#because I don't need the drama that'd come

[anxietycheesecake]

There's something so "performative" about the finale, not sure how to articulate it. I mean, it's been like that for a while, but there were still sincere moments every now and then (probably from the cast putting all their actussy into it). It wanted to make a statement so bad, regardless of whether you think they were mocking us or not. "I'm not a normal sitcom, I'm a cool sitcom, like Seinfield. I don't fit in and I don't want to fit in. Have you ever seen my characters evolve? Oh... Oh... No, you haven't! I artificially took that back every single time! That's cool."

They wanted to remove the sense of a plot and a purpose that season 3 and partially season 4 gave it so hard it's like they couldn't think of anything else. It's funny because it's pointless and unsatisfying, even though we have managed to balance raunchy comedy and emotional scenes just fine before. It's easier this way and it get us Reddit praise. But here's the thing, it wasn't even that funny. Season 1 was just sitcom shenanigans and dark comedy and it was hilarious. Like, when was the last time you physically bent over in laughter while watching this show and are you sure it wasn't because the actors were making a funny voice or a funny face that absolutely wasn't scripted?

But I mean, all that aside, I think it's just cringe. It's giving "how you doing, fellow kids?" It's overdone and so eager to be disruptive it ends up being anticlimatic. "That's the point! We were trying to be anticlimatic!" Ok, bro, you're either a shit writer because you couldn't come up with an actual conclusion or because you genuinely thought that'd make good tv.

Comparing wwdits to Seinfield is like when wannabe great American novelist says he's writing the next Great Gatsby. No you're not. And I don't mean this as "wwdits isn't worth shit compared to actual high art sitcoms such as Seinfield" (I actually liked it better when it wasn't trying to become Seinfield); it's just... There's already a Seinfield. And there was already a wwdits that had found its footing and its voice and was doing a near perfect balancing act between comedy and drama, while keeping it humor-focused at all times. Your story is yours but when my book was starting to sound a lot like The Girls by Emma Cline minus the ABSOLUTE LITERATURE of it (arguably the best thing about The Girls), my mom was like "this not you, girl, what are you doing?" And that was MY MOM, not some random people on the Internet who are a small portion of the people who put food on my table (hopefully, heh -pay writers better, bitches >:(-). Like, dude, you're in your 40s, how can you be this petty?

At the end of the day, it was just petty. It read like fanfiction a troll would write. And they can try to gaslight us into buying it was actually such a smart move and amazing writing, but we know the truth. "We've thought about six possible endings for Guillermo's arc and haven't decided on one", "We kind of just come up with things that might be funny and work them into an episode"; things being said about a show one its fourth and fifth season. Absolutely valid, of course, but you can just admit you bit more than you could chew and wanted an easy way out. We get it, it's your job, do whatever you need to get that (far too small) paycheck, but don't put a "subversive" label on it and call it a perfect ending.

And if you're so willing to disrespect your fanbase or convince them they were watching a completely different show mere three years ago, for fuck's sake, commit to the bit and at least make it entertaining. Characters just spelling out things that are going to annoy the fans or prove to them it was silly to care about the shit and fart show for half and hour? THREE TIMES? Dude, you can be more subtle, media litecary's been dead for a while now. It's not unfunny in the sense that it's offensive; rather it was offensive how deeply unfunny it was. How can you manage to be this dishonest while doing everything in your power to make yourself seem even more dishonest??? smh

[princess-of-the-corner]

Some recent musing on control freak Marinette and her penchant for self inflicting drama on herself by doom spiraling reminded me of an idea I had. It was a future Chloleka idea set 10 years post S5:

Juleka is a model and in the process of moving on from Rose (they may have never gotten together, broken up or she passed away) Juleka takes a job at Style Queen as a model to have some space and new experiences to herself. Hell she might already be over that stuff and just be looking for new experiences.

The key thing here is that Juleka is surprised to find out Chloe has the run of things now, a fact Chloe herself keeps quiet, essentially keeping Audrey as a figurehead who does nothing & wields no power.

She's also changed a lot, better treatment of staff sure, but more visibly she has a strangely, subtly drawn look and most notably her hair is grey even though she's barely 25.

Chloe is also just generally being weird.

(Chloe didn't hire Juleka one of her subordinates made the offer and she only found out later, but couldn't walk it back so she's panicking)

Why is she panicked? Well >:3c

Chloe knows Marinette is Ladybug, and has deduced the other heroes IDs through that and is convinced Marinette deliberately manipulated her, endangered her, used her and overall, orchestration the complete desolation of Chloe's life.

Just like Hawk Moth & her parents, except Marinette's not dead and still has super powers meaning she is an infinitely more existential threat than a hotelier or perpetually drunk burn out.

Thus, Chloe is convinced Juleka has been sent as part of a plan to tear her down again and so is deeply paranoid.

This causes a reveal she knows who the Miraculous Holders are, IE Chloe trying to use that info to basically say:

"Leave me alone & I leave you alone."

Cue Marinette having a complete freak the fuck out, because while she's been getting a lot better about controlling her loved one's and everything.

This is CHLOE!

Chloe who has apparently known their IDs for years, Chloe who just threatened them, Chloe who is completely outside of her ability to influence!

Also wait what she thinks what Marinette planned to what!??!

So, Juleka's stuck trying to mediate Marinette's sudden paranoia, Chloe's paranoia, make her new job work & eventually bonds with Chloe.

One aspect of it for me would be that most of the class barely register Chloe as like… A villain, if that makes sense? Even Marinette is mostly freaked out because Chloe "knows" not because she's Chloe.

To most of them Chloe was just a jerk at 14 and that's it.

Bit for Chloe, she had her life desolated at 14 hasn't recovered.

She just has a façade of strength and ferocity; like an obsidian blade she is sharp but brittle.

Juleka only has a vague recollection Chloe locked her in a toiled stall and is just kind of like (Shrugs) about it as she'd been more upset about missing the picture than the stall. Its not like she's claustrophobic or a germaphobe or anything that'd make it legit traumatic.

An apology would be nice but whatever its been ten years, ya know?

Meanwhile Chloe's like, carved herself a life but she's in perpetual survivors mode and utterly convinced people with super powers want to use her as their chew toy the way all the adults in her life did.

So it takes a bit for her to chill out & top viewing Marinette as some kind of god with a grudge.

Not helped by Marinette really, really wanting a sense of control or at least understanding in this scenario.

Marinette: OK, we need to organize some kind of joint event with Style Queen and Agreste Industries. I can come along as fashion advisor, Sabrina can work as my assistant, and Adrien- Juleka: Or we just let it lie? Chloe's been sitting on this secret for ten years. I think we're fine. Marinette (Shaking her phone) But we don't KNOW!!!

Aside but Marinette & co likely holding a vote & despite some of her stress mostly adopting a wait and see approach. As well as trying to reverse engineer exactly "why" Chloe thinks this is all part of a scheme beyond: "Well Chloe was kind of a brat. Maybe she's just blaming Marinette/Ladybug cos its convenient?"

With Marinette eventually having a like, "Huh, why did I tell Chloe to be horrible to appease her, in hindsight, obviously abusive mother… OK I can see how in that context me then taking away Queen Bee would have seemed like trapping her in a villain role… Huh" :/

As an aside, its fun writing Chloe knowing cos she has enough info and circumstances that its not only easy but logical to assume Marinette or Gabriel built tons of their lives around fucking her over.

But the truth is, at least with Marinette, it was more incidental and accidental, utterly unintentional. But it doesn't look like that from outside so its easy to reach the conclusion there was more to it.

& having Marinette come to that realization Chloe was a maladjusted & abused child as adults is very cathartic cos its like them going "Oh suddenly a lot of shit is making sense & I feel kind of bad about it."

Like not straight up salt, but definitely like sucking in a breath through your teeth and frowning as an awkward "Oh things never needed to get that bad" realization hits.

As someone said elsewhere, there's catharsis in finally having it seen.

if I ever wrote it fully that would be a huger aspect of it for a lot of the cast.

Finally seeing that Chloe was an abused & trouble child who needed help and definitely… Bracing over that realization and that their sort of happy ending came at her expense the way it did. Not even in a super guilt-ridden way, as said this is less salt and more like... Bitter-sweet?

Because there's still life left, things can still be fixed. & for all that they were heroes with powers they were still kids. Its not really about allocating blame, its about seeing what was there that they couldn't or refused to at the time. While for Chloe it'd be heavily about letting her walls down and learning to try and trust.

As an aside, Juleka I think is actually good for this as an outsider.

She doesn't have nostalgia like Sabrina or Adrien might, nor defensive paranoia like Marinette or even intense curiosity like Alya.

She's just been kind of dumped in this scenario and is dealing with it. Chloe was a bratty jerk but its been ten years, she barely remembers her.

Which means when she does start remembering, its less "I am back in my fourteen year old body" and more "Looking back on this as an adult there were a lot of red flags."

& as she is trying to begin a new chapter of her life, helping someone else close the book on a lot of trauma and pin would be thematically fitting.

As an aside having read a thing about how "Marinette is her own worst critic" I kind of love how that'd play into the above idea cos like.

It'd very much be making all Chloe's trauma about her paranoia first & then about her guilt complex. When even Chloe doesn't want that.

She doesn't want to be in this story god dammit. Just leave her alone! Which isn't a solution as it puts her back in arrested development.

But yeah, I have a lot of thoughts about this idea, but sadly lack the focus to write, I hope it proved interesting though!

& I hope it made sense XD

Yes! YES!!!!!!

They've grown but the hurts are still there and they gotta disentagle the way it felt vs. what it was (both believing the other was purposefully out to destroy them but they were just fucked up 14 year olds)

(I think another reason the rest of the gang doesn't consider Chloé a threat was because they never knew about the 'working for Hawkmoth' thing they just kinda accepted that Chloé was kind of a fuck at times so that was why)

And Juleka like 'my dudes I am just here for the paycheck oh wait fuck I have feelings now goddamn it!!" but seriously she is both close enough to the situation to know what's happening while being removed enough that she doesn't get caught up in it.

[yujeong]

Vegas not knowing about Pete's boxing past is nothing but sloppy writing if you ask me. Paranoia is family trait of the Theerapanyakul clan and no one can convince me Vegas hasn't made background check on every single bodyguard, staff member and associate of the main family. It's also interesting to point out that Vegas knows about Pete's grandma so he must've read something about Pete beforehand. Which is why Vegas not knowing about Pete being a former boxer and victim of domestic abuse is weird. (My God Vegas would've been a dick if he'd had held the latter against Pete.)

But since we're talking Vegas here his paranoia turns into obsession and he makes a file of Pete thick as the Bible post canon. Needles to say, this stirs some drama between the two because even saint like Pete has his limits with Vega's BS.

Hmm, honestly, I'm at this point in my brainrot with kpts/vp that I'd be able to rationalize any plot point, no matter how absurd, while still acknowledging that it's most likely a plot hole (though tbh, BOC could only do so much with the horrid source material they had to deal with, so hats off to them regardless).

For example, one argument I'd use for Vegas not knowing about Pete's backstory, is that Vegas seems surprised Pete has been through similar experiences that he himself has with his own father, not about him doing boxing. I rewatched the scene for the millionth time and as Pete is narrating his story, Vegas' face remains neutral until Pete tells him winning didn't change anything - he was still being beaten up by his bitter father who never became the boxer he wanted to be.

All I'm trying to say here is that Vegas could very well have known about the boxing, but not about the abuse. Maybe nobody from the family knew about the abuse, though I can't claim with confidence that Korn wouldn't know.

However

To Korn (and to Gun), what Pete's father was doing to his son wasn't abuse. It was discipline. It was him showing Pete he loves him. So, maybe Korn knew about it and thought it was good. Or maybe he compared him to Gun and thought Pete's father was a coward and bad at being a father.

Who knows?

I'm not trying to prove you wrong in any way, btw. As I said, if Vegas didn't actually know about Pete doing boxing, then that'd be super weird for someone like him. I just find it fascinating for Vegas to have known about everything in regards to Pete EXCEPT the most important thing that basically makes them connect from that point onwards in the story.

Though, I do have to disagree with you on one thing - or more precisely, express my doubts: I don't believe Vegas would have had the guts to use the abuse Pete suffered by his father against him. ESPECIALLY after Pete sees what happens at the basement between Vegas and Gun.

Vegas is a hypocrite and a coward when it comes to Pete. He'd be facing a mirror - and Vegas really hates himself and what the reflection would show back. We see it throughout their arc plenty of times and with the abuse element added in, it'd go to astronomical levels imo.

Did Vegas cross the line with Pete a million times? Yes. Would he cross it on this subject? Hmm, idk. I'm willing to believe so, but I'd never write it myself.

Now, about post-canon, many people in the fandom have said the same thing as you and I believe the same. He'd want to know e v e r y t h i n g about Pete, down to the last detail, and on the days he'd feel especially shitty, which would be most days, he'd want to drag Pete down with him.

We were talking just today with @wretchedamaranth about Pete snapping after everything that happened in ep14 + hospital era, and tbh we can add this one in it, too: Vegas' need to pry Pete open would push him to his limit.

And Pete isn't like Vegas. He wouldn't snap like Vegas does, and I'm trembling just thinking about what that would entail.

[odusseus-xvi]

Wanted to talk about q!Forever and his presidency seen from the pov of someone who mostly experience it from outside percepctive as I'm incapable of understanding Brazilian. SAYING IT RIGHT NOW I'm not here to say q!Forever is wrong or evil (as I'm convinced he is not, no need to come and tell me), this is not what's it's about, this is about how lost he seems when you are looking from the exterior.

So I know drama is brewing because people are fighting over who's right and who's an evil virus of satan, and I don't care, I'm not interested in this. I want to talk about the characters I love, because I love q!Forever, and his story makes me so sad.

I want to explain to those who wouldn't know, I'm a mostly french viewers, I follow Etoiles, Baghz, Antoine, Aypierre and Phil (mostly, I try to follow everyone's storyline and povs), the last two are not important here as Philza doesn't interact with the president storyline at all and Aypierre's involvement can be resumed to "I don't care who's in power and what they do, I'll be nice to them because I want power". But basically what the Forever Presidency feels like is not evil, or corrupted, it feels WEIRD :

Because obviously he is kindhearted, he has saved the eggs multiple times, he has done a lot for the island, and has said multiple times he wants to help everyone, and I believe that. But then in some of his actions and speeches, there is so much stuff that we are weirded out about. First how he told Baghera how he wanted to make everyone vote etc. That's okay, but like she said herself "Well that was my campaign idea..." And that's true, and that was also a thing Him and Cellbit used as way to descend her campaign, so that felt like a light knife in the back. But that's the least worrying thing.

There was then the whole deal where from what I understood he felt betrayed by Baghera and Bad as they didn't share everything and witheld information. And from Baghz pov that felt like it came out of nowhere because... Well she didn't ! That was simply miscommunication. And ensued the whole deal where he talked about how he felt about the arrival of the new people, and how he didn't trust them and didn't want to help them unless they had an egg. That was a weird thing in itself, he is supposed to be the president of the island and he is the one least willing to welcome new people.

There was also the nerfing armor stuff. At first we thought he said that as a joke you know, he is just not saying no to Quackity because that'd be rude. But who in their right mind would do that right ? Right... ? And then yestedray he asks Etoiles to do a debate with Quackity to discuss it and everyone went "Wait, he's actually considering it ?" And that was weird because... Well Forever spends most of his time in his base. Isolated. And when you watch Etoiles you know that even with the strongest suit of armor in the game you CAN die everyday. Is... Is Forever asking for a death sentence ? Has he been living under a rock ?

The last thing was yesterday, when Etoiles wanted to ask him a few things, he arrived when Forever was having a secret discussion with Cucurucho, and he ordered the construction of a prison he would have access to. And THAT was so WEIRD, everyone in chat and in reaction were like "WHAT !!??? WH... WHY ??", and then followed by "could I have a gun to defend myself ?" and everyone went "Oh. He... He doesn't trust us !!!", Etoiles himself went *raises eyebrow*. There is something REALLY going bad with q!Forever. And then he immediatly follows by taking in consideration Etoiles' request to allow Dark Metal for his fight against the code, so he's not evil, he's not corrupted... And that's where I realised what it felt like, it feels like he is lost.

It seems he want to do good, but takes weird unnecessary decisions after weird unnecessary decisions that in most cases fucks over other islanders more than it helps, and the important thing to remember is that he is not doing that purposefully, again it seems he is lost, it feels like he doesn't know what he is doing, because of that people are more wary of him, and it leads him to become more paranoïd and he makes even more bad decisions, wich leads to more people being wary of him and it creates a vicious feedback loop that constantly raises the tension. (also having the big PRESIDENT sign next to his name creates an epidermic reaction in every french that makes us want a revolution /j) And it's so sad because the only exit I can see is for the tension to be released in an explosion, a revolution, and THAT could be interesting because for once neither side is truly evil per say. They can be misguided, but not outright evil. Like Baghera said herself "I... I don't understand where he is going."

What's terrifying is what we foresaw with the election is happening, the islanders are driving themselves apart and turning against each other. I don't think the Federation wants to avoid a revolution, I'm pretty sure they would be rooting for it.

(HOWEVER next time I see someone saying q!Forever is this perfect little guy that did nothing wrong... PLEASE. The guy was vicious during the election arc. With how much misinformation he spread on Etoiles most notably.)

[the-milk-monarch]

【 MAL HIGHSCHOOL AU 】

☢︎ | gender-neutral reader

☢︎ | Total Drama

☢︎ | Mal

You had to survive in a new school.

Which was already draining enough, as you didn't have many friends. because of your lacking social skills.

You didn't really bother anyone and you were just kind of keeping to yourself passively.

It was tolerable, living like that in your previous school.

However that "comfy" style of yours quickly got disrupted when one of the most edgiest boys in your class started picking on you.

Mal, was the name of your new school bully it seems.

A lanky boy with brown bangs covering one of his eye.

"Emo?" You thought, but whatever thoughts you had about him were quickly poisoned by how he acted towards you.

You were used to hear some mean comments about you from your past classmates, so you decided to ignore it at first.

Mal wasn't really fiercely trying to bully you, but if he got a chance, he'd make sure to say some comment about you that'd make your day annoying.

"Wow, Y/N got a insert any grade here" No matter if they were bad or good, he always had something stupid to murmur to himself, but in a way you'd also hear. "Oh, did you tire yourself out?" He said mockingly, seeing you come out last of the gym. "Careful not to strain anything…"

"Aw, sitting alone?" He looked at you as he passed by, noticing you eat your lunch in some secluded part of the hallway, away from people, sitting on the ground and leaning on the wall.

All you heard were those stupid remarks of his. What was the point of them? Why did he target you??

You usually just ignored him, not wanting to waste your breath on some meaningless banter, but you finally snapped this time.

"I don't see you eating with anyone either." You respond bluntly, pausing your feasting on the sandwich.

He chuckled ambiguously, his smug aura still present. "Oh, I don't need any other company."

You looked at him for a moment, unsure what to say, but he just lingered around you for a few more seconds, before finally going his way after noticing your reaction.

You were so confused by his behavior.

Like, he didn't say any offensive things to you like "you suck." but there was just some- off vibe from him.

Was he trying to piss you off or is he just eccentric?

This question lingered in your mind for some time as his antics continued.

He was also a known troublemaker at school, so that gave you even more reason to be worried about his intentions.

You weren't really a troublemaker, or if you were, you hid it really good. You were never caught.

But Mal was the type to flaunt with his misdemeanors. He was proud of being a pain in the ass for the teachers and probably other students.

You didn't really paid attention to it, but most of the students weren't talking to him. He also wasn't keen on interacting with his classmates.

He only seemed to "pick fights" with you, which had left you with a burning question of why?

But you were also new at the school so maybe there was something else to it and you just had to wait.

And wait you did, until you landed up in detention, with none other than Mal.

You were very baffled the moment you were called for after hours at school, for allegedly misbehaving.

Of course you asked for details and why were you so unjustly taken here.

But all you got for the reasoning behind was that you were very rude to Mal, and he also made a mess in the classroom trying to blame it on you!

At first came confusion. You were rude to Mal how?? Was he really a baby about that last comment you made?

Then anger came. Was he really so petty to trash the whole classroom and then pin it on you?

You tried to explain that you were just eating lunch by yourself when that happened, but since it was a very secluded place and no one (besides Mal) talked to you, there was also no proof of your innocence, besides "he said, she said".

You were about to throw hands until you saw something familiar sitting on the desk at the trashed classroom. It was your pencil case!

Why was it there?

How did he get his hands on it??

He set you up.

He made it look like a perfect crime. You were prone to writing on the desk sometimes, but you immediately wiped it after, so no harm was done. However, your teacher didn't know that.

Your teacher knew Mal was a troublemaker though, so he took his words with a pinch of salt, but because of your newbie status you got dragged into it too.

The teacher didn't bother to check how much at fault you were, so he ultimately decided that you both were gonna spend at least an hour there until the classroom was clean.

The teacher got out of the room, leaving you both in there.

Mal was sitting lazily in one of the chairs. After he noticed you drilling a hole into him with your eyes, he smirked amused and smug.

"What?" He asked, lightly supporting his chin on his hand comfortably.

You waited a few seconds before responding to his disrespectful ask.

"What do you mean 'what?'. The hell, man??" You raised your voice a little at his audacity.

He just looked you up and down, as if very entertained by your reaction.

"Now you don't have to spend your time so alone. You're welcome." You could hear the victory in his voice.

Was he really doing it for his own entertainment?

"I-" You didn't even know what to respond, gaining you some delightfully amused raised eyebrow from him.

"Don't tell me you're not at least slightly happy to see me?" He said, leaving you even more confused. You didn't know whether he was serious at this point or pulling your leg.

"Why would I be??" You spat out without any thinking, making Mal put on slightly dramatic offended expression.

"Oof, ouch. I thought we were getting somewhere." He mocked, looking at your response after his words.

You tilted your head.

He sighed, still keeping a nonchalant and tad arrogant tone.

"You never talk to me, no matter how much I try to gain your attention." He spoke calmly, as if being the one in control of the situation.

"But hey, you spoke to me today." He said, almost proud of his "achievement".

"And what did that do?? You tattled on me to the teacher that I was rude and set me up??" You asked your very valid question.

He chuckled slightly, readjusting himself to an even cockier position on the chair.

"Dear, all I did was make you talk to me. Look at that, whole few minutes and we're already having a conversation." He was a very peculiar man.

You didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed at his smooth replies.

"Well, couldn't you strike up a convo like a normal person, without setting me up for your trap?" You asked, looking at him expectantly.

He held himself off from laughing.

"Refresh your memory, I tried." He said casually.

You stop for a moment to think. It's- true. He did kind of talk to you, but how were you supposed to be sure he wasn't just fucking with you??

"Cat got your tongue, eh? It's okay. I can let it slide." He said before you could come up with a response. He acted as if he was doing you a favor.

"But you were nothing but annoying jerk to me!" You pointed out. Your words might have been a bit over-dramatic, as Mal technically never insulted you.

"Come on, I was a jerk to everyone, so why should you be left out? I just wanted to get your attention and… Well, I'm sure it worked." He said, still nonchalantly as ever, with a bit of proudful undertone.

"Besides, I could be far worse hun. That was me being nice." He said, smirking arrogantly.

"Well then… uh- Sorry?" You said, unsure of your words. You still weren't sure if you were in the wrong here, but it seemed so?

"So- What did you wanna… talk about?" You asked, still a bit in the dark why Mal chose you for a casual conversation.

Mal just looked at you in a somewhat bored expression, but it quickly softened into a light smirk.

"I'll be frank. I'm into you." He said nonchalantly, making your eyes go wider.

"So… Do what you will with that information." He leaned back against his chair a bit more, crossing his arms in front of his chest. A curious and smug expression became apparent on his face.

You didn't know what to respond to that out of the blue admission. Mal knew that, thriving on making people uncomfortable with his bluntness.

"For real?" You mustered a half-assed response, still processing the sudden flow of information.

He squinted his eyes in an amused expression.

"Yeah 'for real'." He confirmed, sizing you up with his gaze.

"And- What… What do you want me to respond to that…?" You asked, looking at him for some guidance. You were still very confused and hesitant about the situation.

"Say that the feelings are mutual, of course." He said, raising his eyebrow in an obvious and entertained way.

You looked at him with an unsure expression. Were you actually the asshole in this situation? What were your feelings towards him, now that he gave you such a hard question to answer?

"Well- What if- What if I don't know??" You responded honestly. You really didn't know what to say. You were a bit upset at how Mal tried to gain your attention, but you couldn't say you weren't a bit curious about how things will go now.

You were still suspicious of him, but now that he did get your attention, you were thinking about things.

You haven't had a boyfriend in forever (or, ever, if you were still single throughout all of your life), so his proposition was intriguing, even if not conventional in the grand scheme of things.

Mal looked away, pretending to be annoyed.

"I get it, I'm just a meanie after all..." He said in a pitiful tone, obviously trying to pull at your heart-strings. He was a good manipulator, after all.

You didn't fall for it, though.

Mal noticed that, so he waited a moment before turning his face back to you. There were no words spoken between you two for a while, until he finally continued.

"Alright then, I'll make you a deal." He looked at you halfly-serious.

You glared back at him expectantly.

"I'll clean up this whole room if you go out with me." He said, looking at you, waiting for your reaction. He had an expression that indicated he was fully assured that you would accept his offer. He didn't want to do it, but it was necessary to gain your trust.

You waited for a moment before replying, thinking about his offer.

You were curious to say yes, but you also felt a bit ripped off on the offer, since it was Mal's mess to deal with in the first place.

"...And if I don't?" You asked, looking at him slightly interested in what he had to say.

"Then I'll leave this whole mess as it is and you'll be stuck here cleaning by yourself." He tried not to smile, proud of himself. What a jerk.

"The teacher locked us both in here, remember? You're also gonna get yelled at." You brought up a valid point.

"You don't get the gist. I don't care to get yelled at. I just did this to spend time with you." He said, as if he had to explain the obvious to you.

You sighed. You were still not entirely convinced, but you also didn't wanna be the bad guy. You finally gave in.

"Fine." You said, rolling your eyes slightly, to at least restore some of your pride. It earned you an amused smirk from him. "...We can go out sometime."

"That's what I wanted to hear." He summed it up, acting arrogantly about being able to persuade you.

He got up from his chair smoothly, heading your way.

"Alright then. How about another arrangement?" He crossed his arms in a slightly cheeky way, yet still remaining composed, with a smug smile on his face.

His body language radiated confidence, and it made you wonder what keeps him so cool all the time??

You looked at him with a raised eyebrow. What more could he want from you?

He took a step closer towards you, to the point where you almost started thinking about the boundaries of your personal space.

His presence was just so- overwhelming.

"I won't get you in trouble next time..."

He raised his hand to touch your chin in a bit patronizing way.

His words almost came out like a sultry whisper, trying to get a reaction out of you.

"If you give me a kiss."

[stargazer-sims]

The Art of Redemption

(part 21)

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—————

"I'm absolutely stuffed. Why did you let me eat so much?"

Ginger lets out a small groan that Nikolai judges to be one part discomfort and three parts pleasure as she sinks backwards onto the pulled-out sofa bed in her living room. They'd unfolded the couch, tossed a couple of blankets and every pillow in the apartment onto it, and then changed into their pyjamas before they started eating. In hindsight, this seems to have been a wise move, because Nikolai isn't sure either of them would've had the wherewithal to wrangle the ancient sofa bed after the utterly excessive meal they just finished.

The TV is on, tuned to a twenty-four hour sports channel, and some guy who looks like he let a child cut his hair is chattering excitedly about the beginning of the major league baseball preseason. Nikolai doesn't like baseball. He's waiting for someone to start talking about hockey, and whether or not his beloved Mariners have a realistic chance of making the playoffs.

He crawls onto the sofa bed with Ginger, and essentially lets himself fall sideways until he's lying on his side with his head on the haphazard pile of pillows. He counters, "Why'd you let me eat so much?"

"You don't have to drag your arse out of bed for an early ice time tomorrow. You get to sleep it off," Ginger says.

"But, I do have to get up early. I'm coming with you."

She looks amused. "You're just going to follow me everywhere?"

"No, because that'd be weird and creepy," he says. "I'm not going to follow you everywhere. Just to the fun places."

"Right. You wouldn't think it was so fun if Uncle Stan was your bloody taskmaster."

"Some taskmaster," Nikolai scoffs. "You looked like you were having a great time this morning, and Uncle Stan didn't seem to be pushing you too hard."

"No, you're right," she concedes. "It is fun, and Uncle Stan doesn't really push me unless I need it. It's just that we all get tired by the end of the season, and I'd like to have a nice lie-in once in a while, that's all."

"It'll soon be the off-season. You can sleep in all you want after that, and whenever you haul yourself out of bed, you can call me and we can go on adventures. You know, since I'm not tied down any more."

"Oh, aren't you indeed? You still seem quite tied down to me. How many texts did your wife send you this afternoon before you turned your mobile off?"

"Ex-wife," he corrects. "Or future ex-wife, at least. I kind of lost count of the texts, to tell the truth."

He'd stopped trying to count after about the fifteenth message or so. His and Ginger's bus ride to the dance studio was punctuated with them, none of which he'd bothered to reply to, and they continued at the studio while he was changing into workout clothes. He hadn't wanted Ginger's dance session to be interrupted by his phone buzzing incessantly, so before he went to the practice room, he sent one text to Anya — Leave me alone. I'm busy. — and then turned the device off completely and shoved it into a pocket of his dance bag.

Ginger cackled like a cartoon villain when Nikolai told her what he'd done, and declared, "That'll show her. I hope she's fuming."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you're enjoying this," he said.

"Well, I love a bit of drama," Ginger replied. "And you don't seem particularly upset, so I'm giving myself permission to enjoy the mental image of her getting her knickers in a twist over being ignored."

"You're an evil woman."

Ginger grinned at him. "Thank you. I do try."

They had an amazing dance session. Nikolai found that he was able to perform almost all the exercises their dance instructor guided them through. He only had to forego a few that required deep knee bends. After trying the first one, he got scared when he felt the tiniest twinge of pain in his knee. Determined that he wouldn't allow anything to get in the way of the near-perfect recovery the orthopaedic doctor had so recently assured him he could expect if he followed medical advice, he decided to err on the side of caution.

After half an hour, Ginger made him stop altogether, and their instructor directed him to some chairs in the corner where he could rest and observe the remainder of Ginger's lesson. He preferred to sit on the floor, but it was no less restful.

Watching Ginger glide her way through a complex routine, and caught up in the feelings of happiness, familiarity and just plain normalcy that being in the studio gave him, he hadn't wasted another thought on Anya until Ginger teased him about the texts just now.

He marvels at how drastically his relationship with Anya has shifted since his injury back in January, and how much he himself has changed over the past few weeks. Less than a month ago, he would've jumped to answer that very first text message, but today's version of him couldn't care less.

There's a part of him that still loves Anya, and maybe it'll be a long time before the love fades away completely, but right now his anger and frustration and the sense of betrayal he feels are outweighing any fonder sentiments he might have.

There's no way Anya could be unaware of how she hurt him. She's not the most emotionally intelligent person, and he's forgiving enough to overlook an accidental slight from time to time, but he's not ready to forgive the things she's done to him lately.

Perhaps the most perplexing and upsetting aspect of it is that he doesn't understand why. If she truly never loved him, he can accept that, but it still doesn't justify her cruelty, nor does it explain why she refuses to leave him alone. If he fell out of love with somebody, he's sure he'd find a way to let them down as gently as he could and then walk away without looking back. Why prolong their suffering or his own by providing constant reminders of what might've been?

He doubts Anya will give him an explanation for her behaviour when he's finally ready to talk to her, but he's going to ask anyway.

"Did you ever turn your mobile on again?" Ginger's question drifts into his ruminations. "You probably should, if you haven't."

"No, it's still off," he says. "But, you're right. My family might be trying to contact me. I wouldn't want to worry them. But, if Anya keeps harassing me..."

"Block her number," Ginger suggests. "You can always unblock it later if you want to."

Both their phones are on the end table on Ginger's side of the couch. Nikolai doesn't particularly want to get up, so he asks, "Can you reach my phone from there?"

Ginger obviously doesn't want to get up either. She has to roll over and then stretch her arm as far as she can, but she manages to snag both their phones. She rolls back toward him and dumps both their devices into the small blanket-covered space between them. "Mine's on silent. I'd better fix that."

Nikolai scoops up his own phone and reactivates it. As soon as it's powered up, it starts pinging, bombarding him with alerts about text messages, emails and missed calls. He grumbles, "Goddammit..."

"What?" Ginger inquires.

"There's like, thirty texts from Anya, but Grandpa called, and I missed it. I'm just going to send him a quick text to let him know I'm with you and I'm okay."

"Do you reckon Anya is going to keep texting you?"

"Who knows?" he mutters, as he taps out a message to his grandfather. "She's becoming a pain in the ass."

"Becoming?"

He taps 'send' on his text to Grandpa, and then quickly deletes the entire string of messages from Anya. "Okay, she's getting to be an even bigger pain in the ass than usual. Can you show me how to block her number?"

"Let me do it for you," Ginger says. "Nothing would give me more pleasure at the moment."

"Here." He passes his phone to her. "I give you the honour."

Ginger's smirk is positively diabolical as she taps at the screen. A minute later, with a tone of immense satisfaction, she says, "Bye, Anya," before handing the phone back to him.

"Thank you," he says. "I mean that with a million percent gratitude."

"You're welcome. But you know blocking her isn't really a solution, don't you? You have to sort everything out with her soon."

"I know," he says, "Don't worry. I've made up my mind. I am going to talk to her soon, because I want everything to be dealt with before the summer. I've got important stuff to do, and I don't want this hanging over my head."

"What have you got to do?" Ginger asks. "I thought you were going to be done with your coaching courses by the middle of May."

"That's not the only important thing on my calendar. I've got this little competition—"

"Wait... what?" She cuts him off. "What do you mean, competition? You're not even cleared to skate yet How do you expect to—"

"It's all right. Calm down," he interjects. "It's not that kind of competition. Okay, no... it sort of is. I mean, it's skating, but it's not a recognized event or anything."

"Nikolai!" She yanks one of the pillows from beneath his head and then thumps him with it. "When were you going to tell me that you haven't entirely given up competing? Does Beth-Anne know?"

"Hey!" he exclaims. He grabs the pillow and quickly rolls over. Ginger is still hanging onto the other end of it, and caught off-guard by his abrupt movement, she flops unceremoniously on top of him. "Oww..."

"Serves you right," she says.

"I swear, it's not what you think," he insists. "It's just a friendly little challenge between me and Brett. He has something to prove, and maybe I do too. And yes, Beth-Anne knows. She's not happy about it, but she knows."

"You have nothing to prove to anyone. Those six world championship medals? They say everything anyone ever needs to know."

"It's not about that," he says.

"Then, what's it about?" She gets off him, drops the pillow back onto the pile and settles in beside him again. "It's not some sort of manliness test, is it? Because you also haven't got anything to prove in that department."

"No, it's not about that, either. But, am I hearing you call me a manly man?"

"Is that what you want to hear?" she asks.

"No, not really," he says. "Not that I want to be unmanly, but every time I hear 'manly', I think of those big guys we always see at the gym, flexing in front of the mirror. The bros."

"I thought those were your type, the giant, muscly ones."

"Yeah, but I like them gentle and articulate and... clean. I'm not into anybody who uses the word 'bro' to start and finish every sentence, or who thinks strutting around in sweaty t-shirts with the sleeves cut off is sexy. Every time I see those guys trying to get attention, all I want to do is tell them to take an English class and a shower and to put on some decent clothes."

"Ooh... tell me how you really feel."

He laughs. "Sorry, but they're gross, and I'm picky when it comes to men."

"So what's your ideal man, then?"

"You know. Blond, blue eyes, quiet and sweet, showers every day and dresses nicely, and treats me like I'm the most important man in the room. Bonus points if he's cuddly. Extra bonus points if he speaks Russian."

Ginger giggles. "Basically Anya, but male and a decent human."

"Uh..." he begins, but then he realizes she has a valid point and he laughs too. "Yeah, actually I'd say that's pretty much it, with a big emphasis on the decent human part. It's probably not going to happen, though, and I think I'm done with relationships for now anyway."

"There's no harm in dreaming," Ginger says. "But I'm not about to argue with you being done with relationships for a while. You need time to recover properly from this one. And you never know," she adds, offering him a cheeky grin. "One day, when you're feeling better about everything and your life is back on track, you may get a surprise. Your cuddly, Russian-speaking muscle man might just appear out of the blue."

"I can dream."

"Indeed. Now, can we circle back to this little competition with Brett? You never did say what you think you need to prove, or to who."

"To myself," he says. "Maybe it's stupid, but I just need to know that I can do it. That I'm capable of all the things I used to be able to do. Brett challenged me, and I should've said no, but... I couldn't. He was so smug about it, like he already knew he could win."

"Do you think he could?"

"I don't know," Nikolai admits. "Maybe. It depends on whether or not I can still do everything."

"When are you going to be allowed to skate?"

"The last time I saw the sports therapist, he said he probably wouldn't clear me till May, but I have an appointment with him and with the doctor the day after tomorrow, so I'm planning to ask again."

"Would you like me to come with you to your appointment?" Ginger offers. "Beth-Anne's probably been going with you, hasn't she?"

"Would you come? I'm sure I can handle it by myself, but Beth-Anne's been with me every other time, and I feel like it'd be a lot less stressful if I had some moral support."

“I’ll be there,” she says. “I’m going to be there when you get back on the ice as well, just so you know. I wouldn't miss that moment."

"Thanks," he says. "I want you to be there. You and Beth-Anne. I don't know if I'd be okay with anyone other than the two of you watching."

"If I know Beth-Anne, she'll make sure it's only us, if that's what you tell her you want." She reaches over and takes his hand. "You'll do brilliantly, though. No need to fret over the thought of embarrassing yourself or anything like that."

"Thanks," he repeats.

She squeezes his fingers. "It'll all work out. Don't worry."

Will it? he asks himself. As excited as he is about the prospect of skating again, he's also nervous. He's never been off the ice for this long before, and he's anxious about how much skill he's lost. Not that he's forgotten what to do; the knowledge is still there. His biggest concern is whether or not his body will respond the way he wants it to. What if he can't execute all the moves, or what if falls and hurts himself again? It's more than a little overwhelming.

He closes his eyes and tries to focus on something else. On TV, a commentator is interviewing someone about curling. Nikolai's appreciation of curling is about equal to his appreciation of baseball, but the interviewer has a lovely voice, so he concentrates on that.

I'd let him read me a bedtime story.

Without intending to, he starts to drift into the strange, semiconscious state between wakefulness and sleep. He's warm and full and comfortable, and Ginger is still holding his hand. He's still aware of the TV commentator speaking, but he's starting to lose his grasp on the meaning of the man's words.

Something about rocks and... brooms?

He tries to fight the inexorable fall toward sleep because he doesn't want to miss the opening ceremony of the World Junior Figure Skating Championship. That was the main reason for staying over at Ginger's place, after all. Unfortunately, his battle may be a losing one.

Until Ginger's phone rings, that is.

The device is only about twenty centimetres from his face, and Ginger must've set her ringer volume to maximum. Chasing The Dream by Skull Fist blasts him into full awareness, and he sits up so fast that he feels lightheaded for a second.

Nothing like heavy metal to wake a guy up.

Next to him, Ginger growls a sleepy and annoyed, “Bloody hell!” And then, after touching her phone's screen to answer the call, “What the hell do you want? I’m in bed.”

Technically true, Nikolai acknowledges. He’s about to ask who it is when his brain registers the fact that Ginger has the phone on speaker. Even if he didn’t recognize the voice coming out of the phone, one glance at the number at the top of the screen would’ve told him all he wanted to know.

Anya's intonation is snarky, and even though Nikolai can’t see her, he can picture her expression perfectly. “In bed with my husband, no doubt.”

Also technically true.

“What do you think? Of course I’m in bed with him,” Ginger says, conjuring up a tone of genuine-sounding condescension. “Why do you think you couldn’t reach him all afternoon and evening? We’ve been having loads of fun together, showing each other our moves. I’ll bet you had no idea how flexible he is.”

Nikolai covers his mouth to hold in his sudden urge to laugh. He can’t look at Ginger, or he'll lose it. Nothing she's said so far has been a lie, and if Anya chooses to misinterpret it, that's neither Ginger's nor Nikolai's problem.

"What?" Anya all but yells across the connection.

"He's a three-time champion, you know. Has he ever let you... wear all three of his world championship gold medals?"

Ginger's pause for effect is too much for Nikolai. He dives head-first into the pillows. He hopes they're enough to muffle the laughter he can no longer hold in.

"You sneaky bitch!" Anya screams. "I knew he was with you! How could you do this? I thought we were friends!"

"We are," Ginger says mildly. "But Nikolai is my friend too. It seems somebody did something quite awful to him, and he was terribly hurt by it, so he came to me for help. That's perfectly reasonable, don't you think?"

"And your idea of help is letting him fuck you three times in one day?"

"I didn't say that," says Ginger. "And please try not to be so vulgar, if you can. Gentlemen like Nikolai never 'fuck'. How debased of you to say such a thing."

"Listen," Anya says. "You tell that cheating bastard that I was ready to talk, and that I was prepared to forgive him, but now I've changed my mind."

"Forgive him? What did he do to you?"

"Everyone at the rink hates me. Even my so-called friends are treating me like I've committed a crime against humanity or something. I'm sure he's been running all over the place, telling everyone God knows what about me. People are gossiping about me, Ginger! He did that to me."

"No, darling," Ginger says. "I'm afraid you did that to yourself. Now, I must go. Nikolai is lying here waiting for me to get off the phone."

Anya's only response is a literal wordless shriek.

Nikolai assumes the call is over when he feels Ginger's fingers on his back and she says, "Nik, lift your head before you suffocate."

The instant their eyes meet, Ginger's composure cracks. The next thing Nikolai knows, Ginger is in his arms and they're both laughing so hard that they're in tears and his stomach hurts.

"Holy shit," he gasps, freeing one hand to remove his glasses and rub at his watering eyes. "Ginger, that was a masterpiece. When you're ready for a career change, maybe you should get into acting."

"Maybe I should," she muses. "I rather enjoyed that."

"I'd say that's an understatement."

"It's a safe bet she won't be bothering you for a few days," Ginger says. "I'll explain everything to her when she cools off, and hopefully she'll still agree to talk with you about your marriage."

"What if she doesn't?" he asks.

"She will," Ginger assures him. "You know Anya. She overreacts and then she calms down. Have you ever known her to be any other way?"

"No," he admits.

"There you go," Ginger says. She disentangles herself from him and scoots back. Glancing at her fitness tracker, she comments, "Nearly nine-thirty. Are we still alert enough to stay up and watch the opening ceremonies?"

"After that phone call? I think I've got my second wind now."

"Me too. Let me fetch us a couple of bottles of water. You can arrange those pillows some sort of way. I'd like to sit up while I watch."

"Got it," Nikolai says.

By the time Ginger returns from the kitchen, he has all the pillows lined up against the backrest of the sofa and he's sitting comfortably with one of the blankets over his feet and legs. Ginger tosses him a bottle of water, which he catches neatly. She wriggles under the blanket with him, and they lean into each other.

"I'm glad you're here," she says.

"I'm glad I'm here too. Thanks for letting me stay."

"You can stay until Beth-Anne gets back, if you'd rather not be alone."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'd enjoy the company, and having someone around to drive me everywhere is nice as well."

"Driving you everywhere is the least I can do," he says.

"Well, it's settled then." She tilts her head and peers up at him through her long auburn lashes, and whispers. "Wait until your wife finds out you've moved in with your mistress."

Nikolai laughs out loud, which is clearly the reaction Ginger was anticipating. She looks way more pleased with herself than she rightfully should.

"I love you," he says. "You're the best mistress I never had."

"Hmm..." She rests her head on his shoulder. "I love you too, like the brother I've always wanted."

"Does that make you my bonus sister?"

"I certainly hope so."

Nikolai smiles, secure in the knowledge that his family extends beyond mere biology. He can count on his grandfather, parents and sister, but he's also got Ginger, Beth-Anne, Stan and Milena. He can't put into words how much their love and support means to him, but maybe he doesn't have to. Maybe a simple expression of love is enough.

He'd wanted that same love in his marriage, and for a brief time he thought he had it, but he's discovered some unpleasant truths since then. Still, he reminds himself, Anya is only one person. She may not love him, and her actions may have left him with an ache in his heart, but he's surrounded by so much love on every side that he's convinced the pain isn't nearly as bad as it might otherwise have been. What if he were in Anya's position? He doesn't like to imagine how lonely and terrified he'd be, constantly questioning who liked him and who he could trust.

But, I know who I can trust, he reassures himself. I'm safe, and I'm going to be okay. My family will help me make sure of that.

He drapes his arm around Ginger's shoulders, and she instinctively snuggles closer to him. On the television, triumphant music begins to play and a splash screen appears with the ISU logo and 'World Junior Figure Skating Championship 2011' underneath it. Ginger murmurs, "Here we go. The start of another week of history being made."

Nikolai hasn't watched an ISU Worlds event on TV since he was a kid. Since then, he's always too busy competing in them. It hits him that this is another change he'll have to adjust to, another new experience for him. He's been having a lot of those lately, new experiences.

It's okay. Change isn't objectively good or bad; it's just change.

Beth-Anne is always telling him and her other students to respond, not react. She says the way they act in the face of change determines the outcome. When he reflects on it, he recognizes that he hasn't handled all the recent changes in his life particularly well, but he's done his best and he's proud of himself and his coping abilities overall.

Another week of history being made. He decides he really likes that. He's looking forward to the week ahead, and to all the weeks to come.

[aeon-borealis]

Random AleHeather Headcanons

-I honestly think Alejandro and Heather would be childfree by choice. Heather isn't fond of her younger siblings and her parents were more than ready to push her out of the house. Alejandro has a very strained, tumultuous relationship with his family.

I like to think they'd build a found family between each other, friends, and others they meet along the way. Both are trying to work through personal shit as well as Total Drama baggage. Neither wants to put a potential kid through what they've been through. They both have wants, goals, and ambitions that don't leave time for kids. Neither wants the stress that'd come with pregnancy and a crying baby either. That's just my take, though.

-Heather wants a big house with a walk-in closet and filled with lots of nice, posh furniture and luxury items. Both Alejandro and Heather have a few high-fashion outfits and at least one Louis Vuitton bag.

-Alejandro was already gender non-conforming in World Tour with his shoulder length hair and earrings. In All Stars, he said he put time and effort into "manscaping." He already has femme-leaning gender expression, so I think he'd go further into "fuck gender" as he gets older. He'd have some skirts in his closet. He wears make-up. He carries purses and calls them purses. His style is low-key, but he slays.

-Both Alejandro and Heather are Sims fanatics. They're the kind of gamers that Sims is the only video game they're interested in if/when they have time. Heather's favorite Sim is Dina Caliente and she has a laundry list of reasons to justify Dina's gold-digging leanings.

Alejandro's favorite Sim is Nina Caliente. He's a hopeless romantic at heart and when he feels charitable, he makes Don Lothario give up womanizing and realize he likes the idea of a quiet, domestic life with Nina. Alejandro also has a soft spot for Olive Specter. He loves her "Gothic love story" with the Grim Reaper.

-Both Alejandro and Heather want a huge, grandiose wedding. Only a few family members are invited; the rest are their short list of friends. It's a destination wedding and they foot the bill for their guests. And they're a very happy, sappy couple.

A wedding is after years of therapy and overcoming trauma together. If I dream up endgame Aleheather, they're gonna be a healthy hetero couple that learned how to work together. I think more media needs that shit in general and I'm gonna include that in my fan works because I want more of that, dammit.

[ohifonlyx33]

So so so much to love about Love Next Door.

Its a story about a boy falling in love with his best friend, it's a story about a girl fighting her struggles and finding her path in life, it's about families coming to heal and support each other, its about friendship, its about finding your own family when you've lost your own... it's about being open and honest, about giving and receiving love, about overcoming pride or shame and just letting people see the parts of you you want to hide so you can share your burdens.

The entire cast had so much chemistry as friends, family, and romantic partners. The drama, with a few notable exceptions, felt natural. The episode 8 plot twist especially revealed a darker layer I honestly wasn't expecting, but it added so much. I liked the main couple and the secondary couple both. The parents were all mostly interesting and fun (although probably at least a little bit on the abusive side). Even these kids cracked me up and stole the show...

But I do take a few issues with it.

It's just a little annoying because I know with a few small tweaks here and there these issues could be resolved.

One being the fact that it didn't know how to end, which is a common problem with a simple romance and family drama. I literally went "what wait that's it?? That's the end?" Because I thought there had to be at least 15 minutes left for SOMETHING. But no, they actually decided to go for the fast-forward time jump... but for what?

We don't even see the main couple get married. Which, I WOULD BE TOTALLY FINE WITH.... trust me, the wedding episodes often make me cringe. Except, why have the flash forward at all, if nothing happens *after* the flash forward?

We could have set up another small dramatic hurdle for the main couple instead in the last 2 or 3 episodes... (I personally would have gone with the "do you want kids?"/"yeah, I think that'd be nice... do you?"/"yeah maybe...but what if I can't have them because cancer is high risk?"/"then that's ok too" route then to flash forward to them at Kang Dan-ho and Jung Mo-Eum's wedding 1.5 years later, with a little baby girl. 🥺

It definitely feels like the only reason we didn't see either of the main couples get married was because they wanted to be "different" by leaving it open... and AGAIN... I am fine with avoiding all the slow, sappy, overly-the-top clichés and pacing pitfalls of the wedding episode. but tbh, the last episode was just as slow and clichéd as any "wedding episode" just without the main couple getting married.

Don't get me wrong I liked seeing Choi Seung-hyo's parents renew their vows... but it was not something I NEEDED to see.

Another thing is the balance in the main couple... occasionally it felt off.

Now overall, I did feel like the main couple were a great fit, well-balanced and suited for each other... truly I loved them most of the time... but I just wish we had seen more of how Bae Seok Ryu came to terms with her feelings for Choi Seung-hyo or seen from her POV how she avoided developing them as a kid, the same way we clearly saw Choi Seung-hyo pushing his feelings away.

We saw poor Choi Syeung-hyo agonize over his feelings for about a dozen episodes and then struggle waiting for Bae Seok Ryu... but then we spent so long learning about how Bae Seok Ryu and her ex-fiance were actually a decent, happy couple... and the show refused to show more than 2 minutes of why they broke up or fell out of love. They easily could have had a QoT style Kdrama of their own about how they get back together, etc.

at least with Choi Seung-hyo's ex gf, we saw that they both moved on pretty easily without much attachment because really they were never that serious or special... it had been a while and they were both over it too. But with her ex-fiance, it was still a recent break up of an otherwise-strong relationship. So it seemed like they could have done more to convince us they had enough reasons to break up... like IDK when she stopped loving her ex and started loving Choi Seung-hyo because it's rushed and unclear what she is feeling... I also did not like that her ex pointed out that it looked like she'd already found someone when she herself had not come to that conclusion with any certainty.

I guess I just feel like all her thoughts and feelings about Choi Seung-Hyo were often hidden. Maybe to make the viewer feel suspense... but even after they got together, it felt like he told her how he felt and she avoided it. Then a few petty fights and a talk or two later she just agreed that she did like him after he convinced her... and when she ran to find him, even then—still—HE kissed her. And she's left to mutter about banana milk.

She does show her love for him later, and expresses it clearly. But even later, he proposes on a whim, before anyone even knows they're dating, and she rejects his proposal... and then immediately caves in after he convinces her... the whole timing does feel off. But it also just feels like we see the relationship more from his perspective than hers.

Like the romance is HIS plot line and the cancer is hers.

Then there's the brother... he didn't do much, his plot went nowhere, and I really only liked the scenes that brought out the contrast between his failures and Bae Seok Ryu's successes....

Then there's the way they set up Jung Mo-Eum and Kang Dan-Ho... it was a little forced, especially with her immediate (and a little bit creepy) interest in Yeon-Du and the whole "Mudflat Man" which was maybe taken a little too far. But I loved their family dynamic and their chemistry.. Just felt like their love story was a little underdeveloped... And really sending Jung Mo-Eum off to Antarctica for a year, right after they stared dating, and not even seeing her reunite with Dan Ho was not my favorite.

[lalalian]

futuristic dr ideas pt.2

date: march 29, 2024

trends in a futuristic world

includes beauty trends and augmented reality stuff

Glass Hair

Glass hair would probably be more popular for runway models rather than the average person. I think iridescent or glow-in-the-dark hair would be more of trend because it's more flashy. Fashion styles would arise from this trend such as celestialcore, mirrorpunk, and glowstreet.

Celestialcore fashion

People who wear celestialcore would likely have iridescent hair and would wear flowy silk clothing that shimmer in the light. Add ons to micro skin repairing bots in your bloodstream would make your skin automatically look incredibly dewy. Holograms that make small pixies circle around you or animate angel wings on your back. Hologram software is less expensive and more convenient (because the wings can phase through objects, physical wings cannot). Physical wings would require the person to get wing attachments to their back, but it'd allow you to fly. Stylized eye contacts that make the irises seem as if they're jelly or glowing would also be a common styling choice. Voice box adjustments (to use these adjustments, you'd download software to the tiny medical bots in your bloodstream) that make your voice sound slightly echoy would also be relevant to this style. Something that'd be a must have when it comes to celestialcore fashion would either be no legs, cybernetic legs, or levitating heels/shoes. Outfits would consist of white and pastel colors.

here's a few images that resonate with this style:

pic1

pic2

pic3

Mirrorpunk

Imagine aespa's savage photoshoot, black sleek clothing but with the sharp and almost melty looking silver jewelry. Aespa's drama photoshoot would also kinda fit, but it'd need more silver jewelry. Outfits would often consist of crimson, black, white, and silver. Some people that wear this style incorporate more silver elements, these people eventually coined the term 'Mirrormelt', which officially became a substyle of mirrorpunk. Many people who wear mirrorpunk swap out one or more of their limbs with a cybernetic limb that has the same aesthetic as the sharp silver jewelry (idk how to word it, i hope you know what I'm talking abt T-T)

here's a few images that resonate with this style:

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GlowStreet

Essentially street fashion but with glow-in-the-dark elements. Loose or baggy clothing that is considered casual with glow-in-the-dark streaks of color usually in the hair and other parts of the outfit. I don't think images are necessary for this one.

Animated Tattoos

A flower blooming from a bud would probably be one of the most popular design choices. Flower petals falling down arms or legs would also be another popular choice. Animated tattoo sleeves would look like a full on moving painting, but they'd probably be pretty expensive. I think I mentioned this before on tiktok, so if you think you've seen this idea already, it may have been from me.

I think people who like to dress in darker styles would have animated eye tattoos on their bodies that would open and close.

Another cool idea would be color changing tattoos!

AR and Books

Okay so obviously physical books aren't going to be a thing in a high-tech cyberprep world-- but do you know what would be a thing? Augmented reality story games. AR is essentially VR except you can feel, smell, and taste everything as you would in real life. Shifting but with technology. Imagine games like Detroit Become Human and FNAF but in this format-- wouldn't it be a hit? I think it would.

I still think that e-books would be a thing, but I could definitely imagine that some of the most popular chapters would get AR adaptations.

To access an AR game or chapter, you must go to an AR Arena to rent a suit and the appropriate equipment.

oki i think this is good enough for one post. I think I'll talk about entertainment places like unique cafes and cyber parkour arenas in the next futuristic post

[literaticat]

I don't intend this question to be rude so I hope it doesn't come off this way. Why is it the culture that poaching a client from another agent is rude? The rest of the professional world doesn't seem to go that way (you apply for a new job while still working, for example). Is it just because publishing is a small industry?

POACHING would be if an agent set their sights on a certain author. They want to rep them. Yes, they are already repped -- but so what? They want them! So they approach the author and say hey, I want to rep you, I can do better than your agent is doing, you should leave your agent and come to me. (And then they do). That would be a successful poaching, and that agent who poached is now a villain to the previous agent, as well as anyone else they ever speak to about it, which will be LOTS of people, FOREVER.

(If the author were to say "I'm fine actually BYE" than that's an unsuccessful poaching I guess, and hopefully they will tell their beloved agent about the encounter, and that would-be poaching agent will be a figure of fun for years to come.)

So... that's different from an employee wanting a new job and applying for new jobs while they are still working at the old one. (Which isn't a problem really, but still, you probably wouldn't apply for jobs in full sight of your employer and take interviews while at work!) It's more like a company aggressively headhunting a top employee of their competitor -- of COURSE the competitor would be pissed if that happened. And since they couldn't really be pissed at the employee, they'd be pissed at that other company.

Adding to the drama is, yes, the publishing world is small, our reputations are all we have, we all know each other, and people gossip. Also, frankly, well, we work on commission. Basically, sometimes working for months or YEARS for free. That's fine, it's the nature of the beast, but also, once a client is finding lots of success, that's a major win for us. (Hey, I was there in the trenches! 15% of these successes are for ME, I earned them!) Not to mention, we are probably pretty tight with our long-standing clients, and hopefully have been good to them and feel a measure of loyalty, and vice-versa, so while I can't begrudge somebody wanting to move on if that's what's best for their career, I can absolutely begrudge some other agent swooping in and STEALING them!

To avoid any whiff of impropriety or potential accusation of poaching, again, a High Crime in the agent world, most agents will want to avoid talking to authors about representation if the authors are currently repped. If we are friends, I can talk to you / give advice as a friend, whatever -- but I can't offer representation if you are currently repped, you need to have left that relationship and have no outstanding contractual obligation to that agent.

That's why best practices is for you to leave your agent BEFORE you query other agents. After all -- if you know for a fact you want to leave, you should go, because not having an agent is better than having a bad agent. If you DON'T know if you want to leave, you just have some problems or are feeling restless, you should talk to your current first and see if the problems you have are solvable -- and if they aren't, then leave and query others.

I KNOW IT IS SCARY, but if the relationship is not working, and it's not fixable, just get out of it and start fresh.

(Also, not for nothing, but, again, since a lot of agents know one another, if it seems like you are still repped, you can assume that the agents you query WILL ask your current agent about that if you query them and they are interested. So... that'd be awkward if they don't even know you are looking to leave them! I guess that is one way to do it, it just doesn't seem like the BEST way.)

[birdhcuse]

The more I play around with Teagan in my head, the more I realize how complicated their feelings about Jasper really are...

Part of why Teagan does the whole "trauma dump" thing is because they think they can get through to Jasper. They wouldn't bother getting vulnerable in front of Jasper's parents or some random CEO because they know they wouldn't give a damn. Jasper is...softer. Jasper has more sympathy. Maybe he'd see how cruel the system is if they just exposed their metaphorical scars to him. (In their mind, if Jasper is apathetic to their suffering, it'll prove that the "Sweet Sunshine Boy" thing is just a ruse and he's no different than his parents.)

If Teagan heard that their impassable speeches were making Jasper wallow in shame, it'd rub them the wrong way. The point isn't (purely) to make Jasper feel like Shit, it's to motivate Jasper to question/fight back against The System. It doesn't really come across like that because they're running on Emotions during their speeches, but they hate how the DiMarcos are treating them like a heartless bully when that isn't their intention at all.

If Jasper were to get out there and help the community—not by throwing money at the problem, but volunteering his time and labor into making a material difference, I can see Teagan warming up to him more. They'd be polite and cordial if Jasper were helping out at the same place/event they're volunteering at.

I can also see Teagan potentially being someone Jasper can drop the "pure happy sunshine boy" persona in front of...once they get past the hurdle of "Teagan hates my guts" asdfghjkl. Teagan's not so good with the mushy stuff, but it might be cathartic to just rant to them. (If Teagan and Jasper had met in the middle of Azula's Egg Drama, Teagan would be able to relate so hard to being pulled into the drama and being frustrated that the DiMarcos aren't making the Obvious Choice.)

It'd be interesting if Teagan got closer with Jasper because they wouldn't ask for anything or accept his money, even if they really needed it (Nicolau is free to accept Jasper's money if Jasper were to offer it to him, but Teagan personally will not take the money). There's not a lot they'd really want from Jasper, aside from someone to talk to and maybe someone who could help them find out more about their past life (and even that'd be something they'd be hesitant to mention because they don't think they're worthy of any favors from Jasper).

[wayward-travelers]

WoL verse

The more I think about it, the more I think this blog will be strictly for my WoL verse.

The main reason for that being that my main RP verse is a canon-divergent AU with my friends and we advance the story rather slowly, and the other rp threads I have are in yet another verse. And, tbh, as far as rp goes, I don't care too much in the end if everything links nicely together or not.

But admittedly, my WoL verse has changed a lot between what I had in mind primarily with Aïcha and what I have in mind now and I'm thinking about putting it in fic form. Or—knowing myself because I have too few spoons and not enough hours in a day anyway between life, work and school—some sort of detailed plan for a fic that'd work as a first draft and... nothing following after that.

So why not just share what I have for now?

I'll start with the prelude in this post because this is important foundation for what's to come, and I'm not sure what people know (or don't) about how Inge and Aïcha started. Plus there are certain things I've never discussed in detail before.

Fair warning: while the plan is to follow the MSQ closely, there will be changes. But aside from one character mentioned below, I have no intention to bring back to life dead characters. And among those who do come back in the official story, two will remain dead no matter what the MSQ says.

Prior to ARR

Under the cut 'cause it's a bit long.

The prelude (Inge)

In the equivalent of 1.0 to the Calamity, Inge was one of the adventurers that ended up being dubbed as the "Warriors of Light" at Carteneau. Whether or not I'll follow strictly what I know of that part for the story, I'm not sure, but the point is that she's a forgotten hero that got teleported into the future by Louisoix and, upon arrival in the middle of the Shroud, realized that 1/ nobody knew her anymore, 2/ she had no fucking idea where the rest of her team was or even if they were still alive.

After some time looking for them, she opted for helping rebuilding since the world didn't seem to need any more heroes (and the trauma of losing everyone was, well, quite heavy). She ingrained herself in Gridania's life pretty fast and was tasked, two to three years before ARR, to accompany a small group of scientists to explore the Western Shroud and give upon return a detailed account of the state it was in.

Among those were:

Griveroix, a cartographer that hailed from La Noscea with his young and far more enthusiastic apprentice, A'idan;

Wolfe, who needs a name change, an agronomist from Sharlayan working on his Archon mark;

after some shenanigans, an actually alive Foulques because in this verse the lancer story happens before ARR and involves another character of mine. He's not a scientist but he'll serve as an adventurer for protection;

Inge herself, of course, healer and alchemist here to make sure everyone comes back in one piece.

There'll probably be a few more people, whether named or not, we'll see as the inspiration strikes.

The Foulques situation

While on their way to the Western part of the Shroud, they'll be attacked by a group of Duskwights who initially wants to bargain either their life or their (very expensive) instruments against Foulques' life, which they told them had been arrested by Gridanians.

Inge'll manage to convince them to let her go and bring him back peacefully, and she'll arrive just in time during his fight against Alakja (the OC mentioned above) to cast a levitation spell and save the Duskwight from a certain death. (Much to Alakja's and his wife's relief, as neither of them wanted him dead.)

Keeping her promise, she'll bring back Foulques to his family and manage to get the expedition back on track... only for him to join them, while refusing to state exactly why. Cue some drama because Griveroix is a coward, A'idan an enthusiastic puppy and Wolfe paranoid, but eventually they'll settle on letting him join the expedition unofficially.

And that's how it goes for Inge until she's back in Gridania at the beginning of ARR, and soon after learns by Mother Miounne that a promising adventurer needs help exploring the Tam-tara Deepcroft.

An adventurer that you might have recognized as Aïcha.

The Prelude (Aïcha)

Aïcha's mother was not cut to be a mother, and to her credit she realized it soon enough to not make Aïcha's life hell. Instead, she just... left. So Aïcha's early life is simply her father and her in Radz-at-Han, living in relative poverty despite her father securing an extremely sought after and expensive dancing tutelage for his talented daughter.

While she didn't grow up wondering where the money for this came—her father had always been a proud and hard-working man after all—she got the answer nonetheless as she reached her eighteen birthday, when the debts her father had contracted had become so big that he couldn't pay them back and loan sharks came to their house to make it clear that he didn't exactly have a choice.

Worried for his life more than for herself, Aïcha decided to sacrifice her bright artistic future to save the life of the only family she had, and thus joined The Guild. Think of it a bit like John Wick's Continental, except they pretended to be an adventurers guild.

As we know, dancing in FFXIV isn't just about artistry: it's also about kicking asses. And Aïcha, perhaps tragically, was both excellent and willing at this. Over the months, she only got deeper and deeper to take the most lucrative contracts, switching dancing for a gun to avoid sullying her art further, until she got in so far that she couldn't see any other path for herself than crime.

Eventually she killed a kid that had simply been at the wrong place at the wrong time and saw too much, but that broke her. She sent her father to hide in Tural, turned against her old employer and faked her death before fucking off to Eorzea, where she attempted to start a new life as a gladiator.

She did always love the attention after all, and surely no one would look for her there.

It became apparent rather quickly how corrupt the whole system was, however, and while she could ill-afford to make a mess in her new home, she opted for becoming an actual adventurer this time. Which is how she finally joined the Adventurers Guild in Ul'dah and started this new chapter in her story: for money and redemption.

(In this order.)

[td-frog]

thoughts on dcas e11

revival

makes sense that it was connor. he and fiore were the only real contenders in terms of like. unresolved. narratives that needed more than a conversation, and fiore returning locks the villain win too early

(plus fiore and alec get some resolution from working together even if she loses, connor and riya Do Not)

also, i really like that he's back? connor's a cool guy who really tries and it sucks how much shit he gets. they've been building up riya's pride before fall for so long; i'm excited to see that actually get started up.

(also this concept takes back some of the feelings i had about early merge- still feels risky in-universe but like. it's fun)

tess/ally/hunter

i think this was the resolution i was waiting for and. well i don't hate it. but i was hoping for more.

jake/aiden/tom

i really like the interaction with aiden and lake. i like aiden a lot as a character, but his biggest flaw is how he really tends to view people in a very black and white way. i like that lake tried to bridge the gap between him and jake, and i also like that he wasn't super open to it. i imagine that he will come around, but i like that it's not easy.

i also really liked miriam calling out tom, because literally everything with the drama this season is his fault for refusing to communicate so aggressively.

i also really like that jake this episode Didn't focus on the drama because his thing is really just needing to move on from it (which he does keep trying, and it's only sometimes his fault when he fails)

yulgrett

yul bothered me so much less this episode because he wasn't interacting with grett :)

other than that neither of them really existed much? it did make me wish we got to see more of grett interacting with non-villains because within the villain group she has a lot more of a kicked puppy vibe which is kinda sad.

predictions

so currently we're back to 5v5 heroes vs villains. narratively it seems like the villains need to lose next, since we've already done the Heroes Are Now Outnumbered plot.

my guess is either 1) yulgrett drama blows up or 2) gabby turns on them. or both. either way i think next elimination is either yul or alec, depending on whether they go for Guy Who Sucks The Most or Guy Who's The Biggest Threat

(i want yul gone, but i do think alec is probably the better strategy)

we're due for the start of some resolution to the love triangle drama, now that everyone's had the wake-up-call of ashley's elimination and heart-to-hearts with their friends. i doubt it'll be fully resolved, but i think it'll start.

riya's safe from elimination but i do think connor being back is going to make her life more difficult. even if it's just in the "god you're so annoying way"

at this point i'm seeing a couple candidates for victory. i'm ruling out yul, riya, and alec for villain reasons (doesn't seem like the direction they're heading in). grett and gabby seem more viable, although i think grett's victory will be dumping yul instead. gabby is a solid option though.

on the hero side: i don't see aiden winning, mostly cause he basically won last time (james winning for the both of them), and it doesn't seem like the right resolution for the plot. i could see jake; it would probably be a self-confidence / trusting people thing and he'd give some of the money to ashley. i could also maybe see tom, although i'm less sure how that'd play out.

i don't know how to feel about ally. i think i expect her to get close, but i don't know how a win for her would feel given the "not caring what others think" lesson. connor is absolutely on the table- i would LOVE to see him win after having riya shit on him for being useless the whole game.

so i think gabby or connor victory seems the most likely at this point, and i'd be happy with either. but we'll see how it plays out.

[dremiruu]

all (suspectedly and for now) clankie episodes in the 2nd part of season one

before we start - these are all speculations (for now) based ONLY on episode lists, specifically the "official" one on the wiki, a little bit on the one leaked before on 4chan, and my own assumptions. We might actually get more of clankie scenes in other episodes that just dont concentrate on them like in "Monster Movie", where they just sat in the background for a minute talking OR get less of them and i'm just reaching too far lol

"Cleo in the kitchen"

We're actually starting off with an episode that's not so far in the future - episode 16, or in this case 27. Going off the description on wiki, that's what it'll be about:

i know, i know, Frankie isn't even mentioned, but hey - Cleo, their crush (?), is making a meal for one of their best ghoulfriends, they probably will be there. And imagine a scene like this one:

BUT the opposite? Frankie ending up with something on their face and after Cleo does that they go into a full on gay panic? That'd be such a fun reference!

Honestly not hoping for much from this episode, but the opportunity is there!

next up: "Pet Problems"

Or episode 17/29, which means that we're getting lots of possible content in these two weeks!

This one is FOR SURE a clankie episode, atleast in a way, as the infamous love triangle between Frankie, Cleo and Deuce finally starts forming.

And I'm here for it.

When it comes to this ep, we'll discuss two options.

Number one, leaked 4chan description:

And number two, the wiki description:

1 is giving us much more hope for clankie to be actually endgame, telling us clearly that they will maybe be a little jealous of the relationship developing between Cleo and Deuce because of Hissete, where 2 just says she needs help from both of them, which, eh, wouldn't be as interesting, but still would set up the love triangle that the plot is going for.

I'm lowkey hoping we'll get to see Frankie trying to help as much as they can but just not being able to do so as much as Deuce and feeling guily or jealous of him and then either Cleo reassuring them near the end of the episode or just them being confused about the situation, which would be less satisfying in the moment but would lead to more drama later on, PRECISELY in:

"Monster Match"

So episode 27/44 - THE MOST CRUCIAL CLANKIE EP OF THE SEASON.

(between these two episodes theres a hugeee 10-episode-long gap, but, as i said in the very beginning, we might get glimpses of them in episodes that don't include them in descriptions, so don't lose hope lol)

SO, this will be the time where the tension reaches its highest level and we'll finally get some romantic action going on.

Again, two options:

Number one:

And number two:

Again, when it comes to 1, we're getting more of a clear confirmation of Frankies actual feelings and what we love most - love triangle drama. There are many ways this episode could go with that trope, for example having Frankie convinced that Deuce wants to ask Cleo out while he actually tries to ask them to the dance and giving up when Cleo agrees, or both of them actually chasing after her... Lots of posibilities, really.

And the actual episode described in 2 goes a little different, creating an actual love triangle type of scenario - Deuce liking Frankie, Frankie liking Cleo and Cleo... well, that's what we have to figure out, but hopefully liking Frankie back. I'd actually love to see Deuce being supportive and him and Frankie becoming besties as he helps them ask Cleo out. What's interesting about this description though is the word invite. Why would it not be just *ask*??? It's a little scary, cause what if they just invite Cleo as a friend? That'd suckkkk

That'd be it for now. Let me know if I missed anything :) I might add new details to this guide later on, as we get to see the new scenes

[synergysilhouette]

Choices review: The Freshman

Everyone talks highly of this series, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on it. Just gonna get this out of the way: This could've been GOC. There's no reason it couldn't be--though I will admit that this means Kaitlyn would either become playersexual (which some fans think would dilute her journey) or remove her as an LI entirely and just make her a platonic friend like Zac--though if MC is GOC, this could be tricky. You'd probably have to reduce their screentime if (depending on your gender) there was no reason you couldn't romance them. I don't wanna advocate for monosexuality for LIs in a romance game for obvious reasons. And since it's been a while since I played this, my review may change after replaying it or remembering certain details.

Book 1 focuses on the beginning of your journey at Hartfield University. I don't recall this book from start to finish, but it certainly had a lot of drama. For one, all three LIs are pushed your way, with Kaitlyn having a crush on you and realizing she's a lesbian, stereotypical sorority girls being possessive of jock Chris, and the studious James asks you to be his fiance for his parents. All this tied together with becoming an assistant to an English professor with a big ego just so you can keep going to college. Crazy, right? I do wish there was less pressure on the romance side. What if you had no interest in James? That'd make the lying to his parents even MORE uncomfortable, and while you and Kaitlyn work it out, I certainly wish she'd had a crush on someone else since it feels awkward if you don't feel the same. And I'm just gonna say I wish Zack had a more standout design; I know he's not a love interest, but he's one of the major characters, and yet he feels plain.

Book 2 focuses on your winter quarter at Hartfield and being a part of James' play, as well as helping Chris running for student president. Again, I do feel like forcing Kaitlyn our way with a kiss felt very awkward; if she didn't have feelings for us prior to this, it would've been fine, but it almost feels like we're leading her on or not letting her work out her sexuality. And Becca needs to go, especially since I was romancing Chris from the start, and her "not as bad as Sebastian" stuff really didn't absolve her to me--especially with her actions later on. And knowing what I know about how Sebastian's future goes, it's weird that the gang rallied around how Chris became a better person despite his criminal history in high school, but the theme of "redemption" doesn't translate too much.

Book 3 focuses on your spring quarter at Hartfield, when you meet a new LI, Kaitlyn joins a band, and dealing with classism at the school. While I like Zig, I'm not a fan of how he's essentially a repeat of Chris, having a criminal record prior to Hartfield, especially since this was covered with Chris in the previous book. I read somewhere that Sebastian made a stereotypical comment towards Zig due to his heritage, though I'd never heard the Latino-barista stereotype before; I thought him having a criminal record felt a bit more stereotypical, in that regard, along with his aggression. It would've been nice if he was written as a kid from a military family with a positive upbringing; his rough home life reminded me of the golden boy from MTFL, and it would've been nice if he was just sheepish and shy rather than confrontational--though I'm assuming the writers did that the contrast with the rest of the gang's easygoing vibe. I do feel weird about James' publicist coming onto him, and it feels like it should've been a bigger deal than it was.

Book 4 is a mini-book that focuses on the gang's summer vacation during a cross-country road trip. It kind of hurt my heart because of Brandon and Zack's relationship being broken for seemingly no reason. I get that the writers were trying to be a bit more realistic with relationships in this series, but I'd have preferred better buildup with the breakup rather than it being so random, or not break them up at all. It would've also been nice if Teddy was an actual LI for him; it was weird that it fizzled out but then we see Teddy again and ahve the option to ask why he didn't call Zack. I also think it's interesting how Zig reveals he's bisexual and it never comes up again--not that sexuality is a personality trait, but it would've been nice to see him talk more about his experience, not just the negative stereotypes he experienced, as well as the option to hook him up with someone similar to Kaitlyn and James. It's a really fun book, though--and it makes me want a Scooby-Doo-inspired Choices book ASAP.

Book 5 (Book 1 of "The Sophomore") sees you begin your sophomore year! After a less than savory living arrangement, you and your friends decide to take over a foreclosed house together, and you eventually invite Becca to live with you, and a little while later, you can date her. However, she hasn't been fully redeemed, as she tries to sabotage her so-called "best friend" since she replaced her as their sorority's new House President. It's really twisted, especially as Madison feels super guilty about it and just wants to be friends. It's pretty toxic, and I don't recall if this led to Madison giving up her position for Becca. I also feel like it's weird that James gets a love interest with Reyna when in one of the special books (which I don't cover), it's noted that he has someone who likes him. Why she isn't just made a love interest, I don't know. I did also feel bad for the pressures Chris faces being the captain of the football team. And honestly given the issue with Zig's criminal record being the hot topic a few books ago, I'm surprised his sexuality isn't mentioned to cause friction among the football team, like an exaggerated version of what happened with Manny. Granted, he was comfortable with his sexuality, and any issues regarding it would essentially feel similar to Kaitlyn's arc, but it's a thought. Btw, I love that the characters get new outfits in the Sophomore year.

Book 6 (Book 2 of "The Sophomore") has you trying to keep your house from being condemned after it's sabotaged. It was actually sabotaged by Sebastian, who tried to make amends at your house party, but only Tyler believes him. Rejected and with everyone assuming the worst of him, he sabotages the house and reports it to the house inspector, hoping you get a fine--only to be horrified that you get condemned instead. ...Really? Why are Becca and Sebastian so toxic even when they're trying to be better? Becca tries to ruin her best friend's reputation when she replaces her, and Sebastian is so lonely he's willing to get the people who rejected his friendship in trouble. But despite their spoiled and unhinged ways, I've gotta call out the hypocrisy here: the gang talks about Zig and Chris being more than their past mistakes, but they sure know how to hold a grudge against those who made recent mistakes--not that they can't do that, but it feels like they're going against their morals. Both Sebastian and Becca tried to screw over their friends, but Becca's the one who gets to stay with us and continue being high-maintenance? We may as well have moved Sebastian in too; I wanted more of him after this book (though the amount of headaches he and Becca could cause together is HIGH). Meanwhile, Tyler and Abby's relationship is fraying and part of me hoped Tyler would end up being bi and being with Sebastian (not that two men can't have platonic relationships with each other; I'm game with Sebastian ending up with MC, too), Chris' dad returning feels like it should've been a bigger arc, and a part of me wishes that Zig had been in dance the whole time, and I do wish we'd gotten more into the conversation about how sexual harassment/assault is common in the MLM community and that Manny definitely deserved worse punishment.

Book 7 (Book 1 of "The Junior") sees you getting an apartment with your LI and investigating a prank gone wrong. Your stay with your LI is pretty rough at first, and I feel like it could've been better-written to reflect the characters' personalities, though I respect the "break up/make up" option because of it. It would've been neat if your LI was annoyed by some of your choice- based decisions, as well. Entering a "fratority" with some dark secrets was fun, and it felt like it could've existed as it's own series rather than one book in a series. It definitely feel like it could've been more darker and mysterious than it ended up being. Though I will admit that despite not romancing him, I'm not huge on the "you can romance a twist villain" because when they're revealed to be bad, it makes your relationship feel like it's been for nothing. I do love that we can give the characters makeovers, though; it's nice to see them in new outfits and hairstyles.

Book 8 (Book 1 of "The Senior") has you figuring out your future ahead of graduation! I do wish we'd had a bit more legroom with what kind of writer we wanted to be and what profession we wanted to do in general. I also would've liked if we could've played as Kaitlyn and decided what kind of sound/visual her band's upcoming album would have. I don't have too many notes on this book, though I do hate how you have to go the sacrifice route; after you get a job offer, your LI is also successful with their career and is going to be in another part of the world; they essentially cut down your dreams, and it not only feels OOC, it feels almost manipulative. In the end, you have to decide if you want to go with them (and maybe find another job), make them give up their dream, or break up and you each follow your own paths. It's essentially a story with no clear winners, though I personally chose to go with them to pursue their dream.

Overall, I see why the series is iconic, and it's continuity over the app's growth really shows in it's quality, though I do wish we'd gotten more books for the junior and senior years, as well as fixing certain character issues and plot points. See you at my next review! Working on TRR right now, but let me know if there's a particular series you want reviewed! I've already done HSS, TRE, D&D, and AME. For now, I'm only making reviews for completed series, AKA 2 or more books (not counting holiday/special books) and the story is not currently in development (ie BOLAS, ID, COP).

[rainc0at]

Fucking. Hell. That was so worth the wait. That was horrifying. That was amazing. Spoilers ahead for christmas eastenders in case someone stumbles upon this post

LOVED seeing nish get done in by all the girls that was fucking amazing. That was the best fucking thing ever. I loved that you saw the build up of it for him too. Suki refusing. Her not playing along. Stacey chiming in. The rest of them bouncing off of each other. Them laughing. They were humiliating him. He gets vulnerable, tries to sway their opinions of him. The final blow: I can't bear to look at you. Boom.

I saw Keanu coming. The attack at least. I knew he'd attack her. I'm not shocked. It was all building up for him and they've given us little hints of his controlling/abusive behaviour. With karen, with sharon, with bernie. I'm honestly glad he's dead.

Dean. Fucking. Horrifying. I hate that disgusting little rat. Moving the picture of Mick. The present. The door. All little things to make her feel like she's going mad. She doesn't have any evidence it was him, but she knows. She knows. And with his account of her being crazy, him letting people know that's what he thinks. When this comes out, he'll have his own sick sort of evidence. I hate him. I despise him.

God it was just so good. Ravi holding back Nish. That was genuinely just so good I needed that. All of the lasses being angry and out for revenge. Good lord.

Absolutely bawling at nish still being alive. That's not fucking allowed. The fact suki refrained from giving mouth to mouth. Fucking hell. I hope he dies in hospital. Really hope. Not sure he will though.

If they don't get away with it I'm going to have a tantrum. I know they will. It'll be a big complicated thing and maybe instead of him dying, nish will get out and come for eve but he wont kill her and we'll finally finally get to see suki and eve happy together publicly. I suppose if he does die there's no one to fight their claims so maybe he'll live. For the drama.

Suki's coming out scene. I literally nearly cried. Oh my god. Suki Panesar i fucking love you.

I was NOT expecting a second murder. That shook me. Wasn't expecting Keanu. Wasn't expecting him to try and take albie either. I thought he'd come in and that'd be it. Doof doof. Keanus gunna be the opposing statement because he's pathetic and angry. Or, my mum suggested that they'd pin it on him. But then he does try to take albie, he does attack sharon. Nearly kill her. He tries to kill her.

Ravi's been knocked out, though I assume somebody's found him. Priya, avani, nugget. Whoever.

Eve is still with jack. Eve is safe at the moment.

Both of the attacks from the six were self defence. They have each other to back each other up. They just have to make sure they tell the truth. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. Otherwise they'll fuck it up.