#I’ve bought the tickets for the convention I’ll be wearing this at! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rocksandrobots · 3 years ago

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Phantoms of the Past: Ch. 10 - Family, Friends, and Feuds

Varian finished dumping the last of the damaged parts into the trash bin. He paused in his clean up and took an assessment of his lab.

He would have to replace both the computer and the controls. The frame of the portal itself could probably be patched up, though. He'll most certainly need new wires however.

Varian was just deciding if he needed to replace the generator or not when he heard a voice behind him.

"Hi there pal."

Varian turned around and saw Richardson Mole standing in the doorway.

"Mole? What are you doing here?"

"I had my chauffeur drop me off. I figured we could get lunch together and decide what costumes we're going to wear to the Professor What convention."

"Professor Wha-? Oh! oh, oh, the convention... I'm sorry Mole, I completely forgot about that... ummm... I've been really busy lately.... What is a convention anyways?"

"Only the best thing ever!" Mole enthused. "It's when like minded people gather together for a three day party. There's costume contests, games, rare collector items, celebrity meet and greets, oh, oh, and Ann Toyota, Sue's actress, is going to be there this year! We can get autographs!"

"Ah, gee, that does sound fun, but I don't know if I'll have the tim-"

"Ooooo, and I didn't even mention the best part." Mole interjected. "I got us exclusive VIP passes for the temporary props museum. The EBC has loaned some of the series most iconic props for display, including a for real, robotic Delak that they use on set in the newest seasons! We get to meet a Delak in person and the props designer is going to be on hand to show us how it works!"

Mole squealed in delight. Varian however was less enthusiastic. Not because he didn't think the events described weren't cool, but because couldn't stop the pain of guilt stabbing him in the chest.

"Y-you already bought us both tickets?"

"Yeah, of course! I'll tell you the itinerary over lunch. Do you want Yaki Taco or Noodle Burger?"

Varian debated with himself as he felt the pit of his stomach drop. He was supposed to meet up with Hiro after school to work on the time machine, and he was sure his brother would want to keep working on it all through the weekend.

"Uh... tacos?" He hesitantly said. "But I do need to be back here by-"

"Oh don't worry, I'll have my chauffeur drop you back off. Come on, he's parked out front." With that Mole hurried off, excitedly going on about his plans.

Varian took one last doubtful look at the busted portal before following after his friend.

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

"Thanks for buying me lunch." Carol told Fred. "I must have left my wallet at the frat house by accident."

"Oh that's alright. You can pay me back later." Fred said, as he picked up a cheesy taco.

Carol leaned in closer across the table with a wide mischievous smile, "Oh well, I may not have the money for a while. Perhaps there's something else I can do to pay you back?" She batted her eyelashes and her smile grew even wider.

Fred screwed up his face as he thought the matter over. "Hmmm… do you have any hairspray then?"

"Ha-hairspray?" Carol stumbled, the smile falling away.

"Yeah! The Professor What convention is this weekend and I thought about going as the Third Professor and he wears his hair up in this 60s bouffant. So I need some hairspray to get the look down. Do you got any I can borrow?"

"Uhhh… sure?"

"Great! Then we'll call it even!" Fred blissfully grinned from ear to ear, and Carol could only return it with a sprained smile of her own and a halfhearted thumbs up.

She despondently picked at her food as Fred continued gorging himself, completely ignorant of her feelings. Varian was right, she thought, she had to be even more obvious than she had previously realized.

"Are you going to finish that?" Fred asked as he pointed at her untouched nachos.

"Help yourself," She slid the plate towards him as she tried to think of a new tactic, "You know, Fred, I was thinking, maybe you and I could, I don't know, hang out more often? Maybe, go out, some place, you know, together?"

There. How much more forward could you get?

Fred blankly stared at her as he slowly took a bite out of a nacho. "Yooou, mean you wanna go to the convention with us?"

Carol could only stare blankly back at him. "Who's 'us'?"

"Oh, me, Varian, and I guess whoever wants to go."

"Excuse you, but Varian and I are going to the convention, Fredrickson." A voice interrupted, "You can just go by yourself."

"Richardson Mole." Fred snarled at the kid who had just joined them at the booth.

Carol looked back and forth between him and the short smug pre-teen. Then she looked behind her to see Varian standing awkwardly to the side shuffling his feet.

"Am I missing something?" She asked.

"Richardson Mole, my dear lady," The kid introduced himself, "and who might you be?"

"Uh...Carol."

"What an enchanting name. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Mole offered his hand to shake, but before she could return it Fred jumped up and moved between them.

"No! Un-uh. No way! You're not stealing Carol too!"

Varian faked a cough to gain his attention. "Freeeed" He groaned through his teeth.

Fred relented and sat back down with huff.

Mole snickered. "What's the matter Fred? Afraid I'll sweep your girl off her feet?"

"No, I'm not afraid." Fred mimicked, clearly annoyed.

"Not even a little bit?" Carol teased hopefully.

Fred took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he recited what sounded like a practiced speech. "Carol is free to spend time with whomever she wants to and I am man enough to accept that. (Even if it is with my mortal enemy.) I will not make a scene, and I will respect my friends choices."

Varian nodded enthusiastically at this and gave Fred an encouraging two thumbs up. Only to quickly drop his hands and start whistling when Carol caught him doing so.

As for Carol herself, she didn't know what was going on and was only getting more confused by the minute.

"Well that's very mature of you, Frederickson." Mole congratulated. "Especially since she could no doubt do better than you."

"She could not!" Fred snapped unthinkingly.

"Guys, guys, this is ridiculous," Varian interjected. "Why don't we all just go to the convention together? I mean we're already going to all be there anyways-"

"And hang out Fred all day!? Not likely!" Mole protested and crossed his arms and turned his back to them.

"I'm with Mole on this one." Fred also crossed his arms as he snooted his nose into the air. "You couldn't pay me to hang out with my arch nemesis."

Varian looked between his two obstinate friends before sighing and casting his gaze upwards in exasperation.

Carol pulled him to one side. "Are they brothers, or something?" She whispered.

"'Or something'," Varian rolled his eyes. "It's a long story. Sorry they tried to drag you into this."

Carol only shrugged, "Eh, I've been there. Who hasn't fought with their family before?" Then she excitedly nudged Varian with her elbow. "Did ya hear? He's jealous. I'll crack through that loveable thick skull of his yet."

They walked back over to Fred and Mole, who both had started an impromptu staring contest.

"Well, I better get going." Carol proclaimed. "I got homework to take care of. You boys have fun at your convention."

She picked up her text books and walked over towards Fred.

"You'll come over later to the house, won't you Fred? That way I can, 'pay you back'." She said with a sly smile as she rubbed her hand through his hair.

"Uh-huh, sure." He said distractedly, his eyes still locked on his oldest foe.

Despite this, Carol's smile only grew wider with satisfaction at his agreement. She cheerily waved at the three of them as she left. "Bye Varian, and it was nice meeting you Mole."

"Yeah, nice meeting you too." Mole called after, though he still didn't look away from Fred as he did so.

Varian waved goodbye to Carol and then proceeded to watch his friends' staring contest with disapproval. After a full minute of neither boy giving ground Varian decided to intercede again.

"Look, you two can't keep doing this every time we hang out. You don't like each other, I get it, but I'm friends with both of you and I would like to spend time with both of you; so could you bury the hatchet for just once?"

He stepped in between them, ending the contest.

"No can do, compadre." Fred said.

"Yeah, either he goes or I go." Mole agreed.

"But why?" Varian shouted in frustration.

"Listen, Varian. I promised to respect your decision to hang out with Mole, and I do respect it, but there's just too much bad blood between me and Mole. You gotta choose one of us to go with."

"Fred's right." Mole said. "It's your decision and we'll recognize whoever you choose. Though I would like to mention that I had gotten us backstage by tickets to meet with Ann Toyota herself."

"No fair! You can't just bribe him like that!" Fred protested.

"I just did. Also I had already bought the tickets. Besides, what do you care? You don't even like Sue."

"Sue's fine. All I said was that I liked Tanni more. I think she makes for a better assistant for the Professor, that's all."

Mole rolled his eyes at that. "You would. Tanni is a spoiled precocious brat in the show."

"Oh, and you would know all about being brat wouldn't you?"

Mole gasped. "You take that back!" He shouted as he poked Fred in the chest.

Varian gave up and decided to go order himself some lunch before it got too late.

But as he made his way to the counter Fred stopped him.

"If you go with me, I'll let you drive the sports car again."

"Now who's bribing who!?" Mole shouted indignantly. "I'll throw in a new chemistry set."

"Oh yeah, well I'll buy you your own sports car. How's that!?"

"Oooooh, you're good." Mole conceited.

"I know." Fred smugly replied.

"Ok, I'll raise you two sports cars and a yacht." Mole told Varian.

"I'll take that bet and add, oh, hmmm, two plane tickets to everywhere you want to go. You can take Honey Lemon out on another date. I hear Japan is nice this time of year."

"Guys, no! I don't want you to buy me anything. I would just lik-"

"Oh I see, you're playing hardball so you can get the best deal. I can respect that." Mole said, before turning to Fred. "May the best man win, Fredrickson."

"You're on." Fred agreed and they both shook on it.

Varian could only groan in response.

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

Hiro was just analyzing the busted hardware inside the physics lab when Varian burst through the door.

"Sorry! Sorry, I'm late. Mole insisted on stopping by the comic store." He huffed out of breath.

"It's okay." Hiro assured, "I was just seeing if there were any micro chips we could recover from the debris. If we're to reverse engineer the process we'll need all the data we can gather."

"D-do you think that's even possible?"

"I........ It has to be."

"Hiro, I understand how much this means to you, and I promise I'll help you in any way that I can..... but this might be a long shot."

Varian rested a hand on Hiro's shoulder.

"I-I know, but I've to try. What do you need to get the portal working like it was?"

Varian sighed, "Well, I'll need new power cables, I'll have to re-patch the portal itself, build a whole new control panel, but the most difficult part will be reprogramming the new computers. I do however have the equations recorded in my journal."

"Great, let's start on the re-patch. We can borrow the stuff from the welders class next door and-"

"Hey guys, what are you up to?" Fred interrupted.

"Hey, Fred. We're just fixing the portal." Hiro explained.

"Cool, cool," Fred nodded before shuffling inside and throwing an arm around Varian's shoulders. "Soooo how's my bestest buddy?"

Varian raised an eyebrow. "I'm fine... you just saw me at lunch."

"That's nice to hear," Fred said, clearly indicating that he hadn't actually been listening. "Anyways, guess what I got."

"What." Varian sighed.

"Two tickets to tonight's wrestling match, plus backstage passes. Wanna come?"

"Fred, I would like to but I'm bu-"

"Wait, I'll throw in a uh... uh... free food at the concessions!"

"I think Fred really wants to go to the match." Hiro said, amused.

"Why not ask Honey Lemon?" Varian deflected.

"Uh.. she's, uh, busy with midterms?" Fred floundered.

"Midterms? School just started, Fred." came Hiro's confused response.

"Is this about your dumb feud with Mole?" Varian groaned.

"Nooooo" Fred lied. "I just wanted to have fun with my good friend, Varian, so that he'll remember how great it is to hang out together and go with me to the convention instead of boring old Mole."

Varian gave Fred an 'I'm done with this' glare, while Hiro just blinked in confusion.

Fred panicked and dropped to his knees, grabbing Varian's legs and hugging his feet.

"Oh pleease! Pretty, pretty pleeease!"

Varian looked to Hiro for help.

"It's fine, you two can go if you want. I'll just salvage what I can here tonight and we'll meet up again tomorrow."

"You-You're sure?" Varian asked.

Hiro nodded yes.

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

The next day, Hiro and Varian sat inside the upstairs bedroom exchanging notes. They had books splayed out on the bed, papers and blueprints covered the desk and computer, and Baymax dutifully held up a schematic of the portal.

"So according to this mockup of the previous coordinates, it looks like I'll be able to run a simulated test using your equations. We just need a control for the experiment." Hiro said.

"Wouldn't that just be the present?" Varian asked.

Hiro shook his head. "No, because the 'present' is always changing."

Varian mulled over this problem. "I... I guess we need to pick a single time and place.. something easy to recreate?"

"Like what?'

Varian was going to answer when a knock came from the door, and Aunt Cass entered.

"Hi, boys. How's the homework coming?"

"It's going fine Aunt Cass" Hiro nervously answered as he started stuffing papers away.

If she noticed her nephew's cageyness, she didn't say. "Varian, your friend Richardson is here."

"Hi, guys!" Mole popped up from behind Aunt Cass and waved at them.

Both boys were surprised to see him.

"Hi, Mole." Hiro said, confused.

"Hey, Mole." Came Varian's tired response.

"Oooh, I'll fix you boys some snacks. How does pizza bagels sound?"

"Sounds great, Miss Templeton." Mole agreed and Aunt Cass cheerfully left to go prepare the food. "You boys have fun now."

"So whatcha up to?" Mole asked as he studied the schematic that Baymax held.

"We're building a time machine to sa-"

Hiro interrupted Baymax by jumping up and running in between the robot and the pre-teen.

"We're just, uh, writing a… science fiction story." He lied.

"Oh, really!?" Mole enthusiastically asked. "Oh what kind of time travel are you using? Paradoxical, stable time loops; I personally prefer stories that utilize alternative universes effectively. Make everything canon all at once, you know."

"Ummm…." Hiro blanked out and looked to Varian for help.

"What brings you by, Mole?" Varian asked, changing the subject.

"I'm glad you asked, bestie." Mole said. "I just bought the newest Street Kombat game. I thought we could play it together."

"The new one for the Y-Box5?" Hiro asked, confused. "That doesn't even come out for another month."

"I know a guy." Mole smugly said.

"That's cool and all Mole, but we don't have a Y-Box to play it on." Varian said.

"You do now." Mole gave a wink. "My chauffeur is already setting it up in the living room as we speak. You're welcome."

Hiro and Varian just stood there dumbfounded.

Mole's eager grin grew even wider at their speechlessness. "I'll race you downstairs. First two to reach the controllers get to play the first match."

Before either boy could answer, Mole was hurrying out the door.

"I-I didn't invite him." Varian defended as soon as the other boy was gone. "I didn't know he was going to do all this."

"No. It's okay." Hiro sighed and started to put the papers and notes away. "Who wouldn't want a free Y-Box?"

Varian only stared at him with worried eyes.

Hiro gave him a reassuring smile. "Let me clean up and Baymax and I will join you later."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, you and Mole can play the first match, then I'll kick both your butts the next round."

"Okay, but we might not be so easily defeated." Varian joked and then headed down stairs. He didn't see Hiro's frown as he closed the door behind him, nor did he notice his brother staring forlornly at Tadashi's side of the room.

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

Thus it went, all week long. Varian kept being interrupted by Fred and Mole in turn, each coming up with ever more ridiculous bribes and crazy shenanigans.

Fred jumped out of the dumpster while Varian was carrying out the trash and offered to do all of Varian's chores around the Lucky Cat. Mole hired a world class physicist to do Varian's homework. Only for Varian to teach the doctor a thing or three on dark matter. Fred staged an impromptu sports car race at his house, before the Police showed up to stop him because he failed to fill out the correct paperwork. Mole had set up a carnival at the school grounds, only to be run off by Professor Granville. That was a 'fun' conversion Varian had to have with the Dean.

Each subsequent stunt would further embarrass and annoy Varian. Only he had no way to communicate his frustration without feeling guilty. How did you tell someone who was doing nice things for you to stop doing nice things for you?

But the worst part was how he kept letting Hiro down. Every time they tried to work on the portal, either Fred or Mole would interrupt and drag Varian away.

Hiro had been as patient as he could, but Varian could sense that his brother was increasingly becoming irritated at his excuses.

"Sorry, I'm late." Varian huffed as he ran into the lab, "I... Fred, he-"

"Let me guess, Fred wanted you to fly to Hawaii with him to go surfing." Hiro snarked.

Varian sighed in defeat. "It was Mexico, and it was parasailing"

Hiro only looked at him with disapproval.

"I didn't ask to go!" Varian defended.

"Yeah, but you didn't say 'no' either."

"How could I? He'd already rented out the less-"

"I don't care, Varian. You made a promise and thus far you've taken every and any excuse you can to avoid keeping it!"

"That's not true, I-"

"Isn't it?! You could just tell Fred and Mole 'no' at any time. It's not like you're shy about saying it. Forget it. I already know that you're against the idea. I'll save Tadashi by myself if I have to."

"Hiro wait..."

"I don't want to hear it, Varian. If you don't want to help, then fine, but don't pretend like you care."

"Hiro..." Varian called after him but Hiro was already out the door. "Hiro!"

Varian gave up and slumped in his office chair. Hiro's words cut deeper than he knew.

As Varian stewed, Fred and Mole burst through the lab's door.

"Ok Varian, final offer." Fred said. "You go with me to the convention and I'll get you seasonal passes to see all your favorite Broadway musicals for a year; private jet included."

"Pfft. Is that the best you got Frederickson?" Mole snorted. "Go with me and I'll pay you a million dollars."

Varian only gave them a hard cold stare.

Mole backed away quickly and Fred's stomach dropped. He knew that glare.

"Uh... is everything okay, buddy?" He nervously laughed.

"No." Varian said simply, lightly. The cavalier tone to his voice contrasted sharply with his challenging demeanor. "No, everything's not okay, Fred, and no I'm not going to the convention."

"Not going? B-but I already bought the tickets." Mole whined. "We were going to see a Delak, and meet Sue, and, a-and…"

"Well you can still do those things, just without me." Varian stood up from the chair and made to leave. "Give the tickets to someone else, or go by yourselves. I don't care, but from now on leave me out of your stupid feud. Now if you excuse me, I need to go and fix something. Don't bother calling, I'll be busy all weekend."

With that, he slammed the door shut, leaving a dumbstruck Fred and Mole behind.

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

Carol heard the doorbell as she finished putting on the last of her make-up. She smacked her lips as she put away the lip-gloss and gave one last look at herself in the mirror.

Fred had called earlier to say he was coming over, no doubt to borrow her hair spray as he had previously requested. Well, it wasn't like he had to leave right away, now did he?

She admired the silky pastel negligee she wore and the way it cut off at just the right place along her thighs. If this didn't catch his attention nothing will.

"I'll get it!" She called out to her roommates as she threw on a short matching robe, just to feign modesty with, before running down stairs.

"Hello Fred," She cooed as she threw open the door. She batted her eyes and struck what she thought was a sexy pose, but Fred never even looked at her.

"Hi." He mumbled.

Fred looked tired, deflated, and dejected. As if someone had told him his favorite comic book had been cancelled. Carol was momentarily tripped up.

"Uh, t-the hair spray is up stairs if you want me to go get it?" She offered helpfully.

"Oh what does it matter?" Fred bemoaned. "I've ruined everything."

He slumped over to the couch and cradled his chin in his hands as he flopped down. He stared off into the distance, at nothing in particular, as he pouted.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Varian got mad and now he isn't coming to the convention." He whined.

"Awe, I'm sorry, boo." Carol said sympathetically as she took a seat next to him and gave him a hug. "I hate that y'all ain't getting alone. What are you two fighting about?"

"Mole."

"Mole?... You mean your little cousin? What about him?"

"We were trying to get him to choose one of us to go to the convention with and it blew up in our faces." Fred explained, failing to clarify that Mole was in fact not his cousin.

"But I thought you were all going together?"

"Well we were … sort of… only not actually together. You see, Mole and I have been rivals since we were little, and we compete over everything. I mean, everything . I guess we took it too far this time."

"That sounds like me and my cousin. Little Miss 'I got straight As and all you have a DUI'. It was one time Patricia!"

"Yeeeesss, thank you. Finally, someone who gets it."

"Have you told Varian how you feel?"

"Well yeah, but he still wants to be friends with Mole and I've learned to accept that, but.."

"Have you?"

"What?"

"Well have you really learned to accept that if you're asking him to choose between y'all? I mean, I don't talk to Pat if I can help it, but I still show up to Thanksgiving dinner whether she's there or not. I mean it's not like we can ask grandma to pick a favorite."

Fred considered this for a moment. "You know, when you're right, you're right, Carol."

Carol proudly beamed at the compliment.

"Well now that’s sorted," She said as she scooted closer to him. "Why don't we go up stairs and I 'pay you back' like I promised."

"Oh sorry, but plans have changed. I need to see Gogo instead." Fred said as he stood back up and made to leave.

"Gogo?" Carol echoed as she remained on the couch.

"Yeah, who else can arrange a meeting with Mole?" Fred stated, as if this was the most obvious answer. He opened the door and Carol hurried after. "Thanks Carol. You're the best. You've been a big help. Oh, and don't worry about paying me back for the tacos. What are friends for after all?"

He gave her a huge disarming grin before running off.

Carol watched him go from the doorway, unsure if she had made any progress or not but ultimately deciding that it didn't matter. He was still cute and sweet, and he genuinely cared about people. She considered being called his friend a win.

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

"Hey, c-can I come in?" Varian asked as he peeked behind the bedroom door.

Hiro looked up from his work long enough to give him an annoyed glare before turning back to his equations.

Varian took Hiro's outright lack of a 'no' as permission and timidly entered.

Hiro still ignored him.

"I am sensing high levels of stress due to anxiety." Baymax said. "Varian, have you remembered to take your medication today?"

"Yes, Baymax." Varian reassured. He still didn't like that the doctor had prescribed the meds in the first place but he had dutifully taken the 'mood-stablizers' as Dr. Brown called it daily as requested. If nothing else then to get Baymax and Aunt Cass to shut up about it.

"Baymax, what did I say?" Hiro reprimanded.

"Oh, Yes." Baymax turned back to Varian to repeat his orders. "We are ignoring you, same as how you ignored us."

"Oh real mature Hiro, getting your pet robot to speak for you."

"Baymax?"

"Hiro says that he does not need you and that we will save Tadashi on our own."

Varian gave Hiro a hurt look, but Hiro ignored it.

"However, I do not think this is true." Baymax continued. "We do need you and saving Tadashi is theoretically impossible."

"Baymax!" Hiro whined.

"I am sorry, but I have done the math. There is no way to save Tadashi."

"Oh but time traveling ninjas and kids from alternate worlds who fall out of the sky are?" Hiro shouted back.

"I am concerned that your mental health will suffer should we fail, and failure is the most probable outcome."

Hiro groaned before sinking his head into his hands.

"I think it can be done." Varian quietly said.

Hiro looked up at him in surprise.

"It's not failure that I'm worried about." Varian counited. "It's succeeding."

"Why?" Hiro asked, confused now.

" If we get it right, and we do invent time travel, then I just don't know what will happen afterwards."

"You're still scared the universe will explode?"

"Uh, yeah! Not to mention… other things."

"What other things?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes, it matters! If you're going to go back on your promise then I deserve to at least know why."

Varian sighed. "I know you think of us as 'brothers', but we're not, not really, and Tadashi doesn't even know me… what happens when he comes back?"

"What do you mean 'what happens'? We'll all be a family again. That's what happens."

"See? Right there. There's no 'again' for me, Hiro. This is all new to me, and don't really belong here in San Fansoyko-"

"Stop saying that! Of course you belong here! Do you think we're just going to dump you or something?"

Varian didn't answer.

"Y-you… you really think that, don't you?" Hiro pressed.

Varian didn't meet his gaze. "You wouldn't do it on purpose, I know…. But, people have a tendency to forget about you when they get 'busy', you know, with things that matter to them more."

Hiro looked at him aghast.

Varian tried to turn things around, suddenly keenly aware that he had revealed too much of himself.

"B-but it's okay. I understand what this means to you. I know what it's like to lose someone, and I fully intend to keep my promise. I told both Fred and Mole to go to the convention without me. So I'm free all weekend to help."

He gave a strained smile, desperately trying to brush off his previous confession, but Hiro only counited to stare at him.

"D-do you want to start on programming the new computers," Varian stumbled, "or re-patch the portal instead. Either way, we ca-"

Hiro threw down his research and flung his arms around Varian, interrupting his ramble.

"No one is going to 'forget' you, Varian. Not here. Okay?"

"O-okay."

Hiro pulled away to look up as at him, but he never fully let go, grasping Varian firmly by the shoulders as their eyes met.

"You'll see. Our family is just going to get bigger. We're gonna save Tadashi and then we'll rescue you dad and bring him here. It'll be the six of us, together. Eight if you count Mochi and Ruddiger. Got it?"

"Got it."

They shared a smile but the tender moment was broken by the phone ringing.

"Wasabi' is calling." Baymax said before broadcasting the call on his stomach.

"Hey, guys!" Wasabi greeted them from the other end of the video call.

"Hey." Hiro answered.

"What's up?" Varian asked.

"Well, I wanted to ask if you wanted to come to a concert tomorrow, Hiro? Sam and I were already going to go, but turns out Karmi is a fan of the band as well and we invited her along. We're looking for a plus one to make it a double date."

"Oooh, Karmi's going to be there huh?" Varian teased but Hiro brushed him off.

"Yeah, I knew Varian and Fred already had plans, so I figured you'd be free. I know k-pop isn't your thing but I also know you got a crush on her soooo… you in?"

"Why does everyone think I like Karmi?" Hiro asked.

"Cause it's obvious." Wasabi' stated flatly.

Hiro rolled his eyes but then bit his lip in thought. For all his protesting he did indeed have a crush on the girl, but he also was going to work on the portal this weekend. He turned towards Varian questioningly.

"It's one day, and we're building a time machine, so why not?" Varian whispered.

"Alright. I'll go." Hiro agreed.

"Great! The concert is in San Jose and we want to get there early, so we'll pick you up at two o'clock."

"Yeah, I'll be ready. See you then." Hiro said and ended the call.

Varian was standing behind him smugly.

Hiro sighed, "Yeah, I know. I'm being a hypocrite."

"No, you're just realizing that you don't have to give up on life entirely in order to save someone. Go, have fun. We'll work on the machine Sunday."

"I guess you get to go to the convention after all."

Varian shook his head. "No, those guys need to realize that they can't keep dragging me into their fights. But don't worry about me. I got a text from Gogo asking me to come over tonight. I reckon we can work on the car this weekend. It's almost done, too. All that's left is some detail work and the paint job."

"Too bad you still won't be able to drive it for another month though."

Varian shrugged. "I didn't even know what a car was until five months ago. I think I can handle waiting one month more. In the meantime, let's go over these equations before I head over there."

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

"Hey, I got your text." Varian said as he entered Gogo's and Honey Lemon's apartment. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Fred and Mole already waiting inside.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Have a seat." Gogo said as she led him to the kitchen table.

"Fred and Mole have asked us to mediate their conflict." Honey Lemon explained.

Varian raised a sceptic eyebrow.

"They're sorry for dragging you into their fight and want to work out a compromise." Gogo added.

"What kind of compromise?" Varian asked distrustfully.

Fred cleared his throat. "Mole and I have come to an agreement, and we have decided to reduce our life long feud to merely a friendly rivalry."

"We even wrote up a contact, see?" Mole held up a handwritten paper and pointed to it enthusiastically.

Varian could only make an even more confused face in response to that.

"It's actually really good." Honey Lemon interjected. "Go on." She encouraged them.

"I'm no longer allowed to call Mole mean names." Fred started out.

"And I promised not to steal anymore of his stuff." Mole added.

"We can however still compete for nerd merch, but we've detailed out the rules of combat regarding auctions."

"Which also includes removing pranks from the table, but staring contests, coin toss, 'rocks, paper, scissors', and thumb wars are still in."

"Most importantly though, we're not going to pressure you into choosing between us. If you want to hang out that's great. If you don't, that's fine too. And for events that we're all interested in, like the Professor What convention, we're willing to set aside our differences and all go together."

"Oh, and I must maintain a six foot distance from Gogo at all times and only worship her beauty from afar." Mole ended the list.

"You got it, kiddo." Gogo said with a satisfied smile.

"Really? You're both honestly going to try and stop fighting all the time?" Varian asked.

"Yeah, it turns out Mole and I have a lot in common. Who knows we might even become actual friends if we're not at each other's throats all the time." Fred said.

"But mostly, we realized we didn't want to drive away our best friend by continuing to argue." Mole added.

"I'm your best friend?"

"Well yeah, one of them at least." Fred replied.

"And you're quite literally my only friend." Mole sheepishly admitted.

"Oh, that's not true Mole." Honey Lemon said. "We're your friends too."

"I'm not." Gogo stated flatly.

Honey Lemon gave her a pout. Gogo cast her eyes towards the ceiling. "Fine, I'll be his friend so long as he honors the six feet rule."

"So does this mean you'll go to the convention with us?" Fred asked Varian.

Varian mulled over the request. "I will, on two conditions. No more 'favors'. You don't have to bribe me to hang out with you. Also I want to be one who dresses up as the Professor. Okay?"

"Deal." Fred shook his hand.

"Agreed." Mole nodded.

"Awww, don't you just love happy endings, Gogo?" Honey Lemon said as she wrapped her best friend in a hug.

"Yeah, sure." Gogo said deadpan, not returning it.

"Hey, it's not too late to buy more tickets if either of you lovely ladies would like to join us. You could be the Professor's assistants." Mole offered.

"I'll pass." Gogo answered.

"Honey Lemon?" Varian asked.

"Oh I don't know, I never really watched the show…"

Fred leaned with a sly smile, "You get to dress up in thigh high gogo boots and take pictures with your friends."

Honey Lemon gasped with joy. "I'm in!"

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

Sunday afternoon came and Varian was already in the lab welding up the portal when Hiro arrived.

"Hey, so guess who did something dumb and got Dr. Pep dumped all over his head last night?" Hiro sheepishly said.

Varian stopped welding and laughed. "What did you do to piss off Karmi this time?"

"I don't know, all I said was the lead singer of the band wasn't all that 'cute', and the argument spiraled from there."

"Let me guess, you got jealous that Karmi was drooling over the boy band and said something rude to distract her, and it blew up in your face as always."

"I'm not jealous."

"Suuuurrrre you not, and I'm the Queen of May."

"I… I don't even get that reference." Hiro said.

Varian chuckled good naturedly, "Well either way, I'm sorry your date was a bust."

"It wasn't a date, and I wouldn't call it a complete bust. Karmi apologized afterwards and we're meeting up next weekend. According to her, I owe her a smoothie."

Hiro shrugged, unable to grasp Karmi's thought process sometimes.

"So we're not working on the portal next weekend?" Varian asked.

"Not on Saturday, but I think Sundays are still good."

"You do know that we could get through this faster if we just told everyone what we were doing, right?"

Hiro sadly shook his head, "I don't want to raise everyone's hopes up just yet. I… We need to get closer to a solution before we do that."

"So this is just between us?" Varian asked.

Hiro nodded. "Yeah, for now anyways, but hopefully we can figure it out soon."

Hiro walked over to the portal and placed a longing hand on it's frame. The accursed tech had been what started the whole mess to begin with, yet now it could be the very thing needed to fix it all.

Varian laid down the blowtorch and walked over to join him. He placed a hand on Hiro's shoulder drawing him out of his brooding.

"We will. Don't worry." He gave Hiro a soft smile. "Brothers don't leave brothers behind right?"

Hiro returned the smile. "Right."

"The new computers came in if you want to start programming those." Varian said. "I'll be done welding this in no time. Watch, we'll have this baby up and running by Tuesday."

And with that, they both got to work.

#varian #hiro hamada #tangled #big hero 6 #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #bh6 #big hero 6 the series #Fred Frederickson IV #richardson mole #of rocks and robots

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one-shot-plus-size · 4 years ago

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True Love - Chapter 3

Something I published on my Wattpad account a few years ago, and now I've reworked and am publishing here.

Imagine :

She - a 23 year old girl who loves freedom and a man who will never be hers.

He - a 47 year old actor with a life that is not quite in order.

What happens when he realizes he has the diamond under his nose that he's been looking for all his life.

Pov Olivia

- Why did you take such a strange leave of absence? - Magda leaned out from behind the monitor.

- What do you mean? - I furrowed my eyebrows.

- Thursday is your last day at work, why not from Monday? - She was tapping her pen on the desk.

- Because on Friday I have a flight from Cracow to Chicago at 12:05, where I have to wait until 19:35 to fly to San Diego. There I am at 9:47 p.m., then back to my hotel and in the morning at Comic-Con.

- Well, that's logical - she smiled and returned to her seat.

- Yup - I nodded my head.

Friday 11:00 am

I sat quietly in the waiting room, pulled out my phone and turned on Whatsapp and a new message to Jeffrey. ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

💬 To Jeff : I am at the airport flying out in an hour, around 10:30 in the evening I should be at the hotel.

I scraped out a message to him and before I could put my phone in my pocket a reply came.

📲 From Jeff : Bubba is not expecting anything, he walks like a nailed dog even I feel a little sorry for him.

💬To Jeff : Just not a word, he wants him to have a surprise, calm him down a bit. I know you can!

📲 From Jeff : As always! I love you horrible woman ! 💙

💬To Jeff : I love you too old man

📲 From Jeff : Pff🤬

I laughed under my breath, put my phone in my pocket and headed to check-in after just a few minutes. Just to sit on the plane at 12. I had some time to sleep, put my headphones in my ears and drifted off. Nice lady stewardess woke me up before landing in Chicago. There I bought American phone card and went for a decent meal.

Pov Jeffrey

I looked over at Norman who was standing on the terrace smoking a cigarette. His thoughts kept running to Olivia, I could see it in his eyes. He was sad or maybe angry that she didn't want to see him. Sometimes it was hard to judge him, he rarely showed his true emotions. But his eyes betrayed him, and very often. I walked out to him and leaned my back against the railing.

- Dude don't worry so much - I looked at him.

- I'm not worried - he muttered under his breath and shrugged his shoulders.

- I can just see how you are not worried - I smiled widely.

- I don't understand why he doesn't want to come. We meet every year, every year we spend three weeks together, and this year she is somehow different.

- Maybe she fell in love and her partner doesn't approve - I lit a cigarette.

- I want her to fall in love, I want her to be happy, but I don't want a partner who forbids us to see each other. Who is this guy?

- Norman - I groaned - maybe he is jealous of you, look at yourself.

- I'm nothing special - he put out his cigarette - I'm going to bed.

I wanted to tell him that she would soon be in the same hotel as us but I promised to keep it to myself. At 10:30 I got a message.

📲Of Oli: I'm at the hotel, room 313.

💬 To Ola : I'm in 5 minutes.

He put the phone in his pocket and I put on my leather jacket.

- Bubba I'm leaving, I'll be back in a while - I shouted towards Norman's bedroom.

But no one answered me, Norman was probably either taking a shower or already asleep. I sighed and went to room 313. I knocked twice on the door and heard muffled footsteps and after a few seconds the door opened. Standing in it was Olivia, her blue hair flowing loosely over her shoulders. She was wearing a loose hoodie and tight jeans.

- Hey - she smiled tiredly.

- Hey baby - I took a step and hugged her tightly.

She cuddled into my body and a tired sigh came out of her mouth. I kissed her head and rubbed her back with my hands.

- Tired ? - I moved away slightly.

- A little - she breathed - Would you like something to drink?

- Maybe a quick drink? - I smiled widely.

- Fine - she nodded and moved towards the bar.

- Honey, you look good - I took off my jacket and threw it on the back of the sofa.

- What do you mean? - She opened the bottle of whisky.

- You just look good even though you still wear those baggy sweatshirts - I watched her movements.

- They're just comfortable and I don't have to bother choosing accessories. And I really don't feel like it lately - she sat down next to me with two glasses.

- Did something happen? - I took the glass from her and furrowed my eyebrows.

- Well, my ex turned out to be a dick and that's all - she shrugged her shoulders.

She leaned her elbows on her knees and drank the liquid from the glass in one gulp. I looked at the profile of her face, she didn't even wrinkle her eyebrows.

- Are you back to drinking? - I leaned towards her.

- Can we not talk about this now? I'm here for the first day and you're already doing my fucking interrogation - she looked at me.

- But promise me we'll come back to this conversation?

- I promise if you don't say anything to Norman - she stared into my eyes.

- I won't say a fucking word to him - I smiled slightly.

- Then we'll go back to this conversation - she nodded - how is he?

- He sulks like a teenager - I laughed.

- He hasn't replied to any of my messages, he's probably angry with me.

- I bet that when he sees you tomorrow all his anger will be gone - I kissed her on the temple - you know how he is when something doesn't go his way. And he really missed you and he's sorry.

Olivia took a breath and sank deeper into the couch.

- Hey - I poked her - don't pout yet you know that if you make puppy dog eyes he is able to forgive everything.

- I hope so - she smiled uncertainly.

- You know that if you make puppy dog eyes, he will be able to forgive everything - she smiled uncertainly - After all, he loves you - I poked her - and he can't stay mad at you for too long.

Olivia looked at me and I saw a blush on her cheeks. She set her glass down on the coffee table and snuggled into my side.

- I missed you, old man - she whispered.

- I missed you too girl - I put my arm around her.

Her head was resting under my chin, Olivia may not look like a woman we were used to. She wasn't skinny, she wasn't tall but her character made up for all her flaws. A person stops noticing her larger body stature after getting to know her. But she had one flaw, she was morbidly shy and that is why many people abandoned her. I got close to her only last year and only then I realized how big heart she has. And I want to keep her close because it's really worth it. I glanced at her, her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady. As she fell asleep, I gently pushed her away from me. I set the glass down and took her hands in mine wedding style. I headed to the bedroom, planted her on the bed holding her with my hands. I took off her sweatshirt, socks and pants, laid her on the bed and covered her with blankets.

- Sleep dear - I kissed her forehead and left her room.

I closed the door behind me and went to my room.

Pov Olivia

When I awoke to the sound of the alarm clock. I wiped my face with my hands and looked around the room. I was lying in bed in the bedroom of my rented apartment. I hit the phone and the alarm finally went off. I groaned wiping my face with my palms, I must have been drowsy last night. I threw my legs off the bed and pulled hard. I picked my phone up off the ground and opened a new message from Jeff.

📲 From Jeff : Remember that at 3 in the afternoon is our show, remember not to be late lazy !

I locked my device and shook my head. This man was impossible but that's what I loved him for. For the fact that he could listen, that he had more experience in life and could share it. He was different than Norman but after all, no two people are alike. Grabbed my phone and opened a new message to Jeff.

💬To Jeff : I hope your old bones didn't suffer when you carried me to bed.💙 Thank you, I'm not late, I'm never late.

I put my phone down on the bedside table, grabbed my clothes and headed to the shower. I had to prepare myself properly to greet my long lost friend.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I was always careful about what I wore, I had to mask my excess weight somehow. I combed my hair and dried it into a bun.

Just a quick breakfast and I was ready to go. I took an Uber and after just a few minutes I found myself in front of the San Diego Convention Center. Thanks to Jeffrey's kindness I had VIP ticket so I could enter everywhere. Therefore, I went to the hall out of turn, hung around my neck badge with name and level of availability. The first thing that caught my eye was the amount of people dressed up. Cosplay was ubiquitous here, I slipped my glasses over my hair and admired their creators. People were really imaginative and I stopped at one or three stalls to buy some interesting things. Eventually I got to the place where The Walking Dead actors were, I kept my distance so none of them would recognize me. No one knew I was here, except Jeffrey of course. I watched Norman interact with the fans, his face lit up with a smile from ear to ear. He was snapping pictures with them, signing T-shirts and many other things. I smiled to myself, I loved how open he was with his fans. I took a breather and wandered around the neighborhood and at 2:30 I was already sitting in my seat in the hall where the conference was to be held.

📲Of Jeff : are you ?

💬Do Jeff : Third row, fourth seat from the left. From the middle aisle.

📲From Jeff : Divine, he wants to see Bubba's face.

I smiled under my breath, at exactly three o'clock the host started her show. She was smiling all the time under her breath, my hands started sweating strangely, I rubbed them on my pants. The first to enter was the director, then Andrew Lincoln, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and finally Norman Reedus, followed of course by the rest of the crew. I had the impression that Jeffrey immediately sought me out with his eyes. He smiled broadly and nodded slightly. I smiled back and also nodded slightly. Jeffrey looked up at me every now and then smiling. Halfway through the performance Jeffrey poked Lincoln and whispered something in his ear. Andrew lifted his head and looked around the front rows and a wide grin appeared on his lips from ear to ear. Lincoln slaps Norman hard on the shoulder, the man crouches down and mutters something under his breath. Andrew leans into his ear and whispers something. And his body tense up, he slides his hat down over his face and shifts his gaze around the audience. His eyes stopped on me, smiling broadly. Eventually, he smiled too.

Andrew watched his friend's reaction, smiling slightly. Norman pulled out his phone, and moments later mine vibrated in his pocket.

📲Of Norm : I'm gonna strangle you 🎈

#Norman Reedus #norman #reedus #norman imagine #olivia #true love #norman & olivia #norman x olivia

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mal-warebytes · 4 years ago

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A Day Out: Obey Me! Levi x Reader

*Knock* *knock* *knock*

You open the door to your room, 'no one's there', look around and lying on the floor is a brown box. "Yes! It's here!" You pick and the box and quickly shut your door. Walking over to plop down on your bed you start to open your package and pull off the tape holding it together. Sitting down you empty the box on the bed and start going through the contents of it. "Levi is going to be so surprised!" There's accessories, shoes, outfits and the main thing you were looking for... 2 tickets to the TSL convention in Tokyo. "Eeee! Now I just need to go find Asmo." You throw everything back in the box and head out to Asmo's room.

Once to his room you can barely hold your excitement and just waltz right in without knocking. "Asmooo dearrrr!" You hear a faint, "in the bathroom darling! You're lucky it's you and not one of my idiot brothers. Otherwise you'd be getting a stern talking to about just barging in like you own the damn place. Actually... I might just spank you so you learn a lesson." You walk around the corner, his in the tub. Nothing you haven't seen before so you just continue the conversation.

"Yea ok, maybe later you lusty little demon you, " you joke. "However, right now I need your beauty expertise." You toss a towel in his direction, he catches it before it hits the water.

"Oh, well in that case," he stands up and you turn away. "Oh darling, I get that you have this 'thing' for Levi but you could at least humor me every now and again. Don't be so shy!" He drapes the towel around his waist, "alright, alright head into the bedroom and I'll be right there." You walk on over to his bed and dump the box and lay everything out across the sheets. Asmo walks in dressed in a robe and sits down on the bed eyeing all the accessories and whatnot. "What is all this? Oh those are cute! Is that... NO! You didn't! Sweetie, is that? Is that... oh it is... You bought cosplay outfits! What fun!" Asmo picks up one of the outfits and holds it up to take a better look. "Honestly darling, they're... well ugly," he drops it on the bed. "You could find something... sexier?"

"They're The Lord of Shadow and Henry's outfits from TSL, and actually that's why I came to you," you pick up The Lord of Shadow's out fit and hold it up. "I need your help to alter this a bit for me."

He looks at you quizzically, "Oh? Well Levi is way better at alterations than I am, why don't you just ask him? I'm sure he'd love to..."

You cut him off, "I need you're help to make this one... um, slightly on the more sluttier side. Not like tooooo slutty but just enough to make a certain TSL fan.. yeaaaa. Let's just say I'm hoping this is going to be something Levi will never forget." You blush and hold the outfit up to your body. "I need you to make me completely irresistible, to even the shyest otaku."

Asmo, "Sweetie, I could dress you in sweats and have any man... err, demon for that matter, howling at you like a wolf to the moon. Now, strip down and let's get to work!"

A few hours later and Asmo is finally done. "Tada! Mmhm honey, I could eat you alive! I'll leave that to, well you know," he winks and pushes you in front of the mirror.

"It's perfect Asmo! Thank you!" you turn around and kiss him on the cheek, "do you have a jacket I could borrow? I don't want Levi to see me in this yet."

"I've got the perfect one!" He hands you the jacket and you throw it on, toss the rest of stuff in box and wave at him as you head out the door.

You walk down the hall heading towards Levi's room. 'Oh I better message Diavolo so Barbatos can meet us at the portal.' You love the fact that all you had to do was convince the future demon king that this trip was educational to learn about human pop-culture. He was so interested in what you had to tell him that he insisted you go. 'We'll be there in about 30 minutes. Thank you again!' Send. Now at the door of Levi's room, you knock.

*knock* *knock* "Levi! I got a present for you!" You hear a rustling of what sounds like Levi tripping over boxes, he more than likely purchased recently, as he scrambles to the door.

He throws the door open and eyes you suspiciously. "Why are you wearing a jacket? Are you going somewhere? Wait!? You said you had something for me?"

"Actually we're going somewhere..." you hand him the box. "You can't say no, Diavolo is having Barbatos meet us. Put this on and meet me downstairs in 15 minutes."

"Wait! What!? Diavolo? Barbatos? You're not making sense! Why are we meeting..." you push him in his room and shut the door.

"15 minutes!" You yell through the door, "don't be late or else!"

Levi gulps and looks in the box. He starts to pick through the items and starts to realize, "wait a second... is this... it is! It's Henry's outfit! What is this?" He sees a note at the bottom of the box. 'Stop drooling, put on the clothes and let's go!' Slightly embarrassed he complies and semi-excitedly changes into the Henry cosplay. Not wanting anyone to see him, Levi grabs a jacket, throws it on, peeks out the door and takes off down the hall. You hear him coming around the corner.

"Great! You're here," you look him over, "you're wearing the outfit right?"

Levi, "Yeeess, of course... I didn't really want to find out what 'or else' was... so? Where are we going?" He looked around nervously, he wanted to make sure none of his brothers saw him leave his room.

You grab his hand and head toward the portal, "you'll see!" Barbatos was there waiting to escort you both through. He bowed to the two of you and simply stretched out his hand toward the portal. "Whenever you're ready."

Levi gulped, "where are we going!?" He looked at you with a uneasy smile.

You raise the tickets up next to your cheek, "probably the most nerve-wracking, scariest, make you want to crawl into a hole and die, 'wish I never left my room' place in the three realms, ooorrrrr an otaku heaven. Guess you'll see." You shrug your shoulders, grab his hand and jump into the portal. Levi screaming in your ear, "Nooooooooo I change my miiiind..." as you're both dragged up to the human world.

As the portal light fades, Levi is still squeezing your hand and his eyes shut tight. "What's that sound? It's so noisy, where are we?" He slowly opens his eyes, "Is that? Are we!? Are we in Akihabara? Tokyo? ARE WE IN TOKYO!?" His eyes dart everywhere, "We are! We are, we are, we are! Wait!? What were those tickets you held up?"

You wave the tickets in the air, "you mean theeeese? Oh nothing special." You feather them in front of his face, "just tickets to the TSL convention."

"Tickets.. to.. TSL.. conven...," he looks like he's going to faint. You stand slightly behind him as he starts to fall backwards and push him back up.

"Come on! I figured you'd feel right at home if we popped up in Akihabara. Let's hit up Mandarake to see if they have any figures your missing, one of the maid cafés for lunch and then head off to the convention!" You grab his hand and head off into the crowd. You spend a couple hours shopping and finally finish up at the café. Levi has at least twice as many bags as you do by this point. "Slow down with the shopping Levi, otherwise you won't have any money left to spend at the convention." You look up at one of the many flashing signs and find the time. "We better head off, the doors have already been open for a little over an hour now." You both finally make it to the convention, hand the tickets to the door guy and enter into a whole world of TSL.

Levi has already stripped off his jacket and tossed it into one of the bags. "Thank you so much for this! I really feel like Henry!" a huge smile spreads across his face as he looks toward you. "Aren't you going to take off your jacket? It's starting to get pretty warm in here."

"Oh, yea... um, could you hold the bags for a minute then while I take it off?" you hand him the bags, "oh, and could you turn around?" He gives you an odd look but shrugs it off and turns around. You take off the jacket and tosses it at the back of his head.

"Hey!" he catches the jacket and turns around to face you. His jaw practically falls off. His mouth agape he manages to stutter out, "Lord offfff Shadows," he gets down on one knee, "please allow me to devote myself to your service." His hand is quivering as it reaches up to take yours and gently places a kiss upon it.

"I'm guessing I look ok?," you shyly giggle as he stands up. "Asmo didn't alter this too much, did he?"

"Noooo, you look aamazinnng!" he stands up, you notice something starting to bulge in his pants. "Um... maybe, maybe you should put the jacket back on." He looks around and casually put his hand in his pocket to try to cover what's happening. He starts to notice others staring at you as they walk by. His eyes scan the main entrance, he spots a janitors closet, "actually come with me." He grabs your hand and takes off towards the closet. Checking to make sure no one is watching he opens the door and drags you inside. "Ok we should be safe in here."

"Levi.. why are we in a closet? We're going to miss all the booths and activi..." his mouth is upon yours before you can even finish the sentence. "Mmhmm," your hands drop down to your side and you feel his fingers interlocking with yours. His tongue slowly enters and massages yours, sending shivers down your spine. You feel his hands start to glide up your arms making their way up to your face, cupping it oh so gently as the kiss deepens. You can feel his bulge grow, pressing against you as he slowly backs you up against the wall.

His mouth parts away from yours, "I think we're going to have to go to the next convention." He backs away slightly, "we need to go back home." He runs his hands through your hair, "I'm not letting anyone else see you in that outfit." He buries his face in your neck and starts to leave a trail of soft kisses up to your jaw. "This conversation will continue in my room." He places your jacket back on you and drags you out of the convention center back to the portal.

"Farewell Tokyo, until next time."

#swd #obey me #shall we date #swd obey me #obey me fanfic #obey me swd #obeyme #obey me levi #obey me leviathan #obey me levi x reader #obey me!

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greymattermaelstrom · 5 years ago

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Ozlander Fan Gathering 2020 - The Rik and Sophie Show

I attended Ozlander in Melbourne. What an incredible weekend so would like to share my Ozlander experience with you. Of course, it was during the very early days of covid-19 which I’ll address shortly. I’d never met any of the cast before, nor any group of like minded fans. Of course, you are usually lucky to know anyone who watch the TV show (not counting a partner) in your circle of friends let alone personally know a group of fans to chat with. It’s funny though, I’m not sure what I expected, but I thought people would have in depth discussions about OL characters/plots during coffee breaks or in line ups for autographs/photos. I didn’t experience that. I think it was a given that we were all deep into OL. Instead, I found we just chatted and got to know each other, ‘Where are you from?’ etc. As this was the first formal Outlander convention held in Australia, this was big news. I bought my ticket the day they were available (Nov 2019). It was a long way off but I knew the gathering would occur a short time after the first few episodes of Outlander S5 were broadcast, so when S5 started airing, my anticipation grew. Prices were steep admittedly, but a number of us felt it may be the first and last opportunity to meet a cast member, so we did what we could to get there (i.e. sell the healthiest child, blackmail the rich, etc).

Article from “The Scottish Banner” Feb 2020.

Unfortunately, 4 weeks out, Ed Speleers withdrew due to work commitments but local, David Berry, was announced as his replacement on the same day. Then 10 days out, Graham McTavish withdrew due to work commitments in Slovakia. No news of a replacement was announced (I learnt at the event that organising a visa etc with Covid-19 developing had made it nigh on impossible to organise a replacement in time). Ozlander organisers revisited the program and added extra value features to the various tiers. The gathering weekend was so close, yet seemed so far away in these uncertain times. Every day, I anticipated receiving an email stating it had been cancelled. I knew the organisers must have been pulling their hair out. Selfishly and as long as it was safe to do so, I was hoping it would still go ahead. The virus was not as advanced in Australia. Most of our relatively low number of cases were brought in by travellers (residents returning or tourists) from Europe/Asia before flying was cancelled. The Federal Government had restricted public gatherings to less than 500 at the time. Attendance was actually under 200. FYI, below are the global covid-19 stats as of 19 April 2020, a month later. Australia’s population is 25 million.

A few days after the Ozlander event, only crowds of less than 100 were permitted by the govt. We were so, so lucky!! Of course, that reduced further as precautions were implemented over time. We have self-isolation and a lot of business closures, cancellation of sports/entertainment etc. It is dreadful, but not a total lock down in Australia. We could walk dogs and make necessary trips to the supermarket, pharmacy, doctor or special court appearances. Anyway, just wanted to address this concern. ~ Tickets sold well (premium tickets sold out). I saw fans on sm stating the date of the event clashed or it was a bit expensive so I know more wanted to come. Yes, the cost was relatively high. Return airfares for cast, accommodation, plus I assume their appearance fee was always going to be an expensive venture, especially as our AUD had been declining sharply against the USD for some time. Australia can miss out on some things because of distance and a relatively small population, but overall, I think we have done well over the years. ~ Rik (Richard) and Sophie posted IG photos from Melbourne a couple of days before the event. Yay!! They were in the country at least, enjoying the sunsets, cuddling koalas and hypnotising wallabies lol. Sophie posted a selfie from a public toilet (bathroom) - as you do. See Sam’s comment below. Toilet paper was becoming a precious commodity....🤔

So the odds looked good and finally, Ozlander arrived.🥳 Before we took our seats, a lone piper slowly walked into the throng playing Waltzing Matilda (iconic Australian bush ballad) which segued into Outlander's theme song. Goosebumps! Applause all 'round. The piper was a big fan too.

What a thrilling start to proceedings. We took our seats and Meagan Taylor (the one who dared dream the dream), welcomed everyone. The age range of fans was predominately 40-65. We were excited and expectant. Housekeeping announcements focused on coronavirus precautions of course. Wash hands, use hand sanitiser when you can't, no handshaking and no touching the cast. This last request was a little disappointing after seeing photos from other OL cons, but it was quite understandable. I think we were just over the moon Ozlander went ahead so we were more than happy to comply and consider the health and safety of others. Then Meagan had the unenviable task of informing us David Berry had unfortunately cancelled his appearance due to health reasons. Yikes! What a shame. (David released a press statement 15 March(?) outlining his difficult decision. Sydney is Australia's Covid-19 hot spot, so David being a Sydneysider, had to consider this I guess). There are IG photos of David, Rik and Sophie together in Australia, just not sure where. So of course, it surprised everyone that David wasn't attending. Refunds of his meet and great and the re-jigging of tiers was to be announced on the fly. Then there were two, Rik and Sophie (and no pressure whatsoever!)🤪. Meagan then advised that the five panels across the weekend would be all audience Q & A which got a loud cheer. On with the show! The Rik and Sophie show! 🎉 They came on stage ready for a good time. Rik opened with 'G'day'. Great start I thought and continued his half decent Australian accent. It's a hard accent to imitate as we know. Rik's was a bit exaggerated but that was part of the fun.

‘G’day. ‘How are ya’?’

Sophie in an outfit she bought here. Same brand as Saturday’s dress that she brought with her.

Roger Mac is in da house.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I have seen Rik and Sophie in a lot of interviews, OL promos (talking to camera) and taking part on OL panels on YouTube. I can find their rapport a little strained and snarky at times. Luckily, I was very pleasantly surprised that their 2020 version was very endearing and entertaining. I think they’ve worked on this. I also think, that the spectre of Sam and Cait, through no fault of their own, does loom large at cast events. Therefore, it was great to see Rik and Sophie rise to the challenge of working the room in the absence of their cast mates. And I think they really relished this (albeit exhausting) opportunity and the small theatre made it a casual and intimate affair. They answered questions in an engaging manner and often expanded on it, citing on set examples, many I’ve never heard before, and I’ve seen a lot of OL interviews. Almost as soon as they came on stage, Rik was asked if he would play his guitar and sing for us. While flattered, I think it was too early in the piece and he said maybe he would do so during the weekend sometime. Alas, time wasn’t on our side so it didn’t eventuate. ~ Rik was asked if his hair ticks were under control (ep 501)😂. Combing his fingers through his hair, he replied in his strong Scottish brogue that most of them were gone now. Good sport. ~ He was told the OL bts photos he posts on sm (taken on set) were great and much appreciated and to keep them coming to which the audience applauded. I think he quietly enjoyed that moment. All creatives will take that, knowing their skills and hard work meant something to someone, much like our appreciation for OL and these sorts of events!

Then on to costumes, wigs and make up. It was thought that it must be nice to have your scalp/hair attended to in the makeup. ‘No, it’s not’ R&S said in unison.😂 Verra uncomfortable process apparently. The hair is flattened and held down with clips. The hairline edge of the wig is ‘glued’ to the top of your forehead and then alcohol is used to get the glue off after shooting, which dries the skin. Some hair falls out over time with this process also. We know this has happened to Sam to an extent.😬 Rik is hoping to grow his hair long enough so he doesn’t need a wig, which accounts for his current hirsute glory. ~ Sophie said they both share a make up trailer and added that Rik has a magic make up chair. Being early morning, he often goes to sleep in it and upon waking up, hey presto, it’s Roger Mac. At make up time, they do know if the other is a bit touchy, so they try not to annoy each other. Too much.😂 ~ At one stage, we were a bit shy in asking questions. Meagan said if this was in the US, there’d be a line up for the mic.😂

Ozlander Fan Gathering 2020 selfie.

~ Sophie responded to a geeky question about wearing wireless mics secreted in their costumes or hair as well using the usual overhead boom mics you see on bts videos. She was asked about her experience with ADR which she’s not a great fan of it. The audience asked, ‘What’s ADR?’ There are a few accepted terms in the industry, Additional Dialogue Replacement is one. It’s when some dialogue needs to be re-recorded late in post production if the original dialogue audio recording at the time is less than optimal for a variety of reasons (thanks Google). Sophie gave an instance when in S4, Bree told Claire she had been raped. The stream in the background got into the dialogue mics too much in this particular outdoor location, so Sophie had to re-record her dialogue (like lip syncing) saying exactly what she said at the time, whilst watching the scene on a screen in a recording studio. It’s hard to get the context and emotion of the scene back into your voice and that’s why some actors hate doing it and plead to have the original dialogue kept as much as possible. But ADR happens more than you realise and for various reasons (see Google). It is impossible to tell when you watch the show, what scenes have had ADR done, it’s blended so well. They would record the stream/ ambient sounds separately at some point and then mix it in lower against the dialogue after ADR is done. 😅

~ Sophie talked about her audition process and was sat down in an exec’s office and was told OL fans are very passionate! (we are?🤔😁). They have an idea of how book Brianna should look and Sophie confirmed she wasn’t tall enough, eyes the wrong colour, etc and that yeah, as expected, she received some not so nice things on sm. But she tried not to read too much of it and pressed on with the role of Bree. Her tone wasn’t sarcastic or indignant at all, but humble. I was impressed.

Queuing for photos with Rik or Sophie on this occasion. We weren’t allowed to touch but we all had a squirt of hand sanitiser (just to be super safe?).🤔

There were a few photo opportunities over the weekend and a bonus or two thrown in make up for the cast that couldn’t make it. A refund was offered for people with meet and greet tickets for David. However, R & S kindly offered to do a meet and greet for David’s fans instead and they happily accepted. Legends! I don’t know where they found the energy to be constantly ’on’ with so many people over the weekend. Chocolate? Youth? ~ As it was a small event, there weren’t any extra security staff that I could see. I think it was only the Museum staff and the security cameras which were hardly noticeable. ~ When getting my autographs, Rik and Sophie didn’t ask for my name, but when I read their personal messages, they had used my name (which they’d seen on my Ozlander lanyard. How cool is that? Very slick!). There were assorted costumes, the de rigueur wedding dress of Claire’s which added to the ambience. Of course, most of the audience were women but good to see a handful of men there, some even in kilts! Saw some Aussie Peakers in their MPC tees too. Cool.

To settle a pronunciation question, Sophie asked the audience after lunch, ‘Is it scone (as in, phone) or scone (as in, shone)?

An emphatic SCONE (shone) came back. Rik said “Oh, wow, a shouting(?) majority?’

Just to be sure, someone asked who lost, Rik pointed at Sophie. He didn’t gloat too much. Poor Sophie!

Of course, what would an OL event be without the cast having a drink or two to lubricate the tonsils (as we say).

Here are a few more tidbits. All the info I’m sharing has been gleaned from the panels and time spent with Rik and Sophie over the weekend as my tier allowed (which was a lot). ~ Yes, they had tried Vegemite (similar to marmite/promite), courtesy of David Berry. Sophie has some in Scotland. Onya Davo! (good on you David). Incidentally, Sam tried some when he was here in 2016 on Studio 10 (morning talk show - March 2016, his interview is on You Tube). It’s a thing. ~ Rik didn’t know if Sam’s whisky would be his cup of tea, but said it was ‘good actually’. ~ Rik was sometimes surprised by the particular take post production used for the show, but was more surprised by what was edited out of a scene (to add dynamics or guide the narrative a certain way which would apply to all productions everywhere). ~ The pyre scene with the Jesuit Priest at the Mohawk Village Ep 412 was hard to watch on TV. He said it was hard to watch them shoot that scene on set as it was so dangerous!😬 ~ Sophie very occasionally discussed the historical accuracy of things in a scene with directors ie. birthing stool or not in Ep 413 and 1960′s The Mashed Potato moves in S5 are different to how we know them now. She convinced the director’s on those 2 occasions. To me, it shows her passion for the show! ~ When asked about Bree meeting Jamie for the first time in S4, Sophie was asked about the eww factor but didn’t think about Jamie’s hand touching her face after he had relieved himself as he had only used a fruit juice bottle.🤣 ~ R & S were asked to respond to: ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!’ And with relish they replied: ‘Oi, Oi, Oi!’. Someone did their homework. Cool. It’s a parochial call and response thing some aussies do at sporting events etc. ~ R & S often went for an early morning run. Before Sunday’s program began, Meagan asked us all to be very quiet. ‘That sound’, she said, ‘is Rik having his hair blown dry backstage.’ Laughter at Rik’s expense all round. Sophie came on with her’s still damp.

Graham McTavish ‘popped’ in from Slovakia to say hi and sorry I can’t be there. Rik and Graham had a good rapport. After some banter, the audience was now supposed to ask a question and GM rolled his eyes as he heard Rik’s voice again, this time asking him what he conditioned his beard with? ‘Well”, said GM, ‘well Richard, um, I, ahh (chuckle), I condition it with...., obviously a little bit of your love ..’. Much laughter in the theatre.

Then GM commented further, (which I missed, sadly), to even more laughter.

Who knows what would have happened had GM been at the event in person?! There is so much more I could share, but you get the idea.

Sophie wasn’t feeling the best during the last panel just before the close of the event, but she pushed through like a trooper. Rik said she had eaten too much chocolate. A weakness of Sophie’s. I think fatigue was catching up with both of them. They did so much.

Meagan presented Rik and Sophie with an Akubra (pron. uh·koo·bruh) each (iconic Australian outback hat) as a memento of their time here at Ozlander. Rik had the Crocodile Dundee style whilst Sophie’s was more demure. In his best aussie lingo, Rik said: ‘I’m Richard Dundee and this is my partner, Skippy (Sophie).’ (Referencing Skippy the bush kangaroo ? - a much loved Australian TV show 1968-1970).

The Scottish Banner article promised an intimate relaxed chance to get to know stars from the Outlander TV series and I’m happy to say that this is exactly what we got. Whilst it’s a shame we didn’t get to know Ed, Graham or David better, we certainly got to know Rik and Sophie better than we had ever anticipated. As a result, I see Rik and Sophie in a new light, esp in S5, where they have more scenes together. In a small way, I’ve gotten to know a little of the person that inevitably informs their TV persona (ie facial expressions, mannerisms, speaking cadence and inflections). What a memorable time I had (can you tell?). Thanks to Rik and Sophie, the gathering organisers (who got a special mention on stage at the close) and the other fans I met there. Thanks for reading this far on a rather lengthy post.😊 I know it’s my take on the weekend, but I’ve tried not to editorialise it, but present it, as accurately as I can, hence, it may be a bit dry to read.😅 I think Ozlander is a great name and I look forward to Ozlander Fan Gathering 2021.

Ozlander graphics: Ozlander Fan Gathering (I tweaked the circle logo in the title)

Ozlander Fan Gathering 2020 selfie: Ozlander Fan Gathering

other photos: all permissions obtained

Ozlander Fan Gathering article: The Scottish Banner February 2020

Sophie Skelton post: Instagram

global covid-19 cases stats: Wikipedia

#Ozlander #Ozlander Fan Gathering 2020 #Ozlander Melbourne

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yourkeeperoftherunners · 4 years ago

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6/9: The Con(vention) Run-in

Rating: PG (Fake fight for photo op)

Characters: Convention Attendee!Bang Chan x Reader (any gender), featuring Convention Attendee!Felix and mention of other characters

Notes: The final day of my birthday surprise series. Normally I try to attend Comic Con or its sister convention WonderCon, but both were postponed due to current events. This is a non-idol AU. The Aussie line are imagined as cousins in this story. All content is fictional. Please do not repost anywhere!

————–

llamajinnie

I can’t believe it... Sent 8:10 AM

bc1997

It won’t be that bad! Besides the tickets were free! Sent 8:12 AM

Chan looked up from his phone when he felt a tap on his shoulder. His cousin was holding out his badge he needed to wear to enter the convention and he thanked him. He put his phone away in a pocket and slipped the lanyard on over his head.

Instead of working on music like he usually did in his spare time, Chan was accompanying his cousin Felix to a comic convention. The latter won tickets through a radio contest and his parents couldn’t attend. Because his mom didn’t want him going alone, she asked Chan if he could spare a weekend and accompany Felix to the convention.

Most his friends were shocked he would tag along with the younger boy, especially since Felix was the one who was more into the nerd scene, namely anime and manga. Chan’s friend Hyunjin was convinced that the former’s aunt likely bribed him with money if he drove and chaperoned Felix for a weekend at the convention, but Chan insisted he really wanted to go. Sure he wasn’t a huge comic book or pop culture nerd like his cousin, but it gave him an excuse to wear that Captain America costume he spent too much money on from Halloween.

“Thanks again,” Felix said as he flipped his badge to the front, showing his name. “Mum said lunch and dinner is on her.”

“No, it’s fine,” Chan insisted.

Felix shook his head and replied that it was non-negotiable. The pair made their way to a line to enter the convention center and waited for security to wave them inside. They flashed their badges at the security personnel and stepped inside.

Felix adjusted his beret, which was starting to slide off his head, due to the long rabbit ears he put on top.

“So uh, who are you again?” Chan asked as he studied his cousin’s costume.

“Momiji from Fruits Basket,” Felix explained. “He’s the rabbit in the Chinese zodiac. Thought it made sense, since everyone thinks I’m still a kid with the baby face.”

“Plus the hair,” Chan added. “Okay, never saw the anime, but cool!”

Felix nodded as he fixed his backpack straps and dashed ahead to check out the tables in the art section of the convention. Chan tried to catch up and had to apologize as he weaved around other participants. He ducked as a Harley Quinn from the recent live-action film barely missed him with her toy bat, as she started to put it up for a photo op.

“Hang on Cap, can I get a picture?” a male voice asked.

Chan whirled around and saw it was a father with a young son, dressed as Thor. He smiled at the son and nodded as he removed his shield backpack off his shoulders to hold for the photo. The son hesitated, and shyly looked up at Chan.

“Come on Thor, we need you in the picture too,” Chan said as he motioned for the young boy to stand next to him.

The young boy skipped over to him and Chan knelt down on one knee. He held out his shield backpack, while the boy clutched his toy version of Mjölnir. The father snapped the picture with his digital camera and quickly checked the photo, before flashing a thumbs-up.

“Thank you,” Chan said as he stood up. He waved goodbye to the young boy and secured the backpack on his shoulders. He craned his neck, looking for Felix, who was several feet away, talking to one artist at their booth. He quickly walked toward his cousin and tapped him on the shoulder.

Felix whirled around and pointed to some example works of art that the artist had on display. “Perfect timing! Actually I was thinking about doing a commission with this guy. Who should I have done?”

Chan bit his lip and tried to think of any anime characters that he might know. He maybe watched a few as a kid growing up, but his mum made him go out and play or practice swimming, which was better than sitting in front of a screen in her opinion.

“Um...Goku from Dragonball Z? Naruto?” he offered, trying not to wince. “Sorry, it’s been a really long time since I’ve watched an anime.”

Felix nodded and flipped through the dossier on the table for inspiration for a few seconds. Eventually he settled on some character from an anime he wasn’t familiar with (Tower something?) and the artist scribbled a note in his notebook.

“It’s going to take me probably until 1 PM to do that,” the artist told Felix. “Someone is ahead of you with a two character commission, so that’s gonna be worked on first. I’d say come back around 2:30 and I might have it ready by then.”

Felix thanked him and dug out his wallet to pay for the piece. He passed over some bills and the artist made change for him.

————–

“Is that Binnie you’re messaging?” Felix asked.

Chan shook his head as he looked up from his phone. “Hyunjin. He’s convinced I’m trapped and not having fun. But then again, he’s not big on crowds and comic stuff.”

“Oh...” Felix trailed off. He craned his neck and noticed there were two seats closer to the front of the room. “We should grab those before the next panel starts.” He pushed himself out of his seat and quickly walked over to the empty chairs.

Chan stood up and followed his cousin, eventually taking the aisle seat in their new row. The pair had walked the floor for a few hours and now they were sitting in a room to listen and watch a panel on some anime series that Felix watched regularly. This allowed Chan to sit and relax, as well as respond to Hyunjin about how things were going.

“I promise we can grab lunch after this,” Felix whispered as someone came on stage to introduce the panelists.

Chan flashed him a thumbs-up and pocketed his phone out of respect for the panel. He leaned back in his seat as the moderator introduced all of the voice acting talent and then they rolled a new trailer for the next season. Once the trailer ended, the moderator began asking questions to the members on the panel and the audience listened to their responses. Eventually the panel began accepting fan questions, and Felix decided to rush up to the mic to ask one.

“MOMIJI!” one of the female panelists yelled with a huge smile on her face. “Oh my gosh, you are precious!”

Felix blushed at the compliment and ducked his head, before composing him and asking his question. The deep voice shocked the panelists and Chan bit back a laugh as one of the male panelists joked that he wanted to trade voices with Felix. The comment made the room laugh and Felix laughed along with them, then stepped to the side for the next fan to ask their question.

————–

The boys exited the panel room after Felix’s panel concluded and Chan began researching local restaurants they could get lunch at. Both decided against the convention center food, as it was pricey and Felix mentioned that Minho had tried it once during a cat convention, giving it poor reviews.

“There’s a cat convention? Oh wait, that’s rhetorical,” Chan mused as he pictured their friend walking every row of the cat convention with a content smile on his face. “Do you know if they had cats for adoption? Or was it products for your cat?”

“Both apparently,” Felix replied as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Minho went to look at special food for one cat, cause he needed to go on a diet, and then he wanted a fancy collar for his female cat.”

“That’s not where he got the third cat right?”

His cousin gave him a blank look and scrunched his brows. “Hang on, he has three now? I thought he only had two!”

“No he’s got three now,” Chan confirmed. “His Christmas card showed him with three cats plus him wearing Santa hats.”

Felix tried to recall if he got a Christmas card from Minho, while Chan went back to looking at restaurants. He paused when he found some options and started to show them to his cousin. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned his head to see it was someone dressed as Bucky Barnes in his Winter Soldier attire.

“Hey Cap, could we get a fight picture?” you asked under your black mask.

He nodded as he slowly removed his backpack from his shoulders and held the straps so they wouldn’t show in the picture. He turned to face you and you balled up the fist with your “metal” arm.

“I’m going to punch your shield, okay?” you explained.

He nodded and positioned himself as if he was defending himself with the shield. You placed your fist on the center of the shield and adjusted your feet, so it looked more convincing.

Felix stepped between the two of you and asked if you had a camera or phone you wanted to use. You nodded and used your free hand to pull out and unlock your phone. You switched to the camera app and handed it to him, murmuring a thank you.

He took the phone and put in landscape mode, checking to make sure everything was in focus. He counted to three, before clicking the button your screen a few times, just so you had more than one. He then switched to his phone and took some pictures too. He passed your phone over and you thanked him before checking the photos over.

“Perfect, thanks,” you replied. You dug around in your tactical vest and produced a card with your name and Instagram handle on it. “If you’re on IG, feel free to tag me. I’ll be uploading pics later tonight.”

Chan accepted the card and thanked you with a smile. He put it away in his pocket and added that you did an amazing job with it.

“Thank you,” you replied. “The arm was the hardest part but it came out good. Not the most comfortable thing to wear, but it’s all good. You make a good Cap.”

Chan ducked his head and waved it away as nothing. “I bought my costume – wish I had your talent.”

“Ah who cares? It looks great and you do too,” you confirmed, flashing him a thumbs-up. Your phone buzzed in your hand and you groaned when you saw it was your alarm for your next panel you were hoping to see. “Shoot, gotta run. My panel starts in 7 minutes. Have a great con!”

Chan nodded as he waved goodbye to you, while Felix held up his phone to show off his pictures.

“They came out pretty good,” he noted. “I’m guessing they’re a professional cosplayer.”

Chan patted the pocket with the card. “I’ll have to look them up online when we’re done.”

#Stray Kids Bang Chan #Stray Kids Felix #Stray Kids AU #SKZ AU #Bang Chan #Lee Felix #Bang Chan AU #Lee Felix AU #yourkeeperoftherunners original #number 3007

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alleiradayne · 6 years ago

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SPN Las Vegas

I was in Vegas over the weekend for a bachelorette party. I realized about two weeks ago that it was the same weekend as the Las Vegas SPN convention, and while I initially panicked, my only hopes were to run into a people “in the wild”, as they say.

And I did. Friday night, right after I got in, I ran into Bill Moran, Mike Borja, and Chris Schmelke (not Steve Norton, like I originally thought in the moment) leaving the Aria hotel for dinner/night out. Turns out, they went go-karting with Jared that evening. I was on my phone with Luke at the time, so I didn’t even think to ask for a picture or if they had any fun plans that night. I was mostly pissed at my bachelorette party friends for being super slow on figuring out what to do to meet up with me, so I was quite distracted by that.

I figured that would be the highlight of the weekend. I saw ran into people in the wild! That was a first and it was super cool! Still, I hoped to run into more as the weekend went on.

Saturday passed uneventful (except for bachelorette party shenanigans that will remain private). I was on the lookout all night, constantly scanning everywhere for anyone after the SNS let out. I saw no one. And there was nothing on social media. I think they partied in their hotel, and I’ll explain why in a minute.

Sunday ends up being a pretty lazy day. Two of the women in my group went to the spa and were supposed to meet up with us at noon for lunch, but they bailed and stayed at the spa because they were enjoying it so much. The other two women and had gone down to the pool, and I went back up to the room early. About a half hour later, the two that had come with me to the pool were back up in the room, and we found out that the women at the spa were staying at the spa.

So we canceled the lunch reservation. My VIP liaison from MinnCon was doing VIP here at Vegas and she had commented on a picture I’d posted on Facebook (my feet by the pool). She said I should stop by and say hi. I figured why the hell not. I could scope out the vendor table, get a shirt for me and @fuckyou-mavhenan, and head back.

So I left. The bride-to-be had no problem with my leaving since other people were still off doing their own thing. I didn’t plan on anything that happened after I got to the Rio.

Miranda was there.

She is gorgeous.

When I got into the building, I contacted the VIP liaison, we met up, talked for a bit, and then I headed in to the vendor room. I walked around a bit, talked to some folks, and then I found myself wearing a Creation wristband.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Shortly after that, I met up with @scentsfromthebunker and @samsexualdeancurious, which was hella cool. And then I went in and caught the end of Mitch Pileggi’s panel, which was also hella cool. And then I realized I now had access to everything going on the rest of the day. I immediately rushed over to photo ops and checked out what was left. I was kicking myself for not doing it sooner because Jared’s solo photo op was going at the time. Except his and Jensen’s solo ops were sold out. So then I didn’t feel so bad.

I’ve been eyeing a Rob & Rich op for a while. I almost did it back in November, but had already spent a bunch of money on other stuff. It just so happened that at the very moment I walked up to the counter, Rob & Rich’s duo op was about to start and so, I bought the ticket.

Yes, I just happened to pack my Rock God shirt and wear it that fucking day. No, I didn’t plan on getting this op. I didn’t plan on getting into the convention. I didn’t plan on even going. This all happened by pure happenstance.

I went back to the ballroom to catch the J2 panel which I’m sure most of you have watched already or will soon. But when I mentioned that I assumed the guys partied it up in their hotel, I figured that was because of the hangover recovery patches Jared was wearing. During the panel, Jensen was joking about how smelly Jared was, not because he was rocking some b.o., but because he was wearing like four of those damn hangover patches and they smell like B vitamins which reek to high hell. And since there were no pictures Saturday night into Sunday of them out in Vegas on social media, I assumed they were in their hotel room(s) the entire time (or in a private area of the hotels for parties).

So yeah. That happened. That’s... a thing. That exists.

The bachelorette party was fun, too. But I’ll never forget this weekend because the absolute serendipity with which I crashed SPN Las Vegas.

#2019 #spn #spnfamily

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etheriumart · 6 years ago

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How I Almost Met Vic Mignogna (The Tragic Tale of My First Heartbreak)

Yesterday, Saturday, January 5th, 2019, I went to my very first con, SacAnime. Now, for all y’all who know me fairly well, you know that I don’t really watch a ton of anime. I’ve seen all of four anime in my entire life. I’ve seen Yuri!!! On Ice, My Hero Academia, Castlevania, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. (I’m not counting Voltron or Avatar: the Last Airbender, idk)

Despite not being a major connoisseur of anime, I love Fullmetal Alchemist. I am extremely passionate about it, and will wax poetic about it for hours if you let me.

That being said, I love Vic Mignogna. He’s an amazing person, he loves his fans, he’s gracious and kind, and all around just a great guy.

I had never been to a con before, and was very excited for SacAnime. My parents had bought my whole family tickets as one of my Christmas presents, and I was literally counting down the days.

When I found out Vic was going to be there, I was OVER THE MOON. I couldn’t wait to see him. I wanted his autograph SO BADLY.

My family went to the panel, and despite not liking anime, they really liked Vic. It was an incredible panel, I’ll be posting highlights about it later.

Now, his autograph time was 4:30. A lot of the special guests at SacAnime charge for their autographs and photo ops. The cast of Voltron were charging $30 for an autograph and $40 for a photo, so needless to say I did not get any of their autographs or pictures.

Vic, however, was doing all of this for free. He was signing autographs and taking pictures with fans for free. And it wasn’t a formal picture either, he was putting his arms around people and hugging people and doing silly poses. I wanted to meet him sooooo badly!!!

At 4:10, I go to get in line for his autograph. I take one look at the line, and my heart sinks to the floor. It’s worse than the lines at Disneyland.... it practically wraps around the building.

I run up to the information desk, and ask if there’s any way I’ll be able to get in before the autograph time is over. The lady behind the desk tells me I can buy a fastpass for $20, but she has less than ten left. $20 is kind of a lot for me, but fuck it, I really care about this, it’s important to me, so I pull out my card.

“We don’t take card,” she says. “Just cash.” My heart sinks again. I only had $4 in cash.

“Can you hold one for me while I get cash at the atm across the convention center?” I ask her, hopeful, but she shakes her head.

The line behind me is already super long, and I know I won’t get a fastpass if I go to the atm. I should’ve gotten in that line twenty minutes ago.

Somewhat distraught, I call my dad. We meet up and I explain the situation, close to tears. However, I don’t really feel like crying in public.

“Let’s go try again,” he says, and we run up to the info desk.

The lady behind the desk says she only has one left. Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all religious on you, but I was sure this was a sign from God. (I know, it sounds dumb, but that’s what was going through my head at that moment) Without a second thought, my dad forks over $20.

I’m floored. My dad is not the the type of person to spend $20 on an autograph. That’s a significant amount of money! I thank him profusely, and we get in line for the autograph.

We wait in that line for forty five minutes. The only thing keeping me from collapsing from sheer exhaustion was my excitement at the thought of meeting Vic Mignogna.

Finally, I’m only five people away from the front of the line. I’m so excited, I’m practically bouncing up and down. I can see him from where I’m standing.

That’s when it happens.

The fire alarm goes off.

The stupid. Fucking. Fire alarm.

SacAnime staff pour into the room, yelling for people to evacuate. We’re forced to leave. I’ve been on my feet all day. I’m exhausted. I’m absolutely starving because I haven’t eaten anything all day. My scoliotic back hurts from standing for so long, and I have a monster headache from the wig I’m wearing. And I’m destroyed. I can’t hold it back any longer, and I don’t care who sees me. I start crying. I know it’s dumb to cry in a situation like that, but I was exhausted and crushed, and I couldn’t control it anymore.

My dad’s frustrated, because they won’t give him his $20 back, and we won’t be able to come back later to get the autograph like most of the other people there.

Dejected, we both leave for the restaurant we had reservations at.

It’s now my life’s mission to meet Vic Mignogna, shake his hand, and get a picture with him. I’ll do it someday, if it’s the last thing I do.

#sacanime #sacanime 2019 #sacanime winter 2019 #vic mignogna #fullmetal alchemist #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fma #fmab #mason rambles

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xemilyxmariex · 6 years ago

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Conageddon 2 - Sunday Recap

The final day of Conageddon was jam packed and full of surprises.

I started the day by sitting in on the beginning of Richard’s panel but then eventually ducked out so I could get in line for autographs with Chelsey. I was third in line for autographs and while I was in line Chelsey asked if anyone had a pen so she could write out “Let’s show them how to live” for someone who wanted it as a tattoo. I had recently purchased a Bellarke pen from Fangril Probs Inc that has the 99. Bellamy Blake 100. Clarke Griffin on it. I handed Chelsey my pen and said I’ll want that back though. She looked down, saw what was printed on it. Then she started laughing mischievously got up out of her chair ran out the door pushing it closed behind her. It was so silly. Chelsey is so silly and fun to be around. When it was my turn for autographs I told her that leading up to the finale (which is also when tickets were going on sale) I didn’t really know whose VIP I wanted to get because I would have been happy to spend time with any of the cast. But the instant the finale was over through my tears I was just like “Well know i HAVE to get Chelsey’s.” Her reaction was so sweet and she told me about how she was watching the episode with Luisa, Tasya and Sachin and how all of a sudden she just felt arms wrapping around her sitting on the couch. I told her that Anna and I sat hugging and crying after for a while. When I showed her what I wanted signed I told her how happy I was that the line “Maybe we should just shocklash Pike’s fascist ass and hand him to the grounders.” was so prominent. She laughed and told me that is her all-time favorite line. Which lead to her writing “I won’t hand you to the grounders” on my autograph. We took our selfies and I told her how I had gone back on my phone and found pictures from the pizza place in Banff we talked about during her panel the previous day. So we chatted briefly about Banff and Jasper and how gorgeous it is there and then I was on my way.

After Chelsey I stopped over by Tasya for my combo with her. She is so stunning in person I couldn’t really comprehend it lol. She was a total sweetheart and I told her how I was excited to learn she speaks Portuguese because my sister studied it in college. Her eyes lit up when I told her and we talked about her dad being from Brazil.

By then Anna and Tarra wee done doing their photo ops with Richard so we headed back to the autograph room. Tarra and Anna got their autographs with Chelsey. Once again Chelsey was hilarious and a total sweetheart. Tarra has always been super into “background” characters and she told Chelsey about how much she loved Harper and Monroe from the beginning. Chelsey was so flattered and told us she was going to message Katie (Monroe) about what Tarra said. Chelsey also asked us what it meant that Anna and Tarra were wearing shirts that said “100% John Murphy Trash.” She thought that it meant they were saying Murphy was trash. We clarified what being trash for something means and she laughed. After Anna moved over to the Tasya line Chelsey yelled over to Richard “I’m Richard Harmon trash!” He yelled back “Who taught you that?” and Chelsey was like “Anna!”

I then went over to capture Anna getting her autographs from Tasya. Her husband loves Echo so she was going to surprise him with her autograph. She told him all about how much he loves Echo and her reaction was priceless. She was so flattered and a total sweetheart.

Once I caught the moment Tarra and I ran off to our photo op with Bob. I had a solo one and then Tarra had bought one for us to do together for my birthday. We realized we should have told Bob the day before about a funny story from when she first got me to watch The 100. She had already seen all of season one and half of 2. We were watching Murphy’s Law and she ended up babbling on and on about how much Bellamy was her fave, and it just so happened to be during the scene where Bellamy hangs Murphy (#awkward). Since I was doing two poses I decided that I would do my solo photo first, that way as Tarra was walking in I could quickly tell him the story. His response was “oh so Bellamy at his finest.” Bob with the jokes people. Then we took the picture and after I was like oh yeah, well look where we are now pointing to my Bellamy shirt. And he made a joke about things working out in the end.

Then we went into the ballroom for Bob’s panel. I decided to turn my story into a question so I got in line as soon as Jo told us we could. Able to elaborate more than in the photo room I fleshed out the story a bit. It was hilarious because Bob was like oh you gotta cut her some slack he turns it around in season 2 when I told him she’d seen into season 2 when I was only on season 1. Bob then gave a very lengthy answer to me asking when his personal perception of Bellamy changed in S1, looking back at me throughout his answer.

We all wanted to get some water and food so we headed back to the VIP area after Bob’s panel. Since the area was pretty empty I just went and sat in the Richard VIP room with Tarra and Anna. There were a few other people in there. And boy am I glad I did! Two of the girls who were in the room convinced a volunteer to go find Richard and tell him they had whiskey for him to try. All of a sudden Richard pops into the room and comes and sits down across from us at the table. We sat in there with him for probably 30 minutes or more just chatting. He told us that Bob had wanted him to be part of Conageddon last year but they couldn’t afford him. Richard even said that he told them this year that he would take a pay cut to be there because he did not want to miss out on St Patrick’s Day in Boston. We talked about how he was going to be seeing Dropkick Murphys later that night, his favorite Irish music, and just other random stuff. I even showed him my stuffed hippo Hippy that I bring with me whenever I travel, since he had gotten so fired up talking about hippos the day before. Richard came into the room probably 15 minutes before the Bob and Eliza panel started. Before heading to the panel Bob stuck his head in the room and just was like “Dickey! Whatcha doing Dickey?!” Richard was just like oh not much just trying some whiskey. It was the silliest moment; their friendship is so hilarious. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to just chill with Richard for as long as possible I stayed in the room until Richard had to leave. Which meant I ended up missing more than half the Bob and Eliza panel. Since I knew they were streaming it on Facebook I did not mind one bit. Richard is the coolest guy and just so chill and down to earth.

I was able to catch the tail end of the Bob and Eliza photo and afterward we all went in to do our Bob and Eliza photo ops. I really had not planned what I wanted to do so I decided to just have them hug me. Next year I definitely want to plan this one out better. As I was getting up to leave Bob gave me a sweet smile.

We then headed to the autograph room to get our autographs with Richard. We spent a lot of time at his table; he was talking Tarra and Anna’s ears off lol. He talked about how grateful he is to Jason for giving him a chance and how he owes a lot of what he has in his life now to him. He also told us that Jason writes Murphy as a kind of reflection of himself. Which knowing that now I will read ever tweet of Jason’s way differently! He also was being super mischievous. Throwing pens across the room at people. Eventually his handler Monica (who is awesome) was like yo you got photo ops you gotta be at soon so he got back to business and moved the line along.

The last thing we had to do was Luisa’s photo op, but since the Bob and Eliza photos were taking longer than expected we went back to hang out in the VIP area while we waited. We ended up running into Luisa, she was proud that we found a way to coordinate our outfits for a third day. Then Anna and I finally got to do our photo op with Luisa and it is honestly one of my favorite photos from the weekend. Anna told her we’re both just going to give you a big hug and she was like OKAY!

Then it was time for Eliza’s panel and wow being in the room during that selfie auction was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever witnessed. The positivity in the room was palpable and seeing Eliza’s surprise at how much money was being raised on the spot was so special.

All in all Conageddon was the most incredible experience and I 100% intend to be there next year. It’s so incredible that Bob, Eliza, and Zach put on this convention themselves with the fans in mind. It really showed. I made so many new friends that I can’t wait to see again.

#conageddon 2 #richard harmon #bob morley #eliza taylor #tasya teles #chelsey reist #luisa d'oliveira #the 100 #zach mcgowan

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bethesdaglitch · 6 years ago

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1-70 do em all! 😁💙

I’m seriously so sorry this took so long, but it was so much fun!! thank you!!! Also it’s super long so I’m gonna put it under a readmore!

1. First game you played obsessively?

Jak & Daxter! 2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc.Lmao I’m not exactly a creative person, but when I was little I tried coming up with and drawing my own pokemon. They were… bad3. Who did you play with as a kid?My brother! At first I stole his Gameboy Color whenever he wasn’t using it, but then he saved up and bought a PS2 so we could play games together4. Who do you play with now?No one really lol. I kinda prefer to play single-player games now? But I’ll play with various friends when we hang out.5. Ever use cheat codes?When I was little, yeah! Especially in the Sly Raccoon games 6. Ever buy strategy guides?Before the age of unlimited free online strategy guides I did, now I just use said online ones7. Any games you have multiple copies of?Yep, I’ve “lost” games only to find them again after replacing them like… four times? It happened with Oblivion, Fable 3, DA: Origins, and, weirdly enough, that one obscure (but fun imo!) wii game, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon8. Rarest/Most expensive game in your collection?This one was hard! After a teeny bit of research, I narrowed it down to either Rule of Rose, LoZ Collector’s Edition on Gamecube, and pokemon red and yellow9. Most regrettable purchase?Hhhhhhhh I bought the video game for the 2006 Dreamworks movie Over the Hedge. I was only 12, but I still should’ve known better :(10. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours?I’ve gone to a few midnight releases, but none that have lasted for hours, luckily. I only started going to them in the last few years, so the only ones I’ve been to so far are Fallout 4, DA:I and uh… ME:A (I KNOW)11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games?Nah not really, I don’t play online games, so. I have friends who play video games, but I’ve never met someone BECAUSE of video games12. Ever get picked on for liking games?Lol no?13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has?Overwatch14. Favorite game music?NIER, hands down. 15. If it was a requirement to get a game related tattoo, what would you pick?Probably something cute and harmless like the leaf from Animal Crossing lol16. Favorite game to play with your friends IRL?Lately we’ve been really into Towerfall: Ascension and Screencheat17. Ever lose a friend over a game?Wh—no????18. Would you date someone that hates gaming?So long as they didn’t try to “forbid” me from playing and so long as we had other interests to bond over, then sure. It’d be kind of a bummer though lol19. Favorite handheld console?Idk that I have one! Maybe the Switch, since that’s the most recent and popular?20. Game that you know like the back of your hand?Silent Hill 3 and DA:I21. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now?The Civilization games22. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories?Sometimes, yeah. Nothing too embarrassing, though. 23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into?What, like… ever?? Geez, I dunno… probably Oblivion?24. First Pokemon game?Yellow!25. Were you ever an arcade game player?I actually wasn’t really :/26. Ever form any gaming rivalries?Oh yeah, with my brother. He’s 6 years older than me, which pretty much guaranteed I got my ass kicked in every game we played when I was younger27. Game that makes you rage?Bloodborne and Dark Souls!!!!!! I swear I try to go back and play them at least once a year, and I can never get past the first hour :(28. Ever play in a tournament?Not like an official one, but ones with friends, yep29. What is your gaming set up?Imma be real with you chief I don’t know nearly enough about computers to answer this question with anything other than “a computer”30. How many consoles do you own?Ohohoho far too many31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches?I’ve never had the 3D slider up long enough to tell, but that probably means yes lol32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic?BOY when I was in first grade I played Spongebob: Supersponge on Gameboy advance so much I STILL remember the password that lets you skip to the final stage (it’s WMBT) 33. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games?nah 34. Do either of your parents play video games?PFFF GOD NO. Although my mom does love Animal Crossing. Not playing it, but just like it’s whole deal. 35. Ever work in a game store? Or do you have a favorite game shop?No and no, tbh36. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game?I… don’t think so? Maybe I’ve cried over a game, but blood?? Put the controller down, y’all37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination?NO NO NO OVER THE HEDGE (2006) FOR THE PS2 IS THE SINGLE WORST GAME EVER MADE FIGHT ME ON THIS38. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like?Oh lord… idk if anyone’s ever played any of Ambition’s dating sims (Dream Girlfriend, Dream Boyfriend, Animal Boyfriend, and Moe Can Change) but I’ve literally been playing them for about… 5-ish years now? They’re seriously the worst, I fucking love them 39. A sequel that you would die for them to make?Hmm… Maybe a new Kingdoms of Amalur game would be cool? 40. What to you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls?I love VR but the last time I tried it at a friend’s place I fucking faceplanted after leaning on a counter I forgot was also virtual and the first thing my friend asked was whether the headset was ok, so that stung. As for motion controls, they’re fun but they can be a real pain41. A genre that you just can’t get into?Sports games 42. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness?The path to what43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else?Oh yeah, who hasn’t?44. Arcade machine that has consumed the most of your quarters?Idk if this counts but I am a MASTER at the claw machine and that stacker game. My closet is full of useless shit I’ve won from those things45. How are you at Mario Kart?OH SO FUCKING GOOD YOU HAVE NO IDEA46. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon?yesssss I love them47. Do you like competitive games?I mean like I said, I mostly prefer single-player games, but I do enjoy the occasional co-op game48. How long does it take your to customize your player character?about an hour49. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character?I actually don’t! If it’s a game I’m not confident I’ll be good at, I pick whichever class is recommended for beginners, and that changes from game to game. Alternatively, I just go through phases where I prefer a specific class above others 50. If you were a game designer, what masterpiece would you create?Christ I have no idea. Maybe a first-person escape game? idk51. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep?NO?? DAMN ARE Y’ALL OK????52. A game that you begged your parents for as a kid?Literally any M game; my parents were strictly “No M games until you’re old enough!” I just got my brother to buy them most of the time though lol53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days?Most DLC is fine, it’s microtransactions in “pay-to-win” games that I fucking hate. 54. Do you give in to Steam sales?HAHAHAHAHA yeah absolutely 55. Did you ever make someone you hated in the Sims and did mean stuff to them?N-No??? 56. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests?Ok yeah I did do that 57. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements?Ew no58. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick?Ooooh… ok, Oblivion, My Time in Portia, and Divinity 259. Do you play any cell phone games?I do! I play a lot of escape games, and uh… the Ambition games mentioned previously60. Do you know the Konami Code?Is that the up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A? Huh, I never knew it had a name!61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever?I used to trade them in occasionally, but mostly I keep them 62. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game?Yeah the Switch for BotW. Not proud of it, but it was worth it63. Ever go to a gaming convention or tournament? nah64. Ever make a TV or monitor purchase based on what would be best for gaming?Yep! 65. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file?OHHHH MY GOD YEAH, I’M STILL FUCKING PISSED ABOUT IT. I had GameShark for Gameboy and PS2, but that one was fine, it didn’t cause any problems. It was ACTION FUCKING REPLAY that fucked me over. I used it for KH2 and it worked the whole time until literally THE VERY LAST XEMNAS FIGHT, when my HP bar suddenly dropped to 1??? Not my HP, mind you, the HP BAR. Meaning 1 HP was the most I could have. Literally fuck action replay >:( 66. Did you ever have have an old Nokia with Snake on it?nope67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share?I do! The very first thing I ever saved up money for to buy myself was Pokemon Crystal version. Until then I’d just been borrowing (re:stealing) my brother’s, but when I was 5 and Crystal was about to come out, my parents made me a deal that if I saved up $15, they’d pay the other $15 and I could get it! It was the first time I was working towards a fun goal, so it was all pretty exciting for 5-year-old me lol. It’s dumb, I know, but it’s something I look back on fondly68. Ever save up a ton of tickets in an arcade to get something cool?Lol nah, I think the best thing I ever got with tickets was a cheap snowglobe 69. In your opinion, best game ever made? UHHHH GOD. That’s… super tough. I’m genuinely not sure I have an answer tbh. I’m really into Divinity 2 right now but best game ever made?? Idk! that’s a hard one!!!! 70. Very first game you ever beat? I won’t lie, it was Spongebob: Supersponge on GBA

#ask meme #sorthyboy

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midnatt-heronweather · 4 years ago

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2020 review

Disclaimer: You won’t hear much about the virus in this. I’m not a denier, I know the damage and destruction covid19 has caused and the death toll, therefore I am not yet cold enough not to realise this is going to sound completely selfish, but that is my decision. My reviews focus on MY year. Just so you’re aware. “I accept chaos, I’m not sure whether it accepts me.” Bob Dylan.

2020... What can I say?

This was the year I decided to officially identify as Non-Binary, not that anyone actually cares or believes me or things i'm "(insert stereotype at will)" enough. except for those very VERY rare people who do and who actually listen and hear me when I speak

Anyway -It has been a trashcan fire of a year since February/March February when I saw the Hu and Counterfeit alongside Ally. And I say February/March because that was the weekend I say my year ended...the good part anyway. Because it was that weekend when I got the ultimate honour, privilege and miracle of meeting Jason Carter, After that it was like a Dementor had French kissed the year and I can’t be the only one who thought it? Conventions and gigs postponed, rescheduled and ultimately cancelled, masks, social distancing, lockdowns the works. And can I just say - I didn’t clap, and I don’t feel in the slightest bit ashamed for it. Despite or maybe because I have friends and a few family who work in the NHS I couldn't bear to be a part of the hypocritical BS idea. I live in a country that will clap for their 'beloved' life saving NHS but then stand silent when Pay rises are frozen and when the NHS is in danger, we as a country expect a lot but don't lift a finger to gave back, clapping doesn’t pay bills. But...Bright points in the year let’s try staying positive and leaving the crap outside shall we...well... The main one has got to be that the US finally found their sense and President Elect Joe Biden will b sworn in January 20, 2021. After that... I’ll have to get back to you. Oh...no..no that’s not one... seriously I’ll have a think and get back to you. Conventions: Just one this year, for me, because of the obvious... But what a convention FCD Events presents 2258 a Babylon 5 Conventions: Where, as well as finally being among actual self confessed fans and being able to tick a b5 convention off my bucket list after starting cons way too late to attend the OG cons I did the impossible... I MET JASON CARTER... have I mentioned this? Have I? Should I say t again? I MET JASON CARTER!!! Also Mira Furlan, Tracy Scoggins and Patricia Tallman, but I met him! Finally! And... Just a reminder I did warn you guys, several times that it was likely hell would freeze over if I ever got that particular honour, do not say I didn’t. I’d never done an FCD before, I’d meant to, even bought a ticket but it just never seemed to happen, but the second someone said b5 con, I was so there! Karan Robinson made my year by making me the Anla’Shok uniform. And Nadine added the cherry on top by making the belt buckle that ONLY Marcus and Entil’Zha Sinclair wear: D (for the record: Velcro still hates me) David one of the organisers of FCD kept randomly shouting “We live for the one.” And when people other than m actually knew the response and responded... dude kick in the feels I kid you not. Next Year (Angel Willing) Adam and I are attending the Teen Wolf conventions entitled “Howl at the Moon 4” in Paris, France... which is cool on so many levels not least of which being I get to meet JR Bourne and Daniel Sharman again and get to visit the church of St Julian of the poor. And yes, there are cons planned here in the UK. But... well. It’s already looking Grey, and not the good kind. Music and Gigs: Two gigs one after the other at the 02 Ritz in Manchester. The First:

The Hu a Mongolian band who Ally really likes and I think are pretty cool. They are amazing live there’s no doubt, can hold their own in England even in a room of idiots. The 2nd :

Counterfeit (also with Ally) I went VIP and got to meet the boys again, and listen to a Q&A with them. I will forever love them, not just because of Jamie’s acting side despite what people say. Didn’t realise how special until recently though because; after keeping fans going and hyping up new singles during lockdowns, they recently decided to go their separate ways. Jamie’s gone solo and he’s put three songs out on YouTube. _ I was meant to be attending a one off gig by Ruelle and Fleurie both of who had music used on Shadowhunters, even talked my friend Lou into it, but it was a victim of the lockdowns and things and I’m not the optimistic type so I doubt it’ll ever happen now, will be lucky if even one of the ladies comes over here if I’m honest. Recently I’ve rediscovered a love for Black Veil Brides and their leader Andy Black’s solo stuff. Olivia Hyde of Bad Pollyanna recently killed everyone in her black unicorn’s fanbase with an amazing solo album, me included. Ally has introduced me to a few interesting bands this year, *Wingtips – very 80s Goth, very Ally (translation: very cool.) *Allegiance Reign – a Japanese Samurai metal band, not sure what Ally actually thinks of these guys, she found them while perusing YouTube and thought of me :D Suggestions greatly accepted, I am always up for giving new stuff a try. Hopefully next year things will even out and gigs will be able to be put on again. TV and Fandom’s: *We FINALLY got Roswell: New Mexico in the UK, and ITV blitzed through 2 seasons in less than a month, but it was enough for me to decide I loved it, maybe more than I did the original. Alex is my fave, but obv Michael isn’t half bad, nor is Max when he’s not making goo-goo eyes at Liz. * Finally got to see 9-1-1 Lone Star and I absolutely love it, (I kinda knew I would from all the talk) * Decided to give the Charmed reboot a 2nd look and it’s proved addictive, now waiting for s2 to be downloadable on Amazon or something. *In march I was so, so excited for the return of The Expanse and the fact the main cast were coming to a con in the UK, then.. The verse went to hell. I still Love the Expanse, but I’m not as die hard as I was, not for lack of trying. Still love it for Anna of course, any excuse to see her. *After 15 years Supernatural finally ended in 2020 with season15: I stopped watching religiously at the end of season 6 but that does not mean I stopped liking the show just that I didn’t like the direction (like with The Expanse recently) I loved watching the reaction of the fans, and how much they (we if I’m counted) mean to the cast. * I have to mention Cursed... If only to say HOLY HELL DANIEL! 𝑴𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑻𝑽 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒐𝒇 2020 Cursed 9-1-1 Lone Star & 9-1-1 Warrior Nun Prodigal Son Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Doctor who (Officially season12) Roswell s1&2 (it counts cos ITV only just got the reboots) Charmed s1&2(it counts cos E4 only just got the reboots) Call the Midwife (s9 btw) Our Girl Strike Back: Vendetta Friends: “Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .” ― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

My understanding of "friendship." is skewed, and I’m not saying that to be "Vulcan." it’s honest, and anyone who wants to know how or why just has to ask. But let’s leave it at that for this. It makes some things more stark... and I've said this recently, but this binfire has made even me more aware of who’s out there in my verse, whose pack, who’s potential, and who’s just pathetic. The last I’m not going to waste my breath on. The first two: Pack and Potential (read: new acquaintances /potential friends) Pack: Yes I go on about friends as 'Pack like a person whose OD'd on Teen Wolf... because I am so :P My pack as a whole are varied, and spread out across this country with a few dotted around Europe and Aus. hopefully they know who they are because I don't do mushy crap as they know. But if they do know, they know I'm there when I'm needed and more than willing to sod off when not. Yorkshire brass makes me frank and I’d hope fair. There are 2...mayb 3 who sit above the rest, in special place for the things they've done and things they've been through with me. I make no denial of that. But everyone is important to me. I wouldn't change them for anything.... Ok... tell a lie, maybe 1 or 2 when they do my box in, but that’s only like for a week maybe less. I've spent too many years and got too many scars and burned too many photos and bridges because of fake people and users to not be honest to a fault. It’s who I am. Potential: the Counterfeit gig in Manchester, 2258 and yes even Tiktok have given me the opportunity to make some interesting acquaintances this year, and some I hope will become friends in the real in the future, but for now I will say - "I am defensive, stand off ish, sometimes bull headed and of course opinionated, but I am by no means blind. Or blinkered despite what may be said of me. I am there when needed, if I can be of use, just poke me." Ave Atqua Vale This section has its own post these days. Sadly. Pictures Will try and make one of my “a year in ten pics.” Posts later. Final words While I am not fond of this time of year, Enjoy your celebrations whatever for they may take, I will be watching The Magicians / Call the Midwife and plotting 202? Cosplays. I will be here when (fk knows why) I'm needed. Otherwise- Compliments of the season, now go get a beer, i'm sure you need it after reading this crap.

in the words of The one and only Jason Carter “Hindsight is 2020″

#2020

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mattholicguilt · 7 years ago

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i gotta write down everything that happened today before i forget!!!!

so we took a lyft from the hotel to the convention center but my friend who so AMAZINGLY got me the ticket also.... forgot the tickets in the hotel room so we had to go back lmao. but then we finally got to the convention center and! it was awesome!

i saw a lot of ‘the good place’ cosplays...... a janet with a bad janet and also a janet and jianyu pair. (both good janets had cacti, obvi). i’ll probs post cosplayer pics later. i saw an isabelle (from animal crossing) and told her i loved her costume and she said “thanks! you’re a great mayor!” <3 <3

i stumbled onto kris anka and kevin wada, who i’ve been lucky enough to meet before at heroes con. anka usually wears this really fun floral tie but today he didn’t have it on. instead he was wearing a sweater that said “carly sleigh jepsen” #iconic. i bought a print from wada of poe dameron.... in underwear. kevin wada gives the people what they want.

THEN i got in line for chris claremont. they were soft-capping the line so it never got too long. i probably waited twenty-forty minutes. i told claremont that rogue is my favorite xman and he said, “which version?” meaning the regular one or the version where she and nightcrawler swapped abilities and she was blue and furry.

“if i had ever thought of that, i would have made it happen a lot sooner,” he told me.

i got him to sign my avengers annual 10 (rogue’s first appearance), x-men vol 2 #1 (the issue that got me into the x-men) and three comics from his run on spider-woman vol 1. he opened up one of the spiderwomans, pointed to jessica drew’s bathing suit and said, “here’s a good touch of realism- jess only owns one swimsuit” because it’s the same one she’s wearing when she’s poolside in avengers annual 10.

i thanked him for writing such great friendships between women and he told me he thinks a lot of writers just won’t write good friends. (YES i love claremont for lesbian (ok lesbainish) characters and mystique/irene etc etc but tbh i DO want to read strong friendships between women. storm/jean is a good ship but it’s also a wonderful, enduring friendship and i love chris claremont for writing that kind of story.)

this is getting really long so i’m just gonna make a series of posts because THERE’S MORE.

#long post #emerald city comic con

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terrordave1 · 7 years ago

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Friday, April 6, 2018, 10:15am – My daughters, Leia and Jade, and I arrive at McCormick Place just after the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) begins. This year they had security checkpoints set up like the ones they have at airports which created some delay. While approaching the metal detectors, I notice a Wonder Woman cosplayer in front of me holding a sword and a guy behind me with a laser gun. I swear this is the only Security Screen in history where folks walk in proudly brandishing weapons!

10:25 am – We finally enter the main hall. Since the primary goal for Friday was celebrity autographs, we made a beeline for that area while trying our darndest not to stop and check out the merchandise. Instead, we quickly snap photos power-walking towards the back of the hall.

10:45 am – We arrive at the autograph area and notice the lines have already formed for most; including Dave Bautista (“Drax” from Guardians of the Galaxy) who wasn’t scheduled to start until noon. We decided to strategically split up and have Jade secure a spot in Bautista’s line while I go to Sean Gunn’s and Leia (a huge Firefly fan) wait for Alan Tudyk. Both Gunn and Tudyk were scheduled for 11am which worked out well since I wanted Gunn and Bautista to sign the same Steelbook.

Cosplayers prepare for battle as C2E2 gets underway

11:05 am – No sign of Gunn nor Tudyk. Tudyk’s line is huge and the only way I manage to spot Leia is because she wore an orange Scooby-Doo “Thelma” sweater. Jade sends me a text stating that due to Bautista’s tight schedule fans are being told they can’t ask him any questions nor have him personalize anything. I should note that while Bautista was signing at various times, this particular session was only an hour since he had a panel to get to at 1. Things may have been more relaxed later in the weekend though I can’t say for certain.

View of Alan Tudyk’s line from Sean Gunn’s…

11:15 am – Alan Tudyk arrives.

11:17 am – Sean Gunn arrives.

11:45 am – My turn to meet Gunn. I ask him what it’s like being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and he said it was “amazing” but they’re held under such tight secrecy they can’t even say the first names of anybody they work with. I ask him if he’d been a comic book fan growing up. “No, that was my brother (Guardians of the Galaxy Director, James Gunn),” he said. I asked if he read both Marvel and DC and Gunn said, “No, he was always a Marvel loyalist.” At $40 for an autograph/photo combo, Gunn was not only friendly but one of the more affordable celebrities in attendance.

11:55 am – I join my daughter, Jade, in Bautista’s line (and notice several people I’d stood with in Gunn’s doing the same thing). The security and volunteers running this area are confused, confusing, and wound so tight you can cut the tension with a knife. There were several lines formed and Bautista would sign each line, one at a time. Jade and I stood at the head of the second line which meant we got front row watching Bautista sign for the first one. Some weird volunteer guy keeps feeling the need to explain to me the dynamics of the line and why it’s set up the way it is. I just keep feigning interest while saying, “Uh huh…..”

Noon – Bautista shows up right on time. He’s a big guy, wearing sunglasses, and looks like a badass. I’ve met quite a few pro wrestlers but this guy’s the most intimidating of them all. NO WAY could Ryan Gosling take him out like he did in Blade Runner 2049! I wonder if weird volunteer guy will hold my hand when it’s my turn to go up there?

12:20 pm – We find ourselves in front of “Drax,” himself. Despite appearances, Bautista was very friendly. He asked what color I wanted my Steelbook signed and I chose blue – for Drax of course!

“Guardians of the Galaxy” goals reached!

12:35 pm – Jade and I catch up with Leia who finished her encounter with Tudyk and couldn’t be happier with it. She told him she loved Firefly and he was in the middle of saying “Thank you” when he stopped and noticed my Tucker and Dale vs Evil import Steelbook I gave her to have signed. “Holy, crap! Where did you get this??? It’s awesome!” Leia recalled him nearly jumping from his chair. “I love how they have me out front in this picture. You know, if it were up to my co-star, that movie would have been called “Dale and Tucker vs Evil!” He also loved the import Rogue One KIMCHIDVD exclusive Blu-ray Steelbook as well (I’m like a rich lady with shoes when it comes to Steelbooks). “Wow, I can’t believe they’ve got me (STAR WARS droid K-2SO) taking up the cover! I need to find out where you people go shopping!” This made me really happy as I specifically bought that Steelbook with him in mind.

1:06 pm – Svengoolie’s producer, Jim Roche, sends me a text that they’ve arrived and the girls take off on their own while I wait for them. I chat with a few people in his line at Booth 34 who’ve arrived a full hour earlier to wait for him. This includes a casual Facebook friend of mine named Vicki who walks up and shows me my profile photo on her phone. “Is this you?” she asks.

1:30 pm – 3:30 pm: I’m with the Svengoolie crew which I’ll delve into in a separate blog scheduled to post this Saturday 4/14/18.

3:45 pm – Met back up with Leia before her and her friend attend a D&D panel (we’re all geeks in my house and C2E2 is like our Mecca). Jade is also attending one – upstairs for the Guardians of the Galaxy. She’s also a huge “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fan like her old man and was thrilled to see that Clare Kramer (“Glory” from Season Five) is hosting it.

“Guardians of the Galaxy” Friday panel C2E2

4:00 pm – I go off on my own; checking out the vendors despite my aching feet. My goal was to find superhero patches but I end up buying new horror-themed ones instead. I note a few other items I’m interested in but decide to hold off. I figured if I still want them after a good night’s sleep, I’ll pick them up Saturday. I’d read this was a great way to be more frugal and avoid impulsive spending.

Unfortunately, the following day I ended up purchasing every single one of those items so I’m not sure it worked.

It’s a guarantee that no matter what event I do I’ll get something with “Trick r Treat” Sam

4-6 pm – We’re all out in the convention doing our own thing; shopping and taking pictures of cosplay. Here are some of those shots…

6:00 pm – We all meet at our rendezvous point a.k.a. the Marvel section and pick up some of their free swag. They have a giant poster of Avengers Infinity War which I can’t believe will be out in just a couple more weeks (and, yes, we have our tickets). In celebration, the Marvel folks give everyone a turn posing with the Infinity Gauntlet.

Free Marvel Swag!

6:15 pm – We trudge back to the car. Day One’s a wrap and with all our Friday goals achieved. I drop Leia off at her friend’s place and Jade and I pick up Chinese food before heading home. As I walk from the car to my front door my legs hurt so bad I start fantasizing about crutches. There was nothing scheduled for us on Saturday outside of my meeting with the Svengoolie crew again around noon. I set my alarm for 8:30 am and looked forward to sleeping in a bit and rest my sore legs/feet.

Saturday, April 7, 2018, 4:45 am – Wide awake and writing this damn blog…

Dave~

Photos – Dave, Leia and Jade Fuentes

C2E2 Diaries: Friday’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” Kick-Off! Friday, April 6, 2018, 10:15am - My daughters, Leia and Jade, and I arrive at McCormick Place…

#Alan Tudyk #C2E2 #Dave Bautista #Firefly #Guardians of the Galaxy #KIMCHIDVD Rogue One #Sean Gunn #Svengoolie #TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL

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megaphonemonday · 7 years ago

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Please please please. Bawson prompt where Mike and Ginny have time off and decide to attend Comic Con. Lawson being a huge Star Wars nerd and perhaps Ginny dressing up as Princess Leia to surprise Mike. Eternally grateful.

i’ve never been to a con and only watched the original Star Wars trilogy after I saw ep 7, so i’m uniquely unqualified to write this? but when has that ever stopped me before?

a new hope | ao3

“You’re not gonna make me wear the bikini, are you?”

Mike adamantly did not choke on his tongue, but Jesus did he want to. Bad enough that they had to sit through this meeting at all, now Mike had to do it while pretending an image of Ginny in that iconic costume wasn’t occupying all his focus?

What the hell had he done to make the universe hate him so goddamn much?

“No, no. Nothing like that,” Oscar assured her without batting an eye. He leaned his elbows on his desk and stared down the three Padres seated across from him. Blip, Ginny, and Mike stared back, largely unimpressed.

Before their GM got a chance to press his case, though, Blip decided it was his turn to crack a joke.

“Well, I’m not wearing it,” he drawled, wicked grin lighting up his face.

Mike allowed himself to react to that, leaping on the chance to fight back the wild tangent—Ginny and gold and miles and miles of smooth skin—his imagination so eagerly provided. This was not the time for that, no matter what his mind (and something a bit further south than his brain) might tell him.

He snorted. Ginny did, too, though she tried to play it off as a cough.

Oscar finally grimaced, looking vaguely pained.

Well, if fucking with the front office was on the table, Mike could definitely get behind that. He shook his head (and with it the idea of Ginny in any kind of swimwear) before rubbing a contemplative hand against his chin and offering, “I’ll see about getting mine back from the dry cleaner.”

Ginny’s lips flickered in a quick smile, there and gone in a flash. Blip, though, didn’t bother reining in his amusement. He guffawed from her other side, reaching around the pitcher to offer Mike a fist bump.

Oscar just heaved a sigh, entirely too put upon.

“Are you done?” Their GM looked nowhere close to entertained. Not that it bothered the three ballplayers.

Still, they all traded glances and, after a silent conference, nodded their agreement.

Rather than risk them changing their minds, Oscar plowed forward. “The Publicity Office hasn’t settled on the final details, but I can assure you there will be no swim suits involved. Can we count you three in?”

Mike shot a glance first to Blip. The center fielder shrugged. It was no skin off his back to dance to the front office’s tune this time, as long as he also got his pot shots in. They were in agreement there, so both men turned to focus on the woman sitting between them.

Ginny gnawed on her lip uncertainly as she weighed her options. No one, aside from maybe Amelia, would blame her for sitting this one out. But even Amelia could probably agree that having her client’s face plastered across every Padres ad spot, every bit of promotional material, since she’d been called up last season was exposure enough. Nonetheless, it only took a moment for Ginny’s eyes to slide to Blip and then Mike, checking to see they were all in agreement.

Mike did his best to show her, when she turned those luminous brown eyes on him, that he’d follow her call, no matter what. Thankfully, whatever she saw, it was enough to get Ginny to give him a shallow but decisive nod.

That settled, her thoughtful frown faded and was replaced by her deep dimples, flanking the grin spreading across her face. Mike only got a quick glimpse of it before she turned back to the desk and the anxious GM sitting behind it.

“I’m in,” she declared, to Oscar’s clear relief.

Mike personally thought that was a little premature given the mischievous spark kindling in Ginny’s eyes. Blip was clearly in agreement, settling back into his chair and folding his arms over his chest, delighted anticipation lighting up his face.

And Ginny Baker did her best not to disappoint.

Still grinning, and flanked by her two teammates, she laid her lone stipulation on a long-suffering Oscar:

“But only if I get to hold the lightsaber.”

Mike wouldn’t say that his love of Star Wars is anything even approaching a secret. Sure, it wasn’t the coolest thing about him—hello, he was a major league ballplayer—but it wasn’t like he’s lied about liking it during his time in the majors.

Exhibit 1: Every season the graphics team made him re-answer the same Fun Fact! questionnaire for the Jumbotron and every season his favorite movie was Empire Strikes Back. It was probably on his Wikipedia page by now—it’d be one of the few true things on there.

Exhibit 2: He’d actually bought the theme song and set it as his ringtone. Back when people actually had ringtones, at least.

Exhibit 3: He’d named his dog Jedi for god’s sake, and proceeded to talk about that poor, dumb dog a lot, oftentimes to reporters who were far more interested in his OPS and the tweaks he was making to his batting stance. It was a matter of public record.

Nonetheless, Mike also wouldn’t say it was something that a lot of people actively knew about him. And that suited him just fine. After all, he had a reputation in his clubhouse to preserve. He couldn’t very well maintain order and lay down the law if his entire team thought he was no better than the geeks so many of them had spent their high school careers pantsing and shoving in lockers.

But this might be the year when that hard-earned reputation as a hard ass went up in smoke.

Because this year, Mike Lawson was going to Comic Con.

Okay, he was going to stand outside the San Diego Convention Center wearing a silly costume to film the ad spot for Petco Park’s annual Star Wars Night, but who cared?

He was going to fucking Comic Con.

He wasn’t sure who in the front office this bright idea belonged to, but he was seriously considering sending them a gift basket of some kind. At the very least, a thank you card.

In all the years Mike had played San Diego baseball, he’d never actually had a chance to attend. When he first started playing, it wasn’t nearly the three ring circus that it would one day become. Before his very eyes, he’d gotten to witness it evolve from a niche convention to the star-studded event of the summer.

Well. Sort of.

Mostly, he’d gotten to marvel over the proceedings and pandemonium from across the street for a few minutes each year before getting back to business.

What sacrifices he made to live the dream, right?

So now that Mike was finally getting a shot at coming within spitting distance of the convention hall, he wasn’t going to stop there. Despite having no passes to speak of, he was determined to get inside and see Hall H for himself. He did, after all, have a secret weapon on his side.

Well, she would be once he’d convinced her.

“C’mon, Baker,” he urged, leaning against her door and flashing what he hoped was a winning grin. He was going to charm her into this, damn it. Not wheedle and whine. Still, his next words weren’t quite the pinnacle of persuasive power he’d hoped for. “It’ll be fun.”

“I doubt that,” Ginny huffed, swiveling side to side in her rolling chair. She eyed him suspiciously. “This is the third time you’ve brought it up, though, so you really must think so.”

He shrugged, trying to play it off.

The funny little smile on her face told him he wasn’t particularly successful. Rather than tease him, she drew a knee up to her chest and began unlacing her cleat. “Okay, say I were to concede that it could be fun,”—Mike perked up at this softening of her earlier blunt refusal, though of course that wasn’t the end of it—“I don’t see how I’m supposed to get us in. Don’t you need tickets or something?”

“Well, yeah, but you’re Ginny Baker.”

She started working on the other shoe, though how she managed when her eyes were rolling hard enough to fall out of her face was a mystery. She’d accused him last summer of doing it too much, but the way Mike saw it, Ginny was just the pot (Or was it the kettle? Something like that.) in this situation.

“Yeah, ‘cause there’s a lot of overlap between the geeks at Comic Con and the clinically Ginn-sane.”

“You’ve got crossover appeal,” he tried, though it sounded weak to his ears for all the truth of it. God, he was off his game. “And who says geeks can’t have layers?”

“You talkin’ from experience there, Lawson?”

If Ginny’d just been teasing him the way she’d done all season—like relentless humor would erase any number of charged moments they couldn’t seem to keep from stumbling into—Mike could’ve replied the way he had all season, with a gruff reminder of who was captain here.

(Which, honestly, was far more effective in reminding Mike why those moments should be avoided like the plague. He was her captain for Chrissake. Of course there couldn’t be any more than fleeting, godawful tempting, moments between them. No matter how appealing she looked, grinning up at him after landing a solid dig, or how much he wanted to know how long it would take for him to kiss that grin away.)

He would’ve done just that, except his mental facilities were otherwise occupied.

Because Ginny had chosen that moment to stand up and start unbuttoning her jersey, casual as anything. Like it didn’t matter that he was standing right there as she shrugged it off and was left in just the clingy spandex of her undershirt.

It probably didn’t matter. Mike had seen her dressed exactly like this at least a hundred times before. He’d almost gotten used to the fact that he could usually make out the outline of her sports bra—and sometimes, when the A/C was cranked all the way up, even more than that.

Except, Mike had never been confronted with the direct prospect of Ginny Baker getting undressed before.

(Not even at that goddamn photo shoot last season when he’d caught sight of her in that robe, fiddling with the tie before she looked up and saw him.

And Mike’s had dreams about that day. Dreams where Ginny didn’t march over and twitch the curtains closed and where no one else was within even shouting distance of the studio. Which was a good thing because those dreams were not always quiet.)

Like she had no idea what was going through his mind—or, worse, did—Ginny’s hands fell to her belt buckle just as she looked up at him, an eyebrow arched in question.

Mike’s brain shorted out.

He muttered something, though God only knew what, and got the hell out of there.

It was the only option. After all, there was no way he could focus on getting Ginny on his side of this Comic Con thing if half his brain—and some certain other body parts, if he was being honest—was more concerned with getting her somewhere else entirely.

In the end, Mike never broached the subject with Ginny again. It was probably better for all involved if he didn’t try and nudge her into doing something she was skeptical about.

(Mike tried to tell himself he only meant Comic Con.

He was at least partially successful.)

Instead, he tried to focus on the positives. He’d get to hang out near Comic Con for a few hours, and on Star Wars Day no less, which was better than he’d managed so far in his life. He’d get to see all the people in their costumes and chat with some fans and maybe even see about sweet talking his way inside for just a peek around.

It would be fun.

Thank God it actually was.

He, Blip, and Ginny had a blast filming their bits for the promo. Mike couldn’t remember laughing so hard or so helplessly in a long time. Ginny got to hold the only lightsaber, as promised, and was like a kid in a candy store with it. The shoot director had her swing it like a baseball bat while Blip and Mike pitched plushy little Stormtrooper heads at her. More of them ended up hitting her than not, but she didn’t seem to mind much. Blip and Ginny got into a wookiee roar-off, though neither of them, in Mike’s unwanted opinion, were all that good at it. No one had to wear the gold bikini, though plenty of con attendees had made their own. Mike gamely put on the Leia wig and frowned forbiddingly at the camera for a few moments even though he just knew it’d end up in the final cut.

It was worth it for the way Ginny’s cheeks pinked up as she howled with laughter, leaning heavily against Blip to keep her balance.

All told, the whole process only took a few hours, most of which were spent goofing off and looking like incredible dorks.

He’d certainly had worse days.

Still, Mike couldn’t help but look wistfully up at the massive edifice of the Convention Center when the ad director called a wrap. He shook it off quickly enough, shaking hands with the various crew and clapping Ginny and Blip on the back before heading towards the Park to pick up his car and go home.

Maybe yelling at Attack of the Clones would cheer him up.

“Lawson, where are you going?”

He turned around and came face to face with a puzzled Ginny Baker. Her brows were drawn together in confusion, a light sheen of sweat glimmering there, dark curls blown wild by the sea breeze. She was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. In a Padres blue shirt with the words “San Diego” stretched across her chest in the Star Wars font—a shirt which happened to match his—and one of her endless pairs of leggings, Ginny didn’t look all that different from usual.

Which, Mike supposed, was exactly the point.

“Home, Baker,” he said, well used to repressing any and all thoughts about Ginny. They were all dangerous at this point. “To have a beer and take advantage of the off day.”

“Oh, I thought—” Her lips pursed uncertainly before she swung her backpack to one shoulder so she could rifle through it. After a moment, she drew out two lanyards, each hung with a plastic card sporting a familiar logo. Mike stared at them for a beat before refocusing on Ginny’s face. She grinned a little, but it was fading fast. “I thought you wanted to go—”

“I did. I do,” he corrected fast, almost tripping over the words. “Definitely. I just didn’t think—”

Ginny relaxed almost immediately, her forehead smoothing out. “Well, who am I to deny the Padres’ number one Star Wars fan?”

Mike couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Where’d you hear that one?”

“Sonny,” she replied promptly, bright grin returning. “Then Butch, Blip, and Bessner. Tommy texted me about it. Even Al said he hoped you’d get a kick out of seeing all the Star Trek stuff.”

He ignored his skipper’s flub; Al refused to watch anything that wasn’t on A&E or the History Channel. Instead, Mike picked up one of the lanyards still dangling from Ginny’s fingers, examining the pass for a moment before letting it fall back to join the other.

Gruff, but just so he wouldn’t tip his hand, he said, “Just because our teammates have big mouths doesn’t mean you had to do this.”

She shrugged, clearly a little uncomfortable. Mike raised a brow and she busied herself with righting her backpack, ducking her head so she wouldn’t have to look at him. Jesus, did he want to reach out and tip her chin up, give him a better view of those wide, brown eyes. Thankfully, for everyone involved, he kept his hands to himself and just waited her out.

When she was done and it was clear Mike wasn’t going anywhere without an explanation, Ginny blew out a huff of slightly disgruntled air.

“I know I didn’t. Just—” Here she paused, tongue poking out from the corner of her mouth as she weighed her words. Not that it seemed to do her much good since she let them all out in a rush, “I felt bad for calling you a geek.”

Mike rocked back a little on his heels. Was that what she thought happened? Well, he should probably be grateful she hadn’t assumed he couldn’t keep his perving under control, but, Christ. How fragile did she think he was?

“Baker, you told me to get my fat ass back behind the plate just last week. Geek’s where you think you crossed the line?”

Ginny at least seemed to see ridiculousness of the situation, a grin curling over her full lips. She flapped her hand at him anyway, saying, “It’s different on the field. Plus, you stopped asking about it when you’d really seemed so excited. It wasn’t that hard to get these.” Her fingers waggled at him and the plastic passes clacked together lightly.

Yeah, sure. Mike knew for a fact that Comic Con Badges sold out in the blink of an eye.

Still, he couldn’t help but glance back to the Convention Center.

Sensing that she had him on the ropes, (And why was he resisting at all? A full day with Ginny, schooling her on all the wrong opinions she’d spouted during the commercial shoot, sounded like the fucking dream. Or one of them, anyway. Which, then again, was exactly why Mike should go straight home and forget all about this encounter.) Ginny pressed her case.

“C’mon, Mike,” she cajoled, waving the lanyard in his face. “It’ll be fun.”

Hearing his own words echoed back at him, Mike folded like a house of cards. In one swift move, he liberated a pass from Ginny’s grip and had it hanging from his neck. “All right,” he agreed. “But I’m not gonna play body guard for you when everyone on the floor realizes exactly who’s in their midst.”

She laughed, shaking her head, but Mike didn’t care that she didn’t agree with him. Ginny Baker was smiling at him, a fond spark brightening her already twinkling eyes. As far as he was concerned, Ginny could call him a moron and a geek and an old man and whatever else she wanted just as long as she kept smiling at him like that.

But then it was gone as she turned on her heel and marched off towards the entrance. “I really think you’re overestimating how popular I am,” she tossed over her shoulder with a little smirk, leaving Mike to catch up.

Well. What else was new?

In a way, they were both right.

Ginny certainly got recognized and was stopped every so often for a selfie or an autograph. To be fair, Mike was, too, but Ginny bore the brunt of the attention. Given the relaxed set of her shoulders and the genuine grins she gave everyone who approached, Mike could tell this was hardly the worst she’d ever dealt with.

Mostly, though, people’s eyes seemed to pass right over them.

Ginny insisted that meant she was right: there wasn’t a big enough overlap between sports fans and con dwellers. Mike figured it had more to do with what they were wearing. Well, what they weren’t wearing. After all, it was easy to overlook two more people in street clothes when there were so many amazing, and frankly baffling, costumes on display.

Even when one of those people was arguably the most famous woman in America. Certainly in San Diego every other weekend of the year.

Mike, personally, couldn’t figure it out. He couldn’t conceive of any situation in which Ginny Baker simply faded into the crowd. No matter what, no matter the size of the room or the number of people, she’d always be the first and best thing he noticed.

Apparently, though, Mike’s feelings were not universal (and what a lucky son of a bitch he was for that small mercy). So, it was easy enough for them to slip through the crowd, largely unnoticed, and straight to the Star Wars booth.

Booth was maybe—definitely—underselling what it really was. Even through the masses of people, it was impossible for Mike to miss, looming over the entire convention hall and making his poor, fanboy heart thunder in excitement. Once inside the huge pavilion, he couldn’t decide what needed to be inspected first. Well, he wasn’t about to waste time trying to figure it out, so he dove right in, only absently checking to make sure Ginny followed along. There was a model X-Wing taller than he was and just a little further on, that was a bank of costumes and props from the new movie. Dotted around the space was station upon station of merchandise, selling everything from replica lightsabers—far more realistic than the one Ginny’d swung around all afternoon—to licensed costumes to the tie in comic books and action figures. And plastered across every flat surface were giant Star Wars logos. Just in case anyone forgot exactly where they were.

In short, it was a Star Wars fan’s Holy Grail.

Mike could only marvel, and feel a little nostalgic, over what he’d been missing out on all these years. He would’ve killed to see something like this as a kid, though even if it’d been around, there was no way his mom could’ve taken him.

Still, he got to see it now, and it really was amazing. Almost overwhelming, to be honest. But still ridiculously cool to finally experience.

And it was all thanks to Ginny.

Now that the initial frenzy had faded enough that Mike could think clearly about something other than a galaxy far, far away, he sheepishly turned to make sure he hadn’t lost track of her.

Well, he definitely had, but at least she’d kept an eye on him, making sure to stay in his orbit as he geeked out. He had vague recollections of letting his excitement spill over and gushing to her over every little detail that caught his interest. She’d always responded, suppressed amusement coating her words, not that Mike was really in the right frame of mind to appreciate how much she was indulging him.

He was now.

He chanced an embarrassed look at her, but she was already looking back, a fond smile on her face.

“Sorry,” he muttered, feeling the tips of his ears begin to burn, only about ten minutes too late. Jesus, this was not how to convince women he was worth their time and attention. Not that he was doing that with Ginny, but—

“For what?” she laughed, though it hardly stung. For all she was definitely laughing at him, it was too warm and sweet for him to mind. “I didn’t know there was room for anything other than batting stats and heat maps in that head of yours. It’s nice to know you’ve got range.”

He rolled his eyes, but still said, “For geeking out on you, I know you’re not—”

“I don’t know why you think I’m not into geeks, Lawson,” she interrupted, with some kind of significance in her tone. “If you haven’t noticed, they’re kind of my thing.”

Thinking about it—which Mike really tried to avoid when it came to Ginny’s dating habits—he realized she wasn’t wrong.

After her thing with video game guy fizzled in the off season, Ginny’d been out on more than a few well-publicized dates. Often with Bay Area tech guys. Mike had just figured she was getting as far away from ballplayer jock-types as she could. But maybe if a ballplayer jock-type also happened to—

“Your thing, huh?” was all he could bring himself to say.

Ginny rolled her eyes, and he couldn’t begin to figure out how she found it so annoying when he did it. On her, Mike couldn’t look away. “My type or whatever.”

“I see. So that means I should go give that guy your number?” He nodded to the beanpole of a kid who’d been staring not so subtly at Ginny’s ass for the last five minutes. If anyone fit the role of “geek,” it was that kid.

(If Mike were interested in being fair, he’d acknowledge that the kid also happened to have excellent taste. Ginny’s ass in this—and every��pair of leggings was practically a work of art.

Thank God Mike had no interest in being fair.)

Right on cue, she turned to look and the guy in question turned bright red and spun around to disappear into the crowd.

Good.

“If you think your creaky knees can catch up with him, be my guest.”

That startled a laugh out of Mike. At this point, he wasn’t sure how she kept managing to surprise him, but Ginny Baker was never one to rest on her laurels. So, Mike laughed long and loud in the middle of the San Diego Convention Center, ignoring the confused looks being sent his way as he delighted in the woman standing before him. All that mattered was that Ginny was lit up with a proud, smug smirk, reveling in her latest accomplishment. And while that look would’ve rubbed Mike the wrong way on any other face, on her it was just another facet he was grateful to uncover.

“God, I love you,” he sighed, his stomach aching from all the laughter.

It was only when Ginny went still, eyes wide and lips parted in shock that Mike went back and catalogued his words.

Shit. Oh, shit.

His mouth worked without anything to show for it. He tried to form the words to reassure her that it wasn’t what she thought, that he didn’t mean it, that she should forget it—

But he just couldn’t.

Not when saying so would be a filthy fucking lie.

Instead, Mike stared helplessly at Ginny, speechless for once in his life. His heart thudded against the his ribs, threatening to burst with each second of silence. It wasn’t helped by the sheer variety of emotions that flickered across Ginny’s face, surprise and worry and hope and far more, there and gone too quick for him to name.

Finally, though, after what felt like an eternity of silence, she took a tiny step towards him, her chest practically pressed against his. Her face tipped up towards his and her full lips stretched into a bright, blinding, brilliant grin.

They were surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people, but it didn’t even matter. Mike couldn’t look away from the one thing he’d walked in knowing like the back of his hand.

And why should he? He’d never seen someone so beautiful.

“I know,” Ginny said, simple and easy and just as devastating as it’d been the first time Mike heard Han Solo say it.

She didn’t pull it off with quite the same self-assurance as a young Harrison Ford, but what did Mike care about that? Ginny Baker, in any circumstance, was way better than Harrison Ford.

He couldn’t help but grin back, so close to ducking down to see how well their smiles lined up.

Like she could read his mind, Ginny tucked her chin down and Mike broke out of the daze exhilaration and her eyes had put him under. Immediately, he cleared his throat, trying to nudge his heart back into its rightful place in his chest. As he did, he was suddenly and unpleasantly all too aware of the swirl of people eddying around them. He glanced around, worried that they’d caught the attention of someone with a smart phone.

Only when he felt warm, dry fingers twine through his did Mike abandon his search and turn back to Ginny. Looking up shyly through her lashes, she offered, “We’ll pick this up later, okay?”

She squeezed his hand and a flood of relief rushed through him. It was the easiest thing in the world to reply, “Whenever you’re ready, Ginny.”

Her smile this time was less blinding, but just as precious. Mike reveled in the way her eyes roamed over his face. His thumb stroked over the delicate skin of her wrist and Ginny’s dimples deepened in reply.

Mike would’ve been more than happy to live in that moment for the foreseeable future.

Eventually, though, the bubble had to burst. They couldn’t just go on ignoring the thousands of people milling around them, after all.

So, Ginny gave him a decisive nod and something shifted in her body language. Her smile remained, but it wasn’t the private thing that’d been there a moment ago. It turned playful. Mischievous.

Mike knew that look too well to expect anything good from it.

“C’mon, Lawson. I see a guy in a Chewbacca costume and I wanna see if there’s more hair in it or your beard.”

“Ha fucking ha, Baker,” he groaned, even as he followed her willingly through the crowd.

Maybe, though, that was more to do with the fact that her hand remained firmly in his.

That, Mike thought even as he curled his fingers more securely around hers, was a pretty good consolation. He would take that.

Well.

He’d take it for now, at least.

#Anonymous #bawson #bawson fic #pitch #pitch fic #i wrote something #listen i know the quote's not in #this movie #but let me have this

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