#Matt please let Dorian show up too

[featherlesswings]

Sam “I don’t know how to play D&D” Riegel, I swear to god.

See, I made it all the way to “he’s MY boy,” and later Nott disguising herself as a very specifically described Halfling woman and knocking on a certain door before I realized the incredible mind he has. I fully thought up until those points that he just had a twisted sense of humor, and only wanted to be the comic relief. I had skipped campaign 1 because it was too hard to get through the technical difficulties in the first few episodes. I have since remedied that, and witnessed all of That.

And now we have this new tragedy. We all thought FCG was Pinnochio, but he was The Velveteen Rabbit. He became Real as he transcended the life he’d known, to protect the ones he loved most. Who had made him Real with their love for him.

[zwoftt]

WEEKLY DORYM MOMOS N OTHER STUFF!!! (in no particular order)))

the chemistry between bells hells and the mighty nein is just so good. i had an absolute blast watching

the settle nod orym gives when jester says dorian is “really handsome” when shaking dorian’s hand

”mr. dorian” cad says when calling over to dorian, who looks a little startled at the professional nickname

dorian nodding in agreement to orym’s plan, as he normally does.

the way dorian tries to show off his abs next to beau after orym asks her what her routine is. the laughter afterwards when he gets embarrassed!!!!

jester winning over braius and getting more backstory than anyone else. so golden.

the jealousy of dorian when he sees how many people are in relationships and [not him] because he’s being a scaredy cat

caleb knocking sense into orym. CALEB KNOCKING SENSE INTO ORYM!!!

anybody else think dorian was trying to set up braius and veth really hard just to get him off of orym??

no thoughts just dorian and yasha bonding over music

the nervous glances robbie and liam share when they’re thinking about what to do with their characters …. especially after robbie tried to knock on orym’s door earlier in the episode but it was drowned out by shenanigans

the frantic inspiration dorian gives to braius when he’s painting orym

everyone getting so silent and so excited when dorian knocks on orym’s door. so is liam! his eyes light up immediately!

the whole confession scene was just so, so, so good. so beautifully well done. it made sense for both characters, and honestly so satisfying to see the moment happen after three years of consecutive pining/yearning. dorian giving orym the chance to make his own choices, and orym curling up in dorian’s embrace immediately just to be there,,, “not wanting to spoil the moment”. some of my favorite lines though, “let me comfort you for once,” from dorian; unaware that he WAS[is] in fact orym’s form of comfort but also implying that dorian finds immense comfort in orym, and orym’s “this is okay.” accepting the fact he is in love with dorian, finally, and truly. INTERLOCKING THEIR FINGERS. sound familiar??? something he couldn’t do with will in the vision???? but he instead does it now with dorian????? uuuuuhghhhhghhhhhh …. dorian fantasizing about them before falling asleep to the sound of orym’s breathing,,, orym staying awake longer to once again watch dorian sleep before passing out too.

also the fact the confession scene wasn’t too dramatic but still surprising and amazingly done just makes that feel so much more REAL. like how REAL LIFE confessions would be with highly traumatized people. not even mad they didn’t kiss yet because boy… just—- ugjjjjhh it was so beautiful, so raw. and it was robbie’s first time doing a romance roleplay too!!!

in the cooldown and [from introspection] robbie says dorian is very inexperienced with love and the feeling of it- since he was sheltered for so long; so orym is basically his first love(but dorian is just also super nervous and respectful towards will and orym’s relationship so that explains why he was so careful about expressing himself too.) and liam mentions orym was too shy to do anything himself so that’s why he had his other character go in there and just slap him on the ass because he wanted orym to talk to dorian somehow. which means that both robbie(dorian) and liam(orym) WANTED to have that exact moment between them, BOTH WANTED them to talk. and also the entire cast was fawning over them, matt getting teary eyed and the girls whispering and laughing to each other, sam getting excited himself and tal just smiling like a dork. everyone was just so proud of them!

DORYM NATION HOW ARE WE FEELING FOR NEXT EPISODES??? IM SO EXCITED TO SEE THE AWKWARD LAUGHTER, LOVESICK FLIRTATION AND EVEN MORE FROM OUR FAVORITE BOYS now time to start the cycle again of waiting years for them to kiss (i hope not please god)

[its-mekjt]

Favourite parts of 3×95 (potential spoilers below the break)

PART ONE

▪︎ ashley's photo of sam

▪︎ chepeku ad. could have made me think it's a perfume ad.

▪︎ ESSEK THELYSS

▪︎ they got tusk love oh my days

▪︎ WOO HOO SHOPPING EPISODE

▪︎ oh my god, having parts of fcg/things that remind them of fcg in their outfits. i'm on my floor.

▪︎ lesbians with the matching corsets. it's a canon event i fear

▪︎ i just know that armoury went out for drinks that night

▪︎ the pumats + their existential crisis

▪︎ "HIGHWAY ROBBERY" (honestly surprised they didn't try to steal it)

▪︎ sugar daddy dorian storm (and Laura's face as he hands over 2,500 gold. I can just imagine imogen going 'mhm. that's gay'.)

▪︎ do the pumat's have a soul?

▪︎ "do you want- eh we're the same."

▪︎ chetney pock o'pea. maths wizz. high school maths teachers across the world are terrified of you.

PART TWO

▪︎ essek constantly misses leg day

▪︎ 28 persuasion to make essek join their sleepover

▪︎ DORIAN WANTS TO SEE THE SHOW SO HE WILL SEE THE SHOW

▪︎ matt's description of the show. i love it.

▪︎ laudna i love you, please come to the theatre with me and tell people to, respectfully, stfu with me

▪︎ ESSEK QUOTING CADUCEUS: it's not pain that makes people. It's love (crying)

▪︎ LAUDNA QUOTING FCG: it's good to make every day a smiley day (on my bedroom floor sobbing and throwing up)

▪︎ orym keeps looking to the right. (WHO'S ON THE RIGHT. SOMEBODY PLEASE REMIND ME I DON'T REMEMBER. LIAM O'BRIEN STOP MAKING ME SCREAM INTO MY PILLOW)

▪︎ YEAH, THIEVING IS THEIR LOVE LANGUAGE (why did i think ashton was gonna go for that fucking huge sword earring from the beginning of the campaign)

▪︎ "chetney's sitting in the front row, legs out, slumping in the chair, baguette in one hand, a bottle of wine in the other. fucking riveted." (that's an insight into my daily life)

▪︎ chetney and dorian are my two personalities while i'm zoned out

▪︎ love how they all thought it was kiri (i did too)

▪︎ chetney and his delusions + cloaca

▪︎ why did i think orym was going to get in the bag of holding

▪︎ i fucking love dorian storm. you don't know how much i love him.

▪︎ "i saw my mom mess with time." essek's internal monologue must have gone insane.

▪︎ marisha and robbie casually rping arts and crafts

▪︎ "you're kind of like his dad." "do not put that on me, please."

▪︎ ashley johnson doing the lords work. thank you. (essek thelyss you simp)

▪︎ wildMOTHER

▪︎ I KNEW THIS REMINDED ME OF SOMETHING. GETTING READY FOR A CON.

▪︎ YES ANIMATE OBJECT

▪︎ dorian's face when he's introduced to patê is giving: i have never wanted to be cyrus more in my life right now.

▪︎ emotional support faun and her damaged little halfling

▪︎ 17 strength let's go (beefy boy)

▪︎ laura bailey i am making the same face as you.

▪︎ WHO WAS MAKING IT RAIN. WHO.

▪︎ OH THIS BITCH. I HATE HER (delilah briarwood)

▪︎ nervously giggling

▪︎ travis willingham is a lover and instigator of chaos.

▪︎ liam o'brien giving advice. he loves this.

▪︎ i love this. orym, if anyone comes for you, get behind me. (he doesn't know this is laudna. he thinks he's getting fucked with in the middle of the night. HE CANNOT SEE FUCKING ANYTHING).

▪︎ YEE HAW INNER PARTY CONFLICT

that's all folks.

[genderlesssinner]

I keep forgetting they're in a temple and I don't know how to feel about it

Marisha having not been present for the Planning because of makeup and then being first while Orym is last in initiative is kind of funny kind of terrifying

Laudna, Chet, Braius, Snowdinus, Ashton, Fearne, Dorian, Gloamglut, Unseelie Emissary, Imogen, Orym

Oo new form of dread hell yes

Ooh yes I do remember the Spooktacular nice nice

Ludinus's notes???

Fucking Travis with the cpop brand. The rocking horse is good too though

Samuel holy shit with the art

Oh shit Laudy get this fucken counterspell please

Power Word spells are fucken nasty man

Travis said if Fearne is stunned their plan is fucked and I'm so curious about what they're trying to do

🤞🤞🤞🤞

YAAASSS

Okay okay okay Ash going for seige damage hell yes

"I can swing my hammer underground, right?" I love him

LET'S FUCKING GOOOO FEARNE

Yet another accidental phrase Matt will never live down. Spreading her legs

Uppies!! 🤣

Whatcha got Dorian

Ooooo force cage okay okay okay

Two witches in a hole and one in a box - Liam 🤣

This dragon mini is too big one wing fucken blocks Marisha's whole face holy fuck

"He doesn't care."

DUSK HUNGER? Did I hear that right? That's a badass name

I'm so curious about Zathuda but also want him far away from the party (or like dead but I'm not sure they can take him rn)

I forgot this fucker has legendaries ugh

Laudna, Chet, Braius, Snowdinus, Ashton, Fearne, Dorian, Gloamglut, Unseelie Emissary, Unseelie Gaurdians, Imogen, Orym, Ira

Hell I forgot to add Zathuda now I'm not sure where he's supposed to be (I never remembered to pay attention enough to when his turn was whoops)

Ooo Imogen on Gloamgut interesting. The vibes.

Combat with this many people is such a pain sometimes and takes so long.. Orym's turn is the end of the first round man. Fuck. Well. Ira actually maybe

I FORGOT THEY BROUGHT IRA FUCK YEAH

Oh shiiitt Zathuda being like "Fuck!" at Ira showing up oooohhhh

"He has advantage against magic because fey."

"Annoying, okay." Mood Marisha.

The forcecage 'if yo know, you know' is one of the few references they make that I don't know and it makes me a lil sad

(about Snowdinus) "He's not even a real wizard." TALIESIN I mean it's true but like damn

(Bonus for Matt's "That's not nice.")

Weird name for a flail, Sam.

Oh shit also totally forgot Ira gets legendaries, fuck yeah

Love a good counterspell train

I love when Tal gets excited about rage effects

"Bold of you to assume you have advantage. Nah you totally can." Maaaatt

Get it Ash fuck yes natty 20

I both love and hate the vague DM comments that has the whole party like wait what what do you mean. "yeah use all your stuff." *panic around the table*

Get fucked Snowdinus, fuck your Dimension Door

This motherfucker 'sploded

The 20s tonight

After this, Braius being like, 'welp my mission is done, Ludinus got exploded. Bye guys good luck' would be hilarious to me

"oops, a murder"

Laudna, Chet, Braius, Snowdinus, Ashton, Fearne, Dorian, Gloamglut, Unseelie Emissary, Unseelie Gaurdians, Imogen, Orym, Ira

YES FEARNE GET IT GIRRRRL Nat 20 for a fucken 33 yessss girrrl

I love Ashley so much "I have a defenses box?"

I would love to see how Zathuda v. Ira showdown would turn out honestly

Okay okay okay Sorrowlord wants to chat

Nat 1 with a -3 goddamn. The latest reaction time

Is this actually gonna fucken work? What's about it happen akdbfjchf

The whole building is about to come down too

Yes talk to the dragon Imogen

Okay but knowing the Fey dragon has a negative wisdom mod could come in handy

Okay baby boy defending the Emissary makes sense I think

Ira no we don't trust you either my guy

Aah his journal and the stuff about the funnel okay okay

Well I don't like the sound of that. Except the uh taking out Ludinus part but um yeah no

WHISPERS!

Yep okay he wants Fearnie to become the vessel for Predathos no thank you

Okay look I'm not saying this is the right line of thinking but I love this whole exchange

"It's a tomorrow problem."

"What if there is no tomorrow?"

"Well then it's not a problem, is it?"

So the Unseelie want to be free of the gods? Am I understanding this right

Seems the Emissary is also disappointed in the Zathuda heir

I do not like the way Zathuda talks about Fearne

I'm not against fighting them right now but Gloamglut at the very least would fuck them up and I don't think we know too much about what Zathuda is capable of and literally nothing about the Emissary or guards.

Yeah I guess the better shot is to let them go I don't know man ugh

Oh shit okay Imogen

Shadow daddy 🤣

New initiative okay

Orym, Zathuda, Emissary, Imogen, Gloamglut, Fearne, Braius, Chet, Ash, Dorian, Ira, Laudna

Okay Emissary out immediately

Aaand the pillar okay well that gives us a bit of a time table eh

The guards are like aw hell no

FEARNE. ASHLEY. AAAAAAAA

Fuck me man. Get out guys.

He really just Fastball Special'd Fearne with thunder wave didn't he

It's bad we're running guys

Motherfucken Nightmare King got spookier damn

Breaking out the big guns okay damn Laudy. Fucking Disintegrate

And empowering it fuuuuccckk

Stress math. It was almost enough

You know. I'm not sure I would have reminded Matt about the wing attack. (I probably would have but like. Sjxbhch)

This damn dragon man.

Love Imogen for throwing the Shadowlord to Braius

The whole thing is coming down

So Gloamglut being the only one to make it away from this (assuming BH kills the Emissary and Zathuda) isn't terrible, I think. But I suppose that depends on how intelligent it is and maybe on the abilities of whoever it goes to.

SAMUEL stop trying to piss off literally all of the gods

I'm here for this but what the hell are you doing Ash. Aaaaah forced movement coolcoolcool

Holy fucking shit

This is what the Tweet was about isn't it

I knew someone would get caught inside fuuuccck

Break time..

WolfChet being a garbage disposal

Whaaaaat the fuuuuccckkk

Let the dice decide, that *always* goes well. Sure.

TRAVIS. You gotta stop with the fake outs man

Though I would be very curious to see what abilities they got from either of these two high ranking Fey

Oooo shit MATT WHAT

ABU?? What the fuck

That fucking smile though holy shit

"We're gonna have words" -Travis

Ashley with the Mister plush in her head is absolutely a mood

What is even happening right now

I'm loving Braius / Sam being singled out so far

Did they just get yoinked by the Arch Heart? And now he's pulling the join me or die, fun stuff

Ooooo heartbeat in the audio nice

I absolutely adore Abu's portrayal of the Arch Heart, gods

Did he yoink them through the Gate????

Yes flatter the god of art, I'm sure that'll go well (this is only sort of sarcastic)

THE TITAN FIRE oh shit

Heeee does not seem happy about the presence of titan powers which uh tracks though

Oh no Ashton baby uhoh

"I feel like I've met you before" UH WELL YOU SEE

This could be such a big info gain opportunity

I really want to know who the other god is who wants to leave exandria

I'm having so much trouble processing all of this right now shit man

UM hi Asmodeus???? Fuuuuck

Okay okay okay wild

So many big high stakes decisions that need to be decided oooooff

✨Flattery✨ 🤣

The star is the woman who made the wish to spread the knowledge of how to build the weapon in Aeor holy shit

Robbie's grabby hands as Abu left though man

"Braius doesn't wake up." this is why you don't fuck with the dm yall, one day it won't be a joke 🤣

Holy fucking shit man.

That ring! Damn.

Since I'm just watching 107, I'll obviously not be watching 108 live tonight which means another weekend of no tumblr until Monday afternoon at least.

See yall again then ♥️

Remember to be kind to one another

[batnsons]

phew okay I need to take a deep breath and calm down (because I am keyed tf up rn) and remind myself that this isn’t a scripted show. matt has plans and ideas, sure. and the gang can have plans and ideas. but things sounding ominous and dangerous in a d&d game can mean absolutely jack shit. could this be matt attempting to engineer an exit for robbie/dorian? maybe. or, it could just be ramping up peril because we’re 13 episodes in now and they’re level five and this is when shit starts to get real. the dice will tell the true story, and I keep having to remind myself that foreshadowing in d&d doesn’t always mean anything at all. deep breath, fingers crossed.

because in all honesty, I’ve gotten the impression from day one that robbie is a guest in the sense that he isn’t a permanent critical role member, he isn’t going to be necessarily staying for every campaign after this, and he might not be rolling a new character should dorian die (gods forbid, but please stay even then), but he’s staying until either dorian dies or the campaign ends. he is in the intro, after all. but that’s just been my impression. they’ve gone to too much trouble to include him in the opening trailer and matt’s gone to so much trouble to include his backstory and get him so deeply involved in my opinion to just… intentionally write him out this soon. I hope. furthermore, I don’t think that robbie would let matt write him out without dorian making sure his brother was okay first. basically I don’t believe this is a travis-bertrand bell moment, I don’t think this is intentionally to remove dorian from the story. i think this is simply matt creating more intense peril and giving robbie further chances to actually play his character and grow his story in this campaign. and frankly i think matt is too good a storyteller to intentionally leave such a huge plot thread so loose and unfinished.

gods I hope I’m right. I can’t handle losing robbie and dorian

EDIT:

I also don’t think that matt would intentionally write out TWO characters, not in something that he clearly likes to be collaborative and improvised. I don’t think they’d do it twice, I just don’t.

[homeformyheart]

hopeless - m!raleigh carrera x mc (plat)

author’s note: i’m not sure if this fits into the same universe my other platinum fics take place in but i had fun with it. i hope you enjoy!

copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios. songs and lyrics owned by their respective creators. series/pairing: platinum – m!raleigh carrera x mc (cadence dorian); red carpet diaries cross-over – matt rodriguez x cadence dorian rating/warnings: 14+; swearing, descriptions of drinking, minor angst word count: 2.6k based on/prompt: “all you had to do was stay” by taylor swift / “secret love song pt ii” by little mix summary: news of cadence’s engagement makes raleigh and cadence revisit the way they left things.

hopeless

when cadence flew out to los angeles to secretly film music videos for her entire album, the last thing she expected was that she would get engaged. but here she was, in as private of a spot as one could find in the city of stars, with the matt rodriguez in front of her on one knee with a beautiful vintage-inspired octagonal diamond ring. no one was around except for a private photographer he hired so that they could control what made it to the press.

“cadence dorian, will you marry me?”

she knew what her answer should be. after all, her and raleigh had officially called it quits eight months ago. operative word being “officially.” it didn’t take long before she was introduced to matt when he was cast in her music video and raleigh’s label paired him off with some up-and-coming actress.

cadence fought to stay present and hoped that matt would think the tears forming in her eyes was because she was overwhelmed, when in reality, she was thinking back on the last time she spoke to raleigh.

6 months ago

“i don’t know if i can do this anymore,” cadence whispered. they had publicly broken up two months ago but were still carrying on in private whenever they could. “everytime i see you, a part of me dies a little more. all we have are these stolen moments, which won’t last once one of us has to go on tour again.”

those stolen moments included spending a few hours late at night in his bedroom a few nights a week, but whenever cadence struggled with feeling like she was a shameful secret, raleigh would cave and take her out as long as they both wore disguises. tonight was one such night and leave it to raleigh to find the one club in new york city that wouldn’t be packed with celebrities on a saturday night.

cadence saw raleigh’s grip on the steering wheel tighten as he drove them back to her apartment. her eyes welled up with tears and she let them fall down her face, ruining her makeup, as she sat silently in the passenger seat.

“don’t do this now, please. we had a nice time tonight, didn’t we?”

cadence pulled the long, curly-haired wig off her head and threw it onto the dash. “i want to hold you in the street, and kiss you on the dance floor. i should be able to shout it from the rooftops. why can’t it be like that?”

“cadence, you know it’s to protect you. you’re just starting out and i’m not going to ruin that for you… we— we can’t,” raleigh said, his throat tight and voice shaky as if he was afraid of where the conversation was going.

“i don’t want to live love like this. i don’t want to hide us away, constantly wondering if it will ever change,” cadence said sadly, drying her eyes with the back of her hands, ignoring the streaks of makeup now staining her skin.

raleigh pulled into the underground garage of her building and parked the car. he reached over to hold her hand in both of his and cadence felt a sob escape her.

“you mean the world to me, cadence. i want more than anything to show you off as my girlfriend, but we have to be careful for a while longer.” he gave her a dazzling smile, but she knew his heart wasn’t in it.

“i wish we could be like that, raleigh. but it’s obvious that it won’t happen and i can’t keep going on like this. i’m sorry,” cadence sobbed, pulling her hand from his and trying to take deep breaths to calm herself down.

cadence stepped out of the car and toward the elevators as raleigh looked on in stunned silence. she didn’t look back because she knew if she did, she’d want to run right back to him.

“cadence?”

she was brought back to the moment by the sound of matt’s voice and all she could do was nod and smile and let the rest of her tears “of joy” stream down her face as matt wrapped his arms around her and spun her around.

* * * * * raleigh looked out the window of his penthouse apartment with a glass of mezcal in his hand. against his better judgment, he scanned tabloid headlines earlier that day when a photo of cadence caught his eye. the photos made it look like she was cozying up to matt rodriguez in los angeles. raleigh prided himself on being around long enough in the industry that he could spot a tabloid relationship in two seconds, but there was something about how cadence looked in those photos that made him pause.

it was clear she was having fun and enjoying herself in the photos. he recognized the look on her face when she was mid-laugh and the cheek-hurting smile she had on reminded him of the beginning of their tabloid relationship over a year and a half ago now. but even back then, raleigh knew there was something special about cadence, something that he wanted to be real, something that made him blur the lines that defined his fake relationships in the past.

he looked at his watch and knew he needed to head out if he was going to make it to the event at a reasonable time. he knew cadence would be there and while he was fine with their recent game of avoiding each other at public events, he needed to run into her tonight. he gulped down the rest of his drink and walked out of his apartment. time to get some answers.

* * * * * his eyes zeroed in on cadence the second she walked into the room. she was wearing a gorgeous gold dress that no doubt was made for her given how it fit her every curve perfectly and showed off her shoulders and collarbone. raleigh felt his body temperature rise as he pictured ripping her hair out of its pinned updo and sucking at the sensitive spots on her neck and collarbone that he knew so well.

either he had been staring for too long or cadence sensed his presence because she looked over in his direction. they locked eyes and it was as if the entire room faded away; raleigh held her gaze, almost daring her to break eye contact first. which, she did, but not before she flashed him a look that he couldn’t quite place – apologetic? regret? embarrassment? whatever it was, it fled her features faster than he could blink. he wasn’t given any time to think about it as the tinkling sound of utensil against glass somehow seemed to drown out the conversations around him.

he looked around quickly and didn’t see any food so where the fuck did people get utensils? and more importantly, why didn’t he have a drink in his hand yet? not that he was eager to join in what was inevitably a toast to the couple of the hour.

“if i could have everyone’s attention,” the host of the party spoke over the din, smiling warmly. raleigh didn’t miss the way matt held out his arm toward cadence or the way she tucked hers into the crook of his elbow seamlessly while looking up at him with that beautiful smile radiating off her face.

“cadence and i want to thank all of you for coming out to celebrate our engagement.”

raleigh tuned matt out for the rest of the toast and looked at cadence incredulously. he glanced down at her hand that was wrapped around matt’s arm and could make out a glittering diamond ring on her finger. how had he not noticed that? and more importantly, how could cadence not have given him a heads up? he had assumed the relationship was for publicity and that somehow, when her career was more established, they would find their way back together.

he watched as cadence waved to the crowd before walking up the steps to the makeshift stage and seating herself behind the sleek black baby grand piano. raleigh was mostly sure that his jaw hadn’t dropped and his eyes hadn’t widened, but he was still too stunned to check.

“people like you always want back the love they gave away,” cadence started singing, her soulful voice ringing clearly through the speakers, “and people like me wanna believe you, when you say you’ve changed.”

raleigh had heard this song several times already, it was cadence’s number one single off her upcoming album, which he presumed had plenty of references to their relationship. but he didn’t care. the only thing he had ever truly wanted in his life besides his freedom from sunset skatepark was sitting up on that stage singing her heart out.

the room broke out into loud applause and cadence bowed before stepping off the stage. raleigh felt his feet propel him toward her and barely registered that he was standing in front of her until she looked up and said his name.

“raleigh?”

“can we talk?” he asked. she nodded and he followed her to a dressing room just outside the ballroom and locked the door behind him.

cadence crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly. “what did you want to talk about?”

raleigh gave her a long, scrutinizing look. “i guess congratulations are in order. i would’ve appreciated a heads up.”

“we’re not in a relationship anymore, raleigh, you made sure of that. i didn’t realize we still owed things to each other,” cadence snapped, eyes blazing.

“cadence, you know that’s not fair. you know i care about you and was trying to protect you,” raleigh hated that he was pleading.

“i didn’t ask you to protect me, i asked you to be with me. you had me in the palm of your hand, raleigh.”

raleigh’s fingers itched to reach out and hold her close to him, to have his body envelop hers in that way where she fit so naturally, it made you wonder if his body was made to hold hers. “i figured we’d end up together again, once your career was more established.”

cadence blinked in surprise and her eyes softened. raleigh had never given her any indication that he had thought that far ahead regarding their future, at least not seriously anyway. “oh, raleigh. i think it’s hopeless. we just weren’t meant to work out,” she sighed and walked past him to open the door.

“do you love him?” raleigh asked quietly. he glanced away once before looking at her, an almost imperceptible sign that gave away the fact that he was nervous. cadence knew this sign well and a sharp pain and sense of longing tugged at her heart.

“of course, i’m marrying him,” she replied, dropping her gaze. he was looking at her so intensely, she felt like he would see right through her. she turned around and walked out the door.

raleigh followed her and turned her back around to face him. “no, look me in the eye and tell me that you love him,” raleigh demanded firmly, grabbing her chin gently and lilting her face up so she was looking up at him.

“raleigh, i—”

“cadence, babe? there’s someone i want you to meet,” matt called out from behind her, cutting her off.

she gave her best apologetic look to raleigh and said, “i better go.”

as she turned around, he grabbed her hand gently and whispered in her ear, “you haven’t answered my question yet.”

cadence chose to ignore him as she followed matt to the other side of the room, toward his hollywood friends, all of whom she had met before. they ducked behind the group inconspicuously.

“are you okay? things looked a bit tense,” matt asked softly once he was sure that his friends were effectively blocking cadence from raleigh’s view.

5 months ago

“are you okay? you look a bit tense,” matt said, his tone friendly and free of judgment, which cadence appreciated.

“my publicist wants us to be in a fake relationship. i’m just tired of that sort of thing and thought she’d be a little more understanding since it hasn’t been that long since my last relationship ended.”

matt looked at her thoughtfully. “i gathered that most of the songs we filmed these music videos for were about at least one past relationship, but they were all about the same guy, weren’t they?”

cadence nodded, somewhat grateful that she was feeling too down to feel embarrassed that matt figured out she was still pining for raleigh.

“well, why don’t we try dating for real? it might help you move on and we’d still give our publicists the public relationship they want,” matt suggested. “and who knows? if everything goes well, we can even get engaged.”

cadence was surprised at the sincerity in matt’s voice. she tilted her head as she considered what he was really suggesting. “that would definitely catch everyone’s attention. okay, let’s do it.”

“i’m fine. mission accomplished,” she said, giving him a half-hearted smile.

“it’s not over until it’s over,” matt said, caressing his thumb over the diamond on her finger. “but maybe it’s time to make it official.”

cadence wrapped her arms around him and let herself be comforted by matt’s strong, warm body. “thanks matt. i’ll see you later.”

raleigh watched cadence make her way to the exit before following as quickly as he could. he meant it when he said he was going to get answers. by the time he made it outside, she was nowhere in sight. but he wasn’t going to give up. he flagged down the nearest cab and gave them instructions to her apartment.

when he arrived, he made his way to her unit and hesitated for a beat in front of her door. did he really want to do this? hear that she was in love with another man and was planning on marrying someone that was not him? did he no longer have a chance; was it really hopeless? raleigh lowered his hand briefly as he thought through a scenario where she was lost to him forever.

he let himself wallow for barely a minute before shaking his head angrily. cadence owed him a clear answer. and he at least owed her the truth about his feelings. he knocked twice and pressed his ear to the door. her apartment had a fairly thin door and he could only hear dead air. she probably hadn’t gotten home yet. raleigh took off his jacket and made himself comfortable on the floor. he would wait for however long it took.

cadence looked out the window of the cab as it approached raleigh’s brooklyn neighborhood. she felt a wave of nostalgia come over her at the familiar street lamps and buildings they passed. once they arrived, she quickly ducked inside the building and made her way to the elevator. there were two penthouse units on the top floor and cadence stood outside raleigh’s, suddenly wishing she had changed out of the ridiculous glittery gold dress and heels into something more casual. she steeled herself and held her chin up as she knocked on the door. after a beat, she knocked again, louder, just in case he left and went home after their brief interaction earlier than night. she hadn’t seen him leave the event and figured she might have to wait. she bunched up the skirt of her dress so she could sit on the fabric and took off her heels, sighing with relief. now all she had to do was wait.

* * * * * mentions: @raleigh-edward; @dulceghernandez; @thegreentwin; @kat-tia801; @otherworldlypresents; @brycesgirl; @robintora;

[nazariolahela]

Something Domestic: Chapter 9

A/N: Hey y’all! This story is told in first-person narrative, from Riley’s (MC) POV. There will likely be smidges of canon in this, but not too much. Thanks for reading, and please leave feedback, and/or if you would like to be tagged.

This chapter ended up being longer than anticipated, so it will essentially be split into two. Whoops!

Catch up here

Series Tags: @burnsoslow​ @aworldoffandoms​ @dcbbw​ @ladyangel70​ @texaskitten30​ @sunandlemons​ @jlynn12273​ @indiacater​ @jared2612​ @rainbowsinthestorm​ @drakesensworld​ @badchoicesposts​ @msjr0119​ @katurrade​ @blackcoffee85​ @cynicalworlds-blog​ @hopefulmoonobject​ @beardedoafdonutwagon​ @cmestrella​ @sugarandspice-milkandhoney​ @superharrietsuper​​

Synopsis: When Riley Brooks takes a new job as a nanny for the affluent Rhys family in New York’s Upper East Side, she assumes she’s just going to care for the children of the couple who hired her. But instead of just school pick-ups and afternoon snacks, she also finds herself spending time with Liam, the handsome divorced dad. Can Riley control her feelings for Liam while still performing the job she was hired for?

All characters are the property of Pixelberry Studios. Thanks for allowing me to borrow them.

Chapter Summary: Manhattan puts on its best-dressed for an annual fundraiser, and all eyes are on Riley.

The next week had come and with little drama. Charlotte started her first day of school on Monday, which she was surprisingly unhappy about. I wonder if she had overheard Liam and Madeleine’s fight Friday evening. I showed up early that day to make sure she had everything she needed. Liam stayed mostly out of sight as I got her ready for school. No doubt he was having second thoughts about our steamy makeout session. Or maybe he was embarrassed. Nevertheless, he was gone before the kids and I left. After I dropped Charlotte off at school, Philip and I spent the day doing fun stuff. Museums, painting classes, even a stop for some dairy-free ice cream. Madeleine actually showed up on time from work to relieve me of my duties, and I was gone before Liam got home. Tuesday through Thursday were much of the same. Arrive early, get Charlotte off to school, spend time with Philip, pick up Charlotte from school, spend time with them until their mother arrived, then head for home.

Now, it’s Thursday evening, and Hana and I are sitting in our apartment eating takeout. She’s sitting in the recliner, cell phone in hand, texting Meghan. I hold the remote and flip through Netflix, trying to find a movie for us to watch. I find one that might be interesting to me and turn to her. “Wanna watch this one?”

She looks up from her phone to the TV and frowns. “Watched it with Meghan last night. What else is there?”

I flip through to find another one then turn back to her, “How about this one?” She shakes her head no. I sigh and toss the remote on the couch next to me. “I got nothing then.”

“How about we go shopping for the banquet on Saturday?’ she pipes up. I give her a grin, and we both slip on our shoes, grab our purses and head outside to hail a cab. Hana and I scored invitations to the Enrique M. Vasquez Memorial Scholarship Banquet. It’s the largest fundraiser for New York Private Schools in the state. Every year, the richest and most powerful in New York society show up, rub elbows with each other, and donate a shit ton of money for scholarships to some of the most prestigious private elementary, middle, and high schools. Last year, more than $500,000 in scholarships were handed out.

Hana and I arrive at Carmina — an upscale dress shop in Manhattan — 30 minutes later. We browse through the racks, picking out a selection of gowns to try on. Most of these dresses cost at least a month’s salary, but they’re so pretty, I have to force myself to overlook the price tag. Gowns in hand, we retreat to the dressing rooms. After a few minutes, Hana steps out in a stunning shimmery gold number, with a sweetheart neckline. My jaw drops as she does a little twirl. Damn, my best friend is hot.

“I don’t know what other dresses you have in there, but don’t bother trying them on. That’s the one.”

Hana laughs. “Take a picture of me. I wanna send it to Meghan and get her opinion on it.” I snap the picture with her phone and hand it back to her. A few moments later, her phone buzzes, and I peek over her shoulder to see Meghan’s reply.

That dress is beautiful. I can’t wait to see what it looks like on my bedroom floor.

“Ooooh!” I say, reading the message. Hana tucks the phone into her chest, her cheeks turning crimson.

“Get out of here, nosy and go try on your own dresses.”

I snicker and return to my dressing room. “So how are things going with you and Meghan?” I ask her.

“Pretty good. I know it’s only been a week, but I really like her.”

“That’s wonderful, Hana. You two seem to be getting along well. She’s certainly smitten. Have you two… ya know…”

“RILEY!” she shrieks. She pauses for a few beats, then replies. “Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. Yes, we have.”

Half dressed, I rip the door open to my dressing room and find her sitting on one of the elaborate couches. “What?! Really?! That’s great!” I rush over to her and grab her hands. “You have to tell me all about it. Well, not all about it, but you know.”

Hana giggles, pushing me away from her. “Go get dressed, you perv. We don’t have all night.” I stick my tongue out at her and move back into the dressing room. I try on the three dresses I chose. The first one is a purple halter dress with a slit up the leg that damn near shows everything. The second one is a black cap sleeve number that would look better for a funeral than a benefit dinner. The third dress is a beautiful glittery blue gown with a plunging neckline. I emerge from the dressing room and hear Hana audibly gasp.

“Oh, my gods. That’s it. That’s the one.”

I smile. “You think so?”

“I know so! You look breathtaking!”

I clap my hands together. “Awesome! Let’s pay for these and get out of here. I have to find a pair of shoes to go with this baby!” We pay for our gowns and my credit card weeps. As we are leaving the dress shop, Hana’s phone chimes with a text.

“It’s from Meghan. She wants to go get a drink.” She frowns. “But I don’t want to ditch you.”

I turn to her, shaking my head. “Don’t worry about it. Go see your woman. One of us deserves to get laid.”

She laughs and pulls me into a hug. “I’ll see you at the apartment later, ‘kay?” I nod as she gets into a cab and takes off. I hail my own cab and make my way back to the apartment, clutching the dress in my arms. I think about how I’m going to style my hair, and what accessories I’m going to pair with it. I’m going to look so hot, no man there will be able to take his eyes off me. My mind wanders to the only man who’s eyes I want on me. I know he’s going to be there on Saturday. His company is an annual sponsor and of course, he donates a lot of money to the scholarship fund. I remember that he’s also been avoiding me all week. Maybe if I can get a few minutes alone with him, we can at least talk about what happened.

***

Saturday rolls around and Hana and I are at our apartment getting ready for the evening. The two of us are crowded in our tiny bathroom, doing each other’s hair and makeup. When we’ve finished primping and priming, we head to our bedrooms to get dressed. After I’m dressed, I assess myself in the full-length mirror behind my door. Looking good, Riley. I shout at Hana from the other side of the wall. “What time is the car picking us up?”

“6:30. There’s a cocktail hour at 7, and dinner starts at 8.”

I check my phone. It’s already 6:25. “You about ready?”

She giggles. “Yep. You?”

I open my door at the same time she opens hers. We step out into the hall and dramatically present ourselves. “Ta-da!” she sing-songs. 

“Gahddamn, we look good! Ready to go break some hearts and raise some money?”

“You know it!” she replies. We grab our things and head downstairs to meet the car. On the ride there, Hana and I chat about who we might run into tonight. She mentions that her college advisor is expected to make an appearance, and she hopes they can get together and visit. I think about running into Liam and what I’m going to say to him. The car stops in front of The Celestial Hotel & Resort, and a valet rushes to open our door for us. We climb out and make our way inside, walking the “red carpet.” I roll my eyes as the paparazzi snap pictures of Manhattan’s biggest names. All this for a scholarship benefit?!

We enter the Grand Ballroom and are taken aback by how elaborate the setup is. Roughly 50 tables are set up with white tablecloths and ornate centerpieces. Each table has eight chairs, and place cards on bright white cardstock with gold accents. There’s a bar set up to the left of the room, and a stage at the back. The right side of the room features several floor-to-ceiling windows, showcasing the New York skyline. 

My eyes scan the room, looking for someone I might know. I see Dr. Ethan Ramsey chatting with famous author Marianne D'Arneaux. Near the bar, fashion designer Lancelin St. Claire and actor Ryan Summers laugh at something comedian Josh Morello said. Across the room, singers Raleigh Carrera and Cady Dorian are locked in a heated embrace. Talk about little fish in a big pond. I read about all these people in my favorite tabloid magazines, and now I’m in the same room as they are. It’s not all celebrities though. I see several New York educators, school administrators, and faculty members. I even spot one of my professors from Steinhardt. I remind myself to say hello to him later.

“I found our table,” Hana says, grabbing my arm and guiding me to where we’ll be sitting for the evening. I look at the placeholders and notice a few big names seated with us. Matt Rodriguez and his wife Jessica Clark; and Avery Wilshire. The Manhattan School District superintendent; the dean of Barnard College; and the principal of Hana’s school, Vera Thompson are also seated at our table. We take our seats and wait for the other occupants to arrive.

“I feel so out of place here. Maybe we should go,” I say, fidgeting with my napkin.

“What? No! This event is the biggest fundraiser of the year. Think of the connections we could make. Plus, Dr. Ramsey is the guest speaker tonight. Don’t you want to stick around for that?” I can tell this event is important to her, so I decide to just suck it up and stay. We make our way to the bar and order a couple of whiskey sours. Thank gods this event has an open bar. I take a sip of my drink and frown. These don’t taste nearly as good as the ones Drake makes. Speak of the devil. I spot Drake and Maxwell making their way toward the bar. Maxwell is wearing the most amazing suit I’ve ever seen. It’s light blue with tentacles stretching the length of the jacket. His bowtie is an orange squid. Drake is a tad more casual in black slacks and a blue button-up with a tie.

“Ladies! What are you doing here this fine evening? This doesn’t seem like the type of party you like to crash,” Maxwell says, winking at us.

Drake rolls his eyes. “Hey girls. Fancy party, huh? This is not what I was expecting when I signed up to be a sponsor.”

“You’re a sponsor?” Hana questions. Drake cocks an eyebrow at her as if to ask, “What does that mean?”

“We both are,” Maxwell replies. “Been giving money to this program for years.”

Drake nods. “This state has a lot of really good private schools, and it’s only fair that every kid has the opportunity to attend them. I like that kids of all economic status can get scholarships for them. I wouldn’t give money to the program otherwise.”

Hana smiles, satisfied, and sips her drink. Maxwell orders two glasses of champagne and hands one to Drake. Drake takes the glass, frowning. “What am I supposed to do with this?

“Drink it. What else would you do?” Drake brings the glass to his lips and takes a small sip. He makes a face before knocking it back and setting the glass back on the bar.

“So where’s the third member of your Motley Crew?” I ask. Just then, the crowd parts and Olivia herself appears. She saunters toward us — her trademark smirk plastered across her face — in a red sequined gown. A man with dark hair and an all-black suit trails behind her, holding two glasses of champagne.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the hot nanny. You clean up nicely. I’ll give you that. That’s quite the gown. Liam’s going to shit himself.” She turns to the man behind her and plucks one of the champagne glasses from his hand, downing it in two gulps, then sets it on the bar. “What is a nanny doing at a scholarship benefit? Shouldn’t you be watching the kids?”

“I don’t have them on weekends. I actually don't know where they are. I haven’t spoken to Liam or Madeleine tonight,” I state matter-of-factly.

She chuckles. “I’m glad the she-witch lets you have some free time. It’s not like she watches her own kids. Why else would she have hired you?”

“Olivia,” Drake snaps.

She turns to him and smirks. “Hello, Drake. I see you couldn’t be bothered to find a suit for this little soirée? I doubt it would have killed you to put on a damn jacket. At least the babysitter wore a nice dress.” She laughs and turns to the man behind her, snapping her fingers. “Come, Ray.” The two of them disappear into the crowd and all four of us breathe a sigh of relief.

Hana scowls. “Oh my gods, she’s so brash? How do you put up with her?”

“Lots and lots of alcohol,” Drake answers.

Maxwell snorts and takes a drink of his champagne. “Don’t mind her. It’s a defense mechanism. Once you get to know her, she’s actually a ray of sunshine. Except to Drake. Pretty sure she still hates you for junior year, man.”

Hana and I exchange a look. I turn to Maxwell. “So, who are most of these people? I recognize the celebrities and some of the educators, but I have no idea who everyone else is.” He slings an arm around my shoulder and turns my body toward the crowd. He points toward the podium near the stage where two older men and a woman about my age are holding a conversation. and I recognize one of the men as Maxwell’s brother.

“You remember Bertrand. Well, the woman on his arm is his wife, Savannah. The blonde guy next to him is Liam’s older brother Leo.” I squint and immediately see the resemblance. Maxwell moves his hand over to two women giggling. “The woman in the purple dress with the narwhal necklace is Penelope, and the one next to her in the black dress with feathers on the shoulders is Kiara. They’re Madeleine’s best friends from college. And if they’re here, that means she’s not too far away. Those three are attached at the hip.”

“So I’ve heard.”

He chuckles. Sure enough, a woman with a blonde bob and a stunning cold-shoulder emerald green dress struts up to the two women. Yep, that’s her alright. If she’s here, then that means… I scan the ballroom for any sign of him. From the corner of my eye, I see Hana ducking behind Maxwell.

“Oh my gods, he’s here. Hide me!”

“Who?” I ask her, confused. She points toward the center of the room where a man with slicked-back hair and a permanent scowl stands. He’s wearing a brown blazer over a blue pullover, and brown slacks.

“It’s Neville,” she whispers as if he can hear us from across the room. After scanning my face for signs of recognition, she continues. “The trust-fund douche my parents have been trying to set me up with. He’s been texting me for a few weeks now, even after I told him I’m dating someone. I didn’t know he’d be here, but I guess it’s not surprising. His father owns Cormery Isle vacation rentals, so I’m sure he donates a lot of money to this program.” She groans, taking my hand. “Will you please be my buffer this evening? I don’t want to be anywhere near him.”

“I got you, boo!” I reply, patting her arm. I turn back to Maxwell. “Dinner is starting soon, so we’re going to go take our seats. We’ll catch up to you later.” He smiles and gives us a wave before taking off towards his table. Hana and I link arms and make our way to ours, where most of our tablemates have already been seated. As Hana strikes up a conversation with them, I look around the ballroom for any sighting of Liam.

I give up after a few minutes, and excuse myself to hit the ladies room. After getting directions from a member of the waitstaff, I leave the ballroom and walk down a long hallway to the restrooms at the end. Thankfully, I’m alone. I do my business and check my reflection in the mirror. At least I still look good. Too bad there’s no one here to appreciate it. As I exit the bathroom and make my way back toward the banquet, a pair of strong arms wraps around my waist and pulls me into a dark conference room. He pins me against the closed door. The weight of his masculine body feels like heaven.

“I was hoping to run into you tonight,” Liam’s voice whispers in my ear, setting my skin on fire. His hot breath on the back of my neck makes my knees go weak.  

“Where have you been all night?” I ask, turning to face him. He rubs his nose along the base of my throat.

“Waiting for my opportunity to get you alone. And can I say? That dress…” he says, tugging the collar down so he can kiss my shoulder. “If it weren’t for all these people, I would have taken you right there in the middle of that ballroom.” My breath hitches and I run my hands down his broad chest, feeling every muscle beneath his dress shirt. My fingers slip beneath the waistband of his pants and I tug the hem loose, grazing his bare stomach. His body quivers beneath my touch.

“Riley…”

I glide my hand back up to his neck to his hair, where I weave my fingers through the short strands. I pull his head down to mine and brush my lips against his. “You’ve been avoiding me all week. What’s up with that, Mr. Rhys?”

He groans and presses his lips to mine. His tongue slips in and caresses mine as he grips my ass in his hands and lifts me up. I wrap my legs around his waist. His erection presses hard against my core as he nibbles on my collarbone. “It’s all I could do to keep myself from ravishing you. My lawyers called me last week. We finally have a date for the hearing. If we ensure that there are no unresolved matters and the judge approves our agreement, the divorce becomes final on Wednesday. After that, you’re mine.” His lips travel down my neck and his teeth graze my pulse and I feel sparks shoot throughout my body. He moves one of his hands up to my breast, making me arch into his touch. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.” He pauses, then looks around the room. “Think we can be quiet?” he whispers.

“I can’t make any promises,” I reply. He smirks and moves from the door to the conference table and places me on top of it. I lay back and watch him in the dark as he slowly undoes his belt. I hitch up the skirt of my dress around my waist. I rest on my elbows as he unzips his pants painfully slow as if to tease me. I sit up to reach for him when the sound of a cell phone ringing from his pocket interrupts us. “Ignore it,” I say.

He nods and rubs his hands up the inside of my thighs. His thumbs graze the outside of my underwear, and I inhale sharply. He rubs his thumb over my clit in slow, agonizing circles. I gasp and drop my head back, feeling my body hum. The phone rings again and he sighs. “...One second.” He pulls it out and answers it. After spitting out a series of short answers, he hangs up and slips the phone back in his jacket pocket, frowning. “I’m sorry. I have to go. We’ll continue this later?”

I nod and swallow, sliding down off the table and fixing my dress. “I’ll go first. Come find me later.” I lean in and kiss him before opening the door and peeking out to make sure no one is around. I slip out of the conference room and hustle back into the ballroom to my seat. Hana eyes me suspiciously. “Sorry about that. The line for the bathroom was long. What did I miss?”

She opens her mouth to reply when the squealing of a microphone cuts through the room. The emcee announces that dinner will be served in a few short minutes. I notice out of the corner of my eye, Liam slipping back into the ballroom and taking his place next to Madeleine at their table. She smiles at him, the fakest smile I’ve ever seen. He leans in to whisper something in her ear, then rests his arm on the back of her chair and plants a kiss her on the cheek. I’m suddenly seeing red. Not five minutes ago, his tongue was down my throat and his hands were all over my body. Now, he’s cozying up to his ex-wife.

[lydia-yougowith-stiles]

My Top Ships 2018

I really enjoyed writing this article last year. So here we go again. Check out my favorite ships from movies and TV this year. 

12. The Goldbergs-Erica and Geoff

The Goldbergs has been one of my favorite sitcoms for a couple of years now and I have loved watching the development of Erica and Geoff’s relationship from a simple high school crush, to Erica discovering her feelings, to them now in the current season feeling like an old married couple at times. While they may still have their ups and downs I love how they are always there for one another and they are just adorable. Hope they’re in it for the long run like Geoff assumes they will be!

11. Throne of Glass-Chaol and Celaena 

At the beginning of 2018 I started reading Sarah J. Maas’ fantasy novel Throne of Glass. Instantly I could see the love triangle emerge between the assassin Celaena, the crown prince Dorian and the head of the king’s guard Chaol. While book one looked more like Celaena and Dorian would be together I always held out hope for the latter. And then I read Crown of Midnight! That book was one of my overall favorites and I got to watch this relationship form. It was beautiful and then everything blew up. I started the third book in the series and was instantly disappointed because it felt like an entirely new series. So while I have stopped reading it since then Chaol and Celaena will forever be one of my favorite ships. 

10. Supergirl-Kara and Mon-El

Mon-El returned to Supergirl last season and while Karamel was apart for the majority of the season viewers got to see a more mature Mon-El. There has always been much debate over his character as well as his relationship with Kara, but I have always been a fan of the Daxamite. In this season he returned to the present from the future where he was a part of the Legion of Superheroes and he was married. Kara, still recovering from the aftermath of season two, was thrilled to see him, but much had changed. While moments of this season were aggravating the two still had some great chemistry on screen. It was still very clear of their feelings for one another, but yet again Mon-El had to leave. This time taking Winn with him (which is a rant for another day). So while they might not have a future this is another ship that will always be one of my favorites. 

9. Victoria-Lord Alfred and Drummond

This ship instantly pulled my heart strings and ultimately (SPOILER ALERT) crushed my soul. Lord Alfred and Edward Drummond’s relationship started in season one of Victoria, but truly got its own story line in season 2. As expected in this masterpiece drama there were twists and turns that kept this couple part. Given the time period two men could not be together and Drummond was engaged to be married to a woman. But what none of us saw coming was his death. I still cannot believe it. He will be truly missed in the newest season which will air in the new year. 

8. Anne with an E-Anne and Gilbert

Netflix’s Anne with an E returned with a second season this year and we were blessed with more Shirbert moments between Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe. While the beginning of this season saw Gilbert at sea (going off from L.M. Montgomery’s novel), there were still some great moments between the two characters from Anne writing him letters about the “gold,” to Gilbert not noticing her hair and letting her know it was good to see her. And who could forget this important moment (above) from the finale. Fortunately for us the series has just gotten picked up for a third season. I cannot wait to see what’s in store next!

7. Daredevil-Matt and Karen

While against popular ships I found myself shipping Matt Murdock and Karen Page hard as I began season 1 of Daredevil this past spring. In season 1 I took every moment I could get between the two of them and then I was a little too excited when they got “together” in season 2. While it didn’t end well for the two of them there were some really great moments I find myself reliving on YouTube. I have not watched season 3 yet (mainly because I want to continue to watch the Marvel Netflix shows in order and I have only just finished The Defenders). With the recent news of the show being cancelled I can only hope these two end on good terms. (Even if it is not romantically as I may hope. Please no spoilers.)

6. Set it Up-Harper and Charlie

This romantic comedy quickly made its way into my heart and into my top 10 favorite movies (I KNOW). This is all thanks to its lead characters Harper and Charlie. These two assistants were witty, relatable and just had an overall great chemistry that I am upset they are not together in real life. I have honestly watched this movie far too many times and each time my love for this ship gets stronger. I feel like the movie ends too quick because I want to know more about what happens to them. It might ruin it but would it be too much to ask for a sequel, Netflix?? 

5. Legacies-All of them

Okay, so by saying ALL OF THEM I don’t think I’m necessarily cheating. This show is still in its beginning and still establishing itself. They are still finding their ships and we are discovering the characters. But I have to say I like so many of them that it’s hard to choose just one pairing. Julie Plec has done a FANTASTIC job of having a lot of her major cast interact with one another and they each bring out something different in one another’s characters. One day I’m shipping Hope and Josie and the next I like Hope and Raphael. You can really tell good writing and characters when you can like so many different combinations and not feel mad about it. If you aren’t watching Legacies make sure to tune into the CW because you are missing out. 

4. The Originals-Klaus and Caroline

Yes, you did see this ship on my list from last year and that is because Klaus and Caroline are one of my top OTPs. I was excited to see Klaus on the Vampire Diaries so it is no surprise that I was beyond excited to hear of Caroline coming to the Originals in its final season. It was great to see the pair in the same room again. They were both parents now and had grown so much. Every time they recognized that in each other I got chills. So [SPOILER ALERT] while Klaus “had to die” I am extremely glad that he and Caroline got closure for their ship. In a way they were endgame and as a Klaroline fan, always and forever, that’s all a girl could ask for. 

3. Dawson’s Creek-Pacey and Joey

Dawson’s Creek was my summer binge this year. I wanted something “retro” that was just about regular teens (no superhero powers or magic). Going into this show I obviously knew a good amount of spoilers seeing as how it started in the late 90s, so I knew that Pacey Witter and Joey Potter would eventually become a couple. I now just had to wait for the when...and while at times it might have felt excruciating, I took any and all moments between the two characters (even before season 3 when things really get set into motion). There is just something so great about a ship between two characters who “hated” each others guts and tease each other constantly. It was well worth the wait because these two have become one of my favorite all time ships. While I am permanently paused on season four (pre their first break up) I have watched a bunch of spoiler videos to know that these two wind up together, which warms the heart. 

2. Brooklyn Nine-Nine-Amy and Jake

While looking for a new TV show to watch earlier this year it was suggested to watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine. (Only once I started binge-watching the show did it get cancelled and then thankfully renewed by NBC.) What a great choice it was to start watching this show. The void that was left by The Office and Parks and Rec was instantly filled by this sitcom. The characters and story-lines were hilarious and of course I couldn’t help but fall in love with the slow-burn of Amy and Jake. Again due to spoilers of coming into a show that already exists I knew the two would wind up together, but it was still so great to be a part of. The two are adorable and while the story line does not always revolve around their relationship you know they are still together by a quick line they say in a scene or two. They are just so right for each other. Right now I am catching up on season 5 (about mid-way right now) and I cannot wait to watch the next season premiering in January. So excited to see where their relationship is headed.

AND NUMBER 1 FOR 2018 GOES TO.....

1. THE 100-Bellamy and Clarke 

That’s right last year’s number 2 became my number 1 in 2018! While separated for 6 years with Clarke on the ground and Bellamy in the sky the two found their way back to one another. You could definitely feel the tension between the two, which made complete sense after all their time apart but there was still something that brought them back together. My heart still melts when Bellamy finds out that Clarke is alive from Madi and seeing Clarke’s face when Bellamy tells Diyoza that she matters. This ship is the slowest burn of my life and while Jason Rothenberg may still claim that the two will never be (and that we should read the books for that) this latest season gave us Bellarke fans a reason to hope. From Octavia calling out Bellamy’s feelings and saving the traitor who he loves (OMG) to Clarke’s looks every time Bellamy and Echo were embracing. They are the first two to wake up out of the pods and meet Harper and Monty’s son. They are deeply connected and I can only hope for moments like this next season. For now I’ll just re-watch my favorite to hold me over (and that includes Bob and Eliza’s SDCC interviews which were adorable). 

 Here’s to another year. Cannot wait to see what is in store for 2019!!

[salvatoreschool]

Legacies recap: Malivore's true nature is revealed (for real this time)!

And the other shoe dropped!

Julie Plec is a master of twists. On both The Vampires and The Originals, she proved she knew how to pull a fast one on the audience like no other. You thought you were watching one story, but then suddenly it would veer off into an unexpected direction (see: the Vampire Diaries season 1 finale, the sun-moon curse, and several others). So, going to into tonight’s episode, I should’ve known there was another Malivore twist waiting around the corner, but I didn’t and wasn’t prepared for the game-changing info-dump the hour unleashed on us. However, what made this episode stand out is that there were strong emotional character moments, too, in between all of the dense yet necessary exposition.

We pick up with MG’s mother telling Clarke to debrief Landon (read: interrogate him) before sending him into Malivore. Once she leaves, Clarke ignores her orders. In fact, he does the opposite and unties Landon because he wants to tell him a story. More specifically, he wants to reveal who Landon’s father is.

Spoiler alert: Malivore is actually Landon’s — and Clarke’s — father.

Once upon a time (a.k.a. a millennia ago), a vampire, werewolf, and witch — a triad, if you will — joined forces to create Malivore, a Gollum tasked with consuming a dragon that was terrorizing humans. Malivore’s hunger was insatiable, and he started devouring every monster he could find, erasing them from history in the process. Eventually, he grew sentient, realized he was alone, and decided to create a companion from mud, which I assume is what you would do if you were an immortal monster-eating monster.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t pleased with his mud-born children because they were sterile, which meant they couldn’t continue his legacy; Clarke was one of those “children” that Malivore tossed aside. Angry over being abandoned, Clarke teamed up with humans and witches to trap Malivore in his mud/pit form using three locks. Classic teenage rebellion!

Over the years, Clarke watched as the humans who caged Malivore essentially sold out and formed Triad Industries, which took on the responsibility of handling anything that went bump in the night (read: tossing monsters in Malivore). But corporations, as we all know, are prone to corruption. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that Triad started throwing people it just didn’t like into the pit. Unbeknownst to Triad, Malivore was absorbing the human DNA. When Triad condemned Landon’s mom to the pit, he saved her, impregnated her with a magical human baby that could procreate, and spat her back out. And thus, Landon, our awesome Phoenix, was born.

Next: Assault on Salvatore School

Why is Clarke telling his brother all of this? Because he had a change of heart over the years. Now, Clarke believes freeing Malivore is the key to destroying Triad Industries; however, he needs Landon’s help because Landon is the only person who can find the third and final lock and free their father. And Landon agrees, but only because Clarke appeals to his desire for family and, more importantly, warns him that Triad poses a real danger to his friends.

While I wouldn’t rank this Malivore twist as high as, say, The Vampire Diaries’ Sun-Moon curse, I do think it’s pretty solid. It’s not too obvious, but it also doesn’t feel like it came out of nowhere. Furthermore, if Malivore becomes an antagonist after being freed, the ensuing conflict will have personal stakes because he is Landon’s father and that’ll put everyone in quite the pickle.

As I mentioned above, though, this episode wasn’t just about Landon learning about his past. “I’ll Tell You a Story” also had some really strong moments between the characters. The best one involved the fallout from Josie and Lizzie’s fight.

Obviously, Josie and Lizzie are still on the outs when the episode begins; however, Lizzie is trying her hardest to get back into her sister’s good graces. Josie, on the other hand, is focused on finding out what the merge is. As their feud goes on, Lizzie starts to spiral, but Josie ignores her because she hopes hitting rock bottom will force Lizzie to start taking her medicine again. Apparently, she stopped taking her meds while they were visiting their mother over break, and Josie believes that’s one of the reasons they ended up in this huge fight.

With some help from her aunt Freya, Hope discovers what the merge is and urges Alaric to tell his daughters about it now because Josie is close to figuring it out on her own. And cue the best the scene of the episode: Alaric giving his girls the lowdown on the merge. Alaric tearfully confesses that he never had the heart to tell them about it because he couldn’t admit there was something he couldn’t protect them from. Matt Davis’ truly heartbreaking performance made me forget all of the questions I have about Alaric’s age.

At the same time, Hope had her own heart-to-heart with an imaginary version of Landon, which was created using one of Emma’s therapy prisms. She confesses that she lied to him about his mother because the sight of him dead in the woods triggered this voice inside her head that shows up every time she loses someone (her mother, her father, her uncle, etc…) and tells her it’s her fault and she’s a cosmic mistake. “I guess I just wanted someone to think I’m worth staying for. I wanted you to stay because I love you,” she says. As Imaginary Landon points out, this is the first time she’s telling him she loves him and it’s not even him. But I kind of loved how this went down because it strikes the perfect balance between a classic high school moment and supernatural goofiness.

Imaginary Landon also leads Hope to another epiphany: There was something fishy about the voicemail Landon left for her and Alaric saying he went camping because he needed time to think. She plays the message for Roman, who uses his vampire hearing and helps her figure out that Triad has him. So, Hope assembles her super friends (the twins, MG, and Kaleb) to take the fight to Triad. Unfortunately, though, Triad is one step ahead of them. By that I mean, the evil company’s troop invades the Salvatore school with wooden stakes and presumably other nasty weapons to kill the supernatural students.

Get ready for the Battle for the Salvatore School.

Small town gossip:

Emma points out that the school’s purpose is growing and Alaric is equipped to handle it on his own. He initially rejects her concerns, so she decides to take a sabbatical as a way of proving that he needs help. Spoiler alert: This works, and Alaric apologizes to Dorian, who agrees to come back and help him run the school.

Elsewhere in the episode, Rafael’s mind continues to splinter as a result of the trauma he endures. Hope lends him a ring that’ll let him transform into a wolf on command, which may help him heal himself.

“I’m going to go full Wonder Woman.”

How much you want to bet that the witch who created Malivore was a Bennett witch?

[gffa]

Scattered Star Wars novels thoughts: - I have listened to an hour and a half of the Thrawn: Alliances audiobook, someone please tell me to stop torturing myself with this thing.  It’s not even that it’s a bad book imo, but that it wasted so much potential!  TELL ME TO NOT SPEND ANOTHER TWELVE HOURS ON THIS ONE. That said, re: the audiobook specifically, WHOA, Marc Thompson nailed Thrawn’s voice/Lars Mikkelsen impression, that is some spot on voice acting!  His Padme sounds pretty much like all his other female characters unfortunately and his Anakin sounds like a slightly softer version of his younger characters (I’m thinking especially of Temmin) and I really like that choice, it feels like it’s a little closer to Hayden!Anakin than Matt!Anakin (who does a fantastic job, but when that’s often times the ONLY version of Anakin we see in stuff anymore, I start getting really wistful about movie-based prequels stuff, like, no, TCW wasn’t the only good prequels stuff!) but it is still hard to put it together with the Anakin in my head.  And his Vader is surprisingly flat, like, I would have thought the barest special effects for that would have been easy?  But it’s just a deep voice impression! I feel like Thompson’s roles are often like that, it’s very hit and miss.  I love his book readings, he’s the go-to guy for a reason, but you know what I wish they’d do more often?  Get the various voice actors together for different roles.  I realize that’s probably a lot more work than they want to do, paying multiple people for the same book, but there was one I listened to recently (which I cannot remember for the life of me now) that got Thompson for his Han voice and January LaVoy for her Leia and it was FANTASTIC. I keep wishing that that’s what they’d do with this book--get LaVoy for Padme, get Thompson for Thrawn, get a different actor for Anakin, get some special effects for Vader, and it could be really great.  Though, I recognize that the audiobook versions probably aren’t as much of a priority, but still!  I want to treat them like audiodramas instead!  Cater to what I want, LucasFilm!  And while we’re at it, give me more animated TV series novelizations!  Of Rebels AND The Clone Wars!  AND A PONY!! - I finished Life Debt and I’m giving myself a little time to let it breathe before tackling Empire’s End--and maybe hoarding the last of it, because I’ve come to love these characters a lot.  ;__; That’s one of the really big downsides of the expanded universe stuff--there are all these incredible characters that I get really invested in and, so often, they’re just there for a brief time and we never know what happens beyond that.  I’m still sad that we haven’t gotten another book with Vi Moradi.  I’m still sad that we haven’t seen any sign of post-Rebels’ Ezra getting to tell us what happened.  I’m still sad that Eli Vanto was only in the one book so far.  I’m sad that Sinjir and Jas and Norra and Jom probably won’t be in any more novels after this, that I’m lucky to have gotten three of them!  I still want more of Iden Versio and we’ll probably never get much more than a cameo from her after this. I’ll keep reading and keep getting invested in these characters, the more there are, the more populated this galaxy feels, and some of them do keep showing up.  Like getting to see Sana in Last Shot was a lot of fun!  I have no doubt Rae will turn up in lots more things!  I just want more of these characters, too!  I know we already get, on average, like three or four books a month from all across Star Wars, but I WANT MORE, PLEASE. - One thing I realized about halfway through Life Debt is that, I CANNOT, for the LIFE of me, unsee Sinjir as Dorian Pavus.  The darker skin and accent definitely felt reminiscent of him, but then the second half of the book made several mentions of the very noticeable mustache and now it’s ALL I CAN SEE and I’m half wondering if that wasn’t the inspiration. - I liked the ending of the book a lot!  It reminded me of ESB in how much it felt like the middle piece of a trilogy, that it ended on such an explosive note and how much shit is going down.  I certainly didn’t expect everything to blow up the way it did in the last parts of the book! I’ve also really come around on Norra and I think a lot of that has to do with how much shit Temmin gives her that’s not really her fault, so it eases up the strain I was feeling on her in the early parts of the first book. I’m really enjoying the vague Rae - Leia counterparts-of-their-respective-organizations stuff, too!  Both are sort of the face of their side, but aren’t really the one at the head, both are feeling like outsiders in this fight that they’ve given everything to, that the organizations are going in directions that make them furious, because they both deeply believe they’re right. It makes me wonder how much this is meant to be negative images of each other or how much it’s meant to be a true parallel, that both of them are worthwhile people, but are putting forth some not-so-great ideas, Rae with the Empire and Leia with her inability to recognize that a government is different from a Rebellion. - I’m 4/5ths of the way through the Solo novelization and I think there’s a lot to be said about how I’m just not as invested in Han as a character, so the little details kind of slip by me.  But it’s also fairly light as a novelization (in comparison to my favorites, but also it’s not the lightest I’ve read, either!) and so I was dearly looking forward to some Qi’ra insight, but there’s not really that much?  The hints at what she went through are really interesting and I’m hoping that the climax of the story will give me more to work with, but this is definitely not going to be another TLJ novelization or even a Thrawn: Alliances level of I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO SAY. I’m sad that it feels like the book never read Most Wanted, because the junior novelization had a mention of Tsuulo (so far that was the most notable thing about it, but I think I’m only like three chapters in, so that’s not much time yet) that absolutely DELIGHTED ME, but the adult one hasn’t mentioned him or much outside of what was already there in the movie, so it does feel kind of light and disconnected, but it’s still worth the read to me.  And I do think that the novelization’s version of the Imperial hearing scene was WAY funnier than the actual deleted scene, it nailed the timing of it in a way that not even the movie’s delightful acting could for me.

[syntheros-artemidos]

SECOND HALF

ashari shit time I'm hyped

"oh! not a monkey, got it"

YES ORYM ASK KIKI THESE QUESTIONS PLZ I WANT TO SEE HER SO BAD

'im a guard, or was," HUH?

"she and her friends" yas go confer with vox machina at least those still alive (I feel like Percy being wholly human would be dead by now but idk)

aabria: rolls insight. clearly rolls terribly. shrugs and plays along.

WHAT'S UP IN THE CLOUDTOP WHAT'S WRONG oh the crater right duh

opal you absolute tourist

Dorian has the braincell for the moment I see.

I still think orym sounds a lot like derrig. derrig also has one boy. (and three girls, triplets.)

planar being? huh? that's not good

IS LIL MISTER A LITERAL ELEMENTAL? THOUGHT HE WAS A FEY CREATURE? HUUUUH???

tremors, organized elementals, that weird set of elementals they encountered in c2 when they hid in the fire plane, both the scar and the crater acting up, what is going on I am incredibly concerned

are. are the betrayer gods trying something? that feels like too much for an 8-episode miniseries

bro?ther? thank you brother? what?

"you did what in the what now"

IM SO CONFUSED WHAT DID I MISS I FEEL LIKE I MISSED SOMETHING

when were they in the crater??????????? am I dumb??

random saving throws are aabria's thing this makes me incredibly nervous

oh it's an earthquake go figure

oh no what's happening weird magic in the air

NEW LANDSCAPE I UNDERSTAND THE EPISODE TITLE NOW

whyyyyyyy is it raining ash

"congratulations orym, we have volunteered for five minutes and the sky's on fire"

oh god Wis save for touching the crown oh no

"dirty one" fml dariax is gonna die

"the oh no plateau-" "INSPIRATION" god I love bards

the half goat rolled a nat 1 beautiful

why's sound weird that's funky

Dorian and Dariax are the Vex and Vax and now Liam is paying for his crimes

double D's take a point of exhaustion

ew weird air stuff no thanks I don't like this at all

"okay. noted." -things you never want to hear your dm say

this could get dicey FAST with those points of exhaustion

ASHARI SIGN LANGUAGE I AM IN LOVE WITH THE WORLDBUILDING it makes sense bc no matter what's going on you can always sign it's silent and doesn't require breath

beans. for the soup. the time soup.

"mister doesn't breathe bc misters not actually a monkey"

LIL MISTER IS EATING ASH AND TURNING PURPLE WAT

"what are we looking for?" "whatever- whatever the fuck this is?" I trust this person's judgement

MAAAAP ITS A MAAAAP

mister is no longer a monkey that's probably bad

"Kansas it's in Midwestern Tal'dorei" "noted I'll add it to the map" "...no..." "I'm sorry I'm pretty sure I'm in the captains chair now" I LOVE THIS GROUP SJFBSKFJSL

I like the idea of letting the PC choose what ability check to make in this moment that's a rlly cool way of doing that idk saying that out loud makes it sound like just asking to make a check y'all know what I mean

oh WAIT BC SHE GOT HER MAGIC YOINKED

"I'm sorry did I fucking stutter" wheeze

dariax still has black eyes. opal does not have magic. dorian pleased the Spider Queen. fearnes monkey is no longer a monkey. fun

gAAASP "YOU TOOK MY MAGIC!" "I AM your magic bitch???"

ashhole puns galore my gods

don't half these people's parents watch this show? I'm sure matt's do at least

circle of the wildfire bitches

"I know but what's the goal here" "couldn't tell you!"

I love how freely aabria gives inspiration

are we losing the party pet this early on

are we losing the druid this early on.

oh good there's a thing now that's fun bye bye little mister hello ash elemental

not a single initiative above 15. and opal is first with no magic.

it is at this point, around 12:30 at night, that I start to want to go to bed lmao hope it's not much longer

that's one hell of an interesting use of dissonant whispers I love that

yay we regain our "monkey"

Matt you asshole

NAT ONE FUCK YEAAAAAAH

aabria letting Ashley decide dariax's fate for that nat1 is absolutely beautiful

IS ORYM JUST GONNA TRIP HIM INTO THE ASHHOLE

oh that's so much worse that sounds SO PAINFUL KNIFE THROUGH THE CALF noOOOO

ah. spears gone. cool!

LMAO APOLOGIZING TO THE MONKEY I love the sibling dynamic ajdjejsks

the ashari being weird about Fearne makes me reaaaaally want keyleth to meet her

this entire interaction with little mister is so cute omfg

I am dying to get an interaction with keyleth are we getting marisha as a guest star for her I hope so

"Find someone who can explain what this is" keyleth, gilmore, allura. take your pick. plz

RUNECHILD. GILMORE. GILMORE!!!!!

FUCKING GILMORE!!! HYPE!

Gilmore's. glorious. goods. are they gonna make matt do the voice. do we get to hear aabria attempt the voice. what's gonna happen.

AND THERE WE HAVE IT

we get Gilmore and keyleth. this is so indulgent I'm so excited

thoughts about ep 2

MATT HAS GLITTER IN HIS BEARD SIR YOULL NEVER GET RID OF THAT WHY

aww Omar all comfy

wow aabria's earrings are cute as fuck

GOD THAT INTRO IS BEAUTIFUL

"did we leave the baby in the prison" thanks ashley

"well how would you feel if you were a baby left in prison"

you're all going to die to an ankheg. you're going to free it and it's going to kill you.

orym, voice of reason as always.

fearne letting an ankheg loose in the middle of emon would be terrible honey no

oh they're being hella watched

yeah sure ghost the criminal who's got hella eyes on you good idea opal

y'all realize she's gonna track y'all across the continent right?

DEX SAVING THROW? HUH?

LIAM WAS KIDDING BUT HE WAS RIGHT DAMN

"hey! over this way! free shit!"

cannot believe that worked worked

JESUS FUCK LIAM out there with them vax stealth rolls, 23 at lvl 2

hot ppl casting charm person I'm sure this'll go well

they're so stupid I love them

ROBBIE WHY THIS MIGHT HAVE WORKED-

Dorian is fighting this dude and opal is just CMERE LEMME TELL U SMFH

"does a 16 hit?" yeeees :(

"oh no no no it's good it's a bad roll" mood

"I didn't get the memo to not go for lethal SO"

YESS ASHLEY I LOVE USING ENTANGLE

not so much when it entangles the rest of your party

opal is taking this nameless one on a date I love her AAAND SHES TYING HIM UP

does aabria have the snitch is that what she just said?

"Arthur" is apparently into bondage

and exhibitionism

aaaand ELDRITCH BLAAAAAST

"don't look at him! you look at me"

ONWARD TO PYRAH

"it's no gentrified townhouse"

was wondering how long it would take for them to bring suude up.

and dariax is immediately trying to do drugs beautiful

"it's not drugs yet" "they feel cleaner, but they also feel like they're uh, becoming a liquid..."

"Whitestone: is it drugs yet?" Percy would approve I think

fearne is chaotic neutral I love her

SKITTERING??? IN HIS STOMACH??? BRB BARFING

"what's your alignment?" "chaotic neutral" "nah u good"

"eeeigh I don't see a lot of good things that look like.... that..."

orym is the moral backbone of this party this is fascinating

NOOOOO BIG ASS SPIDER superfuck that

of course it's a betrayer god go figure

I FUCKING KNEW IT WAS A FUCKING VESTIGE GOD

KEYLETH OF THE AIR ASHARI LIAM O'BRIEN I LOVE YOU GODS IM SO HAPPY

honestly keyleth would probably know what to do with another vestige idk I trust her judgement go see the ashari

....keyleth could plane shift them to the feywild.... I'm just saying.... oh my god artagan tho whaT IF FEARNE IS RELATED TO ARTAGAN???

"the grapes are fuUUCked"

what's up with fearnes memory what

time is a weird soup and her hooves are made for walking. yeah. okay.

where's poska going.

is she... patrolling and waiting on them? is that what's happening? shes persistent damn

Cha save? why? oh boy warlock stuff?

oh boy warlock stuff

this is the most entertaining warlock dream I've ever seen

"roll for lucid dreaming"

"literally I made this bitch magic and she's telling me to leave"

oh creepy spider queen lullabies no thanks

"something is well pleased by your playing" EW

okay more after the break I'll reblog

[flauntpage]

FanDuel Sportsbook PA Betting Update August 29: Clemson, BYU-Utah Headline Action

Hell. Yes.

College Football is back in full force this weekend, and it starts tonight with a combo platter of appetizers to indulge in at  FanDuel Sportsbook PA. Here is your betting update for Thursday, August 29.

The Phillies aren’t in action tonight, but that’s perfectly fine because there are 27, that’s right, 27 college football games to bet on at PA online sportsbooks, including four games featuring Top 25 squads.

The NFL preseason slate also wraps up this evening. The Eagles will travel up the New Jersey Turnpike to face the Jets, and I’m certain this clash will make for an instant classic. Well, maybe not.

Truthfully, while that game probably won’t generate a ton of gambling interest, we are now just a week away from the NFL regular season opener between the Bears and Packers. That game can’t get here soon enough.

In the meantime, let’s run through the highlights of tonight’s action.

STATE

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FanDuel Sportsbook review

UCLA-Cincinnati Odds

Let’s begin in Cincinnati where Chip Kelly’s squad will look at avenge what was an embarrassing 26-17 Week 1 loss as a two touchdown favorite to the Bearcats last season. Here are the current odds as of 11 a.m. Thursday morning:

      Spread     Money        Total UCLA      +2.5 (-115)   +120   Over 57.5 (-110) Cincinnati     -2.5 (-105)   -140   Under 57.5 (-110)

UCLA-Cincinnati Things to Know

Can’t sugarcoat it for UCLA fans – the Bruins have been a bad bet in recent seasons. Given the short line in this one, it’s worth pointing out that UCLA is 2-18 straight up over its last 20 games as an underdog and 1-14 straight up over its last 15 road games.

That’s simply brutal. It’s also worth noting that PAC-12 teams are 4-8-1 ATS in out of conference August and September road games when an underdog of three points or less.

Still, UCLA brings back most of its offensive line as running back Joshua Kelley looks to build off an excellent finish to last season.

Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell has quickly built a winner, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Bruins quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson makes big strides in his second year in Kelly’s system, starting with a quality showing tonight. Something seems just a bit off with this short line, thus I like UCLA a tad here.

Utah-BYU Odds

      Spread     Money        Total BYU      +6.5 (-105)   +195   Over 48 (-110) Utah     -6.5 (-115)   -245   Under 48 (-110)

Utah-BYU Things to Know

The Holy War, as it is called, has been dominated by Utah in recent seasons with the Utes winning the last eight matchups between these two teams. The expectation from most observers is that much probably won’t change this year. After all, Utah is coming off a Pac-12 South title and is expected to play for a conference title once again in 2019.

It’s not hard to see why. The Utes have a rock solid defense led by a stout front and experience on offense, particularly at the quarterback and running back positions.

Still, BYU also features a very good defense that should keep this game close. If sophomore quarterback Zach Wilson can replicate his hot finish to last season, one that was capped by a 300+ yard and four touchdown performance in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, then this could be the year Utah’s run of dominance in this matchup comes to an end.

Keep an eye on tight end Matt Bushman against Utah’s inexperienced linebackers. The Utes defense doesn’t have many vulnerabilities, but that could be one of them.

BYU has won five straight season openers and has knocked off 12 power five teams over the past two decades in Week 1 games. This isn’t an unfamiliar spot for this program.

BYU is 3-1 ATS over its last four home games as a dog of seven points or less.

Eagles-Jets Odds 

    Spread     Money        Total Eagles      +3 (-110)   +145   O 34.5 (-120) Jets      -3 (-110)   -170   U 34.5 (+100)

Eagles-Jets Things to Know

It has been a mixed bag for bettors backing Doug Pederson’s teams in the preseason. Overall, the Eagles are 8-7 both straight up and ATS under him in such games. More recently, the Eagles are only 2-5 both straight-up and ATS since the start of the 2018 preseason. Their lone win last preseason came against the Jets in a 10-9 instant classic. Also, please note the sarcasm.

As for the Jets, they are 2-5 ATS overall and 1-4 ATS when favored in preseason games dating back to last year.

Penn State Odds at FanDuel Sportsbook

It’s never too early to look ahead to Saturday, so let’s take a look at Penn State’s opener against the Idaho Vandals.

Here’s something to know: Penn State hasn’t been favored by 40 points in a game dating back to at least the 2005 season. Idaho has struggled as a big dog in recent season. The Vandals are 0-4 ATS the last four times in which they were an underdog of at least 39 points.

One other thing: James Franklin’s Penn State teams are 2-1 ATS when favored by at least 30 points.

Oregon-Auburn Odds at FanDuel Sportsbook

    Spread     Money        Total Oregon     +3.5 (-110)  +140   O 55.5 (-110) Auburn     -3.5  (-110)  -165   U 55.5 (-110)

Oregon-Auburn Trends to Know

Of course, we have to quickly hit on the weekend’s lone Top 25 matchup.

Yes, Oregon has Heisman hopeful Justin Herbert at quarterback, but the Ducks have been an absolutely miserable play as a short underdog since the start of the 2016 season. They are only 2-9-1 ATS when an underdog of three points or more during that span.

Conversely, Auburn is 5-1 ATS since the start of the 2016 season when favored between three and six points and 6-2 ATS when favored by six points or less.

$500 Risk Free Bet

Still going and likely will be going into football season, new FanDuel Sportsbook users in PA can claim a $500 risk-free bet when they sign up.

Parlay Insurance

FanDuel is running a cross-sport parlay insurance promo this week. Here’s how it works, with verbiage from their site:

Welcome to the Parlay Insurance promotion (the “Promotion”), where participants who place a four-leg or more straight parlay bet, and all but one leg wins, will receive a site credit equal to the amount of their wager, up to Twenty Five Dollars ($25) (“Promotion Bonus”) if their bet loses.

STATE

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21+ and present in NJ or PA. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

FanDuel Sportsbook review

The post FanDuel Sportsbook PA Betting Update August 29: Clemson, BYU-Utah Headline Action appeared first on Crossing Broad.

FanDuel Sportsbook PA Betting Update August 29: Clemson, BYU-Utah Headline Action published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[zalrb]

This episode was SO jokes {TVD 8x15 Review}

Hi all! You know the deal. I write my thoughts in real time so anything I saw at the beginning that might be a mistake may be corrected by the end. This review will have anti-Damon, anti-Delena, anti-Steroline, anti-Bamon, anti-Bonenzo sentiments and will most likely have references to other shows and to the misogynoir, anti-blackness and racism in the narrative. If you do not like it, you do not have to read this. Are you ready? OK! Let's go. 1. So I'm stopping a very promising Kdrama to watch this. The Kdrama is called Mirror of the Witch, I'm on the first episode and already there are more consequences in this drama than all eight seasons of TVD. So far it looks exceptionally dark and mean-spirited, I think it might actually disturb me. Anyway. It's still entirely ridiculous that Cade's last words are “Go to hell.” Like why? Also why would Stefan say, “You first”? Wasn't Cade already in hell? Like didn't he sort of create it? And now he's just ... dead? What was that dialogue? 2. I like how opening the door to Cade's world will only destroy everything for “miles”, like that's such a small scale, shouldn't it be the end of the world if the devil is walking among us? Or is he not the devil, is Katherine the devil? I'm confused about the Hell hierarchy, you see. 3. Also I should mention I have a cold and I took cough syrup and it SAYS non-drowsy but last night I was knocked the fuck out so if I get a little loopy near the end, it could be that. Or it could be that watching TVD has finally addled my brain. Who knows. 4. They really do hype Katherine way too much. 5. Sorry, pausing because my cat is being extremely affectionate and I would rather play with her for a little than watch what trash this episode is going to be. 6. But now she's on my keyboard. It's like she's trying to spare me. 7. The lighting in this episode seems to be darker than normal, I can barely see anything. 8. I think it's funny that Caroline keeps waking up expecting to see Stefan and he's not there. 9. Matt's hair is SO stupid though. LIKE WHY. 10. I have it paused because the video is loading still but like seriously, he looks thoroughly unattractive like this and out of character I think Zach is pretty cute, so like ugh, why am I subjected to this. 11. Why do we care about Matt's dad again? 12. Or his mother for that matter. 13. Like remember when she came to town and then made out with Damon and then they discovered Vicki was dead and she made out with Tyler? Or was Tyler first and then Damon? Either way, she's messy af. The only interesting dynamic was her and Caroline and Elena. She's pointless. 14. “That was a lifetime ago, things have changed since then” that should just replace the title of TVD. “Didn't Damon kill your sister?” “That was a long time ago.” “Didn't Damon kill your brother” “That was a long time ago.” And now apparently abandoning your family because of man pain and cowardice and immaturity is “a lifetime ago” too but oh no, Stefan was a ripper a literal century ago and we need to harp on it forever. 15. Real talk, I already feel kinda woozy but it's fine it's like being buzzed and it's probably the only way I will get through this episode. 16. Why would Dorian agreeing to help them on how to get rid of the “Queen of Hell” be misconstrued as him being “cool” with Stefan though? Isn't getting rid of someone who is supposed to be the devil Plus be in everyone's best interest? Like whatever, it was just another chance to take a shot at Stefan. Transparent as fuck. 17. That red looks nice on Kat. 18. I like how Katherine is in this world, everything is supposed to be going to shit and Matt isn't like “Mom, Dad, I hate you but you need to leave town because you could possibly die” he's just like yeah fam, I'm rescheduling our awkward dinner date. Like lol. It would be more interesting if he didn't give a shit if they died but this is just the writers being the writers. In Buffy, when the Mayor is supposed to devour all of Sunnydale, Buffy forces her mother to leave town and tells her if she doesn't her presence will get her [Buffy] killed. 19. I love Stefan's face when Damon says “she's obsessed with Stefan” like BITCH WHO TOLD YOU TO TALK? 20. Why does it have to be a wedding though? It could just as easily be an engagement party or a rehearsal dinner, like sooooooooooo forced. 21. I mean, I don't blame Bonnie for hating Stefan but Damon was responsible for killing Jeremy and kidnapping Jeremy, Enzo was responsible for suffocating Jeremy and she's cool with both of them, hell she fell in love with one of them so I'm just like girl, I guess. The writers are ridiculous because it just feels like they don't know the web they've created with these characters and understand that they've turned pretty much everyone into a hyprocrite. 22. And as a non-Beremy shipper, I still think Bonnie loved Jeremy more than Enzo and Beremy was a problematic af ship but at least some things were halfway earned, Bonenzo is pure dialogue, fam. 23. Oh and looks. 24. I don't even know why Damon needs to tell Stefan that what happened to Enzo will haunt him like Stefan isn't new to guilt. Why are they making it seem like this is Stefan's first rodeo? 25. My video keeps fucking buffering. I might switch sites because I love myself too much to drag this out longer than I have to. Because I am only eight minutes in, that's not gonna fly. 26. OK so everything is just buffering. I was supposed to have my data back, what is this. 27. Right now I have it paused on Damon. I really don't get what anons mean when they tell me his arms are huge. Like I don't see it. 28. WHO CARES ABOUT MATT'S MOM? What's her name again? Kelly? 29. Is she dying? 30. She's dying. 31. Oh she's dead. Ish. 32. “Oh please don't be mad at me, Caroline” that actually sounded like Stefan was talking to his mother. 33. Yeah this BE scene is giving me nothing. 34. Liz did a TERRIBLE job protecting MF, who are we kidding? And toasting with your rape victim about how her mother became your best friend and now her daughter will be your family is disgusting. 35. Lol yes use the SE necklace that Damon kept taking to give it to Caroline on her wedding day for Stefan because we're ignoring how important that necklace was to SE, sure. 36. Seriously, Caroline looks at Alaric with more love than she does Stefan. Like just marry him, y'all are more compatible and have more chemistry than you and Stefan anyway. Like omg. 37. “I hope I get to see this one day with you and Elena” lol the FLATTEST delivery ever. Like do you even mean it? Do you REALLY? Think hard, Stefan. 38. “I want to be a part of your happiness” I mean I guess. I don't like Bonnie being arbitrary in her blame for Stefan but like can the girl be selfish and feel what she feels when she feels it for once? And indulge? Like?? 39. I also find it interesting that Stefan and Caroline don't have a private moment before the wedding, like I know this isn't how we wanted to do this blah blah blah. They're so segregated even when they're together. 40. Do the writers not know of any alcohol other than bourbon? 41. The slow mo doesn't change the deadened expression on Paul's face, guys. Sorry. 42. Also Alaric's speech is stupid, who becomes “family” with the people who have continuously terrorized your life and are responsible for the people you've lost? Like that's when you see a psychiatrist because you have serious emotional issues. 43. “You saw light in me when all I saw was darkness.” WHEN WAS THIS? NO LEGIT WHEN? I REALLY WANT TO KNOW. Madly in love, you don't even look madly in love, you look SO chill. OMG. 44. LOL bout you've been ready since you saw him at school. You were on his jock for one episode, then you onto Damon and were unfortunate enough to be his victim, then it was Matt, then it was Tyler, then it was Klaus, then it was Tyler then it was Jesse then it was Klaus then it was Stefan. Girl bye. 45. That SC dance looks SO AWKWARD. LOL SLOW MO DOESN'T MAKE SHIT BETTER UNLESS IT'S ALREADY GOOD 46. Of course Matt's dad isn't dead. I mean he got stabbed when it was light out and now it's dark but he's still gurgling. Jesus. We met him THIS season, Julie, you can kill the irrelevant fucker off. 47. I don't know why Caroline is STILL wearing the necklace. 48. HER NAME IS KELLY. I WAS RIGHT. 49. Why isn't Caroline vamp speeding into the house? 50. Really? That's your reaction to your kids potentially dying? 51. So like the smoke is having no effect on Bonnie? 52. And them siphoning her doesn't hurt? 53. Caroline is legit calm when she thought her kids were dead for a minute. 54. LMFAO SO WHO ISN'T IN HELL? Vicki was in hell, Kelly was in hell, so like ERRBODY GOES TO HELL THEN? WHAT CRITERIA IS THERE? Like if I run a stop light do I go to hell because it's against the law? What if I jaywalk or accidentally step on an ant or something? BECAUSE SERIOUSLY. 55. STEFAN WHY DON'T YOU EVER CHECK ANYONE'S PULSE? Final thoughts: This episode didn't enrage me like I thought it would, it's just thoroughly ridiculous because it attempts to haphazardly rewrite history and Paul was such a lacklustre groom, like faaaam, those vows were horrible. And Caroline and Stefan are just so isolated from each other, like they don't feel like a couple or a pair, they don't feel like one, it's so very cold. Kelly coming back with her daughter to destroy MF is like, I mean I guess, Katherine's plan isn't even original, Stefan was going to burn MF to the ground first anyway, like we're seriously recycling plots in the same season too? This was actually laughably bad.

[briannaslist]

I Was Feeling Epic: A Recap

And now, the end. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s still a little bittersweet. When something is a staple of your life for 8 years, it feels weird to see it go. But it’s time; it’s been time for a while. And no one knows that more than the actors, who have given their best throughout the show, but have been looking tired since maybe the fifth season. Even now, in the last episode, sometimes they just seem…tired. At least it kind of works since all the characters’ lives suck at this point, but I doubt it was intentional.

We open with Stefan trying to save Bonnie and Caroline running in, trying to give Bonnie her blood. But Bonnie isn’t drinking and Stefan’s attempts to restart her heart aren’t working either. Bonnie’s basically in limbo. She’s in a forest and Elena is in a bed in this forest. Elena wakes up and sees Bonnie and hugs her. Of course, it then dawns on Elena that Bonnie is still very young and she says it’s too early, that she was supposed to live her life. And Bonnie tells her it’s okay, she’s ready, and now she can be with Enzo. But then Enzo shows up and says what he’s been saying like the past three episodes, “Live your life Bonnie, I love you, don’t give up, it’s not time yet.” So Bonnie wakes up.

Meanwhile, Damon rushes over to the bell to stop Vicky. Vicky tells him that he can’t stop her, so he throws her out the window. Pretty effective, except she doesn’t stay dead. Matt comes in and tries to talk to Vicky; she’s happy to see him and she doesn’t want him to die, but she’s gonna keep ringing the bell every five minutes for the duration of the hour. Matt points out that she’s just gonna die again if she does that. Vicky doesn’t mind since Hell is well, hell, and she’d rather just go to nothingness than be back at that. Fair enough, but do we actually have to kill a town full of people because we’re unsatisfied with our afterlife? Maybe that kind of behavior is what landed you in Hell Vicky. What did Mystic Falls do to deserve this? That’s the real victim of this show – Mystic Falls. Nobody should live there.

Damon leaves the bell tower, where he meets up with Stefan and Caroline. They ask what the deal is and Damon says that they need to come up with some other course of action since Matt is probably gonna fail at reasoning it out with Vicky. And sure enough, Matt comes out and calls down to the police station to start evacuating the people. Because we couldn’t just keep killing Vicky or lock her up somewhere for some reason.

Damon and Stefan go back home to get Elena’s coffin – the real main character of the past two seasons. They go in and see that the coffin is open. Elena comes around the corner and rushes to excitedly hug Damon. Except it isn’t Elena, of course. It’s Katherine and she’s in a manipulating mood. She claims that she had Cade wrapped around her finger since the day she got in Hell and that she’s the reason why Cade wanted them in the first place. A claim that makes absolutely no sense in the context of the entire season, but whatever. Since they’re not getting any information out of her, Stefan stabs her and they try to figure out where Elena’s body could be hidden.

Meanwhile, Caroline and Rick are packing up the twin’s stuff and Rick tells her that Bonnie is already in the car waiting to go. Caroline tells him what’s going on with Elena’s body and that she’s gonna help look for it. Rick tells her that he thinks that’s pretty stupid because she has two kids in the car that need her and if she doesn’t get out in time then they’ll have a tragic loss. But Caroline says she can’t just leave knowing that Elena is in danger and she promises that she’ll get out in time.

Stefan finds Elena’s body at the school and he goes to get her. But when he tries to leave the room that Elena is kept in, he discovers that it’s magically bound. He can get in and out without any trouble, but Elena can’t. He calls Damon to inform him of this change. Damon at this point is confronted by a revived Katherine who says there’s no way to break Elena out of there because Kai Parker did her a favor and created that magical spell. She also decides to go for Damon’s ego by saying it doesn’t matter because in the end Elena would chose Stefan because that’s what she would do since Stefan is the better man. Damon stabs her and walks away.

Caroline goes to the school and Stefan tells her about the spell; he says that he knows that Damon would stay behind because he wouldn’t want Elena to die alone. But he can’t leave his brother there alone too. They know there’s no way that Stefan can convince Damon of leaving, so Caroline says that she’ll stay with him. But Stefan can’t have that and he tells her to go and be with her kids, that family comes first. Caroline’s crying and reminds them that they’re family now too. And he says he knows, but Damon is his brother. She cries and says “family first” and they have a sad goodbye and she leaves.

At the Armory, Bonnie sees some research that Alaric and Dorian were doing. Rick says it was kind of their last hope in being able to counteract the potential of the hellfire, but it required a massive amount of power and seemed impossible, so they kind of gave up on it. But this gives Bonnie an idea. She calls Stefan and tells him she has a plan that will save Elena (and the town).

Caroline gets to the Armory and says she’s there as promised. Rick says that’s great, but they have to get moving again. Caroline asks what’s up, and Bonnie says she’s gonna save the world. She hugs Caroline and tells her to go and that Rick will fill her in while they’re traveling.

Damon is in the tunnels under Mystic Falls and Katherine comes in to do more taunting. Damon tells her they have a plan and they’re gonna make sure that she dies. He tells her about the tunnels, a convenient plot device, that connects Mystic Falls to the Armory. Because of that convenience, Bonnie is going to draw the fire away from Mystic Falls and through the tunnels. Katherine doubts it because she doesn’t think Bonnie is anywhere near strong enough to do it. Besides that, Damon being down there to make sure she dies means that he’ll be sacrificing his future with Elena, which she thinks he’s still too selfish to risk. But of course, we know that Damon is a changed man and is willing to do this for the greater good.

However, Stefan isn’t really feeling this whole sacrifice thing; he comes into the tunnels and Damon is like, “You need to leave, especially if this actually doesn’t work. You’re human and way too vulnerable.” But Stefan, true to Stefan nature, refuses to leave and have his brother compromise his potential happiness. Katherine tries to leave while the brothers argue, but they stab her – it’s basically a running gag; she’s been stabbed after every commercial break.

Stefan thinks that it should be him because he’s still looking for redemption and he thinks Damon deserves a chance at a happy future. Damon counters that Stefan always wanted to be human and he just got married. (Let’s not forget that this is actually the same day as the wedding.) Lots of emotional back and forth, lots of tearing up on both sides, and it all ends in Damon compelling Stefan to get out of town while Stefan sadly asks him not to do it. But he can’t counteract it and he leaves.

Caroline asks Rick to tell her what is going on and he does, but it’s muted for the audience. We see Caroline starting to cry and she tells Rick to pull over. She gets out and calls Stefan and gets his voicemail. She asks him to please call her and tells him that she gets it and she understands. She’s crying but she smiles at the end when she says she understands and will love him forever. So in case this wasn’t enough of a hint –

Twist! Stefan has been taking vervain (obviously) and was never going to leave. He passed by the hospital and stole a syringe and extracted his blood, removing the cure from his body. So now his body will age rapidly. He goes back to the tunnels and tells Damon this and stabs him with the syringe, letting Damon get his chance at a happy, human life with Elena. Gee, Stefan, hope that everything works out and that Bonnie is actually successful with fixing everything. He throws Damon’s body into one of the rooms of the tunnel and grabs onto Katherine to kill her one last time.

Vicky rings the bell for the final time and the fire erupts. Bonnie successfully draws it away and through the tunnels; Damon tragically witnesses this from the safety of the room while the fire rushes towards Bonnie in the armory. She holds it back but feels too weak to keep it back. Enzo comes in to give her a pep talk about how strong she is and how she isn’t alone. Bonnie’s grandmother joins her along with the whole line of Bennett witches. Together they keep it contained and send the fire back into the bell. Stefan and Katherine burn in this.

Stefan is in limbo, at the high school. He talks to Elena tells her all about what happened. How Damon was willing to sacrifice himself for everyone and how much he admired Damon’s bravery and selflessness. He wanted Elena to have an opportunity to know that man. He says that it was his time and he’s ready. But damn, I mean, the guy didn’t even get to be married for 24 hours. He hugs her and says that he was glad he got to see her one more time; he asks her to pass along a message for him. Then he walks out, into the light. Where he’s greeted by Lexi, who he runs to hug. It’s a wonderful moment and helps drive home that yes, Stefan is dead. No twist. He’s actually gone.

But it feels kind of unnecessary because he didn’t really have to die. Every time they stabbed Katherine, she was out for a fair amount of time. They said someone had to be down there to make sure she was dead when the fire came. But there was that safe room that Damon was in, right there in the tunnels. And Katherine demonstrated that she had no powers; so she wouldn’t get out in time. Why didn’t Stefan just stab her and throw her into the fire, while being in the safety of that room? In true TVD form, Stefan and Bonnie had to be the ones to make the biggest sacrifices this season.

The last 15 minutes are commercial free, so that way everyone can get the real impact. However, these last 15 minutes are super rushed. Here’s what happens: Elena wakes up, without Bonnie having to die. She found a way to break the spell. Elena asks how she managed it and Bonne says it took time but she figured it out. I.E. It was a total cop out, but just be happy because they both get to live. Elena asks where Damon is and Bonnie tells her that he’s with Caroline, saying goodbye to Stefan. Because nothing says happy reunion like a funeral.

Damon and Caroline have a sweet bonding moment as they say goodbye to Stefan. Caroline walks out first and sees Elena and smiles. Then of course Damon comes out and sees her and they have an emotional reunion. A reunion that probably would have been much more emotional if he wasn’t burying his brother or if it hadn’t only been like two years. I get it, even two years feels like forever, true love, but 60 years… you can see what I’m getting at.

And we just finish with a super long montage. Everyone gets a diary entry.

Matt: Still the sheriff and they even give him a bench. He feels like Vicky did eventually find peace, which gives him a sense of peace. We see that he’s being watched over by Tyler and Vicky, who are happy to see him accomplishing things and making a difference. It’s actually very sweet and this is the point where I started crying a bit. As irritated as I have been by Matt for the past couple seasons, I wanted him to have a good ending. He was mistreated as much as Bonnie was really. They don’t show him after this, but I’d like to think that he found love and stopped getting into life-threatening situations every other day.

Bonnie: Decided to live her life and go traveling. She’s packing up and Enzo is there to remind her to get her passport. So even though he’s not physically there, he’s still with her, watching over her. They also don’t show further into the future for her, so I’d like to imagine that she also found love again and really did live life to the fullest. Maybe she reunited with Jeremy or ended up with Matt or found someone else great for her. I kind of hope she ended up with the best deal of them all.

Alaric: He and the girls are being watched over by Jo, who is happy to just see the girls growing up and being happy kids. He and Caroline did what they believed would have been Stefan’s last wish and convert the Salvatore boarding house into a school for the gifted. They do this with the help of Dorian and Jeremy(!). Jeremy! Who gets no lines. And who we never see reunite with his sister.  

Caroline: Of course is being watched over by her mom. She’s also living her life to the fullest. The message Stefan left with Elena was for her; he did get her message that she left that night and he will love her forever. She gets a hefty donation for the school from Klaus; so perhaps that’s her happy future. Because all her friends and family are human and she’s still a vampire – a bit of a thinker.

Elena: Ended up going to medical school and living a happy life with Damon. We see that she is wearing a ring, so we know they get married. We can assume they had kids too. We know that they grow old together. We just don’t actually see any of those moments. In the afterlife, we see that Elena reunites with her family – her birth parents, her adoptive parents, and Aunt Jenna.

Damon: Also lived a full, happy life, though he obviously missed his bother. And really, the brothers were the heart of the show, even in the beginning; their dynamic and relationship was always the most interesting. That’s what kept me watching the show and that’s what I’ll miss. In the end, we see him walk up to the Salvatore home and Stefan opens the door. Damon says, “Hello Brother”.

Fade to white, title card, and it’s over.

[seriesrants]

Tvd 8x13

Hahha Hahha. This is so shit. Tvd is so fucking bad. Dear god, it has made me want every good tv show to end quickly just so I don’t hate it by the end.

Ok so the only good thing that this episode had to offer us was Kai. I fucking love Kai. And I feel the writers just fucking ran with him. Legit this episode was pretty funny and Kai was fucking brilliant. The heart on the window. The stumble out of the car. The fucking brilliant one liners. I missed him so much.

Bonnie is still crying and shutting out everyone. TBH I still don’t give a shit. I still feel like enzo is gonna come back. I mean she already saw him this episode. And I literally felt nothing. Whoops. Was I supposed?

Alarics unsatisfying try at redeeming is dead “fiancé (technically)” was shit. Like, pretend you give a fuck. Obviously Damon isn’t gonna give a shit about anything if it means he can get Elena back. Like his thinking is so clouded by her it’s ridiculous.

Damon calls bonnie. Not to say hey, how’s it going you know, now that your boy is dead and all??? But no. Instead it’s “hey do you think kai (won’t say his name tho) could bring Elena back?? Hypothetically speaking of course.

Stefan got kidnapped by Dorian. Ffs. This kid makes a huge speech and then runs to save Stefan after he shoots him. Like I’m a total Stefan fan. But fuck dude you gave up easy. Kind of as easy as Stefan giving up on his relationship with Caroline. Rip.

Also Cade is petty as fuck. Lmao

I love Caroline actually yelling at Stefan. Like girl, stick up for this relationship. Don’t let it die out. And fuck Stefan, you do not get to decide when this relationship ends.

Damon totally gets fucked over by Kai. Thank you Kai once again. Like as if Damon thought he could get Elena that easily. Like fuck no, this is Kai Parker, he doesn’t t do good deeds. And I love him for that.

I would be excited by the fact that Kai stole Elena, but we all know she is coming back. Shame.

Anyways. This episode fucking sucked, except for every single time Kai opened his mouth. And god damn Chris is one sexy mother fucker.

Also. Why has Stefan almost died like four times being human in 2 days. But matt is still alive after 8 seasons? Please explain this to me.

Another fuck you to Julie Plec for only caring about Damon and Elenas relationship. Because apparently steroline benzo and every other ship doesn’t matter at all. Yeah FUCK you.

he is just too damn cute 

[sueboohscorner]

The Vampire Diaries 813 Recap “The Lies Will Catch up to You” #TVD #FreeCaroline

Last week ended with the awesome surprise of Kai’s arrival from hell. This week, we go back a few days to see how that happened. While the Maxwell bell was being rung by Matty Blue, enabling Cade’s crossover into our dimension, Kai caught a glimpse of Mystic Falls through his haze of torture. He leapt and made it through before the gateway closed again. 

Delighted to be alive, Kai eagerly orders a meal fit for a family of four. Impatient for satisfaction, he rips open a packet of jelly on the table and takes a taste…except he can’t taste it. He grabs another customer’s food and takes a bite…nothing. He picks up a knife and stabs himself in the hand…no sensation either. The poor waiter comes along and stares at him in shock…Kai magically impales the waiter on his blade. 

This scene is ingenious. We are reminded in the course of moments why we’re happy to see Kai: Chris Wood’s portrayal is hilarious and terrifying by turns. But we’re also reminded how truly unpredictable and dangerous he is.

Back to the present, Alaric’s ready to take righteous vengeance against Kai for murdering Jo at their wedding, and Damon restrains Alaric in the interest of getting Kai to revive Elena first. Alaric is pissed, and he’s right to be. Damon is overconfident as usual; he will not be able to control this situation.

Speaking of out of control situations, Matt calls Caroline into the police station to help him deal with a bizarre flood of complaints coming in over the last couple of days…against Stefan Salvatore. Caroline immediately realizes they should have seen this coming; the moment Stefan became human, all his past compulsions started to fade. Everyone he’s ever compelled to forget a horror he inflicted on them or carried out right before their eyes…and Caroline will dutifully sit with a great many of them, listening to her fiance’s hit parade of cruelty. She hears their stories, then compels them all over again with a new version of the memory that might be easier to bear. Matt even compliments her creativity, noting that she’s coming up with a lot more variety than her mom used to; there were a lot of “animal attacks” in the town records.

But one of the people whose memory suddenly returned didn’t run to the police to file a report, because he knew Stefan personally and understood what was happening. Armory intern, Dorian, whose backstory included a fire that killed half his family…well, until today, when he woke up and remembered who told him that backstory in the first place. Seven years ago, he came home to a gut-wrenching scene of horror, but Stefan set the house on fire and compelled him to forget everything. Of course, we in the audience instantly understand the significance of the time frame: Seven years ago, Klaus Mikaelson forced Stefan to go on a Ripper road trip with him. 

Once again, this scene is utterly brilliant. By placing the murder of Dorian’s family in the timeline of the series, the show has put us in the same position as Caroline. We have to uncomfortably deal with the notion that we knew about Stefan’s acts of evil, but we were just happy to get him back. As viewers, we sided with the bad guy and forgave him, and sure, okay, we had the excuse of his humanity switch and his desire to protect Elena from Klaus…but we were able to move on and forget his victims. Now, here’s a tragic case of Stefan’s collateral damage, and we hadn’t given him a thought. Lives have been lost and ruined, and we kept rooting for this guy. It keeps getting harder, though, doesn’t it?

Dorian forces Stefan to dig his own grave, then shoots him. It’s dark and hardcore, and Dorian immediately knows he’s no longer the victim or the hero in this story.

Also on a road trip, Damon and Kai are en route to Elena’s coffin. Sure, this will go well. Damon calls Bonnie and tries to play off his questions as hypothetical, as if she doesn’t know him better than that. She instantly figures out Kai is there with him, and while that pisses her off, it also gives her hope: If Kai found his way through from hell, Enzo could too. 

Btw, props to Chris Wood for his physical comedy throughout this scene. This guy is a star.

Damon and Kai talk through the Sirens situation, and Kai gets an idea. Maybe he could follow the “sexy Sirens” playbook to anchor him to this dimension. He needs to kill some bad guys and consume their flesh. Conveniently, there’s a guy sexually harassing his employee nearby, and Damon approves of murdering an ass-smacking SOB. I’m with you, Damon.

Stefan’s lying in his shallow grave, bleeding out slowly, inviting Dorian to take a second shot, and this time, please try to actually hit something vital, because slow deaths are wicked painful. Dorian is freaking out in a million different directions, including the realization that he’s now probably also going to go to hell, and it wasn’t worth it. He walks Stefan back to cell phone range and calls for help. Caroline can’t heal Stefan, of course, but she can compel the paramedics to record this as an accidental shooting among hunting buddies. 

Driven by her desperation to find Enzo, Bonnie lets a psychic magnetism draw her to Cade, who offers to help her hone her gifts. They take hands and she reaches out for Enzo, drawing on Cade’s power to help her. It works! She finds Enzo, but he quickly tells her not to trust Cade, and to leave before Cade is able to use her to locate him. She breaks off the connection and Cade reveals what’s really happened. Cade is fascinated by her, because she’s proven to be so much like him; he thought he was the only being who could psychically create a new dimension without even trying. Just as he created hell, she created a new pocket dimension and sent Enzo there. But of course, Enzo’s soul is on his list, so he can’t just let her keep him.

Recovering from his bullet wound, Stefan again tells Caroline she should be done with him. I’m inclined to agree. I know Caroline has a deep sense of loyalty, and I also think there’s a certain resistance to giving up a goal you’ve sacrificed so greatly to attain; if she lets this relationship go, then all the things she’s done in the name of being with Stefan are suddenly pointless, and she has to regret them all over again. But seriously, girl, you can do better. Cut bait and start the healing process. #FreeCaroline

Also trying desperately to make good on a foolish investment is Damon, who’s quickly realizing he has little hope of controlling Kai. He tries offering the hope of redemption, because hey, that works on him every time…but he’s making the classic mistake of misunderstanding what Kai is. He’s not a vampire whose humanity flips on and off; he’s a sociopath, which means his humanity has always been in the off position. More importantly, Kai is amoral, not unintelligent. He can tell he’s being played by a desperate man. Dangling redemption in front of Kai is like dangling a masters degree in front of a dog.

Shocking absolutely no one, Kai siphons Damon and disappears with the coffin. 

Speaking of siphons, Alaric brings the kids for a visit. They’re hitting a developmental stage he can’t handle on his own–they can’t control their magic.

I loved this episode. Between the pure joy of watching Chris Wood work, the brilliant plot and scripting choices that placed the audience in the position of uncomfortable self-reflection, and the discovery that Enzo is (at least for now) safe from hell, I give this a 10. 

What about you? Comment below with what you liked, what you didn’t like, and any theories about Kai’s next moves!