#unfortunately all I’ve written so far is boring exposition. but hey. it’s a start + some vague worldbuilding

[myname-isnia]

“Oh I don’t think I’m gonna write today, I have school in the morning, I should probably head to bed”

*2 1/2 hours and 1.5k words later*

“FUCK”

[spaceorphan18]

Finding Kurt Hummel: The Purple Piano Project

Masterpost

3x01: The Purple Piano Project

Welcome to Season 3! I’ll try not to whine too much while we’re here, lol :)  

The season starts out on a relatively high note, however, making the whole thing feel a lot more promising than it ended up being.  This episode is fun and quirky and there are a lot of pianos for Kurt to drape himself on top of!! 

Future Plans

So – we start off the season much like season two – Ben Jacob Israel going around and harassing everyone about their summer vacations and future plans. 

Do you see the set up of this shot, guys?  Rachel chattering in the front while Kurt tries to be distracting in the background?  Well – get used to it, because this Hummelberry dynamic is going to drag us through the next two years, guys, lol.  No really – I enjoy Hummelberry in this episode, I do.  But we had no idea this was a set up for (I’m sure someone will argue me on this) the worst Kurt arc on the show – Getting into NYADA.  And, unfortunately, the Hummelberry dynamic (or more so the writer’s obsession with Rachel not being able to fail at anything) plays into that. 

Probably going off a rush of a summer where all they talked about was going to New York, Kurt and Rachel have all their future plans figured out.  They’re going to get a little apartment on the Lower West Side (yeah, sure), Rachel’s gonna be a big Broadway star, and Kurt’s gonna be married (legally!!!) by 30.  Yes – think about what is said here, I know Kurt has Broadway ambitions, too, but I find it funny that his dream aspirations include getting married.  

There are two key things I’d like to point about the whole marriage thing.  Kurt says by 30.  As we find in this season – not before 30 cause that is Too. Young.  But also.  Yes.  Kurt Hummel wants to get married.  And I’m pretty sure he already knows who his groom is going to be.  

But anyway, thinking about season 2, and how that started in such a dark place for Kurt, here we have the opposite – bright and shining optimism.  Oh, kiddo.  This really can only go down, can’t it. 

Purple Pianos

Kurt: Why’s the T-Rex eating the Jew?

It’s exposition dump time! As we get filled in that the Glee Club remains uncool after the Nationals debacle from last year.  Kurt gets his share of funny lines as we get filled in.  

Meanwhile – the glee club is three men down; Quinn pissed off the writers again, Lauren was fired, and Sam just couldn’t work out a contract deal.  So – Will gets the idea that placing purple pianos everywhere would inspire new people to join the club.  I’m not entirely sure how purple pianos are inspiring, but like Kurt, I’m totally on board with the whole thing.  

As seen in the background, the moment he can, he gets himself up and draped over one of the pianos. 

See – look how adorable he is on that piano!!! 

Anyway – Will bores us with another inspiration speech that means mostly nothing since no one joins glee club anyway…. 

NYADA – School for Witches

Lol – oh Kurt, you’re making the best faces in this episode so far….

First of all, let’s talk about the fact that Emma thought he and Rachel were dating (omg!), and the fact that he actually takes the pamphlet about ‘Me and My Hag’ (Lol).  Secondly, let’s talk about these sillies not doing their research on how Julliard is not a musical theater school.  At least Emma is doing the job she’s supposed to be doing in this episode! 

And then she steers them in the direction of New York Academy of Dramatic Arts.  Oh NYADA and my distaste for you begins, lol….  So, this particular school only takes 20 students a year.  Hmmm…  Looks a lot bigger than that in season 4 but whatever.  And the chances that two people from the same school and graduating year getting in? Doubtful.  But this is Glee, so here we go! 

Competitive Spirit

 It’s the first day of school, and Blaine is still a Warbler, but his resolve is crumbling because Kurt is very persistent (and flirty and adorable) in this scene. You know there’s some interesting meta floating around about this scene recently – about their competitive nature and about how Blaine really isn’t /that/ competitive, but Kurt totally is.  He doesn’t mind it at all, really, which means, in a way, that they’re on equal footing.  Ah, how that is all about to change. 

But what Kurt really wants is for Blaine to be around all the time so they can spend every minute of every day together.  Oh, Kurt.  Be careful what you wish for. But also – interestingly – they spent all the time together back when Kurt was at Dalton, and Kurt wants that little fairy tale to continue by bringing Blaine over to McKinley.  It’s obvious they talked about this at length over the summer, but I wonder what Kurt’s (more serious) arguments were for getting Blaine to come to public school. 

But anyway – the fun stuff – just how adorable and flirty these two are here! Hands might not have wandered south of the equator, but they were definitely up to stuff over the summer! 

We Got the Beat

I’ve always thought Kurt was very pretty in this scene.  

I should probably have more profound analysis.  

Well, there’s not much to say, other than Kurt’s used to being bullied by the school, and he’s not about to make himself a target by getting up and singing on the lunch tables, no matter how pretty the pianos are.  

Year 3 and Kurt’s still an awkward little dancer. <3 

This song is nice and fun and energetic.  Not really a favorite of mine, but man, what does it take to get this school into anything?  Geez! 

You know, for someone who is so particular about their clothes – I’m sure this is like the zombie apocalypse.  Poor Kurt. I love the food ray shield. 

You know, never once in all my schooling did I witness a food fight. 

Kurt is just not having it. 

Kurtcedes lives! If only to pass along exposition.  And to exchange bewildered looks as Sugar sings her god-awful song.  

You know it’s funny – I never noticed how seasons 2 and 3 (and 4 actually) openers have plotlines of – let’s open up glee club for everyone! Except not really because we’re a seclusive little bunch. 

Velma and Roxy

Small town is small after you’ve been to the big city.  But Kurt has a plan, that they’re gonna out preform all the other Ohio hopefuls so they can get a shot at their dreams.  I think, for the first time, I kinda get the purpose of this song (other than the blatant relation to Wicked and connection to season 2), but that they’re already counting in their victory against all the other hopefuls.  They’re putting their cart before the horse.  

Say what you will about Gay Hogwarts, NYADA does attract the witches….

The song itself is a little ridiculous but the performance is wonderful.  I love the choreography of this one.  And as always sound fantastic together, and this performance is no exception.  Say what you will about how Hummelberry was written – and I will say a lot over the next two seasons – Lea and Chris’s voices suit each other wonderful, and the show seems to latch on to that pretty well.  

Transfer

Not exactly a pic of Kurt, I know, but Blaine’s so frickin’ gorgeous in this scene.  And Kurt thinks so, too!! Look at that grin!  

But I’m kinda fascinated by this, now that I think of it, how Blaine’s all – check me out Kurt – in this kind of suave way.  And, oh Kurt, kind of caught up in his own drama to even notice that his boyfriend’s one outfit has changed.   

But, just, the excitement Kurt has when Blaine’s decided to transfer.  OMG! the boy is so happy.  

I love that Kurt has concerns – and they are so totally valid.  Blaine did transfer to be with Kurt, and that’s going to play a part in some of their bigger issues.  But for now, they can reveal in their happiness and not think at all about nasty, nasty break ups.  

And – getting Blaine into New Directions.  But since the only competition is Sugar, there really isn’t an issue here. 

Oh Kurt – so giddy that he’s once again getting sung to in the courtyard.  Can this year get any better?!?!  

Everything’s great util you light the piano on fire. 

Velma and Roxy II

Kurt and Rachel are so ready for this NYADA mixer! Only to find out that while at McKinley they might be special snowflakes, in the real world, they’re a dime a dozen.  I like the reality of this scene, tbh.  That you can give your 1 in a Billion speeches all you want, there’s always going to be someone else who seems like they’re more talented than you.  There are a lot of things Glee misses the mark on when it comes to college.  Or theater.  And this scene is a bit over the top.  But it does show that, hey, there are a ton of people trying to make it the same as you – and so you do have to ask yourself – do you have what it takes to compete? Or do you just walk away. 

I think now’s a good time to bring up the Glee Project.  I never watched it, tbh, so I can’t judge what kind of a show it was. But I’m not a fan of the results of the Glee Project.  And I don’t mean who won and who didn’t (Damien McGinty? Really?).  I mean that I have lots of problems with season 3.  But I think one of my biggest is that a show with a cast already overflowing now has to shoehorn these winners into the plot.  (I mean, think about how much space the show would have had without Rory)  Outside of Unique, I’m not really a fan of the characters that grew out of the Glee Project. 

That said, Lindsey Pierce was one of the winners, and her little moment to shine here seems perfect enough.  She’s a great vocalist, and I’m incredibly impressed by what she does here.  This performance is excellent.  

Anyway – going back to Kurt’s story.  It’s kinda hilarious how perfect a song choice this is – this group of kids basically stating that anything you guys can do Kurt and Rachel, we can do better.  Oh Glee with all its subtleties.  

So.  Kurt and Rachel make it back to the car and break down crying because that’s what happens when your optimistic view point gets smashed.  Poor kiddos.  

And then we get Kurt gives Rachel a pep talk v.2.0 (yes, i’ll be numbering these).  And it’s similar to the Born This Way talk – that Rachel is good enough to get in because she’s still special.  The thing, though, as much as I joke around, is that I do honestly like this scene.  Because Rachel is in Kurt’s corner, too, supporting him even though he’s down on himself for lack of extracurriculars.  The scene is a balanced one, where they both pull each other out of this dark place, and I can really do Hummelberry when this kind of thing happens. 

Gay High-five!!

You Can’t Stop the Beat

Oh, I have waited so long to screencap this.  There’s a gif out there that’s even funnier though.  

Anyway – there’s a ton crammed into this little scene.  Blaine joins glee club, which is yay!! But c’mon, Finn, you’re seriously having issues with Blaine possibly taking the spotlight when you and Rachel get all the solos? And Santana’s out for the week.  Why is she only out for one week? Who knows.  And then, finally, Kurt’s feeling ambitious and running for Student Body President, and Blaine’s super proud of him.  Can’t you tell by the still above?

But the moral of the story is you can pull all of the strings out of the purple piano but you can’t pull out it’s music.  Or, er,  something like that.  

Kurt’s feeling light and airy after that handjob.  Oh, wait, nope. 

It’s funny, I think this episode still holds up.  It’s crammed full of things, almost to a fault, but is still funny and endearing and services all the storylines it’s going to be presenting during the first third of the season.  I still really enjoy this episode even if season 3 goes mostly downward for me from here. 

It’s Season 3 people. Bam!

[calliecat93]

Top 5 Things I Disliked About RWBY Volume 5

(Top 5 Likes)

I don’t think that I’m exaggerating when I say that RWBY V5 is most likely the most hated volume thus far. I… don’t hate it. Oh don’t get me wrong, it is a flawed volume and suffers badly in the pacing department. I still put it above Volumes 1 and 2, but it is definitely below the rest. But hate it? Nah! There’s plenty that I like about it, and I’ll get to all those on the Likes post! But we gotta do Dislikes first. While I don’t hate V5, with how much hate it had gotten and still does even nearly two years later… let’s just say that I have a lot of negative feelings towards it. So I have not looked forward to going over it again, especially in a negative context. But… I do have dislikes and I do want to talk about them, and I’m not gonna let my own feelings prevent me from doing so.

So, let’s get to my Top 5 Dislikes of Volume 5 and get this over with.

#5. Corsic and Fennec

So… imo, the worst villain in the show is Cardin because he is just a one-dimensional bully who only exists to be a hate sink. But my second least favorite is these two guys. While I really like their designs and voices, as villains? They suck. THey’re just kinda creepy followers of Adam. Why? Why are they following Adam? Why are they serving the extremist side of the White Fang? I know why Ilia is doing it, but why these guys? If they were just nameless mooks I wouldn’t care, but they’re the main antagonists of Blake’s arc in this volume aside from Adam and the ones fueling Ilia’s extremism. I was expecting more substance, but… nope. There is none.

They have no motivation. They seem to want what’s best for the Faunus, like Ilia does, they’re just less hesitant than she is. But they have no real character. They’re just… there. I never felt like they were a threat or a concern. They’re just creepy cult leaders, and that’s just boring for me. Maybe that was the intent? IDK. As villains though, they suck. But as I said, they had good voice actors and hey at least unlike Cardin they have some kind of purpose, so I’ll leave it at Number Five

#4. Leo Lionheart

Honestly, Leo wasn’t a bad character. I understood where he was coming from, especially after V6. He feels like Salem can’t be and is afraid, so he shifted to Salem to survive. He knows that what he’s doing is wrong and that he’s giving in to cowardice, which hey he’s honest, unlike say… Raven. Clearly, we’re supposed to feel bad for this guy and his turn after serving Ozpin faithfully for so many years and this is a fall from grace form a once-proud Huntsmana nd Academy Headmaster. But… I… don’t feel bad for this guy. At all.

So you know how ‘show don’t tell’ is a frequent critique towards RWBY. Well, V5 may have gotten that the worst. Leo suffers from that. We’re told about how he was this great Huntsman How he was once one of Ozpin’s most loyal followers, and the betrayal still has Oz reeling in the next volume. But I don’t see any of that. We never knew about Leo until this volume. We never see or hear about how great and loyal he is until now. We don’t even find out that he’s a Faunus, and considering Mistral’s racism you’d think that that would be a bigger deal than it gets made out to be. I don’t feel bad for this guy. I just see him as a coward who allowed various Huntsmen to die just because he was scared. I didn’t care if he felt bad because I had zero reasons to feel sympathy for him or feel bad about his fall from grace. He led people to their deaths all because he was a coward, and there is no sympathy in that.

Leo was a weak character. As such, as horrifying as it was, I was perfectly happy when he died when I’m pretty sure that I was supposed to feel some sympathy. His voice actor did a really good job, but sadly the character himself was underdeveloped. It’s a shame, and hopefully, they avoid that with the Vacuo Headmaster. But yeah, Leo was weak, and good riddance to him.

#3. The Battle of Haven

By far, the most well-known criticism. I knew that this wouldn’t be as epic as the Fall fo Beacon considering that they weren’t going for a mass assault/statement like in Vale. Which was fine and since they were still new to Maya, I wasn’t expecting a massive brawl like then anyways. Like I’ve said before, I feel like V3 raised a somewhat impossible standard so IDT that the Haven fight would have pleased a lot of people no matter what they did. But… that being said… they didn’t do a very good job here.

It starts off well, but from about the point that Weiss gets stabbed, it goes downhill. We have characters just standing around. Fights just end without us getting to see them. The pacing is awkward. Some of the animations are awkward. We get fight teases like Qrow vs Raven and RWB vs HEM… and it’s already over when we cut back to them. It’s frustrating as Hell. Now group fights are very difficult… but this was just… lackluster. Now animaiton is not easy, so I think that the animators likely did the best that they could in the time that they had. It’s just unfortunate that the final result was not very good.

FOr what was meant to be the grand event, it sadly wasn’t very grand at all. I do think that they improved as the next massive brawl against Cordo’s mech was much better and gave everyone something to do. It’s what I appreciate about CRWBY, they acknowledge the mistakes and they do their best to correct them. Honestly, it could have been worse and again, animaiton is hard and they’re on a time limit. It’s unfortunate that the final result couldn’t have been better, but ah well. I’ll take what we get.

#2. The Pacing/Exposition

The thing best known about this volume, aside from the issues with the Battle, is it’s over-reliance of exposition and having nothing really happen. I mean, The House has become infamous. I think that some of the exposition was necessary, like Raven making Yang question Oz, but it does drag quite a bit. We have a long stretch of volumes where it’s mainly just characters telling stuff to others. The RNJR training arc goes nowhere. Qrow recruiting Huntsmen goes nowhere. Blake repeating Ilia’s backstory despite the Blake trailer already going into it. The Weiss Sky fight, as awesome as it was, probably could have been trimmed down quite a bit.

All of this makes it feel like the volume is going on forever and it gets boring to watch. I’m glad to have all fo this info and clarifications, but they don’t do anything to make it interesting. Like when Qrow tells us about the God’s in V4, they use some creative animation to make it visually interesting and keep our attention. They don’t do that here, and they don’t do anything interesting with the camera work or the character reactions to make it at least entertaining to listen to. And as I already covered, the Battle for Haven dragged out and had choppy fights that got cut short or happened off-screen. Which made what should have felt super exciting… well… not.

This volume drag. They gave it a good start, and then just… kinda stretched it out to fit the 14 episodes. A lot could have been trimmed down I think. I heard that writing fell behind a pretty good amount, so this one is fully on Miles and Kerry. I’m sure that they tried their best, and I can only guess that they got overwhelmed. I mean heck, they had to cut out an entire plotline while well into production, and don’t worry we’ll get to that in a minute. Had they done a little reworking and rearranging, the pacing could have been a lot better. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. IDK if I’d call it the worst written, but it may just be the most boring.

Still, the volume did has a lot of good character stuff and conversations. As such, I can suck up the pacing. That being said, there was one thing about V5 that did genuinely upset me. Like I still feel like V5 gets hated on more than it should, but this I very much did not defend. What is it?

#1. Ruby Rose Was Poorly Handled

This just angered me. Ruby is my favorite character. I had a lot of expectations for her in this volume. We’re going into another Battle. We have an arc et up to have Ruby improve as a fighter and not be overly reliant on Crescent Rose. Even the Yang Trailer hinted at that. With Oz back, Ruby can start to question about the Silver Eyes and maybe figure out how to properly utilize them to help int he fight. She’s about to get her team back, so we can see how her leadership skills have improved. Maybe we’ll have her open up about her pent-up feelings. We kind got that when she talked to Oscar, which to be fair was a good scene. But we were still waiting to see her open up and to have a payoff for all that was built up, especially with her renewed resolve to be a Huntress.

And they did absolutely nothing. 

I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I was. Her training arc amounts to her head-butting Mercury and is still completely reliant on Crescent Rose. Aside from the one scene with Oscar and when Yang re-appears, she doesn’t open up about her feelings at all and little is done to get her to do so. We see that she has PTSD in Haven when Cinder goes at Jaune, but she has zero real reaction to Cinder nor the damage that she dished out to her in V3. She doesn’t really interact with her team when they’re back… though the reunion scenes themselves are really good. She doesn’t question Ozpin whatsoever about the Silver Eyes or even indicates that she’s wondering about it. Like… really guys? Really? Even if Oz just said that he didn’t know anything outside what Qrow told her, we still could have had something from her end. Anything. 

No? Really? We’re just... not gonna do anything? She is the main character, so... shouldn't there be at least a little? Still no? Okay...

Ruby was wasted. This should have been when she began to rise up, take the reigns back with her restored team, and become more serious about her training. I don’t expect her to become a Yang-level brawler, but I do expect to see her trying to progress and getting some kind of payoff. But there was none. She didn’t grow whatsoever. Not as a fighter, nor as a character. What’s worst? You know that cut plotline I mentioned? Yeah, it WAS supposed to be about Ruby and the Silver Eyes. They were going to introduce Maria here and have Ruby begin to understand her power and likely have a proper payoff to her training arc if Maria got involved. But due to timing, they had to cut it and push it into Volume 6. While I fully understand why they did this, the results of that decision show. Ruby was done overall poorly, and while V6 did a lot to fix that, it is still the thing that I dislike most about RWBY Volume 5.

Okay, no more negativity with this volume! Onto the good things! Happy thoughts folks~!

[exoticcal]

Imprinted (A Michael Clifford Fic)

Word Count: 1.4k

--

Entry #1

Could you imagine

Could you imagine waking up one day laying next to the love of your life?

One that was hand picked for you by the unknown?

One that is supposed to fit you like a puzzle piece, who is suppose to love you regardless of anything else in the world?

I know I can’t.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, is born with a tattoo on their body somewhere.

The tattoo reads what your apparent soulmate would say to you when you meet them for the first time.

My mother had,

“Ma’am you dropped this!”

Tattooed on her since she was 8 years old.

My dad had,

“Oh I’m such a klutz!”

Tattooed on him when he was 10 years old.

They met 15 years later. Got married after one short year, had my older brother and I within their first 5 years of marriage.

And that’s how it usually goes.

For me? It doesn’t work out like that.

At the age of 4, I had a small tattoo of a smiley face on the palm of my hand.

Erased after one long summer.

At the age of 9, I had the words “Why is you hair that short?” plastered on my hip bone.

Gone when I decided to never cut my hair.

At the age of 13, I had “I know you think you’re ugly, but to me you’re the prettiest 8th grader I’ve ever met.” written along my collarbone.

I forced that one to disappear when I overheard the 15 year old boy get dared to say so by choosing to not say anything.

It’s not that I don’t want to find love.

It’s just that

I don’t know..

I don’t think it’s meant for me.

I don’t like the idea that at whatever age we should dedicate our lives to the person behind the tattoo.

I wasn’t ready at 4.

I wasn’t ready at 9.

And I wasn’t ready at 13.

I’m going to be 21 soon and I haven’t had a tattoo in almost 8 years. Maybe I fucked myself over. Maybe the unknown decided I was a picky, indecisive bitch that shouldn’t know the wonder that is love…

Well, I guess that’s all I have to log in for today.

Dawn told me I should start journaling about this since by everyone I’ve met so far, my “soulmate journey” is extremely unheard of.

Till next time.

-(Y/N/N)

I shut my leather bound journal and tucked it away in my nightstand, laying my head back onto my pillow.

Dawn is my best friend and even though she has had a tattoo of her own for the past 2 years and day dreams of the day she’ll meet “the one” she still for the most part is trying her best to understand my stance on the tattoo to lover business.

And like I stated in my journal entry, she told me I should journal what it’s like to being a soulmate-less human.

It’s not a hard concept to wrap your mind around, but I guess some people have a hard time believing and understanding it.

I look over at the clock on my nightstand and take note that it’s only 5:30 at night. Taking note of the time, my stomach let out the most obnoxiously loud noise to indicate that I need to eat.

Prying myself out of bed I made my way into the shared living space Dawn and I had to find her sprawled out on the couch absorb in her phone.

“Hey dude, I’m getting hungry. Would you like to grab some food with me?” I asked, sitting myself on the arm rest.

“I’m down, as long as it isn’t Taco Bell. We’ve had that two days in a row already.” I could hear the teasing tone in her voice.

“It’s a comfort fooood, okay?” I whine. “How about… Sushi?”

“Fuck yeah, let’s go.” Suddenly, my arm is being grabbed and my body is forcefully being taken to the door.

“D, can I at least put my shoes on?!”

“I mean, I guess.” The grasp she had on my wrist is released so I could slide my shoes on and a short minute later we were off to the little sushi boat restaurant.

The faint sounds of music moved through the car as Dawns shabby little Honda drives through the little college town. Scattered through the town were little shops that tourists would visit when they drive through and a movie theatre that the locals swear has the best buttered popcorn to ever exist.

My favorite little coffee shop is smack dab in the center of it all, the art inside is so lively and beautiful, it takes me out of my normal boring life sometimes. I frequented there so much that I became friends with the only barista, Sonny, the moment he would see me walk up he would start making my drink. Call me basic, but I get an iced almond milk white chocolate mocha, and every time I’d go up to order it would ALWAYS be sitting there waiting for me. Sonny became much more than the guy who makes my coffee, when I would be there he would always make small talk with me and that small talk blossomed into a caffeine induced friendship. We would talk about struggles with school, with our financial situations, our family issues and so much more. He’s also one of the only people who didn’t look at my any differently when we discussed my lack of ink.

Unfortunately, Sonny is a foreign exchange student from Germany and is moving back to help his family out. I hope whoever’s next somehow makes that little shop feel like home.

As I dwell in my thoughts, I didn’t notice that the car came to the stop and we were in front of the family owned sushi restaurant.

“Earth to (Y/N)!!” I felt Dawns warm breath fan over my left ear. “We gon get sushi, get out of the car!”

“I know, I know!” I unbuckle and follow her eager figure in.

“Booth for two please!” She requests. The waiter quietly and quickly brings us to a small booth right next to the little track of sushi that is circulating through the entire place. As we sat down, I immediately started grabbing plates that caught my eye.

“So.. what got you all up in the clouds back there?” Dawn questioned, picking one plate at a time.

“I saw the coffee shop I go to and remembered Sonny left to go back to Germany. That shit makes me sad, he made my coffee so well.” I say, stuffing the piece of sushi in my mouth.

“And he listened to all of your sorrows. He wasn’t just a barista to you, dude.” She was right, she’s known me for the past 5 years and knows that it’s hard for me to open up and make new friends.

“It’s okay to be sad, (Y/N/N).” She pouts, reaching her hand out to pat my head.

“Who said I was sad? I’m proud of him for making a decision like the one he made.” Yeah, I was sad but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. He loved his family and wanted to help them so he went back home to do so.

“Mhm..” I look over at her, to see her eyebrow quirked up which just meant she wasn’t believing me fully.

“Just shut up and eat your dead fish, D.” I say, giving her a soft kick to the leg.

She let out a small noise of discomfort before continuing the conversation, “So do you think whoever works their next will make your drink just as good as Sonny did? And be as friendly?”

I let out a sigh, “I don’t know. Hopefully. Probably not.” And with that, she just nodded and indulged in eating.

For the rest of the night all Dawn and I did was watch a movie then go to bed since we had classes in the morning. But as the night grew on, I remember that I had a paper I need to finish before my 9 am class tomorrow.

Which just means I’d have to get up extra early, go to the coffee shop to fuel up and finish the paper.

--

A/N: I’m sorry this is sooo long and drawn out. But that’s exposition babyyyy!! I’m planning on making this story have multiple parts?? I promise you it’ll get better as I get back into the groove and dive into the story more! Love u all. Muahh.

Tags: @jpgluke @gigglyirwin @mysticalhood @cashton-queen

Part 2

[indarkmode]

My college essay on online dating:

Conley Morris

English 1010

Professor Lee Mortensen

9/18/18

Mr. Online Dream Guy?

“You down to makeout?:)” Ah, my favorite pickup line. No, really online dating has really heightened the romance these days, I mean could you outright ask a person to stick your tongue down their throat in the days of traditional dating? I think not! Online dating...where do I even begin with this one. All jokes aside, I would definitely have to say it's one of the horrors of our time. I’ve never had so many disgusting things said to me than through online dating apps. Online dating isn’t so bad afterall. I actually have one friend marrying the guy she met on tinder and I have several other friends currently dating someone they met online! However, the majority of my experiences with this have been downright awkward or just plain awful. And, of course, I couldn’t get away without some absolutely hilarious moments. Ever since I’ve turned 18 my love story has been one bad date after another. I guess when I reached “adulthood” I expected to have some wonderful dream guy to just come sweep me off my feet and it would be everything I imagined and more. What happened was not at all what I expected. 

In the “old days”, you would meet people organically more often. At the bookstore, the coffee shop, your math class, your church group, etc. Now-a-days everyone tells me “you have to get on tinder, it’s the only way to meet people”. Now in my opinion, I much prefer the meet-cute way, but in the beginning I hadn’t totally written off meeting online. I feel like the only way to develop a relationship with someone is by somehow relating to them and getting to know them first without assuming that there will be for sure a relationship at the end of things. This would be how I was supposed to meet Mr. Dream Guy according to how society works today. Unfortunately for me, all of the guys online had no idea my expectations. Half of them came into online dating thinking that this is a perfect opportunity to get some action, while the others were convinced I would be their next girlfriend to wife. On Monday, July 23rd ‘Keaton, 21, 5’11 BYU and works at vivint’ started off our quintessential relationship with “What qualities do you have that you think would make you a good mother?” Needless to say, that match lasted approximately 12 minutes because well, motherhood is not something that is on my radar for another few years let alone with a boy I’ve never met. 

By this time I was fed up. It seemed as if everyone was in a good relationship with no weird problems. My friends were either getting married or they were already a year deep into an amazing relationship and I was over here trying desperately to make a normal connection, online. If only I could have walked the boys through what they needed to say to me. Boys I’ve never met in real life, never talked to them before, begin our conversations with “Hey, how are you?” “Hey whatsup?”. Excuse me, but I’ve never talked to you before and that’s a really interesting conversation starter, I can’t wait to tell you about how I’m folding my laundry right now. “Haha fun” “yeah wby?” Wonderful. I can’t wait to tell our kids the enigmatic conversation that started it all. Now, if it were me, I’d look at their pictures and their bio and see if they have anything in common with me. Oh, it says they like to read? Me too. People have to be creative, pull them into the conversation, give them a reason to want to reply. If someone had started off a conversation with “If you were stranded on an island what book would you take with you if you had to choose only one” I might have faith in online dating. People don’t owe anyone conversation. Females especially. We have to deal with creepy guys, boring guys all day long. If a dude begins a boring conversation, would you think we want to engage in that? We don’t have time for that kind of frivolity. So the alternative is to make us want to reply to . A pretty face doesn’t mean anything, but a good conversationalist? Now that could get someone far. Another thing males should know, is to be cautious when asking on dates. If they’re serious about wanting to get to know people and they don’t just wanna get down or get married in two months and they are online dating they should tread lightly. So many boys had asked me out within 5 minutes of talking to me and I can’t tell you how overwhelming and suspicious that was to me. My immediate reaction to that when that happened to me is to stop talking to them and unmatch. I didn’t want to go alone with some guy I had never met. I would have prefered for them to ask me to bring my friends and they would bring their friends and that would have been a lot less intimidating. I would have been way more likely to say yes to something like that.

I think my favourite memory is when I had just broke up with boyfriend so I wasn’t feeling too amazing and a really seemingly nice guy I met online was going to take me out with him. I did my hair, shaved my legs, got dressed in the outfit I felt prettiest in. It took two hours. I sat swinging my legs on the bench outside my front door. It was too nice outside to be inside and besides he said he would be here in ten minutes! I waited for forty five minutes before I went inside and turned on Harry Potter. The funny thing about this story is, it’s not the only one! I have at least seven very similar stories and let me tell ya. It is NOT a good feeling. I just thought that if someone was gonna ask me to go out with them, they wouldn’t bail. I mean they asked me? If they couldn’t go why would they even bother wasting both our time. I don’t know. They should have at least have the decency to tell me and give me a few hours notice. 

You would have thought that at this point I would have given up on the online dating scene by now but no. You see, I’m an extremely hopeful person. I try to be optimistic and I’m a romantic. I want to be in love so badly, I want a love story. ‘Falling in love is as addicting as cocaine or nicotine.’ I wanted that. So I decided to give online dating another chance. Are you ready for more exposition? Living in a predominantly mormon culture, most of the males I meet are mormon and are extremely concerned about my purity as a women. My favorite question I received to date, came in from ‘Luke 20, just got home from my mission in Uganda:)’. 10 minutes into this glorious relationship he asked me “How far have you gone, sexually?” Which, I of course responded with telling him how that was none of his business thank you very much. He told me that, because of my lack of enthusiasm to answer this question, I must have something to hide, and that I was not as virtuous as the women he wanted to be his wife. I had to chuckle at that one. Good luck finding a wife with that misogynistic attitude dude! As I said before guys either think they’re gonna find a wife or someone to put their lips on. I can’t tell you how many of my matches disappeared after I informed that that, no, I would not be making out with them tonight or any night for that matter! 

Then next and last guy in my long string of online communications was Ryan. He was 20 and christian. He started off with a question “Do you know any good used bookstores?”. As a book lover, my heart soared. Would he be a kindred spirit? The answer to that was a big fat no. In fact he just knew exactly what to say to convince you to make out with him and hopefully more! He asked me to come over and we would make cookies. I thought, how sweet, he bakes. I went over and weirdly, he was out of ingredients. But good for us! His TV was working just fine. I was a bit unsettled, but he was so nice! But as soon as I sat down he grabbed my face and tried to kiss me. I said I barely knew him and that I didn’t come over to makeout. He angrily argued that no in fact I did know him! We talked for two days he told me about his favorite book of course I know him! I demanded to know what he thought was gonna happen if I came over and he said “I don’t know, I thought you would kiss me and if things went well maybe more?” I got up and left. That was the last of my online dating exploits.

Over the past two years since I’ve reached legal adulthood I hoped the conclusion would be Mr. Dream Guy and I but instead my conclusion is basically online dating is pretty much the worst. Take away the face to face interaction and males suddenly feel like they can say whatever they want to me. I think online dating could be a really great thing and it obviously works for some people but I think if someone is just looking to hook up there are other apps for that! They are hindering someone’s chance to find a Dream Person by wasting their time with efforts to get down. What I learned from all of this, is that I can’t go out and look for Mr. Dream Guy in a way I never believed in, in the first place. In fact what it really taught me was that I don’t actually need Mr. Dream Guy, what I really needed was to become Dream  I learned that I am awesome. The end.

DeWitt, Amanda. “10 Interesting Facts About Love You Probably Don't Know, According to Science.” Lifehack, Lifehack, 10 Jan. 2018, www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/10-crazy-facts-you-probably-dont-know-about-love.html.

 B., Joshua. “20 Shocking Facts About Online Dating.” TheRichest, TheRichest, 6 Feb. 2015, www.therichest.com/rich-list/most-shocking/20-shocking-facts-about-online-dating/.

“21 Amazing Online Dating Statistics - The Good, Bad & Weird (2018).” DatingAdvice.com, 14 May 2018, www.datingadvice.com/online-dating/online-dating-statistics.

[mistralrunner]

Running Reads Oathbringer: Part II.II

Spoilers for pages 371-409 ahead!

“As white as a sun at night” Idioms referencing Shadesmar?

Evi is channeling Eliza right now 

Look at where you are...would that be enough?

He will never be satisfied

I like Evi although I'm still suspicious that there's something more about her given Vasher's comments about Renarin's parent

"Like a blackness from the old stories. You live only by taking lives from others."

It's interesting what is being set up here, the darkness in humans being the likely greater enemy in a world where people want to believe the humans against evil narrative

At least Dalinar recognizes she deserves better and tries

How much of people overlooking Evi as not that smart was just because of her beliefs in the One

Ugh Gavilar bad husband Navani deserves better

Huh Evi brings up the Nightwatcher first...as a way to connect to the One? I guess that is a form of transforming oneself.

Ahhh Dalinar you did spare the kid aaaa

Also boo Gavilar boo for wanting a kid dead

And hmm Aona and Skai violated a pact? What pact?

Yes Lunamor pov with his full name to start

I'm glad we didn't leave the Shattered Plains entirely. Like Rock I've grown oddly fond of them.

Are there women training

Yes five scout ladies yes

I'm glad there's more than one too that really does help

Teft what are you doing you're supposed to be the reliable one

I like Rock’s respect to all spren

Ooh we finally see what he sees-a little into Shadesmar?

Ah Kaladin helping Hobber feels

I love the outside perceptions of Kaladin from Bridge Four

I love Kaladin and I love Bridge Four

It's really sad that even with magic powers Kaladin still might not be able to protect Bridge Four

Oh that makes sense as a way Rock moved from fourth to third brother why didn't I think of that

Aww Kaladin being there if Rock wants to talk about lost brothers

Heh Elhokar still wants a life changing road trip with Kaladin

Yes the Bridge Four Bridge was recovered

Where is Rlain? Is he training here

Aww he'd always been a cook

Not surprised the newcomers haven't managed to use Stormlight. They need more team bonding and Connection to have a chance.

Aww Renarin

Even Rock can't see Renarin's spren?

Renarin is Bridge Four. Bridge Four is greater than even the Windrunners.

Yes thank you for letting Renarin talk about his feelings

Yay Rlain's here but aww he's left out

I do feel strange about the Parshmen storyline essentially being dropped for the moment due to pov switch cause it is important

I love these interactions. I love Bridge Four

Ooo spren approach and watch

Please tell me they are good ones

Yay Syl!

Phew good ones I'm getting too nervous lately

Hehe they don't want to admit they were wrong to Syl

Spren drawing Stormlight huh

We kind of knew it could happen since Pattern was infused but this does make things more interesting

Especially after what Kaladin did with the Windspren

Okay the fact that Lopen can do the full Bridge Four salute makes me feel a little less weird about him regrowing his arm but still weird

Aww Lunamor's family

We need to introduce Bridge Four to snow forts

Something is wrong at the peaks? Concerning but not surprising given they're almost certainly Perpendicularities

Aww Rock was broken. They all were, it shouldn’t be surprising really, but still..

Oh Rock is technically first son now

Didn't think about that

The idea of Bridge runs being over makes me sad

They should fly with the bridge

Arrogant aren't you Shard? Given how Aona, Skai, Ati, Leras, and Tanavast ended up, I feel like Hoid made the right choice.

Are gemstones used in the visions used in real life?

Did we see this vision before? Why are these people fighting?

Pfft Dalinar frustrated the fragment of god into cursing

Dalinar: It's just a flesh wound! I've had worse!

So some humans did fight alongside the Voidbringers in the past

The Radiant’s a Stoneward?

Yep I was right.

So that's what Tension sort of does. That is pretty cool.

Yes Navani and Jasnah time thank you for mother daughter scholarship trip although a reunion scene between the two would have been nice

Regrowth devices? I wonder if that's what healed Szeth

Ladies on a scholarship trip I'm loving this

Navani acting like it's Middlefest cause ancient fabrials, Jasnah analyzing technology and timelines excellent

Aww Jasnah smiling

Yeah the recorded visions actually have done a lot of good. Like inspiring ladies to become lady knights. And scholarship too.

Ah Jasnah giving Dalinar advice on heresy XP

Thank you for Jasnah being a well written atheist who respects others’ right to believe 

"I don't need company to be confident."

I love Jasnah so much "/You/ decide how you are defined. Don't surrender that to them."

"No, none would think Jasnah emotionless if they'd witness that tearful reunion between mother and daughter." I’m glad for the confirmation that it was tearful and heartfelt, but if only we could have actually witnessed it Sanderson.

Rock that's burned, rock that's crushed, rock with holes, rock that's rippled, match the rock effect with the magic that caused it!

I do wonder where this battle took place

I do hope our final encounter isn't as sad as the Aharietiam although I also wouldn't expect it to be the polished and glorious heroics of songs at least not entirely

Oh hey the preface scene with the Honorblades. Or rather after it.

What are the Tranquiline Halls. And Damnation for that matter

You know you were in bad situation if even the Stormfather has somewhat accepted you breaking oaths. Poor Heralds.

Ooh yes please Stormfather please give exposition

Huh beings Invested enough that they could refuse to pass on so Cognitive Shadows or something else?

Parshmen have spren? Are spren? What?

Are all the spren of Odium born of Parshmen? Who is more in control in the Fused? Why can they command Surges as well?

Expositionnnn

Odium is sealed by Honor and Cultivation. Even still with Honor broken?

Oh that's what the Oathpact was. Sealing the spren of the dead into Damnation, wherever that was.

Oh that is messed up. An oath sealed by people who can break it, and Desolations begin when one person gives into the eternal torture and then they're hailed as Heralds and heroes when they're the ones who let the apocalypse come.

Taln took the torture of ten for far longer than they ever bore it before probably

Far far longer apparently yikes

I didn't realize the span between Desolations got that short. I always saw them as hundreds of years apart but a shorter and shorter span really explains why society fell apart that much.

What determines a Desolation's end though? All the Fused spren going back to Damnation? How do you keep track?

Poor Heralds

Huh I wonder how much being bonded plays into the Stormfather's increased understanding and forgiveness of the Heralds

I'm kind of curious about the layout of Damnation if the Heralds could hide and fight there

I have more feels about Taln than before. "The one who was not a king, scholar, or general" but who never gave in...and paid dearly for it. Four and a half millennia....

People are messy, broken heroes and traitors both

Heh took you long enough Dalinar to realize that guy was Taln and oh you lost track of him oh dear

Oh

That's bad

Really bad

Oathpact gone and Fused just regenerate in Everstorm

Oh that's bad

Not just the regenerating enemy

But the fact that it means that killing Fused will lead to un-Fused Parshmen getting possessed and losing themselves, thus restoring Fused

So some people might be prompted to decide to genocide the race they once enslaved to prevent Desolations...

Not good not good

What did happen to Taln’s Honorblade

Sorry Dalinar, you're not going to find Taln so easily

Unfortunately Stormfather by rule of narrative they're going to find out why the Radiants abandoned their oaths. I wonder if it has to do with what happens to a Radiant's soul after they die.

Let's hope there's enough character growth and healing that these broken people can withstand the truth when it eventually comes

I would be interested in locating the Heralds

I wonder if any Shardbearers we've seen are actually Heralds

It'd be hilarious if that assassin Jasnah considered using to kill Aesudan was one

Hmm so what was Cultivation doing to stop Odium cause this narrative has mostly centered on Honor related things

Still

I KNOW THINGS

I LOVE MYTHOLOGY INFODUMPS