#[ also allan be nice will is trying to have a serious conversation with you ]

[starshine583]

New Girl on the Block (17)

(sorry for the late update everyone! I spent time with family this weekend and got a little side tracked lol anyway, please enjoy chapter 17 of “New Girl on the Block” and as always, feel free to check out the mini series connected to this called Journal Entries!)

Ch.1 / Ch.16 / Ch.18 (ao3)

Chapter 17: Subtlety Is Key

The platform ladder that Marinette was standing on sat firmly in Felix’s grip as he watched her attempt to pin a stream of hearts to the wall. She appeared to be having trouble deciding which angle was best, moving her end of the stream up and down while staring at the other end, which was already pinned up, and squinting. He half wondered if she was going to take this long on every stream of hearts she pinned up, since she'd been doing the same up-and-down motion for a while now, but he also didn’t mind waiting if she did. The longer he stood here, the better his chances were of escaping the task of writing those “thank you” cards that Allegra liked to put in her party favors. She always managed to rope him into it, saying that his handwriting was the best amongst them, which, in truth, it was, but why not save the trouble and type out the message on the computer in a curly font? Surely, it would have the same effect.

“Felix, does this look straight to you?”

Felix dragged his gaze back up to Marinette, who was frowning at the spot that she’d finally decided to stop on. The stream of hearts hung to her right, making a nice curve on the wall that looked fine, but he wouldn’t be able to say for certain until he acquired a level, which they didn’t have.

“As straight as it can get, I imagine.” He replied. Even if it was a tad off, the guests would hardly notice. They’ll be too busy mingling and dancing around.

A sigh fell from the ravenette, and she lowered the hearts to give him a tired look. “How is that supposed to help me?”

“Well, it’s definitely not straight now. Does that help?”

Marinette pressed her lips into a thin line, obviously disgruntled, and Felix clenched his jaw to avoid smiling. Perhaps he should wait until she got off the ladder to continue. She might kick him in the face otherwise.

“Why are you here if you’re not going to be useful?” She grumbled, turning back to the wall.

A snort escaped Felix’s lips. “I am being useful. I’m holding the ladder so you don’t fall and break your neck.”

“Bold of you to assume I won’t fall whether the ladder is steady or not.”

“Which is another reason why I’m here.” He replied smoothly. “To catch you.”

Marinette hummed, glancing down at him from the corner of her eye. “How kind of you.”

“Yes, it really is, isn’t it?”

She breathed out a small laugh and shook her head, coaxing a smirk from Felix as well. 

It’s been about a week since they stayed up all night talking at Allegra’s house, since things between them changed, since things with him changed. He couldn’t quite place what had caused it, except that it was most definitely her. The way she listened to him wholeheartedly throughout the entire night, hanging on his every word, offering support when needed and trading a few stories herself- It made him feel heard, which was immensely strange. Because he’d been heard before, plenty of times in fact. It was nothing new. So why was that night different? Was it because of the soft atmosphere that the moon provided? Or because they were both somewhat tired despite saying otherwise? Why did his entire being feel so clear and refreshed when they went up to bed later on?

Whatever happened, he’d assumed that the feeling would be gone by morning, since nighttime conversations hardly travel to the next day, but imagine his surprise when the feeling swelled full force in his chest the next day, specifically when he greeted Marinette in the hall. It was as crystal clear as the night before, and it had yet to fade even now. 

Felix didn’t understand. Not at all. But he certainly wasn’t going to dispute it. He actually began encouraging the feeling, talking with Marinette on a more constant basis, muttering in her direction during conversations, asking more casual questions, throwing around a joke or two about the others when it seemed appropriate- he even found himself teasing her at one point, which led him to the wonderful realization that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was much sassier than he’d given her credit for. Despite her surprise, she’d snapped back immediately, a playful glare in her eyes and a smirk on her lips, and with an unexpected reaction like that, Felix couldn’t not tease her more. That would simply be a waste.

In the following week, he continued to talk with her, and continued to learn how much of a wild card she truly was. She never reacted to his teasing the same way. For example, one minute, she would blush, the next she would smack him, or roll her eyes and shoot right back without a second thought, or even pout. There was no telling what she was going to do next, and Felix eagerly anticipated her next move each time. It was fun for him now, fun to talk with her, fun to see her smirks and glares and giggles when he did. He could understand why Claude, Allegra, and Allan would want to talk with everyone and anyone if they all acted like her.

Their dynamic had definitely changed over the last few days, and although he wasn’t sure how much Marinette had noticed it herself, Felix knew he was thoroughly enjoying the shift. 

“There.” Marinette said above him, leaning back to put her hands on her hips. “How’s that?”

Felix’s eyes glazed over the stream of hearts again, and he let out a hum. “A bit more to the left.”

Her shoulders drooped. “Are you serious?”

“No.”

The narrowed yet playful glare that she shot him had Felix holding back another chuckle, and he innocently moved to grab one of the pink, inflated balloons on the table next to them to hand it to her.

“Why do I ask you anything anymore?” She asked as she took the balloon from him. 

“Because you know I’m an excellent judge when it comes to fine craftsmanship, such as the stream of hearts hanging above us on the wall right now.”

Marinette scoffed, tacking the balloon to the wall just above the first decoration. “What, are you kissing up to me now? Are you trying to butter me up so I’ll bring you more cheesy croissants?”

Felix shot her a look of feigned offense. “I wouldn’t dream of it, not after the amount of pain and effort that went into the making of those decorations.”

Now she was glaring at him. “Exactly how long do you plan on holding that paper cut against me?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.” Felix replied, a slight smile betraying his lips as he did.

Marinette huffed, letting her eyes flick up in an eyeroll, and started back down the ladder. Felix moved back to let her off, before grabbing the ladder again to lift it over to the next wall. They still had two more streams to put up.

“You seem to be more present today.” He commented, thinking back on the get-together they had yesterday. She’d been lost in her own thoughts through the first part of it, so much so that Allegra felt the need to ask her if she was alright. Marinette didn’t get to answer due to Claude jumping in, but when Felix asked her about it again a bit later, she quickly froze up, saying that she’d rather keep it to herself for the time being. 

Felix understood, of course, and he said as much, but that didn’t stop him from being curious. Or even a bit concerned. She always had a specific look when that model was involved, and she’d worn it openly yesterday. Therefore, he could only assume that that was part of the trouble, but how much trouble? Did they run into each other again? Did he text her? Did he go looking for her somewhere? There were too many possibilities and not enough clues for Felix to draw a firm conclusion. He couldn’t even be sure that Agreste was the problem in the first place. 

“Did your troubles sort themselves out?” He added, trying not to look at her too much as he did. Felix didn’t want to pry, but he did want to make sure she was handling herself alright. (Not that that was really in question at this point. After that run-in with the akuma, they all knew quite well that Marinette could take care of things when she needed to.)

Marinette paused at the base of the ladder, tilting her head at him with a questioning glance. “My troubles?”

A slight frown tugged at the corner of Felix’s lips. Had she forgotten already? It must not have been that important, then..

“You said something was bothering you yesterday.” He said anyway.

“Oh!” Understanding washed over her features, but a grimace quickly followed. “Oh.”

Felix rose a brow. Did that mean the problem wasn’t resolved?

“Um.. no.” She said, offering a bit of clarity as she fiddled with the next stream of hearts that they were supposed to be hanging up. “No, it’s still very much there, unfortunately. I’m not sure how everything’s going to work out yet.”

Felix nodded. “I see. I apologize for bringing it up, then.”

“No, no, you’re fine.” She insisted as she climbed the ladder. “I know you were just trying to help.”

“Besides,” Marinette threw another smile over her shoulder, one that was clearly softer than the smirks she’d been giving him earlier, “if it gets to be too much, I’m sure you’ll come to rescue again. So you can have something else to brag about.”

Felix’s eyes widened, admittedly knocked off balance by the comment. Joking about being rescued wasn’t entirely unusual, but ‘again’? What did she mean ‘again’? Did she think he rescued her before? When? Why did he find himself feeling immensely pleased with the thought?

“Of course..” He muttered absently. “I do love to brag, you know.”

It was a bland remark to be sure, not nearly one of his best, but Marinette laughed anyway, as she always did, and turned back around to start pinning the next stream of hearts to the wall.

Felix continued to watch.

~~~~~~

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Adrien lunged for his phone, unlocking it with his fingerprint before it could even finish vibrating, and tapped the notification. Was it her? Had she finally decided to text him? Please let it be her!

A news app flashed onto his screen, and his shoulders sagged as he realized that Marinette hadn’t texted him. How long was she going to wait? It’s already been a full day, and winter break was fading fast. He knew these things could take time, but they honestly didn’t have a lot of that right now. Once school started up again, his schedule was going to go right back to packed, and he’d barely be able to breathe let alone go see her. He didn’t want their precious chance to hang-out to go to waste. 

“You good, dude?” Nino asked next to him. “You’ve been hovering around your phone all day. Is something going on?”

“Oh, uh-” Adrien sat up, pushing away his phone and disappointment. Marinette was going to text him eventually. He just needed to be patient. “No, everything’s fine. Père just likes to stay in touch with me while I’m out, so I want to make sure I don’t miss any text messages or anything.”

Nino frowned. “Isn’t sending Gorilla with you enough?”

Adrien shrugged. “Yeah, but you know how he is. He likes to stay on top of things.”

Disgruntlement flicked across Nino’s features, and he tugged his hat down slightly to hide it, muttering, “Or he just likes to control everything.”

Adrien smiled despite the comment. “Come on, he’s not that bad. He let us hang out today, right?”

Nino nodded, though his frown didn’t fade. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.. Just don’t let him distract you from our game. We still have a tie to break.”

Adrien straightened and grabbed the controller that he’d dropped earlier. “Course not! Père or no, I still have plenty of focus to beat you.”

Nino let out a playful scoff. “Sure, dude. We’ll see who beats who this time.”

Adrien chuckled and positioned himself on the couch, and the two jokingly counted down before starting the next match.

Keeping Nino in the dark about Marinette wasn’t something Adrien enjoyed- they were best friends, after all -but he didn’t want to risk talking about her now. The class was only just now starting to be suspicious of Lila, and even then, it was light, joking. They weren’t serious about it yet. If they knew he was meeting up with Marinette, the person they still weren’t entirely fond of, it might serve as a disadvantage to him. What if they stopped listening to him because he was talking with her? He couldn’t take that chance. He needed to get his feet planted firmly on the ground before taking any rash steps forward.

That said, he did need to take some sort of step forward. Lila trying to make a deal with him last week was extremely reassuring, since it meant that she herself thought of him as a threat, but he also knew that he couldn’t slack off because of it. Muttering over her shoulder wasn’t going to work forever, and if he didn’t find a way to crank up the pressure soon, she would start countering his subtle attacks. Maybe he could start talking to people directly? While they were alone. He could talk to them more about Lila and ask if her stories are suspicious.. But what if he talks to the wrong person? Depending on who he conversed with, they might round on him in an instant, and his plan would crumble again. No, he needed to be careful about this. He needed to start with someone he could trust.

“....So,” Adrien glanced at Nino, because who better to start with than his best friend? “what are your thoughts on Lila?”

If Adrien wanted to change everyone’s opinion of Marinette and Lila, he supposed he would have to know those opinion’s first, and Nino, he felt, was the perfect candidate for that. He was a chill, relaxed person, who pretty much liked everybody. (Everybody except Adrien’s father, that is.) His opinion of Lila should be similar to an average of everyone else’s opinion, and Adrien could use that as an estimation of Lila’s- hopefully decreasing -popularity.

Nino scrunched up his nose, clearly confused by the change of subject. “Lila? I mean, she’s alright. Pretty nice. Alya really likes her.”

Adrien nodded thoughtfully. That was about what he expected him to say. “What do you think about her stories? It seems like she’s been everywhere, doesn’t it?”

Nino snorted. “Right? She says she knows everybody and anybody. It’s pretty crazy.”

Adrien’s eyes widened slightly, though Nino didn’t notice. ‘She says she knows everybody’? Not ‘she knows everybody’? If Adrien didn’t know any better, he might say that sounded a little bit like doubt.

“You don’t believe her?” He asked, carefully.

“No, no, I do.” Nino rushed to say, ignoring the game console that was now blinking ‘defeat’ on his side. “It’s just.. you know.. crazy. She’s been all over the world, knows all these different people, and she’s only fifteen. And she kept up with the school the whole time. It sounds like a lot.”

“Yeah, it definitely does.” Adrien agreed, setting his controller aside and hiding a smile. “And now, she’s been taking up the job as class president, even though she’s still planning charity events and working at homeless shelters and hanging out with Alya and the rest of the girls and doing homework.. It makes you wonder how she fits it all into her schedule.”

Nino chuckled. “Yeah, I- It’s.. I don’t know. I definitely couldn’t do it. What about you, though? What do you think about her? You seem to be really interested in her lately.”

Adrien had to bite the inside of his cheek to avoid laughing. Interesting was a word.

“Ah, well.. I guess I’m just curious about her more than anything. I’m a model who goes places and meets people all the time, and I haven’t met nearly as many famous people as she has. I wanna learn how she’s managed to not get in any news or magazines so far-”

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Adrien paused mid-word to whirl around and check his phone. He was honestly preparing himself for the disappointment already- why would this time be any different? -when his eyes landed on the tiny speech bubble that represented his text messaging app. His insides leaped at this sight, and he tried to swallow his excitement as he tapped the notification. Was it her? Had she finally texted him?

Marinette’s name splayed across the top of the screen, and it took every ounce of discipline for Adrien not to leap off the couch and cheer. She’d texted him! Marinette had finally texted him back!

~Hey, sorry it took me so long to text you. I’ve been helping my friends out with something. If you want, I can meet up with you at (something) café for lunch on Feb. 15th? Does that work for you?~

Lunch! Adrien wanted to scream. She was inviting him to lunch! Marinette did want to hang out with him more! This was perfect!

He quickly texted her back. 

~That sounds great! I’ll see you then ;D~

Adrien hadn’t even checked his schedule yet, but that didn’t matter. He was making this lunch date no matter what. Then he could talk with Marinette about his plans and maybe convince her to come back and-

“Was that your dad?” Nino asked, breaking Adrien from his thoughts yet again. That was probably a good thing though. He shouldn’t be getting too ahead of himself. From the way things looked, Marinette was really enjoying her new school life. It will probably take a lot of convincing to get her to come back. For now, he needed to take things slowly.

Slowly.

“Oh, yeah.” Adrien said, cool as a cucumber. “He was just telling me about my next photoshoot.”

“Another one? It’s not going to stop us from hanging out, is it?”

“No, no, it shouldn’t.” Not that he knew of, anyway. The only thing his meeting with Marinette would hopefully affect was everyone’s opinions of Lila. 

Nino relaxed slightly at the answer. “Good. He over-works you way too much. You should ask for a raise or something.”

 Adrien laughed. “I think I’d rather keep the time off that he gives me. Anyway, you ready to play another round? You lost, so now you have to catch back up.”

Nino eyed his controller with a slight smile. “Whatever, man, you know I’m gonna pass you up without a problem.”

“Sure you are.” Adrien smirked. “Just like how you were gonna pass me up last round.”

Nino laughed and snatched his controller up. “Oh, it’s on, dude.”

~~~~~~

Allegra drew in a deep breath, reveling in the scent of the special candles she’d ordered. Patchouli and Rosewood- the perfect thing to accentuate the rose bouquets delicately placed on the round tables and encourage the romantic mood for their party. With the lights dimmed and everyone dancing together on top of that, hearts were bound to be captured, and she couldn’t wait to see it, especially when it came to a particular pair.

Allegra set her candle down and subtly glanced over her shoulder at Felix and Marinette, who were currently stringing up the last stream of hearts on the other side of the room. They were both laughing and talking together, completely comfortable as Felix held the ladder steady and Marinette pinned her last balloon at the end of the stream. It was a cliché couple, really- the stoic, uptight rich boy falling hard for the sweet, adorable bakery girl -but Allegra was determined to see it work out. She’s always prided herself on getting unlikely people together, and these two were going to be her ultimate achievement. Of course, at this point, she supposed she could hardly call them an unlikely couple. They’ve been rather in-step with each other as of late. What with their muttering to each other during group-hang outs and sharing secret looks and sitting near each other on a regular basis. She might be inclined to be excited for the progress if she had any idea as to why they were suddenly so close. Last week, Felix was still gritting his teeth about being caught looking at Marinette, yet today, he’s talking and smiling and laughing with her openly. Laughing! Felix doesn’t laugh. He scowls and hisses and maybe smirks when he’s in a good mood, but he doesn’t laugh. Something monumental must have happened between the two that would encourage him to do so. So what was it? When was it? Her entire body was itching to know, and the fact that she knew she couldn’t ask only made it worse. If she tried to ask Felix about the event, he might clam up again, regressing the friendship. If she tried to ask Marinette about the event, the ravenette would probably become flustered or more hyper aware of Felix’s subconscious advancements, which, again, would probably regress the friendship. She was stuck either way.

“They’re driving me crazy.” She finally said, knowing the boys would hear her. If she couldn’t confirm her theories about Felix and Marinette’s interactions, she would rant about them to Claude and Allan instead.

As usual, Claude was the first to respond, glancing up from the party favors she had him arranging to ask, “What? Who’s driving you crazy?”

Allegra turned to him with a sigh and tilted her head ever-so-slightly in the “lovebirds’” direction. “They are. They’re acting differently than they were before, and I don’t know why.”

Claude straightened to glance over her shoulder for a moment, his brows furrowing slightly.

“You mean Felix and Marinette? They look the same to me.”

Allegra scrunched up her nose with a scoff. “What do you mean they look the same? You think Felix just laughs like that on a regular basis?”

Allan wandered over to their conversation then, also watching Marinette and Felix. The blond and ravenette didn’t even look up from the hearts on the wall, which was another big sign that they were becoming increasingly engrossed in each other. Felix was normally highly aware of his surroundings, as was Allegra, and he usually would have noticed the trio’s stares by now. But he didn’t, because he was too busy looking at Marinette instead.

“They have been a bit chummy lately.” Allan agreed, bringing a smile to Allegra’s lips. At least someone besides herself was paying attention.

“Well, yeah, but we knew that already.” Claude said. “They like each other, don’t they? Of course they would be chummy.”

“Yes, but not like that.” Allegra insisted. “Whether Felix likes her or not doesn’t change the fact that he’s technically being open around all of us right now. Isn’t that a bit strange to you? Besides, we still don’t actually know for sure that Marinette has a crush on Felix.”

Claude gave her a look. “What? I thought you said that she got all blushy and stuff when you talked about Felix at the sleepover.”

“She was, but Marinette gets blushy about a lot of things. And I was talking about how comfortable Felix is around her. That would probably make any girl blush.”

“She has a point,” Allan spoke up, “but I do think she might like him. She always gets this certain vibe when he’s around.”

“Oh, it’s definitely a possibility.” Allegra agreed. “You can totally spot the little ‘glow’ she gets when he talks with her, and even that’s improved since Felix changed things up.”

Claude’s eyes widened as he glanced at the pair again, seeming to study them closer this time. “Do you think she’s glowing more because he’s changed?”

“I’d say so,” Allegra answered, tapping her finger to her lip, “But what I want to know is why he changed and when. It can’t have been anything short of last week, because they only started acting this way recently, but what could have happened that we didn’t see? We’ve been with them the whole time.”

“Maybe they’ve been hanging out by themselves?” Allan suggested. “They’re not tied to us, you know.”

“I know, but wouldn’t we have heard about it? Marinette sends us pictures and such all the time. She would have mentioned her and Felix hanging out by themselves.”

Unless Marinette simply didn’t want to offend them, but Allegra still didn’t buy that explanation. As far as she knew, Felix and Marinette’s shift happened sometime after the sleepover, if not right after. It was as though they’d fallen asleep as usual, then woke up as different people entirely when it came to each other. So whatever happened must have happened during the sleepover.. but when? They were all together most of the night. Allegra supposed it could have happened during Hide and Seek, when they were all spread across the mansion, but moments like those were too quick and too tense and she certainly would have noticed Felix’s change in behavior then. That left her with.. A dead end, because the rest of the night, Marinette and Felix were always with one of the trio, even when they were all sleeping.

Unless the two hadn’t been sleeping..

“I don’t think we should overthink it.” Allan said, lightly nudging his shoulder into Allegra’s. “Marinette seems happier around Felix, and Felix is definitely happier around Marinette, so I say we take the win and let them keep getting closer on their own.”

“I agree.” Claude chimed in, surprising Allegra. He normally enjoyed meddling in others’ affairs as much as she did. “If they’ve made it this far without us getting too involved, they're bound to confess to each other at tomorrow’s party, especially with the ‘fake date’ we have planned for them.”

A smile found its way back onto Allegra’s lips. So he did intend to meddle. He just didn’t want to overthink Felix and Marinette’s sudden progress. She should have known. 

“That reminds me: I still have to finish arranging that.” Allegra remarked.

She spun on her heel, leaving the boys to their tasks again, and began crossing the room to Felix and Marinette. Their chuckles and smiles quieted down as she approached, but she paid it no mind. Felix was mostly the one to stop laughing, anyway.

“Are you guys all done?” Allegra inquired, not missing the way Felix gently touched Marinette’s arm to help her get off the ladder.

Marinette flashed her a smile. “Yep! We just finished the last streamer. What’s next?”

Allegra let out a hum. “Well, Felix still has to write all of those ‘thank you’ letters for the party favors-”

A tired sigh left the blond.

“-and we have to set up the caterer’s foods, but they aren’t coming in till tomorrow. So I think we’re pretty much done. Claude and Allan are just now finishing their last tasks too.”

“Oh, good!” Marinette beamed. “The place looks great already. I can’t wait to see everyone’s reactions tomorrow.”

Allegra smiled. “Neither can I. By the way, since everything’s practically set up, you two can go ahead and stay home until the party starts. That way you both have time to get ready.”

A hint of concern flicked across the ravenette’s features as she knitted her eyebrows together. “Are you sure? I don’t mind coming in early with you guys.”

“I do,” Felix cut in, a slight smirk on his lips as he added, “and I will gladly take the extra free time.”

Allegra smirked as well, because she knew that comment had to be for Marinette’s viewing pleasure. He wouldn’t have had a smirk otherwise, nor would he have held that mischievous glint in his eyes.

Of course, Marinette breathed out a chuckle and briefly rolled her eyes, capturing Felix’s attention immediately. She then offered Allegra a meaningful smile. 

“Well, if you change your mind, you can always text me.”

“Of course, but in case I don’t, why don’t you have Felix pick you up for the party tomorrow? Since you’re both not going to be arriving until later.”

Marinette and Felix exchanged a look, as though they were silently asking each other’s opinions, and Allegra had to hold back a snort. They were already reading each other and communicating in their own way. It was too cute and all too obvious. How did Claude not notice the difference earlier?

“I wouldn’t mind if you need a ride,” Felix finally spoke, pulling his shoulders up in a slight shrug, “but it’s your decision.”

Allegra swallowed a coo and glanced to the side, because this person in front of her who used to be dead-set on not helping anyone or scowling the whole way was being incredibly considerate, and she desperately needed a before-and-after video.

Marinette smiled up at him. “A ride would be nice, thanks. That way I don’t have to bother Maman or Papa about taking me at the end of their work shift.”

It was just the answer Allegra wanted to hear. Felix will be the first one to see Marinette in her new dress, and he will have plenty of time to become flustered over it during their drive to the party. Missing Felix’s face when he went to fetch Marinette was going to be a shame- since he himself mentioned how stunning she would look -but if they were lucky, perhaps he’ll still be wearing the expression when the two arrive.

“Great! I’ll call my driver so we can start getting ready to leave then.” Allegra said with a smile.

Marinette nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll go grab my purse and put up the ladder.”

“I’ll put up the ladder.” Felix cut in, already moving to close it. 

A frown tugged at the corner of her lips. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. They like their tools to be put back a certain way.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks, then.”

Allegra watched Marinette walk off, feeling a fresh wave of determination.. Gosh, they were already acting like they were in love with each other. Well, Felix was at least. Marinette was about that kind to anyone. Either way, things were going smoothly now, and it should only take a carefully-timed push for the two to really get the ball rolling. 

Valentine’s Day, Marinette and Felix being dressed up, both of them being alone together while dressed up, the sudden closeness- finally, all of her plans were coming together. The only thing that could possibly make this better was if Cupid himself came out to see them swoon over each other. 

That wasn’t going to happen, of course, but it didn’t need to, because Allegra was going to be glad to take his place.

Tag List:  @artbyknigit @athena452 @nickristus-dreamer @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @arsaem @abrx2002 @neakco @pawsitivelymiraculous @too0bsessedformyowngood @nathleigh @lusicing @officiallydarkgeek @all-mights-asscheeks @tbehartoo @woe-is-me0 @raeuberprinzessin @lazuli-11 @miss-chaos27 @trippingovermyfeet @sadpotatoondrugs @ladybug-182 @jaggedheart11 @marinahrasauce @i-need-blog-ideas @thewheezingbubbledragon @crazylittlemunchkin @unabashedbookworm @moonystars14 @sunflowers-and-mooncakes @2confused-2doanything @magnificentcrapposts @moonnette @nickristus-dreamer @vixen-uchiha @casual-darkness @luxmorningstarr @jjmjjktth @kaithehero @itsme1598 @theymakeupfairies @xjaccyx @miraculous-ninja @miraculouspenta @swiftie-miraculer13 @justafanwarrior @all-mights-asscheeks @ira-sairain @lookatthestars1 @dahjokester @blissful-passing @solangelo252 @canivialemonsquints07  @derbygracie  @pleaseignorejustheretoread 

[pawsitivelymiraculous]

Le parfum de l'amour

This is the @maribat-secret-santa-2020 piece for @saltandfluff I am so sorry for being late!

Anyway, I will be using the quantic kids, but you don't necessary have to know them to understand this fic.

The only have to know that "Melodie" is Allegra's nickname.

Ao3

It was always a bad idea to try to mess with fate. Everyone knew this. Allegra knew this, but she didn't care. Not when it was taking a toll on her sanity.

There were only so many times a person could see two literal soulmates walk past each other before they decided to take matters into their own hands.

So that's what she did.

Or well, was going to do once she could convince her friends to help her out.

"I don't know, Mel." Allan rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "These things take time you know? You cannot rush it." He glanced at the corkboard that was behind Allegra and winced, it was going to be impossible to talk her out of the crazy plan.

On the corkboard, there were two pictures. One was a selfie of Marinette Dupain-cheng. A twenty-year-old who was a regular at the café where Allegra and Claude worked at. After chatting with her in the mornings, Allegra decided to adopt the girl, and she introduced her to the rest of the group. She quickly became friends with Allan and surprisingly enough, with Felix as well.

The second picture was a rather blurry photo that was clearly taken from afar. You could sort of make out the image of Timothy Drake. The sleep-deprived twenty-one-year-old who had started going to the café for about a month. All the employees loved him because he never failed to amuse everyone with his half-asleep antics.

The one thing that both pictures had in common was a coffee cup.

On Marinette's collarbone, there was a small tattoo-like mark that looked like a coffee cup. The same one that was on Tim's wrist. Soul marks . Granted, they looked a bit plain compared to most people's soul marks, but in Allegra's eyes, they were the excuse she needed to get them together.

Allegra had shipped her two favorite customers long before she noticed their soul marks. But now that she knew they were soulmates . Well, she was not going to rest until they finally met.

"I'm not trying to rush things!" Allegra insisted. "I just want to push them in the right direction."

Allan looked at her, doubtful. "That's basically the same thing. Plus do actually think that," he squinted to read the list of plans that was tacked on the corkboard. "'Locking them inside a room with no escape' is merely pushing them in the right direction? 'Cause I think that sounds more like a hostage situation."

Allegra glared at him. "You know what? I don't need your help. Claude will help me. Right, Claude?"

Claude looked at her with wide eyes. "Oh no no no. Sorry Melodie but I can't."

"Uh, I'm sorry what?" Allegra blinked. It was very out of character for Claude to turn down the opportunity to help her with one of her elaborate plans. Not to mention that in this case, they were doing it to help Marinette.

"Allegra," he said solemnly, "this is a destiny thing. We just can't interfere."

Allegra facepalmed. "You can't be serious."

Claude looked at her dead in the eye. "If we interfere we might end up," he leaned towards  her and whispered " cursed"

"Oh give me a break." Allegra pushed Claude away. "Are you guys kidding me? This is Marinette we're talking about. You all can't possibly think that Marinette wouldn't want to meet her soulmate, and as her friends, we have to help her."

"I agree with Allegra."

Everyone spun around in surprise.

Felix rolled his eyes at his friends' incredulous expressions. "What? Marinette is my friend as well. Is it really that shocking that I want to see her happy?" The three of them nodded. He ignored them. "Besides, I've heard Marinette ramble about soulmates nonstop, so it's clear that meeting hers is what she would want."

Allegra was the first to react "See guys? Even Felix agrees with me!"

Felix huffed. "Yes, but I also think that your plans are ridiculous and ineffective."

"Ouch"

"I think the best thing we can do to help is to get them to interact and we-"

"That's literally what my plans are for!" Allegra interrupted.

Claude crossed his arms. "And what do you mean by 'we'? I haven't agreed to do anything."

Shooting both of them a glare, Felix continued. "- can do that without needing to kidnap them. We simply have to make it so that they have no other choice but to sit at the same table at the café. You all know how friendly Marinette is, it will only be a matter of time before they start talking."

There was a beat of silence.

"That… that might actually work," Allan admitted. "Soulmates are naturally drawn to each other so once they actually have a conversation we won't have to do anything else. They can figure out that they're soulmates by themselves." He paused and then chuckled. "We'll just have to push them in the right direction."

"But how are we going to get them in the café at the same time?" Allegra asked. "Tim always comes in right after Mari has left."

"Pft that's easy!" Claude exclaimed. "Just tell her that you need help with something and that you'll need for her to stay a while longer at the café. Since Mari doesn't have early classes on Wednesday she'll agree and- oh!" Claude suddenly slapped his hand over his mouth as his eyes widened with horror. "This does not mean that I'm helping." He mumbled from underneath his hand.

Allan laughed. "I think you just did."

"Looks like someone's going to end up cursed." Allegra singed songed. "Not even ladybug is going to be able to help you with that bad luck that's to come." She teased.

Claude pouted. "Haha, laugh all you want." He then looked up at the corkboard and grimaced. "But you're right, there's no turning back now. What do you need me to do?"

Allegra clapped her hands in glee.

"Okay so here's the plan."

~♡~♡~♡~

Just like Claude had predicted, it was incredibly easy to convince Marinette to stay at the café. All that was left to do was orchestrate everything just so that the two soulmates had to sit at the same table.

It was easier said than done but after enlisting more people to help out, they were able to make sure that the café was full for that morning.

Everything was going according to plan…

Until…

"WHERE. IS. TIM?"

Claude looked around. "He hasn't arrived yet?"

"No!" Allegra cried. She glanced down at her watch and winced. They were running out of time.

Claude frowned. "And you know, it would have been nice if Marinette hadn't chosen today to wear a turtleneck."

Allegra couldn't help but agree. Sure, Marinette looked amazing with the turtleneck and skirt outfit but did she really have to wear it today? When they needed for her to show off her soul mark?

It was like the universe was against them.

But finally, Allegra heard a tinkling sound at the door. She spun around praying that it was Tim.

And it was!

He looked more tired than usual as he stumbled around trying to find a seat.

Allegra watched as Tim danced around the tables that were being occupied just as he was about to take a seat.

One after the other until finally, a good push later, he ended up at Marinette's table.

~♡~♡~♡~

Tim was too tired to deal with this.

All he wanted was to sit down, have a couple of cups of coffee at his favorite coffee shop and finally be awake enough to continue investigating the moth guy.

But apparently, that was too much to ask because almost all the tables were full.

"Sorry man," Claude whispered as he guided a couple and motioned them to sit at the table that Tim had beelined for.

"Oh, actually I'm waiting for Adam." Felix had said when Tim asked if he could sit with him. Which was strange since Adam had said that he was waiting for Felix when he asked him.

But he could barely comprehend what they were saying, so he was not conscious enough to complain.

Tim continued on his journey when he felt someone push him from behind. In his half-asleep haze, Tim lunged at the chair that was in front of him hoping that it would break his fall.

It took him a few seconds to recover. He wanted nothing more than to pass out right then and there, splayed out on a coffee shop chair as everyone stared at him wondering if he was drunk.

He too wondered if he was drunk, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept so if he was drunk, he was not going to figure it out on his own.

When he finally looked up, his eyes met with a pair of beautiful bluebell eyes.

~♡~♡~♡~

Marinette watched as a guy stumbled around the café until finally flopping onto the other chair at her table.

It was clear that he was sleep-deprived. She had seen enough videos that her evil friends had taken when she was in a similar state to know the poor guy probably hadn't slept at all for the last week or so.

Marinette wanted nothing more than to drag the guy to the nearest bed or couch and wrap him up in a bunch of blankets. Just because she didn't comprehend the term "self-care" for herself  didn't make Marinette any less of a "mom friend"

But she had to remind herself that she didn't know the guy, so it might be considered kidnapping to drag someone somewhere against their will.

Too bad.

The best she could do was offer him her own coffee.

"Hey, I think you need this more than I do at the moment." She said, pushing the drink his way as he stood up.

He mumbled something that could be interpreted as a "thank you" and eagerly took the drink. His eyes lit up when the heavenly liquid touched his tongue.

It was almost miraculous how quickly the caffeine took effect.

Actually, it was Marinette may or may not have mixed a little concoction she made with Tikki that helped her when she stayed up late with her regular coffee.

The guy blinked. "This. Is. Incredible."

Marinette laughed "Yeah, it's what I always get. Though you still look like you need to sleep."

"Yeah, yeah whatever." He waved her off. "But seriously, what is this called? I need a gallon of this."

"Sorry," Marinette said sheepishly "but I'm afraid that's a secret, you know, I'm kind of everyone's favorite, so I get the miracle coffee." Okay so that was a lie but what else could she say?

The guy pouted. Marinette had to admit that he looked adorable.

"Well, then I'm sure you can get me some then... um"

"Marinette."

"Ah, nice to meet you, coffee goddess, I'm Tim."

Marinette's cheeks heated up. "Uh, coffee goddess? Shouldn't they be the coffee gods and goddesses?" She pointed at Allegra, Claude, and the others.

"Nah, you have blessed me with this amazing coffee. Claude didn't even help me in my time of need."

"You know Claude?" Marinette asked, surprised.

"Yep, I've been coming here since I arrived in Paris, so I've gotten to know Allegra and Claude a bit."

"That's funny, I've never seen you. And I come here every day." Marinette said.

"Huh, that's weird. I've never seen you either. "

And from there they kept talking. Like they were old friends and not just acquaintances. Marinette found out that Tim had come from Gotham city. That he was in Paris because of business. Meanwhile, Tim learned that Marinette was an aspiring fashion designer and a college student who was close friends with almost everyone from the café.

Hours passed and the two were still deep in conversation completely oblivious to the crowd that had gathered behind the cafe's counter to watch the soulmates.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about this before." Adrien, who had arrived after Tim, whispered to his cousin.

"I was under the impression that your father needed your assistance for the upcoming fashion show. I was not about to ask my dear uncle Gabe if I could steal you so that we could set up our friend and his future competitor, Marinette Dupain-cheng, with her soulmate."

Adrien hated to admit that he had a point. "Fine, but can you at least catch me up to date? Who is he?"

"He's a rich guy from Gotham city. He's pretty cool though he's basically Marinette when it comes to coffee which is honestly kinda scary now that I'm seeing them interact." Allegra whispered.

Adrien looked down to look at her. "Alright, I guess I'm going to have to do my own research since you guys are useless. What's his job? Why is he rich? If his from Gotham then who knows, maybe this guy is actually dangerous and wants to take Marinette as ransom for-"

"Oh please Adrien, stop with your theatrics. Do you honestly think that I would allow this if he was dangerous?" Felix interrupted.

"I mean-"

Felix glared at him.

"No?"

Felix sighed. "Timothy Drake is Marinette's soulmate, and I can assure you that he's clean. So don't worry about Marinette."

Allegra shushed the cousins. "Guys, I'm trying to listen here you know?"

"Um, you could probably hear better from up here" Felix nodded in agreement.

"Thanks, Adrien, but I don't want to risk Marinette seeing me and then remembering about time and stuff."

"Ah"

"Speaking of time, it's been years since I last ate, I'm hungry." Claude cut in.

"Claude! You're supposed to be with the customers!" Allegra whisper-shouted.

"Whoops."

~♡~♡~♡~

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. Marinette eventually remembered the reason she had stayed in the cafe. Not only that but when she looked at her watch she realized that she was running late for class.

After Marinette's rushed exit, Tim went back to investigating Hawkmoth. But while they were trying to concentrate on their own thing. Marinette with her class and Tim with his research they found themselves zoning out and thinking about each other.

It was strange, they had quite literally just met.

Why had they made such an impact on each other?

~♡~♡~♡~

It wasn't until Marinette was getting ready to go to bed that she found the answer.

"Tikki is… is that what I think it is." Marinette's voice trembled as she stared at her reflection on the mirror.

Tikki gasped. "Oh Marinette, I think it is!"

Staring back at her was her soul mark, which no longer was a regular coffee cup but rather a gorgeous cup with beautiful red flowers that surrounded a somewhat familiar symbol.

"But, how? I mean they're not supposed to change… right? And why?" Marinette's eyes widened. "Does this mean that I met my soulmate? Who is it?"

Tikki giggled, "You seriously don't know?"

"Umm no? Should I?" Tikki continued to giggle as her holder looked at her confused. "Who is it Tikki?"

"Oh Marinette, how many new people did you meet today?"

"Uh, I don't know? I mean surely I must've passed by lots of strangers in the street." Marinette panicked. "Oh no Tikki! What if one of them is my soulmate? I'll never find out who they are!"

"So you don't remember meeting anyone else?"

"I don't think so, well other than ohhh- "

"Exactly"

~♡~♡~♡~

Tim could not believe what he was seeing. Gone was the plain coffee cup he was used to seeing, the daily reminder of the fact that he was still painfully single, it now had an intricate flower pattern that surrounded a symbol.

He recognized that symbol.

After weeks of researching and tailing the red Parisian heroine, he knew that it was the Ladybug symbol.

But why was it on his soul mark?

Unless…

No, the heroine couldn't be his soulmate, Tim hasn't even officially met her. Nor had he even seen her today.

The only blue-eyed girl he had met was Marinette.

Marinette  

No, it was impossible. Except it wasn't. Tim had only known the girl for a couple of hours, but he knew that  Marinette would make a great heroine or vigilante.

But, he… he was probably hallucinating, right? Tim hadn't slept for weeks, so surely he was just seeing things and his soul mark was still a plain coffee cup and the Marinette conclusion was just wishful thinking.

Right?

Because otherwise, his first meeting with his soulmate was him acting like a sleep-deprived zombie and Tim could not allow that.

Well, one thing was for sure, he really needed to get some sleep.

~♡~♡~♡~

Three days.

It took three days for Marinette to find Tim.

She looked everywhere. The coffee shop, Le Grand Paris Hotel, the tourist areas, and when she was ladybug she looked down from all the rooftops trying to find him.

But he had vanished, leaving Marinette worried sick that he had either A. Gone back to Gotham  B. Died or C. Been so horrified that she was his soulmate that he decided to move to a remote island and changed his name in hopes of never seeing her again.

Gosh, she was starting to sound like her fourteen-year-old self.

But finally, she saw him, sitting on a bench, not far from her own home, looking down at his wrist.

He looked at his wrist like it was some puzzle he needed to solve. Marinette also noticed that he looked a lot more refreshed, so he must've finally gotten some sleep.

Marinette cleared her throat. "Well, you've been a very hard person to find Mr. Drake."

Tim looked up. "Ma- Marinette!"

"We need to talk."

Tim nodded his mouth hanging wide open as he stared at her soul mark.  

"How do you feel about coffee? There's a coffee shop that's not very far from here, I hear their coffee is divine.

~♡~♡~♡~

Bonus:

(this was going to be a scene on the fic but I didn't know how to add it but it has important info sooo)

*They are at the coffee shop*

Marinette: So you're red robin.

Tim: And you're Ladybug

Marinette: Should I be worried? Like doesn't this compromise our secret identities?

*Claude and Allegra appear with some pastries*

Claude: Yooo Marinette! So you found your soulmate! Crazy right? We totally didn't have anything to do with it!

*Allegra elbows him*

Claude: So uh, congratulations! I um feel happy for you.

*looks nervously at Allegra who is glaring at him*

Claude: Bummer about the soul mark though…

*Allegra keeps glaring*

~♡~♡~♡~ Permanent tag list  ~♡~♡~♡~

Claude: What? It's just a plain white cup!

Bonus bonus:

(here's a bad doodle and my crappy handwriting)

(If you want to be added or removed please let me know!)

@charme-de-malchan, @theatreandcomicfreak, @m3owww, @elliebelliegirl, @genevieve-the-demonologist, @vixen-uchiha, @t1dwarrior-of-earth, @waffleyunsure, @technicallyburninggarden, @azuremayscarlet, @vroomtaka, @emimar7, @ichigorose, @maskedpainter, @art-is-hard-to-do-sorry

[sailorbadger]

Robin Hood episode ranking part 5 (10-1)

Finally, the top 10 of my Robin Hood episode ranking. The previous parts can be found here [link]. If you’ve enjoyed and/or hated my commentary or want to chime in with your own opinion, feel free to comment or send me an ask. So here it is, the top 10:

10. 3x4 – Sins of the Father

Watch 1x6 and then this one right after and tell me these aren’t the same episode. I fought so hard to get this episode to the top 10. At first I was shocked to find an episode in season 3 that I enjoyed this much, but here we are. This episode has the fun feeling of adventure that a lot of season 2 has. I didn’t remember much from this episode before my rewatch, and I was pleasantly surprised. Kate had a lot of potential at this point, and I don’t have much to complain about her besides her terrible braid. Tuck was a great therapist, and I enjoyed his scene with Edmund. The reason why I think this episode is a better version of 1x6 is because of the story of the guest characters. The biggest negative thing in this episode is the Much-Kate-Allan love triangle. But aside from that, I truly enjoyed this episode, and I don’t care what anyone thinks, this belongs in my top 10.

 9. 2x7 – Show Me The Money

Marian finding out about her father’s death is one of the saddest things in the whole series. Allan and Robin’s fight is also amazing. Those two things are the highlights of this episode, and together with everything else in this episode they make this a great and fun adventure. Allan works so well as a bad guy, and it’s almost a shame he didn’t get to do this longer. I don’t have a lot to say about this episode other than that I really like it.

 8. 1x4 – Parent Hood

In this episode we see for the first time someone dying for Robin. The episode is just very solid, and I originally had this on the number 5 spot on this list. The scene with Roy and his mother is heartbreaking. In this episode the Sheriff is finally becoming the unapologetic villain I love. I wish the fact that Gisborne had a bastard child he almost got killed had been brought up later on. Overall, this episode has always been one of my favorites, and it is the first one from season 1 I included in my rewatch.

 7. 2x11 – Treasure of the Nation

I loved Prince John, so of course I’m going to love his mother. The queen is a delightful guest character, and she steals any scene she’s in. The real reason why this episode is this high on the list is Marian’s plotline. I love her and Allan’s interactions in this episode, and it’s great to get the Nightwatchman back after such a long time. It’s a shame that she had to give that role up, because as I said earlier, this is where a part of her character died. This episode also inspired us to have a conversation about how everyone would act like in an escape room, so it gets a few points for that.

 6. 2x10 – Walkabout

I want to watch a play that is written, directed, and acted by the Sheriff. He is so wonderfully dramatic in this. Unlike in the season 3 finale, in this episode the idea of Nottingham being threatened is executed a lot better. I like how Allan tries to keep every option open for himself. The scene where Much finds out about Robin and Marian’s engagement is so sweet and touching. (In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I love Much and want happiness for him.) This episode also highlights well the differences between how each of the characters approach their cause. It’s obvious that John just wants to do good, but he is unable to view the larger picture. This episode has the right amount of tension, and with a little bit of tweaking, it could have been made into a two-part season finale.

 5. 1x7 – Brothers in Arms

When we were watching this episode, my friend was so tired that after the episode finished, I had to answer the question “Wait, was one of them Allan’s brother?”. This episode is the first one where the heroes truly fail, and even though they manage to just save Marian, she still ends up engaged to Gisborne. The scene with Allan and Djaq (and Will, because even though he doesn’t speak, he’s there, and it says a lot about their dynamic) is sweet, and it adds a lot to her character. The necklace storyline is intense and keeps the story interesting until the very end. I had not expected this to end up being the best episode of season 1, but then again, there were many surprises when I was making this list.

 4. 2x12 – A Good Day to Die

I love this episode. It’s rare to get an episode where the characters just sit down and talk about their feelings. Allan has his small crisis and ends up switching sides. It’s also great to once more see someone punch him in the face. I love the scene where the Sheriff is practicing his speech like any good villain. Will and Djaq are cute, even if their scene is very cheesy. I wish they had gotten together a few episodes earlier or stuck around for season 3, so that we could have seen more of them together and how it affects the rest of the gang. The highlight of this episode, however, is Much’s speech. The line “just because I love you doesn’t mean I can’t hate you too” is one of my favorite lines in the whole series. It’s a shame that Much gets sidelined in season 3. The characters have to face each other and themselves, and it makes this episode stand out.

 3. 2x9 – Lardner’s Ring

I love this episode. It’s the best fun adventure episode this series has to offer. The Fool is a wonderful guest character. Where did he come from? What are his motives? It doesn’t matter, he’s here for comedy and chaos. He’s living my ideal life. Robin’s proposal is very in-character and sweet. There’s so much comedy in this episode, but it doesn’t overshadow the more serious scenes. This episode provided us with a great and frequently used “I hope you’re enjoying it, Allan. I couldn’t live with myself if I were you” WhatsApp-sticker (the line may not be completely accurate since I don’t remember how it goes in English). This episode has everything I could want from a Robin Hood -episode. The only reason why it is not on the first or second place is that there are two episodes that are even better.

 2. 2x5 – Ducking and Diving

No placement in this list was as difficult to determine as deciding between the first and second place. After a very long conversation and going back and forth with it many times, this is the end result. Ducking and Diving is a perfect episode. Trying to find the spy is like a round of Among Us. Allan’s conversation with Djaq and final confrontation with Robin are amazing scenes. Robin’s plan of making it seem like the spy is Will confused me back when I first watched the episode, but looking at it now, it’s one of Robin’s better plans. Matilda is also one of the greatest guest characters this show has, I would watch a whole show about just her life. Everything in this episode ties together nicely, and the plot works both in the context of this episode and for the whole series.

 1. 2x4 – Angel of Death

If I could only show one episode of this show to someone in order to convince them to watch the entire series, I would show them Angel of Death. And it is exactly what I did when we started this very chaotic viewing (and rewatch for me). This episode has everything. The plot is amazing, and the characters work well. Joseph is a good character. He reminds me of an academic who is really passionate about one thing in his field, only to find out someone has done research on his thesis topic and disproved his whole theory. I like that John is the one to come up with the cure for the poison. But really, Will is the character that shines in this episode. He didn’t get an episode for himself in season 1, so it’s good to see it happen here. He flips completely after seeing his father die, and even though Luke doesn’t get a lot of time in this episode, the relationship between the brothers is portrayed well. Allan’s betrayal also gets a body count, which sets up him having to be unmasked in the following episode. On top of all this, the sheriff is just plain evil, which is fun to watch. This episode is just perfect, and at this point I’ve seen it at least three times in the past few months, and I would still watch it again.

So there we go, the full ranking of all RH episodes. This rewatch was my favorite so far, because I got to watch the show with someone who had never seen it before. I’d like to thank anyone who read this 6000-word essay on a show that ended well over a decade ago. You didn’t need to, but you did anyway.

[dear-selena]

All I See (Peter Parker x Soulmate! Reader): Chapter 4

Peter Parker x Reader Soulmate!AU 

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Epilogue

Summary: You live in a world where women start to gain color when they meet their soulmate, but they cannot see all the colors at once until they’ve united with them. Peter Parker is your soulmate, but he has no idea. You want to tell him about the colors you see, but are afraid to. Sometimes, girls can be malicious with the soulmate troupe, and you don’t want Peter to think you’re doing the same. So you keep quiet, and experience one color at a time. 

It isn’t until Liz Allan comes in the picture that all you see is green, and you hate it. 

Warnings: Angst Central tbh

A/N: Hey guys! This took a little longer than I hoped to get up, but I hope I made the wait worth it! I’ve actually been writing another Peter Parker fanfic, so if you’d like to be added to a permanent tagging list, please let me know! I’ll also add you to this story tags list if you just request that. 

Okay enough rambling... enjoy! 

Chapter Four: Why So Blue?  

Words: 2226

-------------------

The weekend felt like it lasted forever. 

After Peter left your apartment, you were given a good two days to think about how you wanted to talk to him about the whole soulmate thing. The entire weekend put you on edge, and you’d imagine scenarios on how things could go. You daydreamed of him smiling wide, picking you up, spinning you around, and kissing you like the way you’ve always wanted. After all, you wanted to save your first kiss for your one and only, and when you met Peter last year, the thought of kissing him was always on the back of your mind. These thoughts would make your vision turn pink, and you could practically see all the colors come together. 

Then again, with how luck has been for you, you could see things working against you. You imagined him with a look of disappointment, confused at what you were trying to say and ultimately walking away from you. 

“You’re not Liz though…” You could practically hear him say. 

These thoughts screamed the loudest in your mind, making your vision turn a very familiar shade of green. Certainly, with him falling for Liz once again, you couldn’t stand a chance. Everyone knows she’s a gorgeous girl. Whenever you saw her at school she was talking to someone. She definitely had a lot of friends, and everyone seemed to like her. You saw the way other boys looked at her, and you saw how she was able to handle the pressure of constant attention. Compared to you, Liz was perfect. 

No wonder your soulmate wants to be with her. 

You walk into school Monday morning, dreading the day ahead of you. If you were being honest, you were really hoping to not run into Peter today. You hadn’t come up with a plan to tell him that you were his soulmate without freaking him out. Despite how long the weekend was, you needed it to be longer so you had more time to think. 

You open your locker and throw your lunch in it, not caring about the leftovers you brought from home getting messed up. Your vision has been purple all morning, fearing the moment you’d see Peter. Sighing into your locker, you look at the small mirror you keep in there. You have the heaviest bags under your eyes from all the sleep you lost this weekend, and the makeup you were wearing was not helping you out in any way. With all the overthinking you’ve done, there’s no wonder you felt like an absolute zombie. 

“Someone didn’t get her beauty sleep,” someone said right beside you. You looked at them through your mirror and saw MJ at her locker that was right next to yours. She had a straight face as she focused on opening her locker and getting books out. 

You turn to face her. “I couldn’t sleep. I was too busy this weekend thinking about something I need to do.” 

“Oh, like tell Peter you’re his soulmate?” 

Your blood ran cold. Did MJ really just say that? You look up at her as she closes her locker and starts to walk to her first class. You practically slam your locker shut and run after her. 

“Wait, wh- wh- what do you mean?” You say once you caught up to her. Damn, she’s a really fast walker. 

“(Y/N), I can just tell he’s your soulmate. You tend to blink intensely and look around in awe when he says something nice to you. I just assumed that was your colors changing,” 

You were taken aback. “Do I really do that?” 

MJ snorted. “Yeah, and you also look at him with heart eyes. It’s kind of gross.” 

You glared at MJ for a moment, but sighed. She was right after all. “You’re crazy observant you know that?” 

The two of you had reached her class by now. Instead of walking in and ditching you completely like you thought she’d do, she turned to look directly at you, a serious look on her face. “Look (Y/N), you should just tell Peter you’re his soulmate. You don’t need to do the whole ‘cliche romance’ thing or whatever. You’re lucky you can at least see color,” MJ looked down and you swore she was frowning. You then remembered that she still sees black and white, and you realize MJ must want to see her soulmate. You felt the same way before you met Peter, and you remember how it felt to know other girls saw colors, and you couldn’t. 

“Peter’s a loser, but you’re ultimately stuck with him. You should make the most out of it while you can.” 

Even though MJ basically insulted your soulmate, you smiled at her. “Thanks MJ, that really means a lot.” She nodded her head and turned towards her classroom before you could hug her goodbye. You know she’s not one to show affection like that, but you really wish you could express your gratitude towards her. 

As you walked towards your first class you were filled with a new sense of confidence. Your vision started turning orange, which indicates excitement for your soulmate. Your newfound determination set your head straight as you finally decide to tell Peter when you saw him today. 

Today you were going to tell Peter he is your soulmate. 

__________

Lunch rolled around and you still haven’t seen him. He’s normally in English with you, but he wasn’t here today. Sometimes Peter comes in late if he senses danger in the city, and from the news coverage you saw on your social media, you knew Spider-Man was out saving the day. 

However, you didn’t feel anxious. You still saw orange, and you still felt confident. 

When your class got out for lunch, you walk to your locker, when you suddenly stop in your tracks. You see Ned standing by his locker, peering over the door trying not to be seen. When you followed his direction of sight, your heart stopped when you saw Peter talking to Liz on the other side of the hallway. Your orange vision immediately turns green. 

You quickly make your way to Ned. “Hey Ned, why are you spying on Peter and Liz?” 

“I’m trying to hear what they’re saying,” Ned responds. “Or at least try to read their lips.”

You look back over towards your soulmate to see him smile wide at Liz. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before walking away from him. Peter stood idly for a moment before walking towards you and Ned shaking his fist in some sort of victory. 

“Uh, hey man… what’s got you so happy?” Ned asks trying to sound casual. 

Peter smiles wide again, practically glowing. “So I finally gained the courage to ask Liz on a date, and she actually said yes!” 

HUH?

The world felt like it suddenly froze around you as colors started to fight for dominance. 

You start to blink rapidly as your heartbeat accelerates, your mind going a mile a minute. You try to process what Peter just said as purple, red, and green engulfed your vision rapidly. With your body trying to find the right emotions to react to Peter’s news, you felt your mind was all over the place, ultimately giving you a headache. 

After what felt like a minute of your internal color seizure, your vision calms into an intense shade of green. You feel ringing in your ears as your heartbeat continues to go lightening fast. You see Ned cheer for Peter as they did their handshake. Ned was clearly excited for the boy. However, As your ears stopped ringing only to be replaced by numb arms and tears threatening to fall, you suddenly realize what had happened. 

Peter just asked out Liz. Liz said yes. Peter gave himself to someone else. 

Your soulmate doesn’t want you. 

Despite the ringing in your ears, you watch as Ned and Peter fully engross themselves in a conversation that was obviously about the one and only Liz. In order to not break down on the spot, you start to slowly back away from your two friends. Once you thought you were in the clear, you turn around and walk away. 

You quickly dodge people in the halls as you felt tears about to fall. You want so badly to breakdown, to let your emotions out now that you’ve lost your soulmate. But you didn’t want to do it around anyone. You knew you’d never be able to live with yourself if you lose your cool in public. 

As you continued to speed walk to the nearest bathroom, you hear someone call your name. You blink back tears and turn around to see Peter chasing after you. “(Y/N)! (Y/N), wait!” Peter shouts over the crowd of students. Instead of waiting however, you turn back around and try walking faster. Unfortunately, Peter is light on his feet, and he caught up to you in no time. 

“(Y/N),” Peter said, placing himself in front of you and putting his hands on your shoulders. “What happened? Are you okay?” 

You shake your head, refusing to look at him. “Peter, I don’t really want to talk about it now,” you say attempting to get out of his grasp. However, he didn’t make the escape easy. 

“(Y/N), please, I want to help you, be here for you. Please trust me.” 

You swore you heard him wrong. Did he really just say he wants to help? He was just cheering about how he chose another girl and suddenly he’s concerned about you? 

But nevertheless, he did say that, and he was now rubbing his thumbs over your shoulders trying to calm you down. If anything, his hands felt like weights on your numb arms dragging you closer to the ground with every move his thumbs made. You don’t know what came over you, but you knew one thing. 

You didn’t want to lie to him. 

You look up at Peter, a glint of fire in your eyes. “All I see is green.” 

Peter loosens his grip on you and looks at you with confusion. “Wait, what?”

“All I see is green Peter, and I absolutely hate it!” You try to stay calm, but your voice level was rising. 

Peter continues looking confused for a moment before he starts putting the pieces of the puzzle together in his head. He suddenly looks at you with deep concern. 

“(Y/N), is your soulmate doing something bad to you?” 

Are. You. Serious. 

You blink rapidly as the tears find their way out, letting out an exasperated sigh that sounded like you were choking. With your arms tingling, and heart breaking, you could feel your mind going into autopilot. 

“Yes Peter, and you’re my soulmate!” You practically shout, thanking the lord that the hallways weren’t as crowded anymore. 

Peter’s eyes widen as he pulls himself away from you. “I’m- I’m what?” 

“I’m your soulmate, Peter! I knew from the first time I saw you. You smiled at me from across the hall and I instantly saw yellow and pink and all sorts of colors. But all I see is green right now, and I know it’s because you want Liz. It’s because she’s all you talk about since she came back. It’s because you are willing to give yourself to her because I was too scared of making you angry if I suddenly told you the truth. It’s because I didn’t want you to think I was lying like Gwen did before.” You let out a shaky breath. “It’s because you don’t see me that way…” 

Your breathing became rapid and your head pounds. You didn’t realize how much energy bottling in your feelings would have on you. As your mind got off of autopilot, you became aware of how eerily quiet everything was in the halls. 

You hesitantly look up to see Peter’s face. He presses his lips tightly together and furrows his eyebrows, fumes evident in his eyes. His hands make fists and you can tell he’s attempting not to scream. 

It’s obvious he’s angry at you. 

“Are… you… kidding me?” Peter practically yells, his voice dripping with frustration. 

Your eyes go wide at his sudden outburst, and once again colors flash in front of your eyes. Purple, green, and red engulf your vision, putting your mind in an emotional storm. You see Peter’s mouth moving in a furious state, but you genuinely couldn’t hear what he said. Your ears rang even louder than before, and your mind felt like exploding. 

Your vision once again starts to settle, but this time into a cold, new color you’ve never seen before. The tears you’ve fought off for so song start to win the battle. As tears rapidly come out, you find yourself running away from the empty hall, away from whatever you just experienced…

And away from your soulmate who clearly doesn’t want you. 

As you continue running away from Peter, you accept this new color that engulfs your vision. You finally find a bathroom to run into and ran in, letting your emotions out. As you sob in front of a mirror, you look up at your reflection to fully see this new, cold, and unfamiliar color. 

All you saw was blue, for sadness.

——————————

-Tagged List-

@peteerrpaarkerr // @littlemissporter // @the-soulless-spider // @fakindob // @stuckonpeterparker // @godhatestarynn // @itsjustahuman // @saxgirl21 // @freestarlight // @clara-licht // @cats-before-us // @horanxholland // @thenerdiverse // @roseryss // @ohbabycal // @superwholock36 // @famouslastlove // @azgucci // @invisiblelakes // @lost-in-translating // @peter-parker-tony-stank-trash // @jillanaholland // @iamanerdnot // @disgustangg // @imcharishope // @dehughgrection // @spider-manholland // @sellulii // @falskaprofeter // @jackiehollanderr // @holland-tingz // @discodeakky // @my-suga-kookies // @quicksilverandspiderlokipokidoki // @tomshufflepuff

[thecreativeangel]

Sophomore Year In Queens Would Include...

Spoilers for Spiderman: Homecoming™ ahead. You have been warned. 

Freshman Year

- Summer is over and you’re on your second year of school in Queens.

- Recap: Michelle is still your best friend and still very sarcastic, Ned is still way too into Star Wars, Peter still has a HUGE crush on Liz Allan, you still lo-like Peter aS A FRIEND YUP ONLY AS A FRIEND. 

- Ned in the background: “But yesterday you stared at him for at least-”

- *Ned has been tackled to the ground.*

- But onto serious business: the story line 

- Remember Evelyn from when she stuck gum in your hair in freshman year? (if not the first part is in my masterlist) Anyway she came back after summer break and now you’re legit scared to be in the same room as her. She’s all girly and disgustingly nice unless you make her angry, in which case you should switch schools. Now.

- She is now the most popular girl at school. You pissed of the most popular girl in school. What the fuck. Is wrong. With you.

- On a happier note you’re friends with Liz Allan because you met her at meetings for academic decathlon and she is a ray of fucking sunshine which doesn’t happen a lot in high school. 

- Except Liz is friends with Evelyn. How did you find out?

- “Oh, hey (Name)! Meet my other friends. This is Betty, Amanda, Jane, Evelyn-”

- *High Pitched Internal Screaming For Ten Hours (Unlike Pluto Remix ft. You)*

- And Evelyn just fucking smiles at you all sweet and cute. And you excuse yourself and run out of there faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. 

- Rumors spread about you like wildfire. (I wonder why? Cough, cough Evelyn, cough.)

- Peter and Ned laugh them off, especially when one rumor is about you having murdered an orphanage. 

- Michelle on the other hand is pissed. PISSED. (But in her own, special way.)

- *Michelle speaking in a completely calm voice* “I will shave off her stupid hair and simultaneously tear her limb from limb in front of the entire student body while her family and friends watch her turn into a bloody pile of-”

- “hOLY SHIT MICKEY I GOT THE POINT AND I LOVE YOU FOR THAT BUT I’M EATING SO PLEASE STOP.”

- Peter starts to miss classes and decathlon and you’re worried. He also skips Friday Movie Night which he apologizes for the next day. Soon enough though, he looks so tired he forgets to say sorry.

- At lunch he stares at Liz with Ned and gushes about her or just falls asleep on the table. You have had to lift him by the hair because he tends to land face forward in his food. It becomes almost a daily task to wipe the mashed potatoes off his face.

- You are happy when Peter joins the decathlon team again, then absolutely furious when he skips Nationals anyway. When the elevator at the Washington Monument starts to malfunction, you push everyone out first, even if they have to stand on your shoulders to do so. 

- The elevator is on it’s last support cable and you sort of accept death. At least your friends made it out. 

-  Spiderman uses his webs to stop it from falling just in time, though, pulls you out... and goes straight to Liz to not so subtly ask her if she’s alright. 

- *in your mind* “Wow, okay, go ask her if she’s fine. It’s not like I almost died just now. Not like I got everyone out first. Damn, thanks for the caring attitude, Spiderman.”

- You also start to notice Peter’s weird behavior in a different light. Since the whole elevator thing, you collected that Spiderman had a thing for Liz, which is something he shares with Peter. The sudden disappearances, the bad excuses start to come together. You aren’t 100% sure, but you’re suspicious as hell.

-  Peter asks Liz to Homecoming and you aren’t jealous at all.

- *Michelle in the background* “1.25 seconds after receiving the news that Peter asked Liz to Homecoming your countenance changed from a neutral expression to an surprisingly well executed forced smile signalling that you were trying to look happy but on the inside wanted to punch Peter for being an oblivious bitc-”

- *Michelle has been tackled to the ground* 

- Homecoming was okay. Ned made you go, and you reasoned that avoiding Peter and Liz making out would make the evening at least 73.2% more enjoyable. When Peter came though, he looked like he saw ghost and ran out after saying sorry to Liz.

- You leave early because Homecoming isn’t really enjoyable to a person who absorbed the nerdy loser dome of her friends, plus you’re happier at home watching Gravity Falls and binge eating junk food. 

- You were walking home from Seven Eleven after buying all the junk food you needed when Spiderman swings by. You were going to ignore it but he fricking starts to fall mid swing and doesn’t even try to use his web shooters, which scares the living shit out of you. 

- You drop the groceries you were carrying and tackle him before he hits the ground. 

- Update: You have skinned multiple parts of your body from tackling him and rolling on the pavement, and Spiderman seems to have fainted. 

- You drag an unconscious Spiderman to your apartment? Thank god your parents are out on a business trip and your apartment is close.

- *grumbling to yourself* “That’s right, (Name). Drag an unconscious stranger to your house. I mean it is Spiderman, but he’s still a stranger. Holy shit, it probably looks like I killed Spiderman.” 

- *and of course muttering to yourself like a crazy person* “Oh my god Spiderman is bleeding out on the couch. Spiderman is fUCKING BLEEDING OUT ON THE COUCH. Do I take his suit off? Is that creepy? I can’t take his mask off, right? His mask is bloody too, he’s probably got a cut there... wHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?”

- Spiderman wakes up in an unfamiliar room and a girl losing her shit.

- “Why am I on your couch?”

- “Oh I don’t know! Why are you bleeding out on my couch? Why are you bleeding out at all?”

- You rush around, trying to find paper towels and a first aid kit. He lets you take off the bottom of his suit. 

- Blushing™ on your side cuz he’s half naked and ripped and on his side cuz you’re in pajamas and fuzzy slippers, wiping his chest with a bath towel. You let him wash his face in the bathroom so you wouldn’t find out his identity. 

- Having a drowsy late night conversation with Spiderman. 

- “So I heard today was Homecoming?”

- “Yeah, it was kinda awkward, lame and boring, so I left early. You sound young, did you skip Homecoming to be Spiderman?”

- “W-what? No! I’m not even in high school! I’m super old-well, not super. I’m not 30, I swear!”

- You have a hard time believing him because he got major voice cracks while saying that. 

- “Soo, did you have a date?”

- You actually scoff. “No. I think I like this guy, and that terrifies me, but he’s in love with another girl. He actually got his dream girl to come to Homecoming, that’s kinda why I left I guess. Frankly I’m not surprised, she’s super pretty and smart, basically perfect in every way. Everyone has a crush on her. Hell, I may have a crush on her!”

- “You’re very mature about it.”

- “Thanks, I guess...”

- Inside the Spidey suit, Peter is dying to know who you like.

- “So who do you have a crush on? I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

- You consider telling him, but then remember that he sounds young, and may go to Midtown, which would be a disaster. “Not gonna happen, Spidey. I might know you in real life, so I’d better keep it a secret.”

- Liz moves away, which makes Peter act really sad for a couple of days. You planned on cheering him up with another movie night, but...

- gUESS WHO COMFORTED HIM FIRST. GUESS.

- Yeah, it was motherfucking Evelyn O’ Connor, the popular girl who hates your guts. You saw her approach Peter after class and since you’re terrified of her, you just watched from afar like a creep.

- According to Peter (when she left), Evelyn was actually “super nice” and he “didn’t know why you weren’t friends with her”.

- THIS BOI FORGOT THE TIME SHE STUCK GUM IN YOUR HAIR, SPREAD RUMORS, ETC... 

- aND GUESS WHO PETER STARES AT DURING LUNCH. THAT’S RIGHT. EVELYN MOTHERFUCKING O’ CONNOR. 

- *You to yourself* “The world is out to get me.”

- It just dawned upon you during the last day of school, in the middle of science that Evelyn was Peter’s new Liz, and that he has a huge crush on her now, and that he’ll probably talk about her all summer.

- You literally dropped the stack of Physics books you were carrying because... What. The. Hell.

- Let’s just say you spent a lot of time on the Stark internship to avoid Peter that summer. 

[jam2289]

On Responding to Stupid People

I struggle with responding to peoples' comments. Mostly because most comments online are insults. Now, people in general are not necessarily good, I know this. Many are even evil. But the prevalence of insulting people online seems outrageously high. I wonder how much cowardice comes into play. Maybe these people want to say this stuff all the time, but in person they are afraid to, so they do it online instead. Anyway, I have to try to figure out how to handle these darn people.

The most vocal people commenting online are people with serious psychological orders. You can tell that by their comments. They are usually aggressive and insulting. I think it's often something like resentment mixed with frustration mixed with projection. When I've done aggressive online commenting it's been because of my own emotional issues. I'm guessing that goes for these people as well.

Let's look at some of the recent comments on my article "Aphorisms on Grief, Suicide, and Meaning in Life." We'll look at how I handled them. We'll look at how others like George R. R. Martin, Joe Rogan, and Mike Rowe handle them. We'll look at what business philosopher Paul Graham says about this, and mention an interesting thing about Mark Twain and Egar Allan Poe. Plan, set, go.

My article was a set of aphorisms that I've made about grief, suicide, meaning, and truth. I just wanted the title to have three things instead of four. I've written some powerful stuff about all of these subjects in other articles that had various levels of success. My article on suicide was shared in psychology groups on Facebook about 30 times, many of those people are practicing psychologists. People are still sharing my philosophy article from two years ago on Quora that digs into grief. Meaning gets woven into many of my articles because I've spent so much of my life focused on thinking about it. My philosophy article "Flavor and Value" is about truth and has garnered enough likes on Steemit to make 46 dollars, which impresses me.

I've been thinking about all of these things for years, trying to grow in two directions: 1) being able to differentiate more and more so that I can correctly assess what's happening in these processes, and 2) trying to pull that understanding together in a compact way that will communicate an immense amount of insight in a small space. I guess I could go the other way and try to write large amounts of content on them. That just hasn't been my natural tendency, I'm drawn to short and powerful insights.

When I posted the article I mentioned on Facebook that it might be the best thing I've ever written. Alas, few views, or likes, and no good comments anywhere. This is not unusual. Mark Twain considered his best writing to be his book about Joan of Arc. I didn't realize for most of my life that Twain had even written about Joan of Arc. Most people don't. Edgar Allan Poe thought his best work was the poem "Eureka" written in his last year of life. In that poem he was the first to propose the idea of the big bang theory, about 80 years before scientists proposed the big bang theory. No one liked his poem. So, it's not unusual for writers to disagree with people about what their best work is.

One of the first comments was from Ute Hutten in a high IQ group on Facebook. (We'll come back around to the fact that maybe I shouldn't be looking at comments at all.) A high IQ group is a bad sign anyway. I joined after I had my spinal issues, after the Africa ordeal. I had damage to my brainstem and had a huge loss in cognitive function resulting in low working memory and a bunch of other issues. I've always had a high IQ, that's how that works, but I hadn't joined a high IQ society because I didn't value their validation. After having brain damage I wanted to recover enough to prove that I could join Mensa, the largest high IQ society. I did. I joined a few more too, the EPL High IQ Society in this specific comment's case. Then I learned that the people that participate in the online high IQ societies are not mentally stable people. They're the people that are desperately seeking to prove that they are smart. (The situation of these people is almost perfectly demonstrated by my case. When I knew I was smart I didn't need that validation. When I was having trouble and doubting it after recovering from brain damage, I did. I've been to one in-person local Mensa meeting and that was different. But, no one in that group interacted with the online groups. Just an observation, online high IQ groups attract people that are in a bad place emotionally and trying to seek some form of self-worth. Not a great environment for discussion.)

Here's how Ute commented: "Arrogant and shallow, spouting empty words."

The question is, what to do with something like this? It's just a straight insult with no content. It's one of the many ways that a person with a high IQ can prove that they're not intelligent by any other measure. There are a few options that you have at your disposal.

1) Don't read it in the first place. Meaning, you can't read any comments.

2) Ignore it.

3) Respond to Ute addressing Ute.

4) Respond to Ute addressing the general audience.

5) Respond to Ute addressing Ute, but think of the message in terms of the general audience.

6) Respond in kind. In this case I could call Ute stupid, which is a natural reaction, and I think the assessment is warranted. Or, you could do it in a pretentious way, "Ute is a knave of the highest regard among those circles which value insights into the minds of high functioning people with no substance or content to speak of. The worth of such an individual has been speculated on for years, but none has been found." Something like that.

7) Respond defensively. E.g. "I am good because other people like me."

8) Try to have a reasonable conversation. "Why do you think these wondrous insights into the work of which you speak?" (You would have to ask it in an authentic way, which this example is not.)

A reasonable conversation isn't going to work. It's like trying to have a conversation with someone that's trying to punch you. They're just trying to hurt you, not communicate with you.

Responding defensively seems pathetic and a waste of time. Ute didn't give any argument to refute, or anything like that.

Responding in kind won't work out well. That's just a fight with words.

Responding to Ute and either addressing him but thinking of a general audience, or addressing the general audience directly, seems to be the best options. This is what Mike Rowe does. He'll even write up articles and posts like this addressing people. He is great at it. The best I've ever seen.

Responding to Ute in any way seems like it probably won't work as far as the conversation with Ute himself goes.

Ignoring it after you've read it is hard.

Not reading it in the first place is hard. But... that's what some people almost have to do. For instance, George R. R. Martin is a super famous writer. He's also constantly attacked for being a slow writer. Some of that is his fault for setting up false expectations, but still. Not reading comments definitely seems like his best option. Joe Rogan has the most popular podcast in the world. He says the same thing. If you go on his show you can't read the comments afterward. There will be positive ones, but the negative ones will mess with your head too much. He says people will drop into depressions after doing that sometimes and he has to tell them to stop looking at comments.

In this case what I did is make this response. "Nice and low on the pyramid. Accuse me of what you're guilty of, smart." I'll explain the pyramid in a minute. Notice that his calling me arrogant and shallow is ironic because his comment is arrogant and shallow. I noticed the irony, and pointed it out. I'm addressing him more directly than a third-party though, so that's probably not a great example of what to do.

The pyramid refers to a link that I sent. It's Paul Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement. Ute is at the very lowest rung of disagreement. Here's how Graham explains it.

- - - - - - -

DH0. Name-calling.

This is the lowest form of disagreement, and probably also the most common. We've all seen comments like this:

u r a fag!!!!!!!!!!

But it's important to realize that more articulate name-calling has just as little weight. A comment like

The author is a self-important dilettante.

is really nothing more than a pretentious version of "u r a fag."

- - - - - - -

This perfectly describes the situation. Ute has a high IQ, probably has a decent vocabulary, so he is articulate at name-calling. A skill of sorts.

Here are the rest of the levels.

- - - - - - -

DH1. Ad Hominem.

DH2. Responding to Tone.

DH3. Contradiction.

DH4. Counterargument.

DH5. Refutation.

DH6. Refuting the Central Point.

- - - - - - -

Graham offers good explanations and examples of them in his article, which is here: http://paulgraham.com/disagree.html

In his sixth level he offers this example format.

- - - - - - -

The author's main point seems to be x. As he says:

<quotation>

But this is wrong for the following reasons...

- - - - - - -

Notice that it aligns with Mike Rowe's idea of thinking about the rest of the audience too. It's nice when things align.

Now, just two more quick examples of comments on my article.

Lenny Schafer made this great comment, "Sophomoric." That's it, that's the whole thing. Another form of fancy name-calling. This was on my blog itself. I decided to just delete it. How would you respond to something like that anyway? There is no central point for me to refute. That's also the issue with Ute's comment. I can't actually do anything that would be a refutation because they're just calling me names.

The last one is from Michael Howson, and it's reasonable. "Perhaps grief is more about loss of connection than expectation and perhaps it is that those connections that give our lives much of their meaning."

He's on level four of Graham's pyramid here, which is decent. I tried to show how his basic premise wasn't even a contradiction of my article. Human connection is a value. The experience of loss is the feeling of the loss of something. Loss of what? Loss of a future value. Connection is one such value. Thus, the experience of loss can be the feeling of a loss of future connection. His proposition can be nested in mine because mine is larger and more inclusive, and I would say significantly more insightful and useful. He went in the direction that the experience of time doesn't exist, and proposed that I must never have known anyone that's died. Then, I fell down the pyramid and dismissed him.

Michael's comment was definitely reasonable even if I disagree that he even had a disagreement with my article. The question is whether I should even be reading or responding to comments like this at all. The possibility that something that seems reasonable at first devolving seems quite high.

I'll have to think about it more, and work on it more. It's an important and difficult thing. Only a few people handle it well. Joe Rogan doesn't read any comments. Mike Rowe responds publicly thinking about the whole audience. Two decent options.

Stupid is essentially lacking good judgment. It's all too easy to respond to stupid comments (comments lacking good judgment) with a stupid response (a response lacking good judgment). Just thinking about avoiding that is a good place to start.

________________________________________________

You can find more of what I'm doing at http://www.JeffreyAlexanderMartin.com

[tallskinnyvanillalatte]

Castle Episodes (Season 3)

Here we go, the season 3 post:

3x01 A Deadly Affair: The beginning of the episode is so intense with Castle being a suspect and Beckett being mad at him (and jealous af) for not telling her that he was back in town and everything. Oh the tension. There’s this nice parallel where Alexis’ crush went away and said he’d call after he came back but he never did. Which is kinda the same situation as Beckett and Castle. And Castle is defending the guy and Martha is like “Oh Richard Castle, that is the stupidest reason I’ve ever heard. Have I taught you nothing about relationships?” They reference Breaking Bad “’We could always make meth.’ .. just like that cable show.” I love the episode. The fighting between Castle and Beckett is great. In the end, Castle is back, Alexis talks to her crush again.

3x02 He’s Dead, She’s Dead: Chet proposes to Martha. But Martha doesn’t quite know whether to marry him or not. Later in the episode, Chet dies. There’s also this medium’s daughter who has meaningful dreams sometimes. And she tells Beckett that an Alexander will be extremely important to her, he will save her life one day. Beckett doesn’t know what to make of that as she doesn’t know any Alexander. Later in the episode, we find out that Castle’s middle name is Alexander. And that he changed his middle name to Edgar because of Edgar Allan Poe and his last name to Castle. His given name is actually Richard Alexander Rodgers. The final scene between Martha and Castle is really sweet. “Richard, whatever mistakes I’ve made in my life, I raised a good man.”

3x03 Under the Gun: Alexis wants a scooter and it’s so hilarious how concerned and worried Castle is. He goes to Beckett for advice but she only makes his worries worse (by saying that every girl has a wild phase and the good girls are actually the worst). It’s hilarious how Castle chases a guy and jumps over a taxi and he yells “I’ve always wanted to do that!”, his excited face is priceless. AND THEN THERE’S JASON BEGHE I CAN’T STOP SCREAMING. I had no idea he was on Castle, this is too great omg. “Royce?” “Hey, kid, long time.” He trained Beckett when she left the Academy. His hair is longer than on Chicago PD. And it’s kinda weird to see him in this mentor role with Beckett instead of Lindsay (the Beckett-Royce relationship is more romantic though). The episode aired in 2010, a couple years before Chicago PD started. He’s so smiley though, it’s hilarious. I’m having so much fun right now. Also, it’s hilarious when an old guy manages to escape from Ryan and Esposito. Of course, Castle and Beckett tease them so bad with it, Castle put adult diapers on their desk and old-people-teeth. Back to Jason Beghe - I love how his character is SO different than Voight, yet there’s just his characteristics he can’t shake off (like the head node he does when talking). Mike Royce, Hank Voight. Even their names are similar, both one syllable each, first ending with a k sound. In the end, Beckett has to arrest Royce and that scene is so tough oh boy. Also, Alexis realizes that it was wrong to just sell something in order to get the money for the scooter. There’s this adorable hug and Castle goes “I’m so proud of you.”. Aw. I loved the episode.

3x04 Punked: This is the first time we hear (and meet) about Ashley, Alexis’ first proper boyfriend. Throughout the entire episode, Castle is a bit upset that Alexis didn’t tell him about her boyfriend. The episode is super entertaining - Castle thinks the killer is a time traveler. Esposito is assaulted by some guy and hurts his neck real bad which is used as a joke throughout the entire episode. The scene in which Castle meets Ashley for the first time is hilarious. He surprises them with a gun and Ashley is freaked out while Alexis is like “what the fuck dad”. And Castle is all strict and Ashley is so intimidated, and then when Ashley leaves, he goes “I like him” and Alexis just punshes him lol. Alexis has such a crush on Ashley, it’s adorable. Later, he asks Castle how you know when you’re in love and she goes on and on and says how the songs and poems make sense and more stuff. And later, Castle asks Beckett the same question and she goes “All the songs make sense”. Beckett goes out with a certain Josh. The final scene with Alexis and Castle though, where Alexis wants to go on a date and Castle goes “yeah, of cours,e sure, have fun” and she says “I meant with you, dad. You’ll always be my go-to-guy.” Their relationship is so important to me. He loves her so much.

3x05 Anatomy of a Murder: We get several Grey’s Anatomy references when Castle nicknames someone “McDreamy” and another one “McSteamy”. Castle is jealous when Gina surprises Alexis with super special concert tickets that he had just bought for her as well (just not the super special version). And Gina says “Whenever it comes to Alexis, you build a wall around her. Like you don’t want anyone get close to her.” In a conversation with Martha, Martha says to Castle that you’d know real love if one was willing to get the other out of prison. At the end of the episode, Beckett says “Don’t worry, Castle, I’d get you out [of prison]”. Oh my God, I need to gif that parallel.

3x06 3XK: The 3XK-Storyline starts in this episode. Also, Alexis has a “secret admirer” and I still somewhat wish it hadn’t just been Ashley but somehow connected to the case to get some drama. At some point, Castle is also worried about this secret admirer and who it really is. “He’s charming, in an asexual, non-threatening kind of way.” Alexis gets another letter where she’s supposed to meat her secret admirer in a public park. And Castle kinda freaks and goes “you’re so not meeting that guy” because he’s worried about her safety - after all, the admirer referred to Alexis’ hair as ‘flaxen’ which is blond and could be a connection to the 3XK killer. There’s no connection, though, it’s just Ashley. The motel at the end with the pool looks awfully familiar, though. I’m pretty sure I saw that one on The Mentalist and Criminal Minds before.

3x08 Murder Most Fowl: The abduction of a child really gets to Castle. At some point, he shares the story about Alexis who, when she was four years old, disappeared in a mall. Castle and security had looked everywhere and he had pictured all the worst case scenarios. They found her under some coats taking a nap. Castle mentions that he still dreams about this. 3x10 Last Call: I love the ending, where they all sing “Piano Man” and walk out of the precinct together.

3x11 Nikki Heat: Ryan plans on proposing to Jenny, he pops the question at the end of the episode and of course she says yes. Laura Prepon alias Nathalie Rhodes alias Nikki Heat is in this one. Alexis sounds like Molly had a cold while filming this episode. There’s some adorable scenes where Alexis talks about movies that she’s not allowed to see yet (age restriction thing) and she goes “It’s a great movie. ... If I’d seen it, which I haven’t.” Beckett gets more and more annoyed by Nathalie as the episode progresses, it’s hilarious, she’s so jealous. Ryan references “the list” which apparently is a list of celebrities that you could sleep with if you had the chance but were in a relationship. I remember this list was also mentioned on Friends. “If it’s so adorable, why didn’t you sleep with me” ICONIC. Ah, I just really enjoyed this episode.

3x12 Poof, you’re dead: Another familiar face! Vanessa Lengies is in this one. And it’s the first time we’re seeing Lanie and Esposito TOGETHER. I mean, together together. They are trying to hide it, but of course everyone knows what’s going on. Also, Castle and Gina end their relationship at the end of the episode.

3x13 Knockdown: The storyline on Beckett’s mother’s murder continues. Castle and Beckett are at a restaurant talking to someone when that someone gets shot. When Castle goes back home later, Martha is so worried. Castle says “You’re overreacting, mother. Where is this coming from?” and she goes “How the hell can you ask me something like that. Think about how much you love Alexis and that is how much I love you and don’t you dare ask me where this is coming from”. Beckett and Castle KISS. It’s just to distract someone but “that was amazing”, as Castle puts it (the way she took down the guy of course). And Castle goes “Always” when Beckett thanks him for saving her life. If I’m not completely wrong, it’s the first episode without Alexis in it :( It feels like we’re at that point now where Castle’s domestic life isn’t as fundamental to the show as it was in seasons one and two.

3x14 Lucky Stiff: Ryan tells Esposito that they all know about him and Lanie. Martha inherits 1,000,000$ from Chet’s death but she doesn’t feel comfortable with getting all the money since she had planned on breaking up with him before he died. She doesn’t know what to do and talks to Beckett, and ends up opening “The Martha Rodgers School of Acting”. Also, can I just say how ridiculously good Beckett and Castle look in this season (so far)? I mean, sure, they both are good looking people. But Beckett looks so pretty and her hair is gorgeous. And Castle looks exactly like if you merged season1Castle and season7castle. His face is smoother, like it was in the early seasons, but his hair is more like in the later seasons. I can’t describe it properly but I like it.

3x15 The Final Nail: “Mom and Dad are fighting”. The case is really personal to Castle because the victim’s husband is a guy he met in boarding school who published his writing and told him he had talent. The guy that pushed him to become a writer. Alexis’ valentine’s day gift for Ashley is perfect. A photo of Ash’s rat Theodore in a frame that says “true love”. As Castle describes it “heart-felt, yet humorous”. Also, Alicia Coppola is in this episode (I know her as Faith Coleman in NCIS).

3x16 Setup: I love how dramatic and serious the beginning is and you don’t know what’s going on - and then “36 hours earlier”. There’s an adorable scene at the Castle residence where Martha wants to take Alexis on a spiritual retreat but she doesn’t want to, so she mouths something to Castle, so that he’ll tell her not to go. And Castle says “Phys..physi..physics! Physics exam! Don’t you have a Physics exam on Monday?” and afterwards “Best dad ever”. It’s so cute. Later, though, he sends Alexis with Martha because there’s a possible nuclear threat and he wants them safe <3. His face when he tells her to go, though. The episode ends with Becktt and Castle trapped in that ice truck thing. Cliffhanger!

3x17 Countdown: If I’m not totally mistaken, this is the first episode-adjusted-titlecard. WIth the title card all icy and blue. They found Castle and Beckett just in time because Alexis (who returned with Martha earlier than planned because she was so anxious about her exam) called Ryan, asking about Castle because he wasn’t at home. Castle returns home where Martha and Alexis were already waiting for him and he tells them to go to the Hamptons. It’s so intense, he just wants them safe. These two episodes are full of Caskett moments that make you go “how does it take you guys 1.5 more seasons to get your acts together”. I was just missing a Castle/Alexis/Martha reunion at the end.

3x18 One Life to Lose: Beckett is such a shipper and such a fangirl of “Temptation Lane” lol. Also, THERE’S DAVID EIGENBERG. He looks so different than Christopher Herrmann though :’) But good to see him :)

3x19 Law & Murder: Castle knows that Alexis is lying about her plans because of the way her nose crinkles. How adorable is this. Not so adorable, though, is Castle’s behavior to figure out what Alexis is doing: he tracks her phone. Later, Alexis figures out Castle is lying to her because of that nose thing. “You have the best kid in the world” aww. Later, Alexis tells Castle why she was in that neighborhood she wasn’t supposed to be in. Some friends of her where shoplifting and they pressured her to do it as well, but she didn’t and late felt guilty about the stolen stuff, so she went back to pay for it. Castle is like “why are you friends with them anyway” “it’s not that simple” aww bb :(

3x20 Slice of Death: “Every inch of my body is telling me to protect her” <3 Alexis is upset because her best friend is acting weird. It’s so adorable how worried Castle is. God I just love their relationship. “...and then one day, one of you ends up in a pizza oven” lol Castle, good comparison. “Did you kick her ass?” “kinda did” “Good girl” <3 the ending is also super cute when Castle drove all the way across the bridge to get THE pizza for him and Alexis.

3x22 To Love and Die in LA: IT’S HANK VOIGHT AGAIN. I mean.. Mike Royce. I just love how similiar those two names are. And then his real name Jason Beghe.. so different. Noooo he’s dead :( Castle and Beckett travel to LA. Lanie and Esposito kiss on-screen for the first time. AAAAH OMG THAT’S BEN WARRAN GROM GREY’S. “I’m still amazed by the depth of your strength, your heart.” “You’re not so bad yourself, Castle”. And then there’s this silence where they just look at each other and you’re screaming “NOW KISS”. “Come and find me” plays and these idiots still don’t get it right. There’s also the scene where Beckett gets out of the pool and she just looks smoking hot. I swear, if I only looked half as good, I’d take selfies non stop and feel so good about myself omg. THe ending is really emotional. Of course they catch Royce’s killer. On the plane back to New York, Beckett reads a letter from Royce where basically he tells her to just go for it and admit to the feelings she has for Castle. And there’s “Just Breathe” playing which makes it even more beautiful.

3x23 Pretty Dead: Alexis is heartbroken because her boyfriend Ashley wants to study at Stanford. Then, Ashley decides to stay in New York but Alexis feels guilty for standing in his way, so she breaks up with him, so that he’ll make his own choice. He decides to go to Stanford but lets Alexis know (through Castle lol he actually went to the precinct) that he thinks long-distance could work. Bellamy Young is in that episode, hi Beth :) We meet Montgomery’s wife and he also announces he’s gonna retire in a year but Beckett says that he always says that, so it’s all good. In the end, Alexis decides to apply to Stanford for early admission and lol Castle’s reaction is too hilarious, I’M pissing myself. He’s literally just saying “what” four times and his face oh my God I couldn’t describe it properly. It’s... hilarious.

3x24 Knockout: I don’t really know what to say about the episode. It’s such a thrill, such a ride, so emotional. And then you see Montgomery’s wife crying with her two children next to her and you think the episode is over and then boom, Beckett is shot. Gonna get started on season 4 later today and I’ll publish that season 4 post when I’m done with that season, like I did with season 3.

[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newscap 11/10/2019

Good Morning #realdreamchasers. Here is your daily news cap for Friday, October 11th, 2019. There is a lot to read and digest so take your time. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS), Barbados Today (BT), or by purchasing a Weekend Nation Newspaper (WN).

DEMS SAY GOVT FAILING THE PEOPLE – The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) has slammed the Mia Amor Mottley Administration for painting an image on the international stage that all was well at home, while ordinary Barbadians suffer. DLP president Verla De Peiza, speaking yesterday at a press conference at Charlton Chambers, Whitepark Road, St Michael, gave the Government a failing grade, adding it was not meeting the social needs of Barbadians. “The people of Barbados have to be at the core of whatever policies are being made,” she said. “You cannot have policies that take the country somewhere internationally but leave your people behind. It is a recipe for anarchy and dissension. “When you have conversations overseas about climate change and how it will impact people and environmental policy, but at home you are pumping sewage into the sea, garbage is piling up everywhere, with rodents and flies on the increase, and diseases in the offing, how can you give anything other than a failing grade?” she asked. (WN)

CALL TO BE ON GUARD – The Ministry of Health is warning Barbadians to be on their guard as the island experiences a “significant” upsurge in cases of viral illnesses. The caution came yesterday from both acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Anton Best and senior medical officer of health (North) Dr Leslie Rollock. Best reported that after investigations, specifically in the area of disease surveillance, the ministry had determined there was an increase in rhino (cold) viruses, as well as some flu viruses. The response came in the wake of yesterday’s Front Page story in the DAILY NATION which highlighted the concerns of parents about a large number of children falling ill at Harrison College with flu-like symptoms. Since then, other schools have reported students and some teachers being sick with similar symptoms, including sore throat, vomiting and headache along with feelings of lethargy. (WN)

COMPTROLLER: UP TO WAREHOUSES – The onus is now on warehouse operators to upload their stock into the new Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) World system. And if they don’t, there will be no activity, causing their own bottleneck. That was revealed by Comptroller of Customs Owen Holder, who was speaking following a marathon meeting on Tuesday with stakeholders in the customs industry. “The warehouse owners were asked to submit their stock to Customs on August 23, and add the opening stock in the system. To date, some organisations are still trying to ascertain what their stock is. “The issuance of a licence to operate a warehouse is conditioned by many things, including the operation of a system that they can easily determine the stock levels within the warehouse at any time,” he explained.   (BT)

$7,500 COMPENSATION – A local High Court has ordered a 38-year-old woman to pay $7,500 in compensation for injuries she inflicted on another woman with a hammer. The order was handed down yesterday by Justice Randall Worrell in the No. 2 Supreme Court against Tracy Alicia Layne of Skeete’s Road, Clapham, Christ Church. Justice Worrell told Layne she must pay $2,500 forthwith, which was paid. She  must pay another $2,500 by November 29 this year and the final installment of a similar sum by January 31 next year. He also informed her he will deliver the court’s sentencing on the same day as the final payment. Layne went on trial last year on two charges: that on March 29, 2005 she wounded Esther Moore with intent to maim, disfigure or disable her or to do her some serious bodily harm and unlawfully and maliciously wounding her. On October 16, 2018, the accused was found not guilty of wounding with intent, but guilty of the lesser charge. Layne is being represented by attorney-at-law Arthur Holder. (BT)

TRIDENTS BOOK SPOT IN CPL FINAL – Ashley Nurse and Raymon Reifer starred with both bat and ball as Barbados Tridents knocked out defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders to set up a 2019 Hero Caribbean Premier League(CPL) final against the all-conquering Guyana Amazon Warriors. Nurse’s intervention was crucial in both innings, first when blasting an unbeaten 24 from nine balls to propel a stuttering Tridents innings up to 160 for 6 and then taking two key wickets to help strangle the Knight Riders’ run-chase.  Having been put into bat, the Tridents looked set to make an under-par total for the majority of their innings until Nurse and Raymon Reifer – who later also played his part with the ball, bowling a nerveless final over that included the vital wicket of Seekkuge Prasanna for a 27-ball 51 and the match-clinching one of Khary Pierre – plundered an unbroken 48 runs for the seventh wicket from the final 14 balls. With the Knight Riders ultimately coming up 12 runs short, the final two overs when the Tridents batted were the difference between going to Saturday’s final and going home. Johnson Charles could have been dismissed twice early in his 35, dropped by Denesh Ramdin in the first over of the night and then seeing a skied shot land safe after Lendl Simmons and Chris Jordan left it for each other. While never quite at his fluent best, Charles’ effort was crucial in holding things together during a fraught first half of the Tridents innings in which Hales and Shakib fell to Pierre and JP Duminy was forced to hobble off retired hurt after injuring his leg while hitting a six. The Tridents will be desperate to have him available on Saturday. Charles followed Duminy straight off the field, skying Ali Khan to Jordan at mid-off to leave the Tridents in bother at 74 for 3 – effectively four down – in the 12th over. Things got worse for them two overs later when Jonathan Carter was spectacularly caught and bowled by Jordan, who flung himself to his left in his follow-through to pluck the ball from the air inches above the grass. When Jason Holder picked out Colin Munro at deep midwicket in the same over, the Tridents were 92 for 5 with time running out and the innings in real danger of falling away completely. That didn’t happen. Shai Hope played nicely for his 23 from 18 with two fours and a six, before Reifer and Nurse gave the innings its all-important explosive finish. Both men finished 24 not out, with five Hero Maximums between them. Even then, 160 for 6 was no more than a par score in tricky conditions for bowlers coping with a wet ball. Seekkuge Prasanna of Trinbago Knight Riders almost brought it home for his team with 51 off 27 balls.   (WN)

HELPING ONE OF THEIR OWN – A group of former St James Secondary School (now Frederick Smith Secondary) students have joined hands to raise funds to assist cancer victim Ruth Quintyne with medical expenses. This morning, during a brief ceremony at the Ministry of Labour, Quintyne received a $10, 000 cheque from the Trents 95 Alumni. Trents 95 Alumni which was born out of an immediate need to help Quintyne, has as its mission to socially connect with Trents Class of ‘95 old scholars and to provide relief to those in need, by reason of ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantages. The funds were raised through a fish fry held at the Bay Street Esplanade on September 7, and also from donations from corporate Barbados and other kind-hearted citizens. Almost a year ago, Quintyne was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the blood. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment and is unable to work. Quintyne has no health insurance coverage and her focus right now is on winning with cancer and having a much-needed hip replacement surgery. “It has been a challenging year mentally, and it’s only through God’s grace and mercy that I am here today and I am overwhelmed. I want to thank the Trents alumni, my schoolmates. “It warms my heart to see that they really stepped out for me. I have seen the hard work that you guys put in, and I have seen the challenges that you had and I am sincerely grateful from the bottom of my heart to each and everyone of you,” said Quintyne. (BT)

MEKKING SPORT – The string of Caribbean comedians and one comedienne kept a packed audience at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre in fits of laughter at the third annual Let Muh Laugh comedy show last Saturday night. In a show that could be deemed moderately comical, Barbadians Rickardo Reid Jr, Nadia Phillips, Rum and Koke alongside Jamaican Chris Johnny Daley and Trinidadian Allan D Entertainer shared stories that were not only hilarious but absurd to the point that you could not help but laugh. The Market Vendor made a special guest appearance. While taking jabs at politicians and celebrities, the line-up also shared comical family and village stories along with other life experiences. As expected, issues affecting the Caribbean both economically and socially including horning, homosexuality and violence were up for discussion. The first half of the show saw Reid and Phillips take the stage with Reid speaking of mishaps at funerals, the exploits of his family – especially his uncle – who got him involved in entertainment. The NIFCA bronze, silver and gold medal winner and Daphne Joseph and Alfred Pragnell Awardee got a good response. Meanwhile, Phillips, the lone female didn’t connect with the audience and she got very little response. She spoke of how the tough economic times were impacting on daily life before descending into the realm of bowel movements and nose picking. The topics did not resonate with some audience members who started clapping during her performance.    However, Emcee Mac Fingall who from the start of the show kept the laughs coming also held the show together between performances telling his stories in his usual hilarious manner and engaging in banter with the audience. Of note was an interview of the Market Vendor, done by Rebecca Fernandes of Corridor News Network. The wide-ranging interview revealed what he would do if he were Prime Minister including changing the names of several government agencies and his views on the most dangerous weapon in Barbados, which incidentally was a cutlass. The Market Vendor who had his bucket said it contained notes of things he would not like to forget and a wealth of other information. Representing Trinidad, Allan D Entertainer who would amend some of the Ten Commandments if he could, said they would come with serious consequences if not adhered to. He said if he could change the commandments, individuals who lie would fart, for those who steal their arms would get shorter and those who commit adultery would walk with bow legs; he envisioned how some politicians would look if it were so. He was joined by Chris Johnny Daley who told stories of his homeland Jamaica and the dancehall scene there. Entertainer Ding Dong’s one word songs bore the brunt of his assault while the many tales of his interactions with his wife were well received. Local talent Rum and Koke gave commentary of a game of the Caribbean Political League (CPL), a version of the cricket league. They noted how the former captain was extremely quiet during his stint but how the new captain was leading from the front, at times bowling and batting at the same time. The receptive and almost full to capacity audience cheered and laughed loudly with almost everyone remaining seated until the curtain closed on the show around midnight.   (BT)

BEAUTY, TALENT AND SMARTS – Give her the mace, the crown and throne. Kyla Ward deserved to be crowned on the night of the Barbados Talented Teen category amongst females. She pulled out all the stops as she performed amazingly with guitar in hand and splendid voice to match. With a mash up remix to Lana Del Rey’s Young and Beautiful fused with End of the World by Rob Dickinson, Queen Kyla was stunning as she sat poised on the stage at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St Michael on Saturday. She was simply amazing. Her gown was another show stopper as she came out bedecked in a golden mesh and sequined piece which showed her curves and pieces of chocolate skin. The question: “Who do you find as a phenomenal woman?” did not trip her up either as she carved that one out by naming young environmentalist, Greta Thunberg, who made headlines as an activist for the earth and green living. Ward said that she was not expecting to win, but she was relieved nonetheless. First runner-up, Naticia Eugene, pointed out the humility of Michelle Obama when asked about a woman who made a significant impact on her and she too was graceful in her pink gown. Eugene, also a vocalist, rocked the hall as she sang Titanium. She won Miss Congeniality, Best Project and Best Project Interview. Lauryn Small, who played steel pan, commanded the stage and that earned her enough points as second runner-up. She came out gowned in a sweet sliver set which flowed from waist to floor. Small hailed her mother for making a significant impact in her life. Other participants included Hope Thomas, Azaria Sealy and Grace Pooler who did an interesting act of archery mixed with gymnastics. Manager of Barbados Talented Teens Kofi Branch said that the programme is in its sixth year. (BT)

HEAVY ROLLERS FOR SOCA FOR SIGHT – The sounds of sweet soca filled the atmosphere at The Barbados Yacht Club Saturday night when patrons gathered for the Soca For Sight charitable event. Some top local entertainers performed at the worthy cause which is one of two activities intended to raise $500, 000 for the Lion’s Eye Care Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. There was food and drink on sale throughout the night as well as a silent auction which all formed part of the fund-raising initiative. As for the show, it was a top-notch production from start to finish. MC Ronnie Clarke did an excellent job complementing what the artistes delivered on stage. The backing band, De Red Boyz, were in fine musical form for the entire night. The brass section was superb. Two sweet singing vocalists in Betty B and Biggie Irie added to the band. They started the night out with some hip hop classics such as Dancing Queen, Oh What A Night and Happy, among others. A fitting member to the performing cast was newly crowned Blind Soca King Mr DJwho sang It Got Me. When the six-time champ was done performing, he was spotted in the crowd enjoying the night’s entertainment. The Soca General, Edwin Yearwood, was the first main act to grace the stage to the sounds of the 1997 hit song All Aboard, a song he had penned for Trinidadian band Atlantik. His was a full groovy set which appeared to please the party crowd and included such hits as Good Time, Carnival On My Mind, Feels Like Home Again, Pump Me Up and Wet Me. Edwin ended with Sak Pase and as has become the norm, the massive were rocking from side to side as they loudly  proclaimed: “De Road is Mine…” Biggie Irie returned to the stage, this time for a solo set which included: Country Girl, Pankatang, Need Ah Riddim, Magic and Nah Going Home. He went way back in time to sing an old time favourite Splash Band’s Get Busy. King of the Road Mighty Grynner upped the pace a bit, and the crowd loved it. With a set filled with classics, the “old dawg” sang Mr T, We Want More Grynner, Turn Up De Speaker and Leggo I Hand and had the crowd rocking. Repeatedly saying he could sing all night long, Grynner got an encore as the crowd chanted: “more Grynner” to which he obliged. He came back on stage and sang Leggo I Hand one more time. RPB got the honour of closing the show. His performance saw the crowd enjoying songs such as Once Upon A Wine, Wrong Gal, Ragga Ragga and Something’s Happening. He ended with the 2017 hit song Boat Ride at which time 75-year-old Bill Tempro, who is legally blind, made his way to the stage. RPB said the song was in tribute to Bill who will set out to sail around the island on October 13, the second fund-raising event called Sail for Sight. The entertainer asked everyone to give Bill their support as he embarked on the activity which is for a worthy cause. (BT)

RIHANNA IN NEW LIGHT – She has already sold millions of albums, tons of lingerie, and is making a name for herself in high-fashion. And Rihanna’s next venture is in the publishing world. The 31-year-old mogul announced on Monday morning that she will be releasing her first ever “visual autobiography” – simply titled Rihanna – through publisher Phaidon. Perhaps the most interesting part of the release is that there will be three-limited editions including the most luxe option which features a 2, 000-pound hand-carved marble pedestal from Portugal which has already sold out. There are only ten in the world and last month Cardi B bid on and won the Ultra Luxury Supreme Edition – titled Stoner – for $111, 000. There is also the Luxury Supreme version which includes a gold custom bookstand created in collaboration with artists the Haas Brothers which retails at a mere $5, 500. There is also a limited edition Fenty x Phaidon version for $175 featuring a steel bookstand also designed by the Haas Brothers and a standard version for $150. No matter what format the book is in, it will contain more than 1, 000 photos documenting the pop star and her life including many snaps which have never been seen. Additional features include three paper stocks, seven single and double page gatefolds, nine bound-in booklets, one tip-in sheet, and a double-sided removable poster. Of the project, Rihanna said: “I am so excited to share this collection of incredible images. I’m very grateful to the talented photographers and artists who contributed. We’ve been working on the book for over five years and I’m really happy to be able to finally share it with everybody.” A press statement read: “From her childhood in Barbados to her worldwide tours, from quintessential fashion moments to private time with friends and family, the book showcases intimate photographs of her life as a musician, performer, designer, and entrepreneur.” Rihanna and Phaidon are hosting a pre-publication ticketed book party at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City this Friday. (BT)

There are 82 days left in the year Shalom!  Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for your daily news. #thechasefiles #dailynewscaps #bajannewscaps #newsinanutshell

[tango-uniformed]

Viv annoys the hell out of Levi

Here’s 6 pages of shit I typed out this morning because I was thinking about how random connections are. Also trying and failing to write Levi as simultaneously cool and empty but with an underlying idk badness/darkness. Also two sentences of Felicia being rightfully mean to Viv for being disruptive in her shop.

####

At 10:00 one morning Viv and Levi found themselves on the prowl for brunch.

They walked down the street a few blocks from the apartment Madeline Calligaris had so...graciously provided the two of them. The Kennellys apartment was in the same complex, but Rain had lived in East Boston her entire life and stayed in her own place 20 minutes away despite the offer. The area was ok but it was so...Massachusetts-y and reminded Viv of when he lived there during college. Not a bad time but not the best time either. The neighborhood they were in was West Fenway, full of students and professionals.

It had been about a decade since Viv lived there and he felt very aware of how he much he had aged. Walking next to Levi didn’t help his self-esteem.

“This is ridiculous,” Levi complained. He was always talking or complaining but for some reason it came off as engaging rather than annoying. “It’s September. Why is it in the 50’s?” He was probably cold because he was wearing flip flops.

Viv felt like he did not know how to explain weather differences to a Californian and kept walking. “There’s a Starbucks coming up here in a block, want to go there?”

“No,” said Levi. A pretty older woman walked by him and she turned her head to look at him as he passed her. It was like the guy had pheromones. Levi didn’t seem to notice her.

“Dunkin?”

“I’d prefer a place that isn’t run by corporations or crowded, you feel me? If I’m staying here a while, I need a usual coffee place that’s cool.”

Nodding enthusiastically, Viv said, “It’s so cool that you care about that. Would you believe that when we drove out to find you, Bobby stopped at Chick-fil-a? It’s like, people like him even think about the consequences.”

Levi ignored him.

They passed the Starbucks, and then the Dunkins. One of the new dispensaries came up on their left side and Viv looked at it, trying to come up with conversation. Levi wasn’t into him at all, but Viv couldn’t ignore his crush on the guy, even though it was just leveling down to a friend-crush. He felt desperate to be liked by Levi.

He pointed at the dispensary. “Glad Maddy put us here instead of Baltimore.”

Levi looked up from his phone. “Yeah? I forgot it just got legalized here. Felt kindaaa worried that I’d have to buy from sketchy guys on the street like I when I was 20.” He laughed bitterly. “Good memories. Want to hear about the time I almost got kidnapped trying to buy weed in Echo Park?”

“Uhhh.”

The story Levi told lasted 5 minutes and didn’t have a point or a punch-line. It was just that he was so good-looking that whenever he went off on another one of his long nonsense stories, Viv wasn’t even annoyed. He was so involved in listening that he almost walked into a group of bleary-eyed MIT students.

“Anyways,” Levi concluded. “That’s how I learned never to tell my mom about anything dangerous I did, because I swear I almost gave her an aneurysm that night.” He laughed his peculiar bark-like and humorless laugh.

“What does she think about you moving across the country?”

“Oh, she doesn’t think much of anything. Since she passed after having an aneurysm in 2011.”

Viv could have committed seppuku in that moment. He cast his eyes around the block, desperately looking for something to keep the conversation topic away from the macabre. Even though Levi had been the one who made the joke, it still made him feel uncomfortable. And even worse, it made him briefly consider his own unstoppable mother’s mortality.

His gaze landed on a building on the corner across from them. It was a cafe, with Victorian-era looking chairs and tables outside. The sign above the door read “The King In Yellow” in ornate black lettering, and had a dragon on it. Viv grabbed Levi’s shoulder and pointed.

“Is that a True Detective reference?” Levi’s body felt warmer than most people’s, he could feel it through his floral shirt.

“Don’t touch me like that, man.” Levi brushed Viv away from him. “Want to eat there? Kind of hipster, but independent.”

“Sure,” said Viv, more embarrassed. He was a touchy person. His whole family was. His dad showed his emotions physically instead of speaking, always hugging when he was overjoyed or stomping around and slamming doors when he was angry. His mother was never shy and pulled people into dancing with her when she felt like it, and her hands were always guiding the hands of others when she taught music or art. Viv and his brothers all modeled the way they interacted with the world after them, even Will, though he wouldn’t admit it. Levi came across as an open individual, not closed off like Bobby Kennelly (who Viv knew straight away never to touch). He hoped that Levi hadn’t gotten the wrong idea. “Yeah. Sure. We want a cool, weird place, right?”

They crossed the street and went inside. The chimes that were on the door jangled discordantly.

It wasn’t a hipster cafe. It looked like Edgar Allan Poe’s ghost lived there with Salvador Dali’s ghost. One wall had a huge velvet Elvis painting mounted on it. There was a Ouija board encased in a glass frame up behind the cash register, next to an inexplicable signed picture of Chris Jericho. The furniture inside was also Victorian, and in one corner there was a Yamaha upright piano with books and candles shaped like skulls all over the top. Despite the discordant and slightly macabre decor, the whole place smelled like freshly baked bread and strong coffee.

The glass displays contained a beautiful assortment of French breads, croissants, and a few types of pastries that Viv didn’t recognize. From what he could tell, it all looked pretty serious and professional.

There were some people socializing and drinking coffee, but not many. The single greasy teenage barista looked up at Levi and Viv dully. “Oh shit,” he said, whistling slightly due to the braces that were straightening his sharp teeth.

It took a second for them to recognize him from their ill-fated McDonald’s trip with Rain from one week ago. He was the one who had covered for them all as they tried to get her magic under control.

“You,” said Levi. “McFlurry boy. What are you doing here?”

“I got fired because of you dickheads,” said the greasy little barista. He was wearing a nametag that said ‘Cyrus’. “Apparentlyyy spraying frozen yogurt all over a store accidentally on purpose to distract everyone from a lady who’s about to explode is frowned upon by management. It sucks here, I can’t steal chicken nuggets anymore.”

Viv wondered if this was a loose end that they would need to kill for Rain. He didn’t want to kill a teenager. Maybe Rain could kill her own loose end. Her cool gay lawyer seemed like he could easily get her out of any problem. He had already sprung her from prison even though she had...done whatever it was she did.

“You’re welcome, by the way,” said the barista, Cyrus. It didn’t seem like this establishment required a uniform, because he wore a NASA t-shirt under a black apron. “Did that lady explode? I have an uncle who works for the OVA so I’ve heard all kinds of stories about people dying because they didn’t get their magic or whatever checked out.”

“She didn’t explode,” said Viv, looking over his shoulder at the other customers. He conspicuously pulled out his wallet. “Thank you and could I get a caramel macchiato and a croissant?”

“Decaf green tea latte,” said Levi.

Cyrus rolled his eyes and got to work.

They sat down near the piano, because when Viv had the chance, he always sat near pianos. He missed his own baby grand, which was sitting in a storage unit back in Baltimore with the rest of his stuff. Maddy had told them all that she would take care of it. “Logistics,” she had said. “It’s what I do.” And she had laughed. Viv hoped that she would get on the ball soon.

“This is nice,” said Levi.

“Yeah,” said Viv. He drank his coffee, which was surprisingly good. The croissant was excellent. “What is it, a 15 minute walk away? We could all meet here when Maddy sends us a job.”

Levi was lounging in his chair. There was no better word for it. He was the most relaxed person Viv had ever met in his life. Every second he had to keep himself from staring at him. Another customer nearby stared without trying to hide it. Viv was starting to think that Levi’s variance was not limited to his sharp teeth, big ears, and strange green eyes. The man had a noticeable effect on other people. People couldn’t resist him. But Levi had never mentioned dealing with the OVA-- not that that surprised Viv, since Arlene hadn’t disclosed her abilities to them, nor had Rain.

“It’s fucked up,” said Levi. “That woman is using us somehow.”

“Yeah. It’s called a job. She put us all on payroll.”

Levi shook his head. “She wants expendable goons to clean up messes she can’t get to otherwise. I’m a good judge of people. She’s done it before. I’m only going along with this shit because I’m pissed off about someone framing me over that thing with your brother. Once that gets cleared up and I feel safe, I’m going back to L.A. I’m not abandoning my business for more than a couple months.”

It was something Viv suspected but didn’t want to believe. A month ago he had been making money off of podcasting and begging his old theatre to take him back. Now some lady came out of nowhere offering answers, a salary, and health insurance in exchange for...consultant work. He couldn’t just say ‘no’ to something like that. The Kennellys couldn’t say ‘no’ to that. Rain definitely couldn’t say ‘no’. And Levi? For all his talk, Viv knew that he couldn’t either. Even if Maddy’s intentions were sinister, she was paying up for the time being.

He decided to change the subject. “What do you want me to play?” he asked, gesturing at the piano.

“Anything?”

“For the most part.”

Levi drank the rest of his green tea latte. “Uptown Girl.”

Viv snorted and sat down at the piano, recalling Billy Joel’s 1983 classic, which didn’t seem like something Levi would choose-- but then, he couldn’t really pin down Levi’s musical taste. After a moment’s contemplation, he began to play.

He had always had a talent for music. The combination of having excellent tonal memory and being taught by his mother from early childhood lead to Viv being able to play almost anything by ear. He wasn’t that great at anything else-- bad at sports, terrible with math-- but give him a piano and he could make something beautiful. It was only when he was playing that he felt most himself. Even playing in a weird cafe beside a guy he had only known for a short time made Viv feel like he was on top of the world.

By the time he got to the 3rd stanza, the barista had made his way over to where they were sitting. “You can’t do that,” he said.

Viv stopped playing. “Why not?”

“Don’t tell me this thing’s here just for decoration,” said Levi with the air of a man who was bored and just wanted to cause trouble. He leaned over and clumsily played ‘Chopsticks’. “How am I doing?”

“You’re the next Ray Charles.” Both Viv and Levi snickered.

Cyrus looked annoyed. “Seriously, cut it out. It’s just there for open mic nights, which are Sundays at 7.”

Viv started to accompany Levi with the other part of ‘Chopsticks’. He was having a lot of fun all of a sudden, more fun than he’d had since Christian disappeared and this whole thing started. Was this what had been missing?

“I’m getting my manager,” muttered Cyrus. He slouched off.

“Play ‘What Does The Fox Say,’” said Levi.

“I can’t do that on the piano.”

“Play the Game of Thrones song then.”

What was with Levi’s musical tastes? Dad rock, an electronic meme song, and a HBO theme song? Who thought like that? Viv started to play. By this time, everybody else in the cafe was staring at them.

Before he even reached the middle of the song, a young Indian woman in a flour covered black apron marched over to them, and without saying a word slammed down the fallboard. It almost mashed Viv’s fingers. He held his arms up to his chest protectively and looked at her in shock.

“Thanks for your little performance,” said the woman, evidently Cyrus’s manager since he was trailing behind her like a hyena. She was short and overweight, with heavy dark make-up and an angry look about her. “The piano is off limits to customers except during open mic.”

Viv couldn’t even say anything. He kept thinking about how he just narrowly missed getting his fingers lopped off for no reason. Usually when he was rude in public spaces, service workers remained subservient and didn’t try to maim him. Levi looked like he found the whole thing hysterical; he hid his sharp smile behind one hand.  

“Can I get anything else for you?” asked the woman. Her name tag said ‘Felicia’. She smiled tightly, her black lipstick garish on her round pretty face.

“Can I speak to your boss?” whined Viv, taking a page out of his mother’s book. She would always complain in order to get her way at restaurants and shops.

Felicia kept smiling. “I’m the boss here,” she said. “I’m the owner of this establishment.”

“Oh shittttt,” said Cyrus from behind her.

“Will you get back to work?” Felicia snapped at him. The barista scuttled off. She turned back to Viv. “So what can I do for you, sir?”

For a second, both Viv and Levi were speechless. The entire cafe was staring at them as they, two adult men, got owned by a couple of service workers.

“We were just leaving,” Levi said tactfully. He stood up and held out his hand. “Thanks so much for the coffee, Ma’am, it was perfect.”

Viv walked out without making eye contact. “What just happened?” he muttered. “Did we just lose?”

“I didn’t lose. You looked like a real idiot though.”

“Great,” said Viv. “We can never go back there again.”

They of course, would go back again. And again. And again. Once you find a place like that, you don’t just forget about it.

[foursprout-blog]

Ranking These 46 Generic White Guys By Just How Dateable They Actually Are

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/happiness/ranking-these-46-generic-white-guys-by-just-how-dateable-they-actually-are/

Ranking These 46 Generic White Guys By Just How Dateable They Actually Are

Allan Ferreira

1. Charlie: The best man you’ll ever date. Sensitive, thoughtful, intelligent, and hilarious. 10/10 would recommend.

2. Mark: A parents’ dream come true. Mark holds the door open for you, shakes your dad’s hand, and asks your mom how she’s doing. He’s also incredibly nice to you when people aren’t around. Good cook. Does sweet gestures throughout the week. Definitely someone you should date seriously.

3. Pete: Hilarious, wonderful, and the one you’ll definitely want to marry someday. Supportive and kind. Date him and never let him go.

4. Joe: He’s just a fun dude who wants to make you feel loved and special. Knows just what kind of wine you’ll need after a long day. Isn’t afraid to go into Sephora. Attentive and thoughtful. Absolutely boyfriend material.

5. Brian: He’s just a kind person. Plans actual dates that don’t involve watching Black Mirror in his apartment for the 17th Friday in a row. Into romantic gestures. Gives you space when you want it. Trustworthy. Swipe right on Brian!

6. Derek: Actually knows how to hold a conversation.

7. Tim: Totally okay with being a stay at home dad and so you can pursue all your hopes and dreams.

8. Jim: Outdoorsy guy who definitely drives a Subaru. Likes untraditional sports like archery and fowling. Super interesting, can actually carry a conversation, and likes all of your jokes.

9. Eric: Pretty nice guy. Does his best to do the right thing and genuinely listens to what you have to say. Lets you pick the restaurant most times. Likes dogs.

10. Nick: As generic as his name. Dinner and movie dates are the usual go-to for him. Flowers on Valentine’s Day. Nothing special, but not bad either.

11. Ryan: Just #oneoftheboys. Calls you dude a lot, which is kind of endearing but is also annoying when it happens during sex. He’s charming, though, so he’s easy to forgive.

12. Paul: Pretty safe bet. Low drama. Also very, very, very boring, which is totally fine if you’re into committing to the same two sex positions for the duration of your relationship. 6/10 would recommend.

13. Jake: He’s aight.

14. Tom: Works in sales. Well spoken but it’s that’s because he’s all talk, no action. Can never get a straight answer from this dude.

15. Alex: It’s a scientific fact that all guys named Alex are hot. He’s very charming and has a great sense of humor. Fun guy to date, but can also be pretty flirty with your best friend, so keep an eye on that.

16. Kevin: Kevin is just a regular dude with a regular life and regular thoughts. Not very complex, but is nice to you. You could do worse than Kevin, but you could also do better.

17. Jeff: Super fun bro who puts the seat down when he’s done in the bathroom and is a great kisser. Definitely the dude you fall in love with at 23 and break up with when you graduate college. But you’ll never forget him.

18. Cal: A frat boy who never lets you forget he was in a frat. Still wears Sperries.

19. Sam: Thinks he’s prettier than you. Very vain. Does have great hair products you can borrow, but besides that, not much to this dude.

20. Steve: Has an Instagram #fitspo account that he posts on three times a day. Saying he’s going to the gym to “get swoll” unironically. Great bod, kinda funny, but that’s about it.

21. Brandon: Lax bro who has terrible commitment issues.

22. Rob: Probably an entrepreneur who wants you to help him with his business. Never really makes time for you, but promises it’ll be “worth it” once his ideas take off. Probably not worth dating, to be honest.

23. Sean: Prefers cats over dogs, which is pretty sketch.

24. Doug: Funny guy but can’t hold a serious conversation to save his life.

25. Matthew: Meh.

26. Ben: Slid into your Twitter DMs to tell you he disagreed with your tweet as an attempt at flirting. This is a primer for how the sex is gonna be. (Read: bad).

27. Craig: Boring.

28. Ron: Was a nerd in high school so he tries way too hard to be cool in adulthood. He’ll try really hard to make you happy which is nice but it’s almost, like, TOO MUCH.

29. Christopher: Emotionally unavailable.

30. Johnathan: Douche.

31. Carl: Has a pic of him holding a baby on his Tinder that he makes sure to specify is “not his kid.” Still wants to appear paternal though, and hopes this will help him get laid. It doesn’t. Swipe left.

32. Austin: Craft beer snob who will love to tell you all about IPAs. Most of your dates will be at a brewery. Tells you that you’re “not like most girls,” which makes you want to vomit more than all the hops. Probably won’t want to date him long, tbh.

33. Mike: Player.

34. Thomas: Hard pass.

35. Colin: Bad news.

36. John: Eh.

37. Tyler: Runs from emotional expression. Impossible to read.

38. Dave: Just a sk8r boi who doesn’t realize that being 32 and working 10 hours a week doesn’t make him a ~free spirit~

39. Brent: Just kind of a dick tbh.

40. Chett: Pissed his parents named him Chett, so he’s always in a bad mood. Impossible to make happy. Very needy. Cries after sex. Does make a very good omelet though.

41. Andrew: Knows more about everything than you do, and yes, he’s already heard of that band, obviously. Will argue with you over things he knows nothing about because he just likes the sound of his own voice. You won’t last dating him for more than two weeks and he won’t last in bed more than three minutes.

42. Trevor: Hates dogs. Do not trust. Do not date.

43. Chuck: Self-declared nice guy who doesn’t like it when you wear “all that eyeliner.” Gets pissed when a male waiter asks what you’d like to eat. Definitely the jealous type. Not at all fun to date so steer clear.

44. Chad: Hardcore Republican who yells “FAKE NEWS!!!!” during sex.

45. Joel: Wants to sleep with your best friend.

46. Travis: Run.