#wow. throwback to this. like 5 years ago

[yutafrita]

Hii Nat! Im new to your account but found you through your yuta taking yn to japan oneshot (SO CUTEEE IM IN LOVE) I wanted to request a challengers au with johnjae x yn could be smutty or whatever (lool) love ya ❤️❤️

Omg hi welcome to my account!! And wow what a throwback that one was so fun. Well, I hope you like the rest of my account AND i hope you enjoy the small req :) thanks for sending it in! Sorry it took forever :(

Word Count: less than 1K

Warnings: Swearing, adultery, sexual situations/ references, small potential dubcon, oral (femme receiving), reader is the worst

Permatag! @nini0620

[10:58 pm]

You frowned. The tv was mocking you. You wished you could shove your arm through the glass and yank out the newscaster.

“At this rate, I don’t think there’s anyone who could take her down.”

You did. You beat her that girl without even breaking a fucking sweat. Yet, here you were, years later, glaring at the shitty tv while someone you hadn’t even considered a blip on your radar all those years ago was showering in her grand slam win.

Your knee ached. Another reminder of your injury.

You took a sip of your seltzer water. It was well past ten pm. Jaehyun was sleeping already- you'd have knocked him out if he wasn't. He needed to be awake by 5 the following morning, and as his coach so did you.

The engagement ring that used to belong to Jaehyun's grandmother glistened in the dim hotel lounge. You huffed. You set the glass down, prepared to simply go upstairs, shower, and climb into bed with your fiancé.

You felt eyes watching you.

You looked to the right of the TV, your eyes meeting that of your fiance's former best friend.

"What are you doing here?" Johnny was smiling like a buffoon, his hair longer than you would have liked and his shirt covered in sweat stains.

"Jaehyun’s at the tournament."

Johnny didn't respond to this, instead he let his smile drop as his eyes caught the ring on your left hand. He moved towards you as if the diamond was a siren calling him before he sat down at the empty seat across from you.

"It was his grandmother's," was what you settled on. A part of you knew you should tell Johnny to fuck off. Not only was he Jaehyun's competitor, but he was also your ex.

He was the reason you can't play tennis anymore.

Your knee ached again.

"How is she doing?" Johnny asked. It had been so long since had seen either of you. When you two had broken up, Jaehyun's grandmother was still kicking.

"She died a few years back."

"Do you love him?" his eyes finally removed themselves from the ring to meet your gaze.

"Why do you care? You two aren't friends anymore."

Johnny, instead of scowling and snapping like a normal person, chuckled lightly as he allowed his eyes to wander all over your form.

"Do you want to go outside for a smoke?"

"I stopped smoking in college."

"So you don't want to go outside together?"

You furrowed your eyebrows at this.

“We’re engaged.”

Johnny’s smile dropped, “We.”

He repeated that word, his face contorting as if the word itself was heavy on his tongue.

Even disheveled, clearly having just finished practicing, Johnny was handsome. More than that, even. He had fully grown into his height. Before, when he would sit idle a hunch would form as if to shrink himself smaller. Now, he sat tall as he studied your face.

You looked past his face at the tv in the lounge. They were playing highlights from Jaehyun’s match, and the match from that bitch.

“I need to be back in an hour.”

“Baby, for you, I’ll make do with anything.”

******

Johnny was just like you remembered. His shoulders were broader now, the motel he was staying at was just as cheap as you anticipated, and he fucked you until you saw stars.

“You got back late,” Jaehyun noted the following morning. He already was drinking his green juice once he finished his physical therapy.

“I had to finalize your Aston Martin ad,” you replied briskly. You checked the time on your watch- ten minutes until you had to go.

You would feel remorse for what you did if Jaehyun didn’t play like shit yesterday.

“Ah,” he nodded before his face flinched.

“What is it?” You asked, having caught the frown that appeared between you scheduling your ride to the courts.

“You… maybe it’s just the lobby,” he muttered to himself.

“Jaehyun? Get it together man you’re going up against Nakamoto today,” you rolled your eyes, stood up from the coffee table and maneuvered to the door of the hotel room.

“You smelled like this cologne I used to wear in high school. That’s all,” Jaehyun spoke up now, seemingly more confident. You hesitated slightly as you grabbed your shoes by the door, but it was so small you knew he didn’t catch it.

“It was probably just the smell of the hotel lounge.”

Johnny was such a loser. Of course he was still wearing the same cologne from high school. Of course Jaehyun also wore the same cologne back then, too.

The rush of people before a tennis match always sent a thrill down your spine. You walked closely next to Jaehyun, reminding him of each small issue you caught from his match yesterday.

“Remember Nakamoto gets frustrated easily, so you just need to survive longer before he starts slipping. He always is far weaker in his last sets,” you were mentally going over your notes after your previous review of Jaehyun’s competitor.

“Good luck out there, Jae,” his voice was fleeting, but the two of you made eye contact with Johnny who sent a wink your way before purposefully bumping shoulders with Jaehyun.

The two of you slipped into the room Jaehyun was assigned prior to the match, a small window high above Jaehyun’s head.

“Do you feel pre-?” you were cut off.

“You fucked him, right?” Jaehyun’s voice was so soft, you almost didn’t hear it as you were shuffling through your bag.

“Jaehyun, what are you talking about?” You lied through your teeth, taking out his protein bar. His gaze narrowed.

“I smelled his cologne while he walked past us,” Jaehyun snapped. You blinked quickly, not responding as you watched his breathes get heavier.

“You barely won yesterdays match. You’re gonna lose.”

Your shitty reply did it. He spit out his gum onto the floor and tore your purse off your lap.

“Jaehyun!”

He didn’t respond, instead shoving your hands aside as he snatched your panties off, leaving you in your tennis skirt on the wooden bench

“I’ll show you I’m better, and I’ll kick Nakamoto’s fucking ass,” he was knelt down in front of you, his eyes determined. You didn’t respond. You just slowly opened your legs, and allowed him to bury his face between them.

Finally, some fire in Jaehyun you thought as you stifled a moan. He hadn’t been this aggressive in a while. Maybe his anger would let him play a good fucking game of tennis.

[rekikiri]

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before

@aftgphoenix

hiii (I’m going to put a cut before the second answer because I talk extensively long so I apologize in advance)

🍓how did you get into writing fanfiction?

okay so I actually started writing looong before I started writing fanfic. I used to make up stories to tell my grandfather every day he’d pick me up from school, then I started writing them down, and so on. I started actually writing and coming up with stories when I was around 5 and I’d write my stories in my notebooks and at school and then it went on from there.

actually writing fanfic happened in around middle school? I found pokemon fanfic on deviantart (wow throwback) and was like i can write about things I like??? And I started from there.

I almost exclusively wrote original works until a couple years ago (when I started posting on ao3). I wrote some fic but not much and rarely posted it (I think I may actually have a fic up on wattpad somewhere I can’t remember if I deleted it)

🧃share some personal lore you never posted about before

this one is hard bc I want to make this interesting but I don’t consider myself a very interesting person. a lot of my personal lore I haven’t shared is partly bc it’s depressing ahsjfjf

okay I don’t think I’ve ever posted about it but I think ive mentioned it to some mutuals but! I didn’t know who my “first kiss” actually was until like … a year or two ago. I made a joke about having never kissed a girl and then was like, “wait I have???”

my “first kiss” (putting it in quotes bc I was pretty young) was with my childhood best friend which is so much better than who I thought was my first kiss. I’ve only actually told one irl person this because it’s embarrassing to be like, “bro I literally forgot who my first kiss was”

[tokuvivor]

Duckverse June Week 5: Movie Day

Home stretch, baby!!! I sincerely apologize for how late this is, but here you go! I give you…

Movies I Missed on the Moon

It was an exceedingly rainy morning in Duckburg. Breakfast had just finished, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie were sitting at the bar, trying to figure out what to do.

“We could watch the rain outside,” suggested Louie.

“Nah,” responded Dewey. “I want to actually do something.”

“Well, the weather hasn’t given us many options, clearly,” reasoned Huey.

Just then, Della came in. “Hey, boys,” she greeted. “What are you guys still doing in here?”

“Oh, hey, Mom,” replied Dewey. “We’re trying to figure out what to do today, but we’re not getting anywhere.”

“Yeah, this weather sucks,” concurred Louie.

Della gasped. “Where did you hear that word?” she questioned.

“Mom, you literally say it all the time,” replied the green-clad triplet.

“Oh, yeah,” Della realized in a somewhat subdued tone. “Anyway,” she continued, clapping her hands together, “I think I have an idea of something the four of us can do together!”

“Oh?” asked Huey.

“Yep,” Della responded. She fished around in one of the pockets on her jacket, until she pulled out a tiny piece of paper. She unfolded it, revealing its true size, and showed it to the boys.

“What the-?” began Louie.

“‘Movies I Missed on the Moon’?” read Dewey.

“Wow,” finished Huey.

“Basically,” Della explained, “for all the catching-up I’ve done since I returned from the moon a couple years ago, there are still things I haven’t gotten around to yet, what with adventuring and flying and Woodchucking and all that good stuff. So, I decided to make a list of movies that came out while I was on the moon, and since the weather’s crappy today, I thought the four of us could do it together, as sort of a bonding activity.”

“I love that idea, Mom,” agreed Huey.

“Perfect!“ interjected Dewey.

“Alright, let’s do it,” finished Louie.

“Woo!” cheered Della. “We’ll need snacks, though. And some Pep. And we’ll need to decide what exactly we’re going to watch today.”

“Whoa, whoa, Mom!” Huey exclaimed, resting his hand on Della’s. “Take it easy. We can figure this out.”

“Sorry,” Della responded. “Just got a little too amped up there.”

“I know that feeling, Mom,” Dewey piped up.

“So what are we waiting for?” Della continued. “Let’s Dell-ve into this!”

‘Right, there’s still two of them,’ Louie thought, slightly annoyed.

Soon enough, the four ducks were gathered in the den. Della had put on some popcorn for her and her boys to share. Louie had procured some Pep. Dewey had found some assorted candy. And Huey had queued up their first movie of the day.

“Mental Max: Road of Rage!” Della exclaimed. “I love the whole dystopian future concept. I was obsessed with the first three movies as a teen, so I was super excited when I found out they made a fourth while I was gone.”

“They’re gonna release a fifth soon, too!” chirped Dewey.

“Isn’t five a bit excessive, though?” wondered Louie.

Della put on a thoughtful face. “Iiiiit…really depends, I’d say,” she replied. “Sequelitis exists, but there are certain factors that play into the success of the movie, like frequency, cast status, and how good the writing is.”

“Not wrong,” Huey offered. “Uncle Donald took us to see a throwback screening of The World Before Time, and it was great, but thirteen sequels? Now that I would call excessive.”

“Plus,” added Dewey, “most of the voices were provided by kids, so they’d inevitably grow out of the roles at some point. If they used adult actors for those, the voices would’ve been more consistent from movie to movie.”

“They’d have to know how to sound like kids, though,” Louie replied. “Or else it’d just sound weird, seeing a kid on screen, he opens his mouth, and it’s a 40-something dude.”

“Okay, yeah, yeah,” Della brushed off. “Now let’s watch this thing!”

“Whoa.”

That was all Della really had to initially say about the movie.

“That was so cool!” exclaimed Dewey. “It felt like one of our adventures.”

“For all that developmental hell it went through, I’d say it delivered,” Della continued, snapping out of her trance.

“How long had they been planning it?” Huey asked.

“Heck, at least since I was a teen,” admitted Della. “But a lot of outside stuff pushed it back.”

“Oh, god, like the original Max,” groaned Louie. “That guy’s a nutjob.”

“The new Max did a good job, though,” Dewey reasoned. “Okay, so what’s next, Mom?”

“Zombieland,” Della replied.

“Nice,” Louie approved. “I still can’t believe they got Bill Murray to play himself for that one.”

“I loved his ‘Take That’ moment towards Garfield,” added Dewey.

“Yeah, I remember that one. That was not his finest moment,” Della criticized.

“It’s an interesting premise,” admitted Huey. “Let’s get it rolling. Louie, could you please pass the Danish Shrimp?”

“That was so much fun!” exclaimed Della. “Yeah, a zombie apocalypse wouldn’t be an optimal world to live in, but I think we could pull that off. We all have adventure experience, I’m a good fighter, Huey has all his Woodchuck experience, Dewey’s savvy, and Louie, you could get your hands on a lot of supplies.”

“You’ve got a point, Mom,” Huey replied. “I think we’d fair well enough in a zombie apocalypse, but you know who’d be really good in an apocalyptic situation? The girls.”

“Ooh, you’re right,” Dewey agreed. “They already throw themselves into crazy situations at least on a weekly basis, so they’d own it.”

“I’ve honestly lost count of how many different weapons Webby has in her possession,” Louie added.

“However many it is, I’d like to bet I’ve got more!” Della challenged.

“I’ll pass that along to Webby,” Huey replied dryly. “Anyway, what’s next?”

Della’s eyes went wide. “That,” she said quietly.

“Are you sure?” Louie asked.

“It won’t hit too close to ho-“ Dewey began.

“I don’t care,” Della assured. “I need to see how Matt Dalmatian does it.”

The Martian was probably the best choice yet.

The four of them watched in awe as Matt Dalmatian’s character was able to keep himself alive on Mars. Though it did make Della have one regret.

‘Shit, I wish I could’ve cultivated my own food,’ she thought. ‘At least then, I wouldn’t have had to survive solely on that blasted Oxy-Chew. Though it did help me survive that long on the moon. Oh, who am I kidding? It’s hard enough for me to grow food here on Earth. I should really ask Donnie for some pointers.’

By the time the movie ended, Della was feeling a wide range of emotions. Her boys noticed it, too.

“What’d you think, Mom?” Huey asked.

Della’s eyes were red with tears. “I-I don’t think I’ve ever related to any movie as much as I’ve related to that one,” she admitted. “I bet the guy who wrote the book never would have guessed that this gal was lost in space, just like Watney.”

Huey nodded thoughtfully. “I really admired his resourcefulness,” he added.

“I kinda feel bad, though,” Dewey continued.

“Why’s that, Dew?” Della wondered.

“It’s like, he was stuck in space for, what, a year and-a-half? And at least he was able to get in contact with NASA eventually,” Dewey explained. “You were stuck in space for much longer, and we didn’t even realize you were still out there, trying to get back home to us.”

Huey and Louie looked at him, slightly concerned.

“Ah-no offense, Mom.”

“None taken. I’ve kinda gotten used to the whole isolation thing in hindsight, anyway,” Della replied. “That movie really reminded me just how good I have it. To get home in one—well, two—pieces. To be able to finally see you boys in person after 11 years. To live to tell the tale. I’d say this movie was definitely worth it.”

“We love you, Mom,” Louie responded.

“Aww, I love you boys, too,” Della smiled, as they wrapped her in a hug.

“So, what we got next?” quizzed Dewey.

“Okay, you boys are gonna be mad at me for this, but I was kinda thinking Bridesmaids.”

“Eh, I don’t care,” Louie admitted. “I’ve heard good things about that one, anyway.”

“It can be a bit low-brow at times,” Huey added. “But they seemed to have made very good calls in terms of the actresses.”

“And Webby’s already showed me plenty of chick flicks in the past,” Dewey confessed.

“Fair enough. Let’s start it up, then,” declared Della. “After we find more Pep.”

“On it,” Louie shot back.

Overall, what looked to be a dull, rainy day on paper turned out to be really enjoyable for Della, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Della was able to knock some late 2000s-2010s movies off her to-watch list, and she was able to do it with three of the most important people in her life. And to her, that was worth everything that she went through in the past. Almost like she was Matt Dalmatian.

[shaynetopps]

5, 11, 12? <3

thank you, bestie!!

5. what made you start your blog?

WOW, that's such a throwback! it was back when i was like 15 and heavily into disney channel (descendants. girl meets world, etc.) and was transitioning into teen dramas like teen wolf. wild to think that was, like, eight years ago now.

11. what do you consider to be romance?

that's a big question for someone who hasn't been in a relationship JSFJFDJKDFG. to me, romance means actively choosing each other and making the other person a priority.

12. what’s some good advice you want to share?

"if he wanted to, he would." (disclaimer: not accounting for the complexities that come with everyday life and trying to be a person)

send me fun asks!

[whatevertheweather]

Thank you @you-remind-me-of-the-babe and @aristocratic-otter for the tags!

Not to say this every time I do a tag game, but I’m super late to this party. In fact so late that I wasn’t going to do it, but then I kept thinking about it, so hi everyone, here’s a throwback to when all of you did this a million years ago.

Rules: list your top 10 most kudos’d fics on AO3, followed by your own personal top 10.

AO3 Top 10:

1. Bite Me (M; 27.6k)

2. A Restless Mind (T; 21k)

3. Keep It Down (E; 5k; co-written with @fatalfangirl)

4. The Space In Between (M; 101k)

5. Caprine Attire (T; 18.4k)

6. For The Turtles (T; 17.9k)

7. Just A Prank (T; 5k)

8. The Definition of Platonic (T; 5.7k)

9. Archery 101 (M; 13k; co-written with @you-remind-me-of-the-babe)

10. Raining Cats and Dogs (Without the Cats) - (T; 4.9k)

My my. This is all going to get rather rearranged.

My Top 10:

1. The Space In Between: Surprising absolutely no one, TSIB is still my number one favorite thing I’ve written, and it will always be terribly dear to me. I cannot overstate the impact it had on my writing and my...overall joy. I’ve made an edited and formatted version to put on my Kindle and I reread it more than I should.

2. Bite Me: Okay we can all agree on this one apparently. There are several fics I’m struggling to pick between for spots 2 through 4, but this one earns this place for the amount of fun I had writing it. And posting it. The enthusiasm it received was wonderful and it made me feel wonderful.

3. Brazen (M; 10.9k): My least popular fic! I love it so. I also understand that it’s not for everyone, and that’s valid. I have in fact had a couple moments myself of, “Wow I. I really did write that huh.” But listen, over the past few months I have consumed no less than four separate pieces of (fairly popular) fiction that have all equally inspired me to say, “Yeah that’s fucked up. Brazen really ain’t shit huh.” So. Anyway, it’s so much fun to write them being feral, an excellent pastime, can’t recommend it enough. That’s why I’m writing more of it.

4. The Smokescreen (T; 18k): Surprising absolutely everyone, myself most of all, I’m actually putting my third least popular fic in fourth place! The surprise there is that not so long ago, this was number one for my least favorite of my fics. Now, to be fair to the fic (and Selkie, who did the wonderful art and gave the prompt for CORB), my problem with it was very much me and the state of my brain when I was working on it. Point being that by the time I posted, I was so sick of writing it that I never wanted to read it again. But many months passed, and I thought, “Fine, I’ll give it a try,” and I actually didn’t hate it. In fact I liked it. In fact I’m a little proud of it. In fact I think of it semi-regularly in a fond way. (It also gets bonus points for the tag “Antagonistic Flirting,” because that is Baz at his best.)

5. A Restless Mind: This one still makes me feel soft and warm because it’s soft and warm and also the first fic I ever wrote. I have a very vivid memory of pulling my laptop out one night, opening a blank document, typing “I,” and then saying “nope, nope, can’t do it” and closing everything. Several months after that, I was still thinking about it and decided I could do it if I went with third person. And I did. And now my Ao3 word count is 280,836. Whoops.

6. For The Turtles: This one makes me soft and fuzzy in a similar but slightly different way, because it’s silly and fun and it was the first fic I ever posted. Which also means it’s the first time I ever experienced the straight shot of endorphins that comes with reading a beta’s comments of laughter and positivity in a document I was super nervous about sharing. So thank you again, Jess.

7. Caprine Attire: Again with the nostalgic and happy elements of the two fics above this. This is a sequel to For The Turtles that was never meant to exist, but it insisted on existing before I even decided to post FTF. I had a lot of fun with it, it still makes me laugh, and I remember very clearly the moment I wrote “Simon (1:12 pm): is it tyrannus basilton grimm pitch the fifth? or tyrannus the fifth basilton grimm pitch?? tyrannus five: the empire strikes backilton grimm pitch???”, cackling, and then saying, “Oh fuck, I have to post the first one now.”

8: Just A Prank: Another I had good fun with. I wrote it in a night, so it’s bite-sized and full of pranks and uni boys being stupid and also kissing. Just a good time.

9. The Definition of Platonic: Sweet, fluff, domesticity, friends-to-lovers, it’s cozy and feel-good. I depleted my stores of cutesy romantic feelings for this, but they’re refilled now, so all is well and I can reread it without huffing.

10. Raining Cats and Dogs (Without the Cats): Again, I just had a lot of fun writing this, and it’s nice and sweet and carries a lot of fond memories for me of my dog and rain and all that good stuff. Also I will always stan liar!Simon.

Please note that the exclusion of co-written fics is not a reflection of my affection for them, but is rather, of course, for the fact that I didn’t write them alone <3

I’m pretty sure literally everyone has done this by now, but I don’t know who for sure so I’m tossing out some tags for @artsyunderstudy @martsonmars @bookish-bogwitch @urban-sith anyway and seeing what bites.

[keltonwrites]

Where no one knows your name

How many times is a person meant to make new friends? When I moved into an apartment in DC with an absolutely iconic girl from Craigslist, I wrote in my journal, “you never know when you’ll meet your next bridesmaid.” Charmingly juvenile, as I was 24 years old. Ironic, as I never had any bridesmaids. And embarrassing, knowing I wrote something that’s surely been embroidered on a bachelorette party t-shirt by now. My point was: you can meet people you fall in love with anywhere, anytime, assuming your heart (and calendar) are open. Now my heart and calendar are open and I am one of Elizabeth Bennet’s sad sisters, cloying and desperate for attention while everyone at the ball ignores me. Meeting people here is unnerving and hapless and eye-clawingly vulnerable. My first new friend told me she was moving away in a few months. Do you invest deeply in hopes of another faraway friendship? Do you just go back to waving as you pass on the street? I like this girl! What an embarrassing thing to have to say to someone! Do you just invite people to every and anything like a lunatic? I can’t even remember to call the people I am forever-and-ever in cahoots with. I’m also deeply bound by what I’ll call the Movie Trap: say it’s 3pm during not-a-pandemic, and you get the urge to see a movie. You look at the showings, and there’s one you really want to see at 7:15. You think to yourself, “I should make an effort,” and you text a friend. “Hey, you wanna go see This Cool Movie at 7:15 tonight?” No one ever says yes. Don’t give me an example of when someone has, because it’s always one of these answers:

“Oooh, I’m actually seeing it with Kate tomorrow - wanna come?”

“Can we go to the 9pm showing? Stuck at work.”

“Yeah but let’s see Movie You’ll Fucking Hate instead.”

Now maybe I’m just lighting flares guiding you to the worst parts of my personality, but this drives me nuts. No, Liz, I don’t want to go tomorrow. I want to go tonight. At 7:15. So I can be in bed by 10. And you’d have to drag my dead body and prop open my eyes to get me to see something like Marriage Story in theaters. The Movie Trap is a big reason I usually hang out by myself, or I make plans weeks in advance. (Don't I sound like a blast.) Just the idea of being like, “I like you! Wanna hang out in October?” makes me want to collapse into a puddle of sad adulthood. Which is why on Friday at 4:30pm, when a girl I’d met a week prior asked if I wanted to grab a drink, I just said yes. I put on a pretty dress, did my makeup, put stuff in a purse, and drove the 25 minutes to town. It was really fun! And how novel to have new contacts in my phone like “Maggie blue house” and “Jess concert friend” — a throwback to the days of “Greg guy on L train” and “Devon ad party.” The very concept of not knowing someone’s last name or even needing it, and a year from now updating their contact info and smiling at your origin story. But for the most part, no one is in our phones. In terms of phone numbers collected, here is the list:

Two friends we knew prior who thank god you guys exist.

New friend who is moving away.

New friend who is game to drink tequila and ride mountain bikes.

Neighbor-not-yet-friend who I really fucking like and am not sure how to cross hang-out threshold with.

​Not to say there aren’t any other prospects or people I’m platonically gaga over, but I don’t have their phone numbers. There are honestly a lot of people like this because when you live in a small town (and you’re from the Midwest) you say “oop, sorry” to every person/object you bump into, and you say “hi :)” to every person you see. These are the rules. If I drive by you and don’t wave, it’s because I was so deep in a daydream I probably shouldn’t have been driving in the first place. This isn’t acceptable, because in our urgency to tattoo our vaccination status on our foreheads so we can make friends, it turns out just driving by someone can be a viable strategy. A few days ago, a man was driving by our kitchen window and then our driveway, and then he reversed back up to the kitchen window and started waving. Ben went outside — it was that kind of wave. The man had seen from his car a smokejumper emblem on the back of a truck in our driveway. “Hey, are you a smokejumper?” We aren’t. But my dad was, and he was in town visiting, accompanied by the emblem on the back of his truck. The guy said we should drink sometime. Numbers were not exchanged. We’ll call that a node, because it’s not quite a connection. And it’s mainly nodes, waiting to be connected, to have relevance. But first, no matter who you’re trying to befriend, you have to answer everyone else’s Do I Care Quiz. The quiz is employed by 93% of locals to determine how they feel about you existing within their personal 50-mile radius. The first question is non negotiable:

1) Are you visiting?

Variations on this question include “how long are you in town?” or “what brings y’all to town?” or my least favorite and most insulting, “did you just finish Jeeping?” I know I have blonde hair and say y’all, but how dare you. (Also, to be clear, you can own a Jeep, customize your Jeep, mod out your Jeep, and love your Jeep, but you’re not Jeeping until you drive too fast through a tiny town so you can hurl your Jeep over a mountain pass without ever getting out of it.) So the answer to “are you visiting” is “no, I live here.” Which brings us to the next question, my favorite for how loaded the gun, kneeling in the grass, scope on, target locked it is.

2) Are you part-time or full-time?

The first time I answered this question, I didn’t realize it was essentially like asking how someone voted in the 2020 election. The judgment was cocked and ready and the palpable relief/joy/or at the very least, tolerance, exuded by answering “full-time” was like when the sun comes out from behind the clouds on a 40 degree day. I was fine, but wow that does feel better. The third question though does not have a standard hoped-for answer. This is where nodes turn to connections turn to phone numbers.

3) What brings you here?

It seems like the best possible answer would be saying you work in town, and you’re going to begin construction on displaced-worker housing to ensure the people who run this town can actually live in it. We’d have everyone’s phone number. Saying you’re a writer who works remotely and bought a house from a legendary and beloved local who could no longer afford it is really something you keep to yourself. But in the interest of making friends, I just word vomit my entire history. We might as well find out at the onset if I make your eyes roll back into your skull. Not at all threatening that all it takes is a single social signal misinterpreted to be the absolute death knell of my ability to make friends in a town of some 1400 adults. In fact, I’ll share one such interaction. I was hiking with Cooper, about 5 miles by foot away from my house. I was on a trail, crossing a sloped meadow, and a group was traversing up the hillside to the trail. I said hi, where y’all coming from. One girl answered and we talked about the trail. She eyed me up and down. “Did you just move here?” “I did!” “I served your family last week,” she said. “Oh,” that phrasing. “Must have been my in-laws.” “Heard you bought Jack’s house. Such a bummer when locals like that are forced out.” “We didn’t even know about his house,” I said. “We were looking at another house and he asked his realtor if he could get us to come see his house. We just loved it, and him!” She had no emotional reaction to this. “You moved from California?” she asked. (Dangerous question.) “Yeah, got these sea level lungs, haha,” attempting to disarm with humor was a failure, “but couldn’t be happier to be out of California.” “It’s not like this all year. Winter’s really hard here, you’re in for a rude awakening.” “Well California’s the last place I lived, but I’m not from there. I’ve lived in brutal winters. At least Colorado gets sun!” I laugh with cloaked loathing. “It’s different when you live at altitude,” she said, like no human aside from her had ever been literally anywhere. “Are you trying to go around?” She indicated the path behind her. “No, y’all go ahead, just gonna wait to give you your space. I’m sure you’re faster than me.” “K, good luck making it to the lake." Maybe she was thirsty. Maybe she was hungover. Maybe she just has vicious delivery, but it felt like every blade of grass was leaning against the wind to listen. She was with four other people and not one of them said a word. I left that interaction not wanting to see another human ever again. But that interaction, and her intimate knowledge of exactly which house I lived in, made me want to decorate like we lived in a gingerbread house, all candy canes and plum drops, screaming to any passerby that we’re friendly. One of the mayor’s first questions to me was “what are you going to do to the house?” There are rules here about what your house can look like, and I kept emphasizing we bought the house because we loved it, not because we wanted to change everything about it. And now, instead of wanting to decorate the interior, I want to put up shades so we don’t contribute to light pollution, I want to hang a sign by the water spigot saying “grab some if you need” for hikers and mountain bikers, I want to paint a sign for the wild mint by our door that says, “I mint to tell you to take some,” because our neighbors were openly panicked they wouldn’t be able to just grab mint from the cabin’s garden anymore. Without question, COVID makes things harder. Dinner parties feel like dares. Dropping cookies off at someone’s house feels invasive. Grabbing a drink feels like the ultimate sign of trust. But at least we have nodes who can connect who can think to invite us and who can see that despite having lived in California, we’re not all that bad. In the meantime, I’ll be painting signs about water and mint, hoping to garner the benefit of the doubt from the so beautifully, earnestly, and waiting-to-see-if-you’re-worth-it doubtful.

Subscribe to the newsletter at tinyletter.com/keltonwrites — high altitude relocation and renovation in a tiny mountain town.

[brooklynboysficrecs]

Ria’s Top 10 Canon-verse Fics

So, I’m a little surprised I’ve held off on doing this particular Top 10 as long as I have, if only because this does cover the majority of stucky fics that have been written. It also contains some of my all-time favorite fics, which I will be screaming about below. You’ve been warned. But anyway, this is getting down into the nitty-gritty of why I love stucky -- the original ‘verse, with the original storyline (although there are a fair few canon-divergent fics in here, I’m sure). Pure, unadulterated Steve Rogers loving Bucky Barnes. What more can you ask for, honestly? You could ask for it to be legit canon, but lmao, no, we don’t expect things like that, especially not from the MCU writers. Also, some of the fics I might’ve included in this list are recced in an ask I got a while ago, so go check that out for some mostly-canon angst. Regardless, here are my personal Top 10 canon-verse fic recs:

1. Ain’t No Grave (Can Keep My Body Down) by spitandvinegar. Alright, buckle up friends, because this is the end-all, be-all of my favorite stucky fics. I have reread it probably four or five times in the four years I’ve been in this fandom, and it hits me just as hard every single time. This is canon-divergent post-WS, where Bucky’s come-down from his Hydra conditioning is accompanied by a drug addiction and two smart-mouthed kids he rescued from the streets. Steve literally loves nothing more than he loves Bucky and he is determined to bring Bucky home, kids included. There is just -- so much I love about this story. I can’t possibly fit it all into a little blurb. But this is my favorite stucky fic, hands-down. It’s a must-read if you can handle the incredibly sensitive topics it covers, which means it’s not for everyone. But it has my highest seal of approval. 

2. Perilous Underside of the World by eyres. I reread this recently because I was in the mood for both angst and badass Bucky, and this delivered in spades. Steve’s been kidnapped and held captive by Ross for months, tortured and experimented on, and it as devastating as it sounds. Cue Bucky and the rest of Team Cap coming in for a rescue mission and an adrenaline-filled adventure through the Antarctic wasteland. The summary says it all, honestly: Steve throws a snow-mobile at a helicopter in this one.  

3. Steve Rogers at 100: Celebrating Captain America on Film by eleveninches, febricant, hellotailor, M_Leigh, neenya, tigrrmilk. A lot of fics are enhanced by visual media, usually some type of fanart, but few are incomplete without it -- this fic is one of them. It’s a look through in-universe media depictions of Captain America over the years, with real-life casting and amazingly done posters for the movies. The various Avengers are there to react to it all and it’s nothing short of glorious. 

4. Came Back Haunted* by Brenda. You guys should know how much I love Brenda’s writing, since I waxed poetic about it when I was doing the rec for Prince Charming, but I’m going to say it again: I love her writing. And this is yet again another fic series that will tear at your heart and stitch you back together again. It features, among other things: Bucky and Thor friendship; a road-trip; dark Steve; and bearded Steve! All good things. It’s been a while since I’ve read this, but I’m pretty assured there is much angst to be found here as well, plus the requisite happy ending, because, as previously mentioned, I don’t do unhappy endings. 

5. Tender is the Ghost* by Hark_bananas. OH WOW. Okay. So. I started reading this series right before the second part had been published, and I just. Fell in love with it. The first part is set right after Bucky turned himself into SHIELD, and it features Steve and Bucky re-learning about each other (and themselves) through a closed door, considering Steve isn’t allowed to see Bucky face-to-face. And the second part picks up once Bucky is ready to go home with Steve, and it’s. So sweet. Bucky and Steve recovering, together, and finding love along the way. Bucky loves plants. What more could you ask for?

6. Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail* by owlet. I think this is probably one of the most popular series in this fandom, and for good reason. It’s Bucky setting himself a new goal after the fallout of Project Insight, and that goal is a protection detail for Steve Rogers, well before he has his memories to back up the need for such a thing. Bucky and Steve don’t get romantically involved until much later in the series, but their friendship is a thing of beauty in this, as is Bucky learning how to be human again, through coffee, grilled cheese, and The Olds, the elderly neighbors he comes to care for while he’s watching Steve’s back from across the street. I adore this series and I think most people would be hard pressed to find anything they don’t like about it. 

7. The Blood Will Dry by castiowl. There are clones in this one. It might be the sci-fi nerd in me, but honestly that’s enough information to hook me already. But this fic is a fantastic, gripping read from start to finish, and the clones are only a part of that. It’s another fic that written right after The Winter Soldier came out, and so it has a lot of the hallmarks of that era: Bucky dealing with his conditioning, coming back to himself and Steve, Hydra-hunting missions, some kidnapping, unfortunate throwbacks to torture, and Steve having to figure his own shit out right alongside Bucky. 

8. To Stop My Mind From Wandering by Lynchy8. This one is a little shorter than the other fics on this list, but it’s still one of my favorites, and for a much different reason than the others. This is Bucky and Steve separated for the majority of the fic, with Bucky taking up residence in Steve abandoned apartment while he’s off being Captain America and also looking for Bucky. Bucky does home repairs for Steve. Steve broods and worries. Bucky heals on his own terms and it’s lovely. And the ending is very sweet when Steve finally does come home.

9. despite the threatening sky and shuddering earth (they remained) by praximiter. AKA The Mask Fic. Which. Jesus Christ. This should’ve gone in with my angst fic recs, because this will hurt you, in the best possible way. Bucky’s mask doesn’t come off, and so there’s no pivotal moment of realization for Steve, no hellfire determination to ensure Bucky survives their fights against all odds. But he’s saved regardless, and the rest of the fic is the team trying to communicate with him, learn his story, all while Bucky can’t speak and the mask physically cannot come off. Like I said, it’s a recipe for Pain, but the pay-off is more than worth it, in my opinion. 

10. waiting for the winter by coldhope. Also just recently reread this one, and I loved the progression of Steve and Bucky’s relationship here as well. It also has Bucky befriending all of the Avengers, not just Natasha or Sam; getting to see from other characters’ POV how their perception of Bucky changes as the fic goes on was so interesting, since it’s not something I’ve seen done in many fics. Which also might be a personal thing on my part, who knows. Anyway. Good fic. Steve and Bucky don’t take forever to figure out their feelings, but they do take a while to get on the same page with each other, which should surprise absolutely no one who has ever read a stucky fic before.

*series, not individual story titles

[defendingtheduchesses]

Exposing the not tinhats:KateMeghanMoji 1/

Background info

If you’re in the royal fandom you have seen this account before. Don’t be fooled by the emojis or the Instagram stories.Moji is a two faced not tinhat.

Receipts 🧾

Posted:June 7

Context:Women of Windsor tweeted a picture of an edit of the post Sussex Royal posted on their Instagram after Archie was born. WoW made an edit of that post to celebrate Lili’s birth. KateMeghanMoji replied and said “that is very sweet. Throwback to a simpler time 😩” This is not tinhat for “I wish Kate,Will,and Haz were together again and nobody heard the name Meghan Markle” Why is that problematic? Because it implies that that went wrong all those years ago is because of Meghan. No you not tinhat motherfucker it’s because of the tabloids, the press, and the institution. Did Meghan fuck up during her time as senior working royal? Yes. But like @coolgirltactics said in A Show of Their Own, her mistakes weren’t treated as minor fuck ups and were exaggerated and she was vilified for it. I’m paraphrasing what she said.

Posted on June 5

Context:Sophie and Edward’s dumb ass responses to the Oprah interview by giving an interview to asshole of the year, Camilla Tominey. No boo. If Sophie really gave a shit about Harry she wouldn’t have said yes to Camilla Tominey she would have told CT to go fuck herself. I fully believe that Sophie doesn’t consider Meghan and Harry as members of the royal family. She wasn’t being gracious. If she was she wouldn’t have talked to CT. The people are complaining are the people who fully realize what a cunt Camilla Tomineu is. One last thing CambridgeAimee can go fuck herself she’s vile and she’s besties with Kayla Adams the last time I checked. I also think that KateMeghanMoji should keep Meghan’s name out of her mouth and stop pretending to give a shit about a woman she doesn’t support anymore.

[pawprinterfanfic]

6x07 immediate thoughts

WOW that ending though. Okay so I was listening to the episode on extremely low volume, so I missed a huge chunk of what was actually going on, but here are my immediate thoughts

I adored all the previous season throwbacks. I feel like so many aspects were brought back; outfits, sets, items, characters. AMAZING.

Seeing Clarke in previous outfits was freaking amazing okay. Eliza hasn’t changed a bit. The sky-box outfit, the Earth landing outfit, the Mt. Weather outfit, the season 3 outfit... Amazing.

ALL THE CHARACTERS. Lexa, ALIE, Jake, Maya, Monty. oh my goodness, monty...

The throwbacks to certain scenes. “We’re back bitches” made me squeal.

The items that were brought back? Jake’s video, Jasper’s goggles, the knife she used on Finn, Lexa’s chair. just imagine me crying and double that.

Clarke’s memories being stored as drawings is something I find extremely cute. 

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY. MY BOY. MONTY. IS BACK. His conversation with Clarke was so touching. Those scenes with Monty are some I will watch again and again and again.

Seeing season 1 Clarke and season 1 Monty working side by side was something I never thought I’d see again. wow.

Seeing season 5 Clarke and season 1 Monty working together was something I never thought I’d see - period.

Clarke in a modern world? Yeah I am here for it.

I also really liked the touch of including Diyoza and Becca in that modern world. I really appreciated how the world-building from multiple seasons came together in the background details.

Clarke telling Monty to run and hide from Josephine, and Monty just immediately sprinting away was iconic and I’ll never forget it

Okay I lied earlier. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE EPISODE. MY BOY. BELLAMY. HE KNOWS. 

Did you all see his expression when Josephine came in? (side note: her outfit in this scene was just stunning). And did you see his expression when he noticed the pattern she was tapping?

Bellamy Blake is a nerd. It’s official, once again. He still remembers what he was taught in Earth Skills from 6-ish years ago? I love one (1) nerd

Also, can I just say soulmates!? Clarke also remembered what was taught in Earth Skills 6-ish years ago. I love two (2) nerds

Okay that’s basically it. This is complete word vomit. I’m clearly excited by a lot. Best parts of the episode were Monty’s returns and Bellamy’s realization. Next week will be a race to see who will succeed first -- Josephine in killing Clarke or Bellamy in rescuing her.

[b3ginning]

Rules: You can tell a lot about someone by the type of music they listen to. Hit shuffle on your media player and write down the first 20 songs, then tag 10 people. No skipping!

Thanks for the tag, @princesschuuya! ^u^

Wow so I made this playlist on Youtube 7+ years ago, rarely clean out the songs, and it shows. Below is me exposing myself as a weeb. :’) Please enjoy. 

1. “Toumei Datta Sekai” - (Eng. Cover by Y. Chang)

2. Moshikashite - Miho Fukuhara*

3. Monster - Skillet [[OMG THROWBACK]]

4. Falling in Love - J Rabbit

5. Glitter & Gold - Barns Courtney [[BSD AMV]]*

6. Sky Chord - Otona ni Naru Kimi e

7. Right and Left - Survive Said the Prophet

8. FNAF 2 Song - The Living Tombstone 

9. Peace Sign - (Cover by Raon Lee)*

10. Rolling Girl - Wowaka (Hatsune Miku)

11. Sora ni Utaeba – Amazarashi*

12. Good Little Girl/ Bad Little Boy - (Cover by Adrisaurus)

13. FNAF Song – (Minecraft Noteblock Remake)

14. YELLOW – Kamiyama Yoh*

15. Wait for It – Hamilton: An American Musical

16. Blackbird – The Beatles – A Cappella Cover

17. Classic – MKTO

18. “The Musician” 14th Melody – AmaLee & Andy Stein  

19. Sinners – Lauren Aquilina

20. Radioactive – Imagine Dragons

 Bold* = I recommend these

I tag @knightlychika, @amynchan, @cineebon, and @i-dont-even-wtf. Feel free to do it if you guys would like~!

[dramaphan]

I have a mutual on here from like 5 years ago who was a dan and phil blog but now they have a frog url and never post dnp. We became mutuals from omegle lmao

Oh GOD phannie Omegle was... that was a thing. That really... wow... throwback

[monsterfandoms]

HTTYD: THW SPOILERS AHEAD

Ok so I love this movie and I have so many things to say about it. I’m not a person of many words but I want to talk about is something I’m a huge nerd for. The music. I am such a nerd for the music and honestly I’ve heard the sound track for HTTYD and HTTYD2 so many times it’s crazy. Now I’m not a music expert this is just my take on what I’ve been able to hear.

1- Raiders Return to Busy Busy Berk: I was a little sad (bittersweet) that the movie didn’t immediately start with ‘This is Berk’. Right well, it might’ve not started right away but it’s there. And when you actually hear it it’s so busy, you can only barely hear the original tone which goes beautifully with how busy Berk looks. I thought it was great. Also I enjoyed the usual Hiccup narrative being part of the script now and not just as a third person narration.

2- Legend Has It/ Cliffside Playtime: after the flashback the song that starts when the Hiccup opens up the map is immediately ‘Together We Map the World’ which immediately gave me the again bittersweet feel of seeing Hiccup open a map for his people and dragons and not just for his own enjoyment. Oh baby how he’s grown in just a year. Then Astrid shows up and then when they start playing around (my shipping heart cannot) what plays is a soft version of ‘Romantic Flight’. Just a detail I though it was sweet.

3-Toothless: Smitten: there’s a bit in this song where you can hear ‘Downed Dragon’ which, to me, should’ve been a clue about how the Light Fury (side rant: SHE NEEDS A NAME) was actually shot/ drugged down.

4-New New Tail: as soon as I saw the title of the song I knew I was gonna cry. I was kind of sad the first part of the song (where he’s building the tail) wasn’t the focus of this song but it was so sweet to hear the flight excitement when Hiccup/Toothless fly vs. when Toothless is flying alone.

5- Killer Dragons: I heard in this song a bit of ‘Dragon Battle’ as well as ‘The Dragon Book’ as weird as is sounds but I noticed that usually plays when there’s a new kind of dragon. In this case it was playing when Grimwald and Hiccup were talking about the drugged dragons.

6- With Love Comes a Great Waterfall: one of the things I loved about the HTTYD2 soundtrack was the usage of vocals to create this more of a ~grandeur~ effect. I honestly doubted that John Powell could create an even bigger effect but he managed it so perfectly. To me, it creates this great wow effect that makes me feel so overwhelmed.

7- The Hidden World: one thing I will say, I’m not so satisfied with the Jonsi vocals. But that’s okay because this is something I want to add. The part where Toothless makes his appearance as the mated Alpha the music that plays, the theme to the Hidden World, plays all throughout the soundtrack, more specifically every time the Hidden World is mentioned. Like for example when marriage (refer to point #2) and when the Light Fury comes up the theme plays. This to me was foreshadowing to what was going to happen at the end. And it not just used to show how Toothless moves on to a higher role, but also how Hiccup moves on. Marriage is a way to keep moving forward and that’s why it plays during song #2.

8- Armada Battle: this song was honestly beautiful. The beginning where the music is ‘The Downed Dragon’ and the more hopeful part of ‘Stoick’s Ship’ which is beautiful because it shows both Hiccups’s helplessness and his hope for what is to come, his decision to not allow a bad person to take the dragons away. The throwback to the ‘This is Berk’ where Hiccup sees Astrid in the first movie and how they gave each other the BedroomEyes™ I cried. There was also part of ‘Toothless Lost’ in the part where Valka, Gobber, and Erer show up. Mainly it’s what plays when Hiccup fist sees Valka and yeah it kind of hurt. Also the part where Hiccup goes to save both the Furries is all ‘Kill Ring’ and this one I remember well because of the great music of it. I can’t really see a connection with that one but it’s so obvious it just kinda stuck out to me.

9- As Long As He’s Safe: I was kinda pissed at Hiccup for this part of the movie because how dare you worry me like that you self sacrificing asshole but hearing the last bit of it- ‘Test Drive’ i believe- was heartwarming to see with Hiccup/Light Fury.

10- Once There Were Dragons: this song. Just this song. It’s my favorite of the whole soundtrack. The chorus that starts playing is the same one that has been playing throughout the whole movie (the one I mentioned referring to the future? that one.) you have the buildup to the ceremony with honestly wonderful vocals. Then you have the soft piano to the tune of ‘This is Berk’ from HTTYD when the scene changes to after the time skip. To me this is a way of saying “this is what Berk has become. With her mighty Chief and Cheftess as well as their Heirs.” Then again the theme for Hidden World begins to play when Toothless shows up (AND THE NIGHT LIGHTS I SWEAR TO GOD JUST THE NAME KILLS ME). When the Hiccup and Toothless finally reunite it’s to the tone of the beginning of ‘Forbidden Friendship’ (my all time favorite song of all) and then Zephyr and Nuffink get close to Toothless and that soft part of the song plays and suddenly we’re seeing Hiccup befriend Toothless all over again. Immediately afterwards we have ‘Test Drive’ playing and it’s essentially the best thing in the world. Because it’s nostalgic. Hiccup and Toothless flying together again like they had done for the first time 15 years ago. But now it’s not just them. Now it’s Hiccup and Toothless and Astrid and Stormfly and all their children. And ending it in that same beautiful note from ‘Coming Back Around’ like in the first movie left me so satisfied with the entire trilogy.

Personally, I think John Powell was a genius to incorporate all of these bits and pieces into his final work. The first time I watched the movie, I only heard those throwback bits. The second time around and then listening to the soundtrack, I can hear where there was original work done but also the fluidity that the music has even when incorporating past works. Now I know this is nothing new. In movies, shows, and video games it’s so common to have character themes as well as music for certain locations or groups. But the way John Powell did it was nothing like I had ever heard before. Maybe it’s juat because I hear them so often of because I relate the feelings in the certain scenes to the music but honestly? The music made the movie ~complete~ to me. It added in just enough from mainly the first HTTYD that I’m left feeling the same elation I felt with the first movie as well as the satisfaction or hearing something new.

But like I said I’m no expert and these soundtracks just make me emotional. HTTYD took me an a beautiful journey and ended it in a such I way it’s not an awful heartbreak to say goodbye.

[howsit-going-toend]

Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) Pt. 7

A Kwon Jiyong x Reader AU series featuring Kim Jiwon and Choi Seunghyun

Genre: Crime/Mafia/ANGST

Word count: 4,700+

Summary: You joined the police force years ago to help clean up the streets of Seoul and rid the city of organized crime. You’ve seen some shit. You’re surely prepared for anything…but how are you supposed to feel when the big bad crime boss you’ve been after turns out to be a familiar (to say the least) face?

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

(A/N: WOW it’s been a while. Buckle up because this one’s a doozie. Doosie?...Duzey? Anyway, this part finally breaks down the past and lays it all out there. I’m truly happy with this and I hope you all understand why it took so long to finally post/write. As always, enjoy!)

Eleven Years Ago

“And his laugh! Oh my god, don’t get me started about that damn laugh.” You groaned, taking a sip of wine before imitating a laugh that sounded a little too much like Tommy Wiseau.

Jiyong covered his mouth with the back of his hand, chuckling uncontrollably at the impression of your now-ex boyfriend.

“See, THAT’s genuine laughter! You know why? Because I’m hilarious god damnit.” You took another frustrated sip.

“Y/N, I know you’re kind of worked up, but maybe slow it down there.” Jiyong suggested between his giggles.

It was your nineteenth birthday; the day you were finally of legal drinking age and the same day that you decided to break up with your most recent boyfriend. The two of you dated for just a little over three months. To you, it was three months that you hardly paid attention to, focusing more on yourself and finishing your first year of university and feeling as though texting him back was more of an obligation than a joy. You decided to break things off before getting too serious. But evidently, to him, the last three months were nothing short of incredible.

You assumed your words would be met with immediate acceptance; the end that was inevitable from the beginning. But no. He was devastated. And after he drove away, and you immediately felt like garbage, you took a quick trip to pick up a bottle of wine and call your best friend over.

It was the first time Jiyong had seen your apartment, since the two of you got accepted to different universities. Here he was after gladly tossing aside his own deadlines and driving the two and a half hours it took to reach you. His parents always said “Jiyong would cross oceans for Y/N at any hour of the day or night,” and they knew you would do the same in a heartbeat.

You’d known each other since you were children, so it didn’t surprise you when Jiyong made a comment on you drinking that reverted back to more of an older brother mentality.

“Hey, uh, how about maybe you don’t tell me what to do?” You replied with your sassiest expression.

“My bad, I forgot who I was talking to.” He smiled, taking a sip from his own glass. “So why’d you do it today anyway?”

You groaned. “Because he was planning to take me to some wine and food festival tomorrow that was probably going to be super expensive. And knowing how long I’ve been debating on breaking up with him, I knew it had to be today. But I didn’t expect him to bring me gifts too! I tried to emphasize to him so many times that I don’t like presents and yet he brought some up tonight.”

Jiyong smirked. “Wow he wanted to buy you gifts. He sounds awful. Good riddance!”

“Ji, I swear t-.”

“I’m kidding! You shouldn’t be expected to reciprocate feelings just because the guy buys you things. What did he try to give you?”

You winced thinking back to just a few hours prior to this. “A pair of slippers, some fancy candles, and this foot scrub because ‘you always said your feet hurt.’ But he gave it all to me after I broke up with him so of course, he said that to me with his head down like I just kicked a puppy. Also just putting it out there that I’ve literally never said that to him about my feet.”  

You paused to let out a frustrated exhale and drink a little more. “But the worst was honestly the cupcake. I was pacing in my room before he got here, trying not to lose my nerve because I felt so bad already. Then he emerges from his car and walks towards my door with a stupid cupcake. One with a single lit candle that he was holding his hand up around to keep the air from blowing it out. When he got to me, I said ‘oh no, you didn’t have to do that.’ And he laughed and said ‘yes!’ Then I basically leaned over, blew the candle out and said ‘No really, you shouldn’t have done that. Listen, I’ve been thinking about this for a while.”

“Y/N!” Jiyong laughed out loud, failing to cover it up with his hand once again in attempts not to ridicule this poor boy. “That’s borderline cruel. You said it before he could even get inside?”

“I had to! It’s my birthday and I needed to.” You stated and took a long last sip of your glass.

“No, I know. I know. But you know what I’m going to say.” He smirked.

You stuck your index finger out at him. “Don’t. Don’t say it.” You got up to get a refill and shouted once you reached the kitchen. “I mean it!”

“Ok… how about I call you heartbreaker instead?” He squeezed his eyes shut, silencing a chuckle, knowing the look you were about to give him once you returned to the couch.

You didn’t disappoint. You blew around the corner, almost spilling your new glass just to stare him down. “Oh you want to throw that word around? If anyone deserves that nickname it’s you and you know it!”

“Wow, didn’t even bother to ask if I needed a refill.” He pouted.

“Yeah, well too bad. Don’t avoid that title!”

He chuckled, knowing he hadn’t lost his touch with successfully pushing all the right buttons. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He sprang up from the couch to reach the wine.

“Of course you don’t… What about that girl you were telling me about a while back? You haven’t said a word about her since you’ve been here. You already broke up with her, didn’t you! Let’s point the right fingers here.”

“All right, yeah, I did.” He uttered from the kitchen over the sound of his glass filling.

“Ha!”

“On her birthday.”

You nearly choked on your own drink. “Ji, what the hell!”

“Kidding! Stop taking everything I say so seriously. Who are you?” He returned to the couch with a plop, gracefully avoiding spilling anything. “It was Valentine’s Day.”

You narrowed your eyes. “I hate you sometimes.”

You bantered back and forth for a couple more hours, polishing off the bottle of wine before making a quick on-foot journey to get another. It finally being your nineteenth birthday created a nice change to you and Jiyong’s usual strategy involving you entering a store separately; you purchasing snacks while he dilly dallies around the alcohol aisle, waiting for you to leave. Tonight, the two of you could blissfully waltz up and down the place without a worry.

You were all too eager to show your ID to the cashier when it was time to pay. “Bam!” You stated before the man could even finish asking you for it, making Jiyong smack his forehead with the palm of his hand.

“Do you think he knows?” You whispered as he held the door open for you, referencing your slight drunkenness in the least stealthy way possible.

“Well, I’m sure he does now.” He laughed.  

The two of you walked back to your apartment, giddy from the wine you’d already consumed meanwhile anticipating the next bottle and arsenal of snacks that you were about to. You were blissfully drunk, with a full stomach, before you knew it. All along, you both babbled on with random life updates littered among childhood memories. There was no birthday celebration that could compare to this.

“Oh hey, you brought up the record player!” Jiyong exclaimed, having made his way to the corner of your living room; where you stored all the hand-me-down vinyls you’d both grown up listening to.  

“Nope that’s a new one actually. My aunt bought it for me before I moved out. She actually said ‘you can’t have mine but this one looks like it, ok?’”

You both laughed. “I actually saw her last weekend when I visited my parents.” Jiyong said as he ran his index finger along the edges of every vinyl.

“Awh, you did? God she was probably so happy to see you. When I visit, I just get scolded for not calling enough.” You rolled your eyes in fake annoyance.

“Listen, it’s the same thing when I see my parents. If you visit them, they’re both so cheery, especially my mom.” Jiyong laughed.

You beamed. “I love your mom! Does she ask about me?”

“Literally every time I’m home. She and Dami always ask when we’re getting married.”

“My aunt does the same thing!” You started laughing in hysteric unison. Your families always wanted you to end up together and they’d brought it up for years; always giving the two of you something to laugh about.

Jiyong shook his head and smiled as he pulled out a record, having finally decided to put some music on. “All right. We’ve got to play this throwback.”

“You know: Technically they’re all throwbacks. Neither of us were alive when any of thes-.” You stopped and laughed drunkenly at the look he turned to give you for the stupid remark.

“Oh wait wait!” You announced when a certain record got your attention. “I think we should put this one on and reliv-.”

“Nooo no!” He brushed your hand away from reaching for The Temptations’ “My Girl.”

“Oh come on, Ji. I’m the only one here. Please! Just do the dance, you don’t have to sing!” You begged.

He rolled his eyes and stepped aside. “Fine. You better not record this though.” He held out his pinky to you with narrowed eyes; what might as well be a binding contract with how you both treasured it in the past. You hooked your pinky around his and used your other hand to place your phone down. “Promise.”

He took to a position that offered the most open space while you dropped the needle on the outside of the record. As the song began, you crossed your arms and stared at him with a huge smile as he reluctantly began to step back and forth.

I’ve got sunshine, on a cloudy day

When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May…

It was a performance perfectly reenacted from when you were kids; you were five and he was hardly seven. It was one of his mom’s most cherished home movies; little Jiyong performing his heart out at a family party, winning the hearts of all those around as he danced this adorable doo wop routine while gesturing to you with a bright smile.

Tonight was only a little different; that bright smile being replaced with one of red cheeked embarrassment as he extended an arm to you on each “My girl!” line. You snapped your fingers along, amused at how he remembered just about every step. When the song came to an end, you cheered and clapped proudly.

“All right, all right. We’re done with that!” He exclaimed, diving back into the rows of vinyl.

You both agreed to assemble a playlist; taking turns stacking your favorite singles out beside the turntable, one on top of the other, ready to be played in that order. Each one had a different memory attached to it that would light both of your faces with nostalgia within their first few seconds.

“Ah, ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough!’” You exclaimed as Jiyong’s next choice began to play. “Your mom used to play this when she took us to school in the morning, right?”

His smile expanded as he started to lipsync along.

Listen baby,

Ain’t no mountain high, ain’t no valley low

Ain’t no river wide enough, baby

You started to snap your fingers back and forth before you joined in on your part.

If you need me, call me

No matter where you are, no matter how far

Jiyong extended an arm out to you dramatically: Don’t worry baby

You grabbed his hand and spun into his arms just in time for the chorus. Giggles escaped your chest, preventing either of you from continuing to sing along. This closeness was nothing out of the ordinary for you two. You’d danced together like that for as long as you can remember. Your fingers intertwined with smiles so wide they’d hurt if you weren’t a little intoxicated; it was harmless.

When the song came to an end and your next choice was readied, you naturally returned to each other’s arms. This time was a slow song, but neither of you missed a beat.

Put your head on my shoulder

You smiled at each other once more before obeying the opening lyric. You lowered your head to rest comfortably above his collarbone while the two of you swayed back and forth. “God, what a song.” You grinned.

“I know. This song’s helped me put the moves on someone at least three different times.”

You lightly smacked his chest, making him laugh. “Shut up.” You sighed back into him and closed your eyes. “I swear though, wine and slow dancing go together too well. And this is the best song for it.”

“Really? Better than Elvis? I don’t think you really believe that.” He argued. You lifted your head to see him holding his index finger up towards you, silently telling you to wait a second. He scurried back to the collection. He found what he was looking for in seconds, grinning widely at you over his shoulder before interrupting Paul Anka.

You smiled sadly at him as the gentle acoustic guitar came in and he pulled you closer once again. “Aw, Ji you’re gonna make me cry.”

Love me tender, love me sweet

Never let me go

It was your favorite record. And he knew this better than anyone. You’d fallen in love with it ever since your aunt showed you your parents’ wedding reception video. Their first dance as one being to none other than Elvis Presley.

Love me tender, love me true

All my dreams fulfilled

You removed your hands from Jiyong’s and instead wrapped your arms around his neck. He moved his own arms to hold you just barely above the waist, bringing you even closer together. You nestled your head into his shoulder once again, allowing the song to run away with your emotions. He hummed along to each line, creating a soothing vibration against your cheek

“Are you crying yet?” He whispered.

“No.” You whispered back. “I’m smiling.”

He chuckled softly. “Me too.”

Love me tender, love me dear

Tell me you are mine

As your favorite lyric soon began to close out the song, you lifted your head to look at him. Maybe it was the wine, or the late hour, or just the sheer romance of Elvis’ voice, but you really looked at him.

It felt like the first time you had ever seen just how dark his hair was. Or how many different shades of brown made up his eyes, and how well his brows complimented them. Stubble lightly dusted across his cupid’s bow and cupped around his chin, making you wonder if you’d ever actually seen him with facial hair before. His full lips made you smile wider, remembering the awkward dinner moment when you’d met his first girlfriend, and she’d said Jiyong and you have the same lips. His were pulled perfectly from either end, making the smile you’ve known the best all these years.

You realized he was analyzing your features as well, making you giggle in embarrassment.

“What are we doing?” You whispered.

Without missing a beat, keeping perfectly in line with the last few guitar chords, Jiyong and you both made a move that neither of you had ever expected to make. Somehow in that millisecond of silence, your minds came to the same conclusion. Quickly, but softly, your lips met.

The only remaining sound in the room was the low muffle of the turntable, serving to amplify just how exhilarating of a moment this was. You’d never pictured yourself kissing Jiyong before, and your present self couldn’t possibly imagine why.

His lips moved with yours in perfect synchronicity, gentle and warm but also eager to take lead and set a perfect pace, like the dance you’d just finished. Beads of sweat began to form at your hairline as you felt one of his hands cup your cheek, before tracing just below your ear and firmly hold the back of your neck.

You were swooning, entirely enthralled in him. Whatever this feeling was, it was completely alien to you. You didn’t even care that it was Jiyong. You were honestly impressed. As your best friend, and the person who knows you the best in this world, just how the fuck did he know you’ve always wanted to be kissed this way? All this made you smile into the kiss. You felt him smile back before reforming his lips to yours, taking shapes that felt all too natural.

To both of your dismay, it didn’t last forever. You returned to Earth after one or two last pecks, ending it with your foreheads pressed together. You lifted your gazes to meet one another, giving an identical look of wonder.

As you stared at him, he lowered his lips to yours once more. This time was just a simple, soft peck. You both kept your eyes open; joined in awe that this moment was real.

And that’s how it happened. There wasn’t anything remotely awkward about it. The following morning, when the booze had completely worn off and all of your senses restored, the two of you simply laughed, before holding each other tight. There was never any talk of “so, now what?” or “what does this make us?” You both just knew.

And it was the easiest thing that your hearts had ever accepted.

It was your little secret for a few months; keeping the official beginning just between the two of you to ensure it really was what you both wanted. After everything was settled, you had your fun slowly sharing the news with your family and friends. Jiyong would playfully argue that you might have had a little too much fun with it. But their looks of surprise and heart bursting excitement would stick with you forever.

You’d take turns joking about how stupid you were to never realize it sooner: being together just made sense. Your friends and family always knew. (Your exes most definitely always knew.) As cliché as it seemed, you both had just been looking for love everywhere but right in front of you.

You both soon finished out your undergraduate degrees. You were this close to finishing the same semester as him, but in true Jiyong fashion: he beat you to it and finished early. Following your graduations you bought a puppy (a gift from you to him; he immediately named him Gaho) and moved in to an apartment together; something that surprisingly took very little convincing from Jiyong’s parents. (He’d claim there wouldn’t have been a damn chance if it was anyone but you) You were allowed to live in sin so long as you both moved back to Seoul and entered solid internships.

All along you treated each other better than any partner either of you had ever had; demonstrating incredible patience as you learned and grew together in ways you’d never imagined. Family members would boast about the two of you proudly, while close friends would fight the urge to scowl jealously. It was borderline sickening just how natural and blissful everything truly was. They made up some of the best four years of your life.

And never, in your wildest nightmares, did you ever think they would end.

“I’m home!” You announced.

You hummed to yourself as you slipped off your shoes and hung up your coat. The law firm had finally granted you an easy Friday workload, and you had all intentions of using the next couple of days to celebrate.

“Ji, are you here?” You spoke up as you made your way to the kitchen so that, if there, he could hear you from the bedroom. You hadn’t heard from him all day, but that was nothing out of the ordinary; lately his own internship had been especially demanding of his time. He was probably still at the office. You sighed sympathetically and decided some soup would be a nice surprise for him.

“Gaho!” You called, assuming the wrinkly monster was sound asleep in the other room. You reached for the notepad and pen attached to the fridge and began thinking of just how much you would need to pick up before Jiyong got home.

You tapped the pen on the notepad as you looked around the kitchen. You opened cupboard after cupboard, noticing just how much needed to be replenished. “Aish, did he make stew for the whole building today?” You rolled your eyes before writing down each missing ingredient.

“Gaho! Come here!” You repeated, knowing he usually slept as heavily as Jiyong. Shaking his food usually does the trick. You thought to yourself with a smile.

But as you walked over to its usual location you stopped. “Oh come on, we can’t be out of his food too. I swear we just bought some.” You put your hands on your hips out of frustration. “Awh, Gaho, I’m sorry. I hope you have at least something left in your bowl.” You muttered to yourself as you turned the corner out of the kitchen to check.

“Ok, this is weird.” Your brows furrowed. His bowls were gone. You checked the sink and saw no sign of them. Your pulse quickened as you speed walked to the bedroom.

“Gaho?” You called, hoping to see a pile of wrinkles on his bed or hear the sound of his little nails tapping on the hardwood floor. But as you stood in the doorway, his bed was nowhere in sight.

Your chest began to hurt as tears budded beneath your eyes. Gaho had spent weekends at Jiyong’s parents’ house before and even with your aunt. But you knew this weekend was never discussed to be one of them. And even if it was, they had bowls and a bed for him there. Something must have happened. You frantically reached for your phone and dialed Jiyong.

No answer.

“Ji. Ji, please call me. I don’t know where Gaho is. Please tell me you know.” Your voice shook as you left the message. There wasn’t a single sign of a break-in either. Or at least none that you were aware of.

You started pacing in the living room, thinking of all the possible scenarios. Whoever took him must have taken all that food too. You wouldn’t expect burglars to steal vegetables and bean paste, and leave behind the flatscreen, but it was the only explanation. You sped to the bedroom closet, fearing for your and Jiyong’s safes.

As you illuminated the walk-in space, the sight before you brought you to your knees. Everything on your side remained unruffled and unbothered. Nothing was even close to being out of place. Even your safe and few pieces of jewelry. But on Jiyong’s side, every last item was gone.

Every suit, every pair of pants and shoes, and even every fucking hanger was missing. As you gazed at the storage space above his side, and saw no sign of his luggage either, you collapsed.

“What the fuck.” You cried out, shaking and sobbing from uncertainty. You reached a trembling hand for your phone and tried calling him once again.

No answer.

You threw it to the side and somehow managed to pull yourself to your feet. You walked slowly to the bathroom, silently repeating “No, no, no…” to yourself. You closed your eyes as you turned the light on, nowhere near ready for what was there.

Every product, every personal hygiene tool, even his toothbrush, everything that was his: gone. And once again, whatever was yours, remained untouched. You gasped out loud and covered your mouth as sobs pulled themselves out of you. This had to be some kind of sick joke. It just had to be.

As you turned back to face the bedroom you saw through cloudy eyes the very last thing that you didn’t want to see. The item that debunked the miniscule shred of hope you were clinging to; that someone just had to have broken in so cleanly and so precisely, cleaning out everything that belonged to Jiyong, including Gaho and all of his belongings as well. You could have hung onto that ridiculous scenario for just a little while longer if you didn’t see it. There on the bed laying perfectly, and all too intentionally, was a folded piece of paper.

This time, when your body crumbled to the floor, it stayed there for nearly half an hour. You couldn’t stop crying. And for the life of you, you couldn’t move a muscle. When you finally found the strength to, you crawled to your phone. Before illuminating the screen, you begged the universe to grant you at least one text message from him.

Nothing.

You spent the next couple of hours there on the floor, endlessly sobbing and making phone call after phone call; each one feeling more useless than the last.

When you finally got a hold of yourself, you instead called a friend that lived nearby and begged her to come over. You spent that night, and the following week, at her place. It took that long for you to even walk back into that apartment. And it took even longer for you to finally read that letter.

“I love you too much to allow you to be put through what I’m going to put you through. I’m so fucking sorry. Take care of yourself and  please: be the person you want to be. -Jiyong”

You ripped it into shreds on the spot. That was it. That was the only glimpse of an explanation that he ever granted you. Just like that, he left.

And you were never the same.

His disappearance came just as much of a shock to everyone else. No one could make sense of it. Not his parents, or even his best friends. They were all furious with him and could hardly speak about it. No one could give you answers.

And that’s all you tried to obtain for the next year: just some fucking answers. You were desperate and angry, lonely and above all you were ungodly depressed. When you couldn’t find him yourself you waited. You waited for so long. You lived each day as if it would be the one that he’d come back through the front door and back into your life.

But it never came.

You became self-destructive, going through every stage of grief at least three separate times. All along you begged the universe to show you even just one reason. Anything that could have shown what the fuck you did that was so wrong. Just come back and tell me why. You mumbled this phrase to yourself a million times, and when family and friends grew worried you mumbled it to psychiatrists a million times more.

It was some of the worst and most confusing pain you’d ever experienced. You endured it for nearly two years, until one cathartic appointment allowed you to finally accept it. You were done waiting. You couldn’t bring yourself to forgive him. But you had to get your life back.

You met Jiwon the following week. It was the very same week that you decided to change your focus back to your childhood dreams. You didn’t want to be a lawyer. (Though you ended up marrying one) You wanted to be a badass detective.

You now thought deeply about everything that had changed in just seven years.

You stared at Jiyong through the one way mirror completely stone faced, trying your hardest not to laugh at the fucked up irony. Even though you didn’t know it until that night in the warehouse, when he’d reignited that deep emotional pain with a matching physical pain at the hand of his crony you realized: you’d never truly stopped looking for him.

And now, seeing him sitting there before you, wanting your superior’s attention and wishing to make a deal with your boss…your rage was unfathomable.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S3 Ep 1: Can We Just...Ignore the Apocalypse? Let’s Just Ignore the Apocalypse.

Ah guys, we’re back, it’s a new season! Sort of! It’s a filler arc that probably won’t make a huge difference on anything in the plot but bro has promised is hella weird so lets dive into it.

Remember all the stuff we were talking about last season, and how I had to like basically carry around a notebook and take character notes like for the first time since my High School English class when we read Shakespeare? Remember how freakin complicated everything got?

Well the writers for this season decided to do a soft reset on all of that mess. Apparently they’ll get back to that crazy stuff we spent a whole season building up but with a new season they’d get a new audience of viewers, and maybe they didn’t want them to be confused. Because, lets be honest, nearly all of the latter half of S2 would be unwatchable if you did not know what was happening.

They also knew they had a problem, especially since they were waiting for the manga to catch up to the show at this point so they couldn’t accidentally step on the manga’s shoes and invent things that later negated the manga entirely. They had to edit. They had to stay as far away from the manga points as they could. And they did it in the most ridiculous way.

Y’all don’t even know this blog was *almost* a SeaQuest DSV blog. But it was pulled. So then it was almost a Kolchack the Nightstalker blog. But that got pulled. Yugioh was my third choice. Much like my dating life.

That’s right, we’re going to do a soft reset by adding a whole new set of characters! A whole new plotline to keep track of! To show us this tantalizing view of Kaiba island and then just.......detour.

It’s honestly, a welcoming thing for me, a reviewer, because I was getting hella lost and now it’s back to basics. Although, there are certain things they just...didn’t even address.

Cold as ice, Yugi. Cold as freakin ice, like way to appreciate your most interesting friend. Like maybe put that house fern where Bakura died or something. Anything.

What teenager finds out their other teenage friend freakin died last night and is like “well...that happens” and of all teenagers--especially Yugi Muto. Yugi is usually so freakin extra but he doesn’t really...seem to be freaking out. I’m so used to this kid having a melt down so often, that when he’s not having a melt down, I assume there’s something absolutely wrong with him.

Yugi kind of glazes over the more complicated parts of Season 2 in some flashbacks, and then the blimp starts shaking violently to get us right off course in both location and plot.

(read more under the cut)

We did not get a peek at anyone’s mirrors to see if the giant mystery purple bottles are still around. A shame.

Also, guess what time it is, just by looking at this image. Just guess in your head, knowing that all these people went to bed at like 3AM last night.

Yeah it’s canonically 5 AM. In grand Yugioh tradition, all these kids, mostly a bunch of really gross boys, who are still in clothes from the day before, who miiiight not have showered, are now going to continue their adventure, just piling on the gross as much as possible until this season ends. It’s like every little kid’s dream honestly.

Anyways, we’re gonna fly right into a plot dump that is maybe one of the most insane dumps this show has ever dumped--and y’all we’ve had some nuts dumps--but this one is especially weird because it actually makes sense within the continuity.

Just remember when you hear this that we are in Season 3. It is Season 3 and this has never once come up, not even once before. That one guy on the writing staff who really, really, REALLY stans Seto Kaiba apparently walked into work the day when they were making this episode and was he like “wow, everyone called in sick to work today and no one’s here but me and I can go home or I can finally just go NUTS.”

So this entire time, the Kaiba’s were basically the Patriots. OK.

I mean, it actually makes so much more sense as to why these children know how to ride a helicopter and why Seto randomly knows CQC. I never thought I would ever get a proper explanation for this but here it is. Kaiba was being honed to devote himself to the...war economy...but then he said “actually nah, because that’s too effed up even for Yugioh” and then to spite his father replaced every weapon with trading cards.

And then...accidentally weaponized trading cards in the process thus turning into his own Father. 

I guess that’s why people are legit dying in this tournament and Seto and Mokuba are like “Yeah? This is what happens?” since they were literally raised by some Hideo Kajima mini-boss. They probably have no idea what children’s games are supposed to be like, so when Yugi loses his nut and starts Shadow Realming they’re like “hm. Is this what kids are into? I’ll go along with it. See Dad? I am blending into kid culture real well. Really good at kid stuff.”

Like, it’s a good layer of irony that these two decided to bring peace and harmony to the whole earth by replacing weapons with games you’d play with children--but then they chose the one game that will absolutely end the Earth quicker than a weapon of mass destruction. Congrats. You did it.

This show, man, sometimes I’m not sure what it wants Seto Kaiba to be. Because, yeah, Seto just showed us a very nice thing he did as he randomly does--he’s basically won a Nobel Peace Prize by default--but he’s still a complete asshole. Like did he just feel like he has to show up Yugi again for saving the Earth last season by reminding us that Seto has already done that before this show ever started? That he dissolved the freakin Patriots before this show ever began?

Like Seto single-handedly fixed the entire plot of Metal Gear. Like this is the child that ended how many wars with getting rid of the ammunition? This is the child the writers chose? Seto freakin Kaiba?

And then he turned around and essentially put cards into a bunch of guns and you wear them on your wrist what the hell is even going on with this kid?

But don’t worry we won’t get even five seconds to register this plot dump, much like that time they told me that Seto freakin Kaiba has a dead soulmate from 5000 years ago who is now four separate playing cards and also probably his Great^nth Grandmother.

The Seto lore is rapidly getting more complicated than the Yugi lore and Yugi Muto is two people. Just saying.

Anyway, lets meet our new villain.

So the theme of this arc seems to also be a theme that the writers are currently wrestling with. You got Yugioh which has a very--INTERESTING background, it’s this horror manga turned effed up anime turned much more tame child’s anime and it’s like, that’s a lot of pressure for this team. Kinda feels like every time they try to do Yugioh there’s going to be people that are pissed off because it wasn’t like what came before it. And so this whole story of Kaiba trying to get out of his problematic Father’s shadow is almost like the entire writing team at this point just begging us to please let them do a thing without having to do 158 on-screen murders.

(JK, they’ll murder off more people in this very episode.)

And so this arc they decide to make this character who, as bro mentioned, is a throwback to Season Zero Kaiba, but with better hair. Sort of. Honestly, I mostly only see the white shirt as a reference but I can see what bro is getting at, especially since their hair shape and eyes are like...VERY Kaiba-ey. Anyway, I called it right away before we saw this kid that he’d be a distant relative here to claim his cut of the Kaiba inheritance pie so, because his hair is Mokuba blue-green, we’ll just make him a Season Zero green. Because it looks like no one else’s font color.

Honestly, hopefully that won’t get too confusing if he and Mokuba are speaking at the same time but I have changed Mokuba’s font color once already and now I might have to change it again...

They’re already kidnapped, right? Like all of these people on this blimp have absolutely been kidnapped by Marik and are at this moment at his mercy? (mercy meaning “he just doesn’t feel like it right now”)

So yes, Noah kidnapped them, but at the same time he’s just borrowing hostages from Marik for a little while. He’s just babysitting some other person’s kidnapees from how I see it.

Also, his name is Noah and he lives on a very big ship. That’s uh...a little on the nose there with the naming conventions, Yugioh. As far as villains go, at least this kid doesn’t live underground and get tortured with back tatts. But, with the way this show is going, I would not be surprised if all the Kaibas got Agent 47 serial codes on the back of their heads.

*I love a good Star Trek tractor beam, don’t get me wrong, but never in my life did I think I’d see a sci fi tractor beam being used on a freakin party blimp*

Marik, PS, is still standing here on top of this blimp saying “this will be very interesting to just let another villain waltz in here on my territory while I just chill on the couch for a little while. I am tired.” which was...actually pretty true to Marik. This kid will let anyone else do his job for him if given the opportunity. Such a lazy villain. In a show where all the villains have been pretty lazy.

Now, Noah insists that everyone get the hell off this blimp, but Seto was like “Really, honestly, I just want to keep one secret today. Just any secret. Lets just have this conversation in private and everyone else, please don’t mind my family issues. No need to call the cops, it’s just a light kidnapping, no big deal. Family, amiright?”

So because they’re getting shot at, they stubbornly get off the blimp.

And then Marik wrote himself right out of this arc. At least according to my bro.

So, in honor of blimp, lets give that blimp a good send off. One last time, for blimp

I will miss you, blimp.

So, down a hallway and in a room of so much bloom they run into...these guys?

I had to like really think for a while to remember who the hell these guys were, it feels like 10 years ago since that one-off MMO arc that I figured would never come back.

Apparently time doesn’t work the same, much like in Narnia, so the Big 5 are just straight up insane now. Got it. Really glad I get to try and keep track of the names of 5 new people, don’t hold me to it, I’ll absolutely forget the name of every one of these mini-bosses. Anyways, while they were strapped to Kaiba’s game for 2 months, they freakin died.

Yeah, what?

Wow Yugi killed 5 people and it’s not even Season Zero! Like this is a Yugi kill, right? Like Yugi did this entirely? Like that whole game would’ve been a lose if Kaiba wasn’t told exactly what to do by Yugi and Pharaoh? Nice.

And then they got...the digital version of Shadow Realmed.

Ah the digital space. We can go anywhere here. Any environment. Anywhere. lets see where they go.

Man this show and it’s obsession with island climates.

I say that, forgetting they’re all from Japan.

Apparently every season of Yugioh contractually has to have at least one reference to Tristan’s enigmatic ass. Thing is--assuming they’re all hooked up to sensors or whatever---is there just one that covers...farts? Like there’d have to be, right? Google, stop whatever weird self driving car glasses you’re making and get on that.

After Kaiba proves that you can’t actually touch anything in this universe, Tea immediately sees a great opportunity and just starts touching all the stuff that she can’t touch, too. So she goes over to the bushes and sees this looking back at her. From a bush.

This still doesn’t answer the question of why the hell there was a clone in the bush!

Anyway, apparently Kaiba has made hundreds of clones of himself so he could play cards since he had no friends growing up and that wasn’t even the weirdest Kaiba plot dump this episode. Kaiba and his Clone Wars just feels so tame now.

So they go over rules--it’s a lot of words all right. Whatever, we don’t go into duels here, but overall they have to choose a mascot whenever they play to act a King in chessboard. So if their mascot card dies, then they lose.

Honestly they could just kill everyone straight up but youknow, it’s Yugioh so we’re gonna throw some honor into this murder by making it card murder. It’s fine. Don’t think about it.

Ishizu just slept through everything, right? Like she looked outside, saw all this go down and was like “NOPE” and then went right back to bed? I mean...that is also sort of what she did for half of last season.

And no, Yugi never ever once mentioned that Bakura freakin died last night. Amazing.

[luxcente]

Q&A Tag!

I was tagged by the lovely @jihoos to do this quite a while ago (sorry for being so inactive!) so thank you so much for the tag :D

1. What is your favorite season? This is always such a hard question for me, because I live in a pretty tropical location where it’s warm all year round and it never gets anywhere near snowing (Lately the heat here has been ranging from around 29 to 31 degrees Celsius D:) I've just been to Japan during autumn which was stunning, so I’ll go with autumn for now :)

2. Who is your ultimate bias? If you could say one thing to them in person, what would it be? My ultimate bias was, and always will be, SHINee’s Jonghyun. I have so much to say to him, but if it was one thing I think I would update him on what’s been going on, with the Shiny Foundation and it’s recent Art Festival, and with Key and Onew’s solo debuts, because aqwebhkjlkf he would be so so proud <3

3. If you could see any 5 songs performed live, what would they be? - From Now On -  SHINee. This would be so special <3 - Seventeen - Literally any song I’ve been trying to choose and I CAN’t - ASTRO - Hide and Seek - for a throwback to the start :) - M.O.N.T - Will You Be My Girlfriend? - because my babies have just debuted and I’m so proud <3 Hopefully I’ll be able to help bring them here one day to actually see this! - DAY6 - I Need Somebody - Wow I need to see Brian’s emotional masterpiece of a chorus live

4. What is your most played song? Seattle by Sam Kim which I’m so happy about because it’s one of my all-time favourites <3 5. What is your favorite k-pop music video? I love wayyy too many MVs... but when I read this question for some reason Believe Me by Cross Gene popped into my head. It’s the most stupid homemade video ever but it’s hilarious and adorable XD Other than that, I love B1A4 Solo Day! (And any painfully sad MV like MYNAME - Baby I’m Sorry). 6. Do you have a favorite month? If so, which one? I love December because it brings about such a special festive feeling that I love, plus it’s the holidays! (And in NZ us uni students get over 3 months holiday at the end of the year which is amazing) 7. Do you sleep with socks on? Nope! Unless I’m really cold  8. What is your favorite drink?  Maybe orange juice or Lift? Most of the time I’m boring and drink water lmao 9. What are you the most proud of yourself for? I’m starting to put myself out of my comfort zone at uni! (Not easy as an introvert haha). I’m flatting this year and am on the committee of my university K-Pop club as Event Manager :) I’ve also changed my whole degree, so I’m proud of dealing with this much change (let’s hope it lasts once the school year actually starts!) 10. If you could own any one piece of kpop merchandise (whether you already have it or not), what would it be? I think it would be really nice to have an album of every group I’ve supported, even if I supported them only for a little bit, to have as memories when I grow older :) 11. If you were going to a school and had to wear a uniform but you could choose the colors, what colors would you choose? I really like aqua, so maybe aqua or turquoise and white!

I don’t really have mutuals on this blog so anyone is welcome to do this if they want to and can say that I tagged you :)

[sseungminn]

A tag ! wow wild shit

jsbakfb i was tagged by @j3n0gf tysm idk who followed who first but ily pls hmu i wanna be ur frienD:

rules: answer the questions and tag ppl

nicknames: most ppl call me shelby but i am now elbow too (thx pheobe)

gender: cis female

sexuality: bi 

hpogwarts house: LMAO THROWBACK TO MY HUGE ASS PHASE TWO YEARS AGO and hufflepuff

favorite animals: any tbh

average amount of sleep: around 6 or 7 ? idrk

cats or dogs: dogs i have many but i love cats

number of blankets: in the winter like 5 in the summer 1 or 2 depending of how cold it is

dream trip: costa rica 

dream job: teacher ??? idk i havent really thought about it that much

when i first made this account: january ? or march ? i have no idea

why i made it: i was bored

followers: yIKES 23

i tag: @chans-kitchen-sink @junholler and @chanseyesmile (i tagged you bc i wanna be friends lol hi)