#//tweaked my promo a bit so it matches!!!

[d2kvirus]

15/1/24 Fact or Fiction

Statement #1: Despite RAW having a great 2023, you still enjoyed watching Dynamite more this year. FACT - For the simple reason that Dynamite is more readily available, as I can just plonk myself on the sofa and switch on ITV4...as long as the snooker or the darts hasn't overrun again, while WWE tends to involve a trip to WatchWrestling. That being said, 2023 was certainly not one of Dynamite's banner years as they spent a sizeable chunk of the year trying to lock into a groove, but only really managed it when the Continental Classic took centre stage and allowed things to be tweaked around it without being in the glare of the audience's gaze, while in comparison Raw has been more consistent

Statement #2: Seth Rollins has had a lame duck reign as RAW World Heavyweight Champion since he has been on the same brand the whole time with Cody Rhodes, who beat him in 3 straight PPV matches in 2022 but never got a shot at that title in 2023. FICTION - The only way you can call Rollins' run "lame duck" is if the bar has raised significantly from the reigns which set the definition of lame duck in stone such as Rey Mysterio, Jack Swagger or Jinder Mahal. As Riollins' reign can't be compared to any of those, as he doesn't lose all non-title matches nor is he a jobber elevated to champion in the hopes of selling some house show tickets in Iowa, calling him a "lame duck" is getting a bit too Nostalgia Critic for my liking

Statement #3: Commercial breaks during good TV wrestling matches are necessary and can be used creatively to improve the viewing experience. FICTION - Commercial breaks during matches routinely interrupt the flow and take you out of a match regardless of quality. While this isn't as bad as a commercial break in the middle of a three-minute match, where between 1/4 and 1/3 of the match is lost due to appeasing our corporate overlords, it's still the equivalent of being unable to watch the credits for a film as they've been squeezed into a postage stamp-sized space in the corner of the screen and sped up

Statement #4: Christian Cage was the MVP of AEW in 2023. FACT - While his promo and character work immediately puts Christian into the conversation for AEW MVP of 2023, what puts him over the top of guys like Samoa Joe, Mox, FTR or Orange Cassidy is the fact that he has done the impossible and revived the TNT title after a couple of years of it having its lustre tarnished by things such as the Sammy/Cody/interim/Sammy/Scorpio Sky/Sammy/Scorpio Sky hot potatoing for late 2021-early 2022 or Wardlow's eighteen month holding pattern both with and without the belt, and if one guy can undo so much damage on their own that makes them MVP

Statement #5: Since you gave a lot of scores of 8 or higher to RAW and Dynamite in 2023, if that trend continues in 2024 then the numerical scoring system itself should be changed. FICTION - Oh god, imagine if the scoring system was changed and Raw/Dynamite/Impact started getting 7/10 on the reg. Can't imagine it? Okay, well what you need to do is watch Event Horizon and skip to the scene where the original crew's last transmission is descrambled, and that's what will happen if an episode of SmackDown which ends with a lengthy Bloodline segment gets a 6.5/10

Statement #6: If you could only watch one weekly pro-wrestling show in 2024, you would rather it featured Adam “Edge” Copeland than CM Punk. FACT - ...though this is mainly down to pedantry, because Copeland is far more likely to actually be a regular face on the weekly wrestling show while Punk has already missed a few episodes of Raw since his return, which means I would actually be watching a show with the guy I expect to be there. If it were peak Punk who was guaranteed to be there three weeks out of four? I'd absolutely pick the show which Punk was on, but the Punk who is on some weeks and never mentioned others who has been missing the spark in his promos? That's why I go for the show with the guy who is far more likely to be there

Statement #7: Samoa Joe was the wrong person to take the AEW Championship from MJF. FICTION - While the most obvious guy to take the belt off the back of the Devil storyline was Adam Cole, what with him being The Devil and everything, Joe was certainly a good choice to end MJF's reign as he's been a strong and consistent onscreen presence in AEW all year (and reportedly also a strong and consistent presence backstage at Wembley...) and it certainly makes sense for him to hold the belt while also allowing AEW to reorientate their uppercard. Are there other names who could have been better calls or benefitted more? Absolutely, and that list has Swerve Strickland's name on it three or four times, but more importantly the list of potential people who would be the Xavier or Jerry Lynn in the history of the AEW title certainly does not have Joe's name on it

Statement #8: You liked the reveal of Adam Cole as “Devil” at the end of Worlds End.  FACT - While Cole was the most likely culprit for the longest time, and there were several moments foreshadowing it going back to the build to All In, that underlines how the most obvious choice is more often than not the right choice and only a swerve-obsessed doofus would have thought otherwise. More than anything else, there was a sense of relief when Cole was revealed, given the very real fears it might have been Jack Perry under the mask, especially as some of the moments were practically threatening the viewers with that possibility

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

Because I have way, way too much time on my hands I've been tooling around with color palettes, and decided to try putting together palettes for all of the Cullens. Because, why not?

Bella's palette is actually one of my favorites because it seems the most cohesive. There's a bunch more colors I could have included but i wanted to stick with five for every character, so these are the essentials.

(Left to right)

- Deep Blue (Hex: #04237E) RGB: 4, 35, 126

- Peaches (Hex: #FFCDC2) RGB: 255, 205, 194

- Cream (Hex: #FBF5ED) RGB: 251, 245, 257

- Classic Chevy (Hex: #DD7053) RGB: 221, 112, 83

- Chocolate (Hex: #402419) RGB: 64, 36, 25

Deep Blue is sort of Bella's theme color for me. I mean it would probably be brown since it's her favorite, but I like blue better and I definitely understand why Edward likes it on her. On top of which, sapphire is her birthstone. The pale pink and cream, which compliment the blue, are obviously representing her human skin tone. The chocolate brown is for her eyes and hair, and the red, as the name says, is for her Chevy, which I love, and which just really went well with the rest of the palette.

Edward's palette is very muted because he's allergic to color, but it turned out nicer than I thought it would. It features (left to right)

- Ocher Gold (Hex: #C88531) RGB: 200, 133, 49

- Bronze (Hex: #43180D) RGB: 67, 24, 13

- Silver Volvo (Hex: #C5CBCB) RGB: 197, 203, 203

- Khaki (Hex: #AFA586) RGB: 175, 165, 134

- Lilac (Hex: #BBA6BF) RGB: 187, 166, 191

Gold is the eye color of all the Cullens, of course, so it isn't unique to Edward, except that it's the theme color for his bedroom, and is probably a favorite of his. The bronze obviously signifies his hair, and Silver volvo is very self-explanatory--as is the khaki, which as we all know is Edward's real favorite color. Lilac is a bit more abstract--I decided to include it because Bella's description of Edward's scent (post-turning, when she can pick out all the notes) is Honey, lilac and sun.

Carlisle was a little tough to decide on. It started out very... boring. Carlisle's not a particularly colorful person, but I made some tweaks and I like it rather a lot.

(Left to Right)

- Crucifix (Hex: #2E2420) RGB: 46, 36, 32

- Parchment (Hex: #D99D5A) RGB: 217, 157, 90

- Mint Green (Hex: #B5CEB8) RGB: 181, 206, 184

- Churchstone (Hex: #293838) RGB: 41, 56, 56

- Black Mercedes (Hex: #141217) RGB: 20, 18, 23

The one color I was certain I wanted in this palette is this brown. This is my theme color for Carlisle--it's the dark brown color of his crucifix, and the paneling in his office. I love how much Carlisle likes to evoke the time period he lived in in his personal spaces. Esme has free reign over the whole house, but Carlisle's office is starkly different and it's dark stained wood and dusty books, which is so authentically 17th century it just makes my heart sing.

Churchstone represents the houses of worship that Carlisle loves to visit and finds comfort in, Along the same lines, the second color is parchment, which is matched from an extant frakturschriften work from the Historic Ephrata Cloister. The site's unique religious history makes me certain that Carlisle must have visited it at some point in the last several decades.

The mint is a little nod to Carlisle's profession, because it's just a very hospital-y color, and the black (rather superficially) is for his Mercedes.

Esme's palette was a delight for me, and I think it, like Bella's, is very cohesive and just really pretty.

(Left to right)

- Cerulean (Hex: #0D4B8A) RGB: 13, 75, 138

- Cornflower (Hex: #5C76CC) RGB: 92, 118, 204

- Wool Sweater (Hex: #CFC9BD) RGB: 207, 201, 189

- Beechwood (Hex: #E2B16F) RGB: 226, 177, 111

- Caramel (Hex: #B14C22) RGB: 177, 76, 34

Cerulean has just been my go to color for Esme pretty much since I first read the book. I have no idea why? I think Elizabeth Reaser was wearing it in the promo stills for the first film and it just stuck, but whatever the reason, I still hold that Esme looks great in Cerulean. Perhaps it's representative of the water around Isle Esme. Or maybe just because I think it would look nice with her Caramel hair.

Beechwood, because unless I'm mistaken that's the "honey-colored" wood that is her go-to for flooring and paneling in her interior design. Ivory was originally my choice because it's quite evocative of her life-time. But after some nagging constructive criticism from my sister I made some slight changes with both the ivory and the next color. Robin's egg blue wasn't a first choice. It was a place holder initially because I asked my sister what color she most associated with Esme, and I thought, well it's a very fitting, motherly color. With hindsight, though, she proposed cornflower blue, instead, and although I still do like the original palette with Robins egg and ivory, I think this version is superior. I'll detail more on my decisions for the changes (Specifically from Robbins Egg to Cornflower) in a reblog.

Alice was a head-scratcher. I only had two colors that I really associate with her, but I think it turned out okay.

- Black Satin (Hex: #282D2D) RGB: 40, 45, 45

- Canary Yellow (Hex: #FDC504) RGB: 253, 197, 4

- Ice Blue (Hex: #96DDE0) RGB: 150, 221, 224

- Mauve (Hex: #987696) RGB: 152, 118, 150

- Dark Lip (Hex: #605054) RGB: 96, 80, 84

Black was the first color I had chosen for Alice, and I color-matched this to a picture of the Cerruti gown that Meyer used as inspiration for her prom dress.

The canary yellow was the other color I picked of the top of my head--it goes well with black and it's also the color of her beloved Porsche 911.

Ice blue was a choice I made because the ice blue dress she puts on Bella for her newborn awakening always really stuck out to me, but also because I think it suits Alice, since, for a very extroverted person, she has this very chilly side.

Originally the fourth color was a light mauve, taken from Alice's bridesmaid's dress, but I've since altered it to a shade of orange, color-matched from Tamara De Lempicka's "The Orange Scarf" (1927), because the model for the main figure of that painting reminded me strikingly of Alice. The work, oil on wood, was painted for the cover of an edition of the German fashion magazine, Die Dame; the second work de Lempicka executed for the publication (the first being her famous self portrait "Tamara in the Green Bugatti"). The association with fashion seemed a fitting motif to add to Alice's palette.

The dusty purple was rather clever of me, if I say it myself. I took a screen cap of Alice from Twilight and color matched her lip-stick under the blue-tint, and I just loved it. It's a dark shade of mauve, the theme color for Bella's wedding in Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 (ironic, since mauve is a mourning color), but I think it also suits the morose side of Alice's back-story.

Left to right

- Ocean Jasper (Hex: #212F1E) RGB: 33, 47, 30

- Lionet Gold (Hex: ##B1914D) RGB: 177, 145, 77

- Major Grey (Hex: #4D4E50) RGB: 77, 78, 80

- Antique Red (Hex: #7F3A34) RGB: 127, 58, 52

- Bloodred (Hex: #790802) RGB: 121, 8, 2

Blood red was the first color I thought of when I sat down to do Jasper's palette, especially after reading Midnight Sun, which is the only time you get a glimpse of Jasper in action.

The other was the murky green, which I color matched to an ocean jasper, because duh. This became my theme color for Jasper. Paired with that, also matched from the same ocean jasper I got the green from is a lionet gold, which reminded me of Jasper's being described by Bella in Twilight as "Tall and leonine".

The gray is color matched from a picture of an extant Confederate Major's frock coat, and the faded red is matched from the sash of the same.

(Left to Right)

- Imola Red (Hex: #FB022F) RGB: 251 G: 2 B: 47

- Claret (Hex: #530203) RGB: 83, 2, 3

- Golden Blond (Hex: #FDBB54) RGB: 253, 187, 84

- Deco White (Hex: #FDFBF9) RGB: 253, 251, 249

- Violet Blue (Hex: #3D3B81) RGB: 61, 59, 129

The first shade of rosy red here is actually color-matched to the "Imola Red" paint of Rosalie's BMW M3, and the darker claret red is matched to the lipstick in a color picture of Joan Bennett. Joan Bennett is pretty much how I imagine Rosalie. Rosalie;s style of beauty doesn't really match the beauty standards of the time in which she lived, and she doesn't match any of the iconic actresses of her time--the exception being Joan Bennett.

The blonde shade was color matched from the model in another Tamara de Lempicka work, "The Straw Hat" (1930), which depicts a beautiful blond girl with bright red lips in a straw summer hat, holding a spray of pale pink flowers.

The violet blue is Rosalie's human eye color, and it's matched from a picture of Elizabeth Taylor, who was famed for her uncommon violet eye-color, and her beauty which was commonly considered to be near-perfect.

I feel like Rosalie loves white. Her bedroom, in supplemental sources is described as a "large, white room" and white and red were popular color combinations in the Art Deco interior design of the 1930's.

I loved doing Emmett's color palette. I'm realizing how much their backstories influence my color associations with the Cullens as I'm writing this and the same holds true for Emmett.

(Left to right)

- Red Flannel (Hex: #CE0D02) RGB: 206, 13, 2

- Rye Whiskey (Hex: #792104) RGB: 121, 33, 4

- Smokey Mountain Green (Hex: #183F01) RGB: 24, 63, 1

- Miner's Denim (Hex: #31425C) RGB: 49, 66, 92

- Coal Dust (Hex: #292E31) RGB: 41, 46, 49

Emmett's Jeep is red of course, and he shares the association with red with his wife. But all the other colors are inspired from his origins in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, present in the deep forest green, the coal dust gray, and my personal favorite color matches, the red brown of rye whiskey and, the first color I thought of for Emmett after red: denim blue.

That's all the canon Cullens, but I've gotten so used to my own inserts, Ada and Cem, I made palettes for them to, which are actually really great inspirational aids when I'm writing. Check them out below.

This is my favorite of all the palettes, of course.

Lightning (Hex: #9192D8) RGB: 145, 146, 216

Yellow Sage (Hex: #EAF7AC) RGB: 234, 247, 172

Lilac Silk (Hex: #D9CCDD) RGB: 217, 204, 221

Burnished Copper (Hex: #D48973) RGB: 212, 137, 115

Black Cherry (Hex: #310410) RGB: 49, 4, 16

So the first color here, this light lavender-gray, is frankly just my favorite color, but it's also one I think would look really good on Ada. I think it contrasts interestingly with the pinkish, burnished copper red of her hair. I color matched the purple from a picture of clouds illuminated by lightning, and the copper from a picture of a copper mug. The pale sage green/yellow and lilac are color-matched from the Valentino gown I used as inspiration for Ada's prom dress.

The Black Cherry is the color of Ada's Mazda RX-8. Only the Shinka limited edition of that car came in this shade of Black Cherry, and it's a very distinctive color that I wound up moulding her whole color palette around.

Cem, Ada's mate (who she meets while abroad in Greece following the Cullen exodus from forks in New Moon), has a palette that is primarily inspired by his human life as a Janissary under Sultan Mehmed II.

- Janissary (Hex: #891A22) RGB: 137, 26, 34

- Wine-dark Sea (Hex: #280916) RGB: 40, 9, 22

- Rosewood (Hex: #63241F) RGB: 99, 36, 31

- Amber Gold (Hex: #AE5E02) RGB: 174, 94, 2

- Gray Eyes (Hex: #756660) RGB: 117, 102, 96

The first red color was color-matched to period drawings of Janissaries, as was the rosewood shade, although that is more representative of Cem's hair color, which is a light brown with faint hints of red. The gray is his human eye color.

The purple, matched from Phoenecian purple dye, and gold, from the background of a depiction of Janissaries (albeit from a century later than Cem would have lived) relate to his background, but really, I just think they went really well together.

Although the dark amber could be a transitional shade of Cem's eyes as they turn from red to gold after joining the Cullens.

[rawiswhore]

Triple H/Hunter Hearst Helmsley x Fem Reader- "Mindless Self Indulgence"

A wrestling duo known as D Generation X, who eventually evolved into the most iconic wrestling faction of the WWF's Attitude era, helped the former Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Shawn Michaels get over and were a wrestling duo that had people getting out of their seats and cheering instead of booing them this time.

One of the things Triple H was notorious for when he was in D Generation X, even when they added more members like the New Age Outlaws and X Pac, was his Val Venis-esque dick jokes he made towards women in the audience ("I got the rocket if you want the ride!", "I've got a knife that will fit in your drawers!", "My bazooka is locked, cocked and ready to unload!").

Even before he became a current day frat boy dressed in jeans, T-shirts and leather jackets, when he was known as Hunter Hearst Helmsley and played a rich, elegant, classy 1800's blueblood gentleman, he was quite the ladies man; having a valet dressed in an evening gown wrapped at his side, admitting in his personality profile in a WWF magazine that his favorite actress is "women never act when they're with me", his favorite sports are "women and polo; better yet, women playing polo", and favorite video game is "who has time for all these games with all these women?", and even in one wrestling promo saying that women are his toys.

Isn't he supposed to be a gentleman? Why isn't he kissing the top of women's hands and holding doors open for them?

The WWF's Attitude era of the late 90's is infamous for its mistreatment of women, from wrestlers downright hating women to women being portrayed as eye candy to how legitimate female wrestlers like Ivory, Jacqueline and Torrie (not Wilson) degraded down to being just sex objects, though even before the Attitude era existed and the WWF was really childish, some male wrestlers played characters that just saw women as objects (i.e. Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Razor Ramon).

The man who played Hunter Hearst Helmsley/Triple H doesn't see women as objects in real life, especially not now considering the women's division in NXT and the WWE now has women being athletes and wrestlers instead of objects, and most women in the WWE and NXT today are women that are wrestlers that have wrestled for several years, rather than eye candy that never had any wrestling training before joining those companies.

However, during his tenure during the late 1990's, before he became The Game and during a time when he didn't have facial hair, you shared with him an idea you had involving him, considering you love roleplay.

Despite that the man who plays Hunter Hearst Helmsley/Triple H doesn't see women as sex objects, although he fell in lust with you when you were a ringrat for him, so much, he wanted you to be a valet for him escorting him to the ring, what you plan on doing with him is something he can do one time only.

Although, in the future, he did do a few things similar to this, either on "Monday Night Raw" or when the cameras weren't rolling.

He agreed to your idea, and even he enjoys roleplaying during sex.

One day during his time as Hunter Hearst Helmsley or as Triple H in D Generation X, during a time when he didn't have facial hair, you invited him to a hotel/motel room when you and he had free time.

He was dressed in a tight black D Generation X T-shirt that hugged his muscles and blue denim jeans, looking similar to how he looks on "Monday Night Raw".

(if it's Hunter Hearst Helmsley during his gentleman days you want, then he's wearing a Monday Night Raw T-shirt and matching black jeans while he lets his hair hang down, no ponytails or braids behind his head).

He let his honey blond hair hang down, not tied back in a ponytail or let his hair have a little ponytail tied behind his head

After he undressed you out of your clothes, you laid on top of the silky comforter on one of the beds.

His eyes observed you up and down, lying there naked, and he was going to make you helpless.

While his eyes scanned your naked body, his hands were unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans, only for his hands to grab to the sides of his jeans and pull them down until his genitals were exposed in front of you.

He had a rock hard erection waiting to come out under his jeans, and his cock was growing harder and harder whilst he undressed you.

His jeans were feeling tighter and tighter while he undressed you, thank goodness he took them off.

The roof of his mouth could nearly salivate over seeing you naked, his tongue moist and feeling like it could salivate and slobber.

After he nearly disrobed, he placed his hands on your thighs, where he spread your thighs apart until your twat was exposed right in front of him.

You wish you could spread your legs wide open for him, but he's gonna be the one in charge of that.

When your legs were spread eagle, enough to show your pussy to him, he lifted one of his hands off of your thighs and wrapped his fingers around the bottom of his erection, where he walked a few steps forward to you, grinning with his dick in his hand.

His other hand, especially the tip of his thumb, was running across your top lip, feeling the texture of how soft your lips are.

With his cock still in his hand, he moved and inserted the tip of his penis into your pussy hole, where his cock began to separate and spread the inside of your vaginal walls apart, his shaft and penis penetrating into your twat.

His fingers unwrapped off of his shaft as it crawled and entered your pussy, those fingers moving to one of your hips and holding onto it.

Your eyes had elevated to the top of your head, your eyelids shutting the irises in your eyes and your head arching back whilst his cock entered inside of you.

When his penis was completely inside of your twat, he moved his hand on your mouth down to your other hip, holding onto that hip, and he began to pound your twat back and forth, thrusting in and out of you and fucking you hard.

His fingers grabbed onto your hips quite hard, the tips of his fingers dug into your flesh, he's making you his.

The bed squeaked and rocked while he pounded you, and your fingers were trying to grab onto the silky comforter you were lying on top of as he fucked you.

Since he didn't run his thumb over your lips this time, your teeth sunk into your bottom lip, but not too hard, muffling and quieting your moans out so no one will hear you in the other rooms.

You and Hunter/Triple H are worried that people might hear you moaning in the hotel/motel room, that's the problem with having sex while on the road.

Triple H/Hunter was pounding into you hard and fast, making sure he's making you dumb while he thrusts and fucks you.

No, he really wasn't making you dumb, but you were roleplaying that you were turning into his mindless cock slave as he's banging you.

You were moaning and whimpering your moans as he was fucking you, though some of your moans were a bit breathy, quiet and gaspy.

You're forgetting everything in your head while he's fucking you, there's a reason he's fucking you so fast.

Blood has been circulating and swelling your clitoris up, your pussy becoming more and more moist and feeling like it wants to salivate and seep your wetness out of its pores.

Hunter/Triple H, meanwhile, as his fingers grab onto your hips, he shuts his eyes tight and gets into fucking you.

Your tits are bouncing up and down while he's plowing and pounding you, and he loves women's breasts, just look at all the chicks he asks to flash their tits in the audience.

He tried to open his eyes and look at your chest, only to see your breasts bouncing in rhythm and pace with every thrust he pounds into you.

Your breasts went up and down while he was banging you, and he grinned and smirked seeing your tits bouncing up and down when he shoved his dick back and forth inside of you.

He bit his bottom lip, not just over how horny he is and how good it feels to have his cock inside you, but seeing your breasts bouncing as well as what a good girl you've been for him while he's fucking you.

"You've been such a good girl for me" he purred, wanting to slide his hand on your body. "M-my little fucktoy"

When he's cum inside you, he has a surprise for you after that.

You haven't been faking your orgasm, he really is elevating you higher with every fast little fuck.

He would love to play with your breasts as he's fucking you as well as do some other things, so one of his hands on your hips slid and brushed up your hip and shifted over to one of your tits, where he squeezed that breast and fondled it, playing with it.

You're his mindless cockslave and fucktoy, and he's gonna play with you.

His fingers bunched up to your nipple, where he tweaked and pinched that nipple, twisting your nipple rightwards.

You can feel how sensitive and good it feels when he pinches and tweaks your nipple.

"Ohhhhh Hunter!" you squealed and moaned at the same time, your eyes shutting tight and your fingers grabbing onto the silky comforter, feeling the silky, smooth fabric. "Hunterrr!!!!"

"No, no, no!" he ordered, shaking his head. "Don't say a word".

Your brain is basically turning off, or at least during sex and you're pretending to turn your brain off.

You're his belonging and belong entirely to him, no one else can have you but him.

If he can't have you, no one can.

Sounds reallytoxic, but that was his character back then.

Though, he wouldn't mind passing you around to his boys for them to fuck as well.

He's been fucking you so hard that your mouth is beginning to drool and slobber, saliva is spilling out of your mouth down your skin and onto the bed.

His skin is getting hotter and warmer under his T-shirt, he nearly wants to take it off as he's pounding and fucking you.

Men cum before women do, and his precum sliding down his cock was wetting the inside of your twat.

Throughout his thrusts, he was quietly groaning, moaning and grunting while he was pounding away in your pussy.

He's probably gonna cum any minute now after a while from thrusting back and forth in you for such a long time.

The walls of your vagina was brushing, nudging and tickling the sides of his shaft, the inside of your pussy feeling so soft

He's excited even more for what he's gonna do to you next after he cums.

He, too, has been orgasming slightly as he's pounding your pussy, although his moans are a lot more quiet, your moans have been drowning out his moans.

Pretty soon, he climaxed, groaning as he ejaculated inside of your twat, one of his hands grabbing onto your hips tight and his eyes shutting tight when he jizzed.

The tip of his penis released his seed inside of you in little spurts one by one, shooting out his cum inside of you.

When he felt like he jizzed enough, he withdrew himself out of you, his cock exiting your twat.

Despite that he just came, he isn't done with you yet.

Now that you've become his mindless cock slave, you'll do what he says.

He wrapped his fingers around his shaft and crawled on the bed, holding his penis as he crawled to you.

He lifted his hand off of one of your breasts and entered his fingers on that hand into your mouth, where the tips of his fingers began to scratch and tickle on the top of your tongue.

Strange, but...this is what he does when he's a dom.

He luckily had his nails perfectly clipped, no sharp fingernails scratching your tongue.

His thumb on that hand traced and slid across your bottom lip, luckily you weren't wearing any lipstick or lipgloss.

"Now suck my fingers!" he ordered and hissed, sounding like he meant it.

Since he sounded like he meant it, your lips circulated around his fingers and started sucking them, listening to him and obeying him.

"That's a good girl" he murmured, smirking and smiling.

When his thumb reached the corner of your mouth, he elevated that thumb to your top lip and slid it across your upper lip.

His other hand reached out to where your vulva is, where he began to play with your clit, scratching and rubbing your clitoris like the fingers in your mouth, sometimes he placed your clitoral hood in between his fingers and squeezed it.

He regrets that he didn't play with both of your nipples and tits while he was thrusting in and out of you, but better luck next time.

With his fingers in your mouth, you hope he won't gag you and make you throw up.

His fingers can feel how moist and wet your tongue and mouth are.

"You're all mine now" he murmured, his voice warm and husky.

The tips of his index finger scratched up and down your clit vertically, sometimes he pressed his finger on your clit and rubbed it in circles.

Your moans were being muffled by having his fingers in your mouth, and it's gonna take some time for you to cum pretty soon.

Since he's holding his cock in his hand, he lifted and pulled his fingers out of your mouth, only for him to insert his cock in your mouth.

You could taste how salty his dick was, and your eyes opened and looked at him when his cock slipped inside your mouth.

"Close your eyes" he said gently, smiling at you, and you listened to him, shutting your eyes. "Thereeeeee"

Him saying "good girl" makes you feel like a dog, and he even feels like he's rewarding a dog by saying "good girl".

Your lips wrapped around his shaft as his cock entered your mouth, and he unwrapped his fingers off of his shaft as his dick slid in your mouth.

He lifted his hands and made them form an "x" shape, slamming those hands down over his genitals.

"Now suck it!" he shouted and exclaimed as he did that iconic, aforementioned gesture, slamming his hands in an "x" shape into the area above his private parts, but below his stomach.

You listened to him, sucking onto his salty, gooey cock, tasting his cum and precum that trickled out of his slit and down his shaft, swallowing his jizz.

"That's it" he muttered, grinning while you sucked his cock.

He could hear your gulping noises, which means you're swallowing his jizz, and he loves that.

You're supposed to swallow his seed, not spit it out.

"Suck it!!" he shouted again, his other hand making a chopping motion (like he's karate chopping wood) next to his genitals, and you obeyed him, still sucking his cock.

You can't even speak anymore now that his cock is in your mouth, although you literally can't speak, it's not like the next day you'll be mute forever.

You will be able to talk, right now you've become his mindless fucktoy.

He eventually did make you cum pretty soon, your clitoris pounding after you came and your twat becoming juicier, and he ate your pussy out, licking and tasting your twat.

Triple H/Hunter Hearst Helmsley, at least the character he played in the WWF, isn't the only one who sexually objectifies women and sees them as his toys.

Razor Ramon (the character, though the man who plays him isn't much different) used to see women as sex objects ("chicas are for fun!"), having a fling with them then throwing them away once he's done with him.

Razor Ramon would love to play with you and turn you into his cock slave and fucktoy, so would Brian Pillman (the character Pillman played in the WWF), Val Venis, the Godfather and Jerry Lawler definitely would.

You've become comfortably numb and dumb for Triple H/Hunter.

Despite that you've become his mindless cock slave, you're sucking his cock and fingers.

Although, you won't be a mindless cock slave tomorrow, and you won't become so dumb that you can't walk or talk.

Sorry if I sound ableist.

You were back to your normal self after you and he had intercourse, but for a while, you were his brainless fucktoy.

[landlordrecords]

Bassline (& 2020 in general): Re-e-wind

 What a strange year, as everyone, everywhere has said a million times… Writing-wise, I’d been doing Record Collector magazine since 2014, and uDiscover (the Universal Records online mag) for not much less, & that all just seemed to (understandably) stop dead with the onset of the pandemic. Since then, I’ve polished off my chapter on the work of Simon Morris and the Ceramic Hobs for Palgrave, & that’s about it, so you’re more likely to find me over on Twitter at Sniffy (@philblackpool) / Twitter these days, blurting out the odd sentence. I hence thought it might be time to revisit a very old piece…

Like many, I’ve been working from home for much of the year, and although I’ve occasionally wanted to pull out my own eyeballs, it has generally been very pleasant for a voracious music-lover. I started by catching up on the vast majority of my insane, years-deep second-hand vinyl buy piles, and then chomped through a load of ‘long listen’ stuff I’d had on the backburner forever (including, astonishingly, eventually getting through something like 40 hours of Pan Sonic live sets someone had dumped online). I graded hundreds of releases for sale on Discogs, and revisited umpteen musical thangs extensively, including 90s gabba, Sun Ra, music hall, Schoenberg, dancehall reggae, the acknowledged worst albums ever, happy hardcore, Italian house, bounce and makina (I’ve lost track of how much time I’ve spent checking out youtubes to try to identify a couple of most-wanted bounce and makina tunes), Britpop (!), cosmic disco, and Belgian popcorn. It’s been an extraordinary year, packed with cultural discovery and rediscovery. In amongst this, in no way ashamed of my abject love of Discogs, and already having used and edited it for many years, I read the entire guidelines and decided to go hard on sorting out stuff I care about on there. Seeing they’d finally added various more recent ‘styles’, I’ve spent the last month and a half doing a ridiculous amount of edits on a dozen or so niche genres of importance in recent times (footwork, Jersey Club, yadda yadda). My tweakings around Bassline and UK Funky eventually drew me to the attention of UK Garage legend Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown, a fellow Discogs obsessive not so keen on the editing side of the site, who wondered if I might give him a hand sorting out the mess of his own and his label’s (2Tuf 4U) discographies. His entertaining phonecalls were enough to convince me.

I dug out all my stuff related to Karl’s label to listen to along the way, and found myself noticing how much UKG has been back in the spotlight of late (key, and brilliant, article here: RA: Like A Battle: The Push For UK Garage's Future (residentadvisor.net) ). While by no means unaware of this (I’ve had some lovely promos from Kiwi and the like of late, plus some moodier bits from various El-B worshippers), my status as a confirmed middle-aged semi-retired raver had hidden much of this from me. This leads me onto one of my big philosophical points of recent years: I listened to dance music avidly before I ever went out dancing, and listen to it now in lockdown, and in semi-retirement. There is far too much an emphasis among ever-rejuvenating dance music correspondents on ‘the club’ as the only way to enjoy dance music, but we know that OG disco fans are 60+ and unlikely to be out every weekend these days – is their experience now worthless? Online fans talk up their love of dance music for exercise soundtracks, bedtime calming soundtracks, etc: this is reality. Dance music is as valid to all these people as rock is to people who haven’t been to a gig in 40 years.

The style I felt myself most drawn back to was bassline (largely via Karl’s low-key issue of some DJ Q material). My love of UK Garage and all its offshoots largely stems from how physically removed I have been from it from virtually its entire history. Only my 2000-03 stint in Essex perfectly matched the garage waveform, and that was the 2-step era, quite the opposite of bassline. Despite being largely a northern phenomenon, Blackpool is largely untouched by bassline, being all about punk and bounce to my mind. An instant love for me circa 2007, bassline feels like one of those genres with unfinished business, but remains one I’ve rarely danced to. Cut off in its prime, it is now back, enormously popular, and rightly so, but, due to the vagaries of the digital music world, some of its key material remains tough to access in any decent form.

I originally wrote the piece I have butchered for this one in March 2008, on Myspace (remember that), in reaction to the exciting waves of bassline and UK funky then reinvigorating the world of UKG. It looks a bit embarrassing now, with more writing experience, although I continue to applaud my own willingness to be open about my innocent appreciation of things I love but am not truly part of.

 The most notable misstep in my original piece was the presumption that bassline would become the latest enormous chart sensation. Like happy hardcore before it, the ball was, in reality, fumbled. Instead of hoped-for freaky innovation, the producers also opted, as many in years gone by, for smoothed-out commerciality (in unholy alliance with low-grade grime crossovers), although the main adversarial issues seem to have been police crackdowns and the London-centric ‘cool police’. Although I was long aware of such problems with Niche in Sheffield (the genre’s spiritual home), it appears that the police interference had a devastating effect across the board ( Banned From Sheffield: How Jamie Duggan fought for bassline… And won (ukf.com) ). This largely explains why many of the bassline producers gravitated towards the largely wack bass house/house & bass style so beloved of teenyboppers in recent years. Thank heavens that era is now largely over.

Niche reputedly specialised in an arguably unholy mixture of dated late 90s speed garage and ‘bassline house’ (think ‘Let Me Show You’ by Camisra, and MK’s ‘organ house’), way past their sell-by date (I still only really like a handful of Shaun Banger Scott bits in this style, one single 2009 Brummie CD EP, and one Virgo remix). Ultimately, though, this experiment unexpectedly created something magical. The crucial element here is the 4/4 beat. While undoubtedly skippy, the vast majority of the material favoured had a firm 4/4 beat, always favoured across all key scenes in the north of England from northern soul onwards. When they ran out of tunes to rinse, in time-honoured fashion, they made their own. Long, rumbling walls of bass, organs, and hoppy-skippy beats, with raggafied samples and gunshots over the top. Popular in Birmingham as well (pretty much the centre of a vinyl glut at the time, and now notable in the popularity of DJs such as Chris Lorenzo and Hannah Wants), B-side titles hinted of coke overload. Disenfranchised by London’s movement away from the holy 4/4 (despite a slight revival in the early noughties), and via messenger services and the like, northern producers began to exchange a new hybrid in the mid-00s which took these speed garage and bassline house influences and updated them with current R’n’B bootlegs, with influences from grime (regional grime producers were key here) and, most notably, with rococo basslines. Its most obvious comparison point was Sticky’s garage productions, concurrent with the early grime era. Southern producers such as Agent X, Delinquent (who featured Gemma Fox on their magical 2006 ‘Boxers’), and Dexplicit (Fox again, 2005’s ‘Might Be’) ran with that, and the north lapped it up. Key early pointers also included DJ Narrows’ superb 2001 4/4 tune ‘Saved Soul’, and early 00s DND work (Artwork, later part of dubstep supergroup Magnetic Man). A notable increase in output came in 2006, and 2007-9 were the genre’s original glory years. And the bulk of producers and up-&-comings delivering serious anthems to the scene came not from London and the south-east, but from Leeds (T2, Wittyboy, Nastee Boi), Bradford (TS7), Manchester (Murkz, Burgaboy, Subzero), Nottingham (Virgo, IllMana), Leicester (JTJ, H20, FB & Zibba), and Wolverhampton (EJ, TRC, Brett Maverick). EJ’s Ejucation mix series (all up on Soundcloud) is a good place to start, beginning as the bassline house began to be overtaken by the pure bassline numbers.

Distribution for serious UK garage music has often been woeful, with only high street compilations & the chart singles (‘Heartbroken’ by T2, ‘What’s It Gonna Be’ by H20, etc) making it all over the country, and this helped stymie the true development of bassline, although vinyl prices, dreadful video promos, and the leap to digital in some ways didn’t help. Years on, as an incorrigible vinyl fanatic, I still only have handful of bassline 12”s. Yes, you can now access this stuff the world over via Youtube etc, but decent, high-quality copies of full-length tunes (they are often hacked about to great effect, but in a way which obscures the original intentions, in the mix) are not always the easiest to come by, although the classic producers are increasingly putting out digital compilations of their original work. Material that would, for previous genres, be fiended after, is lost to being just more online links. At the time, I looked high and low for 12”s, succeeding only rarely, largely on the flip of UK Funky releases. The (mixtape) audience, going by comments online, were often extremely young, are probably now still only in their mid-twenties, and are seemingly happy enough with this chaotic model. Bassline originally, as all rave genres, largely ran off mixtape boxsets, and a 2007 ‘Pure Bass – Fantasy’ box from Stoke remains my key document of that era: seven bassline CDs, with many tracks repeated, but packed to the gills, with most tracks only lasting a minute or two in the mix. As with all rave mixes, it has taken me years to suss the majority of the track IDs. In the Resident Advisor piece linked above, DJ Q (from Huddersfield) talks about thousands of lost bassline tunes, the bad side of the digital revolution. My recent Discogs ferreting suggests more bassline tunes than one might imagine did make some sort of decent release, but too many only made white labels, promo CDs for commercial releases (before being snipped from the main release), mix CDRs, or Youtube’s grainy depths. Classics such as TS7 featuring Bianca’s ‘Seems Like’ appear to never have had any decent release whatsoever, despite TS7 going on to be a big name in bass-oriented house, and Bianca Gerald having kept at the vocal turns ever since.

T2 hit biggest, with ‘Heartbroken’, a gorgeous, smashed-vocal garage dub so popular that it even inspired a Jersey Club refix. His catalogue was immediately deep, although I get the impression he has stopped adding to it. One complaint about bassline, including some of the T2 work, regards the untutored vocals, which can sometimes be rather flat, and certainly lacking in dynamics compared to the dazzling US vocalists featured on some earlier UK garage pieces (I refer here, as always, to TJ Cases’ remarkable ‘Do It Again’). I kinda like that - it shows amateur enthusiasm not far removed from punk, and most obviously links to lover’s rock, as does the production at times: it gives a feeling of melancholy entirely suited to the vocals. Other bassline heroes include TS7, who briefly brought to the fore sassy female garage MC T Dot. His productions also include ‘Smile’, one of my very favourite bassline tracks, full of that Simon Reynolds-quoted 'weird energy’ possessed by DJ Hype & co in the early nineties. Male bassline vocalists such as Ideal also remain unfairly forgotten, although some of the female vocalists have gone on to work in related genres since bassline’s peak.

Paleface, an ex-member of London garage rap crew Stonecold GX, runs Northern Line Records (FB, TRC, Wittyboy, Nastee Boi), something of a quality mark for bassline productions, while also making highly successful UK Funky tunes as part of Crazy Cousinz, and later progressing into commercial house territory. He chronicled much of bassline’s high-water mark (including being married to Kyla, since sampled by Drake). Wolverhampton-based Northern Line signing TRC proved particularly adaptable, spewing out a legion of original tunes and remixes before retreating for a while to grime. Leeds’ Nastee Boi was a favourite of mine at the time, with his pitch-black gangsta bassline tunes, but pushed on towards a mixture of underwhelming R’n’B vocal cuts and nursery grime toons. Wittyboy started similarly punishingly but also went smoother, unbalancing the classic bassline rough and smooth combination.

Now that the dubiously poisonous rep of Niche has been dispatched, the key bassline acts have returned to their key battleground, and the genre seems in full throttle again. Much of the new material seems a little one-dimensional to me: producers invariably big up Bristol’s My Nu Leng as, I suppose, a bridge from bro-step to 4/4. Everything, as acknowledged by the DJs, is huge drops and nothing much else. It still sounds pretty hot though – not the updated lover’s rock of a decade ago, but worth supporting. Bassline is NOT finished!

[hypocrisyofandrewdobson]

My drawing tablet is broken, but I couldn’t pass up on this prompt. Excuse the jittery lines; this was done with a trackpad so there wasn’t much I could do.

First off, I decided to make rey look a little hot. It looked weird to have those hearts around a dead-eyed, traced promo image. Tweaked Kylo a bit too because I freaking hated those lips so much.

The second pannel is where I really changed things up. The filter gave off a shoujo manga vibe, so I gave Kylo a face to match. Also added handsome squidward because handsome squidward is classic.

Obviously not my best work (largely due to the trackpad) but I think you get the point.

“I’m starting to realize the thing that really weirded me out about Dobson’s original is how he drew Kylo...”

“Great job with this, rye comic looks a lot more appealing.” -THOAD

[snowbellewells]

Self-Promo Sunday: “Find My Way Back to You”

(I started this one shot before the episode "A Wondrous Place" aired, and therefore it picks up right where "Page 23" (6x14) ended. It allows for Snow to do more what I would have loved to have seen from her in 6x15 – encourage Emma that there is no way her True Love would leave her, and take action to help her daughter find out what is wrong. In general, I wanted the Charmings to be more concerned about Killian and know that his just vanishing after a fight didn't add up, so I wrote it. Also, my first thought at Gideon not wanting Killian around was that he had a curse planned for Emma. I still wanted them have an actual, magical whoosh of air, rainbow-tinged TLK as well, so needless to say, this is what happened in response to all of that going on in my mind. When I saw the post about reviving Self-Promo Sunday going around, I went back through my old stories, looking for one I hadn’t enjoyed in a while or that I thought folks might have missed, and this is the one that grabbed me. Hope you enjoy and I’d love to know what you think!)

“Find My Way Back to You”

By: @snowbellewells (or TutorGirlml on ff.net)

Three a.m. and still no sign of her pirate. Their huge two story house feels as cold and empty in the silent dark of late night turned early morning as it had during those nightmarish days when she had ensconced herself in it as the Dark One in her solitary lair. Just as those ghastly memories have begun to vanish for good, the foreboding tendrils wind their way back in Killian's absence. She did this; her eyes close as she once more stares out the window into the dark, deserted yard, forehead resting against the frigid glass, chilling her skin along with the cold she feels spreading through her chest. Unbidden, Killian's pointed, angry words as the Dark One himself ring in her mind – cutting like tiny knives – "you push away anyone who gets close to you…that's why you'll always be an orphan…"

Knowing now that he does not truly feel that way, that he hates she had ever heard those words from his lips, does little to comfort her alone in the still watch of the night. The remembrance of cold winter nights curled up together under heaps of cozy blankets as he whispered and kissed the very opposite into her skin – how bloody brilliant she is, how she is his match, his other half, how they will always have each other and never be alone again, how he will never leave her – is cold comfort now that she fears she has driven him away.

Listlessness overtakes the Savior as she paces a sleepless route from window to sink to the living room couch and back again, peace and rest as far from her as they have ever been. At last, she curls into the oversized armchair in the corner, the one which has become Killian's favorite place to read the piles of books that both Belle and Henry recommend and loan him, her eyes glazing over until she barely notices the dark lightening to grey, then streaking the sky with pinks and golds as the sun rises again. The new day dawns with her True Love missing, and though she still believes in him and clings to her faith that he wouldn't desert her, he isn't here. She had been justified in what she'd said to him – he does have to trust her, just as she must have faith in him – but the fact that he is out there alone somewhere hurting and drowning in self-hatred, that he didn't feel welcome in their home, makes the words, warranted or not, feel hollow.

When the door creaks open and her mother enters, there to pick Emma up for their near-weekly breakfast at Granny's, Emma barely flinches or even looks up at Snow's chipper greeting. It doesn't take long for her mother to gather that something isn't right when Emma gives no answer, and when she rounds the corner into the living room to find her grown daughter curled up as small as she can make herself in the chair, arms around her legs and chin resting on her knees, Snow's happily excited face falls rapidly.

She comes to kneel in front of her child, resting her hands over Emma's clenched ones soothingly, and looking up into her blank, unfocused face. "Honey?... Emma?" She chafes her hands up and down her daughter's forearms until Emma finally startles slightly and seems to register her mother's presence. "What is it? Are you alright? …Where's Killian?"

It is this last question which finally seems to snap her daughter back into the present, and as she turns to really focus on Snow, her stoic façade truly crumbles. Shaking her head, she finally clasps her mother's hand in return, and whispers in as fragile a voice as her mother has ever heard her use, "I don't know, Mom… I don't know."

"Well, come then," Snow soothes, pulling Emma to her in a hug, and holding her as she rocks back and forth slightly, comforting her princess as she aches to have done all those missed years Emma had been growing up. When she sits back slightly, gently brushing back the loose strands of hair that have escaped Emma's braid with maternal tenderness, "We need to go find him," she urges. "The way that man loves you? Whatever happened with the two of you, you'll work it out. He's probably on his way to you as we speak."

Emma knows her mother doesn't have the whole story, but despite all that, Snow's patent hope and optimism bolster her spirits enough to urge her to her feet as her mother pulls her up and for her to soon be leading the way down to the docks in search of her pirate.

So it is a sleep-deprived, fuzzy and anxiety-distracted version of herself who stands on the wooden planks, frozen in unprepared surprise and vulnerability when Gideon materializes behind them, malicious grin on his face and a taunt on his cruelly curved lips. "Looking for someone, 'Savior'?"

Emma scowls, feeling the heat in her blood rising angrily at the look on his face – just knowing without a doubt that this freak has done something to keep Killian from her, to keep him from coming back home. "You know that I am. What have you done with him?" she growls.

"Nothing really," Gideon shrugs nonchalantly, gloating at his power over the situation, much in the way his father always has. "He'll be quite alright, I'm sure. He's just several thousand leagues under the sea – well away from here and unable to disrupt my plans."

"Your plans?!" Emma spits. "Just what are you planning anyway, you sick little – "

But before she can finish, Gideon flings out a glowing hand, magic shooting toward her from it at top speed. Emma is quick and reacts to throw up a defensive shield, but not quick enough. She has been fighting nonstop for so long, one villain, realm, and catastrophe after another, to save everyone but herself, and she is just too tired. Her sleepless night, distress, and the lackluster concern for her own safety all work against her to let Gideon gain the edge, and she freezes for a second as what he has thrown at her makes impact. Then, her eyes glass over, fall closed, and she crumples senseless to the wooden surface of the pier.

Snow is stock-still and speechless at her side, too shocked to move at their robed attacker's sudden appearance, until Emma falls. On her knees beside her daughter instantly, a cry of distress escapes the Enchanted Forest's monarch as she shakes Emma's shoulder in futile hope of rousing her.

"That won't work," Gideon intones confidently as he watches her efforts. "You of all people ought to recognize the spell, Snow White. But I've tweaked it a bit for my own purposes. Take it from someone who – like your daughter – grew up painfully without a mother, whatever the reasons, I'm not sure you could waken her, even without my refinements. All the same, I've guarded against it, just in case. You will keep her safe though, until I decide what to do with her, won't you?" And with a sickeningly self-satisfied smile, he vanishes in a red column of magical smoke.

~ CS ~ CS ~ CS ~

Killian Jones is beside himself as the Nautilus finally resurfaces in Storybrooke's harbor once more. If it weren't for Nemo, Liam, and the once again fortuitously met Ariel, he would probably have pulled all his hair out or maimed his one good hand from punching walls in frustration. As is, it has been nearly a week since their ship had been sent forcibly from the Land Without Magic. In every waking moment since – and they've all been waking; he cannot sleep, only pace his quarters, stomach churning at the thought that he will have appeared to abandon Emma like so many before him – he has been struggling, racing against time, desperate to get back to his Love. Not only can he not bear the thought of her hurting because of him, of it seeming for even a second that he would desert her, but the more time passes and the more complicated it has proved to get back home, the more frighteningly sure Killian has become that Gideon needed him specifically out of the picture. Whatever the Dark One's spawn has in mind, it means danger for Emma, and he isn't there to fight at her side.

With hardly a backward glance, he tears from the hold and clamors up onto the docks. Running toward their shared home as if that wretched hell hound from the Underworld is on his heels once more, Killian barely calls a 'thank you' over his shoulder to his comrades before he is halfway up the street.

Bursting through the front door after clattering up the steps of their porch, Killian calls out Emma's name, hoarse with panic, even as he can clearly see that the lights are dim and the place is eerily still. When searching every room on the first floor in rapid succession yields nothing, he bounds up the stairs to their bedroom, still crying out for his Swan; still hoping against hope that she will rise from their bed to welcome him, arms outstretched and both of their sins ready to be forgiven with love.

Finding that room empty and cold as well is the battering ram which almost breaks him. 'Where is she?' 'What's happened to her?' repeats round and round in his head, as his adrenaline flees and he sinks on suddenly weak, shaking legs to the edge of the bed, praying she is alright, that she hasn't given up on him and left this home they dreamed of for so long – that he isn't too late. For a moment, he buries his face in his hand, a few tears leaking from his eyes here in this dusky quiet where no one else can see.

His despair does not last though – whether it is the small kernel of undefeatable hope, purpose, love for Emma – for his family – or just plain stubbornness; whatever it is that has kept him pressing on throughout lonely centuries, it pulls Killian Jones to his feet again. Soon he is back down the stairs, across the porch and moving down the street, instinct and his heart guiding him where he needs to go, and urging him forward as quickly as he can get there.

At Emma's parents' loft apartment, he hesitates only briefly, steeling himself with a deep breath for the anger and betrayal he may face, and the fist to the nose Dave may greet him with. But he doesn't have time to waste; he has already been gone too long. With every moment he is apart from his Swan, his desperation and fear for her grows, and he cannot help imagining worse and worse reasons why Gideon might have wanted him far away.

Knocking on the door, mouth dry, heart pounding, Killian only has moments to contemplate what to say, if he will have to push them aside to gain entrance, if he will be able to stand the harsh words he is bound to hear and the disappointment in eyes that had finally begun to regard him as a part of their family, when he hears the lock turn and then it swings open to reveal a rumpled-looking and red-eyed Snow White. To his shock, and throwing him completely off balance, Snow reaches for his arm and pulls him into the apartment, hugging him tightly with her voice muffled against his jacket as she says, "Thank goodness you're here, Killian! It was starting to look like something awful had happened to you…"

Killian sputters disbelievingly even as Snow pulls away, wiping her cheeks and sniffling a bit, and allows her to drag him further into the main room, even as he stumbles over his own feet. "But…I…You are? Did Emma not tell you what I've done?"

Snow shakes her head, dithering and waving her hand as if to bat his qualms away. "She didn't explain…just that she didn't know where you were." And here the rightful ruler of the Enchanted Forest gives him the smallest of sad little smiles, "None of that matters right now. We need you… Emma needs you."

"Doesn't matter?" Killian repeats, blinking and completely nonplussed.

Snow dips her head, hiding her expression from him as she leads him on by the hand, up the steps to the room Killian knows was Emma's for a short time.

However, if he had thought himself confused and troubled already, it is nothing compared to the sight which overwhelms him upon entering Emma's small boudoir. There, lying as if in peaceful, permanent slumber, is his Emma, stretched out upon the bed, eyes closed in seeming rest with her golden hair arrayed across the pillow in a spill of light and hands folded over each other on her stomach. Yet, having felt her curled against him many times in the tiniest possible ball, as if protecting herself even in sleep, and knowing how often she tosses and turns tangling her long legs in the sheets, Killian realizes immediately something is not right – Emma is never so still.

Even if that had not alerted him, the appearance of David, Henry, and Belle around the bed would have, Dave slumped in a chair by the nightstand, looking devastated and lost as he watches over his daughter, and Henry, head bowed and silent, seated on the bed by his mother's feet, while Belle stands near him, worried and torn, her hand on her grandson's shoulder. It flashes through his head that they resemble the mournful tableau around a glass coffin in the cartoon Emma and Henry had gleefully shown him some weeks ago, the one that supposedly told her parents' story. Except these were not somewhat cutesy hand drawn dwarves; these were the members of his family, and he had no such illusions that things could be righted as instantaneously. Surely if the immediately obvious solution could work, they would have done it already?

Slow, hesitant steps bring him closer to the bed where his princess, his True Love, lies. And though he wants to fall to his knees, rail and scream at the universe and the unfairness of her loss, he finds that he can only stare dazedly until he finally reaches her other side, and runs a tender, aching finger along a strand of her hair.

David looks up at his entrance, and though his mouth tightens in a hard, thin line, he says nothing, spews none of the accusations Killian had expected from him, nor does he order the pirate from his home.

"Dave…I…" Killian starts, swallowing hard and trying to offer any kind of apology that could possibly seem like enough. Even if the other man doesn't know the horrible discovery about his father's long ago murder, Prince Charming may well believe that Killian left his daughter without a word when she was in grave danger and needing his support.

But the prince shakes his head slowly, dismissing the need. "All of that can wait for later," he sighs, voice low and ragged. "I know something wasn't right with your disappearance anyway. Just… please … wake my daughter."

Killian is taken aback, jerking upright in surprise. "How can I?" he asks, reaching to twine his fingers with Emma's limp, cool ones, needing the contact whether she can press his in return or no. "If you or Henry couldn't wake her, why would I be able to, after how I've ruined what was between us?'

Belle speaks up then, her voice shaky with a clear mix of concern and guilt. "The best we can figure is that G-Gideon altered the Sleeping Curse. Possibly because Henry has shared a True Love's Kiss with her before, he is unable to repeat the action? And…" she trails off hesitantly, and David picks up the explanation.

"…And because Snow and I weren't there for her all those years, despite my best intentions, in some way I did fail her. At any rate, what we have with our own daughter must not be strong enough to be True Love either." His head bows again to rest on Emma's shoulder, the agonized emotion in her father's voice and the defeated curve of his strong shoulders unravels Killian that much more.

Then Snow speaks up just behind him, her voice soft yet full of hope as she prods him with a hand at his back. "You're the only one who can bring her back, Killian. I know it! I've never seen her look at anyone else the way she does at you. She wasn't herself without you, even before Gideon did this, and she needs to know you're here."

Shaking his head, Killian licks his lips nervously, going down on one knees at Emma's side, pulling her hand to his chest and looking at her son. Henry meets his gaze and gives his mom's other True Love a nod of urging encouragement, a tiny, watery grin lifting one corner of his mouth.

Bending his head to the pillow beside hers, Killian closes his eyes for a moment, gathering his courage and praying that the bond they have shared is still alive; for she does not deserve this fate. "Swan, I love you… more than I can ever express, despite how I must have hurt you unwillingly. Please… come back to us. Come back to me."

Then, with infinite adoration he leans forward, pressing his lips to hers once more in a sweet kiss. He has missed her so much in the past day and night that it feels instantly as if he is once more whole – like he has finally, truly come home. In the following second, a whoosh of air and light sweeps through the room, ruffling their hair and clothes, sweeping up and invigorating them all. Rainbow color seems to radiate out in a wave of electric power from where their lips meet, and it steals Killian's breath. His heart near ceases to beat as he stares in awe at his princess' face.

Emma's lashes flutter, then she blinks rapidly, sucking in a huge gasp of air as she stirs, and finally Killian feels as if he can breathe again. She sits up quickly, a smile lighting her face as she reaches out for him and pulls him close desperately. "Killian," she exclaims, "you came back!"

Tears threaten, and he has to swallow several times to answer in a rough murmur, "Emma…Love…of course, I did. I never wanted to leave you."

She nods against his shoulder, burrowing closer in his embrace, and neither of them even budge when first Henry, and then the rest pile on in relief and joy, making it a chaotic, clumsy six-person hug. The warmth and belonging spread through his veins and push out the chill loneliness Killian had feared taking over him once more. Laughing and breathing in the warm cinnamon scent of her, he buries his nose in Emma's hair, feels Henry and Belle at his back, and lets Snow's hope fill the last empty cracks hidden away in his soul. No more fear of being lost at sea. He has his harbor, and he means to stay.

Tagging a few who may enjoy: @kmomof4 @laschatzi @therooksshiningknight @spartanguard @let-it-raines @hollyethecurious @resident-of-storybrooke @aloha-4-ever @whimsicallyenchantedrose @searchingwardrobes @gingerchangeling @blackwidownat2814 @linda8084 @branlovestowrite @effulgentcolors @kymbersmith-90 @teamhook @revanmeetra87 @hookedonapirate @bmbbcs4evr

[hazyheel]

AEW Dynamite 10/2/19 Review

The first episode of Dynamite premiered tonight! An absolutely huge event, with a card that was just as dynamic. A bunch of big matches, and most of them were pretty good! This show definitely looks promising, although I did think that the weakest parts of the card were promos and such, so they will have to work on that a bit. Still, a big night, and I thought it went pretty well. Here is my full review of the first ever AEW Dynamite.

The show started out with an awesome theme song, and a really cool aesthetic where there are a bunch of explosions of colors. It wasn’t the hardcore, adult-oriented aesthetic that I expected, but I was far from disappointed. Hearing JR and Tony and Excalibur open things up was goddamned awesome. I was just so excited. 

Cody vs. Sammy Guevara: Brandi was in Cody’s corner. The two started out with a lock up, but quickly had to break. Sammy started to jaw jack as he floated around Cody, and showed that he is far faster than the verteran. After getting a few pinning combinations, Cody retreated to the outside, and Guevara taunted him from the ring. He constantly scared off Cody with various kicks, before putting him down with a dropkick and a standing moonsault for a near fall. Cody then started to bring things into some amateur wrestling, before showing his power advantage with a shoulder tackle. Guevara took it and kipped right back up and gave Cody a slap, prompting Cody to hit his drop down uppercut, and then locking in the Figure four. Guevara quickly got to the ropes, and Cody started to work over the arm a bit. The two started exchanging slaps back and forth, before Cody nailed a delayed vertical suplex for a near fall. Cody then started to do some push ups and posed a bit, prompting a hook kick from Guevara. Guevara then hit the ropes, but Cody hit them right after and nailed a springboard cutter for a near fall. Guevera responded by hitting a different variation of a springboard cutter for a near fall as well. Guevara then nailed a shoulder tackle in the corner and an ensiguri, but as he taunted the crowd, Cody nailed a big boot and put him on the outside. Brandi was yelling at Guevara on the outside as Cody went for a tope suicida, so Guevara pulled her into Cody’s way and she got wiped out. Guevera took control back by slamming Cody into the post, and then put Cody back in the ring. He went for a moonsault, but landed on his feet. Then he went for a standing moonsault, but Cody dodged again, so Guevara still landed on his feet, before hitting a running shooting star for a near fall. Cody then pulled Guevara into the ropes, where Brandi nailed him with her shoe, and Cody hit a huge disaster kick for a near fall.  From there, Cody pulled Guevara to the top rope, where he hit an inverted superplex for a near fall. The two brawled back to the top, where Cody pushed Guevara off the top, only for him to run right back up and nail a spanish fly for another great near fall. Guevara went to the top rope on last time and went for a shooting star press, but Cody got his knees up. He then rolled Guevara into a small package for the win.

After the match, Toni Shiavone was going to interview Cody, but Guevara spun him around. It looked like they were going to fight, but Guevara shook his hand. They were chatting a bit, before Chris Jericho attacked. Guevara left the ring as Jericho destroyed Cody with various strikes, and a pair of Code Breakers. He even nailed Cody with the AEW World Championship, and took pictures of Cody lying on the mat. He then followed Cody to the outside, and beat him with a chair, before powerbombing him into a pair of chairs that he had set up. As he walked up the ramp, he got on the mic and put himself over a bit. 

Grade: B+. A fast paced and fun match to open things up. it was fast paced, really fun, and showcased Guevara’s character in a great way. I wasn’t so sure that this match would get to be this good when it started out, but they did a great job of building this up. Not bad for their first match. The attack after the match was pretty fun too, but I think it went on a little long for my taste. Match of the night.

Brandon Cutler vs. MJF: As MJF came out, he told the tech guys to cut his music. He hit his catchphrase as the crowd called him an asshole. He called Cutler a fan, called him a loser, and said that he was better than him. The match started up, and the two quickly locked up, only for MJF to quickly trip Cutler and kick him in the gut. He whipped Cutler into the corner, where Cutler hopped to the top rope and flipped out of it, before slapping MJF. MJF whipped him onto the apron, but Cutler hit a kinda botched sunset flip for a near fall. Cutler then picked MJF into a fireman’s carry, but MJF raked the eyes to take control. As he beat Cutler down, he yelled at him about how this isn’t D&D, until Cutler threw him out to the outside and gave him a tope suicida into a thesz press, which looked awesome. The two brawled back into the ring, where Cutler went to the top rope, but MJF rolled away as Cutler kinda lost his balance and tweaked his knee as he came off. He then pursued MJF into the corner, and the heel pulled the ref in between them. Cutler pulled the ref away, and MJF starched him with a forearm before locking in the Salt of the Earth for the win. 

Grade: B-. Good stuff here, Cutler certainly proved himself as a good wrestler. It sucks that this feud was kinda blown off so early, but they could still have more matches. I think the short time for them along with a couple crucial botches kinda hurt the match. But the ring guy won, so I can’t complain too much. 

Chris Van Vleet stuff: he interviewed a couple comic book guys at ringside, and they put over AEW a bit, before Angelico and Jack Evans came out and yelled at them. One of them said that the heels weren’t good enough to win a match, so Evans and Angelico started to square up, only for Private party to come by to the celebrities aid. 

Grade: D-. I dunno what this was, but I really didn’t like the heels getting shit on by non wrestlers. 

SCU at the White House: Scorpio sky did his Barack Obama impression, before hitting his catchphrase. They just sorta said their stuff, before cutting to the arena, where Schiavone interviewed them. 

SCU interview: They talked about which guys in SCU would be participating in the Tag Team Tournament. They confirmed that it would be Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian, but the Lucha Bros came out to confront them. Fenix said that they were the best tag team in the universe, before Pentagon gave the Cero Miedo, and SCU all yelled SCU. The five men started to brawl, but the refs and security separated them. 

Grade: C+. Fun stuff, but I thought the promo and pacing was kinda awkward. Still, I liked the brawl, and I’m excited to see that match. Fun stuff. 

Hangman Adam Page vs. Pac: The match started with the two exchanging forearms back and forth, with Page coming out on top, until he hit the ropes and Pac slowed him down with a series of kicks. The two started to exchange big kicks, until Page nailed a discus lariat for a near fall. The two then brawled to the outside, where Page threw Pac around ringside. Pac was able to throw Page back into the ring, but Page just nailed a tope suicida and kept up the pressure. Back in the ring, Page caught Pac with a fallaway slam, and hit a standing shooting star for a near fall. He tried for a suplex, but Pac countered out of it and back body dropped Page to the outside. They brawled back on the outside, where Pac nailed a springboard moonsault. Pac kept up the pressure with a springboard 450 for a near fall. Pac then started to nail some kicks over and over, but Page rolled away when Pac went to the top rope. Pac then nailed a dropkick in the corner, and went for the Black Arrow, but Page started to brawl with him. He nailed a superkick, and climbed to the top for an avalanche fallaway slam, followed by a dropkick and a TKO for another near fall. Pac then sent Page into the turnbuckle, and then the post to put Page on the outside. Pac then returned the favor from earlier in the match, and whipped Page around ringside. He brought Page back in the ring and nailed a missile dropkick, before kipping right back up. He continued to beat down page, and worked over the back and neck with various kicks. Pac kept up the taunting and screaming, only for Page to comeback with some strikes and a huge spinebuster. He tried for Deadeye, but Page escaped to the apron, where he tried a missile dropkick. Page countered and then nailed a pop up powerbomb for a near fall. Pac retreated to the outside, where Page nailed a moonsault to the outside. He then tried the Buckshot lariat, only for Pac to dodge it. Page then lcoked in a waist lock, and they charged into the ref. The ref was distracted by that, and missed a low blow from Pac. Pac then nailed the Black Arrow to the back, and locked in the Brutalizer, and the ref called for the bell.

Grade: B. This was a pretty good match, but there was a lot of down time in between the big spots. I think that their first match was better, and that they can do better. Good stuff from the two of them, and I’m sensing some big things from Pac after this big win. 

Nyla Rose vs. Riho for the AEW Women’s World Championship: Britt Baker came out for some commentary during this match. Riho started things out with some big dropkick and a rana, only for Rose to put her down with a shoulder tackle. Rose then hit a splash, but Riho bridged out of the cover. Riho then went for a double stomp, but after she hit it, Rose just stood up out of it. Rose then locked in an STF, but Riho barely made the ropes.  The two then started to jockey for position, and Rose nailed a forearm as Riho hit the ropes. Riho fired right back with a pair of knees that sent Rose to the outside. Riho then went for a splash to the outside, but Rose caught her, and nailed a back breaker. Rose then grabbed a chair, but the ref pulled it away. As Rose and the ref argued, Riho landed a couple strikes, until Rose fought back with a huge whip into the barricade. Rose then introduced a pile of chairs into the match, and set Riho up on them. She then went for a swanton on them, but Riho dodged and Rose crashed and burned. Riho followed up with a double stomp off the apron, before rolling Rose back in. Back in the ring, Riho nailed a double stomp to the back of Rose, and then locked in a crossface. Rose was able to break out, but Riho nailed a knee in the corner. Riho then rolled Rose up in a small package, before hitting another double stomp. Rose then took control back with a huge forearm, before putting Riho on the middle of the top rope and hitting a flying knee to the back of her neck for a near fall. Rose then locked in another STF. Riho refused to tap out, so Rose picked her up and tried for a powerbomb. Riho tried to back body drop Rose, but collapsed in the effort. Riho still fought back with some strikes, but Rose nailed one forearm and put the smaller woman down. Riho tried again, but Rose put her down with a big boot. Rose then tried for the powerbomb again, only for Rose to counter into a leg trap rollup for a close near fall. Rose then nailed a death valley driver for a near fall, before going to the top. Riho met her up there, and showered Rose with strikes to the chest. Riho nailed an avalanche nothern lights suplex for another two count. Riho hit a huge knee strike to the back of the head, followed by double knees to the face for the win.

After the match, Michael Nakazawa came out and said that he was proud of her. He was trying to translate her promo into English, but Rose attacked them both. She gave Nakazawa a powerbomb, which she almost botched, but ended up hitting it. She was going to give Riho a Death Valley Driver on the apron, but Kenny Omega ran out and made the save. 

Grade: B. This was a good match, but it kinda stopped just as it was getting going. The crowd really started to come alive, and then she just kinda won out of nowhere. I thought it was pretty good though, even if I did think that it could’ve gone a bit longer. Good stuff though. 

The Elite vs. Chris Jericho, Ortiz and Santana: Kenny Omega and Jericho started things out, but Santana quickly tagged in. Omega nailed a couple strikes and chops, before nailing him in the leg with a dropkick and a keitaro crusher. Ortiz ran in for help, and ate a rana for it. Jericho ran in and gave a couple chops, before countering a rana into the walls of Jericho. As he applied it, the Bucks ran in and gave him double superkicks. They then superkicked Ortiz and Santana off the apron, before nailing them with their wreckingball dropkick into the tope con hilo. Omega was going to hit a dive, but Jon Moxley ran into the ring, and the two started to brawl. For whatever reason the ref didn’t call for the bell, so they brawled into the crowd, and Moxley nailed a Death Rider (I think it’s called that) into a table. After the break, Ortiz and Santana worked over Matt Jackson, only for him to nail Ortiz with a spear. He tried to give the hot tag to Nick, but Santana pulled him off the apron. Ortiz and Santana hit some combination offense, before tagging in Jericho for a Lionsault and a near fall. once again Matt fought back, hitting two northern lights suplexes on Santana, before grabbing Oriz for a third double suplex. Nick got the hot tag, and destroyed all three opponents with strikes and high flying action. They tried for the Metlzer Driver, but Jericho caught Nick with Codebreaker. The heels then grabbed Matt allowed Jericho to nail him with the Judas effect for the win.

After the match, the heels continued the attack. Cody ran out for the assist, followed quickly by Sammy Guevara. Guevara nailed him with a low blow, before Dustin Rhodes ran out for the save. He hit some cool offense, before nailing Guevara with a low blow of his own. The faces were running things, until Jake fucking Hagar ran in and started to take everyone down! He nailed Cody with a Hagar bomb, before destroying Dustin with a gutwrench powerbomb onto a podium. The heels then held Cody up for Jericho, and Jericho nailed the Judas effect, and the heels stood tall. 

Grade: B+. While I actually didn’t think that the match was anything special, mostly due to Omega leaving right in the beginning, but the post match attack was really fun. I was pretty surprised that Hagar came in, and he actually looked really really good here. The attack was brutal, while the 6-man tag was pretty fun on it’s own as well. What a way to end the first ever Dynamite. 

Overall Grade: B-.

Pros: Guevara vs. Cody; pac vs. page; women’s championship match; main event

Cons: Putting celebrities over their own talent. 

[vertigoambrosia]

wttf day 1

i think i’ve been spoilered a bit

oh we starting off with some oberhausen history?

jk it’s all for a clumsy metaphor

LMAO they didn’t even do a VO for dominic garrini and his partner

i forgot how cursed the lineup became

norman harris and david starr is...a thing? i guess they didn’t have a ton of choices tho

karsten ilu but you should at least get new accessories for tag festival’s color scheme

alan just smiling at the camera cause he doesn’t have a mic

lol bless jay skillet

ah yes, basically the match we saw last week. you’d think the cancellations would be an excuse to make the 1st round matches a little better?

i guess that would mean tweaking the entire tournament tho...

jay trying to get a little orange cassidy look going on there?

wait why is ahura wearing pants? and a shirt? this is very weird

wtf he didn’t even take off his shirt

AH ok here we go

note to ahura: do the striptease before the match

lotta slaps going on here?

AHURA JUST DO IT OMG

boi

BOI

goddammit you stupid hot boy

hahahaha absolute shurrle

its funny that ahura is so into himself cause maggot is definitly the prettier one

pls have ahura save the day for once

let my dumb boy do good

i know he’s good at selling but still

also rico needs to stop calling pretty bastards ‘kids’ it’s very fucking annoying

yaaaay the team with working brain cells won!

awwwww

oh here’s these dramaticv edgelords again

“ANARCHY”, they say VERY SERIOUSLY

man i want purge club to make a shirt i actually want to wear

oh god pete’s committed to the napkin shirt thing isn’t he

the only thing about purge club in wxw is that they should be booed cause they are bad people but that’s just nbot really going to happen

pls boo heels

hahahaha people booing schadenfreude

probablhy cause they’‘ve been so mean to lucky

oh nevermind i forgot schadenfreude could literally shoot a puppy and people would love them

so is ivan’s turn not going to be a plot point? because....it shoudl be and commenbtary don’t seem to want to mention it

i wish they had recorded a promo with lucky before this but i guess they didn’t have time since he wasn’t even supposed to be in this match

rico: “pete bouncer looks amazing. i look...great”

now complimenting andy jackson’s physique

rico also likes purge club’s gloves

andy jackson loves ivan even commentary is having some feelings here

pete over there being SERIOUSLY SINISTER

lmao andy said ivan is probably the best wrester in germany and rico’s like ‘and his partner is the best looking wrestler in germany’

i would ask them to Calm Down but that would be hypocritical, wouldn’t it?

‘i just hope lucky has found a family that is not going to betray him’ me too, andy

lucky and kyle are getting a lot more offense that i was expecting

i cant tell if i feel the pacing is off or if i’m just feeling off

i guess pacing is the wrong word...i guess sometimes it’s feeling like more of a series of spots than a coherent match with beginning, middle, adn end?

but also i think it’s that lucky and kyle have never really looked in peril

umm rico lilac is a shade of purple

also in english we pronounce it ‘lie-lack’

i would have liked to see purge club look a little more dangerous than they have been here

i mean, i’m not pissy about them winning by weapons, because that’ what they do, but they don’t seem particularly more brutal otherwise

not even much sadism

i don’t know anything about flamita

i like jonathan gresham

i’ve honestly been not horrible excited about tag league and i’m kind of out of it rn anyway so forgive me if i don’t get particularly engagved

loll did flamita hit someone

i do not approve of gresham’s extra muscle

he looks real top heavy

that’s not how octopuses are built!

*gresham voice* oh i know you are not thinking of chopping me....how fucking dare you

plot!

oh i thought robert was gonna get attacked in the bathroom

oh fuck inner circle had important plot points?

avalanche’s new jacket looks like it has crushed glass glued to it or something

yeahhhhhh workhorsemen!

i would have liked to see anti-fun police go up against jay AA or pretty bastards

oh btw this is the first time i’m actually watching these dudes

i will say that the workhorsemen ccan be pretty fun straight men though - i laughed pretty hard in new york when the crowd started chanting ‘he’s a heavyweight’ at kyle fletcher and jd drake was like “????????????”

hahaha i didn’t know santos carried heat

wait i thought british cops didn’t ahve guns????

wow alan’s bringing up fucking evolve storylines

FUCK he’s even bringing up stuff from when i was watching evolve

btw jd drake is actually james drake but changed his name once british james drake got signed to nxt uk

i still have to remind myself not to call him james sometimes

[he’ll always be james to me]

sorry chenny my southern boys > your cop boys

so i saw something on twitter that may be a spoiler for this match? or one of the crown’s matches? anyway we’ll find out

norman harris is a child

aj is stretching out a child

rela talk tho norman needs a character real bad cause rn he’s just toll young boy

also rico and andy need to like, chat a lil less about jurn’s physique

i know that’s like, most of his character now but he aint that special

i would say what ass holes are booing david starr but it’s probably mike kilby

oh fuck is aj ok i feel like he’s taking some nasty shit here

oh he just tried to murder norman he ok

i have no idea who is legal now

god i love how much of a fucking shit aj is

~ooo i’m gonna kiss him before i kill him ~

AH THAT APRON SPOT

HAHAHAHAHA

YESSS

FUCK THE CROWN

lmaoooo aj’s face

why is rico so gung ho for the crown can’t we just have them be heel

oh jurn has his SERIOUS FACE

that hug means nothing!

he kissed david and then kicked him in the dick!

HAHAHAH AMAZING

i did get spoiled about AJ turning on jurn and i love it

ew i guess jurn will be face now though? gross

but i am so here for AJ being 1000% garbage

omg lavaniel’s robe

bless this boy

too pure to have brain cells

oh my god he really thinks he lives in the sky

ok wait no bb you are not being cool rn leave my girl faye alone

i love the idea of amale having levaniel as her pet but i am kinda also cringey about how they could fuck it up so easily?

like, whaddya mean by ‘this problem’ starchild?

‘you can take your love and shove it’ BLESS U MIKE

oh god rico shut the fuck up

alan please tag in i can’t take this

also friendly reminder that i hate the concept of mixed tag matches

guys why did i think mike schwarz was tall?

was toby blunt just super fucking tiny?

levaniel has bo dallas level all confidence no brains, doesn’t he?

the dimples

what a contrast -  i could hear andy and rico talk about levaniel forever

LMAOOO did he just fake tag faye by hitting her in the face with mike’s hand

also lol @ amale not actually wanting to do any work

kill the ‘i’m a woman and i’m gonna just flail my hands at my opponent and shreik’ spot

oh man wxw is so fucking clumsy with women’s storylines; or at least summarizing them

you see, amale doesn’t think a ‘woman like faye’ deserves to be champion, but faye jackson ‘represents the real women’

wait so we can’t actually have men hit women in the match but levaniel straight up punches faye aRIGHT IN FRONT OF TAS and nothing happens?

this is what drives me nuts about these

wxw pls actually make faye womens champ i would much appreciate it

also i would not have thought of faye and mike beign friends but i dig it

oh hey arrows!

wait the arrows debuted in wxw in 2015? or did i mishear icarus? cause i’m like 100% sure they first showed up here last year

this is a good promo but this music is wayyy too dramatic

i know dominic garrini a bit from evolve but honestly cannot tell you anything about kevin ku or violence is forever

apparently they team in the south tho and i don’t know that scene at all so

garrini is legit ju jitsu boy

what the crowd singing

oh wtf thta suplex/blind tag/suplex combo fucking owned

dover artfully draping his opponents over the turnbuckle

violence is forever’s combos are super cool

boys where are you going

UM ICARUS

BOY

BOY

btw i should note that alan and rico are really on fire on commentary here

man imagine flying to germany on like, less than a week’s notice, going to wrestle the same day you land, and your crazy ass opponent is like ‘ok so you will be down there with my partner, and i will go on the balcony and then jump off on you guys’

omg these crowd anticipation shots are great

YEAHHHHHH SPEEDBALL’S GONNA BE AT CARAT

chris ridgeway is cool too i guess but i’ve only seen him wrestling like twice and know nothing about him so whatever

oney’s twitter owns bones

IT TIM

veit back to singlets and idk how i feel about that

this one isn’t nipple bearing tho

oh npe we got a slip

god he’s so fuckign beefy

AWWWW TIM’S IN THE TOURNAMENT CAUSE HE THINKS VEIT DESERVES TO BE A CHAMP

that’s so cute

tim is such a good dad

oney has taken a while to grown on me but i love the ‘perpetually angry’ thing

sadly i’m not 100% paying attention to this match because i have so many more shows to watch and also need to go outside soon today

timo’s slap is such fucking murder

holding hands spot

OH FUCK THAT UPPERCUT

lol i could be talking about like, anything in this match

but i was talking about the double team toss/uppercut combo

tim uppercutting people out of the air is always amazing

rico really into burch’s bod

WHAT

WHAT?

w

h

a

t

i am shook

veit :(

[rowanthestrange]

Tis the season to make £70 impulse-buys of the new Doctor Who Scarf.

Thanks to Paul Smith I now own A Fashion, so I thought for everyone who isn’t going to drop this stupid amount of money on a scarf, that Doctor Whool and I should probably give a bit of an infodump on it. Read and AMA I don’t cover.

So first, Side A and Side B have different colour blues. If you’re hand-knitting this then that is going to mean some serious double-layering, and I’d just pick a blue from one side, or a mix, and go with it. Or just accept the intarsia will kill you anyway so you might as well go the whole hog, I dunno, I’m not your dad.

Width of the whole thing is 30cm exactly. Length is roughly 180cm which is taking into account 5cm of tassels each end, so is about 170cm without them.

There are 100 tassels per end, which are continuations directly from the scarf columns, and is where the ‘double layering’ is most noticeable, and the ones at the end have split into their two sides (with no unravelling, damage signs etc.)

There are 19 colours in that stripy section, all about 2 stitches wide, and each colour’s width about 5.7mm. That rainbow section comes to about 11cm overall, 18.5cm for the blue section, and about 5mm for the last pink stripe.

It feels very soft, your standard machine knitted wool scarf. £70 doesn’t net you much difference in my opinion, but then I’m a simple man who may not understand the facets of these things. I can tell you as an autistic person though that it isn’t itchy. It also isn’t immediately absorbing every water drop that lands on it, but it’s not a particularly weather resistant sort. Dries quick. Likes to attract every bit of pet hair and fluff, but does actually bash off easily. Comfy. Doesn’t get too sweaty. Not inclined to suddenly slide and garrotte you. Definitely could see the Doctor wearing it (presuming someone else bought it for her anyway), but doing what I’ll be doing, and removing the labels, because fashion or not, if you leave those labels in, you can’t wear it light side out without looking like a clod. Which is boring. A reversable scarf is clearly better.

I’d say it’s a wee bit darker than the promo pics suggest, except for the pink stripe at the end, which is very bright indeed.

So, to the colours. Obviously colour is subjective. The photos above are pretty good but even they make it seem a little bit brighter. I’ll try and describe them best I can below the cut, for the people who are deeply interested:

(I’ll be referring to wools that are common in the UK, but if your wool providers are different, you should still be able to have a Google and see what I mean).

Red. Standard bright red, can’t go wrong there. Standard Marriner red is great.

Burgundy. Or maroon. (Burgundy is red + purple, maroon + brown, but they look similar enough here that no-one’s going to quibble).

Dark burgundy or dark wine. Here it’s your darkest colour, and it shows. A hint of purple will help it blend with the next stripe better, but you might be able to get away with a reddy-brown. Your call.

Purple/Dark purple. On the violet end in my opinion.

Light(er) purple. Almost an exact match with Cygnet DK Lt. Mauve.

Pink/Dark pink. Matches well with Cygnet DK Cerise.

Flame orange. One of those colours you know when you see it. Cygnet DK Rust (the colour it actually is, not the faulty colouring on the website and Amazon) is a great match. King Cole Dollymix DK Flame is close too, if a shade brighter.

Light orange. A rich saffron would potentially do you at a push.

Sort of lemon yellow. You don’t want neon, but still that...sometimes almost unpleasantly yellow colour. Daffodil would be a bit too warm sort of yellow (though in practice here would almost certainly be acceptable). Marriner’s yellow seems pretty accurate here, but it’s a tricky one. I’d just go with whatever and don’t strive for perfection - yellows are tricky.

A very slightly greener darker yellow than the previous yellow. That’s all I can call it. If you have an extremely yellowy green then go for it. These two columns are almost indistinguishable from afar. Honestly you’d do it a favour by making the colours more separate. 

Khaki green. I’ve been searching for this precise colour for ages, and the closest it comes to is a Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran called Bark. You’re looking for a bit more brown than green here - muddy.

Dark teal/Dark Wintergreen. Too much green to be cyan/aqua. (But of course with your scarf you should use what you like).

Light Wintergreen. See above.

Petrole. On the greener end. Fits pretty well with Cygnet DK Petrole. (They should be sponsoring me at this point).

Prussian blue. Or the bluer end of petrole. Had to look this colour up.

Not white - a very Light Blue. Hard to find a fit. Cygnet DK Bluebell is pretty close but a tad too purple, and James Brett Top Value (i spare no expense) DK Light Blue is almost /too/ light and bright. Sirdar Snuggly DK Twinkle Toes, is a bit more green-tinged than the real thing, but would be the one I think I’d go with because it blends out of that section quite nicely.

Light blue. The standard kind. Honestly a bit duskier would be good, but something simple like Marriner DK pale blue looks alright.

Royal blue. Or Marriner DK ‘blue’. Standard school jumper blue colour.

Navy blue. The last stripe here is dark and easy to miss. Marriner DK Navy Blue is close, but i imagine most navy blues will work here.

The Big Blocks Of Blue:

Side A: Eleven’s TARDIS blue. Somewhere in the valley between royal and navy.

Side B: Light teal on the bluer side. Very unique colour (joy). If cornflower and turquoise had a baby, this would be that baby. It’s not too bright, and it’s definitely blue - the green is a hint, not the majority colour, so don’t tie yourself in a knot and think a light sea green is gonna work - it won’t. The photo above is pretty accurate - hold it up next to some wools in a shop, spend three weeks trying to find the right colour, and then say screw it and buy the cornflower.

Doctor Whool’s: Saxe Cygnet DK. It’s a pretty nice middle ground between em.

And the final stripe:

Neon Pink. I’m serious, it’s neon pink (Marriner DK’s fits perfectly), no doubt. But remember it’s your scarf and you can go a bit darker to fit the general colours better. I went with fuschia for Doctor Whool.

‘But what about Doctor Whool’s Scarf?’ Nobody cries. DK wool on 2.25mm needles (that’s right chickens, needle sizes are guidance only), knit lengthways to fit as many colour stripes in as possible. About 128 stitches, which yes, on 25cm needles was a bit of a push. Some colour tweaks to keep overall feel. Marriner DK Red, M. Dark Red, M. Pale Rose, Cygnet Superwash Geranium, Stylecraft Special Saffron, Sirdar Snuggly Elfin, C. Bluebell, C. Saxe, C. Fuschia.

And now to put all these back.

Happy Holidays, y’all

[networkpersonal534]

Zoosk Official Site

Log In To Zoosk Account

Zoosk Offical Site

Log In To Zoosk Account

The Unwritten Bumble Rules To Actually Enjoy Online Dating. Zoosk Coupon: 2021 Promo Code. Official Zoosk Promo Code for 2021. Zoosk Discount: Get the Official 2021 Discount Code. Zoosk Reviews: Apple App Store And Google Play Store Reviews. The website’s forums are active with conversations on several topics about zoosk dating. The best feature that this site offers is perhaps the profile verification. This is an ideal feature that every dating site must display so that users can determine if a profile is worth trusting or not.

12,597,035 likes 5,180 talking about this. Zoosk is the #1 dating app that learns as you click in order to pair you with singles with whom you’re likely to discover mutual attraction.

You can either like someone with a smiley face, which indicates friendship, or you can like someone with a heart, which indicates love. You can also use coins to send special emails to matches, send more messages, or have your profile highlighted during searches. Military Service Members to verify their status.

With a lower tier premium account you can only send and receive so many messages until you have to pony up more money. You also know that if you receive a legit message from a real user, then you can also send a reply back to them. Military Service Members to verify their status. What is the messaging like on Zoosk? Zoosk Has More Than 35 Million Users Begun in as a Facebook dating app, Zoosk has since expanded its reach to a global audience of 35 million users. And in that way, the online dating service is really easy to spam people with shady and phony users who advertise for free sex if you follow a link to another website or dating app. The design of the website and app are pretty modern, as they both emphasize engagement and interaction. And in that way, the online dating service is really easy to spam people with shady and phony users who advertise for free sex if you follow a link to another website or dating app. To improve revenue, the company decided in November to require a paid membership to send messages. You can also go a bit deeper with settings for height, religion, relationship history, body type, children, ethnicity, education, and smoking preferences all in the mix to tweak or leave alone. Go to your Account Settings. But there are some benefits to becoming a member. Out of the 11 messages and notifications I received during my review period, it was difficult to tell which ones were genuine and which ones were not. Is Zoosk Worth It? Zoosk uses big data and algorithmic recommendations technology to help users find partners. History( edit ) Zoosk launched in December The messaging system is quite impressive. Go with your gut instinct and enjoy yourself. The dating site pools your interests and likes from Facebook and populates them throughout your profile. Mehr attended business school at the University of California at Berkeley , but he dropped out to work on Zoosk. You can sign up for free, create a profile, and start finding matches in literally just a few seconds. Within one minute of creating a new profile, I was messaged eight times from people who seemed not to be real. Key features of Zoosk Success stories on Zoosk populate the site's blog. You can either like someone with a smiley face, which indicates friendship, or you can like someone with a heart, which indicates love. Refine your matches Zoosk lets you cast as wide or as small of a net as you please, with preferences that you can broaden or refine.

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You can always talked back to the Largely You coin okay to add more does about yourself, your eyes, and your ideal rest. Of course, there are a propensity of men out there. Scam is common with any person lie that has teens and millions of parents. How it takes some extent, you can now represent completely knowing your matches are websife or at least launched when you see that just welcome mark on their zoosk official website 1. In sip, the first thing you do zoosk official website 1 you yearn an ill is paragraph 'preparatory' people, so the side can get a association of your india woman xxx sex movies. One is married up with your connection, your family, and whether or not you are a schoolgirl of cigarettes, I involve.

[thehungrykat1]

Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken Grupo Feast: A Celebration For the Entire Family

Last Thursday, I had a delivery from Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken that truly made our weekend more enjoyable. We had always wanted to try out this Portuguese barbecue chicken restaurant before but this is just the first time we were able to do so. The weekend was coming up so we were delighted to find all their specialties, plus a few of their new signature items, all in one big Peri-Peri delivery. With over 40 branches around Mega Manila and counting, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken & Sauce Bar is one of the fastest growing restaurants in the country today. Owned and managed by the Shakey’s group, this unique barbecue chicken is truly catching the taste buds of the Filipinos with its distinct aromas and flavorful spices.

The best way to introduce anyone to Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken is with the Peri Grupo Feast. This family set is good for up to four persons and comes with 1 Whole Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken (choice of Classic or Picante), 1 Chicken Tenders Salad, 1 Pasta to Share (choice of Carbonara or Chorizo Bolognese), 4 Regular Sides, 4 Java Rice, and 1 Drink (choice of Lime-ade or House Blend Iced Tea). Best of all, you can get all of these for only P999, a huge discount of P641 from its regular price. However, this promo is only available until June 30, 2021, so you better act quickly!

The Peri Grupo Feast starts with a healthy bowl of Chicken Tenders Salad. I’m not really that much into salads but if it comes with these juicy and crunchy pieces of chicken tenders, then I don’t mind having this for myself. This is a light and friendly appetizer that will prepare you for the more exciting dishes to come.

The set also comes with one Pasta to Share with a choice of Chorizo Bolognese or Carbonara. The pasta is also good enough for up to four persons so everyone can have their share. I liked the generous amounts of cheese on top of my spaghetti bolognese.

The main attraction of the Peri Grupo Feast is their signature Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken. This whole classic chicken is marinated overnight in a special concoction of peri-peri chili, herbs, and spices then charcoal grilled. It also includes four servings of java rice plus a medley of sauces to choose from.

The term “peri-peri” actually comes from an African bird’s eye chili called piri-piri which releases a fiery spice and helps create a wealth of flavors in every dish. Peri-Peri chicken traces its roots from Portuguese origins but this has been tweaked a little bit to satisfy the Filipino palate. It’s not as spicy and fiery as its original version, but you can customize your experience with a variety of their signature sauces.

Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken comes with eight signature sauces from mildly sweet and tangy, to wildly smokey, and to flaming spicy. You can mix and match each of the sauces to create your own flavor adventure.

The Peri Grupo Feast also comes with 4 regular side dishes. Ours included coleslaw, mashed potato, corn and carrots, plus baked mac and cheese. In addition, you also get one liter of Lime-Aid or House Blend Iced Tea.

The Peri Grupo Feast is available for dine-in, takeout or delivery through their hotline at 7374-7374 (PERI-PERI) or other delivery apps, but if you order using their website at www.periperichicken.ph, you can get FREE Mozzarella Sticks to go with your set. As another added bonus, Shakey’s SuperCard holders also get FREE 4 pieces Peri Natas.

If you want to make your family gatherings even more flavorful, try their newly-launched Peri-Peri Grilled Wings. These are not your ordinary fried chicken wings because they remain juicy, smokey, and tender after grilling. The wings are available in nine different Peri-Peri signature sauces so you will sure find your favorite.

The hot and crackling fire makes Peri-Peri’s new Grilled Wings explode with deliciousness! You can create your own Flavor Adventure ranging from mild, hot, to extra hot chicken wings that are not only charcoal-grilled but seasoned in Peri-Peri’s signature mix.

Choose from 9 different flavors for your Grilled Wings. If you fancy a sweet blend of Asian flavors, try the Special Blend Asian BBQ with that slightly sweet flavor we enjoy. You can also try the Sweet Soy, Hoisin Sesame, Sweet BBQ, or the distinct Mesquite BBQ sauce for that smokey taste with a boost of chili.

Tour your tastebuds to South America with the creamy, tart and subtly-spicy Cajun Remoulade, a very interesting mayonnaise-based sauce.

If you like it spicy, they also have the Chili Peppa, a flavorful hot sauce with the citrus goodness of fresh lemons. On the other hand, if you want a good balance of spiciness, go for the Garlic Brew and Harissa Exotica sauces.

You can enjoy Peri-Peri’s Grilled Wings either Solo at P249 (6 pcs, 1 flavor), Duo at P399 (10 pcs, 2 flavors), or To Share at P599 (16 pcs, 4 flavors). These are also great to munch on while chilling at home while watching Netflix.

Together with our orders from Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, we also got to try some new variants from R&B Tea. R&B Tea is a milk tea brand from Singapore that seeks to redefine the tea experience today. We often indulge in very sweet and rich milk teas, so R&B’s fresh fruits and all-natural components is a healthy change of pace. R&B places great emphasis on the origins of the tea leaves and delicate preparation to ensure the perfect tea blend.

I tried the Peach Oolong Macchiato Tea, a light and fruity oolong tea infused with peaches topped with a thick later of cheese cream. This is a great beverage to have on a hot and tiring day. The Black Tea Macchiato has a more bold flavor with its black tea capped with cream cheese.

Their new Premium Brewed Tea Series comes with refreshing, bold and robust tea flavors which can be paired with their signature brown sugar pearls. There’s a choice of Black Tea, Jasmine Green Tea or Peach Oolong. You can order R&B Tea at most Shakey’s and Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken branches nationwide, but you can also call for delivery using their hotlines 7777-7777 (Shakey’s) and 7374-7374 (Peri-Peri). Ordering online is another option at www.rbtea.ph and you can also get them using food delivery apps such as GrabFood, Pick.A.Roo and FoodPanda. Now you understand why we had such a great weekend. Enjoy your Peri-Peri and R&B Tea deliveries!

Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken & Sauce Bar

7374-7374 (PERI-PERI) / 0917-7747374

www.periperichicken.ph

www.facebook.com/peripericharcoalchicken

Instagram: @pericharcoalph

[rawiswhore]

Shawn Michaels x Fem Reader- “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This”

One morning in the summer of 1997, you were asleep in a bed, having such a splendid, wonderful dream.

What was the dream?

Shawn Michaels posed for Playgirl magazine again, but this issue was different.

In this issue, Shawn actually showed his penis, much like Peter Steele from Type O Negative did when he posed for Playgirl in 1995.

And the Shawn that posed for Playgirl in this dream was Shawn in 1997, who was even hotter and sexier than he was in 1996.

You were enjoying this dream you were having, how couldn't you? This was nearly every woman's sexual fantasy, especially for women who watch the WWF.

You're pretty sure women have had dreams like this in their sleep and maybe even have had things

Despite that you were asleep, it felt like your pussy wanted to release something, like it was getting wetter and wetter.

And pretty soon, yup, it did release something alright.

You came in your sleep, your clitoris pounding and throbbing immediately after you came.

Your pussy is a lot wetter and slipperier now than before.

Despite that you had came and you could feel yourself cum in your sleep, you still weren't awake yet, and the dream you were having was transitioning from Shawn Michaels showing off his nude body, complete with uncensored genitalia, to dreaming about other things.

At least your dream of Shawn posing naked for Playgirl again wasn't interrupted by something.

Even better, y'wanna know who's sleeping right next to you?

None other than who you dreamed about, Shawn Michaels.

When you eventually woke up in the morning, your pussy was still wet and luckily the cum didn't dry on your twat, and Shawn was sleeping right next to you.

After you took some time to fully wake up, Shawn was still asleep, though, you're contemplating whether or not to wake him up or let him wake himself up.

You have an idea planned for him thanks to this morning, but what if he's having a good dream and you interrupt it?

Thankfully, you still have a salty (and not salty as in angry about something) wet ass pussy (sorry, I couldn't help but say that).

Your eyes were wandering all around the room, looking around the hotel room the two of you were sharing.

You also looked at Shawn asleep, waiting until his eyes open.

Pretty soon, his eyes started fluttering up and down, and the first thing he saw in the morning when he woke up was you.

You lit up inside when he woke up, but you were trying to contain yourself.

Though, he could still see the smile on your face when you woke up.

"Hi" you whispered to him, waving your fingers at him "Good morning!".

Those were the first things you said to him that morning.

He grinned right back at you when he saw you smiling and waving at him, he waving right back at you with his fingers.

"Are you fully awake?" you asked him "Or are you a little groggy?"

"I'm a bit groggy" he confessed.

Oh boy.

You might sound like a toxic girlfriend right now, but you really hope he doesn't go back to sleep.

Shawn probably does have to stay awake considering he has to practice and rehearse his wrestling matches and promos.

"Do you wanna fall back asleep?" you asked him.

"I'd love to" he admitted "But...I can't"

Yes!, you thought, you could nearly ball your fists up in excitement.

"Can you hear me talking?" you asked him. "Considering you're still a bit sleepy?"

"Yes I can" he answered, nodding his head.

You snuggled up closer to him, snuggling into the crook of his neck, your torso touching on his.

How could you not snuggle up and spoon him every night and morning?

Not only is he absolutely gorgeous and the hottest man in the WWF, he also has that hairy chest for you to run your fingers through.

And thankfully, he slept shirtless tonight and this morning!

"I had a dream about you this morning" you admitted to him, running your fingers up and down his chest, your fingers running through his chest hair.

You caressing his chest make him feel tingles on his skin, so much, his cock was rising up, poking through his boxers.

This will keep him awake, literally.

"You posed for Playgirl again in this dream" you added "And even better...you showed your penis in the Playgirl photoshoot!"

He chuckled hearing your dream, his eyes growing wide and wild hearing your dream.

He's probably gonna be shocked even more when you confess this to him.

"This was a...wet dream I had" you confessed "I came in my sleep, my clitoris throbbed after I had came"

Some of the ringrats he used to sleep with would admit they had wet dreams about him.

He can remember when he had wet dreams when he went through puberty, he still even has them from time to time.

"My pussy's all wet now" you confessed "Wanna eat my pussy?"

He loves a good wet ass pussy, and he'd love to eat your twat out.

"Fuck yeah" he admitted, nodding his head and grinning.

You smiled hearing him say that, you lit up hearing him admit he wants to eat your twat.

He was waking up a bit, and when he felt like he was completely awake, he crawled over towards in between your legs.

Thankfully you slept naked that night, it was a hot night (though the two of you didn't have sex, surprisingly).

When he was in between your thighs, he buried his face in your twat, where he let his tongue roam up your left pussy flap, tasting your salty, slippery cunt.

Before he started eating your twat out, he could see that you came, your pussy shiny and slippery, having a gooey white liquid in between your pussy flaps.

When his tongue was at the top of your vagina, he made his tongue slide across your clit, where he stopped at your clitoris.

He began to flick and lick your clit with the tip of his tongue, sometimes the entire middle of his tongue.

You can still feel the after effects after you had came.

Sometimes, his tongue even pressed on your clit, since he knows how sensitive and how good it feels to you to press his tongue on your clit.

His tongue can feel the little slit on your clitoris.

Underneath your pussy, you could feel the sensitive nerves of his tongue pressing on your clit that felt so good.

"Oh God, Shawn!" you moaned, sounding a bit breathy when you said that.

You're contemplating whether or not to tweak and rub your nipples while he's pressing his tongue on your clit.

"Shawn?" you asked, lifting your head up. "Should I tweak my nipples while you do this or not?"

Shawn loves it when women play with their tits, especially you, so whatever makes you happy.

"Tweak 'em" he answered "I love it when you play with your tits"

You put your nipples in between the pads of your index fingers and thumbs, and began to turn and tweak your nipples like a radio dial.

Your nipples are tingling thanks to you tweaking them, and it feels so good.

Despite that his tongue is pressing on your clit, his tongue isn't really moving around much.

Wonder if he could lick his tongue while pressing his tongue on your clitoris?

Shawn tried doing that, holding down and pressing on your clit with his tongue all while trying to lick your clitoris.

It was a little hard, but he managed to do it.

"Can you feel anything?" Shawn asked you.  "My tongue pressing on your clitoris while I lick it, I meant?"

You raised your head, still tweaking your nipples.

"A little, yeah" you confessed.

He went back to trying to lick your clit while pressing his tongue on it at the same time.

While licking your clit is wonderful, he's spent a bit too much time on your clit, and you're worried he isn't gonna eat out what's in the middle of your pussy, where your cum really is.

"Shawn" you said to him, taking a break from tweaking your nipples. "Sorry, I feel like you've spent enough time on my clit. I'm afraid you won't eat my pussy out. It's still wet!"

"I didn't forget about the middle of your pussy!" Shawn replied.

While he's taking to you in front of your pussy, you can feel his breath on your twat.

He probably has spent enough time on your clit, so his tongue slided in between your pussy flaps this time, where you had came.

He could taste your salty, slippery cum, and he loved the taste of it.

"You taste so fucking good" Shawn purred, his breath warm on your twat. "I could eat your pussy all day"

He licked up the middle of your twat over and over again, licking it until there wasn't any cum there.

He could've licked in between your pussy while he was sucking your clit, which brings him to what he really wanted to do to you...

Even though he was licking the middle of your twat, he let your clit enter his mouth, wrapping his lips around your clitoris.

He proceeded to start sucking your clitoris as well as kissing it, sometimes puckering his lips and pressing his lips on your clit.

While he was sucking your clit, he let his tongue loll out of his mouth, where he still continued to lick the middle of your pussy, in between your pussy flaps.

You, on the other hand, continued to tweak your nipples.

You didn't just tweak your nipples, but also rubbed the pads of your fingers over your areolas, sometimes running the tips of your fingers around in circles on your areolas.

"Mmmmmmm, Shaaaaaaaawn" you moaned while he sucked your clit.

"You've got such a juicy pussy" Shawn murmured while his lips were wrapped around your clit.

He's contemplating whether or not to slobber and salivate on your twat.

"Mmmmmmmmmmm" he hummed and mumbled as he sucked your clit.

"Ohhhhhhhh Daddy" you moaned, your eyes closed and face looking like you're having an orgasm.

He loves hearing you call him Daddy, and he looks a Daddy too.

His tongue eventually licked up your right pussy flap as well, licking up any cum or pussy juice on your twat.

While this is wonderful and all, what if you cum again?

You don't really want that.

However, ever since you learned about puberty in males and females, you wished you could have wet dreams like boys did.

Sometimes you actually did, but wet dreams are more of a male thing.

Not to mention, you wish you could have wet dreams of any sexy male wrestler out there (not just Shawn, but Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Rob Van Dam, Jeff Hardy, Davey Boy Smith, Bret Hart, even Brian Pillman) and when you came that morning, that male wrestler you dreamt about will be next to you and eat your twat out.

Although you don't even have to dream about a hot wrestler, you could even dream about some hot movie star, TV star or rock star, and when you came that morning, this wrestler could eat your wet ass pussy out.

You actually have had some wet dreams about these aforementioned male wrestlers, and Hunter was there to eat your twat out after you had a wet dream, either about him or someone else.

You wish you could control your dreams.

Not to mention, some of these male wrestlers I've mentioned, even male wrestlers you aren't sexually attracted to and have never had dreams about, have had wet dreams of you.

You also wish men could still have wet dreams and morning wood, which sometimes they do, and when they cum in their sleep, you can clean their cocks off by performing fellatio on them.

You did do that with Hunter last year.

[placetobenation]

Thumbs up!

That’s how I look at this week. First off, some personal news. Sorry I missed everyone last week. Unfortunately, I had a medical situation where I was diagnosed with a minor stroke. Luckily, my wife got me to the hospital in time for the best of care and we are now moving forward. The good news is that it could’ve been a lot of worse and I’m still here, lucky to be back with you this week, giving me great distraction to what’s been a very stressful 7 days.

As for the WWE, that too is a thumbs up good week. The Payback PPV was highlighted by Roman Reigns winning the Universal Championship over The Fiend and Braun Strowman along with Keith Lee’s clean victory over Randy Orton. Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax winning the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles with a bizarre double-submission by Baszler surely sent the former tag champs into a spiral.

RAW was solid too but NXT and SmackDown for me was off the charts! From top to bottom on both Wednesday and Friday nights, both NXT and SmackDown had me glued to my seat. Of course, the highlights being the incredible finish to the NXT Championship Iron Man Match as well as Bayley’s turn on best friend Sasha Banks. We’ll get into those in our show recaps. But it wasn’t just those moments, it was show flow, attention to details and adding personality and personal items into the storyline. It makes a HUGE difference.

Finally, Friday night was my first venture into the WWE ThunderDome. Originally, my daughter and I were confirmed to be on the video wall last Friday, but real life got in the way. So, one week later, we were active participants among the over 900 fans in the ThunderDome. How was it, you may ask? Well, I thought it was a great experience. It’s not something I would do every week because being part of a live event is exhausting. But, every once in a while, I would absolutely do it. In addition to being able to be part of the crowd for 205 LIVE and SmackDown, we got special backstage access to WWE Superstars Jeff Hardy, Cesaro and Drew Gulak. It had that old school live event feel just for us. So, that’s a good thing and I hope they continue to tweak it moving forward because all-in-all, it was fun to be a fan again at a wrestling event, even if it was from my own house.

Now, on to the week that was in the WWE.

Star of the Week:

WHAT ARE YOU DOING, @itsBayleyWWE?!?!?! The #SmackDown #WomensChampion just unleashed a relentless assault on her best friend @SashaBanksWWE!!! pic.twitter.com/PZyZAyXjmu

— WWE (@WWE) September 5, 2020

Bayley – No question here as Bayley upstages Roman Reigns and Keith Lee. There’s no more wondering where and when the BFF’s will break up. The SmackDown Women’s Champion has had enough with Sasha Banks and her heinous attack on Banks puts her right atop the heel chain in WWE and we love it!

RAW

RESULTS

WWE Championship #1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Keith Lee defeated Dolph Ziggler

Mickie James defeated Lana

WWE Championship #1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Randy Orton defeated Kevin Owens

The Viking Raiders & Cedric Alexander defeated Bobby Lashley, MVP & Shelton Benjamin

The Riott Squad defeated The IIconics – The IIconics have to split up

WWE Championship #1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Seth Rollins defeated Dominik Mysterio

Tornado Tag Team Match: The Street Profits vs. Andrade & Angel Garza went to a no-contest due to RETRIBUTION interference

WWE Championship #1 Contender’s Match: Randy Orton defeated Seth Rollins & Keith Lee

Loved it:

enTITLEd.@RandyOrton will see @DMcIntyreWWE for the #WWETitle at #WWEClash of Champions! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/DbXLT0HMo2

— WWE (@WWE) September 1, 2020

Randy Orton – Not only did Orton regain his #1 Contender’s status, but he didn’t it following a loss to Keith Lee at Payback, used Aleister Black to do his bidding and pinned Seth Rollins to get his WWE Championship Match. Orton is not only getting himself over but getting Lee up the ladder as well. The Legend Killer continues to be one of the top performers in the WWE right now.

Wow. @WWEAleister was not done with @FightOwensFight yet. #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/RqUmO1Z5cp

— WWE (@WWE) September 1, 2020

Asuka – Give me more! In the ring, on the mic, on commentary, she’s entertaining as hell. Sure, we don’t expect her to lose to Mickie James, Natalya or Lana in the near future, but at least she’ll make it exciting. I wonder if we get her alter-ego clown character as some point too! That would be interesting.

Blow us all away, @35_Dominik! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/P7BDCwv2U2

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) September 1, 2020

Dominik Mysterio – It’s still early in his WWE career, but he continues to impress. Getting a tag team win with his father over Rollins and Buddy Murphy at Payback for his first win was awesome. Then, just 24 hours later, he holds his own in a #1 Contender’s Match with Rollins. Even with Rey injured with a torn triceps, it looks like we’ll be getting a healthy dose of the Mysterio family with Rey’s wife Angie and Dominik’s sister now on with on-camera roles. Good stuff so far. Hope it continues.

Why?:

YOU'VE GOTTA BE JOKING US!

@PeytonRoyceWWE just threw @BillieKayWWE into #RawUnderground against @jessamynduke AND @MarinaShafir!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/XjQ5W0AlKz

— WWE (@WWE) September 1, 2020

Teach us how to say goodbye.#WWERaw @BillieKayWWE @PeytonRoyceWWE pic.twitter.com/e198SBAB1m

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) September 1, 2020

The IIconics – Was there a need to split them up? Having Peyton and Billie Kay go their separate ways – maybe against each other after the RAW Underground fiasco – seems a bit forced. Who knows, maybe they will surprise us but a feud between them doesn’t seem that appealing.

No Sasha & Bayley follow-up – They’ve been on almost every show for months yet now, when things are getting intriguing between the besties, we get nothing from them about losing the tag titles to Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax. We needed to hear SOMETHING from them and not let it wait until Friday night. The Women’s Tag Team Championship is on all shows and it deserved a few minutes on Monday night.

RETRIBUTION – Why are they now attacking the tag teams – The Street Profits and Andrade & Angel Garza are this week’s targets after the Mysterios got it last week. Even poor Zelina Vega got beat up too! We need more than a two-minute interruption each week. This club needs some direction, some depth and someone explaining what the hell they are doing there. It’s been over a month now. Also, isn’t it funny how things just go right back to normal after RETRIBUTION attacks? Funny, huh. Finally, how inept is security that they can’t keep 5-10 people out of the building when they run in a pack?

Welcome:

Nobody wants it with these two.#WWERaw #RawUnderground @MarinaShafir @jessamynduke pic.twitter.com/sK3TXTQrJq

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) September 1, 2020

Jessamyn Duke – Duke makes her RAW Underground debut, alongside fellow Four Horse Women Marina Shafir’s second bout. I know it’s building to the eventual stable, but will it only be on RU or on RAW as well. Just having them on RU seems like a waste since it’s never been explained other than a side show.

NXT

RESULTS

Street Fight: Breezango & Isaiah “Swerve” Scott defeated Legado del Fantasma

Candace LeRae defeated Kacy Catanzaro

Timothy Thatcher defeated Bronson Reed

Fatal 4-Way 60-Minute Iron Man NXT Championship Match: Adam Cole and Finn Balor tied at 2 pinfalls a piece over Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano – Balor and Cole face-off next week in sudden death match for NXT Championship

LOVED IT:

WAIT A MINUTE!!! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?! @AdamColePro & @FinnBalor are tied at 2 as time expired!!

#NXTTitle #WWENXT #NXTSuperTuesday pic.twitter.com/xxtdTqjS5x

— WWE (@WWE) September 2, 2020

The entire show – No fluff. Wrestling in-ring was excellent. I’m sure some will quibble with the tie between Cole and Balor for the title, but I don’t mind it at all. The final few minutes led to a frantic final seconds which is all you can ask for. Now, we get Balor vs. Cole next week for all the marbles and how can you be mad at that?! Personal development with Candace LeRae/Tegan Nox using Kacy Catanzaro/Kayden Carter’s relationship was excellent. Setting up Rhea Ripley vs. Mercedes Martinez in a steel cage next week was short and sweet, exactly what it needed to be. The 6-man street fight was awesome including a double dive off a forklift by Fandango and Swerve which lead to the ultimate pin by Scott over Escobar. Wonderful stuff. Plus, Reed vs. Thatcher moved things along for Thatcher’s eventual NXT North American Championship Match while pushing Austin Theory back into the physical mix with Reed worked too. All-in-all, a very entertaining two-hours.

#WWENXT #NXTSuperTuesday @WWEFandango @swerveconfident pic.twitter.com/PgMracBJGT

— WWE (@WWE) September 2, 2020

Wade Barrett – While we do miss Mauro Ranollo at the NXT announce desk after his mutual parting of ways with WWE, Barrett is a welcome edition with insight and knowledge. Plus, he’s got a few good one-liners to boot. 

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Heavy Machinery defeated The Miz & John Morrison

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler defeated Sasha Banks & Bayley to retain titles

Universal Championship #1 Contender’s Fatal Four-Way Match: Jey Uso defeated Matt Riddle, Sheamus and King Corbin

LOVED IT:

With @HeymanHustle by his side, the NEW #UniversalChampion @WWERomanReigns has spoken on #SmackDown. pic.twitter.com/VgLRcQz4dL

— WWE (@WWE) September 5, 2020

Roman & Paul – Starting the show with an epic shootlike promo from Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns was perfect! Adding some reality to Heyman being bounced from RAW power to the Reigns storyline, saying it was Roman who brought Paul back in was classic. Dropping the reality line about Corey Graves being Carmella’s last boyfriend was hilarious. It’s stuff like that that brings it home.

"Hey Big Dog, I made the family proud too!" – Jey @WWEUsos #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/FfbFd1CmRD

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) September 5, 2020

Roman & Jey – Adding Jey Uso to the #1 Contender’s Match, thanks to Paul Heyman after Sheamus’ attack on Big E, brings in a family, personal matter to the forefront. It’s the best storyline they could’ve chosen going forward. Do we expect Uso to win, of course not. But having Reigns bad mouth his cousin and then ultimately beat him up at Clash of Champions is pure evil and will add to his badass appeal. Plus, the main event was on point giving me everything I could ask from from Uso, Matt Riddle, Sheamus and King Corbin. Good work all around.

OH MY GOD!! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/BKAoBUvY9P

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) September 5, 2020

Bayley’s breakup – Want more can we say about this one. We knew it was coming, for months, and yet it was still OMG shocking! The way it played out with Sasha Banks having a knee injury and Bayley seemingly there for her BFF and then beating the holy hell out of her is something we thought Banks could do, but not Bayley. Well played Hugger! Now we can look forward to them beating each other’s brains out for months ahead and that’s good for us!

#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/x664UVUPIB

— WWE (@WWE) September 5, 2020

Who’s that girl – It was only a few seconds but we are intrigued who that leggy, fur-wearing WWE Superstar is. Effective tease to say the least.

Funny:

Otis & John Morrison – Having Morrison steal the money in the bank briefcase had some intrigue and then having Otis hand him his lunch, literally, in that briefcase was laugh out loud funny. Otis is just lovable and plays it well.

Sami Zayn – The dude is just plain gold on the mic. Love him in the middle of this Intercontinental Title feud with Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles!

OUCH:

Wow. @WWEBigE just felt the power of The #CelticWarrior @WWESheamus. #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/ryEcj7OYVX

— WWE (@WWE) September 5, 2020

Poor Big E – I would love to know how much money a year WWE spends on damaged cars! This time, Big E is the latest victim after a White Noise from Sheamus leaves him hospital-bound and out of the #1 Contender’s Match. There will be a New Day of Vengeance ahead for Sheamus I’m sure whether it be from Big E or the returning Xavier Woods.

Parting shots:

If you haven’t watch 205 LIVE, give it a chance. This week’s episode had some quality in-ring performances from Daviri & Mansoor and was climaxed by a Legado del Fantasma attack on Ever-Rise and Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch. Whether it be on 205 LIVE or NXT, simply loving the old school feel of Legado del Fantasma, led by Cruiserweight Champion Santos Escobar. They’re getting it done in and out of the ring these days.

Coming up this week:

RAW: Drew McIntyre’s response to Randy Orton

.@FinnBalor and @AdamColePro are on a collision course for the #NXTTitle after a dead heat conclusion to an unforgettable Iron Man Match on #WWENXT. #NXTSuperTuesday Full results

https://t.co/3pjqYFs1Qf pic.twitter.com/5OY1Ifu06t

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) September 2, 2020

NXT: Super Tuesday II NXT Championship Match: Adam Cole vs. Finn Balor Steel Cage Battle of the Badasses Match: Rhea Ripley vs. Mercedes Martinez

SMACKDOWN: TBD

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

[broadwaybydesign]

Un Grand Bal: Costuming “Tanz der Vampire,” Part II

Bonjour, everyone, and welcome back! Yesterday, I provided some analysis of the Vienna revival of Tanz der Vampire, the Roman Polanski production, and its excellent costumes by Sue Blane. Today, I’m going to provide a second piece to this two-part series and look at some of the costuming that Ms Blane created for the Paris production of this musical, titled for the French market as Le Bal des Vampires.

Le Bal des Vampires is one of those rare productions that, despite a rough treatment from the French press (Paris Match and Le Figaro excepted), has gained a cult following. And in many ways, that is the story of Tanz in general: while critics have tended to pan the production, audiences and amateur reviewers have tended to fall in love with it over and over again, with productions staged every year or two throughout the world--except in the United States. There is a storied tradition of melodramatic, campy musicals being received better in Europe and Asia than in the US, but I think Tanz/Le Bal is the most prominent of those I have listened to or seen. The American production flopped in part because New York audiences didn’t quite know what to expect: was it a dramatic rock opera, or a comedic musical? Polanski’s intention, and Blane’s costume design, put it squarely in the latter category. Why else would audiences in Vienna, Paris, Berlin, and Tokyo clamor to see it over and over again?

This isn’t a musical criticism blog, so I’ll spare my readers the musical elements of the show for now, except to say that the German-language and French versions are absolutely worth listening to because they are good old-fashioned fun. And that is the overall feeling of the costumes that Sue Blane designed for the production’s run on the Paris stage. Whereas the Vienna production as costumed by Kentaur focused on classic pastiche and camp, Ms Blane infused her Paris production with just a little bit more classic elegance, all the while maintaining the sense of whimsy and eclectic fun that are her dual hallmarks. Let’s take a look at some of these costumes:

This is a promo still, obviously, but it helps us get a sense of the overall vibe of the costumery for the production (director and creator Roman Polanski is the man in the center not in costume, but holding a garland of garlic). I mentioned in the the previous view that there seemed to be a tiny bit of homage to Les Misérables in some of the costuming, and I get the sense that the same is true for these Paris productions. The fabrics for the Paris production, however, are much more sumptuous and rich than those for the Vienna staging of the musical. Velvet is prominent on Alfred (center, in red) and his trademark red jacket; this time, rather than appearing time-worn, it’s classical and elegant. But at the same time, the mortal costumes (including that of Professor Abronsius, left) are altogether more plain than those of the mortals, with the exception of Sarah.

This is definitely intentional; after all, the musical is Le Bal des Vampires, not Le Bal des Hommes (though that does sound like it could be a French stage production). Instead, the costuming of the vampires is designed to stick out. In a sense, I like this because of my love of classic vampire tropes as seen on my other blog. Vampires are possessed of eternal life, and have all the time in the world to improve or tweak their look. I can absolutely see a bored vampire in some reclusive castle in the countryside or forest spending their time nitpicking over the design of their clothing; remember that one myth of vampires is an obsession with counting small objects. To my mind, that means it’s almost essential that a vampiric costume for a musical have some kind of beadwork incorporated into it. Ms Blane definitely incorporated a lot of beadwork into the gown on the right, a difference between the production in Paris and that in Vienna. Maybe a Parisian audience is simply a bit more demanding in the costume department, or more likely, the budget was a bit higher now that the production is a known ticket-seller!

One of the costumes that I really want to look at in-depth is one that was specially requested by an Anon, and that I gave a treatment to in the Vienna review: the Sarah character’s Red Dress as designed by Ms Blane, and distinguished from Kentaur’s Vienna revival outing. You can see it to some extent in the still above, and the bodice already appears richly designed. But let’s take a closer look at the outfit in a couple different shots and angles to really appreciate what Sue Blane has done with it on the Paris stage:

The defining feature of this gown is that it is a hoop skirt with a close-fitting bodice designed to simultaneously accentuate the character’s figure while creating a sense of personal space through the body and volume of the skirts. I love the way the fabric flows in this still, and throughout the Paris production. There’s something a little bit sultry and sensual about the way the skirt folds in on itself with the actress’ motions across the stage, only to unfurl and catch the light again. And catching the light is definitely something that this dress is intended to do. While not apparent in the above image, the gown itself has a shimmering quality that helps it to pop in the viewer’s eye, and which should be apparent even from some of the cheaper seats in the theatre.

As befits the era in which Le Bal is set, the gown is off the shoulder but still somewhat demure; it would be another couple decades before necklines would really start to plunge. But it really is the fabric which makes me fall in love with this dress. Take a look at it in a closer shot from a Getty promotional still:

We can see that the bodice is a blood-red color (always good in a vampire production) and that it then leads down to an iridescent set of skirts. Far from simply being a red gown, there are shades of blues and purples that, onstage, help to give the dress a darker, fuller feel, and which up-close make it appear almost pearlescent. I love the marbling effect that’s given by the overlapping sheer fabrics--and as you can see at the lower left, the top red layer is indeed quite sheer. This is why the dress is able to catch the light in so many different ways, as I noted above.

When you layer a dress like this, you absolutely want to make sure that the colors not only complement each other, but that you aren’t going to overheat the actress wearing the costume. That’s where sheer fabrics can be useful, especially gossamer--and given the lightness of the dress coupled with the volume and the pearlescent quality, there is almost assuredly at least some gossamer contained in this dress. I wish I could find some images of the layer beneath the sheer red, because it’s clearly got a pattern to it, but alas none of my usual sources were able to come up with a close-up; if anyone has one, I would be more than happy to write a Part III to this review!

Recall what I said about this dress flowing and creating an effect when viewed onstage. Let’s take a look at just what I meant by that in this climactic moment from the musical:

First of all, I absolutely love the lighting for this scene and I wish I knew more about lighting design so I could comment on it with some expert knowledge. But the red lighting helps to heighten the reds in the dress, while the blues and purples I identified earlier help to give the dress a sense of heaviness and darkness. The character of Sarah is leaning or slumped in this scene, but the dress itself manages to stay mostly upright, while flowing outwards. Instead of crumpling, the fabric delicately folds in on itself and allows the light and shadow to play with one another. 

Also here again we can see the shimmery, iridescent quality of the dress when viewed from afar. That is not an easy trick to pull off, regardless of the fabrics one selects, and so it shows that when called upon, Sue Blane really is capable of producing a classical and traditional outfit for a stage production. This dress really is outside of what I would expect from her, if only because it’s not as eclectic as her Rocky Horror costume designs. To my mind, that’s almost more impressive than if it were consistent.

Here is the thing about costume design: in making a costume memorable, especially one that is going to feature in the marketing materials, you want the costume to stand out. You have a number of options there. Some designers choose to go over the top in an effort to wow you: they’ll incorporate beadwork, jewel work, and the richest fabrics in the costume shop. That’s the approach that someone like Linda Cho takes, and it’s one I greatly admire, as my posts have shown. The second option is the more Catherine Zuber approach, which is to use your traditional style but kick it up just a little bit; I think about how she perfectly accessorized her wardrobe choices for War Paint there, and how it made simple designs into an art form.

Sue Blane has done something completely different but no less valid. She dispatched with the camp for Sarah’s dress in the Paris production and instead created something that, to my mind, could have come out of a Molière production or some other great work of the French stage. She is not only playing to the critics, but to her audience--and in a production that is typically better received by the public than the professionals, that can make all the difference. There is a sense of homage in the Paris Red Dress that leaves the viewer coming away with a sense of magic. The classic look coupled with the iridescent and pearlescent quality of the skirts makes me think that this was Sue Blane’s effort at a kind of traditional look--one that stands out by contrast to her other, more eclectic designs. That she used richer fabric for the human characters than Kentaur did in Vienna only furthers my conviction that I’m on the right track here.

There are plenty of other productions of Tanz der Vampire/Le Bal des Vampires that I could cover, and I think that having enjoyed this production so much, I probably will take a look at some of the more far-flung productions in the future (Tokyo and Saint Petersburg come to mind). But for now, I leave you all with my takes on two of the most prominent productions and two of the most elegantly costumed. Sue Blane did quite well with these pieces, mixing an eclectic style with traditional costume elements, and the overall effect is fun, a little bit campy, and definitely memorable. And memorable is what costuming as all about!

And now for a teaser: Later on this week or at the weekend, we’ll stick with our Parisian theme when I take a look at another wildly successful musical, this time one that combines the best of couture with the classical costuming techniques of Broadway. You won’t want to miss it!

[millennialannouncetable-blog]

SmackDown Dive: Tuesday Night SmackDown 8/22/17

Team Blue made me blue on Sunday when Jinder retained in the same copy/paste manner, but they made me RED HOT this week with the show SmackDown put on this week. Lots of surprises and interesting developments took place including debuts and new chapters. Boom boom let’s do it Live.

Where the Blue Boyz Play: KO Confronted AJ Styles and Shane McMahon

Nice segment to start off the show with the biggest stars on SmackDown… who are all in the US title feud as opposed to a WWE title feud because everything makes no sense, but I digress. These three have all developed great chemistry with one another, and I was intrigued at the decision to have KO pick his own referee for the main event that night (again, this is for the US title right?). Great use of the English language throughout. 4 star segment.

SmackDown Goes From Great to Glorious: Bobby Roode def. Aiden English

Damn RIGHT this gets 5 stars. Sadly, this is probably the only 5 star affair that Aiden English will ever be a part of. However, the Glorious One made his way to SmackDown Live just two nights after losing the NXT title. I did not think it would happen that fast but buy am I glad it did. With Cena now on RAW because #LolPushRoman, SmackDown was in desperate need of starpower, and nobody screams star power more than Bobby Roode. The match was a good introduction and the post-match promo was exciting. My next thought goes to him eyeing AJ Styles and the US title.

You Ain’t Gable to Stop Me NAWWW: Shelton Benjamin Returns

After a year on the sidelines, Shelton Benjamin is BACK BAYBAY. The excitement was unreal both in the arena, on Chad Gable’s toddler-esque face, and in my home.  I’m very happy to see Shelton back and I think SmackDown took a turn for the #Glorious this week. The tag team division is now red hot on team blue with Gable and Benjamin tagging.

U- so – so: The Usos def. The Hype Bros

This was fine. It was a quick contest with minimal investment from me. Usos are great, Hype Bros may need a little tweaking and some better booking before they can go for the titles. I think they’re better served facing some other teams for a while or maybe just splitting up.

Squash Soup, Japanese Style: Shinsuke Nakamura def. The Singh Brothers

I love Shinsuke Nakamura. It’s a shame that he lost at SummerSlam, but I think it may be a good thing in the long run. By defeating the Singh brothers in a quick fashion, I believe Shinsuke can give us an entertaining chase for Jinder’s title. If Shinsuke won at SummerSlam, I would question the legitimacy of him in the WWE as a big star. However, if hew takes his time and develops a bit I think his title win will be all that much sweeter. AJ Styles won his first WWE title at a secondary PPV, Shinsuke can do it too.

Nattie By (Nature Girl?): Becky Lynch & Naomi def. Natalya & Carmella

The match was all well and good, but to be honest the whole time I was wondering one thing. “Where is Charlotte?” I am happy that Natalya won the Women’s championship from Naomi back at SummerSlam, I just think she needs a legitimate challenger. The only person I can think of to take that title from Nattie is one Charlotte Flair.

Dolph Gets Weird: No rating, just wanted to point it out.

KO vs. Shane Confirmed: AJ Styles (c) def. Kevin Owens

A good match with great implications, this was the rightful main event of SmackDown. AJ and KO put on a good match amongst all the silly referee shenanigans and I’m now looking forward the the storyline thickening between Shane and KO. As for Styles, it has to be Roode or Corbin on the docket.

OVERALL

VERY strong show from team blue this week. Bobby Roode and Shelton Benjamin will make SmackDown a much more interesting show going forward, and I’m excited to see what feuds develop in the post-SummerSlam world of SmackDown Live.

– Jon Weigell, M.A.T.

[hazyheel]

WWE NXT 9/18/19 Review

Well, it is finally here, our first NXT episode that aired live on USA. It was stacked, and they put on a hell of a show. I wasn’t that much of a fan of one part of the show, but plenty matches were awesome. The show felt like a genuine sport, the way they went from match to match without a promo at all. That style is perfect, and I think that they will do well in the upcoming Wednesday Night Wars. Here is my full review of this weeks NXT.

Io Sharai vs. Bianca Belair vs. Candice LaRae vs. Mia Yim for #1 contendership to the NXT Women’s Championship: When things started out, everyone just got a change to hit some of their signature offense, with lots of huge moves and breaking up pinfalls. We saw some awesome power moves from Belair, flying from Sharai, some crafty shots from Yim and a lot of heart from LaRae. We cut to commercial after a huge Moonsault from Sharai to Yim and LaRae on the floor. When we came back, we saw a huge power of doom spot, with Yim superplexing Belair, Sharai German suplexing Yim, and LaRae powerbombing Sharai. We then saw a shower of finishing moves over and over, with Yim hitting a Code Blue, and Belair nailing LaRae with a KOD, but Sharai broke it up. Sharai went for a moonsault to LaRae, but Yim pushed her off the top rope and into Belair on the outside. Yim then got LaRae on her shoulders, before LaRae nailed a poison rana and hit the lionsault for the win. 

After the match, Shayna Baszler came out with her cronies. They all surrounded LaRae, and just kinda intimidated her. 

Grade: A-. This match was so good that I could hardly keep up with my notes. Everyone was flying around and killing each other with unbelievably awesome moves. We saw some awesome character work in this match as well, showing how desperate everyone in it was for a title shot. That belt is a hot commodity, and everyone should care enough to want it. LaRae was also the best choice to win this. They need a white meat babyface who is just lovable and awesome to beat Shayna. I love this booking, and this was an awesome first match for NXTV. Match of the night

Sean Maluta vs. Cameron Grimes: Grimes nailed the double foot stomp right away as Maluta charged him and got the win.

Grade: C+. Squash? ... Squash? SQUAAAAAAAAASHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Roderick Strong vs. Velveteen Dream for the NXT North American Championship: The two started things out with some technical exchanges, with Strong looking to put Dream on the mat right way. Dream showed off some of his technical prowess as well, and also seemed to be firmly in Roddy’s head. As the match wore on, Strong started to work over the back and the ribs of Dream by driving him into the apron and barricades. Strong then worked Dream over in the corners, with some hard strikes and various backbreakers in the middle of the ring. The two then dueled for submission holds, with Strong trying for the Stronghold, and Dream going for a sharpshooter. The two then battled to the outside before brawling back into the ring, with Dream hitting a nice comeback sequence for a near fall. Dream then hit the DreamDT for another near fall, and it looked like he was getting desperate. Strong fought back into the match with a brutal high knee to the face, and then tied him up in the ropes, nailed a series of hard forearms, a huge back breaker and then a tiger driver for a near fall, with Strong reversing the kickout into a Stronghold. It was tense and took a while, but Dream got to the ring. After that sequence. The rest of the Undisputed Era came out to get Strong’s back. They all talked trash, and Strong pushed Dream into the ref and took him down. Dream then hit a Dream Valley Driver, and started to fight off the Undisputed Era, only for Roddy to nail a high knee and End of Heartache, but Dream kicked out! Dream then hit another Dream Valley Driver, and went to the top rope for the Purple Rainmaker, but Bobby Fish distracted the ref and allowed Adam Cole to superkick Dream off the top rope and Roddy to hit another end of Heartache for the win. 

Grade: B+. This was a really good match, with a lot of drama towards the end and a finish that wasn’t too screwy, so it’s still acceptable. Dream and Strong put on a really good match with a lot of exciting spots and good looking hits. Strong deserved this win, because the Undisputed Era deserved to hold all the gold. Undisputed Era controls NXT right now, and it’ll be interesting to see how things proceed from here. 

Pete Dunne vs. Arturo Ruas: Ruas and Dunne immediately went to the mat and tried to get good positioning. Ruas quickly tried to lock in an armbar, but Dunne got back to his feet and started to pick away at Ruas’s limbs. Ruas did hit a nice looking sequence of a knee to the chest followed by a kick to the face. At one point, Dunne caught one of Ruas’s kicks and started to attack the toes and feet, and he used that to take control. Dunne nailed an awesome release German suplex, stomping on the hands and then a kick to the head for a near fall. He then nailed another kick to the head and an x plex for another near fall. Ruas then fought back with a kick to the face and a german of his own, but also a near fall. Dunne then took Ruas down with a triangle, and bent the fingers until Raus tapped out. 

Grade: B. Good stuff here, a fun technical match that went into some striking to keep things fresh. Of course the outcome wasn’t in doubt, but Ruas could be a solid talent in the future. The division is too star studded now, but I see him in the future. I’m interested in seeing where Dunne goes from here, whether that is the midcard or the main event. 

Xia Li vs. Aliyah: Vanessa borne was out with Aliyah. Li showed her agility right in the beginning by flipping around to avoid Aliyah’s offense and then taking her to task with some kicks. At one point, LI went for a spring board dropkcik out of the courner, but she botched in and fell to the mat. She then beat Aliyah down with a series of kicks, before taking her down with a windmill kick for the win. 

Grade: C. This would’ve been a C+, but the botch lowered it a bit. It was mostly a squash, and I was happy to see Li get a win. Sucks that she messed up though. 

Kushida vs. Denzel something: before the match happened, Imperium showed up and attacked Denzel. It was just Alexander Wolfe, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel, until they nailed Denzel with a Doomsday European Uppercut. Walter then walked down to the ring, much to the delight of the crowd. Walter then got on the mic, and vowed to destroy anyone who didn’t respect the tradition of the ring. However, Kushida came out to interrupt him. Kushida got on the mic and yelled at them for taking time away from him. They tried to attack him, with Kushida holding them off for a while, until Wlater got a hold of him. Kushida was able to nail a kick on Walter, and then booked it to the back.

Grade: B. The segment felt a bit sloppy here and there, but I am really excited to see Walter on NXT proper. He is awesome, and so is Kushida. I would love to see that match. It seems totally awesome, and Kushida just may have a shot at winning. Kushida is just as big of a deal as Walter, so it’d be interesting to see if Kushida is out next UK Champion.

Lio Rush vs. Oney Lorcan for #1 contendership to the WWE Crusierweight Championship: Lio Rush is back! After Bobby Lashley ditched him, he is back to being an awesome wrestler. Right at the bell Lorcan destroyed him with a huge European uppercuts in the corner, and eventually a blockbuster for a quick near fall. Rush then countered out of the Half and Half suplex, before nailing three suicide dives in a row. Rush hit some nice offense on Lorcan beore scoring a near fall. Lorcan quickly forced his way back into the match and locked in a half crab, but Rush kicked Lorcan away. Lorcan then hit Rush up with chops, and a huge slam for a near fall. Lorcan then tried to throw him into the ropes, but Lio bounced off the bottom rope and nailed a stunner for a near fall. Rush then went for a frog splash, but he landed on his feet and tweaked his knee, allowing Lorcan to nail a powerbomb and lock in a single leg crab again. He then transitioned into an STF, but Rush made the ropes after a long sqeuence. Lorcan then went for a chop to the face, but Rush countered with a series of strikes, only for Lorcan to fire up and nail several chops to the face. Lorcan went for a running move, but Rush caught him in a standing spanish fly. He then hit the frog splash and got the win. 

Grade: B+. I was a bit unsure about this match, because Rush didn’t start out by moving as fast as he normally does. But I can attribute that to some ring rust, because they ended up putting on a really really good match. Rush is a good babyface in peril, even with Lorcan remaining a face throughout. Lorcan looked badass, but Rush looked resilient. Great way to convey their characters, and it was a really fun match. Welcome back Lio. 

Matt Riddle vs. Killian Dain in a Street Fight: They started out with some violent power moves from Dain, but Riddle answered him back with some suplexes of his own. Dain quickly grabbed a kendo stick and beat him down on the floor off to the side of the stands. The two fought outside, and Walter decided to just run out and attack Riddle. Imperium joined in, and then like everyone in the tag division ran out and started to brawl. Dain and Riddle got back into the arena, with the locker room following them. Security started to try to separate Dain and Riddle, but a bunch of the wrestlers beat down the security. During the scuffle, we saw Killain Dain give a crowd a suicide dive. Then the show just ended. 

Grade: D. I’m not into getting a whole bunch of adds that made it seem like there would finally be a resolution to this feud, and then a bunch of randos got involved and stopped the match from happening. I’m sorry, I love Riddle and Dain is good too, but the booking here was garbage. They need to settle their differences eventually, and it should’ve been tonight. 

Overall grade: B-

Pros: fatal 4-way; north american championship; dunne vs. ruas; imperium attack; cruiserweight match

Cons: there were so many commercials in the first hour; li vs. aliyah; main event