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prince-septimus · 4 years ago

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bathroom break

pairing : rick flag x bartender!reader

summary : a team of criminals and a colonel wearing a cowboy hat walk into a bar.

word count : 2.4k

warnings : smut, 18+, minor spoilers for the suicide squad

You had spotted them the moment they walked in -- they stuck out like a sore thumb. The rag-tag group of men and the woman with the rat on her shoulder.

Nothing surprised you anymore, so you paid them no mind.

Not until the man in the cowboy hat stepped up to the bar.

It was a while after they arrived -- all crowded into a table not meant to fit the three giant men in the group, let alone all five of them. They had started off slow, a couple of shots, and then they were all splitting off. You could see a few of them on the dance floor, all clearly lost in their own little world.

The bar isn’t particularly crowded tonight. There’s a few regulars, but nothing that keeps you too busy. That’s why you’re able to spot him stepping up to the counter, a beer bottle in hand as he offers you a cheap smile.

He’d be hard to miss even if you had been distracted.

“What can I get you?” you ask, your hands toying with the rag in your hands as you watch the man carefully. There’s something about him that puts you on edge, and you’re not quite sure yet if it’s a good or bad thing.

“Another beer,” he tells you, his teeth flashing in the neon lights of the bar. There’s a faint drawl to his voice, and you can tell the alcohol he’s drank has caused it to drop. “And a one-way ticket out of here.”

“Not the party type?” You take the bottle from his hands, quickly replacing it with another. “Could’ve fooled me.”

His lips turn up. “It’s the hat, ain’t it?”

There’s a slight hint of a smile on your face.

He shakes his head as he takes a pull from the fresh bottle. “Ladies love the hat.”

You busy yourself with wiping down the counter, trying not to think too much into his words. “What’s your name, cowboy?”

Another smile, this one cocky and full of confidence. “That’s classified.”

You make a face. “You really think I’d tell on you?”

“No, but I do think you could get me into quite a bit of trouble.”

The heat courses through your body so quick, and you’re suddenly very aware of everything about this man: the arrogance with which he wears his combination of a cowboy hat and ratty t-shirt, the cocksure smug he sports across his face, and the way he’s looking at you right now.

Something about him reminds you of men you’ve thrown out before, ones who had gone a little too far and had gotten a little too handsy, but there’s something that tells you this man wouldn’t do either of those things unless requested.

Another swig of his beer, and then the bottle is empty.

“Rick Flag.”

You raise a brow. “Flag? How patriotic.”

“There’s more truth in that statement than I’d like.”

“You’re a soldier?”

“Used to be.”

“And now?”

It’s the first time you see something other than his brash personality show through. There’s something almost like regret etched into his features. “Something like that.”

You frown, feeling the conversation taking a turn that you don’t like. Conversations with bartenders are meant to be pleasant -- something to calm your foggy mind and fuel your drunken desires.

You briefly wonder if he’s drunk.

“Had enough?” you ask, motioning to his bottle.

That smug look returns. “It takes a lot more than a couple of shots and a few beers to get me drunk.”

He gives you a knowing look and you flush at the realization that you had been caught in your motives for asking.

“Do you want another?”

“I think I’m good.” A pause. “Wanna get out of here?”

“I’m working.” You feel dumb when you say it, but it’s true.

It makes Rick laugh. “Okay. What about the bathroom? You do get bathroom breaks, don’t you?”

You glance at the restrooms in the corner. “Anybody who knows better knows not to use our bathrooms.”

“Even better.” Rick grins. “Then they’ll know it was an emergency.”

You feel your mouth fall slack, trying to take in Rick’s sudden forwardness. You know there’s a possibility at losing your job over this, but you couldn’t be the first employee to fuck a patron, right?

Maybe the first to fuck one in the bar’s bathroom.

The space is stuffy and smells faintly of stale piss -- a good sign that you won’t be disturbed. One of the overhead lights is busted, its bulb shattered and littered across the tiled floor. You’re not sure who last cleaned in there, but in no way is anything sanitary and up-to-code.

That doesn’t stop Rick from lifting you up onto the bathroom sink and kissing you so hard your head smacks into the mirror behind you. You let out a groan at the quick pain that courses through your head, but Rick swallows the sound and attempts to pull something sweeter from you. The brim of his hat tips back as you kiss, and you absentmindedly push it off, letting it fall to the floor before his shirt follows.

You push him away just enough to admire his exposed skin -- his broad chest and tattooed arms. When you meet his gaze you can see that confidence still hidden there.

You reach for his jeans, yanking on the button and zipper and trying your best to push them down. Rick takes the opportunity to attach his mouth to your neck, sucking a bruise into the underside of your jaw as he takes over for you, kicking his shoes off and pushing his pants down in one quick movement.

“You’ve got too many clothes on,” he breathes against your skin, “not fair.”

You push on his chest again before yanking your own shirt off, throwing it into the growing pile on the floor. Rick reaches around you, deftly releasing the latch of your bra and pulling the fabric from your body. As his lips land on your bare shoulder, light kisses pressed into your skin, Rick reaches down to undo your jeans.

The next moment is the most awkward, and there’s laughter from both of you as Rick deftly pulls your shoes off before you try to lift up enough for your pants to follow. He struggles to pull the tight fabric from around your waist, but finally gets them off. It’s awkward and clumsy and there’s something oddly intimate about it.

And then Rick’s fingers are against the growing wetness of your panties and you’re crying out against his mouth at the stimulation.

“Yeah, that’s it,” he drawls against your lips, “so wet for me already.”

His fingers smooth up and down the fabric, giving enough stimulation to make you feel something, but not enough to get off. You push a hand through his hair, trying to coax some sort of sound from him to mix with your own, and with a slight yank on the hair at the nape of his neck, Rick is groaning out loud. His eyes shut as his hand against you picks up speed, rubbing more earnestly now.

Just as you feel the hint of something start to grow, Rick pulls his hand away, a smirk painted across his face as he looks at your disheveled state.

“You bastard,” you breathe out, resting your hands on either side of you as you try to catch your breath.

Rick laughs. “I’ve been called worse.”

There’s a lull in the action then, and it takes you a moment to figure out why.

“I don’t have a condom,” Rick says softly.

You smile, wiping at the sweat gathering on your forehead before pointing to the machine in the corner. You’re not sure when they had last been changed out, but you’re sure they’re good enough to use still.

It’s another slightly intimate moment -- you watching Rick fumble with the machine before finally producing a condom and holding it up in success. It’s cute, the grin that forms on his face when he turns back to you.

“Still okay with this?” he asks, unwrapping the condom before pushing down his briefs to put it on.

You bite your lip at the sight of him, almost forgetting that your own underwear are still on. When you reach to take them off, Rick reaches out to stop you.

“Keep ‘em on,” he tells you gently. He steps back up to the sink, standing between your legs as he reaches a hand down. His fingers skim across the fabric of your panties before he’s hooking into them and pulling them to the side.

There’s something about the action that turns you on so much you forget to breathe for half a second, and it catches you off-guard when he finally slides into you -- slowly filling you to the brim.

“Good?” he asks, panting slightly, and all you can do is nod as you let the feeling of him inside you completely wash over you.

The first moments are slow, both of you trying to get used to the feel and the position. And then his arms are hooking under your thighs, changing the position slightly and causing him to go almost deeper. You let out a small cry at the sensation as he begins to pick up the speed.

The mirror shakes with the force that he’s fucking into you with, and it leaves you breathless with each stroke. He’s pressing his lips against yours, but it’s nothing close to a kiss, just two mouths pressing against each other as you both try to get a hold on the feelings.

It’s all so overwhelming, and you whine into Rick’s mouth as his hands grip your hips and use that hold to push you against him. You can feel the beginnings of your orgasm returning, a little quicker than normal due to the previous stimulation, and you put a hand on Rick’s chest, trying to steady yourself.

“Almost there,” he tells you, his pace turning sloppy.

When you look at him, his pupils are blown out. He moves his hands up to grab your neck, pushing you back against the mirror. The position is more clunky, a little harder to manage, but Rick never stops moving against you as he swipes his tongue into your mouth.

He’s kissing you when your orgasm hits, swallowing your moans as he sets a frantic pace, trying to get himself off. The overstimulation hits like a truck, and you’re practically crying out against Rick’s mouth.

When his orgasm hits, he falls against you. You absentmindedly wrap your arms around his shoulders as he buries his face into your shoulder, groaning out as he finishes inside the condom. You hadn’t noticed a chill to the bathroom before, but now you can feel it creep up along your skin and you try to use Rick’s body against yours to keep warm.

“You were right about these bathrooms,” Rick says a few minutes later when both of your chests have stopped heaving. He lifts up slightly from you, glancing around the dingy bathroom before carefully pulling himself out of you. The action causes both of you to let out a hiss at the sensitivity, and then you’re making a choked noise when Rick lets his fingers brush across your slit before he pulls your panties back into place.

“Cheeky,” you breathe out, “very cheeky.”

“I try.” He gives you a quick wink as he reaches down to grab at the pile of clothes across the floor. “You think they’re still clean enough to wear?”

“They’ll have to be,” you chirp, taking your clothes and shoes from his arms.

It’s the last intimate moment of the night, the two of you getting dressed beside each other in a dirty bar bathroom. Rick bumps his shoulder against yours as he pulls his shoes back on and you offer him a giddy grin. You snatch his hat from the floor, pretending to brush the dirt off the brim and placing it atop his head. Rick smiles at you, a smile that’s less cocky and more saccharine. You reach for the door after the two of you finish getting dressed, carefully pushing it open to look around the bar. It’s slowly emptying as the night goes on, but there’s still enough people to not make it so obvious when the two of you slip out from the bathroom.

“It’s not the worst walk of shame I’ve done,” you comment, taking pleasure in the way Rick’s brows shoot up as he follows you back to the bar.

“I’m shameful now, am I?”

“More like shameless.” You take your position back behind the bar as Rick takes the seat across from you. When you look out into the dimly lit room, you spot the group Rick had originally come in with. “I think your friends are onto you.”

Rick follows your gaze, offering a small wave to the group when he spots them. “They’ll be fine. Everyone’s got to use the bathroom once in a while, right?”

The look Rick gives you then sends you into a fit of giggles. “Bathroom break. Sure.”

Rick waits for you to settle down before he’s giving you that sweet smile from earlier.

You look at him strangely. “What?”

“I had fun,” Rick tells you, “wouldn’t mind doing it again next time I’m around.”

You scoff playfully, “I bet you wouldn’t.” You still reach for a pen and scrap piece of paper, quickly scribbling your name and number down and handing it to Rick.

Rick stares at the paper for a second before he says your name, a small twang in his voice. It occurs to you that you previously hadn’t given your name, and he's grinning at you like a mad man. “At least now I know who’s name to call out next time.”

Rick leaves you with that, heading back to his friends who all give him a pat on the back as he passes. There's a heat in your face from his words that you’re not sure will ever go away.

#an alternative ending to that bar scene in the suicide squad #aka my attempt at giving rick some fucking happiness #its what he deserves james gunn #rick flag x reader #rick flag #rick flag imagine #the suicide squad #the suicide squad imagine #the suicide squad spoilers

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haru-luo · 4 years ago

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[CN Translation] Victor’s S2 Chapters 14-17 R&S <Steerer>(掌舵者)

!Spoiler warning! : The followings contain contents for future chapters of MLQC/Love and Producer. If you do not wish to be spoiled then please refrain from going undercut.

This is the karma that accompanies the following Rumors and Secrets. I suggest you to read S2 Summary(Volume 2:Ch 2-3), a bullet-point summary recently translated by amazing @cheri-translates to get more idea on what this “Small Syringe” thing is going on.

The translation is undercut. You have been warned about spoilers.

If you see “--” sign then it simply indicates the beginning of next page.

{STEERER}

He always knew how to embed each screw in its place.

[Chapter 1]

“Caerus, there is an investigation task for you."

"Target name?"

"MC. She is a newcomer who organized the audit. All the information needed about her is in the attachment."

"Received. When do you want it?"

"Before next Wednesday."

"This task is a bit different. My pay has to increase by 20%"

After that, the dialogue between the two was stagnant for a while before the other side only replied a small word; "okay" --- Duan JunJie put down his phone and was about to continue to look at the acquisition contract in front of him when he was suddenly patted on the shoulder.

The colleague smiled and asked him, "Lawyer Duan, our department is going to have a dinner together on Sunday. Would you like to join us?"

"Ah, sorry, I have plans on the weekend so, I can't join." Duan JunJie shook his head.

The person's face turned a bit upset, "Last time, you also said that something happened and left. Why don't you stay with everyone for once? It's a pity because eating a meal together is also a way of communicating feelings."

"Forget it, I've been in LFG for so long and I've never seen Lawyer Duan participate in any department team building activities!" The female colleague opposite to Duan JunJie smiled and replied, "People would rather offend a high-level staff than work overtime all the time. If you still hope to take his weekend then give up, don't even think about it."

The two female colleagues left while groaning in complaint and Duan JunJie remained silent and quietly observed those around him before continuing to work again.

At six o'clock, he sent the compiled attachments of the acquistion contact to the mailbox of the CEO's office. He was ready to pack his things and get off work when the computer suddenly made a loud noise. -- CEO Li replied about the contract so soon? Although he knows that the person in charge of LFG Group is an extremely efficient boss, the speed is too ridiculous. He clicked on the message and found out that it was an anonymous email with a string of jumbled up characters.

Duan JunJie frowned.

The string of jumbled codes seemed disorderly but he soon discovered that it was an e-mail with two layers of special encryption and the secret key was only available to members of BLACK SWAN. After deciphering the garbled codes, he found that it was a sentence and a "S" symbol with a tick at the end.

'Come to the conference room of BLACK SWAN headquarters.'

Duan JunJie read this sentence silently and raised his eyebrow. The sender did not use the B.S communication channel but used an anonymous IP address to send it. Obviously, it has to bypass the surveillance of some people in the organization.

After the establishment of the B.S board of directors, the original TWELVE members did not easily surrender to the BOSS. They secretly made a few small moves. Although Duan JunJie was just a screw responsible for intelligence because of the nature of the work, someone from TWELVE has tried to lure or tempt him but Duan JunJie refused.

And now...

Duan JunJie looked at this email and realized something vaguely. -- He glanced at the time and now he is leaving to meet the sender of the email. It would be too late by the time he gets home to make cat food for Amo. Although he was mentally prepared, when he opened the door and saw the person sitting on the opposite side of the long table, Duan JunJie still couldn't help but blurt out, "Mr. Li."

The man opposite the long table did not erect against the barrier to cover his face. He wore a suit with a straight back and a calm expression. No different from when was sitting in the office of LFG Building as the CEO. Duan JunJie paused, then changed his words, "Oh, BOSS." -- Victor pushed the document in front of him, "I know that your senior just sent you a task. Push away that task and do this instead."

"Push away..." Duan JunJie accepted the document, "Does this mean I don't have to connect with him again in the future?"

Victor did not speak. And not speaking is his answer.

Duan JunJie adjusted his glasses and scanned the document in his hands. "...When do you want it?"

"Before next Wednesday. Is it possible?"

"It's not that it's impossible but this will take up a lot of my rest time and I see this part of document is just a lead. The things that need to be explored later are much larger than these papers." He emphasized, "This will be a long work, BOSS."

"State your salary expectations."

Duan JunJie seriously considered his mortgage and car goods, "14th salary."

"16 salaries." Victor looked at him directly, "However, you have to get me the information worthy of this value I offer you."

[T/N : Just in case, ‘14th salary’ means the payment of an additional month's salary or a form of compensation ^^]

[Chapter 2]

Duan JunJie's life is very regular. He wakes up at eight in the morning, makes a cat meal for Amo, then takes the subway that arrives at 8:27am, leaves station at 8:47am and walks for five minutes to LFG. Goes to cafeteria to get an egg, two buns and a cup of soy milk. Sometimes he changes to regular milk according to the mood of the day. He makes sure to turn on the computer at nine o'clock and start working.

He was just like a little screw in the LFG Group. As long as he makes sure that he is firm and fits where he should be on time, it’s fine.

It's just a regular life where accidents will occur occasionally, such as today. --- At 8:51am, when Duan JunJie was about to walk to the door of LFG Building, his footsteps suddenly stopped because a hanging leaf was in front of him, staying still for five seconds.

An Evolver has used their ability. Duan JunJie reacted quickly.

He looked around. Cars, Pedestrians and even the giant screen advertisements that were flashing in the distance have stopped. In the silent world, the sound of leather shoes against the ground seemed so clear. --- Duan JunJie saw Victor appear from the other end of the intersection, walking steadily towards the middle of the road, and went straight to the bridge of a car. He leaned down in front of the car and when he got up again, there was a tabby cat in his arms.

When Victor embraced the cat and stepped onto the sidewalk, time began to flow again. The noise reappeared in the city in an instant, the car and the crowd were intertwined again, no one seemed to notice what happened just now.

Victor stepped forward and suddenly, as if he noticed something, he turned his head to look at Duan JunJie not too far away.

"Mr. Li." Duan JunJie greeted him and walked over. --- Victor nodded in response, took the cat to a safe place and put it down. Little cat was shocked and still seemed to be reluctant to give up Victor. It walked back and forth, rubbing on to Victor's hand for a while before turning its head and leaping into the flowers.

Duan JunJie looked at the back of the tabby cat and inexplicably thought of his own Amo. "Its ears are labeled and looks like a neutered cat."

"The cats in this area all have been neutered." Victor replied.

These two sentences are not exactly settling but the atmosphere is relaxed. Duan JunJie continued, "I didn't expect you to be a cat lover too." -- It is known that the cats in this area have been neutered, but the fact that Victor used Evol to save a cat, didn't really fit Duan JunJie's impression of Victor.

"It was just a matter of hand." Victor took off the cat's fur on his cuffs. "It should watch itself, someone can't come to its rescue everytime."

As soon as the voice fell, Victor's always firm eyes turned into a purple mist. Something seemed to have touched his mind and his expression became a little dazed. -- Duan JunJie saw Victor with that kind of expression for the first time but he intuitively felt that he shouldn't ask more. So, he took a step back, "Then I will go in first and the yesterday's document will be sent to you before quarter past ten in the morning."

At 8:57, Duan JunJie arrived at the LFG canteen. Today he bought one less egg because he wants to save time and start work.

[Chapter 3]

Whether as Caerus or Duan Lawyer, he has been very busy this time. LFG's acquisition plan has advanced to a critical stage and the investigation of the "Small Syringe" has also fallen into the bottle.

Even Duan JunJie who has no commercial sense, knows that this kind of medicine that can enhance Evol can create huge benefits that can change the entire world.

He once suspected that Victor's reason for being particularly concerned about “Small Syringes" was the instinct of capitalists to seek profit but if he really was chasing profits, he should've put this unstable medicine package on the market as soon as possible, instead of letting him investigate the "black hand" behind the shadow of the "Small Syringe Industry."

"Lawyer Duan, we'll head out first then." -- "Alright, bye."

The colleagues picked up their bags and said goodbye to him. When they walked to the door, he could still hear a faint sentence floating over to his ears, "Lawyer Duan is also working overtime. It's really rare..."

The sky gradually darkened and the neon lights of the city outside the floor-to-ceiling windows lit up for the first time in the night. Only Duan JunJie remained in the large office. In the silent environment, no breathing could be heard, only the monotonous keyboard percussion sounds in rugged manner.

-BEEP!

A sharp alarm interrupted Duan JunJie's work. He quickly opened the alarm interface and found that the source of the alarm was Victor's office. --- "The sound pulse from the office is fluctuating abnormally..." Duan JunJie watched the screen as he whispered, "...Someone is eavesdropping?"

It's not surprising that Victor will be exposed by some people. What surprised Duan JunJie is that someone dared to do something in Victor's office. He immediately sent an encrypted signal to Victor, asking the other party to come out of the office immediately. But even after a long time, Victor in the camera remained motionless. Not too long after, he saw a girl pushing to open the door of the office, still holding some documents in her hand.

She is the boss of [Miracle Entertainment or MC's company name], a film and television company invested by LFG and a member of BLACK SWAN, Miss NOX.

".....So that's it. You don't want to stun the snake, huh." --- Seeing this scene, Duan JunJie breathed a sigh of relief. It also reflects that the time for NOX to report on official business is the anti-tracking time given to him by Victor. He has to be worthy of the 16 salary that Victor offered to give him.

An hour later, Duan JunJie stood in front of Victor's office and knocked on the door three times.

"Come in."

Duan JunJie walked in, closed the door carefully and operated the small anti-eavesdropping device in his hand. He fidgeted it a few times and finally installed it on the door. Then he turned around and said straightforwardly, "BOSS, it's done." --- "Speak."

"The source of the eavesdropping was traced to the tea room in Xicheng District. This is the background check of the tea room owner and the personnel he has been in close contact with recently."

*[Note : Searched and found out that Xicheng District is an actual district in Beijing, China i.e popular for dining, restaurants and nightlife.]*

Duan JunJie operated the device a few times on his mobile phone and the corresponding intelligence content popped up on Victor's computer. "A few people had contact with the "Small Syringe". As for the person who installed the eaves dropping device, they have also been found. They are the cleaners who cleaned your office yesterday. According to monitoring and comparison, they are not really from LFG but they disguised as staffs to enter. People have been arranged to go to the town's tea room, they can act at any time." -- "Got it."

Victor's tone was always faint, his expression calm as if he had not experienced such tense eavesdropping crisis one after another or perhaps for this man, he had experienced countless even more dangerous situation that not even Duan JunJie can imagine. More knife-pointed, like the scene of life and death on the front line.

He scanned the page for a few moments, hit the button and said, "Move on to the next stage." -- But the meaning of entering the next stage does not mean that he does not need to care about how those eavesdroppers will be dealt with. Duan JunJie nodded knowingly, "Understood." Victor's gaze flew through the floor-to-ceiling long windows to the far ground, as if he was saying to Duan JunJie or as if he was saying to an invisible opponent, "The line has already been put for long enough." -- Duan JunJie lowered his head, "I will continue to report to you if there is a new situation."

He turned to leave the office but suddenly wrinkled his nose before leaving. A faintly sweet smell was floating on the tip of his nose which he doesn't know where it came from was like the caramel smell he would sense when he would pass the dessert shop downstairs the building.

This kind of sweet smell is not supposed to appear in Victor's office. It might be just an illusion, Duan JunJie thought.

[Chapter 4]

Without even realizing, it was the end of the year again. At this time, the center of the topic among the colleagues will be drawn more and more to the LFG annual meeting.

"Last year, someone in the department next door got paid for a month of paid travel along with wine reported!"

"I want to get a camera. Maybe also with an advanced equipment and so my photography skills will improve..."

"Lawyer Duan, what prize do you want to get?"

"The Sunshine award." Duan JunJie replied.

The atmosphere suddenly became silent. ---- Duan JunJie thinks this topic is meaningless and he doesn't think he has the luck to win a lottery either. Excessive luxurious prizes are often accompanied by huge risks. He is only greedy for peace and stability and does not want to have a life full of too many twists and turns.

It's better to go home and cook an extra meal for the cat when you finally have gotten time.

LFG's annual meeting has always been very lively. In addition to the people from the headquarters, some co-operating companies will also come to socialize. Backed up companies owners such as the boss of [MC's company name], MC will not be absent any year either. --- After the last eavesdropping incident, probably out of affirmation of his work ability, Victor handed him more tasks. As a result, he came into contact with this woman who had an unusual relationship with the BOSS. Although he exchanged the information online, the other party did not know his identity in reality.

He glanced at the energetic girl and then turned away, not planning to say 'hello' to her as LFG's lawyer, Duan JunJie. --- What Duan JunJie didn't expect was that he won the second prize at this annual meeting.

The moment his name appeared on the big screen, his colleagues seemed to be more excited than him. These guys who usually self-evaluate the law elites laughed and made noises while surrounding him and asked him to invite guests to share this joy.

"You are the King of our department this year, Lawyer Duan"

Duan JunJie was so annoyed by them that he simply made an excuse and slipped out of the annual party ahead of time. He had just gotten in the car and was about to start when suddenly two figures flashed in the corner of his eye that shouldn't have been there at this time. --- Victor and NOX walked to the garage side by side and the two seemed to be talking about something. Duan JunJie thought it might not be an official business because the girl's face had a brilliant smile that seemed appropriate to her young age. She carried a bag of vegetables in one hand and the other hand was making gestures from time to time. Victor's eyebrows were still sharp and cold but the corners of his mouth have a slight arc. And if Duan JunJie is right, is this the B.S BOSS carrying a bag of.....cat litter?

It's the same cat litter as Amo.

Duan JunJie raised his eyebrows. He felt as if he had discovered something extraordinary; something he shouldn't have witnessed. --- So, Duan JunJie asked questions unrelated to work for the first time in the work email the next day.

"Why does the poster of LFG annual meeting feature a Siamese cat?"

Victor quickly answered him.

"That is my cat. It is a mascot."

[Chapter 5]

Affected by the LFG's malicious acquisition of pharmaceutical companies from the outside world, recently, the atmosphere in the company is much more sluggish than it used to be. The laughter and gossips are no longer in the lounge, they have become quiet discussions and sighs.

"When I went to get a coffee across the street today, the clerk saw my staff badge and said that he would not accept me as a customer. I was really speechless..."

"Huh, if he didn't accept you then you should've complained to him and not only complain but also wear LFG badge everyday to buy the coffee. It is never a shame to be a LFG employee!"

"That's right!" -- Duan JunJie was stunned and stopped for a while but a colleague in the pantry had already noticed him. "Lawyer Duan!"

Duan JunJie nodded at them and poured the remaining water from the glass into the sink. A female colleague said with a smile, "How is Amo from Lawyer Duan's family?"

"He's okay, just losing weight recently."

"By the way, we recently established a 'LFG cat-lover group'. Does Lawyer Duan want to join?” The female colleague laughed at him and while asking him that.

"Occasionally, We also see CEO Li's little pudding!"

"Oh, thank you. Let me think about it." --- After bidding farewell to his colleagues, Duan JunJie set off for the BS Building. One or two minutes before, he got a message from the special communication channel of B.S that an emergency meeting was to be held.

Before entering the meeting room, he habitually knocked the door three times and after getting permission from Victor, he finally opened the door and entered.

"The next step of the plan can start."

"I know. I will arrange the needed manpower." --- As usual Victor was ready to withstand his(Duan JunJie's) next actions until a silver-haired man suddenly broke in and interrupted Duan JunJie's bargaining with Victor over the length of overtime work he has to do.

"You two can talk slowly."

Without waiting for the silver-haired man to scan his eyes coldly, Duan JunJie turned around and left the meeting room very wittily. He's only doing what he's supposed to do, not listening to what he shouldn't listen to. This is the work principle he has always believed in. -- Duan JunJie feels that his current life is very good. Both LFG and BLACK SWAN are huge and sophisticated associations, requiring countless "Attorney Duan" and Caerus as screws to maintain their operation.

The man at the helm/steer who directs the operation is Victor.

Screws can get stuck occasionally and can be replaced but Victor cannot make any mistakes, let alone replace him. Once he makes any mistakes, the consequences are bound to be fatal.

Perhaps in terms of risk, following the word "Victor" is already the biggest gamble in Duan JunJie's life. ---- His tokens were all on bet because of this man. He inexplicably believed that Victor could win, not because of the gorgeous numbers in LFG's annual report, nor because B.S continued to grow these glamorous crowns and success under his leadership.

But is the stray cat that was rescued, the brand new "Small Syringe" industry chain and the badge on the chest of his colleagues.....The reason lied in these things.

Duan JunJie turned on his phone and opened the messaging app before starting the next stage of work.

"What was the 'LFG cat-lover group' number again?"

[R&S CLEARED]

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

T/N : Thank you for reading. Do let me know if there are any errors.

But the biggest question still prevails. What was the cat groups number?

#r&s summary : mlqc with it's usual confusing drama feat. Victor's and Duan JunJie's love for cats #let us see amo #not at victor using pudding as a mascot #this r&s is less intense than i thought tho #also silver haired man is that helios?#mlqc #mlqc victor #mlqc cn #mlqc rumors and secrets #mlqc translations #li zeyan #mldd #mr love queen's choice #love and producer

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shinydelirium · 4 years ago

Text

Kiro’s Rumors and Secrets: Discarded Light (Season 2 Chapters 6-9) Translation [CN]

***SPOILERS*** THIS POST CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS FOR CONTENT NOT YET RELEASED ON EN SERVER!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!***

So I lied when I said I was gonna translate and post Kiro’s Season 2 chapter 12, lol. But rest assured, it will be next. Just wanted to include this R&S after translating chapter 8-9 to provide some more insight into Kiro’s character from an outsider’s perspective. Although it’s also a pathetic excuse to delay the chapter 12 translation cuz I know it’s gonna hurt just as much as the first time I read it T_T

Anyways, enjoy~

This “superstar” is always beyond everyone’s expectations.

[Chapter 1]

The giant, reinforced concrete extends high into the sky, and the spotlessly wiped glass reflects the neon and dilapidated crescent moon in the distance.

Ah Liu perched on the top of the building, aiming at the silent building opposite him.

Soon, the 8 o’clock bell and a sound in his earphones rang at the same time.

“It’s time to start.”

Ah Liu tightened the rope harness, confirmed the safety of the landing point, and jumped down into the bottomless abyss between the two buildings.

Ah Liu is a bartender, a kind of superficial meaning.

Although he is indeed employed by the owner of Mondlicht bar, his work is not just about bartending and wiping glasses.

“A guest will come in the afternoon, and you will be in charge of collecting it.”

In the bar, the man behind the counter hummed a small tune and placed the wine glasses on the shelf as usual, attached to the task at hand without raising his head.

Ah Liu nodded and when he got up, he heard the man add another sentence.

“This time it’s a long-term big deal. The employer’s status is a bit special, so be more cautious.”

Ah Liu has done many assignments, but the boss reminded him as if this is first time.

This means that the employer is really not good at talking.

The owner threw a report from the counter. Ah Liu took it and looked up in surprise after a few glances.

“What is this person?”

The owner knew what he was thinking, and smiled amusingly.

“When you see him, you will know how kind and compassionate my reminder is.”

Ah Liu put the file on the table suspiciously. The knife in his hand gave off a silver light, feeling a bit funny.

The man on the file has brilliant blonde hair and his blue eyes seem to reflect a clear lake along with a pure smile.

Even Ah Liu, who doesn’t know the entertainment industry at all, knows the person in the photo.

Kiro, the most sought-after superstar of the Inverted Smile Film and Television Company.

His smile appeared on the electronic screens in the streets and alleys as well as on the packaging bags of the new potato chips in the convenience store, making it difficult to miss for anyone who passed by.

Why would such a person who stands at the top, shining and dazzling, pay a big price for a piece of information?

Ah Liu glanced at the file. The paper listed the employer’s request and the price.

The price is irresistible, and the request is worthy of this astronomical price that is suffixed with many zeros.

“The work content of other people has already been arranged, so please prepare.”

Ah Liu made a rough estimate of the time and energy required to take this big arrangement, and then thought about his fortune, and neatly put the file into his pocket.

“It seems that for a long time, we have to work for this Mr. Kiro.”

Soon the appointed time arrives.

When the door of the bar was pushed open, Ah Liu involuntarily glances over.

The person who came in wore a black hat and was dressed up very simply. He walked straight to the bar, threw an envelope to the owner, and then reached out and took off the hat, revealing his golden hair.

“As agreed before.”

He said the words briefly, as if he didn’t want to say more.

If he hadn’t already known his identity, Ah Liu felt that the star’s temperament at the moment was more suitable for this bar than him.

The owner nodded, put away the envelope, and raised his chin towards Ah Liu.

Ah Liu leaned against the bar, turned the knife in his right hand, raised his eyebrows at the guest in front of him and said hello.

In fact, generally speaking, the attitude towards guests should be a little more polite, but Ah Liu was inexplicably teasing. Perhaps because of the other person, or perhaps he was just curious about the true appearance of the superstar hidden under his handsome face.

However, Kiro’s expression was plain and straightforward.

“My request, you should know everything.”

It was completely different from the reaction he expected. Ah Liu pulled back his shoulders and put away his knife.

“Almost. Although it’s a bit tricky, it can be done.”

It was probably the first time Kiro saw someone who dared to speak so directly. He raised his eyes and reminded him not to be serious.

“Think carefully, don’t accept the task so quickly.”

“We are in this business, and we have to do it to the end after receiving the customer’s order. Although this task is not my responsibility alone, but since it’s within the scope of my work, I will definitely do it for you.”

Ah Liu was frank and extended his hand towards Kiro.

“I will follow you in the future.”

Probably out of respect, Kiro held the hand that was stretched out, but that’s all. He didn’t seem to want any contact other than trading with the person in front of him.

“How it’s done, I will tell you later.”

After he said this, he didn’t stay any longer, so he turned and left the bar.

“Why did you find this star? He’s a bit different from what I thought.”

Ah Liu turned around, tapped his index finger on the table, making a clicking sound.

The owner slowly handed him a glass of wine and smiled meaningfully.

“He’s really not any ordinary star.”

“As for what kind of person, you will know soon enough.”

[Chapter 2]

Ah Liu is a practitioner with a sense of professional ethics.

Although he found it very difficult to understand the employer’s, Kiro’s, request, he paid enough for Ah Liu to add ingredients to the menu shamelessly. While eating instant noodles, he made preparations very rigorously.

When Ah Liu completed all the preparations, Kiro also came as scheduled, with a laptop computer.

Ah Liu didn’t think Kiro could help him with his work, but half an hour later, his impression of Kiro was completely overturned.

Kiro asked for some relevant information, then turned on the computer with familiarity, tapping the keyboard quickly with his fingers.

Soon, lines of complex codes flashed across the screen like some kind of fluorescent green tide with special beauty.

Ah Liu stared at Kiro’s movements dumbfounded and couldn’t help but utter a hometown dialect.

“Yo, how are you so good?”

Ah Liu knows that when employers choose a place like theirs, it means that they need to deliver a little more or less of their own secrets and trust.

But….it’s already hard being a star right now, do you have to have to work part-time on the side too?

The security system on the screen was easily hacked, and the red warning turned into a green traffic sign. Kiro stopped typing until he locked a certain area on the outskirts of Loveland City.

“Found it.”

He stretched his waist and habitually reached near the computer as if looking for something to drink.

When he didn’t feel anything he gave a soft “huh”. His extended hand stiffened for a second, and then quickly retracted it, speaking nonchalantly.

“I have locked a few addresses that appear to have logged in to the server, but the specific locations need to confirmed.”

“How is it on your end?”

Although shocked by Kiro’s hacking skills, Ah Liu did not forget his work, and pointed to the surveillance screen in front of him.

“The monitoring software is installed, but there is no movement yet.”

“I suggest waiting for another two or three days to take a look.”

Kiro nodded, put away the computer, put on his hat and mask, and left quietly.

Ah Liu stood up, moved his shoulders and inadvertently walked towards the window.

Next to a vending machine on the corner downstairs, Kiro, wearing a black hood, was bending over to drop coins and soon a bottle of green soda rolled out.

He was a little far away, but Ah Liu still saw the drink clearly.

The green apple flavor is very high in sugar, and young girls are unwilling to buy it, so they are always not able to be sold.

Kiro finished drinking in one breath. His eyes raised slightly, showing a satisfied look. He threw the plastic bottle into the trash can briskly, then turned and left.

Ah Liu once again became curious about Kiro.

[Chapter 3]

He didn’t meet Kiro again until a long time later.

During this period, Kiro did not take the initiative to contact Ah Liu, and he has been diligently monitoring the marked area while waiting for Kiro’s news.

The days of waiting were a bit boring. It wasn’t until one time, on the convenience store TV news that Ah Liu learned that Kiro was involved in a “wounding incident” and revealed his identity as an Evolver.

Ah Liu slurped the instant noodles. On TV, Kiro looked directly at the camera and generously admitted his hidden identity.

He swallowed the instant noodles, wondering what he was doing.

Although he didn’t have much contact with Kiro, he knew very well—this person would not be so reckless and willful, and that he might have his own reasons behind this incident.

After that, a while later, Kiro’s company also underwent some trouble, and he himself claimed to retreat for creation purposes.

In the silence, Ah Liu disassembled and reassembled the pistol bought from the black market in the dark. The screen beside the pistol showed clues that he finally tracked down.

Hunter game.

It’s time to contact his employer, he thought.

In the dark, the cheerful and broad bells rang—

The so-called hunter game, even though Ah Liu never heard of it before, Kiro specifically called him to investigate since it was also related to what they had checked before. Naturally, Ah Liu concentrated all his time and energy into it.

When following Kiro’s clues, he slowly became more aware that there was a behemoth showing his minions in the darkness.

But it paid off, and finally someone bit the hook that had been cast before.

Ah Liu stuffed a pistol into his waist, holding his cell phone, and dialed Kiro.

The phone picked up after a few rings.

“What’s up?”

“I found a building where the other party had been active. I’m going to explore it tonight. If I’m lucky, I might find something.”

Kiro on the other end paused for a moment, inhaled and quickly stopped talking.

It seemed that Kiro was not the only person on the phone. Ah Liu vaguely heard another person speaking to Kiro and his voice rose naturally.

“Savin, I’m really not stealing snacks. If you don’t believe me, then come and see for yourself.”

“Hey—wait, come back later. Now I’m bitter. As soon as you interrupted, the melody of my new song is gone.

“I never told anyone that you hid my three boxes of snacks and two refrigerators of carbonated drinks. So inhumane….”

The voice gradually became quieter, and it was probably the person named “Savin” who finally left Kiro alone.

Ah Liu felt that Kiro was really weird.

Obviously, he has the warmth of light that ordinary people can’t touch, but he had to turn around and go to the darkness.

He wanted to ask why, but held back.

Employers have their own secrets to some extent. Keeping to their duties and not asking too much is the best way to stay out of this circle.

After a while, Kiro’s calm voice came from the phone again.

“Send me the address and I’ll find you.”

“I’m fine by myself. You don’t trust me when I say this?”

Ah Liu felt that Kiro didn’t trust his capability. He repeatedly emphasized that his business potential was very good. His performance ranking has been ranked first.

But Kiro still insisted on working with him and Ah Liu couldn’t help but send Kiro the location of the building.

[Chapter 4]

Under the endless night sky, Ah Liu received Kiro’s signal.

He stood up and flung himself into the opposite building with the help of the rope. After he rolled into the room and came to a stop, Ah Liu suddenly held his breath.

There were no clues left as expected. The whole room was empty. The huge glass windows were opened and the cold moonlight showed the man’s brilliant blond hair and the timed explosive device in front of him.

“Was it successful?”

“It seems that someone expected this visit and left us a gift.”

Kiro’s expression was very calm but when Ah Liu saw the detonator under his feet, he couldn’t help sucking in a cold breath.

Kiro seemed to be indifferent, tapping quickly with both hands on the computer and laughed coolly.

“Although the internal structure is complicated, it is still flawed…”

“How long will it take?”

‘Five minutes.”

Ah Liu glanced at the time displayed on the screen and the countdown just reached five minutes.

“The risk is too great.”

Ah Liu crouched down, took out a wire from the portable tool bag beside him and gently inserted it into the bomb.

“Leave it to me, it will be done in a minute.”

He specializes in surgery. Ah Liu is best at disassembling and reassembling various complicated equipment. He moves cautiously.

Kiro didn’t say anything, he stopped hacking and switched to another interface.

There is nothing in this world that can come and go without a trace. No one can be completely invisible.

The ability of top hackers is to dig out some seemingly and completely irrelevant content from the vast data stream, and continue to piece together and combine them until they restore the trajectory of something generated, assembled, grown, and disbanded.

Every day, the flood of information carries everyone’s joy, anger, and sorrow, surging through the city and no one can stay out of the matter.

The people who had been in this room carefully avoided all information channels, but it was precisely this carelessness that allowed Kiro to find their exact address.

The computer snapped shut and Kiro briefly breathed out. At this time, Ah Liu also successfully analyzed the data of the detonator and shut it down perfectly.

“It’s done.”

Ah Liu stood up and looked at Kiro.

“What are you going to do with this thing? Take it away or keep it here?

“Since they gave such a ‘big gift’, how about a ‘return gift’?”

Kiro turned and walked towards the door hidden in the dark. Ah Liu picked up the device that had turned into a pile of scraps on the ground, and walked to catch up with Kiro.

After coming out of the building, Ah Liu stopped when he passed a small alley.

“Hold up.”

He shouted to Kiro and dropped a few coins into a battered vending machine.

With two crisp ‘plops’, accompanied by mechanical electronic sounds, two cyan bottles of carbonated drinks were held by Ah Liu.

He handed Kiro a bottle but didn’t move to take it. His voice was a little cold.

“I don’t like being spied on by others.”

Ah Liu laughed a few times, trying to pat Kiro’s shoulder, but was subtly averted. He didn’t feel embarrassed, so he touched his head instead.

“Shouldn’t a celebrity be used to being watched by others?”

Probably when he was immersed in darkness, no one would exactly associate him with the dazzling star on stage.

Kiro froze for a moment, then took the carbonated drink from Ah Liu’s hand.

“By the way, when the device was dismantled, how could you be sure that I could do it? Weren’t you afraid we would all be blown up?”

The person in front of him showed a slight smile. Although it was shallow, it was indeed Kiro’s smile.

At this moment, he seemed to be covered with light and shadow, and the sun and moon were equally magnificent.

“It was just a gamble.”

“It turned out that I was right.”

He finished his drink in one breath and walked around the corner with his hands in his pockets.

Ah Liu suddenly felt that Kiro was very interesting. If he worked with him, he would probably gain a lot of things that he hadn’t encountered before.

Thrilling enough, but also exciting.

For men, true friends should be like this.

In the bottom of his heart, he listed Kiro as a friend who had already had a “friend for life and death”, so he shouted to him.

“I’ll study the internal structure of the device when I go back. I’ll tell you the results but it will take several days.”

The person in the distance did not answer and disappeared into the depths of the night.

[Chapter 5]

It took a lot of effort to crack the device, and several days had passed by the time Ah Liu got all the analytical data.

Kiro sent the other party’s real server address. Following this clue and the special materials of the installation, Ah Liu has been busy for a long time. He also managed to get a sense of the so-called “Hunter Game” in his mind.

At this moment, perhaps somewhere in this world, a silent survival game is being staged.

Although he is used to fighting and killing, the nature of the incident is completely different. He feels it is necessary to tell Kiro immediately.

But the phone call couldn’t get through.

After waiting for a while at Mondlicht, Ah Liu got up and decided to go directly to Kiro.

One minute late, one more minute for risk of exposure.

However, Kiro had a deal with him, and the less people knew, the better. Instead of alerting the security guard, Ah Liu walked to the gate of the backyard with his waist bent.

The security system of the gate is complicated and difficult to understand.

When Ah Liu was scratching his head to study how to crack it, he suddenly heard Kiro’s voice.

He was sitting cross-legged in the yard with a mobile phone, a golden retriever in front of him.

Not knowing what the person on the other end said, Kiro spoke briskly, with a smile that could not be contained:

“Wait for me to show you the mushrooms I’ve grown these days! This one on top of my head is new!”

“I wrote a song at home these last few days and I will send it to you when I make the demo.”

“When the ban is lifted in a few days, I must have a big meal!”

“Do you have anything you want to eat?”

……

He naturally exudes the aura of a “little sun”. The grand light not only comes from Kiro, but it also seems to come from the person on the other end of the phone.

It turned out to be so, Ah Liu suddenly realized.

He has always wondered why Kiro had so many contradictory points, but the bright star walks in the dark, intersecting with people of his identity.

Now he found the answer.

Because even the stars that live above the clouds have a future that they want to gaze at and protect forever.

Suddenly, there was a shattering sound—

Ah Liu looked forward immediately. He didn’t know what was said on the phone. Kiro stood up instantly, holding the phone tightly, his eyes were full of fear and anger.

Next to him was a glass that has been broken into pieces.

This was the first time Ah Liu saw this look on Kiro’s face.

He seemed to have noticed something and without hesitation, he pushed aside the branches of the tree and walked straight out.

Since seeing Kiro’s first side, Ah Liu has not been accurate in all of Kiro’s predictions. But this time, he confidently wants to try again and he has a hunch that he will not be wrong.

And that is—

Kiro is a person worthy of his trust.

#spoilers #mlqc #mlqc spoilers #mlqc season 2 #mlqc season 2 spoilers #translations #mlqc season 2 translations #kiro #kiro spoilers #rumors and secrets #kiro rumors and secrets #kira #zhou qiluo #love and producer #koi to producer #mr love queen's choice #mr love game #mr love dream date #mldd

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greyias · 5 years ago

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FIC: Smoke and Mirrors - Chapter 17

Title: Smoke and Mirrors Fandom: SWTOR Pairing: Theron Shan/f!Jedi Knight Rating: T Genre: Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn Synopsis: Something’s rotten on Carrick Station, and Theron won’t rest until he finds out what. But picking at the frayed threads of suspicion quickly unravels a conspiracy much larger than even the Republic’s top spy can handle on his own. (A mostly canon-compliant retelling of the Forged Alliances storyline, as seen through the eyes of Theron Shan.) Author’s Notes and Spoilers: See Chapter 1.

Chapter Index: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Crossposted to AO3

As soon as he was inside the door of his apartment, Theron had the chip out of his pocket and inserted it into his datapad. The first file on it wasn’t any official SIS document at all but apparently a note, written especially for him:

So here I am, minding my own business, when this intel request comes across my desk from none other than your old buddy, Rian Darok. I pulled it, but then I asked myself, what does a SpecOps officer need with this information? From what I can tell, cracking down on cargo smuggling isn’t the highest of priorities for him and his team. I pulled a copy for you too, since you’re so interested in “oddities” right now. I don’t know what you think is going on, but you know this guy has clout right? And not just in SpecOps. Watch yourself. — JB

Theron tried not to roll his eyes as he paged to the next file on the chip. Jonas was a good man to have along on a mission, but sometimes he could get hung up on something. Apparently in this case it was the havoc that Rian Darok could cause for an unsuspecting SIS Agent. Which wouldn’t be a problem, because Theron was suspecting everything right now. Which was probably good for his survival chances in the short term, but would probably give him hypertension if he ever lived long enough to see old age.

He scanned over the pulled file, but as Jonas said it was… just odd.

"Known Smugglers: Inner Rim" was just what it said. A giant list of cargo smugglers that operated in the Inner Rim. And by giant, he meant several thousands names. It would take far too long for him to cross-reference every name by hand. He was going to need to get creative on this.

He sat down at the terminal in his apartment, and began to start typing. The programming required to cross-reference the names against what he knew about the Korriban and Tython ops was complex, and he had to be very careful to hide his trail in case it dinged anything classified. The SIS didn’t keep it’s data on the HoloNet, but it definitely had its own hooks into the system. If he needed to do a deeper search on any of the names of the list, he could do that manually, but he needed to narrow this down to something manageable, otherwise he could be chasing a dead lead for months.

The chronometer had already ticked well past midnight, and he was nearing the end of his coding efforts when his implants alerted him to a new message in his inbox. He finished his train of thought, then pulled away from the data terminal, feeling his muscles protest at the motion after being hunched into one position for so long. Scooping up his forgotten datapad, he opened up his inbox to see who had written.

To: Theron Shan From: Greyias Highwind Subject: Late Reply

I must apologize for the delayed reply. Our latest mission hit a slight snag, and I only now have had time to catch up on my correspondence. Barnaba is a very lovely travel spot, as long as you don’t mind the occasional internal spat between royal houses. Kira wants to buy a timeshare here. She says that it would be a fun vacation spot. I tried to remind her we don’t collect a salary (as you accurately pointed out), but Doc nixed the idea before I could, saying this visit gave him too much work already and doesn’t want any more gray hairs. He can be a bit vain at times but is probably right in this case.

It sounds like you have been keeping yourself busy as well, even if it was perhaps less exciting work. Did you ever find what you were looking for in all of that data? I don’t know if it helps, but in a letter about the ongoing reconstruction efforts at the temple, the Grand Master mentioned a missing Rakata artifact. I unfortunately didn’t have much time to spend in the archives during our initial reconstruction efforts, but I didn’t see any artifacts tucked under anyone’s arm while they were leaving. Perhaps it was extracted during the original raid? I must confess, if the Council was hiding a piece of Rakata technology, then they did not want it falling into the wrong hands. In my own experience it is rarely used for benevolent purposes.

If the artifact was included in the SIS’s reports, I wonder if it is mentioned there the exact nature of the device. I could enquire further with Master Satele regarding it, but I am afraid I am not very good at concealing the truth from her in matters such as these. It is probably best if I don’t attempt it unless you think it’s necessary.

I think I hear my self-appointed keeper returning. I must wrap this up before he confiscates this datapad as well. I will continue to wait to see if you discover anything considered “noteworthy”.

I have a feeling you will know exactly where to find me.

As he finished the letter, Theron couldn’t help the frown. A missing piece of Rakata tech definitely could have been among the missing items. He’d have to check into the official report, but it would take a few extra steps to keep his name from showing up on the logs since they’d closed out the investigation. Surely the Empire wouldn’t have conducted an entire raid in the heart of the Republic for just one artifact. Surely their resources would have been better directed elsewhere. The more he tried to fit the pieces of all of this together, the less this made sense. There was something else going on here, he just wasn’t connecting the right dots.

He glanced back at the data terminal, his back screaming in protest at the thought of returning to the hunched over position so soon. He began to perform a series of exercises to try and stretch out the kinks, carefully balancing the datapad so he could re-read the contents of the letter again as if it might magically answer any of the questions it raised. As he focused on the details to see if he missed anything regarding the artifact, the reason for the delay in reply started to prickle at him. The letter had definitely been written with far more reserve than the previous ones.

As he finally worked free the knot in his lower back, he pulled up the HoloNet and ran a search on news articles for the Tapani sector. He didn’t need to look far to find the buzz about a daring rescue of an entire orphanage from the nefarious plot of a rogue minor house trying to curry favor with the losing house in the Barnabas succession. They apparently took the building as a hideout concealing a hidden stash of weapons and had planted dentonite around the perimeter. All orphans had safely been pulled from the exploding building and while the article didn’t say there was going to be a statue erected in a certain Jedi’s honor, Theron half expected it to. He was already scrubbing a hand across his face by the time he got to the end. Beyond being possibly the most disgustingly cliched do-gooder he’d ever met, the woman was a giant flashing neon sign that attracted attention wherever she went. What the hell had he been thinking bringing her in on this? There was no way they were going to remain under the radar if she stopped what she was doing every five seconds to rescue kath pups and nexu kittens.

He opened up a new message, and stared at it for a few moments before he began writing out his reply:

To: Greyias Highwind From: Theron Shan Subject: Interesting

I’m sure the life of a Jedi Knight is very busy, especially one that seems to wind up on the top of the HoloNet News feed as often as you do. It’s understandable that you can’t always reply to every piece of mail you get right away. Although I do admit I was thinking I’d hear back sooner than a week.

But your reply, even delayed, is appreciated. I hadn’t gotten far sifting through the data, but I’m going to double-check the report when I get in tomorrow to see if I can find the piece of tech you mentioned in the log. If the Council had it locked up, I doubt they were willing to share with the SIS the exact nature of the device. But hey, maybe we’ll get lucky and everyone will have been in a sharing mood. Hope springs eternal right?

Speaking of the Council, I think you’re right in that we should probably not share anything with the Grand Master right now. All I have right now are threads and suspicions, but nothing concrete. We need to figure out what’s going on before anyone’s going to take us seriously. I’m getting there, but it’s slow going. I’ve gotten some leads on Darok, but they’re just… odd. He’s started requesting intel, like on the weaponization of the Iso-5 on Tython. That makes sense. My other lead is just confusing, and I’ve got no idea what it means. I was actually working on it when your message came. If anything comes from it, I’ll let you know.

Theron stared at the blinking cursor, trying decide if he should end it there, but something was still nagging at him. Rescued orphans aside, there was nothing in the report that indicated why it took her an entire week to check her inbox, seeing as that incident had occurred almost five days ago. It was none of his damn business and he didn’t care. He really didn’t. Not beyond keeping an eye on a potentially valuable asset for his operation. Still, it felt as if he didn’t quite have control over his fingers typing out the last portion of his reply.

Now, it’s not my business or anything, but in my line of work I’m used to reading between the lines. I couldn’t help but notice you mentioning everything but exactly what delayed your reply. If I do find something, are you going to be up to joining my investigation? Or do I need to write your medic for permission first? Hopefully you managed to hide that datapad from him successfully enough so you don’t have to smuggle another one just to check your mail.

I’ve got to finish running down this other lead before I call it a night. If I find anything new, I’ll be in touch. Try not to blow yourself up rescuing another orphanage in the meantime.

#swtor fanfiction #theron shan x jedi knight #Theron Shan #Female Jedi Knight/Hero of Tython #oc: greyias highwind #otp: adorkable #smoke and mirrors #SoR Fic O Doom #swtor #fanfic #greyfic

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quoteablebooks · 6 years ago

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Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis:

Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ... Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

*Opinions*

So I was told that I must read this novel as my friend is obsessed with the series and needed someone to talk to about it. (Yell is probably a more accurate term but I digress). She is also the one who bought me the book for Christmas so I really had no reason not to dive in. From the summary, it has everything I like in a fantasy novel, action, danger, politically intrigue, and romance (Yes, I like romance, sue me). I had heard some rumblings of people taking issue with the series, but I will say right now that I didn’t look into any reviews or discourse while reading or writing this review. I’m more than happy to have a conversation with people about it now that I had finished the first book, especially those who found the novel to have many faults, but any ignorance on my part was intentional so I didn’t go into reading the novel with someone else’s thoughts clouding my judgment. One hiccup in this plan of not knowing anything about the story was that I was unaware that it was advertised as a Beauty and the Beast retelling of sorts and I had so many questions until a friend pointed out that it was supposed to follow the fairytale. Like, I was getting a little aggravated because the beginning third of the book reads very close to the Beauty and the Beast we all know and love. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good retelling when it’s done well. However, when you go into a story not knowing that that was its main aim, it can be a bit jarring. Again, this is completely my fault. The first major positive I have is that Maas allowed Feyre to have sex with a man she had no intentions of marrying and really didn’t even like. It is rare that heroines are allowed to have sex for the pure reason of release and nothing else and it gave me a good idea who Feyre was as a character. As her sexuality evolves and expands throughout the novel is very realistic and something that I was not expecting from the novel. Sure, it said there was romance, but I was expecting the normal fade to black scenes. Instead, the scene in the hallway after the magical ritual (being as vague as possible to avoid spoilers) was unexpectedly intimate. Like, I was almost metaphorically clutching my pearls (a phrase I stole from my friend) intimate. I was not expecting that, but I enjoyed it. Another thing I was not expecting from this novel was the darkness and grittiness that it possessed, both in the world building and in the characters. Feyre is a rather dark and gritty character at the beginning, due to her circumstances, and I really enjoyed that. Too often the main character is soft and the events of the story harden them, but this novel takes the opposite approach in a way. Feyre never becomes soft and helpless or losses the darkness in her, but she is allowed to have some freedom and happiness, and that changes her in much more subtle ways. Maas also leans into the dark, scary, and creepy side of myths and legends surrounding the faeries. Now I am going to be honest, I don’t know what in this story is known the lore and what is Maas’s creation, but I wanted more of the creepy and scary things that lurked outside the lovely manor and gardens where Feyre found herself. There are real threats and real dangers in this world and Maas doesn’t let you forget that, even if Feyre ignores the warnings completely some times. You knew that people would get hurt, people who die, and appreciated the stakes. Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship is the core of the story and it is a slow burn, which I really enjoy. If I didn’t know that this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling, I might have thought Lucien had a chance, but it was obvious that Tamlin was always going to be the main love interest. It was a romance that grew and one that you believed could elicit so such feelings from Feyre to propel her through the ending of the novel and what she had to endure. That being said, Lucien and Rhysand are by far the most interesting characters in this novel. Maybe because they are shown to have flaws (Rhysand’s being very in your face and plentiful) but I wanted to know more about them and enjoyed their presence on the page more than Tamlin. It’s not that I don’t like Tamlin or Tamlin and Feyre as a couple, but Tamlin was always either bestial or perfect whereas Lucien and Rhysand were portrayed as much more complex. Maybe I just have a thing for characters who are also kind of bastards, who knows? The world that Maas creates is very easy to visualize and understand from her descriptions. From the cold of the forest to the lowly cottage, to the manor, estate, and gardens, you see what Feyre is seeing. There is something very visceral about this novel while you’re reading it that I really enjoy. Maas has the ability to take you into the world of Prythian which is what you need in any fantasy novel. I was a little disappointed when we finally got to Under the Mountain. The creatures are described so viscerally, but the actual ancient heart of the mountain left some things to be desired. However, that was really my only complaint about this novel that relayed so much on being with Feyre as she experienced everything. Now, for some negatives. The biggest one was that giant plot dump that happened when Alis finally explained the curse and what was happening when Feyre returned to the estate. I am not going to spoil what the curse is, but that whole chapter was literally a neon sign that read EXPOSITION and flashed. It was something that could have been broken up between two chapters, especially since the ones leading up to it were Feyre trying to come to terms with seeing her family. That leads me to my second big issue, that Nesta was That Bitch and therefore the fairy glamour didn’t work on her. On one hand, I like that Nesta got a bit of a redemption arc after being so awful in the beginning, on the other, it makes no sense that the glamour just didn’t work. Maybe if the explanation was that Tamlin’s powers were failing, that would be one thing, but just that Nesta was too strong-willed just seemed like the easy way out. It bothered me. The whole section with Feyre at home bothered me because it didn’t really add to the story all that much. That being said, I am still not convinced that there isn’t something going on with Feyre’s mom, like she was Fae or half-fae or something. Watch her never be mentioned again, but like I’m sure there is something up with her. Overall I enjoyed the world I was presented and the story I was told, even if it was a Beauty and the Beast retelling, there were enough new elements to set the second half of the book to set it apart. I am interested in seeing where the story progresses and keeping an open mind.

#review #4 out of 5 Stars #a court of thorns and roses #sarah j. maas

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robbiejohnsonyr2ax2011 · 4 years ago

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University - Manchester Animation Festival - Day 3

During this week, we are attending the “Manchester Animation Festival” (Or MAF for short). During each day this week I will write a post giving my thoughts on what I watched, as well as add anything else we did such as meetings and Talks. I will also provide links to any form of clip or trailer, if I can find one.

(This Post will contain spoilers)

Short film panorama

Change Return

Change return is based in the far future, where we see robotic servants helping and giving people things such as drinks and food. We come across a poor man, who tricks the machine into bringing him a pig. This doesn’t end well as the owner of the pig finds them and shoots the pig and injures the man and blows two of the pig’s legs off. The man feeling guilty goes to the machine that magically heals his wounds, but also the Pig’s two legs, which turn into human hands instead. The owner of the pig reports him and decides to take him in, the poor man is tasered and about to be arrested, when the pig saves him.

I like the idea of society and nature still getting along, even if it seems like all nature is gone from the world. The lighting is another aspect pulled off very well as the mixture of bright neon lights and darker, shadier areas, reflect the lifestyles of people who are living in those areas. The story although heart-warming also gives a bit of a statement of how dependent civilisation is on technology and the negative effects of it (E.g. possibly a loss of jobs if their all replaced with robots).

There was unfortunately no trailer, but the full film has bee uploaded to YouTube if you’d like to give it a watch (Link Below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo2ZmeiIr1I

Umbrellas

Umbrellas tells the story of a young child who as baby in an umbrella and basket was dropped off at house in the forest. A man comes running out to inspect the crying the baby is making, finds the child and brings them up as his own. The Man (Now a Dad/Farther) looks after the kid and protects her from the rain, with his umbrella shaped beard. One wind, rainy night their dog runs off and the two go in search, they are separated by a broken bridge and are apart from each other for the first time. The young girl finds the dog, trying to save its puppy which has been sent in an umbrella caught in a tree over a violent, river rapid. The puppy is saved, and the girl takes off her hood, experiencing rain for the first time and the world goes from dull and grey, into a colourful environment.

This is a very heart-warming tale as we watch the bond between farther and daughter grow and how much they care about each other and their dog. The drawn style of the animation gives a great look to the character designs as well as details to the backgrounds/ environments, becoming even better (as well as quite satisfying) when the colour come towards the end of the film. I also liked the final scene, where the daughter is cutting the dads umbrella bearded into a regular one. This is used as a visual sign to show narrative, that the dad has learned to let go, let his daughter be independent instead of shielding her all the time. As a final point, I enjoyed the idea of instead of the classic tale of storks delivering babies to parents, its umbrellas instead.

Link to trailer

https://vimeo.com/327840550

Leaf boat

Leaf boat tells the story of two friends in a small beachside town, who decide to go sailing at night on a small boat made out of a leaf, lamppost and a blanket. All is well until one of the friends becomes nervous and starts questioning things such as what if they get lost or fall in the sea and they don’t know what is down there. These thoughts cause high winds, stormy weather and even a sea monster to confront the two. In the end the nervous young woman explains that she doesn’t want her friend to leave her in an unfamiliar place again, the two (now back on shore) watch the sea together and smile.

This story is interesting to be, as it gives a look into rejection and abandonment from others and close ones and how surprising it can be for others to learn and accept. The two girls are slightly different, one is very active and running headfirst towards things, the other is calmer, quitter and more cautious. These character traits show how the two are different and have come from two very different backgrounds. I also loved the creativity of the film having the two girls manipulate their surroundings to build the boat, almost like an optical illusion of sorts and the art style accommodates this very well with its shifting, drawn design.

Link to the trailer

https://vimeo.com/452520927

Armstrong

Armstrong is an inventive story on a man and a woman working in a factory creating 3D shapes from more shapes 3D shapes, the woman secretly has deep feelings for the man to the point of spying on him and create sculptures of him. One night the moon disappears causing the world and themselves to break and fall to pieces, the two meet up and work together to fix the world. They do this by creating a new moon and return it by using pieces of the world on themselves and creating giant strong arms. They return the moon back where it belongs, and the world returns to normal.

I really enjoyed the creativity in this film, using simplistic 3D designs, allow the creators to expand and build upon what they’ve got. I enjoyed the premise of building not only what you make, but what you make of yourself. The character animations where also very good, they don’t talk any verbal language, so they speak in mumbles and sounds, mix this with facial and body language and you have here a very expressional and understandable film. I also liked the idea of the factory uses stars as their source of shapes at the end.

I couldn’t find a trailer, but here is a link to the full film.

https://vimeo.com/388446129

Heart of Gold

Heart of Gold tells the story of a mother trying to pay her bills for her house and for her son, she does this by giving body parts to an elderly couple. An old woman is dying, and her elderly husband can perform very bizarre surgery. Piece by piece the of the mother is placed in the elderly one and her body parts are replaced with golden robotic body parts. Eventually the old woman looks just li8ke the mother, the only part remaining is the mother’s (now robot) beating heart. The son rips out the robotic mother’s heart and puts it in the elderly woman. With the new heart the elderly woman is now the mother again and robot and elderly husband go live in together.

This film is unique in its story direction and cinematography, using Claymation effectively to show body parts being taken out and replaced. It was also quite intense at times (As someone who isn’t great with gore), although there wasn’t any inclusion of blood, see body parts like lungs being ripped out and cut open, or eyeballs being gouged out certainly left me with shivers. Admittedly I got a little confused with the ending, but it’s possible its open to interpretation (Or I’m missing something).

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any clips or trailers for this short film.

Grab My Hand – A Letter to My Dad

Grab My Hand – A Letter to My Dad is the story of two friends told by one of their sons. The story is of two boys, the son’s dad and uncle Dewayne (no blood relation) who were best friends since school. They would get in contact with each other daily saying “Gate Check”, which was there way of knowing that the other was alive, awake and ready for work. The two would always talk and meet up, until one day the Dad dreams that his son had died, although this doesn’t happen, he rings Dewayne with “Gate Check” but receives no response, Dewayne’s wife rings the Dad and says he’s not waking up. The Dad rushes to the hospital to be with Dewayne, one night he sits next to Dewayne almost saying a final goodbye of sorts, he keeps saying “Gate Check” and eventually Dewayne grabs his hand and is back. Dewayne’s back for roughly a week, until he passes away, we are then told the life lesson of surrounding yourself with good people who want to be with you.

This story is very deep and impactful, reminding us of our own mortality and the time we have people closest to us. It’s great the son is explaining the story as it gives a personal side of sorts to the story. The art style is effective as some of the happier scenes earlier in the film are active and wacky, in comparison to the slow and sometimes still sections of the more intense and sad moments later.

Although not official, here is a trailer for this film created by the “Miami Film Festival” (Link Below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGkmsJifrCU

The Gift

The Gift is a story about a young woman who is experiencing paranormal and demonic dream like sequences. She begins to feel pain in her down belows and tries to ignore it, this changes when she falls asleep in a bath, as she finds herself in a hellish landscape. Surrounded by an angry mob yelling to burn her and that she is a witch, she smiles, levitates into the air and her eyes widen and flash. Cut back home and she catches a knife zooming towards her as if it was nothing.

This story is interesting as it plays into beliefs and a supernatural aspect of someone and discovering these anomalies. The build-up I liked a lot, as a viewer I was questioning what was going on, with the flying knifes and the bloody hands, my initial thoughts were the birth of the anti-Christ with all the blood and pain below. But was equally as bad as its implied that woman did something bad to the mob of people, and her catching the same knife from earlier felt like a good sense of progression and acceptance.

No Trailer, but the BBC have the full film on their website in the link below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p089z7dd

Wade

Wade is a story set in a dystopian future where due to climate change the world is engulfed in water. We follow a small family as they traverse the streets of water in search for food, they have two small children with them, one of which is sat on a raft of plastic bottles. The family is ambushed by tigers killing off two of them, the family hide in an abandoned shop, but leave the child on the raft with the tigers. The situation looks bad for the raft child, until the leader of the pack of tigers walks over to the child, however this tiger isn’t like the others as it is able to walk on top of water. The baby in the shop with the family cries and is drowned not to give away the family’s hiding spot, suddenly the tiger leader gives birth to a cub. The tiger who killed off two of the family members charges towards to child on the raft, but has its neck sliced by the leader. The tigers leave and the child on the raft feels something odd, the water changes the same way the tiger leader made the water when walking on top of it.

There is a lot to unpack with this short film, I liked the dystopian setting as it not only works with the story but could be seen as a reflection of what the world could be like if climate change gets worse. The graffiti on the walls with evacuation and warning notes and signs show a that this was once a thriving society, it’s now every man (Or animal) for themselves. The film got me with the tigers, earlier we are shown an alligator in the water, so I assumed that was the main threat, but the sudden tiger attack really caught me of guard. The film also looks beautiful, with its wide array of colours and lighting, once again capturing the feeling of something that once was and has been run down and abounded.

Link to the Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk9uHHZl6m4

Wood Child and Hidden Forest Mother

Wood Child and Hidden Forest Mother tells the story of a huntsman armed with a shotgun killing woodland animals, until he comes across a small creature he cannot kill. The man looks through a hole in the creature’s chest (which he shot) and sees a bright jolly colourful world, compared to his own dark and dull one. Intrigued he chases the creature, until they both go off screen (Literally of the screen boarders) and wake up in a colourful magical world. The huntsman wakes to find mini variants of the creature come out of his stomach, like a mother he feeds them with his nipples, but refuses to feed the original creature. Out of juice he cuts wounds on his body to keep the creatures happy. The man bleeds out and dies and so do the creatures on his toxic blood. The only one left is the original creature who feeds of the huntsman’s dying tears, finds another huntsman and the cycle continues.

This short film shows that just because something is happy and magical, doesn’t always mean it is, looks can be deceiving and this film certainly delivered. This film is interesting with its method of telling its story and move the characters along in the story, from jumping off screen to the drastic decisions made to progress the story. Little things such as the un killable creature drinking the man and gaining his appearance was a nice touch as well as in the end when there all dead, that their spirits leave off screen into the dark abyss of sorts.

Link to trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DSCpPFd_z4

Today’s talks.

Peter Bishop

In todays talk we had Peter (One of my tutors) who gave us some in sight to where is creativity came from and how it got him to where he is today. One of the earliest things he stated was he didn’t start off as an artist, which caught my attention as I myself have never done (or been particularly good at) art, so I was intrigued with how he got to where he is today.

Peter explained how his journey started by sending a drawing attached to a post card and from there he kept creating. He shared a variety of clips throughout his career of what he’s done including what he does to come up with ideas such as walking, doodling, looking at other people’s work. He also showed us a range of comic stripes he had read and made and went onto explain how this led to him getting involved with different industry and making friends, this lead to him going to India multiple times for roughly four to six weeks.

Peter also explained that past work he has created was repurposed for future work, for example they had shot footage of a bird in a garden setting, in a future piece of work, they reused the bird but gave it a hat, had it eat a skull and fly away revealing the Holland animation festival logo. One final thing I enjoyed about Peter’s talk was I enjoyed his “How to Destroy the World With” series which he showed how food and rubbish can do it.

Overall, the talk covered a lot of bases and forms of how animation can be used, from TV adverts, Illustrations, theatre or even a bit of creativity with Taxi horns. The talked expanded my knowledge as to where and how animation can be applied and used in the world and how important it is to stick to deadlines and what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.

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robbiejohnsonyr2ax2000 · 4 years ago

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University - Manchester Animation Festival - Day 3

(This Post will contain spoilers)

Short film panorama

Change Return

There was unfortunately no trailer, but the full film has bee uploaded to YouTube if you’d like to give it a watch (Link Below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo2ZmeiIr1I

Umbrellas

Link to trailer

https://vimeo.com/327840550

Leaf boat

Link to the trailer

https://vimeo.com/452520927

Armstrong

I couldn’t find a trailer, but here is a link to the full film.

https://vimeo.com/388446129

Heart of Gold

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any clips or trailers for this short film.

Grab My Hand – A Letter to My Dad

Although not official, here is a trailer for this film created by the “Miami Film Festival” (Link Below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGkmsJifrCU

The Gift

No Trailer, but the BBC have the full film on their website in the link below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p089z7dd

Wade

Link to the Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk9uHHZl6m4

Wood Child and Hidden Forest Mother

Link to trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DSCpPFd_z4

Today’s talks.

Peter Bishop

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jaycewithawhy · 8 years ago

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Okay so as much as it hurts me, I was relistening to final resting place and I’ve come to terms with the fact that I think Juno actually made the right choice. Now, hear me out.

(Spoilers for Final Resting Place below the cut)

I’m not saying that leaving Peter in the middle of the night without a word wasn’t a dick move because it absolutely was, but choosing not to leave Mars with him? Absolutely the right choice.

I want them to live happily ever after as much as the rest of you, but they’re not ready for an actual relationship. At all. For a multitude of reasons.

On Juno’s end, he’s trying to hold himself to something he said when he wasn’t thinking about the consequences, because from where he was standing he wouldn’t be around to deal with said consequences. And suddenly he is and those consequences mean something and he’s trying to pretend that doesn’t change things when it very much does. And that’s not even getting into the fact that Juno is depressed and suicidal and not doing a very good job even trying to handle his own mental health, which – as Mick points out – is very hard on the people he cares about.

And Peter? Peter killed the last person who he had any sort of long-term relationship with, and has been bouncing around the galaxy ever since. He has no clue how to be in a real relationship where he can’t just disappear if things go wrong. He’s done a whole lot of not dealing with consequences, to the point where he doesn’t seem to be aware of them mostly. He doesn’t seem to realize how much Hyperion City means to Juno, because Peter’s never stayed in one place long enough to call it home. Juno is practically carrying around a giant flashing neon sign saying “I’m not ready for this” and Peter barely notices. The fact that he gives Juno the choice “come with me or never see me again” without even seeming to realize the level of emotional manipulation there is pretty telling. He’s expecting Juno to leave everything behind for him and not leaving much room for negotiation. That’s not a good start to a relationship, even if he does think it’s what Juno wants.

And then there’s the fact that they’ve known each other for a grand total of about… two weeks maybe? Yes, Juno knows more about Peter than anyone in the galaxy, but that bar is pretty much set below the floor. And for all that Peter’s researched Juno, that doesn’t equate to actually knowing a person. There’s a lot of attraction there, and a lot of trust, but they really need to go on a few dates first and figure out how to make a relationship work before they do something drastic like travel across the galaxy together.

#the penumbra podcast

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jasonseligson · 8 years ago

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On Binge-Watching, Likable Characters, and The Office Finale

Confession: Up until recently, I had only seen maybe five episodes of the American version of The Office. I understand that I’m a little late to the party on this one: The Office has always been a gap in my pop culture viewing. The show premiered when I was in middle school, and over the next nine years, became something I always wanted to start but somehow never got around to (I chalk it up to having too much homework and no DVR). In any case, I was finally able to make up for it this winter, by watching the entire series on Netflix.

When a show is as popular as The Office is, information about it has a way of reaching everyone, even those who haven’t watched it. So long before starting the series, I had certain expectations going in. For example, I had a mental flagpole planted at the end of Season 7, since I knew that would when Steve Carell would exit. I also had heard, from a number of fans, that after his exit, the show would take a nosedive in quality. On the one hand, I had a long time before I reached that point, but on the other, that information sat there in the back of my head as I watched.

Fast forward to Seasons 8 & 9. The “worst” seasons of the show, the ones I’d been bracing myself for, weren’t that good, but I found that they also weren’t so terrible. I guess the pre-existing knowledge that the Carell-less years would be sub-par played a part in how I ultimately perceived them. But I think the biggest reason why I wasn’t all that fazed after Michael’s departure was because of the way I was watching it. I’m talking, of course, about what the kids call “binge-watching” (there really needs to be a better term for that). Going from one season to the next wasn’t a big ordeal; it was as simple as clicking “play next episode.”

I had an awareness that the show had changed—even if I hadn’t been told in advance, I would have noticed based on what I saw on screen. I definitely believe Seasons 8 & 9 are the series’ weakest, and with good reason. The show clearly had a void where Michael Scott was concerned and chose to have a revolving door of famous actors to fill his place. My favorite of these was Will Ferrell, who I had hoped would stick around as head boss for more than a few episodes; alas, we got stuck with James Spader for an entire season.

Thankfully, unlike a fans who were watching in “real time,” I was able to expedite the Spader era and the rest of these lesser episodes in no time at all. Even though I didn’t have the same experience, I totally sympathize with viewers who stuck it out as The Office during this time. I’ve been there before, with other shows, and trust me: watching a once beloved show become incrementally worse on a weekly basis is rough (I’m looking at you, Dexter). Comparatively, my job was much easier.

What struck me most while making my way through all nine seasons of The Office was how it—and all shows, really—are now viewed this way. Sure, I’d binge-watched a few shows before (Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, among others), but that was largely to avoid spoilers. I don’t have a hard-and-fast rule, but normally, I try to limit myself to 2-3 episodes of something in a sitting; it allows me to process what happened and to give my brain a rest.

So while I had experienced binge-watching for myself and understood the appeal, it wasn’t until watching The Office where I realized how this kind of viewing affects the overall way we perceive the stories we’re consuming. House of Cards—an otherwise methodical drama, becomes faster and potentially better with back-to-back-to-back sittings. This happens even more so with shows that have breakneck speeds—like Scandal or The Vampire Diaries. I also think people are more willing to forgive flaws with shows that they binge-watch. When a show is mostly excellent, a single bad season becomes blurred as a piece of the whole image, and trudging through bad story can become the difference between ripping off a band-aid, or enduring a slow, torturous removal.

When watching television week to week, it’s easy to fall into the “What have you done for me lately?” mentality. We quickly forget that good shows go through bad patches. Sometimes those last for episodes, others for a whole season, and then sometimes, shows really do overstay their welcome. In general, I’m someone who doesn’t give up easily; television shows typically have to do a lot of damage over many seasons to have me check out completely. It’s rare, but it has happened. Thankfully, The Office was nowhere near that point, and even though I saw the rough patch coming like a flashing neon sign, I ignored it.

So yes, objectively, I see that The Office went on too long, but I also didn’t fully experience the period of waiting that is intricately tied to becoming frustrated with a TV show. Honestly, it felt like The Office did what most sitcoms do as they age: it became a little bigger in scope, the jokes were a little broader, and the characters started behaving out of character in order to serve certain storylines they were involved in (like Ed Helms’ Andy).

When it came down to its series finale, I think The Office went out with an hour that paid tribute to the series as a whole. To be fair, this show could have ended so many different times during its run: with the promise of Jim and Pam getting together, the wonderful two-part episode featuring their wedding, or certainly with Michael’s departure. Would The Office have been better if had ended earlier? Probably, but having two additional seasons did give them the opportunity to develop certain characters that had always remained on the periphery—as well as deliver a somewhat unexpected finale.

Setting the episode one year after the airing of the documentary allowed us to catch up with everyone one last time before saying goodbye. There were so many meta-jokes about what the documentary—i.e. The Office as a show itself—has meant to everyone who was a part of it, and everyone who watched it. People who sat in on the panel stood in for fans of the show. In an episode in which nothing “major” happened, the finale felt like a giant thank-you to its fans who had watched loyally for nearly a decade��or to the people like me, who came along for the ride too, even if that ride only lasted a few months.

My favorite moment at the documentary panel has to be when Erin (Ellie Kemper) finally gets to meet her parents; but I also enjoyed Pam’s summary of her and Jim’s relationship. “It’s like a long book that you never want to end,” she said. “And you’re fine with that, because you just never ever want to leave it.” Like Harry Potter, as the question-asker replies, The Office could have gone on forever, but all good things—even life at Dunder Mifflin—must come to an end.

“Finale” might not be the funniest episode in the show’s run, but it doesn’t need to be. It cuts right to the heart of the show: ordinary people who work together and become a family. I think what that’s what I’ll remember most about The Office: (that and the Season 7 episode “Scott’s Tots”) how it showed people that cared about each other in spite of their vast differences and craziness. They were a community (much like that other former-NBC show I love).

I really appreciated that The Office found that fine line between having characters who could be awful to each other, but could just as easily show compassion and support. I have a huge amount of respect for 30 Rock, a brilliant show in its own right, but that mostly comes from the level of sophistication that the writing had. Time after time, characters would spew words I only wish I could come up with, and while I greatly admired the absurd style, I never really connected to any of the characters. I always felt that one of the shortcomings of the show was that it often had little to no grounding aside from Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon. I’m not saying 30 Rock could have worked without its hyper-reality (nor would I have wanted it to), and again, the writing is brilliant, but what the show often lacks is heart.

Truthfully, likable characters aren’t necessary all the time; it’s more about making them human. Michael Scott, for all he is, is not always empathetic, but we still connect to him: to his desperation to be liked, to have a family. I’m still totally and pleasantly shocked that both Michael and Dwight, who could have easily become caricatures, all felt like real (albeit slightly insane) people. In the end, it’s that kind of grounding and genuine emotion that made me an even bigger fan of the show than any of its jokes ever could.

#the office #steve carell #greg daniels #michael schur #tina fey #liz lemon #michael scott

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