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gillianthecat · 2 years

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The Devil Judge: Episode 8

I just finished The Devil Judge and something about this show compelled me to take copious notes - it had emotional intensity and layers of mystery. These are long and rambling, so they're likely not of interest to anyone else, but since I spent all that time writing it I decided, why not post it. Perhaps someone will find it interesting.

Below are my moment-to-moment reactions, predictions and analysis as I watched episode 8.

eps 1&2 ep3 ep4 ep5 ep6 ep7 ep8 ep9 ep10 ep11 ep12 ep13 ep14 ep15 ep16

I wrote about my initial impressions, up to episode 5, here and here.

This is cleaned up only slightly. I followed the spelling given in the Viki subtitles. I mostly don't explain what I'm reacting to, so this will probably only make sense if you've seen the episode recently. Occasionally I give timestamps.

I was confused by the prisoner switch because I thought the point was supposed to just be that he aged. But i guess it really was a switch

i love how they showed this same prison yard breakdown scene from different angles and shots in the next episode recap

i'm confused about a lot of things surrounding this switch including:

What did Yo-Han want Ga-On to believe? that someone somewhere is doing something shady?

Does Ga-On suspect Yo-Han of doing the switch? In the alternate angles of that scene we the audience see Yo-Han's conspiring behavior. Are those shots implying that Ga-On sees it too? In general I can't figure out how naive vs. observant he's supposed to be

and then of course the question of what is actually happening. I think it's that Yo-Han got Mysterious Assistant to organize the switch for the specific purpose of winning Ga-On to his side. and nothing happened to the scammer, he's still wherever he's supposed to be, no one else in the story cares about him besides Ga-On. But this show, as is often the case for political intrigue shows, keeps tying the threads of characters' pasts together, so the scammer himself could end up being a major or minor plot point.

Yo-Han vs. Seon-Ah confrontation, wow! did they both come out as bisexual to each other? is that one of the implications the show wants the audience to take from that? this whole bit with the pin is excellent. and the way they tie it back with the "do you like me" So far i'm pleasantly surprised with the backstory they're giving Seon-Ah and how they're revealing it, but not too much and using it. it doesn't feel flat

This show is starting to say interesting things about gender and about sexual violence. I'm not sure what yet, and i think what the show is saying probably connects closely to its korean context so it's not necessarily what i'm interpreting from it.

this whole scene with Ga-On at home. and calling up Su-Hyeon and everything in the restaurant. I'm starting to get more interested in her as a character in her own right (and I think the show is getting more interested also). so beautifully done, and - not understated exactly, but just the right amount of 'stated, not overdone

I think Ga-On's actor is excellent in this. It's not a virtuosic part like Yo-Han, and I suspect the actor is not as skilled as Ji Sung, but he conveys Ga-On perfectly. I know he's a very famous K-Pop star, but I haven't seen him in any other context, which I'm grateful for so I don't have anything else overlaying the character.

I do see the dancer in him - I feel like his physicality is very dancer-like. not so much that he's graceful, although he is, just that he looks totally at home in his body in a way that feels specific to dancers. He's not carrying extra tension, but also not floppy. Able to move in any way at a moment, but not telegraphing his readiness. It ends up working very well for the character I think. It adds some layers, because it's not what you'd expect from a lawyer/judge. And it gives the character I quiet confidence that gives his opposition to Yo-Han more heft. I think because the script itself mostly puts the balance of power in Yo-Han's favor, if the actor was more timid in his physicality the push and pull between them wouldn't be as interesting.

Yo-Han on the other hand I feel like is holding himself very tightly in order to appear very relaxed and confident. And I believe that's a deliberate acting choice by Ji Sung - look at the difference when he's playing around with Elijah. or even that bit where he trips over the wheelchair.

That was such a small moment, but it felt so revealing to me! the way he trips and the way he reacts somehow felt the most human we'd ever seen of him. so much so that i first wondered if it was an accident during filming that they kept in, but they shot it from multiple angles/takes, so i think it was scripted.

back at the house but the kitchen in these shots is looking very shiny like the political outside world. they're in their suits with their public facing hairstyles

we're explicitly being told that Yo-Han is manipulating Ga-On. I mean, we knew it, but it's interesting that the show is telling us

I have thoughts on the shifts in Y and G's relationship, but they're not quite coherent yet. the rhythms of getting closer, pulling apart. how that is shown in the way things are framed as romance vs. corruption. and i think maybe it's Yo-Han who is the most variable. He started letting down his mask, felt betrayed by Ga-On taking his sister to meet the cop, and slammed it back up again. So that's the romance plotline, but the political intrigue plot conveniently also requires him to switch to corrupting? Or was he the one who instigated this huge change in the political game? Hmm. He threw down the gauntlet of naming the big 5. that was in response to Cha's attack on him. Not sure if he had another option at that point, so i tend to think it's more the convenience of the plot lining up with their romance plot than him doing politics stuff in reaction to his romance feelings.

I wonder if we'll ever learn more about Mysterious Assistant? I feel like it could go either way - this show likes connections, but it's also pretty conservationist in its use of characters - e.g. Our Two Representative Businessmen, and willing to let secondary characters be flat. we are getting more and more from Seon-Ah's assistant, so there is some hope.

Su Hyeon and Elijah together again! I'm excited to see what this relationship is going to be. and that we now see Elijah as part of the game. she has been, mostly behind the scenes, but now i think we're going to see it. The actor is only 16! She's so good.

unformed thoughts about the parallels and differences between Su-Hyeon and Ga-On's relationship and Elijah and Yo-Han's relationship. and the lines and connections among all four of them. we've seen all combinations so far besides Yo-Han with Su-Hyeon. So far I can't picture them as anything except antagonists over Ga-On's love/his soul, but I can also see this show bringing in something more interesting. Does she also get won over to his cause?

I feel like we're seeing a Hunger Games' style love triangle, where in choosing between his two love interests Ga-On is also choosing what kind of person he wants to be/what life he wants to live.

I'm confused again about Yo-Han. if the revenge is just about the church fire, it seems not bad enough to fuel all this work? even the hypocrisy of asking for the money. Do the series-makers want us to see Yo-Han as sufficiently justified? or are we supposed to see him as overreacting because he is in fact a bit of a sociopath? or did his anger about those specific personal harms lead him to a more general moral quest to bring them down because they are the most harmful people to S. Korean society? I can't tell if the show wants us to believe one of those, or if it wants it to still be a mystery. probably the mystery. part of the problem is that it flattens some things into caricatures (like the businessmen) and keeps others richly complicated (which is understandable, there are a lot of moving parts in this show and not all of them can be realisitic and human) but that sometimes means i can't tell what is flat and what is intentionally mysterious or ambiguous.

(44:00) cute rooftop scene (thoughts on meaning of this rooftop -safe space? feeling space?) but also useful for info on Su-Hyeon's feelings on Ga-On

Is Ga-On gay? That's not the only potential reason he's not dating Su-Hyeon, but it would fit. (He loves her and relies on her and sees her as family. part of him wants to be in love with her but he can't be) because there are times where he almost acts like he's in love with her too but afraid for some reason to take that step. but perhaps it's that he's afraid because he's not in love with her. [this would mean that the show is acknowledging both queerness and homophobia, which i get the sense korean shows tend not to do]

(the symbolism of that knife! she will literally cut herself to prevent him from turning evil [doing something immoral] )

(47:48) Revealing conversations on the rooftop yet again. Su-Hyeon and Ga-On: "Have you come back for good now?" "Actually no, but I need to take care of these. [plants]" "You shouldn't visit, you should return completely. This is your home." "But there are people I need to take care of over there, too." "How about taking care of yourself? Please." "Me? What about? Why do I need any care? I'm living an exceedingly comfortable life as it is."

i feel like this convo between Prof. Min and Su-Hyeon is one of the few glimpses we're getting (outside of the generic faceless masses or our power hungry main players) of how people see and think about politics in this society

I don't have the cultural context to interpret this line, but it stands out: "I didn't become a police officer to point a gun at our citizens' chests."

the battle over Ga-On's soul. Prof. Min and YSH vs. Judge Kang

I still can't tell how seriously this show is taking its statements on politics. I assume we're supposed to see YSH and prof Min as the voices for morality here. they let our hero say something that is (to me) such an immoral statement. obviously they are showing his internal conflict, but i don't know how extreme this would sound to mainstream Korean audiences, or at least how extreme the show creators meant it to sound

once again Ga-On is being asked to choose sides

Prof. Min is the only person shown entering the battle who's outside the power structure. Well, technically he's inside since he's on the supreme court, but in the framework of the show he's an outsider who wants to bring the whole system (I'm a little vague on what that is - is he just blaming the televised trials?) down. and he's saying he's going to be using public opinion and the media to do it, the very thing that he's saying is causing the problem in the first place. Is he supposed to come across as naïve?

I guess it's confusing because he seems to be trusting the public here to make changes, but the only reason that the public trials are a problem is because the public is blindly swayed by them to violence.

I guess the weirdest part for me is that the televised trials seem to be presented as such a powerful force in this society whether they're seen as good or dangerous. but it's hard for me to see them that way. like i wouldn't go from 'police brutality is a problem' to 'it will get significantly better if we get rid of he public court'

and it's probably a shorthand, or a show writing convenience to make Yo-Han a powerful figure: whatever he's in charge of has to be a powerful force in society because in order for the show to work he has to be powerful. but it just makes the politics of the show feel odd.

(I think that's why I struggle with political shows in general. their depreciation of the causes and solutions of political problems usually strikes me as either offensive, ridiculously oversimplified, or both.)

like, i guess there are no figures here advocating for actual structural change, or even pointing out what the problems are. The show itself sort of points out problems with wealth and corruption and powerful people not having any accountability. And interestingly, saying that implies, what we need is accountability and transparency - which is what Judge Kang was saying he was going to be doing with the court. but then his courts were portrayed as, not bad, but nonsensical and arbitrary, not transparent at all. but he and prof. Min have been the only people to even mention transparency. interesting.

Is this show going to have a nihilistic view of political change and power? seems likely at this point. By portraying the general public as a monolith of easily manipulated sheep, only those in power have any agency or chance of affecting the world. That's convenient for making a show - it greatly reduces the number of characters that can affect the plot and keeps it to issues and themes that can be controlled. but it's also an inherently anti-democratic world view.

here it seems like they might be saying that the media and public opinion are so powerful, you can't escape using them if you want to have any impact on society (whether for personal gain or for public good) but I can't tell if that's a statement that the series-makers are making about S. Korean society/society at large, or just a way they're fitting Prof. Min's beliefs and actions into the simplified world of the show.

unformed thoughts on public vs. private. Media/public opinion etc is portrayed as all powerful, and the big decisions are all made behind closed doors. This is both a point of the show, but also doesn't always work.

I think maybe I'm not quite feeling the weight of Kim Ga-On's moral struggle because the moral and political logic of the world around his ethical quandary feels so flimsy. like, the choice doesn't feel as meaningful to me as it should or as the drama wants it to.

i think prof. Min is supposed to be the moral center of this world. The other option is that he'll turn out to also be corrupt, but I don't think that's the direction the show is going in.

rewatching, his plan does make a little more sense and is less let the mob fix it.

(50:40) Ga-On wears a sweater at work! Is there significance to Ga-On's two hairstyles? I haven't seen a pattern yet. but Yo-Han's two styles are very meaningful so I'm inclined to look for meaning

We get to meet Mysterious Assistant!!! And so does Ga-On. I did not predict this.

Also, the first time I saw Mysterious assistant I thought he was Isaac. He looks a little like Ga-On, and they gave him the same hairstyle

This feels like jealousy? like i know Ga-On has reasons to be mad at M.A. but if you ignore the words it feels like they're each staking a claim to Yo-Han. and he's smirking in the background. I guess I don't understand why M.A. would be pissy unless he's also feeling possessive of Yo-Han

The best version of Kang Yo-Han has the same goal as Prof. Min. If that is the true version of him (which I think it will turn out to be) then the moral quandary Ga-On is facing becomes one of methods and 'does the end justify the means?'

I guess this would need to be a dystopia in that case, if Yo-Han's way was the best way.

Oh! The defense attorney is working for Judge Kang. Lawyer Go was Ju Il-Do's lawyer

i'm confused about what this actress did during Cha's son's trial..., oh she was the first caller. i just needed to wait two seconds lol

(55:00) I'm getting heist movie vibes. The gang's all here, gathered for the first time, meeting in a picturesque abandoned warehouse. I'm sure there's some symbolism or something evoked by the fish and aquarium tank...

the first time the politics feel real

still the question of trusting Yo-Han is there, but that look at the end. Ji Sung's expressions! although the musical cues help too

(58:20) And immediately following is the other seduction/corruption campaign - Seon-Ah's of Judge Oh

I feel like this scene support my theory that Judge Oh is an avatar/stand in/representative for the manipulatable faceless public

(1:00:05) more mirrors in scenes where people have on or are putting on a mask

that is a sexual seduction

Is this evidence planted by Yo-Han? or is it real?

(1:02:35) Ga-On in his seat!

Here is an explanation of the scammer guy stuff. I think we're supposed to take it as the true one.

honesty from Yo-Han about his willingness to manipulate. so he's saying he didn't switch, but would have. But what was up with his conspiratorial looks with the prison guard?

"this is me. take me as i am"

1:04:10 /dinner with Prof Min. "what have you decided"

prez buffoon - emblematic of and chosen by mob mentality. xenophobia. mob violence. this youtuber guy - another form of taking justice into his own hands - is that an intentional parallel?

(1:06:10) who created the rage in the first place

(1:07:21) "Were people so stupid that they become enraged just because they were stirred up? It started from something else, didn't it." He's finally asking my question. Don't know if we have quite the same answer though. or at least Ga-On's is in a more limited sphere. "It was the bad guys. Those guys who deserve death for making innocent people shed tears of blood. Was asking to properly punish them such an impossible request?" "Ga-On" "You should have done better. If people like you had done better, if people like you who even joined the Supreme Court had done your job properly, then none of the would've needed to happen. If the people who took these positions had done their jobs properly." "So in the end... you have made your decision?" "You were the one who forced me to make a decision, Professor. If there is no justice in reality, but only a game, then I also want to be among the winners." Ga-On gets up and walks away to the opening credit music. with a slight smile on his face - is that an intentional acting choice?

I have to remember that mild mannered Ga-On is filled with rage and resentment. I don't know why I keep forgetting this.

ok, wow, he's pissed at prof. min. I assume, I can't think why else he would be so in his face about choosing Yo-Han ('s path) over him. That is some dramatic staging.

(1:10ish) "Do you regret it? I will promise you..." "It's not just for revenge. I want to fight the world that's gone wrong."

their faces here! the way they look at each other (or don't)!

ok, copaganda. :-/

eps 1&2 ep3 ep4 ep5 ep6 ep7 ep8 ep9 ep10 ep11 ep12 ep13 ep14 ep15 ep16

#the devil judge episode 8 #kind of like liveblogging #the devil judge reaction #the devil judge #the devil judge spoilers #reaction by gillianthecat

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bopbopstyles · 4 years

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7. Home for the Holidays

SERIES RATING: M (sex)

CHAPTER WORD COUNT: 10.1k

MASTERLIST | INSPO TAG | ASK TO JOIN THE TAGLIST

Y/N promised herself she would never date a musician. It was her one rule–her only rule, actually–when it came to dating. But then, Harry Styles rolled into her life and asked her to break it, just this once. And this is what happened.

a/n: thank you for all the love lately!!! <3 u guys

pls reblog to spread the word about only exception! 🥰

Harry and Y/N had discussed the idea of having some elaborate reveal that they were having a baby, but they decided to just do it in the fashion of buying onesies for their parents for Christmas gifts and letting their parents open them and discover the truth. Harry and Y/N spent hours one evening picking out onesies on Etsy that said things like “I love Grandpa!” and giggling over the prospect of telling their parents, excitement seeping out of them.

But first, Y/N knew she had to tell Hanna and Jamie. She suspected that they already thought something was wrong, after she had cancelled on all of their recent requests to go out for drinks. So when she asked them over to her apartment for dinner, she didn’t know what the mood would be. They arrived in normal fashion, though, Jamie bringing ice cream for dessert and Hanna bringing a bottle of wine for them to share.

When she plucked glasses from the cabinet—three, one for each of them—that’s when Y/N knew her time had come. “Not one for me,” she said calmly, turning away from the salad she was making.

Hanna looked at her, confusion across her face, and then at the wine. “But…it’s wine.”

Y/N nodded. “I can’t have any.”

Hanna gasped, the glasses dropping to the counter and barely avoiding cracking, and rushed to her friend. Jamie stood there, shocked, eyes flickering between Y/N’s stomach and her face. “You’re pregnant?” He asked finally, eyes wide.

She nodded, and Hanna dropped to her knees. “Can I touch?” Hanna asked softly, eyes on Y/N’s belly. She was the first person to ask, the first person who would feel the place where Y/N’s child was growing, but she didn’t mind. It was her best friend, after all. So she nodded.

“What’s it like?” Jamie asked, coming over to stand next to her, head cocked to the side.

“What, pregnancy?” He nodded. “Well, so far, it just means I can’t have wine and I vomit a lot. I’m also so fucking tired all the time.”

“When you were sick,” Jamie said, putting the pieces together in his head. “Shit.”

Hanna slapped him. “Stop it, you.”

“No, what is it?” Y/N asked, pushing Hanna away from her so she could turn to Jamie.

“I just…” Jamie ran his hand over his face, eyes flickering to her. “Harry knows?” She nodded. “And?”

“He’s over the moon,” she informed him, voice stern. She got it. He didn’t think Harry would want the kid, that she was going to be raising it alone. And maybe, if Harry wasn’t so goddamn stubborn, she would be. “I tried to tell him he didn’t need to be around, but he literally started crying at the prospect. He’s the one who convinced me to let him stay, to do it together.”

“Wow,” Hanna said, leaning against the counter. “I always knew he was wonderful, but that—that’s something else.”

Jamie reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, his expression softening. “I’m sorry—I was worried about you. I’m happy for you, and Harry, as long as you are.”

She took his hand and pressed a chaste kiss to the top of it, something they always did to make up. “Honestly, I am. It’s not what I was expecting, but doing it with Harry, it’s not as bad as I was expecting. It’s actually kind of incredible.”

“Is the sex, like, insane?”

Her head swiveled to Hanna and Jamie gasped, swatting at Hanna’s shoulder. “Han!”

“What? Your hormones are like raging right? It’s got to be incredible.”

Y/N coyly smiled and this time both Hanna and Jamie gasped, their questions toppling over one another. She had never shared too much of her and Harry’s sex life with her friends, valuing his privacy, and that wasn’t going to change. But she did tell them, “It’s on a whole other level,” which earned clapped hands and shrieks. And she wasn’t lying. The added hormones raging through her bloodstream had her wanting him at every time of day, and Harry seemed even more infatuated with her than normal, touching and kissing her every chance he had. She couldn’t even count the times they had had sex in his kitchen, not being able to wait until they went upstairs, or the times he had dropped to his knees in the shower, desperate to taste her. Sex with Harry was always mind-blowing, good in a way she had never experienced before, but sex with Harry while pregnant neared an out of body experience sometimes. He could oscillate so well between kind, soft, cuddly, and this man who was simply dying to be inside of her, murmuring words in her ears that had her blood rushing straight down.

When her friends left, she called Harry and told him exactly what she had been thinking about, and he promptly drove to her apartment, not wanting to leave her desiring him and unable to quench her thirst. He took her on her bed, their teeth gnashing and hands scrambling over skin, Harry sucking harshly on her neck until she reminded him they were seeing her dad tomorrow, at which point he opted for a spot on her breast. Their increased size and sensitivity was driving Harry—and Y/N—mad, so he had his lips on them whenever he had the chance.

“How,” he exhaled as he drove deeply into her, the only sound audible in her room the sound of their panting and skin slapping, “do you feel better every time I’m inside of you?”

She knew what he meant. She could never tire of him, the way he fit inside of her, the way he touched her body, the way he made her feel. Fingers threaded in his hair and she yanked him down to her, begging for his lips to reach hers again. And when they did, she murmured, “You’re the best I’ve ever had,” against them. Harry groaned, deep and throaty, and pressed a deep spot that had her seeing stars.

Afterwards, Harry asked her to lay down and he slipped down her body, pressing his lips to the spot right below her belly button where their child rested. “Hi Peanut,” he whispered against her skin, Y/N smiling down at the sight of him talking to their child. “It’s Papa. Sorry if that disturbed you, just needed to show Mama how much I love her. I hope you can understand and forgive me.”

“Shut up,” she told him. “That’s much too crass for them still!”

“Shh,” he told her, finger to his lips. “I’m not done.” He bent back down and rested his hands on her hips. “Can’t wait to meet you. I’ve been dreaming about you, you know.” Y/N didn’t know that and she looked down at Harry in wonder, curious how she had gotten so lucky. “Dreamed you were a girl. Not that that means anything—you are whoever you want to be, Peanut. I’ll love you no matter who you are, always, unwaveringly.”

“You didn’t tell me that,” she whispered, hand curving over his jaw and tugging his head up so their eyes met.

He pressed a lingering kiss to her belly before crawling up to her face, fingers brushing across her flushed cheeks. “I wanted to tell Peanut first.”

“A girl, huh?” He nodded, and she smiled. “I’d like that, I think.”

“I think you’ll like whoever they are,” he told her. “Because they’ll be utterly perfect, just like you.”

She smiled into the kiss she gave him, hoping he knew that it wasn’t her they’d resemble in perfection, it would be him.

Harry was bouncing on his toes in both excitement and fear at the prospect of telling her father. He genuinely liked Peter, looked up to him even. Even as he grew older, he had managed to maintain his career, finding new and creative ways to make a living, which was not easy. Despite his success, he was still incredibly down to Earth and didn’t make you feel judged when you wrote with him—which was something Harry, as a relatively new songwriter, deeply appreciated. His imposter syndrome in the songwriting room was something he constantly battled, especially when he wrote with new people. But Peter put Harry at ease immediately, making suggestions in a way so Harry didn’t feel like an idiot, and praising him when he had genuinely good ideas.

So that was all to say, the last thing he wanted was for Peter to hate him for getting his daughter pregnant at 23.

Peter opened the door to his house beaming, the Motown Christmas Album playing in the background as Y/N and Harry stepped in, a flutter of hellos and hugs. “It’s been too long!” Peter said, giving Harry a clap on the back. “How was tour?”

“Good,” Harry said as Peter shut the front door. “Long.”

“Heard from Jeff you’re doing March to July this year,” Peter said, leading them into the living room where the tree was set up, the jolly holiday spirit wrapping around Harry like a hug. He and Y/N had decorate his place a bit, putting up a tree she went and got from the store and decorating it with ornaments, but he never went all out with decorating. Decorating any house that wasn’t his mom’s just felt wrong somehow.

Harry nodded, taking a seat next to Y/N on the couch, loving the way she leaned subconsciously into him when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Yeah, should be a long one.”

“Didn’t know you and Jeff were friends,” Y/N asked her father, taking a sip from the hot coco her father had placed in front of them.

“Decided I should get to know him a bit better ever since you and this one started spending all your time together,” Peter said with a chuckle. “Especially since you don’t call enough and give me the information yourself.”

“That’s a lie,” Y/N said, glancing up at Harry as if to reassure him that she was, in fact, a good daughter. “I call him all the time.”

“Don’t doubt it,” he replied, pressing a kiss to her hair. He was an affectionate person, and he had always appreciated the fact that Y/N never pushed him away, always seemed to lean in for more. Made him feel even more loved by her.

Peter set down his own cup of hot chocolate and made his way over to the tree. “Now, I know you have to head up to your mom’s, so should we get started on the presents?”

Harry and Y/N had decided to go to her dad’s on the way up to her mom’s house, driving up a rental car and fly out of San Francisco to London to cut down on the amount of time they had to drive. It was busy on the highways and honestly, Harry hated driving for long distances in the states, but for Y/N he’d do it. Driving on the wrong side of the road was something he never could fully adjust to and doing it for hours at a time took the utmost concentration.

“Yes!” Y/N replied, grabbing their gift for him from her purse and setting it under the tree. “But I want mine first.”

Peter chuckled and dug around for Y/N’s, the red and green wrapping paper making Harry smile. He liked that Peter wasn’t perfect at wrapping but he still made an effort, the crinkles in the paper and jagged edge of the paper authentic and loving. “Hope you like it, doll.”

Y/N ripped open the paper, a green slim box revealing itself in the paper. She shook it like a little girl, which made Harry laugh softly next to her, before opening up the box. Inside lay three concert tickets to the upcoming Taylor Swift tour, which had Y/N squealing, launching herself into her father’s arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She said, giving her dad a tight hug, Peter’s full body laugh filling the room.

“You’re welcome,” he said. “You never took me up on last year’s gift, so I decided to just make an executive decision. Harry, I know you’ll be gone, but I thought you could take Hanna and Jamie with you.”

Y/N nodded, a quick look to Harry that made his heart clench. “Yes, of course. They’ll scream when I tell them how good the seats are.”

Her dad chuckled. “I have no doubt.” Y/N gave her dad one last squeeze before settling back into her spot next to Harry, the way she interlaced her fingers with him sending him the message that She wished it could be him going with her, but she wasn’t mad. “Now, Harry.” Peter reached around the tree and grabbed a gift for Harry, wrapped up and looking like a book of some kind.

“Oh,” Harry said, reaching up to grab it, “thank you so much. You didn’t have to get me anything, though.”

“Nonsense,” Peter replied, waving the idea away. “You’re with Y/N, so you’re part of the family.”

Y/N shot him a knowing smile, the thought passing through both their heads at how right her dad actually was. Harry ripped at the paper, his fingers curving around a leather journal that quite resembled the one he lugged around with him everywhere he went. “Oh,” he said, looking up at Peter. “Wow. Thank you so much.”

“Of course,” Peter replied. “When we were writing I noticed you were about halfway through your old one, so I thought you were probably due to have a new one.”

He was right, in fact. Harry had planned to buy one back in London at his favorite shop, but it seemed that Peter had beat him to it, the mark on the back from the same place as his current notebook. “This is incredible,” he said, wiping at the tears threatening to spill from his eyes at the thoughtfulness. “So thoughtful. Thank you.”

Y/N threaded her hand through his, giving it a squeeze to remind him she was there and he glanced down at her face to help stitch his emotions back into place. “Now, Dad, we’ve got ours for you.” She scrambled up, grabbing the bag from under the tree that held their carefully selected onesie for him.

Peter ripped out the tissue paper, digging his hand in and reaching around for the gift. Y/N bit her lip and looked up at Harry who gave her a reassuring smile, reminding her with his eyes that Peter was going to be happy for them, just as they had discussed. “Oh!” Peter said when he pulled out the onesie that said “#1 Grandkid” on it and an ultrasound photo they had had printed for him. Tears welled in his eyes, looking up at Y/N and Harry in disbelief. “Really?” He asked, words breathless.

Y/N nodded and Peter yelped in excitement, rushing to grab them both into hugs, a flurry of love and warmth they desperately needed. “Due in June,” Y/N told him.

“Summer baby,” he said, to himself looking back down at the ultrasound photo in his hand. “Good. Could use one of those in this family.”

Harry laughed and Peter reached out, a soft hand on Harry’s cheek. “Welcome to the family, son.”

The word made Harry’s heart clench, the thought of being a permanent part of Y/N’s family a prospect too good to be true. “Thank you,” he replied.

Peter proceeded to pepper them with questions, cracking a joke about how he almost got Y/N a crate of wine as a joke from last Christmas but was glad he didn’t, and they chatted about what he was going to be called. They decided on “Pop”, something short and sweet, and a shortened of what Y/N had called her grandfather before he passed. Over brunch they talked about their upcoming trip to England and their plan to tell Y/N’s mother that evening. Peter nodded at the sound of his ex-wife’s name, and Harry thought for not the first time about the fact that both he and Y/N had parents who were divorced. He hoped it wasn’t a sign for him at Y/N—he wanted to stay with her forever. They hadn’t talked about the idea of marriage, but it was something playing at the back of his mind ever since they’d learned they were going to have a baby.

He didn’t want to get married just because of their child, but at the same time, he loved Y/N and couldn’t imagine wanting anyone else. She challenged him, loved him, made him a better person. Made him laugh like crazy, bought him all the weird foods he liked, gave the best massages. Reminded him that he had a life outside of work—a life he loved. The prospect of marrying her wasn’t scary to him. In fact, it sounded like heaven.

Y/N couldn’t help but watch Harry as he drove, one hand on the steering wheel, one on her knee. At first, he did it because she was bouncing her knee up and down, but then kept it there, and Y/N suspected it was because of the same reason that her fingers crawled up his forearm: to feel his skin under her fingers. The drive was long, probably eight or nine hours, but she didn’t mind it—nine hours to spend with Harry’s undivided attention, the coast whipping by them.

They got on the road by noon, hugs and teary eyes as they said goodbye, and she texted her mom they’d be there at nine and would grab dinner on the way, so no need to wait up for them for dinner. Harry told her to DJ and she put on their playlist first, belting out lyrics to all of their favorite songs, Harry even using her water bottle that sat in the center console as a microphone. His seat dancing had her laughing hysterically and his smile never seemed to fade from his face as they drove. After the playlist ended, she put on the NPR podcast she had been listening to lately, and Harry asked her political questions, still trying to wrap his head around American politics.

They stopped for dinner at In-n-Out and Y/N took the wheel for the remaining two hours of the drive, since she knew it by heart and Harry was getting a bit stressed. They switched shakes back and forth as she drove, chattering about their favorite holiday memories as kids and laughing at their embarrassing moments. She loved glancing over and seeing Harry’s eyes already on her, a twinkle in his eye she knew well—it was the one where he was overwhelmed by his feelings for her. He had told her one time when they were wrapped up on his couch and she asked him why he was staring at her like that, and it had made her pull him into a deep kiss, much like the one she wanted now. But she was driving, so she settled with kissing the back of Harry’s hand, the smile he gave her settling deep in her heart.

The porch light was on at her mom’s house, the simply blue post-war bungalow the perfect place for her mom to have moved into. It was the right size for a single woman and her dog, June, who they’d gotten shortly after her and Y/N’s day got divorced. Y/N usually stayed in the guest room, which she didn’t mind too much—she was proud of her mom for making a new life for herself in San Francisco. It just meant her bedroom at her dad’s house was even more special to her, the one remaining shred of her childhood.

“Nervous?” She asked Harry. He’d met her mom once, back in the summer before he left for Dunkirk press. They’d gotten on famously, but they definitely weren’t as close as Harry and her dad. One time she’d walked into his house to find him on the phone with her dad, jabbering about songwriting and the brilliance of Stevie Nicks.

He shut the car door behind him and walked to the trunk, popping it open. “A bit, yeah.” He pulled out their suitcases and shut the door, looking up to where she leaned against the car. “I just don’t want her to think I’m horrible for getting her daughter pregnant, ya know?”

Y/N scoffed, and walked over to him, hands on his cheeks. “H, it’s not like you were the only one having sex. It’s a two-way street—I’ve got just as much responsibility in this as you.”

He nodded, leaning into the press of her fingers on his skin. Together they walked up to the front door, Y/N knocking softly. The door swung open not even a minute later, her mom standing there beaming at them. “Mama!” Y/N wrapped her mom up in a hug, her mom’s blunt bob swinging as they rocked back and forth. Her mom was a hugger, always had been.

“Hi you two,” her mom said, embracing Harry next. “Come in, you must be exhausted from the drive.”

They made their way inside, the screen door slamming shut behind them. Inside it felt like her mom—a winter candle burning on the counter, the news softly running on the TV, a blanket thrown over the couch. A glass of wine sat on the coffee table half-empty and Y/N looked at it longingly. How was she going to make it until June without a nice relaxing glass of wine at night?

Harry was talking to her mom, telling her about the drive and how they’d stopped for burgers, her mom telling him about her preferred In-n-Out order. “Let me take you back to the room,” she said, and Y/N and Harry trailed behind her to the guest bedroom where a fresh set of sheets adorned the bed, a soft glow from the bedside table lamp. “Here you are,” she said, leaning against the wall as Harry set up the suitcases in the corner. “I’ll let you guys settle in for a minute. I’ll be in the kitchen, okay?”

Y/N nodded and her mom left the room, shutting the door behind her. She looked to Harry, who was sitting on the bed, a lingering gaze on her face. “What are you thinking about?”

“Didn’t realize you didn’t have a bedroom here.”

Y/N glanced around the room, the nondescript art making it obvious that it wasn’t Y/N’s room. There were no traces of her in it except for the framed photos on the dresser of her and her mom from her childhood, the ones her dad’s best friend had taken when she was seven. “When she moved up here it just didn’t make sense,” she explained. “Only two bedrooms, after all.”

“Mhm,” Harry said, grabbing her waist so she could nestle between his knees. “Kinda liked the idea of sleeping in your childhood bed.”

“Dirty, dirty boy,” she murmured against his lips, bending down to kiss him. “Well, don’t worry, we’ll be sleeping in yours to make up for it.”

He nudged at her neck, pressing a kiss to the skin there, a soft gasp leaving Y/N’s mouth. “Can you believe I’ll have my girl and my baby in bed with me?” He kissed the juncture of her jaw and neck and she carded her fingers through his hair, loving the way his eyes fluttered shut from the touch.

“Lucky man,” she said.

He kissed her one more time before saying, “Got that right.”

Hearing her mom in the kitchen, she pulled away from his grasp. “We should go out to my mom.”

“Gonna tell her now?” He asked, standing up from the bed.

Y/N considered it. It was late, but she couldn’t very well stand in her mother’s house and pretend. “Yeah. I don’t want to pretend.” She bent down, unzipping her suitcase so she could pull out her mom’s gift from where it was tucked in between her clothes. With a kiss between her shoulder blades, Harry followed her out of the room, their gift held tightly in her fingers.

She was nervous, she had to admit, as she walked into the room. Her mother had always wanted her to wait until she was older to have kids, to have a full career and life before she started a family. But she didn’t think that her mom would be unhappy with her once she told her—her mom had always been there for her, through thick and thin, every step of the way. This was changing Y/N’s life forever, so of course her mom would be supportive, she told herself.

“Mama?”

Her mom’s head popped up from where she stood at the sink, washing dishes from her dinner. “Room okay?” She asked, drying her hands on a dish towel.

“Great,” Harry answered, hand squeezing Y/N’s. “We wanted to give you your Christmas gift, actually.”

“Oh!” Her mom’s eyes widened, eyes darting to her small tree nestled in the corner of the living room. “Thought we could wait for the morning, but that’s fine. Can I get you anything? Wine, water?”

“Water is perfect,” Harry replied. He had promised to abstain from the same things she had to, a promise Y/N wasn’t sure he would be able to keep but loved the idea of. He had been so sweet when he’d made it, pushing the bottles of wine to the back of his pantry and swearing he wouldn’t touch a sip of alcohol until the baby was born.

Her mom filled two glasses with water and together they all migrated to the living room. Y/N could feel her heart hammering in her chest. This was more anxiety-inducing than telling her dad, who she knew wouldn’t say a word to her about it, be nothing but supportive. But her mom had a tendency to be a bit judgmental, a side Y/N had experience a few times in her life and one she hated. She swallowed her fear, though, and handed her mom the paper bag, the tissue paper crinkling in the room.

She leaned into Harry’s side as her mom opened the bag, thankful for the comfort of his arm wrapping around her waist softly, the reminder of him being there to support her.

Then her mom pulled out the onesie, “I <3 Grandma!” embroidered on the front, flowers all over the material, and her mom yelped in surprise. She looked up at the two of them, eyes wide, disbelief all over her features. “You’re pregnant?”

“Yes,” Y/N said, unsure how to read her mom’s reaction.

“This isn’t a prank? I’ve seen them on the internet before.”

Of course she had. “No, Mom. It’s real.”

Her mom didn’t said anything for a bear, her eyes flickering between the onesie and Y/N, and then to Harry and back down. “Congratulations, honey,” she finally said. “Harry, can I talk to Y/N alone for a bit?”

Harry stirred against her. “Uh, of course. I’ll be in the room, okay, love?” He pulled away, a lingering kiss to her head, and left the room, leaving Y/N and her mom alone.

When the door clicked shut, her mom finally spoke. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“Yes,” Y/N replied without even thinking. “I thought a lot about it before I even told Harry, and we talked about it once I told him. He wants this baby, and so do I.”

“But your career,” her mom said, voice hardening and the sound making Y/N stomach curl. “It’s just starting out. Won’t this affect it at all?”

“I can still be a mom and work,” she said, pointedly. “You did it, after all.”

“I was 33 when I had you,” her mom reminded her. “You’re only two years out of school.”

Y/N sighed. This was the exact reaction she didn’t want from her mom, but at the same time it didn’t surprise her. “This wasn’t in the plan and I know the timing isn’t great, but I want to have this baby. I love Harry and he’s going to be an amazing father.” Her hand slipped down to cup her belly, where a bump wasn’t quite apparent but would be soon enough.

“When he’s here,” her mother said and Y/N glanced up from her belly to her mother, whose expression was blank.

“What does that mean?”

Her mother gave her a pointed look. “You know exactly what that means, Y/N. You’re going to be essentially a single mom. It’s not even like it was with your dad—Harry’s one of the most popular celebrities in the world. How is he going to be able to be here for you? For your child? And what about privacy—have you even thought about what it’s going to be like to raise a child in the public eye? How are you going to have playdates and send your child to school and let them live a normal life? It was so hard for me—you saw that. It was hard on you to have your dad gone all the time, and you always told me how you didn’t want that. And now here you are, doing it all over again.”

Y/N could feel her heart beating faster, the anger rising in her body. She hated it when her mom spoke like this about her father, as if all that happened in her life was all because of her dad, but she knew it wasn’t true. She loved her father, always had, despite her mother’s attempts to sow seeds of discontent in her. “Harry isn’t my dad,” she said, trying to keep her voice measured, but failing miserably. “He wants this child, Mom! I tried to shut him out, tried to force him to leave, and he wouldn’t let me! He wants to raise this child and he wants to raise it with me. We talk about things, you know—it’s not like you and Dad, living in a house where you don’t even talk to one another.” Suddenly it was spilling from her, all the things unsaid over the years, her anger at her mother’s attack on not only herself, but on Harry who had been nothing but good. “You don’t know Harry, so how dare you paint him to be someone he isn’t.”

“He may want this baby now,” her mother said, a lace of venom dripping from her words that Y/N hadn’t heard in years. “But what about whenever you’re telling him he can’t tour because you need help? And what about whenever you’re left at home, taking care of a child while the father of your child is off gallivanting across the world? Will you still want him around then?”

She pushed herself off the couch, the desire to argue with her mother not something she wanted to play into. She just wanted to get out of there, to grab Harry and go. The way her mother spoke to her about Harry made her see red, and she didn’t want to hear it anymore.

“Don’t you walk away from me, Y/N.”

At the sound of her mother’s words, Y/N whirled around, staring her mother straight in the eyes. “I’m not a child, Mom. I know what I’m getting myself into. I’ve thought long and hard about this decision, about how my life is going to change, and this is the decision I made. This is the decision I made with Harry. We’re talking about his tour, how he’s going to do it. We’re talking about the life we’re going to have together. But I also know who he is—he loves what he does, and I love that it makes him happy. I can’t ask him to give it up, even if it would be easier, because it’s part of who he is. If he didn’t have that, he wouldn’t be the man I fell in love with.

“I don’t care what you think about this,” she said and she realized the words were true. Her mother’s opinion of her didn’t matter nearly as much as it used to and she didn’t know when that had changed. “I’m doing this and I would love your support, but if it’s not there, I’ll be okay. But I’m not going to sleep under your roof while you speak about the man I love like that.” And with that, she spun on her heel and walked down the hall, heading straight for the guest bedroom where Harry was waiting for her.

When she pushed open the door, Harry was already on his feet, walking towards her. “We’re leaving,” she told him, ignoring the arms he held out for her. “Now. We’ll find a hotel—I just cannot be here with her right now.”

Harry nodded, not fighting her on it. He had probably heard the entire fight—the walls in her mother’s house weren’t thick. He helped her zip up her suitcase and find her phone that she had plugged in, tucking everything into her purse without a word. They left the room they had barely even settled into, suitcases behind them as they walked down the hall.

Her mom stood in the same exact spot, staring as they walked towards her. “Please, Y/N—“

“No,” she said, cutting her mom off. “I came here hoping you would be happy for us, but if you aren’t that’s okay. Just don’t call me until you are ready to welcome Harry, and our baby, with open arms.” She unlocked the door and pushed the screen door open, holding it as Harry exited behind her.

“Wait,” Harry said as she went to close the door. He pushed it open and stepped into the house, Y/N watching as he looked her mom straight in the eye. “I love your daughter, Trisha,” he said, “and I’m not going anywhere. I cannot wait to have a family with her, to love her for the rest of my life. And I hope you can come to accept that.” He pulled the door shut behind him, Y/N watching him with wide eyes and love in her heart. “Come on,” he said, tucking his hand in hers. “Let’s go.”

He pulled out of the driveway wordlessly, holding Y/N’s hand tight over the console. “I love you,” she said, her words making Harry glance at her. “Endlessly.”

With a soft kiss to her hand, she knew that she had made the right decision. “I love you more,” he said.

They found a hotel downtown, Harry running the room on his credit card despite her protests, and took the elevator upstairs to their room. Y/N was exhausted from fighting with her mom, even if it wasn’t long. She hated arguing with people, but especially her mom. And now she was sitting on a hotel bed as Harry set up their room, running through the argument in her head over and over again, playing over each of her words, analyzing each with precision.

“Baby,” Harry said, crawling across the bed behind her so his body surrounded hers. “Come shower with me.”

She leaned back into his body, letting him absorb her weight. “I can’t believe she said those things.”

“Me either,” he agreed, “but can we shower and then talk about it? Know you’ll feel better after.”

“I guess,” she said, letting him pull her off the bed and guide her into the bathroom, the look on her mother’s face when the door slammed shut behind her in her brain on repeat.

With delicate hands, Harry untied the laces of her Converse, peeling her socks off and not reacting when she tried to get him to stop, worried her feet smelled. Instead, he looked up at her and said, “Bit past that, love.” He pulled her sweater off, then her loose-fitting jeans, then made her turn around so he could unclip her bra and shimmied her underwear down her body, leaving her naked in the hotel bathroom. He shed his clothes in rapid time and turned on the shower, warm water cascading down from the shower head. “C’mon,” he said, stepping in and beckoning to her, his curls flattening under the water. “Let me wash your hair.”

The prospect sounded divine, so she followed him in, letting him position her so she was directly under the stream. He hummed a tune she hadn’t heard before as he squirted the hotel shampoo in her hair, running it through her locks tenderly.

“What’s that?” She asked, bobbing her head back so he could get better access to her locks.

“Hm?”

“The song that you’re humming.”

“Oh,” he said, pushing her head forward to let the water rinse out the shampoo. “Wrote it a few days ago.”

Conditioner was next, a blob in his hands before he started massaging it into her hair. “What’s it about?”

He was quiet for a minute, untangling each of the knots in her hair like he knew she did. “Our baby,” he said, words so quiet they were almost lost under the stream of water.

She turned around in his hold, eyes fastening on his. The water was warm on her skin as she looked up at him, wonder in her brain at the sweetness in his eyes as he ran his fingers up and down her arms. “Really?”

He nodded, a flush to her cheeks that she adored. “Woke up in the middle of the night and the tune just…came to me. Don’t quite have all the lyrics yet, though.”

Without a pause, she pulled his body into hers, struggling to find the way to show him how that made her feel. “Will you play it for me when it’s done?”

“It was goin’ to be your birthday present,” he mumbled.

“I guess I’ll wait,” she told him and turned back around to let him continue washing her hair. “I meant what I told my mom.”

“Hoped so.” He brushed his hand through her hair to let the conditioner run out of it. “Nearly made me cry.”

“Why?”

He paused. “So different from when you first told me,” he said, words rough in his throat. “To hear how you feel now, how you defended me to your mum, it meant a lot to me.”

“H,” you said, “I love you. No matter what.”

He didn’t reply, but she knew it wasn’t because he didn’t feel the same way, but because if he told her he would cry. She could hear it in his words, feel it in the air between them. Instead, he showed her how much he loved her by lovingly pulling out the knots in her hair, by washing every inch of her body, by even helping her shave her armpits, by wrapping her up in a hotel robe after and rubbing lotion into her skin. He passed her a toothbrush with toothpaste on it and side-by-side they brushed they teeth, soft gazes in the mirror. And then he turned off the light and pulled her into bed next to him, arms surrounding her body and holding her as she cried, her mother’s words swirling through her thoughts. He pressed kisses to her hair and murmured how much he loved her, how proud he was, what a great mother she was going to be. With each touch he helped heal her heart, push the words away, focus on the truth: that she was happy with him, no matter what anyone tried to convince her of. She just hoped he would stay around even when she doubted it.

The drive to Holmes Chapel brought Y/N peace, the English countryside a warm embrace, the settled and peaceful look on Harry’s face making her smile as he drove. She had been ignoring text messages from her mother since she had woken up, and being away from Wi-Fi meant her phone wasn’t buzzing with text messages and phone calls every few minutes. Suddenly, Y/N was thankfully for the fact that she didn’t have cell service in England, because it made her push away her worries and focus fully on Harry.

He was describing his mother’s home to her. The furniture collected from charity shops over the years, Anne having a knack for finding the thrown away and giving it a new home, despite his many offers to buy her new furniture. She liked filling her house with stories of the past, of considering the life a side table or a throw pillow had before it found her. Y/N thought it was quite sweet, and from what she knew about Anne it didn’t surprise her in the slightest. Gemma and her boyfriend Michal were going to be there when they arrived, both of the Styles children bringing home their significant others, something which apparently Harry hadn’t done in a while. When he revealed this, she smiled and told him that she was honored to be there.

It was a three hour drive that passed quickly, since Y/N fell asleep about halfway in, her head lolling on her shoulder as the countryside passed by. She woke to Harry’s voice, murmuring, “We’re here, love,” in her ear and unbuckling her seatbelt. “Time to go give my mum the surprise of her life, yeah?”

That idea woke Y/N up right away. She was admittedly nervous to tell Harry’s mother, especially after how telling her own had gone. Although from what she knew of Anne and Harry’s own accounts, Anne seemed to be much more willing to go with the flow, surprises rolling off of her quickly after years with Harry Styles as her son. So she tried not to dwell on it as Anne and Gemma rushed out of the house, enveloping Harry into their arms and then Y/N, a flurry of hugs and kisses to the cheeks that had her feeling like she was being welcomed home.

The house was smaller than Y/N expected, but somehow perfect. A wide white door and a lovely patio outside, white framed windows that reminded her of her own childhood home. There was red brick she loved and a large tree outside. “You look beautiful, dear,” Anne said, an arm around Y/N’s shoulders as she guided her inside. “Glowing, you are. You must tell me your secret!”

Pregnancy, she thought to herself, but instead just said, “Lots of moisturizer,” which had Anne chuckling to herself.

The house was just as Harry had described. Laden with rugs and family photos, a few of Harry’s awards on the walls, displayed with pride. A giant Christmas tree sat in the corner, hung heavily with ornaments and tinsel, Y/N smiling at the sight of an ornament with a young Harry’s face on it, her having a nearly identical one at home on her mother’s tree. Although she didn’t have time to notice it. “So this is it.” She turned and found Harry standing behind her, watching her study his childhood home. “What do you think?”

“It’s exactly as you said,” she replied. “I love it.”

He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Want to see my room?”

“Desperately,” she replied, which had Harry chuckling.

“Mum,” he called into the house, “I’m going to show Y/N my room. Be back in a jiffy.”

“Don’t make too much racket!” She heard Gemma holler through the hall, “These walls are thin, in case you’ve forgotten!”

“Shut it!” Harry replied, Y/N laughing at their exchange, it making her wish for not the first time that she had a sibling. “Come on, love.”

They climbed the stairs, Y/N commenting on his yearly school portraits that decorated the staircase, which he tried to cover her eyes for so she couldn’t see them, but she managed to wrangle free. She had to admit that Harry was a downright adorable child, although when she looked at his face—dimple and crinkled eyes from laughter, she wasn’t surprised. The thought had her considering what their child would look like, which she couldn’t help but smile at the thought of.

“Whatcha smilin’ about?”

“Thought about what our child would look like,” she said softly, Harry’s eyes lighting up at the thought.

His hands found her waist, tucking her close to him, her back pressed against the wallpapered walls of the second floor. “And what are you thinking?”

“With your face,” she said, a finger running down his cheek, “and my brain, they’re going to be unstoppable.”

He frowned. “But your face is nicer.”

“They have to have your eyes,” she said with a pointed look. “I’m not willing to compromise on that. And your dimples.”

He smiled at her, the dimple in question popping out. “My dimples, eh?”

“Mhm,” she murmured. “Quite like them.” She stuck her index finger into the depth of it, the chuckle escaping his lips warming her body that was still cold from the December chill.

“I’ll allow it as long as they have your ears and your lips,” he said, a lingering kiss pressed to the latter. “Now let me kiss you in my childhood bed, for Pete’s sake.”

“Dirty, dirty boy,” she said, and let him lead her into his room. It was an alcove room, one he could barely stand up fully straight in, and somehow it suited him. The walls were a simple cream, but covered in posters of bands from eight years ago, when life was simple and he was still sixteen. An overstuffed bookcase sat against one wall and an oak dresser, most likely empty, sat next to it with photos of him and his family scattered across it. The main attraction though, was the bed, an oak headboard attached to it with plenty of pillows and a checkered duvet cover that reminded her of the ones she had seen in the dorm rooms of boys at college.

“Well?” Harry asked from where he leaned against the closed door. “Is it how you imagined?”

She turned and she couldn’t help herself—the appearance of Harry in a beanie and an oversized sweatshirt in his childhood bedroom with a shit-eating grin on his face made her want to have him in every way possible. “Better,” she replied before backing up until the back of her thighs hit the edge of his bed. “But better if you eat me out on your childhood bed.”

“Fuck me,” he breathed, feet moving quickly to reach her, hands on her cheeks before she could process it. His lips were sweet, wet from when he’d licked them before pulling her in, and his palms were calloused against her skin. But he felt like Harry—her Harry—and that’s all that mattered to her. With a nip at her neck, he fell to his knees in front of her, eyes darting up at hers as he shimming off her leggings and the blue cotton underwear underneath them. “Like these,” he mumbled against the skin of her inner thighs. “Might have to keep them.”

She gasped when his tongue licked up the length of her slit, the sensitivity from not having him on her skin in the past few nights combined with the raging hormones in her bloodstream had her keening for him. “They’re just cotton,” she said through gritted teeth when he sucked on her clit, toying with her. “Harry, Jesus.” “Not my name,” he smiled against her and Y/N couldn’t help but tug on his hair as if to tell him Shut it you narcissist, which just made Harry chuckle. The vibrations sent shockwaves through her body, her head falling back as a moan of his name left her mouth. “Gotta be quiet,” he reminded her, shoving two fingers in her mouth that she quickly accepted, lolling her tongue around them like it was a lollipop. The sight had Harry bucking into the end of the bed, which Y/N just grinned at, not missing it for a second. When Harry had his mouth on her, she couldn’t look anywhere else.

Then he darted his tongue inside of her and Y/N’s hand went to her breasts, which had grown from her pregnancy and Harry didn’t seem to mind, adoring how sensitive they were. “More,” she begged, voice rough in the room. “Please, please, H.”

“Comin’ love,” he said, sucking on two of his fingers before pressing one to her slit, the cold feeling of his rings on her hot flesh making her gasp. “Like that, baby? Like it when I fuck you with my fingers, my rings still on? The fingers you just had in your mouth?”

“Harry,” she groaned, trying to contain the sounds threatening to escape her. Not being able to hold up her body anymore she rested on her hands, propping up her body on his mattress. She knew that it made her breasts stick out, which Harry loved—he was a man, after all—and the sound of him grunting at the sight made her smile at him coyly. “Like the view?”

He sucked on her clit in response before twirling his tongue in a cruel circle around her labia. “Love the view,” he muttered against her, spit falling from his mouth. “Love you, baby. Fuck, look at you as I fuck you—like you’re made for me.”

“Close,” she said, the sound muffled against her hand she had thrown over her mouth to keep the sounds in. She was leaning on just one hand, unsteady and about to let go if he let her. She loved to let him control her orgasms, the sound of him telling her to come always sending waves of pleasure through her body.

“Yeah?” He said, inserting another finger and curling them so she was bucking against his hand, his name an echo on her tongue. “Come for me,” he murmured, fingers digging into her thighs to hold her steady, his rings imprints on her skin. ��But you gotta stay quiet love—I’ll have you screaming for me when we’re home, okay?”

She turned her head into the duvet in an attempt to silence the scream rising in her chest, but when she came, it just simply wasn’t enough. Anne and Gemma would’ve probably heard her if they were outside the door, a muffled scream of his name flowing from her mouth. She bucked against his hand, chasing her high and Harry licked her through it, the cold saliva from his tongue and his rings inside of her making her body shake.

“Fuck,” Harry said when she finally came down, body pliant in his hands. “That was bloody incredible.”

He pulled his fingers from her, a hiss leaving her teeth at the emptiness inside of her. “That’s how you got me pregnant,” she told him with a laugh.

“But that involves my dick,” he informed her, crawling up her body so he could smother her face in kisses, the slick of her still on his chin.

“Yes,” she said, pushing him away. “But it was that and then your dick that got me pregnant. You’re good, you know.” She rolled over, a hand on his chest. “Not that you need to hear it. Your ego is already too big for this relationship.”

“Ha!” He grabbed at her sides, pulling her closer into him. “You love my big ego. And my dick.”

Her head dropped to his chest with a groan of defeat. “God, you’re such a boy sometimes, I swear.”

With a kiss to her temple, he sat up and tugged her along with him. “C’mon, we can’t stay too much longer or Gemma will never let me forget it.” She licked at his chin, letting the rest of her juices land on her tongue before following him downstairs, trying not the laugh at the way he walked, obviously trying not to let the material brush against his dick too much. She truly loved a menace, she thought to herself. But he was her menace.

In the kitchen, Gemma, Anne, and Michal were sat with cups of tea, two set out for Y/N and Harry that had now gone cold. “Took you long enough,” Gemma said. “Tea’s gone cold while you two got reacquainted upstairs.”

“Gem,” Anne scolded. “Don’t embarrass your brother.” Gemma rolled her eyes, but stood up to reheat their tea.

Harry wrapped his arms around Y/N and she leaned into him, loving how his hands subconsciously rested on her lower belly, right over where their child rested. “Mum, Gem” he said as Gemma returned with their now warm tea. “We have somethin’ for you.”

“Oh!” Anne set down her tea and surveyed the two of them. “But we don’t do gifts until the morning of.” That was still two days away, but obviously Harry was eager. Y/N had told him that he could choose when he wanted to tell Anne, and it seemed like now was the time he had chosen. He was like Y/N, she thought to herself, unable to keep a secret from her parents for long.

“I know,” Harry replied. “But want to give it to you both now.”

Gemma shrugged. “I don’t mind an early gift,” she said.

“Perfect. One second,” Harry told them, disconnecting his arms from Y/N’s waist. “It’s in our luggage. Meet me in the living room?”

They all nodded and Harry disappeared, the sound of a zipper in the other room. “Well, he’s certainly excited,” Anne told Y/N, coming over and giving her a smile. “It’s good to see him so happy.”

Y/N couldn’t help but wonder how often Anne had seen her son unhappy over the years, how many women had broken his heart, how many times the world had broken him down. Harry had shared some of it—the disappointment over Zayn leaving, the women who had ripped him to shreds since Harry gave his heart so willingly—but not all of it. She supposed with time, she would learn it all, but she was no longer eager to uncover every stone of him that she was when they were starting out. Now, she knew she would have quite a long time to know every part of Harry, and the idea quite appealed to her.

Anne and Gemma sat on the couch, Michal in one of the armchairs, and Y/N took the other one, the one closest to the fire burning in the hearth that stockings hung from. After growing up with solely warm winters, it was nice to be someplace cold for a change.

Harry wandered in with the last two bags, one for Anne and one for Gemma. Gemma’s was Y/N’s favorite, the one that said, “I love Auntie” in multi-colored letters and confetti all over it. She fully planned on finagling it back from Gemma so she could actually dress their child in it one day. “Here you are,” Harry said, handing both the bags over before going to sit on the arm of Y/N’s chair, her hand in his.

Gemma looked at her mother. “On the count of three?” Anne nodded, a playful smile, and they counted down, Harry squeezing Y/N’s hand in anticipation.

“Oh,” Anne said when she pulled out the onesie, the one nearly identical to Y/N’s mom’s. She looked up at Y/N and Harry and there were tears in her eyes that made Y/N want to cry. “Really?”

“You’re pregnant!” Gemma shrieked, dropping the onesie before bounding over to Y/N. “Oh my god, I’m going to be an Aunt! A little niece or nephew!” She grabbed her into a hug, laughing with joy in Y/N’s ears. “Best Christmas gift. Oh my god, Haz!” Gemma pulled her brother into a tight hug, and Y/N’s eyes rested on Anne who was full on crying at the onesie in her hands.

Harry saw it and went over to his mom, his arm around her shoulders. “You’re going to be a grandma,” he told her, which only made her cry harder. “Mum?”

“Happy,” she reassured him, before taking his face in her hands. “So happy I could explode!” This was the reaction Y/N wanted, she thought to herself, surveying the scene of pure joy. “Y/N,” Anne said, arms outstretched. “Come here, love!”

Y/N practically floated to Anne, the prospect of a mother’s arms around her exactly what she needed. Anne bundled her up in them, tears still streaming down her face as she gave her a tight hug. “We’re due in mid-June,” she said when Anne pulled back, it being the only thing she could think to say.

Anne beamed at her, eyes darting between her and Harry. “My word,” she told them. “This it the best surprise. A little baby! My baby boy,” she said, taking Harry’s face in her hands and kissing his cheeks, “is going to be a Dad.”

Harry’s eyes caught Y/N over his mother’s shoulders, a reassuring gaze that told her he knew what she was thinking. That he wanted to remind her it would all turn out okay. And when she looked around her to the happy scene, the fire in the hearth and the joy on the faces in the room, she knew he was right.

Harry purposefully woke up earlier than Y/N on Christmas morning. He had been trying to figure out when to give the key to his house (not that she didn’t already have one, but it was the idea that counted) and finally he had settled on Christmas Day. So when he awoke, snow falling softly outside his window, he scrambled out of bed to grab the key he had wrapped up in a box the night before with his mother’s help.

“Harry?” Y/N’s sleepy voice came from the bed, her hand sticking out to the place where he’d just been lying.

He loved that she always craved his presence in her sleep. He had noticed it early on, the way she held him in her sleep, always burrowed deeper into his body, was hesitant to let go of him in the morning. With the box in his hand, he crawled back onto the bed, occupying his old space. “Morning, sleepyhead,” he said, placing the box on her pillow, right next to her head.

Her eyes fluttered open, eyelashes brushing against the pillowcase. Then her gaze met the blue box tied with a white ribbon sitting on the pillow, and her eyes widened. “What’s this?”

“One of your Christmas gifts,” he said. “Didn’t want it to be in front of the whole family.”

She sat up, pushing back the duvet cover revealing his old school shirt that she had worn to bed. When he had told her to pick anything she wanted, she had gone through every shirt in his drawer before settling on this one, loving how soft the material was from years of use. Harry loved how she looked in his clothes, but seeing her in the mornings with messy hair and adorned in his Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School shirt made his heart clench.

He didn’t know how she would respond to the gesture, the request for her to move in with him. To his brain, it made sense—they were having a kid together, after all—but he also knew how Y/N was about these things. It meant commitment and she was always hesitant to take that next step. “Open it,” he told her, sitting up too so their bodies faced one another.

Her fingers grasped the edge of the box, eyes flickering to his face before pulling it open. Inside lay the key to his house, golden and ridged, the one that fit perfectly into the lock on his front door. “Harry…”

“Will you move in with me?”

For a few beats, she just stared at the key, but when her eyes raised to his, he knew what she was going to say. “Yes.”

He leaned over and kissed her, one filled with love and passion and everything he was trying to say. She dropped the box to the bed and let him press her back into the mattress. “Can’t wait to make you come in our bed,” he mumbled against her cheek, drawing a chuckle from her, but she didn’t stop him she he drew her underwear to the side and dropped to his knees, wanting his girl to start her Christmas off right.

TAGLIST:

@smokeinherperfume @afire-hes @harryinsweatersandbandanas @marinalima3 @havethetimeofyourstyles @ursogoldenshan @inmygardensuit @marinalima3 @amaridon @harrys-watermelons @dontgiveupthedayjob @cronias13 @apples2019 @laula843 @afterstylesmadeit @kait-brin @harrys-watermelons @groovybaybee @clumsywithlove93 @1142590m @erin0717 @ketchuplukehemmo @detroitkiwis @meetmeinfleetwood @kakaym @harrystyles-concepts @harrymoncheri @berrynarrybanana @samjo1986 @harrydobedirectioning

Would you like to know when I update The Only Exception? Let me know here!

NEXT CHAPTER COMING JULY 25TH @ NOON CST

#Harry Styles Fan Fiction #harry styles fic #harry styles one shot #harry styles writing #harry styles smut #harry styles drabble #harry styles dad

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rayneul · 4 years

Text

Ray Route Bad Ending 3 Guide

(donʼt/never answer messages it give good heart so i suggest dont answer it :))

Day 7 (100%)

00:58 – To become the child of darkness

Selection 1 Go to bed. It’s not good if you stay awake late… T_T

Selection 2 Zen, you’re practicing! (Nothing)

Selection 3 Yoosung, get a grip! And try again!!

Selection 4 Get a hold of yourself, Yoosung! (Yoosung)

Selection 5 ???

Selection 6 Yoosung….I’m sure this is your chance to grow. (Nothing)

Selection 7 Oh, are we getting started here? (Nothing)

Selection 8 What about White?

Selection 9 I think this hacker’s more good-looking. (Ray)

Selection 10 But lame man is my style!

Selection 11 Who said that? (Nothing)

Selection 12 Zen, you do realize we’re living in the 21st century, don’t you? (Nothing)

Selection 13 Not really interested.

Selection 14 I think this is takinf a direction just so weird.

Selection 15 Zen, try barking for me. (Nothing)

Selection 16 Great idea lolol

Selection 17 First, you gotta look like him. (Nothing)

Selection 18 You should give up your rehersal.

Selection 19 Your darkness within beckons you…. (Nothing)

Selection 20 I’ll be waiting…!!

Selection 21 I think this is all pointless.

Selection 22 Aren’t you excited? Lolol

Selection 23 I will in a few minutes! (Nothing)

03:01 – At This Night

Selection 1 It’s late. You didn’t log off? (Nothing)

Selection 2 Don’t worry. You’re not going to have another boss lololol (Jaehee)

Selection 3 For now, let’s trust him! (Yoosung)

Selection 4 When is your holiday?

Selection 5 It sounds like your office hour is 24/7…. Poor you. (Jaehee)

Selection 6 Anything new about the hacker?

Selection 7 I’m going to stay awake just a bit more. I don’t think I can sleep well tonight….

06:17 – Mr. Han

Selection 1 Did you eat something funny? (Nothing)

Selection 2 It suits him lololol

Selection 3 Mr. Kim! (Yoosung)

Selection 4 You should take a break from time to time – (Nothing)

Selection 5 Zen, show me what you can do! You’re a pro! (Zen)

Selection 6 That’s a great enlightenment! (Zen)

Selection 7 You should take at least 50000 won.

Selection 8 You should stay with him till the end if you’re there to help him – ! (Nothing)

Selection 9 Yes, sir. (Nothing)

Selection 10

It’s great that you’re enjoying your work…! I really hope that’s the case here as well…. (Ray)

Selection 11 Ok…

Selection 12 Good luck to everyone! (Ray)

08:43 – Continuously Thinking

Selection 1 Ray, did you have a good morning? (Ray)

Selection 2 About what happened back then… (Nothing)

Selection 3 That’s adorable! (Ray)

Selection 4 Remember that we kissed the other day? (Ray)

Selection 5 Of course I don’t hate you! I really like you! (Ray)

Selection 6 Who told you that? (Nothing)

Selection 7 I miss you. Are you busy?

Selection 8 First let’s try to spend more time together. (Ray)

Selection 9 Are you feeling alright? (Ray)

Selection 10 Please stay positive, even if you’re having a hard time! (Ray)

12:03 – Cooperation

Selection 1 …What about you?

Selection 2 Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Selection 3 Are you two together right now? (Nothing)

Selection 4 Any news from the hacker…?

Selection 5 Don’t you mean that the equipment is cool?

Selection 6 Well done, Jaehee! (Jaehee)

Selection 7 Because the hacker is so good…? (Ray)

Selection 8 That would mean more work for the hacker… (Ray)

Selection 9 Ok! I’d like to meet this knight of the light. (Email from whitehacker)

Selection 10 Welcome, Mr. Kim! (Nothing)

Selection 11 <<It’s time to awaken your dark force!>>

Selection 12

Don’t tell me… Did you collect 1500 won? (Nothing)

Selection 13 Is it time for the game event…?

Selection 14 What about Zen…? (Nothing)

Selection 15 Great! You’re trying various methods! (Ray)

Selection 16 That’s a good idea. (Nothing)

Selection 17 Wow.

Selection 18 Have fun!

Selection 19 He’s pretty smart. (Nothing)

Selection 20 Let’s invite her for the love of the world! Love the world! (707 + Email from eyegglasses)

Selection 21

What?

Selection 22 Enjoy your lunch, both of you. (Nothing)

Selection 23 Enjoy your lunch – (Nothing)

Selection 24 I’m fine… Sorry, I can’t tell you much. (Ray)

Selection 25 Thanks for your concern. (707)

14:44 – Art of Efficiency

Selection 1 Did you see how Yoosung imitated you?

Selection 2 Zen, is your sanity ok? (Zen)

Selection 3 Relax^^ I think he’s trying to tick you off on purpose. (Zen)

Selection 4 Do you think things would’ve turned out differently with definite strategy?

Selection 5 Oooh, please give me your know-how, Mr. Han! (Jumin)

Selection 6 Wow….you’ve come this far already? (Jumin)

Selection 7 Zen’s an actor. I think there’s a limit to the help he can get.

Selection 8 Who is the genius that calculated how much thread you’ll need for your stitching?

Selection 9 Now I’m starting to wonder why you won’t leave stitching part to someone else…

Selection 10 Wow! Why don’t we invite that person to the party? (Email from prorhythmist)

Selection 11 So your hobby is overall planning and stitching.

Selection 12 I do! The fundamental problem of your unsuccessful repetition of practice is none other than…. (Nothing)

Selection 13 I knew we’d need money from the very beginning.

Selection 14 So what matters is the courage to actually do it! (Ray + Jumin)

Selection 15 Can you invest in someone smart? (Ray)

Selection 16 But you can’t buy people’s hearts with money! What matters in acting is heart – (Zen)

Selection 17 Let’s not fight. (Nothing)

Selection 18 The balance of the world will stay only when you two look at the world in different views! (Nothing)

Selection 19 That’s right! That could be what gives birth to your artistic performance! You should carry on with your way! (Zen)

Selection 20 Calm down, Zen – !

Selection 21 …You should try performing White in your current state! (Nothing)

Selection 22 What are you doing right now?

Selection 23 Not at all –

Selection 24 I look forward to the completion. (Nothing)

16:27 – Power Save Mode Today

Selection 1 Welcome. (Nothing)

Selection 2 You don’t think there’s something wrong with the hacker, do you? (Ray)

Selection 3 That’s not true! That’s can’t happen…! (Ray)

Selection 4 …It’s his fate. It can’t be helped.

Selection 5 Seven, let’s talk more about the hacker. Have you picked up anything else? (Ray)

Selection 6 I think Jumin helped him enough… (Jumin)

Selection 7 That was a pretty scary joke…. (Nothing)

Selection 8 I can’t stop worrying about that hacker…. (Ray)

Selection 9 Seven, could you find out what happened to the hacker, whether something’s wrong with him…? (Ray)

Selection 10 …I hope you’d save the hacker if he surrenders. (Ray)

Selection 11 Maybe it was all misunderstanding that the hacker attacked us. We must find out what the truth is. (Ray)

Selection 12 ….He’s innocent. And good. I’ll leave it at that. (Ray)

Selection 13 I know. You have a good reason to suspect me. I’m trying to find peace in the middle…but it’s not easy. (Ray)

Selection 14 I’d have to make troulbe for V.

Selection 15 …I think V’s a good person. I think I can trust him. (V)

Selection 16 I wonder what this hacker is doing right now…. (Ray)

Selection 17 Go back before it’s too dark.

Selection 18 I know…. (Ray)

Selection 19 …I hope that never happens. (Ray)

Selection 20 I will…! Good luck! (707)

Selection 21 I will. Thank you. (Ray)

- Are you nervous? Don’t tell me…are you scared of him?

- Mmm…yeah. Everything’s gonna be okay. Don’t give it too much thought.

18:31 – The Roots of Pathetic

Selection 1 Jaehee, have you heard anything about the hacker? (Ray)

Selection 2 By results, do you also mean getting the hacker in your hands? (Nothing)

Selection 3 Welcome, Jumin. Are you done with your stitching?

Selection 4 What did you think of?

Selection 5 Exactly how would you apple your realization to business? (Nothing)

Selection 6 I want to know what it is.

Selection 7 But I don’t think you look bad the way you do now.

Selection 8 What about insecurity…? (Nothing)

Selection 9 Maybe it’s because of their personalities.

Selection 10 So you were basically running a business of yourself since childhood.

Selection 11 Nothing is truly wrong in this world… You actually understood that?

Selection 12 I think accepting even my imperfections is something really big. (Ray)

Selection 13 So that’s why people are tormented by their own inferiority and insecurity.

Selection 14 That’s because almost no one every criticizes you. you live an easy life full of respect.

Selection 15 I don’t think he flatters himself.

Selection 16 Then again, there’s really no need for him to confirm whether he’s good-looking or not…

Selection 17 Perhaps a sense of insecurity is no different from a struggle to hide one’s trauma. (Ray)

Selection 18 You’re right. Even if someone feels insecure, that sense of insecurity can actually drive a person to work much

Selection 19 I think it’d be good if I don’t have to be the best in my workplace. (Nothing)

Selection 20 I think that depends on your definition of accomplish… But whatever it is, the fact remains that no one is perfect, right? (Ray)

Selection 21 But maybe this world runs energetically because people want to win recognition.

Selection 22 So does this end with more work for you, Jaehee? (Nothing)

Selection 23 It was complicated, but thanks anyways. (Nothing)

Selection 24 I think he wants to make a team that does not drive people into competition but acknowledges each person as they acknowledges each person as they are. (Jumin)

Selection 25 I wish I could live in a world like that! (Nothing)

Selection 26 Please tell me if you pick up anything new about the hacker. Please. (Ray)

Story Mode – … Way to go, V and well, that doesn’t sound good

Who is it? Yes, it’s mine. Wait a minute! Have you seen Ray?

Jumin Calling

- I don’t think young Jumin Han would have been an ordinary six-year-old.

20:06 – Window of Truth

Selection 1 There’s nothing wrong with him, is there? (Nothing)

Selection 2 Everything’s quiet here. But…I’m worried about the hacker…. (Ray)

Selection 3 Why would you find only troubles around you? (Nothing)

Selection 4 I’m sure it’s not entirely your fault. (Ray + V)

Selection 5 Perhaps we need his advice right now. (Jumin)

Selection 6 I know you’re worried about me but… I think it’s best to admit what you can’t do and ask for help. (Ray)

Selection 7 You should gaze at yourself, V. (Ray + V)

Selection 8 Maybe you should give a call to Jumin. (Nothing)

Selection 9 Nobody is perfect…. I think you need some time for yourself. (Ray)

Selection 10 Good luck… (Zen)

Selection 11 Good luck…(Nothing)

Ray Calling

- Ray, where are you? I’m coming for you right now!

- Ray , you’ve done nothing wrong…!

21:43 – My True Identity Is

Selection 1 What’s wrong, Yoosung? (Nothing)

Selection 2 You’ll be an adult someday.

Selection 3 IS that you, Prince Seven…?

Selection 4 Why do you have no status? (Nothing)

Selection 5 An android…? (Nothing)

Selection 6 You sounds really serious.

Selection 7 Why do you think they’re running special inspections all of a sudden? (Nothing)

Selection 8 I don’t think you need to worry about that.

Selection 9 All of a sudden…? (Nothing)

Selection 10 …There’s no need for him to be concerned that much… (Ray)

Selection 11 No.

Selection 12 I’m concerned as well. I couldn’t see him all day long…. (Ray)

Selection 13 …Nothing.

Selection 14 But I’m suspicious about the prim minister’s purpose… (Ray)

Selection 15 Run along now.

23:59 – Strange

Selection 1 Have you hear nothing about the hacker yet? (Nothing)

Selection 2 Something’s not right about this.. We only had 2 parties so far. (Ray)

Selection 3 i know you’re hiding something. Can’t you slip it to me at the least?

Selection 4 Is he back!? (Ray)

Selection 5 Completely different person? Are you sure? (Nothing)

Selection 6 …The hacker is behaving like someone else…? (Nothing)

Selection 7 V…You’re coming, aren’t you? I have a bad feeling about this. (Nothing)

Selection 8 I’ll be waiting. (Ray)

Story Mode – No way… I didn’t see this coming at alllll….

- Who is it? - Ray…! I missed you so much! - Ray, you don’t sounds like you. - …This is not fair. Let go of me.

V Calling

- You’re nearby? Are you planning to sneak in?

- I figured.

#mystic messenger #ray route

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yumeisha · 4 years

Text

Love In Print [Masaru] - Episode 1

“But Mari, I don’t WANT to go read this on Wattpad, I want to stay here on Tumblr!” Listen, my friend. Let me help you. Here’s all of Episode 1! (But the rest is over here if you decide you want to read it!)

— SATURDAY NIGHT —

She’s started to think of it as the summer of weddings. Like purgatory, but with more flowers.

Reiko sighs. Another Saturday, another charming garden venue. Soft, flickering tea lights float in shallow porcelain bowls. It looks like something lifted straight out of Pinterest, and it’s pretty in all the right ways, hitting every obligatory aesthetic beat. The music is loud and many of the guests are amiably drunk, swaying in slow circles on the dance floor or queuing up for one more lap around the buffet.

Alone at her table, Reiko hides behind the towering lily centerpiece, nursing a headache. She fishes her phone out of the tiny, mostly useless evening bag she’s bought to go with this dress and takes refuge in her work inbox.

She’d love to go home, but it’s too early to make her retreat. Another two hours, she coaches herself. You can make it for two more.

“Come on,” says Ren, prodding her in the shoulder. Reiko jumps half a mile and nearly drops her phone, not that her cousin notices. “We’re missing a cake opportunity,” he whines.

As usual, Ren resembles a figure pulled directly off some runway in Milan. Impeccably attired, hair artfully tousled, a Rolex gleaming from his left wrist. Reiko plucks at a tuft of fur caught on the cuff of his tuxedo.

“You know, there is such a thing as a lint roller. You have one somewhere in your apartment.”

Ren peers down at the wad of cat hair slowly drifting down to the grass beneath their table. “Lint roller? What lint roller?” And then his face lights up. “Oh! You mean that tape-on-a-stick thing from the last time you came over?”

“Yes,” Reiko answers patiently. “That tape-on-a-stick thing. You use it to make sure you aren’t leaving the house dressed in cat fluff.”

Suzu pops up behind Ren. “He likes for everyone to know that he’s more complex than he appears. An insufferable playboy and a sophisticated cat bachelor.” She loops her arm through his and makes a show of sniffing at his clothes. “Ah,” she breathes. “The smell of too much money, layered over eau de too many cats.”

“I have three. How is that too many? And why aren’t either of you interested in getting some cake? This is a wedding. You go to weddings for cake.”

“That’s definitely the primary reason for attending weddings.”

“It’s from Fujiwara’s, you know. They never do weddings anymore. You’re missing the dessert event of your lives.”

Suzu straightens his boutonniere. “You accosted the Fujiwara grannies for these people?” A low whistle. “Wow. Dad must really like them.”

Reiko follows her twin’s gaze. Their father, Ryuuki, is busy holding court at a neighboring table. He laughs raucously at someone’s cheesy anecdote and is having the most fun out of all of them. “It’s all business, I suppose,” she says, unable to keep from smiling despite how little she’s enjoying herself.

Suzu snorts. “Of course it’s all business. Isn’t it always?” To Ren, she says, “Hey, how long before we’ve done our duty for the family market stall? I still have ten pages left to write on a research paper and it’s…” She grabs his arm in order to check the time on his fancy watch. “… 9:34. With half an hour’s drive back to my apartment.”

“You can spare ten minutes to have a slice of legendary cake, Tachibana Suzuna.”

“God, okay. But it better not be weird like that sheet cake you ordered for the charity auction last month.”

“Not weird. Avant-garde.”

“Uh-huh. Also, it tasted like beets and had radioactive magenta icing. So gross.”

“You and Reiko just really have no appreciation for the finer things in life. Let’s go, the line’s only getting longer.”

“Don’t want any,” Reiko pipes up. “I’ll have a slice vicariously, through Suzu.”

“Twin powers,” Suzu concurs, initiating the special handshake they invented when they were six. Almost twenty years later, they’re still augmenting the sequence with new moves. “Anything I ate, Reiko also ate. And vice versa. Page 2, Line 21 in the Twin Manual.”

“The worst plus-ones anybody ever brought to a wedding,” complains Ren. He pours Reiko a fresh glass of water from the pitcher on the table and gives her a pat on the head, a gesture of silent sympathy.

She watches Ren and Suzu as they stop to tease Ryuuki along the way. And then she blinks back the onslaught of unwanted tears, reaches for her phone again, and taps the newest e-mail notification. Three unread messages beckon through Reiko’s blurred vision. She scans the subject lines, head bowed over the glowing screen. Slipping into the steps of a familiar dance, she starts at the bottom with the oldest message first, because that’s easier than confronting her emotions.

PRE-ORDER CAMPAIGN - SPS OMNIBUS EDITION. A reply from the manufacturer about a shipment of Star Princess Sanna enamel pins she asked about on Friday afternoon. Delayed for another two weeks. Not ideal, but better than never getting them in at all. Reiko marks it for a response later.

TENJOU DELIVERY WEDNESDAY. Timestamped a mere ten minutes ago. She isn’t the only one working on a day off. Reiko notices right away that the message has been flagged as important, which is odd. This e-mail appears, without fail, every Monday of her life. Throughout the long history of this exchange, the message has never been flagged as important. At least, not that Reiko can remember.

She almost opens it, curiosity triggered, but then she sees the subject of the next e-mail and momentarily forgets everything else.

ALL DEPTS: QUARTERLY MEETING — MON @ 10AM

A thrill dances through her, momentarily displacing the throbbing ache in her skull. The sounds of the reception fade away. She taps the message and it unfurls into a calendar invite. Representatives from every department at her publishing house will be expected to attend, including Reiko and the other senior marketing staff.

Most meetings are a dreary prospect, especially when scheduled for first thing on a Monday. At these quarterly gatherings, it takes hours to discuss things like sales figures and future business plans. But this one is special, because they’ll finally present the twentieth anniversary plans for DUCHESS Magazine’s most iconic franchise to date: Red Thread. The first manga she ever read all the way through, start to finish. The reason why she applied at Yumeisha in the first place, as soon as she’d graduated.

Reiko accepts the invite and adds it to her burgeoning, meticulously color-coded calendar. She can’t keep from breaking into a smile. She’s still beaming at her phone when she hears the grass crunching softly under someone’s feet and looks up to find that she is no longer alone.

The someone is tall, just about as impeccably turned out as Ren, and wearing a pair of dress shoes so highly polished that Reiko can see her reflection in them. He’s shed the jacket and rolled up the sleeves of the crisp white shirt underneath.

There is only a bowl of tealights to see him by, so it takes a moment for Reiko to recognize the man now seating himself across from her. But if the head of blond hair hadn’t given it away, the green eyes and trademark smirk would have made it very clear within the next two seconds, anyway.

She blinks at him. “Oshiro?”

“Hi.”

“Um, hi. What are you doing here?”

He leans back into the chair and stretches his long legs under the table, instantly making himself at home. “Attending a wedding,” he replies. “Chatting with the bride’s aunties. Waiting for you to pay attention to me.”

“And sending e-mails?”

“No rest for the wicked, as they say.”

Reiko puts her phone down. “It’s weird seeing you outside of work. This is the last place I’d expect to run into you.”

“Why? Because you figured that I live at the office and camp out under my desk on days off?”

She laughs. “I mean, yeah.”

“To be fair, I’d expect the same of you.”

Well, that really is fair. Sometimes Reiko looks up from the endless loop between work and her apartment, her apartment and then work, and realizes that her entire existence can be summed up in three boring sentences or less. And then she’ll go back to her computer screen, her half empty coffee mug, the pathetic little granola bar that will have to serve as her lunch. But that’s just the way of things, isn’t it? At least she genuinely loves her job. It would be much harder to bear, otherwise.

“I’ve considered just packing myself a bag and living in my cubicle,” Reiko admits, without any real shame. In the background, the band segues into their much livelier cover of a depressing breakup anthem. Over the noise, she adds, “At least it would save me a commute.”

“So dedicated.”

She shrugs. “So lazy.”

“Anyone truly lazy wouldn’t be checking her inbox at a wedding reception,” Oshiro points out.

“Guilty as charged. Have you come to scold me for not participating in wedding activities?”

“No, I’ve come to ask you why you haven’t opened my e-mail.” He waves his own phone at her. “I checked three seconds ago. It definitely still says unread.”

“It’s flagged important and with a read receipt? Seriously?”

“Seriously. It’s high priority. Read it right now.” He angles a covert glance over her shoulder, in the direction he came from earlier. “Oh, and if you don’t mind, don’t reply until I’m back over there.”

“Wait, you want a reply, too? What am I supposed to say? You send me the same four lines every week. I have the thing memorized by now.” To prove this point, she clasps her hands behind her back and recites, “Heading to Tenjou on Wednesday. They need endcaps, window decals, sticker packs, blah blah blah, for insert-manga-title-here. I’ll stop by and grab them on my way out. Thanks. Oshiro Masaru, DUCHESS Sales, 81-4-8914-1111, extension 822.”

His demeanor shifts, now part bemusement and part blatant self-satisfaction. “Look, Tachibana, I’m beyond flattered that you hang onto my every word like this. Not surprising. I’m extremely eloquent in my digital correspondence.”

She rolls her eyes. “There it is. I knew it was coming.”

“You even know my extension by heart,” Oshiro continues blithely. “It’s like my wildest dreams coming true. But what I really need right now is for you to open that e-mail and write me a timely reply. By timely, I mean don’t hit send until I’m at my table again. And then I’ll read your response and write you back. So on, so forth, rinse and repeat, until this torture is over and we can both leave.”

“Ah.” Reiko crosses her arms. “You want a prolonged reason to be on your phone.”

“Correct.”

“Because you don’t want to be here.”

“Also correct, but needs clarification. I don’t want to be at this wedding. I do want to be at this table with you.”

He tips his head towards his original seating arrangements. Reiko risks a covert glance and notes that Oshiro’s vacated chair is surrounded by chattering ladies ranging from middle-aged to elderly. Somehow, without ever speaking to a single one of them, Reiko can tell that they’re the problematic aunties who don’t get along with any of the other aunties. Consequently, they’ve been placed where they can ostensibly do the least damage. From the looks of it, they’re having a fabulous time.

Reiko bites her lip, smothering a surge of laughter. “Wow. How did you end up with the best seat in the house? Like, who did you offend?”

“Ha ha. I owed the groom a favor and he cashed in, majorly.” Oshiro leans forward. “They’re a nice bunch, don’t get me wrong, but if they set me up with another of their nieces, I’ll be double booked from today until Christmas.”

“You’re welcome to sit here instead,” she offers. “We have an extra chair. My dad prefers to migrate between friend groups.”

“Thanks, but I can’t just abandon my post. I wouldn’t put it past them to follow me over here, or else I’d take you up on that suggestion. I figure random texts to my brothers will seem rude, unlike important work e-mails. So play along, won’t you? And keep in mind at least one of them will be reading over my shoulder the whole time.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? What on earth do you think I’d be putting in that e-mail?”

“I’m just saying, don’t use this as an opportunity to confess your undying love or anything. Maintain professionalism and all that.”

“Gosh, what a tall order. How will I ever comply?”

“Dig deep, Tachibana. Find that inner strength.”

Reiko pulls a face. “You came all the way here just to make me do this?”

“Yes,” says Oshiro. “You’re welcome. I’ll look for your thank you note in the mail. I also like gift baskets. The ones with baked goods are okay, but no edible fruit bouquets or artisan cheeses. Nobody wants those.”

“But why me?” she persists. “Don’t you have anyone else you can trade fake work e-mails with? What about Ueda? Or your boss?”

“Hey, take it easy. I’m not used to outright rejection.”

“I’m not rejecting you, I’m just confused.”

“What’s there to be confused about? I don’t want to be here. Neither do you. Let’s help each other out.”

Neither do you. Reiko feels very, very obvious, now.

He watches her expectantly. She can tell that he’s fighting hard not to break into one of his insouciant grins. Reiko can’t decide if she wants to smack him or bask in the infectious warmth of his attention, like a deprived houseplant straining to soak up every drop of sunshine it can get.

This conflicted reaction is more embarrassing than being caught on her phone. For God’s sake, it’s just Oshiro.

Their departments — Sales for him, Marketing for her — are often flung together, which means running into him at Yumeisha is pretty normal. They take the same elevator from the lobby and frequent the same break room on the tenth floor. He stops at her desk most Wednesday afternoons, as promised in his e-mails. Once in a while, if she stays even later than usual, Reiko might see him striding ahead of her through the lobby’s sliding glass doors, crossing the street to catch the same train. They never talk much, though, unless it’s about work.

Still true, she concludes, as Oshiro stands up and pushes the chair into place, preparing to return to the Island of Matchmaking Aunties. He walks backwards away from her, hands in his pockets. “Talk soon,” he tells Reiko, smiling as if he’s guessed all her secrets. And then he’s gone, threading his way through the crowd while she stares after him, utterly bewildered.

Read more episodes on Wattpad!

#love in print #oshiro masaru #tachibana reiko #mariko writes things

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inkabelledesigns · 5 years

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Introductions to Equinox: Doll Profiles (January 2020)

Equinox is filled with many wonderful dolls. Today I’d like to introduce you to some of my favorites. Apologies for the lower image quality on the sketches, I haven’t been able to get the scanner to work yet, so it’s all photos of my sketchbook from my phone. ^^’’’

Loraine Celeste: Captain of the Royal Guard

Wow, artwork from Inktober AND this past Christmas? Yeah, can you tell I forget to post stuff on here? XD Folks, meet Loraine, who undeniably has gotten the most positive reception besides Auran when I share this stuff in smaller groups. Like Auran, she is a nutcracker, but she didn’t start off that way. Originally she was built to be a dancer for the Swansong Ballet, run by the lovely couple Odette and Siegfried (which is a whole different can of worms). Just a standard wooden doll who was light on her feet. She did her job beautifully, her skill was undeniable, but she wasn’t content. While dancing was all well and good, she found her greatest joys when something went amiss. Several stagehands were rescued by her hand from falling lights and trapdoors, no thanks to a bratty ballerina who kept pushing them in the way of danger. She’s one of the few dolls my story focuses on that actually knew both the king and queen in person. The queen was charmed by her performances. In one case, they had just a moment to talk backstage after one, to which she imparted the most important words Loraine would ever here. “Wherever your heart guides you, that’s the place you ought to be. After all, the role is called “heroine,” sometimes you get saved, sometimes you do the saving.”

A few years after the queen’s death, Loraine finds herself in a doll’s only tavern. On that particular night, a soldier from the guard has come in to watch the merriment with a friend by his side. The two end up conversing throughout the night, laughing and dreaming of what it would be like to live in the other’s shoes. One night turns to two, then three, then a few weeks, and the two hatch a brilliant plan. With the help of the soldier’s friend, they switch their parts and disguise as one another at their jobs. It takes months for them to be caught, but the two end up switched permanently, happier than ever in a place that best suits them both. Lorain climbed her way up the ranks and became the captain of King Hans’ forces, and Equinox is safe and secured thanks to her fine judgment.

Manny Quinn: The Royal Outfitter

With a name so cheeky, it’s no wonder that Manny has such a sense of humor. The mannequin has seen his fair share of daring moments. For many years he was confined to a shop window, posing the latest trends for passerby's to see. But Manny was more than a model, he was an artist. When there was no more work to be done for the day, Manny would return home and burn the midnight oil as he stitched together the most beautiful threads. Ballgowns, capes, hats, and a large selection of wigs were all in his collection, all made from scraps, odds, and ends that his workplace discarded recklessly. Inspired by the story of Cinderella, he disguised himself one day while off from work to go to the annual market and present his wares for sale. With the interest of an investor, Manny was finally able to sell his designs and make his way forward as the first doll to change the fashion industry. He now works as the royal outfitter, with his business on the side to keep Equinox looking fabulous, with the help of his assistant, Hermy.

While I won’t get into it too much just yet, Manny is also capable of shapeshifting, thanks to something known as dust magic that we’ll get to in another post. Trust me, it’s gonna be fun when we get to the rules of magic in this world. Most don’t know of his abilities, but it certainly comes in handy for making clothes that fit a variety of body types.

Amil Pastiche: The Peridot Puppet

Marionettes are jolly good fun, and Amil is no exception. There aren’t many toys in Equinox that are built to be so youthful, but his energy is contagious, and the children love his performances. But Amil’s story isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. His father, the puppeteer, was a lonely man, who much like Gepetto who created Pinnochio, wanted a son. He built one in Amil, hoping maybe some far off fae would grant his wish for a human boy, but no such luck was to be had. Amil didn’t care, he was happy just as he was, but his father was not. The poor boy was never good enough, and when the curtains were closed, he was treated horribly, unable to escape and call out for help. Eventually, things got so bad that the little puppet ran away, seeking refuge in the palace, begging for sanctuary. Loraine was the one to graciously let him in on that cold, stormy night, and he was rescued. Through a difficult trial, his father was imprisoned for his abusive actions, and Amil was free. He eventually went to work as a stagehand for the ballet, only to perform again occasionally after all those years of being worn down.

All three have since become good friends throughout the years. There’s two more for us to talk about in their merry little band, but one must wait, and the other, well, I think you know who it is. For now, though, we rest, until it is time for another story.~

Thank you all for tuning in, if this interested you, don’t worry, there’s a heck of a lot more where this came from. The Doll Mender is a story I plan to do great things with, and I hope you’re ready to take the journey with me to turn these past two years’ content into something wonderful! ^^ If you have any questions or want to know more, my inbox is always open. I’d love to hear what you think and if there’s anything specific you’d like to see! ^^

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shy-violet-soul · 6 years

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Together Again

Summary: When Hannah visits Manda, serious discussions on the merits of Disney movies are interrupted when a hidden talent comes to light. Pairings: none. Hannah, Manda, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Castiel, & Jack Warnings: none; fluffy garbage one shot Word count: 1300 ish A/N: I’ve been so tickled at the excitement of my friend @pinknerdpanda over the anticipated visit of her twinny @hannahindie. So, under the influence of pneumonia, I wrote this silly one shot just for them. I hope you’re both having a great time, HanPan!

“I just don’t understand the appeal. I mean, there’s literally dozens that are better.”

“It’s just a movie, Dean.”

Dean frowned at Sam as he stirred.

“Sometimes it’s like I don’t even know you. It’s never just a movie, Sam.”

Sam rolled his eyes as he placed forks and napkins down on the tray.

“I’m just saying that ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was a big deal. It helped to usher in the Disney Renaissance. Did you know it was only the second movie to use computer animation? They had transitioned from hand painting to xerox, and the best scene to showcase the CGI was the ballroom dance sequence. And, they actually reused some animation from ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Plus-”

“La la la la la, you’re ruining the magic with all your facts and trivia, Sam!” Dean burst out, fingers in his ears. “I’m just saying that ‘The Little Mermaid’ is clearly superior.”

“Right, like I didn’t catch you humming ‘Gaston’ when I came in here,” Sam scoffed, taking the bowl of guacamole Dean handed him.

Dean scowled as he pulled the baking sheet from the oven. “Shut up.” With a final dusting of salt, the food was done. “What do you think?”

Nodding appreciatively from the morsel he’d snitched, Sam gave him a thumbs up. “Another good batch, Dean.”

The elder Winchester grinned as he sidled the steaming nachos onto the tray. “What can I say? No one shreds cheese like Dean, or spreads beans like Dean.”

Sam rolled his eyes again, groaning as he followed his brother to the man cave. Cas and Jack stood just beyond the door, whispering to each other amid the chorus of dancing notes and girlish giggles.

“So, it’s a cartoon movie about a man turned into a large animal who falls in love with a girl?” Jack wanted to know.

“Yes. But an animal of that physiologic structure would be unable to walk upright on its hind legs for such extended periods of time,” Cas explained seriously. The nephilim nodded, peaking into the man cave carefully.

“And what is a ‘hanpan’? I’ve never heard that word before. Why do they call themselves that? Is it a club or league of some kind?”

“Not entirely. They’ve chosen to create a portmanteau using their names. Han for Hannah, and Pan for Panda.”

Jack frowned in confusion. “But Manda’s name is Manda, not Panda.”

“That is correct, but her Tumblr name is Panda. She likes it. So, when she and Hannah are together, they call themselves Hanpan.”

The younger man nodded pensively. “So, it’s like ‘Destiel’ or ‘Sabriel’? Are those also portmanteaus?” he queried as Dean and Sam paused behind them.

Both men and the angel of the Lord groaned, their heads dropping in pained exasperation. Dean glared at Sam as he moved to step forward.

“I blame you for showing him that hell site.” Waltzing into the dim interior of the man cave, Dean slapped a smile on his face. “Alright, ladies! I interrupt this monstrosity to bring you my own personal creation - Dean-errific Nachos Supreme. With homemade guacamole, I might add,” he declared, setting the tray down before them with a flourish.

“Dean! That’s awesome!” Manda scrambled to pause the movie, smiling up at him amid pixie-blue curls.

Hannah’s reaction was different. “Dean! Knock first, you dork!” she squealed, shoving the item in her hands down into the couch cushions.

“Knock? I live here,” Dean countered, flinching a bit from the glare the other girl shot him. “I’m even sharing my beer!” He gestured at the tray with a conciliatory motion.

Manda cackled as she forked some cheesy goodness onto a plate and handed it to her friend. “You just took her by surprise. She’s working on a present for you.”

“Manda!” she hissed, her eyes narrowing adorably. Dean perked up at the words.

“A present? I love presents! What is it?”

Hannah frowned, twirling a lock of honey-colored hair around her fingers. “It’s not porn or pie.”

Dean crossed his arms over his chest, trying to look offended. It was hard when Manda’s visiting friend was so cute.

“I do have other interests than just pie and porn.”

“Oh, yeah? Name one.”

Dean’s brain froze for a moment, but Manda beat him to the punch.

“Disney movie anthems. Baby. History on the Vikings, especially now that the show is on Hulu.”

Hannah grinned up at Dean as she picked up her plate.

“Disney movie anthems, huh? I bet you can belt out ‘You’re Welcome’ like it’s nobody’s business.”

Manda chortled around a mouthful of nacho.

“You should hear him own ‘Let it Go’. Gives Idina a run for her money.”

Tail feathers a bit stepped on, Dean poked an annoyed finger at Manda.

“That song revolutionized Disney. Elsa came into her own in that song.”

“Whatsa matter, Dean? You need a warm hug?”

The girls fell into stitches as the hunter scowled at both of them. Manda nudged her friend with her foot.

“Seriously, show him.”

“But it’s not finished!”

“He’ll love it. C’mon.” Manda smiled up at Dean. “She’s really, really good.”

Interest well and truly caught, Dean turned his most charming smile on the other girl.

“Just a peak? I’ll make my famous Snicker-snap cookies,” he wheedled. Hannah huffed and sighed before digging back into the cushions.

“Just remember, it’s not done, and my pattern isn’t the greatest, so I’m having to improvise my work in places.”

Dean carefully took the small wooden hoop in his hands, his eyes and mouth falling open as he perused the fabric.

“Guys! Get in here and look at this!”

On the fabric was cross stitched ‘Driver picks the music, Shotgun shuts his cake hole.’. Below the letters was painstakingly worked an image of the Impala. A second one had been started on the opposite side, the needle and black thread poked through to mark her place.

Jack looked at Hannah in wonder.

“You made this?”

Hannah squirmed a little under everyone’s gaze.

“Yeah.”

“Hannah, this is amazing! Can I...would you make one for me?” Sam asked hesitantly, one finger brushing the edge of the fabric.

“Uh - sure.”

“I enjoy the simple font and blocking of the letters. The use of tiny x’s to create images and patterns is very pleasing,” Cas intoned, studying the work intently.

“Hannah, can you teach me how to do that? Is it super hard?”

“Sure, Jack. I can get you started on something simple. There are some that have the pattern printed right on the fabric. I’m here for four more days, Manda and I will take you shopping. Sound good?”

The younger man’s smile was huge as he rushed out of the room, headed to his laptop to start Googling, they knew. Cas and Sam soon followed, both talking about the intricacies and hand-eye coordination needed for such talent. The girls stared up at Dean as he stared at the work.

Dean swallowed, then swallowed again. He had to clear his throat before he shot Hannah a huge smile.

“Awesome. This is - wow. You’re awesome,” he grinned, shooting Hannah a wink that melted her as he handed the hoop back to her. Then, he stood to his full height and pointed at both of them. “I’m making those Snicker-snaps, and when you’re done watching this trash, we’re watching ‘Frozen’.”

And with that, he hustled out of the room. Hannah turned to Manda, a bewildered smile on her face winking the dimples into place.

“Wow.”

Manda smiled at her friend, crunching her nachos happily.

“Yep. And we’re getting cookies. Let’s fire up the movie because he won’t let us finish it if he’s done first.”

Hannah revisited her pattern as she took up her stitching while Manda pressed play. Their giggles filled the room watching Cogsworth’s and Lumiere’s antics. They didn’t really care if they got cookies or not, or if Dean interrupted the ending to watch ‘Frozen’. They were just happy to finally be together.

#dean winchester #Sam Winchester #fluffy garbage #supernatural #pinknerdpanda #hannahindie #hanpan

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kyberled · 8 years

Note

☀ ♦ ♥ ☢ ✖

the salty af munday meme

☀ What’s your rp pet peeve? –> Ship forcing. This is literally the best way to get me to unfollow or even block another mun. I’ll explain what ship-forcing is below, but yeah, that’s one of them.

♦ What was a mildly annoying thing that has happened to you rp wise? –> See above. It happened once on my Warren blog, and once very recently on here. Now, a bit of a definition, here - I don’t see ship-forcing as asking me if I want to ship, or saying your muse has a crush on Braig - heck, that can be flattering (though I prefer if we know each other, first - it can get a bit uncomfy for me, kind of like virtual catcalling, I guess, when complete strangers tell me how attractive they think Braig is). I don’t see it as someone’s muse having feelings for Braig, one-sided or otherwise. All of these things are A-Okay, and can be quite fun, too! What I do see ship forcing is when someone asks if they can ship with Braig, and instantly, as soon as I say ‘we can give it a try’, deciding that our muses are suddenly soulmates, even if they’ve hardly said four sentences to each other, before. I see it as asking to ship, then immediately dropping the thread where they were actually in the process of meeting each other to have them now in the middle of a date, which, given the context of where, when, and how said date was taking place would likely have gotten them both killed. I see it as pestering Braig to do something ‘romantic’, having both Braig and I say no, he doesn’t want to, and the other person keeps pushing, regardless, or getting upset when Braig decides to respond with something not romantic and replying to that with some rude, snarky comment. ‘Uh, I think [muse] wanted Braig to do [X], actually’ - Yes, that has happened, before. I’ve been vagueblogged about, spammed on and off anon, been told I’ve made peoples’ depression/anxiety worse, had on-blog events ruined and muses killed and simply been harassed at all hours of the day because of ship-forcing and my trying to deal with it gently and politely, instead of just flat-out saying ‘no’ or ‘I’m not comfortable with this’. So, if it ever seems like I’m coming down too hard on someone in regards to shipping, I swear I don’t mean to come off as abrasive or rude - I just learned the hard way that you’ve gotta be blunt about your comfort zones or else things go south faster than a flock of geese on an adrenaline high. Basically, to sum this novel up: As long as you respect my boundaries, we’re good; if I haven’t told you you’re skeeving me out, we’re good. If I have told you you are, and you keep doing whatever it was, we’re not so good.

☢ What fads/trends are you so over? –> I don’t really keep up with trends enough to know lmao. I mean I guess I’ve seen a few, but they don’t really bother me. You do you, and all… Though, I guess I never entirely understood the whole ‘personified objects’ thing? I mean, you do you, and all, but it just never made sense to me.

✖ How has Tumblr RP changed since you started? –> It hasn’t, not really. I think the only real changes have been purely aesthetic, like small text, contained themes, etc. I really don’t care what other people do, as long as they’re happy and not hurting anyone.

♥ What’s the WORST thing that has happened to you rp wise?

[Under a cut for length]

Okay, so, I told two of my rp horror stories over on Xig, so I’ll tell my third one here. Since I gave the other two pseudonyms, we’ll call this one ‘Cheeper’. Cheeper was someone I had met when a mutual friend we’ll call Battery allegedly recommended my blog to them. Now, Battery was someone I had approximately zero problems with. Really friendly, sweet guy, talented writer, great sense of humour, one of my favourite people to write with. So, I figured, if Cheeper was a friend of Battery’s, they must be cool, too, right? … Wrong. So, things start out okay-ish, as they always do, but things get downhill pretty fast. Starts off with small things, like ignoring asks or dropping literally all of our threads without letting me know. And I understand wanting to drop threads or not being able to get to everything in your ask box, but when that happens consistently, it gets a little disheartening.

The next little thing was when they started making AUs of my muse, and expecting me to write them. Lemme say here that I am totally fine with people suggesting AUs for my muses. That’s where this blog came from, Rodi suggesting a Star Wars AU where another one of my muses was Obi’s padawan, so, again, I’m fine with AU prompts. What I’m not fine with is when someone writing a really detailed version of my muse without consulting me at all, and then expecting me to write that AU they made with no warning and no problems. Cheeper comes into my IMs listing this novel-length AU detailing not only how their muse changed, but how mine did, as well. Basically, the entire idea was that their muse, who in canon was a big tank-type character who had been straight-up abusive to multiple characters, and turned them into a small, fluffy little mage who was actually a good guy and hadn’t done any bad things, and was being forced to do the bad guys’ dirty work, whereas my muse… Was suddenly the abusive one. For absolutely no reason. In a way that not only completely contradicted all of my personal headcanons - all of which were posted and easily viewable on my blog - but also went against all of what canon had showed us about my muse, and quite frankly made me really uncomfortable. I mean, you’ve seen some of the stuff I’ve written, you know I’m down to write some pretty messed up stuff, but to straight up turn my muse into a child abuser, WITHOUT CONSULTING ME AT ALL, just so your muse can be the good guy? That doesn’t fly so well. On top of that, writing such a detailed version of my muse and expecting me to play it for you? Why not write it yourself? I mean like I said, I am thrilled with AU suggestions, but, hell, keep it to a sentence or two, tops. Let me experiment and develop my muse to fit the AU myself, thanks. … And, while these things were pretty irritating, especially when a few of them happened over and over again, it got worse.

A lot of the time, when I’m having OOC conversations to get to know another mun before we start writing together, I look for a sort of ‘spark’ or ‘click’ - something that shows this person and I are gonna get along. For a lot of people, including my favourite partners, this click is basically immediate - just this instant ‘wow, we’re gonna be good friends, this is great!’, and, for others, it takes a bit longer, and that’s totally okay! Some people take a while to open up, or maybe it wasn’t a good day for one of us, I totally get it, happens to me, too. How quickly the click happens has absolutely NO BEARING ON MY OPINION OF A PERSON WHATSOEVER. There have been I think only three or four times I haven’t clicked with someone - twice on Warren, once on Xig, and once here. If I message you first, send asks, tag you in things, like your posts, etc, we’ve clicked, don’t worry. Anyway, Cheeper was one of these rare occurrences where there was not only no click, there was the opposite of a click. At first I thought it was just ‘cause our first convo was a bit awkward - from what I remember, it was basically just ‘hi, My name is [Cheeper], I’m [Battery]’s friend and he recommended your blog so I thought I’d give you a follow’, you know, typical ‘hi, nice to meet you’ type thing, I didn’t think much of it. Unfortunately, that was the only pleasant conversation we had.

You see, Cheeper had the habit of starting conversations with some variation of ‘how are you?’. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Well, in typical Canadian fashion, I always did my best to follow social protocol and be polite, and say ‘I’m good/fine/great, thanks, how are you?’, and, much like Han Solo, I learned that there are some situations you shouldn’t ask that question. Every time, without fail, Cheeper would say some variation of ‘bad’ or ‘horrible’, and proceed to dump literally all their life’s problems on me, and I mean all of them. I’m perfectly fine with letting my friends vent/rant to me as much as they need, and offering advice is a pass-time of mine. But, I had only known this person for- Less than a week, when this started (I hardly even knew their NAME I had to look it up on their blog), and they kept going on and on about some really personal shit, like hours of how they hated their job and school was stressful, and their family was aphobic and never used the right pronouns, literally everything about their personal life, no matter how private it was, just- Constant negativity, all the time. It was literally all they spoke about, ever. I don’t know anything else about them, just that their life was terrible and they decided to use me as some sort of verbal stress ball. Even if I tried to divert the conversation to a different topic, or just ignore them entirely, I’d still get floods of negativity and complaints. And what makes it even better? They had a frickin therapist! This person, who had a professional, trained therapist, would spend hours unloading all of their mental/emotional burdens on me, an untrained stranger who had only said ‘hi’ to them once. And, after they had dumped all their baggage on me, they’d say, ‘oh, gotta go, it’s time to go to my therapist’. And, honestly? That was the only time I felt safe to post on my blog. Yes, you read that right - it was the only time I felt safe to post on my own blog. I honestly could not make a post on my blog without Cheeper spamming my IMs with boatloads of stress-inducing negativity. And, call me selfish, call me insensitive, call me whatever you want, but, fuck, I had my own problems! I was in university, trying to get law school level grades, while working a part time job to try and help my family out when we were struggling financially, doing what I could to make sure there was enough food in the fridge for my younger brothers, trying to help my grandma take care of my grandpa, trying to keep up with my martial arts - which I have to do in order to keep my job - and trying to write multiple essays for both my younger brother and myself, as we were prepping for our black sash tests, but he was also trying to get into film school, so I’d volunteered to write the sash essays for him, and, let me tell you, I did not need to play counsellor to someone I didn’t even know on top of that. And, like I said, this happened constantly, and I’d get a new flood of messages every time I so much as hinted at being online.

And believe it or not, it got worse, Sakrine.

I remember there was one conversation we had (’conversation’ being used loosely, of course) towards the end of our interactions where Cheeper was complaining at me, as per usual, and mentioned how all of their friends were blocking them without saying why. Funnily enough, I was planning on blocking them soon, myself (probably should have done it a long time ago). But, lo and behold, right after saying how they were always getting blocked, Cheeper goes and says ‘but you’d never block me, so at least I have you. You’re my best friend, Jay’. And I’m sitting here really uncomfortable because, uh, no, we’re not best friends, and I have no idea what gave them that idea, since I never told them anything of the sort, and in fact barely spoke to to them at all, both because I didn’t much care for their company, and because I could hardly get a word in edgewise - and, even if I could, how does one respond to a total stranger badgering you for advice on how to deal with their family not handling their being out well? I’m not out to my family, and I don’t think I ever will be, so, again, how can I give that sort of advice to someone I don’t know?

About the time this was happening was when I met and was chatting with Rodi, who’s actually one of my best friends and the light of my life. Like I mentioned above, it was at her suggestion that I decided to make this li’l OC mess that we know and love here. He was originally gonna be a verse on my other blog, until I realised that I’d have tags for a Jedi verse, a padawan verse, a Sith verse, etc., and that was too many for one AU, so I made a sideblog. Then, after only a day of having that, and a bit of encouragement from both Rodi and Milla (my main Talon), I made this stand-alone blog for my son, and I was having a great time.

Cheeper, however, was not, and made sure I knew it.

Now, my muse for that blog had been steadily dying, mostly because of this, but also for a few other, more minor reasons, and I felt way more comfortable here, was having more fun, and generally just enjoying myself way more on this blog than the other, so, naturally, this is where I spent most of my time. Within a day or two of my neglecting Xig, Cheeper pops into the IMs to complain about me, to me. Yes, I am dead serious, this is an actual thing that happened. They start badgering me to go back to my other blog, and, I dunno if this has ever happened to you, but, it’s really disheartening. I explained to Cheeper that I felt more comfortable on this blog (though I didn’t tell them why I felt that way on Xig; Perhaps I should’ve), that I had more drafts and asks on this blog, and that I had more muse for this character at the moment, so I’d be spending my time over here, at least for a little bit. Their oh-so-eloquent response was, and this is a verbatim quote, ‘boo, you suck.’ And I had absolutely no idea how to respond to that, so I didn’t. I just sat there, staring, feeling an interesting concoction of shocked, annoyed, and offended. About a minute later, they added a ‘lol, just kidding’, and proceeded to… Continue… To complain about me, as well as about their life and still expected me to give them advice and solutions I didn’t have. I’ve never had someone act more entitled to my time and energy as this person did.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking - ‘they were probably just some kid, Jay, young people can be like that at times, you’re taking it too hard’, and, hey, I thought so, too. I was nineteen years old when this was happening; Cheeper was around 24 or 25. Yup, this person was about five or six years older than me, and a grown-ass adult the entire time. And like I said, they were constantly acting entitled to everything I did, like I owed them something. There was another time where I’d actually gotten a bit of muse for my other blog back, so I went on, answered a bunch of asks, slammed out some drafts, sent some memes, answered some IMs… It was a really productive evening for me. Once I was finished, I came back here and got a bit more done. Next morning rolls around, and Cheeper messages me with ‘I miss you, dude. You’re never on Xig, any more.’ I tell them that, actually I’d been on last night, for a few hours, at least. Their response? ‘Well, I wasn’t on.’, after which they kept complaining about how much they missed my muse and my writing. I get this was probably supposed to be flattering, but it really wasn’t? Especially considering that, while they were going on and on about how much they missed me and wanted to write with me, they were completely ignoring the THREE STARTERS I had written for them in the weeks leading up to this point. Hadn’t even given them a like, which I like to do to let someone know that, even if I’m slow as all Hell - which I tend to be - I have seen it, and it’s in my drafts. So, I mentioned this to Cheeper, said ‘you know, I have a couple starters for you on the other blog, why don’t you check those out?’ ‘Oh, I didn’t see them, I’ll give them a look.’ And then, blissfully, they stopped messaging. Little while later, a few days, I got another message from them (keep in mind I never contacted them or interacted with them first, since, rude as it may sound, I was kind of hoping they’d get the message), and once again they were whining about how I was never on Xig again, so I went to check the starters again, and… Still no notes. So I ask them about the starters, and they say ‘I couldn’t find them’. You know how I looked them up? [my blog’s url]/tagged/[cheeper’s url], and, bam. There they were. I told Cheeper this and even sent them the link to their tag. They said okay, that they’d check it out later, and started complaining about their life again. I was serious when I said this was the only thing they talked about, outside of basically harassing me to write with them. Few days later, they get on my case AGAIN for not being on Xig/not rping with them. I check the THREE FUCKING STARTERS again, STILL NO NOTES. I ask, and ‘oh I just don’t have muse for them right now lol’. And I’m left sitting here like, okay, do you really want to write with me, or are you just mad I’m not dedicating all of my attention to you and your godawful AU muses? I mean, I have NOTHING against AU muses - that’s where this kiddo came from, after all - but AUS WHERE THEY PUSHED MY CHARACTER TO BE A FUCKING CHILD ABUSER WERE APPARENTLY ALL THEY HAD MUSE FOR. And my character was a moral fuckhead I admit but he WASN’T OVERTLY ABUSIVE THAT WAS ONE OF THE REASONS I WAS COOL PLAYING HIM AS THE ANTAGONIST HE WAS AND JUST. And as well, when I have no muse, it’s apparently a major fuckin’ disaster and they complain to the ends of the earth about it and go on and on about how I should still be writing that character and how much they miss me, but when THEY have no muse I have to accommodate it and make allowances and write with them anyway???? Like???

So anyway yeah they proceeded to ignore those starters for months, and every time I posted a new starter call,they’d like that, I’d post a starter, they’d completely ignore it, then come crying and complaining to me, berating me and all but sobbing about how much they missed me.

BUT IT GETS WORSE STILL, SAKRINE.

After a while, Cheeper starts asking me about Star Wars. And I’m torn between ‘fuck no, this is my new safe place, and I’m TRYING TO BE SAFE FROM YOU’ and ‘well maybe if they get into this series they’ll stop getting upset with me for not writing on a blog I have no muse for and am not comfortable on’. So they ask me what they need to watch to understand Star Wars. I tell them to watch the movies, since those are the unchanging canon, no matter what Disney did to the Legends material. Apparently they don’t even have the attention span for their favourite show, so they can’t watch the movies. They complain to me about that for a while, because apparently I care. I did not. I tell them that everything Star Wars - or at least, in the era I write in - revolves around those movies. I tell them they can just watch the PT (and explain what the different trilogies are) and that will get them caught up with where I write. Nope, can’t do that. So I tell them there are book versions of the movies they can read, instead, and there are also comics and stuff they can look into if that would be better.

Nope, don’t have the attention span for books.

Complain about that to me for a while, then ask what they absolutely HAVE to watch to understand.

I tell them about the Clone Wars show, give them a link to the relevant KissCartoon page. They ask how long the show is - I tell them the number of seasons (mention that 6 is unfinished), and the average length of an episode.

Nope, don’t have the attention span for that, either.

They reiterate that they hardly have the attention span for their favourite show, and once again complain to me before asking me what the /HAVE TO WATCH/ to understand.

I tell them that they’re free to try interacting with my muse on their KH blogs, since I’m open to crossovers and still, for some ungodly reason, trying to be civil.

They keep asking about star wars.

I mention the video games.

Don’t have the attention span for video games.

So this person, who apparently can’t watch movies or TV shows, or read books or comics, or play video games, is asking me what source material they need to know to roleplay a Star Wars verse.

I, as a last-ditch and mostly sarcastic effort, give them a link to Wookieepedia. I’m a terrible person, I know.

…

They don’t have the patience to look through the wiki pages.

I’m all but smashing my face against the keyboard now, while this person is COMPLAINING TO ME ABOUT HOW LONG STAR WARS IS.

I mean I get it’s a lot but I tried to break it down?? And last I checked I’m not George Lucas like I’m sorry but it’s not my fault, my problem, or in my power to change? And I tell them it’s 40 years worth of worldbuilding and try to help them break it down again and they just KEEP FUCKING COMPLAINING.

And after like. Two hours of me trying to reason with them and help them out they say ‘I’m not even interested in star Wars, I just want to write with you’.

And now, maybe I’m reading into it too much. Maybe I listen to too many narrated Let’s Not Meet videos too late at night. But holy shit, I have never felt like I had a legitimate stalker until that moment. It was one of the most uncomfortable things that has ever happened to me. I had zero idea how to respond, and so again I don’t think I did. Or, if I did, it was to again try to explain to them that there was a lot of material, and they should [leavemethefuckalone] focus on things they were interested in, especially if they didn’t think they could handle just the show. So they complain to me about that for a bit, before moving on to other topics to whine about. Always comes back to how I’m not writing with them any more (meanwhile, the countless starters I’ve written them are still being ignored, as are any and all threads we had on the go at the time. Everything’s either been ignored, abandoned, or both, all without letting me know.).I honestly don’t remember how that conversation ended. Just thinking about it makes me blank out and get a sort of mild pins-and-needles feeling. I mean, I get it was probably supposed to be flattering, and if we had been friends it might have been, but coming from this person? Alarm bells were ringing like a retro emergency evac PSE.

AND IT GETS WORSE STILL, BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON I STILL PUT UP WITH THIS PERSON.

So, enter me, just going back to uni for the spring/early summer semester. Our stage sets itself in my campus’ bookstore, at about noon or one o’clock in the afternoon. The line from the bookstore stretches from the counter, at one end of the store, wraps around the perimeter of that very large, very spacious room that was at one point a lecture hall, goes through the hall to the next room which also used to be a massive classroom, wraps around that and goes out the back door. I had to get up for an 8:30 that was across the field that day. I had non-stop class until this point, I had had no breakfast (though I think I had a sip of orange juice to keep from conking out), I had been waiting in line for close to an hour, my arms were full of heavy textbooks I dreaded having to pay for, and I only had one hand free for typing, and there was a chance I’d be late to my next class if this line didn’t get moving. As you can imagine, I wasn’t much in the mood for talking (though I think I made the effort for Rodi and Maddie (my best friend from public school who I still talk to) since I enjoy talking to them and it made me feel a bit better). Anyway, I’m in line, tired, irate, and scrolling through tumblr, and Cheeper messages me with a ‘hey’. Oh fuck, I think, this isn’t good. I greet them anyway - just a ‘hi’. I’m only giving one word answers at this point, since I’m not in a chatty mood, and, as I mentioned, I’m typing with just my thumb and that fucking sucks and takes forever, and I’m also trying to keep my place in line. Cheeper starts asking me about school, and I’m very confused, because never once in the months I’d known them had they ever taken an interest in me or my life. ‘so you’re in university right’ they ask. I remember most of this conversation word for word, and you’ll see why. ‘yeah’, I reply. ‘What year?’ they ask; ‘Second \o/’ I say, adding an emoji b/c I love that one. ‘Cool, what’s your major?’ they ask, and I’m getting hopeful that maybe they’ve turned a new leaf and my patience with them has been rewarded. So I tell them ‘Classics \O/’ with a slightly more excited emoji, and they tell me that’s cool, mention their major is in foreign languages - I think Chinese? Maybe Spanish? This is the one message I can never remember in its entirety, because the next one almost knocked me over. I replied with ‘cool’, and a half second later, Cheeper asks,

“Are you out to your family yet?”

This complete fucking stranger, this grown-ass adult I barely knew, straight up asked me if I was out to my family, yet. I have never been asked that question before or since. I am out only to people on tumblr, and a small group of my most trusted friends from high school. And this person had the fucking audacity to ask me right out if I was.

I was shocked.

I will not lie to you, I almost dropped my phone. I think I stopped breathing for a second, and I nearly lost my place in line. I was torn between just being frozen and being fucking livid. After a moment when I didn’t respond, they added, ‘Can I ask that?’ And I swear those two messages are tattooed into my mind.

“Are you out to your family yet?”

Holy fuck.

So I manage to collect myself enough to type out ‘no, I’m not’.

‘Damn,’ they say. ‘Because my mom keeps messing up my pronouns and I wanted to know if you have any advice.’

Because why the fuck else would they care about me, right?

And then they proceeded to complain about their life and their aphobic family to me AGAIN, for HOURS, but at that point I’d been ignoring their messages and was instead talking to Maddie for advice on how to handle the situation. I had no idea what to do. I was lost. Like. I wanted to block them so bad but they’d been subtly guilt-tripping me about it for so long (’you’d never block me, you’re my best friend’ was just the start of that, tbh) that I felt bad for it? And Maddie was just like ‘jay no that’s fucked up get rid of them’ and I did.

I have never once regretted it and holy fuck it feels amazing to get this shit off my chest.

And yeah, so.

That was one of my worst RP experiences.

Are you out to your family yet.

I’d sell them to Satan for half a stale corn chip I swear to Christ.

#n1hr1k #&& give the sun a head start; ooc #I wrote you an essay sakrine im sorry #&& as best i can; answers

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furederiko · 7 years

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Here's the 3rd, but probably not the last Random News Digest for April...

X-Men Universe

Looks like 20th Century FOX has found its superhero niche, that's able to place the studio on a similar level to its more popular Marvel counterpart, Marvel Studios. And that is, the R-Rated department! Yes, following the success of "Deadpool", now "Logan" has secured its place as the fourth highest grossing R-rated movie of all time. So while the studio might not be able to catch up the financial and critical success in the PG-13 department, it's going strong in the older-oriented market with approximately $598 million cume. Currently finishing its seventh weekend run, the critically acclaimed "Logan" is only $13 million away from taking over Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" that's still sitting on the third place. There is a possibility that it might get dethroned, but with the Summer movies like "Fate of the Furious" entering the competition and massively snatching away public's attention, things are definitely not quite so certain anymore. I guess we'll have to wait and see how the movie performs this week, right?

Earlier today (my time region, so I believe it's... yesterday in the US?), Josh Brolin trolled actor Ryan Reynolds via social media, now that his involvement in "Deadpool 2" has been publicly confirmed. True to his character Cable, and his long tumultous history with Deadpool, Brolin's making fun of the movie's lead by calling him out with '#ryanreyondsismybitch'. Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige confirmed very recently, that his studio does NOT prohibit its actors from starring other superhero character in other studios. Particularly, in regards of Brolin's double roles. So I'm guessing Brolin gets to have the best of both worlds... or should I say universes. He's a major supervillain in Marvel Cinematic Universe, but a crucial superhero in the X-Men side at the same year. Could one actor get any privilege cooler than that? By the way, is that the photo of him preparing for prosthetics? After all, Cable is a character with both human and robotic body. Seriously, with how comically accurate "Deadpool" depicted Piotr Rasputin/Collosus, I can't help but wonder how authentic Brolin's Cable would look...

Marvel Studios

Let's get the biggest and most important news out of the way first. James Gunn is returning to write and direct "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3"! Revealing this huge information in advance, just ahead of the first US press junket and screening of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2", Gunn took to Facebook to express his heartwarming love and devotion to the franchise. Typical Gunn, to be honest, to not let himself be outdone by any journalists who would claim scoops and exclusives. Of course, this isn't actually surprising as much as a confirmation, because he HAD expressed interest to walk through the same cosmic road before this, albeit still in 'uncertain mode'.

If you ask me, this is a VERY wise choice, because that means we can expect the same style and tone moving forward to the 3rd and possibly final movie of the franchise. Why final? Gunn himself stated that the third movie "...will conclude the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and help catapult both old and new Marvel characters into the next ten years and beyond. I will be working side-by-side with Kevin Feige and the gang to help design where these stories go, and make sure the future of the Marvel Cosmic Universe is as special and authentic and magical as what we have created so far.". Does this mean it will help kickstart MCU's Phase 4, along the lines of "Iron Man 3" and "Captain America: Civil War" for Phase 2 and Phase 3 respectively? It's certainly looking that way. I have a feeling, we're going to see the likes of future heroes like Nova, Quasar, Beta Ray Bill, or future cosmic villains like Michael Korvac and many others being set up in this movie. Just imagine the interesting possibilities, right? Considering we already have a "Spider-Man: Homecoming" sequel dated for 2019, highly likely "Vol. 3" will snatch the Summer 2020 slot. For this one, I'm even willing to bet on it!

Speaking of press junket, yes, the first screening of the movie has been held just yesterday (Monday night, April 17th, US time). While official reviews are still embargoed until April 24th, 2017 12:01 AM PST, members of the press are allowed to express their thoughts on the movie via social media. As for the results... should we even be surprised if most of them are positive? Here, I'll put them on a list: - Eric Eisenberg of Cinema Blend was super happy and called it as "great continuation of the heroes". - Mike Ryan of Uproxx thought the movie was "very fun", calling out Baby Groot for being the scene stealer, and confirmed that there are more than one post credit scene. Gunn later openly confirmed and corrected that there are 5 of them! WOW. They are mostly included for the sake of fun, and it sounded like the press were only given four since the final, fifth one is being reserved for opening date. Hence why many journalists were saying they didn't saw five. This clearly puts "Vol. 2" to have the most post-credit scenes of any MCU movie to date. - Steven Weintraub of Collider said that the movie "kept a smile on my face from beginning to end" while giving "Tons of surprises". Alongside fellow Collider's reviewer Haleigh Foutch, he agreed that it was "surprisingly emotional". - Though he still liked the first movie better, Germain Lussier of iO9 chimed in with the emotional sentiment, and declared this movie "Another Marvel winner". - /Film's Peter Sciretta thought it was funnier than the original, and agreed with the 'ton of surprises and emotion' notion. While fellow reviewer Angie Han boldly called it "MCU at its very best", as she pointed out the vast color palette. - Fandango's Erik Davis stated that the sequel is "like a water-color acid trip full of awesome", and that many will consider it as "their new favorite Marvel movie". - Brandon Davis of ComicBook.com said he seriously loved it, and wished "it was never going to end". - Jeff Sneider offered one of the negative response among all. He thought it wasn't as good as the first, and that the "VFX threaten to swallow the film". - Last but not least, Joshua Yehl of IGN and Mark Hughes of Forbes put the least amount of words to describe the movie.

Now hold on a minute there. Allow me to be the pessimistic one here! Despite those cheers, somehow I feel a little suspicious to the 'lack of words' from these critics. It's as if, they are holding back on something, so now I'm more curious than ever to read their full reviews instead. I just hope I'm merely being overly pessimistic, and that this movie is equal, if not better than the first. After all, it's common sense that a sequel would be directly compared to its first movie, and that could spell either greatness or disaster in the result. Case point, for every "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", there's a "Thor: The Dark World", or "Avengers: Age of Ultron". Head over to various Entertainment Sites (like The Hollywood Reporter, Collider, Cinema Blend, and others) to check out more of these social media reactions in digest format, and help assure your ownselves whether these meant a good sign or not. Also, as we wait for the movie's Red Carpet Hollywood premiere tomorrow at 9PM ET/ 6PM PT, you can stop by on Marvel's official Youtube channel to check out the movie's latest trailer, teasing the coming of "Vol. 2" to theatres in just two weeks from now. One thing for sure, the sequel is primed to be one of 2017's 'Summer Surefire Hit', so Marvel fans shouldn't miss it for the world.

Meanwhile, "Homecoming" is preparing itself in the final stages as well, as Michael Giacchino began working on the movie's score. Not long after, news surrounding Logan Marshall-Green's mysterious role started hitting the internet as well. Based on an anonymous source, MCU Exchange reported that Marshall-Green, possibly alongside Donald Glover and Michael Mando are set to portray the live action version of The Enforcers. In the comics, these guys were featured as some of Spider-Man's earliest foes, and they usually served as henchmen for other big named super villains. Considering "Homecoming" has an obvious strong nod to Stan Lee/Steve Ditko's original works, this shouldn't sound too surprising. Even if it's clear their backstory are being modernly retooled to become the crew of Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes/Vulture. Something I don't think they have done before in the comics.

According to the site, Marshall-Green was wearing a name tag 'Brice' in one of the scene. This easily pointed his character towards the MCU version of Jackson 'Montana' Brice. Brice is also said to become one of the two Shockers in the movie, alongside Bokeem Woodbine's Herman Schultz. With that, they also speculated that Mando might be playing 'Fancy Dan' Brito, while Glover is possibly playing a version of Raymond 'Ox' Bloch. This character information might be inline with a rumor/report posted on 4Chan board (via Reddit). The whole content of this rumor, definitely sounds REALLY interesting, and should make any Marvel movie fans leap with joy due to what we can expect in the future. Although we all know that the source's credibility is questionable at best, it's fun to get excited nonetheless. Seriously, I'm NOT kidding. So if you don't mind a little spoiler and random geekish speculations, head over and read the thread yourself. Be cautious though, it might not be 100% true. Do it just for the sake of fun!

On top of all these news however, Marvel Studios made a surprise gesture as they held an actual Open House of their office at Burbank, California. Precisely two hours before the first screening to "Vol. 2"! They've invited members of the press for a meet and greet, allowing them to see what's currently in development and what's coming in the future. This is something the studio hasn't done before, and I certainly hope it won't be the last time either. In attendance were Studio President Kevin Feige, co-President Louis D'Esposito, directors Taika Waititi, Peyton Reed, and conceptual artist Andy Park, as they helped shed some lights on various topics. This ranged from behind the scene developments and out-takes, FX work-in-progress, important tidbits from upcoming movies, as well as an exclusive one hour Q&A roundtable with Kevin Feige.

For convenience sake, let's go through them with another set of list, shall we? - Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther" is set to wrap production in just a couple of days from now. D'Esposito showed an early sizzle reel that depicted scenes like: a casino fight, the coronation of one shirtless Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa, Danai Gurira's Okoye 'flirting' with Florence Kasumba's Ayo, car-flip stunt, Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia in action, and Andy Serkis' Ulysses Klau interacting with Martin Freeman's Everett K. Ross about a mixtape. According to Scott Mendelson of Forbes, he has heard before that the genre this movie will take on is akin to James Bond's globetrotting adventure. Looks like this footage might have implicitly confirmed such report. If that's the case, then Marvel Studios is scoring big time with "Black Panther". Not only the movie will be their first movie with a black lead, it's also the first James Bond-type action hero with one. Add to that, the likelihood of an LGBT nod between two female characters, this movie might end up carrying huge torch of importance for the MCU. - Reed and Park showcased their concept designs for "Ant-Man & the Wasp", offering all kinds of brilliant size-shifting action scenes. They also showed the new superpowered suits for both Paul Rudd's Scott Lang and Evangeline Lilly's Hope van Dyne. Yes, Lang will have a new suit, which will be necessary to the story. Reed named it the "3.0" suit. - Waititi revealed that his cameo in "Thor: Ragnarok" would be a mo-cap role, as he'll portray Korg, a character from the "Planet Hulk" comic book. The presence of Miek was also confirmed via footage that Waititi personally shown to the press. - On a separate place, concept art for Josh Brolin's Thanos in"Avengers: Infinity War" could be seen. Oddly, that's all there is for the movie. It's likely that things are being tightly wrapped for this production, to avoid giving early spoilers to the press. After all, the title of UNTITLED 2019's Avengers movie alone, might already be considered one. - Although not yet called official, a mockup costume of Brie Larson's Carol Danvers for "Captain Marvel" can be spotted on the studio. It seems to be taking cues from the comics, so fans can rest assured. For detailed description of this tentative Captain America-esque design, you can head over to Screen Rant. Also, the plan is for the movie to begin production in February 2018, as a female director might have already been selected to helm the movie. I guess we'll just have to wait for Marvel Studios to officially announce her to public. - In the Q&A, Feige stated his stance on R-rated superhero movies, and how Marvel Studios is unlikely to venture that route. He refused to comment on how Warner Bros is doing with their DC Extended Universe. But he himself admitted to be a fan of DC characters, so naturally he wishes them to do well. It's the kind of generous move I can only hope, someday could be replicated by those generally bullish folks at WB/DC, as impossible as that might seem. Feige even shared his enthusiasm and support for Joss Whedon's DC project, revealing that the former MCU consultant actually talked to their team about doing "Batgirl", waaay before the news went public! Now that's what I call respect... am I right? - Last but not least, Feige confirmed that Tom Holland's Peter Parker, will also appear in the currently UNTITLED 2019's Avengers movie. He said the deal with SONY has been extended until the already-announced sequel of "Homecoming" that's coming in 2019, but what happens afterwards remains in question for the time being. Oh, and that Marvel Studios does NOT have anything to do with any of the announced Spider-Man spin-offs (like "Venom" or "Black Cat & Silver Sable"). So obviously, those titles won't take place in the MCU. To those who are still wondering about that, there's your valid answer.

This event, as well as that report from 4Chan that I've mentioned earlier, will undeniably make any MCU fans happy. Of course, I actually don't need to remind you, but don't forget to book your tickets for "Vol. 2" that will arrive real soon. And this was just in several hours ago, but despite the existence of Disney D23, Marvel Studios is NOT skipping out San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) this Summer (held on July 20th to July 23rd)! That means, we can get more news surrounding the upcoming movies like "Ragnarok", "Black Panther", "Infinity War", and perhaps the confirmation of who will be directing "Captain Marvel". Maaan, it's such a good time to be Marvel Studios fans, am I right?

Star Wars

Star Wars Celebration 2017 (SWCO 2017) was held last week from April 13th to 16th, 2017, and as many had expected, some key information about the franchise were delivered.

The long-awaited, and much-anticipated first teaser for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has been released. I personally thought it looked okay, and somehow looking more ominous than 2015's "The Force Awakens". But of course, I'm not a huge Star Wars fans, so I don't think I'm qualified to judge this. It seems to be focusing more on Daisy Ridley's Rey, as she trains under the guidance of Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker. Perhaps, this movie is serving as some kind of Hamill's swan song in the franchise? Much like how "The Force Awakens" had Harrison Ford exited in a high note? Will we get to know more about Rey's back story? Who her parents are? It's currently unclear if writer/director Rian Johnson will be able to accomplish the same critical and financial success to J.J. Abrams. His enthusiasm did look comforting, but as always, we'll have to wait and see whether he'll deliver when the movie arrives later this year on December 15, 2017.

What truly stole the attention of almost every (if not all) attendees during the event, was none other than a strong melancholic tribute to the late Carrie Fisher. A special tribute video was released online in accordance to this, and although it didn't have as much effect on me, I'm sure "Star Wars" fans would appreciate it a lot better. In their own "Star Wars" way. As a follow up to this, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced that the late actress will not appear, as in digitally inserted, as General Leia in the upcoming Episode IX. That means Episode VIII or "The Last Jedi", which was Fisher's last movie before her untimely passing on December 2016, would certainly be her final "Star Wars" appearance in the franchise. This helped clarified the previous report, when Carrie's brother Todd and daughter Billie Lourd stated their permission for Disney and Lucasfilm to use her footage for the 2019 movie. Kennedy assured fans, that we will be seeing "a lot of Carrie" this December. While some fans have indeed expressed grieve and disappointments about this decision, some others agreed with Kennedy, that it was the right thing to do to honor the late actress.

On the TV side, comes a surprising announcement for fans. "Star Wars REBELS" is ending in its next, 4th season. Yep, this is the primary reason why this category is suddenly sitting in the borderline of movie and TV, because it goes both ways. Series co-creator and executive producer Dave Filoni, brought this news himself to the audience, accompanied by core cast members like Freddie Prinze, Jr., Vanessa Marshall, Taylor Gray, Tiya Sircar, and Steve Blum. He stated that adventure for Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, and their Rebel 'family' will come to a close in 15 episodes, and that it's going to be "A little dark, a little fun". Filoni admitted that ending the show was his decision, learning from unpleasant experience with "Star Wars: The Clone Wars". Eventhough "REBELS" is ending, Filoni did state that there will be more animated "Star Wars" stories in the future.

To be honest, considering the in-show developments that's getting more and more colossal for a TV budget, I didn't find this news to be THAT surprising. Although interestingly, this thing always happen everytime I'm on the verge of dropping a series. LOL. No really, I thought Season 3 ended in a good note, and I'm going to leave it at that. Knowing that the next is going to be the last season, obviously I've changed my plan. Of course, I do feel curious about where or how this show cannonically fits in between the movies. According to popular knowledge, it takes place before the events of the "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope". As far as I know (mind you, I'm still Star Wars illiterate, so pardon if I'm mistaken), there aren't any active Jedi present until Luke Skywalker become one in the movie. While apparently, Hera and Chopper are mentioned to be stationed on Yavin 4 in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story". Does this mean Kanan and Ezra will meet their demise in the final season? Hmmmm, intriguing.

Through SWCO's special panel for the series, the voice actors talked about what will happen to their characters. Marshall said, that members of the Ghost will be "pressed to the very edges of their ability". Perhaps we might see her Hera Syndulla gets promoted to General, as revealed in "Rogue One" then? Blum's Zeb Aurellios is taking more of an uncle-figure, to what I assume to be Ezra. Filoni said that Chopper will get to show his "bigger heart" in this last season, considering he has been seen as cranky and grumpy in the previous three. Obviously, Sabine Wren will be dealing with her Mandalorian Civil War, as was hinted in the finale of Season 3. Sircar hesitated to say much about it, but teased that things might get ugly for her family, especially when a certain 'familiar' someone arrives. And by familiar, perhaps... the elusive Boba Fett? Prinze Jr. said Kanan will slowly evolve into the strong Jedi, joining the ranks that audience have seen before. Gray certainly said that his Ezra will make some great decisions this season, away from the dark side.

As for the guest characters, Forest Whitaker will reprise his role as the voice of Saw Gerrera. Saw's co-pilot Two Tubes will joining him this season. Genevieve O'Reilly, will be reprising Mon Mothma as well. We can presumably expect more "Rogue One" stars, jumping in for a quick inclusion. Ahsoka Tano's return is being teased, but not properly confirmed. Finally, Grand Admiral Thrawn's bodyguard Rukh, is also set to make his debut in the series. Warwick Davis will be voicing this role. Hints of these developments weren't specifically felt through the Final Season's official trailer that has been made available on Youtube, but it sure promised a serious, conclusive, and definitely explosive finale to the series. The first two-parter episodes entitled "The Heroes of Mandalore" have already been screened exclusively for attendees. Fans of the series, or those who ended up watching it like yours truly, should anticipate the return of the fourth and final season later when it premiere this Fall on Disney XD.

Marvel TV

Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." gained a boost of interest due the final arc of its currently airing 4th season, "The Framework". Despite that achievement though, in general the continuously declining ratings for Marvel's first MCU-oriented TV show remains a lingering concern. And it is made worse because the network, ABC, tends to not announce renewal for its shows until sometime in May. May 16th, 2017 to be precise, though individual confirmation might always arrive earlier than that schedule.

The good news is, Entertainment Weekly evaluated the possibility for most running shows with 'uncertain future', and deduced that at the very least, AoS will be given another season, even if just only one more. I think it's a good idea, as the showrunners are given the chance to conclude their run in a satisfying manner, tying up all the loose ends. The bad news is, with Marvel's "The Inhumans" stealing the network's attention, there's always the unexpected turnaround of AoS eventually getting axed early on, to clear out some excess baggage and schedule. After all, we've experienced this before with both the cancelled Marvel's "Agent Carter", and Marvel's "Most Wanted" that never even saw the light of day.

I'm aware that some, if not many fans would feel disappointed with this decision. Particularly when other networks are still on a hot-streak, as they renew their superhero shows over and over again no matter how the audience perceived them. But I for one, will not feel as bad if AoS eventually gets cancelled, or given just one final season. Looking on the bright side, the absence of AoS can pave the way for spin off shows like perhaps, Ghost Rider, or the actual Secret Warriors. Not to mention, any members of the AoS cast can then move on to star in a Marvel Studios' big screen production, right? No more scheduling issues that prevented the two divisions from properly crossing over. That would all be cleared up with the series' end. Mind you, things are not yet certain for now. Filming for Season 4 had already wrapped the other day, so I doubt even the showrunners and cast can tell anything in advance regarding their show's future. So whether you're rooting for the show or not, you better start crossing your fingers, to hope the best, while expecting the worse possible outcome as well.

As for "The Inhumans", it's also still unclear whether this 8-episode mini series will be a first season of more to come, or just this one off. It's likely that this new show is being set up as the replacement for AoS, but with Marvel Studios also planning a movie for them, things just become a little cloudy and murky to predict. One thing for sure, the mini-series might have recently cast actor Chad James Buchanan in a mystery role. Buchanan tweeted this hint, and then later deleted it, implying that he might be playing an important role. Considering I have poor knowledge on the Inhumans comics and its character, and also unfamiliar with Buchanan's previous roles (was he really in "Glee"? I honestly can't remember), I can't exactly predict who he'll be playing. Or whether he's any good. Perhaps an antagonist? A NuHuman, like writer Charles Soule had confirmed? Then again, it's always possible that he's just playing a random one-episode only character, not unlike Lewis Tan in "Iron Fist". So perhaps it would be wiser to not think too highly of him too soon.

Netflix

With Marvel's "The Punisher" effectively in post-production, we can expect promotional stuff for the new series pretty soon. Particularly as SDCC 2017 is coming in just around 3 months from now, and the high chance of Marvel TV's presence. One of the more likely giveaway to be handed over during the event, might very well be that one specially designed poster coming from the hands of Joe Quesada. For the time being, it's a freebie handed out to cast and crew, but I suspect fans are going to get a hand of it pretty soon as well. Quesada did a similar poster before this for Marvel's "The Defenders", and likewise, this poster gives us glimpse of Jon Bernthal's main character Frank Castle, as well as his supporting cast. You can check out MCU Exchange for their description of who's who in this poster.

It seems this show would be taking extra liberties, thus many things would be vastly different compared to the comics. MCU Exchange pointed out, that Ben Barnes' Billy Russo might not be set up as an antagonist. At least, not until the first season ends. Which isn't that much surprising, since we've seen the same slow-burn treatment in previous Marvel-Netflix shows, with Sacha Dhawan's Davos being the latest example. The good news is, we can stare at Barnes' charming face a lot longer before his character, assuming it's going by the book, gets roughed up to jigsaws. But the bad news of this approach? Well, it seems that once again, this show would be using the exact same pattern and premise of the previous shows, which might or might not work for everyone. Especially those who have sensed a repetitive painstakingly SLOOOW formula that's starting to make them feel... 'bored' with the Netflix Universe. Yes, I'll be honest, I'm one of those people. I'm personally hoping at least "The Punisher" will offer something fresh and different, to break new grounds, and not go through the exact same motions, scenarios, and story beats of its older brothers. Otherwise, I might just have to say no to it...

The Telltale Series

Telltale released a trailer for the first episode of "Guardians of the Galaxy" via Marvel's official channel. As far as I know, there will be 5 episodes just like previous Telltale titles, so there are four more coming after this. Clearly this release is timed real well to coincide with the worldwide premiere of "Vol. 2". The Guardians seems to be taking on Thanos in this series, but it's unclear if it will include more characters inspired by the movie. Anyways, Guardians, and in general, Marvel fans should look forward for this. I'm still a bit taken aback thanks to the character designs, but when it comes to video games, it's really the gameplay that really counts. So I'm wishing it will have better luck in that department.

Ace Attorney

Through their recent Nintendo Direct, the company announced that "Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2: Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Kakugo", or translated as "The Great Ace Attorney 2: Ryunosuke Naruhodo’s Resolution", will be available for Nintendo 3DS on August 3rd, 2017 for 5,800 yen retail-price, or 5,546 download-price. As a follow up to said announcement, CAPCOM officially released two new trailers for the game's new trailer. The first featured Sherlock and Van Ziek, while the second put Sherlock and Iris Watson in the spotlight.

A web demo has been made available through the title's official Japanese website, accessible on PC and smartphones. If you prefer to simply watch, then there are some gameplay videos you can watch online instead. You can found them on Youtube, through this link and this one. CAPCOM has listed story and character details, like Ryuunosuke's cousin Ryuutarou, and the case he'll be involved with. The company also offered several exclusive bonuses for those who purchased the game early. You can read these through the official site though it requires a bit of Japanese Kanji knowledge, or via Gematsu for the translated version. There are also two Special Edition sets: - The Great Ace Attorney 1&2 Limited Edition: Ryunosuke Naruhodo’s Adventure and Resolution, that will launch on August 3rd, 2017 for 7,200 yen. This will include both games, as well as a mini soundtrack album. Those who haven't purchased the first title might opt to take this one due to the discount price. - The Great Ace Attorney 2 e-Capcom Limited Edition, that will launch on August 3rd, 2017 for 9,800 yen. Pre-orders has begun on April 18th at 13:00 JST. This will include "Read Aloud CD" featuring the characters of the game, a Ryunosuke Naruhodo piggy bank, a "University Notebook", and a set of three pencils. Three exclusive coasters will be awarded to the first prints. This one's obviously for the Ace Attorney enthusiasts and item collectors.

Professor Layton

LEVEL-5's latest project in the popular mystery-puzzle series, the one that will feature Layton's daughter, has been officially renamed into "Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and The Millionaires' Conspiracy" (it was previously called "Lady Layton: The Millionaire Ariadne's Conspiracy"). A release date has also been announced. This new game will arrive on July 20th, 2017, for Nintendo 3DS in Japan, and on iOS and Android worldwide (available in eight languages). It seems the non-Japan version of Nintendo 3DS will arrive later in Fall, though that part is left unclear for now. Also currently unclear, is the pricing of the game.

As already revealed before, Katrielle Layton and her assistant, the dog Sharo, are the main characters of this game. She will go on a quest to locate her missing father, the great Professor Hershel Layton. London-based Katrielle is said to be "jack-of-all-trades and mystery-solving detective", someone who will take on any job and solve cases with bizarre ideas. While Sharo, is a... well, talking dog. There's going to be a new gameplay style with the hope of attracting new players, as solving smaller conundrums and puzzles is now necessary to complete a bigger goal. Thus the tagline for the game is "high-speed comical puzzle-solving story". Despite that, interactions with witty and weird characters will still remain the same, as the game divulges into a story of "dramatic developments and amusing incidents". Ain't that sound interesting! Well you can see it for yourself through the game's latest trailer. Looks familiar but also different, eh? I wonder how expensive this will cost, because I sure would want to play it. Even if only to find out what happens to Layton, and the identity of Katrielle's mother... XD.

Sonic the Hedgehog

A quick 1-minute footage for "Sonic Forces" also made its way through Nintendo Direct. This time around we get to see Classic Sonic in action. But not just that, the announced third character has been teased at the end of this footage as well. And... is that Tails? He looks like a cat or something like that, and it is said to be a 'New Friend', so definitely not Tails. Which begs the question... for a game that features two different timeline of Sonic the Hedgehogs, why would an external character becoming the third playable lead? Why not just give the spot to... say, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, or his other friends? Hmmm... curious.

Aside from previewing a cool futuristic main theme for "Sonic Forces", SEGA also debuted a new gameplay video for "Sonic Mania". This video showcased the co-op mode, with the female host playing Tails, as the two character scoured their way through 'Green Hill Zone' Act 2. Fans of the 8-bit era titles will be nostalgically delighted with this title. "Sonic Mania" is set to be released this summer for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC, while "Sonic Forces" is due out this holiday.

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