#and the second one. well uh. Jesse lives there now lmao

[deathandthesoul]

For the WIP prompt - Smoking <3

I've got a couple for this one (you've seen one of them already so I'm giving you two). 1st is 3rd person Aidan, 2nd is Jesse 1st person

He steals Jesse's lit cigarette out of the ashtray next to him on the endtable, taps the ash off, and starts smoking it like he owns it.

"Hey hottie." "Hi, angel." Aidan greets me at the back door shirtless and smoking my favorite kind of cigarettes.

[alicepao13]

Hudson and Rex S04E09 - Impawster Syndrome - Part B

I'd love to know how she was planning on fighting them off with a shaving razor.

Charlie is surprised because he was probably expecting a boyfriend.

What exactly are you fighting about, children? The level of Jesse's nerdiness? Nerds can have girlfriends, you know.

Joe: "Rex found a girlfriend in your apartment."

Charlie: "Am I the only one who's still single?"

"Is questioning new girlfriends standard procedure or something?" It should be in this place. It really should be.

lol I'd forgotten the video of fake!Jesse punching someone.

It's a great day for justice.

"But do we really need to make an arrest before we question him?" Um, we just did? Do you want to do it yourself, is that it?

You cannot possibly think it's a good idea for Jesse to be questioned by his own team, Charlie. Anyway, he's out of his mind with worry and I like it.

"Okay, but if the media learns that IA is investigating, they're gonna take that as an admission of Jesse's guilt!" So, the proposed solution is to not let them do their jobs?

Rex just snuck into holding.

Man, they really should have thrown your snarky ass to IA.

The funny thing is that in this season Charlie does do a few things for which he deserves to get yelled at. That's definitely not one of them.

Okay, so your job is to be the tech specialist (or whatever title). You are aware of the new technology known as deepfake, and since you know that it's not you in the CCTV footage, how do you wait for a second video to emerge to think that it might be a deepfake? It should have come up even as an outlandish theory.

Jesse: "I can explain but I need my computer." Charlie: "Sorry, but I already had a criminal fool me like that. Not again." End of episode.

I died.

"I heard there are even programs now that can fake a person's voice." Well, you guys are really good at predicting your future. I'm not talking about the Charlie/Rex mashup, although I'm sure that must be somewhere out there as well.

Aw, Rex is barking because he doesn't want Jesse to be sent down to the holding cell again.

Diesel's head is huge lol

It's one more police cover-up. And you know what? It's not, obviously, but Jesse has received preferential treatment in this case, they even more or less admit it, and what gets me is that he is whining on top of that about how his friends have treated him.

Livestreaming and uploading a live video would have showed as different in most social media platforms. Unless you had, like, put the camera in front of the video that was already playing in another screen or something, which would in most cases result in poor audio and video quality, making it obvious that it wasn't live.

You can say that the guy was abusive, people.

And an actual peeping tom. Always, ALWAYS make sure you camera is covered when you don't use it.

Well, now you can do whatever you want.

"I'm not gonna eat healthy!" lol Jesse. But that donut looks nice.

Rex, you could have nibbled on the guy a little. For Jesse.

Charlie shoved him a bit. That's fair.

"Her Majesty's Penitentiary"? Jeez.

Uh-oh.

Okay, I'm having a hard time believing that SWAT would be deployed for a domestic dispute in Canada, even if there was a distressed call from a woman.

SWAT consistently is made to look pretty bad on this show lol

"We're totally surrounded." You don't say.

"We're not gonna let anything happen to you, okay?" How will you guarantee that, Charlie?

Oh god, he was framed and you guys were doing your jobs!

I'd have told him to stay put, actually. I don't know what protocol SWAT follows, but in all these cases you try to de-escalate the situation, not escalate it. And you need a negotiator.

lmao are you for real?

"I'm not letting you shoot Jesse! I don't know what the fuck the humans are doing!"

Jesse could use a hug, you emotionally stunted people (affectionate).

I mean, financial motivation to ruin someone's life, I get. But this is pure revenge because you sucked at poker? Don't gamble.

You know, believing him or not, it shouldn't have made much of a difference on how you handled your job.

Okay, sap.

I love this.

Wait, is Charlie wearing the same jacket he will wear in S04E14 for the undercover thing? Or am I tripping?

"Rex knows all my tells." Rex knows everybody's tells. I just don't know how he's playing poker. And winning.

Generally, Jesse's attitude frustrated me in this episode. And the team's up to a degree. When I rewatched this with my sister (who couldn't care less for these characters so I consider her a more impartial viewer), she couldn't understand why his behavior during the investigation was even a tiny bit justified and reasoned with in the end. From the team's part, I think some of this has to do with the fact that Jesse is part of the team and they care for him, so of course by the end they would apologize. But the thing is that they've done nothing wrong, they're just in an impossible situation.

And I don't know why Charlie apologizes for not believing him, it was pretty clear up to a point that he was merely entertaining thoughts of how Jesse could be involved in this but purely theoretically and as the evidence against Jesse started piling up, he grew more and more concerned for Jesse, not certain of his guilt. At no point did they show any of the team believing that Jesse might have done this, which, had it happened, would have actually made me side with Jesse. Instead, he comes off as a person who expects preferential treatment because "they know him". Some of which he gets, without the team breaking any major rules, at least. Just the fact that they look for another explanation once they find the weapon of the robbery at his house, when that usually provides an airtight case to hand to the Crown, says a lot. Which is sort of the right thing to do when you know that this person can't be that dumb, but it's still based on the fact that you know them.

Jesse is redeemed for me at the end because he stands his ground. Which is a different thing altogether but I still liked it. It's not exactly a case that told me "You know what? This guy should make detective in a year" but that's just me.

[charaunderwood]

Hello!

My turn now! Kingdom hearts for the fandom ask game! :)

alright bitches let's gooooo

my favorite female character

gotta give that to my girl Namine!! shes my second favorite in the series for the angsty tragic vibes. Incase you can't tell by the character I've based my entire blog off of I really enjoy those vibes lmao. also she has the best hair out of everyone (I tend to be a huge sucker for blondes and the hair over the shoulder is just really cool)

my favorite male character

cmon. do I even need to answer this one? At this current moment, Vanitas might just be the most important fictional character to me personally of all time. which is honestly kind of embarrassing to say considering on the surface he's literally an edgy version of the main character but just everything about him and his story hits me so hard in a way I can't even describe right now. so yeah. it's Vanitas.

my favorite book/season/etc

like you said, since this is a game series I'll just put my favorite game here. I've only ever actually beaten KH1 (I'll get to the rest eventually don't judge me-) and I think just looking at the rest of the series that would have to be my favorite gameplay wise, tho of course I still don't have the best grasp on that lmao. but then story wise by favorite would have to go to BBS. but then as a meddling of both gameplay and story I think my favorite would have to go to KH3 so....idk. one of those three depending on the day.

my favorite episode (if its a tv show)

obviously it's not a tv show but I think this would be a fun place to ask "what's your favorite world?" so i'm gonna do that instead. so if we're including all worlds in the series it would have to go to KH1 Hollow Bastion no contest, but if we only include Disney worlds, I think I would have to give that one to Symphony of Sorcery in DDD.

my favorite cast member

so i'm just gonna say my favorite voice actor for this one and i think i'd have to give that to Jesse McCartney for his work as Roxas and Ven. I think the voice he gives them suits their design perfectly and I adore hearing the slight distinction in their voices, with Roxas's having a bit of a harder edge while Ven's is slightly higher and softer, it just really works to highlight their different personalities despite looking the same. I also love the energy that Haley Joel Osment always brings to Sora and Vanitas (although DDD Sora can be a bit rough to listen to at times and KH3 Vantias is uh...quite the divisive performance lmao)

my favorite ship

gotta go Soriku for that one, their dynamic is just so well fleshed out and cute for me to NOT adore it. although I just wanna say here that I think the dynamic between Sora and Namine is really underrated and a romantic dynamic between the two of them filled with angst and apologizing and all that jazz could be really interesting if written well. or hell even just some more stuff focusing on their platonic dynamic. just more of them in general please.

a character I'd die defending

obvioulsy would pick Vanitas here as I think a lot of his actions, while horrible, are very forgivable and defendable when given the full context. also I defend Ven a lot since people very often say he's an incredibly boring character and while I completely understand that since I think a lot of his really interesting potential is very underexplored at this point I'm also like booo! hiss!! spray bottle!!!! stay away from my son >:(

a character I just can't sympathize with

Ansem the Wise and fully grown old man Xehanort for that one. while I do think that people give ATW shit a bit too often and blame him for stuff that he technically shouldn't be blamed for, he was still a massive racist dickhead that ruined the lives of so many people around him for his own selfish reasons. plus, like many others, I really didn't like how when he came back in KH3 he just accepted the apology Ienzo gave him even though Ienzo really shouldn't be taking blame for the stuff that happened when he was still a literal fucking child but, whatever I guess. I also just don't really like the fact that he comes back from being dead after KH2 at all but that's a whole other conversation

and then for Xehanort, I'm sorry but the things he experienced in DR do not in the slightest excuse the horrific stuff that he does in the current times. I understand that the things he and Eraqus when through in Dark Road were extremely traumatic and it is fine for them to still be haunted by those things even into their 80s, but for Xehanort to still be enacting on that trauma well after 60 years later, yeah that's just unacceptable. Even though he has some valid points he is still harming the lives of children for no good reason and is possibly trying to destroy the world which is obviously awful. and that's not even taking into account all the other bad shit he does like possibly torturing people like Subject X for his experiments during his time as an apprentice and him abusing both Ven and Vanitas physically and emotionally to "make them stronger." also just to be clear, I have a hard time empathizing with Eraqus as well since his trauma from DR also does not excuse the shit he pulled in BBS, but I at least respect his ability to own up to his mistakes before he dies and when he comes back in KH3, even if I still think its bullshit that he didn't give Terra any sort of apology. (sorry for how long that one was good lord)

a character I grew to love

this might surprise the people but I actually wasn't the number 1 Vanitas fan right from the start. crazy I know but when I was first getting into the series I just thought he was okay. one of the better villains but just mediocre otherwise. but then one day he just.....clicked with me, and I really couldn't tell you why. he just did and now he's my favorite son :)))

my anti otp

so besides the creepy and uh...not legal ones, i'd say a sort of shipping hot take of mine is that I don't really like any romantic pair among the sea salt trio. I really do understand the appeal Roxas and Xion in a romantic light (and I am usually also a SUCKER for a blonde and black haired pairing) but they're just so sibling coded for me that I just can't get behind it.

anyway thanks for the ask!! sorry I probably yapped more than I needed to lmao <3

[miyagihawk]

for hawk

lover of mine - 5sos

it's a selfship anthem, bby!

the lyrics make so much sense

i love 5sos!!!! ty for the request :)

lover of mine | eli “hawk” moskowitz x reader

warnings: cursing, i think that’s it?

summary: based on lover of mine by 5sos <3

Lover of mine

Maybe we'll take some time

Kaleidoscope mind

Gets in the way

Your relationship with Hawk was more complicated than most.

You had to be patient with him. His mind was like a kaleidoscope; his thoughts were in intricate patterns that you could never comprehend. It amazed you, but it also frustrated you when you couldn’t understand him.

And when it seemed like you finally did understand, he would shift into new colors and you’d have to start all over again.

“I just- I don’t get you, Hawk! Why are you always lying to me?” you said loudly, already feeling exhausted from the argument.

“I’m not! You just never believe me!” he turned it on you. Like always.

You looked at him with a hard stare and crossed your arms. “Did you or did you not break Demetri’s arm?” you asked in a calmer, but still threatening tone.

You already knew the answer; everyone was talking about what happened in the laser tag room. But here Hawk was, denying it. You just couldn’t grasp why he hid so much from you.

When he stayed silent with his gaze not meeting yours, you sat on your bed with an exasperated sigh.“We should take a break,” you interrupted the quiet atmosphere, looking up at where your boyfriend stood in front of you.

“What?” Hawk finally met your eyes with a hurt expression.

You patted the spot on the bed next to you, and he sat reluctantly. “I’m just tired. We need a break Hawk.”

“We don’t need a break,” he protested quietly, and the subtle sadness in his voice was enough to make your heart pang with hurt.

Hope and I pray

Darling, that you will stay

Butterfly lies

Chase them away

He was scared. Even through all the countless arguments and lies, you never left. Now you were suggesting a break, and Hawk knows from seeing other relationships that they always just end in an actual break up.

In a weird way, you did want to scare him. Because he would never change if you didn’t. You hated the idea of a break, but maybe Hawk would finally stop lying to you if you showed him you were serious.

“It’s not a breakup,” you assured, because you knew what he was thinking. For once. “We just need time apart for a little bit. To think.”

“About what?” he asked defensively, starting to raise his voice again.

“You and I. We’re quite toxic, you know?” you contrasted his volume in a lighter tone, making his face relax and his lips turn up a bit.

His small smile dropped suddenly, replaced by an anxious expression. “Don’t leave me Y/N.”

Your heart dropped at his words, and you wanted to wrap your arms around him. To tell him you’d never leave and that it was all okay. But it wasn’t all okay.

You grabbed his hand instead, “You’re my best friend. I love you. But I need this, okay? We both do. Just some time to figure out how we can fix... us.”

“I can fix it now, we don’t need to take a break. Please. I’ll never lie to you again. I just- I hate disappointing you,” he pleaded, tightening his hand around yours, and you wanted to give in.

But you knew that letting this go on, this never ending cycle, would only end with the both of you in a huge crash and burn.

“You said that last time,” you gave him a sad smile. “Let’s just figure our shit out, and then come back better for each other. We need this Hawk.”

-

6 months later

Things didn’t end so well after your break with Hawk. After spending some time apart, you two were just never close again.

None of you planned for it to happen; you just drifted away from each other. And neither of you exactly established when the “break” would be over.

So for the next few months, you passed each other in the halls without any acknowledgment of the other’s existence. Of course you missed him, but not being with him just became the new normal. And you accepted it and pushed your feelings aside.

“So you’ll meet us there? You sure you don’t want the limo to pick you up?” your friend Cara asked from across the lunch table.

“Yeah don’t worry about me, Jesse’s picking me up,” you replied, making the rest of your friends wiggle their eyebrows teasingly.

“What happened to prom with the girls, Y/N? I thought we established no boyfriends during prom season,” Cara pouted playfully, and you elbowed her in the ribs.

“He’s not my boyfriend. He just asked me to prom and that’s it,” you corrected.

Your other friend jumped in, “And why not? Jesse is so cute.”

As she asked, your eyes trailed away from your friends and towards a certain someone with loud red hair, sitting across the room with his karate posse.

Your group noticed your lack of attention and turned to see what you were looking at. They sighed in unison, making you bring your focus back to them.

“He’s why, isn’t he?” Cara gave you an understanding smile and rubbed your shoulder comfortingly. “It’s okay. Just have fun tonight.”

You only nodded, giving your kind friends a soft smile of appreciation.

As much as you tried to convince yourself that you’ve moved on fully, the boy with a kaleidoscope mind would always have a place in your heart.

-

Where is he?

You paced around your living room anxiously, checking your phone for what seemed like the millionth time in the past hour.

You scrolled through the numerous texts you’ve sent, contemplating if you should send another one. Calling him wasn’t even an option; it went straight to voicemail everytime.

After an hour and a half, you gave up waiting and hoping that your prom date would show up. You flopped down onto the couch despairingly, replying to worried texts from your friends.

‘I’m not going to make it, just don’t worry about me. Have fun my loves.’ you typed, throwing your phone onto the floor right after.

You didn’t want to ask them to pick you up and ruin their night, and you were honestly too drained from being stood up to call an Uber.

So prom night ended up with you spread out on the couch with your outfit that you’ve planned out months ago, eating out of a carton of rocky road ice cream.

Honestly, it could’ve been worse. You could’ve been spending the night with an absolute jerk named Jesse. (a/n: so sorry if ur name is jesse lmao)

In the middle of your rom com movie marathon, an abrupt knock at the front door made you sit up from your pathetic, ice cream eating position on the sofa.

Immediately, you turned off the TV and tiptoed towards the door. You silently grabbed the baseball bat next to it, while squinting to see through the peephole.

Your stomach immediately dropped when you saw him.

Clad in a black suit, with a bouquet of your favorite flowers.

Shifting on his feet and chewing on his lip nervously, as he waited for you to open the door.

The boy you didn’t know you needed to see until now.

What is he doing here?

You covered your mouth in shock as you ran to the mirror to check if you had chocolate stains around your mouth. You smoothed down your hair and straightened out your dress in a frenzy, before unlocking the door with a deep breath in.

“Hawk?” you tried to act surprised, which wasn’t hard because your heart was racing.

He took a second to look at you in your wasted prom attire, and he was locked in a trance for a second before he snapped out of it. “Oh... uh, these are for you,” he held out the flowers to you and you took them with a smile.

“Wow, I love them. Thank you,” you brought them up to your nose for a whiff of your favorite floral scent. “So, what are you doing here?” you asked awkwardly.

“Oh crap, sorry, do you want to come in?” you said before he would answer, and you opened the door wider so he could step inside.

Hawk looked around the room where he’s been countless times, and he frowned at the sight of 13 Going On 30 paused on the screen with half melted ice cream on the coffee table. That movie plus the sweet dessert was your absolute comfort pairing, and it made him sad that you needed it.

“Cara texted me, and I was worried,” he finally spoke, answering your earlier question. You suddenly felt embarrassed as you placed the bouquet in a vase. You didn’t want to be pitied. Especially by your ex-boyfriend.

“I’m fine,” you said bluntly, busying yourself with the flowers so that you wouldn’t have to face him. You hadn’t talked to him since the night you suggested the break, and you already felt too exhausted from tonight’s events to even talk about it with him. “It’s better that I didn’t go to prom with that dick.”

Hawk chuckled at your remark, and you felt more at ease. The tension between you was thicker than an iceberg, and you didn’t know if you could handle it.

“So did you leave? Or are you just dressed up like that for me?” you smiled, sitting down on the couch where he followed.

He laughed again, lightening the mood even more. “I was there, but you know, Cara told me about what happened and... I just felt like I needed to come. It was lame though. The whole thing is just dancing. And I don’t dance,” Hawk explained, and you found yourself smiling at the thought of him caring about you. “But I know how excited you were about prom, so I thought I’d bring it to you. Some romantic shit like that.”

Your eyebrows raised at “romantic shit”, but you decided not to say anything about it. Although, it did make your cheeks heat up and you hoped he didn’t notice. “That’s really sweet Hawk. Thank you. Really,” you placed your hand on top of his, but you recoiled awkwardly because it felt too intimate, given the circumstances.

You cleared your throat, “So... since you’re bringing prom to me, does that mean I get a dance?” you got up and stood in front of him with your arms playfully crossed.

Hawk squinted his blue eyes at you, crossing his arms as well, “I don’t dance, remember?”

“For me you will, right? Or I could just, you know, dance by myself. It’s already been such a great night for me,” you teased, walking away from him towards a clear space in the living room.

He groaned from behind you and got up to follow, making you cheer happily. “For you I will,” he stated under his breath, releasing dozens of butterflies in your stomach.

Dance around the living room

Lose me in the sight of you

I've seen the red, I've seen the blue

Take all of me

You turned on your Dad’s old record player, where a slow, jazzy, 60s vinyl was spinning. You almost wanted to change it because it felt too romantic, but Hawk was already waiting behind you and you were scared he would change his mind.

The rush his presence gave you made you boldly put your hands on his shoulders, and he stiffly placed his own on the curve of your waist. Your hands were locked at the nape of his neck; his hold on you was light as if you were fragile china.

You forgot how intoxicating it felt to be this close to him, and you wondered how you went so long without that feeling.

The both of you swayed to the smooth melodies of Nina Simone with interlocked eyes, and with every second his hands on your hips became more relaxed. You rested your head on his chest, pulling him closer.

For a song or two, none of you said anything; there was just an unspoken appreciation of each other’s presence. After 6 months without him, you needed this.

I'll never give you away

'Cause I've already made that mistake

If my name never fell off your lips again

I know it'd be such a shame

When I take a look at my life

And all of my crimes

You're the only thing that I think I got I right

“I should’ve never let you go,” Hawk whispered close to your ear, sending a shiver down your spine.

“I was the one who wanted the break. It’s my fault,” you opposed, lifting your head up from his chest to look up at him.

He raised one of his hands to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear, and it brought a warm smile to your face. “But I didn’t chase after you,” his lips turned down into a frown.

You put your hands on the sides of his face while you two continued to sway to the staticky vinyl. “Maybe it’s both of our faults,” you laughed lightly, touching his soft skin.

“It’s me Y/N. I’m the one who lied to you throughout the whole relationship. I’m so sorry,” Hawk looked down at you with glossy eyes. “I’ve done so much fucked up shit. But you’re the only thing I got right. I hate myself for ruining it too.”

Your felt yourself melt at his confession. “It’s not ruined,” you disputed. “You aren’t perfect and I’m not either. I shouldn’t have given up on us. I’m sorry.”

He closed his eyes in peace as your hands ran through his bright hair. It was down from its usual style, giving him a softer look.

“Maybe we both messed up. But I’m never giving you away again Y/N. I won’t make that mistake. I love you,” the boy you’ve missed for months admitted, saying everything you wanted to hear.

You kissed him in reply.

a/n: ah idk if i like this but i hope u do, i feel like my writings are getting repetitive im having bad writers block (as u can tell by how slow im doing requests)

[homiegeesus]

The Year of Magical Thinking, Ch. 3

Summary: Francis Sinclair believed Arthur Morgan had not finished living. In a second chance at life, Arthur discovers what it means to love himself.

At the edge of a precipice and nowhere to run, Arthur concedes defeat. In an extraordinary turn of events, he is sent through the ether to another time where his path crosses with a group not too unlike his own family. After discovering the fate of those he loved before, he races to find a way back. But what if he realizes that there is something worth staying for in this new world? Can two people separated by nearly a hundred and twenty years of living find their happily ever after?

AO3 Link (edit: link fixed)

Author’s Note: So sorry for saying that I would post yesterday when I did not. We had some terrible weather 'round here, and it took me forever to get home last night. Long chapter is long, though. I know y'all are probably like "where is your OFC"? Well, she'll be introduced in the next chapter, I promise. I should have it posted in a couple of days. Shoutout to TheTiniestTortoise ( @shallow-gravy​ ) who has valiantly offered to beta this story (this chapter was not). Fair warning: I'm seriously going to take you up on this, so be prepared lmao. In the meantime, y'all need to go read "Blackbird's Song". It's a fantastic ArthurxOC take on the RDR2 plot, seriously drop everything and read it! Also, I created a "We Heart It" collection thing where I pin images that inspire me while writing. Just a warning, though: It might spoil some elements of the story. If you don't want any idea of where I'm taking the plot, do not click here.

Thank you to @tiesthatbind1899​​ (author of Memories of the West - another must read), for the idea. You're awesome. 

Almost forgot, in this story, Blackwater is Dallas. I read in the wiki that Blackwater was likely modeled after early 20th century Dallas, so I'm running with it. Plus, it's where I live, and even though most authors can't agree on whether you should "write what you know", this is fanfiction, so hell yes I will write what I know...at least in the first few chapters lol. Hope y'all enjoy this chapter, and as always, constructive criticism welcomed and appreciated!

The Year of Magical Thinking

Chapter 3 - American Remains

Not knowing if the doctor wanted Arthur to follow, he stood for a moment and stared at the carving on the cave wall. After Steven exited the chamber, the cave was again silent allowing Arthur to observe and reflect. His fingers traced the broad lines of the design as he pondered just how the whole situation had come to pass. What an interesting sequence of events. One moment, Arthur was dying and the next he was not. Having been a hair’s breath away from death had changed him fundamentally. Suddenly being thrust into wellness had been jarring, to say the least. Itching to sketch the new carving, he reached to his side for his journal. Hand feeling empty air where his satchel would usually be, he closed his eyes and covered his face.

In a last act of brotherly affection, Arthur had given John his most important possessions: his father’s hat and his satchel along with everything in it. Suddenly, a deep homesickness fell on him like anvil. The realization that he would never see his family again caused a well of emotions to rise up and threaten to consume him whole. He didn’t belong in this place. If Arthur was a part of a dying breed back then, then how would one hundred and twenty years of so-called progress treat him? With no place to call home and not a penny to his name, how would he survive?

Feeling suddenly claustrophobic in this cool, damp place, Arthur turned and followed the path of Steven’s exit. As the natural light of the sun reached him, he felt a wave of humid heat hit his face, instantly causing tiny rivulets of sweat to breakout across his forehead. Finally exiting the cave, he stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. Even in the heat, Arthur delighted in clean, easy breathing. Tortured by diseased lungs in the past months, he had forgotten what it meant to be well.

Looking at his surroundings, he spotted Steven near a table off to the left of the clearing. Arthur began walking towards him, that is, until he spotted the younger man talking to himself. Rooted in place, he observed Steven holding what appeared to be a small black book while gesturing wildly with his arms.

Damn it, you old fool, Arthur inwardly chastised. He had driven the man to madness with his scarcely believable tale. He walked closer to make out the words coming from the young doctor. That’s when he heard the other voice bleeding from the air that surrounded them.

“Steven, my love, my future husband, my everything – if you do not make it to this dinner, I will leave you. And then, I’ll cancel you. You will be canceled!” The voice yelled, sounding as if it came from a phonograph. Arthur furrowed his brow and looked for the source.

“Nick,” Steven responded in voice that even Arthur could tell was full of condescension, “first of all, you know I love you, but you also know I hate these dinners. Secondly, I just told you that something came up at work.” He then cradled the little black book in both hands, thumbs moving wildly over the cover. “It’s incredibly important that –”

Nick interrupted, “It’s incredibly important that you be at this dinner. Steven, we’ve had this planned for two weeks. All of the partners are going to have their significant others with them. They’re expecting you there. They all fucking love you; always like ‘Steven is so charming’ or ‘God Nick, how did you bag a guy like Steven? He’s so funny and you are so – not.’”

Steven laughed, “They don’t say that.” He finally glanced up in Arthur’s direction, smile falling from his face.

“Ugh, yes they do. It’s annoying as shit. I mean, I can be funny,” the voice replied. Steven began looking from the book to Arthur and back again in quick succession.

“Babe, I gotta call you back –”

“Steven –”

“Nick,” Steven interrupted sternly, “I’ll call you right back, I promise.” Call? Arthur thought to himself. That little black book’s a telephone? Nah…

Nick sighed loud enough for both men to hear. “Just please show up tonight. It’s all I ask.”

Steven nodded as if he could be seen. Arthur thought maybe he could. They each said ‘I love you’ and Steven glanced up at him.

“Holy shit,” was all he said. 

“What?” Arthur frowned.

Steven just shook his head and held out the little book, or whatever it was. From where Arthur was standing, he could barely discern what looked like a photograph. Steven glanced quickly between the object in his hand and Arthur’s face. He seemed to realize the older man’s cluelessness.

He dropped his arm halfway and grinned, “Oh sorry, you’re probably like ‘what the hell is this?” He gestured to the device and laughed. “Jesus, well, this is a phone. A telephone.” A flipped it in his hands, and then held it out to Arthur. “Go ahead. Check it out.”

Arthur stepped closer and cautiously took the gadget. Looking at it, what he saw would take him back some five years ago to a hunting trip he, John and Hosea had embarked upon in Tall Trees, a year before John had left to God knows where. The trip had been a fruitful one, as the trio had taken down a bear with size to rival the one they had caught in the Grizzlies. It was a good memory, set before his relationship with John had descended into spite and jealousy. He stared at the photograph, the sepia tone making it seem so unreal when his memories burst with color. Arthur, John and Hosea looking as serious as three feared outlaws could, each held rifles behind a large grizzly bear.

Arthur looked up to Steven, “Where’d ya get this?”

The corners of his mouth quirked as if he went to smile but then thought better of it. “That’s a, uh, long story. But I mean –,” Steven then smiled, “it’s you.” He laughed a little manically, “That’s you in that photo.”

Arthur, not realizing the significance of this moment, just replied with a shrug of his large shoulders, “Yeah.”

Steven briefly ran a finger over his lips as he continued to smile, “Dear God. How the hell did this happen?”

“Ain’t gotta clue,” the outlaw replied simply.

Steven just shrugged. “Well, in any case, we have to figure out what we’re gonna do with you. I mean,” he laughed, “you could come home with me, but my, uh – Nick would probably freak the hell out.” A considering look passed over his face. “Hey, you said you were sick before?”

Arthur nodded, “Yeah, but I ain’t coughin’ no more.”

“Tuberculosis?” Steven supplied. The other man’s eyes narrowed fractionally.

“How’d you know?” The doctor just gave a toothy grin.

“Mr. Morgan, you’re quite famous. Like Jesse James.” At Arthur’s perplexed face, he continued, “Didn’t you, like, have your own gang, or something? You know, like Jesse James did?”

Arthur laughed, “What? No.” He shook his head, “I was in one, but I weren’t the leader. That was Dutch.” Steven’s face lit in recognition.

“Oh yeah,” he then looked off to the side. “I haven’t seen any westerns since I was a kid, so I’m only vaguely familiar with the history.” He looked back to Arthur with a smile, “My friend Ada would know. She loves them.”

“Uh-huh. Western? Like a dime novel?” The outlaw asked, head tilted in question.

Steven shook his head. “No, movies. They’re like, uh –,” obviously wondering how to explain, “you know, moving pictures.”

“Oh yeah, I know ‘bout them. Used to go to the theater on special occasions an’ such,” Arthur recalled.

“Well, they’re a little different now,” the doctor laughed. “They’re in color and have sound, so –”

Arthur tracked his thumb across his stubbled chin. “Ain’t that somethin’,” he replied a bit in awe.

Steven smiled, “Yeah well, you’ve been portrayed a couple times, I think.”

Amazed, Arthur responded, “Yer kiddin’.” The younger man just shook his head.

“Nope. The only ones I know of came out a long time ago, like the ‘40s or ‘50s. Maybe earlier.” The outlaw lightly laughed.

He looked slyly to Steven. “Were they, uh – were they handsome?” The corner of Arthur’s mouth ticked slightly up.

Steven barked out a quick laugh. “Oh yeah. They were.” He shot the other man another toothy smile. “Though, I’m beginning to think that they didn’t do you justice!”

Unfamiliar with such bald-faced compliments, Arthur bowed his head in an attempt to hide the shy smile forming on his face. Damn it all, he didn’t have his hat. He just swatted his hand and said, “Nah.”

Steven was apparently having none of that. “Trust me, Arthur. Even covered in dirt, you’re a tall drink of water on a hot day.” He let out a loud guffaw at the sight of the blush that crept up on Arthur’s face. “I’m just messin’ with ya.”

Arthur just shrugged and tried to conjure up what little was left of his mean outlaw persona. “Yeah, well –”

“Alright,” laughing again, Steven stepped past Arthur, clapping him on his shoulder. “I’m gonna go turn off the generator and stuff, and then we’ll figure out what to do.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What in the hell was he going to do? Nick would kill him. No doubt about it. His future husband would whip out that Latin Fire and scorch him where he stood. Steven could see the inevitable conversation play out in his head. ‘Honey, I’ve brought home an outlaw from the 19th century. He’s going to be staying with us for a while. Oh, and he has a gun, and he could shoot us in our sleep and rob our corpses.’

“Jesus,” Steven said quietly to himself as he gathered the equipment around the worksite. His morbid train of thought was then interrupted by the shrill sound of his cellphone ringing. Grabbing the device from his back pocket, he looked at the screen.

Nick, the ID screamed at him. Steven stared at it a moment before answering.

“I swear I was just about to call you,” he started. He could hear the eye roll coming through the phone.

“Uh-huh. Why did you tell Jeremy to go home earlier?”

Shit. “Well, I uh –,” completely unsure with what to say and totally unfamiliar with lying to his partner, he explained the best he could. First though, “How did you know I sent Jeremy home?”

“You sounded weird when I spoke to you last, so I texted him. Stop trying to change the subject.”

Figures. He needed to teach the kid about worksite discretion. But right now, he had to get through this conversation. “Something did come up. Nick, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Nick responded in a concerned voice, “Steven, what is it? What happened?”

“Well – you see – I, uh, I’ve met someone else, and I’ve decided that we’re going to be together.” Steven paused a second, then added, “I’m leaving you.”

“Good lord, Steven. Be serious. I’m sitting here thinking you’re about to tell me you have cancer or something.”

“Oh, no. I’m healthy as a horse. I am leaving you, though.”

“Mi amor. Please. What’s going on?” Nick was sounding legitimately concerned now.

Steven sighed, “Look, I’ll tell you everything. This evening.” He added, “Just trust me. We’ll talk about it tonight after dinner, I promise.”

Giving a light chuckle, Nick reassured, “Okay, okay. I trust you. I wouldn’t be marrying you if I didn’t.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Steven turned and looked at Arthur across the clearing. The outlaw was sitting at the picnic table, arms folded. Suddenly remembering a part of their conversation from earlier, he looked again to his phone. Selecting a contact, he dialed Lauren Linklater’s number. She answered on the third ring.

“Linklater.”

“Hey, it’s Steven. You gotta minute?”

He could hear a distinct crunching noise. “I’m at lunch. What’s up?” Always succinct and to the point. Steven appreciated that right now.

“Well, I have a question about something. Completely hypothetical,” he started.

“Okay.” She waited for him to elucidate.

“Okay, so again, completely hypothetical –”

“Steven.”

“Yeah?” He asked.

“I’ve got like ten minutes to eat before I have to go put my hands in some dude’s chest cavity –”

“Right. Yeah, sorry, so – say someone traveled through time from, I dunno, 1899 to our time. Would you be concerned about them getting deathly sick from something really simple, like a common cold? Would they be more susceptible?” Then he remembered, “Oh, and what if they had tuberculosis before they – you know, time-traveled?”

Steven figured she might be chewing her lunch, when it took a moment for her to answer.

“Is this a part of your weird cave art or something?” She asked.

“Rock carvings,” he corrected. “Well, kinda. I mean, yes. It is.” He explained, “I’m asking you because it’s a little bit outside my purview.”

“Okay, well, it’s a little bit outside of mine, too. This would be a great question for, I dunno, an epidemiologist or – heh, Doc Brown. I’m a general surgeon.”

Steve sighed, “Right. I just needed a quick opinion, so –”

“I just don’t want to give you incorrect information, especially for your job, ya know? If this is off the record, or whatever, I can try to resurrect some of the ole braincells from med school.”

He laughed, “Yes, if you could do that, I’d appreciate it.”

“Okay, so I probably wouldn’t be too concerned about this hypothetical person getting a modern day cold. Our immune systems are pretty badass, and it’s been that way for a long time. I’d be more concerned about a modern-day person going back, like, five hundred years, I guess. Still, I would maybe want to do a blood test and a cheek swab to make sure they’re not bringing small pox or something with ‘em. You say this hypothetical dude had TB?”

“Yeah, but afterwards, he didn’t have any signs of still being sick. And before, he was near death, like minutes or hours away.”

“Okay, well, they’d probably need to get checked out anyways. TB is highly treatable with antibiotics these days, so not much to worry about. If this dude wasn’t showing any signs of illness, chances are he didn’t bring it with him.” She then began to laugh.

“What?” Steven asked.

“Nothing, just – we’re talking about it like it exists. I dunno, just thought that was funny.”

“Yeah,” he breathed a laugh. He heard her begin chewing again.

“Steven.”

“What?”

He could hear the smile in her voice, “Did you find a diseased time-traveler?”

“Very funny,” Steven muttered sarcastically. “I’ll let you get back to your lunch, and your – chest cavity.”

Lauren laughed, “Okay, let me know how your project goes.”

“Will do.”

Hanging up, Steven sighed. Thinking about where in the hell he could stash a time-traveling cowboy, he walked back over to Arthur. The outlaw was hunched over the picnic table, staring intently at his hands. He looked up when Steven’s boots entered his field of vision.

“Well, we gotta head out pretty soon before traffic gets too bad.” He glanced in the direction of his car beyond the wall of pine trees.

Arthur frowned, “Traffic?”

Steven nodded, “Yup. You know, lots of vehicles, people.”

“Yeah, I know what traffic is. Jus’ wonderin’ if we’ll be goin’ through a city?” He clarified.

Motioning for Arthur to follow him, Steven elaborated, “Yeah, but not for a while. It’s pretty crazy, but it’s not just the cities that hold most people now. There are a shit ton of people in the boonies, too.” Judging by his expression, Arthur didn’t seem to like that little tidbit. Steven pointed to a couple of small crates, “Mind helping me carry these?”

Arthur moved to pick up one of the containers, “Naw, ‘course not.” Both men began walking along a path surrounded by trees leading out to the parking lot. Steven let out a loud laugh at Arthur’s face when they reached his silver Ford truck.

They sat down the crates as Arthur took a moment to absorb the vehicle in front of him.

Steven, thinking of the Bon Jovi song, tried his best to explain. “It’s like, uh, a steel horse. Ya know – “

Arthur just looked to him with a sardonic face, “I know whatta automobile is.”

Steven nodded, “Oh, right.”

“They’re just, ah – a li’l different than I remember ‘em.” Walking around the perimeter of Steven’s car, Arthur seemed to observe every little detail. Almost like an artist would a subject, he thought vaguely.

“Yeah, well.” Steven kicked a rock at his foot. “Wait ‘till you get inside.”

“Huh,” the cowboy huffed. Coming to stand beside Steven, he looked to the younger man. Placing his hands on his hips, Arthur pondered, “Just how would one go ‘bout doin’ that?”

Steven huffed out a laugh, “We’ll get to that, but first, we need to, uh – talk about your, uh, gun.”

“You ain’t takin’ my gun, Doc.”

“Steven, and it’s just –”, Steven took a step forward. Arthur’s hand went to his pistol grip, as if preparing to draw, and Steven shot his hands up in surrender. “Woah, I’m – I’m not going to take your gun, well – not for what you think. Can you just please take your hand off the gun? Please, don’t shoot me.”

Arthur acquiesced by removing his hand and briefly raising it palm forward in the air.

“Look, I’m not trying to take your gun, at least not for why you’re thinking. It’s just – times have changed. You can’t just walk around strapped like Jesse James.” Arthur quirked a dark brow. “I mean, this is Texas, but still. Cops can have itchy trigger fingers ‘round here.”

“Ain’t that all the more reason I should keep my gun?” Arthur’s deep voice drawled.

“No! Absolutely not!” Steven laughed incredulously. “I mean, that may seem logical to you, I guess, but trust me when I say you do not want to go shooting cops. ‘Law and order’ is – well, it’s just not the same as it used to be.”

Arthur looked pensive for a moment as he stared at Steven, as if to determine if the younger man was being truthful. Finally, his hands went to the buckle of his gun belt to loosen it. “You ain’t gonna make me regret this, are ya?”

Steven exhaled a nervous laugh, “What? No, no. I mean, you have more of a chance of being, I dunno, sucked up by a tornado than you have of being shot at between here and where we’re going.”

“Uh-huh, and jus’ where are we goin’?”

“Well, that’s TBD.” At Arthur’s confused expression, Steven quickly amended, “To be determined.”

“A’right,” the cowboy waved a hand in the air. “Let’s get a move on then.”

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

After placing the crates inside of the bed and Arthur’s gun belt under the backseat, the men climbed into the monstrosity of an automobile. Steven had shown Arthur how to open the door and put on a seatbelt, but it seemed easy enough. Sitting in the interior of this modern-day work horse, he luxuriated in the leather seat. He ran his fingers along the armrest, the treated leather feeling like smooth silk against his calloused hands. Looking up, his antiquated mind tried to conjure up why a person would need all these knobs and dials. What was their purpose? Steven settled into the seat beside him.

“You ready?”

“I gotta choice?”

Steven quirked a brow, “Not really.”

“Well then. There’s yer answer.”

And with that, the young doctor turned on the beast beneath them. Arthur did not expect the burst of noise that felt as if it hit him physically. Steven reached for the dials in front of them and quickly apologized.

“Oh god, sorry! I forgot I had the radio on, I’m so sorry,” he said quickly.

“Good god, man. How do you still have yer hearin’?” Arthur questioned, absolutely astonished.

“Yeah, that was loud. It keeps me going on a long drive.” He laughed, “I’m so sorry.”

Arthur just shook his head, “What in the hell was that?”

“Uh, music. Metallica, I think.”

The outlaw stared at Steven like he’d grown two heads, “Music? What the hell kinda music is that?” He shook his head. “Sounded like a thousand cats dyin’.”

Steven shrugged, “I think they’d like that comparison.”

The doctor tinkered with some levers and such around the wheel, and suddenly they were moving. Exiting the area, they pulled out onto the road. Despite the anxiety Arthur felt at the fast movement, he decided it wasn’t too terrible. That is until the speed caused his world to tilt.

Steven was chatting away about where they were going and what they would do when they got there, when Arthur began to feel utterly nauseated. Mesmerized by the white lines in the middle of the road as they moved past so quickly that they turned into one blur, his vision doubled, eyes nearly rolling back in his head. If Steven noticed, he didn’t say anything, so preoccupied as he was.

“I mean, we have a pullout couch. But our place is tiny. We’d be like sardines in a can. You had those in your time –”

“Doc.”

“– right? Of course, you did. Well, we’d be like sardines. It’d be uncomfortable. I’d ask –”

“Doc.”

 “– Lauren, but she’s a doctor. She’s always working. It’s not like –”

“Pull over.”

“– I can leave you alone. Holy shit, I know who –”

Arthur finally raised his voice, “Steven!

Confused, Steven replied, “What?”

Looking at the other man, Arthur gritted lowly, “Stop this damn contraption ‘fore I vomit all o’er this nice leather.” Finally understanding, Steven pulled to the side of the road. As Arthur went to hop down from the vehicle, something jerked him back into place. Before the outlaw could grab his knife, Steven calmly reached over and unbuckled the belt. Murmuring a quick ‘thanks’, Arthur hauled himself out of the truck and into the field. A loud horn from another passing vehicle would have scared him out of his boots, if he hadn’t been so overcome with nausea.

Steven yelled a sarcastic, “Ok, thank you!” before saying to himself, “Asshole.”

Wiping his mouth, Arthur turned and walked back to the truck. Once they were both inside, Steven looked at him.

“You okay?” He asked, concerned. Arthur just nodded. Steven continued, “I didn’t even think about you getting motion sickness. Sorry ‘bout that.”

“S’alright,” Arthur said quietly.

The doctor handed him a bright pink pill of some sort and what looked like a clear canteen.

“It’ll help with the dizziness. Plus, it might even help you get some rest. We got a couple hours drive before we reach the city.” Arthur took it without question, washing it back with the warm water as Steven pulled the truck back onto the road.

He questioned, “City?”

“Yeah. Blackwater.”

Unable to help it, Arthur felt his blood run cold. Knowing that his bounty was long gone was not enough to keep his anxiety from spiking. Arthur did not say anything. This man knew his name, did he know his sins? Would he still be so generous and willing to take him in, knowing the blackness of the outlaw’s heart?

Steven briefly glanced his way. “I have an idea about where you can stay. I have to call her, but I know she’ll be okay with it.” He looked back at Arthur. “I think you’ll like her.”

Arthur just nodded, feeling the effect of the medicine begin to take hold. Eyelids turning heavy, he shifted until his head lulled forward. Exhaustion catching up with him, he surrendered to Morpheus in a dreamless sleep.

[dontdowhatisayandnobodygetshurt]

Prompt Writing Challenge

Entry: 2

Prompt: 39. stepping in something squishy

Character(s): Dante, Vrox, Jesse

Notes: I’m currently neck-deep in the first season of The Punisher and am extremely desperate to date Frank Castle but also so SO endlessly glad I don’t live in America lmao. On a more related note, I missed writing for my boys and wanted to write something lighthearted so here we are XD also here’s the song Jesse sings to

A loud thud and a barrage of curses had Dante’s hand flashing for the knife under the pillow, fumbling at the empty air where it should have been. Reality caught up too slowly. Of course, Jesse didn’t like it when he left weapons around the house and he could never seem to hide them well enough to keep him from finding them. It was like he was a bloodhound for steel.

Dante sighed out the tension and rolled over to look off the side of the bed. “Comfy down there?”

“Shut the fuck up, Dante,” Vrox said, sprawled out over the floor where he’d fallen. 

“What’s up your ass, babe?” Dante rubbed his side, where he could still feel a warmth left by another body, and grinned. “Aw. You know, you can just admit you like to cuddle anytime you w-”

Vrox tried to grab his leg, probably to physically drag him down to his level and murder him, and growled when Dante simply moved it out of his reach. “Shut your smug asshole mouth!”

In one smooth motion, Dante flipped himself upright and planted both his feet in Vrox’s chest, shoving down just lightly. When it wasn’t tensed, Vrox’s midsection was soft and pressing on it earned him a very satisfying high-pitched wheeze. “What were you saying?”

“You’re an asshole,” Vrox snapped, but a smile was breaking through now: nobody could make a noise like a cat being sat on without cracking.

Dante said, “sure, but I’m not the one who wakes up every morning clinging to you,” and then when Vrox’s grudging smile finally showed itself, he leaned down, slipped a hand under his head and lifted it so he could kiss him.

Now that he had properly calmed down and was not focused solely on his annoying boyfriend, he could hear the shower water running, the shitty old pipes ratting like they were about to explode at any second.

He broke off the kiss,but left his hand in Vrox’s hair. Vrox let him hold up his head like a lazy cat. “Jess is in the shower?”

“Yeah.”

“When did Jess get in the shower?”

“Uh. Like, ten minutes ago. Why?”

Dante sighed. “Shit. No hot water for us losers.”

“It’s not-” Vrox’s eyes widened and he bolted upright. “Fuck! Father damn it. Jesse!” He only had to raise his voice slightly, a benefit of hound hearing that Dante was sure their neighbours appreciated. They were loud enough with it. “You didn’t tell me!”

“You didn’t ask!” Jesse’s voice came back; Dante couldn’t help but muffle a laugh at the obvious cruel smugness in it. Sometimes he forgot that Jesse, with his dimple and sweet brown eyes, was just as demon as the rest of them. “I gotta wash my hair sometime. And it’s a routine anyway, you should know it by now, V!”

Vrox growled loud enough for him to hear, but Jesse clearly ignored him, since he started singing along to the Jungle song he was playing. His voice was terrible, but in an endearing way. It always made Dante smile.

Dante slung his legs out of bed, chugged the remaining water from the overnight glass, and got up to ruffle Vrox’s hair. “I’ll cook the bacon, I’ll leave the eggs to you. Your jacket’s over there, by the way, kẻ ngốc.”

Vrox stopped looking around to shoot Dante a suspicious glare. “What did you just call me?”

Dante smiled, patted him on the shoulder and headed for the kitchen.

“Dante? What did that mean? What did you say?”

Dante waited a patient minute, enjoying the silence as he grabbed the bacon out of the fridge, washed some of the frost off it with hot water just to hear Jesse yelp his name like a swear word from the shower and then actually cuss at him when he knocked semi-apologetically on the wall. Vrox eventually did find his varsity jacket, the translation to his new nickname and the desire to start trying to get Dante in a definitely illegal headlock, but all Dante could think at that point was ‘there’s no place like home.’

[magicdrabbles]

Isekai Lucio AU

This was done for @junkpilestuff and their awesome idea of Lucio waking up in our modern era world and I HAD. TO. JUMP. ON. THAT. Here’s the finished product. Warning: This is pretty long and it’s dialogue heavy but whatchya gonna do? Read under the cut~

A flash of red, burning pain throughout my body...my vision go black...then...

Darkness...swirling around in darkness...but I feel so...light. I’m...fading…my senses are mixed and...and...

…..

And what’s that horrible smell?!

Lucio’s eyes flash open and he jerks up with a heavy gasp, sweating. He squints away from the blinding light, settling himself down from whatever just happened.

It was probably just a weird dream...but why do I smell...whatever that is? Ugh! Dirt!

He opens his eyes, adjusting to the bright light and recoils his hand from the ground shaking away any residue that was on it. He scowls at the filth around him before finally getting up and wiping the dirt off his now grimy white suit. He looks up and his mouth drops. He’s standing in an alleyway next to a large trash can covered in graffiti, skyscrapers towering above, taller than his beloved palace. The unfamiliar sound of sirens and cars fills his ears and he quickly runs out the street. Everywhere, people everywhere.

Absolutely...FILTHY people! And why are they dressed so...bad?

The New Yorkers stare at him and his attire. It’s not completely unusual for the Big Apple to see weirdos like this. But his look is so...outlandish that many thought he might just actually dress like that. Lucio was twirling, back and forth, trying to take in his surroundings. The last thing he remembers before waking up here...Nadia. She killed me...that absolute BITCH! Lucio stomps down his heeled foot like a child. He growls, anger pulsing out of him like heat before he is almost bumped into the street by a burly man in a faded suit.

“Hey! Watch where you’re goin’ bub!” the man yells back at Lucio.

“YOU sir, were the one who hit me! How dare you! Do you know who I am?!”

“Not a clue,” the man laughs, “what a weirdo…” he chuckles to himself, disappearing into the crowd. Lucio huffs, and twirls to face whatever is before him. He scans the area, eyes falling on...what are those?

Large windows displaying colors and people lined up and down the buildings showing beautiful people just...staring and smiling, sometimes holding perfume or fine jewelry. Lucio stopped when he saw him. On the...I think I heard someone say...jumbotron, Lucio saw one of the most beautiful men he had ever seen, almost as beautiful as him. Hmph, I could beat that. If Nadia doesn’t want me in Vesuvia then I can be the best here. Everyone can love me, he thought immediately.

With his large golden claw, he grabs a passerby on the shoulder and turns them toward him.

“You! Who is that up there?” He points his fleshed hand up at the screens. A stunned young man, scrawny and red-eyed looks at the advertisement for Calvin Klein underwear.

“Uhhh I don’t know man...just some model dude?” He takes a sip of his soda he had been holding, not breaking his somewhat impressive eye contact with Lucio.

“A model? How do I do that?”

“Uhhhhh lots of dudes just get famous on Instagram really or like...make a youtube channel”

“A wha-youtube? Instagram? Quit being so obscure! And just tell me damn it!” Lucio grabs the guys shirt with both hands and shakes him a bit. “Okay okay! Jeez, my dude, I have a buddy who does photos for a living I can introduce you...but I don’t know if he’ll wanna take your picture since you’re such a...douche”

Lucio’s eyes widen, “A WHAT?”.

“Nevermind, just follow me” and the young pothead leads Lucio to his friend’s apartment.

“By the way, that’s a siiiiick arm, my man. You cosplayin’ someone or…”

“This is my arm and yes it is quite...sick? I’m assuming that’s good in this world” Lucio said matter of factly.

“Hehe...yeahhh...super sick”

“What is your name? It’s not that I care but I have no idea what to call you.”

“Ah it’s Jesse my liege,” he tips an imaginary hat at Lucio and do a little bow “and yours?”

“Count Lucio of Vesuvia. Grand ruler, military leader, excellent lover…” He smirks down at Jesse, running his claw through his blonde locks.

“Heh, schweet love the confidence, my man”

They continue down a few more blocks before they arrive at the apartment of Jesse’s friend. Jesse knocks a little tune on his friend's door before it cracks open just a smidge. His friend’s eye peers through the crack.

“What’s the password compadre?” Jesse’s friend asks ominously from behind the door.

“Lmao, the password is SUCK MY WEENUS! AAAAAYYYYY”

“AYYYYYY” they yell in unison. The door slams closed. Locks on the other side jangle as they fall off the door and unlock. The friend opens the door with large arms wide open.

“My dude, Dan, let me introduce THE Count Lucio”. Dan, the man behind the door, stares at Lucio and his grandeur.

“Yo, you’re mega hot not gonna lie” Dan praises. Lucio blushes for a split second before his signature smirk returns to his face.

“Ha! Of course, I am,” Lucio parades past Dan into his too small apartment. He lands, light as a feather onto the tattered and stained leather couch, “And that’s why I’m here dear Dan. YOU are going to have the privilege of photographing ME!” He extends his body seductively along the couch, leg raised straight up high and an over exaggerated pout on his lips. Dan raises a quizzical eyebrow and looks over at Jesse. Jesse, taking a drag of his vape (Where did he pull that from, Dan thought) just shrugs his shoulders and blows the vapor into his friend’s face.

“Dan, the man...you are the man and you take awesome photos. This dude wants to be a model and I thought ‘Well I’m bored and I bet Dan is up to nothing so why not?’ so now we’re here and I’m high and I’m vaping and you’re staring at me and that flamboyant weirdo is excited to model so, like, why not?”

There’s silence...Dan just slowly looking back and forth at his friend and then at Lucio. Lucio blows him a kiss and winks. With a sigh, Dan resigns to the requests.

“Fine. But only because I’m bored!” Lucio jumps up and claps his hands together.

“Excellent decision Dan! Now, what should I do? I should pose like some of my portraits maybe? Do you have a skull from an enemy I can hold? Maybe some fine jewels I can lavish myself in?”

“Uh no...but like, you can just take off your shirt. Ladies LOVE a shirtless dude.” He extends his fingers into small, pudgy finger guns and waves them at Lucio.

Lucio obeys immediately. It’s not every day people ask him to strip. He enjoys the attention. This is going to be FANTASTIC.

A while later, Dan and Jesse had set up the lights, the camera, and simple white background for Lucio to model in front of. Lucio had stripped down to just his pants, although Dan and Jesse had to stop him from going past that. After explaining he did NOT need a skull to stand on, and that most models just pout and pose fairly naturally, Lucio began to get into the groove of it all, displaying his muscles the best he could and giving the camera winks every now and then. Dan uploaded the photos to his Instagram after doing a bit of filtering and face tuning, and they waited for the responses to start flooding into the comments section. Lucio paced back and forth, his heeled boots click-clacking on the hardwood floor.

“What are we waiting for? Surely I should be on that big screen by now!”

“Ahh, that’s not how that works my dude…” Jesse explained flatly, not taking his eyes off the TV screen. Just as Lucio’s face turns red with impatience at these...fools... a high pitched “Ding!” resonates from Dan’s little device. And then another...and another and another...soon Dan is launching himself across the couch to silence his phone.

“Yooo what the fuck...you’re blowing up Lucio!” His eyes widen at the screen, his greasy finger scrolling through all the comments and likes on his photos. “Oh my god...GIGI HADID SAID SHE THINKS YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL!” Lucio waves his hand absently “Yes, yes I know I am. I don’t care who this Gugu is, am I FAMOUS now?”

Dan’s jaw drops. In his direct messages are requests for Lucio to model for big brands. Other models are asking who he is, designers are wondering how Dan discovered him.

“My dude, you’re gonna be famous” Lucio delivers a flashy smile to Jesse and Dan. Jesse goes in for a fist bump but Lucio slaps it away with his claw.

~

Months later, and Lucio is signed with some of the biggest modeling agencies in the world. He’s walking for Valentino, Gucci (his personal favorite), Prada, you name it, he’s modeled it. The extravagance he receives from his work is unmatched to that of Vesuvian riches; it’s BETTER. Fine clothes, drunken nights with the world’s most beautiful people, all the men and women he could dream of being with, everything! He has it all. He was even on the jumbotron. He hid his face from others, a single tear rolling down his cheek. He had made it. Lucio’s face and body were gracing every major advertisement medium- commercials, magazines, runways, even the sides of buses. One day, however, his lust for himself gets the best of him.

While walking down the busy city streets, paparazzi began flanking him.

“Lucio look over here!”

“No Lucio look here, look over here darling!” Lucio complied, striking pose after pose, strutting down the street. With a sexy smile and wink, he began to walk backward, arms up wide in pride. “Yes, New York! This is your COUNT your GOD! I AM THE BEST MODEL IN THE WORL-” 

A bus slams into him. 

A collective gasp from all the photographers is followed by silence, then by the flashing of lights and cameras. The bus, displaying Lucio’s own image, is the last thing the Count remembers seeing before blacking out.

Head pain...swimming in agony and...riches….darkness is creeping up again

Do I smell bath salts?

Lucio startles awake. He’s lying on a soft, luxurious bed, still dressed in his silk Gucci attire. A scream startles him and he looks to his side seeing a palace servant screech and run out of the room. Moments later, Nadia enters, her face at first shocked, then replaced with a scowl.

“You’re supposed to be dead Lucio, we were fixing you for a funeral. That was the least- actually-the most I could do for you” She crosses her arms, not at all pleased in the slightest. “And what are you wearing?” she asks coldly.

“It’s Gucci, bitch”.

[letitrainathousandflames-archive]

I 👏🏼need👏🏼an 👏🏼angsty 👏🏼sick 👏🏼clones 👏🏼who 👏🏼push 👏🏼themselves 👏🏼fanfic Like really. I want a clone to get sick and brush it aside as he still goes on duty only for him to get worse and pass out on the job and brothers are super worried for him! They care so much! 😭👌🏼

It was gonna be just a lil drabble lmao

Fiveswasn’t feeling exactly well ever since they’d gotten in the shuttle. Echoelbowed him on his arm, keeping his voice low.

“Youalright there?”

“I’m fine.”

The hell hewas. Fives had woken up a little dizzy and so clogged he could barely breathe,settling for breathing through his mouth, which made him short of breath andwas starting to get him a headache. Echo wasn’t gonna let up this easily:

“You don’tlook alright. You were pale this morning. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Fivesbreathed out of his mouth, which made the filters in his helmet hiss.

“I’m fine.Give it a rest, okay?”

The missionwas to defend the shipyards of Kuat, a planet of the Core Planets from whichmany ships vital to the Republic would come from. Dooku had sent an army ofdroids and their commander to try and seize control of the planet and itsshipyards. When Fives was about to get off the shuttle, he could barely standon his feet. Echo led the shinies out and asked Kix to mind them for a secondas he looked over his shoulder to Fives.

“Are you sure you’re okay there, Fives?”

Fivessniffled, unable to breathe through his nose. He could feel sweat forming onhis forehead under his bucket. Before he could answer, Rex stormed back in theship:

“May I knowwhy in the blazes my two ARC troopersare still in the ship while our General expects us outside?”

Echo stoodstraight at Rex.

“Sure, sir.Uh, Fives here is…”

“Had aproblem with my equipment, sir.” Fives cut him off “I, uh, thought I had leftmy ammo back at the base” he lifted his kama “But, hey, it’s all here. Let’smeet the General.”

Rex tookhis helmet off, narrowing his eyes at Fives.

“Is thisall there is, Fives?” he asked, and Fives nodded.

“Yessir.I’ll… I’ll get going so the boys won’t be alone.” and he marched out.

Rex sighed,putting his helmet back on.

“He is aterrible liar.”

Echofacepalmed at his own helmet.

“HeAlways have been, sir.”

“What is upwith him, then?”

“I don’tknow.”

“Well” Rexsaid walking out of the shuttle “Let’s hope we don’t find out in the middle ofthis mess.”

-

Fives’voice was cracking every three words. Rex just knew he wasn’t okay. Still,Fives pushed him by his chest, away from the incoming gunfire as they tookcover.

“—Tellingyou to back off, sir! Somebody has to activate the disruptor and that’s gonnabe me! You round up the boys to protect the depot. Go!”

Rex lookedover his shoulder. General Skywalker did need a help to hold the clankers off,so many there were, coming in waves. He looked back at Fives.

“You’ll beokay? I can send a small squad…”

 “No, I need their attention on you!” Fiveslooked ahead with his visors “There are fewer of them there. They don’t knowthey’re all within the disruptor radius.” He looked back at Rex “The minute Iturn that thing on, stay close to General Skywalker; All blasters in range,ours and theirs, will be useless and they might resort to fighting so he canwipe them all with his lightsaber and they won’t be so dangerous. Look out forEcho and the others…”

Fives wasinterrupted by a coughing fit; his throat felt like he had swallowed dry sand.

“Fives, youare not one hundred percent, are you?” Rex asked with concern as Fives liftedhis helmet halfway up to spit on the ground

“I’m fine.”Fives answered as he wiped his chin “Just fine, sir. Now move on, take care ofthe others.”

As Fivesclimbed out of the shallow improvised trench, Rex sighed, running back toSkywalker.

“Kriffinghell Fives, you better come back alive.”

-

Fivesactually managed to turn on the disruptor without alarming the droids. Too badhe was too dizzy not to trip on his own feet and fall down with a loud clatterof armor. The eight commando droids guarding that exit turned to him as he gotback to his feet.

“Ah, justmy luck.” they raised their blasters to him and Five raised his own to them “I won’tgo down without a fight, you karking clankers.”

Both Fivesand the droids tried to open fire, but nothing happened. Fives let out a smalllaugh.

“Ha-ha. Itworked.” the dizziness and the unrelenting headache was starting to make himstupid

The droidslowered their guns, closing a circle around him instead. Fives raised hisguard, defending the first hit, but a punch of a solid steel punch wasn’tsomething his armor could do much for. Fives grunted, and another strike hithim right on his ribs, triggering another coughing fit; when another droid hithim on the back of his head he collapsed down, never feeling happier for havinga bucket over his head to prevent these fuckers to bash his skull in. He lookedup to the merciless red eyes and tried to stabilize his breathing.

“Ah, kriff,what a damn way to die.”

“Fives!”

GeneralSkywalker came cutting two droids in the same move, and that was a sweet image,but nothing could compare to Rex and Echo simultaneously landing a kick to acommando droid’s chest, forcing it to stagger back to the General’s lightsaber.As Skywalker got rid of the remaining droids, Echo reached for Fives, helpinghim sit up.

“Fives, areyou alright, vod?!”

Fivescoughed. And coughed. And coughed. Then he pried the helmet off his head andpushed Echo away, because he knew what was coming, and he threw up right nextto an unamused Captain Rex’s shoes.

“So.” Rexraised an eyebrow “One hundred percent, huh?”

Fiveswasn’t quite finished, and this time he did manage to hit Rex’s shoes. Echotapped his back lightly.

“There,there, let it out.” He scrunched his face in disgust “The hell is up with you?”

Sweatdripped from Fives’ forehead as he tried to catch his breath.

“Nothing.They punched me in the gut, that’s all, let’s…” he got to his feet, and hetried to walk despite his steps looking like those of a drunk deer on ice “Let’smove out, we need to set the second disruptor close to the other flank…And…”

Fives was sodizzy he didn’t even put his hands in front of himself to prevent falling onhis face. Someone flipped him on his back without much care and Fives sawhimself face to face with a furious Kix holding a vial full of a bright greenliquid close to his face.

“Try towalk again and I’ll shoot this on your neck. Fall on your face again and I’lldo it on your dumb ass instead.” He threatened in an angry snarl

“Holy kriff,Kix, didja miss the first few classes on bedside manners?”

“I don’t havebedside manners to stupid pacients.” Kix answered as Jesse and Hardcase broughta stretcher close to the ground close to Fives “And now I’ll get you out ofhere and you will lie the hell down until I’m done checking you.”

Kix wasstill cursing even the tube from which Fives had come from as Jesse and Harcasecarried him  out, and Rex scratched theback of his neck.

“Ah, therare angry Kix we see once in a blue moon.”

Echo noddedat Rex.

“The lasttime I saw him like that we had a case of Hardcase.”

-

When Rexfinally came to see Fives at the camp, the ARC trooper sat up tensely, undressedoff his armor and lying on a small bed in the medbay:

“What’shappening outside? Is everyone okay? Any losses? General—”

Rex raiseda hand, and Fives silenced. Rex looked at Fives with sharp eyes, and Fives knewthat look. That was ‘disciplinary Rex’ alright. Fives knew this side of hisvery well, almost as well as Hardcase did.

“I want anexplanation. And so does the General.”

“Rex—”

“Don’tstall me.”

“I was just…”Fives looked away from Rex “I thought I could…”

Rex tensed uphis jaw, cutting him off again.

“Don’t lieto me, you suck at that and you’re wasting my time and yours. I demanded anexplanation, ARC Trooper Fives, and I want it now.”

Fivesfisted in the white covers over his legs, still not looking at his Captain.

“I woke upfeeling a little ill. I thought it would be okay for me to work like that.”

Rex ran histongue over his teeth, nodding a few times.

“Like that.Like that, out there in the field? Throwing up and barely breathing andsweating like a bantha?”

“I wasn’tlike that when we left…”

“Why didn’tyou take a checkup with Kix before leaving the GAR?”

Fives shookhis head, speaking between his clenched teeth:

“Because wewere tight on schedule, we were departing soon and I wanted to…”

“And youwanted to be a hero. You wanted to– Look at me when I’m talking to you,soldier!” he snapped at Fives, and the ARC raised his face in a sharp move;Fives’ face was full of pent up anger “You don’t get to decide whether you aregood to go or not, we have a medic staff to do so. They get to give you clearance.Not your poor judgement.”

Fiveschewed at his cheek.

“My poorjudgement? I turned the disruptor on. I did the thing that saved everyone’slives, including yours and the General’s!”

“And youalmost got killed in the process.”

“Nothingyou never did before.”

Rex took astep towards Fives, raising a finger and warning in a whispered snarl.

“You watchthat tone when you talk to me, trooper.” His breath was shallow and hiseyebrows were so furled and his eyes were squinted in such anger that for amoment all Fives could see was their glimmer in his features “Kix told me youhad a burning fever over 40ºC! You could’ve died out there!”

Kix hadgiven Fives an amount of painkillers that most likely had took from him whatlittle common sense he would normally have not to answer to his Captain.

“Oh, please!”he spat “Like it would be a big kriffing difference, another clone dead onduty!”

Rex’s eyeswent wide and he marched to Fives’ bedside with such anger in his featuresFives flinched, expecting a punch to the face. Instead, Rex gripped the frontof his blacks, pulling him closer and screaming at his face.

“It wouldmake all the difference, you stupid, shitty soldier!” Rex’s face was red allover, a big vein popping up on his forehead “You’re an ARC trooper! There areothers depending on you! You can’t just go sick into war and throw yourself todeath!”

Fivesflinched again because Rex’s screaming wasn’t doing any good for his massiveheadache.

“Why areyou worrying about the shinies anyway?! I would’ve died for them if I had to.They would be safe!”

Rex’s voicedropped down abysmally to a raspy, tired whisper.

“Youabsolute di’kut. It’s not just aboutthe shinies. It’s not even about the General. I need you. I need you in theLegion. What do you think the 501st is made of? Hm? Captain Rex and GeneralSkywalker? Why the kriff do you think I made you an ARC Trooper, to rub your ego?I don’t think you’d ever need that, you selfish asshole.”

He pushedFives back down against the pillows, breathing hard between his teeth as Fiveslooked back at him wide-eyed. Rex turned his back on Fives and ran a hand overhis face, sighing.

“Look. Iknow I’m not the best example of someone who knows when to relax ever, but youcan’t let that affect your work, Fives. Do you understand that?”

Fivesfidgeted at the covers for an instant before answering quietly:

“Yessir.”

Rex noddedlooking at Fives over his shoulder.

“Good. I’llhave you on charge of cleaning the barracs for a month after this little stuntof yours.”

“Ah, c’mon,Captain, I’m sick in a bed, how can you be this heartless?”

“I’m goingeasy on you, you deserved worse and you know it.” Rex paused, scratching hischin and speaking louder now “Hey, I know you are all outside spying on ourconversation, smartasses.”

Echo, Jesseand Hardcase popped their heads in the tent.

“Spying?”Hardcase asked as if someone had accused him of a crime “We would NEVER!”

“They mademe do it, sir.” Echo said promptly, standing straight with his hands behind hisback

“Thanks,vod, good to know you’d never turn us in.” Jesse said as he rolled his eyes,and Rex chuckled

 “Take your time talking to him, but rememberwe have a meeting with the General soon.”

At that Rexsaluted them and Fives, and they saluted him back. The group cautiously camecloser to Fives, and Fives shook his head.

“Don’tworry, it’s not contagious by touching or breathing. Kix said it’s just a minorvirus but unless any of you is going to kiss me…”

Hardcasescratched his head, drawing in closer along with Echo and Jesse.

“Well, nokissing, but…” he gave Fives a hug, and Jesse and Echo joined him “I think youdeserve that.”

“Yeah,”Jesse laughed ruffling his hair “being sick and having saved our lives, thatkinda deserves a hug, right?”

“Glad tosee that Kix didn’t have to strap you to the bed this time.” Echo said with asmile as they let go off him “I suppose you’ll accept staying down for a while,vod?”

“Yeah… Iguess a trooper’s gotta rest sometimes, right? It’s not all that bad.”

“Good.”Echo replied “Because you ran over like eight safety regulations on that stuntof yours. Paragraph 112, code E of the manual explicitly stated that in the circumstancesof need for medical attention, a trooper is obligated to—“

“I changedmy mind.” Fives groaned “It’s bad. It’s terrible. Someone toss me back in the middleof those clankers and let them finish the job!”

They alllaughed, even Echo. He was used to being a little shit to Fives and did itmostly to annoy him. Then a voice came from the door, making the group shiverin fear.

“I willtoss all of you to the clankers if you don’t get the hell out of there and letmy patient rest now.”

Kix hadstormed in, and Echo, Jesse and Hardcase got up to their feet and back to thedoor in no time.

“Yessir.”

“ ’scuse me”

“See yousoon, Doc.”

Kix walkedto Fives, setting a droid to measure his heart rate and checking the readingson the screen on it’s chest. Fives swallowed hard, looking down to his ownhands.

“Sorry formaking you worry, Kix.”

Kix noddedto then swallow hard, looking at Fives with a hesitant smile.

“Don’t evercome to work sick again or I will kick your ass, we clear?”

“Yeah. Ipromise.” He made a pause “Kriff, I’ve never seen Rex so angry.”

Kix raisedan eyebrow.

“Angry? Hewas pacing and looking all helpless outside. General Skywalker had to remindhim to breathe slower. You didn’t get him angy, Fives, you got him terrified.”

[hopevalley]

5.5 My Heart Is Yours (Thoughts, Part IV)

This is the final post, I promise!! Here is your navigation:

PART I -- 1.) The Frank Mess & 2.)The Adventures of Bill & Uh...Bill!

PART II -- 3.) Jack & Elizabeth & 4.) The Burned Church & 5.) Thatcher-Thornton Relationships

PART III --  6.) Community & Teamwork + More Relationships & 7.) The Wedding

PART IV -- 8.) The Reception & 9.) Wrap-Up Thoughts

We left off as the wedding party exited the church. That means it’s time for:

8.) The Reception

The saloon is decorated nicely. Fresh pretty linens on the tables. More flowers. Flower petals on the floor, candles burning on each table... Hey, one time I was at a reception and the tealight got so hard it shattered the glass it was in. Fun times. You’d think after the church fire they’d be cheap with the candles, but no. Of course not. Nobody on this show ever learns anything. Because crises don’t actually affect anyone.

Anyway, overall, it looks nice.

Elizabeth puts credit where it’s due: the dress, which all the women, including Florence, worked hard on. I like that their hard work gets an acknowledgment after-the-fact. 

It’s Congrats Hour! But just to Jack. Hey, wait until you get 304102 people asking you every other day how married life is treating you. Haw, haw. Gets old real fast, bucko.

I thought this was a cute little bit. 

I’m glad they didn’t leave them hanging entirely at the end of their last scene. This was pretty nice. I wish Tom looked a little more thrilled in this screenshot, but I feel pretty confident that he’s happy to be invited.

This is obviously a bit different in terms of, you know, most of the chairs being pushed back already... And the food gone. Most of the weddings I’ve been to, toasts go early, before the food. Then after food, push all the chairs back and dance.

Which reminds me of the lack of cake.

None of it distracts me from the candles on the stairs. You’d think these dopes would have learned their lesson after the church incident, but no.

Very nice. He did keep it short! And it was heartfelt and sweet. A nice toast. No sentimental “I remember when Jack was in training and he was a dork” montage that lasted for five full minutes. Bill isn’t very long-winded, generally speaking, so I wasn’t too worried, but...with this series you can’t ever feel safe.

Now for Abigail’s toast.

Florence: God, take me Home this instant. Clara and Jesse: Yeah a love thAT doESn’T coMe aLonG eVery dAY!!! :3

This was the only sweet part of what she said, tbh. Everything else was too Jack/Elizabeth-centric and it came across as kind of creepy and weird to me. I mean, by all means...make a toast and talk about the sparks flying or whatever, but don’t make it sound like their love story is something special when people fall in love every day.

Sorry, Lori. I know you wrote these yourself, but they were pretty mediocre. Painfully so. I kind of cringed through them. I expected something better than Bill’s toast, but he did a much better job.

Then we get the Father/Daughter dance!!

ADORABLE. SIGN ME UP. I loved this tiny little bit. It was the perfect amount of reliving a memory and sweetness.

They dance all of five steps and this JACKass cuts in (haha...get it?).

No??? YOU MAY NOT??? That’s so rude. You don’t cut in on the father/daughter dance!!!! Mr. Thatcher would be so offended. Elizabeth would be horrified and embarrassed. If this was to show us that Jack doesn’t know anything about anything, it would work, but it’s obviously an attempt to save time by avoiding showing us a longer father/daughter dance. A shame, because the father/daughter mother/son dances are probably my favorite at weddings.

They dance for like, four seconds and then everyone else files onto the floor, which is also very rude lmao like look, I’m not one for traditional etiquette but this is a wedding. Guests dance after the bride and groom get that first dance in, not 7 seconds after they start dancing.

(The kid to the left. His hand peeking out of his jacket. LOL.)

Mr. Thatcher is dancing with Dottie, Lee and Rosemary are dancing, Bill and Florence are dancing. You’d think it’d feel nice but it feels...lacking. 

I blame the fact that there isn’t a toast from Rosemary or Lee. I blame Abigail’s painfully mediocre toast that felt like the rest of this hyperfocused plot. I blame the slightly too gaudy decorations (might have been nice to use those to do up the church instead, and leave the saloon “lacking” in decorations imo) and table settings.

I mean, it was a very rushed scene!

And I think what upsets me the most about it being rushed is that...it didn’t have to be. It shouldn’t have felt that way.

And let’s be real, who didn’t want a little scene of Jack and Elizabeth walking back to Elizabeth’s house with her dress slung over her arm and his suit jacket around her shoulders? I know I did. It could have been so cute, it could have ended on a little kiss where he’s about to carry her over the threshold. A nice soft way to end this that didn’t feel like the writers had to rush through the reception.

But hey, again...I’m not writing this show, so what I think doesn’t matter! ;) Stay tuned for when I actually attempt to rewrite this series, though.

9.) Wrap-Up Thoughts

If you followed along this far, you really deserve something special! Sadly all you’ll get is a thank-you from me. This is the part where I casually air out my grievances about everything I’ve already complained about, but it’s condensed and easy to follow.

Things I liked a lot:

The wedding morning scene with Elizabeth and her father.

Bill going out of his way to make sure Jack got to walk down that aisle. He said last episode that Elizabeth was family so in a way he did this for her, too. I thought it was super sweet.

Jack’s face when Elizabeth tells him what Bill did for him. He just looks so sweetly touched! I love it.

Things I liked:

Frank showing up. FINALLY.

Tom and Jack interacting.

Jack and Lee interacting.

Jack worrying about Bill.

The kids trying to do things right.

Tom and Julie getting some interaction.

Things I hated:

All the scenes that were wastes of time.

The writers giving Bill and Frank extremely OOC lines just to make everything focus on Jack and Elizabeth’s wedding.

Lack of Julie and Elizabeth interaction.

Look, as far as the things I hate go, they have one thing in common, and that’s the fact that they were utterly unnecessary and only served to force everything in this episode to orbit Jack and Elizabeth’s wedding in a way that just feels uncomfortable the more you dare to think about it. 

The whole fitting scene where Jack “almost sees her dress”? Pointless, because its only purpose was to get the dress to the church. The rehearsal scenes? Existed only to set up the children alone at the school rehearsing so that they wouldn’t be supervised and would start a fire. The rescuing-Opal scene? Pointless except to make Jack look like a big hero or something I guess? Ooh, Jack could have died! Sorry, but if Bill hadn’t gone in his stead to escort that prisoner, Jack could have died. That little point was already covered. They should have taken it seriously. The infirmary scene? Its only purpose was to make sure they acknowledged that the kids Did a Bad Thing and have it appropriately forgiven.

We already had a “catastrophe prevents the perfect wedding” event for Lee and Rosemary and it was more interesting and plausible than what we got here. It also felt like a huge deal because 1) Rosemary is so pushy and wants to get her way about literally everything, so 2) the lack of decorations for her wedding and her going through with it anyway meant something for her character development. 

Believe it or not, Hallmark, you don’t have to throw forty anchors overboard to keep this ship from actually sailing. 

It doesn’t help that the church is so messed up afterward that in reality it could never be fixed appropriately on time. I would have loved a cute scene where maybe a window was damaged, the curtains burned on it, the wall was a bit scorched, the floor marked up. The kids could feel they’d ruined everything but half a day could fix it up well. 

BUT NAH. They burned out the front of the church almost entirely and acted like it was possible to fix it in a day and a night, and have it inhabitable by a crowd immediately afterward.

Absolutely not? Paint takes a long time to dry, especially when it’s chilly. The windows would need to be custom made and framed, the frames painted beforehand and dried. These guys painted everything perfectly without even taping anything off. Without seemingly breaking a sweat. They got new pews and replaced the floor and fixed the walls in that short amount of time? 

That church would smell like smoke and wet paint for the wedding. Awful.

I hate it. It’s what I like to call “forced wholesomeness.” Like I’m all for the town coming together to help someone, but it needs to feel like that person actually needs the help and support. For example, when several people from town made a point of helping Edith. Or when several women came to help Carla give birth. Or hey, when Rosemary stepped in with Lee to help Mr. and Mrs. Lawson have a nice wedding anniversary. I mean, that’s the kind of wholesome content that feels genuine and real, and these examples are all of a handful of people pitching in. When the entire town pitches in, it should be for a Big Cause--like, you know, someone in the town they care about can’t afford surgery or something.

This particular episode’s theme of “community togetherness” went too far. It was too much. It didn’t feel genuine. It felt forced. It makes Jack and Elizabeth feel like the town darlings instead of, you know, two people who happen to make their lives in the town. 

EVERYTHING feels like it has to revolve around them and it shouldn’t feel that way. 

I should see Jack and Elizabeth as people who reside in a town made up of many other people, some of whom really love them and many of whom don’t care a whole lot about their romantic inclinations. Sign me up for a few characters going way out of their way for Elizabeth and Jack, but not the whole town. People have jobs to do and lives of their own. Who were half the people who were at the wedding? Why wasn’t Jesse there? I mean, it’s so ridiculous it’s hard to swallow. 

I talked earlier about other plausible avenues this could have taken, and I honestly feel that if they were going to waste half the scenes in the episode trying to ruin the "perfect” wedding, it should have been allowed to be ruined. Bill should have showed up halfway through the wedding or not at all. The church should have been declared unusable. Elizabeth getting married in a quick-attempt wedding gown (maybe a much plainer white dress) and her mother’s hairpiece. 

And if they didn’t have the guts to follow through on “ruining” their star characters’ wedding, then they should have done a genuinely heartfelt episode with more relationship scenes between the cast (Frank/Abigail, Jesse/Clara, Julie+Elizabeth, Rosemary/Lee) and given more time to Bill’s storyline--for example, made it scarier, gave Jack a reason to think something bad had happened and made it more about Bill’s life than the rings; imagine knowing your mentor & one of your best men might be dead because he was doing you a favor! What an awful backdrop for a wedding!

There’s something to be said for commitment as a writer. Your job is to commit to the story you’re telling. It’s natural to “fake out” the readers a few times as the story progresses, because life is full of twists and turns and sometimes things don’t end up as bad as we fear they will. That’s believable. Sometimes an action you take IRL feels like it’ll come back to haunt you, but then...it just doesn’t. There’s nothing wrong with occasionally throwing something like that into a story, especially with characters who fit the tone well via being prone to anxiety or worry.

WCTH did this reasonably well with Bill finding AJ. Her constant negativity about how Bad Things were going to happen was justified, but it’s not as if she ended up dying. And heck, the follow-through is that she’s still on the run and will, soon, have to face trial. So things turned out okay, but the consequences were still things the character(s) had to face.

Again, you can kind of “fake out” readers now and then by throwing in something that sounds like it’ll be a problem, and then letting the problem be...less of an issue than expected.

The writer’s pratfall of fake-outs comes when everything you write, every conflict, every trial, ends up being a fake-out.

And that’s where When Calls the Heart is right now. They’ve been faking us out over and over and over from almost the beginning of this series, and at this point? I’m tired of it. It’s dull, it feels trite. I can’t take the bait anymore, because I know it’s bait. 

They released spoilers warning us of the fire. They showed Bill dressed for and at the wedding, which is obviously happening in the church. What was the point of taking the time to fake us out and spoil us that the fake-outs were fake-outs? 

To say I’m annoyed is...an understatement.

Look, I have no issues with them telling us Bill will be in “serious jeopardy” or whatever in E8 and then showing him wandering around right as rain in spoiler images for E9. Whatever. That’s their prerogative! But also, it’s not an event the fandom has been long anticipating. 

Besides, I can’t imagine they’d actually kill him off or anything. Of course he’s going to be okay! It’s just fun to watch his shenanigans, especially when AJ is also involved.

But for this wedding stuff, they went way out of their way to release spoiler videos of dramatic things...while also showing us that the wedding would be perfect in literally every sense of the word.

I know the problem. I know it! 

It’s the lack of commitment. It’s like they kinda wanted to ruin the wedding but were afraid fans would react negatively to it.

COMMIT YOU COWARDS. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m fairly happy with this episode. There were a lot of nice things mixed in with the annoying bad things. I’m just really tired of every conflict that occurs feeling pointless; it’s like none of the characters seem to ever fully face the consequences of their own actions or the actions of others. It’s tiring. Henry Gowen gets out on parole due to a simpering over-the-top completely inappropriate plea by Abigail which really just makes Bill look like a liar (as if a mean judge would let her finish that sentence without punting her off the stand lol). Oh No the Rings but then Bill’s on time anyway. Oh No the Church but then the church is magically fixed anyway. Oh No the Decorations but somehow the church is 500% more decorated than it was for Rosemary’s wedding and they had plenty to do up the saloon. 

The only thing this show has consistently committed to? 

Is kicking off new characters the second they’ve served whatever dramatic role they wanted them for. And hey, Frank was like the sole exception to that but we’ll be losing him next week, so...what does that say?

And you know, I’d say “Good on Hallmark” if he and Abigail “breaking up” is a fake-out (and they actually end up getting engaged or something), but I know it’s not. I know it’s just them finally getting rid of a character they clearly haven’t known what to do with for an entire season, now. So I’m extra irritated about it.

Anyway, despite my salty long post, this episode was...pretty good. If nothing else it did have a few heartfelt moments in it, and there is no doubt in my mind that those were its saving grace.

[hoonface]

11 QUESTIONS GAME THINGY

Tagged by the beautiful @s-lay-ing !! Thank you so much for tagging me and I hope you get to know me better through all these games! (I’m sorry if I missed one or two omg I’m gonna go check after this) and it was so fun! I really enjoy getting to know everyone a bit better and I hope you like my...eccentricities? This was so fun to do, and thanks again! 

Tagging: @wonuthewhale @healinghoshi @jisoosmeoli @jisoominghao and my new friend, @vitaminniedk !!! And of course anyone else who wants to do this because I would absolutely love to get to know you all better <3  

Here’s the thing: either you answer the questions I answered OR you answer the questions I made at the bottom, as simple as that. Then create another 11 questions IF you wish 😅

a8, here we go:

• What are your five favorite songs from your bias group? Seventeen: Mansae, Adore U, Very Nice, Pretty U, Healing & Smile Flower

• What are your five favorite songs (kpop) not from your bias group?

Bangtan’s Not TODaY

BlackPink’s As If It’s Your Last

Hey Mama – EXO CBX

Love Paint – Nu’est Cause that song is SO GOOD YALL ARE SLEEPING ON TALENT

BTS’ Lost

Honourable mentions: Twice’s TT CAUSE ITS SO CATCHY, Infinite’s The Eye (lord my first thoughts on Sungjong were “Yoon Jeonghan when he had blonde long hair”, Jin’s Awake.

• What are your five favorite non-kpop songs? oh goDDDD YOURE DIGGING UP MY PAST XDD

You just want ATTENTION YOU DON’T WANT MY LOVE – Charlie Puth’s Attention

Cake By The Ocean – DNCE ( I don’t know it’s just catchy leaf me alone)

Of course you can’t have Justin Bieber not here even though I don’t really like him himself XD – Cold Water

Jess Glynne’s Hold My Hand

Immortals – Fall Out boy

• Who is your bias and why do you like them?  LEE JIHOOOOOOOOON OH MY GOD okay.

I love baby because as much as I love all thirteen of my dorks, I can’t imagine having anyone else as my bias. Yes, I had stanning issues and I admittedly still do, Choi Seungcheol is still my main bias wrecker after lol what 11 months? You can’t just forget your first bias. Anyway, because. Lee Jihoon makes my heart so soft, every time he’s adorable, he doesn’t even have to try. He makes me so happy and he’s just such a hard working person and what is there he cannot do? Like what 5 instruments? Studied classical music? Dances like an adorable little fluff bumblebee BUT IS ACTUALLY OKAY BUT HIS BODY MIGHT BE SMALL BUT HIS CHARISMA IS NO JOKE AND YOU ARE NOT LIVING IF YOU HAVEN’T HEARD HIM RAP. He’s just so talented, I mean like violin with EDM and Jeonghan’s voice, he’s just such a genius. I have never heard so much music that I love and admire and appreciate so much and it just feels like a blessing to love him. I mean like you mean I get to love him? For free? Like there’s no catch? Are you kidding me? I still can’t believe he’s real and we get to love him. He’s just I just love him. I can’t really explain why, but I can tell you that as much as I do love all 13 of my sunshines, I can’t imagine not being Jihoon biased. As much as I am in danger of becoming Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and anyone else trashed, at the end of the day I still love Woozi the most. I hope that word vomit of fangirling made sense.

• What do you usually wear for winter/autumn/spring/summer? What’s your “style”? My style is “black.” Like actually, I wear a LOT OF BLACK AND yeah hoodies, jumpers, sweaters, pullovers, leggings and sometimes jeans, the like.

• For your bias group, what was your favorite hair style/era for each member? Seungcheol: hmmmm well I really liked the black hair he did during Caratland and the brown hair he had during Weekly Idol.

Hannie: fight me on this, but I think Jeonghan looks like a majestic gorgeous angel with any hair colour. I mean like okay Adore U Killed me so hard because WHAT THE HELL. HOW CAN HE BE SO DAMN PRETTY IM CRYING BRB MY HEART IS BLEEDING ok im back anyway I also really love the short brown/red hair he had like in between Going Seventeen and Al1 hold up let me get a photo to bless you all:

Josh: I NEED JOSH’S MANSAE HAIR BACK. NOT NECESSARILY FOREHEAD UP BUT LIKE FOREHEAD WOULD BE APPRECIATED BUT LOOK AT HIS FLUFFY ORANGE HAIR IN MANSAE DANCE PRACTICE I NEED THAT BACK AND ALSO JOSH WITH BROWN HAIR. I know im not stating eras LOL

Jun: honestly, like now? I really like his hair now. Junhui always just looks 1000103293%

Hosh: now as well? I really like him with black hair, he looks cute af LETS NOT FORGET THE BROWN HAIR TOO

Wonwoo: THE HAIR HE HAD AT CARATLAND. ADORE U CAUSE BLACK HAIRED WONWOO OH LOOOOOOOORDDDD AND HIM WITH GLASSES SUCH CUTE

OOJI: this is such a hard decision. Yes, I do miss his blonde small ponytail sticking out from 17 Project, but his PiNK FOREHEAD HAIR IN ADORE U IN THE SMALL OVAL GOOOODDDD and I also KASDHKASDHKASDHKASHDKJASDH HIM WITH BROWN HAIR YALL IM FANGIRLING SO HARD LIKE IM WAVING MY HANDS AS IF SOMEONES WATCHING ME OKAY LEE JIHOON DURING THE ASIAN ARTIST AWARDS AND HIM WITH THE BROWN HAIR AND THE FRINGE I HOPE YOU KNOW WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT

DK: his Adore U hair. Thank you.

Mingyu: ok Mingyu was my second bias after Seungcheol and tbh Seungcheol wasn’t my bias for long but it feels like it was long because I died a lot because of him and not just at the time he was my bias like for example, last night when It was revealed HIS HAIR IS SILVER WYD SEUNGCHEOL anyway but the Mansae era ^tm goD THAT WAS A BLESSING and him with brown hair is really cute too but I also really like him with black hair heck basically almost everything

The8: tbh like now? I didn’t really like his metallic greeny silver hair he had near Adore U and his ramen head wasn’t the best XD but lord MINGHAO IS KILLING ME THESE COUPLE ERAS

Seungkwan: THE FREAKING UM ROSE GOLD WHY DID PLEDIS NOT KEEP THAT LIKE ACTUALLY OH MY GOD THE FIRST CRAZY IN LOVE STAGE ASDHSKJADHSKJDH IM SO PISSED PLEDIS DIDN’T KEEP THAT

Vernon: hiS BLACKKKKKKK OR THE Q & A MV HAIR ALSDHASDKJAS

Dino: now. He looks so damn good and I can’t say I miss his astro boy hair back in Mansae XD

• How did you “discover” kpop and how did you discover vixx? OK SO IT WAS A FATEFUL AUGUST 25TH 2016! A THURSDAY AFTERNOON AFTER SCHOOL! I hopped onto my computer after school. So like theres this Korean girl group at my school that walks around sometimes singing songs or just yelling at each other in Korean XD and at first I was like …kpop? DON’T KILL ME FOR THIS BUT LETS BE REAL EVERYONES FIRST THOUGHT ON KPOP IS GANGNAM STYLE. And so since I do like watching choreography very much, I searched on YouTube, hardest kpop dances. One of the videos there showed Mansae hide ver. Of the dance practice and I was like oh this looks nice and its catchy too *makes mental note to youtube that later* *youtubes it* it starts to play the MV and I was like is this song I was looking for? And then I got to the chorus and I’m just like ALSDHJLASDKJLSKAJKLJ and I BASICALLY CRASHED INTO THE FANDOM OVERNIGHT AND IT WAS SO FUN BECAUSE I GOT TO SLOWLY DROWN MYSELF IN EVERY MEMBER LOL and Vixx? Uhhh I just heard about them somewhere XD but Shangri-la sounds really nice, it sounds like Chinese music but it’s in Korean, I like it. • What does your phone case look like? Fun fact about me: I actually don’t have a phone case. My parents are the type to not spend money on “useless things” and a phone case is one of them (well for me anyway) and I have a vintage iPhone 4S, and all the cases that I do have are from my relatives or something and I don’t like the cases XD there’s this one black one that I would use except I can’t turn it off cause the off button part of the case is really hard. So yeah! No phone case and it makes it even thicker ._. oh yeah I lost my phone lmao

• Do you normally browse Tumblr on your phone or on pc? PC. Depends if my phone/tab has been confiscated or not tbh XD but normally PC so I can save photos and it’s a lot faster.

• How are you doing? Got any plans for the day/night? eh. Alright I guess, tonight all I have to do is practise piano and because I just started school again, there’s no homework~~~

Now, my questions:

1_ a girl group choreo you’d love to see a boy group do

Tbh I don’t watch girl group choreo (NOTE: I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST GIRL GROUPS AND THEIR CHOREO I JUST DON’T WATCH IT FOR SOME REASON BUT I LIKE BLACKPINK AND YEAH) I’d like to see Seventeen dance to Boombayah XD THAT HAIR SWINGING HAHAHAHA I WANT JEONGHAN DOING THE HAIR SWINGING THING 2_ a boy group choreo you’d love to see a girl group do

Any girl group dance to Mansae pls and thank you 3_ sm, jype, yg and pledis do a world tour individually and set up their concerts on the same day, different venues obviously: which one would you attend? (as in smtown, happy pledis etc)

Definitely Pledis. Actually tbh its not Seventeen I won’t go, cause I only stan one group and wouldn’t spend money on a concert showing a group I don’t stan. 4_ a kpop song that is a guilty pleasure for you? Uhhh tbh I don’t really have any guilty pleasures in kpop, but I mean like I guess TT? Even though I wouldn’t feel guilty listening to that? 5_ a dream kpop x western artist collab? …I would like to see Seventeen collab with one of their idols :D 6_ monster/lucky one or lotto? Pretty u or very nice? Beautiful or shine forever? (Repackage edition B) )

I haven’t heard Lucky so I’m going with Lotto. WHY ARE YOU ALL SO MEAN HOW COULD YOU MAKE ME PICK BETWEEN PRETTY U AND AJU NICE kahsdkjsh …lord this is so hard- pass. I haven’t heard Shine Forever, so Beautiful. 7_ what’s the sickest you’ve attended school/uni/work etc?

Sickest? Uh I have been sick enough to stay home but I went to school because I’m a responsible girl who takes schoolwork seriously. Or was it cause it was exam period lol. 8_ adore u or shining diamond? mansae or rock? pretty u or chuck? very nice or healing? boom boom or smile flower? don’t wanna cry or crazy in love? (I’m running out of questions 😂)

Adore U, Mansae, Pretty U, Healing, Smile Flower, Don’t Wanna Cry. (that was s ohard omG) 9_ are you some sort of patriotic? (Not the “fuck the rest of the world we’re number one and we’ve never done anything wrong” kind, but idk, do you identify with your country? its customs, traditions etc?)

…I don’t even know what patriotic means omg I feel uneducated. Ahh…um no not really XD 10_ have you watched studio ghibli movies? If so, which one is your favorite?

I watched Spirited Away when I was very young I think and I watched it in Japanese with Chinese sub which I cannot read ._. 11_ if I traveled to your country, which places would you recommend me to visit?

…honestly there’s nothing that good in Australia XDD but I guess if you like steak, go for it? And the Gold Coast and we have a couple theme parks, Sydney Opera House I guess? To see where seventeen SHOT THEIR HEALING MV AKSDHASKJDH and Luna Park? Tbh I haven’t been that much around Australia I am a crap tour guide I apologise sincerely.

[survivormanhattanbeach]

Day 9: Immunity Challenge Results

For this round, we had music videos, and the players have been working VERY hard over the last 48 hours to submit their videos, but FIRST let’s meet our judges:

Jess, Asya, Jones, Alyssa and Nicole!!!! #Feminism

Jess’ Intro:

Hey guys! my name is Jess or as some people like to call me "Alyssa's Shadow". I'm excited for my wig to be snatched with your videos! Good luck and DON'T fuck it up.

Asya’s Intro:

Stream Wasteland, Baby! by Hozier

Jones’ Intro: 

my wig

Alyssa’s Intro:

Hey y'all! It's me ya girl. I just realized it's actually really cool that I'm judging cuz I just won the last TS season wowza! Okay anyway I'm a really harsh judge so blow me away or everyone is getting 0s thx xoxo mwah

Nicole’s Intro:

Hi everyone! My name is Nicole! I decided to give Johnny the full liberty of writing my intro and he’s going to have a blast with it!! I like long walks on the beach except when it’s hot outside, making fun of Jared’s fake eye patch and being a LEGEND and winning a high quality Tumblr Survivor season @micahel​ SOOOOOOOOO let’s get some good videos in YAW YEET

And now for the videos:

Pennekamp Dragons:

“Sometimes our home is able to shape who we are. Not everyone lives the same, and because of that we are all different, but that’s okay. We all have pride in who we are, and where we live gives us that pride.”

Jess: Creativity: 7.5 Comments: Honestly this was a super cute idea. Ryan can I come over?! From the “Cribs theme” to the “milk shake” (such a waste BTW).... y’all BROUGHT IT. General Cohesiveness: 6 Honestly if there wasn’t that one dude with this camera vertically this would have been FLAWLESS. Although he has cute kids so I won't take off too many points here. Humor/Enjoyability: 7 I kind of wished EVERYONE brought it in the humour category BUT this shit was ENJOYABLE to watch. Relation to Theme: 8 You guys killed the theme. I felt at home. Total Score: 28.5/40

Asya: Creativity: 6/10. Cohesiveness: 1/10. Everyone had something different going on with the only theme being you were in houses. Humor: 5/10. Relation to theme: 2/10. The song wasn’t the absolute best for hometown pride. I saw the outside of one persons house. Idk.  Total Score: 14/40

Jones: Creativity - 8/10 - Y'all had a shit ton of fun with this video and i'm so happy about it. You guys really killed it in the creativity portion, but I feel some of the tribe brought more to the table than the rest. Isaac I hope you didn't burn your house down. General Cohesiveness of Video - 7/10 - For the most part it's pretty cohesive except for the people who shot vertically, but besides that y'all did good Humor/Enjoyability - 7/10 - again, it felt like y'all had a good time, and it shows. I loved everything from Ryan's MTV spoof to Isaac deepthroating a banana. AND MARK YOUR KIDS ARE SO CUTE OMG Relation to Theme (Hometown Pride) - 8/10 - tbh of the three tribes, I feel like you guys shined the most when it came to theme. Great job!! Total Score: 30/40

Alyssa: Creativity: 6/10 General Cohesiveness: 8/10 Humor/Enjoyability: 8/10 Relation to Theme: 9/10 Okay I ADORED this video. The children? Wholesome. The dog stuffed animal on Fire? A huge ass mood. Pouring a drink on your head? Yes. I just felt like this tribe had an A M A Z I N G, really fucking fun time doing this challenge and to me that’s what this challenge is A L L about. Excellent job guys!!! Total Score: 31/40

Nicole: Creativity: 6/10. That was fun but I am confusion Cohesiveness: 7/10. I'll say what I said to the other judges: I love you all but...it kind of felt like I was watching a bunch of single parents not know what to do when their kids were at school.  Humor: 8/10- Isaac are you okay... Relation to theme: 7/10. I mean...I get it. The cribs thing made more sense. The kids were cute but nobody was singing except for two of you so wyd. Total Score: 28/40

Overall Score: 131.5/200

Robinson Riptides:

“This season of Tumblr Survivor is set in Manhattan Beach, California, so what better way to celebrate it than with this song? Even though Katy sings about all of California, specific cities like L.A. and the neighborhoods in it are given a shoutout, which fit the hometown pride theme as it’s geared towards L.A. in general. As the song describes, it’s a fun place to be and those who live there have a lot of pride in it.”

Jess: Creativity: 4. Nothing was super creative about this video? Also.. who still has their Christmas Tree up in MARCH?! General Cohesiveness: 5 Honestly, there was SOME cohesion here but not enough to “WOW” me. Humor/Enjoyability: 5.5 Jake.. you stole the show here. I enjoyed your parts the MOST and you brought it. I REALLY hope your ass doesn’t get a cold though. Relation to Theme: 6 Honestly you guys did amazing in that category. Jake you really committed to the THEME and it SHOWED. Total Score: 20.5/40

Asya: Creativity: 2/10. Nothing really jumped out at me. Cohesiveness: 5/10. There wasn’t much to go off of but for the most part everyone had the same instinct to just lip sync. Humor: 4/10. Some of it was maybe a little accidental I think. Relation to theme: 7/10. The song choice made sense even tho almost everyone was surrounded by show. There were shots that took place outside and near what I assume are like places of business so that’s cool.  Total Score: 18/40

Jones: Creativity - 4/10 - Jake (and Andreas I think?) are the only ones that really stole the show for me tbh. They had a lot of fun with it but I don't feel like everyone else brought it. General Cohesiveness of Video - 5/10 - you guys are pretty cohesive in terms of camera work. But some of the parts when you guys are lip syncing is off. but also I feel like there was a lot of uneven editing? Towards the end it was like,, only Jake. No one else showed up as much as he did. Humor/Enjoyability - 5/10 - Jake please get a jacket. I loved what you did but holy shit are you ok? Andreas and Jake were the ones that really like,, brought humor to this tbh. Relation to Theme (Hometown Pride) - 5/10 - The only person to really work in the theme of the video was, again, Jake. everything else just felt like a regular lip sync. I love y'all but this made me upsetti spaghetti. Total Score: 19/40

Alyssa: Creativity: 6/10 General Cohesiveness: 5/10 Humor/Enjoyability: 6/10 Relation to Theme: 1/10 Alright guys... I love y’all to fucking DEATH. BUt— editing, I felt like I was staring at some people straight up for 30 seconds, which isn’t the way of the music video challenge. Also I had to hit you guys hard with relation to theme. Maybe it was part of the humor, but obviously none of y’all are from California. It just doesn’t fit the theme I’m sorry loves!! Total Score: 18/40

Nicole: Creativity: 5/10. It was alright in the creativity department, I kind of hate this song but...I won't hold it against you. Cohesiveness: 4/10. You all seemed kind of uh...unenthused to be there. Humor: 3/10. I think I was more confused than amused.....honestly.  Relation to theme: 7/10. Yes. Total Score: 19/40

Overall Score: 94.5/200

Pacific Panthers:

“This was the editors first time editing a video so please don’t judge too harshly for that. The one vertical shot was shot horizontal but it got fucked up somehow. Thanks for watching!”

Jess: Creativity: 5 Comments: Y’all had some dance moves? Creativity wise? There wasn’t too much there? General Cohesiveness: 7 Honestly, I think out of all 3 groups it seems like MOST of your tribe particpated comp which is AMAZING. This video kind of flowed well. It was CUTE. Humor/Enjoyability: 6.5 I enjoyed the humour in this! It was super enjoyable to watch. Dani twirls, someone falling, a sword? What more can you ask for in the humour department? Relation to Theme: 6.5 I mean.. the song did say “home”. I liked the touch with the calendar. I’m not too sure anything else really jumped out really. Total Score: 25/40

Asya: Creativity: 4/10. I thought the opening with the calendar was really neat but that was about it.  Cohesiveness: 7/10. All of you had matching enthusiasm and that’s good enough for me.  Humor: 4/10.  Relation to theme: 7/10. I liked that song choice a lot. The part where someone was out on the sidewalk of like a strip mall was really cute and more of what I wanted to see in this.  Total Score: 22/40

Jones: Creativity - 6/10 - y'all this was so cute. I really appreciated it. but again it's one of those things where I feel like more could be done. The song is very cute btw <3 General Cohesiveness of Video - 8/10 - pretty cohesive tbh!! not a lot was like,, done wrong or anything lmao. and whoever did the editing did a good job for the first time!! Humor/Enjoyability - 7/10 - Y'ALL AGAIN THIS WAS SO CUTE from the calender stuff to just the general dancing and having fun, I really appreciated it :D Relation to Theme (Hometown Pride) - 6/10 - y'all I really appreciated this, but there wasn't much of a theme? I know Dan brought a lot for a theme and whatnot, but it was an overall v cute video with not much of a theme. Total Score: 27/40

Alyssa: Creativity: 5/10  General Cohesiveness: 7/10 Humor/Enjoyability: 4/10 Relation to Theme: 6/10  Okay friends SO. I ADORE the song choice. Love ending the video with that iconic fall. The song choice was amazing but having watched Pennekamp’s video.... y’all just don’t match up, I’m sorry! I was so excited when this first started for some bomb ass editing but wound up disappointed with what was actually produced. Love y’all and best of luck!!! Total Score: 22/40

Nicole: Creativity: 5/10. I mean...it was a little creative. You seemed to put in a bit of effort bc you added some small slides of other things besides yourselves. Nice guitar too. There was definitely more effort put in by two of you than others. Cohesiveness: 4/10. The vertical video really annoyed me I'm not gonna lie, like if it was vertical and they were turned the right way it it would annoy me less BUT because you guys did all that editing and then couldn't even flip the video the right way...makes me very upsetti spaghetti. Humor: 5/10- It wasn't funny at all but I don't think that's what you were shooting for. SINCE it was in the criteria, it should have been funnier though. Relation to theme: 6/10. You guys said the word home and showed a calendar. I assume the snapchat was you "at home". But there was nothing than that. Total Score: 20/40

Overall Score: 116/200 +5 for Reward = 121/200

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

Which means Congratulations Pennekamp and Pacific! You guys are BOTH safe from tribal council. As for Robinson, you have nothing but a date with Trace and Johnny at tribal council tomorrow night, where one of you will become the third person voted out of Tumblr Survivor: Manhattan Beach! Tribal Council will take place tomorrow night, Monday, March 11th at 10pm EST. We will see you there!

[noahhernandez]

original (April 3rd, 2013)

3 year difference (April 3rd, 2016

Difference ? (Feb 10, 2017)

3 year difference lol

1. Is this the best year of your life? tbh this year has sucked so far lol!!!!!

it is april and i have not turned up like expected

Only Feb. Things are going okay

2. What was the first thing you did when you woke up? turn on the TV and see what was on netflix

Laid in bed and contemplate whether or not to make coffee.. i did

Struggled getting out of bed for work

3. The person you like is? nobody.

my co-worker Darrell.

Kenny.

4. Is anything bothering you? The fact that my room is a disaster, my grade in Algebra 2 is a 68, and that i am not famous

The fact that my room is still a disaster and that i am dropping my biology course because it was too hard for me.

The Fact that my room remains a disaster, and that I’m constantly stressed out about school, and I’m really trying with Kenny but I’m probably too invested

5. Does anyone annoy you? A lot of people do, white people

A lot of people still annoy me

White People

6. Would you like things to go ‘back to normal’ with a certain someone? no

Angelica, Natasha, and Coby because things really were cool but it doesnt matter anymore

No.

7. What was the las,t thing you did before you went to bed last night? I was in my mom’s room with like 3 kids and some guy and i was just chillin out with them

I was laying in bed watching Family Guy

Filmed a speech for my public speaking class, finished it, submitted it, walked in on my roommates fckin on the couch, went to sleep, they fought til 530am

8. Is life good? its decent

I’m content, I have my own place, I go to school full time, I work full time, I’ve got great friends, money, a car.

Still have all those things, I’m just tired at this point

9. Do you remember who you liked on New Years? nobody.

Nobody probably wait just kidding Harry

I think I was starting to like Kenny

10. Do you still like them? nobody

No

I like him now

11. Do you still speak to them? nobody

No

Yes

12. Told your parents you were going somewhere but went somewhere else? my dad, but my mom and i have a good relationship and i can tell her i am snorting cocaine tonight and she will be like ’ ok be careful xo’

Does not matter anymore

i’m an adult now

13. Are you dating the last person you kissed on the lips? haha, no.

No I am not

Nope

14. Do you hate the last girl you had a conversation with? my cousin no she snorts cocaine

My manager no she is my favorite

I think it was Angel, and she is like one of my best friends

15. Would you go out with someone right now if they asked? what do you mean like out like lets get together or like hey im hungry wanna come with me to get wings

It really all depends on who the person is

not desperate, really depends on who the person would be

16. Three days from now will you be in a relationship? i hope not

No lol

Probably not 

17. If someone liked you right now, would you want them to tell you? they do tell me sorry fellas youre kinda ugly

Yes

Yes

18. Have you kissed anyone in the last month? no

No

Yes

19. What was the last reason you went to the doctor for? my back.

My back

Have not been to the doctor since.

20. Do you like being home alone or does it freak you out? i liked it but then everyone left for me a week and i thought i was going to go insane

It does not matter I am always locked in my room.

I don’t talk to anyone at home anyways

21. Would you ever kiss anyone you texted today? i havent texted anyone today

Hm yes, my co-worker Kevin, but only because he is the best looking person I have texted today

Hm maybe like 2 people ? haha

22. Do you have any bruises on you? no thank god

Cuts and burns from work

I cut myself at work today

23. How was 2011 for you? 2011 was great actually, i ended jr. high really well, and started high school really well too making friends and stuff

Same

lol

24. How late did you stay up last night and why? like 1230, and no reason

230? because after work me and my coworkers went to IHOP and then just chilled out, and I watched like TV til i fell asleep

About 530 because my roommates were fighting and I could not sleep

25. Do you ever get good morning texts from anyone? no

No

Kind of

26. Do you regret anything you’ve done lately? i regret um nothing

I regret nothing still

Nothing

27. What woke you up today? this sound of little Einsteins singing

My brothers gf was talking really loud for like 2 seconds

My brother waking me up and my 30 alarms

28. What makes you happy? coffee and snickers and boys

Coffee, cigarettes, friends

Coffee, boys, and friends

29. Ever kissed on a boat?

No

Still a no

30. Have you ever been told that you are amazing? yes

Plenty of times

I honestly dont think so tbh wait JK yes

31. Finish this sentence: The last person I kissed is… ugly?

A good guy. sorry lol

the person I currently like

32. This time last year, can you remember who you liked?let me think no

It is April, prom season for me… you know I think I was chillin’

Wowza, Darrell my co-worker at the time, he recently just moved to Ohio

33. Do you like when people play with your hair? yes

yes

ya

34. Do you plan on sleeping in tomorrow? nOPE GOT SCHOOL LOL

Nope, I still got school

Nope, this time I got work

35. Waiting for something? for someone to come up and be like hello u wana be famous and rich

To get my degree, then someone come up to me and ask me if I wanna be famous and rich

To become board certified and open a private practice and someone ask me if I wanna be rich adn famous

36. Was last night terrible? nah

No, it was a good night tbh, lots of laughing with all my coworkers

Sure

37. Did you lose friends when you started dating someone? no

no, i would not let that happen

I would never let that happen

38. Are you the type of person to make people laugh?  yes i am i am the class bitch ass motherfucker but they think im joking

yes

Sure

39. Don’t tell me lies, so is the last person you texted attractive? i last texted angelica and she is pretty if she tries which is rare

yes

yes

40. Is tomorrow going to be a good day? it better be mrs honings better have passes me

no, i have school and then work right after

Work til 5. Maybe something with my friends after, but I doubt it

41. Are you missing someone?no

no

sure

42. Has anyone ever tried to ruin a relationship you were in?no

no lol

no haha

43. Do you believe in karma? eh

not at all

Maybe a little bit now

44. Do you sleep with a fan on? omg i have too

yeah the ceiling fan and then a standing fan

Same still

45. You think anyone’s thinking about you right now? of course yes

i wonder

Probably not.

46. Is there anyone you wish you were spending time with right now? not really

no

yes

47. Do you go to school? imma sophomore

freshmen in college

4th semester in college.

48. Is the person you last texted single? yes

yes

technically yeS?

49. Who was driving the last time you were in a car? omg?? my mom i think

me

I was driving, brother in passenger seat

50. Have you ever used the word ‘rawr’ in an actual conversation?OMG NEVER IF ANYONE CAUGHT ME SAYING THAT I’D KILL MYSELF

lol no

jokingly now every once in awhile

51. Are the blinds on your window open or closed? closed

closed

Closed

52. Did you leave milk and cookies for Santa when you were little? still do lol

jewish

No i live alone now, so thats a waste of money

53. What were you doing at 11 last night? in my mom’s room with those people i stated above plus my brother

at work goofing off

Getting ready to get off work

54. What could you eat any day of the week & never get tired of? wingstop wings

sushi

Coffee

55. Is there someone you wouldn’t mind kissing right now? justin bieber???

a lot of ppl including celebrities

Shawn Mendes!!!

56. Someone knocks on your window at 5 am, what do you say? wat the fuck do u want im sleepig

or

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOMH

how did u get up here i live on the third floor

No i dont have a quarter

57. Would you change yourself for the person you love?no

no

Yes maybe ??

58. Let me guess, your last incoming call was from the opposite sex? wow u guesssed completely wrong

yes

um i gonna guess sure

59. What are you supposed to be doing right now? cleaning

getting ready for work

Getting ready for bed

60. Would you have sex with the 5th person on your contacts?no

im not even going to look

It is my ex, lmao, yes  I would sure

61. To who did you last give the finger to? i cant remember

my coworker Jesse

My manager, Ware

62. Did your last kiss take place on a bed? on someone elses

uh no

No.

63. Do you have someone who you can be your complete self around? brianna sam angelica michelle and others yes

the majority of my coworkers and all of my friends i still have

Angel, Brianna, Brit, and like Michelle

64. Do you talk in your sleep? no

i do not

depends on the situation

65. Do you have a good relationship with your parents? yes they buy me stuff and i am forced to like them

i dont talk to either of them that much

Haven’t seen my mom in months

66. What time did you wake up today? 7:45

1

8:30

67. What were you doing at midnight last night? IN MY MOMS ROOM

At work fixing to leave

Leaving work

68. What song are you listening to? some chris brown song

Team by Iggy

Betty Who- Somebody Loves You

69. Has anyone put their arms around you in the past 5 days? like a hug

No

Yes

70. How do you feel about chocolate-covered strawberries? mmmmm

mmmmm

mmmmm

71. Do you have nice eyes? they’re dark brown

no

lolno

72. Is your current hair color your natural hair color? not really

yes finally

Barely, the tips are brown from when I died them 7 months ago

73. Are you texting anybody? no

no

Told everyone I went to bed

74. Do you swear in front of your parents? god no

no

No

75. Concert tickets or NFL game tickets? concert tickets

concert tickets!!!!!

CONCERT

76. Are you addicted to cigarettes? not yet hehhe!:)

yes, I wish i could stop smoking.

LMFAO “Not Yet” I’m on a process of quitting right now. Very difficult

77. Do you tell your parents everything? no

no

hell no

78. Do you have any tattoos? not yet

i have 4 tattoos.

still only fucking 4

79. If something was wrong, who is the first girl you would go to? idk

Brianna

80. Do you have any nicknames? bitch

Noahita