#backyard sports screenshots

[hi-im-greenjunipertree]

Live Stephanie Morgan Reaction

[hi-im-greenjunipertree]

the joke master himself lol

IM SORRY BUT IM LAUGHING AT 2:53 AM RN BECAUSE OF THIS SPLIT FRAME AUHSFAIJSOIFDASIUF

[prefixerism]

"Oh my name's kenny!" - "Hola, kenny! soy Pablo!"

..Kenny and Pablo but if they were in the camping episode from bluey... if you havent watched it pls do its so good..,,☹️the language barrier... (ik the caption doesnt fit the drawing cuz i drew the last part of the ep but bare with me i had the caption ready before i was drawing HSHFHA)

obligatory extra doodles.. this one was supposed to be how kenny looked like but he looked a lil lame here.. (hes supposed to be a husky mix shiba inu :3 while pablo is a chihuahua mixed something else i forgot but its there ok..💗)

n also this song (me gustas tu - manu chao) appeared in my fyp again and i was like hold on.. this is so them.. (i havent thought abt a grownup/teen designs for them yet but theyre teens here ok.. just horribly chibified hshafahf) ok enough rambling fr

[dropthedemiurge]

Time of Fever (Donghee/Hotae story recap) #1

Since this movie (Unintentional Love Story's spinoff, prequel about Hotae and Donghee) is currently shown only in cinemas in Korea, I went and watched it :D And for people who don't mind spoilers or want to know what's their story without waiting until it becomes available and translated online, I wrote a recap!

It turned out to be... uhh... quite lengthy so I'll make several posts or comments :] Let me know if you want to be tagged in them!

Disclaimer: I'm putting everything under 'read more' so people won't catch spoilers accidentally! Screenshots are from the trailer, I put them along the scenes I described. Disclaimer #2: I'm not fluent in Korean (especially listening to it by-ear) and some characters had accents/satoori so some details can be missed. But I tried my best to write down what I was definitely sure about :D I'm re-listening to my audio recording so it won't be that far away from truth.

Enjoy!

Hotae is standing outside, dressed in a suit, looking far away as kids shout around. The camera pans out, and it's revealed he's dressed in a funeral-attending suit (seems like his father has died). The kids' ball rolls to his feet, and they ask Hotae to pass them the ball back. Hotae leads the ball and plays the football with kids, starting to smile.

Hotae moves to the big cottage-like house with backyard and peach trees where his mom (and also Donghee) has been living. He is eager to rush into the house, calling out 'Hyung!' but Donghee isn't at home. Hotae is looking at all the old shelves, childhood books and sport trophees. 

He texts Donghee "Hyung, I arrived! When are you coming?". Donghee hasn't responded but he was coming after school, hesitantly walking along the house outer wall. Hotae notices him and sneaks to hide in bushes, jumping over and surprising him. I think they haven't seen each other for 2(?) years. They bicker a little. Then Hotae says: "Hyung, you haven't changed at all". Donghee replied with: "You grew up well, Go Hotae."

Their moms are chatting and suggesting Hotae goes to Donghee's school, while Hotae is taking out books outside and Donghee is studying inside the house. They steal glances at each other through the window.

Donghee and Hotae go through school's gates, Donghee is grabbed by a friend and Hotae is stopped by the guard (because of his improperly looking uniform). Then we're at the swimming pool, Hotae is in the team, getting scolded along with other late students. The head(?) of the team is Donghee's friend who said Hotae better be working hard, if he wasn't Donghee's younger bro (not specified meaning sibling or just junior) they would've kicked his ass. Hotae bites back that he's not Donghee's younger bro.

Donghee came home late, Hotae was waiting for him. He speaks to Donghee very informally and disrespectfully, 'You know what hour it is? Don't you hear me? Hey, Kim Donghee!' Donghee: "Are you out of your mind? Why aren't you calling me hyung?".

Hotae asks Donghee if he got 1st place in competition and says that he has to also earn 1st place then. He asks Donghee to come see him, even if it's just evaluation and not competition. Donghee responds that he'll come see Jisoo (his friend on the swimming team), Hotae is annoyed. "Say it once again! Who you'll come to see?! - Yoo Jisoo. - Again. - Who?>:(( - Aaah damn it, fine. You, I'll come to see you, happy?" Hotae is, indeed, happy and promises to get 1st place.

The swimming competition starts, Hotae starts well but fails. Donghee's standing outside waiting. Jisoo comes to him offering to come get some food, but Donghee declines. Jisoo's like ah, you're waiting for your guy, alright.

Donghee goes to search for Hotae. Hotae is sitting near the wall in his swimming suit, towel on his shoulders and head, he's trembling while crying. Donghee sits in front of him and says: "Wow, you're really ugly :D Get up, let's go grab some food. No? Alright, just cry out as much as you can then. I won't tell anyone."

They walk back home down the train road, lit up by the sunlight. Hotae: "Aah the sun is so bright, my eyes hurt." Donghee: "Isn't it because you cried so hard?" Hotae: "No!>:(" They bicker a little, and Donghee laughs at Hotae's face expression again. Meanwhile, Hotae was emotional but now he's in awe because there is someone watering bushes behind Donghee, and there are droplets of water and bright warm sun, and Donghee looks so beautiful. They walk back home together.

Hotae watches his mother dot on Donghee as he leaves home again. Hotae follows Donghee and discovers he's often staying in the old art workshop schoolroom. There are old drawing easels and canvases, books everywhere and two plaster busts. Hotae wanders around and tries to peek into sketchbooks, Donghee rushes to him and grabs the dark blue sketchbook out of his hands, scolding him not to open it.

(screenshot not from this scene but this is the view of that school art studio~)

Hotae discovers some book lying around and opens up to read it. It's a story about man turning into an insect (I didn't see the cover but I can safely guess it's "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka?). Hotae is confused what kind of story is this. Donghee is like "If one day I get turned into an insect, (will you still love me) am I Kim Donghee or am I an insect?". Hotae is still confused about his question and the book.

Hotae falls asleep, napping in the studio while Donghee studies. Donghee walks away without him but slams the door loudly so Hotae wakes up and runs after him. It's raining outside, they are covering their head with hood (H) and backpack (D). In the middle of rain pouring, Hotae stops giving any fucks and spreads his arms, shoving his face under the rain. Donghee looks at him, smiles and does the same. They both enjoy the pouring rain and play in it, until they run to hide in the tunnel.

Hotae laughs, they remember their childhood. Donghee asks why Hotae doesn't call him "hyung". Hotae doesn't answer but comes to him and helps squeeze out the water from his orange fluffy sweater. Romantic mood, cue~

The rain turns into thunderstorm when they are already home. They sleep next to each other on different futons. Donghee's back is turned to Hotae, he's facing the window. He's trembling under the blanket. We get flashback to an angry man (his dad) punching and hitting Donghee to the ground amidst lightning and thunder.

Hotae stirs up and asks whether he's cold or scared. Donghee tells him to just go to sleep, but Hotae refuses. Then he's like 'aah whatever, move!', gets up and lies right next to Donghee (back to him). After a while, Donghee turns and scoots closer, clasping his shirt in his fingers, asking Hotae not to mind it.

Hotae asks: "You weren't like this before, what happened? - Everything changes, so I have changed too." Donghee almost noses into him. Hotae feels the breath from his lips on his back, gets shivers and remembers it next morning as well.

They sit on a porch of the house, Donghee brought Hotae some cut up tomatoes to eat. Hotae whines that it's too hot. He grabs tomato, bites in it and the drop of juice escapes down his arm. Donghee fixates on it and reaches out to wipe it with his fingers. Hotae freaks out about it, gets a bit rude and leaves.

He's swimming in the pool alone, full of thoughts about Donghee that obviously bother him. There's a random girl who meets him after his practice, she confesses to Hotae and asks him out. Hotae: "Well, alright".

They walk together, but Donghee was playing basketball and now is going home. Hotae tells the girl he'll be leaving and runs to Donghee, putting an arm around his back that Donghee says to keep to himself. Girl, frustrated, yells after him. Donghee is confused but Hotae tells him not to mind it and offers to go grab some food.

Days go by, Donghee keeps texting Hotae to help him with something (like 'buy some eggs on the way home', or 'bring me earphones' etc), Hotae ditches his new girlfriend because of "urgent thing", and rushes home with eggs.

Donghee is cooking and is surprised to see his face (there is a small wound). We learn that girlfriend cursed at Hotae and slapped him for not giving her any attention and constantly ditching her. Hotae says it's nothing, he just broke up with his girlfriend. "Why? - Because I bought eggs. - What even is this…" 

Donghee walks home from school, he sees Hotae and goes to him happily but Hotae's with another girl who confesses to him and asks to become her boyfriend, and Hotae once again says "Alright then". Donghee is upset.

He returns home late, and Hotae yells at him because he was worried and Donghee wasn't responding to any texts, yet he was holding a phone in his hand (idk why but he had two in the movie xD). They bicker again about Hotae addressing him impolitely. "- Ya! (Hey) - Ya? Ya?! Hey, are you really not calling me hyung, you–"

Hotae looks at Donghee. "I can't (call you hyung). I won't!"

He walks away from him, but after awhile stops and turns back. "Go faster!" He returns and grabs him by the wrist, dragging him towards the house. Donghee smiles. Even when he tells Hotae to take his hand away, Hotae won't.

[to be continued–]

[artzytrash]

Just woke up and need to get out all my thoughts on the Backyard Sports trailer before I go to work

First of all. THAT'S MY BOY!!! MY SON!! I popped off so hard when I saw him. I LOVE that they aren't trying to "modernise" the game by any means (cus that worked so well for them last time /s) and are retaining the early 2000s feel that makes the OG games so beloved

KENNY!! MY OTHER SON!! I love that they used his hair and eyes from the atari design. Probably the best thing they could have done with him.

KIESHA!!! She's so silly. This might be nitpicky but I'm a lil unsure about them making her hair more pointy than round if that makes sense. But it's not a huge deal she still looks great!

The inclusion of the old character sprites was really cute, good way of showing some characters that didn't appear physically. (Ernie was also in that one promo image but still) (I wish Sally could have appeared in the trailer as herself but I'll take this)

Favourite screenshots from the trailer. They're stanced tf up. The silly goobers.

Look I'm not saying this is my doing by any means, but it's pretty coincidental that, like immediately after I join the fandom, it gets a revival. And since I've joined I've been imaging what it would be like if they made another game in the series. Has Apollo given me the gift of the prophecy? /j

I'm very excited for this omg. I got hyperfixated on the series from watching one of my favourite streamers (Therm) play it and never actually played the games myself (I can't emulate the old ones currently cus I don't have a working PC), so I'm excited to be able to play them. I am actually looking at getting a PC very soon so maybe I'll actually play a bit of Baseball 97' or 2001 before then.

Also the music from the trailer is gonna be stuck in my head all day now I know it.

Last thing, I WILL be making art to celebrate the occasion, but I'm gonna be pretty busy this week with work, so it might take me a few days. I can probably find some doodles to post in the meantime, and I'm still working on a ton of aged up AU designs so expect more of them soon.

OK I'm done yapping now BYE

[hi-im-greenjunipertree]

So this is why they call Dante "Stretch." His appearance stretches vertically when he's squished. /j

because of memes i automatically imagined goofy spring sound when sally and tony smashed into dante and his afro lmaao

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Okay, quick Taskmaster liveblogging this week. I’m fucking exhausted after a long and shitty week at work, I got home from work just after 7 PM, made myself some food, and I am now very pleased to get to sit down with a meal and the new Taskmaster episode. I do not have the energy to do what I sometimes do with these, which is take notes constantly through the whole episode. But I know I’ll want to say some things about it. So I will use this document as a thing to write down quick little things when they occur to me occasionally, rather than trying to cover the whole episode. It’s nice to have this back in my life for nine more weeks (well, eight more now, I guess).

Thoughts on Taskmaster s16e02, written as I watch it:

- I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the funniest introductions are the ones where Greg pretends that Alex is right-wing for no reason.

- “Best sign” – I’m amazed that wasn’t taken already. You’d think Taskmaster would be out of the one-word ones, which is why they have to use “most < adjective > < noun >”, instead of just “most < adjective >” thing or “best < noun >”. But there’s still more stuff to do. I like that one, open-ended enough to leave room for interpretation, but still some solid boundaries they’ll have to stay within.

- It feels a bit like cheating for Sue Perkins to use her celebrity stories to garner points against people who just can’t compete with a story of the time Claudia Winkleman helped her steal a sign from the BBC. But I did enjoy that one.

- God, do I ever want to go to the British Library with Sam Campbell and steal shit. I think he wins in terms of aspirational stories, I’d rather rob the British Library with Sam Campbell than rob the BBC studios with Claudia Winkleman.

- I have seen the first three seasons of Meet the Richardsons (did not watch season 4 this year and I think I’ll probably leave it there, but I’m not sorry I watched it), and it’s definitely not the best show in the world, but one of my favourite parts was how cool that pub looked. That’s aspirational, it’s exactly the sort of thing I’d do if I had the money that they have. Make a full pub in your backyard where you can get the nice feeling of a pub but without the drawbacks, such as people you don’t know being in it and having to commute there and back (particularly bad, after drinking). Fucking lovely. The Jon Richardson I got attached to from radio 8 Out of 10 Cats/early Catsdown hasn’t existed for a long time, and that’s probably for the best and I’m glad he’s gone off to be happy even if I don’t find him as entertaining anymore, but I did enjoy seeing that pub in Meet the Richardsons like an example of success. Good for him. Nice prize, Lucy. You’re right, there is a warm feeling to it.

- Sammy C bringing his own equipment to the tasks. Following on from a couple of things he did last week, establishing a pattern of him doing things as a bit, because they are comedic, but also they happen to possibly give him an advantage in points. As someone who is backing him like he’s a sports team to win this season, I approve of this pattern.

- Listen, strange women standing around in Chiswick pulling on facsimile swords is no basis for a system of government. But I don’t know, maybe we should let Lucy Beaumont try running the UK for a year and see where they end up.

- I thought I wasn't going to do screenshots in this episodes, because these posts take so much longer when I stop to copy screenshots. But I have to say, the first proper laugh came from Sue throwing away the comment "I mean I want to go Widdicombe", then stopping, realizing what she'd just said, and you can watch the answer hit her:

Aw, I've just remembered the existence of that panel show hosted by Sue Perkins with Josh Widdicombe and Richard Osman as team captains, Insert Name Here. Slightly flimsy premise, uneven guests and execution, but three people who are so good at being on panel shows that it entertained me all the way through anyway.

I watched that show about 2 years ago when I was mainly into panel shows and thought Josh Widdicombe was a brilliant TV comedian who just happened to make not-great stand-up - now that I'm more into stand-up than panel shows, that flaw seems more significant than it used to. Also, I've given up on The Last Leg because they've gone all pro-monarchy but also if I'm honest they've been leaning toward the bland centre for a while (though I maintain that it had some years of being much better than that). But there was a time when Josh Widdicombe was one of my favourites of all these comedians, I still think he's very good on panel shows, so I'm enjoying his little cameo here (I did guess that Widdicombe was the answer as soon as Sue said "Devon", because what the hell else is from Devon?). Nice to honour both the first Taskmaster champion, and the first two-time champion.

On the subject of Sue Perkins and Josh Widdicombe existing in the same universe, aside from their endearing panel show Insert Name Here, remember that time when Sue Perkins went on The Last Leg wearing a Patti Smith shirt and one time she messed up her hair for no reason and I had to save that as a gif because I think it might be the cure for female heterosexuality?

- Watching this task for the second time, now that I know the answer. Obviously the foot that says “Greg” is a reference to Josh getting Greg’s name tattooed on his foot during season 1. “Devon” is where he’s from, as he talks about every time he’s on TV. But how does he make his hair smart? Is it just a reference to the fact that for a long time he was known for a particular haircut? Am I forgetting about something in the Josh Widdicombe canon (I say “forgetting” rather than “not knowing” because I have seen a hell of a lot of the things he’s done, including hundreds of hours of The Last Leg, arguably too many hours of The Last Leg…)? You’d think it would just be a reference to something he did on Taskmaster, like the tattoo. The main things Josh Widdicombe did on Taskmaster besides get a tattoo, I think, was count beans and fail to guess the rules of Alex Squash.

With Diamonds Come Bears was such an opaque club that they had to put it on the screen for us to understand it even once we did know the answer, but apparently the letters kind of line up. Then there’s that family tree showing how he’s descended from royalty, which he worked out from Who Do You Think You Are, and now talks about it every time he’s on TV.

- Interrupting my list of Widdicombe clues to say, why did Sam Campbell say Katherine Ryan has nothing to do with hair but “Bob Mortimer, that’s hair!” One of those people has objectively more hair than the other, and it’s not the one he described as “that’s hair!”.

- Did no one think before setting this task to check that Julian Clary has heard of Josh Widdicombe? That was pretty funny, watching Julian Clary walk around being unable to finish a task because he doesn't know Josh Widdicombe's name. Come on, Taskmaster, the small and nasally man with the short hair got a tattoo for this show. He does not deserve to have an entire task set up to emphasize the fact that Julian Clary doesn't know his name (he does, it was quite funny).

- Alex Horne, before this season started (paraphrased because I cannot be bothered to look up the actual quote): One contestant in particular put me in my place.

Julian Clary: "What sorts of people enjoy this show? Is it students?" "You're interesting, aren't you? Would you call yourself a charismatic man?"

- Susan Wokoma declaring that sexy dog subverts stereotypes made me laugh, Julian Clary referencing his dead art teacher very much added to that. I've watched most of the second task by now without stopping to write much because it's getting late and I'm tired, but that was fun.

- Lovely titled drop from Susan Wokoma. Very well delivered "Hell is here." She was kind of the quiet one last episode, is definitely making more of a mark this time.

-

- Look, if I wanted to be pedantic, I could make the argument that Sam Campbell's picture was much better than everyone else's and showed off artistic skill that clearly the others do not have, even though Sue Perkins' drawing was quite amusing, and therefore Sam deserved the five points alone. I mean, technically it was the best cheeky picture, not the cheekiest picture, and no matter how cheeky Sue's picture was, it wasn't as good a picture as Sam's. And if Sam Campbell loses this whole season to Sue Perkins by one point, I will absolutely be repeatedly making that argument that he was robbed in this task. But okay, fine, the idea of Sue Perkins making a dick joke is amusing. And yes, I'm aware that I'm watching Taskmaster wrong.

- Secret task gets mentioned again. I think the funniest option would be if it does exist, but it's useless. Like if there's a secret task somewhere telling them to do something huge and difficult and time-consuming and they have several months to do it and they have to bring it to the studio to complete it, and someone does do that, and then it's worth like half a point. Yeah it's a joke they've done before, but not for a while. They've used the idea sparingly enough in recent seasons so I think they could bring it back.

- Lucy Beaumont doing mischief by being an unethical fake psychic pretending to communicate with the dead to swindle people is a bit of a weird light given that I now know she does genuinely, literally believe in ghosts.

- Hang on. Hang on. Are they allowed to do that? They can set tasks for each other? A genuine first in a Taskmaster history, I'm almost sure. Susan Wokoma is out here re-inventing the game. I kind of want to know if anyone else in Taskmaster history has tried to affect one of their competitors' games and been told they're not allowed to, because if so, that's not fair to them that Susan could. But if she was the first person to think of it, then fair play to her.

To stop watching Taskmaster wrong (like a sports fan) for a moment and start watching it right (like a comedy fan), God that was funny. Watching Sam Campbell stand up and sit down and be so earnest about it and genuinely engaged and find a workaround to draw extra mice for extra points, while knowing it was all for nothing, was very funny. It's Widdicombe counting beans again. It's the thing I think they should do with the secret task. It's really funny to watch someone try hard when we know something they don't.

- After pretending to smash up Alex Horne's phone, I waited for what Sam Campbell would say, as he's had great lines throughout this show so far. But actually, I think leaving the room after saying nothing was the funniest thing he could have done. Solid instincts there.

- Sam Campbell threatens to make a prank phone call. Julian Clary writes prank longhand letters. The generational divide, everyone.

- Well, normally in my posts, I start out writing relatively little about things, and write more and more as the post goes along, so the things I write about later in the post get expanded on way more than the earlier things. This one is the opposite, because as I said, it's late and I've gotten more tired as it's gone along.

So I've finished the episode. I enjoyed the live task. I do always like the "do something while keeping eye contact with Greg" tasks. The main thing I have to say about that live task is... I don't know if this is quite the hardest I've laughed at season 16 so far. But it's definitely the longest. As in, I'm exhausted right now, I worked long hours today and long hours yesterday and it a few really stressful days and a long week and it's fairly late and I feel like my brain is fried, and for reasons I definitely cannot fully explain (if pressed, I could explain maybe about 20% of why this happened, at the most), this exact frame made me laugh uncontrollably for several minutes:

I just paused the video, stared at the screen, and could not stop laughing. There's a cat my lap the looked annoyed about it. Every time I tried to play the video again and move on with my life, I'd look at some new part of it and keep laughing. I took a screenshot so I can have it forever. The 20% that I can explain about why that happened does, again, involve using the word "earnest" to describe Sam Campbell's expression.

I also enjoyed Sue and Julian drawing the same thing (people who are older than the other contestants and also more famous than the other contestants and also gay are on the same wavelength as each other, apparently). And I liked Lucy Beaumont's peas.

I also enjoyed them bringing in another NZ task as the tiebreaker. Well done to Sue. I always like watching the rote memorization tasks, mainly because that's a skill I enjoy practising myself and I like to see if I can beat the contestants at it. I used to know pi to lots of places, back in high school, but I couldn't do that now. Could I memorize more digits than Sue did in the same number of seconds? Don't know, and am not awake enough to try it right now. Some other time.

I'm now going to sleep for a number of hours with two digits in it. Maybe three.

[wendyeve24]

Up To Heaven and Down To Hell

Chapter 6: Magic Man (Part 1)

(Read the screenshot warnings for this chapter above and take heed to them. Smut is also slightly in this chapter. I had to break this chapter into two parts on Tumblr because it wouldn't fit in one post 😆. Thank you and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Part 2 of Chapter 6 is up next! More chapters are coming soon!)

"So what's the new plan?"

The original announcement plans had gotten scrapped due to an important delay... which Nate had blamed on Cassie. But now everything was set into place.

"I'm going to throw a huge party at our house, the press is invited in order to let everyone else know about all the changes that are going to be taking place." Nate said as he walked down the halls of Jacobs Sports Incorporated in his business suit, talking to his dad who trailed behind him on the way to his office.

"Good... and is there any news about her current status?"

Nate stopped in his tracks, a smile on his face as he turned around. He gave his dad a knowing look.

"She's doing perfect." He answered as the events of the past few days ran through his mind.

Cassie had sat in the doctor's living room after her checkup. She had been throwing up all morning... almost every morning after their shortened honeymoon... which was now close to nearly being a month ago.

She thought it was just a stomach bug.

The doctor came back into the room with a clipboard and sat down, smiling at Cassie.

"Well Mrs. Jacobs, your test results are in."

"What's going on with me doctor?" She asked.

"You're pregnant." He replied with a smile.

"What? A-Already?" She couldn't believe it.

"Yes ma'am. And I think it would be good to run an ultrasound. You were also complaining about being bloated well I'd like to take a look at that."

"Of course."

The doctor started up the ultrasound machine and put the goo on Cassie's stomach, looking at the monitor as he placed the wand on her belly.

"Wow... well Mrs. Jacobs you're almost a month along now and your babies are healthy."

"Wait! Did you say babies!?"

"Yes I did. You're going to have twins."

Cassie was absolutely shocked but she felt so happy.

"Thank you doctor! Oh my gosh, I have to tell my husband." She exclaimed excitedly as she left the doctor's house that was in the backyard of the Jacobs Family Estate.

She came running back into the house.

"Nate! Nate! Honey where are you!?" Cassie cried out.

Nate was in his office, documents piled high on his desk as he worked vigorously in either shredding the ones that served him no purpose or filing the ones he actually needed away... besides, they weren't his originally anyways.

He heard Cassie down the hall yelling for him. With an annoyed sigh he got up and stretched a bit before he left his office and went out into the hall.

"You're interrupting my work, what the fuck do you want Cassie!" He said.

"Take a break, I have some great news!"

He rolled his eyes before sitting on the couch.

Cassie went over to the bar area of the living room and got a beer out of the mini-fridge and reached into a drawer and got a cigar for him as well.

"Good girl. You're learning." He replied as he graciously took the can of beer and sipped it before putting the cigar between his lips. She leaned over with a lighter and lit his cigar for him. He took a few puffs from it.

"Now, what is it?" He asked.

"It's something fantastic. It's about why I've been sick each morning..."

"Mhm."

Cassie took his hand into hers.

"Nate, I'm pregnant." She said as she looked into his eyes.

His eyes widened as he took the cigar out of his mouth.

"You are? You really are? You're not pulling my fucking leg?"

"No! I'm pregnant! And... it's twins."

Nate stood up frantically and turned towards Cassie with a shocked look before a huge smile spread across his face.

"Twins... you're fucking perfect. Oh my god! It's twins!? Holy mother of God! I... Cassie, you... you don't know what good you've done. Our kids are going to be miracles. You're a mother, you're going to be a mother... the perfect mother." He said as he kneeled down to look in her eyes.

"I'm so happy Nate!" She said with tears in her eyes.

"You're doing so well. I have but only one thing to demand of you with this new information, Cassie."

"Yes honey... anything."

"Tell no one until I tell you to. Understand?"

"W-Why?"

"It's business, honey. Just business. Just don't tell anyone. It won't be long until you can tell everyone but... just don't do it until then. It's important. Very important. I'll tell you why it's important a day before we throw a huge party in our house with all The Organization members in our sector. I promise, but for now you just be perfect, be pretty, be barefoot and pregnant, and be quiet about everything. Okay?"

"Okay daddy."

"Such a good fucking girl." He said as he kissed her deeply, placing his hand on her stomach.

"And good girls get rewards. Whatever you want to eat you can have it tonight." He added.

"Oh thank you!" She said as she hugged him.

"You tell me by eight o'clock what you want and I'll give it to you okay? I have to get back to work." He said as he got up with his beer and cigar and turned to go back to his office before turning and gazing at her.

"Oh and Cassie?"

"Yes?"

"I love you." He said before he went back into his office, shutting the big wooden doors behind him.

"Love you too..." She replied quietly as she sat alone in the living room.

The party invitations were sent out two weeks later and everyone sent in their RSVP... well, almost everyone.

"The fact your sister decided not to send in her RSVP is a fucking insult, Cassie." Nate ranted in bed as his wife put her nightly face cream on before bed.

"I know."

"Call her up and tell her to come to the party or else." Nate said before taking a drag of his sixth cigarette of the day, tapping the ashes into the tray on the nearby nightstand.

"Or... else... what?" She asked sheepishly.

Nate got up and went over to Cassie's side of the bed, grabbing the rotary phone from the nightstand.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it." He said in a saccharine tone.

"Now call her." He demanded as he sat the rotary phone in her lap, her pregnant belly was already getting big. He gently leaned down and kissed it before going back to his side of the bed.

Cassie sighed before picking up the phone and spinning the dial to call her sister.

Faye had felt bad for Cassie after the luncheon so she had given Cassie the number to the O'Neill's residence in case she ever wanted to talk.

Cassie thought Faye was sweet... stupid and constantly high but sweet nonetheless.

It took a while but someone finally answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"L-Lexi?"

"Cassie?"

"Hey..."

"Hi... uh, you do know it's getting late right?"

"Yeah. I won't hold you up, I know how you like your sleep. I uh just was calling to ask you why you haven't sent your RSVP in for my party?"

"Well, we didn't leave each other on very good terms Cassie. Besides, our husbands don't like each other-"

"But if you come to the party, we can make amends-"

"Cassie, if you really wanted to make amends then you would have called me up earlier instead of trying to get me and my husband to go to your party."

"Lexi, I-"

"What? What is it Cassie?"

Cassie looked over at Nate out of desperation and he gave her a frustrated look before nodding his head once. He was hearing the entire conversation.

"Please come! I... I need you Lexi! Everyone was right! About my marriage! I just... I really really need my sister here with me..." Cassie said as she started sobbing.

Lexi's eyes widened as she gazed at Fez who was also listening in on the conversation next to her in bed.

He narrowed his eyes slightly as he listened.

"Cassie I-"

"Please Lexi! I... I can't do this without my sister, I'm so sorry about everything. I... please help me." She sobbed into the phone.

The line was silent for a moment.

"Alright. Me, Fez, Marie, Faye and Ash are all coming to your party. We care about you Cassie, we just wanna know if you're okay. Alright?"

"Thank you... thank you. Oh, he's back home... I'll call you later. Bye!" She said frantically as she hung up.

She put the rotary phone back onto the nightstand and dried her tears before smiling at Nate.

"And that is how you manipulate your little sister." She said with a smirk, though her tears had been real.

Nate's eyes widened as he looked at his wife. He was shocked that she even had that in her.

"That was all an act... right?"

"Of course honey. I'd never actually do that to you, I love you daddy."

"Good. Don't do that shit again. It was pretty sexy though... but just don't do it again." Nate said.

Honestly he wasn't too pleased that she had to stoop to those levels in regards to her sister. But at least now they would be at the party... he needed them there... they were a part of his plans.

"I won't... Not unless you want me to." Cassie said sensually.

Nate leaned over and kissed Cassie before rolling over and turning the light off.

"Oh Nate, I want you..."

"If you shut up then you'll have me then." He replied as he got on top of her as she stopped talking.

Lexi hadn't been feeling well for a few days but she was feeling well enough to go out with Fez.

"I can't believe we're going to Cincinnati for my sister and her shitty husband." Lexi said.

"Hey, you did want to see her again... right?" Fez asked as he walked down the street with his wife.

"Yeah... just to check up on her, you know?"

"Yeah, ma. I get it. Alright we're almost there. Close your eyes Lex."

Lexi smiled and closed her eyes.

Fez had two surprises for Lexi.

He situated her right in front of the building and grinned.

"Alright, open your eyes."

Lexi opened her eyes and saw a store with a sign that said MILK in big letters in front of her.

"Oh my god, Fez is this-"

"Yup, I'm finally showing you the store. Come on."

He escorted her inside as I'd Rather Be With You by Bootsy's Rubber Band played on the radio in the store, resounding through the aisles.

"Wow! It's fantastic!" Lexi said as he took her on a quick tour.

"Yup, and it's not just mine now... it's yours too baby." Fez replied.

"Oh Fez! That's incredible, thank you!" She exclaimed as she hugged him.

"Oh don't thank me yet... I got another surprise for you." He said as he pulled out a folded piece of paper from his back pocket.

He opened it up and handed it to her.

"I know how much going to college matters to you, and I ended up getting in contact with the Dean of Boston University, and he knows who I am. We ended up talking and I managed to get a college application from him and he said if you're interested and if your application checks out, he can arrange a meeting between you two so you can get into any program you want no matter the cost." Fez said as Lexi read the college application with an incredulous look on her face.

"Oh my god..." Lexi muttered as she read through the application.

"Boston University is one of the most private Universities in the country! Fez! You... you really want me to go to college?"

"Of course I do! That's one of your dreams, ain't it?"

"Yeah."

"Well here it is, there ain't nothin' stopping you, ma."

"Holy shit..." Lexi muttered before kissing her husband.

"Thank you... this is absolutely, the best thing anyone has ever done for me. I love you." She said with tears in her eyes.

"I love you too. You deserve the world, and imma give it to you."

"Fez, you don't need to give me the world. All of this is enough." She replied as he smiled at her and kissed her.

After the kiss was broken, Lexi sighed contentedly before grinning.

"I'm going to fill out this application right now! Got a pencil?" She asked excitedly.

He went over to the register and grabbed a pencil from a nearby cup full of pens and pencils.

He handed her a pencil before she kissed his cheek and sat down a nearby empty register and started filling out her college application.

It was four in the morning the next day and still dark out when Fez woke up. He couldn't sleep. He went downstairs to the kitchen for a glass of water before he saw his grandmother in the living room, smoking a cigarette and just sitting there with one lamp on.

"What're you doin' up, Snowflake?" She asked as she turned to see him gazing at her from the hall.

"Couldn't sleep. Why're you up?"

"Same thing. Come on and sit beside grandma, I wanna talk to ya."

He set his water down on a coaster on the coffee table and sat down beside her.

"How's your wife?"

"She's doin' good. She's been a little sick recently but she's pretty damn strong."

"That's good. Why do you think she's been sick?"

"Why? Uh, the fuck if I know."

"Really? You both got back from your honeymoon some weeks ago and you can't put two and two together about why she's been sick lately?" Marie asked with a raised brow.

"No."

"She might be pregnant, Snowflake."

Fezco's eyes widened before he spoke.

"You think she might be-"

"Yup."

"Well how the fuck would we know for sure!?"

"Take her to a doctor... as much as it pains me to fuckin' say that."

"Shit. Wow. I'll do that. But I gotta be sure I can trust her doctor."

"Oh of course! If she is pregnant, are you happy?"

"Of fuckin' course! She might be havin' my kid."

"If you're as happy as you say you are, then why do you look so fuckin' pale?"

Fez was at a loss for words momentarily.

"I... Uh..."

"Don't start stutterin' on me now. What is it, kid?" Marie said in a gentle tone.

"I... I don't wanna be like him."

"That's all?"

"Yeah."

"Look at me Snowflake. You ain't nothin' like your bastard father, alright? I've seen the way you look at your wife. You love her and she loves you. And if she's knocked up, you're gonna love and protect that kid like the father you never fuckin' had. You hear me?"

"Yeah."

"Ain't nothin' to be afraid of. With all that being said... I gotta ask, does she know about the business?"

"No I haven't told her shit."

Marie took a drag of her cigarette before looking at her grandson.

"Tell her, show her. She's family now. She deserves to know."

"I love you grams but hell nah. Ain't nothin' bout that life I ever wanted her to see or know about. She not built like us, and it's too dangerous. She's better off not knowing-"

"Not knowing what?" Lexi asked as she gazed at Fez and Marie on the couch.

Fez looked as pale as a ghost, his eyes wide.

"Not knowing what, Fez?" Lexi asked more firmly this time.

"What are you doin' up so late baby?" Fez deflected.

"I'm not answering your question until you answer mine."

"Lexi... you don't wanna know, ma." Fez said as he shook his head.

"Fez! What are you hiding from me!?" Lexi begged.

Fezco stood up and gazed back at his grandma. She gave him a silent nod.

He hesitantly looked at Lexi.

"Alright. I'll show you. But you gotta promise me, you ain't gonna tell nobody about any of this." Fez said as he started to lead her down into the basement.

He turned the light on and to Lexi's surprise there was a wooden table, a few boxes, and a bunch of guns lined up against the wall. A cash register was on the table as well.

"What... What is all of this?"

Fezco turned around and faced her.

"I'm a drug dealer Lexi. I... make my money from the store but most of it is from drug dealing. Grandma started this entire thing, she raised me and Ash to continue dealing drugs. I... honestly, I don't wanna be doing this shit for the rest of my life. And now since I'm married to you, I really don't wanna be doin' this shit no more. It's too dangerous for a man who has people he loves." Fez admitted.

"Fezco... I... I don't mind it. If it's what you do and if it's the only thing you know then... I don't mind it. I still love you. Please don't think that you telling me this is gonna make me leave you or anything, because it's not. Drug dealer or not, that doesn't define you, Fez. You're a good man. You're not a monster. Sure, drug dealing is... very wrong and... very illegal but, you're smart enough to know all of that and want to quit doing it, and that takes a lot of strength. I'm very proud of you for that and for opening up and telling me." Lexi said as she placed her palm onto his cheek lovingly.

"There's so much more I ain't opened up to you and told you yet, ma."

"Well, I'm all ears."

"For starters, I gotta ask you somethin'."

"Yeah?"

"You been sick these past few days?"

"Yeah."

"Do you... do you think you might be pregnant?"

Lexi was silent for a moment.

"I... I don't know... I might be. I very well could be. I think we should go to the doctor to be sure."

"Alright, but it gotta be a doctor that we can trust. Can't trust just anybody when you a drug dealer or the wife of one."

Lexi nodded in agreement.

"If you are pregnant... I-"

"Would you be happy if I was?" She asked.

"Yeah of course... but... I ain't gonna lie to you, ma. Imma be real fuckin' honest... I'm scared." He said in a low voice, as he gave her a worried doe-eyed look.

"Of what, Fez?" Lexi asked as she put her hand on his shoulders comfortingly.

"That... That imma be like my old man."

"Like... your father? And... what was your father like? You never really told me about him or your mom."

Fez took a deep yet shaky breath.

"I uh... I don't really remember my mom. Grandma told me she took off and left not long after I was born. I don't know if she wanted me or not. Paulie... my dad... he was... a fuckin' monster. Motherfucker used to beat the shit outta me every fuckin' day. If I so much as took a breath or blinked when he was around... bam." Fez mimicked getting punched in the face.

Lexi gazed at Fez with a horrified and heartbroken look on her face. She couldn't imagine being beaten as a child like that, day in and day out. She felt horrible for Fez. He never deserved that, no one ever deserved that.

"He used to manage a strip club here in Boston in the 50s and 60s. Odd Ball Cabaret. He would bring me there with him. I saw shit no little kid should ever fuckin see. I learned about the female anatomy real early real quick, it was all just so... fucked up. Anyways, grandma found out he was beating me one day and it was the day where we were at the club and he really did a fuckin' number on me that day... the way he was punchin' me... it's a wonder I even remember anything at all. Well, grandma strolled up into the club, got me up outta there but then she went back inside..."

"I... hope she killed him." Lexi said in disgust.

"All I know is, she shot him twice in his fuckin' thighs and after she came out of the club, I never saw him again."

"Good."

"Yeah. I say all this to get to my point... I don't wanna ever treat my kid like that, Lex. I-"

"Fez, stop. You don't have any of that in you. You came from a broken home and a fucked up, abusive father but none of that is inside of you. You're not him. You're Fezco O'Neill and you're the sweetest most loving man I've ever loved and when we do have a baby, you're going to be the best father the world has ever seen, drug dealer or not."

"I don't plan on dealing when we have kids Lex. I... Imma do shit I've always wanted to do. With you and our kids of course." Fez said as he held her.

Lexi held him tightly.

"Oh? And what's that?" She asked curiously.

"Buy a farm and live like that family on Little House on The Prairie. Have like cows and chickens and all that good shit." Fez said with a smile.

Lexi smiled at him as she heard him.

"Oh Fez that sounds amazing. But... what about my college classes?"

"Imma take care of the kids while you out gettin' your education, ma. I'm sure Ash and Faye wouldn't mind helpin' out too."

"That sounds wonderful Fez. I love you."

"Love you too, baby. Let's go back to sleep. We gotta start packing tomorrow."

"Yeah. Alright."

The couple went back upstairs together hand in hand.

Nate was rifling through several business documents from Aspen the day before the party. He was somewhat impressed... the man knew about everyone in his cult and kept a file on everyone. He even had documents detailing his dirty business deals with some Organization members.

Nate ended up coming across the Howard's file. He studied it, muttering to himself in his office as he read the file and the notes that Aspen had written.

"Gus Howard... unemployed... husband to Suze Howard. Lives in Butchers Hollow, Kentucky. Father to two daughters Cassie Howard and Lexi Howard. Alcoholic... drug addict. Pain killers after car accident. June 14th, 1968 paid a hospital visit in private... requested more pain killers for him. Suze Howard... housewife... wife to Gus Howard. Previously successful arranged marriage until sometime in the 60s. Alcoholic... observed her drinking from a flask at meetings and during meetings. Loud, brash, tries to keep up appearances. Failed her marriage after husband left her. Almost ousted from the Organization if it wasn't for her daughters she offered up to be married. Cassie Howard. Oldest daughter to Gus and Suze Howard. Blonde, big chested and now married off to Nate Jacobs. I consider her to have the look of every wife that should have a successful marriage in the Organization. Lexi Howard. Youngest daughter to Gus and Suze Howard. Brunette, quiet personality, has an air of disobedience about her. She is one that I should watch."

He put the file down and sifted through another one only to discover that it was the O'Neill's file.

Nate immediately studied the file.

"Paulie O'Neill... owns Odd Ball Cabaret... once married in the Organization but wife left him after discovering how many deals he made with us... deals he couldn't keep track of. She left Boston but we found her. Found his wife and my men dealt with her to keep her quiet. Dealt with in January 15th in 1969 in Manhattan, New York. Name of Mrs. O'Neill is [REDACTED]. No one needs to know who she was since she has now been destroyed. Paulie owed $150,000 to us. Wire tapped his home in Boston. His mother is a criminal. Mother is Marie O'Neill. She runs MILK grocery store. Just a front for her real business in dealing drugs. Recording of phone conversations revealed that she threatened to take his son from him because of child abuse. One of my ladies gathered intel on this and Paulie does indeed abuse his son. Would have dealt with it sooner just so the Organization wouldn't look bad, but Marie got to it first. Found Paulie bleeding out in his own club where he died an hour later. His mother took in a young boy after taking her grandson in with her. Young boy's mother's whereabouts unknown. A blonde prostitute and pornstar named Faye hangs around the boy named Ashtray and the grandson. Fezco O'Neill... son of Paulie, grandson of Marie. Owner of MILK. We have reason to believe he is also a drug dealer because of his grandmother's influence. Now married to Lexi Howard. The O'Neill's illegal activities could put The Organization in danger if their dealings are continued and if they get caught. Must be ousted, destroyed or forced to hand their illegal business over to me. The O'Neills are a liability."

Nate couldn't believe it. The ginger's wealth wasn't because he owned a successful store... oh no, it was because he was a drug dealer. The fact that Aspen knew that and didn't do anything about it fast enough was pathetic.

The tall brunette man shook his head and laughed. He couldn't have come across this information at a better time.

He picked up the rotary phone receiver and spun the dial.

"Hello?"

"I found a smoking gun."

"How so?"

"Looked through the members of our sector and their files... including the ginger-"

"The one who almost killed you?"

"Yeah. I've got some shit on him and his whole family. Aspen wasn't as pathetic as we thought he was. He kept files on everyone, especially everyone in the eastern sector of The Organization. Our file is squeaky clean as it should be. Cassie and her family's file is relatively normal minus the fact she has alcoholic parents but her sister's husband's family file is a goddamn goldmine."

"What did you find, Nate?"

"He comes from a family of criminals, more specifically a family of drug dealers. All of it is illegal, Aspen planned to take them down since they're a liability to The Organization, probably wanted to make himself look like a hero too."

"Hm. And what are you gonna do with this information?" Cal asked.

Nate stayed silent for a moment with a dark and sinister grin on his face.

"You'll see." Nate said before hanging up.

Elliot decided to see Rue in Kentucky on a whim. He had phoned Leslie and his manager Ali drove him to their house.

"Thanks man." Elliot said.

"Hey man, you're welcome. Anytime. I wanted to meet this girl you're supposed to be marrying. Size her up, see if she's worth us busting our asses and coming to see her." Ali said as he turned off the radio that had been playing Superstition by Stevie Wonder.

Both men got out of the car.

"This is the right house?" Ali asked.

"Yeah it is. Your vibe is so off today, man. What's up?" Elliot asked.

"Nah man, I'm cool. Just not used to being so far down south like this. We're in the middle of the goddamn sticks out here. Besides, I gotta protect you. You're like my son, man."

"You can relax Ali. She's cool, her sister is cool, her friends are cool and... her mama is a fox too. You might like her. Her name is Leslie." Elliot said as he knocked on the front door.

"Really? Why the hell didn't you say that before? Got me all nervous and shit." He replied as he knocked on the front door a bit harder than Elliot had.

The door opened a few seconds later. Leslie had answered the door.

"Hi Elliot. And uh-"

"Ali Muhammad. I'm his manager, it's a pleasure to meet you." He said as he reached for Leslie's hand and kissed it before letting it go.

"Oh, well... it's a pleasure to meet you as well Mr. Muhammad." Leslie said, quite flustered at the flirtatious exchange.

"You can call me Ali." He said with a smile as he gazed at her.

"Alright, Ali. You both can come on in." Leslie replied with a smile, her gaze never leaving Ali's before she turned and led them into the house.

"You have a very nice house here Mrs. Bennett." Elliot said.

"Thank you. My husband bought it years ago."

"Oh and uh, where's Mr. Bennett?" Ali asked cautiously.

"Unfortunately he's passed away. He died of cancer a few years ago." Leslie replied as she walked into the living room with them.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. My condolences." He said in a solemn tone.

"Thank you. Why don't you both have a seat. Oh and are you also a part of The Organization, Ali?"

"I'm more into The Nation of Islam myself, but I've dabbled a bit in The Organization." He said as he sat down.

"Well, Rue's friend who recently got married is throwing a huge party in Cincinnati. All of The Eastern Sector Organization members are invited. If you and Elliot would like to come with us-"

"We'd love to go! Uh, well... I'd love to go. Not sure about Ali. What do you think, man?"

Ali sat and thought for a moment.

"Well, I don't see why not? I'll come too."

"Great! I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Do you both want anything to eat or drink?"

"I'll take some water, please."

"Same here."

"Sounds good, oh and I'll go see what's taking Rue so long. Rue! Elliot's here! Get down here!" Leslie called out as she disappeared around the corner.

"You weren't kidding, she is a fox. I gotta turn on some more of that Ali charm. Damn." Ali said in a hushed tone to Elliot.

"See man? I told you."

Leslie and Rue came into the living room a few seconds later.

Rue handed Elliot his glass of water because her mother wanted her to.

"Thanks. So, I thought it would be great if I took you out to dinner tonight."

"Wearing this fucking June Cleaver outfit?" Rue asked as she gestured to the dark green poodle skirt dress she was wearing, something her mother made her wear.

"Rue!" Leslie chastised.

"What!? You know it's a horrible dress. I mean come on, mom! It's squeezing me, I can't breathe and I look fucking ridiculous!"

"I gotta be honest Mrs. Bennett... she does look ridiculous." Elliot said with a smirk.

"Go put your bell bottoms on then." Leslie said begrudgingly giving in.

"Thank you." Rue muttered as she went back upstairs to change.

"I'm sorry about that. She can be quite moody at times."

"No worries. This one right here can be real temperamental at times too." Ali said as he pointed to Elliot before sipping his glass of water that Leslie had given him.

"Hey!" Elliot said, obviously offended.

"See what I mean?" Ali said with a smile.

Rue came back downstairs wearing a long-sleeved floral burgundy top and dark blue bell bottom jeans with black Candie's sandals.

"Ready. Oh and who's that?" Rue asked.

"That's Ali. My manager."

"Oh cool, is he coming with us or...?"

"Nah, you both go ahead out to dinner. I wanted to stick around and speak to Mrs. Bennett some more."

"Oh okay." Rue said with a shrug as Elliot got up.

"It was nice meeting you Rue." Ali said.

"Nice meeting you too."

"You both be careful." Leslie said.

"We will."

"Thank you so much for the water and the hospitality, Mrs. Bennett. I'll be back with Rue by no later than ten o'clock." Elliot said with a smile.

"You're welcome. And alright but no later than ten."

"You got it. Oh, Ali?"

"Yeah man?"

"Gimme the keys to the car."

Ali sighed before throwing him the keys after he got them out of his pocket.

"You crash my car or if I even see so much as a scratch or a dent, I'm-"

"I know! I know! My ass is grass." Elliot said as he turned on his heel and started walking out of the door with Rue in tow.

He opened up the car door for Rue and then went to the driver's side of the car and got in, putting the keys in the ignition and starting the car.

"So, you missed me?" Elliot asked teasingly.

"Did I miss that smug fucking look on your face? Hell no." Rue answered back playfully.

"Well, if it counts for anything while I was finishing up my last few gigs... I missed you."

He pulled out of the driveway and started driving down the street.

"You probably say that to all the chicks." Rue said as she rolled her eyes.

"No. You're the only chick I've ever said that to."

"Spare me the mushy shit, Prince Charming."

"I'm fucking serious, you're literally the only chick I've ever said that to. And you're gonna be the only chick I ever get to say that to, since we're gonna be married."

"Yeah. Don't take offense but... I really don't wanna get married." Rue admitted.

"You like me don't you?"

"Yeah I like you! I just... never vibed with The Organization marrying off the women to random guys. I mean, I was born into it but... I just never got it, and I never saw a fucking point to it."

"I get where you're coming from. I mean, the men have always had more choices than the women and even as a kid, I thought that was really fucked up. I kinda always saw myself as a Horg."

"As a what?"

"A Horg. Half Organizationist, Half not an Organizationist."

"So half in and half out?"

"Yeah. I never vibed too much with it. It's part of the reason why I became a musician. It's rebellious, it's wild, it's freeing. You get to express yourself by playing music, you get to meet really interesting people who aren't hell bent on Organization beliefs, you get to have all the sex you want without the binds of marriage, and you get to have all the drugs you want."

"You... you do drugs?" Rue asked.

"Yeah. Pot, acid, I've done heroin, snorted coke, popped pills." Elliot said with no shame.

"What's it like?" She asked teasingly.

"What? Taking drugs?"

"No, getting high."

"Like you're floating and like nothing around you fucking matters. It's great."

"You got any?" Rue asked.

Elliot hit the brakes when he got to a red light.

"Rue Bennett... you askin' your future husband for drugs?" He asked teasingly with an incredulous look on his face.

"Hell yes."

"Oh, but what the fuck would your mama say if she found out her baby girl got high with the guy she arranged for her to marry?" He teased.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." She replied.

"Ever got high before?"

"Yeah, I've smoked pot a few times and got high."

"Heh, you sure that wasn't oregano?" He teased.

"Shut up. You got any on you or not?"

Elliot smirked as he reached into the glove compartment and got out a big sandwich bag full of pot that had some paper with it.

"Roll one up Bennett. I've got the lighter. Wanna see you get high. Lucky for you we're going to a Chinese restaurant, so if you get the munchies you can have all the food you want." Elliot joked as he kept driving down the street, watching Rue roll up a joint out of the corner of his eye.

"Gimme a light." She said before placing the fat joint between her lips.

He pulled out his lighter and lit it up for her.

She took a nice big puff before leaning back in her seat.

"Like it?"

"Yeah. It's some good shit."

"Great. Puff again then pass it."

She took another puff before passing him the joint, he took it into his lips and took a few puffs before passing it back to her.

"Yeah, I feel like I'm floating already." Rue said with a smirk.

"Turn the radio up." Elliot said.

She did so and grinned as Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze blasted through the radio speakers.

Elliot laughed before coughing a bit.

"You know something... what if we fucking eloped? Like right now?" Rue asked before taking another hit.

"That would be badass. But don't you want a wedding dress? A reception? A fucking luncheon brawl?" He asked as he took another hit of pot as well.

Rue couldn't help but laugh.

"Shit. I don't think I'd mind watching another luncheon brawl to be honest. That shit was wild." She said.

"What the fuck was that even about?"

"My best friend's husband got insulted by her sister's husband and he beat his ass and his brother's ass."

"Which one was your friend?"

"The brunette. Her sister was the blonde one who got knocked on her ass... the dumb one with the big tits."

"Oh yeah. What happened after that?"

"Well, Jules and I-"

"The skinny blonde chick you're friends with?"

"Yeah, her and I called up Cassie... the one with the tits, on her honeymoon because our friend Maddy... she swore Cassie is being abused by that guy... her husband, the tall brunette fucker. So I called Cassie and she fucking hung up on me. Haven't talked to her since and now her and her husband are inviting everyone to their big ass Cincinnati mansion for a party."

"Woah, holy shit. So, the guy who got his ass beat might be beating up on your friend's sister, who just so happens to be his wife?"

"Yeah."

"That's the most fucked up thing I've ever heard. Wait... did they invite the guy who beat him up to the party they're throwing?"

"I don't know. I fucking hope not. That's like... asking to get your ass beat again. Lexi likes Fezco though, so he's alright in my book. Anyone who kicks an abusive piece of shit's ass is okay in my book."

"And Lexi is the brunette... she's the blonde girl, Cassie's sister?"

"Yeah."

"Well damn. I'm definitely going to that party. To be with you of course but, man... the drama."

"Right? Fuck those soap operas my mom watches, I'd rather see it play out in front of me." Rue replied.

They arrived at the Golden Lotus restaurant and put out the joint they had been smoking together. Elliot parked the car and both him and Rue went inside.

Both of them ordered fried rice and egg rolls, and kept talking the entire night.

By the time their dinner was over, it was almost ten.

"You're a damn good date, Rue." Elliot complimented.

"And you are too. I really enjoyed tonight. I honestly didn't think I would."

"Well, I'm full of surprises." He said as the bill for their food arrived. It had been so much food, they even had a to-go bag.

Elliot looked at the bill and reached into his pants pocket to get his wallet before he realized he didn't have his wallet with him.

"Shit..."

"I... forgot my purse too." Rue said.

Elliot smirked before gazing at Rue.

"You ever did a dine and dash before?" He asked.

"No. What the fuck is that?"

"It's exactly what you think it is... we eat then we run... without paying." He said quietly.

"My husband is so much fucking fun." Rue said as she grabbed the to-go bag and bolted out of the restaurant with Elliot.

They hopped back into the car and Elliot hit the gas, speeding off into the night down the road, the owner of the Golden Lotus yelling at them from his now empty parking lot.

The song Bad Company by Bad Company came on the radio as Elliot drove Rue home.

She couldn't stop staring at him, the street lights illuminating his face as the car kept moving.

He eventually pulled up in the Bennett's driveway.

"Well, that was a lot of fun. Holy shit. I-"

Elliot had gotten cut off by Rue leaning in and kissing him.

Elliot kissed back as the song More Than A Feeling by Boston came on the radio.

The kiss got more heated as the seconds passed and both Rue and Elliot's hands started roaming each other's bodies.

"Mmm..." Rue moaned.

Elliot broke the kiss, breathing heavily.

"You ever make it in a car?"

"No. You?"

"Plenty of times." He replied with a chuckle.

"You got anything?" She asked with a raised brow.

"Condoms? Uh, let's see..."

He started looking in the glove box and fishing through his pockets. Lucky enough he found one in his back pocket.

"Here it is." He said as he held it up triumphantly.

Rue got into the backseat of the car and Elliot did the same.

"You a virgin?" He asked.

"Fuck no. Now help me out of these pants." Rue said.

Elliot put the condom wrapper between his teeth as he helped Rue out of her bell bottoms.

Much to his surprise she wasn't wearing panties.

"Holy Moses! You don't fucking wear underwear?" Elliot asked, absolutely shocked.

"No. Too much work."

"I wanna fucking marry you tonight." He said as held onto the condom before he kissed her inner thigh before he started tonguing her clit.

"Fuck..." Rue moaned.

This was certainly going to be a long night.

End of Part One!

Link to Part 2

[coinmystique]

It began off so innocuously.Ben Smith, the editor-in-chief of tech publication Semafor, tweeted a screenshot of a textual content alternate earlier this week between himself and an editor of a court docket sports activities journal. The subject: The pickleball craze at the moment sweeping the nation.“Meanwhile, because the tennis establishment is so ossified and beset by infighting, all the VC money that wants to go somewhere has propped up a garbage psy-op NFT.”“Wait did you just refer to Pickleball as a ‘garbage psy-op NFT?’”“[Venture capital] took a backyard hobby for retirees and is trying to fuel it into a pro game with leagues and tv rights even though it’s about as compelling to watch as darts.”As a result of this alternate was publicized on X, previously Twitter, and did fairly effectively for itself by way of virality (nearly 100 quoted tweets and 600 likes), I assumed that Crypto Twitter can be throughout this. I scrolled via the feedback and quotations, in search of some humorous NFT one-liners I may use as a leaping off level for this week’s opinion piece.However I discovered nothing.The truth is, in an surprising twist, it's the throwing darts group that has fought again. Whereas some darts followers cited viewership numbers from televised darts championships, one other simply wrote “this is way too mean to darts.” One other dart fanatic took the textual content alternate even nearer to coronary heart, writing that calling darts boring is identical as believing in “flat earth shit.”I needed to assume for a minute.Ben Smith, EiC at Semafor, former New York Occasions media columnist and editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed Information, is (what I assumed) a comparatively essential particular person on X for crypto information. Apart from, I had thought that anybody even tangentially associated to crypto would present up on the timelines of the crypto-obsessed, who have been all the time prepared for a web-based combat over the deserves of their digital cash and digital artwork.However this snub of NFTs handed over crypto’s head. I learn all the nearly 100 quoted tweets, and whereas one commenter obtained in a refined dig — “Pickleball is the NFT/MLM of sports” — just one particular person really stated it outright.Internet tradition publication author Ryan Broderick wrote: “I think using the NFT as a shorthand for any bizarre rich people microtrend (which always materialized as a pyramid scheme for the rest of us) is very very good.”With all of crypto’s discuss wider adoption occurring already, it’s simple typically to neglect that we’re all in an echo chamber. As a result of even NFTs — that are arguably essentially the most mainstream a part of the crypto ecosystem — are apparently regarded by the normie public we had thought was embracing them as simply one other wealthy folks development.However I'm really not that shocked that everybody studying the comedian pickleball textual content change will get the joke, that they have already got an implicit understanding that NFTs are a “bad rich people” factor.As a result of regardless of the numerous use circumstances and artists and truly cool stuff that I see within the NFT area, it's a must to think about what the remainder of the world sees: a bunch of celebrities shopping for and promoting million greenback monkeys. Learn extra from our opinion part: Should you’re in crypto, you’re an AllanSimply look how simply “NFT” has slipped into the broader lexicon as being equal to “scam,” at the very least in keeping with liberal media-readers, pickleball gamers and darts apologists on X. I’m undecided when that occurred — and I’m alleged to be on prime of precisely this kind of factor in my position as Blockworks’ on name crypto skeptic!Granted, postulating what your complete world thinks of NFTs by going off of feedback on X is just not an actual science. And possibly now that we’ve given a bit little bit of area to this one journalist’s NFT-pickleball joke, the crypto group will come at his tweet with a vengeance to show everybody mistaken.

(However in all probability not, because the tweet is already eons outdated in web time.)Or possibly the true cause that Crypto Twitter stored silent within the face of this NFT faceslap is as a result of the hype cycle is over: The actual builders don’t wish to spend time in a foolish web spat. They should keep away from all distractions of their quest to create a brand new approach to work together with artwork.However that’s in all probability giving them an excessive amount of credit score. The NFT group was in all probability all out taking part in pickleball and simply missed this spherical of web drama solely.I don’t care a lot about tech, I don’t care a complete lot about finance, both. I care about writing tales and watching bizarre issues unfold. And that’s why I’ve ended up in crypto. However as a result of I’m lacking that zeal for what crypto and blockchain are all about — finance, tech, privateness, yadda yadda — I’m going to write down as an alternative about what I'm really excited about. Every little thing about crypto that has little or no to do with crypto.That’s what this column can be about. All of the tangential tales that come out of the blockchain and crypto area, what I take into consideration them, and the way I navigate all of it as a skeptical former Russian literature main.It’s exactly my perch as an outsider that lets me do what I do: Opine on all sides of any crypto difficulty, no strings connected, no pores and skin within the recreation.If you wish to discuss crypto with me, let’s go off matter.Get the day’s prime crypto information and insights delivered to your e mail each night. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free publication now.Need alpha despatched on to your inbox? Get degen commerce concepts, governance updates, token efficiency, can’t-miss tweets and extra from Blockworks Analysis’s Each day Debrief.Can’t wait? Get our information the quickest method doable. Be a part of us on Telegram and comply with us on Google Information.

[anzu-kaiba]

Azure Week 2022, Sims Style (Part 2)

Remember @sharksmirk's amazing art for #azureweek2020? I sure do! It inspired the above artwork for this year's theme "Car Ride." While I couldn't QUITE replicate Anzu's style of sunglasses or pose, I did my best with a cute pose and a CAR (!!!!) in The Sims 4.

Funny story: initially I was trying to do all this posing inside an empty room I'd made in a starter home in San Myshuno. It... did not go well. I ended up moving to an empty lot in Sulani for this shot, though you probably can't tell! 😂

I'm quite new at this Sims screenshot thing, so forgive the not-so-great lighting. I'm also on a Mac, so I don't have access to the ReShaders and other tools that some folks use. Suggestions for up-to-date, must-have mods welcomed and appreciated!

I wanted to try and recreate that in the Sims 4 for Azure Week 2022, so here's my attempt at that.

We have:

Maserati Gran Cabrio Sport by @lorysims

"New Stage" pose pack by @beto-ae0

Andrew's Pose Player & Teleporter (the latter originally by Scumbumbo) by @sims4studioofficial

Anzu's sunglasses on head by @aroundthesims

Anzu's hair from Get Together

Anzu's top from Backyard Stuff

Anzu's shorts from Seasons (again, not that you can see them, but whatevs; they're cute blue jean shorts with scalloped hems)

Anzu's sandals from base game (raffia-looking wedges with pink stripes)

Anzu's bracelets and necklace from base game

Seto's hair from base game

Seto's top from Get to Work

Seto's shorts from Cats & Dogs

Seto's shoes from Cats & Dogs

Seto's watch from Get Famous

I originally did make something of an effort to have a sunset background with palm trees like in Sharksmirk's art, but then I edited it out because of the style of Sims 4 box art that I'm going for! 😂 Oops/Sorry?!

I have to check a bunch of my mods/cc now though, because something I've introduced recently is preventing me from doing detail edit in CAS. If anyone knows of any specific type of mod/CC that tends to do this (or simply having too many subfolders in the Mods folder?!) please let me know!

This is three images down, four to go... or possibly 11, if I do a different piece of art for each "dual" theme! 😱 We'll see what happens.

What do you think?

[hi-im-greenjunipertree]

"What? Was it something I said?"

[justlightlysedated]

for my lovelies @bisexualalienblast and @fraudulentzodiacs with a special shout out to @bestillmyslashyheart just because 🖤🖤🖤

*

Alex isn’t sure what time it is, but his fingers are cramping by the time he hears the squeaky screen door that leads out of the kitchen and into the backyard open with a loud groan.

Alex is expecting it to be Kyle, who sometimes stops by if he notices the lights on after work, or Rosa who has taken to dropping by during the middle of the night with spray painted covered hands now that he knows that she’s alive.

He’s definitely not expecting Michael to be walking into the living room from the kitchen.

Alex sets the paper he’d been using to sketch on top of the keyboard and closes the laptop, sliding it backwards. The movement causes the pencils he’d been using to roll off the desk to the floor where one of them stops right by Michael’s boot.

Alex just licks his lips and tells himself that he doesn’t need to be standing at attention in his own home.

“Can I help you with something?” Alex asks when Michael just bends down and grabs the pencil from the floor, and stays crouched there like he’s never seen an HB sketching pencil before.

Michael looks up at him slightly in his crouched position and then reaches with one hand and makes the two other pencils that had fallen roll over to him.

He gathers them in his hand and pushes himself to his feet.

“You got anything to drink around here?” Michael asks, voice hoarse as he steps closer and reaches out with one hand so that Alex can take the pencils.

Alex stares at him for a second, taking in the hat sitting on top of his head and the dried blood in the corner of his mouth and the swelling around his right eye tells him that he’ll be sporting a black eye come morning, and Alex wonders if he got himself kicked out of the only bar in town that would have him.

“I’m sure if you ask nicely, Maria will be more than willing to serve you a drink at the Wild Pony, even if you make out with another guy’s girlfriend.”

Michael exhales roughly, but doesn’t rise to the bait, which is surprising.

“I didn’t come here to fight,” Michael says, which again, surprising.

Alex is trying, but it’s hard not to throw barbs back for every single one that Michael does, and it’s the reason why Alex leaves the dealings with the aliens and Liz to Kyle so that he doesn’t have to be in the same room as Michael because they can’t even seem to talk about what they’re going to do about Max and about Project Shepherd without taking cheap shots.

“Then why are you here?” Alex asks, feeling a little confused.

Michael told him exactly where they stood, and Alex had taken him fully at his word. He still had a job to do here in Roswell, but he had no doubts anymore about where he fit in Michael Guerin’s life.

He had tried to be Michael’s friend, but Michael had pushed back even harder against that, so Alex didn’t exactly know what else there was to say that Michael couldn’t tell Liz or Kyle to pass along.

Michael's gaze sweeps the entire room, and Alex hopes that Michael's memory is as bad as he pretends it is, but of course it's not.

Michael just moves, setting the pencils down on the desk as he moves to the other side of the room.

Alex just tracks him with his gaze and tries not to sigh when Michael moves the small table beneath the window to the side and reveals what's hidden behind it on the wall, that Alex hadn't painted over even after he'd renovated the interior of the place.

It was a heart with their initials, placed there by a lovesick almost eighteen year old, Alex, as a mark to prove that the house would be theirs, one day.

"Why are you here?" He asks back, turning to face Alex.

"This is my house," Alex says slowly, and Michael makes a low scoffing sound.

"How exactly? I've been waiting for it to come back on the market since it was sold."

Alex should've maybe expected that, but he just looks up at the ceiling to avoid looking at Michael directly.

"The house has always been mine," Alex says.

He can feel Michael's incredulous stare, and he sighs again.

"When I showed you the place the last thing that I expected was to come back and find you here with someone else, so I asked a friend to let me borrow their name, and I bought the place from the bank.”

His chair jolts, and Alex sits up to glare at Michael who is still standing by the window, but giving Alex a nonplussed look.

“You didn’t come back here for almost three years,” Michael says, shaking his head. “You went to Basic Training and then left straight to Texas before managing to make an appearance right  before you had to go overseas the first time.”

Alex shakes his head. “I came here first. I wanted to see you. It had been almost six months by then, and I don’t know what I was expecting, really, since we parted on not so good terms, but I still wanted to see you.”

Michael swallows hard, and moves away from the window towards Alex. “And you didn’t think that I wanted to see you too?”

Alex just rolls his eyes a little. “I was eighteen years old and not exactly thinking rationally. It felt like my heart had been broken into a million pieces. I had known, objectively, that leaving the way that I did, meant that you weren’t going to be waiting for me, but a small part of me still hoped that you would be.”

Michael looks unhappy about that, but Alex is already lightyears over it. “I realized later that I had no right to be so upset about it, and that you never promised me anything, and so the next time that we saw each other, I just didn’t want to say anything that would make things awkward, so I just didn’t say anything at all.”

“So what you’re saying is that it’s my fault that-?”

“No,” Alex says, leaning forward and looking at Michael seriously. Michael stops speaking, but he still looks unhappy.

Alex licks his lips, and tries to figure out how to say what he means. “You told me once that I’m always looking for a reason to walk away, and maybe that’s all it was, but there is no use talking about who is to blame because there is no one to blame. Maybe things would’ve been different if I had talked to you back then, but it’s useless to wonder about things we can’t change.”

Michael is quiet for a moment, and Alex waits a beat until it’s clear that he’s not going to start up blaming himself again, before he speaks again.

“So, I answered your question,” he says, and Michael’s eyes focus back on him. “Answer mine please. Why are you here?”

Michael stares at him for a moment longer almost like he’s trying to find the answer to the question in Alex’s eyes, but Alex knows for a fact he won’t find anything that he’s looking for in them.

“Did you mean it?” he asks, and doesn’t elaborate when there are a billion things that he could be talking about.

“Did I mean what?” Alex prompts him gently.

Michael exhales roughly, and looks around the room, before settling his gaze back on Alex.

“You told me that even if we’re never getting back together, that you still care about me, that we’re family, that you want to be friends,” he says, taking a few steps closer. “Did you mean that?”

“Every word,” Alex responds, and Michael seems to deflate, like he’s lost all of the energy that had been keeping him standing upright.

He sways a little and then drops backwards, sitting hard on Alex’s coffee table, making the stack of coasters shake and tip over.

“I just need a friend,” he says, looking down at his hands. “And neither Liz or Isobel are good company right now, and Maria-”

He sighs, and keeps his gaze down at his hands. “Would expect too much.”

Alex just stares at him for a second longer before he reaches for his crutch and moves to stand up.

His left leg feels a little tingly, and Alex realizes that he’d clearly been sitting still for too long.

He moves a little stiffly towards the kitchen, and grabs the semi clean dish towel hanging from the stove and then opens the freezer hoping that he still has some ice in there.

Alex drops several cubes on the towel, and then folds the towel up around them before he makes his way back to the living room.

He opens his mouth to say something that he forgets the moment he realizes that Michael is standing right in front of his desk and that his laptop is open.

“Don’t-” he starts, but Michael swirls around already holding the sketch in his hand.

“What is this?” Michael demands, voice sounding harsh.

Alex licks his lips and wraps his fingers tighter around the crutch and the towel in his hand, the cold ice cubes sticking to the towel and making Alex’s hand feel a little numb.

“A sketch,” Alex replies, and Michael shoots him a look that says not to fuck with him.

Alex inhales deeply.

“Here,” he says, holding the towel out. Michael looks like he’s going to refuse, but he crosses the few steps over to Alex and takes the towel from his hand and places it to his swollen eye, and then he shakes the sketch in front of Alex’s face, and Alex takes it from him to stop him from wrinkling it.

He smooths it out, and stares at the unfinished portrait. He’d taken dozens of screenshots from all angles in order to try and make it as close as he possibly could, and he still felt like it wasn’t good enough. 

He wasn’t planning on showing Michael at all. It had just been a project that he was using to distract himself when he couldn’t sleep.

Alex exhales roughly.

“I forget sometimes that not everyone is like me,” Alex starts, keeping his gaze on the sketch, staring at the eyes that are so familiar even though he’s never seen them set in that face. “I want to know every single thing even if it’s terrible, even if it hurts. I can compartmentalize it even if it’s something personal, and I got so used to being around people like that, that I didn’t even think that you wouldn’t want to know.”

He looks up as he says the last word and straight into Michael’s eyes, and has to look away, blinking his eyes a few times before he inhales deeply and turns back to him.

“I wasn’t planning on giving this to you. I know that you don’t want anything from me. I just wanted to have something else to show you if you ever wanted to know what I know.”

Michael doesn’t say anything, but he moves to go sit down on the couch, and Alex exhales a little bit, feeling like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders, and he moves back to his desk, setting the sketch down on top of the desk, and making a face at the half finished abandoned ones he’d done before he’d decided that he hated them and started over.

“I know it’s pretty bad,” Alex says. “I’m a little bit out of practice.”

“It’s a pretty good likeness,” Michael says, surprising Alex, who turns to face him.

Michael isn’t looking at him, and the towel isn’t on his face, as he looks up at the ceiling, the move making his hat sit off kilter.

“She showed me a memory,” he continues. “We were really happy and she loved me so much.”

Alex is moving across the room before he’s even aware of it, and he sits down in front of Michael, lowering himself carefully on top of the coffee table, and he uses his crutch to tap Michael on the leg.

Michael jumps a little and tilts his chin down, looking at Alex down the length of his nose.

“I am sorry you know,” he says, and Michael sits up, tilting his head at Alex like he doesn’t understand why he’s apologizing. “I know it would never be enough. That nothing will ever be enough. But I am going to try my best to do anything that I can to make an attempt to make things right-”

“Alex,” Michael says, voice barely a whisper, but Alex hears it loud and it traps the words at the back of his throat.

He inhales deeply and focuses his gaze back on Michael, who is leaning forward a little, so that they’re eye to eye level.

“What happened to my mom, wasn’t your fault,” Michael says, and Alex exhales roughly, letting the air out noisily through his mouth.

“I know that,” he responds, and Michael gives him a skeptical look.

“Do you?” he asks, sounding equally as skeptical.

Alex doesn’t answer. 

“Why are you apologizing then?” Michael counters and Alex just rolls his eyes a little.

“Because no one else is going to,” he snaps, and Michael raises an eyebrow at him. “Anyone who you do deserve an apology from is long dead, and the rest of my family is too stubborn and set in their ways to see that what they’re doing is wrong. So that leaves me.”

He looks at Michael as seriously as he can, and Michael keeps looking at him like he’s trying to figure out exactly what Alex is trying to do.

“And I am sorry,” he repeats. “For everything.”

Michael blinks a little, and Alex can see him clenching his jaw slightly, before he nods his head once and leans back against the couch, blowing out a breath.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything to drink around here?” he asks, raising an eyebrow at Alex.

Alex makes a low noise. “I’m not actually supposed to be mixing alcohol with my meds, sorry.”

Michael just sighs, and closes his eyes.

Alex stares at him for a second, before he turns his gaze to the small area partially hidden by his desk where he kept his old guitar, the one that he’d tried to give to Michael, and the new one that he’d bought several weeks ago.

“How about we try something else?” Alex says, turning to look back at Michael, who raises an eyebrow like he’s expecting Alex to proposition him, and Alex just scoffs at that and motions with his head towards the guitars.

Michael’s gaze flickers over there, and then he looks back at Alex. 

“We could try a jam session?” Alex asks, hating the way his voice rises slightly at the end, at the way he can’t seem to control his emotions enough to leave the hope out of his voice.

Michael stares at him for a long moment, before he moves and stands up, brushing past Alex a little too close, and making him swallow hard and keep his gaze firmly above his belt buckle.

Michael huffs out in amusement, but walks towards the guitars.

Alex exhales carefully, and then moves, sitting down on the couch, and getting comfortable.

Michael hands him the new guitar and then settles down beside Alex, settling Alex’s old guitar in his lap and pulling the handkerchief wrapped around his hand to stuff it into the back pocket of his jeans before he’s testing the strings and tuning the guitar to his specifications.

Alex just licks his lips and concentrates on his own guitar, making sure that it’s tuned and then going through the scales while Michael gets ready.

“Alright,” Michael says, making Alex look at him. “What song do we play?”

Alex hums low as he thinks the question over, and then he shrugs a little. “You lead, and I’ll follow.”

Michael gives him a look out of the corner of his eyes at that, and Alex just looks back down at his guitar, strumming against the chords.

Michael isn’t the only one who can speak in metaphors.

Michael starts to play, and the song is familiar enough that Alex just shakes his head a little, biting down on the smile that wants to threaten to take over his face.

Michael starts to hum along to the song, and Alex waits for the chords to cycle through before he opens his mouth and starts to sing.

“And so, I thought I’d let you know, that these things take forever, I especially am slow, but I realize that I need you, and I wondered if I could come home.”

[whoisfrosty]

calling out the little fandom of backyard sports games: do yall have some headcanons about any of your favorite character_s? i love reading thoughts of people, no matter what/who they're talking about :D

pete's screenshots just for fun

[hi-im-greenjunipertree]

he really does look like he's saying :3 /pos

Boy why you so :3

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 100

Episode: Futari wa Precure Splash Star 02 - “The Welcome Party at Pan-Paka is the Premonition of a Storm!” Date watched: 01 December 2018 Original air date: 12 February 2006 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/5CtC8VX Project info and master list of posts: https://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

they bond quickly

This is a great follow-up to a great premiere. We get a better look at the villains, the lore, the girls’ lives, and see them become closer as friends. Basically it builds their world out more, and I love it.

First things first, the villains: we’re introduced to Goyan, an impish little dude who serves as the right hand of the boss, and the big bad himself Akudaikan. Having a right hand as a buffer between the boss and generals is a change of pace from the first two seasons but not an unwelcome one. Goyan is a curious little dude, you never know quite what he’s thinking. He seems like he already knows that Karehaan lost to the Precures and mockingly asks him if he returned with the spirits, but it could also be genuine sucking up. Either way Karehaan ignores him, and this will be the dynamic for most of the show. Meanwhile, Akudaikan is a big dark guy cast in shadow, so all you see are his eyes.

Goyan mocks him and Akudaikan berates him so Karehaan goes out once more to try to redeem himself, and we learn that Dark Fall, like most villainous organizations, is run by a bunch of dicks, and that is why they fail.

Over in the Land of Greenery, which is the new name for the Garden of Rainbows, aka Earth (most series have a special name for Earth that ties into the lore) Saki and Mai are doing school things. Saki chats with her friends Hitomi, Yuuko, and Kenta about hosting a welcome party for Mai but Mai is already out the door before she can actually invite her. Saki finds her on the roof of their unusually aesthetic school and they chat about the previous day, while Flappy and Choppy explain how Precure’s mission to protect the seven fountains, of which all but one have been conquered by Dark Fall. It’s exposition wrapped in character development as it’s part of a scene where the protagonists try to learn about each other.

You may recall that while Nagisa and Honoka got along fine in Futari wa, it took a while for them to truly become friends. Splash Star decides screw that, Saki is way too gung-ho to wait, and Mai definitely wants the companionship. They have to work for it a little, as that night Mai talks with her older brother Kazuya about her reservations, and he encourages her to try making friends with Saki if that’s what she wants. Mai has a bit of imposter syndrome, she thinks she doesn’t really belong, that Saki already has a bunch of friends and she’s only being nice because Mai is new. Nonetheless, she puts on her brave face and goes to the welcome party. She’s a bit early, so she sits in the backyard and draws.

FW similarity/difference number 2: While Nagisa was part of a working class family living in a high rise apartment complex, Saki's family lives behind their bakery and are afforded such luxuries as a yard. The town of Yuunagi seems a bit more suburban than the setting of FWPC, which seems to correspond to the region of Japan it’s based on.

Mai gets so caught up in drawing that she’s completely oblivious to Saki and friends setting up for the party right behind her, so when she turns around she’s super shocked to see the supplies.

Side note: Mai is a really good artist.

I am not and I’m wondering how you get lines that thin out of charcoal

It’s very admirable, and we’ll get to see her develop this skill further throughout the show. The two girls speak candidly for a moment, and Saki insists that they ditch the formalities of Japanese speech by asking Mai to simply address her by given name, and asking if she can do likewise. Mai agrees to this and so they truly become Saki and Mai, rather than Hyuuga-san and Mishou-san. (reminder: referring to each other on a personal-name basis with no honorific in Japanese is a sign of closeness reserved for good friends and family)

 Unfortunately the festivities are interrupted by Karehaan, who turns a potted plant into an Uzainaa and demands the girls hand over their spirits. Naturally they refuse, transform, and quickly get their butts kicked. Karehaan offhandedly wonders how they were such a threat to him previously. But after some scolding words from Cure Bloom about how much she values Mai’s friendship and the party and how DARE Karehaan interrupt that, the girls turn the battle around. To borrow some contemporary slang, they fuckin YEET the Uzaina across town.

It lands on a beach and Flappy and Choppy instruct them to give chase. By concentrating the power of spirits in their feet, they are able to leap across town as well.... but they have trouble sticking the landing. Fortunately the power of Precure protects them. Bloom gets caught by the monster and Egret gets a chance to return the earlier sentiment by declaring how Saki is important to her before throwing it. The pair recover, land a double kick, and then finish it off with Twin Stream Splash.

After the dust is settled, they detransform and Saki kind of gripes that they’ll have to keep doing this, but Mai says it’ll be okay as long as they’re together, and they begin their friendship anew with a handshake and a smile. Meanwhile, considering how far they leaped from Saki’s house to the beach, I’m left wondering how they’re going to get back in time for the party without arousing suspicion. I would kind of like the show to explain that, but it doesn’t.

The party goes swimmingly, with Mai loving the cake that Saki and her friends made, and then the rest of the class walks into the yard. Saki offhandedly mentions that she invited the ENTIRE CLASS to the party, which is news to her friends because they didn’t make nearly enough food for this, and Kenta starts chasing Saki around out of frustration (these two have a fun relationship, I’ll get more into that). We end on a freeze-frame of Saki and Mai being buddy-buddy, which is the top image.

Honestly my only criticism of this episode is that they detransformed on the beach instead of leaping back to Saki’s house and that’s such a non-issue. Some of the animation is spotty for wide group shots but they go by quickly. Other than those small things, it’s a perfect episode. It’s well-paced, it develops the characters after showing their insecurities (especially Mai) and you can relate to their friendship struggle. It took a bit longer for Nagisa and Honoka to become friends to this degree but they had less going for them. Saki wants to make friends, Nagisa was more like “let’s see what happens”. Plus Mai being the new girl in town makes her an object of interest before they become Precure, and that also means she has more room to make friends. So they bond quickly.

Saki’s other friends, Hitomi and Yuuko, are similar to Shiho and Rina in some regards, in that they’re also on the sports team with her and sometimes struggle to keep up with her. I remember Yuuko a little more prominently from my first viewing, partly because she’s chubby which stands out in a world of thin characters, and partly because of her crush on Kenta (not touched upon here). Kenta himself is an interesting animal. Since Verone Academy was an all-girls school, we didn’t get much in the way of male friendships in FWPC or Max Heart. There was Fuji-P and Kimata but they didn’t feel as close as the girls’ other friends. Kiriya came closer but he had to return to the darkness. Kenta is just a friend... a friend voiced by Takeuchi Junko, who is most famous now for being the voice of Naruto. It’s pretty much the same voice, just without “-ttebayo!” on the end of every sentence. She will also come back to voice Cure Rouge in the next few seasons. Kenta and Saki have a bit of a more aggressive friendship than with the other girls, but not in a bad way. They butt heads a lot because Kenta is a bit of a loudmouth and they give each other crap, but it’s all in good fun.

As much as I like the emphasis on girls and girls’ stories in Precure, it is nice to see boy-girl friendships that feel natural and aren’t dominated by romantic leanings. I mean yeah, Kenta does have a crush on Saki as will later be revealed, but it’s not the be-all end-all of their friendship. I’m not sure I’m expressing my sentiment well.

Overall like I said up front, it’s a great world building episode and it really makes me look forward to spending more time with these characters (not something I can say for every show). So look forward to more, and hopefully there won’t be a two week wait before the next one.

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 Zekkouchou Nari, in the preview.

Miracle Drop Count: 2

[indianablog58]

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Hey everyone, my name is NotEvenJauuuwn, or just John! Today's video is a how to video on how you can play classic Backyard Sports games on you Smart Phone. Apr 05, 2020 Backyard Football is the only game, along with Backyard Baseball 2001, that offers online play with players across the globe. Online play is hosted through the Junior Sports Network, and is only available for Windows users, since the network system does not support Macintosh. Backyard Football 2002. Previous Backyard Football Episode: Football: The Best Football game of All-TimeYou can support me by buying my brand ne. Backyard Football Podcast. 886 likes 365 talking about this. HS Sports Network in PA covering High School Sports between Pittsburgh and Morgantown Support us on Patreon!. Backyard Football 2006 is a Kid Football video game Published By Muhammad Niaz. It’s the first to feature professional players as kids, examples being Steve Young and Barry Sanders. Backyard Football 2006 attempts to recreate the experience of playing American football as children.

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Backyard Football 2002

3.27 / 5 - 81 votes

Description of Backyard Football 2002

Here is the video game “Backyard Football 2002”! Released in 2001 on Windows, it's still available and playable with some tinkering. It's a sports game, set in a football (american) and licensed title themes.

External links

Captures and Snapshots

Screenshots from MobyGames.com

Comments and reviews

Throwback2021-06-251 point

When I click on the Application to run the game, I click Play, but the game doesn't ever load as if I never clicked Play.

rando5002021-04-014 points

I get the 'Error: (11,298) costume 164 no in room 29..' Does anyone have a fix for this yet?

zashizzle2021-04-011 point

has anybody successfully ran this and played a game? I get the 'Error: (11,298) costume 164 no in room 29..'

PeteWheeler2020-04-073 points

I have a Macbook. I downloaded ScummVM, I downloaded the game but I cant open the .ISO drive to save those files in a folder to upload to ScummVM. I have tried through disk uitility, disc image mounter, and I downloaded a new browser. It still says No Mountable File Systems. Please Help.

Fabfilter pro c 2. Cubed2019-11-29-1 point

Fun fact did you know tyler1 (Yes the toxic league of legends player) was included in this game?

Snare2019-11-2114 points

I can run the game, but it kicks me out before I can start a game itself. Help!

fitz2019-11-125 points

I can download the disc image and mount it to my virtual disk drive, but when I go to Autorun.exe, I get a prompt to allow changes and nothing else after that. I have tried to run as administrator but nothing seems to be working. any suggestions?

Nick2019-09-3012 points

Everything works fine, but when I clicked on some of the characters to hear them talk or actually starting to play the game, it shows Error: (11,298) costume 164 no in room 29 at 122792935+98067491(a), and I have a Windows 8.1. What should I do to get it to work so I can actually play the game?

Jay2019-01-241 point

Yes, finally

PizzaUFO992018-11-2318 points

Game doesn't work and i went i start a season or single player and press play the game has a error and doesn't start, such a bummer though I really wanted to play this game

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Backyard Football On Pc

Share your gamer memories, help others to run the game or comment anything you'd like. If you have trouble to run Backyard Football 2002 (Windows), read the abandonware guide first!

Backyard Football On Gamecube

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