#High Score girl DASH

[shiguknifeii]

ART DUMP!!!

(P.S. Sorry for not uploading for a while, I was busy helping my mom babysit [look the baby is cute and all, but I hope to never have another sibling, I was getting overwhelmed man :( ])

[miuszn]

i’m actually so obsessed with your bouncer!ellie.. we need a fic immediately 🤭 -🪐

taste of lust

SETTING : modern au

WC : 5011

WARNINGS : sexual harassment ( nothing graphic ) ( but reader is sort of implied to have trauma related to it , nothing stated explicitly tho ) , bouncer!ellie x bottlegirl!reader , idk shit about clubs so like some stuff might be insanely inaccurate but i did my best to research ( sorry in advance ) , dash of dealer!ellie bc who doesn’t love her , dom!ellie , sub!reader , teasing , overstimulation if u squint , ellie calls u pretty girl & princess , readers first time with a strap , ellie refers to her strap as her cock , i’m not fluent in english yet so there might be mistakes , not beta read

A / N : hello everyoneeee !!! i know this took FOREVER to finish and i’m so sorry about that .. i’ve been super super busy and this fic was so long omg T_T there was a point i started over completely bc i didn’t like the direction it was heading to .. this fanfic shit gets serious truly . in case u missed the warning there is sexual harassment in this fic and reader is implied to have trauma related to it . putting this here again to make sure u guys see it . anyway , i took so long to post this and so much stuff happened !! but alas , it is here , the bottlegirl!reader and bouncer!ellie fic !! this is my fav fic of mine so far so i hope u guys enjoy reading this as much as i liked writing it <3 ( and yes there will be a part two !! )

— 𓆩♥︎𓆪 —

being a bottle girl wasn’t exactly the job of your dreams. having to deal with creepy rich men every friday and saturday night was definitely not something you enjoyed doing, but that was what paid the bills and allowed you to live a rather comfy lifestyle for a college student. the bad part no one tells you about going to a top college on a full-ride scholarship is that a lot of the students are rich kids who most definitely cheated their way through high school, who live in nice apartments paid for by their mommy and daddy, who use birkins and other designer brand bags as their school bags, who would never be caught dead eating at the cafeteria. of course, you felt out of place. you weren’t exactly poor, but your family definitely could never afford that kind of lifestyle.

you’re pretty. extremely pretty. and you knew you could use that to your advantage. so when you saw a new club in the city that was looking for bottle girls you immediately knew you had to apply. sure, you had to deal with a couple creepy customers every night and sometimes even had to remind them they’re not allowed to touch you, which was annoying. you also hated being seen as an object, and you knew that’s exactly how these men saw you, and what was even worse was those very unsettling “you remind me of my daughter” comments from older men since you were so young. but the money was the main thing you needed, and you were able to put up with all this because of the pay. although the salary itself is just enough to survive, most of your earnings were in tips, and you made good tips. with a little bit of flirting and pretending you were really into customers, you scored lots of tips in the hundreds and sometimes even thousands. that wasn’t really enough for you to be able to afford luxury items whenever you wanted, but you were able to treat yourself every once in a while and that was enough for you.

you and your coworker ellie are the only college students that worked at that club. she wasn’t a bottle girl, however, she was a bouncer. during busy nights the bouncers typically took turns being at the door, and the rest would be inside the club making sure everything was fine. she didn’t mind being inside, it meant she could steal glances at you. truth was, she was into you, and it was obvious. but you took it as her just wanting to get a reaction out of you. that’s what it seemed like. but you can’t lie, whenever she wasn’t looking, you’d stare back as discreetly as you could.

she was a little possessive over you, which you weren’t really aware of. whenever she saw you flirting with customers, she couldn’t deny she felt a little jealous. she of course knew you were just trying to get more tips. regardless, she still couldn’t stand seeing the way you twirled your hair, spoke in that sweet and flirty tone, and even sometimes gave them compliments, and the fact it wasn’t towards her. she wanted it to be her, and her only. she wanted you to be hers. but she never did anything aside from flirt with you a little every once in a while, because she was scared she’d make you uncomfortable.

ellie. where does one even begin to describe her? her strong arms, her short auburn hair she styled as a mullet or put in a half bun when she felt a little lazier, her mesmerizing green eyes. from the moment you laid eyes on her you found her extremely attractive, but you were too shy and didn’t know how to approach her. what’s funny is this is the total opposite of the character you put up for your customers, an extroverted, flirty girl. the thing with you is, you can flirt with people, but only when you’re not attracted to them. when you are, such as in cases like these, the main thing you do is avoid avoid avoid. you rarely had the opportunity to interact with each other, but when you did, you always felt she was trying to subtly flirt with you. it was the kind of flirting where it was hard to tell wether she was flirting with you or just being nice, so you simply took it as being nice because you didn’t think there was any possibility she could be into you. she was just out of your league. even if it was flirting, you didn’t know if she had any other intentions. so you decided to play it safe.

that night was different from the others. your boss informed you that there’d be a bachelor party tonight and surprise surprise, you’d be serving them. the thing about bachelor parties is they’re very demanding and their tips can vary a lot. and demanding in your vocabulary is basically a synonym for entitled. they’ll insist you sit down, have a drink with them, maybe even try to grope you or something. you were not happy about having to deal with them tonight, but your boss told you they were short-staffed tonight, so you’d simply have to suck it up.

the moment the group of about 15 men came in, ellie sensed something was wrong. she rejected about half of them at the entrance before being informed by her supervisor that it was a bachelor party. she didn’t really care. she knew they were up to no good.

“i really don’t think we should let ‘em in.” she crossed her arms.

“any good reason?” he asked, annoyed.

“something just feels.. off,” she whispered, “i dunno. feel like they’re up to no good.”

“i don’t pay you to do ‘vibe checks’ on people.”

“i still don’t think we should let ‘em in. feels like they have bad intentions. have you seen how they’ve been eyeing the rest of the female staff?”

“big deal, this is a night club,” he brushed her off. “that’s how men look at women in nightclubs, williams. suck it up.”

“that still doesn’t-“

“do you want to keep your job or not?” he snapped.

she sighed and rolled her eyes, defeated, and hesitantly let the group in. her eyes were glued on them until they sat down at a table, the feeling in her stomach worsening when she realized you’d be dealing with them. it was one thing for any of the other girls to have to deal with them, but for some reason, she found herself way more worried about you. you were newer to the job and a little younger than the other girls. she couldn’t bear the thought of someone possibly harming you, or taking advantage of you, or anything like that. she felt this strange desire to protect you, something she hadn’t really felt towards anyone before. she felt this way toward you, yet she barely knew anything about you.

— 𓆩♥︎𓆪 —

tonight was going to be a long night. the moment those men sat down, you could immediately tell. you could tell by their piercing gazes, which you swore you could physically feel even though you weren’t looking at them, that you’d have to remind them several times they can look but not touch. you heard them whispering stuff to each other while looking at you and then laughing and hitting each other as if they were a group of teenagers. you took a deep breath, put on a smile, and finally went over to their table.

“hey boys,” you greeted with a flirty tone, “anything i can get you guys today?”

“yeah, a piece of that ass.” one of them said, while the rest laughed.

you faked a giggle, trying to do your best to handle this professionally, as you would with all the other annoying customers.

“anyway,” you continued, “do you guys have anything in mind? if not, you can take a look at the stuff we have over there at the bar.” you said, while pointing at the bar.

“we’ll need a moment, babygirl.” one of them replied, holding out his credit card.

you nodded, took the card, and quickly walked away. you absolutely hated that nickname. before you took this job, you didn’t really mind it. but when you started getting called it by basically every single customer you eventually grew to hate it. if you hadn’t been working, you at the very least would’ve given them a death stare or contemplated telling them off (even though you knew you’d never have the balls to do anything of the sort.)

after a couple of minutes, one of them whistled at you to get your attention. strike two. another thing you very much hated. now you were even being treated like an animal. who the hell do they think they are?

you walked over to them and plastered a fake smile on your face and asked if they were ready.

“we just wanted to know what you recommend. i’m sure you drink lots since, you know, you work here.”

some of them chuckled, and you didn’t really get what was funny. but you decided to not start anything and just answered the question.

“well, we have lots of options,” you responded, “we have many of the classics you can find anywhere else, and we also have some that are less common. we just got the louis xiii cognac which is very hard to find, so i’d recommend that one.”

“yeah? are you just saying that ‘cause it’s the most expensive?”

“if you want less pricey options, we have those too.” you replied, avoiding the question. of course you were suggesting it because it was the most expensive. that’s kinda your job. you’re supposed to make money.

“we can afford it.” one of them said.

“yeah, bring us that one.” another chimed in.

you smiled and nodded, walking away. gosh, you felt them draining any energy you had every second you spent near them. you carefully took the bottle and put it on your tray, and grabbed a few glasses and put them with the bottle. you made your way over to their table, placing their glasses in front of them one by one, and although you weren’t looking at any of them, you knew they all had their eyes glued on you. you tried your hardest to pour their drinks quickly enough so you could just get out of there, but not too quickly that they’ll notice. unfortunately for you, they caught onto what you were doing.

“why’re you pouring so fast, babygirl? you in a hurry?”

tonight was going to be a long night.

— 𓆩♥︎𓆪 —

ellie couldn’t wait for her turn at the door to be over. she made sure to peek inside every chance she had, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t eyeing you. she couldn’t help it. she couldn’t stop looking at how the black shorts and black baby tee you wore hugged your body and showed off your figure, and she had never been more grateful for the existence of the uniform. but above looking at you because of how attractive you were, she wanted to make sure you were safe. she had dealt with lots of men like them before, and she wouldn’t hesitate to kick them out if things escalated even the slightest bit.

after a while, her supervisor dismissed her and told her to stay inside to make sure nobody was causing any trouble. of course, she went over to the area you were, since there was no one watching over that area and because you were there.

“why’re you pouring so fast, babygirl? you in a rush?” she overheard one of the men speaking to you, with a sort of entitled tone. if she hadn’t been paying attention before, she definitely was now. with the way they were acting, it seemed like they didn’t notice she was there. you were clearly uncomfortable, but tried to play it off, you didn’t want to cause trouble or provoke them. she watched closely as they kept offering you to sit down and drink with them, not listening to you no matter how many times you politely told them you’re not allowed. telling you to “just have one drink, it’s fine” and “no one will know” and they “won't tell your boss.” but your boss was not the only concern. the concern was you. you didn’t know these men, you didn’t know what they could do.

but suddenly, one of the guys sitting on the edge of the seat pulled you in by the hip and forcibly sat you down. in that moment, ellie immediately went over to the table and knew she had to step in.

“sir, you’re not allowed to put your hands on the employees. i’m gonna have to ask you and the rest of your party to step outside.” she said in a stern tone.

“she willingly sat down with us,” one of them lied, “she just wanted to have a drink. nothin’ wrong with tha-“

“i saw what happened. no point in lying. now please step outside before i have you forcibly removed from the premises.”

“yeah?” he stood up to face her. “you’re just a woman. what’re you gonna do? you can’t get all of us out of here.”

“sir, back down.” she warned.

“or what?”

she didn’t respond. instead, she punched him in the face, breaking his nose. a few of his friends stood up, but before they could do anything, some of the security had already gone over to the scene and stopped them, escorting them out as ellie went with you to the break room.

“you alright?” she asked, seeing how shaken up you were.

“i’m, uh, i’m fine. don’t worry.” you responded, sitting down on the couch, still uneasy from the experience. you hated people touching you without your consent, even something that was sort of minor like this. you were already uncomfortable, and this just made it even worse. you didn’t notice ellie had sat down next to you until she wrapped her arm around you and you melted in her embrace. you felt a little embarrassed at how comfortable you felt with a girl you’ve only had small talk with prior, but you were able to push that feeling away because in that moment, you didn’t care. the fact she hadn’t judged you and said “it’s part of the job” or something along those lines, let alone saying you were overreacting was enough to tell you that you could trust her.

“do you, uh, want me to drive you home?” she broke the silence.

“i can’t. i have to finish this shift.” you mumbled. “plus, my roommate has someone over tonight. i can’t go home right now.”

“then, if you want, we can go to my place,” she suggested, quickly adding on “but just so you don’t have to stay in this environment, i’m not trying to be creepy i promise,” because the last thing she wanted was for you to take it the wrong way and be uncomfortable.

“thanks, but, i still have to go back out there and finish my shift.”

she was a little sad. if it was up to her, she’d make you quit and happily support you. she made a lot of money for a college student, between working as a bouncer and dealing weed on the side. she had more than enough to support the both of you, but she’d never talk about anything of the sort out loud.

“i can speak to management for you,” she said, “i’m sure they’ll understand.”

you accepted hesitantly, the voice in the back of your mind telling you you’d just end up fired. but that didn’t matter to you in the moment. you had to get out of there. you couldn’t stand it anymore.

ellie guided you through the back door, making sure you wouldn’t have to face those men again, holding you by the wrist with just enough strength to make sure she wouldn’t let you go easily but not too hard so she wouldn’t make you uncomfortable. she opened her car door for you, waiting a couple seconds for you to get settled in in case you needed her help for whatever reason.

the car ride was short and silent. it wasn’t the awkward kind of silence, more so the kind of silence when there’s nothing to say. it was a comforting silence, a drastic contrast from the loud music in the club that had been blasting in your ears for the past 2 or so hours. you were looking out the window, watching the city lights and buildings as you passed them. ellie would be lying if she said she didn’t steal a few glances at you when you were looking away. she couldn’t help it, you were just so mesmerizingly beautiful she couldn’t help but look at you any chance she could.

when you finally arrived at her place, you were surprised to see she had a house and not an apartment. it wasn’t a big house, but it seemed like it could house about 3 people. you were about to ask about her roommates, but almost as if she read your mind, she said;

“sorry about the mess, i uh, i live alone, so. don’t usually have people over either.”

“it’s fine,” you shook your head, “i’m just grateful you let me come here.”

she noticed you sounded like you were in a better mood. “you feeling a little better now?”

you nodded. “yeah. i guess i just needed to get out of there.” you bit your lip in worry. “but now i don’t know what to do. i’m pretty sure i’ll end up getting fired after leaving like that.”

“after what happened to you? nah. it’s understandable,”

“are you sure? i-i mean, am i not supposed to let them know beforehand-“

“you’ll be fine, don’t worry.” she reassured you. “you’re sort of new, aren’t you?”

“not really. i’ve been working there for a couple months.”

“so you’re new. got it.”

you playfully rolled your eyes. “sure, let’s say that.”

she smiled. “anyway, you wanna do anything? or do you just wanna rest?”

“i guess we could watch a movie or something,” you suggested, “if you want, of course.” you were surprised at how bold you were. it wasn’t anything too bold, sure, but that’s only true for everyone else. for you, something like that, which others might think is minor, is sort of a big deal. not only were you at this girl’s house, but suggesting to watch a movie as well. you were a bit scared that might’ve been too much.

“yeah, sure,” she replied, “you into horror?”

“uhh.. not really..” you admitted.

“it’s fine, we can just watch something else.”

“no, no, it’s fine!” you insisted. it was, in fact, not fine. especially at this time, horror was not your thing. it wasn’t a huge fear of yours or anything, but you were a little embarrassed of the fact you still got scared while watching them, sometimes even got nightmares. but no way you’d admit that to her right there. you felt you were already being too much of a burden on her, so you’d just suck it up to not bother her any further.

a few moments later, you were both on her couch watching some random horror movie she had picked out. you didn’t even know what was going on in the plot, you were way too scared. you’d argue this was one of the scariest movies, scratch that, media in general you’ve ever seen. where did she even find this sort of stuff? ellie was full of surprises indeed.

you didn’t notice you had snuggled up to her, your head laying on her chest, from the fear. once you realized, your face turned red as you pulled away in embarrassment and mumbled some apologies as you moved away. to your surprise, she lightly tightened her grip of her arm she had wrapped around you (which you only now noticed as well), telling you with no need for words that it was fine, and you could stay that way. you didn’t really know how to react to that, but you stayed. something about her was so comforting. you barely knew her, yet you trusted her as if you’d known her all your life. it was a strange feeling. you’d been on multiple dates with the same person many times before yet you still felt more of a connection with your coworker who you had only spoken to a handful of times beforehand. you weren’t even paying attention to the movie anymore. your mind was too busy paying attention to the thoughts racing in your head to process what was going on in the screen about a meter in front of you. you had lots of questions, and the more that popped up in your head, the more your heartbeat sped up.

ellie could feel something was wrong. she lightly lifted up your chin to make you face her, locking eyes with you. she asked if it was because of what happened earlier. you felt like you should look away, but you couldn’t. something about her was just so mesmerizing. you lightly nodded, not wanting to admit all the thoughts in your mind at that moment. you looked into each other's eyes for a couple seconds, before she planted a soft kiss on your lips. it was the type of kiss that happened almost as a reflex, the type that you have almost no control over. you could feel her try to pull away after realizing what she did, but before she fully pulled away you pressed your lips against hers, pulling her in this time in a deeper kiss.

before you knew it, you were straddling her lap as she placed kisses on your neck, occasionally sucking on it softly and leaving light purple marks on your skin. you hadn’t realized how much it was turning you on until you started lightly rocking your hips back and forth, desperate to get any sort of friction. ellie realized what you were doing, and placed her hands on your waist, almost guiding your movement, causing you to let out a few soft moans and whimpers.

“ellie..” you whined.

“i know, baby, i know.”

she carefully lifted you off her lap and laid you down on the couch, hovering over you. she tugged on the hem of your shorts.

“let’s get these off.” she said, as she undid the button and slipped them off you with ease, revealing your soaked cotton panties. “cute,” she thought to herself.

“i’ve barely touched you n’ you’re already so wet,” she teased, rubbing your clit through the thin cloth causing you to moan softly.

after a moment, you started to whine, tired of her teasing.

“desperate, huh?”

you broke eye contact as you looked away in embarrassment. in the back of your mind, you couldn’t believe everything that was going on. you found it a little embarassing, hooking up with a coworker you had barely spoken to prior. but as you had been doing the whole night, you tried to push those thoughts to the back of your mind and focus on the moment.

“don’t feel ashamed, pretty girl.” she said, noticing you felt a little off. something about her caring but almost demanding tone was turning you on even more.

she carefully pulled your panties to the side, sliding two fingers in, thrusting them at a slower but steady pace. this was better, but it still wasn’t enough. you bucked your hips ever so slightly, to tell her you wanted more.

“you’re gonna have to try a little harder than that, baby,” she said. she knew exactly what you meant, but she wanted to hear you say it. you whined in complaint, hoping she wouldn’t make you say it out loud.

“use your words, princess,” she smirked while locking eyes with you.

“please, ellie..” you begged.

“please what?”

“please, more..”

“good girl,” she said under her breath, speeding up her pace and thrusting her fingers inside you twice as fast as she was before, causing you to moan and whimper louder. soon you started feeling a knot forming in your stomach, making you attempt to grip the couch.

“ellie.. fuck..” you moaned.

“i know, pretty. but you don’t get to cum yet.” she smirked, suddenly pulling her fingers out.

you whined at her words and the sudden emptiness inside you, as ellie softly chuckled at your reaction. she found it so cute. she found pretty much everything about you to be cute.

she stood up, and went to grab something from her closet. it was a bright purple strap, and it was quite big. you weren’t sure it would even fit inside you. you watched as she effortlessly took off her pants and put the harness on, walking back to the couch and positioning herself, the tip right in front of your entrance.

“i want you to cum from my cock.”

she started sliding it along your slit, coating it in your slick, causing you to whine a little, before positioning it once again in front of your entrance and slowly sliding the tip inside you easily.

you were still a little scared since you had never done anything like this before. you’ve gotten fingered before, sure, but this was the first time someone used a strap on you. especially one this big.

“ellie..”

“hm?”

“i’ve never, uh,” you stuttered, “done something like this.”

“never gotten fucked with a strap before, huh?” she said, “i could tell. you seem kinda nervous. but relax, princess, i’ll take care of you.”

the nickname only turned you on more. you didn’t get why you loved it so much. it had never crossed your mind, yet you were now sure it was your favorite pet name ever.

with that, she started slowly sliding it in, looking at your facial expressions to make sure she wasn’t hurting you. surprisingly, you were able to take it all. she started thrusting it at a slow pace, gradually speeding up, but not quite fast yet. she definitely wanted to fuck you way harder and faster, but she wanted you to get used to the feeling first.

after a few thrusts you started to get used to the feeling, and it was amazing. she sped up her pace a little more, gripping your thighs, and this time she was able to locate your sweet spot, and boy was she about to abuse it. she hit it with every thrust, making you twitch and moan at every wave of pleasure.

“good fuckin’ girl,” she praised, “already taking my cock so well.”

“ellie.. please..” you begged, between moans, “faster..”

“yeah? you sure you can handle it, tough girl?”

you nodded, and she immediately sped up. she fucked you a little faster than you expected, and it was a little too much, but the overwhelming pleasure was, at the same time, addicting. the sounds of your moans and whimpers, her groans, and your wet cunt filled the room. soon, that familiar knot in your stomach started forming again, except this time it was much more intense, causing you to try and grip the couch once again. she realized what was going on, and started using her thumb to rub circles on your clit. you started tearing up from the overstimulation which was the littlest bit painful but also overwhelmingly pleasurable.

“i wanna hear you say my name, baby,” she demanded, “i know you’re close.”

and almost on cue, you came all over her cock as you moaned her name, just as she demanded, as she fucked you through your orgasm and finally pulling out with a slight pop.

— 𓆩♥︎𓆪 —

it had been about an hour since you finished your.. activity. she insisted on getting a bath started for you, and now there you were on her bed, in one of her t-shirts that was a little big on you, freshly out of the bath. you texted your roommate before getting in the bath to tell her you wouldn’t be coming home tonight, and of course, she didn’t mind that at all.

not only were you on ellie’s bed, but you were cuddling her, trying to sleep. she told you you didn’t have to, and that she just enjoys sleeping with body warmth, but you knew better. maybe it was true, but it sure as hell was not the only reason. but you didn’t mind. you acted stupid and like you bought her story, because truth is, you really wanted to cuddle with her, and you were even thinking of similar excuses if she hadn’t brought it up first.

“you awake?” ellie whispered.

“mhm, sort of.” you replied, in a sleepy voice.

“i just, uh,” she paused for a moment, “i just wanted to know. when will i see you again?”

“on our next shift together.” you joked.

“no, dummy, i mean like this.”

you thought about it for a moment.

“i guess we’ll see,” you responded softly, “i’m pretty sleepy. i think we should talk about this later.”

she seemed satisfied with your response, but she still had the fear you were only saying that to be polite, and you didn’t want anything more or didn’t want this to repeat. of course, she’d respect you if that was the case, although she’d be a little disappointed. but she felt there was something more there, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. you weren’t like any of the other girls she’s hooked up with before. she wasn’t exactly sure what set you apart from them, but she knew there had to be something.

maybe it was just feelings.

but even if it didn’t seem like that was the case because of your shy personality, you wanted something more. just like her.

[meazalykov]

caffeine addiction

lena oberdorf x reader

summary: reader struggles with a caffeine addiction

The sun peeked through the curtains of the cozy apartment Y/N and Lena shared in Munich, casting a warm glow over the room. It had been a couple of months since Lena transferred from Wolfsburg to Bayern Munich, a move they had both looked forward to. 

The couple have been together for a few years, meeting through Y/n’s German friends at Bayern since the girl isn’t German herself. Long distance for the first year was hard, but then it got easier before Lena’s move. They not only played for the same club now, but also got to wake up next to each other every morning.

Y/N stretched and yawned, her muscles taut from yesterday's practice session. In the next few days, Bayern is gonna be playing against Benfica in the last Champions League group stage game, so training was tough. 

Playing as a right back or right winger for Bayern Munich Frauen demanded peak physical condition. The girl has scored the most goals in the club (this season) so far, but she is still expected to keep them coming throughout the season. Nobody doubts y/n on scoring in games. 

Y/N thanked herself for maintaining a fit, athletic body. Her strict diet, mainly consisting of protein and grain, plus rigorous workout routines, were a testament to her dedication. Sometimes, she overworked herself (according to Lena, Sydney, Sam, and Tainara) but she knows how to bounce back. 

Except from that one indulgence she couldn’t resist: her morning iced coffee. 

Each day, without fail, she had to have her  small iced coffee with a pump of vanilla and a dash of light cream. It was the pick-me-up that jump started her day. Last season, y/n was late to training due to her need of having caffeine to keep herself awake and active.

“Y/n *laughs* Come on, we are gonna be late!” Lena looks over to see y/n’s hand covering the top of her cup, swirling the contents in the iced coffee together. 

“One second, sorry!” Y/n said and took a few big “gulps” of her iced coffee. Lena had started to notice a pattern with her girlfriend. She wondered if y/n had a caffeine addiction that needed to be talked about. 

“They have coffee in the lounge room over at Bayern, you can grab some there.” Lena said, smiling as she noticed her girlfriend place the coffee on their kitchen island before grabbing her black nike bag, filled with necessary football things. 

“The brand they use to brew their coffee is gross. Plus they don’t have sugar free syrup, just plain packets of sugar or stevia.” Y/n and Lena laughed as they left the apartment, locking the door and quickly headed to training. 

By 4 PM, without fail, Y/N would crash due to the caffeine high wearing off. Lena will chill on the couch as y/n falls asleep with her head in her lap. Y/n’s groggy state left her in need of a nap every-single-day she has coffee in the morning. While naps were common for athletes, the inconsistency in Y/N's energy levels was concerning to Lena. 

Lena put in a google search into her phone that evening, “can coffee cause you to get tired earlier?” and google confirmed to her that it did. 

So the next morning, as Y/N in her comfy PJs sipped her iced coffee at the kitchen counter, Lena hugged her from behind. Y/n sunk into the feeling of her girlfriend’s fit arms around her waist, forgetting about the iced coffee on the counter and holding her hands on top of Lena’s instead.

“Baby, we need to talk about your coffee habit,” Lena began, her whispered tone was serious yet loving. “I’ve noticed how you crash every afternoon due to this. Maybe you should consider cutting back a bit.”

Y/N looked at her cup, then turned her head to look at Lena who still held her. “I know it’s not great, but it’s hard to function without it. I need it to wake up– and for an extra boost of energy at training.”

Lena squeezed y/n’s hand in hers reassuringly. “I get it, but I worry about you. The crashes aren’t good, and this can’t be healthy in the long run. Let’s try to cut back gradually, see how you feel?”

Reluctantly, after thinking for a few minutes, Y/N agreed. 

The first day without her iced coffee was rough. By midday, y/n was battling a pounding headache and a growing sense of anxiety. Lena knew these were withdrawals from caffeine. Luckily, it was their day off before they had to play against Benfica. But Lena stayed close, offering support. “It’ll go away soon, Schatz,” Lena said as she gave y/n some medicine, helping her take a sip of cold water that she grabbed from their fridge. .

The withdrawal symptoms were intense. Y/N felt irritable and on edge, her body craving the caffeine it had grown dependent on. But with Lena’s unwavering support, she pushed through. Lena would grab medicine, prepare some herbal teas she found helpful through the internet, and offer distractions, anything to help y/n.

After their win against Benfica in the last group stage (thanks to a brace from y/n) sending Bayern to the quarter-finals to go up against Chelsea, Y/N found herself feeling more energized throughout the day. 

It was the evening and Lena relaxed on the couch after a long day of training. Y/n was in the kitchen preparing herself a salad when she looked over at her iced coffee “station” she made a long time ago. Making a note to herself to get rid of it to make space for something else eventually, Y/N joining Lena on their couch with a grateful smile. 

“You know, I feel a lot better.” Y/n randomly says as she looks ahead at the TV, which shows the men’s el clasico match live. Cuddling on the couch with y/n laying on her body, Lena looks down at y/n confused. 

“Feel better about what?” Lena asks.  

“I feel better about not relying on caffeine.” Y/n says. Lena smiles in admiration before patting her girlfriend’s head jokingly, “It took you some time.” 

“Hey! At least it happened sometime—Thank you for being patient with me.” 

<3

[wzrd-wheezes]

Star Boy : Part One- Footballer!James x Reader

AN - I've been dying to write a footballer!james fic and have only just gotten around to it. I think I'm going to make this a series so please let me know if you would be interested in that!

1.5k words - fluff

Taking penalties was James Potter’s speciality. It had always been his thing. From the moment he started playing football, he had always found something exhilarating in the otherwise nerve-wracking challenge. Maybe it was something about the high stakes, the way that the fate of the team’s success was in his hands, the rush of adrenaline when he scored, and the way his teammates would swarm around him, limbs flailing in celebration, the roar of the crowd echoing in his ears. 

James could count the number of missed penalties on one hand. He was renowned in the footballing world as some sort of wunderkind, achieving extraordinary success at a remarkably young age. 

Today, for the first time in two seasons, James missed a penalty. After a particularly nasty foul on one of his teammates, James had dashed to the sideline to retrieve the ball. As he bent down to pick it up from the bright-eyed, fluffy-haired ball boy, his gaze landed on her for the first time. She was seated a few rows from the front, a blue and white football scarf draped around her neck, her teeth biting anxiously on her bottom lip as she awaited the penalty. James didn’t think he had ever seen anyone more beautiful. He ruffled the ball boy’s hair in thanks, but as he turned away, his eyes locked with the girl in the stands, and he felt his stomach jolt. What the fuck was wrong with him? 

“You’ve got this, Star Boy.” On of his teammates slapped him on the back as he approached the penalty area. He rolled the ball over in his hands a few times before dropping it on the penalty spot. He glanced upwards, the opposing team’s goalkeeper was jumping up and down in the goal, a classic distraction tactic. His eyes drifted momentarily to the stand where he had just walked from, surprising himself at how quickly he picked that girl out of the crowd. She, like the rest of the fans, was now standing, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. God, she was pretty. 

“Focus.” he whispered to himself.  

James began his run-up, his eyes shifting back to the ball. But the image of her anxious, beautiful face lingered in his mind. Just as his foot connected with the ball, his concentration wavered. The shot was off. 

Time seemed to slow as the ball sailed towards the goal. The goalkeeper dove the wrong way, but the ball didn’t head for the corner of the net as it usually would. Instead, it skimmed outside of the post and went wide.  

A collective gasp erupted from the crowd, followed by a groan of disappointment. The away fans cheered and celebrated his miss. James stood frozen, staring at the spot where the ball had missed its mark. He cursed loudly, his hands flying up to rake through his hair in frustration. He never missed. 

He turned to look at her again. She had her hands over her mouth, eyes wide with shock. His stomach sank. For the first time in his career, he had let a moment get to him, and it had cost him- and his team- dearly.  

There was only around ten minutes or so of the match left and his team were desperately trying to get another goal to put them ahead. The whole time, all James could think about was how he had fumbled the penalty and how disappointed the girl had looked. How was he making himself feel bad over a girl that he didn’t even know?  

As the minutes ticked away, James pushed himself harder, trying to shake off the nagging thoughts and focus on the game. His teammates were counting on him and he couldn’t afford to let them down again.  

The referee’s whistle finally signalled the end of the match and a wave of frustration and disappointment washed over him. The game had ended in a draw and James couldn’t help but feel responsible.  

In the changing room, the usual post-match chatter was subdued. His teammates offered him pats on the back and words of encouragement, but James could barely muster a response. All he could think about was the penalty, the girl, and the look on her face. 

“C’mon, Jamie. We still ended up with a draw.” Ryan Bennet, one of their defenders, sat next to him, “We earned a point, and let’s not forget, you still hold the record for most penalty goals in the league,” he added with a grin. 

“Cheers, Benno.” James smiled, “You always know how to boost my ego.” 

“Yeah, well. Don’t get used to it.” Ryan laughed and clapped James on the shoulder before heading to the showers.  

Once he had showered, he quickly changed and made his way to the player’s car park. Outside, the cool evening air greeted him as he made his way to his car, a sleek black Range Rover that gleamed under the stadium lights. Beyond the gate, James could see fans eagerly lining the pathway, eager for a chance to catch a glimpse of their favourite platers.  

Driving out of the carpark, the fans approached his car, holding out shirts and pictures in hope that he would sign them. Slowing his car down, he wound down his window and greeted the fans with a smile. Despite the exhaustion that tugged at his muscles and the lingering disappointment of the missed penalty, James’s heart buzzed with gratitude towards the fans that had come out to support him. He always gave the fans his time if he could, especially the kids. After all, he was one of them once, spending hours outside Moonridge United’s stadium after a match, waiting for the chance to meet his heroes. 

He was a few photographs in when he spotted her. The girl from Cresent End, standing a few people back from his car with a beaming younger boy by her side. Her presence caught him off guard, a pleasant surprise amidst the flurry of fans seeking his attention. When it was their turn, the younger boy bounded over to his car. 

“Hey there, buddy!” James greeted him with enthusiasm.  

“Wow, it’s really you!” the boy exclaimed, his voice filled with awe, “You’re James Potter! I’m your biggest fan.” 

“Ah, thank you, mate!” he smiled, “I hope you enjoyed the game. I’m sorry that we didn’t manage to win.” 

“Would you please be able to sign my shirt?” the boy spun round, revealing the back of his football shirt which had “Potter 10” written on the back.  

“It would be a pleasure.” James leaned out of the car, carefully signing his name on the number 10. As soon as he had finished signing it, the boy shouted a quick thank you and ran off towards a big group of boys, proudly showing off his shirt. 

“This really means a lot to him.” the girl spoke. James’s heart raced, his eyes focusing on her, “He’s been looking forward to the match all week, bless him. You’re his favourite player.” 

“I’m honoured.” he replied, his tone playful, “And what about you? Who’s your favourite player?” 

The girl turned around, showing the back of her shirt which had “Bennett 30” on the back of it. Ryan, that bastard. 

“Well, it looks like I have some competition.” James laughed. 

“Competition is good for the soul, isn’t it?” she replied, her tone teasing. 

“So, I’ve heard." 

The girl laughed and James’s heart melted. God, she looked gorgeous when she laughed. Her eyes crinkled at the corners and her lips curved into a radiant smile that lit up her whole face.  

“Hey, can I let you in on a secret?” James whispered, glancing around to see if there was anyone lurking around. 

“Go ahead.” 

“You’re the reason that I missed that penalty.” 

The girl’s eyes widened in surprise at James’s confession, her cheeks heating up with a mixture of astonishment and curiosity.  

“Me? You’re joking, right?” 

James chuckled, shaking his head, “I wish I was. I saw you in the stands and I thought you looked beautiful. I guess you got me a little distracted.” 

She let out a laugh in disbelief, “Are you sure you’re not just saying that to flatter me?” she mused, “Though I suppose I owe you an apology.” 

“I wish I was that smooth.” James grinned, “You can make it up to me by giving me your number and letting me take you out to dinner?” 

“Hmm, tempting offer.” she teased, tapping her chin in mock contemplation, “I reckon it’s the least I could do, seeing as I apparently cost you the match.” 

James laughed as he reached into his pocket and unlocked his phone, handing it to her. 

“I’ll call you, yeah?” 

“Yeah, I’d like that.” 

As she handed him his phone back, their fingers brushed, lingering for a moment before pulling away. Their eyes locked together and for a moment James contemplated just kissing her then and there.  

“I’ve got to go.” the girl gestured over to where her little brother was standing with his friends. James nodded, looking down at his phone screen where her name and phone number were displayed.  

“Y/N.” he read, “Very pretty. It suits you.” 

“I’ll tell my parents you said so,” she joked, “See you later, James.” 

[toonfan91]

Moveset and Minigames for my Amy Rose game idea

Wow, I did not expect you all to like my Amy idea as much as you have. Some of you even made concept art. Thanks so much. So, while I'm at it, here are my minigame and moveset ideas for Amy Fortunes of Rose: A Sonic Story.

Amy's Basic Moveset:

Hammer Spin - When moving on the ground, pressing the attack button will make her spin around with her hammer out. (Think like Crash or Jak's spin attacks)

Hammer Slam - When standing still, Amy can raise her hammer over her head and then slam it down to the ground, this is useful for slamming down pegs or sturdier breakables.

Jump and Hammer Flip - This is Amy's bogstandard jump from Sonic Adventure and Sonic Advance, Amy will jump into the air, but not spin into a ball, and when you tap attack she curl up, spinning her hammer around as she lands. Allowing her to attack enemies like Sonic, Tails and Knuckles can by jumping.

Hammer Glide - Similar to the card glide in Frontiers or her gliding skill in Heroes, holding the jump button when in midair will start a glide, this will let Amy get over certain pits. You gain a better distance doing the glide at the very peak of the jump.

Amy's Unlockable Moves:

These next few moves are abilities you can unlock as you progress through the game, which will help with enemy management, or getting everything in previous levels with areas you couldn't access prior.

Hammer Dash - Basically Amy's drop dash equivalent from Origins and Superstars, crouching and then tapping the action button will begin a hammer dash, and letting go of crouch unleashes it, causing Amy to go on a speedy smashing spree

Death Hammer Spin - Upgrade to Hammer Spin - Now when Amy spins, you can tap the attack button repeatedly, to have Amy keep spinning, in a rosy tornado of doom

High Jump/Super Slam - Upgrade to Amy's Hammer Slam - Now Amy is capable of charging up her hammer for a super slam, her hammer will ignite fire once fully charged, and when the attack button is release, she slam her hammer down and be sent flying into the air, as a shockwave obliterates surrounding enemies. Depending on how long you held attack, the jump height can be used for easier gliding, or to reach high up areas.

Boomerang Hammer - This allows you to either throw your hammer either standing still or in motion at enemies and breakables, or if you hold the button for it, go into a zoomed in mode to better aim at long away enemies or targets.

Minigames:

Chao Race - Accessed through Cream - Play as Cheese or Chocola, and race to the finish line and see if you get first place

Baking with Vanilla - Accessed through Vanilla - Amy and Vanilla are spending some girl time in the kitchen, time your button presses right and bake some sweets, the better the timing, the better your sweets turn out.

A Friendly Spar - Accessed through Blaze - Take on Blaze in a friendly sparing session, dodge carefully and keep your guard, Blaze doesn't hold back and you know it. You'll unlock higher levels of difficulty each round you beat.

Spring Cleaner - Accessed through Sticks - Sticks needs help cleaning badnik scrap out her backyard, use your hammer to bat away badnik pieces or even bombs, why does Sticks have bombs in her backyard anyway?

Getting high enough scores in these minigames will award you costumes, such as Amy's classic era outfit and hairdo, her Riders outfit, her goth outfit, or her Sonic and the Black Knight outfit

Collectables:

Rings - Each level has a certain amount of rings you can collect, and much like tradition, if you get hit, they scatter, however if you don't recollect your scattered rings in time, you'll have to recollect them again when you return to the level. Much like in Forces, your ring count doesn't automatically go back to zero when hit.

Red Star Rings - There's five red star rings hidden in each level, some will be easy to get, others will need you to get certain abilities then return to that level later with them. Collecting red star rings will grant you unlockable concept art of Amy throughout the years, from Sonic CD, all the way up to the comics and recent games.

Fortune Cards - These are pivotal, and can be collected by completing certain tasks in levels. As you progress you'll be needing certain amounts of rings and cards to unlock levels, like the power orbs from Spyro 2. However these aren't all the cards can do, as every 5 cards, it'll give a little extra power to Amy's attacks, and you can see them flutter around Amy when she attacks (this can be a toggleable option too). You will also be able to view the art of each card in a extras menu, with paragraphs of what the card means and references hidden in the art.

Chao - The chao sanctuary has been put into ruins, with chao now being used in a lot of new badniks, you know what you gotta do, use that hammer and get to work!

Chaos Emeralds - It wouldn't be a Sonic game without the chaos emeralds. These are unlocked by 100 percenting all levels in a zone. Doing that will make a big ring appear, jump into it and enter the special zone, thrusting you into a 2.5D recreation of a area Amy's been in from her past (Sonic CD, Adventure, Heroes, 06). Get to the chaos emerald at the end without dying. These special zones act like traditional classic Sonic levels, tailored to Amy. You'll also get at least one chaos emerald from the boss of the zones leading up to the final zone. And getting all the chaos emeralds gives you a good ending.

And that about covers it, hope you guys enjoy these details, and thanks to those of you who gave me ideas and made concept art based on my game idea. You all rock

(Logo made by me)

[darishima]

puppy your game collection is beautiful i dont know what most of those are except like the disgaeas (because youve explained them before), disco elysium (the occasional meme crosses my dash), roblox, and undertale maybeeeeee you could give me a tour of the others you like and what theyre about and stuff! whats muse dash ouppy that sounds like a rhythm game ^w^

thank you i know its incredible :3c soo here it is again i will go game by game and yap my ouppy little head off im sorry

starting from the left! desmume is a DS emulator that i got to play puyo puyo fever, a fullmetal alchemist ROM and a lucky star ROM and PPSSPP is a PSP emulator i got for uhh. i cant remember which game i specifically installed it for. i think it was puyo puyo fever 2?

roblox is. you know. roblox

my hero one's justice is a demo i downloaded from steam which i have not actually played LMAO i got the demo to see if i wanted to buy the full game but i guess its pointless because i havent bothered to check out the demo

class of 09 and class of 09 re-up (the sequel) are visual novels, hard to explain what theyre about.. basically its all about toxic evil yuri and drug abuse and self harm. its like if needy streamer overload was about coked up high school lesbians

disgaea pc is the second best game ever made

disgaea 2 pc is the number 1 best game ever made. no further explanation necessary

i have not actually played dont starve yet, it was recommended by a friend so i bought it during the steam summer sale for like 2 bucks. from what ive heard, its a survival game, kinda like minecraft if minecraft was way harder and the game hated you

disco elysium is the same, recommended by a friend, i bought it for super cheap during the summer sale, and have not touched it yet LMAO

muse dash is a rhythm game yes and its FUCKIGN INCREDIBLE. AND IM AMAIZNG AT IT. LOOK AT THESE SCORES BONESY ARENT YOU PROUD OF ME

full combo means i hit every note and didnt miss a single one >:3 im genuinely really good at the game not 2 brag,,, and YES you saw that right, hatsune miku and kagamine rin and len are playable characters!! they come with two respective DLCs which also come with a bunch of vocaloid songs and i bought them both <3 these are their sprites in game!

and if you buy it it gives you a bunch of adorable art on the loading screens :3 this isnt even all of them just a few i screenshotted. if i screenrecorded myself killing it in muse dash would you watch the video teehee...

ok back to game yapping. leaf blower revolution is an idle clicker game i got for free on steam, which i got insanely hyperfixated on for three days and played for like 14 hours straight once and then gave up and never touched it again

yume nikki is a little pixelated adventure game where you explore around a girl's weird dreams. the soundtrack is INCREDIBLE especially this song. its transcendental. listen to it while youre high trust me you have to

DDLC requires no explanation i think. its ddlc. you know what it is theres no way you dont

the song of saya (saya no uta) i will be yapping extra about because i LOVE IT. its a horror eroge visual novel about a guy named fuminori who, after a brain surgery, sees the entire world and other people as a disgusting fleshy abomination, whereas everything looks normal to other people. for example this:

is a completely normal hallway. but it looks like that to him. then he meets a girl name saya, who is the only thing in the world that looks normal to him, and he falls in love with her

and i reeeally really dont wanna spoil it cause its really good and i highly recommend you go watch it (theres a full playthrough on youtube) but lets just say saya is Not as normal as she looks.

celeste is a game ive only played a little of, but i love it so far. its a platformer about a trans woman named madeline climbing celeste mountain, and encountering a personification of her self doubt that she has to overcome to get to the top. i lovee the style of the game its so pretty and way easier than i expected it to be, which is great for me because im garbage at every game in the world that isnt muse dash or disgaea

disgaea 4 and disgaea 5 are self explanatory. i ADORE d4, though im not super far into it, but i havent started d5 yet im waiting until i finish d1 and 4

phantom brave is a game set in the same universe as disgaea which crosses over with it, i havent played more than a few minutes of the game but obviously i love it so far cause its similar to disgaea. im waiting to jump fully into it until i finish d1 and d4 though

OFF is an rpg also recommended to me by a friend, i downloaded it online but havent touched it yet 😭 pro at owning games i dont play

omori is also very self explanatory. i downloaded it off my friends steam account and he and i have been playing it together, im not far in but obviously i like it, i knew i would. aubrey is sooo mecore <3 i really need to keep playing it... i should have gotten into omori sooner. actually no i take that back because i think 14 year old me getting into omori would have been so world-ending that it would have shattered my psyche

spore is spore. idk how to describe it. you make a fucked up little creature and you make the fucked up little creature do shit thats the whole game

undertale is also very self explanatory. and boom thats all my games :3 well i also have animal jam classic which didnt fit in the screenshot but theres not much to say about that. other than the fact that i own a super rare nonmember mantis pet and im proud of it. and my den fucks

okay thats more than enough yapping im sorry .. stop asking me questions because i do not know how to shut up. ily though thank you for asking :3c

[flowergirlmiwa]

Jet set radio the original one is my favorite video game ever. So I thought, why not give YOU 👊 some cool tips n tricks for the game!! In this one I'll talk about some general tips and run down the first level!! Im not a speedrun expert or true gamer champion im just a girl that thinks it's neat when the guy with the headpones goes 'nice! :)' and the dog busts a move

tip

You can play as Gum the entire game as she's the second best character. The best character in the game is Yo-Yo. Then after you unlock her near the end, you can use Piranha, who I'd consider roughly on Gum's level. Thankfully with the exception of Yo-Yo you are optimally playing as a cute girl the whole game. The reason why Gum/Yo-Yo/Piranha (among some secret characters) are so good is because of their graffiti stat. You get a higher score with your tags, so you don't need to trick as much to get a Jet ranked high score.

You have to become good at general movement, dashing and momentum. Is this what it's like to enjoy a Sonic game? I wouldn't know. My only tip for this is to be aware you're wearing rollerskates and to not play it like a Tony Hawk game

Get good at doing Gum's difficult(quote-unquote) graffiti motions, which are really just 180 circles that eventually feel like second nature. The player's ability to tag quickly and get ahead of the pigs is pivotal.

Optimize pathing around your 15 can limitation (Gum/Yo-Yo/Piranha are all confined to 15 cans maximum)

For stages where you tag the backs of rival gangs (known in JSRF as 'Tagger's Tag') you can play as Tab, Garam or any other character that can hold more than 15 cans.

SHIBUYA GG

This stage is obviously really easy and softly nudges the player toward its infinite grind even during the tutorials. You can do that to easily get a high score in the level and it's definitely not one of the harder infinite grinds in the game. My tips for this infinite grind are I guess to really get a feel for how your speed fluctuates and moves as your character jumps and when. It's something you figure out as you keep playing, but eventually you learn exactly when to adjust your speed just so to keep the infinite going.

Tags #1. The first three tags I always go for are the busses in the middle of the stage, the ones being tagged by Love Shockers as the stage begins. These tags are annoying to get to when there are police around, and for the introductory stages you aren't expected to deal with constant police presence from the beginning of the level. You can bump into the Love Shockers to get cans to do the sprays. If you're like me you then go ahead and start grabbing Graffiti Souls, particularly the ones under the overhang which you need the cars to access (they go away once the police enter the level).

Tags #2. The next tags are next to the busses, the taxi cars you tag in the tutorial to the game. It's better to get these earlier since they're on the ground floor where the police are.

Tags #3. Next we head to the grind rail that Gum wanted you to grind on in the tutorial. The tags here are easy to nab while grinding and lead you toward the next grind rail, which heads to the overhang, which leads to the rooftops you're going to next. So, you can grind all the way from here to the last tags in the level and see no cop the entire run.

Tags #4. Like I said, the only tags left in the level are the big ones on the rooftops. You can jump over here by grinding from the overhang or several over bus-terminal-roof methods, or you can jump up some cars, which puts you in range of Zenigata/Onishima

The first batch of levels are really easy especially when you know what you're doing so yeah. That's the path, like I said the rest of the points are up to how fast you can execute and/or the tricks you do, most of which will invariably involve the series of grinds that make up the infinite grind (including the Gum grind, overhang and doing a wall jump off a taxi rooftop advertisement). Once you get a hang of the infinite grind you can get a Jet on this level in your sleep.

[365days365movies]

Action January II: Captain Blood (1935)

Part One: By the Sword

Fun fact about me: I am a non-classically trained fencer.

By which I mean I went through formal training as a child (starting at 6 or 7), then continued it sporadically through my youth and college. Kept up with it a little after college, but I'm no longer a fencer. Still, it was a pretty prominent part of my life, and one of the more bougie facts about me (of which there are admittedly many; I am, for example, struggling to not type bourgeoisie). I look back on it fondly, but it's not for modern-day me.

Still, I've always had a soft spot for swashbucklers, especially in film. Sure, traditional épée fencing doesn't resemble your typical swashbuckling film fight, even a little bit. Usually, épée with the fencing gear is put in a movie or TV show to demonstrate that the character or establishment practicing it is high-class or rich. Instead, I suppose cinematic swashbuckling is more similar to sabre fencing, which has a larger target zone than épée fencing, and usually involves grander movements...but even then, I've never seen any sabre fencer swing from ropes and rafters like, well...

Zorro is a character that I've talked about before on this blog. I've also covered the swashbuckler briefly in that post, but let's get a little more comprehensive this time, shall we? Zorro is maybe the prototypical swashbuckler character, starting with Douglas Fairbanks' epic film The Mark of Zorro in 1920! Yeah, old as hell. He was daring, dashing, and debonair; dressed in black and fighting for justice to get the girl and save the day, armed with only a sword and his wit! The prototypical action hero! Throw in some great choreography and epic music, and voila! A swashbuckler! To put one together properly, we need:

A dashing hero, with devil-may-care attitude that fights for the moral right. If we're talking in DnD terms, you can call this person chaotic good alignment, usually. Swinging from the rafters, a sword in hand and often a smile on their face. And, of course, a romantic aim and goal.

Swordfighting. Kind of critical to the genre. Swashbucklers are films that use swordfights as the driver for the plot. While not every action sequence may involve a sword fight, the main hero is always either armed with their sword or looking for it. And then it's time for the climax, you better believe we've got a big-ass swordfight on our hands. The villain of the piece, at least one of them, should also have a sword in hand.

A sweeping score is a very typical piece of these films. Whether in the past or present, swashbuckling can't be done without an iconic leitmotif for the hero, and battle music times to the clashes of steel. Usually throw some brass or strings in there, and you have a swashbuckling score.

Now, of course, there are a lot of swashbucklers out there based on those definitions, and...yeah, there are a lot of swashbuckler films! While The Mark of Zorro is typically called the first swashbuckler, it's not the first film to involve narrative swordplay by any means. The Count of Monte Cristo (1908) is probably the first of those, but there are others like The Prisoner of Zenda or Kidnapped. You may also notice that some of the classic swashbucklers are based on classic literature, like those above, and like Cyrano de Bergerac, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Man in the Iron Mask, and the most prominent of these...

It's funny, for a character best known for his archery skills, Robin Hood gets into a lot of swordfights. Some of the most iconic filmed swordfights come from the emerald archer from Sherwood, and for good reason! There have been countless adaptations of the original stories, which are crazy cinematic, and they all take place in medieval England, during a time period where swords were predominant weaponry. Combine that with the fact that Robin Hood is, in many retellings, a nobleman who would've been trained in fencing, and you have a natural swashbuckler setup!

And honestly, Robin Hood is sort of the perfect swashbuckler. A morally good hero fighting against the evil establishment, for his friends, contrymen, and the woman he loves. Epic music, daring setpieces, classic fights, a lot of swingin' rafters...yeah, it's perfect. And again, one day, I'll talk about The Adventures of Robin Hood from 1938; one of my favorite action films, and my favorite adaptation of Robin Hood for sure.

But there's another type of swashbuckler that's just as iconic as those listed above, also involving a setting conducive to sword-based action, but often with heroes that are...a little more morally grey.

Pirate films are essentially a subgenre of the swashbuckler (yes, a subgenre of a subgenre of a subgenre), focusing on high-seas action rather than fighting in a hall or castle. The pirate film is a curious beast, appearing in film history in sporadic bursts, with no real period to call its own. They were popular from the '30s through the mid-'60s, had a tiny boom in the '80s, got badly nuked in the '90s, and then had another tiny boom in the '00s with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. They're always around, but never the first genre you'd think of when you think of action films.

Still, pirate films have an iconic feel to them all their own. The wind in your hair, the daring sword fights against a surly knave or an overzealous government stooge, depending on the nature of your morally dubious hero. Hell, maybe the hero has resorted to piracy after being wronged or lost at sea, and we're rooting for him and his lost honor. Either way, he's got an open shirt and a sword in his hand, and his crew are there to back him up (or betray him; again, depends on the narrative). You know a pirate film when you see one. And that's where I'm headed today: to the open seas with Captain Blood, starring an iconic action star of the 1930s and '40s. In fact, he's so iconic, almost every one of the above GIFs includes him.

Errol Flynn is undoubtedly a major film figure of his day. He's also got a fascinating and...sometimes troubling personal history, putting him up there with some of the great Australian film actors in cinema. But as much as I'd like to talk about Errol Flynn (and I probably will later), I'd like to finally jump into the film that made him famous: Captain Blood, a 1935 film directed by Michael Curtiz, another interesting figure with some...interesting history with Flynn. Again, more later.

Flynn was an unknown before this role, and immediately became an audience and studio favorite, essentially succeeding Douglas Fairbanks as a films and action star. Only 26 at time this film came out, Captain Blood was the beginning of an often turbulent career for Flynn, who would die at only 50 years old. Again, more on him later. And so, without further ado...SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

It's 1685 in England, and there's a rebellion happening! Known as the Monmouth Rebellion, it involved the deposition of James II, after succeeding his brother as king of England, which was contested by Parliament and Protestants, as James II was a Catholic king. Anyway, during the rebellion, Doctor Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) is summoned to aid a friend injured in a skirmish. A retired adventurer and swashbuckler in his own right, Blood is determined not to re-enter the...fight...

Is this Commando? Like, where a retired hero is forced to come back to fight for his country, and won't come back until a personal tragedy or offense is done to him? You know, like Commando? Just calling it now, before it happens.

As Blood is helping his friend, he's taken away and sentenced by Judge George Jeffreys (Leonard Mudie), who accuses him of being a liar and traitor to the crown, despite his complete innocence. Imprisoned and set amongst a group of similar prisoners for months, he attempts to defend himself on the stand, only to condemn himself even further beneath a biased kangaroo court. And for the record, Flynn immediately proves why he's so beloved at this time. He's an excellent actor in this scene, and I immediately sympathize with Peter Blood.

Meanwhile, King James II (Vernon Steele) is convinced by his advisor to send the convicts to the West Indies as slaves, as actual slaves are too expensive, and these guys are free of cost. So, yeah, British monarchy not looking too great. In any case, we set to sea for the first time, in the belly of an unrealistically humane slave ship. In Blood's words, the King was "granted their lives in exchange of an uncertain death". And with that, Blood and the convicts are sent o Port Royal, in Jamaica.

The convicts are set for sale (hate it), and most of them are sold to Colonel Bishop (Lionel Atwill) and his niece, Arabella (Olivia de Havilland). When she observes Blood's rebellious nature at being inspected like cattle, she decides to keep him from working in the mines on her own spoiled whims. Blood's not a fan, and the two immediately clash. Which, obviously, means they're gonna fall in love by the end. Come on, we know how this goes.

Blood's sent to work on the plantation with Bishop's other slaves, on a grinding mill that loves like it's ripped out of Conan the Barbarian. We see the indignity of slavery through...white slaves. Yeah, trying not to think about it, since this is a thing that happened, but it's tough. Anyway, our traitors are taught a lesson about treason, as an escapee is branded on his fucking face, and the prisoners all say how much they hate the fucking King. Great job, James, really fanning the flames of patriotism there.

Meanwhile, the uncaring and selfish governor, Steed (George Hassell) is complaining of gout, and is in need of a physician. Knowing of Blood's former profession, Arabella recommends him as Steed's physician, and is mostly elevated from the role of slavery, which seems...insanely easy. Irritatingly easy, even. But whatever; at least he hasn't forgotten his friends, his actual station, or the fact that Arabella bought him for 10 goddamn shillings! He's still understandably bitter about that.

However, he's in very good favor with the governor for relieving his gout, unlike the previous doctors Bronson (Hobart Cavanaugh) and Whacker (Donald Meek), who attempt to plot to get rid of the much more competent Blood. He puts them in their place, but begins a plot of his own. With the other slaves arrested for treason, he plans an escape attempt from Port Royal, with the help of friend (and the guy who got him in this mess to begin with, Jeremy Pitt (Ross Alexander). However, in the process, Colonel Bishop suspects some kind of plan, which is only circumvented with the help of Arabella. In the process, however, Pitt is captured and flogged for questioning.

While his friend is getting horribly whipped by the Colonel on the stockades, Blood and Arabella flirt (as expected), although a kiss from Blood is received poorly due to his status, leaving the encounter on a sour note. Peter goes back to care for the Governor before their escape that night, then finds Jeremy at the stockades and cares for him as well. He's caught by the Colonel showing mercy, and is about to share Jeremy's fate when a ship attacks the port.

This ship belongs to the Spanish, and the sailors aboard lay waste to the port. It's at this point that the slaves see an opportunity, and make their way to the ships. They take over the Spaniard's ship, and wait until the morning to take out the returning Spaniard captain and soldiers. With navigator Pitt and new gunner Henry Hagthorpe (Guy Kibbee), the new crew sets sale and escapes, under the purview of the new Captain Blood.

Colonel Bishop, like...like a fucking idiot, sails out on a rowboat to thank the men, not realizing it's his own slaves. And then, when he finds out, he still intends to keep them as slaves. THEY HAVE A SHIP, DUDE! You're fucked. Instead of killing him, which they consider, they toss him overboard, and Blood's crew sets sail for the Caribbean Sea, leaving Arabella behind. They abandon their citizenship, and officially become pirates.

The crew of Blood becomes famed and infamous across the seas, to the irritation of King James II himself. With Governor Steed having lost both money from the Spaniard assault, and being unable to reign in Blood in the first place, his appointment as Governor is given to Colonel Bishop, who swears to take care of Blood once and for all. Arabella is conflicted about this, but she's shipped off to England along with Governor Steed.

On Tortuga, Blood signs a deal with another captain, the French Levasseur (Basil Rathbone), and the two become partner pirates. Later on, Arabella finishes her extended holiday in England, traveling alongside Lord Willoughby (Henry Stephenson), who has been tasked to take out Captain Blood. On their journey, they see Levasseur's ship, which attacks them and takes the passengers hostage on a nearby island. They are soon joined by a surprised Peter Blood and his crew, who pretends not to know her.

Blood and Levasseur engage in an argument, as one of the articles of their contract was that no female prisoners would be taken. As a compromise, Blood pays for her ransom, both to save her and as payback for his purchase of her many years ago. This still enrages Levasseur, who wanted Arabella for himself, and he forgoes his honor to challenge Blood to a fencing duel. Fun fact, by the way: Basil Rathbone was an actual fencer, classically trained, and far better than anyone he ever fenced with on-screen, Flynn included. But, since he always played the role of a villain and cad, he was always forced to lose. And this fight is no exception.

Levasseur is killed by Blood...which is crazy, since he's Basil fucking Rathbone, and he was in this movie for maybe 5 minutes altogether as essentially a cameo, but...c'est la vie, et la mort. Arabella and Willoughby are brought on board, only for Arabella to angrily reject him. And yes, she's absolutely a goddamn hypocrite, but she's not fully unjustified. She puts Blood down as a beast like any other pirate (unfairly, of course), and Blood angrily rebukes her in turn. Even then, he plans to bring the two hostages back to Port Royal, where they are certain to die.

Willoughby and Arabella speak, where he convinces her that Blood's genuinely not a dick, and tells her that they're headed to Port Royal. At the same time, Blood's crew refuses to sail to Port Royal, officially acting in mutiny against Blood. And Blood...gracefully surrenders his command of the ship, admitting his affections for Arabella to be driving him against logic. And that ironically turns the crew back to Blood's command. I can't tell if that was a sign of their actual bond, or some straight gatekeeping-girlbossing-gaslighting from Blood, but...yeah, they're still going to Jamaica.

As they approach Port Royal, though, they find it being attacked by two French ships. Willoughby, finally being able to speak with Blood, informs him that France and England are at war. To their surprise, though, Governor Bishop isn't present, nor is the English fleet, since they're out chasing pirates. And so, the only ship to defend Port Royal against the French, is...well, Blood's.

It's then that Willoughby finally reveals his purpose for seeking Blood and his crew: the King has pardoned him. Obviously, they're not a fan of King James II given what he'd done to them, and refuse the offer. But then, Willoughby reveals the other political change: James II is out as King. With that knowledge, Blood and his men decide to fight for the English Navy, and for the new King William III.

Arabella is shuttled ashore, while the ship sails under a French flag to disguise themselves. They easily ambush the French ships attacking the Port, wrecking one and causing it to fucking explode. Honestly, it's pretty sick. The other ship mounts a harsher assault, and Blood's crew is forced to abandon ship. Instead, they simply take the French ship for themselves. And as the Captain swings over, you realize something: this is the prototypical pirate movie.

Yeah, OK, earlier films like The Black Pirate, as well as later ones like The Sea Hawk and Treasure Island, would be a major framework for pirate films in the future. But good goddamn, if this doesn't feel like a pirate movie, I don't know what does. The score is sweeping, the action is epic, and it's honestly just fun. And the most ironic thing is, this is happening at the point in the film when they aren't technically pirates anymore! Hilarious.

Anyway, Blood's crew wins the day for England, only for the Governor to finally return from his futile journey. Arabella, seeing Blood return and knowing her uncle's hatred of him, tries to warn him away while admitting her love to him. But to the surprise of her and her uncle, Bishop is officially deposed as Governor for abandoning his post in times of war to pursue his vendetta, even though he knew Willoughby was coming. He's at the mercy of the new Governor: Doctor Peter Blood. Honestly, it's funny as fuck. Blood bids him "Good morning, Uncle.", and the film comes to a close.

That's it for Captain Blood! Gonna do an old-fashioned review set-up and have a separate post for the Review! And that's because, while the review won't be terribly long...I would really like to talk about the man, the myth, the alcoholic legend himself, Errol Flynn.

See you in the Review!

[artzychic27]

What is going to happen in Scarlet Beetle Glitch?

It’s descision time for the Ultimate Mecha Strike tournament!

Students who want to compete will go up against the school’s best players, Marinette and Max

No one’s beaten them yet. Adrien came close to winning against Max, but… He lost

And he’s the last one, so no it looks like Marinette and Max will- Oh, shit, Austin B’s here

Not many expect much since Austin B’s never showed an interest in video games, but he ends up beating both of their scores and becomes Max’s partner in the tournament since he beat Marinette’s high score by one point

And Marinette… Takes her loss with grace as best as she can, but then some guys from another class start spewing some misogynistic nonsense about girls sucking at video games, and she crushes a joypad in her hand and storms out of the room

Well, like hell Nathaniel was gonna let those guys get away with saying that bullshit… Oh, and Marinette may be the Akuma to get the Miraculous, so there’s that, too

Glitch has all sorts of video game powers at her disposal… Well, all the ones that Nathaniel could think of, at least

For example, she can summon a barrel and throw it like Donkey Kong, spew fire like Bowser, spin dash like Sonic, and turn people into eyes by biting them like PacMan when she eats a glowing dot

Scarlet Beetle: *His eyes float right back over to a horrified Ikati Black before his entire body reforms* … What the fuck was that?! She just, she bit me, and my eyes- Th-they, oh, God!

Ikati Black: Are you okay?

Scarlet Beetle: I am NOT okay!

Her Akuma form is her in a pink and black version of Chun Li’s outfit with the gold designs looking like circuit board patterns

[boabelboo]

how many victors does district nine have in your opinion? also love every time i see you on my dash 💗

aa ur in my inbox? an absolute treat to wake up to!! and i love every time i see u on my dash, too 💚

so i think there are four, possibly five victors. i think if there were to be five the first d9 victor would have had to of won their games very early on (5th-6th games, they did say the farming districts had some advantage) and then die of their wounds obtained during their games, leaving no knowledge about them whatsoever.

now, the other four are my main ocs, here's a mini description of them all.

the "first" victor, anona ryan at age eighteen. she won the twentieth games, using her talent with acting to make the capitol audience fall for her and her proficiency with a pitchfork to eliminate her competition. she lied that her mother was from the capitol, and became a peacekeeper in nine. the truth was, her mother died in childbirth and she was raised by her reclusive but well-off father who brewed alcohol for a living. sadly, she is killed around the thirty-seventh games for badmouthing the capitol while drunk.

ceres miller won the fourty-seventh games at age seventeen. she grew up poor and with a bad relationship with her mother, so she wasn't exactly upset that she was reaped. the new capitol escort, vestis sylver, however saw ceres' potential. she was farm-strong and good with a crossbow so, after being pushed by vestis, she gets a training score of ten. she wins by using a similar tactic to katniss, both offensive and defensive.

angus flaxon won the fourty-eighth games at age eighteen. it was the only time ever for a non-career district to get a back-to-back win. vestis played a huge part in this, getting sponsors for angus and pushing him during his training, earning him a score of nine. ceres also knew angus, as they were from the same plain in nine and even went to the same school. angus wins by joining an anti-career pack made up of outer-district tributes, on the promise that if he joined they wouldn't kill maisie lynd, his fourteen-year-old district partner. after they are the last ones left, angus is the most agile and ends up scaling the tallest tree to seek refuge from the mutts, quite stunned after failing to save maisie. i believe, if he could've saved her, he would've let her win.

thérèse "thea" vaughn won the sixty-eighth games at age fifteen. after twenty years of loss, district nine's victors grew tired. thea was reaped alongside eighteen-year-old emory bledsoe, who she became great friends with during training. people didn't expect much of her, being from timber (the poorest part of nine) but she was actually quite strong and very talented with a warscythe. turns out, her and her cousin had been working illegally (on their own land, not connected to the industry) from the age of ten, building both physical strength and survival skills. her and emory allied during the games, but a particular career girl, echo kane, went rogue from the pack and began hunting anyone she saw fit. she remembered both thea and emory getting relatively high scores for an outer-district, so she went for them first and managed to kill emory. this left thea spiralling, but she had to keep moving on. it ended up being her and echo left, they had both scaled the same tree to get away from the mutts, and thea outsmarted echo by using rope and a hook to attach herself to the tree, surprising echo when she thought she had killed thea, and pushing her off of the tree.

okay this was rlly long lmao sorry for the infodump, but thank u so much for asking 💓

[ladylooch]

Letters in Your Last Name- Chapter 2

Visit the series page here.

Word Count: 3.0k

Warnings: None!

Avoiding Kevin Fiala has proven to be a big problem considering his close involvement with my brother and their team. I swear, I’m doing my best, but the guy seems to be everywhere! Every hallway, every parking area, every family lounge. It’s like he’s casually hovering around, tempting and taunting me to dip my feet into the warm, delicious pool of his brown eyes.

We are attending the annual Strike It Wild event that benefits the Minnesota Wild Foundation as well as the local children’s hospital. I’m here with Alex, Felicia and the kids, helping wrangle both Sawyer and Serena while their parents tend to their community service work. I always love attending events like these and interacting with the Wild fans. It’s an event filled with good purpose, good trash talking, and now, good looking hockey players.

Kevin is at a lane two down from us with Ryan Hartman, Jason Zucker, and Ryan Donato, who is also new to the team via a trade. They boys are laughing with a couple fans in their red and black bowling shirts, handing out autographs and smiling for pictures as requested. My eyes linger on Kevin, smiling as he hands a little girl back her jersey after her mom snapped a few pictures. He laughs at something the little girl says and his eyes slide my direction. Our eyes hold, the electricity pulsing between us like it did a week ago in my brother’s kitchen. His smile gets larger and he waves a hand in my direction. I give my head a slight nod in acknowledgement back. That is friendly but not too friendly right?

“Auntie Sam! It’s your turn!” Sawyer yells at me, exasperated at my inattention to the game. I pull my gaze from Kevin’s and glance at the screen. I’m going to need a Hail Mary if I’m going to come back from all the gutters I rolled the first two frames.

“Shit.” I mutter under my breath as my latest attempt skipped its way right into the gutter. Bowling clearly is not my calling in life.

“You’re not very good at this.” Sawyer points out to me. I let out an offended scoff.

“Hey! I don’t get bumpers like you two.” I insist to him.

“Sawyer, be kind to your auntie. She didn’t get the gift of athletics in this family.” Alex gives me a grin as he approaches, taking a break from talking to fans to check on us.

“Um, pretty sure both of us were all-conference in high school. Unlike our older brother.” I roll my eyes at him. I played hockey through high school and was considered to be one of the best in our program. I had a couple offers to join division III schools, but my heart wanted to be a Gopher and I certainly wasn’t good enough to play on the power house team at the U. “So if anyone is missing the athletic promise it’s him.”

“True, I guess you just suck at bowling.” Alex shrugs, looking over his kids. “Serena, eat some more of your dinner.” He points to her Kraft Mac and Cheese. Serena glowers at him and picks up her spoon, taking a bite of a single noodle. “Lord help me.” Alex mutters under his breath to me.

“Are you going to be here for a minute? I need to run to the bathroom.” I tell him

“Yeah, go ahead.” Alex waves me away and takes my seat with his kids.

I grab a sip of my water then make my way down to the bathroom, which just so happens to be by a certain, new member of the Wild team. As I walk, I can feel his eyes on me and a small smile tilts my lips. When I come out of the bathroom a few minutes later, I’m not surprised to see that Kevin has gravitated up to the area above the bowling alleys, casually leaning against the counter with a glass of water in front of him. I can’t help myself as I walk closer to him. There is this feeling of almost a gravitational pull to him. Even if I wanted to walk by him, I couldn’t. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself is the case.

“Woof. You should stick to hockey.” I laugh as I get closer to Kevin where I can see his score. It’s the 8th frame and he has more dashes than numbers.

“Hey, I’m working on a new spin with the ball.” He objects to my comment.

“It’s not working.” I tell him honestly, running my teeth over my bottom lip.

“Okay. What’s your score down there, bowling champ?” He asks, nodding his head in the direction of our lane.

“I am not a professional athlete.” I insist, hoping he can’t see my score from here.

“Uh huh.” He responds, scrunching his nose at me while nodding. “You know what they say about glass houses.”

“They bowl strikes?” I ask, tilting my head at him with a wide grin. I know I’m flirting with him and I should definitely stop, but I can’t help myself. He calls me to him and flirting is just the natural reaction to this feeling.

“Kev, it’s your turn.” Ryan Hartman tells him, motioning for Kevin to grab a ball and bowl his turn.

“I should get back anyway.” I say, stepping backwards towards where Alex is watching us.

“You’re intimidated. I get it.” He shrugs innocently at me.

“Hardly, FiFi.” I tease him before turning around. My eyes meet my brother’s briefly before darting away quickly. I internally insist that I’m not guilty of anything, but the back of my neck tightens as I rejoin the family.

“Sam.” Alex says in a warning tone.

“What? I’m not allowed to talk to him?” I ask, rolling my eyes. “You’re such a butt.”

“I have no problem with you talking to him.” He bends closer to me and says in a low voice so only I can hear him. Felicia watches us as she secures the lid to Serena’s water bottle. She looks a bit amused and I furrow my brows at her. “What you were doing was not just talking. Next time, don’t flip your hair and bat your lashes at him and maybe I won’t notice.”

“Why are you so obsessed with me?” I glare at him.

“Why can’t you listen and do what’s good for you?” He shoots back . He straightens and walks to the table where Sawyer is, giving his son a loving rub on his head before greeting a group of fans that approach from the left. I watch as Alex grins warmly, giving the little boy in the group a high five. I cross my arms tightly across my chest and huff out an angry sigh. Felicia lets out a low chuckle.

“This will be fun.” She announces, saluting her beer in my direction. “He is pretty hot.” She points the top of the bottle in Kevin’s direction. “And he hasn’t stopped watching you since you got here.”

“I’m not biting at that.” I insist, turning away from her and glancing at the direction of the bar. I need a damn drink.

“Sure you’re not.” She nods her head sarcastically at me.

“You and Alex are perfect together.” I say snidely.

“Hey, I’m on your side.” She insists.

“Well, can you get him on my side?” I ask her, “Because that man is something fiercely fine and I think I deserve a little bit of Swiss chocolate in my life.” She tilts her head back and lets out a hearty laugh.

“Some rich, Swiss chocolate.” We giggle together.

“He could be poor as dirt and I’d still sit on that face.” My voice has gotten low so the kids don’t hear, not that they would understand anyway.

“Amen.” She toasts to me with her beer, reminding me that I still need that damn drink. “As for your brother, you know he is a free spirit. I’m sure he would get over it if things were to happen by accident.” She shrugs her shoulders innocently.

“I’ll be back. Let Alex know I’ll be at the bar if he still wants to stalk me.”

I glide up the stairs and back across the bowling alley where the bar is located. I glance briefly in Kevin’s direction, where it’s his turn to bowl. I watch as he winds up and releases the ball where it instantly spins tightly to the right and into the gutter. I can hear Ryan’s laugh meet my ears as the boys heckle him in response. I grab a seat at the bar so the bartender can see me. I tell her I’d like a Vodka soda, heavy on the vodka. She grins knowingly and walks away to fulfill my request. In a minute, she places the drink in front of me along with the bill. I reach for my purse, searching through for my wallet. As I pull it out, a hand with a $20 bill extends in front of me, sliding that and the white paper across the bar.

“Keep the change.” Kevin tells her. She gives him a big smile and a wink in response before she is off to her next customer. “So, what’s your drink of choice?” He tilts his head as he studies me, just like he did the night we first met.

“Vodka soda. But heavy on the vodka.”

“Wow, that accent.” Kevin laughs at the hard O in Soda.

“You’re one to talk!” I laugh, shoving at his shoulder instinctively. My hand tingles from the warmth of his body and I curl my fingers tightly together to hold onto the feeling for a moment longer.

“I have an excuse. English is not my first language. Not sure what yours is.” He smirks as he sits in the seat next to me. It takes everything in me to not look around in guilt to see if Alex is actually watching me like I said to Felicia.

“I blame… my parents.” I shrug with a laugh. “They choose to live here with the heavily accented vowels.”

“I will give that to you, but only because I like you.” The way he says it has this weight and confidence to it.

“How can you like me? You don’t even know me.” I tell him, glancing over my shoulder and noting Alex is nowhere to be seen.

“We should change that.”

“Not interested.” I shrug

“That’s a lie.” He calls me out immediately.

“How would you know?”

“Because you’re still here talking with me when there’s a whole group of people you should be getting back to.” I stare at him silently, contemplating his words. I surrender with a nod and stir my drink slowly.

“How are you liking Minnesota so far?” I ask, changing the subject from what I want or what he likes.

“It’s good- a lot colder than Nashville. It reminds me of being back in Sweden.”

“I like that we have such a cold winter. It allows us to truly appreciate the other seasons we have. And it makes us tough.”

“I believe that.” He laughs. The waitress comes back over and asks if Kevin wants anything. He graciously requests a water. He doesn’t speak again until she has placed his glass there and left again. “So, maybe you can help me. We have a couple days off this next week and I need recommendations of things I can do. I want to get out and explore more.”

“Okay.. well are you going out places by yourself or with someone else?” I wonder.

“Hopefully with someone else.” He stares into my eyes without pause. “Where should I take a Minnesotan to impress them?” I turn away as a slight blush dusts my cheeks. Good lord, I don’t know how much longer I can hold him off. I should really get back to our lane.

“Okay… Um. Well, you definitely do not want to take them to the Mall of America.”

“Why not? Isn’t it one of the largest malls in the world?”

“Yeah. Except Minnesotans don’t go there by choice. They only go there when people from out of town are visiting.”

“Okay, not the mall. What else?”

“You could go to a Minnesota Gopher hockey game. That’s our largest University in the state. They’re good.”

“Is that where Alex played?” He asks, noting that Alex regularly wears Maroon and Gold hockey clothing.

“No.. well, the two schools are connected. Down here, it’s the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities. Alex played at the University of Minnesota- Duluth. It’s an extension of the greater University channel. But, please ask him that when you see him next. He will go into a twenty minute tirade of why the Bulldogs are better than the Gophers. He’s wrong.” I shrug.

“I sense that you were a Gopher.” He gives me a grin. “I think a Bulldog sounds tougher than a rodent?”

“Watch yourself, Fiala.” I warn him. He holds his hands up in surrender.

“A game might be fun. But for a first date it might be better if it’s more intimate.”

“Kevin.” I say warningly. His smile turns smug and he leans in a bit closer to me.

“I’m thinking a restaurant would be best. What is your favorite kind of food, ya Minnesotan?”

“Um, the good kind.” I shrug. “I’m not super picky. I won’t eat chicken feet or anything, but trying new things is fun.”

“Okay, what is the typical meal like here? In Nashville it was fried chicken, spice, and Macaroni and cheese.”

“We have those things here too. In the winter, Chicken Wild Rice Soup is popular. Or anything that involves throwing a bunch of ingredients into a casserole dish and calling it a Hot Dish.”

“What?” He asks, his nose scrunching in confusion.

“Trust me. It’s good. I make a really good Tater Tot Hot Dish.”

“Are you joking with me?” He asks. “That can’t be a real thing?”

“Yes! It absolutely is! I’ll make it for you and-” I cut myself off and remember the warning of Alex. Here I am, blatantly forgetting about what my brother said at an event that said brother is at.

“I’d like that.” His voice has turned into a murmur and he seemingly isn’t noticing this internal battle within me. When he says that, I realize that I want that to. I want to stay here. I want to keep this sarcastic battle of wit going between us. He compels and flatters me unlike anyone else.

“Oh! I know! Have you had a Juicy Lucy yet?” I ask him excitedly. He shakes his head no. “You need to try it! It’s a hamburger stuffed with melted cheese. It was created here in Minnesota. There are two restaurants that fight over who created it first and you’ll have to try them both to help us Minnesotans decide which one is truly the best. Matt’s Bar and 5-8 Club. Both are relatively close to the X.”

“That does sound pretty good. We should go together though. An outsider like me should be shown around properly by a local.” He smirks at me.

“I’m sure one of the other Minnesota players on the team would take you.” I say, breaking eye contact and glancing at the bowling lanes behind him.

“I’m not interested in going with them.” He tells me straight up. “Come on, I promise I keep my hands to myself on the first date.”

“Yeah, you look like a guy who does.” He shakes his head, laughing and folding his hands together.

“How about for you I will? Since you’re my teammates’ sister. All bets are off for the second date though.”

“Oh, there is already a second date?” I joke with him, rubbing at the condensation on my glass.

“Well yeah, we can’t eat two cheese stuffed burgers in one night. Or maybe you can.” He shrugs. “We can eat salads for our third date though to make up for the other two.” I giggle at his forwardness.

I take in his features and feel the buzzing of the connection between us. The conversation is free and easy. I’m reminded why I was so pulled to him the first night we met; I’ve never felt like this before. I’ve never felt an instant connection to someone I barely know. What I do know for sure is that I want to keep having this feeling. The buzzing and intoxication of his eyes on me has me drunk on lust.

“Okay.” I finally say, trying to control my face so it doesn’t break into a huge smile. “I’m free tomorrow night.” I tell him, knowing that Alex and Felicia will be out on their annual stay over, date night in Stillwater. The Stalock kids will be at my parents for a sleepover. The coast should be clear for us. "But only if we agree this is a friend showing a friend around his new city. We are… friend dating.” I finish confidently like I’m not secretly hoping he will end up in my pants.

“Is there such a thing?” He tilts his head in response.

“Definitely.” I insist.

“Hmm, okay. Well, we can pretend it’s a just friends thing if that’s what you need to do.”

“Wow, you are just so confident that I’m into you, Mr. 2nd and 3rd date guy.” I give him an incredulous look, watching as he grabs my unlocked phone from the bar, navigating to contacts and typing in his number for me. I watch as he opens a new message and sends the purple, smiley devil emoji to me before sliding the phone back across the bar to me.

“Aren’t you?” He challenges me playfully. His face is so close that I could easily reach out and pull him in. His smile is easy, his brown eyes glinting with mischief. The defined lines of his jaw tempt me to place my lips there just to see what he tastes like.

“Depends.” I respond casually, angling my head and narrowing my eyes slightly. “On what burger place you like best.” I finish with a coy smile. He leans in even closer, to the point that if I leaned forward a few inches, our lips would rest perfectly together. His eyes drop to my lips for a moment before his lips tilt into his ever present smirk.

“I’ll pick you up at 7.”

[warwickroyals]

Back at you! Happy December! What were your favourite moments of 2022 on simblr? They can be from your blog or someone else’s <3

What a good question! Here are just a few of my favourite things from 2022. Let's do one for each month!

January - This Render I made of Nick/Coraline

February - The Black Girl Magic render I did with sims from @thebaillieroyals, @bridgeportbritt, @renaldiroyals @royalhouseofcarrington and @ardeney-sims!

March - The royal discord server's portrait collab, I had so much fun being able to submit and portrait and see all the hard work that went into it

April - @thegrimalldis's story quiz where I managed to score really, really high + the entire Eleanor wedding fakeout!

May - Seeing people's take on the Met Gala theme, especially @nexility-sims

June - Getting back into making and releasing CC

July - Red Reckonding Mina teaser + @melonsloth's Ayanna Set

August - Finishing Phillip's solo arc after 9 months + @funkyllama's The Way We Were

September - Starting the third chapter of my story after so much personal anticipation

October - The entire atmosphere of this post, ever fun to work on!

November - You, @trentonsimblr, sending asks to me and so many others in the community

December - Making more CC, reaching my two years milestone, and seeing @thevalencianroyals's story posts on my dash again!

I can't believe what an eventful year it has been! I can't wait to see what 2023 brings. I also discovered so many amazing stories from @the-lancasters @theroyalthrones @houseoflennoxx and so many more. So thank, you all <3

[totisviribus]

Sometimes I talk to Who I Could Have Been. She visits unannounced, abruptly. She’s wearing a scarf over her beautiful hair like Audrey Hepburn and big sunglasses, which she takes off slowly as she surveys me with sharp, feline eyes, liner flicked immaculately. Her clothes are wrinkle free and feminine, her coat season-appropriate.

“Same old, same old with you, hmm?” she says to me.

I’m sitting on my living room floor, painting on a canvas and do not initially notice that I’m also painting the white carpet green. This is a rental. I’m wearing the same pajamas I’ve worn for two days, teeth unbrushed and finger nails dirty. I’ve got paint on my hair and on the cat. Dishes are piled high in the sink, my car is on the street with a parking ticket on the dash, and I haven’t seen my bedroom floor in so many months that I forget it’s hard wood. I’m late for dinner with my parents but I won’t notice that for another hour, when my mom will call and tiredly tell me “it’s too late to make the drive now.”

I don’t notice any of these things. I just found an audio book that I listen to on 1.75x speed. I forgot about all the wonderful paints and markers I have, finding them has returned a spark to me. I spent so much money on them, once. I forgot how nice it is to sit on the floor the way I did in elementary school before anyone realized I was a nightmare for a teacher and an irritant to my parents. While they still thought me talking nonstop was charming. While my messy desk went unnoticed and I’d never cried in a school bathroom. I should always sit in the floor, I think. It feels better down here.

Who I Could Have Been is annoyed. She can’t put her briefcase down anywhere, the coffee table is covered in mail and newspapers. Newspapers I should have put under the canvas. She goes down the list of her accomplishments to me, her law degree, how smart she was with her money, how clean her house is, how high her credit score is, how her life is manicured and set and smart. How she flew through school like a bird heading south. How she never failed a class or has been late to work or cried about bugs eating all of the food she forgot about in the fridge. Mom likes spending time with her. She has friends. She eats 3 meals a day.

But she’s never had to tape shredded joy together the way that I have. My story was tossed carelessly into that unfeeling machine, once. But I’ve fished out every ribbon, and taped it carefully, little by little with care and patience. And the picture is coming back into focus. She doesn’t know what this trivial piecing together of myself means. She sees a failed girl fiddling with a hopeless task.

She has her arms folded, waiting for my response, glaring at the layer of dust on my TV. I say to her, my voice full of peace it seldom can hold on to: “I forgot we had so many paints.” And I smile.

[sailor-toni]

Danny Fenton Football Captain and the East Coast Vampire

Chapter 8: To Bloom Madly

You can read the entire fic on A03, FF.net, or Wattpad.

Two weeks had passed since the old playground was set ablaze, and time moved like a spinning top. Danny hasn’t seen any ghosts since the attack and it let him focus on other things, like Valerie. Last week they had a library date where she helped him catch up on homework, and he did everything he could to distract her. Her laughter rang in his ears like a melody, creating a small fire in his chest. The feeling carried him through his classes, and football practice, and even now in a game he couldn’t stop trying to look to the bleachers to see her cheering him on. 

    Tonight’s game was the Casper High Ravens versus the Pineville Cyclones. The Raven’s red and white uniforms stood against the black and gold of the Cyclones with a vigor that did not match the score. Ravens 5,  Cyclones 1. It was the fourth quarter and the Cyclones were on the defensive, their boys trying to create pinch points to trap Danny in, but Dash had slipped behind the line, his arms waving for the ball. Danny threw it at him, before he was grabbed at the waist and yanked down. The crowd screamed when Dash got to the end goal. 

    Danny got up and high fived Dash, the two quickly falling into formation. At the whistle the ball was off and Danny caught it, running down the field and jumping over the other players who threw themselves at him. He threw the ball to Brian, who then threw it to Dash and then it was back to Danny. He could see the goal line when something caught his eye. Above him were three green birds. Each was larger than any normal vulture and on their heads were red fezs. Danny was baffled at what he saw before him. Until he was tackled into the field. The referee blew his whistle as three more guys stacked on top of him. The crowd's reaction was sour to that, many hissing in pain as more players landed on Danny. 

    The Ravens won but Danny was not so lucky. 

“You okay Cap, or did you get lost in the stars .” Brian burst in laughter. 

“Maybe he was too busy looking at his new girl,” Tyrone mocked. 

“Aww, our sweet Captain, his mind and heart stolen from us by a fair maiden,” Brian threw the towel of her his head and began to make kissing faces.  

“Cut it out, man. I just spaced out for a moment,” Danny said. 

“Oh Captain, oh Captain, it is I Miss. Valerie Gray, look at me and all my muscles and ass,” Brain danced around the locker room, blowing kisses at Danny. 

Danny rolled his eyes and twisted his towel and whipped it at Brian’s ass. A very unmanely eep! Came out of his mouth. The whole team burst into laughter.

“Bro what was that?” Tyrone said. 

“That hurt! What the hell Cap!” 

“Talk shit, get shit Brian,” Danny said. “Anyways I have to go, see your virgins later.” 

“Bye Cap!”

    Danny quickly texted Kwan. 

SpaceGhostDanny: I saw some ghost during the game. I’m gonna go see if I can find them. I'll text you what I find. 

OneSunnyBoy: Do you need backup? 

SpaceGhostDanny: I don’t think so, it was just three birds. I should be fine. 

    He transformed and took off into the sky. Amity Park was in it’s full fall regalia. Jack O Lanterns decorated doorsteps, and autumn leaves wrapped themselves around the lamp posts. The air was becoming colder and he could see his breath even when there wasn’t a ghost around. Up in the night air it was quiet, and peaceful. 

    On the old clock tower sat the three large vultures. Each one had the heads of old men attached to their bird necks. The oldest one wore a pair of round glasses on his face. His green wings moved the golden tassel out of the way of his face, as he examined a paper map. 

“You don’t know where you are going!” The smallest one cried. 

“Shut up! I know exactly where we are going!”

“If you did then we wouldn’t be flying around for hours. Look, there is a kid up ahead. Ask him for directions.”

“No, I got it! I got it! I got it!” The three took flight and soared over the town. Danny followed them. The three vultures phased through a city bus, perching on the back seats. The few people on the bus didn’t take any notice. The Man on the bus was reading a paper that read: Serial arsonist in Amity Park? While a woman sat near the front scrolling through her phone. 

“Now, if we look at the map, we have to go north, or maybe south.” The oldest bird mumbled to himself. 

“Just admit you don’t know where you are going.” The smallest screamed. 

“Do you guys need help?” Danny asked. 

“See, you got this lad here who is willing to help us, ask him!” 

“Fine, I’ll ask him if it gets you to shut up. Hey Kid, do you know where these folks are? Our Master asked us to umm make them sleep with the fishes. If you know what I mean kid.” Danny took the photo from the bird. It was ripped leaving only two figures left in the frame. It was his parents, but they were much younger and had more hair. His father was still wearing that dumb custom orange hazmat suit, but his mom was in normal clothes. A pink tank top on top of a blue tank top, jeans, and a lab coat. 

“These are my parents. Why do you have a photo of my parents?” Danny said. 

“See I told you he can help us.” The smaller one said. 

“Ugh I’ll never hear the end of it. Boy can you tell us where they are?” 

“No! That’s my parents,” Danny said. 

“See Gerald? This is what happens when I listen to you,” 

    Danny phased through the bus and took off into the air. The birds were soon to follow.

“We can just rough him up to get the information,” Gerald said. The birds began to swoop around him, using their beaks as swords to cut through his body. Danny dogged the bird and grabbed the neck of the second. Using it as a bat to attack the other two. After a few beating Danny grabbed all of them by the neck and sent them flying into the  night. 

“And stay out!” Danny said. 

    Danny’s home was a large brick town house on the corner of gaudy and trash. His parents had modified the town house to have a large neon sign that read Fenton works and on top of the building they built a large metallic command center that stuck out like a sore thumb. There had been several petitions throughout the years to get rid of it, but his parents refused. Danny never went up there and even he didn't know what the ugly thing was for. 

    Inside the house, everything was decorated in a retro futuristic style, with hanging modern lights and round armless couches. His parents sat in the living room watching the nightly news. 

“Hey Danny, you’re home late,” His mom said. 

“Yeah, I had a game tonight,” Danny said. He shoved the picture into his back pocket. 

“Was that today? Oh I’m sorry Danny, I thought it was tomorrow,” His Dad said. 

“It’s okay. I have another one next month,” Danny said, waving goodnight.

[h-pelessly]

July Reads

The Coworker by Freida Mcfadden (8/10) The beginning was slow. I'm not going to completely lie, but the book threw me for multiple loops. First off, I thought Natalie, FMC, was a good person, but turns out, she's a bully? Like who would've thunk. But then all her actions showed me that she might've killed Dawn, the other FMC, but like she didn't remember anything. So I was like eh, but bullying in a workplace. What are we-- 5? PLUS, it was painfully obvious that Dawn has autism and it sucked hearing about how people treat her. It was also weird that she had an unhealthy obsession with turtles. Like I get the similarities of how she feels vs turtles behave, but like gd girl this obsession is so weird. Then Natalie kept acting like Dawn's death had no significance so I was like though she doesn't remember, she suddenly did it. Then it turns out Dawn isn't dead. THEN, CALEB, NATALIE'S "BOYFRIEND" KISSED AND MADE LOVE TO DAWN. I was so confused like this honestly bumped the rating up. Jeez. Then Dawn wants to kill herself to get Natalie in jail. Like dude, that's intense. Anyway, the cliffhanger or the "peak" was that Dawn killed a friend of Natalie's from high school that aided in her best friend's suicide. I still don't think that part was realistic, but this book was pretty good.

Not a Peep by MT Addams (8/10) This was a dark bully romance. The first bully romance book I didn't like that much because the FMC was kinda annoying. But this one, I liked it because she was so much more mature. Like she wasn't stupid and didn't try fighting back knowing nothing will change. I didn't expect the MMM attraction/love story, but I liked it. It made sense as how the three guys were so close. Also, the guys were attractive unlike the ifrst one I read. Although, I would lowkey want to continue to read the other one. And it was HOT. Love it, but at the end, although it was a HFN, I didn't feel led on. The second book feels like a second story and not a continuation. I enjoyed this book more because for some odd reason, I was able to differentiate fantasy/fiction from reality, and when I did that, it made me enjoy the book more. So I'm glad I liked this book sm. I feel bad that I won't be indulging in the second book, but it is what it is. At least they all got engaged at the end.

Scoring the Player by Rebecca Jenshak (8/10) This book was cute and in my personal opinion, non-toxic. I love Rebecca Jenshak's books, and I love the fact that Dahlia is such a non-toxic, mellow girl. I didn't relate to her bc she was a golf girlie, but the fact that this is her first relationship and she doesn't know what to do but isn't freaking out or overthinking makes me want to hug her. Felix is such a sweetie for "taking Dahlia under his wing" to protect her. Along the way, they fell in love, and it was cute. When they "broke up", I was sad, but Dahlia made me realize what a strong woman is. I'm so excited to finish the series.

The Draft by Ana Shay (6.95/10) Lowkey disappointed at how this was. It had all my favorite tropes, but the FMC was actually insufferable. Like babygirl needs to be humbled. I get that she's young and excited to be in college and live the college life, but like why do you push yourself on people? Not only did she push herself on her brother's team, which is understandable honestly, she forced Dash to admit his feelings. And the whole time they were messing around, the misunderstanding was insane and how they both immediately went to extreme circumstances gave me the ick. When Madison misunderstood, she went to the extremes to make Dash jealous like girl grow up and keep your petty feelings to yourself. And Dash being called Dash sarcastically bc he's slow? Bro, that gave me the ick. Idk, there were some good parts though. They were cute together but a part, no. They will not last in the long term.

The Graham Effect (7/10) I enjoyed this one, but I don't think about it often. Gigi Graham is a GRAHAM so I thought I would be obsessed, but I was not. It's just weird seeing Garrett as a dad and just so not understanding, but also, Gigi being all grown up and needing a FWB. I get the connection, but I felt like it was just forced proximity and didn't feel the chemistry as strongly as I thought it would be. Maybe it's just because following up with Garrett and Hannah would be very hard. And how they got married???? I'm like... bro? Idk I didn't feel the connection as much which disappointed me.

Love, Within Reason by Everalda Ocampo (7.5/10) I got this as an ARC read a while ago and never got around to it. Though I'm glad I got to it now. I honestly thought this one was cute. I didn't like Mari, the FMC, at first, which is already a bad sign, but as the story progressed, I thought she was very understandable and her opinions were valid. I thought the close family dynamic was very fun and although very annoying at times, it gave a sense of closeness for me. I liked how fun Marcos, the MMC, was. He was a juxtaposition of Mari and I thought they were super cute together. This was a quick, cute read. Too bad it was very fast paced, but it made sense. It was a perfect in between book.

The Road Less Traveled By by Emily Tudor (8.5/10) I got this as an ARC and lemme tell you how proud I am of Emily and her writing. It seems like she grew into her writing and oh my god I love it. I don't know too much about Taylor Swift and how this book is an album or song or whatever, but this book was chef's kiss. It follows a social media influencer x bodyguard, and it opened my eyes to bodyguards, honestly. I didn't see the appeal in Vince, the MMC, but I am so in love with both of them together. I felt the love radiating from my screen and it made me melt. It was wholesome. I am in absolute love with Bree, the FMC. She had a stalker and now that he's out again, she needs a bodyguard with her. Vince has been her bodyguard before and he came back for her. Okay, first off, swoon. Just the way Bree slowly reclaims herself and Vince watching her proudly just makes me swoon. It's a slow burn, but the spice? JEEEZ. I love u Bree and Emily.

Hooked by Emily McIntire (6.6/10) This was my first step into a real dark romance and let me tell you, I was underwhelmed. Maybe it was just the book, but I was like.... That's it? I get it, it's forbidden and there's unaliving aspects and stuff, but I have read heavier shit. AND, it's also a Peter Pan/Captain Hook retelling so it's also my first in that. I don't know what to say. I was super underwhelmed and didn't care for any of the characters whatsoever. Like it wasn't bad, but it was cringy. And what do you mean she gets off by choking HERSELF? Okay... Anyways...

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (9/10) This was one of my thrifted books so I went into this blindly. Based on the blurb, I was hooked, but I didn't fully know like the tropes and all that. Honestly, reading the back, it seemed like I was about to read The Hating Game over, which isn't bad, but it's just like a book I liked when I first started reading. I don't know if I'd fully love it now. But this one, oh my god. I HAD TO FINISH IT. There were some dumb parts like why Olive, the fmc, just didn't acknowledge her boss on the honeymoon like when they meet in the office, she could've been like 'oh, that was my twin sister.' I get that's why Ethan and Olive get together, but also like that part pissed me off how she was fired for lying off the job. I wanted Ethan to grovel more, but their love story was honestly so cute. I couldn't stop giggling and kicking my feet tbh.

[distant-screaming]

it’s been a minute but hi dee!! how about top 5 qls? (also i adore all your nlmg metas on my dash) <33

omg hey hi sufa so wonderful to see you in my notifs again, best sleepover ever <333!! awww thank you sm giggling and kicking my feet 🎀

as much as I am constantly and consistently insane about things, I don't have a huge list of shows that are 10/10 for me, so to speak? still here's a list of 5 of my fave qls which rank really really high on my list (I have more, of course, because I'm just a lil guy full of love)!

Eternal Yesterday

my most recently watched show on this list, and my GOD am I insane about it!! this soft little jbl fills me with so much emotion I start vibrating at incredibly high frequencies if I think about it too much <3 this is one of the only shows I've ever given an actual 10/10 ranking - I don't think there's anything about it that would've been better different. I love it and absolutely recommend it to everyone but also - it's sad! so watch out!

My School President

can't have a top five list without the show of all time! msp means a lot to me because it's the first ql where I actively participated in the fandom, but also objectively it's a fantastic show with wonderful characters and a super enjoyable storyline. silly little guys...

Kamisama no Ekohiiki

jbl number two!! what can I say, your girl loves soft dramatic little guys :) kamisama no ekohiiki is truly a ql in the sense that it can't really be classified as a bl, but it's definitely super queer. it's so interesting and uses the trope of body switching (one I usually really dislike) SO well - it also has one of my fave girlies of all time, torii rin <3 this one too I think is a full 10/10, there's nothing I would change about it and I highly recommend!!

Never Let Me Go

oh man. predictable as always huh. well what can I say, I am a complicated tragic realism enjoyer first and foremost, and no one does it like palmnueng!! guys of alllll time, I think about them constantly, they deserve the world. also, we need more mafia and bodyguard bls okay, the 'I would die for you (literally)' is soooo delicious. that said, nlmg for sure has its flaws, so I don't think I'd give it a full ten stars, but it's so incredibly good and its flaws only make it more endearing to me 😌 who up thinking about soft silly angsty little gayboys.........

The Eclipse

last but definitely in no way least, the show of all time!! eclipse holds a super special place in my heart and not just because firstkhao are in it - it's such a beautiful show with some really interesting and three dimensional characters. it's so good it singlehandedly got me back into fic writing so. you get what I mean. the eclipse has its ups (like, most of it) and downs (a few things here and there), but overall scores a really high score on my list! if nothing else the yearning is just. absolutely delicious no notes