#*cries in I was hyped for season 2 of I Am Not Okay With This

[kpopscatterbrain]

Kdramas i've watched this year

Some of these are older dramas but i'm a procrastinator

Black Knight (2023): Loved this one! I have watched it probably 5 times now. Kim Woobin kicking ass is all i need!

Under the Queen's Umbrella (2022): I didn't watch this when it aired (no idea why). I was worried that the plot would be overrun by romance but thankfully i was wrong. Loved Kim Hye-Soo's performance (i cried a little).

Island seasons 1 & 2 (2022-2023): Honestly i only started this one for Kim Nam-Gil. I loved the cast, but the flow of the plot was a little off (don't know how, i can't put a finger on it). Was positively suprised by Cha Eun-Woo's acting, i think he needs more roles like this! Hot villain alert no.1! Sung Joon as a bad guy is either a blessing or a curse. Cgi could have been better.

Taxi Driver season 2 (2023): Loved the first season so of course i had to watch the second one. Love Lee Je-Hoon. Love the main characters. Love the plot and the message of this drama. A masterpiece. Waiting for season 3.

Weak Hero Class 1 (2022): Only heard of this drama wayyy after it aired (thanks tiktok) and god does it deserve every award there is! I was a bit hesitant because Park Ji-Hoon was the main lead, but boy was i wrong because his talent got me speechless (weren't we all). I cried, i cheered, i shadowboxed, i cried a little more and in the end i called my therapist. Thankfully season 2 is coming.

Bloodhounds (2023): Woo Do-whan and Lee Sang-Yi in the same drama beating people up? Yes please! The plot wasn't mindblowing, but sometimes just simple ass kicking is enough. Bromance was bromancing. Park Sung-Woong with another great villain character.

Revenant (2023): After dropping Mr.Sunshine i wanted to see Kim Tae-ri in other dramas, so when this aired i gave it a go. Her range is phenomenal! I have only seen couple spookier dramas, so i made a mistake and watched this at night (slept with the lights on). The eerie vibes and plot twists were well made. Hong Kyung had great chemistry with Kim Tae-ri and his cop role was refreshing to see after his performance in Weak Hero Class (if you know you know).

Flower of Evil (2020): Okay, this is one of the dramas i procrastinated hard on. It's been sitting on my "have to watch" list since it aired and i'm the only one to blame (i hype up a drama in my mind, then don't want to watch it because now i'm afraid it doesn't go the way i think it does and then i get disappointed blaablaablaa). This year i finally got over myself and why. didn't. i. watch. it. sooner!!!! It is all i ever wanted in a kdrama. 1. serial killers 2. a psychopath (but is he really?) w/ an effed up childhood 3. mindgames 4. marriage problems (but has a lot of soft & cute scenes) 5. Lee Joon-Gi. Also as a plus (hot villain alert no.2) the bad guy is kindaa (i'm sane i swear). I would be lying if i didn't say that i found the wife slightly annoying (might be me, but she went too much back & forth and sometimes i had to take a breather while watching), but all in all this drama will be hard to top and i fell in love with Lee Joon-Gi.

Moving (2023): Honestly one of the best dramas of the year. I don't usually really go for plots that have a lot of romance in them (if you haven't noticed), but i found this one to be really well balanced and the romance scenes weren't "cringy". Although Bong-Seok and Hui-Soo were great and had great chemistry, i looooved the background stories of the parents. Park Hee-Soon also pops up as kind of a non-villain villain. I hope there is a season 2.

Song of the Bandits (2023): Kim Nam-Gil again. 1920s Korea and gunslingers... what more could i need? After Mr. Sunshine left me with a disappointment (this might be an unpopular opinion) i craved for a drama set around the same time period, but with a little less romance (i know, i am defective). I think dramas should explore this time period more, but i understand it might still be a touchy subject. The skills of the cast were obviously great, Kim Nam-Gil killed his role like always, but Lee Ho-Jung as Eon-Nyeon shined with her performance (i am now a new fan). Hot villain alert no.3! I have seen Lee Hyun-Wook in Remarriage & Desires and seeing him as a villain made me feel things. If there isn't a second season i will cry.

The Killing Vote (2023): A "serial killer" in a dog mask making the public vote on punishing criminals and everyone suspects each other? Cyber crime? Chemistry between two cops? Major hot villain (no.4)? Sign me up. I love when crime dramas make you question your people reading skills (i have the tism so i really got none) and have all kinds of theories flying around. I liked that even Kim Mu-Chan and Joo Hyun had obvious chemistry between them it didn't overshadow the main point of the plot. I liked Seo Young-Joo's delivery and i hope he gets more bigger roles. Kim Kwon.... why does the psychopath have to be hot? He also needs more bigger roles. !spoiler! Also Park Sung-Woong killing (heh) yet another morally grey character.

The Worst of Evil (2023): Okay, first of all i have to say... the wife ruined everything (some agree and some don't). We get another bromance duo of the year with Wi Ha-Joon and Ji Chang-Wook. Loved the crime organization infiltration plot, heavily despised the romance plot (sorry Bibi baby). I was constantly on the edge of my seat and the characters started to get so morally grey that in the end everyone needs group therapy. Action scenes were chefs kiss. A honorable mention goes for Lee Shin-Ki as Seo Jong-Ryul (or Chief Seo, knife guy, the man has many names) and Bibi for her performance as Lee Hae-Ryeon.

Evilive (2023): Heavily underrated. Kim Young-Kwang doing what he does best, playing a psychopath. This combined with a bromance plot with the one and only bromance master Shin Ha-Kyun? I'm sold. The dramas literal title "villain story" really sums up the plot. Sometimes you are not sure who to cheer for. Sometimes you are not really sure about your own sanity. But to be fair, so aren't the main characters.

Vigilante (2023): Love it. Currently re-watching it. Needs more attention. Needs more episodes. I'm in love with Nam Joo-Hyuk. The best crime drama of the year, the title is all i needed to hear. Beating up criminals in well made action scenes is my favorite genre. No romance. One sided bromance? Morally grey characters (am i repeating myself now?). Yoon Ji-Tae as a beefy cop and Lee Joon-Hyuk as a slightly insane admirer? If we don't get a season 2 i will start a riot.

[thevoidsdelusions]

UH JJK SPOILERSSS JUST FINISHED JJK S.2 IM LEGIT SO SAD I DIDNT WATCH THIS SOONER I THOUGHT IT WAS GONNA BE RLLY OVERRATED BUT ITS AWESOME AWESOME SAUCE I CANT EXPRESS JUST HOW HYPED I AM FOR SEASON 3 BRO I LOVE YUTA SM i know itadori's gonna win cuz main protag plot armour BUT STIOLL THE FACT IT WAS TOGE'S ARM THAT MAJORLY SWAYED YUTA THATS SO SWEET YUTA'S MY FAVOYRITE ACK (i think i like yuta because he's similar to shinji same va and all (megumi ogata is HAUNTING ME SHE IS EVERYWHERE I TURN) BUT APGAEOGNSSRO)

okay actually coherent thoughts about the show (not in order) 1. I love Yuta 2. Itadori's out here collecting brothers like they're pokemon like DAMN im so confused about the Choso thing how does that WORK 3. rlly liked mahito i legit couldnt bring myself to cheer for yugi in their fights idkk 4. JUNPEI MY CHILD i wanna make crossover art with him and mitsuba from tbhk idk they kinda remind me of each other (hair and stuff) maybe i just want an excuse to draw junpei with pink hair who can say 5. I LOVE THE FACT THAT MEN IN THIS SHOW ARE ALLOWED TO SHOW EMOTION ITS SMALL BUT NOBODY IS RLLY BELITTLED FOR CRYING AND SHIT LIKE WHEN ITADORI'S ROLLING AROUND ON THE FLOOR SAYING HE'S A MURDERER (BONUS POINTS FOR GUILLLTTTT BRO I LOVED THAT) TODO ENCOURAGES HIM AND ITS SO SWEEEEET AND JUNPEI CRIES AND YUTA ETC ETC 6. I also love megumi my jaw legit dropped when he fought his dad i reeeaaallly hope someone tells him that was his father ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE NARRATOR SAYING "oh yeah in this current state toji only goes after the strongest" AND HE GOES STRAIGHT TO MEGUMI ?!?!?!?! CRAZY BRO 7. ....... Mei and Ui Ui. Need i say more. what the heck. 8. RIP gojo my 2nd favourite geometric wife (second to Ramiel ofc)

My final thoughts are (prolyl not but all for now): i liked season 1 better because i prefer shows with more plot. I feel like season two of jjk is going along the lines of demon slayer, which I've basically given up on because im bored of plot-armour full fight scenes. its just not my thing yk anyways yippe live laught love yuta

[thedailybullshit]

Okay, I’m gonna preface this by saying that I’m very cautious when it comes to future adaptations of Rick Riordan’s spin-off series. Bc nothing’s been confirmed & it’s all going to depend on the success of the PJO show, & bc each series gets a little gayer than the last & we all know where Disney stands on queer rep (they’re never going to be forgiven for canceling TOH before its time). Hell, I don’t think a season 2 is confirmed for PJO yet. So I’m always hesitant to discuss adaptations of the rest of the Riordanverse.

With all that being said

if they end up adapting a Magnus Chase series years down the line, then so many queer kids of color are going to see themselves IN THE TITULAR CHARACTER & the thought of that makes me so happy.

Bc it’s no secret that a majority of queer rep seen onscreen is white & cis. So queer POC might see themselves in 1 way but not another, & rarely do they see multiple aspects of themselves in 1 character.

So in a potential screen adaptation of MCGA, you have Magnus, a black pansexual boy, in a meaningful built-up relationship w/ Alex, a Mexican gender fluid kid.

I remember feeling absolutely euphoric & seen in a way I hadn’t felt before when I read that Magnus didn’t care what gender Alex was, he was just happy to be kissing Alex. Magnus was the 1st character in any media I’d consumed who I felt represented my sexuality.

& to read it is a whole different thing than to see & hear it onscreen.

So if we do end up w/ a MCGA tv show, then I’ll been absolutely ecstatic for all the queer kids of color who will get to see themselves in Magnus & Alex.

[haleigh-sloth]

Okay, thoughts on Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2:

I've seen.....nothing good on tumblr here about it.

Personally for this series in particular, the tumblr takes bothered me to no end. Soooo maybe this site is only good for certain types of media, for me personally. Idk.

I don't really care about tiny not-affecting-things-that-matter plot holes. So I'm not even going to worry about those.

I was never sold on the Byler stuff. Will being gay was pretty obvious. And I will go ahead and assign blame where blame is due, to the Stranger Things media accounts. They were.....really unnecessary with that stuff. But Mike and El not legitimately breaking up is not surprising. I didn't see it happening.

I'm not convinced Max is gone. In fact, I feel like a good chunk of season 5 will be dedicated to getting her back. Getting her body out of the upside down or something. Idk, but I think she'll be fine.

I think Will is due for some serious action, so I'm foreseeing that in season 5. Will being able to feel him, oh yeah. Will's time is coming. I'm super hype about it.

Eddie dying was sad but I was pretty ready for it. And I am more so glad that it was him and not Steve, which imo would have actually been seriously cruel.

Eddie playing Metallica had me screaming.

Argyle is amazing. Never change.

I hope and assume we will see Suzie next season. Maybe include her in the shenanigans even more.

Everybody saying that main characters need to die to make it interesting need to shut up. Y'all are so annoying.

I don't mind Steve and Nancy going back to being a couple, but please make the break up with Johnathan...cordial.

El leaving the door open 3 inches at the cabin in the woods....I almost cried. That one small little gesture.

El and Hopper seeing each other, I literally cried. Real tears. I will always love Hopper so much. El seeing that Joyce got Hopper back. I just. I love this found family so much.

El trying to talk-no-jutsu Vecna gave me hope for season 5. I still think the Mind Flayer is the final boss. I hope the number theory 1(Henry)+8(Kali)+11(Jane/El)= 20 to defeat the big bad is true. Bringing Kali back would be cool, especially since we touched on some of season 2 this season. So I'm foreseeing her comeback in season 5. I hope.

Anything that wasn't tied up this season can easily be tied up in season 5 so....yeah.

That's literally all I'm gonna say because I'm not a fan of the Stranger Things fandom on tumblr lol. I like the memes and stuff but.....jeez. The complaints I saw.

[fictionalreads]

Euphoria Season 2 Episode 8

Am I ready? No. It’s why I’ve put this off. But here we go.

Fez

Awe. He has flowers ready for her. So adorable.

Okay Faye cause that face wasn’t suspicious at all.

FAYE CAME THROUGH!!!

Ash. Be careful. His phone is recording. Fuck. Of course. Ash always ready to catch a body.

He wants a family. HE WANTS THREE KIDS WITH HER

Awe damn.

WAIT I LOVE ASH AND FEZ MOMENTS BUT THIS AINT WHAT I WANT

Oh fuck. I’m not ready. I’m not ready. WHY DO THEY LET THE CHARACTERS WE LOVE SUFFER AND LEAVE THE ONES WE DONT LIKE ALONE

Ash. Put down the gun. Please. Don’t do this. My heart can’t take it.

ASH BABY NOOOOO

FEZ!! Shit he got shot.

What did his note to Lexi say?

Ash stop. Just come out!! Please don’t do this to me and Fez.

Fuck. Ash. Why did you do that?

NOOOOOOOOO NOT IN FRONT OF FEZ

They better not show me his body.

Lexi

I feel so bad for her. Her night is ruined cause her sister’s a hoe.

Is her name Bobby? I like her. A lot.

Good for her. Got back out there.

Wait does she know about Fez’s issues?

Poor Lexi. Just constantly seeing people she cares about in the hospital.

See? Something good came of the play.

Cassie

You a bitch. One who needs professional help.

Oh damn. Even her mama knew shit was about to go down.

Bitch. Shut the fuck up. You did all of this to yourself.

I wouldn’t say anything to Maddie right now. Let it go.

Maddie

GET HER ASS MADDIE

LMAO BB (that is her name right?)being her hype man.

Damn Maddie I said beat her up not bust her head wide open.

I’m glad she told her. Like “yeah the best revenge I could give, is saying it ain’t over for you yet.”

Rue

Uh. Rue. Sweetheart. Why do you need to forgive him? Because he told your mom? Shit needed to be said.

I’m confused as to why he’s singing? I know he’s a singer in real life but….what narrative sense does it make? Is it because he likes Rue and this song is supposed to be about her.

Are we still on this truth or dare shit?

Rue needs to focus on her. Not start new shit.

AWE LOOK AT RUE BEING A GOOD FRIEND!!

I think watching that play was cathartic for her. But don’t tell me she’s about to kill herself and this is her way of thanking Lexi and assuring her it’s not her fault/thanking her.

Not Rue being wise and having actual points.

No. Stay away from Jules. And Jules, stay away from Rue. Y’all aren’t good for each other.

That felt like a goodbye kiss.

Nate

Who the fuck is he about to go kill? Himself? His dad? WHO?!

Nate you really need help. Seek it. You have anger issues for real. Don’t kill him. I mean I don’t like him but shit.

Yes. He is happier cause he ain’t around you.

Like I said. Seek help.

He hated you, BECAUSE YOU ARE A PSYCHOPATH

Why does Nate always get what he wants? Why does he get to be happy/victorious?

Miscellaneous

It’s about Fez to start. This would’ve made me nervous but someone spoiled it for me so…. That’s another reason it’s taken me so long to do this post.

THAT STAGEHAND “I don’t know I’m panicking. Go away”

But seriously. How did this get approved? What was the budget?

Wait. How we go back to the funeral and Rue’s speech after I just watched that? How dare they.

Wait so when did this play take place? Cause some of the shit in the play supposedly happened after the play.

LMAO Kat in the middle of them like a mediator.

Is it a season finale if Zendaya doesn’t sing?

It was spoiled for me but I still was not ready. That shit was wild. It was the first episode I actually cried at.

Wait what happened with Laurie? Not seeing her makes me nervous. She ain’t gonna forget the money Rue owes her.

[katierosefun]

i originally had a september wrap-up post queued but then tumblr fucking ate it, which made me very angry because i didn’t want to re-type the whole thing, but i’m procrastinating, so here i am, re-typing the whole thing of all the things i watched/consumed over the month of september, even if it’s a little late: (it’s fine, i didn’t watch a whole ton of stuff except...a lot of kdramas lmao. oh, and visions.) 

k-dramas: 

beyond evil 

okay, so i think this has been on my rec list for literally forever now, but...besties, i’m on my fifth watch of this goddamn show in the span of maybe two months, so if that doesn’t tell you how much this show has been a comfort/eating my brain lately, idk what will. 

i literally never shut up about this show, but if you’ve somehow been missing from my blog for a little bit, a quick summary: lee dong sik (played by the ever-wonderful shin ha kyun) was accused of murder + kidnapping a few young women, including his own twin sister 20 years ago. he’s lived a pretty quiet life on his own, and now 20 years later, his whole world is turned upside down again when hotshot new inspector han joo won (played by the talented yeo jin goo) comes into this little town. when the murders start up again, these two are thrown into a hellishly complex mystery. will throw you in for a hellish loop. i think my thoughts best summarize this show as come for the murder mystery, stay for whatever the hell joo won and dong sik have. 

okay, but all joking aside about how much i love joo won and dong sik (because...i truly do love them), this show was incredibly healing. once again: this show has quickly become a comfort show, basically to the point where i just watch it whenever i feel down (which happens to be a lot these days). idk man. humans aren’t meant to carry burdens on their own and all that stuff. sometimes u just need to remind yourself that. 

the crowned clown 

so, after watching beyond evil the fourth time, i realized that maybe i wanted to watch some of the actors’ other works. that was how i found myself watching the crowned clown, which...is an excellent kdrama now available on netflix (also on viki for free, just as beyond evil is). honestly, it’s been a hot second since i’ve watched historical dramas (saeguks), so i was a little unsure what to expect, but this show. bro. this show reminded me just how much i love historical dramas, because the court politics? the costumes? the music? the acting? fantastic. 

basically, this show is about the young clown (ie. performer) ha seon (played by yeo jin goo) who now has to replace the king, who might be like...two seconds away from snapping (if he hasn’t already). the reason they’re able to do this is because they look exactly identical despite not being related. 

this story is honestly wonderful. i loved it, and it’s an interesting way to look at the story behind the actual king (because. apparently this king was a real person, and i think his story has inspired quite a few other korean movies/shows). i thought yeo jin goo was brilliant in this show, and it’s really no surprise he became the youngest person ever nominated for a baeksang award because of this series. i was truly blown away by just how versatile he proved to be of an actor, and his dynamics with the other characters (the queen, the secretary being my fave, as well as the old eunuch jo), i just...bro. i’ll admit i wasn’t the biggest fan of the romance (don’t get me wrong! it was sweet!), but i think that might have been because this was so court politics heavy, and i adored it for that. if you’ve never watched a historical drama but want to and just don’t know where to start, i highly recommend this. 

d.p. 

bro....this show was dark. i watched it all in 2 days (pretty easy to do, considering it’s 6 episodes and maybe 40-50 minutes long per episode), and i needed to lie down. this is just one of those shows that i feel is...very important to watch, even if the content matter isn’t very bright. 

basically, dp is about two deserter pursuit officers: ahn jun ho (played by jung hae in) and han ho yul (played by koo kyo hwan). deserter pursuit officers are basically people who chase after people who deserted their military post--and for those who don’t know, being in the military is mandatory for men in south korea. this is the result of the armistice between the north and the south--basically, since north korea never agreed to an actual peace treaty, south korea is constantly under threat of war, which is why men need to serve at least a few years. (this is why a lot of actors + kpop band members often take breaks from their careers--to fulfill their military service time. because yup, even celebrities aren’t exempt from service!) 

anyways, this show really doesn’t pull back their punches. major trigger warnings for things like intense harrassment, suicide, domestic violence...it really does capture just how dark life can be, and also how toxic the military can be for men. because of that, i felt this show was incredibly well-crafted, incredibly nuanced, and in the end, i just felt sad. that said though, there was a hopeful ending, and i’m glad that this show was renewed for a second season, as i think this show is just...really important. 

squid game 

okay, so i don’t want to be that person, but your girl was watching squid game right after it came out, so i was here before the hype train--but okay, okay, i digress. (i am glad that this show is getting hype. i feel it’s very important that people watch this show.) 

if you haven’t noticed how squid game’s climbed to #1 on netflix worldwide (i think, anyways), well, then...buddy. squid game is about a bunch of people who have the chance to earn lots of money by playing what seems like innocent children’s games. (spoilers: they are far from innocent.) 

this show scarred me, to be honest. i needed to watch something lighthearted after this, just because it was so intense. lots of trigger warnings for blood and gore, as well as just. losing faith in humanity. but also, like dp, i felt this show was necessary. it was incredibly well-constructed in that it showed just what desperate people will do in order to survive, as well as exactly what a terrible capitalistic society will do to the working class. it’s depressing and sad, but also incredibly chilling because like. you can’t help but watch the characters and think, but would i do the same thing? i just want to pay off my own debt and take care of my family. wouldn’t i do the same thing? 

i won’t say more of this show for fear of spoilers, but. let me just say. that i really am glad this show exists. i hope people actually notice what the fuck it’s saying about our current system too, because hm, maybe i just want to suck the fun out of things, but there’s something very disturbing about how people are already cute-ifying this show (ie. “this is what i would wear to the squid games! :D” and “look at these squid-game inspired cookies! :D”, as if this show didn’t just deliver a heart-crushing message about capitalism + how the wealthy fuck over anyone who isn’t the 1% BUT ANYWAYS) 

tv 

star wars: visions 

lately i’ve been feeling weird about star wars for lots of different reasons which i don’t particularly feel like addressing today, but. visions really reminded me why i fell in love with star wars in the first place. i think for starters, well. it’s no surprise when i say that i felt an intense amount of joy of seeing east asian cultures so beautifully incorporated and respected in this show (no surprise seeing that this show was literally crafted by japanese anime studios), but like. it really was. a beautiful thing. i cried at least once per episode, either because i was so in awe of the animation and the themes or because i was just in awe that this thing exists. 

i think my favorite episode had to be the village bride--there was something so incredibly powerful about seeing someone who looked a bit like me say i am a jedi. what an iconic line. what an iconic story about a sad traumatized gal deciding to step up and fight, actually. peak star wars. 

but besides all that...i really did feel like...this show captured the beauty and essence of what makes star wars actually good. the themes of good versus evil, a lot of stuff between siblings (bro....the twins and lop and ocho FUCKED ME UP), choosing to have brighter and better days ahead (the village bride, the ninth jedi, the duel, tatooine rhapsody)...like, i really loved how each episode really took everything that was good about star wars and just turned it into something even more beautiful. this series will stay with me for a long time, i think--and i am very grateful for the people involved in this project for reminding me why i fell in love with this universe in the first place. :”)

[katoodlez]

uwu meter exploded and i ate dinner at 2am after watching this aka the sam and bucky show episode 5

The new episode was sO goOd omg tbh i didnt think i was gonna be able to watch it last night and i legit cried. But i did and i am very very thankful. Because it was a very very good episode. But before we start stOP reAdING cuz theres gonna be MASSIVE SPOILERS IN THIS POST.

Alrighty without further delay, the Sam and Bucky show episode 5 and all its best things (there are a lot, to no one’s surprise). Im gonna go in chronological order to avoid losing my mind.

1. The fight in the beginning. Omg. Walker looked like he was gonna do both Sam and Bucky in with the shield like 6 times and it was lowkey scary. And when Walker knocked bucky into the electric tower or whatever it was— skdjfjs i saw some people post abt Sam’s glare mid battle like “if this is sam looking at walker after he hurt bucky” anD IT ACTUALLY WAS marvel why.

2. Walker ripped Sam’s wings off omg. That was so brutal i audibly gasped. I think we’ve seen the wings being shot at or broken but never ripped clean off. 0 _ 0

3. I like how the fight ended with all three of them on the ground and the shield just lying there. And then Bucky picked it up, left it for Sam and left. Walker was defeated but it kinda shows how Sam still wasn’t sure about the shield, he just knew in that moment that Walker absolutely couldn’t be the one to have it. I feel like that fight scene really conveyed how all of them felt about the shield and it was done really well. (Ok but on a side note, remember in episode 2 when Sam was like “bruh we cant just run up on the man, beat him up and take it?” I guess they went with that plan after all)

4. TORRES MY BELOVED. He’s back and I’m so happy 🥺🥺🥺🥺 also i love how he’s not afraid to give Bucky sass lmao.

5. WHEN SAM TOLD TORRES TO KEEP THE WINGS. listen i havent read the comics but i know what happens in them and Torres is such a Falcon fanboy omg if he’s gonna be the new falcon im gonna be so happy for him ahhHhHh

6. Sam’s conversation with Isaiah Bradley. Man. I’m really really happy that we have that scene. The scene with Isaiah in episode 2 left me reallly uneasy because it ended on a really bad note with unfinished and unsaid things between Sam, Bucky and Isaiah. Also Sam didn’t really get to talk at all in that scene and I felt like he def had things he wanted to say. I appreciated how Sam said that he really didn’t get some stuff and he had Isaiah explain more of his backstory. I think Sam believes that things can change, for good reason, and at the same time Isaiah believes that nothing will change, also for a completely fair reason. But having the time to let the two of them talk, esp with the shield in the room and without Bucky’s complicated history was a really well written piece of dialogue. Thank you screenwriters.

7. SARAH WILSON SUPREMACY. I’m glad we got more of Sarah in this episode ahhh. She’s such a caring sister and I’m here for it. Sam and Sarah sibling dynamics also >>>>>

8. Sam calling in the favors to help fix the boat was so heartwarming omg. And Bucky just showing up lmaooo

9. Bucky flirting with Sarah to get on Sam’s nerves LMAOO

10. Sam and Bucky fixing the boat together was something I needed to see. That entire montage, the teamwork and warm lighting and akskdjajd my heart 🥺🥺💕💕💕

11. Bucky waking up to Sam’s nephews playing with the shield reminded me of the Black Panther end credits scene but also of that one scene in Wandavision with Pietro and wanda’s kids lollll

12. Sarah asking Sam if he’s gonna let Isaiah tell him what to do and then Sam asking/telling Bucky to stop letting others, even Steve, tell him who to be was just. Skdkfjaod. The character conversations in this episode ahHhh

13. On that note, Sam and Sarah having a chance to talk about themselves, their boat and their family was just amazing. They’re fighting to keep their history and also understanding each other at the same time.

14. Sarah telling sam that there’s the fight out there and then theres the fight in here is so special. It in a sense reflects/applies to not only Sam and Sarah’s relationship and struggles, but it also applies to Sam and Bucky’s relationship and struggles esp with Steve and the shield’s legacy, Bucky’s history as the Winter Soldier and all the weight he carries with it. They gotta sort out the inside stuff before getting into the thick of what I’m sure will be the final battle next week as superheroes in the face of the world.

15. On that note. Sam and Bucky finally having the chance to talk was so relieving and eye opening for both characters. Bucky finally understanding Sam’s perception of the shield and its weight on his conscience because he is an African American representing his people and Sam finally understanding a more personal side of Bucky’s relationship with/perception of the shield feels like a knot in their friendship that has been resolved. The development in this show is just through the roof omg.

16. Okay but Bucky talking about how Steve told him about the plan to give Sam the shield... wkerjkakdja I feel like that makes Endgame’s ending a little better 😭😭😭

17. Shield training shield training shield training ahhhHhHhHhh i swear whenever either sam or bucky touched the shield in this episode i started physically vibrating LOL. Its so cool to see the shield in the hands it’s supposed to be in again ☺️☺️ Sam’s training montage with the shield was also AMAZING omg it was so so cool to watch him grow with the skills

18. Not Sam asking Bucky if he has nightmares and talking to him about amends and stuff skdjfjskd lowkey Sam is the superior therapist in this show and he doesn’t get nearly enough credit for it aksjdjskdjajd. Also the implication that Bucky will go back to Nakajima and give him closure for his son I— 😭😭

19. Also im so glad the scene where they’re walking away from each other ISNT the last episode. Its sort of like a “we’ll see each other soon” walk : DD

20. Okay but Bucky helping the Wakandans capture zemo at the memorial (which i think is for his family? 😭😭😭) and then the favor that Bucky called in for sam. WHATS IN THE GOSH DARN BOX OMG. i think it’s either new Falcon wings, a vibranium Redwing (please let it be this) or a suit of some kind

21. And lastly what the heck does Sharon wanna kill Sam for?? She workin for the flag smashers now or sumn? Also Batroc coming back when the last time i think we saw him was in CA: Winter Soldier 0 _ 0

Did it take me an hour to write this post? Yes. Did I get everything? No. I dont think I discussed Walker in this post but he was super scary and deranged and Wyatt Russell blew it out of the ballpark in this episode. Also whats the special character that everyone was hyped about? Anyways. Until next week 0 _ 0 season finale and im not ready for it to be over

[moons-and-stars-and-shit]

hi hi! if they’re open could i have a cake w a male character if that’s okay bb? i’m 5’5, she/her with long dark brown hair with the front half of my right side dyed white, green eyes and tan skin! i’m super bubbly, loud, naturally v flirty and my love language is physical touch! i love working out and i’m a huge foodie. i’m stubborn and impulsive, love rain and storms, coffee and i’m pretty open to pda! i’m emotional, super confident (in myself and socially), bold, giggly, energetic and observant (especially of people feelings) i tend to ramble a lot especially if i’m passionate about something but i’m a super good listener and love comforting others! i’m a night owl - love late night adventures, i’m super playful and love teasing people! i’m a bit of a goof ~

i’m spontaneous, optimistic, passionate and ambitious but i have super high standards for myself so sometimes i tend to overwork! i’m sooo competitive - even just playfully, wear my heart on my sleeve but i try to hide it behind my ego but in reality i’m a HUGE SOFTIE n get easily attached! i’m self assured and super straight forward - especially about my feelings. i can be a bit of a drama queen but it’s just for fun and if i’m feeling annoying (always) my favourite seasons are autumn/winter, i LOVE boba, the outdoors and walks/hikes - i love cosy nights at home though! my ideal type is someone tall, who can make me laugh, doesn’t mind physical touch and is protective! tysm <3

Ahhhh I had so much fun writing this one!

🍰 for @hvnlydmn

Romantic Matchup...

Bokuto Koutarō 🦉

Cries in Bokuto simp

Anyways 🥲 you and this man have so much in common!!!

Y’all probably had the cliche friends to lovers troupe

He probably caught on to your unintentional flirting but didn’t want to ruin the close friendship you guys had

Which meant you were gonna have to be the one to confess

Which you didn’t mind. You really didn’t care if he knew how you felt about him

When you confessed to him Bokuto was just like “🧍‍♂️you...like me?”

After he registered what you said he could not be happier!

And once you start dating....

Mans is ALL OVER YOU

And when he finds out you like physical touch and don’t mind PDA? Oh Bokuto is ECSTATIC

You like working out? He does too!

Que in the couple workout videos

He LOVES how confident and ambitious you are

But nonetheless will absolutely hype you up at every given moment

Ngl he probably never really listens to your rambles but he adores how passionate you get!

He’s a night owl right along with you bb

Sometimes y’all be texting till 5 in the morning

He is down for ANY of your spontaneous adventures

Like you wanna eat chicken nuggets while walking on the beach at 2 am? Bet He’ll be over in 10

He really appreciates how you can keep up with his energy

And surprisingly enough you can handle all of his mood swings

Akaashi loves you for this

Y’all would definitely be that couple that makes everything a competition

“Hey y/n I bet I can eat more rice balls than you”

He was actually kind of shocked that you won that bet...

Overall he loves you and you love him and that’s all you could ask for ❤️

Friendship Matchup...

Tōru Oikawa 👽

The BADDEST bitches out there! I

You guys definitely feed into each other’s egos

One thing that drew Oikawa to you was how confident you were!

Like honey you did not give two fucks what other people thought of you

Which is good for you two cause his fan girls are all low key jealous of you and try to get under your skin

But honestly you could care less

Now unlike Bokuto Oikawa would listen to your rambles and chime in

God forbid you told him how someone pissed you off

Mans will find them and make them CRY (emotionally of course)

Speaking of... you guys bully tease people constantly!

I feel like he picked up on your flirtatious side and tries to get you to flirt with Iwa just to see him get flustered

Your best memory with him is when y’all had a full on spa day

I’m taking facials, manicures, pedicures, the whole package

Somehow you convinced him to get acrylics with you 😳

Then afterwards you guys both bought some fancy ass clothes cause y’all were feeling yourselfs!

Then just went to get fast food and boba 🧋

Y’all got some weird looks that day...

But 10/10 friendship right here

[itskenickie]

i just finished watching the new given movie and im just so!!!

i’ve read the manga and cried my eyes out so i was very hyped to see the movie and i’m so glad it didn’t disappoint! however, i am upset that they didn’t include some manga panels into the movie. especially one’s about yuki. also, i don’t remember but wasn’t there a scene where kashima asked uenoyama to listen to yuki’s songs? i wish they animated that into the movie but i understand this was mostly about akihiko, ugetsu and haruki. i just hope that this means we’ll have a season two.

also, i want to comment about the new songs? holy shit they were so fucking good and seeing how much mafuyu had improved in such a short time was just amazing.

let’s also comment on THAT SCENE WHERE MAFUYU WAS NERVOUS AND UENOYAMA WAS COMPLIMENTING HIM AND HE JUST REALIZED WHAT HE WAS DOING AND THEN BLUSHED!!! AND THEN HE OPENED HIS ARMS FOR MAFUYU AND HELD HIM SUPER TIGHT TO COMFORT HIM!! MY HEART!!!

AND AND AND when akihiko and ugetsu broke up i didn’t really feel anything about it because their relationship was just so toxic for the both of them and i think that they both have the right to have something/someone better in their lives and they can focus more on improving themselves. BUT WHEN I SAW IT ANIMATED I WAS SO HEARTBROKEN POOR UGETSU!! BUT THEN MAUFYU WAS ALL LIKE, “it’s going to be okay.” I CRIED EVEN MORE!!!! MY POOR BABIES!!!

another thing i wanted to comment on was that one akihiko and haruki scene, you know the one. when i read it in the manga i was so fucking pissed because i literally watched given because of akihiko so seeing him like that made me so mad!! i was close to dropping the manga but then he actually stopped himself, apologized and distanced himself to give the both of them time. he actually felt guilty and sorry about the incident and even learned to ask for consent and i’m glad that happened. im glad because it’s typical for bl manga and anime to just brush those things off and label them as “love” even though it’s usually r*pe or close to r*pe and they would just explain as “the characters were so in love with each other they can’t control themselves. and hey, deep down they really wanted it so it’s not r*pe!” and that always makes me mad!! UGH!! so seeing it animated it ripped my heart out AGAIN but i hope people will understand that you must ALWAYS ask for consent and forcing yourself is not okay!!

anyways, the movie was so fucking good and the angst was just *chef kiss* i really really REALLY hope we’ll get a season 2 because given deserves it. it’s such a beautiful story and deserves a lot of love ❤️

[aion-rsa]

Why Manifest Season 4 Wasn’t Rescued

https://ift.tt/3d5fJtV

A few years ago, Manifest Season 4 would have been a promising proposition for the array of insatiable streaming platforms that saw the act of rescuing a beloved canceled network series as a proverbial feather in the cap. However, for obvious reasons, times have clearly changed for the industry in the past year. Consequently, NBC’s recent cancelation of the sci-fi leaning mystery drama after three seasons proved potent, since ensuing attempts by its producers to land the series elsewhere are now confirmed to have failed. It begs the question of how a formerly buzz-worthy series like this manage to crash this quickly?

While NBC officially canceled Manifest back on June 14, the notion of the series ending was widely taken with an auspicious grain of salt for multiple reasons. After all, the story of a television series being canceled by a network for sinking ratings only to be rescued by another platform on the back of hashtag-heavy social media campaigns from a passionate fanbase is one that has become familiar. While, predictably, #SaveManifest, was gaining momentum, the real kicker here was that fate had seemingly delivered a boon, since the first two seasons of Manifest had just arrived on the biggest streaming platform of them all, Netflix, where, according to the platform’s public ranking system, it became its most popular series—that very week, no less! Thusly, fans had to feel as if a Netflix pickup—prospectively yielding similar success as rescued shows like Cobra Kai and Lucifer—was inevitable. However, a report from Deadline confirmed the failure of those efforts, which has resulted in bittersweet acceptance from creator Jeff Rake and cast members such as Josh Dallas and Melissa Roxburgh.

Manifest Gratitude, Final Edition Thank YOU, our fans. You became the Manifesters at Comic-Con 2018. Ever since, you’ve watched religiously, parsed every word, cried a lot, laughed a little, puzzle-solved, and never, ever, wavered in your support. I’ll never forget it. 🙏❤️

— Jeff Rake (@jeff_rake) June 22, 2021

Well, my #manifesters, I’m sorry to say that it’s the end of the line for now. We are so proud to have brought you this story over 3 seasons. We so wished we could’ve finished the journey with you. But it wasn’t in the cards. Thanks to our incredible EP’s, producers, writers… pic.twitter.com/jPnnqndQQ5

— joshdallas (@JoshDallas) June 22, 2021

Oh, to put into words the last three years…. Thanks for everyone who joined on with us. I’m forever grateful for the family of misfits and creators that wound up at Silvercup studios. When you film a show, you spend all day every day with these people… pic.twitter.com/4O0jE5LLj2

— Melissa Roxburgh (@melissaroxburgh) June 22, 2021

So, how did this happen? To answer this, let’s backtrack to Manifest’s NBC primetime debut, on Monday, Sept. 24, 2018, which yielded over 10 million viewers according to Nielsen’s numbers, with the show having been heralded by Comic-Con panel hype and even the strategic preemptive posting of its pilot episode on YouTube. While the show, the creation of executive producer Jeff Rake (The Tomorrow People, The Mysteries of Laura), wore its story-stretching genre inspiration from shows like Lost and The 4400 like a badge of honor, the premiere was nevertheless impactful, thanks to a compelling sci-fi-leaning premise, in which passengers of the 2013-era flight of Montego Air 828 from Jamaica to New York City were lost for five years after the plane vanished, only to land in 2018, completely oblivious of any anomaly. Indeed, Manifest may have been a sci-fi series, but its focus on the implications of the passengers’ disappearance on their families resonated with audiences, making the series a surging hit that quickly landed a renewal, despite its 16-episode inaugural season settling down to a 6.482 million viewer average.  

Come Season 2, which premiered on Jan. 6, 2020, the series would, naturally, evolve from its initial premise, slowly attributing the plane’s disappearance—and the dubious celebrity status experienced by the passengers—to ambiguous notions of time and/or dimensional phenomenon and the seemingly clairvoyant visions they experience, called “callings,” which tend to lead them to where fate dictates. However, despite remaining on Mondays, Manifest returned to a major low of 4.728 million viewers for that season premiere, although it managed to hold steady for an average of 3.899 million viewers across the reduced 13-episode season. This could be considered an accomplishment when considering how the year 2020 would play out with the pandemic, especially in the immediately ensuing months. Thus, NBC ended up rewarding that consistency with a Season 3 renewal, although the three months that passed from the Apr. 6, 2020 airing of the Season 2 finale to the Jun. 15 renewal announcement spoke volumes about the show’s increasingly tenuous place with the network.

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Tellingly, Manifest’s third—and, as it turns out, final—season premiered on Thursday, Apr. 1, 2021 to little fanfare compared to previous seasons, and its 13-episode run saw a small-but-steady decline in viewership, leaving an average of 3.087 million viewers upon the Jun. 10 season finale, which—also tellingly—was a conventional network “let’s get this over with” strategy of airing of double episodes. Unsurprisingly, NBC only needed only four days to confirm its cancelation of the series from the airing of the finale. While it remains arguable regarding why the series experienced this downfall, many cite its increasingly convoluted quasi-religious sci-fi leanings, which protracted the plight of the 815ers to an impersonal, global level, leaving little room for the family story that was so powerfully established in the pilot episode. Nevertheless, Manifest maintained a general stability and fanbase that would have made it ripe for rescue by Netflix or another major streamer—only at a time before 2020.

Paradoxically, the pandemic cemented streaming’s status as an essential entertainment source, but left companies with a significantly altered bottom line, and Netflix is the most notable example of this phenomenon; an inopportune state for Manifest and its fans, since Netflix represented the show’s most realistic shot for a rescue. Once a spendthrift monopoly with a hair-trigger for greenlighting just about any project, Netflix is in the midst of an unprecedented era of belt-tightening that has been exacerbated by the pandemic, as recently exemplified by the cancelation of its once-lavish lineup of shows like Jupiter’s Legacy, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Ozark, GLOW, I Am Not Okay with This and The Society, as veteran series also finish out their runs.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Thus, despite the current success of Manifest’s catalogue episodes on Netflix, the streaming giant—like its industry peers—is not exactly in the mood to rescue niche network castaways, leaving the series with no viable option to maintain creator Rake’s purported six-season story arc. As a result, the only streaming premiere that fans of the series can look forward to will be when the final season joins its two predecessors.

The post Why Manifest Season 4 Wasn’t Rescued appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3j0ayPX

[thesparkinthefire]

Ghost - Pedro Pascal x Reader, part 2

A/N: I finally, finally finished this. Wuhu! Part two of the Ghost series (that is turning into a three piece) is here for your entertainment. The musical mentioned later on is called Six and I am referring to the character of Katherine Howard, in case anyone is interested. I tried not to let the musical-nerd take over but I don’t know if that worked. I also wrote a bit about The Mandalorian and will just assume everyone who likes Pedro has already seen that, haha.

Word count: 3,729

Paaring: Pedro Pascal x musical!Reader

Trigger Warning: anxiety, age gap hinted, someone cried a bit

part one

“If there's anything left I can do to convince myself it could be true it's up to me, to suspend my disbeliefs.” - Suspend my disbeliefs, the Ghost cast album

You were nervous. More than that. Your confidence had gone missing two days ago and you started asking yourself why you had even accepted the role in the first place. You were portraying Molly. Molly. The female leading role of a musical based on a movie that everyone had seen. What made you think that it was a good idea in the first place?

Of course you and Oscar, who was playing Sam, had been practising for weeks but the premiere was only two days away. Two day. You had been staring at the script in front of you for ten minutes now. What was the line? This morning, when you had done your first run through you had remembered it but now it was gone – erased from your memory and you couldn't stop asking yourself how you were suppose to remember anything once you were on stage. No, you thought to yourself. Now was not the right time to panic. You just had to go through the whole scene and the line would come to you. Okay, breath. What was the scene?

Molly and Karl were sitting in a restaurant, talking about how she had information about Sam's murder. Sam, as a ghost, was standing beside them. While she was trying to convince Karl to believe what the fortune-teller had said. Suspend My Disbelieves was playing in the background. Molly was telling him the things the psychist had told her – the photo they took in an empty bus, the starfish in Montego Bay – and that Sam knew who killed him. Karl protests and Molly tells him, that she had a name and address and that Sam wants her to go to the police. “The police? Jesus, Molly,” says Karl. “What are you gonna tell them?” Sam talks in the background and Molly-... What does Molly say? Fuck.

It was gone. The line was gone, fucking vanished. You would never be able to do the whole show even though that was what you started with. Acting in a movie was so different to performing in a musical. When shooting a movie you had multiple takes to get a scene right – sometime you would even go back at a later point and rework it, when the writers changed a dialogue or something just wasn't right about it. But when you were doing a musical you normally only had about a month of rehearsals with the cast, before that you learned the songs on your own and had your vocals prepared for the assemble to join you. And then you rehearsed. And rehearsed and rehearsed. But there was no rewind once the show started. No one was gonna yell “Cut!” and ask you to do it again. The audience was right in front of you and they expected nothing less than you doing your job without any mistakes.

Musicals had always been your passion. You had been in music-focused classes in school giving you two extra music lessons a week and joined the school's choir as soon as you were allowed to. You had been taking dancing classes since you were a child. Playing theatre in the long summer holidays and visiting theatre camps. You had been growing up wanting to be a musical actress and your dream had become true when you joined a West End production in London. Your first role was in the assemble, the next was a side character and the next a main. People saw you had potential and they never regretted giving you a chance. Then you had the offer to play the female leading role in a teen-romance movie – before that you had never through about filming movies but you gave it a try and hell. It felt like a dream when they called you to tell you, that the statistics had been going through the roof. From one day to another your life changed completely. That was when you stopped playing theatre and musicals. You moved to California, after you had been offered a role in a promising movie series and then got the part in The Mandalorian. And met Pedro.

You grew up with Star Wars. Your whole childhood had been Star Wars themed – from birthday parties to the prequels in cinema to The Clone Wars series to reading literally every book out there. If there was anything you loved as much as you loved musicals it was Star Wars. You remembered your dad calling you “Padawan” when you were building birdhouses when you were ten years old. You remember presenting a Star Wars book in school. You even did your final oral exam in Spanish about Star Wars just because it was the only thing you could possible focus on other than musicals. So when you had the chance to be part of that universe you took it. Nothing could have kept you from doing it. You knew you would accept it before you even knew what the part would exactly be. When you met John and Dave – who were producing and writing The Mandalorian – you were shaking. You were so nervous that you felt like you were about to shit your pants at any minute, you chugged a whole glass of water during the meeting and just couldn't stop shaking. That's how excited you were. And it didn't get better when they told you about what they had planned for your character.

Aurine Jaxx – your character – was set to become something like the girlfriend to Din Djarin. Not really a girlfriend, because his life and story line was focused about The Child but you were introduced to show even more how much he struggled in between being a Mandalorian warrior and wanting to retire and just be human. You loved Pedro Pascal and how he portrayed Din. Of course you had seen the first season of the show. That scene in the last episode when the droid took his helmet off? Those were the only two minutes when your saw his face all season but the acting in this was fabulous. Messed up hair, trembling lips, shiny eyes – you were able to see how afraid of dying he was, even though it was something he had been confronted with every day of his life since he was a child. You were over the moon to be able to work with him.

Din met the fiance of Aurine in a dubious bar. He asked him to return his soon-to-be wife to him after she had ran away. Din, in need of a job after breaking with the guild, accepted and met her. But soon he found out that she was running from him, not because she was afraid to commit to a life with him, but because he was mistreating her, cheating on her and even threatening to physically hurt her. So Din took her with him instead of bringing her back to the fiance and she stayed. They grew closer and closer and he started trusting her more than anyone.

The scene you were the most nervous for was kissing him. Of course acting with someone who wore a helmet all the time wasn't easy but the kissing scene was way harder. It was set to be at night-time, The Child sleeping in the ship while Din and Aurine sat outside by a small campfire in the middle of nowhere. You had to close your eyes and he placed his hand above them just to be sure you wouldn't be able to look. You remember his hands being cold, contrasting the warm breath in your skin. His lips ghosted over yours, before he kissed you. He was so gentle and shy about it, while you moved a hand into his hair and pulled him closer. Soft lips on yours while his fingers painted feather-light touches on your cheek. Watching the scene back was sending shivers down your spine. Kissing Pedro Pascal wasn't something you ever thought you would. He was such a talented actor that you were almost sure he wasn't acting in that scene, that he had really been nervous to kiss you. Maybe you were hoping for it. But obviously that wasn't the case. He was a brilliant actor.

And now you were here. Back at playing musicals, what you had started with, and you never felt so insecure in your whole life. Confidence was the key to a good stage presence and you had lost it all. So when you got a text from Pedro you basically lost it. All he sent was “How are you doing? Haven't heard from you all day.” but it made you tear up immediately. Without sparing a second thought you asked him, if he wanted to come over because you were about to freak out. “Be there in 15.”

Pedro had a talent for calming your nerves – he had proven that a few times during your time together at press-tour for The Mandalorian. Interviews made you nervous especially if they were live or in front of a huge audience. You were always afraid you might say something the fans wouldn't be pleased with or even accidentally spoiling the show. He made sure you drank enough throughout the day, got enough rest, and always had some sweets for you before an interview to push your blood sugar and stop your hands from shaking. His touch was calming and comforting but made your heart race at the same time. In a good way. Saying, you didn't like being close to him, would be lying. He held your hand at crowded places, had an arm over the backrest of your seat during interviews and sometimes even cuddled with you in cold planes. You have had a few movie nights over the weeks you have been touring, because the hype for the second season was enormous, and they always ended the same: Watching maybe half of the movie before one of you fell asleep. You have been falling asleep on his shoulder and woken up to the beat of his heart.

So it was no surprise to you, that he showed up at your door with a bar of chocolate and two beer. “Do you think alcohol is the thing I need right now?”

“Alcohol calms one's nerves,” he answered with a smile, handing you the beer and the chocolate, after you had let him inside. “You said you were freaking out and I guessed it was because of the premiere, so I brought you something to help you calm a bit.”

“But alcohol is not the best thing for your voice.”

“It is not?”

“Not for your singing voice,” you confirmed, dropping onto the sofa. You put your head back and closed your eyes. You shouldn't be bitching around – you had asked him to come over. “Sorry, I am just stressed. I keep forgetting that one line I have right before the break and the thought that that might happen on stage, in front of the audience, scares me.”

Pedro sat down beside you, gaze wandering over you. “I get that but you are gonna be okay. You are a great actress and do musicals just as well.”

“You have never seen me perform a musical.”

“Internet,” he admitted, causing you to open your eyes and tilting your head into his direction. “Don't look at me like that, you have watched my former projects too. You have basically seen me naked.”

“Well, that's because your projects were big and highly advertised – unlike the small musicals I took part in. You can only watch them because of illegal uploads on YouTube.” Oh, some of those YouTube videos had the potential to drive him mad.

The musical you had gotten a leading role in was about girl power and women realizing, that they should work together and hype each other instead of comparing one another. He loved that message, really, but what he loved more was you. And that little of a costume you were wearing. You were basically in nothing more than tights, a bodysuit and a see-through skirt on stage. Maybe it was fate that no videos of your solo song were online – the song was rather sexy and Pedro didn't know if he would have been able to handle seeing you in that costume, singing about men wanting you.

“I like to do my research on the people I work with.”

You couldn't fight the smile forming on your lips. “I should have done a deep dive into my brain before I accepted the role. Seriously, I don't think I can do it. I might just pass out right before the curtain opens.”

“You will do great,” he assured you.

“I won't.” You got up to get a bottle opener from your kitchen. “I can't even remember that one line.”

“Let me help.” You sat back down, handed Pedro the opener after you had opened you own beer and took a sip. “Which scene are we talking about?” He had the script in his hands already. Oscar and you had him over for practise a few times, so he knew most of the scenes you shared.

“The one where Molly first tells Karl that Sam had been murdered. I know that Sam says something like “Jesus, Molly, what are you gonna tell them?” and then I am suppose to say something but I can't remember it at all. I have been going through the scene a million times now – talking it through, acting through it, but nothing helps.”

“No wonder you don't remember what you are suppose to say.” He laughed quietly and you really didn't know what on earth was funny about that. “You are singing.”

“I am-” All of a sudden the line was back in your head as if it had never been gone. Of course! “Suspend my disbelieves.” Pedro nodded. “Oh, thank god, I am not going crazy!”

“You are gonna have the music on stage that will remind you, that you have to sing – don't worry.”

“That is the problem, you know? I used to not be this worried when it came to musicals. I used to be so confident in what I am doing but it is all gone now. When did that happen?”

“You just haven't performed in front of an audience for a long time. That happens to me too when I go back from cinema and TV to theatre.” You had almost forgotten about that. On one hand you would love to see him in a play, but that would mean he would stay in his home in New York, while you were Los Angeles based right now. You didn't even think about the possibility about him moving back to the opposite side of the country once all deals and meetings for his next projects were done. He had stayed in his LA apartment ever since you met him, except for the time between Christmas and the new year. How were you suppose to survive here without him? “Do you want to sing one of the songs? Music always seems to calms you.”

The question hit you out of the blue but he was right. You had a playlist full of songs that soothed you and you had used it more than once since the rehearsals had started. “Y-yeahr,” you answered, nodded, and moved over to your piano. “Can I sing a sad song?”

“You mean Without You? I haven't heard you sing that one yet.” Of course he had listened to the original cast record. Why haven't you thought about that? Yes, he had heard some songs of the production you were working on, but mainly the ones you shared with Oscar. And there wouldn't be an album for your cast.

“Okay, I will try to do that.”

“You will be great.” His words made your heart skip a beat. How was he able to smooth you with such a simple sentence?

“But you gotta stay behind me – I don't like seeing people stare at me when I sing.”

“Says you, the musical actress?” He had to hold back a laugh.

“Performing on stage in front of an audience of hundreds is something else than performing for one person in my living room.”

“Okay, I'll give you that. Go ahead.” Pedro moved to stand behind you, the beer still in his hand. You sat everything up and took a deep breath before you started the song. It was probably the most emotional moment of the whole show, besides the final. Molly was mourning Sam with that song, expressing the pain of losing him and how she tried to deal with it. Performing it in the play was hard, because you were on the edge of crying for real most of the times. Of course you had lost people close to you in your young life already, but part of the song also reminded you of Pedro and how hopeless your love for him was. He probably saw himself as a mentor of your, I not even a father figure. But you couldn't stop seeing him in front of your inner eyes among the line “Every place I wanna be, I wanna see you there.” You wanted him by your side. You wanted him to be your date for the premiere and the after show party. You didn't want him to go back to New York, you wanted him to stay with you in LA. You wanted him to hold you when times were as stressful as they were right now. You wanted him to kiss you, to wrap his arms around you and to tell you, that no matter what happened, he would be by your side. And you wanted him to mean it. To feel the same. To love you. God, you wished he would love you.

By the end of the song your heart was aching. It was hurting and you were glad, that he didn't say a word for a minute. You could just pretend that you were in your role and he would understand that the song made you sad, because it made Molly sad. But just as you were about to crack a lame joke about it, you heard a sniff. And it didn't come from you. “Are you-” You turned around to see Pedro having his back turned to you, arms crossed in front of his chest. “Are you crying?”

“No.” His voice was shaking. Slowly he turned back facing you, lips curled to a small smile. “Absolutely not.” His eyes were a little red and shiny. He was crying.

“Oh god, I am sorry.” You stood up and went to hug him.

“Just proves what a great actress you are.” He returned it. You closed your eyes, leaned your head against him and took a quiet but deep breath. Was it selfish? Maybe. But perhaps you needed the comfort just as much as he did. Just in a different way. Feeling his warm body against your own. His hair tickled your ear. God, he smelled good. Something you had always liked about him. You couldn't define it, but it was good. Everything about him was good. And you regretted nothing more, than that you had never asked him out, never had made a move on him.

Taglist: @longitud-de-onda

[theseerasures]

Conspicuous Media Consumption, 2020

it’s that time of year again! *saddest toot from the party horn*

for those of you just joining us: it’s a “consume a different content every week for 48 weeks of the year” challenge. for a longer explanation, check out last year’s write-up here, and as always, feel free to pop in and ask questions about any and all of this content.

(same disclaimer as last year too: content for this project ONLY here, and not certain...*looks at my billion Sad Cop Lady posts*...hyperfixations.)

(man remember when i was big into X-Men comics earlier this year? better times than these, if only because no one's discoursing about Emma Frost’s woobie/war criminal ratio anymore--her w/w, if you will)

(...i swear at one point i didn’t exclusively like platinum blondes but alas)

Bitter Root (comic, 1 issue finished 1/1/2020): still very cool on a basic concept level, but runs into the Image Comics problem of just not having enough content to keep my interest beyond that. part of that is on me, for picking it up again BEFORE the second arc rolled out, but the first five issues didn’t really follow (or resolve) any cohesive story either, so...meh.

Immortal Hulk (comic, 3 trades finished 1/17/2020): still not gonna be something i care deeply about (maybe one of Bruce’s Hulksonas dyed his hair???), but i do want to give kudos to Al Ewing for sheer consistency in terms of sustaining this level of quality storytelling month by month for more than two years now. working with the dense archive of the Hulk mythos and managing to make it interesting and thoughtful is impressive even if i personally would not expend the same effort.

Disco Elysium (game, finished 1/18/2020): honestly i should have twigged onto what this year was gonna be like when the third thing i drew from the barrel was pure uncut Eastern European flavored depression. i faintly recall people ragging on it for being pretentiously cynical, but i actually thought its core slid more towards idealism than people give it credit for. also gratified that i haven’t heard anything about Robert Kurvitz using slave labor to finish it, which is a thing we have to say about our video games now!!! fun.

Watchmen (TV, 7 episodes finished 1/27/2020): i am a fool who wants to believe in Damon Lindelof and I WAS RIGHT!!! honestly still cannot believe that he pulled off this highwire act with such deft aplomb. might be my favorite TV this year, which is a pretty high bar given how much TV i ended up watching.

On a Sunbeam (comic, finished 2/1/2020): Tillie Walden rightly deserves all the praise for inventive queer storytelling, but i will say that on reread--since i first read this as a webcomic--there ARE some issues with pacing here that clearly come from the foibles of its original intended medium. still just excellent, even if after some plot significant haircuts i was having trouble telling a few folks apart.

Lazarus (comic, 1 trade finished 2/8/2020): it’s so good and i want moooooorrrreee--though obviously Rucka and Lark have the right to take all the time they need. the newer longer issues work really well with the epic prestige drama vibes of the story! i’m into it.

The Good Place (TV, 4 seasons finished 2/18/2020): i’m gonna be super honest: i actually wasn’t a big fan of the finale, nor the last season as a whole. it felt like all of Eleanor’s flaws vanished for a majority of the season, and the Chidi-centric episode where they tried to give a legible justification for why he’s Like This was...i didn’t care for it. still, it’s so good and unique on the WHOLE that we’ll literally never get anything like this ever again, and that counts for a lot.

The Old Republic (game, finished 2/21/2020): it’s an MMO so it will never actually Be Finished so long as the servers aren’t shut down, but i caught up on the content i’d missed in the intervening months. Onslaught thus far has mostly been...kinda bland tbh; going back to Imps vs. Rebs after all the shakeups in the previous expansions feels like a waste.

High Road (album, finished 2/22/2020): someone should tell Kesha not to say that word!! otherwise i was very happy with this album, and happy FOR her even though we don’t know each other. being able to find joy again in the same genre of music you made while you were being horrifically exploited is very cool.

Young Justice (TV, 13 episodes finished 2/28/2020): given how much the middle stuff dragged--STOP KILLING YOUR HIJABI CHARACTER IN HORRIFIC WAYS--i was...actually kinda mad by how the end managed to stick the landing anyway. the day being saved by Vic’s self-acceptance and Violet’s sublime compassion was A+, and even the Brion/Tara switchup was a pleasant surprise, though it relied on me caring about Brion MUCH MORE than i actually did.

Manic (album, finished 2/29/2020): do people still care for/about Halsey? i feel like even That One Song that was on every tumblr gifset ever has kinda faded into obscurity at this point. this album was...okay. i feel like people give Halsey a pass for extremely obvious lyrical turns that they wouldn’t for other folks because of her subject material--which is fine. not really my cup of tea, but i also listened to lots of Relient K this year, so that’s probably a good thing.

Jade Empire (game, 3/10/2020): the only 3D-era Bioware game that didn’t franchise out, and for good fucking reason!!! the Orientalism and appropriation really haven’t aged well, and even beyond that the story was...standard Bioware faire. even my usual “my wife’s a bitch i love her” Bioware type didn’t do it for me, and i just ended up romancing no one. it did make me think a lot about what level of cultural borrowing is accepted nowadays, and why: people still look fondly at Avatar and talk about how ~accurate and respectful it was, for example, despite it being staffed almost entirely by white folks, and the Orientalism ALL OVER the monk class in DND is still fine for some reason.

Alif the Unseen (book, finished 3/31/2020): interesting to have read this AFTER reading The Bird King last year, because it highlights how the intervening years have shifted G. Willow Wilson’s thematic interest and improved her craft. i’m actually quite fond of how her characterization work is rougher here--Alif is extremely flawed to the point of being insufferable, but it makes his development by the end more satisfying. Dina is also just good and i love her

Baldur’s Gate (2 games, finished 5/31/2020): well, having finally finished the series i’m happy to say that it...still doesn’t really do it for me, sorry. any awesome story moments were overshadowed by the EXCRUCIATING inventory management system and the combat (i still don’t know what a THAC0 is and at this point i’m afraid to find out). these games crucially lack the Home Base that later Bioware games were so good about, and that (coupled with the huge cast of characters you can drop off and never see again) really hurts the intimacy for me. by the time we finally did get one it was the Hell Dimension in Throne of Bhaal, and i was just...trying to get through it. (yes, i did just say that about one of the most beloved expansions ever to one of the most beloved games ever.) THIS particular iteration of “my wife’s a bitch i love her” was very good, but the game wouldn’t let me romance her :(

The Underground Railroad (book, finished 6/19/2020): honestly what is there even left to say at this point! it was exactly as good as every critic on the planet said it was, even with my usual aversion to hype. draining and horrifying in turns but still insistent upon a future for Black folks.

Steven Universe (6 seasons and a mooooooviiieeee, finished 7/11/2020): yes, i DID finish the show and almost immediately begin a rewatch. this series is now one of my top five most formative things, and the amount of love and respect i have for it is incalculable. that said: i once again did not love how the central conflict of Future was resolved (just the resolution--i loved the finale just fine). for all of Steven’s breakdown was built up, resolving it with “EVERYONE HUG HIM UNTIL HE CRIES” felt...cheap, especially since up until this point the show had been so good about treating trauma and mental illness with the respect and nuance it deserves. it made me wish some of the earlier, less substantial episodes had been cut so we could spend more time at the end.

What It Is (comic, finished 8/19/2020): y’all i love Lynda Barry SO MUCH. for the longest time i was worried that One Hundred Demons was more a lightning in a bottle situation but every book of hers i pick up makes me feel obscure emotions i didn’t even realize existed. the compassionate way she’s able to describe her child self and how weird and fucked up she was (and still is) is honestly aspirational.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (TV, 5 seasons finished 9/26/2020): so here’s a reversal of what i’ve been complaining about with other shows: i was mostly lukewarm-to-warm about She-Ra, but the later seasons and the finale made me much more into it as a whole. more shows should improve in stakes and overall quality as they age tbh!! i still don’t actively love Catradora (my sole quibble with season 5 actually has to do with the way Adora kept backsliding as a character to make certain Plot/Relationship things happen), but i’m very happy for them nonetheless. i can certainly appreciate a show that will go for High Feeling over tight plot. dark horse standout moments: trees growing everywhere proving that Perfuma Was Right, and Hordak and Adora seeing each other--that weirdly intimate moment of recognition.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters (album, finished 10/7/2020): again i find myself not having much to say that no one else has said. it’s good! once again love it when an artist reclaims something they’d attached with negative affect (anxiety, depression, disordered eating) for better and brighter things.

Solutions and Other Problems (comic, finished 10/25/2020): i was very into Allie Brosh’s ambition with this book, which feels weird to say but i stand by it. it’s cool to see an artist try to make a new medium work for them instead of just sticking to what already works. not all the experimentation was 100% effective, but it was still delightful and occasionally devastating to read, so.

Legend of Zelda (3 games: Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Link Between Worlds, finished 11/1/2020): this was the third time i’d played Ocarina of Time, which made it the nice, comforting groove i settled into before Majora’s Mask blatted me in the face. i’m not usually a completionist Zelda person because...the gameplay in Zelda is bad, do not at me it just is, but i really felt like i HAD to be one for Majora’s Mask since the whole point is to get attached to the banalities of the town. i’m sure nobody’s surprised that i loved it, even if it gave me an existential crisis about how life goes on in the game for NPCs when you’re not there to save them from it, and there’s not enough time to save them all all the time (also not a surprise to anyone: Romani and Cremia gave Personal Feelings). Link Between Worlds...bad. not like in a “this is a bad story by every measurable gauge” way, but i was already struggling with the 2D playstyle shift enough that for the whole story to end with some “yes it’s v sad that Lorule is Like This but trying to steal Hyrule’s privilege is Even Worse Actually” noblesse oblige bullshit left a VERY poor taste in my mouth, this year of all years. i did audibly gasp when Ravio took off his mask, though. i’m currently playing Breath of the Wild in cautious increments; it’s the first time i’ve enjoyed early Zelda gameplay, but if they wanted fully voiced cutscenes i wish they got voice actors who...knew what words sound like.

folklore (album, finished 11/6/2020): my belief that Taylor Swift is Just Fine continues, i’m afraid. i LIKED this album, don’t get me wrong, and respect her constant drive to innovate, but i didn’t love it substantially more or less than any other Taylor Swift album. mostly i’m just tickled by how she thinks leaning into the indie aesthetic means borrowing Vita Sackville-West’s entire wardrobe, though i will admit to feeling Something when she swore in a song. i think it was like. savage vindication?? you go ahead and swear, Taylor Swift. you deserve it.

Shore (album, finished 11/19/2020): do people still care about the Fleet Foxes? i think there was some Drama with Josh Tillman a while back but i don’t remember where the discourse landed with who was being more problematic. it was nostalgic for me to listen to their new album--made me remember being an undergrad who exclusively listened to men who mumbled and played acoustic guitar all over again.

Star Wars (3 movies: original trilogy, finished 11/27/2020): there is So Much bad Star Wars these days that every time i rewatch the original trilogy i’m afraid that they will suddenly be bad, but guess what! they’re not. i love these children and their hot mess stories, i love that Lando doesn’t know how to say his best friend’s name. what stood out to me this time was the way Obi-Wan described the Force in A New Hope, which strongly implied that ANYONE can be Force Sensitive; that obviously faded with each subsequent movie, but part of me does wish they’d kept it.

X of Swords (comics, 22 issues finished 12/5/2020): i am enjoying Hickman’s X-lines!!! not so much here for the Grand Conspiracy or whatever, but the character work and highkey weirdness is fabulous--they FEEL like X-Men, despite all the shakeups in-universe. this crossover is a nice microcosm of all that: grandiloquently all over the place, but still full of cool standout moments and genuine hilarity. ILLYANA DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO SPELL MAGIC.

Fire Emblem (4 games: Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Awakening, finished 12/14/2020): this was the thing that i was closest to giving up early on, but i ended up hyperfixating on it instead. that’s a credit to what the gameplay does to my lizard brain more than anything else, because the story and character writing is...insipid. it was very bizarre to witness this franchise blunder around with its animal-people racism allegory around the same time i was getting back into RWBY, and ITS animal-people racism allegory blunders. Awakening was the first time i felt anything for the franchise beyond “teehee red units disappear make exp bar go up and brain go ding,” so i’m excited for more mature storytelling in subsequent games (they MUST get better. they MUST). the child husbandry thing is...very bad tho, and Apotheosis being “challenging” entirely through the game changing all the rules is also bad.

once again no vidya games that came out this year--i’ll probably pick up Spiritfarer or Hades after the New Year, though (or maybe TLOU II! but probably not. sry Laura and Ashley). more TV and franchises this year, which made me feel In Touch with the Children but was also kinda exhausting. nothing was so egregiously terrible i dropped it without finishing! in a year like this that feels almost like an accomplishment

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

Debuff Zane Build

i am tired of not seeing this build in all the zane build videos i watch so im sharing it here because its stupid fun bc u run fast and kill faster. it’s not meta, but its fun as fuck and u have a lot of damage and survivability with it. I’ve completed M4 Slaughter Shaft with it- haven’t tried on M10 yet but i have faith. p.s its 4 am pls have mercy if there’s spelling mistakes.

what ur gonna need is a band of sitorak, zheitseiv’s eruption, a seein’ dead, and the piss grenade. everything else is fair game, whatever u want. try to get it to have the sntl cryo anoint bc good. but u must have the 4 main items for this to work perfectly (it also somewhat works with a low level Frozen Heart bc best shield in the game but you will die a lot more)

also i need a fucking name for this build help

oh god oh fuck i forgot i was playing through the handsome jackpot dlc again

oki im ready to party

this is my current loadout

sometimes i switch the reg Q-System for a kaoson or a nighthawkin if i need ammo (OP QSystem is... OP but not as fun as a tracking grenade QSystem so i don’t care for it) and maybe the brainstormer for a reflux if many shielded enemies (i prefer the brainstormer over the reflux atm. so try for a brainstormer!!)

3rd slot, that’s a monarch which used to be a dictator b4 it got a straight upgrade. I actually don’t use the bipod unless im in a boss fight and don’t need to move fast. usually violent momentum and violent violence cover the dps loss

ur first 3 gun slots honestly don’t matter much. I have my reasons for using them, but you can use whatever u want i think, so long as its a strong weapon (bc unfortunately a lot of weapons are not scaled for m10). u dont HAVE to use the monarch or the Q system or the brainstormer. I recommend them, cuz theyre fun, but u don’t gotta if u wanna swap em out for a a kaoson or a yellowcake or a sandhawk or smth

the last gun is my zheitsev’s eruption. This bad boy, when u reload, shoots out homing balls of debuffery. So every enemy that gets hit with these gets a debuff. I have tried this with the needler but I prefer Zheitsev’s bc it can hit more enemies and once and takes less time. this gun only goes to Blane (ur clone). 

for the skill trees we have no points in under cover even tho brainfreeze is the best skill in the gaaaaame

explanations: 

really the hitman tree is p self explanatory, u wanna go fast as fuck boiii. My band of sitorak does not have the +15 movespeed while zoomer is active anoint (it has the break shield amp anoint, which is p okay. want movespeed, but a nice human from the reddit gave me this sitorak so i didn’t have to farm). u want drone delivery bc Blane will NOT be throwing grenades. If you try to make him throw grenades with the seein’ dead he will ONLY throw grenades and never fire his gun, meaning he’ll never reload. it’s a nightmare. anyway. u want the piss grenade (ideally with the +25% damage on thrown anoint). im not looking forward to regrinding this when they finally mayhem buff grenades.

we put one point into playing dirty because we want those extra shots and honestly with the amount of times seein’ dead can proc ur kill skills you’ll have it more often than not

we also have points in good misfortune for that sweet sweet uptime (which btw can be infinite using the brainstormer/reflux bc it is essentially a redistributor without the need for ur barrier) the monarch/dictator also does it justice

for Blane u DON’T WANT praemuntis. we want blane reloading as often as gotdamn possible. now unfortunately my seein’ dead gave me a +weapon mag size roll (im actually not sure if this affects blane, but im assuming it does) but it does have the amazing +5 donnybrook so I’m taking it anyway. I am so not looking forward to regrinding a good class mod when they finally release action skill buffs for them. i cri. i actually hear 3 points in donnybrook and 2 in violent violence is p good (or 1 in violent violence 1 in playin dirty) so maybe grinding won’t be so bad. maybe i’ll finally get a +weapon damage roll

u can grab 1 point in ducttape mod and put 4 points into borrowed time if you want. it doesn’t really matter. i current have 5 in borrowed time and 3 in pocket full of grenades (for some reason??? usually i only put 2 in.). U can do that and use those extra points for either ducttape mod or more points in playing dirty. 

u NEED quick breather. This skill has a STUPID interaction with the band of sitorak shield because of how quickly it recharges. I’m talking, the instant you swap with Blane, you have full shields and so does he. It’s dumb, I love it. Use it to get out of trouble.

so im probably gonna need to explain why i have 3 points in trick of the light: im a cryo slut. That’s it. put those wherever you want, just make sure you can get Double Barrel. i’ve seen builds where people actually go for brainfreeze, i might try that next time i respec.

Double barrel will make it so blane can use the zheitsev’s eruption and debuff your enemies for you. it’s worth it.

so the augments u want are these:

SCHADENFREUDE. because band of sitorak has such a tiny capacity, ur shield is constantly up. If its not, it’s constantly breaking from full capacity. this does have a fun effect with the amp shield break anoint, but mainly i like it for the 25% damage buff whenever it breaks. its a tradeoff for damage, ur constantly swapping between max shields and more damage, so its actually p constant survivability and damage over the long run.

i grab doppelbanger bc blane sometimes gets stuck in the floor and/or i don’t feel like running all the way back. i wouldn’t recommend getting which one’s real or digital distribution only bc u want him alive as much as possible. u can also get binary system instead of doppelbanger, its up to you

for Zoomer u want bad dose for the movement speed and (sometimes) static field (only if the enemies have shields). this is so if blane goes down or he isn’t taking damage, zoomer can refill ur shields. if the enemies won’t have shields usually i grab winter’s drone or boomsday depending on how i feel.

im actually gonna try to see if i can’t grab brain freeze. hang on. i know trick of the light is frowned upon for most people so lemme just respec. (im sorry i just love the vibes it gives me it’s like HAHA you thought that was me? no!!! boop. and then they’re ice sculptures and man i love h2o i wish emma had frozen more people the only people she really freezes are Greg and Miriam and honestly she doesn’t even kill Greg smh. (Greg is dr denman’s assistant. greg is highkey god.) I do like what she did to Mirami, the fucking implications that YES these teenage girls ARE powerful enough to instakill people, they just don’t out of the kindness of their hearts. Rikki was badass that episode too. actually i love the episode where rikki almost boils a dude alive for making a fool of her with ILLEGAL F I S H and burns people using steam from a pipe. rikki is my favorite mermaid- she knew what was u p. I wish mako mermaids was as badass as h2o was. and the cartoon. god imagine the cartoon violence. sigh. let them use their op superpowers to be SUPERHEROES. like in h2o au i have baron flynt puppeteer people to their deaths from Thor bc he has cleo’s powers like why couldn’t she do that to someone. Like dr denman “lmao bye bitch” or even charlotte (who imho wasn’t bad until cleo started being rude to her. cleo was 100% at fault that season). it wouldn’t have killed her!!! ... instantly. probably. ive never seen avatar in full but i did watch the blood bending episode as a child and as i understand it that’s frowned upon but hey. CAN BELLA TURN PEOPLE INTO JELLY?? harry potter 🅱oneless arms... my god.)

anyway, respeccing. 

there goes all my money. rip.

so i think im gonna have to live with the slower reload speed (sob) but yes u can in fact get brain freeze with this build. lemme show...

so ye in the event u just can’t live without freezing people (i know the feeling) feel free to do this. imma play with this for a bit and see if i can live with slower reload. I actually depend on the 100% cryo with zoomer active for all my cryo damage. i also use an ice breaker so they freeze fairly easy (but only on mobs. on bosses u want the snowdrift or something else)

this build isn’t really meta and u might have trouble doing a solo run of true takedown on m10... bc its true takedown on m10, but honestly it’s fun as F U C K. you CAN do it, but it’s not no thoughts head empty like barrier-redistrubutor/yellowcake zane can be so u gotta be on TOP of ur SHIT. i love it. running around killing stuff. it’s fun. i also love teleporting. it’s my FAVORITE THING. I STILL GET GIDDY OVER IT BECAUSE IT’S SO FUN. ask my friends, they will tell you, sometimes i’ll just start gushing over how much fun it is to teleport even though i’ve played zane since release. just. GFDGHKJGDFK so much fun. i just... b o o p. god i love this game. i took a break to play assassin’s creed odyssey (fun sneaky beaky game, pretty awful dialogue) so DAMN i missed this. 

here’s a link to a video I took on athenas (my favorite area to run. it’s this game’s bloodshot stronghold!) this is the playlist i listen to while playing Zane. i keep swapping songs during play bc sometimes they don’t fit my vibe or i get tired of them lol (spotify control is hooked to my 4th and 5th mouse buttons so i don’t have to stop playing) i forgot where my shock sandhawk was in my inventory, is what i use to demolish traunt. i was so scared i threw it in my bank earlier on sanc-iii lol (also yes i still slap blane’s ass. it’s to encourage him to kill)

and here’s a link to the save + everything I had on me at the moment (including the stuff i picked up in the vid in case u want it lol) cuz im lazy and don’t feel like clearing out my inventory. some of these are only m4-9. which ones? it is a mystery. you’ll know when the new update releases ;) (no but actually im so hype for mayhem level on the item cards. finally. FINALLY!!!)

why is this video taking so long to upload. hynnnggggg

oh god is that the sun

[gloomstudy]

congrats on graduation!! What are you up to nowadays?

thank you so much!! continuing from my last two life updates (here and here):

i’ve unfortunately semi-lost my substitute teaching job. all schools in my area are closed for the rest of this school year due to coronavirus, so i’ve been unable to teach since the middle of last month. i’ll be back to teaching once this is all over, though!

thankfully, i still have my other job, but everyone’s hours have been cut significantly (again, due to coronavirus). i now work a little less than half of what i used to ;;

i recently had a dry cough and was sick for about 2 weeks. i’m not sure if it was related to the virus, but i’m okay now :)

i’m currently on a short break from work. i’ve been staying home; i haven’t gone outside in 2 weeks. i’ll be back to work this friday.

i study korean in my free time. i recently finished reviewing everything i learned during the fall 2018 semester (korean 1A). i want to start reviewing korean 1B this week!

after watching a very cheesy but wholesome rom-com j-drama (a girl & three sweethearts), i felt motivated to get back into studying japanese again! i started following @/hinative_jp on instagram, so i’ve picked up a few useful phrases here and there over the past few days. slowly, but surely, i’ll fully get back into it :D

i work on music whenever i can. learning, listening, practicing, composing, improvising…just trying to stay in touch so that i don’t forget what i learned in uni, y’know?

i’ve been playing animal crossing: new horizons! it’s so fun and wholesome. from what i’ve seen, a lot of other players seem to be rushed to expand their houses and terraform their islands and create their towns, but i’m just out here taking my time lol. june is my favorite villager so far, if anyone was wondering. she’s the sweetest little cub and i love her a lot!!

picked up a new hobby: sewing! my mom taught me the basics, and i enjoy it very much. i made my own face mask with some scrap fabric, and i accidentally stabbed my thumb with the needle in the process lol, but i’m really happy with how it turned out! i’ll wear it the next time i go outside :)

i cried over the most recent episode of haikyuu and now i gotta wait until july for season 4 to continue. at least we don’t have to wait 4 years, ahaha (haikyuu fans know what i mean). also! i am,,,,,very soft,,,,,for the miya twins :((( you can’t make me choose which one i like better. atsumu and osamu are both good and cute boys.

also cried over the last episode of boku no hero academia. it was very emotional! now we have to wait a while until season 5 comes out ;;

i haven’t read anything new lately, but my brother lent me his copy of how to win friends & influence people by dale carnegie. i plan to read it soon, and i hope i’ll be better at communicating with people after i finish reading it!

super excited for day6, chungha, nct dream, and astro’s comebacks!!

i’ve been thinking a lot about the future. other jobs, grad school, potential career paths…it’s stressful, especially now that we’re in a crisis and everything seems so uncertain. i’ll figure things out eventually. for now, i’m trying my best to be present and focus on one thing at a time. baby steps are okay, too.

tl;dr: kinda lost one job but still have the other, was sick for a while but i’m good now, studying korean and japanese, working on music, playing acnh, learning how to sew, crying over anime, gonna read when i get a chance, hyped for some very exciting kpop comebacks, and thinking about the future.

that’s all for now! thank you for reading. i hope you’re all doing well and staying safe. we’re gonna get through this together!! 💕✨

[suzanaboss]

:) Yo! I was wondering how your fic is coming along and... what moment in the whole of NNT captured your attention? Have a wonderful day. 💗

You’re so sweet, you remembered!!So, after spending countless and precious hours on that fic that I’ve told you about, I lost all data from my pc last month lol *sobbing*

It’s okay, I’m okay now! hahahaha

But fear not! I’ve already started writing it all over again, although the progress has been a little slow because besides being a hopeless perfectionist, english is not my native language unfortunately =(Also, I got so frustrated when I lost all of the first chapters from that WIP that I started another one! Yaaaaaay! So now I’ve got two main WIPs (that I’m proud of) and I just can’t wait to show them to you!! Really! XD

As for the second question, ARE YOU READY? hahaha There were so many moments that made me shocked, amazed, made me fall in love even more with this amazing story! I started watching the anime and after the first season I read the manga. If I had to choose, I would say:  

1. The moment in the anime when Meliodas reveals himself as one of the Seven Deadly Sins. That knowing smirk, the surprise. This moment right here made me obsessed with NNT:

“Meliodas! That’s my name!” 

And BAM! Just like that, I’m fell in love with Meliodas 😂

2. Meliodas x Griamore. One word? AWESOME. I was baffled, I loved the whole scene! (It so should have been animated, by the way.)

3. The moment Estarossa revealed that Meliodas was the leader of the Ten Commandments three thousand years ago. I was so hyped. This right here made me swoon for like forever hours! I am a sucker for the trope enemies to lovers, by far my favorite, so knowing that Elizabeth and Meliodas were enemies before falling in love was like a dream coming true.ALSO LOOK AT HIM HE’S SO HOT I CAN’T HANDLE

4. When Meliodas died and a piece of me died with him 😂 I thought for sure someone would save him because “the main character can’t possibly die, right??” I was shocked. I cried for real and I’m not ashamed. 

5. Meliodas showing both his brothers JUST WHO’S IN CHARGE because bad Meliodas gives me life 😂 He is so confident and serious in this panel, he is the most powerful demon from them all and he knows it. So different from his usual self. I swooned.

6. The moment all fandom went crazy reading the manga because we finally were sure that Gelda was alive! I screamed. Really, I screamed “WHAT!?” so loud I’m sure even the neighbors heard it and then proceeded to read the rest of the chapter repeating this like a mantra “I can’t believe it she’s alive”. I was kind of giddy lol

7. Meliodas crying in purgatory when Ban finds him. There I was, crying again because of him. But seriously, this scene was quite emotional for me. Meliodas is a master in the arts of concealing his own emotions at all costs. Then, he appears so vulnerable and obviously, his reaction told us he had been in such pain, emotional and physical, for a long time. He was in hell, forever as far as he was concerned. His despair is so clear and yet, the beauty of it all is that it is also a moment of relief and salvation because he is not alone anymore, he is not crazy, his best friend is there and finally, there’s hope. I found it beautiful. 

Bonus: the famous Tea Sip ™. Just because it was awesome 😂  

[noona-clock]

Which One? Ji Soo - Part 6

Genre: Coffee Shop!AU

Pairing: Ji Soo x You

Warnings: Use of the word ‘Soccer.’ I know non-Americans hate it, and I apologize. But I am American. What can I say? 🤷‍♀️ Oh, and also mentions of alcohol.

Prologue, Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Epilogue  | Words: 3,951

“Go out?” you asked, your own voice sounding foreign to your ears. It was a bit squeakier than normal, but... what about this situation was normal?

Ji Soo, a very handsome coffee shop owner, had just asked you out.

I mean, you’re pretty sure he was asking you out!

And, like... you couldn’t stress enough just how handsome he was.

So... definitely not your average Saturday night.

“Yeah,” Ji Soo assured you with a nod. “Go out. Like... get dinner? Or see a movie?”

Yeah, he was asking you out.

But there was just one thing stopping you from saying ‘yes’ immediately.

“Do you... have time to go out?” 

Ji Soo chuckled softly, his lips tilting into a half-grin. “I, uh -- I asked Joo Hyuk to cover for me tomorrow night. Last Sunday was pretty slow. I guess people don’t want all that caffeine before they have to wake up on Monday morning.”

Oh, wow, that made your heart flutter. He had prepared for this and everything!

You opened your mouth to say that you would love to go out with him tomorrow night, but -- you stopped yourself.

Because there was just one problem.

“I... actually already have plans tomorrow night,” you said, your brow furrowing. “There’s a game at 7, and I have season tickets, so --”

“A game?” Ji Soo asked. He was clearly confused by what you’d just told him. “Season tickets? What kind of game?”

You weren’t surprised by how surprised he sounded. You were kind of a technology geek, so why on Earth would you enjoy sports?

“Soccer,” you explained with a tiny smile. “The Tigers. I have season tickets. My dad passed down his love of the game to me, and one of the first things I bought with my first real paycheck was a season pass.”

The expression on Ji Soo’s face was still one of confusion, but now there was some amusement mixed in there. “Huh,” he nodded. “Soccer. I had no idea.”

For a split second, you felt bad because you had to turn him down... but then you suddenly had an idea. You gasped slightly, your eyebrows shooting halfway up your forehead.

“Do you want to come with me?” you asked excitedly. “I can see if the seat next to me is open.”

Ji Soo also raised his eyebrows, and you thought maybe he would decline, but the grin tugging at his lips gave you hope. “Yeah? Yeah, of course, I would love to come. That sounds awesome, actually.”

Your heart fluttered for probably the ten thousandth time tonight, and you had to bite your lip to keep from smiling like the biggest goofball.

“It starts at 7,” you told him, clutching your laptop to your chest. “Should I pick you up here at 6? We can get food at the stadium.”

Ji Soo slid his hands into his pockets, and even though you couldn’t be absolutely sure, you had an inkling that the expression on his face was just as hopeful and giddy as yours.

“That sounds good,” he nodded. “I’ll be waiting outside right at 6. I know how you like to be on time.”

Oh, boy. First, he had prepared ahead of time to go on a date with you. And now he was promising to be on time because he knew that’s what you like?

The date wasn’t for another 21 hours, but you were already labeling it The Best Date Ever.

“Yes, I do,” you agreed with a soft laugh. “You’re right.”

“You should probably get used to saying that, by the way,” he said casually, taking one hand out of his pocket and reaching out to open your car door for you.

“Saying what?”

“You just said I was right,” he clarified. “You should get used to saying that because I’m right 99.9% of the time.”

You shot him a look which clearly said ‘Oh, yeah, right.’

“It’s true!” he argued, his eyebrows raised earnestly. “You’ll see, it really is true.”

You turned and ducked into your car, setting your laptop on the passenger seat and your bag down on the floor. “Okay, whatever you say,” you sighed, biting back a playful smirk.

“Drive safely,” he said as he leaned slightly against your open door. “Let me know when you get home?”

“I live less than ten minutes away,” you reminded him, chuckling softly but also awkwardly. It had just been such a long time since anyone besides Jane had made a request like that.

“Yeah... but still. Let me know.”

“I will,” you assured him with a nod. And just before you got into your car, you added a quiet, “See you tomorrow.”

Once you were fully and safely seated behind the wheel, Ji Soo gently closed your door and stepped back to allow you to reverse out of the parking spot. He stayed there as you drove away, lifting up one hand in a wave as you pulled out of the lot.

Oh, boy.

Oh, boy, oh, boy.

A date.

Tomorrow.

With Ji Soo.

Obviously, the first thing you did after you got home -- besides texting Ji Soo about your safe arrival, of course -- was call Jane.

You had barely gotten a whole sentence out before her high-pitched squeals filled the air. And your ear canal. You literally had to pull your phone away to protect your eardrum.

“I TOLD YOU!” she cried. “Didn’t I tell you?!”

“Yes, you told me,” you sighed, remembering just the other day when Ji Soo said ‘I told you so’ about your car troubles.

...Okay, now that you thought about it, Ji Soo and Jane were almost eerily similar. They both loved to tease you, they both were quick to point out when they were right, they were both incredibly kind and sweet, they both made you laugh, and... they both made you feel good about yourself.

When they weren’t embarrassing you, of course.

No wonder Jane had been able to predict the course of events between you and Ji Soo. They were practically the same person!

“And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed,” you told her as you held back a huge, goofy grin.

“Gotta get some beauty rest before the big day tomorrow,” Jane squealed. “Not that you need it, but it’s always a plus to use a little less concealer. Night!”

“Good night, Jane,” you murmured affectionately before hanging up the phone.

After you got ready for bed, you settled in under the covers and got out your phone to look for Ji Soo’s ticket for the game tomorrow. Even if you couldn’t find one right next to you, you could trade yours out and find two together easily enough.

Just as you pulled up the ticket app, though, you got an Instagram notification.

TheMugShop (The Mug Coffee) is now following you.

Ooooooh.

You hastily pressed the banner alert, and your phone switched over to the Instagram app, heading straight to TheMugShop’s profile. First things first, you clicked ‘Follow back’ right away. They only had three followers so far (most likely Ji Soo, Joo Hyuk, and now you), but you were sure that would change fairly quickly.

Their bio read:

        The Mug, your favorite locally-owned coffee shop. ☕️         7a - 9p

        all photos taken by @yourusername 

And, to your surprise, there was already a picture posted. It was the picture you and Ji Soo had edited together tonight, one of a green tea latte since it was your beverage of choice (and because the green color was just so pretty) so you quickly clicked on it.

The caption made you both roll your eyes and laugh out loud.

“🍵❤️we like you a latte ❤️🍵come visit from 7-9 and try our green tea latte, a customer favorite”

You would bet five bucks Ji Soo had come up with that. You’d have to remember to ask him tomorrow.

Here’s a question for you:

Why are dates always in the evening?

Most of the time, people are nervous to go on a date. Especially a first date.

So, why would you subject yourself to going through almost the whole day waiting to meet up? Why would you spend hours and hours in anxiety? Why didn’t people just say ‘Hey, let’s meet for breakfast’?

Maybe you would start a new trend. Morning dates!

Except it was too late now. You’d bought a ticket for Ji Soo for the game tonight, and you couldn’t very well change the kickoff time.

If tonight went well, you would bring it up for a second date. Although, you weren’t sure when a second date would happen. Ji Soo worked at the coffee shop every single day from 7-9 -- or at least, for now. They couldn’t afford to pay you to take pictures for them, so surely they couldn’t afford to pay a part-time employee.

To be honest, though... you didn’t care. You were more than happy to just go to the shop, have a drink, and see Ji Soo, even if just for a few minutes at a time. 

But you were getting a little ahead of yourself.

You would see how tonight went and then start worrying about the future.

Somehow -- some way -- you managed to get through the better part of the day without freaking out. You cleaned up the rest of your place since you’d cleaned up your kitchen yesterday, and that alone successfully distracted you for most of the morning and afternoon.

Plus, you kept busy keeping up with the Tigers on Instagram, watching videos of them getting ready to play and getting hyped for the game.

By 5:45 that evening, you were all set and ready to go, donning your team jersey with your favorite player’s name and number on the back, as usual.

You were semi-fine -- meaning not extremely nervous -- until you turned into The Mug’s parking lot and saw Ji Soo waiting by the entrance for you.

Oh, god.

When you pulled up to the front, Ji Soo lifted a hand and grinned at you. He opened the passenger door once you stopped and slid into the seat.

“Hey,” he greeted, sounding far less nervous than you felt at the moment.

“Hello,” you replied. Since you were behind the wheel, you had an excuse not to look over at him. You’d basically seen him as he’d stood outside the shop, and you could tell he looked extra good tonight. You weren’t sure how that was possible, but... apparently, it was.

“How are you?” he asked as he reached back to grab his seat belt.

“I’m excited for the game,” you told him. You decided to leave off the fact you were nervous for the date.

“You’re not nervous for the date?” he asked. You didn’t even need to look over at him to know he was smirking.

Of course. Of course, he knew what you were thinking. He was your best friend in male form!

You felt your cheeks warming as a shy smile tugged at your lips, and you shook your head slightly in disbelief. “Well, yes,” you admitted. “But it’ll be fun.”

“Yeah? I’ve never been to a game before, so I’m curious.”

“Wait, really? You’ve never been to a game?”

“Nope.”

“Like any soccer game?”

“Any soccer game,” he confirmed with a chuckle. “Joo Hyuk has, but apparently, it takes a pretty girl to convince me.”

Awesome. Not even five minutes into the date, and you were already blushing wildly.

“They’re really fun,” you assured him, trying to hide a shy grin. “I mean, I think they’re really fun. Obviously. Hopefully, you’ll have a good time.”

“Oh, yeah. I think I will. I had a good time when we were editing a picture, so I definitely think I’ll have a good time tonight. As long as you’re there.”

Okay, you couldn’t hide your shy grin any longer, and you could feel Ji Soo’s eyes on you.

Judging by the car ride alone, you were in trouble tonight. If Ji Soo kept saying things like that, you were pretty sure your lips would get stuck in this little smile for the rest of your life.

“Have you always blushed so easily?” Ji Soo asked, reaching over and poking your cheek gently.

“Yes,” you chuckled. You shrugged your shoulder to try and push his arm away, but it was more of an instinctive reaction than anything.

“It’s cute,” he murmured. “Like, just on your own, you’re beautiful. But when you blush it’s just so cute.”

“Oh my gosh, can we not talk about me anymore?” you asked with just the slightest whine in your voice. But you still had that smile on your lips; honestly, you were for real on your way to smiling permanently. All because of him!

Ji Soo obliged, though, and he (somehow) managed not to make you blush the rest of the way to the stadium. He asked about the rules of the game, and that kept you talking for the whole ride.

By the time you parked, walked to the stadium, went through security, scanned your tickets, bought some pizza and beer, and found your seats, the team was out practicing on the field.

Ji Soo asked who all of the players were, so you pointed out each one, telling him what their name was and which position they played.

“Who’s on your jersey?” he asked with half a mouthful of pizza.

“Ah,” you muttered, feeling your cheeks blush for the first time in almost half an hour. “Number 16, Martinez.”

Ji Soo’s eyes searched the field, and they narrowed slightly when he found the number 16 jersey.

Of course, you liked Martinez because he was a good player...

But... you would be lying if you said he wasn’t the best-looking guy on the team.

Ji Soo turned his narrowed gaze over to you, and your eyes widened innocently.

“What?” you asked.

“I’m onto you,” he murmured, sounding utterly serious (which you knew meant he was teasing).

“What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

You shook your head, still keeping up the innocent act as you ate your pizza.

Ji Soo simply smirked at you, and you had to look away because it wasn’t possible to eat properly if you weren’t breathing.

Once you had both finished your pizza, the game was just about to start. You took a quick gulp of beer as the team came back out onto the field in their uniforms. You stood from your seat and clapped, cupping your hands around your mouth and cheering along with the crowd.

Ji Soo stood up, and you were reminded just how tall he was. Most of the time, either one or both of you were sitting, so it was easy to forget that he not only had the face of a model but the body of a model, too. Tall, slim, but you could tell he was also muscular.

As the national anthem played, Ji Soo leaned over and casually rested his elbow on your shoulder.

And, if you can believe it, it made your heart flutter.

So, literally, everything this guy did had some sort of effect on you, I guess. Even if he was just resting his elbow on your shoulder.

Plus, he smelled really good. He always seemed to smell good, even though he worked pretty much all day, every day.

After the last note of the anthem rang through the stadium, you gulped down your anxiety and leaned just a little bit closer toward your date.

“You smell really good,” you told him, raising your voice over the din of the crowd.

Ji Soo simply smirked before reaching out and wrapping his arms around you, pulling you into a hug.

You were so tempted to just bury your face in his chest, but he had already let go before you could give in to the urge.

Thankfully, the referee blew the starting whistle so you could turn your attention to the game instead of how good Ji Soo smelled. Or how amazing just that one, quick hug had felt.

“Okay, you have to tell me what’s going on,” he said, his voice suddenly close to your ear.

You nodded and began your commentary, making sure to stay close to him so you didn’t bother the people around you. You told him what was going on, you answered any question he had, and you also still managed to react to the game as you usually did.

The first time the ref made a somewhat questionable call, your brow furrowed deeply and you yelled out your disagreement.

“OH, COME ON, REF!” you cried. “THAT WAS A FOUL! ARE YOU BLIND?!”

Now, obviously, you weren’t the only one who was yelling at the ref. But the way Ji Soo was looking at you right now, you might as well have been.

When you glanced over at him, a bit of a guilty smile appeared on your lips. “What?” you asked, chuckling.

“I had no idea you had this side to you,” he laughed. “You just seem so... sweet.”

“I am!” you countered.

“You just asked the referee if he was blind,” Ji Soo pointed out. “That’s not sweet.”

“Well! It was a clear foul!”

You went back to watching the game, but you felt Ji Soo lean in close, placing his lips right by your ear.

“Don’t worry,” he told you. “I like it.”

You simply pressed your lips together, your cheeks blazing.

Since the two of you had opted to buy food before the game, you decided to stay in your seats during halftime while almost everyone else in the stadium left.

“How do you like it so far?” you asked, reaching down to pick up your beer and down the last of it.

“Honestly, it’s a lot more fun than I thought,” Ji Soo admitted. “I don’t know why I always thought soccer was boring, but it’s really not.”

“No, not at all!”

“Joo Hyuk is going to be so pissed,” he chuckled.

“You’ll have to go to a game with him to make up for it,” you grinned, nudging him gently with your arm.

“As long as you come, too.”

“What?” you laughed. “Why do I have to come?”

“Because you’re the best commentator. I feel like I know all about soccer already! ...And because you are ridiculously cute when you’re yelling at the players.”

“Be quiet,” you muttered through your smile.

“It’s true!”

You shook your head, rolling your eyes in amusement.

Before Ji Soo could say anything else, Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” started blaring through the stadium speakers.

“Ooh, Kiss Cam!” you cried, tapping Ji Soo’s arm and pointing up to the jumbo screen hanging from the ceiling. “I love the Kiss Cam.”

“You do?” Ji Soo asked, sounding surprised.

You turned to look at him, nodding -- but then you froze.

Oh... god.

What if... what if the two of you were put up on the screen?

Oh, no no no no no.

Ji Soo would love it, surely, but...

It would be so embarrassing!

The cameramen had no way of knowing this, but it was just your first date! You had only hugged, and it had only lasted less than a second!

Your heart started hammering as couples came and went on the screen, and you could sincerely say you’d never been so nervous watching the Kiss Cam. Every time a new couple showed up, you held your breath, letting it out gently when you realized it wasn’t you and Ji Soo.

When an older couple finished kissing, the Kiss Cam logo came up and the announcer asked the crowd to give all of the couples a round of applause.

Oh, thank god. You had survived.

“Aw, man,” Ji Soo lamented, shaking his head. “I was hoping we would be on it.”

Of course, he would hope that.

Instead of letting him know you were not disappointed in the least, you simply reached over and patted his arm. “I’m sorry,” you said. “Maybe next time.”

“Next time?” he asked, eyebrows raised. “You think there’s going to be a next time?”

You stared at him, blinking, your mouth slightly agape.

Uh...

Ji Soo smirked and lifted his arm, moving to rest it around your shoulders. “There better be a next time,” he smirked.

You couldn’t help but let out yet another sigh of relief.

And then... you settled down in your seat, leaning into him and tilting your head to rest it against his shoulder.

When the game was over (a satisfying 2-0 win for the Tigers, thank goodness), you and Ji Soo shuffled out of the stadium with the rest of the crowd. You headed up the stairs ahead of him, and as the people filed out with you, you felt Ji Soo’s fingers grasp yours.

Thankfully, he couldn’t see your face, but you would be surprised if he didn’t know you were blushing right now.

When you got to the top of stairs, instead of letting go of his hand, you linked your fingers through his more firmly. Ji Soo squeezed your hand as he walked beside you, and you shot him a shy grin.

Eventually, you made it out to the parking lot, and once the two of you were settled into your car, Ji Soo told you to drop him back off at the coffee shop.

“Joo Hyuk is still there, so I figure I should help him clean up some.”

“Can you please apologize to him for me?” you asked as you threw your car into reverse and began to back out of your spot. “I feel bad that he had to work by himself.”

“So, you feel bad for going out with me?” Ji Soo teased.

“No!” you chuckled.

“Don’t worry,” he assured you, reaching over and resting his hand on your thigh briefly. “We’re talking about hiring a part-timer. Hopefully. If business keeps up, we should be able to. And we can pay you for the pictures.”

“No, Ji Soo, I already told you that you don’t need to pay me. The free drinks are more than enough.”

“See? That’s why I thought you were sweet,” Ji Soo pointed out. “But then you started yelling at that ref. Now I’m afraid to ever get on your bad side.”

You simply laughed, shaking your head as you began the drive back to The Mug.

When you arrived at the shop, you pulled up as close to the door as you could since there were no other cars in the lot. You put the car in park and, a bit nervously, you turned toward Ji Soo.

“Thank you for coming,” you said softly. “I’m glad you had a good time.”

“No, thank you for inviting me. I never thought our first date would be a sports game, but that’s one of the things I like about you.”

“...What do you mean?” you asked shyly.

“You’re full of surprises,” Ji soo told you with just the slightest of smirks.

For probably the millionth time tonight, you blushed.

And you wondered if there would ever be a time you didn’t blush around Ji Soo.

“Hey, so...” he continued. “I don’t really want our first kiss to be in the parking lot, but... if you wouldn’t mind...”

Well, the blushing certainly wasn’t going to be letting up anytime soon, was it?

He was asking you if you wouldn’t mind kissing him?

Really?

You didn’t let yourself think too much about it because you probably would have talked yourself out of saying ‘yes.’

And... you wanted to say ‘yes.’

So, you nodded quickly.

Part 7