learning', which is untrue. In fact thanks to that, I actually developed a memory issue whereby I'm unable to memorize stuff easily (btw one of my secrets to academic success has been understanding concepts, mind mapping it all mentally, having a solid grip over foundations etc. Ok I digressed) anyhow, I really do feel unprepared to answer questions (in fact one of my fears is being asked an intrusive question (like hey, why are you eg so pimply? (Btw I'm not, this is just an example) in front of everyone and being at the center of attention in that way 😱) so yeah, I hope you can sense the myriad of beliefs holding me back (and sometimes I feel nauseated to even think of 'facing' these beliefs or fears. Like, it's as I wrote to u rn that I realised I fear looking incompetent, except this case is so severe coz I feel like it's worthless if it's not done perfectly (or as near perfect))

So how do I manifest here? Hell, my mind starts hurting if I assert: okay, let's at least prepare, no, at least LOOK at a job interview question

Ik the Law says I can assume anything and that'll work. So how do I assume I'm, y'know, a confident gal who does not have the aforementioned state of mind? Or how do I defuse the root issues linked to childhood/past stuff? Or better yet, what state should I focus on assuming/taking on? I have no idea how to start. And thanks to analysis paralysis (it took me years to acknowledge this even) I'll end up prolly doing nothing then another month will pass by with me doing nothing and then I'll type another frenzied ask

PS: yep, Im aware of the self concept topic, but I hope u can shed some light on this specific matter at hand, kinda customized?

Ty

😰

So to begin with, scratch everything and literally focus on your self-esteem and your concept of self. No, you don't need a good self esteem to manifest, but I'm really passed pretending like it should be optional. Every one of us deserves to feel good about ourselves, for ourselves. And you're holding yourself back so much by not allowing yourself to feel good about who you are. I mean, you list how accomplished you are and yet it's still not good enough for you?

It's confusing because if you felt in your bones you were worthy of something better, how can you sit there and but yourself down so easily? Your reality is giving you what you actually feel worthy of. And it's not what you desire.

You're the only one holding yourself in this story. You know the law says everything is happening now, meaning all desired experiences and versions of yourself are available to you now. You tap into them by using your imagination and dwelling there. So, stop sticking yourself to this story that doesn't help you. You feel unprepared because you keep saying so. You keep replaying this memory of things going badly, when in reality there's not even a past. You're the one keeping it alive by being so consumed by it and thinking it's so real. But see, the past only exists in your mind. It doesn't exist elsewhere. And just like with everything else in our mind, we have the power to decide what is and is not so.

Plus, the comparison game has got to come to an end. Everyone is you pushed out anyway. A win for one person, is a win for all. Who are you comparing yourself to, besides a reflection in the mirror? There's no point. The more you let go of the old way of thinking and allow yourself to remember more and more who you truly are, the easier it'll be to let go of wanting to compare yourself all the time. It's literally your reality. It's your world and everyone else is just living in it. Seriously. You're literally at the center of your world. You're at the heart of it all, there is no one else but self.

Self concept isn't something to push to the side. I notice a lot of people know about it and then go, "ehh but what else is there?" Like, I did the same thing. And that's why my journey was full of detours when I could have just went straight to my destination.

How do you do this? Well, you do have some idea of who you want to be. I mean, I'm guessing you want to be the opposite of every undesirable trait/experience you mentioned? So therefore, (if you want to write it down, please do), you need to decide the mindset you want to focus on manifesting within yourself. Let the outer world be for a bit, it's time to focus on you and only you. Here's an article that gives an example of how to get clear on the version of you that you want to embody.

And then once you get clear on that, really, the only task you have is to wake up everyday and thrive to focus on keeping that mindset. Sure you might slip up, sure some days you may not do well keeping it at all, but it doesn't matter. You keep persisting and it gets easier and becomes your new normal.

You see, I like how Dylan James says manifesting is not a trying process because it makes sense. For example, you didn't try to end up with the experiences you have surrounding career right now. However, you manifested it due to your concept of self. Change your conception of self and without trying, that perfect career you desire will find you. It can be that simple. But we have to allow it to be. Plus, you really only need to focus on yourself. You don't need to have a list that consists of your must-haves in a job, or anything. (Unless you truly like to make lists like that.) Because the truth is, our desires are from God. Therefore, we never need to worry about telling our Godself what we want. Our Godself already knows. So if you are unclear, you can trust you'll be lead exactly where you want to go. Being specific or being general makes no difference and it's okay to approach manifesting with either one. You'll always come out successful no matter what. But the change begins within. There is no one to change but self.

Hopefully this is helpful! You got this! 💖

[groundzero-jpg]

instagram famous™

While drunk, you upload a selfie taken with a sleeping Bakugou on Instagram. You wake up to uncontrollable pings from your phone the next morning. The photo has gone viral. U.A. wants to turn this into a publicity stunt. Bakugou wants to kill you.

Over the course of your studies at U.A, you’d come to the conclusion that accidentally getting sucked into the bakusquad would eventually, probably, become the bane of your existence. From jumping over fences after class instead of using the goddamn open gate, to smuggling stray kittens through the broken lock on Mina’s window “just because”, you’d been dragged through it all.

As usual, your “Again? Where the hell did you guys even-” went unheard as you watched your friends excitedly dig bottle after bottle of alcohol out from Kirishima’s tiny backpack like it was a clown car.

There’s suddenly a cup in your hands.

“To saturday night with the squad!” Mina announces quickly as she thrusts her cup forward, meeting four identical ones in the center as the alcohol flies. Kirishima starts hollering loudly like quiet hours don’t exist, Sero snickering at Kaminari’s imitation of him a moment later. You roll your eyes fondly but resign yourself to your fate as you clink your cup with theirs.

“To saturday night!” you repeat, followed by four cheers.

“Tch,” Bakugou says from beside you. His arms are crossed, no cup in sight.

“C’mon,” You nudge playfully as Bakugou sends you an annoyed look.

“Yeah, c’mon bro!” Kirishima goads as he knocks back a shot, arm slinging over Kaminari’s shoulder. “It might be the last time we get to do this!”

You can’t help but pout. “Don’t say that, Kiri.”

“I don’t care about any of these dumbass extras, but you!” Bakugou growls as he snatches your cup away from you before you can take a sip. “Don’t you remember the last fucking time I let you get drunk?”

Last time? You frown. You try and think back to it through Mina’s snickering but it’s all fuzzy. Blank. Nada. “No?”

Kaminari grins wide and opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, Bakugou’s got his entire hand over Kaminari’s face, blasting him into the opposite wall.

“C’mooooon Katsuki,” you moan as you try and take your cup back, but everytime you reach for it, it gets lifted higher. “We’re graduating soon!”

“Like I give a flying fuck,” Bakugou scoffs as he throws back your entire cup himself in one shot instead.

“Hey!”

When the cup comes down, Bakugou is left panting, wiping the excess alcohol off his lips with the back of his sleeve and leaving you a flustered mess at the sight.

Sero pops up behind you. “Here!” He offers. “A cup of water instead.” The smirk he gives you when your boyfriend isn’t looking says otherwise.

You almost die trying to hold in your snicker.

You spend the rest of the night accepting ‘water’ from Mina, Sero, Kirishima and Kaminari, almost killing yourself trying not to gag at the taste after your 4th cup while simultaneously struggling to maintain your fake-ass facade that it really was just some goddamn water babe, stop hovering!

It’s nearing 2am in the morning when Bakugou finally starts nodding off on the couch, his usual 8:30pm bedtime catching up with him. He leaves the group with one last threat before he lets himself. “You fuckers better not draw on my face or some shit or I’ll fucking kill you.”

You’re fucking tipsy out of your mind but you’ve always been a good actress. “Aw babe,” You laugh, snuggling into his side and doing your best to act like you’re normal even though your vision is starting to blur. “I won’t let them.”

He looks at you for a moment through squinted eyes, almost suspiciously, before he grunts. “Wake me up if you go back to your room. I’ll walk you.”

For a moment, you almost feel bad tricking him, but then you remember what he did to your cat plushie the last time you woke up earlier than him and made him cuddle with it instead so you could get up to pee.

“Love you,” you say sweetly. He just grunts in response before closing his eyes.

Five minutes later, he’s out like a light.

“Drink! Drink! Drink!” the boys mouth silently, taking turns slapping you on the back as Mina hands you a cup of straight vodka, silently hollering as you down it and finally, finally this time, openly gag.

As it progresses far into the night, everyone starts dropping off one by one like flies - Mina on the other couch, Kaminari half under the coffee table, Kirishima on the floor hugging his backpack and Sero hugging Kaminari’s foot. Somehow, you’re the last person standing.

“To my best friends,” you whisper to yourself, giggling uncontrollably as you knock back a final shot. You can’t even walk straight as you stumble over towards each of them, pressing a kiss to all of their cheeks before you finally reach your boyfriend.

He looks almost peaceful while he’s asleep, head nodding off to one side. The usual scowl on his face is nowhere to be seen as he lets out soft snores. You smile to yourself once more before you drop next to him on the couch, curling into his side and under his arm where it’s nice and toasty warm. His arm automatically tightens around you. Everything is spinning.

Before you even know what you’re doing, you’ve got your phone pulled up, front camera facing the two of you as you press your face into his neck, snuggling closer.

Snap!

How you even had the hand-eye coordination to press your thumb to the right button while intoxicated was a mystery.

When you look at the picture, your eyes start watering for no reason, heart swelling with nothing but drunken affection for the boy next to you. There’s only one thought in your mind, repeating like a mantra in your head: The press is all wrong. Katsuki’s nothing more than a grumpy kitten! The world must know!!!!

The Instagram app looks much more complicated than you remember. Too many filters. Too many buttons. Why is the upload button moving?

It takes you four tries to press it, but when you finally do, you, too, are out like a light.

💥 💥 💥

Ping! Ping! Ping! ...Ping! Pingpingpingpingpingping! Ping! Pingping! PING!

“Babe, that better not be your fucking phone!” Bakugou curses as he sits up abruptly, jostling you awake as you’re forced upwards too, having had your head on his chest just a moment ago.

“What?” You moan. There’s a sharp pain as you curl forward to clutch your head. “Owww, fuck. Don’t talk so loudly.”

There’s a groan from somewhere on the other side of the coffee table.

“What the-” Bakugou stops in the middle of trying to drown your pinging phone in a pile of blankets to turn to look at you in disbelief instead. “Are you hungover?!”

Suddenly, last night hits you like a truck.

“W-What? No, of course not!” you deny, straightening up a little too quickly. Bakugou growls as your sharp wince says otherwise.

“I told you not to fucking drink!”

“I didn’t drink!”

“Are you stupid?!”

“Guys,” Sero moans from the floor, sounding like he’s on the verge of passing into the afterlife. “Not now.”

Ping! Ping! Ping!

“Bakubro, please,” Kaminari pleads. You can’t even see his head from where it’s under the coffee table. “I don’t care whose phone that is. Burn it.”

You’re all a fucking mess. The sun outside is too bright.

“No, stop! I’ll turn it off,” you groan as you force Bakugou to hand it over. Your bleary eyes can’t even focus properly as you unlock it through sheer memory of where all the buttons are. But halfway through entering your phone password, your entire phone freezes, displaying a screenful of Instagram notifications that all say the same thing.

You almost choke on your spit.

Instagram 2m ago james0589, uabigfan, and 2,382,475 others liked your photo.

Instagram 3m ago allmight4ever commented on your post: “Is this the same guy who had to be chained down at the UA sports festival?!”

Instagram 5m ago sarahjj42 commented on your post: “wth he looks like a completely different person when he’s sleeping! so cute!”

Instagram 8m ago ultimefresh1997 commented on your post: “are they dating????”

Instagram 7m ago ground.zero.fanpage and 8,491 others followed you.

Instagram 21m ago yuptideofficial and 6,362 others followed you.

Next to each notification is a tiny version of the same damn picture over and over again. It’s so small that you can barely make it out. You don’t even remember taking the stupid picture, but it’s unmistakable.

Your wide-eyed face says it all.

“Give me that!” Bakugou snarls, finally running out of patience and snatching it out of your hand before you can even react. The moment he scans the contents of the screen, his eyes are as wide as yours. “What the hell?!”

“Oh my god,” Mina cackles from the other couch as she stares at her own phone. “Oh my god!”

“What?” Kirishima asks as he sits up sleepily. “What are you guys laughing at?”

“Guys, please. It’s not even eight yet,” Sero groans. “It’s too early, goddammit.”

“Not early enough for this!” Mina cackles as she shoves her phone into Sero’s face. The bright screen has him shielding his eyes for a moment before the words on the screen register in his brain. His jaw drops.

Your phone pings again.

Instagram 30 seconds ago official.pinky has liked your photo.

“What did you do?!” Bakugou snarls as he grabs the front of your t-shirt.

You smile sheepishly as you rub your hands together weakly to ask for forgiveness. Because god damn, you’re going to need it. “I... I kind of don’t remember?”

It’s silent for a moment before Bakugou explodes. “THIS IS WHY I TOLD YOU NOT TO DRINK!!”

💥 💥 💥

You really thought the two of you had already done everything there is to possibly do together.

You two had broken into the teacher’s lounge in the middle of the night before to make pancakes and then make out afterwards when the stove in the dorms had broken down for God’s sake.

But sitting side-by-side at the principal’s office surrounded by All Might, Present Mic, and Aizawa staring down at both of your phones opened up to your respective Instagram accounts has proven you wrong.

Your phones sit innocently on Nezu’s desk like they’re trying to shame you. You can’t believe All Might is looking at your Instagram account. You sink lower into your chair.

@ officialgroundzero | 15 posts | 2.8m followers | 7 following @ official.yn | 128 posts | 2.6m followers | 84 following

Principal Nezu looks simultaneously disappointed as fuck and highly amused at the same time.

“So according to your memory, you only had approximately 400 followers prior this morning? And this is the first photo of its kind on either of your accounts?” Nezu clarifies, rubbing his chin in deep thought as he reaches out a paw to scroll through your account once again. They’re all photos of either food, or you and your friends messing around. You just wish you’d deleted the video of you and Kaminari twerking in the classroom from last year.

Bakugou scoffs from beside you. “She has shit memory.”

“Not true!” You hiss.

Present Mic leans over your head to peer at your phone screen as Nezu scrolls through. “Well a majority of the comments seem to be positive feedback! That’s the best outcome we could have hoped for, am I right?”

Aizawa sighs and rubs his forehead. “It’s too fucking early for this.”

“But look, young Bakugou’s publicity has been positively impacted as well.” All Might adds. “Two point eight million followers is an amazing feat on its own!”

Bakugou would deny flushing red at the positive attention from his childhood idol, but it happened, okay. If only it was socially acceptable to snatch your phone out of the principal’s hand to take a picture of the rare sight.

Suddenly, Nezu slams his paws on the table, startling the both of you. There’s a scary grin on his face. “Let’s test a theory.”

Two minutes later, the five of you are huddled around Bakugou as he scrolls through his phone’s photos, scowling and grumbling in embarrassment every once in a while when a particularly domestic or cheesy photo of the two of you comes up.

“Ooh, what about this one?” Present Mic asks excitedly as he singles out a picture of the two of you that Kirishima had taken at the park a few months ago. It’s blurry, because it’s the two of you on one of those spinning wheel contraptions, except you’re screaming and holding on for dear life while Bakugou is using his quirk to make it spin at ungodly speeds.

“No, not good enough,” Nezu exclaims, hyperfocused as he continues the search. “We need better!”

“What the fuck is this even for,” Bakugou mutters under his breath as he continues to scroll at Nezu’s insistent demands.

“Your good publicity!” Nezu hisses. “Now keep looking!”

If Bakugou had cat ears, they would’ve flattened to his skull.

All Might and Aizawa end up suggesting two more photos, but apparently, a picture of a bouquet he’d gotten you for Valentine’s day last year and a picture of you decorating the classroom’s chalkboard in hearts with Bakugou’s name in them still weren’t good enough.

It’s only when Nezu slams a paw down on Bakugou’s wrist five minutes later, startling the shit out of him, does he find the perfect picture.

“This one,” Nezu says evilly.

💥 💥 💥

“This filter looks better, in my professional opinion,” Present Mic sniffs. “But go off, I guess.”

Present Mic gets shushed violently as you continue adjusting the colours and the lighting until it’s aesthetically pleasing with just the right amount of focus. You stick your tongue out as you work, ignoring the way Bakugou grumbles everytime you change something. “And... there!”

Nezu grins taking the phone from you to marvel at your work as if it was him who’d just spent the last 15 minutes perfecting the crap out of that photo. “It’s perfect!” He exclaims. “The perfect display of youthful high school romance, a budding relationship between two young adults on the verge of entering the real world! But simultaneously, the perfect amount of anonymity and mystery, opening up the opportunity to build on your individual fame as upcoming pro-heroes, not to mention U.A.’s reputation! This is the perfect first photo!”

You and Bakugou exchange scared looks.

Nezu grins. “Young Bakugou, if you would do the honours,” he says like Bakugou has an option to choose not to when in fact, he really, really doesn’t.

He sighs as he reaches out to press the upload button.

Immediately after it uploads, it’s followed by ten pings in a row before it’s finally his phone’s turn to freeze completely.

Nezu laughs maniacally.

“Babe, I’m going to kill you,” Bakugou wheezes. You manage to jump out of your chair just as he explodes it into a million pieces.

“KATSUKI!” You scream.

“Forget the chair!” Nezu yells excitedly. “Look at all these likes!”

💥 💥 💥

The walk is almost silent as the two of you shuffle across campus back to the dorms. Bakugou just wants to burn something or hurt someone or something, because what the hell had just happened?

He’s startled out of his thoughts by your hand on his bicep. Unprepared, he stumbles backwards, right into your arms. You use the momentum to press a giant kiss onto his cheek.

Snap!

Wh-

“Well, that’s the next Instagram photo taken care of,” You grin cheekily before you take off, suddenly sprinting across the field to get away.

“I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!”

💥 💥 💥

A look into Bakugou’s Instagram account, 6 months later:

[ilovefanfic86]

Supernatural S15E20 “Carry On” Series Finale

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

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.

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Warning!!! I am going to be very emotional in this post. I kinda still am. There will also be plenty side noes. 

I knew they would play that version. (Grabs tissues)

They were babies. 

Bobby will always be the dad the boys desrved.

Sam was so damn buff in “Lazurus Rising”.

I like how we get to the old characters/actors.

It feels like they wanted to make us cry before the actual episode.

Here we go...

 *Deep breaths*

Lol!! “Ordinary Life”

Dean kept Miracle!

THANK YOU JARED!!!

I’m Sam making the bed.

I loved this montage of Sam and Dean living a free life.

The title card for the last time.

Pie Fest!! 

Finally Someone brought up Castiel.

*Side Note*

 What Dean said makes sense. Them honoring Cas’s sacrifice by being happy and free is what the should do, but fuck that.

What is this purge shit?!

They are SINGER AND KRIPKE!

Haven’t seen John’s journal in forever. Its beautiful to see that they still have to use it.

Evil mimes = Vamp mimes Thank you Dean.

Well its clear that Jack brought back everyone. Good cause I was worried about Garth.

I don’t trust this plan.

Dean and his ninja stars are too funny.

Yea, clearly a trap.

*Side Note 2*

I am feeling a little let down with the “MOTW” storyline. It’s not what I was expecting. Hopefully this goes somewhere.

Damn! Sam got his ass scooped up.

Wait... What? Jenny? I barely remember her.

Oh... Well bye Jenny.

DAMN IT DEAN!!!!!!!!!!!

I FUCKING HATE THIS SHOW!!!!!

Dean telling Sam that he is proud of him.

STOP!!

I am truly speechless right now. Dean is really dead.

Poor Sam. He had a hunter’s funeral with just the dog.

My heart is really broken right now.

Thank you Donna.

*Side Note 3*

I noticed that the call is from Texas. Like “Walker: Texas Ranger” Lol!!

I am having anxiety watching Sam leaving the bunker. 

The Table...

*Side Note 3*

How did Dean fight the universe’s ultimate badasses and was taken out by a FUCKING NAIL!!?!?!?!?! 

Dean and Cas deserved better.

Dean is in heaven. 

BOBBY!!!

Wait... What did Jack do?

So, no more reliving life’s greatest hits?

Rufus is with Aretha Franklin and John and Mary live up the road.

Harvelle’s Roadhouse.

CAS HELPED JACK MAKE HEAVEN FOR DEAN!! SO CAS IS IN HEAVEN?!?!?!?

Except... WHERE THE FUCK IS CAS?!?!?!?

There’s Baby! With the original license plate.

Sam had a baby and named him Dean!

I can’t see the woman on the porch? Is that Eileen?

Little Dean has the possession tatt.

OH GOD SAM IS ABOUT TO DIE!

An acoustic version of “Carry On...” Who said that this was okay?!!!!

Is he going to meet Dean on the bridge?!!

“Heya Sammy.” 

After watching the episode a few more times and reading the lastest gossip about the finale. I do have some opinions on the matter. Some of you may agree and some may not. These are my opinions and thoughts. 

Given all that has happened this year I am grateful that they filmed anything. They risked their health and the health of their familes, to get us the finale. I appreciate that. However, there is clearly somethings that were amiss. 

First, Dean. (a.)At first I was just completely hurt about his death. I was so mad that he was killed by rebar because of a lame ass vampire. I get the angle that they were going for with it. Now that Chuck isn’t writing their lives anymore, they don’t have plot armour anymore. Basic shit can hurt them now. Just like when the didn’t have any “luck”, regular people shit happened to them. So, if you fight in a barn around random ass rebar sticking out, you’re bound to get hurt. 

(b.)Social Media. I get on Twitter and Supernatural is trending. But, not because of high praise. No. It was because a lot of the fandom felt cheated by the finale. Which is how i felt at the time.Then that Jensen did not like the ending. That he thought that the ending was going to be different than what we got. Granted that they couldn’t go full out because of the virus. If I am correct, Jensen said that they would go out “Butch and the Sundance Kid” style. Plus they edited so much of the episode “Despair” that him and Misha felt that the charaters were cheated. Also Jo (Alona Tol) and Ellen (Samatha Ferris) Harvelle were not asked back. Which I thought was strange. 

(c.) What happened to all of Dean’s earthly possessions?

Seceond, Sam. (a.)Sam’s life. I am glad that Sam got to live a long life and have the family that he always wanted. I know that because of the pandemic we couldn’t shoot everyone together. That being said, Did Sam marry Eileen? We don’t see or hear from her. The only glimpse of his wife is on the porch and its so far away we can’t tell who it is. Also in Sam’s montage, we see a lot of pictures inside his house. But not one of his wife. It just seems rushed is all. 

(b.)Sam’s aging. I am not okay with the wig that they had Jared wear. It looked like a Party City wig. Again, rushed production. But, I do forgive them for a shirtless Sam/Jared. THANK YOU!

(c.)Sam’s heaven. This may go into the plotholes area. When Sam goes to heaven will he see Jess again? Jess was the love of his life and he said that he still thinks about her.

Third, Castiel. (a.) Misha Collins did a amazing job as Castiel. His performance in “Despair” really broke me. That being said, Cas deserved better than the show gave him. A few mentions in the last episode. But no one is really talking about the fact that Cas confessed his love for Dean and it was completely ignored. We just know that Jack got Cas out the Empty and they both made a new heaven for Dean. Does Cas and Dean ever see eah other?

(b.)Destiel/CasDean. DESTIEL BECAME CANON! This was a huge thing for the SPN fandom. People who have never watched the show were interested by this. This made 2020 a little more enjoyable. Now, I know that there are some that are against Destiel. That is your right and opinion. However, it is now plain to see that Cas has always had the feelings toward Dean. And they are not on a platonic level. There has been years of evidence to this. Sam and Cas’s relationship is not the same as his and Dean’s. Naomi programmed Cas to kil Dean but couldn’t once the time came. From angel to demon, Devil and God has all said at one point or another that Castiel was in love wth Dean.. Whenever Cas died on the show, Dean spirals out of control. He always tries to find something else to get his mind off the fact that Cas is gone. Does Dean feel the same for Cas? I’m not sure, but I lean more to that he does. I have always believed that Dean was Bisexual. He’s been seen checking out men on the show. I just wsh that they would at least acknowledged it. 

Fourth, Plotholes.(a) There are so many plotholes after the finale that I need answers to. I have too many to put on here. I will put those in a different post. 

For what the finale was, I liked it. It did fall a little flat, but if I just focus on the fact that they both got the ending they deserved.

 2 brothers, hunters, Archangels vessels, Men of Letters, Legacies, Knight of Hell, Boy!King, ‘Messengers of God’s Destruction’, Dads, Heros. Thank you.

Sam and Dean Winchester... There is peace, now you’re done.

(not my gifs)

[jenneferofjengaberg]

Supernatural 4x11 “Family Remains” Rewatch

A standard cold open. A dude is murdered by a scary looking girl in a locked room. MOTW episode then.

Dean is working instead of endlessly discussing a soul-shattering trauma that can never be forgotten or fixed. This always seemed like a healthy coping method to me, but wth do I know.

Oh yes, finally the Supernatural/Toy Story crossover we’ve all been waiting for, where Sam and Dean finally gank Sid and stop his reign of plastic terror:

A quarrelsome American family shows up to look at their new house. The uncle is a stock level douchebag without even opening his mouth.

The boys warn them off with some very sketch “county code enforcement” nonsense. Oh, you’ll give them a fine, Dean? Terrifying.

This episode is another one with Stephen King vibes, especially the cleaning lady that they interview. She’s got a real Dolores Claiborne thing going on.

There’s something wrong with this family. They all seem to referencing some recent bad times and hoping, but not really believing, that moving will somehow fix all their problems. Yikes.

I knew it! This is a Supernatural/Toy Story crossover! Andy is dead?!

The daughter gets her hand licked by…NOT a dog, and all hell breaks loose. There are accusations of molestation, a middle of the night county code enforcement visit, and the lights suddenly go out.

It’s been like ten minutes and Dean and Sam still have not explained that they are not “county code enforcement”. All while doing shit like screaming about their stolen guns, saying terrifying nonsense like “this ghost is hunting us”, and pouring rock salt all over the house. This family must be so confused lmao.

This is why that “we have to burn ALL the remains” thing was always a huge plot hole. Your average person leaves a whole lot of “remains” around, if remains are classified as “genetic material belonging to that person”. If so, it should technically be nearly impossible to destroy any ghost. I guess when my hairbrush ends up in a landfill somewhere it’ll be keeping my ass on this earth until kingdom come.

Of course, it’s not a ghost. It’s just a regular fucked up human being, which on Supernatural means it’s going to be about 40 times as traumatic as any regular monster episode. This checks out, tbh.

This scene with Dean and Unfun Uncle Buck crawling around inside the walls is so dark, I can’t see shit. I get atmosphere, but if you can’t actually see anything at all, it takes away the suspense and just feels confusing and annoying.

Dean rarely looks afraid of actual ghosts or monsters, but when on cases involving humans (eg. The Benders), he sometimes does, which is really interesting from a character standpoint.

While he delivers the bad news to the rest of the family that Uncle Ted is dead, you can just tell that Dean is adding this to the long list of horrible shit he’s personally responsible for. He uses a lot of “I” statements. “I had to carry him out”, “I couldn’t get to him in time”, and “I shouldn’t have left him alone”. There’s literally no need to say that stuff, it’s not even entirely accurate, he’s just torturing himself out loud.

This is obviously a Dean centered episode, but Sam is like, barely in this episode. He just sort of stands in the background of every scene looking very serious.

We finally find out that Andy was brutally murdered by his Buzz Lightyear action figure after it was possessed by the ghost of Sid’s little sister, Sid’s first human victim. Ha ha, just kidding, Andy died in a car accident.

Sam and Dean finally confront the very unpleasant elephant in the room. The girl who’s been trying to kill them is the result of some kind of horrifying father daughter incest/rape situation, and she’s been locked up in the walls of the house for her entire life. I have feelings about turning a trauma victim into a literal monster for a Supernatural episode, but it’s kind of par for the course with this show.

Dean says he can’t blame her for killing her captor, which like, yeah, obviously, but Sam is like “I’m sure her life was hell but that doesn’t mean she gets a free pass for a murder spree”. Uh? What? That’s not even what this is. From her point of view, she’s defending herself and the only home she’s ever known from people who must feel like very real threats to her. She needs intensive psychiatric care, not judgement.

It’s too dark to see anything again. The Winchesters really need to invest in some night-vision goggles.

Plot twist: turns out there’s two of these poor children. Dean kills the brother. It’s clearly self-defense, he was moments away from being stabbed, but it still feels kind of icky. Why did they write this episode?

The dad kills the girl. *sigh*

Dean talking about how he relates to these dead, tortured children is just...How he’s “worse” than they are because Hell dealt him so much pain and torture that when he got a chance to deal it out himself, he liked it. There’s actually some good stuff in here about how trauma changes you as a person (it literally rewires your brain) and about “good victims” and “bad victims”, but I’m not sure it would come through enough to your average uninformed viewer to justify the framing of two trauma survivors as monsters that had to be hunted. I feel like a better version of this story could make the same points while “saving” at least one of the lost children.

[unsettledink]

Back in the days of LJ, I used to try and do a post at the end of each year, looking back primarily at fandom and fic. I fell out of the habit when everything moved to tumblr, and then it seemed like I didn’t have anything to say since I wasn’t writing or really participating any. 

But I always liked the idea of it, because I love to be overly reflective on stuff. And talk about my fic. Any excuse! I shuffled around some of the topics I used back then and added a few I’ve seen around that I liked. It got… long, because I TALK, so I split into two sections. 

*

Your main fandom of the year? 

    Marvel (MCU) for sure. Primarily with characters from Spider-Man and Iron Man movies.

Your favorite film watched this year?

    The Old Guard - I saw a couple trailers and everything about it looked like catnip. ‘It’s probably going to be so dumb, but I don’t even care,’ I thought. And then it was so good. It was so much fun and so much smarter than I expected and I loved each and every character and it just made me happy in so many ways.

Your favorite book read this year?

    Red, White, and Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston - I read it twice this year actually. It’s so… cute isn’t the right world. Sweet and hopeful and soft and comforting and intense. I liked every single character which is pretty rare. I cried during the sad parts and then again at the happy ending, like straight up sobbed - both times. I already want to read it again.

Your favorite tv show watched this year?

    Schitt’s Creek - I started it on a whim and because a lot of people had said it was good. The episodes were short so it wasn’t a huge time investment. The first season was a little rough, but there were enough funny moments that I hung on, and then… I kept getting fonder and fonder of these idiots as they grew. And THEN… it kept not disappointing me? 

     You grow to expect certain scripts, twists, jokes, especially in queer story lines. To wait for the bad thing to happen, because it always does. Instead, Schitt’s Creek kept going, ‘hey, here’s the set up for that! Guess what? We’re not doing it. Here’s the happy version instead.’ The relief of having that happen again and again - the last season I’ve watched (I’m sort of saving 6) I cried a bunch but it was always because I was happy. 

Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?

    1896 - I’ve been waiting for the new Steam Powered Giraffe album so eagerly for aaaaaages. Finally getting recordings of Zero’s songs! Lying Awake remains my favorite off the album, with Eat Your Heart and Bad Days on the Horizon high up there as well. I’m loving what Zero brings to the band.

Your best new fandom discovery of the year?

    I don’t know if I really did discover that much? I stuck pretty closely to old fandoms and the ones I picked up in 2019. Maybe Zodiac? It was definitely inspiring, and I want to write and read more in it. 

    Maybe the couple discords I joined? I still really dislike discord and am not on there much, and mostly lurk when I am, but having somewhere vaguely like the comms I remember makes me feel a little less isolated. It’s the potential, that maybe if I said something I might make a friend, or someone might actually want to hear what I say. 

Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?

    The Watch - I mean, I knew it was going to be a disaster with every word said during pre production. I wasn’t ever going to be happy with it. And then it came out and was even worse and uglier and … disrespectful not just of the source material but of actual people connected to Terry. I’m beyond disappointed that this is what we got, and it’s probably going to be a long time before we get anything else. 

    Devil All the Time was terrible, but I didn’t have especially high hopes. It still didn’t manage to meet them. Yikes.

The most missed of your old fandoms?

    Maybe MASH? Someone I follow started talking about it and I was reminded all over again of the wonderful fics in that fandom. I went looking and a lot are gone (still on my computer, lol, but not online), but rereading was such a trip. A slightly depressing trip, but still. 

The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?

    Hmm. I’ve kind of not had the energy to invest in other fandoms at the moment? When The Witcher was having it’s big moment back in January, I had a feeling I might enjoy it enough to fall headfirst into the fandom, so I avoided watching it. Ikr? I don’t have the time or the energy to actively seek anything out. 

Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?

    SO EXCITED about Winter’s Orbit. I mean, the third Spider-Man movie for sure, with worry. The second Venom movie, ugh yes. I have tentative hopes for Jungle Cruise? Jumanji was stellar and I always enjoy Dwayne. I have both hope and dread for the new Suicide Squad - I did love Birds of Prey, so if it’s along those lines, yay. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard because it should be some fun garbage, my favorite kind. I don’t know how I feel about Dune, but, uh, I’m anticipating it. It seems highly unlikely it will actually happen, but The Wheel of Time TV series. 

I want to be excited about Black Widow but it’s hard. It’s not the story I’ve been wanting to see, and I’m angry about Natasha not getting a movie until she’s dead.

You know. If any of it is released for real.

The Good: 

I moved to a better place. I got a better paying, better benefits, better environment job that lets me work from home. The house acquired 3-7 more cats depending on the month. I was able to get some serious problems on my car fixed. I have insurance and was able to start on some health stuff. No one I know got sick or died. I wrote a LOT.

The Bad: 

Aside from the obvious? Depression hitting extra hard during the winter. Having to put two kittens to sleep. Have my car be hit three times in our parking lot. Being driven INSANE by one of the cats for months while the vets were all closed. Kidney stone. Dealing with several health problems. Stalling for months on Gotcha.

The Indifferent: 

Not leaving the house often or easily. Enjoying a new fandom but not doing great at making connections (still real awkward, bud). Raising kittens and saying goodbye. Need new tires. Reading a lot of fic but not a lot of books. Having more pay but more expenses as well (wth insurance??). 

*

2020 fic stats

Number of stories: 39

Number of fandoms: 6? Or 2, if you cluster the others under mcu

Total number of words: 152049

Average word count per story: 4kish

Longest fic: Causality (18k, P/Q)

Shortest fic: Can’t, Won’t (1k, P/Q)

Most comments received: Sieche (49, T/P)

Fandom you wrote the most of: MCU Spider-Man - I only wrote TWO fics that didn’t feature that fandom, wow. And one of those was still MCU.

Fandom you wrote the least of: Zodiac (1!)

Events you participated in: Marvel Trumps Hate, Kinktober, IornspidersGeorg Exchange, Starker Festivals Exchange, MCU Secret Santa, Spiderio Big Bang

*

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?

    SO MUCH MORE OMG. I mean, even just counting posted stuff! (I probably wrote a solid 300k of Gotcha this year.) I did not expect or plan on doing Kinktober, so that’s a whole 31 fics right there. I also wasn’t planning on doing any exchanges - I have a History - but then I did three? And beyond that, I did not expect for everything to get so LONG.

Topic you wrote that you would never have predicted in January:

    Tony/Quentin. Goddammit @the-me09 They were like hey, they could be interesting! And while I agreed, I had no ideas for them. THEN they had to go and write Just Bodies That Collide and next thing I know, I’ve got ten fics featuring them and two-six series focused on them or Peter/Quentin/Tony. What the fuck. 

Leitmotif of the year:

    Vulnerability, I think. I had a bunch of things typed up and they all circle back to vulnerability in the end; sex, being seen, being wanted, sharing trauma, asking for help, trying something new. Offering a soft spot in the hopes it won’t be hurt. 

Favorite character to write about: 

    Tony Stark, for sure. There are just a bunch of slightly different takes, and a lot of canon to work with (kind of frustrating too though). And I’m a sucker for emotionally damaged snarky traumatized characters that are viewed poorly both in universe and out. 

Favorite kind of fic to write:

    This year? Fluff and smut combined. Maybe that’s not the right term really. I keep looking for and writing, even in the angstiest fics, for those soft moments. Sure, maybe it’s a super smutty kink scene, but I want the affection to be obvious. Maybe everyone is consumed by guilt, but I want it to be based in caring too much. Maybe there’s no real love, just sex and even that’s messed up, but I want to find that tiny bit of fondness. 

    And I want happy endings. Or endings that look like they’re going to be happy, at least, even if there’s all the angst first. I don’t think I’ve killed anyone this year? Who AM I? 

Biggest disappointment:

    Not finishing the rough draft of Gotcha. I was making such good progress in 2019, from August to December. Even after the move, I basically finished part 6 in January. I fumbled around and fussed with 1 a lot, but that had already been given one draft, really, and I got through half of 4 before I slowed to a stop. I’ve barely gotten anything accomplished on it since June. Bits and pieces here and there, but nothing significant, not like I was doing. I can excuse October, due to 80k invested in Kinktober (yikes!), but aside from that… I’m sad. I’ll finish it eventually, but I really thought I could have the first draft done in a year. I’m sitting at about 480k out of what I’m almost certain will be 700k. 

Biggest surprise:

    Kinktober! It was kind of spur of the moment, decided just a week in advance. I’ve tried month long or even like, 20-25 day long challenges and I don’t think I’ve ever completed one. I thought there was a good chance I’d do so again, so I gave myself a little help and made my own list of prompts, things I knew I liked and hadn’t done much of yet. And it worked? I actually completed it, what the hell? Despite spending five days travelling near the end! Despite falling behind in getting ahead and writing a bunch of stories the day they were to be posted! Despite apparently forgetting how to do short form! 

    I, uh, could have done without the spawning of eleven series or sequels or continuations jfc WHY SELF.

Something you learned this year:

    Ideas breed ideas. I swear to god, the second I sit down to think through a current idea, I wake up the next morning with three more. 

    Words need to be restocked. I need to consume new - not rereads, not fic - content every so often to refresh my word bank. It is astonishing how quickly writing goes again after I’ve done so.

    I can write so much more than I thought I could. I can do so much more than I thought I could. Yes, I can complete challenges without dropping out early. Yes, I can do exchanges and not regret it. Yes, I can write more than 100k, more than 200k, more and more - and I can write 10k+ easily too. Though I wouldn’t mind if I could once again write less than 10k without feeling like I’ve cut off in the middle. 

    My time is shrinking, and if I want to write as much, I’m going to have to make the time. I can’t rely on three days off a week, on seven hours of uninterrupted overnight shifts, on hyper focused writing binges that leave everything else around me on fire. 

Most memorable comment: 

    So, so many! I can’t pick one. I’ve been really lucky to get a bunch of really detailed, enthusiastic, analyzing comments across all different fics. One of the types that always sticks with me are the ones like ‘I didn’t think/know I liked this ship/kink/twist, but fuck, apparently I do? You made me, what the hell?’. 

What, if anything, are you going to try to do differently in your writing in the new year?

So with writing Gotcha but not posting until it’s done, my view of what I’ve written vs anyone else’s is extremely skewed. I’m sitting here thinking, hey I’m 400k in and got another 10k done today, so much writing! While anyone looking at my AO3 account (for most of the year) is like, you’re averaging three months between fics :(

    All that to say I want to try and get something posted more frequently while I’m working on Gotcha.

    Also, writing for kinktober was really interesting - pushing myself to write every single day, often for that day’s post, forced me to get back into shorter form fic. Which used to be all I did? But it was surprisingly hard to just stop and not write more. So I’d like to challenge myself to write more fics under 10k at least. Maybe even under 5k though that might be asking a lot lol. I might get there with the many continuations of those fics I’d like to do. Does that count?

Goals:

   I want to hit 365 fics. :) I’m only 32 away!

    Aside from writing - 

    I’ve really enjoyed the reading record sideblog I started this year. I’ve let it lapse a little the past month or so, but I’d like to keep it going strong. 

    I’d like to leave a lot more comments. I want to get better about allowing imperfection - I want to write The Best Comment, but in the end? Probably 90% of fic writers are going to be happier with a comment expressing enjoyment in any way over no comment at all. 

And not just on fics, but on general posts as well. It’s hard not to feel… weird and stupid and invasive and rude leaving any sort of comment on someone’s post if I don’t know them at least a little. I have godawful rejection sensitive dysphoria and a lot of interactions that ended poorly; I’m really not good at people. But as dumb as it feels to say those things, I know I am thrilled and warmed and happier when there’s a reblog with tags or a note or a comment or an ask or just, any small interaction that shows someone out there notices and cares, at least a little. There’s no reason I can’t at least try to offer that to other people. 

    I’d like to make/run a couple challenges of my own, later in the year. I’m still figuring out what I want to do and what I could do. I’m really interested in doing something that’s not focused on creators, but the readers; some sort of comment or rec challenge maybe.

    I want to find a cheerleader for Gotcha. I’m struggling to keep up my motivation to write it when it’s already in my head, where I can ‘read’ it any time. There’s a line between depending too much on external validation and trying to generate all your validation yourself, and I’m getting to a point where I think I need to ask for help (gasp! The hardest thing EVER). 

*

(Part Two: Pick Some Fics)

[splendidshinobi]

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST 2003 LIVE REACT: EPISODES 21-25

almost halfway done lads how we feelin'

episode 21: the red glow

ah yes barry

"i'm alphonse elric!!!!!" yes u r baby!!!

who just popped over the wall

scar im assuming

"i kill therefore i am".....barry spouting descartes rn

it was scar haha

um

hi greed

thought i saw you earlier

WHY DID THEY DRAW HIS ARMS THAT LONG

ope he found the chimera crew...

jerry jewell's evil laugh gets me every time lmao he's so great

ed has deep philosophical talks bro

also ed is chaotic but his personal morals are unshakeable

who are these prison guards gonna release

oh hey kimblee

oh hey squad

ed take out ur pokeball

um wth is that

OH MY GOD TUCKER WHAT

EW

I THOUGHT IT WAS A GIANT YODA OR A SWAMP MONSTER

he looks FUCKKEDDDD

bro of all the things i was not expecting him

oof ishval flashbacks

young scar why is your hair brown

why is it white now

WHY IS HE NAKED

whos her

lust 1.0 im assuming

ew omg tucker is literally so fuckin nasty lookin idk

idk why but he's worse than rod reiss titan for me

wait a damn minute

wait a damn fucking minute

goddamnit

what is GOIN ON

i need tucker to stop whispering he sounds like fucking voldemort on the back of quirrells head

jesus

episode 22: created human

hughes' pajamas look like armin's futon from aot junior high

the bad place???? was that greed's prison gluttony was lookin at?

im still shook af over tucker and tbh its been like 24 hours since i watched episode 21

STOP WHISPERING TUCKER

driving me up a wall

my poor son looks so tired :(

those moral principles at it again

bradley.......

ewww the way tucker walks STOP

hi envy!!!!!

so all of those prisoner guys gonna get flattened by some alchemy

hey kimblee!!!

so did greed escape with the homies???? cause i feel like he would have made his presence known already....

i feel like im missing a lot because im a ding dong

musty prison kimblee is kinda...hot....physically speaking..oops..personality wise obviously there's MUCH to work on

so envy knows hohenheim

ED BABY

he won't do it

oh no alphonse

oh god memory implants

al's identity crisis CONTINUES

they wanna become humans??? huh....doesnt really make sense for their characters...(maybe envy but more on that at 11)

is ed gonna kill these guys for al

some1!!!!!! hold!!!!! me!!!! im so stressed

is he pretending to do it and he's got another plan up his sleeve!!!!????

honestly he's so depressed i cant even tell

those unshakable moral principles at work again i see

the red water can turn ed into a god???? wtf ed doesnt want to be a god he wants to punch god

oh theres the greed squad! i found them!!! is kimblee joining up with them

maria girly!!!!!!!

THE HOMUNCULI IN THEIR STUPID UNIFORMS I--

who's the lady. i need 2 know.

episode 23: fullmetal heart

alphonse is destroyed again

poor kid

"edward sir" brosh pls!!!

oh excuse me--- ***Bloch

The Ross Slap™

winry <3

pinako takes no prisoners

ed didnt you JUST tell brosh and ross they might be right that you needed to trust adults with more shit and now youre blowing off hughes

ed's DRAWINGS im-

hi sig hi izumi!!!

al is so sad over there in that corner

poor baby son

sometimes i feel like hughes and mustang are ed and al's divorced dads

the little arakawa avatar cows in the back im CRYING!!!!!!!

“bean”

snappy al

ooffffffff

omg hughes plz

elicia is precious though we love her

"dad's friend the bookworm" omg sheska

awwww gracia made edward a cake!!!!!!!

god catch me cryin in the club

CONGRATULATIONS

"whatever" al im crying he's so sad

AL MADE BROSH OR WHOEVER CARRY HIS DESTROYED ARMOR TO THE ROOF IM ACTUALLY YELLING

"you goof"

yes winry you are correct boy is a goof

sir you are being so dramatic

give that baby a hug

"so called brother"

so we all know that was a knife through the heart for ed

al just jumped off a FUCKING ROOF and ED TRIED TO FOLLOW

so im crying

i liked this better when they HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT AL'S FEARS AND MADE THE FUCK UP

episode 24: bonding memories

guess we're gonna play w my emotions again

sometimes like....one bit characters talk...like villager b ya know? and im like who are you i know that voice

so the nasty military has come to ruin some lives again

and barry for some reason

aww poor al

youre real you are!!!!!!

i just feel like people would know people that wear sunglasses in the rain would be ishvalan

but what do i know

obviously they dont have the white hair thing in this version

poor ed is so sad

these boys need a hug 

let me just *pulls out adoption papers*

well if scar doesnt have queen mei to adopt in 03, he’s got this little toothless boy

dont lie al you do care

ew i dont like her

the drama of this boy

so the nasty military has come to ruin some lives again part 2

apparently they are *mercenaries??? excuse me

i have some questions regarding this kid’s mom

well you know i can see why this kid feels this way about his mom

it does look like she ran off...

al and scar dream team up

HEY ED!!! HEY WINRY!!!

bout time

yall gonna have this talk now????

barry STOPPPPPP

brotherhood barry is the true king there i said it

damn scar you baddie

barry like....you already knew him

anyway

WHAT THE HELL

NO RICKKK!!!!!!

someone save this boy!!!!

oh good his mom “saved” him

ah damn thats pretty tragic

she didnt know they were right in front of her

ow

well my questions were answered

so she attacks with grape fanta. thats one way to do it

ed looks like such an angry gremlin right now this is a heartwarming moment sir please

why are ed and scar being so civil right now this is so weird

bye scar

we’ll see him again

see you later scar

episode 25: words of farewell

maes who let you buy that awful pink suit 

gracia please it better not have been you

mustang ew please

dont open the door lookin like that

what the hell are you doing in here 

so hughes WASNT in ishval here?

i think that takes a lot away from his character but anyway

bradley hangs around like a creep at every possible instant

why would bradley care about ishvalan refugees like hughes cmon

“unspeakable crimes” BRADLEY YOU LITERALLY CANNOT TALK

juliet douglas is this lady’s name

only took me 1000 episodes to figure that out

ED AND AL??? NOT DEALING WITH DANGEROUS THINGS??????? dont make me laugh assholes theyre lying thru their teeth

izumi time lets go

wow we’re still going to rush valley? wasnt really expecting that tbh

elicia i LOVE you!!!!!

ew kimblee “hi”

how did he lightning himself like that

if i were ishvalan i would not go to the south....yet ANOTHER war torn region of amestris but ok

okay

an amestrian desert biker gang rolled up to wreak havoc

HUGHES AHAHAHA 

tbh i wouldnt want to tell roy anything either stupid bitch

anyway

um why do i feel like its hughes’ death episode

he would not be shown tucking elicia in to bed otherwise 

please im not ready to be hurt again

oh no

yeah he just learned something about our girl juliet

ive been waiting for this information 

he’s gonna die before we learn anything helpful

yupppppp

hey lust figured you’d show up sooner or later

i too wish i could look that sexy pulling a kunai out of my forehead

SLOTH????????

did girly just say SLOTH

i- nothing about her seems particularly slothy but ok

u know what!!!!!!!!!!!!

ENVY HEYYY

DUMBASS ROY JUST HAAAAAD TO LEAVE

haha famous last words

oof it hurts every time

not the FUNERAL scene no!

time for me to go 

peace out homies im dead inside

yes my brigadier general 

NOT THE RAIN

COME ONNNNNN

hughes is sneezing six feet under

was ed supposed to be looking at hughes’ ghost

um....right

[thronesofshadows]

First Impressions || Roland & Evelyn

TIMING: Last Week PARTIES: @sgtrolandhills and @thronesofshadows SUMMARY: Roland is a good and upstanding citizen. Evelyn, not so much, but she fakes it well?

Duty wasn’t something that just left Roland when he checked out of the station for the night. It was something he lived and breathed. Even in his personal time, if there was a way he could serve his community, he was usually open to it. It was why as he was walking back to his car, takeout bags in hand, he paused as he heard whimpering nearby. It mattered little that he was off duty. If someone needed his help, he was going to do what he could. He peeked around a corner onto a dimly lit street and saw a young woman with a much larger man. It sounded as if the whimpering was coming from her, but he swore he saw the man crying. He blinked slowly, trying to get a good grip on the situation before he called out, “What’s going on out here?”

So Alain knew what she was and there was no going back from that. That didn’t mean that she had to stop being who she was, though. She still needed to feed, and Evelyn still got a thrill out of certain other methods of feeding. Of giving those who most deserved it their dues. The man in particular today reminded her of a less well-kept version of many of the patrons of her own bar. She hadn’t even had to invite him out, this time. He’d followed her after she’d left Dell’s and that was how they’d ended up in their present situation. He’d made some stupid comment about her hair and had asked her some question she hadn’t paid attention to, and because she was someone who could deal wth this sort of thing with a fair amount of ease, and so she’d grinned, a perfect smile flashed before she ran her hand along his arm and looked right into his eyes. She couldn’t paralyze with her gaze, but that didn’t mean that it was any less terrifying to experience. He began to whimper and she felt a small smile creep over her lips before she heard someone else’s voice. Shoot. This town was too nosy for its own good, sometimes. Her facial expression dropped and she let her eyes grow wide, brushing her fingers against them and putting the contacts in. “He followed me.” She blinked - once, twice, three times. “I don’t even know his name.” The man was backed against the other wall now, taking heavy breaths. His fears had hardly been worth it. Some ridiculous deal with heights. Dreadfully plain.

While he was off duty, Roland was still in uniform as he hadn’t yet been home from work. It seemed lucky he caught this before anything further progressed. While the woman explained the man had been following her, he still seemed to be frightened for his life. Something wasn’t adding up and he didn’t like it. He supposed the woman could have stood up for herself which may have come as a shock to the predator. She hardly looked like she could do much harm. “Where did he follow you from, ma’am?” If this guy was stalking her with intent to harass, something would need to be done. He carefully looked between the pair and did his best to keep analyzing the situation.

As the other man came closer, Evelyn could see that he was in uniform. Shoot. Whenever the police were involved, things got a lot more complicated. Except with Marley - Evelyn knew that she could trust her, but everyone else there was up in the air. Which meant she had to tread carefully here. She twirled the ends of her hair around her fingertips, every mark one of nerves. “You do not need to call me ma’am.” She offered him a kind smile. “But - he followed me from Dell’s.” She glanced down at him, the urge to kick him to stop the whimpering - though ever since she’d broken eye contact with him, at least the whimpers had lessened. “To be quite fair, I did not even notice him, and I might have reacted rather strongly.” Another shrug as she bit her lip, “my boyfriend has been teaching me judo, so perhaps that startled him.” She took a few steps towards her new company. “I am ever so grateful you happened by, though.”

It brought Roland a sense of relief to know this woman had some basic self defense skills. He truly believed it was vital for everyone to have some know how when it came to fending for ones’ self. Back in Boston, he���d even taught classes to help with as much. While he wasn’t on duty so he couldn’t do much, he shifted the bag of food in his arms and responded, “I’m glad you were able to handle yourself at least. I’m off duty at the moment, but I can radio someone to come pick him up. Stalking is a serious offense.” One he would not tolerate. He nodded along as she explained her boyfriend had been teaching her judo. By the looks of it, she was certainly good at taking care of herself in that regard. The man who once thought he’d have power in the situation was now reduced to tears as if his digressions hadn’t been shameful enough. “Look at me,” he demanded as he knelt down, “Were you following this young woman?”  

“Oh,” Evelyn bit her lip. “I mean, you don’t have to do that.” She looked carefully at the policeman. “I know you all stay incredibly busy, and the last thing I want to do is add unnecessary work onto your docket.” Not to mention, if he talked too much, she could find herself in trouble. “I am aware it is an offense, but I think he was just being a jerk.” Then the policeman had to bend down and talk to the man and he looked over at Evelyn with a glare, muttering that she’d done something. “He is lying.” Evelyn lied through her teeth. “Anything I did was out of self-defense.” Or prevention. Giving him a taste of his own medicine, no matter how clichéd that phrase may be. “I think I would feel most comfortable if you and I just walked away from him.” The man let out another scream and Evelyn felt her hands shoot up to her ears. “Perhaps sooner than later?”

“Are you sure,” Roland questioned. If this was the type of man to follow women from bars, he wanted him to be brought in. If the woman wasn’t pressing charges there was little that could be done anyhow. “We do stay busy, but any public threat is worth examining.” Stalking went way past being a jerk in his book. These were people that felt they were entitled to people they were infatuated with just because they wanted them. That wasn’t how the world worked and delusions needed to be broken before it was too late. While the man did seem genuinely alarmed, somehow his allegations seemed frantic and nonsensical. Great, another town drunk. If leaving the man behind would make the woman more comfortable, he’d lead the way. “Come on,” he said as he stood up and frowned at the man, “He can figure his way home, I imagine, even if he does seem entirely too wasted to be out in public.” Once they were a safe distance away and standing under the glow of street lights, he shifted his bag of food to his left side and extended his hand, “I’m Sergeant Hills, by the way, but you can call me Roland. Are you close to your destination?”

“Yes.” She nodded. For all that Evelyn often found the police department’s incompetence when it came to the supernatural infuriating (and the very reason that Melanie’s killer had never been dealt with), she found herself incredibly grateful for it this time. It meant that he could pass it all off as just being typically weird. Evelyn bit her lower lip, fighting away a smile as the man continued to whimper. “Thank you.” She took another few steps closer to him, giving a sharp nod. “He deserves that, after all.” Perhaps her words had too much of a bite to them, but in this moment she could not find it in herself to care. “He does at that.” One of the many reasons she often chose bars when she needed to feed - or wanted to, even, Being drunk was an easy excuse to wave away anything that anyone said. “I am Evelyn Hoffman. You are welcome to just call me Evelyn, though.” She tucked another strand of hair behind her ear and nodded, “well, not to my destination but my car is not too far away. I reside on Harris Island.” She began walking, before adding on, “do you usually make a habit of working to save the day, even when you are off-duty?”

While Evelyn’s words were a bit harsh, Roland could understand. Men like this were infuriating and he’d much rather bring him into the station, but he’d respect her wishes. It wasn’t like she had called the police to the scene. He’d just happened to be walking by. There wasn’t much he could do now as they walked away. He nodded slowly and followed her steps. “Evelyn, it’s good to meet you, though I wish the circumstances were better.” Everything about her seemed prim and proper despite how he’d found her in the alley. It was a relief to hear her car was not too far away, he could make sure she got there safely. “May I walk you to your car, then? I’d like to make sure that drunk doesn’t try to follow you again.” It was no surprise to hear she lived on Harris Island. That was the nicer part of town. At her question, he shrugged. It didn’t seem like much to stand up for people in need when he saw me. “I guess you could say I do. I take my duty to serve the community seriously. I also just prefer to do the right thing when the opportunity presents itself.” He paused for a moment. “I take it you’ve gotten pretty good with the judo?”

“I do as well. I would have much preferred to meet you in just about any other way.” She offered him a wry smile, followed by a light shrug of her shoulders. Evelyn straightened her posture again. “Well, if you wish to make them better at any point, you are free to come by my bar. The police department are not my most frequent guests, but I welcome anyone, and you seem to be a good person.” She nodded, “yes, I would be quite appreciative of that, if it does not cause you too much trouble.” Adjusting the fit of her dress, she continued to walk, “though I do not think he should bother us again.” She fought away the puzzled look that threatened her face. Perhaps she had been spending too much time with people who were aware of the supernatural, at least in part, so much so that she forgot just how many people were entirely unaware. Forgot how much that could benefit her. She wasn’t about to feed on the man who’d come upon her, though -  he had been nothing but kind, and though she knew some people she fed from were properly good people, doing that to a police sergeant who’d just offered to help her out was not the sort of person she was. “Well, I think more people should be like you.” She flashed him a grin. “Oh! Judo? Yeah, I guess? I mean, I’m not on the level of my boyfriend at all, but I know some basic moves. I think I surprised him more than anything else. I mean,” Evelyn gave a small shrug as they turned a corner, “I do not exactly look all too threatening.”

What was done was done, but Roland did figure it would be nicer to meet Evelyn in a more proper fashion. Anyone with her self defense skills was someone worth knowing. He wondered if her or her boyfriend would ever consider joining him for some of the free self defense classes they offered for the community. “I think I’d like that. What bar is yours? I’ve admittedly not been to many of the bars since I’ve moved here. And thanks,” he said calmly now that there was more distance between them and the drunk. It was also a relief he could make sure she was getting to her car safely. “It’ll be no trouble at all,” he assured her and let her lead the way to her vehicle. As they walked toward her car, Roland was on high alert and was actively making sure no one was approaching. It seemed the drunk man remained in the alley, not surprising as it seemed he could not get up from the ground. Maybe after all this, he’d go back and check on him. Hopefully, a woman standing up for herself taught him a lesson. He noted a streetlight in front of them was currently burned out. A mental note was made to call Public Works about it in the morning. “Still, you knew enough to keep yourself safe. I’m actually looking to get more free self-defense classes going for the community. If your boyfriend was ever interested in volunteering, I’m sure others could learn a lot from him just as you have.” Maybe more self defense would help combat this town’s insanely high fatality rate. “Not to make you or him feel pressured, I just like to keep people aware of the opportunities available through the community center. I know many find volunteer work rewarding.” He let out a small chuckle and added, “You definitely don’t. That makes it all the easier to disarm someone.”

“The Artesian.” Evelyn offered him another smile. “Might I ask where you moved from? I am quite clearly not a native, either. I myself am a bit of a dead giveaway, though I suppose I could have been raised in America and still have this accent.” Though Evelyn was not able to pick up fear by random happenstance, only when she actively fed, she could tell that he was certainly paying more attention. Which meant that she just had to keep playing human as much as was possible. She found herself grateful that she had far too much experience in doing just that, but at times like this, it was easy to work a situation to her benefit. “Well, though it may be no trouble, I am still grateful. Not everyone does these sorts of things out of the pure goodness of their heart, no matter what storybooks may have implied.” She let herself laugh for a moment, permitting a moment of levity between them. “I do. Oh? Well, classes are always good. I know someone else who runs a self-defense course, but I can ask after my boyfriend, see what he thinks. He does seem to enjoy helping the community, so I bet I can persuade him to do something at least.” She gave another shrug. “It does at that. Not that I make a particular habit of it, mind you, but I like to be prepared.”

“I think I’ve heard of it before,” Roland responded with a small grin on his face. “I’ll have to check it out.” He always assumed he’d be a little out of place. It sounded fancy, but if the owner was inviting him, surely he couldn’t be too much of a sore thumb. “I moved here from Boston back toward the end of April. It’s definitely a different world here,” he answered, “Where are you from? By the sounds of it, overseas, I’m sure.” It would explain the posh nature she had about her. He wouldn’t be surprised if that drunk had also wanted to rob her. He was happy that wasn’t the case and by all indications, no one was following them. That didn’t make him any less aware of their surroundings. Her praise still felt slightly odd. He was proud of his work and what he did for his community. He knew it wasn’t for everyone and that fear and pain often inspired people’s choices, but to him, it just seemed natural. He was much like his father in that way. “You’re welcome, then. I know storybooks are hardly realistic, but I guess I’ve just been lucky enough to have good role models in my life,” he explained with a shrug. “If it’s not something he’s up to, that’s totally okay. Me and another one of the detectives at the station take turns running it. Occasionally, a local martial arts instructor comes in as well. I think it’s a good experience. Helpful and a good way to connect with the community.” As they rounded a corner, he added, “Always better to be safe than sorry.”

“Well, I am pleased that you have heard of it. Save for one incident, we have quite the pristine reputation.” Evelyn nodded. “Let me know, and I will be sure you get in. We often have a waiting list, but as the owner, I can make exceptions as I see fit.” At his question she gave a nod, “good observation skills. Yes, I am from London. Moved here four years ago. Incidentally, also in April. Must be a lucky sort of month for moving here.” Though he was likely human (she always assumed this, unless given reason to think otherwise - because this town, for all that it brought the comfort of the supernatural, there were still a great number of humans). “That is quite lucky. I have been fortunate to have a few of those myself.” She wondered, for a moment, if he was the sort who would help her if she came to him with Melanie’s case - though she knew that she could ask Marley for help with that at any point, perhaps not all of the police force were entirely incompetent. Even if most would never believe that hunters existed, and even if her physiology would be explained as nothing more than a trick of the eye. “I am happy to check with him regardless. Sometimes he is rather shy about how lovely he is, so perhaps this will earn him well-deserved greater appreciation. Besides, he truly does know his stuff. It is both of those things,” the turned the corner, “this town likes to throw surprises, and I was always taught, even as a child, to be prepared.” Her car was hardly too far away, now. “Can I ask, if you do not mind, what you think of this town? I know that when I arrived I heard all sorts of incredibly wild tales.”

With all the other craziness that happened in the town, Roland had nearly forgotten that Langley had been stabbed by a mime at that establishment. Though Langley getting stabbed seemed to be a trend, he could hardly blame it on her decidedly not mime-themed bar. “I think I know the incident you’re referring to and that hardly seems like the fault of you or your staff,” he said genuinely. As much as he liked Langley, it seemed like someone had it out for him. “I appreciate that, but I think I can manage to make a reservation before coming in. This may come as a huge shock to you, seeing as we just met, but I’m not the most spontaneous guy around,” he joked. As they walked under flickering lights, he couldn’t help but note he wasn’t so sure his move was lucky anymore. He’d been so optimistic at that start. Maybe he could find his way back to that. “London, that would explain the accent. What brought you to White Crest?” She had a successful business here, but he had to wonder, why here? Perhaps it wasn’t any of his business. Role models always made him think of his dad which left him with something of a wistful smile as they rounded a corner toward a parking lot. “I’m glad you’ve had some of those as well. They really do make all the difference.” There was a hint of sadness in his voice as he spoke, but he quickly returned gears to community classes. “Being humble is always an admirable trait-- though maybe some extra appreciation from his community would do him well, too.” At her question, he shifted a bit uncomfortably. Before being trapped in that house where nothing seemed to make sense and actually talking about it with Marley, his answer would have been much more clear cut. Now, he wasn’t so sure. It all sounded crazy, but from what he saw, it was in fact, crazy. “I’m not quite sure. Still trying to find a way to explain all of the things I’ve seen here. At the end of the day, what I make of all the wild tales matters little. It’s my duty to protect the people of this town. Maybe one day, things will have a little more clarity, but until then, I still have responsibilities to uphold.”

“Thank you. I have come to be alright with that now, but I did feel quite a bit of guilt after the fact,” Evelyn shrugged. She had shrugged it off by this point - especially since Kaden had seemed to forgive her, but she still hadn’t quite figured out why a mime would target someone. Focusing her thoughts back on Roland, she grinned. “Well, I do trust you with that, and hey, too much spontaneity is not for everyone. I can be, my boyfriend is not, to each their own. Still, if you would like to, I am happy to knock some other people off the list for you. From what I can tell, you are already better company than some of my other patrons.” She offered him another shrug at the remark about her accent. “That it would.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I wanted a change of pace. Someone mentioned this town to me, told me it was beautiful, and I figured why not?” They were nearing the parking lot now and she bit her lip at his comment. “It is a lucky sort of thing to have, if I am to be honest.” He shifted topics quickly enough to spark a bit of curiosity in her, but not enough for her to push. At least not yet. “I think some added appreciation would do him well. I mean, he gets it from me, but there is a bit of a difference, no matter how much he might value my opinion.” She looked at him carefully as he began to talk. All of the things I’ve seen here. She wondered if she was about to get added to that list, though he’d seemingly taken her explanation of what went down at face value. “There are a few mighty confusing things, I will admit that. Well, your dedication to your duty is something to be admired, that much I can already tell.”

“I’m glad it’s gotten easier,” Roland replied as they continued their walk through the parking lot. Guilt was a feeling he knew well, especially as of late. No matter how many times you told yourself something was out of your control, it was never easy to shake off that feeling that maybe there was something you could have done differently. Sometimes people had to be reminded the only person’s actions they could control were their own. He hadn’t meant to let his thoughts drift so astray and he tuned back in just in time to catch what Evelyn had been saying. “I suppose you’re right. Different strokes for different folks and all that. I appreciate that you’d do that for me. Guess that just means I’ll need to come by sooner rather than later,” he responded with a small grin. It did sound like a nice place and it’d been a while since his nice not-work shirts were put to good use. Her reasoning for moving here seemed sound enough. Some really enjoyed that small town charm though he was almost positive White Crest was lacking in the charm part these days. Before, he’d seen it, even if the death rate was high. Now? He just didn’t know. The unsolved stack of cases sitting on his desk told a different story. “Well, it seems like you’ve done quite well for yourself here. I’ve heard good things about your bar.” That much was true. They were making their way further into a parking lot now and he assumed they had to be close. “Well, I appreciate anyone showing people how to keep themselves safe. Speaking of, is this the lot you’re parked in?” His dinner was long cold by now, but it was still better than Lean Cuisine and probably came with less scrutiny. “Nothing that can’t be managed with some dedication at least. Thank you, though. I try to serve my community well.” When she confirmed they were in fact near her car, he gave her a brief wave. “I am glad you let me walk with you. It feels better to know you’re safe. I’ll definitely be stopping in to see you soon.”

“Only so much I can reasonably hold on to, I think.” Evelyn bit her lip. She had more than enough about Melanie - nothing could ever surpass that, nothing could take away the guilt she felt for leaving that morning, for not finding out who murdered her girlfriend in the three years since.  “Of course. Least I can do, after you have been so kind to me.” Additionally, she had an incredible curiosity about him. She knew she ought to not feel such a way about humans, but she could not help it. Especially ones who genuinely wanted to do good in their community. Who wanted to help just for the sake of helping, while asking for nothing in return. “It has been in a few magazines, and the general consensus has been positive, I think.” She smiled softly at him, feigning modesty. “Yes, it is. I am right over there,” she gave a nod to her Ferrari. “You do a good job of it, Sergeant. I look forward to seeing you soon.”

[welllpthisishappening]

singersdd

replied to your video

“washingtonburakovsky: i love how tylers shamelessly watching the caps...”

It's Killian and Peggy while she's home with a cold & happy at the moment.

Listen, I am only human. Albeit a human who really is very concerned about how much hummus I’m going to consume while social-distancing. But the point remains. And when I see solid ideas, I feel compelled to write about them. We’re going to go the teething route, though. So, sorry other anon, that Blue Line masterlist has another thing on it now. Here’s like 1.5 K of total fluff. 

-----

They had tried everything. 

Anything. All of it. And then some. 

They were bordering on desperate now, a growing frustration over the last few days that had not happened when Matt was this age. Nothing helped. 

Peggy twisted and turned and tossed and whined, which didn’t follow the alliterative rule that Killian had apparently come up wth, but he was more than willing to blame that on his absolute and complete exhaustion. 

Sleeping, it seemed, was a luxury neither he nor Emma could afford anymore. 

Not when they were so busy reading lists and searching for some kind of an answer, typing word combinations that Killian wasn’t even aware existed in the English language until some time in the realm of four that morning. That was after the pacing. But before the bobbing — moving through a variety of rooms in their apartment because some website on the third page of the Google results promised it would work. 

It didn’t. 

He hadn’t expected it to. 

Nothing good ever came from the third page of Google. 

“Ah, no, no, nah—c’mon,” Killian mumbled, reaching out a hand that he didn’t think should feel quite that heavy in an attempt to tug Peggy’s fingers away from her mouth. 

Every inch of him ached, and that might have also been a byproduct of the only-recent end to the season, an admittedly not great end either, a second-round loss that would probably grate on his nerves even more than Peggy’s tooth-related screeching, but none of those words were particularly positive to begin with. 

So. 

He wasn’t sure he’d ever had so many opinions on words. 

Matt was going to stay with the Vankalds for the rest of the weekend. 

“We’re not doing that,” Killian continued. Peggy made a noise. Not words. Figured. She was a baby. “I know it hurts, but you can’t start sticking your fingers in your mouth. Did the medicine wear off?”

Still no response. 

It really had not been this bad for Matt. 

That seemed unfair. 

For all parties involved. 

“Alright, we’ll get the ring thing and that’ll probably help and you won’t mention how that rhymed, right?”

That got him a gurgle and a wobbling lower lip. 

Killian’s head dropped — whether from exhaustion or the overwhelming obstacle of a teething six-month-old, he wasn’t entirely sure. “We’ve just got to make sure the ring thing isn’t frozen, ok, Pegs? And then you can have that and maybe some more medicine. Where do you think Mom put the medicine box?” Killian swayed on the spot, trying to look in the kitchen without walking, rocking his head to a rhythm that didn’t exist when the TV was playing a game in the background. 

The Capitals and Penguins. 

In the Eastern Conference Finals. 

So, maybe Killian was just a masochist. 

It was the first time he’d watched a game since his ended. 

Peggy squirmed again, tears welling in the corner of her eyes while her unoccupied fingers curled forward to reach for something. There wasn’t a shirt there anymore — a product of lunch and mashed bananas were disgusting anyway, and Emma had postseason stuff to do at the Garden. 

Killian needed to pick his shirt off their bedroom floor at some point. 

“I know, I know, I know,” he chanted, leaning back like meeting his daughter’s gaze would help the situation. It did not. Version, four-hundred and sixty-two. 

He was admittedly less worried about numbers than words. 

The tears spilled over, and he honestly wasn’t sure where all the moisture on her face was coming from — her eyes or her mouth or a mixture of both and someone on the myriad of websites he and Emma had spent all night clicking on should have made it more obvious that parenting was like this. 

Difficult. Exhausting. 

Possibly impossible. 

Killian huffed, teeth digging into his lower lip. He kept moving, ignoring the state of his calves and the force Peggy got into her kicks when she flailed her legs into his ribs. 

“Ok, ok, ok,” he said. Apparently he could only repeat things in triplicate now. That was at least on brand for hockey and—

Killian let out another breath, ruffling the ends of Peggy’s barely-there hair. “Alright, we’re going to try something new.”

The medicine was on top of the refrigerator, which wasn’t the first place Killian thought to look, but it hadn't been at the bottom of his metaphorical list and he was going to take his victories where he could get them. 

Plus, the ring-thing, plastic monstrosity, whatever, was not frozen. 

“Only one more away from a parenting hat trick, huh?” he muttered, mostly into the top of Peggy’s head. She’d stopped crying eventually, more than a few hiccups and noises that ebbed as soon as Killian started drawing circles on her back. 

“That was actually really funny,” Killian added. “You’ll appreciate that eventually, I know it.” He dropped back into the corner of the couch, careful not to jostle the kid in his arms and it wasn’t the most comfortable he’d ever been, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. 

Where stepping wasn’t involved at all. 

More like, staring. Directly at the hockey game in front of them. 

Killian was fairly certain Peggy’s eyes didn’t actually widen, but he was willing to blame the exhaustion again and they definitely should have thought of this before. He’d admittedly been avoiding most things hockey-related though, and that was also a little childish. 

They only had room for so many children in that apartment. 

He let Peggy turn, her back to his chest and tiny legs stretched out in front of her. Her head rested just under his collarbone, those same few tufts of hair tickling his skin. 

Killian smiled. 

Even if it was the Capitals and the Penguins. 

And, so it went — for the next two periods, part medicine, part ring-thing, part analyzing the game, a running stream of commentary from Killian and baby-type sounds from Peggy and neither one of them tried to sleep, which might not have been the best decision, but he did get her to giggle several times and he assumed that was a wash. 

Maybe some kind of zamboni joke. Fresh start or clear ice or something. 

“See, that right winger on the Pens can’t get the puck in the zone,” Killian mumbled, almost halfway through the third period, and he’d stretched out at some point. 

His feet hung over the side of the couch, toes threatening to rest on the arm of the closest chair, with one arm twisted behind his head. He still hadn’t put his shirt back on, Peggy resting on his chest on hands and knees, making it only too easy to press absent-minded kisses to her chin and her cheek and the bridge of her nose when she started to babble again. 

“I know,” Killian nodded. “I don’t think he’s good either. You’re a genius, you know that?”

More babbling. A few da’s sprinkled in for good measure. 

Killian’s heart felt like it was going to burst. 

It was a much better feeling than that lingering ache in his calves. 

Someone on the TV smacked the puck into the boards, earning another noise from Peggy and a grin from Killian and he was almost genuinely disappointed that they missed the final few minutes of the game. 

Exhaustion appeared to be the winner anyway. 

His eyelids fluttered when he heard the lock in the door, soft footsteps and the telltale sounds of shoes kicked off, and Peggy didn’t move when Emma did. 

She scrunched her nose as soon as she stopped in front of the couch. 

“I probably should feel bad waking you up, huh?” she asked softly, a quick hiss when one her knees cracked. She’d crouched down. 

Killian clicked his tongue. “I’m sure it’s painfully adorable.” “Something like that, for sure. What worked?” “Who won the game?”

“Oh my God, did hockey do this?” “You could probably argue that hockey did all of this,” Killian said, doing his best not to laugh for fear of shifting Peggy too much. Emma rolled her eyes. “Go on, admit you’re into that.” “I’m delirious from sleep deprivation.” “I can’t believe we didn’t think of this before. Sounds of the rink as a lullaby.” “God,” Emma groaned, but it didn’t sound particularly frustrated. “If I go sleep in bed like a normal person, you going to be annoyed?” “Not at all.” “Do you also want to go sleep in bed?”

Emma lifted her eyebrows when she pressed her lips together and Killian got the very real impression she already knew the answer. “Nah,” he whispered. “I’m good here.” She nodded once, a kiss to the side of his mouth and the top of Peggy’s head and Killian fell asleep to the sounds of post-game press conferences and in-studio analysis. 

[dramaclover]

Ending & Thoughts: Line Walker: Bull Fight

This is my most highly anticipated drama of the year. I’ve always loved the Line Walker series and Raymond Lam returning was just the cherry on top. It wasn’t bad but something was just missing. Line Walker is known for polices going undercover to solve cases. And one of the most prominent aspect was “figuring” out who is the hidden undercover. This aspect was missing in this sequel. I understand it in a way cause how many series can you make focusing on finding a UC? But the mystery of it was what made it fun. So I thought alternatively they could focus the mystery on finding who is the “black” cop. They didn’t do that either though. This is probably gonna turn into a very long post.

The Characters

In this sequel we see the return of Bao Seed (Raymond Lam), Cheuk Sir (Michael Miu), Tin Tong (Benjamin Yuen), Shuk Mui (Priscilla Wong), Foon Hei (Benz Hui), and guest appearances from Sin Ching (Elena King), Yuk Huen (Shiga Lin) & Wing Cheung (Tony Hung). And then there’s the new cast joining this sequel in Madam G (Mandy Wong), Lam Lam (Serene Lim), Ah Dou (Sisley Choi), Ho Yeung (Owen Cheung) and of course Ngai Tak Lai (Kenneth Ma). Wow this is a huge star- studded cast and I didn’t even include the numerous special guest stars that appeared in this series. It’s an attractive cast for sure but due to it being such a huge cast a lot of characters ended up getting sidelined.

Foon Hei was a huge character in the first and second, but for this one he was just there. He helped Cheuk sir and the others to solve cases but he doesn’t offer much other than that. The only thing that would’ve made him interesting is if we saw the return of Lok Siu (Pakho Chau), who he saved in the prequel. Unfortunately we don’t find out what happens to him in this version. I’m hoping that the TVB version that airs on tv will show him cause until then it’s up to our imagination.

Another pointless character was Ah Dou. Which is such a pity cause she was soo exciting to watch in the beginning. From episodes 1-10 she was interesting but after that it just went bad. It started focusing on her going undercover and falling for Ho Yeung one of the triad leaders. Boy, that was sooooo boring. It was love at first sight for him while Ah Dou just fell in love with gentleness I guess? After that it was just Ah Dou moping cause she feels extreme guilt & wants to quit. And goodness that bothered me so much. Cause love was all it took for her to want to stop pursuing justice that she wanted when she first joined the police force. After that she was mostly in the background. She didn’t help solve anymore cases and just talked when spoken to. At the end she helped find a chip that incriminated Tak Lei but even then he got away with it. I have no idea why the writers didn’t do more with her character. She wasn’t even there for the final villian gun shooting show down. Her potential was literally wasted in this. Also off topic, but she’s always wearing short-shorts in this series whether undercover or not and that’s how she dresses. I have no problem but yet when Rachel Koo from Al Cappucino dresses formally everyone disses her saying how she shouldn’t be dressing like that cause she’s a cop. Yet here Ah Dou is always dressed in that and no one says anything? I guess when you hate someone, you’ll also hate them over the dumbest thing.

Ho Yeung is literally a supporting character yet he managed to get more screentime then Bao Seed and Tin Tong. WTH?? Another unfair tactic used by TVB to promote Owen. Now this character isn’t bad but he’s pretty bland. And I’m not gonna lie, when he found out that Ah Dou was actually a UC and he had a standoff with her. That scene was pretty touching, he was so hurt but at the same time he couldn’t hurt her. It felt sad but too bad I just wasn’t invested in their love story. His performance here wasn’t that special. He was just mono-toned the entire time- so I don’t get where the praises is coming from? He was waaaay better in Al Cappuccino.

Tin Tong. One word WHY?? What happened to you? I loved you in the prequel. You were that comic relief playboy. You were hilarious and full on flirtatious. But in this sequel you were way too bland and wooden. I don’t even get what happened. This was a horrible character development. And before you say “he was only flirty cause he was undercover”. That ain’t true when he met up with Cheuk Sir and the rest he would show his true form and there he was still playful! Also there were flashbacks from before he went undercover and he was suuuper serious there too. So he went from serious to playful to back to serious. And it’s a pity cause Benjamin only excels in fun roles and becomes wooden with other ones.

Madam G was a failure. And even more of a disappointment then Ah Dou. She starts off amazing too! A cop with a great sense of justice, and quick witted. Yet, the writers messed up her character as well. Her character is literally a rehash of Madam Yuen from Brutally Young. Where she gets used by people around her and her being so dumb to not figure it out. It’s worse here because once she realized her sister is evil, she does nothing. She leaves the police force and huddles herself alone. While more crimes are committed, & more people are dying. She criticized Cheuk sir so hard when he betrayed the force to save his wife. Yet she’s doing the same thing with her sister but worse cause she chooses to keep this information to herself. If she had revealed what she knew, more people could’ve been saved & honestly her sister could’ve survived too. In the end the only reason she got evidence to arrest Tak Lei is because HE CHOSE to let her go or else she would’ve been dead. Another waste of a potential smart character. Another bland performance by Mandy but it could also be because the character faltered in the end.

Ngai Tak Lei, why are you so indecisive? You’re like evil and then you’re not. You’re just like going back and forth before going fully on evil mastermind. It took him way to long to even begin to avenge his brothers death. Kenneths protrayal was pretty bad and uninteresting. I was never scared of his character in the show. When I watched Death By Zero I was literally terrified of Brian Tse. To be a good villain you would have to be able to invoke fear from the audience. I never felt that way with this character. He was just annoying but at the same time he was only annoying cause the other characters were too slow to realize how evil he is.

The Plot

Episodes 1 - 10 were AMAZING. This arc featured selling organs in the black market. And wow it was great. Bao Seed became a handler for Chu Sin (Mayanne Mak) and worked together to find the mastermind behind this trade. In the process Chu Sin dies while saving someone else. Bao Seed is overcome with extreme guilt as she died under his watch. The sadness I felt was no joke. Chu Sin only appeared in the first episode and dies yet I felt such huge anguish & pain when she died. She died a hero and when Bao Seed avenged her death it was done with great justice. Along with this arc Cheuk Sir opens a coffee shop with his wife Sin Ching but she is later diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. Cheuk sir in order to save his wife betrays the police in order to get a liver transplant for her. Unfortunately after going through all that Sin Ching passes away anyways. It was so touching to see them go on one last date together, and they danced together and then she finally passes away in his arms. I was almost in tears cause they went through so much together. I just wanted them to be happy. The flashbacks and the songs they played were perfectly in sync. And then that’s it. After this amazing black market arc it goes downhill.

From episodes 11- 20 it focused heavily on Ah Dou & Ho Yeungs love story. It got to the point that we barely saw Bao Seed, Madam G and well basically any other characters. All the other characters were like just in the background going through the motions. It was so slow paced and boring. I kid you not, you can watch episode 10 & 11 then skip to episode 20 and you would still get what’s going on. That’s how uninteresting and useless those episodes were. And even now I still don’t get the point of this arc. It was about them duking it out to become the top official leader of the triad. Yet I was not invested at all. The sad part is even after Ho Yeung gets arrested and was no longer part of the main story, it was still boring.

Episodes 21- 30 focused more on flashback scenes of two undercover cops that died in the prequel. Along with Bao Seeds secret son that they focused way too much on. With a side story of Shuk Mui and Tin Tong finally getting together. These episodes here were pretty much all over the place. The flashback scenes were not needed at all & I’m pretty sure it was only there cause TVB really wanted to give Shiga & Tony more screentime. I would rather have TVB write a different prequel with them starring in it, then to see them act as filler in this drama. And seriously Tin Tong ends up having 2 girlfriends that worked undercover dead? It’s like he’s cursed. The writers could’ve done so much more with Bao Seed but writing in a secret son is just lazy writing. It didn’t help advance the plot & in the end his son still doesn’t even know that he’s the real Dad. I thought it would end with his sons fake father (whose also a cop) turns evil and uses the son against Bao Seed. But that does not happen so it just ended up being more filler than anything. One thing I did really like is how they written the relationship between Bao Seed and Lam Lam. It wasn’t romantic and never got romantic as Bao Seed still loves Ah Deng (Charmaine Sheh) and Lam Lam only had a one sided crush. But I really appreciate the “platonic -esq” of it. It didn’t turn into anything more but I really liked how they have an understanding of one another. Lam Lam knows he won’t love her but is so kind and still willing to help him instead of being bitter & jealous! I also liked the mentorship that developed between Bao Seed and Ah Dou. I’d rather have them write more about that then the stupid love line she got instead.

The story started to pick up in episodes 31 - till the end. But it really aggravated me that no one suspected Tak Lei as the mastermind. It would’ve been interesting to see someone go undercover to capture him but that didn’t happen. I thought Cheuk sir would realize it quicker. He already knew about him orchestrating to have someone stab Wai Kit (Tak Lei supposed Father). So I thought Cheuk sir would look into him more. Cause wouldn’t he find it weird he was willing to kill his own “father”? Madam G is literally his girlfriend at this point and was able to suspect her own sister but not him? Are you serious? It just seemed like everyone was blind to his actions. I still don’t get why Madam Gs sister didn’t expose Tak Lei as evil. Like why is she helping him? I don’t understand? Was she evil all along? But if she was, why did she plan to expose him but then chose against it when he decided to not kill her? Was she touched cause he did love his sister? I just don’t understand. Bao Seed is a sharp character he should’ve been able to find out sooner. The writing just got sloppy with this part. The ending was nice, justice was served. Madam G is confined to a wheelchair which I’m glad cause she literally indirectly caused a lot of the unnecessary deaths and drama. Cheuk sir is reinstated as a police. Bao Seed decides to go look for Ah Deng. And ends in a good old fashioned cliffhanger. This one I can get behind as most of the main points were resolved.

The Surprise Ending

Tak Lei is killed by another mysterious figure played by Michael Tse. That’s a nice surprise! A pity that he isn’t reprising his role of Laughing Gor though. Madman (Joseph Zheng) who we thought died earlier turns out to be alive and held captive by another mysterious figure portrayed by Philip Keung. This was also a nice touch! Especially when it was revealed that Madman is not who he says he is. I would definitely watch a fourth sequel. Madman was on the way to becoming my favourite character but he had so little screentime I couldn’t really write much about him. He’s a good fighter, smart and he’s able to adapt in situations. So I was pretty sad when he died. But good thing that was not the case. I wonder how they’re gonna write how he survived though in the sequel. One part that annoyed me is that after this whole drama we still don’t know what happened to Ah Deng. They strung us along with saying “she died” to “oh she didn’t die” to having her go MIA. I get why though, TVB wants to leave it open ended should Charmaine ever choose to reprise her iconic role.

My Prediction for the Sequel

If there is one, I don’t see Bao Seed coming back. Mainly cause Raymond doesn’t seem to be interested especially with how his screentime got reduced for Owen. I can see that the fourth one would continue on with Tin Tong and Cheuk sir moving on to a different case. But of course Michael & Phillip would disrupt it. Madman will show up and throw them off. They’ll probably say Bao Seed left to go look for Ah Deng and write him off. I’d rather not see Madam G. Ah Dou would be pointless to bring back unless they kill off Ho Yeung so she gets a new love interest. I hope for the fourth one they bring back the who dunnit concept.

Final Thoughts

I remember on my post on Al Cappucino, I talked about how unrealistic it was with how they portrayed handlers and undercover cops. And that if you wanted to watch a realistic one watch Line Walker... well I take that back. Well for this sequel anyways since it’s super unrealistic how everyone knew Bao Seed was a UC and how they also knew Ah Dou was undercover as well.

This drama had so much guest stars that I lost count of how many appeared. But I was severely disappointed they didn’t bring Sharon Chan in to guest star. She literally played Sin Yan aka Sin Chings younger sister. It makes no sense that when her sister died she didn’t come back to see her one last time! It would’ve been fine to have her cameo or something. It’s like the writers forgot her character existed. But then again they brought back Owen when he already played a different character (Ah Fo) in the first one and ignored it. Also Pakho scenes getting deleted greatly upset me. In the prequel we were left wondering what happened to him and yet we still don’t know right now.

One of the flashback scene that I really enjoyed was Muk Sat (Oscar Leung) meeting Tak Q (Brian Tse). They both were basically the obligatory best friend to the male lead who dies tragically. So having these 2 meet and since they both were goofballs it was super hilarious and intriguing to watch!

I like how they kept the story interconnected with Bao Seed taking over Ah Dengs massage parlour while he waited for her to come back. A pity they couldn’t replicate how the parlour looked in the first one. But it has been 6 years so it would be fairly difficult. Ah Mui dying was sad especially since Tin Tong waited 10 years to be with her. I still feel that 37 episodes made the drama too draggy. And they added subplots that weren’t crucial to the plot.

All in all. It wasn’t terrible but wasn’t great either. There was too much filler & useless flashback scenes. The first ten episodes were perfectly top notch! The middle part was a downer but the ending was thrilling to watch. But my top series of the year would still be Brutally Young, Death by Zero & Al Cappuccino.