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be-not-afeared · 4 years

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Jaime Lannister and John Silver: of arcs and endings

Or, herein follows a possibly niche comparison between the character arcs of Jaime Lannister (Game of Thrones, HBO, 2011-2019) and John Silver (Black Sails, Starz, 2014-2017), in which I will argue that Jaime’s character arc fails not because of Jaime’s actions, but because of the way his story is framed to the viewer throughout the series, using Silver as a springboard to explore the requisites for a tragic yet satisfying ending.

(Yes, this is 5K words long. No, I am not sorry. Spoilers for Jaime’s and Silver’s storylines in their respective shows, and while I’ve tried to stay vague about the Bigger Picture, read at your own risk.)

Okay, so. I was, and still am, to an extent, a huge Game of Thrones fan. I’ve pored over the books, been to conventions, and spent a good couple of years while I was at uni discussing fan theories on message boards into the early hours of the morning. Jaime Lannister has been one of my favourite fictional characters for over a decade. Yet I certainly wasn’t alone in watching in horror as years of hopeful build up was thrown away in the span of one and a half episodes during the final season of the show. There are *many* things that hurt about season 8 of Game of Thrones. But the swift 180 we see in Jaime, from aiding the Starks in the Battle of Winterfell and finally choosing Brienne, to abandoning her to return to Cersei 20 minutes later, was, for me, one of the deepest cuts.

When I started watching Black Sails this August, I was immediately compelled by Silver – unsurprisingly, as someone who has exactly one favourite character type: Traumatised and Morally Grey Anti-Villain. Watching Silver’s character develop over the four seasons of Black Sails was an absolute joy, and his ending in the finale, though *incredibly difficult*, was nuanced and in character and satisfying. (Am going to try and keep as vague as possible on details here, because Black Sails is an incredible show that more people should watch and I don’t want to completely spoil the ending). Silver and Jaime are two characters with a lot of similarities and their characters arcs appear to run in direct parallel with each other: both selfish and arrogant men who become more empathetic and invested in others as the series progresses, in large part prompted by the loss of a limb. However, the gulf in reception of their overall arcs can be pinpointed to one huge disparity between the way both storylines were framed to the audience, and that is difference between redemption and tragedy.

“I was that hand”

But first! Let’s start with the more obvious stuff.

When we meet Jaime Lannister and John Silver in the pilots of their respective shows, they are both introduced as arrogant and self-serving – yet charming – men, who place the needs of themselves (and Cersei, in Jaime’s case) above all else. Silver kills and impersonates the cook on the merchant ship Flint’s crew captures, and has no qualms about lying his way onto the crew whilst simultaneously planning to sell the Urca schedule to the highest bidder. For Silver, his own survival comes before any sense of moral code. We are told stories about Jaime before we properly meet him – that he killed the previous king, Aerys Targaryen, that he has no honour – but nothing that we see first-hand contradicts this; at the end of the pilot he attempts to kill a child to cover up his and Cersei’s incestuous relationship. Silver is certainly supposed to be more likeable than Jaime, but both men, despite their lack of morals, are presented as charming, clever, and good with a one-liner. As we move through the early seasons of both shows, they are consistent in these traits, although Jaime is presented as an outright antagonist whereas Silver from the outset is a morally grey unknown entity, keeping viewers on our toes wondering if he’ll turn against Flint, against Billy, against Eleanor. Things change, for both men, however, with the direct lead up and fallout of the loss of a limb: Jaime’s hand and Silver’s leg.

The introduction of Brienne of Tarth as Jaime’s foil kickstarts his path towards becoming the honourable man he once dreamed of being. During their roadtrip across Westeros, she challenges him and is able to get under his skin in a way we haven’t yet seen before. This comes to a head when the duo are captured, and Jaime intervenes during her attempted rape, lying about her ransom worth and saving her from an awful fate. The result? The immediate amputation of Jaime’s sword hand, representative of Jaime’s identity (“I was that hand”). Jaime is punished for the first selfless act we see him commit on the show with the loss of the source of his power and self-worth.

Silver, in a similar fashion, finds himself in a position to save the crew he has spent two seasons disparaging. When he is offered the opportunity to betray his crew for an escape route, he refuses (the reasons for this refusal never outright stated, although I imagine Flint’s “where else will you wake up in the morning and matter” and Billy’s “that’s our brother you’ve got there” both factor heavily). Again, the result of this refusal is the brutal torture and eventual amputation of Silver’s leg – a man who in his own words is “not a joiner”, prone to taking what he needs and leaving, to reinventing himself, to always having an escape route. As actor Luke Arnold says: “He's a guy who's always had one leg out the door, and then they cut it off.”

What is interesting here is not only that we have two characters who are *punished* for moving beyond their selfishness, but that that punishment is specifically catered towards their defining characteristics. Jaime is left unable to fight, unable to defend himself, unable to uphold his reputation. Silver is left unable to run, unable to leave his past behind him, unable to remain without attachments. Both are left vulnerable. The loss of Jaime’s hand forces him to reinvent himself in a world ruled by swords; as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, father to Tommen, and an honourable man working to uphold his oath, through Brienne, to Catelyn Stark. The loss of Silver’s leg, however, leaves him *unable* to reinvent himself; forcing him to rely on his crew and paving the way for the growth of his relationship with Flint and Madi. In losing their limbs both Jaime and Silver are set on paths towards gaining empathy, and are able to become invested in those around them.

“Defined by their histories, distorted to fit their narratives”

Game of Thrones and Black Sails both engage heavily with ideas of myth-making and storytelling. Stories are woven into the mythology of Westeros; a world with thousands of years of history revealed to us slowly over the seasons to suit the narrative and the teller. We are told the story of Rhaegar Targaryen’s kidnap and rape of Lyanna Stark in the pilot, and at first this serves to provide a tragic landscape for Robert’s unhealthy relationship with his wife and his crown. It is only as the show develops and we hear more about Rhaegar and Lyanna that we realise there is more to this story; in season 5 Littlefinger recounts the events of the Tourney of Harrenhal to foreshadow the reveal of Jon’s parentage later that season, that Rhaegar and Lyanna had a happy and consensual relationship and that it is Robert who could be viewed as the villain of this sequence. We are taught through watching the show to never assume that any given story is true. Black Sails similarly plays with the idea of the power of the storyteller, combining historical pirates with fictional pirates and an origin story for Treasure Island, and going to great lengths to show that history is in the hands of the victor. Most of the primary sources of pirate history are from the perspective of civilised England, and in the process of watching the show we come to realise the bias inherent in these histories; much like in Game of Thrones, they are stories, and should not be assumed to be either true or accurate. As Jack says in the finale: “a story is true, a story is untrue […] The stories we want to believe, those are the ones that survive”.

Jaime Lannister and John Silver are both characters defined by stories that are forced upon them without choice: the Kingslayer and Long John Silver. We meet Jaime as the Kingslayer; our opinion of him is immediately formed by the story of him stabbing in the back the King he had sworn to protect, and cemented by the fact that our protagonist, Ned Stark, a man we like and trust, is the one telling this story. The Kingslayer’s presence is so strong in the first two seasons of the show that Jaime becomes nameless, reduced to this one defining act. It is only after the loss of his hand, and through his developing bond with Brienne, that he is finally able to tell his own story and we realise our entire perception of Jaime’s character has been based on an incorrect interpretation of events: that in killing Aerys Targaryen Jaime was saving the population of Kings Landing from destruction via wildfire. It is only after the truth of this story has been revealed to us that Jaime is able to begin moving past the Kingslayer and forging a new identity.

We see this in reverse in Black Sails, for the story of Long John Silver is not introduced until the season 3 finale, but like Jaime, this story is not told by Silver. Billy creates the myth of Long John, commits the acts attributed to him, and uses him as a figurehead for the pirate rebellion all without Silver’s knowledge or consent. Season 4 sees Silver wrestle with this identity of King of the Pirates, surrounded by people who want to use ‘Long John Silver’ for their own benefit: Billy, Israel Hands, even Flint. As the power and influence of Long John Silver the story grows, John Silver the man is disregarded, and his value reduced to how he can further everyone else’s individual causes. Though he does embrace this title (for a time, at least) to further “Flint and Madi’s war”, a cause he doesn’t truly believe in beyond his investment in Flint and Madi as people, we come to realise that the ‘character’ of Long John Silver that we know from Treasure Island is only that: a character, a story, a collective created for a larger cause that Silver himself eventually betrays.

I have seen some criticism of this scene, but for me one of the few redeeming moments of the Game of Thrones finale was Brienne writing Jaime’s story in the Book of White. Despite Jaime’s less than satisfactory conclusion, with this act he is finally able to move past the Kingslayer; Brienne has rewritten his narrative, and he will be remembered as a Knight who “died protecting his Queen”. Silver is offered no such release. By contrast, the story of Long John Silver is all that will be remembered; the worst fear for a man who cannot bear for his own story to be known. Indeed, we learn that “those who stood to benefit most from [Long John Silver] were the most eager to leave it all behind”. While Jaime is able to escape the story of the Kingslayer, the story of Long John Silver is what will endure, “all that is left of [him] is the monster in the story they tell their children”. Hello Treasure Island.

“Reviled by so many for my finest act"

We can see here that Jaime and Silver’s narratives deal with similar themes, but often in contrasting ways. Just as with storytelling, Jaime and Silver’s backstories are key parts of their storylines in their respective shows, but operate with very different functions. (It is only as I am writing this that I’m realising how similar the themes of Game of Thrones and Black Sails actually are? If only Game of Thrones had the follow through of Black Sails... We were all rooting for you, etc etc).

Jaime’s backstory, and the truth of the act that earned him the title ‘Kingslayer’, is revealed to us mid-way through season 3. This comes at a very key moment for his character: Jaime has just lost his hand and is at his most vulnerable, and Brienne’s stubborn and persistent honour is clearly starting to affect him. “I trust you,” he says to her in the bathroom scene in 3x05, and we can assume that this is the first time he has said this to someone who isn’t a Lannister in quite some time, possibly ever. Essentially, the reveal of Jaime’s backstory comes at a moment where we are already beginning to soften towards him and are therefore open to hearing an alternative interpretation of events. While Jaime needs to be able to tell his story to begin to move past the identity of the Kingslayer, if this reveal had come too soon it wouldn’t have had the same dramatic effect, as viewers wouldn’t have been open to seeing him in a different light. All we saw of Jaime in the first two seasons was the “man without honour” that everyone believes him to be; by mid-season three we are already beginning to realise that there is perhaps more to him that meets the eye, so the reveal of his backstory has the most impact.

(This is exactly what Black Sails does with Flint’s backstory, and I firmly believe that if we had been told his story in season one as was originally the plan it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as effective. We needed to know more about Flint, and to see his uneasy partnership with Silver begin to develop as we delved into the backstory piece by piece, so that by 2x05 our hearts were ready to be broken. Buuut that’s a different essay.)

Black Sails loves a backstory. As we move through the show we slowly learn why and how our favourite characters came to be in Nassau , and universally these reveals add to our understanding of that character and their motivations: for Flint, for Billy, for Max, for Jack. We enter season four with Silver as the only character we don’t know anything about prior to the pilot. Surely then, we were about to get a ‘Jaime Lannister bathroom scene’ equivalent, a moment that will add depth and understanding to Silver’s character? Were any of the stories he has told about his past true? Who is Solomon Little? … Instead, what we get is one of my favourite sequences of the entire show, in which, after Flint realises that he knows nothing of Silver’s past, Silver reveals that Flint, and by proxy the viewer, knows “of [him] all [he] can bear to be known”. Silver is the ultimate storyteller, master of manipulating and deceiving others through the power of a narrative, yet he cannot bear to be the story himself. We never learn Silver’s backstory, and all he reveals of his past is that it speaks to “events of the kind no one can divine any meaning from, other than the world is a place of unending horrors”; he has chosen to repress his past, has rendered it unspeakable, and both Flint and the viewer are only left to wonder at what these “horrors” could be.

Although this lack of backstory adds nothing to our view of who Silver *was*, it is key to understanding who Silver *is*, and *why* Silver makes some of his more controversial choices further down the line. Silver’s need to repress his past is as key to his character as Flint’s need to define himself by his own backstory. We understand from this that Silver has experienced a level of trauma which is unspeakable, quite a feat for a show with plenty of other horrific backstories and especially pertinent given that Silver is one of our most gifted orators. Silver’s inability to process his past explains a lot of his actions in the early seasons; his coping mechanism has been to move through life without forming attachments, convincing himself that he doesn’t need (and shouldn’t need) other people. It is safe to assume that Madi and Flint are the first people he has let himself be truly vulnerable with, which paints his actions throughout season four in a different light; loving people is new for Silver, and he doesn’t know how to do it in a healthy or selfless way. The placement of this scene is as important to Black Sails as Jamie’s bathroom scene is to Game of Thrones; we needed to have already seen Long John Silver’s significance to the war spiral beyond Silver’s control, to have seen him become compromised by his love for Madi and the beginnings of the collapse of his partnership with Flint, for this scene to pack the punch that it aims for and to beautifully set up the culmination of his arc in the finale. How devastating, for a man who cannot bear for himself to be known, to be the one figure whose story will outlive them all.

Both of these scenes have stayed with me long past my first watch, and feel vital to understanding Jaime and Silver as characters. For Jaime, his backstory informs all his actions moving forward, his desire to transcend the Kingslayer, to become an “Oathkeeper”, or even “Golden-hand the Just”. For Silver, his lack of backstory informs all his actions up to this point in the narrative and prepares us for the choices to come. Just as Jaime is defined by his past, Silver is defined by his *lack* of past.

“This is not what I wanted”

So, we’ve tracked Jaime and Silver’s characters throughout the show, but how do they both end? The answer, of course, is… tragically. Jaime is offered a glimpse at what could be a peaceful life, in Winterfell with Brienne, before turning it down to return to Cersei’s side only to meet his end while the duo try to escape the collapsing walls of Kings Landing. Silver betrays Flint and Madi in a horrific fashion, ensuring that they both survive though knowing that in doing so he was destroying his relationship with Flint and that there was a chance Madi would never forgive him his actions. (Or, this is my chosen interpretation of the ending, in any case, although the point still works if you prefer one of the other readings). Just thinking about Silver’s ending in Black Sails makes me want to cry. Thinking about Jaime’s ending in Game of Thrones makes to want to cry too, although for a very different reason. Neither are the ending we would hope for these characters in an optimistic and ideal world. But Silver’s decision to betray Flint and Madi feels narratively satisfying in a way that Jaime’s decision to betray Brienne and return to Cersei never could. Why is that?

Jaime Lannister’s character progression from season 3 onwards was set up as a redemption arc. We thought we were watching a jaded and selfish man become an honourable man. The show, admittedly, takes its sweet time with this journey in comparison to the book equivalent, and inserts some *interesting* deviations which I won’t dwell on here (looking at you 4x03 and the entirety of season 5). But, ultimately, the journey that Jaime finds himself on from the moment he loses his hand seems to be heading for a triumphant ending. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting him to survive the series. But I was expecting him to go out in a blaze of glory – fighting side by side with Brienne, perhaps, or protecting Bran, or one of the other characters he had wronged in the past. There was also always the chance that he would end up fulfilling the much subscribed to book theory of the valonqar, although this admittedly looked less likely as that particular line of the prophecy was cut from the show. When Jaime finally leaves Cersei at the end of season 7 it is such a triumphant moment – after years of struggling with these warring parts of himself, his toxic love for Cersei and his growing moral conscience, a decision had been made and a tie cut. We enter season 8 assuming that there is no going back. We don’t get a hint of any conflicting feelings from Jaime about this decision in the first half of season 8; we are focused on preparation for the Battle of Winterfell, and revelling in the joy of having Jaime and Brienne in the same place for longer than a single episode for the first time since season 4. We get the knighting scene (which, let’s be honest, is where the season peaks). We get the battle. We get the sex scene between Jaime and Brienne (which I… don’t love, for many reasons up to and including the weird virgin shaming jokes from Tyrion in the previous scene and their level of intoxication, but still gives no hint that Jaime is battling an inner war). And then later in that same episode, despite Brienne pleading with him to stay, we get Jaime’s snap decision to return to Kings Landing to attempt to save Cersei: “You think I’m a good man? […] She’s hateful, and so am I”.

The issue here isn’t the decision itself, or Jaime’s choice of words. We know that Jaime isn’t a good man. We know that he’s done awful things for Cersei’s love. And, if we think about it, it makes sense that he wouldn’t be able to leave behind a lifelong co-dependent and unhealthy relationship without looking back, and that he would be driven to return to Cersei’s side when the reality of her impending death hit. The issue is that none of this decision making is presented in the show itself; there was no build up, no foreshadowing. Instead of showing us why this decision was made, the show presents this scene as a shock twist, leaving the viewer with whiplash wondering how Jaime’s story could have taken such an unexpected turn so quickly. The redemption arc that we all thought we were watching was not a redemption arc at all, and don’t think I was alone in finding this revelation deeply unsatisfying.

Let’s leave Jaime for a moment and turn to John Silver. Even for viewers who entered Black Sails without knowing they were watching a prequel to Treasure Island (such as myself!), we can assume that most people have heard of the fictional pirate Long John Silver: the ‘villain’ of Robert Louis Stevenson’s adventure who embodies what it means to be a “gentleman of fortune”. When we meet clean-shaved, smarmy, two-legged Silver in the pilot most viewers will at least have an idea of the trajectory his arc will take – and that it won’t end with him and Flint skipping off into the sunset hand in hand. We know, because of history, that the pirate rebellion is doomed to fail, that slavery does not end in the West Indies, that Nassau does indeed fall back under English rule, and that piracy is eventually stamped out of New Providence. And we know, because of Treasure Island, that John Silver will end up hunting for Captain Flint’s treasure, while Billy Bones dies from a stroke at the very idea of a visit from Long John and Flint drinks himself to death in Savannah. In essence, we know that we are watching a tragedy.

The genre of tragedy dates back to Ancient Greece, and describes a narrative that presents an examination of human suffering while evoking a sense of catharsis. Aristotle defines tragedy as “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude … through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation [release] of these emotions.” In other words, in order for a tragedy to achieve this state of emotional release, we as the viewer need to both anticipate (or, fear) the resolution and feel sympathy (or, pity) towards the tragic hero. Black Sails does this masterfully. The pathway towards the destruction of Silver and Flint’s partnership has its grounds as early as season 2, before it has even really started to develop, where Silver talks of his fears of being “used and discarded” by Flint. In the finale of season 3 it is made explicit during their conversation before the battle, with Silver interrogating what he sees as the pattern of Flint’s loved ones dying “not just during [their] relationship, but because of it”. Silver finds himself “unnerved by the thought that when this pattern applies itself to [Flint] and [Silver], that [he] will be the end of [Flint]”. As they lock eyes across the water later on in this episode, the setup of their opposition, complicated by the genuine care between them, is complete, and we enter season 4 dreading the crumbling of their relationship. Season 4 dangles this dramatic irony over us; every time Flint mentions the indestructible force of their partnership, the things they can achieve when there is “no daylight” between them; every time Silver mentions that Flint has his “genuine trust and friendship”; every time they both speak of their partnership in the same terms as the love that Silver holds for Madi, “I’m committed to Flint, I’m committed to Madi” / “he is my friend, too”, we dread the moment where this will all change. We may not know how it will play out, but we know it is coming. The “fear” is very much present. As, indeed, is the “pity”. We understand why Silver makes the decision he does, even if we don’t agree with it. The show has taken lengths to track the development of Silver’s ability to care and make himself vulnerable to others; we believe in his love for Madi, and understand why he believes that he is doing the right thing. Silver’s tragic flaw is that in gaining empathy his selfishness moves to encompass those he cares about; he will do dark things to protect them without consideration of their own choices or agency. The finale of Black Sails is difficult, beautiful, and yes, tragic, but we end Silver’s story understanding and perhaps even empathising with the decisions he made, believing him when he says that “this is not what [he] wanted”.

Tragedy vs redemption

John Silver’s story is a tragedy. And I believe that Jaime Lannister’s story is also a tragedy; a deeply flawed man who tries to escape the inevitability of an abusive and unhealthy relationship, only to eventually fall back into this cycle and become consumed by it. The problem is that this wasn’t the story we thought we were watching. The ending of Jamie’s character arc has none of the fear, none of the pity, none of the catharsis of Silver’s, because there was no signposting towards this end. If Jaime’s arc had been treated as a tragedy from the outset then perhaps it would have felt emotionally satisfying rather than rushed and unexpected.

Admittedly, as Jaime is not as central to Game of Thrones as Silver is to Black Sails, the show could not spend as much time detailing his inner world as Black Sails does to the latter. However, if the show had framed Jaime’s story with a sense of tragedy rather than triumph, then his decision to return to Cersei in season 8 would have had the same inevitability as Silver’s betrayal. In season 1 of Game of Thrones, as in the first instalment of A Song of Ice and Fire, Cersei tells Ned Stark that she and Jaime “are more than brother and sister. We shared a womb, came into this world together. We belong together”. However, the show doesn’t include Jaime and Cersei’s later, darker ruminations, that “we will die together as we were born together” (Jaime, ASOS), and “we will leave this world together, as we once came into it” (Cersei, AFFC). Jaime and Cersei’s doomed fate in the books is entangled in a way it never is in the show, and doubly so when you factor in the possibility of Jaime actively causing Cersei’s end due to the valonqar prophecy. In addition to this, if we had seen Jaime leave Cersei earlier in the narrative and then grapple with this decision, showing him struggling to be the man Brienne believes him to be and overcome his past actions, then his failure wouldn’t have seemed so out of the blue. With very little effort or changes on the part of the show, Jaime’s *entire* arc could have been framed in a way that would have made his death a tragically fitting end to his and Cersei’s story.

Jaime and Silver both end their respective narratives in very similar places to when they were introduced, or at least they do on the surface: Jaime unable to leave Cersei even in death, Silver alone and eventually chasing treasure (yes, Madi is still in the picture, but I don’t think we are meant to infer that their future relationship will be a trusting one). However, for Silver, this similarity is only surface deep, for we followed his growth and development and understand the tragedy of his choices. Although Jaime goes through a very similar pattern of growth, the framing of his arc as redemptive means that the unexpected nosedive into tragedy in season 8 doesn’t have the weight or impact that it intends, and we are left without understanding *why* he makes his choices. Jaime’s arc is a failed tragedy that doesn’t fulfil the cathartic requirements of the genre, but with a bit of reframing it could have been as emotionally resonant as Silver’s.

Long story short: watch Black Sails.

#game of thrones #asoaif #Black Sails #jaime lannister #john silver #long john silver #black sails meta #game of thrones meta #also this is just my opinion and i am fully aware i have blind spots when it comes to both of these characters #this is just part of my new agenda to make everyone in my life watch black sails

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staytruetonorthch · 4 years

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Perfect Ch. 1

A/N: I’m super anxious but here is my first official post. It’s just a single chapter around 4.5k. I plan on this being a pretty detailed, long-form story so if you like it, hang in there. I promise it’ll speed up once we get past exposition. I’m also highly aware of the switches from past/present tense, but I’m too tired to fix it and I’ve been so hesitant to post it’s either a now or never. I hope you guys enjoy <3

Football!Calum x Dancer!OC

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"Don't make me come over there!" It may have looked like I was yelling into the racks of clothing and shoes in my closet, and to be honest, I might as well be.

"You worry too much, Celley." I can hear the smile on my best friend, Brynn's face from my bed in the other room.

"I do, but only because you don't give a fuck, B and I know those boys don't," I said, counting each person out on my fingers. "That's four people in, and not a single fuck is being given. Someone's got to, or nothing would get done."

"You've got a point. The delivery was a little aggressive, but I'm moved nonetheless," Ash spoke up through Brynn's phone.

"I'm cleaning as we speak, Cel. It's gonna be fine," Luke chimed in from the boys' side of the phone.

"I can hear you lads playing FIFA," I said with an exasperated sigh.

We have a party planned at the boy's house tonight. A party I only had five hours to prepare, but that's the beauty of university, right? Spontaneity. All precautions to the wind. Everything that I never could be in high school and am still afraid to do today after a whole month of coursework. Don't ask me what I think might happen. Spontaneous combustion? Instantaneous death? A party that no one has fun at because I didn't have time to make an updated playlist or look up the actual rules for any drinking games?

"Brynn, are you ready to go?" I ask, peeking my head out of my closet to look at her sprawled out across my bed. I can hardly see her underneath the excessive number of decorative pillows and thick white down cover.

"I just got so comfortable. I was actually contemplating taking a nap."

"Please," I plead, batting my lashes over large dewy eyes. It’s a trick I picked up after so many lyrical dances over the years. Direct eye contact with these watery eyes always left judges speechless.

"Ugh… fine, but I'm getting wasted tonight and sleeping in this wonderful bed. Have your asses in gear by the time we get there," she said, hanging up on the boys and throwing pillows haphazardly across the floor. I cringed at every one as it landed in the thick white carpet. I don't bother telling her that I hadn't expected the night to end any other way. I pull myself back into the closet, eyeing my options once more. I could either go with a red gingham top, or I could tie my white vogue tee shirt in the front for a more casual look. Both require a bra sadly.

"The red is trying too hard," Brynn said, leaning against the doorframe. "You can't pull out picnic bitch chic at a party."

"I guess you're right." I pull the tee over my head careful to avoid touching the thin white fabric to my made-up face. Once I had a knot secured at the base of my rib cage, I fluffed my hair as if it could get any bigger and smoothed out my denim skirt. "Shoe's and I'm good. What about you?" I said eyeing her in the reflection of my full-length mirror. She wore a white hoodie underneath black overalls and black high-top converse. Splitting her hair in half, she tied it up into multicolored space buns on top of her head. Brynn is the kind of girl who could put on mascara and chapstick five minutes before she left, and she’s effortlessly beautiful. Her freckles do most of the work across her nose and cheeks, making her insanely adorable.

"Done. Let's hit the road, Jack," she said, walking towards the door to my studio flat. I quickly replace the pillows back on the bed and turned off all the lights before joining her. She grabbed the keys to my Jeep, knowing I’m too preoccupied to drive us.

"Are we stopping at the store on the way or coming back out?"

"Stopping on the way. We just need paper towels, red cups, more ping pong balls because Mikey lost three of the last four, and snacks. I also found this recipe for a cool looking pink drink, but the boys are all stocked on beer."

"I almost hate the fact that I can't use my fake here. I spent good money and almost got arrested for something that's legal here." I smile, scrolling through my checklist one more time to make sure I didn't forget anything.

"Well that's your fault for not doing a simple google search before you came to uni in Aus."

"I'm just saying, in America, I would be a plug." She turned wide out into the street, speeding past every car. She has a bit of a lead foot.

"That one's lost on me, love." I try to keep up with her American slang, but I wasn't able to watch a lot of American shows or anything growing up, so I'm a little behind to put it gently.

She said she has a southern accent, but I can't tell any difference. Everything she says just sounds brutal to me. Shit slams, anything can pop off apparently, and a lot of good things burn. At least that's what I gather when she uses 'fire' and 'flames' as adjectives.

I met Brynn at new student orientation. She seemed to be the only other one unamused by the school's welcoming parade meant to encourage school spirit, so as soon as our parents left, we left campus to explore the surrounding area locating the nearest shops and eating places. She was unlike any friend I had ever made swearing and speaking in riddles. I went to an all-girls catholic school filled to the brim with carbon copies of perfect people. We were second to none in both academics and clubs, which my parents loved, and Brynn was the absolute antithesis of that. She was a self- proclaimed 'thick' queen who was a pleasant deviance to the bird thin girls I was usually surrounded by. Her hair couldn't choose a color after multiple self- dye jobs. Even her mixed Mexican and Jamaican heritage were new to me. She said what she wanted and smiled wide at everything. I'm just happy she saw something in me to stick around even if it was the fact that I kidnapped her on the first day, keeping her from someone better.

I grab the frame of the car as she whips into the car park stopping short of a disgruntled gentleman in the crosswalk. She cursed loudly, causing my face to heat up. I contemplate jumping out of the car seeing as how the doors to the Jeep are safely kept in my garage. It’ll be a quick getaway, but I may need to make sure she makes it into a spot that isn't already occupied with this lovely gentlemen's car.

We soon found a spot and made quick work of the shopping, splitting the list I organized by section right down the middle. We’re back on the road in no time, heading closer to the edge of campus where the boys lived.

Ashton was actually the first person to befriend Brynn. They met at a summer fellowship program that put them in parts of Australia that don't have service for a hundred miles. They have that rugged woodsman thing in common. It kept them in touch through their final year in high school before she 'coincidentally' got accepted into the same university as him an entire ocean's length away. They were equally as smiley; she was just a little more… brash at times which is hard to believe. She didn't want to admit that she was nervous when he invited her to the house, he shared with two of his best mates, so I didn't mention anything when she asked me along. As the male version of Brynn, I immediately got on with Ashton. Mikey was chirpy and so sweet despite his punk persona. His other mate Luke was quiet only offering his very corny, yet intriguing commentary. He seems to be the closest thing I have to the friends I'm used to at home despite his lip ring. We formed a group of sorts meeting up in the library to study during the week and finding anything else but coursework to do on the weekends.

Our first kickback was just a barbeque featuring the five of us until Ash invited a few friends he made throughout the week with his open and boyish charm. Brynn had a few of her own, and Mikey wanted to join in on the fun, so he found a few friends to join. Luke and I were just fine meeting people as they were brought to us. Before we knew it, there was a group chat of about fifteen of us with more and more ideas of who to invite to the weekend shenanigans.

The boys had felt the pressure of expectation early this morning before Michael was a functioning human being. He shooed everyone off with a 'ya sure' before hanging up and going back to sleep. Brynn called me with our invite not only to attend the party but to host it at about 5:00 and of course, I freaked out. I plan everything, including some of the most successful events of my college career, if I do say so myself, so I took the praise for last week's party in stride. The difference is, I didn't spend my week planning out this event down to the second hand, so anything can happen. I wouldn't feel all the way like expelling my insides if it hadn't been confirmed that the first-year football players were going to be in attendance after today's match.

This confirmation came directly to Ash from another one of his mates from college, Calum Hood. Not only the best first year but the best player on the whole bloody team. He's also the hottest. The first time I saw him, he was leaving the classroom I was walking into. He opened the door just as I turned the handle, pushing me backward and almost to the floor.

"My fault, mate," he said distractedly, zipping his bag and flipping it over his shoulder. He was obviously sponsored by Nike dressed top to bottom in their slate grey gear, the school's emblem attached to every piece. The only thing I could tell wasn't sponsored was the gray beanie he had pulled down over his ears covering his hair. When he finally looked up a smirk graced his pink lips.

"You alright, doll?"

I couldn't tell if my reaction showed on my face because I didn't expect him to be so adorable with the brute force, he opened the door with. I just nodded my head taking deep breaths, trying to keep my face still. His tan skin was smooth and warm, complimenting the heat in his eyes that was slowly melting my resolve.

"Right. Well you're late, so you might want to…" he trailed off, nodding over his shoulder into the classroom.

"Right," I replied, hoping my hair was doing that cool thing it does when the wind pushes it back. It's either doing that, or the curls are fighting themselves on top of my head. It's so thick I can never really tell without a mirror, but let's be honest. My hair tells me what it wants to do, I rarely have any say in the matter. Instead of walking out of the door, he extended his arm, acting as a human door frame for me to walk under. When I turned my head to look again, he was gone.

I showed up a little earlier to class the next day to see if I could catch him again. Then I was late again and right on time before I decided to be outside the room before his class even ended. He was still nowhere to be found. I had practiced redeeming myself with a smile or maybe even words. Anything but how cringe-worthy I had been the first time, but to no avail. I didn't see him again until the boys dragged us to the first football game.

I don't mind sports at all. I grew up going to my older brother's rugby matches, so I'm not entirely clueless. Brynn, on the other hand, sat unmoving and quiet for the first time in our friendship. I think she concerned Ashton the most, as he asked her if she was ok every time the ball stopped moving.

"Someone tell me why I chose the guitar over football again," Luke said, pulling his hands down his face. "I was just as good as him, but now he's got fans and his face on posters."

"If that was true, I'm sure you'd be out there, dude," Mikey said, patting his shoulder. Michael wasn't interested in playing sports unless it was FIFA on the Xbox, but he was supportive nonetheless. Luke wrapped an arm around me, pulling me closer, so he could point out the center forward dribbling through two defenders.

"That's my best mate, or at least he was before he got club offers," he said, taking a swig of his beer.

"I'm surprised he even came to university. He could've just gone pro," Ash said before he cursed the refs loudly. The boy Luke had been pointing out was quick with powerful legs and defined arms. His jaw was clenched, making it sharp enough to cut through glass. Thick curly hair was pushed out of his face with a thin gauzy headband, a gold streak shone prominently in the surrounding darkness of his curls. As he made quick work of the remaining defender, there was only himself and the goalkeeper who looked menacing. Making a sharp left jab, he caused the goalie's weight to shift, giving him the perfect opportunity to use his nondominant foot for a goal.

I jumped out of the way as the boys leaped up, hugging each other, and spilling beer. The entire crowd erupted in shouts, holding on to one another as if the world depended on it.

"CALUM! CALUM! CALUM!" the entire stadium roared. He smirked up at the crowd with a small wave. I gasped, grabbing onto Brynn's arm in surprise.

"Calum?" I asked incredulously. Oh boy what did I miss out on being dumbstruck? Not only is he incredibly attractive, but he's a football king? My parents would love him, I would literally win my family if I could've snagged him, but I'm stupid. So incredibly stupid.

This is why tonight is so stressful and important. If I can not only get a football player, but the best football player here and he looks that good, I can get my parents off my back. My mum went to university solely to get a husband, which she found in my dad. She worked as a primary school teacher until he could support them at his father's law firm, and before you know it, he was running the place. They pop out a few kids, dad runs for Parliament, and the rest is unfortunately history. Mum loved teaching, but she loved being a mum more. She just raised the 'perfect children' she liked to say to anyone who would listen. My too perfect to be true brother Cleo and her wannabe prima ballerina Celeste, me. So tonight, I have to look perfect, and everything has to be perfect, but I don't have time to bustle around and host. This party has to go on autopilot, so I can set my focus on Calum.

"It could be worse, Celley," Brynn shrugged as she set the grocery bags down on the counter of the boys' home. She's right, it could be. I didn't expect it to be this clean actually, but there were no discarded clothes in sight, no pizza boxes on the counters, and no beer cans all over the place. At first glance the place looks fine, I just have to get the dishes out of the sink and out of sight, so they're not broken. A quick vacuum run and the place would work out just fine. I relaxed a little letting my shoulders pull forward.

"Thank you, Lukey," I said, starting the water in the sink. I knew he was the only person who really did any cleaning around here. As much as they were all messy, he couldn't live in filth for too long.

"No problem," he replied sitting on the island watching me work.

"Hey, I picked up my own stuff," Michael complained looking through the bags we brought in pulling out various things.

"You picked up the underwear that your mum wrote your name in and sat back down." Ash always laughs when he chastises, never letting you know if he’s serious or not.

"Exactly. I picked up MY stuff. You guys never listen to me." He shook his head, disapprovingly.

"Thank you too, Mikey, but start throwing those balls around this kitchen, and I will cut yours off as a replacement," I said sweetly. His eyes went wide as he set the ping pong balls back in the bag he got them out of.

"So, what's the vibe going to be tonight?" Brynn asked, putting chips in bowls and swatting the boys’ hands away.

"Well I accidentally invited like twenty people this morning."

"And those people invited people," Ash added.

"And word got around so looks like we've got ourselves a rager," Luke said, rubbing his hands together with a devilish grin. "You've got to admit, we're becoming the best party house for first years."

"Calm down. We're just the only first-years who don't live in dorms where you can't party," Ashton said, punching Luke in the arm. Not many groups of friends stay together long enough or get into the same university for their parents to go in thirds on the house. It worked out to be less expensive than staying in dorms.

"We've got the fucking football team coming, Ash, I think we're doing pretty well." I listened to their banter silently as I cleaned and set things exactly where I had imagined them. The first guest started to arrive a few hours later after I had time to add a few extra touches and have my first glass of the wine Brynn and I had hidden in the fridge. Neither of us is too keen on liquor or beer.

Boys are scattered around the living room, passing around joints and playing FIFA. Girls talk around them, mingling on the patio. There’s a very competitive game of beer pong going on in the dining room that somehow consists of all four corners of the table instead of teams on halves. I was content for the first few hours refilling bowls and dancing with friends I had made at past parties. I even had time to play wingman for Michael and a blue-haired girl in the corner, but soon I got anxious. It was reaching the first hour of the new day. I found myself sitting on the floor between Luke's long legs watching him play Super Smash and stealing hits of the joint he had held between his fingers. I gave up on being cute at about two, smoking enough for my eyes to be as red as Luke's, and my shoes had long been discarded in one of the boy's rooms. I didn't know, nor did I care who's it was.

There were just about the maximum amount of people possible crammed into this small house, and I didn't bother saying excuse me as I got up to make my way to the bathroom. At one point there were so many people taller than me I felt I was walking through a forest. I tried slipping past one particularly muscular redhead boy caging a giggling blonde against the wall. I did my best to slip behind him, but he decided it was the perfect time to do the douche stretch and flex hitting me with the red cup in his hand. The pink sticky drink that was delicious if I do say so myself covered me from neck to foot. My skin went hot, and I'm pretty sure the blonde's giggles were going to cause me to evaporate the liquid from my skin with embarrassment alone. Where was my snarky American friend when I needed her to tongue-lash someone?

"I'm sorry, love," the boy said, failing to conceal his laughter. I tried to avoid his face at all costs burning a hole through his chest with my eyes. The school's emblem was stitched into his slate grey shirt, but I couldn't quite remember where I had seen this exact shirt before. I didn't have time to worry about it with my shirt becoming more see-through by the second and my head spinning in circles.

"Just let me by please," I said. Redhead stepped closer to the girl who was giving me a snarky look over his shoulder. "Stay in your lane, honey," I said, trying out one of Brynn's colloquialisms on my own tongue. My glare was enough to split the crowd like the red sea as I stormed past. Just as I reached the bathroom and twisted the handle, it swung open forcefully, revealing a disheveled brunette with smeared makeup and haunting blue eyes.

"What the fuck happened to you?" she said with an amused smile playing at the corner of her lips.

"I could ask you the same thing," I said, pushing my hair out of my face. "Are you finished in there, so I can get cleaned up or?" She just smirked sauntering out with a wink. I shook my head, entering the bathroom and shutting the door behind me. I looked in the mirror at my hair that was slowly but surely frizzing out, and my shirt may as well have been a window into my soul for how see-through it was. My mascara was smudged in the corners of my eyes and my lips had lost their shine ages ago.

"Are you alright?" I was startled by a voice coming from the toilet.

"Oh my goodness, I didn't know anyone was in here," I said, covering my eyes. "I thought that girl was the only one and she left and--"

"It's fine. I'm not doing anything but looking at my phone." I peeked through the cracks of my fingers to see a boy was sat on the toilet cover searching diligently through his phone. I scanned him from head to toe. Black Vans, faded black skinny jeans, a cut-up muscle shirt that was barely attached at his hips, exposing his defined torso and arms. His warm skin, his dark hair with a single gold streak running up the front. I gulped, hoping I would take my own advice and just spontaneously combust.

"I'm gonna just go," I said quietly, reaching for the door behind me. I had forgotten how quick he was on the field because he scared me shitless when his hand captured my shoulder stopping me from leaving.

"No, I'll go," he said quickly. "I don't think I'm going to find what I'm looking for anyways. Unless… do you happen to know whose party this is?"

"It's my mate's house actually," I said, quirking an eyebrow in confusion. He should know. He invited himself and the whole team this morning.

"So you know all the lads? Michael, Ashton…"

"And Luke," I finished for him.

"I've been trying to reach Ashton and I just barely caught Mikey before he went down to the beach with some girl. He let me in, but there's so much going on I never made it past the kitchen. Do you know where Luke is?"

"Uh… couch." I pushed my hair out of my face taking a deep breath. I may as well just give up at this point. I'm in no position to charm anyone, and I can see the remnants of that girl's lip gloss on his lips. It was kind of cute on his pink pout, but I shook my head to clear the thought. He's not looking at me like that, and he probably never will.

I turned the faucet on testing the temp before grabbing a washcloth from the cupboard and washing the stickiness from my neck and exposed stomach. I expected him to leave, but he just sat back on the toilet cover, fiddling with his thumbs. He looked forlorn, his eyes longing.

"You ok?" I asked undoing the tie at the front of my shirt and attempting to wring it out to no avail. I glanced at the sad boy in the mirror and shrugged before pulling the wet material over my head and rinsing it out underneath the water. It's not like anything was left to the imagination with it on.

"Have you ever heard Luke say anything about me?" he asked quietly.

"Kinda," I tilted my head slightly as if it would help me think harder. "He did say you used to be his best mate when we went to one of your matches."

"He did?" he asked, perking up like a puppy.

"Yeah, watches every match. About loses his mind with pride every time you score, which you do quite often, good on you," I said, fixated with the faint pink water swirling around the drain. Maybe it wouldn't be a lost cause to put this in the wash. I'm so high and sleepy it probably won't make it tonight. "Well, I'm gonna go. If you work it up in you to go see Lu, tell him I've gone back to my flat. I'm sure he'd be thrilled to see you."

"I'll do that," he said, standing up assuredly. "I'm Calum, by the way."

"I gathered that," I said with a small grin. "I'm Celeste." When I opened the door, I didn't imagine how bad it might look with me leaving sans shirt, with the school's football star following close behind me. I decided to start caring in the morning when I had Brynn to complain to. I'm a person who knows how to quit while they're ahead. My perfect night shouldn't be able to get any worse, and I'm not going to give the universe the time to try.

#5sos fanfic #5sos #Calum Hood #calum hood fanfiction #Calum Hood fanfic #Luke Hemmings #michael clifford #Ashton Irwin #First fic #Perfect Ch. 1 #five seconds of summer #football!Calum

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mystech-master · 5 years

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Some other BBTAG scenarios that’d be cool

(I will now try and limit myself to the o.g. 4, b/c I barely know jack about Arcana Heart, Senran Kagura, Akatsuki Blitzkampf)

I might’ve mentioned some of these before, but I’m including them here for completionists sake

1. Ragna hanging out with Gordeau. I like his interactions with Ragna in BBTAG’s story okay, he treated Ragna with respect. Maybe Ragna meets Gordeau in Kanzakai and he goes to Gordeau’s bar and they chat. Ragna learns about how the Hollow Night works, they could chat about how annoyed that are by their usual aquaintances (Goedeau about Hilda and Chaos, and Ragna about.....well almost everyone in his life). Maybe Gordeau and Ragna get on the topic of revenge, since Ragna wants revenge on Terumi and Gordeau has a vendetta against Wagner. Ragna talks about how he had Terumi at his mercy once (CS’ climax) and Gordeau asks if it was worth it. Ragna notes that it was unsatisfying due to Terumi laughing during it when Ragna wanted him to suffer, AND recalls how Lambda died for him, and says it wasn’t worth it. (I see this as between CS and before CP).

If you want to go even further, maybe Gordeau introduces him to the rest of Amnesia (or Hilda and Chaos show up at the bar as Ragna and Gordeau are talking), and they offer Ragna to join Amnesia, sensing the power he has and saying that they share similar goals of taking down their world’s organizations of Order (Amnesia vs Licht Kreis and Ragna vs the N.O.L.). Of course Ragna tells them to fuck off b/c “When I did it it was for revenge, you’re doing it for shits and giggles” (TFS reference). I mean Hilda says that Amnesia’s purpose is just a bunch of people who want to be powerful and have fun. But they don’t kill, that rule was made clear by Chaos in Ekidu’s Chronicle Mode (following the death of Roger and Ogre in Gordeau’s Chronicle Mode).

2. Ragna in Remnant, like his first visit there. Of course Ruby might want to talk to him more, Yang gives him the benefit of the doubt for saving Ruby, Blake is in the middle considering I think she’d understand the situation they were in but also be wary of his Soul Eater ability (I think Blake would notice that), while Weiss would be against him due to her seeing his wanted poster for 90,000,000,000 PD. Ozpin could have Qrow tail Ragna since he is Oz’ informant and Ragna does seem to be a more active/immediate threat to those who don’t know him (if you want comedy maybe Qrow’s Misfortune semblance causes more grief for Ragna. Assuming that RWBY still have their System Crystal from RWBY’s ending, they could tell Ozpin about this and Oz will be up to speed.

So when Ragna shows up at Beacon he gets called to the Headmaster’s Office where the Ozluminati is waiting for him to just get the run down on things. Ragna’s bad attitude would attract Grimm, and also his Soul Eater makes him quite dangerous in a world where the powers are based on the Soul. Oz doesn’t want to start shit and Qrow probably has enough info to see he isn’t AS bad as people say, and that the situation is far more complicated. But Ragna is still a criminal with a dangerous power. The only reason he’s only being given a warning is due to Ruby’s good word, and if he tries anything, no matter the cost he WILL doe everything in his power to stop him from harming his students or the world he has sworn to protect as a Huntsman. Plus the fact that they can’t exactly enforce the las of a whole other Dimension.

Glynda is a bit wary of Ragna but respects Ozpin’s decissions, but Ironwood is in the camp of “This guy is a danger to us, so we should either contain him or kill him”.

If you want to go a bit more into the adult interactions, maybe after Qrow hears of Ragna’s shit lif ehe tries to take Ragna out to drink, but I think Ragna isn’t one to drink b/c he’d see it as a bitch’s way of dealing with probelms. But if Qrow annoy him to a point they have a drink off, butRagna out drinks him b/c his Azure Grimoire has a healing factor against toxins too (as shown how he shook off poison in one of the mangas) so he can’t get drunk.

Or you could have Taiyang seeing Ragna fight (Grimm, sparring with Qrow, who knows) and he picks up on how Ragna’s fighting is like Yang’s: prefering to go trhough everything and rely on your power when you get in a jam. But it can’t always save you. Maybe even have Tai give Ragna a thanks for saving his daughters, or this could be the only way you imagine Burnie Burns as Tai channel his inner Church and have him sass Ragna.

3. Referencing back to the post about the scene in CS where Ragna is with the Kaka Clan, you know the one I constantly reference. I'd imagine that after a week or so of everyone just chilling with each other Ragna is WAY more chill with everyone. So what I thought was maybe Yang and Akihiko, along with a few others maybe, are at a boxing gym and then Ragna shows up being......oddly more friendly/chill than usual, and just have them all have a friendly spar and just have Ragna be chill and friendl with people who don’t insult him or treat him like ass. I wish there was another cool brawler in UNI that Ragna could get along with to even it out.

4. Something smaller, just put anyone in the Kaka Village and watch cuteness overload. You guys saw how Weiss was with Zwei and Adrien, and Kanji wanted to pet Jubei so imagine how he’d react to the Kaka kittens.

5. Just something simple and cool for fighting shit: The I.T. go through the Emerald Forest in the style of Beacon’s Initiation Exam. With the 4 o.g. members of the I.T./current 3rd years (Yu, Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko) for one team, with the later members/2nd years form the other team (Naoto, Kanji, Teddie and Rise).

6. Adam Taurus and some other W.F. members are raiding a Sector Seven outpost/storage facility only to be intercepted by Makoto and Blake. After some fighting maybe Kokonoe talks over intercom or through a video screen so we can have some philosophical discussion between her and Adam,. Adam saying she’s kissed up to humans, while Kokonoe calls Adam and the WF bitches for letting the humans’ insults get to them this far. Makoto and Blake are a but uncomfortable, b/c while Adam is too heated about the animal people racism resulting in him going to murder people, Kokonoe has become a cold hearted bitch who, while not evil, has some issues.

7. How does Raven react to all this Cross-Dimensional bullshit? One idea I had was Yu talking with her to try and get her to see the Power of Friendship! He notes how her power also works through bonds, being able to make portals to those she has an emotional connection to (her former husband, brother, and daughter). Maybe then he unleashes his Wild Card aura to show how powerful Friendship can be (you know, the same aura that makes Elizabeth, the one who oneshots Erebus every other month, step back). Raven could still call Yu a naive idiot for thinking he can stop the horrors of Salem, although even she finds it hard to beleive that when Yu most likely just showed off Izanagi-no-Okami aura which was said by Izanami to possibly be near godlike power.

8. Sho Minazuki and Carmine Prime meeting. Both are vulgar fight happy assholes who have a blood moon motif going on. Sho goes to Kanzakai b/c the Hollow Night is full of assholes he can fight for fun. He and Carmine can fight and mayeb vibe off each other a bit, but Sho at leats has a tragic past while Carmine is just a loser who doesn’t care if he dies in a gutter. Mabe Labrys could say something like “I’m glad that Sho-kun finally has a friend he can relate to.....but.....I don’t think he’s a good influence.” As Sho and Carmine are laughing manicaly as they fight.

9. Ozpin learning about the Insulator and just....needing to sit down. Because as we all know from Vol 6, he had No plan to defeat Salem and was playing the long game defense. But now thanks to this cross-dimensional bullshit, here is the perfect weapon to FINALLY end it! Oz tries to talk to Linne about convincing Hyde to let him use it. But Linne has told Hyde to guard the Insulator with his life, and Linne doesn’t trust anyone else with it. Eventually Ozpin’s desperation leaks through and Linne connects the dots about Salem’s Immortality and Ozpin hiding her immortality. She then holds it over Oz’s head that if he tries to force the Insulator from Hyde she’ll spill his secret.

DRAMA

10. The main heroes (Ragna, Yu, Hyde, and Ruby) all talking with System just wondering what it would’ve been like if they all lived in a merged world. How would their lives be different, imagine them all going to school together? The possibilities are endless.

11. Doctor Oobleck beign fascinated by these other worlds and wanting to learn about their histories. Espeically the Persona and Under Night worlds (as thye are “Earth” worlds where things are very normal, no Grimm to limit humanity to 4 kingdoms and some small villages that get razed to the ground on a weekly to monthly basis. That sounds like it would be FASCINATING for a historian like Oobleck. Unfortunately since Earth doesn’t have dark monsters to unite against, we have a shit load of wars against each other. Which could lead to a lot of philosophical discussions about how people can only band together if they have a mutual enemy.

Just imagine Oobleck talking with Jubei or Bang about the Ikaruga Civil War, just Oobleck and Bang talking would be fun.

12. The robot girls: Noel, Aigis, Labrys, Vatista, and Penny all hanging out. Vatista is the most Robotic, Aigis has the most “life” expereince, Noel is the most “human”, Labrys and Penny are both very human like but naive and lack life experience. So they could all talk about shit.

13. Weiss wanting to spend time with Mitsuru, b/c Mitsuru is basically everything Weiss wants to be: she is an exceptional leader (commanding both SEES in her school years and current leader of the Shadow Operatives), a skilled fighter (Mitsuru flawlessly summons her Persona and Weiss struggles with summons at Beacon, AND her 1 v 1 Win-Loss record is kind of iffy), and she is on her way to redeeming her family name and company (after Mitsuru’s grandad caused the Dark Hour Incident 10 years before P3, and Weiss wants to redeem the SDC from her father) although IDK if it is still going on because A. people are still against Kirijo for the explosion accident 10 years before P3, or B. people are just against a woman being in power. Like Mitsuru is liek a perfect role model for Weiss.

I might add more later, lemme know what you guys think and if you guys want to take these to use them for fics.

#bbtag #blazblue cross tag battle #blazblue #persona #p3 #persona 3 #persona 4 #p4 #persona 4 arena #p4a #persona 4 arena ultimax #p4au #under night in-birth #uni #unib #rwby #crossover #character interactions

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slothgiirl · 5 years

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forever isn’t for everyone (is forever for you) part 8

We hit the ground running and there's no time to be awkward around Alex. Not when I'm always rushing about, trying to confirm and pin down people and rushing into the bus after a show.

The states are huge. With long distances to cover between shows, the scenery passing us by in the dark. Ben’s knowledge of it all comes in handy, leading us to our if the way places with good food and he keeps the drinks coming.

I barely get a chance to realize I'm in Canada before we're getting back on the tour bus and it's not long before I'm taking a drag from the joints that get liberally passed around out of sheer boredom.

There's only so much to do on the road, couped up in a bus with a bunch of techies. Lucy laughs at my sad attempts to play blackjack and I can only laugh along with her.

It's a good thing that there's two tour buses. I don't think I could stand to be couped up with Alex. If he wanted to avoid me then I'd do him a favor and avoid him as well. My gaze passing over him as all of us sat down late at night as we pulled into New York city, a free day from a concert but a press day all the same.

Jaime finds out from Lucy that I'm terrible at blackjack and grins as he wins american bills from me, laughing easily, Miles taking the blunt of the attention off of a band that hates all the bells and whistles that come along with being successful. "aren't you supposed to be good with money," he jokes as he wins for the fourth time in a row as we wrap up a shoot, the sun having set while we spent the day with the press.

I was starving. Fruit platters were not enough. I giggle, "that's not all economics is! and it's a card game. Not my fault i'm still getting the hang of it."

"You didn't play it at uni," Nick asks with a grin, having successfully extracted a number off the shoots stylist.

"No. At least I didn't. I was too busy getting a degree unlike some people I know," I reply looking at them both meaningfully. We'd settled in with each other easily by now.

Jamie shrugs shamelessly, "rather be a rockstar than have to go to uni."

" 'fink I would've dropped out," Nick muses.

"We'll see who has the last laugh when your on some reality show for washes up rock stars in ten years," I retort back with a grin.

"That soon," Nick snorts. "Give us at least twenty years."

The famous skyline passes by us as we head out to meet the others and we never steal a glimpse at the statue of liberty before were hauling ass to Detroit and a plethora of other cities never mentioned in movies.

And if I can sometimes feel Alex's stare on me, I force myself to ignore it, losing myself in the drinks and Lucy rambling on about one of her many pet peeves. Tonight's being the fact that men are disgusting and can't keep anything clean and would it kill them to keep their dirty clothes off the floor, "I swear I can't even see the tour bus floor anymore!"

"It'll get better when we do laundry," I offer before she's off again. Laundry won't get done until we leave for the first european leg. There's no breaks in between.

Mum complains that I'll miss my sisters eighteenth birthday but it can't be helped. Hopefully all the trinkets I've been collecting from tour will make up for it once I send the package before it fills up all my suitcase.

In the blink of an eye, we're in Salt lake City, having made our way across the country in a way I could've only dreamed of and I know I made the right choice when I took the job.

"Told you you'd fall into it," Ben utters, wrapping an arm around me with a carefree smile before he's off giving directions and tell some techie to load up on alcohol because their weird about it in Utah.

I shake my head.

"He's right though isn't he," Lucy grins, a joint in hand and Miles beside her, bits of glitter from yesterday's show still stuck on his skin.The sunset just makes the panorama look even more gorgeous that it is. The mountains in the distance and the intensity of the green surrounding us.

"Yeah Ellie," Miles grins, charming as ever, "bet those wankers who took on," he pretends to straighten up a tie, "very proper jobs are about ready to knell over and die."

I snort, taking a drag of the joint. Oh what my parents would say if they knew how much weed and alcohol I'd been having lately. I might have not done much in uni but I was more than making up for it now. "

Hey they get bank holidays," I joke, running a hand through my hair and wondering if this was the kind of panorama all those english romantics had been on about, "meanwhile I have to put up with your ugly mug!"

"Oi," Miles grins back sharply, "NME called me an indie dreamboat."

"Lucy must have bribed them."

Lucy throws her head back, bursting into laughter, "come on I'm starving and Ben said there's a mexican place with bottomless mimosas today since they don't sell alcohol on sundays."

"What the fuck," Miles shouts, before shaking his head, "this is why no one likes americans."

As promised there are bottomless mimosas which Miles plows his way threw with glee. The techies are already at the venue, having an early start the next day. The grueling schedule means no nice hotels and I miss the meandering pace we had down under.

Jamie doesn't let the lack of dance floor stop him roping Lucy along, our group causing a ruckus between the food and drinks and Miles being Miles, clamping Matt on the back as he shares stories that have to be wildly exaggerated.

There's just no way he'd had a threesome with Jack and Meg White not matter how loudly he said it was true as Matt kept rolling his eyes.

I drink and flint in and out of the conversation, the lion share of my work having been finished on the bus. Watching as Matt sneaks off with a pretty girl.

We were technically supposed to stop any of that monkey business before a concert, but Matt was good about making his way back unlike Miles who'd we'd lost in Montreal, the language barrier not helping.

It had been Alex who'd found him in the end, playing with some street musicians.

Alex joins in, playing along with Miles as they both get completely trashed, Miles glomping onto Alex's side like a damsel in distress while Alex laughs.

Despite what's happened between us, I still find myself stealing glances when I can, when the rooms dark and he's not holed up on the bands bus, waking up late in the day and dominating Miles attention.

As if he could hear my thoughts, Alex looks over at me catching my gaze, his eyes still holding the same warmth of a hot cuppa in winter.

I look away, letting Lucy pull me along with her and Jamie who's gone ruddy red as he dances badly. It's all the push I need to dance with them.

Tomorrow I'd have a killer hangover, but tonight Lucy and Jamie were both mouthing along to Poker Face and that was too good not to get caught up in.

#Alex Turner #alex turner fanfic #alex turner imagine #alex turner x reader #forever isn't for everyone

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gotatext · 5 years

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PREFERRED NAME — nora. i think i started going by it in like, 2009?? my full name is eleanor but i hated it n thought it was way too pretentious n i never felt like it fitted me so when i started writing on forums i decided i’d be a nora rather than eleanor and then my school friends called me it and it just kinda stuck, the only person who calls me eleanor is my mum

PRONOUNS — she / her / ethereal being beyond comprehension

AGE — 23 but i tell everyone im 21 because even tho time is literally fake im desperately clinging to that fleeting thing we call youth trying to catch it like smoke in my hands

PINTEREST — i actually have two. this one is my main one where i just cram all my shit n i’ve had it for years and some of its super unorganised. then i also have this one which is one i made for exclusively female characters. it started as mythological figures but now its like, women in literature and the occasional oc as well. variety is the spice of life!

DISCORD — lindsay lohan’s meth#8664

TUMBLR (PERSONAL/MUSE/RPH) — i used to be froseths but now im pvrscphones cos ya gal is a fucking whore for mythology

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE — oi oi guvna ere’s me twitta. also here’s my letterboxd n my goodreads if anyone still uses tht

MYER-BRIGGS — enfp / infp border .... the classic profile of a lit student

HP HOUSE — hufflepuff, am fuckin mad.

ZODIAC — libra which is a joke because i am in no way balanced but i guess i AM indecisive and a peacekeeper so?

DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTROLOGY? — i believe it when it says good shits gonna happen in my life and blame it if bad shit happens but i don’t strongly follow it i just find it interesting

HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU STARTED RPING ON TUMBLR — maybe like 14?? my first rp blog here is literally so embarassing i wrote as clove from the hunger games n my best friend irl wrote cato :/ it was wild

WHAT YEAR WAS IT? — like 9 years ago?? 2010 maybs

NAME A RANDOM ROLEPLAY THAT STICKS OUT IN YOUR MEMORY — me n my friend ellie made this really cool group the summer before we left for uni which was loosely based on a concept mentioned mayb once in the divergent series, but it gave us loads of freedom to make it our own thing. it was called the fringe n it was like..... this dystopian society where people with different genes were cut off from the rest of society n lived in overrun slum cities where different groups had like, a monopoly over weapons, produce, etc.... my character jack was the leader of this lost-boy-esque tribe called the wolf pack who were hunters n used to run across the rooftops wearing the skins of animals they’d killed and engage in tribal rituals with sacrifices to the gods n shit. sounds lame but everyone there was so invested in their character arcs that it was a shame to see it go. but ! it kind of reached its end point so we blew it up w nukes n they all died. tragic.

WHAT WEIRD ANIMAL WOULD YOU HAVE AS A PET IF IT WAS REALISTIC — a fox?? do ppl keep foxes? idk i’ve always just felt a sense of connection w them like when a fox stares at me im like this shit is life i am living and breathing in this bitch.... visceral

NAME THE FIRST SONG ON YOUR DISCOVER WEEKLY ON SPOTIFY OR THE FIRST SONG THAT COMES ON APPLE MUSIC / ITUNES SHUFFLE — everbody party tonight by cobra man n summer girl by haim..... not my usual stuff but big summer chillin vibes,.....

NAME A BOOK THAT YOU READ IN SCHOOL THAT YOU SURPRISINGLY LIKED — lord of the flies and also the handmaid’s tale. one of assignments was to write a chapter from another character’s perspective n i chose moira

NAME A BOOK YOU HATED THAT MOST PEOPLE LIKED — skellig. fuck off with ur asprin ugly bat man i don’t care. also of mice and men. don’t care about the rabbits or curley’s goddamn wife.

WHAT TV SHOW DID YOU RECENTLY BINGE? — im not a big binger bc i find it jst makes me depressed if i watch tv all day but im nearly finished stranger things season 3 n i recently finished euphoria (big rec but proceed w caution as quite triggering content)

FAVOURITE QUOTE — cool girl speech from gone girl. but also “there’s something dangerous about the boredom of teenage girls” i know its like.... such an overused quote but it really encapsulates this kind of feral girlhood that a few of my characters like bridget n greta have tapped into. i also loved the line “i feel like i could eat the world raw” from song of achilles, that really captures this kind of.... pure n childlike enthusiasm tht i wanna achieve w rory

LINK TO A VINE THAT EXUDES YOUR ‘ENERGY’ — this is my energy completely am always covered in glitter n staring broodily out of the windows of ubers at 4am like im in the sad bit of an indie film

DO YOU WRITE OUTSIDE OF RP? WHAT DO YOU WRITE? — uhh.... not as much as i shd.... i want to be a writer so i shd be makin some effort to get my stuff Out Into The World but im just not.... lol. ive done a lot of poetry collections . i wnt to finish a novel @ some point too.

THREE YOUTUBERS YOU STILL TRUST — bold of you to assume i trust any youtubers

A CELEBRITY CRUSH THAT JUST WON’T QUIT — id literally die for saoirse ronan n timothee chalamet :/ chance perdomo also owns my ass.

EVER MEET A CELEBRITY? SHARE YOUR STORY — i once high-fived dani harmer, the actress who played tracy beaker. today my sister text me tryin to make me guess what celebrity she just saw on holiday in wales and for ages she let me think it was timmothee but it was actually bradley walsh from the chase :/

WHAT’S YOUR PICTURE-PERFECT NIGHT? — i am in a bomb ass crop top and mini skirt, several scrunchies in my hair, glitter all over my face, wearing cowboy boots. we eat dinner in a trendy but affordable pub that doubles up as a cocktail bar n then we drink zombies or sex on the beaches n go to a rave where everyone is on the same wavelength n i share drugs with girls in the toilets and we swap numbers knowing we will never text each other but its ok bc in that moment we feel like we are soulmates and everyone is super drunk n touching everyone else n its all very visceral and we walk through the woods when the rave ends and lie in the grass because we wish to suck out all the marrow of life

A CONSPIRACY THEORY YOU KINDA BELIEVE IN — princess diana was murdered

ARE ALIENS REAL? — maybe the real aliens are the friends we made along the way

PLAY ANY PHONE GAMES? WHICH ONES? — love island game im addicted and way too invested in my fictional relationship with bobby, a cartoon

WHAT’S A FILM YOU LOVED WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG AND RECENTLY WATCHED, ONLY TO FIND OUT YOU DON’T ANYMORE — bold of u to assume i remember my childhood. but if we’re talking last 10 years angust, thongs n perfect snogging is so so cringe

DO YOU COLLECT ANYTHING? — pairs of glasses belonging to other ppl when they break / get new ones even though i can see perfectly well.

WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BUT YOU’RE TOO LAZY? — mythology...... always a craving and a wish i’d read like ancient texts but my school wasn’t good enough to do greek or latin or any of that shit n even tho i could read english translations i cant be bothered. also criminal psychology

THREE LANGUAGES YOU DON’T SPEAK, BUT WISH YOU COULD — italian, french and latin

MOVIE YOU’VE WATCHED MORE THAN 5 TIMES — ladybird, about time, angus thongs, shrek 2, what we do in the shadows, the history boys, atonement, coraline, the breakfast club, ferris bueller’s day off

NAME A FICTIONAL CHARACTER FROM TV/FILM/MOVIE/GAME/BOOK THAT YOU FIND YOURSELF PROJECTING ON / YOU RELATE TO — cecilia lisbon. rue in euphoria. alison brie in glow. adam parrish in the raven cycle. richard papen. olivia cooke’s character in thoroughbreds. allen ginsberg in kill your darlings. lily in sex education. holliday grainger’s character in the film animals --- i too am an aspiring writer who never writes and just gets drunk instead .

DO YOU FOLLOW ANY SPORTS? WHO DO YOU ROOT FOR? — no. cba

HOBBIES BESIDES WASTING AWAY HERE? — i go to the movies basically every day bcos i work in a cinema. im also a voracious reader n i occasionally do theatre or costume making

PLUG A TV SHOW / MOVIE / BOOK / VIDEO GAME / ETC… YOU WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD CHECK OUT — where the wild things are (film by spike jonze). animals. beats. the book fen by daisy johnson and a girl is a half formed thing by eimar mcbride. andy warhol’s biography from a to b and back again

WHOSE BRAIN WOULD YOU LIKE TO PICK, ALIVE OR DEAD? — phoebe waller-bridge on how i get her life. carey mulligan on how she got to be such a good actress n how i can become her. maybs wes anderson. maybs gillian flynn. i tend to listen to podcasts w the ppl i really wanna pick the brains of.

TEAM EDWARD OR JACOB? — edward :/

LAST MOVIE SEEN IN THEATRE — blinded by the light n i lovd it

DO YOU STILL READ? — when i finished uni i kinda got out of the habit but this week i finished two books so ive set myself the challenge of a book a week.

IF SO, WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? — i finished song of achilles yesterday n i also finished call me by your name yesterday. started circe by madeline miller today, im also partway through milkman by anna burns and the plays of annie barker

ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW MUCH DID YOU HATE FILLING THIS OUT? – 3 i didnt hate it bcos at heart i am self-indulgent and love fashioning some sense of self when i feel lost in a world that is scary and constantly changing

#wshedtask002

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neighbours-kid · 5 years

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Oh, 2019, What A Year You Were.

It is now a bit before 6pm on January 01, 2020. I just finished unpacking after coming home from my short holiday escape to Berlin for New Year’s with my best friend and frequent travel buddy. My feet are tired, my back hurts, and I’m sitting in bed now, thinking back on this last year and, it’s kind of hard for me to decide if it was a good year or less so.

My 2019 was not as eventful as my 2018. There was no large adventure to speak of like going to New York City for six months, or having to adjust back to life in Switzerland after that. 2019 was just…..uni. The same old trudge of going to class and thinking about texts that should be read (but wouldn’t be), the same old treading water without direction, stuck in one place, unsure what comes next. Or, at least, that’s what it feels like looking back on it.

When I did this looking back the last time, 2018 was not quite over yet. It was still December, I had a few more days of uni to go, all the Christmases and other celebrations still before me. At that point, I had no idea that I would meet a couple of people at the Christmas Party of our English Department and that these people would be largely responsible for tipping the scale of 2019 into ‘good’.

But I did. I did meet these lovely people I get to call something akin to family today. It’s only been a year, and I can’t quite believe it. Found family has always been my favourite trope in storytelling, and this little group of weirdos is exactly that. And to quote my favourite little alien creature, this is my family. I found it, all on my own. It’s little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.

These people are not perfect, they’re not flawless, they’re not angels. But they have more humanity between them than I’ve seen in a long fucking while. We’re all broken people, none of us is any better than the next, but we have heart. And I love them all so fucking much. They have all coloured in parts of my year in their own colours and I could not be happier about it. They’re a bunch of fucking weirdo nerds, but they’re my bunch of fucking weirdo nerds.

* * *

This year was, while largely uneventful, also very special in its own way. You know, after talking to my doc to get a date for a transgender consultation, my plan was basically to wait until I got it all lined up nicely, got my first shot of testosterone and then be like "hello world, this is happening, and if you have anything against it, whoops, too late.” Well, it didn’t quite work out like that. If you’ve been keeping up with this blog or my life in general, you know that my anxious ass decided to have a nervous break in the middle of January and come out to literally everyone then and there. And you know what? It’s good.

I’m not where I want to be, not at all. After January, I had expectations for 2019, I had hopes and dreams, wishes and plans. Unfortunately, that lead to a series of events that is tipping the scale of this year into ‘bad’. I wrote about this extensively before, but the process of starting testosterone is a long and tedious one and I am still not where I want to be, even after this entire year, but I currently see a shiny dot on the horizon that looks very promising in that department, and if everything goes as it should, it won’t be long now until I can start with the hormone treatment.

2019 started me down a road of self-discovery that is more open and public than it was before, and I am glad for it. But I don’t want to linger on that part of my year for too long. Let us look back for a while, relive some moments here and there.

On the train home from the airport today, I thought about what I did exactly one year ago. After everyone who had been at my place for New Year’s had left around lunch time on January 01, 2019, I had sat down in front of my TV and started a very movie and tv show heavy year. Over the course of this entire year, I noted down every movie and tv show episode, every short film and comedy special, everything that I watched. It…..added up quite a bit, to be completely honest. Let’s see….

For reference, I had holidays during January and half of February, as well as June all through August and half of September, and then again from the 21st of December onward. My marathon didn’t quite subside during university, but at least I didn’t binge quite so much.

In total, I watched 178 movies, 10 short films, and 685 episodes of 34 tv shows. That is 300h12 in movies, 1h38 in short films, and roughly 519h47 in tv show episodes. (Yes, I did just spend way too much time looking up all the run times…) That is a rough total of 821h37 for this year. That’s like….a bit over a month of time spent watching stuff. 1/12 of my year spent in front of a screen. Not entirely sure how I feel about this number.

I know that for some this might sound a bit excessive, but to be honest? There is so much more I want to watch and if I could do completely as I please, these numbers would look a lot different.

Here is, with the exact intention of being a big mess of a block, all the movies I watched in 2019. I highlighted a few that stood out to me especially. Not just because I liked them very much, or because they were particularly excellent, just because….they made me feel something different, I guess. The oldest movie I watched was Grease (1978) and the newest would be the comedy special John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch from this year. I started my year with Night at the Museum (2006) and ended it with season five of Leverage.

Grease (1978), My Neighbour Totoro (1988), Die Hard (1988), Batman (1989), Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Othello (1995), Mission Impossible (1996), Mary Reilly (1996), Wilde (1997), Animated Epics: Beowulf (1998), Mission Impossible II (2000), Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Fast and the Furious (2001), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Heartlands (2002), xXx (2002), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Underworld (2003), Bright Young Things (2003), Timeline (2003), The Deal (2003), Ocean’s Twelve (2004), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Laws of Attraction (2004), Dirty Filthy Love (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse (2005), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Underworld: Evolution (2006), Mission Impossible III (2006), Inside Man (2006), Night at the Museum (2006), The Da Vinci Code (2006), The Queen (2006), Die Hard 4.0: Live Free or Die Hard (2007), Music Within (2007), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Ocean’s Thirteen (2007), Zodiac (2007), Iron Man (2008), Twilight (2008), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Twilight: New Moon (2009), The Damned United (2009), Fast & Furious (2009), Sherlock Holmes (2009), The Holiday (2009), Angels & Demons (2009), Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), Inception (2010), The Bounty Hunter (2010), Twilight: Eclipse (2010), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Tron: Legacy (2010), Megamind (2010), Valentine’s Day (2010), The Expendables (2010), Red (2010), Eat Pray Love (2010), Iron Man 2 (2010), Beautiful Boy (2010), Fast Five (2011), Fright Night (2011, twice), Resistance (2011), Few Options, All Bad (2011), Jesus Henry Christ (2011), Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011), Mission Impossible IV: Ghost Protocol (2011), Pitch Perfect (2012), Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012), White House Down (2013), Admission (2013), I Give It A Year (2013), Escape Plan (2013), The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box (2013), Furious 6 (2013), A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), Red 2 (2013), Begin Again (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), Kill the Messenger (2014), The Monuments Men (2014), Midnight in Paris (2014), Paddington (2014), The Imitation Game (2014), Maleficent (2014), Chelsea Peretti: One Of The Greats (2014), John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid (2015, twice), Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015), Far From the Madding Crowd (2015), 7 Days in Hell (2015), Furious Seven (2015), Assassin’s Creed (2016), Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping (2016), Ali Wong: Baby Cobra (2016), Nocturnal Animals (2016), She Loves Me (2016), Passengers (2016), Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (2016), xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (2017), Michael Bolton’s Big, Sexy Valentine’s Day Special (2017), Brad’s Status (2017), Home Again (2017), Murder On The Orient Express (2017), Christmas Inheritance (2017), Paddington 2 (2017), You, Me & Him (2017), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Trevor Noah: Afraid of the Dark (2017), Dave Chappelle: The Age of Spin (2017), Dave Chappelle: Deep in the Heart of Texas (2017), Patton Oswalt: Annihilation (2017), Jack Whitehall: At Large (2017), Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King (2017), Katherine Ryan: In Trouble (2017), Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018), Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018), The Fate of the Furious (2018), Love, Simon (2018), Ocean’s 8 (2018, twice), Bad Samaritan (2018), John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous (2018, twice), Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018), Daniel Sloss: Dark (2018), Daniel Sloss: Jigsaw (2018), Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia (2018), Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife (2018), James Acaster: Recognise (2018), James Acaster: Represent (2018), James Acaster: Reset (2018), James Acaster: Recap (2018), Apostle (2018), The Holiday Calendar (2018), The Princess Switch (2018), The Christmas Chronicles (2018), Captain Marvel (2019, twice), Shazam! (2019, twice), Avengers: Endgame (2019, twice), Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019), The Hustle (2019), Rocketman (2019), X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019), Men in Black: International (2019), Tolkien (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Isn’t It Romantic (2019), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), Jenny Slate: Stage Fright (2019), Wanda Sykes: Not Normal (2019), Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room (2019), Simon Amstell: Set Free (2019), Adam Devine: Best Time of Our Lives (2019), Let It Snow (2019), Last Christmas (2019), Klaus (2019), Always Be My Maybe (2019), The Knight Before Christmas (2019), The Good Liar (2019), Hustlers (2019), Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker (2019), Murder Mystery (2019), John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch (2019)

TV shows are going to make up a block a bit less intimidating, but here goes. Again, highlighted what stood out to me especially.

The Gifted, Friends, NCIS, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Money Heist, Riverdale, The Punisher, Broadchurch, Elite, Doctor Who, Dramarama, Agents of SHIELD, Pokémon Indio League, Good Omens, The Chef Show, Jessica Jones, Halt and Catch Fire, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, The Simpsons, 30 Rock, The Good Fight, Sean’s Show, Gallowglass, Animals., The Spoils of Babylon, Pobol Y Cwm, Masters of Sex, Prodigal Son, Criminal UK, The Politician, Leverage, His Dark Materials, Zona Rosa, Derry Girls

Some old favourites in there. Some new ones too. I won’t list the shorts because I don’t particularly care for them. I watched them solely for binging-through-someone’s-filmography reasons.

So yeah, as you can see, a very strong year when it comes to the visual medium. I just really love movies and tv shows so much. I love this kind of storytelling, this particular form of it. There’s so much artistry there, so many talented people. I still very much would love to work in the movie world at some point. Inspires me greatly. Always has.

* * *

2019 was not just a year of sitting glued to a TV screen, not at all. I’ve been some places too, got to do and experience some cool stuff.

In April I was able to take a few days off and go to Lugano with my dear friend and relax for a little while. We also met up with one of the lovely people I’ve met through twitter, which was great fun and we’ve spent a fantastic day together (eating food I still catch myself thinking about at least twice a week).

In June I went to Pride in Zurich with my friends, which was also a wonderful experience all together.

In July I was able to go to Cologne for half a week for CCXP, where I got to see some great panels and meet some great people. And, most importantly and also the reason why I went, I got to meet Zachary Levi again, take a picture together, have a wonderful conversation while he signed something for me, and experience an incredibly inspiring panel where I got to ask him a question that he took the time and patience to extensively answer. I treasure these moments, just as I treasure all our previous meetings and the friends and experiences that have come with it. Seeing him again after two years was definitely the highlight of the year, and it’s a strong weight of the good part in the scale that is 2019. He’s always a highlight, the dude. I can’t wait until I get to see that face again.

Also in July, I joined a few friends for a weekend at a medieval festival in Germany, which was also a very interesting and good experience.

And now at the end of the year, I spent a few days in Berlin, visiting museums and bookshops and generally touristing about with my dearest friend, celebrated New Year’s with her in the only way we know how: with good wine, food, warmth, and a tv show we both love and hold dear.

I also shouldn’t forget the two parties I attended of our university’s English Department, and the Halloween party a friend organised, and the birthdays I attended over the year, as well as the Christmas I spent with my friends at my place.

All these things, all these little bits add up and add up and ultimately I want to think that 2019 was a good year. I am so glad this year is over, but looking back I find so many good things that have happened, so many wonderful experiences, and I wonder, why? Why am I so happy it is over? Why am I so desperate to move forward, to turn the page, to start a new chapter, a new book?

I don’t know. I really don’t know.

* * *

For this new year, for 2020, I have a few wishes. I’m not really one to make resolutions, because I know exactly I won’t hold myself to it, but I have some things I’d like to do, like to try.

2019 was my year of movies and shows. I won’t stop watching things, I’ll never stop watching things. But for this year, I want to put my focus elsewhere. This year, I’d like to try and read all the books that have amassed themselves in my possession, that I haven’t actually read yet. It’s doable, I don’t own enormous amounts of books yet. I want to try that. I want to try to read more, to find that passion and attention span again that I had as a kid. I might try to blog a bit about it, just so I have something to hold me accountable. We’ll see. But I just really want to read more. Carry a book everywhere I go.

I know that 2020 is bringing me another step closer to becoming my truest self. I have my next appointment with the hormone specialist early in February, and if I am not entirely mistaken (or something is drastically changed) I will be able to start taking hormones then and there. Starting testosterone is going to be exciting and interesting, and I am very much looking forward to it. What I want for myself this year, is to take it easy. Be kind to myself in this journey. Let myself be gentle. I always have so many expectations for myself, and I really just want to try and…let myself be, let myself just live and experience things as they come. No expectations.

This first half year of 2020 is also the time I will be writing my Bachelor thesis and, hopefully, by summer I’ll have my degree. It’ll be a tough but I hope also rewarding time for me. Having to shift the way I write papers (quick, barely researched and sourced, not even remotely re-read, always started mere hours before the deadline) to something more useful for a thesis, something fitting for a thesis, is going to be challenging. Keeping my head in the right space, keeping the focus and doing the work, it’s all going to be hard for me. But I have faith that I will find a way to reign in my scatterbrain and flick the hyper-focus switch into something that will be sustainable for the time I have to write my thesis in.

Speaking of my thesis, there is something I have not mentioned yet, that strongly informed my experience of 2019. Good Omens is the book I’ll be writing my thesis about (specifically a queer theological reading of it) and Good Omens was the story that has shaped my year. I re-read the book at the beginning of term and once the mini-series came out at the end of May, I did not really think about anything else since. This book and this show are so incredibly important to me, and it is, after a long while of nothing even remotely getting there, the first thing that has captured my attention so strongly, that it has outlasted my one-month hyper-focus ability and shows no signs of stopping any time soon. And that I am so incredibly grateful for. I wasn’t sure if I could still do it. Have an interest, have passion for something, for longer than a month. So many things I tried and loved and done, and after a single month, I dropped them like a hot potato and never touched them again. But Good Omens came and took me by my hand and lead me into the promised land. Especially since the show came out, I feel like a changed person. I have talked about it to no end, and I could go on forever now too, but I’ll just say this for now: This story of an angel and a demon crossing the divide that is their differences, coming together in love for the world, for humanity, and each other, this story means everything to me, and it has given me so much. Nothing is ever going to change that. That is irrevocable. And I know that 2020 won’t change that fact. I have faith that this passion will continue on and will inspire more positive change in me. It’s already started bringing me back to writing and drawing, so I know that it will lead me somewhere.

There is so much more I could say here, now, about 2019, about 2020. About my plans and my wishes, my dreams and the things I ought to do. But I think, I’ll leave it at that, for now. I tried this monthly blogging last year for the first time, and I think I’ll try to continue doing it. So, you can expect to read more of my thoughts on all kinds of things.

For now, however, let me say this: 2020 can be anything you want it to be. 2020 is yours to shape, yours to create in, yours to manage, yours to use. I want my 2020 to be gentle, to be taken one step at a time, to be experienced to the fullest, to be lived and felt and actively experienced. Sure, bad things can happen, bad things can always happen. But it’s your decision what happens next.

In 2020, I want to start loving more unapologetically. Do good, recklessly. Be kind, always. Not just to others, but to myself.

…

I have faith in us, you know? Humans. There’s so much hope there, still. 2020 might just as well show it.

…

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope it’ll be a good one for you.

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wroetominter · 6 years

Text

Fling - Vik Imagine

Title: Fling

Pairing: Vik x reader (younger)

Requested(?): yes long ago, sorry for the wait!

Warnings: alcohol, sexual themes

———

Driving down the familiar road through the trees and smelling the crisp fresh air as the wind whipped through my hair was like a flash to the past. Ever since I was about eight years old I had been coming to this summer camp. It was a two month camp that was a place for kids to be and have fun while not in school.

My mom had dropped me off and I grabbed my duffel, deciding to come back later for my larger suitcase. The air was warm and the sun was shining through the trees. Cabins lined the woods and a large fire pit was in the middle. It was all so familiar and refreshing.

"Y/n! It's so good to see you!" My friend Amberleigh called. She was already wearing a counselors uniform and her dark hair was put up in a ponytail.

"You too! Are we in the same cabin?" I asked.

"All of the female counselors have one and the males have another. Some of the guys are really cute you have to meet them." I giggled with her and we walked to our cabin.

"Alright counselors, most of you know all of the rules and regulations so I'm not worried about your leadership skills, those of you that are new you'll get a veteran partner to help you out." Our head counselor told us. "Y/n will you show Vik around?" She gestured to a darker skinned boy who looked up at me with kind eyes.

"Sure thing, come on." I smiled and he immediately looked a bit more relaxed than he did a few minutes before.

"So this is your first year here?" I asked making conversation as we walked.

"Yeah my parents told me I had to stop gaming so much so they sent me here. I still feel my fingers absentmindedly moving over a keyboard sometimes." We laughed and I showed him the medical building.

"I've been coming here since I was eight. I know this place like my own home." He watched me talk and smiled.

"Then you know all of the secret hiding places then?" I nodded and met his gaze. "You'll have to show me sometime."

"Of course." I said.

—

"They looked so scared! You handled that really well Vik." I complimented him. Some of the kids had just tried to sneak off into the woods to go swimming later and Vik had caught them, stopping them before they could get any further.

"Thanks, I was really nervous that they wouldn't listen to be honest."

"I knew they'd listen. You have authority here. And it's their last night, they wouldn't want to get banned and not be able to come back next year. Speaking of, are you coming back next year?" I asked him.

"Depends. Are you?" I smiled and nodded my head yes. "Then definitely."

———

[Four Years Later]

"Vikky!" I screamed seeing my best friend exit his car.

"Y/n!" He called back, running towards me with his arms open. We embraced and pulled back with the widest smiles on our faces. This was our last year of being counselors together before we head off to uni in the fall.

"Are you ready for a summer full of adventure?" He asked.

"I'm always ready."

—

"Hey Y/n? Are you almost ready? The fires about to begin." Vik knocked on the door of the cabin and announced.

"I'll be done in a few minutes, just freshening up." I had changed into a hoodie and some leggings, making sure I wouldn't get cold during the breezy autumn night. I put my phone in my pocket in case I needed a flashlight during tonight's events and headed out the door.

I spotted Vik sitting on an otherwise empty bench and I joined him, putting my feet up and waiting for everyone else to show up.

We made s'mores and talked, sharing stories and revealing our favorite moments from camping so far. Mine was getting to meet all of my friends and the other campers, as I said this, Vik put his arm around me and hugged me close. This wasn't unusual behavior for us but what happened a few minutes later was.

"I'm gonna turn in for the night guys." Vik stood up and silently told me to follow suit.

"Same actually, long drive home tomorrow." Everyone muttered their goodnights as Vik and I walked back towards the bunks.

"Hey, this way." He grabbed my hand and pulled me off the main path and into the path that takes you to the lake.

“Vik that’s off limits this late” I warned.

“And it’s your last night here, are you really that worried?” I shrugged, realizing he was right and following him to the dock.

He sat down and then reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a bottle of Jack Daniels. “Thought we could use a little something to celebrate.” I let out a small gasp, shocked that he was doing this. He was normally a person that followed the rules but tonight seemed to be different.

He passed the bottle and I took a drink, letting the warm alcohol burn my throat. He did the same and we kept sharing and talking until I was definitely feeling a bit of a buzz from the strong liquor.

“Can I tell you something?” He asked as we laid back and looked at the stars.

“Anything.”

“I’ve had a bit of a crush on you for the past two years.” He turned his head to look at me.

“Really? Why didn’t you say something sooner?” I asked, turning to look at him as well.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t feel the same and it would ruin our friendship.” Almost as if it was an instinct, I moved myself so I was laying on top of him, looking into his shocked eyes as his hands grabbed my waist lightly.

“You were dead wrong, Vik.” A burst of confidence came over me and I leaned in, kissing him softly as the alcohol mixed with my thoughts. One completely sober thought sticking out to me: I wanted him.

“Y/n, we don’t have to do this.” He said out of breath. I shook my head and continued to take off my top.

“I know. But I want to.” This seemed to light a fire within him as he started to remove my clothes as well as his.

He was gentle and passionate, caring for my every need as he pushed in and pulled out, giving me the utmost pleasure. After we had both reached our climax we laid there for a minute before redressing ourselves.

“I don’t want this to be the end of us Vik. Sheffield isn’t that far from Manchester. We can make it work.” He nodded, kissing me softly.

“I know we can. I’ll visit you every holiday I can.”

“And I’ll do the same. This isn’t just a summer fling, right?”

"Of course not." He put his arm around me and we walked back to the cabins. He kissed me goodnight and I went into bed, realizing that all of these summers weren't just good memories to look back on. They were also opportunities to make more memories throughout my life.

"Did he kiss you?" I heard Amberleigh mutter in her sleepy state. I giggled.

"Yes."

"Thank fuck it's about time you two realized you're mad for each other." And with that she rolled over and went to sleep.

I was gonna miss this place.

#wroetominterimagines #sidemen #imagine #vikkstar123 imagine #vikkstar imagine #vikkstar123 #sidemen imagines #sidemen imagine #vik imagine #vikk imagine

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guysbeingdudesbeingbros · 6 years

Text

Ditched ~ Reece Imagine

Prompt: hey love! can i request a reece imagine where him and reader have been dating for a while and he meets readers older brother when he comes home from uni and the bro invites him to hang out with him and his friends. It then turns into a weekly thing, and eventually he ends up cancelling movie nights and dates with the reader to hang out with bro ! the gf then tells her mum that she feels like she’s losing reece, and she calls his mum and then reece is really upset! that was long 😂 thanks love!!!

You had started dating Reece over the summer, having met him through one of your friends. You guys hit it off immediately, going on many dates and slowly developing deep feelings for each other.

Reece met your whole family after a few weeks of dating, but your oldest brother, Jack, was away at university so Reece wasn’t able to meet him. But luckily for you, Jack was home for the holidays and you were finally able to introduce them.

In the days leading up to meeting your brother, Reece was nervous. Everyone in your family loved Reece, but he was terrified to meet your brother.

“What if he is super protective? Or he doesn’t like that I’m older than you? What if he doesn’t like us together, Y/N?” Reece kept asking you millions of questions, and each time you had to tell him ‘no’ and that your brother would love him.

The day finally arrived that Reece would meet Jack. You were going to hang out at your house, watch some movies and play video games, the three of you. Reece texted you saying he was outside your house, making you get up off of the couch where you were sitting with Jack, waiting.

“Be nice,” you warn dangerously, glaring at Jack a bit who just smiled innocently. You answered the door, giving Reece a hug and a quick peck on the cheek.

“Reece, meet Jack. Jack, this is my boyfriend, Reece,” you introduce, watching hesitantly as Reece shakes Jack’s offered hand.

“Nice to finally meet you, mate. All Y/N does is talk about you,” Jack teases, nudging you a bit as you scoff and blush a bit.

“Do not!” You argue, watching Reece relax a bit.

“Hopefully she says good things,” Reece joins in on the joke, slinging his arm around your shoulders. You just elbow him, trying not to laugh when he starts to chuckle.

“Mostly about how good you are at Fifa. Which I will need to see to believe,” Jack says, handing Reece a remote. You both sit down on the couch, you sitting in the middle and all get ready to play.

“How did you even score that? There were so many players in front of you!” Jack shouts in awe. The television plays the replay of Reece’s impressive goal, but you found yourself getting bored. You’ve been playing for hours, you gave up after a few rounds, being not as good as your brother and Reece are at the game. You were currently on your instagram, scrolling through the explore page because you were so bored. Reece and Jack were getting along really great, becoming fast friends. Which made you super happy, but you would like it if they did something that included you. Or if your boyfriend would give you a tiny bit of attention.

“I’m just awesome at Fifa,” Reece jokingly brags, putting down his controller and leaning back so his shoulder was resting against yours.

“Well I gotta go meet some of my friends. You know, you should hang out with us sometime, Reece! I think they would really like you!” Jack says, getting up off of the couch. Reece beams at him, glad that he has made good friends with your brother.

“Yeah? I would like that!” Reece agrees, making you smile. This honestly went way better than you expected. Reece and Jack quickly exchanged phone numbers so they could hang out, and then Jack left.

“So?” You prompt, wanting to find out if Reece really did like Jack or if he was still afraid of your older brother. Reece just smiled brightly, wrapping you up in his arms. You were so happy that he was happy.

A few weeks later and you were no longer as happy.

It started out fine. Reece and Jack became very close, even Blake and George started hanging out with Jack and his friends. Which was fine.

But then Reece started hanging out with them more often, at least once a week. When you asked to make plans, he would always say, “No, I can’t tonight babe. I’m going out with Jack and the lads,”. Which is fine! You are glad that he has friends and you guys weren’t the type of couple that needed to spend every second together.

But then Reece started skipping dates to hang out with them. He would call you up right before you were meant to meet up, saying the boys invited him somewhere, or that the boys were having a footie match in the park and needed him to play, or that he already saw that movie with the boys. It was infuriating. You just wanted them to get along, but you didn’t realize that for that to happen you needed to give up time with your boyfriend.

You were sitting on the stairs, tightly squeezing your phone. Reece just got off of the phone with you to say that he had to cancel your dinner date tonight to have a Fifa tournament with Jack at Blake’s house. It was supposed to be your make-up anniversary dinner, since you missed it due to Reece being on tour. So you were sat there, wearing a pretty dress and makeup on, trying desperately not to cry.

“Y/N? Love, I thought Reece was meant to pick you up fifteen minutes ago?” Your mum asked, coming to stand in front of you on the stairs. You feel your lip quiver, making her seem more concerned.

“He cancelled on me,” you admit softly, trying not to cry. You didn’t want to be upset by this, and you definitely did want to drag your mum into this issue. Reece was not hanging out with you, and was hanging out with your brother instead.

“What? Why?” She asked, shocked Reece would do that. She sat down on the stairs next to you, pulling you in close to comfort you. You rest your head on her shoulder, letting the tears drip slowly down your face.

“He keeps ditching me to hang out with Jack and I-I feel like I’m losing him,” you mumble, before launching into a huge explanation about the past few weeks and how things have changed. The whole time she just listens, comforting you and making you feel a little bit better. Afterwards she sends you off to your room for you to sleep, telling you that everything will be alright in the morning.

The next day you are woken up to your mum knocking on your door.

“Y/N, love you have a guest,” She says with a sweet voice. You groan, rubbing your eyes and wondering who would come to see you so early without you knowing. You sit up in bed, seeing Reece standing there. His face is blotchy, eyes are red and puffy, and he’s nervously fiddling with the rings on his fingers. Before you can ask, your mum pushes him gently into the room and shuts the door behind him.

“Reece, what are you doing he-” you start before Reece steps closer and cuts you off.

“I’m so so sorry! I never wanted you to feel like that! I promise you aren’t losing me, you never could lose me! I’ve been a huge jerk to you recently and I shouldn’t ditch you to hang out with the lads all the time! I’m so sorry, can you ever forgive me?” He begs, eyes getting watery again. You feel confused, not sure how he knew all of that.

“H-how did you know I said that? I told my mum?” You ask, feeling very lost.

“Your mum called my mum, who then told me and yelled at me for being a horrible boyfriend to you,” He explained, coming to sit next to you on the bed and take your hands gently in his.

“Reece, love, I forgive you. Please don’t cry anymore. I was just upset that you kept ditching me. I’m glad you have friends and get along so well with Jack. But, just can we try to spend time together?” You ask him, wiping a tear from his cheek. He nods quickly.

“Yes! I need to make it up to you! I won’t ditch you for them anymore! I love you and I don’t ever want you to hurt or think you’ll lose me again! I’m going to be with you for as long as you want me to be,” Reece promises, leaning his forehead against yours. You let out a breath of relief, squeezing his fingers tightly.

“Good. I love you, too. And I want to be with you forever,” You whisper before connecting your lips passionately.

Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for requesting, much love

#new hope club #new hope club imagines #nhc imagines #imagines #reece bibby imagine #new hope club one shots #one shots #reece bibby #new hope reece #new hope george #new hope blake #Blake Richardson #George Smith #reece imagine #request #prompt

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buttercream-me-up · 7 years

Text

Brother’s Best Friend // Josh Pieters

Word Count- 1842

 Summary- You’re Caspar’s little sister, and when you visit for the first time in years, you not only see Caspar, but your ex-boyfriend, Josh, whom you still have feelings for.

Warnings; Like one swear word, maybe?

 A/n; I really don’t know if I liked this one or not. Might do a part 2, when the reader has to return to SA.. let me know if you’d like one!

Requested; No, but requests are always open!

“Pineapple!” You called, ignoring the odd looks of random people and running at your brother as you spotted his tall figure and blonde pineapple-style hair above the sea of pushing people in the crowded airport. He turned and smiled as he saw you, opening his arms and catching you, engulfing you in a huge hug. “Y/N/N!” He laughed as you clung onto him, refusing to let go. “It’s been way too long!” You told him as you finally, reluctantly let go and looked up at him. “You’re still too tall, that much hasn’t changed.” You teased, and he simply shook his head at you. “You’re just too short, everyone knows it.” He retorted.

You were Caspar’s little sister, and you just turned 22, while Caspar was 23. You hadn’t seen him since he moved in with Joe, with the exception of christmas, where you’d seen each other for one day, and hardly counted it; seeing as you two had no time to catch up, just the two of you. You had such busy schedules, you with school, and him with YouTube, that you’d never really had time to just hang out. It didn’t help you had gone to school in South Africa, making it even more difficult for either of you to visit each other; even if you did have the time.

Finally you had a break on your term, and managed to sneak a vacation to the UK to visit your brother for two weeks To say you were happy was a complete understatement. You missed him loads; you two were very close growing up, the age gap helping to easily get along. There was also someone else you were quite excited to see again, not that you would admit it out loud.

Caspar ordered an uber prior, and after going through baggage claim and whatnot you were driving to his flat. He’d warned you that his mates were ‘round, and you were quite nervous. What if they didn’t like you? That’s what you were trying to tell yourself you were nervous about, but you knew it wasn’t really why you felt sick with nerves. You were nervous to see him again.

You stepped out of the uber, thanking the driver and following Caspar quietly up to his flat. “Don’t be so nervous, loosen up, Y/N!” Caspar said, smiling reassuringly and opening the door. You sighed, and forced on a smile, following him inside. You could hear FIFA in the next room over and rolled your eyes. Typical boys.

You followed directly behind Caspar as he greeted his friends and they all glanced over greeting him as well, before doing a double take when they saw you. You assumed it was because you looked hardly like Caspar at all, and they probably weren’t expecting that. Joe, who’d you met previously from him living with Caspar, paused the game, came over and hugged you first, welcoming you to London. The other boys were slightly confused, but came and greeted you nonetheless, except one. He was sat on the couch, frozen, wide-eyed. You both looked much different, you hadn’t seen each other in years and damn, did those years do him well.

You politely exchanged your greetings with the boys, who you’d now known as Conor, Oli, Jack and Mikey. He still hadn’t moved from the couch, and everyone seemed to notice the tension. You excused yourself to use the bathroom, and on your way returning you heard Caspar’s voice, and he didn’t exactly sound happy. “-was that about Josh? You didn’t even say hi to her!” You made out, pressing yourself to the wall to hide. You were curious, and hated eavesdropping, but you knew they were talking about you and you too wanted to know why he didn’t even greet you.

Josh didn’t answer verbally, so you assumed he merely shrugged. “You can’t pretend like nothing happened between you two, Josh.” Caspar said, softer now. “Why not?” Josh retorted, clearly frustrated with the conversation. “You two dated for 3 years!” Caspar replied, exasperated. The other boys gasped and muttered a few words of shock. “So? We broke up over 2 years ago, Caspar. There’s nothing else to it. It’s all old news.” Ouch. That hurt.

You see, you never did quite get over Josh. You’d broken up when Caspar moved, seeing as you were heading to Uni and never really had time for a relationship, while Josh was focusing on his Football and Cricket skills, and you two had a terrible argument and ended on bad terms. You had tried to call him, even just to be friends again, but you never had a reply, no matter how many times you’d tried, so you eventually gave up.

You composed yourself and walked out, smiling at the boys. You pretended to just notice their awkward expressions and furrowed your brows in fake-confusion. It was times like this, you were really glad you were a good liar. “Is something wrong?” You asked, your voice laced in confusion and concern. The boys all looked at each other guilty and shook their heads, refusing to speak. You quirked an eyebrow, playing along. “You do realize that was the least convincing possible thing you could’ve done, right?” You said, giving an unimpressed look.

The group of boys shuffled awkwardly and looked to Caspar, seeing as it was his sister. He refused to look her in the eyes, and instead was glaring towards Josh. You followed his gaze, taking a deep breath and realization set in your face. “Oh.” You muttered, biting your lip. You didn’t even have to pretend at this point, because your emotions were quite real.

“Hello again, Josh.” You said, kindly. He merely nodded and looked away. You frowned, but understood. An awkward silence hung in the air, and you didn’t want your entire trip to be like this. “So, you up for me to kick your ass in FIFA?” You challenged Caspar, easing the tension. He agreed with a smirk and you sat down, stealing Miley's controller and playing with the boys.

Throughout the evening, you and Josh hadn’t spoken a word to each other, and it honestly hurt you. You’d expected to see him when you’d agreed on meeting Caspar, but you didn’t think it would hurt so bad, even after 2 long years. You kept sneaking glances at the redhead, hoping to catch his gaze, to no avail. Little did you know, he was doing the same.

It was now half past 8, and all the boys were cleaning up the mess from dinner. Caspar grabbed my arm and pulled me into the room you were staying in. “What on earth are you doing, Caspar?” I asked, giving him an odd look. He shrugged, “Just stay here.” I gave him a questioning look, but did as told. He left the room, and less than a minute later, someone came crashing into the room, falling face first into the floor and the door slammed behind him. The crash startled you, and you were a bit shocked as it was sudden and out of nowhere.

You knew exactly what happened though, as soon as you saw the boy stand up, his fiery hair very visible in the dimly lit room. You shuffled awkwardly, biting your lip nervously. Josh walked over to the door and began banging on it, shouting at Caspar to open the door. “You and I both know he won’t open it.” You stated simply, sitting on the bed, looking unfazed. Truth was, your heart was racing at the thought of being in a room alone with Josh. (No, not in that way!) You two had hardly spoken since you broke up, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t still have feelings for your brother’s best friend, so you were very nervous.

Josh sighed, annoyed, and glared at the door, before turning to you. “Well then, what do you suggest we do? Seeing as you’re so smart and you’re the reason we’re in here!” He spat, making your eyes widen in shock. “It’s not my fault we’re in here!” You said, defensively. “Oh yeah?” Josh countered, glaring at you. “Yeah! If you weren’t being such a prat and spoke to me like a normal person, Caspar wouldn’t have thought it necessary to lock us in here!” You shouted back, furiously. Josh scoffed and marched over to you, not stopping until his face was inches from yours.

Your breath hitched in your throat from the proximity of your faces. If one of you moved forward slightly, your lips would be touching. You hesitantly looked into Josh’s eyes, to see his anger diminish and another emotion, you couldn’t quite decipher, filled his eyes.. It confused you, but you couldn’t think much of it because next thing you knew, his lips were on yours. You kissed back, wrapping your arms around his neck. God, did you miss this boy.

He pulled away slightly, looking into your eyes. “It hurt to see you again. I mean, I knew you were coming, but wow, I didn’t think it would feel like this. Every little thing we’ve done, from running around as children in the backyard, to playing football with Caspar on his last day in SA, came rushing back to me. I was scared that if I spoke, my voice would crack and I’d break down.” Josh admitted, barely talking above a whisper.

You pulled him into a hug, tears blurring your eyes. “I missed you.” You muttered, resting your chin on his shoulder. “I’ve missed you too, Y/N.” Josh said, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck, and leaving a soft kiss on the bare skin. You two let go, smiling at each other, before walking to the door. “Caspar, you can stop listening in now.” You said, laughing slightly. The door opened immediately and not only did you see Caspar, but Joe, Conor, Jack, Mikey and Oli as well. You only laughed, shaking your head.

“Now I get why you’re friends with these people, Caspar. They’re all idiots, just like you!” You said, jokingly. They all cried out “Hey!” in sync, making you laugh harder. “Point proven.” You smirked, walking out of the room, Josh in tow. You heard him being clapped on the back, but chose to ignore it. Boys will be boys, what are you gonna do?

You all decided to put on a film, seeing as you were quite bored of FIFA and had nothing better to do, and you all agreed on a night in. The jet lag was getting to you, but you didn’t want to go to bed. Instead, you curled up into Josh’s side, his arm lazily wrapped around you, drawing random shapes on your back. You felt yourself drifting off, and smiled. You were with your brother and your lover, and you couldn’t ask for more. You may not be here for long, but you sure as hell were going to enjoy your time here while it lasted.

#josh pieters imagine #josh #josh pieters #caspar lee #caspar lee imagines #buttercream squad #buttercream imagines #buttercream gang #buttercreams #oli white #conor maynard #mikey pearce #jack maynard #joe sugg #buttercream squad imagine

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punkscowardschampions · 5 years

Text

Edie & Nancy

Edie: here then is it? Nancy: Yeah Nancy: Do you wanna see some pics? Edie: nah Edie: saw the socials Nancy: They're both okay, like Edie: Obvs, McKenna, reckon they'd bother to hmu if they were dead Edie: cheers then Nancy: There's a huge difference between alright and dead Nancy: I'm just saying Edie: not to me Nancy: Do you want me to tell anyone anything or? Edie: do what u wanna Edie: everyone busy Nancy: They aren't that busy Nancy: It's a baby not a bomb threat Edie: she ain't that special Edie: least they were expecting that alien looking thing this time Edie: progress Nancy: Barely but you know Nancy: Feels like a giant step back if anything Edie: 🙄 Edie: gutted for you Nancy: No you aren't, so don't bother with any of it Edie: obviously not Nancy: Is there anything else you actually wanna know/say 'cause I'm not good at this Nancy: Let's not pretend I am Edie: you rude as fuck Nancy: And what, you're the only one allowed? Edie: i ain't done anything to you but nah feel pressed Edie: u love it Nancy: You've disappeared and everyone is worried. You don't care about that but I do Nancy: So sorry if I don't wanna indulge it, like Edie: only got time for your sads? Edie: joke Nancy: I wish Nancy: We'd all love to run away Nancy: But some of us have to actually stick around Edie: boohoo Edie: dry Edie: what good u think u are mckenna Nancy: Go away again, Edie Nancy: I don't need this Nancy: Nobody does Edie: 😂 Edie: u ain't got nothing but problems you made up cos ur boring Edie: same as her, fucking drew the only excitement she ever had Nancy: Thanks for the therapy session Edie: mommy issues, next Nancy: You're such a cliche Nancy: At least give me one I haven't heard a million times before Edie: ok miss i want my teacher to pipe me Edie: act superior some more it funny Nancy: I'll be here all week Nancy: And longer Edie: whatever Edie: no u wont but run your mouth all u want Edie: u all talk a big game Nancy: Some of us do bother to say what we mean Nancy: Shockingly Edie: nah Edie: you out in a few months max Edie: the only one that always here is him and he always will be Nancy: Going to uni doesn't make me a ghost Nancy: Keeping in touch is easy if you want to Edie: like u ain't already Edie: oh babe Nancy: You don't know me Edie: who wants to Nancy: Plenty of people Edie: yeah like i say Edie: making up problems done wonders for ur cred Edie: least they talking yeah Nancy: Like I said, you don't know me Edie: u wish Edie: transparent Nancy: I really don't Nancy: I've dealt with enough bitches already thanks Edie: 😥 Edie: nawh Nancy: You wanna talk shit to me some more, go ahead Nancy: Nice to know you're still alive at least Edie: always with the self-pity, ain't a good look fyi but go off Nancy: You'd know Edie: i'm the only one celebrating this thing birth not comiserating Edie: poor fuck Nancy: Congrats, like Nancy: Go do that and leave me alone Edie: nah Nancy: I'm ignoring you now Edie: sure Edie: like u can Nancy: Literally always have Edie: yeah why u had to run here init Edie: so strong Edie: so like ur mummy Nancy: I'm not strong and it ain't news Edie: hoping playing damsel get u some Edie: who ain't Edie: cute Nancy: No, I just know myself Nancy: You can't hurt me by pointing out my flaws, babe. I'm aware Edie: who trying Edie: no need Edie: ready to cry over nothing always Nancy: Keep talking like you know about it Nancy: It just shows how much you don't Edie: so mysterious Edie: so guarded Edie: now u wishing Nancy: You're just putting words in my mouth now Nancy: You wish you knew me well enough to call me out Nancy: I'm not my brother, sorry. I don't wanna flirt with you Edie: i already said Edie: no one tryna know u babe Edie: least of all him Edie: comorbidity with ur mommy issues is ur twincest moment obvs Nancy: You're so wrong it's just awkward Edie: u brought up flirting w him Edie: that's awks Nancy: I brought him flirting with you, actually Edie: not rio Edie: why u jealous Nancy: Gross Nancy: He loves her, he entertains you Nancy: Not the same thing Edie: we all pretending that ain't fucked up then but this drew situ omg defcon1 Edie: this family 😂 good for the craic if literally nothing else Nancy: Nobody's pretending it isn't a mess Nancy: They just aren't being as rude as you Edie: oh no Edie: they'd NEVER do that Edie: 'cept they let joe pipe his own sister, drew fuck his way through this entire fam, gonna let them get married Edie: yeah Edie: the last thing you all do is turn a blind eye 😂 Edie: keep posting them pics like it's cute Nancy: Live in the past some more like it matters Nancy: It's done Nancy: I can't personally change it for you so Edie: past? Edie: bitch this happening right now Edie: jokes too miss imma have a victim complex cos the rich girls didn't wanna play nice with me Nancy: What's happening right now is being dealt with right now, Jesus Nancy: You'd know if you were here Edie: too late as per Edie: let it become a problem then we can all feel so sorry for ourselves aw Edie: let the skeleton raise the abortion go off Edie: slaying it Nancy: What's your solution? Nancy: We can't tell her what to do Edie: get the bitch hospitalized Edie: duh Edie: she isn't fit to be in her job or be a ma Edie: let her fuck this one up tho, join the ranks Nancy: If I could, I would Edie: sure Nancy: What you think you're the only one who's just had that oh so original thought? Nancy: Please Edie: please, like ur the only one acting as if your hands are tied Nancy: Mine are Nancy: What the fuck do you think I can do, Edie? Edie: grow a pair mckenna Edie: the act didn't work Edie: miss didn't wanna fuck u, mommy ain't coming to rescue u either 'cos u ain't her fave Edie: try something else, be original, christ Nancy: Oh my god Nancy: And do what? Nobody's gonna put Ro in hospital 'cause I say so Nancy: Or take the kid when she technically hasn't done anything wrong Edie: ring the social Edie: christ got an in Edie: like nan ain't been knew since she took the bitch in she ain't right Nancy: You know they'd investigate and do nothing Nancy: You aren't that stupid Edie: u know u too pussy to do it Edie: everyone in this fam and they wanna front like they anything but Nancy: Bullshit Nancy: Lord, I wish everything was as black and white as you're convinced it is Edie: here we go again Edie: woe is the tragic clan Edie: newsflash, normal people aren't beset by all this fucking drama and actual bullshit Edie: cos they don't roll around in it and revel in the fucking stink Nancy: None of us are normal, get over it Edie: u reckon u ain't wait for all the inbreeding kids ur gonna have to pretend are cute Edie: snap snap Nancy: Again, what do you want me to do? Nancy: I can't stop them being together Nancy: It's not like I want them to be in love or get married Edie: sure no one can we're all so helpless Edie: enough people had the balls to say nah it's fucked Edie: then rio would stop, end of, we all know it Nancy: Or they'd run away like you have Nancy: That's made everyone really happy, like Edie: yeah ur welcome Edie: more drama to jack it to Nancy: You're so selfish Edie: what, and you're the only ones allowed? Edie: gasp Edie: everyone is out for themselves and harps on the others for doing it too Edie: keep up Nancy: That's how you see it 'cause that's how it suits you Edie: that's the spirit Nancy: Your mum had a good birthday, by the way Edie: didn't ask Edie: but unsurprised Nancy: I knew you wouldn't Nancy: Doesn't mean you shouldn't know Edie: that the best u got like Edie: i been knew she's the worst of all Nancy: You wish Edie: yeah i love having a cunt for a ma hbu babe Nancy: You do though Nancy: You love thinking you do anyway Edie: yh buzzin Edie: got it in one Edie: u really aren't the smart 1 damn Nancy: I've never tried to say I am Nancy: You've got the wrong twin there Nancy: I'm the stupid one, and again, aware Edie: 😥 Edie: good ting i ain't here for ur wisdom Nancy: Fuck knows what you are here for Nancy: Please go Edie: the craic Edie: i told u Edie: so funny Nancy: If I'm the best you've got Nancy: Poor you Edie: fucking hell mckenna Edie: no one ever gonna wanna fuck u with an attitude like that Nancy: The good thing about fucking is that you don't have to talk Edie: pillow princess Edie: figures Nancy: Oh so you like to be chatty with it? Okay Edie: just a suggestion Edie: u ain't all that to look at either wanna give 'em something to keep interest Nancy: I don't want them to stick around so it's fine Nancy: But you do you Edie: oh and i'm selfish Edie: just like ur brother Edie: cute Nancy: Didn't you get the memo Nancy: He's changed Edie: least he might be worth the ride now then Edie: good for him Nancy: Gross Nancy: I hope you don't want me to pass that message on Edie: keep it to yourself if that's how you vibing girl Nancy: I'd rather not hear it but you didn't ask Edie: just meeting your expectations Edie: i'm rude yeah Nancy: Like you're so offended Edie: 💔 Nancy: I think you have to have one, babe Edie: ya 'bullies' school you that zinger Edie: knew it weren't that bad Nancy: They were more about the homophobia Nancy: Unlikely to work on you Edie: it ain't the 70s who does it Nancy: If you wanna go to London and tell them Nancy: Still probably something they could do with learning Edie: how you know i aint Nancy: If you were in Chelsea you'd have more to laugh at than me and this conversation Edie: dun think we share a sense of humour Nancy: I can't say that 💔's me Edie: aw ain't it nice to find something that don't get you 😥 Edie: love that 4 u Nancy: Okay Edie: it's been real Edie: laters Nancy: I hope not Edie: dry Nancy: Honestly you'd be better off speaking Irish to me Edie: dryshite then Edie: 🍀 enough for ye Edie: like u local Nancy: At least now I don't have to pretend I know what you're talking about Nancy: Thanks Edie: just claim ur dyslexia like ur tryna cash ur giro Nancy: Yeah Edie: wonder if u can park disabled Nancy: I can't drive so I can't tell you Nancy: If you wanna try and claim it though, they'd likely believe you Edie: hahahaha u calling me disabled now for the punch of it Edie: victim complex strikes again n the bullied becomes the bully Edie: u easiest to wind up ever imma do this more Nancy: I'm calling you an idiot Nancy: And I'm blocking you so good luck Edie: aw dont do urself like that Edie: nother thing for u to feel sorry bout when i die n i was tryna reach out for help Nancy: Like you said, if anyone dies we hear about it Edie: too little too late mckenna Nancy: For you yeah Nancy: I'm not the Samaritans babe I can barely send a coherent text Edie: yh i heard Edie: her cousin goes to my school tried coming at me fore i left like i care bout u being a tick Nancy: Okay Nancy: I don't wanna talk about her with you so bye Edie: ooooooooooo Edie: touched a nerve Nancy: Obviously Edie: bah why Edie: thought u dont want em to stay Edie: such a bad bitch Nancy: Shut up Edie: hahahahaha Nancy: Seriously Edie: get a grip mckenna Edie: she ain't even a ride Nancy: I'm not doing this Edie: you're a joke man Edie: u don't care bout none of ur family enough to shut me up but i wanna chat on this shtate Edie: and suddenly u got a dick Edie: lmao Nancy: That isn't news either, keep up like Nancy: I can't shut up about them 'cause you've got a point Nancy: It doesn't mean I don't care Edie: 'course not Edie: put it away Edie: she got a real gf now Nancy: I know Nancy: She's had several actually Nancy: You're out of the loop Edie: what a slag Edie: have to be to let u when u ain't bringing nothing to the table by ur own admission Nancy: Thanks Nancy: Homophobia belongs in the 70s but this doesn't, the world according to Edie Mckenna, okay Edie: oh shut up germaine greer Edie: i ain't tryna get in ur pants u don't need to impress me with ur regurgitated feminism 101 from ro n my mother of all people Nancy: You're the one who's still talking and staying in my inbox past your welcome, like Edie: cos i can handle it Edie: u the one getting heated baby Nancy: Well done, you Edie: aw thank u Nancy: Good thing you don't need to impress me either Edie: by pretending it don't make u a bad person to drop your knickers quicker than u can pull up the last? Edie: original Edie: get ur own personality Nancy: We've established I do Nancy: And gone into all its flaws Nancy: Again, keep up Edie: lmao u think thats urs Edie: okay when uve stapled together pieces of every bitch u want to love u Nancy: If you say so Nancy: It must be true Edie: duh Edie: see it as a chance to be better Edie: u ain't loving this Edie: n no one else is Nancy: Yeah 'cause I really wanna improve myself based on your standards Edie: who said anything bout me Edie: ill never fuck w u mckenna Edie: u still gonna be dry whatever u do Nancy: You're the only one telling me to be better Nancy: So you are Edie: well ur rents gave up on that dream didn't dey Edie: pin all dat on ur bro Nancy: Yeah they did Nancy: Tell me something I don't know or shut up Edie: poor poor baby Edie: hit up sugar town, ur namesake was on to something w that one Edie: drew good for some lsd always Nancy: That'll really help, thanks so much, babe Edie: howd u kno Edie: pussy Edie: aint even fuckin right Nancy: I know that I've got a fucked up enough brain already Nancy: Not gonna disable myself more Edie: yh well they use it to treat depression so try it Edie: stop u whining so much Nancy: There's plenty of other ways if I was so inclined Nancy: So thoughtful though Edie: obvs Edie: u love it Edie: when u got nothing else babe Nancy: Whatever you say Edie: 😥 Nancy: I've gotta go cry now, obviously Nancy: So Edie: damn u cant multitask Edie: really out here strugglin' Edie: ttfn babe Nancy: Not the way I do it Nancy: I have to go all in, of course Nancy: So much sadness Edie: nah u about the most half-arsed of all of 'em i reckon Edie: really do better Edie: i believe in u Nancy: No you don't Edie: sure i do Edie: know dat dnt sit right w ur whole victim schtik but Edie: unlucky Nancy: It doesn't sit right with anything about you more like Nancy: But okay Edie: lmao yh Edie: u 1 of a kind Edie: so special so misunderstood Nancy: By you yeah Nancy: But that's fine by me Edie: bitch we know Edie: live 4 it Edie: get it Edie: anything to feel like u better than the rest Nancy: You're ridiculous Nancy: When's the last time you even spoke to me before this? You don't know anything Edie: whens the last time u spoke Edie: dont mean u an enigma Edie: no one as thick as u tryna paint me especially not me Nancy: It means I'm shy, bitch Nancy: That's all it means Edie: yea yea Nancy: Yeah well Edie: u should talk more Edie: fun Nancy: For you but Nancy: I don't like you so unlikely to happen Edie: 💔 Edie: who does Edie: even u aint that fucked up n lookin for the sympathy Nancy: Most of this family, more fool them Nancy: Something else I can't do anything about Edie: Tragic Nancy: Yeah Edie: that's what happens when u don't get out the clothes hanger, like Edie: hey ho, 'nother bastard for the pile Nancy: 💔 Edie: yeah gonna find it well jokes when its one u actually care abt Nancy: Sure Nancy: By your reckoning I live for the misery so I'll be thriving anyway Edie: only yr own Edie: gonna get in yr way Edie: can't really verbally smackdown a kid when you've had a few Edie: 'less you wanna be that, currently without a drunk in the fam so Nancy: Also according to you I won't be here Nancy: So feel free to take that role on Edie: i ain't a virgin Edie: drinking ain't even good craic Edie: keep up, mckenna Nancy: I don't care if it brings you joy or not Edie: 😂 Edie: ooh Edie: savage Nancy: I've already told you I don't like you Nancy: Keep up yourself Edie: i told u ion care Edie: why Edie: u reckon i shuld Nancy: No Nancy: I'd rather you didn't Edie: good Edie: how u got it baby Nancy: Yay for me, like Edie: 😂 Edie: christ Edie: crackin a smile rlly wud break u yh Nancy: For you, yeah Edie: just bitches who ain't into u Edie: rejection rlly hittin that spot i c Nancy: No, just you Nancy: You're enough of a bitch Edie: ray of sunshine Edie: everyone always be saying it Edie: honestly u lost ur point a while ago Nancy: That's what I do babe Nancy: Dyslexia 101 Edie: so sad Edie: enough brain training for today then sugar, peace Nancy: At least my lack of short term memory means I can forget this convo Nancy: Bye

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measagif · 7 years

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How to go freelance: need-to-know advice from creatives who made it

Once you’re free from the bubble of uni, the “real world” of the creative industry can seem daunting, and going it alone can be even more so. For many creatives, however, it’s the freedom they’ve been craving, a chance to finally show the world what they’re made of, and many establish a solid career having never stepped into a “normal” job.

Take these four successful freelance creatives: Owen Gildersleeve, Emily Stein, Sister Arrow and Jack Sachs. They’ve made it, and they have some great advice for how you can too, from practical tips to ideas for getting your creative momentum rolling.

http://www.itsnicethat.com/features/the-graduates-2017-advice-how-to-go-freelance-170517?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=intsocial

Sister Arrow

Be yourself

Make the stuff you really want to make and put it out into the world. ‘Self promo’ in the social media sense can be a bit soulless in my opinion. Who cares? Everyone’s promoting something. Spend your time and energy making the work, then think of where you can get people to see in its most appropriate setting. Whether that’s in print publishing, an online platform, film screening, exhibition, a workshop… the format should relate to the content. Then talk to the people there about it. In person. Don’t ever be afraid to talk about yourself and your work. As long as you are asking questions too, then you will have great conversation and people will be interested in what you do and are passionate about.

Be knowledgable. Learn as much as you can, all of the time, forever. The more you read, watch, see, observe, listen to, the more you will understand the world and what your role is in it. Context is everything.

Practice drawing lines. Over and over. Understand the control you are capable of, and work with that.

Manage your Money

Be upfront with yourself about your finances. Don’t hide from your bank account. Initially, expenditure needs to be as low as possible on all non-allowable expenses items (see this government guide). However, you should be able to assess when it is a good time to invest in yourself and your studio practice. Working on rubbish equipment that slows you down is sometimes necessary but not economically sustainable in the end. Better to get in (manageable) debt and and have a fast computer that doesn’t beachball or crash every five seconds.

Buy people stationery and books for presents because then you can put it on expenses. Make sure your holidays are work-related, like, you are doing essential research or going to a meeting when you’re there (aren’t you??!)

Get friends and family to buy you non-allowable items like clothes and toiletries for your presents. Spend your own money on equipment and materials and subscriptions. Or save it. You will need a back-up fund for if you get sick or injured or out of work.

File all of your receipts weekly. I never do this because I’m stupid and don’t listen to my own advice.

Don’t ever stop.

Art, illustration, design, animation – it’s a long game. Focus on the horizon.

Find out what your ‘thing’ is; what do you most care about in the world? What makes your heart beat fast and get you excited? Your work should be centred around this thing. Then you will always be motivated to do it.

Be brave.

Take risks and believe in yourself.

If opportunities arise, even if you aren’t completely certain you have all of the requirements for the job, go for it. Anything technical you don’t know can probably be learnt via online videos in your evenings, while on the job. Ring the most reliable person you know and ask them for help or advice if you’re feeling unsure.

Tell yourself how great you are, and how great you are going to be. Even if the evidence doesn’t quite match up yet. It will ;-)

Owen Gildersleeve

There are a few bits of advice that I give to any students who I meet during university visits and talks, mainly based on things I stumbled across over the years and mistakes I made. The first is the importance of having a website and getting your work out there: nobody will know who you are or what you’re capable of unless you have something to show them. Sometimes people feel their work isn’t worthy enough to be shown to people, but it’s always surprising the good things that people are able to see in your work from a fresh perspective.

It also came as a surprise to me the types of people that can stumble across your work. My first commission came in from the New York Times during my second year of university off the back of a personal project I’d put on my site. I would never have thought that those guys would be looking at my work at that stage!

The second thing I really recommend is to get out there and meet people face-to-face. It’s such an important thing to make personal connections, not just with potential clients but with other people in your field. This then helps you to build a community and support network who you can call upon when you need help, or if you are just looking to bounce around ideas or let off some steam. This is extremely important when you leave university as it’ll help you transition from student life, where you are constantly surrounded by your peers, and in turn will hopefully allow you to feel part of wherever you settle.

Jack Sachs

It sounds obvious but getting in touch with people you want to work with is really important when you’re starting to freelance. It’s never that hard to find an art director’s email to introduce yourself and show them what you do. Avoid emailing their personal accounts or turning up at their homes. I’ve watched film/art directors find people to work on jobs just by going through their inbox and looking at emails like this so it definitely works, and even if you don’t get a response you’re still in their inbox and they’ve looked at your work.

In terms of your work I think it’s really good to maintain a personal practice alongside your professional one. They end up informing each other and help to keep the other fresh and fun. Also I think art directors are more interested in work you’ve done for yourself and not another client as it’s easier for them to imagine it working for their job without another client’s stamp on it.

Emily Stein

Money vs. Creativity

After I finished college I worked part-time in a photo studio and assisting various photographers to make enough money. I think it’s really important that whatever work you get to support you, it will benefit or inspire your own work in some way. It is really easy to take on too much other work to make money, but this can end up taking up so much time that our own practice drops further and further into the background. So, I guess it’s about finding a balance between making money and making your own work so you can build a portfolio and start getting it out there.

Collaboration with people you admire is a brilliant thing to do too. Get together with an art director or graphic designer whose work you love and make something together.

Presence

When it comes to making a website, keep it clean and simple, something that you can update easily rather than having to pay someone or wait for someone else to do for you. I use Cargo Collective and it’s really easy.

Getting a studio

I got a studio as soon as I could, as there is nothing more depressing than working at home. Even if it’s a desk share and you have 2-3 days a week in the studio, at least you can get in somewhere with other creatives who you can bounce ideas off and you don’t feel like you are alone in the world, sitting at a desk by your bed in your PJs at 1pm.

Challenges

When I first went freelance I expected to get somewhere quickly and if I didn’t, I felt I was a failure. I wish I could go back and tell myself the truth. It has taken me years to survive from doing my “work work”, and it is a real privilege to be able to do this, but it’s not something just to expect will happen. It may take years, a lot of heartache, and constant self doubt, but if you are your work and are passionate about what you do there is no other option and making a living from doing that is an amazing thing that most people don’t get to do and will take time.

Also, be prepared to chase and chase people. Don’t expect anyone to get back to you! They are busy, it isn’t personal. Expect disappointment after disappointment on the way, this way when it happens it won’t get you down. Don’t be discouraged, never give up!

If you’re after more advice and insight into the creative industries, sign up to Lecture in Progress – It’s Nice That’s new sister company, which was launched to inspire, inform and empower emerging talent with information on the workings of the creative world.

#indiecreative #freelance #freelancer

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getseriouser · 5 years

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20 THOUGHTS: Sack Everyone Network

DOES this feel like 2017 or like 2018 more?

Richmond in its premiership drought-breaking year, just two year ago, was placed almost exactly as they are right now. Sixth, poised, ready to launch into the top four, a finals date with destiny against higher-placed Geelong at its home ground…. its eery as anything.

But the West Coast, last year, sneakily got themselves without anyone noticing into the top two, almost assuring one road to the Grand Final had to go through them in Perth. This year, same same.

On that basis the Eagles are back in the Big Dance and on the other side of the equation who’s to say Richmond doesn’t repeat the process of 2017 if it gets another Qualifying Final against Geelong?

1. No real order to this week, so if you stick with this to the end, go see a Doctor… Firstly why does the football media find itself on mid-season holidays? Sure, those who have jobs in other platforms could use a spell, such as those doing brekky radio for example. But why the pure football-only head overseas in July, with a university student-rivalling break in the off-season to look forward to, it��s ridiculous. I don’t blame them, I blame their employers. No wonder all our newspapers are closing, run by morons.

2. Stick on media, so KB and SEN are no longer. If this made you upset you need better hobbies, or a girlfriend. He is 72 and very wealthy, he is fine. But interesting the backlash to it, especially as the story was ‘broken’ by a Herald Sun journalist who himself was sacked by SEN end of last season. Objective? Not even close. Non-story, its BAU for the radio industry.

3. But I do love the comments you see to these sorts of biased pieces. I’m no SEN apologist and if I ever really want a footy fix on radio, I’ll chuck on the M’s on a Saturday afternoon, but all those saying they’ve switched off SEN and are listening to Macquarie Sports Radio – the latest survey for MSR was around 0.4. In plain English that’s La Trobe Uni student radio ratings. Hutchy and SEN are fine, without or without KB.

4. And don’t start me on Andrew Bolt suggesting a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump. Sure, the North Korea stuff is definitely positive, but one good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness, as they say. Move alone Andy, get serious.

5. Is there any footy? Yes. Collingwood. Shall we? So firstly: whats happening? Good footy teams are so finely tuned yet strung, look at Melbourne this year, you tell me those two finals wins last year were a fluke? Beat Geelong first week, remember. But with the Pies, that team they got together middle of last year clicked, and clicked hard, and then stayed fit. The subsequent momentum got them within a Dom Sheed out-of-his-arse set shot from a flag. This year, couple key pieces out has exposed them, and they haven’t been good enough or up to the challenge. Mind you, to be described as such a mess at 10-5, and in third, is pretty solid. But the next three weeks could undo a lot of that so it’s all much of a muchness. Not down and out, but such is footy, it can spit you out in a moment. Ask Hawks’ fans about 2009.

6. The biggest loss for mine is Taylor Adams. Only one player, but he is as important to the Pies as Luke Shuey or Trent Cotchin. The Eagles don’t have Shuey, they don’t win – it’s that simple. Whilst different players, he is as important as Yeo or Hurn, and we all saw what happened against Sydney when those two missed. As for Cotchin, look at the Tigers when he has been out, the all-conquering Richmond of the last 18 months looked super vulnerable most weeks. The Pies since Adams has been out have been iffy, but when he was in they were premiership favourites. And let’s not forget, Shuey won last year’s Norm Smith, but based on votes had the Pies had won the judges were clearly going to award that to Adams.

7. Last one on the Woods – it’s a bit of structure too. The good footy of earlier in the year, especially the Richmond game, was safe, short, switching play in defence, then flick a switch and go. There’s not enough dare to replicate that at the moment, sure, for the first five minutes it happened against Hawthorn, but Clarko was good enough to thwart it, as the Hawks have done against the Pies for a decade. The Eagles in Perth will be tough, but with Adams and Howe back for the Giants in Sydney the week after that’s the season-defining opportunity to right the ship.

8. Gold Coast. Have won three games all year, last win was mid-April, and all three wins were five points or less. Could conceivably be winless, and Stuey Dew is seen as doing as good job as he can. So they’ll ask for a priority pick? Give them the first five picks, won’t do shit, we’ve seen that before. I don’t think this is irreversible, I think the right plan and player development can see something blossom ala Brisbane the last 18 months. But gee, the damage is nearing on irreparable in the most suspect of footy markets too. Carlton’s won no games in forever and got a great crowd last Sunday. The Suns could be undefeated and its only Bernie Tomic and a couple strippers at Metricon. So what then? Total rebrand, semi-reset. It’s like putting your laptop on sleep. Turn them into the Southport Sharks, change almost everything they are, and recommence with multiple, strong draft concessions. It’ll be like last time, but with a head start, an existing list that has at least ‘something’. Give them then five years with certain parameters. If it fails then, fine, it’ll never work, Hobart here is your team.

9. Something that might help already – Adelaide has Carlton’s first pick this year. Jack Lukosius, last year’s pick 2, he wants to come home to South Australia already. Maybe not a direct swap, some sweetners can be thrown in, but that’s pick 1 and 2 already with this year’s draft top end better than the last couple for jet midfielders. So there’s some hope if nothing else is to change I guess..

10. Superstar ruckmen. Brodie Grundy specifically but too, Max Gawn. Here’s the misconception – a dominant ruckman makes a difference – not really. Statistically speaking, way more scores come from turnovers than from stoppages. What that means is you’re far more likely to lose a clearance, find a way to force an error, get the ball and then score than if your ruckman hits the ball down the throat of your midfield and it leads to a scoring chain. The amount of teams who win despite losing the hitout count is uncanny. Arguably the worst team in the comp for ruckmen? Geelong.

11. How’s North going? Pretty swimmingly ey? Rhyce Shaw hasn’t dropped one player since taking over, the only players to miss have been through injury. Says something for continuity, similar to what I touched on earlier with the Pies’ success last year.

12. So does he keep the job next year? Dunno yet but it’s going to be hard to find someone categorically better if there’s a real something about what he is doing that’s too hard to ignore. He has gone 4-1, 2-1 against top 8 sides. He has West Coast in Perth in couple weeks and Geelong down the highway two weeks later. If those are the only games he drops between now and the end of the season, you have to give it to him, surely?

13. This column has long said Nat Fyfe’s the best player in the league. Patrick Cripps a very close silver. Now I say neither. Marcus Bontempelli is better. He does what both do, ie, big body inside clearance freaks, but unlike Fyfe and Cripps he moves around like an old school wingman meets rover, at what 6”3ish? Plus is one of the best kicks in the comp, long weighted perfection or low spearing darts. And handballs like Greg Williams. The Bont, this column anoints you.

14. Brisbane wins a final, thought it for a while, pretty much committed to it last week but now it’s a thing. At least one final, don’t rule out two. Again, it’s the clicking thing. A lesser team clicking always beats a better team that isn’t (see Collingwood’s last two weeks).

15. So Freo was the best team in the West a couple weeks ago hey? Not anymore. Mind you, it’s worth reiterating, the Eagles are as highly strung as anyone. Don’t want to call last year lucky, that’s unfair, but in games where one of Hurn, Shuey or Yeo don’t play, its borderline deplorable depending on how far you go back, or whether you remove games against lower teams. All three play and they win Grand Finals. Shuey especially, he is the most valuable player in the league, if we focus on the true definition of ‘value’. They can win a flag without Naitanui, but couldn’t win Ammo’s D2 without Shuey.

16. ‘Oh, the Giants can’t win it’, they said it after the Hawthorn loss and we all forgot about that pretty quickly. Then after losing to an admirable Brisbane the same thing. This is a team who is top-four lock, playing better than Collingwood and possibly Geelong, and has beaten the Cats at GMHBA this season. Move along, they are as massive a threat as any.

17. Reckon Lance Franklin’s seemingly easy cruise to 1000 goals is under threat. So he is still a couple weeks away from a return and is stuck on 940 goals. Let’s say he gets himself to 950, 955 by the end of the year, he would need a 50-goal season to do it next year. But going by his recent fitness, that’s a tall order as playing 22 games or close to it seems a task too great for someone turning 33 next summer. Even averaging 3 goals a game when he is fit and playing, he’d need to find 20 more games, and that’s moving into 2021, which, by then, who knows how his body holds up. I hate to say it, but this has retiring only 20-30 or so short written all over it.

18. So the Dees won last weekend, and how noble they did so with only 19 fit players. Well the Blues were down to 21 themselves so it was hardly a massive advantage, and further, especially if you saw the football played in the second half, if you could coach either team next year, respectful of the 2018 season as well, who would you rather? Carlton? Correct.

19. Way too low but bloody hell Cameron Smith plays his 400th game this weekend, phenomenal. What makes it even better is this is a guy not limping to the milestone, he was the Dally M winner only two years ago and is three votes off the pace in this year’s campaign. Further, he has played 42 games for Queensland, 56 games for Australia as well, so in essence he is approaching 500 games in a few weeks’ time. Man is a freak, and will definitely play into next year. All the while looking like an accountant who has a gym membership but never uses it. Onya Smithy!

20. And lastly Cricket, more so the Ashes, well, Jimmy Pattinson looks terrific. Bowled well in the County season to this point but first go with a red nut for Australia A got 4/60 and 3/12. Don’t rule out Paine at 6, Cummins at 7, and playing four quicks looking for three, four day results over huge scores and five day tests.

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