#australia news talk about literally Anything else challenge

[qomrades]

the project has had like. 4 segments on t*ylor swift alone. must i recieve penance. can i experience rest.

[dinopopduck]

Ezekiel Only Being Unaffected By Certain Kinds of Magic

Let’s just start with me saying this isn’t exactly a new theory. It’s the demigod thing, and it’s a fairly popular one. If you haven’t heard of this headcannon, I put as much as I can find here. If you have, I found a bunch of new stuff that I haven’t seen anyone else mention, so reading this isn’t a complete waste of your time, I hope.

I tried to keep this from becoming wordy, but it got really long anyway, because there was a lot to talk about here.

Ezekiel being unaffected by magic is sort of an ongoing thing in the show. He is influenced by it much of the time, such as by Santa’s Hat, Pan’s Flute, Prospero’s spell, lycanthropy, etc. When it comes to the stuff he was seemingly completely immune to, there is one link that connects them all.

Apple of Discord: Everybody knows this one. The Apple is a Greek artifact, meant to turn you into the worst version of yourself, and Ezekiel was only one completely unaffected. It’s blamed on “he’s already the worst version of himself” or whatever.

Zeus Lightning Bolt: the episode where Ezekiel ends up decked out in Greek armor, and is sent to pick up Zeus’ Lightning Bolt, which was freaking out and zapping everywhere. He picks it up just fine, and he’s then able to hand it off to Flynn. It may have been purely because of the Greek armor he was wearing, but Flynn did not seem so sure about that working.

Cindy’s Love Potion: Ezekiel is able to be near the potion without becoming obsessed with Cindy. At first, it’s blamed on him being obsessed with himself, then later Jacob tells Ezekiel that he was already in love with Cindy. It was an obsession, not a love, potion you literally spent the episode proving that blah blah, he didn’t even recognize her at first blah blah, anyway, I have a better reason.

There are two Greek mentions in this episode. First, the potion project itself is called Project Aphrodite, a Greek goddess. Second, the sunflowers; when asked, Jenkins mentions how sunflowers are a Greek symbol of unrequited love. In addition, “love” potions may have originated in Greece, or at the very least, were common enough to have multiple sites claim that, lol. At the end of the season, where each librarian uses their gifts to turn Apep mortal, this greek potion is what Ezekiel ends up using.

See a pattern here? Everything that he was completely unaffected by was Greek in some way. So, he has an immunity to these kinds of artifacts, but why? I vote demigod.

Anyway, moving on.

Here’s some magic he could have been immune to, or could not have been. Its pretty debatable.

Fortuna: Technically a Roman Goddess, but the show does acknowledge how similar they are to Greek Gods. He may have been affected by the spell, but broke out of it pretty quick. Some think he may not been affected at all; slot machines aren’t exactly fair, especially in a casino that exists to cheat completely. As for Ezekiel getting so upset over losing, what he says, “Not the guy that loses, I’m the guy that wins” sounds very similar to what he was saying in Point of Salvation, but that’s a whole nother topic.

Alternately, he was affected and this point shouldn’t be here. I don’t know, I’m not the writers.

Libris Fabula: He was a little bit affected, just far less than the others, as he acted pretty much the same. He did get a barely noticeable clothing change, became luckier than normal, and was just able to cast a spell for some reason? Speaking out that spell, it froze the guy, and a certain Greek God does have the ability to put people to sleep. Not really the same thing, but worth thinking about. Maybe. More on that later.

Most people think he was immune, but he could have just been similar enough to the character he was portraying that he didn’t need to change a whole lot.

These ones are barely worth mentioning, because have other reasonable (though I guess your definition of reasonable may be different from mine) explanations, but you could see them as magic immunity as well:

Silver Screen: Ezekiel gets into character the least, while Cassandra and Jacob are out singing and calling people by their character names. Maybe less affected, maybe just a spoilsport. Probably the last one.

Point of Salvation: Was the only one able to remember previous loops. Since they were in a video game, it’s explained that since he was the first through the door, he became the player while everyone else became NPCs. I mean, sure.

Christmas Thief: Saint of Thieves only used his truth telly power on Ezekiel’s mother, not him. Ezekiel did not feel obligated to say anything. Could just be that the guy wasn’t talking to Ezekiel. Or, earlier in that episode Ezekiel tells his mother he doesn’t steal anymore (at least for anything other than the Library, I assume, cause he still kinda does) and therefor that made him immune to the spell, since it only works on thieves.

Image of an Image: Both Cassandra and Ezekiel got their pictures taken, and Cassandra was the only one affected by the transfer spell. However, Ezekiel wasn’t one of the “chosen ones” because he snuck in, and jumped in front of the camera while Eve (one of the “chosen ones”, who was later able to be affected) turned away. Either that, or he just didn’t have time to feel the effect, since his picture was taken after Cassandra’s, and Eve’s was placed in manually.

That’s all the possible instances of magic immunity I could think of.

Next, we have some other stuff that is relevant to this point, but wasn’t necessarily artifact/magic immunity.

Prophecy Cube: Created by the Oracle of Delphi, who is from Greek mythology. This isn’t about whether Ezekiel was affected by something, as he was still able to use the prophecy glass/get stuck in the cube. Rather, it’s about the Zeus Challenge in the cube. They probably would have died in there, but luckily, Ezekiel had just happened to steal, and keep on him, the exact thing they needed to get through– a bunch of golden coins, and a prophecy that ensures at least one coin can’t be destroyed. Luck? Prophecy? Divine Intervention? Plot convenience? Okay its probably the last one but STILL

Also, Ezekiel getting pissed at Zeus.

Zeus’s Bolt (again?): There is a promo image I think for season 4? that has each of the Librarians holding their tools. Jacob had his axe, Cassandra had a notebook, Flynn had Excalibur, all normal, except for Eve and Ezekiel. Eve had this big staff thing I didn’t recognize, and Ezekiel had Zeus’ Bolt for some reason?

Lightning, just, in general: If there is wild electricity in an episode, Ezekiel is probably around.

Examples:

City of Light: Gets shocked and knocked backwards into Jacob by a very electrified fence, gets up right afterwards and is fine.

Broken Staff: The Zeus Bolt thing, you get it.

Image of an Image: Ezekiel electrocutes Jacob. Jacob was not really fine. He lived, though.

Point of Salvation: Ezekiel electrocutes Jacob part 2 Electric Boogaloo, but this time on purpose. He was not fine. He died. But don’t worry, he lived.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Mentioned a little bit above, Ezekiel, Jacob, and a student get stuck in the Zeus Challenge, and Ezekiel uses some coins he just so happened to steal recently. Throwing them on tiles shows whether or not lightning will strike if it was stepped on. Seriously, why is it ALWAYS Jacob?

The Dark Secret: Ezekiel is the one sent to wrap a cord around a lightning rod constantly being struck by lighting. “Why am I bloody doing this”, he asks? I mean, Zeus probably isn’t going to kill his descendent(?), right?

Werewolves: Have you heard of the Lycaon of Arcadia? It’s a Greek myth. Basically, this dude named Lycaon wants to test how smart and all-knowing Zeus is. To do so, he kills his own son, cooks him, and serves him to Zeus to see if he notices, ya know, no biggie. Zeus was like “wtf man” and brings the son back to life, and turns Lycaon into, you guessed it, a wolf. So, Zeus creates a werewolf of sorts, maybe one of the firsts. In Fangs of Death, Ezekiel just so happens to be the one (main) character to be turned into werewolf. So, if he was a descendant of Zeus, imagine how big of a “fuck you” that was to the god. That all being said, Ezekiel was turned by an Egyptian god, so that might not have been intentional. Also, they may have just been avoiding turning Jacob, because there is already a werewolf named Jacob and they didn't want another Twilight reference in that episode.

Family/Name: Ezekiel is adopted, and his adoptive mother mentions how she took him in off the streets. Because of that, we don’t know who his birth parents are, and whether or not he, or anyone else, knows is unknown. Soooo, we can take some creative liberties as to who his parents might have been.

As for his name, it carries some religious connotations. It should be remembered though, the meanings I’m talking about here are Biblical, not Greek, so again, might mean nothing for this argument. “Ezekiel” is “God’s Strength” or “God will Strengthen”. Jones might also be something like “God is gracious” or “God has favored”, thought different sites say different things. However, I’m pretty sure the name Jones came from his adoptive mother, and apparently Jones is a common last name in Australia. His first name is more relevant, because all of his siblings have themed names; Mercy, Charity, and Honor. So, either his mom named him differently because she knew something we don’t, or he already had the name before she adopted him. Either way, this probably means absolutely nothing. But what are we here for? To analyze a dead show like an English teacher analyzes the color of curtains in an 100 year old text. If it wasn’t for all the other stuff, I probably wouldn’t think about this too much.

Okay. So Greek stuff, lightning, and Zeus himself come up a LOT when it comes to this guy. So is Ezekiel the son of Zeus? Possibly, but a more popular theory is that he’s Zeus’ grandson. Because Zeus’ son just so happens to be Hermes; god of things such as luck, travel, money, trade, and most importantly, thieves. Oh, and animal husbandry/shepherds and sleep, I don’t know how much those apply but I will try.

Time for some comparisons, honestly most of these don’t even need to be explained so I’ll keep it short-ish, cause this shit has gotten way too long already.

Luck: Ezekiel, especially in the first season, likes to rely on luck, and tends to be very lucky in general. Examples where this is mentioned include Fables of Doom and Apple of Discord. “Smarter to be lucky then lucky to be smart!”

Travel: We can assume that he ended up traveling in his previous job (that being heists all over the world) fairly often, even before the Library. Becoming a Librarian with a teleporting door increased that of course.

Money: Steals very high-value items to sell. Also apparently likes to take money from his coworker’s wallets. And probably everyone else’s.

Trade: The aforementioned high-value pieces he steals are traded/sold for money. In Christmas Thief, we find out he kept none of the money or items, giving it away to others who needed it. That kinda fits this category, I think.

Thieves: I really don’t need to explain this. Unless you haven’t seen the show.

Animal Husbandry/Shepherds?: Basically the care of animals. Um, well he doesn’t keep cows or anything, but he has a tendency to “adopt” magical creatures that need help. Stumpy, Nessie Jr., maybe Frankenstein’s Monster as well?

Sleep: I mentioned earlier how Ezekiel froze a guy (not really in an icy way, just couldn’t move) by hitting him with his coin. Hermes is able to send people to sleep with his Caduceus (the snake wand thing). Yeah, it’s not really the same thing, though you could consider being frozen a kind of sleep. He could have just been lucky enough to find a magical coin, and lucky enough to figure out how to use it at the exact right time without even knowing what it did. It’s a stretch either way, really, and was never explained in the episode at all. Yeah, I can't find anything else that fits.

Hermes is considered to be a thief and trickster, and a lot of the things he is god of are Ezekiel’s main occupations. With all those similarities to Hermes, frequent events related to lightning and Zeus related things, and immunity to Greek artifacts, we can conclude that he is perhaps the son of Hermes, taking after his father in abilities and getting visits from grandpa.

Alternatively, his somehow IS Hermes, but I doubt that. He’d probably be way more powerful. He was also able to see the future with Prophecy Glass, which Jenkins claims is impossible for immortals to do (although in that case he was talking about a Prophecy Cube, but close enough). It’s more likely that he is a demigod.

Okay, that is all I can think of that is relevant. I binged the series about two months ago, and have been thinking about this theory. I went ahead and re-watched the episodes that I mentioned in more detail, as well as parts of others that I remebered. The reason I bring this up is because I may have missed things. I did not rewatch a majority of the episodes, more that I looked at a list of episodes on wikipedia and tried to remember what happened in them, watching clips and episodes if I needed to.

The show was cancelled, so we’ll probably never get a confirmation as to who Ezekiels’ birth parents were, and as such, you can’t prove me wrong! That being said, if I got any facts incorrect in this, please tell me so I can fix it. I’m not well versed on Greek Mythology, in fact I know basically nothing, and did the research as I went along. So again, there could be more. This is just what I found in like, less than a day of searching.

Join me next time on “How is Cassandra magical, where’d she get it from? Also, were we ever gonna meet her parents?” And “In the first episode of season 3, Jacob is just able to hit a heavy punching bag of its chain, across the room, at bullet speed, just because of a shift of his wrist, and later in that episode do the same thing to Apep, and it’s just…never addressed or spoken about again? Like wtf man?”

I'm probably not doing that

If you managed to get through all of this, thank you, and I hope this wasn’t too painful to read.

[donaidk]

Rhythm of Time - Part II

Happy New Years everyone! Wanted to get at least one more part out before the end of the year 🤪 so here it is, before I get back to the other two in the works. Next one will probably be a bit more action filled, but I just wanted to let you guys into the background story behind the main character, for now 😉

As always, every kind of feedback is appreciated ❤️ Thanks for reading!

Part I | You’re here | Part III | ...

Getting back from the winter break was a lot more exciting this time. Knowing that I will have a bigger role in the team’s life meant I couldn’t wait to finally get back to them. For example pre-season testing was usually not the most interesting part of the season, I still felt like it was the biggest event of the year. I knew it would just get better with the races, but at that second it was everything I was hoping for. I couldn’t even care less about having to work with Mick, as it felt like I was floating over cloud nine because of the few days I got to work in a position that gave me so much control. The only thing I hoped for was it not getting into my head too much. No one really needed me acting like a bitch who knew she could easily break someone’s online character before getting kicked off the team. Mick was a tad bit lucky that I wasn’t truly angry at him.

Travelling to Australia made everything seem even more real as I had to manage all the press day activities even before we got to the country. I knew it won’t be easy work, but I was still looking forward to it and was able to do everything with a smile staying on my face as I actually enjoyed planning everything and not just looking at the plans someone else put together. That was fun too, and the only way you can learn, but after experiencing what it’s like to manage everything myself I would have never changed it back to the original setup. Only if it was the only way to fix a horrible situation.

Arriving at the hotel I knew it would be a night full of turning and tossing as my excitement over the top for the whole flight and car ride to the hotel. I tried having a shower so I could calm down my mind, but as soon as I met up with the team again it just started racing all around the space in my head. We had a little meeting about the next few days in Mick’s room, before everyone called it a night and returned to their rooms. As I wanted to still ask about some of his preferences I stayed with him, as he was packing out a little from his suitcases. I was now just watching him after noting down his answers for my probably dumb questions.

„ Do you usually pack out even for just a few days? ” I asked curiously and saw as his movements stopped for a moment. Thinking about it he probably didn’t expect a question that wasn’t about something professional after what we just went through.

„ Yeah, usually. It feels more organized. ” He shrugged a little, getting out some more t-shirts as I realised I should probably leave. It wasn’t something that strangers should watch you do. At least that’s how I felt like. Just as I was about to stand up and leave he spoke up again. „ Are you comfortable with working next to me? Working with me? ” He asked, still looking only at his clothes.

„ Why wouldn’t I be? ” I asked back immediately before I could have thought about it. If I had waited just a second longer I would have realised what he’s talking about. Or more like implying. „ When I told you I’m over it, I meant it. I would never say something like that without it being the truth. ” I shook my head gently, still standing up from the chair because I felt like it would be better if I leave after this is over.

„ I know, or more like I hoped so. It just feels shitty to know that I acted that way and now you’re almost forced into working with me. ” He sighed, finally turning to me, although his fingers were still fiddling with one of his sweaters. „ I just know that this is still fun and games but will be a lot harder as the season goes on. I just want to make sure that we’re okay and that you know I can be trusted, even if I fucked up in the past. ” He let go of the cotton, coming closer to me but just as my breathing would have stopped from his proximity, he sat down on his bed.

„ Quite literally, yeah? ” I tried joking with him, but as soon as his expression changed I knew it wasn’t the best decision. „ Hey, I was just joking, we’re okay. I have never thought of you as someone who’s irresponsible just because you did something most teenagers do at least once in their life. ” I shook my head, still smiling so he could be sure that I meant what I said.

„ I know most people take part in it at least once, but I have never been like them. I can’t really be like them ever. Still I don’t want to be treated better than how they would be. ” He sounded anxious and I felt like he wanted me to be mad at him, because he thought he wouldn’t deserve how I treated him.

„ I don’t give a shit about who you are. ” I blatantly told him, probably stopping his rambling. „ I’m not mad at you, because you did nothing wrong. If you would do something stupid and would have treated me wrng while we were together, you wouldn’t like to be in the same room as me. Your name couldn’t have saved you from my fury. ” I shrugged looking him straight in the eyes so he would finally understand and accept the situation. „ The only thing I want you to do is to forget about it finally. The quicker we stop talking about it, the less awkward situations we’re gonna have in the future. '' I added as a last thing, so we could fully close this chapter of our life.

„ Understood. Never bringing it back up again. ” He let out a sigh but was finally accompanied by a smile on his face. I was about to stand up and leave finally, when his expressions changed again and I knew he will speak up. „ When did you change your name? ” He asked, making my eyebrows furrow as for a second I didn’t understand his question.

„ Oh… a little after we met. After my birthday. ” I answered, but felt like it was the perfect moment to leave, before we would go too far with this topic. „ It’s my mum’s. Felt more comfortable living with this one. ” I shrugged a little, as I got to his door and opened it so I could finally leave. I quickly wished him a goodnight before turning towards my own room and crossed the hallway to get to it in just seconds.

The next few days still felt awkward, even more because of him bringing up my dad in a way, but I tried to get over it and hoped he wouldn’t ask a lot more about the person I always tried to close off from my life. Even if I could never fully accomplish my plan as he would still be my father and he will be connected to me in a way forever. Luckily with the race weekends time seemed to fly by at 5 times speed and forgetting was a lot easier when you had to focus on your job and tasks. We were already at the fifth circuit when I realised that we finally got over our past and could have conversations without even touching onto it.

As for racing, Mick was doing quite well. He was still deemed new to the F1 cars and the other drivers, but he took on the challenges and did his best. We all knew he won’t be winning the championship this year, also with a Haas car, although we never really talked about this in front of Günther, but he still pushed it to the limit and got everything out of it. Sometimes he asked for more than what it had, but he always caught it in time and got it under control, before anything could have happened. I was mostly just happy that my job only involved the outside world, and not the one inside the cockpit. My nerves could barely handle watching the races now that I knew someone quite personally from the grid. I knew most of the drivers and had talked to them on several occasions, but I never really got close to them. Mick was really something else compared to them, as I spent almost everyday following him, and we never really stayed silent as we attended interviews one by one before and also after practices, qualis and races too. I could say that I did not feel regret when I thought about my decision I took just a couple of months ago.

Even when we arrived in Spain at the beginning of the week, and realised how hot it will be on the weekend, I did not regret having to walk around the paddock almost 24/7 for three days in a row. I wasn’t the only one affected by the heat wave as everyone in the garage moved around slower than usual. They mostly got themselves together for Sunday, as I was quite surprised to see the speed at which everyone was running around when we entered after all the interviews were done. While Mick had to go get ready I took a seat next to the engineers and let everyone else work around us while I took one of the headsets so I wouldn’t lose my hearing this soon.

„ Everything good? ” Pete, Mick’s engineer asked from next to me, as he turned towards me with the headset pushed off of one of his ears.

„ Yeah, he’s doing well. Composed but still confident, whatever they ask him. ” I nodded a little, while I almost blindly got the team profile open so I could make sure it was up to date. „ Is she already here? ” I asked back, knowing that Corinna wanted to attend today’s GP to support Mick.

„ Yes, I saw her talking to Günther but she tried to stay away from the garage. She probably wants Mick to focus on the job and not her. ” He shrugged a little, looking back at the screens in front of him when someone from the mechanic crew came up to him with a question.

Mick was already in the car, seconds away from leaving the garage when his mum showed up. She still stayed in the background until they were given the sign and both cars could enter the pitlane. I sent her a small smile when she passed me, giving up my seat gladly, so she could watch the race and be close to the radio, as I was completely fine with watching it on the screens that were set up for the mechanics. I didn’t really get to talk to her yet since the start of the season, but she seemed kind and I looked up to her for coming to races, even after everything that happened to their family. It meant a lot to her son, every time she came out to support him. Even I could tell, seeing it from the outside.

Both of the Haas cars took the start perfectly, taking up better positions for most of the lap before they all started fighting each other. After the first few laps I went to get myself a coffee, before sitting back down in the garage out of the way as I didn’t really want to block the mechanics if there was going to be a pit-stop or anything. They were just about to call both of them in when we saw Mick spin at turn 10, sliding off the track into the gravel trap, right until the tyre barrier caught the car. My hand stopped in the middle of lifting the mug to my lips, as I watched him crash and hoped that they would show him getting out of the car as soon as possible. I let out the breath that was stuck inside my lungs when I heard Pete talking to him as it meant he was fine enough to communicate. I immediately felt pathetic about my reaction and tried to just slip into the background before someone would spot the worry on my face I was experiencing inside.

Turning towards the engineers I saw Corinna shift in her seat uncomfortably, probably listening to Mick explaining what happened. It wasn’t a horrible crash but there was always a possibility for injuries whenever they hit each other or the barriers. We watched relieved as he finally climbed out and left the car with the marshals, and got onto a golf cart that brought him back to the garage. He was checked out by the team doctor as soon as he got back and was fortunately cleared by him for any serious injury. I let Corinna talk to him before I would bring up having to talk to the reporters.

I only went into his room when the race ended and I knew we would have to leave for the media pen if we wanted to be on time. He was already changed back to team clothing with a little ice pack on his left wrist while holding his phone in his other hand. I cleared my throat to get his attention and he immediately looked up at me, before pushing himself off the bed. I let him leave the garage hallway first, following him as we aimed for the people already standing around the cameras.

„ You only have two. If you feel dizzy or anything just let me know and we can leave immediately. Everyone will understand. ” I told him when I caught up to him. I always hated how I was almost running next to everyone if they were walking at their normal speed, thanks to my shorter legs.

„ I’m fine. ” He answered shortly, looking mostly at the ground in embarrassment. He didn’t seem happy, and I knew that his mood probably won’t change for the day.

He still forced a small smile onto his face when we got to the pen and he held it right until he answered the last question. I was proud of him for how he held himself together even though I knew inside he was angry at himself and how the day went. I followed him back to the garage, being the first one to enter so I could get my things from inside. I waited for him to get his backpack and we left together.

„ What a shitshow of a race it was. ” He let out a sigh as we were walking through the paddocks, towards the parking lot. „ And in front of my mum… ” He added with a sigh, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

„ Everyone crashes once in a while. Corinna was probably just happy to see you get out of there. ” I shook my head a little looking up at him. „ There’s always next week when you can try again. ” I added, trying to lift his spirits even though I knew it probably won’t help.

We were just about to get into the car when someone called my name from behind us, and I knew from just the voice who it was. Stepping away from the door I motioned for Mick to get in so they could leave before my dad caught up to us. I let out a sigh as I watched the car leave and I turned back to see my dad just seconds away from reaching me. I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to him, although I couldn’t remember the last time I felt like talking to him for longer than exchanging a quick ’hi’. Somehow I felt like this won’t be a simple conversation about me getting a real job or about how my siblings are. It was never that straightforward with him.

[faedawayyy]

I WANT THE SKI LODGE/THIS CHRISTMAS TO REALLY KICK OFF ALL OF MY CHARACTERS IN INTERESTING AND NEW AND DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. LIKE I WANT TO REVIVE THE RP DAYS WHERE WE WEREN’T SO SCARED ABOUT KEEPING SHIPS AND MORE INTERESTED IN BEING DRAMATIC HOES AND HAVING AMAZING CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. SO LMK IF ANY OF THESE SUIT YOU? BUT ALSO PLS DON’T JUST TAKE ALL THE GUY ONES.

THIS IS POST 1: CHARACTERS THAT I CONSIDER O.G’S AND I’M TAKING THEM IN DIRECTIONS THAT MAAAAAYYYYYYBEEEE AREN’T AS STEREOTYPICAL...VERY FEW OF THESE INVOLVE LIKE, CHEATING OR SLEEPING AROUND.

DALLAS 

he’s had a good 3 years of being in relationship and girl drama and having that just doesn’t...make sense...anymore? like him and zara definitely have things they need to work through but i think he’s found someone he really likes and isn’t even looking into everybody else. 

HOWEVER, now that he’s with her, i think his family’s financial situation will become even more desperate bc they’re bankrupt and the calloway’s are like r i c h. so.... 

- SOMEONE HE’S LOANING A LOT OF $$$ FROM: yes, he makes lots from his singing career but his parents are in huge debt and on top of that, there’s margo’s rehab fees and spending problem. everything dallas has earned since his first album has gone to fixing his family and it just hasn’t happened yet. maybe he reaches out to someone over christmas for a big loan and they give it to him, without realising he has literally no plans on paying them back. if they’re going to be nice about it, i dont want it. i want tension w this.  - DIRTY WORK: he’s obviously been a drug dealer before. i’m happy for him to go down that route but again, anyone who is maybe from a sketchy family, dallas would be happy to do their dirty work for them if the price is right. maybe someone knows his family’s situation and takes advantage of this. again, i rly don’t want people being really nice about it.

BRODY 

he’s obviously, officially a dad now. i don’t think the pressure is getting to him, but the whole idea that this is his life forever definitely is. i’m always on the fence with him because he LOVES disney and nobody comes close. affairs just seem a bit old for him, but he still definitely fucks up now and then and i think i’m going to give him a bit of a partying/being out/spending addiction. sooooooo....

- PEOPLE WHO PARTY/GO OUT WITH HIM: think like, wolf of wallstreet or ‘the man’ music video by taylor swift. i think fake friends would definitely come in to play here - people who know he’s wealthy and take advantage of that to have really good nights out and tempt him to just blow tons of money on shit.  ALSO, people using him for publicity and maybe people who sell stories about the wild nights out he has and how much he fucks up/isn’t a great father figure atm.  - FRIENDS WHO COVER FOR HIM - TAKEN BY LEO: they don’t care enough to get him to fix up, but they definitely act as alibi’s and help him to avoid getting into too much shit with disney.

MASON 

i’m reaaalllly liking the idea of mason maybe not being as perfect as he appears on the surface. i think that has slowly started this year but hasn’t been as dramatic as it possibly COULD be. he also has the whole secret of knowing james is alive and nothing has come of that yet, so these are the two directions i want to take him down. SoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO......

- ALLEGED MISTRESSES/FLINGS: mason isn’t brody or leo and it is just natural to him to stay loyal and committed to the person he’s with and obviously, he loves kendall. however, i do think he has a lot of unfinished business with exes (we could also develop new ones if they’re not exes already). we could maybe plot about him rebuilding his relationship with them but it gets misinterpreted and it’s made out as if he’s cheating or something when rly it’d be completely innocent. - SOMEONE WHO CATCHES HIM WITH JAMES AT A SECRET LOCATION - TAKEN BY GISELE: i’d love this one more than ^^^^^^^^ tbh! it’s obviously a hUGE secret that james is alive and mason knows his family won’t forgive him for keeping it a secret if he finds out. this could definitely bring out the nastier side of him and i think he’d even go as far as to blackmail somebody or pay to keep them quiet. we can develop it! 

BLAKE

i struggle SO much with blake because he really is unproblematic. he can be a bit of an idiot but he’s not really into drugs, HE’D NEVER CHEAT, HE’S WITH THE LOVE OF HIS ACTUAL LIFE, and he’s pretty honest and kind for the most part. i’ve had a think, though, and i’ve came up with some of these. SOOOOO.... - MUSIC DRAMA: blake loves 5SOS but i also think his unique style of music is so different from the bands and he’s going to try and explore that in 2021. i kind of want him to work with other artists in the industry and lots of different drama could come out of this:  >> tension with the other 5sos boys and maybe fans who start to fuel rumours that he’s leaving when he isn’t  >> rivalries with some of the more established male artists. dallas would be great for this BUT he’s mine lol >> song-writing credits/arguments. maybe he writes with someone and they don’t feel like they’ve been given enough credit for how much they helped him. i’m very reluctant to do anything with blake’s personal life just bc that really isn’t him. AT THE VERY MOST, maybe some ex relationships for him to base his solo songs around.

HENSLEY

MY BABY IS ENGAGED. WHEN I TELL YOU I THINK I SHED A TEAR FOR HER LAST NIGHT, I’M NOT LYING. SHE’S SPENT THIS WHOLE RP PUSHING PEOPLE AWAY JUST TO BE LIKE “I TOLD YOU SO”....BUT !!!!!!! THINGS ARE CHANGING. ok, here are some ideas i have. these will take a little bit more development but still have a lot of potential.  - AN OLD (TOXIC) FRIENDSHIP REVIVING: there was a time like pre-st judes where hensley was quite off the rails. LIKE, she’d go out, get drunk/high, just not go home for days and i think this all came down to losing autumn in such a weird way....maybe she gets closer to that person again, and they’re a pretty bad influence? i feel like this would put a big strain on all of her healthier relationships. she’ll definitely not stay in the toxic place forever but maybe this friend is kinda passive aggressive like: “oh? you’re getting married? that’s very...not you.” and stuff.  maybe they come from a challenging background too and they were each other’s support systems but it wasn’t a healthy relationship. we could build this up!  - ANY OF EVAN’S EXES/FLINGS: LISTEN BECAUSE SHE IS JUST SO CONVINCED SHE’S NOT THAT EASY TO LOVE, she does find any ex of evan’s threatening no matter what is said or how long ago it was. it’d be interesting to see how that develops bc i think f x f relationships are where hensley’s flaws surface more.

ISSY (TW: RAPE)

OKAY SO PSA: issy is still ruby’s sister but nadine and i have decided to send it back to ruby not knowing that because it was a lot more interesting when it was still a secret. ISSY is still a mum and happy with levi and building her life back up from how damaged it became with her adoptive father in australia. SOOOOO.... - THE FACT SHE’S RUBY’S SISTER - TAKEN BY KENDALL: somebody she opens up to but they’re like “lol ok whatever...no you’re not” and rather than helping her, they think there’s something wrong with her and try to keep her away from ruby bc they think she’s doing it for attention or she’s just some kind of stalker? this would make her feel even less sure about telling ruby. MAYBE said person can kind of tell others that she’s obsessed and it becomes a thing around the academy for a while... - BABY PLOTS: there’s been quite a lot of babies being born. I’D LOVE to do something that maybe gets carried into next gen. maybe issy brings avery on a lot of play dates (when he’s a bit older) with another baby and they jokingly talk about setting their children up? then in next gen, it’ll obviously be up to meg how avery feels about it?

[choupichoups]

Eliott falls helplessly infatuated with his best friend’s little brother— he knows he’s writing up his own death wish going after this boy, but fuck if Lucas isn’t the most beautiful thing he’s ever laid eyes on.

Or: Eliott’s under the impression that his best friend’s new step brother, ‘Lulu’, is a literal baby. Nobody tells him the guy’s actually a fucking babe-y.

Hushed voices and soft footfalls are all he can hear when Eliott pads his way out to the bathroom closest to Adrien’s room. The smell of something baking in the oven is mouthwatering and Eliott almost fails to stop his zombified self from heading down right away.  It’s still early in the morning— Adrien’s dead to the world and those noises from downstairs are probably his parents getting ready to leave for the airport. 

He has half a mind to offer some assistance, maybe carry their luggage into the car trunk in apology for making so much noise last night. Maybe even offer to drive them to the airport so that they won’t have to deal with an atrocious secured parking bill in apology for having indecent thoughts about their younger son. 

But when he exits the bathroom after freshening up, Mrs. Delacroix is already halfway out the door, dropping a kiss over a sleepy Lucas’ cheek with a final reminder to, “Take care of yourself and Adrien, okay? Love you, darling.” 

Eliott almost snorts. Of course it falls on Lucas to take care of everything, Adrien has the mind of a new born child. 

Lucas rolls his eyes, responding with a laughing, “Yeah, you know it. Have fun in Australia! Love you.” 

He waits until the front door shuts before descending the stairs soundlessly. Lucas heads towards the kitchen where Eliott sees an explosion of ingredients sit, but Lucas doesn’t immediately continue with breakfast, maneuvering instead to the counter where he hoists himself up as he taps away on his phone. 

The sight is oddly reminiscent of their first meeting and the memory brings a pool of warmth in his stomach. It’s way too early in the morning to make any drastic moves, though, and there’s a butter knife conveniently placed beside Lucas’ thigh. Sure it’s plastic, but Eliott doesn’t doubt that Lucas could make it hurt if he wants to. 

He clears his throat as he nears the counter, visibly startling Lucas when he comes into sight— it makes Eliott laugh, low and breathy as he rubs a towel over his damp hair. “Good morning.”

There’s no immediate response. Lucas is gaping at him, looking back and forth between his phone and Eliott as if he’d magically summoned Eliott up through their Instagram messages. 

He waits for Lucas to ask, even starts rooting around in his mind for a smart answer to the inevitable what are you doing here? Except Lucas doesn’t ask. The latter slides down from the counter instead, wiping the dumbfounded look on his face to replace it with something resembling amusement. “Hi. Pancakes?” 

Eliott beams, a little weirded out by the lack of questions, of course, but he’s having a good start so he doesn’t prod. It reminds him of that strange English saying— something about gifts and horses and mouths. “Sure, need help?”

“No, thank you.” Lucas’ back is facing him, busy with whisking the pancake batter already waiting in a bowl near the stove. Actually, now that he’s paying attention, he notices that there are multiple bowls of batter littering the space. All looking different from each other. 

“You, uh, preparing for a feast here or?” Eliott asks jokingly, poking at a lime green container hosting what looks to be some leftover cookie batter. 

Lucas snorts. “Adri needs a ton of food after getting wasted or—”

“Or he’ll be grumpy and whiny the whole day,” Eliott finishes off, laughing fondly at the memory of his best friend refusing to talk to him for an entire eight hours when Eliott had neglected to buy them breakfast after a particularly wild party in high school. 

“Yeah.” Lucas clears his throat. “Are Idriss and Sofiane up?”

“They’re not here.” 

“Oh.” 

Lucas stops whisking and the two of them are swallowed by silence as Lucas waits for the pan to heat up. Eliott lets it be, enjoying the way Lucas taps on the counter and grabs around for something to occupy his hands with. Eliott chuckles, draping his towel over the closest stool. “If I didn’t know better,” he says, pushing away from the kitchen island to step closer, his chest to Lucas’ back, as he reaches up to open the cupboard above Lucas’ head. “I’d think you’re a little nervous right now.”

He feels the huff of breath Lucas lets out and the adorable fidgeting stops just like that. Lucas is relaxed inside the loose cage of Eliott’s arms, the warmth of him intoxicating as it gets closer and closer and closer— but Eliott isn’t moving, and fuck that’s all Lucas. 

Lucas who is melting into his arms, head thrown back to lean his head atop Eliott's shoulder, the solid press of his body is inviting and the brush of his hair against Eliott's neck is doing funny things to his brain. The brain which scrambles for a way to put a stop to this without actually putting a stop to this. Don’t get him wrong, Eliott is very much enjoying their closeness, but he's quickly learning that control is a challenge to grasp for whenever he’s dealing with the paradox that is Lucas. 

"But you know better," Lucas whispers, lips simultaneously too close and too far, the skin below Eliott's ear tingling with every soft exhale from the devil incarnate in front of him. He makes the mistake of looking down, then. Down at Lucas' innocent little smile and pretty eyes, made all the more frustrating from the fact that his actions are the farthest thing from innocent.

Eliott doesn’t move, caught in a trap of his own making. 

"You okay, Romeo? I've got some water here." Lucas' warmth disappears suddenly and Eliott's hands release their death grip on the cupboard handles, lowering down to hover uselessly in the ensuing confusion. He doesn’t even remember what he wanted from the cupboard in the first place. "You're looking a little thirsty over there," Lucas continues, reaching around a tray of cooling muffins for the case of water bottles behind it.

"Oh fuck off," Eliott snorts, lips dipping into a frown once he fully registers Lucas' words. The nickname is cute, sure, but Eliott prefers to hear something else. "Say my name."

Lucas peeks at him from over one shoulder. "No, I'm fucking off apparently."

Eliott pinches the bridge of his nose, biting back a smile when he hears Lucas stifling a giggle of his own. Quickly, before Lucas snarks his way out of proximity once again, Eliott reaches out and spreads both hands around his waist, spinning him around so that they're standing face to face. It's easier this way, for Eliott to tilt his head and work his charm. He smiles, small and close lipped, eyes lowering into an effortless smoulder he's perfected overtime. It's foolproof. Works every time.

Or at least it would work if Lucas would just look at him instead of that stupid water bottle in his hands. 

"Say it." It comes out a little more whiny than intended so Eliott drops his irresistible smoulder act (it is still a winning move and a gift to mankind, fuck you, Lucas) and settles for ducking down to try and catch Lucas' eyes.

“No,” Lucas says, huffing out a small laugh as he squirms to avoid Eliott’s persistent attempts to connect their eyes. 

“You just love refusing me everything, huh?”

“It’s therapeutic.”

“Come on, did you forget my name again? Is that it?”

Lucas hums, only maintaining the coveted eye contact for a few seconds before lowering his gaze to a random point somewhere around Eliott’s chest. He leans his chin on top of the water bottle, lips pursed in a thoughtful pout that every cell making up Eliott’s being is dying to kiss off. “Mm,” is the vague response he gets. 

“Say it.”

“Or what?” 

“Or I’ll kiss you,” Eliott mumbles, knowing it’s bullshit the moment it’s out in the open— it’s his turn to pout, not even thinking of what his face is doing, dramatic in the fact that he doesn’t have a good comeback to that question. Call him a heartbreaker, a player, or any other worse names you can think of but he’d never touch anyone like that without express permission. 

Lucas seems to know it too, because even when his eyes snap up, there’s a level of incredulity in the slow raise of his eyebrows that’s bordering on comical. His mouth opens, presumably to call Eliott out, shove him verbally off kilter as he’s always done, but not a sound comes out in the end. Eliott watches those pink lips quiver, pressed tight together in a poor attempt to mask the budding smile behind it. 

But then Lucas relinquishes his hold on the grin, and deep, deep down, lower than the darkest waters of the ocean, in the blackest depths where no mermaid can even reach, Eliott knows he’s well and truly fucked. 

Lucas’ smile is big and childlike and though Eliott’s been a fortunate witness to one of these angelic expressions the first time they met, this one is somehow larger in magnitude. There’s no other word to describe it other than megawatt. It brightens Lucas’ lovely features to a whole new tier— he’s so fucking cute about it too, shoulders swaying as he keeps looking at Eliott with that stunning smile and a look that one would usually reserve for a particularly dumb puppy. 

Eliott doesn’t even mind that he’s the dumb puppy in this scenario. Anything to keep Lucas smiling like that. 

And whoa, that thought is a dangerous threat to the image Eliott’s carefully sculpted. 

He backpedals, schooling his features into the casually bored expression he usually sports, shaking his head slightly before getting all up in Lucas’ space. “You don’t think I’m serious?”

Lucas’ smile drops, abrupt like a switch has been flipped and Eliott gets a mini whiplash from it. He doesn’t get enough time to scrutinize the sudden change, though, when a yelp echoes in the kitchen and Eliott jumps back, offended.

Offended at the fact that the yelp had come from himself because Lucas, brat extraordinaire, had pressed the ice cold water bottle against Eliott’s cheek with no warning. 

“Sorry!” Lucas is laughing, evidently not one bit sorry. 

“Oh you’re sorry?” Eliott places the water bottle down on the counter, having instinctively snatched it from Lucas’ grip the moment it touched his face earlier. 

“Very.” Lucas pushes off from where he’s been propped against the sink, dropping a glob of pancake batter into the pan that’s probably way too hot by now. It sizzles right away.

He waits until Lucas has safely put the bowl down and then Eliott turns him around again, holding Lucas close enough to catch the hitch in his breath as he crowds into his space once more. Eliott thinks he’s one strike away from getting stabbed by that plastic knife he’s been worried about earlier so he acts quick, dipping a finger into one of the muffin batters and wiping it obnoxiously slow over Lucas’ nose. “Oh.” He pulls away, faking surprise. “Sorry, how did that happen?”

Lucas opens his mouth, recovers fast, and, using a wooden spoon, deftly splashes some of the gooey pancake batter towards Eliott’s direction. “Oh no,” Lucas gasps, fake surprise equally as bad as Eliott’s. “You’ve got a little something there.”

Okay, he should have seen that coming. 

“Well, you’ve got more than a little something,” Eliott says, scooping up an atrocious amount of cupcake batter before walking forward, menacing with his chocolate covered palms. 

Panic flashes in Lucas’ eyes only for a second before he’s smiling again and it’s not the same as the one from earlier but he’s looking adorable either way. So obviously Eliott has to swipe his entire palm over the side of Lucas’ face, leaving a large hand print of dripping chocolate behind. 

Lucas plops a handful of flour over Eliott’s head before he can pull away. 

Unfortunately, there’s no real adult currently present to stop the mess that follows. 

“Don’t— not the fucking— ugh.” That’s Lucas, trying in vain to save his precious cookie batter from Eliott’s dirty, crumbly hands. “This is my own secret recipe you will not ruin it.” He throws a sprinkling of cocoa in Eliott’s face and the latter promptly sneezes.

“I just took a shower!” Eliott takes stock of his appearance in their pause, catches Lucas snickering, and dunks his hand in a container for a handful of sugar.

“You wouldn’t,” Lucas mutters, narrowing his eyes as Eliott draws closer.

Eliott holds out both arms. “I want a hug.”

“Go away!” Lucas tries to run around him but Eliott catches him easily, one arm curling around his waist and the other dropping the sugar down the back of Lucas’ shirt. “You hooligan!”

It’s really hard to breathe around the laughter that gets a hold of him. He only slows down when he feels both of Lucas’ hands on his face and the smell of melted chocolate is overwhelming as Lucas drags sticky fingers down Eliott’s jaw, finishing up by wiping his hands clean on the neck of Eliott’s shirt. He’s a fucking nightmare, really. Eliott can’t stop smiling. 

A weird beeping sound buzzes from the stove and Lucas gasps, scurrying over to the pan where his sad excuse of a pancake now lies hopelessly burnt. “Eliott!” he screeches, shutting the heat off before turning to face Eliott with a playful glare.

Eliott laughs again, like there’s nothing else for him to do. “Finally!” 

“Finally, what?”

“You said it! My name.” 

“Oh my g— you’re so— no breakfast for you,” Lucas finally decides on, after fumbling with his words. 

“What, no!” Eliott wipes his hands on a wad of paper towels, ruffling his hair a bit and seeing a clump of flour drop to the floor. Yeah, he’s going to need another shower after this. 

“Make your own stupid pancake,” Lucas mutters under his breath, peeking into each bowl that played victim during their little game. All of them are missing chunks from the sides but Eliott thinks there’s still enough for them to make more than just a decent breakfast. 

He’s about to respond, ready to sweet talk his way into a second chance at a pancake when Adrien’s voice filters through the rose coloured scene they’ve created. 

“Eliott?” 

Dropping from a high is a shit feeling. But somehow, this particular high is especially brutal. Eliott feels Lucas’ eyes on him as his head swings sideways. But Adrien’s only halfway out his bedroom door, eyes still closed and lips curled into a miserable frown.

“Down here,” Eliott calls back, watching Adrien stumble the few steps towards the stairs. 

Eliott turns back to Lucas then, aiming to make a joke at his best friend’s expense. But Lucas is absently licking the chocolate off his fingers, eyes on the floor as he flicks his tongue around his thumb until it’s clean. 

“What are you doing?” Adrien sits heavily on the top stair, not even bothering to hide how useless he must feel at the moment. “It’s too early.”

“I’m—“ Eliott clears his throat, choking on his own spit when Lucas notices him staring. “Making breakfast.”

“Breakfast?” The word sounds muffled coming from Adrien but Eliott can’t check on him, can’t look away from Lucas’ knowing smirk. Lucas has squished himself against the side of the fridge, making it impossible for Adrien to see him from where he’s perched. “Man, no, stay away from breakfast.”

Eliott doesn’t respond, has trouble registering anything else other than the way Lucas sucks on the tip of his fingers before opening his mouth and placing his entire middle finger on his tongue, lips slowly closing around it. It’s fucking obscene and Eliott can’t breathe. 

“Eliott!” Adrien whines, sliding down the stairs one slow drag of his butt at a time. 

He jumps, glaring petulantly when Lucas snorts in laughter, removing those slim, torturous fingers from his lips as he steps out into his brother’s view. “Hey, Adri.” 

“Lulu!” Adrien exclaims, sounding like everything is suddenly right in the world. “I see you’ve met my baby bro— why are you guys all messy?” 

“Ask your friend, he started it.” Lucas runs up the stairs, pausing obediently when Adrien staggers into an upright position just to kiss Lucas on the forehead. Eliott watches the interaction, guilt churning at the pit of his stomach. “Right, Eliott?” 

Of course Lucas would use his name right now. Eliott gives him the middle finger in lieu of a response, which makes Lucas laugh in delight. 

“I’m gonna wash up and then continue with breakfast, okay?” Lucas says, ruffling Adrien’s hair before continuing to dash away. 

Eliott watches him go, half tempted to take the quickest shower of his life and flee back to the safety of his apartment. He can practically feel himself starting to go haywire and he hates it— hates that the control he’s painstakingly crafted has spiderweb cracks creeping about, hates the fact that he’s so painfully aware that he only hates it whenever Lucas isn’t around. 

In the end, he doesn’t have to worry about fleeing anywhere. Lucas is gone by the time Eliott’s dressed up again, leaving a plethora of food on the table for him and Adrien to deal with. The kitchen has been cleaned as well, no evidence of the mess he and Lucas had left behind. 

“Where’s your brother?” 

“Friend’s house,” Adrien answers around a mouthful of food. 

srodulv Leaving without saying goodbye? That hurts

lucallemant Sorry did you want me to knock on the bathroom door?

srodulv Maybe 

lucallemant Oh well next time 

srodulv Looking forward to it

“So how do you feel about Lucas?” 

Eliott accidentally inhales the apple juice instead of drinking it, coughing and sputtering as Adrien watches on, cackling at his suffering. “What?” he manages to squeak out as he pounds at his chest to soothe the burn. 

“What do you think of him? I can’t have my best bro and my real bro not getting along now, can I?” Adrien elaborates, handing Eliott his glass of juice back. Still triggered by the sight of it, Eliott reaches for a water bottle instead. 

“He’s cool.” Understatement of the century. 

“Good, great.” Adrien nods, poking at his last pancake. He yawns into his hand, obviously still not fully recovered from last night’s dumb decisions. 

lucallemant My friend’s hosting a party next friday, wanna come with?

Eliott perks up, fork clattering on his plate as he hurries to reply. Adrien groans at the sound of it and Eliott mumbles an instinctive apology. 

srodulv Wow inviting me to a party? Who are you and what have you done to my Lucas?

lucallemant I can take it back 

srodulv No no I wanna come 

“Who are you talking to this early on a Saturday?” Adrien asks, nosy even in his miserable state. 

“It’s noon.”

“Like I said, early.” 

Eliott snorts, staring down at the read sign below his message and sighing when Lucas doesn’t pick up the conversation. Of course. 

“Are you already working on your next person?” His tone sounds breezy enough but Eliott’s spent too much time with Adrien to not notice whenever he’s in one of his moods. His annoying sleuthing mood, to be specific. 

“No,” Eliott denies, placing his phone face down on the table. 

“Okay.” Adrien shrugs. “Just wondering, cause you were glaring pretty hard at your phone.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Okay…”

“Stop saying that.”

“Saying what?”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Stop!” Eliott’s laughing now, reaching over to knock Adrien upside the head. 

“Just saying, if you find someone, like, for serious.” Adrien finishes off his food, swiping a finger over his plate to scoop up some leftover syrup. “I’m all ears. God knows you’ve forgotten how real romance works.”

“Right. Serious.” Eliott rolls his eyes, throwing a stray chocolate chip at him. “I’m plenty romantic, thank you very much.”

“Your romance is so fake it makes me gag.” Adrien throws the chocolate chip back at him, half eaten. Gross. 

“Fuck you.”

“In your dreams, fuck boy.”

“Fuck off.”

On Monday, Eliott’s standing outside of his building with two of his classmates when Lucas passes by and smiles at him. 

Eliott looks away. 

He immediately feels like a dick afterwards but in his defence, Alena is the biggest gossip monger this side of Europe has ever seen and he doesn’t need rumours about the two of them to start up. Granted it’s a bit paranoid, he can be friends with Adrien’s brother without Alena thinking anything of it— especially since it’s a widely known fact that Eliott and Adrien are attached at the hip.

But Eliott can’t help it, so he continues being an asshole on campus, relieved when Lucas responds like normal over their chat. It’s a convenient thing they’ve got here— flirting in private and strangers in public. Maybe he’s been overreacting about the whole control issue around Lucas. Maybe this can work out as a casual thing, eventually, whenever Lucas decides to stop swerving him. Maybe they can get this tension out of their system all without Adrien getting involved. 

srodulv I think there’s still some cookie dough behind my ear

lucallemant Lol you deserve it  I still have sugar everywhere 

srodulv I can help you clean up

lucallemant Nooo thank you

srodulv Alright, suit yourself Just trying to free you from your sugar induced suffering

lucallemant And whose fault is that?

srodulv I take full responsibility So really I don’t mind helping 

lucallemant Haha shut up Pay attention in class

srodulv How do you know I have class? You know my schedule? You care?? 

lucallemant Lol you are so annoying  Adri’s got it in his head that we should be best friends from now on

srodulv Oh shit  He friendzoned me for you :(

lucallemant Yeahhh, what are you gonna do about that Romeo?

srodulv Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day :( 

lucallemant That’s so sad

srodulv For never was a story of more woe than the friendzoning of Juliet to his Romeo :(( 

lucallemant So tragic 

srodulv Did I make you cry 

lucallemant :’(

srodulv :’)

Tuesday and Wednesday go by swimmingly, with Eliott ensuring to stick close by his classes to prevent an accidental run in with Lucas. Despite the latter acting like it doesn’t bother him whenever they don’t acknowledge each other in public, it does stick around in the back of Eliott’s head. 

But he’s back on his bullshit by Thursday, barely even thinking about it as he walks in the hallways with an arm around Eleanor’s shoulders. Sofiane had mentioned once that she’s hot and smart and that they’d look good together, sprinkling in the little tidbit where Sofiane hints that she might be the one, you know, since they share so many common interests and all. Sometimes, Eliott wishes they’d just leave it well enough alone. 

Either way, he’d taken the bait, going after her if only to prove his friends wrong. He should have known it’s a rotten call the moment he’d acted on it. 

“What time are you picking me up tomorrow?” she asks before they separate for their respective classes. Eliott blinks, forgetting that he’d used Lucas’ friend’s party to chat her up initially. He’d honestly thought he’d be done and over with his game with her before Friday arrives. Clearly, he’s miscalculated.

An uncomfortable lump makes a home out of his airways but Eliott stubbornly swallows it down. “Uh, not sure, I’ll text you.” He can’t shake the feeling that what he’s doing is so incredibly shitty and his shoulders slump at the weight of it. 

Eleanor raises an eyebrow. “And you won’t conveniently forget to text me at the last minute?” she responds, all attitude beneath the need for reassurance. It makes him smile, though her face isn’t the one at the back of his mind.

“It’d be awful of me to forget my date.” Eliott twines their fingers together and drops a kiss on the back of her hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow, promise.” 

There’s a metal trash can by the exit doors. 

This information is only relevant to his interests because there comes a deafening clatter right at that moment, as if someone had dumped an entire drum set inside the bin from right off the ceiling. 

Lucas is behind him when Eliott turns around and he hadn’t thought this possible, but the guilt swirling in his chest intensifies, his legs almost buckling under the immediate, desperate need to fix something. He knows what it is but the problem is that he doesn’t want to acknowledge it. His steps falter halfway through reaching Lucas, awkward and uncomfortable and what the fuck. This is who Eliott is. This is what he does. There’s no reason for him to crumble under Lucas’ disappointed eyes. 

Looking down, there’s some sort of shiny contraption squashed inside the trash. It looks like some kind of science experiment, but obviously it’s nothing too important if Lucas is going around throwing the entire thing out. 

“Are you al—”

“Don’t.” Lucas cuts him off with a harsh whisper.

Eliott doesn’t dare to go after him. 

srodulv Hey are you ok? Lucas  Can you please answer me Adrien said your assignments are stressing you out? Was that what you threw out What’s it supposed to do?

lucallemant Stop

srodulv Stop what

lucallemant Stop pretending you care

That’s the last he hears from Lucas. The rest of his messages go unanswered and Eliott would think that Lucas has blocked him if it weren’t for the fact that he can still view his profile in full. 

Eliott sips at his beer, not feeling like getting drunk at all. The party is boring. Surprise, surprise. Adrien forgoes this one, claiming that he’s turned over a new leaf and he that he would never attend a party or get wasted ever again. Eliott would believe him if he hasn’t said the exact same thing every time he experiences a particularly gruelling hangover. 

Idriss is somewhere out in the crowd having a dance off with Imane and Sofiane is way too busy with school work to even think about partying so long story short, there’s no one to act as a buffer between Eliott and Eleanor, who is plenty gorgeous and plenty interesting but. 

But. 

Taking a long swig from his drink, Eliott takes Eleanor’s hand and shouts above the booming speakers, “Come on, let’s go dance.”

He stops himself from grabbing another bottle to drink on their way to the crowded ‘dance floor’. That would be rude, he thinks. Eleanor doesn’t deserve to feel inferior just because Eliott can’t get his shit together. 

Two songs in and Eliott almost calls it quits. He’s so severely distracted that he isn’t sure he’s listening to the same beat as everyone else. Eleanor can walk away without Eliott getting anything out of it— it’s not like it’s the first time he’s let someone go like that. In fact, those are his most amicable separations. 

Eliott sighs, tilting sideways when she goes in for a kiss so that it lands on his cheek instead. And there, with his eyes directed near the hallway, he sees Lucas with his friends, barely swaying to the music while the other boys compensate by going wild around him. As if feeling his gaze, Lucas looks up, directly finding Eliott’s eyes in the crowd despite the poor lighting. 

An ugly surge of spite rushes through him and he knows he has no right, absolutely no right to be angry at Lucas for dropping him with barely an explanation. Eliott knows what he did but he also doesn’t understand Lucas’ reaction to it. He and Eliott are tentatively friends, not enough of a thing to warrant Lucas being angered by Eliott going out with other people. 

Or so he convinces himself. 

Eliott brushes a hand through Eleanor’s hair, tilting her head up without breaking away from Lucas’ stare. He leans down, presses their lips together, and almost regrets it when Lucas drops his eyes to the floor. Forcing himself to push through, he closes his eyes, grasping for that giddy feeling that kissing someone you like, even just someone attractive, usually invokes. But as always, he feels nothing but the warm lips of another person. He could be kissing his film history professor right now and he wouldn’t feel any different. 

The next time his eyes open, Lucas is still there, swaying weakly to the upbeat song blasting from the speakers, but his eyes are on Eliott again. This time with a fire that both thrills and terrifies him. 

Lucas backs up right into a stranger’s arms. Eliott hadn’t even noticed the guy’s existence until then and he swallows, breaking off from Eleanor to watch, with painful realization, what’s about to happen. Eleanor nuzzles into the crook of his neck, mouths something into his skin, but Eliott only hears the too loud thrum of the bass, sees nothing else from the moment Lucas spins around, winds his arms around the other boy’s shoulders, and pulls him down into a kiss he so avidly denies Eliott. 

The beat drops and Eliott’s heart goes along with it. 

It’s jarring— the sensation he feels equating to that of falling from the peak of a rollercoaster ride. He’s fucking terrified of heights yet he still does it to save face whenever he gets dragged into those cursed theme parks. Pride always wins the game. 

This time, however, he gets pride to take the backseat and lets something else win. 

Gently, he detangles himself from Eleanor with a mumbled excuse that he doesn’t even register. His focus is on Lucas, who doesn’t open his eyes to glance at him even once, who lets himself get wrapped up in the stranger’s arms, covered by broadness that honestly kind of pisses Eliott off. He doesn’t take his eyes off of them, though. Follows every agonizing second until they’re stumbling into the hallways blindly, lips still locked. 

He rushes forward when Lucas’ hand shoots out to hold onto the edge of the entryway, finding leverage to stop from getting hurled straight into one of the host’s bedrooms. 

They’re speaking in hushed voices when Eliott reaches them, the stranger laughing and Lucas smiling and Eliott just about ready to punch himself through the nearest wall. 

“We need to talk,” he says into Lucas’ ear, holding his hand to take them somewhere quiet. 

“Hey,” the stranger interrupts and his voice irritates Eliott for no other reason than the fact that he’d had his lips on Lucas just a few minutes prior. “What do you think you’re doing?” 

“Back off,” Eliott retorts, barely glancing at the guy. He’s already poised to leave, eyes solely on Lucas— there’s a blankness to his expression that Eliott hasn’t seen before. He’s used to his boy’s lively eyes, his lovely smiles and he doesn’t quite know what to do with what he’s currently presented with. 

“How about you back off, Demaury.” He can see movement from the corner of his vision and Eliott turns on his heel, irritated beyond belief. 

“Who the fuck do you—”

“Stop.” Lucas’ voice is quiet but both of them do stop at the sound of it. He pats the guy’s chest wordlessly before dragging Eliott out of the apartment and keeps going until they reach the stairwells of the back exit. “What.” 

Now that they’re alone, Eliott’s at a loss for words. 

“What, Eliott,” Lucas repeats, impatient. 

Eliott shakes his head, words jumbling in his brain as they all attempt to rush out at once. He tries to keep a chain on them, to filter out the ones that are relevant, to keep a cool head above the noise from inside his brain. His emotions burst in a concoction of colours and he fumbles to keep them hidden — the red of rage, the green of envy — but his fingers slip through their haze and the words spiral and spiral, until what comes out is a heavy loaded, “What the fuck is your problem?”

He doesn’t mean it. He wants to drop down on his knees and ask Lucas for a second chance. 

But pride takes hold of the reigns once anger and hurt come into play. 

“My problem?” Lucas chuckles, hoarse and devoid of joy. “What’s my problem? I’ll tell you what the fuck my problem is!”

Eliott looks at him, waiting, pressing his lips together to prevent the demon in his mind from speaking. 

“My problem is that everyone tried to warn me about you,” Lucas says, fists clenched by his sides. “My problem is that I didn’t listen! I had… I hoped…” His voice breaks at the end and Eliott’s hand twitches, but there are no tears for him to catch. Lucas stares on, livid. “My problem is that you want me to be yours but you’ve never even planned on being mine.” 

Oh. 

He opens his mouth, lets himself be cruel. “So you reject me and when I see someone else, you throw a tantrum.” 

“Fuck you, Eliott. You’d know if I was rejecting you.”

“So you want me to wait around for you, exclusively, until you deem me good enough to be in a relationship with, is that it?” 

Lucas shakes his head. “I’m not sure if you’re purposely being obtuse or if you’re just fucking with me right now.” 

“No really, what do you want here?” Eliott says, “A week ago, you couldn’t even remember my name and now you want us to jump into… what? A serious relationship?” 

“Yeah,” Lucas bites back. “Yeah, that’s it. I want something serious, Eliott. So you either get your shit together or you leave me the fuck alone.” 

Eliott shrugs, wrapping himself in multiple layers of persona persona persona until he pushes out a convincing, “Fine. Goodbye.” 

When he walks away, he makes sure not to turn back. 

[tydelwve]

Wherever You Are {pt. 1}

Characters: Calum x Reader

Word Count: 2248

Warnings: fluff and angst

Summary: Despite being Calum’s best friend and girlfriend, he still struggles with telling you the important things

Beta: Crio Grammar Checker

Author’s note: This was made for @thinkwritexpress-official ‘s My Kind of Love Challenge. My version of love was first love. I literally had no clue what to write and then i listened to Wherever You Are, and it clicked. Feedback is always appreciated! enjoy xx

want to be added to my tag list?

You and Calum were far from the perfect couple. The two of you had your share of fights, which inevitably lead to silent treatment or avoiding one another.

When you fought, it would get bad. Screaming so loud that both of your parents would worry if everything was okay. Sometimes they had to intervene and tell the other to go home and pick up the argument the next day with a clear head before one of you said something that you would regret or one of you would storm out, pissed that the other couldn’t see your side of the argument. 

When night rolled around, either you or him showed up with food and movies from Redbox. You’d apologize to each other and cuddle for the rest of the night. Having frequent fights didn’t change how much you loved each other. 

Nothing could change the way your heart skipped a beat when you heard Calum’s voice. You swore, it was the most angelic thing you’d ever heard. You could get you to do almost anything if he said it in the right tone.

You couldn’t help the butterflies you feel in your stomach whenever people mentioned him. He made you feel excited for what the days had to come. No one else could make you forget all of your problems with a simple hug or kiss. 

You affected Calum in ways that no one else could.  

He would go to the ends of the world just to see you happy. Nothing could replace the image of your smile that was etched into his memory. 

Just a day spent with you would change his bad moods drastically. You know exactly what to say to bring him back to earth. 

You and Calum started dating in the ninth grade. You fit in pretty well with his friends since you never really messed with them or affected their time with him.

Michael was the only one that knew you out of the small group, though. You’d met him the same time you met Calum. Luke and Ashton didn’t know much since they only really saw you at their gigs or when they were leaving Calum’s house.

When his band slowly started gaining more fame, you were elated for him. He would finally get a chance to live out his dream with his best friends. 

He seemed like he was finally doing something he loved. It made you happy to see him enjoying himself for a change. He was expressing himself more and watching him grow was amazing to you.

“Just imagine, Calum. One day the signs will have your band’s music and faces on it,” you grinned as both of you laid on his couch. 

“You think so?” He asked as he nuzzled his face into your neck and placed a small kiss.

“Yes! Calum, you guys are extremely talented. This band has really helped you.”

He softly smiled as he said, “Thank you for staying with me. I know we’ve had our ups and downs, but you never left or lost faith in me. It really means a lot.”

You sat up and leaned your head on his shoulder “I’m not leaving until you make me, Cal. You’re stuck with me forever.”

He turned to you with a mischievous grin, “Well, then I guess you’re gonna have to get used to this.”

He attacked you with kisses all over your face.You giggled and tried to get out of his embrace, but his arms were firmly around your waist.

“Stop!” You burst out during your fits of laughter. “You’re going to mess up my make up for my pictures today.”

He stopped and examined your face. “You’d look beautiful with or without it, babygirl.”

“You’re just saying that,” you blushed.

Calum grinned and shook his head. “I’ve been in love with you for two years, Y/N. I know what I’m talking about.”

You rolled your eyes and responded, “We’ve only been dating for a year, Calum.”

“That doesn’t change the way I felt about you before we were a couple.” He re-emphasized, “I know you, baby.”

It was true. Calum knew you better than almost anyone. From your proudest moment to your most embarrassing, Calum was there. Since before you were dating, Calum was your rock.

He was the first friend you even made upon moving to a completely new side of Australia. He’s been your happiness for as long as you’ve known him, and you were his.

There wasn’t anything about you that Calum didn’t know. If we’re honest, he probably knew too much about you.

He knew about your first period, even though he had no clue what it was at the time. When he found out, he wasn’t mortified. He comforted you and stayed with you until you felt better.

He was the one to bring you clothes when yours was stolen out of the locker room. He didn’t hesitate to walk in the girl’s locker room for you.

Whenever you needed him, he was there.

Calum knew you so well that he could pick out your moods just from your actions.

When you were nervous, your legs would vigorously shake. You chewed your lips when you were uncertain. He noticed how you tucked a piece of hair behind your ear and looked down when you were uncomfortable.

His favorite was when you were happy. You’d bite the inside of your cheek to hide the grin forming on your face.Sometimes you’d let out a small giggle when you were even more excited.

He knew you like the back of his hand.

Your phone buzzed with a text from your mom to come back home. You sighed and got off the couch, pulling Calum with you, despite his protests.

“Calum, I have to go. Walk me home, please?” you pouted.

“Do you really have to go now? Five minutes? You can afford to be a little late, “ Calum wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you closer to him.

“Five more minutes always turn into me being late, Calum. I can’t do that today,” you shook your head and out of his grip.

He sighed and agreed, letting you lead him out the door.

After a ten minute walk, you and Calum stood outside your house. You gave him a quick and assured him, “I’ll see you tonight at your gig. Make sure Momma Hood saves me a seat.”

He nodded with a smile plastered across his face, “I love you, and I’ll see you tonight.”

“I love you, too!” You grinned before disappearing into your home.

As Calum walked home, he couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off of his face. You were flawless in his eyes.

Two years ago, he would have laughed in his face if someone told him that you would be his forever. Every moment spent you was a daydream.

There was no denying that he was in love with you. Your parents would argue that he’s been in love with you since the day he met you. He looked like he’d seen an angel at the age of ten on your first encounter.

Calum remembered that day like the back of his hand.

~flashback~

He was riding his bike to the nearby park to hang out with Michael for the day when he noticed the moving truck and a family of three pile out of the car in the driveway. He didn’t notice himself slowing down to a stop until you gave him a small wave.

He slightly tilted up the corners of his lips and waved back.

Your mom noticed your interaction with him and nudged your dad.

“Hey, buddy, what’s your name?” Your dad walked over to Calum and squatted down to look at Calum. His tone was warm and welcoming, calming Calum’s nerves.

“I’m Calum,” he slightly mumbled.

“Well, Calum, it’s nice to meet you. That’s our daughter, Y/N,” your dad pointed to you behind him. “She’s a little shy and needs a friend around town,” he whispered to Calum.

You nuzzled into your mother’s side as Calum glanced at you again.

“I can be her friend!” He perked up with a toothy grin across his face. “I’m actually going to the  park five minutes away to play with some other kids.”

Your mom looked down at you and asked, “You want to go play with some other kids?”

“You’re gonna let me go?” you questioned.

“The park is five minutes away and you’ll be bored here while we unpack. Go! Have fun. Make friends.”

You grinned and ran to grab your bike off of the moving truck. You waved to your parents as you and Calum rode to the park.

The ride was comfortably silent and filled with small talk to get to know each other.

~end flashback~

Later that night, you slipped into their gig as it was starting. You took a seat beside Calum’s mom, giving her a small smile and hug once you got settled. “Hope I didn’t miss too much, Mrs. Hood,” you joked. “How are you?”

“I’m doing fine, Y/N. I thought I told you to call me Joy,” she playfully scolded.

Your chatter began to fade as the band grasped both of your attention.

During the middle of the set, you leaned over to Joy and whispered, “I’m so proud of them. They are really improving as a band. I can't see what their future holds!”

Joy nodded and replied, “Me too, Y/N. I just didn’t think I’d have to say goodbye to my baby boy so soon.”

You tilted your head a little. “What are you talking about?”

“They’re moving to London in two days, remember?”

You put on a tight lipped smile and nodded. “Right. How could I forget?” you breathed out.

You zoned out during most of the rest of their set.

How could Calum not tell you that he was moving? Did he plan on disappearing in two days without a word?

You just wanted to go home, fall down into bed, and cry. He was moving in two days, and you couldn’t do anything about it.

What would happen if Calum moved? Would you two continue dating?

So many questions were going through your head, but only Calum could give you the answers you deserve.

Calum. The boy who hid this from you for who knows how long. The one person you trusted with everything hid a departure date.

When the gig was over, you found Calum in the back of the venue.

Once he saw you, his face lit up. You put on a tight lipped smile as you gave him a quick hug.

His brows furrowed with your suddenly cold movements. “Y/N, what’s wrong?”

You tucked a piece of your hair behind your ear and look down. “Can we talk somewhere more private?” you whispered.

He immediately nodded, saying his goodbyes to his band mates before following you out the door. The walk started off quiet as you gathered your thoughts.

“When were you going to tell me?” You questioned and looked up at him.

“Tell you what?” He stuck his hands in his pockets and avoided eye contact with you. He knew exactly what you were talking about.

“Maybe I’m crazy, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t the time to act clueless anymore,” you snapped. “You’re leaving in two days, Calum. Two days. Yet, I didn’t know about it at all until your mom said something about it today. Something’s wrong with that.”

He threw his hands up and shrugged, “I didn’t know how to tell you! I wasn’t ready to face that we wouldn’t see each other every day.”

Tears began to roll down your face as you snapped, “Did it ever occur to you that the sooner I knew, the more time I would have had more time to process and accept it? At this rate, I have to accept it, but I don’t even know what to think!”

“I didn’t really consider that,” he mumbled.

“Calum. I fucking love you, and I don’t know what I’m going to do without you here.”

“Y/N… I’m so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. If I could, I’d stay here to be with you.”

You waved your hands in dismay as you shook your head. “No, this is for your career, Calum. It fucking sucks, but it’s your time to shine.”

“What can I do to help you feel better about all this? I don’t want to go if it means leaving you shattered.”

As you walked in front of your house, you sighed, “Just let me process what’s going on.”

He nodded, “I’ll see you tomorrow?” The hopefulness became apparent in his voice.

Your smile wavered as you said, “I hope so. Goodnight, Calum.”

He leaned in to kiss you, but you turned your head, letting his lips meet with your cheek. A final stray tear fell down your face.

“I love you, Y/N. I hope you know that. You are the first girl I’ve ever been in love with, and I don’t want to lose you.”

“I love you, too.”

You turned around and walked to your door. Calum stood at the end of the pathway, feeling as if his feet were glued to the ground. You hesitantly opened the door without glancing backwards.

For the first time in your relationship with Calum, you didn’t know if things were going to be okay.

{two}

~~

tags: @meganwinchester1999 @cashton-queen @gigglyirwin @thinkwritexpress-official @suburbanaesthetics @harvardhemmings @lukescherrypie @cocktail-calum @calumvertigo @darthrogers @hopelessxcynic

[impulseislost]

Orange

Something like 2k of word vomit

there’s mentions of felix being drugged. that’s all i have for warnings

"You know, it'd be quicker to just kill him." The younger commented, watching as the other man quickly pushed his clip into place and double checked that safety was off. Chan glanced over at Jisung , raising an eyebrow.

"Our contact said they wanted him alive. We deliver what they want, or we don't get payed." He commented dryly, tucking the handgun into it's holster, "Remember, you pair have the easy job."

Changbin grumbled, turning back to his laptop and tapping a couple keys.

"Cause hacking security feed is easy, hyung." He muttered, glancing up to catch Chan shrug.

"I have to catch the guy. You get to stay safe. I don't." Changbin snorted. Safe? What was that?

"Whatever. Just remember the codewords, and I'll get you outta there as fast as I can."

"Orange, mission complete. Lime, get me the fuck out. Tangerine, get yourself out." Chan recited dryly. Changbin offered a nod up.

"Get going then." Jisung noted, pushing at Chan's arm. The elder got up with a groan, double checking the holster was hidden by his suit jacket.

"Hopefully, I'll be done by 12." He said once, staring at Changbin, then Jisung, before strolling out the door and picking up the invitation that rested on the table by the door.

"Do we worry?" He heard Changbin ask Jisung as he went. The last thing he heard before the door slammed shut was JIsung's reply of, "No."

Festivities were already in full swing by the time that Chan walked in the door, folding his invitation back into his suit. The Australian's eyes glanced around as he surveyed the room for his target. A flash of orange in the crowd of browns and blacks was his only catch of the boy he was looking for.

"You found our guy, hyung?"  Changbin's voice came through an ear piece. Chan hummed at him, as he strolled through the crowd, ducking and weaving around people.

"Not yet." He whispered, as he slipped after the trace of orange he'd seen, "But I will." He heard a grunt of affirmation from the other side as he searched around again. Another flash of orange hair flicked past him. And Chan headed after it.

It was the man he was looking for after all.

His eyes followed the orange hair as he followed it, watching as the man it belonged to ducked into an alcove in the hall. Chan smiled gently as he rounded the corner, adjusting his features into one of pleasant surprise.

"Ah, I see someone else found the corner I planned to hide in." He commented with a gentle laugh, leaning next to the... Young man.

His target was a lot younger than he thought, now that he looked at the guy. Freckles dusted the bridge of his nose as the boy's eyes widened into genuine surprise.

"I um, pardon?" He mumbled, in a slightly accented tone. Chan hummed once for Changbin's benefit.

"Ah, nothing. Who might you be?" He asked like he didn't already know the boy's life story. Still, had to keep up facades. Especially if he wanted to get this job done without a hitch.

"Uh, Felix. Lee Felix." Chan was genuinely surprised here. Records had always referred to him as 'Yongbok'. Although, Felix suited him rather well. Much better than the Korean name did.

"Felix? Not from South Korea I take it?" The boy fidgeted under Chan's gaze. And he wasn't surprised, really. He'd been told he was rather intense sometimes.

"N-no. I'm, uh... From Australia?" He'd said the country's name in English. Chan nodded once, hoping Changbin was getting this.

"Oh really? Me too. Uh, oh! My bad. I'm Chris, sorry." It'd been a while since he'd used his English name, but better put up appearances right? Either way it seemed to relax Felix, as the boy nodded slowly, slouching on the wall with a quiet sigh.

"Long day?" Chan asked sympathetically, as the boy nodded.

"Mm, Mr K-- My Father wanted me to be here but... I'm more of a socially recluse kind of person." Chan noted the slip up. It'd be interesting to tell Woojin when he finished the job.

"That's understandable." He murmured, glancing around once, "Want a drink?"

In hindsight, it'd been all too easy to lace the drink he was retrieving for Felix with sleeping pills. And once he'd gotten Felix to drink it, it'd been easy to sneak the sleeping boy out the building. The moment he'd reached the car Jisung had running for the pair, Chan smiled, setting the sleeping boy in the back seat and making sure he wasn't falling anywhere anytime.

"Code?" Jisung asked him, as he slipped into the front seat. Chan smiled again, buckling his own seat belt.

"Orange." And they drove off, long before the alarms went off for the missing boy from the party.

Felix found himself awake, on a plain bed, and still in his his suit from the party Mr Kim had thrown that night -- Minus the jacket which he spotted draped across the edge of the bed. To his surprise, it seemed as if he'd been just... Left.

The boy glanced around the room, (It was plain, bare walls with three beds in the room, one of which looked like someone had recently slept in it.) and sat up. The last thing he remembered from last night was... Chris, and the drink and gosh damn it what the hell had happened last night?

The door opened, and speak of the devil, there was Chris, dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and a slightly too big t-shirt.

"Great, you're awake." The man noted, leaning on the wall. Felix blinked, slowly.

"You drugged me!" Chris tilted his head slightly, watching the boy with a guarded expression. Felix hated when people did that.

"I did. Would you rather I left you to the party? I can just as easily return you." He replied, a yawn escaping him soon after. Felix hissed, looking away.

"Look at it this way, Lee Felix, you've been given a chance to return home," Chris continued, watching as the boy squirmed, "I thought you'd at least be happy to know that."

"I am, but--"

"Then seize what you're given. Anyway, you should really talk to Changbin about this. Probably should get changed first, unless you're comfortable in a suit?" Chris cut Felix off, asking his question with an eyebrow raise. Felix quickly shook his head, because no this suit wasn't the least bit comfortable. And he kinda wanted a shower anyway.

"Good. You look slightly too tall for most of Binnie's clothes, but take a look at mine or whatever, I don't care. Bathroom's the first door to the right, my shit's there." And with that, Chris left the room.

Felix blinked before hesitantly standing up.

"Oh. Fuck."

Chris had been right about  this 'Binnie's' clothes being to small. At least pants wise. He wasn't sure about anyone else, but Felix wasn't exactly fond of his trousers showing off an inch of his ankle. That's what he had shorts for anyway.

So that's how he found himself, about half an hour later in a mash up of two different strangers clothes in variations of black, grey, and dark grey. It wasn't the best, but at least he was wearing something other than what he'd been practicably forced into last night. Anything was better than that right now.

The door to the room opened as he was half way through this thought, and a different man comes in, and speaking.

"Hey Channie Hyu-- You're not Chan. Uh... Yongbok?" The man clearly had no clue about his other name, but the use of his Korean one was enough to have Felix making a noise of displeasure. The other man paused, biting at his lip for a moment.

"So this is where Hyung left you then." He noted after a moment, offering up a grin before continuing on, "Anyway, I'm just gonna let you know that... Your cousin I think it was, is gonna drop by in a couple hours to get you back home."

That was news to Felix. He hadn't seen Minho in... Months now. Even before his own strange disappearance. The family didn't talk about him either.

"Minho Hyung?" He asked cautiously. The man paused, be nodding.

"That's what he said his name was." Felix relaxed for a moment before the man continued, "Now then. I'm uh, Changbin. And you're apparently Yo--" He cut himself off as Felix hissed once at the name.

"It's Felix, actually."

"Right, Felix." The man --Changbin, Felix reminded himself-- leaned on the wall, staring at him dryly. Felix glanced away, fingers drifting to his neck and finding his pulse without him even realising.

"So, Minho hyung is going to take me home, how do I know you're not lying and you're not selling me back to Mister Kim?" Changbin smiled grimly at him, before looking out the window in the room. Felix couldn't tell where they were from the scenery and he hated it.

"We won't. Because Jisung'd probably shoot Chan if he were to try. Then you." He said in a light tone, as if this were normal. Normal to have some sort of trigger happy... Person in your friend group. Changbin laughed then, watching Felix again.

"Trust me here, he would rather kill you than have you go through that again." Changbin said, his voice soothing.

"Th-That's fair. Then... What do I do while I'm waiting for him?" Changbin shrugged in reponse. Gods, this is going to be a long few hours, Felix told himself then, allowing himself to drop onto the nearest bed, and allow slumber to take him.

"Hey, Kid. Wake up." A boy shook Felix's shoulder, rousing the boy enough for him to blink blearily into the other's face. The stranger sighed, pulling him up into a sitting position and shaking him again.

"Oi, Freckle boy, your rides here. Wake the fuck up, or I'm going to unceremoniously help you do the ice bucket challenge or some shit. " That seemed to wake him up, as Felix jerked back from him, and promptly fell off the bed. The stranger raised an eyebrow, clearly judging him pretty hard.

"Welcome to the land of the living Orange-Head. Now get your ass up before Chan Hyung comes for either of ours for being slow." Felix stood up, lips parted in surprise, as the boy reached over, and wrapping a hand around his wrist and pulling him out of the room.

"That only took literally forever." He muttered, casting a glance back at Felix. Or, more like a glare.

"Sorry." Felix mumbled, for the person pulling him to scoff, nodding at Changbin as they pass by the guy in a hurry.

It's a relief when they make it to Chris, and Felix is let go.

"Here you go Hyung, I'm done now." The boy whined, sitting down in a chair nearby and turning to a game, as Chris started talking to Felix in English.

"Minho ssi should be here soon, and it'd be better if you weren't falling asleep as soon as he got here." The boy in the chair twitched his hands, moving whatever character in the game he was playing. Felix nodded numbly, looking at the ground.

A bell rung from somewhere within the house, and Chair boy turned to Chris with a frown.

"Think he's here Hyung." Chris, just sighed at him, rising in a fluid motion and nodding at Felix before leaving. Silence fell in the room, before the boy sighed and looked at Felix carefully.

"Hope you at least get a good few weeks before Kim comes looking for you." He muttered. Felix started, surprise gracing his face, before he offered up a shy smile.

"Um, thanks." He whispered, before Chan came back into the room with another man, and Felix felt himself smile brightly.

"Minho Hyung!" He chirped, running over and hugging the elder male with a pleased cry. The man... Paused, glancing around before hugging Felix back.

"He wasn't harmed I suppose?" Chris shook his head, stepping back from the pair. Minho hummed, a pleased smile gracing his face.

"Felix-Ah, are you alright?" He murmured, stepping back from the boy with a cocked eyebrow. Felix nodded shyly, feeling safer now that his cousin was here. Minho hummed again, looping an arm around Felix again and glancing at Chris.

"The payments been transferred to your account. So, uh.. I'll take my cousin and leave your be now, then?" Chris nodded, gesturing behind him.

"A pleasure doing business with you."

[yudesei]

~ Anime Review; Free! Dive to the Future ~

I haven’t done a review in a long time. Since I recently finished watching the third season of Free!, I decided to write a review for it. So here it is.

Name: Free! Dive to the Future

Episodes: 12

Genre(s): Sport (Swimming), Drama, Slice of Life

                                          ~ Spoiler warning ~

For a more spoiler-free version of this review, you can read it on MAL or anime-planet.

Story (8/10) 

Our protagonist has now started studying at the university. We get to follow him and several other characters with their respective problems. I’d say the main focus is identity - who you are as a person and what you want to be.

We get to see characters like Makoto trying to find his own path in life and Sousuke, who is concerned about a surgery that may or may not be the end of his career as a swimmer. Rei, Nagisa and Gou are studying their final year at Iwatobi. We get to see them with new recruits for the swim team.

These are only some of the sub-plots in this season.

“If these are the sub-plots, then what’s the main plot?” you ask?

To be frank, they should’ve just named it “Free! Two Lovers’ Promise” because about 65% of this season focuses on Haru and Ikuya’s romance friendship.

Although I’m overjoyed to see so much of Ikuya and seeing him (and Haru) develop as a character, it doesn’t give much time for the other characters and events. In the end, episode 11 and 12 feel a bit rushed, which is why I’m giving the story 8/10. The way the guys are trying to find their own identities and lifetime goals is not only inspiring but also touching.

Characters (7/10)

I’m very proud of Haru this season. Everyone who has watched the previous seasons or at least Starting Days are well aware of Haru only swimming free and nothing else.

In episode 7 and 8, we get to see Haru practice for- and participate in the individual medley just to keep his promise to Ikuya. Although Haru goes back to his ‘I only swim free’ way shortly afterwards, the fact that he stopped swimming only free for a moment shows how far Haru is willing to go for the people he cares about. And in episode 12, we find out that ever since Haru first got into the water, he has always swum free, which makes him participating in the individual medley even more special.

Makoto and Rei share a similar dilemma. Neither of them knows what they want to do with their lives. With some help from Nao, Makoto realizes that he wants to become a coach where he can help swimmers reach the top and encourage children to swim as well.

Rei on the other hands never got this realization. He does think about his future, but never mentions his options.

As for Nagisa, we don’t get to hear much from him at all, which is a bit disappointing. His ‘major’ development was in the first season and his character has been a bit flat since then. Yes, he has become a better swimmer and has a charming personality, but he hasn’t changed much, has he? Does he still want to become an astronaut or an adventurer?

Rin is doing fine. He’s still aiming to become the number one swimmer in the world and has gotten a coach.

Sousuke has an interesting scenario. His doctor suggests a surgery if he wants to continue swimming. The problem is that this surgery may or may not end his career. The problem is that we don’t get to see much about this.

Natsuya also gets some development. In the beginning of this season, he swims and participates in races just to get money. He uses the money to travel to another country in the world, races, wins money and then the cycle just repeats. As the story goes on, he eventually stops swimming just for the money and starts taking swimming seriously again.

Even Nitori - the only character who I couldn’t stand in the first two seasons - was okay in Dive to the Future. He didn’t do anything outstanding, but he didn’t annoy me either.

I’m also happy to see how much Ikuya has grown since childhood. Especially his swimming. I’m still surprised (in a good way) that he managed to beat both Haru and Nastuya in the individual medley.

Now for the newer characters. First we have Ikuya’s “best friend” - Hiyori (Seems a bit one-sided from Hiyori’s part). He and Nitori are the only two characters in Free! that I dislike. Like I said earlier, Nitori was much more bearable in this season. Hiyori wasn’t. In my opinion, Hiyori is a selfish, illogical, rude and manipulative control freak. In fact, he’s one of the characters to appear on my list of characters whose reasoning and ideas lack logic. He’s far too judgmental towards Haru and the others despite never meeting them, he makes decisions for Ikuya without Ikuya’s consent and goes out of his way to prevent Haru from talking to Ikuya. “Maybe he just doesn’t want Ikuya to get hurt again” Nope. After winning a race against Makoto, Hiyori clearly states that the reason why he won’t let Haru and the others approach Ikuya is because they’re too weak, not because he wants to protect Ikuya from getting hurt again. He also seems to be rather delusional as he considers himself as the little mermaid who saves the prince (Ikuya) from “sinking” (depression). Where did he get that idea from? According to Ikuya, he has been feeling like this for years. Hell, Hiyori (unintentionally) made Ikuya’s depression even worse. After Haru manages to make it past Hiyori and swims with Ikuya (which actually saves Ikuya from his depression), he does acknowledge that swimming with Haru was different than what he thought, but he never apologizes to neither Haru nor Ikuya for his behavior. His entire purpose in this season is to be a pain in the ass. That’s literally it.

Then we have Haru’s new “challengers” - the world record holder in freestyle Albert Wåhlander and the mysterious swimming prodigy Kaede Kinjou. Albert specifically enters the show with a bang as he completely crushed Haru in a race. Then he disappears until the very last scene of the season. The anime makes such a big deal about them (Especially Albert), but we never get to find out much about these two except that Albert has a coach named Ralph (Or is it Ralf?) and is a world record holder from Sweden. But Kaede? Nothing. Then only time we see him in action is in the very last episode where he easily beat Asahi and Hiyori in a race.

This category gets only 7/10. Hiyori single-handedly removed one point, one point off from the lack of development for Rei, Nagisa and Gou and lastly, one point off for showing close to nothing about Albert and Kaede.

Designs and animation (10/10)

As expected from Free!, it has beautiful animation. And somehow, the anime managed to make the guys even better looking.

Am I the only one who thought Nagisa looked a bit more…mature this season? He used to look younger and rather child-like compared to the other guys. Now he’s starting to look like a man. They grow up so fast…

I didn’t see any (major) flaws with the animation and the character designs look good. Even the clothes the characters wear for the ending look good. The hat Nagisa is wearing gets a bonus point.

Therefore, I’m giving this category a solid 10/10.

 Voice acting and music (10/10)

The ‘older’ voice actors were good, as always while the ‘new’ actors also did pretty well. Kudos to the voice actors of Ikuya, Albert and Hiyori.

Despite despising Hiyori, I think Ryouhei did a good job with portraying the character and making him sound like a real piece of shit. Especially the first five episodes.

After hearing Rin’s broken english despite living in Australia for years, I’m surprised Albert spoke perfect english. No stereotypical Nordic accent, no awkwardness. And if he has always lived in Sweden, I’ll be even more surprised.

The opening theme Heading to Over and ending theme Gold Evolution were both catchy and suited the anime. Though, I wish they could’ve “tossed the rock a bit further” with the opening theme as it resembles the opening themes of the previous seasons - Rage On and Dried Up Youthful Fame - a bit too much. Still, I must admit that I never skipped the opening or the ending of Dive to the Future. Actually, I listen to their full versions often.

Once again, I’m giving out a full score. 10/10 for the voice actors’ performances and the kick-ass music.

Ending (7/10)

As I’ve already stated, this season focuses a lot on the bond between Haru and Ikuya for the first 8 episodes. After episode 8, they’re rarely seen together, let alone talk to each other.

Why would the staff put so much time and effort into their relationship and then just be like “Their drama is over now, so let’s completely move on and make them interact as little as possible because Ikuya is completely irrelevant now”. Of course, I didn’t want Ikuya to get all of Haru’s interactions, as characters like Makoto and Rin are also important. However, I think it was rather disappointing and lame how they almost completely ignored Ikuya for the remaining episodes when they made a such big deal about him (and Haru) earlier. Most of his appearances in episodes 9-12 are just cameos with the only exception being his race against Natsuya. He doesn’t say much. He’s just standing there to show that he still exists.

I’m also a bit disappointed that the only characters who succeeded with their races were Rin and the Kirishima brothers. The others failed and the final race (100m freestyle) was left on a cliffhanger.

To be frank, if it hadn’t been for the character development of Haru, the Kirishima brothers and Makoto, I would’ve given this category a lower score. Most of the other characters’ developments stand still during the season. The only (other) characters who came close to a good development but slipped right before the finish line were Hiyori and Sousuke.

Either a new movie or season was confirmed at the end of episode 12. Hopefully, the newer characters (Hiyori, Iwatobi rookie-trio, Albert and Kaede) will get their proper developments.

Episode 11 and 12 felt a bit rushed. It was almost as if the staff was trying to test themselves regarding how many things they can make happen in just one episode. Because of this, it made episode 12 lack charm. Yes, there were meaningful moments. However, those moments were a bit less effective than intended, which is the result of what happens when you try to make too many things happen in a 20-minute episode.

For that, Dive to the Future gets only a 7 for its ending.

Summary (42/50 - Great)

Although a few things about this season left me a bit disappointed, it was overall a good season and I’m glad I watched it.

I don’t know whether their next project is a fourth season or a movie. Regardless, the bar has been set pretty high since I’m expecting the next movie/season to provide with everything Dive to the Future didn’t:

Goals in life for Rei, Nagisa and Gou

A continuation of Hiyori’s character development

Character developments for Albert and Kaede

Haru interacting with his parents

And most importantly; more Steve.

And that’s my review of the third season of Free!.

I’ll be looking forward to the next project.

Just two years left…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interested in watching Free! Dive to the Future? You can watch it and its two prequels on Crunchyroll!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[twistedrunes]

Birthday Girl

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16864534

This is a purely gratuitous piece for my friend and fellow secret sinner @blinder-secrets  Hope you have a wonderful day girl! Anyway here’s some Tommy naughtiness.

Warnings: Language, a definite BDSM vibe and lots of implied naughty times. Probably technically safe for work but I’m not sure you want to read it there.

“Tickets. Ticket’s please.” The conductor calls walking down the corridor of the train. The train was unusually empty. The weather was horrendous. No sign of spring ever arriving, even two weeks out from Easter. The sleet sticking to the ground, gathering in little drifts which were quickly turned to dirty slush by anyone foolish enough to step outside.  

You had been foolish enough. Today you had interviewed Ms Agatha Christie. An honour you held so dearly God himself could not have prevented you from going. The train had been delayed by the weather on your way to the interview and was delayed again multiple times on the way home. But even the cold and late hour could not keep the smile from your face after meeting your hero.

You worked for the Manchester Guardian Weekly as a journalist. The editor had taken you on at the owner’s insistence. You were the only woman working on the paper.  So your editor had thought it appropriate that the lady journalist writes the article about the lady writer. You strongly suspected that he only let you do it because he thought that no-one would want to read about the lady writer and so it didn’t matter if the journalist was a lady too. Meaning he could keep all of his ‘real’ journalists in Manchester to cover ‘real’ news. But you didn’t care one jot, this was the opportunity of a lifetime; you had met one of your heroes.

The interview had been amazing. Ms Christie was as sharp, quick and funny as you had dreamed. Your notebook was literally full, you had filled it by the half-way point of the interview, despite being new at the beginning. Ms Christie had noticed you desperately trying to fit your shorthand into the margins and blank spaces of the used pages and had given you one of her own. You knew without a doubt you would treasure it forever. Ms Christie had also been kind enough to sign your copy of The Mysterious Affair at Styles another item you knew you would treasure forever. The interview had been scheduled for an hour but somehow had taken nearly two. So you had been forced to run to make the train.

As the train wound its way through the peak district your mind began to wander towards thoughts of tomorrow. Your birthday. Not that anything too exciting would be happening. To be honest your meeting with Ms Christie and her signing your book felt like enough wishes granted. But part of you was hoping that the day would include a visit from Mister Thomas Shelby OBE. With a whole different set of wishes hoping to be answered in his presence. The pair of you had been, well you didn’t really know what it was you were, definitely not dating, but far from casual acquaintances. Fucking. That was what you had been, fucking. As often as possible. The last time you had seen each other he had mentioned in passing that he might be in Manchester on the eighth through to the tenth of March. You had simply nodded and hoped, not wanting to reveal it was your birthday. Not sure if that was something you could or even should think was important to Tommy. 

You had met when you had been sent to do background research for a story the Birmingham Times were running about The Grace Shelby Institute. When he had met you himself you had been flustered, not expecting anyone to meet with you at all. Let alone Mr Shelby himself. You had explained quickly that you were just doing the background and that someone else would meet with him later to do a proper interview. Mr Shelby had told you the story was important to him and so he would give you the tour and answer any questions you had. He had been a kind and generous host, showing you around the building, introducing you to the children, talking about why it was important to him that children stayed where they belonged. Briefly relating the story of how his Aunt’s children had been taken and one sent to Australia and the family’s subsequent sadness when they learnt she had died. You had stayed for three hours.

When you returned to the office the editor had been nearly apocalyptic. Furious because Mr Shelby had called and said it wouldn’t be necessary for the ‘other’ reporter to come out as you had done an excellent job and that he looked forward to approving your piece before it was published in the paper in the coming week. Mr Shelby had called you the next morning, offering to go over any follow-up questions you might have. He had sent a car to collect you. The car had taken you to his house. You had met with him in his office and run over the piece and asked your questions. Mr Shelby, or Tommy as he had asked you to call him had answered them all. When you finally packed your notebook away he suggested that you stay for dinner with him as it was getting late. You had accepted. After dinner and a number of whiskeys, he had suggested you stay the night. You had accepted that offer too.

Again the editor had been furious when Tommy had returned your draft piece a few days later with only one change. He had crossed out the name of the journalist the editor had assigned to the piece and replaced with your own. That was how you had your first piece published. Well, the first piece you wrote that was attributed to you. That was the piece which had drawn the attention of the new owner of the Manchester Guardian Weekly. A young woman, who had inherited it from her father, with a good education and particular political views which meant she was eager to see more women in the workplace.

So you had moved away from Birmingham to Manchester for an actual journalistic position rather than the tea lady come, ghostwriter, you were in Birmingham.  Tommy had congratulated you on the job and suggested the two of you might catch up if either of you ever had a reason to be in the others city. You hadn’t objected to that suggestion. In the time since you’d left, you’d both found yourselves with cause to visit the others city. Visits organised to require an overnight stay. The visits had been amazing; there was something about hotel sex that made both of you more willing to reveal the more sinful sides of yourselves. As if the supposed anonymity gave you the freedom to expose yourselves.

It had started innocently enough, you had been in bed, after your first round of fucking when you congratulated Tommy on his OBE. Rolling on your stomach you had linked your fingers under your chin batting your eyelashes as you joked that soon you would have to call him Sir. He had paused, cigarette hovering at his lips as his tongue skimmed between them. His eyes turning towards you as his tongue drew his bottom lip between his teeth.  The pressure of his teeth staining his lip white as he released it.

“Hm, Sir,” He said calmly as if considering it, crushing his cigarette in the ashtray. “No, I think you have far too much spirit for that.” He said smiling benignly as he rolled on his side, propped up on his elbow, head resting in his palm, his hair hanging through his fingers as his other hand caressed your ass. “Don’t you?” He said, slapping your ass with just enough force for it to sting. You had let out a noise somewhere between a moan and a gasp, immediately feeling the dynamic between the two of you shift.

Tommy’s hand remained on your ass, soothing it. His eyes held yours, challenging you silently. Your heart pounding, you found yourself wanting to resist to see what Tommy would do next.  “Well you can’t always get your own way,” You paused, licking your lips; devils in your head at war, debating whether to call him Tommy or Sir, wondering which would rile him most. “Tommy.” You decide.

A smirk had teased the corners of Tommy’s mouth as he trailed his fingers up your back, along your shoulder to your neck, before burying them forcefully in your hair fisting them as he pulled you towards him. “Oh, but I do.” He said, lips brushing your ear. His tone casual but his tenor deeper than you’ve ever heard it, the words reverberating through your body. He tugged on your hair, opening your neck to him. Sliding his tongue over the crook of your neck before sucking on it, hard, his teeth pressing into the flesh. Each thud of your heart causing the blood pooling there to throb.

“Yes, Sir.” The words fell from your lips before they entered your mind. Followed by a groan you were ashamed to hear come from your own body.

“Mm,” Tommy hummed thoughtfully against your neck before letting go of you and rolling onto his back, his hands resting on his chest as he looked up at the ceiling.

Your body immediately craved Tommy’s touch again. You shuffled closer bringing yourself to your hands and knees so you could kiss his stomach. Your hair fell around your face in a curtain, Tommy’s fingers lazily running through it. Feeling bold you had nipped at the flesh on his flank. His response was immediate, yanking your hair to pull you away from him. Your hand had flown to your head in surprise rather than actual pain. “No.” He had said sternly. You had nodded once before he released you. Unable to help yourself you immediately fell against him, sucking hard, on the exact same spot.

Tommy had sat up immediately, spinning so his feet were on the floor and grabbing your upper arms. He dragged you across him, so you were positioned for a spanking before you even knew what had happened. “What are you doing?” You had asked, breathless with excitement and your awareness of his rock hard dick pressing into your side.

“Disciplining you.” He had said his hand already roaming your ass.

You had snorted. “What do you know about discipline Tommy? You’ve never met a law you didn’t want to break.” You had challenged.

With that Tommy seemed to have changed his mind, bundling you up as he stood before tossing you back on the mattress. His body immediately above yours, pinning you in place. However, his physical presence over you was redundant as you couldn’t have moved if you tried. Eyes both fire and ice, pinned you like a startled fawn.  

“Discipline and the law have nothing to do with each other, pet.” He had brushed your hair away from your face. “The law is rules imposed by others, discipline is the rules we impose on ourselves.” He held your gaze, looking for an indication you understood. You nodded. “It’s why you’re here. You love that I don’t follow the rules. That I do what I want. Yes?” He asked rhetorically as he nodded in agreement with himself. “And it thrills you that I have the discipline to stay in control. That I could take you in hand. You want them both. The gangster and the disciplinarian. Don’t you?”

You had never felt so exposed in your life. He was saying things you would have never admitted to yourself. Your heart pounding in your chest, you had nodded, your hand rising to his chest.

He had kissed your cheek softly before taking your hand in his, collecting your other wrist he pinned both above your head. “See you’ve always been a law-abiding girl, a nice girl.” He mocked pressing butterfly kisses against your neck with each word, his dick grinding against your hip. “But what you want, what you need is discipline.” He sucked hard on your collarbone, again you felt a bruise forming immediately.

“Yes.” You had moaned unable to stop the roll of your hips or the sigh from your mouth.

Tommy had grinned devilishly above you “Good. Once you agree to the rules breaking them will have immediate consequences. I will be judge, jury and executioner, there will be no trials, no defence.” He instructed.

You had nodded desperately, a shameful groan coming from you as you agreed.

“These rules will only be between us. You will learn that I will never punish you unfairly. But, only I can discipline you.” Tommy had insisted his hand had cupped your cheek as he spoke. When you had nodded he had kissed you gently.

 “Miss?” An unfamiliar voice drags you from your memory.

“Pardon?” You gasped trying desperately trying to gain some composure, feeling exposed, your cheeks flushed and your pussy throbbing.

“You need to get off the train, Miss.” The conductor said patiently.

“Pardon?” You repeated idiotically.

“End of the line Miss. We’re in Manchester. Did you not hear the announcement?”

“Oh, sorry.” You say gathering your things rapidly.

“Nearly got locked up in here for the night.” The man jokes as you double check you have everything.

The conductor helps you down to the platform and glancing up and down the deserted platform, you realise you are obviously the last to depart. You glance at your watch 11:30pm you sigh a little knowing that if Tommy has called you have missed him and he won’t call again tonight. You head out through the station house to the road, hoping there is still a cab available at this hour. You walk quickly, as much to warm up as anything else. It’s freezing.

On the street, you realise there isn’t a single cab. No-one daft enough to still be out unnecessarily on a night like this. You sigh, pulling your coat around yourself tightly and turn towards home. As you pass under the first street lamp a car pulls up beside you. You step back from the road cautiously. The driver leans across the car and opens the door. “Come on, get in.” You immediately recognise the voice as Tommy’s.

“What are you doing here?” You ask, climbing into the car gratefully.

Tommy reaches behind him and pulls a travel rug from the backseat, spreading it over your lap. “I told you I’d be here on the eighth.” He says brushing his gloved fingers along your jaw.

“I wasn’t sure.” You say quietly. “How did you know I’d be here?”

“You didn’t answer your phone. So I went to the paper and they told me you were on a story in Sheffield. When you still weren’t home at eight I came looking for you.”

“Were you waiting?” You ask nervously. You swallow hard. Waiting was against the rules.

You catch the soft smile on Tommy’s face in the flash of his lighter as he brings it to the tip of his cigarette. “Yes.”

You slide across the seat, head bowed not meeting his eyes. “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting, Sir.”

Tommy’s fingers lift your chin. “There’s no need to apologise. You don’t control the weather, and I should have called to confirm.” He says calmly, pressing his lips to yours. “I had hoped to surprise you for your birthday.” He continues. You can’t help the smile that creeps onto your face. “Did you think I’d forget, little one?” He teases his hand gripping the back of your neck.

You shake your head, not meeting his eye. “No.” You whisper.

Tommy’s fingers tighten in your hair “Don’t lie, you know I can tell.” He says tipping your head to look at him.

“Not, forget,” you begin “just that you had no reason to.” You explain, reaching out and running your hand over his chest.

Tommy places his free hand over yours. “Do you think I don’t care about you?” His gaze softens as he waits for your answer, you remain mute unable to give voice to your desperate hope that he did or to risk that hope being dashed for good. “You think because I discipline you I don’t care?” He asks again. Again you’re silent. “Hm.” He says turning away from you and starting the car. Tommy’s hands never leaving the wheel, yours never leaving your lap. Both your gazes fixed on the road. You drive in silence to your house.

As the car comes to a stop in front of your house you can barely breathe, a feeling of impending doom that he finds you too needy and will leave. “We’re not going to a hotel?” You ask, trying to keep your voice even.

“No,” Tommy says definitively. “Maybe tomorrow.” He adds as an afterthought.

Your heart drops and you begin to slide across the car to the door. “Goodnight. Thank you for the lift home.” You say climbing out of the car.

Tommy follows you to your front door, as it opens he catches your arm “I do care.” He says evenly, pulling you back towards him gently. “They are just games, a way of expressing ourselves, to feel good.” He takes your face in his hands, his thumbs caress your cheeks. “Does it make you feel good?” He asks holding you so you can’t look away.

“Yes.” You acknowledge.

“Good.” He kisses you, lips soft against yours, none of the usual urgency or dominance. “Because I do care. It’s important to me that you feel good.” You can hear the church clock chiming midnight. Your birthday. His arms wrap around your waist, hands gently holding your ass as he carries you through the doorway knocking the door with his heel to close it. “Let me show you.”

Enjoy this? Have an idea, headcanon or request? Send me an ask

Interested in my other work? Go to my MASTERLIST OR AO3 - twistedrunes

[calfclass48international]

Day 9: Canberra, China, and ARLF

Our first day in Canberra, the nation’s capital, gave us a poignant look into the complex geopolitical realities affecting the region. It was an eye-opening & very objective contrast to the human perspective we gained in Vanuatu.

We started the day with a trip to the US Embassy, where a small group of Fellows had the incredible fortune of meeting with the American “Charge d’Affairs” to Australia, James Carouso, who for two years has functioned as the Ambassador while one awaits appointment. After a brief set of introductions, Mr. Carouso started our meeting, bluntly, as follows:

“Before we talk about anything else, I want to ask you about Vanuatu. How much Chinese influence did you see there?”

That set the tone for the rest of the day. Suffice it to say, China’s growing aggression and influence in the region is the top geo-strategic concern of the entire American political and diplomatic apparatus in Australia.

It’s worth mentioning here that the answer to Mr. Carouso’s question is, plainly put, a lot. A lot of influence. China seems to have exerted its economic weight in Vanuatu in a way that seems wildly disproportionate to the country’s 370,000-ish population. From roads, telecommunications, convention centers and ministerial compounds, their infrastructure investment in the region (made notably with mostly Chinese labor and materials) has been massive.

“Twenty years ago we made a bet,” Carouso posits, “that if we let China into the global economy, that they would become more like us. We lost that bet.”

It was a short but staggeringly candid and stimulating discussion about the issues of the day, which primed the rest of the day’s meetings with various representatives from the various “sections” of the U.S. diplomatic corp in the country: the Political; Economic; Security & Military; and US Commercial Service. The day was hosted and organized by Ray Sentella, who leads the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) in Australia.

While the specific topics covered during each 30-minute session were many and varied, there was one common through-line connecting them: China. Each speaker illustrated through their own lens how the Chinese expansion and influence in the South Pacific was bringing new political challenges every day. Thirty percent of Australian exports now go to China, making them Australia’s largest economic partner, further complicating things. China, meanwhile, has leveraged issues like the US’ interest in the Middle East, and the pulling out of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), to its advantage, using them as talking points to illustrate that we are an unreliable partner in the region. It was an eye-opening morning, to say the least.

Things lightened up a bit in the afternoon though (thankfully), with a lunch in the Botanical Gardens and an opportunity to interface with the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, CALF’s semi-counterpart down under. Executive Director Matthew Linnegar and Director of Partnerships Phillipa Woodhill described their 15-month program, which centers on immersive and experiential learning. It begins with an intensive two week session in the deep bush, with no phones, money, or contact with the outside world, and where the elements of survival are definitely in play.

Finally, we ended the afternoon with a BBQ dinner hosted by ARLF and attended by a dozen or so of their alumni. It was a fun and engaging evening with an amazing group of people. We enjoyed some local beverages, and sampled some Kangaroo (it’s not bad!). But much of the the discussion, once again, reverted back to China.

Explains one ARLF alumnus: “China has a 500 year plan. 500 years. Does the US have a 500 year plan? Do we? The answer is no. They’re called the Middle Kingdom, which to them quite literally means ‘Center of the Earth.’ They want everything -- politically, economically, everything -- to run through them. When you’re competing against someone with a 500-year end game, how do you win?”

Great question.

Before we go, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Ray Sentella of the FAS; the ARLF; and our own Foundation, for the opportunity of today. It was a remarkable experience to be able to meet with an acting Ambassador, and not one that many people are able to say they’ve had. We are continually grateful for the experiences afforded us on this trip.

-Barzin, Carissa, Ian, Jess

[acidwaste]

hey so it seems i’ve forgot to do a l o t of tag memes, and i’m lucky i drafted a big bunch of them! lots of questions overlapped so i did my best to answer in different ways, sorry for the lateness! also @ the people that tagged me here, i wouldn't hesitate to kill for you

@natcaptor / @gayspaced

name: leon or lionel!

nicknames: literally the only nickname I’ve been referred to is “big gay” and like. word!

gender: im pretty sure im a guy, i have been kinda 🤔🤔🤔 abt my gender identity since around november-ish though

star sign: sagittarius!

height: 6’1! i’m told that I’m tall but my uncle is 6’7 so...

time: 3:36pm rn! ive been watching video essays and binging music all afternoon

birthday: december 9th!

favourite bands: animal collective, beach house, camp cope, car seat headrest, death grips, fleet foxes, florence + the machine, gang of youths, glass animals, gorillaz, hop along, iceage, idles, kero kero bonito, mgmt, miike snow, modest mouse, run the jewels, superorganism, the avalanches, the cat empire, the go! team, the mountain goats, the wombats, xiu xiu

favourite solo artists: alex lahey, anderson .paak, ariana grande, billie eilish, bjork, cashmere cat, charli xcx, courtney barnett, cupcakke, d.r.a.m, eric taxxon, frank ocean, gfoty, hatchie, janelle monae, jeff rosenstock, joanna newsom, jorja smith, jpegmafia, kacey musgraves, kali uchis, kendrick lamar, khalid, kimbra, lorde, mac demarco, madeon, mick jenkins, mitski, oneohtrix point never, perfume genius, ravyn lenae, rina sawayama, serpentwithfeet, sophie, st. vincent, sza, vince staples

song stuck in my head: caramelo duro | miguel // kali uchis! its a bop, miguel is one of the few singers that can convincingly make sex jams

last movie i watched: deadpool 2! it was even better than the first, which is a feat in itself ngl

when did i create my blog: december 2016??? i only started using it properly in february last year tho

last thing i googled: “im in my mums car broom broom.” dont @ me

do i have any other blogs: yeah, plenty actually!! i have blogs for aesthetic (@moltenstar), general inspo (@wverns), flight rising (@szarising, kinda inactive?), and overwatch (@blackhardts) tbh the vast majority of my ‘sideblogs’ are just saved urls H

do i get asks: when i say stupid shit like “rung has the ass of a dilf but the dick of a cockroach”

why i chose my url: that one panel where kobd have a vacation at the acid wastes because fuck its finally canon babey!

following: 1,767, which is kinda horrifying!!

followers: 890?? somehow??? thats almost One Whole Thousand and i don't even make content

average hours of sleep: around 6 or 7!! n e v e r more though

lucky number: 43 and 64!!

instruments: i'm too poor to afford music lessons or instruments jsbddsjknfs

what am i wearing: a grey shirt and nothing on my bottom half so my [redacted] is hanging tf out, i should put on some damn clothes

dream job:  oooo uhhh, i’m studying to get an education degree rn because i’d love to teach children (around grade 3-4s preferably because i'm too jittery to handle anyone younger and older kids probs won't listen to me as much as i lack plenty of assertiveness), but!! i’d honestly love to be a musician, one of those underground ones that get lots of critical acclaim

dream trip: one day i wanna gather up some friends and just go on a road trip! idm where we go to, as long as we just have fun and just! adventure!

favourite foods: rare steak, mashed potatoes, eggs, and energy shakes made with like. fruit / cheese / yoghurt / oats / chia seeds ! protein is a large part of my diet

nationality: new zealand, but living in australia

favourite song right now: best part | daniel caesar // h.e.r - gosh i need to re-listen to daniel’s album again, i don’t remember this beautiful song being there and that’s a crime

@damndesi / @novarebel / @luciform-philogynist

APPEARANCE - I am 5'7 or taller - I wear glasses - I have at least one tattoo (but I am getting a tā moko in December, I believe) - I have at least one piercing (planning to get a nose ring, like a bull!) - I have blonde hair - I have brown eyes - I have short hair - My abs are at least somewhat defined (b a r e l y) - I have or had braces

PERSONALITY - I love meeting new people - People tell me I am funny - Helping others with their problems is a big priority of mine - I enjoy physical challenges - I enjoy mental challenges - I am playfully rude to people I know - I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it - There is something I would change about my personality

ABILITY - I can sing well - I can play an instrument - I can do over 30 pushups without stopping (barely) - I am a fast runner - I can draw well - I have a good memory - I am good at doing math in my head - I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute - I have beaten at least 2 people arm wrestling - I can make at least 3 recipes from scratch - I know how to throw a proper punch

HOBBIES - I enjoy sports - I’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else - I’m in an orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else - I have learned a new song in the past week - I exercise at least once a week - I have gone for runs at least once a week in warmer months - I have drawn something in the past month - I enjoy writing - Fandoms are my #1 priority - I do some form of Martial arts

EXPERIENCES - I have had my first kiss - I have had alcohol (tastes like shit) - I have scored a winning point in a sport - I have watched an entire TV series in one sitting - I have been at an overnight event - I have been in a taxi - I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year - I have beaten a video game in one day - I have visited another country - I have been to one of my favorite bands concerts

MY LIFE - I have one person that I consider to be my Best Friend - I live relatively close to my school/work - My parents are still together - I have at least one sibling - I live in the United States - There is snow where I live right now - I have hung out with a friend in the past month - I have a smart phone - I own at least 15 CDs - I share my room with someone

RELATIONSHIPS - I am in a Relationship - I have a crush on a celebrity - I have a crush on someone I know - I’ve been in at least 3 relationships - I have never been in a Relationship - I have admitted my feelings to a crush - I get crushes easily - I have had a crush for over a year - I have been in a relationship for over a year - I have had feelings for a friend

RANDOM - I have break-danced - I know a person named Jamie - I have had a teacher that has a name that is hard to pronounce - I have dyed my hair - I’m listening to a song on repeat right now - I have punched someone in the past week - I know someone who has gone to jail - I have broken a bone (do fractures count?) - I have eaten a waffle today - I know what I want to do in life - I speak at least two languages (not fluently) - I have made a new friend in the past year

@smstransformers

age: 16

birthplace: auckland, nz

current time: 4:19 pm rn!!!

drink you last had: i just skulled half a liter of water whoops

favourite song: jesus etc. | wilco if we're talking abt an all-time favourite

grossest memory: accidentally swallowing a bee when i was seven years old (somehow nothing bad happened?)

horror, yes or no: not unless it’s an incredibly tame horror t b h, my threshold for scariness is very low

in love: i believe so!

jealous of people: lots of times, over really dumb things

love by first sight or should I walk by again: i believe that infatuation can exist at first sight but true love not so much. wish that could happen tho :C

middle name: shane!

siblings: my sister is eight years old, and my brother is seven!

one wish: EZ, make my anxiety disappear, i’d have a much more productive life

song i last sang: jupiter | haiku hands

time i woke up: 7:13, woke up immediately because i usually like to wake at 6:30

underwear colour: blue + purble

vacation destination: auckland / kingston / sydney!

worst habit: not remembering to make my goddamn bed, it looks like garbage

favourite food: mashed potatoes….

zodiac sign: sagittarius !!!

@alyonian

relationship status:

at the moment i’m single! and while being in a relationship sounds brilliant, the last two relationships i was involved in? didn’t work out to say the least, lucky i’m still young

favourite colour:

it’s been emerald green for the longest time but orange seems to be dethroning it at a steady pace

lipstick or chapstick:

i haven’t used chapstick since i was six but i probably should use it again, water is my substitute rn fdghdgh - and i haven’t ever used lipstick in any capacity? so i’d have to go with the former

last song i listened to:

the space traveller’s lullaby | kamasi washington - i’m trying to get through his second album rn (i left off on the second disk yesterday) and while everything he makes is undeniably amazing, it’s? a three hour album? i don’t have the attention span for his spiritual jazz, as great as it is

last movie:

monsters inc is playing on the television right now, i’ll go with that! the animation aged kinda badly but it’s still such a fun movie! sidenote: james p. sullivan? a childhood crush, so this gives me memories

top 3 tv shows/podcasts/comics:

i rarely, if ever, venture into these forms of media but! if i had to answer, i’d say;

unbreakable kimmy schmidt / parks & recreation / luke cage

taz / mbmbam (i havent like. watched a full episode of either but they seem cool,)

tf idw / …………. yeah that’s it, i’ve never read anything else. probably should!

additional favs:

my friends, writing (in theory), listening to video essays, learning music theory + instruments and understanding audio production software

top 3 bands / artists:

HHH okay if i had to limit my choices to just three artists, uh. lorde, the mountain goats, and sophie. i couldnt even fit janelle in i hate th is

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

@alyonian

color(s): light colors are always nice and pleasant, though anything peachy and sandy are the best! orange (specially pastel orange) is like. the best thing

last band t-shirt i bought: usually merchandising is very expensive and i dont have the money to accommodate that, but like. i do recall having a wiggles shirt when i was five. i wore it all the time, shjdjgsksd im sure that counts

last band i saw live: i almost went to splendor in the grass last year with family, which wasn't only cool since i’ve never been out of the state since i immigrated - the festival was in queensland, which is around a two hour flight from victoria - but the lineup was pretty fuckin lit too! the xx, haim, peking duk, tash sultana, future islands, vallis alps, a.b original,, i was p excited! unfortunately my uncle fell ill and so they had to give the tickets to extended family :( otherwise, i haven't been to a single concert in my life

last song i listened to: street fighter mas | kamasi washington - up to this song on the album and i really fuckin dig this! also the video is hypnotizing

last movie i watched: monsters inc is about to finish and up next is monsters university! which like…. honestly, this is an extremely unpopular opinion but, i like it just as much as the original? my opinion might be skewed because i’m a monster [hugger], but i like everything abt the movie! except for the finale of the scare games and the last five minutes of the movie, both were just. dreadful.

last three tv shows i watched: if aggretsuko counts that’s the last series i watched of my own volition, which is a miracle in itself considering that’s legit only the second anime i’ve watched to completion (the first being shirokuma cafe, which i probably need to re-watch). otherwise, the last two shows i had beared witness to were thirteen reasons why and queer eye bc my cousin put them on! that first show i could completely do without but queer eye is iconique

last 3 characters i identified with: grimlock (legit. all of them), urdnot grunt (mass effect) and vector the crocodile (sth), i’m not sure what this says about me other than Big

book(s) i’m currently reading: i’m reading ‘maus’ by art spiegelman at the moment, for the third time i believe? i believe my classmates are supposed to be writing an essay on this next term and shit, this novel is heartbreaking, i haven't been this emotional when reading a book than… ever, really. it’s a recommendation of the highest caliber

@victorion

name: leon / lionel, i picked up the second name because i was in a server with an admin that was also a Leon™

nickname: besides ‘Big Gay’ i also have the nickname ‘lemon lion’ which is! nice!!

zodiac sign: archer man

height: Tall™

language(s) spoken: english / some maori + italian

fav fruit: watermelons (only when in season)

fav scent: the smell of a freezer tbh? it just smells Nice i don’t know how to properly explain it

fav season: spring! the breezes are welcoming without being overbearingly freezing

fav color: ornge,,,,

fav animal: SHARKS + CROCS + FERRETS

coffee, tea or hot chocolate: tea! with some milk tho

average hrs of sleep: too little

fav fictional character: One character?????? uhhhhhhh……. like. biggest cc right now is either idw skids or oz from monster prom

no. of blankets you sleep with: depending on my mood but i’d say the average is like, 3??

fav songs: i quickly whipped up some songs i listen to

fav artists: i came to the realization that i like acts that are considered ‘bad’ like maroon 5/drake/lil yachty etc in specific doses… i wouldn't call them good yet, but! i have no beef and thats good

fav books: remember ‘where the wild things are’??? that shit was like. literal childhood, man.. :happytears: i really need to look for a copy again

@thonany-klieme

name: leon / lionel, interchangeable really

gender: male, im probs an nb guy

star sign: sagittarius!

height: 6’1

sexuality: gay??? im not sure, im mostly attracted to other guys but i have had very brief crushes on girls + nb people? sexuality’s confusing so im gonna just latch to the gaybel (gay label) for now

lock screen image: its the album cover of 1992 deluxe by princess nokia, tho it was “T Hanos” a few days ago since i change it often - my home screen is venom but his torso says ‘fuck machine’

ever had a crush on a teacher: no??

where do you see yourself in ten years: ideally i’m teaching kids math n english, realistically i’m probably going down with the political climate

if you could go anywhere, where would you go: new zealand!! or the netherlands

what was your favorite halloween costume: halloween is not big at all where i live, the only time i tried trick or treating was when i was like 7?? i threw a bedsheet on myself and pretended to be a ghost, though since there were no eyeholes + the sheet was blue, it looked more like i was just a moving lump

last kiss: never had one

have you ever been to las vegas: nah and i dont plan to?? how do you handle regular days of 40C wtf

favorite pair of shoes: i have this pair of jandals that ive worn for a fair bit longer than my other pair of shoes, tho i only wear them in summer + very warm nights

favorite book: ngl its. ‘the very hungry caterpillar’ by eric carle. i just, love it alot and i cant explain w h y

[theonetruenerd-blog]

MY THOUGHTS ON MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE

I know it has been a while since I made an actual post, but school and laziness got in the way.

But here I am giving you guys another movie review! 

(Quick side note, I saw this movie due to the HASBRO LEAK, I know I said that we shouldn’t do that but I am so sorry I will never download leaked movies again. I am sorry for being a hypocrite.) 

So, oh my god this movie actually happened! 

The FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC SHOW came out in 2010, and the show still goes on to this very day! It’s so unreal that the show is still airing! And I love the series so much, it’s actually the best cartoon show airing today. Yeah, I said it. 

And when I heard that a 2D animated movie based on this show was going to be released in theaters, I. WAS. PUMPED!

There was a celebrity cast involved, along with the original cast from the show involved as well. 

I was so excited for this movie to come out, I was wondering what this movie could possibly be about! 

And then, in mid 2015, the plot synopsis of the movie was revealed! From MOVIEWEB, it reads: 

“In the movie, a new dark force threatens Ponyville, and the Mane 6, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity, embark on an unforgettable journey beyond Equestria where they meet new friends and exciting challenges on a quest to use the magic of friendship and save their home.”

When I read that synopsis, I felt skeptical. But it was just a synopsis, the final movie can still be good! 

And then I saw the movie.

Now look, no matter what movie I’m about to watch, I always give them the benefit of the doubt. Even when I was about to see THE EMOJI MOVIE, while I knew it was going to be bad, I still gave the movie a chance. 

And then I saw the movie. And . . . *sighs* it was not good. Really bad, it was. I thought at first it was just okay, but after thinking about the movie and then watching it again with my analytical eyes, I came to this conclusion: THIS ANIMATED MOVIE IS ONE OF THE WORST ANIMATED MOVIES I’VE SEEN IN YEARS. 

HEAR. ME. OUT! 

I am not hating on this movie just because I can or because I had a lot of plot theories in my head and they didn’t come true (*coughs* Last Jedi). I just simply don’t like this movie, and there are many reasons why.

Before I get into the actual movie, I want to go somewhere else. I want to tell you guys about the behind the scenes aspect of this movie.

Developing wise, the story should have been done better. It was predictable, this movie was. 

But lets get into the behind the scenes now. 

I DO NOT KNOW THE BUDGET OF THIS MOVIE! 

Really, CARTOONBREW said the production budget was from $5 to $8 million, but then EQUESTRIADAILY  and other MLP forums said that the movie was around $20-$30 million. So I’ll say that based on that, the movie’s budget is fron $5 to $30 million towards the production of this movie. 

And the animation software for this movie was TOON BOOM HARMONY. 

It is a well known 2D animation software that was used in this movie, combining 2D animation with 3D CGI animation for the settings and so forth. 

I thought the animation would be in-house software, meaning only the company making the film would be using the software that they made, instead of using software that is open to the public. But still, TOON BOOM is still good software for animation from what I have heard of. 

And then we go back into 2014 where the current showrunner of the show, Megan McCarthy, announces that the MLP MOVIE will not only get made into a feature length movie, but it will also be released in March 2017, which was eventually moved to October of that same year I. WAS. HYPED! 

And then in 2015 at PonyCon Australia, she was asked if the movie was going to have the same tone and feel that the EQUESTRIA GIRLS movies have. She replied by basically saying that the movie would be just ...”straight up pony friendship is magic.”. 

But if you would watch the behind the scenes look at the movie, along with that same interview in PonyCon, the main reason for her making this movie WAS NOT because she had a complex story or new story in mind, but literally because that she wanted to go big on scope and atmosphere. (Watch the first five minutes.)

So.... nothing on story and character development and nothing on bringing in more people to know about the show, just the big picture, she wants. 

She’s basically saying this:

(Watch from 2:21-2:25)

And now we get into the animation part. Then I will get into the story/characters, and then I will tell you guys my conclusion. 

So for the animation, it’s a mixed bag. For one, the animation on the mane 6, Spike, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Tempest, Storm King, Grubber, and the seaponies are all well done. Granted, there were moments where Twilight and Pinkie Pie would make weird faces, and all I could think of is, “Wow, the animators really like to show off.” LOL. Still, the animators did a good job with those characters.

HOWEVER! Onto the negative side on the animation. 

(THE REST OF THIS REVIEW WOULD BE FULL OF SPOILERS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.)

When it comes to the settings, the buildings, and certain characters that I’ll mention in just a bit, they look out of place and unfinished. 

Maybe it’s because the final script was finished two months before the movie was released? (I read the script during the leak and now it’s gone, but the date for the final script when finished said it was on 8/15/2017. August 15 of this year, and the movie was released on October 6.) 

But when it comes to the HAN SOLO RIPOFF Capper, Celaeno and her crew, they look unfinished. 

Think about this. The movie’s production budget was very low. So the animators probably had some trouble to animate the entire movie. But there have been other 2D animated movies like SONG OF THE SEA where the budget may be low, but can still be animated very beautifully. This movie however, has some glaring issues with that. 

The settings, as I said, look unfinished and out of place. When you place two dimensional in a setting surrounded by buildings that look unfinished, the film takes me out of there and I question why these buildings are there. It takes me out of the experience. 

And now to Capper and Celaeno and Celaeno’s crew. 

They look great in these pics, but whenever they move and interact with other characters on screen, it just feels weird. Think about this: the ponies and the other characters that I mentioned before looked great, but the ponies looked the best because even with the very low budget, the animators knew the show and they knew how to animate these characters in this movie.  That’s why whenever they’re talking, running, walking, and doing cool moves, it looks amazing and the animation there feels smooth and fluid. 

But whenever you see Celaeno and Capper, they would never run, flip, do moves, or do anything else besides talking and walking, (Celaeno does very little when it comes to kicking the bad guys. And Capper only runs once, but for like 5 seconds. but that’s it.) that’s because with the new character designs, rushed script, and budget concerns with the animation, you would get characters that don’t move naturally.

Now with the story, the most important part of every movie. I am going to give you guys two point of views, from me being a fan of the show, and from me seeing this as just a standalone movie. So right now this is me as a lover of film and seeing this as a standalone movie. Now, onto the story.

*sighs* WHAT STORY!? 

It’s just, inconsistent and predictable. 

But let’s get into the story, shall we?! 

So the opening of this movie has three random ponies that we don’t know flying above the clouds and then flying down towards Equestria, while the pony version of WE GOT THE BEAT is playing. *sighs* The fucking Jimmy Neutron movie used that song, from fucking 2001. 

Anyway! The first fifteen minutes in this movie really had no connection to the actual plot of the movie. You would think that because this is this beginning of the movie, this whole fifteen movies would be the whole movie. But here’s the thing, it isn’t the whole movie. So when the actual story happens, it comes right out of nowhere and I’m asking myself, “Wait, what?!” 

The whole fifteen minutes is entirely dedicated to Equestria setting up this festival of friendship, this huge glamorous event run by Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight. 

Now with the start of this movie, the setup to the world that we are in is very important. Once the audience gets introduced to a world beyond their imaginations, then we should know about this world and feel like we’re people living in that world. Being immersed into the film. But with Equestria in this movie, you don’t really know much about the world. It’s just, we’re here, and that’s it. Nothing really interesting happens, it’s just Equestria pasted into the movie as the backdrop and that’s it. 

Even with the character introductions, again, we as a moviegoing audience don’t know who these characters are. The characters are slapped on the big screen and the filmmakers want us to know who these characters upon introduction (not really.), but we don’t. Only the fans of the show know and when making an animated movie based on a television show that some people may not know about, that is not good. (I mean THE SIMPSONS MOVIE is a great example on how to make a great movie that is based on a television show. It doesn’t rely on references to the show without any context of said reference, fan service, and character introductions that don’t feel like actual introductions. It’s a movie that anyone can watch. In the movie, we get introduced to the Simpson family, we know immediately in the beginning that they are a dysfunctional family. Bart is a troublemaker, Lisa is the shy and musically talented one, Marge is the responsible and mature one, and Homer is the dumb one. They all have arcs in the story that are important and are actually built up upon, but I digress.).

There are even prequel comics that explain who the new characters are and introduce the mane 6! Hey, there’s something! Oh wait, it’s not in the movie, so there’s nothing! Studios need to stop relying on comics and other mediums of entertainment to tell the rest of the story instead of the movie doing its job. If movie studios use that method, then they have no faith in their own movie. 

It feels like a movie just for the fans, this definitely reminds me of SUICIDE SQUAD LOL. 

 And then we get to SONGBIRD SERENADE. 

Who is really just a pop star thrown into the movie and is given no character or reason to be there, other than to put a dance number at the end and to have a big pop star that people like (including me) in the movie. She shows up at the beginning for a few seconds, and then we never see her again until the very end. 

So after her introduction, we all of the sudden get an introduction to the main villains. And we are introduced to THE HEAVY, TEMPEST SHADOW. 

She takes out Luna, Celestia, and Cadence out very easily, even though the three ponies should not stand around like idiots. They should fucking move to the left or right, you know! *groans*

So the ponies get pwned by one of STORM KING’S GUARDS (THE BIG BAD) by one of the guards using his shield to deflect Twilight’s beam, which makes no sense because he used a regular shield which should have been destroyed, but fuck it, lets just move the story along. 

So the mane 6 and Spike need to go to the Hippogriffs, part seapony, part eagle. Thinking that they can help them save Equestria.

As a fan, where’s Discord? Shining Armor with his army? Daring Do? Changelings? Dragons? No mention of them? Well, movie could have been way worse. 

So the reason why Tempest is bad makes no sense. At first, we hear from her that she’s sick and tired that ponies use their magic just for parties. But then we hear again that she’s doing this in order for the STORM KING to repair her broken horn, and then later in the film which I’ll explain later, something happened to her as a kid, which is really stupid, dumb, and doesn’t make any logical sense. 

So the ponies go to this dirty looking village called KLUGETOWN. And Twilight tells her friends reasonably that they need to keep a low profile, they can’t get captured, and they can’t trust someone who will back stab them. But Pinkie is like, fuck it, I’m going to do the exact opposite! And then the villagers surround the ponies and they all want to buy Spike for some reason, which introduces Capper. And just because he saved them once, every character excluding Twilight, trust him now. Rarity calls him “charming” and Rainbow Dash calls him “awesome”. And this brings me to the biggest problem in this movie besides the story . . . it’s the characters.

While the new characters have no development and do nothing of importance, the ponies, excluding Twilight, are jackasses! They constantly fuck shit up in this entire movie and they never apologize for what they did. Pinkie draws attention when Twilight specifically told her not to, because they were on an important mission. Then her friends would trust the pirates that were about to kill them. Also, Rainbow Dash does a sonic rainboom above the pirates’ ship and draws attention to Tempest. Then I swear to god, when hiding with her friends, Dash says to Twilight, “Did you think they saw my rainboom?”

Jesus Christ.

And then Pinkie Pie, again, just jumps into some little pond area where the seaponies live without thinking what will happen if she did jump in the water. And she trusts the seaponies even though she just met them. Lets talk about the seaponies, especially QUEEN NOVO. 

To me, she’s the biggest bitch in the whole movie. I know she felt wary about strangers entering her kingdom, which is reasonable, but she doesn’t have to be a rude bitch towards Twilight! 

Think about this scenario:

Imagine me as a very rich person, I’m wearing rich clothing, walking with my entourage, and I am holding a very powerful orb that can cure all diseases. So then a homeless man runs up to me:

Man: Please help me, my son is very sick, him and I are homeless, and he’s dying! *looks at the orb* Use that on my son, please! He doesn’t have much time left!

Me: *smirks and smiles* No no no! This is how it usually works! I only help the people I know. I don’t help people that I don’t know. It’s not like I can be a kind soul where innocent people are dying and I can save them, that’s just not me. So fuck off while I use my money on more expensive clothing. So go fuck yourself! 

Yeah, that’s Queen Novo in a nutshell. Twilight needs that orb and Novo refuses to give it to her. Granted, I know the ponies to her on strangers. But Novo knows who the Storm King is, she knows what he has done to her subjects, and Twilight is pretty famous. So Novo not giving a helping hand, or fin, to Twilight and her kingdom, she says no, and literally gets out of her throne just because it was time for her seaweed wrap. Fuck her!

Twilight stealing the orb was surprising to me and was big, and stealing is not right. But while Twilight is having stress over being an inspiring leader and a responsible one too, her friends constantly fuck shit up like it’s nothing. So her friends are on the wrong and Twilight is on the right. If you needed to save your family and you need that orb, would you sacrifice yourself to save it by doing everything you can to get it, or just do nothing and not take action. Like a song and dance number instead. Fuck her friends. 

The whole, “I don’t need friends like you” was out of nowhere, but still, it’s just to move the plot along, even if what just happened made no sense. 

Then her friends leave her (good job, “friends”) and Twilight gets captured by Tempest. And Tempest sings OPEN UP YOUR EYES to Twilight, while Twilight is inside a magic proof cage. 

And this is the part of the movie where Tempest’s past, her motivation into becoming evil, makes no sense. 

The very underrated youtuber, THE DISHONOURED WOLF, said it best:

(7:27-7:53)

So, she did something TO HERSELF and she blames everyone else for it?!?!?! 

And telling Twilight to “grow up” even though she is a princess with a lot of responsibility and wasn’t acting like her friends for the majority of this movie?!?! Tempest should tell Twilight’s friends that they need to grow up instead. (The show’s characters will always be lovable characters and the movie is a huge spit in the face.)

There are also some audio problems with this movie. 

Like this scene:

It sounds like Sia was singing in a recording studio and it doesn’t feel like she’s singing in that scene. 

This scene from GAME OF THRONES sounds like a person is singing in the woods, while you hear a horse’s hooves, birds chirping, and the wind.

I do like the glance between a torn up Twilight and Songbird, but we know nothing about Songbird and she doesn’t look at everyone else which is very odd and weird. 

A whole bunch of shit happens and the Storm King is a weak ass villain, basically STEPPIENWOLF FROM JUSTICE LEAGUE but a thousand times more annoying and with no character motivation or personality. 

There’s a scene a few moments later where Twilight has one of two choices:

Take this poweful staff away from the king, to save her kingdom and everypony who is enslaved? Or save the one pony who has been chasing after you throughout your journey, enslaved your entire kingdom, and let the king take her magic away? Which choice do you think Twilight made? 

If you guessed the first choice, of course, she didn’t make that choice.

And then at the very end of the movie, Tempest is friends with the ponies even though, again, she enslaved an entire race of ponies. And reveals her true name. Her name is.... FIZZLEPOP BERRYTWIST. 

How does that name affect her character? It doesn’t. 

THE LEGO MOVIE with Wildstyle, where she revealed that her real name was Lucy. And it works because she wanted to become “the special” and when revealing her name, it shows that she’s just a regular girl, not just a super cool action girl. 

FUCK THIS MOVIE. 

AN F, THIS MOVIE HAS. 

That’s my take.

@elijah-dawg-one @equinox-vixen @renegade-timel0rd @alexboehm55144 @drwolf001 

[blockbustersgang]

When work brings you new homes around the world

Thoughts of working abroad and lessons so far learned by our Co-Founder Iiris, working as an 1st Assistant Director, currently in Stockholm Sweden until mid-March 2021.

There was a time when I only fantasised of working outside Finland - or even just outside of Helsinki. I thought I’d never have the opportunity to be on a crew of any international productions and especially anything that’d be filming somewhere else than in Finland. 

Firstly this myth was broken when I joined Iron Sky team to work on the post production of extended cut of the film. Obviously I realised I’d jumped into a massive three counrty co-production, coordinating crews from Germany, Australia, Finland and even Slovenia. I was puzzled, over the moon. At 20 years old I found myself already accomplishing my dreams. 

Lesson #1 learned: dream cost-effectively, dream even of small things, like working on any international film, on any role. You may realise suddenly and very quickly you’ve already accomplished it. 

My first film markets as part of Iron Sky team, Berlinale & EFM 2013 and Cannes Film Festival & Marcé Du Film 2013.

After my work at Iron Sky I visited animation world quickly by being Director’s Assistant on Angry Birds Toon series. We had crew from dozens and dozens of countries on board - literally I’d hear a new accent every day when walking to the studio. I met top level animators, storyboard artists and directors of the world. Even though I wasn’t really doing exactly what I wanted I got lots and lots of practice on understanding leadership and different working cultures - not to mention animation workflow itself. 

Lesson #2: international productions aren’t that simple or easy. Actually they require two times more communication, to make sure everyone is on the same page though they’re not using their first language.

Farewell card and Rovio team card with office breakfast in 2014. Still miss these amazing, crazy and inspiring animators!

I would have maybe never understood my potential unless there’d been Production Value workshop that was recommended to me. It was truly jump to the deep end, I felt like I’d die of the scare I had, that I’d never be as good as all the rest in the workshop. Still to this day I have no idea how I got in as I didn’t have that much experience. But somehow someone saw something in me and this is the pure reason why no one should ever stop trying to chase their dreams. 

“It has become very clear to me it was a step to the right direction and has given me more confidence and skills than I (or anyone else) realised. Suddenly I do understand making films outside Finland will be possible for me and there is no limit when I just keep on going. I never really thought about this so far but now it feels making my first international co-production in the AD department could be just around the corner.”

This is what I wrote to my final report in the beginning of 2015 when completing my training. I’m deeply thankful for getting that sparkle in.

Soon after I’d finished my work at Rovio began an era I truly started my 1st AD work on professional films. On the first years I was the most frustrated of only landing in domestic productions, not getting to widen my ideas of ADing, sometimes being even arrogant on thinking these wouldn’t educate or challenge me enough. I made enough mistakes to get real and understand every single production teaches me. I am never ready. I always have things to learn. 

Fast forwarding to lesson #3: even domestic teaches you to be more ready for international stuff. Work.

I think the first time I ran a professional, large scale set outside Finland was in 2016 for some commercials in Estonia. I didn’t have much time to prepare and I knew no one in the crew. I was more or less horrified - and lucky, as it went well. I found solutions I could offer and met some people who later became my good friends (also tell a Finn who doesn’t love jumping into an Estonian set and meeting old schoolers who know how to speak Finnish with them, with the lovely, warm Estonian accent). But my real stepping stone was filming feature film Heavy Trip in Norway in 2017. 

Dear lord I had craved for a production like that. I was thrilled. I loved every second. And somehow besides the chaos it all just went very well in the end (at least for me as a 1st AD). We were exactly on time and figured out massive plan B’s and C’s when needed. Yes it was rough. It wasn’t a surprise these things mostly are. But I noticed my energy being many levels up compared to former productions. Somehow the multi-nationality crews and locations further away keep my heart beating stronger and lungs breathing clearer.

Last night feels before my first shooting day in Norway as 1st AD. 

Since that everything just moved rather quickly and now I’ve run sets in Sweden, Estonia, United States and Djibouti. After Heavy Trip I only did one domestic feature - all others have included filming abroad and at least two countries co-producing. More or less all other productions have somehow had an international aspect on them. I’ve also loved filming international projects in Finland. 

I think one of the key factors of me getting to do these projects I’ve so massively wanted to participate is that I really put a lot of energy, time and money into understanding filmmaking outside Finland. No one will come and get me from my home, right. So I’ve stepped out, humbly joined events and conversations, made a fool of myself, learned so much of networking and taken my English to a new level while working and working and working on it. (Still not perfect, unfortunately.)

Giving a lecture of 1st Assistant Directing in Greenwich University January 2017. Would not have had the chance unless amazing former Intern Luisa would not have suggested me as a guest lecturer to her teachers.

Lesson #4: Networking matters. It might be someone surprising who gives you the next opportunity to show your skills and talent. 

My first shoot in the States as 1st AD - Iron Sky the Coming Race pick ups with Digital Sputnik in LA May 2018.  

Lesson #5: Jump in to every crazy, stupid, badly paid production if you feel like it’ll give you something more than others. 

Working Together workshop gang in the end of 2018. Never stepped this strongly out of my comfort zone. Not only changed me as a filmmaker - but also as a human. 

Lesson #6: European organisations offer fantastic professional trainings for filmmakers and many countries (like Finland) offer scholarships or funding for them to participate. Invest some time to look for these and apply!

On-set friends in Estonia and Djibouti in 2019. 

I must say - after four features in a row outside my home country - that working abroad can be quite exhausting. I’m missing home and I appreciate Helsinki lot more than I used to. I’ve always felt it as my home but now I really know it’s got a special place in my heart. I'm actually really looking forward getting back home and working in Finland for a change. I’m really enjoying speaking in English though - which my mom must find very amusing as I absolutely hated studying any languages in school - and am wishing I can keep evolving my language skills even when getting back to Finland. 

Ah - I’ve tried to learn other languages too. When leaving to Djibouti last fall 2019 I’d been studying French for 2 months. Let’s just say I only got to say hello, how are you, thank you and good night. And in Sweden it’s been a bunch of all three languages I can somehow speak - everyone else speaking Swedish together (I can follow up around 60-70% of discussions) and English to me and me trying to balance with my elementary Swedish that translates to Finnish in my brain but still mainly talking English. It's been lots of work for my brain.

Lesson #7: Working on other languages and within other cultures might be exhausting no matter how much you enjoy it. Try to rest more than usual. Tell your family and friends you might be more tired than normally and ask for additional support if needed.

I don’t think I’ll ever satisfy into not having the world open anymore. Covid-19 is truly testing my limits on all levels - work and personal ones. I don’t need to travel at all times or only work on big sets. I was very happy just at home with my dogs and spouse for two months last spring during lockdown. But there’s so much to see - so why not go when having a chance. 

I recommend you all: take that chance. Make a little effort to get the first one, and the next ones will follow. 

With love from eternal dreamer, 

Iiris 

[jeremystrele]

Times Like These… With Artist, Rone

Times Like These… With Artist, Rone

Times Like These

by Sally Tabart

Image – courtesy of Rone.

Image – courtesy of Rone.

Melbourne-based artist (and TDF’s across-the-road Collingwood neighbour) Tyrone Wright (aka Rone) is no stranger to working on large-scale projects and events that attract thousands of visitors. This time last year, he was just wrapping up the epic RONE Empire large-scale immersive installation, and right now he was supposed to be preparing to open his retrospective exhibition at Geelong Gallery. For any artist, income and output can be a rollercoaster at the best of times. And for those whose work is largely events-based, everything remains in limbo. Although Rone’s exhibition has been pushed back until February 2020 (fingers crossed), the rest of his long-term work is impossible to plan right now.

We spoke with Rone moments after Scott Morrison’s address on Friday, about the challenges for artists right now, what it’s like to be parenting through isolation, and his surprising new venture to come out of this time!

How are you, what are you doing right now? 

I’m still painting, I’m literally painting now, but everything long term has gone into limbo. I can still make a living, but bigger projects are a lot more difficult to discuss at the moment. 

I know you had some big projects, like your retrospective at Geelong Gallery, lined up this year. What’s happening with that? 

I was meant to be bumping in at Geelong Gallery right now, and we’ve had to push that back until Feb next year. Although after hearing the news just now it does sound promising that that’s not going to be a problem.

I’ve been able to paint some canvas commissions and do some small stuff around the studio that I’ve been meaning to do since we’ve been in here. Finally now I have the time to unpack all those boxes, build a bookshelf, all those things where I was like, ‘I’m gonna do that’, but probably never would have!

So you already had everything for the Geelong Gallery show ready to go? 

We’re still building it offsite in a big warehouse, but because everything got delayed I stopped pushing on it, because I had 2-3 people working on it with me. Once we all got the message to stay away from everyone else I kind of told everyone to work on other stuff right now, we shouldn’t be pushing it because it’s not an essential thing. It’s been nice to be able to sit back and think about it a bit more.

The plan’s pretty set for it but I do think it’s going to be better than it would have been. Now that it’s come to the point of actually doing it I’m kind of glad I’ve got this extra time, so I can refine it a bit better, instead of rushing it.

What are you hearing from the art community more broadly, what are the biggest challenges people are facing?

I think there’s just so much confusion for people about how to get any government funding. As artists we are often self-employed – some of us are set up as companies and some of us are set up as sole traders, and it’s just quite messy. To prove that you’ve had a loss of income when a quarter from last year might have been where I had an exhibition and made quite a bit of money in that one time, it’s weird to compare it because then there might be 6 months of nothing after that. It’s really hard for an artist to compare things like that. For anyone in the arts industry it’s a rollercoaster quite often.

I’ve switched from focusing on long term projects, to focusing on short term projects, like – what’s something I can do it 2-3 days, rather than in 6 months? I can really only see a week ahead of certainty.

So how have you been spending this time?

When it all kicked off I had this conversation with my wife Alice, and Hannah who works with me and we were just like, you know, what we could do… we could make jigsaw puzzles. Hannah found two suppliers in Melbourne that could do it and then a week later had them all set up to go. We needed to sell about 20 to get the minimum order and we’ve sold close to 1000 now! So… now I make puzzles! But it does present a world of other problems now because the lovely lady who has been making them can get out about 10 a day. It’s been great for her, she’s been able to employ a bunch of her friends, not just for ours but a lot of people have been requesting custom puzzles at this time. So her business has exploded! But to fulfil the puzzles on her schedule will take 7-8 weeks, so I’ve had to find an offshore manufacturer. And I’m literally waiting for 500 puzzles to arrive any moment.

If someone had told you a few months ago you would be waiting on an imperative order of 500 puzzles…

It’s so funny. So things have turned in that sense! I’m seeing on Instagram people are having a really good time with them though.

So people are buying your puzzles to stay sane and do something, what have you been doing?

I’ve still been busy. I’ve been helping out my studio mate Callum Preston with a job that he’s had lined up on a construction site which is still operating, and I was the only person he knew who had the work safe tickets to go on-site and work at heights. I went and helped him do that this week and last, we’re on a roof by ourselves and don’t really see anyone else, it’s way up above everything. I’m painting for him doing a very simple design, it’s been a nice little break in a sense. I’ve painted around 2000 little squares and triangles.

What’s it been like being a parent of a small child during this time?

For the first few weeks, we just avoided walking past playgrounds and parks but he kind of cottoned onto it and wanted to go. He’s old enough to understand and negotiate with now, we told him the playgrounds are closed and he understands it. He’s stopped asking for it now but we’ve had to do other things to tire him out! He’s got a little tricycle and we kind of just ride him around the streets. We’ve bought quite a few puzzles that he likes doing, ironically.

Is there anything you’ve taken from this time you want to hold onto as things ease back into ‘normal’?

I don’t know if there’s anything I want to hold onto from this. I’m looking forward to getting back to the way it was. The excitement of going to see all my friends again – hanging out, having a drink in real time, face to face. We’ve been Zooming but it’s never the same.

There has been a lot of FaceTiming with my parents, I feel like I’m calling them a lot more often. Now because we’ve been talking so often before dinner my son will go, ‘Facetime Pop!’ He’ll ask for it, which is really nice.

What are you feeling optimistic about? 

I look at New Zealand and I’m absolutely amazed about how well they have done, and I’m a lot more optimistic about Australia’s future than I was at the start of this thing. It’s almost like we’ve done a Stephen Bradbury and somehow come out in front, not that we’re totally out of it yet. I’ve been feeling quite optimistic about our outcome getting out of all this.

Look out for Rone’s Retrospective exhibition at Geelong Gallery in February 2021 (it’s gonna be epic!). His first book ‘Rone: Street Art and Beyond’ published by Hardie Grant will be available in July this year. 

[autumn-in-phandom]

“Did Dan get TOO TAN?”

(Sept 19th 2017 Dan liveshow timestamps)  

0:03 After an awkward pause and salute: “Hello cyber friends” (instant regret and reflection)

0:29 (Dear god, don’t grab your laptop by the screen like that Dan.)

0:44 Grimace #1

1:06 No Dan, you do not look *atol* different. That tweet, title and pic are all just clickbait.

1:10 (Bronze my ass.)

1:19 Hitting us with that meme.

1:25 (Didn’t need to be in your face thanks. Teasing angles?)

1:36 “Never say Trumpy ever again, in any circumstance.”

1:45 Lovely pores and freckles.

2:00 Obviously everyone subscribes to YouTubers for their freckle content.

2:30 Livestreams are “a mistake” because of the chat clinging on to one thing and spamming it.

2:40 No probing or questioning at airport, big grin.

3:01 “The broadband is terrible but the 4G is great.” Okay…

3:17 “The toasty Dan experience”, orangish filter.

3:26 Double rhyme: “I guess that’s a rhyme, yeah that’s fine” (okay it’s a slant rhyme)

3:47 “Buttered crumpet Daniel.”

4:02 “Went to an island in the Mediterranean.” (This is exactly the answer I expected and quite frankly the only one he should give.)

4:09 “Literally did nothing for about six days, it was great.”

4:15 ‘I am Pilgrim’ book recommended by his mum.

4:30 Tricked into reading 900 page book.

5:00 Holiday was incredibly relaxing.

5:10 “Ordeal” getting there, delayed flight, three hours “traumatizing”

5:22 “Haha long boye” “literally, shins driving into my chest, bleeding” alright hyperbolic humor Dan. “Tough.”

5:38 “Violated” on flight by guy’s elbows, “no respect for personal space”, “fully leaning into me”, “didn’t even care”, “honestly an icon for all of us.” (Was it Phil?)

6:03 3 am, old driver, mini bus, cliff roads, did pre-ritual preparing for death.

7:00 “So much yogurt”, doesn’t know why.

7:05 “Assaggetti” tweet, we can shame him, “has the worst sense of humor in the world”, check it out and unsubscribe, doesn’t remember the language (Italian), apologizes, “constantly problematic”.

7:55 “Got that D from the S up above” (vitamin D, or Phil…)

8:16 Phil came on the holiday in case anyone didn’t know.

8:18 “He went from like glass to pale ivory, which is good”, “Phil is someome who erupts in freckles whenever he goes outside, so it’s hard to tell if he tans or if your eyes are just kinda like drawing the dots between the space all the freckles are, if you know what I’m saying.” (Wow, I… I’d like to think you mean what I know, but I’m not sure. Wow.)

8:37 Someone in the chat: “Nice Ursa Major on that cheek boy”. Turn, pose, laugh.

8:41 “The Bigger Dipper of my self esteem.”

8:53 Good day: watched Bake Off and answered emails, “thrilling”.

9:13 Tumblr likes, fan art, “beautiful to celebrate the great people.”

9:43 “The internet is not here”, laughs, sighs, apologizes.

9:55 Some peer pressure advice.

10:25 Had to check what his video title is.

10:35 I don’t know why he bothers to ask if we watched either.

10:55 Accept that he does things by his British calendar.

11:11 Why he didn’t he talk about uni stories when it was happening. Ashamed? Yeah, processing turmoil at the time.

11:55 Now shares traumatizing, terrifying, shameful, embarrassing stories straight away.

12:15 Rowing club guy AU… (not what I was thinking)

12:46 Laundry story: Phil was nice, Dan didn’t ask, *literally* ordered a cab, turned up with suitcase, Phil assumed he dropped out and was moving in, “I’ve had a day and I’m going to wash my socks in your washing machine.”

13:13 “If you struggle to function as a person-” (I really wish he had finished this sentence)

13:15 Asda sponsor for crying in the cheese aisle?

13:23 Pasta burn shaming (were you just never in the kitchen with your mum Dan?)

13:36 Dropping laptop so much recently.

14:00 Never taught cooking, laundry, accounting.

14:18 “No one told me shit!” (in Dan’s face again).

14:33 “What happens when I’m 23?! How do I do a tax?!”

14:54 It was ravioli (pretty sure the instructions mentioned water Dan…)

15:15 Thick as in stupid, not thicc fat booty.

15:30 “Look Fatima, we all have different life experiences, okay?” (lol)

15:36 “Ravioli ravioli, give me the death I deserveioli.” Relates.

15:45 Rihanna livestream, forehead fetishist? Wouldn’t mind if anyone leaves for that.  

16:08 Not up on BTS, DNA.

16:33 Shames Eden for “let me see that pastussy” comment, “leave.”

16:45 “Love on the Brain”. He really loves Rihanna, amazing, blessing, doesn’t give a shit, casual, informal, etc. “Bitch Better Have My Money.”

17:25 Is sure BTS video with be “pure and beautiful”, expects “softly applied eyeshadow and very fluffy hair”, he’s sure he’ll enjoy.

17:38 Maybe new gaming video/livestream tomorrow.

17:45 Overcooked, ironic kitchen fire, foreshadowing.

18:08 Wasn’t sure if he should get into Chinese guy story again, but he has to.

18:13 Deep breath: “It was 4 am, I’d been you know, well hydrated that evening, but I decided I needed another drink” go into the kitchen, everyone else was asleep, guy had a whole chicken, with neck and feet, fine but surprising, tiniest pair of white y-fronts, hacked head off and made eye contact, just couldn’t, usually would awaken some kink in him…

19:39 Pool pic, shout out to friend, no consent, relaxing, absorbing sun like a lizard, *basking*, fell asleep, lucky it was a pool and he didn’t drift out to sea, sun stroke vid reference, “the bad tan”.

21:08 People saying “trying to be cute”, the double chins (really?!)

21:21 The least Dan-like photo.

21:33 Thought it would ruin his Instagram aesthetic.

22:10 Lack of other content: relaxing, reading,

22:24 Took a couple other photos, sunset selfie, “no one’s going to take a photo of me” (what the hell happened to your personal photographer?) but then people came (please post, please!)

23:40 Bake off is his life, “Noel Feilding is a national treasure”, caramel was torture while hungry, faves are Liam and not!Val (what did he whisper about Liam? Really wanted him to be…?)

24:30 *Maybe* Halloween Baking, they don’t think that far ahead about anything.

24:48 Phil’s role in Dan’s video, mugging scene took nine takes, afraid to punch him. Outtakes please!

26:03 (grimace #2) “Hello Grandma, my name is Daniel, I’m a wholesome person, that’s a very great influence”

26:16 Wachowski films

26:23 Dan floating in donut plushies would be very challenging.

26:33 Dan flips a bit at the idea that’s it’s weird to like people who don’t know who you are. Uses Ed Sheeran as example.

26:55 Scrolls past person who said they feel better when they have a dream about Dan and Phil.

27:17 Cared more about YouTube than university socializing and class, Pom Bear Massacre reference, made Tumblr account.

29:09 Chapped lips, season changed the moment he stepped off the plane.

29:42 “Okay Universe, I know I can be a bit of a downer, sometimes.”

29:51 Haley Barry Storm powers

30:08 Yes the furry blanket comes out, polyester, sad pimp, Marks & Spencer.

31:06 Ready for everything seasonal, autumnal Yankee Candle range, not haute, but fun themes.

31:31 Frisbee laptop across the room on to the bed, missed.

31:46 Candle haul, yes it is content we need right now!

32:26 Furry invasion on Splatoon, scaley, yiffing proposition, “this is a family game”, not shaming just concerned for kids, though it is hentai-esque…

33:27 Sonic: 2010 reminiscing, formatting of boxes.

34:04 Was stupid side kick, Phil being good, Dan trying to be helpful, actual just a cheerleader, Phil was disgusting, doesn’t know if Phil even knew what he was saying (of course he did).

34:38 Didn’t know uni vid was trending

34:52 Reflection (I think that’s the piano nook)

35:00 Weird because of swearing, someone at YT didn’t watch the vid, “Ah, keep doing that, don’t watch my videos, just know that I’m a good person…”

35:25 “I make great friendly content.” (grimace #3)

35:30 Explains why trending isn’t automatic. Yes, think of the children.

36:05 “But hey, I’m not bad, everything’s fine”.

36:45 “People of all genders do and don’t wear makeup”.

37:10 (I’m pretty sure that the no candles with birds is because of the fumes.)

37:25 What is with the nose touching when confirming Spooky Week? “Next video (nose touch) soon, don’t worry”…?

38:28 “Fans of everything are annoying, that’s just what happens when people are enthusiastic about stuff.”

39:19 Dan doesn’t get annoyed by different fandoms. Says more about the people being annoyed, part of their own insecurity, their lack of community, togetherness, celebration, shared experiences, jealous or sad, or maybe everyone just everyone’s annoying.

39:56 Dream Daddy: so dangerous saying Dilddy. Dan likes Damien, great taste, immaculate presentation, probably not Dilddy’s romantic soulmate.

40:31 Dan is in like ten fandoms (makes a face).

40:45 Chat: “Will Phil become a furry, what’s your fursona?” Dan: “Is it time to go?”

40:55 Has never thought about it, promises he’ll get on it soon, he knows what the internet wants from him.

41:31 Chat full of fursona suggestions. He’s going to start crying.

41:52 “A llama fucking hell.” “Look at the time.”

42:01 Going to go into a (not disturbing) hole later looking into axoltl fur suits.

42:24 Elf on a shelf meme, was going to post a Dan one, “old meme!” (Still don’t need to be up in your face Daniel.)

43:27 Really wants to go see IT, needs to see Mother.

44:04 Shut up! American Horror Story, makes him happy. Loves Sarah Paulson (is his life), feels represented by a lesbian with anxiety. Evan Peters is great, looks gross, or great depending.

45:25 His fursona should be a big bear, I agree. What a reaction.

45:46 Left comb on holiday, looks like a bush.

46:13 (grimace #4 at group chat names.)

46:20 “What is wrong with all of you?”

46:22 Glosses over diet ask. Indeed.

46:26 “Don’t call me Uncle Dan when we’re talking about fursonas.”

46:36 “If you live in Australia vote for marriage equality, we don’t need to have this conversation.” “Come on, come on Australia, sort your shit out.”

47:03 Going to “innocently Google things that are fine”.

47:22 “Me and Phil would love to come to Russia”.

47:27 Limitations of TATINOF.

47:44 Watch uni vid: “Don’t take it too seriously. Remember that most of the time I’m just trying to be funny, and if you ever want like my real feelings or opinions, just think about whatever the opposite of what I’m saying is, and that’s usually how to get to the sincere heart of whatever Dan’s talking about.”

48:13 “Stay calm, ask some senpais for some life advice and think carefully about what your fursona should be.”

[orphanblackzone]

My love for Orphan Black has remained strong throughout the series’ five seasons and I was lucky enough to have some amazing conversations with the incredible women who’ve filled our screens throughout that time for this piece for Glamour. (I’ve covered the show before for Vanity Fair, Bustle, and Decider without involvement from the ladies—I told you I love this show.) Understandably, much of what I talked about with Tatiana Maslany, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Evelyne Brochu and Kathryn Alexandre wasn’t included in the piece, but our conversations were so fantastic that I knew the Clone Club would love to hear all of what they had to say.

(Note: I didn’t get the chance to talk to the brilliant Cosima Herter, aka the real life Cosima who also served as the science consultant for the show, or writer Renee St. Cyr. Needless to say, our appreciation and respect should absolutely extend to these women, as well.)

Below are previously unpublished excerpts from our chats on everything from acting process, story writing, and even the Clone Club itself.

On getting the opportunity to work with such an amazing group of women both on-screen and behind the scenes:

Tatiana Maslany: “It’s been an amazing job and so inspiring mentally, emotionally, in every possible way. Kathryn [Alexandre] is such an amazing partner. She’s been a lifesaver and I’ve been incredibly lucky to collaborate with her and experience the power of that unity of sisters, if you want to call it that. I think our industry can be very divisive in terms of not only chopping women into these pieces that are more palatable or easy to put into a box as a form of control — you see a lot of images of women being one thing or another, these dichotomies are rarely connected and are usually two separate people — so I think there’s that sense of separateness in actors and kind of a competitiveness because there are so few roles that are so exciting and inclusive, so you’re often pitted up against your peers. What I’ve loved about Orphan Black is its embracing of family, community, collaboration. We were all so grateful to be on the show and be part of something so different. We knew how special it was and we were all so lucky. Maria Doyle Kennedy was one of my heroes and then I got to have this relationship with her. Kathryn is an incredibly selfless person. These people are all so generous and selfless and invested in the work and that’s the only way the show’s been able to go on. Kathryn is invaluable — she’ my partner friend and collaborator — she’s literally just the best. I also think Graeme Manson knew how important it was to be telling women’s stories and in the writers’ room there were some incredible voices. Renee St. Cyr wrote Episode 7 which was one of our strongest. Given the political climate right now and this time in our lives, we feel lucky to do something real and relevant to our experiences.”

Kathryn Alexandre: “It’s been an absolute dream. The women on the show are all so supportive of each other and there was never a moment that felt like anything was a competition. Whatever we were trying to tell with the show was really infused by how everyone acted on set. It was a top down example that Tatiana displayed — she really set the tone for how everyone treated each other and it was such an inclusive and collaborative energy. I think a lot of the reason for how all of the cast and crew acted towards each other was really because of the example and standards Tatiana set for just being supportive of everyone. Everyone’s voice was heard and important. It didn’t matter who you were, whether it was a PA or first AD or a cast member or creator or writer — everyone’s input was heard, especially when it came to character. There were times when we were trying to say something about a particular woman or portray something from a different point of view and we’d turn to the first AD to hear her experience about that particular situation. I was very new to the industry when I started OB and I didn’t have much camera work under my belt so I feel extremely fortunate that my first experience was such a powerful one. It made me realize the importance of having female voices and telling female stories. It’s very easy to not realize that that aspect might be missing from other screens or other shows. Having this be my first job made me very aware of how important it is to have that diversity.”

On Mrs.S’s death:

Maria Doyle Kennedy: “It’s a fairly enormous sacrifice to make, but in terms of her methods and what she feels she needs to achieve, she’s come to the point that she knows that Ferdinand must be taken out and taken down. They’ve tried to do it many times and in many different ways but it never happens. She knows that to do this job, she has to do it herself. She’s ready to sacrifice herself in this way. That’s the most telling thing about her methods — when push comes to shove, she’s actually willing to sacrifice her life in order to save the others. We’ve been hinting at it slightly and setting up all along through this series — and I feel this is really important myself — it’s that S is sort of passing the mantle onto Sarah, onto the next generation. S’s mother died and when that happens, it just changes everything. My parent-in-law died last year and I saw the extraordinary effect it had on my husband. People say you don’t really understand it unless it happens to you. It’s not just the loss of someone you love, it’s that your vision of the world shifts. It’s the tribal order and it’s your job to pass the wisdom down because you’re going to be the next to go. We’ve been seeing that properly this season, she’s been really relating to Sarah as a mature adult and she’s relinquishing to her all the time. It’s designed for her to allow Sarah to take the lead, to not just be reliable but to be the driver to really have her own agency and be strategic as opposed as just being trustworthy.”

On their love for Clone Club:

Maria Doyle Kennedy: “I think one of the biggest things that became apparent to us after Season 1 and 2, when we started to meet our fans, we started to realize that Clone Club was this bond. It was forming among people that was transcending anything we were doing. It was a desire for connection and for family and that was hugely what we were representing — the idea of chosen family, of nurture and support and of other types of structures that aren’t necessarily represented as family but that can actually be that family in a much more positive way than many traditional models do.”

Evelyne Brochu: “I think it’s one of the biggest chances of my career to get to play someone that’s so open and that passionate and who doesn’t question the legitimacy of her feelings. I think because I got the chance to play that, I got the chance to see a lot of people who were inspired by this, which is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. We’re making a TV show in a studio in Toronto and then someone comes back to me and says that thanks to my show and my character, they had the courage to be themselves with their parents, their friends. I never anticipated that and for that, I’m empowered and really grateful.”

Tatiana Maslany: “I’ve always felt like Clone Club must be special. There’s an international community around the show but to a greater extent, it’s about the people. The most amazing thing was that I met a woman the other day who was about 42. She said she’s known since she was a baby that she was gay and didn’t come out until recently and the show helped her do that. She’s in a relationship now. That’s unbelievable. That’s incredible to us that we can have that impact and start those conversations. Girls who tell me they met their girlfriend in Australia through Clone Club meetups and they live in Idaho or whatever, it’s incredible. It’s a total privilege to tell these stories and see how they affect people. It’s like getting to talk about things that matter to me and so many people who don’t always have a voice and getting to enact it and tell those stories. It’s amassive privilege and such a joy as well. It only sparks our creativity and passion more for the show, the more stories we hear from people about the impact it’s had. That’s the greatest gift.”

On the importance of Cophine:

Evelyne Brochu: “Normalcy is a very important thing. You don’t realize it when you’re doing it. When you get to that place where you don’t even notice that something is a huge step forward, that’s a huge victory. Fuck yeah! It should be the norm, why not? Something that feels so normal should be portrayed in media as normal. You’re like, yes! This isn’t an issue anymore. Putting Cosima and Delphine at the center of the show insofar as the central romantic couple, it’s not sidelined or about anything else but true love and challenges and how they’re going to overcome that. Graeme and John are amazing. Normalization is a huge challenge and can have a huge impact. Right now, we need that impact. The President legitimizes misogynistic comments and normalizes those behaviors, but if we’re on this side of the fight, we have to pull on something positive for what values we want in our lives and push forward.”