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plutoswrath · 3 years ago

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i’m sorry to annoy you with this again. i just look up to your kpop mixed with astrology content. but lucas’s neptune contact with his mc is going to annoy the shit out of me until this is fixed. the cloudiness that neptune brings to his public image is something that i think possibly fuels these situations further. false accusations and mixed perceptions based off of them is exactly what makes these scandals to continue on and on. and i’m sick of it. both sides ignore what the other is saying and it gets nowhere. neptune, the malefic bastard.

Hello! I saw your recent asks and I appreciate your words regarding my content, thank you so much for the kind words! <3

I will touch on astrolgy under the cut, but before this happens, I want to leave a few words. There's a reason why I didn't answer the previous questions I received (not only yours op) regarding the Lucas situation so far. For several reasons I didn't want to feed into any sort of (perceived) sensationalism in regards to the Lucas situation, even though I'd really love to look at the situation from an astrological point of view. That people are divided on this topic is to be expected, but I think the way it has been handled by majority so far is very bad. I really want to elaborate on my reasoning why we should rethink the way we talk about/represent the Lucas situation right now, but as this topic is very kpop specific everything will be under the cut.

My reasoning for avoiding any questions about it until now:

1. People already don't take the situation seriously enough: Regardless of what your standpoint is, I'd like for people to consider looking at it from a more critical point of view for a second: The allegations are not about him being exposed as ‘just a f-boy’ as some people make it out to be, they are more serious than that. Lucas allegedly manipulated and used these women for his own emotional/sexual/financial needs and ego boost. The fact that he has money and allegedly still used other people to provide financially for him just demonstrates the power play underneath it all. He abused his position of power as an idol, the power dynamics between him and fans who idolize him are plain and simple just completely off. Please think about the fact, that he allegedly decided who to date on at fansigns. This alone gives no security to any fans that want to attend fansigns in the future. TW SV: he also talked one of these women into having sex with him + doing it unprotected, which is not only emotionally/sexually manipulative/coercive and can possibly be traumatic for them but also heightens the risk for transfering STD's as END TW he was supposedly seeing people at the same time/cheating. In general, the behavior he gets accused of leaves trauma and is abuse, to be more specific abuse of power on multiple levels and his social position makes it just easier to continue abusing that power. As you've mentioned yourself op, there is a huge back and forth about the allegations, and I know people like to take situations like the one of Taeyong as an example to justify that not every public apology is real and that allegations turn out to be false years later, but I believe it's different this time and that the allegations that came forward were real. Even his cbar closed, a fanbase that works closely with Label V (!), that alone shows that there is 'at least' some truth to the story, or else his hardcore fanbase wouldn't have decided to turn their back on him in matters of just days. Also, all the 'jokes' and the portrayal of 'juicy gossip' people make about the situation just downplays and ridicules the possible traumatic experiences of the people that were hurt by his actions. If anyone decides to not believe these allegations until SM gives a more specific statement, that's fine, but please do so without making fun of the people who were victims of his behavior, as there is already little to no sympathy for them online. It makes it just way harder for any survivors in the future to speak out on their experience. People say it's 'nothing illegal, just morally wrong' but given the fact that he is also a person in power, the line between 'just' morally wrong and illegal can be very thin in some cases. And please overthink arguments such as: 'this is typical boy behavior for someone in his 20's'/ 'he's just an f-boy' or 'boys will be boys' because they are deeply misogynistic and we shouldn't normalize behavior like that, thus making the root of the problem actually way deeper than most people think.

2. WayV's future: This mainly goes for people who are fans of WayV. I know not everyone probably likes to hear this, but another thing why wild speculations, sensationalism or even possible defence about this situation should be kept on the low is WayV's career. I want to be honest here, but I'm scared for their future, their comeback for october has been cancelled for now and they are put on a hiatus for several months as far as I know. They were on a good path of gaining more and more recognition and establishing themselves even better as a c-pop group, but now Luca's reputation in China (their target audience) is as good as gone and that pulls all of WayV down to rock bottom with him. People really need to try seeing the story out of the eyes of the korean and especially chinese fans as well, their perception of the allegations (especially after the Kris Wu situation!) are way different and more serious than the ones of i-fans and i-fans have to accept that. Also, we all know how companies (especially SM) handle these type of situations: keep the people on the low till the storm has calmed down. But will the storm ever calm down for Lucas when his public image is basically destroyed, and thus WayV as well? What I want people to understand is that this whole situation affects WayV and their career directly, actually on the biggest scale possible. All the work so far is at risk to be for good and I think a lot of fans tend to forget that, things look especially critical for HenXiaoYanKun if WayV would be to continue/redebute/fall apart. It doesn't matter if Lucas talking bad about the members/the companies/shows he works with/for was real or not in the end, because unfortunately damage is already done, WayV's image (WayV= family) is already tarnished and WayV as a group will suffer from this. You summed it up with malefic Neptune the best actually: We all don't know the full confirmed truth about the situation and will most likely never know it. (small astro insight here as well, but part of Neptune is to accept fantasy for what it is: fantasy, and thus turn to cold reality when you're in too deep)

3. What O'd advice the fandom to do right now: Regardless of your opinion on the situation, what we as a fandom can do best right now is staying on the low, wait things out, and stop adding more fire to the situation with our actions and wait how the situation actually developes, since a) we can not fasten the process and b) a lot of rumors, false information and unnecessary details get exposed to mudd the waters and to discredit the statement of the victims as well. I've seen some strong reactions from both sides, but as someone who's a big fan of nct in general I really just want to say that part of the fandom throwing a fit on the internet leads basically to nothing, it actually only reflects even worse on nctzens/weshennies and thus on WayV's (and also NCT as whole) image as well. Things right now are handled internal, not extern. Whatever gets through to the public will be half of the story anyway. A lot of people seem to forget, that we talk about SM and all they care for right now is saving themselves economically (think about the domino effect this situation has on the whole group/company), so we will have to see what their final decision is going to be, if anything will happen at all. For now, be patient, wait and see. Last words: It's okay to feel hurt/confused/angry/drained. Even though most of us are aware that we dont know any celebrity's character, it's still hard to swallow and to digest because you were a fan of that artist. Let it take time and vent. Take a break from it if it gets too much! Talking about it to process your emotions better is okay and very valid, but keep in mind that you should not worsen the situation by doing so - it's already absolute chaos.

Also: This statement is by no means a direct attack to anyone or me trying to push my opinion onto you, just my two cents in how to handle the situation best right now, because our hands are basically tied. Also: agree to disagree. If you don't like that I side with the victims (unless there is an official statement that Lucas is proven not guilty, which I doubt, unfortunately) then so be it, but don't start a war in my inbox for our opinions differing.

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Now, to astrology:

Disclaimer: This analysis will not be very light-hearted, but remember that it's just a theory and not me trying to confirm anything!

First of all op, sorry for just answering you know, but I neded some time to think through how to adress this without adding to the fire with my astrological analysis! Boy, does the birth time fit the shoe right now. To be fair as I did my short rising sign analysis about him recently, I cancelled out every other fire rising except for Leo, because I got stuck on the ego part a bit. Anything for me made sense, as long as it highlights his ego, which by itself doesn't have to be a bad thing automatically, but there's always two sides of the coin as we all know.

I looked into the transits the past week and added a few asteroids/mathematical points as well. An anon before pointed to the full moon happening in his tenth house, conjunct his sun, etc. (I deleted the ask because I didn't know what was going on at that time and thought it was just the 'usual' rumors that once in a while get spread around, but after looking more into it I decided this was not the right time to stirr the pot in any kind of way or treat it as funny, hot gos). But yeah a full Moon in Aquarius happening in his 10th house AND on top of that Saturn in Aquarius, conjuncting that Moon and his natal Uranus in the 10th! Talk about destrcution of any stable foundation and a change in a public image! Honestly, looking at astrologically the way his public image just got radically destroyed over night, with Saturn and the Moon having been in a conjunction (in his chart it was in the 10th house) is kinda eery even. Talk about collective consciousness - not only exposing quiet literally the feelings of the collective, but also doing so in the favor of others and gaining collective emotional consciousness. Take this with a grain of salt (!), because we're still in a tense situation, but I'm tapping into the darker, unfriendlier side of astrology now. Taking his confirmed birth time, he has Nessus in Sagittarius in his 8th house and as I saw that I could feel myself shifting into the surprised pikachu face. I am not saying that this prooves the allegations whatsoever, but as you seemed to be very interested in anaylzing the case in-depth as well, the allegations fit his Nessus - jumping from partner to partner, carelessness (regarding physical intimacy as well), making people share all their ressources with him/finacial gain, and basically the whole jist of gaining control/being in a power position in intimate connections. Keep in mind that this is only one interpretation of Nessus though, Nessus can also show the complete opposite to someone 'turning to their dark side'. On top of that, his Nessus was conjunct transit Phollus the past week, so if anything, we can see that a large event triggered him to 'open his eyes' and face anything of an 'obstacle' that hinders him from seeing the 'truth' to a larger picture and his own nature/destiny. Pholus can symbolize change that will alter your perception of the responsibility you have for yourself and others.

But my latest new interest with these two asteroids aside (asteroids just add a little more nuance to a situation after all), I want to touch on Lilith too, since you (op) have mentioned Lilith before in one of your asks!

He has his Lilith exactly conjunct his Descendant when we consider his confirmed birth time. What happened just now can be seen as 'backfiring' of his actions, either Lilith embodying the women who expose him now for his 'inappropriate' behavior, but also simply fans shaming him now for his alleged manipulative/imoral behavior, especially shaming him about who he chose to date and how. Next to that, you've mentioned Lilith opposite Moon and it just makes me think about him possibly feeling very indecisive and potentially in denial about what he actually needs to be fulfilled in order to be emotionally happy and thus leading to him appearing to have this 'second, dark side' to him now. BML is not necessarily opposite the Moon in my opinion, it's just the side of the subconscious we don't really like to deal with and all we're told not to express and desire because it can be conflicting in the eyes of others (thus BML also leading to a lot of recklessness on the negative side). I think if we take the allegations into consideration, regardless of how much of it is true of it, it can be a good example what happens, when an opposition gets out of balance, as it also manifests outwardly a lot! Lilith shows in his 'double life' aka what he allegedly did with fans. Lilith wanted an outlet and found one by working behind the scenes. If we take in his supposed Taurus rising, which his Lilith is in an exact opposition with, it's a good example of what can lurk underneath the surface.

And of course, last but not least, Neptune and Sun conjunct his MC. People are quiet literally blinded by him more than they would like to think. Also: Lucas was always known for his 'flirty & charismatic' nature, this is another reason why people think we shouldn't be surprised he 'turns out to be like that in real life'. I'm not analyzing this argument right now, but what I think is very interesting is how Sun conjunct MC literally ties a good amount of their personality to their career - they want to be accepted and shine for their personality/big part of their individuality. Idols play a role, no matter how transparent they appear to us, but it's really funny how this 'image' of him melts almost seemingly with parts of his personality (almost af if you were to quiet literally sell your self) and as you've mentioned: Neptune only adds to that, unfortunately.

#replies #anonymous #might delete later??#idk depends if the situations gets even worse

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empty-dream · 5 years ago

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Just watched and read Tower of God

Aka Tower of Scandal

There is a so-called The Tower that can grant anything to anyone who ever set foot on its top. Among people climbing it is a girl who wishes to see the stars and a boy who has nothing but her.

When I saw the original author's name in the anime, I was like "Hm, cool but does it stand for anything tho?" When I found out, it's "Oh. No wonder they use the shortened version."

Imma make a general opinion here. See the reblog for Webtoon Season 2 and 3 as well as the deeper stuffs. (Although it's just gibberish in it)

The Webtoon is still ongoing, right now already hitting 3 seasons with 450+ episodes (chapters). Good lord that's a lot of chapters, and each of them is pretty long.

To put it in perspective, one chapter can fit 2 separate fights plus exposition, while usually 1 chapter of standard weekly manga has like 1 fight and side exposition. It took me a full week to read the webtoon and that already cut a lot of my sleep time.

One of the vivid experience reading the webtoon is the art improvement. Sure the earlier chapters are kinda amateurish, but overtime it gets better and even better. By the time it enters the later part of Season 2, every flashy fight scene is spectacular and the art style is solid A+.

The worldbuilding is amazing. The power system and lore of the world are explained really well and they are really interesting. The floors and sites that the cast visit have amazing visuals and stories. As for the tests, I can get by without actually reading the rules lmao. It's like a real adventure.

Lots and lots of characters. For Season 1 only, I love the dynamic between everyone in the batch, some friendly, some hostile, some mysterious. The ones that are really close are heartwarming. For Season 2 and 3, well let's say it gets rowdier and crazier.

Great character designs. Like, everyone looks different from various distinct races and with physical attributes. So many characters I'd like to draw. They also dress differently. Even their attires differ from arcs to arcs. Tower of Fashion, indeed.

I love the story about The Shoes in the King's Display Case. It really tells the problems with the Jahad princesses system and by extension the government of the tower. It’s one of the first signs that being in the tower, on a high position at that, doesn't sound all that glorious anymore if you're more on the humane side. The narration right now starts with Anaak Jahad, but later this is constantly explored from various perspectives with various motives.

Also btw this is one of the few media that realistically shows what will happen if you fight in a pair of high heels.

Look, I went here just for the girl-with-dream and boy-with-only-her story. I just thought hey that's an interesting storyline. Like it'd be cute, romantic, and maybe will be angsty after a while. Who knew the whole thing would be played like that.

This is like a shounen manga, except that there are more complicated political thriller, power abuse, and humanity issues in it. Many protagonist traits, among other things, that usually are viewed as good in other comics are now being questioned and deconstructed so thoroughly and mercilessly.

A lot of people say Bam's boring but let's be real, he's basically a baby. He literally lives in an underground cave alone until Rachel comes along. He does know nothing except her. Watching him getting to know the world in the tower and meeting new friends - essentially learning about the world outside that cave - is really fun to me.

Get yo self a boy like Khun, who will lie, cheat, beg and bribe to make you well. Not to mention kill and die for. Your name has to be The 25th Bam tho.

What is it with local smug light-haired boys being really close with the shy brunette boys???? The funny thing is, the chummy, attached-right-off-the-bat, no-personal-space atmosphere between them is pretty much anime original, compared to the webtoon. Now imagine when the anime reaches the webtoon Season 2 and 3, where even I went "Dude. Holy. Shit."

Rak best boy. Everyone and their mother loves Rak.

Keep an eye on Shibisu. Yes, that joke character with a purple tracksuit. You won't regret it.

*prostrate in front of Yuri Jahad* YOUR MAJESTY!!!!!! The shits that she pulls in the entire series *chef kiss till I die*

Tbh I am confused which ones are the correct spelling of the characters' names?

Convoluted multi-layered plot twists drama: *exists* Someone somewhere: All according to keikaku.

I really went 5 episodes thinking that is just Khun's multicolor hair instead of his bandanna what the fuck.

Mr. Lero Ro I admire you and your sensible ass.

No I won't say anything about Season 2 and on from the Webtoon here because the whole thing is a giant spoiler. But just a very important heads up: David Hockney is mine.

I knew Kpop boyband Stray Kids exists but this is the first time I listen to their works. The OP and ED songs fucking rock. They feel modern yet at the same time kinda ethereal. That high pitch <33

Also I like the OSTs in that I don't actually have a favorite track, but every track is suited well with the scenes. Apparently the guy, Kevin Penkin, is also the one who composed for Made in Abyss. No wonder I got the same vibe.

The anime adds lots of extra scenes but also redacts a lot of the webtoon scenes and exposition. As far as this writing, I personally don't think it's a major problem.

Tl;Dr: I was looking for a cute boy-girl story how did it become like this.

#tower of god #kami no tou #tog spoilers #random saying

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mysterylover123 · 5 years ago

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Does Bones have a BKDK ‘agenda’?

mysterylover123

The speculation I’ve seen so far about why Bones cut the flashback from the TodoBaku scenes in Chapter 164/Episode 79 is because they were ‘so preoccupied with BKDK in the new movie that they forgot about Bakugou’s development with Todoroki”. Which does raise the question, does Bones indeed have a BKDK shipping agenda of some kind?

The idea of an anime studio preferring a pairing and adding in tons of extra material to bias fans towards it is an absolutely founded suspicion. Clamp putting out official homoerotic art of Suzaku/Lelouch, that foot wash scene Madhouse added to Death Note between L and Light, Pierrot pretty obviously liking SasuNaru and Naruhina and throwing in tons of extra material for both; Studios do do this. They prefer certain pairings and they play them up. So does Bones have a BKDK agenda?

The answer I’ve found on examination is a resounding “YES”, but Ive preserved my ‘let’s find out’ tone of writing for the rest of the examination.

Well, let’s start with the OPs and EDs, the first original contributions Bones was able to make in the adaptation. “The Day” does indeed have a long sequence focusing on them, but it’s not unreasonable given the content of S1. “Peace Sign” doesn’t include anything in particular, nor do ED1 or 2. ED 3, “Sora Ni Utaeba”, does have a scene of Kacchan meditating about Deku and getting mad, then blasting towards him at the end and the match-cut with his eye. But this is pretty minor, and fits episode 2.24. ED3, “Datte Atashi No Hero”, is the first time an OP or ED appears to have an agenda of shipping these two, hardcore. LiSa’s song is, according to her, about their relationship, and the Fantasy AU ending has the mutual understanding shot at the end. But it also has smiling prince Shoto, Dragon Kiri and Uraraka greeting Deku, so other ships get a nod too.

“Odd Future” has very little, though one could interpret the snow behind Deku as meaning something romantic. “Update” does include the lines ‘love’ over and over again in the final shot where they stand together watching the stars, but others are there as well, like Shoto and Ochako. Aside from the symbolism of DVK2 in OP5, the rest of S3’s ops are pretty light on BKDK, as was Polaris and ED6, and our current OP too. However, ED7 did have those mirror shots of them brooding in bed, and growing up.

So yes, the OPs and EDs do have a lot of emphasized shots between them. But nothing too crazy. Let’s get into Filler, movies and changes to episodes now.

Season 1 features no filler and no overt tweaks to any episodes; the only bit of added on BKDK I can think of is Deku blushing as a kid during the flashbacks in DVK part 1. Nothing too dramatic in Season 2 either, as the filler ep is about Tsu and nothing is particularly altered from the manga, besides throwing in the Kabe-Don in Katsuki Bakugo Origin. OK, that’s a big besides, given the sexual implications of that in anime culture. Season 3’s filler ep has Bakugo challenging Deku to a swimming contest, but there’s also a bit of TodoDeku and KiriBaku and IiDeku extra teasing there, so again, nothing like a pure bKDK-based agenda.

The 2nd filler ep of S3 has a little BKDK, as does the film, but nothing overt. The film has a bit of KiriBaku agenda, given all their scenes together, and throws in extra TodoBaku (the first bit of extra TodoBaku, alongside Episode 58, that they tossed our way). S4 gave us Deku’s soft smile at Kacchan’s antics, and contemplating on the retake arc last ep, indicating that Bones is indeed including little nods. And now there’s Heroes Rising, though that one was Hori’s idea.

My theory is that Bones does kinda like the ship, but that they have started including more and more BKDK because of how popular it’s getting. Winning the Tokyo Tower contest for the film, the 12,000+ fanfics, the unceasing winners of the Popularity Polls….my guess is Bones knows how popular BKDK is, so they’re adding in more fan service of it. But they were adding in little bits since Season 1 (The cherry blossoms, the smol Deku blush), so saying they have a bit of a BKDK agenda might…not be inaccurate. They do throw in a bit of Fanservice for other ships too, like Izuocha, KiriBaku, Tododeku, and even TodoBaku a little.

But aside from the popularity of BKDK…I think it’s also the key relationship of the series. Everything at it’s core is about them, they’re the main characters and the main focus, so it doesn’t seem too silly to slip in lots of them. But they’ve never had trouble tantalizing other pairings before this, even if they always added more to BKDK than the others. So I don’t think they cut TodoBaku’s scene just because they like another pairing better. I mean, that wouldn’t make much sense anyway.

But that is what started this discussion, so now we come to the real main question. Is Bones downplaying TodoBaku for BKDK? Certainly, BKDK is the only platonic pairing in canon that they’ve slipped quasi-romantic fanservice into in the anime (the blush, the cherry blossoms, the kabe-don, all things that have more romantic implications than anything done with Tododeku or Kiribaku). This needs another closer look.

In Season 1, Bones doesn’t especially play up Todoroki, or his future significance. No extra glances that aren’t in the manga, no closeup shots on him when he’s not the subject of a scene, etc. S1 is pretty much a straightforward adaptation of Chapters 1-21, no filler added, no noticeable agenda either way. In S2, that remains the truth for most of the season. I did notice that Bones makes some small changes in season 2 to the framing on Bakugou in a few scenes, like In Episode 25 where he’s made to look especially menacing Pre-last match, or Episode 27 where Jeanist physically restrains him (not in the manga). I’m not sure what agenda that might push, if any, as far as the ships go.

The season added in a scene of Bakugou tutoring Kirishima, which is in one of the Light novels and not the manga. They also, of course, as I mentioned above, added in the Kabe-don in Katsuki Bakugo Origin, as well as that entire alleyway sequence. The filler episode has a small scene between Deku and Todoroki that could be read as shippy. But yes, in S2, Bones doesn’t add in any extra, non-manga Todobaku.

The drama CDs and Smash, interestingly enough, do. Neither seems to have a lot of Todo/Deku, but they sure like slipping in TodoBaku subtext. There’s 2 drama CDs where they get stuck together by villains who want to scandalize them with compromising photographs, and multiple Smash comics joking about how their heated interactions come off as sexual tension. Of course, Smash has fanservice for pretty much every ship at some point.

In S3′s filler ep, Bakugo does yell at Todoroki “you too” after challenging Deku. It’s pretty minor, but it’s new stuff. Everything for the rest of the Training Camp arc is manga-canon and straightforward, as is the hideout raid. No real playing up of any one pairing over the other. The PLE arc adds in some filler that does seem to be hinting at a slight Todo/Momo agenda, since it has her wonder ‘what would Todoroki do’?, and indeed if Bones has a Shoto Ship leaning in any direction, it’s probably that one. But nothing extra added to BKDK or Todobaku that wasn’t in the manga already.

Episode 58 and the movie, however, do add in TodoBaku scenes. Their same usual dynamic from before, of course. Bones seems to see TodoBaku as essentially, how a lot of the fans see them: Bakugou antagonizing Shoto and Shoto’s reaction being an unbrideled ‘meh’. They do depict them working together in the film, and having a secret grin - though that grin has to do with BKDK a little. In context, Baku is being soft that Deku and All Might won, Shoto sees it, and smirks, making him tsun-tsun.

S4 did add an extra scene in Filler ep 3 where they talk about their future plans. There’s an adjusted reaction from Deku in the next ep, where he smiles fondly at Katsuki. The new OP also doesn’t show Todoroki and Bakugou together, alone in any of the shots of them; they’re always separate, brooding about their own problems, when this OP could’ve been a good time to show them together. Outside of crowd shots, they don’t share the screen.

So yes, all in all, the conspiracy theory idea might not be so far off. Bones definitely does include little nods to BKDK that make it even shippier, and does seem to be downplaying TodoBaku a bit, at least more so than the Drama CDs. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, since at least unlike Naru/Hina vs Naru/saku, it’s unlikely to actually influence the series’ content - there is no actual love triangle here to be played up or played down, just fanon ships. Still, it is noteable.

#todobaku #bakudeku #studio bones

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fishoutofcamelot · 5 years ago

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(for the ask thing) any book/tv show/movie/song recommendations?

BRO! I heckin got you man! Now, I’m gonna skip the song and book recommendation bit because that sorta thing isn’t really my scene. BUT! In terms of TV? My rec list is like a mile long. I’m gonna include a read-more line, actually.

BBC Merlin: You know I had to put this on the list. But the fact that you’re on my blog means you’ve probably watched this one, so I won’t go into detail about it. Available on Netflix

Mob Psycho 100: Just a cute, sweet story about a bunch of psychic kids trying to kill each other. A story with this much fighting has no right to be so wholesome. Mob is just a good boy, he doesn’t deserve all this! Fair warning, its messages about identity, self love, and growth WILL make you feel Emotions. Available on various anime pirating websites

Red vs Blue: The found family game is SO strong in this one. By far the best found family plot/dynamic I have ever and will ever experience. The characters are all so solid, yknow? Like it took me three rewatches to understand the plot, but I didn’t even care because I loved the characters SO MUCH. It’s also really, really funny (although some of the jokes have aged a bit poorly tbh). Basically about a bunch of space marines who goof off and accidentally dismantle corrupt governments along the way. Available on Youtube

Supernatural: Is it cringey? Yeah. Does the fandom suck? Also yeah. Is Destiel overrated? BIG yeah. But it’s got monsters, magic, family, and a plot that doesn’t revolve around romance - and really, what more could you ask for? And sure, a lot of people don’t really like the later seasons, but idk I actually prefer them. Season 15 has me THRIVING. I mean come on - character vs author?! Fighting the guy who literally wrote you into existence because he doesn’t want to give your story a happy ending?! Say what you will about Supernatural, but it’s one of the most imaginative shows I’ve ever seen. Available on Netflix

Avatar the Last Airbender: You like stellar animation, intricate worldbuilding/magicbuilding, and a perspective on war that is surprisingly mature for a kids show? Check it out. This show is without a doubt one of the best animated series of all time. Go on. Watch it. It’ll change your life. Available on Netflix

The Umbrella Academy: Time-travelling assassins. Superheroes. Ghosts. Talking monkeys. Murder mysteries. Baller soundtracks. This show will never give you what you expect. I don’t even think I could properly describe it to you. Available on Netflix

Detective Conan: An anime. It’s about a teen detective - think Nancy Drew but bloodier - who witnesses a crime and is fed an experimental poison in order to keep him from telling anyone. But instead of killing him, the poison turns him into a 6-year-old. So now he’s got to solve crimes and take down a criminal organization while in the body of a child. Naturally, shenanigans ensue. Fair warning, the main character becomes a bit of a Mary Sue in later episodes, but the first 300 or so are pretty fun. A few episodes are available on Netflix, but not any of the good ones. You’ll need an anime pirating website for that

Knives Out: My favourite movie ever, of all time. It’s a murder mystery that both subverts and pays homage to its parent genre in all the right places. It’s funny, it’s intelligent, and has a spectacular ending! Although I do wish the fandom would stop being so horny for Ransom, I mean he’s literally racist...No clue where you can find this tbh, I saw it in theatres

Derry Girls: Now I’m not normally a big fan of realistic fiction/sitcom stuff. Despite how funny they are, I’ve not even watched The Office or Parks and Rec because that normal daily life stuff just doesn’t peak my interest. And yet, somehow this story about a group of Irish high schoolers just has me enthralled. Very funny, very well-written, give it a watch. Available on Netflix

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: Another anime. Phenomenal animation? Check. Fascinating plot and characters? Check. Detailed magic system that gets my lore-obsessed heart fluttering? Big heckin check. So basically two kids try to use Fantasy Science to bring their mom back to life, only the experiment fails and has some pretty nasty consequences - one boy loses his arm and leg, while the other loses his entire body and has his soul bound to a suit of armour. Now they gotta go through government conspiracies, ethical dilemmas, and Daddy Issues to try and get their bodies back. Available on Netflix

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K: Yet another anime. I know, I know, I’m a nerd, get over it. This show doesn’t have a complex plot or even complex characters, tbh, but what it does have is some amazing humour. It’s extremely funny, and it’s also just a nice show to kick back and relax to. Basically this guy who’s so op that he could rewrite the laws of reality on a whim is stuck dealing with relationship drama in high school despite being very, very asexual and very, very tired. Mostly he just uses his powers to avoid people and eat junk food, which is honestly a mood. Available on Netflix

Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Honestly I’d recommend almost anything that’s Scooby Doo-related because that was my childhood obsession. I used to have like 20 of the movies on DVD before my mom gave them all away. To this day I still love Scooby Doo, and watch it whenever I get the chance. But if you ask any SD fan, they’ll probably tell you that Mystery Incorporated is the best, most intelligent, most creative installment in the franchise. And they’re right (although I do wish there was less relationship drama...) Available on Netflix

Evil Genius: This is a documentary series about the Collar Bomb Robbery. Now, despite what the above list might indicate, I actually watch a LOT of documentaries, and if I were here to recommend all of them then we would be here all day. Not really ‘funny’ like the other entries on this list, it’s actually rather tragic, but definitely a cerebral viewing experience. Available on Netflix

Screwball: Now this is a documentary that IS funny. It’s about drug scandals in baseball. But the dramatic scene re-enactments are done with child actors that are all wearing fake beards and pretending to be drug dealers. It’s not only a fascinating subject, but it’s got amazing editing and visuals that have me in awe. Available on Netflix

Behind the Curve: Yet another documentary. This one’s about the rise of the Flat Earth movement. You’ll spend most of the time on the verge of having a stroke because of how stupid it all is. Available on Netflix

The Movies That Made Us: Okay okay okay last documentary on the list I swear. This one’s exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a series talking about the behind-the-scenes production of iconic movies like Home Alone and Ghostbusters. I eagerly await the second season. Available on Netflix

Monster Factory: If you’re familiar with the McElroy brothers and their brand of humour, you’ll love this. Griffin and Justin team up to make the most disturbing avatars they can create using video game character creators. The origins of the Final Pam meme. If I had a shirt with a quote from Monster Factory on it, I’d die a happy man. Available on Youtube

Baman Piderman: The dumbest show I have ever watched, but it’s so adorable and stupid and I love it so much. It doesn’t really have a plot, but later episodes allude to the presence of one and I’m upset because there are so many mysteries/questions hinted at and we’ll never get answers because it’s been abandoned. PLEASE watch it. Available on Youtube

Stranger Things: Okay, season 2 was a bit of a let-down imo, but season 1 was ICONIC and the Scoops Troop subplot in season 3 deserved its own freakin spinoff. I’m not joking. I didn’t even like s3 all that much, but the only reason it’s my favourite is because the Scoops Troop plot was so great. People call this show ‘horror’ but I don’t think it’s scary enough for that, although it is admittedly kinda spooky. If you like 80s nostalgia and the horror aesthetic, then I’d give it a watch (Do it for Scoops Troop. Do it for Robin). Available on Netflix

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart: Despite my overwhelming love for this film, I’ll be the first to admit it’s kinda mediocre. The plot is weird and the romance feels forced, but despite its flaws it manages to be one of my favourite movies. Mostly I just like it for the unique concept and beautiful ending. Also the music is off the par man. Probably because the writer/producer of the movie was the lead singer for a French band called Dionysus (what? I do my research). Available on Netflix

Wakfu: I haven’t seen past season 3, but so far it’s pretty good. You go in thinking it’s just a wholesome action/adventure show about a kid who can create portals - but then it just. Sucks you in. From its bopping theme song to its fantastic found family to the unique worldbuilding, you very quickly fall in love with it. It’s got a cool plot and also talking dragons, and it doesn’t get better than that. Available on Netflix

Mystery Skulls Animated: Technically not a TV show so much as it is a series of animated music videos with a plot, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t one of the greatest things of all time. It’s basically Scooby Doo but if Shaggy got possessed by a demon and killed Fred, causing Fred to become a ghost hellbent on revenge-killing Shaggy in return. And if Scooby was an ancient Japanese spirit that bit off Shaggy’s arm, forcing him to wear a metal prosthetic. Yeah, MSA is wild. It’s only got three videos out so far, with a fourth one coming out this October, but there’s already so much lore! Available on Youtube

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared: Ah yes, yet another cringey entry on this list. But you know what? Cringe culture is dead!!! And despite its fandom being...like that...DHMIS really is a cool show. Think if Sesame Street was like haunted or something. The episodes about creativity and telling time remain the most unsettling, imo. Definitely worth a watch. Available on Youtube

Inanimate Insanity: Oh boy. Am I seriously recommending you dip your little fingies into the object fandom? Yes. Yes I am. This show is so obscure it makes freakin Detective Conan look popular. At its core it’s a parody of Total Drama Island and Survivor but with anthropomorphized inanimate objects as characters (hence the name). Season 2 is actually really, really good and surprisingly competent. You just gotta get through season 1 first. Available on Youtube

The X-Files: Wow, a live action series on this list? Who woulda thought??? But seriously, this show is really fun. Memes and jokes aside, I love it. Scully and Mulder are fun characters with great chemistry (both platonic and romantic), the Lone Horsemen are hilarious, and every episode is a unique adventure into the most creative acid trips the human mind could conceive of. Phenomenal from start to finish (if you ignore the last season). I have no clue where you would watch this. Pirate it, probably

Buzzfeed Unsolved: Two idiots investigate cold cases and haunted locales while being utter dumbasses about it. You know the “hey demons it’s be ya boi” meme? That came from these guys. Available on Youtube

Kingdom: Ngl, I didn’t go into this expecting zombies. Or for it to take place during Korean feudalism, for that matter. But mediocre dubbing aside, this show has such a clever concept. It takes the zombie apocalypse genre and gives refreshing, unique twists to old tropes that they feel like something new. Seo-bi is my wife and she deserves all the love and appreciation in the world, and those are just Facts. Available on Netflix

My Hero Academia: Superhero high school anime. I personally am not a fan of later episodes/arcs, but the first three seasons are pretty dang good. Diverse, colourful ensemble cast that you easily grow to adore, interesting commentary on disability (although I’m not qualified to give any actual takes on that), and a school curriculum that makes me very, very concerned for the wellbeing of these children. Plus all the superpowers - aka ‘quirks’ - are super imaginative and, well, quirky! I just wish people would stop shipping the main character with his childhood bully...You’ll need to pirate this one too lmao

Danny Phantom: The highlight of this show is its ‘phandom’, because unlike someone (*cough* Butch Hartman), we’re not a bunch of cowards. It’s about a guy who messes around with his parents’ lab stuff and accidentally acquires the ability to die! Well, half-die. He can turn into a ghost and fight other ghosts. Although the show never explores the existential, traumatic fallout of being kinda-sorta-dead, the potential for something deep and emotional is there. Plus there is a LOT of accidental subtext for a Big LGBT+ Metaphor. So much so that the Trans Danny theory is basically canon. Uhhh not available on Netflix anymore so it’s time to whip out your pirate hat, matey

And there you have it! Like I said, I have a lot of TV recommendations. And I just KNOW I’m forgetting a ton, but this is already really long so we’ll have to cut off here.

Thanks for the ask! <3

#ask #fish post

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coffeebased · 5 years ago

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Hey! Wikathon na! I’ve started reading Relocations by Karen Tongson, about a third through now, but I had to take a little detour through Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir like I said I would. I’ve finished reading HtN but I’m not quite done experiencing it, so I’ll probably pick Relocations back up tomorrow.

But here’s what I read in July! What’s a segue?

1. Haikyu!! Volume 44 and 45 by Haruichi Furudate

A chance event triggered Shouyou Hinata’s love for volleyball. His club had no members, but somehow persevered and finally made it into its very first and final regular match of middle school, where it was steamrolled by Tobio Kageyama, a superstar player known as “King of the Court.”

Vowing revenge, Hinata applied to the Karasuno High School volleyball club… only to come face-to-face with his hated rival, Kageyama!

And with those two volumes, Haikyū has ended. I’m really glad that my cousin got me to catch up to the series because being a part of the sheer joy and love that’s poured out the fandom these past few months has been refreshing to my spirit. I enjoyed the way Furudate brought the series to its conclusion, by giving all the characters a future and room to grow. I hope to hear more from him in the upcoming years.

2. Looking for Group by Alexis Hall

I read Looking for Group because I was reading up on Alexis Hall in anticipation of Boyfriend Material, which I will talk about later, and saw the synopsis:

So, yeah, I play Heroes of Legend, y’know, the MMO. I’m not like obsessed or addicted or anything. It’s just a game. Anyway, there was this girl in my guild who I really liked because she was funny and nerdy and a great healer. Of course, my mates thought it was hilarious I was into someone I’d met online. And they thought it was even more hilarious when she turned out to be a boy IRL. But the joke’s on them because I still really like him.

And now that we’re together, it’s going pretty well. Except sometimes I think Kit—that’s his name, sorry I didn’t mention that—spends way too much time in HoL. I know he has friends in the guild, but he has me now, and my friends, and everyone knows people you meet online aren’t real. I mean. Not Kit. Kit’s real. Obviously.

Oh, I’m Drew, by the way. This is sort of my story. About how I messed up some stuff and figured out some stuff. And fell in love and stuff.

And I knew that I had to read it. Immediately.

I enjoyed it way too much. The characters were adorable, the conflict was done well, the geeky gamer wrapper was AMAZING and the author never dropped the ball on integrating the online game into the narrative. It was very readable and I enjoyed the atmosphere of the book immensely. I also may have spent a heady week or so thinking of playing WoW, but I avoided that temptation. Made me miss uni too, and the way my friends and I would spend countless hours with each other.

3. Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

Wanted: One (fake) boyfriend Practically perfect in every way

Luc O’Donnell is tangentially–and reluctantly–famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he’s never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad’s making a comeback, Luc’s back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.

To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship…and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He’s a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he’s never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.

But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that’s when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don’t ever want to let them go.

I came into this book with high expectations after Looking for Group, and my expectations were mostly met. The few issues I had were ultimately negligible, probably cultural differences or conventions of a genre that I’m not familiar with. The characters were strong, and I found the book funny. I know it sounds as though I’m damning it with faint praise, so I’ll say it plainly: it was an enjoyable read and I was totally invested in the romance. I think it’ll make a really good film as well.

4. The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya

Everyone talks about falling in love, but falling in friendship can be just as captivating. When Neela Devaki’s song is covered by internet-famous artist Rukmini, the two musicians meet and a transformative friendship begins. But as Rukmini’s star rises and Neela’s stagnates, jealousy and self-doubt creep in. With a single tweet, their friendship implodes, one career is destroyed, and the two women find themselves at the center of an internet firestorm.

Celebrated multidisciplinary artist Vivek Shraya’s second novel is a stirring examination of making art in the modern era, a love letter to brown women, an authentic glimpse into the music industry, and a nuanced exploration of the promise and peril of being seen.

If you’re a millennial and if you’ve ever had complicated friendships, this book will ring really true for most of it, I think. I kept wincing at the characters’ actions and “mistakes”, recognising them as things I or my friends have done, but there are portions of the story that I found inaccessible because Neela, the main character, just seems really opaque even when they’re the ones speaking. The music Shraya made as a companion to the book slaps and can be found here.

5. Empowered 11 by Adam Warren

Costumed crimefighter Empowered finds herself the desperate prey of a maniacal supervillain whose godlike powers have turned an entire city of suprahumans against her.

Not good! Outnumbered and under siege, aided only by a hero’s ghost, can Emp survive the relentless onslaught long enough to free her enslaved teammates and loved ones, or is this–*gulp*–The End?

From comics overlord Adam Warren comes Empowered, the acclaimed sexy superhero comedy–except when it isn’t, as in this volume’s no-nonsense, wall-to-wall brawl guaranteed to bring tears to the eye and fists to the face!

Warren’s tying up a lot of loose ends and answering a lot of questions and I’m wondering if that means Empowered‘s ending soon. I haven’t seen any info regarding this, even though the words “The End” are right there in the summary, because comic books always lean on the whole the hero could die! thing, and more often than not they never do. But Emp has come so far in the past 11 volumes, and I think that she’s ready to confront a lot of the stuff that Warren’s only hinted at in the past. Most of Empowered is about how Emp deals with failure and how she rises above it, and recently it’s become about how other people have failed her, rather than how she has failed, and how she deserves better. I’m worried about her, but at least we are another volume’s worth of evidence for the Emp/Thugboy/Ninjette OT3.

6. Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan

The iconic author of the bestselling phenomenon Crazy Rich Asians returns with a glittering tale of love and longing as a young woman finds herself torn between two worlds–the WASP establishment of her father’s family and George Zao, a man she is desperately trying to avoid falling in love with.

On her very first morning on the jewel-like island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly can’t stand him. She can’t stand it when he gallantly offers to trade hotel rooms with her so that she can have the view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she can’t stand that he knows more about Curzio Malaparte than she does, and she really can’t stand it when he kisses her in the darkness of the ancient ruins of a Roman villa and they are caught by her snobbish, disapproving cousin, Charlotte. “Your mother is Chinese so it’s no surprise you’d be attracted to someone like him,” Charlotte teases. Daughter of an American-born-Chinese mother and blue-blooded New York father, Lucie has always sublimated the Asian side of herself in favor of the white side, and she adamantly denies having feelings for George. But several years later, when George unexpectedly appears in East Hampton where Lucie is weekending with her new fiancé, Lucie finds herself drawn to George again. Soon, Lucy is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiancé, the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment, and ultimately herself as she tries mightily to deny George entry into her world–and her heart. Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion, Sex and Vanity is a truly modern love story, a daring homage to A Room with a View, and a brilliantly funny comedy of manners set between two cultures.

This was the third romance novel I read in July, and that’s honestly the highest concentration of romance novel I’ve ever had in my life. I know that I’m supposed to find romance novels like super kilig and stuff, but so far I am just very anxious for romance novel protagonists all the time. I think that the whole thing about the romance novels I have read is that they’re mostly about how deeply anxious people learn how to allow themselves to be loved and that is tough! I wanted to protect Lucie all the time! I was Invested in her Welfare, and I don’t think I cared about Rachel Chu from Crazy Rich Asians half as much, even if you condensed all my attachment from the entire trilogy. Also, small spoiler, there is a hint that Sex and Vanity is in the same universe as Crazy Rich Asians, which I think is awesome.

6. Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

Pulitzer Finalist Susan Choi’s narrative-upending novel about what happens when a first love between high school students is interrupted by the attentions of a charismatic teacher

In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and, particularly, their acting classes. When within this striving “Brotherhood of the Arts,” two freshmen, David and Sarah, fall headlong into love, their passion does not go unnoticed—or untoyed with—by anyone, especially not by their charismatic acting teacher, Mr. Kingsley.

The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school’s walls—until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down. What the reader believes to have happened to David and Sarah and their friends is not entirely true—though it’s not false, either. It takes until the book’s stunning coda for the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place—revealing truths that will resonate long after the final sentence.

As captivating and tender as it is surprising, Trust Exercise will incite heated conversations about fiction and truth, friendships and loyalties, and will leave readers with wiser understandings of the true capacities of adolescents and of the powers and responsibilities of adults.

This is a book I could not stop reading and I felt gross after I finished it. I think that I enjoyed it and that the narrative flips were well-done and it was engaging, but Choi writes teenage trauma in 3D, and you can smell her scumbag characters. Very good will never read again unless looking to feel bad.

Re-read:

Temeraire: His Majesty’s Dragon, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War, andEmpire of Ivory by Naomi Novik

Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors ride mighty fighting dragons, bred for size or speed. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes the precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future – and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire.

I started re-reading it because I wanted to introduce it to my girlfriend, and I outpaced her very quickly, and selfishly. She’s still at the beginning fourth of Throne of Jade, and I feel like I blinked and gulped down four of the books in quick succession. I had to stop myself after Empire, in a very belated effort to sync up to my gf’s progress. The series is amazing, and I don’t know if I’ll ever read one like Temeraire again. Being able to revisit it should be enough, really, because every time I do it’s as though I’m caught up in a strong and wonderful wind that fills me up with delight and awe. Novik’s starting a new series this September, and I hope it’s just as good.

That’s it for July! I’m probably going to do two books at a time for my Wikathon posts, just to keep things fresh and current, so keep a weather eye out for those posts!

July, next verse, same as the first Hey! Wikathon na! I've started reading Relocations by Karen Tongson, about a third through now, but I had to take a little detour through…

#books #books 2 #reading #reading 2

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space-whalesharks · 5 years ago

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Meet the Uncles

@amistrio was showing me up with Gatthew content so I finally made something for our boys aside from the one that’s taking ages.

It’s finally “Meet the Parents” time for Deputies Matthew Rook and Grant Lyons. But the latter’s family has one major difference than Matthew’s usual experience at that milestone, and he’s never been so grateful in his life.

So far, this had been the easiest “Meet the Parents” event Matthew Rook had ever gone through.

He had been the ‘very good friend’ at a handful, and thr ones where he was allowed to actually be the doting boyfriend, he had to deal with some level of homophobia from his beau’s family or his own.

It was his understanding that Grant’s parents would most likely end up somewhere on the latter list, but his uncles were another story entirely - mostly because they had been in the same boat.

Russell and Charles Lyons were, well, everything Matt hoped he could be with somebody, whether it was Grant, or if things went catastrophically wrong, whoever came after him.

Considering they were also gay and clearly had no issues with the couple logistics he and Grant had, Matthew had to wonder if this was as close to a heterosexual “meet the parents” as he’d get. It was all personal questions, stereotype free.

There weren’t any awkward questions about who wore the pants, Matt’s favorite ‘how are you protecting yourselves’, ‘what’s your stance on your kind being able to get married, isn’t calling each other partners enough?’. It was just asking for elaboration on stuff Grant had clearly told them before: ‘how do you like bring a cop?’ ‘how did you two meet on the force?’ ‘first impression?’. There had been the classic ‘how did you two find out?’ with the unspoken ‘about mutually batting for the other team’, but the ‘been there, done that’ look on Russell’s face as he asked and Charles’ own knowing smile derailed what had started as animosity in Matthew’s gut. He figured it wasn’t a scandal or a minefield for them. It was just another take on ‘how did you meet’- ‘when did you find out you could completely be yourselves around each other’. They asked because they had that same milestone.

Grant rubbed the back of his head idly. “Unfortunately entirely timed well, Nic kinda sorta outed me-“

Charles dropped his fork so quickly and loudly Matthew jumped, and even Russell looked devastated briefly. “Nic? Our Nic?” he asked, the same time Charles firmly declared, “Shame on her, I expected better.”

Matthew had heard how the two men had clearly cared about Grant’s best friend, and he had always been around when Nic asked Grant about how they were doing. The three of them had bonded over their love for Grant- as had he and Nic. He opened his mouth to protest, but Grant was faster.

“No, no! Nothing like that. Like I said, timing. She was asking me about a potential date and had said ‘he’ several times and had no idea Matt was right behind us-“

“Honest mistake,” Matthew agreed. “Came up to check about a warrant. The conversation was almost done by the time I got to the main lobby.”

Grant nodded, then looked at Charles. “See? No harm done. She was latched onto me the whole rest of the day, begging for forgiveness. She’s good, we’re good, she can still wipe the floor with you on Words With Friends.”

“I’m beating her now, thank you very much,” Charles objected.

Russell swatted his knee playfully, then looked at Matthew. “How’d that particular reveal go for you, considering you two more or less share that same secret? Did you tell him right then?”

Matthew shrugged. “Told him Jake Stone was a selfish piece of work that wasn’t worth his time,” he explained, then grinned wash the other three smiled. “Nic’s whole face lit up. I thought it was relief that she didn’t out this one to anybody dangerous. Turns out she was just plotting that ‘blind date.’”

“And the rest is history,” Grant concluded. He looked at Matthew, and when the other man smiled at him, he leaned forward and kissed him.

Matt returned it happily, but out of habit he glanced at Russell and Charles, still expecting disgust, but no, that was different too, as it should’ve been. No disgust, no discomfort, just soft smiles- and then slight discomfort, but more so in the ‘let’s give them as much privacy as a dinner table could allow for’ sense.

If he was a worse man, he might’ve been jealous. This is what family should’ve been, this is what he had longed for. At least this was technically his now, if only by extension.

The conversation went on. Grant had made a playful comment about them being under the microscope so much that it was their turn. And so their round of questions had began.

Russell and Charles had met in the 80s- ‘a different time mind you, it took us years to realize we had a lot more in common than we thought- no Grindr or Facebook or anything’ that had Matt laughing into his drink. They had gotten together, and then Grant’s parents had started to wonder about his sexuality in the late 90s and sent him off to spend time with them ‘because they’d better understand him’ - a practice that Matt could see probably meant well but it was entirely filled with holes and questionable at best. And Grant had felt more at home with them than he ever had, had fallen in love with the ranch, Wyoming, the horses- and had tried to stay put until his parents absolutely needed him home - ‘for photo ops and such, we could imagine’- which had Grant grimacing into his own drink. Matthew had given his hand a subtle squeeze and Grant had squeezed back. Things had quieted down in Russell and Charles’ lives after that, and then when they had heard about the gay marriage ban being lifted, and the pair had simultaneously looked away from the news, straight at the other and proposed simultaneously- ‘and the rest was history’ Charles had echoed.

“But now look at this, a native man and the most decent white man around, and then the white man’s nephew ending up with a native man. A little on the nose, don’t you think?” he had concluded. In perfect harmony, Russell and Grant had both choked on their mouthful of food and made identical noises of protest as Matt had laughed, reassured by the conspiratorial look Charles had sent his way, until he cracked and laughed. “I’m joking! I’m joking! I’m sorry! There’s nothing to it, it’s chance, I know. Grant’s not like that, we made sure he isn’t.”

Grant crumbled up his napkin and thrown it at Charles’ head and the older man had ducked it and tossed his hands up in additional apology.

Embarrassment aside, Matthew had never seen Grant do something so lax he was almost grateful for the joke. He leaned against Grant’s side and tucked the side of his head into Grant’s neck for good measure. The angle was weird and uncomfortable with how they were sitting, but he figured it was necessary.

Grant had leaned into him nearly immediately. He went to take a drink, then paused and lifted his head to look at him. “For the record, I don’t have a Native American kink, I have a you kink.” he objected and looked Charles dead in the eye.

Russell had let out a surprised bark of a laugh at that and looked at Charles, who merely put his hands up again.

The rest of the dinner went along without issue. The four of them had continued their discussion, comparing notes as a couple, comparing their life experiences in changing times, sharing plans. It was… nice.

They had cleaned up and done dishes quickly, with Russell and Charles washing and Matt and Grant drying. Charles and Matthew had been finishing the last couple of dishes up when Russell and Grant had borrowed Grant for ‘a last round on the stable’ and the pair had left the house.

Charles and Matthew had left for the stables after that to check-in. And for some reason, it wasn’t until they were a few yards away that the lightbulb went off in Matthew’s head that stables meant horses and his pace slowed to nearly half what he had been walking at. Shit.

Sure enough, Russell and Grant came into view a few seconds later, tidying one of the stables where three of those gigantic, child-hating asshats were. Grant was brushing the brown one off to the side, talking to it quietly. Matt shoved his hands in his pockets and bit his lip to distract himself from pointing out that that thing was gonna eat Grant. After a few seconds he was certain that he had bitten his cheek enough that it would be sore for days.

Still, Matthew couldn’t help but notice how relaxed Grant looked once they got close enough to see details.

He knew Grant had come a long way since they met, since they started this relationship. A lot of people had commented that some of Grant’s progress was due to him, but Matthew wasn’t exactly fond of that analysis. Grant had pulled himself out of that darkness for the most part. But he still had lots of work to put in. Matthew knew that some of that darkness was just part of Grant and would be forever, he could see it in his eyes. But with that horse, a lot of whatever pain he could still see was notably absent as he looked at the horse and spoke to it with such fondness that Matthew ached- but it was a good ache. He looked at Charles briefly, and judging by the relieved smile he was giving Grant, he realized he was probably in good company with those thoughts.

Charles caught him looking and smiled softly before looking back at Grant. “You know, this is the first time I’ve seen him smile that big in months.” When Matthew looked at him, his lips twitched up again, then he sighed. “Between us, Russ and I… when Grant came home from overseas after… everything, we weren’t sure how much of our nephew was left to come home. We were terrified for him, and… well, we had a lot of right to be. If you knew him before… … he was a shell for a while. He tried, he didn’t want to be… like that. Had the nerve to call himself a burden once. Nic helped. She got the ball rolling for him, but you… whatever you did, however you helped… you got our nephew back. So thank you for that.”

So it was the exact same thought. “Can’t take all the credit. Like you said, he’s been trying a lot himself.”

Charles clapped him on the back at that, and the sheer paternal energy nearly made Matthew get choked up on the spot.

Charles nodded towards the pasture. “Come on. You wanna meet them?”

He meant the horses. Fuck. Moment ruined. “I uh… I’m good here. I’ve got a… thing with horses.”

Charles arched an eyebrow, but said nothing and walked to join Russell.

Matthew turned his attention back to Grant, only to see the same horse Grant had been petting before walking towards him. He panicked for a moment when the horse reared its head towards Grant and he figured this was it, his point was about to be proven because the horse was going to bite Grant’s face off-

But instead, the horse merely nudged the juncture of Grant’s neck and shoulder.

Grant laughed and gave the horse a pat on the neck.

The horse moved again and Matt panicked a second time when the horse practically moved face to face with him, and this was it, he was about to see some shit-

And once more, the horse just snorted and moved so it could press closer to Grant.

The other man finally seemed to notice he and Russell had an audience and looked up. He grinned. “Looks like Sundance takes after you.”

“Sundance can get in line,” Matthew countered.

Grant scoffed, then leaned forward out of the stable.

Matthew scoffed back, then knowing full well what Grant was getting at, kissed him soundly. And then immediately heard the same snorting noise that Sundance had made, suddenly directly next to his ear. He let out an extremely undignified yelp and darted away.

Grant, at least, had the nerve to look apologetic as he tried to push Sundance further away, but the horse seemed intent on cuddling with him.

Matt huffed, then stepped back - right into something exceptionally sturdy with what felt like bristles all over and - he knew what was coming before he turned around, but seeing another horse’s face right next to him was still horrifying. “Oh God!” he jumped back again, then when he realized he would end up right next to Sundance again, he pressed himself up against the fence and yanked one of Grant’s arms around him so they were flush up against each other - and an equal distance away from the horses.

Sundance tossed its head a few times at the development, but the other one started moseying closer.

“Cajun, no,” Grant told it. Still, the horse seemed intent on investigating Matthew further. “Well, I guess he likes you. He wants to be friends.”

“Yeah, luring me into a false friendship so I can have a sense of security and then eat me,” Mathew clarified.

Cajun let out a huff of his own at that, and Grant laughed. “Yeah! That wasn’t nice, apologize to Cajun!”

“But I-”

“They can sense fear, you know.”

“Fine! Fine!” Matthew snapped. He ducked, then reached over carefully, inch by inch. His fingertips finally made contact with Cajun’s neck, then his fingers, and before long he had his whole hand on him, and he gave the horse a couple of experimental pets. He drew back with his hand thankfully intact. He looked up at Grant, then Russell a few feet away, then Charles.

The latter two were giving him a fond but uncertain look. “‘I was a kid, a horse bit me’,long story short.”

“Ah,” Russell nodded. “That rules out a night ride then.”

“A what?”

Russell motioned at the horses. “We take these guys on a quick turn around the property. We aren’t gonna pressure you or anything, contrary to the whole ‘country bumpkin’ belief you’ve probably got,” he added with a smile.

“That’s not-I’m not-“ Matthew blurted, then sighed. He looked at Grant again. “Why are your uncles so mean?” he hissed.

“They like you, they’re trying to make you one of us quicker. It’s fine, I can stay at the house with you,” Grant assured him.

Matthew untangled himself from Grant and stepped away from him.

Charles, who had brought another horse over to get it saddled, gave Matthew another reassuring pat on the back that nearly had Matt crying again, then offered a wink. “If we don’t see you, goodnight.”

“Night,” Grant echoed. He reached over to give Sundance a parting pat.

Matthew watched him, then couldn’t help the guilty little pit in his stomach that started up. He watched Grant start to lead Sundance away, then watched Russell and Charles getting the tack or whatever the world's most useless equipment was called on two of the other horses, then sighed. He had just found a decent, accepting family, was he really going to be the odd man out, nor did he want to disappoint them, nor did he want to take Grant away from them in any capacity.

Shit.

“Wait!” he blurted.

Grant, who had already started to climb the fence out, stopped short. “What?”

“Oh, get on the horse, you asshole!” Matthew objected.

Double shit. He was gonna do this. “Hey uh, Charles? How do you…?” he motioned at the tack, then at Cajun, who had started to drift back over like he knew exactly what he was getting at.

Charles caught on after a few seconds and nodded. “Coming right up.”

Grant did, too. “Come on. You don’t have to do this. You never push me if I don’t want-“

“Yeah, well your stuff is… heavy. Mine’s… relatively light.” He moves when Cajun went to sniff his face. “Still, if this guy eats my face, I’m haunting you.”

“Noted. Are you sure…?”

“Yes.” Shitballs.

By the time Charles had finished getting Cajun ready for a ride, Matthew was a ball of nervous energy, and convinced Cajun was just nudging him to see how gamey he was.

Charles signaled that it was okay for him to get on.

Fucking shitballs.

He tried to remember the basics and what he had seen on shows. Grab handle on saddle, left foot stirrup, right foot up, swing -

He landed a little too lopsided, but he didn’t face plant, so he couldn’t complain. Well, he could, but not when the three others were looking at him so proudly.

It almost made up for how childish he felt when the three of them started coaching him through how to get the horse to go and how to sit and hold the reins properly.

Baby steps, he reminded himself. Everything started with baby steps, and this might as well have been a giant leap.

Still, he hopefully got bonus points for trying.

A few minutes later, once things had calmed down and he was riding decently for a beginner and his face and finger were intact and decidedly not Cajun’s late night snack, he slowed Cajun down so he was shoulder to shoulder with Grant and Sundance. “You owe me Tim’s on the drive home.”

“Deal.”

“... And sex when we get home.”

“For that… you have to beat me back to the stable,” Grant replied, and then did something with his knees that had Sundance speeding up- not by much, but enough to make a bit of a difference.

“Oh, you bastard.” Matthew tried to do the same thing Grant had, but in turn, Cajun slowed down. He tried again, and Cajun took off at a gallop, and nearly sent him flying. He tried a third time and Cajun slowed again, though just ahead of Sundance, and the latter would pass them in seconds.

Well, at least he got coffee out of the deal. Little steps, little victories. And then with a glance over his shoulder at Grant, who had in fact just passed him, and Russell and Charles a few yards back laughing and giving them that sand proud familial look he had missed out from others , ‘big, more than welcome changes’ came to mind, too.

#Gatthew Rights 2020 #this is unbetad and I'm sure there are mistakes AND YET #Listen Lindsey's the better writer here but we'd both die for Gatthew so

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go-diane-winchester · 6 years ago

Text

How come Misha gets away with causing so much damage to this show?

Thanks for the conundrum @staycejo1:

That is a good question to ask. How does Misha get away with so much? The reason is simple. Misha is smart. Compared to Jared who is merely scholarly or book smart, and Jensen who is intelligent with regards to cinema and various arts [he hit the nail on the head with wincest, year ago], Misha is shrewd. I don't like the man, but I have to admit, he is very smart. He is using something I learned about whilst studying Public Relations: networking. Networking requires skill. You need to know how to talk to people and you need to know which people to talk to. If you network properly, you reap major benefits. There are a few cliques that Misha might be networking with: SPN production personnel, SPN alumni and cast members, Creation Entertainment, media personnel and selected fans.

SPN Personnel and affiliates

I elaborated on these people in other posts.

Bob Singer:

Bob Singer has been a co-showrunner for almost all the time that SPN has been on air. He handles production while the other co-showrunner handles the story. And yet, this man never gives the impression that he is a showrunner. When Sera Gamble killed off Castiel, rumor has it, that Singer fought to bring the character back.

Eugenie Ross-Lemming and Brad Buckner

She is Bob's wife and was brought on board with her writing partner, Brad Buckner. Since season 7, she has enjoyed many promotions. Now she is a co-executive producer on the show. Nice to work for your husband, huh. She and Brad butchered Sam's character until recently. I think Jared told them off. They were demonizing Sam to elevate Castiel's status. Currently, they are not writing destiel. They are not stupid. They are writing enough material to keep Misha on the show.

Robert Berens

Robert or Bobo Berens started off as a writer and moved up to co-executive producer. He allows the leads to be abused by heller fans, that he follows online. Remember, he is the one following problematic fans and not the other way around. Does that even make sense?

What personal stake do they have in keeping Misha relevant? Well, they all take their cue from Bob, and he is a close friend of Misha's. If Bob has a stake in Random Acts or Gish, then it might explain why he isn't willing to let Misha go. But I don't have that information just yet.

Stands

Misha has shares in Stands. For awhile now, they have been pushing destiel related merch. When they start to regret it, you will see a change. This is because hellers are already complaining about getting duped by Misha regarding the merchandise. We will just have to wait and see.

SPN alumni, cast members and affiliates

I spoke about these people before so I will gloss over them here.

Kim Rhodes and Brianna Buckmaster

They needed Misha for Wayward Daughters. They have affiliation with a bunch of fans who are involved in the Travis Aaron Wade scandal.

Osric Chau and Orlando Jones

I don't think Osric had any personal stake in elevating destiel. He really loved SPN and the fanbase. He was probably trolling destiel for fun like Orlando Jones does. The minute both men realized how problematic the hellers are, they slowly backed off. I don't think Orlando Jones has spoken about destiel in a while. He still is a friend with Misha as is Osric. I don't think these actors have any ill will. So far they just seem like a couple of trolls. Misha's networking failed with Destiel but succeeded professionally because these two men may be able to ''hook him up'' with other projects.

Creation Entertainment

Someone once pointed out that Adam, the CEO of Creation Entertainment, is in fact, Misha's cousin. I don't have any sources of that. However, for awhile CE was pushing a lot of YANA and destiel related things on their con circuit. The reason is because they have financial stakes in Misha's charities and thought that pushing destiel might make his fans shell out more money. The cockles photo ops probably gave them the erroneously impression that Misha himself, is profitable. Recently, however, this happened.

https://jolygram.com/profile/creationent/photo/1842990860569353024_552397215

They added a caption: Name a better duo. We'll wait. So was Cockles not better anymore? Misha is not profitable, so all of a sudden, CE loves the leads. I think they realized that when Misha's entire con fails but one of Jared's sweaty hoodies which he wore all day, fetches $8000 during an auction, that maybe they were betting on the race horse that dances rather than runs to the finish line.

Their personal stake was money which is why they dropped Misha and destiel related endeavors like a hot potato. Misha's networking failed here. Well, not completely. I heard there might be a new Misha con. I think they want to be sure that he is a failure before letting go completely.

Media Personnel

There are many kinds of mediums that are available to Hollywood. Some are more important than others. There are small trendy little pointless media outlets, usually social media outlets, like Hypable, ONTD and Geekiary. There are bigger more credible ones, also known as mass media outlets, like E! Entertainment. The heads pick up on news coming from the mass media. They don't bother with small outlets, and that is where Misha does his networking. He has people working within these outlets who are not legitimate reporters. They are merely gossipers and shippers in disguise. These outlets are invited to meets to disseminate information and that is where Misha connected with these viruses. Some of these pseudo-journalists have since been demoted, reprimanded or fired for misinformation.

What is their personal stake? Self-importance. Hellers and their sock accounts keep these peoples social media handles active.

Selected fans

These are fans that are overly invested in either Castiel or destiel. Most of them are nobodies but because of their association with Misha, they are recognizable figures. These are meta writers and influencers within the fandom. Their names are:

Lua James, with a twitter handle, poptivist. Real name: Theresa Cotter

Influencer who regularly attacks Jared on SM, and fled California after Travis's house was vandalized. Close friend of Kim Rhodes. Destiel shipper. Claimed to be a Journalist. Not sure about that. Followed by Kim, Matt Cohen, Robert Berens and Briana on SM.

Monica Gleberman

Very big shot. Lua's bosom buddy and Swagger magazine journalist or editor. She is a minion who lied that she had sex with Jensen and Jared. Commits fraud.

Emily Cleghorn

Influencer. Not sure if she is a meta writer. Runs the SPN anti bullying twitter handle and Exorcising Emily blog on Tumblr. J2 kicked her out of con once, because she made them uncomfortable with a tweet. She got into a twitter fight with William Shatner over destiel.

Reba Snodgrass

Runs small cons like Wayward con. Proven liar. Has to know Misha personally in order to run the cons.

Janelle Clay Davis

Influencer, also known as intelligentshipper on Tumblr and GhostofBobby on Twitter. Claims to be haunted by the YED. Pushes destiel like a religion. Cyber stalks people. Posted a selfie where she is posing with a gun recently.

Sara Burnhope

Knows Misha and his parents personally. Random acts volunteer as well as Gish participant. Might have worked with YANA although I am not sure about that one. Attacks people on his behalf on social media. Cyber bully. From the UK. Might be an influencer. Not sure if she writes meta.

Melanie Adeline

Regular con-goer and influencer. She has fans of her own. She belittles Jared to his face. Destiel shipper. Knows Misha and Briana personally.

These influencers and meta writers are important because without them and their overreaching meta, Destiel will fall flat. Misha accidentally tagged their meta once in a tweet. Or so he claimed. What is their stake, other than canon destiel? Self importance. These randos are suddenly important people, because Misha put them in that position. They are the ones who encourage people to vote for Misha for awards, and harass the execs for destiel. They are the ones who attacked J2 for the Nolacon joke and influenced others to follow suit. The above women were implicated in the Travis Aaron Wade scandal. There may be more, but these are the worst of the worst. As far as I know anyway.

So to answer the question, why does he get away with this problematic system that he has put in place? Notice, that he is affiliated with small fries. Misha, like I mentioned before, is a nobody. People are not linking the irritation they are dealing with, to Misha. Misha's criticism of SPN's misogyny was reported in those petty small media outlets where his hellers are working. And it was written in a such way that he is portrayed as a good guy. If E! spoke about it, Misha would have been in trouble because Pedowitz and gang pay attention to E! not Hypable. That's why they don't fire him. They don't know what he has done because he has spn people in his back pocket covering for him.

Even J2 don't have time to look through their own panels. They are certainly not paying attention to Misha's panels. So obviously Jensen doesn't know about this.

If Jensen was aware of this, a fistfight would have broken out of the set. Jensen would have boxed Misha's ear. Because this is sick. This was apparently at one of the Chicons. I don't know which one, because I can't stomach looking at that over bloated loudmouth. This is proof that the leads have no time to spare looking at this man's panels. So he is confident enough to say these things knowing full well, that the lead are too busy to care about him. He's behavior goes unchecked, and his continued presence on the show ensures that Gish and Random acts are continually funded. He needs Castiel to keep these two machines running.

Excuse the typos.

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agentsandbutterflies · 7 years ago

Note

Tilwixy and Somewhere in Stockholm

Knowing how it all ended, this song kills me. I had so much trouble deciding ona take for the ficlet because so much of it fits with all of them as they driftthrough the world a bit lost. In the end, it had to be Tilde because hemma i Stockholm…

Also, a ficlet is about 2000 words, right?

Her dad bent down and lifted her up. She grabbed his jacket, hard, as shelooked out over the balcony. The height was dizzying, but down there on theground was a sea of small figures that screamed and cheered. She hid her faceagainst her dad’s neck. Her mum spoke softly to her, coaxing her to look outagain and to wave.

Tilde promptly refused. She wasn’t two years old yet.

-x-

Her grandfather held her hand. Someone had put out a stool for her to standon. She got up all by herself. There was a sea of people on the ground belowwho cheered and screamed and waved with Swedish flags. She waved back at themwith her entire arm. They cheered even more.

Her grandfather smiled at her. She was four years old and her grandfatherwas her hero.

-x-

She held her mum’s hand as they walked two steps behind her grandfather anddad as they accepted cards and gifts from the people gathered on the innercourtyard. Everyone called her name and wanted her to smile. There were cameraseverywhere. Shy, she waved back, hiding a little behind her mum.

It was Sweden’s national holiday. She was six years old and had justrealised that she’d be queen some day.

-x-

She stood on the seat of the carriage as it was dragged through the streetsof Stockholm by four horses. All along the way were people cheering and wavingand throwing flowers. She waved to all of them. Her mum tried to get her to sitdown so she wouldn’t fall out, but her dad said not to worry.

It was the Crown prince’s 40th birthday. She was eight years oldand she knew the job of Crown princess was an important one.

-x-

There were black-and-white paper copies of the front of Se&Hör taped toevery mirror in the entire school. On it was a picture of her – a still from aTV-clip – with terrible spots and a headline pointing out that puberty cameearly for the adorable little princess. Everyone stared and pointed. Theywhispered.

It took three weeks before there stopped being new copies plastered allover the school. She was twelve and wanted to disappear.

-x-

She stood tall next to her parents. She had been dragged to the balcony,but once there, she smiled and raised her hand. She only waved with her handthese days, having learned by looking at her parents and grandparents. Shewondered why on Earth people had waited the entire day on the courtyard just towave at them. Didn’t people have a life? Did she?

Tilde breathed out a sigh of relief when she was allowed back in. She wasfourteen and knew this would be the death of her.

-x-

She rose from her seat and walked up to the podium. Her legs were shaking,but not as much as her hands. She looked out over the people gathered in thechurch. A silent sea of black. She looked at her parents. They were bothsolemn. Her dad was dire-eyed, but her mum cried. The arch bishop squeezed herarm a little and made sure the microphone was adjusted. She cleared her throatand looked down on the paper she had brought.

For the first time, she addressed the Swedish people live. She was sixteenand first in line in the Swedish succession according to the new constitution.

-x-

Story after story came out about how she was engaged, heartbroken,pregnant. She didn’t read any of them, it was gossip and ridiculous. Herfriends sometimes held dramatic readings from the magazines when they hadparties or sleepovers. Or just time to kill on the bus. Tilde laughed alongwith them, seemingly amused by it and telling them to keep going. For all thepictures the press had on her with her male classmates, they didn’t have asingle one of her with Christina.

Christina’s fingers brushed against her and she blushed. She was seventeenand scared to death she was a lesbian.

-x-

Her steps echoed in the Hall of State. It was completely silent and alleyes were on here in her royal blue dress, her Seraphim order sash, and herpearls. In the audience sat the official Sweden, the government, theopposition, representatives for all main religions, representatives from allminorities. There were representatives from the Danish, Norwegian, and Finnishgovernments. They all watched her, their eyes like knives. Tilde’s hands shook,but when she spoke, her voice held steady.

Today, she officially took on the duty of the heir to the throne. She waseighteen and couldn’t hide her eating disorder anymore.

-x-

She waved from the balcony, smiling, and let the screams and cheers washover her like a tsunami. It surprised her that she had missed this. A yearaway, a year without any official duties, a year of recovery. She was ready totake this on now.

Her parents stood by her side, smiling and waving as well. She turnedtwenty today and the media called her healthy again.

-x-

The world was dying. Polar ice melting, volcanoes erupting, tsunamis,tornadoes, earth quakes, floods, extreme weather. There wasn’t much she couldtalk about in public, but this was a passion she was allowed to have. Peoplewondered if she thought she could save the world and questioned her motives,but she powered on. There were whispers of her hiding from herresponsibilities, of her using this new found interest in the environment to goon expensive trips. They could talk all they wanted, saving the world was morethan photo ops with koalas. It was using the voice and position that was herbirth right to highlight these issues.

It wasn’t that she was running away from Stockholm. She was twenty-two andhad decided what to do with her title.

-x-

“Aren’t you the princess who went missing?”

She didn’t go missing. She was kidnapped. The prime minister went missing. Awise person doesn’t argue with her rescuer, though. She felt betrayed, lonely,and stupid. She would have said anything to get out of this dungeon. And shedid. Some people would probably say he took advantage of her – and they mightbe right – but really, she took advantage of him as well. She had sex with astranger she knew couldn’t tell the press.

It was probably a good thing that neither of them knew where it would lead.She was twenty-four and didn’t know where to put her trust anymore.

-x-

The house was quiet and dark. Eggsy lead her back to bed after having foundher in the kitchen at 2 a.m.. She called him her knight and wondered what thepress would call him. It was a long time since they had written that she wasengaged, heartbroken or pregnant. At the moment, the press only talked about herPTSD, her sabbatical, her running away from her duties. She didn’t want to talkabout it, she was raised to always smile and say it was fine, so she did.

When she closed her eyes she heard the echoes of a thousand screams andcheers. She was twenty-five and was falling apart.

-x-

It was a running joke that Roxy was the perfect combination of the two ofthem. She had Tilde’s upbringing (sort of) and Eggsy’s skillset (in a way). Theupper class lady turned spy. Tilde fought so hard not falling in love with herand utterly failed. She cried when she came out to Eggsy as bisexual. Shecouldn’t stop blushing when she told Roxy. She had no idea what to say whenthey suggested a threeway, but one time, became two times, became three times,became dinners, became movie nights, became vacations…

Tilde had no idea what to make of it, but it felt right. She was twenty-sixand finally starting to be honest with herself.

-x-

They kissed on the balcony as the crowd cheered the newlyweds. The Crownprincess had got her knight! Eggsy looked overwhelmed by the wave of lovecoming at them. She smiled, she waved and nudged him to do the same. Part ofher felt sorry for him, that he couldn’t live in this moment the way she could.

Tilde kissed him again. She was twenty-seven and couldn’t remember a timewhen this hadn’t been normal for her.

-x-

It was unclear when exactly Roxy had become a part of their relationship.Before the wedding they had called her their girlfriend. After the wedding Roxystarted to call herself Maîtresse-en-titreor just the royal mistress. She still politely declined every invitation tomeet Tilde’s parents and turned down every low-key official event Tilde andEggsy asked her to come to, but Roxy’s first stop after finishing a mission wasalways Stockholm as sure as it was Eggsy’s.

Tilde didn’t understand how she could be so lucky to have both of them inher life. She was twenty-eight and knew that this love affair would be made intomovies once they were dead.

-x-

The press wrote speculative article after speculative article about who thewoman in the well-tailored suit that came and went seemingly as she pleased atthe palace. Tilde read none of it, but Eggsy and Roxy read it all, finding itboth amusing and terrifying. Tilde much rather read up on history, royalmistresses, and Swedish law.

She had a plan, but she couldn’t implement it just yet. She was thirty andwondered just how huge a scandal it would be to make Roxy a duchess.

-x-

Eggsy held her hands. She rested her forehead against his. Her entire bodytrembled as they stood just out of sight from the crowd on the courtyard. Themurmur of a thousand voices buzzed in the air. She let go even though shedidn’t want to, but she had to do this alone. She had to face this crowd alonewith a man, without her husband, by her side. He would join her later, but shehad to do this alone, because like every public appearance her entire life thiswas symbolical.

The crowed exploded with cheers and scream when they saw her and she raisedher hand to wave, smiling. She was thirty-two and the Queen of Sweden.

-x-

It was the 21st century, there weren’t many things her titlestill granted her, but she remained the only person who could grant people apeerage. For the last 150 years, the only people receiving a title of Swedishnobility had been the women (and Eggsy) marrying into the royal family and themale children (and Tilde) born into the same. Today that changed. Today a pressrelease stated that Roxanne Morton would herby be addressed as Her Highness,Duchess of Västergötland – the title she’d given up when becoming Queen.

With Eggsy still using his title as Duke of Västergötland, Tilde knewexactly what signals this sent. She was thirty-three and didn’t care what theywrote about her anymore.

-x-

Slowly she walked up to the window. Behind her walked Eggsy and Roxy – theDuke and Duchess of Västergötland – and in her arms she carried a 13 month oldgirl. Their daughter, the Crown princess of Sweden. Tilde whispered to her,soft words to let her know she was safe, that mummy was there, that she wasloved. They were met the people in the courtyard cheered and waved their flags.The Crown princess of Sweden blinked at them and Tilde gave her a kiss as shewaved. On either side of them, Eggsy and Roxy waved as well.

Tears streamed down Tilde’s face. She was thirty-five and finally home.

Hemma i Stockholm.

#tilwixy #tilwin #reggsy #princess tilde #polyshipping day #kingsman #eggsy #tilde #roxy #avicii fic #my tumblr fics

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anactualcaseofthetruth · 7 years ago

Photo

Call Me A Safe Bet, I’m Betting I’m Not - Chapter 10

(AO3 Link- Chapter Ten)

Even though scientists are still quite baffled after multiple millennia of medical and technological advances of exactly how the soulmarks work, there has been enough research and study that we now know when and how to expect them… There has yet to be one soulmate coupling occur before the female has experienced a menstrual cycle and the male to begin producing sperm. In short, soulmarks have never appeared before entering puberty…

There are many, many more cases in which two people have insisted they are soulmates only to not mark with one another. All in all, only about 3% of couplings are correct in predicting they are soulmates before marks form.”

***

Betty Cooper is four years old when she meets Jughead Jones. She knows he is her soulmate, he’s not so sure.

Chapter Ten

“Most people mark with their soulmates before the age of 24. The median age is approximately 19 years old, with the outliers being 14 and 32, respectively.

There are exceptions, as in those meet but don’t touch appropriately in order to mark… it’s been found that most people know of their soulmate by the age of 16.” From Is Age Just a Number?, 2017

It’s not until after five that Betty, Veronica, and Kevin trudge into the garage that Archie and Fred turned into a soundproof hang out so that Archie can write and belt out love ballads without disturbing the entire neighborhood. It also serves as a place for the boys to play video games and not annoy Fred.

“Finally, Jesus, what took you guys so long?” Archie asks, but his eyes never leave the TV.

“Don’t look at me, I was just the ride,” Kevin states with hands up before taking his usual seat in the ancient recliner.

“HBIC Cheryl wasn’t happy with the routine, so we spent two hours reworking the entire thing,” Betty answers, unceremoniously dropping her gym bag on the floor. She’s changed into baggy sweats and an old cut-off shirt that she’d stolen from Jughead long ago and chopped up for her own comfort—it bares her shoulders and he can see parts of her black sports bra peeking out, but her soul mark is, of course, well-hidden.

“I’m regretting joining,” Veronica comments before plopping down onto the old fold-out with little to no grace and very un-Veronica Lodge-like.

“Can you pause or something?” Betty questions while nudging Jughead in the knee as he sits on the floor cross-legged with a pillow.

“I just died, what’s up?” he answers, but rather than respond verbally Betty just falls to her knees, one on either of his hips and situates herself in his lap with her legs crossed around his back.

She makes sure her head is on the shoulder opposite the TV so she’s not in his way. “You can get back to playing now,” she murmurs with a contented sigh.

Jughead chuckles beneath her and simply kisses her neck before she feels him connect his hands behind her back to continue to play.

“You guys are seriously giving me cavities,” Veronica groans from above them.

“You learn to ignore it. Hey, did you guys make it to the part where…”

Betty stops listening to the conversation and just burrows comfortably into Jughead’s shoulder, lets his scent fill her nostrils, and feels her body meld into his form.

She’s exhausted.

Ever since their big talk, she’s been having trouble sleeping—that much Jughead knows and he worries.

It’s been two weeks since he told her everything and she feels like she hasn’t gotten more than two hours a night, unless it’s been one of the few nights he sneaks into her room.

Those nights she can rest easy.

Betty sees the worried glances Jughead gives her as the bags under her eyes continue to darken day by day, but she just shrugs and leans into his shoulder. There’s nothing he can do—there’s still two weeks until his birthday and he hasn’t informed her of any decision that’s been made. She’s done her best to steer clear of the subject unless he brings it up.

She’s decided that she’s already said her piece and knows that continually sticking her nose into it would just put them into a constant state of tension, and with what’s going on in her life, Jughead’s her only relief. She doesn’t want to risk that. She’s too tired to be curious and have her one comfort taken away. So, as far as Betty knows, Jughead still has one foot in and one foot out.

(She feels like she’s holding onto the leg on the outside, sitting on it like she did with her father as a child when he’d swing her back and forth until her mother found them and scolded them for being unsafe. Only in this case, she’s holding on to keep Jughead safe. To keep their future safe.)

She’s so lost in thought that she may have actually fallen asleep—she doesn’t know, she’s not sure what it feels like anymore—but she jumps when Veronica practically yells her name directly into her ear.

“Fuck! What?” Betty starts and looks to Jughead for answers, confused.

“Language! She’s asking about the dance,” her soulmate fills her in with a grin.

“What dance?” she questions, ignoring his little jab.

“The Homecoming dance, duh,” Kevin answers, his hands now holding a controller and she notices Jughead doesn’t have one at the small of her back anymore.

“We need to start planning now, you know,” Veronica tells her like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Are you planning on asking me?” Betty asks her, her eyes now slits. She was definitely asleep and is not happy to be awake now.

“No, but we’re all going as a group, right?” Veronica goes on. “You and Jughead, Archie and his lucky lady, whoever she may be, and I was thinking I could go with Kevin. That is unless you have any other prospects,” she finishes while looking at the boy in question.

“No! Hell yeah! Do you think you can get me a swatch of your dress so I can match my tie? Oh, can I wear a bowtie? I love bowties. Should I get a matching vest too, or is that too much?” he shoots off rapidly.

“How do you know I have a lucky lady?” Archie asks, cutting off Veronica’s answer. “I mean, girl,” he coughs.

“Archiekins, you’re not subtle, you always sneak away after lunch and sometimes you’re missing in the morning. Not to mention some of the excuses you make. Just how many times can you leave your pencil somewhere?” she replies, nonchalant. “Your pencil? Really?”

“Wait, you have a girlfriend?” Betty speaks up, her brain only mildly alert due to her interrupted catnap. “And you didn’t tell me? Who is she? Did you know about this?” she asks her own boyfriend.

Jughead looks at her with an expression she’s unsure of. “I—”

“It’s my business,” Archie helps him out. “And it’s not—I’m going to the dance stag, as in listening to Reggie go on about how much ass he is going to get only for him to go home alone, watch the Pussycats perform, and probably dance with Kevin a few times to make his night—”

“Hey! We do not joke about things like this, Archie Andrews. You say it, you better do it,” the boy states.

“I would never joke, Kev, you know you have a special place in my heart,” Archie insists.

Kevin smiles from ear to ear and melts into the couch, his cheeks red with heat. “Can the three of us go together? It would cause such a scandal! Oh, please, can we do it? Please?” he pleads with Veronica, his eyes big and his bottom lip out.

“If Archie’s doesn’t mind,” Veronica answers. “I’m all for creating scandals.”

They both look to Archie who shrugs. “I guess so?”

“Oh, yes! We’re so doing this and taking the best photo-op ever,” Kevin sighs happily.

“You guys have fun,” Jughead says with hands moving up and down Betty’s back systematically to help ease the knots.

“You’re kidding, right? You’re coming. Betty, tell him he’s coming,” Veronica orders.

“Jug does what he wants, and he doesn’t do dances. Shit, can you go a little to the left?” she practically moans into his collarbone. “Sorry, babe, my left.”

He does as he’s told until Veronica hits him with a pillow so hard his hat falls off and rolls down Betty’s backside. “Fu—Veronica, what are you doing?”

“You are taking her to the dance. And you’re going to wear a suit with the suspenders on correctly, and—”

“V, it’s really not a big deal,” Betty interrupts. “I’ve tried to get him to go to every dance since grade school, he refuses. It doesn’t matter if I pout or use the silent treatment, he won’t go. He doesn’t feel comfortable so I’ve given up. I’ve gone without him a couple times and it’s not fun for me watching everyone couple up, no matter how much fun Kevin is,” she says honestly, “I’m not making that the hill I die on,” she says simply. “Can you get back to the massage please?”

“We went to a dance before,” Jughead counters instead.

“No, we haven’t. I’ve missed almost every single dance of my school career, and the two I did go to were with Kevin.”

“Fifth grade, the Valentine’s Day dance—”

“Oh, Jughead Jones, that does not count.” Betty laughs. “That was an in-class party not a dance. And it was for being the class to sell the most chocolate—”

“I remember that!” Archie recalls. “Remember your parents were so pissed because you ate all your chocolate rather than sell it so they had to fork over, like, a hundred and twenty bucks,” Archie recalls in a laugh. “Jug’s the reason we got the party,” he tells Veronica.

“We danced! It counts,” Jughead insists indignantly.

“Because I was the only girl left sitting by myself, not because you wanted to. Archie would have taken your place, but he was obsessed with Stephanie Gibson that week—”

“Don’t single me out, dude. Everyone was obsessed with Stephanie Gibson, she was the first girl in our grade to develop a chest and it was—let’s just say they were the size they are now, but on an eleven-year-old’s body,” Archie says to a wide-eyed Veronica.

She looks to Betty, who nods in confirmation. “That poor girl, she has, like, what, a D cup? And at eleven, wow,” Veronica mumbles to herself.

“Yeah, it was awesome,” Archie assures her.

“You realize I’m a girl, right? That’s not—I don’t see that as awesome,” Veronica tells him.

“He was just happy because his hand brushed up against it, so stop acting like you got somewhere. We were eleven,” Betty reminds him with an eye roll.

“I’m sorry, not all of us found our soulmate at four years old and—”

“What!?” Archie’s interrupted by Veronica’s shriek.

Betty’s mouth opens in shock, Archie looks like a deer stuck in headlights, Jughead just lets his head fall back onto the couch, and Kevin almost looks giddy.

“Holy shit, this is getting so good,” he coos and both Betty and Jughead give him a look.

“You two got soulmarks at four years old—?” Veronica asks but is so shocked she can’t continue. “What, that’s imposs—” she continues to be practically speechless.

“We didn’t mark at four years old,” Jughead speaks up finally.

Betty looks at him with pleading eyes and he simply nods a little. “But I did know when I was four,” she finishes.

“But you are soulmates? You marked later? When? Where? Is this why you go into the bathroom stalls to change for practice?”

Rather than answer Betty just tugs on her crop top to reveal the gold crown. It’s somewhat blocked by the sports bra, but her new friend gets the idea.

“Holy crap,” the brunette breathes. “I didn’t think you two were marked. I thought you just, like, rose above it. Wow,” she goes on. “How did you know at four?”

Betty shrugs and leans back on Jughead’s legs that are now in a bent-up position. “I don’t know, we had just met and he hugged me to make me feel better, and,” she looks at Jughead who now has a small smile playing on his lips. “I could feel it somehow. So, I told him he was mine and he never fought it so,” she stops with a shrug.

“Why would I? Look at you,” Jughead teases and tickles her sides.

“Shut up, I was four and crying and—”

“Adorable,” he whispers before kissing her sweetly.

“Enough with that, I’m still in need of information over here! When did you find out?” Veronica presses.

“They went through a rough patch when we were, like, thirteen. It was all very angsty and he wore even more black than he does now,” Kevin begins. “Anyways, they were in this very big, very strange stance of ‘we’re not together but we’re not single either’ and there was hella tension, let me tell you,” he continues. “Anywho, Betty got her period, she was super scared of, you know, not being right, so she avoided him. Finally, he snuck into her bedroom, of course, and she told him. They kissed and voila, crown soulmarks right over their itty-bitty hearts.”

“That we keep secret because of the small-town drama, and because we were so young,” Betty adds on.

“Or, we were keeping it a secret before Archie opened his mouth,” Jughead says.

“I’m so fucking sorry, guys,” their red-headed friend finally speaks up. “I’ve never told anyone else, ever, and I—”

“We know, Jug’s just giving you a hard time,” Betty insists and pinches her boyfriend.

“It was only a matter of time before Veronica found out,” Jughead agrees, then bites his lip. “Besides, I’m working on telling my parents so we can spill the beans, anyway.”

At that Betty smiles and plants a big kiss on his lips.

“And what a better way to do it than at Homecoming in two weeks?”

“Uhm, no,” Betty answers herself. “I’m not putting a time limit on it. Jug’s parent’s history with marks is rough and I’m not putting him in a position where he feels forced to tell people. He’s working on it and that’s all I need right now,” she assures her new friend. “Besides, we have other plans that weekend.”

“We do?” Jughead asks.

“I was trying to be subtle, but yeah, it’s your birthday,” she reminds him.

“Oh shit, yeah. Sorry, Veronica, we can’t go, got plans,” he agrees quickly.

“You? Plans? On your birthday? All you do is get Pop’s and go to the Bijou with Betty. You can do that on any given Wednesday,” Kevin speaks up. “Jug hates his birthday, by the way.”

“I admit defeat for the night but not forever on the subject. You’ve been warned, Joneses,” she threatens.

“Joneses?” Betty questions, tilting to her head.

“What? It’s inevitable, but I know to be quiet in mixed company, unlike some people,” Veronica says dramatically to the room.

“I said I was sorry!” Archie pouts.

“And I’m going to find out who your lady friend is,” Veronica warns with a smirk.

“And I’m going to help,” Betty offers and the two wink at each other.

“Jug, a little help here?” Archie asks, his face pale.

“Sorry, bud, I know better than to try and keep things from Betty by now. You’re on your own,” her boyfriend says while looking at her with a small grin.

“You better,” she murmurs before kissing him once more.

“Okay, can we get food or something? All these slips have been great, but I’m hungry, and when I’m too hungry I get hangry and—”

“Stop, yes Kevin, we can get food,” Jughead interrupts. “Pop’s?”

“Yeah, I could use some chili cheese fries after that horror show we call practice,” Veronica agrees while standing.

Betty sighs. “I probably have to go home. My parents—”

“You’re coming,” Jughead urges as he struggles to get up with her still on top of him.

“Jug, I’m gonna fall!” she whines.

“You? I haven’t felt my ass in over an hour,” he groans while letting her go to get on her own feet. “You’re coming, you’re never home for dinner on nights you have practice and they know that.”

Betty looks at him under tired eyes but says nothing.

“C’mon, going to bed with a full stomach won’t hurt any. I’ll make sure you’re home before Alice Cooper sends out the dogs,” he assures her.

“Fine, but I’m getting a side salad,” she capitulates.

“As long as it’s on the side of a big, juicy cheeseburger, sure,” Jughead agrees.

“When you put it that way,” Betty says with a grin as he throws an arm around her shoulders to pull her close.

It’s unfair, Betty thinks, on Friday night after a grueling River Vixen’s practice followed by the football game, that she felt like death warmed over all day, but as soon as her head hits the pillow it’s as though she doesn’t remember how to sleep.

Wearing one of the shirts she’s stolen from Jughead, she curls into her pillow, her thumb hovering over his name nestled between emoji hearts in her contact list.

He and Archie are having a sleepover tonight, meaning they are next door playing video games and eating all night, doing whatever boys do when they have sleepovers, and she doesn’t want to interrupt, but—

She’s so tired, so tired with no sleep in sight that the words on her phone become blurred as tears fill her eyes.

Betty sniffles and hits Jughead’s name.

He answers after a ring or two, mid-laugh, and it makes her heart lurch. This is their first real ‘guy-time’ together or whatever, and she hates that she’s ruining it.

“Hey, babe,” he greets. “Calling to say goodnight?”

She sniffles again and bites her lip. “I know you’re with Arch, but do you think you could come over? Just until I fall asleep? Please?”

“Of course, are you okay, Betts?” he asks, knowing her entirely too well.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” she assures him and doesn’t think it’s a lie. She is fine, just tired, tired and out of it. “I—I don’t sleep unless you’re with me, not real sleep, not lately, and I—”

“Betty, I’m already walking out the door. I’ll be up in two minutes, okay?”

“It’s Archie mad? I know tonight’s a big deal—”

“It’s video games and shit-talking, and no, he’s not mad. He wanted to get a writing session anyways, whatever that means to our resident Justin Bieber, no worries. I’m about to climb up, so,” he pauses.

“Okay, see you in a sec,” she murmurs before hanging up and dropping the phone on pastel bedspread.

Maybe it’s this room, she thinks as she surveys the pinks, purples and baby blues all mixing together. As time goes on, she’s feeling less and less like the room belongs to her. It’s the bedroom for the perfect daughter her parents want. It doesn’t feel like her, not anymore, not ever again.

“Arch is right,” Jughead states as he crawls through her window. “If I work out my arms more, that is a lot easier.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispers in response.

Jughead cups her cheeks as it sits on the bed in front of her. “No, I’m sorry, Betts. This is all because of me. I hate it,” he admits.

“It’s not just you, Jug,” she assures him, leaning into his hold. “It’s a lot you, not going to lie, but… everything is getting to me. It’s like I can’t keep up the charade anymore.”

“What charade?”

“All this perfection,” she mouths, not wanting to say it. “I hate that word, I hate it, and I—for so many years I’ve abided by it. I wore the pastels and sweaters with stupid lace trimming and long-sleeves that my mom picked out. I took ballet and piano lessons. I’ve been shadowing at the Register since I was, like, nine? Who does that?” she asks the room more than him. “I was nine. I should have been playing Star Wars with you and Archie or watching Disney movies nonstop with Kevin—”

“Hey, as I recall, I was subjected to those Disney marathons too, Betts,” Jughead cuts in with a small smile. “I know every word to The Little Mermaid and Cinderella, and even Tangled,” he reminds her.

“Beauty and the Beast too,” she adds with a smile. “I went to church and did every academic extra-curricular. I voluntarily did every extra credit assignment even though I had straight-A’s. I did that stupid internship. I didn’t talk back and I was nothing like Polly. I didn’t shorten my skirts or hang out with people she didn’t approve of. I’ve only missed curfew, like, twice in my entire life,” she stops to look at him, doing her best to blink away the tears. “But what’s the point? It doesn’t matter how much I try to be everything they want when all it takes is one stupid mistake for them to throw me away.”

“Betty, what are you talking about? Your parents aren’t perfect themselves, no matter how much they want to be, but they love you,” he tells her.

“Like they love Polly?” she asks with a quiver in her lip. “She may have been rebellious and loud and full of life, but she’s still their daughter. All it took was one choice—Jason—and it was so easy to toss her aside.”

“Betty, I—”

“Did I help?” she asks him. “Because I did everything they said. I became everything they wanted. Did that make it okay to let her go because they had me?”

“No. No, Betty, stop,” he urges and tugs her by the back of the knees so she’s in his lap. “It’s never okay to do what they did. Polly’s their daughter as much as you are. It doesn’t matter if she didn’t listen as much as you did.”

“What if that’s why she doesn’t want to see me? What if she thinks because they have me they don’t need her?”

“Oh, baby,” Jughead says into her neck as they hold each other. “I don’t know what Polly thinks, but it can’t be that it just can’t be. None of this is your fault. She made her choices and they made theirs. You weren’t even here when it all went down.”

“Because I was at that stupid internship my mom got me into. If I was here—”

“You’d be in the same boat you are now,” he tells her. “Because neither of them would have budged, and you know it.”

Betty nods into his neck, her fingers playing with the little hairs at his nape. “I’m mad at her,” she admits.

“I know,” he answers quietly.

“She just left me behind like I would agree with them. Like I hadn’t been on her side for the last year with everything. I keep trying to prove to her I’m a good enough sister, the perfect sister, and she just keeps—” the rest is caught in her throat and she squeezes his shoulders tight. “I’ve done everything to contact her. She’s made herself unreachable, and I—I think I’m done, Jug. I can’t—if everything I’ve done, everything I am isn’t enough for her then that’s it. I can’t be any more than I am.”

“Baby, you’re enough, you’re more than, fuck,” he insists, his grip so tight she almost can’t breathe, but Betty wants it that way. He makes her feel safe, wanted, enough.

“I’m not used to giving up,” she confesses after a long moment.

“You’re not giving up, Betty. You’ve done everything you can do to show Polly you’re on her side and that you don’t agree with your parents. If it’s not enough for her, then she’s truly becoming a Blossom and that’s her fault, not yours,” he says firmly into her skin.

Betty pulls away to wipe her face on her pajama shirt.

“You’re everything, Betty. I don’t ever want you to think you’re less than how completely wonderful you are,” Jughead states.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall apart on you,” she whispers, resting her forehead on his. “That’s not why I asked you to come over. I just—it’s not all you, so don’t be a drama queen and think it is,” she teases.

He smiles and presses a soft kiss to her lips.

“I can’t wait until we’re older, when I’m out of this room, this house. When I don’t have to call you to come over because you’ll be beside me. I want to be able to roll over and have you already there.”

“That’s the real dream right there, huh?” he murmurs and kisses her once more. “C’mon, let’s get under the covers.”

Betty settles under her sheet and comforter set but finds more comfort in Jughead’s arms. “Jug, if you become a Serpent, what kind of obligations will you have?”

“Betty, I—”

“I mean, like, you made me watch Sons of Anarchy. Do the Serpents have Church? Will you have to be there? Are there different meetings for the younger Serpents? Will I have a name?” she begins to ramble on.

“A name?” he questions.

“Yeah, on Sons they were called Crow-Eaters, right?”

“The groupies were, Jesus, Betty,” he says in half a laugh. “You wouldn’t be a groupie, you’d be a… Old Lady, I think? And, I don’t know about any of it. I’m not in, remember?”

Betty settles back onto her pillow. “Well, I’m just saying, they should hand out pamphlets or something, so we know what we’re getting into.”

“It’s a gang, Betty, I think that speaks for itself,” he tells her.

“Humph,” she grunts and stares at the ceiling.

“If conversational whiplash is a thing, it’s what I’m experiencing right now,” Jughead admits.

“Welcome to my nightlife,” she sighs and blinks up at the too-white paint. “My mind jumps to a million different things when I’m trying to sleep. I think about you, Veronica, Kevin, my parents, Polly, Archie, his girlfriend, who is she?” she goes on without missing a beat. “I keep wondering who. At first, I thought it was Ethel and he wasn’t saying anything because she’s not, like, his usual, you know?’ she asks and then continues before he can answer. “And it pissed me off because Ethel is awesome, and she deserves better than to be a secret because she’s not someone Reggie Mantle would ‘approve’ of or whatever.”

“Wow,” is all her boyfriend says.

“But then, during one of the times Archie disappeared we were with Ethel,” she tells him. “Veronica said it could be Cheryl, but Cheryl wouldn’t keep Archie a secret. I mean, look at him, she’d parade him around like a show dog or something, Kevin’s words, not mine. Then,” she looks over at him to make sure he’s still listening. “There was a theory it could be a guy. Archie’s always been very into girls, but hey, anyone can have a sexual awakening.”

“Are those Kevin’s words, or Veronica’s?” he wonders aloud.

“Kevin’s, mostly hoping Archie was exploring, you know, so he’d have a chance. Regardless, Archie and Kevin have already touched, so they aren’t marked. Not that it really matters, but I don’t want Kevin to get his heart broken, I don’t think he’d survive losing Archie. That’d be like growing up thinking Lindsay Lohan really had a twin, earth-shattering.”

“Wow,” Jughead repeats, laughing now.

“What?”

“It’s—you can just tell you have a new friend, a girl-friend. That’s all,” he explains, and tucks a hair behind her ear.

“Right. Anyway,” she says, and he laughs some more. “So, the guy theory isn’t out, I just don’t think it’s the right direction, you know? This could all be solved if you would tell me, but I told Veronica as much as we’re intertwined and as much as you love me, you keep your promises, especially to Archie, and I respect that. I won’t make you tell me, just drive you crazy until you do.”

“Are you trying to butter me up about Homecoming?” Jughead asks, still chuckling.

“What? How did you get Homecoming from that?”

“Betty, you went from Polly to the Serpents, to Archie being gay, and you’re asking me how I got Homecoming after you made me feel all warm inside with that comment?”

“I am not the one pushing you into Homecoming. That’s Veronica. You were there when I told her. I’ve admitted defeat. That is all her,” Betty reminds him.

“But you do want to go?” he pushes.

“I would like to, yes,” she tells him honestly. “But I won’t force you into anything that you don’t want to.”

“And you really want to go?” he asks again. “I’m being serious here, Betts. We’ve never talked about dances or Homecoming, not since the shitty seventh-grade ones that were so lame Archie even skipped half of them.”

Betty turns her head to look at him. “Yes, Jug, I do, okay? I would like to go shopping for a cute dress, get dolled up with my friends, and attend a dance with my soulmate, who I know looks amazing with suspenders worn correctly…” she trails off just to smile at him. “But I’m not going to guilt you into going. I’m fine with sitting at home with you and watching movies and doing absolutely nothing as long as you’re right beside me.”

“Doing nothing with you is one of my favorite things,” Jughead begins.

“Well, it’s your birthday. I assumed we’d be doing a little more than nothing,” Betty comments, to which he grins.

“That’s my second favorite thing to do with you,” he laughs. “I’m a weirdo, I know this, how I almost never go without that stupid hat solidifies that, but—”

“Now I get what you meant by that whiplash comment,” Betty interrupts.

“Shush,” he mutters. “I want to go to Homecoming with you.”

“What?”

Jughead kisses her temple softly. “It’s something I’m against as an institution, but—if something so small will make you happy, and won’t hurt me at all, of course I want to do it.”

“Jug, you don’t have to, really,” she assures him.

“Betty,” he breathes while licking his lips. “I’m—fuck, baby, I’m weird,” he tells her again. “You never say no to going to the Bijou with me, or going to Pop’s for the millionth time, or seeing the same five Hitchcock or Tarantino movies repeatedly because no one will make movies better than them—”

“I am your favorite Hitchcock blonde, right?” she cuts him off, with a grin.

“Of course,” he affirms. “But don’t get me started on how he treated the women in his films—I’ll never finish what I’m trying to say.”

“Oh, believe me, I know,” Betty teases.

“What I’m getting to,” he goes on. “You do so much for me, such small trivial shit that bothers the hell out of everyone else around me, but you never say no.”

“Juggie,” she murmurs and looks up at him under heavy lids.

“I’m not being self-deprecating, I promise,” he insists. “It’s who I am, and you’ve loved me for all that I am before these marks ever showed up on our skin. I mean, Jesus, we just had a conversation about what you would be called if I joined the Serpents, that was real.”

“I was there. What are you getting at, Jug?” she asks.

“If going to Homecoming is something that will make you happy then of course I want to go. I always want to make you happy,” he finishes.

“That was a very long-winded way of conceding,” she responds in a whisper.

“I’m not conceding, I’m—I’m trying to be romantic, okay? Do you want to go to Homecoming with me or not?”

“Yes!” she says with a smile from ear to ear.

Jughead smiles wide, the kind of smile that makes her stomach flip. “And—I think we should take Veronica’s suggestion.”

“What?”

“I think you should get a dress that will show our marks and that is how we’ll tell the world.”

“What?” she repeats as though she doesn’t understand what he’s finally saying.

“I—I don’t know how to tell my dad, how to come clean about this lie. It’s—I need a push, you know? I need something to make me do it. It’s become one of those things that’s harder to fix because of how long it’s been going on. I need to pull the Band-Aid and if my hand is forced I’ll have to rip it off,” he explains.

Betty’s shocked for a second before she sits up. “You’re joining the Serpents, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“You—you want to go to Homecoming and show our marks and tell your parents. You’re the one buttering me up. That’s cruel, Jug,” she says hollowly as she tries to pull away.

“I’m not buttering you up!” he insists, getting up too and pulling her back to him. “That didn’t even occur to me, Betts. I swear.”

“So, you’re not joining the Serpents?”

“No! Well, I don’t know, I haven’t figured it out yet. I just have all these decisions hanging over me and I’m sick of it. I need something to give me a push, so I want to put a time limit on it, or I’ll never get the nerve. It’s not just about telling my dad. It’s explaining why I lied to him for years about the thing that makes me the happiest. I need something to help make me do it, and this is it. Going to Homecoming is for you, but that’s the only reason, for you,” he insists.

“It’s not because you’ve decided to join the Serpents and you’re trying to make it easier on me?” she asks again to make sure.

“I haven’t decided anything with the Serpents. But I did decide to go to Homecoming with my beautiful soulmate, showing our mark, because it’s time, and it will make you happy, which is all I really want.”

“This is real?” she asks, tears in her eyes again.

“Very real. No strings, no hang-ups, just wanting to make you happy.”

Betty throws herself at him in a hug, almost knocking him off the bed. “Oh, Juggie! I can’t wait to tell Veronica. I can’t wait to find a dress. I can’t wait—” he cuts her off with a kiss.

She leans into him and lets herself get lost in it, in the feeling of his lips on her skin, his hands slipping under her shirt to skim across her ribs. It makes her heart flutter and stomach somersault.

Betty doesn’t realize how deep they are in until she feels his fingers slip under her underwear. “Whoa, Jug, wait,” she breathes heavily.

“What?”

“I—I love you, you are romantic. I can’t wait for all the Homecoming stuff and your birthday, but,” she stops and bits her bottom lip. “I’m so fucking tired.”

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he apologizes instantly. “I forgot.”

“Honestly, I did too for a second,” she admits. “But I love you, so much.”

“I love you more,” he replies and slowly brings her down to the mattress with him. “But, I think you’d love me more if you got a full eight hours tonight.”

Betty snuggles into him. “No offense but right now, a full eight hours sounds so much better than an orgasm.”

Jughead laughs and starts playing with her hair, a surefire way to make sure she falls asleep ASAP. “Go to sleep, baby, and you’ll find all this is still real in the morning.”

“I know you hate it, but it goes so well with your skin tone,” Veronica says as she appears out of thin air with a dress in hand.

Betty looks it over. It’s beige, would be skintight, swoop low to show her boobs, and definitely be sexy, but—

“I want color, V,” she admits.

“We could give you a splash of color with your earrings, a necklace, and shoes!” the brunette insists.

“No, I just… I think I’ll know it when I see it,” Betty tells her.

“I love you, but you’re being so picky,” Veronica huffs and shoves the dress back on the rack.

“Why don’t you wear it? I’m sure there is one in your size,” Betty says.

“I can’t do beige, really, it washes me out most of the time,” Veronica sighs as they continue their search for the ‘perfect’ dress as Veronica calls it. Betty’s not so in love with the name, but she’s not wrong. “I still can’t believe Jughead agreed to this. Ugh, you guys are like a fairytale.”

Betty shakes her head at an outrageous lime green dress, who would even try to wear that? “From the outside, it may seem like that,” she starts, “but we’ve been through so much crap, V, believe me. Even now, Jughead has this huge decision he has to make before his birthday and I know what decision he should make, but it’s his to make.” She stops and lets out a long breath. “I can’t make it for him, I won’t be that type of partner.”

“Hey, is this something we need to talk about?” Veronica asks in a soft voice. “I know I’m not as close as you and Archie, or Kevin, definitely not Jughead,” she says with a chuckle, “but, you can trust me.”

“Oh, I know. I know, V,” Betty assures her. “If it was about me, I would tell you. But this is about Jughead, so it’s his business, you know?”

Veronica nods and motions to the small pile dresses that are a ‘maybe’ for her along with the two dresses Betty didn’t hate so far. “Let’s try some of these on, huh?”

They find a large room they can share together. Now that Veronica knows about the mark, Betty has nothing to hide.

“You look amazing in every dress, V,” Betty practically coos at Veronica’s fifth ‘maybe’. “In every color too.”

“It is a blessing and a curse,” she breathes, then smiles playfully. “I prefer black, it can make you be both sexy and innocent at the same time. I can be in mourning or a mob wife. There are so many options.”

Betty chuckles as she shucks the dress off and it pools at her feet. “Here, a little black dress, just for you,” she says and hands her a black dress with lace sleeves.

Veronica smiles suggestively before practically snatching it out of her hands. “Yes, I remember you saying black lace, and I just told you to add it to the pile, but I didn’t look at it.”

“Even if you don’t want it for Homecoming, you better buy it. You look amazing, V,” Betty insists, standing now to look her over.

“Why wouldn’t I wear this to Homecoming? It’s perfect,” Veronica states. “Sorry, I know you hate the word—”

“No, it is. The boys aren’t going to know what hit them,” Betty agrees.

“And I have the perfect black gloves to match it with,” the raven-haired girl says with a small smile.

“Hey, V,” Betty starts softly. “I think I know, but why—”

“Do I wear the gloves?” Veronica finishes, her voice low. She lets out a long breath and sits on the little bench in the changing room. “I—everyone in Riverdale knows the scandal involving my parents. My dad is in prison for embezzlement; my mom is this town’s target practice, all while suddenly being a single parent with almost every account frozen like she’s to blame for it too, when she didn’t know anything about it.”

“Veronica—”

“My parents are marked, Betty, they marked in high school, Riverdale High School. My mom was,” she stops to breathe. “She dated Fred Andrews for over a year in high school, until my dad set his eyes on her.”

“What? Your mom and Archie’s dad?”

Veronica nods. “It’s not a big deal, he was jilted for a little bit, but then he marked with Archie’s mom, of course, as we know,” she goes on. “Anyways, my mom was happy with Fred. I’ve seen the pictures. I heard stories when I was dating this boy back home, Nick St. Claire. My mom always said it’s fine to date before you mark because you’re not marked yet, you know? And she had fun with Fred. He treated her like a princess. Then, they had one big fight, and my dad saw an opening and took it. They marked, and then obviously she and Fred were over after that. But in every picture I’ve seen of her and Archie’s dad… well, I’ve never seen her smile that way at my dad.”

“Oh.”

“My dad always provided for us, more than we ever needed, honestly, and he always treated me right, I was his little girl. He treated me like a princess, when I wish he’d done the same with my mom. Their mark is on their necks, it—it looks like, to me, like dead flesh, like it’s eating her from the inside out. My parents say its black crushed diamonds, but… tomatoe, tomato, I guess?”

“I know what you mean. My parents say theirs is a sharp pen going down their wrists, but to me it looks like a blade about to cut open the main vein,” Betty admits quietly.

“I’ve never heard my parents say ‘I love you’ or show affection towards each other unless we were at some event. With one look my father can have my mother go from all smiles to knowing she did something wrong somehow, and it completely ruins her night. He’s never hit her or anything like that, but the emotional abuse was there from time to time. I saw it. I tried to tell her to stand up to him but my dad is such a presence. He demands respect. You know he’s one of the smartest, most cunning person the moment he walks into a room, any room.”

“I’m sorry, V,” Betty whispers.

“Honestly, it’s hard with my father being in prison, but sometimes, I swear, when she and I are hanging out together I see that smile I used to only see in the pictures of her and Mr. Andrews together. She’s more at ease now. She doesn’t have to be so ‘on’ all the time, she can relax. I’m not saying the marks are wrong, but… my mom’s weighs her down in a way that I don’t ever want to be weighed down myself.”

Betty nods. “So you wear the gloves so you won’t mark with anyone.”

Veronica mimics her movements. “I don’t want to lose myself the way she did. I wear the gloves to protect myself and I know it means I could have missed my moment, but I’d rather be alone than be in a relationship and feel alone, because that is so much worse.”

Betty sits down next to her and pulls her into a long hug. “If I hadn’t marked with Jug I probably would have come up with the same solution to keep him. Whether or not you ever take off the gloves is up to you, but from what I’ve gathered in the past few weeks—you’re not passive. You’re not like your mom in that way and you wouldn’t let yourself be taken over like that. Whoever your soulmate is, they are definitely in for a long, crazy ride because you’re so full of life and a force to be reckoned with.”

Veronica leans into Betty’s arms with a smile. “Thank you, B.”

“Any time, V.”

She wipes at her eyes, and smiles. “No more sadness, I have something for you that you have to try on, even if you don’t like the color. I have a feeling about it.”

“For you, sure,” Betty agrees and stands.

Veronica pulls out a dress from underneath a rather large poofy purple one that belongs in the eighties. It’s pink, but—Betty agrees, she has a feeling about it.

An hour later, Betty gets dropped off by Smithers at Sunnyside, leaving her dress behind because Jughead is not to see it until the dance as per Veronica’s orders.

That may be so, but she’s so excited she can’t stop herself from at least telling him about it.

She runs up the few steps to his trailer and bursts through the door—FP gets annoyed when she knocks and Jughead is just as happy not having to get up to get the door.

“Juggie—” the words die in her throat upon seeing him surrounded by a group of Serpents, his father included, a leather jacket adorning his torso and a black eye darkening on his face.

To be continued…

Notes: Don’t jump to conclusions, peeps, trust me, and… well, doesn’t Jug look great in the jacket?? This was fast, huh? You’re welcome ;) Big stuff in the works here! You’ll see… big things coming, be ready, y'all!And let’s never forget to thank @jandjsalmon for beta-ing and answering weird questions at all hours of the day when I forget a word or need to describe something better.

#riverdale #fanfiction #bughead #betty cooper #jughead jones #call me a safe bet #update

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kuriquinn · 8 years ago

Text

You Are Cordially Invited [3/?]

Cover & Disclaimer

Chapter Summary: Ino is also the person that she confides everything in, good or bad. She was there for Sakura when Sasuke and Naruto weren’t, and there’s a dimension to their friendship that none of the men in her life will ever understand or be able to replace. She can’t not tell her.

Chapter Beta: Sakura’s Unicorn

Author’s Note: The views on marriage in this chapter are not my own. I personally could care less when it comes to the whole institution (get married or don’t get married, just don’t dictate who’s allowed and who’s not when they should do it and why they should do it…etc.) but I figure most of the characters in Naruto would be the traditional sort and would have traditional views about it. So no SJWs equating these fictional situations with my own view, please. I’m always shocked by the tiny details people get hung up on…

An empty, industrial-sized knapsack, several neatly folded piles of clothes, and methodically packaged medical supplies lie on Sakura’s bed. Humming to herself, she looks around, trying to decide if there is anything she hasn’t packed yet that she ought to.

I’ll need more of those, she thinks, picking up a bottle of blood pills, but I can get those from the hospital when I give my notice tomorrow.

It’s not official yet – technically, she’s not on the mission roster – but Sasuke said he would take care of that this morning. She’s not worried; Kakashi will definitely say yes. Even if he doesn’t, she’s already set her mind on a leave of absence from work. If she wants to spend her time off near Earth Country at the same time that Sasuke happens to be on a mission there, it’s completely her business. She dares anyone to try to tell her different.

“Well, that’s a lot more stuff than usual,” a voice remarks from her doorway. She glances up to see her mother peeking her head in. “Where are you off to, the lost Land of Ancestors?” She chuckles at her own joke.

“Earth Country,” Sakura replies, packing her clothes away.

Her mother frowns. “Is there an outbreak of something up that way?”

“Maybe. There’s always people in need of a healer wherever I go.”

“But you’re not sure?”

“Well, Sasuke can’t tell me until he gets permission from Kakashi to read me in on it – and even if he does, I couldn’t tell you the specifics until it’s declassified,” Sakura says, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. “Come on, Mom. It hasn’t been that long since you went on missions.”

“So. Sasuke’s going, too.”

“Mm-hm.”

“What about Naruto? And Sai? Is it a mission that needs you all?”

“No, I don’t think so. Besides, Sai’s busy restructuring the black-ops division. And Naruto doesn’t actually go on a lot of missions these days while he’s learning how to run the village. I doubt they’d put him on a long-term one like this.”

“Long-term?” her mother echoes. “How ‘long-term?’”

“Oh, I don’t know. It could be weeks. It could be months,” Sakura replies, unconcerned.

“So, you’re going on a mission that might last for weeks or months. Alone. With a man.” Her words are flat.

“Oh, Mother, don’t be so archaic. It’s a mission with Sasuke,” Sakura rolls her eyes, “not a drunken sex-romp through the Five Shinobi Countries with a complete stranger.”

Well, it could be, her inner voice, quiet for so long, pipes up slyly.

Mebuki makes a face. “Excuse me for thinking you’d be safer on one of those than the other.”

“No. We’re not doing this,” Sakura says, holding up a hand. “You’ve made your feelings about Sasuke perfectly clear. And while you’re entitled to your opinion, you’ve got nothing to back it up with. You don’t know him like I do.”

“That doesn’t count. You’re in love. That sort of thing clouds judgement.”

“Then you don’t know him like Naruto does. Or Kakashi. You trust the judgement of Konoha’s hero and the Sixth Hokage, right?” she asks, to which her mother crosses her arms, but can’t think of anything to say. In a more wheedling voice, Sakura adds, “Just give him a chance, okay?”

“Did I say I wouldn’t?” Mebuki grumbles, and Sakura knows she’s won.

She crosses the room to hug her mother and then glances at the clock. “All right, I have to get going. I want to catch Ino before she heads home for the night.”

It’s the best time to talk to her, really; Sakura isn’t keen on intruding in her friend’s home these days. She and Sai are still in the honeymoon period, and Sakura’s learned her lesson about showing up unannounced.

She shudders. That’s more of Sai than I ever, ever wanted to see…

Given the fact she’s a medic, that’s saying something.

It’s barely five minutes to the flower shop, the road familiar and strewn with memories. Sakura thinks about how strange it will be, taking a different path to get here once she and Sasuke have their own home. She blushes at the thought, unable to keep the smile off her face or the bounce from her step.

I’m getting married, she thinks giddily for the umpteenth time since he proposed. She still can’t quite believe it; the thought will jump out at her at random points during the day, making her stomach flip and her heart speed up. She wonders if Sasuke experiences the same excitement and disbelief, or if (as with all things), once he’s set his mind to something, it’s simple fact that requires no reaction.

Probably the latter, she sighs to herself as she enters Yamanaka Flowers.

The place is the same as usual, although the décor has changed; the once blank walls are now swirls of colour, murals painted by Sai that have turned the four corners into their own little contained fantasy worlds. Beautiful landscapes meld into one another, the colours rivalled only by the flowers which line the walls.

Ino is behind the counter, preparing a bouquet of yellow tulips for an awkward-looking youth.

“Hey,” she greets as the shy boy bolts from the shop, “it’s been a while since I’ve seen you here. Come to bask in my beauty?”

Sakura wrinkles her nose. “Please, if I want to bask in beauty, I’ll go watch a sunset.”

“Excuse you! Are you saying I’m not as gorgeous as a sunset?”

“More like you’re as irritating as a sunburn.”

“Billboard Brow.”

“Pig.”

They smirk at each other.

“Thanks for that mint oil balm you sent over. It’s done wonders for my mother’s back.”

“I’m glad! As soon as you run out, I’ll have Ando make some more. He did pretty well with that last batch. Oh, if you ever get a shipment of cajuput, I’ll tell him to add it. It really helps.”

“I’ll put a note in when we resupply,” Ino says. “So, what’s up?”

“I came to see if you want to meet for dinner tomorrow night,” Sakura says. “Naruto and Hinata will be there. Kakashi-sensei, too, if he’s not busy.”

“So, Team 7 and others?” Ino smirks. “Didn’t we just meet at Ichiraku last week?”

“It’s not Ichiraku. We’re having it at Sasuke’s place.” Sakura frowns. “And we were going to order in from that new yōshokuya, but if you’re desperate for ramen, I’m sure we can pick some up for you.”

“Well, aren’t you funny today – wait. Sasuke’s place? Isn’t that a little cramped?”

“It was either that or my parents’ – you know how they hover.”

“Yes, but at least your mother is always popping up with treats. And there’s more space there.”

“Are you going to be able to make it or not?” Sakura asks impatiently.

“Not,” Ino answers, “but it has nothing to do with the location. Tomorrow night, there’s a Yamanaka clan meeting and Sai’s insisting we go. Honestly, he cares more about it than I do, even though I told him that it’s only boring accounting stuff and an excuse for the old geezers to talk about the time so-and-so’s cousin stole their cat…”

“He just wants to fit in.”

Sai never gives up a chance to learn more about the family he married into. He’s gotten very protective of it, especially since he never had a family himself.

“There are other ways to fit in than getting your cheeks pinched by a dozen great aunts,” Ino complains.

They grin at each other, and Sakura sobers. “We’ll miss you at dinner.”

“Can’t you postpone it?”

“No. I’m sort of on a fixed schedule and might not get another chance during the next two weeks.”

“What’s in two weeks?”

“I’m heading to Earth Country. It might be a month or so, depending on what the trouble is.”

“They asked for a healer? Don’t they have a bunch of their own up there?”

“It’s not that – though I doubt they’d turn me away. See, Sasuke’s leading the mission and he asked me to come with –”

“Wait. He asked you? You sure you didn’t rudely invite yourself along?”

“Shut up, Pig!”

“Who else is going?”

“No one. It’s just us.”

“Just…” Ino’s eyes widen and a beat later, she leers. “Just the two of you? Oh, you little tramp! Ooh, and you’re unmarried and everything. How scandalous!”

“Hilarious…”

“Seriously, though, isn’t your mom freaking out about this?”

“Not as much as she would under normal circumstances,” Sakura admits.

“Normal circumstances?”

“That’s sort of what I wanted to tell you at dinner tomorrow along with everyone else,” Sakura explains. She looks around the flower shop, ensuring that they’re completely alone, and leans over the counter. “If I tell you, you have to swear you won’t say anything. To anyone.”

“Anything about what?”

Sakura hesitates. She’s a little apprehensive about telling Ino, worried that she’ll be hurt by the news. Granted, it’s a little late, considering she’s been happily married to Sai for weeks now, but their inane competition over Sasuke took up so much of their childhood; it almost ruined their friendship. Sakura knows that Ino doesn’t have feelings for Sasuke anymore – at least, not the romantic kind – but she also doesn’t want to seem as if she’s rubbing Ino’s nose in it.

But Ino is also the person that she confides everything in, good or bad. She was there for Sakura when Sasuke and Naruto weren’t, and there’s a dimension to their friendship that none of the men in her life will ever understand or be able to replace.

She can’t not tell her.

“I mean it, Ino. You have to wait at least until Naruto knows because he wouldn’t forgive us for not telling him first. But you’re my best friend, so I have to tell you –”

“Sakura, what are you…” Ino trails off and then gasps. “Oh! Oh! You’re not…”

“Sasuke asked,” Sakura reveals in a breathless whisper, unable to keep the smile off her face. “Two days ago.”

“Two days ago?!” Ino yells, remembers she’s supposed to be quiet, and hisses in a lower voice, “This happened two days ago and you didn’t tell me right away?! Forehead, what the hell is wrong with you?!”

“We’ve been busy – besides, it’s not like you told me the minute you got engaged, either.”

“That doesn’t matter, you selfish bitch! This is a situation where you tell me right away! Our entire childhood was dedicated to one of us nabbing him, and it was your sworn duty to inform me the second you pulled it off!” Ino cries, but she’s smiling as she reaches for Sakura’s left hand. “Let me see the ring.”

“There is no ring,” she replies.

“Ehhh? What the hell? Is he cheap or something?”

“No, it’s…that’s not really his style,” Sakura demurs; she’s not actually sure that’s the case, but in the whirlwind of everything happening, she honestly didn’t even think twice about a ring. “Besides, he gave me something better – he taught me his family’s Katon.”

“Okay,” Ino says, incredulous. “If you say that’s better…”

“No, you don’t get what that means to him,” Sakura says quickly, and sets about excitedly relating the entire tale to her friend. She probably doesn’t do it justice – everything happened so quickly and it felt so dreamlike that she’s probably forgetting half of it – but Ino’s eyes soften like she’s beginning to understand.

“Well, I still say he should’ve gotten you a ring,” her friend says when she’s done, “but it sounds like it was romantic. Much more romantic than I got, anyway.” She adopts a stilted tone and blank expression that Sakura knows is meant to represent Sai, and mimics, “’Ino, I enjoy having sexual relations with you. I never want to have them with anyone else. Let’s continue to do this for the rest of our lives.’”

Sakura sniggers, and when Ino shoots her a glare, she arranges her features into something resembling an apology. “To be fair, that actually is kind of romantic. Especially for Sai.”

“You know, it kind of was,” Ino admits. “Until my mother walked in on us.”

“No!”

“And then he just looks up at her, utterly unbothered, and tells her he’s marrying me. And then they start talking venues and flower arrangements. While I’m still hiding under the covers!”

Sakura can’t help her laughter now. “Is it just me, or has Auntie gotten a lot more relaxed about these things?”

“Since Dad’s been gone, she’s much more of a ‘seize the day’ type,” Ino agrees. “And she thinks Sai is funny, which…it’s nice that they get along.”

“You’re lucky. I’m not sure my mother will ever get along with Sasuke. I think the best I can hope for is some sort of mutual non-aggression pact between them.”

“If anything ever happens, my money’s on Auntie Mebuki,” Ino says seriously.

うちは

Sasuke never really interacted with any of his friends’ parents or parental figures before.

He barely acknowledged Iruka as a teacher when he was at the Academy, and after he left, there’s been little opportunity or need to spend much time with him, even for Naruto’s sake.

Sakura’s parents were even less of a priority. He actively avoided happy families when he was a kid, and even more so with Sakura because she was so annoying back then. It’s only since he’s been back to Konoha the second time that her parents have even been a factor in his life.

So, he’s a little mystified at the fact that he’s now sitting in the brightly decorated kitchen of the Haruno household, across the table from Mebuki Haruno while she pours him a cup of tea.

He’s also having a hard time understanding the reason behind his mounting, inexplicable apprehension.

He only came by to let Sakura know that Kakashi agreed to let her join the mission – looking entirely too knowing about the whole thing for Sasuke’s liking – and to see if she was free to spar. It’s been a while, and he knows today is one of her rare days off.

When her mother answered the door, saying she’d just gone to the flower shop, he fully intended to come back later (he has no intention of venturing into Ino’s shop, suspecting it would get people’s tongues wagging). But before he could make an escape, Mebuki invited him inside for a quick cup of tea in a tone that suggested this was no mere invitation, but a command on par with any Hokage’s directive.

“After all, I feel as if I hardly know you, and we really should get familiar with each other since we’ll be family. For Sakura’s sake, at least,” she insisted, her tone dripping with implications that made his stomach twist.

For Sakura’s sake, he told himself firmly and accepted.

Of course, as soon as he sits down in the kitchen, she doesn’t even bother to keep up her initial pretence, instead stating, “So, Sakura tells me you’re going on a mission together.”

Ah. That’s what this is.

He relaxes, suspecting this is her opportunity to ensure he will take care of her daughter. Considering Sakura can take care of herself, he supposes he can add some sort of secondary reassurance for her mother if she requires it.

“Yes,” he says.

“Just the two of you?”

“Yes.”

“I see.” She takes a sip of her tea and it occurs to him that he doesn’t like her tone. “And this is happening before you get married?”

“Yes,” he answers unthinkingly.

“Hm,” she hums, and he realises that he’s made his first mistake.

“You and my daughter have a long history,” Mebuki begins. “How do I know you won’t let that get in the way of treating her in a respectful fashion? While you’re travelling together. All alone.”

Sasuke blinks. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“You’re both young and healthy,” she goes on, “and these missions get the blood boiling. I remember it well.” The dots connect and Sasuke’s eyes widen. He, once again, considers the wisdom in bolting, but she’s speaking again, and this time her tone is hard and forbidding. “What happens if, one night, you forget yourselves?”

Sasuke grits his teeth, disbelief flooding him at the fact they’re actually having this conversation. He thought this was the ‘protect my daughter with your life’ speech. He was so very, very wrong.

“Not that it’s any of your business –”

“She’s my daughter, so it is my business.”

“ – but I would never disrespect Sakura in that way,” Sasuke finishes firmly. “I would do nothing without her express permission.”

“Yes, you’re big on permission,” Mebuki replies coolly, “considering you had the forethought to ask my husband’s permission. It shows you have at least some understanding of etiquette, despite some…rough patches.”

Her tone suggests it’s the best euphemism she can come up with, and he has to hand it to her – it’s the most delicate descriptor he’s ever heard for his behaviour.

“So, my question is, why do you intend to travel and live in close quarters with her without being married first? Don’t you care about her reputation? Her honour?”

“I –”

“I assume you’re a decent sort, as I said, you were at least respectful of her father,” she continues, “If you did get carried away or caught up in the moment, I would hope you’d marry her right away –”

“I –”

“ – but that leaves us with the problem of a shotgun wedding in some backwater burg,” she concludes. Her eyes rove over him judgementally, and then she wags her finger at him. “Sakura has put up with an awful lot from you over the years, you know. And she’s too kind to say anything, of course, but she’s dreamed of her wedding since she was a little girl. She used to tell me stories and draw pictures – I might have some of them somewhere…”

“No, it’s…it’s fine. I don’t need to – we’re coming back,” Sasuke manages to choke out.

“The gods laugh at people who make plans,” Mebuki simpers. “You might plan to get married when you come back, but you don’t know what could happen along the way. And when it does happen, you might be thousands of miles away.” She meets his gaze, and suddenly, her face becomes pained. Sasuke feels a tightening in his chest because her eyes look exactly like Sakura’s. “You’d be keeping her from the wedding of her dreams – and you’d be denying her father and I the only chance we’ll ever have to watch our child get married. To the man she’s loved her entire life.”

Each phrase feels like a growing, invisible weight hanging over his head.

And then she goes in for the kill.

“Surely your mother raised you better than that,” Mebuki ponders out loud. “She was such a kind woman…”

Sasuke’s eyes widen.

“You knew my mother?” he asks, momentarily stunned.

“I didn’t know her as well as some did, but she was a woman of quality,” Mebuki says. “And I can’t help think of what she would want if she were here.”

“But she’s not here,” Sasuke says, only just holding him back from snapping. This is not Naruto or an argument he can win by escalating it into a physical fight; this is Mebuki Haruno, a woman who never made it past genin, the mother of his future wife, and she could conceivably make the next fifty years of his life a misery. But using his deceased mother to influence his choices…

“Do you think that somehow invalidates her wishes?” Mebuki challenges. “The people we care about never truly leave us – and their intentions live on even when they don’t. Sakura’s told me about your brother – what he did and the hardships he endured. He’s gone, but you live your life based on your intentions, don’t you?”

Sasuke’s anger stalls at this.

“Mikoto was a good woman,” Mebuki goes on. “Even if we weren’t what you’d call close, she was an Uchiha and she was a mother. I’m positive she would have the same concerns that I do.”

Sasuke has always avoided imagining ‘what if’ scenarios because they’re just too painful. But just this once he allows himself to imagine the conversation with his mother, explaining that he and Sakura are leaving on a potentially long-term mission alone together.

He knows the exact expression she would make, and winces.

“Really, in the big scheme of things, it’s such a small thing to ensure that everything is settled before you go,” Mebuki concludes pleasantly.

They stare at each other for several long moments.

Half an hour later, Sasuke stands outside the Haruno residence, blinking into the afternoon sky. Somehow, he actually agreed to have the wedding before leaving on the mission, and he can’t for the life of him figure out the exact point where he gave in.

On the up side, Mebuki seemed like she was in a good mood when he left her which is a nice change from the suspicious glares and double-edged words he faced when he first arrived there. The woman wields guilt like a kunai.

How did this woman never make it past genin? She would’ve had a glowing career in Interrogation and Torture!

If Sakura inherited even a fraction of that, he’s in serious trouble.

Thinking of his intended, he winces; not a day after she thanked him for including her in decisions, he’s just made a huge one without bringing it up with her first. And while, if Mebuki is to be trusted, it’s something Sakura wants, he remains uncomfortable with it. And embarrassed because one of his strengths is remaining immobile even in the face of adversity, yet she broke him down in less than an hour. Has being back in Konoha made him soft? Has acknowledging his feelings for Sakura made him weaker somehow?

No, that’s not it…

There’s something else about the whole situation that he’s missing, but before he can puzzle it out a little more, he sees Sakura coming around the corner. She notices him right away, her expression brightens, and she quickens her approach.

“You’re here!” she beams. “Did you speak to Kakashi-sensei?”

He nods, deciding to mentally pack away his misgivings for another time. “He gave his permission.”

“I knew he would,” she gushes, “He’s such an old softie. He’s going to be a push-over when his kids are old enough to talk.” She reaches for her front door. “Want to come in for some tea?”

“No!” Sakura looks startled by the quick snap of his reply, and he hurries to amend himself before she takes it as an insult. “Actually…” He eyes her house like he might an underground torture chamber. “Let’s go for a walk.”

“All right,” she agrees slowly, and falls into step with him.

As they meander through the streets, Sakura relates the events of her morning to him. He’s only half-listening, guiding them away from prying eyes and ears.

“I had to tell Ino,” she says about her recent visit to the flower shop, “since she can’t come over tomorrow. But she promised not to tell anyone else until after we tell Naruto.”

He nods, distracted.

She notices, because of course she does, and touches his arm to get him to stop walking. “Sasuke, is something wrong?”

“Perhaps,” he says, earning a troubled frown.

Glancing around – they are near the river now and safely alone – Sasuke gives her a much-edited version of his own interesting morning adventures and the fact he somehow agreed to a wedding before their departure.

An expression of great annoyance passes over her face – one similar to what he’s seen when Naruto says or does something stupid which usually precedes a show of monstrous temper.

Or strength.

Or both, depending on the seriousness of the offence.

Sasuke braces himself, not sure whether he’s better served dodging or standing there and taking the blow.

But then Sakura rolls her eyes skyward and groans, “Mother!” and he realises he’s safe.

“This is really going too far!” Sakura rants. “She’s always interfering with everything…such a control freak! You can bet…she and I will have words…can’t believe she stuck her nose in!”

“She makes a decent point, though. Your parents should be able to see you get married.”

“They’ll see it when we get back.”

“We can’t predict the future,” he reminds her. “Anything could happen between now and then.”

Sakura narrows her eyes. “I hope that’s not an implication that you intend to die, or break off our engagement while we’re out there.”

“What? No! That’s not what I…” he trails off, momentarily confused why that’s the first place her mind goes.

Sasuke thinks back on what Mebuki implied, about the reasons why getting married now might be more prudent, and his neck heats up. He doesn’t want to repeat any part of that conversation to Sakura, but can’t figure out any other way to explain himself.

“If your mind is made up, that’s fine,” he says stiffly. “I’ll go back and speak to your mother. I made the mistake in accepting without consulting you.”

“No, Sasuke. That’s not what –”

“You deserve more than a rushed ceremony,” he interrupts. “I want you to be able to celebrate in as grand a fashion as you want.”

“No,” she replies immediately. “A wedding like that would make you miserable. Even if we waited and came back, I wouldn’t want that. I’d want to celebrate with family.” Sakura takes a deep breath, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance. “Damn it, my mother’s right.”

But there is no malice in her words.

“You said you didn’t want to wait,” he points out.

“I did, didn’t I? All right…if we’re just going to arrange a small wedding when we get back, we might as well do it now. That’s the epitome of not waiting, right?”

“Small,” he states, considering it. “Just us and your parents.”

“And Naruto and Kakashi,” Sakura agrees. “They’re family. They should be there.”

Sasuke’s chest does that thing where it tightens, yet feels like it’s expanded at her words because there’s no one in the entire village who understands that as well as she does.

“As for the reception…well, Ino would never forgive me if I didn’t invite her, so she’s a given,” Sakura continues. “And we might as well invite all of the significant others, too: Hinata, Manako – and Sai, of course.”

“Sai,” Sasuke repeats, slightly incredulous. He’s on better terms with the artist these days, but he never imagined the man would be a guest at his wedding reception. It’s definitely not something he would’ve even entertained the first time they met.

‘You woke me up to talk about bonds?’

“…and we should invite our friends from the Academy,” Sakura is saying. “Shikamaru and Temari; and Chōji and Karui; and Li and – well, everyone and their partners, of course.”

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a small affair?”

“It will be, compared to Naruto’s. Totally informal and nothing that requires the village being shut down for a three-day party,” Sakura determines. “For all I care, we can rent the dining room at the Yakiniku Q, if you’re determined to have it casual.” Sasuke makes a face at that, and she laughs. “Or not.”

“My family used to hold marriage ceremonies at the Naka shrine,” he remarks lightly. He knows that’s not an option now. The shrine is as ruined as the rest of the district; this is the first time Sasuke regrets not asking Kakashi to have it rebuilt.

Sakura’s expression softens, and she wraps her hand around his, squeezing. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.” A beat later, he returns the gesture. “Besides,” Sakura says after a few minutes, “how hard can it be to plan a wedding?”

つづく

Uh oh…famous last words, right?

Reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated! Also, if you are in a supportive mood, I have a ko-fi button at the top of the page, or you can find my tip jar here.

Thanks for your interest in my work!

*Refers to events in Miso Soup Every Day

クリ

Next Chapter

#naruto fanfiction #sasusaku #rating: teen #legacy of fire series #sfw #sakura haruno #mebuki haruno #ino yamanaka #sasuke uchiha #wedding fic #humour #romance #drama

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newagesispage · 5 years ago

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SEPTEMBER 2019

PAGE RIB

July 2019 was the hottest month in human history.

*****

This Ordinary Life has sent the world their new EP, Sadderdays!! Give it a listen!

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Judd Apatow is putting out a book about Garry Shandling.

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Debbie Harry: Face it will be out on Oct. 1

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This year the Kennedy center will honor Big Bird, Linda Ronstadt, Earth, Wind and Fire, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Sally Field.

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Kentucky principal Phillip Wilson who banned books from his high school in 2009 for homosexual content has been arrested on possession and distribution of child porn.

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In Illinois, the capital bill is funded through a doubling of gas tax and an increase in license plate fees. The money is supposed to be for roads, public buildings and bridges. The state constitution tells us the state shall not pay for aid in any school, academy, seminary, college, university or other literary or scientific institution controlled by any church or sectarian denomination. Organizations that are now receiving some of the funding are, Catholic charities, The ARK of Sabina, Inner-city Muslim action network, Gifts from God ministry, Chicago center for Torah and Chesed, Hatzalah, Keshet, Jewish united fund, Lewis University, St. Ann Catholic school and Mt. Sinai hospital, among others.

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Gary Busey will appear in the off Broadway musical, Only Human where he will play God.

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Eastwood’s The Ballad of Richard Jewell is in production with Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, Kathy Bates and Jon Hamm.

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For a look into Brian Jones death catch the doc ‘Who killed Christopher Robin?’

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Dale Jr. and family were in a plane crash but everybody seems to be ok.

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I hear that Porn hub is planting a tree for every 100 videos watched.

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Days alert: Rex is out. What about Chloe? Who will love her now? They still had the chemistry. Oh, never mind, Chloe is gone too!** Ted is out. Tripp is out. Jordan will be back briefly.** OMG How my heart fluttered when Tony and Anna saw each other again. Oh, the magic of a soap!! **At last Robin Strasser is on the way as Vivian. ** Greg Vaughan is dating Angie Harmon and they are a pretty adorable couple.**Why don’t they try to charge Kristen with Holly’s murder? She may want to tell them where they are then. And I am so sick of Eric leaving sweet women to sniff after Nicole, enough. He used to be one of my favorite characters but it has gotten old. ** Please Please put Xander and Sarah together!!!!!

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Dolly Parton’s America: A podcast will begin this fall.

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The new owners of the LA sex club that was known as Snctm are taking apps and promising carnal bliss.

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Scary Clown told workers in a GM plant in Michigan not to sell their homes. He promised the plant would not shut down and guess what? Lie!** Trump owes El Paso 470 thousand for his MAGA rally. ** Perhaps we should all refer to him as he refers to himself, Ttump.** A Nazi rally in Germany handed out hats inspired by the Trump campaign that read: Make Germany Hate Again.** We have to hit him where it hurts..$.. This is all he understands.** The evangelicals finally got a little upset when Trump took the lords name in vain. ** Trump wanted to buy Greenland, they wouldn’t bite and he cancelled his trip to Denmark.** Now he is The King of Isreal? The chosen one? The second coming of God? ** Word is that half of Trumps twitter followers are fake. Also, the US Labor Dept. says America created 500,000 fewer jobs in 2018 and 2019 than previously reported. **Rural farmers are 50-50 on Trump like the rest of us. Why do we categorize people? Things like this show that our differences don’t usually have anything to do with our religion, the color of our skin,$, job or location. We are different at our cores in what we think and feel about others and the world around us.** Scary Clown has told some staff to get this wall started no matter the coast and to just, ”take the land” if necessary and he will pardon them later. He has taken FEMA money to get the ball rolling as a hurricane bears down on the U.S.

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Why do we vote in those that allow the drug, insurance and credit card, lender companies to make all the dough?? Let’s ALL enjoy America.

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A newly invented bag can be dissolved in water after use.

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Pardon Blagoevich?? What??

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The Black Jewel Coal Co. has filed for bankruptcy. The miner’s last paychecks bounced. Nobody will answer their questions about their 4o1k’s. Since they are not technically laid off yet, they can’t receive unemployment. The company got 5 mil in emergency funds from the bank and they owe 976 thousand in fines.

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Kelly Craft, a major Trump donor is the new UN ambassador.**US ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman is out.

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I have to say, I don’t get why people aren’t more excited about the democratic candidates. There are a few that could go away but there are some really fabulous ideas there. I hope they put their egos aside when the last is standing. The lot of them would compose a great cabinet. And how do you not get excited about the future of our country?? How can you be so inside your own head that you put our own day to day ahead of your country? We all have to pay our bills, work, care for others and enjoy our passions from time to time but this is crunch time people!!! Pay attention!!** Beto’s REAL reaction to the El Paso shootings did more for him than all his relaunches. He was himself and not what he thought he should be. Trump and Biden were giving sympathy to the wrong cities for goodness sake! Trump couldn’t even show any true feelings as he gave the thumbs up beside an orphan and tweeted about how lousy Shep Smith as he flew to the next photo op of victims.** It’s hard to look away from the freak show.** The next Dem debate is Sept.12.

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With no notice, immigrants who are here for life saving treatments have been given 33 days to clear out of the country.** Scary Clown is fighting with Comey again. What an unhappy schmuck this President is.

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It seems to me that if 2 people had run for student council president and the winner cheated and abused his office, they would make him step down. Would they have another vote or let the opponent step in?? The President of the US post is a bit more important than student council President. ** Now Trump is thinking that nuking hurricanes might be a good idea.

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If elected, Bernie says he will tell us what is known about aliens from outer space.** Hickenlooper is out.** Seth Moulton is out.**Jay Inslee is out (oooh, that one hurts). I love ya Jay!! He is now running for reelection as Governor.** Gillibrand is out** Former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld are in for the Republican side.

*****

Some studies show that over 50% of inmates have dyslexia.

*****

Jim Gaffigan made some jokes about craft beers including how labels might have say a penguin wrestling a cactus. Well, a small brewery in NY has made it happen with their blend called Penguin and Cactus

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6000 people of Oklahoma are dead from opiods and Johnson and Johnson have been ordered to pay $572 mil per the court verdict.

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The International wildlife regulator has banned the capture and export of baby African elephants.

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Leslie Jones is out at SNL.

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“Under the Trump administration, the pledge ”the right to bear arms,” has morphed into “Don’t just stand there, shoot somebody.” – Carl Reiner

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In the event I am killed, organize, mobilize and get the peace plan passed and put my body on the NRA’s doorstep in Fairfax, Va. – David Hogg

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The trailer for this Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix, Marc Maron and Robert DeNiro looks fucking amazing!! Hurry up Oct.4!!

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The NRA has 5 million members but one still has to wonder why the rights of gun owners supersede the rights of everybody else. Why don’t we hear more about their money scandals? Just when you hear that Trump is asking his people behind the scenes if the NRA still has power, he and LaPierre talk and the Pres backs off his tough gun talk. We know who is Wayne’s bitch. ** A group of surgeons have been showing X-Rays of what a gun can do as they protest gun violence.** The world now has bulletproof backpacks.**New schools are being designed to cut down the number of victims of a shooter. Hallways are curved and classrooms can lock.

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The Firearm dealer license certification act in Illinois requires those who hold a Federal firearm license to also obtain a state certificate of license and comply with state regulations. All dealers will be required to have security alarms where guns are stored in case of intrusion. Dealers will also have to keep electronic records of their inventory. Gun dealers and the Illinois state rifle association are challenging, of course before this all takes effect in 2020.

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“We don’t have an actual Presidency right now. We have a reality show whose ratings have begun to slide and whose fading star sees cancellation on the way.” – Eugene Robinson.

*****

The Bruce Lee philosophy , Be Water, is being used by the Hong Kong protesters. Be Strong like ice. Be fluid like water. Gather like Dew. Scatter like mist.

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As the crackdown on immigrants continues, word is that Trump still employs many undocumented workers. And why aren’t the employers arrested?** The administration wants to make it easy for the wealthy and educated immigrants to come to this country. Again, only the rich have rights.** Trump has moved $150 mil from FEMA to the immigration courts as hurricane Dorian heads this way. ** He is telling his staff to just “take the land” and build the wall, disregard environmental rules and he will pardon them. A joke?? I wouldn’t be so sure.**

*****

Jews against Ice really let ‘em have it. They shut down Amazon as they marched against the internment of immigrants. The rally cry: We will not stay silent while tech companies profit off of cruelty.

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Jeff Epstein is dead and the conspiracy theories have begun. Many are glad that Epstein is dead and some wish he had lived to pay for his crimes. Would he have turned on his high end friends? David Koch is also dead.** Word is that in 2008 Epstein bought female undies from the jail shop.

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A recent survey shows that 45% of people wear underwear for 2 days, 13% for a week. Tell me this can’t be true.

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Chris Christie and Anthony Scaramuchi are always everywhere and now Sean Spicer on Dancing with the Stars?? OMG.. Can we stop seeing these people?** Sarah Huckabee Sanders is joining Fox news.

*****

White Supremacy is officially the majority of domestic terrorism in the U.S. Now, let me see, who seems to want to be their leader?** Advertisers pulled out of Tucker Carlson’s show after he called white supremacy ,’not a thing.’

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Truckers have been really hurt by the tax cuts. Longer hours and less money have come since they can’t deduct expenses the way they used to. Regulations have been relaxed that limits hours on the road.

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The Department of labor is proposing a rule that would allow government contractors to fire workers who are unmarried and pregnant or LGBTQ.

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David Gilmour sold his guitars for 20 thou and used the money to fight climate change.

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Michael Cohen claims that Jerry Falwell Jr., his wife and a pool boy they met at a hotel became fast friends. Eventually Cohen had to intervene because of some lurid photos. He claims that the Falwell’s are quite kinky. The couple gave the pool boy over a mil to buy a resort that has become trendy with the LGBTQ community. Apparently nobody else knows what is on those photos that Cohen brokered a deal for.

*****

Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a story won the Freedom of Speech award at the Traverse city film fest. She announced the release of the film by giving a heads up to hashtag emmyless Donald.

*****

California is trying to make those that run for President show us their tax returns. Illinois rejected that idea.

*****

Blaze it forward

*****

U.S. Fencer, Rick Imboden took a knee during the national anthem after taking gold at the Pan Am games.

*****

Stumptown looks like a good show but boy what a terrible name.

*****

Check out the new book, Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow.

*****

Ron Burgundy has been making the rounds.

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Yada Yada Yada politics has made its way into our thoughts with Marianne Williamson warning us of business as usual.

*****

Geena Davis is getting the humanitarian Oscar.

*****

In a joke that Seth Meyers told he said, ”Cleveland Browns win Super Bowl!” So it may never happen but it was nice to hear.

*****

Chairman of the parent company of Equinox and Soul Cycle and owner of the Dolphins, Stephen Ross, caused a stir when he held a fundraiser for Trump.

*****

Liam and Miley broke up.

*****

Someone started a little joke about renaming the street in front of Trump tower. But people have started to take it seriously and NY is considering the name President Barack Obama Avenue.

*****

The administration is rolling back regs on the endangered species act. It has been a great success but Trump and the lobbyists think it just stands in the way of their profits.

*****

28% of delivery drivers have eaten some of your food.

*****

The Rolling Stones are trying to push a green agenda on the latest tour. At some venues fans can purchase a tones cup for $3, use it all night and then take it home or turn it in for your $3 back.** In 1964 the first Stones album came out and the Mariner 4 fly by satellite had its first look at Mars. In November last year the Insight lander thrusters disturbed a rock on Mars which has been dubbed Rolling Stones rock.

*****

Studies show that the most dangerous years of our lives are the year we are born and the year we retire. Depression spikes 40% after retirement. In Okinawa, Japan they don’t even have a word for retire. On the whole they eat a lot of fresh seafood and eat smaller portions. They seem to live the longest, healthiest lives.

*****

The green shirt guy was a thing for a few minutes.

*****

Wal Mart is really cracking down on security, one store at a time. Some people are asking the store to stop selling guns and donating to NRA backed lawmakers.

*****

The Black lady sketch show is Robin Thede’s new thing which is good but her last show was good too.

R.I.P. Saoirse Kennedy Hill, Hal Prince, the El Paso and Dayton and Odessa/Midland shooting victims, D.A. Pennebaker, Toni Morrison, Jimmy Aldaoud, Valerie Harper and Peter Fonda.

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reistellae · 6 years ago

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A really really long reflection 3/3

The riveting conclusion of my fucking multipart essays examining BTS/ARMYs in recent months, stan culture, and discussions of race within pop culture. In my conclusion, I’m gonna state my opinion on a recent incident that sparked this series.

Part one I went through a brief history of Asian/Asian American representation in American pop culture and the rise of kpop into the mainstream.

Part two went further into detail about the rise of BTS and their activities and the growing toxicity of the ARMY fandom.

Now we are currently in this timeline at 2018.

Before I continue with the history lesson, I’m gonna make a very important distinction here between the typical ARMY and what I’ll be calling an ARMY tribalist. The typical ARMY makes up the majority of the fandom: they follow BTS on social media, interact with the group’s posts and with other fans, stream MVs, vote for them on award shows and typical dedicated fan behavior. An ARMY tribalist takes the usual activities and behaviors and multiplies them in intensity to a million. A tribalist will put the fandom/group over everything else; over logic, over reason, over disagreement. Their loyalties are to their group of choice. Anyone can be a tribalist for a certain fandom that they are in, it’s not exclusive to ARMYs, or kpop in general. There’s Ariana Grande tribalists, DC tribalists, My Little Pony tribalists...the list goes on. So, I want to say that I don’t think all ARMYs act the same way the tribalists do, but the tribalists are the most active and the most vocal of the fandom and have influence over the average fan.

Now let’s get back to 2018. BTS had finished a wildly successful year in the United States. Thanks in part to their recent appearances at American award shows, stores such as Walmart, Target, and Barnes and Noble began selling their latest album, Love Yourself: Her. BTS merch also started to drop in Hot Topic. LYH had record sales for the group and for a kpop group in general thanks to this new audience or in part to loyal fans having access to buy albums without paying for overseas shipping.

Despite this, scandal wouldn’t be too far behind. In May of that year, an article was published that discussed black ARMYs who were receiving racially targeted harassment from others within the fandom. Acts such as whitewashing selfies, making jokes about slavery, and calling them slurs were highlighted in the article. BTS/Bighit Entertainment were asked for their comments on the matter, but as of February 2019, there has been no public statement issued regarding this.

The rest of 2018 was perhaps BTS’ biggest year: they were featured on the cover of TIME magazine, spoke in front of the United Nations as representatives for Unicef and their “Love Yourself” Campaign, released Love Yourself: Tear and Love Yourself: Answer to record breaking numbers, and had major shows in the United States for their Love Yourself Tour. Understandably, ARMYs were very proud of their favorite group.

As early as mid-2017, some ARMYs felt as though American media/artists did not take BTS seriously or were only using them for clout or extra attention. Pop culture tends to focus on whatever is popular at the moment, BTS being a popular group and kpop being a popular trend, of course American media outlets would pay special attention to kpop (although many outlets had covered kpop, though in smaller occurrences way before 2017). These outlets do need to make money at the end of the day and simply cannot be personally invested in every single thing they discuss. With that being said, I personally think it isn’t entirely impossible that some artists actually do like BTS/kpop. Kpop is appreciated worldwide by all sorts, so it doesn’t seem too out of line that celebrities do too. But obviously, it is music business, and some moves are only made to attract a new audience, which is fine. The fans also benefit from this newfound American fame BTS has: physical albums being sold in stores, more stops on their American tour, seeing them on a local television time at a reasonable time, merchandise at local stores. Of course, all of these benefit the providers because they get money, but that is the trade off of capitalism.

As I said, scandal continued within the ARMY fandom in 2018. With the release of his solo debut album, ARMY tribalists posted a fake translation of one of Mino’s songs with the lyric “baby girl” and accused the rapper from YG Entertainment group Winner of being a pedophile. Girl group Momoland was caught on camera laughing at something during an award show and Jimin coincidentally was singing at the time, ARMY tribalists took this as the girls were making fun of Jimin and proceeded to relentlessly attack the group to the point where they had to turn off Instagram comments for a time. The harassment of black ARMYs had not stopped and while some showed support for them, the fandom made major efforts to not let the group see it. ****** Trigger Warning: Suicide, Death ****** In December of 2017, SHINee member Jonghyun had committed suicide. It was a tragic day for SHINee World across the globe and many fandoms showed their support. Majority of ARMYs also showed support during this time, however, tribalists took the opportunity as a time to make jokes. This would become an ongoing theme in many other tragedies, that ARMY tribalists would be disrespectful and makes jokes about the recently deceased.

These are not all the scandals that ARMY tribalists were involved in 2018, but these are the most egregious to me.

And now we are in the present day. I’ll lightly touch on the incident that inspired this reflection and then get to my final thoughts. On February 12th, anonymous opinion blog, unpopularkpopopinions, had published a submitted opinion that stated “I feel like army created this bubble for bts where bts is huge in the west when in reality the american shows they were on aren’t difficult to get on, every meme these days can get on ellen so that’s not really an achievement, those interviews were all awkward and I couldn’t shake off the feeling that bts were simply weird asian gimmicks for the american audience, something they can’t and won’t understand but it’s weird enough to get views.” Initially, most users, who were regular followers to the blog, agreed with the opinion to varying degrees and the conversation seemed to have hit its point. However, on the 14th, the post started gaining traction once more with tons more notes. A disgruntled ARMY had reposted the opinion on Twitter, which attracted a new group to the post. Most ARMYs kept their response to Twitter with tweets such as “just ignore it and let’s prove them wrong next comeback,” but others took to the post itself to respond.

The common points for contention were 1. The American shows BTS were on weren’t difficult to get on and 2. BTS being seen as an “Asian gimmick.” The common arguments were “if it’s so easy to get on Ellen, how come your faves weren’t on?” and “Calling them an Asian gimmick? That’s racist, OP. This blog and anyone who agrees is also racist.” I won’t repost my entire response to the argument, but here were my main points: “ “America uses BTS for clout” is something I’ve mostly seen ARMYs say. Which clout is the wrong term because BTS doesn’t have Drake or Beyonce levels of clout; they are being used for clicks, engagement, whatever, which is reasonable since America is a capitalistic economy and if there’s a demand or an untapped market (rabid kpop fans) then it makes sense to exploit that. Most people realize that. The whole “Asian gimmick” bit that is what most of y’all are here for. If you literally read very closely, OP said “[they] couldn’t shake off the feeling that BTS were simply weird Asian gimmicks for the American audience.” It doesn’t say that they think BTS is a weird Asian gimmick, it says that from the interviews and other things BTS did in America, they had a feeling, a vibe if you will, that the American audience only SEES them as Asian gimmicks. You can agree or disagree with that point however you’d like, but y’all are claiming that this is how OP and others in the notes feel when that simply ain’t it.” And I stand by those points and I believe what I said earlier on in this post supports my point. It’s also hypocritical that just months ago, ARMYs were basically saying the same thing that this opinion did, but now it’s racist to point out that BTS are being used and the racist attitudes behind it.

So there it is, the ENTIRE timeline and build up. What are my thoughts? I think ARMY tribalists are the fucking worst. I think the fandom has a lot of hypocrisy going on, particularly within discussions about race. Why is it that CupcakKe is only looking for attention or that BTS shouldn’t see their black fans being bullied by fellow fans or that any artist of color who works with BTS just wants clout but as soon as someone points out that American audiences may only see the group as an Asian gimmick, that that is a serious racist attack? Why is it that people cannot point out that the group has done racially insensitive things in their past? Because tribe goes first. Not saying that those who agree with one, agree with all, but it is still a problem nonetheless.

I think fandom culture can very very easily feed into tribalism, especially in kpop. BTS in particular have so much content, that one could easily become obsessed within a matter of a day. From music videos, variety shows, fanfiction, fanart and edits, web series, merchandise, albums, and video games, I find it not too hard to believe that an ARMY tribalist only interacts with fellow ARMYs on the regular basis. I also think Bighit Entertainment is a rather shit company for never speaking up/allowing BTS to speak up on these issues especially since BTS are supposed to be anti-bullying ambassadors.

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! I’m fucking tired. Do I still like BTS? Yes. I was just listening to Outro: Tear (the best outro in the LY series btw) as I was writing this and I think the group themselves are nice and talented. Do I hate all ARMYs? No. The fandom is too big to hate the millions of them, but I do find myself very very tired of them (and I’m sure they’re tired of An tiS like me). I’m just so fucking tired of all this bullshit with the fandom that I had to write down all my thoughts.

Part One

Part Two

#personal #canvasbyleo long post #kpop #rant #opinion

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movietvtechgeeks · 8 years ago

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/brangelina-coming-back-together-plus-billion-dollar-kylie-jenner/

Is Brangelina coming back together, plus billion dollar Kylie Jenner

When it comes to the past decade or so, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s divorce announcement was arguably one of the most shocking celebrity-related stories. When it comes to A-list Hollywood couples, Angelina and Brad have long reigned supreme. However, in 2016, the duo announced they were parting ways after experiencing some notable marital problems, some of which stemmed from Brad’s struggle with substance abuse. Now, as nearly a year has gone by since the news of their divorce hit the tabloids, sources close to the two actors claim that they are looking to try and save their faltered marriage. According to an insider, Brad and Angelina have made no progress in finalizing their divorce, as they both believe there is hope in keeping their family together. In this week’s issue of US Weekly, one insider told the magazine, “The divorce is off. They haven’t done anything to move it forward for several months, and no one thinks they are ever going to.” The same insider went on to explain that there are still very strong feelings between the two celebrities, noting, “[Angelina’s] still so in love with [Brad]…He got sober to try and win her back. He knew he had a problem that he had to take care of. And that’s all she ever wanted…. Everyone thinks they are going to get back together. It wouldn’t be surprising if they announced that they’re calling it off and trying to work things out.” It is no secret that anything Kylie Jenner slaps her name onto sells like crazy. From her fashion line to her makeup products, the young starlet is undeniably a successful businesswoman. This week, publication Women’s Wear Daily published some more detailed information about just how successful Kylie really is…and the numbers may shock you! According to Kylie’s mother Kris Jenner, Kylie has made roughly $420 million in the past 18 months through her makeup brand Kylie Cosmetics. While this is an astronomical number, it makes sense as the 19-year-old mogul continues to sell out countless of her products and puts out new lines nearly every month. In the recent issue of Women’s Wear Daily, the publication put Kylie’s cosmetic brand’s successes into perspective. In an article which pointed out the young reality star’s incredible riches, WWD also noted, “The Estee Lauder Cos Inc.-owned Tom Ford Beauty was said to have reached revenues of $500 million after a decade, and the brand is considered to be one of the two fastest growing in Lauder’s portfolio, along with Jo Malone. Bobbi Brown also part of the Lauder stable, took 25 years to reach the billion-dollar mark in 2016, with L’Oreal’s Lancôme finally hitting the milestone in 2015 after 80 years.” If Kylie continues on this path, she is set to hit the coveted billion-dollar mark (with her cosmetic line) by the year 2022. Assuming she hits this mark, this would mean that she only took 6 years to get to the same milestone that many major makeup brands have taken from 25 to 80 years to reach. Now, this might be great news, but it’s also got Kylie a little concerned about those around here. In her mind, the glam squad might be getting a little too comfortable for comfort. In a clip from an upcoming episode of Life of Kylie, Jenner particularly worries she’s starting to get taken advantage of her hair stylist Tokyo Stylez after he continues to bring his boyfriend Chris along during her glam sessions. In the clip, Stylez approaches Jenner’s assistant Villarroel after finding out that his boyfriend no longer would be welcome to hang out during styling sessions. Villarroel said, “So we’re trying this new thing where whenever she needs glam, only the people that need to be there have to come. Kylie said, ‘If I request Tokyo, I just want Tokyo. I don’t need someone else to come.'” After her older sister, Kim Kardashian was held at gunpoint last October during a traumatic Paris robbery in her hotel room, Jenner says during a confessional interview that she’s trying to be more aware of who she lets into her inner circle. “I do have limits as a boss. I hate conflict, but I also learned you can’t really let people working around you get too comfortable because that’s when you get taken advantage of,” the star said to the camera. “It’s happened way too many times with my family.” Life of Kylie airs Sundays (9 p.m. ET) on E!. The women of "American Horror Story: Cult" came to Fox Studios promote the new season for an audience of television critics Wednesday, but they couldn't actually say anything about the show. Stars Sarah Paulson, Alison Pill, Leslie Grossman, Adina Porter and Billie Lourd gave vague answers to critics' questions and apologized for saying so little. The actresses appeared alongside makeup artist Eryn Krueger Mekash, costume designer Lou Eyrich and executive producer Alexis Martin Woodall. Here's what they could reveal: "Cult" involves a lesbian marriage, a broadcast journalist and what Woodall described as "an exciting trip to the grocery store." "As with all good horror and suspense, knowing less is actually so much more because it's going to unfold for you," she said. Though show creator Ryan Murphy has said "Cult" was inspired by the election of President Donald Trump, Woodall said the seventh self-contained installment in the "American Horror Story" anthology "is more about the world around us." "This particular season has a streak of paranoia that I think is infectious," said Pill. And it's scary like past seasons. Pill said that about two weeks into filming, she started checking behind her shower curtain at night to "make sure there's nobody in the shower, hiding, with a knife." Grossman also confessed that she's typically had to record "American Horror Story" episodes so she can watch them during the day. "If I watch it before bed, there are terrible sleeping issues," she said. The show returns to FX on Sept. 5 for 10 episodes. Jennifer Lawrence has opened up about her relationship with director Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky directed Lawrence in "mother!" which was shot last year and comes to theaters next month. Lawrence tells Vogue magazine she and Aronofsky began dating after filming wrapped up. She says she likes Aronofsky's directness, saying she's "never confused with him." One point of contention in the relationship is the Oscar-winning actress' reality television obsession, which she says Aronofsky finds "vastly disappointing." Lawrence appears in four different cover shots for the magazine. One is of an oil painting of her, done by artist John Currin. Channing Tatum has hosted an impromptu dance party in a convenience store at a North Carolina gas station. The "Magic Mike" star stopped by the Sunoco in the town of Statesville on Tuesday night for some coffee and a candy bar. He bantered with the cashier and later danced with her to the tune of Nas' "If I Ruled The World." Tatum joked with some puzzled customers that he was the store manager. He took time to snap a photo with a fan. The episode was streamed to Tatum's fans via Facebook Live. Tatum is promoting his upcoming film, "Logan Lucky," which centers on a heist at a North Carolina NASCAR race. Taylor Swift took the stand in Denver federal court Thursday and recounted how a former radio DJ groped her at a 2013 meet-and-greet, calling it a “devious and sneaky act.” “It was a definite grab,” the pop star told the eight-member jury at her civil trial. “It was a very long grab. He stayed latched on to my bare as s ch eek as I moved away from him visibly uncomfortable.” Swift said former KYGO radio host David Mueller “grabbed my ass underneath my skirt” as she was posing for a photo with him at Denver’s Pepsi Center before a concert on June 2, 2013. “It was a very shocking thing that I have never dealt with before,” she said. “After this happened, it was like a light switched off my personality.” Mueller sued Swift in 2015, claiming she’d falsely accused him of groping her and got him fired from his job. Swift, who is only seeking $1, countersued for assault and battery. After the photo op, Swift said she thanked Mueller and his girlfriend, Shannon Melcher, in a “monotone voice” and continued meeting with fans. When Mueller’s lawyer, M. Gabriel McFarland, suggested she could’ve taken a break from the meet-and-greet after the alleged grope, Swift shot back: “And your client could have taken a normal photo with me.” Anna Faris and Chris Pratt, who announced on Sunday that they’re splitting after eight years of marriage, have been having problems for at least a year and a half, we’re told. “They’re very competitive with each other,” says a source. “At parties they compete over who’s funniest and get insecure if they’re not.” The discord also has to do with Pratt’s soaring career, with leads in “Jurassic Park” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.” “When he started getting big roles and losing weight, she wasn’t the big star anymore,” the source said. “He’s also very, very religious, and she’s not religious.” Reps are keeping quiet as to questions pertaining to this. Rihanna has been accused of a photoshop fail in a saucy snap from her carnival outing – after fans pointed out she has an “extra thumb” in the pic. The superstar posed wearing a barely-there showgirl get-up for the Instagram snap, but if you look closely she has an alien-like left hand, with two blue thumbnails, apparently due to an editing glitch. One observant fan commented “Why does her thumb got two nails,” with another adding “am i the only one seeing two nails coming from her thumb.” The beautiful portrait blue-haired Rihanna posted on Instagram was captured by photographer Dennis Leupold who is yet to comment on the accusations. It was taken at the Crop Over Festival’s Kadoonment Parade in Barbados, an event which 29-year-old Rihanna attends every year. The photoshop scandal follows Rihanna’s recent battle with online body-shamers, including a journalist who called her fat. The We Found Love singer’s mutant hand did not put her ex Chris Brown, 28, off the picture, however. He posted a flirty, ogling emoji in the Instagram comments which riled RiRi’s fans. Many told him to stay away from the star after he was charged with assaulting her back in 2009, with one blasting: “Please keep your negative energy away from Rihanna @ChrisBrownOfficial.” Meanwhile, Rihanna has been called a pop hero once again after a hilarious story about her dissing DJ Diplo’s music emerged. In an interview with GQ, Diplo revealed that Rihanna not only turned down the chance to sing on Major Lazer’s “Lean On,” snapping “I don’t do house music,” but also smacked down one of Diplo’s recordings. The star, who’d already listened to hundreds of songs, deadpanned: “This sounds like a reggae song at an airport.” Rihanna responded to the “airport” diss report by posting her own Instagram reaction, writing: “#DutyFree My bad @diplo.” NBC News is sparing no expense on its new star, Megyn Kelly, and the lavish spending is ticking off some of her new colleagues at the Peacock Network. Kelly is on a five-day nationwide tour to visit affiliates in major markets, and she is traveling on a charter jet with a support staff of five or six people, including a hairstylist, a makeup artist, a publicist and a security detail. “People are outraged over her divalike ways,” one network source told media outlets. “They wonder, ‘When does NBC stop throwing money at her?’ ” Kelly left Fox News in January to take over the 9 a.m. hour of “Today,” which launches on Sept. 25 as “Megyn Kelly Today.” Her salary is said to be $18 million a year. NBC hired new staff, built a new set and will be spending extra on a live audience for the show, which Kelly’s been touting in Dallas, Houston, and Denver. “She’s working sunup to sundown every day — some days, two cities a day,” an NBC insider said, and shooting multiple promos and pieces for the new show. “It’s a standard affiliates tour, which many new NBC News anchors have done before her. There’s huge excitement for ‘Megyn Kelly Today’ in these markets, and it’s a great thing that the show is covering people and places outside of New York City.” The insider said most staffers for the morning show were already working for “Today,” and that the expenses for the show’s launch were all budgeted long in advance. Kelly’s newsmagazine show “Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly” debuted in June to much fanfare, but had mediocre ratings and ended after eight episodes. It is expected to return after the NFL season and the Winter Olympics. Kylie Jenner’s new TV show has been slammed by critics and fans as “fake” and “boring” – and now the Kardashians are desperately trying to rescue the show. The Life Of Kylie only managed to draw in half the viewers that brother Rob Kardashian’s reality series Rob & Chyna managed to on it’s debut – and The Sun Online can exclusively reveal that the second episode is being re-cut to make it more exciting. “The show was a disaster – no one liked it,” says an LA TV source. “The whole family is panicking, and the rest of the series is now being recut to make it more exciting.” “The ending of the second episode needed more ‘bang’ – like Keeping Up With The Kardashians, you need something that viewers want to come back for.” “Everyone’s worried that Kylie’s life isn’t exciting enough for viewers who want drama and fighting.” “They want to include more footage of her sister, Kim, as they think people will tune in to watch then.” “They’re also telling Kylie to get out there and promote it,” says the insider. Fans have dismissed Kylie’s reality show about her life – in which she admits to being jealous of model sister Kendall and wanting to “run away” from fame – as “unrelatable”, with one saying “a lot of pressure to post a selfie, oh god” and another calling her “a superficial idiot.” TV reviewers weren’t much kinder. CNN said that the show saw Kylie “combine self-pity with a lack of self-awareness.” “It makes Kylie look shallow,” said Business Insider, while Complex called it “the fakest reality show ever.” “She’s so rich she can’t even invent a convincing obstacle to surmount on her reality TV show — when Jenner and her gang get devastating news that the private jet they’re supposed to take to Sacramento has broken down, they just call and ask for a different private jet,” said The Daily Beast. Before the show started, Kim Kardashian posted a sweet Instagram saying she was “so proud” of her little sister. The criticism doesn’t seem to have affected Kylie much – she’s been back on Instagram posting a series of seriously hot selfies. And last night, Kylie’s family – including sisters Khloé and Kim and mum Kris – threw her a surprise 20th birthday party. We think she’s going to be alright, guys. There’s no love lost between Josh Brolin and James Cameron. Speaking with Esquire, the “Deadpool 2” villain recalled a tense encounter with the “Avatar” director, after Brolin turned down a role in the franchise’s upcoming sequel. “If I don’t want to do ‘Avatar,’ I’m not going to do ‘Avatar,'” Brolin explained. “James Cameron’s f–king calling me this name and that name. Whatever.” Cameron’s anticipated follow-up to 2009’s blockbuster has long been delayed. In March, the Academy Award-winner confirmed the second installment would not hit theaters next year. “Well, 2018 is not happening. We haven’t announced a firm release date,” Cameron, 62, told The Toronto Star. “What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases. So, we’re not making ‘Avatar 2,’ we’re making ‘Avatar 2,’ ‘3,’ ‘4,’ and ‘5.’ It’s an epic undertaking. It’s not unlike building the Three Gorges Dam.” It sounds like Brolin, 49, is prepared for a possible confrontation with Cameron. “If James Cameron came to me and said, ‘Hey, man,’ why’d do you say?’ I’d go, ‘Because it happened,'” he said. In addition to “Deadpool 2” with Ryan Reynolds, Brolin is also slated to take on Robert Downey Jr. and company as Marvel foe Thanos in 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War.” Taylor Swift’s team wants to make sure that her court battle with a DJ who allegedly groped her isn’t turned into a laughing matter. Insiders told media outlets that Swift’s camp has been frantically calling late-night talk shows to ask if hosts are planning to make jokes about her case against Denver DJ David Mueller, who denies Swift’s claim that he grabbed her buttocks during a 2013 meet-and-greet. “[Swift] doesn’t really want to be in the media cycle unless it’s on her own terms. She loves to control her narrative,” a music insider said. “I’m sure she doesn’t want to have this moment right before she’s gearing up for an album release.” Another insider told outlets Swift’s releasing new music this year and will go on tour in 2018. Her rep didn’t comment.

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#Angelina Jolie #Brad Pitt #Channing Tatum #Chris Pratt #Featured #Jennifer Lawrence #Kylie Jenner #Rihanna #Taylor Swift

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go-diane-winchester · 6 years ago

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Why many Misha fans want haters and non fans to kill themselves.

I was scratching my head for awhile wondering why Misha's fans behave the way they do. Now I think I might be starting to get a partial clue about that. He is like a cult leader, because unlike Jensen and Jared who just want to be known for the work that they get paid to do, Misha has more time on his hands and uses it to constantly stay in contact with his fans so that their attention is never diverted from him. I found a Psychology Today article that made me smirk. The article is written in the context of a dangerous cult leader but Misha is not that. He doesn't use aggression. He uses sympathy. He puts him in victim mode so that his fans will feel the need to protect him. Remember that mockumentary that made his fans feel sorry for him?

He has also put himself in the position of an authority figure who has an opinion about charity, the LGBT, slash fiction, feminism and politics amongst other things. He rarely speaks about the canon aspects of his character and the canon of Supernatural. And yet he was a director. His sub group of fans, especially destiel fans, would not have gotten any attention from him, had he been a normal, agenda free individual. Because he does something as unusual as giving slash fans attention, they latch onto him because they are not going to get that attention elsewhere. Hellers and minions identify with Misha because he presumably cut himself on the thigh as a ''fat'' child. I have seen some of his childhood pictures. He was not fat. Quite a cutie actually. Cutters will therefore identify with him even though, he has told many lies about his childhood.

These are some of the traits that Psychology Today listed. I had to remove some that fit a dangerous cult leader more than the sympathy junkie that Misha is. There are some that don't have additional information in bold, because although they feel like Misha traits, I don't have a pinpoint example. Or there are too many examples. If you wish to contribute to the updating of this list, please let me know.

He has a grandiose idea of who he is and what he can achieve. [He refers to himself as an Overlord]

Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, or brilliance. [Used Gish to break Guinness World records]

Demands blind unquestioned obedience. [calls his fans minions. A minion are a servile or unimportant follower or underling of a powerful person]

Requires excessive admiration from followers and outsiders. [Expected fiction authors to write stories about him for free]

Has a sense of entitlement - expecting to be treated special at all times. [wanted to be in the TVGuide graphic despite having no right to be on it]

Is arrogant and haughty in his behavior or attitude.

Has an exaggerated sense of power (entitlement) that allows him to bend rules and break laws. [wants NASA to do Gish related things for him in outerspace. Admitted to stealing passes from the White house]

Takes sexual advantage of members of his sect or cult. [pandering destiel, and asking Gish participants to do half naked challenges despite knowing that there might be underage participants]

Is hypersensitive to how he is seen or perceived by others. [During the Giving Back Tour, a con headed by him only and not J2, he pitched up only on the Sunday, the way that the leads do for their cons, perhaps to be percieved as a lead himself. They have a valid reason. They are working till the last minute. He had no reason to not be present from Friday evening. He wants to be like J2. That con flopped. - thanks for reader inputs because I didn't know this.]

Publicly devalues others as being inferior, incapable, or not worthy. [calls destiel shippers perverts]

Makes members confess their sins or faults publicly subjecting them to ridicule or humiliation while revealing exploitable weaknesses of the penitent. [pointed out the lap dancer, while she was asking a question and showed the butt plug for no reason even though he could have reported the lapdancer and refused the butt plug]

Has ignored the needs of others, including: biological, physical, emotional, and financial needs. [no support for J2 during the Nolacon scandal, or for Jared during various heller attacks, but spoke up for Danneel because it secures heller sexual fantasies - I have an inkling that HatersOfDanneel might be minions which is why he stopped them, to show her how supportive he is. Who knows, maybe he set up to do this, so he could rescue her.]

Is frequently boastful of accomplishments. [the receipts can fill a book]

Needs to be the center of attention and does things to distract others to insure that he or she is being noticed by arriving late, using exotic clothing, overdramatic speech, or by making theatrical entrances. [like the chair gag at Comic Con which garnered sympathy from fans, and constantly drawing lewd attention to himself during panels where he is with others. He didn't like sharing a panel with Sebastian Roche, because Sebastian can out-crass him, and is obligated to sit through a Jared panel because Jared can also be provocative if he so wishes, but enjoys being in a panel with the sexually restrained Jensen, perhaps because it puts him in a powerful position. And he seldom just steps on stage. He must say or do something first: like an accent or something similar. Once he wore a severely torn T shirt under his jacket and made sure he showed everyone on stage. The man cant afford a T shirt?]

Doesn’t seem to listen well to needs of others, communication is usually one-way in the form of dictates. [called Jensen a motherf*cker, for speaking unfavorably about his scenes with Cas being decreased]

Haughtiness, grandiosity, and the need to be controlling is part of his personality. [constantly waving rules set by the CW and CE, for example telling people about the ''I love you'' line, even though he was told not to. He doesn't follow the rules that others are humble enough to follow.]

Behaves as though people are objects to be used, manipulated or exploited for personal gain. [asked Dean and Cas cosplayers to make out for his leery pleasure]

When criticized, he tends to lash out not just with anger but with rage. [there is a gif somewhere of him telling a critical con guest: I don't appreciate your tone when she told him he was queer baiting.] [Edit: A wonderful fan sent me the pictures - Thanks]

Anyone who criticizes or questions him, is called an “enemy''. [calls non-minions haters]

Acts imperious at times, not wishing to know what others think or desire. [smashed a Boba Fett cake in Jared's face, without notifying him that the cake was from a fan and was painstakingly made for Jared's birthday. The cake was inedible after that, and Jared profusely apologized to the fan. How hurt she must have been. Misha took the cake on stage, when he had no business to - Edit: thanks to an awesome reader for this input. I forgot about it, even though it had ticked me off when I learned the truth]

Is superficially charming. [Sometimes he cant even muster up a smile at his photo op, unless it is a Cockles one. He cant even pretend to like his fans]

Habitually puts down others as inferior and only he is superior. [again minion and pervert. Jokes that Jensen and Jared got their jobs on the basis of their looks.]

Has a certain coldness or aloofness about him that makes others worry about who this person really is and or whether they really know him. [when he hugged JDM, fans in the background cheered, and Misha looked at them, shook his head in a fed up, irritated manner before focusing at JDM]

Is deeply offended when there are perceived signs of boredom, being ignored or of being slighted. [told off a fan who said she wasn't supposed to be attending his panel. She was supposed to be asleep. She was called because her name ended up on the question line up. He was so angry, he didn't let her speak. That transcript is difficult to read.]

Treats others with contempt and arrogance.

Is constantly assessing for those who are a threat or those who revere him. [SPN Anti-Bullying Twitter is the most communist thing I have ever seen. It only seeks out Misha critics and does away with them. Its like communism, fandom style. Misha is in close contact with Emily Cleghorn who runs this page and participates in Gishwhes.]

The word “I” dominates his conversations. He is oblivious to how often he references himself. [With Misha it might be the opposite. He tries to project a kicked puppy personality. Watch his body language carefully]

Hates to be embarrassed or fail publicly - when he does he acts out with rage. [Just drink your effen water and get off the stage - could be a joke, or could be something else. Its was said to Jensen who laughed about it, but you never know how he perceived this outburst.]

Doesn’t seem to feel guilty for anything he has done wrong nor does he apologize for his actions. [Didn't apologize for slavery or roofie joke]

Believes he possesses the answers and solutions to world problems. [Gishwhes is more about his ego, wasting food and stripping down to nothing, for his enjoyment more than anything else. But he thinks it will solve problems. Other than creating a spectacle, and reaching the attention of Larry King, it doesn't seem to do any good because what good could the Record breaking largest number of people dressed as French maids do to better the world. And he waste food, whilst taking part in a marathon to end child hunger. He doesn't realize how hypocritical that is]

Believes himself to be a deity or a chosen representative of a deity. [Haha, I don't know if bragging about being accused of being the anti-Christ counts, because what decent person brags about that. Just added it here, as a laugh.]

Rigid, unbending, or insensitive describes how this person thinks. [Made Jensen tell the story, during their Jib panel, that made Jensen break down earlier - bashed the Bible]

Tries to control others in what they do, read, view, or think.

Seems to be highly dependent of tribute and adoration and will often fish for compliments. [wanted fiction writers to write a story about him for free - this is worth a second mention because of how arrogant it is]

Uses enforcers or sycophants to insure compliance from members or believers. [Has journalists in media outlets like Geekiary, Hypable and possibly others doing his bidding, including attacking the leads on social media, for saying something contradictory to what Misha is saying. Natalie Fisher of Hypable is more notable for doing this.]

Sees self as “unstoppable” perhaps has even said so. [With regards to Misha, he might say it about Random Acts or Gish because he want to project being 'humble'.]

Conceals background or family which would disclose how plain or ordinary he is. [Lied about being poor to garner sympathy - lied about only receiving elite education, because he has never been to public school, and says he lived on his friend, Darius's handouts, including meals, which makes me wonder how trust worthy Misha's friend is. Because don't elite private schools provide meals and uniforms - lied about being mugged]

A gazillion thank yous to my awesome friend, whom I will now refer to as Sam the researcher, because this is the second obscure piece of evidence that she found for me. I have been looking for it, for too long, fruitlessly. Also thanks for the second and third ones.

@iamacynic seems to think non-Misha fans were born without the faculty of thinking. So this person accused me of being non-empathetic to the fact that Misha was poor and living in a tent. Do you think nobody knows that? When Misha first told the story of being poor and having a druggie for a mother, he got a lot of sympathy, which is why over the years, the story has become more and more elaborate. The Overlord had found his niche. Misha was poor from birth till age 3. Mom married a guy who was loaded and who took over responsibility of Misha and his brother. From 4 till now, Misha has been a rich man. The elite private schools Misha attended cost more than $50 000 per annum. Misha attended Greenfield Centre and then Northfield Mount Herman. He has never attended a public school. And Misha doesn't remember any of that? All he remembers is the first 3 years of his life? Realistically, person will only remember a smidgen of the third year of his life. Unless someone out there remember age one. Raise your hands. Tell us about your extraordinary memory.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/spycatcher/201208/dangerous-cult-leaders

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