#2. i manage to make the model but it's goofy/shit and I give up and never try blender again

[n0tamused]

Gonna try using blender today to *try* and make Jien. Will update later.

[cospinol]

...actually this spring’s isekai pickings were a little bit better than usual, not even one 2/10 on my list! isenido just barely scraped by by sparing/pseudo-redeeming touma at the last second, but his plotline was SUCH a downer it made me despise the protagonist enough to knock the whole show down to a 3 when otherwise i’d have at least considered it for a low 4, accrued mainly from the excellent little romance with leviathan (of course her screentime is minimal and the rest of the harem is especially worthless to make up for it) (also, touma’s goofy yandere antics are genuinely a treat, but if i think about them for too long i remember that he literally actually did nothing wrong and my spirit of righteous vengeance starts thinking maybe this shit is a 2 after all). though i will soon have forgotten everything abt this show except for its wonderful myanimelist synopsis

i can’t find a single other website that uses the phrase ‘isekai-normie’, all respect to the mad genius mal editor responsible. the double-isekai aspect is almost so stupid it’s worth talking about but it’s also not even in the damn show, the classmates he got isekai’d with do not even appear in the fucking plot, so i won’t waste more space in this post on it

anyways i was expecting to dole out more 3s this season but everything else managed to accrue enough random charm points to scrape by; fundamentally i’m most affected by tone and this particular set all trended towards the genuinely fluffy and forgiving, which is shocking considering yuusha ga shinda is on this list but i’m a sap so i loved the bullshit reverse body-swap resolution and was even kind of rooting for touka and yuna’s deeply stupid romance by the finale. tensei kizoku is probably the meanest of the bunch but it made up for it in other ways (first and foremost: wataru hatano catboy ojisan. the character he voiced in yuusha ga shinda was also the highlight of that show lol, a seasonal throughline), mostly literally by having great design sense and introducing a whole cast’s worth of new characters every single episode so even though the main harem was another viciously terrible one we essentially ended up spending no time with them at all, i’d mercifully completely forgotten about the elf girl by the time she popped in in the finale

on the flip-side of this is that ‘uncommonly garbage set of love interests’ is the other throughline of the season for some reason, with iseleve being the other main offender, but in that case it’s offset by obvious Main Girl Who Will Win kaori being more than charming enough to balance out the rest of them. i was disappointed that there were so many irritants and distractions in the real-world part of the plot because yuuya using his video game hacks to win at crane games and getting coerced into becoming a fashion model is WAY more interesting than any of the generic isekai antics on the other side of the door (it’s so pathetic it loops around to deeply compelling at points), though i ended up liking the latter half well enough too once the evil onii-sama plot made it to the redemption arc portion. it’s too brief to really write home about or to bump this show up to a 5 but it did remind me pleasantly of a speed-run version of seikoku no dragonar’s prince julius plot, which will always be the gold standard for those (don’t @ me)

and that leaves isesuma Season Two as the only one on the list i haven’t talked about yet but it’s an outlier that i feel like i have to treat a little differently just because it’s very funny as a case study; when the first season aired in 2017 it was genuinely the worst thing i’d ever seen and i didn’t hesitate to give it a 2/10, while this season felt pretty much as average as one of these can get, and there’s no doubt in my mind that they are of pretty much the exact same quality. the only thing that really stood out this season was how little of a shit touya gives about his harem, even with him being a clueless/reluctant-type protagonist i remember the previous season actually attempting to build (even being mostly dedicated to building...?) romance arcs with the sisters in particular but this season girls he’s JUST met just get added to the fiancé roster *by the other girls* without even consulting him and the show doesn’t even play it as a joke. the mal synopsis for this one presents the harem as the main hook but the only time touya seems to care about anything in this entire season is the mecha engineering plotline, if you close your eyes you can pretend it really is still summer 2017 and you’re watching knight’s & magic..................... anyways it still just barely snags a 4 by actually putting in the white-haired catboy rival (i guess he isn’t actually a catboy but i spent all of s1′s intro thinking he was so that’s ingrained as fact for me) who was in all of s1′s damn intro but did not appear in the show at any point. he’s here now!!!!

also, i did drop katsukami at episode 4. self-respect moments

[pterodactylterrace]

Guys Like You Chapter 12

Title: Guys Like You

Chapter: 12

Chapter Summary:  When two hearts are meant for each other, distance isn’t an issue... right?

Rating: 18+

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol consumption. Angsty. 

Chapters:  {Prologue} {Chapter 1} {Chapter 2} {Chapter 3} {Chapter 4} {Chapter 5} {Chapter 6} {Chapter 7} {Chapter 8} {Chapter 9} {Chapter 10} {Chapter 11}

Wrapping up filming was a bittersweet event. Mostly bitter to be perfectly honest. While Faye was happy that she had completed her first big contract, she was going to miss the people she had grown close to while working there. She was casual acquaintances with a few people, but the biggest loss was going to be Henry.

You see, now that filming was over and his lease was up at his current rental property, he was moving back to his house in South Kensington. Briar was near hysterical when she found 'her room' at his house packed up. Henry spent most of that day with the little girl either in his arms, or dragging her as she clung to his leg. Not much packing was accomplished on that day.

When it was time for Henry to actually leave for his home, was the worst part of the entire ordeal. Briar had planted herself in the passenger seat and screamed every time someone tried to move her. Faye could almost swear she saw Henry tearing up when he drove away, Briar still screaming in her mother's arms.

He was loyal with his FaceTiming and phone calls, texting her as much as he could throughout the day. Not long after he had gotten home, he had to leave again for another project. This one was only supposed to take four months, but it didn't make it suck any less for Faye. Whenever Henry would FaceTime, she would slap on a happy face, delighted to see his goofy grin as he tried to show her some 'secrets' behind the scenes. Mostly the snack table, and occasionally Kal sleeping at his feet. He was so happy with what he did. Truly, genuinely happy.

While he was away, Faye had taken up a contract with some fashion designer, doing makeup for models before photoshoots and for the runway. She loved what she did, but she found doing beauty makeup was becoming boring and repetitive very quickly. She could barely remember the last time she had applied a prosthetic.

That was the biggest strain on their relationship so far. Yes, the distance was awful, but that was nothing compared to the arguments they had over Faye's job. Henry kept insisting she not renew her contract when it came back around. Faye continuously told him that she didn't have much of an option, she was in England on a work visa. If she didn't work, she couldn't stay in the country. Then Henry would suggest she take another job, and she would tell him that every offer he had was just for beauty makeup. She had had absolutely no offers for special effect makeup, like she wanted, so right back to square one.

After their latest 'disagreement' Henry had told her he was coming to visit. He cited the distance as the reason behind their animosity towards each other. Faye had a feeling it was because they were past the honeymoon phase and starting to notice all the flaws in each other. Like how he lacked detailed planning for anything, and just made general ideas like that would solve everything. Or how she would always get irritated every time he would try to help, insisting she could do everything on her own. He was stubborn and she was obstinate, neither one willing to bend when they thought they knew best.

Faye always made sure to hide her tears until after they had hung up. It wasn't because she didn't want him to see her upset. It was a matter of pride for her. She refused to let him know she shed any tears over him.

Henry would usually round his night out with either a couple shots of whiskey or an intense workout, but he made sure to never raise his voice with her. He wouldn't do that, he wouldn't act aggressively towards her, no matter how frustrated he got. She could interrupt him when he was trying to make a point all she wanted to, he refused to do anything to intimidate her or make her afraid of him.

Briar was blissfully unaware of everything going on. Henry still called her every evening to say goodnight; he had an alarm set on his phone to remind him and everything. She would even sometimes con a bedtime story out of him if he wasn't busy on set. Every time she spoke to him, she asked him when he was coming home, Henry's heart breaking even more each time she asked.

She never asked when he was coming back. She never asked when she would see him again. She always asked the same question, every single day.

"When you come home?"

It was that simple phrasing that tore him apart. She considered him a part of her home. He hadn't known her for a full year yet, but she could still get him to do just about anything she wanted just by poking out her lower lip and batting her eyelashes.

Now, standing at Faye's door for the first time in months, he didn't feel at all like he was coming home. Should he knock? Before he'd left, they had gotten to where they both just walked in to each other's homes. They gave each other spare keys and everything. He still had hers on his keychain, but she had returned hers when his lease expired and he'd just never gotten around to giving her a key to his Kensington home.

Finally he settled for knocking on the door, counting the seconds until he heard the deadbolt slide free and the door swung open.

Faye wasn't sure exactly what kind of greeting she was in for. She expected a cold one, none the less. Maybe a tight smile and a nod; perhaps avoiding looking at her and coming inside, not the giant bear hug she suddenly found herself trapped in.

"I missed you." Henry mumbled into her neck, holding her as tight as he dared, afraid she might vanish if he released her.

"I missed you too." Faye finally whispered, taking a step back to let him in when she was released from his embrace. Henry didn't make it two steps in the house before a tiny human firecracker was launched at him, barreling into him at full speed while screaming excitedly.

"And I missed you too!" Henry told the little girl, snatching her up for a hug.

"I made for you! I go get it!" Briar excitedly announced, squirming down to sprint back to her room.

"She filled out an entire coloring book for you." Faye explained, nodding him to the living room. Nothing had changed, and yet it all felt so different to him. Sitting down on the same couch he'd first kissed Faye on was now so foreign to him. He didn't even have time to speak before Briar was back, leaping into his lap and showing him her well loved coloring book. Looked like adult conversation was going to have to wait until after bedtime, which ended up taking much longer than it should have.

Faye had thankfully managed to get Briar dressed after her bath before she went running at top speed to her room, grabbing the biggest storybook she could find and dragging it out to Henry.

"This one!"

"That one?" Henry gasped, pretending to have trouble lifting the book. "Ugh, but it's so big!"

"That one, that one!" Briar insisted, grabbing his little finger and dragging him back to her room where she demanded he read no less than four of them before she ended up falling asleep in the middle of Rapunzel, giving Henry the chance to slip out unnoticed to go in search of the little girl's mother.

He found Faye sitting cross legged on her bed, working on something in her sketchbook. He cleared his throat to not startle her too much with his presence, the woman giving a small sigh before closing her book and setting it down. Now, one problem remained. How to start this conversation. Ultimately Henry just blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"So, what are you going to wear to the season two premiere?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. There he went being a dork again.

"Uhh... probably my black cocktail dress. Hopefully I still fit in it. It was from before I had Briar." Faye responded after a pregnant pause.

"Seems a little simple, doesn't it?" Henry asked with a cock of his head.

"Well, I'm not part of the main cast. I get to go to the premiere because I was a member of the crew, but no one gives a shit about the crew. As long as I don't show up in a pair of sweats, no one is really going to care. We're not the ones getting our pictures taken, after all."

"You're not... going with me?" Henry asked, his brow furrowing as the corner of his lips tugged down.

"Henry I... no." Faye sighed, running her hands through her hair in frustration. Best to just get it out of the way and see where they stood once the dust settled. "You really don't understand, do you? I'm not the kind of girl you take out on dates where you might get photographed. I'm not the girl you introduce to your friends. I'm not the girl you want on your arm at some big event. I'm not the girl you take home to meet your family. I'm a fuck up and a loser. I'm a nobody." Faye paused, taking a slow breath, forcing herself to keep the tears at bay for just a little longer.

"Henry, guys like you just don't fall for girls like me."

Taglist: @Xxxkatxo @Weallhaveadestiny @lunedelorient

[sethkate]

savannah A to Z pls

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

well in the beginning, since she and caleb were usually putting their clothes on and hurriedly being like ‘ok thanks bye!!!’ which savannah hated, i think now that they are Grown and in a relationship, she takes more advantage of the time they can spend together?? the only exception to this is, if time prevents them from doing aka if they spend 1 more second in bed they’re gonna be suuuper late to work. otherwise she’s all about cuddling, maybe just talking and catching up on each other’s lives since they have really opposite schedules and what not?? probably with a shower thrown in and definitely donuts in bed.

B = Body part (Their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

savannah likes her legs because caleb loves them tbh. her favorite body part on him is probably his dimples. also like…..every bit of him that is tattooed which i know is a lot but IDC.

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

sav isn’t grossed out by it as much as some girls can be??? she doesn’t throw a fit you know, if it’s in her hair or on her clothes or anything. and when it comes to swallowing her feelings can be summed up by this gif:

and on that note the rest is gonna be under the cut lmao

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

there was One time when sav had to be treated for an sti and it still haunts her to this day. like she was pressured into not using a condom (and i say that loosely bc she was prob pretty drunk so didn’t need much convincing tbh) and then unfortunately a week or so following the incident she found out what a true piece of shit the guy was. and then slashed all of his tires and broke his car windows in true savannah fashion :)

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

she’s more experienced than she would care to admit. for a long time, sex was just sex to her, so she used it to fill different voids. she didn’t really treat her body like it was something that needed to be earned and gave it out a lot more willingly than she ever would now. so honestly she’s a bit embarrassed by the number, but it’s a good thing it will never get any bigger because she’s only going to be with caleb now forever yay!

F = Favorite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

if they are having sex just to fuck around and get off (x) (x) cause they’re probably on the couch or in the car or something but y’know if they’re actually like makin love or whatever def something more like (x) so it’s more personal and they can ‘bond’ and what not lol.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

in life in general i think she’s way less serious than caleb, so she’s probably a bit more playful and goofy when they’re in the moment together. there are probably times when things are a bit more dire like their many, MANY instances of break-up, apology, or angry sex which wouldn’t call for that kind of humor, but for the most part she keeps it pretty light and probably tries to bring it out of caleb too.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

savannah keeps up with shaving pretty regularly. most of the time she’s hair-free, but when life is nuts she might occasionally have a little stubble here and there.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…) 

for not having like A+ role models to demonstrate how to be soft and tender and intimate with someone, sav is pretty good at it. she loves caleb so she’s very into making sure that his needs are met?? which is crazy bc savannah would usually be selfish af and only care about herself. but she’s really attentive at making sure caleb gets the attention that he wants and that he walks away satisfied.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

both she and caleb are good at getting themselves off. once skype sex had to come into the picture because of the long distance thing and it was the only thing they could do, savannah became comfortable with touching herself and also adjusted to having someone else watch her do it. where before it may have been more of a private thing, once caleb moved to boston, all bets were off so sav got pretty into it. 

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

exhibitionism and agoraphilia are probably the biggest two coming to mind, mostly because of the riskiness that each of them involves. sav will eternally be an adrenaline junkie so anything that gives her a thrill like that will be something she’s into.

L = Location (Favorite places to do the do)

hotels probably!! ever since their first anniversary thing, there’s just something sav loves about spending a weekend in a place with a view, a massive bed, someone to clean the sheets daily, big showers/bath tubs and room service. it just has lots of luxuries that they don’t regularly have when they are at home, so whenever they make a reservation somewhere savannah goes big or goes home.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

honestly a few shots of tequila and a beer or two and she is Ready To Go. but it’s because she’s already suuuper attracted to caleb. like his almost quiet cockiness, lil bit of hard exterior/bad boy look, the tattoos. he really just has to look at her and smile and she’ll melt the big damn sap. but she is 100% about ass grabbing too. that’ll also do the trick.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

other than like..the real gross bodily fluid nonsense sav probably wouldn’t ever consider a threesome. like maybe she had a stupid meaningless one before and i’m sure she can caleb joked about it in the past (him obvs wanting to have two girls and sav saying she would prefer two guys) but i don’t think it’s something she would ever do with caleb. the thought of him with another girl drives her nuts, let alone seeing it up close and personal and having to go along with it?? no way jose!!

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

usually giving because in her experience a lot of guys don’t know wtf they are doing lmao. so she’d rather just get off a different way or by herself bc nothing is worse than lying there and either waiting for them to figure it out or having the mood killed bc you’re trying to explain to them in detail wtf they are doing wrong. sav’s extra giving when it comes to caleb though and she’s never really been shy about her talent with it either. so lucky him!!

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

depends on how much time she has. she’s proficient when she needs to get the job done quickly and knows what works and what doesn’t in a time crunch. but if there’s time to draw things out (although it’s usually hard for her to move at a slow pace in her life in general) sav has the capability of mellowing out a bit during sex. 

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

i feel like with their lives, probably a good 70% is probably quickies simply because they just can’t ever get the timing, the place, the circumstances, etc. right. so it’s kinda just something that they are used to. but it’s always so nice when they actually can take their time with things and thoroughly enjoy each other. i imagine they probably make time to have sex 4-5 days out of the week, but more if they can manage it. 

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

savannah’s entire life is a risk??? so she’d be pretty down for anything. 

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

for a smoker and someone who is 100% against working out, her stamina is pretty good. she can probably go 2-3 times in a day and she usually lasts about as long as caleb does. they’re pretty in sync with one another!

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

sav probably had to invest in some when they were doing the long distance thing. like before caleb if she wanted sex she could just go out and get it, but when her bf lived hundreds of miles away she had to get a little bit more creative. so she’s probably got a collection of a few things after trying different ones trying to find something that did the most comparable job to caleb haha. probably made darren go with her into the store too and i am literally Dying at the visual.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

i feel like savannah teased caleb a loooot more in the beginning?? because there was that whole cat/mouse chase element to their relationship. but now that she has him, she doesn’t need to lay it on super thick the way that she used to. but she’ll still do it in small ways if she needs to get his attention or something.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

savannah usually doesnt restrict herself in volume when they have sex, which is just one of the trillllion reasons her neighbors hate her lmao. i mean she has a loud mouth outside of the bedroom sooo if that’s any indication. usually it’s just a lot of moaning, panting and probably swearing too knowing her. 

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

i’d say savannah doesn’t remember probably more than half of her sexual experiences. i feel like since she didn’t take them very seriously, most of them were liquor/drug fueled some probably even borderline consensual since there’s no way she could have had any idea what was going on. 

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

(x)

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

it’s always kinda been on the higher side and then i think once she got with caleb and saw how good sex could be, especially when it was with someone you care about, it went up tremendously to the point where she can be pretty insatiable at times.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

it depends.... because usually sav and caleb are running on -138 hours of sleep so if that’s the case, they can fall asleep pretty quickly afterward. if they have more time to kill and more chinese food to finish they’ll probably just take a break and sleep it off later. 

[otomeonfleek]

Imagine: If Voltage guys were Life-Hack College Students

No one asks for these wonderful shit pieces, but they tickle my fancy and I deliver unlike Digiorno. It’s also in honor of how I start uni again tmrw. Sup junior yr. 

The following is based off of likely real events in being horrifically innovative as a poor college student.

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

Shusei Hayakawa from Our Two Bedroom Story

1. Unplug everything when leaving the house

After an exhausting week of midterms, you and Shusei were due for a well-deserved date. You eagerly wait in front of his apartment door and faintly hear him clambering on the other side. Within seconds, the door slams open and he sends a sheepish smile. “(Y/N)!! You’re here!” 

You suppress a laugh at how frazzled he seems with his light tresses sticking up in random directions and the stain on his favorite gray hoodie. Sometimes he could be a complete ditz and forget to get ready on time. “Hey! Are you ready to go?” 

He nods with a bright smile and says, “Just give me a minute! You can step inside for now.” Stepping to the side, he lets you enter and starts to flit around the room. 

Curious, you slip off your shoes and lean against the arm of his beat-up leather sofa. 

The blonde starts to chatter mindlessly as he wrestles his arm into every nook and cranny of the room, casually pulling out electrical cords. From the TV to the toaster and AC, he unplugs every single power outlet without batting a lash. Even dangling his long legs above the back of the couch and his voice is muffled, likely from the blood rushing to his head, he’s still speaking to you normally as he seeks out the final plug. 

He slides back and jumps to his feet, “Ah. We should get going now or we’ll be late for the lunch special.” Without missing a beat, he strides to the front door and slips on his worn converse. 

“...Shusei...Why’d you unplug everything??” You can’t help, but ask. 

Since arriving at his apartment, his then chipper mood dips a bit. “O-Oh that. It’s just a habit, I guess! My electric bill is never over $50 ahah.” Chuckling awkwardly, he opens the door with an embarrassed flush on his face. 

Noting his drop in mood, you try, “Whoaa!! That’s amazing. You’ll have to teach me more, Master Shusei!” You joke and loop your arm in his. 

A fond look takes over and he grins, “Oh, I don’t know if a pupil like you could keep up in the way of the frugal!!” 

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

Shintaro Ando from When Destiny Comes Knocking: 

2. Steal from the rich and give to the poor

One of the best ways to get out and not spend money was taking evening walks. Both you and Shintaro made it a habit to explore nice neighborhoods and judge the houses. It sounded silly, but when you’re scrounging for every penny and dreaming off the high life, it wasn’t too horrid of a date idea. The areas were safe, pleasant to look at, and you weren’t spending a dime. 

You often would end the evening in giggles as you pretended to envision the affairs that Margaret would take part in with her husband, Richard, away on business in Madrid. 

“Poor Richard. He never saw it coming-with the gardener, nonetheless.” You mumble with faux sympathy as you and your bespectacled beau pass the gated, three-storied mansion with a gaudy outdoor fountain and cobble walkway. 

Playing along, he chokes back a laugh and comments, “Well, Richard’s a moron! He should’ve known better. The peonies have been dying for weeks, so he should have known that gardener wasn’t doing no gardening!” His thick Kansai accent comes out to play as he exchanges jokes. 

Doubling over in guffaws at the storyline, you are soon joined by your partner in crime as you hold onto another for support. “You’re not wrong-the peonies are shit.” You concur and then stop to admire the next house. 

Momentarily mystified at his sudden silence and gaping mouth, you follow his line of vision and pause at the sight of an orange tree. This particular house does not have a gate and you can already hear him thinking. 

“No. We can’t.” You state, stiffly. 

Ignoring your reasoning, he spares you a blank look and asks, “Do you know how expensive produce is?” Without waiting for your answer, he steps forward with his suddenly beady eyes flitting around for any obvious security cameras. 

From your still place, you hiss at him, “I said no!! What if we get caught?” Now paranoid, you similarly start to glance around with worry. Despite being incredibly competent in school as a Dean’s List student, he’s a complete idiot in other life aspects and will likely go to jail for orange theft, you note. 

“This guy drives a Lexus!! I think he could stand to lose a few oranges. Besides I haven’t had real fruit in months!” He half-whispers to you as he starts to shamelessly pick off desired oranges from the tree and rest them in the pockets of his sweater. 

Before you can argue, the light from that same house flickers on and you both scramble away in the direction of your parked Toyota. 

You don’t bother to glance back to see if he’s close behind as you shout, “If we go to jail because you can’t spend $5 on fruit, I’ll kill you!!” 

There’s a thump behind you and you can only hear him cry in anguish, “C-Crap, my oranges!!” 

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

Shohei Aiba from In Your Arms Tonight 

3. Use your bathtub for laundry when you run out of spare change

After a fun day at Aiba’s neighborhood pool, you both trod into his apartment with intentions of changing. As students, it’s difficult to go out of your way or pay for a gym membership for exercise, and so his pool is heaven sent.

Despite your earlier enjoyment, you now are both miserably dripping with chlorine in your swimwear and holding uselessly saturated towels. 

Being a gentleman of sorts, he insists you use the shower first. Taking his offer, you head into the single bathroom and are about to slip off your curve-hugging one piece when you halt in your tracks. 

Sliding the glass shower doors open, you nearly lose your shit. “Shohei...” You call out weakly. 

Footsteps approach and he knocks from the other side, baritone slightly concerned, “Is something wrong??” 

You turn the knob and see him blush, likely expecting you to be nude or clad in a towel. His face loosens and he cocks his head at your still garment-clad appearance, “What’s up?” 

Stepping aside, you gesture at the tub filled with laundry soaked in detergent and color-catcher sheets. “Is that what I think it is?” 

His instantly blanches and trips over his on words, “A-AH, that is...! I-I... I kind of ran out of change for the laundry mat hahah.” 

The earnest brunette groans as he covers his face in shame, collapsing to sit on the closed lid of his toilet seat, “Ugh, you probably think I’m some loser now...” 

Yes, the fact that he’s using his bathtub as a makeshift laundry machine due to his shortage of change is slightly off-putting and clearly indicates a life struggle. On top of how comically defeated he looks while pouting on his toilet, you can see how he might think that. 

However, you could never think so poorly of your own boyfriend. You fell for him because of how selfless, genuine, and awkwardly goofy he was. 

You shake your head and deny him, “No way!” 

He perks up at how sure you sound only to hunch over when you follow up with, “I already knew you were a loser!” 

Smirking lightly at his groan, you sink to your knees beside the tub and suggest, “Well, we should probably start scrubbing and wringing them dry or your clothes will get ruined.” 

His warm caramel irises comically water and he launches himself at you in a tight embrace. “I love you so much!!” 

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

Kishi Mamoru from Kissed By the Baddest Bidder

4. Make sure people Venmo you back

You were far from the type to automatically expect for your partner to pay for everything. In fact, you typically did half and half for the check. However, there were some times that truly grated on your nerves when it came to your slacker boyfriend and money. 

At a rather pivotal turning point in the film, Mamoru leans over to complain, “I’m hungry.” 

You suppress an eye roll at how only he would have the audacity to ignore such an engaging storyline in favor of his stomach. This is a horror film where one of the most beloved protagonists just got strangled by a ghost and he couldn’t care less. Sighing, you suggest, “Go get some popcorn or something then.” 

He hums thoughtfully, “Do you want some too?” 

“Huh? Yeah, sure...Go away now.” Throwing a hand up to simultaneously shut him up and shoo him, you jolt in your seat at the sudden jumpscare. 

“AHH!” The entire movie theater sans Mamoru screams with a follow-up in delighted laughter at how admittedly obvious the scene was. 

Your boyfriend sighs and slinks out of the seat to the refreshments stand.

When the movie is long over and you are both lazing around on his apartment couch, you do a double-take at what he says next. 

With his battered iPhone 4 in his hand, he mumbles, “So when are you going to venmo me for the popcorn?” 

Your (e/c) flit to him in shock and he shamelessly meets your stare. “W-Wait, what? That was your popcorn! I hardly ate any of it,” you protest. 

Lazily, he cocks his head with a smirk and says, “So you admit you ate some of it. That will be $2.50 please.” He turns his phone and the cracked screen is pulled up to his venmo account. 

For a tiny moment, you are impressed with how he managed to get a confession from you. Damn, maybe Mamoru really could be a detective. He could be sharp when he wanted. You glance at the old Apple model in his hands and mentally snicker at how the Criminal Justice major ironically doesn’t look as sharp. 

Switching to reality, you sit up on the couch to fix him with a glare. “Mamo, you really want me to pay you back for $2.50 and for food that I barely ate?”

He shrugs his shoulders and there is just a hint of a grin tugging at his lips, “Every penny counts.” 

Huffing, you pull out your phone and start to work on transferring the money. You ignore the victorious expression on his visage and practically feel his excitement at being paid. 

Suddenly recalling a recent outing, you pull up the billing information on your bank account and turn to him with a chilling grin. “If it’s going to be like that, then, you owe me for that time I paid for KBBQ! With tip, that’s $27.13 please!” Sarcastically, you open your palm towards him and flex your fingertips in a lecherous way. 

At once, the older junior pales and practically starts to sweat with his stormy-hued eyes darting side to side. Rubbing the back of his head, he coughs awkwardly. “I’ll tell you what, babe. You don’t have to pay me back anymore. I’ll take it out of what you owe me.” A sheepish expression takes over his face and you laugh, bumping shoulders with him at how silly worrying over every penny the other owes is. 

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

Nozomu Fuse from True Love, Sweet Lies

5. Use flashlights when the lights are broken

Deciding to stay the night at his house to study for an upcoming exam, you excuse yourself to use the bathroom. Your cheery partner only nods, promising to finish the next problem by the time you return. Sometimes statistics was hard, but having a secret genius like Nozomu helps. 

You pad over to the toilet and flip on the switch. Pulling your leggings and panties down, you shriek when the lights suddenly flicker off. Left in the dark and in distress, you call out for your boyfriend whose footsteps you can already hear clambering up the steps. 

“(Y/N)!! Are you okay?? I’m coming in!” The door knob turns and you shut your legs for decency’s sake. 

There is a short second before the sudden glare of his Samsung smartphone’s light momentarily blinds you. 

You cover your eyes and demand, “What the hell?? Is there a blackout or something? Why are the lights out?” 

Nozomu places his phone down on the flat of the sink counter with the light better helping than blinding you. He starts to chuckle with a slight nervous edge in his voice as he explains, “A-Ah, well...There’s no blackout. The bathroom light’s just kind of broken.” 

“...Well, why don’t you fix it?” The solution to his issues is so obvious, you note while trying to ignore how ridiculous you feel sitting on his toilet with your garments wrapped against your ankles. 

He doubles over in awkward giggles that sound worriedly stressed before admitting, “Ahah, I don’t have any money for that...yet!” 

With his face nearly twitching at how desperately he’s trying to convince you and himself that finances aren’t ruining him, he reaches into a drawer and fishes an emergency light. “In the meantime, you can use this flashlight! It’s more powerful than any phone light and waaay more peaceful than having all these blaring ceiling lights everywhere! Yup, this is fine!” He turns it on and positions it vertically so the beam is shining across the ceiling. 

Shooting you a final smile with a pained edge, he exits the room with his smartphone in hand and carefully shuts the door. 

After a few moments, you feel your face fall again in noticing the lack of toilet paper. Your memory wanders to his kitchen and the stack of Starbucks napkins you saw earlier. 

You need to help this man. 

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

Toma Kiriya from Irresistable Mistakes

6. Use cafe wifi when your internet’s down

You were walking to your dorm after a late-night gym session when you noticed Toma standing in front of your campus Starbucks with an employee. The brunette with a notorious attitude problem was clutching his laptop case in one hand and in the other holding a water cup. 

As you got closer, you could hear what was being exchanged and felt your soul leaving its body. 

“Sir, I told you that we’re going to have to ask you to leave.” The barista in the infamous green apron states calmly, an exhausted expression apparent on their face from working hectic shifts with lunatics like your boyfriend as clientele.  

Accordingly, the accounting major huffs and strikes a defiant pose. His chin juts up and his eyes steel, “I already told you that I bought something! Why can’t I stay??” He raises his drink as if it will automatically save him from this argument. 

The other college student’s visage turns blank as they state, “...Sir, you only bought a water cup. Second, I told you that it’s already closing time.” With frustrating wavering through, the employee glances down at their smartwatch for emphasis. 

“Listen buddy, my internet’s been down this whole week. I need just fifteen more minutes of wifi to finish my essay on microeconomic theory and I know that the modem is too far to connect when I’m sitting out here! So for the love of all that is caffeinated, please let me stay!!” Toma’s cold attitude is suddenly overshadowed by his clear desperation as he pleads. 

Sighing, the worker asks with a slightly bored look, “How long have you been awake?” 

“Thirty-two hours, but who’s counting?” Your boyfriend rubs at his eyes blearily, the typical flannel of his whipping around him as the air outside grows colder. 

Budging with sudden empathy for his fellow university student, the barista stands aside and props the door open. “Fine, you can stay...Some of us wanted to finish some assignments anyway and the internet in the library is shit.” 

Before the hopeful swimmer/accounting major can enter, you decide to finally jog up to them. “Wait!! I’ll take him. This is my boyfriend and I can worry about him from here! Thank you!” You wrap your hands around his arm and gently tug him away from the somewhat relieved coffee-worker. 

In a confused and exhausted stupor, the male groans, “(Y-N), how the hell did you get here? I almost got in and you ruined it!” 

Rolling your eyes, you explain, “Sweetie, don’t bother the nice Starbucks employees. They want to go home too.” 

With his arm in yours, you steer him towards your dorm building. He teeters a bit from the lack of sleep and screeches to a halt, “But my essay!” From yourself to the earlier horrified baristas, it is clear to all that Toma takes his studies seriously to the point of forgoing his shame and health. 

Observing the dark blotches underneath his eyes and his heavily wrinkled garments, you say, “I think you should eat properly first. I made some soup...And there’s internet at my dorm.” 

When his fatigued orbs lighten and he leans more towards you with his laptop case in tow, you know that he’ll be fine. 

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

Kenzo Yasukawa from After School Affairs

7. Use all forms of payment 

With midterms finally over, you and your boyfriend decide to visit the mall to celebrate. Walking hand-in-hand, you air out your grievances over how one of your professors grade when Kenzo abruptly starts walking faster. 

In his towering height, he manages to tug you with ease towards a nearby gamestore. His breathing is suddenly irregular as he presses his free hand against the business’s glass, amber optics locked on a particular ninja and robot-themed poster. 

“I can’t believe it released today. I have to get it.” He’s practically talking to himself as he marches into the store, you trailing behind in slight bewilderment. 

Making a bee-line to the wall of feudal Japan and mecha-accented items, his hand darts out to snatch a game off the shelve. As if suddenly remembering your presence and ongoing date, the blonde grins sheepishly. “Aww sorry, I’ve been waiting for Robot Ninjas 3 forever!” 

The game title makes you cringe, but you only nod in understanding. As his partner, you accept his peculiar tastes. 

After a brief wait in line, he steps up to pay with you at his side. Exchanging cordial pleasantries with the cashier, the aspiring pre-medical student fishes out his wallet and starts to produce various forms of payment. He places a random stack of dollar bills on the counter, then slides out his cards. 

Without missing a beat, he shoots a cheery smile with closed eyes and asks, “Is it okay if I pay $16 in cash, do $30 on debit, and pay the rest from my credit card?” 

You feel your heart hammer in your chest for your boyfriend and want to help him pay, but know that he wouldn’t want that. Suppressing your urge to pay, you force yourself to watch what happens next. 

When the employee hesitates, Kenzo’s eyes flutter open and seem strained as he explains in a low voice, “I’m sorry, but I’m dirt poor right now because I just bought a $150 MCAT prep book and have been waiting for this game for years.” The normal liveliness and peace in his amber stare dies out and his mouth twitches. 

You nearly lose it when the cashier suddenly nods and says, “Dude, same. I got you.” Then, he proceeds to enter in the different payments into the POS system before seeing you off warmly as you both leave. 

Turning to your boyfriend, you peck him on the cheek and say, “Why don’t we go back to the apartment so you can play and I’ll order us some pizza?” You casually include your offer of getting dinner. 

His eyes crinkle with joy and he wraps his arm around your shoulder to press a kiss against your forehead, “I’ll go easy on you for one round then.” 

[gorlkpop]

Good Love {2jae} Chapter One

genre: fluff, slight angst, future smut

warnings: smut, a/b/o dynamics (including self-lubrication, heats, ruts, marking, mating, knotting, pack dynamics), boyxboy

pairings: im jaebum x choi youngjae, other pairings

In Youngjae’s eyes, Jaebum was the perfect alpha- handsome, protective, grounded, and took care of his small pack very well. But too bad Jaebum doesn’t think he’s the perfect omega- or any omega, for that matter

or, the one where jaebum thinks a mate will just be a distraction rather than a blessing

*P**2**

   Youngjae had a hard time getting ready like normal.

   He didn’t know how to act or where to go or what to do. His mind was going a thousand miles a minute. The omega felt like cursing out Mark, first involved. The beta knew how much Youngjae admired and swooned over the alpha, yet he had the audacity to completely leave out the fact that he’d have to spend the good first half of his day right next to him. Mark was an evil hyung and Youngjae would remember this forever.    "You’re Youngjae, right?“ From behind him. a smooth voice interrupted his internal rant. He turned around to see. oh shit, Jaebum the Alpha. Youngjae looked at him with his mouth slightly open before quickly shutting it. He nodded his head with a goofy grin on his face. The man had only spoken three words to the boy and Youngjae could already feel his heart beating ten times the normal rate.    "Yes, that’s me.” Youngjae decided to act like he didn’t know who Jaebum was. They’ve only interacted once before, and that was when Youngjae was a freshman at their college.    "I’m Jaebum. Manager noona said you’re supposed to be training me today…?“ Jaebum sounded unsure of himself- only because Youngjae had a slight far away look in his eyes. Jaebum swung his hand in front of his face to make sure he was okay.    Youngjae was far from okay.    The omega snapped out of his haze and nodded at the alpha. "Yeah,” he cleared his throat. “I’ll be with you… I just have to, ah, get ready. You can, uh, just explore a little bit, you know… while I dress… not like actually dressing, just my apron and things, stuff, yea.”    Youngjae was pounding his head against the wall in his head when he finished the sentence. He could feel his cheeks heating up as soon as he realized how stupid he must’ve sounded. His first actual conversation with the alpha and he was already talking like a buffoon.    Jaebum just smiled, nodded, then walked away to who knows where. Youngjae turned back to his little locker and proceeded to actually bang his head against it- of course not as loud or hard as he did in his head.    "I’d recommend not using your flaming charisma to try and win the boy. Just from that one minute, your chances of getting alpha dick went down about nine hundred percent.“    Youngjae groaned at his hyung. Of course, Mark only let out a quiet version of his hyena like laugh, and rubbed Youngjae’s back, playfully. The younger omegas head was still against the locker, his eyes squeezed shut in embarrassment. Youngjae couldn’t understand why out of all the other people and alpha’s that could’ve had this job and his heart, it had to be the distant Im Jaebum.    Youngjae wasn’t easily intimidated by alphas and didn’t crush or chase after them that often. His mother and sister were both alphas and his dad a beta. His cousins were a good mix of the three breeds, but he always stayed close to his alpha family; particularly his older cousin, Minho- who taught him his most important life lessons when it came to not being that omega. Minho was more like a brother than a cousin. Youngjae always looked forward to seeing him whenever; and every time it was time to go home, Youngjae would always leave with a new lesson learned, adding more to his mentality that he was the best.    He never grew up with the mentality that, as an omega, he needed to chase the alpha and birth his pups.    Hell, he never even had anyone help him through his heats- just his handy dandy toy.    But, when he walked into the large auditorium freshman year at his new private international school and saw Jaebum, the upper class men, on the stage welcoming him- suddenly all he wanted to do was chase the alpha wherever he went. But Youngjae was always too scared, too far away to do so. But, when the next year came and Jaebum added one of Youngjae’s mentoree’s (he helped assist the international students, hence they did go to an international school) into his pack; Youngjae felt his chances were only getting thinner and thinner, only making his fear that he would never ever even get close to the alpha more real. And maybe he was a little jealous envious of the position Bambam got so easily that Youngjae would kill for.    "Hey,” Mark scolded. “Don’t take me seriously. Just be cool, yeah?”    "How am I supposed to be cool around the only alpha in the whole world I’ve ever lusted over?“ Youngjae pushed back and stared at Mark with his eyebrows raised. The beta only shrugged his shoulders.    "I don’t know. Offer to suck hi-”    "Mark-ssi! Can you help with the baked goods, please? Oh, and Youngjae-ssi, Jaebum will need to be trained as soon as possible. I know it’s been awhile, but you remember the essentials, right?“ Youngjae nodded at their manager with a tight grin.    Mark smirked at Youngjae, knowingly, then walked away with the manager, while tugging the back of his apron. Youngjae just stared as he walked out, in his own thoughts of nothingness. He sighed and finally opened his locker.    He tugged his apron on, clocked in and went looking for Jaebum. Never in a million years did Youngjae think he would be doing that- and with a purpose.    Youngjae went out in the floor, greeted by only two medium sized dogs. He quickly bent down and pet them, still looking for Jaebum among his three other co-workers. They were all cleaning and taking care of the dogs, preparing for the day. He couldn’t find Jaebum, no matter how many times he surveyed the main floor. Sighing, he got up and went to the patio to search there. And sure enough, Jaebum was by himself, leaning oh so handsomely over the fence, people watching. Youngjae could only internally swoon at the alpha. God took extra care creating Jaebum.    Youngjae took his time approaching Jaebum, basking in the fact that holy shit, he was about to spend a whole day with his dream alpha. The omega was shocking himself with his mindset; instead of sweating and his anxiety shooting through the roof, he felt… confident. He didn’t know why- usually just thinking about Jaebum had his hands getting clammy.    Jaebum was dressed in the uniform: a black shirt and slacks with his red apron already tied on. Usually, Youngjae thought the uniforms to be plain and boring. But Jaebum looked like he was a model for an international clothing brand. His resting smolder only added to his natural sexiness.    Life isn’t fair. Why couldn’t Jaebum just fuck him already?    "Jaebum-sunbae.” Youngjae cleared his throat and tapped the alphas broad shoulders. Jaebum jolted slightly in his place, obviously deep in thought. But even though Youngjae was basically a complete stranger, Jaebum still gave him a gentle smile like they were old friends; and Youngjae, being the wierdo he is, was taking this chance to finally get a good whiff of Jaebum’s scent. His scent was a nice, refreshing, minty scent that opened your sinuses, but soft and not overwhelming. Lovely.    After a moment, in which Jaebum didn’t say anything, Youngjae took this as his queue to continue. “Uhm, we can start your training. Manager noona said you’ll just be taking care of the dogs for now.”    "Okay. I’ll follow you.“    Lord, his voice was like red velvet and Youngjae would never have enough.    The omega nodded and lead Jaebum through a door in the back. It lead to a room that held all of the dogs kennels, beds, food bowls and toys that were to worn out and dirty for the general public to use. Not that the dogs used a bunch of toys on the main floor. Most of the toys they did use outside the room were just tennis balls- which were used outside in the front yard.    The room also had a door on the opposite wall from where Youngjae and Jaebum entered. The door had a dog door that led to the backyard. On the wall to their right was a big viewing window, giving a view inside of a grooming room.    "This is the dogs’ room,” Youngjae began as the two surveyed the room. “They stay here when the cafe is closed or when it’s time for them to be groomed. They can also come in here whenever they want, actually.”    Jaebum gave a slight nod and walked deeper into the room. He grazed the kennels along the wall with his fingertips and surveyed the room. Youngjae gazed at him, just breathing it in that damn Jaebum was right here in front of him. He started to imagine what it would be like if Jaebum took him right here, right now.    Was his heat coming or did Jaebum just have that effect on people?    "Where are all the dogs?“ Jaebum asked. Youngjae walked towards the back door and opened the curtains that covered the window. He waved Jaebum over.    "They’re let out first thing in the morning when manager noona arrives- well, not any more now that you’re here.”    "Has she always been the one to let them out?“    "No. The guy before quit because he moved away.” The two spent a moment looking at the dogs play outside. Of course, Youngjae was looking elsewhere; specifically, noting that Jaebum had two little moles on his eye lid. How cute.    In the next minutes, Youngjae had called in Yoyo, a beagle who was actually quite calm, and began showing Jaebum simple basics to caring for the dogs. He showed him how to cut their nails (slant the clippers slightly and leave a centimeter from the nubs), give light trims, and properly shampoo (and condition for the long haired dogs, but Yoyo was a beagle so no conditioning yet). Their conversation stayed professional for the most part, keeping on subject. They would throw in small talk here or there, which mostly consisted trying to find it more about the alpha without sounding too nosey. But, it felt like halfway through training, that Jaebum wasn’t really engaged in the conversation. Youngjae loved to talk and get to know people, but he was going out on a limb talking to this specific alpha. He didn’t want to come off annoying, so he opted to stop trying to make small talk. If Jaebum didn’t wanna talk, then neither did Youngjae.    The omega could be stubborn when he wanted to be. “Alright,” Youngjae swept through Yoyo’s hair after Jaebum finished the last few snips of fur. “You did a good job, Jaebum-sunbae.”    Jaebum smiled up at Youngjae. “Thanks all to a great teacher.”    Did Jaebum just flirt with him?!    No. Jaebum would never. He hadn’t showed interest in Youngjae ever before- if anything, he showed disinterest. Jaebum wouldn’t get his hopes like that out of nowhere, would he? Youngjae shook his head at the thought. He was overthinking the situation.    Be cool, Youngjae.    "Or maybe it was just the great student being great.“ Yea, that was cool; right?    "Is there anything else I should learn before you leave?” The alpha asked.    Youngjae shook his head. “Nothing that you shouldn’t be able to figure out,” Youngjae suddenly remembered. “Besides where the staff board is. It has all your daily duties- it’s updated every day. I should probably show you where that is, I guess.”    Jaebum followed Youngjae as they walked back towards the staff room. Right next to the door, a big white board was on the wall, decorated with announcements and all eleven staff members responsibilities. “Your name isn’t up there yet- but it will be.”    The rest of Youngjae’s work day went by smoothly. He only saw Jaebum a couple times, whenever he would periodically go check on him in the back to make sure he was taking care of the dogs well (of course, not for his own curiosity).    When the omega and Mark where getting to ready to clock out, he noticed that Jaebum had already clocked out. He internally sighed; he kinda wanted to see the alpha one more time before he went home. But everything couldn’t go his way.    By the time Mark had driven them both home, after a quick stop at the grocery mart, it was only seven. It felt weird for both of them getting home so early. Usually, they’d have class all morning, go to work right after and make it home around, on a good day, nine o'clock. Now all they had to do was work all day. Youngjae wasn’t complaining at all, of course he had a temporary release from the stresses of school, but he felt out of place. His routine had been thoroughly disrupted, with addition of his biggest crush ever in the equation.    "We should go out.“ Mark spoke up as they sat in comfortable silence, watching some old drama. Youngjae was cuddled in his blankets on one side of the couch while Mark sat opposite, scrolling on his phone.    "Go out where? The club?” Youngjae scoffed. Mark wasn’t one for party scenes like that unless…    "Is your mini heat approaching?“    Mark whipped his head at the omega with an offended look on his face. Youngjae only looked at him with knowing eyebrows raised. After a quick, silent staring battle, Mark sighed in defeat. "That’s besides the point. It’s the first night of semester break.”    Youngjae rolled his eyes. Mark didn’t actively look for relationships at all- they just naturally happened. He hadn���t actually had sex with any of his past boyfriends or stayed with them long enough for his body to adapt to take on the omega role. But, his last one lasted a whole seven months and he happened to be with an alpha. He experienced his first heat shortly after they broke up (not that it was that bad- he is a beta after all) and hadn’t been in a real relationship since. Only baiting an alpha with his light, but tempting scent of slick and having them on standby to help him during his “heat”. Then it was on to the next one until his next heat.    "Where did you have in mind?“ Youngjae entertained the idea. He hadn’t been out since his nineteenth birthday (which he barely remembers). Besides that, he’s mostly been a home body buried in school related activities.    "Jackson is having a party at his pack house.”    Youngjae froze. “You mean Jaebum’s?”    "No,“ Mark shook his head, scrolling on his phone. "His parents left him one but he joined Jaebum’s pack so he just uses it for whatever.”    "Oh.“    "Maybe if you got out more often and stopped tip-toeing around everything Jaebum related, you’d know that.”    Youngjae didn’t have a retort for that. “I guess we can go.”    "Didn’t matter if you wanted to go or not. I would’ve gone anyways.“ Youngjae stuck his tongue out at his hyung. Mark reached across the couch and ruffled his hair, starting a light hit and poke fight between the two.    "I’m your dongsaeng. It’d be very irresponsible of you to leave me alone, hyung.”    "Call Jaebum to protect you.“    "If I had his number, I would.”    "You probably wouldn’t.“    Youngjae cut his eyes at the beta. Mark only laughed, got up and told Youngjae to be ready in the next forty minutes.

   Youngjae started to feel butterflies in his stomach as Mark drove closer to Jackson’s pack house. It didn’t hit him until they were halfway there that Jackson was apart of Jaebum’s pack and that Jaebum might very well be there tonight. He didn’t know why he at first thought the alpha wouldn’t be; probably because he didn’t want to deal with his own feelings in regards to Jaebum. The alpha, whether Youngjae liked it or not, would stress him out until the end of time.    As he and Mark walked closer to the house and heard the fast beat of the music and see the dancing shadows, Youngjae could feel the perspiration on the back of his neck. Youngjae stopped in the middle of the walk way. He fiddled with his flannel, wiping the light layer of sweat off his hands. His anxiety was suddenly going through the roof.

   He couldn’t do this. If he saw Jaebum, he’d for sure make a fool of himself and the alpha would never associate with him. What if he had too much to drink and accidentally fessed up to the alpha about how he imagined how Jaebum would wreck him in heat? God, that’d be embarrassing. Youngjae’s head started to hurt with all the what ifs- which all ended negatively.    "Hey,” Mark noticed Youngjae wasn’t beside him anymore. He turned and saw the omega staring at the ground in his own world. Mark looked at him and sighed. He knew exactly what was going through Youngjae’s mind.    "Youngjae-yah,“ he walked towards him and put his hand on his shoulder, gently rubbing it, comforting the omega. "Why are you doing this to yourself?”    Youngjae shrugged. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense to me either, hyung. We don’t even…” Youngjae paused to find the right words. “I don’t even know what I’m doing right now.”    Mark didn’t either. He’s been with Youngjae through a lot- Youngjae was the first person Mark met when he moved to Korea from America. Mark taught Youngjae English (and still does to this day). The two supported each other when any tragedy would hit. One would celebrate the other when the other accomplished or succeed in whatever. They were brothers who have seen each other at their best and worse. Mark has always helped Youngjae to the best of his ability, but that didn’t mean he always knew what to do.    Right now felt like one of those moments.    "Let’s just go in and have good time, yeah?“ Mark paused and contemplated his next few words. "And don’t avoid him if you see him.”    Youngjae snapped his head up quickly at Mark’s suggestion. Did Mark just tell him to commit suicide, basically?    "Are you crazy?“ Youngjae looked at Mark like he had two heads.    "No,” Mark smirked. “I don’t like seeing you get all in your feelings about him. It’s not fair to you. Either you pursue him or get over it.”    Youngjae disliked how he knew deep down that Mark was right. It’s been two years since he laid eyes on the alpha and his mind and heart haven’t been able to rest since. He knew that now was a better time than ever to maybe, finally build some type of friendship with the alpha. If not to have his dream relationship with him, then to at least say Jaebum was a normal factor in his life. But every possible possibility that included Jaebum just felt so far away.    "Fine.“ Youngjae sighed. He lifted his head and straightened his clothes. He gave Mark an attempt at a reassuring smile; but it didn’t reach his eyes like a real Youngjae smile would. Mark brushed it off and he and Youngjae continued into the party.    Youngjae, in the back of his mind was pushing a confident mindset onto himself. Youngjae could be timid but he could also dream big. He smiled to himself as a wild goal crossed his mind. It seemed far fetch but he decided that would be his one and only goal tonight. He would do his damndest to ignore his anxiety- which he knew would try to mess with the scene he was fantasizing in his head. He licked his lip as he thought about it more and more.    Tonight, Youngjae would get on his knees for Jaebum.

You already know what’s goin down next chapter. (; BUT I do want to thank you guys for your support and love for this series. It really does motivate me to write and post chapters quicker. :)))

This story has also been posted to my ao3. The links are down below

Good Love on AO3

My Profile

Stay filthy xx

beta

[freedom-shamrock]

A Little Secret - Chapter 2

Also on AO3

Chp 1   Chp 2   Chp 3   Chp 4   Chp 5   Chp 6   Chp 7   Chp 8   Chp 9 Chp 10   Chp 11

Amazing art created by @soundofez​  pg 1  pg 2  pg 3

Giving Your Tongue to the Chat

By the time Marinette reached the library, Adrien and Alya had already laid claim to one end of a table, but they hadn't started work on the project.  She slipped her things into the place next to Adrien.  "Hey guys, sorry I'm late."

"Where have you been all morning?" Alya asked.  "Do you have any idea how hard it is being on a project with you and Adrien?  Between model shoots and extracurriculars, his schedule's insane, and you're the amazing vanishing bestie."

"Oh, you know me," Marinette said, smiling weakly.  "I overslept."  It was a lie, of course.  She'd spent most of her morning combatting an akuma on the other side of town.

"You know you're gonna need to fix that habit of yours before you pick up an internship, right?" Alya asked.  "Most designers aren't going to be as forgiving as us."  She planted her hands on her hips to deliver a stern look.

"Yes maman," Marinette promised.  She sure hoped she and Chat could find and neutralize Hawkmoth before Final Bac.  She suspected Master Fu had chosen teenagers for the ladybug and black cat simply because their absences would be difficult but not career shattering.  She couldn't imagine either of her parents fitting this into their schedules.

"She's just cross because she missed this morning's akuma," Adrien whispered.

"There was an attack this morning?"  She'd gotten much better at feigning ignorance and coming up with believable excuses.  She'd had plenty of practice, after all.

Adrien nodded, the small polite smile she hated firmly in place.  It wasn't quite his model mask, but it usually meant he was subduing himself to stick to the image his father had crafted for him.  It showed up a lot at school and in other public places.  Fortunately, it tended to be thoroughly tucked away when he was at her house.  "I was also out for an emergency shoot."  He snorted.  It had become a joke that his father's unexpected random photoshoots to capture one last thing, or replace something he found subpar constituted emergencies in Gabriel Agreste's mind.

"Oh dear," Marinette said dramatically.  "What was it this time?  Did you have a hair out of place?"

Adrien bit his lip and shook his head, clearly trying to restrain his mirth.  "Please, I was perfect."  He let out a sniff, tipping his nose into the air.  "But my jacket looked too snug across my shoulders while managing to look like a frumpy sack around my waist."  He rolled his eyes.

"I can't help but feel like neither of you are taking this very seriously," Alya criticized.  "This project is a quarter of our final grade."

"I'm so sorry Al," Marinette insisted, throwing babydoll eyes at her best friend.  "I'll do better."

"Ugh," Alya said, waving both hands in Marinette's face.  "Stop it.  You're crazy good at that.  And it should not be that effective on a seventeen year old."

She'd developed the skill to combat Chat's devastating kitten eyes, but no one in her civilian life knew that.  Grinning, Marinette patted her tablet.  "Well I'm here now, and I'm ready to be a focused and productive member of the team."  She straightened up proudly.  "I even did research last night in preparation."

"Was that during the time you were supposed to be sleeping?" Adrien teased, bumping her shoulder with his.

"The nerve," Marinette shot back with gasp.  Playful Adrien didn't come out nearly often enough, and she was always keen to encourage it.  She still liked him, possibly more than she had that first year, but it was the real him this time.  She'd been shocked to discover the true Adrien hidden under that image of calm perfection.  He was the second silliest person in her life, sometimes running neck and neck with Chat Noir, and probably the most approachable person she knew.  He got downright giddy when he could actually do a favor for a friend, and he tended to go over the top on such things.  She'd caught a persistent sadness lurking in the background, concealed by fake smiles and finger-guns.

His teasing demanded a response, so she stuck out her tongue at him.  

Grinning mischievously, he reached out and caught her tongue between two fingers.  "Gotchya."

"Llllll," Marinette objected, squirming out of his gentle hold.

"Could you two stop flirting and focus," Alya demanded, not bothering to cover her smile.

Marinette made a great show of assessing her tongue for damage.  "I'll get you back for that," she said, delighted by his lightheartedness this morning.  That usually meant things at home were going as well as they could.

"Is that a threat or a promise?" he asked slyly, leaning toward her.

"Dude, we do not use the smoulder at school," Nino said, tossing his things down across from his best friend.  "We've talked about this."  His tone spoke of long-suffering, but his knowing grin told a different story.

"Awww," Adrien whined, slouching in his chair like a chastised child.  "But it works so well."

"True," Nino agreed.  "But we are not raising a manipulative jerk here."  He gestured with one open hand at Adrien.  "You are so much better than some people you're related to. Let's embrace that, shall we."  Nino reached into one of the front pockets of his jeans.  "Oh, before I forget.  I got you a new workout mix."

Adrien's face brightened up, shattering the polite mask he usually wore.  "Really?"  He cradled the pen-drive as though it were precious.

"Yes really," Nino insisted.  "If your father is going to make you continue with the personal trainer and heavy duty workout program, despite the fact that you're already perfect, you deserve to enjoy the time as much as possible."

Adrien hugged the drive before carefully tucking it into his bag, beaming the whole time.  It didn't matter that Nino regularly gave his friends music, Adrien always considered it a special treat.

Adrien burst into history class after lunch with an excess of enthusiasm.  He was grinning and bouncing as he made his way to his seat.

"What did you have for lunch, and where can I get some?" Alya asked, leaning forward on the desk she and Marinette shared.  They'd returned to their original seating arrangement this year after trying all other configurations in previous years.

"My afternoon shoot was canceled," Adrien said.  "I have a whole afternoon off."  He collapsed into his chair in a move that looked remarkably like a certain boneless cat-boy.  "And father's gone this week, so Nathalie conveniently didn't plug anything else in."

"Aw dude," Nino said, disappointment coloring his voice.  "There's nothing I'd like to do more than hang out with you, but I've got a shadowing thing at the radio station today."

"No problem," Adrien insisted.  "I can't expect you to drop everything for me."

Nino frowned.  "You know I would though, right?  If you needed me to."

Adrien's eyes widened and he looked down, the edges of his ears going pink.  "Oh.  Um.  Today isn't a need, but thanks."  He glanced at the table behind him.  "Alya, Marinette, are either of you available?"  His voice sounded oddly strained, hopeful.

Alya sighed.  "I'm watching my sisters today, but we could probably join you for a bit at the park."

"I'm free," Marinette said.  "We could do the park first, and then go back to my place for gaming and dinner."

The goofy smile was back on his face.  "Really?  It's been ages since I had dinner with your family.  That'd be really cool.  Thanks."

At the park, Marinette watched Adrien chase Alya's nine year old twin sisters around the playground equipment.  He'd left his bag with her on the bench when he went in pursuit of "the little monkeys."  She hadn't asked him out, and had put that whole idea on hold for now.  It had less to do with nerves and freaking out, and more to do with reality.  The last thing Adrien needed was a girlfriend who ditched him regularly with crappy excuses for her absences.  He had more than enough abandonment in his life, and she couldn't bear the thought of adding to it.  Until she could be sure she wouldn't have to vanish all the time to deal with Paris' miraculous psychopath, she'd have to settle for being the best friend she could to him.  Her resolve didn't prevent her from enjoying watching him move.

"That personal trainer must have him doing some crazy shit to be in this kind of shape," Alya said.  "How does he even have time for that?"

Marinette shook her head, critically assessing everything he was doing.  The girls were chasing him now, and he turned and dodged far faster than seemed possible.  He could have run circles around Kim.  He darted under the swingset, leaping up to catch the support bar.  In a move that belonged in an action film or akuma battle, he swung his legs up and over the bar, holding himself fully upside down on extended arms for a moment before dropping down the other side and landing behind Alya's sisters, effectively swapping roles with them again.

"Holy shit Agreste!" Alya shouted.  "Don't you be teaching my sisters impossible stuff."

He glanced toward the bench, a wide devilish smile on his lips.  "Not impossible," he insisted.  "It just requires a working knowledge of physics."

"And a jacked body," she retorted.

"Hey!"  The girls swarmed him then.  Laughing, he scooped one up in each arm, spinning a bit as he walked back to the bench.  "I'll have you know that this body is the result of a lot of hard work."  He winked.  "And a pretty good hit from the genetic lottery."  He set the girls down in front of their sister, where they promptly flopped into the grass laughing.  "No artificial colors or preservatives."  He poked at his belly.

Alya made a little motion with her index finger.  "Let us have a look at that."

"Alya!" Marinette gasped.  "Do you want his father to see a photo of him flashing his abs at us on the front of some tabloid?"

"You're not curious?" Alya demanded in disbelief.

Marinette snorted.  "I've already seen it."  She grinned up at Adrien.  "I mean he had that recent swimsuit campaign, and it was quite flattering."

"I bet he was airbrushed," Alya taunted.

Adrien feigned shock, one hand going to his chest in mock horror.  "Airbrushed?  Me?!"

"The runway photos supported the evidence in the advertisements," Marinette pointed out.  "Don't worry, Adrien.  I've got your back.  I, personally, believe in your abs."

Adrien sat down beside Marinette, and oh, he was deliciously warm.  The air had just enough of a bite to chill her.  "I guess that settles that."  He stuck his tongue out at Alya and Marinette reached up and pinched it.  "Hey!"

Marinette burst into giggles.  "Told you I'd get you back."

"That was like two weeks ago," he objected.

"I can be patient."

Alya snorted.  "She can be ridiculously patient."  She sighed.  "Fun though this has been, I've gotta get my monkeys home, and you ," she paused to poke Adrien in the shoulder, "need to get our Maricicle warmed up."

Adrien looked down at Marinette, frowning slightly.  "Geeze, Mari.  I didn't realize you were so cold.  I'm sorry."  He stood up and pulled off his jacket, wrapping it around her shoulders.

Though she probably should have refused, her fingers held the jacket closed.  "Ooooh," she moaned.  "Soooo warm."  She tucked her face into the neck as well, subtly catching his scent from it.  She unzipped the little pouch she'd taken to wearing on her hip.  Scooping Tikki out, she settled the little being into the snuggly inner pocket of his jacket, feeling the little kwami shiver before relaxing into the added warmth.

"Time to get you home," he said firmly.  "I recommend tea and Mecha Strike."

Chapter title - "Giving your tongue to the cat" is a French idiom that means being unable to guess. Sometimes people use it in place of the American idiom "the cat has your tongue" but it's not an exact parallel. 

Chapter art by @soundofez, posted with express permission, can be found here.

 Huge thanks to my betas: Karnival and @chatbug-jk​

[chopperiv]

Alien Covenant Is Bad

I tried to think of a clever title. I failed.

I saw Alien: Covenant the other day and I figured I’d write up some of my thoughts, because holy hell this movie is bad. If you’re an Alien fan, this movie is going to piss you off. Hell, if you’re a fan of good moviemaking and horror films in general, this film will piss you off.

Spoilers abound ahead, so either see the movie first (please don’t, spare yourself the pain) or give up on caring about Alien: Covenant spoilers. Also this is going to be long, I’ve got a lot of shit to say and there is so much wrong with this movie that this is basically going to read like a plot synopsis. Here we go.

The movie starts with a short scene where the film’s main antagonist, the android David 8 from the previous film Prometheus, is activated for the first time. It’s basically just there to set up that David is in this movie. I have no problems with this scene, especially since David’s played by Michael Fassbender and I love that guy.

The problems actually start with the next scene, on the colonist ship Covenant. Walter, another android played by Fassbender (he’s a later model, more advanced but with less emotion), goes around the ship checking on all the colonists and crewmembers in hypersleep. Then he activates the solar sails to recharge the ship’s power supply, and we get to our first major misstep. For some reason, the star in this solar system...does...something? which causes a “neutrino burst”, which is basically a big wave of stuff that blasts the Covenant and fucks a bunch of shit up. The crew is awakened due to the emergency, but the captain (James Franco, absolutely wasted since he, well...) dies when the inside of his hypersleep pod explodes into flames. (Seriously, I didn’t even know it was Franco until a scene after this where the female lead, Katherine Waterston, watches a video message from him. That is all the screentime he gets. His hypersleep pod immolates him, and then he says hi to his wife while rock-climbing in a video.)

The reason this is a misstep is because the “neutrino burst” is just...a thing that happens. It isn’t set up (it’s not even like it’s something established in any of the other movies), its only purpose it to get the plot where it needs to be, and it’s described as being “a completely random event”. This becomes important later, hold on to that.

So now that James Franco is dead, command of the ship is transferred over to Billy Crudup, who is a complete and utter moron. I cannot stress that enough. The only bad thing that happens in this movie that isn’t a result of his stupid decisions is the neutrino burst. He tells the crew they can’t have a funeral for the dead former captain because...uh...he’s an idiot, but they do anyway. This makes him mad. He whines to his wife (everybody on this ship is married to someone else on the ship, but that’s never mentioned) about how the company passed him up to be the ship’s captain and he thinks it’s because of his religion. That is garbage, you idiot. It’s because you’re a moron who couldn’t be trusted to competently lead a Boy Scout troop. This whole religious thing is mentioned one more time in the movie. It is just as jarring and out of place there too.

Anyway, a couple of the crew go outside the ship to repair the solar sails, when one of them, Danny McBride (who is named Tennessee. Really. I don’t even need to think of a snarky nickname for him, they actually call him Tennessee.) gets some kind of weird transmission from a nearby planet. When they get back in the ship, they decipher the transmission to be a recording of a woman humming “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.

What.

Now, this is kind of silly, but in this movie this is just kind of the goofy icing on the cake. Of course Tennessee immediately recognizes the tune a garbled transmission is humming, because plot, and they decide it would be a good idea to go to the nearby planet and figure out where the transmission came from.

BUT WAIT. That isn’t actually why they go to the planet. No, that would at least make a little bit of sense. They decide to go there...because this planet is basically Earth But Better. The gravity is only slightly less than Earth’s and the air is breathable, so the ENTIRE CREW (except for Waterston’s character, who is our resident Not-Ripley) decides “fuck the original colonization spot, this place looks great. Let’s go check it out.”

SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET BACK IN YOUR SLEEPYTIME PODS. This is not a negotiable thing. You have been sent on a mission by the series’ local Mega-Corporation. You are all trained god damn professionals. Mark the spot of this so-called miracle planet on your star charts, make a log noting it, and continue on your way. Now let’s bring back that whole “random event” thing: one of the reasons stated for the crew wanting to go to this planet rather than continue on is because they don’t want to risk another neutrino burst happening. WHICH IT WON’T. Two reasons: 1, the burst was a random fucking event, meaning it’s highly unlikely that a second one would be happening any time soon, and 2, if you keep moving towards your destination, you won’t be anywhere near the scary explosive star anymore! That seems like the more logical choice if you’re worried about star burps!

Oh yeah, and they try to explain why they hadn’t found the planet before. One of the characters says that the Mega-Corp scanned this area of space incredibly thoroughly. And he makes sure to stress they couldn’t possibly have missed it. So what’s the explanation for why this planet went unnoticed?

“THEY MUST HAVE MISSED IT.”

That’s it. That’s all they say to wave away this idiocy. That is stupid. Are you beginning to understand why I don’t like this film yet? We haven’t even gotten to the Aliens themselves.

But no. After a brief argument with Not-Ripley, which basically boils down to “This is a really fucking bad idea.” “It definitely is and I have no good counterarguments other than we are lazy and this film is lazy,” Idiot Captain decides to go to the planet anyway to take a look around. We jump to them about to orbit the planet, and they say that the ionosphere around the planet will make communication difficult. But you know what’s garbage about this? This comes into play approximately once. In a moment that, iirc, nobody would have been able to answer the phone anyway. Why have it even impede communications in the first place if you’re not going to do anything with it?

Anyway they head down to the planet in a dropship, with Tennessee and two randos staying on the Covenant. Now, riddle me this: if you were going down as the first scouting team on a completely alien planet, one with tons of plant life and possible animal life, and new microscopic bacterial life that could absolutely fuck you up, what kind of gear would you bring? You’d bring full protective gear, right? Hazmat suits, maybe. Protective breathers and no exposed skin at the least.

NOT THESE FUCKOS. They look like they’re getting ready to go on a camping trip rather than explore an alien landscape. Maybe my joke earlier about Captain Idiot commanding a Boy Scout troop wasn’t too far off.

And guess what happens. Right off the bat, they split the party, with the professional botanist grabbing some samples and a bodyguard sticking with her. The bodyguard goes off to have a smoke, and while he does so, he accidentally steps on some mushroom pod thing. They release a bunch of black spores, which...coalesce into a single tiny cloud, fly into his ear, and burrow into his ear canal. This would not have happened if you’d worn actual protective gear, morons.

Meanwhile, in the main group, they find the source of the transmission. It’s a broken up recording of some lady (it’s incredibly hard to see if there are any recognizable facial features or not) while she...does...something? I dunno, there’s a room full of stuff and she appears to be controlling the room, though I can’t be sure because it’s just a recording and nothing is happening in this room. This is all we get for the transmission. It is completely dropped after this point. Not even confronting the villain later, asking if he sent it out to try and lure people to the planet or something. Nothing.

Somebody in the group shoves his face into a bunch more of the pod things and snorts up a cloud of spores. Soon both he and ear-spore-guy are puking blood, and they both are rushed back to the dropship. Ear-spore-guy gets there first, and he’s rushed to the dropship’s med bay. The mechanic, who was working on something that apparently broke when they landed, tries to help, but then...

Surprise! Alien time! Our first alien creature of the movie pops out of ear-spore-guy’s back, and by god the CGI is terrible on it. There’s a difference between “moving unnaturally” and “movement that clearly shows this is CGI”. Anyway, the creature is weirdly adorable. It looks like a creepy little puppy thing. It kills botanist-lady, but mechanic-lady manages to lock it in the medbay while she grabs a shotgun. This is after slipping in ear-spore-guy’s blood like a god damn Three Stooges routine and crushing her foot in the door as she tries to close it. I should not be laughing during the first big action scene, movie. And then...

Ugh.

Mechanic-lady missed EVERY SHOT SHE TAKES AT THE ALIEN and instead BLOWS UP THE ENTIRE DROPSHIP, herself included.

THIS FAILS TO KILL THE ALIEN.

The main group gets back just in time to watch the thing blow up. Snorty guy dies when another alien rips out of his throat. It and the alien from the dropship then murder the shit out of a couple of the group and Walter loses a hand protecting Not-Ripley. One of the aliens is killed, but suddenly, the remaining alien is driven off by...

David, the android from the beginning of the movie! Firing a flare gun into the air! Which...wait a fucking second.

This thing doesn’t have any fucking eyes. Why did the flare scare it off? I don’t get it.

Anyway David has long hair now, despite being a robot and therefore unable to grow hair. I don’t get this either. He tells the surviving crew members to come with him, and they all walk through a massive necropolis filled with hundreds of dead people, frozen mid-death. Uhhhh...is nobody going to mention this? No? Just going to keep following the creepy robot man? OK then. You are all idiots. Especially the captain. David brings them to his cool science lab area where he does cool science.

David basically says “yeah, go ahead and hang out here for a while. It’s cool.” He gives himself a haircut to make himself look more like Walter, and you already know what’s going to happen from that one line, don’t you? He and Walter bond for a while, and he teaches Walter to play the recorder. (It’s not a flute, guys. It’s a fucking recorder.) As he’s teaching him, he delivers the immortal line: “I’ll do the fingering”. Now...Mr. Fassbender. Michael. Mike. Please tell me: how many takes did that line take? How many times did you have to say “I’ll do the fingering”? How many times did you say “I’ll do the fingering” without anybody - you, Ridley Scott, the second you acting in this scene - saying “Maybe that line is kind of dumb, we should change it because it is dumb”?

...”I’ll do the fingering”. Jesus.

They get a radio set up to talk to Tennessee on the ship, and he asks to talk to his wife, aka Mechanic-Lady. They tell him she’s dead. His response is basically “Oh no! That sucks.” Nobody in this film ever reacts to somebody dying in a realistic way except maybe when they watch the aliens burst out of people, and it’s really obvious and annoying. He just found out his wife is dead! He should be absolutely hysterical, or at the very least, he should be sobbing. Nobody in this movie brought their acting A-game, it seems.

Except Michael Fassbender. That man is incredible. I give guff to the whole “I’ll do the fingering” line, but the scenes between Walter and David are absolutely the best in the movie, and it’s really cool to watch Michael Fassbender basically playing off of himself. There were a few times where I forgot that both Fassbenders were only in the shot due to movie magic. And he made each character seem genuinely distinct from the other with just their expressions and voices.

But enough about my love for Michael Fassbender. Another character, Madame McDipshit, decides now would be a good time to wander off from the group to go wash her face. And while I can understand wanting to wash the blood and gore of your former co-workers off your face, this is not the time, and you chose the absolute wrong place to do it. She goes so far away from the group (despite Captain Idiot’s warning for her not to go too far) that nobody can even hear her scream when the throatburster alien comes back, now fully grown, and rips her to pieces. It even decapitates her! Though that may be why she didn’t scream. Doesn’t explain how nobody heard the alien’s loud pre-kill screeching though.

David and Captain Idiot discover the alien eating Madame McDipshit’s headless corpse while her head floats in the pool she was washing her face in. Lovely. David tries to make friends with the thing, and it seems like he’s about to succeed, what with the alien standing up straight and seemingly calming down, not attempting to kill David or his deliciously fleshy human friend...and then Captain Idiot shoots it a bunch. It gets mad, he shoots it some more, and it finally dies. David gets pissed. Now comes the other moment of Captain Idiot’s religiousness: he says to David that he saw the devil when he was young, and he didn’t look like David. Uhhh...thanks for sharing? What the hell does that have to do with anything?

Now, Captain Idiot has David at gunpoint. He’s already incredibly suspicious of him. And we know from both the original Alien and Prometheus that androids can function with only their head. Hell, in Prometheus it was David himself who was just a head. So what does Captain Idiot do? Does he shoot David, taking him offline so they can interrogate him later when he’s been made harmless? ...I’ve been calling him Captain Idiot, do you really think he’d make a rational decision like that? Instead Captain Idiot follows David down through David’s science chambers into some kind of underground tunnel. And guess what are in this tunnel? Facehugger eggs! And David, cool as anything, tells Captain Idiot “hey dipshit, stick your face in this egg. It’s totally safe. Trust me dude, have I done anything suspicious so far in this movie?”

So he does. And the audience laughs. And Captain Idiot gets facehugged. Congratulations you fucking moron. You had so many opportunities to avoid this fate, and you literally just walked into it. Congratu-fucking-lations.

Everybody who’s not Captain Idiot has decided “hey, you know what would be a good idea? Getting the fuck out of here.” And so they call Tennessee to get them out with a second dropship. Convenient! And while they’re...I dunno, playing solitaire? (I forget what they were doing, I saw this film a few days ago and all this has just kind of been stewing in me since then.) the chestburster in Captain Idiot pops out and it looks...nothing like the chestburster in the original. That thing was all pink and armless and weird and rather phallic. This chestburster is basically just an adult form - black, sleek, spindly arms - but...tiny.

And then it and David praise the sun together.

Yeah, they basically do this at each other. I guess David was making friends with it? It’s goofy and stupid and weird.

So you may have suspected it by now, but yes, this movie reveals that the Xenomorphs, the classic black aliens, the face of the Alien franchise (along with Sigourney Weaver)...are in fact NOT aliens. They are David’s creations. He took the black goo stuff from Prometheus, altered a bunch of insects with it, and they basically overran the planet until there were no animals left. He continued to refine his experiments into the spore pod things we saw in the beginning, and the facehuggers/xenomorphs we know and are terrified of.

This...

This is, without a doubt, the worst part of the entire movie.

Nobody was asking for the backstory of the Xenomorphs. Nobody. We watched Alien, and we all just accepted that there was a species of horrific black creatures that were really fucking good at killing things. Then Aliens gave us the Xenomorph queen, showing us how these creatures have a kind of insectoid hive structure. And that was fine. That was all we needed. Nobody asked any questions regarding how the Xenomorphs came to exist. We just kind of accepted that they do, and that’s all we needed or cared to know. But then this movie comes out, and suddenly, the title of this entire franchise is a fucking lie. If they were created by humans, or a human creation rather, then they’re not Aliens. Now, they’re Some Robot Guy’s Science Fair Project, which is a much lamer name for a franchise. That’s like if they made a sequel to, I don’t know, Titanic that revealed that the name of the ship in the original movie was actually the Bumfucker. Suddenly, there’s no reason for the movie to be named what it is! “Well, they’re still aliens because they came from another planet!” If a person was born on Mars, would they be an alien? No. It’s basically the same principle here. It’s a creation of Earth that happened to get started on another planet. They were Aliens before because everything about them was alien. They had no origin, no knowable motives, no thoughts or emotions, and they clearly didn’t look like something from Earth. But this movie gave them an origin. So now, they’re not alien anymore.

So David comes back upstairs, has another chat with Walter about how humans suck and robots are perfect and so much better. Walter, in turn, replies “Bitch, you thought ‘Ozymandias’ was written by Lord Byron when it was written by Percy Bysse Shelley. You’re not perfect, you don’t know SHIT.” Then David kisses him and stabs him in the neck, putting him offline. Walter doesn’t give a shit though, and reactivates as soon as David leaves the room. Then David finds Not-Ripley snooping through his stuff, and he kisses her. Neither Not-Ripley nor Walter are very happy about this, so Walter smashes him about the place for a little while and we get some sick Fassbender on Fassbender action. ...As in they fight. After the Fassbender-Fassbender kiss earlier I feel I should clarify.

Not-Ripley and the other survivors (one of whom nearly got facehugged while looking for the captain, but one of his buddies pried it off) make their escape to Tennessee’s dropship during the fight. Walter’s a newer model with regenerative capabilities (I guess his severed hand is more than he can handle though), so he basically no-sells everything David throws at him. He gets the upper hand and goes to smash David’s head in with a rock. David starts monologuing though, buying himself time to fumble for a knife out of Walter’s view. Walter lifts the rock as David gets his hand on the knife, and we cut away, not knowing who won the fight. Then Walter stumbles out of the science lab towards Tennesee’s dropship, so I guess that settles that cliffhanger. And hey! The Xenomorph shows up! It grabs onto the dropship as it’s taking off, and Not-Ripley fights it off while they try to get away. The Xenomorph is killed, they make it back to the ship ok, and everybody’s safe! Hooray!

Except the movie’s still going. It’s not over yet.

As Not-Ripley settles in for a good night’s sleep (you can sleep after all the shit that just happened? Damn.) the ship’s computer informs her that an unidentified life-form is roaming the ship. Turns out the guy that almost got facehugged got hugged long enough to get implanted with a chestburster. “Long enough” is apparently less than 5 seconds. Why did the thing stick around on John Hurt’s face so long in the original movie then? It was on there for a few hours. Argh.

Remember the two randos who were hanging out on the ship with Tennessee? Yeah, apparently they decided “all my friends and coworkers dying makes me horny. Let’s fuck in the shower.” The movie goes full slasher flick on us for a bit as the Xenomorph kills them. Those two characters could have been cut entirely and we would have lost practically nothing. Oh yeah, and for some reason we get some perspective shots from the Xenomorph’s POV while it’s crawling around in the ship. Remember my rant above about how the aliens are supposed to be alien? Yeah, this put the nail in that coffin. The Xenomorphs can apparently see just like we do! Though there is some weird goop in front of the camera. Still...it can see. Like humans do. It doesn’t have eyes. Rrrrgh. Long story short, Not-Ripley manages to eject the Xenomorph into space and all is well.

Until...omg! Walter was actually killed(?) by David and it’s David on the ship, not Walter! And Not-Ripley only figures this out as she and Tennesee, the only other survivor (yes, really) are going into hypersleep to continue their colonization mission (which they SHOULD have done to START WITH. Fucking Captain Idiot). David now has approximately 2000 colonists and thousands of human embryos to do his sick experiments on, and over 7 years before Not-Ripley is scheduled to wake up. Cliffhanger! Except...

How the fuck did David replace Walter? There was less than 30 seconds between the cut away from the end of their fight and the time when “Walter” showed up again heading towards the dropship. That means that in less than 30 seconds, David killed Walter, washed any of that white milky stuff androids in Alien have instead of blood off himself, stripped Walter, put on Walter’s clothes, and cut off his own fucking hand so that he could match Walter exactly. He even gave himself the battle damage Walter had sustained in their fight...which NONE OF THE CREW SAW. It was entirely for audience benefit. There is absolutely no way that David could have completely replaced Walter in that short amount of time. And it’s pretty much impossible to not see this coming. You can basically have David’s plan to kill and replace Walter pegged from the minute he cuts his inexplicable hair to better resemble Walter. Even if you didn’t have it realized from that point, the fact that they didn’t show David’s death would make the average astute moviegoer realize they’re going to reveal that David actually won the fight instead just to have the twist. It’s stupid and obvious and I need more words for stupid.

Anyway, since this is the end of the movie, that’s all I’m going to say about Alien: Covenant. I could probably say a lot more, especially if the movie was fresher in my mind, but hell if I’m going to go see it again. Do yourself a favour: Do not see this movie. It’s not even that good when viewed as its own movie and not part of the Alien franchise. I was able to predict four or five jumpscares in this movie down to the second. It’s really predictable. And they said “fuck” way too many times. I’m clearly not averse to foul language, but they were really flaunting their 18A rating and using the word way more than it needed to be used. This movie is not worth your time. I’ve already given you a basic plot synopsis anyway, so just reread this if you’re considering seeing the movie. Trust me, I’ve saved you money, time, and rage.

tl:dr: Alien: Covenant sucked and I hate it. Don’t watch it.

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

The Least I Can Do (Part 2)

Summary: The reader tries to go on her date with Jensen but it’s harder than she thought it would be...

Part 1

Pairing: Jensen x reader

Word Count: 2,900ish

Warnings: language

A/N: Oh boy, this one got away from me a bit...

This was exactly why you didn’t go on dates. The guy seems nice and then he doesn’t show up, doesn’t even call to say he can’t make it or give some lame excuse why he isn’t there. Here you thought maybe this one was actually decent.

You were at your apartment, dress back on the hanger, heels back in the closet, face washed and hair thrown up in a messy bun when you saw your phone ring.

“Nope,” you said, ignoring the phone as you returned your attention to watching mindless TV in an oversized old shirt and fuzzy socks. About thirty seconds later it was ringing again. You groaned but grabbed the phone and answered. “Hello?”

“Hi, Y/N. It’s-”

“What do you want, Jensen?” you asked, trying to keep your voice neutral. He was quiet for a second before you heard his sigh.

“I’m really sorry. Work ran late and I didn’t have my phone and I get it if you think I blew you off,” he said. Ugh, why’d he have to sound so sincere?

“It’s almost 11 and I have work in the morning so if you don’t mind-”

“Tomorrow night, let me make it up to you,” he said. You pinched the bridge of your nose. Shit, you were really going to give him another chance. “Don’t make me beg.”

“Tomorrow night. 7. Same restaurant as tonight. If you skip out on me again Jensen...”

“I won’t. I promise.”

“Okay, he is seriously never getting another date ever again,” you said to yourself, huffing out in the cold winter air as your phone showed it was 7:10. He was standing you up. Again. Your phone rang and you answered, just as a black SUV pulled up in front of the restaurant, probably some rich couple out to have a nice date night. “Jensen, where are you.”

“So, work ran late again but before you hang up...” he said fast, your eyes watching a man step out of the SUV and open up the door, showing it empty. “I asked work to send a car and pick you up and bring you here so we could still have our date.”

“You want me to get in a car with a stranger?” you asked, looking over to the friendly looking man cautiously.

“You said I don’t get another chance after tonight. Please trust me,” he said.

“This is insane,” you said, taking a step towards the car. “What are you, some kind of workaholic lawyer or something?”

“No, definitely not that,” he said, a laugh in his voice. “You’ll probably figure it out by the time you see me. I got to go. I’ll see you in thirty.”

“Well, I guess you’re my ride?” you said, holding your phone as the driver chuckled.

“Yup. Jensen must like you. He’s never done this before,” he said, helping you step up into the backseat with you heels on.

“I barely know anything about the guy apart from his name,” you said, buckling your seat belt as the driver climbed back in.

“Yet here you are. You must like Ackles too,” he teased, signaling and pulling back out onto the road.

“Ackles?” you asked.

“It’s his last name kid. This is probably going to be a bit of a surprise for you then.”

It’d been about forty minutes and you were sitting on a small couch in a very nice trailer on a film set. Yeah, surprise had been a word for it alright. You were still catching up to what your date did for a living when the door flung open and there stood a patch of dirty blonde hair with two styrofoam containers.

“Hey! You got in okay?” he asked, smiling wide even though he looked tired. He sat the containers down on the counter as he looked over you sitting in your black dress, ready for a date in a nice restaurant. His gaze traveled down to boots, jeans and a plaid shirt with some trickles of fake blood on it. “Well one of us looks very pretty and it’s certainly not me.”

“You look very rugged,” you said. He raised an eyebrow and you smiled. “I like rugged.”

“I didn’t have time to change yet. I’ve got a suit I can-”

“Dude, you worry too much,” you said, standing and walking over to his counter. You’d decided against the heels in the small space and you’d forgotten how tall he was. “How’s the weather up there?” you teased, trying to get him to relax.

“Oh, wait until you meet Jared,” he said, opening a drawer and pulling out some utensils. 

“Is he tall too?” you asked, watching as Jensen set two places quickly at the small table off to the side. 

“There’s a picture on the fridge,” he said. “Grab whatever you want to drink.” 

You walked over and looked at some of the photos. Most of them were of him being goofy with a couple other people that probably worked there. It didn’t take long to figure out who Jared was.

“The guy’s huge!” you said, glancing back over your shoulder to see Jensen smiling.

“His wife is like a foot shorter than him. I’m not even kidding,” he said. You chuckled as you took in more of the pictures before you realized Jensen was waiting for you to join him at the table. You quickly grabbed a bottle of water and sat down in front of a plate full of pasta.

“This looks good,” you said, Jensen rubbing the back of his head as he sat.

“It’s nothing special. I ran and made it up in craft services real quick. I hope it’s not terrible,” he said.

“Wow,” you said, picking up your fork. 

“Wow what?” he asked

“You actually made this. That’s...sweet,” you said. You took a bite and couldn’t help but keep your eyes from going wide. “If the acting thing doesn’t work out, go be a chef.”

“I’d say something witty back but you’re very beautiful so I don’t think you have to worry about the model thing not working,” he said, letting his nerves of being late again fall away.

“I’m not sleeping with you on the first date,” you said, watching him nearly choke on his food.

“I wasn’t-”

“You’re very cute when you blush,” you said, pointing at the light flush on his cheeks. “You tend to do it a lot around me. Especially when you’re nervous.”

“Oh, I’m not nervous. I’m excited,” said Jensen, a smirk appearing in that smile he always seemed to be wearing. 

“So I excite you?” you asked, giving a smirk back and wondering why the hell you were flirting like that after just saying you weren’t sleeping with him.

“Yes. I thought that was obvious by my blushing, Y/N,” he teased. “Now the real question is why are you blushing? Don’t tell me you’re a little softie under that calm and cool demeanor.”

“I don’t know,” you said suddenly, Jensen answering with a chuckle.

“I think you’re cute when you blush too,” he said, playing with his dinner. “I’ll try to do that more often.”

“So Ackles,” you said.

“So...shit,” he said, shaking his head. “I guess I have a lot to learn about you, huh?”

“We don’t have to do it all in one night. We can hang out tomorrow if you want,” you said. “Y/L/N by the way.”

“Alright, Y/L/N. I’m going to take you up on that,” he said. “You’re going to have to take another chance on me though if you want to spend this weekend together.”

“Well as long as I get to see you blush some more I’d love to,” you said. Jensen nodded and asked if he could step outside quickly to make a call. He was back a minute later. “Cancelling your other date?”

“Poor other girl didn’t stand a chance against you,” he joked. “Okay, enough with the cheesy one liners. I want to actually learn about you.”

“Go for it.”

Dinner flew by and you were getting far too used to the way his green eyes shone when he looked at you. It was easy with him, just like at the show and he somehow managed to be a gentleman without being overbearing. Plus his hair was still doing that swooped up thing that was driving you nuts.

“Jensen?” a voice on the other side of the door said. He sighed and walked over to open it up. “They need you on set.”

“Can I have ten more minutes?” he asked but they were shaking their head. “I’m sorry Y/N. We have to end our night I suppose.”

“Wait. What size are you Y/N?” asked the person with a clipboard and headset. You really didn’t want to say that in front of Jensen, not this early on.

“Um,” you said, glancing over to him for guidance. 

“It doesn’t matter. You look like you’ll fit,” they said, waving the both of you after them. Jensen shrugged but you slipped on your heels and grabbed your coat anyways, stepping down after them. It was late now and someone appeared and pulled Jensen off in one direction, you in the other.

“What’s going on?” you asked, being led over to a different trailer and ushered up the steps. Someone tossed some clothes at you and asked you to do them a huge favor and put them on. You did as told, used to that on a daily basis. 

But you were quickly being ushered off to a different trailer, someone wiping away all of your makeup and replacing it with only touchup on those troublesome spots. You were put in the next chair, someone looking at your hair you’d put up in a bun with a few loose pieces. They complimented you before ripping it apart and throwing it into a side braid that took her thirty seconds.

“She’s good!” she yelled and the person who’d originally stopped at Jensen’s trailer came and in and told you to follow after. You were officially rolling with it until you were being walked onto a set and you knew this had to be some kind of mistake.

“I can’t...really? She just quit like that?” you heard Jensen say as you walked into view. “Oh hell no.”

“It’s the last shot of the episode and your friend fits the clothes. It’s just a stand in shot on her back. It’ll take two minutes tops,” said a man wearing a baseball cap.

“Hi,” you said, walking up to the group, noticing all the other people around that looked tired and ready to go home.

“Y/N right?” said baseball cap. You nodded and saw the guy that was Jared off to the side, trying not to be in too much awe at him. “We’re in a bind and could use your help. All you have to do is stand in a spot. It’s not hard.”

“Okay,” you said, Jensen still fuming.

“That doesn’t solve the problem of next week. Shit, the girl had a ten episode contract and she quits right before it starts?” he said. “It took them forever to find someone in the first place.”

“It’s not your job to worry about that. Just-” said baseball cap before he was interrupted.

“It’s Dean’s love interest so I mean...” he trailed off.

“I don’t mind filling in,” you said. You saw more than a few heads whip around. “It’s just standing there right?”

“Yeah,” said the baseball cap. “Jensen, Jared, go get in your places while we go over this with Y/N.” You had no problem with standing there and it was over in about ten minutes after Jensen and Jared said their lines.

“That wasn’t so bad,” you said. “Easier than a runway.”

“Sorry about this,” said Jensen, walking you to the side when shooting was done. “I didn’t know they’d go and grab the first person they saw.”

“It was interesting,” you said. “Dean.”

“My secret’s been revealed. I play the awesome Winchester,” he said, showing the way out. You heard a huff of air behind you as you caught sight of Jared.

“Yeah right shortie,” said Jared. He smiled when he saw you. “So you’re the girl Jensen’s been gushing over.”

“Shut up or I’ll never babysit for you ever again,” said Jensen but not before you saw him blush.

“Aw, he babysits,” you said, Jensen groaning.

“I like her,” said Jared, pointing to you as he took off in a different direction. “See ya tomorrow dude.”

“See ya,” said Jensen, walking with you back to where your clothes had been left. “This is probably a bit much for a first date.”

“I get to be in a TV show. That’s just the cherry on top of this evening,” you said, bumping into his shoulder playfully. “You okay? You seemed mad about this new person quitting.”

“It was...I don’t know,” he said as you walked, holding out his arm as you slipped yours around it naturally. “You’ve never seen the show or heard of it, right?”

“I’m gonna binge it on Netflix now,” you said, feeling his laugh run through his body. “What?”

“It might take you a while,” he said. “Like a really long time.”

“Good. I hate searching for new shows,” you said. He sighed as you slowed your walk.

“My character carries a lot of baggage. Like a crap ton. He’s had a few romantic interests before but they just didn’t work out for one reason or another. This season for the second half, they were giving Dean a new one.”

“You were excited,” you said, Jensen nodding.

“But they were going to be different. The hope was that the interest would stick around, become part of the main cast. Give Dean something good after all this time. It was going to be fun to play. But shooting was supposed to start on Tuesday. They won’t find a new interest that will fit that quickly. They’ll probably just write her out now.”

“I’m sure it’ll work out,” you said, stopping at the trailer where you could change. Jensen waited for you before he stopped in his own trailer quickly and popped out in sweats and a hoodie.

“It’s been a long day,” he said, smiling. You returned one and soon you were back in a car heading home. “I almost forgot about your surprise for tomorrow.”

“My surprise?” you asked. The driver laughed and you tilted your head.

“I’ll text you in the morning with what you need to do,” he said, leaving it at that. For a few minutes you sat in a content silence until Jensen was glancing out the window.

“I thought you said you were going to drop Y/N off at her place first?” asked Jensen as you pulled up outside an apartment building.

“He is,” you said, Jensen squinting his eyes.

“This is my building,” he said. You glanced outside. Nope that was definitely your building.

“What are the odds of that?” said the driver with a smirk. “See you Tuesday Ackles.”

“Night,” Jensen said back. The two of you exited and said hello to your doorman before stepping in the elevator.

“Well this is a coincidence,” you said.

“That’s a word for it,” he said. “It’ll make walking you home after dates easy.”

“So what are we doing tomorrow, Ackles? I’m curious what our second date will look like,” you said. The doors opened to your floor and waited for an answer but Jensen wasn’t giving one. “Oh come on, not even a hint?”

“Put it this way. You’re either going to be impressed or never want to see me again after Sunday,” said Jensen. “Might as well hit the ground running if this thing is going to work between us.”

“Wait, we’re going a weekend trip? That’s like actually cute and thoughtful. I mean it’s a little early but if you want to go into this fast-”

“No, I don’t want to rush at all. But I want to get to know you more this weekend. It just so happens to be a con weekend so I figure if this doesn’t scare you off, I’m in the clear,” he said.

“Your odds are looking good. I do have one question. What’s a con?” you asked. He chuckled like it was an inside joke.

“Oh, it’s an experience,” he said. “I’ll tell you more tomorrow when I stop down to pick you up.”

“You better,” you teased. “I want to know what I’m walking into.”

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he said, moving his head in but letting you go that last inch before he was kissing you. 

“Goodnight, Jensen,” you said, feeling all kinds of bubbly after pulling away. Shit that scruff, normally you hated that feeling when you kissed someone but his felt scratchy in a good way. Not to mention those soft lips.

He gave you a wave when you stepped out into the hall and down to your apartment. You should have crawled into bed but you couldn’t help from turning on the TV and finding the show you’d been looking for.

“There’s 11 seasons on here? He wasn’t kidding,” you said. “Just one and then bed. Tomorrow’s probably going to be very interesting.”

A/N: Read Part 3 here!

@charliebradbury1104 @everyday-supernatural-af @squirels-angels-and-moose @youwerelikeadream @drugpug @darkx143 @kristaparadowski @tom-is-in-my-tardis  @tanithlowisabamf @smoothdogsgirl @dancingalone21 @ktrivia @demonic-meatball @feelmyroarrrr @cojootromuelle@illisea  @gallifreyansass @fangirl1802 @itstheprincess @casgetoutofmydiddlydarnass @mogaruke @secretlyfurrydragon @ria132love @heycassbutt-67 @aingealcethlenn @docharleythegeekqueen  @missmotherhen@smacklesandstretch67 @tumblinwith-me @awkwardcupcake95 @heaven-is-aplaceonearthwithyou @hey-um-misha @imissyoualittlemoreeveryday @lovelife-tothefullest @safehaven1097 @under-general-asthetics

[kaorei-endgame]

What Yakuza game would you recommend playing if I wanted play one? I keep seeing stuff from 0 that looks great and you've said a lot of good things about the series in the past.

In a lot of ways, Yakuza 0 is the BEST place to start with the series! 

And you could leave this post at that–but aw heck, it’s been a while, and I got some stuff to say!

So my appreciation of Yakuza 0 is definitely related to how I prefer the slightly more personal “Kazama Kiryu Desires A Peaceful Life but dang if his Best Bro won’t stop dragging him into these intra-clan turf wars,” stories of Yakuza 1&2 to the exponentially expansive scope of “Kazama Kiryu wants nothing more to than to raise orphan bbs on the idyllic beaches of Okinawa BUT WATCH OUT: The American military wants to buy the entire island and you’re the only gangster man enough to stop them!!” of Yakuza 3 and onwards

(note: I can’t remember if that was actually the plot of Yakuza 3 but doesn’t it seem like the plot of Yakuza 3?)

So it’s like a return to form; 0′s a (…more or less…) hardboiled crime plot about one specific Objet d'Ardeur that everyone in the country has a rack-focus mega-boner about solving the mystery of. In Yakuza 1 it was the “10 Billion Yen” and here it’s “The Empty Lot.” You know I loves it when people refer to such things in hushed and/or concerned tones. 

And they do it a lot in this game.

A lot a lot.

And that’s where I’m at r/n.

Don’t get me wrong, I still like them later Yaks, but the series ditched its focus from as it went, where the plots got a lot bigger and they added a shitload of playable characters to varying degrees of success. Enough of those games still rock (Yakuza 5′s got a whole section where you play as an up and coming idol and also one where you fight a bear)

(subnote, the idol does not fight the bear)

(subsubnote, though she absolutely should’ve)

But their plots are such a severe mess that I was only able to enjoy the narrative of 4&5 for their audacity–they’re so dopey and BIG–since none of the characters were, like, super character-y, you know, per se. They all blend together, especially antagonists, who end up being “thug guy” or “haha, it was actually I, the refined business man BEHIND the thug guy, (and also, for some reason I have DIAMOND CUT ABS and KNOW KARATE).” 

So, when you sit down and really think about it, in some ways, Yakuza 0 is actually the perfect Yakuza game!

Though it’s a prequel, the story works without context. There’s a good bit of fan-service in how they spent a decent time on characterization for people who would become major players/antagonists in later games, but I don’t feel like it being a prequel would hurt new players. You’d miss out on some of the dramatic irony I enjoyed, sure, but you also wouldn’t have to reconcile the cognitive dissonance of Majima, Yakuza’s genre-standard “crazy guy who’s gay for the protagonist (but strictly in a violent way (no homo))” acting like just a regular, (…relatively…? i mean he’s a gangster…?) nice guy. In fact, this game made me kind of wish Majima was just always this Majima. :/

(spoiler warning: Yakuza sidequests still have a 1-5% factor of Extremely Bad Video Game Opinions on Gender/Sexuality/Race 😞 And I wish they’d quit that shit already, because it straight up sullies the fun, lighthearted tone of most of the side content–there are always a couple “ugh, aren’t you better than this?” moments in these games)

Aside from that–the narrative stuff, or etc–the mechanical bloat of later games can make it tough to fully recognize which parts are wheat and which parts are chaff. There’s too much of it to sort, especially as they move into the If Yakuza 4 had 4 characters then obviously Yakuza 5 has to have five??? model, where I sorta forgot there were 5 protagonists until I looked it up because the Baseball Guy in 5 was the only dude more forgettable than Baby Faced Grapple Cop in 4. 

And I liked 5, no doubt, but you don’t really need like four+ distinct fighting styles, especially when you’re musical chairs-ing between them every 2 or 3 hours. And it’s definitely fun and/or funny that every character has their own goofy sub-quest like “trapping rabbits on a mountainside” or “extremely solicitous taxi cab driving,” but a lot of that stuff gets lost in the wash as you get farther out from the actual playing of it. 

(vs chicken????)

As a result, I retain vaguely positive feelings about Yakuzas 3-5, but I can’t remember a whole lot of what I actually did in them. Where Yakuza 0 felt like it had just enough that I could manage everything without going nuts. Just the same, I keep sayin’ 1&2 remain my favorites for their tighter scopes–the Goldlocks Principle of Yakuza games–but I also haven’t played them in almost a decade, so who knows how they actually hold up. I’m probably just talking out of my ass! And, in some ways, Yakuza 0 might be one of those situations where it’s actually living up to the fond memories falsified by my nostalgia! 

What I mean by that is 0’s a refinement of a series that has always been one of the extremely few “open world” games that’ve ever actually worked on me. Weird comparisons on sale here, but it’s like Witcher 2: the maps are small enough that they become intimate, and there aren’t a billion checkmarks all over them, so it doesn’t feel like you’re running down a list. Really, Yakuza has been the only series I feel like I can play on whim, act arbitrarily and according to mood, and not freak out about not playing the most “efficient” way.

(also why does it seem like they spent like 100x as much effort on Sagawa’s face than they did anyone else in the entire game, including the main characters? Is it because Sagawa is Actually The Secret Best???)

It’s cool, being in those neighborhoods, whose twists and turns become familiar. They’re some of the few games that I can really space out with, not worrying about completion lists or plot progression or missable sidequests (we just beat Tales of Vesperia, I’m “missable sidequest”-ed out for the foreseeable future), just playing arbitrarily, and pecking away at a long substory until you get bored, and not worrying super much about whether or not you’ll ever come back and finish it. They set a tone; ie: “there’s so much CRAP here.” Like, every bar gives you a mini-lecture on each whisky’s history as you order it. You can’t possibly do all of it–in fact, they don’t let you, because the bartender cuts you off after 3 or 4 drinks–so it’s almost like they game is telling you “hey, do something else so you don’t burn yourself out trying to catch ‘em all.” Which is I suspect Fallout or Farcry or Assassin’s Creed or whatever will probably never, ever do.

So even though Yakuza is as checklisty as any of those games (and in Yakuza 0 there’s a literal checklist that gives you quantifiable gameplay benefits as you fill it out) there’s no impetus to play them that way. You do whatever you want, at the speed you want. It’s like, by curtailing your ability to drink every whisky at once, eat every food at once, find every sidequest at once, they’re giving you permission to leave things half-finished. I dumped several hours into reaching the climax of Majima’s biggest substory, but when the game offered me the chance to go to the final battle, I kinda went “I’m ready for this” and left the whole thing unsettled right before the finish line. 

So I guess I’ll never know how that cabaret plot ended, but I also don’t feel like I really need to know how it ended either. My experience was enough, and it’s good to feel like you’re playing something just to immerse yourself in the experience of it, rather doggedly coming back until you can Finish it and Check It Off A List.

In summation, I’m hope to keep this one in my kokoro 5ever:

…tell Kuze hello for me! 👊

[wannabeentertainer]

A Case of the FOMOs

SOME (Social Media) gives me a bad case of the FOMOs (Fear Of Missing Out).

Transitioning from an office as part of a professional “team” to working from home as a creative “entrepreneur” has made me question a lot about myself. And as I prepare to go back to my govie job, I want to make sure I’m going to make the most of it instead of falling into old patterns of seeking external validation followed by periods of self-loathing if (when) it doesn’t materialize as expected. 

After reading many self-help books to try and find some insight (recommendations in a future post), I started to ponder whether or not I was an introvert or an extrovert, or maybe neither.

S’Ok. How do you determine one way or another: Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Based on my extensive internet research, let me help you narrow it down.

CHOOSE WISELY. Because once labelled, it is really hard to change camps. We love to label each other. To know “where we fit”.

But the whole “introverted vs extroverted” thing has always rubbed me the wrong way.

Why do I have to choose? What if I sometimes want to be with ppl but I also sometimes want to be by myself? Sometimes I get into an elevator and look at my keys like this is the first time I’ve ever seen keys and maybe they’re magical keys that can unlock my husband’s mind so I can find out if he really liked my last play or was just saying he did to be nice (which is always the right answer, by the way). And other times I get into an elevator and can readily make eye contact and small talk like it’s going out of style. And SOMETIMES, both of those things happen on the same day!

Since I’ve been working from home for the past little while, I have to admit, it’s pretty great. Almost complete silence. No dressing up. No dressing at all, if I feel like it. Generally my only interaction with another living being was with Keaton, my fuzzy wuzzy kitty witty who has no real say in any of it, and can’t speak English anyway, so that’s easy.

For most of my life I thought I was an introvert because talking to ppl is scary. Talking to anyone used to be the hardest thing in the world for me. When I was a kid, I would literally hide behind my mother rather than talk to ppl. Well, to be more specific, FAMILY. Families are your first introduction to the social world. But they’re weird because they ask you a lot of really personal questions and they tell you you look “pretty” or “cute” all the time. Or say how big you’ve gotten and then talk about you in the third person to your mother like you don’t exist and can’t speak for yourself.

WELL GUESS WHAT GRANDMA? I’m so smart you have no idea, but my Mom’s legs are also pretty cool so I’ll just chill back here and stare at the wall, Ok?

I’ve gotten over a lot of that social anxiety by doing things like improv and stand-up comedy and various other acting pursuits where I am forced to be the centre of attention. Remember the whole “needing external validation” thing? Most actors are like that.

My theme song

Straight-up acting is definitely easiest because I’m speaking someone else’s words and being someone else. There’s usually a physical barrier between me and the audience, and the lights are so bright you can’t see them anyway. And I can always blame cast mates or the director or the stage manager or the lights or the costume designer, or front of house for “killing my vibe” that night. It takes a village to put on a theatrical or audio-visual production and you are most definitely not alone as an actor.

Improv is scary because the audience is part of the show. You have to rely on their suggestions to make things happen. They have a direct stake in the outcome so you better make them look good! And you are letting out a lot of the creepy things that have been hidden in your imagination and that more or less demonstrate how you view the world – but you’ve still got a team who has your back and can rely on your kooky “stage” characters to take the blame when shit gets too weird. Only take credit for your awesome choices. That is improv.

But stand-up is by far the scariest. It is improv and acting and public speaking to the highest degree. You’re speaking words that you wrote and hope to god are funny.  But you never really know if it’s funny until you get in front of an audience. Someone once told me, it’s akin to learning an instrument that you can only practice in front of an audience. You have no team and generally no director, and the competition amongst comics can be brutal. So you rely so heavily on the audience for validation. You have to win them over. That’s your job.  But inevitably, you will suck at first. You’re still learning! It usually takes a good 6 months to a year (or more!) of practicing jokes almost nightly to get a good solid 30 minute – 1 hour set. That’s a huge and scary ego-tripping commitment. No wonder so many comedians suffer from depression. I decided it was not good for me. That’s why I stopped. I hope to be able to go back to it one day, but you really have to have the perfect balance of drive, self-motivation, confidence, pride, ego, as well as humility, humbleness and a fair amount of goofiness never hurts.

Meanwhile, in my Left-Brain…

After spending many years as a university student doing research and then working in an office doing research, I frequently found office work distracting. Half my time would be spent fending off the gossip and small talk of others. And those were just the MEETINGS! So I concluded that I must be an introvert.

FACT!

About 2 years ago, when I was still pretty dissatisfied with my life as a public servant, I did a personality test. You know, one of those ones that tells you if you’re introverted or extroverted. This one was based on the Myers-Briggs model and I highly recommend doing it. Internet quizzes that go beyond finding out which princess you are, are kinda a guilty pleasure for me.

https://www.16personalities.com/

And I got INTJ-T. “The Architect – An imaginative and strategic thinker with a plan for everything”. 

Which made sense given my circumstances at the time. I was even kinda proud of it because so few women fall into that category.

And so, Ok. I’ve been working primarily as an actor lately and that means spending long bouts of time at home. An introvert’s dream, right? And while going through my exploration I discovered the obvious: I loved being at home all the time.

It just turns out that spending time alone also leads to me thinking horrible thoughts about ppl and life in general and actually, really just makes it difficult to motivate myself, because, let’s face it, I’m at home and I’d rather get stoned and watch a TV show than write for an hour straight. Cause, ddddammmmmnnnnn, have you seen The OA?! 

Don’t even talk to me until you watch that show. (This is actually an exaggeration and I am a highly disciplined and self-motivated person… It’s not like I have a secret Netflix account so my husband can’t see how much time I’ve spent watching Gilmore Girls…This is also an exaggeration…COMEDY!)

And I know a lot of ppl love coffee shops. “Oh just go work in a coffee shop!” They say. Well, coffee shops sometimes work. Because ppl are kinda policing you, right? I mean, you want to look like a confident, successful writer who totally has her shit together, but also appreciates the free bathroom, wifi, and seriously addictive baked goods.

I recently started going to coffee shops more often to work because I was realizing that I was actually feeling too lonely. Too isolated. And then I’ve also attended a lot of parties and events because that’s literally part of an actor’s job, and I realized that I enjoyed it. I would always say “oh, I’m just gonna go for an hour and then ghost” (ghosting: leaving a party without saying goodbye), but then end up staying for like 4 hours and singing karaoke.

Who is this girl? Have I been a closet extrovert this whole time?!?!?!?

But I also find coffee shops loud and distracting and I have to pay to be there. Don’t get me wrong, I love people watching. LOVE it. I could sit in a coffee shop all afternoon and just watch ppl. You don’t even have to have meaningful social interactions but can still be surrounded by them. Which is nice. It’s this weird introvert loophole. Like, if I’m looking at my computer screen and have headphones in, it’s a pretty clear social indication that I am NOT interested in talking to you, OKAY? But it’s ok for us to alternate looking at each other, as long as there is no eye contact. Eye contact when I’m feeling introverted leads to modest heart palpitations.

SO WHAT AM I? SOME MYSTICAL SOCIAL UNICORN?

So I took the test again. And MY RESULTS CHANGED into… (please say unicorn, please say unicorn…)

ENTJ-T.  “The Commander – Bold, imaginative and strong-willed leaders, always finding a way – or making one.” 

Huh.

What’s deeply interesting to me is that the only real difference between the two is that ENTJ is a leader and the INTJ a loner. And as much as I love toiling away by myself, it’s not always the best thing for me. I know this now. I lose interest unless I think I’m part of something bigger than myself and influencing change. That change might be as small as getting a friend to try a new recipe, but at my core, I know now that social interaction is very important for me. And it is important for all of us. We are social animals.

Although I frequently lose focus and allow myself to get pulled in many directions, it’s not because of some fear of working collaboratively, since I have a lot of friends in a lot of different creative circles. For instance, stand-up wasn’t the greatest because I was TOO alone. Being a researcher, writing papers alone in a cubicle is also not for me for the same reason.

But, possibly because I always have so many plans and ideas swirling around in my head and I just know that I can solve any issue with enough attention to it, I love my alone time and recharge by being alone.

So maybe I’m just a talkative introvert? A part-time introvert? Or maybe people can’t be labelled so easily…

My latest conclusion is that it has nothing to do with introversion or extroversion, it is because of FOMO. And in the SOME age (Social Media), I’ve got a bad case of the FOMO’s.

I just want to be loved!

I’m heading back to office work with the attitude of gratitude (for the money), and with a new outlook on what I value and need to feel fulfilled in the workplace (contributing to a community). 

I feel much better situated to be the best introverted/extroverted person I can be.

Keep Being Awesome,

Laura

[sevenmothz]

my kh3 experience

howdy guys, been a long ass time since i’ve written any of my own posts on this here blog. part of it is because i just haven’t gamed a lot in the last few months, and part of it is i also haven’t used tumblr in a long time too. xD

anyway, i played through the story of kh3 the week it released and while i was doing all that gaming, i pretty much liveblogged on mine and my friend’s discord with all my immediate thoughts/feelings of the game (whether she as awake to lol @ my nonsense or not xD).

so, of course, i went through and typed up most of that shit and am copypasting it here for random strangers’ enjoyment!

naturally, there will be spoilers, so don’t look if you care about that shit.

AAAAHHH HIT ME WITH THE FEELS WITH JUST THE MUSIC Y’ALL the title PAIGE PAIGE PAGE FUCK

oh my ggooooodddd the new dearly beloved fuuuuuuck

ooh this place is pretty

oh boy there’s water oh man i bet this white place is gonna be a pain in my ass to get through fucking hollow bastion all over again

sora you’re so beautiful 😭

oh jesus do i really gotta do this stupid tutorial shit again at least now we are finally rid of that awful KH1 Sora model

hey it’s the tsunami from the frist game!

am i playing a diddly dang prequel of 3? are those FUCKIN’ LOADING SCREEN PAGES FUCKING INSTAGRAMS also lol sora got nerfed

aahhhh learning curves i hate have to get used to how this game handles

uh oh sora is worried about what xigbar said to him

eat shit, titan

also i’d like to say sora runs ridiculously fast now

sora’s such a brat “awww what about new clothes for meeeee??”

i can’t computer

SEA SALT ICE CREAM freaking lea looks amazing DONT CRY LEA HE WANNA GO BY AXEL NOW???

stop being a bitch, buzz buzz killyear

oh yeah so when playing olympus hades was all “IVE BEEN PLANNING THIS FOR 18 YEARS” it’s been 17 years since KH1 came out 18 since it was in development god kingdom hearts is a junior in high school

gdi rex stay put oh no buzz oh noes i’m in a video game lmao

omg a cactaur

yeah you go woody

oh how i miss timed events/reaction commands. makes dealing with these fuckers you gotta climb on top of a lot easier to deal with

square why don’t you have the gotdamn kh3 soundtrack on itunes i need to be able to listen to this title screen music ALL THE TIME

sully just fuckin’ chuck vanitas through a door like “NOT TODAY BITCH”

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH” — Sora

DON’T BE TALKING ABOUT YOUR CONNECTION TO POOH BEING WEAKER ; A ;

of course they’re gonna do let it go.. they really did the whole thing

climb all the way up the mountain and larxene blows us off of it rude

wow are they really gonna do all the songs or wut

keep forgetting i can switch keyblades

annnnd back down the goddamn mountains lmao sora is so done

srsly we’re going up again

damn this boss fight is epic makes the slog through the world worth it unlike the fuckin’ toy box boss hated that fucker oh no marshmallow

fuck off larxene let people be happy

lmao stfu ventus keep volunteering sora to resque aqua

demyx :<

oh hello piercings dude

these pirate nerds little pirate sora is so cute

yeesh that elizabeth voice is terrible

guh it’s always a slog getting through the disney story stuff cuz it’s just worse rehashings of the movies at least fransokyo will be new content never seen big hero 6 xD

o mai assassin’s creed lite

jack you dumb bitch

oh man davy jones voice is bad too

jesus that second luxurd battle fucking terrible

god i never through elizabeth’s speech could sound so terrible how can you let someone butcher one of the most iconic moments from the third movie so bad?

oh thank god the kraken is easy to beat

lmao luxurd taken out by jack’s breath

eat shive, dave

lmao vexen “gdi it’s a real heart organ” “WE NEED A METAPHORICAL HEART YOU ASSHOLES”

damn sora throwing hands i was wondering how sora woudl react to one of his disney pals dying wasn’t expecting bodily assault

oma lea axel* whatever i wanna see his new dudes

ansem gonna talk to ansem oh god kids do’t get killed oh boy what happening now nobodies fightin’ ansem the bad WHO DUN IT GDI oh it was vexen DOUBLE AGENT??? or is he. filTHY LIAR they’re not gonna tell me pricks

“omg a robot :D”

keyblade hero 3 omg sora why

omai visor oh wow chill music

baaah sora showin’ off

holy shit i found me a new fav strength weapon the keyblade from caribbean love it even more than the toybox one xD the fuckin’ formchanges are amaze

THAT AIN’T SEA SALT ICE CREAM <gasp> roxas rude

replica riku~

damn microbot was a pain in the ass

AQUAAAAAAA 😭😭😭😭😭

WOT WHAT NOMURAING THIS SHIT ALL UP is this groundhog day i s2g

is that gotdamn terra

yen sid can actually do shit

damn this a long endgame

ITS SORA AND RHE SORAS

ah there we go. good ol’ Plot Device Kairi and there i thought she’d be useful lmao man tho i seriously rolled my eyes when xehanort struck an unconscious kairi down i was just like “yeah that seem about right..” storywise, sora has such a stronger connection to riku barely talks to kairi lea talked to kairi more in one game than sora ever did in 9+ i’d ship kairi and lea if there wasn’t such an obvious age gap lmao and WHO THE FUCK IS THIS CHICK THAT DIAPPEARED ON LEA AND ISA? like is that answered in this game or was it answered in a previous game?

anyway

Roxas is a REAL BOY now

gotdamn those dudes were tough

fuck man barely gives me time to block stupid goat head lemme guess tho that isn’t the end of course not because kingdom hearts can’t just let us defeat him c’mon man let me reload my potions at least man fuck off with this boss shit motherfucker did you really just force me into rage form “I AM MORE POWERFUL EVEN THO YOU KILLED ME LIKE 2 TIMES”

omg donald and goofy’s voices from the controller speaker

just fucking die already

this bitch really thinking he was the good guy the whole time

jesus the x-blade is bigger than sora

mickey and donald finally get to be hoooome

axel and xion in their new clothes~ EVEN ISA

wut WUT SORA BOY DID YOU REALLY SACRIFICE YOURSELF FOR THIS BITCH

maleficent is gonna find that fucking box isn’t she and we’re not gonna see what is in it i’m guessing its the box the Master of Masters gave to his apprentice cuz that’s the only notable box in the series i can think of

but yeah this game this game was supposed to bring an end to the Xehanort saga so they fully intent to make moar games so we’ll get a new annoying big bad and more weird dumb lore

ok we’re getting into the dumb credits like PR manager and shit so i think they’re coming close to the end ihope never know until you start seeing the gotdamn logos

logos!

that fuckin’ xigbar THE OLD MASTERS fuck it is i knew it I KNEW HE HAD SOMETHING GOING ON i was betting he was master of masters but no it’s luxu

fak FUQ fuck off with your games eraqus

HELLO SORA and Riku THEY”RE IN INSOMNIA no wait verum rex GAH

ok the verum rex stuff was the secret movie I JUST HAVE MORE QUESTIONS AND VERY LITTLE ANSWERS DISAPPOINTED

what if Demyx is Master of Masters

Final Thoughts: me: there were pretty much no FF cameos so 0/10 AzuraSpyte: lol I give it a 5/10 for Axel alone me: lolol minus 1 for making him wear the organization coat the entire game

[ashroadtrek-blog]

Court Martial

Air Date: February 2, 1967

Writer: Don M. Mankiewicz (story and teleplay), Stephen W. Carabatsos (teleplay)

Director: Marc Daniels

I can’t help but enjoy a good courtroom drama. I’m a low-key Law & Order fan, I love a good investigation. I enjoyed Court Martial for the most part, constantly wondering how Spock would get Kirk out of this one. 

The episode opens over Starbase 11 - the very same starbase from The Menagerie, and we get to see two Constitution-class ships in orbit! Early Star Trek never really had the luxury of multiple models to show off crowded space, so this is a real treat because we see three ships up there in total.

Apparently the Enterprise got through an ion storm and someone died - and that person allegedly died due to Kirk’s negligence. 

Kirk is offered ground duty; give up his ship, his rank, but stay in the service. Do we know Kirk? We know Kirk. Kirk is NEVER going to let that ship go, he will literally face a giant space probe monster thing before he pushes a desk! Kirk demands court martial. 

There’s a lot of character stuff in this episode for Kirk. The crewman who died - Ben Finney, was in the same graduating class at the Academy as Kirk, and he runs into his former classmates at the base. These guys talk low-key shit, and Kirk demands they just go out and say what they want - he looks like he’s ready for a fight before he leaves in a huff. 

There’s a woman who enters the scene - Areel Shaw

“Wanna know why they call me ‘Bones’?”

Apparently she’s an old friend of Kirk’s, same as Finney. We learn that Finney and Kirk served together on the Republic, but Finney screwed up and nearly blew up the ship so Kirk reported him, knocking Finney down to the bottom of the promotion chain and probably earning Kirk a commendation (I mean he saved the ship, after all.)

It turns out that Shaw is a lawyer, an old flame of Kirk’s, and the prosecution in his court martial. She’s also got a psychedlic taste in dresses. 

Finney also spent more time at the Academy than normal - I got from this (and Where No Man Has Gone Before) that graduates spend some time as instructors before they get a ship posting. 

Finney and Kirk were friends before the Republic incident, such good friends that Finney named his daughter after Kirk.

She’s wearing a spray-painted sailor costume.

The prosecution is based on Finney’s hatred of Kirk causing Kirk to hate Finney also, and murdering him. Two of three witnesses insist on Kirk’s impeccable character, the other one (a female ensign) giving testimony about the Republic incident. 

So Finney drew short straw on the duty roster and ended up in the ion pod during the storm, which was to be ejected in event of red alert. Kirk insists he went to red alert, but the record tapes show he hit jettison pod during yellow alert. Apparently, the ships have multiple cameras with multiple angles with such incredible resolution they can magnify down to the consoles on the captain’s chair.

Kirk momentarily expresses self-doubt, but dismisses it. Spock finds out the computer is off, and he and Bones swoop in for a saving throw after Kirk’s lawyer rests his case - and then we get a theatrical insistence on human rights from Mr. Cogley in order to get everyone on the ship for a resolution.

Samuel T. Cogley, attorney at law!

The ship is evacuated down to just a few on the bridge, the court, and the transporter operator. They beamed down nearly 430 people. The computer can detect heartbeats, so McCoy and Spock filter out everyone else’s to reveal one in engineering, B-deck.

Surprise, motherfuckers!

Finney faked his death to screw Kirk, and now he’s going to crash the ship with no survivors because he’s bitter and insane. Kirk manages to beat him by telling him he brought his kid aboard, and goes to repair the damage that Finney did in an attempt to destroy the ship.

Kirk crawls into a Jeffries tube himself, fucks with some live wires, and saves the day! The court dismisses its case, and Kirk and Shaw share a moment. Finney is going to be defended by Cogley and probably sent to a cushy rehabilitation center.

I contend that Bones is a bigger poon-hound than Kirk.

There’s a few interesting things in this episode. For one, the Commodore is black, and the judges in the court martial include an Indian.

Those goofy dress uniforms are a crime in themselves

This was the era of Civil Rights, so I imagine it was kind of a big deal to see two dark-skinned men in positions of power and authority on television. 

Another interesting thing is that Shaw isn’t really characterized as a weepy, hysterical-prone damsel in distress - it’s positively progressive for this show to not have Finney abduct and put her in a situation to force a confrontation with Kirk. On top of that, she’s a professional prosecuting a man far above her rank. I don’t think it’s wrong to say that Areel Shaw is treated as an equal compared to all the women portrayed so far; even Dr. Dehner really just wanted Gary Mitchell to be nice to her. 

No, the REAL damself in distress that forces Kirk to act in this episode is the best girl of the series: the NCC-1701 herself.

NSFW

Again, the most important thing to Kirk is his ship - he can never love a woman the way he loves that ship, the way it makes him feel; it makes him feel like he can make a difference, it’s always there for him, it’s the place where he has power and also the place where he has his friends, the crew that is his family. The show is able to give us a sense of comraderie and love between the Enterprise crew that three films in the reboot series have yet to be able to crack.

Rating: 3/5; possibly rewatch

Court Martial is a very Kirk episode, and while it’s nowhere near as thrilling and exciting as the similar The Menagerie, it is still a great character episode for Kirk.

[thesedays-posts-blog]

News Round Up • Dave Chapelle, "New Edition" Cast Appear At Open Mike, Protesters Swarm O'Hare & More

The news has taken on a bit of a different connotation since the age of 'alternative facts' descended upon us this month. As we've collectively taken to the streets and web to voice our own opinions, we can still take some solace in the fact that the happenings in and around Chicago continue to stay somewhat positive, depending on where you look. On the entertainment side of things at least, the skies continue to clear the same way they have in the transition from January to February. Without further ado, we give you the latest news and blurbs from in and around Chicago so far this week.

Chance The Rapper Taps Dave Chappelle, New Edition cast for 'Open Mike'

Since beginning in 2015 on the heels of the collaborative SURF project, Chance The Rapper's 'Open Mike' has become a consistent bastion for local artistry, at once inspiring and incubating the next generation of activists and wordsmiths to pace the city's understanding of itself. At the latest edition, hosted Monday night, Chance continued to narrow the divide between the big screen and his hometown by bringing out the likes of the Bulls' Jimmy Butler, the cast of the New Edition movie and comedian Dave Chappelle, who performed a short stand-up set for the high schoolers in attendance.

The program is one that has served as a genuine platform for creativity for the youth of the city and has shown how close the possibilities of the world truly are. Named after close friend and mentor Brother Mike and modeled after programs like Young Chicago Authors and YouMedia, the Open Mike program has been sustained by a network of close friends of Chance's, including the newly-founded Social Works inititative. In the past, Kanye West, Jeremih, Vic Mensa and many more have graced the Open Mike stage, Kendrick Lamar performed at Chance's TIPFest, which served as a capstone to the program in its first year.

Over the weekend, Chance joined Ziggy Marley and Stephen Colbert to perform his rendition of the Arthur Theme song.

Protesters Descend Upon O'Hare Airport Following Trump Edict

It's truly a dark time in America. That, we can't deny. While many of us try to make sense of the idiocracy creeping ever deeper into the consciousness of the White House, the country once again proved it was not in favor of the Electoral College pick to lead the country as thousands in Chicago and across the country camped out at airport terminals from coast to coast to protest a ban on immigrants from over a half dozen countries in what has become known as the 'Muslim Ban'.

Chicago, continuing in a spirit that has seen the lone Trump rally in town turned literally inside out before being cancelled and a week removed from an overwhelming show of female unity and power in the Women's March that filled the city's streets the day following the inauguration, once again proved it would not wilt to the nationalistic tendencies of Fuhrer Trump. At O'Hare Airport, citizens from all walks of life showed out in force to prove to leaders that their feelings on immigrants and refugees' place in the country differed greatly. While Trump's response to the protests has been predictably.....honestly, just stupid, I don't have anything intelligible to write about the man anymore, I apologize. While the times now are tough, lets continue to take some pride in being the blue heart in the heartland and knowing that our city won't fold for any dictator.

Chicago History Museum Take Look at Local Hip-Hop

We here at TheseDays have been talking up the historical significance of the local rap and music scenes here for some time now and it appears the Chicago Renaissance is starting to get some academic notice, as the Chicago History Museum focuses in on the local sounds with their "Hip-Hop: How the City Inspires the Sound" program, part of the museum's "Chicago Voices Talk" series.

Focusing on a somewhat recent lineage of artists from Kanye West and Twista to Chief Keef and CHance The Rapper, and will look at how  "Chicago has embraced an eclectic mix of regional East Coast, West Coast and Southern hip-hop styles, but it has always been inspired by the everyday realities and histories of the city," according to a news release.

The talk Tuesday at the Chicago History Museum is the latest intonation of the city's scene being broadcasted on a more academic level and included the likes of FakeShoreDrive's Andrew Barber, Add-2 and OddCouple. In 2016, Chance The Rapper gave a talk at Harvard in the wake of his Coloring Book.

Chief Keef Released from Jail...Again

Chief Keef has once again been released from jail, this time after posting $500K bail in Los Angeles. The arrest allegedly stemmed from an altercation between Keef, legal name Keith Cozart and a former manager, Ramsay Tha Great, according to FakeShoreDrive. Ramsay alleges that Keef and several friends jumped him, robbing him at gunpoint with an AK47. Keef was arrested on January 26 at his Tarzana home and 

“Now if I was a celebrity I wouldn’t come personally jump a person with you five friends and a Ak 47 that’s just dumb your famous ……… now I’m taking everything from you . U really just fucked up dude coming to my house with your phone in your pocket with the location on…….. yea I’m pressing charges on yo ass. You a fucking low life mf niggas out here tryna do positive shit and you still on some goofy Chicago shit . We’ll see u in court”

According to NBC Los Angeles, LAPD Capt. Brian Pratt had this to say: “It was a violent home invasion involving firearms being pointed at victims. The detectives did some really great follow up investigation. Witnesses came forward and identified who our suspects were. We knew who we were going after – we weren’t just shooting in the dark.”

It's somewhat disappointing that at this point Keef continues to not have a person in his corner willing to keep him out of such ridiculous situations, a problem that has plagued the artist since he was vaulted to fame via a shirtless YouTube video at 16. Since then, he's faced a ban from performing in his hometown, faced dozens of lawsuits for varying reasons and been evicted from a couple homes in the suburbs in the process.

We'll have to wait and see what comes next for the artist who earlier this year delivered a new project, Two Zero One Seven.